#lorelie brown

[lgbtqreads]

Fave Five: Demisexual Romances

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun (m/m) Better Hate Than Ever by Chloe Liese (m/demi f) Far From Home by Lorelie Brown (f/f) How to Be a Movie Star by TJ Klune (m/m) That Kind of Guy by Talia Hibbert (demi m/f) Bonus: Coming next month, For Never & Always by Helena Greer (demi m/f)

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[triviareads]

Any good nurturing heroes towards the heroine you recommend in HR?

I defined "nurture" pretty broadly but here we are:

Glory and the Master of Shadows by Grace Callaway: The hero Wei is Glory's shifu (teacher) so he literally does, uh, nurture her talents before they get together. He's also genuinely so kind and patient and a GREAT teacher and that's so hot of him, I think.

When a Duke Loves a Woman by Lorraine Heath: Thornley helps Gillie serve patrons at her tavern and then HE BATHES HER and I don't say this very often, but that's such a romantic ideal.

Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas: I joke a lot about Gabriel St. Vincent (Gabriel Challon ik ik) trying really hard to be daddy but real talk, he does provide a safe, judgement-free space for Pandora, who has never really known a healthy family dynamic until relatively recently, was brought up super isolated, and is also likely on the spectrum and a lot of other people dismiss her because of it. So all things considered, some of his less impactful lines like "have you been a good girl today" can be forgiven.

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean: Ralston is genuinely so supportive of Callie's quest to discover herself by doing "scandalous" things without being condescending, and he's just suuuuper obsessed with her which I appreciate.

The Lady Gets Lucky by Joanna Shupe: I feel like Kit really brought out Alice's confidence during the course of their flirting/sex lessons and he unwittingly gives kinda great pep talks.

Wayward One by Lorelie Brown: Nurturing from afar....? Basically, Sera finds out that the mysterious benefactor who paid for ten years of schooling and ensured she would want for nothing is a crime lord of the London underworld.... who intends to marry her.

[mfred]

Pink hair, don’t care.

Take Me Home by Lorelie Brown

This is more of a Thanksgiving Romance, although there is a Christmas scene. But if you are at all into holiday romances, you should give this one a shot. 

Kayliegh wants to bring a girl to dinner to shock and upset her conservative, fundamentalist aunt. She finds her via Craigslist and the pink haired, tattooed Brooke could not be more perfect for her plans. Except they are immediately attracted to each other and a funny flirtation turns into something else!

The family dynamics are funny and infuriating, by turns. The flirtation between Brooke and Kayliegh is charming and when the relationship turns steamy, it is off-the-charts hot. For a novella, there is good character building and relationship development. Sure, things happen fast, but it was believable. Plus there are cute dogs! Just go read it. 4 stars.

[rtbookreviews]

What's the best book cover of September? Take the poll to let us know: VOTE NOW

The nominees are:

The Real Thing by Melissa Foster Shadowhouse Fall by @danieljose Enigma by Catherine Coulter Acting on Impulse by Mia Sosa The Persian Always Meows Twice by Eileen Watkins Soldier's Rescue by Betina Krahn The Duke by @katharineashe There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins Highland Warrior Dragon by Isabel Cooper Her Hometown Girl by Lorelie Brown

[theskyexists]

minor spoilers for FAR FROM HOME currently HALF OFF at Riptide Publishing :O (this seems like an ad but i was just glad i only had to pay half hooray pride month)

 Far From Home by Lorelie Brown is really good? like. Really good. Wow. uh. It was some good stuff.

So basically it’s actually. There’s some really good lines. Funny lines, and also descriptions of feelings? good good melty somehow innovative words. The end had my heart bursting with JOY. the distance closed so naturally, from the facade of marriage of convenience to the EMOTIONAL BUILDUP AND CLIMAX

The push pull between Rachel and Pari is very realistic. and also very warm. it was fascinating because the chemistry was sizzling but also because the main character (Rachel) is anorexic and also her mom was a total an absolute abusive neglectful DICK and all these issues interacted in some really interesting self-aware emotional ways and also she’s DEMISEXUAL and wow intersting hm hm so that’s how you feel when you’re demisexual HOW FAMILIAR....alright......HA..hA also Rachel’s and Pari’s communication was superb actually (it was funny though bc I was like....while Rachel was thinking: so THIS is what other people feel when having sex they weren’t exaggerating/lying? while she was having SUPER AWESOME SEX i was like....hmm...ok but isn’t this book just SLIGHTLY exaggerating/lying tho LOL)

The mental image I had of Pari vacillated between Symmetra and Kala from Sense8....but got more Pari-detailed and Pari-distinguished as I read on so. It was fine but I need to watch more Bollywood because damn apparently I don’t have ‘generic indian looking dark-skinned dark-haired woman’ stored like i do ‘generic blonde white-skinned woman’? i am not a visual reader

Also all the indian cultural stuff seemed very realistic and gave a really nice texture to everything. And also the californinian american cultural stuff. I’m knowledgeable about neither.

