The best part of Mangos & Mistletoe is the mouthwatering descriptions of pastries created in a GBBO-inspired holiday baking competition set in Scotland. The worst part of Mangos & Mistletoe is the mouthwatering descriptions of pastries created in a GBBO-inspired holiday baking competition set in Scotland. Do not repeat my mistakes: you must not read this f/f enemies-to-lovers-in-only-one-bed novella without a plate of delicious pastries nearby. My baking experience is limited to an almost burned … Continue reading Mangos & Mistletoe by Adriana Herrera →
Do you like cruises and wish The Love Boat was queer? Do you want to read about two women who are very attracted to one another, but have to sneak around on a ship pretending that they’re strangers? Can you put up with some disrespectful representation of Caribbean countries in order to enjoy these things? I thought I could, but it turns out that I loved the idea of this book more than the actual … Continue reading Not Since You by Fiona Riley →
I am a simple human. I like robots. I like tea. I like reading about people falling in love, especially if they’re gay. So when I heard there was an f/f romance about a robot that runs a tea shop, I one-clicked so hard Jeff Bezos got a bruise. The Cybernetic Tea Shop is a novella set in future-ish Seattle. The year is never specified, but it’s mentioned that AI was invented 300 years ago, … Continue reading The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz →
This book is not going to be for everyone because it’s an erotic romance with a boss/employee scenario, although if that pairing is your jam, you will almost certainly love it. I totally understand and respect that not everyone is comfortable with that power dynamic in fiction. Personally, I like it, and I particularly enjoyed how this book handles it because it addresses and challenges that dynamic head on, rather than brushing past it (more … Continue reading The X Ingredient by Roslyn Sinclair →
Here’s what was going through my head when I finished this book: wow woah wow woah wow woah wow woah wow!! In a good way. I’ve been majorly excited about this book since June when I saw the beautiful cover and read these words in the synopsis: “an impossible love between two girls—one human, one Made—whose romance could be the beginning of a revolution.” This book features SO many things that are right in my … Continue reading Crier’s War by Nina Varela →
Gideon the Ninth has been parsed into four words that gave me instant grabby hands: “Lesbian necromancers in space.” It was one of my most coveted books to try and snag at BEA, and I preordered it because my goth-loving heart was swayed by the black-stained edges of its first printing. All of this leads to a very tough situation: will a book I’ve been anticipating (and many others, too) will live up to its … Continue reading Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir →
We all have our auto-buy story premises. Age gap, or May/December romances, are one of my top three and I’m always on the lookout for the next great one. Harper Bliss wrote one of my very favourites a few years ago, In the Distance There is Light, and she’s actually written a bunch of others that I’ve enjoyed too. When I saw she had a new age gap romance coming out, I did a little … Continue reading A Lesson in Love by Harper Bliss →
CW/TW: Sexual harassment Some of you know that I’ve been doing guest reviews here at SBTB for a couple of years. So when it came time to choose a book for my first review as an official part of the team, I knew it had to be this one. It’s my favourite book of all time and to read it is to know me, so what better way to introduce myself? Jill “Friday” Fryman is … Continue reading Hoosier Daddy by Ann McMan & Salem West →
This Rec League came to us via Katelyn Riley on Twitter! Thanks, Katelyn! Shana: I mean, I have to start with Mrs. Martin’s Incomparable Adventure, which I am so obsessed with I’ve bought for multiple people. Claudia: Proper English by KJ Charles , origin story of two characters seen in Think Of England. Edwardian period, house party with a dash of murder — what more could anyone want? And not a book but I strongly … Continue reading The Rec League: F/F Historical Romances →
A Month of Sundays is a contemporary f/f romance that tries to do too much at once. The slow progression of the romance, the value placed on family and friends, and the celebration of food are lovely, but this book needed to either leave some plot developments out entirely or be longer so they could be fully explored. I’d have voted for the latter because I enjoyed these characters. Rachel is an accountant for a huge … Continue reading Month of Sundays by Yolanda Wallace →
Every reader has tropes/subplots that they just don’t like and swear to never read. Mine include the following: When a protagonist is in a relationship and cheats on that person with the other protagonist. I dislike emotional cheating, but I hate physical cheating even more. When the protagonists don’t enter into a romantic relationship until the very end, so we don’t see them interacting in a relationship. This review just goes to show that I … Continue reading You, Me, U.S. by Brigitte Bautista →
