Author: Lottie@DamselinDelight

Deep Dive into Heat Levels

I recently added a new area to my reviews that if they include romance I define more what that content is and my current system is:

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 its not going to be some detailed graphic scene and it will focus more on the emotional impact it has on the characters.

Swoony A – less than a paragraph, euphemistic

Swoony B – less than a page, euphemistic

However I went down a research rabbit hole to work these out and so I thought I’d share a few links and interesting articles I read about this industry gap. Everyone disagrees and one of the things that makes taking book recs so difficult is that what one reader might think is low violence and moderate spice, another might think is high violence and no spice. It all depends on what you read and personally I am fine with all these different categories of heat – only no spice/very very low sexual content nothing graphic. Personally I like books that float around a few kisses and lots of swoon but nothing sexual and most of my recs reflect that!

Anyway to the links!

Rachel Rowland has an interesting article on her website about heat levels (I would say that these are probably the usual levels excepted across most readers and genres) here.

Romance Book Coach offers heat levels based on tv age ratings here. She also adds language and themes that are explored in those relationships.

I started my deep dive from Bookshelf Fantasy’s post here which contains several links to the articles she found.

Michelle over on the Writing Gals made a diagram of content that she considers is still clean and wholesome in romance. This is really interesting because it shows how much before overlaps with the next heat level – if you are reading a Smokey rec of mine (I rarely promote only romance, but fantasy romance, dystopian whatever) if it is a Smokey then it will still contain content from Suggestive just a step up.

Happy Reading! It was fun taking you down this rabbithole of mine with me!

Lottie

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February Booklist: My Fictional Valentines

This is for all the people out there who want a fictional valentine! Here are my top five couples from various books and my favourite most romantic quotes from each one from various books! I’m always looking for more recommendations, so do send me yours. I have tried to do one from each genre I review so have a look down!

Fantasy Valentine

Powerless, Paedyn and Kai are just *chef’s kiss*. It seems they are in every booklist and post I create but it is because they are truly one of the booktok books that exceeded all the hype it was given. Picking their quotes was like eating one sweet but here they are!

Quotes:

“Remind me to make you smile like that again, when you arent dying and i have all the time in the world to memorise it.” – Kai

Paedyn: “I could get used to you being a gentlemen, Azer.”

Kai: “and i could get used to being one for you, Gray”

Pae: “I didnt realise you had watched me so closely.”

Kai: “Watched? Darling I never stopped.”

Dystopian Valentine

See this is really tricky to pick! I love dystopian so much, Red Queen and others like it are constantly being added to my shelves and their romances all deserve to be on this list (although Mare and Cal are especially adorable). In the end I decided Kennedy and Phoenix (twelfth keeper) took the prize (despite the age gap which I try really hard to ignore).

Quotes:

Phoenix: “I dont bite”

Kennedy: “No you just burn”

Phoenix: “true”

Special (kinda cheating a little because it isnt from the first book but i had to include”

Kennedy: “If my soul has a compass, it always points to Phoenix. Wherever he goes, I follow.”

Historical (like victorican feel but with magic) Fantasy Valentine

Fierce Heart by Tara Grayce – this is actually on kindle unlimited so if you have that then it can be downloaded in time for Valentines! This is a elf/human arranged marriage slowburn and I’ve read the entire series twice over and the romance is just so cute. Really hard to find a super romantic quote because it is a slowburn over the series and they are more demonstrative in their romantic interest like learning about each others culture and language.

Quotes:

Farrendel – “Your smile. No one else was smiling. They were looking at each other as enemies. but you smiled, as if we were people you were happy to meet.”

 Warrior/Assassin/Fighter Valentine

The one is from The Throne of Glass series, the prequel which is called the Assassins Blade. I adore Caeleana and Sam, and honestly, they are the epitome of a good rivals to lovers/assassin to assassin trope and jostle for the position of my favourite book couple EVER.

Favourite Quote

“She would tuck Sam into her heart, a bright light for her to take out whenever things were darkest.”

