Loathe to Love You is a compilation of Hazelwood’s previously released “STEMinist” novellas with the addition of a bonus chapter, which is told from the male main characters’ points of view and takes place a few years into the future.
In the first novella, Under One Roof, environmental engineer Mara moves into the house that her recently deceased mentor, Helena, left to her. But moving into the house means that Mara must live with Helena’s handsome yet annoying nephew Liam, who owns half of the house. In the second novella, Stuck with You, civil engineer Sadie literally gets stuck in an elevator during a power outage with the man who broke her heart, Erik. In the last novella, Below Zero, NASA aerospace engineer Hannah gets injured and stranded while she is working at a remote arctic research station. The only person who is willing and able to undertake Hannah’s dangerous rescue is Hannah’s nemesis, Ian. Mara, Sadie, and Hannah are women in STEM and best friends; each novella focuses on a different couple, but the stories are interconnected; thus, the 3 novellas should be read together and in order. Each novella in Loathe to Love You features a short, opposites attract, “enemies to lovers” rom com with forced proximity and miscommunication. Some themes present include love and heartbreak, death and grief, appearance versus reality, family and found family, facing fears, isolation, and change. Loathe to Love You would be absolutely perfect for fans of Hazelwood’s previous novels, The Love Hypothesis and Love on the Brain. I would also recommend Loathe to Love You to fans of interconnected rom coms like the Bergman Brothers series by Chloe Liese, the Brown Sisters trilogy by Talia Hibbert, and the A Brush with Love series by Mazey Eddings. You should also check out Loathe to Love You if you enjoy romances featuring women in STEM such as Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon or The Astronaut and the Star by Jen Comfort. Overall, I enjoyed reading each of the novellas and I appreciated the addition of the bonus chapter, which showcases what each of the three couples are up to post happily ever after. All the novellas were super short (in my opinion, they could each be read in one sitting), fast-paced, and entertaining. Since each of the novellas were so short in length, I appreciated that they were interconnected as I felt like this helped to keep moving the plot moving forward and helped to keep me engaged in the stories. Even though I enjoyed all the novellas, I liked the second chance romance in Stuck with You the best; I enjoyed how the story flashed back to reveal Sadie and Erik’s romantic history (including a sweet meet cute) and I liked the elevator setting (the couple was forced to communicate as they were literally trapped together). On the downside, since I love Ali Hazelwood’s work, I would have liked it if each of the novellas were longer, or perhaps even full-length novels. Also, even though I enjoyed reading Loathe to Love You, I felt like the characters and plot weren’t as memorable as those in Hazelwood’s previous novels. Lastly, since I bought all 3 of the e-novellas separately before I knew that they were going to be compiled and published in a print version, it would have been nice if there was more bonus content included in Loathe to Love You. Overall, I enjoyed Loathe to Love You and would recommend it fans of short and steamy rom coms!
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Queen of Myth and Monsters picks up right after the events of King of Battle and Blood – so, you will need to read King of Battle and Blood first before picking up a copy of Queen of Myth and Monsters. Isolde is adjusting to her new role as Queen while grieving the death of her father and searching for a traitor in her mist. Whilst looking for ways to defeat Ravena and the deadly blood mist, Isolde reconnects to her magic and acquires some new abilities. Isolde also attempts to regain some of Yesenia’s memories and ends up learning some of Adrian’s secrets as well. Lastly, threats to Lara cause Adrian and Isolde to prepare for a vampire war. Queen of Myth and Monsters is a fast-paced and spicy paranormal romance novel suitable for adults. It would be perfect for fans of From Blood and Ash or A Shadow in the Ember by Jennifer L. Armentrout, the A Court of Thorns and Roses or Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas, and the Grishaverse books by Leigh Bardugo. This book deals with a ton of themes including appearance versus reality, darkness versus light, change versus tradition, religion, quest for power, love and heartbreak, family, female roles and feminism, fate versus freewill, strength, war and sacrifice, death, deception, secrets and lies, loyalty, betrayal, and reincarnation. I’ll admit that I was nervous to start Queen of Myth and Monsters; it had been over a year since I had read King of Battle and Blood so I was concerned that I’d forgotten most of the important information revealed at the end of King of Battle and Blood and would therefore be confused when I started Queen of Myth and Monsters. As such, I ended up rereading the last chapter of King of Battle and Blood before starting Queen of Myth and Monsters (and I would recommend this to other readers as well). To avoid this problem, it would have been helpful if St. Clair had provided a quick recap at the beginning of Queen of Myth and Monsters; like the preface provided at the beginning of each book in the Ice Planet Barbarians series by Ruby Dixon.
My main complaint is that Queen of Myth and Monsters seemed to end rather abruptly and in a bit of a cliff hanger; I personally would have liked it if St. Clair had included a few more chapters at the end to better wrap up the story. Again, I will probably have to go back and reread the last chapter of Queen of Myth and Monsters before I read book 3 as a lot of important information and discoveries were revealed. I also personally wasn’t a fan of all the political and religious elements (like people claiming to be saint-like or goddess-blessed) that St. Clair included in this book as I found them rather confusing. Lastly, there was a fair number of gory descriptions as well as a brief recount of rape included in this book, which may be off-putting or triggering to some readers.
Overall, even though I had trouble getting into it, I enjoyed reading Queen of Myth and Monsters and would highly recommend it to fellow paranormal romance readers. |
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February 2024
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