Format: eBook

In recent years, the romance genre has become known for primarily two types of romance stories: one that is full of romcom fun hijinks and one that is a steamy, passionate “will they won’t they”. Emily Henry’s Great Big Beautiful Life doesn’t follow either formula and in many ways goes in an entirely different direction from most recent trending booktok/influencer. Readers expecting a one on one, passionate and sexy romance drama focusing on its lead characters Alice and Hayden are going to be caught off-guard or disappointed; just look at some of the top-rated Goodreads and book influencer reviews and you’ll know what I mean. However different is certainly not bad and for more veteran or mature readers that have been reading romance novels for a while, Great Big Beautiful Life feels like a callback to an earlier time where the genre had more of a drama and women/contemporary fiction element beyond the heat. While this novel follows Henry’s signature style and tone at a surface level, Great Big Beautiful Life’s theme of “love” goes far beyond Alice and Hayden’s expected meet-cute and instead thoughtfully reflects on the power of love and the things people will do and sacrifice for…

Some books are cozy comfort reads, some are poetic and philosophical, and some are humorous comedy or steamy romance. But then there are some like Olivie Blake’s Gifted & Talented that set out to be something entirely different that’s difficult to highlight and discuss due to its complex yet unusual presentation. Following the musings and drama of three siblings and the entangled web of partners, conspirators, rivals, and more, this literary fiction book is a behemoth of a novel that feels far longer than its nearly 500 page count would suggest. Meticulously deliberate, very light on plot, yet incredibly detailed with its spectacular character writing, Gifted & Talented is absolutely not going to be for everyone and admittedly was not my cup of tea. That said, I have nothing but respect for what this novel delivers and while it was on and off from an enjoyment factor for me, from a critical reading/writing standpoint, this novel is great. Although this Gifted & Talented is technically classified in the fantasy, urban fantasy and science fiction genres, they’re largely surface level classifications due to the novel’s premise involving certain magical, or as the novel calls it, “magitech” powers. Each of the three…

Book #2 in Sara Raasch’s Royals and Romance series, Go Luck Yourself is a fun and highly entertaining romance novel continuing Raasch’s unique blend of royalty woes mixed with holiday shenanigans. Contrary to what I thought was an anthology series due the main character being Coal’s younger brother Kris this time around, Go Luck Yourself is a direct sequel that picks up immediately after the events of The Nightmare Before Kissmas which is a required read in order to understand this book’s plot (I made the mistake of trying to read this book without context and it simply doesn’t work). Although more or less following the same formula as the first book, this one felt more refined, cohesive, and thematically strong paired with outstanding character work (not to mention steamy scenes). Tweaking and addressing many of my previous nitpicks, I thoroughly loved Go Luck Yourself and found it to be an ambitiously crafted and all-around perfect romance novel that can be read at any time of the year. Set a few months after The Nightmare Before Kissmas’s conclusion and shifting the main character to Coal’s younger brother Kris, Go Luck Yourself revolves around his struggle to figure out his place…

Intentionally throwing its FMC Margo Bradley into countless romance tropes with a tongue-in-cheek sense of self-awareness, Victoria Lavine’s debut Any Trope But You is a solid and generally light-hearted contemporary romance novel that has a lot to like. Catering specifically to chick lit romance readers looking for an easy snowy-themed read, the story is largely predictable and sometimes cheesy, but in a wholesome and comforting way. Outside of the expected meet-cute and fish out of water wilderness romps, the novel also has added depth and substance with Margot’s sister and Forrest’s father’s fragile health. But the story as a whole largely keeps the tone light, making Any Trope But You an easy (albeit safe and slightly typical) romance recommendation. I would be lying if I didn’t admit to being primarily drawn to this book by its hilarious sounding premise of a jaded romance writer being cancelled and inadvertently experiencing all the romance novel tropes she used herself in her past novels. While I’ve read an increasing number of romance novels as of late, I perhaps read them for different reasons than the typical romance reader and often find ironic enjoyment outside the humor that was intentionally planned. While the jaded…

Entry #2 in Rebecca Yarros’s the Empyrean series similar to my review of Fourth Wing, I’ll be jumping right into my general impressions and skip the usual editorial-style intro and recap since most people are quite familiar with the series one way or another. Dividing into two parts that are roughly equal in page counts, Iron Flame is like a tale of two different reading experiences vastly different from each other. The entire novel covers about half of Violet Sorrengail’s 2nd year at the Basgiath War College, with part 1 following a similar formula to Fourth Wing’s rider academy training arc and part 2 diverging and focusing on the larger political factions and war strategizing across the continent, most similar to Fourth Wing’s late War Games arc and the subsequent events. Interestingly, Iron Flame’s overall direction with its plot, characters and hybrid romantasy genre largely addressed and improved on nearly every point of criticism I mentioned in my past review of Fourth Wing. And while I found Iron Flame’s Part 2 half to range from great to stellar, its opening Part 1 half felt like an endless slog to get through. Although the plot and world-building were substantially more ambitious…