Romance Rating Guide

Hi and welcome! Most of the Damsel recommendations are non/low spice but the romances maturity does fluctuate and evolve over the ratings, so here is a quick guide to what you can expect from a book that has a tag including the word “romance”.

At the bottom of this page1 is also my new addition of specific romance heat levels which come in for later reads.

10+ – doubt its present unless its a book that is mostly aimed at older ones but is also suitable in which case it will say in the review

10+ B – same as above

11+ – tiny tiny little amounts less than 0.5/5

11+B – usually this is if romance gets introduced later in the series (for example Anne of Green Gables is completely suitable throughout all seven books but there is a little romance in it)

12+ -tiny amounts of romance, hardly mentionable and rather insignificant over the plot of the book. These are likely to be sweet crushes or a slight blush and maybe a kiss.

12+B – a little more romance may be in the book, but in the end the B is focused on more the thematic content at a 12B than the romance. There may be a kiss or two if you look at the individual review, but in the end, romance wise the B doesnt matter much.

13+ – The romance gauge jumps up on a 13+. These are going to be developing relationships or established ones, and the romance will be slightly stronger and likely more influential in the plot. Kisses and hugs between love interests is to be expected unless stated otherwise.

13+B – If you are being careful about what romantic content is in your books, this is just going to be the bridge between a 13+ and a 14+. It is likely to be given a B for violence, so just check the individual review if you want to know more. Romance here may have a fade to black but usually with low heat!

14+ – By a 14+ we as the reader should expect the romance if present to be stronger and more mature. Kisses, hugging and sleeping next to each other should be expected. Around a 14+, the romances tend to get a little bit more complicated, and this is usually where an ‘enemies to lovers’ mentality will be introduced, if at all.

14+B – not much different from a 14 romance- wise, a few sexual inncendos may raise this or a love triangle if that is ever present in one of my reviews. Can have a Swoony A scene or a fade to black!

15+ – by a 15+ we are dealing with a romantic relationship that may directly mention sex, and even have it on page. Swoony A and B! Kisses and cuddling will be usually frequent.

15+B – same as any other B’s this just suggests a higher level of one or another of the content warnings/themes explored.

16+ – specifics in the review content warnings will always be present for any romantic/sexual things present. Usually, this is a step up from 15, containing content that is more sexually explicit and most Swoony C’s fall here purely for sexual content.

16+B – B’s are given for primarily violence in the lower age categories but these will be given now for sexual content more than previously.

17+ – another step up, this is where I will start adding in books classified as NA but there will always be a warning if they contain extreme graphic violence or sexual content.

17+B – check the content warnings, but it is practically Adult by this point.

Adult – by 18+ then the expectation that there will be sexual content that is higher than other recommendations, if you check the individual review it may be Adult just for content but also open door scenes are to be expected unless the individual review doesn’t say.

However, it is important to remember that there is more than just the romance that goes into my ratings of the books, and on some reviews they would be a 12 for romance but a 14 for violence and themes. It all depends, but my ratings are based on thematic subjects of the book, language, the platonic relationships (this may sound odd, but some YA novels deal with very acute betrayal and toxicity in platonic relationships so this is a consideration) and current/non current societal issues (slavery, racism, homophobia, sexism etc) as well as romantic relationships.

NA:– nothing is really present, it isn’t the focus or a subplot.

Soft: perhaps a closed mouth kiss or two, no detail.

Sweet: Kissing, cuddling, clothes on, mild innuendo.

Suggestive: The flirtation becomes more physical — making out, caresses, breathlessness, mostly clothed but doesn’t take it any further on the page, discussions of sex/sleeping with each other, can have some strong innuendo.

Smokey: Closed Door/Fade to Black: This can float between or slightly above Sweet and Suggestive but we don’t get any details beyond making out.

Swoony: This will have some sex on the page but it is going to be less than a paragraph – not some graphic sex scene. More and more YA seems to be having open door scenes now and sometimes the books are still ones I will recommend but I will definitely mention that they contain this content as always. By ‘low’ spice I mean it’s not going to be some detailed graphic scene and it will focus more on the emotional impact it has on the characters.

I am going to have Swoony A, B, C. A is less than a paragraph and euphemistic, B is less than a page with no graphic description at all, C is rarely used but means scenes of more than one page, with more explicit language and on page sex.

