the_rabble's reviews
131 reviews

I feel weird about the ward/guardian thing and she seemed really, really innocent from jump and he felt very "I'm a british mountain boy, let me tell you about the Old West." Age gap wasn't too bad (late 20s vs early 20s) but the experience divide felt wide.

Picked up the book mostly to check in on Jonathan's sisters and dad and I just wasn't vibing with uncomfortable fiduciary responsibilities to get there.

Slow burn sexual assault recovery story. It's a bit intense if that's not something you’re expecting or ready to spend 95% of a book on. 

The promise of the premise felt like it'd be strangers in forced proximity, which is less the focus. It's definitely a wounded dove situation.

Stuart was interesting but the emotional space is taken up mostly by the other protagonist's- Edie's- untreated trauma responses. Our dude is mauled by lions, loses mobility, is grieving a lifelong friend and those beats get a good intro chapter and then fade to the side. 

I don't need a trauma parade (ever) but the narrative balance was a little confusing.

Random: Edie puts french doors everywhere in this coastal adjacent 300 year old house in a temperate climate. Wouldn't that leak all the time? I had a lot of "oh boy- the water damage." moments.

She's a huckster who invents on the side, he's an inventor who scams on the side.

Daniel has been a mainstay favorite in-universe and he finally gets his own book.

I liked this one, but was a bit burned out on the voice acting performance edit/choices. Might be a better eyeball read if I revisit the Mackenzies.

Jotting notes before I forget - 

First person past tense, 2 POVs, book ended with 3rd person past tense Teddy chapters, very spicy, characters in their 30s

Super cute

Deals with mourning, death, change, grief in the most realistic way I've seen in a long time. 

Plot ruled. There was no character back tracking and Sunny remained an emotionally intelligent wildcard.

Angel Throuples, ftw - I want that screenplay in the world

Cameos from the other books were cute and felt appropriately full circle

Shout out for realistic adult sibling drama and resolution

Narrators slapped. Joy Reid is reliably fucking awesome. Zachary Webber embodies sad boy Isaac perfectly. His prose reads killed.

An American gunslinger and a Scottish rake fight over land- shootouts and smooches ensue.

Easily the best Kerrigan Byrne book I've picked up. Our boy Gavin St. James from The Highlander is not chill and we do get a lot of that internal "I'm a sociopathic bastard who can't love" stuff Byrne always adds to her men. However, it feels more textured and less habitual in this one.

Our other protagonist, Sam, rules. I haven't had a great time with American love interests in historic UK settings, but Sam broke the streak. Something about a gunslinging, train robbing wrangler really played in this setting. [~30% in]

Also, she adopts two gay dads and a hermit almost immediately and that fucking ruled.

Her personality may also just be the type it feels more rewarding to put up against the type of men Byrne likes to write. 

Pacing isn't perfect, but the plot stays interesting all the way through.

2 main POVs, 1 side character vignette that may be the best romance scene of Byrne's I've read, MCs are 24 and ambiguously in his 30s, spicy, 3rd person past tense, 1880s, Scotland & briefly Wyoming, rivals to lovers, found family

Narrator: Derek Perkins' performanc is good. I had a littlw trepidation about the western American accent alongside the British, Scottish, and Irish accents and it was pretty great. No random twang (would have been wild for a Nevadan) or mispronounced words (with one exception we all knew was coming bc Americans also fuck it up- le sigh to "Oregon.")

Worth noting he's a bassy masc performer with a solid femme range.

Science artist is employed by interesting looking naturalist to live in a island castle and draw Florida Man's natural habitat.

2 POV, 3rd person past tense, some mid scene hand offs, romance, spicy, MCs are 25 & 40 (he's "almost 1 and 40" for like 8 months.) Story over the course of 5-9 months. Employer-employee, Scotland, 1800s, age gap.

Minerva Spencer is a good writer, so the prose is solid, but the plot on this one was a bit of a grind and the pacing was wonky.

I don't know if this didn't hit for me bc the age gap was both awkward (25 vs 40 with a 24 yo son) and like Spencer wrote them as the same age despite the gap ([70% in]

Our dude gets jealous Aurelia has seen naked bodies before

and 40 seems like an age to be over that in an SO.)

Both main characters are likeable and interesting- their relationship interacting with big plot developments on the back half of the book is where the pacing starts causing structure and vibe issues.

Narrator: Gabrielle Baker delivers consistent performances- while she isn't my flavor all the time, you know what you're getting. Her accent work in this is well done.

Overall, this is a fine mid series book, if not as fun as Hyacinth or Selina.

Working class kid ends up on the streets then ends up on a boat. Crossdressing naval coming of age adventure!

Prose style is vernacular of the time and Jackie's class. 1st person past tense (though venacular includes present tense as past e.g. "I says to Liam...") single POV. Narrator is a kid. Plot driven coming of age.

Gets dark and pretty vivid about said dark things you would expect in extreme poverty in London and a child working in a naval military setting. (This might be more graphic than Master and Commander. Though, the nautical language is easier to pick up.)

Mary/Jackie is very likeable. And in between dark stuff she is just being a kid on a boat and gets into shenanigans. (Mad props for Meyers' writing on

first periods and crushes.

)

I laughed, I cried, and I have no idea how to categorize this book or who should read it.

Narrator: Katherine Kellgren is why I picked this book up and this is another great performance. She has some "Jackie is panicked" moments than can be a little rowdy, but I immediately checked out the next book.

Just didn't grab me. I'd give it another shot if I was looking for something particularly chill.

She handles the dress shop's publicity and sales, he's an earl and a bit of a hot mess.

4 POVs- the 2 MCs and 2 subplot characters, MCs are 23 & 27, light spice, 1830s London, part roadtrip, part running a con

I really liked this one. It has one of my favorite ramp ups to a sex scene and my new favorite "I love you" declaration.

Sophie has a lot of Locke Lamora energy re: pretending to be other people. And Harry is just a guy stopping himself from punching things while helping his sister. He also very refreshingly owns his feelings and then acts kinda irrationally while calling out why. It's an excellent one-two punch.