This review is #SFW but the book contains mature themes.

Spoiler Free Review

Medium Used: 75% hardcover, 25% audiobook.

Ratings out of 5

Sweetness Level:
🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫 (5/5)

Steam Level:¹
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 (5/5)

Spice Quality:¹
🔥🔥🔥🔥 (4/5)

Spice Quantity:¹
🔥🔥🔥 (3/5)

MMC (Warrior) Likability:
🗡️🗡️🗡️🗡️🗡️ (5/5)

FMC (Princess) Likability:
👸🏻👸🏻👸🏻👸🏻👸🏻 (5/5)

MMC (Assasin) Likability:
🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷 (5/5)

Plot Engagement:
💥💥💥💥 (4/5)

Overall Rating:
💜💜💜💜💜 (5/5)

^{1 I use Steam to refer to the tension, yearning, and/or build up to the Spice i.e. sexual intimacy}

Warrior Princess Assassin is a high fantasy polyamorous romance that tells the story of Princess Marjoriana (Jory) of Astranza, her betrothed King Kyronan (Ky) of Incendar, and her childhood friend turned Assassin of the Astranzanian Hunter’s Guild (Asher) as Astranza and Incendar attempt to cement an alliance through marriage against their common enemy Draegonis.

An exquisite blend of slow-burn romance, political intrigue, and sword-clashing action every page left me wanting more. Cover to cover this book took me under 60 hours to finish. Every time I had to put it down for work, sleep, or parenting I could not wait to pick it back up. It rotates perspective between the three titular characters and had me equally invested in each of them – something that many romances with only two main characters struggle to accomplish.

The best thing about Warrior Princess Assassin is its conviction. It is proud to be a capital R romance that does not shy away from classic tropes (e.g. marriage of convenience) while simultaneously subverting the mainstream of the genre with its base premise (i.e. bisexual polyamory). It is by far my favorite of the eight books I have read so far in 2026 and comes in as number eight on my top ten list of favorite romance books of all time.^{sorry Headliners by Lucy Parker which now falls off my top 10 list}

What I liked about this book
* A real slow-burn. With yearning and tension that goes in all directions.
* Asher and Ky are both masculine, emotionally intelligent, caring, and unapologetic bisexual. Their bisexuality is not fetishized and their emotional relationship has its own stakes and journey separate from their relationships with Jory.
* It’s less than 400 pages (sometimes I feel like the fantasy genre has abandoned brevity).

What I did not like about this book
* I found myself left with a fair amount of questions about the world (in particular about its history). Perhaps this is the trade-off with brevity.

This Book Reminded Me of:

• Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, for being a capital R Romance in a fantasy setting.
  
• Mindf*ck by S.T. Abby for being a book I read in the beginning of the year that had no business being as good as it was based on the premise.
  
  

Who should read this book?

Everyone this book fucking slaps.

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#Books #WPA #Romance #RomanceBooks #Romantasy #FantasyRomance #BisexualRomance #PolyRomance #Reviews #WarriorPrincessAssassin

This review refers to the murder mystery, knife violence, gun violence, and 19th century homophobia that are in the book.

#SFW

Medium Used: 40% audiobook via Hoopla | 60% ebook via Kindle

Ratings out of 5

Overall Rating:
💜💜💜💜 (4/5)

Sweetness Level:
🍫🍫🍫 (3/5)

Spice Heat Level:
💧 (0/5)

Slow Burn Steamy Tension Quality: 🥵🥵🥵 (3/5)

FMC Likability:
👗👗👗👗👗(5/5)

MMC Likability:
🎩🎩🎩🎩 (4/5)

Plot Engagement:
🗡️🗡️🗡️🗡️ (4/5)

At least 1 bad dad (pass/fail):
💯 (pass)

BONUS audiobook narration:🔉🔉🔉

Spoiler Free Review

Murder at the Seven Dials is the first book in the Bow Street Duchess Mystery series. It (presumably) begins a slow burn romance between Audrey Sinclair, the Duchess of Fournier and a Bow Street Detective, Hugh Marsden. Their paths cross when Mr. Marsden finds Her Grace's husband, The Duke of Fournier covered in the blood of a murdered opera singer Ms. Lovejoy.

