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the_rabble's reviews
101 reviews
Dangerous in Diamonds by Madeline Hunter
challenging
funny
inspiring
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.25
RakeDuke meets uptight gardener with a secret past and decides seduction is imminent.
Probably the best Madeline Hunter book I've read so far.
2 POVs, 3rd person past tense, characters are similar age, some dated language choices (2010s, not 1810s), early 1800s, spicy.
Plot is fun and gives the romance space to breathe. Our rake has skills and is a planner, which was an interesting take and reflected what he's been doing throughout the rest of this series. Love a consistant character.
There are more than a couple side plots and they all paid off.
Narrator: Kate Reading is a breath of fresh air and made the prose sing.
Probably the best Madeline Hunter book I've read so far.
2 POVs, 3rd person past tense, characters are similar age, some dated language choices (2010s, not 1810s), early 1800s, spicy.
Plot is fun and gives the romance space to breathe. Our rake has skills and is a planner, which was an interesting take and reflected what he's been doing throughout the rest of this series. Love a consistant character.
There are more than a couple side plots and they all paid off.
Narrator: Kate Reading is a breath of fresh air and made the prose sing.
The Broken Duke by Jess Michaels
emotional
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.5
There's a lot of [cw]rape and attempted sexual assault in this fun mistaken identity "learn that you're worthy of unconditional love" regency romance.
The villians villian real hard all up in the middle of the fun romance and they are classic gothic amoral disaster/anxiety machines at a MINIMUM.
I enjoyed the romance. It's cute and well done. I liked the identity play and had a good time when the characters were together.
Narration on this is slowed to sloth levels. In the final three hours the pause lengths are about 4 seconds. It's not good.
Despite enjoying the stories and the style for the most part, this is probably where I say goodbye to the 1797 Club series. I'm an audiobook reader and while I like the voice acting, the pacing, stretching, slow walking, and pause length makes me feel like a 4 year old trying to understand Ben Stein.
The villians villian real hard all up in the middle of the fun romance and they are classic gothic amoral disaster/anxiety machines at a MINIMUM.
I enjoyed the romance. It's cute and well done. I liked the identity play and had a good time when the characters were together.
Narration on this is slowed to sloth levels. In the final three hours the pause lengths are about 4 seconds. It's not good.
Despite enjoying the stories and the style for the most part, this is probably where I say goodbye to the 1797 Club series. I'm an audiobook reader and while I like the voice acting, the pacing, stretching, slow walking, and pause length makes me feel like a 4 year old trying to understand Ben Stein.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Murder, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Violence
Her Favorite Duke by Jess Michaels
Did not finish book. Stopped at 37%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 37%.
Narrator reads waaaaaaay too slow and it seemed like the writing was going to be slower paced and hang up focused.
The Daring Duke by Jess Michaels
2.75
Fine story, terrible audiobook.
It's the only time I've sped up the listening speed, which gives everything a smidgen of chipmunk energy.
At normal speed, the pauses between sentences are 2-3 seconds minimum and it causes any uptalk or breathiness to become extremely exaggerated. (Bc this is a shorter novel, you'd expect it to be a little over 6 hours long and it was around 9.)
It's the only time I've sped up the listening speed, which gives everything a smidgen of chipmunk energy.
At normal speed, the pauses between sentences are 2-3 seconds minimum and it causes any uptalk or breathiness to become extremely exaggerated. (Bc this is a shorter novel, you'd expect it to be a little over 6 hours long and it was around 9.)
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.25
She's a government employee from 2024, he's a nearly dead explorer from 1847. Very Edward Snowden meets roommate shenanigans.
Single POV (with a few well done cutaways), past tense, bureaucractic cog-in-the-machine of depersonifying marginalized people commentary, medium spice
This is a fun one, but contemporarily set time travel books are hard to write and it gets a little shaggy about 70% in. There are a lot of spinning plates re: imperial commentary (SO MANY CHOICES.) So the payoff [plot structure]isn't as tight as the first 2/3. That can feel disjointed or unresolved just bc there's a lot of unresolved theming or plotlines that get closed rather quickly.
Still solid workhorse scifi with some pretty great platonic and romantic intimacy arcs. I also really enjoyed the queer representation and a bi MC.
Kaliane Bradley is going to be a devastating writer and I'm stoked for her next book(s), which I'm sure will rip out my heart in a great way.
Audiobook: Katie Leung reads the unnamed narrator POV and does a fantastic job. Her Arthur & Graham voices were excellent. Haunting interstitials are read by George Weightman.
