Amanda
Well, this was certainly a book I read. I didn't hate it, but I never got much sense of River besides that he's hot and grumpy/introverted, which is fine at the beginning but I need a little more insight/development for it to be satisfying, you know? I liked Jess and loved Fizzy and Juno, but their subplots just kind of petered out for me - Fizzy's new dude being married and Juno's friend drama are both mentioned a couple of times but never go anywhere, which was a little disappointing. Overall, this was fine, basically. Not quite my thing but I'm not mad at it.
(2021 Summer Romance Bingo: scientific pursuit; would also work for fake dating)
I just love Beverly Jenkins! I haven't read any of the LeVeq books before (and I don't know whether I will or not, they're a little older than I usually go). but Reconstruction-era New Orleans is such a fascinating setting, and one I don't know much about, but you can tell on every page of this book the huge amount of research that went into it. I always learn something when I read Beverly Jenkins, and I enjoy myself as well!
(2021 Summer Romance Bingo: educator; would also work for construction)
Oh my goodness, you could not pay me enough to go back to high school. Freddy was a frustrating character in an extremely realistic way for a high schooler. The ending was a little ambiguous to me, but since Laura and Freddy got together because of dancing, I interpreted this as a parallel to that and an HFN for Freddy and Doodle, which I loved. The art here is gorgeous, sort of dreamy and candy-colored while being realistic as well. This was a very fast read and one I liked a lot.
(2021 Summer Romance Bingo: graphic novel; would also work for friends to lovers or non-Christmas holiday)
(Probably 4.5, rounding down.) God, this book made me want to visit Seattle again. This was maybe a little bit insta-love for me, but I could suspend disbelief on that since they knew each other for ages. Very much enjoyed that there was none of the cliche “oh no, he's my best friend's brother/she's my sister's best friend” thing that happens in romance (but I haven't seen much of in reality). I just really liked these characters and their relationships felt realistic and lived-in to me - I absolutely believed that Annie and Darcy had been friends for ages. Brendon could've used a little bit more development but overall this was excellent.
(2021 Summer Romance Bingo: karaoke, would also work for tattoos, holiday that's not Christmas, or friends to lovers)
I feel like I overuse the word “delightful” in reviews, but this book was just delightful (and excellent to read during Pride, with its flashbacks to queer history, including a lot that I didn't know before.) I loved the found family of August's roommates and the background slow-burn love story between Wes and Isaiah. Perfect summer reading that makes me want to be 23 and living on my own for the first time again (except not really, just reading about it is fine.)
(2021 Summer Romance Bingo: tattoos, would also work for construction, friends to lovers, holiday that's not Christmas, or wardrobe malfunction)
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.)
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, Murderbot, when you have feelings it makes me have feelings. I hope you and Peri are very happy together. The review of this on Smart Bitches Trashy Books called it “an ace/agender romantic suspense novel,” and while I wouldn't have thought that definition fit any of the novellas in the series, it definitely does apply here. I would read the novellas in order before reading this, because they really give so much depth to the backstory and relationships and characters. I didn't love the beginning section of this because I find written action sequences somewhat hard to follow, especially with newer characters that I'm not as familiar with yet (and also, I just find a lot of action sequences boring in general, written or on-screen). I loved the new human and construct characters and very much enjoyed this, but it's 4 stars for me because the beginning was a bit of a slog.
(2021 Summer Romance Bingo: “bodyguard,” would also work for “friends to lovers,” or loosely for “scientific pursuit.”)
Fascinating and twisty and gorgeously written. Falls at the center of an unusual Venn diagram where the circles are “books I'll like,” “books my husband will like,” and “books my mom will like.” Loved the tension and cat-and-mouse between Addie and Luc, and the way Addie learns over the years to turn her disadvantages to work for her. I really enjoyed this one!
screams in defense attorney
Girl, you are CHARGED WITH MURDER AND DRUG TRAFFICKING, what in the hell are you doing talking to the detective at all, let alone without your attorney there, and why are you giving him information and comparing notes on all the other murders? He thinks you did it, he is not on your side. Also, a private citizen cannot "press charges" on a detective for harassment, filing a civil suit is not the same as supporting criminal charges, jail is not the same as prison, and the acknowledgments mention someone reviewing this for the legal aspects, but ... yikes.
This is probably a perfectly fine book if you don't know that much about the legal system, but unfortunately for me, I do and I can't turn that part of my brain off. Maybe mysteries just aren't for me. I did enjoy the characters and the diversity (and all the food descriptions were delicious), and the cover is delightful, but this was a miss for me.
Gigi flashback novella WHEN. Also, I'm so glad the Montrose siblings are getting their own series! This series was such a delight, and I loved Eve maybe the most of all the Brown sisters. Grumpy/sunshine is one of my favorite tropes, and Eve figuring out some things about herself was delightful, as was the entire Brown family emergency trip to the Lake District, and the mutual mad dash to make a grand gesture at the end. I have more Talia Hibbert on my TBR and I might have to move it to the top!
(3.5, rounding down.) Started slow but picked up more when it got to the 1960s and 70s. Mostly focused on Margaret, especially in the second half of the book. I wish there'd been a little more insight/analysis as opposed to just retelling, but that's probably more difficult when one of your subjects has been dead for almost 20 years and the other certainly won't be talking to you. Still enjoyable and quick reading.
