Trope
Heat Factor: There’s some icky predatory stuff and some consensual sapphic action
Character Chemistry: Adèle is a charming narrator, but I wouldn’t say she has much chemistry with anyone. She’s a very self-contained character and that doesn’t change.
Plot: Jane Eyre and beyond, Adèle’s perspective
Overall: A mixed bag
Dangerous Damsels, Book #2
Review of Dangerous Damsels, Book #1
Heat Factor: Charlotte and Alex have a lot of sex, but the reader does not get to watch.
Character Chemistry: Mutual kidnapping is always a winner.
Plot: Everyone is trying to get a magical amulet, and more shenanigans ensue than you can shake a stick at.
Overall: A bit heavy-handed and there’s some weird stuff going on with the tone
Sugar & Vice, Book #1
Heat Factor: Yeah, so, we barely even know they like each other at the end of this one
Character Chemistry: I don’t know how Therin managed it, but I wanted them to touch SO BADLY even though 1) it’s dangerous and 2) they mostly snip at each other
Plot: Empaths are a persecuted group, feared for their abilities even though they have to be pacifists (and vegans) by virtue of their extreme empathy, except that there’s a triple homicide that looks suspiciously like Reece’s nightmares, and the man rumored to keep empaths in check suddenly arrives in town.
Overall: It is not actually a romance (yet), but it is SO FREAKING GOOD
Heat Factor: Barely kisses
Character Chemistry: I remain unconvinced
Plot: Charlotte finally comes to term with her husband’s death
Overall: Exceptionally irritating but, for some reason, I read the whole thing
We’re trying something a little different this week, where we read different books that all have the same title. Our first contender in Who Wore It Best: Smut Edition? Husband Material.
To properly kick off Husband Material week, I figured I should read the book that inspired us to do this in the first place: the version written by Alexis Hall that Erin squeed over.
Her review is below, but here are three additional things that you should know about this book:
You *definitely* have to read Boyfriend Material first. There are approximately a million characters who are vaguely introduced, but the expectation is that the reader already knows what Luc’s job is and who his coworkers are, who his besties are, and the general outline of his history. Luc’s friends Bridge and Priya get the most page time of the secondary characters and feel the most fully fleshed out, but if I hadn’t read Boyfriend Material, I would have been very confused with every interaction Luc has with his fellow CRAPPers.
Not because of the non-heteronormative HEA, but because I thought it read kind of day-in-the-life women’s fic-y. The focus of most of the book is not Luc and Oliver’s relationship, because their relationship is great, but on the stuff going on around them that’s making them process their various messes.
On the other hand, the conflict and resolution at the very end of the book may have changed my mind about this statement.
Just trust me on this one.
Read on for Erin’s review.
Continue reading “Review Revisited: Holly’s Take on Husband Material by Alexis Hall (2022)”
The Smut Report 