• ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    While My Heart Beats by Erin McKenzie | ARC Review

    20th September 2020
    Cover of While My Heart Beats

    While My Heart Beats by Erin McKenzie

    CW: war, off-page deaths of family

    This is a beautiful historical romance across classes set in WWI Great Britain and France.

    Ellie Winthrop is high-born, a feminist, and holds big dreams during a time women cannot even vote. Her mother is eager to marry her off at twenty-two, but Ellie enlists in Volunteer Aid Detachment. At the hospital, she meets Johanna Lennox, a working-class, twenty-four-year-old nurse with a no-nonsense attitude. As the pair gradually become friends, they can no longer resist their yearnings for each other’s bodies. But with Ellie’s mother pestering Ellie with marriage, Johanna wonders if she, being poorer and a woman, could ever be good enough for her.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    The Traveling Triple-C Incorporeal Circus by Alanna McFall | ARC Review

    18th September 2020
    Cover of The Traveling Triple-C Incorporeal Circus.

    The Traveling Triple-C Incorporeal Circus by Alanna McFall

    Chelsea Shu died a tragic death on NYC Subway tracks and never got to attend her brother Osric’s wedding. After discovering an afterlife as a ghost, she befriended Carmen, a fellow spirit, and Cyndricka, a homeless mime-performing human. The three of them, incidentally the Triple Cs, set out on foot for a cross-country trip to attend Osric’s postponed wedding in San Francisco. They understood it would be a difficult journey, but little did they know what was actually in store for them throughout the months-long walk.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    The Holiday Detour by Jane Kolven | ARC Review

    16th September 2020
    Cover of The Holiday Detour (Jane Kolven)

    The Holiday Detour by Jane Kolven

    Content warnings: misgendering from main character and minor character, car accident, recalling parental loss

    As someone who is both genderqueer and sapphic, The Holiday Detour is very difficult for me to review. I wanted to love it so badly but I didn’t. I appreciate Kolven writing a sapphic story featuring an f/gq relationship however, so I rounded up my rating. There are too many issues that kept me from fully enjoying the story, but it was nonetheless chaotically entertaining.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life by Dani Jansen | ARC Review

    2nd September 2020
    Cover of The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life (Dani Jansen)

    The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life by Dani Jansen

    Alison Green was partly tricked into producing a Shakespeare school play. Desperate to be valedictorian, she wanted everything to be in her control. But alas, mistakes happen and soon she found herself in the midst of a failing play, ruined friendships, strained romance, and much more.

    I am glad I have read A Midsummer Night’s Dream before reading this book. Otherwise, it would have been incredibly confusing.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Spindrift by Anna Burke | ARC Review

    25th August 2020
    Cover of Spindrift (Anna Burke)

    Spindrift (A Seal Cove Romance #1) by Anna Burke

    Content warnings: depression, past suicidal thoughts, off-page death of family member, multiple mentions of animal deaths

    This is the first Burke’s book I have read, and I may have found a new auto-read author.

    Emilia Russo (30, of Italian descent, lesbian, depression) was a shelter vet. When her father passed away, her job of putting down innocent animals suddenly became too much. Now on leave and coping with depression, Emilia goes back to Seal Cove to renovate her father’s house for listing. She only plans to stay for a few months. When she accidentally falls into the ocean, it is her teenage crush Morgan Donovan (31) who happens to save her. Morgan, who is also a vet, is recently dumped by her fiancée and still wary of love. Off to an embarrassing and rocky start, the pair keep running into each other in the small town and gradually grow closer. After befriending Morgan’s supportive friends and falling for Morgan, Emilia finds herself reconsidering selling the house, and maybe staying for good.

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