Both main characters felt underdeveloped to me - I didn't get as much of a sense of Betsy as a secret rebel under a proper society lady, and the whole fear about her mother's reputation affecting her didn't seem like it ever came to much of anything. And as far as Jeremy, I didn't like how all the bad things that happened to him were the fault of his evil cousin. I thought his PTSD was well-done, and I thought it would have been more interesting to have him actually have suffered from effects of that instead of it all being the cousin trying to steal the title. I wanted more of the development of their relationship, and maybe of Thaddeus being a serious rival instead of just this pleasant guy who was hanging around. This is probably 2.5 stars, rounding up, and I think I need a bit of a break from historical romances at the moment.
It was fine, I guess - I didn't feel like either of the main characters were as developed as I would've liked. I know this is the sixth book in a series, and I guess I should maybe go back and read book four, where Thaddeus first appeared (I think), but I also think I shouldn't really need to read previous books to get a handle on a character, you know?Anyway. I wanted more Joan, because I did like her in [b:Say Yes to the Duke 52695959 Say Yes to the Duke (The Wildes of Lindow Castle, #5) Eloisa James https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1575393218l/52695959.SX50_SY75.jpg 66180385], but her character arc was a little flat - she wants to be an actress, she realizes she's maybe not as good of an actress as she thought, all the issues with the dukedom are fixed, hey now she's fine with being a duchess. I'd have liked to see her reckon a little more with her background and all that, instead of handwaving it. Thaddeus was also kind of a generic Grumpy and Proper Duke, who was semi-randomly hot and cold and it gave me a little bit of whiplash. I would've liked a bit more of the secondary romances - failed vicar and an actress and/or second-chance with a dowager duchess are both interesting concepts to me. Long story short - I didn't hate this by any means, Eloisa James is too good of a writer for that, but I doubt it's one I'll return to much. And also (not really a spoiler, but possible TMI) it seems like there are a lot of historicals where they find ways to get the female lead into breeches/pants and the male lead is Very Into It, but they never really do much with that in terms of the sex scenes? Leaving money on the table here, folks.
(Content warnings from author here: https://itsrorypower.com/books/wilder-girls/. Hard agree on the body horror warning in particular.)
This isn't usually my thing and I'm not quite sure how to review it - I enjoyed it but I wanted more answers, and I wish the ending had been a little less abrupt. The writing was excellent and I enjoyed the slow reveal of what was going on with all the girls and the Tox (by the way, this is quite a book to read in the second year of a pandemic, though the Tox is very different than Covid-19). I tend to prefer lighter works, but this was compelling and I had to know what was going to happen.
Probably 3.5, rounding up. Loved the fat representation - numbers aren't given (yay), but it's pretty clear that April is definitely fat, not just a little chubby, which is refreshing. I enjoyed the excerpts from chat logs and fics between chapters as well, but the main conflicts here were from people just not telling each other things, which is my least favorite type of dramatic tension. Still love Olivia Dade and I'm excited for the next one in this series!
I love this cover (historical accuracy in the dress be damned) - I know illustrated covers are “controversial,” but I'm not a huge fan of the old-school clinch covers either, and this photo cover is just gorgeous. I haven't read a ton of them, but the “brash rich American collides with (relatively) poor nobleman” is one of my favorite historical subgenres - see [b:It Happened One Autumn 827412 It Happened One Autumn (Wallflowers, #2) Lisa Kleypas https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388206425l/827412.SY75.jpg 1823891] for the best one I've read. This book was fascinating to me in the way it actively pushed back on that trope, with August early in the book attending the engagement party/wedding of one of her friends who's been forced into marriage with a truly awful duke for the prestige it'll give her family. (I know that's how these marriages went more often than not, but historical romances are fantasies as it is, so.) I loved August and her determination to not let her sister get trapped into the same bad situation. Evan was a little less developed of a character for me, but I did love his commitment to his family and his mother. One negative thing: this could have used another pass with a copyeditor. There were several instances of words being used twice within a sentence or two of each other, which always reads oddly to me, and a couple of times the flat-out wrong word was used. Nothing major, but distractions from an otherwise-good novel.
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.
Honestly, when I read [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], the book where Spring makes her first appearance, I thought she was a lesbian or possibly asexual, but overall very much not interested in men, and I was more than cool with that. But I'm happy to be wrong in this instance - as the author notes in her comments at the end, Garrett is very much a cinnamon roll hero and just what the grumpy (with good reason) Spring needs, I think. Content warnings: gun violence, survival sex work (off-page), abuse by parental figure (off-page), slut-shaming/misogyny. I love the connections to previous books by this author, and I always feel like I've come away learning something from her historical romances. She does the work and it shows in every page.
While normally I would ding this for being the second book in this series to have a kidnapping by a shadowy villain, at least it made more sense in this one. I really enjoyed the slow redemption of Leo that's been happening in the background of the previous books in the series and really comes to the fore here. Content warnings for sex trafficking, child sexual abuse (non-detailed, in past, side character), forced drug use.
When I first heard about this book, it was described as a romance, I think, and it's definitely not that. Romance is an element (how could it not be, with the whole drunken-marriage-in-Vegas setup to the story), but this is much more of a coming-of-age/character study. The writing is gorgeous and poetic, exploring Grace's crisis in the year after she graduates with a PhD in astronomy and without a job. I found Grace somewhat frustrating as a character, but she's supposed to be about 10 years younger than I currently am, and I certainly can't say I always made good decisions in my late 20s. Long story short, this isn't quite what I was expecting but I very much enjoyed it. Effortlessly diverse cast of characters and beautiful prose. I felt for Grace and all the other characters trying to make their ways in a difficult world, but still having each other. Content warnings on the author's site here: https://www.morgwrites.com/content-warnings
