OCT - A Knight To Remember

October review for Book Riot's Read Harder 2017: A Knight To Remember by Bridget Essex, 2014. [LGBTQ+ romance novel category]

We were pretty pumped to find a cheesy lesbian romance novel to read on our road trips, but we were a little disappointed in this one. First of all, the premise is that this woman has been with her partner for FOUR years and they haven't moved in together? What? It was hard to suspend our disbelief for that, but we managed. 

OK. General Rundown. A Knight To Remember is about Holly, a lesbian librarian (lesbrarian?) who is in an unhappy relationship with a terrible woman who loves her cell phone and her startup more than her girlfriend. After a disastrous evening at the Renaissance Fest, Holly finds a mysterious and magical lady knight in her backyard during a storm and falls for her immediately--because she sounds pretty awesome. Turns out Virago (the knight) accidentally came here from her world while fighting a beast, which also happens to be here, and so they have to find it and finish it off. Just your typical romance quest. (Keep in mind that Virago is pretty much everything Holly has ever wanted in a woman but was so OK with settling that she never thought to look for. And she's still *technically* dating that other woman.)

So. I really wanted to like this book. I think it could've been so good. It had all the trappings! But I had to wait 236 pages for even a damn kiss, which is not something I look for in a romance novel. Also, I'm unsure anyone proofread this book, or told the author that when she found a phrase she liked, she probably shouldn't use it eight more times in the span of two pages. (I had writer problems with this book.) There is a happy ending and a relatively accurate and female gaze-centered sex scene, although only one. Maybe sometime I'll get drunk and judgey and read the sequel?