Romance Books

#TBRChallenge Day!

February's Theme: Furry Friends

I read about aggressively horny shapeshifters!

Pack Challenge by Shelly Laurenston https://whiskeyinthejarromance.blogspot.com/2024/02/review-pack-challenge.html

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#WhatchaReading? Betrayal/remorse is my romance catnip and historical My Deceitful Duchess by Aydra Richards is a pretty good one. (Not as OTT as Exit, Pursued by a Baron.) But I was irked by the "romance hero Aspergers" portrayal, partly because it's such a cliche and doesn't go into any of the real issues, and mostly because if you're going to write an autistic love interest, take the opportunity to have him react in different ways!

cont.

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I #read A Masquerade With a Marquess (#book 8/Lords of Temptation). The blurb is a little off - the MMC does marry the FMC knowing she's blind, but also for all the wrong reasons. TW for jealousy and paternal abuse. I may follow up with more from the series, not sure yet. #regency #romance #romancelandia #reading @romancebooks

https://amzn.to/3wdlrX7

#WhatchaReading ? I finished Every Time I fall by Lexi Ryan. TBH, I had intended not to read her again, because the last book was anti-abortion, but I could not resist the gorgeous fat woman on the cover of this. (And I got it from the library.)

Characters have loved each other forever, but each has bad insecurities that make them think the other could never want to be with them. cont.

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#WhatchaReading ? I read the sweetest YA graphic novel romance, Hockey Girl Loves Drama Boy. An insecure hockey player being bullied by her team captain asks a theater kid who's often taunted for being gay for help with dealing. He's actually pan and totally falls for her passion for her sport. There are also parents and best friend problems. Thoughtful & engaging.

I don't love the aesthetic but the art is very effective at conveying emotion and bits of humor.

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I re-#read as #audiobook Four In Hand by Stephanie Laurens. This #regency #romance has very little sex in it & a lot of flirting. It follows 4 sisters in one shorter #book - it was one of her earliest #books. I like this type of writing but I know it's out of date. #romancelandia #romancebooks #reading @romancebooks
https://amzn.to/3Ot9hQk

Read an old Harlequin, Only You, in which the office girls all sneer because the hunky hero's secretary must be 50 and "what a waste!"

That puts her maybe 14 years older than him... a smaller age difference than between him and the *18* year old heroine. 🤢

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Not sure how I missed this, but Candy Hearts, a limited time anthology to benefit the Transgender Law Center and the National Center for Transgender Equality is coming out tomorrow! 16 low-angst Valentine's Day stories by queer authors, including our own @NathanBurgoine

Thanks to @thesmutreport for including this in their recent round-up.

https://apostrophen.wordpress.com/2024/01/17/anthology-announcement-candy-hearts

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I #read Twins for the Wild Orc by Michele Mills (Sweet Monster Treats). If Mills wrote it, I'm probably going to ❤️ it, & I did (even orcs). Besides the title trope of unplanned babies, the #book is a reunion #romance meant for #reading at Halloween. Short & charming. #books #romancelandia #romancebooks @romancebooks
https://amzn.to/49eUXCZ

#WhatchaReading ? I should be doing so many other things, but I can't tear myself away from The Billionaire's Wake-Up-Call Girl. Really fun and... *fans self*. I'm hoping it will justify the arrogant billionaire by having him use his power to completely destroy the FMC's truly evil ex. 😂

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Continuing my Best of 2023 with Favorite Secondary Character, https://whiskeyinthejarromance.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-roms-part-2-favorite-secondary.html

Who or what stole the show from the main characters for you in 2023?
(and yes, a doggy did make the nominees list :)

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#WhatchaReading ? I finished You Say It First by Katie Cotugno, which I seem to have liked rather more than most romance readers. I thought the mix of romance/coming of age was well done and appropriate for YA, and I liked how much the opposite-attract couple grew from being together, even though it was a somewhat fraught relationship.

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My daughter loved How to Excavate a Heart! What sapphic YA romance next?!

