I bought this because I saw a video about it on TikTok and it looked really fun. I just can't say no to gothic romances, especially not if they have my favorite trope: is the house actually haunted or are we just slowly going mad? ALSO, the author failed to disclose that this is basically a stepmother x stepson romance because the heroine was actually married to the hero's father, which I think was a HUGE mistake, because there are people who are VERY into that (like me). Marketing, marketing, marketing. :p
Anyway, before she married his dad, Remi was in love with Ben. They were childhood friends on the cusp of becoming more, but her uncle kind of pressed her to marry Edgar. Then Edgar dies and things get weird, because his death might be connected to a couple other deaths that all seem to revolve mysteriously around Leone Manor. Ben is also a little bit of a fuckboy, which was giving Bridgerton Boy vibes. In some ways, this book is like Bridgerton if Bridgerton was having a goth phrase. Which you might be into.
The prologue and beginning were AMAZING. However, I really wish the pacing and atmosphere had been a little more intense. There were some fantastically creepy scenes scenes in here but I personally wanted more, although I did love how unlike traditional gothic romances, this one is very much open door. I wouldn't call it spicy but there is descriptive sex.
The ending was great and made up for some of the saggy middle. Like I said, the premise was awesome and reeled me right in and I happen to love this publisher a lot. It was just a bit cozier than I was expecting, based on the summary and the reviews, which made it feel blander than it probably would have felt if I were in the right mood for it. I would recommend this book to people who are fans of cozy horror/gothic authors like Chasity Bowlin and Darcy Coates.
I buddy-read this book with my IG buddy, usedbookin. This is the second vintage gothic we've read together and the first one that I really adored. The Zebra gothic line could be hit or miss but this one has everything: lost birthrights, family secrets, hot stepbrothers, mysterious heirloom jewelry, and a fucking albino witch with a pet white wolf. DAMN.
When Annie's father is on his deathbed, he reveals to Annie that he's not actually her father: she was given to him to care for and she's actually the long-lost daughter of a rich winemaker family who lives in a castle. But when she writes to the family, the lawyer basically writes back and is like, "OUR CONDOLENCES BUT NO. XOXO."
Annie isn't about to take that shit, so she goes to the family to deal with them in person, and is almost turned away by the hot stepbrother, Christian, but the man who might be her father intervenes. He's half-mad and has never gotten over his first wife (Annie's supposed mother), despite his new wife literally BEING RIGHT THERE, but he is the one who decides that Annie simply must stay.
Weird shit starts happening pretty quickly. Christian makes a point of letting her know he thinks she's a fraud and calls her the G-slur literally dozens of times. His cousin isn't a fan of her either. Henri, a friend of the family, is a little *too* friendly, and the servants intimate that maybe her mother's disappearance was more sinister than mere flightiness. But honestly, who knows?
I thought this was a lot of fun. There were some great chilling scenes, it was extra without being too extra, and the novelty of a historical stepbrother romance was too good to miss. This reminded me a lot of BLACKMADDIE but more consistent in pacing. A must for anyone who loves vintage gothics.
Note: this book has been rereleased as CASTLE OF SECRETS but I personally like the older title and cover better.
Amanda Grange is a new-to-me author. I actually found one of her books at a thrift shop and it had been critically panned. Bad average ratings don't usually scare me off, though, and when I had finished reading MR. DARCY, VAMPYRE, I actually found that I had had an incredibly good time, 2.89 average rating or no. I found out that a lot of her backlist is actually on KU, so I started downloading her books one after the other, and each was better than the last!
STORMCROW CASTLE is an absolutely fantastic book, which hits all the notes you would expect in a gothic romance. It's very Jane Eyre in nature, minus the governess bit, so if you enjoy books that have the Jane vibe, you will eat this up on a silver spoon.
Helena is engaged to this guy she's kind of ambivalent about, but when she goes to the castle where her aunt works, she finds out that her aunt has mysteriously disappeared-- to visit a "sick sister," except Helena, being her niece, knows that her aunt doesn't have a sister. Disturbed, she gets the brilliant idea to pretend to be the new housekeeper so she can infiltrate the house and get the intel on her aunt's whereabouts.
Lord Torkrow (doesn't his name sound like a Pokemon???) is the man who owns the castle, although everyone in town refers to him and his family as stormcrows, which seems to be a bird of ill-omens. Strange cries come from the attic, there's a rumor that he was in love with his brother's wife and caused both their untimely deaths, and now, with the missing aunt, Helena soon wonders if maybe Torkrow is a serial murderer-- and if maybe he might plan to do away with her, too.
I just had so much fun with this book. There's sinister graveyard shenanigans, secret rooms, masquerade parties, beautiful writing, longing looks, and, in tradition of Jane Eyre, a hero who is described as ugly at a first glance, which is very Edward Rochester. I seem to recall that the heroine was plain as well(?), and I really enjoyed that. Especially since, with all her detective work and banter, Helena gives the hero plenty of reasons to respect her beyond wanting to bang her because she's hot. (Not that that isn't sometimes the vibe, too.) I'm honestly shocked this author isn't more popular.