I am going to go back to my old reviews and add these in as much as I can but from now in the Romance star section I will include these so you can find exactly what you are looking for!

I will add these in addition to age ratings so you always know what you are going to be reading!

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Guide to the Damsel rating system

As you all know I make sure to put age ratings and why I have rated them a 12 or a 15 or a B as well as my favourite things about the books and the characters on ALL my reviews, but I thought i would define what I call YA and what my age ratings mean on Damsel in Delight.

YA means young adults and through this can be stretched to cover anywhere from nine year olds to twenty somethings, I focus on the middle around 12- 18 and will report back on books accordingly. Everyone’s reading levels and comfort levels with different topics are completely different, of course, and it is immensely difficult to pin down exactly WHEN you should read books on your tbr, but in the end I am just offering the information so you can decide what you would be comfortable reading.

So my age ratings and what they mean:

10+ – These are books that are about 1/5 on violence and hardly ever have any romance. My reviews mention things to keep in mind when you are choosing to read them so just check those out.

10+B – Might have a little bit more violence or a few darker themes

11+ – Pretty much the same as a twelve 1 but essentially its just what age group I think would enjoy that book the most!

11+B – Honestly down in the lower categories the B doesnt really up the violence/themes/topics and I wont use it often.

12+ – these are books that are about 1.5/5 on violence, and 1/5 on romance. The exact amounts differ, but there is no truly out there content that would not be suitable for most 12-year-olds. The main themes that absolutely will NOT be in twelves include SA and self-harm as well as tropes that can be morally questionable like assassins being portrayed as heroes or arranged political marriages (even through i love them in some of my older reads, i feel like in a 12 they often are a little too much for especially younger readers )

12+B – These are essentially the 12’s with more violence. Still very little romance, but that might go up to a 1.5 depending on the book (that will be in the specific review). The violence will usually be strictly fantasy violence, and nothing too graphic for most readers, however these 12’s may be a little older than some readers are looking for.

13+ – This is where some of the more complex decisions come in. 13+ on some websites can have some incredibly mature and dark themes, which I adore when I read them portrayed well, but i think its important to read them when you would enjoy them more, and perhaps understand them more than get scared or put off by them earlier. My 13+ does have more violence in general than my 12+B’s, about a 2 or 3 out of 5, but most of them are not too graphic. The romance/sexual context in my 13+ recommendations is slightly higher, but there will be NO smut (non of the books i recommend have anything other than clean romance – look at my other blog post for my definition of that and how they correspond to the age ratings!) and in general will not progress much further than a few kisses.

13+B – this is very similar to a 13+ but is for the books between a 13+ and a 14+. I would usually say that these books will have a 4/5 of violence but the romantic content will be at a 3/5 and a few more complex themes may come in.

14+ – my 14+ do raise the bar from the 13s as they will consider darker topics and tropes/themes. The violence here will rise to a 4/5 for violence, but the romance in each book will vary, however they will remain AT OR BELOW a 4/5 and of course will be clean (see my other blog post for this exact definition). These is the age rating that I start introducing some more mature themes/topics including mentions of prostitution/sex/extreme drunkard behaviour. These will of course have trigger warnings of the individual reviews themselves as 14+s could be solely for violence as well.

14+B – These 14+Bs start drifting towards the significantly older category, but the violence and romance will remain the same, it will just be the darkness of the setting and world that will bump these up to a B. Darker worlds that have very in depth wars or brutal traditions or other themes that I feel justify a B just to let the reader know. (As a side-note, most dystopian books will float between a plain 14+ and that all important B because while they do have some similar topics to fantasy, they are the fictions satire and so are sometimes disturbingly close to reality)

15+ –  These are books that can approach a 5/5 on the violence scale and will have a 4.5/5 romance level usually – usually still clean! – but will ultimately be books that look at some of the topics of 14+ and 14+B in a greater depth, and expand them. There may, depending on the book, be mentions of toxic relationships but i will give warnings for those, and off the page SA.

15+B – This is mainly going to be for violent sexual content like SA and harassment which does come in to older YA reads.

16+ – a definite step up from a 15+ this will contain more betrayal/backstabbing and darkness than earlier ratings as well as more sexual content (check individual content warnings).

16+B – B’s are usually for violence, sexual or otherwise.

17+  – this is almost adult so it does contain more graphic depictions of violence etc.

