What a fun, refreshing slow-burn of a romance! Chef’s Kiss understands what joy cooking can bring, and it brings it to life through a union between grumpy and sunshine, that universally appealing combo. TJ Alexander has some real writing skills, and they deploy them perfectly. Highly-strung Simone Larkspur is a busy pastry chef who lands…
If you’re a queer kid who survived life as a student at a religious school, I Kissed Shara Wheeler will definitely have a strong impact on you. You’ll either remember the agonies of self-discovery under the crucible of religion, academia and social pressure, or you’ll nod your head as Casey McQuiston effortlessly wraps her arms…
A story of people who want to be the best they can for each other, and who realistically put in the work? Penny Aimes’ For the Love of April French gets a big “Yes, please.” April French calls herself the “welcome wagon” – newcomers to Austin’s kink community hook up with her, but everybody moves…
Two of my favourite authors teaming up to write a grumpy/sunshine “angsty rom-com” ? YES, PLEASE – sign me up! Total Creative Control is a captivating read and I blew through it two sittings. Featuring two complex, superbly characterised protagonists, and a small but equally well-written supporting cast, it’s full of humour, witty banter, delicious…
The Hellion’s Waltz is a lot of fun, but has a few flaws that knock it out of the DIK bracket and make it the weakest of Olivia’s Waite’s Feminine Pursuits series. It’s still well worth the read though, though. Sophie Roseingrave is a piano teacher, tuner and composer with a problem. All she wants…
Curious about a gender-based dystopia where women have been erased as a concept and testosterone, inborn and taken via shots, rules the day? Check out Y Negative. Ember is Y-negative, a person born without a Y-chromosome. In his early years, he was forced to bear children; now, with the help of testosterone injections, he is…
One of my students recently asked me for some reading on asexuality – she’s thinking it’s a label she may want to own, and wanted to know if I could recommend some fiction books to help her understand it better. I couldn’t, so I headed to the direct messages of some friends and asked for…
Narrated by Greg Boudreaux Counterpoint, book two in Anna Zabo’s trilogy about rock group Twisted Wishes, focuses on the band’s lead guitarist, Domino Grinder, a mouthy, tatted-up, leather-clad Rock god who struts about the stage shirtless, oozing sex appeal and attitude. Domino may be the most recognisable member of the group, but he’s also fiercely…
I’m not a royal-watcher, and as a rule, I’m not a fan of royal romances. Of those I’ve read (and that isn’t a large number) the only one that really worked for me was Lilah Pace’s His Royal Secret/His Royal Favorite duology, and a big part of that was because the author had taken care to…
Inked with a Kiss is a wonderful, sweet and chemistry-laden tale about two ordinary women falling in love under the ordinary pressures of real life. Thirty-seven-year-old Jamie Winston is a tattoo artist and shop manager with a dysfunctional family – a twelve-year-old-daughter, Riley, whom she adores but clashes with occasionally, her ex-wife, and two helpless,…