As much as I enjoyed Better than Before and The Four Tendencies, I found reading Happier At Home to be a frustrating slog through minimal bits of usable advice and a lot of detailed personal journalling that I didn’t expect or enjoy. This line from the cover copy best describes this book: “starting in September (the new January), Rubin dedicated a school year—September through May—to making her home a place of greater simplicity, comfort, and love.” I live … Continue reading Happier At Home: Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon Self-Control, and My Other Experiments in Everyday Life →
Escort by Skye Warren is about a male prostitute who falls in love with his client. Man, do I hate when that happens. I mean, you’re just there for a night of good fun and then suddenly this sexy dude is in love with you and can’t stop thinking about your freckles, and it’s such a hassle, honestly. Anyway, this is a quick read (or was for me) told entirely in the hero’s first person POV, … Continue reading Escort by Skye Warren →
When I recommend Shelly Laurenston’s books to readers whose tastes I’m not entirely familiar with, I often include some caveats: her writing style is unique, and while I enjoy it tremendously, I know it doesn’t work for everyone. Her characters talk like real people, real smart assed people, and they get into situations that are often so completely over the top you either have to surrender to the campy, extraordinary fun or you might be annoyed … Continue reading Hot and Badgered by Shelly Laurenston →
NB: This guest review comes from LibrarianJessi. This review is a little bit different as it’s not really a review of a book or movie. Instead, LibrarianJessi is reviewing a musical! LibrarianJessi, librarian, bibliophile, romance evangelist, and Broadway nerd.I fangirl over every musical I can possibly see and review them through the lens of a romance reader. Musicals and romance novels have a lot in common: meaningful exploration of human relationships, obstinately optimistic worldviews, snide … Continue reading Guest Review: Waitress →
I have a list of memoirs I want to read, and when this book became available, I dropped everything to read it. I’m so glad I did. I couldn’t put it down, even when it was way past my bedtime, even when the end of a chapter provided a good stopping point. I couldn’t stop making a list of people to recommend it to. I highlighted at least four lines per chapter, and I’m still … Continue reading We’re Going to Need More Wine: Stories That Are Funny, Complicated, and True by Gabrielle Union →
I am super impatient for the season three of The Expanse to start, with the wonder that is Shohreh Aghdashloo as Chrisjen Avasarala, so when I saw this YA sci-fi romance with an amazing cover, I picked it up to help tide me over. Our Dark Stars is much more sci-fi action-adventure than it is romance, and it has more of a Happy for Now ending than I’d prefer, but I still enjoyed it. Talia Starchaser … Continue reading Our Dark Stars by Audrey Grey and Krystal Wade →
The Beautiful Ones is a book that includes many genres, including fantasy, romance, manners, and just a little bit of Gothic. I enjoyed it more as a soap opera than a romance, but your mileage will vary depending on your interpretation of the characters. The setting is an alternate world in which some people have telekinetic powers. It takes place during the Belle Époque (anywhere between 1871-1914). Loisail is the Big City where the upper … Continue reading The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia →
My Lady’s Choosing: An Interactive Romance Novel is silly fun. If you are in the right mood for it, this Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-style romance is addictive. It’s an affectionate parody of historical romance with pen and ink illustrations and a tendency towards intentionally terrible similes and metaphors that are deployed during sex scenes in such a way to inspire many a spit take. In this book: You are you. The plucky, penniless, Regency-era London version. For a lass … Continue reading My Lady’s Choosing by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris →
Tess of the Road is a good book, but not the book I expected. Although there are adventures in the book, for the most part it’s a story about healing and forgiveness. Tess doesn’t even start on the road until page 88 and from then on it’s a long journey consisting of Tess considering her past and how she feels about it. There is some romance in it, but it’s not romance-centric. This book is … Continue reading Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman →
It doesn’t bode well that I read What a Difference a Duke Makes a couple of weeks ago and when I sat down to review it all I could remember was that it was a Regency romance and had a duke in it. Luckily I was able to refresh my memory. This book is not particularly memorable, but it was enjoyable while I was reading it. Mari (rhymes with starry, as she is constantly telling … Continue reading What A Difference A Duke Makes by Lenora Bell →
I have been spending this year giving presentations on, and writing about, Mary Shelley, and when I haven’t been doing that I’ve been giving presentations about Jane Austen. Thus I was thrilled that the book Pride and Prometheus was coming out. I didn’t even read the book description. I just looked at the cover and thought: “This will fix everything.” Frankenstein, the novel by Mary Shelley, does not end well. The estimated body count comes … Continue reading Pride and Prometheus by John Kessel →
