Here comes three whole months of my romance obsession growing, I really can’t stop, especially with historicals.
I thought in this post I’d maybe start adding a few trigger warnings to books, can’t believe I haven’t been doing this already but it took me being slightly triggered to even think of it and I always hate having something pop up in a book I’m not ready for so here we go.
Love is a Revolution – Renée Watson (TW: racism, parent-child estrangement)
So this was my first time picking up contemporary YA romance in a loooooong time. I’ve not really read this subgenre much since I was a teenager (boy am I feeling old) and I haven’t been too keen to revisit it for several reasons: the worst of which being that I crave the steamy scenes in adult romance (I refuse to be ashamed about this, they are good!) and most mature of which being I’m an adult and the love lives of children feel a little weird for me to pry into even fictionally. But after my success re-reading Howl’s Moving Castle I decided that YA and KidLit need to be more of a priority for me now, especially as they inspired my love of books and cause I have kids now I guess. But anyway, onto the book!
Love is a Revolution focuses on Nala, a young fat black girl growing up in Harlem, New York, who is not quite into the passionate activism that her cousin is. But when she meets a boy named Tye at one of these activist events she decides to pretend she does engage with activism to impress him. And hoo, boy, dear reader, cringe is not the word. I spent most of this book feeling the same deep embarrassment and stress that Nala did. The inevitable reveal of her secret is so much worse than I expected and I found myself projecting all this embarrassment right back onto my teenage self, but what I really enjoyed was Nala’s and Tye’s exploration of what it means to be black and what it means to perform your blackness in a political way versus and private way. The two characters were extremes of each example and they really balanced each other out well. Oh and it never hurts to see a fat heroine being loved and adored without having to change herself or her body.
Renee Watson has made me feel a right fool for assuming YA romance no longer had the emotional punch I needed, clearly I was just trying to escape my teenage self by stepping away from it, but my teen self is still in there somewhere and she still loves reading and she must be satiated, expect a lot more YA of all genres coming soon from this goblin.
To Sir Phillip With Love – Julia Quinn (TW: suicide, post partum depression, child abuse)
Finally made it to Bridgerton book #5! I was so disappointed in #4 I wasn’t sure I’d pick it up, but I already had it on my kindle and wanted something light and sweet to read on my phone while up all night with a baby who dislikes the sound of turning pages (is she even mine?!) and so I turned back to the series. This was not the light fun book I was expecting. Julia Quinn really lured me in with the quaintness of the first four books just to throw some real cruel and much too relevant stuff at me. Eloise is the most fun character in the Netflix series so seeing her deal with a hero who is still reeling from the suicide of his wife who hadn’t been the same since their twins were born and who emotionally neglects his children who are suffering at the hands of a nursemaid who beats them was all just a LOT. But I’ve said it before, Quinn has been brilliant throughout this series at character perception. In her sibling’s stories Eloise was a fun, blue stocking spinster with not a whole lot going on but no one really is how their siblings perceive them and in this story Eloise really comes into her own and we see a whole wealth of emotional depth that Quinn is so good at.
When He Was Wicked – Julia Quinn (TW: spousal death, miscarriage, sickness)
Once again Quinn decided to really attack me on this one. Bridgerton #6 follows Francesca, who, up until this point, has been a minor character only briefly referenced as living her widowed life out at her late husbands estate in Scotland, so the emotional punches on this one were a lot less of a surprise but no less powerful for it. Eloise decides, four years after losing her first husband and miscarrying their baby, that she wants a husband, not for love, but because she wants to attain motherhood, but at the same time her husbands dashing rogue of a cousin, and the new Earl, returns from his trip to India after leaving to escape his pure guilt at being in love with his cousin’s wife. My god, the drama. I could barely take it. The problem is though that this is a lot of emotion to set up and it kind of all fell flat in a heap in favour of focusing on steamy sex scenes and rushing to that HEA. My guess is Quinn got very into writing a bit of darkness in Bridgerton #5 and went all out for this one, but there wasn’t enough of a pay off for me after sitting through all that depressing grittiness. Quinn really had a chance to make me cry my heart out and she kind of dropped the ball, but still I liked it enough to carry on to the last two books.
Fat Chance, Charlie Vega – Crystal Maldonado (TW: fatphobia, parental death, possible eating disorder, weight loss)
So I won’t lie I picked up Fat Chance because the girl on the cover looks a lot like me, I didn’t really know what I was getting into but it was a beautiful and wild ride. The titular Charlie is fat and she is a POC and she is insecure, like all teenagers, and these things inform all her decisions. Especially because her thin, confident friend Amelia seems to be living a perfect life in comparison. So when Charlie finds out that her new boyfriend asked Amelia out first igniting all her insecurities. This book was frankly brilliant, it was everything YA romance should be, Charlie’s voice was clear and real and her struggles were real and all too relatable. I’m excited to see what else Maldonado writes because I’m certain I will love it, I need all the fat rep in my romance books, and all my books really so I always love adding a body positive author to my list.
It’s In His Kiss – Julia Quinn (TW; parental death, estranged parents, sibling death)
This is easily my favourite of the Bridgerton series! This instalment follows Hyacinth, the youngest Bridgerton who has been mostly overlooked having been a child for most of the series, but her story is definitely the best! There’s a mystery, puzzles to be solved, a wonderfully realistic romance, and loads more Lady Danbury. I almost don’t want to read Gregory’s story because, other than Anthony, the male Bridgerton’s pale in comparison to their much notes interesting sisters.
The Wicked Wallflower – Maya Rodale (TW; familial death)
This one took a while to get going for me, I picked it up because the plot is very similar to My Darling Duke by Stacy Reid which I love; Lady Emma accidentally announces that she is to marry Blake, the Duke of Ashbrooke, a rogue she has never met, and Ashbrooke goes along with the ruse to compete in the annual games held for his aunts fortune. At first I wasn’t very into Blake, he wasn’t very likeable but as the story progressed and he grew I kinda grew to like him, the ending was lovely and I got swept up in the last third of the book but until then I didn’t feel it. I’ll definitely carry on with the series though.
How to Catch a Wild Viscount – Tessa Dare (TW; animal attack, injury, war mention)
This was a cute little gothic romance novella. It was apparently Dare’s first published work and it was so wonderfully written it’s nice to know she’s been super talented from the start even if it’s made me feel very inadequate. It’s only a teeny little story but Dare packs a lot of feeling into it. I’ve read another of her novellas before and enjoyed it just as much, I’m accepting I might just have to read everything she’s ever written.
On the Way to the Wedding – Julia Quinn (TW; kidnap, blackmail, gun violence, childbirth)
The first half of this book was cute fluff, all about falling for the best friend of the girl you think you’re into, cute as hell. Half way through it gets wild, suddenly it verges on being a romantic thriller. I got whiplash from the plot twist but damn was it good. I’m really going to miss this series, I think some of them are definitely re-readable, especially the post-Whistledown books.
Let Us Look At Goblin Men 