Encountered blatant on page racism that was unchallenged by the FMC who it was directed at. Also encountered body shaming, again, unchallenged by the FMC.

ARC review - pub date 11/29/22

This is a light-hearted and low angst historical. I was missing a great deal of tension - the main conflict of James inheriting Lucy’s aunt’s house just didn’t…quite…build enough tension for me. I wanted the characters to have more reasons to interact and be kept apart from one another and/or be forced to work or be together. I needed a heightened sense of drama between Beck and Pembroke. Make that bad guy worse, make the good guy smarter and better. 

I kept wanting a big reveal but the characters are super honest with each other so it deflated a lot of the potential conflict and thus I felt less compelled to know how the characters were going to work things out. I hate miscommunication as a trope but these people just come out with everything immediately. Where is the angst? The insecurity? The pining? The awkwardness?

There were a few lovely moments between Lucy and her aunt and Lucy and her brother but the characters in general fell flat for me. I didn’t feel much connection with any of them and I didn’t really understand why James and Lucy were together other than that they were, and they fell *really* fast. Like two days fast. Lucy was ready to risk it all for a man she bumped into on a train platform? I dunno. Not my jam.

Thanks for NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

ARC Review - pub date 11/1/22

The thing about Alexis Hall is that he writes RoNos that look like they’re gonna be super fluffy and then hit you with the sledgehammer of reality.

To whit, the latest installment in the Bake Expectations series: Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble. This is a romance featuring Paris, a man with intense undiagnosed anxiety, and Tariq, a man who is an absolute ray of sunshine. The two MCs were basically heartbreakingly realistic. Paris’s anxiety is intense and graphic. He is incredibly deep in his head - everyone hates him, he’s going to mess up, he’s the worst, etc etc etc. Enter Tariq, a devout Muslim and very out gay man, who tries his very best to “help” Paris while also being kind of into him aka Tariq kinda takes Paris on as a project, which never ends well.

Although this book definitely has a love story in it and ends on an HEA, its focus really isn’t the romance. Paris has an incredibly hard time with his mental health and so that the book becomes more about his struggles. I was much more concerned about Paris getting help than I was about whether he and Tariq ended up together. On the one hand, I loved how realistic and relatable the conflicts in the book were, but on the other, if you are looking for a comforting read about a comforting reality show - this ain’t it. 

All that said? There were scenes and moments in this book where I was laughing out loud and reading passages to my husband. I suppose just like real life, there are funny and sweet moments mixed up with the bad ones.

Oh, and Paris’s parents are *gone* like they simply don’t text him back…ever? Even when he repeatedly asks them to? That little detail alone was a gut punch, and added to Paris’s intensely bad time and my angst as a reader. In sum, this book feels a lot like Queenie by Candace Carty-Williams in that there is an MC who is struggling realistically and mightily with their mental health and the general state of the world and you’re simultaneously rooting for them and empathizing with them and also very frustrated by their circumstances. It can be a really emotionally taxing thing to read a book like that so I want to make sure other readers are ready.

👍🏻Recommended with a big dose of check the CW and make sure you have the emotional capacity for this. Lovable and very realistic characters as well as mental health are a huge focus in this book, the romance is sweet but I would not call it the focus.

This novella is perfect. Steamy with a lovable starchy hero and a relatable chaotic heroine. Challenges gender roles of the time. Builds in tension in just 90 pages. CHEF’S KISS.

I love love love the characters and setting of this book, but on reread I struggled a little bit with the structure of this book in its two halves (Paris and Scotland). Ultimately this is a relatively minor quibble and the second half of the book is so exciting and steamy and generally just *good.* I am also now even more excited to reread Manuela’s book and read Apollo’s book, having seen Manuela and Apollo again for the first time.

This one was a struggle. There were parts I loved (a few) and parts I hated (more than a few) and parts I was confused and annoyed by. Actually my favorite part of the book was the very last page of it? Not only because I was finally finished but also because the main character FINALLY did something that made sense? I can’t even explain to you what was so weird about this book because it’s the third in a series but I’ll just leave it at: I don’t think I enjoy reading about gods.

🙃 Yeah. Not my favorite NKJ but I’m glad I read it. If you’re reading the Inheritance Trilogy, I’d recommend stopping after book 2. It’s better that way.

