We may almost be through February but it's never too late to look back at last month. January was a good start of the year for me reading-wise as I read a lot of five-star reads. Was I too generous with my rating? Maybe, but who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth? Sometimes you just get lucky and find lots of books you enjoy. I was going to write lots of individual reviews but I fell behind and I figured it would be way easier to just combine them together, and more fun for me.
Winter’s Orbit (Winter's Orbit #1) - Everina Maxwell
Winter’s Orbit centres around an arranged marriage. Jainan and Kiem don’t know each other before they’re forced to marry to satisfy some kind of space covenant. Prince Kiem gets asked to marry the representative of another planet who is recently widowed and spends a lot of the book comparing himself to his cousin Taam who Jainan was married to before Taam died in an accident. It’s later discovered that it wasn’t as much of an accident as first expected and that becomes a whole mystery to explore. It was obvious from the start Jainan and Taam’s marriage hadn’t been all it appeared and although Kiem believes Jainan to be still grieving a lost love and being forced into marriage too soon a lot comes out as the book progresses.
If you’re looking to explore a lot of space this isn’t as space heavy as some sci-fi books but I really wanted to read for the romance so I wasn’t too disappointed by that. It was a great book, maybe a little slower than some books but I was hooked trying to figure out who killed Taam and why. I’ve not read the next book in this series yet but I think they’re all standalone anyway so that’s alright.
A Deadly Education (The Scholomance #1) - Naomi Novik
I picked this up for one of my challenges and I’d been putting off reading it for awhile. I can see why reviews were mixed for A Deadly Education, the writing style was different. It was very slow to develop when it came to plot and it was worldbuilding heavy so I imagine that put people off but that was what made me love it. The world of the Scholomance and the school itself was complex so it needed to spend time explaining things and the way it was written it never felt like an info dump.
Galadriel was an outcast in her junior year with no allies in a school that had a thousand things trying to kill her until Orion Lake saved her (although she would debate if the rescue was required). That single incident led to the events of the book and it was brilliant. I didn’t want to put it down and was invested in the story. I didn’t even know what the story would be until the very end when El found herself working with Orion and others in the school to try and save everyone. It just worked, and there was enough of a cliffhanger at the end that I immediately started the second book.
The Last Graduate (The Scholomance #2) - Naomi Novik
This book was less heavy with the world-building compared to the first. You were familiar with the Scholomance at this point it wasn’t necessary and so it was all about building to graduation except it didn’t go as expected. I was a little surprised at the turn this book took but it made sense.
I liked seeing El battle a lot more and also building up a larger group of connections. She didn’t like people yet found herself forced to spend time with them and even help them at times. I like to view this as growth as she learnt she didn’t have to like everyone she helped, and even reluctantly liked some of them without realising she’d let it happen. We got to see El realise that she was strong and see others recognise that too. It was interesting to see how different people reacted. Some accepted her as she was and liked her. Some didn’t care either. And obviously, some wanted to use it to their advantage.
I struggle to say too much about this book without spoiling things but it definitely took turns I wasn’t expecting and I will say if you enjoy this series then make sure you have the final book when you’re almost finished with this one as the cliffhanger is brutal.
Special Mention 4.5 rating
The Golden Enclaves (The Scholomance #3) - Naomi Novik
After the brutal ending of the last book I immediately picked up the final book in the series the next morning. I slew through the book in a single day, an impressive feat for me considering I seem to have developed the attention span of a gnat. Social media has definitely destroyed my attention span.
The final book didn’t quite reach 5 stars for me. It was an excellent ending to a brilliant series. It was interesting to see El and her classmates outside of the Scholomance and see what magic was like out in the real world. Considering the events of the last book, a lot was going on and it was really quite emotional at times. I liked seeing how classmates behaved in the real world as they were no longer in the bubble the school created and they once more had the privileges they experienced in their normal lives. I found some of the alliances really interesting and it was nice to know El was as clueless outside of the school as in it. She seemed to have a brain for magic but then real people and real life were beyond her.
I liked getting answers to some questions that had lingered since the first book and I was impressed that even in this book it managed to surprise me. I won’t spoil anything, there were some frustrations on how the story got wrapped up and I’m not sure I liked the answer to some of the questions. But whatever, it worked and it really explored morality and the extent people will go to for their own comfort.
Favourite
The Chemistry of Familiar Objects - Alexandra Vasti
Alexandra Vasti became a favourite author of mine from just her novellas so I instantly downloaded when she had a new one out and she really is an amazing historical romance writer. It helped that I’d just finished a book I’d thought I’d love and ended up hating because it was such a chore to read so I was happy to read this and realise I wasn’t in a reading slump that was just a bad book.
Emmeline and Robert were just brilliant. They were total opposites and the spark between them was obvious. I wasn’t certain how it was going to go given how dismissive and almost cruel Emmeline had been at the start telling Robert she was evicting him but as soon as you got to know her it was clear there was no malice (not truly) she simply enjoyed getting a reaction from him and didn’t understand him completely. She truly didn’t consider how a sudden eviction might be difficult and she did regret it. And then they had more important things to think about than a silly eviction as someone had broken in and stolen from her and there was a whole conspiracy cracking off to investigate.
I wish this had been longer yet I am also thrilled with how fully developed the plot and the characters were considering this was a novella. I didn’t want to stop reading and I am happy to say I am not in fact ina reading slump so I’m glad I downloaded this when I did.
