mspilesofpaper's reviews
856 reviews

Meddelin "Meddy" Chan's mother set up a blind date for her daughter with a rich hotel owner whom the mother met on an online dating app. Unwillingly, Meddy agrees to meet with the man and ends up killing him; accidentally of course. In panic, she drives home and ends up with her mother and aunties trying to help get rid of the body, which turns out to be much more complicated than any of them expected. Especially with an over-the-top billionaire wedding at an island resort to take care of as it is the family's biggest job for their wedding business yet. Things just become even worse when Meddy sees her college love, her first love, again at the wedding. As the hotel owner ... What is going on?


Dial A for Aunties is certainly a contemporary fiction novel but it does not really fit into a subcategory as it is 1/3 contemporary romance, 1/3 contemporary crime with humour and 1/3 social commentary about SEA/EA culture, family structures and traditions that can cause actual issues. With a sprinkle of racism as parts of the "how to get rid of the body" stems from "we cannot go to the police, no one will believe us as we are immigrants". Plus, there's a racist sheriff towards the end (although he feels like satire as well). The additional mystery feels very shallow as well. 

The entire story is very fast-paced and just ... well, wild. Each scene/chapter might make sense on its own but combined with the rest, it just left me flabbergasted. It isn't cohesive because they jump from "we have to get rid of the body" to "wedding stuff" to "aunties and mother being overbearing and/or fighting with each other" to "Meddy making out with her ex". It's just crazy and exhausting. Especially since everything is always so over-the-top and you can't really take anything seriously. While I might be white, I have read enough EA/SEA novels by now to have a basic understanding of their cultures and the aunties are just caricatures of them. They are very exaggerated and so over-the-top that it's just exhausting to read. Everything is about filial piety and respecting your elders to the point where Meddy cannot do anything out of fear and they always argue about the body instead of being realistic about it. I can understand why their husbands and children left them. I would have left as well because it must have been exhausting to grow up with such mothers.

All the characters are very one-dimensional and just feel like stereotypes. Meddy is the dutiful Asian daughter who's a complete people pleaser/push over due to it. The aunties are just caricatures of actual aunties (including their arguments). The ex, Nathan, is the stereotypical besotted ex-boyfriend who's still in love with our main character despite their break up at the end of college (So 3-4 years ago?). The Sheriff is the stereotypical dumb, racist one who doesn't want any mainlander (especially not foreigners) on his beloved island where he rules; he can't tell the Asians apart because "you all look alike to me" and he doesn't believe in modern technology that helps in police work either. The groom is an arrogant nepo baby, the bride is super sweet but slightly stupid. The maid of honour is a joke and just as stupid as the bride. The rest of the characters are just names.

The end is extremely rushed and unrealistic but by the time, I was just glad to be done with the book. While parts of it made me laugh, the overall story just exhausted me and I had no actual interest in continuing the book. 

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this eArc.

Theo and Kit used be to best friends, crushes and lovers. Now, they are just estranged exes after a fight on a flight to Paris to start their European food and wine tour. The fight was several years ago and they have finally to make use of the voucher or the money will be forever gone. When Theo boarded the tour bus as one of the last participants, they didn't realise that Kit would be there as well. Three weeks through Europe, visiting three countries that are deeply connected with delicious food and wine, but also with love, passion and romance: France, Spain and Italy. Of course, they are fine with having to do the tour together - they are over each other. They are so over each other that they have a competition to see who can hook up with more locals.


My experience with McQuiston books is a mixed one: 5 ⭐ for Red, White and Royal Blue, 4 ⭐ for I kissed Shara Wheeler (despite unlikeable characters), and 2.5⭐ for One Last Stop. So, on average: 3.8 ⭐ for her books. I did not expect another 5-star read but the book's summary made me think "ah, yes I think I will like it". Fun fact: by ~20%, I realised how much I dislike the book and I wish it would have become better instead of worse. By ~50%, I just resigned to my fate of forcing myself through it to finish the eARC.

