Behooved is a charming fantasy romance that draws from Beauty and the Beast stories and shifter romances in a creative and sometimes very funny way. It also has a solid representation of life with a chronic illness. While this book wasn’t subtle about its messages, it was heartwarming, exciting, and sweet. Bianca (our narrator) is a princess whose parents teach her to honor duty above all else and to conceal any vulnerability at all cost, … Continue reading Behooved by M. Stevenson →
This is my first Bad Decisions Book Club of 2025. Sleep became a distant memory with this book. For context, I have a newborn. I had the opportunity to sleep, but chose not to because this book was much more important. It is also the start of a series and it’s a series I’m now very excited about! Euphemia Flite was raised in a school for girls on the outskirts of Victorian London. Her origins … Continue reading Rules for Ruin by Mimi Matthews →
Discovering Nicola is the third installment in the series and it can be read as a standalone. I know this because I didn’t read the first book, Meeting Millie, and I have perimenopause brain, so I don’t remember any of the finer details of Tempting Olivia, even though it was one of my top reads of 2024. The story starts months after Geeta Sachdeva’s left her husband, because she was desperately lonely as an empty … Continue reading Discovering Nicola by Clare Ashton →
I picked up this book for its cover. The blue really spoke to me. Plus it was on sale. That’s two things in its favour. Not a very substantial reason to start a book, but it is what it is. Now that I’ve read it, I can list a few more things it has going for it, although there are some negatives, too. Dovey van Dalen is a mystic. She was spellbound at 18 and … Continue reading A Trinket for the Taking by Victoria Laurie →
By the time The Trouble with Anna made its way to me through the library hold list I heard so many people complain about the characters that I fully expected to hate it. Turns out I didn’t hate it all but I also didn’t love it, and that was frustrating because I ALMOST loved it. I would have loved this book about fifteen years ago, but these days I just don’t have the patience. The … Continue reading The Trouble With Anna by Rachel Griffiths →
It has been two long years since the publication of the first book in this series. I wrote rapturously about the first installment and in every single trawl of upcoming releases for the last two years, I have looked for this sequel. Finally, it is here. Needless to say, I devoured it in a day. A delightful day! This story picks up three weeks after the end of The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies. In … Continue reading The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin by Alison Goodman →
I absolutely devoured the first two books in this trilogy. I loved the highly original premise and found both stories beyond charming. The third is more of the same, but not quite to the same heights as the first two. I would recommend avoiding this review if you haven’t read the prior two in the trilogy because it’ll be filled with spoilers. For more about Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, you can read this guest … Continue reading Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett →
I dithered for a week before starting this book. I had it in my possession, but couldn’t get past the first page. I’m not sure if this is unique to me, but when I’m really looking forward to something, it’s very difficult for me to start it. Then, one morning I bit the bullet and pushed through to page two. From there, I tore through the book, snatching reading time wherever I could until I … Continue reading Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry →
Swordheart was originally published in 2018. Luckily for me, Tor is republishing it with a gorgeous cover and pretty green edges, so I have an excuse to review it. I was charmed by the characters and the dialogue, but less so by the fact that the book Would. Not. End. for the longest time. The book opens with Halla, our heroine, a 36-year-old, slightly stout widow, being locked in a room by her relatives, who … Continue reading Swordheart by T. Kingfisher →
Ed.note: before you continue reading this review, please be aware that the TW/CW above includes discussion in this review. Reader discretion advised. Victorian Psycho is what would happen if Patrick Bateman and Jane Eyre had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad baby. Protagonist and narrator Winifred Dotty has no ability to experience fear or empathy. She is completely indifferent to physical pain, be it her own or that of others. She has an endless … Continue reading Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito →
The Stars Too Fondly has queer romance, found family, diverse representation, multiple references to Star Trek, and space travel. I love all of these things. I should adore this book. But I found it to be deeply implausible, frustrating, and full of undeveloped emotion, ideas, and characters. A really bad book is fine – I can toss it aside with never a qualm. A really, REALLY bad book that delivers its badness exactly as advertised … Continue reading The Stars Too Fondly by Emily Hamilton →
