Waiting for Tom Hanks is a cute but not too cute romantic comedy about a woman who longs to be in her own rom-com but can’t recognize it when it happens. It’s also a lovely meditation on loss and healing. This book might be too PG for some readers and too cute for others, but I enjoyed it because of its well developed romance, great friendships, respect for the rom-com genre, and treatment of grief. … Continue reading Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey →
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Volume One: High School Is Hell collects the first four issues of the new Buffy comic by Jordie Bellaire. This is not to be confused with Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season Eight – Twelve, a series published by Dark Horse that continued the story past the TV show’s finale. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a reimagining of Buffy with the same characters set in the present day. There are a lot of significant changes: … Continue reading Buffy the Vampire Slayer Vol. 1: High School is Hell by Jordie Bellaire →
Sleepless is an inventive and incredibly gorgeous romance told in two volumes, both of which are out now. It features one of the best love stories I’ve read in comics and with every page I exclaimed, “That dress tho!” The setting, a fantasy kingdom, is inspired by the Italian and Moroccan Renaissance. The heroine is a woman of color with a pet fennec fox. The hero is her bodyguard. Every page is frameable. The heroine, Poppy, … Continue reading Sleepless by Sarah Vaughn →
In Waiting for Tom Hanks, the heroine refers to Save the Cat, a famous book on screenwriting. I checked out a battered copy from the library and concluded that this guide to screenwriting is dated, obsessed with blockbusters and making sales, and irritating. I also found that when I tried applying ideas from the book to stories that I like, they fit perfectly. I recommend this book for people interested in story structure in any … Continue reading Save the Cat by Blake Snyder →
Some Like It Scandalous delivers on its premise: childhood enemies-to-lovers, fake engagement, scientist-slash-businesswoman heroine, and a rich and fleshed-out Gilded Age setting. Despite the intriguing premise, I had difficulties with the first half (it drags on far too long before getting to the most interesting parts of the novel), the portrayal of the hero as witty and creative when evidence suggests otherwise, the absence of Daisy’s father when he is responsible for the climactic conflict, … Continue reading Some Like It Scandalous by Maya Rodale →
The Affair of the Mysterious Letter is a homage to both Sherlock Holmes and Lovecraftian fantasy. The book is told as a memoir written by Captain John Wyndham, who finds lodging with a sorceress and named Ms. Shaharazad Hass. The Mysterious Letter is their first case together. The reader is dropped into the world of Captain John Wyndham. Everything takes place in a multi-dimensional, multi-timeline, multiverse world, with a roughly steampunk Victorian aesthetic. Ms. Haas … Continue reading The Affair of the Mysterious Letter by Alexis Hall →
TW/CW: Murder, graphic violence, racism, ableist language, mentions of rape and sexual assault. The Girl in Red by Christina Henry is the latest addition in her gritty fairy tale retellings. They aren’t part of a connected series, but Henry has done retellings of Alice in Wonderland, The Little Mermaid, and Peter Pan. This one retells Little Red Riding Hood where a young woman tries to get to her grandmother’s house following an outbreak of deadly … Continue reading The Girl in Red by Christina Henry →
Reading A Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole is like being wrapped in a warm fuzzy blanket. It’s filled with some of my favorite tropes, demonstrates enthusiastic opt-in consent, and features the heroine’s network of supportive female friends. It was great until I reached the end, which felt too rushed. You don’t have to read the other Reluctant Royals books before you start A Prince on Paper (this is book three), but they will introduce … Continue reading A Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole →
A C is a weird grade for a book that I read compulsively, especially since I remain very curious about the next one, but while the set up, the action, and the ensemble were a lot of fun to read, the more I thought about it, the more I found myself thinking, “But, wait…” I have a stack of “But, waits” regarding the character development and emotional pivots, and they began to accumulate from about … Continue reading American Witch by Thea Harrison →
This guest review is from Lisa the Librarian: “Yes, I’m a librarian, and yes, being surrounded by books all day long is great. But it’s not “I-can-just-read-all-day” great as many people seem to assume. Oh, how I wish that were a thing! I would spend my days reading Regencies, funny contemporaries, cowboy romances, and all the other beautiful books I see every day. My favorite authors include Loretta Chase, Tessa Dare, Kristan Higgins, Eloisa James, … Continue reading Guest Review: The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary →
I started reading The Chai Factor with the expectation of a frothy, funny, and light-hearted rom-com. The blurb promised a barbershop quartet, after all! By the time I finished, I knew that I was both right and wrong. It’s a rom-com in every sense of the word: disastrous meet-cute (or a meet-disaster), comic and endearing secondary characters, witty and laughter-inducing dialogue, swoonworthy moments, and a well-earned happily after. TW/CW: It also deals with serious topics … Continue reading The Chai Factor by Farah Heron →
