It’s time! Time for the most expensive and enjoyable thread of the month, where I ask you what you’re reading, you tell me, and then I buy books. It’s a predictable and yet irresistible pattern.
Right now, I’m experimenting with Scribd, thanks to the three-month free trial from Harlequin (which was supposed to expire but my code worked on 6 November, so yay, and thanks to whoever didn’t turn the coupon code off). You may recall that Elyse really disliked Scribd’s search features and availability, while Angela James had some really complimentary things to say about the service during a recent podcast interview.
I talk in my workshop about the reviews about how disparate reviews that are in opposition to one another both work to entice third party curiosity. In other words, the A-squee review and the F-rage review are equally powerful on their own, but they are doubly so when together because I, and many other readers like me, want to see where my own opinion falls on that spectrum. So, I signed up for Scribd and dude. I have been reading the shit out of that thing.
One of the aspects Angie talked about in the interview was the depth of backlist from both Harlequin and HarperCollins – which also includes a bunch of fantasy and sci fi titles from the Dorchester catalog which HarperCollins acquired a long time ago. So, in my math-flexible brain (by which I mean, I can’t remember numbers so doing math is like silly putty for me), the idea of paying $9 and then deep diving into the ball pit of that much backlist, especially when there are so many books I’ve been curious about, is very enticing indeed. Within a few minutes after signing up (I gave myself 15 minutes on a timer because I had a lot to do that day), I’d filled my library with many books I’d been curious about reading but hadn’t gotten around to purchasing or borrowing, plus books I’d read but didn’t know where my copy was.
Amanda: Is it that time already?! I’m doing a readathon this weekend, I’ll just snag the two I’m most excited about:
Elyse: This has nothing to do with reading. They releases photos from the new season of the Mentalist.
Carrie: *looks at pictures* Nothing. you’re fine.
Shopping note:
After a recent Whatcha Reading? discussion, Lisa M emailed me to ask if I could link the books mentioned in the comments to the various retailers to make shopping a little easier. I wish I could! But alas, that isn’t possible.
However, I can drop some retailer links for you right here, so that if you feel like shopping, you can select your preferred retailer. Some of these links are affiliate-enabled, and the site receives a percentage commission from purchases made, so if you use them, many thanks. If you don’t want to us them, no worries, mate! (And if your preferred retailer isn’t here, let me know and I’ll add it for you if I can!)
I Slurped down “Burn For Me” in one juicy gulp and I think it gave me a brain freeze because I can’t find anything I like as well since. I did kinda enjoy the Ivy Years series even though I read them out of order. I thought “The Year We Fell Down” was OK. I skipped the “Year We Hid Away” and went right for “The Understatement Of the Year” which was reallly good (three “L” good). The short story “Blonde Date” was also reallly good, so I’ll go back to the second one. I then went trolling the TBR list on my Calibre (152!) and ran across a fanfic title I found on a Goodreads listopia called “The Doors of Time” by Felisblanco. Why have I never read fanfic before? It was a great Male/Male story. I think I will break things up with a new historical in the TBR pile. Carolyn Jewel perhaps or Rose Lerner. Or I have “Summer is For Lovers” still unread by Jennifer McQuiston. Anyone read it?
I’ve finished two new releases in the past 3 weeks – Rogue Spy by Joanna Bourne and Only Enchanting by Mary Balogh. I loved both of them, for different reasons. For the most part, spy stories leave me cold, but Bourne’s polished writing and heart-wrenching storyline grabbed me and didn’t let go. Balogh is just as skilled, in her own way, and Only Enchanting is an example of her best writing.
Then I read two re-releases into ebook format – Don’t Tempt Me by Loretta Chase. I would read anything she had written and – exciting news for Antipodean readers – a number of her books previously unavailable to us in ebook are currently being released here for the first time in that format. The second ebook release is An Enchanted Christmas: A Regency Collection by Barbara Metzger – for Metzger fans, it includes Wooing the Wolf, an old favourite. Metzger isn’t for everyone, but I’m a sucker for HR Christmas anthologies.
I’ve also read Engaging the Earl by Diana Quincy, which, sadly, I didn’t enjoy.
Thanks donnamarie for the Kowal recommendation. I hadn’t heard of the series and have now bought number 1. And, having been reminded, above, by rosarita of The Cello Suites: J. S. Bach, Pablo Casals, and the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece by Eric Siblin, I’ve just been to my bookcase to retrieve it for a re-read, as it is one of the most accessible and enjoyable books about classical music I’ve ever read. Part detective story and written by a rock music journalist. Thanks Rosarita.
