The Bone Spindle by Leslie Vedder (The Bone Spindle #1) January 11, 2022 by Razorbill Young Adult Fantasy The Bone Spindle is a young adult fantasy retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story, but with gender swapped main characters. Briar Rose (the Sleeping Beauty of the story) is a prince, and Filore, a treasure hunter, is the one destined to rescue him from his one hundred year sleep. Now, a fairytale retelling is enough to get me in the door, but gender swapped and with a comparison to Continue Reading
Review: The Singles Table by Sara Desai
The Singles Table (Marriage Game #3) by Sara Desai November 16, 2021 by Berkley Contemporary Romance Reviewed by Kate The Singles Table, the third book in Sara Desai’s Marriage Game series, is charming and fun, but a bit slow to get started. Jay and Zara meet at a co-ed paintball bachelor party where they have an immediate dislike for each other based on their paintball technique. Jay runs a security firm and Zara is a lawyer who loves to matchmake during the wedding season. When Zara learns Continue Reading
Review: Duke, Actually by Jenny Holiday
Duke, Actually by Jenny Holiday Contemporary Romance November 16, 2021 by Avon Reviewed by Kate Duke, Actually is an adorable follow-up to A Princess for Christmas. I will open with my main complaints, which are that I don’t love this cover (A Princess for Christmas is so much cuter) and I feel a better title would have been “Baron, Actually” but I do understand how that would not have been as enticing. And now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, we can start on my many Continue Reading
Review: The Perks of Loving a Wallflower by Erica Ridley
The Perks of Loving a Wallflower by Erica Ridley The Wild Wynchesters #2 Historical Romance October 26, 2021 by Forever Reviewed by Kate The Perks of Loving a Wallflower is a lovely historical romance with two female main characters. This is the second in The Wild Wynchesters series, but I do not think the first (The Duke Heist) is necessary to enjoy this one. I would recommend The Duke Heist, however, and reading it first may give the reader some additional context which could make this Continue Reading
Review: Not Your Average Hot Guy by Gwenda Bond
Not Your Average Hot Guy by Gwenda Bond Paranormal Romance October 5, 2021 by St. Martin's Griffin Reviewed by Kate If a description for a book tells me the book is hilarious, I generally hope that I actually laugh while reading it. Unfortunately, that was not the case for Not Your Average Hot Guy. I went into it expecting a fun romantic comedy (not unfairly, in my opinion, since the description mentions that it’s a romantic comedy twice) but I do not think it lived up to that Continue Reading
Review: The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun
The Charm Offensive by Allison Cochrun Contemporary Romance September 7, 2021 by Atria Reviewed by Melinda This book completely snuck up on me, I hadn’t really heard much about it, but I’m so glad that I picked it up randomly because it’s going on my favorites of 2021 list for sure! The premise of the book is simple enough - man goes on a reality dating show to make his image better for business purposes, will he find love? But what follows is the star of the show falling for his producer Continue Reading
Review: The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling
The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling Contemporary Paranormal Romance September 28, 2021 by Avon Reviewed by Kate When I was mentally writing this review, I planned on opening with some comment about how I've read so many of Rachel Hawkins' books, and I loved them all. When I fact-checked this (thank goodness for Goodreads, despite its many flaws), I found that was not, in fact, the case. I've read maybe half of her YA, and I apparently did not really enjoy Hex Hall, her debut novel (Kate in the early Continue Reading
Review: The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood Contemporary Romance September 14, 2021 by Berkley Books Reviewed by Kate The Love Hypothesis is mostly a charming book. There is so much to love about it. Olive and Adam are adorable together, and the fake-dating plot was perfect. Olive’s friends are amazing and I enjoyed the banter all around. The writing is great, and I breezed through it in one sitting. But while I would very much like to overlook my problems with it for the cuteness, it feels Continue Reading
Review: All the Best Nights by Hanna Earnest
All the Best Nights by Hanna Earnest August 24, 2021 by Carina Contemporary Romance Reviewed by Kate Disclosure: Hanna Earnest has been a friend for a little more than a year, but I had not read this book before receiving the ARC from Netgalley. Hanna Earnest is my friend, and to be perfectly transparent, because she probably won’t read this review: I mostly downloaded the ARC on Netgalley to see if I was mentioned in the acknowledgements. (I am, phew.) We’ve been in romance book Continue Reading
Review: The Right Side of Reckless by Whitney D. Grandison
The Right Side of Reckless by Whitney D. Grandison Contemporary Young Adult July 13, 2021 by Inkyard Press Reviewed by Kate The Right Side of Reckless is the very first young adult contemporary novel I've reviewed, and as I was reading it, it occurred to me I have no idea how to review YA contemporary! I've reviewed plenty of YA fantasy before, and there's a lot to talk about there in terms of world building and such, and I've reviewed adult romance novels, but I feel sketchy talking about Continue Reading