the_rabble's reviews
112 reviews

Fine but pretty bland. 

Excellent frame and premise, delivery suffered. I'm hoping this was a case of "rough first book in the series."

Our girl is not a rake- there's no jaunty charming of potential love interests. She just kind of unapologetically emotionally abuses people and expects them to be cool with it. 

The frame of activism and her friends keeps you interested and the sex scenes are random af but interesting. Her flavor of feminism is very second wave retro and pretty cheesy (actually Adam is a little more interesting re: feminism flavor but we never dig into "provider" toxicity.)

Good idea, rough execution. Felt like a lot of TRAUMA exploration combined with pregnancy anxiety. While we "strong female charactered" one protagonist, the other is a pretty solid charming soft boy who acts fairly normal but is a little weird about sex.

2 POVs, 3rd person past tense, very spicy, "STRONG WOMAN" writer meets soft boy architect.

Probably the best book about books or writers I've read so far. Excellent concept and adventure through afterlives.

3rd person, past tense, multiple narrators, takes place in Hell's library of unwritten stories, excellent lore, 

Good girl gets dragged to Georgian frat party masquerade, drinks jungle juice, hooks up in a garden- did not have a great time but the chemistry was good- she gets really into art for a few years, has a glow up, and runs into the garden guy again. Regency era shenanigans ensue.

Listened to while sick- kept me engaged but the back half is hard to get excited about. Our boy Alex is someone you want to cheer for and kick in the nuts on rotation.

The first half and the pacing are pretty comfortable, but yeah, logic takes a full break at the end of the book.

Promise of the premise is dangled often, but ultimately

that they banged and he doesn't recognize her is not substantially addressed until the prologue.

Eloisa James has better books- if you go in with low expectations for resolution, this one's fine, but definitely read almost everything else she's written first.

1800s, regency, spicy, ages: early and late 20s, child baby wingman, 3rd person omniscient narrative, past tense.

Good side characters, world building, and excellent soft boy love interest. Protagonist is... there.

POV character is very anxious and strikes an unusual balance of being sympathetic but hard to like. She is the aggressor in a couple "why would you kick that puppy?" moments that go entirely unexplained. 

Additionally, we get a wild story drop that equates people who yell with [LI backstory]

accidental murderers.

Plot hits hard at the beginning and 75% of the way through. Between that, there's a lot of anxiety.

Theme(s) aren't super clear, which you'd expect more in a coming home/found family story.

Single POV, 3rd person past tense, zero spice, PTSD, some violence, some swooning, lots of beaches.

Super depressing

rape and alcoholism

story- protagonists are challenging to like. Hard to think of <22 yos having dark pasts or being "Spinsters"

Horse girl widow meets self-deprecating soft boy rake. Found family and emotional healing arcs ensue.

Funny and cute. Definitely worth the read.

Would be a 4.0 but our girl Kathleen is a bit of a bad judgement machine and the resulting cringe is very real.