Thanks to the author for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.I could make a real list of all the things I loved about this novella. I shall, in fact. --a spectacles-wearing, ears-blushing, anxious-on-the-inside barrister hero who takes a big risk at the end of the book. --a smiling, jovial governess who’s never had a real home & on the eve of new employment finds herself wanting to keep kissing a stranger. --an “it’s you” moment --an adorable & steamy epilogue where both are living their best lives, together. This book truly delivers on the physical & emotional. Gavin is the sensitive, not overly confident working hero of dreams. Emilia’s resilience & determination & heart are moving & a reminder of how tenuous working women’s jobs were historically, even if the woman had a job with its own unique status, like governess. Langston describes the liminality & temporary nature of Emilia’s job & life in such a gripping way. Some Winter’s Evening is a beautiful story—give me more uncertain heroes, more stories of heroines who are independent & who can find their own way (but have a connection with someone who wants to make sure they’re warm for the rest of their lives). In the background is Aldworth Park, Cora & Nate’s home, & their family, (how I have not read that book yet?), a huge case that tests Gavin’s ethics, & a consideration of slippery positions are for working women, how quickly status, ability to make funds, and home can be taken away. 5⭐️. Out 11/01.Please see a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs.
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Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC and the publisher for the complimentary hardcopies. All opinions provided are my own. After refamiliarizing myself with Rachel Gillig’s Shepherd King world I dove right in & got lost again in this story filled with secrets, power, & attempts to outmaneuver villains. Book 1, One Dark Window, is such a great entrance to the series & book 2 Two Twisted Crowns picks back up where it left off, with our heroine Elspeth’s body having been taking over by the Nightmare who’s lived inside her for the last many years. A former king who was violently taken out, The Nightmare is one of the people responsible for the current nasty state of affairs in the kingdom of Blunder & someone who wants to find the missing magical cards that have caused so much trouble. This book is very much about quests & so many of the characters have one, some journey or goal in mind. In the background is The Mist, which can drive people mad, & the horrible Rowan king & oldest Prince, who care only about their power. This duology features complex characters—good people who have done not so nice things for various reasons & good people who might be able to snatch some happiness from the many forces against them. To that end, Two Twisted Crowns offers something unexpected, a blossoming romance between the younger prince Elm & Ione, formerly engaged to his brother & currently emotionally trapped by the Maiden card. The romance is sweet & steamy & I was so happy to watch another couple fall in love in this series . It’s always hard for me to review a series after the first book but the bottom line is this is such a great series & you should definitely check it out if you enjoy some falling in love with your fantasy. 5⭐️. Out 10/17.CWs: lots of violence in this book. Please see a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs for more detail.
Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own. Despite the fact that it took me so long to read (#moodreaderlife ), The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon is so good, so intense, so very perched on the knife’s edge. As so many others have said the enemies to lovers designation really applies in this fantasy, & not in a cutesy way. Talasyn & Alaric have been on opposing sides in a long war with many casualties, including people close to them both. They meet at a couple of different moments before their arranged betrothal (!) & the magical weapons fly between them. But despite their animosity & the fact that their past is so bloody & complicated—& that he in particular is part of an Empire bent on taking &/or destroying anything it wants in its quest—the leads actually have a lot in common, not to mention a mutual attraction. These complicated feelings are not miraculously solved by their betrothal & book 2 will hopefully do a lot of emotional work that picks up where this one leaves off. Not only is this book compelling on the action-front, the emotions & the deeper backstories & feelings that run through Talasyn & Alaric are strikingly crafted. Each of them is complex, not one-note, & I can’t wait to see what happens in book 2. 5⭐️. Out now!Please see a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs.
Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own. On a whim I read The Curse of Penryth Hall by Jess Armstrong early & I did not regret it for a second. It was perfect for my mood: a ghostly, post-WWI setting, a murder mystery, an unconventional heroine who flies in the face of societal expectations. (She lives with an older man she isn’t related to! She was once in love with her female best friend! She was an ambulance driver in the war! She has had lovers, as in multiple!) Said heroine Ruby Vaughn is asked to deliver some books. On the journey she reconnects with her former best friend—whom she was once in love with & who broke her heart—& encounters a local witch—hopefully a future love interest!—rumors of a curse, & murder. With bisexual rep, a really great mystery, & a thrilling sense of atmosphere, this was really fun to read. I can’t wait to read the next book & I am hoping hoping HOPING there’s a future slow burn romance! 5⭐️. Out 12/05. Please see a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs.
Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.My heart . Before starting 10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall I saw a few things that kind of set my expectations accordingly: (1) similar-ish in style to Boyfriend Material, (2) really good, (3) & Alexis Hall shared that this is grumpy & the sunshine if the sunshine is reckoning with trauma (or something like that. My apologies if I’ve twisted that in any way!). That’s all so true. This book is charming, it’s so funny, & I got Office vibes from the office scenes in the book & While You Were Sleeping vibes from any scenes featuring prickly boss Jonathan Forest’s family. So it’s very endearing, in short. As is protagonist Samwise “Sam” who kind of stumbles, kinda dives into a fake amnesia situation with his horrible boss Jonathan Forest in an effort to save his branch from being fired. But after he’s made to live with Jonathan for a while—he has to, given his presumed injuries—he realizes that Jonathan is grumpy but that’s not all of him & also grumpy is kind of attractive on him. I adored this book, these characters, this family. Watching Sam & Jonathan engage with others & seeing their very obvious discomfort & yearning & their wrestling with their insecurities is sad & heartwarming. The deception reconciliation feels a bit skimpy to me—but overall I just wanted these two leads to be together & for them to get back to the family unit they had made. Ahhhhh! Also I wanted two epilogues instead of one because my heart wanted more . Such a great book; I loved it; I hope the two of them are living the happiest of lives with their ugly cat in Croydon. 5⭐️. Out 10/17.CW: previous death of family members, including parents.
Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own. Whew, Stars In Your Eyes by Kacen Callender hurt. But it’s also a really good adult romance with so many wonderful things about how it’s written & what it has to say about self-love & loving others. Logan Gray & Mattie Cole are costars in an upcoming queer romcom. Their director & others ask them to engage in a fake dating romance to drive up positive press & attention for their movie & both agree, thinking it will help their reputations. Logan is known publicly as a Bad Boy. IRL he doesn’t have any friends & he’s living with trauma from childhood as the son of a Hollywood Important Person & a child actor in his own right. Mattie has a rep as being so nice that he’s seen as boring. Despite neither of them liking the other, they engage in a fake dating romance, both learning along the way that there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to their costar. Be advised that this book deals with heavy topics including sexual abuse, & specifically sexual abuse that’s been permitted & even facilitated by a parent. Understandably, that gives a very sad tone to the book & as the narration makes clear, that is not trauma that disappears immediately, even after falling in love. In addition to the emotional strength of this book, Callender writes it so well, using what the characters are doing/thinking in the film Logan & Mattie are acting in to mirror & help explain what they might be feeling IRL. Both characters grow so much throughout the book but like I said, it’s not an easy read. But that’s part of the point: like Callender writes in one moment, people who are living with trauma can fall in love & be loved & love themselves & be part of healthy relationships, too. They shouldn’t be excluded from stories of finding Their Person. 5⭐️. Out 10/10.Please see a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs.
Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own. Clare Gilmore’s Love Interest dazzled me. I adore this contemporary—it has everything I want. Like: —a rivals to lovers workplace sitch where he doesn’t realize that he got the job she applied for. Her dislike of him is further fueled by the fact that he’s the board chairman’s son & she smells nepotism. —a spectacles-wearing hero. Need I say more?! —a financial analyst heroine who worries about her legacy as the daughter of creative-minded parents & who wants to be scared/excited again when it comes to putting herself out there —humor. There’s an only one bed line that really cracked me up. —so much heart & realness. References to previous “gastrointestinal turbulence” & needing deodorant (for those who appreciate things like that) & also the sweetest moments where she has to continually extricate herself from his warm snuggles & pee in the middle of the night & he teases her & she’s like “I have a small bladder.” These characters are so well-developed & not only the central relationship between Casey & Alex shines, so do the secondary ones. I love the portrayal of friendship & the queer rep, & basically everything about this authentic-feeling, fresh, intimate, & joyous story. 5⭐️. Out 10/10.CWs: Sexual harassment. Grief. Emotionally negligent parent. Reference to past chlamydia.