Urban Fantasy Valentine

The Lies of Vampires and Slayers by K.M Shea

Jade and Connor. 100% percent. They just win hands down. He is a vampire so one of my favourite things is all his teasing nicknames for her like “afternoon tea” and “emergency rations”. they are so comfortable together and these ever changing fond nicknames are just adorable. Its also a slowburn so no direct quotes from this one but it is so worth the read and it is a completed trilogy! It is also on kindle unlimited!

Happy Valentines!

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The Storytellers Tale by Judith Bouilloc

Thanks to Net Gallery + Rivka for this e-ARC copy! As always all thoughts and opinions stated are my own.

13+B

I went into this expecting a sweet romance but this book was honestly amazing. I loved it from start to finish, it was quick paced but we also had lots of details and plenty of different characters. It was attually translated from French, and I was concerned that maybe some of the text might not run as smooth but there were no stumbling blocks!

Our main character, Illiad (can I just say how much I love that name?) is honestly the perfect mc for this book. She almost floats through the world, gathering words and books along the way. She is self confident, she knows her own power and I loved that. So many books have heroines learning about their power but Illiad already knows her power and it is just what she chooses to do with it!

The world of being a snatchwords (someone who can read words and they come to life in illusions) set against a truly historical (but with flying deer!) fantasy set in France with lots of true classics mentioned was just so good. I – the world is incredible so complex but then so graspable from page one because we understand the societal undercurrents of power.

It almost reads as a ‘if the French Revolution hadn’t be necessary’ narrative which I loved exploring and this is definitely an unexpected find – that should be all over Bookstagram, it is gorgeous – and it is just gorgeous.

I have said gorgeous several times now so I’ll go to the star ratings

World – 10000/5 – deceptively simple but we have so many different elements that I can rethink over and redefine and wonder what might happen in the story from another persons perspective if it continued. Also Babel? Libaries? Magic surrounding libraries? You know I have to read it.

Characters – 4/5 – I really enjoyed them, especially Virginia – Illiads sister/lawyer/activist. She avoided all the pit falls of a powerful older sister archetype and just glowed throughout the story.

Romance – 4/5 – Soft Romance (definition on the link through). When Advil was first introduced I thought he was going to become the stereotype of the grumpy x sunshine trope but he had more layers than I was expecting and seemed to actually care for the world around him in a way that is often missing from this character type. Their romance was warm but it also had all the tense moments and a flying deer and an arranged marriage and a previous engagement (Illiad’s) so gorgeous.

Plot – 4/5 – it was entertaining, it moved quickly and I wasn’t bored for a second. I do wish that it had a little bit more development of the aftermath of the ending but it is a fantasy romance so the romance deserved the limelight a little bit too!

Content Warnings: SA (someone kisses the mc without her permission) that is what the B is for, a few mentions of suicide/poison/manipulation. Also a bit of ableism, the mc has lost vision in his right eye and several people think he is unattractive (including the FMC in the beginning) I wasn’t sure if this was because of his injury or dislike of his reputation but thought it would be worth a mention if that would be triggering for you. She does see him naked accidentally but it isnt sexual so i just thought i would put that in.

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Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by the Broke and Bookish and now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl where bloggers are given a prompt that is usually a list of ten bookish things.

This weeks prompt was –

Love Freebie…. Top Ten Romance Tropes!

Rivals to Lovers – Celaena Sardothian and Sam Cortland are honestly one of the most beautiful couples I have ever read – just EVERYTHING about their relationship is swoonworthy. So Rivals-to-Lovers has to go to their romance in Assassins Blade.

Enemies to Lovers – Powerless, Kai Azer, Paedyn Gray. Everything about their relationship redeemed Enemies to Lovers for me, they are just such a swoony couple and I was supporting them from page one (that meeting scene….how could I not?)

Friends to Lovers – Changeling by Molly Harper (she is also best friends with his sister so we get the friends older brother trope in there too!)

He falls first and harder – Graceling, Kristen Cashore (tho Kat falls pretty hard for Po too!).

Flirty sparring – I think this again has to go to Powerless (I had to try really hard not to add sharing a bed non romantically and comforting them from nightmares because all of these are in the perfection that is Powerless).