Reread
Next Year in Havana (The Perez Family #1) - Chanel Cleeton
I went into this book loving it and I finished it loving it just as much the second time around. I’ve already spoken of my love for this one so not sure I should repeat myself. Please see my previous review for what made this book so amazing.
And that was my reading month of January. It was nice to read so many books that I loved. Sadly, there were some disappointments but I don't want to think of those. What were your favourite reads of January? And did you read any of the ones I loved last month?
The Charm Offensive - Alison Cochrun
Published: 7th September 2021
Source: Purchased
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQ+
My Rating:
In this witty and heartwarming romantic comedy—reminiscent of Red, White & Royal Blue and One to Watch—an awkward tech wunderkind on a reality dating show goes off-script when sparks fly with his producer.
Dev Deshpande has always believed in fairy tales. So it’s no wonder then that he’s spent his career crafting them on the long-running reality dating show Ever After. As the most successful producer in the franchise’s history, Dev always scripts the perfect love story for his contestants, even as his own love life crashes and burns. But then the show casts disgraced tech wunderkind Charlie Winshaw as its star.
Charlie is far from the romantic Prince Charming Ever After expects. He doesn’t believe in true love, and only agreed to the show as a last-ditch effort to rehabilitate his image. In front of the cameras, he’s a stiff, anxious mess with no idea how to date twenty women on national television. Behind the scenes, he’s cold, awkward, and emotionally closed-off.
As Dev fights to get Charlie to open up to the contestants on a whirlwind, worldwide tour, they begin to open up to each other, and Charlie realizes he has better chemistry with Dev than with any of his female co-stars. But even reality TV has a script, and in order to find to happily ever after, they’ll have to reconsider whose love story gets told.
I had been excited about reading The Charm Offensive ever since I saw the first blog review about it. It sounded right up my street as an interesting LGBTQ+ contemporary romance read. I was so excited I actually found myself putting off reading because that is what I do every time I get excited about a new book. Put off reading until I forget why I wanted to read.
Unfortunately, I ended up reading it when I wasn’t in the mood for it. I was hoping once I started I would find myself growing into the right mood for it as that does happen sometimes. That didn’t end up being the case and I dragged myself through reading it. As such, my rating doesn’t truly reflect the book but instead reflects my mood when reading it as I couldn’t enjoy it as much as I hoped. I want to acknowledge that although I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I hoped I adored it for so many of the important conversations it had and the complexities of these characters and the journey they went through. Part of my rating reflects that, because even though I wasn’t in the right mood for this book I can recognise it was good and it might have been an amazing book on another day.
The star of this book, for me, was Charlie. He was an adorable guy who hadn’t had the right people around him in the past to help him realise he was not the problem. He decided to go on a dating show for all of the wrong reasons, he had hoped it would help show he wasn’t crazy or difficult to be around. It was a chance to boost his profile and show himself as real person. He wasn’t looking for love but he ended up finding it anyway, just not with any of the women he was meant to be dating for the show. It was great to see the struggle he faced with his OCD and anxiety and how that he could be perceived as difficult but only because people didn’t understand. He was sweet and honestly never expected to find love as he had never felt sexual attraction before. Until Dev. In some ways it seemed like the mental and emotional struggles of this book would centre on him but Charlie had been through therapy and recognised the importance of his mental health and was trying to build healthy coping strategies into his life. He had good people in his corner so you worried for him but not too excessively. Charlie’s book was about him discovering his sexuality and being brave enough to accept and tell people about it. He had backed himself into a corner signing the contract to star in the show which meant he had to date these women despite the fact he had no interest in any of them, and most of them had no interest in him either. Dev was the one who went through an emotional journey and discovered his faults and acknowledged the mental health journey he needed to go on.
Dev was a sweetheart who believed in love and had rose coloured glasses about the show he worked on. He never meant to develop feelings for Charlie but he did. But really this book was about him accepting his mental health struggles and acknowledging he had depression and then learning how best to live with this. He very much ignored it and tried to push those who cared for him away when he was in a depressive episode as he didn’t seem to want them to associate that side of himself with who he was. That was obviously a terribly unhealthy coping strategy but Dev seemed unwilling to accept help from others and was a touch too independent and isolated despite viewing himself as a romantic and a man who was looking for love and a relationship. It was great seeing him at the end getting help and developing healthier strategies in his life to cope. And most importantly allowing others close to him and help him when he needed it. It was about him acknowledging fairy tales aren’t true and that love is not easy. It doesn’t follow a set narrative and you cannot control it.
Honestly, this book did so much well and I wish I’d DNFed and tried to read it again another day as I would have loved it if I’d been in the right mood for it. Instead, I struggled through and acknowledge the potential there without truly connecting with it which was sad.
Have you read The Charm Offensive, if so what did you think? And if you're a mood reader what was the last book you read and you knew you should like but just weren't in the right mood for it?
In the Middle of Somewhere (Middle of Somewhere #1) - Roan Parrish
Published: 10th July 2015Source: Purchased
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQ+
My Rating:
Daniel Mulligan is tough, snarky, and tattooed, hiding his self-consciousness behind sarcasm. Daniel has never fit in—not at home in Philadelphia with his auto mechanic father and brothers, and not at school where his Ivy League classmates looked down on him. Now, Daniel’s relieved to have a job at a small college in Holiday, Northern Michigan, but he’s a city boy through and through, and it’s clear that this small town is one more place he won’t fit in.
Rex Vale clings to routine to keep loneliness at bay: honing his muscular body, perfecting his recipes, and making custom furniture. Rex has lived in Holiday for years, but his shyness and imposing size have kept him from connecting with people.
