Time to get all nosy up in your reading list – what are you reading this weekend?
I'm reading several books at once, which is NOT good for my brain, especially when I mix genres, but I started too many things that I like. I have one book on the phone, one on the coffee table, one on my Kindle – it's getting messy. But Pig was right – Liz Fielding's Tempted by Trouble [Goodreads | Amazon | BN | HQN] is really adorable. Plus, Tessa Dare's A Week to be Wicked [Goodreads | Amazon | BN] has been pushing all the happy-joy-joy buttons in my brain, too, and I'm trying to savor that book as well. That's not working as well as I'd planned.
So what books are pushing the happy-joy buttons in your brain this week? What books are you looking forward to reading this weekend? Share, share!
I got hold of, and whipped through, Bear meets girl. Now I can either reread the whole crazy series, reread, more slowly this time, Fair game, or go close my eyes and pick something out of my TBR pile, knowing it probably won’t be as good as Laurentson or Briggs. Or, I had an itch to reread some Elsie Lee. Maybe I’’ go grab Wingarden or The curse of Carranca.
Not quite sure how I missed Duke of Shadows, but just finished that amazingly good book and am now going through the Meredith Duran backlist. BUT took a break to devour Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey—a stunningly good book with a radically different voice from her Kushiel series. And I LOVED A Week to Be Wicked—absolutely charming.
Swann’s Way, Proust: relentless, but what an engaged, involving voice
Sexus, Henry Miller: culturally referential, explicit, and surprisingly insightful; never read a more intricately drawn character study.
Courtiers by Lucy Worsley about the courts of George I and George II in the 1715-1730 period – brilliant.
And the second and third installments of Scott Westerfeld’s amazing steam-punk/alterante history trilogy (Leviathan, Goliath, Behemoth) recasting the opening of WW1 in a fight between Clankers (engineering minded German Empire) versus Darwinists (England, Russia and France).
Won’t have much time to read this weekend – it’s jam packed – but wanted to tell SB Sarah I hope the Boner Donor event is a huge success and thank you all for the good book suggestions!
Just finished a re-read of the first Amelia Peabody, Crocodile on the Sandbank and loved it all over again so am now reading the second Curse of the Pharoah.
I’m on book 4 of the Nicki Styx series by Terri Garey and it’s like crack! I’m also rereading 11-22-63 by Stephen King because that book is just that awesome.
Bear meets girl by Shelly Laurenston. Her books never fail to put a smile on my face, they are real “feel good books” for me 🙂
Right now I am reading Carousel Tides by Sharon Lee ( Or was it Miller?) It is contemporary fantasy, and I have liked it so far.
Before that it was historicals. I devoured Mad Maria’s Daughter by Patricia Rice. A fun regency romp that I purchased from Fictionwise a couple of months ago :). And Mistress of Trevelyan by Jennifer St Giles. Also good.
My TBR is also creaking, I had control on it until Amazon’s KDP Select started. sigh.
I’ll likely finish up At Last Comes Love by Mary Balogh, which so far is my favorite of that series. And after that I’ll be going all Avengers all the time; it’s less than three weeks until I’ll be seeing the movie, so I’m going to be all about reading and rereading fanfiction and rewatching the Marvel Universe movies so I have them fresh in my mind for May 3. (Well, technically May 4, since the movie will be starting 12:01 a.m., but you know what I mean.)
Just finished up Deep Trouble by Mary Conneally which was—oddly colorless (which itself is an odd thing to say about a book set in the Grand Canyon.) It had all the right ingredients but I found myself strangely detatched from it. I think it may be that the characters seemed less like real people and more like collections of plot motivations. Now I’m working my way through the Wallflowers series by Lisa Kleypas – read the first one about a year ago, really liked it, got distracted and forgot about the rest of the series until I stumbled across them at a BOGO sale at BAM. So now I’m reveling in the mental equivalent of a palate cleanser, a nice lemon sherbet for the brain.
Lately I’ve been going through Caria Press titles—an excellent e publisher I reccomend highly. Most recently, Stealing Time by Elisa Page and Of Dukes and Deceptions by Wendy Soliman.