HOUSE OF SHADOWS is title-twinning with another one of my favorite recent gothic novels involving a sinister marriage of convenience, one by Darcy Coates! This one is slightly steamier though, and I feel like the horror element is slightly better done here, just because everything is so much vaguer and suspicious.
Adelaide nearly died while traveling with her father by ship. Worse still: in that same wreck, she saw him disappear between the waves. Though no body ever turned up, he's been presumed dead, and now she lives with her emotionally abusive stepmother, Muriel, who basically tells Adelaide that she can marry and get out, or be evicted with a bootstamp on her behind, as Muriel inherited everything but a small allowance and a dowry accorded to Adelaide.
Not wanting to be homeless, Adelaide turns to one of her father's business partners, Eldren, who is also a Welsh lord. He's got an asshole family of his own but they're even worse: his mother, who goes into violent fits that have harmed the staff, and who blames him for the death of his older brother and refuses to call him by name. He also lives with his alcoholic brother, Warren, and his sister in law, Frances, who is just as cruel and vain as Muriel, and encourages his brother to drink because it amuses her to see him tear himself apart. Bitch!
As if ALL THAT wasn't enough, the house might be haunted. People of Llewelyn blood hear voices before they end their own lives or those of their so-called loved ones. It all comes down to a terrible curse that lies soaked in the moors like old blood. And by marrying Eldren, Adelaide might just have made herself vulnerable to it... and to Eldren as well.
So this book was pretty good although the blurb is a little misleading in the sense that the author says that this is the first in a series "but each book is complete on its own." This is really not true, and going off some of the reviews, it seems like others have gotten upset by this as well. What I think the author means is that there's no cliffhanger ending, which is sort of true. She closes off the main story arc but there are a number of glaringly unresolved threads that are going to be addressed in books two and three. I personally think it would have been better if these 100-something installments had been combined into one book for readability purposes, because I do think it does the story a disfavor, chopping it up and ruining what is honestly some pretty smooth plotting.
Adelaide is a likable heroine and Eldren is charmingly brooding. The scares were well done and highly atmospheric, and I love how this checks off all the main tropes of a classic gothic romance. HOUSE OF SHADOWS is not an erotic work by any means, though it does have some steam. It reminds me of a Victoria Holt novel, but sexier. I just wish it was all one book.
This was a Stuff Your Kindle Day pick. Siniscalchi is a new-to-me author but as soon as I found out that this book was about wine-making in Portugal, I knew I had to have it. And in that vein, THE TRUE PURPOSE OF VINES does not disappoint. Julia is a Portuguese wine-maker and single mother. As if that weren't difficult enough, an English man named Croft is threatening to take away her winery, and her grapes are under threat from the phylloxera louse.
The hero, Griffin, is actually engaged to Croft's daughter (IIRC), and is supposed to chase Julia down as a wayward debtor. To his surprise, she's female, hot, and supremely capable... of turning his crank. For most of the book, though, he only reluctantly respects her. He is very much a realistic portrayal of an English for his time: he doesn't like or appreciate foreign food or culture, he doesn't think that English people should marry outside their race, and he basically thinks that Julia should fall over herself in gratitude that he's into her.
I appreciated the richly researched story and realism of the culture, but it also made it difficult to read this as a straight romance because Griffin was a highly unlikable character and for most of the book, I was more interested in the chaotically unhinged Pedro as a love interest (thank goodness he has a future book). Griffin does redeem himself and the last act has him groveling like mad, but I was not really attracted to him at all. HOWEVER, I do really appreciate the author's bravery in telling a story that feels realistic for its time and doesn't step to unrealistic and modern conventions to be more "palatable."
Three stars for the setting, the wine history (OH, the wine history), and a completely bad-ass heroine who probably deserved better than what she got, but hey, at least her story ended happily. :)
I will definitely be checking out more from this author.
After falling in love with the author's Harcastle series, I obviously had to read everything she wrote. THE WORST WOMAN IN LONDON is quite a bit different than her more gothic side series, though. This is an angsty, friends-to-lovers romance about a woman who is in the process of divorcing from her unfaithful husband and ends up falling for their mutual male friend when he is sent to spy on her.
It's tough to say how I feel about this book because there were some things it did really, really well. Fran is a wonderful character, and I really liked the penultimate interaction she had with her husband's mistress. It was also really interesting to see the drawn-out process of what divorce looked like in the late Victorian period, and how many hoops a woman had to jump through for her freedom (not to mention the unfair standards for men versus women).
I felt rather "eh" regarding the love interest, James. Their friendship felt more like an acquaintanceship than it did a true friendship; he felt much closer to Edward than he did Fran. It also kind of bothered me that for a significant portion of the book, he was still entertaining the idea of pursing other women as wives instead of Fran. I know this is realistic but dammit, I'm a romantic, and I like it when the hero is utterly OBSESSED with the heroine and will have no other in his heart.
