"All the Feels" by Olivia Dade

Last year I read Spoiler Alert by this author, and All the Feels is set in the same world but follows different characters who had only episodic appearances in book 1. I have to be frank and state up front that I did not like the first book. In fact, I DNF’ed about half way through. My main problem with it was the insta-love and I just hated all the sex scenes. Something about Dade’s writing just did not agree with me.

Now on to book two. In All the Feels, we follow Alex and Lauren’s story. Alex is an actor on the same TV show that we learned about in book one. Lauren was hired by the studio to be his minder and keep him out of trouble. I enjoyed this book much more than the first one. Largely, I would say it is because the romance between Alex and Lauren develops gradually over a span of several months. They get to know each other’s backgrounds and become friends before any romantic feelings emerge. 

That being said, I do still have some issues with Dade’s writing and I think I can now put my finger on what it is. As in book one, we have the heroine who has a larger body and does not fit what would be normally considered the standard notion of beauty. The hero on the other hand, is unbelievably fit and sexy. In addition, in both books the hero has a minor learning/medical disorder. Marcus had dyslexia and Alex has ADHD. What I find a bit uncomfortable is that on the one hand the author seems to want to challenge the established standards of beauty that in romance novels would be exemplified by a gorgeous, fit, slender heroine. On the other hand, her heroes tend to be unrealistically (think, literally movie star quality) beautiful and sexy. The narrative repeatedly emphasizes the hero’s “lean limbs” and “fit body”. So I am not sure why she literally applies this double standard to female and male characters. Also, I was not sure why she needed to endow both of them with learning/mental health disorders. Was that to balance out their gorgeous bodies? 

The other thing that grated on me was the fact the author repeatedly called the main heroine “ugly”. Now, Lauren might have irregular features, or be plain, or unremarkable looking. But ugly? I do think this author needs to tone down her descriptions a bit. 

Finally, I find some of the dialogue between friends incredibly jarring: lots of profanity and sass to the point of rudeness. Yes, I get it, they are close. It does not mean they should be constantly calling each other names. Maybe I live under a rock, but it reads very unrealistic and frankly, makes me cringe. 

Many romance novels have unrealistic plots and situations, but in Dade’s writing they seem especially contrived and over the top. I did like this book better than book 1. My rating is 2.5 out of 5 stars and I think I am done with this author.

An e-ARC was provided by NetGalley.com

A Murder Mystery Set During the COVID-19 Lockdown

56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard is officially the first book I've read that features the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically it is set in the early days of the global pandemic in March-April 2020. The events take place in Dublin, Ireland. Ciara and Oliver meet right before the first lockdown. They are both new in town, they go on a few dates and since both of them are going to be working from home for the next two weeks, they decide to hunker down together in Oliver's apartment rather than spend this time in isolation. Now, 56 days later, there is a dead body in that apartment and the police are here to investigate.

I cannot say much more about the plot for fear of spoiling it. It is one of those mystery novels that you are much better of going into blind. I will however, comment on the writing. The author does a great job with character development. Even though the novel is only 300 pages, we really get to know Ciara and Oliver as well as the two detectives who are called to the crime scene. 

This book features multiple points of view and several different timelines. I think this worked very well in this novel and also allowed the author to drop several big reveals when least expected. Overall, I very much enjoyed this novel. 5 out of 5 stars. 

"The Wolf and the Woodsman" by Ava Reid

The Wolf and the Woodsman is a dark fantasy novel steeped in Jewish and Hungarian mythology. I have to agree with the description on Goodreads that those readers who liked Naomi Novik and Katherine Arden's novels will probably like this book as well. Our main character Evike is from a pagan tribe, where women wear wolf cloaks and wield magic. Evike, however, has no magic, and when the Woodsmen come to take their regular tribute of a girl, she is given to the Woodsmen instead of a seer. So begins the story set in a fascinating world that has equivalents of paganism, Christianity and Judaism, and each religion has its own distinct kind of magic. I for one did really like this world, the characters and the love story between Evike and the Woodsman. I would say this book is much darker than Novik's or Arden's novels, and would make a great October read for the spooky season. I rated it 4 out of 5 stars and hope the author will keep writing. This was her debut novel.