I persisted through this book for one reason: I NEEDED to know who the killer was. That’s it. That’s the only reason. As a mystery, it is compelling, twisty and enjoyable. As a romance, it made me want to throw my e-reader against a wall. So many of the secondary characters are total assholes. Truly. Even our heroine is a selfish dickwad. Across the characters, sometimes that asshole-ness is because they’re just assholes. For example, … Continue reading It Happened One Murder by Liz Lawson →
It is no secret. I love. This. Series. With each book that is released, I wonder, can this one reach the same heights as the preceding ones? Each time, I am shown in no uncertain terms that it absolutely can. Gabriel runs a gambling establishment in London. Ginny’s brother loses his entire, newly inherited fortune while gambling at that establishment. As the older sister who stepped into the breach when her parents died, Ginny travels … Continue reading Game of Rogues by Julie Anne Long →
I have now read a grand total of two dark romances. The first was so utterly shit that I didn’t attempt the genre again for a few years. While it was a very popular book, it was not at all appealing, and afterward I wasn’t sure what were hallmarks of the genre and what was just bad writing. I see now how wrong I was. It was plain bad writing. Butcher and Blackbird is the … Continue reading Butcher and Blackbird by Brynne Weaver →
I went to The Devil Wears Prada 2 hoping to get some feel-good nostalgia, but found the movie to be so disconnected from the present moment that I had a hard time investing in the conflict or characters. The acting is great, but the plot doesn’t stand the test of time. Set 20 years after the original, the movie addresses the death of print journalism when award winning journalist Andy (Anne Hathaway) loses her job … Continue reading The Devil Wears Prada 2 →
The Trembling Hand: Reflections of a Black Woman in the Romantic Archive is a great book for people who are interested in the Romantics (in this context, I’m referring to artists who were part of the artistic movement known as Romanticism). Author Nabugodi assumes that you are already at least somewhat familiar with this movement and with the lives and works of William Wordsworth, Samuel Coleridge, Mary and Percy Shelley, John Keats, and Lord Byron. … Continue reading The Trembling Hand by Mathelinda Nabugodi →
Dolly All the Time is set in the fictional seaside town of Whitfield, Rhode Island. The Whitfield family are the big, rich family in town and yes, the town is named after one of them. Stewart is the eldest son and desperate to prove to his family that he can be the new CEO and have a successful romantic life. As it is a family business, this is an important consideration for the board (made … Continue reading Dolly All the Time by Annabel Monaghan →
I picked this book up for the following reasons: The colours on the cover – hello neon! The title – what could a ‘safari murder party’ be? The use of ‘safari’ in the title. I am a Zimbabwean/South African and while I have been on plenty of game drives and visits to nature reserves, I’ve never considered any of that a ‘safari’ even though they’re marketed as safaris outside of my region. Fletcher is an … Continue reading Safari Murder Party by Rachel Moore →
Lucynka is a long-time lurker, who has occasionally commented under a couple different names in the past. Over the last few years, she’s become really interested in the history of the romance genre, particularly those forgotten or oft-overlooked parts. You can find her on Bluesky @lucynka.bsky.social, or else over on her WordPress, where she blogs about “obscure bullshit,” including a lot of romance pulp magazines from the 1920s-’40s. … While my last guest post showcased … Continue reading ’Neath Tropical Skies by Mollie Donovan Maule →
While looking ahead at upcoming releases, I came across The Body in the Kitchen Garden, the sequel to The Potting Shed Murder. The sequel sounded intriguing and from time to time I’m quite partial to a cosy mystery and it has been a while since I read one. Why not see if I still enjoy them? So off to the library I went. Daphne, her husband, and her three children move to the English countryside … Continue reading The Potting Shed Murder by Paula Sutton →
Quinn Audio is a paid app that offers immersive erotic short stories that, IMO, are organized by trope and archetype in a way that will appeal to romance readers (enemy to lover, forbidden work relationship, etc). You can pay by month or by year. One of the draws to Quinn is that some of the narrators are famous actors that listeners might be familiar with, like Jamie Campbell, Hudson Williams, and Connor Storrie. I started … Continue reading App Review: Quinn →
What Angels Fear has been mentioned positively a few times on the site but never reviewed. I became aware of the series when I received a marketing email for the 19th book in this series. When a series reaches that kind of number, there’s usually something special about it so off I went to the library for the first one in the series. It was initially slow going for me to get into but I … Continue reading What Angels Fear by CS Harris →