The worst part of the book, for me, was Edward. He is a very convincing villain and I hated him, which is why it felt odd to me that the secondary romance in this book would be his. It's a daring choice to make readers despise a character and then expect them to root for his HEA. Bennet even addresses that in the author's note, admitting that he probably didn't get the ending readers wanted (e.g. a bad one).
Overall, this felt like a really interesting and well researched premise that taught me a lot about Victorian divorce, but maybe a not-so-great romance that didn't really have me rooting for anyone except Fran (although I am awarding a bonus half-star for James's grovel at the end).
P.S. For those who were searching for her Hardcastle series, the author just got the rights back and is planning on republishing them with new covers... with a third on the way! Huzzah!
WOW. This is everything I want out of a dark gothic romance: strong heroine, tortured hero, vibes for days, moral ambiguity, just the tiniest bit of dub-con and a little bit of kink, and a little bit of the paranormal. I'm honestly shocked Grace Callaway wrote this, to be honest, because her newer stuff seems like it's for the fluffies, but this was DARK. Also, it's a Jane Eyre retelling?
I loved it.
Abigail Jones works as a maid in the Earl of Huxton's house. She's bookish and quiet and keeps to herself, but beneath the prudish exterior lies a dark secret: her mother was a prostitute who died in an asylum having fucked-up visions, and Abigail fears she'll end up exactly the same. She has nightmares constantly, and sometimes, during the day, she sees things that terrify her... and excite her.
After an encounter with the Earl in the library (ahem), he promotes her to the role of secretary, entrusting her as his confidant. But the closer she gets to him, the less she really knows. What's the deal with the painting of the creepy but beautiful woman in his library? What about the mysterious death of his late wife and his older brother? Where does he go all day and why does he sleep with so many women? The questions keep piling up, and the more there are, the less sure Abby is that she wants to know the answer. This doesn't even really scrape at the surface of what the book is REALLY about but I don't want to spoil things.
No, seriously. That WTF pivot in the middle is priceless.
I just loved this book so much, okay? It showed up on a list of JANE EYRE retellings and since this was one of the few that seemed to be taking the tried and true gothic route, I was immediately intrigued. The way that the author wove the foundational bits into her story while still making it absolutely her own was ingenious. This is one of those books where after I finished it, I walked away thinking, "I wish I'd thought of that." Even when things got kind of weird, I was still into it... because it was my brand of weird. The atmosphere was just as good as the romance, and the writing was simply luscious.
I'm surprised this book has such low ratings but I think part of the problem is how it was probably marketed. The contemporary historical romance crowd tends to prefer lighter fare, so if this was marketed with them in mind as an audience, I think many of them would be disgusted or put off. In terms of theme, I feel like this would actually be a better match for most dark romance readers: the gore, depravity, and morally gray antihero just fit in really neatly with what they tend to want.
Anyone who enjoys historical romances on the darker side will love this book.
I've been working my way through Susan Krinard's Fane series, and I think it's safe to say that I'm obsessed. You know you're on to something amazing when you find yourself thinking that this is a world you never want to leave. I was honestly kind of disappointed that Cordelia and Donal didn't make an appearance in this book, as I was hoping that maybe this would be about their son or daughter, but hey, I'm down to read about Arion, former king of the unicorns, and his human lover.
This book is very strange and definitely has a sort of LAST UNICORN vibe. Mariah is married to a hunter named Donnington but he abandoned her on their wedding night, leaving it unconsummated. Everyone in town thinks that this is sus on a bus, especially his nosy and cold-hearted mother, Vivian, and his would be lover, Lady Westlake. While exploring the estate one day, Mariah goes into her husband's folly (basically a structure built for amusement/decor), and finds to her horror that there is a man trapped inside in a cage who looks like the photo negative version of her husband.
The cover shows a man with dark hair, but the book repeatedly says that his hair is silver. So obviously I was picturing him as Astarion from Baldur's Gate (he even sort of has a similar name, I mean-- Arion, Astarion... it fits). Anyway, she ends up naming the man Ash and befriending him, while enlisting her brother in law's help to save him from imprisonment. What ensues is really strange. They end up in Prince Albert's circle, staying with him and his set while they party nightly and indulge in some casual adultery. All the while, rumors fly about Mariah's own infidelities and the supposed madness she might have inherited from her asylum-confined mother, as she tries to discover the horrific reason for why her husband would confine another man and then leave him in a cage, half-starved.
I loved the beginning of the book. I thought it had major Bluebeard vibes. The ending left much to be desired, though. I thought LORD OF THE FOREST had a bit of a rushed ending but this one was honestly frankly ridiculous. I ended up leaving the book with even more questions than I had before. I was originally thinking I was going to give this four stars, rounded up from 3.5, but as I'm writing all of this out, I'm realizing how unsatisfied I felt by this book. Also, the sex scenes were... disappointing. Way too much gushing from both parties. I'm not a fan.