17+B – B’s for sexual content and violence.

Adult –  by this point very mature themes are being explored and if you are on the younger end of adult I would definitely encourage a good read of the content warnings.

Some books are really hard to fit into these categories – eg the First Test by Tamora Pierce, i absolutely adore it and read it when i was about 12, but there is a lot of overt sexism towards the main character that may be too much for some readers, which is why I have bumped it up a rating to a 12+B just to be safe.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Different books in the series may have different age ratings, especially as the plot/romances/threat develops, so just make sure that you make sure that the further books in the series are also what you are comfortable with.

On a side note – my book ratings do not collaborate with movie ratings, movie twelves certainly have a LOT more in them violence wise than I would have in a book rec so if you are comfortable reading a little bit more violence or darker themes then have a look at some of the B reviews or go up a category, plenty of these books can be read earlier or later depending on your comfort level!

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The Secret Lives of Murderers Wives by Elizabeth Arnott

Thank you so much to NetGalley for this ARC! 

This is dark, and brilliant. It’s a mystery, three women trying to solve who is killing girls in their area, but they were also the wives of serial killers. This is where the book really stands out, the tiny mentions of what their lives were like before, the way society has treated them and the way they’re bound together by these experiences 

The blurb on the ARC said that it was like if Taylor Jenkins Reid had written a thriller and I 100% agree, its got the same distinctive unusual main characters and matter of fact acknowledgement of the domestic abuse and violence in the world. 

Romance – not applicable to rate.

Plot – 5/5 – it’s shocking and rapid packed, you never know who it is but it’ll take you by surprise!

Characters – 4/5 – the women slowly evolve to be their separate characters over the book even though they seem very similar in the beginning just like how the public all sees them.

World – 5/5 – its dark its gritty and its realistic, delving into 1950’s serial killers and the families destroyed by them.

Romance Rating – explicit but only in one lines. There isnt any romance in this book, but there are mentions and short descriptions of sexual actions (a line or two each). 

Violence Rating: Level 6

Content Warnings: domestic violence, murder, imprisonment, sexism, gaslighting, rotting bodies (paragraph of description). 

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Lessons in Trickery by Ever King

Thank you to Ever King for the ARC! As always all opinions are my own.

RELEASE DATE: January 26th, 2026

Oh I’ve missed this world so much! I’ve ARC read for the first two as well, and I dont know how i would have waited for this to come out because the plot, the world, the characters? 

I’ve not read before this way of splitting an overarching fantasy plot over several couples and interweaving them so much outside of contempory but it works so well – I NEED Tobias and Octavia’s book now! But I also cant wait for Kaspians, and I KNOW Edmund and Liliths is going to be so good so honestly I’m just waiting with baited breath for the next announcement of the new love story I’m going to be getting!

Each of the stories have felt so different, despite sharing the dark academia background, and while book two is still my favourite (Lila and Bastian are perfection!) this one takes us into the world of the witches, which i suspect we are going to see more of in liliths book too! 

World – 4/5 – I love the little Greek myth references and wordbuilding details so much!

Romance – 4/5 – it’s not my favourite combination of tropes but the chemistry between them was amazing and I loved when she met his family! If this had been longer I think I would have loved them more because I would have seen more of their relationship.

Characters – 4/5 – I love it when all the characters are going to have their own books because it means we get a really complex cast and well I’ve already said in the main review how much I want the next love stories!

Plot – 3.5/5 – the plot wasn’t quite as strong in this one as the first two, I think it was more of a development of Kiara, Lila and Bellatrix interacting as Starcrossed Warriors than the dark twisty plots we’ve seen in the previous two books!

Romance Rating: Explicit  – 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️  multiple sex scenes throughout, they are spicy and a little step further than vanilla so it definitely has ratcheted up several notches from the closed door first one. 

Violence Rating: Level 4

Content Warnings: sexual assault/physical assault by a previous boyfriend

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What We Did To Survive by Megan Lally

This was a fast paced survival story which I really enjoyed! I was expecting a little bit more of a thriller, but that only comes in at the end, most of this story is a fiercely waged war for survival during a storm and the growing mystery of why they were out in the storm. 

I loved that Emmy showed flashes of intelligence despite the main characters annoyance with her best friends boyfriend obsession because too often it becomes the bff’s stupidity that drives the plot entirely and while it is partly that it also shows that Emmy isn’t just the vapid girl she appears to be in the beginning. 

