bookish_kristina's reviews
1213 reviews

This was a good, light read with some interesting historical elements but the last third of the book was so laden with cheesy dialogue and cringey sex scenes that I was a bit put off. 

She called her 🐱 her fountain of love and I can’t with that nonsense. 🤮 

But if you skip those parts it was really interesting to read about the hero’s back story as a détenu of the Napoleon wars and the heroine was a strong minded and determined sculptress. This was mostly Regency brain candy, and fairly conventional for a historical romance, but it was a quick and engaging read if you can get over the heavy corn at the end. 3.5 stars rounded up. 

Thanks to Kensington and NetGalley for the complimentary copy. 

Started off with promise, but ultimately it was bland.

Beautiful cover, cool idea, and this started off pretty good, set in Myanmar with a successful author (usually authors in romcoms are struggling) and pretty likeable main characters but as the story developed it lagged so much and the ending was way too easy and fluffy. I get why the vigilantes did what they did but the resolution and forgiveness was just way too hand wavy and totally lacked realism. Also, I’ve enjoyed a good friends to lovers but these two had zero spark, angst, longing or sexual tension. They barely spent any time alone and had a brother/sister vibe. I guess a very easy romance has its appeal to some, but this lacked emotion and I don’t know if this is a romcom or not because there was no comedy and no romance. Plus what happened to his girlfriend? He was talking to her and getting back together with her, then he fucks off on vacay with his bestie and declares his love and poor Julia (his placeholder girlfriend of YEARS) is left in the dust, I guess. I hate when MMC’s are portrayed as good guys but treat other women terribly. 

Thanks to NetGalley for the complimentary copy, my opinions are my own.

A bit far fetched, but very dark, twisty and fun.

Female serial killers avenging wrongs done to women is a good trope. We support women’s rights and women’s wrongs here. 

I wont write a complete review for this because it’s got so many twists and turns I do not want to spoil it for anyone. But anyone who is frustrated or disgusted by the amount of misogyny, especially online, in the world today, this is a cathartic book with lots of dismemberment and blood spatter. I did guess the villain early on but was still taken on a ride of twists and turns and was worried for the character presented as a red herring. Kitty does have a history of cutting off dicks and acting a tad impulsively with her manicide. We delve more deeply into Kitty as a character and I was weirdly sympathetic to her struggles to not murder and quite encouraging of her breaking her serial killer sobriety. Do what you love, girlie. 
The ending obviously is setting up the next book so it wasn’t wrapped up nice and tight, however it did leave me wanting more murder and mayhem and comeuppance for horrible men.
*not all men bla bla. 

Alternative title suggestion: Two Idiots Lost in the Wilderness. 

Don’t worry, I’m not being mean, they call themselves idiots many times in this. It’s part of the fun! 

This is a silly adventure romance with two completely inept people trying to survive in the wilderness after witnessing a murder. 

Anyone who likes clueless golden retriever heroes who show up and grow and learn, will enjoy this one. Ryder was that guy in spades and was all in for the heroine. I’d say he was a hot mess hero but I don’t know if that’s a thing. The heroine was more capable and geeky but not exactly outdoorsy 😂. 

 It’s definitely entertaining but the writing is a bit tell and not show and there are several plot inconsistencies that drove me crazy. For example: she drops her first aid kit in the woods and can’t bandage her leg and yet she takes out her first aid kit later to stitch up his leg wound. Or she says her dad, who’s been dead two years, used to wear an old and battered Cleveland Guardians cap…the Guardians were the Indians until they changed their name in 2021, his cap would not have had a chance to get battered and old in *maybe* one year 🤦🏼‍♀️.

So I did have a good time  with this one and could see it as a silly hallmark suspense movie or a Netflix romcom; it wasn’t that deep and was overall pretty goofy. Good for a beach read when you just want to see two loveable people get together with very little angst and some crazy side shenanigans ala cheesy 1980s movies. 


Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for a complimentary copy of this book. 

It had me until the end

I don’t know how to rate this. It was a decent medical thriller, with a bit of a slow start but once it got going the premise was truly interesting and gripping,  until the ending. It was abrupt and unsatisfying and didn’t fit with the dark features of the mystery. If I could rewrite the last four chapters I think this would be four stars but as it is? I dunno. I will give it a three for now because I feel very blah about it. 
If this is a series or part one of two it would make more sense but I didn’t get the sense that there is more to the story. I need an epilogue or something because wtf?

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley, my opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this so much! Could this be my fave book from Mimi ever?

It was so fast paced and exciting and so different from what Mimi Matthews usually writes and yet still had her distinctive, rich writing and impeccable research. 

I loved Gabriel, a non -aristocratic hero who pulled himself out of the slums by not so honest means. He was rough and ready but also so down bad for Effie.
And Effie was so smart and strong, yet vulnerable as she worked through her fear of heights and discovered where she came from.
I usually don’t enjoy secret societies of female vigilantes in historical romance. I think it’s a trope that has been exhausted to death and always lands badly with me, but this one just worked. The feminist/suffrage storyline was so historically accurate and frankly, it’s everything I’ve been begging authors who try to insert feminism in historical, to do. 
The plot itself was also so fast paced and engaging. I was gripped the entire way through. 

Just so good. Now I have to wait FOREVER for the next one. 😭 

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the complimentary copy.

Absolute legend. 

This book was a punch to the feels!


What a great ending to the series. This had twists and turns and ripped my heart out several times. I was so mad at Parker from 35% to 90% but he redeemed himself. 

Caveat: This book is the ending of the Wilder Family series but also a crossover of the Ward sisters with appearances from characters from both the Washington Wolves series and the Wolves Legacy series. It’s blended pretty well but the mind boggles with all the different connections and cameos in the first part. 😵‍💫 

Ugh I’m going to go roll into a ball now for a few weeks. 

Thank you to Karla Sorenson for the advanced copy.

Silly, cute and quite horny.

This was a very conventional romcom, just substitute the usual male lead with a woman and it’s every other romcom I’ve ever read. She even growled and had muscular forearms. I’ve not read all that many f/f but I don’t think this was the best representation of that genre. 

But it was cute enough, the story was wrapped up nice and tight even if no one really behaved like a normal human being, so pretty much your standard romcom. Sometimes romcoms surprise me and have depth and realistic human stories, but most of the time they don’t. This one didn’t. 

So it’s a light, fluffy listen with low conflict and high sex (I found myself fast forwarding through the abundant sex scenes that took up most of the last half of this). 

This is a perfectly well written romcom, very similar to hundreds of others I’ve read. It was a smooth listen and didn’t take much brain power. But I did cringe a lot and had to speed through some pretty cheesy moments. My tolerance for that kind of thing is at an all time low right now. 

So this might work as a very light read for someone who doesn’t really care about representation but wants to try sapphic romcom without actually dealing with conflicts that might arise therein. 

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this audiobook.

A wee bit aspirational, but uplifting and original


Rounded up to 4 stars because the concept was so interesting.