Sex and Sexuality in Victorian Britain [Violet Fenn- Book Review]

Title: Sex and Sexuality in Victorian Britain

Author: Violet Fenn

Genre: Historical Nonfiction

Publisher: Pen & Sword

Publishing date: March 30, 2020

Rating: Two stars

I chose this book because I expected an interesting history lesson on a topic I wanted to learn more about. I mean, the cover is cool. The rest of the book was less than stellar to me.

There should be a warning for all of these topics included since they are just thrust upon the reader, and I know they can be hard for some people to handle: rape, child murder, child prostitution, postpartum depression and psychosis, sexual abuse, child harm, suicide, death, violence.

Violet Fenn provides a very chill introduction, saying she wanted to research about the topic of sexuality in this time period because it seems to be one we don’t talk about a lot. She doesn’t have footnotes at all, so I don’t know where some of this info comes from. She does say though that she uses internet searches a lot so you could probably just google this topic, and you would have the gist of her book.

I thought this was going to be all about sexuality and sex in Victorian Britain, but there was a chapter about what they wore. Yes, they would have been useful had it related to how they used it for sex. But it was juts like these people wear these clothes and sometimes they caught fire… omg skirts that were shorter and all of this stuff about clothes that I am not sure why it was included when it never hinted toward how it related to sexuality in the book. I was expecting like women wore the underwear with no crotch for easy sex or something. But nope. It was just like she started writing it, and she did not finish what she was trying to do in order to make her topics relate to each other.

Also, the way consent was talked about was terrible. Yeah, the age was raised to 13, but there was no discussion about the harms of this or how it was wrong. I just felt like she was like look at my sexy book. The age of consent was young, oh well. There could have been more about this topic and how it related to children being sex workers and the damage. Because when talking about sex in the time period, we should also be talking about how it can be harmful. Plus, it was creepy how she talked about the women forced to be tortured by doctors testing out dildos. It was not a fun sexy thing at all. She just made it seem like some kinky thing, and it wasn’t. This really bothered me.

I don’t know what to say about this book. It could have been good, but it was just like a poorly done research paper. If you want to know more about these topics, I am sure you can do your own google search or find better books. I thought this was going to be one of my favorite history books, but I was highly disappointed.

Thank you NetGalley and Pen and Sword for the review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

What Lies Between Us [John Marrs- Book Review]

4 stars ⭐️

I still cannot wrap my mind around what I just read. Like, I am in shock and it has been a few days since I finished up this book. I just cant fathom still this dark and twisted book. Like, wow it was so good and now I am still trying to figure out what the hell just happened.

I do not recall the last time I was so chilled to the bone by a book. There are so many twists and turns. It is just so shocking. Even the ending has left me wondering how I will be able to pick up another a book after this. I am just so awed by the story. And I don’t know if I will ever fully recover from what has been done got me. This is the first time I have read John Marrs, and I know after this it will not be my last by any means at all. Like oh my goodness.

I could not stop reading this once I started, and it was a story I picked up after my child went to bed so it was very dark and scary. This was a book I thought would give me nightmares for days, but I am still too scared to even think about sleeping any time soon!

This story scared me. And I am not scared easily. I don’t mind the dark or horror movies. I have shrugged at crime scene photos. Nothing normally gets to me, but this book has scared the living daylights out of me for goodness only knows how long. When I got to the end of this book, I was so scared and shocked that my jaw could not close. I just was stuck that way for a long time and I think my cat thought there was something wrong with me because I did not move for a long time after. There was so much terror that even my cat was scared and hid under the bed for a long time. The book is that impactful.

But let us avoid the spoilers so you can have the pleasure to read this for yourself…. it deals with borderline personality disorder…which I’m pretty sure there is a different term, but I am not sure. Maggie lives up in an attack, chained to the wall to atone for all of the sins she has committed against her daughter. And her daughter Nina, who is librarian by day, is her keeper and the ultimate decider of what will happen to her mother who has done so many bad, bad things….

