Whatcha Reading? August Edition

Open book with tree and field against the skyIt's time for the most excellent and fun and terrifically expensive thread of the month, wherein I ask what you're reading and you tell me and then we all buy books. 

Sounds good, right?

So here's what we're up to: 

Sarah: I flew many many hours last weekend (MANY) so I'm catching up on the books I read and want to review, but I'm not reading anything at the moment. Wow, that's boring. (I'm still craving historicals, though, so I'm curious if you have any to recommend that you've enjoyed. Marriage of convenience and/or friends to lovers most welcome!)

RedHeadedGirl: I'm re-reading Outlander for the millioneth time for reasons (mostly for guessing where the episode breaks are going to be). 

Just finished Elizabeth Hoyt's Darling Beast, which Elyse and I will be jointly reviewing. Also reading The Wandering Harlot.

Carrie: I'm reading 12 Tribes of Hattie.  Next up: Dangerous Science.

Elyse: I'm reading The Scandal in Kissing an Heir by Sophie Barnes and Darling Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt. I'm listening to Lick by Kylie Scott.

Amanda: Switching between The Siren by Tiffany Reisz and Enemies on Tap by Avery Flynn.

 

So, what about you? I love this discussion, and have been looking forward to it. So, whatcha reading?

Categorized:

General Bitching...

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  1. ohhellsyeah says:

    I’m about 82% through Marry Me by Jo Goodman.  There are a few surprises along the way so I don’t want to get to spoilery, but it is excellent.  I didn’t like here latest series much the Reidsville books (Never Love a Lawman/Marry Me) are highly recommended.

    Other things I have read this month:
    A Rogue by Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean.  It is the first book in the series and, I thought, the strongest.  I liked both the heroine and the hero and found their struggles compelling.

    Special Interests by Emma Barry.  It was . . . okay? I’ve never read a political romance before so I found that interesting and the conflict around ideological differences was very grown up and relatable. OTOH, the missed cues about the status of the relationship was really annoying. By the end of the book I was pretty fed up with the heroine.

    Take Me On by Katie McGarry.  I am not a big YA reader but I will read anything this woman writes. Loved it.

    The Rogue’s Proposal by Jennifer Haymore and Almost a Bride by Sarah Mayberry.  Second books for me by both authors and they just don’t work for me. I know Mayberry is popular, but I find her books somewhat bland. Haymore commits so many historical fouls (history? what history?) that it is obvious she has never read a single book on social history of the period.  There are other authors (like, say, Tessa Dare) who occasionally dip into that territory (Dukes and barmaids, ladies and blacksmiths, LAARPing) but her books are so charming that I don’t care.  Not so with Haymore. 

    You Own Me by Shiloh Walker.  The only bad thing about this book is that it is short.  Really short. I think it was less than 100 pages.  That being said: unrequited love with lots of pining, friends to lovers and a bad boy who goes to prison for the heroine. SB_Sarah might like this one.

    I can’t wait for Sherry Thomas to stomp on my heart and make me cry.  I love her. That one might be next.

  2. DonnaMarie says:

    Just finished, literally, just finished Between the Sheets by Molly O’Keefe. Really, I finished it, got up and turned on the computer for the chance to squeee about this book.  Oh, the feels! I am reeling.

      That date of theirs, her faith – it was a product of sunny weather. It was easy to open yourself up to the good times, but opening yourself up to the bad? A totally different story, and she clearly didn’t have the guts for that.
      “I thought I could break down all your doors,” he told her. “I could break your locks and force my way in, But you’ll always find more, won’t you? Something bad will happen in our lives and I’ll be right back on the outside looking for a way in.”
      Nearly imperceptibly, she nodded.
      His heart, under the too bright lights, shattered against the flecked linoleum floor, right at her feet.

    Where has the author been all my life? In one book she became an autobuy. After three, I am building her a shrine. After the next one, I feel there may be stalking.

    Also this week: Never Been Kissed also Molly O’Keefe, also awesome but more for Brody than Ashley. And Dark Skye by Kresley Cole, who is now forgiven for the whole Russian mobster/BDSM thing. A glorious rife on the experienced woman/virgin male trope. Loved every word of it.

