madeline's Reviews (776)

An almost tooth-achingly sweet end to the Bellinger sisters duet, and a 3.5 star read rounded up to 4.

This book will really speak to anyone who's ever felt comfortable being overshadowed by the people around them, who was more engaged with the ease of their daydreams than trying to make them a reality, or who carries the weight of a characterization given to them too early in life to be true.

It's slow-burn, and incredibly low-heat for Tessa -- she's often someone whose cartoon covers mislead people into believing her books are not as spicy as they are, so if you're looking for a book to ease someone into Baileydom, this is it.

HL&S is cozy and lovely, but lacked some of the oomph her other books do, both in the spice (ahem) and emotional categories.  Honestly, though: You can't go wrong with Tessa Bailey.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the ARC!

A fantastic second installment in the Primas of Power series!

This book has everything: childhood friends to lovers, second chance romance, fake dating, only one bed, TWO BISEXUAL MAIN CHARACTERS!!, forced proximity, fanfiction, fan-your-face sex -- everything, folks.

And of course, because it's Alexis Daria, it's also beautifully written, well paced and plotted, diverse and inclusive (listen to the Fated Mates podcast about You Had Me At Hola for some really interesting discussion of bilingualism among children of immigrants), and that cover... that cover!!

I particularly love the fanfiction interludes; if you're looking for something a bit like Spoiler Alert before the second book comes out next month, this might scratch that itch for you.  This book is not an exact match for the series, but I can tell you I enjoyed it miles more than I did All the Feels.

Gabe in particular does a lot of work on himself in this book, which seems to be a through line for Dariaverse heroes.  I would have loved to know more about

the work his father has done on improving his personal relationship with masculinity, more out of curiosity than anything else.  I think the story suffers a bit for having no details (in particular, I would have loved to know that he went to therapy rather than seeming to rely on his daughter to understand toxic masculinity)

.  Truly, truly a delight, though, and I am dying for Ava's story.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the ARC!

Somehow, this was my first Cat Sebastian book, but it absolutely won't be my last.  What a supremely delightful romp, centered around a heist but grounded in self-discovery, healing, and love.

For me, the biggest issue with this book is just how much it's trying to work in -- there's blackmail, bigamy, illegitimacy, abusive parents, new bodies after injuries, classism, the truth about how dukes make their money, prizefighting, et cetera.  It's not that it doesn't work, per se, it just doesn't come together as smoothly as I'd like it to.  Still, I think the bits with Percy understanding his home as a beloved place from his childhood and also the scenes of some serious inequities are well-done and incredibly valuable.  Also, I am now dying for a book about Marian and

Rob

, perhaps together????

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the ARC!

CW:

off-page death of infant, off-page death of spouse, off-page death of parent, death of a(n abusive) parent, abusive parent, blackmail, gunshot wound

<i>"Explosions have style."</i>

I'll preface this review by saying that every Sarah MacLean book is a 5/5.  The woman does! not! miss!  She's absolutely one of the best writers working right now -- not just in romance, but in fiction writ large.  Thus, the adjusted for Sarah MacLean rating is 3.5 stars.

My primary issue with this book is also my primary issue with her last book, Daring and the Duke: if you are going to tease a couple for several books (in Sesily and Caleb's case, across four books and two series!!), I want them to be on the page together IMMEDIATELY.  Sesily and Caleb don't get together until about the halfway mark, and spend more time apart from each other than together for that chunk.  It's frustrating because 1 - I would like them to kiss, but also 2 - we've spent several books clearly getting the picture that Sesily likes Caleb and Caleb likes Sesily but can't be with her for Reasons.  This issue is repeatedly hashed and rehashed in the front half, I think unnecessarily.

We don't learn the Reason until literally three-quarters of the way through, and I think that's a big pacing flaw.  If, as Sarah's podcast partner Jen has noted in reviews of other books, the big question is "why can't this couple be together right now?" and the answer seems to be "literally no good reason," then this book initially misses the mark by a wide mile.  And to be fair, the Reason is a good one!  But it's introduced too late.

Sarah has said (in interviews? online? on the podcast? somewhere) that her goal is to set up heroines that would be just fine if they didn't end up with the hero at the end, and there's no doubt that Sesily has been getting along well without Caleb and would continue to do so if he hadn't pulled his head out of his ass.  Spending the first half of the book establishing this, though, left me wondering at points if this was becoming more of a historical fiction novel with a strong romantic subplot rather than a true romance novel.  Contrast it with Brazen and the Beast, in which I think it's equally clear that Hattie would be perfectly alright without Beast but we get much more romantic content.  

Once we hit that Reason, the book absolutely sings.  It's classic MacLean throughout -- gorgeous prose, eminently quotable, fiercely feminist, and wryly funny.  It's not until the last quarter of the book that it becomes so characteristically achingly, achingly, achingly romantic, though.  

It's worth it to push through what I found a very frustrating first half to hit the true romantic arc.  I'm sure a lot of the worldbuilding that I found fascinating but a detraction from the kissing is going to ensure more time for romance in books to come in this series, and I cannot wait to meet the rest of the Belles.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the ARC!

A really solid debut from Hazlewood, in which PhD candidate Olive must fake-date a professor in her department in order to convince her best friend that she really is FINE with her dating a kind-of ex. 

