Browse Reviews by Topic

Interested in a specific time, place, or subgenre?

All of our reviews about Scotland / Ripped Bodices / Governesses / etc. are handily sorted for your viewing pleasure.


Time Period

Once Upon a Time | Ancient World | Tang Dynasty | Medieval | Pre-Colonial | Stuart | Georgian | American Revolution | French Revolution | Regency | Antebellum | Civil War | Reconstruction | Wild West | Victorian | 1900-1915 | Gilded Age | 1920s | Great Depression | Mid-Century | 1990s | Contemporary | The Future


Location

Alaska | American South | American West | Boston | California | Canada | The Caribbean | Chicago | China | College | Denmark | Down Under | Eastern Europe | English Countryside | English Seaside | Florida | France | Frozen Wasteland | Germany | Greece | Hawaii | Holland | Iberian Peninsula | Imaginary Benevolent Monarchy | India | Ireland | Italy | Land of Magic | Las Vegas | London | Los Angeles | Mexico | Miami | Midwest | New England or North Atlantic | New Orleans | New York | North Africa | Outer Space | Pacific Northwest | Paris | Philadelphia | Rome | Russia | San Francisco Bay Area | Scandinavia | Scotland | The Sea | Small Town | South America | South Asia | Southeast Asia | Sub-Saharan Africa | Texas | Wales | Washington DC


Subgenre

BDSM | Bodice Ripper | Comedy | Contemporary | Corporate | Dark Romance | Dystopian | Erotica & Erotic Romance | Fantasy | Foodie Romance | Geeky Romance | Gothic | Historical | Holiday Special | Inspirational | Paranormal | Regency | Romantic Suspense | Science Fiction | Sports Romance | Steampunk | Western


The Hero

Actor | Alien | Artist | Athlete | Barkeep | Biker | Billionaire | Blue Collar | CEO | Chef | Clergy | Cowboy | Criminal | Doctor | Dragon | Duke | Entrepreneur | Finance | Firefighter | Geek or Gamer | Healer or Nurse | Highlander | Law Enforcement | Lawyer | Librarian or Bookseller | Lord | Lumberjack | Magic User | Merman | Military | M/M | Musician | Nanny | Pirate | Politician | Royal | Scientist | Servant or Slave | Sex Worker | Shifter | Spy | STEM | Student | Supernatural | Teacher | Vampire | Veterinarian or Animal Rescue | Virgin | Warrior | Werewolf | Widower | Writer


The Heroine

Activist | Actress | Alien | Artist | Athlete | Bad-Ass | Barista or Waitress | Barkeep | Billionaire | Blue Collar | Bluestocking | CEO | Chef | Companion | Criminal | Doctor | Duchess | Entrepreneur | F/F | Finance | Geek or Gamer | Healer or Nurse | Heiress | Law Enforcement | Lawyer | Librarian or Bookseller | Magic User | Military | Musician | Nanny or Governess | Royal | Scientist | Secretary or Assistant | Servant or Slave | Sex Worker | Shifter | Spy | STEM | Student | Supernatural | Teacher | Vampire | Veterinarian or Animal Rescue | Widow | Writer


Trope

Accidental Pregnancy | American Heiress | Amnesia | Arranged Marriage | Bedding the Boss | Best Friend’s Sibling | Bluestocking | Bodyguard | Childhood Crush | Coming of Age | Compromised! | Conspiracy Theory | Courtship Lessons | Dishonest Beginnings | Enemies to Lovers | Epistolary Romance | Fake Relationship | Fated Mates | Feuding Families | Fooling Around | Forbidden Love | Forced Proximity | Friends to Lovers | Gender Role Reversal | Governess | Grumpy & Sunshine | Horny Hero | Hot for Teacher | House Party | Journey of Self Discovery | Kidnapped! | Long Lost Heir | Love Triangle | Makeover | Marriage of Convenience | May-December Romance | Menage | Morality Chain | One-Sided Courtship | Only One Bed | Opposites Attract | Paternalistic Hero | Reincarnation | Revenge | Road Trip | Roommates or Neighbors | Second Chance | Secret Baby | Secret Relationship | Seducing My Spouse | Shameful Secret | Single Parent | Sparring Partners | Stealing the Fiance | Time Travel | Unequal Match | Unrequited Love | Uptown Girl | Vacation Romance | Wager | Ward


