It's a difficult trope to get right, friends to lovers with a beta hero, and Morgan didn't quite manage it.

For two people so clearly battling with mutual attraction for years, apparently, the transition from friends to lovers was more difficult than it needed to be. The author threw in unnecessary obstacles or plot twists on their way to get Fletcher and Lexie admit their feelings to one another. 



I didn't understand why Sean, the brother between the couple, needed to be villanised the way he was. He wasn't shown to be the best friend to Fletcher he was told to have been, and his brotherly teasing of his twin sister went just a little too far for the story. I now wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that Sean is gay. 


On my list of nitpickings is a mention of that shower sex: For two people intent on saving lives they need to pay more attention to saving the Earth, which is to say: TURN OFF THE WATER FIRST!



Thank you.


Well, that was fun. Much better than I expected from a Jane Austen fanfic. I'm not a fan of the many what if's written about Mr and Mrs Darcy, but add a little magic—er, glamour—into the mix and I'll read it.

Disclaimer: No, actually I won't. I think Kowal filled my quota.

Misses Jane and Melody Ellsworth are like Elinor and Marianne Dashwood with a little Anne Elliot thrown into the mix. Mr Ellsworth is Mr Bennet with a little more sense and Mrs Ellsworth is Mrs Bennet with a little less sensibility. The hero is Mr Darcy with something extra and Ms Dunkirk is a mix of Georgiana Darcy and a Harriet Smith. There might have been hints of Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey too (there definitely were) but as those aren't my favourites I can't be relied upon to recognise those references.

…and if you know your Jane Austen, I've just told you the plot of the book.

What remains wholly original to Kowal, as far as I can tell, is glamour. It's the sort of magic that has become an art young, distinguished ladies practice like they would practice music or embroidery. Glamour is about manipulating ether to create fixed illusions or coaxing berries to ripen a little faster. It's very tiring and can cause an over-eager glamourist to swoon. The only way to get better at it is to become smarter.

Towards the end Jane and her intended did start to become their own characters to me, but it was like talking to a person and recognising their parents' distinct features on their face: That might not be Lizzie's nose but the ears are Anne's.

Originally posted on Love in the Margins.

If I learned one thing from Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies, it was that zombies and romance don’t mix. Then Alisha Rai proved me wrong.

In three or four generations this world will be ashes, Shadows, and survivors. The government is split and so are people. Humans did this to themselves with bombs and the Illness that turns people into Shadows. Or, you know, zombies who have lost the pigment in their hair, skin and eyes, which is why they have a fancy name here.

Originally posted on Love in the Margins.

If I learned one thing from Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies, it was that zombies and romance don’t mix. Then Alisha Rai proved me wrong.

In three or four generations this world will be ashes, Shadows, and survivors. The government is split and so are people. Humans did this to themselves with bombs and the Illness that turns people into Shadows. Or, you know, zombies who have lost the pigment in their hair, skin and eyes, which is why they have a fancy name here.