This month’s TBR challenge prompt of “grumpy” yielded almost an embarrassment of riches. After all, grouchy heroes aren’t exactly a rare find in Romlandia. And grumpy/sunshine romances are having a bit of a moment now, too. Lynn read a recent release that she had been longing to try. That one turns the trope on its head a bit, with the heroine playing the part of the grouch. Caz found a workplace romance starring a grumpy boss, and both books were winners. […]
Fairy tale romance – now there’s a TBR prompt that can go in all kinds of different directions. When we talk about romance, we often talk about “fairytale romances.” Lynn and Caz took this one to very different places this month. Caz picked a m/m paranormal with a spin on the Rumpelstiltskin story, while Lynn went with a lush historical that picked up motifs from Little Red Riding Hood. […]
Healing Her Emergency Doc by Caroline Anderson
This theme was a little bit of a headscratcher for me. Off the top of my head, I couldn’t come up with anything in my TBR that might involve competition of any kind. I went combing through my category books, and spotted a medical romance centering on two doctors competing for the same job. Not sure how I ended up with Healing Her Emergency Doc as I’m not familiar with the author, but I decided to give this one a read and see how it went. It went well, as a matter of fact. […]
October is the perfect month for reading gothics. Halloween is just around the corner, and who doesn’t want a deliciously shivery book? This month’s TBR Challenge was great fun, and coincidentally, both of us found ourselves venturing to the north of England for brooding, gothic-tinged reads. What books do you like for this time of year? […]
I think I may have been overthinking TBR Challenge a little bit. When I tried to pick out a book from my bookcase that would be “unusual”, I found myself wondering, “Unusual to whom?” After all, Romancelandia is becoming an ever larger and more varied place. Settings I consider unusual based upon what I’m normally able to find may feel like home to someone else. In the end, I chose a book that turns a familiar trope (doctor-nurse) on its head, and looks at a favorite category romance setting from a different angle. Caz went for an uncommon historical setting, and a book which features a new slant on Arthurian legend. […]
For voracious readers, a theme like “authors with more than one book in your TBR” yields almost an embarrassment of riches. It could be contemporary, historical, light, angsty – so many choices. In the end, we went for very different books, but we both found enjoyable reads. What authors do you have piled up in the TBR? […]
With a TBR Challenge prompt like “Secrets and Lies”, we couldn’t help but dig into the romantic suspense side of our respective TBR queues. Lynn came up with an inspy romantic suspense that had an unusual setup, while Caz went for a m/m romantic suspense with a plot that had plenty of twists and turns to it. […]
This month’s TBR Challenge prompt – One Word Title – made me really take a look at my TBR pile. I have a ton of books in the TBR, but as it happens, very few with one word titles. Caz went for a modern-day setting, while I picked up a paranormal historical, and both of us were mostly happy.
[…]
Caz was going to fly solo for this month’s TBR Challenge post–Lynn will be back next month for your regular dual helping of TBR reviews. Dabney, who loves fairytale retellings, decided to step in. Enjoy!
Birarley by Aster Glenn Gray
I’m not a big fan of fairytale retellings, so I struggled a to come up with something for this month’s Challenge prompt and was almost at the point of just picking up a random book instead. But then I remembered Aster Glenn Gray’s Briarley – an m/m version of Beauty and the Beast – that I’d come across at the end of last year after enjoying Honeytrap. Problem solved! […]
“Old School” is one of those terms that can have a lot of meaning. After all, the romance genre has evolved quite a bit over the decades and different threads of the genre have gone in different directions. I’ll admit that my first thought when I see the term takes me to the 400-500 page books I used to find in used bookstores and library sales back in the 90s. Big, epic historicals definitely still have their appeal for me, though I’m pickier than I used to be. Some problematic features just can’t be glossed over for me anymore. This time around, Caz and I both ended up going in a similar direction, reading old Regency trads from the late 80s/early 90s. At their best, these stories, just like their contemporary category cousins, pack a focused romance into a […]