I’ve seen people recommend Josh Lanyon before & a 1940s, atmospheric read with a murder mystery seemed like a good place to start.

It feels difficult to sum up my feelings on Snowball in Hell but basically: on one hand, the book’s portrayal of how dangerous it was for queer men in the 1940s feels authentic to real life but on the other, from a romance-reading perspective the book is darker than I expected it would be. And while I think this is book 1 in a series, I didn’t totally appreciate how I felt hopeful but not necessarily settled about where the leads are together or separately at the end of this one.

In Snowball in Hell Lieutenant Matt Spain is tasked with finding who murdered the son of a wealthy man & left his body in a tar pit. Also helping him investigate, but on an unofficial level, is reporter Nathan Doyle.

Bringing in some lingering trauma from their respective war experiences, their various perspectives on their sexuality & the shame & in Matt’s case, denial, about some aspects of it, & the homophobia of the time period in general, Snowball in Hell is not a light read.

The murder mystery aspect is fun, & seeing Matt & Nathan connect, particularly while they’re basically cut off from the world on Christmas Eve & Christmas, is touching. I hope that the next books will allow both men to come to some peace in how they view themselves & their sexuality & carve out a space for their relationship that feels relatively safe.

📖 Q: do you have a favorite royal couple? I’m team Harry + Meghan all the way!

The stunning cover of American Royalty—& the premise, of a white future prince of England & current duke falling in love with a Black American rapper named Duchess—had me pressing request on this one really fast.

While the basic premise is great (with a nod to Harry & Meghan), the book’s celebration of a female rapper also trying to amp up her skincare line is something worth cheering for, & there are some 🔥 sex scenes (including 🍑 action!), I also feel like things between the leads moved quickly & the hero sometimes comes across as judgmental & uptight (& not in a way that I appreciate).

Rapper & businesswoman Dani “Duchess” is in England to perform at a memorial concert for the King. Pretty much immediately Duke Jameson acts like a jerk, mainly because he judged her based on her music videos & because he’s secretly so attracted to her.

Forced proximity fans might rejoice when they realize they’re going to be spending so much time together on Jameson’s estate…

I noted what does & doesn’t work me earlier but on the whole this book just feels uneven to me.

On one hand Jameson can be an awkwardly adorable & cerebral beta hero; on the other, he makes weird, sexist judgments about how much cursing he might expect from Dani based on how she’s dressed (like women might be expected to curse more or less just because of how they’re dressed), as an example.

The couple doesn’t meet until 27% in which feels late to me, then they get physical a little too fast for me, & then there just isn’t enough emotional intimacy to have me falling in love.

But this was a fast read for me, largely because I found Tracey Livesay’s writing to be entertaining & enjoyable to consume & I had a lot of fun meeting Dani.

In the end this wasn’t an unqualified win for me but I’ll definitely try Livesay’s writing again!

📖 Q: are you a true crime fan? I don’t read or watch a lot of it but I would like to check out I’ll be Gone in the Dark one day!

Tessa Bailey is one of those authors I’m so grateful for. Mostly because she consistently delivers blisteringly hot romances with typically smooth heroes who are rendered BEWILDERED by the depth & power of their totally unexpected feelings for the heroine. Bewildered I say.

My Killer Vacation offers both of those things in spades with second grade teacher Taylor going on a vacation with her brother, realizing someone at the beach house they’ve booked has been murdered, & encountering the bounty hunter / private investigator asked to check into the case, a hottie named Myles, as she tries to do her own murder solving.

Though the narration was at times a little stiff for me—mostly in the beginning—& the mystery could have been a little tauter, this book delivers where it counts: it’s a sexy, escapist read that I enjoyed soo much (& honestly that counts extra right now).

There’s one scene toward the beginning of Taylor & Myles’s acquaintance where he licks her stomach (!) & one memorable scene in a church. Plus more.

Tessa adds to the sexual chemistry burning up the pages by giving me more of what I want: Myles is supposedly worrying about Taylor catching feelings after sex but instead after their first time she’s casual & he’s like WHAT, DIDNT THAT ROCK HER WORLD TOO? I eat that up.

Not to mention the ending, which is just superb as far as gestures are concerned.

This isn’t a total, unqualified 5 ⭐️ for me, especially if I consider it as a romance with a mystery. But it is sooo good & sooo fun to read—& I’m thankful to Tessa for delivering another book that put a smile in my lustful heart 😆—so after waffling a little it’s 4.5 ⭐️ from me!

I grew up loving Julie Garwood’s historicals & I really wanted to like Grace Under Fire, her upcoming romantic suspense release, but this one just doesn’t work for me on multiple levels.

The MCs Isabel Mackenna, a recent college graduate, & Michael Buchanan, who’s no longer a SEAL & currently in between jobs, have had a mildly antagonistic relationship before reconnecting at the beginning of the story. They’ve only met once, at Isabel sister’s wedding (to Michael’s brother) & they didn’t hit it off.

But things are *a little* friendlier now, if only because Michael comes to Isabel’s rescue when she saves a man’s life & shoots another man who shoots at her first.

What follows is quite a lot. The plot of this one feels pretty sprawling to me, with Isabel becoming a singing superstar, traveling (including to Scotland to get her inheritance), trying to avoid being killed, & more.

While I can love a clueless hero &/or an alpha hero & I’ve loved some of Garwood’s other heroes, Michael frequently comes across as excessively so. There isn’t enough for me to love about him & his tone or comments in some moments are grating.

The characterization of Isabel sometimes grates too. It feels like she’s often oblivious & not in a way that the book itself is aware of. She frequently ended up just annoying me, like when she thinks she’s a slut after enjoying her make-out session with Michael so much. I hate to say it but there are other examples of when she veers into TDTL territory for me.

