Amanda
It was fine? I didn't enjoy Violet as FMC as much as I liked August in the first book in this series, and I thought her whole plan for escaping was pretty harebrained, but the road trip parts of this were fun. Pretty standard historical, though I do like the Gilded Age setting for a nice change of pace.
(2021 Summer Romance Bingo: happily ever after, would also work for Gilded Age.)
Didn't quite live up to [b:Boyfriend Material 50225678 Boyfriend Material (Boyfriend Material, #1) Alexis Hall https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1575987260l/50225678.SX50.jpg 73590298], but it would be hard for almost anything to live up to that, since it's one of my recent favorites. Really enjoyed Rosaline and her journey in this book - probably would call this rom-com instead of romance per se, since it's all from Rosaline's POV and focuses to a large extent (though not exclusively) on her journey through the competition and to the truest version of herself. Loved Amelie so much, even though I don't usually love kids in romance; she was weird and hilarious in the way real kids are (though maybe the tiniest bit precocious). No pun intended, but I devoured this one. (2021 Summer Romance Bingo: “protagonist smells like freshly baked bread,” would also work for reality TV, friends to lovers, or tattoos.)
This was extremely silly and a lot of fun - sort of like an adventure fantasy romance written by PG Wodehouse.
Got this from the library, but ordered my own copy before I'd even finished. As a victim of 7th grade Texas history, I only learned recently just how wrong (and honestly, racist) the traditional story of the Alamo really is - the authors refer to it here as the Heroic Anglo Narrative, which is a perfect description. I remember watching the movie where Alec Baldwin plays William Travis and reading Texas History Movies (though thankfully not the version with racial slurs) in middle school, and it's ridiculous that was what I was taught in the mid-90's, and even more so that it could still be the case today. I think one of the best things about well-written history is that it makes you want to read more, and this book definitely does. There's so much history we never learn.
I thought the second half, about the modern history of the Alamo's history, was a little bit weaker, but it also has some unexpected resonance with current events and the BS controversy about “critical race theory” (aka teaching honest American history) that's going on now. This was a fascinating book (with WAY more Phil Collins than you'd probably guess for a book about Texas history) and you should read it because it's excellent. If you need another reason, though, reading it will really upset Dan Patrick, and anything that pisses him off makes me happy.
Slow-ish burn M/M historical romance set in the 1750s or so. I liked it a lot, but there was much less highwayman training than I expected from the blurb. The whole inheritance plot seemed weirdly paced and even after reading it, I'm not quite sure how that all got wrapped up. Since the female lead of the next book is Marian, I expect that'll all be cleared up further in that one, but while I liked this, don't read it for the highway robbery.
Oof, this one hit me hard - while I am not the daughter of a megachurch pastor, I was raised evangelical in rural-ish North Texas like the author, and this is very close to home. I can't count how many wedding showers I've been to like the one early in this book (though there wouldn't have been any wine at the ones my church held). I felt for Abigail and Caroline so hard throughout this. Growing up and realizing that the culture you were raised in doesn't have a place for your ambition is heartbreaking. This was gorgeously written and so compelling. I feel like these characters are people I know.
I want to come back to this but I'd had it out from the library for too long and it just wasn't grabbing me
4.5, rounding up, small town romance but make it super gay, already reading the second book!
DNF @ 36%, found Maybell extremely annoying and immature for someone who's supposedly 30. Since she's the POV character and the entire thing is first-person, I just couldn't continue. Two stars because I was interested in the premise.
High-heat retelling of Hades/Persephone. I'd heard a lot about this author before and I'm very excited to read more of her works (especially the villain series). I won't do full content warnings but I will note that if public sex and a hint of D/s are hard noes for you when it comes to sexual content, you probably want to give this one a pass. I wish there'd been a little more worldbuilding, because I was fascinated by the idea of the Thirteen and how they had power/new people took over the roles, but maybe that'll come in the sequel(s)? Very excited for the Psyche/Eros book, hoping there are more to come!
(2021 Summer Romance Bingo: “revenge quest,” maybe fake dating, loosely “triplets” for the puppies.)
Things I learned from this book: there is a large Indian diaspora in Tanzania. I enjoyed this, but it was a little strange to me that it was entirely from Reena's point of view - I guess that makes sense with Nadim's Big Secret (that is a little bit of an anticlimax, honestly), but I didn't feel like I got a good sense of him as a character in the same way I did Reena. This book will make you hungry, especially if you love sourdough bread or Indian food, which I do. I also wish there had been a little more exploration of Reena's mental health issues and possible alcoholism, which were mentioned but also sort of hand-waved away in the HEA. I did like the development of Reena's relationship with her family, especially her sister. This is definitely a romance, but it's firmly from Reena's perspective and her growth from a pretty depressing place in her life into the much better place at the end.
