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73 reviews for:
Where There's Smoke...: A Small Town Sapphic Romance
Aricka Alexander, Aricka Alexander
3.86 AVERAGE
73 reviews for:
Where There's Smoke...: A Small Town Sapphic Romance
Aricka Alexander, Aricka Alexander
3.86 AVERAGE
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
- Author noted that it's "slice of life" at the beginning, and I think that would be fine but there were SO many things skipped over that I think would've been more interesting than what was given
- The characters were great -- I loved Angel and really liked Phee and they are very cute together
- But Phee is a firefighter and there is one fire in the whole book and we get it from the perspective of Angel who is half conscious for it! Show me Phee doing cool and dangerous things!
- There's like, a lot of little things about this that annoyed me but no huge problems, either? Ultimately still had fun reading it, I'd just randomly get mad when something got skipped over that I wanted to see and instead got them talking about after the fact
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Very cute very spicy
emotional
funny
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I know I know. I could’ve just finished it but honestly, I was bored by pg 130 and was just skimming at this point.
SPOILERS 🚨
Positives:
1)The spiciness is on point. Love the spicy scenes. The detail and the body positioning. Each encounter felt different and hot.
2)The romance is cute. Phee had bars. The way she first flirted was so good. Even I was quivering at the thought of someone towering over me and I’m 6’1”!
3)I love a good couple with chemistry. Angel and Phee had it. In spades. Both were great characters. Really fun and interesting.
4) The dialogue (at times) was on point. Loved the way they spoke to each other. The way they flirted was sexy and made me giggle a few times.
Negatives:
1) There really isn’t a story here. What is the plot? Two women fall in love. Ok but how? They already liked each other and just kept on liking each other. No build up or escalation of feelings or emotions.
2) There was a firefighter that didn’t fight fires! How?!? This was a missed opportunity to give Phee some depth and Angel an emotional ride as someone who loves a first responder. The one time they did have a fire it was lackluster as best. Was it a blaze? Was the room on fire? Or was it just a smoke alert. The lack of description in the ONLY action event was so confusing. So much could’ve been done with this.
3) Zero obstacles for them to fight through. I’m not saying they needed to break up or a misunderstanding or anything but something needed to test them to bring them closer. Angel pushes Phee away after the fire and then is upset when she wasn’t there. Again, a missed opportunity to explore their emotions surrounding guilt.
(Nate and his moment wasn’t really an obstacle. More of a backstory reveal.)
It was just a series of moments that didn’t really push the story forward. Just served as more examples of Phee and Angel’s love for each other. I kept thinking “why are we here?” so many times. Nothing haooened in the world around them that didn’t involve them together. Phee was meeting up with Angel, Angel was meeting up with Phee. They both had lives but were rarely involved in them.
4) The dialogue got repetive very quickly. While I love couple affirming each other and not holding back how they feel, this is all Pher and Angel do. Over and over and over again. They hardly ever talked about anything else.
I really wanted to like this. I did. It’s always hard to find black sapphic book and I jump at the chance to read one. I just couldn’t get into the story. There wasn’t anything keeping me hooked enough to stay.
SPOILERS 🚨
Positives:
1)The spiciness is on point. Love the spicy scenes. The detail and the body positioning. Each encounter felt different and hot.
2)The romance is cute. Phee had bars. The way she first flirted was so good. Even I was quivering at the thought of someone towering over me and I’m 6’1”!
3)I love a good couple with chemistry. Angel and Phee had it. In spades. Both were great characters. Really fun and interesting.
4) The dialogue (at times) was on point. Loved the way they spoke to each other. The way they flirted was sexy and made me giggle a few times.
Negatives:
1) There really isn’t a story here. What is the plot? Two women fall in love. Ok but how? They already liked each other and just kept on liking each other. No build up or escalation of feelings or emotions.
2) There was a firefighter that didn’t fight fires! How?!? This was a missed opportunity to give Phee some depth and Angel an emotional ride as someone who loves a first responder. The one time they did have a fire it was lackluster as best. Was it a blaze? Was the room on fire? Or was it just a smoke alert. The lack of description in the ONLY action event was so confusing. So much could’ve been done with this.
3) Zero obstacles for them to fight through. I’m not saying they needed to break up or a misunderstanding or anything but something needed to test them to bring them closer. Angel pushes Phee away after the fire and then is upset when she wasn’t there. Again, a missed opportunity to explore their emotions surrounding guilt.
(Nate and his moment wasn’t really an obstacle. More of a backstory reveal.)
It was just a series of moments that didn’t really push the story forward. Just served as more examples of Phee and Angel’s love for each other. I kept thinking “why are we here?” so many times. Nothing haooened in the world around them that didn’t involve them together. Phee was meeting up with Angel, Angel was meeting up with Phee. They both had lives but were rarely involved in them.
4) The dialogue got repetive very quickly. While I love couple affirming each other and not holding back how they feel, this is all Pher and Angel do. Over and over and over again. They hardly ever talked about anything else.
I really wanted to like this. I did. It’s always hard to find black sapphic book and I jump at the chance to read one. I just couldn’t get into the story. There wasn’t anything keeping me hooked enough to stay.
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
2 freaky frogs who can’t keep their hands off each other
This was spicy with a happy ending
This was spicy with a happy ending
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes