Another find from The Ripped Bodice
What I’m Reading Now: A Caribbean Heiress in Paris by Adriana Herrera
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Tag Archives: romance
What I’m Reading Now: Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade
I recently bought this at the Ripped Bodice new location in Brooklyn. So I’m super stoked. It looks really cute.
Quick Review: Dangerous Damsels Series by India Holton
This series was so delightful. The perfect fluffy romance and action and excitement. You have the perfect Victorian maiden’s who just happened to be Pirates, witches and secret agents. All working together, against each other and all in between. The First book has Cecelia who wants to finally join the ranks of the Wisteria Society and claim her right as a Pirate Queen her mother is but when her father kidnaps the Society it is up to her and Captain to save them. Delightful.
And then we are introduced to Charlotte, a powerful witch who like everyone else is after the a powerful artifact. She teams up with Pirate Alex, putting aside decades long feud to get it back. Magical. I love them.
And then finally, we have Alice and Daniel, undercover agents who have posed as maids and butlers for the forementioned pirates and witches. Because really who would be the best informants and spies then the people who are always there but rarely seen. Maybe my favorite of the all three.
Each book is a different following a different couple but the sense of humor is the same in all three and I can not recommend them enough. If you are looking for a fun, light read you can’t do wrong with this series.
Review: The Tenth Girl by Sara Faring
In this novel, a young woman attempting to escape the military dictatorship rounding up dissidents in Buenos Aires accepts a position at a school in Patagonia as an English teacher in the 1970s. The school is on the edge of the world, in a manor house built by an aristocratic family at the beginning of the century. The home had once been a school, but it has been shut down for decades because everyone caught a mysterious illness and many of the students and faculty died. They say that the house is built on land that was cursed by the indigenous people the family stole it from. Now the school is being reopened by the domineering business mogul who grew up in the house before she was forced to flee the mystery illness.
While this is creepy, our brave heroine Mavi likes her chances at the school overlooking ice fields in Southern Argentina better than her chances on the streets of Buenos Aires. Once at the school, she meets the other instructors and the son of the headmistress, heir to the wealthy family who owns the manor. And he’s a dick. Or, he starts off that way. But then his personality completely changes. That’s not the only strange thing that happens. There is a mysterious visitor in the night. The girls begin to fall sick. The house begins to decay. Everything begins to spiral out of control.
This book had an interesting twist that I was a little annoyed by at first. I could see it coming and I was hoping for another outcome. But the reveal wasn’t as clunky as I was expecting it to be and the resolution was interesting. This is an okay novel. I was hoping for a little more horror, but it kept me interested. If you like slightly creepy mysteries and need a reasonably quick read, this is pretty good. I am planning on checking out other books by Faring in the future.
Review: Deception by Selena Montgomery
This was a fun book. There was mystery, intrigue, spiciness. Finley Borders is a professional poker player who is called home because an innocent woman has been accused of murder. She’s going to use her skills of reading people and bluffing to help uncover a criminal organization.
When home, she meets FBI agent Caleb Matthews and immediately clocks him as undercover. They both find each other intriguing and annoying and, as a reader, that’s a good time.
I liked all the characters. They were three dimensional and awesome. The spiciness was slow burn but also very hot. The mystery was detailed and believable. It was so good. I am already looking for my next Stacey Abrams writing as Selena Montgomery novel.
Review: A Little Too Familiar by Lish McBride
This is was like the perfect hug. It was so warm and comforting. Lou (short for Louise) is an Animal Mage who is training for her dream job of pairing people with their familiar animals. Declan is a werewolf who just got out of a relationship and is trying to start over. Unfortunately, he has had some traumatic experiences with Animal Mages in the past so living with one is not ideal. Even if he is immediately attracted to her. I’m not sure what trope this is because it’s not really enemies to lovers since it’s not Lou who hurt him but it’s kind of the closest. Whatever it is I dig it. Declan has some things going on that prevent him from truly understanding his feelings and Lou just doesn’t understand why he has such a severe reaction to her but is willing to give him space. Which is a little hard when you’re roommates. Even more difficult is when Declan’s father and step mother escape from jail and come for him. That would put a temper on anything.
I loved everything about this book. Lou and Declan are the kind of couple you want to root for. Their roommates, Trick and Van perfectly compliment them as the quirky friends. Lou’s family are amazing and all bring color to the novel. What I like about it too is family and the found family dynamic. Lou has a big family filled with with her mom and her other family that she is not related to but helped raised her. It’s kind of complicated but it works. You then have her friends that are just as much apart of her family as the others. Those who was born into and those she chooses is very powerful. This is contrasted with Declan’s family, which was toxic to begin with. He was abused and dealt with so much trauma that left him scarred. When his parents were sent to jail, he and 1 sister were placed in one foster home while his other siblings another. This was for a reason but also meant that Declan lost what little family he had and made it hard him to trust others and let them in. It must be hard for a wolf without a pack. Meeting Lou is a blessing for Declan because not only does he find love but he also gains a family, a pack he has needed his whole life. Like I said, this book just so cozy and wonderful. Romance lovers and paranormal lovers who are looking for a fun and breezy book to read this summer. You can’t go wrong with this one.
