The Summer of Sarah MacLean

In anticipation of Sarah MacLean’s upcoming novel, Bombshell—the first in the Hell’s Belles series—I have decided to embark on a Summer of Sarah MacLean, in which I will be re-reading all of her novels leading up to Bombshell’s release on August 24 (which you can, and should, pre-order now). To help me mark my progress as I read through her whole booklist, I created the above (Sarah MacLean-approved) tracker for my bullet journal, because that’s just the kind of person I am. I also plan to write up a short blog post occasionally along the way.

The purpose of this exercise is twofold:

First, although you absolutely do not need to read her previous books to understand Bombshell, all of MacLean’s books take place in the same “universe,” as it were, with character cameos and easter eggs crossing through each of her four (soon to be five) series. For instance, jilted fiances from one book show up several books later as heroines, and the club established by the heroine of one book is frequented by characters from previous (and future) novels. In other words, Sarah MacLean offers tasty little tidbits for her dedicated readers, and while I caught some of them the first time I read her books, I also missed a lot of them, in large part because I read her books entirely out of order.

In general it is accepted that one can read most novels in a romance series out of order without losing too much, as the central romance will always have a complete arc within a single novel. That’s certainly true for MacLean’s books as well, but if you’ve never read her before, I urge you to begin at the beginning of a series (if not at the beginning of her entire oeuvre), not because it’s necessary* but because it’s so satisfying.

(*The Bareknuckle Bastards trilogy is an exception. You really kind of have to start at the beginning with that one, but trust me when I say the payoff is extremely worth it.)

The thing is, romance series generally don’t have the strongest concepts. Typically, a set of siblings or a group of friends all find love in sequence, and each get their promised happily ever after. This is completely fine, and is in fact how I’m writing my own romance at the moment, but it’s certainly fun when a series does have a strong concept tying it together, so that by the time you get to the final book there is a reward greater than simply seeing the last of the characters pair off. Sarah MacLean does this with truly enviable skill and I, at least, want to read all of her books in order to fully experience that skill. (For a full list of her different series, click here.)

The second purpose of my re-read is more selfish. As I mentioned, I am myself writing a romance novel, and in reading all of Sarah MacLean’s books in order, I am able to pay attention to how her storytelling develops and deliberately pay attention to how she structures and paces her novels, something that is easy to miss if you’re simply barrelling through a book (as I often am) because it’s so unputdownable.

I’ll be checking in again in the next week or so to let you know how the reread is going and with an updated tracker image. Until then, happy reading! And pre-order Bombshell!

Not your average friends-to-lovers romance: The Roommate Risk by Talia Hibbert

Talia Hibbert recently re-released her 2018 novel Wanna Bet? with a new cover and a catchy new title: The Roommate Risk, currently available as an ebook for $0.99 and, in my professional opinion, worth every single one of those pennies—and then some.

The newly re-covered and renamed The Roommate Risk by Talia Hibbert.

The Roommate Risk is, essentially, the story of two best friends who have been in love since approximately the moment they met. However, while Rahul—controlled, responsible, and perhaps a little too tightly-wound since his father’s death a year earlier—is painfully aware of his feelings and has spent seven years trying to keep a lid on them, Jasmine, who doesn’t do romance or relationships (and is certain she would fail at them if she did), sees Rahul as her beloved and dependable friend. No matter how hot he is (and Jasmine has to admit, he is very hot), Rahul is too important to her to risk complicating their relationship with sex.

However, as the book’s new title might suggest, a series of unfortunate events leads to Jasmine having no choice but to temporarily live with Rahul, and the easy domesticity and thick sexual tension have them both struggling to keep lines from growing blurry.

There are a few things that make this book stand apart from other friends-to-lovers romances. First, Hibbert is just a plain great writer with a light touch, equally successful in the hilarious banter she writes between Rahul and Jas as she is in the bleak moments where Rahul and Jasmine face grief, disappointment, and pain, often regarding their familial relationships. Like Hibbert’s most recent novels, The Roommate Risk is a “rom-com” that grounds itself in the often-uncomedic reality of life, giving both the humor and the romantic fantasy a heft, a solidity, that keeps the story and characters in your mind after you’ve finished.

The second thing that I loved about this book was the use of flashbacks. Friends-to-lovers can be a tricky genre if the reader is unconvinced of the characters’ history with each other, or if they can’t quite understand what that history is or how it’s changed. Flashbacks are a great way to solve this problem. At the same time, flashbacks, if not handled well, can start feeling redundant or frustratingly in the way of the main narrative; they become something to slog through rather than a treat that provides key insight into the relationship.

There are several flashbacks in The Roommate Risk and every single one feels necessary, revealing essential information that allows us to understand how Jas and Rahul reached the point in their relationship that they are at in the present and why they are perfect for each other. The chemistry between the leads is explosive, and Hibbert writes some truly amazing sexual tension and pining in the “present” sections of the book, but the flashbacks add a depth and complexity to that pining that make it all the more delicious.

There’s a lot more I could say about this book because I really loved it, but the last thing I’ll highlight is that it’s also hot as hell. There are multiple on-the-page sex scenes, all of which are steam-coming-out-of-your-ears sexy. There’s one that takes place at an arcade/bar that nearly killed me.

