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.

Playing House is about a woman finding her place in the world after a divorce (that’s Fay) and a man finding his place in the world after losing a job (that’s Oliver). In the relatively small world of urban planning, they’ve been casual friendquaintances for years. But when they run into each other at a home tour, and pretend to be dating to scare off a pushy guy harassing Fay, sparks fly.

In my master list of romance novel recs organized by trope (which I am keeping private until it reaches some not-yet-defined state of finished-ness), one of my favorite tropes is “Shared Project,” which is nearly, but not exactly, a subset of “Forced Proximity.” It’s a trope I love because it offers a tidy way for the characters to externalize their interest in each other and it humanizes them by showing us what they love (apart from, eventually, each other). It’s impossible not to love Fay and Oliver for loving what they do. Look at this adorability:

“What have you been up to today, then?”

“Helping my mom. Yard work. She lives in Forest Hills.”

“In Forest Hills Gardens–?”

They chorused, “One of the oldest planned communities in the United States.”

It was the first real laugh they’d had together that morning. Oliver had thrown back his head, and he was looking at her with something like affection. Blink and it was gone. “No, not the Gardens area. If she lived there, I’d lead with that. Hi, I’m Oliver Huang-my-mom-lives-in-Forest-Hills-Gardens-which-was-conceived-by-Omlsted-and-Atterbury.”

“They’re right when they say Asian names are difficult.”

I defy you not to feel love for these two charming nerds.

As they’re seeing each other, and looking at houses, they’re also both trying to figure out what they want their lives to look like. Oliver’s long-time firm recently shuttered, and he’s currently awaiting a call back from Fay’s quickly-expanding firm (which Fay doesn’t know). In the meantime, he’s living with his brother, working contract jobs, and struggling with the feeling that he’s disappointed everyone who knows him. Fay, for her part, is coming out of a marriage that made her feel isolated and unsupported, and she doesn’t feel much like taking a chance on anyone, let alone someone who’s friends with all her friends.

Playing House is the perfect book for a grim day when all you need is a cup of tea and a book that will make you feel cozy and safe and hopeful. There’s no operatic stakes here: Nobody’s threatening anyone’s livelihood, or getting murdered in an adjacent hotel room, or escaping a stabby step-parent. The biggest conflict Fay and Oliver face is he doesn’t tell her right away that he’s up for a job at her firm, and she’s mad about it. But that’s exactly what I love about Ruby Lang in general and Playing House in particular. The stakes are normal human stakes, because these are normal human people, albeit wittier and better at banter than normal human me. Even within the length constraints of a novella, Fay and Oliver feel like entire people with entire messy lives. Playing House isn’t pure fluff exactly because Fay and Oliver’s lives feel so real, from the things they love (penny? tile? I don’t understand house words) to the things they fear (inadequacy, parental disapproval). I was so happy for them to talk through their problems and get their relationship on track.

Ruby Lang continues to be one of my favorite romance novelists working. I have languished many years in the dark after her Practice Perfect series ended,¹ but now she is returned! Playing House is but the first in a new series about REAL ESTATE, a setting that now seems such an obvious one for romance novels that I am shocked I don’t have an entire raft of housing-related romances on my bookshelf. Please hit me with any real estate-focused romance novels you may know of. Like maybe one where the protagonists are bonding over home renovations?

Note: I got an e-ARC of this book from the publisher for review consideration, probably because of my noisy and boundless enthusiasm for the author’s previous books. This has in no way influenced the contents of my review.

The post Review: Playing House, Ruby Lang 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?

The post Spies, Football, and Food Trucks: A Romance Round-Up appeared first on Reading the End.

(The new author discovery is embarrassing because omg Shana Galen has been around forever and it’s weird that I haven’t read any of her books before. Don’t judge me, just recommend me which Shana Galen books I need to read next.)

Trust Me, Laura Florand

The angst scale has clarified a lot of things for me, including one of the reasons I keep coming back to Laura Florand, whose books feature not just angst but really delicious food. Trust Me is the third in a series I haven’t read, which ordinarily wouldn’t matter but here matters — a bit. Our heroine, Lina Farah, is recovering from an attack that happened in the second book in the series, which made me feel slightly behind the times.

