yourbookishbff's Reviews (650)

My favorite of Everett's books to date, Phoebe's story is everything I could have hoped for her. A Villainess of Majestic Proportions, Phoebe is given a character arc we see often in historical romance but almost never for women. I can think of a hundred romances with deeply scarred and traumatized male main characters who have acted violently out of misplaced rage, but it wasn't until reading Phoebe's story that I realized how rarely we allow women to be vengeful, angry, violent and wrong on page. Phoebe's decisions hurt people she cared deeply about and the violence she engineered did not achieve the ends she hoped for. There is nothing glamorous about her actions and no moment of catharsis, and this feels so unique to this story. 

To understand Phoebe, we have to return to where she came from, and the first half of the book takes us to her definitely-haunted childhood home. It's unsettling and dark and reflective and the perfect gothic backdrop for our black cat x golden retriever pairing in Phoebe and Sam. And as the story moves back out and welcomes back our larger cast (all of our faves from the first series!), the trust they've carefully built through extended time together becomes pivotal. I loved every beat in this, and I'm going to be thinking of Phoebe and Sam for a long time. 

This is a perfect book and I wept. Honestly, KJC is rarely a miss for me, and I delight in seeing all the ways she can set up an absurd betray-cute. Fortune hunter snares young, innocent miss and falls for her grumpy uncle instead?! Only KJC. I highlighted half of this (Robin and Marianne, siblings of my heart), and I'm so grateful I read A Thief in the Night first, because it made the second epilogue a real joy to read.

This may be my favorite way to handle amnesia in historical romance (and is the FIRST I've read to do it this way, though I'm certain there are others I just haven't read yet). Our FMC is found after falling from a horse in the opening scenes of the novel, and she has no idea who she is, where she's from or what happened to her. And better yet, neither do we! I loved having this third person POV so intentionally limited to what the characters know about themselves and each other, and I was invested in the mystery of Jane-without-a-surname from the start. My only frustration was just how much work this did to set up a series - between the very large cast of siblings and the equally large cast of friends, I was genuinely lost on the side characters and couldn't keep any of them straight (a really frustrating feeling when I was so enjoying the main characters). That said, the prose is lovely and the slow (SLOW) burn romance was angsty and compelling and I know future books won't have to do this set up again, so I'm looking forward to these installments in the story. An exciting debut from a new historical romance author!

This plays with a very familiar set-up in historical romance - titled main character must marry by a specific birthday to secure inheritance - and beautifully subverts our expectations at each turn. Alexander's prose is so compelling and sharp and they have such a subtle humor I love (particularly in inner monologue). I really enjoyed the use of limited third person POV, because with only Christopher's perspective, we can really feel both his loneliness and his drive to survive to the best of his abilities. It also allows for some really enjoyable plot twists - one or two that are so obvious even our side characters have to poke fun at Christopher for not seeing them earlier (love a meta moment). I would caution readers that this is a slow, slow, SLOW burn, but it builds into a really fitting and lovely HEA.

All hail Billie! There were a few moments where I wanted Drew to bloody his knees begging for her forgiveness, but he gets it together by the end and their happily ever after feels right. So appreciate Jenkins' commitment to showing sex work for Black women during this period - she's unflinching in her portrayal of Billie, her pride and resilience, as well as the harm she's experienced. It's a stand-out premise for HR, because so often when we see sex work on page it's still in a more privileged context (typically white courtesans). 

This story centers two racialized MCs (a multiracial bookseller cast out by his father's white family in childhood and the starchy British Indian attorney he once knew at Eton), a conflict revolving entirely around London's underground market for "obscene" material and sex work, and a double-mystery involving two at-risk teenagers (one murdered before the story starts and one now missing). And it's fewer than 150 pages, because that's just how KJC rolls. I really appreciate the class conversations around sex work in this, in particular, but I was generally stressed the entire time for our side characters. While I ultimately feel like KJC sticks the landing on the central romance, she kept me sweating with the mystery (and not as much in the fun heist way as in the just-plain-stressed-this-is-very-grim way). 

This started as a romp and then it just felt like it never delivered on anything more? I appreciate an over-the-top story but I also want *some* emotional development that the characters actually have to work for and I need a little bit of chest pain to stay invested. Mickey isn't really a villain, so this wasn't a villain redemption arc (like it was set up to be?) - he almost immediately reveals some predictable backstory trauma. And Silence is just... not sharp. Her decisions became increasingly confusing to me in the second half. Ultimately, this didn't land for me. BUT THE GHOST OF ST GILES. So I'm ready for book four.

This is a helpful introduction to cobalt mining and the cobalt industry from bottom (artisanal mining in the Congo) to top (a rechargeable cell battery). I particularly appreciated the geographic study of the DRC and the interweaving of several centuries of history, as it paints a very clear picture of the colonial exploitation that made possible the modern-day slavery that is cobalt mining. That said, the author projects onto his narrative - and the people he's interviewing - in ways that didn't always sit right for me. First-person accounts are particularly important in uncovering a story like this one, and the author's tendency to imagine inner monologue and unexpressed emotion for people already disempowered was frustrating at times. And while I felt like this narrative accomplished its primary goal - to show the very bottom of the supply chain in stark detail - it still could have benefited from an exploration of the top of the supply chain as well. I would have appreciated a really clear throughline from the exploitation of miners to the accumulated wealth of billionaires like Elon Musk sitting at the top of the exact same chain. And as other reviewers have noted, there isn't necessarily a next step from this narrative - the author peppers in some of his own thoughts on potential structural changes, but these feel half-formed. Ultimately, this is an accessible entry point for those who want to better understand the industry and the state of cobalt mining in the DRC, even if it didn't accomplish everything I had hoped for. 

No one does character development better than KJC and NO ONE does it better in fewer pages. God this was fun, and endearing, and classically gray all over because no one is blameless but everyone is earnest. I loved this.