I joined the hosts of #SummerofSarahMacLean to gush about my favorite romance novel! You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/tv-BWjfET-0

I credit Lady Georgiana, bad ass in her pants, for launching me into a public romance reader. Before this I was embarrassed, because you know, the patriarchy. Thank goodness for Lady G. I finally listened to the audio version during the pandemic in 2020 as a comfort listen, and I'm so glad I did. MacLean is an exquisite writer, and so many of her sentences are meant to be heard out loud. And wow give me all your sexy poolside oral scenes and your quick, jealous desk bangs, and your *this is the last time give me your all* finally in a bed bangs.

Might be my favorite romance novel? If I can even claim such a thing? I just love it so much. It is also a perfect series ender, the big Chase reveal is perfectly done, and the end? With the jumping from gaming table to gaming table for our lovers to get to each other for one last time? PERFECT.

Yup, just gave five stars to a paperback romance. Loved it. When I saw the lady with pants on this cover, I had to read.

Honestly, I'm pretty blown away by what most would simply see as a trashy mass market paperback. It is tragic, sexy, and very well written. It is also breaks a lot of the tropes commonly associated with these type of books.

The titular lady is Georgiana, ruined by scandal at the tender age of 16. She had sex with her first 'love' once, got pregnant, and was subsequently outcast from society along with her daughter. Cut to ten years later, and the reader finds out Georgiana is ALSO both Anna AND Chase (seen and discussed in the other books of this series). Anna is a "whore" and the messenger for the all powerful owner of the Fallen Angel Club - Chase - whom everyone believes is a man. Georgiana has kept up this charade with the other owners (all male and seen in the previous books) but is now realizing she may in fact need to marry to give her daughter a title and a chance at a better life.

Georgiana renters society, while still masquerading as Anna and managing the club as Chase. A fancy newspaper man Duncan West who has fed secrets to "Chase" and "Anna" meets Georgiana and soon puts the pieces together regarding her tie to "Anna" (but not Chase). Georgiana and he fall for each other, but their secrets and honor do not make it an easy road. West doesn't have a title, he believes Georgiana is trapped as Chase's mistress, and numerous other problems keep the story moving forward and lead to much sexy angst and sexy times (see swimming pool scene). I did get a bit confused at the many different character names for each person, and feel like I should go back and read the other books in the series now.

Honestly, I was pretty riveted and this book was exactly what I needed at this moment in life.

Go Sarah MacLean!

Re-read 2020 for #SummerofSarahMacLean
I enjoyed my second romp with King and Sophie, especially the tight focus in on these two as they travel in various conveyances across the countryside to King's childhood home/estate. Seeing the glimpse of Lady Sera and her upcoming standoff with her husband was very emotional, because he seems truly irredeemable in this novel. Absolutely no way in heck would I EVER forgive him. But wow Day of the Duchess pulled it off!

I still think King needed to grovel more, that wedding was so sad and I felt so terrible for Sophie.

Lady Sophie's sisters are the Kardashians of Regency England. Scandal-filled and sensational, they are Sophie's opposite in every way. Sophie simply wants to avoid society and make her family happy. Too bad she starts her own scandal when she pushes her sister's philandering husband into a fountain.

Hoping to escape, she stows away in a carriage, the wrong carriage. It's occupant is none other than the fabulously rich and titled Marquess of Eversley, and he thinks she is out to trap him into marriage. She isn't! She really isn't. But, he may want to be trapped after all...

I adore Sarah MacLean. Her historical romances are fun, genre-defying, and full of feisty female leads who take the reins. I am looking forward to additional titles in this series.

What a slog. The joy I experienced reading The Royal We all those years ago was in no way replicated by this experience. While the narrator had a lovely voice, the story itself did not capture and hold my attention.

I spent most of the book switching between the audio and the print copy I received for free from the publisher. Reading this today in 2020 made me feel not great.

The pregnancy plot point (CW: miscarriage, infertility problems, pregnancy) and subsequent way of dealing with the titular "Heir Affair" did not work for me at all. There's a lot going on with lies and secrets and the ending did not land at all with me. Let's not praise the rich and powerful for hiding their dirty secrets from the public. Why not abolish the monarchy instead?

What can I say about Love Lettering? The writing is so gloriously evocative of the craft of the heroine that I dreamt in script? That I almost wore out the highlight button on my Kindle? That Reid and Meg have my heart?

I fell in love with Kate Clayborn's writing with the Chance of a Lifetime series and this book just cements her place as an important voice in the Romance genre.

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC. I will write a better review when I have collected my feelings!

Okay so I'm still having trouble putting my thoughts together in to a coherent review, but honestly just go read the on Aarya Marsden wrote over on Smart Bitches. It is brilliant. I'm just here to say I love this story so absolutely much AND that the audiobook is perfection. The wonderful narrator makes Meg and Reid's raw loneliness and their slow-burn chemistry absolutely come alive. Hearing Reid's "Good." is UNF.

Reread for my book to art club. I started with the Meg goes to find Reid at Swine scene and couldn't stop. I love these two with my whole heart.

Scarlett and Megan were best friends. They were supposed to go to college together until Scarlett ghosted and left Megan wondering what happened. Now both are living back in their hometown, Scarlett working from home and Megan still working at the same cafe she's been employed at her entire working life. And their friend wants them both to come to her wedding. In Canada. In the winter.