But there isn’t too much information missing here: She’s recovering from a trauma, and she falls for the black-ops guy who’s been tasked with her protection. This is the kind of set-up that can lead to high-handedness on the part of the protector, but Florand manages (mostly) to show that Jake’s main wishes for Linah are happiness and freedom. He doesn’t want to wrap her up in cotton wool; he wants her to get her life back. It’s a refreshing stance from a black-ops guy in a romance novel.

(Before you ask: Yes, I reported back to Whiskey Jenny on this book. Obviously. I would never read a book with a black-ops-guy hero and not tell Whiskey Jenny about it. I value our friendship too much for that.)

A Duke by Default, Alyssa Cole

What a better situation we are in now than a few years ago. A few years ago, I was pestering everyone to read Alyssa Cole’s Radio Silence trilogy, and mostly people did not know who she was. Now she is a Big Deal in Romance, and I am living for it, not least because it means she’s in the middle of writing several serieses that I adore. A Duke by Default is the second in her Reluctant Royals series (the first was A Princess in Theory), and it’s about a woman called Portia who’s trying to get her act together. She accepts an apprenticeship with a swordmaker in Scotland (this is modern day, so calibrate your expectations accordingly), who turns out to be a surprise duke.

A Princess in Theory stays my favorite in the series for now, but A Duke by Default is pretty fucking great too. Portia does brilliant work as the swordmaker’s publicity department, but continues to undervalue her skills as she’s been taught to do by her family. Along the way, she starts to find ways to adapt to her brain’s wiring in ways that maximize her talents — which makes this a very satisfactory romance in the sub-genre of protagonists learning to love themselves as well as their partners. There is also a #swordbae hashtag and some alluring glimpses into the love life of Portia’s sister, who I dearly hope will star in her own book soon.

Mrs. Brodie’s Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies features two novellas by one of my longtime faves, Theresa Romain, and a new-to-me-but-good-heavens-why-has-it-taken-this-long author called Shana Galen. I don’t know to what extent romance authors play around in shared worlds, but can I say, having read Mrs. Brodie’s Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies, that I would be all for it. The school is designed to appeal to the daughters of gentry, but the skills it teaches range far beyond dancing and mathematics, to forgery and fighting and faking accents.

Though these two novellas are vastly different, they each feature a second-chance romance, which imo is the best path to take for a romance novella. “The Way to a Gentleman’s Heart,” by Theresa Romain, reminds me a little of Rose Lerner — another of my faves! Marianne Redfern always thought that she would marry Jack Grahame, until she learned that he was betrothed to a heiress. She fled her home and came to London, where she has worked hard to establish herself as a talented cook at Mrs. Brodie’s Academy. But now Jack Grahame has appeared on her doorstep and threatens to unsettle her whole tidy life. In this story you may expect plenty of delicious food and emotional negotiation; and it’s a wonderful change to see a historical romance where neither character enjoys extravagant wealth. (Hence the Rose Lerner comparison!)

Shana Galen’s “Counterfeit Scandal” is tonally entirely different, which again, I adore. This is what shared-world romance can offer us! It’s like Jane Unlimited!

Ahem, anyway. “Counterfeit Scandal” is about a spy called Caleb whose work required him to fake his own death years ago, leaving behind his beloved Bridget, an artist and counterfeiter who had just learned she was pregnant with his child. Eight years later, Caleb is back in town with a price on his head, and Bridget is determinedly trying to find the child she was forced to leave at an orphanage years before. My one note on this one is that space constraints don’t really allow for a resolution of Caleb’s plotline, which leaves an asterisk on his HEA with Bridget and little Jimmy.

What romances have y’all been enjoying lately?

The post Romance round-up appeared first on Reading the End.

You are the plucky but penniless heroine in the center of eighteenth-century society, courtship season has begun, and your future is at hand. Will you flip forward fetchingly to find love with the bantering baronet Sir Benedict Granville? Or turn the page to true love with the hardworking, horse-loving highlander Captain Angus McTaggart? Or perhaps race through the chapters chasing a good (and arousing) man gone mad, bad, and scandalous to know, Lord Garraway Craven? Or read on recklessly and take to the Continent as the “traveling companion” of the spirited and adventuresome Lady Evangeline? Or yet some other intriguing fate? Make choices, turn pages, and discover all the daring delights of the multiple (and intertwining!) storylines. And in every path you pick, beguiling illustrations bring all the lust and love to life.

Ah, a choose-your-own-adventure romance novel. What a world we do live in.

