Tag: romance

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. 

0

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. 

0

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.

0

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

0

The Baby Dragon Bookshop by A T Qureshi

 




Pub Date: 12th of February, 2026
Publisher: Avon
Genre: Cosy Fantasy, Romance
Age Category: Adult

I have loved every page of the previous two books and so this one was a no brainer for me instant ARC request and first on my reading list once it was approved. This was extraordinarily good as all of her books are and once again it proves that romance books can be five stars for me just as much as epic fantasy and historical fantasy because honestly it was like she had read my mind and written the perfect book. Let me dive into it.

To begin with Emmeline and Luke have this raw chemistry that is so present in every line and gesture towards each other. It means that even something as simple as handing her a thermos of tea has so much emotional charge and feeling behind it and the whole book was devoured by me in one sitting because I couldn’t go to sleep before I had inhaled every word of this gorgeous gorgeous book.

Their history and rivalry is offset against moments where they genuinely connect and we get this slow growth throughout the book towards each other which is so beautiful to see. Often with enemies to lovers or rivals to lovers which this is, they go from rivals to lovers, its instant and overnight and usually just because they find the other physically attractive. However the way this is crafted makes it a love story that will last not just a lust story that will fizzle out when the pages close like a lot of romance books I read and yes. Just read it. This book is everything that the romance genre should be and it swirls in some gorgeously humerous baby dragon moments too (and also a few references back to the last couples if you’ve read the first two books!)

The character of Emmeline is eldest daughter incarnate, and I love that it isnt hammered home that point but slowly shown and developed through her actions. I may have got a tear in my eye when Luke noticed her efforts and helped her – okay I definitely did – because everything about this book was emotionally perfect and romantic and yet somehow builds upon the world that was established in the first two books. I loved seeing the Chimeras side of the valley and I’ve just got all my fingers and toes crossed that we get another book because this is AMAZING!

World – 5/5 – is it a hardcore epic world no but is it perfect and settled and everything that I need to to be yes.

Characters – 5/5 – literal perfection. I’m going to create a list of the top books I’ve read this year and this is going to be on it because PERFECTION!

Romance – 100000/5 – it’s so good that I cant describe it in any other way than perfectly imperfect and swoony!

Plot – 4.5/5 – I knew what was going to happen, it’s a romance book, they follow a three act structure but the way it happened? The way it was developed? If tropes were always represented like this I wouldn’t get bored of them!

Romance Rating: Suggestive Swoony B – we get some steamy making out and a very slow fade to black/less than a page sex scene with euphemistic language.

Violence Rating: Level 1 – its romance.

Content Warnings: mention of a girl getting her drink spiked at a party years ago and what could have happened if she hadnt been found in time. The man who drugged her drink interacts with some of the characters at one point but no justice is found.

1

The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

14+

To begin with why is this not more famous than the inheritance games? This book is flawless, and honestly? It deserves the title of the best of series ten times over because what do you mean I was absorbed and obsessed from page one?

Okay so the premise surrounds the FBI and serial killers – the FBI are secretly using children with almost supernatural abilities to track down serial killers and our main character has just been recruited.

To begin with, the way that Jennifer writes the serial killers perspective is just so so stunning and dark, and I absolutely adore that it really shows how psychological it is to have to figure out a serial killers motive. There is this undercurrent throughout that the only way they can figure out the serial killers is because they are one push away from becoming them themselves which is just perfection and I adore a good moral edge.

This is much darker than the Inheritance Games and her debutante series because it focuses on the worse of murders and also abusive households. All of the children in the program come from extremely abusive homes because that is the reason they have developed these abilities – to read emotions, to understand patterns and numbers, to tell when someone is lying perfectly even on paper, to be able to lie over and over and get away with it.

World – 5/5 – dark, gritty, perfection.

Romance – Soft – 5/5 – we have a love triangle emerging but unusually I actually get both the men’s appeal so I’m loving that!

Plot – 5/5 – I was shook by the end! It was so good and so out of no where that honestly you just need to read it!

Characters – 10000/5 – yes. Just yes they are so complex and difficult and I want a spin off from all of their POVS!

