Jen Crusie’s Bet Me and Welcome to Temptation remain two of my favourite romances. Crusie is what the genre does best when it does it well. So, an opportunity to still experience a Crusie cannot be passed up…hence, why I nabbed the chance to listen to Crusie’s … Continue reading Audiobook Review: Jen Crusie and Bob Mayer’s Rocky Start series #1: ROCKY START| Miss Bates Reads Romance
In 2014, I read Emma Barry’s historical romance, Brave In Heart, and loved it. Last night, an insomniac’s kind of night, I finished reading Barry’s Bold Moves and loved it. What I…| Miss Bates Reads Romance
ARC provided by Netgalley Publication Date: March 4th 2025 Grace, Isa, and Everett used to be an inseparable trio before their love lives became a tangled mess. For starters, Grace is secretly in love with Everett, who used to go out with Isa before breaking her heart in the infamous Freshman Year Fracture. And, oh… Continue reading Review: While We’re Young by K.L Walther| AceReader
I am here to say, again, how great this series is. And to say, again, don’t start with this latest, a very strong addition btw, but go to book #1, What Angels Fear, published in 2005, and continue from there. You will not regret it. … Continue reading Historical Mystery Review: C. S. Harris’s WHO WILL REMEMBER (Sebastian St. Cyr #20)| Miss Bates Reads Romance
All of my Book of the Month friends are probably wondering: is this worth the hype? My answer…cannot be contained to a singular yes or no*. No spoilers, of course! *writing like that makes me…| A Fictional Bookworm
Y'all, my reading mojo has been in the toilet for well over a month now. I'm getting TBR Challenge books read and I've gotten through an audiobook, but I'm not reading. Why? Fatigue, not having the spoons, torn with indecisiveness of what to read next - I mean, it's a lot of things. But I miss reading and I need to kick start my mojo somehow, so I thought a category romance might be in order. When I find a decent one I can inhale the story in one sitting, which is what happened with Reunited ...| The Misadventures Of Super Librarian
I will start by saying I haven’t read a contemporary romance novel this good since this year’s magnificent Cara-Bastone Promise Me Sunshine (a nod to Beth O’Leary’s Swept Away, which had that promise until it didn’t), though I don’t draw parallels between them, just standing … Continue reading Contemporary Romance Review: Victoria Lavine’s ANY TROPE BUT YOU| Miss Bates Reads Romance
Frankly, there was a time, when I first started reading romance, when Silverleaf Rapids would have been a satisfying read/listen. I certainly read plenty of “Thomases” and reviewed them…| Miss Bates Reads Romance
Title: SpiralSeries: Off the Ice #2Author: Bal KhabraPublisher: BloomsburyReleased: 2025Genre: romance, sports romanceTropes: fake dating, slow burn, interracial romance, opposites attract, accidental roommates, found family, hockey player x ballerina Elias Westbrook, a newly drafted hockey player for the Toronto Thunder, is facing the challenges of fame and media scrutiny. With a growing fan base and too many expectations onContinue reading "Spiral by Bal Khabra (ARC review)"| Anna's Multiverse
Title: Last Chance to Save the WorldSeries: Chaotic Orbits 31: Full Speed to a Crash Landing review2 How to Steal a Galaxy review3: Last Chance to Save the WorldAuthor:&nbs…| Anna's Multiverse
Rating: 3.75/5 Stars Synopsis: The companion novel to Laura Wood’s Under Your Spell follows Theo Eliott’s best friend Cynthie Taylor as she’s pulled back into a fake PR relationship with Jack Turne…| Books Real When Shared
Title: The Irresistible Urge To Fall For Your Enemy, Dearly Beloathed #1Author: Brigitte KnightleyPublisher and date: Orbit Books, 8 July 2025Genre: Fantasy RomanceFormat: ebook – Netgalley A…| Lost In The Narrative
Thank you to Danielle Reed for the opportunity to read this ARC of Her Obedience! This review, like the book, comes with some content warnings as this is a dark romance. Though I do not intend to g…| Cups and Cards and Books
One of the things I love best about Holiday is how, with every series, she tries something different: setting, character, country, and I enjoy reading what she does with it. What doesn’t chan…| Miss Bates Reads Romance
Longtime readers of this blog know certain things about me at this point, having blogged for over 20 years. I hate the fated mates trope with the passion of a thousand burning suns. I'm a champion for category and historical romances. And I have an soft spot for nurse heroines. In fact I love a great nurse heroine more so than a librarian heroine - go figure. So I was pretty excited to learn that Bald-Faced Liar by Victoria Helen Stone features not only a nurse heroine, but a complicated one ...| The Misadventures Of Super Librarian