I’m reluctant to call My Lady’s Choosing a send-up, because I’m afraid that implies too high a degree of ridicule. But it’s certainly aware of the tropes and trends in historical romance novels, and it finds a good balance between partaking in all of them (in various adventures) and poking gentle fun at the same time. From your beginnings as a poor but honest lady’s companion, you’re variously able to jaunt off to Egypt for adventures with your wealthy lady friend (who it turns out is also quite sexy) and to undertake work as governess to a dark, stern, and mysterious lord with a Secret.

(One of my favorite things about this book is that a lot of the adventures might be happening simultaneously. Just because you don’t happen to find out this time around that Lord Craven is [CENSORED FOR SPOILERS], that doesn’t mean he’s not secretly [CENSORED FOR SPOILERS] in every iteration of the story.)

My Lady’s Choosing is deeply and fundamentally silly. You can tell from the get-go that everything’s going to be absurd, as your high-spirited best friend’s name is Lady Evangeline Youngblood, and you’re warned away from the frightening Lord Garraway Craven. Your mileage may vary as to whether you find this charming or annoying — to me, it read like a most delightful homage to the fun and silly elements of romance novels, which I unapologetically adore.

I should note that I have no idea what happened on any of the tracks that required me to have interest in Mac, the big-hearted Scottish ?lord maybe? war veteran? who ran a home for orphans. Or something with moppets and puppies. I never ever read Scottish romance novels and I shall not break that streak just because a book is waging a charm offensive against me.

(I received My Lady’s Choosing from the publisher for review consideration.)

The post My Lady’s Choosing, Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris appeared first on Reading the End.

Ha! You thought I was going to put an all-capsy shrieky paragraph down here after the cover, didn’t you? You thought all that maTOOR business was setting up a joke, but it wasn’t. That’s just how I say mature, which shows that I am a sophisticate.

The first thing that struck me about Hamilton, the very first time I heard it on NPR First Listen,², was its fundamental hopefulness about the American experiment. It used a story about America’s past to propose a version of America’s future that felt optimistic and worthwhile and attainable.³ Hamilton’s Battalion is a worthy successor to the musical that inspired it, espousing hope in the project of nation-building without ignoring the failures that inevitably accompany that project. It’s also a darn good on-ramp to the genre for Hamilton fans who are romance newbies.

Let’s get into the novellas!

Second Chance at Love: “Promised Land,” by Rose Lerner

Rachel fled her wifely duties years ago and now fights the British in the disguise of a man; but when her husband is captured as a spy and brought into her camp, she has to face the life she left behind.

Rose Lerner packs a ton into this short romance: Rachel and Nathan have much to blame each other for, and they spend a lot of the story properly talking about where they went wrong with each other, and why. When they eventually reunite, it’s with a new understanding and acceptance of their differences — which is what Rose Lerner excels at, and why she’s one of my faves.

“Promised Land” also talks about religion in this way that I rarely see in fiction. Rachel and Nathan are both Jewish, but Rachel has fallen away from some kinds of religious observance since she left home — by necessity and by desire. As the book goes on, she and Nathan talk about the different practices of faith, and why they matter, and what they want for themselves as Jewish Americans. I cried a lil bit. Don’t judge me.

Road Trip: “The Pursuit of…”, by Courtney Milan

This one’s about a free black soldier who stumbles upon a British officer just as the war is coming to an end. John and Henry wind up traveling together in part because Henry can’t think of anything else to do with himself — he’s deserted his post and would face only disgrace if he went back to his family.

Eh, this was my least favorite of the bunch. I loved the conversations John and Henry had about worth and freedom and espoused vs practiced American values. I just didn’t care for Henry. He’s that chatty nonsense-talking brand of Milan hero that’s never done it for me in her past books, and didn’t do it for me here. But I understand from other reviews that I am in a heavy minority. “The Pursuit of” has a road trip and much discussion of values, and if you like those things you’ll probably like it. I have failed this city.

Chaos Muppet & Order Muppet: “That Could Be Enough,” Alyssa Cole

After years as Eliza Hamilton’s servant, Mercy has seen enough of love to know that she doesn’t want anything to do with it. But she begins to reconsider when her household is visited by a confident, vivacious dressmaker determined to draw Mercy out from the limitations she’s imposed on herself.