  3. L. says:

    I’m halfway through Mira Grant’s Parasite but I’m thinking of having a quickie with another book. I think I’ve got a Harlequin somewhere on my Kindle. They’re always good for a brain break.

    My last couple of reads have turned out to be two star duds. I can only hope my Prince Charming (in book form) is out there somewhere in route to my rescue. All I ask is to be entertained.

  4. SB Sarah says:

    @Heather S:

    Congrats on going back to school – kick ass and take names!

    @ohhellsyeah:

    I’m curious – thank you for the rec!

  5. Mina Lobo says:

    Hah, just answered this question on another blog. I’m currently reading Sylvia Day’s “Bared to You.” I’m about a third of the way through and am enjoying the writing (a lot – I find the narrative very engaging) and the heroine is someone I can really sympathize with and respect. I found the hero extremely off-putting at the start (though I’ll admit, I’m rather new to the world of erotica and am more accustomed to romance). But I hung in there because Eva, the heroine, did, and (this may seem funny to say of a fictional character but) I was inclined to trust her judgment. His manner’s slowing becoming less execrable to me, so that’s something. Romancelandia’s seen douche-ier (more douch-ey?) dudes stealing our main gals’ hearts. Great storytelling keeps me reading, as well.

  6. KarenF says:

    Just finished reading Elliott James’ Charming and enjoyed it a lot.  I have a love/hate with Urban Fantasy, but this one was a little different with the male narrator. Lots of humor, a bit of riffing on the conventions of noir, and some creative action scenes. I’ll definitely read the next when it comes out.

    Also this week, I read Shannon Stacey’s most recent “Kowalski” book, “Falling for Max.” I’d given up on the series about three books ago with a DNF, but the cover blurb interested me, so I grabbed it. Glad I did – great read, fun OCDish hero, and instantly onto my Nook virtual “keeper” shelf (as opposed to sending it to the “cloud.”)

    Currently re-reading Nora Roberts The Witness, because I needed a break between new books.

  7. Julie says:

    I’ve been enjoying lots of short fiction, romance-wise:

    Aimee Bender’s “The Meeting” (http://www.stylist.co.uk/books/the-meeting-by-aimee-bender)

    Mia West’s “Captivated” (a novella)

    Ron Carlson’s short stories, especially “Keith” and “Gary Garrison’s Wedding Vows” – these two don’t have traditional HEA closings, but the love stories are so powerful to me that I’ll be re-reading them for many years to come.

    I’m also a new Kristan Higgins fan! I’ve already read The Best Man twice this month.

  8. Lina says:

    Ooh love these posts. I am reading the 1st book of the Spellman Series: The Spellman Files.. awesome book if you love snarky,quirky, and mystery. 

    I am also reading Knight and Play by Kitty French… Its a really romantic erotica trilogy . (No bondage or S&M). The 1st book is .99 sale right now. Book 2 is good as well
    Last the book in my purse is Blue Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas… It’s a favorite…

  9. Heather S says:

    Okay, I fibbed. I blazed through KISA and promptly started on “Once Upon A Kiss” by Jayne Fresina. How can I resist a book where they’re reading Pride and Prejudice? FYI, the prequel novella (Before the Kiss) is free-er than cheezy bread for Kindle right now.

  10. Celia Marsh says:

    I am reading hope flames and being pissy about the references to the prequel novella which I don’t have.  I just finished wedding in springtime (decent, not amazing) and what the bride wore, and some other freebie I got from a linked post here. 

    Re:courtney milan, I love love love her, and I still havent bothered to read the governess affair because I just dont care.  Start one of her series,  and I think you’ll like them better.  The Duchess War is probably the best of her first books, though I love all of her series.

  11. Celia Marsh says:

    Ooh, false alarm! I had the prequel novella in the original antho it had been in.  My to-read list currently is topped with Better homes and hauntings by molly harper and the sexiest man alive by juliet rosetti.  And my omg, can’t wait for publication list is currently darling beast and snow falling on bluegrass.

  12. Celia Marsh says:

    @heather s: have you read pride, prejudice, and jasmine fields? By Melissa Nathan, it’s a lovely british chick lit where they are putting on a play version of P&P with the cast also unconsciously following the story as well.  I LOVE it with all the LOVE ever.

