Teija

When an author touts her own book as “fat girl getting railed” it's a massive disappointment when that fat girl spends the whole book being so unhappy with herself. She's every fat protagonist of every fat girl romance: she has no friends, the people in her life keep her around so she can be the one who stands there being fat so they feel better that they aren't as fat as she is... it's nice to see endo rep but when it doesn't really affect anything about the plot it feels shallow. This man had his pick of women to choose as a mate and her endo should have had some weight there, because it can and does have an effect on fertility, but the author whiffed it.

The smut scenes are honestly overlong and uninteresting. I love a good smut scene, and I love a protracted one if it feels earned. But I found myself skimming the smut, which to me is the death knell on a supposedly erotic story. There was a distinct whiff of “this person came from fanfiction and wasn't interested in learning how to polish their smut for publication” to it. I read a ton of both fic and romance, there IS a difference-namely that the published authors who are good at this have learned to evoke intense sexuality and emotion with an economy of words. That's not to say you can't have a long smut scene, but if it's going to be long, it had better be phenomenal.

This is evidently the beginning of a series... but based on this, I won't be bothering with Elle M. Drew again.

The chemistry between the romantic leads is great. Even better, though, is the serial killer plotline. It has some great twists and turns. The author's prose is engaging and well paced, but she did rely a little too much on ending a chapter with a mysterious “if only he knew what dark secrets she was keeping” vagueness. That got a little aggravating (I get it! She has a secret!) but overall I enjoyed this and found it both easy to read and something I wanted to keep reading so that I could see what happened next.

This was super cute. An adorable little friend group of misfits with wonky or lacking magic, a tall and immensely sexy leading man with a complex past, and a main character who manages somehow to be possibly the single horniest lead I've read in a WHILE whilst still managing to come across as adorable, rather than despairingly thirsty. I'd say 3.5, honestly, but rounding to 4 feels too high.

Will Pennington is so !!!!

Savannah's family dynamic is TERRIBLE, though, and I had to do deep breathing exercises at one point because the way they treat her made me so
mad. IMO it isn't ever satisfactorily addressed.

But Will... chef's kiss. SOLID leading man.

A twisty turning mystery that never quite gets to a satisfying conclusion. I felt that the dynamic between the main character and her husband wasn't justified by their short marriage before everything went down. Particularly considering the way this book ends. Their love was never really shown to be that all encompassing kind that would drive a woman to keep pressing, to take on such responsibility, for a man that disappeared the way he did with literally no explanations. She just accepted it, and yet all the flashbacks show him repeatedly and consistently not prioritizing her (which, he prioritizes his daughter, that is fair, I'm just saying the intensity of their relationship seems unjustified). Overall the parts of this book that were good were very well done (the sleuthing, the reason he's hiding, etc) but the core relationship feels uneven and stilted to me, and as it's the crux of the whole kit n' caboodle the book didn't quite land as a result.

Meet the most fucked up triplets you've ever met in your life... and Edison, the charming man who derails their life of seduction and murders when one of them falls in love. This is a wild up and down of death and plans gone awry. And Edison's the best part.

I'm not sure I'm on board with the ultimate lesson this book is attempting to make about the difference between secrets and lies. Or where its main characters land on that spectrum.

The characters (particularly Thor and Deac) were varying levels of lovable. But I'm baffled why the author made Roland a monk at all if he performed exactly one (1) monklike thing the entire book. It just felt like a strange and pointless plot obstacle that didn't even stand up to a slight wind in the face of Allison's super sexy super sexiness.

I kept reading wondering if it would land closer to Umbrella Academy or CSI and it sort of never decided what it wanted to be. But it was a perfectly good way to fill a flight home from vacation.

Another satisfying romance from Ali Hazelwood! This time I wasn't as fond of the main character, Bee, as I have been of her other leads. But that's okay, because Levi Ward is probably the perfect man? He's good with kids? He loves his aging cat? He gives an A+ emotional speech about his feelings (twice!!)? Perfect. A+ no notes.

A story of history, ancestry, and remembrance told through the lens of mermaids descended from enslaved women thrown from ships on their journey over the sea. A truly fascinating internal lore and a compelling cast of characters. It goes way too quickly. I devoured the whole audiobook during my walk this morning.

delightful!

I loved the characters, I loved the setting, I loved the whole premise. The book is well paced and engaging, and I couldn't put it down.

