Blackthorn by J.T. Geissinger
What the actual f*CK did I just read? Ok. As a disclaimer, I received this book at Romchella, a romance readers retreat, as a free ARC from Bramble. They did not ask us to review it at all, let alone influence that review. I thank them for the early access! I’ll keep the spoilers out of it, though I’d dearly love to talk about them, due to the fact this book isn’t even released yet (edit – it is now, but I wrote this before […]
The Cruel Dark by Bea Northwick
You’re promising me some traumatic amnesia, a giant scary estate, and possible ghosts and/or fairy shenanigans? Yes please thank you Bea Northwick! A perfect read for the week before Halloween. Millicent Foxboro is alone in the world. Having overcome a difficult childhood and amnesia that mysteriously erased four years of her life, she now craves stability. When an unexpected job offer arrives with a ridiculously large salary Millicent feels she must take it. She arrives at the once grand but now overgrown estate with its […]
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
Let’s get it out of the way for the CBR Bingo this is row 2, column 1: Dwelling. My rating on Storygraph is 3.5 and we don’t have have decimals and fraction ratings here, but this isn’t something I’d rate a 4. In that case, I’m CBR rating it a 3. I tagged Starling House #StrangerThings and I also tagged it #GothicRomance and #MiningCountry and, in sum, that’s how I’d describe the genre and even plot of this book. This is one I wasn’t sure I’d stick […]
Tregaron's Daughter by Madeleine Brent
When I started reading this, I was surprised how similar the plot was to Madeleine Brent’s (Modesty Blaise writer Peter O’Donnell in reality) first novel, Merlin’s Keep. We have a spunky young lass, a dying father, a benevolent and rich foster father who takes her into his family, and a handsome young man with a checkered past who seems to dislike her but secretly pines for her. Cadi Tregaron from Cornwall is the spunky heroine. She takes care of her father in a small fishing […]
The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling
[Read as an audiobook from the public library] Sigh. Okay. Y’all, I really, really like Crimson Peak. It’s a weird, sexy, stylish, haunted spun sugar mess of a thing that I will watch any time it’s on. And clearly the author of The Death of Jane Lawrence also likes it. And I do not fault her taste for that. But I feel like she might have some views on the Law of Attraction that we might argue about. Jane Shoringfield is a sensible woman. She […]
The Wife in the Attic by Rose Lerner
I’m going to be clear up front that I am not a fan of the Brontes and I really dislike Mr. Rochester. When he gets held up as a romantic hero my jaw clenches. When Rose Lerner announced she was writing an f/f retelling of Jane Eyre I was delighted. I was delighted Mr. Rochester wouldn’t end up with the love of a good woman, and more importantly, Rose Lerner is an amazing author and I’d read her retelling of my grocery list. The Wife […]
