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The Undermining of Twyla and Frank by Megan Bannen
3.25
✨How could a book with pink sparkly dragons that spit glitter be this long and ~frankly~ boring???✨
*minor spoilers below (nothing major or in detail)*
I love pink and I love sparkles and I love that the dragons gave me Jurassic Park vibes but MAN I didn’t love the love triangle and slooooowest friends to lovers burn ever.
Plus if you’re going to market this as When Harry and Sally—which it really wasn’t—you’ve GOT to have the secondary relationship. Here, she broke UP a secondary relationship instead and then added a love triangle???? Excuse me??? I rely on the secondary relationship to fuel me during WHMS books since the payoff takes so long. The You’ve Got Mail influence of book one was so strong and delightful, but this one fell pretty flat.
The world was still enjoyable and duh DRAGONS, but that only went so far. Literally, there were not enough dragons and the end was rushed with the whole villain thing and I was just frustrated all around. Like talk about a disappointing villain reveal…and WHAT KIND OF MOTIVE WAS THAT??? The whole crime plot line just felt entirely half baked. Like the bombs were so random??? Fireworks??? The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy literally wrecked my soul, only for this one to be almost farcical??? Like it wasn’t the endearing kind of screwball at the end. It was the “what do you MEAN I just read 500 pages for that reveal???” kind. Like ditch the crime plot altogether and give me more dragons!!!
I do also enjoy Bannen’s writing, but man there was a lot of repetition and some scenes were just way too long. Whereas those two did NOT bang long enough. As a Minnesotan, even I think Twyla said “ope!” just too much. The frequency may work in actual real life, but when you’re reading, it’s just soooo noticeable that she’s always saying it.
I think I wanted Frank to give me a bit more personality? This is definitely a Twyla book. The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy was dual POV I believe, but this one was just single and I did feel like I was needing more from Frank to keep me invested in the romance. It was obvious how he felt from the beginning, so there was nothing let to surprise me or excite me really. I was highly anticipating their love scene and while I understand why Twyla needed to take…I really wanted to see Frank GIVE. I mean we kinda did, but I wanted his penis to send her into orbit. Like the reward for waiting 80% of a nearly 500 page book was just not big enough.
But on the topic of Twyla taking, I did really enjoy her POV, as both her and Frank were 50+ years old and had children and past marriages. It definitely a book less about dragons and more about being a wife and a mother and how she gave SO MUCH of herself with little return until she’s finally had enough. Great message, but I do agree with some other reviewers that it was a bit heavy handed and repetitive. I do love the double meaning behind “undermining” in the title though, like that’s so clever. I also loved her mom shaming one of the henchmen at the end; the “what would your mom think if she could see you right now?” of it all.
Overall, I’m just very disappointed. The book tried to go in several directions and never had me fully with any of them. It was fun and readable, but maybe my expectations were just too high. There wasn’t a note about a third book, but I do hope we get one!
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 🌶️.75/5
I received an eARC via NetGalley. All opinions are honest and my own.
*minor spoilers below (nothing major or in detail)*
I love pink and I love sparkles and I love that the dragons gave me Jurassic Park vibes but MAN I didn’t love the love triangle and slooooowest friends to lovers burn ever.
Plus if you’re going to market this as When Harry and Sally—which it really wasn’t—you’ve GOT to have the secondary relationship. Here, she broke UP a secondary relationship instead and then added a love triangle???? Excuse me??? I rely on the secondary relationship to fuel me during WHMS books since the payoff takes so long. The You’ve Got Mail influence of book one was so strong and delightful, but this one fell pretty flat.
The world was still enjoyable and duh DRAGONS, but that only went so far. Literally, there were not enough dragons and the end was rushed with the whole villain thing and I was just frustrated all around. Like talk about a disappointing villain reveal…and WHAT KIND OF MOTIVE WAS THAT??? The whole crime plot line just felt entirely half baked. Like the bombs were so random??? Fireworks??? The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy literally wrecked my soul, only for this one to be almost farcical??? Like it wasn’t the endearing kind of screwball at the end. It was the “what do you MEAN I just read 500 pages for that reveal???” kind. Like ditch the crime plot altogether and give me more dragons!!!
I do also enjoy Bannen’s writing, but man there was a lot of repetition and some scenes were just way too long. Whereas those two did NOT bang long enough. As a Minnesotan, even I think Twyla said “ope!” just too much. The frequency may work in actual real life, but when you’re reading, it’s just soooo noticeable that she’s always saying it.
I think I wanted Frank to give me a bit more personality? This is definitely a Twyla book. The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy was dual POV I believe, but this one was just single and I did feel like I was needing more from Frank to keep me invested in the romance. It was obvious how he felt from the beginning, so there was nothing let to surprise me or excite me really. I was highly anticipating their love scene and while I understand why Twyla needed to take…I really wanted to see Frank GIVE. I mean we kinda did, but I wanted his penis to send her into orbit. Like the reward for waiting 80% of a nearly 500 page book was just not big enough.
But on the topic of Twyla taking, I did really enjoy her POV, as both her and Frank were 50+ years old and had children and past marriages. It definitely a book less about dragons and more about being a wife and a mother and how she gave SO MUCH of herself with little return until she’s finally had enough. Great message, but I do agree with some other reviewers that it was a bit heavy handed and repetitive. I do love the double meaning behind “undermining” in the title though, like that’s so clever. I also loved her mom shaming one of the henchmen at the end; the “what would your mom think if she could see you right now?” of it all.
