I enjoyed “Love Her or Lose Her” SO MUCH MORE than “Fix Her Up”. The characters were much more bearable. Or at least, the annoying characters were much less present (looking at you, Stephen and Kristen). Rosie and Dominic are much more realistic and relatable than circus clown Georgie and burnout loser Travis. 

 

I liked the premise better — rekindling a failing marriage is a lot more original than fake dating (and “Fix Her Up” truly added nothing to the fake dating trope). I liked the marriage counseling scenes and I liked the focus placed on love languages. 

 

I still take a little bit of issue with the ending — grand romantic gestures are great, but if the third-act breakup stems from a lack of communication, than the third-act breakup should be solved by actually communicating, not just renewing your vows and calling it a day. Still, the grand romantic gesture worked better in “Love Her or Lose Her” than “Fix Her Up” for two reasons: one, because it was established that Dominic’s love language is in acts of service, so a grand romantic gesture makes sense for his character, and two, because there had already been a lot of communication between the Rosie and Dominic via their therapy sessions. 

Overall, "Love Her or Lose Her" completely outshined "Fix Her Up".

Every single character in this book annoyed me (except Rosie). 

 

Georgie was such an unrealistic (and slightly annoying) protagonist. She’s a perfect example of the manic pixie dream girl trope — she’s had a ridiculous job (children’s birthday party clown) yet somehow manages to afford a house, groceries for two, and a boutique wardrobe despite the fact that she seemingly works maybe two days a week for the entirety of the book. Way too much of her mental real estate is dedicated to thinking about her vibrator (which she named, and she thinks about at least once per chapter). Georgie is unable say no to anyone (or even just remove herself from situations that she doesn’t want to be in). 

 

Travis annoyed me so much. He spent the whole book thinking about one of three things: how hard his dick is, how he used to be cool but now he’s a loser burnout, or how it’s crazy that he’s attracted to a single adult woman who he also happened to know when she was a teenager. He spent the entire first half of the book alternating between rationalizing why he can’t be friends with Georgie and putting himself in inappropriate situations with Georgie. I spent the entire first half of the book wishing Travis would just MAKE UP HIS MIND ALREADY. 

 

By the time Georgie and Travis actually started to fake date, I was already so fed up with both of them that I was really to DNF the book. The fact that Georgie used to be obsessed with Travis while he barely cared about her at all kind of turned me away from their romance. My favorite trope is MMC falls first/falls harder and while Travis is definitely into Georgie at the beginning of the book, for most of the book Georgie is way more into Travis than Travis is into her. Plus it takes Travis so long to realize his feelings for her that he comes across as being kind of douchey for getting physical with her before he acknowledges that he likes her for her.  

 

The ending was just awful. The third act breakup was completed contrived, and it was resolved — not by communication or compromise — but by a surprise proposal on live TV. Never mind the fact that Travis didn’t want kids for 90% of the book, and we never actually see him change his mind about that. I can't quite figure out the timing of this book, but I'm pretty sure that when Georgie reunites with Travis at the beginning of the book, it's been at least ten years since they last talked. In the span of a month, they go from basically stranger to engaged. Travis is Georgie's first everything: first boyfriend, first kiss, and he takes her virginity. They fake date for about two-three weeks, and real date for less than one week. Then they break up, and a week later Travis proposes to her. So, at the age of twenty-three, Georgie ends up engaged to the first man she ever dated, a man who was basically a stranger to her a month ago. That's insane.

 

Now here’s my actual issue with the book: I could not stand Georgie’s horrible misogynistic family. Her brother Stephen (who is described as “traditional”) is so obsessive and controlling over his wife, Kristen, that he tracks her periods to know when she’s fertile (despite the fact that Stephen acknowledges that Kristen hasn’t agreed to have children yet). On multiple occasions, when Kristen is casually hanging out with friends, Stephen shows up and physically removes her from that location to have sex with her. Overall, I hate Georgie’s horrible misogynistic family with a burning passion. Every single page that Stephen appears on was a pain to get through, and Georgie’s parents are just as bad for supporting him. 

 

Furthermore, there’s this attitude throughout the novel that when faced with misogynistic men, women should focus on empowering themselves, rather than holding men accountable and expecting them to change. For example: Bethany’s misogynistic brother, Stephen, refuses to let her participate in the home building aspect of the family business, and expects her to only work as an interior decorator. Despite the fact that Stephen and Bethany should have equal say in this business, Stephen’s word is law. Stephen is also described as “traditional” (this is the word the author uses, but I think that “misogynistic” is more accurate). This is framed as bad, but no one in the book expects Stephen to change, not even Georgie and Bethany. Instead, Bethany has to start her own company just to get an equal say. Obviously, women’s empowerment is a good thing, but men should also be held to a higher standard. I liked the Just Us Club plot line (partly because Rosie is my favorite character) because it was fun to see Georgie interact with her friends. However, I still have the same issue where empowerment is coming at the cost of actually holding people accountable for their actions, which I think sends a bad message. 
 
I know I’m probably reading too far into the misogynistic undertones. This is a romance novel, not a feminist manifesto. Obviously, Georgie’s family isn’t going to be perfect (if they were perfect, there would be no plot of the story). But still, the casual misogyny really turned me away from the story. 

