My friend recommended this book to me and I have to tell you I was hooked from the moment I read the blurb: ‘Thrice wedded, but never bedded’. I MEAN! YES PLEASE! This book scratched an itch that I thought I’d never be able to reach. I grew up on books by Jilly Cooper, specifically the series where the main character’s name was the title of the book. These were tempestuous novels with slammed doors … Continue reading Wed by Proxy by Alice Coldbreath →
You know how sometimes you pick up a book because it looks like fun, and then it turns out to be clever and funny and tender and tropey and still somehow unique, and you read it all in one sitting and hop straight onto the Kobo site after midnight to order the previous book in the series? Yeah, that was A Most Unusual Duke for me. This story worked so, so well for me. It’s … Continue reading A Most Unusual Duke by Susanna Allen →
An Earl Like You by Caroline Linden is the second book in the Wagers of Sin series and features a plot where the hero is involved in deceiving the heroine in a significant way. I really struggled with this plot and with finding any empathy for the hero, and I spent a lot of the book cringing internally over the humiliation the heroine would ultimately face. This book gave me a lot of second-hand embarrassment. When … Continue reading An Earl Like You by Caroline Linden →
Startup Fiancé by Shilpa Mudiganti is a short contemporary romance that features an arranged marriage, corporate rivals, and an enemies-to-lovers storyline. It’s a quick read, but the length inhibited all of the emotional development I craved. Arav Shetty and Nisha Jain are rivals; both are founders of successful app start-ups, Tech Notes and Note Nirvana, respectively. Reading about characters who developed note-taking apps made me realize how much my loves-planners-and-lists brain wants a good note-taking … Continue reading Startup Fiance by Shilpa Mudiganti →
Tempest by Beverly Jenkins is a mail order bride historical romance that’s light on internal conflict but heavy on awesome heroines and world-building. If you want a romance that doesn’t have a ton of emotional angst, but does have a heroine who accidentally (kind of) shoots her intended the first time she meets him, this is all your catnip. It’s also the third book in the Old West series, but can easily be read as a … Continue reading Tempest by Beverly Jenkins →
When I first read the description of Rhyll Biest’s Hell On Wheels, I’m pretty sure I exclaimed big, “Hell yeah.” The heroine is a princess of Hell, roped into a political marriage in order to try and best her brother, who’s been raging war within Hell’s realms. There is even mention of a demon roller derby bout later in the book. It sounded gritty, fun, and a great addition to the recent great paranormal and … Continue reading Hell On Wheels by Rhyll Biest →
At least six different people in three different forms of media have contacted me to ask, “HAVE YOU READ THIS?!” But in a good kind of way, not in a “No, really, I need to tell you about the chocolate pie,” kind of way. This novella is a compelling, immersive reading experience, and I mean that in all the best definitions of both words. I loved the immersion into modern orthodoxy, and the ways in … Continue reading Craving Flight by Tamsen Parker →