Overall, I’m just very disappointed. The book tried to go in several directions and never had me fully with any of them. It was fun and readable, but maybe my expectations were just too high. There wasn’t a note about a third book, but I do hope we get one!
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 🌶️.75/5
I received an eARC via NetGalley. All opinions are honest and my own.
The Chemistry of Familiar Objects by Alexandra Vasti
4.5
The sexual tension between me and the hero I’m trying to determine is a virgin or not.
Viscount in Love by Eloisa James
4.0
✨If he doesn’t start stripping mid-conversation to convince me to marry his gorgeous, gorgeous body, what’s even the point???✨
Do you ever read a book that basically cycles through all the star ratings? Like I thought this was going to be a two star book at points and then there were five star worthy scenes because I was GIGGLING…like that man was so unserious. Spoiler alert that’s not a spoiler because you can see my rating, I ended up really liking it and giving it four stars.
There were a lot of positive reviews that convinced me to read it, so me ultimately enjoying it is not that surprising, but there were definitely points where I was like YOU ALL ARE LYING LIARS WHO LIED. And then I calmed down and realized that yeah they kinda spilled. It was rather fun to see how it would all end up for me because I ended up just fighting with myself over things I thought I was angry about but were actually fine.
To be fair, and to get it out of the way (which I guess is kind of a spoiler but it SHOULDN’T be a spoiler because Eloisa is lucky I didn’t DNF), that man did not have a mistress at all during their relationship!!! But she makes you think he did, and I was SEETHING. I was still rightfully mad that he was mad that she even made the request to not have a mistress, because according to him, “it’s just when men do.” But in my opinion, he actually came back from this quite well and I loved his development and subsequent grovel.
My most favorite part was when he was trying to show off his muscles—because she made a comment about like an actor’s body (as opposed to her sister who was repulsed)—by casually stripping in front of her mid conversation. I really wish I could quote from ARCs because honestly, I think that scene is enough to sell the book. It should definitely be the little teaser included at the beginning.
Bonus points for nose kisses (personal favorite), stomach rubbing when she was stressed ??? (us cancerian girlies with stomach issues really won here!!!!), him getting very turned on by the thought of her being swollen with his child (another personal favorite), neurodivergent heroine (dyslexia), competence porn, baby bunnies, chaotic children, a hero who really puts in the work, plus a fun twist at the end. I’m definitely coming back for book two!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 🌶️🌶️.5/5
CWs: Dyslexia (I’m only mentioning this as a trigger because she was treated very poorly by society, her family, and even the hero at times for not being able to read, which could potentially be painful for some readers.)
I received an eARC via NetGalley from Avon Books. All opinions are honest and my own.
Do you ever read a book that basically cycles through all the star ratings? Like I thought this was going to be a two star book at points and then there were five star worthy scenes because I was GIGGLING…like that man was so unserious. Spoiler alert that’s not a spoiler because you can see my rating, I ended up really liking it and giving it four stars.
There were a lot of positive reviews that convinced me to read it, so me ultimately enjoying it is not that surprising, but there were definitely points where I was like YOU ALL ARE LYING LIARS WHO LIED. And then I calmed down and realized that yeah they kinda spilled. It was rather fun to see how it would all end up for me because I ended up just fighting with myself over things I thought I was angry about but were actually fine.
To be fair, and to get it out of the way (which I guess is kind of a spoiler but it SHOULDN’T be a spoiler because Eloisa is lucky I didn’t DNF), that man did not have a mistress at all during their relationship!!! But she makes you think he did, and I was SEETHING. I was still rightfully mad that he was mad that she even made the request to not have a mistress, because according to him, “it’s just when men do.” But in my opinion, he actually came back from this quite well and I loved his development and subsequent grovel.
My most favorite part was when he was trying to show off his muscles—because she made a comment about like an actor’s body (as opposed to her sister who was repulsed)—by casually stripping in front of her mid conversation. I really wish I could quote from ARCs because honestly, I think that scene is enough to sell the book. It should definitely be the little teaser included at the beginning.
Bonus points for nose kisses (personal favorite), stomach rubbing when she was stressed ??? (us cancerian girlies with stomach issues really won here!!!!), him getting very turned on by the thought of her being swollen with his child (another personal favorite), neurodivergent heroine (dyslexia), competence porn, baby bunnies, chaotic children, a hero who really puts in the work, plus a fun twist at the end. I’m definitely coming back for book two!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 🌶️🌶️.5/5
CWs: Dyslexia (I’m only mentioning this as a trigger because she was treated very poorly by society, her family, and even the hero at times for not being able to read, which could potentially be painful for some readers.)
I received an eARC via NetGalley from Avon Books. All opinions are honest and my own.
Seduced In A Storm by Royaline Sing
4.25
Yesssss I really enjoyed this!!! Give me a virgin barrister hero and I WILL become feral. BARK BARK BARK let me at himmmm!!!! Suddenly I’m Scrappy Doo.
The only thing that’s holding me back from five stars is that the writing was a bit flowery for my tastes. Not only were there a lot of metaphors and analogies back to back, they happened most frequently during the spicy scenes which was a bit distracting. I also didn’t mind the flashbacks, but it felt like they jammed up the pace and flow of the story.
But all in all, this is a wonderful little novella with a BEAUTIFUL cover, and it is FREE when you subscribe to Royaline’s Newsletter! I’d easily read more in the series and even more of this book!