eARC Rant Review: Make Up Break Up by Lily Menon (2 Stars)

Make Up Break Up by Lily Menon

Categories: Romance

First Publication Date: February 2nd 2021 

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I received an advance copy via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Make Up Break Up (MUBU) is a romcom by the author of When Dimple Met Rishi (WDMR), and it’s Lily Menon’s first adult novel. It follows Annika, CEO of Make Up, an app developed to help people improve their relationships by finding a kinder way to talk to each other, and Hudson, CEO of Break Up, an app which does the exact opposite, helping people break up with each other with minimum to no emotional effort.

This is a romcom for fans of enemies-to-lovers, second chance and the very specific “love interest has a profession that goes against the main character’s moral code” trope. I am not a big fan of any of these, so maybe that made me enjoy this book less than I would have otherwise, but I was quite let down by this book. From the beginning I got the feeling that this would be a rather generic romance, with the usual Girl-Power-energy main character and the “sexy, rich bad boy who actually is really soft” and the two of them were just… meh. I did not feel the chemistry and frankly I was more curious about how the apps worked & how sustainable their businesses were (which we did not get as much as I wanted) than I was about any of them, or their relationship. This is similar to how I felt about WDMR, where I wanted so much more from the tech part of the book, but in WDMR at least there was so much fluff, summer-y vibes and the love interest was so adorable I could not help but grin all the time and cheer for them, overlooking any of my complaints. This was just not true for MUBU, where we got Dimple-but-adult and some bland white bad boy.

Review: A Deal with the Elf King by Elise Kova

A Deal with the Elf King by Elise Kova

Categories: Romance, Fantasy

First Publication Date: 6. November 2020

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Synopsis: The elves come for two things: war and wives. In both cases, they come for death.

Three-thousand years ago, humans were hunted by powerful races with wild magic until the treaty was formed. Now, for centuries, the elves have taken a young woman from Luella’s village to be their Human Queen.

To be chosen is seen as a mark of death by the townsfolk. A mark nineteen-year-old Luella is grateful to have escaped as a girl. Instead, she’s dedicated her life to studying herbology and becoming the town’s only healer.

That is, until the Elf King unexpectedly arrives… for her.

Everything Luella had thought she’d known about her life, and herself, was a lie. Taken to a land filled with wild magic, Luella is forced to be the new queen to a cold yet blisteringly handsome Elf King. Once there, she learns about a dying world that only she can save.

The magical land of Midscape pulls on one corner of her heart, her home and people tug on another… but what will truly break her is a passion she never wanted.

Review: Lovely War by Julie Berry

Lovely War by Julie Berry

Categories: Historical Fiction, Romance, Mythology

First Publication Date: 4 February 2020

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Synopsis: They are Hazel, James, Aubrey, and Colette. A classical pianist from London, a British would-be architect turned soldier, a Harlem-born ragtime genius in the U.S. Army, and a Belgian orphan with a gorgeous voice and a devastating past. Their story, as told by the goddess Aphrodite, who must spin the tale or face judgment on Mount Olympus, is filled with hope and heartbreak, prejudice and passion, and reveals that, though War is a formidable force, it’s no match for the transcendent power of Love.

Mini-Reviews of Fall 2020 Releases: When No One is Watching, Burning Roses & Zikora

When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole

Categories: Romantic suspense, Thriller

First Publication Date: 1st September 2020

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When No One is Watching is Alyssa Cole’s first thriller, telling the story of Sydney, a young woman who grew up in Brooklyn and now watches her neighborhood change at an unsettling pace and Theo, her new neighbor who is having relationship problems. Both are keeping secrets from others, and when Sydney starts suspecting something darker is at play when her neighbors keep disappearing, she and Theo will try to uncover the truth. This is more a romantic suspense plus contemporary than a thriller in my opinion, even though the story flows quickly and the level of tension goes through the roof by the second half, it does spend a long time developing Sydney and Theo’s relationship and explaining gentrification, its history and effects on Black neighborhoods. This was a fascinating read, and it definitely delivers on the Get Out vibes. I am not a fan of romantic suspenses/thrillers, but this really worked! It goes into very dark territory (that I will not list so as not to spoil the story) but also mundane, daily horror and violence which adds an eerie quality to the story. This is an illuminating, dark and unflinching book but also hopeful and full of love. You can feel on the pages how much love was poured into this story, which is ultimately about community and taking care of each other, and also preserving history while maintaining a critical eye. I’m impressed!

