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bandherbooks's Reviews (3.65k)
Why was this so forgettable?
Such a mixed bag of emotions for me. I loved Bee, our p*rnstar main character who suddenly gets thrust (ha ha ha) into a Hallmark-esque holiday movie when her 'boss' accidentally leaves her headshot on the table during a meeting. Bee was great, her moms are great, I loved everything about the fat rep, Bea being confident in her skin and so sex positive.
But overall for the premise this is fairly tame, there's Checkhov's sex toys, and there's a whole subplot regarding Nolan's mother's mental health. There was just a whole lot going on, and I was nervous the whole time about Bee being discovered on set and the Hallmark-esque channel taking her down.
And while there was so much going on, it was also, forgettable? The audio was not holding my attention and I think I just wanted more of a rompy, sexy good time and got more of a horny full of bluster and not enough pay off.
I also do not like the cover/how YA this looks; I personally don't love this new trend of cutsey tee hee books that cause some readers to clutch their pearls and feel duped. Who is that helping??
Content notes: Bee and Nolan are white & cis; mentions of fatphobia (all countered), Nolan's mother has struggles with money and getting her bipolar medication on time, and has a scary (but not life-threatening) medical incident in the book.
Thank you to HarperAudio for the ALC.
Such a mixed bag of emotions for me. I loved Bee, our p*rnstar main character who suddenly gets thrust (ha ha ha) into a Hallmark-esque holiday movie when her 'boss' accidentally leaves her headshot on the table during a meeting. Bee was great, her moms are great, I loved everything about the fat rep, Bea being confident in her skin and so sex positive.
But overall for the premise this is fairly tame, there's Checkhov's sex toys, and there's a whole subplot regarding Nolan's mother's mental health. There was just a whole lot going on, and I was nervous the whole time about Bee being discovered on set and the Hallmark-esque channel taking her down.
And while there was so much going on, it was also, forgettable? The audio was not holding my attention and I think I just wanted more of a rompy, sexy good time and got more of a horny full of bluster and not enough pay off.
I also do not like the cover/how YA this looks; I personally don't love this new trend of cutsey tee hee books that cause some readers to clutch their pearls and feel duped. Who is that helping??
Content notes: Bee and Nolan are white & cis; mentions of fatphobia (all countered), Nolan's mother has struggles with money and getting her bipolar medication on time, and has a scary (but not life-threatening) medical incident in the book.
Thank you to HarperAudio for the ALC.
DNF; will probably maybe pick it up again someday. it was just too overall sad and full of internal ennui versus the fun romp i was hoping for.
I've been waiting for the right moment to read A PROPOSAL THEY CAN'T REFUSE and I'm so delighted I waited for the crisp air of Fall, as this turns out to be a Fall/Halloween romance too! Pumpkin patch, apple picking, Halloween costume dance party, huzzah!
Also, there are some difficult plot points covered, namely we know from the start Liam's Grandda has terminal cancer (see bottom of review for more info), and Liam and Kamilah have both had their fair share of struggles and hard moments leading up to their granddads asking them to get married to keep the building their businesses share.
Liam is also the sort of broody, pining, yet secretly soft hero I adore. He and Kamilah just bristle in each other's presence but both secretly still deeply care about each other, especially since they grew up as best friends (and Liam blew his chance with Kamilah when he took her to her prom).
This fake it to make everyone happy is so my jam, and oh no we must move in together and share the one bed, and ope now we cuddle every night alas. Their chemistry is fire, as is the way they fight and love each other.
We are slow-burned a bit, but never without heat, and when Liam finally has a taste of Kamilah on HIS WHISKEY TASTING TABLE whew! You are ready!
There's so much more to love here, including all of the amazing secondary characters, the meddling grandads who are hilarious and so sweet, and the sense of place (Chicago, the pumpkin patch, etc) and family the author imbues her story with. What a knockout! Best debut of the 2022? I think so.
Content notes: grandda has terminal cancer (passing mentioned in epilogue); parental death via self sacrifice (flashback). Drinking, discussion of depression & PTSD. Both live interests in therapy in epilogue.
Also, there are some difficult plot points covered, namely we know from the start Liam's Grandda has terminal cancer (see bottom of review for more info), and Liam and Kamilah have both had their fair share of struggles and hard moments leading up to their granddads asking them to get married to keep the building their businesses share.
Liam is also the sort of broody, pining, yet secretly soft hero I adore. He and Kamilah just bristle in each other's presence but both secretly still deeply care about each other, especially since they grew up as best friends (and Liam blew his chance with Kamilah when he took her to her prom).
