Plot Trysts

This book has some fun takes on tropes we've seen before (gambling hells, debutant siblings) but has one glaring point of historical inaccuracy that you either make peace with or you'll be in for a bumpy ride. Potentially our favorite take on the capitalist feminist (not to mention the steamiest), we recommend this for anyone willing to look past the inheritance law shenanigans.  

The last Scottish brother is married off and this book did not go down as Meg or Laine expected. Both of us were charmed by Coll, and neither of us were charmed by his parents or brother in law.

We are huge Boyle stans so it hurts to admit this one didn't work for us quite as well as the first two books in the series. We loved Roxley's crazy aunts and the premise of a mustering, but the wider plot was hard to follow. Luckily it veered into "so weird I'm just along for the ride" so we still had fun with it. 

Meg and Laine are joined by Shani from Romance at a Glance to discuss the second book in the Palace of Rogues series. There's a lot to love with this book, but the debate about if gems or real estate are the better gift is the true substance of the episode.

We actually managed to keep this one spoiler free in the beginning and very clearly notate where the spoilers start, so those wanting a preview without knowing the mystery of Keir's parentage can safely listen. Turns out Scottish cinnamon rolls are the intersection of both of our types, so we spend most of this review swooning over Keir and his beard. 

Lolly is super lucky that the strange man who heard her sneeze happens to share her politics and be super hot and be super into her because God knows that's not what dating is usually like.

The Russian gets a character and boy does Meg like him. Having Vlad write a romance was a stroke of genius and put a new spin on the romance-reading crew. Laine got caught up in issues with IBS, sports stuff, and sex-trafficking but still thinks it's worth a read.

A spy falls for a Countess who recently opened a hotel with her dead husband's mistress in a former brothel. We had a lot of fun with this one and totally bought the chemistry between the main characters!

Laine really likes this book. Meg can't stop talking about plumbing. We agree that the interpersonal narratives are better than the external plot.

This road trip/fortune hunter book was a worthy successor to the first book in the series. It had a ton of our favorite tropes, but not enough carriage sex (TBH).

Elephant stampedes are super romantic, dontcha know?! Seriously, we were very into this couple and loved the setup of this conflict. We could have done with a bit more cooperation in the end, but this book is sexy regardless

Look, this isn't our favorite Kleypas. The main couple certainly has its moments and this might be her best use of former characters yet, but ultimately we had a few too many issues with this one to sing its praises. Not even library negotiation sexytimes can make up for diet culture bullshit and sexual assault. And feet, but that might just be Laine.

We loved the sexy and reluctant advice columnist paired with the wallflower finding her voice and thought most of this book was really fun, and the take on the gossip industry remains great. We wish the main couple had spent more time working together in the end, in all the ways you're thinking of.

Impoverished aristocrat is a fortune hunter in need of a marriage of convenience has been done before, but it's definitely done well here. We might rant about capitalism and a contrived ending, but overall we thought this was the most consent-driven fortune hunter book we've read, and that is definitely a good thing.

It seems we always have more to say about courtesy titles, Amelia Peabody, and Bridgerton.

Laine read this series a while ago and apparently can't keep the books straight or remember the gross plot elements. Meg was not here for Feyre's wet noodle personality. The first book in this trilogy is a pretty literal beauty and the beast retelling and the two main characters really have the hots for each other, but the real interest comes in the next book.

This gaslamp-ish romance is a ton of fun and made us laugh a lot. It's also filled with a LOT of literary references, and we're pretty sure we missed quite a few. We liked it best for the badass pirate society and the dick jokes, if we're honest.

The final book in the Stud Club series has a great portrayal of deafness and Deaf culture but a confusing plot tied up with a plot twist that made Laine very angry. Not our usual response to a Dare, for sure. We wouldn't call this "fun."

Laine and Meg are joined by "Just Plain Wrong" podcast hosts Erin and Tillie to discuss the romance in Witness. Harrison Ford is hot, the cops are really violent, and Laine comes up with the perfect sequel.

Laine and Meg talk about marrying for money, bad girls, and the funniest drinking game in the genre.

Meg and Laine talk about how smelly people on the run are, if we want to solve the mystery, and believably duplicitous brothers.

Laine and Meg both really like Phoebe and West. They're cute together, well suited, and largely pretty sexy. However, there are some ill-conceived notions of masculinity and even MEG agrees there's too much Sebastian FKA St. Vincent.

Laine and Meg review a novella/writing exercise from Sherry Thomas in this one. It's... hard to talk about as a book because it mirrors Tempting the Bride so closely, but it does provide a lot of conversation fodder. Did he make his daughter a dog? Was anal sex a metaphor?

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...

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.