The twists and turns will leave you breathless and shocked. There are also so many questions you want answers, and the answers will coming with shock and surprise the whole time. Some of these questions are: how/why they built this sick relationship? Why Nina’s father leave without saying goodbye? Why Nina is so fragile around little children? Is Maggie innocent victim or pure evil needs to be behind the bars? Can she escape and save herself from captivity?

John Marrs just keeps it coming with the shocks and the scary parts of the book you will be in awe the whole time it is happening.

Thank you NetGalley and Amazon Publishling UK for the review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Rapid Book Reviews

I have been reading a lot the past few weeks, but I fell behind because of all the panic happening. I need to get back into posting more of my NetGalley books and staying on top of all of this. I think this will be a good solace during all the chaos so if you want to read all about books and chat with me, come here to read my reviews and leave me a lot of comments.

Here are just some short reviews of the last few books I finished over the last couple of weeks:

NetGalley ARC
Contemporary romance

Rating: 3 stars ⭐️

This was super cute, and it was a fast read for sure. I did enjoy the whole rock star and normal person falling in love because that is a dream many of us share. This just did not get more stars because I thought some of the writing was a little juvenile and tedious. I just thought the way Amelia acted around Huck sometimes was someone that was like 18 rather than 34, and I just wanted more of a mature relationship. I did like how they dealt with her anxiety and made it realistic she needed treatment. This is also the third book so you will be spoiled for the first two by picking this up, but you an still read those stories to see how they begin. Overall, this is a sweet romance with a lot of interesting characters and will appeal to those who like the small town stories.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own and given freely.

NetGalley ARC
Contemporary romance

Rating: 3 stars ⭐️

Thank you netgalley and the publisher.

I picked up this book because of the original title. I love cats a lot. This book is pretty cute, but I didn’t fully love the romance.

I appreciate the romantic comedy classification for its effortlessness and consistency. I frequently read them in the middle of heavier books as light help, and this book was no special case. 

The characters were affable, despite the fact that it took me a decent while to warm to Lara. She appeared to be very stand-offish and brisk to respond hot headedly in basic circumstances, yet part of the way through she appeared to relax. Soft/Satchmo was entertaining, he had all the standard haughtiness of a feline yet Tennant kept in touch with him in such an interesting way he truly turned into his own character in the story. 

In case you're in the wake of something agreeable, this book is a decent decision.

You Are Not Alone [NetGalley ARC Review]

You Are Not Alone

Thriller

St Martins Press

Published March 4, 2020

4 stars ⭐️

Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen are one of my favorite writing teams. When I read their first book, I was in awe. The second book was disappointing, but this one reminds me why I love their writing so damn much. This book is unsettling, shocking, riveting, and unforgettable.

Shay sees a woman commit suicide on a train platform, and she is sucked into the life of the woman by accident. She goes to her memorial service and meets her friends. Amanda had this group of friends, and two of them are sisters. Cassandra and Jane take a special interest in Shay. They start to spend time together and want to help Shay in whatever way they can. But as they get closer, Shay learns Amanda may have known something terrible and it could be a problem for Shay if she gets in too deep…

This book was so unsettling. I was on edge the whole time, wondering what was going to happen. I was shocked by how the sisters acted, and I loved finding out the full story. I was worried the whole time for Shay, and it was like one of those movies where you shout don’t go in there but the person never listens. It was so riveting, and I could not stop reading. I was mesmerized the whole time, and I can see myself reading this again even though now I know the outcome. I highly recommend this to all thriller fans, new and old alike. This writing duo does thrillers with a twist every time that will leave you breathless but needing more.

A Cowboy To Remember [NetGalley ARC Review]

Rating: 2/5 Stars ⭐️

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Format: NetGalley eARC

I requested this book because I really liked Xeni, which was the only other book I have read by this author. I was hoping for a really good cowboy romance, which is one of my favorite things. But this book was not it at all. I just cannot put my finger on what it was, but this book lacks the storyline and characters I expected from Rebekah Weatherspoon. I would suggest reading Xeni, and I have heard good things about Rafe. But this book just falls flat in a lot of places.

This the story of famous celebrity chef, Evie Buchanan. She is pushed down the stairs by a rival chef, and she loses all of her memories. There is nowhere she can go except the ranch she grew up on to recover. It is the only place where she can stay anonymous to avoid the media finding out she has lost all of her memories.