When the two men meet, their chemistry is explosive, but Rex fears Daniel will be another in a long line of people to leave him, and Daniel has learned that letting anyone in can be a fatal weakness. Just as they begin to break down the walls keeping them apart, Daniel is called home to Philadelphia, where he discovers a secret that changes the way he understands everything.
In the Middle of Somewhere was a book I think I added to my TBR because it appeared on a romance recommendation list or something. It has been on my Kindle for so long so when I rolled the Romanceopoly prompt to read a romance with an M/M romance I chose it to give it a shot. I actually kind of thought I might DNF at first because it had been unread for so long, there surely had to be a reason for that right?
I found the start a little slow as we began with Daniel leaving a job interview in Michigan driving through the woods and getting into an accident where he subsequently met Rex for the first time. It then seemed to hop in time to him being back home in Philadelphia. It hopped again to him starting the job he interviewed for in Michigan. He meets Rex again and their instantly getting it on by a tree. The start just seemed to hop from place to place with little context for the change in time. I found it confusing and it really took my our of the book as I had to flick back and see if I missed something when i was reading. I liked the characters of Daniel and Rex though. Daniel was this intense guy who was an English professor and he's had it rough. He wass on edge a lot ready to fight and very untrusting of people and what they said and did. He was like that stray cat ready to scratch you at any sudden movements (can you tell I've recently got a cat and need to now reference cats in every day conversation?). And the most we really learnt about Rex at first was that he was this really large, strong guy who had quite an intimidating presence. He was a sweet cinnamon roll really but that comes later. He was quiet and reserved but he disn't play games, he was very open with most things. In a lot of ways they were opposites but you could instantly tell there was a spark between them and that interested me to see how Daniel would let his guard down and how Rex would speak a little more and help Daniel and himself move forward.
I think I got to the 50% mark and it was going to go either way in terms of me DNFing but at that point I'd gotten so far and I was interested but it seemed like it was going nowhere. They were having sex and occasionally discussing their relationship, I'm all for a low angst romance that doesn't put the characters through the ringer but I needed some kind of plot direction. Thankfully, the last half of the book had Daniel and Rex exploring their relationship more and they were discussing their feelings and revealing their vulnerabiilities. It became less about their physical connection and more the emotional side, which I was much more interested in. Rex revealed his dyslexia which had led to certain misunderstandings at the start of the relationship and Daniel fully recognised his own emotional constipation and inability to ask for help or demonstrate his feelings articulately which is funny considering he was an English professor.
I think Rex revealing his past and his dyslexia was the start of this book getting interesting as the characters became more human and real. Daniel then received shocking news from his family which led to him returning home for a few days with Rex and that exploration of his past and the environment he had grown up in helped again move their relationship forward. The great part was what I expected to be the third act break up for them, Daniel potentially moving away when he was told about a job back in Philadelphia, instead this brought the two of them together and led to them discussing what they wanted in the future as a couple and it was lovely.
I think I've read too many angsty romances as I expected far more conflict in this book and that just wasn't the case here. Instead, whilst there were stumbling blocks to get past their relationship itself was always solid. In fact, I finished the book contemplating reading the next book which centres around Daniel's brother, Colin, which is a big change from potentially DNFing. I just worry there will be higher angst in the next one as Colin has a lot of internalised homophobia to overcome.
The Girl He Used to Know - Tracey Garvis Graves
Published: 8th August 2019
Source: Purchased
Genre: Contemporary Romance
My Rating:
What if you had a second chance at first love?
Annika Rose likes being alone.
She feels lost in social situations, saying the wrong thing or acting the wrong way. She just can't read people. She prefers the quiet solitude of books or playing chess to being around others. Apart from Jonathan. She liked being around him, but she hasn't seen him for ten years. Until now that is. And she's not sure he'll want to see her again after what happened all those years ago.
Annika Rose likes being alone.
Except that, actually, she doesn't like being alone at all.
The Girl He Used to Know is an uplifting novel full of surprising revelations that keep you turning the page. Perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes, Gail Honeyman, Jill Santopolo and Sliding Doors.
I'm attempting to review on the blog all of the books I've read for my reading challenges this year. It's a work in progress as I actually read this after The Family series but I'm trying to figure out how to review that series so I'll see. I might have to post a mini review collection for the series or something. I read The Girl He Used To Know for the Monthly Key Word challenge from girlxoxo and I actually found that Girl was the only real word I had appearing in titles for a lot of books from the January list of words as the other books I had which fit I had already read:
Crown, Girl, Whisper, Black, Heart, Guide, All, Ever
I did have a lot of options for girl though and I just plucked The Girl He Used To know one from my physical reading shelf as I thought it looked small and I was too lazy to walk to the living room on my lunch break to get my Kindle. I'm glad I finally read it, I remember seeing good things being said when it came out and being happy it got a UK release and then, like so many books, it got forgotten on my shelf.
I will start by saying that this book is set way back in 2001 as our present day and, as with a lot of second chance romances, it's told through a past and present storyline to explain why Annika and Jonathan fell in love and also how they eventually fell apart. I liked that as it was lovely seeing Annika take her tentative steps out of her comfort zone as she fell for Jonathan and the events of the past explained her behaviour in the present with Jonathan.
