Bringing Down the Duke, Evie Dunmore

Annabelle Archer can stay at Oxford under a few, conflicting conditions. To be permitted to study outside the family home, she must send two pounds a month home to her cousin Gilbert. And in thanks to the benefactors supplying her scholarship, she must work to advance the cause of women’s suffrage — in this case, by targeting the Duke of Montgomery. The Duke, for his part, has just been tapped by the queen to map out a strategy for the Tories’ electoral victory in the next election. If he’s successful, Queen Victoria has promised that he can win back the ancestral home his father lost in a hand of cards.

(Sidebar: Bringing Down the Duke doesn’t have home reno, but home reno is one of my favorite things in a romance novel. Any time any historical romance mentions an Estate, I’m immediately recasting the book as an HGTV show in my mind. I want! To hear! About the furnishings! Oh, are there just so, so many cobwebs in this room? Let’s yeet those motherfuckers outta here and replace them with ELEGANT SATIN DRAPERIES in whatever the latest fashion is that the authors learned about in their researches. God, when will Rose Lerner write me a home reno book?)

Bringing Down the Duke is a delightful debut, with all the tropey nonsense your mother warned you about. Annabelle gets sick one time and has to stay at the duke’s house longer than expected! There’s attempts at smooching (and more??) during an elegant ball! She gets arrested for doing too much suffrage stuff, and he has to bail her out! Some good groveling! I wasn’t maybe as wild about Sebastian as a romantic lead, as he skews a teeny bit too autocratic for my personal tastes, but I am for sure on the hook for more books in this series. At one point Annabelle is dancing with a Noted Rake and she’s thinking, like, ugh, this guy’s such a rake, he’s going to try and bone me, and the Noted Rake is like “Oh so um do you know Lucie?” and Annabelle’s like “Lucie the very prim leader of our entire suffrage group, who never takes any nonsense from anybody?” and the Noted Rake is like, “Yeah, does she still have her cat?” So. You know. We have that to look forward to. I am a woman of simple tastes.

American Sweethearts, Adriana Herrera

I scarcely had time to be said that Adriana Herrerra’s Dreamer series was at an end before she announced a new book series about Afro-Latina heiresses finding love in nineteenth-century Paris. Though this links round-up can attest that I’m currently in a pendulum swing towards contemporary romance, historical romance is my first love, and it’s hugely exciting to see one of my favorite contemporary authors turning her attention to histrom.

The Dreamer series has been a real classic in the romance subgenre People with Jobs, and American Sweethearts is no exception. Juan Pablo (the last of the four best friends who came up together in the Bronx) is a baseball player, but really this story focuses on Priscilla’s career, rather than his. She’s a police office with a side hustle writing a blog and producing a podcast about race, gender, and sexuality; and her dream — though she knows it’s too impractical to pursue — is to open a community space where she can hold classes on sexuality for queer, trans, and older Black and brown people. Though she loves parts of her job on the NYPD, a lot of it exhausts her, but she’s fearful of sacrificing stability and taking risks.

Juan Pablo and Priscilla were each other’s first everything, and over the years they’ve fallen in and out of each other’s beds. But in the past few years, they’ve grown apart a little, due mostly to a huge blow-out break-up resulting from Priscilla’s unwillingness to let people take care of her and Juan Pablo’s resistance to respecting Pris’s choices when he thinks he knows better. (He wants her to leave the NYPD. I also want her to leave the NYPD, for it is terrible.) After a few years of therapy (therapy! yay!), Juan Pablo believes he can be what Priscilla needs, and he just wants to give her the space to see that.

My primary feeling about the People with Jobs subgenre is that it’s fun to see what People’s Jobs are like. However! I also like it a lot in romance because it’s awesome to read love stories about people who are very successful in their field, yet their partners are not threatened by that fact. Especially if — as here — the very talented people are women! I loved Juan Pablo’s support for Priscilla’s dreams, and of course it’s a lovely fantasy that she (or any of us) could escape the hellscape of capitalism and achieve both 1) her dreams and 2) financial security with the help of a wealthy, woke friend. Imagine such a world!

