This novella features a tea monk* and a robot^ who take a walk through a post-post-post industrial world. It is quiet and sweet, and really not much happens except for Dex, our tea monk, endeavors to achieve their “purpose.” Spoiler alert: Dex does not need to achieve anything to be wonderful, just as they are.

If you’ve ever wanted to read a book version of the Sleepytime Tea bear’s life, pick this up. 

👍🏻Recommended! An affirming, calm, queer-normative lil science fiction treat. Like Murderbot if Murderbot had way less murder and way more wandering through the forest.

*A tea monk in this world is like a traveling psychiatrist. Dex goes from village to village, makes special tea for each customer and listens to them (if that’s what they need) or just sits with them while they cry (if that’s what they need). Generally, Dex’s job is comfort and company.

^Robots in this world achieved sentience hundreds (?) of years ago and decided along with the humans to leave. When Mosscap, the robot, and Dex meet, Dex has never seen a robot before and Mosscap has never seen a human.

Okay THIS is what I expect from Joanna! Seduction lessons? A reformed rake (scoundrel since we are in Gilded Age America)? Oops I caught feelings? Tension? Intrigue? Food?! Chef’s Kiss. Pun intended.

Best of all? The absolutely garbage mom gets what is coming to her and it comes from our lovely FMC, Alice.

From any other author I’d probably give this a solid four but I have come to expect so much more from Joanna. The MCs in Heiress Hunt are maddeningly obtuse and the drama of this plot is driven by Harrison (the MMC) lying quite a bit and I hate that in general. 

I also felt that there were several missed opportunities to make this book more exciting/ratchet up the pining and teamwork between the MCs, and that fell flat for me. If Harrison had included Maddie in his plotting against his family, I think his plot line would have been so much more exciting. There were jumps in the action I would have like to see and details added during some of the calmer times that I didn’t care as much about. 

Needless to say, I enjoyed it and it’s not a BAD book, I just know Queen Shupe can do way better. I’m excited for the rest of the series!

Nate, our MMC, is a rake of the highest order. He is a drunken, gambling fool who spends his days sleeping and his nights in an assortment of beds. And then we have our recently widowed FMC, Cora, who is desperately trying to come up with a way to keep custody of her two young children. Of course Nate owes her a favor so we are in a fake engagement situation quite quickly. While Nate and Cora are pretending to be in love of course they actually fall in love. Nate is THE sweetest man with Cora’s kids, and also he is so good to her. Like the best. 🥹

I looooooved Nate and Cora’s relationship, BUT the main plot of this book, in which Cora worked to gain custody of HER OWN children was STRESSY AF. It’s romance and there is an HEA but I couldn’t help but think about all of the women during this time who didn’t get to keep custody of their own kids because English laws at the time were straight trash. Cora’s dead husband’s sister and her husband are the worst, like seriously awful, and they made me super mad. I could have done with less of them, alas, so could Cora.

👍🏻Recommended! This is a slow-burn, steamy delight of a romance with a stressy side plot and extremely hateable villains. On KU! 

Just adorable and so sexy! Yes sexy taxes! Yes dressing room BJs! Yes dirty talk! Yes to all of it! 

I have a lot of emotions about this book: respect for the writing, frustration, a smidgeon of swoon, a lot of annoyance, also PAIN. Meredith really put me through something with this.

Meredith F***ing Duran (MFD), as Kelsey says. #DuranDuress, as I say. 

In this stand-alone we have teenage lovers who were forced apart and then are enemies and then lovers again. The content is so realistic and by realistic I mean horrifying and often sad, but also very beautiful on occasion. We have a 1715 English setting, so the first Jacobite rebellion (sadly not JAMMF times, Outlander girlies). Wartime. Women have no agency whatsoever and that is repeatedly made CLEAR by MFD. 🫠

I just… the writing is spectacular but these scenarios were hard for me to enjoy. The FMC, Nora, is forced to marry the MMC, Adrian (under extreme duress 😅). This couple is one that likes to yell and fight and then make out… and for me, that is a really tough dynamic to get behind. There were moments of absolutely soul-crushing tenderness followed by hair-raising violence and vice versa. The sex scenes were incredible, and maybe the sweetest moments in the book. But my god, the mess you have to endure to get them. Is it worth it? … maybe? Nora also has maybe the shittiest brother of all time, David. So horrible, in fact, that he gets two whole memes to himself!

😅 What I have learned is that this book pushes some boundaries that are just Not My Thing™️ and that’s ok! If this book sounds interesting, please check the CW - it covers a variety of topics intensely on page. 

Such a soft, sweet story. I loved that we got two MCs way over 40 who have been pining for each other for years. I also really appreciated that both of them have blue-collars jobs (bar tender and truck driver). The communication between them is real and poignant. Anita has such a way of crafting characters and connections that are meaningful and relatable. Mal is somewhere on the asexual spectrum. Both Mal and June are butch.