• ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust | ARC Review

    27th September 2020
    Cover of Girl, Serpent, Thorn (Melissa Bashardoust)

    Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust, read by Nikki Massoud

    AUDIOBOOK REVIEW

    Content warnings: kidnap, torture, murder

    This is a breathtaking and artful retelling of Persian mythology and fairy tales. From the beginning of story, I fell in love with Bashardoust’s writing and Massoud’s narration.

    Yeki bood, yeki nabood. There was, and there was not a cursed, poisonous girl named Soraya (18, bi+). She was the young shah’s twin sister, but kept away from everyone because of her venomous veins, deadly upon touch. When the shah captured a div—parik Parvaneh, Soraya knew she owed herself to seek answers of her own curse from the prizoner. And then there was Azad, a young man who understood her, giving Soraya the unconditional acceptance and love she craved the most, despite her poison. As she learned that the only way to undo her curse was to put her family’s lives at risk, would Soraya exchange their safety—a family who were ashamed of her monstrous quality—for her own human self, or keep herself tucked away for the rest of eternity?

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  • Book Reviews,  Fiction

    The Best Lines by Nicole Pyland

    25th September 2020
    Cover of The Best Lines (Nicole Pyland)

    The Best Lines (Chicago #1) by Nicole Pyland

    Dr. Eva Dash has just lost her job as a professor at her alma mater. That seems to leave her with no choice but to leave the city she considers home. When restaurant owner Ember Elliot shows up in Eva’s life, Eva is fascinated by this mysterious, former player. The preamble to their connection is a napkin note that leads to more notes. As both struggle with their unknown professional futures, what will become of their relationship?

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  • 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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  • Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Fresh Start by Nicole Pyland

    19th September 2020
    Cover of Fresh Start (Nicole Pyland)

    Fresh Start (Chicago #0) by Nicole Pyland

    Alyssa Masters had sat in prison for two years for a double-homicide she did not commit. The news of her case is all over the country. So even though she is now a free woman without criminal records, it is very hard to live a normal life. Then Hannah Granger shows up for rental viewings at Alyssa’s workplace without knowing who Alyssa is. Hannah is relocating after traveling for three years and just losing her mother. Will their friendly encounter develop into something deeper with Alyssa’s past hanging overhead?

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    The X Ingredient by Roslyn Sinclair | ARC Review

    17th September 2020
    Cover of The X Ingredient (Roslyn Sinclair)

    The X Ingredient by Roslyn Sinclair

    Content warnings: non-consensual kissings between the main characters, one instance of bi-erasure from a minor character, underlying misogyny from antagonists. Note that ableist language is also present in the book (crazy, insane, mad, blind).

    Sinclair definitely surprised me with The X Ingredient. I don’t normally do well with ice-queen, age-gap, office romance, but I wanted to try anyway. And I am so glad I did.

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