I thought this was going to be a riveting book, but I did not really care about what was going on when i was reading it. There was nothing really interesting about the story or the way the romance was supposed to unfold. I was so shocked this because Xeni was so rich in comparison. This book is about Evie trying to get her memories back and learn how to be a chef once more. There is also her history with Zach and they want to be like close to each other even though they haven’t spoken for like ten years. I think you are just supposed to accept all of their history as enough for a romance, but like there was no chemistry or anything exciting about when they’re together.

Okay, there is also so many side characters and sometimes you get their POV but I don’t know why. There was nothing really added to it, so I was wondering what was going on with that whole thing honestly. Her friends seemed cool, and I would like books about them. But the rest was just so meh. I was waiting for a reason to care about anyone, but there was no one who really stood out. They are just rich black people with a ranch (which is so awesome because i think there needs to be more stories like this), but no one is exciting or anything. There are just tall guys who wear cowboy hats and that is supposed to be enough to be a personality trait, I guess. Wearing a cowboy hat does make a dude hot, but its not enough to fall in love with in my opinion.

Also, it was so odd that Evie had amnesia until like 87% way through the book and then she was like magically better. She has no idea what’s going on t he whole time and then she is magically cured, and she wants to go back o her own life. Also, the whole thing where she suddenly doesn’t want to be around Zach was lame. I was just like yeah ok especially with just around 10% of the book left, this makes for a rushed and terrible story. The only good thing was the grandma who was a pioneer for black women in the entertainment industry. I would read a story about her. Like her whole life. She was awesome. This was so disappointing, and i hope the next books are better but I am not sure i will be picking them up.

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Absolution [NetGalley ARC Review]

The Absolution by Yrsa Sigurdardottir

Crime Thriller

NetGalley EARC

3 stars ⭐️

I really wanted to like this book because it is blurbed by Karin Slaughter, and she’s one of my favorite authors. I’m not sure why, but this book was a big disappointment to me. I liked the beginning parts about the crimes, but it went downhill.

Stella is taken from her job at a movie theater and murdered. There’s a 2 under her body, and no one knows what this means.

Hudlar is the detective assigned to the case, and there’s also Freyja, the child psychologist. Both are working from different angles to see what happened to Stella. The police search through footage, but they are no closer to finding the killer. Freyja is interviewing classmates to see if anyone knew what could have happened to Stella. Her classmates actually saw the murder on Snapchat, but no one has answers.

Then they find out Stella was a terrible bully. She was setting up a horrible website about a classmate and even trying to sell her classmate online like a sex worker. Her phone shows up in the mailbox of a woman, but she says she has no idea why. Clearly, she’s connected somehow.

Then a teen boy goes missing and his body is found with a 3. There’s also Snapchat messages sent out about him as well. They contact someone who specializes in bullying, but there aren’t clear answers yet.

Normally I like police procedural books, but this one got so boring. I didn’t care about the characters and their lives. All the minute details of their lives were so boring to me, and I had a hard time finishing the book with all the extraneous details about everything. None of the characters were interesting, and I was annoyed that apparently Huldar and Freyja become a couple because there seems to no be no chemistry.

It was interesting to see how bullying interwove all the events, and I liked the gruesome parts. Not sure if I’d read more from the series, but I did like the gruesome. That was the only highlight for me. I ended up skimming towards the end. I will say the ending was super creepy, and I loved it.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martins Press for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A Reckless Runaway [NetGalley ARC Review]

Genre: Historical Romance

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Review copy graciously provided by NetGalley and publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first historical romance. I saw it being noted as available on netgalley, and I went for it. I’m glad I did because I enjoy the manner of writing Jess Michaels uses in this genre.

Anne is being forced to marry Harcourt, but she doesn’t love him. Luckily, Ellis Maitland is going to take her away and marry him. Except he leaves her stranded on an island with his cousin, Rook. Once it’s established Ellis is a slimy jerk, Rook becomes the hero! Or not because he’s got a terrible past of crime and horrible things he has to keep from Anne.