Honestly, my only complaint was that the epilogue felt a bit tacked-on and unnecessary, though I’m sure those who prefer a more explicit HEA would disagree. Either way, I don’t think it detracted from the book.

Bottom line? Read it. It’s on sale, so what are you waiting for?

Sports meets sex in Naima Simone's scorching-hot WAGS series

As soon as I closed the final page on Scoring With the Wrong Twin by Naima Simone, the first in Simone’s football-centric WAGS series, I hurriedly clicked over to the Kobo website and downloaded the second one. And within twenty-four hours, I’d devoured all three books, emerging on the other side sated if a little hungover from all the drama, all the feelings, all the scorching, sizzling sex scenes.

Here’s the thing: I don’t read a lot of contemporaries. I’ve never read a sports romance before. I think American football is, at best, a modern-day Gladiatorial sport, one that destroys the minds and bodies of players, in exchange for which society lets those players literally get away with murder. Yes, it’s more complicated than that … but my bias against football goes all the way back to growing up in a midwestern state that lived and breathed the sport. It’s hard to shake. However, as it turns out, in the hands of a writer like Simone -- whose fast-paced storytelling draws a reader in and refuses to let them go -- even football isn’t so bad. Actually, as it turns out, it offered the kind of embedded, idiosyncratic setting that I often miss with contemporaries, one that gives me more of a fantasy to hold on to than a typical contemporary meet-cute or romcom might offer. It’s a different world, with different expectations and different stakes, and while I suppose there might be a difference between a gentleman’s duel and the big game against the rival team, or White’s club and the locker room, the problem of powerful men in a masculine world struggling to acknowledge their tender feelings is the eternal stuff of romance.

Simone’s novels follow a group of friends composed of three professional football players: Zephirin Black, Dominic Anderson, and Ronin Palamo. All of them are huge, handsome, and cautious about love, having experienced betrayal and loss in the past. They’re also all phenomenal lovers with dirty mouths and massive dicks. Each book follows a similar pattern: the hero tries to have no-strings-attached sex with a woman he’s powerfully attracted to, but pesky feelings get in the way. However, each novel offers enough variation on this theme as to still be compelling. 

Scoring With the Wrong Twin is, as you might imagine, a classic twin-swap story. Zeph thinks he’s hooking up with the confident, successful model Giovanna Cruz, but the woman he can’t stop thinking about is actually Sophia, Giovanna’s shy, non-famous identical twin. What really makes this story work, aside from the flame-hot chemistry between the lovers, is the relationship between Sophia and Giovanna, whose dissimilarities could easily have put them into a good twin/bad twin (or innocent twin/slutty twin) dichotomy. Instead, the sisters love each other deeply, with Sophia desperate to protect Giovanna’s career and Giovanna clearly invested in protecting Sophia’s heart. More than that, they don’t fit easy stereotypes. Sophia is the shy sister who works in app development, but she’s also the sister with tattoos and nipple piercings, and the inevitable moment when Zeph spots Giovanna embracing another man -- the slutty sister inadvertently confirming his fears about the unfaithfulness of women! -- in fact reveals nothing more than Zeph’s own insecurities.

Scoring Off the Field was my favorite of the three books. At first it seems like it’ll be the Two Weeks Notice of the sports world: Tenny works as Dom’s personal assistant, and her life revolves around him, which is a problem because she’s been in unrequited love with him for years; the solution, she decides, is to give notice, hire a replacement, and start dating men who aren’t her long-time boss/best friend. Where this novel excels is in the nuances of Dom’s and Tenny’s relationship, which simultaneously feels deep and essential, with a long history, and also extremely fraught with unspoken tension. Tenny is not exactly a mere overlooked assistant; it is apparent from the very beginning that Dom loves her dearly. They met as children in the same foster home, where Dom instantly took the younger Tenny under his wing, and in the years since, he’s paid for her college, offered her a job, and looked out for her as much as possible. However, Tenny’s romantic love for Dom -- which she has good reason to believe he doesn’t reciprocate -- combined with both a desire for independence and a fear that she has been a burden to him, lead her to attempt to get some distance from him. The more distant she becomes, however, the more Dom realizes that he loves and needs her in ways he’s never before admitted to himself.

The third book, Scoring the Player’s Baby, is a classic variation of the “oops baby” trope: Kim, who recently divorced her cheating husband, a football player, has a one-night stand with the magnetically sexy Ronin, not knowing that he’s also a football player. When she learns of his career, she vows never to see him again -- except, oh no, she’s pregnant! Ronin agrees to “platonically co-parent” the child with her, but of course, the platonic part is easier said than done. What sets this book apart from other accidental pregnancy stories is that both Kim and Ronin are dealing with significant and in many ways unprocessed grief: Kim, over both the end of her marriage and a previous miscarriage, and Ronin, over the chronically ill girlfriend who died two years earlier. This grief makes the reader more aware of and sympathetic to the vulnerability and fear these characters feel upon being thrown unexpectedly into parenthood and into each other’s lives.

