morganthebee's Reviews (489)

Tattooed, sassy, curly-haired photographer with unresolved childhood trauma meets curvaceous, glasses-wearing, caring single mom bookstore owner with abandonment issues? SIGN ME UP.

Seriously, though, I’ve been wanting to read this series for a while, but in order, so I’ve been patiently waiting my turn. It finally came up on Libby and it did not disappoint. Witty banter? Check. Fabulous and distinct characters? Check. Opening up and processing old hurts in (mostly) healthy ways? Check. Chemistry and hot sex? Check.

I loved seeing how Delilah and Claire’s connection evolved, getting glimpses of their childhood/teen interactions and watching them open up to each other while reconnecting as adults. Seeing the relationship between Delilah and Astrid come to a head and the two of them realizing the role they’ve each played in their current situation felt so natural, and I hope to see their bond as sisters develop even more in the next installment. Iris is hilarious and so loyal to Claire and Astrid, and her acceptance of and connection with Delilah as they move through the story really rounds everything out.

This is a lovely later-in-life coming out/sapphic awakening romance, with low angst. I really enjoyed all of the characters, although only Ida and Faye were fully fleshed out. The two of them develop a lovely friendship and camaraderie that’s really nice to see, but it’s the discovery of themselves and ultimately being true to who they are that really shines. The alternating perspective opens up the inner thoughts of both, and makes the spicy scenes…well, spicier.

It’s also really lovely to have two MCs who are both middle aged, confident, and open to what this stage of life brings to them. I don’t often get to see older women in sapphic fiction outside of age gap, but as someone who fits that general description I really like it and wish there was more.

So, I’ve really enjoyed the Witches of Thistle Grove series in general. Lana Harper’s writing is great, the characters feel well thought out and have some nice dichotomies that make them feel like real people, and this particular story gives us some insight into the Blackmoores and their family trauma. Morty is very charming and cares deeply (even if their name is unfortunate), I really like Nina, and we get a peek into the internal growth that her older brother Gareth has been going through behind the scenes. Overall I enjoyed it.

That said: I was disappointed with the nonbinary representation. I mean, when a character is introduced right off the bat (before we even meet said character on the page) as having he/they pronouns, wouldn’t you use the gender neutral pronoun at least once? But that doesn’t happen here. It makes it feel like cop out and doesn’t honor Morty’s identity, and honestly it seems like a bit of a dismissal of Nina’s sexuality. Like, she’s slept with men but says she always pictured herself ending up with a woman in an internal monologue. Lo and behold here’s this androgynous person who wears more feminine clothes and accessories and makeup on the regular, so of course she falls for them, but we’re not going to acknowledge or respect their pronouns, and here’s maybe a bit of bi erasure on top. I don’t know, perhaps I’m reading too much into it or being too sensitive, but it made me feel a bit yucky about it all and I’m a cis lesbian. 

It really stuck with me and I waited a few days before writing a review because I wanted to ruminate on it for a bit, and it was almost enough of a disappointment for me to drop the rating by a star, but for now I’m going to leave it where it is.

A short but sweet follow up to Bachelorette Number Twelve. I definitely recommend reading that first, but this is a cute update about where they find themselves a year later.

Well, I certainly understand the hype about Abby Craden now. This was my first experience listening to a book narrated by her, and it was simply delicious.

The book itself was interesting, told from one perspective, and it was so interesting to see the character development with the focus solely on Neve’s experience.

There’s a lot of sex (which isn’t a complaint), but this isn’t a fluffy romance by any stretch of the imagination. It’s angst-ridden, full of heartache and coming to terms with past trauma, and the way it comes together is well developed. Neve is tortured and complex, and she takes out her fears and inability to handle her feelings on the one person who gets her, pushing Audrey away through some downright painful actions intentionally engineered to hurt, but ultimately hurting herself even more. The ice queen learning to open up and trust is one of the things I enjoy most about the trope, and this didn’t disappoint on that front.

I still don’t love the age gap trope, but there’s so much more to this story. Although it won’t be for everyone, I found it thoroughly fascinating.

Wasn’t planning on this one, but I was looking for sapphic stories narrated by Angela Dawe because I’ve finally ventured into the realm of audiobooks and I adore her voice. Came across this one available through my library, and since I’ve read books by Jae before and really enjoyed them I decided to check it out. Neither disappointed.

Really nice slow burn with characters who are just lovely, and I was definitely rooting for them. Things did develop quickly over a short timeframe, but hey, it’s one of those forced proximity, obviously fictional romance stories, so not really a big surprise and it didn’t feel overly rushed as the story unfolded.

I will say there was some emphasis on weight and food restriction throughout that I didn’t love, but still, overall a great story.

Enjoyed the story, the characters were great, and the audiobook narrator was fabulous.

My first audiobook and I’m still not sure how I feel about those in general, but the story itself was great.

I thought the story developed fairly naturally and I liked all of the characters. I am admittedly a fan of the ice queen trope, but the way Eva and Lily’s relationship develops without compromising Eva’s personality was particularly good.