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chloe_liese's reviews
232 reviews
Devil's Daughter by Lisa Kleypas
5.0
Phoebe is tender and grieving and so relatable. West made me laugh out loud. His self-deprecating, dry wit is my kryptonite with these historical romance heroes. Mary Jane Wells narrated this beautifully (not a shock, there), and captured West's spunk and comedic timing. Totally recommend this book, not to mention the audio version! It's gold!
Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas
5.0
I feel like the Ravenels are my family by this point and while I read them out of order I truly have enjoyed each one for different reasons. All I have left is Cassandra’s story and I’m ready for it!
I am PICKY about my shy/innocent/virgin heroine trope romances, because virginity has been overly romanticized and overvalued as a commodity for too long. That said, I found this surprisingly well done. Helen’s innocence is so deeply caused not by timidity or lack of curiosity, but as a result of an oppressive upbringing thanks to a society that deeply shamed sexuality and taught women to distrust their bodies and desire for pleasure. Rhys isn’t mocking or dominating or getting off on her virginal innocence—in fact he despairs she wasn’t empowered to love her body’s nuances and sexuality sooner. He has a line something like “I don’t feel shame for my body’s sexuality and pleasure and neither shall you.” Swoon.
I am PICKY about my shy/innocent/virgin heroine trope romances, because virginity has been overly romanticized and overvalued as a commodity for too long. That said, I found this surprisingly well done. Helen’s innocence is so deeply caused not by timidity or lack of curiosity, but as a result of an oppressive upbringing thanks to a society that deeply shamed sexuality and taught women to distrust their bodies and desire for pleasure. Rhys isn’t mocking or dominating or getting off on her virginal innocence—in fact he despairs she wasn’t empowered to love her body’s nuances and sexuality sooner. He has a line something like “I don’t feel shame for my body’s sexuality and pleasure and neither shall you.” Swoon.
40-Love by Olivia Dade
Swoony. Hot. Endearing. This is my first book by Olivia Dade, but it won’t be my last.
This is my kind of romance—real bodies, crystal clear consent, playfulness, intimacy, and frank conversation. I found 40-Love delightfully refreshing and had a smile on my face pretty much the whole time.
This book did so much so well: as I’ve mentioned above, it wrote intimate communication and physicality so well, and overall it also did a lovely job of building three dimensional people. I also loved Tess’s body positivity and confidence. It felt healthy and mature, and I’m here for that!
If you’re looking for a body-positive age gap romance with a destination setting and lots of swoony heat, 40-Love is the book for you.
This is my kind of romance—real bodies, crystal clear consent, playfulness, intimacy, and frank conversation. I found 40-Love delightfully refreshing and had a smile on my face pretty much the whole time.
This book did so much so well: as I’ve mentioned above, it wrote intimate communication and physicality so well, and overall it also did a lovely job of building three dimensional people. I also loved Tess’s body positivity and confidence. It felt healthy and mature, and I’m here for that!
If you’re looking for a body-positive age gap romance with a destination setting and lots of swoony heat, 40-Love is the book for you.
The Rakess by Scarlett Peckham
5.0
I haven’t been so moved by a book in a long while. If you’re a lover of historical romance, a feminist, a reader who wants something to sink their teeth into, this is your story.
“We realized, that night, that we’d miscalculated… If no woman was safe, what was the point of being cautious? If the finest lady any of us knew could be abducted from her home by the man to whom she had dutifully born two children, then what did adherence to the codes of feminine respectability protect? Perhaps there was more freedom in being the kind of woman who was not respectable. For such women had little left to take away.”
“Sometimes the grim realities of womanhood, and the danger of addressing them when one lacked power beyond rage, were so heavy it silenced all discussion. One did not need to name the feeling. One simply felt the weight.”
This is not an easy book. There are deeply troubling, heart wrenching themes. But this is women’s history. And for so many women still in the world, this is their reality. Finishing the story I feel more deeply connected to the resilience, empowerment, and sheer determination of womankind to survive and make life better for themselves and future female generations. I am touched by the man who loves this woman, not perfectly, but passionately, and with a deep desire to know her fully and support her in the pursuit of her convictions.
I could praise and wax philosophical on this book all day long, honestly. But I hope you’ll read it for yourself. Prepare to see a woman ruined, wrecked, ravaged, but ultimately resilient and triumphantly loved. I hope she inspires you, as she has inspired me.
