Horse Talk Reviews

Famous for a Living by Melissa Ferguson My rating: 2 of 5 stars 2 stars I love a Hallmark movie romance plot as much as the next person but I require them to be at least a tiny bit original or, you know, accurate. This book was perfectly set up with Cat being a disgraced influencer who moved back to a small town (or into a national park her uncle was the...something of? Head ranger? Overlord?) and a hot mountain man guy who helped her survive her idiotic City girl impulses like improper footwear and driving a convertible Mercedes in the snow. Sounds great, right? Well you would be WRONG. This book, in the year 2023, requires you to believe: - mason jars were never popular and this influencer made them sell out across the country! I did not suffer through the hipster and Pioneer Woman eras where we made small batch pickles and poured carafes of water into mason jars for this crap. - a national park needs a City girl influencer to make them popular ...

Just for December by Laura Jane Williams My rating: 1 of 5 stars 11/28/22: Review to come once the HarperCollins strike ends 2/16/2023: yay the strike has ended! (wtf harper collins u should be embarrassed by how long this took) Review time! --- DNF at 25% I am once again asking for your support in writing a happy fluffy christmas book!!! jesus christ. This has been the least christmassy reading journey I have ever had in my life, with this lovely (not) thing to cap it off. At least no one died? the bar is low. I don’t know what this trend in MF is where authors mix up “strong” FMCs with “heinous rude self-centered monster”, but here we are, yet again. Duke: Duke is introduced as the saddest boi, most sympathetic character, just got emotionally betrayed and wounded and still believes in love and is generally adorable and doing his job. Evie: Evi is introduced as a self sabotaging mean rude person who hates everything. She is an irredeemable asshole...

A Cat Cafe Christmas by Codi Gary My rating: 1 of 5 stars Expected publication: October 4 2022 DNF at 15% I thought a Christmas romance centered around a cat cafe would be a safe fluffy holiday romance, but I already absolutely loathe the FMC. I haven't seen enough of the MMC at this point to judge him as much, though he was not off to a strong start either with some suspiciously misogynistic thoughts for a little there. The FMC is insufferable . Her insistence that he is the most evil person ever for not really being a cat person (he's never had pets iirc?) was super annoying. And then when he rescues a kitten and brings it to her shelter to be taken care of, she acts like he's intending to drown the kitten because he wanted to surrender it to her shelter. Why would you force a kitten on someone who doesn't want it and has no experience caring for animals?? What a terrible vet. There were so many other ways to get him to keep a kitte...

How the Wallflower was Won by Eva Leigh My rating: 4 of 5 stars I wasn't planning on reading a straight regency romance but I was told this one had a dining table sex scene so obviously I became interested. Now that I have read it I can confirm that boy does it ever have a dining table sex scene. A+ work on fulfilling my exactly one expectation for the book. As for the rest of the stuff that doesn't take place on a dining table, it was a fairly decent regency romance. The intellectual pursuits of the titular wallflower were interesting (to a point. Some of it felt like name dropping a bunch of philosophers i dont give a crap about. What is with books thinking I am here to learn!) and the support between the two main characters for fulfilling these pursuits was nice. I also enjoyed how nonjudgmental the intellectual female lead was to the dude's inability to read well. It was very sweet. On the other hand, I could have done without the con...

A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy My rating: 4 of 5 stars You know what? This book was awesome. It answered the question I never thought to ask and probably still don't really want the answer to: what would happen if a porn star was cast in a Hallmark Christmas movie? The answer is in the form of a delightful little book with everything I love about Hallmark Christmas movies but better??? What I loved: -every moment of dramatique drama was resolved within a few pages -there was a lot of casually accepted queerness including both main characters being disaster bisexuals -it explained how "fat" is a neutral description and not an insult (the female main character Bee describes herself as fat) -similarly, the sex work wasn't used as a way to make Bee and the other porn industry characters less than -it was a book about the making of a Hallmark Christmas movie but the Hallmark Christmas movie romantic beats were between the tw...

In the Shadow Garden by Liz Parker My rating: 5 of 5 stars A lovely and atmospheric little book. The tea, the shadow garden, the bourbon, the small southern town, and the magic were all woven together masterfully in a well-paced and compelling story. The use of memory and healing from trauma gave the book some roots (hah see what i did there) in realism. There are chapters from several different points of view and a lot of family and other relationships between the characters but I was never lost or confused. I especially enjoyed the chapters from the shadow garden's point of view. Overall a delightfully cozy autumnal read. I received an ARC copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own. View all my reviews

Let It Snow by Beth Moran My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3 stars This book had everything you could possibly want in a Christmas romance novel and more! It had an evil manipulative coworker! It had a childhood friend/nemesis/nerd boy love interest! It had a rockstar ex-boyfriend! It had a drama and guilt ridden family Christmas week! It had a paternal parentage mystery plot! It had a "we need tons of money or else we have to CLOSE this SCHOOL" charity drive? It had a blizzard filled road trip?? It had a multi-day interview and reality show competition combo at some billionaires Scottish estate??? All smashed into one zany romcom! The female main character, Bea, was both really mean and really selfless and giving? The male main character, Henry, was a cardboard cutout who was always ready to do whatever Bea needed of him without interfering with a personality of his own! Bea's family was also really mean and really loved to guilt Bea who was bu...

