UPDATE: An updated version of Hello Stranger has been released digitally to all retailers, and updated copies should have appeared in digital libraries. The scene in question described below has been removed entirely from the book. … I had been waiting so impatiently for Hello Stranger to come, mostly because the heroine is inspired by the first female British physician, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson. And I was so mad that it let me down. Why did it let me … Continue reading Hello Stranger by Lisa Kleypas →
I was all excited to read The Man in the Black Suit. It’s a jet-setting, glamorous romantic suspense set around the art world, and if you wrote all those things on a piece of paper and put it under a propped up box, you’d have yourself an effective Elyse trap. The first part of the book was good, really good, but the last third went completely off the rails and enraged the hell out of me. The … Continue reading The Man in the Black Suit by Sylvain Reynard →
I was so, so excited to read #Starstruck by Sariah Wilson. The premise of a fan interacting with her favorite movie star on Twitter, and that interaction subsequently leading to a romance, is all of my catnips. I love private lives vs public selves stories. Unfortunately this book suffers from underdeveloped heroine, an offensive remark about homosexuality, a very misleading message about being sexually active and a poor understanding of feminism. The book pissed me off. Rant … Continue reading #Starstruck by Sariah Wilson →
Welcome to the latest edition of I Read This Shit So You Don’t Have To. Trigger warnings for discussion of rape and assault. When I picked up Scandal Becomes Her I was super excited for the gothic elements it offered. Instead I got a pile of WTFery and a hero who is solidly on Team Don’t Fuck That Guy. I’m pretty much spoiling the shit out of everything in this review, so if you actually want to … Continue reading Scandal Becomes Her by Shirlee Busbee →
NB: Sometimes you just need to work out your frustrations with writing an F-grade, and Rhode Red did just that! Not to be confused with RedHeadedGirl in Boston, Rhode is a redheaded feminist in Providence. She works in business (aka trade) publishing by day, reads romances and SFF by night, buys more art than her house can hold and grows vast quantities of flowers. “I’ve tried not to keep this film in my mind, and … Continue reading Guest Movie Review: Maudie →
Note from Sarah: We’re running this review and the guest review from Poppy together because they illustrate how one item in a larger context can ruin a book for a reader. Wedded Bliss is an incredibly enjoyable story with one horrible problem that ruined the whole book for me. I’m going to start off by describing the plot and why I liked it, and then I’m going to get into the problem. There will be … Continue reading Wedded Bliss by Celeste Bradley →
Three Sweet Nothings opens with Kyle getting himself off to a memory of his ex, Ruby (because she’s SO much better than porn). Specifically, he’s recalling a time when he and drunk Ruby fooled around with another girl. This has been his go-to image for five years since their ugly breakup. And based on this single memory, Kyle is absolutely certain that “a filthy freak hid behind that deceptive, good girl front.” (Yes, Ruby’s curious … Continue reading Three Sweet Nothings by Nikki Sloane →
I read Keeping it Hot with the expectation that I would get a friends-to-lovers romance set somewhere warm and beachy. Instead what I got was a whole lot of “what the fuck did I just read?” Here’s what you need to know: Zoe Hart runs a coffee shop inside the Oceanix resort in Florida. The resort is owned and run by her best friend (and secret crush) Dylan Jackson. Zoe has just turned twenty-nine and … Continue reading Keeping it Hot by Sydney Landon →
TW for victim blaming and discussion of rape, kidnapping, suicide, and sexual assault. As someone who likes a good suspenseful story and is a fan of the My Favorite Murder podcast (hey, fellow Murderinos!), I was very on board for this story when I saw the summary. Women in law enforcement stopping serial killers? Yes, please! Maybe this will fill The Fall-shaped hole in my heart, I thought. When I found out that I’d gotten … Continue reading All the Dead Girls by Rita Herron →
I loathe this book. LOATHE. With the fiery passion of a thousand suns. It is the absolute worst. Wow, I need to start learning to express myself, don’t I? I almost wrote a DNF review for this at the 53% mark, but since I already did that (although that was out of apathy, not complete mind-numbing rage), I tried to force myself to read it – challenging myself that maybe it wouldn’t end like I … Continue reading Tell Me How This Ends by Victoria De La O →
Carrie and Elyse went to a panel on the Gothic Resurgence at RT, and afterwards, Carrie described this movie as “kinda Gothic!” and I thought “Hm, let’s do a science.” Reader, READER, it’s sort of yes but also a bunch of other things and mostly this movie is just a lot of wasted potential and also Emma Watson’s eyebrow acting. Emma Watson is Mae, a girl from a lower class (working? Blue collar? lower middle … Continue reading Movie Review: The Circle →
