Hazel’s been dreaming about a girl who - except for hair and eye colour - looks exactly like her for as long as she can remember. But the dream girl never says or does anything extraordinary, so Hazel has accepted it as a slightly odd thing and otherwise leads a normal life. She has some healing abilities and uses them in her work for surgeon Sam McInnes. He’s rich, charming, good-looking and way out of her league. But then her dreams are beginning to worry her. The girl in it is showing signs of fear and madness. Hazel’s life gets turned further upside down when the mysterious Count Petrescu appears. He tells her that he’s from Romania and that she has a twin-sister there…one who looks exactly like Hazel, except for hair and eye-colour and who is slowly going mad. The Count is convinced that Hazel is her only hope. He asks her to accompany him to Romania and she agrees - and so does Sam who does not trust the Count and fears he might not have the best interest of Sam and her twin at heart.
The trouble with this book is that both the romance and the fantasy seem quite half-hearted. Hazel already feels more than friendship for Sam at the beginning of the book, but she’s also convinced that the difference in status means that there is no chance of a romantic relationship between them. And she’s not terribly bothered by that…or bothered at all. Now I am very much here for characters who won’t let themselves be defined by being unhappily in love but Hazel’s feelings for Sam seem more like a celebrity crush - something she is fully aware is impossible but nice to daydream about occasionally.
Sam, meanwhile, sees her first as a very competent co-worker and then as more but doesn’t think she feels the same way, so he shrugs and moves on. So, it’s quite fitting that when they find out that their feelings are in fact reciprocated, they essentially go well, that’s great, kiss and then go back to business as usual. Even in a book that is more fantasy than romance I would have expected emotions to play a bigger role.
I admit, if the fantasy part had been good, I’d still have enjoyed this book and even recommended it with the caveat that it’s not much of a romance but that at least Sam and Hazel are likeable characters. But sadly, the fantasy plot was also lacking… mostly lacking tension.
Hazel and Sam quickly agree that the count has some sinister motives but Hazel still wants to accompany him to help her sister. And so, they travel together…and at no point is there any doubt about the count’s sinisterness. So as the reader, I also wasn’t exactly on the edge of my seat, wondering if he’s one of the good guys or not. There was, of course, the question of what his plan was but most of the time it wasn’t treated as a particularly pressing question. They occasionally bring it up, acknowledge that they have no idea and then…shrug and move on. This seems to be a theme. (Granted, they do make attempts to find out more but when those are fairly unsuccessful they…you guessed it).
All that leaves us with a book about two people who…just get through the plot but - with some exception - have few strong emotions about the things happening around them. And that results in me also not feeling much about it.
Content Warnings: murder, mention of attempted sexual assault
In a surprising turn, I might actually be a fan of historical fantasy/paranormal romances. Spellbound is the second such book I’ve read this year (three if we count The True Queen) where I slip easily into the story and never fight the setting. The worldbuilding in Spellbound is complete and unobtrusive, so there’s never a sense of missing a detail or puzzle pieces that don’t fit. But the best thing about the book is actually the relationship between Arthur and Rory.
July in the United States means heat, humidity, and large swaths of the population shooting off fireworks for a solid month terrorizing animals and keeping me up at night. It’s also my busiest time of year at The Day Job, with a variety of budget-related tasks and conference season hitting full swing. This year I’ll be soaking up some of that heat and humidity in New York attending RWA. Yes, I’ll be there - as will some of the Love in Panels crew. If you see us milling about, be sure to say hello! So what books look good for potential reading on my long (loooong) flight to the Big Apple? This month self-publishing takes front and center!
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You know how sometimes you read a romance plot and you think, "hmm, this sounds familiar" only to realize it's a story that could be on Bravo or HGTV? Yeah, me too. And I fall for it every time.
Reality TV, whether it's a new person/couple each episode or an entire season with the same people, plays off of dramatic scenarios, big personalities, and high stakes - perfect for a romance novel. Below are a few that I've read. Please tell me your faves in the comments so I can stock up!
This book came out more than 4 months ago, but I just now managed to read it. Having read the first two in the series, An Extraordinary Union and A Hope Divided, I knew a little of Daniel's story and I wasn't eager to read it. Not because I thought it would be anything less than excellent, but because I knew that Alyssa Cole called this the book that almost broke her.
After my self-imposed exile from romance (I needed a refresh)*, this was one of the first romances I read. And reading Never a Bride was like rushing back home into a warm embrace. There was my current favorite trope: fake relationship. There was a woman who refused to apologize for what she wanted and deserved.
This is the third in Lovett's sex planet books (Planet of Desire is the correct series name) and I enjoyed it but not quite as much as the first two. Jenie is an alien herself, so it's her with a genetic mating bond to worry about for a change. She's convinced that penetrative sex is going to seal the deal, as it were, so she spends most of the book fighting both the sex planet toxin (read more about that here) and the mating bond.
More Than Stardust, the third in Vivien Jackson’s Wanted and Wired sci-fi romance series, features two of the recurring characters from prior books, Garrett and Chloe. Their chemistry was hinted at previously and though Garrett is mildly interesting, Chloe really drives both the plot and my interest in this novel. Garrett is a pilot and conspiracy theorist, taciturn and good with computers. Chloe, on the other hand, is an AI who has become independently sentient. She has less personal physicality than a toaster, despite being made up of thousands of nanobots. She and Garrett have been friends since she first became sentient, and as a sentient being, she’s longed for the relationship she feels only physical presence can bring.
Song of Blood & Stone has had something of a confusing publishing trajectory. If you're new to the series, here's a quick rundown before my review. L. Penelope self-published Song of Blood & Stone in 2015, then the book was picked up by St. Martin's Press and reissued in May 2018. Now there's an extended version coming out in paperback July 2019. The second book was also self-published and is due to come out in October from the same publisher. There's also a prequel novella out as of January. Got all that?
On the cover, there’s a blurb from Maurene Goo that reads, “As sweet and satisfying as actual mochi... a tender love story wrapped up in food, fashion, and family. I gobbled it up.” Honestly, that’s a perfect one-line review. I Love You So Mochi really is as sweet as mochi.
Kimi is a senior in high school and the book opens with her having something of an identity crisis. The book opens with her and her mother having one of those very devastating silent fights about Kimi not wanting to pursue art school. But what does Kimi want to do with her life if not the art she’s been creating since she was four?