Carina Press
I went on a massive m/m binge these last two months. As in about 22 books and 6 short stories. Seeing as I read all of four m/m books in the preceding 4 years it’s been a bit intense.
My favorites so far are No Souvenirs by KA Mitchell and the SpyCop series by Jordan Castillo Price.
Yes, I did say so far. The binge, it is not over.
I did the same thing with A Week to Be Wicked. I finished it over a week ago and I’m still mad we have to wait until September.
Happy Friday the 13th, everyone! This weekend I hope to finish Cathy Maxwell’s historical romance “When Dreams Come True”. Like you, I often read more than one book at a time. I just started Lynne Graham’s Harlequin Presents contemporary romance “The Italian’s Inexperienced Mistress”. The story is better than the title! Next on my list is Vanna Smythe’s fantasy romance “Protector”.
I went on a massive m/m binge these last two months.
You too? I’ve been indulging in an m/m orgy recently. No Souvenirs is one of my favorites too. I haven’t ready SpyCop yet, but it’s on my to-read list. Any other favorites?
I’m reading “Space Chronicles” by Neil deGrasse Tyson because he is the man and “Burial at Sea” by Charles Finch for some lighter fare.
I just finished “Eulogy’s Secret”. It was free for the Kindle and I still feel like I spent too much on it. I just kept reading it to see if it got any better. It doesn’t.
“Wicked” it is, then. I enjoyed Indigo—lots of interesting historical background there. But “Flowers” is so fabulous; the parts from Jervaulx’s point of view are really quite startling.
The series is actually “PsyCop.” I’ve only read the first so far, but I think this series is one where it’s best to start at the beginning (then again, I tend to think that about most series). The first work in the series is “Among the Living.” It’s a novella and was maybe 100 pages on my Nook. Even though I normally come away from novellas wishing the author had written a bit more, Among the Living felt like it was the perfect length. I keep meaning to come back to Jordan Castillo Price’s works, that novella was so good (although, from my romance reader perspective, I’m not really happy with the Vic/Marks relationship and hope Vic finds someone else in a future book/novella). I swear, getting a Nook didn’t help my TBR any, it just made a portion of it invisible in the physical world.
Just started The Look of Love, Book 1 of The Sullivan Series by Bella Andre. Knowing me, I’ll just move straight on to Books 2, 3, and 4 in the series. Unless I absolutely hate the first one.
I finished Bear Meets Girl. Those are good as always. The women remind me of Kresley Kole’s Valkyries but a little less over the top.
Finished Sarah McLean’s “A Rogue by Any Other Name” yesterday. Seriously, the titles on her books! Even Kresley Cole gave in and gave us “Lothaire” just “Lothaire”.
Have been working on “One Moment, One Morning” by Sarah Rayner for a week or two, but I keep getting distracted by bright shiny objects (see above).
Listening to David Sedaris’ “When You are Engulfed in Flames” in the car.
And since it’s looking less and less likely that I’ll make it to RT tomorrow, I too shall be doing a Marvel movie binge. Unless another bright shiny object comes my way (“A Lady Never Surrenders” is on the GBPL hold shelf as we speak).
Good luck with Bingo tomorrow Sarah!
Re-reading Mane Event by Shelly Laurenston right now. I’ll move on to the next book when I’m done.
Don’t know if I should even comment, as I’m more of a mystery person (overlap with J.D. Robb books, of course—if it weren’t for the stupid girl-fight at the end, Treachery in Death would be my favorite ID since Promises, but I’ve probably read Celebrity 3 times by now, too!). Just finished four I.J. Parker mysteries set in 11th century Japan, as well as an ARC of the 5th Poke Rafferty thriller, of which I’ve also read the prior 4 in the series 3 times! Did I say how much I like Tim Hallinan’s writing? And hardly any actual sex on the page; still, definitely romantic as well as comic and touching (scary, too, but that’s just the thriller part). Now back to the more mundane with the latest Susan Wittig Albert’s China Bayles, Cat’s Claw.