  13. Christine says:

    August has been a great reading month for me so far! 

    I’m not rereading Outlander – but I have read it at least 5 times and am very familiar with the plot, so looking forward to the series airing in Canada starting the 24th.  I envy those reading it for the first time.

    I’ve been keeping up with Entangled Publishing releases lately – for Historicals I’ve really enjoyed The Wager by Lily Maxton and The Irresistible Miss Peppiwell by Stacy Reid. Robin Bielman has a new one out today called Keeping Mr. Right Now.  It’s part of their Bliss Red Hot line – all the sweet but with extra sexy.  I was lucky enough to read an ARC and it was fabulous! 

    I recently discovered Erin Nicholas and her Sapphire Falls series which started in July – sweet and very sexy small town delights! Her 3rc book in the series, releases this week – can’t wait!!

    And last but not least, Molly O’Keefe’s has had a few new releases in the last few months in her Boys of Bishop series – Never Been Kissed and Between the Sheets. I read both of these in the last few weeks. If you are looking for emotional intensity and steamy heat, she always delivers. 

  14. roserita says:

    @Vasha:  Bear in mind that I read these at roughly the same time about 40+ years ago, but it’s like an ear worm:  once it’s stuck in your head, you can never really forget.  Anyway, as I recall, they both have first person narrators, isolated young girls commenting on their respective dysfunctional families.  Come to think of it, there was another book I read about the same time—roughly the same situation—but one of the narrator’s sister’s (?) ambition in life was to become a royal mistress, and at the end of the book she’d found herself a minor royal willing to oblige.
    @Kareni: As soon as I finish Made in America I’m off to read The mother tongue.  I’m slowly working my way through all of Bryson’s books, savoring all the way.

  15. I stayed up all night gently weeping my way through Monica McCarty’s The Saint. Very satisfying.

    Then I read my mmpb copy of Meljean Brook’s The Iron Duke (because it’d been sitting unread in the TBR long enough). OMG, the reading experience is awesome each time I read it (though very different). (I so envy people their first experience of The Iron Duke! This time, after having read The Kraken King, I paid closer attention to the geographical and cultural mentions of the rest of the world, and OMG the exquisite world building is all there, right from the beginning! I so love it when an author has a plan!*swoon*

    I’m now pondering which of my vacation-print-TBR books to dive into. I think I’ll Twitter-source the decision again… 😉

  16. @Francesca I say go with The Duchess War, since you now know part of the hero’s backstory. TDW is awesome!

  17. Celia Marsh says:

    Oh, Christine, thanks for the reminder—I think I read the first boys of Bishop book before the second one was out (at least I assume as much since I hadn’t requested the library buy it), so I just went and requested those two.  HURRY UP LIBRARY.

  18. Christine says:

    @Celia Glad to help!  The 4th book in the Boys of Bishop series, Indecent Proposal will be released at the end of September.  I was lucky enough to read an ARC of it already – fabulous of course!

  19. Vasha says:

    @roserita—Well yeah, the narrators are both female and approaching 20, but otherwise—Merrikat is a very strange and unsettling narrator with an unsettling family in a horror story, and her house is isolated and decaying because the other townspeople won’t come near it. Cassandra is a thoughtful narrator with a warm family in a gently comic story of first love and self-discovery, and her house is decaying because the family is broke (but the situation has its funny moments). That’s why I did a double take when you put the two books together. Wait, now, though, someone will do a mashup of the two.

  20. I recently finished (and very much enjoyed) Robin Covington’s Temptation. I also read Lynn Rae Harris’s Hot Pursuit – liked it too, especially the swamp scenes, but I thought that the thread of the hero’s concussion was at first appropriately serious and then he recovered a little too fast. A friend of mine is on her third concussion and recovery is VERY hard. 

    Also totally immersed myself in A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness, which was so complex and riveting and filled with an intense amount of yearning between the hero (1500 year old vampire) and heroine (witch who tries to avoid using her power). I have the next two books already (great birthday gift from my sister-in-law!) but I think I’ll wait to start the second until after kids go back to school.