This book broke my heart and then put it back together about fifty times over the course of my reading this book. LORD OF THE BEASTS is the sequel to THE FOREST LORD, and the hero of this book, Donal, is the son of the hero of the previous book. That doesn't always work, but here it's done magnificently. Donal is half-fae and has the ability to speak to animals. He's kind of like a faerie Dr. Dolittle, and indeed, tells people that he's a veterinarian.
When he meets the heroine, he saves her and her cousin from a rampaging elephant that's escaped from the zoo. Then she goes to his estate, which is basically a farm filled with animals, and realizes that he's also the guardian of the girl who almost robbed her loathsome fiance-to-be, Viscount Inglesham. And seeing his prowess with animals, she ends up having him come to her estate to examine the desolate animals in her menagerie, all of which have been rescued from poachers, in addition to offering a permanent home for his ward, Ivy.
I liked the first book in this series a lot, but it had some notable flaws: uneven pacing, an unbelievable villain, a wishy-washy hero, and a climax that felt a little too, well, pile-on. This book, by contrast, was EVERYTHING I wanted. Donal actually reminded me a lot of Julian Sinclair from DUKE OF SHADOWS: he's noble but so, so lonely, and feels like an outcast from society because of his mixed heritage. He's soft-spoken and soft-hearted, but man, you do not want to fuck with this man or anyone he cares about, because he will END you. That's the stuff of dreams, srsly.
And the heroine in this book, Cordelia Hardcastle, was wonderful. A lot of authors write heroines who are strong and independent, but I liked how Cordelia wouldn't let anyone in and was afraid to let herself feel dependent on anyone. She had such a sad backstory and I loved her so much. I also liked how some of her kindness was selfish, even though it was coming from a good place, and how the author talked about how sometimes we think we're doing good, even though we're really serving ourselves best. There was just so much nuance to her character and she was absolutely perfect for Donal.
There's so much I want to say about this book. Like, how Donal had a teenage ward who was crushing on him and it wasn't creepy at all (seriously the bar is on the floor at this point, but everything about their relationship was handled so deftly). Or how the love for animals in this book was just so wholesome and believable (although there are some animal deaths in here, and talks about animal cruelty). In terms of the environmental messages, there's an almost Ferngully feel to this book at times, but it's done so well that it doesn't feel heavy-handed at all. And sometimes secondary characters take up too much page-time but I loved Ivy and Tod's stories just as much as Donal's and Cordelia's.
Oh, and the VILLAINS. The villains in this book were so good. Especially since the author made them just human enough that you can sort of see where they're coming from (terrifying).
I could ramble on and on but I won't. Just know that this is now a Susan Krinard fan account and I'm probably going to be reading a whole bunch of her other books in the very near future.
My mother recommended the Countess of Harleigh series to me and it's become my go-to whenever I need to chill out after a darker read. This second book in the series, A LADY'S GUIDE TO GOSSIP AND MURDER, takes off exactly where the previous one ended. Frances is still kind of in a will she/won't she with George Hazelton and her younger sister, Lily, is practically engaged. The dispute of her finances is mostly settled with her in-laws. It seems like everything is golden.
Until somebody dies.
I don't want to say too much because spoilers, but basically red flags begin waving when one of Franny's matchmaking attempts doesn't go as planned, and when somebody dies, she, her aunt, sister, and cousin are plunged into a world of schemes and scandal sheets, where everyone has got something to hide and one of those things might just be a motive for murder.
The pacing on this one was a lot slower than the previous one and I think that's because it didn't have the same stakes. The first book directly involved Franny and her money, and her relatives played more of a direct role (including her daughter and sister, whose respective safeties were threatened). This book had some exciting portions but a lot of it was just running around and talking in circles. It wasn't nearly as fun (for me).
I skimmed to the end because I wanted to see what happened and I did like the writing and the central mystery. This book just felt like a pale shadow of the previous, and I had been hoping for more. I still love Mr. Hazelton, though. Who doesn't stan a golden retriever love interest? Even if he is a nepo baby.
My mom actually recommended this series to me and I have the first five books in the series loaded up on my Kindle (thanks, KU!), but I haven't really been in the mood for "cozy mystery." Until now.
This series is so cute. It's narrated in first person from the point of view of the Countess of Harleigh, Frances Wynn. Frances, newly widowed, is now a single mother, and the prey of her greedy relations. They've looked down on her for being American and a woman, but they're not too good to take her American money to restore the house.
When Frances puts an end to that by getting a house of her own, to live in with her daughter, Rose, that seems like it will be the end of it. But then her sister, Lily, and Aunt Hetty come, and Lily (who is younger) starts courting some men of potentially dubious intentions and provenance, it falls to Frances to vet her sister's dates.
Which is a daunting enough task without the prospect of murder.
I don't want to say too much because less is more, but I thought the mystery element was really well done. I didn't guess who it was. Maybe I could have if I'd tried harder, but I was mostly just happy to go along with the ride. I loved Frances's voice, and even though she could be PAINFULLY obtuse at times, she had a quick mind and it was fun to read a book about a single mom character with a kid who wasn't bratty (I'm reading another right now where the kid IS bratty and that's okay but still, yikes).