As soon as we met Annika it was immediately obvious to me she was on the autism spectrum and although this wasn't addressed until much later in the book, what I found interesting is we could see the ways in which the world was confusing to her and the different coping mechanisms she had in place to help her navigate it. I found it fascinating and it was very well written so you understood that is what she was doing. Jonathan I was a little uncertain of, mostly the present day Jonathan, past Jonathan was charming and sweet. I didn't like how involved in his job present day Jonathan was, the man needed life perspective but the present is set in 2001 so I suppose there's a very different attitude to the corporate machine today compared to 20 years ago. The man needed to take a break, I understand working late sometimes but an all-nighter is never necessary and his boss was toxic.
I admit I would have rated this book higher if it hasn't been for the ending. It's not that it ended without a HEA or HFN, which is a deal breaker in a book which is presented as a romance. It was the fact it used a real life event for shock effect and I didn't feel comfortable with it. I felt like their romantic history was enough angst for this book and that ending was not necessary. I don't want to spoil things by mention everything but the events which led to their break up and everything Annika went through in the past was more than enough, I didn't like that we were then going through trauma in the present day and it was horrible. That being said this was a beautifully written book and the characters were very compelling.
Honestly, it was an addictive read because I was desperate to know what Annika kept alluding to about their past and what broke them up. I sped through the book and it's not often I don't get distracted by my phone and TikTok when I'm reading at the moment it made a nice change. It was just the shock value of that ending I didn't like. There was enough angst in Jonathan and Annika's past that it was unnecessary to give them more and it took me out of the book. I did enjoy it though, and would read more from the author because it was beautifully written.
Have you read this, and if so do you agree with me that the end was unnecessary?
The Spanish Love Deception - Elena Armas
Published: 23rd February 2021
Source: Purchased
Genre: Contemporary Romance
My Rating:
The first book I read in 2023 is to be my first review of the year and also my first review in who knows how long. Thank god my first read was such a winner because I’d hate to be posting with negativity when I’ve only just come back.
I admit I did start The Spanish Love Deception expecting to DNF so I suppose I started my year with a bit of a negative mindset but I was wrong. I’m always happy when that happens. I’d bought it a while back after it had appeared in my Twitter timeline and I’m sure I saw Nick raving about it. I mean, it’s fake dating so it was obviously an insta-buy for me in that way but the first time I attempted to read it last year I’d put it down as that first chapter did nothing for me. I figured it was a mood reading thing as I did buy it during the slump season of 2022. But, again, when I started it this year those first few chapters were rough and I had my doubts. Once things got going though I soon got what the hype was about. So I guess you could say there were a few pacing issues but honestly once you get invested in Lina and Aaron’s romance you won’t notice it.
As a romance novel told from a single POV, I did find I struggled a little with the character of Aaron. I loved him and it was obvious from the start he had feelings for Lina, she was one oblivious woman when it came to men, but I did feel he could have been developed slightly more from the beginning as he only became a fully fleshed human within the second part of the book. Until then he was a cardboard cutout of a romance hero. Maybe this was deliberate to show Lina also began to see him as a real person and not some fictional antagonist in her life but it meant I struggled to feel fully invested in this book until later on. That could have been a me issue, it just made me feel a little less invested in their romance and is probably why I struggled to get into the book. I did really enjoy the slow burn of this romance. Lina was always going to take a while to realise Aaron’s feelings for her were anything but pretend so it was fun seeing the ways she twisted things in her head to fit the narrative until she finally realised she was an idiot.
One thing which made me want to keep reading, despite the rough couple of chapters, was the casual sexism Lina had to suffer through at work. I’ve worked in an office for a while now and seen situations like this play out, not to the level seen in the book but those casual moments of sexism which make your blood boil. Like female members of staff being asked to make coffee for a group of managers when there were men in the room too and the manager's office was nearer to the kitchen and they could have done it then damn selves. It was infuriating seeing Alina go through that at the start and it definitely helped endear her to me because I wanted to see her do well. I admit I did want to see a bit more of her work situation than we got but since a lot of the book takes place in Spain I could see why that wouldn’t exactly fit well with the rest of the story.
This was a new to me, but this certainly won’t be the last book I read from her. Luckily for me, it took me so long to get to reading this release she has another book out already so that’s going on the shopping list. First, I need to try and get through a few more books but I can’t wait to read The American Roommate Experiment, fingers crossed it works just as well for me.
Have you read The Spanish Love Deception? I'm sure I'm the last one to get to it, what did you think? And what are your favourite fake relationship romances?
I Kissed Shara Wheeler – Casey McQuiston
Published: 12th May 2022
Source: Netgalley
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary Romance, LGBTQ+
My Rating:
From the bestselling New York Times bestselling author of Red, White and Royal Blue and One Last Stop comes a debut YA romantic comedy about chasing down what you want, only to find what you need . . .
'[A] razor-sharp, intensely compassionate, subversive, sweet, electrifyingly romantic knockout of a book.' Becky Albertalli, author of Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda
A month before graduating from Willowgrove Christian Academy, the principal’s perfect daughter, prom queen Shara Wheeler, kisses Chloe Green and vanishes.
On a furious hunt for answers, Chloe discovers she’s not the only one Shara kissed. There’s also Smith, Shara’s long-time sweetheart, and Rory, Shara’s bad-boy neighbour with a crush. Thrown into an unlikely alliance, Chloe, Smith and Rory follow Shara’s trail of annoyingly cryptic clues, and Chloe starts to suspect that there might be more to this small town – and to Shara – than she thought.
Fierce, funny, and frank, Casey McQuiston’s I Kissed Shara Wheeler is about breaking the rules, getting messy, and finding love in unexpected places.
