faintingviolet – Page 19 – Cannonball Read 17

Lau writes characters you care about – and that’s a really good thing.

A Fake Girlfriend for Chinese New Year (Holidays with the Wongs #3) by Jackie Lau

January 11, 2020 by faintingviolet 18 Comments

I continue to love the conceit of these novellas; there are four Wong children, all unattached, and their parents and grandparents hatch a plan to set them up with potential partners at Canadian Thanksgiving based on the tropes in the romance novels that their mother and grandmother read. The initial matches go terribly, but as the holidays progress each Wong sibling finds love in different romantic tropey ways. For A Fake Girlfriend for Chinese New Year Lau combined the friends to lovers and fake relationship […]

“She had a lifelong habit of extending care to animals too wild or frightened to accept it- which made her the bravest kind of fool.”

The Wallflower Wager (Girl Meets Duke #3) by Tessa Dare

January 3, 2020 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

This was not the book I was going to read next, but after the bummer of Royal Holiday I knew I needed a sure thing and a Tessa Dare book will always be a book that I quite enjoy. I pulled up the one I’d been saving, book three in the Girl Meets Duke series, and spent the afternoon and evening absorbed in Dare’s kooky version of Regency England. I love a fun, feminist, anachronistic romance novel and that is something that Tessa Dare delivers […]

This One Was Unfortunately a Miss for Me

Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory

January 3, 2020 by faintingviolet 6 Comments

I was going to read this one in the week after Christmas but having taken a look at this year’s Read Harder Challenge I decided to wait until New Years since this is Guillory’s book featuring Maddie’s mom Vivian, who raised her by herself – take that task 14: Read a romance starring a single parent. I just wish this was better. Jasmine Guillory launched onto the Romance scene two years ago with The Wedding Date and has released four novels in that time. The […]

I’ve got pretty ingrained habits – a romance to start the New Year

Beginner's Luck (Chance of a Lifetime #1) by Kate Clayborn

January 1, 2020 by faintingviolet 1 Comment

I had decided a couple weeks ago that my New Years Day plan was to hang out in comfy clothes while reading and reviewing a book. I have managed to achieve that goal, and all before dinner time! What I didn’t originally know was that with the Romance Writers of America deciding to implode over Christmas week I would be frontloading a lot of Romance books by authors who were out on the frontlines (Kate Clayborn) and/or with new works coming out (her latest Love […]

“I hate to be sanctimonious about it, but it turns out that good conversation solves a great many problems.”

That Inevitable Victorian Thing by E.K. Johnston

December 30, 2019 by faintingviolet 3 Comments

I don’t read all that much alternative history, so it took a bit of digging through my to read list in order to find something to read for Read Harder’s Task 2. But, sure enough I had one and while I let it sit to very late (although not the latest on my to read list for this year’s challenges) it was an enjoyable, if slightly unexpected, read. For plot summary purposes I’m going to borrow from Goodreads, since I’m not sure I could do […]

“Love is desire sustained by unfulfillment.”

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter

December 28, 2019 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

While I like to think of myself as generally well-read there are definite gaps in the more classic authors of certain genres. Authors I enjoy, including Neil Gaiman, have pointed to Angela Carter as an immense influence on their own work. Thankfully someone had gifted The Bloody Chamber & Other Stories to me a few years ago. The stories in the collection share a theme of being closely based upon fairytales or folk tales and Carter toys with Gothic fiction and gender, utilizing classic Gothic […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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