My one wish for American Sweethearts was that we could have seen more of Priscilla’s work on her blog and podcast. Juan Pablo honestly talks and thinks about it more than she does! Which, you know, I have a blog and a podcast, and they are a very lot of work. I’d have just loved to see Priscilla thinking about her writing and what she wants to say, or editing the podcast, or whatever. People! with! Jobs! Apart from that tiny gripe, American Sweethearts is a marvelous, boundary-respecting romance and the perfect cap on this wonderful series. I can’t wait for the heiresses in Paris series.

Sweetest in the Gale, Olivia Dade

After getting screamy about Olivia Dade’s contribution to the entirely marvelous romance novella collection He’s Come Undone, I was delighted to be contacted by the author with an e-ARC of her own novella collection, Sweetest in the Gale. It collects Simon and Poppy’s story from He’s Come Undone, along with two others set in the same world. The short version is that Olivia Dade has a real gift for writing romance stories that are both tender and heartbreaking. Whereas many romance novels steer clear of unfixable sadness, Olivia Dade leans into it, reminding her readers that happy-ever-afters are possible in the face of grief and struggle.

The title story follows two English teachers, Candy and Griff. Candy has always been passionate about her work to the point of throwing puppet shows to make sure everyone at the school understands that Frankenstein Is Not the Monster — but when she comes back to school after summer break, she’s muted and sad. All Griff wants is to buoy her up a little, and he has the chance to do it when they’re assigned to work on a Poetry initiative together. Poetry becomes the language in which Griff is able to support Candy through her obvious grief. “Sweetest in the Gale” is so kind about grief and its many indignities, and I loved watching Candy and Griff learn to open up to each other.

I have already nattered on about the second novella, “Unraveled,” so you may repair to my post about She’s Come Undone for my further thoughts on that. The final one, “Cover Me,” is a romance between two long-time friends who marry for convenience because one of them has breast cancer and no insurance to cover it. This is a… horribly relatable problem to have, and our country is a hellscape. Elizabeth and James have known and loved each other (as friends) for years, which is one of my favorite set-ups for a romance novella — the shorter length can be challenging if the principle characters are brand new to each other! Here, though, they have decades of history, which makes their gentleness with each other all the more lovely.

Sooooo yeah! I loved this and I would now follow Olivia Dade anywhere! I have rarely encountered a romance author who writes in such an open-hearted way (and I say that with the full understanding that romance as a genre wears its heart very much on its sleeve). It was a treat — albeit a rather emotional one — to get to read these stories.

Can’t Escape Love, Alyssa Cole

I’ve been an Alyssa Cole fan for years, and her Reluctant Royals series is my probable favorite of all her stuff (A Prince on Paper is my fave!). Can’t Escape Love is a novella in the series, and it follows Portia (the protagonist of A Duke by Default)’s twin sister Reggie. Owner of the geeky website Girls with Glasses, Reggie’s suffering from insomnia of a type that can only be cured by the voice of her online pal, the puzzle expert and live-streamer Gustave Nguyen. When she calls on him for help sleeping, he has a problem of his own: He’s been asked to create an escape room based on a romance anime show she loves and he knows nothing about, so they make a deal. He’ll talk her to sleep when she needs it, and she’ll help him plan his escape room in a way that honors the great things about the show.

As always with Alyssa Cole’s work, I enjoyed the hell out of this one! Reggie is prickly and smart and a really good sister, which are three of my favorite traits in a fictional heroine. Despite the complications of her relationship with Portia, she’s quick to leap to her defense, and the love between them is so important to her, even in a book where Portia never appears in person. I also loved the way Gus pays attention to Reggie and her needs. Any time she expresses a boundary, he respects it; and beyond that, he spends their time together observing her and anticipating what she might need or want from him. The first time they meet in person is at her house, and Gus is careful to walk next to Reggie as they enter the house, so she won’t have to worry about him being behind her. Legit, I really wish guys would be cognizant of this type of thing more often. Be mindful of the space your body occupies!, as I am constantly saying to Toddler Godson.