These books do go wrong in a few places. There’s the occasional pop culture zinger that doesn’t land (quips about Britney, aside from being in bad taste, feel at least a decade out of date, and joking about Taylor Swift’s dating track record in 2018, after she’d been with Joe Alwyn for years, just feels lazy). There’s the off-puttingly essentialist lines like the following, when the heroine of one of the novels sees the hero’s penis for the first time: “the thick, long part of him that made him a man.” And then there are the grovels, which in my opinion, just miss the mark every time. Simone is evidently a fan of her characters performing grand gestures, but most of the time those gestures come across as awkward to me, and occasionally entirely out of place. In the second book, the hero’s grovel bizarrely takes the form of an on-camera interview; he says all of the things I wanted him to say, but for reasons I didn’t quite follow, he didn’t say them to her directly. Instead he … played her the video of the interview on his phone? Less confusing but still strange were a direct reference to a famous scene in Love, Actually in the third book and an extravagant financial offer in the first book, which had implications that didn’t feel entirely thought-through. Following all of the emotional build-up and moments of intense intimacy earlier in the books, I’m left a little unsatisfied with these moments when the lovers finally get their shit together and lay their feelings bare, because they do such in such public, pressurized ways.

There’s one area in which Naima Simone might be an unparalleled talent, however: her sex scenes are maybe the hottest I’ve ever read. Simultaneously sensual and dirty, these scenes range from mirror sex to cunnilingus in the locker room to blowjobs in a parked car, sometimes slow and steamy, sometimes quick and devastating, with plenty of spicy dialogue as the lovers talk around their feelings, lavish praise on each other, and swear that it’s definitely just sex, it doesn’t mean anything more. (Just keep telling yourself yourself that…)

Should you read these books? Well, that’s up to you, but I think they’re pretty much a home run (a touchdown?) in terms of a quick, sexy, entertaining read that still delivers enough of an emotional punch to feel worth it. For my part, I know I’ll be seeking out more Naima Simone in the future … and maybe even more sports romances.

Guest post: A historical romance guide to baby names

This Valentine’s Day, I’ve got a delightful guest post written by my long-time friend, former housemate, and current member of my extremely exclusive four-person romance book club, Heidi Thorsen. Heidi is an Episcopal priest with minimal social media presence (but here’s her Twitter) who currently lives and works in New Haven, CT with her husband Will Oxford and her cats Max and Violet. She shared this extremely funny post with me yesterday and, with her permission, I’m sharing it here.

Wondering what to name your baby to maximize the chances that they find True Love and live Happily Ever After? Wonder no more!

Congratulations, it’s a hero!

Sebastian. The perfect name for those who would like their child to be an irresistible rake. Pros: he’s so damn charming. Cons: Um, better start that sex education early.

Simon. 7th Heaven has given us the wrong idea about this name, which is, in actuality, an ideal name for an only child. Warning: naming a child Simon might give them a slight penchant for revenge, against you or someone else who has done them a grievous wrong (hey, no one said parenting was easy).

Ash. In romance novels this is most often a courtesy title (Ashmont, Ashbrooke, Ashmore) shortened to a hip millennial baby name, but why not go straight to the hip millennial baby name? Ashes make great overprotective older brotherly figures. Alternately: Grey (short for Greyson, Greycote) - but who really wants to name their son Grey?

Drake. Rhymes with “rake,” sounds like that unfortunate name of the 90s “Blake.” Nevertheless, we like Drakes. If they seem power hungry from time to time, it’s only because they are grappling with a personal or existential feeling of powerlessness. Deep, I know. Drakes have layers. Alternately: Griffin. 

Gabriel. The golden child, the apple of your eye! He might be an upright fellow or he might be a rake; an angel or a fallen angel; but in any case he’s got charisma. Alternately: Kit, short for Christopher. A slightly less angelic name, though this “Christ bearer” tends to be a golden boy all the same.

Philip. Alternately Lucas, James. You can always rely on a Philip, a Lucas, or a James. They might have spent time on a ship, or in the military - they will be captains of imaginary ships on the playground. They know the value of rules, and from time to time experience a transcendent nostalgia for being a part of something bigger, a collective, a brotherhood, a sweeping romance! But mostly, they will stick to the rules. Rules are safe. Safe is good.

Benedict. Benedict is pretty average. Great name for a second son. Good partner at a ball; fetches you lemonade; nothing to swoon over. Benedict is eggs on toast - but you gotta bring the Hollandaise, and maybe some hot sauce too...

Alastair. Alternately Mac, Malcolm, Alec, Tavish. Alastair will wear kilts, eat haggis, and make love to his sweetheart in the heather. But most of all, he will be fiercely loyal to his home, whether or not that home is literally Scotland. Looking to raise a loyal little Laird? Look no further.

Mick / Mickey / Michael. He is smart, resourceful, attractive (in a cockney or piratical way) - and yes, he is probably Irish. A sturdy, versatile name for someone who knows how to turn lemons into lemonade. Or grain into gin. Alternately: Rhys (the Welsh variety of Mick).

Devil. Alternately Beast, Beelzebub, Demon, Lucifer. Are these nicknames? Perhaps. Or just cut to the chase, and give your child a name that strikes fear (and perhaps confusion) into the hearts of strangers. Low expectations yield great returns - just think about when their childhood friends discover that Devil, Beast, and Beelzebub are softies at heart.