Recommended! This is like Newsies and Law and Order had a child that grew up into an incredibly sexy man. That man’s name is Frank Tripp. Mamie, the FMC is amazing. There is a TON of plot beyond the romance and the New York Gilded Age setting is unique and interesting. Deffo check this one out!!

<<MINOR SPOILERS BELOW>>

As I peruse these cringey Adam Levine messages while finishing The Rogue of Fifth Avenue, it’s hard to overstate just how much better Frank Tripp is than Adam Levine. For instance:

Frank Tripp would never say “it’s unreal how f*cking hot you are.” He says things like “you look so beautiful right now, and I’m not even done with you yet.” 

Frank isn’t going to slide into anyone’s DMs.* He’s gonna send them a bike with a note that says “for my little rebel.”

Frank isn’t going to offer to “buy your a$$ a steak dinner.” He’s going to actually take you to Sherry’s for a multi-course meal where he attempts to order everything for you in advance**

Finally, Frank would never cheat on his pregnant wife. In fact, he didn’t even want to get married and fail at monogamy. Alas, Mamie came along and was well, Mamie.

*Alright this book is set in the Gilded Age (1891) so the internet didn’t exist BUT you get my meaning.

**This is not a good strategy, always ask your date what they like to eat first! His heart was in the right place, though.

I was excited to get the backstory on the Duke of Villiers (aka Zaddy V), but I did not bank on how absolutely charming his oldest son, Baby Thorn aka Tobias aka Juby, would be. BB Thorn/Baby Thorn/Tobias is a HIGHLIGHT of this book.

The plot of this story hinges on an unlikely set of MCs, yes I said *a set* and no this isn't a polyamorous story. To whit:

1. Eleanor, the heartbroken "dowdy" daughter of a duke, who in a fit of sadness stated that she would marry no man of lower station than a duke (all of this because the boy she loved, Gideon, had to marry someone else. He was a duke. Basically she was saying she wouldn't marry anyone but Gideon). Eleanor is not a virgin and she has lots of mixed emotions about it. Zaddy V is excited about this piece of information. By the end of the book Eleanor has embraced her s e x uality and desires but it's a long road for her.

2. The Duke of Villiers: At the ripe old age of 35, Zaddy V has SIX illegitimate children and is looking for a woman of no lower station than the daughter of a duke to marry. Zaddy V is also searching for his kids all over the place because his lawyer was a lying sack of sh*t who stole money meant to take care of the kids while the kids were off doing things like digging in the Thames for valuables and making buttons in orphanages, but I digress.

3. Enter stage right, Lady Lisette, the 100% banana-pants daughter of yet another duke (SO MANY DUKES). Lisette is at best out of touch and at worst kind of a callous monster. Hence the Lucille Bluth *moments" in this set of memes. 

4. Last and definitely least, we have Eleanor's ex, Gideon. He sucks, full stop.

There are also 6 children, 3 of whom have roles to play in this book, Eleanor's mom, Eleanor's sister, Anne, who is catty AF, an absentee chaperone, some truly horrible servants, a witch of an orphanage headmistress, a random poet named Roland...and an adorable dog named Oyster. It’s bananas. Maybe a little too bananas at times but here we are.

It’s NKJ. It’s short stories. It’s excellent.

Definitely wanted more from this book after absolutely LOVING Queer Principles of Kit Webb.

The beginning of this book had me so excited! Letters and banter in them to start, the [redacted] thing that brings Rob and Marian together at the beginning, which was very dramatic and also kinda funny. These events set them off on what SHOULD HAVE BEEN a shenanigan/hijinks filled little road trip but was actually kind of a weird/boring book middle? I found it hard to connect with both of the MCs through what is usually catnip for me. I am such a sucker for a road trip!!

It’s like the middle 50% of the book is almost just notes or an outline without the level of detail or any of the pining and tension present in Kit’s book. BUT THEN, the last 25% of the book takes off again and the characters are super entertaining and exciting things happen.

That’s to say this book in emojis was like:

😱😮😯😑😑🥱😴🥱😑🙂😀🥰

Will I read more from Cat Sebastian? ABSOLUTELY. She does a lot of things really well, this book just missed some marks for me in the middle. The beginning and the end do bring this to a readable state and I DEFINITELY would read another book in this series. (I am very much hoping for a book about Betty, the fence. Please Cat, give us a Betty book!)