Amanda
This has some of my favorite sex scenes in any romance I've ever read. I'm not sure I have a lot to say about it beyond that, but it was definitely a fun read - I stayed up way too late last night finishing it and the second epilogue as well. (Which I know people apparently love, but meh, it was well-written but cliched as hell.)
After thinking about it longer, god, I hate the second epilogue of this book. I hate the “infertility can be cured by true love” thing in general, but it makes even less sense in historicals, when there's no such thing as modern interventions. Sometimes people are infertile even if they really want children. I feel like there are a lot more interesting stories to be told about dealing with that then there are about infertility being magically cured by a happily-ever-after.
Good and definitely important, but not what I was expecting. This is sort of like a collected series of articles - like a big New York Times series on some societal problem that's been collected into a book. Not bad at all, but I was expecting something more investigative, maybe with interviews, more like the author's amazing story for Texas Monthly that's mentioned in this book. Instead, it's a long survey of the problem and a shorter section of recommendations. There's clearly a ton of research that's been done here, and Luther clearly knows the topic well, but it doesn't seem like a lot of interviews were done with people actually involved in college football. I wish there had been more of that, just to get the perspective on the ground along with the great content in here. I'd still definitely recommend this book - while it wasn't what I thought it would be, it's still crucial information that we all should be aware of.
(Read Harder 2017: #1 Read a book about sports.)
(3.5 stars, rounding up.) Didn't like this as much as I expected to, though I did still enjoy it. If “male virgin seduced by courtesan-in-disguise” is a common romance trope, it's one I haven't encountered before, and I did enjoy it. The plot got a little repetitive in the first half and I had a hard time keeping interest, but the author did a good job conveying the chemistry between the two leads. The book picked up for me in the second half, and I think it's because that's when other characters finally showed up - I'm not a huge fan of “let's have everyone from book one in a series show up in book two” or anything, but both the leads were really isolated in this book (for Plot Reasons, of course). I understand why they were but it did make for somewhat monotonous reading, since they were both in their own heads a lot. By the end, though, I really did enjoy this book, I just wish the trip to get there had been a little better paced.
Had this on my Kindle forever and picked it up somewhat randomly on vacation. Really enjoyed it - I haven't read a lot with these specific tropes (which I would spell out here, but spoilers), and the whole legal battle was also an interesting premise, which added some Victorian (or late Georgian?) realism without getting too dry/technical. I also liked the hero - he had a lot more depth and characterization than romance heroes often do, at least in my experience. I'm definitely going to keep reading this series. It's been too long since I've read any Courtney Milan so I'm glad to have finally started on this new-to-me series!
Not bad, but strange pacing issues and also very much the 11th book in a series - I don't think reading all 10 that came before is necessary, but I wish I'd read the Jocelyn/Hugh book ([b:Just Not Mine 22619255 Just Not Mine (Escape to New Zealand, #6) Rosalind James https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405342428l/22619255.SY75.jpg 41345778] and maybe the Kate/Koti one ([b:Just Good Friends 16031899 Just Good Friends (Escape to New Zealand, #2) Rosalind James https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348096163l/16031899.SY75.jpg 21812181]), because those two couples play larger roles in this. Anyway. The MCs in this get together at about the halfway point of the book and there's basically no conflict between them after that, except a little bit when Marko discovers that Nyree is the stepdaughter of his previous coach, who he doesn't seem to be on the best terms with, but maybe that's something that happened in a previous book. The book isn't bad after that, but it's just weird reading a novel without much in the way of tension or conflict. I almost wish this had been about Ella (the “pregnant cousin” mentioned in the blurb), because I loved her as a character and I thought her journey was more interesting than the MCs, neither of which (again) have all that much conflict going on. (2019 summer romance bingo: “tarot”; doesn't fit any others that I can think of.)
Fake-relationship is one of my favorite tropes and this was a delightful twist on that premise. I haven't read many American-set historicals (an occasional cowboy or two, but I don't think I've read anything in the Gilded Age like this), so this was a nice change of pace from the usual Regency/Victorian settings (which I still love, but variety is good). I can't speak to the accuracy of the Deaf representation in this book, but it was fascinating to learn about the development of hearing aids and ASL during this time period. I also really liked the heroine and how she gradually learns to create and enforce boundaries for herself and learns that she's stronger than she thinks. I haven't read anything by this author before, but I definitely want to keep an eye on her!
