It has been two long years since the publication of the first book in this series. I wrote rapturously about the first installment and in every single trawl of upcoming releases for the last two years, I have looked for this sequel. Finally, it is here. Needless to say, I devoured it in a day. A delightful day! This story picks up three weeks after the end of The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies. In … Continue reading The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin by Alison Goodman →
Ed.note: before you continue reading this review, please be aware that the TW/CW above includes discussion in this review. Reader discretion advised. Victorian Psycho is what would happen if Patrick Bateman and Jane Eyre had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad baby. Protagonist and narrator Winifred Dotty has no ability to experience fear or empathy. She is completely indifferent to physical pain, be it her own or that of others. She has an endless … Continue reading Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito →
Revisionaries: What We Can Learn From the Lost, Unfinished, and Just Plain Bad Work of Great Authors is a fun and interesting book for writers and for readers who like to know how authors work. It imparts twenty-one lessons to writers using the challenges and unfinished writings of classically regarded writers. Easily read and easily digestible, each chapter uses a different author to teach a different lesson. These examples aren’t modern, and the diversity is … Continue reading Revisionaries: What We Can Learn From the Lost, Unfinished, and Just Plain Bad Work of Great Authors by Kristopher Jansma →
This book is part of a series, but operates alongside another series, and they are very much connected. The first is ‘The Secret Scientists of London’ which focuses on women scientists working at Athena’s Retreat and the second, of which this is the second installment, is ‘Damsels of Discovery,’ which features women scientists not operating within Athena’s Retreat but nonetheless linked to it. I have dipped in and out of both, and it’s becoming clearer … Continue reading The Lady Sparks a Flame by Elizabeth Everett →
Well this was just delightful. Wooing the Witch Queen revolves around one of my least favorite tropes: The Big Misunderstanding. And yet, it is a delight from beginning to end, with a minimum amount of stupidity and wonderful characters. Here’s the publisher’s description of the plot: Queen Saskia is the wicked sorceress everyone fears. After successfully wrestling the throne from her evil uncle, she only wants one thing: to keep her people safe from the … Continue reading Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis →
I love action movies with female leads. Turns out, women doing the killing and saving really works for me and this series scratches that itch. I know the Bitchery are probably sick of me climbing onto my high horse about blurbs, but I found this one misleading. I don’t think the person that wrote that blurb read the book carefully enough. The broad strokes are there, but the details aren’t right. Billie, Helen, Natalie and … Continue reading Kills Well With Others by Deanna Raybourn →
I’m an absolute sucker for historical romance and this one did not disappoint. Lady Alice Ancaster needs a husband quite urgently because her reckless brother is likely to end up dead due to his fast living.The dukedom would then fall to an odious cousin who would make Alice’s life a misery. So off she goes to London, ready to find herself a suitable man. And she does. But she doesn’t close the deal: her brother … Continue reading My Inconvenient Duke by Loretta Chase →
Ed. note: We’ve been asked to increase our coverage of and discussion of Dark Romance a few times by some of you, so to start, we have a guest review from Kimberly. If you’re a reader of Dark Romance and would like to talk about some of your favorites, please get in touch! This guest review is from Kimberly! Kimberly works as a student support specialist at a small university where she endeavors to instill … Continue reading Guest Review: Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton →
This guest review comes from Lisa! A longtime romance aficionado and frequent commenter to SBTB, Lisa is a queer Latine critic with a sharp tongue and lots of opinions. She frequently reviews at All About Romance and Women Write About Comics, where she’s on staff, and you can catch her at @thatbouviergirl on Twitter. There, she shares good reviews, bracing industry opinions and thoughtful commentary when she’s not on her grind looking for the next … Continue reading Love You a Latke by Amanda Elliot →
Christmas with the Queen is a cozy historical romance that would be perfect for fans of The Crown or anglophiles in general. The royal family are a backdrop to this romance, but it’s not about them directly. It’s also a blend of historical fiction and romance that I think will work for non-romance readers. The book alternates between VE Day in 1945, and the “present” day in the 1950’s. The book opens in 1952 with … Continue reading Christmas with the Queen by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb →
One Burning Heart is the fourth, and I hope not the last, book in Elizabeth Kingston’s Welsh Blades series. I’ve loved this series since reading the first book nearly 10 years ago, so I was beyond excited when it was out. It is also the first book by Kingston since 2019 – and that’s “the before times” so it feels extra long! I reviewed Desire Lines that year. I one-clicked it and started reading this … Continue reading One Burning Heart by Elizabeth Kingston →