Arranged Marriage – Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson – this was tricky, I love arranged marriage theoretically but it is rarely done well (if you have any recs I’d love them.) Arranged Marriage is a huge trope in it but not romantically.

Royalty/Aristocrat – I think that Jessica Day George’s couple from Dragonskin Slippers (review coming!) Luka and Creel might just have to take this one, the book is slightly younger than many of my other recs (still a 12+ because of violence etc) but it is 100% worth a read and it does hold up even as an older reader.

Slow Burn Romance – This was tricky because slow burn can mean over the book, the series or whatever but I think it goes to Connor and Jade from KM Shea’s Magiford subseries! It is the only book I haven’t written a full review on yet but I promise its coming!

Academia Romance –  Deadly Education, slow burn, subplot romance, dark but stunningly intricate and deadly.

Do you have any recs with these or other tropes??

Happy Reading!

Lottie

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Mini Mention Monday: Mini Review

Mini Mention Monday

This is a new bookish meme I have created which involves a tiny review, callback to a favourite series or a mention of what you are looking forward too on your TBR! This is a chance to highlight things that are mini and not quite big enough to usually get their own post/video especially our favourite novellas/short stories.

This week’s Mini Mention Monday is… A Fellowship of Games and Fables!

This is the third book in the Adrenshire series (the fourth is coming out this November!) and it was just as adorable a cosy fantasy as the others. 

Jez the fennex is a character that we meet in the other books and I wasn’t quite sure I would have the emotional connection to her that I did with the last two heroines but I absolutely did! 

I really enjoyed the exploration of how Jez and her family had grown so distant from familiaral expectations but also how she grew to be able to look back on her past with more than shame and guilt. 

This centres around the Yule Games (making this a great Christmas/wintertime read!) and the romance between Taeyna and Jez is just adorable! 

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Mini Mention Monday: Mini Review

Mini Mention Monday

This is a new bookish meme I have created which involves a tiny review, callback to a favourite series or a mention of what you are looking forward too on your TBR! This is a chance to highlight things that are mini and not quite big enough to usually get their own post/video especially our favourite novellas/short stories.

This weeks Mini Mention is….A Fellowship of Librarians and Dragons!

Just so adorable! 

I loved Doli from the last book and peeling back the happy always glowing mask that she wore in the first book and allowing the reader to see that she was dealing with her own insecurities underneath was so nice to read. 

Saxon her gargoyle was just so adorable – who doesn’t need a librarian book boyfriend who has shelves full of dragon books??? 

And there were dragons! An adorable little baby dragon that ensnared my heart from page one and I was 1000% in for the ride! 

Also! At the end the author includes several recipes to make the delicious cakes and food eaten by the characters so if you find yourself starving reading a fantasy diet of cakes and buttercream just flip to the back!

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The Runaway Offering by Alythia Connor

14+B

Thanks to Book Sirens and Alythia Connor for this ARC read and as always all opinions are my own.
Genre: YA Fantasy
Age Category:  YA

This book follows a main character who is relearning everything she previously thought about the world and her place within it. Raised in an isolated village guarded by armed horsemen to keep out ‘sinners’ from interacting with the village folk Akedia has only ever been offered one perspective. That perspective seems to have been accepted by everyone around her without question – the human sacrifices which are beheaded become demigods. It is an honour. Right?

I found it really interesting how Akedia absorbed everything around her before making a decision about the truth at the end, but even then it was complex. The danger of a cultish religion and how much power isolation and twisted knowledge can have on people was explored thoroughly.

However I really struggled with the romance. Tamu her love interest kidnapped her and was forcing her to do ‘three favours’ which he refused to disclose or die by his magic. Akedia seems to quickly forget that she is essentially in a hostage situation and her feelings go from disgust to attraction very quickly.

That said there were several positives about this book and I would read another book by this author in the future.

Characters – 3/5 – they work, I liked Morra a lot, she would be a 5 star character on her own, the way she brought up morality vs the law was just beautiful especially considering the naiivity of the main character.

World – 3/5 – its good, we see several different locations in a dessert vaguely Eastern world and it never made me trip up on any of the details.

