51%
01.03.26This read like a first attempt at writing a novel by someone who'd had some guidance but not enough editing. The best thing about it was the almost-accidental fantasy elements - they just happened to be there, in that world. But otherwise it was all a bit awkward, and the drawn-out romantic difficulties could have been resolved after a quick chat (and a development edit).
57%
06.02.26You can tell from the title that this is ridiculous in almost every way but Hazelwood is good at what she does and somehow it's still cute and engaging and relatively unpredictable (and quite educational about chess) if you don't think too carefully about the Cinderella fantasy of it all or the disappointingly flat ending.
09.01.26
Heyer is a dependable comfort read when I'm under the weather (I've been winged but not by a pistol) and this, as usual, featured vivid characters and gentle humour, but it's also a little dull (despite the smuggling subplot). Much of it hasn't aged well since the 1950s - marrying one's cousin and bullying a queer relation lands rather differently these days.
23.11.25
You know the phrase 'So bad it's good?' Yeah, well, that doesn't apply here. This is so bad in so many ways that it's like a first-time author's first draft that nobody's bothered to read or revise or comment on or edit or proofread before it was published.
19.11.25
You know what I said about Lacey's Stars Collide? That. Except this had some minor manufactured angst that got boring fast.
25.09.25
Fun, and sneakily clever, short story/novella, in which much symbolic use is made of penetration by stakes and steel.
07.09.25
An unexceptional queer romance with rather annoying protagonists who need to get over themselves. Never leaving town and/or taking 40 years to notice your privilege don't gain my empathy. I did like how they were a bit older than typical romantic leads, and that nearly everyone was LGBTQ+.
52%
11.07.25Considering the author tells us in her afterword how much research she did, you'd think she'd have attempted to make the characters sound and act period appropriately, rather than being 21st-century Americans inexplicably stranded in Victorian London. Even if this was a deliberate choice, the constant Americanisms - as well as some stereotypes about mid-19th century British society that I doubt were quite true - kept taking me out of the otherwise fairly sweet and fun story.
57%
05.07.25This was prettily written and started out well but was ultimately disappointing. It didn't seem to know what it was about - a competition? An expedition? A romance? A fantasy adventure? All of those things but never settling on one, with an irritatingly open ending for the next book.
17.06.25
The only memorable thing about this middling Heyer was its excellent use of The Tiffany Effect (even if it is a nickname for Theophania).
The sense of place (and therefore, I suppose, the worldbuilding) was strong, but it read like a stilted translation. And the main male character had a fatal flaw - well, yeah, he was a vampire, but, more significantly, he was so incredibly boring that he was defined only via his beauty. Which, while a nice change from women being characterised entirely by their looks, didn't create much empathy in this reader.
04.05.25
'Gripping', says the cover, 'Unforgettable', 'Extraordinary'. It was none of those things, but it was a prettily written - if unsubtle - examination of what makes us human. I suppose all novels are about that, but this refreshingly British sci fi shone a specific silvery light upon it. The romance was overdone, and stars could shine through the plot holes, but the ending was just right.
29.04.25
So this is the book that spawned a thousand romantasies. Why? How, when it's so laughably badly written, poorly paced and dull? (And that hilarious map!) Worse, the romance part, such as it was, promoted that trendy misogynist trope of dominant 'alpha' male power dynamics that rendered all the (unsympathetic) female protagonist's relationships frankly abusive. It's concerning that this is the message that young women are being fed.
22.04.25
As I said about the prequel to this book, Klune does good work but it doesn't always pay off. This was all over the place in terms of tone, plot and character, lurching from one thing to another - and it did such a poor job of establishing sympathy that I ended up wondering what made the goodies so sure they were good.
18.03.25
Some reviewers enjoy the more serious approach to relationships (and class and politics) that make this a rather untypical Heyer but it bored me and lacked the light touch of the better Heyers. The male lead was totally unsympathetic, and the female lead remained as dull as she first appeared. The class clashes were handled awkwardly - although the vulgar new-money father was one of the few vivid (if overdone) characterisations.
11.03.25
This was trying to be Carrie Soto but its uneven pacing and structure meant you could never properly engage with the story or care whether the characters triumphed personally or professionally. The main male character, in particular, was totally without personality. The ice skating element, while competently researched, just seemed to be the channel through which the relationships and melodramatic plot were delivered - I'd have liked more about what it's really like to compete at elite level. And where was Torvill and Dean?!
56%
13.02.25More very American light fantasy, again with a promising central conceit that didn't quite pay off. The worldbuilding was fine, but was all just a bit of a muddle, with uneven pacing and characters agonising over problems that would be solved in three pages if they just spoke to each other.
29.01.25
Objectively, this isn't a particularly good novel but it's so sweet and positive that it's easy to overlook the general lack of drama and conflict, and the unrelentingly 'nice' characters. It's also refreshing to note that it barely features any men - the girls are definitely able to do it by themselves!