This fake it to make everyone happy is so my jam, and oh no we must move in together and share the one bed, and ope now we cuddle every night alas. Their chemistry is fire, as is the way they fight and love each other.
We are slow-burned a bit, but never without heat, and when Liam finally has a taste of Kamilah on HIS WHISKEY TASTING TABLE whew! You are ready!
There's so much more to love here, including all of the amazing secondary characters, the meddling grandads who are hilarious and so sweet, and the sense of place (Chicago, the pumpkin patch, etc) and family the author imbues her story with. What a knockout! Best debut of the 2022? I think so.
Content notes: grandda has terminal cancer (passing mentioned in epilogue); parental death via self sacrifice (flashback). Drinking, discussion of depression & PTSD. Both live interests in therapy in epilogue.
Not my favorite Shalvis by far. With three POVs and the grief subplot alongside the "we must renovate this B&B for the will of the dead elder," it just left me feeling meh. I wanted some more heat (mostly closed door) and I just miss Shalvis mass markets.
As a women's fiction, it is a solid one and if you like the other books in the series this will also work for you.
Full review for Library Journal to come; thank you to the publisher for the ARC
CW: death of a brother/boyfriend (car accident, in the past), death of parents (in the past), grief, drinking
As a women's fiction, it is a solid one and if you like the other books in the series this will also work for you.
Full review for Library Journal to come; thank you to the publisher for the ARC
CW: death of a brother/boyfriend (car accident, in the past), death of parents (in the past), grief, drinking
Divorce attorney RJ is my favorite type of romance heroine; she's kind of mean, she takes no shit, and she cannot fathom why she's so attracted to Lear and she's so irritated by it. Especially since Lear is one of those guys who is universally likeable, and he can't deal with the fact maybe RJ does not, in fact, like him.
These hate to want stories I eat them up! I especially loved all the details of the weddings RJ and Lear were forced to be at together, and that RJ is so great at officiating them despite being a divorce attorney. She's also secretly a little squishy on the inside.
So much fun to read.
thank you to the publisher for the ARC!
Full disclosure - the author is a friend of mine <3
These hate to want stories I eat them up! I especially loved all the details of the weddings RJ and Lear were forced to be at together, and that RJ is so great at officiating them despite being a divorce attorney. She's also secretly a little squishy on the inside.
So much fun to read.
thank you to the publisher for the ARC!
Full disclosure - the author is a friend of mine <3
Upon a re-read via audio I'm rounding this up to a full five, growly, and possessive stars. THE PERIOD CARE?! My gawd, amazing moments in romance history. Now that I've accepted the insta-love Ash has for Zelda, I could fully frolic in the moment with these horny people. Loved every second of the ride, and the narration was very good as well.
What I love best about a Kate Canterbary romance is how tightly focused the story is on the love interests. There are only rare moments where they are not together on page (be it in person or via electronic communication) and oh the banter sparkles.
Boss in the Bedsheets is an exceptionally tightly focused tale loosely based on the Hades/Persephone myth. Ash and Zelda meet on a plane after a seat switch up and BANG goes their relationship from the start. Having Ash reading Zelda's resume as she sits next to him is highly amusing and seeing how quickly their relationship goes from oh sure I'll hire you to actually how about we give this dating thing the ol' college try is a whirlwind of fun.
Ash is buttoned up and tightly wound but completely turns into a dirty mouthed growly guy who just wants to take a bit out of Zelda's a** and give her all the orgasms. His family, we met his triplet sister Magnolia in The Magnolia Chronicles, is also super fun.
I felt really sad that Zelda had no other friends or family in her life she could count on, and I'm glad Ash turned out to be a great guy with a great family, because well, that could have been a whole other story.
All in all a delightfully dirty romp and a fun read.
*CW: emotional abuse (in the past), fat phobia (secondary character is lamenting have to crash diet to fit in her too small wedding dress, comments and jokes are made about her eating/diet, alcohol use, medical scene (Ash has a dislocated arm).
thank you to the author for the review copy!
What I love best about a Kate Canterbary romance is how tightly focused the story is on the love interests. There are only rare moments where they are not together on page (be it in person or via electronic communication) and oh the banter sparkles.
Boss in the Bedsheets is an exceptionally tightly focused tale loosely based on the Hades/Persephone myth. Ash and Zelda meet on a plane after a seat switch up and BANG goes their relationship from the start. Having Ash reading Zelda's resume as she sits next to him is highly amusing and seeing how quickly their relationship goes from oh sure I'll hire you to actually how about we give this dating thing the ol' college try is a whirlwind of fun.
