Anthologies are always tough to grade. Do I grade the entire thing and how cohesive it is? Do I just grade each story individually and average it out? Halp! Normally, I wind up doing the latter because sometimes the stories inside an anthology don’t have a common thread aside from the genre. Such is the case with Too Taboo. It’s an erotic romance anthology, with an emphasis on taboo situations. It seemed right up my … Continue reading Too Taboo: An Erotic Anthology →
“A disgraced scholar running from her past and an entrepreneur chasing his future find themselves thrown together—and fall in love—on a Tolkien tour of New Zealand.” I jumped into this book with enthusiasm because I am a HUGE Lord of the Rings fan and when one of my coworkers went on a LOTR tour of New Zealand last year I thought it sounded amazing. My enthusiasm was dampened rather quickly, though, after the first chapter … Continue reading Close to You by Kara Isaac →
When I saw that Lauren Willig was one of three authors of what was described as “a blend of romance, historical fiction and family saga,” I was like OMG PUT THAT IN MY HANDS RIGHT NOW. The Forgotten Room checks the box for all three categories, but unfortunately I found a lot of the tropes within the book to be tired and I struggled to really engage with the heroes. As family saga/ historical fiction … Continue reading The Forgotten Room by Karen White, Beatriz Williams and Lauren Willig →
The Couple Next Door is a much-hyped psychological thriller that I was really looking forward to. Unfortunately my response to the book could be summed up as, “meh.” Anne and Marco Conti are new parents. They leave their infant daughter, Cora, asleep at home in her crib while they go next door for a dinner party. They keep an eye on her through the (audio only) baby monitor and check on her every thirty minutes. … Continue reading The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena →
If you haven’t read Carrie’s review of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, I highly recommend doing so before reading this review, as I don’t plan on rehashing the plot so much. My quick and dirty summary is that a wizard (Newt) enters New York with a case full of fantastic beasts. Said beasts escape while an unknown force is terrorizing the city and a bad wizard is making the headlines. The beasts are … Continue reading Movie Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them →
Fighting to be Free by Kirsty Moseley is an over-the-top, angsty, dark New Adult novel. I know that all appeals to a lot of readers, but it didn’t work for me. It also features a seventeen-year-old heroine and an eighteen-year-old hero, but it is NOT YA. I repeat, NOT YA. It’s basically a “boy from the wrong side of the tracks meets poor little rich girl” with humping and sadness. The humping is explicit and … Continue reading Fighting to be Free by Kirsty Moseley →
The initial concept of Deja Who is what first captured my attention. IT SOUNDED SO COOL! To put it as succinctly as possible (I’ll do my best to go into more detail later), the heroine Leah Nazir is an Insighter. Think of it as a therapist who can access a person’s past lives. While working as an Insighter, Leah is also trying to keep her own past lives from catching up to her, as she’s … Continue reading Deja Who by MaryJanice Davidson →
I wanted so much to like this book! Because hello…female photojournalist Domme and SWAT hero submissive. But to be frank, I found it to be rather boring. Beatrice and Warren have mutual friends who are a couple. Beatrice has always crushed on Warren, but thinks he hates her given his terse attitude every time they meet up at barbecues or dinner parties. While shooting pictures for said couple’s wedding, Beatrice overhears Warren on the phone … Continue reading Giving It Up by Audra North →
Plot Summary: Ruby Wetherspoon is in Paris for New Year’s Eve. She gets separated from her friends (which seem to all be imaginary, save one) and ends up losing any way to contact them. She’s plucked from a crowd and stands on a wall with the mysterious Alex. They kiss—with fireworks—they eat food, they fall in love with each other in an hour or two. Then, a man in black emerges from a crowd, whispers … Continue reading The Prince She Never Forgot by Scarlet Wilson →
Reading Tiffany Girl, I discovered pretty quickly that I’m not the audience for this book. This came as an unfortunate surprise. I was promised women with cool jobs, turn-of-the-century New York, the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition that anyone who’s read The Devil in White City knows all the (literally) gory details about, plus romance? Yes, please, I love all of those things! Alas, it did not deliver on these premises in the way I was … Continue reading Tiffany Girl by Deeanne Gist →
I had high hopes for this book, I really did. A widower finds love with his best friend? Sounded like my kind of story, but about ¼ of the way through it I knew that I was ONLY going to finish so that I could write this review, because I love me some SBTB. Let’s start with the good. Maisey Yates is a damn good writer. Untouched is one of my favorite contemporaries ever. She … Continue reading Brokedown Cowboy by Maisey Yates →
