Mini Reviews (part three)

Hi everyone!

Here are my next five non-podcast reads of 2022. I discovered contemporary romantic comedies as a genre in late 2021 and I have been hooked ever since. Romantic fantasy is also a prominent feature on my TBR.

Neon Gods (Dark Olympus #1)

This was my first true Hades and Persephone retelling and it was ... just okay.

I was somehow under the impression that this would be a 'dark romance' but there was very little that was dark. Yes, Zeus was evil and appears to have killed all of his wives. Yes, Hades has a sex dungeon. But while the mood/setting might have drifted towards dark, the story itself didn't deal with any dark themes.

I appreciated the emphasis on consent and the book was certainly steamy, but there was practically no plot or worldbuilding and everything kind of falls apart if you look at it too closely. I liked how the author wove in elements of the Hades and Persephone myth, I also enjoyed Hermes and Dionysus.

Overall, this is an easy read in which two hot people have hot sex that is sometimes kinky but mostly not and some people are named after Greek Gods.

Rating: 3/5

Fix Her Up (Hot and Hammered #1)

I think this might be my new favourite Tessa Bailey book.

This is a 'my brother's friend' romance paired with fake dating and I found it delightful. Georgie is the youngest of the family and so is often treated as the baby, while Travis is a former hot-shot baseball player and ladies man, who agree to fake-date to change their image. I liked the banter between the two main leads, as well as the development of their relationship.

I also really liked the Just Us League - a group of women supporting other women and helping them achieve their dreams. My least favourite character was Stephen, Georgie's older brother, and how he treated his wife.

I am also getting tired of the miscommunication trope - all I want is a romcom with an actual REAL reason for the couple to break up at the 80% point and then get together.

Rating: 5/5

The Kiss Quotient (The Kiss Quotient #1)

I really liked this one and would have given it 5* if not for the last, maybe, 25% of the book. Stella was a great female main character and I loved Michael - for the most part. I found his treatment of Stella at the beginning to be very kind, understanding and sensitive. It is a shame, therefore, that at the end of the book he exhibits the pushy, stalker-ish behaviour he doesn't like from his clients.

I think the premise was great - I love the movie Pretty Woman and enjoyed the gender flip. I thought the romance was steamy and well written. I was a bit thrown off by Michael's mother referring to herself in the third person. And, as I have said in other reviews of contemporary romcoms, I am tired of the miscommunication trope. But, overall, a great debut and I look forward to reading more books by this author.

Rating: 4/5

Love Her or Lose Her (Hot and Hammered #2)

What a coincidence that in the same week I read two books centred around saving a marriage and for sure this one did it better, helped immensely by the fact that both Rosie and Dominic wanted to make their relationship work.

Tessa Bailey remains the queen of dirty talk and steamy sex scenes, she kind of outdid herself here, but everything else about the relationship between these two characters was a bit bland. I think that Dominic is the most complex of Tessa's male leads but I feel he was underdeveloped and I wish more time had been spent working on his (many) issues and perhaps a bit less time on Rosie's restaurant.

I really liked that they went to marriage counselling and appreciated the emphasis on love languages. I also liked the appearances of characters from 'Fix Her Up' and continue to greatly dislike Stephen. Possibly my least favourite thing about this book was when the girls go to New York for a night on the town and the men follow them, uninvited - I don't appreciate this kind of possessive behaviour.

Rating: 4/5

King of Battle and Blood (Adrian x Isolde #1)

The first half of this book really hooked me and I wish I had had the chance to just read it one sitting, because I kind of struggled to get back into it and started noticing numerous typos that took me out of the story.

The story itself is about Isolde, a human princess who agrees to marry the vampire king Adrian, to broker peace between their two nations. It is a classic enemies-to-lovers fantasy romance, with some magic thrown in as well. The world-building itself was a bit wishy-washy, there are a lot of evil creatures whose existence is never properly explained. I also didn't understand the 'Red Mist'.

The characters themselves were also a bit problematic for me - I liked Isolde in the beginning, finding her capable and self-confident but she very quickly became entitled, rude and kind of spoiled. Adrian was mostly just broody and mysterious. The supporting cast of characters were either cartoonishly evil, underdeveloped, used for comic relief, or catty and manipulative.

I found the twist to be wholly predictable but I am nevertheless interested to see where the story will go.

Rating: 3.5/5

Have you read any of these books? Do you agree with my ratings? Let me know in the comments below, via e-mail or DM us on Instagram - we love to hear from you!

Until next time, keep reading!

Lucia