(Won an ARC via Goodreads contest, yay and thanks to the publisher!) This is a super-fun friends-to-lovers Regency with a lot of banter and some amusingly bad sex early on. I love novels that take place at a big country house full of scandal and feelings that people are trying to deny that they have, so this was perfect for that. The plot got a little convoluted in the last third or so of the book, but overall if you like Tessa Dare and Julia Quinn, you will like this series. I'm already excited for the next book (and the one after that, I bet!).
Super cute coming-of-age story - the blurb doesn't match most of the book's content, though, which is a little disconcerting, but not the story's fault? Which is to say, what the blurb describes does happen, but not until the last 25% or so of the book, and the story is a lot more about the romance, Charlie's relationship with her mom, and general growing up stuff. I really enjoyed this. I loved how Charlie wasn't super-confident all the time and I loved the relationship between Charlie and Brian - they were so sweet together! This was an adorable contemporary YA (and lest I forget, this cover is also just amazing).
Fun little mystery one-off set before [b:Network Effect 52381770 Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries, #5) Martha Wells https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1568667704l/52381770.SX50_SY75.jpg 63614271], with Murderbot adjusting to life at Preservation Station and solving a murder with the help of a less-than-friendly security chief.
Oh my god, just talk to each otherUpdated review 3/16/21: I really wanted to enjoy this book, because I've loved the author's YA romances, but this felt like a rehash of [b:When Dimple Met Rishi 28458598 When Dimple Met Rishi (Dimple and Rishi, #1) Sandhya Menon https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1475687488l/28458598.SX50.jpg 48593860], but somehow with even less maturity from the characters. Annika was just kind of a brat all the way around - she finds out pretty early on that Hudson didn't steal the idea for his app from her (and honestly, the two aren't very similar anyway), but she continues to accuse him of doing that and really behaves lihe she's the victim throughout, when it's pretty clear that she ghosted him after their earlier hookup. Anyway. There's even a big competition for funding of their various apps, like the contest in Dimple, and I just couldn't bring myself to be all that invested in any of it, which was disappointing. I'll probably stick with the YA from now on.
Second in a series, but you absolutely do not need to read the first for this to make sense - though since the first is [b:Rafe: A Buff Male Nanny 41712479 Rafe A Buff Male Nanny (Loose Ends #1) Rebekah Weatherspoon https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1536086084l/41712479.SY75.jpg 65058784], you may want to regardless, considering that title is amazing. This book is a completely different tone from the first Rebekah Weatherspoon book I read ([b:Haven 34745311 Haven (Beards & Bondage, #1) Rebekah Weatherspoon https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1491009828l/34745311.SY75.jpg 55936047]), and this is more along the lines of what I enjoy - much less angst, no murders at all, but still excellent heat and, of course, HEA. I love Xeni and Mason and I loved just how much they like each other, which makes for excellent banter throughout (nothing wrong with a good enemies-to-lovers, but this was just FUN). I basically read this over a weekend, and it's candy-colored and sweet and just delightful escapism all the way around. (Plus, cover love, I mean seriously.)(2020 summer romance bingo: dumped at a wedding. Would work for so many squares - apple orchard, meddling matchmakers, protagonist plays instrument that's not guitar/piano, possibly ice cream or secret identity...)
Incredibly well-constructed. I always get really confused with time-travel plotlines, but this actually made perfect sense to me. I figured out who was doing the traveling pretty early on, but since I'm probably twice the age of the target audience, I shouldn't be too proud of that. Loved it, love all the Wrinkle in Time references, and yeah.
Like watching a reality show in book form - an addictive read and lots of fun! Not quite sure whether I'd call it rom-com or romance, since it doesn't really seem to fit into either too well, going by genre conventions: no POV sections for her eventual pick; not first-person or really even all that close third for Bea; the sex on-page (not explicit) isn't with the hero (though I did kind of love that). I'd probably call this general fiction, since it ends up being more about Bea's journey to truly believing she's deserving of love and someone who'll treat her well. Some of the things she goes through on the way there can be tough to read, especially if you've ever been treated badly or made fun of due to your weight - honestly, after the first night of the show, I considered DNF-ing this because I didn't want to spend time in a book where a character my size (or close to, there are no numbers given, which is great) is mocked and mistreated constantly. Luckily, it doesn't go on throughout the book, but just kind of a content warning if that's tough for you.
Loved the diversity and representation, with a couple of nitpicks: didn't love that the ONLY guy who wasn't a muscular/athletic type turns out to be the biggest asshole in the show, and also didn't love Luc basically being the "slutty bisexual" stereotype with a French accent, but loved the ace/aro character, which is definitely underrepresented, so. One more spoilery nitpick: unless I missed it, no one seems to acknowledge that Asher's ex-wife seemed to have a pretty clear-cut case of postpartum depression (maybe coupled with seasonal depression, imagine living in upstate New York and knowing no one else and having two babies?), and maybe it was supposed to be so obvious that no one remarked on it, but ... that complicates the story and her supposed villainy significantly for me, and does the same for Asher's character/decisions as well. ANYWAY. This was so much what I needed right now - from the outfit descriptions to the finale in Paris, this was escapist and delightful. Can't wait to see what's next from this author!
