About: Dive into my October TBR with nine thrilling books, including my long-awaited read of House of Blood and Earth and continued exploration of the thriller genre.
(more…)9 Books on My October TBR
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Book Review: Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
B
The Gist: A heartfelt slow-burn romance that deftly explores queer awakening and has fun with escapism politics.
Series: Standalone
Release Date: May 14, 2019
Synopsis
First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations. The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince.
As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?
Ending
HEA
Representation
• Mexican-American biracial bisexual main character
• gay love interest with depression
• Mexican-American biracial supporting character
• Jewish bisexual aromantic supporting character
• Mexican-American side character
• Mexican-American gay side character
• trans side character
• sapphic side relationship
• Nigerian-British pansexual side character
• gay love interest with depression
• Mexican-American biracial supporting character
• Jewish bisexual aromantic supporting character
• Mexican-American side character
• Mexican-American gay side character
• trans side character
• sapphic side relationship
• Nigerian-British pansexual side character
Possible Triggers: Yes
• Racism (including from Henry’s grandmother, the Queen)
• Homophobia (including from Henry’s older brother and grandmother, the Queen)
• Forced outing
• Homophobia (including from Henry’s older brother and grandmother, the Queen)
• Forced outing
Safety Rating: Safe
• No cheating
• No OM drama
• Does have OW drama
– Henry is jealous when he sees Nora and Alex kiss on New Years (even though it’s not romantic)
– Alex is jealous when he sees Henry out with an OW in a tabloid (at this point, not knowing
• Does have Henry pushing Alex away
• Does have a brief separation (both celibate)
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.
• No OM drama
• Does have OW drama
– Henry is jealous when he sees Nora and Alex kiss on New Years (even though it’s not romantic)
– Alex is jealous when he sees Henry out with an OW in a tabloid (at this point, not knowing
• Does have Henry pushing Alex away
• Does have a brief separation (both celibate)
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.
Format: Hardback
Rating: 5-stars
(more…)17 Books on My March TBR
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About: My March TBR includes 17 books that I want to read in March. I will finally read Babel by R.F. Kuang and get started on my Diverse Reading Challenge.
(more…)11 Holiday Romances to Read this Winter
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Quick Take: Eleven books to read this winter, including four new holiday romances I’ve hauled and some old favourites featuring a few grumpy Heroes.
(more…)14 New Books: My Hiemal Book Haul
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14 new books make up my Hiemal Book Haul and includes books I’ve purchased from August to November. The most prevalent themes are fantasy and (as always) romance.
(more…)Sweet Yet Anti-climatic: A Deal with the Elf King by Elise Kova
S
The Gist: A standalone epic fantasy loosely based on the mythology of Hades and Persephone, and while an enemies-to-lovers romance that has its sweet parts, the lack of world-building, endearing characterizations and number of plot holes made the novel quite anti-climatic.
Series: Married to Magic, #1*
Release Date: November 6, 2020
Synopsis
Perfect for fans of A Court of Thorns and Roses and Uprooted, this stand-alone, fantasy romance about a human girl and her marriage to the Elf King is impossible to put down!
The elves come for two things: war and wives. In both cases, they come for death.
Three-thousand years ago, humans were hunted by powerful races with wild magic until the treaty was formed. Now, for centuries, the elves have taken a young woman from Luella’s village to be their Human Queen.
To be chosen is seen as a mark of death by the townsfolk. A mark nineteen-year-old Luella is grateful to have escaped as a girl. Instead, she’s dedicated her life to studying herbology and becoming the town’s only healer.
That is, until the Elf King unexpectedly arrives… for her.
Everything Luella had thought she’d known about her life, and herself, was a lie. Taken to a land filled with wild magic, Luella is forced to be the new queen to a cold yet blisteringly handsome Elf King. Once there, she learns about a dying world that only she can save.
The magical land of Midscape pulls on one corner of her heart, her home and people tug on another… but what will truly break her is a passion she never wanted.
A Deal with the Elf King is a complete, stand-alone novel, inspired by the tales of Hades and Persephone, as well as Beauty and the Beast, with a “happily ever after” ending. It’s perfect for fantasy romance fans looking for just the right amount of steam and their next slow-burn and swoon-worthy couple.
Ending
HFN but the extended epilogue shows it’s a HEA (you can access the extra scene through the back of the ebook or on Elise Kova’s website)
Representation
No strong representations of the following:
• BIPOC characters
• LGBTQIA+ characters
• characters with a disability
And doesn’t address fatphobia
• BIPOC characters
• LGBTQIA+ characters
• characters with a disability
And doesn’t address fatphobia
Possible Triggers: Yes
• Parental neglect
• Themes of isolation and abandonment
• Themes of isolation and abandonment
Safety Rating: Safe with Exceptions
• No cheating
• Does have OW/OM drama (kind of)
– The Heroine was in love with her childhood best friend, but he turns out to be an asshole. And, apparently, she wasn’t “in love” with him but loved the idea of him? (There’s kissing *before* the Heroine meets the Hero)
– The Hero tried to date/court *his* best friend 3-4 years ago; she’s currently the Hand of the King. They both agreed they were better off friends. Their relationship didn’t progress past kissing but apparently, that attempt made them closer as friends.