Romance Rating: Soft – kisses, low description, no making out.

Violence Rating: Level 5

Content Warnings: abuse, serial killers, domestic abuse, child abuse, murder, blood, guns.

0

Better Than The Movies by Lynn Painter

This was a fun enemies to lovers rom com that I breezed through quickly. It’s light and fun and hits lots of the iconic rom-com moments from movies that Liz loves so much. For me personally I found it a little too surface level, unlike Betting on You the characters didn’t have the same chemistry and tension. This feels younger than Betting on You, (which I loved) which I think is what threw me off. This feels very much younger YA compared to Betting on You and I think that if I had read this one earlier I may have enjoyed it more.

There were just too many things that annoyed me with this book. I felt like Liz changed herself massively for Wes, and in pursuit of the other guy, which I always hate. This was published in the 2020s, we should be over the Girl Changes Herself trope, yet that was a huge part of this book and yet nobody questioned it? Wes was just happy to change her from the ‘odd’ outfits she wore before and enjoyed shopping with her? I think this was supposed to be a cute moment but no. Just no.

I also hated that the childhood friends-to-lovers i was promised was more bullies to lovers. Wes and Liz’s prank war could have been fun if it was in good humour, but Liz wasn’t enjoying it and he was escalating the pranks to a ridiculous degree like duct taping up her car so she couldn’t get to school. It just did not hit well at all, and I am not going to read the sequel because what was this?

If you want to read Lynn Painter I would recommend Betting on You more because it just hit so much harder for me and the romance was sizzling off the pages even when nothing romantic was happening!  

Romance – Sweet – 1/5 – its a no from me.

World – 3/5 – its our world but very high school rom-com energy.

Characters – 4/5

Plot –  3/5 – it does what every rom-com plot should, and I cant complain of anything but there just wasn’t anything that really reached out to me and stood out from the other rom-coms I’ve read.

Content Warnings: mothers death, several years prior.

Romance Rating: Sweet – kisses, some making out but nothing close to any doors closed or otherwise.

Violence Rating: Level 1

0

Voice of the Ocean by Kelsey Impicciche

ARC – coming out 22nd of April

Let me just say I loved that she made the prince a pirate! It changes the entire dynamic, making them at sea (a place where Celeste the little mermaid) is comfortable and experienced as well as adding extra to the tensions between the two kingdoms! I have read a lot of Little Mermaid retellings that don’t make sufficient changes from the original fairytale that the plot is still entertaining to follow but the reveal at the end (even though there were clues!) I was still surprised by.

I also really liked that Celeste was able to speak and just didn’t because she knew her accent would stand out.

World – 3.5/5 – I mentioned that it was at sea, we get to see a little bit of the palace as well as generally her on the ship and then on the land for a brief amount of time. There isn’t much word building, the focus is Celeste and her personal relationships.

Romance – 4/5 – It was predictable, after all one of the major points of the Little Mermaid is that she falls in love with the prince, but I still liked the journey to get there and Raiden himself was interesting and I would have liked more development of his morals and character.

Plot – 3.5/5 – there was a twist at the end, but the rest of the plot stayed smooth and predictable. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, one of the things of retellings is we know the plot but it’s the journey to get there!

Characters – 3.5/5 – Mauve the Cecaelia was actually my favourite despite her limited page time because she had the interesting position of agreeing with the siren properganda/beliefs but also being friends with someone who is muddying up the waters (sort-of-pun intended!).

Damsel Reader Recommendation: 13+, for lovers of fairytale retellings!

Violence Rating: Level 3

Romance Rating: Sweet

Content Warnings: she is stripped at one point, I was worried it would lean into SA but it balanced on the edge.

0

Forgery of Fate by Elizabeth Lin

13+

I wasn’t expecting this but oh my goodness did I love it! We have this gorgeously vivid world full of little details and quirks that make it fantasy. It reads like a fairytale especially closer to the end – I read it was a beauty and the beast retelling but honestly it is so far away from the original and improved that I wouldn’t have made the connection otherwise! When I did realise it made for a happy discovery because then I could link all the little bits and pieces!

