 Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own. After loving Neon Gods & not getting to Electric Idol book yet 🙈 I’m slipping back into the Dark Olympus series with the positively scintillating Wicked Beauty. It’s high action, high heat, high everything it does because this book is not tame. I *definitely* picked that up as soon as Helen & Achilles have wild hate sex 😅. Eventually this is a book about a couple becoming a throuple as someone in the book says, with Helen becoming part of a relationship that Achilles & Patroclus already have & forming something new. But it’s also about more than that, as Helen tries to wrestle control over her destiny & transform herself from the “prize” of a tournament to its victor. To the next Ares of Olympus. With Wicked Beauty Katee Robert writes something so hot. Does it even need to be said? Let me just tell you that I was engaged. It’s an interesting story too, as Helen navigates the cutthroat world of Olympus & tries to forge a new place for herself. Where it falls a little short for me is in emotions. First of all, I wasn’t expecting the tension that develops between Achilles & Patroclus & how Achilles potentially threatens that beloved relationship by his actions with Helen. It gave me partnership in trouble vibes & not in a good way. And second I always want the romance, the declaration, the big words, & maybe that’s not what this story is about but I wanted more of that anyway 😅. This is a lot of fun & I’m so glad Katee Robert is writing it. Now I have to go back for Electric Idol! 4 ⭐️ . Release date: 06/07
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 Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own. I think Alexis Hall is one of the best banter writers I’ve read & it’s very apparent in A Lady for a Duke. Wouldn’t it be so great if we were as quick, funny, & astute as an Alexis Hall character? Let me just say I welcomed those moments of humor with open arms because so much of the romance is a rich, dense, & incredibly thoughtful plumbing of emotions, heart, & friendship. Which is amazing…& also served really well by an occasional bon mot for levity. A Lady for a Duke has everything & it just feels so colorful to me. I don’t think I’m in danger of forgetting the characters—they’re truly magnificent in their own ways, from the leads—indomitable Viola Carroll & the sternly principled & honorable Justin, duke of Gracewood—to Viola’s brother, a not very bright but also affable person called Badger who is beloved by his wife, (a magnificent would-be puppet master with a heart) Louise. The story, too, is unforgettable, featuring a trans heroine who, as she says, made choices that severed her from her old life—as a beloved best friend to Gracewood—but that allowed her to live as herself. This childhood best friends, class difference (Viola is a lady’s companion) romance has bold & romantic speeches & moments, stunning descriptions, a devastating sense of drama, & an absolutely lovely Epilogue that serves up major feels. Check out the CWs but this book is soo good & highly recommended! 5 ⭐️. Release date: 05/24.
 Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own. There are some books that just feel effortless & that’s Mia Sosa’s The Wedding Crasher. You all, this book is funny, sharp, FUN, family-centered & as sexy as forearms. Featuring a hot but semi-awkward hero, a heroine who isn’t afraid to tell the truth even when the truth puts her between a rock & a hard place, & a fake dating situation that turns into something that could change their lives forever. Solange is Lina’s—from The Worst Best Man—cousin. Dean is Max’s—from the same aforementioned book—BFF. They’re brought together when Solange helps encourage Dean’s fiancée to be honest about her heart after Solange catches said fiancée in an intimate moment with someone else before the ceremony. The chemistry between these two is played up beautifully—these two CARE—as is their conflict, which is thoughtful and well done. Their sex scenes had me internally clapping, including moments like him sliding down the wall bc he’s so overwhelmed by the hotness of it all. Me too, Dean, me too. This is such a good book & a stellar example of a fantastic rom com that activates emotions on *all* levels. 5 ⭐️. Out tomorrow!
 Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own. I jumped into Sonali Dev’s The Rajes series with the final book, The Emma Project, a retelling of—you’ve prob guessed it—Jane Austen’s Emma. Brimming with passion & vitality & with characters who feel layered, this is an interesting read that I’m still trying to pin down. I could definitely tell that this was the final book. It has the air of things boiling up & coming to fruition over a period of time & unfortunately I do think I would have appreciated some of the pacing & structural elements more had I read earlier books. But with that being said I found lots to appreciate about The Emma Project, newby to the series that I was. Starting with the complex characters—even the secondary characters assert themselves & contribute to the story, whether the leads want entirely want them to or not 😉. The family dynamics are sometimes loving, sometimes frustrating, & it’s really cool how past main characters aren’t perfect in this book just because of their once-vaunted MC status. The Emma Project features childhood friends to lovers, 12 year age gap (she’s older), once fake-engaged to your brother, workplace romance. The sex scenes are mostly fade to black but there’s a lot of emotional intimacy here; it’s really sweet seeing how much Vansh knows Naina & vice versa—their understanding goes bone deep. There are a lot of challenging family undercurrents in this read, including an abusive father (see my CWs) & I would have liked possibly some more time just on the development of Vansh & Naina as a couple, outside of their families. Those loom pretty large. But this is a rich story told in a lovely, happy, & haunting voice & I would imagine a great conclusion to the series. 4 ⭐️. Release date: 05/17
 Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own. Isn’t it a delight when leads hook up early in the romance & the author still manages to maintain a good level of will they or won’t they (of course they will!)?! That’s what happens in Witches Get Stitches, Juliette Cross’s upcoming offering in her Stay a Spell series. Violet Savoie is a Divine Seer & tattoo artist & Nico Cruz is her business partner & also the sexy singer werewolf she hooked up with almost two years earlier. But Violet’s read her cards which seem to forecast a not so happy ending for them. Despite the high level of attraction that rages between them, she doesn’t want to pursue it—even if a big part of her does in fact want to pursue it. This book has so much of JC’s delicious trademarks: sexy sexy interactions between leads—you can feel how much they want each other. Sweetness—Nico wants Violet so bad & it’s actually painful for him even as she feels like home. Cool worldbuilding. A lovely set of ensemble characters w/ some suspense built up for future books. This series has been such an enjoyable ride & I really luxuriate in the steamy world the author offers. Though I didn’t totally appreciate one of Nico’s try-to-make-Violet-interested strategies, Witches Get Stitches is a fun, hot installment & I can’t wait to read more. 4 ⭐️. Release date: 07/20. Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.Bethany Bennett’s lovely debut Any Rogue Will Do had me so excited about this new voice in historical romance. While West End Earl falls somewhat flat for me, I’m really looking forward to seeing what Bennett writes next. Adam Hardwick has worked as a land steward for Lord Calvin Carlyle for two years. They’ve developed a close friendship, Cal even referring to his amiable, red-haired friend as Puppy. But after Adam is attacked, Cal realizes that Adam is a woman, Phee, who has assumed her brother’s identity & the dress & mannerisms associated with men during the time so she can hide from her nefarious uncle & guardian. Cal’s there for her, even as this development causes him to develop romantic feelings for his employee/friend. There are lots of things standing between them but can they make it work? Kudos to Bennett for writing a sweet, beta hero who’s a good friend, a bold heroine, & an unconventional story. On balance I think Bennett writes with grace & sensitivity, & as I mentioned before, I think more great things are in our romance-reading future. But I was disconcerted by Cal’s rapid transition in thinking regarding Phee. As Adam, Phee garners none of Cal’s romantic interest; Cal even muses on how unattractive a sister of Adam’s would have been. But basically as soon as Phee reveals she’s a woman, soon after Cal’s aforementioned musing, she becomes attractive to him. The turnaround is very quick & it just feels odd to me. The story also goes in a very unexpected direction & while it eventually gets smoothed away, some of those vaguely rough edges took me out of the story somewhat. I love the sweet friendship between Cal and Phee & that the story (& Bennett) are willing to be daring, but sadly West End Earl doesn’t always work for me. 3.5 ⭐️. Release date: 06/29 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions are my own.Q: are you/could you be a light packer? If a hard-hitting romance with a heroine who must find what happiness looks like on the other side of loss + a charming Irish hero on a captivating sailboat journey sounds like your cup of tea then I definitely recommend Trish Doller’s Float Plan. Anna Beck’s beloved fiancé Ben committed suicide nearly one year before & she’s been in a fog of grief since. When she receives a reminder that they’re supposed to leave on the sailing expedition he planned, she quickly leaves by herself without telling her best friend or family or quitting her job. Also without having totally mastered learning sailing a boat on her own. A scare on the first leg of the journey convinces her she needs help & she enlists Keane Sullivan, Irish rogue & all around sweetheart. As Keane tells her in one moment, he’s had to learn to live with loss, too, after his leg was amputated & his professional sailing dreams were threatened...if not destroyed altogether. Anna & Keane will journey to Puerto Rico together & then she’ll continue without him to Trinidad. Only things don’t really work out as planned. With outstanding, vibrant descriptions of sailing, the places Anna & Keane travel to, & the people they encounter, Float Plan feels like an adventure. The storytelling is fine, the voices wiggled their ways into my heart, & the friends to lovers slow burn tale is so moving—though I did feel like things get a little anticlimactic toward the end. Temporarily. While Keane is a stud, without question the real standout for me is Anna, who makes the decision to leave everything she’s ever known & along the way learns how capable she really is & what the world looks like—what her life can look like—from the tiller of her boat. TW: Anna’s fiancé Ben committed suicide before the book begins but she flashbacks to finding his body. Second, there’s an uncomfortable moment for me when Keane segues from his discussion of a series of statues honoring slaves who died off Martinique to “honor[jng] the memory of those we’ve lost”—in her case Ben. I found the suggestion of comparison somewhat unsettling. 