Amanda

1) I cannot believe this is a real book, but 2) I can totally believe that this is supposedly an “inspirational” romance

DNF @ 110 pages in, didn't feel any chemistry between the leads.

http://justinaireland.com/dammit-this-is-a-blog/2017/2/9/anonymous-review-sad-perfect

Yeah, no.

https://www.bookshelvesandpaperbacks.com/arc-review-27-hours-by-tristina-wright-centers-colonist-guilt-has-flawed-racial-representation/

This doesn't look terrible, but I cannot do lawyer romance and also the MMC has the same name as a very close relative, so nah

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/good-luck-with-that-by-kristan-higgins/

lol how does this book keep getting 1) written and 2) published

Are you fucking kidding me? Information here: https://twitter.com/samantha_k_r_/status/1080863442809040898

I want to come back to this but I'd had it out from the library for too long and it just wasn't grabbing me

https://bookriot.com/2019/04/16/an-open-letter-to-john-boyne-in-response-to-his-transphobic-statements/

I was going to read this, but the author takes money from Big Pharma to endorse drugs that cost $10,000 a year for patients and aren't any more effective at managing endo symptoms than pain meds and hormonal contraception. (Receipts: https://icer-review.org/announcements/elagolix-final-report/ and https://www.endowhat.org/blog/2018/8/2/orilissatm-a-significant-advancement-for-endometriosis-patients-or-another-obstacle-to-care and https://endometriosisnews.com/2018/07/24/fda-approves-abbvies-orilissa-for-moderate-severe-endometriosis-pain/ .) In conclusion, hard no. I'll listen to patients and those who truly advocate for them instead.

See this (spoiler-heavy) review for why this is a hard pass: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2850791694

Yes, how inconvenient emancipation must have been for the poor innocent plantation owners. What the actual fuck is wrong with this person.

Chronic pain conditions aren't a “gift,” and it's pretty shitty to use your friends who suffer from them as your inspiration porn. (Citation: http://www.npr.org/2017/01/14/509650409/veronica-roths-carve-the-mark-is-a-fantasy-inspired-by-chronic-pain )

Hardest of passes. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3269424400?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1

I'm gonna need y'all to stop this right now. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3356393469

DNF @ 33% or so - was reading this for “work rivals” on 2022 romance bingo. Read some reviews here and apparently this is more women's fiction than romance, and also the characters aren't really rivals. Wasn't loving it regardless, what with the cardboard cutout characters (seriously, every man at the MC's office besides the love interest is cartoonishly awful). DNFing and moving on.

https://mobile.twitter.com/acosmistmachine/status/1299502081930297345

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3585134911

If this is the first book in a series, I shouldn't feel like I have to read books from one of the author's other series to have any idea WTF is going on. I gave up on the “Scandal and Scoundrel” series after book two, so I never read [b:The Day of the Duchess 31307650 The Day of the Duchess (Scandal & Scoundrel, #3) Sarah MacLean https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1477616140l/31307650.SY75.jpg 51979220], which meant that while the narrative here acted like I should know who Caleb is, I had not the slightest clue. I vaguely remembered Sesily, but that was about it. I'm not saying that the book has to be full of exposition, but some sort of setup so I know who these people are would be nice. Sarah MacLean is incredibly hit or miss for me, but I enjoyed the last couple of hers I read, and I was very much into the premise of “vigilante gang of overlooked society women taking revenge on evil rich dudes,” so I gave this one a chance. Far too little character development - the other vigilantes have characters like “wears glasses” or “is a duchess,” and Caleb kept alluding to a Terrible Secret or Dark Past or something that I got too annoyed by to even care about the reveal. Far too little of said vigilante plots, too many long cameos from other characters in MacLean's books which I haven't read. I DNF-ed a little before 50%, because I realized I just didn't care enough about anyone in this book to try to power through it before the ebook loan ended.

Citation: https://twitter.com/BookishAlerts/status/1452768793659420675?s=20