Megan is hands down one of my favourite main characters in a thriller/mystery/survival story I’ve read this year, she is so realistic and I was 100% onboard with her and her decisions throughout the whole book! I will say that the end totally shocked me tho, i was not expecting that!

World – 4/5 – it’s vivid and i was 100% in it all the time. Thrillers dont focus on the world but it did everything it needed to do.

Plot – 5/5 – THE PLOT REVEALS!

Characters – 4.5/5 – i liked or hated them in turn, and enjoyed Megan as a main character.

Romance – 3.5/5 – for me this was the least stand out part of this book, it’s not a romance driven plot but it does matter to the characters emotional reactions and complexities in the plot.

Romance Rating: Soft – kissing, little to no detail. 

Violence Rating: Level 4. 

Content Warnings: sea storm, lost at sea, survival, deaths of multiple characters. 

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Assistant to the Villain

Perfection. This is funny but also deep, this is complex but always understandable and fast paced, this is the dragons golden egg of fantasy and i adored it! 

To begin with we have this really interesting set up where Evie is the assistant to the villain and the villain is essentially a corporation except his company goals are less revenue and more heads dangling from the ceiling in the foyer. It’s such a breath of fresh air to read a fantasy book that doesn’t center around being a hero, Evie is a willing assaceory to a villain but she is doing it because she needs the money which is such a good villain arc motivator. The question isnt asked directly in the book but i really do think that some amazing analysis could be done of this book connecting with the real world and the realties of supporting evil for money if you work in a big corporation despite doing it for good reasons. I really love how this book isnt just a boss/assistant romance set in a shifty fantasy steryotypical world this is thought through and actually works on a deeper level than just you know that the steryotypical pseudo European fantasy world looks like despite having relatively few settings outside the Villains office. 

Evie herself is a ray of sunshine and i loved her. In a world of kick ass FMCs who sass back constantly and have the maturity of a unripe tomato she was so nice to read about because she was sensible and funny and interesting as a character beyond the plot. All of the characters (Kingsley included you little adorable frog prince!) were so interesting and easy to grasp i feel like i could fall right into their world. 

The romance had me giggling and it was just so so good that I already have the second book that i cant wait to get started on!

World – 4.5/5 – this is not the heavy duty epic fantasy worldbuilding but i loved the world and atmosphere so much I cannot dock points because this is a five star read and I don’t always need to be able to write a disatation on economics of a fantasy world after reading it!

Characters – 5/5 – yes, yes yes! Even the office rulemaker has depth and i loved it. 

Romance – 5/5 – trystan has joined the list of February’s literary valentines and he works so well with Evie their combo is *chefs kiss*

Plot – 5/5 – that cliff hanger? I’m sorry but when did i sign up to have the next week exclusively blocked off for aprentice and acomplicing a villain??

Romance Rating: Sweet – described kissing, make out scenes but goes no further than kissing on or off page.

Violence Rating: Level 4 

Content Warnings: Evie does have a past of sexual harassment at work

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The Queens Resistance by Rebecca Ross

It’s so interesting to see the devolopment of Rebecca Ross’s writing style, i can see traces of the lyrical fantastical worldbuilding in this book that is similar to Divine Rivals, but it is still written in a much more modern YA style that is common in fantasy. One of my favourite things about Divine Rivals was that it was written like it was written in the 1940s with the language and vibes despite being a fantasy war novel. 

On its own it stands up as a fantasy novel but it doesnt have the spark of complete uniqueness that Divine Rivals did and i felt like I had read this story many times before in different fonts. I did enjoy the dual countries and the history behind that, this was one of the really strong points of this book that the worldbuilding was so strong but i felt like when we left the passion house we lost that timeless wonder and went into a very typical fantasy coming of age plot. 

Over all it was a fun read and I really enjoyed the girls interactions with each other – it does pass the Bechdel test! – which was a highlight of this series for me because female friendship is something that often is not represented in fantasy ya because the focus is on the love interest or the war or their own power rather than friendship. 

World – 4/5 – most solid part of this book and i enjoyed that the main character was a historian, it made her knowledge of politics realistic and interesting, she knew what the political landscape she was stepping into was which i appreciated .

Plot – 3/5 – it was very predictable, and followed all the genre conventions but it did work and at no point did it annoy me. 