I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
I hadn't seen anything about Casey McQuiston releasing a YA book but when I saw I Kissed Shara Wheeler up on Netgalley I couldn't help but submit a request for it. I'm glad I did but I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped. This one was definitely a mood reading issue because I forced myself to read it ready to review in May.
As I said, mood reading definitely meant that it took me far longer to feel invested in this book. I did want to know more about Shara Wheeler's Gone Girl style disappearing act and find out what happened but it also felt a little tedious and made me completely dislike her by the time she came back. Although, I wasn't Chloe's biggest fan either so maybe it was right they ended up together as they definitely deserved each other. But the fact I didn't like the two by the end did mean I felt totally uninvested in their romance. I do believe it was deliberate making them both so difficult to like as Chloe herself said she liked unlikable characters and the romantic interest being someone awful in the books she read. There was definite intent there and it was good to see characters who weren't 100% likable being the main characters but it's not particularly what I like to read about.
There were plenty of things which were done well in this book though. The main one was the brilliant and diverse cast of characters. McQuiston is excellent when it comes to writing her characters, which is why I was surprised I didn't end up liking the MCs in this one. I'd felt more invested in Rory and Smith's relationship than anything else. I also felt horrible for Chloe's friends who she began to completely ignore in her obsessive quest to find out where Shara went. But the characters were all definitely complex, even the MCs. I do think the ending where they were all brought together at graduation did work and I liked how they all inhabited different social groups within school and Shara did manage to bring them together even though that wasn't completely the intent behind it all (or not the main one).
The other thing I was impressed by was how she wrote two characters who should be unlikeable, Chloe and Shara, and still made me feel invested in their stories. Shara was the most popular girl in school, she should have been a total mean girl (and she could be viewed in that way to some degree) but I still could see why Chloe was obsessed with her (the both of them went way too far in being invested in the others life. They were basically made for each other). And Chloe could often be a bad friend, she became totally focused on Shara to the let her friendships fall to one side as she pursued the mystery of Shara. I liked that it wasn’t ignored she behaved badly but instead her friends called her out on it and they overcame it all because they realised there were more important things happening. What I’m saying is McQuiston perfectly delivered complex characters who were dicks but also who were kind and caring and how often can you say an author does that without making you hate the character?
This, sadly, won’t be a favourite read for me. But I did enjoy myself once I finally got into the story. Sadly mood reading has a lot to answer for and I do wonder if I might have rated it a touch higher if I’d read it at the right time. but if you want a YA LGBTQ+ novel which has a diverse cast of characters then you should check this out.
Have you read this book, do you agree with my thoughts?
Battle Royal (Palace Insiders #1) – Lucy Parker
Published: 17th August 2021
Source: Purchased
Genre: Contemporary romance,
My Rating:
Ready.
Four years ago, Sylvie Fairchild charmed the world as a contestant on the hit baking show, Operation Cake. Her ingenious, colorful creations captivated viewers and intrigued all but one of the judges, Dominic De Vere, the hottest pastry chef in London. When her glittery unicorn cake went spectacularly sideways, Dominic was quick to vote her off the show. Since then, Sylvie has managed to use her fame to help fulfill her dream of opening a bakery, Sugar Fair. The toast of Instagram, Sugar Fair has captured the attention of the Operation Cake producers and a princess.
Set
Dominic is His Majesty the King's favorite baker, the go-to for sweet-toothed A-List celebrities, and a veritable British institution. He's brilliant, talented, hard-working. And an icy, starchy grouch. Learning that the irksome Sylvie will be joining him on the Operation Cake judging panel is enough to make the famously dour baker even more grim. Her fantastical baking is only slightly more troublesome than the fact that he can't stop thinking about her pink-streaked hair and irrepressible dimple.
Match
When Dominic and Sylvie learn they will be fighting for the once in a lifetime opportunity to bake a cake for the upcoming wedding of Princess Rose, the flour begins to fly as they're both determined to come out on top.
The bride adores Sylvie's quirky style. The palace wants Dominic's classic perfection.
In this royal battle, can there be room for two?
Battle Royal was one of my most anticipated reads in 2021 but the world had gone to shit (seriously, why is it you think it's as bad as it'll get and then it gets worse?). I spent a lot of last year and the year before in a reading slump and in the end, I didn't read this, or any of my other most anticipated reads, until long after their release. I was also absent from blogging so I didn't really see the reviews that came out for Battle Royal before I read it. I vaguely remember seeing people talk about it but the reviews didn't stick in my mind so I essentially got to go into this book blind just knowing there were cakes involved and it was written by one of my favourite authors, Lucy Parker. I’m glad I did it like that because I really went in with no expectations and just with the knowledge I’m reading something new from an author I know.
I know this was her first book with a different publisher and one thing which immediately stood out is there was a slightly different vibe to this book than the London Celebrities books. It was still obviously a Lucy Parker book but I think the steaminess levels were lower and it almost felt like this book should have been a spin off of the London Celebrities world but wasn’t. I weirdly expected to have one of her previous characters pop up but they never did, I did finish the book questioning if it had originally been planned to be a spin off but it really didn’t matter, just an idle thought on my part. Even though there was a slightly different feel to her previous books, it felt a bit tamer but it was still brilliant. You still got the same sass and banter between characters and one thing I always appreciate is that you are given a full cast of characters, even the secondary characters stand out and shine and no one fell flat. I definitely want to read more set in this cake baking version of London and cannot wait for the next book whenever that might be.
