Plot Trysts

Pretty much everything about this book worked for us, even the stuff that precedent would tell you we'd hate. We both somehow remembered this as having more sex than it did because the sexy stuff was that good? A+.

This steampunk romance was so dang cute it had us both smiling. It caught us by surprise more than once, but the happily ever after was perfect.

Imperial China might not be our usual romance setting, but we both loved pretty much everything about this book. Be prepared for some heavy subject matter and excellent world building.

This book is a sexy romp that also makes readers confront the bullshit of the patriarchy, which can be stressful. We took different things away from this book, but both really enjoyed it.

Goodness knows we love a spy novel and Elizabeth Boyle, so a whole lot of this really worked for us. It's more farce than badass spy mystery, but there's clandestine makeouts while undercover so we'll take it.

If you're going to give handjobs to pay off your student debt, there's no shame in that game as long as you're honest about engaging in sex work with yourself. We also discuss when in a monster book a line into bestiality is crossed. At one point we analyze our own forearms as a size comparison, but Laine edited that out.

Stephanie Laurens is a genius for writing the same book again, but this time with less logic. We stan.

If Mission: Improper was a TV show, Ingrid and Caleb would have been the will they/won't they pair that kept viewers waiting for all 15 seasons. Luckily Bec McMaster doesn't delay the gratification of seeing these two give in to each other for that long, but we did feel like this love story didn't get the attention it deserved. 

The sentient sex toy from the first book definitely has "brothers" but Liz isn't as thrilled by this fact as you would think. Sexy and funny, this sequel definitely makes you confront the difficulties facing our heroines in the few seconds between sex.

The Dark Olympus series continues with the story of Eros and Psyche, except not really? Both Meg and Laine thought this book's greatest weakness was how few parallels there were to the myth. Otherwise, there's a lot to enjoy here from the wedding day/night sex to the sex in front of mirrors.

Meg is really charmed by taking an absurd scenario to a logical conclusion, while Laine is less so. The unlikeable characters are very fun and add to the book's unique charm.

Meg and Laine love clothes, so you know this worked for us on the fashion front. We loved both main characters and bought the conflict, so we definitely recommend this one in spite of its chastity.

This one has enough plot threads to be a Cynster novel. How ok you are with the lack of pay-off on some of those threads may depend on your frame of mind when reading the book. Tuck and Lavinia make it fun and sexy, as we've come to expect from Boyle.

You know we love reinterpretations of classic stories and this modern take on the Greek pantheon was super fun. Half the fun was figuring out how the classics would tie in, and the other half was the super fun relationship of convenience with an expiration date between Hades and Persephone. Oh, and it's a SEX book.

Guys this book makes no sense. It asks the very important question, "what happens when sex telepathy works but it works so well you're convinced it was a trick?"

Now that we're done with Christmas Novellas, we return to our bread and butter (historical SPIES). We loved how willing Susanna Craig was to lean into a LOT of absurdity and we say the word "coincidence" several times. Fun, sexy, and well-written, we definitely recommend this one.

Meg and Laine really like anachronistically progressive spies and their suffragette lovers. What can we say, we're predictable.  

We wrap up our ACOTAR reviews with a discussion of which genre this series falls into. Meg was grateful for the lack of sex cabin, which was a first.

Laine & Meg enjoyed this knitting propaganda disguised as a Christmas film so much they decided to watch it a second time and record their commentary! Enjoy some perfect romance tropes with a curmudgeon-ey Duke of our childhood dreams. Happy Holidays!

We wrap up our Christmas novellas with the most epic Christmas party ever! I need to go to this Arthurian grotto.

This Christmas Novella takes the "aristocratic woman marries low born but wealthy man" trope (better name TBD) and adds some Christmas house party shenanigans. We liked it, even if it was a bit tame compared with our standard fare.

This is a "virgin hero sells virginity at Christmas house party" story. Lots of potential in that description, but it's BARELY a Christmas book and there's a bit too much conflict.

Two unlikely travel companions get stranded in a small village for Christmas and make the best of it/learn the true meaning of Christmas while trying to act like all the bed sharing doesn't mean anything. (it does).

The Scotsmen with terrible parents have a cousin who gets a Christmas novella! Laine was very very charmed by two adults clearly communicating their desires and expectations. Meg was just glad Matthew wasn't there.

This sex book was so charming, and a hot air balloon wasn't the only thing to rise to the occasion. Did we recognize Jane from the previous book? Not really (now ask us how much we care).