romancereadinglist's reviews
329 reviews

James by Percival Everett

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

The Many Sins of Lord Cameron by Jennifer Ashley

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dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Talk Sweetly to Me by Courtney Milan

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emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

The Suffragette Scandal by Courtney Milan

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emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Review to come if I can muster up more coherent thoughts than “this book and series is pure perfection”. 
Rules for Ghosting by Shelly Jay Shore

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dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Just an incredibly beautiful, moving book. The central romance is heart-wrenching and lovely, but just as deftly handled are the themes of grief, family, found family, and queerness. I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time. The audio performance by Petey Gibson is impeccable.
Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage by Jennifer Ashley

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emotional reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

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medium-paced

3.5

I never read this as a kid, not growing up in the US. I read it now so I could read James by Percival Everett. I found it alternately infuriating, charming and boring. 
The Ripple Effect by Maggie North

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

My first time reading Maggie North, and this fell into the category of “good, but not really for me”. I’m one of the few people in the world who doesn’t love Jessica Joyce’s books (e.g. The Ex Vows) and this was a very similar angsty style. Like Joyce’s books, it is written in first person single POV which made the MMC a bit of a cipher for me, and the FMC’s perspective got a bit repetitive. The non-romance plot revolves around the couple trying to set up a couples therapy white-water-rafting retreat (!), and some dastardly rivals trying to steal their ideas, and it didn’t really hold my interest. But I do think Maggie North is a talented writer and I did like the characters’ arcs; I loved the bi/pan representation. So although I didn’t love this myself, I would definitely recommend it to fans of Jessica Joyce.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!
Free to Be: Understanding Kids & Gender Identity by Jack Turban

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hopeful informative

5.0

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

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challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0