Anyway, I loved the idea of this book. Dominic was a judge on a baking show, a sort of far more shabby Great British Bake Off style show, and Sylvie was a former competitor on the show. They were opposites in so many ways, but especially in their banking style. Dominic was minimalist and classic with his cakes whilst Sylvie threw all the glitter and colour at her bakes and they sounded fabulous. Since being on the show Sylvie had established herself with her own store, opposite Dominic’s, but what she really needed was the contract for the cake for the upcoming royal wedding to really solidify her place in the baking world and continue to draw customers. The two were in competition straight away and I loved it. Then Sylvie gets to be a judge on the show she was previously a part of, I’m always a fan of characters being forced to spend more time together. There was a perfect balance of banter and competition to grab your attention and it made me genuinely believe they were falling for each other.
The big thing which worried me was that the royal family was featured as part of the story as I hate seeing royals in my romance (apart from Alyssa Cole’s Reluctant Royals), thankfully they were only secondary characters and they were well written but it was the biggest turn off for me here. Surprisingly, I ended up being really intrigued by the dynamic in the royal household and loved how the princess was a total rebel against the royal traditions. I’m looking forward to seeing more of them.
The biggest drawback is I wanted more of the romance. As I said, much less steamy than her London Celebrities series, which isn’t exactly sex on every page, and I felt like we were focusing on the side plots a lot rather than Sylvie and Dominic falling for one another. It was there and you got romance but I suppose that was the big thing I noticed and wished for more of. I’ll still end up rereading this one again… but maybe not as many times as I’ve read Pretty Face or Act Like It.
If, like me, you are a massive fan of baking shows, then this romance will definitely cause a few smiles and have you debating baking something delicious. Just prepare yourself for a slightly tamer romance which focuses a little more on other things than just the couple. It was brilliant and I really enjoyed it and I know there are more good things to come.
Have you read this book already, what did you think? And please tell me your favourite cake because writing this review made me rather peckish, I don’t even talk about cake and the book reminds me of it.
I read the Penelope Blue series a few weeks ago now (I know, I seriously need to get better at reviewing books at the time of reading them) and I knew I wanted to tell you about the series as soon as I finished because I loved these books but also I didn’t know how to do it without spoiling things completely. As such, I knew the only way to tell you about it was to give you the highlights of the books for me.
Stealing Mr Right - Tamara Morgan
Published: 7th March 2017
I'm a wanted jewel thief.
He's FBI.
What's that saying? Keep your friends close...and your husband closer.
Being married to a federal agent certainly has its perks.
1. I just love the way that man looks in a suit.
2. This way I always know what the enemy is up to.
Spending my days lifting jewels and my nights tracking the Bureau should have been a genius plan. But the closer I get to Grant Emerson, the more dangerous this feels. With two million dollars' worth of diamonds on the line, I can't afford to fall for my own husband.
It turns out that the only thing worse than having a mortal enemy is being married to one. Because in our game of theft and seduction, only one of us will come out on top.
Good thing a cat burglar always lands on her feet.
The characters
Not just our main couple, Penelope and Grant, but also the secondary characters from Penelope’s little gang of thieves, to her step mom and family. All of them were spectacular. I don’t think a single character felt underdeveloped. I don’t want to say too much about all of the characters because they could lead to spoilers but they were all amazing. Obviously Penelope Blue was going to be my favourite. She was funny and sassy and she wasn’t in anyway full of herself. This was a woman who had grown up stealing and was a skilled jewellery thief, but she just thought that was normal. She didn’t have an ego or come across as cocky but instead she was just a normal woman and that was her job. She wasn’t living in the lap of luxury and she wasn’t wasting her money on frivolous things. She wasn’t really spending her ill gotten gains on anything. She was the most normal jewellery thief known to man. And her hang go thieves? Yes, they definitely raised a few eyebrows with some of their hobbies but they were friends she’d had for years and they had her back, even if she occasionally forgot that. She had made her own family and these guys always had each other’s backs.
The romance
I admit, when I began the series I wasn’t even sure if it could strictly be categorised as romance given Grant and Penelope were married so very much in an established relationship at the beginning of the first book. But as the first book is told exclusively through Penelope’s POV you don’t get to see Grant’s thoughts and feelings and Penelope is convinced that Grant only married her to get close to her. She’s not sure if it’s to arrest her and her friends or if it’s related to her father, who was a master thief as well, but she is suspicious of him even though she knows she cares for him as well. I loved her reluctance to ever admit her feelings for Grant, especially to her friends. It made it hilarious to read that she didn’t love him yet you could see when she was worried or jealous of him.
The plot
Each of the books had a mystery element to it. The first was the mystery of what exactly Grant was up to and told the story through various flashbacks to establish how exactly Grant and Penelope ended up married. And then the next two had an FBI investigation which acted as the overarching mystery which Penelope managed to wrangle her involvement into with some mild reluctance from Grant. Penelope was hilarious and I loved seeing her nose her way into things and acting as detective (even though, sometimes, her actual instincts about people stunk). She had an overactive imagination which meant she often began to suspect the wrong person for rather weak reasons missing the obvious, but that’s what made it fun because you could understand why she had her suspicions about people.
No unnecessary relationship conflict
One thing I really enjoyed in the series was that never did it rely on creating unnecessary conflict in the relationships, be that in the romantic ones or platonic. Even in the later books when the relationship between Grant and Penelope was more certain, some long running series can rely upon doubts and mistrust driving a wedge between a couple and you didn't see that here. I hate when you have a couple doubting one another when in the previous book you saw how solid their romance was because that just makes me not believe the relationship. It was the same with Penelope and her friends, yes their relationship changed and developed through the series but when the conflict was resolved between them it wasn't revisited adnauseum. I think the thing I hate seeing is a lack of trust being played upon as a cheap plot device. You can use it once and it has to be convincing. It worked through the first book as Penelope's job wasn't exactly traditional or garner a lot of trust for people considering she was a jewellery thief. But that couldn't be used forever.
