If I Loved You Less takes on a tricky Austen story (Emma) and fails to hit the right tone in retelling it. In Emma, the heroine is clueless but well-meaning as she tries (and fails) to play matchmaker. She makes mistakes, but with the help of the love interest (her older neighbor, Mr. Knightley) she learns from those mistakes and grows as a person. Unfortunately, the heroine in If I Loved You Less is annoying … Continue reading If I Loved You Less by Tamsen Parker →
The Love Experiment by Ainslie Paton is a workplace romance with a plot that involves that 36 questions test which supposedly leads to love. I don’t know when the test was first created, but I do remember that it was everywhere a few years ago after The New York Times published the “test.” It’s an interesting concept for a romance, especially for a reader like me, who frequently takes online quizzes to see when I’ll … Continue reading The Love Experiment by Ainslie Paton →
This is an introductory novella to a series about women who all attended the MacLaine Performing Arts Academy in Washington D.C., and I’ll admit, I would have bought the novella on the strength of the cover alone. Isn’t it gorgeous? Bina MacLaine is the daughter of the founder of the Academy, and now that she’s an adult, she teaches dance there and manages a lot of the operations. She’s a year off a traumatically broken … Continue reading On Pointe by Shelly Ellis →
Playing with Fire is the second book in Kate Meader’s Hot in Chicago series, and you don’t really need prior knowledge to jump right into this one, though it would probably help keep the large cast of characters straight in your head. Alex, our heroine, is a female firefighter who has an antagonistic relationship with Chicago’s mayor, Eli. He’s made some comments about the difference between men and women in a job like firefighting, which … Continue reading Playing with Fire by Kate Meader →