This is a fun read, an intriguing mystery, and cute start of a love story. I appreciated that its pace and brevity. I loved the subtlety of the paranormal fantasy that is woven into this story. Her Grace has a gift that allows her to see other's memories when she touches objects or people. A gift that she considers a curse and keeps a secret. For me, this 'light' fantasy in an otherwise grounded world was novel. I am interested to see if the paranormal aspects of the world will grow at all as the fantasy continues.

The unique circumstances surrounding the meet (not so) cute of Her Grace and Mr. Marsden and their differences in station made their growth in admiration for each other both humorous and endearing. I look forward to seeing where this series goes. Consider me hooked.
What I liked about this book
* Minor Spoiler for a reveal in the first 10% of the story >!The plutonic love between the Duke and Duchess was really interesting to me. I love the dynamic of a married woman as an FMC that loves her husband, who loves her, but only as friends.!< * I am a sucker for sass and witty banter. There is plenty in here.
* The way Audrey and Hugh have unique strengths as investigators that both compliment and conflict with each other. For example, Hugh is more careful about how he approaches things but he is also often too slow or too presumptive and misses things. Audrey can be rash but is a fast learner and her decisive action makes sure opportunities are not missed. * Audrey Sinclair is up there with Nevada Baylor and Olive Smith in heroines that just do it for me.

What I did not like about this book
* At first I was listening to this book because it was available on Hoopla and an ebook version wasn't available on Hoopla or Libby. I found it difficult to keep the various aristocrats and Nobility straight in the audiobook version. Which made it hard to follow the mystery.

Spoilers Review

This Book Reminded Me of:

• Hidden Legacy by Ilona Andrews, fast pace mystery with a strong woman lead
  
  

Who should read this book?

I think fans of slow burn romantic mysteries will enjoy this one. I described it to my wife as regency Veronica Mars vibes but with a splash of paranormal.

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Bonus Gush Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe Volume 1

Apparently Rachel Smythe wrote the Greek Mythology romantic comedy graphic novel I didn’t know I needed but now cannot imagine life without.

I read it in as close to 1 sitting you can have with gremlins running about on Boxing Day. The artwork is beautiful, the dialogue is witty, and the comedy lands in the way I imagine Homer’s better lines landed a few thousand years ago. So good and I cannot believe I’ve never seen this mentioned here or on any of the sister.

💜💜💜💜💜 (5/5)

Big shout out to the librarian who said it was her favorite series when I checked this out. I will be asking you for more recs next time I see you at the library.

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#Books #CaraDevlin #RomanceBooks #HistoricalRomance #RegencyRomance #MysteryRomance #BowStreetDuchess

This review includes references to sexual assault and human trafficking. It is #NSFW

Medium Used: 100% ebook

Ratings out of 5

Overall Rating:
💜💜💜 (3/5)

Sweetness Level:
🍫🍫 (2/5)

Steam Quality Level:
🔥🔥🔥🔥 (4/5)

Steam Quantity Level:
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ (5/5)

FMC Likability:
😈😈😈 (3/5)

MMC Likability:
👨‍💼👨‍💼👨‍💼 (3/5)

Plot Engagement:
⛓️🔒 (2/5)

At least 1 bad dad (pass/fail):
💯 (pass)

Spoiler Free Review

Make Me, Sir is a spice heavy suspense romance. The female protagonist, Gabi, is an FBI social worker who volunteers to support an investigation by being a decoy (bait) for a human trafficker targeting bratty submissive at BDSM clubs in Tampa Bay, FL. Undercover, Gabi becomes the latest sub “trainee” at Tampa's premier lifestyle club, The Shadowlands. Unfortunately for Gabi, Trainees at the Shadowlands are instructed by Master Marcus, whose no bullshit tutelage makes being the worst behaved sub in the Shadowlands a bit of a challenge.

I liked this book, but I felt that it suffers from a problem a lot of books in this sub genre¹, the first half+ of the book is practically PWP² despite this the suspense/plot is enjoyable but more or less abandons the spice while the plot runs it course. It would have been a smoother read for me if it had been a bit more of a balance of a plot and spice throughout.

Overall it's a fairly decent read and one I'd recommend for people who particularly like high spice BDSM books with this dynamic. If you need a balance of plot and kink throughout or prefer love stories that aren't almost 100% set inside of a kink club there's probably better books to pick up.