Mood

Adventurous | Angsty | Bonkers | Brooding | Calm | Charming | Dramatic | Feisty | Hilarious | Light-Hearted | Melancholy | Mysterious | Suspenseful | Tense | Thoughtful


Representation

Note: We are talking about the protagonists here. Sassy Gay Best Friends do not count.

Author of Color | Character of Color | Disability | LGBTQ | Neurodivergence | Polyamory | Religious Minority


Age of Protagonists

Teenagers | Early 20s | 40ish | 65+ | Age Gap | Older Woman


Sexytimes

No Sex | Safe Sex | Lots of Sex | Kink


Other Categories

Fairy Tale Retelling | Austen Retelling | Shakespeare Retelling | Other Retelling

Anthology | Short Story | Novella | Category Romance | First in a series | Smut Adjacent | Throwback | Young Adult

Recommended Read | Rant | DNF


Deep Dives!

Want more from us on certain tropes, archetypes, and settings? Our most recent tropes discussions are below; you can find all of them here.

Let’s Talk Tropes: Enemies with Benefits…Podcast Edition!

We’re back with another podcast episode! This month, we’re talking Enemies to Lovers (aka, the most popular trope in Romancelandia that none of us really like), as well as all the books called Enemies with Benefits that we read this week.

Let’s Talk Tropes: Woke Up Married…Podcast Edition!

Hi everyone! The podcast experiment continues, this time with a discussion of the Woke Up Married trope! Books discussed in this podcast: We discuss both Lick and What I Did for Love in depth, so here’s your spoilers warning.  Also, N.B. we refer to What I Did for Love as the SEP frequently. It’s easier…

Jingle Jingle, Here’s Chuck Tingle

Anybody who spends as much time as we do in romance and romance-adjacent book circles has heard of Chuck Tingle, but how many of us have purchased and read any of his books? Well, we couldn’t hold back our curiosity any more, so this year we’re diving in feet first. Dinosaurs? Cryptids? Animated inanimate objects?…

Let’s Talk Archetypes: Cowboys

Our theme week for this month is cowboys and to kick it off, the Smut Reporters sat down to talk about the cowboy archetype. Bottom line: Do you like the Cowboy archetype? Erin: With this question I compare myself to my college roommate, who was all about the cowboys when I was not. So I…

Let’s Talk Archetypes: Blue Collar

Every now and then Erin will send something that captures her attention to the group chat, and for whatever reason when she saw this post from @LadySadieReads on Insta she sent it along… …which, combined with SuperWendy’s August TBR Challenge, inspired our August buddy read week. Several of the books on Sadie’s list were already…

Let’s Talk Tropes: Fake Relationship

Here’s a fun one for us! We just happened to have several fake relationship ARCs, so this month we’re talking about the fake relationship trope. Bottom line: Do you like the fake relationship trope? Erin: Even though I often think the reason the protagonists think they need a fake relationship is absolutely ridiculous, there is…

Let’s Talk Settings: Between the Wars

Normally we do a buddy read focusing on a trope or archetype, but when we were talking about our goals for the year, Erin wanted to explore the setting of the 1920s. This (mostly) aligned with the TBR Challenge prompt for June: After the War, so we decided to do a ā€œBetween the Warsā€ week…

Let’s Talk Tropes: Accidental Pregnancy

When we were discussing our goals for this year, Holly said she wanted to talk about the accidental pregnancy trope even though she hates it. So here we are!  As usual, we’re starting the month with a discussion of the trope, but we have to say in advance…none of us is super pumped about it.…