Alright, this book starts out slow. I wasn’t really loving it at first because I didn’t care about how Anne is a triplet or her family. I get it... triplets are a miracle during this time. Anyway! But once the tension starts building between her and Rook, this book is just one to be devoured.

The romance is lovely. The steamy scenes are excellent. The entire story is superb. Though this is the second book so I was a little lost but they explain it well enough. I still plan to read the first one, and the prologue has made me so eager for the story of the final sister.

I can’t recommend this enough to anyone who loves historical romance or just romance in general. Once you begin this book, it’s impossible to not race to the end to get the happy ending. I find it’s worth the time and swoon factor though. I love this book and this new to me author!

NetGalley ARC Reviews [A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, Scammed, and Cracked Up to Be]

All three of these published on February 4th, and I decided I was going to put all of the reviews together because it saves my sanity. I enjoyed reading all three of these books, and I highly recommend checking them out since they’re out now.

The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

YA Thriller

5 stars ⭐️

I love thrillers so much. Usually I read adult thrillers, but I’m so happy to see YA having more thrillers happening recently. They are among one of my top genres, so I can’t help but want to read all the ones I can possibly get my greedy hands on. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder has become one of my favorite thrillers I’ve read in a long time, and I hope Holly Jackson will consider also writing adult thrillers so she can get even more intense with her writing. Please.

Everyone in this book is so well written and interesting. This reminded me of like a true crime podcast and the whole Adnan Syed serif thing. So that was what was in the back of my mind the entire time. Pippa is such a strong character, trying to find the truth and do whatever it takes. She reminds me so much of a lot of the podcasters who got above and beyond to get the story, and I just couldn’t help but really love her immensely. Even the secondary characters have depth and breadth, genuinely contributing to the story and making it even better.

This is about suspense of what’s going on with Pippa looking for the truth interwoven with the crime of what really happened to Andie Bell. It’s addictive from the start and complex to the core. There’s so many pieces of the puzzle, and it just gets more shocking and interesting as time goes on. I was hooked
From the start and couldn’t put this book down. I loved this book so much. It may go down as one of my top thrillers of the year.

Thank you to Random House Childrens, Holly Jackson, and NetGalley for providing me with this Arc in exchange for my honest review.

Scammed by Kristen Simmons

YA mystery

4 stars ⭐️

Probably one of my most anticipated reads of this year. But the cover change didn’t make me happy.

Brynn is still at Vale Hall, but this time the stakes and cons are higher. I loved this book just as much as the first one, I was shocked the whole time.

It was awesome to see the other characters I hadn’t seen before in depth, and I liked them to be actual people instead of just fillers. I’m sad there wasn’t more with her friendship with Charlotte, I think the series would be stronger with a female friendship and not just a romance I’m not exactly invested in.

Simmons just writes in a way which makes me unable to put the book down. Her characters are well written and worth the page turning. I haven’t been this into a series for awhile. I’m already ready for the third book.

I recommend this to anyone who enjoys boarding school stories and shocking reveals.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Teen for the advanced review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own,

Cracked Up To Be by Courtney Summers

Contemporary YA

4 stars ⭐️

I honestly am unsure of how to write this review because I have never read a book like this. I saw it on NetGalley, and I knew I needed it. I pretty much sped through it because I was ready for all of the answers this book was going to give me. Still, there are still some things I’m not sure of regarding this book. But that’s okay, I think.

Courtney summers states in the introduction she writes characters dealing with trauma. Already I’m like, alright this is going to be different. I skimmed over the intro at first, but I went back to it when I was deeper into the book and I appreciated it so much more. Just read this book is all I can say definitively.

Parker isn’t doing well. She’s gone from being perfect and popular to someone being watched and told she needs to be careful. She was drinking on school property and doing dangerous things. It came down to a suicide attempt and now she’s back in school on a tentative basis, talking to the guidance counselor and being monitored by her friends and teachers.

Parker is mean. She’s honest and states she hates people. She treats her friends so harshly and doesn’t even care about the consequences of her actions. She’s told again and again, she’s a bitch. She admits she’s a liar. Parker is a lot of bad things, but there’s also some issues she’s not dealing with. There are flashbacks to a party and the mystery of what happened to her best friend. It’s just so much happening… and it’s so real. I don’t think I’ve read anything this real in a long time, but I couldn’t help devouring it.