^{1 what I'll call “dim” contemporary romance set in BDSM night clubs i.e. not quite “dark” contemporary romance
Plot? What Plot? https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/PWP}

What I liked about this book
* Spice had a solid variety of scenes. * This was part of a series but it actually did some scenes from the perspective of the MCs of an earlier book. This was done well, I didn't feel like i was missing much not having read the previous books but I also felt like the side character relationships were more meaningful with these other perspective scenes.
* Gabi is a Social Worker at the FBI not an agent/officer. It was cool how Sinclair made her skills as a social worker her strength in the investigation and the general “undercover” premise but with somebody who wasn't in law enforcement I found intriguing.

What I did not like about this book
* Early on Gabi's inner monologue keeps comparing Marcus to her dad. No Thanks!
* Dragged in the middle a bit.

Spoilers Review

This Book Reminded Me of:

• Natural Law by Joey W. Hill as it has a similar premise and setting.
• Servicing The Target by Cherise Sinclair which is also from this series.
  ^{Both of these have a dominant FMC and submissive MMC}
  

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Content Warning: These books and this review include references to gun violence and car crashes.
This review is: #SFW

Medium Used:
* 80% paperback 20% audiobook via Hoopla {White Hot by Ilona Andrews}
* 100% paperback {Wildfire by Ilona Andrews}

Ratings out of 5

Overall Rating:
💜💜💜💜💜 (5/5) ¹

Sweetness Level:
🍫🍫🍫🍫 (4/5)

Steam Quality Level:
🔥🔥🔥🔥 (4/5)

Steam Quantity Level:
🌶️🌶️🌶️ (3/5)

FMC Likability:
🕵️🕵️🕵️🕵️🕵️ (5/5)

MMC Likability:
🐉🐉🐉🐉 (4/5)

Plot Engagement:
🔍🔍🔍🔍🔍(5/5)

At least 1 bad dad (pass/fail):
0️⃣ (fail)

BONUS audiobook narration:🔉🔉🔉🔉🔉

^{1 the rating I gave book 1 {Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews} was a 4/5 in 2022. I did not revisit it as part of reading the sequels.}

Spoiler Free Review of the first trilogy in the Hidden Legacy Series

Each book in Ilona Andrews' The Hidden Legacy series is an action/adventure mystery set in an alternative history modern day Houston. The first three books are told from the perspectives of Nevada Baylor, a mid twenties private investigator. In Nevada's world the most important part of the genetic lottery is magical prowess. The resulting society is a caste system based on the magical strengths of each family.

Nevada and her family get by in this society by keeping their heads down and their rare magics hidden. Nevada is the primary bread winner and does her best to follow a strict code in her work as a private investigator. Work that is widely aided by the fact that she is a human lie detector – an incredibly rare and feared form of magic.

In book one Nevada's work drags her into the world of Houston's upper elite. Here she encounters one of the most powerful mages in the world Connor 'Mad' Rogan. A war hero, telekinetic, billionaire who is a crazed paranoid asshole.

The first trilogy in Hidden Legacy is exactly the slow burn I prefer in a serialized romance story. Connor and Nevada's love develops over the three series with time passing on page. They face multiple external conflicts together that forces them to see the good and the bad in each other. It does not deliver the meltiest gush or the sweatiest spice but the raw chemistry (with plenty of sassing) that develops over the series places them among my favorite book couples.

At the end of the day, the number one thing that sets this series apart (particularly book 2 and book 3) is the quality of the plot, action, and humor. I did not want to put White Hot nor Wildfire down. Plenty of time is set aside to establish side characters and Nevada's relationships with them. The individual mysteries/client jobs Nevada works gives each book its own beginning, middle, and end but the trilogy also fits together as an overarching story.

** What I love about this trilogy**
* The side characters are all interesting and loveable in unique ways. Each character adds something to the world.
* The sass between Nevada and Connor is excellent through the whole series. They feel right for each other in so many ways.
* Action, mystery, sappy sweet scenes, and steamy tension with an unrushed payoff.