4.5 ⭐️. Float Plan publishes on 03/02. Q: which author do you have the most of on your e-reader? Katie Reus’s books are like sugar for me. I devour them and I enjoy the heck out of the rush. Whether she’s writing romantic suspense or PNR her books give me an enticing dose of steam, drama, & entertainment. Ancient Enforcer is her steamiest read yet & it features dragon shifter Mikael, a former general now contractor recently out of a long Hibernation & the human woman he & his brothers are currently living with as they acclimate to modern life, Avery Cortez. Mikael is Friend Zoned with Avery with a capital FZ but he’s trying to be patient & it’s pretty endearing to see. Most importantly for my purposes he’s D E V O T E D to her & when they finally get together yikes, it’s hot. While I can totally get behind a plot that’s a little bananas I did feel like some aspects of this one could have benefited from some more time &/or attention, & for me, the villain scenes could have been a *tad* more subtle. But Ancient Enforcer’s fun & sexy with all of those shifter romance moments I crave & it gave me the kind of steamy escape I was searching for so *clap clap.* 3.5 ⭐️. Ancient Enforcer is available on 01/26/21. Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own. Q: who’s an underrated historical romance author you rec? I’m a big fan of Grace Burrowes: Unconventional, sex-positive characters. An understated Downtown Abbey-esque style—gentle tones used to convey some tough love, insults, & drama! Secrets! & some familial discord but the characters also possess an unbending sense of integrity & loyalty. The Truth about Dukes focuses on Robert, a duke living with epilepsy who has decided to return to his rightful societal place. As a child, after experiencing epileptic episodes, Robert was sent to live in a mental asylum by his father & the assumption was that he was dead. After his brother rescued him Robert spent years in his home, anxious of many things related to his terrible asylum experience. Now, forced to act like a Duke, Robert finds an old ally, Lady Constance Wentworth, who once left her family for reasons unknown so she could be a maid at the aforementioned asylum. They had a friendship, an allyship, then but haven’t spoken since. Like with her other books I’ve read, the love story here is touching & tender & gives me those awww feelings. Because Burrowes writes imperfect characters, her romances often feel real & approachable. Robert & Constance are two ships on storm-wrecked seas & I love how they latch onto each other. They’re able to reveal their vulnerabilities with one another & it’s truly beautiful to me. I did feel like there are some execution issues with this romance though, particularly some aspects of the plot & characterization that feel rushed. Be aware too that this book is tackling the subject of how people in the 19th century might have viewed someone with epilepsy, & the reactions to Robert & his episodes are often callous, insensitive, &/or cruel, both outside of the leads’ families & within. With TTaD Burrowes offers another beautiful tale of two characters falling in love—it’s just that some aspects of how the tale unfold don’t quite hold up for me. [Additional CWs: the heroine felt like she had to give up her illegitimate daughter for adoption years earlier. Veiled references to the heroine’s background, including things her violent father did & forced his children to do.] 3.5 ⭐️. The Truth about Dukes releases on 11/10. Thanks to Netgalley, Forever Pub, & Grand Central Pub for the complimentary ARC (and the latter two for the finished copy, too.) All opinions provided are my own. I love how the authors Christina Lauren surprise us from book to book—from the contemplative, heart wrenching Love and Other Words to the face-sweating heat of Beautiful Bastard. In the case of their newest release In a Holidaze, I was once again impressed by their versatility but unfortunately didn’t fall for the love story. After an inebriated make-out session with a friend who just happens to be the brother of the man she’s had unrequited feelings for for years, Maelyn Jones asks the universe to “show me what will make me happy.” The universe decides to make her relive her Christmas vacation, the one her family does every year with her parents’s college friends & their kids, including Theo, the aforementioned friend she kissed, & Andrew, his brother & the man she’s harbored romantic feelings for. The question becomes: what does Mae’s happy life look like? & who is front & center in it? Though this romance shares a basic premise with the movie Groundhog Day it feels fresh & entertaining in Christina Lauren’s hands, peppered with approachable wry & sometimes crass humor. Mae’s a likeable heroine—she goes on a fun evolution from someone who, in her words, tries to be so careful to someone who isn’t afraid to upset the balance a bit. Where the book falls short for me is with the brothers, both of whom come off as rather one-note for me. The brother her heart ends up truly desiring feels too perfect; I couldn’t get a sense of his flaws or that Mae could see any, & that veered a little too close to putting-him-on-a-pedestal-adoration for me. After a sustained period of not warming to him, I couldn’t fully relax into their romance, a sensation that was made more unsettling by the unpredictability of the time travel plot itself. With that being said, I like this book: it’s sweet, sexy, and funny. The premise is great & the writing is warm & cozy. The romance just doesn’t rock my (holiday) socks off. 3.5⭐️. In a Holidaze is available now. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own. |
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