NB: This week, we’re taking a look back at 2024. We’ve got a week of best-of posts to share, with reviews, cover snark, sales, and more. We hope you enjoy revisiting our archives, and most of all, we wish you and yours a wonderful holiday and a happy new year – with all the very best of reading.
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We’re counting down the best of our 2024 reviews, which I’m sure you’re all curious about. Counting down from ten, these are the first five reviews in terms of page views. A lot of wild cards in this top ten, I must admit.
Let’s get into it!
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10. A Fragile Enchantment by Alison Saft (January 17)
Review by Elyse
Grade: A
A Fragile Enchantment is a gentle, cozy fantasy romance (I refuse to use the word romantasy–you can’t make me), and it’s perfect for anyone looking for a romance that’s got a solid conflict, but isn’t angsty. I loved this book. This book is like being wrapped up in a blanket that just came out of the dryer. This book is like drinking the perfect cup of tea while watching it snow outside, knowing you don’t have to leave the house.
This is a historical fantasy, and it’s loosely based on Ireland and England after The Great Famine.
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9. My Season for Scandal by Julie Anne Long (April 25)
Review by Lara
Grade: A
I sit here stunned. Yes, I have written this review twice. The first version was too overwrought because I was entirely overcome by this book. This is such a bracing, visceral story of deep thoughts and even deeper emotions that it left me wrung out.
Before I go any further, I need to beg you to absolutely delete this book’s cover from your mind. It is horribly misleading. Our hero is not a smug git. Our heroine does not spend her time in a dead faint.
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8. Movie: Hot Frosty (December 7)
Review by Carrie
Grade: B
Is this a ‘good’ movie?
I’d have to say, even by the standards of the genre, not so much.
But there were a few scenes in which all of a sudden it was very good. Also, whether it was the overall movie, the cranberry walnut bread, the almond butter, or the hypnotic effect of staring at Dustin Milligan’s kind blue eyes for 90 minutes, my nerves did in fact seem much calmer at the end of the run time. Overall, the movie was a C, but then a few scenes were A grade, so I’ll call it a B.
But truthfully, you know what you like! If this is your jam, you’ll love it, and if it isn’t, that’s ok too.
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7. The Idea of You by Robinne Lee (June 21)
Review by Elyse
Grade: D
I really struggled with the grade for this review, as I did like reading about an older heroine and I liked that she was confident in her body and sexuality. I didn’t love how she treated her daughter at all, and the end really made me frustrated—like I experienced vicarious anxiety and conflict for nothing. I would really caution romance readers regarding this book, especially if they come to this after watching the movie. You might not get what you were looking for.
The movie version does correct a lot of things and is the rare case where the movie is better than the book. For one, they age Isabelle up to 17 and make her a former not current fan of the band. They also give Hayes more depth and age him up to 24. The movie also spends more time reflecting on the bullshit double standard that is a 40-year-old woman dating a 24-year-old pop star. If the ages were reversed and Hayes was 40 and famous, literally no one would bat an eyelash at him dating someone 16 years younger. It would almost be expected.
The ending of the movie is also better.
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6. Midnight Ruin by Katee Robert (January 18)
Review by Lara
Grade: Squee
I can’t be trusted to be objective and balanced when the book in question made me gasp repeatedly and then exclaim at my partner that the book was SO GOOD. This book gave me so much Good Book Noise!
BUT! It didn’t start out that way. The book had a slow start and it was only when the sex started (with all that that reveals about the characters) that things really took off.
With this being book 6 in the Dark Olympus series, it’s essential that you’ve read the preceding five books. Those books are good, but don’t reach the heights of book 6, I would argue. I would go so far as to say that reading the first five books is worth it just so you can enjoy the delights of book 6.
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What are your predictions for the top five? Let us know in the comments!