It’s that time of year! I ended December out with a bang, finishing 5518 pages over 21 books. My Goodreads challenge is also officially complete (and CRUSHED), having finished the year with 338 books read – 155% over my challenge goal of 218. I’m still trying to figure out what to set as my goal this year, but I think…
Month: December 2018
Review: Kingdom of Needle and Bone – Mira Grant
Content warnings: I’m not a big fan of the horror genre, but I cannot resist a Mira Grant novel. For those not in the know, Mira Grant is one of Seanan McGuire’s pen names, and I’m a ridiculous superfan of hers. The only other Mira Grant I’d read was her killer mermaids book, Into the Drowning Deep, which I absolutely adored,…
Review: Craving Jamie – Keiko Okamoto and Emma Darcy
This is a manga adaptation of a Harlequin Presents novel from 1997, so I went in expecting some vintage category craziness and was not disappointed. With that being said, it’s a pretty decent second chance romance, and the illustrated style certainly made it much more enjoyable. Jamie and Beth were friends as children at her family’s ranch outside Sydney. When…
Review: Surface Tension – Valentine Wheeler
Look, this is a lesbian romance about a mermaid scientist and a farmer-girl-turned-sailor, and if that doesn’t have you one-clicking the heck out of this story, I don’t know what will! It’s a sweet, fairy-tale-like romance, and it was a delightful read. “The mast swayed beneath her, the ship banking hard as it came about, and she gripped the edge of…
Review: Tangled – Emma Chase
There’s a definite dearth of m/f romance novels solely from the hero’s perspective, so when I had to read a book featuring a rich hero or heroine, I chose this one out of curiosity, since it won the Goodreads choice award back in 2013. “I was kidding. Why do you have to be so fucking serious all the time? You…
Review: The Season to Sin – Clare Connelly
I’ve been meaning to try out Harlequin’s Dare line, so when I saw this holiday-themed romance show up at my library, I grabbed it! It was definitely much steamier than I’d expected a category romance to be, but the rest of it was not as successful for me. “I force myself to remember several things, and to remember them quickly.…
Review: Tempting Fate – Stacy Finz
First off, a random note – I really do not like that cover, but I’m at a loss to explain why. I think, perhaps, that it’s just very different from how I imagined the characters. Now that that’s out of the way – this is an enjoyable forced-proximity romance, set in a ranching town and starring the town’s prodigal daughter.…
Review: In Love with Alien Santa Claus – Zara Zenia
Someone on Twitter posted this as an example of a WTF cover, and when I saw it was on Kindle Unlimited, I thought, “Yes! I could go for a kitschy so-bad-it’s-good alien santa story!” Alas, this story stayed firmly in the “it’s bad” category, plus, I’m sorry to say, the Santa in the story does not actually have bright red…
Review: Dance All Night – Alexis Daria
My goodness, this was absolutely adorable. Yes, the plot is a bit ridiculous. Yes, the big misunderstanding could have been solved with a 2-question conversation. But, it’s just so darn fun and adorable that even while I noticed these problems, I was having too much fun to actually care. I’m a pretty big fan of Ms. Daria’s previous books in…
Review: Between the Lines – Sally Malcolm
I adored Ms. Malcolm’s last book, a retelling of Persuasion, so to say I was very excited for this one would be an understatement! And, yes, it was just as good! It’s a delightful example of enemies-to-lovers starring a neurodivergent character, with an underlying message of forgiveness. While it’s set in the same time and includes the wedding of the…