What I’m Reading Now: A Little Too Familiar by Lish McBride
Lish McBride is another author that I will buy whatever she writes. I’m so happy she’s trying her hand at romance because she wrote maybe my favorite book Boyfriend ever! Lock from her Firebug series is super dreamy. I can’t wait to read about Declan and Lou.
Pop Culture Homework Assignment 2020: Twilight Re-read
With the announcement of Midnight Sun’s release this summer, Beth and I decided that this year we would read the same books. Yes, folks, we are revisiting the wonderful, terrible novels: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. This is the first time that Beth and I are reading the same books as part of the Pop Culture Homework Assignment! I am so excited! Please join us!
Review: Seared by Suleikha Snyder
So, this is a romance I finished in January…. I know. I am the worst blogger ever and Beth keeps this place afloat. Feel free to roast me in the comments and on twitter. Now, we review!
Naya and Lachlan and step-siblings who have been kept apart by his domineering father. Lachlan is a famous chef. He’s won the awards, had a hot and trendy restaurant in New York, has the TV show and is known for his take-no-shit style of kitchen management. Naya and Lachlan want to be together, but can they be together now that his father is dead? The intrigue! The questions! The insanely steamy romantic interludes!
So, I picked this up because I had just read Tikka Chance on Me, which was so good and hot and cute and exactly what you’d want in a romance. I also really like Suleikha Snyder’s twitter and ig accounts, so I wanted to support an author and content creator I like. I was a little worried about this book because step-siblings in love/lust kind of creeps me out, but that’s just me, no judgement. And, this is heavy D/S, which…meh. But, this book was great. I wanted to know what happened next and I wasn’t mad about all the sexy bits. Not mad at all. They were great. (Which is a huge part of why you read romance on the more erotic end of the spectrum, right? I’m not alone in that, right?) Anyway, this was great and I will definitely read more things by this author.
Review: Dashing Through the Snow by Debbie Macomber
Here is the description from amazon:
Ashley Davison, a graduate student in California, desperately wants to spend the holidays with her family in Seattle. Dashiell Sutherland, a former army intelligence officer, has a job interview in Seattle and must arrive by December 23. Though frantic to book a last-minute flight out of San Francisco, both are out of luck: Every flight is full, and there’s only one rental car available. Ashley and Dash reluctantly decide to share the car, but neither anticipates the wild ride ahead.
At first they drive in silence, but forced into close quarters Ashley and Dash can’t help but open up. Not only do they find they have a lot in common, but there’s even a spark of romance in the air. Their feelings catch them off guard—never before has either been so excited about a first meeting. But the two are in for more twists and turns along the way as they rescue a lost puppy, run into petty thieves, and even get caught up in a case of mistaken identity. Though Ashley and Dash may never reach Seattle in time for Christmas, the season is still full of surprises—and their greatest wishes may yet come true.
This book was terrible. So terrible I almost didn’t review it. The whole premise of the plot is that Ashley Davison has the same name as someone on the FBI’s most wanted list and the no-fly list and that’s a huge roadblock to her getting home for Christmas. This premise seems in poor taste, at the very least, because it does happen and hurts people, most often people who are racial and/or religious minorities in this country. I decided, for the sake of a quick Christmas read that I’d read it anyway.
I should have gone with my first instincts.
Ashley and Dash have sparks? I guess? But, It seems more like he’s the grown up looking after a well-meaning and slightly-irresponsible younger person. (And, for possibly obvious reasons, I really resent any characterization of a graduate student that way.) The FBI agents who follow them are ham-fisted and stubborn-to-a-fault. It is not a very flattering caricature. They also don’t seem good at their jobs? I feel like there were other clues that could have gotten them to Dash and Ashley faster, and while this would have made for a less exciting novel it also would have made for a shorter one and I would have been cool with that?
Oh, and they adopt a puppy at some point on their rental car road trip. This seems slightly irresponsible but big-hearted. Guess who’s idea it is.
The puppy is great. Not great enough that you should read it for the dog, though.
Ugh. this book. It was just terrible. I was hoping for something light and fun with a cute happily ever after and that’s not what this was. The nicest things I can say about this are that there was a dog and that it was a quick read.
2 Women, So Many Books 