I’m a huge fan of Gothic and of creepy shit in general, so I was super excited to read The Companion. While this book has Gothic elements, it doesn’t follow the Gothic convention of having the heroine vindicated, and frankly it turned out to be a depressing read in general. Part of the book takes place in 1855 as Lucy Blunt awaits the verdict of her murder trial. While she is imprisoned, Lucy reflects back … Continue reading The Companion by Kim Taylor Blakemore →
I love tropes. I could talk tropes all the live long day. But you know what I really love, when there is a trope trifecta… Office romance? Fake relationship? Marriage of convenience? Tick! Tick! TICK! This book literally ticks all the boxes. Garrett Song, the man about to be announced as CEO of Hansol Incorporated (his family’s company) is super-hot, super-driven and super-not-into-marriage. Garrett’s grandmother, the overbearing matriarch, has other ideas though and has arranged … Continue reading Temporary Wife Temptation by Jayci Lee →
CW: The death of a child, sexual assault, suicidal ideation The Lost Ones by Anita Frank lured me in with the promise of a Gothic set in WWI, but the pacing was massively slow and the characters largely unlikeable. As a result, I only finished the book because I needed resolution on the ghostly portion. This book actually made me grind my teeth, and at one point my cat, Dewey, shut the book on me … Continue reading The Lost Ones by Anita Frank →
CW lifted from the book: The Girl Next Door includes a description of a sudden past death of a partner. I (Tara) am a Chelsea M. Cameron superfan, so I was excited when Shana asked if I wanted to review this with her. Unfortunately, although there were elements I liked about The Girl Next Door, it ultimately fell a little flat for me. Shana hasn’t read Cameron, but her catnip is small-town romances where a … Continue reading The Girl Next Door by Chelsea M. Cameron →
Content warning: This book has ALL the triggers, and I’m a bit worried I’ve forgotten one, but here goes. Abusive/manipulative/neglectful/controlling parents. Alcoholism. Suicide of a parent (witnessed by the child – off page, but remembered rather vividly). Forced marriage and rape (off-page). Infidelity. Hero is orphaned at an early age and is not acknowledged by his father’s family. Plane crash. People who stress you out just showing up and letting themselves into your apartment to … Continue reading Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev →
CW: sexual harassment I first heard about Something to Talk About last year and said “oooooh,” because it has tropes and character types that I like a whole lot: Hollywood setting Ice queen lead Boss/employee relationship Tabloid photo fallout Jo Jones is showrunner for the hottest drama on TV and rumours abound that she is going to head up the next Agent Silver movie (I imagined an American James Bond). Jo has no interest in … Continue reading Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner →
The first thing I heard about this book was that it wasn’t very good. But I’m a romance reader and so I care not a fig fancy for others’ opinions of my reading preferences. It didn’t hurt that my love for vampires was (and still is) so tremendously strong that any qualms I had were quickly squashed. When it became clear to me that the heroine would be gifted with a vampire hero, I launched … Continue reading Keeper Shelf: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness →
I adored this book. But it wasn’t always an easy read. It’s a book drowning in grief and desperation, finely wrought and deeply felt, and it’s an understatement to say that at parts it was so good and so sad and so precise in its pain that I was simply made of tears. So fair warning, if your heart can’t handle a story of surviving the unexpected loss of a parent, there’s nothing wrong with … Continue reading Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo →
Note: spoilers for the first two books in the Consortium Rebellion series follow. The third book in the sci-fi romance Consortium Rebellion series, Chaos Reigning, follows the baby of the powerful von Hasenberg family, Catarina (or Cat for short) in her quest to root out any remaining culprits in the kidnapping of her eldest brother, Ferdinand. I liked the first book in the Consortium Rebellion series and I loved the second book, so my hopes … Continue reading Chaos Reigning by Jessie Mihalik →
I’ve been having a lot of trouble finishing books recently. My mind is distracted, and while I can concentrate well enough on the things I need to do for work or around the house, my ability to fall into a book and lose myself there seems to have evaporated. So when I found myself carrying my Kindle from room to room as I went about my business, reading with one eye on the screen while … Continue reading Say Yes to the Duke by Eloisa James →
Content warnings: Both the hero and heroine have troubled pasts, including loss of parents, abuse, and infidelity. Also, the hero is REALLY into researching suicide cults. While this book is surprisingly sweet and light, and none of these things are described in detail, there is plenty of darkness in the backstory, so proceed accordingly. I took one look at the blurb for Beach Read on NetGalley and one-clicked so hard that they could probably hear … Continue reading Beach Read by Emily Henry →