Hi and welcome to my blog tour stop for Jenna Levine's My Roommate is a Vampire! A big thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own. Summary.True love is at stake in this charming, debut romantic comedy. Cassie Greenberg loves being an artist, but it’s a tough way to make a living. On the brink of eviction, she’s desperate when she finds a too-good-to-be-true apartment in a beautiful Chicago neighborhood. Cassie knows there has to be a catch—only someone with a secret to hide would rent out a room for that price. Of course, her new roommate Frederick J. Fitzwilliam is far from normal. He sleeps all day, is out at night on business, and talks like he walked out of a regency-romance novel. He also leaves Cassie heart-melting notes around the apartment, cares about her art, and asks about her day. And he doesn’t look half bad shirtless, on the rare occasions they’re both home and awake. But when Cassie finds bags of blood in the fridge that definitely weren’t there earlier, Frederick has to come clean... Cassie’s sexy new roommate is a vampire. And he has a proposition for her. [ID: Jess, a white woman wearing a yellow skirt with white flowers, holds the ebook in front of a white bookcase.]My review.This is the first book I’ve read with a cinnamon roll vampire lead & I was immensely charmed. He is so considerate & formal in his speech & has beautiful stationary. I didn’t think I was looking for the two latter things in my romance heroes but I guess I am. Jenna Levine’s My Roommate is a Vampire is adorable, with a roommate romance between Cassie, an artist who initially feels like a failure, & her kind of strange, rich roommate Frederick who turns out to be a vampire who’s been in a coma-like state for decades. They begin to send letters back & forth to each other & after she learns what he is, agree that she will help acclimate him to modern life by giving him tutelage. There are some funny misunderstandings, a kissing for science plot point, & even a “who did this to you?” moment so basically a cornucopia of awesome things. Balancing the sweetness & the adorability is Cassie’s growing self esteem which Frederick helps along by helping her see how wonderful she is & how talented she is. And I never knew I was missing a reference to MFA student loan debt in romance but I loved it here. This book is quick & winsome & exactly what I needed in that moment. Super cute & I can’t wait to see what Levine writes next! 5⭐️. Out today!Please see a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs.About the author.By day, Jenna Levine works to increase access to affordable housing in the American South. By night, she writes romance novels where ridiculous things happen to beautiful people. When Jenna isn't writing she can usually be found crying over k-dramas, starting knitting projects she won't finish, or spending time with her family and small army of cats. Do you like cinnamon roll heroes? Let me know what you think about this one and thanks for stopping by!
Happy reading! Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own. From beginning to end The Blonde Identity by Ally Carter is pure fun: MCs dangling underneath bridges, playing fake marriage on a river cruise ship, trying to solve the mystery of who the amnesia-stricken heroine is. It’s a rom com with the com—so many moments are madcap & funny & the book (and reader) delight in all of it. The heroine is quirky imaginative sunshine & she shakes our unflappable operative/spy hero Jake Sawyer down to his sexy feet. Books where the leads are out being badass—making plans to take down baddies, essentially Home Alone for adults, I’m realizing right now —win my adoration & this one is just C U T E while it does it. Mal @talesofabookbug shared in her review that this is Fade to Black. I’m glad I had that insight & when the moment came I was just happy with how things were moving between them & that they were sated & also ready for more if you know what I mean . This one is so great & it was perfect for my mood. Check it out! 5⭐️. Out now!CWs: Attempted murder; murder; previous heart surgeries. Lies.
Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.I love how KJ Charles doesn’t shy away from introducing ethical conflicts between her leads & how usually both leads—the righteous one & the scoundrel—realize they have something to learn by the end . In the case of A Nobleman’s Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel, said scoundrel is helping said nobleman work through his disheveled mess of ledgers & records, all the while deceiving him as to his deeper reasons for being there. (I love this kind of deception btw bc of the promised grovel that happens later & that scene is so touching in this book.) That’s the surface plot of this book &—minus one minor-ish element I’m still a bit confused about —it’s great. But where the book really gets to me is in its tender moments, the steam, the way that KJ Charles infuses her characters with nuance & appeal. These leads really come to life in this book, they shine & their HEA is one I was so delighted to watch. Happiness-inducing & sweet as candy (with a dastardly relative or two thrown in the mix to add a little trouble.) 5⭐️. Out 09/19.CWs: past parental abandonment; reference to a lead’s mother being raped in past; a lead is a former POW; one lead has difficulty reading & has been made fun of for that & feels ashamed. Attempted murder.
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