Oh, AND the love interest for Frances is one of those human golden retriever type guys AND he wears glasses. Usually my favorite pairing with the no-nonsense female type in hist-rom is the duke of slut, but apparently I also ship no-nonsenses and golden retrievers, too. AND I've been assured that he's a continued presence in the future books too, HUZZAH.
So my mom was right about this book. It's light and fun and perfect for those days where you want to know "who did the bad thing and with what instrument?" but not worry about the kids or the dog.
I can't remember the last time I felt so repulsed by a book and yet so utterly determined to continue. There is definitely a bad fanfiction vibe to this book which is maybe why I continue to read it; it makes me feel a little nostalgic for all of the bad "lemons" I used to read in my fics when I was but a wee teen. Sadly, it doesn't hold the same appeal as an adult because now I know what good erotica reads like. But dammit, I'm just so fascinated. If this weren't the penname of Nina Pennachi, I doubt I'd feel this utterly compelled.
The premise for this serial is pretty simple. Jane's father suffered a terrible injury in the accident that killed her stepmother and his business is falling into ruin. She goes to her stepbrother to beg for money and he demands that she be his sex slave in return. Which sounds compelling, right? And initially it is... but the stepbrother, Guy, has no redeeming qualities. He hates Jane because she used to love him but eventually got tired of him being an asshole ALL THE TIME and stopped talking to him. Wow, so he's mad at her for having self-respect? Quelle surprise.
There's no self-respect in the present timeline though. As I said before, this is basically a sex fantasy for people who get off on humiliation and coercion. It's definitely CNC but the hero drags the heroine there, every step of the way, and she cries so much it's hard to convince yourself that she's enjoying it in any sense of the word. In this book, there's a scene that verges on pet play where he has her get on all fours so he can inspect her as if she's cattle at the market (his words), and he makes her lick his hand like she's a dog. Maybe you're into that. I'm not. I did not like this scene.
The sex scenes and dialogue are also kind of cringe and anachronistic. The heroine, despite being a virgin, uses the word "pussy" in her mental narrative. The author seems overly enamored with the phrase "ball juice," a phrase which I would be very happy if I never saw again. Since I believe her native language is Italian, I did wonder if maybe this is a literal translation from some Italian phrase. I didn't see a translator listed so I'm wondering if she did it herself or had a friend do it for her, because the writing in this feels clunkier than it did in her book, LEMONADE. I also hate that the dad calls his stepson "big boy." It just gives me the ick.
Why the fuck am I still reading this? Your guess is as good as mine. (Blink twice if you need help.)
The way I literally raced to the Kindle store when I found out that Ann Owen is a penname of Nina Pennachi. In case you don't know who Nina Pennachi is, she is the author of the cult classic bodice-ripper nouveau, LEMONADE, and the as-yet-to-be-published-in-English book, CAPITAN SWING. I've never been more tempted to pick up Duo Lingo to learn Italian, let me tell you. Watching my European friends reading that book has left me jealous as fuck.
Anyway, the Slave for Revenge series is in English and it's serialized into bite-sized installments, AND it's about a stepbrother blackmailing his sister into a relationship. Well, that sounds familiar... and exciting. And it's set in Victorian times, you say? SIGN ME UP, MA'AM.
After reading this book, though, I feel conflicted. I'm giving it the same rating that I gave LEMONADE but for vastly different reasons. LEMONADE was a story of emotional depth and complex characters with some passages of truly beautiful writing, but it was a little too clunky and long-winded for me to love it, even though I think about the story all the time. THE DEAL, on the other hand, is what I would call a sex fantasy. It has some pretty extreme CNC and a hero who truly despises the heroine and himself for being attracted to her, so the entire foundation of their relationship is based purely on revenge, as the title promises, and exploitation.
Now, I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with this. I wrote an essay in defense of dark romance recently about how authors shouldn't necessarily be held responsible for the actions of the characters, and how you can write about things that you don't endorse. I think this is a fantasy for people who enjoy CNC and coercion and that is fine. But it makes for some uncomfortable reading and I would be very unlikely to recommend this book to anyone unless they specifically asked me for something forceful and degrading, because it's pretty clear that the heroine is unhappy and conflicted.
Also... the sex scenes were very unsexy. At one point the hero tells the heroine to drink the "juice of his balls." And you might argue, "well, it's VICTORIAN, Nenia, what else are they supposed to say?" But if you're going to take the "it's historically accurate route" how the fuck would the sheltered, man-fearing, church-going heroine know what the word "pussy" means? Like I said, it's a sex fantasy. You're not supposed to really read it beyond the surface level storyline I guess (although will that stop me? noooo).
I'm probably going to keep reading because it reminds me of some of the adult fanfiction darkfics I read as a kid who was definitely not supposed to be reading fics like that. But don't go into this expecting LEMONADE: PART TWO. The only thing that is the same is her slightly rambly writing style. I can see why she published this under a penname, probably to prevent such comparisons.