The Pairing is an extreme case of "expectations vs. reality". I did expect a second-chance romance where two male lovers realise, while touring through France, Spain and Italy, that they still love each other. The reality is that it is an over-sexualised book with copy-paste parts from food and travel blogs, and with two bisexuals (1 non-binary and 1 cis but both are white) main characters as lovers. The entire book gives me #EuroSummer vibes because it is an over-romanticised view of Europe. As a European who knows some stops from the tour: yes, they can be beautiful but every description of a town/city sounded as if McQuiston was never there and just read three travel blogs (that tend to glamourise their trips to France/Spain/Italy) before copy-pasting those descriptions into the book. Right now, I'm a very tired European. Europe is not a theme park, guys!

As for the over-sexualisation: every character is portrayed as bisexual/pansexual and is down to fuck after meeting Kit/Theo for a second. Every character is either young and beautiful or older and attractive (e.g., Émile as a salt & pepper billionaire who is a bisexual yacht owner who wants a threesome). Everything is so beautiful that it makes characters horny/makes them think of sex. Likely, I am by far too asexual to understand it but why do allosexuals look at food and think "oh yes, I want to fuck now"? The fact that everyone wants constantly sex (to the point that a foursome/orgy is going on with 4 - 5 side characters) makes the entire book so vapid and pointless. I hated it. My best friend received several voice messages of me ranting about the book and how much I hate it. Please, do not get me started on the fucking peach scene ... it will haunt me forever.

Concerning Theo and Kit: I hate them. Theo (actually Theodora) is a non-binary (playing with the concept of being trans) bisexual who is a nepo baby and the definition of "woe me" who acts like the victim despite being the one who is responsible for the bullshit. Their part is the first part of the book and I hated every second of it. When they are not horny and try to fuck someone/Kit, they describe alcoholic beverages in extensive terms that mean nothing to someone who doesn't drink but they all sound like they come from a pretentious food blog. Their struggle with being a nepo baby (as their parents and siblings are famous) is basically "I act like I am poor because I cannot accept the help of my family to start a business". I can understand it that they don't want to accept money from their parents but their sister offered it multiple times, no strings attached, as a loan or an investment into Theo's business idea but they keep saying no because "I do not want to rely on my connections". If I would be able to meet Theo in real life, I would be like "Theo, fuck you. Your family loves and cares about you. Stop acting as if you have no options and need to be poor/do everything on your own when your family would help you to start your business. Not everyone has such a good support net!" because they are insufferable as fuck. Kit is also a nepo baby and his part of the book, the second part, is slightly more acceptable than the first part but I might think like this because it was easy to skip due to extensive scenes of: sex, sex, sex, architecture/art described in food terms, Kit being whiny about how much he loves Theo, sex. Both of them are vapid and their main characteristic is "being horny". They are so horny for each other and other people, it does not even occur to them that someone wants to spend an evening with them as a friend.

As for the side characters: they are not developed. If they were removed from the book, the book wouldn't be any different. With each chapter, the tour group becomes smaller or there are suddenly side characters that have never been introduced. Fabrizio feels like a caricature of a tour guide/an Italian.

As for the romance: I do like second chance romances when they are well done in terms of emotional development and growing to realise "Ohh, it's always been you". Unfortunately, The Pairing is a horrible case of second chance romance as the emotional development of falling in love again (or realising the "Ohh, it's always been you") happens mostly off-page as McQuiston considered never-ending sex scenes as more important. All I know about their romance is that they function well when it comes to sex but have zero ability to actually communicate with each other. Their fight on the plane that led to the break-up? Happens because of bad communication and a lack of communication afterwards. The only positive scene in the entire novel that concerns their relationship is Theo's coming out as non-binary to Kit and Kit easily accepting it because "you are bigger than one gender", and from there onwards, Kit uses they/them for Theo. (Previously, it is she/her and other characters consider Theo as female as well.)

Spice level: 3 🌶️

TW: alcohol consumption, graphic sex scenes, death of parent, difficult parent-child relationship, toxic relationship (bullying of each other, it is a kink for them)

Tl;dr: A romance book with two vapid, two-dimensional main characters who want to fuck everyone but especially each other, who are extremely entitled nepo babies who do not realise their privileges while they fuck their way through an over-romanticised portrayal of France, Spain and Italy where everyone and everything is down to fuck with them. The research that went into the book feels just as vapid and as if the author read 3 - 5 travel blogs and food blogs. Harmful portrayal of bisexuals who want to fuck everyone (plays into "they see prey, not people" stereotype) to top everything off. 