What I do not like about this trilogy
* Book 1 starts off with a bit of some odd vibes (see spoilers).
* The series shifts to other member's of Nevada's family after book 3. I haven't read anything but the transition Novella yet but I kind of love Nevada and am sad to have the story move on.
* There is an excessive amount of car violence / crashes. It does not bother me but I know people who this would be a massive deal breaker for who I'd otherwise like to recommend this series to.

Spoilers Review

This Book Reminded Me of:

• Veronica Mars
  
• {Kate Daniels by Ilona Andrews} – same authors w/ similar action packed serial romance vibes.
  
  

Who should read this book?

I think most romance fans who like contemporary sci-fi/fantasy settings with lots of action will love this trilogy.

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Content Warning:
At First Spite deals with depression and past trauma directly on the page. I discuss these topics vaguely in the spoiler free section and in more specificity in the spoiler section. It also includes a scene with one of the MCs administering vaccines as part of their job as a physician. As a Trypanophobe myself, I was able to listen to that scene but it did make me anxious. There's enough warning to skip it. The foreword of the book includes a more detailed CW warning.

Medium Used: 100% audiobook via Hoopla

Ratings out of 5

Overall Rating:
💜💜 (2/5)

Sweetness Level:
🍫🍫 (2/5)

Steam Quality Level:
🔥🔥🔥 (3/5)

Spice Quantity Level:
🌶️🌶️🌶️ (3/5)

FMC Likability:
👻👻👻 (3/5)

MMC Likability:
🩺🩺🩺🩺 (4/5)

Plot Engagement:
🪜🪜 (2/5)

At least 1 bad dad:
💯 (pass)

BONUS audiobook narration by Joy Nash: 🔉🔈🔉 (3/5)

Spoiler Free Review

At First Spite does what it is trying to do well; but, what it is trying to do is not what I want from my Romcoms. Some of my favorite romcoms have dealt with aspects of mental health but I really felt the tone of the book was to sporadic given the level of detail the mental health challenges appear on the page. I do not enjoy moving from light humor about monster fucking book clubs to somber life like depictions of clinical depression to explicit steam at the drop of a pin. I think I struggled even more given the absurdity of the comedic premise juxtaposed against such a realistic depiction of mental health.¹

On the topic of absurd comedic premises. Our main character are mid 30 somethings Athena and Matthew. Athena was betrothed to Matthew's younger brother, Jonathan, however; Matthew convinced Jonathan to break it off 1 month before the wedding. Athena (with the help of her parents) had purchased Jonathan (as a wedding gift) the “spite house” that sits between Matthew and Jonathan's small town homes.

Athena decides to move in to the house anyway. On move in day Jonathan leaves for the month long vacation that was going to be their honeymoon leaving Matthew as Athena's only neighbor in her new house. Athena decides to intact her revenge on Matthew.

^{1 Wasn't my taste but appreciate the way the emotional see-saw of the book may reflect some people's experience with mental health}

What I liked about this book
* Even though it wasn't the book I wanted to see it in I have to admire the realistic portrayal of depression as well as what it is like to love somebody with depression.
* The sassy pranks Athena plays on Matthew in the 1st act as punishment for his involvement in her engagement falling apart.
* Time spent on side characters and relationships with those side characters mattering for both plot and character development.

What I did not like about this book
* Much of the humor didn't really land for me.
* I am normally a sucker for the corny gushy parts of romcoms but it was not landing for me in this book. It felt too framed in codependency.

Spoilers Review

Who should read this book?

If you like sweet MMCs taking care of FMCs, or stories about finding love while struggling with depression then At First Spite may be worth putting on your TBR.

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#BookReviews #OliviaDade #AtFirstSpite #Books #Romance #RomComs #DepressionInFiction

Ilona Andrews White Hot

Medium Used: 100% ebook

Ratings out of 5

Overall Rating: 💜💜💜 (3/5)

Sweetness Level:
🍫🍫🍫🍫

Steam Quality Level:
🕯️🕯️ (2/5)

Steam Quantity Level:
🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵 (5/5)

FMC Likability:
🧶🧶 (2/5)

MMC Likability:
📝📝 (2/5)

Plot Engagement:
🪟🪟 (2/5)

At least 1 bad dad:
0️⃣ (No)

Spoiler Free Review

This story is set in a dystopian future in North America where there has been an ambiguous cataclysmic event called “The Fall” that resulted in the formation of smaller city states with dangerous “wilds” in between. The largest and post powerful nation is called “the central cities” and Devotion takes place in the its largest city simply called “The Capital”.

