In My Best Friend’s Royal Wedding, Khara agrees, with some reluctance, to be the bridesmaid at her best friend’s wedding to the Archduke of Westerwald, a tiny principality somewhere in Middle Europe. A cocktail waitress from Las Vegas, Khara finds herself daunted by the unspoken rules of etiquette that surround her, but the best man, Adam, is more than happy to be her tutor…and, if possible, to get into her pants. Trouble is, while Adam … Continue reading My Best Friend’s Royal Wedding by Romy Sommer →
Strange Love by Ann Aguirre is a delightfully weird, heartwarming romance featuring a virgin alien hero, an abductee heroine, and a talking dog. It’s a blend of Alien, The Bachelor and The Hunger Games. It’s also a middle finger to people who claim that romance novels are formulaic and rely on rich, handsome heroes to seal the fantasy. The hero in this book is Zylar of Kith Balak, a vaguely insectoid alien who comes from … Continue reading Strange Love by Ann Aguirre →
I’m familiar with Knight’s other No F*cks Given guides and have recommended a few to friends, particularly The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck. Based on the premise that boundaries are important, but setting them is half the battle and defending them with Honesty and Politeness (H&P) is the the other, each book in the series embraces the idea that you are in charge of your life, and you get to decide how it will … Continue reading F**k No! How to Stop Saying Yes, When You Can’t, You Shouldn’t, Or You Just Don’t Want To by Sarah Knight →
Trigger warning (for the book, not the review): There is a teen pregnancy in the book and the father and sister are trying very hard to make the girl have an abortion when she doesn’t want to. I don’t know how this resolves, because see the DNF grade. But if you have triggers around emotionally abusive families or around other people deciding your healthcare, proceed with caution. I picked up this book because it looked … Continue reading Mix Tape by Jane Sanderson →
Content warning: Attempted rape Much Ado About A Widow starts with Georgie, two years widowed, returning to her father’s house to marry a man she loathes on pain of being disowned. On the way, she is kidnapped by unsavoury persons; she escapes them only to collide with Robin, Lord St Just, a friend of her brother’s, who rescues her… by kidnapping her again, this time onto his boat. To do him justice, this is probably … Continue reading Much Ado About A Widow by Jenna Jaxon →
As an Australian living in Melbourne, I always feel a bit sad that there aren’t more romances set in my part of the world. While there are plenty of amazing Australian romance authors out there, it seems that there isn’t much of a market for romances set in Australia…and so our local authors write stories set in the UK or Europe or the US – exotic for this reviewer, but rather a pity for everyone … Continue reading A Girl’s Guide to the Outback by Jessica Kate →
Shout out to Maya who shared her expertise on racialization and approved of Megxit Ranger! Thanks, Maya!!!! Headliners is the fifth book in Lucy Parker’s London Celebrity series, and it is not an exaggeration to say that I have been a squatting like a goblin in the corner, waiting to pounce on this book. I LOVE Parker’s style, and it’s absolutely worth picking this book up for her snark and wit alone. All the books … Continue reading Headliners by Lucy Parker →
Promise of Darkness is a fantasy romance that intrigued me with its Gothic elements and excellent worldbuilding. The tone of the novel shifted midway leaving its Gothic premise behind for something more fantasy-adventure driven. While that shift felt abrupt and pulled me out of the novel momentarily, I was so invested in the plot it was fairly easy to jump back in. I will warn readers that this book ends with a HFN not a … Continue reading Promise of Darkness by Bec McMaster →
I love modern-day witches. I love queer romance. I love mysteries. I’m not typically a huge YA reader, but I like the first three things enough to give queer YA witch romance mystery These Witches Don’t Burn a try. While this book was not without its flaws, there was something quite fresh-feeling about These Witches Don’t Burn that I appreciated. It took a lot of common YA tropes, such as “I’m trying to be a … Continue reading These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling →
I’ve been reading a lot about women’s suffrage lately. Some books are dry. Some are gripping. Other Powers is the “Women’s Suffrage: All the Dirt” version. This book describes the complicated career of Victoria Woodhull, and the high-profile adultery trial of Henry Ward Beecher in which she was involved. By the end of the book, fortunes have been made and lost and made again, the women’s suffrage movement has been set back by decades, and … Continue reading Other Powers by Barbara Goldsmith →
Love Her or Lose Her is a contemporary romance between a married couple on the verge of divorce. Dominic and Rosie started dating in middle school and are now married adults. They have no kids or pets. Dominic finished a military deployment overseas and is working in construction. Rosie works at a department store and dreams of opening her own restaurant. Frustrated by Dominic’s failure to communicate anything to her other than lust (every Tuesday … Continue reading Love Her or Lose Her by Tessa Bailey →
