Well, that was just delightful. I loved every single minute of Brazen and the Beast, even the melodramatic bits. This historical is Book 2 in the Bareknuckle Bastards series and although I had no trouble starting here, I do plan to read the first book since they are closely connected. Lady Henrietta Sedley (Hattie) is still single at twenty-nine and determined to make this The Year of Hattie. It’s a four stage plan: Business, Home, … Continue reading Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean →
Last Night with the Earl is one of those books that, when upon finishing, made me wonder why the hell I waited so long to read it in the first place. It’s rich in emotional development and has one of the wittiest heroines I’ve ever read. My gripes are minor, and they could very well be due to my own decisions to read the series out of order. Eli Dawes is thought to be dead, … Continue reading Last Night with the Earl by Kelly Bowen →
A Month of Sundays is a contemporary f/f romance that tries to do too much at once. The slow progression of the romance, the value placed on family and friends, and the celebration of food are lovely, but this book needed to either leave some plot developments out entirely or be longer so they could be fully explored. I’d have voted for the latter because I enjoyed these characters. Rachel is an accountant for a huge … Continue reading Month of Sundays by Yolanda Wallace →
A Magical Inheritance is the first book in the Ladies Occult Society series. I enjoyed the feminist themes and the characters. However, readers should be advised that nothing much actually happens in the book. This is a fantasy Regency without romance but with The Power of Friendship Between Women and a lot of books. Also, there is tea. Elizabeth Knight is unmarried. She lives with her stepmother, who is younger than she is (and who is … Continue reading A Magical Inheritance by Krista D. Ball →
If you ever just need to turn your brain off for a sec, might I suggest Toxic Desire by Robin Lovett. It’s an erotic science fiction romance where two enemies are stranded on a sex planet. There are some pacing issues and the pages given to all of the sex scenes may have been better utilized, but it’s so over the top and campy that you just have to settle in for the ride. Before … Continue reading Toxic Desire by Robin Lovett →
Reading Red, White & Royal Blue is an excellent reminder about why a couple’s chemistry isn’t the only thing that matters in a romance. This book has received positive buzz, and for good reason: the enemies-to-lovers romance is swoonworthy, the banter is witty and laugh-out-loud funny, and the epistolary aspect is a delightful surprise. Despite how much I enjoyed the relationship between Alex (the son of the American president) and Henry (a British prince), there … Continue reading Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston →
The Scandalous Suffragette is about a young woman who literally falls into the arms of a young man and ends up turning him and his sisters into either suffragists or suffragettes (more on the distinction later). She’s the heir to a chocolate factory, and he’s the heir to a crumbling family estate. It’s a promising combination, although it also made me oddly stressed and a bit disappointed. Violet Coombes is the only child of doting … Continue reading The Scandalous Suffragette by Eliza Redgold →
CW/TW: This book is incredibly gross and gory and features murder and self-harm by way of a deadly space disease. Salvation Day was exactly the book I was searching for. It’s the fucked-up space horror I’d been trying and failing to find for weeks. Though not without its faults, it reminds me very much of the Alien franchise. That’s a good thing because I love those movies (and the video game) very much. Two people whose … Continue reading Salvation Day by Kali Wallace →
The Jane Austen Handbook: Proper Life Skills From Regency England is a guide to Regency life and manners, pitched to the reader who wants something non-academic and focused on the socio-economic class that Austen wrote about most frequently. This is history-lite but it’s fun and interesting. If you’ve read Jane Austen’s novels and want something to fill out the world for you, this is a good starter book. It’s light, with lovely illustrations. I was … Continue reading The Jane Austen Handbook by Margaret C. Sullivan →
I picked up Witchmark for my SFF book club and read it without any prior knowledge (I didn’t even read the blurb!). I expected a run-of-the-mill fantasy with magical shenanigans, toppling of the elitist status quo, and interesting worldbuilding. I was right and wrong: Witchmark does have all those things, but it also has a delightful and unexpected romantic relationship at the heart of the story. Okay, you know that feeling when you pick up … Continue reading Witchmark by C.L. Polk →
Every reader has tropes/subplots that they just don’t like and swear to never read. Mine include the following: When a protagonist is in a relationship and cheats on that person with the other protagonist. I dislike emotional cheating, but I hate physical cheating even more. When the protagonists don’t enter into a romantic relationship until the very end, so we don’t see them interacting in a relationship. This review just goes to show that I … Continue reading You, Me, U.S. by Brigitte Bautista →