I can't really say there are any negatives to this series. Sure, sometimes I guessed the twists but it still managed to keep me on my toes and I was never bored reading them. It never felt repetitive as you saw the characters develop as the series progressed. Penelope's doubts were a focus for a while but they changed in each of the books as she found her place with Grant and with her friends.
I don't really feel like I've done the series justice but I really enjoyed it and I feel like these books really flew under the radar. I didn't see anyone talking about them when they came out and it's a travesty. Hopefully this might encourage someone else to read them too.
Have you read these books or have I convinced you to check them out?
I’ve been reading a few fantasy romances and I thought I should talk about them. Do I think you should review every book you read? Hell no, but I also haven’t really reviewed anything this year and that’s a travesty. What is a book blog if I don’t tell you my thoughts on what I’ve read sometimes?
That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon (Mead Mishaps #1) – Kimberly Lemming
Published: 9th August 2021
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Genre: Fantasy romance
My Rating:
All I wanted to do was live my life in peace. Maybe get a cat, expand my spice farm. Really anything that doesn’t involve going on a quest where an orc might rip my face off. But they say the Goddess has favorites. If so, I’m clearly not one of them.
After saving the demon Fallon in a wine-drunk stupor, all he wanted to do was kill an evil witch enslaving his people.
I mean, I get it. Don't get me wrong. But he's dragging me along for the ride, and I'm kind of peeved about it. On the bright side, he keeps burning off his shirt.
I didn't go into this book expecting to love it, yet here we are.
That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon very much is what it says on the tin. The book is about Cinnamon, who gets drunk at a festival in her village and is stumbling on home when she stumbles across a man who appears to have been caught in a rockslide (or something like that, it's been a while and my memory has seen better days). Anyway, she helps him only to discover he isn’t a random hot guy injured in the woods but instead a random hot demon and demons are crazed and attack people. It's only the chosen warriors and their goddess who protects them. She does what any drunk woman in that kind of situation would do and hauls ass out of there and beats him with a stick of cinnamon when she gets cornered on her families spice farm. She manages to get into her house and the next day her family convinces her it was her drunk brain playing tricks. All good until Fallon rocks up to her house, introduces himself as said demon, and reveals that their whole religion was a lie and they need to go on a little quest to save the demons and kill their goddess who is actual some evil witch.
I know, it's a lot, and that's just the start of the book, there are just 200 pages to fit this whole adventure in. To be honest, if I wasn’t in that kind of mood I might I have just rolled my eyes at this fantasy romance book but I was in the mood for something fun and this book delivered on that front. It was a light hearted romance, while also being surprisingly sexy with a light touch of BDSM and it was a fantasy. I'm pretty sure this book delivered on the rom com vibes that are often in contemporary romance these days with a fantasy backdrop and you just don't get that often enough. Apparently, Kimberly Lemming began writing because she wanted a low angst fantasy romance book and that kind of book just didn't exist. Turns out I want that kind of book too, who knew?
I loved the character of Cinnamon (who likes to be called Cin, her parents really weren't inventive with the naming of their kids) she had me laughing from the start because she is just that fun, messy character who hasn't got life figured out yet. She was a homebody and avoided adventure ever since her sister died and so being drawn into Fallon's quest to destroy the chalices which granted the fake goddess power was very much something she did not want to do. But, she was persuaded to help just to see if he was bullshitting her or not with the tale of the crazed demons. He wasn't and she's off travelling to 4 temples to assist. I liked Cinnamon and I wanted good things for her because she had been hurt. And Fallon? I mean he was a smoking hot demon, like literally hot. He burnt off a few shirts through this book and that was not a bad thing. He was also so much fun and you could tell he was gone for Cin and I loved him for that. And once they finally got together? Like I said, this book surprised me that when it came to them sleeping together we were introduced to some light BDSM elements which I wasn't mad about. This truly was a mash up of a fantasy world and romance. Fantasy romance is usually so much heavier on the fantasy side and it make this book so refreshing to read.
It wasn't in any way perfect, though. I wish the secondary characters had been more developed. They were fun when they appeared, but I think with a longer book they could have been developed more and had more interaction with our MCs to make them feel fully developed. The pacing was off in places. It began a bit slow and then got it's footing when the quest first began, but then it felt rushed to the end to cover them destroying these chalices and that was a little frustrating to read. I enjoyed it, but it's something to be aware of.
I don't want to focus on the negatives though because this felt refreshing. This was like fantasy romance, but light hearted fantasy romance. Kimberley Lemming has helped to develop the lighter romances that mainstream publishers would probably overlook. Fantasy does not need to be angsty and world ending every time, sometimes we just want to escape the real world and want to do it in a fantasy world and that's what you get here. I want more books like this because I don't always want to feel like it's hard work to read something.
Mistlefoe (A Mead Realm Tale) – Kimberly Lemming
Published: 25th December 2021
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Genre: Fantasy romance
My Rating:
It's all fun and games until someone catches feelings
Fate sends me straight into the lion's den. Or rather, the fox's den. After my dad trespassed into a powerful fox demon's territory, our family is struck with a powerful curse. Now, to remove it, I'll have to appeal to the demon's better nature.
