Plot Trysts

Alyssa Cole's latest is about the youngest woman in a line of badass female warriors with no respect for boundaries and maybe princess/definite doormat from New Jersey. Meg and Laine don't typically love pushover characters, especially those who turn down money, jewels, and status for reasons of principle we don't understand OR people who operate without concern for social comfort, so this wasn't really our thing. That said, the family dynamics and politics of this one were interesting.

Crispin and Henrietta have been locked in a will they/won't they thing for 11 years, and now they're locked in a wine cellar. This novella crams a lot of plot into a short span along with a lot of sexiness, and is a strange combination of angsty and fluffy. To the surprise of no one, we liked it.

Diving in the way back machine today for Deception by Amanda Quick. We love piracy and academic women, but could have done without the sexual assault. Quick holds up better than most of her time, and this is a fun one.

Meg and Laine talk about believable conflict, period-appropriate dialogue, and sexy debate tactics.

This book has tropes galore and some seriously batshit plots (yes we bring up Cynsters...) but the characters are charming and we love tropes. Pay attention to the content warnings for this one, because some of them are intense.

In spite of the title Gabriel really is nothing like his father. You'd think that would make Laine happy, except he really wasn't much of a character at all. Meg tried to pretend the characterization of Pandora in the first two books could be dismissed, but even that didn't make this one our cup of tea.

We've enjoyed the Fitzhugh series so far but this one really turns up the heat. While this one deviates from our usual favorite tropes, Sherry Thomas continues to make us like things we usually don't. Maybe the best amnesia romance ever?

We're dipping back into the Tessa Dare Archives with this one. Trope-tastic, sexy, and more than a little absurd, this book definitely previews the good stuff to come with Dare's books, even if the jacket doesn't live up to her usual standards.

A Civil War vet and a Chinese-born missionary widow team up to solve global communication issues in an equitable and sustainable way. If it sounds like all that characterization and plot would make romance come second, you're right, but this is still a very good book.