Review: How to Find a Princess by Alyssa Cole (light spoilers)

Hello! Its Alyssa Cole hour on NJB, otherwise known as every 2nd tuesday (a being can dream right?) and we’re here to talk about her newest book in the Reluctant Royals series.

But first, as always, content warnings and trigger warnings:

Deceit between main characters, difficulties with boundaries, unreliable families, ableism, family secrets, some complexities around consent due to deceit.

Whew! There’s a lot here. For those who fell in love with Beznaria (like me) in How to Catch a Queen, this book is chock full of her fabulousness. She’s gutsy, determined and sort of difficult to stop in a good and problematic way.

Bez comes from a long line of guards of the Royal guards of the Royal family of Ibarania. However, the royal family has been struggling for years due to the loss of its heir. Bez’s grandmother has been taking the blame for years and she’s determined to clear the family name and find the lost heir.

There’s just one teensy weensy problem: her boss at the World Federation of Monarchies definitely didn’t approve her doing this. And doesn’t like her a lot. And seems to be actively sabotaging her or something.

However, Bez is not deterred by simple things like job security and people not getting her methods. ( I wish I was so bold sometimes). She’s got a lead and she’s going to follow it like a bloodhound.

Enter Makeda Hicks. Makeda has spent the last decade of her life trying to forget anything about royalty after her mother went on a wild goose chase trying to prove she was the last Ibranian heir. Now, she works hard at a grocery store, trying to make ends meet and show people how useful she can be.

Til the boss’s favorite who can’t seem to do their job at all pushes her out of her job and she finds herself jobless and girlfriendless. Its back to her grandmother’s B and B to lick her wounds and try to figure out where it all went wrong.

Bez shows up in her traditional whirlwind to try to take her all away from this to her royal destiny. But is it really as simple as she makes it sound?

I enjoyed the heck out of huge chunks of this book but often struggled with Bez’s tendency to gloss over things or justify means to an end. I totally got that it was partially part of her neurodivergence and loved that about her, but it occasionally made things in the romance department harder. I loved them getting to know everyone on the ship however and in some ways, would have been happy if they had just decided to say screw it and live there forever. It would have been charming.

The ending, which I won’t spoil, left me a little confused. I think it needed a bit more lead up and set up to make it work. I liked it in a lot of ways but the pacing felt a little off. I did appreciate that it felt true to the characters and what they wanted however.

All in all, a good book and a fitting addition to the series. I can’t wait to see more of what Alyssa makes!

Until next time,

NJB

*I received an arc of this book for an honest review and learned so much about cargo ships.

Review: The Devil Comes Courting By Courtney Milan (Light spoilers)

***Disclaimer: I worked with Courtney on Romancing the Runoff. So I know her a bit. However, I also love her work, so I signed up for her ARC team. So, take that as you will. I was given an arc in exchange for an honest review. ***

Its a beautiful week where I am going to have the worst book hangover cause oh my god, its another amazing book and its in the Worth saga. AAHHHHH!!

First, content warnings and trigger warnings: Discussion of death of siblings in past, grief, loss, colonialism, family secrets, racism, the impacts of oppression, discussion of past conflicts, abduction of MC off page.

Ok, so I wrote most of this and realized I should like, actually tell you a bit of what the book is about instead of just my feelings. Ugh. Feelings.

Courtney’s work always devastates me in the best way. I’ve been waiting for Grayson’s book for an age, because I have a super huge soft spot for grumpy folks who’ve lost people.

So Grayson, who is Adrian’s brother from the previous Worth book, is working on a worldwide telegraph line. This may sound boring but its actually not cause Courtney is clearly magic but also cause its totally a metaphor in some ways. Connection and longing and all that good stuff.

Amelia is an adopted Chinese woman living with her English mother who really really doesn’t want to get married off to some rando who wants a wife to cook clean and ahem other things.

When Grayson shows up with a job offer and a lot of positive reinforcement, Amelia finds a way to jump on board. But its all a lot more than they thought it would be and lot more attraction than they signed up for.

There’s pining, hijinx, some cameos from other previous characters, one incredibly sulky Consular, some very incompetent sleuthing and a decent dollop of angst. Its just perfect.

This book had me holding my eyes so I wouldn’t cry, nearly gasping aloud and desperately wanting to knock sense into both MC’s cause they were so obviously right for each other and so obviously ludicrously oblivious.

This book has so much. Great mental health rep (which Courtney always does well), amazing discussion of colonialism and racism, the impacts of oppression and the complexities of and the world her characters live in. Adoption and all the complexities that come with it, the loss of language, outsider vibes.The detail always makes me so happy. And then the emotions all over. There’s just so much.

