Trope / Age of Protagonists
Heat Factor: Well, that Daddy stuff sure surprised me
Character Chemistry: They are both so clueless and so googly-eyed about each other
Plot: Kai and Silas start dating
Overall: I believed this HEA
Heat Factor: They have a lot of sex. (A lot.) And it’s explicit but not every time.
Character Chemistry: He was meant to love the white swan!
Plot: Gay football player thinks he can spend his college career with his head down and without romantic entanglements…until he meets the love of his life during a summer study abroad in Paris
Overall: Holy angst, Batman!
Heat Factor: It’s actually not that slow a burn, but getting to that first kiss is oof
Character Chemistry: They just like each other so gosh darn much
Plot: (Best friend) and (father) of The Jock’s protagonists are third wheels so much that they find themselves pairing off, particularly after the quarterback is left behind while everyone else has summer break
Overall: It’s a sweet one. Floating hearts just coming right off it.
New World, Book #2
Heat Factor: Ana tells Kit she’s a good girl so you *know* there’s some heat here.
Character Chemistry: The Goddess has decreed it!
Plot: Kit escaped from a lab; Ana has hunted her down and is going to return her. Time for a road trip (to pound town)!
Overall: I liked that this book surprised me.
Heat Factor: It slipped in. Consent optional. Do you need consent if you’re married?
Character Chemistry: He is large, grumpy and swarthy, and she is fair, smol and pure. How can they not fall in love?
Plot: One damn thing after the next, caused by miscommunication and stupidity.
Overall: They’re mad at each other, but they don’t know why they’re mad at each other, and they won’t stop doing dumb things to each other.
Heat Factor: It’s the sexiest one we’ve read so far in the Old School read-a-thon
Character Chemistry: It’s The Taming of the Shrew, but who’s taming who?
Plot: Jamie’s like, “You told me to handle it! So I handled it.”
Overall: This book is absolutely delightful.
Content Note: These books contain rape, ablism, and racism and we discuss this content in our review. Also, sorry, Ranulf of The Black Lyon is not actually a Hottie McScottie, but he’s got highlander energy.
Continue reading “Back to Old School: Hottie McScottie Week”
Birmingham, Book #1
Heat Factor: “His warmth and passion” is “led on to his nest.”
Character Chemistry: Is it abuse or is it love? Hard to tell.
Plot: Brandon rapes Heather. They are forced to get married. And then Brandon takes Heather to South Carolina, where shenanigans occur and also they somehow decide they’re in love.
Overall: It’s all totally yikes or totally infuriating and sometimes both!
Please note: This book includes rape, abuse, chattel slavery, and ableism (among other things), which we discuss in this review.
Continue reading “Back to Old School: The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss (1972)”
The Smut Report 