The story is told from Jess's perspective. Jess has been training her whole life to be a Partner to a top level administrator at the Capital's Palace. Partners are more or less concubines to the top administrators for the Central Cities governments. The top officials work constantly and it is the Partners jobs to help them relax and relieve stress to stay productive. Jess is selected by Gabriel as a partner. Gabriel is a new comer to the central government, an outsider that is not fond of this custom. He only selects a partner because as it's a requirement for his position.

Devotion ended up being more than I thought it was going to be but it takes it takes its time getting there. After a bit of world building the spice scenes come much faster than character growth or conflict. A lot of that early spice is exclusively the FMC giving MMC oral. While this ultimately proves to serve the setting, characters, plot, and central allegory – it's a lot and the flavor of the spice wasn't much to my taste. This was balanced out by the fact that the lovey dovey gushy “I care about you so much I want you to be happy” was very much to my taste.

Overall it was a fun read but I'll be prioritizing other things on my TBR before revisiting Claire Kent.

Content Warnings:
* Open Door Intmacy * Dystopian Caste System * Off screen abuse of power * Similarities to Slavery / Indentured Servitude

Summary of Tropes

• Age Gap
  
• Forced Proximity
  
• Praise
  
• Servicing / Free Use
• Consent focused MMC
  
• Consensual Master and Sex Slave like relationship
  
• Virgin FMC
  
• Taking Care of Each Other
  

Claire Kent's Website

Discuss...

Medium Used: 100% ebook via Hoopla

Ratings out of 5

Overall Rating:
💜💜💜💜 (4/5)

Sweetness Level:
🍪🍪🍪 (3/5)

Steam quality Level:
🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵 (5/5)

Steam quantity Level:
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ (5/5)

FMC Likability:
🖤🖤🖤🖤 (4/5)

MMC Likability:
👓👓👓👓 (4/5)

Plot Engagement:
📚📚📚 (3/5)

At least 1 bad dad:
💯 (yes)
#NSFW

Content warnings for this book

Spoiler Free Review

Unexpectedly Bookish is a contemporary romantic comedy that tells the falling in love story between Pearl¹, a self-described “fuck-up”, and Reed, a successful architect who is leaving his career to open a bookshop. Reed finds the perfect building for his bookshop in the fictional small town of Fairwick Falls, Pennsylvania where his best friend Luca loves with his 6 year old daughter, Annabelle (AB), and sister, Pearl. The story is dual POV and set in the fictional small town of Fairwick Falls, Pennsylvania. It is the fourth book in Elise Kennedy's Fairwick Falls series but can be read as a stand alone (I have not read books 1-3).

I found the way the story paces the relationship development between the main characters to be novel². As Pearl and Reed's “IRL” romance blossoms gradually, IMPOSSIBLYBOOKISH (Pearl) and HEMINGWAY_CANSUCKIT (Reed) are engaged in an anonymous digital romance that began a few months before the start of the story. The first half of the book has “fast-burn” spice and affection via Bookish and Hemingways anonymous messaging. I found the spice in Unexpectedly Bookish to be better than most romantic comedies and the quality of the characters and plot were merely at par so the early spice was a positive despite my preference for slow burns.

The book is on the longer end for the romcom genre (406 page kindle edition). I'll note much of that additional length is due to the quantity and length of the spicy scenes. Another reason though may be that the plot was trying to do a bit too much. Everything it does I welcome, if not actively seek, in my romcoms but it felt like too much was put into the “romance trope salad” instead of the “plot main course”.

^{1 The relationship in this book is hetero and monogamous but Pearl is bisexual
2 dad joke intended}

What I liked about this book

• Both Pearl and Reed are shown having positive relationships with AB.
  
• Pearl is a plus sized grumpy bad bitch goth. Reed is a glasses and sweater vest wearing neurodivergent-divergent friendly to all nerd.
  
• The main characters both have relationships with side characters that matter to their character arcs and the overall plot.
  
• MCs are in their late 20s, acting like it, and facing struggles related to being in their late 20s.
  
• A townie in a townie bar says 'Yinz' 🖤💛.
  
