Angela: Melinda was a bright, lovely voice in Romancelandia. I was fortunate to have met and befriended her through Smexy and enjoyed her keen insights and commentary. Sending love and light to all who knew and loved her, she will be greatly missed. Melanie: Melinda, one of the romance community’s most beloved members, passed away in the early hours of January 10, 2024. She was a reviewer, podcaster, and editor. And she was a dear friend to many. My friendship with her began several years Continue Reading
Review: Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan
Before I Let Go by Kennedy RyanSkyland #1Contemporary RomanceNov 15, 2022 by ForeverARC Review by Melinda Kennedy Ryan has covered heavy topics in her books before, like domestic violence, racism, and rape. The reason I love her writing is because she writes everything, including those heavy topics, with such depth. Her characters are always nuanced and fully fleshed out, and whatever topic she’s writing on it’s clear she’s done her research. At this point, I trust her to take care with Continue Reading
Review: Mistakes Were Made by Meryl Wilsner
Mistakes Were Made by Meryl WilsnerContemporary RomanceOctober 11, 2022, by St. Martin's GriffinARC Review by Melinda Mistakes Were Made is Meryl Wilsner’s sophomore novel, which can be a difficult book to get right, There are expectations from readers, especially after having a successful debut, which Wilsner did with 2020s Something to Talk About. I tried to go into it just expecting a good book, but I got so much more. When Cassie is out with her friends during Parents Weekend, she Continue Reading
Review: Pack of Lies by Charlie Adhara
Pack of Lies by Charlie AdharaMonster Hunt #1PNRAugust 30, 2022, by Carina Adores ARC Review by Melinda Charlie Adhara’s Big Bad Wolf series quickly became one of my favorite PNR series so I was excited for the spin-off of this, Monster Hunt. Pack of Lies is the first book, starring Eli, Park’s ex from Cry Wolf, the last book in the Big Bad Wolf series. He’s now the manager of a retreat in the middle of nowhere, and the pack plans on using it to help rebel pack runaways. The book starts Continue Reading
Review: The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen
The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan BannenFantasyAugust 23, 2022 by Orbit BooksARC Review by: Melinda This book was such an incredible and weird delight to read, I loved it so much. But it has a plot that’s hard to pitch well. Mercy is an undertaker, and Hart kills zombies and is required to take their bodies to specific funeral homes. The two hate each other from their very first meeting, which was a complete disaster. They both are intensely lonely and end up writing Continue Reading
Review: Storm Echo (Psy-Changeling Trinity #6) by Nalini Singh
Storm Echo by Nalini SinghParanormal RomanceAugust 9, 2022, by BerkleyARCReview by Melinda and Melanie Melanie: Melinda and I were super excited to get to read an ARC of this book together months before it was released. We’re obviously huge fans of Nalini Singh as well as the series as a whole. However, that being said, this was not our favorite book in this series, not even close. But look, it’s the 6th book in the spin off series, Psy-Changeling Trinity and if you count the original Continue Reading
Melinda’s Audio Minis: Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey & The Monsters We Defy by Leslye Penelope
Just Like Home by Sarah GaileyHorrorJuly 19, 2022, by TorAudio ARC Review by Melinda This book begins with Vera coming home to take care of her dying mother. And everything is just…off. Her mother is hostile towards her, there’s something living under her bed, and her father was a serial killer who may be haunting the house, so things are complicated! We get bits and pieces of their backstory revealed, combined with pieces of what’s currently going on; but there are still so many Continue Reading
Melinda’s Audio Minis: We Were Dreamers by Simu Liu & Ruthless Women by Melanie Blake
We Were Dreamers by Simu LiuMemoirMay 17, 2022, by William MorrowAudio ARC Review by Melinda I’m a big fan of celebrity memoirs, particularly when listening to an audiobook with the celebrity narrating themselves. It always lends more of a personal tone to the book and makes it feel more like the celebrity is just sharing stories with you one-on-one. We Were Dreamers is narrated by Simu Liu and he tells his background as a child of immigrants, and how that shaped his childhood and Continue Reading
Melinda’s Mini Reviews: No Strings by Lucy Bexley & the Roxane Weary series by Kristen Lepionka
No Strings by Lucy BexleyLGBTQ Contemporary RomanceJan 11, 2022Purchased Review by Melinda No Strings by Lucy Bexley is genuinely one of the most charming and surprising books I’ve read! The cover may be one of the worst I’ve ever seen so I would never have picked it up without a friend telling me it was 5 stars for her. Elsie is a puppeteer on a kid's TV show that she basically created…but gets next to no credit OR money for. And when the head of the company dies, his daughter Jones Continue Reading
Audio Review: The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill
The Woman in the Library by Sulari GentillSuspenseJune 7, 2022, by SourcebooksAudio ARC Review by Melinda I’m always looking for good thrillers, and I think they can be difficult to find. It takes someone really talented to build the suspense necessary to keep a reader invested in the plot, and then even more difficult to have a twist that no one sees coming. The Woman in the Library does the next to impossible and has high tension, a unique format, and is completely addictive. I Continue Reading