Throne in the Dark is a grumpy/sunshine romance between a half-demon and a human, who begin as nemeses. The half-demon was truly a grump; it wasn't a facade that quickly fell away. He does some mean things to the human... but they were sort of funny mean. The story never felt so serious that I was uncomfortable with anything happening, and at many points it made me laugh. While the human is perpetually optimistic, she's not a pushover and often triumphed over her nemesis. The romance was a very slow burn but still compelling, and the story revealed many secrets slowly so that it kept me hooked the whole time. I found myself picking the book up in the middle of the day (when I should have been working) as if I couldn't help myself. Note, it’s a trilogy with unresolved plot threads but did have a happy-for-now ending.
Bride is a vampire/werewolf romance, which is not normally my thing, but my book club was reading it so I gave it a try. It's so different from what I expected; it seemed original to me, and not like it copied from other paranormal romances. The hero (werewolf) is the broody leader of his pack who is menacing yet reveals a fluffy side as the story progresses, while the heroine (vampire), who narrates, is snarky and funny. There is a complicated set up with the roles of the characters in their society; basically the protagonists have an arranged marriage, and each thinks the other hates them (as usual with Ali Hazelwood novels, from what I have read), but the reader knows better. The things that happened were a little violent but not in a stressful way. I devoured it so fast I wanted to read it again immediately.
Role Playing is a sweet contemporary romance. Two 50-year-old characters meet online while gaming; she assumes he is a college student, and he assumes she is retiree-aged. They meet in person when he is sick and she brings him food, and they are surprised to learn they are the same age and like each other. Most of the conflict comes from other people in the book, like the hero's aging mother who is homophobic. The hero has a friend from high school who’s constantly pushing him to find women to hook up with, even though the hero is obviously uncomfortable with this; I loved how this friend was likable, in spite of his behavior, and how the hero subsequently realizes (and accepts) things about his own identity.
From Cathy Yardley, author of Love, Comment, Subscribe, comes an emotional rom-com about two middle-aged gamers who grow their online connection into an IRL love story.
Maggie is an unapologetically grumpy forty-eight-year-old hermit. But when her college-aged son makes her a deal―he’ll be more social if she does the same―she can’t refuse. She joins a new online gaming guild led by a friendly healer named Otter. So that nobody gets the wrong idea, she calls herself Bogwitch.
Otter is Aiden, a fifty-year-old optimist using the guild as an emotional outlet from his family drama caring for his aging mother while…
Burne hid behind a tree. He wanted to talk to the handsome man picking flowers at the edge of the forest, but he’d only flub it if he tried—he’d stumble over his words and blush bright red. And now the man is gone.
He tries to continue on to the village, but the same thing happens as always: his hands start shaking and panic wells up inside him. What if he runs into the bullies who tormented him in the King’s Guard last spring? Ever since he deserted, he has hidden out in the forest.
So he turns back toward home. Next time, he promises himself as he retreats into the trees. Next time he’ll be brave enough to enter the village. Next time he’ll talk to the handsome stranger instead of hiding. But next time will be sooner than he thinks.
Because the stranger is Gray, a fairy and a master of illusions, who’s now following Burne home. And Gray’s got more on his mind than talking. Would a fairy that beautiful ever want someone like him? Stranger things have happened.
The Woodland Stranger is a cozy fantasy romance with lighthearted adventure and fun magic— a forest road trip with a charming fairy along for the ride. Each book in the Sylvania series can be read on its own but might contain spoilers for previous books. The Woodland Stranger contains love scenes and depictions of anxiety.
