kimalah's reviews
1384 reviews

Lady Scandal by Laura Lee Guhrke

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Lady Scandal is a fun, light historical romance. It is about Lady Delia, the cousin of the MMC of book one, Bookshop Cinderella. She works for the Savoy Hotel under famed hotelier César Ritz. The Savoy is the preeminent hotel of London, but has been losing money and earning shareholders nothing. An anonymous accusation of fraud by Ritz and other well-known figures leads the Board of Directors to hire Simon Hayden to manage the hotel and conduct a secret audit to ferret out the fraudsters. Delia is a suspect. 

Thus begins a lively enemies to lovers story. I enjoyed the book, although it faltered in a few spots for me. I thought the sexual tension and pining was well done but the payoff was lower key than I hoped. Overall, I liked it more than the first book and I recommend it for a lighter read.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley for the advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.

Pardon My Frenchie by Farrah Rochon

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Pardon My Frenchie was a fun, joyful romance.  It felt like a big breath of calming and relaxing air. I liked Thad and his story of adjusting to civilian life and finding his purpose after the military, but I loved Ashanti. She is a wonderful character with foibles as well as strengths, working hard to grow her dog-centered businesses as well as care for her twin sisters. Her love for her family and friends, human and canine, was so lovely. 

Pardon My Frenchie did touch on some harder topics like grief and betrayal by father figures, but there was a lot of joy in the story. That is the word that keeps coming up for me: joy. I hope we get another book in this friend group as hinted at in the epilogue.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing), NetGalley and the author for an advance reader copy. All opinions are solely my own.

The Shabti by Megaera C. Lorenz

adventurous emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The Shabti is a marvelous read.  It is a 1930s m/m romance between a fake medium who walked away from the grift and a nerdy Egyptologist. Hermann, the college professor, reaches out to Dashiel, the reformed conman, for help with eerie happenings involving his college’s collection of Egyptian artifacts. The main characters fall for each other, finding connection later in life.

This is a fun ride with smart dialogue, great humor along with creepy occurrences, and an absolutely lovely romance. I won’t go much into the plot because the reveals are a lot of the fun, but when the reason behind everything was revealed, I exclaimed out loud.

The secondary characters are well drawn and the sense of time and place is great. I recommend The Shabti quite highly, and look forward to future books by Megaera Lorenz.

Thank you to CamCat Books, NetGalley and the author for the advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.

Ghastly Mistake by Byrd Nash

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Ghastly Mistake is the final book in the Madame Chalamet Ghost Mysteries series. It is a satisfying ending to an engrossing and enjoyable historical fantasy mystery that spread over six books. 

The book begins exactly where book five, Haunted Grave, ended. The story does not let up from there. Elinor and Tristan find themselves in situation after situation as they get closer and closer to the villain at the center of all the turmoil and danger. 

I don’t like to give details in the reviews of mysteries. This final book does a good job of tying together various threads from the previous entries (which must be read before this installment. It is not a standalone story.) The alternate world Byrd Nash developed is detailed and interesting. The characters are well-drawn, and the romance between Elinor and Tristan is very sweet.

I’ve enjoyed my time in Sarnesse. I will miss Elinor and her world very much.

Thank you to the author for the advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.

Ne'er Duke Well by Alexandra Vasti

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Ne’er Duke Well is a treat of a Regency romance.  It is lighthearted, sexy, romantic, funny and easy to read. It touches on serious subjects and handles them deftly. The chemistry between the main characters is palpable. There are two orphaned children who are not overwhelmingly precocious or overbearing for a nice change.

I enjoyed my time with Peter, Selina and their friends and family. I’m hoping there are future books to follow.

Thank you to the publisher, NetGalley and the author for the advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.

Death In The Spires by KJ Charles

challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Death in the Spires is an excellent historical mystery by KJ Charles. Charles notes in the front of the book as well as in other spaces that this is not a romance. There is a MM romantic subplot involving the main character, but the central driving force in this novel is the murder mystery.

And oh what a mystery it is. I do not like to give details about mysteries because I find the development of the story is part of the enjoyment. However, this book deals with issues of race, gender, sexuality, autonomy, wealth, entitlement, and class, all subjects that Charles is a master of exploring. 

I really enjoyed Death in the Spires. It is an engaging and engrossing mystery with good characters, smart writing, and an excellent sense of place. I look forward to any future mysteries KJ Charles might write.

Thank you to Storm Publishing, NetGalley and the author for the advance reader copy. All opinions are solely my own.

Wake Me Most Wickedly by Felicia Grossman

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Wake Me Most Wickedly is the second book in the Once Upon the East End series by Felicia Grossman. It is a gender flipped take on Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, with Sol Weiss from book one as the MMC.

I enjoyed Wake Me Most Wickedly, but not as much as book one, Marry Me By Midnight. I liked Sol and Hannah, the pawn shop owner FMC, but their relationship bordered on instalove for me. The circumstances of many of their times together verged on unbelievable (for me) at times. Also Sol’s flipping back and forth on whether he wanted to pursue Hannah was a bit disjointed. We would get his POV and his decision to stay away but then when it switched to Hannah’s POV, he showed up. When and why did he change his mind?

I thought the references to Snow White throughout the story were clever. The elderly rescuers were a great addition. I learned more about Jewish life in England at that time, which I appreciated. One reason I like historical romances is because of the things I learn about history.

Overall, it is an enjoyable book with a really affecting author’s note at the end. I am looking forward to book three.

Thank you to Forever, NetGalley, and the author for the advance reader copy. All opinions are solely my own.

All's Fair in Love and War by Virginia Heath

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

All’s Fair in Love and War is a charming Regency romance. The main characters are very likable and the children are amusing without being overly precious or annoying. It has a light, often humorous tone. The misattribution of quotations by famous men amused me a lot. I enjoyed this story and these characters.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley and the author for the advance reader copy. All opinions are solely my own.

A Governess's Guide to Passion and Peril by Manda Collins

emotional lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

A Governess’s Guide to Passion and Peril is a good addition to the Ladies Most Scandalous series. It is a murder mystery/historical romance. The mystery, while entertaining, was more easily solved by the reader than the previous book.

The second-chance romance was sweet and lovely. The main characters are likable yet have their own foibles. We met both in A Spinster’s Guide to Danger and Dukes. Characters from previous installments played secondary roles in this book, which was nice. I don’t want to give away the plot as it is all part of building the mystery. I enjoyed it and found it a good way to spend my afternoon.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing), NetGalley and the author for the advance reader copy. All opinions are solely my own.

Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man by Violet Marsh

adventurous emotional lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man is an interesting, enjoyable historical romance with mystery and adventure added to the mix. There are serious subjects addressed such as slavery, child forced migration, misogyny, and childhood abuse among others.

The main characters are likable, the secondary characters are interesting and quirky, the villain is a right psychopath, and there are animals and pirates and roof jumping. The love story is a good friends to lovers with mostly non-descriptive scenes.

I enjoyed the novel and am looking forward to the next installment.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing), NetGalley and the author for the advance reader copy. All opinions are solely my own.