How people who say they love you can hurt you. How one person’s tears can be a weapon at the same time. How misunderstandings can be so huge and vast. How sometimes, simple words can mean the world and open everything.

How even with all the hope and love in the world, you cannot reach someone who will not be reached.

How desperately the fear of not being enough can cripple you. How being an outsider can hold you back, but also make you forget that you can find ways to step in.

This one feels…I don’t know, particularly poignant to me. Being a diaspora baby as well as the grandchild of those who lost everything to the British and colonialism, this book hits in an intense and amazing way. Being a 2nd generation immigrant who feels the intense shame of not being able to pronounce things the way I should… I felt all of that to the core of my bones.

Its amazing to watch Courtney throw off the shackles of what some folks think historical romance has to be and instead, write what fills her heart and soul. It fills mine too. I can see myself and others in her work and it makes me feel less other, all at the same time.

If you, like me, have been dying on tenterhooks for more of the Worths, this book will not disappoint.

If you need a book that will make you feel a little less like someone on the outside looking in, this may do the trick.

If you just want a really damn good romance with some great grumpy sunshine bits that makes you want to hug the hero and also give him a noogie simultaneously, this may be the perfect book for you.

Until next time,

NJB

*I received an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review and I did not expect all these feels.

Review: Binding Shadows (Minor Spoilers)

A brown skinned woman is held by a brown skinned man with his arm around her, holding her from the back. A wolf howls in the background.

Its another wintery day here at NJB and we’ve got a lovely treat for you, a review of ‘Binding Shadows’ by Jasmine Silvera! But first, as always.

Content warnings/trigger warnings: violent death of secondary character on page, sexual harassment of main character, misogyny, rape culture, viscera of animals described, deception between main characters about their pasts, some power imbalance at the beginning of the romantic arc, but resolved. As always if you have questions, please feel free to reach out to me here or on Twitter for more information on content.

We’ve got some amazing tropes to play with to start the book off and it was part of why I snatched it up. Its also so amazing to meet new diverse voices, especially in paranormal romance.

Binding Shadows has two main characters, the lovely Barbara and her counterpart, Tobias. Barbara is a witch who grew up without teaching for the most part and views her powers as a small ‘grace’ that she can do in limited spurts. Tobias grew up in a family of werewolves, but had a less than pleasant introduction to the wonders of growing fur and fights his nature with all his might.

They meet in the university where they both work. Barbara however is being stymied in moving forward in her career after an unwanted advance from a senior faculty member gets her labeled as ‘difficult’ and sees her career slowly swirling down the drain. Tobias enters the picture as the new faculty member who everyone is a little afraid of with his terse words and brusk demeanor (that our readers eventually learn covers his stutter). They spark together instantly, but its a complicated situation, especially after Tobias learns of her skills at research and taps her to work on his team.

I have to say, the author handles the power dynamic imbalance that occurs beautifully. I was super worried when I began that part but she found a way through that thorny mess that helped me breathe easy. I won’t spoil how, but fear not, its not as bad as it looks when you get there.

They navigate the world of academia with all of its politics and in and out groups well, while also slowly becoming more and more interested in each other. However, they both have their secrets to keep and this world is not a kind one for magical people. Its ruled by necromancers who keep a rather tight grip on any other magical activity and hunt down other magical individuals.

The romance continues, with a memorable hotel stay with only one bed, a beautiful backless velvet dress (the description made the costumer inside me die in the best way), some thrilling heroics and close misses and a distinct love of old books and history that pervades the whole piece. The librarian part of me was very pleased.

Its a true romance, with a HEA and a lot of sweet moments. I loved the scenes with Tobias’s family and can’t wait to see more of them and his brothers in the next books. I can see some of the dynamics already. His mother particularly really crept into my heart and found a space to stay. Her desire to protect her boys while also knowing her own strengths hit home and her feelings about being a witch who’d made a home on soil her ancestors hadn’t grown from really resonated with the diaspora part of me. I also loved the choice of Prague as a setting and the author’s clear research and enjoyment of the space. Having been there once in college, I found myself enjoying all the little details and tidbits.

My biggest complaint is that I felt the story occasionally wandered a bit or felt like it took a while to get where it was going. I also wanted more concrete detail on the necromancers and how they interacted within the world. I can feel the edges of great world building but I definitely wanted more.

All in all, a great first book in a series and I will definitely be looking for the next two. Here’s to more great works!

All the best,

NJB

p.s. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

NJB Time Travel Edition Review: Wanted, A Gentleman by K.J. Charles (Spoilers!)