I don’t know if unified Muppet theory is the best way to describe this story, actually! What I like about it is similar to what I like about the Jane Eyre / Rochester romance, i.e., the inherent funniness of someone friendly and verbal and external hooking onto someone who holds everything very close to their chest, and then being relentlessly nuts about them, no matter how confusing the unfriendly one finds this. That’s this novella. As a not-un-walls-having person myself, I found it really poignant to watch Mercy discover that all the acceptance she’s been too frightened to ask for was at her fingertips all along. And I loved how reluctantly drawn she is to Andromeda from the first minute they meet. It’s a lovely story with (of course!) a happy ending.

Hamilton’s Battalion is poignant and clear-sighted, but somehow joyous too; a wonderful collection of stories about the unquashed and unquashable potential of our country and its people. (And love, obviously.)

The post Review: Hamilton’s Battalion appeared first on Reading the End.

Ruby Lang is a new-to-me author I discovered through the wonderful Romance Novels for Feminists (which has never yet steered me wrong), and I received Hard Knocks for review consideration from the publisher. Hard Knocks is about a hockey player nearing the end of his career (Adam) and a neurologist (Helen) who thinks he’s cute when he brings his friend in for a concussion check-up but does not think much of all the brain damage sports can wreak upon their players.

Oh how I love discovering a new romance author whose books are just right for me. Hard Knocks is witty and charming, with banter between the leads that is also witty and charming (in the way that so many romance novels try and fail to have their banter be, i.e., effortlessly), and I’m delighted that there’s another book in the series for me to read.¹ Things I particularly loved include how angry Helen is (I love angry heroines); the fact that nobody gives a crap that she sleeps with Adam casually; frank discussion of finances (so rare); and how angry Helen is.

Did I say one of those twice? I really love angry heroines. I can already tell that Ruby Lang’s going to be one of my go-to romance authors–very much recommended!

Charlotte Highwood creeps into the library to let Lord Granville know that she absolutely does not intend to let her mother entrap them into marrying — and kind of gets entrapped into marrying him. She’s determined to find them both a way out of it. He’s a spy. Everyone’s stuck at this manor house for one of those house parties where people are so nosy and everyone is maybe creeping away to do assignations.

Frankly, this is a delight from cover to cover. I love and revel in angsty romances (cf. my longtime love for Meredith Duran), but it was a refreshing treat to encounter a heroine as cheerful and indomitable as Charlotte. She refuses to allow herself to be caught up in anything like a Big Misunderstanding and perpetually cuts through the romance novel trope bullshit to say and do exactly what she means.

Courtney Milan was one of the first — maybe the first? — romance authors I tried when I decided to give romance novels another chance; and I’ve been a fan ever since. Her latest historicals have felt a trifle pat, so I’ve been on a break from them, but her new contemporary series — of which Hold Me is the second — has been excellent so far. In addition to thoughtfully exploring issues I care about (poverty, work-life balance, complicated parental relationships, independence v. intimacy), they lay out sincere emotional problems and show us how the characters navigate those issues.

Maria Lopez runs a popular blog where she imagines end-of-the-world scenarios in great detail. She has an ongoing semi-flirtation with one of her regular commenters, whom she called Actual Physicist and who calls her Em. When she goes to deliver a message to one of her brother’s friends (a scientist), the friend, Jay, is horribly rude to her, making immediate assumptions about her intelligence based on her appearance (girly! heels!), and she takes an immediate dislike to him. Well guess what y’all. Guess what turns out to be the case.

I liked this book a hell of a lot. Maria’s trans, and I love that it isn’t an issue in her relationship to Jay. I love that we see her as part of a group of queer friends, and that part of her emotional arc involves speaking honestly with her friend and former roommate Angela (who’s getting her own book, yay!) — in other words, that overcoming her feelings problems doesn’t revolve solely around Jay. I love You’ve Got Mail-y premises like this one, and Hold Me is a hugely satisfying book along those lines.

KJ Charles has a new series called Sins of the City that’s inspired by Wilkie Collins’s fiction, and frankly that’s all the information I needed to get excited about An Unseen Attraction. (Actually all I needed was KJ Charles’s name, but this Wilkie Collins thing didn’t hurt.) I received An Unseen Attraction from the publisher for review consideration, via NetGalley.

Clem manages a lodging house where everything is in perfect order, apart from the one tenant Clem’s noble half-brother won’t ever let him evict. When that tenant turns up brutally murdered, Clem’s tidy world is turned upside down — and so is the life of another of his tenants, the sexy taxidermist Rowley Green.

