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Romance, Historical, Contemporary, Paranormal, Young Adult, Book reviews, industry news, and commentary from a reader's point of view

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About Janine

Janine Ballard loves well-paced, character-driven novels in romance, fantasy, YA, and the occasional outlier genre. Examples include novels by Ilona Andrews, Mary Balogh, Aster Glenn Gray, Helen Hoang, Piper Huguley, Lisa Kleypas, Jeannie Lin, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Naomi Novik, Nalini Singh, and Megan Whalen Turner. Janine also writes fiction. Her critique partners are Sherry Thomas and Meredith Duran. Her erotic short story, “Kiss of Life,” appears in the Berkley anthology AGONY/ECSTASY under the pen name Lily Daniels. You can email Janine at janineballard at gmail dot com or find her on Twitter @janine_ballard.

posts by Janine:

January 31, 2023

REVIEW: The Stolen Heir by Holly Black

JanineBook Reviews / C+ Reviewschangeling / Fae / journey / prince / prisoners / quest / YA fantasyNo Comments

Dear Holly Black, Over the summer I caught up with your Cruel Prince trilogy (I know, I know, I live under a boulder) and enjoyed each book more than the last. When I saw that The Stolen Heir, Oak and Suren’s story, was coming out this month, I got excited ... more >

January 17, 2023

CONVERSATION: Looking Ahead to 2023

JanineConversationsanticipated / Hope / New Year's resolutions33 Comments

Hi everyone, I’ve got a new conversation topic for you. Last month we talked about how our reading went in 2022. Now let’s talk about 2023. Do you have any New Year’s resolutions when it comes to your reading (i.e. read X number of books, read more of a genre ... more >

Two shirtless hot guys embracing - very generic
January 13, 2023

Janine’s Best of 2022

JanineA Reviews / A- Reviews / B+ Reviews / Reading Lists / Recommended Reads / Top Ten ListsContemporary romance / immigrants / LGBTQIAP+ / Literary fiction / m/f romance / PNR / POC / Retelling / Science Fiction / UF / Urban-Fantasy / YA fantasy / YA historical22 Comments

Recommended Read

2022 was a challenging year for me when it came to reading. The DNFs were frequent but at least I got through my reading list faster because of them, and yay, ended up with a full ten books to include here. In order of how much I liked them, here ... more >

January 9, 2023

What Janine is Reading: LGBTQIA+ Books in a Mix of Genres

JanineBook Reviews / C+ Reviews / DNF Reviews1960s / 1970s / 1980s / 1990s / bisexual heroine / carpenter / comic artist / comic book / competition / contemporary f/f romance / gods / interior design / lesbian heroine / middle grade / nuclear disaster / Philadelphia / physicist / Reading lists / saga / Science Fiction / Soviet Union / survival / teenager / Time-Travel / trans boy3 Comments

Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail by Ashley Herring Blake This book had a cute start and an interesting premise. I really liked the author’s earlier book, Delilah Green Doesn’t Care, but although this book wasn’t bad, it wasn’t quite as good. Astrid, whom we met in the last book, is standoffish ... more >

January 2, 2023

What Janine is Reading: 2022 YA Fantasies

JanineB+ Reviews / Book Reviews / C- Reviews / D Reviews / DNF Reviews#ownvoices / Arctic / death / families / journey / moral ambiguity / poison / Reading lists / shipboard / spy / survival / Time-Travel / YA fantasy / Young-Adult5 Comments

Only a Monster by Vanessa Len This YA fantasy novel, Vanessa Len’s debut, was recommended highly by two people I trust, so I stuck with it even though it had a slow and seemingly pedestrian beginning. When Joan, a British East Asian girl, is little, her grandmother tells her that ... more >

January 1, 2023

End-of-2022 Open Thread for Readers

JanineOpen Threadanticipated / Best of 2022 / Open Thread / year in review29 Comments

Happy New Year to you all! Do you have great reads from 2022 to talk about? What were your favorites? Which books were weakest or frustrated you most? And which books are you most looking forward to in 2023? As always, chatting about stuff in general is welcome.

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