Heroine
Hell’s Bells, Book #1
Heat Factor: He really likes to go down on her.
Character Chemistry: It started before the book, so there’s not a ton of buildup.
Plot: She’s in an extralegal girl gang, he’s got dark secrets, being together isn’t going to work, but everything swirling around them connects them. As does sex.
Overall: There’s a lot in this book that should be more prevalent in historical romance.
Heat Factor: I wouldn’t call it steamy, but it’s definitely not closed door.
Character Chemistry: It’s deliciously complicated.
Plot: Crispin is *the worst*. Except now he has amnesia and is nice. And also has a wife, who doesn’t seem to like him all that much?
Overall: The romance is an exceptional emotional roller coaster, but there’s some other plot that worked less well.
Blackhaven Brides, Book #2
Heat Factor: I mean, he’s in the clergy and she’s a blacklisted widow who refuses to publicly grieve, so the “but we mustn’t” factor is steamy from the get go, and it just takes off from there
Character Chemistry: The witty banter between these two is just *chef’s kiss*
Plot: Lady Katherine has been widowed and although reality is far from the story being spread throughout the ton, she’s been shunned to the seaside village of Blackhaven all the same. Grant, the town’s substitute curate, is just about everything you could hope for in both a curate and a future hubs, but he’s also got some secrets about his own past cooking up some trouble…
Overall: I LOVED this book—it’s deep and messy and has that element of forbidden foxiness (but not in a squicky way). All around a great read.
The Nolans, Book #3
Review of The Nolans, Book #1
No one would ‘fess up to actually requesting the ARC of this book, so we decided to read it together! (Also, the last time we read a priest book together it went really well!!!!)
Welcome to Dueling Reviews: More Priests for Everyone Edition!
Heat Factor: The scene where she masturbates in the bar was pretty hot, but otherwise it’s nothing to write home about.
Character Chemistry: They really want to bone, but they can’t.
Plot: Sasha has the hots for a priest. Patrick is a priest, but has the hots for Sasha. Angst ensues.
Overall: Honestly, the priest bit was the least infuriating part of this book (and the priest bit was pretty darn annoying).
Heat Factor: The cloud of shame over the sex really cast a pall on everything that went on.
Character Chemistry: Mostly based on them separately processing their naughty feelings.
Plot: Catholic guilt + disillusionment with Catholic doctrine
Overall: This book probably succeeds on the “processing Catholic identity as a progressive” front, but that didn’t necessarily make for a super satisfying romance.
Heat Factor: It’s got some hot bits, especially if you like things really forbidden.
Character Chemistry: They’ve already been swooning after each other before the story starts.
Plot: Everyone wants what they oughtn’t have.
Overall: It’s pretty classic and it certainly had an engaging plot, but I did feel like the end could have been more satisfying.
Heat Factor: It’s a slow-but-steady scorcher.
Character Chemistry: Folks…we have a classic Grumpy/Sunshine on our hands!!!
Plot: Piper tries to wrest control of her breakup narrative in a way that lands her in jail…so her wealthy stepfather sends her and her sister to the town they were born in, where they are meant to live in the bar apartment they inherited from their father for three months to SHAPE UP, and there she meets Brendan, the cranky sea captain who stole my heart. I mean, her heart.
Overall: Obsessed. This book was such a solid read, and so enjoyable…
The Smut Report 