lollylovesbooks's reviews
695 reviews

Water-based sapphic paranormal romance.

The story starts with very distinct thread. Marina is a TV chef who's struggling with bad dreams and severe anxiety being around water. Which is a slight problem when water is her element and very necessary for her survival as a water-based shifter. Meanwhile Lucia is juggling the pressures of running a bar, seeing ghosts (and dealing with their drama) and realising that something is very seriously up in a nearby lake.

When the two meet things escalate very quickly. There was a hurt/comfort situation going on, which quickly turned into a only one bed situation, which went even further.

There's a mystery thread running throughout. My main annoyance with this was Marina's family-friend repeatedly revealing things that had been hidden 'until Marina was ready'. That woman weirded me out, if I'm honest!

Overall I'm happy that I read this book, but it didn't quite click for me as much as I'd hoped.

Thank you to BookSirens for the free review copy. All thoughts are my own.

Sapphic Cinderella retelling!

I love fairy-tale retellings that add their own twist while keeping close to well known versions, and this book did just that.

Cynthia is forced to do all the housework for her step-family, having to put her step-sisters' needs before her own. One day a Prince comes into town on a search for a wife, which has her step-sisters all excited with opportunity. Cynthia isn't so sure there's anything to be excited about... until she locks eyes with the Prince's sister.

The storyline has a LOT of elements from the Disney film of Cinderella, and I thought the references worked really well.

While there is a definite element of insta-lust, I really appreciated that the two women grew to like each other more for their personality. I still very much enjoyed the steamy scenes - the tension with the bath tub!

I would have loved this book to be longer, to give more time to explore the relationship. But still very much enjoyed it as it was.

Definitely check this out if you like queer retellings of classic fairy-tales.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free digital review copy. All thoughts are my own.

With how popular Legends & Lattes was, this prequel was highly anticipated by a lot of people.

Once again we're following Viv in a cosy fantasy setting as she renovates a building and tries to fit into a community. This time it's a bookshop, while she's temporarily off-duty due to injury.

I always like seeing sapphic romance in books, but this one felt a little awkward the whole way through. Maybe that's just because I'm used to reading romance, rather than having a temporary romance as part of a fantasy book.

The plot pacing felt a bit off. Or possibly there just wasn't enough of it. Honestly, my favourite chapter of the whole book was the epilogue. By a long way.

I don't know. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood to read a cosy fantasy. It was fine, but not one I'd be looking to go back to or recommend to others.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free digital review copy. All thoughts are my own.

 Sapphic fake dating perfection.
I had incredibly high expectations for this book and it exceeded all of them.

Iris has been burned badly by relationships and lost faith in anything that's not a one-night stand she can sneak out of. Which makes being a romance author slightly difficult. Stevie, on the other hand, misses being in a relationship and is getting pressure from her friends to get back in the game. Unfortunately, her anxiety makes that very difficult.

After a disastrous attempted hook-up, the fates align for the two to meet again, and a fake relationship is just what Stevie needs to stop her friends nagging her.

Fake dating is a favourite trope of mine, which means I've read so many books with it that I need them to be written well. This was portrayed beautifully. Both women had realistic reasons for the fake relationship, and their different backgrounds showed in the transition from fake to not-so-fake.

Iris and Stevie are such beautiful characters - so raw and real. I loved seeing them develop and become more comfortable in who they were.

I have to mention the steam factor. This book was HOT. The sex scenes were so well written and definitely part of the story - each encounter had meaning as well as high heat, which is rare to see.

And I have to give mention to Iris's amazing friend group. Delilah, Claire and Astrid all have their roles to play in this story, and it was great being back with them. Amazing end to an amazing series. 

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free digital review copy. All thoughts are my own.

Supernatural enemies-to-loves in a Scottish castle setting.

I adored Rosie Danan's Shameless books, and so was excited to see where she'd take this paranormal offering.

Riley is a curse-breaker who is trying to turn the family hobby into a career. This has taken her from her home in the US to a small town in Scotland, where a construction company wants an old curse removing from a castle. Then we have Clark, a sceptic and disgraced archaeologist, who is working to learn more about that same castle.

When the pair meet as strangers their chemistry is off the charts, but their first professional encounter is an entirely different story - making the two start to work completely against each other.

Unlike a lot of enemies-to-lovers books, Riley and Clark stay enemies for a decent length of time. Even with the growing physical attraction, any time they start to accept each other something sets things back. If you don't like characters with a mean streak then you're going to struggle here.

The steamy scenes in this book are incredible, as I've come to expect from Rosie Danan. All of the scenes, including a solo session for Clark, were spicy perfection.

I enjoyed the castle setting and the concept of its curse and history. At times it did feel a little bit like stepping through levels of a computer game - we've solved this puzzle so onto the next one. And that's the only thing I can really put my finger on as to why I wasn't as obsessed with it as I expected to be.

Overall I really liked this one, and would recommend it to anyone who likes a steamy MF romance with a supernatural twist.

Thank you to Piatkus and NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All thoughts are my own.