morganthebee's Reviews (489)

Here’s the thing: I usually think Harper Bliss’s writing is great. A Breathless Place was one of the best books I read this year. And I probably need to acknowledge that age gap romance, especially one with a gap of nearly 20 years, is not something I particularly enjoy and that probably colors my view of Nothing Heals Me Like You Do. But this...this didn't feel like Bliss.

 

Justine is 54, a workaholic who is shaped by a traumatic past. We get to read all about how much it affected her, how much the community respects her for it, how selfless and dedicated and caring she is, but I didn’t really see it. There’s no explanation of what she went through other than brief mentions that her parents kicked her out when she came out to them as a teen, and that she lived on the streets before founding a homeless shelter for queer teens where she still works. There’s not even an expositional conversation where we find out what she went through with any substance, but we’re supposed to believe that she was impacted by this past to such an extreme that she neglects nearly every part of her life other than the shelter, where she can save kids from the same fate. 

 

Sienna is 20-ish years her junior, a famous actress with famous parents who is as surprisingly down to Earth as every other love interest actress in every other romance novel. She’s playing Justine’s former girlfriend in a biopic film about her life, and…well, that’s all I really got from her character. For some reason when Justine flirts with her the very first day they meet she runs with it and they hop into bed, and then do it again…and again. Other than that I didn’t see any real connection between the two women, and I just did not get what either of them saw in each other beyond their bedroom chemistry. 

 

They have a tiff because Justine isn’t there for Sienna at a crucial time, and she didn’t even tell her because she was so caught up in an emergency at the shelter that she couldn’t be bothered. When Sienna broke up with her because of it I didn’t even care if they got back together. The whole story felt flat and rushed, the characters shallow without any real diving into what made them who they are, and I ended it thinking “what the hell was that?”

Choice of the Winter Wolf is the second novella in the Guardian of the Winter Stone series. With each book under 100 pages, they’re a quick read that feel like a serial novel. 

 

Akira, village outcast but chosen Guardian, is on a journey to find the Winter Stone, an ancient relic that was stolen. She was born with the soul of a wolf, the cause of her ostracization in her home village, but along the way she’s met some other wolf descendants who have abilities that she was taught were long gone. One of those descendants is Ashleigh, her fated mate who she has an immediate and visceral reaction to. Ashleigh and her brother, Aspen, are on a journey of their own, and they decide to travel together—at least for now. 

 

As she navigates secrets, attraction, and her own trauma, Akira struggles to reconcile what she was taught with what she’s seen in the greater world. She’s got a heap of trust issues, but she starts to open up a bit under Ashleigh’s gentle care. Akira is a very sympathetic character, and I definitely found myself cheering for her. I’m looking forward to the third installment! 

 

I received a free ARC from the author, but my review is unbiased and left voluntarily. 

Duty of the Winter Wolf is a novella, but it’s really more like the first installment of a serial novel. It introduces us to Akira, an outcast in her remote and isolated village even among her own family due to having been born with the soul of a wolf. She’s inexplicably chosen as the new Guardian of the Winter Stone (also the name of the series), and is tasked with finding said stone, an ancient relic that’s missing.

Despite never before having left her village, Akira sets off alone on a journey to find the stone. As she travels she comes across some other interesting characters, and discovers that what she’s been taught to believe may not actually be the truth. The installment ends in a cliffhanger, but definitely left me wanting to read on.

I received a free ARC from the author, but my review is unbiased and left voluntarily.

I listened to the audiobook version of Kiley Reid’s Come and Get It and I’m not sure that my review would be the same if I had read the book, although I don’t know that for certain. There’s a lot of very realistic conversation, by which I mean there are things like “yeah no, I mean like, ohmygod, you get it right?” That can be hard to follow, but the way Nicole Lewis reads it is just perfect. 

The story itself is a compelling take on money, power, race, and ethics, and gives a lot of insight into the characters, who are all deeply flawed in their own ways. Our main characters are a lesbian college professor, a Resident Advisor, and the inhabitants of one particular college dorm suite. We get to see them interacting in the dorm, but also get glimpses into their backstories, which gives us insight into their thought processes, how they interact with others, and the (often questionable) decisions they make. 