While I can’t speak to the accuracy of Alyssa Cole’s portrayal of Reggie’s ataxia and wheelchair use, or of Gus’s — I want to say autism?, both were handled with tremendous grace and respect. She depicts requesting and supplying disability accommodations unfussily, and both protagonists are careful to tailor their behavior to the other one’s needs. I loved it and would love to see that more often in romance novels (and all novels, frankly!).

If I had one teeny complaint, it’s that I still rarely see books that incorporate geekiness about real properties in a way that feels natural. I don’t know why that should be! It’s like, you know how animation has gotten so astonishing and we all gasped when we saw the animated water in the trailer for Frozen 2? But then as soon as a character starts running, they might as well be in an Atari game from 1993? And you’re always like, Good LORD, how have we not cracked this yet? That’s me and characters in books watching and loving TV shows or movies or books or whatever. It invariably feels a little awkward, and Can’t Escape Love was no exception.

….Also I just realized that the title is in reference to the escape room. Nice. I love it. God I love romance novel titles.

Drop a line in the comments to either:

1. Praise me for reading four entire books (wow!); or
2. Let me know what romance novels you’ve been enjoying lately.

The post People with Jobs: A Romance Round-Up appeared first on Reading the End.

So like, if that is your thing? Very buttoned-up gentlemen finding themselves in situations where they have to let go of some of their buttoned-up-ness? Hoo fucking boy have I got a novella collection to commend to your attention.

I have been known to be picky about the novella romance! I admit this freely! But He’s Come Undone features not one but five nearly perfect examples of the novella form. Every one of these stories is weighty and substantive to the point that the resolution of the romance felt satisfying in every case. Plus as a bonus, there were all these super uptight dude protagonists being slowly unraveled by feelings. Let’s run through them real quick to give you a sense of what you’re in for, shallllllllll we?

“Apassionata,” Emma Barry

Kristy Kwong used to be a wildly talented and famous pianist, until — in baseball terms, she got the yips. Now she is returning to the stage, and Brennan is the piano technician tasked with setting up the instrument she’ll play for her first performance in two years. She’s struggling against stage fright as she tries to recapture her mojo, while Brennan — who was never able to play at her level in the first place — considers his life in the world of music and his role in setting Kristy up for success in her comeback.

This is my first Emma Barry story, and I loved it! She gets into the nitty-gritty of piano mechanics but also touches on the indefinable magic of musical performance. Better still, her story is ineffably kind and compassionate to its characters, which is one of my favorite things that romance — or any fiction! — can do. For all his restraint, Brennan is keenly aware of the prejudice, sexism, and general undermining Kristy has faced in her career, and he’s determined not to contribute to it. “Apassionata” is a perfect example of a shared-project romance, and it’s just the cherry on top that the shared project is “let the heroine shine the way she deserves to shine.”

“Unraveled,” Olivia Dade

OH THIS GENTLEMAN IS BUTTONED-UP AS ALL HELL. Mmmmm this is the good stuff. Okay so Simon is a veteran math teacher, and he’s been assigned to mentor a new art teacher called Poppy, but SHE — and try not to clutch your pearls when you hear this news — sometimes wears CASUAL CLOTHING. With PAINT on them, and Simon does not like this because being an art teacher is no excuse for SLACKENING ONE’S STANDARDS.

(And yet. Oh, and yet, my friends! And yet, one thing leads to another, and they end up boning in the art studio. Also he hotly defends her when one of the other teacher says a mean thing.)

In addition to all this jeans-wearing and laxity of standards, Poppy’s particular form of art is making tiny murder dioramas a la the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death. So alongside the romance is a running subplot in which Simon is trying to solve one of the diorama murders, paying keen attention to every one of the tiny, specific details in Poppy’s murder diorama. Oh, and a teacher recently left the school under suspicious circumstances. PERHAPS ALSO MURDER???

It is very fucking fun. Romance authors should always write romances about the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death. In my humble opinion.