The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides is waiting for me at the library, and I’m int he midst of book 2 of Elizabeth Bear’s Jenny Casy series (Scardown? Hammered?) – good hard sci-fi with a lot of relevant climate science (extreme weather, rising sea levels) scenarios that disrupt world politics.
I have a share-a-book rack at my daily commute train station, and I picked up Say No to Joe? by Lori Foster. I’ve read it tons, but once more couldn’t hurt… Still as much fun as it was the first time.
just starting ‘The Departed’ and ‘Fragile’, both by Shiloh Walker.
I bought an ebook currently being touted on an ad here. It’s “My Boyfriend Merlin” and I’d have to give it mixed reviews. It’s a fresh idea and she has a wonderful sense of humor with some fun dialog. However, I just feel the writing isn’t as polished as it could and should be. It’s making me wonder how did this get professionally published?
Just finished Susan Sizemore’s Memory of Morning which I literally could not put down – not a good thing when the other docs in the office are out of town. Love me some sail-punk in the vein of Austen. Now reading The Queen of New Beginnings by Erica James. Quite good, too. Modern, dysfunctional family, but romance, too.
I am feeling the need for some books pushing those happy/joy buttons after trying to unload some bonus points at Diesel e-books this week. I have as many as when I started, due to them “thoughtfully” removing the books from the cart when I was going to pay. As if navigating their website trying to find some interesting books to spend those bonus points on weren’t enough! When (or if) I manage to unload those points, Satan is likely to hold skating competitions over at his place before I go there again!
But as to what I am reading – the Black Jewels books by Anne Bishop. Fun books, old favorites, and at the same time the characters are bloodthirsty enough to suit the pissed-off aspect of my current mood.
Head Over Heels by Jill Shalvis – loving it and The Me I Want To Be by John Ortberg which requires more thinking. I expect it might be the same 2 books for a while. Not enough free time.
Unbroken by Rachel Gained. It’s the last one in the Outcast Season series.
I’ve got two sheikhs waiting to be read: At the Sheikh’s bidding by Annie West, The Sheikh’s Reward by Lucy Gordon. In between, Tom Perrotta’s Little Children. 🙂
It’s several books at once for me right now too. I just started His Lordship’s Vow by Cheryl Bolen, so I can’t really say how I feel about it. Too soon to tell.
I am on the second book in the Bess Crawford series by Charles Todd, An Impartial Witness. I really enjoyed Todd’s other series about Inspector Ian Rutledge. I don’t know if like the Bess Crawford series quite as much, but it is still pretty good. I am very much into books set around WWI right now, so if anyone has any recommendations…
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain. So far it is the story of my life.
Also, the Iliad. Somehow, I never had to read it in school. I’ve go a TBR list of classics that I never read in school and am slowly working my way through it.
BTW, I finished A Week to be Wicked a couple of weeks ago. LOVED it!
If you like mysteries, both Anne Perry and Catriona McPherson have really good series set in the WW1 time frame (McPherson’s is just after the War). First in the Anne Perry series is No Graves as Yet, and the first in the McPherson is After the Armistice Ball.
I’ve run into a number of series set around or just after WWI in the last few years. I recently read through Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs series and also Kerry Greenwood’s Phrynne Fisher books. Both are mostly post-WWI, but that international trauma influences both series, especially Winspear’s. I believe Anne Perry also has a series set in that time period, but I haven’t read those.
I like both Todd series, but I wonder whether the authors will eventually have the two characters’ paths cross.
Ondine, by Shannon Drake.
I love reading multiple books at the same time too!
Right now I’m in the middle of Sara Bennett’s Once He Loves – the hero is every inch a hero, who falls in love at first sight and has a giant chip on his shoulder. He’s not bad looking too! Who wouldn’t love a man like that?
I’m also working my way through Gregory Maguire’s Mirror Mirror, which is a retelling of the Snow White fairy tale, and on my Kindle I’m reading Melissa Schroeder’s A Little Harmless Sex. Not loving the latter’s style, though.
The Raven Prince, The Raven Prince, The Raven Prince, The Raven Prince,…oh, and The Raven Prince. I do adore Elizabeth Hoyt. You’re in for a treat!