queerafictionado's Reviews (374)

Lyrical Symphony is a quick, heartwarming read. It’s an instant love story, but their journey to forever isn’t without struggles. There is also an underlying story about expectations and how sometimes you have to break those expectations in order to follow your heart.

Lyric and Xenia are both very career driven and in the arts. Lyric is a dancer and Xenia is a violinist, and it is actually through friends and the arts that they initially meet. And the draw they feel toward one another is instant. There is no hesitation, even though neither has been in a relationship with a woman before. They don’t really question being together outside of the pressures of family expectations. And eventually a choice has to be made to follow those expectations and lose their chance at love, or to risk everything and grasp at that chance with all they have.

If you are looking for a quick-paced read and love stories with interracial couples, instant love, friendship, and the arts, with a bit of spice added in, then check out Lyric Symphony!

Thanks for the ARC, Regina!

This is only my second book by TJ Klune and it will most definitely not be my last! Klune is phenomenal at world building and creates these fictional, fantastical worlds that just suck you in, with stories that take you on the most amazing adventures. In the Lives of Puppets is lifted up as a Pinnochio meets Swiss Family Robinson kind of story, but those comparisons don’t do this book justice.

I absolutely adored all the quirky, unique, and wonderful characters in this story. Victor Lawson is the anxious, asexual human in the story. He’s an inventor like his android father, Giovanni. Gio also has a heart, and he loves music and creating. But above all else, he loves his son. Vic often explores the scrap yards near their treehouse home, and since there are no other humans or robots around, he makes friends of his own. First we have Nurse Ratched, the sociopathic medial nurse robot who adds a lot of twisted humor to the story and had me laughing constantly! Then there’s Rambo, who is probably my favorite. He’s a wonderfully weird, anxious robot vacuum who loves his friends, and absolutely does not want to die. And then there’s Hap - the Hysterically Angry Puppet - who somehow, despite his designation becomes the final member of this quirky, love-filled family. This story reminds us that the best part of this messy, complicated thing called life is getting to share it with the ones we love, the ones who become our home.

This book is also a masterful story about humanity. Don’t let the fact that only one of the MC’s is actually human fool you. It’s a story about what it means to have a heart. The power of our emotional capacity as humans. Our ability to change. The importance of having the power to make our own decisions, to forge our own paths, to create our own destiny. This story is a reminder that humanity will be the cause of our own destruction. But we also have what we need to save us. All it takes is a heart. A little bravery. And a willingness to start over.

If you love celebrity romance, second chances, spice, and drama - then you definitely have to read Always Emilie by Alyson Root! This is the third book in her French Connections series and it is wonderful!

The story follows two characters who were high school sweethearts and found something special in each other. But when drama unfolded in their lives, trust was lost and hearts were broken. Emilie and Charlotte never thought they would see each other or speak to one another again. Charlotte reinvented herself. She stopped playing piano, became a photographer, and started going by Charlie. And she is one sexy, tattooed goddess!

Is it all just an act? Or is it something more?

Just for Show is my first full novel by Jae and I will definitely be reading the rest of her books! It had fake dating, opposites attract, only one bed, and more. It wasn’t the tropes that really drew me into the story though. It was the depth of the characters. Their emotional complexity. Their struggles and past traumas. Their utter humanness.

Claire Renshaw is blindsided the day of her engagement party when her fiancée Abby breaks things off. The problem isn’t so much the broken engagement. It’s the fact that her pending book deal for her relationship self-help book hinges on the fact that she is in a happy, healthy relationship. Afraid of losing both her partner and her book deal, she lets her friend convince her into hiring an actress to play the role of her adoring fiancée.

Enter Lana Henderson. Lana is everything Claire is not. She is curvy and full-bodied. Tattooed and scarred. Free spirited and adventurous. She’s a bit messy. She prefers simple things over fancy things. She’s an actress struggling to find roles because she doesn’t fit the mold. And she absolutely does not trust therapists. But it’s hard to turn down the kind of money Claire is offering for this very unique role, even if it’s not one she can put on a resume.

This fake relationship feels like a disaster in the making. Especially since part of the deal means living together…as if just pretending to like each other wasn’t already hard enough.

It doesn’t take long for Claire and Lana to start to care for one another, though. And for desire to start sparking between them. But it takes a long time for those sparks to turn into something more, because how can you tell if something is actually real when your whole relationship is based on an act? But once these two finally give into their desires it is beautiful and HOT!

I loved this whole story and the way Jae developed these characters and their connection. And Angela Dawes narration was excellent - I especially loved Lana’s low, sultry voice! I highly recommend this book and I can’t wait to read more by Jae!