The Wrong Mr. Darcy by Evelyn Lozada, Holly Lörincz
I am weak for a Pride & Prejudice retelling. My best friend pointed out that I never enjoy them, despite the fact that I will read almost any that come my way. One of the reasons I so often don’t enjoy them is because I don’t know what I want in a retelling. When do I begrudge the changes made to put the story in a new context? What elements are necessary to retain the spirit of the story I love? Do I need to […]
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
I’m not giving this book a rating because how much I liked it isn’t the same as how good I think the book is. So let me start with this: Eleanor & Park is an excellent YA romance. Eleanor has just moved back in with her mom, stepfather, and 4 siblings. On her first day in her new school, she doesn’t know where to sit on the bus and Park reluctantly makes room for her. For days they ride silently on the bus, but then […]
Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev
As much as I love Pride & Prejudice, the book just doesn’t update well. (I’m posting a review soon of a spectacular P&P fail.) So many of the elements of the story don’t work out of context. Seduction of underage girls, the importance of one sibling’s marriage on the family’s fortunes, how many families one dines with, fine eyes… stuff just hits different now. Persuasion, however, is, in many ways, a much easier tale to update. A young woman too sensitive to her family’s censure, […]
Ivory (Manhattan 10 #1) by Lola Dodge
Lola Dodge kicks off a new series of superhero romance novellas with Ivory, the story of a Scandinavian goddess (maybe? it’s never quite clear on this point?) who finds herself mixed up with a superhero team. It’s 80% romance and 20% superhero fiction, if that’s relevant to you. This book didn’t work for me, for a lot of reasons. I liked the premise: super-powered flight attendant kills someone on her flight and ends up having to lie low with a team of supers who are […]
When I finished reading early 2018’s The Wedding Date, it was great news to read that writer Jasmine Guillory had another book coming out. Thanks to a few specific websites, I really took to reading the “good kind” of romance fiction they recommended (to realize later that most of it has been, is, and always will be wonderful) and Guillory’s books were warm, comforting hugs before bedtime. I liked that food played such a role in her romance fiction. What you eat means something to […]
