Content warning: racism, including the extra messy and painful kind that comes from people who love you and really ought to know better… The Duke Who Didn’t is a complete delight. It’s a low-tension friends-to-lovers story set in a small English village over the course of three very busy days. (All Chloe’s days are busy.) The village is notable for two things – first, it has a very high population of Chinese, half Chinese, and … Continue reading The Duke Who Didn’t by Courtney Milan →
I should couch this review with the admission that I am the biggest scaredy cat. I don’t usually read romance thrillers, let alone straight ahead thrillers with only a little bit of lovin. Not only do I need to be promised a happy ending, I also want the beginning and middle to be fairly cheerful and absent of conflict. I am, admittedly, a bit ridiculous, but yes, I would prefer to be wrapped up in … Continue reading When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole →
Real Men Knit is a contemporary romance set in Harlem. Mama Joy was the owner of Strong Knits, one of the few older Black-owned small businesses in Harlem. She was also the foster mother to Jesse, Noah, Lucas, and Damian, and mentor and mother-figure to Kerry, all of whom are now adults. When Mama Joy dies, Jesse and Kerry decide to try to keep the store open as a tribute to Mama Joy and because … Continue reading Real Men Knit by Kwana Jackson →
All I needed to know about Thornfruit was that it was an F/F secondary-world fantasy novel with lots of mutual pining before I one-clicked the hell out it. I am happy to report that, having finished the book, I really enjoyed it! Thornfruit is the story of two young women living on a tidally locked planet in the perpetually-sunlit city of Arishdenan. One girl, Alizhan, is a neuroatypical, face-blind, powerful mind-reader who works as a … Continue reading Thornfruit by Felicia Davin →
The Wolf of Oren-Yaro by K.S. Villoso presents a strong entry in the annals of badass fantasy heroines in the form of Queen Talyien of Jin-Sayeng. She is the first queen of her small martial country. During the book’s first sentence we learn that she is known as the “bitch queen” and the “She-wolf” because she murdered a man on the eve of her coronation and (purportedly) exiled the husband who was supposed to be … Continue reading The Wolf of Oren-Yaro →
I’ve been salivating over A Cowboy to Remember for months. The actual story was quieter than I expected, but it also had feminist cowboys in Southern California, so I can’t be mad. As a regular fan of Weatherspoon, the tone of A Cowboy to Remember felt flatter than the cheeky dialogue of her recent books (Rafe, Xeni). I wanted more angst and laughs, but the book left me with the warm glow of having just … Continue reading A Cowboy to Remember by Rebekah Weatherspoon →
At one point in this book, the hero and heroine sip moonshine and slowly grind on the dance floor of a speakeasy, both of them dazed by the attraction that pings between them. The scene is languorous and sexy, and neatly epitomizes what I loved about White Whiskey Bargain. This is a book where heat builds slowly but intensely, featuring an emotionally mature couple who don’t let their fears keep them from exploring a romance. … Continue reading White Whiskey Bargain by Jodie Slaughter →
TW/CW: Murder, attempted rape, beheading/separated limbs. I deeply, deeply enjoyed The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh. Or, a lot of it, anyway. The Beautiful takes place in 1872 New Orleans, where a young former dressmaker named Celine arrives after fleeing Paris. She arrives with several other young women from Europe and they are all to be settled in a convent together until they marry. Celine quickly becomes drawn to a young woman named Odette, who hires … Continue reading The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh →
I love road trips (as long as I don’t have to drive or navigate or really do anything other than eat snacks and sing early 2000s pop music). But I really love road trip books: the forced and shared isolation, the constant of the interior space against the changing of the external, the stops along the way, and the road itself: what it means and what it makes possible. So with all my love of … Continue reading Along for the Ride by Mimi Grace →
This was my most anticipated book of 2019, and I was terrified that it wouldn’t live up to my expectations. I adored Kann’s debut, Let’s Talk About Love, and number 96 on my list of why is how body positive it was. When I saw her next book had a chubby heroine, tendrils of hope grew that this might be an author who could write fat characters well. In that regard, If It Makes You … Continue reading If It Makes You Happy by Claire Kann →
Wanna Bet by Talia Hibbert is a friends-to-lovers romance and it features–get this!–adults who have to do actual adulting in order to be together! Holy shit! Emotional accountability FTW! I am personally so sick of books that feature “all my emotional hangups are resolved because I want to put my dick in you!” as the solution to any internal conflict. In Wanna Bet? the hero and heroine had to do actual work on themselves in order to … Continue reading Wanna Bet? by Talia Hibbert →