Repeat after me please: 👏🏻tropes👏🏻do👏🏻not👏🏻replace👏🏻a 👏🏻 plot👏🏻. 

It is badly written bull shit that's based on every trope imaginable and extremely flat characters. Elara and Enzo are walking Mary Sues without any personality. Of course they are powerful and brash and have the hots for each other.

I hate booktok and their tendency to hype up books that aren't worth it. Especially books that require tons of editing because the amount of grammar mistakes and spelling errors is painful.

There's a daddy/bunny relationship and then there's ... this nightmare of a romance. Dylan (the MMC) is a 33 years old single dad who's working as CFO for his family's company (real estate, makes you apparently billionaires) with a stick up his ass, utterly boring and is supposed to be a grump when he's just bleak and "I can't be in a relationship because I'm dedicated to my child and I got my heart broken". He also treats Marlow (the FMC) like an actual child, just because she's 10 years younger and so ✨quirky✨. The author decided to let her be neurodivergent (no actual diagnosis because "symptoms are different for everyone!" but it reads like a stereotypical portrayal of ADHD) but it's more a quirky character trait instead of an actual mental health issue. Of course, she's a free spirit who can't commit to anything (studying, hobbies, ...) if it isn't art (textured flowers ...) but even here, she's struggling with deadlines. 

By the time I gave up, their relationship hints at a light dom/sub relationship ("good girl", "I might be reserved, but that doesn't mean I don't have a bossy streak in the bedroom"). Including bathing her while she's sick but somehow it's supposed to be sexy? What's sexy at being sweaty as fuck because your body got wrecked by a high fever? Aside from it, it's just insta love/lust. There's a weird time jump at the 2nd chapter to "one year later" after a bad first meeting in the 1st chapter, and suddenly they find each other very attractive but can't have each other for different reasons (not staying permanently in the town, age gap, single dad, she's my nanny, she's too wild/... - it never stops). 

Feels extremely long despite just being ~300 pages, which I blame on the horrible writing style. 

Once, there was a princess of a small kingdom who watched her oldest sister die and her second-oldest sister suffer at the hands of a cruel prince. Marra, the tongue-twisted, anxiety-ridden, shy, third-born daughter escaped the traditional fate of being a princess to be married off to some uncaring prince by being the spare in case the second-oldest princess dies as well. Raised in a convent, though never being a nun, Marra watches her sister suffer at the hands of her husband. Until she has enough and seeks help from a dust-wife who gives her three impossible tasks as part of a deal: to build a dog of bones, to sew a cloak of nettles, and to capture moonlight in a jar. Together with the dust-wife, a fairy godmother, a demon in a hen, and a disgraced ex-knight, Marra sets out to save her sister and to kill a prince.


Nettle & Bone is a dark and twisted fairytale-esque story with a cynical, pessimistic and shy hero who does not want to be a hero. In the first part of the book, we're introduced to Marra who is currently fulfilling the second impossible task that was given to her by the dust-wife: to build a dog out of bones. In a retrospective chapter, we also learn how she sewed a cloak out of nettles (which damaged her left hand). The second part of the book is basically a road trip. The dust-wife and Marra travel together to find help to deal with the task at hand: to kill a prince. A disgraced warrior, Fenris, and a reluctant fairy godmother join their ranks. While the first part is relatively dark and sets the character of Marra, the second part is more fast-paced and funnier due to witty dialogue and more plot points.

I did like Swordheart more because it turns out that twisted fairytale-esque stories are not for me. Though if I would have to describe the book in a few words, it would be: "a darker homebrewed DnD campaign but equally hilarious because the characters pull stuns that the DM did not foresee", which might be a fitting description for the general vibe of all Kingfisher's books because Swordheart also felt like a DnD campaign (though less dark and less fairytale-esque).

