You know how sometimes you pick up a book because it looks like fun, and then it turns out to be clever and funny and tender and tropey and still somehow unique, and you read it all in one sitting and hop straight onto the Kobo site after midnight to order the previous book in the series? Yeah, that was A Most Unusual Duke for me. This story worked so, so well for me. It’s … Continue reading A Most Unusual Duke by Susanna Allen
CW: discussions of sexual harrassment and an instance of non-graphic sexual assault. Friends, I stayed up all night reading this book. And this was no ordinary night…I had just had surgery (with great results!) but the after effects of anesthesia (which usually leaves me super sleepy) were powerless in the face of this tremendous romance. Two foolish peers have fought a duel over an opera singer. The outcome? The object of the duel, our rising-star … Continue reading After Dark with the Duke by Julie Anne Long
How can it be that it has taken me this long to discover Thirsty Mermaids, the graphic novel by Kat Leyh? This bawdy, body positive, inclusive story is my new favorite, and I’ve been reading a lot of mermaid stuff recently so that’s saying a LOT. When mermaids Pearl, Tooth, and Eez decide to use magic to become human, they only plan to be human for long enough to get some booze. But once Eez … Continue reading Thirsty Mermaids by Kat Leyh
CW/TW: reference to a historical hate crime against LGBTQ people One Last Stop is the tale of August, a young woman who has recently moved to New York City, and Jane, the mysterious woman that August meets on the subway. When August moves to New York, she intends to do what she’s done her whole life, namely, keep to herself. However, her apartment roommates and neighbors are clearly not going to stand for that. Meanwhile, … Continue reading One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
Content warnings: Internalised homophobia. Use of the word sodomite (historically appropriate, but still pretty awful in its impact). Briarley is the story you get if Beauty’s father had been a country parson with enough backbone to tell the Beast no, and enough compassion to stay with the Beast in his daughter’s place. It is touching and kind and charming, and often very funny, and I was absolutely delighted by it. There was once a country … Continue reading Briarley by Aster Glenn Gray
I came to Eclipse via these two tweets shared on Twitter. It was the second one which really got me. I love a good magical school story, but the Harry Potter books never quite worked for me. Eclipse, which promised a view from the staff room of a magical school in the 1920s, sounded like my catnip. (Also, the author’s page has a content warning that includes a warning for ‘academic politics including an unpleasant … Continue reading Eclipse by Celia Lake
We Are Lady Parts is a British sit-com about an all-girl Muslim punk band, and it is glorious. It is sweet, empowering, and very, very funny with a diverse, female-led cast and some very clever writing. The series runs for six 25-minute episodes written and directed by Nida Manzoor, and we watched the whole thing in a single sitting, alternately cackling with laughter and hiding behind the sofa in an agony of vicarious embarrassment. The … Continue reading We Are Lady Parts, created by Nida Manzoor
Romance fans, there is a version The Bachelor that isn’t terrible! Let’s visit New Zealand, where at least one man will fall for you when a koala poops in your belly button. My reading took a nosedive as we hit the March pandemic anniversaries, so I turned to television. Every season I try to enjoy The Bachelor, and most years I angrily give up midway and read Elyse’s recaps instead. I want my dating shows … Continue reading Squee: Bachelor New Zealand
Content warning: there is a fair bit of violence, some of it quite gory, because the adventure part of the plot involves killer zombie-golems, were-beasts, gladiatorial arenas, kidnappers and more. Quite a few minor characters die. There is, however, absolutely no sexual violence in this book, despite certain aspects of the premise that might suggest it. If someone asked me if I wanted to read a romance that was sweet and comforting and funny and … Continue reading Paladin’s Strength by T. Kingfisher
Content warnings: Lots and lots of grief and loss, also death of a secondary character Dearest Josephine is an epistolary novel about grief and coming of age, disguised as a paranormal gothic romance. It is a sweet, clever, beautiful book, and I adored it. In 1820, the recently orphaned Elias Roch meets Josephine DeClare at an inn, and falls instantly and passionately in love. But in the morning, she is gone, and he has no … Continue reading Dearest Josephine by Caroline George
If I had to pick one video game that had the most significant combined impact on me as a gamer and a romance reader, it has to be Final Fantasy VIII. FFVIII is essentially a romance novel in RPG video game form and it had an indelible impact in making me love tropes that are STILL major catnip for me, like settings that combine science fiction and magic elements, political intrigues, girls dealing with possibly … Continue reading Squee From the Keeper Shelf: Final Fantasy VIII