A black man in a cravat and blue fitted coat poses with a cane on a country road. His face appears serious and he looks directly at the viewer.

Its time for a spin in our lovely NJB time travel machine! Today, we’re going back to visit a gorgeous book. ‘Wanted, a Gentleman’ is one of the first K.J. Charles books I ever read and it definitely filled my soul with love for it, because of its commitment to diverse characters, A+ character development and its tendency to make me write all the quotes down, cause they are just so damn good.

But first, content/trigger warnings: racism, discussion of slavery, internalized homophobia, mentions of physical violence, discussion of marital rape, extortion, planned physical violence towards a MC with consent of all parties.

Some historical books try to run away from the realities of slavery and emancipation while doing romance. But K.J. Charles always looks straight at the difficult moments, without flinching and without marinating in them to an extent that feels overdone. Martin St. Vincent is a freed black gay man, living in London, doing a favor for the family who previously owned him. Theodore Swann is a white gay man who makes his living by publishing novels (which he claims are bad, but aren’t really that bad) and by running a small newspaper where individuals can advertise for romantic connections.

The only child of the family has been carrying on a love affair with someone via letters and using Theodore’s newspaper and thus we have our meet cute.

Theodore is a charming, desperately frustrating, scamp of a human, trying to get out from under the yoke of a particularly awful debt. Martin is a decent, caring man who wants to do this favor for the family that formerly owned him because it puts them on more of an equal playing field and because of some complex internal feelings about debt he was towards them, as well as caring for the young child he once knew.

Through a series of hilarious and realistic methods, they end up in a coach together, hurtling towards the Scottish border in an attempt to stop a hasty wedding. On the way, Theodore learns a great deal about being a black man in England (the stares, the suspicion, the moments when people assume a thousand things about you) while Martin learns a great deal about inconvenient lust. They cascade together eventually, with a great deal of snark and awkward moments.

Its just so god damn believable. Some of their interactions are so real and hit right in the heart. Moments when Martin corrects something so simple about what Theodore is assuming and Theodore takes it to heart. Moments when they realize both how little they know each other and yet how much they want to. It hits me, right in the chest, every time with this book.

Because the book doesn’t assume that everything is hunky dory since Martin is free, nor does it focus on the micro aggressions of strangers around him. Instead, it focuses on the real and complex moments between him and someone he’s coming to care for, who is trying to do and say the right thing and inevitably messes it up. And as someone with a marginalized identity who loves others with different intersections, this is exactly how it goes. You never know how bad your blindspots are til you slam right into them. The most important thing you learn is how to apologize and own it right.

And Theodore learns and does it well. Its part of why they work together, along with a thousand other things.

I won’t spoil the twists, turns and loveliness of the later part of the book for you. I could talk about this book for far too long, but just know that if you need:

-hope on a bad day

-two people trying to figure out how to open their hearts to each other

-hijinx

-great dialogue

Then you need look no further than ‘Wanted, a Gentleman’. I give it five stars and it lives in my frequent reread shelf, which is the highest honor I can give anything.

Until our next time travel edition,

Not Just a Buzzword

Review: The Good Luck Girls (Spoilers!)

This book’s a bit out of the ordinary for me, being more fantasy and action than pure romance, but its so fantastic I definitely had to review it. A note that this one’s content and trigger warnings are a little harder and more intense than my usual fare.

Content and trigger warnings: Attempted rape described on the page, telepathic intrusion, physical assault, murder, auctioning off of people’s first sexual experience, trauma, near death experiences, death of secondary character, description of traumatic event involving a gun, MC and SC’s dealing with traumatic experiences. The overall feel and intensity of violence is that of a Western, but with more described violence against women. The main character has distinct flashback experiences and disassociative like episodes due to trauma.

Ok, so this book is not your average bear, either for this review site or in general. But oh my god, its such a beautiful breath of fresh air, both in fantasy, world building and in amazing survivor works. The core crew of this book is survivors of assault in one way or another and watching them band together and fight their way to freedom was cathartic and gorgeous.

The rough plot is this: in this particular universe, the equivalent of the ‘Wild West’ was settled by two groups of people, fairbloods and dustbloods. Dustbloods have in some way traded away their shadow in the past and have a legacy of being defined in this way. In this universe, sometimes girls who are part of families who are deeply poor are sold to brothels and become known as Good Luck Girls. They are kept by these houses until around 16 and then become sex workers, with their first sexual experience being auctioned off to local wealthy individuals in town.

Good Luck Girls are tattooed with a magical tattoo that blooms as they move towards puberty, which they are unable to cover without immense pain over time. When the tattoo reaches maturation, that’s when their first night is auctioned off.