Read if you like:
✔️ dark and fairytale-like settings
✔️ older characters (Marra is in her 30s)
✔️ a hint of romance
✔️ found family trope
✔️ books with DnD vibes 

 Maggie a grumpy 48-year-old introvert (with a touch of social anxiety) who lives more or less like a hermit ever since her son went to college. Divorced since five years, she's not even keen to find a new man in her life or to find friends in the small town of Fool's Falls. Until her son makes a deal with her: he will become more social when she does the same. So, she joins an online gaming guild that is led by the calm and friendly healer named Otter whom she believes to be a college student. Otter, who is Aiden in real life and a 50-year-old introvert who takes care of his mother (against her will) and uses the guild as an emotional outlet from his family drama. Otter who becomes quickly friends with Maggie who he only knows as Bogwitch and "I'm old enough to be your mothers". When they finally meet face-to-face, they have to realise that their online friendship works well in real life as well. There's only the issue of being attracted to each other ...

TW: toxic family members, homophobia, latent racism

I didn't realise it when I got the book via Kindle Unlimited but I did read another book by Cathy Yardley; Love, Comment, Subscribe, which I disliked so much because it was very swallow and was based on stereotypes and had a clunky writing style. (Also, there's the issue of it being marketed as "enemies to lovers". I hate marketing that is just based on tropes and not on the plot.) It's good that I didn't realise it because otherwise I wouldn't have gotten Role Playing. While it won't win any literary awards, it's a cute and cosy romance with older main characters and bi- and demisexual representation.

Character-wise, it's the reversed "sunshine and grumpy" trope because Maggie is the grumpy, bitter one (though it's more hard shell, soft flesh) while Aiden is the cinnamon roll who's extremely positive in his outlook (and tends to let people steamroll over him). Neither of them is fit or ripped. They are very normal and I prefer such characters. My critique, character-wise, is that they sometimes felt a lot younger than they are in terms of behaviour because they tend to be rather indecisive and not as mature as you would a Gen X to be. If the age and grey hair hadn't been mentioned, these two could be easily in their 20s.

Story-wise, it could have been better in terms of pace. There's a lot of repetition of how introverted they are/how anti-social/lonely/... (not just monologue-like but also comments from other characters), which gets boring. While it's a large part of the plot that Maggie is certainly too anti-social and that Aiden requires a date for an event, I don't need to read constant comments about it. Plot-wise, it's pretty much a slow-burn small-town romance novel that is built on the "friends to lovers" and "reversed sunshine and grumpy" trope. There's not a lot going on but I liked the focus' on their relationship's development instead of having a case of insta-lust/insta-love.

Spice-wise: it's 2.5 🌶️ from me. There are two somewhat explicit scenes towards the end but they aren't extremely graphic. Compared to other sex scenes, I didn't mind reading them because they felt natural and realistic (including laughing etc) and not like a porno.

As for the bi- and demisexual representation: we need more asexual/demisexual (and aromantic) representation in books, movies and series. Personally, I'm asexual and I struggled for years with "Am I broken? What is wrong with me? Why don't I feel like this?" when everyone around me talked about their crushes and how they wouldn't mind having sex with a specific real-life crush/a celebrity crush/... - Granted, the internet allowed me to realise my own sexuality earlier than Aiden because I stumbled upon asexuality and aromanticism and had my moment of enlightenment, but I wish I had it earlier. It would have made things easier in my 20s. And it hurts me to read 1-star reviews that criticise the representation because "it's silly" and "progressive ideal". It isn't silly. It isn't some political movement. It's someone's sexuality and representation matters.

Read if you like:
✔️ Slow Burn Romance
✔️ Small Town Romance
✔️ Older Characters
✔️ Reverse Sunshine & Grumpy trope
✔️ Friends to Lovers 

It isn't funny and the writing is awful. There are too many paragraphs that I had to re-read to understand what the author was saying. Also the cynical comments about the young med students aren't funny. It's giving Boomer energy. Extra: why the fuck do you need medical attention in Limbo?! You are dead anyways. 

Yeah no, not for me. Extremely confusing world building as it plays heavily with religious themes. Might work if you grew up with Christianity being an important aspect of your life but I'm an atheist. The only time I saw a church from the inside was on vacation in Italy and for art lessons at grammar school. 

Also, confusing characters because there are 7 (I think) characters that start with an A. Why does anyone think that's a wise decision? Especially with the lack of actual descriptions for each character. All I can say is that all 7 are tall and that Aren is very muscular and strong. 🥲

I'm pretty sure that the book has no right to be over 700 pages long either for a slow burn romance and that it would benefit from a good round of editing. Would certainly help with the world building. 

