My only exposure to the Bachelor franchise is Elyse’s commentaries/summaries of episodes. But apparently a book set in a Bachelor-like TV show works for me! With some caveats.… Georgia is a cast member of Love Shack, along with 19 other women, most of whom are in pursuit of the bachelor: Roland, a professional tennis player, who is currently not playing due to an injury. You don’t meet all of the women, obviously. It would be … Continue reading Most Eligible by Isabelle Engel →
Growing up in Wisconsin with a doomsday prepper father, Casey partially credits her dad for her miserable childhood. The rest of it goes to Blake Morrison, a bully who leads the charge of torment through middle and high school. Now an engaged adult living in Chicago and completing her residency, Casey actively avoids involving her dad in her life. When a mysterious outbreak leads to a zombie apocalypse and Casey’s fiance abandons her in the … Continue reading Dating After the End of the World by Jeneva Rose →
Love and Other Conspiracies makes many references to one of my favorite shows, The X-Files. Sadly, this book about a believer and a skeptic making a web series is no X-Files. It’s not terrible, but it is, alas, boring. The story is told from the heroine Hallie’s point of view in first-person, present tense, henceforth referred to as FPPT. I may need to make a rule that I don’t review books written in FPPT anymore … Continue reading Love and Other Conspiracies by Mallory Marlowe →
By the time The Trouble with Anna made its way to me through the library hold list I heard so many people complain about the characters that I fully expected to hate it. Turns out I didn’t hate it all but I also didn’t love it, and that was frustrating because I ALMOST loved it. I would have loved this book about fifteen years ago, but these days I just don’t have the patience. The … Continue reading The Trouble With Anna by Rachel Griffiths →
I’m very fond of cryptids that fall under the category of “You! Kids! Stay away from the water!” I’m talking about your La Llorenas and your kelpies, your kappas and your shellycoats. English folklore alone provides a treasure trove of water spirits that will teach your child a very important and possibly fatal lesson that he or she shall not soon forget! Think of the grindylows, or Nelly Longarms and Peggy Prowler, all of whom … Continue reading Greenteeth by Molly O’Neill →
CW: Quoted verbatim from the book itself: “Sweet Obsession is an occasionally dark and very spicy book that contains parental abuse (historical, non-graphic), torture (briefly on page, not overly graphic), attempted spousal murder (historical, non-graphic), violence, murder, explicit sex, elements of dubious consent (because of captor/captive power dynamics), and panic attacks (on page, brief)” Truth be told, I am no longer reading this series for each book’s romantic plot. I am reading it to find … Continue reading Sweet Obsession by Katee Robert →
Variation is a tough book to review. On one hand, I found myself putting aside things that I needed to get done in order to keep reading it, but on the other, I found the frequent “surprise” reveals in the plot to be so frequent that sometimes they felt silly. This book starts off as a forbidden summer romance. The four Rousseau sisters vacation at their family summer house in Haven Cove every year, but … Continue reading Variation by Rebecca Yarros →
This guest review is from Danielle Fritz. Danielle is a former librarian who has a special affection for children’s lit and books about the funeral industry. She first cut her criticism teeth as a fanfic writer. A resident of the upper midwest, she’s learned to love beer and tater tot casserole and tolerate long winters. Most nights will find her cuddled up with her pups and wearing out her wrists with yet another crochet project. … Continue reading The Demon’s Queen by Katee Robert →
Death at Morning House is a YA that’s part historical mystery, part haunted house story. I enjoyed it, but I kept getting pulled out of the story because it seemed wildly implausible to me that the kids in the book were as unsupervised as they were. In the present day, Marlowe Wexler is struggling with teenage awkwardness and realizing her own queer identity. When the book opens, she’s house-sitting for a friend of the family … Continue reading Death at Morning House by Maureen Johnson →
When I Think of You is a second chance romance that, while enjoyable, would have benefited from a 3rd person vs 1st person POV. I enjoyed the inside look into the film industry it provided, but found the storyline of the vengeful ex a little tiring and overdone. Kaliya Wilson has always dreamed of being a movie producer, but is stuck working the front desk at a studio, finding it difficult to get her foot … Continue reading When I Think of You by Myah Ariel →
I forgot where I heard about Yakuza Fiancé initially, but that cover was a strong motivator. Yoshino, the granddaughter of a crime boss in Osaka, and Kirishima, the grandson of a Yakuza boss in Tokyo are instructed to date (and possibly marry) to strengthen an alliance between the two families. Yoshino is a bit of a fish out of water, leaving Osaka to live in Tokyo with the Miyama family. She transfers to Kirishima’s school … Continue reading Yakuza Fiancé, Vol 1. by Asuka Konishi →