“Caught Looking,” Adriana Herrera

In the category “romance authors who are also social workers,” ie two of my favorite professions at the same time, Adriana Herrera has rapidly become one of my go-to authors. “Caught Looking” is about two longtime best friends, Hatuey and Yariel, waking up to a startling morning after. For years Yariel has been in love with Hatuey, but he has been unwilling to risk ruining their friendship by making a move on a best friend he knows — thinks he knows — is straight. Now he just wants to put it behind them and get back to normal, because the alternative carries the risk that their friendship won’t survive, and Yariel can face anything but that.

BUT OH NO QUEL DOMMAGE because right at this very instant, this fortuitous very instant, they have a commitment where they both have to spend a long weekend in the Dominican Republic doing fundraisers and photo opportunities (Yariel’s an MLB player) and flying on private jets and staying in nice hotels. Many are the opportunities for Hatuey to pine whilst gazing at Yariel being delightful with young children who admire him; many the friendship memories that flood Yariel’s mind like that one time Hatuey’s dad was all “you are a good kid but don’t bone my son, cool?”

As is typical for Adriana Herrera, “Caught Looking” hinges on the genuine love and respect the characters have for each other. Yari and Hatuey’s friendship is the core of this story, whether or not they decide to change the parameters of their relationship, and every move they make is predicated on ensuring that the other one is comfortable and confident. It couldn’t be more lovely.

(Actually that is consistent throughout this collection: It’s about partners building each other up, even in moments when life leaves them vulnerable. Another good thing about this collection! Gosh I like romance novels.)

“Yes, And…”, Ruby Lang

If you come to Adriana Herrera for searing mutual respect, you come to Ruby Lang for banter and family relationships. “Yes, And…” does not disappoint. Darren is among the more uptight of these uptight protagonists, but he’s taking a meditation class to help himself unwind — not because he wants to unwind, but just because his blood pressure’s high and he’s trying to lower it. (This is very relatable to me, an outcomes-focused tightly wound lady whose blood pressure has been fucking with her lately.) But due to a scheduling mix-up, he finds himself in the exact opposite of a meditation class — an improv class, led by Joan Lacy on her one night off from caring for her mother, who has early-onset dementia.

If Darren won my heart for not wanting to do any goddamn meditation, Joan won it for having a panic attack because she’s so worried about her mom. I couldn’t not want these humans to be happy, particularly after Darren takes care of her during her panic attack, drives with his hands at nine and three, and apologizes for hurting her feelings. THESE ARE TRAITS I AM SOFT FOR. Their courtship is gentle and careful (and sexy!), with both of them trying hard to believe that they are enough. It’s a romance about the way a partner can help you to fill the entire space you are meant to occupy, even when you struggle to believe in yourself in that way. This one’s a scootch more melancholy than the foregoing two, but it makes the happy ending that much more satisfying.

“Tommy Cabot Was Here,” Cat Sebastian

This story is dedicated to Sirius Black and Bucky Barnes, and I just think it’s worth contemplating that fact for a moment. Yes? Have we all given due consideration to the good and glorious world in which we are now privileged to reside? Great. Onward.

In a move very characteristic of Cat Sebastian, “Tommy Cabot Was Here” is about two people who have been parted for years and years due to misunderstandings, and are now awkwardly, anxiously reunited. Everett stopped speaking to Tommy Cabot after Tommy’s marriage, and now it’s fifteen years later in 1959, and Tommy’s son is attending the school where Everett teaches math — the same school at which, long ago, he and Tommy used to fool around, and at least one of them fell in love.

This one’s wall to wall feelings, just a whole lot of two people negotiating with each other about what their past together meant then and means now, and what they want their present and future to look like. Though the central misunderstanding — Everett’s certainty that Tommy has moved on to a golden life of heterosexual bliss and political glory — does power some of the conflict, the bigger issue is and always has been the characters’ own struggles to identify what they want. Everett wasn’t wrong to think that Tommy wanted his wife over Everett (though he was deceiving himself about what his life could be); Tommy wasn’t wrong to think that Everett turned away from their friendship (though it was an act of self-protection). The romance is a gentle, careful navigation of what they each want now and what they are able to offer. It’s immensely sweet.

