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 →
This book had to work hard to win me over, and darn if it didn’t succeed. I find dishonesty to be deeply triggering. Yet even I was charmed by The Truth According to Ember, a romance in which the main character, Ember, simply cannot seem to tell the truth, creating a cascade of lies, half-truths, and obfuscations ranging from large to small as Ember tries to get ahead in both her personal and professional life. … Continue reading The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava →
This book is part of a series, but operates alongside another series, and they are very much connected. The first is ‘The Secret Scientists of London’ which focuses on women scientists working at Athena’s Retreat and the second, of which this is the second installment, is ‘Damsels of Discovery,’ which features women scientists not operating within Athena’s Retreat but nonetheless linked to it. I have dipped in and out of both, and it’s becoming clearer … Continue reading The Lady Sparks a Flame by Elizabeth Everett →
This is a very silly book. You could even call it ridiculous. Absurd even! So why was I charmed by it? I have no defence! For charmed by it I was, despite it containing many things that in my more serious real life I find very very annoying: sexism, misogyny, dubious consent, prescribed gender roles, fatphobia, etc. Magnus is a Viking in the year 999 and he has 10 children. He decides to do two … Continue reading The Very Virile Viking by Sandra Hill →
Well this was just delightful. Wooing the Witch Queen revolves around one of my least favorite tropes: The Big Misunderstanding. And yet, it is a delight from beginning to end, with a minimum amount of stupidity and wonderful characters. Here’s the publisher’s description of the plot: Queen Saskia is the wicked sorceress everyone fears. After successfully wrestling the throne from her evil uncle, she only wants one thing: to keep her people safe from the … Continue reading Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis →
First and of most importance: if you decide to read this book, please take the listed Content and Trigger Warnings seriously, because some were big unhappy surprises to me and to other readers. This book started out so strong and then collapsed at the end. After about 65%, I was rage reading. And I can’t discuss any of what went wrong for me without spoilers, so be ye warned – spoilers ahoy. The cover copy … Continue reading Bane Witch by Ava Morgyn →
I am typing this review in bits and pieces, one-handed at times, because I’m on maternity leave with my infant. Through sleepless nights, tummy time and cleaning up various poop-apocalypses, I have devoured this book. That I am making time to write this review now speaks of how desperately I want people to read this book. I know usually I include a bit of a plot summary, but this blurb is so perfectly written, I’m … Continue reading Fan Service by Rosie Danan →
This guest review comes from Lisa! A longtime romance aficionado and frequent commenter to SBTB, Lisa is a queer Latine critic with a sharp tongue and lots of opinions. She frequently reviews at All About Romance and Women Write About Comics, where she’s on staff, and you can catch her at @thatbouviergirl on Twitter. There, she shares good reviews, bracing industry opinions and thoughtful commentary when she’s not on her grind looking for the next … Continue reading Best Hex Ever by Nadia El-Fassi →
The Resurrectionist is an imperfect but entertaining gothic romantic thriller set in Edinburgh in 1828. A small but avid subset of Smart Bitches may recognize that the term ‘resurrectionist’, when used in Edinburgh in 1828, had a real-life sinister meaning. Yes, my gory gothic Bitches, this was the year that the real-life notorious William Burke and William Hare decided that committing murder and selling the corpses to anatomists was less trouble than digging up bodies. … Continue reading The Resurrectionist by A. Rae Dunlap →
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 →
Maybe the best way to summarize how much I loved Honeysuckle and Bone is to say that once I finished it, I immediately started searching for more books by the author and was immensely disappointed there weren’t any. This is a classic Gothic thriller, but it does so much more with the tropes and themes of that genre that it stands out and makes for a truly memorable reading experience. Carina Marshall has never been … Continue reading Honeysuckle and Bone by Trisha Tobias →
