Plot Trysts

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. 

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.

Independent Doctor and Moral Spy trying to reform a corrupt system from the inside..... yeah Kleypas has our number. Add in some wonderful clothing and an inability to keep hands to themselves and you know we spent this episode raving.

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.

There's plenty to love here - from a critical examination of rakishness to some really well developed friendships. Meg liked this more than Laine (who is admittedly a bit over independent and undersexed women who hide their emotions) but both of us thought it was a romp! Very much a romcom in text form, we look forward to the rest of the series.

Martha Waters impressed us both with her debut novel, even if marriage in crisis isn't Meg's favorite. This series really gets us to dive in to whether romance novels in a series can or should be read as standalones.

Meg and Laine disagree about the merits of this book. Laine found it to be almost Cynster-esque while Meg was able to put that aside and buy into the story and some of the social commentary. Lucy might draw Anthony's tool but Laine thought he WAS the tool.

Everything about this book is ridiculous in the best way. Hilarious and sexy, this book put big grins on both our faces. We just wish there'd been only one room at at least one inn!