It’s cool seeing other Buchanans again, & on paper I can totally get behind a story about beautiful and brave people falling in love, but this one disappointed me. While I’ll always love Garwood’s historicals, I think I’m not really a fan of her contemporary romantic suspense in general and might not read any future ones.

A taut murder mystery, a charmer hero who finds himself having unexpectedly serious thoughts about the heroine, a series of twists & some help-me-escape-stressful-reality for a little bit sexytimes…Laura Griffin’s Midnight Dunes was—as always—a great time.

Recently let go from her job Macey Burns is on Lost Beach pursuing a dream: making a tourism commercial, her first big job for her new production company.

But soon she’s on the fringes of a murder investigation that’s led by the completely hot detective, Owen Breda.

I had a guess about how this mystery would resolve itself & I was…wrong 😆. When I’m sucked into Griffin’s books I always have the sense that she knows what she’s talking about & it was fun seeing the characters work together to piece together what happened.

While the romance is open door & definitely enjoyable—especially when it comes to Owen—it ultimately falls a little short for me. I wanted more, especially at the ending 😅.

I was also surprised by how much focus was on a secondary character throughout the book.

But this is another solid romantic thriller from one of my favorites in the genre, & I definitely recommend this series to anyone looking for some scares & adrenaline-rushes with their kissing.

📖 Q: what are you closing out the weekend reading? I’m about 1/3 of the way through Spells & Sensibility, a MM romance with magic!

In Joanna Shupe’s The Bride Goes Rogue an ended betrothal (only it’s a little bit more complicated than that) is the catalyst for helping the pretty traditional Katherine Delafield embrace her can can-dancing, sexy nickname-adoring, secret-&-hot trysting wild side.

This book is hot hot hot & Shupe really captures Kat & Preston’s inability / lack of desire to stay away from each other & the physical demand that holds them both in thrall.

There’s an emotional connection there too, as both of them navigate difficult, huge feelings they don’t feel like sharing with anyone else.

Other reviewers have remarked on the grovel in this one & I just have to say YES! *plays trumpets with great fanfare.* He messes up & she stands up for herself & it’s so great. I stan a heroine who doesn’t make it easy on the hero to win her back & when Preston eventually has his A-Ha! moment it’s so sweet. He’s so sweet.

Another great, screamin hot read from this series & from Shupe & now I’m ready to watch a duke come undone in the next one.

My feelings for Cat Wynn’s Partner Track are complex. There are some things I loved & then there are things that had me going what?! internally.

The book starts when attorney Perdie Stone scores a big victory against Ivy League grad, now defense attorney, & impossible hottie Carter Leplan.

A major snowstorm & not enough rooms at the hotel result in an only one bed situation which turns into—as these things often do in a romance—a steamy hook-up.

When Perdie returns home she soon realizes that Carter is a new partner at her firm, a fact that’s more than infuriating given how long she’s fought for a similar position.

But they can’t stay away from each other & things get heated between them again & again.

Other reviews mention the steam of this one & it’s true, it’s so hot 👏🏻. There’s one office scene involving red underwear that had me feeling all kinds of things. You can feel the heat coming off the pages & it is y u m.

The chemistry between them is explosive & it’s offered as a reason why the characters can’t resist each other, despite Perdie’s *numerous* attempts to break things off.

Speaking of Perdie, it was great finding an unlikeable heroine & seeing her ultimately pursuing the things that will fulfill her. I repeatedly got the sense that Perdie Stone doesn’t stay down for long. She’s in her late 30s & she’s assured & knows how to take her pleasure & I can only applaud her for all of those things.

Carter is beta hero heart eyes: he is extremely sexy, self-aware, & sensitive. Also a dirty talker.

But the romance arc is filled with frustrating & confusing mixed messages on Perdie’s end & often propelled forward by jealousy. In the end I didn’t feel super confident in the stability of their relationship though the last couple of chapters including the epilogue are cute & a nice touch.

The romance itself unfolds in a muddled, frustrating way for this reader but I really appreciated aspects of the characters & the scintillating passages that pepper its pages.

I had never read Vivienne Lorret before but I took the leap after a trusted friend’s recommendation. How to Steal a Scoundrel’s Heart has a lot to offer with a former rake hero who’s all **this is just temporary, of course it’s not love** energy, a heroine who really tries to wrangle control over her “ruin” fallout, & a sweet & sensual love story that delights.

In the eyes of (most of) Society Prudence Thorogood has been ruined. She approaches known rake, Leo, Marquess of Savage, & asks him to shortlist her as a possible mistress option. They’ve met before though, & unbeknownst to Prudence Leo is so smitten (I mean it’s only lust, nothing more 🤣) with her that he agrees immediately.

She moves in with him & basically the rest of the book is them navigating that arrangement & their unexpected emotions toward the other.

The basic interactions between Prudence & Leo give me everything I’m looking for. I stan a resourceful, determined heroine who’s willing to do what it takes to survive in a society that wants her to crumple, to stay down.

& I’m all heart eyes for a hero who is gone from the word go but fights it every step of the way.

The friendship rep in here made me happy & intrigued (looking at you, Sterling), the hero’s protective streak is 👏🏻, & I love some heisting.

What doesn’t work for me so much is how a weightier topic is handled, specifically Prudence’s lingering trauma over her first sexual experience, which was painful physically & emotionally. Honestly I even felt unsettled about Prudence & Leo’s basic arrangement given that fact & Prudence’s feelings about having sex with someone again. I think it’s a matter of how it’s executed for me.

Setting aside that aspect of the plot, as well as the random dog on the cover which @angelareadsromance mentioned in earlier Stories 🤣, overall this romance is a lot of fun & I’ll definitely think about picking up another Lorret book in the future.

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!