I was apprehensive about this book -- it's clearly a Reylo fanfic, and I know nothing of that fandom besides Adam Driver's character is grumpy??  I wasn't sure how much I would need to know about that pairing to make the book work, and the answer is not a ton, thankfully.  It also seemed vaguely self-insert to me, since the author is also a scientist (I do think that if it had not obviously been a Reylo fic this would not have bothered me).

Overall, the writing is great and the plot is a lot of fun and well-paced.  It's thoughtful about the rampant problems in academia, particularly the sexism and racism, but also the challenges of mentoring/being mentored and the appeal of industry contrasted against the above-referenced issues of the academe. 

My quibbles are minor: mostly, Adam and Olive must be two of the dumbest motherfuckers on the planet to not know they are each other's secret love interest.  This is likely vaguely spoilery so

but literally how did you not know it was Adam in the bathroom at the beginning, Olive?? It's so obvious to the reader that later in the book when she's like "wonder who that dude was!" it really threw me for a loop.  It's the dude you've been rubbing sunscreen on to

.  It also feels a bit too on the nose to name your hero after the actor that plays the character he's based on, but that could be just me.

This is a true three star review for me: an absolutely fine book that lacked a zing, and one that clearly performs much better for folks in the fandom.  Still, I'll be looking out for forthcoming books from this author. 

CW:

parental death off-page, absentee parents off-page, references to foster care, sexual harassment, clearly joking threats about Title IX reports.

 After a problematic second novel, Evie Dunmore is back swinging with a book I cannot stop thinking about.  It’s incredibly raw, and although it’s only the third of four books in the series, it’s absolutely a leveling up and a culmination of what she’s set up in her first two books.

Hattie and Lucian are forced to marry after being caught kissing in a gallery.  I’ve never met two people more insistent on not seeing things from the other’s point of view, or on not at least trying to make their marriage work before determining nothing good will come of it, and that gets frustrating at points.

Hattie doesn’t really understand the extent to which women are denied personhood until she’s married against her will, and it’s so very painful for her to realize how few avenues are available to her without her husband.  It’s the kind of thing often glossed over or wholesale ignored in historical romances, and I think the “bUt WoMeN wErEn’T fEmInIsTs ThEn” contingent of romance readers will NOT like this book.  But I thought it was such a valuable exploration of compromise, of adjusting expectations, of making a marriage work with an added layer of angst.

I will say that the ending was not my favorite.  I think the separation was necessary, but my “wrap it up with a bow on top” heart just wanted them to be together nowwwwwww.  Overall, though, a fantastic, thoughtful, thought-provoking return from Dunmore.  I can’t wait for the fourth.

 

I didn't dislike this book, I just didn't... like it?  I don't know.  It lacked oomph for me.  Waite has some truly lovely prose, the characters are likeable, I adore this very queer town in the middle of the English countryside but still.  Lovely, just not in love.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the ARC!

It's tough to review this without some major spoilers so most of this will be under a spoiler cut.  But suffice it to say that this is another great showing in the Ravenels series: cozy, delightful, and honestly everything you would want from its description. 

 

Lady Merritt Sterling is the eldest child of Lillian Bowman and Marcus, Lord Westcliff, from “It Happened One Autumn.”  She’s a young widow running her late husband’s shipping company after he died at sea.  Merritt’s happy with her widowhood: she loved her husband, but also likes the freedom of heading a company.  It’s being the head of a company that introduces her to Kier MacRae, a strapping Scot who ships whiskey with her.  An instant attraction leads to a passionate night together, but any dream of it going further is interrupted by someone repeatedly trying to kill Kier.  Someone’s hiding something — and they can’t be together until they find out who and what it is. 

Major spoilers ahead:

There was a lot of buzz over who Kier is, since all the other titles Kleypas has written with “Devil” in them are related to Sebastian, Duke of Kingston (formerly Lord St. Vincent).  I was worried he’d end up being Sebastian’s son born out of wedlock, and that was correct.  It happened pre-Evie (obviously!!!) but I wasn’t convinced I could ever see it not as a betrayal of her, which is ridiculous.  Of course Lisa Kleypas delivers.  There’s a wonderful, almost slice-of-life quality to this installment, as it necessarily involves Sebastian and Evie coming to terms with meeting Kier, Marcus and Lillian worrying about their daughter, and the two couples deepening their friendship as their children fall in love.  I was totally charmed by the way Kier and Sebastian developed their relationship as father and son.  Even the amnesia subplot worked for me, which I usually find totally hit or miss.  There were some things I just waved away, plot-wise.  Is it true that the demonstrable illegitimate son of a lady would still be her husband’s legal heir?  No idea.  And the ending here was really too neat and too quickly wrapped up.  I wouldn’t have minded one more slightly more harrowing brush with death, “Secrets of a Summer Night” factory explosion style. 

  But this was an absolutely delightful chunk of time spent back in the Kleypas universe and I can’t wait for my next visit. 

 

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the ARC! 

After really enjoying The Ex Talk, I was excited to pick up this YA with a really endearing premise.  It's simply delightful -- everything I would have wanted to read as a high schooler, not just because of the great writing and lovable characters, but also because of the sensitive but realistic way Solomon deals with family issues and mental illness.  I loved it.

Thanks NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC.

CWs:

OCD, anxiety, depression, age-appropriate sex on the page, minors consuming alcohol