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sararo's review
3.0
Mixed bag of novellas. First three were a solid three stars each; Alyssa Cole's contribution was five stars for me. So a total of 3.5 stars rounded down.
kjcharles's review
ETA: I wrote this in the depths of politics-related misery, which hasn't lifted, but in my gloom I seem to have failed to express one of the more important points, ie that this is a really good romance read. If you enjoy historical romance, get to it.
***
Historical romance, and I wish it read like a historical curiosity.
These are stories about voter suppression. About men who don't want woman to vote, and white people who don't want POC to vote, and men's brutality to women, and America's shameful, grotesque history of racism and violence towards POC and WOC in particular.
It's a romance anthology. It's about finding the courage to fight on in dark times, and finding someone who'll fight with you, and not giving up hope, and rejoicing in who you are instead of letting a bigoted society make you ashamed, and in that it's as timely as anything I've read. It tells us that love and decency and common humanity will triumph, and writing on the day Donald Trump has been elected president, that's a message I need to hear and believe in.
This is America's past, and maybe America's present, but if there's one thing this book tells us, it's that this doesn't have to be America's future. People can do better. We have to.
I don't have the spoons to write much more today but just to note that all of it is a strong, hard-hitting collection, and if Alyssa Cole is the standout, that's because she is unquestionably one of the best writers in the entire field of romance at the moment.
***
Historical romance, and I wish it read like a historical curiosity.
These are stories about voter suppression. About men who don't want woman to vote, and white people who don't want POC to vote, and men's brutality to women, and America's shameful, grotesque history of racism and violence towards POC and WOC in particular.
It's a romance anthology. It's about finding the courage to fight on in dark times, and finding someone who'll fight with you, and not giving up hope, and rejoicing in who you are instead of letting a bigoted society make you ashamed, and in that it's as timely as anything I've read. It tells us that love and decency and common humanity will triumph, and writing on the day Donald Trump has been elected president, that's a message I need to hear and believe in.
This is America's past, and maybe America's present, but if there's one thing this book tells us, it's that this doesn't have to be America's future. People can do better. We have to.
I don't have the spoons to write much more today but just to note that all of it is a strong, hard-hitting collection, and if Alyssa Cole is the standout, that's because she is unquestionably one of the best writers in the entire field of romance at the moment.
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