Category: book review
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Book Review: The Player’s Lounge by Dan Calley
One of the things I love most about the queer romance subgenre is how it is so accepting of speculative fiction concepts that are unique and unexpected. Calley’s debut novel opens with a moment of high action that swiftly transitions to a quieter, but no less intense, fascinating quandary regarding…
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Book Review: Most of You (Beginning of Always #2) by E.M. Lindsey
Ready my review of the previous book in the Beginning of Always series, Halo. This book works completely as a stand-alone story, but putting this book together with Halo makes for a lovely duet. Emil wasn’t necessarily a villain in the other book who needed a redemption arc. The events…
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Book Review: Daddy Christmas by Cara Dee
I can’t keep my title as a Cara Dee superfan if I don’t read all the things, but I’ll admit that I approached this story with mild trepidation. First because of one of the major tropes, since “forbidden” romance (in this case between people of very different statuses within an…
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Book Review: Should the Sky Fall (Who We Are #1) by Amithia Raine
I can probably count on one hand the number of romances with the amnesia trope I’ve finished. The concept can feel incredibly contrived if not handled well. Obviously, writing a review means I did finish this book. Raine puts an intriguing paranormal twist on the amnesia trope, then proceeds to…
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Book Review: Unnatural Fate by J.R. Gray
Gray is excellent at writing angst, and I could tell from the very first page that I was in for tears with this book. This fated mates story doesn’t even start at the moment these star-crossed lovers meet (though we do get that in a flashback). We’re dropped into the…
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Book Review: The First and Last Adventure of Kit Sawyer by S.E. Harmon
Kit Sawyer is a character who has carved his niche out of the weight of his family’s legacy. Harmon crafts each aspect of Kat deliberately, from his medical issues to his personality, to set him apart from both cliché genre archetypes and the expectations that accompany his last name within…
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Book Review: Sunshine (Trident Agency #1) by E.M. Lindsey & Kiki Clark
I’m a huge fan of open-world urban fantasy, so I knew ahead of time that I’d enjoy this new series cowritten by one of my favorite authors. Lindsey and Clark play with multiple romance tropes in this book while also stretching other limits with a setting completely different from our…
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Book Review: Saving Him by Sara Hurst
Hurst takes a bit of a risk by opening this book at a point of conflict before we’re given a chance to emotionally connect with any of the characters, but it pays off in the long run. As the story unfolds, it becomes evident that the present-day events are the…
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Book Review: Sub Rosa (Valerius Mystery #1) by Jennifer Burke
In my experience, the best historical fiction involves stories that show the more things change, the more they stay the same. After all, people are people throughout history, just occasionally with better hygiene. Valerius is the highlight of this extended cast of characters for a story in which Burke effortlessly…
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Book Review: Drama Queen (The Court #1) by Charlie Novak
Comparing the drag queen main character in this story, Bubblegum Galaxy, to the drag queen protagonist of an earlier Novak book would be easy, but this author immediately puts her excellent characterization skills to work by making their personalities and general vibes drastically different (in both drag and boy mode).…
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Book Review: Praised (Trophy Doms Social Club #3) by Kate Hawthorne
Read my reviews of previous books in the Trophy Doms Social Club series: Humbled (#1) | Edged (#2) Flynn may fit all the characteristics for being a card-carrying member of the Trophy Doms Social Club, but one thing I love about this series is how each member of this group of friends…
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Book Review: The Skeptic (Lost Boys #1) by Kelly Fox
Read my review of the prequel to the Lost Boys series, The Thief. This book easily works as a stand-alone, but I’ve now seen Beckett in two previous works by Fox (the finale of her Wild Heart Ranch series and the prequel to this series) and already knew I was…
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Book Review: Unholy Trinity (Rebel Kings MC #6) by Garrett Leigh
Read my reviews of previous books in the Rebel Kings MC series: Devil’s Dance (#1) | Saint’s Song (#2) | Forgive Me Father (#3) | Love Thy Brother (#4) | Reluctant Renegade (#5) When the VP of the Rebel Kings MC started more actively pursuing a potential relationship with the sister of the President earlier…
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Book Review: DragonSeer (DragonKin #2) by S. Rodman
Read my review of the first book in the DragonKin series, DragonRider. As the middle installment of a trilogy, this book doesn’t necessarily need an inciting incident – the events of the first book set up the entire initial situation in which our heroes find themselves. With brand-new dragon eggs…
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Book Review: The Thief (Lost Boys #0.5) by Kelly Fox
To borrow a phrase from this novella, you won’t want to miss this “quick but meaningful” introduction to Fox’s next series. Most novellas that act as this sort of prelude leave me both overwhelmed by introductions to secondary characters and underwhelmed by the story itself. Proving once again why Fox…
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Book Review: An Oath and a Promise (Riehse Eshan #4) by Adelaide Blaike
Read my reviews of previous books in the Riehse Eshan series: A Knife and a Blade (#1) | A Whisper and a Breath (#2) | A Shadow and a Storm (#3) I first found this series in a bit of a sweet spot, soon after the third book was released. That meant I…
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Book Review: Gateway Catastrophe (Ghostly Guardians #4) by Louisa Masters
Read my reviews of previous books in the Ghostly Guardians series: Spirited Situation (#1) | Vortex Conundrum (#2) | Conduit Crisis (#3) Since this book is the conclusion to the overarching storyline of the series, Masters has set pretty high expectations for readers regarding both the urban fantasy and romance elements. I know…
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Book Review: Light From the Grave by Sara Dobie Bauer
As a reviewer who occasionally reads and reviews her friends’ books, this can result in the peculiar scenario of writing about how much I loved a story that evolved from the grief experienced by a person I care for. Though there is a romance through-line to this book, the true…
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Book Review: Recalling My Demon (Possessive Love) by Colette Davison
Read my review of another book in the Possessive Love collection, My Saintly Demon by R.M. Neill. The idea of an ex-priest explaining kink to a demon should be absurd. As an author, Davison is exactly the blend of spicy and sweet necessary to make it adorable instead. The story…
