Tara: This book is so freaking cute, it should be illegal. And luckily, Aarya agrees with me, so we’re talking about it together! Written in the Stars is an opposites attract, fake relationship romance between Darcy Lowell, an actuary, and Elle Jones, an astrologer. Elle is working with Darcy’s brother, Brendon, on a project and he insists on setting them up on a blind date because they’re both single (also, as the founder of the … Continue reading Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur →
Wrong Number, Right Woman came to me at exactly the right time. I was ready for a romance with zero angst and adorkable characters, and boy howdy did this deliver. It’s so gentle and sweet, it’s like a warm hug and I enjoyed it very much. Denny is a thoroughly lovely, super-awkward butch lesbian. She’s co-raising her niece with her sister, works at a grocery store, and has a giant crush on her niece’s cute … Continue reading Wrong Number, Right Woman by Jae →
The Midnight Bargain reminded me why I love fantasy novels, and then wrecked me with its social commentary about a Regency-inspired world. This is a story about women feeling trapped by social constraints, scrambling to escape, and discovering along the way that transforming a society is more satisfying than just saving oneself. I loved the book’s drawing room politics, djinn-inspired magic, chosen family, and the way the story didn’t shy away from the heroine’s ambition, … Continue reading The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk →
I should couch this review with the admission that I am the biggest scaredy cat. I don’t usually read romance thrillers, let alone straight ahead thrillers with only a little bit of lovin. Not only do I need to be promised a happy ending, I also want the beginning and middle to be fairly cheerful and absent of conflict. I am, admittedly, a bit ridiculous, but yes, I would prefer to be wrapped up in … Continue reading When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole →
Oh my gosh, this novella is INTENSE. If you like gritty, feminist retellings of fairy tales then be sure to try Flyaway, a loose retelling of several fairy tales set in Australia. To tell you which fairy tale is the central story is a spoiler but it’s the best kind – a mystery resolution that you don’t see coming but that, once revealed, leaves you saying, “Oh, of COURSE.” It’s not a romance, and there … Continue reading Flyaway by Kathleen Jennings →
The Year of the Witching is a very, very good book. It’s unsettling and horrifying, beautiful and incisive, and ultimately, radiantly triumphant. As it centers on a religious dystopia and has feminist themes, it has already been compared to the The Handmaid’s Tale. This is not an inapt comparison; however, I think in tone and setting it reads much more like Nathanial Hawthorne, but as written by a woman living in 2020. In the vein … Continue reading The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson →
The Relentless Moon is part of the wonderful Lady Astronaut series. I recommend reading it after reading The Calculated Stars and The Fated Sky but if you do jump in you should get enough backstory in The Relentless Moon to catch you up. However, you will miss the overall flow of events and you’ll miss some emotional payoff. The premise of this series is that a meteor strikes Chesapeake Bay in 1952. In the aftermath, … Continue reading The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal →
Before this year, I didn’t pay attention to YA fiction releases. Frankly, I didn’t think they would speak to me, since I haven’t been part of the target demographic in more than 20 years. After having spectacular luck with The Mermaid, The Witch, and the Sea, You Should See Me in a Crown, and now Girl, Serpent, Thorn, I am here to eat my words because these three are some of the best books I’ve … Continue reading Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust →
Content warning: Torture of a main character. I’m pretty sure that if I start by saying ‘genderswapped Princess Bride where the Princess rescues the stable boy’, about half of you won’t read any further in this review because you will be too busy one-clicking the book. Certainly, that was my reaction when I saw this title appear on NetGalley. And if genderswapped Princess Bride is what you are looking for in a book, you will … Continue reading The Princess Will Save You by Sarah Henning →
I love tropes. I could talk tropes all the live long day. But you know what I really love, when there is a trope trifecta… Office romance? Fake relationship? Marriage of convenience? Tick! Tick! TICK! This book literally ticks all the boxes. Garrett Song, the man about to be announced as CEO of Hansol Incorporated (his family’s company) is super-hot, super-driven and super-not-into-marriage. Garrett’s grandmother, the overbearing matriarch, has other ideas though and has arranged … Continue reading Temporary Wife Temptation by Jayci Lee →
TW: Dead birds, alcoholism, death of infants at birth, spousal abuse I came here looking for an amazing story and Bitches, I was not disappointed. Even during a time when I have an attention span of about five seconds, this book kept me reading. It up-ended tropes, subverted expectations, and, thanks to the Author’s Note, gave me a seriously happy historical fix. The romance itself combines some actual realities with a big dose of crumbling … Continue reading The Rakess by Scarlett Peckham →