A well researched and important account of the long-marginalized Ravensbruck women's concentration camp. Difficult but necessary. CW for atrocities including genocide, Nazi medical experiments, rapes, murders, all the things that come with an account of Nazi death marches and the Holocaust.

I'm too Finnish for this book. I don't know if it was the author's choice or the editor's, but swapping the ä in Metsän Valo for an a bothered me the whole way through. They're different letters of the alphabet. It matters.

Overall the plot was sort of dull and the mysteries were far too easily wrapped up. I gave it a third star mostly because I liked Theo so much.

Ali Hazelwood really knows how to make a former academic feel validated, if anything else. Jack and Elsie were both characters that I wasn't sure how to feel about. I don't think I actually like Elsie, at the end of the day, though I can completely understand and empathize with her struggles with adjuncting and desire to find something better. The conflict with her mentor seemed too easily solved. Jack was enigmatic and never quite completely materialized for me. Overall, I enjoyed myself. If Goodreads allowed half-stars I'd give it a 3.5. Hazelwood's strengths remain the same, compared to The Love Hypothesis. The story is full of typical romance tropes that, if you love them, make the story super satisfying. And if you don't, well... at least you know what you're getting. She doesn't reinvent the wheel, but she does give you a really high-quality tire, at least.

I had a grand old time reading this book, it hits a ton of tropes that I love. However, you MUST know going in: if you are not into the miscommunication trope in particular, you will hate this book.

I happen to love that trope, so this was totally my jam. Love the fake dating, love the pining, love the academic setting, love the way Adam is described. He's honestly my favorite part of the book. The big tall brilliant grumpy-grump with the pumpkin-spice guzzling elfin grad student (fake) girlfriend? So fun. So deadpan.

It's a quick read, and it's satisfying, no complaints. Except maybe about one specific line in the spicy scene. It was definitely unintentionally hilarious.

A twisting, turning time travel murder mystery that had me gripped from beginning to end. It can be so hard to weave together multiple storylines and POVs and Lauren did such good work in this regard. I was just as invested in Lisa and Charlene as I was in Karl as I was in Justin and Rose... everything was well done, and the way everything came together was just masterful.

Stunning end to an exceptionally engaging series, I devoured these like there was nothing else I had to do but sit and read, which... is not remotely true, whoopsie. But man alive I had a good time with these. Jericho Barrons might be one of my fav book boyfriends of all time.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jeeeeeerichoooooooooo I am dying of the slowness of this slowburn and I love it

I'm hooked. This begins with a murder: the protagonist gets the call that her sister has died in Dublin. She goes to Ireland, unsatisfied with the lack of answers... and stumbles into a huge conflict of the Fae, discovering shocking things about herself and her sister as she unwillingly takes her place in this huge otherworldly situation. She is under the guidance of Jericho Barrons, who seems to be on her side, but he's mysterious and enigmatic. I still can't tell. Picking up the next book immediately!

Still hooked. Loving the tension between Mac and Barrons, loving the worldbuilding, loving the lore... definitely plowing through these.

CW for sexual violence

This was a fast read, but didn't have much to it. I did like Nikolai. But the villains were all cartoonish and the stakes were at times nonsensical. There's sexual slavery and manipulation throughout from the main AND minor villains. Overall it was... fine? I did finish it, so there's something.

CW for sexual assault and rape; sexual violence is a main component of the murder plot.

Stubborn budding journalist Moira gets herself mixed up in a ring of murders and Morgon Guard Kol Moonring, a sexy behemoth with wings and a protective streak a mile wide, swoops in to protect her. Literally. This was a fun read, and Kol Moonring is just the right type of unhinged paranormal hyper-protective brooding man that I, for whatever reason, cannot resist. I enjoyed it!

A perfectly serviceable regency era enemies to lovers fake marriage story. The stakes didn't feel all that high, but it read quickly.

This was intensely moving, a great study on grief and the way we come to view our parents in a certain light without really examining it, due to their roles in our lives. With an incredible twist that you should 1000% NOT spoil yourself on, this book is a creative and charmingly written love letter to a mother-daughter dynamic and the journey to find oneself. Truly enjoyable.

An absolute psychopath hell bent on revenge and a heroine with a new lease on life get together to be crazed fae mass murderers together? Yeah, I'm here for it. It's hot and it's unhinged and it's batshit, I enjoyed myself, and it's good for what it is. But lets be real... it ain't Shakespeare either. I had a good time. Popcorn smut.