CW/TW: death and abandonment by past romantic partners, trauma surrounding stillbirth, miscarriage, sexual harassment, slut shaming and misogyny, spousal coercion, kidnapping and control, depictions of alcohol addiction and recovery.
“We realized, that night, that we’d miscalculated… If no woman was safe, what was the point of being cautious? If the finest lady any of us knew could be abducted from her home by the man to whom she had dutifully born two children, then what did adherence to the codes of feminine respectability protect? Perhaps there was more freedom in being the kind of woman who was not respectable. For such women had little left to take away.”
“Sometimes the grim realities of womanhood, and the danger of addressing them when one lacked power beyond rage, were so heavy it silenced all discussion. One did not need to name the feeling. One simply felt the weight.”
This is not an easy book. There are deeply troubling, heart wrenching themes. But this is women’s history. And for so many women still in the world, this is their reality. Finishing the story I feel more deeply connected to the resilience, empowerment, and sheer determination of womankind to survive and make life better for themselves and future female generations. I am touched by the man who loves this woman, not perfectly, but passionately, and with a deep desire to know her fully and support her in the pursuit of her convictions.
I could praise and wax philosophical on this book all day long, honestly. But I hope you’ll read it for yourself. Prepare to see a woman ruined, wrecked, ravaged, but ultimately resilient and triumphantly loved. I hope she inspires you, as she has inspired me.
CW/TW: death and abandonment by past romantic partners, trauma surrounding stillbirth, miscarriage, sexual harassment, slut shaming and misogyny, spousal coercion, kidnapping and control, depictions of alcohol addiction and recovery.
Love in the Afternoon by Lisa Kleypas
5.0
MY HEART IS NOT OKAY. I am trash for epistolary interludes in a romance and this *nailed* it. Love in the Afternoon was dear, tender, exploring eccentricity, PTSD, intimacy and connection. So perfectly romantic. What a beautiful end to this series.
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
5.0
It's been over a year since I read this book and for the first time ever in a romance or fiction saw myself. Because Helen put herself out there and wrote from her heart, her struggles, her triumphs, I realized I had autism. Since being diagnosed on the autism spectrum, my life is truly a different existence. I'm proud to be autistic, proud to be different, and in part that's because my first introduction to my reality was a romance about self-acceptance and loving partnership that celebrated and desired not in spite of struggles or differences but because of them. This is why #OwnVoices matter so much! They show us marginalized experiences and foreground them in a genre that's too often prescriptive about who's beautiful, who's worthy, and who's lovable. I adored how this book threw those criteria out the window and wrote an honest, sexy, heartfelt story about autism love.
I couldn't get enough of Stella—her curiosity and her frankness, her blunt, witty explanations for life which resonated with me so much. Most people with ASD don't filter; they simply share what's on their mind, and I loved that Michael loved Stella for that, and I also appreciate that Helen didn't shy away from how that unfiltered tendency in autistics can make things tough sometimes.
Michael was sweet and just right for Stella. A man who sews a sensory-processing challenged gal french seams in her clothes? Yes please!! Also, wowy, their chemistry was HAWT. I found the talking-as-they-went both endearing and pleasantly realistic; good intimacy requires communication and trust and a sense of humor, and Helen nailed that.
I will always be grateful for this story. It's given me courage to know myself deeper, to love myself for who I am, and to read and write stories that celebrate love's universality and healing power.
I couldn't get enough of Stella—her curiosity and her frankness, her blunt, witty explanations for life which resonated with me so much. Most people with ASD don't filter; they simply share what's on their mind, and I loved that Michael loved Stella for that, and I also appreciate that Helen didn't shy away from how that unfiltered tendency in autistics can make things tough sometimes.
Michael was sweet and just right for Stella. A man who sews a sensory-processing challenged gal french seams in her clothes? Yes please!! Also, wowy, their chemistry was HAWT. I found the talking-as-they-went both endearing and pleasantly realistic; good intimacy requires communication and trust and a sense of humor, and Helen nailed that.
I will always be grateful for this story. It's given me courage to know myself deeper, to love myself for who I am, and to read and write stories that celebrate love's universality and healing power.
The Bride Test by Helen Hoang
5.0
Well, hi. I thought Stella had me pegged, but then Helen has to go write Khai and there was my autism twin! Reading at a wedding? Yup! Needing the literal step-by-step directions for something someone wants? That's me! Having a big tender heart and truly struggling to communicate those feelings most times? Right here. I resonated with Khai's struggle to see himself as capable of deep connection, to believe he would be enough for Esme, and that it could work between them, and I love how their happy ever after is a ton of work but a sweet, romantic finish.