As a bonus, Tommy’s wife Patricia rules? I would read a whole other Patricia book where she’s just taking over California with Harry. So that was nice too — side characters are one of the great joys of romance novels, and it was a pleasure for Tommy’s ex to be a source of support and joy rather than additional conflict.

Note: I received an ARC of this book for review consideration. That has not impacted my review. My review has, however, been heavily impacted by how much I enjoy buttoned-up heroes, which is very, very much.

The post Review: He’s Come Undone, Emma Barry, Olivia Dade, Adriana Herrera, Ruby Lang, and Cat Sebastian appeared first on Reading the End.

Patricia Highsmith’s diaries are going to be published in 2021. I still haven’t read The Price of Salt, and I am mad at myself about it. Maybe that will be one of my small goals for 2020.

The kids are frankly fucking inspiring.

I was super intrigued by this post about the sexist ways the Austens and Brontes are often portrayed in biographies and fiction.

“Most of us writing now were not educated by that expanded canon.” Alexander Chee on writing stories about people who are different than you.

Dahlia Lithwick hasn’t been back to the Supreme Court since Kavanaugh was confirmed. From the reporter who brought us the Chaos Muppet / Order Muppet theory as part of her Supreme Court reporting, this is devastating. It’s devastating anyway. Fuck the patriarchy.

Listen. Listen. Listen. I have no opinion about whether Jeffrey Epstein was murdered or died by suicide because I am not qualified to assess the evidence. But I do want to be able to depend on people who are qualified to assess the evidence, which, um.

Dialogue from the husbands in every haunted house movie.

Carmen Maria Machado wrote her memoir of surviving a queer abusive relationship because she could not find such books to support her when she was in the midst of the experience. Here’s also a review of her book that I thought was really good.

New English Canaan was a 1637 book that harshly critiqued the Puritan colonizers in America. Sounds fascinating, no?

The demise of Deadspin has been miserable to witness. Anna Merlan reports: Blogging is hard.

“Romance novels are social novels.” Adriana Herrera (an awesome writer!) on the possibilities that diverse romance novels offer.

Attention please, these are all the holiday movies. Brace for incoming.

Malka Older talks utopia, dystopia, and the necessity of imagining better futures for ourselves.

Feminist bookstores are having a renaissance in the South.

That’s all for today! Have a wonderful weekend, please topple the patriarchy responsibly, and I’ll see you back here on Monday, when we will all recommence weeping and tearing our hair over the future (slash, doom?) of the world.

The post I Really Need to Read The Price of Salt Already: A Links Round-Up appeared first on Reading the End.

How to Catch a Wicked Viscount, Amy Rose Bennett

After an indiscretion at school that leaves Sophie and her three best friends with a reputation for scandal, she never expects to be accepted back into polite society. But when Charlotte discovers Sophie in a compromising situation with her rakehell brother, Nate, she offers Nate a deal: If he helps Sophie to catch a rake with a heart of gold for a husband, Charlotte won’t tell their father that he’s compromised Sophie. But Sophie finds that all she wants is Nate — a man who’s sworn he’ll have nothing to do with love and marriage.

In general, How to Catch a Wicked Viscount was a lot of fun, particularly if the “I am supposed to be helping you find someone else but in the meantime we are falling in love” trope appeals to you. (As forced proximity tropes go, it’s low on my list; but I love forced proximity across the board, so even an un-preferred version of it is enjoyable to me.) I love that Sophie’s part of a network of lady friends who all support and love each other, no matter what — they’re all treasures and gems, and I would like them all to find love. While some of the sex prose gets a little purple (is there a special term for that? sex prose that’s overdone?), it’s brilliant to see an unexperienced heroine who’s still able to identify what she wants and go after it. I loved her for being the initiator of most of the couple’s sexual encounters.

However, for a generally sex-positive book, How to Catch a Wicked Viscount has a weird little interlude to introduce Nate. He and his rakish friends are breaking into the Astley house to steal the underwear of the famously, I guess, slutty?? Countess of Astley — which I already don’t love — and then she catches them and propositions them. Nate thinks “he wasn’t going anywhere near her unless he was wearing a sheath” and then when his friend does decide to stay for sex, they remind the friend to wear a condom too. I couldn’t tell if this was meant to be a pregnancy thing or a disease thing, but it made me uncomfortable, and it was hard to come around on Nate as a character after that. Because: Ew.