Congratulations, it’s a heroine!

Violet. In a bouquet of siblings - your Lilies, Roses, and Hyacinths - Violet will always be the bookish bluestocking. If you’ve been taking those prenatal vitamins for brain development, and have already bought a little baby onesie for Girton Ladies Seminary, this might be the name for you.

Temperance. Alternately Prudence, Patience, Charity, Grace, or (the up and coming name on baby lists in 2021, surely:) Silence. Give your child a virtuous name to shore her up against the vanities of the world. She will undoubtedly wear stodgy dresses and bonnets until she finds her one true love who will see the beauty beneath the starch.

Lavinia. Alternately Cecelia, Celia, Cecily, Sesily. Sugar, spice, and everything nice - ladies with these names are most likely seen as fun-loving and flirty, but the true effect of bearing such a name is hidden beneath the surface: these are ladies of supreme competence. Whether designing the latest couture or dispatching villains, Lavinia & co. get it done.

Katherine / Catherine. Katherine’s favorite color is grey, either because she’s pretending to be a maid, or because she is a maid, or because she’s running a school, or a household, or she simply because doesn’t have time to dabbling with frivolous colors. Katherine is Lavinia stripped of the lace. Forget the icing on the cake. Katherine is competence. Pure competence. Alternately: Jane.

Sophia. Like her bluestocking friend Violet, Sophia is smart - but usually not in a frumpy bookish way. Think: distinguished. Friends come to her for advice on relationships. Brothers let her keep track of the account books. She probably has a hobby that she’s secretly really good at, such as playing chess or picking locks. Alternately: Minerva, Artemis, Diana, Evelyn / Eve.

Christine / Christina. Christine is the blancmange of heroines. Sweet. Opaque. Gelatinous? Generally liked in society. You might think that Christine is nothing to write home about, but here’s the remarkable thing about blancmange: it’s got some impressive wobble. Let the storms of outrageous fortune batter Christine; pit her against the most the most icy heroes and the most ruthless villains. Christine will always bounce back.  Alternately: Eleanor, Georgina.

Penelope. Penelope is an oddball, no way around it. She might wear spectacles, she might have been jilted at the altar, she might write a secret society gossip column, she might take in a strange array of foster pets. While Penelope may not be fashionable, she’s priceless.

Calpurnia. Alternately Cressida, Ophelia, Viola, or any other unusual Shakespearean name. These namesakes can be as diverse as Shakespearean characters, though it’s pretty likely one of her defining traits will be a thirst for independence. Bring on the breeches! Some non-Shakespearean alternatives of a similar nature: Freyja, Boadicea.

Isabelle / Isabel. Alternately Esme, Vivian, Jess (Jessica, Jessamyn, Jessalyn): The bold and brash choice. Isabelles will be the talk of the ton (not always in a good way). She could be an actress, an opera singer, a mistress, a society queen - but no matter what accomplishments she achieves, no one puts Isabelle in a corner.

Agatha. Have you ever met a heroine named Agatha? We haven’t either. This name practically exudes whip-smart spinster aunt. What better namesake could there be? For the love of excellent aunts, pick this one! Alternately: Araminta, Agnes, Beatrix / Beatrice, Doris.

What your favorite Bridgerton character says about what you should read next...

So you’ve already binged Netflix’s Bridgerton — maybe more than once — and you’ve already made your way through the books (all eight of them!), or maybe you’re waiting until they’re available from your local library. Either way, all those costumes and longing glances and sensual hand caresses has left you wondering where to go in the great, wide world of Romancelandia, especially if Quinn’s books are off the table.

Never fear, I’ve got you covered. Based on your favorite Bridgerton character, I can tell you exactly what you should read next. Simply scroll down and find the next swoon-worthy book or series to get obsessed with.

Simon, the Duke of Hastings

So you enjoy handsome, powerful men who brood and smolder and have major bad dad trauma? Welcome to romance, my friend — I think you’re going to like it here. I’d recommend getting started with the classic Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase, which features an angst-ridden hero with deep-seated self-worth issues rooted in his tragic childhood.

Or if you were more intrigued by Simon’s determination that the bloodline end with him, check out The Rogue Not Taken by Sarah MacLean or When Beauty Tamed the Beast by Eloisa James, which also feature heroes who’ve also made dramatic vows about never fathering children.

Daphne Bridgerton

Sure, being the nice girl who plays by the rules isn’t the most exciting thing in the world, but sometimes even nice girls get tempted into scandalous behavior, especially once they’re finally out of the watchful gaze of their overprotective family. Meredith Duran’s Wicked Becomes You features just such a heroine, one who, sick of being the forgettable nice girl, turns to her brother’s best friend, a notorious rake, to teach her how to be wicked. Surely Daphne can relate?

