readundancies's reviews
1444 reviews

Get Him Back by Coralee June

lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

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

2.25

I just feel like this romance read was trying too hard to do too many things and while the collective ideas had merit, the execution was messy and chaotic. It wasn't fluid, and it wasn't for me.

Also, why did it feel absurdly long?

And why do I care about the potential story of Emily and Leon when I didn't really enjoy this one?

I'm definitely hormonal.

Flirty Little Secret by Jessica Lepe

lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Playing Pretend by Eden Summers

lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

2.0

Ms. Demeanor by Elinor Lipman

lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

 A clean romance which was not what I expected or really asked for, but that's what we've got.

This was giving hard-core Agnes and the Hitman vibes but as just a single perspective, and it was ... fine?

I dunno, the ridiculousness of the plot is kind of mismatched to the style of writing which was less absurd and more grounded.

All in all, this was tolerable but forgettable.

Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Plus-One by Iris Morland
Did not finish book. Stopped at 44%.

This is basically a PWP, or rather MPTP as in more porn than plot. 

And what plot exists is not very good in the first place. 

Which is a bummer, because this has a lot things that checks boxes for me in the romance department.

The Rom-Com Agenda by Jayne Denker

hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This plot was all over the place. Just utter chaos and not in a way that felt right at all.

The characters were good and all but the plot. I cannot get over how erratic it came across.

I think for a novel that literally has the words rom-com in it’s title, it does far too much paying homage to classic and staple rom-coms through title dropping then it actually does contributing to the sub-genre itself. Because the plot execution was none of the fun parts of rom-coms and just the drama of it all, and it was never delivered in a manner that left me with the cozy conundrum of guilty-pleasure-but-feel-good vibes that I attribute to rom-coms. 

I want an HEA that I can invest in without shame, and this was not that.

Hiring Mr. Darcy by Valerie Bowman

hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

2.0

Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer

hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The Love Wager by Lynn Painter
Did not finish book.

I can't with these insufferable characters.

The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

This is a novella that could’ve been a fully fledged novel and I may have appreciated it more had it been.

There was just so much that could’ve been explored and I was interested in the sci-fi world that was created - especially Proxima and the aliens. However from a character perspective, the Kimberly/Watson dynamic was worth exploring in a novella sized story, as well as Jack’s mother and family in general.

And let it be noted that Watson as a complete violation of AI was quite the concept.

Unfortunately, nothing felt fleshed out in the way I wanted to. And it’s not that I was upset about how little I got as a reader that I ended up being bored, it's just I wanted so much more from it because it had such promise.