  

What I did not like about this book

• Aspects of the writing were a bit jarring to me, for example multiple times Pearl's thinks something like “I have such a praise kink”.
• Reed has the body of a typical MMC. It is not dwelled on but in a book that otherwise really tries to break the mold of the typical romcom MCs making Rees a normal height felt like a missed opportunity.
  
  

Spoilers Review

This Book Reminded Me of

• The C*ck Down the Block by Amy Award in the way it is a light cozy read.
• The FMC and MMC dynamic in Maneater by Emily Antoinette.
  

Who should read this book?

1. People seeking cozy romcoms with plenty of spice.
2. People who enjoy the grumpy goth FMC with a soft heart paired with a the nerdy cinnamon roll MMC.
   

Elise Kennedy's Website

Discuss...

^{#BookReviews #UnexpectedlyBookish #EliseKennedy #Books #Romance}

There are rare reads for every romance fan when they pick up the right book at the right time. When they see so much of themselves in the book's story that the fiction stops being escapism and starts being therapeutic. When this happens, it is hard for the romance reader to do anything but love that book. It's why I love Roll for Romance.

Medium Used: ~20% eBook, 80% Paperback

Ratings out of 5

Overall Rating: 💜💜💜💜💜

Sweetness Level: 🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫

Steam Heat Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥¹

FMC Likability: 👩‍🎨✨👩‍🎨✨

MMC Likability: 🍺🪕🍺🪕

Plot Engagement: 🖌️🎲☕🗡️

At least 1 bad dad (pass/fail): 0️⃣

Spoiler Free Review

Roll for Romance is a Contemporary Romantic Comedy (CRC) set in Heller, TX – a fictional small-town in the hill country². In a way, it is also a Romantasy set in a generic D&D³ setting. The protagonist of the CRC narrative is Sadie Brooks, a New York City based marketing consultant. When Sadie unexpectedly loses her job she decides to spend the summer living with her best friend in Heller, where Sadie joins a D&D campaign. In the D&D campaign Sadie role plays Jaylie, the protagonist of the Romantasy narrative.⁴

Noah Walker, brewer and bartender at Heller's newest hot spot alchemist, is one of the other players to join the D&D campaign. Noah's character, Loren, is a charismatic lute plucking elf (with a bit of an ego if we are being honest).⁵

I am a big fan of CRCs. I am also a big fan of D&D and Romantasy. When I saw this debut novel was coming out, I felt like it was a book being written for me. I was expecting it to be a cute and campy read. It is cute as hell (and campy) but it is so much more. It encapsulates the pain associated with “success” in the American corporate rat race and simultaneously romanticizes the small-town American charm that I believe is eroding away.⁶ If you like D&D, CRCs, and sometimes ask yourself why you chose a successful career over creative fulfillment, then my advice is to put Roll for Romance at the very top of your to-be-read pile.

What I liked about this book

• The romantic pacing is outstanding. I have never read a slow burn that captures falling in love so holistically.⁷

• Noah's personality radiates positive nerdy-mountain-boy masculinity. He has a bunch of aspects of some of the best friends I have ever had. He's deserving of Sadie.⁸

• The D&D narrative encapsulates what I love about TTRPGs³ and the absurdity of D&D lore and tropes. Lenora Wood's passion for the game will be clear to anyone who reads it.^9,10

• Even though this story is told from the Sadie/Jaylie perspective, by the end I understood Noah/Loren just as much.¹¹

• I normally don't comment much on covers and I know “cartoon romcom” covers are hated by some but I think this is one of the most beautiful covers on my book shelf.

What I did not like about this book

• Noah is, like most MMCs, amongst the top 15% of tallest men in the world. This is offset a little bit by Loren not being taller than Jaylie.

• I would have loved this book even more if it were 30-50 pages longer to add a bit more depth (especially early on) to the D&D narrative. Overall, I love Lenora Woods' this format and hope she writes more books like this. This criticism is likely only a reflection on me being a man who loves CRCs and D&D so much.

Spoilers Review

Note: Roll for Romance contains explicit sexual scenes between consenting adults but i have chosen to keep this review #SFW.

This Book Reminded Me of

• The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood for its the slow burn and payoff.
  
