I read Wild (the first book in the Aftershock series, not the book about hiking) because it involves a zookeeper at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Since I have been to that park many, many times, I was curious. This was basically a good novella hiding in a crappy novel. Here are some Trigger Warnings and caveats: If plot lines about infidelity are a no-go for you, don’t go to this book. If you are … Continue reading Wild by Jill Sorenson
STEM characters alert! Earth Bound is a historical romance set in the early 1960s, part of the Fly Me To The Moon series. Before I go any further, may I say that it is refreshing to see a historical that isn’t set in the Regency Era, the Victorian Era, or the 1920s. I love reading romance in those time periods, but I also think that setting a romance series in the 1960s during early days … Continue reading Earth Bound by Emma Barry and Genevieve Turner
I go through animal obsessions in stages and currently I’m (PLATONICALLY) interested in cephalopods. I’ve read a few books that involve cephalopods (squid, cuttlefish, octopuses, nautilus) and I’ve seen some weird shit, you guys. They are especially popular in the steampunk genre and in Lovecraftian horror. For example, fictional items which feature cephalopods that we’ve reviewed here include: The Farthest Shore by Marian Perera Fantasy in which a young woman has a mind meld with … Continue reading Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness by Peter Godfrey-Smith
In an effort to read things I already own, I’ve been letting a random number generator decide which book to pick up next. It’s not going so great, if you want me to be honest because, boy, do I have a lot of things lurking on my Kindle. I don’t remember how half of them got there. This is one of those books and I didn’t make it to the end. Quinn Bradford and Elise … Continue reading Drive Me Crazy by Tracy Wolff
If the Dress Fits is a body-positive romance set in the Philippines. I loved the cultural elements, the food, and the body positivity. However, I was often exasperated by the heroine, who hurts a lot of people by believing that she cannot be loved in the romantic sense. Although this book is body-positive overall, TW for some discussion of fat shaming and internalized fatphobia. Our heroine, Martha Aguas, is an accountant who travels a lot … Continue reading If the Dress Fits by Carla de Guzman
NB: Today, we have a guest review from Reader Claudia on the latest release by Meredith Duran. Here’s Claudia’s bio: At sixteen, I found my older cousin’s stash of Barbara Cartlands and other assorted Harlequin-type romance housed in an old sewing cabinet and life was never the same! I took a long break from romance but rediscovered it about four years ago. I love history, so I mostly read historical romance. I really like when … Continue reading Guest Review: The Sins of Lord Lockwood by Meredith Duran
Miss Miles was written in 1890, and it describes the lives of four women in Yorkshire. Sarah Miles is a working-class young woman who wants to become a “lady” even though she doesn’t fully understand what being a lady means. Amelia is a lady, or the closest thing the area has to one, and she is driven to despair because her family will not let her do any kind of work. Dora and Maria are … Continue reading Miss Miles by Mary Taylor
I loved this book but fair warning, I have never been so stressed out by reading a novel in my life. This book is written from the point of view of Lily, and is told in first-person, past tense. Lily is a teenager who has very severe ADHD. I have never been more worried about a character – maybe because I’m the mom of a teenage girl so I’m primed to worry, maybe because my … Continue reading The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily by Laura Creedle
The Love Experiment by Ainslie Paton is a workplace romance with a plot that involves that 36 questions test which supposedly leads to love. I don’t know when the test was first created, but I do remember that it was everywhere a few years ago after The New York Times published the “test.” It’s an interesting concept for a romance, especially for a reader like me, who frequently takes online quizzes to see when I’ll … Continue reading The Love Experiment by Ainslie Paton
The Last Namsara is a YA epic fantasy that I think will appeal to a lot of readers, including those who are a little leery of the genre. First of all, there’s no cliffhanger ending. We get full resolution, although I can certainly see the book being part of a larger series. There’s also a romance, but no love triangle. Add to that a completely badass warrior heroine, a forbidden love story, dragons, and storytelling … Continue reading The Last Namsara by Kristen Ciccarelli
I’m a huge fan of Kristen Callihan’s contemporary romances. So when I saw Firelight sitting on the shelf at my local library right before I left for a reading retreat, I just knew it was fate. And hot damn, why did I wait so long to start The Darkest London series? Normally, I don’t reach for historical romances. But with the added elements of magic, curses, and demons, it felt like a decent compromise for a … Continue reading Firelight by Kristen Callihan
