Sebastian Nothwell’s Fiorenzo is a standalone tale of love and triumph over adversity set in a world inspired by the Venetian Republic in what feels like the late seventeenth/early eighteenth century. The author calls it a “fantasy of manners” – which brings to mind the comedies of manners of that period, with their secret identities,…
Whenever I finish a book by Gregory Ashe and open my laptop to write a review (after I’ve scooped my insides up and put myself back together) I wonder how on earth I can possibly encapsulate everything he’s packed into the book in a mere few-hundred words… and then wonder how I can possibly do…
Like its predecessor (Something Fabulous), Alexis Hall’s Something Spectacular is a delightful read with some very pertinent observations to make while being a witty, laugh-out-loud funny, campy, over-the-top and unabashedly queer romance that takes place in a very modern “Regency” setting. As with the previous book, “basically everyone in it is LGBTQ+”, the author (in…
This is only the second book I’ve read by Romeo Alexander, and to be honest, the first one was just average, so I wasn’t expecting to enjoy To Love and Protect as much as I did. But I’m always on the look out for good romantic suspense so I decided to give it try, and…
E.E. Ottoman’s The Companion is the most ‘no plot, just vibes’ book I’ve read lately. I loved the vibes, but the lack of plot really holds the book back. Madeline Slaughter has given up on being accepted by the New York literary establishment. Burned out, she travels upstate, where the bestselling novelist Victor Hallowell has…
Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble is the second book in Alexis Hall’s Winner Bakes All series, which pays homage to and pokes affectionate fun at The Great British Bake-Off as some of the contestants on its fictional counterpart, Bake Expectations, fall in love throughout the weeks of the competition. The first thing anyone contemplating reading…
Timothy Janovsky’s You’re a Mean One, Matthew Prince is one of those fish-out-of-water stories wherein a spoiled brat is sent away to some backwater they wouldn’t normally set one toe of their Louboutins in and finds meaning, purpose, and often, love as well. It’s a story we’re all read hundreds of times before (and as…
Auggie Lopez and Theo Stratford made a few cameo appearances in the most recent Hazard and Somerset series (Arrows in the Hand), but it’s been a while since we’ve read about them in their own series, (to be fair, Mr. Ashe has published a dozen other books in the gap!) so I was delighted to…
Alexis Hall’s Boyfriend Material was one of my Best Books of 2020 – a masterclass in how to do Romantic Comedy right, it’s a wonderfully, warm, funny and sharply observed opposites-attract romance that has become a long-term favourite. Needless to say, I was delighted to learn that the author was writing a couple more books…
Note: As the author has done so, I have used a character’s ‘deadname’ (or pre-transition name) in this review. Viola Carroll was raised as the Viscount Marleigh. She joined the army with her dearest friend, Justin De Vere, the Duke of Gracewood, and after being presumed dead at Waterloo, took the opportunity to start to…
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