Dalliances and Devotion, Felicia Grossman

Admittedly Twitter is a hellscape, but it can’t be all bad, can it? when it led me to this book. Dalliances and Devotion is the second in a series, though it can be read as a standalone (which is what I did). It’s the story of Jewish heiress Amalia Truitt and her former flame, Pinkerton Daniel Zisskind, who are thrown together on a train trip across America after Amalia receives a string of death threats. She’s determined to make it home and gain access to her fortune so that she can go on funding her charity, which helps women get divorces when they can’t afford them. (Amalia is twice divorced.)

Though “road trip” was the pitch that got me to read this book, I dare to say that I would have loved it just the same if it hadn’t been a road trip at all. It was lovely to see a romance between two Jewish protagonists, and even lovelier that their beliefs and religious practices were central to the story (Amalia’s going to Delaware for her nephew’s bris, among other things!). Since the story takes place in the aftermath of the Civil War, there were also many timely discussions of what it means to be American and Jewish, what the best of America is and how to pursue that ideal of a nation. It added emotional resonance to a book that already gave such heft to the interior lives of its central characters, inside and outside of the central pairing.

I also want to give special mention to the sex scenes. Like many romance novelists working today, Grossman is careful and deliberate about consent, which rules, but she also manages to strike a (to me) perfect balance of consent, sexiness, and joy. Amalia and David are having FUN with each other, which made their eventual HEA all the more satisfying. I loved this book to pieces and can’t wait to read more by this author.

Open House, Ruby Lang

Let’s pause a moment to celebrate the fact that Ruby Lang is writing again, after a pause that in real life was very short but experientially was like TEN THOUSAND YEARS OF DEPRIVATION. Any romance writer who can write a line like “He didn’t want to be her weakness; he wanted to be part of her strength” is already to be treasured. Add to that Lang’s gift for vivid settings, complex family relationships, and reliably funny, affectionate, crackly banter between the leads, and you’ve got one of the best contemporary romance authors currently working.

Open House is the second novella in Lang’s Uptown series (first one is reviewed here!), and it follows realtor Magda Ferrar as she tries to unload her recalcitrant uncle’s brownstone on Strivers’ Row and a vacant lot on 136th St. Unfortunately (for her), the lot has been turned into a community garden, and the community — including sexy accountant (yes) Ty Yang — isn’t any too thrilled at the idea of losing it.

The love story in a romance novella can feel rushed and incomplete, but Open House never does. Nor does it depend on uncontrollable mutual attraction to justify the leads’ interest in each other (no shots btw to uncontrollable mutual attraction, which can be very fun sometimes!). Ty and Magda like each other because they like each other: because they’re each kind and funny and engaged, because they challenge and encourage each other out of easy false narratives, and also YES I ADMIT because they find each other really hot. But principally, their relationship is founded — despite this being an antagonists-to-lovers story — on trying really hard to be in each other’s corner. I loved it.

I should also mention that Lang has a true knack for writing family dynamics and exploring the way they affect people in romantic relationships. Insofar as her leads face obstacles (and these are typically quite low-conflict books), they are typically internally generated and respectfully explored over the course of the book. I loved seeing Magda in a position of trying to navigate an adult relationship with her much-older sisters!

A chef’s kiss to this book, in honor of my hope that Lang will set the next series after this one in restaurants LIKE SHE CLEARLY WANTS TO. (I see you, Ruby Lang.)

In Between Days, Anne Jamison

Eh, this one may be more YA than romance, but who’s counting? It contains a romance, so I feel fine about it.

In Between Days is the angry feminist Breakfast Club Judd Nelson / Molly Ringwald romance you definitely knew you wanted, a coming of age story that also features a lady friendship to warm the cockles of even my stony automaton heart.