So much Wilkie Collins in this book, y’all. I loved it. Dark secrets to be uncovered, the promise of more scandal to come in subsequent books, it’s all completely up my alley. Better yet, Charles does a wonderful job of showing how Clem and Rowley learn to be ever-better friends and lovers to each other, treading gently around insecurities but setting boundaries where necessary. Clem is on the spectrum and Rowley comes from an abusive home, and they make mistakes with each other. The tension doesn’t arise so much from a Big Misunderstanding as from the clashes that happen around conflicting motives, loyalties, and ways of being a person. Charles is terrific at depicting Clem and Rowley’s attempts to navigate all of this, and it makes their happy ending all the more satisfying.

Basically, if the idea of a story about love, taxidermy, and murder most foul appeals to you, I’d recommend you run straight out and preorder An Unseen Attraction. It comes out on 21 February and is well worth your time.

What romance novels have you been enjoying lately, friends? I always need more recs!

The post Hockey, House Parties, and Taxidermy: A Romance Novels Round-Up appeared first on Reading the End.

First up: Roller Girl, by Vanessa North. Tina Durham is a recently divorced former sportsing champion¹ who gets a crush on her new plumber, Joe (short for Joanne). Through Joe, she gets involved in a local roller derby team, and they fall in lurv.

F/F romance novels do not get nearly the love and attention of their het and M/M counterparts, and it’s a damn shame. Roller Girl was the sweetest romance novel I’ve read in a while (except see also Looking for Group, below), and it was wonderful to see a trans protagonist who’s already gone through her transition and is trying to figure out life on the other side; who receives courtesy and not persecution by the people she’s out to; and who gets a happy ending with a super-nice romantic partner. And she gets to be awesome at roller derby at the same time!

If you have other roller derby romance novels to recommend, please do so in the comments. I have been starry-eyed over roller derby (concept of; I do not want to play it; I am weak and unsportsy) ever since the excellent Ellen Page movie Whip It.

Next up: Alexis Hall’s latest, Looking for Group. This one’s about a university student named Drew who develops a crush on a girl (he thinks) in his World of Warcraft guild. (It’s not called World of Warcraft in the book, but I am very clever and figured out that it’s basically World of Warcraft.) When Solace turns out to be a guy called Kit, Drew has to sort out his feelings about Kit, his own apparent bisexuality, and his relationship to the world of gaming.

Alexis Hall is great at making me feel feelings using only his words — the emotional truthfulness of his romance novels is always what keeps me coming back. Looking for Group was no exception. It starts with, and continues to include, some very dense passages where the characters are playing Pretend World of Warcraft — I have never played a video game a day in my life (except, like, Mario Kart or Guitar Hero very occasionally, both of which I’m terrible at), so this was a hurdle I had to clear to get to the meat of the book.

But! If you can hang in there (and consult the gaming vocab glossary at the back of the book), it’s well worth it in the end. Hall deals with Drew’s college-student-ness so incredibly well — the way each half of a friendship can perceive each other and the friendship in unrecognizably different ways; that thing where you will lounge around with a group of people for hours/days trying to figure out what the next activity of the friend group will be; the difficulty of incorporating a new partner into an established friend situation without friction. It’s a genuine dear of a book.

Okay, on to the Scots! I am sorry that I said “ugh” in the post title. I am not mad at real-life Scots. It’s Scottish romances I can’t abide, which is why it took me this long to read the newest Sarah MacLean book, even though she’s one of my fave romance writers. Reluctant Duke Warnick comes to London under duress, having discovered that in addition to all his holdings, he’s inherited a ward named Lily — who appears to have been Ruined and now requires Saving. He’s determined to get her respectably married, guess what they fall in love, not a spoiler, you already know what romance novels are.

Luckily for me,² the Scot isn’t all that Scottish. I had to skip past some moments where his heart and dick swelled because his lass was wearing his tartan (vom), but apart from that it was mostly okay. Per usual, Sarah MacLean is funny and feminist, and it’s always fun watching her characters unravel their emotional dilemmas.

(Her sex scenes can get a teensy bit schmoopy, if that’s a thing that bothers you. I skipped some bits. Tartan, and such.)

What about you, my loves? Read any good romance novels lately? I am always open to recommendations!

The post Roller Derby, World of Warcraft, and (ugh) Scots appeared first on Reading the End.