Tru as a heroine is so delightful to read because she bonds two of my favourite heroine attributes together: she is strong and has been strong in her own right for years and her ability is not ‘discovered’ by the romantic interest, it is something that she has already wielded for years on her own. She is a painter, forging early masters in dead artist’s style so that her and her family can survive on the little food and shelter that she can work for. Unlike a lot of heroines who are warriors she is a creative which was so lovely to read and definitely memorable!

The imagery and world of this book were honestly just exquisite especially for the first 30% or so when we were in Tru’s world. It felt so real and all the little details that had been added as we jumped into Tru’s ‘just on the slight side of illegal’ life style was honestly flawless.

I also love that Elizabeth Lin didn’t make Tru’s sisters unlikeable or vain or shallow like a lot of retellings and original versions do. It made it so much sweeter of a read for me that I wasn’t annoyed over that.

To the star ratings!

Romance – 4/5 – Soft Romance – This was such a lovely romance, I really loved the scenes they got together and the ending was just *chefs kiss*

Plot – 4/5 – While it was relatively predictable I still enjoyed it and as the focus was on th relationship and the resolution of the enemy I didn’t mind it!

Characters – 4/5 – honestly these characters were beautiful they were so distinct and yet tied together by various things that honestly I can remember them all – which I always like to be able to do by the end of a book! Some books characters just fade away instantly but these were really good and I enjoyed them!

World – 5/5 – gorgeous. Just gorgeous.

Age Recommendation: YA –  12+ – while I think that older readers would also enjoy this it is a romance that I would be happy to give to a 12 year old and it feels on the lower age end of YA.

Romance Rating: Soft

Violence Rating: Level 3

Content Warnings: None

0

Fire by Kristen Cashore

15+

This reminded me what fantasy truly can and should be. I had a stream for the last few months of okay books that weren’t quite bad enough to put down but not overall worth remembering after I closed the last page so this really stood out and I am so glad I picked it up.

This is the second book in the Graceling Realm Series but you could also read it first as it has no spoilers and chronologically comes before Graceling. I would however recommend reading it second because not only does it give us a new world it also gives  a villain origin story.

Fire is such a different lead to Katsa but I don’t love her any less! As a ‘monster’ she has such beauty that people around her become entranced and often attack her or stalk her for her beauty. She can read minds and so she is constantly surrounded by a barrage of people who hate her for the beauty she possesses and yet love her because they are attracted to her.

As you can probably tell this book does have more sexual harassment than Graceling (check the content warnings!) and yet it never feels overpowering just an exploration of how even a girl who can see everyone’s intentions is often ensnared in their predatory desires.

The rest of the cast are honestly great in their own right. Most of them I love to hate like Nate and Archer (the later of whom the narrator Fire never holds fully accountable because they used to be lovers and she still views him very fondly but from a readers perspective he is absolutely abhorrent by the end). Others I love to love and I am definitely going to have to reread this one very soon because it is just so so so good.

And the world. That animals could manipulate humans with their minds? That the whole world revolves around monsters and humans yet Fire is somehow both? And above all Fire’s determination to use her powers for good after she saw what her father used them for.

Read this. Honestly one of the best series I have ever read.

Romance – 5/5 – Soft – not really heavily present in the story but I love what’s there.

World – 100000/5 – perfection. Literal perfection.

Characters – 100000/5 – EVERYTHING I WANT AND MORE. I am obsessed with these characters and I think I may continue to be until my dying day (Taylor reference!).

Plot – 5/5 – it isn’t a quest plot, a romance plot or a become powerful plot it’s a plot which incorporates war, politics, self discovery, betrayal and a terrifying magic that only you believe is happening.

Age Recommendation: 14+B/Upper YA/Adult Crossover

Romance Rating: Soft

Violence Rating: Level 4

Content Warnings: Rape (mentioned in the past to other characters), Sexual Assault (happens on page to the MC in various degrees of severity but she is able to extract herself before it goes very far) Teenaged Pregnancy, Animal Abuse (past)

0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