• Does have the Hero and Heroine pushing away
• Does have a separation between the Hero and Heroine
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.
• Does have OW/OM drama (kind of)
– The Heroine was in love with her childhood best friend, but he turns out to be an asshole. And, apparently, she wasn’t “in love” with him but loved the idea of him? (There’s kissing *before* the Heroine meets the Hero)
– The Hero tried to date/court *his* best friend 3-4 years ago; she’s currently the Hand of the King. They both agreed they were better off friends. Their relationship didn’t progress past kissing but apparently, that attempt made them closer as friends.
• Does have the Hero and Heroine pushing away
• Does have a separation between the Hero and Heroine
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.
Format: Kindle Unlimited
Rating: 3-stars
*Each novel in the series is Standalone
(more…)Magical and Entrancing: Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
M
The Gist: An entrancing standalone epic fantasy; it brings the magic of books to life through the Heroine’s journey to discover who is attempting to sabotage the Great Libraries and made all the more enjoyable by its adorable enemies to friends to lovers romances and themes of friendship.
Series: Sorcery of Thorns, #1
Release Date: June 4, 2019
Synopsis
All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery—magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. She hopes to become a warden, charged with protecting the kingdom from their power.
Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire. Elisabeth’s desperate intervention implicates her in the crime, and she is torn from her home to face justice in the capital. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them.
As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger, Elisabeth starts to question everything she’s been taught—about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, even about herself. For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed, and a future she could never have imagined.
Ending
HFN
Representation
• Bisexual Hero
• Asexual supporting character
• Asexual supporting character
Possible Triggers: Yes
• Murder
• Allusion to torture
• Gaslighting
• Allusion to torture
• Gaslighting
Safety Rating: Safe
• No cheating
• No OW/OM drama
• Does have the Hero pushing the Heroine away
• Does have a separation between the Heroine and Hero
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.
• No OW/OM drama
• Does have the Hero pushing the Heroine away
• Does have a separation between the Heroine and Hero
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 4.75-stars
(more…)Heartfelt and Nostalgic: Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon
H
Series: Standalone
Release Date: July 14, 2020
<strong>Synopsis</strong>
The Hating Game meets Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by way of Morgan Matson in this unforgettable romantic comedy about two rival overachievers whose relationship completely transforms over the course of twenty-four hours.
Today, she hates him.
It’s the last day of senior year. Rowan Roth and Neil McNair have been bitter rivals for all of high school, clashing on test scores, student council elections, and even gym class pull-up contests. While Rowan, who secretly wants to write romance novels, is anxious about the future, she’d love to beat her infuriating nemesis one last time.
Tonight, she puts up with him.
When Neil is named valedictorian, Rowan has only one chance at victory: Howl, a senior class game that takes them all over Seattle, a farewell tour of the city she loves. But after learning a group of seniors is out to get them, she and Neil reluctantly decide to team up until they’re the last players left—and then they’ll destroy each other.
As Rowan spends more time with Neil, she realizes he’s much more than the awkward linguistics nerd she’s sparred with for the past four years. And, perhaps, this boy she claims to despise might actually be the boy of her dreams.
Tomorrow…maybe she’s already fallen for him.
<strong>Ending</strong>
HFN
<strong>Representation</strong>
• Latina biracial main character
• Lesbian supporting character
• Bisexual supporting character
• FF side romance
• Lesbian supporting character
• Bisexual supporting character
• FF side romance
<strong>Possible Triggers:</strong> Yes
• Anti-Semitism
<strong>Safety Rating:</strong> Safe
• No cheating
• No OW drama
• Does have OM drama
— The Heroine has conversations with an ex to get closure. It stirs up past regret.
• Does have the Hero and Heroine pushing each other away
• No separation
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.
• No OW drama
• Does have OM drama
— The Heroine has conversations with an ex to get closure. It stirs up past regret.
• Does have the Hero and Heroine pushing each other away
• No separation
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.
Format:
Rating: 5/5 stars
(more…)27 ebooks: My September Book Haul
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My original plan was to add my Kindle book haul to my August Wrap but it just made the post way too long and convoluted. So, I’ve decided to post a separate book haul dedicated to all the books I’ve purchased as ebooks, which, for me, are Kindle books.
(more…)The Monthly Wrap: July
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A detailed look at March’s reading habits: 24 books read, two DNFs, seven books read from my Up Next Shelf. I also read books continuing four favourite series of mine, and I finally finished the Throne of Glass series!
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