Read this in conjunction with [b:She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement 44767249 She Said Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement Jodi Kantor https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1573830483l/44767249.SY75.jpg 69397793], and you'll really see how much of a difference a supportive editorial structure makes when reporting a major story (I say like I have any special insight into journalism). The fact that Noah Oppenheim and Andy Lack still have their jobs after this book's publication is just staggering and an incredibly clear illustration of why the Weinstein story would never have seen the light of day at NBC. This book is almost as much about the fight to fully report the Weinstein story and the efforts to keep it hidden as it is about the story itself - it reminded me in that way of [b:Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup 37976541 Bad Blood Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup John Carreyrou https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1556268702l/37976541.SX50.jpg 59699437]. I also very much enjoyed the spy-novel aspects, the shade regarding the movie Jackie, and the Jon Lovett cameos (“I'm interesting! I've been to an escape room!”). Highly recommended.
This was the slowest of slow burns, which was a little frustrating when the reason for the slowness was mostly that the two main characters didn't just talk to each other - this wasn't really a problem for most of the book, but when Jo going to her nephew's baseball games and becoming friends with Emma's sister became a whole Thing that led to them not talking for a while, I got annoyed, because that doesn't seem like a thing that would be a big deal, and especially not if Jo had just mentioned it at first (also Emma's silent treatment over it was ridiculous). That's more of a pacing/plotting issue, and I don't want it to get away from the major takeaway on this book for me, which is that it was very well-written and a lot of fun. I really liked the characters and I was cheering for them to figure things out and get together.
(2020 summer romance bingo: debut novel. Could also work for “large piece of jewelry on cover,” ice cream, or possibly meddling matchmakers.)
3.5 stars, I think, rounding up. I liked Jasmine a lot and loved her cousins (I hope they get their own books, even though I don't think anything has been announced). The little excerpts from the Carmen scripts were cute as well. I would've liked to see some more development from Ashton - even though this is alternating POV, I didn't feel that I got as much insight into his motivations/character, and I was really annoyed with him for a large part of the book because of the secret he was keeping from Jasmine (which he then had the gall to blame her for, wtf?). I wish the clear anxiety/PTSD issues were addressed more extensively than in a little aside in the epilogue. Loved the setting of this one and it's definitely a high-heat romance if that's what you're looking for, but I really thought Ashton's secret went on way too long and Jasmine seemed to basically talk herself into justifying his decision to keep that from her for however many months it takes to shoot a TV season, which was disappointing to see in a character who'd been so excellent at standing up for herself.
Felt something like a retread of [b:Neon Gods 54659771 Neon Gods (Dark Olympus, #1) Katee Robert https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1610505010l/54659771.SX50.jpg 85280448], despite being written before that (and being an MMF menage instead of M/F couple), but the basic plot was pretty similar: evil Zeus, Hades taking revenge on him by corrupting someone (son here, fiancee in Neon Gods), said corruptee is there willingly and thoroughly enjoys it, lots of kink and sex, HEA. It's been a long time since I saw the movie Hercules, and maybe a rewatch would've been in order here, since this is essentially numbers-filed-off fanfic (no shade at all, but it is what it is). I wanted a little bit more of a backstory on Meg and Hades's relationship, but this was a lot of fun and definitely high heat.(2021 Summer Romance Bingo: demigods, would also work for revenge quest.)
Cute and does some really innovative things with the audio-only format that would be hard to render well in print, I think. Loved the voice acting, especially Regina Hall, who narrates Trinity's chapters, and Mindy Kaling, as the Alexa-like voice assistant Penny. (It is pretty great that the evil corporation/government entity in this book is a pretty clear Amazon analogy, considering Audible is owned by Amazon.) The book is a pretty light romantic comedy most of the way through, but it takes a hard left into more straightforward science fiction/thriller territory about 75% of the way through, with a twist that I had partially figured out but didn't entirely see coming. Content notes behind this warning: possible content warnings here are PTSD and brainwashing/gaslighting/mental manipulation - I'm happy to discuss other potential ones if anyone has questions All in all, not quite what I expected, but definitely enjoyable!
Ugh, this book was so good - I wish there had been more Fluffy and Gigi, because both of those characters are absolute delights, but that's a minor nitpick in a book that had me grinning all the way through and yelling in my head at Dani “you love him, you goofball, just admit it!” I loved grumpy-on-the-outside romance-novel-reading Zaf (and the cameo by [b:Tempest 35068495 Tempest (Old West, #3) Beverly Jenkins https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1501935222l/35068495.SY75.jpg 56363953] and Beverly Jenkins!) and Dani was such an excellent character, all bravado on the outside and just a little bit of insecurity inside. I think the treatment of anxiety was really good, as someone who deals with that myself, I loved the reference to Dani having cramps (seriously, normalize periods in romance novels), and Dani's bisexuality just being a thing about her, not an issue. I want to live in the world of this book.(2020 summer romance bingo: happily ever after. Would also work for a loose “set on an island,” but I think that's all?)