“He was a puzzle she would never have been able to solve if he hadn’t shown her how. Those were the best kinds of puzzles, though, weren’t they? The ones no one else could figure out?”
Once again Helen writes a love story about two unconventional people who love each other because of those traits not in spite of them. As a person with autism I loved Khai’s character because while I have a little Stella in me, I identify big time with Khai.
“His heart wasn’t made of stone, after all. It just wasn’t like everyone else’s”
Oof. Khai is SO hard on himself and Esme just shows up consistently with love for him. I found their dynamic deeply satisfying and tender (rather than the hot/funny dynamic of Michael and Stella in The Kiss Quotient)—it was a welcome exploration of a relationship with someone on the spectrum that felt a little less bodily/sexually focused and a bit more cerebral in the best way.
I found the communication breakdowns difficult because communication breakdown makes me anxious, but that doesn't mean they weren't there for the right reasons. I know that different cultures have different ways of handling tension and lies of omission, so it didn’t ruin anything for me, and I think it's important to understand that not all conflict might make sense to us but that doesn't mean it's not valid. This is another example where readers need to remember #OwnVoice novels means that sometimes we may not "get" everything, and we can trust the knowledge and personal experience of the writer!
“He was a puzzle she would never have been able to solve if he hadn’t shown her how. Those were the best kinds of puzzles, though, weren’t they? The ones no one else could figure out?”
Once again Helen writes a love story about two unconventional people who love each other because of those traits not in spite of them. As a person with autism I loved Khai’s character because while I have a little Stella in me, I identify big time with Khai.
“His heart wasn’t made of stone, after all. It just wasn’t like everyone else’s”
Oof. Khai is SO hard on himself and Esme just shows up consistently with love for him. I found their dynamic deeply satisfying and tender (rather than the hot/funny dynamic of Michael and Stella in The Kiss Quotient)—it was a welcome exploration of a relationship with someone on the spectrum that felt a little less bodily/sexually focused and a bit more cerebral in the best way.
I found the communication breakdowns difficult because communication breakdown makes me anxious, but that doesn't mean they weren't there for the right reasons. I know that different cultures have different ways of handling tension and lies of omission, so it didn’t ruin anything for me, and I think it's important to understand that not all conflict might make sense to us but that doesn't mean it's not valid. This is another example where readers need to remember #OwnVoice novels means that sometimes we may not "get" everything, and we can trust the knowledge and personal experience of the writer!
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
5.0
Thank you to Berkley, NetGalley and Emily Henry for the free review copy (further disclaimer: the author & I are represented by the same literary agency)—in no way does this influence my opinion; all thoughts are my own!
This book was wonderfully complex, real and three-dimensional. Emily has a gift for writing people whose lives and layers are so deeply, tenderly accessible, and PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION was no exception. PWMOV was funny, perfectly-paced, and achingly good. If you love Normal People and Josh & Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating (yes, these are the most oddly-matched pair of comp titles but like Alex and Poppy, somehow they make sense) then this will speak to you as much as it did to me. Full of soul-searching and millennial what-do-I-do musings, long term friends to lovers angst, and Emily’s signature banter, this was such a fulfilling read.
Like BEACH READ, PWMOV is to me first and foremost excellent fiction with a beautifully developed romantic through-line. I appreciated releasing the expectation for all the beats of a traditional romance to be hit, and instead simply savoring this book as a journey about journeys, about coming home to yourself and leaning into rather than running from the thrill, the risk, the reward of love—for yourself as much as for the one whose heart finds its home in yours.
This book was wonderfully complex, real and three-dimensional. Emily has a gift for writing people whose lives and layers are so deeply, tenderly accessible, and PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION was no exception. PWMOV was funny, perfectly-paced, and achingly good. If you love Normal People and Josh & Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating (yes, these are the most oddly-matched pair of comp titles but like Alex and Poppy, somehow they make sense) then this will speak to you as much as it did to me. Full of soul-searching and millennial what-do-I-do musings, long term friends to lovers angst, and Emily’s signature banter, this was such a fulfilling read.
Like BEACH READ, PWMOV is to me first and foremost excellent fiction with a beautifully developed romantic through-line. I appreciated releasing the expectation for all the beats of a traditional romance to be hit, and instead simply savoring this book as a journey about journeys, about coming home to yourself and leaning into rather than running from the thrill, the risk, the reward of love—for yourself as much as for the one whose heart finds its home in yours.