This book came to my attention based on a reader recommendation. I’ve been trying to figure out how to approach this review since I finished the book this weekend and immediately said out loud and on Twitter, “You have got to be fucking kidding me.” When I look at a small press book, I think about whether I’d buy another book from them, if the book I read is indicative of the quality of the … Continue reading Paramour by Margaret Ethridge
I honestly wonder if this book came from the past, the far, far distant past where brutal behavior, ripping of bodices, and complete idiocy in response to those first two were the norm. My jaw dropped open more and more as I read it. To say that Phinn Hawkins (that’s the heroine) has had a very unconventional upbringing would be a honking huge understatement. Her father was an eccentric tinkerer and general dreamer. Her parents … Continue reading The Girl from Honeysuckle Farm by Jessica Steele
I started reading Charlotte Lamb’s last novel, The Boss’s Virgin, at about 9:00 pm last night. At 10:30 I was 75% finished with it, and could barely make myself put it down. The words are like the crazy glue with my fingers. And my unstoppable yen to keep reading grows despite the following list of absurdities: 1. Not only are there an abundance of punishing kisses (ow) but there’s a great deal of insistence on … Continue reading The Boss’s Virgin by Charlotte Lamb
I’m categorizing all my category (har!) reviews under the heading “1001 Ways to Eat Crow” because I’m reading a monster truck shitload of category romance right now, averaging about 75% of a book per day. I read fast. And I’m enjoying them. For the most part. This is an exception. But either way, I’m reading quickly enough that my usual monster session of navel-gazing in a review will have to be trimmed by a good … Continue reading Dark Obsession by Amanda Stevens
Blame it on Bindel, man, blame it on Bindel. When she claimed in a Guardian On-Line article that romance novels represented “misogynistic hate speech” and cited various romance novel titles and back cover copy as proof, the heat, as they say in Kitchen Stadium, was on. Assorted people agreed to review the book as part of an examination of whether Bindel’s accusations had any bite, and we Smart Bitches joined in, of course. The good … Continue reading Virgin Slave, Barbarian King by Louise Allen
I was most delighted when I got the email from the Teach Me Tonight Professors Brilliant asking if I’d review Virgin Slave, Barbarian King, because after the Bindel article wherein she held up this book as an example of the horrors of mysogynistic hate speech contained within the genre, I thought, HOT DAMN. A book about a Roman maiden kidnapped by a Visigoth? BOO YAH. HERE be a chance for an author to take that … Continue reading Virgin Slave, Barbarian King, by Louise Allen
I confess, I’ve been putting off writing this review for weeks. No, not weeks. Months. The thing is, I can’t figure out the point of this book. Specifically, why it was published. It’s not completely unpleasant, but the story and characters have all the flavor and zip of day-old tapioca pudding. It’s one of those “Oh, lookit the adorable girl snagging herself a cynical, glamorous doctor, and he loves her because she’s so innocent and … Continue reading A Girl in a Million by Betty Neels
Everyone I encounter online, or at least, everyone who left their comments and reviews online for me to find, LOVED this book. I mean, love love loved it, to the point where they put it in the time capsule and let future generations find it so that they, too, can love it. Maybe my future children will love this book. But I sure didn’t. Seriously. I know. I’m insane. I’m defective in some way. But … Continue reading Tell Me Lies by Jennifer Crusie
I’m still trying to wrap my brain around how to review “To Love and To Cherish” by Patricia Gaffney, so y’all will have to make do with my supremely vanilla follow-up read, a Nora Roberts Silhouette reprint from… drumroll please… 1986! For the record, I have never been a big fan of the Silhouette/Harlequin/Mills & Boon romance novels, as they remind me too much of Sweet Valley Highs in size and scope. Also, whenever I’ve … Continue reading A Will and A Way by Nora Roberts
For the seventh day in a row, I am sick. I have more phlegm than I care to think about, and I am over being tired. Moreover, I am cranky because being sick is the suck and I can’t figure out the right combination of pharmaceuticals to at least hide my symptoms. So I sit and cough and sneeze and make disgusting wet noises with my throat and wish I could go home and snork … Continue reading Night Pleasures by Sherrilyn Kenyon
A brief warning: Yes, I will cram as many ways to say “naked duke” into this review as humanly possible. As with anything else disagreeable that involves cramming, the experience will be much more pleasant if you just lay back, relax and resign yourself to your fate, it will make things much easier on you if you do. Trust Dr. Candy, and though it might feel a little cold and sting at first, it’ll be … Continue reading The Naked Duke by Sally MacKenzie