I’ve seen complaints about the novel not having a plot, or saying that nothing happens. I think that it does take a while to develop and it’s very character driven, but everything does come together in a cohesive way that tells a full story. It’s really an exploration of how a lot of small, dismissible moments on the surface, shaped by experience, can have a big impact on the overall story and where the characters find themselves by the end.

I absolutely adored The Perks of Loving a Wallflower! Thomasina Wynchester, AKA Tommy, is such a great character, both brazen and secure in who she is, but also shy and vulnerable, and so caring toward her family and Philippa. Phillipa is brilliant and beautiful, but feels trapped in a society where she is expected to follow conventions she isn’t interested in, and in which she doesn’t feel loved or valued—including by her own parents. 

Together they’re an amazing team, but the side characters add so much to the story. There’s Tommy’s family, who are quirky and fabulous and obviously love her without reservation. There are the bluestockings of Philippa’s book club, who have their own issues but band together to support each other. 

The connection between Tommy and Philippa develops at a really lovely pace, and the side story was interesting and fun to see develop. There’s a bit of spice here, which you don’t always get with historical romance, but it’s really great here. It’s the second book in a series, each focusing on a different Wynchester sibling, but it can be read as a standalone. 

This was the first audiobook I’ve listened to that was narrated by Moira Quirk, but I loved her voicing (and yes, I’m an admitted sucker for a British accent so that certainly didn’t hurt). I'd listen to more of her any day!

I remember reading Rochelle Wolf’s Act Two and wishing it was longer, and I feel the same way about Room for Two. I liked the premise, and I felt like we got to know Steph fairly well since the novella is solely from her perspective, but I didn’t feel like there was enough time for us to really know Bea and see the connection between them as much as I would have liked. Their interactions were great, as were those with other characters, and I particularly enjoyed Steph’s boss Cheri.

I really see a lot of potential in Wolf’s novellas, and I’d love to see them try their hand at a longer, more involved story, or even reworking one of their novellas into a full-length novel. Wolf does really well with sweet, fairly low-angst stories, but I want more!

I received a free ARC from BookSirens, but my review is unbiased and left voluntarily.

I think in royalty romance it can be hard to find a balance between realistic and unbelievable, and that can be even harder when you use one of the most famous monarchies in the world as your foundation. While the writing quality was good, I don’t think Keeley did herself any favors with the decision to do just that, and I wasn’t able to suspend my disbelief.

Princess Alice and Sara were fine characters on their own, but I didn’t buy their connection, and I didn’t believe that Alice’s grand gestures would have swayed anti-monarchist Sara. It felt a bit icky to me, to be honest. The only character that I truly loved was Sara’s daughter, Libby. I usually love the fake dating trope but this one just didn’t do it for me, and I didn’t believe that Sara would have gone along with it. Her Royal Happiness isn’t a bad book, but it wasn't for me.

I debated a lot about my rating for Love on Moonlight Lake. I really enjoyed the plot and found the premise convincing. Two best friends who have been in love with each other forever, suspect how the other feels, but neither has made a move for reasons? Hell yes I buy that. I also liked that we were able to just dive right in and the connection and chemistry was obvious from the jump, so there wasn’t a lot of time spent on building that up in this novella (novel? I’m never sure what the cutoff is). I loved both Gianna and Raven (oh, did I empathize with Raven’s overthinking), and Gianna’s Nan was a hoot.

That said, I felt that it was a bit jumpy at times and there were transitions that weren’t as smooth. I just wanted it to be a bit cleaner—not in a spice way, because I love spice and that was pretty good here, it just seemed messy sometimes. And, although I don’t ding ARCs for punctuation and grammatical errors because I know I may not be reading the final version, this one had quite a few issues and I found it pretty distracting.

I received a free ARC from the author, but my review is unbiased and left voluntarily.