(2019 summer romance bingo: “next door neighbor”; could also count for “heroine smells like a flower.”)
https://bookriot.com/2017/12/05/an-open-letter-to-harpercollins-about-to-siri-with-love/
So cute, but I really feel like this could've been a full-length novel easily - there's a lot of exposition in the beginning that would probably have been more interesting/impactful/whatever if it'd been shown and not just told to us, like all the stuff about Callie's terrible boyfriend and her anxiety and how she can't stand working on desk with Thomas seems like it would be worth actually showing, at least for a bit. I also wish a little more had been done with the fake-relationship premise, because that's one of my favorite tropes and I feel like it was a little underused here. I could easily see myself giving this 4 or even 5 stars if it were longer, but as it is, it felt just too short to give me everything I wanted. I really liked the characters and the premise, though, I just wanted more. Novels for everyone!
(2019 summer romance bingo: “beach on the cover”; would also fit “show business” or “road trip,” depending on how loosely you're interpreting those.)
Started this in August 2017 and somehow didn't get back to it till January 2018 - I'm not sure whether I would have liked it more if I'd managed to read it over a shorter time frame, but it was pretty easy to pick up again. The story kind of lost focus for me after the road trip ended and the last 15% or so of the book kind of meandered around with no real resolutions to most of the character arcs. The non-translated Chinese, which a lot of reviews have commented on, was a little difficult, but usually not essential to understanding (or when it was, it was pretty easy to figure out the gist from context). The strongest parts of the book to me were the characters of the children and their relationships with each other, particularly Grace. I could've read the entire book from her POV and possibly enjoyed it even more.
Perfectly fine Regency romance - nothing particularly outstanding one way or another, but certainly a pleasant way to spend a few hours. Points for the virgin hero, the non-neurotypical hero (I know the book describes him as having anxiety, but he reads as also being on the spectrum to me), and the historical accuracy (I'm far from a historian but I learned about The Year Without a Summer). Deductions for the plot being one of those that could be resolved if everyone just talked to each other! I've already checked out the next one in this series and I'm looking forward to it.
(3.5, rounding up.) This was just a little bit silly and the plot was definitely overstuffed, but I enjoyed it more than I was expecting to!
(3.5, rounding up.) This is a pretty low-conflict short contemporary romance, but I enjoyed it -especially the bingo-qualifying sassy grandma and her Kindle full of erotic romance. I was worried Alex was going to be an asshole at first, but that passed quickly. This was refreshingly non-slut-shamey - they meet as a bar hookup and no one ever judges either one of them for that. I wish there were a little more conflict and/or this was a bit longer, because it's just about 200 pages and I wanted to spend more time with these characters.
(2019 summer romance bingo: “sassy grandparent”; could also count for “heroine smells like a flower.”)
Eh, it was fine? Romain and I just might not click, which is fine. I didn't hate this at all, but it took forever for me to actually finish it. I just kept forgetting about it until there were like four days left on the checkout, renewing it, and then forgetting again. I liked both the main characters, but wish Augusta had a little bit more spark - which seems like an odd thing to say about a character who takes on a false identity in a new town, but here we are. I actually enjoyed the supporting characters a lot in this, both Augusta's friend and Joss's cousin, who was ridiculous and funny without being completely unbelievable. All in all, this was a perfectly fine Regency, but not much more than that. (And if you were to take a drink every time you read “my dear fake widow” or “dockyard,” you would get drunk very quickly.)
I was going to read this, but the author takes money from Big Pharma to endorse drugs that cost $10,000 a year for patients and aren't any more effective at managing endo symptoms than pain meds and hormonal contraception. (Receipts: https://icer-review.org/announcements/elagolix-final-report/ and https://www.endowhat.org/blog/2018/8/2/orilissatm-a-significant-advancement-for-endometriosis-patients-or-another-obstacle-to-care and https://endometriosisnews.com/2018/07/24/fda-approves-abbvies-orilissa-for-moderate-severe-endometriosis-pain/ .) In conclusion, hard no. I'll listen to patients and those who truly advocate for them instead.
