I usually start these posts by saying I’ve been reading a lot of standalones lately, but that’s not the case recently. As I keep mentioning, I’m still on the lookout for great series and I have been continuing a few but I do still find myself reaching for standalones, especially romance ones, as they tend to be shorter.
Circe by Madeline Miller
I feel like everyone has read this by now, but if you haven’t, you must check it out. It’s so immersive. Madeline Miller is an incredible story teller, she knows just the right amount of heartbreak and emotion to weave into her stories and this one got me good.
It took me a while to get into, but once I was in, it wouldn’t let go. I highly highly recommend you check this out. Like now.
Synopsis: In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child–neither powerful like her father nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power: the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.
Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts, and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.
But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from or with the mortals she has come to love.
The Alice Equation by Davina Stone
In hindsight, I think I enjoyed this book more than my review conveys. I hold romance books to a different standard than other genres, meaning I’m a little more lenient when it comes to cheesy dialogue and simple plots.
I love fake dating books, which we all definitely know by now, and this one is pretty fun. Alice fake dates her best friend that she’s been in love with for years. There’s a lot of angst, which I love.
Synopsis: Three months of fake dating your best friend?
No problem…
Unless you are an anxiety-prone bookworm called Alice Montgomery, and you’ve had a secret crush on said best friend since uni.
Aaron Blake has no intention of falling for anyone, he’s pretty sure he missed out on the love gene. And certainly never, ever Alice. She’s his only friend-who-is-a-girl and he has no intention of messing that up.
But when Alice agrees to fake date Aaron to help him land a top attorney job, (on the condition he teaches her how to flirt) Aaron soon finds out that friendship first and attraction second is an equation he’d never done the math on.
And when secrets from the past surface with dramatic consequences, both Alice and Aaron will have to re-do the sums on this crazy little thing called love…
A sweet and steamy friends-to-lovers romance about finding love and finding out who you really are…
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