Romance – 1/5 – this did annoy me. This isnt a spoiler because we get this from the very first chapters but she is in love with her teacher. This is a student/teacher romance subplot which was so icky and i really didnt enjoy. He felt odd and shifty to me and i felt like the main character liked his intelligence and dedication as a teacher and that got mixed up in romantic feelings. I just. I hate age gap, i hate teacher x student and i really dont like it when the romance feels unneeded so this wasnt it for me I’m sorry. 

Characters – 3/5 – none of the characters were groundbreaking, i felt a loose attachment to the main character and had an active hatred of one of the girls whom essentially had the mc self-sabotage an important conversation because she wanted to be favoured. I did understand that girl though and honestly her book would be really interesting, considering the different perspective between the main character who thinks they are awful at their subject and the girl who is watching them take their opportunities and be favoured over her. 

Romance Rating: Soft – just kisses no description

Violence Rating: Level 3 – standard fantasy violence, a battle at the end, check out my blog post on Violence Ratings that is pinned for more specifics!

Content Warnings: student/teacher relationship, suggestion of possible rape to the mc’s mother, death of mother. 

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The Blind Date Agreement by Jessica Cunsolo

NetGalley Arc

I wanted a fun light rom-com read and this was not it at all. If this had been the beginning of a revenge arc or a thriller then I would have kept reading but as a rom-com it was awful. 

Let me begin with the three main issues 

  • the romantic lead was the most toxic man to ever be put to a rom-com page 
  • Her friends were awful and from the blurb i know it gets worse
  • The main character had a smoke wisp of a spine and i have no words for how annoying it was to read. 

Jay is the biggest red flag of this book which made me DNF it because honestly if she dates him she’s going to end up on an episode of Dateline. The first time they meet he starts of by insulting her on what she is wearing while ogling her (which falls also into section two on the friends are the worst breakdown and then THREATENS TO DROP HER OFF A CLIFF IF SHE DOESNT ADMITT SHES AFRAID OF HEIGHTS! Wtf is wrong with this boy? She is terrified, and he holds her out over the edge of that cliff for several lines of dialogue – it’s not banter it’s the beginning of a trauma dump therapy session or it should be. This should be the end of it – right? 

No, no, no this isnt even the start. He comes to the place she works at and antagonises her, admitting that he looked up her skirt when she was on the edge of the cliff and starts asking about her underwear (not the only time either and I dnf’d early from this car wreck). I think this was supposed to be banter, he’s a creep and she’s uncomfortable. 

Then THEN!  they end up on a blind date (again which needs to fall into section 2 as well) and he asks about the underwear again – seriously why is this supposed to be attractive, this is a first date you weirdo and you literally have been antagonising (and threatening to drop her of a cliff in a mini dress and stilettos). When she texts her friend the exit word – the phrase itself needs to be noted down as a horrible idea “i have a hairy possum” this text accidentally goes through to him (I HATE that accidental text thing, do all female main characters have three thumbs and no names on their phone screens?) and he takes it as a sexual innuendo (because of course he does) and teases her about it at which point I DNF’D and I’m running because I’m not going to stick around for this car wreck, i don’t have enough five stars under my belt to follow this one sink into the negative stars. 

Then the friends. Oh boy where do i start? To begin with, they all treat her like she’s pathetic because she’s single and the other two girls in her friend group are paired of. However, her ‘best friend’ is dating the boy she has liked for years whom she KNEW the MC liked, and dated him behind her back. This wasn’t enough for a blow up, no, the mc just held her tongue and DROVE THEM TO A PARTY MONTHS LATER LIKE NOTHING HAD HAPPENED WHILE THEY MADE OUT IN THE BACK. 

Of course, Khalei’s boyfriend Emmett is gorgeous and perfect and the one who is trying to include Catrina (our very unfortunate mc in this friend group who should be applying to a university in Australia to get away from these people but instead is staying in Carolina *silent scream of frustration before i close these very long parentheses brackets*). They are doing all these couple activities, and she’s the fifth wheel all the time (because she has had horrifically humiliating failures at dating and so doesn’t want to try again oh and did i mention she’s in love with the boy her darling pyschopath oblivious or perhaps sociopathic best friend is DATING. 

