November 23, 2020

REVIEW: Business as Usual by Jane Oliver

JayneA- Reviews / Book Reviews / Recommended Reads#ownvoices / 1930s / epistolary / Historical / London / shop assistant / working class10 Comments

Business As Usual by Jane Oliver and Ann Stafford was first published in 1933. It’s a delightful illustrated novel in letters from Hilary Fane, an Edinburgh girl fresh out of university who is determined to support herself by her own earnings in London for a year, despite the mutterings of ... more >

November 11, 2020

REVIEW: Reasonable Doubt by Gregory Ashe

JanineB Reviews / B- Reviews / Book Reviews#ownvoices / Contemporary / detective / enemies to lovers / friends-to-lovers / friendship / LGBTQ / m/m romantic elements / Missouri / mystery / police procedural / Small-Town9 Comments

Please note: If you think this series might be of interest to you may want to avoid this review—it’s full of spoilers for books one through four. Start with my review of Pretty Pretty Boys, book one in the series, instead. Trigger warnings: Content warning: Dear Gregory Ashe, Your gay ... more >

November 3, 2020

REVIEW: The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert

JanineB+ Reviews / Book Reviews / Recommended Reads#ownvoices / activist / black MC / cat / election / grief / high-school / one day courtship / POC / POC author / romantic-elements / students / voting / YA10 Comments

Dear Brandy Colbert, I’ve been meaning to read one of your books for a long time and when The Voting Booth was published I was struck by the cleverness of the concept. This romantic YA novel takes place over the course of one day—Election Day—with Marva Sheridan, an activist eighteen-year-old ... more >

October 30, 2020

REVIEW: Guilt by Association by Gregory Ashe

JanineB- Reviews / Book Reviews#ownvoices / Contemporary / detective / enemies to lovers / friends-to-lovers / friendship / LGBTQ / m/m romantic elements / Missouri / mystery / police procedural / Small-Town5 Comments

Please note: If you think this series might be of interest to you may wish to avoid this review—it’s full of spoilers for books one through three. Start with my review of Pretty Pretty Boys, book one in the series, instead. Trigger warnings: Dear Gregory Ashe, I got hooked on ... more >

October 16, 2020

REVIEW: Paternity Case by Gregory Ashe

JanineA- Reviews / Recommended Reads#ownvoices / Contemporary / detective / enemies to lovers / LGBTQ / Missouri / mystery / Parenthood / police procedural / Small-Town6 Comments

Please note: If you think this series might be of interest, you may wish to avoid this review—it’s full of spoilers for books one and two. Start with my review of Pretty Pretty Boys, book one in the series, instead. Trigger warnings: Dear Gregory Ashe, Recently I got into your ... more >

October 13, 2020

REVIEW: Miracles and Menorahs by Stacey Agdern

JayneB Reviews / Book Reviews#ownvoices / Contemporary / Hanukkah / Jewish characters / Jewish-faith / New York City / Small-Town / upstate New York4 Comments

Sarah Goldman loves Hanukkah, and she’s thrilled to be appointed as vice chair of the Hollowville Hanukkah Festival. So when the festival is threatened with cancellation, she comes up with an idea: a new slogan and advertising campaign topped off with a metal menorah large enough to fill the center ... more >