• The vibe of my favorite Actual Play podcast, Not Another D&D Podcast, and its after-show, The Short Rest, which are hosted by Brian Murphy, Emily Axford, Jake Hurwitz and Caldwell Tanner.
  

Who should read this book?

If you like CRCs and D&D I cannot reccomend this book enough. If you are in your late 20s or beyond and often wonder if the juice is worth the squeeze you'll probably find something to like here. If your a Fantasy Romance fan interested in giving contemporary romance a try (or vice versa) this might be a good way to “take a small bite to see if its for you”.

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¹ The quantity of spice in Roll for Romance is low. I realize that spice/steam level sometimes means an objective measure of the frequency and explicitness of sexy time scenes (i.e. smut). My “Steam Heat Level” ratings have always been about my subjective opinion on the quality of the both the sexual tension (e.g. yearning, angst) and sexual payoff. From now on, in my reviews, I am going to use the following to help distinguish these two related but different aspects of romance books. Spice = smut, because spice feels hot once it touches your tongue; Steam = smut + tension, because steam feels hot if you're close to it. Conveniently, this will not make my romance.io spice ratings contradict with my written reviews when cross published there.

² An hour or so outside of Austin.

³ D&D (or DnD) is an acronym for Dungeons and Dragons, the most popular and well known Table Top Role Playing Game or TTRPG. D&D at its core is a form of collaborative improvised story telling that utilizes dice rolling and other table top game elements. In D&D most players role-play and control a single character called a player character. The player-charters are the protagonists of the story being told (usually allies). One player is the dungeon (game) master or “DM” (“GM”) and controls the rest of the world (other characters, wild animals, weather, etc.).

⁴ I interrupted the Romantasy narrative as Sadie's imagination of the world being built in the D&D campaign so the prespective never really switches from Sadie's 1st person even though the writing shifts to third-person limited in the Romantasy narrative. The CRC frame narrative is probably 60-70% of the total narrative. The Romantasy narrative is on the extreme-end of the narrative-play side of the 'actual-play to narrative-play spectrum'. Which is a nerdy way of saying all game mechanics take place “off-screen”.

⁵ Yes D&D fans...the MMC is a horny bard...and I'm here for it.

⁶ I grew up in a small town. Most of my adult life has been spent in cities working in large corporations.

⁷ To put this differently, I felt the growth of emotional connection and friendship between Noah and Sadie (and as extensions of them Loren and Jaylie) was in harmony with the sexual tension.

⁸ In contrast to the MMC in my last review 🙄.

⁹ As a DM, I imagine Lenora Woods is blessing at every table she sits at.

¹⁰ If you're expecting perfect representation of forgotten realms canon and 5e mechanics and will go complain somewhere if the wrong spell component is described for the casting of lightning bolt don't ^{(Also, why are you like this?)}

¹¹ I love The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood but one of the only things I do not like about it is the lack of dual perspective. If it delivered Adam's feelings through Olive's perspective to the level Roll for Romance does with Noah/Loren through Sadie/Jaylie it would probably still be my top CRC read this year.

Discuss...

^{#BookReviews #RollForRomance #LenoraWoods #Books}

I am keeping this review safe for work. The spice in this book is not explicit.

Medium Used: 65% audiobook via hoopla, 30% paperback via, and 5% ebook via hoopla.¹

Ratings out of 5

Overall Rating: 💜💜💜💜

Sweetness Level: 🍫🍫🍫

Steam Heat Level: 🔥🔥

FMC Likability: 👠👠👠👠👠

MMC Likability: 💂💂

Plot Engagement: 🧶💻🍷🥷

At least 1 bad dad (pass/fail): 💯²

BONUS audiobook narration by Jennifer Grace:🔉🔉🔉🔉

Spoiler Free Review

Neanderthal Seeks Human, is a contemporary romantic comedy³ (or Smart Romance as it suggests) about what happens after Janie Morris’ Worst. Day. Ever. Originally published in 2013, it is Penny Reid’s debut novel and the first story in the Chicago, Illinois set Knitting in the City⁴ series. Janie’s Worst. Day. Ever. Begins with finding an unfamiliar empty condom wrapper in her boyfriend's⁵ jeans and ends with security escorting her out of the office building where she is was an accountant.