DID YOU KNOW SHANNON DRAKE/HEATHER GRAHAM WROTE A GOTHIC ROMANCE??????? This was surprisingly hard to track down but I got myself a copy last year becDID YOU KNOW SHANNON DRAKE/HEATHER GRAHAM WROTE A GOTHIC ROMANCE??????? This was surprisingly hard to track down but I got myself a copy last year because *sniff* I'm worth it
I love gothic romances and I'm realizing that I've only read a few of what I actually have...more
It's so hard to find historical romances coming out that don't feel like literal cut and pastes, but THE MADNESS OF MISS GREY is it. Set in a Victorian asylum, it is a romance between a patient and her doctor, and if that sounds toxic... well, that's because it kind of is. But romance is about fantasy, and who hasn't wished for someone in a position of authority to whisk them away from their unhappiness during their darkest times?
Helen has been confined to a private hospital by an unknown man with lots of power. In the hospital, she is subject to sadistic treatments by people who seem to enjoy their power over a lot more than they should. Her doctor is kind of like Claude Frollo, and his chief nurse definitely gives Nurse Ratched vibes. When a new doctor interferes with her escape, and ends up treating her for hypothermia, she mocks him for his "common" accent. That's because Dr. Carter grew up as the son of the help before getting his degree.
He's fascinated by Helen, who is the daughter of an actress, and adept at manipulating people to get her own way. Even though he knows he's being manipulated, he can't help but marvel at the sheer level of desperation she must feel to work her wiles on someone who poses such a potential threat. So in spite of his best interests, with the fate of his own career hanging over his head, he decides to help her, and find out who locked her away here-- and why.
The gothic atmosphere of this book was EVERYTHING. Also, the angst? *chef's kiss* It gives hurt/comfort fanfic vibes. There's just something so satisfying about seeing two characters in peril clinging to each other like sailors to a mast. Also I loved how Helen was so strong and simultaneously so vulnerable. It was refreshing to see a heroine who was manipulative and realistically flawed, and I loved that she wasn't a virgin. On that same note, I loved the author's decision to make Dr. Carter kind of ugly-- or at least, you know, super plain. He's self-conscious about his looks and his station (we find out he used to have sex with his late wife with the lights off D':), and the way Helen comes to idolize him for his goodness, and his strength, is just so, so sweet.
Anyone who likes dark romance but is tired of alpha heroes will love this romance, because in THE MADNESS OF MISS GREY, Julia Bennet has gift-wrapped for us a beta hero who simps hard for his woman and would tread through the very rivers of hell to bring her back from the dead.
Amalie Howard is one of those authors where I really respect what she does, but I don't actually end up liking most of what she writes. So far, my favorite book of hers has been BEAST OF BESWICK (which I loved) but I didn't like the first two books in the Daring Dukes series much at all. I think my problem with these books is that they fall into the trap that a lot of modernized, feminist historical romances do, in that the heroine is often portrayed as the one-off pioneer of feminism, which ends up making her feel like a not-like-other-girls lead. Also, the heroes in all of these books have just been huge assholes until they see the light, and it felt-- to me-- that the sole attraction between them was sex-based.
I think THE DUKE IN QUESTION is the best book in the Dukes series so far. Most of that is because of the heroine, Bronwyn, who is pretty cool. I liked that she's allowed to be feminine and it's super cool that she's an informant/spy for good causes (there's an author's note in the back detailing some of the real life spies her character was based off). The hero, Valentine, is trying to find out who the Kestrel is, but like most men of this time, he doesn't really think much of ladies and so it never occurs to him-- or indeed, any man-- that the person they're looking for could actually be a woman.
For like 2/3 of this book, Valentine's internal dialogue is just about what a moron he thinks Bronwyn is (since he's taken her coquette role at face value). He actually grimaces in disgust at her while she's right there. She's a virgin but he doesn't think that, obviously, and so her first time is bent over against a tree. Even though she wants it, it still feels gross, because Valentine so obviously doesn't respect her as a person. Obviously, once he finds out she's a virgin, he wants to marry her and make it right, but the impulse feels less out of desire and affection and more like someone trying to pay for a piece of ceramic they broke in a shop because they feel reprisal from the salesclerk.
In the last 1/3 it does sort of feel like there's a burgeoning respect between them. Valentine eventually comes to admire her strength, but only after she's proven that she's not like other women. But Bronwyn's thoughts for Valentine are mostly about how big he is, how manly he is, and how good he is in bed. Even their HEA is sex-based, and I found myself wishing that we could have seen them doing something together that didn't just involve sex. I know there's a lot of "there's too much sex!" type reviews that are written in bad faith, but here it really felt like it was working to the story's detriment. I mean, Bronwyn is supposed to be this amazing spy but then she forgets about this top secret letter she's tucked into her bodice and it falls out in the middle of sexy-times? That kind of buffoonery can get one killed.