I just met Roarke, ladies, and I still have 20 books to go of the In Death series. Basically, I understood why Nora is THE Nora. Other than that, basically counting the days till Never judge a lady by her cover is released!
I’ve been reading a lot of Christmas stories… I’m not totally sure why I do this, since the vast majority of them are maudlin and horrible, but it’s worth it to find occasional gems. I’ve not yet anything I like as much as “Holiday Sparks” by Shannon Stacey, but I did read “A Rare Gift” by Jaci Burton, and that was delightful. I love a heroine who is not here for the hero’s shit
I’m rereading my old Laura Kinsale paperbacks—after I found them sorting through some old boxes of books, which was a very nice surprise. Can’t go wrong with the classics.
I also stumbled across this spoof of Christine Feehan’s vampire (or, ahem, Carpathian) romances, which proposes a solution to the dire shortage of potential female lifemates. It’s actually a quite charming m/m vampire romance in its own right. The coming-out scene at the end is especially funny. (Link: “Dark Deviance” on http://writing.rassaku.net/)
I just finished Meljean Brooks’ The Kraken King, which is now available as a single novel. It has all of the Iron Seas usual fun (airships, modified humans, action/adventure) but with added fun of krakens and boilerworms, a steampunk version of Dune’s sandworms. The heroine is a spinster writer (my favorite type), on a trip to Australia for her first taste of adventure. In addition to the beautifully evolving romance, this is a story of the heroine’s emergence from her shell into the person she wants to become: strong, capable and clever. The hero is wonderful, never refusing to acknowledge his feelings, but rather, knowing from the beginning that his feelings for this woman are different. I couldn’t put it down.
I’m currently reading a SciFi book featuring the newest monster craze of Frankenstein-type monster, House Immortal by Devon Monk. It’s the first in a new series about a small group of “stitched,” who are super strong and immortal, but are accorded subhuman status by the powerful ruling Houses. The main character is a kiss-ass stitched farmer in hiding from the Houses. So far, so good.
Right now reading Courney Milan’s Unveiled. However, I’ve been reading J. Kenner, HelenKay Dimon, Jodi Ellen Malpas, and Alice Clayton. Absolutely loved Alice Clayton’s Wallbanger series. Contemporary comedy, romance, witty repartee, and some straight up s-ing and f-ing at it’s best!
Been on a bit of a YA kick this year. I’m currently reading (and actually enjoying) ‘Divergent’, by Veronica Roth. Which also came in REALLY handy while not having internet access for nearly four days. I feel like a kid who’s having fun when the electricity goes off, and then is disappointed when it comes back ON.
I comfort binged (earache, owwie!) by rereading Nalini Singh’s Archangel’s Shadows and re-listening to Patricia C. Wrede’s Frontier Magic trilogy. Then I moved on to Lauren Dane’s Rowan Summerwaite books—I’m so thrilled that it got turned into a series, after reading book 1 years ago my reaction was “that was great but GIMME MORE!” My reaction to each new Rowan Summerwaite keeps on being “gimme more!” <3!
I'm looking forward to the Night Shift anthology with its barbarian romance… 😉 😉 😉
@Julia – I had similar feelings about Meljean Brooks’ steampunk books. They seem very good, they have all the things that should make me love them, and yet I am left cold. I think I may just not like steampunk, in the same way that I generally don’t like New Adult?
I forget, now (sorry!), who mentioned this, but: Ashley Gardner’s Regency mystery series is awesome. The first one is available for free, so I bought it, snarfed it up, and promptly glommed the rest in the series.
It’s not very romancey (more of a noir set in Regency London) but the books are so well-written and unassuming that I’m really enjoying them. I know “unassuming” sounds like faint praise, but I just find them excellent. They feature an ex-soldier hero coming home to very little right after the Napoleonic wars. Captain Lacey is an unironically heroic hero, while not being very cheerful: he suffers from “melancholia” (now I think we would probably call this PTSD) and leads a pretty narrow life as an impoverished ex-soldier of the gentlemanly classes, but he keeps being unable to help himself from assisting those who need him.
I’m on my third one already. The research is outstanding, so these are not light-and-fluffy Regency novels, exactly – which I love!