For the Duke’s Eyes Only is a historically ridiculous but deeply satisfying romance novel between an archeologist named India (and inevitably nicknamed “Indy”) who thinks that treasures belong in museums and a spy named Daniel Ravenwood (!) who in the past broke her heart. Daniel and India are rivals because Daniel’s cover is that he is a treasure hunter who collects artifacts for his own personal enjoyment. He also pretends to be a shallow rake. … Continue reading For the Duke’s Eyes Only by Leonora Bell →
Full disclosure: I’m not at my cognitive best (stupid fibro fog). The other day I tried to open a box of sidewalk chalk and you’d have thought I was cracking the combo to a safe. I went to the pharmacy and was asked for my birthdate and the spelling of my last name, and I was sorely tempted to say, “Look, if I could do all that, I wouldn’t need to be here.” So I’m … Continue reading The Illegitimate Duke by Sophie Barnes →
The Fated Sky is the second book in the Lady Astronaut duology, an alternate history book in which America’s space program is drastically sped up and expanded due to an extinction level event that will make Earth uninhabitable in approximately fifty years. In the first book, The Calculating Stars, pilot and computer Elma York became an astronaut and flew to the moon. In this book, she heads to Mars, where scientists hope to establish a long … Continue reading The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal →
Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge has an irresistible premise involving magic and alcohol. The heroine, Bailey Chen, who has spent her entire life as an overachiever, graduates from college and promptly finds herself completely adrift in her hometown of Chicago. She lives with her parents and works at a bar run by her ex-best friend and current crush, Zane. Bailey discovers that she has the ability to see monsters, called tremens (a group of tremens … Continue reading Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge by Paul Krueger →
Oh, boy. This book wrecked me, from giving me twitchy tense reading in the beginning to requiring that I ignore everything around me and read in a parking lot so I could finish it at the end. First, yes, you should read the prior two books in the series, A Study in Scarlet Women , and A Conspiracy in Belgravia . It might be possible to drop into book three and follow the majority of the story, but the slow … Continue reading The Hollow of Fear by Sherry Thomas →
Claudine at School is a book from 1900 about Claudine, a fifteen-year-old girl living in rural France, and her time at school. That’s it. It’s told in first-person, as diary entries. There’s no plot at all, although there’s suspense about final exams and constant gossip about who is having a relationship with whom. The book is funny and charming but not the kind of book in which very much happens. You could boil this review … Continue reading Claudine at School by Colette →
I read Princess of Zamibia because it’s a romance between an African prince and an African American woman, and because it avoids negative stereotypes of African countries. I ended up being triggered and upset and a little bit murderous. Rant ahead. TW for kidnapping and rape. I’m angry, people, and anger is contagious. It’s OK to skip everything ahead. Short version is that the hero in Princess of Zamibia is an asshat. It’s my duty … Continue reading Princess of Zamibia by Delaney Diamond →
THIS BOOK IS SO DUMB. Like, it is ACTIVELY STUPID. I thought I was getting a forced proximity medieval, and I thought maybe this could be cool and fun, and then I saw that it’s a reprint of The Barbarian and the Princess, which Krahn published in 1993, so I thought “Oh, Old Skool wackiness! I’ve kinda missed that!” and then I got some of the shittiest world building EVER and I’m just annoyed. It’s … Continue reading Three Nights With the Princess by Betina Krahn →
Consumed by JR Ward is an angsty contemporary romance with lots of dark themes and a hint of romantic suspense. I really liked the heroine, but the hero never clicked with me, and I felt like there was too much going on with the plot at times. Anne Ashburn is a New Brunswick firefighter who loves her job and carries a torch for her coworker, Danny McGuire. Anne and Danny had a mind-blowing one night … Continue reading Consumed by JR Ward →
It’s October, it is decorative gourd season, motherforkers, and time for SPOOKY STORIES and pumpkin spice and boots and scarves and right on time, we have a feminist version of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow told from the point of view of Katrina van Tassel, the woman at the point of of the love triangle between Ichabod Crane and Brom Bones. In Washington Irving’s original story, Ichabod Crane comes to the village of Sleepy Hollow … Continue reading The Spellbook of Katrina van Tassel by Alyssa Palombo →
I saw a tweet from the author go by about this book just prior to release, highlighting the following aspects of the plot: …friends-to-lovers, witches, farmers, ladies being supportive of each other, and/or a slightly misanthropic lady-witch farmer wrestling with her feelings for her best friend while her coven supports her no matter what. I am indeed here for all of these things, so I bought the novella and read it immediately. This is the … Continue reading Spellbinding Love by Elizabeth Davis →