I feel bad complaining about so much since I did eventually warm to the book. The representation of PoCs was great, and I felt like the author obviously did a lot of research about spy networks (especially those involving women). But the random passages were characters lectured each others (or themselves) about privilege definitely felt anachronistic, like they were playing to a modern-day audience. And I would have liked the book a lot more if the tension between Valentine and Bronwyn had been allowed to build, and their connection had been based more on the emotional and less on the physical.
That said, it was great to find a book by this author that I did enjoy. I'm curious if this is the end of the Dukes series and she's about to start something new, or if some of the other side characters in this book are going to have future stories explored. Either way, I'll probably be there.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
I've only read one other book by this author, which was a medieval romance called THE WITCH AND THE WARRIOR. It's one of those non-rapey medieval romances that doesn't come across as too fluffy, and as someone with food sensitivities, I really appreciated seeing the food sensitivity rep in the book, and having it identified through an elimination diet. That was really neat.
MY FAVORITE THIEF is a totally different book. It's set in Victorian times and opens with a jewel thief trying to steal a necklace at a party. Weirdly, the heroine, Charlotte, helps him and encourages him to take her hostage to make his escape. Which is pretty weird, but I guess when you learn a bit more about her background it kind of makes sense.
Anyway, after she and her friends heal him, he gets away, but she's able to figure out who he is when she sees him flinch from an injury he got at the robbery during a ball: and of course, surprise, surprise, he's a dashing earl. And, surprise surprise, the heroine decides to blackmail him because she desperately needs money to pay off her evil abuser of a father.
That's a lot of the story so I don't want to say too much else because spoilers. So I'm going to talk about some of the tropes instead. There are a lot of tropes in here that I really enjoy: jewel thief characters (a trope I didn't even think I liked until I was wooed by books like Liz Carlyle's THE DEVIL TO PAY and Meagan McKinney's MOONLIGHT BECOMES HER), found family, heroine with a dark history, hurt/comfort, and tormented/haunted hero. There's also disability rep in this book. The hero suffers from what I believe are severe migraines (his father committed suicide because of them) and the heroine has a limp because of a badly-set broken leg from a childhood beating (triggers).
There are a lot of triggers in this book for basically everything and some of the stuff happens on page and some doesn't. I felt like the author made good choices determining what to show and what to hint at. I was also really relieved that Charlotte wasn't actually sold into prostitution as a nine-year-old child (although I think it's hinted that she ended up selling herself later in life, like teens). Her father was the actual worst and I felt like he got off way too easily at the end, which was disappointing. I also felt like there was too much insta-love between the hero and the heroine. They really don't have that many scenes together, and while I liked the mystery and the thieving elements enough to continue, I wouldn't say that this is a particularly good romance, nor did the characters have much sexual chemistry.
Overall, this was a fun, quick read. I bought the first book in the series because I want to read more books set in this universe, but it's not as good as THE WITCH AND THE WARRIOR.
So there are a couple romance tropes that make me go absolutely feral and one of those is a well-written blackmail romance and another is a calm and composed hero who loses his shit only where the heroine is concerned. IMPULSE has both of those tropes, and so many other tropes I love that it was almost as if she had reached right into my depraved skull and written this romance just for me.
IMPULSE is the story of Cam and Angela. Angela is the daughter of nobility (an earl, I believe) and Cam is their stable boy. They've been childhood friends since they met, but recently they became secret lovers. But then Angela's grandfather finds out what they've been up to in the stables and he threatens to destroy Cam and frame him for theft unless she marries the rich asshole he's picked out for her personally. So Angela tearfully marries Dunstan and Cam is then beaten by the grandfather and sent away, and things are off to a pretty gloomy beginning.
Thirteen years later, Angela is divorced and finds out that someone has been buying up her family's shares in a failing mine. This person also wants to marry Angela, and if she doesn't, they will ruin her family. TA-DA! It's a hardened, bitter Cam, fresh from the America's, nursing lust and grievance. Also, apparently Angela's brother, Jeremy, is bisexual, and in addition to bankrupting her family, he threatens to out her brother (which is douchey, but we later learn that he had no intention of actually doing this). With no choice but to save her family, Angela grudgingly marries her childhood lover-turned-enemy, but only after telling him that she has absolutely no intention of having him in her bed.
I don't want to say too much more, but let's just say that there is a TON of well-plotted angst, emotional intimacy, kinky sexy-times (BDSM), a murder subplot that doesn't feel like an afterthought, a quest to find one's hidden family, and a secondary romance that is super cute and takes up just the right amount of page time. Also, Angela has such a truly tragic and horrific backstory. When she reveals what her first husband did to her, my heart broke. And I also liked how both Dunstan and Cam were both kinky, but Dunstan was an abuser, whereas Cam was a consent king. Often plot devices like these end up kind of demonizing kink culture, so I liked that Camp portrayed both the light and dark sides of it.