When a Scot Ties the Knot by Tessa Dare My rating: 4 of 5 stars “You may say you dinna want to attract notice. Well, I notice all of you.” Very cute book, with very solid and well developed leads. Both FMC and MMC had struggles to face, but they did it with great communication, and really supported each other throughout. The setup was very amusing. A solid read! When a Scot Ties the Knot on Amazon  (I got it from my library) View all my reviews

Bend Toward the Sun by Jen Devon My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3 stars This seemed like the perfect book for me. It had an old rickety vineyard in a small town with two characters brought together with very different tragic backstories and was filled to the brim with overwrought descriptions of the farm and plants and even the dang fog. Total catnip to my purple prose Hallmark movie season of life. Unfortunately, this book was not perfect for me. The first star I deducted is because Rowan (the female main character) was too much of a moldy cactus type where she had boundaries and million foot tall walls around her heart or some shit but never clearly expressed any of these to Harry (the male main character) and she instead came across as closed off and mean and disrespectful. I simply did not believe she had enough positive characteristics or was hot enough for Harry to try so hard and fall in love with her immediately because besides the being really into...

Christmas Eve at Cranberry Cross by Kate Forster My rating: 2 of 5 stars Horse rating: horses are in protective custody Expected publication: September 29th 2022 I don't even really know how to review this. What on earth. From the blurb: An absolutely charming and uplifting Christmas love story of hope, forgiveness, and the true meaning of Christmas. Based on the blurb, I was anticipating a fluffy Christmas romance where the scroogy writer learns the meaning of Christmas and love and helps the FMC do something idk. • This was incredibly depressing. There's surprise kids in this - neglected, emotionally damaged kids. The 7 year old buries dolls in the snow to rescue them because she is so lost. The teenager hides in a tower not talking to anyone. Cosy. • I liked Eve, generally. She was a solid character. • I did not like Edward. He was incredibly selfish and a terrible parent. This is acknowledged in text, but isn't super well addressed. • I did not buy int...

How the Wallflower was Won by Eva Leigh My rating: 3 of 5 stars Horse rating: 0 of 5 horses Expected publication: September 27th 2022 Overall, a decent historical romance, more idealistic than some but that’s okay, it made it entertaining. Positives: • I liked the casual FF relationship between side characters. • Lots of diversity rep just casually dropped in. • Anachronistic but idgaf. • The beginning was a really fun read - both of them being in denial, Finn trying to set up Tabitha and • Dom despite the obvious chemistry between Finn and Tabitha…a lot of good moments. • There were also excellent sex scenes throughout the book. Criticisms: The biggest criticism that I have is how unbalanced this is between the leads, emotionally speaking. Finn does so much for Tabitha - libraries, going to the Sterling Society, bringing her books, helping build the Platinum Collective, and then the big thing he does at the end despite their estrangement…! He does so much . Emotionally ...

Let It Snow  by Beth Moran My rating: 1 of 5 stars Horse rating: 0 of 5 horses Expected publication: August 30th 2022 I read until 36%, and then the absolutely bonkers job interview was stressing me out so I skipped ahead and read the last 15%, and….uhhhh. This does not have the happy Christmas romance vibes I was expecting. It feels mildly grinchy to DNF, but it was not at all working for me on several levels. Things: • There is so much going on with this plot. Plots. There’s like 7 major plot lines. It is way too much for any book. Please, just pick one or two! I don’t need a romance, a job drama, an Evil Woman, Family Drama, ??? things, romance, an ex, etc. It’s just so much. • Everything was described. I don’t need to know the details about everything. • This relied heavily on flashbacks for building the romance and story, which didn’t quite work for me. It still never built a connection between Henry and Bea. Obviously, there’s probably more in that middle part I...

The Marriage Ring by Cathy Maxwell My rating: 4 of 5 stars Horse rating: 🐴🐴 of five horses This was very sweet, I really liked both Richard and Grace, and especially them together. Grace was a lovely character, facing her past and all the mental baggage she had from life. She never let it get her down, even if it made her defensive at times (understandably) but still open to hope and connection with Richard. Poor bb Richard, trying so hard to be good enough and fit in and he just struggles. I loved seeing him find himself slowly throughout the book. He also wished he’d taken a moment to tell her what he really thought about her. He’d tell her she was beautiful—but then she’d heard that from a hundred other men. So Richard amended his thoughts. He decided, if he could speak to Grace one last time, he’d tell her how resourceful she was, and wise. And that he admired her intelligence and even her bluntness that could set his teeth on edge. there was just so much sweetness...