Anthony Bridgerton

Ah, the rake. A classic romance archetype, he’s handsome, he’s sensual, he’s dangerous, and if given half a chance, he’ll break your heart. But remember: beneath his claims to have no interest in marriage or romance is a man desperate for the right woman to teach him how to love. We’ll be following Anthony on that journey next season, but until then, consider picking up Cold-Hearted Rake by Lisa Kleypas, which has the added benefit of being the first book in a highly family-centric series, only instead of the Bridgertons, you get the Ravenels, a family with not quite so spotless a reputation… A few other rakes to consider: A Good Debutante’s Guide to Ruin by Sophie Jordan and, for something a little different — an African-American romance set in the Old West — check out Destiny’s Embrace by the inimitable Beverly Jenkins.

Benedict Bridgerton

Be honest: We all wanted Benedict and Lord Granville to hook up, right? Well, I don’t know if that’s in the cards for his future (we can always hope), but if you want a novel where a straightlaced man longing for something he can’t quite explain stumbles upon a hedonistic world that doesn’t give a fig for society’s restrictive mores — and a handsome man to be his guide — look no further than Band Sinister by K.J. Charles.

Eloise Bridgerton

Ah, Eloise, our angry feminist who thinks marriage and motherhood are no better than imprisonment… Her counterpart in the books doesn’t have quite such strong feelings on the subject, but other historical romances have dealt with the delicate balance of having forward-thinking and (proto-)feminist heroines who recognize the many, many problems with marriage, especially at the time … and yet who still end up, well, married, in monogamous heterosexual relationships. I’m not sure any book has pulled it off perfectly, but Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas features a similarly averse-to-marriage heroine who fears the loss of her financial independence in the face of a wedding brought on by scandal. Also check out The Suffragette Scandal by Courtney Milan and Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore for more early feminist heroines. And if you’re shaking your head thinking, well, there’s no reason Eloise has to end up in a heterosexual relationship, you are completely correct — and The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite is the perfect book for you.

The Whole Bridgerton Fam

Family-based series are a dime a dozen in romance, but if you adore the big, messy family dynamic of the Bridgertons, I beg that you read The Wildes of Lindow Castle series by Eloisa James, which laughs at Violet Bridgerton’s mere eight children and gives you a blended family of twelve children. This series also has a prequel featuring Lord and Lady Wilde, and unlike the Bridgerton parents, their love story isn’t cut short by tragedy.

Marina Thompson

Poor Marina had a hard time of this this season, and I certainly hope that, despite her fears, she doesn’t end up in a loveless marriage (after all, the marriage of convenience that becomes something more is a tried and true staple of romance), but who knows if we’ll get to watch that, or how it’ll end? If you think Marina deserves a happily ever after, and even that her deception was completely reasonable, check out The Viscount and the Vixen by Lorraine Heath, where an imperfect but well-meaning heroine who tells more than a few lies nevertheless proves to be just the woman the hero needs.

Penelope Featherington

The wallflower is yet another classic romance archetype, the shy, intelligent, perhaps not conventionally attractive young woman who fears she’ll never marry and who usually has hidden depths. While Lisa Kleypas has an entire series dedicated to Wallflowers, I also want to recommend Marry in Scandal by Anne Gracie, about a self-conscious young wallflower with a secret who ends up marrying the handsome man she never dared to believe would take an interest in her.

Prince Friedrich of Prussia

Okay, probably this guy wasn’t your favorite character, because, let’s be honest, he didn’t do much. That said, the fantasy of marrying a handsome prince — usually of a fictional kingdom — is something you can see get played out in romance time and time again. There are some great historicals that fall into this category; Karen Hawkins has a series called Oxenburg Princes in which three brothers, all princes, travel to Scotland to find their brides. However, if you want to go where the royal romances are really happening, check out Alyssa Cole’s contemporary series Reluctant Royals, which begins with A Princess in Theory and features multiple princes, princesses, and even a mere duke.

Will Mondrich

Maybe you’re not so interested in ballrooms and pleasure gardens, and you’d rather see more of Simon’s handsome working-class friend, a pugilist with a sense of honor and even stronger sense of responsibility toward those he loves. Also, you wouldn’t mind some more on-screen punching. In that case, check out Sarah MacLean’s amazing Bareknuckle Bastards trilogy, which eschews many of the typical trappings of historical romance in favor of spotlighting the grit and ingenuity of those living their lives far outside the ton.

Siena Rosso

Opera dancers, mistresses, and courtesans are often the female villains of the romance world, but some writers have written sympathetically about these women — who, like Siena, are often independent women who rely on their talents and their sexuality to survive in a world not built to support them. Courtney Milan’s Unclaimed (part of her Turner series) has as its heroine just such a woman: a heroine who is unapologetically a courtesan, and who deserves to live happily ever just as much as any delicate virgin of the aristocracy.

Lady Danbury

I don’t think it’s controversial at this point to say that Lady Danbury, a fun character in the books, is pure magic in Adjoa Andoh’s capable hands. Who doesn’t love an iconic older woman who’s not afraid to meddle if she knows she’s right (which she always is)? Though there’s no one quite like her, I think you’ll have a lot of fun with Aunt Knowe in the previously-mentioned Wildes of Lindow Castle series, where she’s constantly getting involved in her nieces’ and nephew’s messy affairs. And if you wish you could see an older woman like her fall in love, look no further than Courtney Milan’s Mrs. Martin’s Incomparable Adventure.

Lady Whistledown

Who doesn’t love a woman with a secret?

