books_ergo_sum's Reviews (933)

Persian inspired fantasy, some Cinderella-retelling, prophesied djinn queen of a lost kingdom, and a devil that only speaks in riddles.

Did you know I’m trash for riddles? 

This world building was so good! Loved how you could sense people’s accents, loved that there was an on-page other language, loved the setting, and loved the magic. The Cinderella elements were fun—with enough added twisty-ness to the plot to keep me guessing. And the devil character’s foreshadowing riddles were just right: clear enough to make me feel smart for getting them, but not so heavy-handedly hinting that they spoiled the reveals.

The only ‘but’ comes from the romance plot—not because I think it was bad. But, because I think it (intentionally) got off to a slow start. The story focused on the MCs individually before putting them in contact with each other. Which I get, but I’m greedy for the flirty-flirty.

I particularly loved this audiobook. Kate Reading was nailing it.

Best time travel romance of all time?? 

The language barrier and culture clash in this time travel romance to 13th century Wales was SENDING ME.

First, there was a language barrier between 21st century and 13th century English?? YOU KNOW I was listening to audio reconstructions of 13th century English and imagining I was the heroine 😆

But on top of that, our literal knight in shining armour didn’t speak English, he spoke 13th century Norman French—good thing our heroine was a French translator passionate about languages because it was a lot. Also, the complex political situation between the Welsh, English, and Normans living in this area? SO FUN!

This was just historically accurate enough to go past pedantry and into funny, bonkers, and campy. My absolute favourite 🥰

And pinky touches!! That’s what I want. I want so much unresolved sexual tension that my heart turns to goo from pinky touches. And then I want the 13th medieval knight to be a freak in the sheets. Is that too much to ask? 🥵 

Hurt comfort, she dressed as a boy, they rode on the same horse, they pretended they were married…

Ugh, this book was perfect.

“Oops I travelled back in time and got drunkenly handfasted to a random Highlander.”

It’s the time travel version of “Oops I accidentally married a stranger in Vegas” and I was here for it 😆

This had:
So much “my wife” 
Idiots to lovers
Highlander himbo
“Stay”—my favourite romance word

Is there a time travel romance author out there who puts more care into the history and world building than Angela Quarles? And the way she combines it with such bonkers and silly plots? That’s EXACTLY what I’m looking for.

That said, I’m discovering that there’s two types of time travel romances: one where our MC gets stuck in a new time and one where our MC can go back to their time whenever they want. This story was more the latter—and turns out, I like that one less.

It was cute that our heroine got to choose her HEA with a hunky kilt-wearing Jacobite but I was missing that “oh no I’m stuck in the past” existential panic.

Time travel + bodyguard + all the pining? Oh yes.

I loved this couple’s compatibility. Our historic Highlander was giving Ned Stark: honourable, starchy, and secretly feeling all the feelings. And our secretly modern gal was his perfect match: adventurous, intelligent, and horny af.

I love love love how this author writes the the past. Our heroine was obsessed with historical Scotland (she even spoke Gaelic) but she still struggled to fit in. The modern-historical culture clash in these books is just so well done that I’m giddy the whole time I read them.

And then the plot was so romantic 🥰 There were some Highland adventures where our hero was her bodyguard and he was pining for her so hard. But she was betrothed to someone else (and trying to get out of it). And she was pining for our hero so hard. But then she also knew from a family legend from the future that she would have to fight the hero in order to save someone else… it was a whole thing. Lots of physical touch love language and all the emotions.

So fun! I didn’t want it to end.

Points for genuinely confusing me about who the love interest of this series is.

This had the same excellent world building and fun magic from book one. But book one had me Team Kamran but now maybe I’m Team Cyrus? 

You will NEVER find me cheering for a love triangle. But maybe what I’m loving about this one is.. I don’t even know if it’s a love triangle? Our heroine is too busy being the Djinn queen of a lost kingdom to wonder who her love interest is. But I’m just over here like “Babe, who you gonna pick??” 👀

This was a very non-filler-y feeling second book. I’m somehow more bamboozled about where this story is going, and more invested. 

Also, Kate Reading was nailing it with this audiobook yet again.

This book was SO BAD (imo 😅).

I thought this was going to be a time travel romance about a charming medieval rake seducing his recalcitrant wife from the future (that was the promise of the first few chapters, at least). Instead it was about a power-mad, womanizing dumb-dumb stomping his feet and threatening R-word until our heroine could be convinced that SHE was the baddy for not “giving in” to his advances.

SIDE-EYE.

We could chalk that up to the age of the book, and how the ‘his marital rights’ trope isn’t as in vogue these days..

But what’s unrelated to the pre-Y2K publication date is how ABSOLUTELY NOTHING MADE SENSE. This was the Final Boss of Nonsense. Continuity errors, plot holes, genuinely confusing exposition, unhinged-ly random dialogue, wtf reveals, mercurial character motivations, an important twist that defied all reason (iykyk), and just… pure nonsense.

And if She’s Not Like Other Girls plots bother you, run away. That was the point of the book—evil faeries combed the centuries to find someone Not Like Other Girls enough to resist our hero and sent her back in time as revenge against him. 