An Inconvenient Duke by Anna Harrington My rating: 3 of 5 stars Horse rating: 🐴 of 5 horses (horse slander) This was generally ...fine. Positive-neutral. I read this several years ago, before I had actual rating systems and reviewed things, and I guess past me had slightly rosier views. This was still a pleasant read. It had a strong mystery-crime plot with good tension running through it. Unfortunately, this also sort of handicapped the romance plot, which ended up feeling a bit shorted overall. It also had some heavier subjects, and did a pretty decent job of mixing these more modern ideas with the views of the time. On the whole, a book. An Inconvenient Duke on Amazon  (I actually borrowed this from the library) View all my reviews

The Runaway by Laura Taylor My rating: 4 of 5 stars Another solid entry in this series. I appreciate the author's attempts to create interesting parts to the omegaverse world they created. In this book there is mention of the existence of omega baby farms? So interesting (and kind of messed up). The romance in this book was very sweet as well with two characters who were really struggling with the abuse of omegas and how they could change the world they live in. It got kind of messy in the last 25% of the book with points of view from a side couple I wasn't particularly interested in and way too much focus away from the primary characters and their relationship. If this was handled differently it would be a much better book. But even with this main couple was worth struggling through the end. Highly recommend the series to anyone who is interested in omegaverse world building. View all my reviews

Mad About You by Mhairi McFarlane My rating: 3 of 5 stars 2.5 stars rounded up First off, it should be noted the romance in this book was limited to approximately 2 chapters out of the 57 total in the book. Do not go into this book expecting a very romantic book as you will be disappointed. What the book does offer is a reflection on relationships one has throughout their life and how they can affect you. Family, friend, romantic, roommate/tenant, even employee/employer is explored in some way. The strongest part of the book, for me, was when the women who had the same emotionally abusive ex as Harriet (the main character) found each other and took down the ex publicly. I would have massively preferred the story end here but it DIDN'T. I was perfectly OK accepting the written out "hahaha"s and the ghosts of boyfriends past stuff until the very end when a romance was shoved in at the last minute. I would have even been OK with the romanc...

A Coup of Tea by Casey Blair My rating: 4 of 5 stars Horse rating: 🐴 of five horses ARC difficulty: walking bridge Expected publication: August 2nd 2022 This is a lovely little YA story of a princess finding her own way and building a found family in the process. It is reminiscent of Tamora Pierce for me, very nostalgic since I grew up on those kinds of fantasy stories. As other reviewers have noted, this is a very earnest story, and I think it works well for its genre. It has some very nice rep without being an information pamphlet or feeling performative. I think it has good messages, even as it is delivered a little blatantly. “Not all witches are women,” I say automatically. Our current understanding is that all witches are born with female reproductive organs, but that isn’t the same.   Plotwise, it has a fun adventure/fantasy plot with the requisite mean villain who is a little two dimensional. It has very nice descriptions, maybe a little heavy on them a...

Too Hot to Touch by Katy James My rating: 4 of 5 stars 3.5 stars rounded up This book was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I enjoyed a lot about it such as the creating community, the emotional journey the male main character went on with his sexuality, the fact the diverse sexuality came from the male main character (super uncommon in straight romance!), the inclusion of updates on the couple from the previous book without it being shoehorned in, and how divergent the personalities of the two main characters were and how they tried to make it work. There was also a lot that gave me pause. For example, the female main character is teaching a college course, albeit a non credit course, and never stopped to consider the ethical implications of involving herself with one of her students even if they did sort of know each other already. I don't mind that it was a student/teacher hook up initially but this wasn't even used as a titillating setup it...

  The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian My rating: 5 of 5 stars Expected publication: June 7th, 2022  "There is something inexpressibly masculine about expecting to be believed." I read the first book in this series, The Queer Principles of Kit Webb, last year and was left with a lot of questions by the way it ended. Where did Marian go? Where did Rob go? Why do Kit and Percy (the main characters from the first book) have Marian's baby?? Fortunately, this book answers many of those questions. The story begins in medias res and runs parallel to Kit Webb in a way that does not feel heavy-handed or repetitive of the events of the first book. I loved the use of the blackmail letters between Marian and Rob as a storytelling device to show the development of their relationship. It felt real that Marian would go to Rob and that Rob would see Marian as his equal (or better). The book has several of my favorite tropes (only one bed! road trip! horses! larce...