To recap, her best friend (imagine the finger quotes here) is dating the boy she has liked for years and her best friend knows and is doing this anyway, they are rubbing her singleness publically in her face, saying she has to get a boyfriend that fits with the group so that they’re not sad and pathetic at prom because Khalei is running for prom queen and a prom queens friend cant be sad and single! (Insert a jab about her talking about colour theory too much because she’s an artist – dear god I’ve read about bullies that pulled their punches less than this, its like a dissertation in how to be spineless and be bullied by your friends),  and Emi is playing these weird power games with the rest of them telling them the wrong things to wear so that they turn up at the said party in mini dresses instead of bikinis and not letting them know they are going CLIFF DIVING (sixty feet up!) when one of her friends cant swim and the other one is scared of heights like um what the ——? 

The main character would have been relatable but she was such a victim and i need her to run not walk away. She had some spunk when she was fighting back against Pink Shorts but she was a complete floppy spine with her friends. I feel really sorry for her but I’m not staying to see her end up in an abusive relationship so no. 

One review said they were DNF’ing because they’re a Christian I’m dnfing because I’m a feminist. My hopes are at the bottom of Jay’s cliff and I hate him so much. 

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Buried Deep and Other Stories by Naomi Novik

This is a short story collection that includes some stories from the Scholomance and the Temenarie series. While you dont have to have read the Temenarie series to read its short stories (no spoilers there) the scolomance shorties do essentially spoil the huge ending of book two and the ending of book three (which I haven’t read yet but could have guessed). Either way, it’s full of so many stories that even if you skip the scolomance ones then you’ll still have a lot of Naomi Novik to luxuriate in.

Araminta, or, The Wreck of the Amphidrake
⭐️⭐️⭐️
This one was first and honestly not my favourite of the collection. It’s a fun short story set in the regency period with a female main lead who has a talisman that helps her survive when her ship is attacked by pirates because it turns her into a man. I enjoyed it at the time, but it wasn’t very memorable for me however its a good start to the collection because its a familiar premise with Noviks sharp wit and prose before she truely shows what she can do with some of the later ones which are some of the most original fantasy I’ve read in a long time!

After Hours
I did skip this one once I realised there were spoilers for the third book in it but I’m planning on returning after I’ve read the golden enclaves book.

Vici
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Lots of people dont like this one from reviews but i loved it! It was mark Antony with dragons and the founding of the dragon corps. It was short sweet and had literally everything I like in it. My only complaint is that it was too short for me to really give it those full five stars because we only saw a few pages of this but it was so good!

Dragons & Decorum
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is a pride and prejudice retelling with dragons set in the Temenarie world and I loved it! The wit of the dragons, the connection between Elizabeth and Darcy and the fact that Naomi Novik can so closely mirror the chemistry and cleverness of the first in a short story is amazing.

Commonplaces
⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was essentially fan fiction of a character from Sherlock and while it was interesting and engaging enough because i had not read the book that this one was based on I think i missed some of the callbacks that people who have read the book may have enjoyed.

Buried Deep
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This story was so sad. It was the retelling of Ariadne and the Minotaur but focusing on their brother sister relationship and the pain of having someone you love torn away from you. The pain of the characters truely came through and i could feel every time Ariadne stomped the pattern across her brothers labyrinth to remind him she was still here for him in my heart. It’s almost making me cry even now it was so beautiful and i wish that Naomi Novik would write more Greek myths.

Seven Years from Home
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was the one that for me felt like a novel. It was beautiful and complex featuring a soldier sent to colonise a nation but grows to learn that she in fact respects their way of life but she is still loyal to her Confederacy. The magic system in this book is so so strong I’m taken aback by it, the exploration of how you can seperate morality and reason and the way that such a short time somewhere can leave a lasting impression on you was so beautifully explored. Another one that almost made me cry by the end, it’s rare i read something as perfect as this.

The Long Way Around
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I hope she does like she hinted make this into a novel this is a sea journey that explores strange lands through the perspective of some of the best shipbuilders in the land. Tress was capable and logical and i loved her pragmatism against her brothers romantic and optimistic ways. We have a doomed romance between secondary characters in this, strange buildings and a possibility to change the course of their world’s shipping lanes. I cant wait to see if we are going to get more in this world!

Spinning Silver
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I’ve read the book of this and i enjoyed it so the shorter version that was the original was fun to read! I loved the way that it delved into her economic sense. It’s so rare for a heroine to be smart and actually have some business sense in a YA book that i was in love from the beginning. I love cruel practical heroines and this one was perfection.