My only qualm was that the author used a few phrases in her sex scenes that I wasn't the biggest fan of. "Fleshy buttons" for nipples and "male breasts" were a bit too ish and ended up pulling me out of the otherwise really steamy sex scenes. But that's my only petty complaint and I'm not going to down-rate for it. If you enjoyed Meredith Duran's DUKE OF SHADOWS and Meagan McKinney's WHEN ANGELS FALL, then I think you're going to love IMPULSE, as it shares the same theme of obsessive "I've loved you for years" loved, family legacies, and danger. I love, love, LOVED this!
So as you may or may not know, I am a retro romance blogger, and one of my great loves is the gothic romance novel. Maybe it's my inner goth kid screaming and crying to get out, but something about haunted castles and bats in the belfry just get my little emo heart going asdflksdjfsjkl;.
LADY OF SEVEN EMERALDS is from the Zebra Gothic line, a now defunct line that I believe ran from the 80s-90s. Most of the books in the line were pretty tame and obviously inspired by Victoria Holt, but there were a few odd ducks in the line that ended up being pretty WTF (see my review for BLACKMADDIE).
In this book, the heroine-- who is named Rebecca-- is adrift after the Civil War. After whining about how much she misses her Scarlett O'Hara dresses, and how much it sucks that all her slaves ran away, we find out that she had a grandma who was blind and working with the grandma made her an expert in Braille. With her family dead, there's nothing better for this Georgia peach to do than to hightail it to Florida: specifically, to the beachside town of St. Augustine where there is a school for the blind.
Standing adjacent to this school is a castle on the cliffs, presumably airlifted from Spain. There, the Menendez family lives, a noble Spanish family tarnished by scandal and ruin. Ramon, the heir apparent to his line, is one of the students at the blind school. He went blind on the night his wife was murdered. Did he kill her? Maybe. Or maybe not. All the heroine knows is that he rings every single one of her bells and she wants to tap that ass. Because, you know, nothing turns a woman on like seeing a man brutalize his servants and then throwing his cane out the window in a fit of rage (true story).
I don't really feel like summarizing this book anymore so let's play GOTHIC ROMANCE BINGO.
It's no secret that Meagan McKinney is one of my favorite authors of all time. Sadly, only about half of her books are in print right now. About half of her backlist isn't. Cut to me casually hunting them down one by one like an addict trying to get their next fix. When I got my hands on MOONLIGHT BECOMES HER, I was really excited, because the summary reminded me of one of my other favorite romances, Liz Carlyle's THE DEVIL TO PAY. Also, my friend Heather managed to finagle a copy, so I got to buddy-read it with someone! YAY
The book opens with our heroine, Lady Moonlight/Mystere, robbing the hero, Rafe, at gunpoint with the help of her accomplices. She then makes him strip naked, putting a cherry on his humiliation sundae. Obviously, he swears revenge-- and Rafe is the type of dude who makes revenge his hobby. Despite being part of the rich, he blames the upper-crust of society for his parents' ruin and subsequent humiliation, so hunting down the beautiful thief who left him naked by the roadside is just par for the course.
Mystere is not without sympathy, though. She's working for a crime boss posting as her uncle, and he beats her if she doesn't do what he tells her to. So she's stuck in his house, working as his servant with the rest of his household, until the next time that he trots her out to steal. There's sort of a wicked Cinderella bent to this part of the plot, which I really liked. She also is looking for her missing brother and trying to figure out who her missing family is because of a super secret letter she got from her mother. Which I guess maybe is a little more Anastasia than it is Cinderella, but whatever, I still dug it.
When she encounters Rafe at a party, he's pretty sure she's Lady M. Some reviewers seemed to find that unrealistic but to me it seemed kind of like the Clark Kent/Superman phenomenon, where people see what they expect to see, and it's easier to dupe people who aren't suspecting. Rafe, however, is definitely suspecting. Here, the book enters a sort of cat and mouse situation, which leads to some really spicy and steamy scenes. I think that the banter game between the H and the h in this book is almost as sexy as the riposting between Lyssa and Ivan from WHEN ANGELS FALL (my favorite McKinney book out of all the McKinney books, which I recently bought in paperback).
This was SO close to being a five-star read for me, but there were just a few things that kept it from being perfect. I loved the banter between the characters but I do think they fell "in love" both too late and too quickly. Rafe is pretty cruel to Mystere and even though he does redeem himself, I would have liked to have more scenes leading up to that, showing his shifting feelings. I also really didn't like the ending. It was way too abrupt. Like, when I got to the end, I was like, "Wait, is there more?" The whole book dangles Mystere's history over the reader throughout the whole book like there's going to be some kind of dramatic reveal and then... nothing. Also the final scenes with the villains felt kind of anticlimactic. I WANTED A DUEL.
That said, I still loved this book and there were parts where I LITERALLY could not take it from my hands. It was like it had been superglued to them by my own sheer will. I either love or hate McKinney's books, because she seems to be one of those authors who either dials it in or gives it her all. I've given her three two-star reviews and three five-star reviews and I believe one three. This is my first four-star review of her work, which I think is fair, because it was amazing but not the glittering perfection of which I know she is capable. It's still staying on the keeper shelf for those spicy scenes, though.
Nenia ✨ I yeet my books back and forth ✨
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