yourbookishbff's reviews
590 reviews

If you, like me, live for explicit declarations of fidelity, goner heroes who haven't noticed another woman since the day they met the heroine, and quick-off-the-mark men who are not remotely ashamed of it, have I got the book for you. I struggled with the friend group at the center of this series after reading the first installment, and had actually feared this specific character's book, given how he's portrayed as a side character. The "Downstairs Menace," preying on servants and carousing through London without a care in the world? No thanks. It wasn't until an ARC reviewer assured me that this would be a wholly different story - that a more nuanced and endearing story lies beneath his reputation - that I gave it a chance. I'm so glad I did, because Lloyd directly examines class difference (and the resulting power imbalance, impact on consent/agency) through this love story, giving us a window into "downstairs" life and its very real hazards. I fell in love with this hero by the end, and appreciated that the unique turns the mystery takes late in the book actually helped to address my frustrations with the behavior of his friends. Lloyd weaves in epistolary elements as flashbacks, building out a really compelling and romantic second-chance love story for this unlikely couple.

While the middle installment in this trilogy was a bit more forgettable for me, I loved this conclusion. The character development takes center stage here, as both Will and Kim finally tackle issues of abandonment, fidelity, honest and accountability, career goals and more. These two have BEEN THROUGH IT, and seeing them finally achieve a happily-ever-after together is delightful. There's a lot of murder in between, and I was less invested in the ongoing Zodiac drama as the series went on, but KJC plots well and keeps things nice and tight, so I was able to hang. 

This was, unfortunately, not for me. The "duke struggles with the burden of his title and falls in love with a woman *beneath* him" premise is one thing, but when it's clear the entire character arc will be said duke discovering a woman he supposedly admires and respects isn't actually going to ruin his life and standing, I just don't care to watch him grow. I want him to trip in a mud puddle and then forget he ever existed. This set-up is a favorite for many readers, and I respect that watching starchy people fall apart is the draw, but this MMC wasn't starchy so much as deeply impressionable and unmotivated. He did not once tell the FMC he loved her, and waited at every turn for her to apologize for having any expectations of him at all. His inner monologue was grating. I think I have some fairly ingrained biases against this style MMC and others may not find him as off-putting. 

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced reader's copy.

This took me a bit to get into, but once I did, I inhaled it. Set at the turn of the 20th century in the Dominican Republic, the story is inspired by a true account of a forced marriage (a man threatened with imprisonment if he won't consent to wed). Our male main character, Sebastian, owns a now-prosperous sugar mill in San Pedro, and has recently reconnected with the neighbors to his country home, the reclusive Paulina and her sadistic and abusive older brother, Antonio. What begins as a seemingly innocuous encounter in town quickly spirals, as Antonio schemes to force Paulina and Sebastian into marriage for his own gain. 

This hit so many of my favorite beats for forced marriage - resentment, repressed longing and unlikely alliances - and the backdrop of San Pedro politics, blackmail and bribery made this is a high-stakes plot. While a few of the twists were fairly predictable, the conflict resolution directly addressed the nuanced power imbalances between our main characters - he grew up poor and was orphaned young, she grew up rich but fell into the care of a controlling and manipulative brother, and they find their circumstances largely swapped in adulthood. I loved seeing how they navigate what they are to each other and whether or not they will be in a position to truly choose a life together. 

And this third act!! Holy heck she WENT THERE! I haven't seen a villain meet such a satisfying end since Captured, by Beverly Jenkins. Whew, I was reeling. This was a STRESSY and atmospheric read and I can't wait to read more by Lydia San Andres!

Note: there are some continuity errors here that were a bit distracting, and a few missing beats in the MMC's POV, but honestly, I had such a good time reading this that these weren't deal breakers for me.

This debut was uneven at times, but lush and emotional with so much potential, that I'm excited to read more from this author. Above all, this was beautifully queer, with some of the most evocative scenes of queer joy and celebration and resistance that I've seen in historical romance (the Fourth Tier?!). The tension between our main characters was so thick at the start, and I reveled in how they circle and taunt and resent each other, each wounded and wounding. The fall into longing makes sense for these characters, and there is a moment of stunning clarity for our sheltered and naive FMC that felt like a gut punch: 

"You couldn't want something you'd never really seen. You could dream about it, wish for it, hope that it might come. But to really want it - well, that was something else entirely. And now that Loretta had seen it, every bone in her body trembled with want."

And this imagery?! 

"This was how Loretta felt upon reading Charlotte's letter. Her limbs, her organs, her beating heart were not strung with the adrenaline of movement, but of the moment just before. She was coiled and vibrating - like a hungry snake, but without the venom." 

Sunday's writing is so visceral that the longing feels physically painful, and I couldn't get enough of it. 

Where this didn't succeed as fully for me is in plot execution. We drifted through a few moments that weren't fully explained, and then when we revisited them, it wasn't clear what actually happened and when (I don't mind fade-to-black intimacy, but I would swear certain "first times" happened twice?), and we really needed more time to fully develop the third act conflict and its resolution. This is under 275 pages (at least in my copy), and it could have benefitted from being fleshed out more. The relationship became rushed in the end, and it made the HEA feel slap-dash, when the beginning held so much promise. 