Ash is buttoned up and tightly wound but completely turns into a dirty mouthed growly guy who just wants to take a bit out of Zelda's a** and give her all the orgasms. His family, we met his triplet sister Magnolia in The Magnolia Chronicles, is also super fun.
I felt really sad that Zelda had no other friends or family in her life she could count on, and I'm glad Ash turned out to be a great guy with a great family, because well, that could have been a whole other story.
All in all a delightfully dirty romp and a fun read.
*CW: emotional abuse (in the past), fat phobia (secondary character is lamenting have to crash diet to fit in her too small wedding dress, comments and jokes are made about her eating/diet, alcohol use, medical scene (Ash has a dislocated arm).
thank you to the author for the review copy!
A short, first time story between two coworkers. I was drawn in by the cover, but unfortunately the writing was clunky and some of the discussion about why the questioning coworker should sleep with women instead of men was a bit gender essentialist. While explicit, the connection wasn't there for me and the sex read as mechanical rather than hot.
I dipped my toe back into to the horror pool, and THE HACIENDA was a perfect choice for me. I used to be brave back as a teen, reading all sorts of horror. Now, I'm a wimp and I love my HEAs, but I wanted to try because sometimes I do love a spooky tale.
Beatriz chooses to marry the handsome, but mostly a stranger and widower Don Rodolfo to flee her life as the unwanted relative who is too brown and the daughter of a failed general on the wrong side of he Mexican Revolution. Finally, Beatriz can be the dona, the head of her own household.
Alas, Hacienda San Isidro is not the refuge Beatriz hoped for, as she begins to see bloody, horrible specters, red eyes, and bloody pranks where no one else can. All things that grow increasingly worse and ever more dangerous once Rodolfo leaves her to attend to business back in the city. Seeking help from the Church offers no help, and fears that she may be seen as a heretic, or at worse, possessed by the devil.
Beatriz finds an ally in the one, youthful and handsome priest, Padre Andrés, who offers to help exorcise the house of its demons. But, some demons cannot be quieted because they may still be ... alive.
A compelling tale that draws on how colonialism brought turmoil and upheaval and racism to Mexico and its indigenous people, how Catholicism both abhors and coopts religious practices and punishes its own followers instead of protecting them, how women's agency in these times were next to zero but still they tried.
SO GOOD.
My little quibbles mostly had to do with pacing - this one moves fast, and sometimes I wanted it to slow a bit down to really embrace that gothic, creepy atmosphere.
Beatriz chooses to marry the handsome, but mostly a stranger and widower Don Rodolfo to flee her life as the unwanted relative who is too brown and the daughter of a failed general on the wrong side of he Mexican Revolution. Finally, Beatriz can be the dona, the head of her own household.
Alas, Hacienda San Isidro is not the refuge Beatriz hoped for, as she begins to see bloody, horrible specters, red eyes, and bloody pranks where no one else can. All things that grow increasingly worse and ever more dangerous once Rodolfo leaves her to attend to business back in the city. Seeking help from the Church offers no help, and fears that she may be seen as a heretic, or at worse, possessed by the devil.
Beatriz finds an ally in the one, youthful and handsome priest, Padre Andrés, who offers to help exorcise the house of its demons. But, some demons cannot be quieted because they may still be ... alive.
A compelling tale that draws on how colonialism brought turmoil and upheaval and racism to Mexico and its indigenous people, how Catholicism both abhors and coopts religious practices and punishes its own followers instead of protecting them, how women's agency in these times were next to zero but still they tried.
SO GOOD.
My little quibbles mostly had to do with pacing - this one moves fast, and sometimes I wanted it to slow a bit down to really embrace that gothic, creepy atmosphere.
when i read these short, monster romance stories i don't want the monster to turn into a hot human. i also don't read them to start over analyzing everything, because it is a HEADLESS HORSEMAN story, so I should just have a good time, enjoy the steam, and be done.
Instead, this one rubbed me the wrong way, especially since the witch is so intent on finding his head, breaks his heart in the process to go find it, and then he transforms into a hot man when she puts the skull on him. meh.
overall just did not work for me at all, and yes it is steamy and that was a bit fun, but not enough to make me overlook everything I did not enjoy.
author has content notes in the front matter of the book
Instead, this one rubbed me the wrong way, especially since the witch is so intent on finding his head, breaks his heart in the process to go find it, and then he transforms into a hot man when she puts the skull on him. meh.
overall just did not work for me at all, and yes it is steamy and that was a bit fun, but not enough to make me overlook everything I did not enjoy.
author has content notes in the front matter of the book