Welcome to Litsy!

I‘m glad to see these two get their HEA, but I‘m also glad this was a novella and not a full length novel. Lydia is fine, really, but I can only take her in small doses. 😂

Courtney Milan is one of my favorite new-to-me authors this year. This is a novella and book 1.5 in the Brothers Sinister series. I was happy to read Lydia and Jonas‘ story after book 1. I feel like this is hard to summarize. The characters deal with some heavy topics personally and also there are discussions about medical treatments and society at the time. In this one, I learned what a French letter and a Dutch cap are.

Jonas' story with his father was emotionally resonant, Lydia's grappling with past trauma felt at least somewhat realistic, and the book contains a lot of the progressive politics I tend to appreciate in Milan's works. Still, I found that Milan gave mixed messaging in terms of consent, victim blaming, etc., the romance was pretty meh, and this is barely a holiday romance at all--it could have taken place at any time of year.

This one had some heavy topics and feelings, but is also a lovely little romance novella set during the Christmas season. All the feels.

#BookishBingo: Character seeks a fresh start
#AtoZ

4/5

This was a quick and seasonally appropriate read. I continue to enjoy Courtney Milan's books, and this novella was another fun read.

My least favorite so far. Again, I would have liked a longer book with more space to spread out. In particular, we're told at the beginning that she thinks he's cruel and sarcastic, and he thinks she's overly cheerful, but we don't really see either of those traits before their relationship starts to change, in my opinion. I also had issues with suspension of disbelief with some of their interactions.

Still fun, but not as strong as the others.

I was going to quit for the moment after two books in this series, but then I saw that the next one is a Christmas-themed novella. Since we're in the very short window of time in the year when I'm capable of having remotely positive feelings about Christmas, I think I'd better knock this one out now.

Just reread the first novella and book, so I was happy to read Lydia's story. Courtney Milan is now definitely up there in the favorites list!

This book is nothing like I expected but so very much a Courtney Milan novel. Lydia and Jonas' relationship and how it begins is so out of the ordinary that it works, and I enjoyed reading. It wasn't my favourite book from the Brothers Sinister series but it was still 👌🏼

Yup... suffice to say I'm hooked on Courtney Milan! #romantsy

These Christmas romances really got me through the last few weeks. I always get in such a rut this time of year!

This made for a lovely start to my holiday reading. The heroine's afraid to love again, while the hero's so blunt he puts her off at first brush. The two of them make a good team, though, and as their story unfolds they come to understand each other in all sorts of emotionally (and physically) charged ways. I teared up more than once. #romantsy

I should've started a nonrenewable library book next, but I couldn't resist my first holiday romance of the season. #romantsy

A quick read. Fun, but again not terribly historically accurate, in my opinion.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I kept putting this novella aside to read other things on my TBR for some reason. It was cute. I appreciated how sex-positive it is. I wanted to slap Lydia for her cluelessness with regard to Grantham's affections - seriously. The resolution felt rushed, and the banter was just ok. The relationship between Grantham and his father did build well and I teared up a couple of times. Looking forward to the next in the series! #romantsy

Lovely in between novella, I really like that all her characters are a little bit flawed.

4 out of 5 stars.

Monday reading choice. Knocked it out by dinner. Back to back Milan books are giving me a great book hangover.