Julia
A friend of a friend recommended this after hearing our spicy pepper book club liked "Kiss of the Basilisk" (while also finding it ridiculous!). This book is SPICY in a way that almost makes up for some considerable flaws - an initial age gap that was almost a dealbreaker for me, pretty wooden writing, and a protagonist who lacks confidence in an almost parodic way (think Rachel Leigh Cook in "She's All That" if you're millenial). That said, spice covers a lot of sins for me! If this book was written now, it'd almost certainly have content warnings. I also appreciated Simone's observations about jealousy, which was also when her writing was the strongest. Will for sure read the whole series.
A friend of a friend recommended this after hearing our spicy pepper book club liked "Kiss of the Basilisk" (while also finding it ridiculous!). This book is SPICY in a way that almost makes up for some considerable flaws - an initial age gap that was almost a dealbreaker for me, pretty wooden writing, and a protagonist who lacks confidence in an almost parodic way (think Rachel Leigh Cook in "She's All That" if you're millenial). That said, spice covers a lot of sins for me! If this book was written now, it'd almost certainly have content warnings. I also appreciated Simone's observations about jealousy, which was also when her writing was the strongest. Will for sure read the whole series.