Also the uh....sex scenes were......very....hmmm......they were quite good. I mean.....kinda ‘crude’ in dialogue but it was refreshing? And Rachel in a throwaway thought wants Pari’s heels on her back and I was like OK THEN, the message is CLEAR, the pain comment, and the ...the whole sex scene i guesss (which was ..good).....it’s CLEAR book I GEDDIT NOW cool cool cool (cool) (very cool)

SPOILERS NEXT MAYBE

I didn’t REALISE, I was like, but she’s been eating right?? She’s been trying to follow healthy thought patterns right? She enjoyed eating right?? or did that fall away? I mean....IT DID, she started skipping so much food!!! and the bad habitS!! :O :O

[triviareads]

I was bound to hit a wall in terms of my reading and I feel like October was the month. Three books I was very excited about reading this month ended up mostly duds, and one Russian historical romance ended up disappointing me so deeply I wrote a five-paragraph essay on it. That being said, I also found some jewels this month:

Mickey Chambers Shakes It Up by Charish Reid

This was definitely a surprise favorite; Mickey is a college professor who moonlights as a cocktail waitress (the unfortunate reality for adjuncts trying to make ends meet when they're on expensive meds for chronic illnesses), and Diego is her boss... who also happens to be her student. This book has all the beats of a cute romcom but is also very Adult and Grown-Up sexy; Diego is 42 and Mickey is 33 (much to Diego's shock; look, he just wants to feel guilty about perving on his "25" year old professor in peace okay), so they're mature enough to acknowledge the conflicts of interest here and move on. I adored Mickey's brand of sunshine (if she has to flirt a little for tips, she's in it to win it regardless of Diego panickedly trying to drag her back behind the bar), and Diego was just the right amount of grumpy to make him endearing. Also, this book has the rare interracial couple where neither person is white which I did appreciate. If you like Talia Hibbert's style of writing, you'll love this one.

Hard Way by Katie Porter

I debated whether to put this book on here because the actual Air Force stuff was kind of a drag for me (if you like Top Gun however, this might be your jam— and yes, I am now aware Top Gun is about Navy pilots not Air Force pilots thanks to @viscountessevie), but the married couple angst made it too compelling to not include. Eric (Dash) and Sunita's (Sunny) marriage is slowly falling apart, but when Sunny asks for a divorce, their argument escalates into sex. They slowly start to rediscover each other by way of sex with consensual non-consent interspersed with dates including a yakshagana performance which... wow, that was startling to read, but in an extremely gratifying way because I never thought I'd read about a Kannadiga heroine in this particular situation (Sunita is a heroine people looooved to hate on on Goodreads, but I loved her more for it).

Wrong to Need You by Alisha Rai

This is such a gorgeously emotional book I didn't properly appreciate the first time I read it back in January. Sadia is a widowed single mom grappling with her attraction to her brother-in-law, Jackson. Both of them are haunted by her husband Paul’s (Jackson’s brother) death as well as the mysterious fire that drove Jackson out of town. I adored Sadia, who sees herself as the black sheep of her overachieving immigrant family, but she's actually a very capable woman who is quietly strong in more ways than one, while Jackson is equally capable and gives Sadia the love and support she needs. Also, don't ask me how, but I completely missed the fact that Sadia has some soft domme energy so that was a delight to discover.

Wayward One by Lorelie Brown

A historical romance marketed as Great Expectations That Fucks; Sera finds out that the mysterious benefactor who paid for ten years of schooling is a crime lord of the London underworld.... who intends to marry her eventually. This book reminded me a lot of Grace Callaway's Her Husband's Harlot; both heroes have underworld beginnings and see the heroine as someone who is too pure, too perfect for them, and the heroines in turn are unwillingly placed on this pedestal. Look, I love my bit o'rough heroes (who hate themselves; the self-loathing is a must), and Fletcher here delivers— there's some prime angst about being an *animal* who's been "brought to heel" by Sera and he haaaaates it, especially because Sera is actually freaked out by their chemistry and literally has no idea what to do with herself.

Fun fact, this book is written by one half of the previously mentioned Katie Porter (who is actually two authors writing together).

A Holly Jolly Ever After by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone

This book is adorable, sexy, and heart-warming like the best holiday-themed romances are (I say this as if I've read more than 3 holiday-themed romances). You can read my full review here, but I have to say, I loved the sexual exploration aspect of this book. Winnie slowly overcoming internalized purity-culture-inflicted shame in her thirties and experimenting with what make her feel good (including a peppermint stick vibrator; 'tis the season amirite) was genuinely such a joy to read. Also, the fact that she gets herself off to Kallum's sex tape (dw he licensed it after the initial leak), gets caught by Kallum, and he IMMEDIATELY offers to help her out?? A+++ hero right there. Reading Winnie and Kallum's nontraditional path to finding love and a safe space with one another was a highlight of the month.

[lgbtqreads]

Fave Five: F/F Fauxmance-to-Romance Dating Sarah Cooper by Siera Maley (YA) Take Me Home by Lorelie Brown Something in the Wine by Jae Who'd Have Thought? by G. Benson Casting Lacey by Elle Spencer

[lgbtqreads]

Backlist Book of the Month: Take Me Home by Lorelie Brown

Backlist Book of the Month: Take Me Home by Lorelie Brown

It’s Thanksgiving month in America, so for November’s backlist book (but actually novella) of the month, I had to go with a personal favorite that revolves all around the holiday…and a woman who hires a fake date to accompany her home for it and pretend to be her girlfriend. As all great fauxmances do, this one turns into a whole lot more, and…le happy sigh. Enjoy Take Me Homeby Lorelie Brown…

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