A Charming Touch of Tarot Author: Melissa Holtz Genre: Cozy Mystery Publication Date: May 13, 2025 Publisher: Berkley Series: The Gin & Tarot Club #2 Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for prov…| Leah's Books
A public librarian-written blog about romance novels, baseball, and other random natterings.| wendythesuperlibrarian.blogspot.com
Some books find a way to crack open your heart and leave pieces of themselves behind. Dustin Thao’s You’ve Reached Sam and When Haru Was Here are two such stories—quietly devastating, beautifully written, and deeply emotional explorations of grief, memory, and love. Though each stands alone, both novels echo with the ache of loss and the haunting possibility of… Continue reading standalone review | dustin thao: you’ve reached sam & when haru was here→|
I didn’t have any great expectations of Kanter’s first adult romance, maybe because, as a teacher, I’ve tired of the first-person teen narrator, which are Kanter’s previous …| Miss Bates Reads Romance
A fresh and darkly funny 90s murder mystery about one high school’s net of lies that begin to unravel when a star lacrosse player winds up dead. The night before graduation, all of Hancock Hi…| Books Tales by me
Depending on what I think I'm in the mood to read, odds are more than favorable I'm going to find something that fits the bill in my TBR. I figured I was past due for another historical read, so I went diving into my obscene stash of Harlequin Historicals and just randomly picked a title. My blind pick worked out fairly well, given that Terri Brisbin tends to be reliable and The Highlander's Substitute Wife is the first book in a multi-author trilogy. This was a very solid read until it r...| The Misadventures Of Super Librarian
A public librarian-written blog about romance novels, baseball, and other random natterings.| wendythesuperlibrarian.blogspot.com
Seventeen year-old Lark Goode wants only one to escape her small town of Cutwater and the history of her family name. It’s a history that began during the Dutch tulip mania of 1636, when Lark’s anc…| Books Tales by me
The Floating World by Axie Oh (TFW #1) Publisher: Feiwel & Friends (Fierce Reads) Release Date: April 29, 2025 Pages: 368 Cover Illustrator: Guweiz Available to pre-order via Bookshop [Read a digital ARC via the publisher] Summary: From Axie Oh, the New York Times-bestselling author of The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, Final Fantasy meets Shadow and Bone in this … Continue reading The Floating World by Axie Oh ARC Review| 24hryabookblog
A public librarian-written blog about romance novels, baseball, and other random natterings.| wendythesuperlibrarian.blogspot.com
They Wish They Were Us meets Nothing Left to Tell in this young adult thriller about three girls with entangled pasts who compete for glory in their private school’s annual tournament, putting their survival skills and their relationships to the test. Gardner isn’t like other boarding schools. They take in those who’ve been rejected everywhere else, they offer... Read More| Books Tales by me
Happy release day to Jenni Howell’s debut book, Boys With Sharp Teeth. A young adult, dark academia book about a girl who enters the “viper’s nest” with a mission, but it ge…| Me & Ink
Nobody’s Fool Author: Harlan Coben Genre: Mystery/Thriller Publication Date: March 25, 2025 Publisher: Hachette Audio Series: Detective Sami Kierce #2 Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for …| Leah's Books
Title: A Sea of Unspoken ThingsAuthor: Adrienne Young Genre: Adult Fantasy, MysteryPublishes On: January 7, 2025Publisher: Delacorte PressSource: digital (Netgalley)Pages: 277 Synopsis: A woma…| A Book Wanderer
Bingsu For Two by Sujin Witherspoon Publisher: Union Square & Co. Release Date: January 14, 2025 Pages: 360 Cover Illustrator: Jen Keenan Available through Bookshop Summary: This outrageously c…| 24hryabookblog
Title: A Winter WishAuthor: Emily Stone Genre: Contemporary, Holiday FictionPublished On: October 15, 2024Publisher: Dell (Penguin Random House)Source: digital (Netgalley)Pages: 353 Synopsis: When an unexpected inheritance forces two total opposites to work together, Lexie must decide if Theo is going to push her out—or pull her in for the kiss of a lifetime—in this heartwarming holiday …| A Book Wanderer
A review for the upcoming new YA thriller by Natasha Preston, The Party. A group of students go to a remote castle for a party, when a storm traps them there. They soon realize that one of them is …| Confessions of a Serial Reader
A review for the new revised and edited version of Martha Well’s Wheel of the Infinite. The books was first published in 2000, but is republished anew by Tor books.| Confessions of a Serial Reader