Dumb fun. Probably not all that interesting without some background knowledge of wrestling, but I'm a relative noob to all that and really enjoyed this. Quick read. The stuff about Benoit and Guerrero was some of the most interesting material.
Fascinating and heartbreaking. (Though content warnings: for sexual assault, particularly by use of GHB/Rohypnol; murder/abduction - the descriptions aren't graphic overall but it's a big part of the story, unfortunately, so be advised.) The author is a longtime foreign correspondent for the British press, and seems to do a good job telling the story without turning it into “look at those strange foreigners” gawking or exploitation.
I don't know why the only character who used first person here was one of the MC's college friends who had little to do with the main plot. I also don't know why the whole thing with the college professor was in there, or why so much time was spent on Sam and Nancy, who were both terrible people and unengaged parents. But the worst thing here was spoiler and content warning for violence having an unhinged parent of a rejected student come in and threaten the MC with a gun? And having the gun go off accidentally and injure the MC? And it's all kind of related in a lighthearted tone and kind of as a deus ex machina to get a deserving scholarship student admitted to the school? I mean. WHAT. I know this book came out before Parkland, but it's certainly post Columbine and Sandy Hook. I am absolutely not here for the silver linings of school shootings, even nonfatal, even accidental. It's so tone deaf, I can't even comprehend how it got published. I wasn't hugely into this book before, but after that I was all the way out. Nope. It's a shame, because some of the satire is well done and I found myself rooting for Kate, but no. Absolutely not.
This book is incredible - I cried my way through the last 25 or so pages, full of those happy-cathartic-relief tears that come when something is so good and satisfying and right. This deals with some heavy topics, but never in an exploitative or preachy way, and it certainly doesn't dwell on them for bleakness' sake. The characters felt authentic and realistic and their actions all made sense in the context of their backstories, which is refreshing - nothing felt like it was done just because the story needed for it to happen. This is basically a perfect book and I can't wait to read it again.
Two quick spoiler notes: 1) Oh my god, ADAM IS THE WORST and I wished for more bad stuff to happen to him, and 2) spoiler-slash-CW: this book is an absolute gut punch if child abuse, adoption, foster care, or loss of a child (to adoption) are difficult topics for you. Again, nothing's done exploitatively, but those are major topics in the book, so be advised. I cried through Grace's chapters several times, because I have a six-month-old and anything to do with kids makes me cry these days. Not a criticism of the book at all, and I think everything was handled very well, but definitely something to be aware of.
Cute, not terribly angsty, lesbian YA romance - exactly what I needed in the middle of ... everything. Love Jo and her learning to let other people into her life, from her new stepmother to her new group of friends in Rome. The minor characters were (for the most part) well-drawn and interesting, especially Gemma, George, and Elizabeth. Plot was a little overstuffed, with all of Dana's drama and the Evil Theater Lesbian toward the end, but the main storyline was so sweet and rewarding. Love that faith is taken seriously here - that seems rare in most YA, let alone LGBT YA (though that may be a lack of reading on my part). This was a fun world to escape to at the end of a terrible week.
I have a weakness for memoirs about leaving religion, especially ones written by women. This one started slow, but picked up after the marriage. Would've liked way more detail about how she made the decision to leave, but I enjoyed this.
I will always read books about women growing up in conservative/fundamentalist religious groups and then leaving. This one was less dramatic than many of those - no running away from a compound - but better written than most of them.
Are you fucking kidding me? Information here: https://twitter.com/samantha_k_r_/status/1080863442809040898
Fascinating and quick read about the life of a campaign reporter - interesting enough on its own, but even more so when the campaign being covered is the Trump campaign and the author was the first one on the trail and came in for a lot of harassment and threats, both from the candidate and from his supporters. This isn't a book about the politics or policy of the 2016 election, but more about being there while what everyone had thought was ludicrous and unthinkable actually happens. I wish it'd gone a little more in-depth, but this was still really interesting and a perspective I haven't seen before.