a historical rom-com that imagines Victor Frankenstein's sheltered younger sister, and her attempts to create the perfect man. Sally’s third novel Second First Impressions is released AU/NZ 31 March 2021, and US/CAN 13 April 2021. This is the story of Angelika Frankenstein, Victor's rich, spoiled, romantic little sister who assists him in all his insane scientific experiments (i. Will is certainly a devoted romance hero (to the extent he’s telling a woman he’s in awe of everything she is a day or two after she’s non-consensually regrafted his penis) so he might hit the spot for people who particularly enjoy those kind of dynamics between protagonists.

Similarly, there are moments when he steps up to defend her or shows a deep empathy for her loneliness, but they never felt earned because I never understood how he got to them, given the foundation of their relationship. Take everything you've come to love in a Sally Thorne novel: witty banter, a sexy, toe-curling romance, and voice that pirouettes off the page, but add one part Tim Burton. Angelika’s older brother who is constantly chomping on apples, puffing up his own chest, and evading the pig that is in love with him, was probably my favorite character. Yes, the gothic mansion was interesting, but you don't really get a dark or foreboding feeling from it.The explicit language was pretty minimal, but I’ve been hurt a lot in this reading journey of mine so I’m counting this as a major victory. I have no idea if this was meant to be sexy or funny or what, but it just came across incredibly strangely to me.

com}: For generations, every Frankenstein has found their true love and equal, unlocking lifetimes of blissful wedded adventure. Sure, the scene where they choose a guy because Angelika likes his face but another guy’s absolutely massive d*ck to mix ‘n’ match because haha, why settle for a mediocre one when you can have hung like a horse, the world is her oyster, am I right, is weird AF but the biggest problem for me was that Angelika and Will, her re-animated man with the monster penis, had zero chemistry. Her resurrected beau (named Will for the moment) has total amnesia and is solely focused on uncovering his true identity. It's hard to explain but him being hot and cold was fine, I just thought there were some inconsistencies mixed in, too. In AFMHM, Angelika’s complicity in choices that objectify, dehumanise, and disempower her love interest is mostly … played for laughs?

Who doesn’t root for a heroine whose value isn’t recognised by her society and who hasn’t, at some point, thought life would be infinitely easier, if we couldn’t just build ourselves a custom partner from bits of dead people. I think, at this point, it’s fair to say that this book didn’t really work for me but, equally fair, to note that the ways it didn’t work for me are probably quite personal and it will probably work for others. And when, of course, he is brought back to life, you have to kind of side-eye the whole "was dead and now mostly alive-ish" element being sold to you as sexy and romantic when it's really not. Except there are things near the end I did not love, and won't mention due to spoilers, but are tied up in both what the Frankenstein's believe to be part of their foundation and, as it turns out, Will's, and how that all comes together.

They did evolve from their selfish, spoiled ways (Angelika much more so) but unfortunately I never truly liked Angelika or Victor enough to care what happened to them. In fact, it’s written in such a way that Will’s new appendage really desires Angelika but he himself, the man with the brain, does not want to do physical things, in fact keeps almost trying to run away from her at every opportunity. I'm definitely glad I gave it a chance because I do think Thorne has shown she can do more than just contemporary, and she can be weird, poke around into different spaces, and that's all good. I was expecting to be very bothered by this, but I guess my view is that the author was trying to make a point about allowing yourself to have your own convictions, and respecting other people's beliefs, and making space for the people you love and all that comes with them, even if you don't necessarily agree… which I get. I don’t want to go too far down a gender reversal route, because I think it has limited value and doesn’t account for the nuances of social power dynamics.Filled with carriages, candlesticks, and corpses, Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match is the spooky-season romcom that reminds us to never judge a man by his cadaver! Further disclaimer: Readers, please stop accusing me of trying to take down “my competition” because I wrote a review you didn’t like. I loved how authentic he felt as a character even though the way he spoke and really everything about what he said did not fit into the historical time period at all. uk will use the information you provide on this form to be in touch with you and to provide updates and marketing.