What happens in Vegas when an all-asexual online friend group attempts to break into a high-stakes gambling club? Shenanigans ensue. Publication: September 13, 2022 by Peachtree Teen Some people jo…| The Bookcheshire Cat
A high octane heist on a spaceship is only just the beginning to this new novella trilogy by Beth Revis. Full Speed to a Crash Landing has wonderful characters and a great cast of characters. This …| Confessions of a Serial Reader
Having spent a cringeworthy amount of years devouring Nalini Singh’s books and an unhealthy dose of various paranormal romances (some so obscure that I cannot remember the titles), I initially wanted to avoid reading Bride. But after hearing multiple positive reviews, I braved the embarrassing onslaught of memories and dived right in. And the reviews did not lie. … More Nostalgia for Paranormal Romance Fans: Bride – An ARC Review| B for Bookslut
I was not a huge fan of Well, That Was Unexpected, the companion novel to Didn’t See That Coming. In fact, I disliked it so much that I couldn’t bring myself to write a review for it. When I received a surprise physical arc from PRH International, safe to say, I was regretting my request for it. But I was pleasantly surprised by how much I did enjoy Didn’t See That Coming, even though it would not make my “best of” lists. … More Surprisingly Good: Didn’t See That Coming – An A...| B for Bookslut
What the River Knows has the makings of a five star read. It promises an adventure-hungry debutante, a bad boy scholar, mysteriously exotic Egypt, ancient magic and comical scheming villains. But, promises are meant to be broken. … More Needs Way More Mummies: What the River Knows – An ARC Review| B for Bookslut
Fantasies have been a little dull for me, as of late. I’ve been finding myself reaching for more and more contemporaries but Night of the Witch has brought me back to life! With a strong plot and characters that are actually characters instead of tropes, I was hooked immediately and I can guarantee, you will be too. … More Not Your Average Witch and Witch Hunter Romance: Night of the Witch – An ARC Review| B for Bookslut
If you’re looking for a small town, holiday season read to cosy up to when the sun goes down, the candles come on and you’re snuggled up with a warm cup of tea, Lovelight Farms is the perfect selection. It is filled with delightful townsfolk who mean well but are terribly nosy, a friends to lovers fake dating situation and the wonders of Christmas magic. Although there are some aspects of it I didn’t quite enjoy, I’m sure many of you will. … More Friends to Lovers and Fake Dating: L...| B for Bookslut
I wanted to like The Isles of the Gods. I mean, who reads a book hating it, am I right? But, I developed such a love-hate relationship with this book. On one hand, the ending completely saved it. I loved how it was all wrapped up. On the other hand, I disliked the rest of it and boy, do I have much criticism about it. But I promise, I was being very respectful about my criticism and was only snarky once. I promise. … More The Ending Redeemed It: The Isles of the Gods – An ARC Review| B for Bookslut
Stars, Hide Your Fires has a fantastic idea within its pages. I loved the entirety of the plot, the characters and the world introduced. It’s not the most unique story ever told but it has good bones. I just wished the author had taken their time to really develop the entire story. This is one instance where I will say that it could have been split into a duology or a trilogy. … More Reduce Your Expectations to Zero: Stars, Hide Your Fires – An ARC Review| B for Bookslut
The Love Wager is sexy, fun and flirty. With fantastic banter between characters, a galore of tropes that just make you giggle and a romantic getaway in the hills in a gorgeous hotel room, with a single bed and a very inviting shower, what more could you want from your latest romance obsession? … More Sharing A Bed While Fake Dating: The Love Wager – An ARC Review| B for Bookslut
Eerie, well-written and fascinating, Direwood was rather challenging for me. I struggled through it mostly because it was not my kind of read despite how I could not find much to dislike about it. But it had a good versus evil story that was rather compelling especially in the latter half of the book. … More Skip if Bugs Are Not Your Thing: Direwood| B for Bookslut
It’s a little bit early for a spooky read but we’re getting ahead of the game! Reminiscent of the 90s slasher film and some even say Happy Death Day, How to Survive Your Murder is a wri…| B for Bookslut
A public librarian-written blog about romance novels, baseball, and other random natterings.| wendythesuperlibrarian.blogspot.com
“Green Frog” is a poignant short story collection by Korean American writer Gina Chung, exploring themes of womanhood, transformation, and survival with equal parts fantasy and realism.| Me & Ink