Category: Bits and Bookends

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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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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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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Sasha vs the Whole Wide World (and dragons) by Rachel Taylor Thompson

Thanks to Net Galley for this e-ARC read and all opinions are my own!
Pub Date: Apr 01 2025
Publisher: Rachel Taylor Thompson
Genre: Alternate Reality, Heist, Urban Fantasy
Age Category: YA

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme that originated at Breaking the Spine but has now linked up with Waiting for Wednesday at Wishful Endings. It is always a fun chance to display books that are going to be joining our bookshelves very soon in 2025!

13+

This was so good!

I went into this expecting a fun frolic and it didn’t just deliver it gave me everything I wanted and DRAGONS. I know it was in the title, but I had expected a few dragons, not a glorious world full of different varieties. We have seadragons, truedragons, even beedragons!

Sasha was driven character from the beginning, and we are swept into her delightfully morally askew world as she witnesses a seadragon die and steals it’s Semis. The Semis is something huge in her world –  the last time it happened there was a huge man hunt and several deaths but as far as Sasha is concerned there was also millions.

Throughout Sasha had a really fun narrative voice to read, rampant with ‘Clemisms’, sayings her (just a little crooked) family have raised her on which support all of her decisions in the beginning. It was really lovely to see her motives change and grow over the course. At the beginning of each chapter she keeps track of her finances (such a lovely way of reminding about her motives and how money is such a huge thing because of the lack of it in her life) but it also reminds us of the ticking clock behind her – the whole country is out for her, the whole world’s governments are looking for her and the Semis and she only has a few grand with which to avoid them with. oh and that’s all that’s left of her collage money too!

Plot – 5/5 – it was fast but we also got all the details that my little worldbuilding heart needs so just perfect!

Romance – 4.5/5 – Soft Romance – I just love a good dreamscape scene, when both lower their boundaries and just talk without the pressures of the real world and this had several glorious examples of how well this can be done! Ari was adorable too – and how sweet he was with the dogs! (did I mention that there are three dogs named after the Bronte sisters along for the heist???)

Characters – 4/5 – I loved Sasha, she was such a good character and I love that Rachel Thompson didn’t make her family too likeable (they had flaws but still came out to support Sasha in their own non law abiding way)

World – 5/5 – DRAGONS! I have mentioned the dragons but they were glorious so I will mention it again! The rest of the world was really well defined too – Sasha crosses huge swathes of land but every place she goes to has its own feel even through she never goes to any huge landmarks.

Content Warnings: some sexual harassment to the mc, but she gets out of the situation quickly so only 1/5. Threat.

Such a fun read and 100% worth it this needs to go on your TBR for 2025!

Happy Reading!

Lottie

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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 –

2024 Releases I Was Excited to Read but Still Haven’t Gotten To (will you be prioritizing these this year?)

1 – Reckless by Lauren Roberts – I will absolutely be prioritising this read 100% (I only got it at Christmas but it is already being pushed higher and higher on my TBR and I’m definitely going to have a read of that so I can have a complete trilogy read through when Fearless comes out!

 2 – Powerful by Lauren Roberts – yes another one of Lauren Roberts’s books! I haven’t bought this one yet but when I do it is going straight to the top of my TBR (even if the ending is going to devastate me – why do the supporting characters always have to die??)

3 – A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizel – vampires, illegal underworlds and heists! As soon as I saw the synopsis for this book I knew I had to read it.

4 – Grandest Game by Jennifer Lynn Hawthorne – this came out last year but I haven’t had a chance to read it yet! I always love a second series in the same world with old and new characters so I am definitely going to give this one a try!

5 – Burning Crowns by Catherine Doyle – I cannot believe I haven’t read this one yet! It sounds like just the fantasy read that I look for and it most certainly is a priority to read in 2025.

6 – Castle of the Cursed by Romina Garber – it is on my bookshelf and I am looking forward to reading it! I have so many books on my TBR right now that it is slightly lower than some others (so it might be a few months before I read it!) but it is definitely in my top fifty books I 100% want to read in 2025.

7 – Two Sides to Every Murder by Danielle Valentine – this sounds like just the murder/thriller I’d enjoy. I love murders that are being looked back on from the future (it was one of my favourite things about a good girls guide to murder) it just gives so much space for finding out the secrets of the past and how they lead to the formation of the present.

8 – Chaos and Flame and Blood and Fury by Tessa Gratton –  the second book came out and I cant wait to read the first – its all the kind of things I love in my fantasy, houses, competiting fractions, long lost inheritance.

9 – The Medici Heist by Caitlin Schneiderhan – historical details and a heist including Michelangelo in one of the most beautiful cities in the world? how could I not put this on my catchup list?

10 – Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli – romantasy, witches and a world that sounds just like my kind of thing? I cant believe that this one has gone through 2024 without me reading it!

Extra – Fate Breaker by Victoria Aveyard! This came out in February and I couldnt read it instantly because i hadnt read the others! Red Queen had me completely head over heels with her writing style and I’m still partly in a book hangover from the ending! I am going to read this book 10000% in 2025.

Happy Reading!

Lottie

 



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February Book Club Read Starting!

With the start of a new month comes a new book!

 For February we are reading Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard, lots of reading, book chat and fun! For the next four weeks we are going to read through Realm Breaker and just generally chat about our favourite things about it (and lots of other books!).

I am hosting the readalong on Storygraph this month (link here if you want to join!) Whether you would like to join this months read silently or actively participating in the bookish conversation then we’d love you to join!

From book playlists to listen to as you read to thematic discussion to interviews and other bookish content it’s a really fun chance to read and revisit (or discover) the enchanting worlds of Victoria Aveyard.

Come and join in!

 We’d love to have you

Damsel in Delight Book Club

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