Lord Dunsany’s Teapot
⭐️⭐️⭐️
So so short but fun to read – despite being about a magical artifact in the world wars! Definitely worth a read it has some gorgeous imagery and hope and humanity to it!

I cant remember much about the rest of them, i think there were a few more but they weren’t long enough that I found them memorable personally. Still there were none that i disliked and would have rated lower than three stars which is super impressive considering some of them were literally only about twenty pages.

Romance and Violence Ratings are both very low for all, Seven years from home is the only one that had some described death and pain. Romance wise all the kisses are G rated and no description.

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Mini Mention Monday

Welcome back to another mini mention for those books that dont quite have enough to chat about that i can write a long usual blog post on them but still deserve a little bit of a spotlight and i want to share the violence and spice ratings for!

The Royal Runaway by Kate O Keefe

This is a fun quick romcom and the main thing i loved was that they both were keeping their identity from each other. It’s not the best place to start a relationship but that they were both doing it made it feel a lot less toxic than some hidden identity romances. I loved all the rules that structured the beginning of the book and the way they slowly dispersed as Amelia gained more confidence. There was an interesting twist at the end which i knew must be coming because there were little odd clues but it was still a little bit of a surprise. 

Romance Rating: Soft – just kisses, little to no detail. 

Violence Rating: Level 1 – this is a ‘clean’ romance it doesn’t have any violence in it. 

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Mini Mention Monday

This is where I have all my little mini reviews (that you can also find on Fable, StoryGraph and Goodreads, although Fable is my primary short form reviewing platform) for books that were three stars or under and so I’m not going to write a whole blog post for but still want to give you my thoughts and the violence/spice ratings for them!

Royally Off Limits by Kate O Keeffe

This is the fourth book in this series, and it held up to the fun romcom expectations I had for it. This one is I think my favourite of the series so far – Max and Valentina had this amazing tension and chemistry and I always love a good secret identity/backstory. We alternate povs throughout book and overall it was a solid fun rom-com. It didn’t rock my world but it comfortably sat within it and I enjoyed the ride. My favourite part was when Max and Valentina were still in the interview phase, i would have loved more scenes of them interacting like they did at the archery range. Overall if you want a quick light rom-com this is the one to read and it’s a great series to binge over the holidays.
I will say that that terse vibe between them in the beginning is perfection though and I really enjoyed it.

Romance Rating: Soft – kissing, little to no description.
Violence Level – Level 1 – it’s a romcom we don’t have any violence in it.
Content Warnings: none.

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Mini Mention Monday – Picking Daisies on Sundays by Liana Cincotti

This is the place where I mention all the reads that dont quite merit a full review because they are under four stars, but I also have things to say so I can let you know what content is in them (if i finished them or not, i do include DNFs if i read over half way because that has wasted enough of my time that i can have opinions).

I’ve had this book on my TBR for a while and when i saw it came onto Kindle Unlimited i thought why not I’m in the mood for a calm predictable romance. This didnt surprise me, it was exactly what i thought it would be, but i enjoyed it. I felt like the main character was the saving grace of this book, she was interesting and flawed enough to make me continue but I struggled with the chemistry between the characters. I felt like Levi was so perfect that he wasn’t almost real and this may just have been because we were seeing him through Daisy’s eyes whom was head over heels in love with him but i really just thought the romance was underdeveloped. They had this epic love story on paper, but what it really was was a not quite unrequited love from high school and a random meet up that threw them together. This would work as a hallmark romance big city story but i just struggled with the lack of depth anywhere except in Daisy/Dani’s personal journey.

Romance Rating: Sweet – we get a few described kisses, but they are in very little detail.

Violence Rating: this is a tricky one to rate because Daisy is assaulted in the book, she gets away before he can do more than touch her leg but it still raises this quite a lot from a level one. I’m going to put this at a level two because there is no other violence in the whole book at all, and so a level four doesn’t fit it either.

Content Warnings: body dysphoria (experienced by the main character but not named), sexual assault on the main character (she gets away after he touches her leg and tries to pyschologically abuse her into thinking her only chance at success is if he helps her but it is still a significant plot point which was unusually violent in a otherwise calm novel), parental death of a father from cancer

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