If you’re wanting to get the inside scoop about a heroine with something to hide, try How to Woo a Reluctant Lady by Sabrina Jeffries, a romance about a woman who secretly writes gothic novels … and the man she’s based her villain on. There’s also A Summer for Scandal by Lydia San Andres, where both the hero and the heroine keep secrets about their writing careers.

Or, if you’re really in the mood for secret identity shenanigans, consider the massive Maiden Lane series by Elizabeth Hoyt, which features many twists, turns, and deceptions, but most relevantly, features not one, not two, not three, but FOUR books featuring a masked vigilante who must keep their identity hidden from both the world at large and the person they love.

I hope you’ve come away with something new to read … and if none of these appeal to you, leave a comment about what you’re looking for in a romance and I’ll try to recommend the perfect book.

'Tis the Damn Season: Christmas Novellas

This week I read two Christmas novella historicals to get me in the spirit of the season: I Will by Lisa Kleypas and A Christmas Gone Perfectly Wrong by Cecilia Grant. I have trouble with romance novellas, generally speaking — it’s my opinion that romances are all about pacing and novellas are especially difficult to satisfactorily pace — but that doesn’t mean they can’t be enjoyable, and these two were charming (if imperfect) little stories. At the end of this post, I’ll tell you about a few more Christmas novellas I’ve enjoyed. It’s a staple of the genre, after all!

(Both reviews feature minor spoilers, but nothing that should drastically alter your reading experience.)

Published 2016, I Will by Lisa Kleypas is a sliver of a novella, a tasty crumb that goes down very quickly, and though it won’t fill you up, it probably will make you smile. The premise, reminiscent in part of the set-up of Loretta Chase’s classic Lord of Scoundrels, is as follows: Andrew, Lord Drake has been disinherited by his father for being a dissolute rake, so in order to fool his father into believing he’s not such a scoundrel, he turns to respectable spinster Caroline Hargreaves, whose younger brother he has been slowly but surely leading to ruin. The deal is this: If Caroline lets Andrew pretend to court her, then Andrew will keep her brother out of trouble by preventing him from gambling away his family’s money and paying off his not inconsiderable debts. With no choice but to accept, Caroline agrees to attend an upcoming house party being hosted by Andrew’s half-brother, though she is loath to spend any time with the terribly wicked Lord Drake. As you might imagine, once they are thrown together — with Andrew on his best behavior, no longer drinking to excess or carrying on illicit affairs — they find they actually might like each other.

What follows is an unusually-paced love story, though not an unsatisfying one. The events take place over the course of several months (with some of those months passing in the space of a sentence), while a single day at either end earns multiple chapters. That’s not strange for a full-length novel, but in a novella, I am used to a more intense timeline, with all of the lovers’ interactions occurring on the page (as happens in A Christmas Gone Perfectly Wrong). The result is slightly off-kilter; on the one hand, the relationship feels more solid, more believable for having time to grow, but on the other, it’s difficult not to feel that we are missing large swaths of the courtship, all the little moments that allowed the love to blossom. Often when reading a novella my reaction is that it needed more space to breathe, and while I think in this case “need” is too strong of a word, I do wonder how this would’ve read if we’d been able to get more small scenes with the hero and heroine in between the big moments.

I also have to point out that, in truth, this isn’t much of a Christmas novella. Oh, certainly Christmas features. In the third act, after the lovers have separated by the usual misunderstanding/treachery that romances excel in, Caroline’s brother goes to some trouble to get her an unusual and memorable Christmas gift. There’s much to be said about how the novel resolves itself (I have mixed feelings, to say the least), but there’s nothing that especially feels like Christmas to me about this book — it just as easily could’ve been Caroline’s birthday, with very few details having to change. I liked reading this but it didn’t put me in the holiday spirit.

One of the key themes of I Will is the leap of faith. At one point, after Andrew has been “reformed” for a few months, Caroline wonders if she can trust that he won’t revert back to his old ways. She loves the man he is now, and fears losing him to the man he once was. This theme resonates strongly with A Christmas Gone Perfectly Wrong, a novella that makes its stance on the leap of faith quite clear. The heroine, Lucy Sharp, is the daughter of a falconer, and midway through the novella she offers up the following bit of wisdom regarding hunting falcons and the danger that they might simply fly away, no matter how well you train them: “You must rely to a degree on hope once you unfasten the tether. Hope, and faith that your efforts will have been enough. And as much peace as you possibly can muster with the possibility that they won’t.” Spoiler alert: she’s not just talking about falcons.

This is a book that advocates openly and ardently for the leap of faith, and in a way, that’s what makes it work so well. Lucy and our hero, the ever-proper Andrew Blackshear, end up alone together over the Christmas holiday due to a series of disasters and questionable decisions: an injured driver, a snowy road, a broken wheel. Lucy, pragmatic but sheltered, doesn’t give a fig about propriety and only wants to enjoy the holiday; Andrew, honorable to a fault, can’t stop panicking about inappropriate his time spent with Lucy is … not to mention the thoughts he keeps having about her. The events of the novella take place over a span of about three days, but the characters’ self-awareness about how fast things are moving, as well as their reasonable trepidation regarding the major differences between them, kept me from reacting like everyone in Frozen after Anna announces she’s engaged to Hans.