Easier said than done. That arrogant fox demon won't be swayed by an apology basket full of treats. He does, however, need a fake mate for a week-long Winter Festival.
Though I'd be a liar if I didn't admit that our doting lovers' act was becoming harder by the day. The more time I spent with Lucca, the more his irresistible charms get under my skin. Deep down, I know it's all a game. But my heart just can't seem to get the memo. When our week-long affair comes to a close, will I really be able to walk away?
I figured I had to review the fun novella which Kimberley Lemming also wrote in this world, Mistlefoe. This was a lovely short novella, just 60 pages yet there was a lot of story packed in here. Ruby and her dad are blacksmith’s. It would be great if her foolish dad hadn’t gotten himself cursed for taking metals from a mine protected by a demon. Now all the weapons he crafts talk and the y like to talk dirty and sass the customers. Really not ideal. So Ruby goes to try and persuade the demon to release the curse in exchange for gifts. Lucca, the fox demon, agrees to remove the curse in exchange for Ruby pretending to be his mate at a week long demon Winter festival. She agrees, because why not right? Hilarity ensues.
How much more can I really say about this without totally spoiling it for you? Once again, Kimberley Lemming delivers on the light hearted romance with a fantasy backdrop. The characters are great and it was an easy story to read. I did get slightly frustrated that two women were arguing over a man and Ruby’s rival was really a caricature of the evil woman wanting attention but that was really a minor niggle, it was difficult to fully develop any other characters other than main couple in so few pages.
Kimberley Lemming did show me I am also dying to have more fake relationship stories with a fantasy backdrop. Or basically, just fake relationship books which aren’t just contemporary. If you know some recommend them in the comments because I cannot get enough of that trope.
Dragon Unleashed (Fallen Empire #2) – Grace Draven
Published: 9th June 2020
Source: Purchased
Genre: Fantasy romance
My Rating:
Magic is outlawed in the Krael Empire and punishable by death. Born with the gift of earth magic, the free trader Halani keeps her dangerous secret closely guarded. When her uncle buys a mysterious artifact, a piece of bone belonging to a long-dead draga, Halani knows it's far more than what it seems.
Dragas haven't been seen for more than a century, and most believe them extinct. They're wrong. Dragas still walk among the denizens of the Empire, disguised as humans. Malachus is a draga living on borrowed time. The magic that has protected him will soon turn on him--unless he finds a key part of his heritage. He has tracked it to a group of free traders, among them a grave-robbing earth witch who fascinates him as much as she frustrates him with her many secrets.
Unbeknownst to both, the Empire's twisted empress searches for a draga of her own, to capture and kill as a trophy. As Malachus the hunter becomes the hunted, Halani must risk herself and all she loves to save him from the Empire's machinations and his own lethal birthright.
I wasn’t sure if I should include my review for Dragon Unleashed in this post but it’s is one of the fantasy romance reads I’ve finished lately. It is the polar opposite of Kimberly Lemming’s books and I really should have had some in between books to cleanse the palate because the transition from light-hearted fun to tense and angsty fantasy was jarring.
I have mixed feelings about this book. When I started it I was convinced I was going to love it. Malachus was hunting for his mother bond which had been stolen and when he'd used the lightning to scry for it, he'd seen a woman with grey eyes who seemed to be linked with it. He needed to find that mother bond to be able to transform into a draga (dragon) otherwise he faced burning up as a human. It was all very tense and interesting and I was invested in his hunt. When he met Halani (who you might remember from the last books... if you're reading memory is better than mine) you could tell there was a spark. She was wary of him but he showed her mother kindness so she returned the favour when she stumbled across him half dead with arrow wounds.
It all sounds good, right? But the story moved at a medium pace at the start. You get the intro to the two characters; it establishes that Halani's uncle has the mother bond and wants to sell it but Halani knows it's being tracked and warns him to sell it quickly. It's at that point the plot sort of fell apart a little. Malachus knows Halani and the free traders are linked to his mother bond somehow but doesn't know how and so while he's recovering with them almost forgets about it totally which seems so strange when he'd been so obsessed with tracking it at the start. Then there's Halani who we know is a nice and caring woman and so she would seek to protect her family, so her warning her uncle to sell the mother bond and working to keep Malachus's attention away from finding it seems sensible. But for the length of time she did that, even whilst growing slower to Malachus, that's the part I found a little out of character for her. I think if she had been more conflicted about how close she was growing with him it would make sense, but the mother bond got forgotten about for half of the book and only came back when it could be used to drive the couple apart.
I did expect the secrets the two kept to be something I was bothered by, but I wasn't. I understood why Halani didn't bring the mother bond up, she only suspected Malachus was linked to it and wanted to protect her family. I understood why Malachus didn't reveal his quest or his true nature as draga, it's not exactly an every day conversation. But it definitely felt like their not talking was deliberate to create conflict later but boring conflict I wasn't invested in.
And, like I said, the first half (if not more) of the book is taken up with a whole lot of nothing. I think it was meant to show the developing romance between the two but I never truly believed in their romance. They lacked a bit of spark I would have liked, but then the plot all unfolds in the last 30% or whatever of the book. It just felt a little all over the place.
That being said, I liked the characters and it was an interesting story. I think I was a little more critical as I read this after reading That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon and that contrast was a lot. It isn't my favourite Grace Draven book but I did enjoy it. I just wish some things had been done better but what can you do?
And that is what I thought about a few fantasy romance reads I finished lately. Have you read any of these? And do you have any recommendations for either lighter fantasy romances or some featuring fake relationships or marriage of convenience?
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