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Doing a reread of Naked in Death at #Litsy and just realized the main characters are a cop and a billionaire. Wow did that not age well. 😂

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#WhatchaReading ? I started Early Morning Riser... I'm not sure it's romance? But I really like the voice and I'm pretty sure a romance reader rec'd it so am hoping for the best.

Also read Four Weeks in Winter by Jane Donnelly, which is available from the Internet Archive. Enjoyable oldie, with the main character's boss acting as her fake fiance to protect her from a jerky old flame.

Started the new Olivia Atwater but I don't seem to be in a gothic mood.

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I #read via #audiobook Love and Other Wild Things by Molly Harper (#book 2/Mystic extra. Bayou). Bear shifter Zed falls in love (first) with a commitment-phobic energy witch. This #romance is in the Audible Premium Plus catalog, so I didn't pay extra. ❤️❤️❤️❤️ #romance #reading #books #romancelandia @romancebooks
https://amzn.to/3Hcuvh8

I #read Seeing Blind by Poppy Dale. This M/M 🏳️‍🌈 #romance from 2021 has one MC with a severe case of prosopagnosia (face blindness). It's charming. TW for homophonic parent, secrets, dating apps, & online relationships. #book #books #reading #romancelandia @romancebooks
https://amzn.to/3Hfhqna

#WhatchaReading ? I read the We Could Be So Good epilogue, "Bells are Ringing," which was perfect. They're exactly themselves, yet somehow they've also grown. Funny and awwwww.

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#WhatchaReading ? I read A Mother for Christmas, a kindle freebie. A bit mawkish, but I can't say I wasn't warned by the title. The prose was quirky and had some personality to it. Could have used more payoff at the end.

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#WhatchaReading ? I read How to Excavate a Heart, a YA sapphic romance, which starts off frothy but goes to some darker places. This is a good one for readers who get frustrated when people say they prefer same-sex romance because it doesn't have all the gender politics.

Also, the first book I've ever read that doesn't just acknowledge being written on native land, but offers suggestions for reparations.

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#WhatchaReading ? I listened to Handmade Holidays by 'Nathan Burgoine after @herhandsmyhands 's rave ( https://herhandsmyhands.wordpress.com/2023/12/18/handmade-holidays-by-nathan-burgoine/ ) & she was not wrong. :-)

Such a tender and funny story of queer found family, friendship & love, and the structure is simple & elegant: each chapter is a different Christmastime, and we see everything we need to see about what happened in between. (Except at the very end, where I felt I missed out.)

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#WhatchaReading ? I'm still sniffling after finishing Stars in Your Eyes by Kacen Callender. Painful but beautifully tender and hopeful m/m romance that explores how abuse and trauma can negatively impact a relationship. Checking the CWs highly recommended!

Excellent full cast audiobook, which does justice to the partially epistolary "multimedia" structure. One of the narrators seems to be NB, though both main characters are apparently cis.

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#WhatchaReading ? I didn't love the style and tropiness of Eight Dates and Nights, but I did love reading a Hanukkah book that was really focused on Hanukkah. And it's really cool to read about Jewish history in a rural area of Texas.

Favorite moment: It's not a queer romance, but the MMC has a bumper sticker with a Pride flag and the words "Shalom Y'All Means Y'All."

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#WhatchaReading ? I finished the most waste of time old Harlequin, The Wild Side by Diana Hamilton. One of those awful misogynistic old skool books that's pretty fun if you're in the right mood -- but then there's the most lukewarm ending! Why did I suffer through all that angst?! Where is my payoff?!

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I #read Gnome Sweet Gnome by Elva Birch (#book 2/Lawn Ornament Shifters) today because rn it’s #free (not sure how long that will last), and because the cover & title made me laugh. This shorter-length Christmas story takes rom-com almost to absurd #romance. Get ready for a jewel thief owl shifter to meet her mate as a Norwegian gnome factory owner. #reading #books #romancelandia @romancebooks
https://amzn.to/3NlwpzF