Plot – 4/5 – the premise is incredibly solid and I picked it up because I knew I would enjoy the plot however it did dip a little in the middle – the scenes with Tamu’s family were a nice break from the terror of fleeing the altar as a sacrifice but it sidelined from the plot a little bit.

Romance – 2/5 – Soft Romance – I’ve already said in the review that this is something I struggled with but I would still recommend this book just be aware that the romantic relationship is has toxic foundations.

Content Warnings: Sexual Assault (it is on the page, non graphic and stopped but still something to be aware of. It was quite sudden and random without being brought up again in the plot), Religious Abuse (non graphic, they are beheading people in the name of ‘religion’ and teaching them that it is right but it isnt graphic we just get told the mc can hear the axe).

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Mini Mention Monday: Mini Review

Mini Mention Monday

This is a new bookish meme I have created which involves a tiny review, callback to a favourite series or a mention of what you are looking forward too on your TBR! This is a chance to highlight things that are mini and not quite big enough to usually get their own post/video especially our favourite novellas/short stories.

This weeks mini mention is… the Fellowship of Bakers and Magic by J Penner 

The essence of the cosy fantasy genre! Warmth just beams through this cosy tale set in a fantasy world full of different races of magical people – humans, elves, fennexes, dwarves, orcs and a few more obscure ones too! 

Following Arleta a human who had been struggling against the prejudices the market overseer Mr Figlet to sell her baked goods at even half of their worth was really enjoyable, she was full of spirit and yet vulnerable at the same time! 

The plot is centred around a great British bake off competition and lots of delectably described sweet treat!

So grab a few sweets and a warm drink and settle down for the good vibes and a heartwarming romance! 

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January Reading Recap!

Happy 2025 Damsels! The first month has gone (slowly) but I have read some great reads fresh to my hoard from the Christmas presents! From sweet dystopian romance to high fantasy to booktok mystery-thrillers there is something for every reader!

These books have been all over the booksta for years but I somehow havent read them until now! I picked them up early in the month and devoured them in two days. I would 100% recommend and I have full reviews for 1, 2 and 3 for more details and content warnings. If you are looking for mystery thriller, a smart lead that doesn’t make you want to shake some sense into them and a really complex plot then GGGTM is everything!

This is a really fast paced read, full of Greek gods and trials in a gorgeous ancient Greek mythology inspired world. With revenge fueled participation in trials that are designed to be an amusing and violent gods entertainment and a unlimited wish at the end for anything but immortality and a little bit of romance its a great read. My full review is here

Stunning twist on the traditional damsel and dragon tale – this is YA fantasy at its best and Elodie is one of the most realistic heroines i have read in a while. This is going straight onto the best reads of 2025 – link to review here

I loved this from start to finish – super hero satire and a feminist take on the outdated ‘love interest’ trope? I was completely sold and read it in less than 48 hours it was just gorgeous. Full review here but let me heavily encourage you that this should go straight on your TBR it is a breath of fresh air all readers need!

These are gorgeous books set in a fantasy world with lots of magic centered around tea and its ceremonies. With a sweet romantic subplot, an self-exiled princess learning about the realities of the oppression refugees in her kingdom are facing and a gorgeous tea dragon in the second you NEED to read this series. Its just gorgeous.

Books I read that are coming soon!

Meet Me at Midnight by Brianna Bourne

Nightweavers by RM Gray

Heir of Storms by Lauryn Murray

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Dragon Recs

This is the first of my new series of recommendations based on the animals they have in them! We all love our furry, scaly and feathered friends in our reads and I’m starting off with dragons.

There are so many different types of dragons. We have the classic evil one who eats maidens and must be defeated by the knight. We have the greedy gold hoarding ones. We have intelligent dragons and animalistic dragons and dragons with magical powers. We have dragonriders, dragon trainers and dragon fighters. But I digress.

Our first dragon rec is quite a famous one but it is honestly one of the books that really got me into the fantasy genre and Saphira is just perfect dragon vibes throughout the series.

The Dragon book is, of course, Eragon by Christopher Paolini!

From this beautiful illustrated edition to the beaten up paperbacks I read over and over Eragon never fails a reread!

Happy Reading

Lottie

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