This book deals with some heavy topics. Trigger warnings for suicide attempt, drinking, rape mention, and animal death. It’s a very real book, and I don’t think it’s for everyone. But I definitely thought it was great. The ending wasn’t phenomenal, but I think the rest of the book makes up for it.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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I loved all of these books a lot, and I’m so grateful to all of the kind publishers who allow me to read all of these wonderful books. You have no idea what it means to a bookworm like me. As a kid I would devour books like crazy, and now I’m lucky enough to be able to read so many early and share my thoughts with the world.

Have you read any of these books? Or maybe you would want to since reading my reviews? I’d love to know either way.

Cowboys Vow to Protect [Book Review]

Rating: 2/5 Stars

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Format: eARC via NetGalley

Trigger warning for mention of rape, assault, brief glimpse into dark thoughts of the rapist, and slight description of rape.

I’m not sure where to begin with this book. I’m going to share a few lines from the book which made me roll my eyes:

“ Then as he went up and down the grocery store aisles he filled his basket with the kinds of foods he thought a woman would like to eat. “

And

“ he didn’t get women in general. He found them mysterious alien beings. They were complex and filled with emotions he didn’t always understand.”

Alright… women just eat food. It’s not gendered. Seriously.

Also, I’m tired of this line acting like women are so weird. Just treat them like people and you’ll be okay. I just wanted to scream at this book a lot. At least regarding how much of the gender stereotypes it contained.

Madison is trying to leave town because of something that happened. But Flint finds her and says she can stay in his cabin. She confesses she was raped and beaten. He wants her to go to the police, but she is scared to at first. Both of them don’t think they deserve to fall in love, but they are going to because it’s a romance. I don’t know what to really say regarding this book because it’s kind of a hot mess of things going on. There’s heavy topics, but I think they are treated with a light hand. There’s no like recovery Madison goes through, just oh the magic of love and raising this baby will make me all better. Instead of maybe like going through therapy and dealing with the fears she had, she thinks just falling in love with a guy will solve all of her trauma. Flint says hey you should go to therapy and you probably have PTSD, but that’s it. I guess just love will get rid of her issues and it will just be all good. Sure. I suppose so. Also, flint has chronic pain. But it’s barely talked about. It’s just like thrown in there for a storyline, but it’s never given the respect and mention the rep of chronic pain deserves. I suppose I’m just upset with this book overall. It started out well, but it just became a jumble of problems. I can’t recommend it because of the content and how it was all handled. I’m disappointed because I really wanted to enjoy this book. Maybe it’s just the content, but I would suggest skipping this book altogether. There was no real suspense or romance. Just a lot of problems.

Thank you to NetGalley and harlequin for the eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

No, We Can’t Be Friends [Book Review]

Add on Goodreads

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Genre: Contemporary Women’s Fiction

Format: eARC via NetGalley

This is my second book by the author. She writes good books, but I think sometimes the blurbs can be misleading. Ranald writes good books, no doubt. But they’re not these romantic comedies they are supposed to be. They’re more like realistic fiction. Which isn’t bad, but just change the wording so people aren’t misled.

Sloane has a marriage that’s falling apart. Her husband cheated, but she doesn’t want to believe it. They are remodeling their house, but life is falling apart for her. This book just kind of has events happening… I never really got to see beyond the surface for Sloane so it was hard to know what she feels or her thoughts on what’s going on. It’s all surface level and didn’t make for a good book.

You don’t get much about the marriage, you just found out there’s a companion that tells the before. But I don’t see the point when you’ve finished the story, so why go back when you know what would happen. You just see the relationship fall apart but there’s no emotional connection to care or understand what led to their ending.

Just call this women’s fiction because no “romance” until like 60% in, and it’s so… boring.

Okay but the clients she has in her business are so awesome. I’d read books about them. That’s who I cared about.

Kind of annoyed with the ending. She should have just kept the cat and that’s it.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.