Cautiously agreeing to taking the dream road trip Megan has meticulously planned out, these two former friends are forced to confront not only the hurts from their past but also their growing sexual tension.

A fantastic road trip romance, I adored how Winters portrayed these 20-somethings who are still finding themselves as they are drawn to each other. I also loved that while Scarlett once had a crush on Megan, their high school friendship wasn't tested because of that, but because of the secret reason Scarlett did not go to college with Megan. And Megan was already out when she and Scarlett reconnect. All of their character growth revolves around their careers, where they want to be in their lives, not questioning their sexuality, which was great.

A very steamy kind of slow burn, I really had fun buddy-reading this with Leigh Kramer (she lists CWs in her excellent review).

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!

4 stars for the "Sweetest in the Gale" story. I read "Unraveled" in the [b:He's Come Undone: A Romance Anthology|51831578|He's Come Undone A Romance Anthology|Emma Barry|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1582818691l/51831578._SY75_.jpg|76324549] (5 Stars). I am saving "Covered" for when I'm feeling more emotionally ready to read a story with cancer.

This cover! Olivia has really been inspiring me, both with her talent and her way of taking care of her characters. Both Candy and Griff are grieving, in very different ways. Griff, becoming aware that the woman he knew as the stern yet vivacious leader is utterly without spark as the new school year begins, and falling for her as they grow closer, has to contend with what that means for his grief about his beloved wife. Told entirely from Griff's POV this was poignant, a bit tough to read, and super sweet.

I just need to say thank you for Charming Scottish Bastard and the hope it gave me this interminable past week. I just finished and your author's note has me all weepy and in my feelings.

Melissa Blue is the master at building sexual tension between her bartender/digital artist and the charming CFO who is helping his brother with his bar. Tasha moves to Glasgow to work at the bar and to help her best friend, the friend who is supposed to marry the brother of the titular Scot. I have only read the first book in this series and there are a lot of characters, so it did take me a minute to fully sink in (and now I need to read the rest) but this can standalone if needed.

For real, gave me all the squirmy pants feelings I love, plus explored family, found and otherwise, and the consequences of following your heart.

Bravo! Great read. Must buy for 2020.

CW: drinking, family tension.

As the description says, Asa Makepeace is "bawdy & bold" and Eve Dinwoody is prim, proper, and super uptight. Also she's suffering from a big trauma from her past, and cannot be touched by men and is terrified of dogs. But her brother, supposedly in hiding due to all his nefarious deeds and black mailings, but the same brother who rescued her from said trauma, has put her in charge of his estate. And now she must work with Asa Makepeace and help fund his pleasure garden dreams.

Tempestuous men building pleasure gardens as their ONE wish is my fav niche trope. I also love a big burly lothario who turns to absolute velvet for the one who finally challenges him and makes him tumble into love. This was great, and also the first book I've finished in two weeks.

ALSO there is a DOVE and a DOG and really really really great mutual masturbation scenes. WOW. And the consent is pretty fantastic, especially since Asa tries to make sure Eve is comfortable with his touch and absolutely wants it (there is a forced kiss scene I did not like and it felt out of place-their first kiss).

check out #bMLread2020 for my live tweet of this one!

CWs: violence, blood, a dog is hurt (but does not die), sexual assualt/attempted rape of a child, in the past, described, child rape discussed, blackmail.

An epic tale of love, identity, race, and home. Ifemelu and Obinze are lovers separated by differing opportunities, or the lack thereof. Dense and lyrically written, take the time to immerse yourself as you contemplate the many themes explored, especially Ifemelu's blog about experiencing race in America as a Nigerian, Obinze's experiences as an undocumented immigrant living in post-9/11 London, and what it means for them to both leave their country and come back again.

One of my favorite quotes: "But of course it makes sense because we are Third Worlders, and Third Worlders are forward-looking, we like things to be new, because our best is still ahead, while in the West their best is already past and so they have to make a fetish of that past." (539, paperback edition).

Highly recommend.

I did a live-tweet of my first time reading this heart wrencher enemies-to-lovers angst fest: https://twitter.com/bandherbooks/status/1295154502337732608

Hastings secretly pines for Helena and has since their first meeting when she turned up her nose at him. He hides his ardor by being MEAN and awful, and these two have sniping battles for the ages. He is also aghast to find out she is meeting secretly with a married man. He doesn't want her to be ruined but he also kind of wants to lock her down for himself. He prevents the married man's family member from busting them (she never actually sleeps with Mr. Martin, just some heavy petting and kissing) and claims they secretly eloped. And then she gets clippity clopped in the face by a horse hoof when she runs after Mr. Martin instead of accepting she's now to wed Hastings.

After a coma, it turns out Helena has lost all memory from ten years back, meaning she hasn't yet "met" Hastings (but remembers her siblings). She begins to fall in love with him and he's breathlessly happy yet terrified because he no longer has to pretend to hate her and can just love her.

Whew, with me still? There's also an erotic fanfic novel he penned about their relationship they end up reenacting, a tortoise named Mr. Hardshell, Hasting's daughter who he is extremely caring for and who is possibly autistic (not named, but has qualities that gave me this impression I could be very wrong), and glorious language.

I loved reading this, I kind of hated both Hastings and Helena at different times, but I'm also so happy I read this book.

CW: kind of cheating? Not sure. Amnesia, scary medical stuff, consent issues RE: should Hastings have sex with an amnesiac woman, racial slurs.