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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eARC Review: My Heart’s in the Highlands by Amy Hoff

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Categories: Historical Romance, F/F

I received an advance copy via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Lady Jane Crichton is a scientist, one of the seven women to have gone to the Edinburgh University, even if they weren’t given diplomas for their graduations. She is smart and beautiful, happy in a marriage of convenience with David, who gives her the means and the support to pursue her career, and for whom she guards a secret. When Jane creates a time machine and travels to the 13th century, the last thing she expects is that the people she thought of as “savages” may be, in many ways, far more civilized than 1888 Edinburgh. She meets Ainslie, the daughter of the clean chief, and slowly finds herself realizing she might be falling in love for the first time in her life.

eARC Review: Meet Cute Club, by Jack Harbon

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Categories: M/M Romance

Goodreads

I received an advance copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.

The Meet Cute Club has been the one thing Jordan is truly passionate about, and he always looks forward to spending his Saturday afternoons talking about romance books and eating delicious baked things. But attendance is dwindling and the club can’t survive anyone else leaving, so when the rude new bookseller from Jordan’s favorite bookstore decides to join it, he can hardly refuse. After all, romance is for everyone, right? Even for rude, handsome Rex and his insufferable attitude… right?

eARC Review: Beach Read, by Emily Henry

Rating: ★★★★☆

Categories: Romance, Contemporary Fiction

Goodreads

I received an advance copy via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Beach Read tells the story of January, a romance writer who recently moved into her father’s secret house near the beach, where he lived with his lover, which January knew nothing about until That Woman showed up in his funeral with a letter and a key to the house for her. Now January’s life is in shambles, as her long-term boyfriend broke up with her, her father was a cheater and a liar, her mom refuses to talk about it and she can’t write her next book, which she absolutely needs to write. When she meets an old nemesis from University, Augustus Everett, and finds out he’s her new neighbor, it gets initially even worse. Except – he’s not all that terrible. As they cautiously become friends, they place a bet: he will write a romance book, and January will write a sad literary book, the kind that Gus writes.

Review: This is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Rating: ★★★★★

Genres: Science Fiction, Literary Fiction

Goodreads

In This is How You Lose the Time War, Red is fighting the war on the side of the Commandant. She is the most lethal agent and is used to winning. The only one who could possibly beat her is Blue,an agent working for the Garden, and Red knows her signature well. As they try to sabotage each other’s mission, and send taunting letters to each other, the unthinkable happens: Red and Blue start to bond. No one must know of this treason. And yet, how could they ever survive it?

eARC Review: The Bromance Book Club, by Lyssa Kay Adams

Rating: ★★★★☆

Genres: Contemporary, Romance

Goodreads

I got a copy of this e-book from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

The Bromance Book Club is the story of Thea and Gavin, whose marriage might be coming to a bitter end, with Gavin finding out he never did give Thea an orgasm throughout their entire marriage, and Thea being fed up with pretending to be the perfect baseball wife with no ambitions of her own. But if the Bromance Book Club has anything to do with it, their relationship isn’t over just yet.

I could not resist that cover or that synopsis. It just sounds outright ADORABLE and funny and sexy. Men getting together to read romance in order to improve their marriages and learn to be better lovers? Hell yes.

Review: Proper English, by KJ Charles

Rating: ★★★★☆

Genres: Historical F/F Romance, Murder Mystery

Goodreads 

Proper English is the story of Pat, a sensible young woman, who’s going to the country house of Earl of Witton for a shooting party. She’s also meeting her old friend, Jimmy, and his new fiancée. The problem? It might just be worst party of all time, as tensions grow and secrets are spilled out, revealing shocking betrayals, and worse – they’re all stuck together through a storm that might last several days. And Pat has yet another problem: Jimmy’s fiancée, Fen, is a lovely, beautiful girl, and Pat has never met someone quite like her. When a body is discovered in the house, Pat and Fen must do what they can do find the murderer.