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?
I, like millions of people, struggle with depression and anxiety. I know that I’m not alone in this…but that is extremely difficult to remember when the clouds come rolling in. I deal with depression, anxiety, and multiple chronic health issues and I find myself struggling on a regular basis. Admitting you’re depressed out loud feels like being a huge failure at whatever you’re working on, at everything, at life. And there’s such a huge stigma about mental health in the media, and our society in general, that it can feel suffocating and almost dangerous to say it out loud. And for anyone who isn't white, cis, het, able, etc… it’s so much right now.