I will not lie, the first quarter of this book is pretty massively trigger filled for survivors of sexual assault. It gets better, but its part of why I want to definitely stress the warning.

Aster and her sister Clementine were sold to the Good Luck House several years ago. Aster’s already moved to working as a ‘Sunset Girl’, the term used for a person whose services are being sold by the house. Clementine is just about to go through her first night, after being auctioned off to a local big shot. A series of events which I won’t spoil for you (but can provide via DM if you are concerned about triggers) has them and several other Good Luck Girls on the run from the house, chasing the possibility of freedom.

Along the way, they meet up with the lovely and enterprising Zee, who works as a guide through the area known as the Scar and helps them find their way to the best possibility they have for freedom. There’s bank robberies, discussions about vengeance, learning about each other along the way and tons of revelations about life, each other and trust.

Mostly what I love about the book though is the camaraderie between the whole crew, how they stick together and the real and intense look at how survivors can band together to help each other out. Its inspiring, lovely and real. There’s a lot in here about healing as well and learning how to deal with the parts of trauma that stick with you.

So if you’re looking for a book that makes you want to cheer as people try to have healthy relationships in the wake of trauma and learn how to cope, as well as be one heck of a thrilling ride straight to the end, I’d highly recommend this book.

I give it 4 stars, not because of problems with the writing but because some of the setting bits could have used some more fleshing out and there were times the fantasy bits felt thin in places. I still don’t entirely understand what dustblood means and it felt like something that disappeared as the book went on. Also, though there is some discussion of how one secondary character is from an indigenous culture, I felt the backgrounds of some of the other characters were a bit more sketched than laid out. More time in the world might help and I hope we get to see more in this setting.

Until next time,

NJB

*I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review and it was so utterly magical. Books are amazing y’all.

Review: Can’t Escape Love (Spoilers!)

A black woman with natural hair, wearing jeans and a yellow top, sits in a wheelchair at a table holding a spoon up. An East Asian man sits next to her with his arm around her, with his spoon in the sundae they appear to be sharing. They are looking at each other and smiling.

So I was going to try to do a spoiler free review of this one, but there’s too much to squee about and I need to do specifics. So those who hate spoilers, you’ve been warned.

First, content and trigger warnings. Examples and discussion of past experiences of ableism. Family conflict and difficulty accepting diagnoses. Parents who split their children on good and bad axis and have to be schooled to stop. Boundary problems among family members.

Ok, so, first. What rates this being on this blog, besides being written by Alyssa Cole, who is one of our queens of diverse romance (we’re not worthy…we’re not worthy). First, the main character is a black woman in a wheelchair, the lovely twin sister of Portia (from a Duke by Default). Her name is Regina (but she goes by Reggie) and she is hysterical, lovely and unapologetic. She also has the coolest wheels ever.

The love interest for the story is an autistically coded Vietnamese-American man named Gustave (who goes by Gus) and to be frank, I just wanted to cuddle him so much. Both of them actually. Blanket forts. I had a lot of feelings.

Ok, so Reggie and Gus go way back on the internet, when he used to do puzzles and stream and she was his only subscriber. Its like the 21st century meet cute and I love it. His voice used to lull her to sleep but at some point, he stopped doing the streams and deleted all the recordings.

And now Reggie can’t sleep. So she does the totally irrational but sort of logical thing and seeks him out via the internet (with help from Portia) and emails him to ask if she can pay him to speak so she can go to sleep.

Right after I died laughing from this part and resurrected, I dived back in. Gus takes this all with stride and they manage to work things out so that Reggie can get some sleep and Gus can…hang out? He’s not getting a ton from the arrangement in the beginning but that doesn’t seem to bug him much.

But of course, inevitably, the pants feelings start. And its so funny. They make so much sense together, but they’re also so lovingly awkward. Not like Ben Stiller, where you wish you could poke your eyeballs out to stop watching this, but more like Chandler Bing on a good day, trying to do something nice and failing to not be weird about it.

That’s oddly specific. Anyhow! So they’re cute and they’re getting interested and the inevitable twists come, which I will leave to you.

But they watch anime together and talk about OTP’s and Reggie is a total fangirl and Gus loves puzzles and they don’t infantilize each other and its just so cute and pure.

Why are you still reading me? Go read this. You won’t regret it. My only regret is that its a novella and not a full length book cause I would read that so fast.

4.75 stars, cause my heart wanted more of these two and I still keep looking back to see if I actually got to the end.

Until next time,

Not Just a Buzzword

*I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review and I desperately hope they keep giving them to me cause I kind of have a book problem and this is a decent solution.