Speaking of differences, I was entirely charmed by the dynamic of the lovers in this book. I’ve never been the biggest fan of rake heroes (they’re fine, they’re just overdone), but give me a stodgy prig of a hero any day! Andrew must learn that duty and propriety need not always come first, without entirely compromising the nobleness and sense of responsibility that makes him who he is, and the way that Lucy’s very presence, simply her way of being in the world, pushes him to question himself is handled very well. Lucy was delightful too, because while it can be appealing to pair the prig up with a bold, shocking heroine, Lucy is both more and less complicated than that. Her lack of propriety is shocking to Andrew, but not deliberately so; rather, it speaks to their very different lives and experiences. This makes her moments of earnest vulnerability and provinciality all the more endearing to the reader and Andrew alike.

This was also emphatically a Christmas novella, with Christmas — the hopes and expectations attached to it, the remembrances of what it once was — playing a role nearly as important as that of the hero and heroine. Each character begins with an idea of what their Christmas will entail, and each experiences something altogether different, and harder, and more beautiful than they could’ve imagined. And, in a way, the same is true of love. As the story progresses, they realize with dawning horror — and excitement — and hope — and fear — that this was never how they imagined falling in love … but (of course), as the characters in a romance novel always learn, isn’t it better that way?

A few more Christmas novellas I’ve enjoyed…

A Christmas Bride and A Christmas Beau by Mary Balogh, both of which feel extremely cozy and are practically bursting with all the best Christmas tropes (snowball fights, cocoa, a Christmas pageant, sleds, decorations, small children doing cute things)

• The Duke of Christmas Present by Sarah MacLean, which is a sexy, angsty homage to A Christmas Carol featuring lost love and second chances … also, to be fair, I enjoyed all of the stories in How the Dukes Stole Christmas, which is the anthology this one is found in

• A Vicarage Christmas by Kate Hewitt, which is a contemporary (!) romance that, to be honest, feels somewhat unresolved and suffers from the typical pacing issues of a novella, but which features what I found to be fairly moving meditations on family dynamics, feeling like an outsider, and coping with trauma

• Not Christmas and not a novella, but I did just finish Whiteout by Adriana Anders, and given that it’s set in Antarctica, there’s a lot of reference to snow, ice, cold, and (of course) cuddling for warmth. There’s also mention of penis frostbite. It’s up to you if that’s the sort of thing to put you in the holiday spirit.

I’ve got a few more pulled out from the library, but who knows if I’ll get to them before Christmas Day? If I do and I think any of them are especially good, I’ll update this list!

What are your favorite Christmas romances? Holiday romances? Winter romances?

Top 10 Romance Reads of 2020

Although I’ve read romance off and on throughout my life, it was only this year that I began truly reading romance in earnest. Shortly after Covid-19 restrictions set in this past spring, I reached out to a few friends from college and learned, to my surprise, that we’d all been coping with, well, everything by reading romance novels. Like, a lot of romance novels. At a certain point, I was consuming, on average, more than one novel a day. Thank god for my local library’s ebook collection.

At any rate, this group of friends and I formed a book club that has met (read: Zoomed) weekly for the past howevermany months to talk about that week’s selected novel. In the days between meetings, we also have an ongoing group text where we update each other about everything else we’ve been reading, not to mention interesting Wikipedia articles we run across (“Where is THIS romance?” is a not uncommon comment attached to these articles), pictures of 19th century evening dresses, and our own takes on the latest drama in Romancelandia. Texting and talking with these amazing, smart, funny women has been the highlight of my year.

For our most recent meeting, we challenged each other to come up with lists of our Top 10 of 2020 — not books published this year (because, truth be told, we didn’t read that many published this year), but our favorite books we read for the first time this year, which for most of us was hundreds of books. We also limited ourselves to one book per author. In the end, our lists had some marked differences (one of us reads considerably more paranormal romance than everyone else) and not a few similarities (spoiler alert: all four of us LOVED Band Sinister, because, duh, it’s incredible).

Without further ado, I will share my list (in no particular order) of my favorite romance reads of 2020 and a few comments about why each book blew me away:

1. Band Sinister by K. J. Charles

   This m/m historical romance is everything. Every character sparkles. The dialogue is fresh and engaging. The romance is lovely, nuanced, and realistic without being cynical. As I said above, this was the ONE book that made it onto all four of our Best Of lists. It’s something special.

2. An Unconditional Freedom by Alyssa Cole

   I love the entirety of Cole’s Loyal League series — actually, I love the entirety of Cole’s oeuvre, and her Duke By Default contemporary romance nearly made it onto this list — but to my mind, this book, the third (and final?) in the series, is the pinnacle of what Cole can do, what really good romance can do, what historical fiction can do. Daniel’s story feels devastatingly relevant right now, and the complicated, lovely romance that blossoms in this book just went straight to my heart.

3. Daring and the Duke by Sarah MacLean

   Look, Sarah MacLean knows how to end a series. Pick any series she’s written and it is a GUARANTEE that the last book is an absolute banger. I chose Daring and the Duke for this list, however, because in addition to actually being released in 2020, it is such an ambitious, steamy, patriarchy-smashing kick in the ass of a book, and it completely turns the entire subgenre of “duke books” on its head.

