There was a tremendous amount of squee’ing here at the Bitchery when the eARC of Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover was released. Fans of MacLean, and of the Rules of Scoundrels series had been waiting for Chase’s story FOREVER and the big reveal at the end of No Good Duke Goes Unpunished made the waiting even WORSE. RedHeadedGirl and I dove right in. ATTENTION. SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST THREE BOOKS IN THE SERIES FOLLOW. … Continue reading Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover by Sarah MacLean→
It’s not every day that I’m all excited about a tapeworm zombie apocalypse, but I’ve been looking forward to Mira Grant’s book Symbiont for a year, and when a copy landed on my front porch I did quite a dance of joy. This book did not meet all of my lofty expectations, but it was still exciting. It’s not a romance, but I’m reviewing it here because we have many Mira Grant fans (she also … Continue reading Symbiont By Mira Grant→
Amanda and I were so excited about Texts from Jane Eyre that we couldn’t wait to text each other about it. Then I remembered that I actually hate texting because I still haven’t learned to type on my phone, so we chatted via Google Docs instead. As you can see, we loved the book. Carrie: Did you like the book? Are you not entertained? Amanda: I did! I started reading it on the subway … Continue reading Text from Jane Eyre by Mallory Ortberg→
Coffee: 14 Caffeinated Tales of the Fantastic, is a delightful short story collection that will warm the darkest, coldest winter day. There’s adventure, humor, pathos, and just dash of romance in these stories. This is the book to grab when you have a precious fifteen minutes to yourself – preferably in a coffee shop. All of these stories have an element of science fiction or fantasy. The two stories with the most romance are “A … Continue reading Coffee: 14 Tales of the Fantastic, Edited by Alex Shvartsman→
My name is Elyse and I am a yarn-aholic. I own enough yarn that I suspect I have enough to keep me knitting for several years — or forever if I’m including the cheap acrylic stuff I use for charity knitting. Even though I promise to be good, when my paycheck hits my bank account I find myself drawn to the pushers–the little yarn store, the online shops. My husband narrows his eyes as I hustle … Continue reading Sock-Yarn Shawls: 15 Lacy Knitted Shawl Patterns by Jen Lucas→
Oh, dear. At Star’s End has so much promise, but it ends up being so haphazard that it might as well have been constructed by sticking random Legos together. And not in a good way. The premise of this novella is pure CarrieS crack. Dr. Eos Rai is trying to find the Mona Lisa, which is said to have been destroyed with the fall of Earth. She turns to a group of treasure hunting brothers … Continue reading At Star’s End by Anna Hackett→
I remember when I was a pre-teen and a friend told me what doggy-style was, and I was scandalized and horrified and thought it was the grossest thing ever. Fast-forward twenty years to Elyse reading about a dude having doggy-style anal sex with his billionaire dinosaur boss while dripping with dinosaur…er…emissions, and me going “Eh,” and casually eating another french fry. How I’ve grown over the years. Obviously I read The Billionaire Dinosaur Forced Me … Continue reading The Billionaire Dinosaur Forced Me Gay by Hunter Fox→
A Slip of the Keyboard is a collection of nonfiction by Terry Pratchett, author of, among other things, the Discworld series. Although none of the essays and speeches have anything to do with romance, I thought I’d review it because I know that we have many Terry Pratchett fans on this site. This is a lovely, varied collection of short nonfiction. I happened to read this collection during a week in which my Twitter feed … Continue reading A Slip of the Keyboard→
I like over-the-top, angsty Harlequin Presents, and I like Maisey Yates’ writing, so it was no real surprise that I enjoyed Avenge Me. It’s the first book in the 5th Avenue trilogy, and based on the steaminess and drama of the first installment, I’m going to like this series a lot. The book opens with Austin Treffen reflecting on the fact that he’s about to destroy his family. Austin is a lawyer, and just like his daddy, … Continue reading Avenge Me by Maisey Yates→
Sometimes you pick up a book and it’s not even a little bit what you expected. Sometimes that’s a good thing. Sometimes you get Larry and his sweaty balls. If I had to sum up my reaction to this book in one sentence it would be “WTF did I even just read?” I picked up His Hidden Agenda by Fiona Murphy because it was marketed as an erotic office romance with an alpha male hero, and I loved … Continue reading His Hidden Agenda by Fiona Murphy→
The story behind Mona Maclean, Medical Student is riveting. Alas, the book is not. While some Victorian novels have stood the test of time, Mona is quite clearly the product of a bygone age. As an ex-English major with an interest in history, I saw a potential paper topic on every page, but it did not make for entertaining reading. Mona was written by Margaret Georgiana Todd and first published in 1894 under the pseudonym … Continue reading Mona Maclean, Medical Student, by Margaret Georgiana Todd→