If me saying this book warmed my heart has led you to believe that it is heartwarming, I assure you that it is not. It’s one of those books about high school that will gladden you that you’re not in high school anymore; and one of those books about The Past (in this case, the 80s of Gen X) that will make you feel blessed that the runaway train of linear time WHATEVER ITS FAULTS is dragging us inexorably further and further away from The Past. (I mean racist and homophobic slurs, my pals, & drugs & sexual assault — so be good to yourselves if you’re not in the mood.)

But I adored the three central characters — Pris and Jason and Samantha — and their gradual, prickly efforts to learn how to be good to each other. I started off feeling that there was no way for things to be okay between them — Jason and Samantha area real assholes, good GOD I do not miss high school — but the book lured me along to a touching and satisfying conclusion.

American Love Story, Adriana Herrera

This is the third in Adriana Herrera’s Dreamers series, which I have probably already raved about in this space. (Fact check: I have.) American Love Story follows scholar and activist Patrice Denis, who has taken a job at Cornell for reasons not wholly unrelated to the hot Ithaca ADA, Easton Archer, whom he used to bone. Their relationship is complicated not just by Easton’s job as a representative of a system Patrice loathes, but by a recent uptick in unwarranted traffic stops of black and brown men in Ithaca — which Easton’s boss is reluctant to address.

Despite this being all the way in my wheelhouse, American Love Story is my least favorite in the series so far, only because I had a hard time getting a grip on Patrice’s character. Most of what we learn about him is told, not shown, from his job to his personality. I wanted to know more about his scholarship (important, apparently?), his online presence (ditto), his history of cutting people out when they disappoint him (considerable?). Without that, his character lacked some of the wonderful specificity of Herrera’s other characters.

Even so, I got all verklempt at the end of the book when Easton and Patrice are finding their way back to each other and sorting through how not to damage each other in this same way next time. I still love this series and can’t wait for the final one! Social workers should always write the books!

As a final note, I received, I think, all of these from the publisher/author for review consideration. This has not impacted the content of my reviews.

The post Police Stops, Brises, and Other Rites of Passage: A Romance Round-Up appeared first on Reading the End.

Although I don’t tend to like romances that follow a single couple across multiple books, I would make an exception if Hither, Page could be the start of its own series. James Sommers and Leo Page, solving crimes between the wars! I’d be so into it. The central romance was a good one: James has retreated from the world, but the world — in the form of Leo Page — has very much not retreated from him. He’s one of these protagonists who claims to want peace and quiet, but then falls in love with the least peaceful least quiet party imaginable — because actually what James wants a retreat from is chaos, which he has known far too much of in the War. On his side, it’s a question of making space for, if not adventure, then at least the unexpected. Meanwhile Leo, who has always thrived on the chaos of spycraft, but has never had a real family, begins to find something appealing and desirable in small-town life.

The setting was chef’s kiss, with a gorgeous cast of secondary characters, from sharpshooting lesbians to an orphan girl instituting minor townwide socialism to a even-shell-shocked-er-than-James veteran living in the forest and avoiding human company. If there was any problem with this as a murder mystery, it was that I couldn’t identify anyone who sucked enough that I wanted them to be the murderer. I wanted everyone to live happily ever after, and hey! It’s a romance novel! So they did!

(I received an e-galley of this book for review. Do we still have to make this disclosure? It’s so weird. Newspaper reviewers don’t have to make this disclosure. What even is this life.)

Because I tend to skew historical in my romance reading, I haven’t read nearly as many sports romances as I would like. Off the top of my head, the only one I could think of was the Ruthie Knox romance about long-distance biking or whatever (Ride with Me), and that’s on the outer edges of what could be considered a sports romance. I was delighted to find Alexa Martin’s Intercepted, the first in a series about the romantic lives of the fictional Denver Mustangs NFL team.

I read Intercepted after a bit of a break from romance reading, and it was the greatest reminder of why I love this genre so much. Though the sex scenes were a little awkward, I just absolutely loved the two central characters, and I loved how easily Martin wrote reasons for them to be apart as well as together. Marlee had a one-night stand with Gavin, but he disappeared the morning after, and she’s been trying to forget about it ever since. She’s dating Chris now, and things are going well, except that he keeps making excuses for why they’re not getting engaged or talking kids. And then Gavin gets traded to the Mustangs, and everything changes.

