The Break by Marian Keyes
Every bubble in the galaxy has burst. The million shards of sparkle suspended in the air have turned to wet ash. All the colour has leached away and the world is just grey, grey, grey. Amy O’Connell is a 44 year old mother of three daughters, married to Hugh. She loves him, but life is a dull and chaotic blur and while she realises that Hugh is struggling after the death of his father, she is blindsided when he tells her he wants to take […]
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
For some unknown reason I suddenly started seeing a lot of junky AI images, reels, and posts about the ACOTAR series, likely something to do with the recent announcement of two more books to the series. I have never read this series. I figured I pick up the first one to see. Verdict: I can see how-why the series might get addictive, but I also am not planning to continue with it. A Court of Thorns and Roses is basic fantasy, and romance, with some […]
The Favorites by Layne Fargo
Iykyk- this novel brings to life Caity Weaver’s infamous and amazing 2018 tweet about the Canadians ice ‘skating’ to Moulin Rouge, just switch it up with Americans and seven different covers of Wicked Game. Katarina Shaw has always been determined to become an Olympic ice dancer. With her childhood sweetheart Heath Rocha as her partner, it looks as if their championship dreams are destined to come true. But the road to gold never does run smooth and their partnership seems to come to a messy […]
The Outlaw Hearts by Rebecca Brandewyne
When schoolteacher Jenny Colter takes the train into the little Ozarks town of Tumbling Creek, she’s hoping to leave behind the violence which destroyed her family in post-Civil War Atlanta. But when she catches sight of the uncovered face of Luke Morgan when he’s robbing the train, he’s determined to keep her quiet by any means necessary… Rebecca Brandewyne is another of those writers of big off-the-wall 80s bodice rippers which I love, though her work doesn’t reach for the soaring heights of WTF-ery that […]
Better in Black: Ten Stories of Shadowhunter Romance by Cassandra Clare
Basically what it says on the tin: ten short stories set in the Shadowhunter Universe, each centered on one couple (or throuple, in one case.) They are as follows: The Good Storm (Will Herondale/Tessa Grey, set during their honeymoon.): So trite, so overblown. Cassie, if you can’t write sex scenes that don’t read like they’re from a bodice-ripper, don’t have them at all. Also, maybe keep track of the ages of your characters; why did you write a fifteen year old sounding more like a […]
The Last Boleyn by Karen Harper
Though it is Anne Boleyn who became the second queen of Henry VIII, her sister Mary had her own entanglements with royalty which in many ways paved the way for the rise of the Boleyns. Philippa Gregory retreads this same ground some two decades later, but my understanding is that The Last Boleyn is a more restrained retelling of this already dramatic story. I thought that Harper did an excellent job of fleshing out all the many historical figures which people this book, including members of both […]
