I breezed through this one mostly for the sexy bits, which were great. If you've read the first book, you will enjoy this one, but the main characters are very similar to the previous couple.

I should just call these books by the nickname each of the Domme's gives to his submissive. This one is you guessed it, Angel.

A fun, quick, filthy read for those who enjoy alpha men who do care about consent too. Kindle Unlimited!

Short review: A promising debut set in Gilded Age NYC, Striking Romance follows Jewish labor reformer Sarah Fischer on her fight for women workers rights, a fight which also brings Mayor's aide Clifton Stokes into her life and heart despite their vast political and personal differences.

Thoughts:

This story hovered right on the edge of not having enough on page time for the main couple for me. Yes, there is a solid HEA, but be aware there is a lot of of tough, important historical detail about how awful it was to work in the shirtwaist factories, how terrible women were treated, and how absolutely horrifying Gilded Age workhouses/prisons were. This attention to Sarah's personal struggle against society, bad working conditions, and City Hall made the romance arc feel a bit secondary to me. BUT, this is still definitely a romance, I just wanted to note. I believe many readers will absolutely adore this tale and find there to be just enough romance for them. I would consider this a high heat level too, which I enjoyed.

The times Sarah and Clifton are together on page are charming, even if I felt Clifton fell a bit instantly, and I appreciated the handling of their very vast differences in class, faith, and station in life. Clifton is a rich, white man who only has to work because he feels like it. Sarah needs to support her family and her fellow friends and colleagues while balancing her political work. My favorite scenes revolved around Clifton introducing Sarah to new foods and restaurants.

Someone has asked me if this is #ownvoices, and I am not sure. Sarah is Jewish and to me, a White ex-Catholic with a Jewish Studies degree, I had no issue with the representation.

CW for violence to women, gory medical details, gun violence, sexual assault

I reviewed from a free ARC provided by the author.

SPOILERS:

Spoiler

Sarah is assaulted at a party by a rich man, who stops when she asks him to but she's scared. Sarah and Clifton discuss birth control methods, but then forgo using birth control, consequences be damned (she is pregnant at the end). Sarah is locked up for her part in the strike, unfairly so, and Clifton is able to break her out of jail and hide her.

Beth and Finn loathe each other, barely keeping their simmering tension under wraps during work meetings. But as it turns out hate is as ever far closer to love than both want to admit, especially since Finn is a confirmed bachelor and Beth is on the hunt for a husband and father to her future children. But as they struggle to keep from kissing each other and they finally succumb to their urges for one wild night, can Finn change?

Lots of great sexual tension in this novella from Zoe York, with a great payoff during the night they are stuck in the winery together. I had not read any of the other books in this series but had no problem following along with the characters

I always struggle a bit when one character is dead set against marriage and babies and ends up changing their mind. Ultimately I believed in this HEA for the most part, but Finn definitely had completely change his wants and needs to be with Beth.

I listened to this on audio from Hoopla!

Oh do I love when a romance starts with a bang, and this may be one of the hottest first chapters I've read in recent memory.

So steamy and just *this* close to feeling a bit wrong, Messy is both a deliciously erotic age-gap romance AND a stark portrayal of grief and caring for a dying parent while also trying to find your own place in the world.

Read this one when you need a good punch in the heart and a fire in your loins, sexy British rock king included.

CW cancer, sick parent who dies during the story, drug/alcohol use, hero is 20 years older than the heroine.

I received a free copy for review from Netgalley

Nothing like an amazingly self-assured grifter to keep you company on a sleepless night. Gosh I loved this story, the perfect blend of fun, fast banter, and fucks. Heist romances are hard to come by and Grand Theft N.Y.E. did not disappoint.

For being such a quick read, Jackson fills each of her characters with amazing depth and I hope we get to meet up with Chloe and Robert Shimizu in future works.


Slight spoiler alert, for fans of The Pink Slip, you'll meet some friends...

An enjoyable enough listen thanks to the Aussie narrator and the sizzling chemistry between Tanner and Matilda. I love a good second-chance romance, especially when they are childhood sweethearts, but this story hasn't aged well over all.

There's a lot of secrets between both characters that would have been easily fixable with one conversation, lots of slamming around sex without taking a moment to talk about their problems, and Tanner uses his size to physically prevent Matilda from leaving during a fight, and he doesn't honor her requests to stop, put her down, or any of it. Instead he arouses her and they have angry sex.

I like Andrews writing style this one just didn't work that well for 2020 COVID19 Beth.

Coming highly recommend from many trusted internet friends, this was a lovely, short, and sweet romance retelling of Beauty and the Beast set during WWII Britain. So soft and almost chaste. I enjoyed it very much and it was such a comfort to read during these times.

I love Kate Canterbary's work and this was a fun, quick novella to read. I liked being back in the Talbott's Cove world and seeing some of my favorites, especially JJ and Brooke.

Gus and Neera's animosity wasn't built up enough for me to believe they were ever truly enemies, but hey their romance is short, hot, and forever.

I did like the exploration, however brief, of Neera's discovery she kind of likes sex in semi-public places, but not enjoying that kink around her friends and family, which Gus absolutely honored and also felt the same about. I don't typically enjoy BJ scenes, but this story had quite an exceptional one.

Read this for my graduate class on Nationalism and all I remember is that if the peasants had fresh bread things were pretty damn bad. Moldy bread = had enough to store and keep = times are good!

Ooof. I was drawn in by the "let's pretend to be married so we can spy on this evil corporation and take it down" FBI romance premise but was completely let down by the lack of chemistry between the two love interests. The main brunt of the page count is on the mystery about who is poisoning natural medicine tabs and setting bombs to blow up at a factory that just keeps functioning despite HAVING BOMBS BLOWING PEOPLE UP and not much is developed on the actual romance. Sure they share a trailer and pretend to be married but that is about it. I was glad the heroine was rather growly.

Thank you to Harlequin for the free review copy.