Gavin’s first on-page appearance sees him helping with the dishes. YES the bar is low for men but I AM SOFT FOR THIS. Dishes are such a pain! It is the best when a guest helps with them! And then he stayed my fave by consistently and staunchly standing up for Marlee throughout the rest of the book. Not only is this a terrific trait in a romantic lead, but it also sets up a central conflict in their relationship, which is that Marlee wants to fight her own fights, and it’s hard for Gavin to step back and let her do it.

The banter and chemistry between the leads was wonderful, which tends to be a common feature of romances I love? But where Intercepted truly shines is its putdowns. Marlee and Gavin, and even Marlee’s gentle friend Namoi, end up in confrontations with assholes a bunch of times over the course of the book, and Martin has them put the jerks resoundingly in their place. It’s so satisfying. If you’ve ever experienced l’esprit de l’escalier, where you think of the perfect thing to say as you’re on the way home from the confrontation with the asshole, Intercepted will be balm to your soul.

The next book in this series is about adorable sunshine wide receiver TK. He had a minor role in this book, but he was such a bunny. I can’t wait for him to find happiness!

Many thanks to the marvelous Not Now, I’m Reading podcast for recommending Adriana Herrera’s American Dreamer, because it was a treasure. The protagonists are a food truck owner hoping to make it big in Ithaca, NY, and a public servant working to establish a mobile library to get books to poor kids. Yes, those are their jobs. Yes, it is as great as you’re imagining. Jude hasn’t spoken to his family since he came out, while Nesto has a massive, loving, supportive family; Nesto is driven and open, while Jude is more careful of his heart.

Just, what a dear and kind book. You can tell a social worker wrote it, if I may be slightly vain about my own people: Herrera writes with such compassion, and she neither glosses over the hardships and traumas that life can bring, nor presents them as insoluble. Instead, she’s truly solving a feelings problem, unpeeling the challenges that Nesto and Jude face with care and kindness. This book felt so emotionally true, and I maybe cried a little bit while I was reading it, although in justice to me I was on a plane.

(Ugh, that’s a lie, I wasn’t on the plane yet, I was just making excuses. I was in the airport waiting for a very delayed flight.)

I CRIED ABOUT THIS NEXT ONE TOO, frankly I do not know what y’all want of me. The latest in Alyssa Cole’s Reluctant Royals, A Prince on Paper, series follows Ledi’s cousin Nya, whose father was caught doing many treasons and also poisonings.¹ After years of being told that she’s frail and foolish and should stay home and be the dutiful daughter, Nya is trying to find an independent life for herself. New York didn’t match her movie-montage dreams, and she’s headed back to pretend-Lesotho when she finds herself in bed (litrally!) with the playboy prince of pretend-Luxembourg, Johan.

Nya and Johan were absolutely terrific. Their blossoming mutual admiration for each other was perfectly written, and y’all know I am soft for romances where they admire each other. In particular, they’re able to see qualities in each other that individually they struggle to see for themselves. While Nya fears she’ll never be brave, Johan admires the bravery in her choice to live life with an open heart. While Johan is afraid that his many pretenses (put on to protect his younger sibling from media scrutiny) mean that there’s nothing more to him, Nya is able to see his good heart almost from their very first meeting at the start of the book.

That’s not why I cried, though. I got mushy as shit about Johan’s younger sibling Lukas, who’s begun acting out for reasons neither Johan nor his stepfather (the king!) can understand. And with a looming referendum to decide whether the monarchy will be retained or abolished, it’s more important than ever that Lukas doesn’t tumble into scandal. Nya’s able to see a scared kid trying to find a place in the world, and Lukas coming out to her as nonbinary is just the dearest thing. And when Lukas comes out to their father, and receives nothing but support (even if it’s a little clumsy at first), I cried even more. Every time I think about their dad’s reaction I get choked up all over again.

Gosh, I have missed romance! It’s been a minute since I read a whole bunch of them in a row, and it felt so great to read four in a row where I really loved all of them. Catch me up, friends! What romance novels have you been reading? Any new favorite authors?

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