Aurora moves back to the place that was once her home after being forced to start her life anew. Focusing on healing, a small town in Colorado might be the perfect remedy for a broken heart. It might also help that the landlord, who lives just across the driveway, is also an attractive silver fox who grows steadily on Aurora.


All Rhodes Lead Here is an equally cheesy and cringy romance novel with a horrible pun in the book title. It is over 600 pages long and in my opinion, no contemporary romance has the right to be so long. Not even a slow slow burn as it is the case with this book. A good round of editing is required because the majority of the book is filled with Aurora's never-ending inner monologue that feels repetitive and unnecessary. The editing would get rid of the occasional plot holes and non-consistency as well.

Character-wise, I'm not the biggest fan of Aurora as I found her rather annoying. The author picked the "sunshine and the grump" trope for her romance and Aurora is the sunshine character. She's always positive, never gets angry, ... and is of course outrageously beautiful (and stupid). As someone who has worked in a shop for outdoor gear: it isn't as difficult as the author portrays it is and I rolled my eyes constantly about her "I'm so clueless but I want to learn but somehow I don't learn about it until Rhodes teaches me". Amos was charming and a typical teenager; reminded me a lot of my younger brother. Bit flat character-wise but well, he was just the means to an end to get Aurora and Rhodes together. Rhodes is the grumpy character who's (of course) over 6" tall, strong and muscular, and weighs over 90kg (given that he's over 1.90m tall, I would expect him to be heavier since he's also muscular). His main traits are: being grumpy and distrustful, having grey hair, being a workaholic, trying to be a good father, being rather obsessed with Aurora towards the end. While he has certainly book boyfriend qualities, I found his possessive behaviour icky (e.g., Aurora leaves to spend the night at her friend's house, Rhodes misunderstands her leaving with a duffel bag and appears at the friend's house to "take her back home because I will never let you leave") especially after they had an argument. Yes, he admits that he has to start communicating (no matter what) but I wasn't a fan of the possessive behaviour. Plus, his weird nicknames/terms of endearment got onto my nerves because he calls Aurora: "Buddy" (after Buddy the Elf because "you always smile"), "angel" (because she's one) and "angel face" (because she's beautiful). Not a fan of those. 

The romance is certainly a slow burn that develops over several months (I think six months?), so it feels somewhat realistic that both start to fall for each other. There's the typical "third act break-up" point (which I hate because it was unrequired) but it happens around 80% into the book, so very very third act, and the rest afterwards is pretty rushed. A majority of the story happens in the epilogue that plays several years after the main story and includes points that do not make sense.

The sex scene is certainly a 4 🌶️ but a very cringy one with the worst descriptions and dirty talk. Also, what is up with men growling like animals in sex scenes? Are they suddenly wild cats or what? Of course, he has a big dick (it seems to be a requirement by now lol). 

California's Pacific Crest Trail is one of the world's most famous hiking trails as it goes from Canada to Mexico. While people vanishing among it isn't a rarity, the murder of a guide and three missing teenagers has the public's attention. Are vampires real and did they murder the guide? Is it just staged as comments under a video of the dead guide, which was posted by another user, imply? Though, where is the account owner of the viral video and why doesn't she answer any messages when everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame nowadays? While Reni and Daniel still grapple with their traumatic pasts, they have to find out quickly what truly happened on the hike if they want to find the three teens alive.


Tell Me is the second instalment in the series and more fast-paced and thrilling than the first book. It helps that the victims were alive when the author introduced them, and that the book feels less like a glorification of serial killers and just like your regular thriller where something awful happened. It has less mystery aspect but is still very psychological (with the additional gore). The book focuses on Reni's healing, on Daniel's search for his mother, their growing relationship, and how social media influences people. "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes" by Warhol certainly rings true in this case. 

Do not expect a developed romantic relationship between Reni and Daniel (like the summary indicates). Their romance aspect is tiny and happens only in the last chapter/epilogue. The rest of their relationship through the book is based on their job, friendship and healing from their traumatic past. Tbh: I could have done without them getting together.