4. When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn

   I enjoy the Bridgertons series, and I am waiting on tenterhooks for Bridgerton to be released on Netflix, but it is this book, which is in many ways the least Bridgerton book of them all, that truly wormed its way into my soul. Full of wrenching grief, delicious longing, and just about all the angst a girl can wish for, When He Was Wicked hit all of my buttons and then some. There is nothing I love more than pining and this book practically overflows with it.

5. Indigo by Beverly Jenkins

   Anything you pick up by Beverly Jenkins is going to be good, but Indigo is a classic for a reason. It’s beautiful and grand, with an extremely memorable heroine, a delightfully rakish hero, and palpable sexual tension. Also, for what it’s worth, I think Jenkins is among the best writers in terms of historical research and scene-setting. (Her westerns are extremely interesting too, for this very reason.)

6. Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas

   Basically I love this book because I love Rhys Winterborne. Don’t get me wrong, I love the heroine, Helen; I love her whole family, whom the series follows; and I think the plot in this one is really strong, with excellent pacing and a great twist. All of that is true. I just also love Rhys Winterborne a hell of a lot — he’s my absolute favorite of the rags-to-riches hero archetype, and I will never forget him encouraging his workers to unionize! Labor solidarity is sexy.

7. The Duke of Shadows by Meredith Duran

   I was torn between three different books by Meredith Duran for this slot — Fool Me Twice (because the writing and characterization is almost absurdly good), Luck Be a Lady (because it’s my favorite romance of her books, with some of my favorite tropes all coming together in one delicious love story), and the one I ultimately chose, Duke of Shadows. In the end, I decided on this one because I can’t help but be awed by what a sprawling, ambitious, epic book it is, spanning years, with huge amounts of character growth, as well as equal amounts of trauma. Not to mention that Duran’s prose, while always incredible, really shines here.

8. Thief of Shadows by Elizabeth Hoyt

   I’m obsessed with this book in large part because I’ve never read anything else like it. The hero and heroine, and their dynamic, are so unique and so satisfying. If you’re bored of smirking rakes and wide-eyed debutantes, read this. I cannot recommend it enough. (This one also made the list of one of my book club friends, and any time either of us mentions it we basically just have to yell about how good it is.)

9. The Viscount and the Vixen by Lorraine Heath

   Two of the members of my book club chose the book that precedes this one in the series, and I can understand why. That book, The Earl Takes All, is ambitious and tricky and the fact that Heath pulls it off is a remarkable feat. But to me, The Viscount and the Vixen is a more satisfying read, with a romance that I found genuinely moving and a consideration of grief and loss that hurt in the best way. Long after I’d finished, I still couldn’t stop thinking about it.

10. Lothaire by Kresley Cole

    I don’t know how it happened, exactly, that I read ten of the Immortals After Dark books in less than two weeks, but something about that bizarre, immersive process led me to come out of Lothaire thinking, wait, this was kind of incredible. I’m not sure I would’ve gotten there if I’d just jumped right in with this one, but as part of a long, long series, it is the sweetest payoff, complicated and dramatic and funny and weird in a way I can’t even describe. There’s a vampire 69 at one point. At another point, I teared up with real emotion. Lothaire contains multitudes.

Honorable Mentions:

• The Chasing of Eleanor Vane by Sierra Simone

  This novella, found in the recently-published Duke I’d Like to F… anthology, features some of the most beautiful prose I’ve read in romance. I’ve had trouble with Simone’s work in the past (due to content not quality) but I’ve got nothing but praise for this one.

• The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

  This contemporary features some of the most honest, thoughtful portrayals of sexual discomfort and uncertainty that I’ve ever encountered, and painfully real depictions of awkward social situations (the scene where she comes over for dinner with his family!) … and, at the same time, it’s sexy and funny and exciting and I basically had to race through to the end because I was so invested. Plus I think Michael, the hero, is a perfect man.

• Born to be Wilde by Eloisa James

  Eloisa James does historical detail so well in literally every book I’ve ever read by her, so while that’s definitely one of the highlights from this one, it’s not the main thing I’ll praise. Instead, I’ll say that this book has one of the most satisfying relationships in romance. It’s the mutual respect! It builds slowly, and they take a while to get there, but when they do so, it’s so believable and so rewarding. A lovely portrayal of not just a romance but a partnership.

• My Lord and Spymaster by Joanna Bourne

  Bourne is an excellent prose stylist whose use of free indirect discourse is maybe unparalleled. This is my favorite that I’ve read by her (so far), and I really am not exaggerating when I say she makes reading a complete pleasure. Her books are smart and unusual, and I come away every time extremely impressed by her craft.

• The Duke Who Didn’t by Courtney Milan

  As far as I can tell, Courtney Milan can’t write a bad novel. This one, which is extra sweet and frothy, isn’t my favorite thing she’s ever written. What can I say? I like angst. That said, it’s still a delightful book, with sharply-drawn characters and a buoyant, optimistic mood, and I don’t know that anyone could read it and have a bad day.