Single POV (with a few well done cutaways), past tense, bureaucractic cog-in-the-machine of depersonifying marginalized people commentary, medium spice
This is a fun one, but contemporarily set time travel books are hard to write and it gets a little shaggy about 70% in. There are a lot of spinning plates re: imperial commentary (SO MANY CHOICES.) So the payoff [plot structure]
Still solid workhorse scifi with some pretty great platonic and romantic intimacy arcs. I also really enjoyed the queer representation and a bi MC.
Kaliane Bradley is going to be a devastating writer and I'm stoked for her next book(s), which I'm sure will rip out my heart in a great way.
Audiobook: Katie Leung reads the unnamed narrator POV and does a fantastic job. Her Arthur & Graham voices were excellent. Haunting interstitials are read by George Weightman.
My Lady Jane by Jodi Meadows, Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Excellent story. The audiobook is amazing. The narrator (Katherine Kellgren) knocks it out of the park.
The Portrait of a Duchess by Scarlett Peckham
[Ending]There is no character dev or history reveal for our mean "kick a puppy" protagonist, she's just sad. And that apparently allows her to be public about affection, tho she still seems unlikely to accept this dude (who again, is 20 years older than her) as a human.
At the end of the day, the story feels incongruent and isn't okay loving people through adversity or their less interesting/perfect moments. And that feels especially weird in the context of a struggle for rights and equity.
Peckham kills a premise, but really struggles on delivering.
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
This didn't hit for me. Again, the premise seemed interesting (love a secret, love feminist activists) and fun- enough for me to finish- but the execution carries big "let's kick a puppy" energy.
3rd person past tense, 2 POVs, ages late 30s and mid 50s
3rd person past tense, 2 POVs, ages late 30s and mid 50s
- Age difference was a lot- couple marries when she's 18 and he's 34. This is excused by her being "experienced"
(sexually mistreated by a teacher.) - Bi fetishizing is big throughout and it feels icky-
our duke is bi (hell yeah) but there's a lot of (male) unicorn hunting vibes throughout. Poly is fine, but poly is different than bi. Bi people don't need lovers of every gender and it feels weird when a straight person makes those assumptions without a conversation about monogamy. - Poverty tourism makes an unusual appearance (and we never address the power imbalance of wealth in the marriage's beginning.)
- Toxic masculinity enforced by women sucks and all one protagonist does is yell at the other one for having feelings and not policing his positive emotions for 95% of the book.
- The feminism presented has big second wave energy.
[Ending]
At the end of the day, the story feels incongruent and isn't okay loving people through adversity or their less interesting/perfect moments. And that feels especially weird in the context of a struggle for rights and equity.
Peckham kills a premise, but really struggles on delivering.
A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Fantasyland pre-80s Berlin's xenophobia smashed together with FantasyOxford's academic gender segregation BUT NONE OF THAT'S IMPORTANT- TIME TO GO TO A DAMP, ISOLATED, LEAKY BEACH HOUSE.
Sexual assault and misogyny allergory that really, really loves aggressive and inconsistent water imagery. Buckle up for feeling sticky and coping with trauma via dissociation.
Single POV, 3rd person past tense, main characters are teen book nerds (college freshmen.) 1 semi-spicy scene.
Very strong world building. Would support this setting being used again. Likeable main characters. Plot, themes, and story structure are a bit of a mess. Action drags and we get a lot of heavy handed imagery and navel gazing.
In a piece that excels at world building, the villian [bad guy lore] isn't really explained as an entity. Which is fine, but things are overexplained through the whole book, except for the driving force of the book.
If this is on your TBR list bc the cover looks dope or it's been on lists, I suspect you'll get as much out of this book if you read the first two and last two chapters as reading the whole thing.
[Ending] Vibewise, Reiddoes a good job on the ending. The pacing is well done and you feel like this chapter of the story is done and the characters are ready to move on. Things resolve. I expect that's part of why this book gets good marks.
Sexual assault and misogyny allergory that really, really loves aggressive and inconsistent water imagery. Buckle up for feeling sticky and coping with trauma via dissociation.
Single POV, 3rd person past tense, main characters are teen book nerds (college freshmen.) 1 semi-spicy scene.
Very strong world building. Would support this setting being used again. Likeable main characters. Plot, themes, and story structure are a bit of a mess. Action drags and we get a lot of heavy handed imagery and navel gazing.
In a piece that excels at world building, the villian [bad guy lore]
If this is on your TBR list bc the cover looks dope or it's been on lists, I suspect you'll get as much out of this book if you read the first two and last two chapters as reading the whole thing.
[Ending] Vibewise, Reid
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Xenophobia, and Sexual harassment
Minor: War
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher
Did not finish book. Stopped at 7%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 7%.
Wasn't feeling the evil mom betrayal via horse situation. Mommy issues/abusive parenting are a definite vibe.
Ran out of time on the library loan, put it back in the queue for later.
Ran out of time on the library loan, put it back in the queue for later.
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
adventurous
challenging
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0