Skip to main content

REVIEW: Any Trope But You by Victoria Lavine

 

Popular romance author Margot Bradley has a secret: she doesn't believe in Happily Ever Afters. Not for herself, not for her readers, not even for her characters. When a super-fan leaks this to the world, Margot is dropped faster than you can say 'enemies-to-lovers.'

Her sister thinks she needs a change of scene and sends Margot off to a remote Alaskan cabin on a writing retreat that could be the perfect chance to say goodbye to romcoms and write something new - maybe swap meet-cutes for murder mysteries? But then she meets the handsome owner, Forrest.

As one trope after another draws them together over long snowy nights, one thing is clear: Margot and Forrest have landed in a romance novel of their very own. But will they each be able to overcome their fears, or risk becoming another of Margot's Happily Never Afters themselves...

"I live in perpetual fear that my fans will somehow learn the truth about me. That beneath all the romance tropes and triple-orgasm sex scenes I peddle like snake oil, I'm more jaded about love than a former Bachelorette star, mid-divorce. I know it begs the question: How can she write romance novels if she believes love is Satans pyramid scheme?" 

Review:

What’s your favourite romance trope? Grumpy/sunshine? One bed? Enemies to lovers? Slow burn romance? Once bitten, twice shy? Struggling family business? Multiple suitors? City girl/country boy? Forced proximity? Or … all of them?

This book is both a fabulous quip about our most loved cliches and a celebration of them all in one — bringing us a delightful narrator who hates everything about the very romance novels she creates finding herself living one, with much protest. I could literally feel Margot’s eye rolls through the pages — she was delightful. She had so much love, a huge heart - but jaded and confused and honestly done with the idea of Happy Ever After. I loved her relationship with her sister - seeing someone with chronic pain and health issues who seeks solace and peace in reading was like looking in a mirror and she really encapsulated the way so many of us feel about escaping into a story. A self confessed “indoor cat” who finds herself hilariously in the wilderness and just waiting for romcom antics to occur. Top tip: maybe don’t read this in public because cause you will laugh out loud or blush.

"What I didn't understand about Happily Ever After is that there are some people who come into your life - even for just a moment - who have the power to fundamentally change you forever. They're the people who see right through all your masks, and all your bullshit, and love you anyway."

Margot and our new delicious book boyfriend Forest share being the narrator, showing us a sweet, steamy love story from both sides and my god, I ate it up. It had everything - the fun tropes, the sickeningly sweet romance, intensity steamy sex (clearly written for woman, I needed a fan) and just enough angst and worry for some added flair. Think missing tents on a mountaintop, major life decisions, former heartbreaks and the trip of a lifetime.

This book was the literary equivalent of a hot chocolate- warm, cosy, steamy , indulgent, unbearably sweet and just so, so much fun.


⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


  • Any Trope But You will be available from April 10th with Bonnier Books. I received a reviewers copy of this title.  

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

REVIEW: This Could Be Us by Clare McGowan

Genre: Fiction | Literary Fiction Release Date: Expected 1st June 2023 Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group | Corsair  Kate has done the unthinkable. She'd worked hard to build a perfect life for herself, while ignoring her growing unhappiness. But when her second child was born profoundly disabled, reality hit. Unable to cope, Kate left - disappearing without a trace. She ends up in LA, with a glittering career and a new family of sorts, but the guilt is still suffocating. Husband Andrew was left to pick up the pieces and care for their disabled daughter and angry, confused son. Bereft and broken, he leaned on Olivia, Kate's best friend. She's been by his side ever since, ignoring her own needs to meet his. Years later, Andrew has written a memoir about his daughter learning to communicate against all odds. But when Kate's new producer husband decides he wants to make a film of it, their worlds collide once again. Now, Kate must return to the life she abandoned and reck...
Post a Comment
Read more

REVIEW: Live, Laugh, Lesbian by Helen Scott

Genre: Non-Fiction | Memoir | LGTBQ+  Release Date: 19th October 2023 Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Part memoir, part guide, part conversation and all queer joy — Live, Laugh, Lesbian is a brilliantly warm and friendly journey into the queer experience, not only from the author but from plenty of other lesbian, queer, bisexual and pansexual contributors who bring a unique viewpoint and voice and also show a beautiful diverse, intersectional scope of the queer spectrum and welcomes in queer people and allies of any kind to come feel the love. The book is very conversational, talking to the reader in a fun, friendly way — at times I rolled my eyes as the use of “famalam” but as a previous patron of Colours and Chicagos I’m not in a position to judge the Essex-isms. It’s full of anecdotes and observations that were witty and relatable as well as talking is through the more difficult side of queerness like dealing with workplace discrimination, religious trauma and coming out to family...
Post a Comment
Read more

BOOK TOUR STOP x RANDOM THINGS TOURS: Thirty Days of Darkness by Jenny Lund Madsen

  " This town has secrets that are best left alone." Author Hannah is a success, on paper at least. She's receiving critical acclaim and praise worldwide and her work is regarded as some of the best. She writes literature, not just books. But the reality is, outside of the literary circles nobody actually reads her work. But when she finally snaps at a book event and publicly criticises the genre fiction books that outsell hers, claiming they're easy and mindless she's challenged to write her own crime fiction novel in just thirty days by an author she loathes. Desperate not to lose to him, her editor arranges for her to spend a month in a quiet, cold village in Iceland hoping that the solitude will spark inspiration.  But instead of writing a murder story - she's in one . Just before she arrives, the body of a young man is pulled from the icy waters and her search for ideas soon becomes a search for a killer. And if she's not careful, she might end up the...
Post a Comment
Read more