(… why he was so irresistible, I still don’t know. Because of his horse-cock, I guess? He literally had no other redeeming qualities)

And did we really have to make every other female character such a mustache twirling villain? The girl-hate was getting to me.

Well this was unexpected.

I went into this expecting an interracial historical romance just historically accurate enough to be hella angsty. And, check!

And though I hoped it would be steamy, I don’t think anyone could have expected a histrom to be this 🔥🔥🔥 (Seriously, the number of sexy time scenes in here was approaching infinity 👀)

But what I did not expect at all was how well written this was!

This one is for all the Jane Eyre girlies. And not just because it was a ‘woman going to work in an isolated great house owned by an enigmatic hotty’ story.

It was the vibes. The bleak, kinda religious, Victorian shame, introspective Brontë vibes. It was the language, the imagery, the pensiveness. It was the dark library, oppressively whispering townspeople, wind whipping your hair and dress on a cloudy Cornish beach as you contemplate your own freedom.. vibes. 

The sexual tension was 10/10. I loved the social commentary on racism and purity culture. I loved how emotional this was. How compelling these character arcs were. And did I already mention it was hot?? Because it was 🥵

This had some tropes that I normally avoid (like ‘he’s her boss’ and age gap) but they were handled just the way I like. The forbidden-ness and the angst of the romance were at maximum but everything was so careful and thoughtfully done.

I even loved the single POV—it was the right choice for this story, it felt grounded in the heroine’s feeling and made me glare at Perran like I would Mr. Rochester.

Okay, but this book was amazing?

Definitely the best friends to lovers historical romance I’ve ever read. Possibly the best friends to lovers romance, ever.

This was the love-child of A Room With a View by EM Forster and People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry—with only the best parts of both books and none of the meh parts. It was frigging perfect!

We had:
💖 Friends to lovers with so much heart squeezing friendship and then lovers compatibility 
💖 Sex lessons
💖 Epistolary
💖 Widowed curvy heroine
💖 A trip to Italy in 1901 + pretending to be married
💖 The hero doing something SO DUMB and groveling like his life depended on it (all while being a lovesick mess)

From the opening lines of our hero begging the heroine to marry him and her saying no—I was obsessed. This story had so much vulnerability and connection, so much growth. The flashbacks to their growing friendship and the epistolary elements through time weren’t cheap tricks, they heightened the story and deepened the significance of the present timeline.

This was unputdownable and I absolutely loved it!

Pet to lovers? 🐶

This book was SO WEIRD. Just… completely different from any other alien romance out there 😆

Our human lady got abducted, turned into an alien’s pet, and had her own reasons for letting aliens believe humans aren’t that smart.

But wherever your mind just went based on that one sentence synopsis—nope, that’s not what this book was about.

It wasn’t a metaphor for animal cruelty, it wasn’t a pet fetish. It was just… SO EFFING WEIRD! He treated her like a beloved animal companion. He dressed her, he bathed her, he patted her head. She got her temperature taken in her butt at the vet.. oh god. The pet thing was 0% sexy, 100% unsettling sci-fi dystopian energy. “Good girl” may or may not be ruined for me forever.

Yet what had me cackling with glee was the promise of a God-tier grovel 😈 And this story delivered. When this alien guy found out that she was just as sentient as he was, and even spoke his alien language.. HE WAS MORTIFIED. He’d been going to the washroom in front of her, she’d been to all his therapy sessions. Reckoning with the de-humanizing way he had treated her was a multi-layered, multi-faceted, multi-chapter endeavor. It was delicious!

If only this book had stuck the ending. The transition from pet to lovers wasn’t done badly (and it could have gone real bad), but it did seem rushed and not up to the same standard as the rest of the book, imo.

Still, I’m going to remember this book forever. I’m going to be on my deathbed like, “Remember that alien romance where she was his pet and peed on the floor? Good times.” 💀

Part Icelandic fantasy, part unhinged and possessive dragon shifter. I thought this would be super fun, but it never fully came together for me.

I love me some instalove fated mates. With one exception: when I don’t think the couple is actually compatible. And I was scratching my head at these two being put together.

They were both stubborn, both quick to anger, both emotionally withholding but hurt by the other’s emotional withholding, and both liked to be in control. The result: the overall romance plot felt hot and cold, because these two could barely get along.

And ultimately to make it work, we had to break their characterization. He was all consent king one minute and then all ‘no doesn’t mean no’/‘I don’t care what you say, you don’t make the rules’ the next. And of course, add this book to the pile of bossy and cantankerous FMCs who become different people in the bedroom. At least make her bratty! Not this total 180 😤

Also, a virgin MC is great—happens to all of us. But an a super old MMC who prefers virgins?? Oh nonono. I don’t care if there’s dragon lore reasons for it (he doesn’t like people touching his things). Still hate it.

And just overall, I didn’t love the way the romance and action plots were paced vis à vis each other. Like guys, I know you’re getting it on through the portal to his “Chaos bubble” (his words, not mine) but there’s a bunch of plot stuff you need to take care of out here..

The setup for the second book intrigued me.. we’ll see 😅