The security guard that escorts her out is Sir Handsome McHotpants, at least as far as she and her friend (and now former) colleague are concerned. A few days later, Janie learns three things while out on the town with her best friend:
1. Sir Handsome McHotpants also works security at a night club.
2. Most people call him Quinn Sullivan.
3. His company has a business team, and that business team is hiring an accountant.
Janie, who I read as ADHD coded, struggles to put some obvious things together throughout the story, the first of these being that she is Lady Beautiful O'SexySkirt in Sir McHotpants eyes.

I really loved Janie as a protagonist. I have never read an inner dialogue that I identified with as much as Janie⁶. She is kind, brilliant, spacey, understanding, competent and funny. She is also tall, which is a much better match for a 6' something MMC than most FMCs⁷.

Quinn Sullivan is fine, but not my cup of tea. I never found myself caring about Quinn. I found his quiet, brooding, and bossy demeanor boring and stereotypical. His main redeeming quality for me was he made Janie happy.

As is to be expected for a CRC the overall tone of the story is light-hearted, however; it had just the right amount of conflict and mystery to keep me paging turning for more than an HEA fix. I also appreciated Janie's career success and other relationships remaining key pIot drivers past the first act. Overall, Neanderthal Seeks Human finds its way to a satisfying tale of love, growth, and understanding.

What I liked about this book

• Janie's inner dialogue. I did not appreciate how different the way I think is from the way every 1st person narrative I have read is written until Penny Reid pointed out the obvious to me.
  
• Decent communication and mutual understanding between the MCs throughout the book.⁸
  
• Tremendous amount of fun facts throughout, courtesy of Janie.
  
• Janie is presented as a unique individual without^imho falling being a “not like the other girls” cliché.
  
• Solid tension build up, with some great kissing scenes paired well with the yearning we get in Janie's head.⁹
  
  
  

What I did not like about this book

• A character named Olivia is done dirty. I get that she is there as a foil to Janie but her character came off as unnecessarily mean spirited to 'traditionally attractive' woman in the work place. This is one of several other slut-shaming-esque undertones, none of which phased me in isolation but stack up to a be a bit much.¹⁰
  
• Janie doesn't like cellphones. This book is set in the mid-2010s. One of her complaints is about the constant social media access but some people still had basic flips into the mid-2010s. Why doesn't she just get a flip phone? It is never even brought up as a middle ground from any of the people in her life asking her to get one.
  
• There are multiple meaningful conversations that take place between the MCs off screen, given how few words we get out of Quinn the entire book I would have liked to have seen how those played out.
  
  

Spoilers Review

What I liked Spoilers

This Book Reminded Me Of

• The burn pace of The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
  
• The MMC in Manwhore by Katy Evans¹²
  
  

Who should read this book?

If you're looking for a fun CRC you can do much worst. If you have ADHD and any of my comments resonate with you I would prioritize the read. If you have a strong preference towards dual perspective or equal emotional investment in MCs this may not be the read for you.

Get the book

¹ Libraries are 🤌💋.

² My opinion is we have 2 bad dads here. Quinn’s dad blaming him for for his other brother's death is bad parenting. Letting Quinn blame himself for his brother’s death is atrocious parenting. Janie’s is implied to be on decent terms with her father but he is was an enabler to the mental trauma her mother clearly inflicted on all three of her daughters 0/10.

³ CRC hereafter

⁴ About a group of woman in a knitting group. Janie belongs to this group. All her close friends are in it. Janie does not knit.

⁵ Now Ex-boyfriend

⁶ My ADHD manifest many of Janie's character traits. These include speaking before I think about what I am saying, sharing random facts about a topic that nobody understands how I connected it to the discussion, letting my mind wander away from a conversation, a natural aversion to brevity, and the superpower to completely lose oneself in interesting work to the point that you're surprised to learn it's 3PM when you decide it is time for lunch.

⁷ MMC = male main character, FMC = female main character

⁸ Covered in Spoiler section.

⁹ Just don't expect the payoff to be rated NC-17.

¹⁰ I offer this critique upon reflection but I do not presume to be an authority on the topic. Nor do I presume Penny Reid of being a judgmental prude.

¹¹ Books are fun, more climaxes in CRCs like this please!

¹² Perhaps because the voice Grace Grant does for the MC in that series is similar to the one Jennifer Grace uses here.

Discuss...

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