Also, I was so disappointed by the editing, and I'm really hoping a lot of this is corrected before final publication. The formatting of the e-arc was so bad that it was truly difficult to read and understand, because line and paragraph breaks were off, chapters started mid-page, etc. There were moments we switched POV and it took me a paragraph to realize, because the break was missing entirely. 

All that said, I will absolutely read Sunday's next book, because I am so optimistic for her future stories and can't wait to return to the world her prose spins up.

This is a beautiful debut by a new historical romance author, and I cannot wait to read more by Sri Savita. In so many ways, this novella felt like a pocket universe - the hero's frequent references to faerie lore, the romantic character of the cottage and its whimsical animal inhabitants, the lengthening of time when the two leads are together and the way it slips away when they're apart. Set in the regency, both leads are Indian, and the language and cultural details woven in created a sense of home and security in Robin Hood's Bay (aptly named, based on the historical details included in the author's note!). This is a story that centers the lives of racialized characters without leaning on racial trauma - it is a kind and gentle story where grief and class divide are the only meaningful barriers to the main characters' happiness. I was so moved by the emotional vulnerability shown by our characters and by how bravely they face both their insecurities and their dreams. This translated into gorgeous, open-door intimacy scenes that reflected the same care and attention to each other, and I was fully swept away in the second half.

The next Wednesbury siblings' story is teased in the epilogue and I am anxious to see how this family's universe continues to take shape.

Thank you to the author for an advanced reader's copy. 

The Finest Print is a next-generation love story for those who've read Erin Langston's earlier works, but it will easily stand alone for new readers. Our female main character, Belinda "Belle" Sinclair, is daughter to Gavin and Emilia (Some Winter's Evening) and niece to Nate and Cora (Forever Your Rogue), and at the story's start, we see the trigger of her societal fall: a broken engagement to a power-hungry bore. The fall-out for her is immediate and sustained, and she becomes isolated from friends and society-at-large, forced to carve out unconventional spaces for herself. Now, several years later, she spends the majority of her days tagging along with her father - now a judge - as he presides over cases at the Old Bailey while writing (and relentlessly revising) drafts of her crime novel. Her life has settled into a well-worn, melancholic groove. 

Enter our male main character, Ethan Fletcher, the (bearded and broad) American heir to a struggling print shop. In his return to London, Ethan discovers he's inherited a shocking amount of debt and a rapidly approaching deadline for paying it off. The two meet by chance and learn just enough to discover they could perhaps be useful to one another - where he desperately needs a fast-selling publication to pay down his debt and keep the print shop open, she is desperate to see her stories in print after years of rejection. While his idea to publish a penny blood is, at first, an insult to our budding gothic novelist, the two quickly chart a path forward as partners, and begin publishing serialized crime stories featuring a housemaid-turned-amateur-detective. Their penny blood project brings to life a fascinating few years in the early Victorian era, when the "knowledge tax" (or news tax) made news less accessible to lower/working classes and genre fiction became a more economically viable and widely accessible route to readers. The inner workings of the press, the trials of female writers of the era, and the prevailing attitudes about gothic literature work together to create a compelling and original backdrop to this class difference love story.

For those who know and love Langston's work, it will be no surprise that her prose in The Finest Print is earnest and lush as she shows two people who are equally hurting and healing learn to trust and depend on one another. I've always appreciated how Langston balances power between her main characters, and the dynamic between these two is particularly nuanced - where Belle is socially outcast, she is still monied and secure, and Ethan, while operating from a blank slate, has no familial wealth or foothold in London, and is struggling to establish himself and his business. Their romance is tender, sincere and direct, and they insist on honesty with one another in their work and in their intimacy (and their discussions of birth control and consent are excellent and sexy as heck). This story cemented Langston as one of my favorite historical romance authors writing today. 

Thank you to the author for an advanced reader's copy. 

When Kim's not on page, I struggle to stay invested, and so there were parts of the first half that dragged a bit for me personally. That said, when things pick up in the second half, it's a race to the finish, and I loved the relationship development between Kim and Will in this installment. Zodiac is an over-the-top criminal enterprise - and I still don't entirely understand its actual goals/motives - but I'm primarily here for the daring rescues, slippery subterfuge and our found family among Will, Kim, Phoebe and Maisie. 

KJ Charles set out to write a 1920s Golden Age pulp fiction romantic mystery and she nailed it. I love how theatric and, at times, over-the-top KJC's mysteries feel and how well they play to earlier styles and plot devices. This is a tight first installment, with a single clear arc, a mysterious external conflict and the dawning of romantic interest between our two main characters. It's an emotional journey in very few pages, and I was giddy and confused and angry and then confused again and then eventually content (or as content as you can be when both characters are probably still in some kind of mortal peril). No-one does betrayal like KJ Charles. Looking forward to the next book!

The third installment in Vincy's Longhope Abbey series focuses on our mysterious artist, Juno, and the Duke of Dammerton (Leo) and their unlikely, class-divide love story. Unfortunately, this story builds on a lot of plot devices/power dynamics I really, really struggle with - a Duke and a woman of a lower class and a conflict that continually reminds us that responsibility to his family will always mean thinking of others as less-than, a constant tangle of miscommunication, half-truths and assumptions, and a woman suffering devastating career setbacks on page (thanks I HATE IT). Vincy's writing is beautiful, and I think her conflict remains faithful to her characters, it just isn't one that will ever sit quite right for me.