For me, Kissing the Captain was bad. It was mind-numbingly, throw-against-a-wall bad. While many historical romances are gloriously cheesy and I adore them, this romance was not ‘so bad it’s good’ – it was just bad. The dialogue was clunky and false, no one behaved in an even remotely plausible manner, the hero was a jackass, the heroine vacillated between being a kickass woman and a doormat, and the villain was cartoonishly one-dimensional and relentlessly fat-shamed. … Continue reading Kissing the Captain by Kianna Alexander →
When I first heard about Choose Your Own Love Story, I was so pumped for this. I wore out nearly every Choose Your Own Adventure book my school’s library had when I was a kid. So combine that with some romance and I wanted to get my hands on this immediately. Unfortunately, the introduction of the concept was the only thing I liked about the book. The basic premise is that your long term boyfriend has … Continue reading Choose Your Own Love Story by Ilyse Mimoun →
Many of us have heard tell of the The Sheik, the 1919 “romantic” adventure novel written by E.M. Hull. It s one of the early depictions of a rapist alpha-hole hero, a strong woman tamed by the dick of her man, and a super racist, colonialist plot. Okay, it’s not an early depiction of that last part, you can find super racist colonialist plots throughout much of the Western Literature Canon, but three things make a good … Continue reading The Sheik Retold by Victoria Vane and E.M. Hull →
I’m totally cheating here, and giving you the cover copy because it does a much better job of explaining the plot than I could: On a hike deep in the Rocky Mountains, Kai Monahan watches as a dozen dragons–actual freaking dragons–battle beneath a fat white moon. When one crashes nearly dead at her feet and transforms into a man, Kai does the only thing a decent person could: she grabs the nearest sword and saves … Continue reading Soul of Smoke by Caitlyn McFarland →
The four initial facts you absolutely need to know about For Such a Time by Kate Breslin are as follows: 1) It is an inspirational romance. God, faith, and the Bible (actually, a ‘magic’ Bible** that seems to show up whenever the main character needs to see it most) make regular appearances. 2) It is set almost entirely in the Theresienstadt concentration camp during World War II, and deals extensively with the horrors of the … Continue reading For Such a Time by Kate Breslin →
Contemporary romances aren’t usually my thing, but Tom Hiddleston is. That made this book sound like catnip – a handsome movie star retreats to a seaside town in Scotland when he needs a break from the limelight. My mind was already picturing Hiddles in a kilt and heavy cable-knit sweater, his cheeks ruddy from the cold wind, his . . . um, yeah. I also liked that the heroine is a journalist who’s let her … Continue reading To Scotland with Love by Patience Griffin →
Elyse, Carrie, and I all went to see Andy Dwyer Dinosaur Guy Jurassic World this weekend, and ho, boy, do we have things to say. What follows is a somewhat spoilery discussion about what we liked, what we didn’t, what there needed to be more of (dinosaurs) and less of (people). Here’s a basic summary of the plot: Located off the coast of Costa Rica, the Jurassic World luxury resort provides a habitat for an array … Continue reading Movie Review: Jurassic World →
Reading the description of the book, I really wanted to like it. We’ve got a heroine, Becky, who’s a survivor. Growing up was tough after her father and brother die, leaving her mother and her to scrape by. When she finds herself pregnant, her boyfriend, Dylan, demands she terminate and when she refuses he accidentally runs over a homeless person. He lands in jail after she calls the police, and as the story begins … Continue reading Her Temporary Hero by Jennifer Apodaca →
One of my favorite things about reading historical romances is stumbling upon all of the ridiculous anachronistic bits or the items/actions that are plainly in the wrong time period. So imagine my surprise and initial delight when I not only found something anachronistic in the contemporary romance Enemies with Benefits, by Louisa George, but that the anachronistic bit was the heroine herself, Poppy Spencer. It honestly feels like Poppy stepped straight out of a romance … Continue reading Enemies with Benefits by Louisa George →
Okay, this fuschia pile of incoherent nonsense came from the HABO a while back looking for pirate something something ridonkadonk. This is pirate something ridonkadonk, but not the correct pirate something something ridonkadonk. It’s a totally other pirate something ridonkadonk. So the basic premise is this: Adam Foxworth’s father died in a duel with Alexa Ashley’s father, because Adam’s father was banging Alexa’s mother, and Adam swore revenge upon Alexa’s father. 15 years later, Adam … Continue reading My Lady Vixen by Connie Mason →
If you don’t remember, I reviewed the first book in the Game Maker series, The Professional and enjoyed it with the caveat of fully committing myself to the crazy. Now that we’re another book into this strange world of erotic Russians, I was prepared. I knew what to expect and part of me was actually looking forward to seeing the ante upped in cracktastic glory. That is not what happened, which is probably why it … Continue reading The Master by Kresley Cole →