    The depth and complexity of Discovery of Witches convinced me I still had enough brain cells left after a summer full of children to try nonfiction, so I’m almost halfway through The Buried Book: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh by David Damrosch. I wanted to read something about the Middle East that wasn’t depressing, and I loved seeing the Assyrian reliefs in the British Museum several years ago, so this tale of their discovery along with the Epic of Gilgamesh seemed like a good fit. It’s probably the only one of the world’s great epics I was never taught in school, and I have basically zero knowledge about the time, place or topic. The writing’s a bit tongue-in-cheek British, with lots of snarky letters quoted back and forth, and lots of great words like “chaffering”.

    Here’s a quote I liked:

    “Hooked as he was on the thrill of archaeological discovery and the pleasures of colonial life, it is hard to imagine that this would really have been his last trip. Hard to imagine, except for one thing: this third trip killed him.”

    OR:

    “Bandits and floods were bad enough, but Rassam’s most persistent problems were with his French rivals.”

    If you like British-flavored nonfiction, or you’ve seen the reliefs at the British museum, this is a very interesting book. The excavations are in Mosul, Iraq, and it gives me a little background on the area and history of a place all over the news without actually bad news – so I’m finding it a great read on many levels. But yes, it’s old-skool nonfiction.

     

  21. Okay, let’s see…

    I just finished

    1. DARK ROAD TO DARJEELING by Deanna Raybourn. Still loving that series.
    2. MUST LOVE DOGS by Claire Cook for book club. I liked that one, too, although the ending was a little too open.
    3. OUTLIERS by Malcolm Gladwell. Lots of interesting nonfictiony stuff.
    4. COLD SNAP by Allison Brennan. I liked the first of the three interlocking stories most.

    I am currently reading

    1. BLOG IT! by Molly Greene. I just got past the basics of setting up a blog and am looking forward to some good info on content.
    2. WHAT I LOVE ABOUT YOU by Rachel Gibson. This one’s pretty darned steamy with some cute domesticity, too. I’m about halfway through.
    3. THE DARK ENQUIRY by Deanna Raybourn. I may have a Raybourn problem. I’m okay with this.

    Next up

    1. STAY WITH ME by J. Lynn. This will be the first book of hers that I’ve read so I’m really excited about it.

  22. Bibliophile says:

    I’m reading Mary Balogh – one of my go-to romance authors when I want a guaranteed good read. I’ve just finished The Famous Heroine, which was enjoyable and funny, and have started The Plumed Bonnet, which promises to be enjoyable, and am planning to get my hands on the previous two books in the series.

  23. nabpaw says:

    I’m rereading Margery Allingham’s Campion stories.  I love Albert Campion and I love allingham’s writing.  Margery Allingham is one of the classic English mystery writers of the 20s and 30s along with Christie, Sayers and Marsh, though Allingham was less of a straight mystery writer than the others.

    While I’m reading Allingham, I’m listening to Loretta Chase’s The English Witch.  This is one of her earlier regencies and though it’s not my favorite I’ve been enjoying it.  I really like the reader (narrator?) of the book.  sometimes readers don’t understand their authors, but I think this reader really did.

    next up, Milan’s Suffragette Scandal and thomas’ My Beautiful Enemy

  24. Dee says:

    In a meh mood as of late….searching for the next great book to get me out of a reading slump.

    Just re-read The Strain trilogy to compare it to the show (still prefer the book though the first few episodes were freaking awesome!) and b/c of the greatness am now in said slump.

    Before that I finished A Wicked Pursuit by Isabella Bradford which completely hooked me with the temporarily invalid hero that learns that beauty is on the inside. As soon as I finished I had to order her first trilogy to read about the hero’s uncle.

    I picked out the new Ilona Andrews but I’m trying really hard not to glom through it and be stuck for a year with no fix. It’s going to be my antidepressant come the beginning of winter I believe.

    Planning on reading Troublemaker Next Door by Marie Harte next while I wait for the Bradford books to be delivered. Also have Sally Mackenzie’s backlist on my TBR and need to get through them…they’ve been there for years and I’m tired of packing them through multiple moves.

  25. LAS says:

    @JulieW I’ve read all of the Fae Chronicles that are out so far and I loved the second one (of course I loved Fighting Destiny as well).  That being said, I don’t know what the heck happened with the third one because there was almost no plot development in it.  Maybe my expectations were too high?

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