Lightning strikes thrice! Another wonderful and perfect romance novel written by the amazing and talented Ali Hazelwood. Maybe I'm biased because I LOVE the STEM girlie representation, but I honestly think she's the best contemporary romance author!

I love the way that Ali Hazelwood writes about STEM academia, how she criticizes the parts that suck and calls for it to be better. I love the protagonist, Elsie, even though she's a little crazy. Jack was such a great love interest because he balanced out Elsie's crazy so well! Their romance is so cute, I spent the whole book kicking my feel and giggling!

I LOVED how Ali Hazelwood gave each chapter a Taylor Swift song along with a little explanation for why that song matched with that chapter. It was so much fun to flip to the back right before reading each chapter to get a little soundtrack going in my head.

I still prefer Love on the Brain, but I don't think any romance book will ever top Love on the Brain! Bee was just the most relatable female lead I've ever had the pleasure of reading!

My new favorite horror novel, complete with lesbian vampires, gothic horror, and a creepy house stuffed to the brim with secrets. I enjoyed the perspective of the protagonist, Marion. There was an eerie and ominous quality to the narration that kept me on the edge of my seat, while the lush and extravagant descriptions pulled me into the world.

I love how the author balances sexy danger with danger danger, so that the reader is never quite sure of the level of peril that Marion is in. Marion's toxic romance with Lisavet is both erotic and scary in a way that really drew me in.

"House of Hunger" is very obviously an allegory for capitalism (the rich are literally drinking the blood of the poor) and I think that it's a well-executed allegory. There's a fair amount of exploration into power dynamics and class solidarity (the rich will always side with the rich, no matter what).

I really enjoyed reading this book! "Nettle & Bone" is a feminist fairytale-fantasy which follows our hero princess Marra in her journey to kill the abusive prince married to her sister, Kania. Along the way, she teams up with a group of unlikely heroes (including a witch, a fairy godmother, an exiled warrior, a demon chicken, and a dog made of bone), who each bring a unique perspective to the group.

The story feels very rich in its worldbuilding. There's a lot of lore that's explored, but also a lot of lore that's left unexplored, which makes it all feel a bit more real. The found family trope is done phenomenally well. I really got the sense that the group grew to genuinely love each other. Honestly, the whole ending of this book was a masterpiece. I think that fans of DND podcasts will really enjoy this book. It has the same sort of feeling of an unlikely group of unlikely heroes coming together to complete an impossible task, and growing to love each other along with way.

I like that the romance was kept as an undertone. I think a more prominent romance between Marra and Fenris would have taken away from Marra's character growth. I also really liked the romance between Agnes and the dust-wife, I thought that it was cute that they ended up together, and I liked the sapphic representation. 

This book was the perfect length, and it balanced whimsical and serious tones perfectly.

"Ariadne" was a really good adaptation of the Myth of Theseus, but the story wasn't quite enough to fully hold my attention. I really enjoyed the first half, showing Ariadne growing up in the shadow of the Minotaur, betraying her father to help Theseus, being abandoned by Theseus on Nexos, and falling in love with Dionysus. However, the last 100 pages kind of ruined the book for me. First of all, it was such a bummer to read, tragedy with no catharsis or payoff, that it left me feeling kind of empty. I honestly would have preferred that the story ended with Part II. Additionally, I really wanted to see the evolution of the relationship between Ariadne and Phaedra after the reunited, but their whole relationship was overshadowed by the relationship between Phaedra and Hippolytus.

This book was way darker than I would usually choose to read. The whole book was unsettling to read, especially because the narrator, Theo, was so obsessive in his thoughts about Alicia and so persistent in trying to get the truth out of her. Meanwhile, Alicia's diary entries are unsettling in a whole different way, as she chronicles her experience being stalked by a mysterious stranger. It was so incredibly frustrating as all of the people in her life dismissed her as crazy.

The twist ending was incredibly unexpected! The ending wasn't quite as cathartic as I would have liked - it just left me feeling sad for Alicia, who never really got justice.

It was a well written book, but it leaned a little too far into the horror genre for my tastes. 

This was a really delightful historical novel with beautiful writing! The protagonist, Isobel, provided an interesting perspective, as her synesthesia produced splashes of color that decorated her narration. The author explored themes of misogyny, racism, and xenophobia in nineteenth century America while weaving in tales of the persecution of "witches" throughout the ages.

I really enjoyed the affair plotline. Isobel grappling with conflicting feelings of empowerment (pursuing the man who she wants despite society viewing that act as sinful) and degradation (that man not being able to fully understand her, and reducing her to a thing to be pursued, rather than an equal) provides an interesting conflict for the middle of the book. I think that it was a really well resolved conflict. 

My only qualm with this book is that the beginning is rather weak - there isn't much of a plot until Edward leaves Salem with Isobel's money, which doesn't happen until about a third of the way through the book.

I was honestly surprised by how much of a let-down this book was. I wanted to like it but it just wasn't to my taste. In particular, the characters were awful. Every character was a caricature, with personalities that ranged from mildly annoying to completely insufferable. Characters are what make-or-break a romance novel for me, and this one just wasn't that good.

I really wanted to like this novel. The premise seemed really promising and I love the city of Florence. Unfortunately, the plot was so dreadfully slow that it became a bit of a slog to read.