Romantic Parvenu

Book Review: The Palace of Curiosities by Rosie Garland

March 26, 2014

Magical realism is always a strange genre; you don’t always know what you’re going to get. In The Palace of Curiosities, a novel about performers in a Victorian freak show, I think I got a little more than I wanted. Garland offers readers a ...

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Book Review: The Chronicle of Secret Riven by Ronlyn Domingue

March 24, 2014

But, in any case, The Chronicle of Secret Riven is a unique, thought-provoking sort of fantasy(?) novel that stands out from the pack, though perhaps we could compare this series to Juliet Marillier’s writing. I’m interested to see how Domingue ...

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Book Review: Sweet Spot by Susan Mallery

March 19, 2014

This book is not well written. Sweet Spot infuriatingly bad, actually. I am officially parting ways with Susan Mallery. She is not the romance author for me. If you rely on unprotected sex to sell your “true love”, you are most certainly doing ...

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Book Review: Sweet Talk by Susan Mallery

March 18, 2014

I’m iffy on this for sure. Sweet Talk started off as a different, emotional homecoming story featuring sisters who pretty much hate each other but once we got to working on the romance, the book descended into irredeemably cheesy made-for-TV ...

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Book Review: Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen

March 18, 2014

Altogether, Lost Lake was a decent novel, but it didn’t blow me away. Sarah Addison Allen has done better work, so not finding that same quality in this novel was a disappointment. I’m hoping future books of hers will live up to the standard ...

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Book Review: Waiting on You by Kristan Higgins

March 16, 2014

Kristan Higgins’ books continue to be a sort of conflicted opinions. Waiting On You was hilarious and fun, but had its moments of…racial insensitivity, and I didn’t really care for the conclusion. This book could have been a lot better, but I ...

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