It’s time for the most wonderfully fun and expensive monthly thread, where we ask about what you’re reading, tell you about what we’re enjoying, and then we all buy too many books – HA!
Kidding. Like there’s such a thing has having too many books. PSHAW.
I’m currently not reading a romance – SHOCKING I KNOW – but it’s finally spring and I’m about to go dive into my back yard and kiss every blade of grass. The forsythia is blooming, the bleeding heart is growing so fast I should be able to see it grow taller with my naked eye, and I’m finally able to start working on my Straw Bale Garden.
Straw Bale Gardens by Joel Karsten was a Kindle Daily Deal awhile back, in the middle of winter, about the time where we had 14-too-many inches of snow and I was reading the bulb and seed catalog like it was pornography. Straw Bale Gardens is about…vegetable gardening inside a straw bale, which is conditioned with fertilizer and creates a sterile and perfect environment for a vegetable garden as it slowly turns into compost over the course of the summer.
Since I have not-great clay- and rock-filled soil, and a surfeit of wild animals in my yard, my vegetable gardening results have been consistently poor. We’ve got deer – see at right, the very large buck looking for my very small vegetables – and squirrels and chipmunks and mice and probably some garden gnomes bogarting my vegetables. Last year I harvested two whole strawberries and one tomato. They were freaking delicious, but I want more.
The book explains why straw bales work, how to condition them, how to set up plastic then net shields for them, where to plant what crops and how to reseed for additional harvests, and makes it seem very easy and doable. One of my favorite parts is the frequent advice and explanations of how to “work smarter, not harder.” I will have TWO tomatoes this year, people!
So that’s what I’m reading – over and over, to make sure I get it right. I have TWO TOMATO GOALS, you see. Game on, Mr. Deer.
Amanda: I’m reading:
Ripped by Edie Harris ( A | K | G | AB ) – I really disliked Chandler in the first book so I’m really interested in seeing how Harris makes me empathize with the heroine.
Come as You Are by Emily Nagoski – I’M LEARNING SO MANY NEW THINGS. My roommates might be tired of me giving them fun facts about hymens.
Asking for It by Lilah Pace ( A | BN | K | AB ) – Some of the SBs and I have already mentioned how interested and cautious we are. I’m nervous, but excited to read it.
RedHeadedGirl: I’m reading Beauty and the Rake by Erica Monroe, and My Lady Vixen by Connie Mason ( A ).
Beauty and the Rake is really interesting, and a full review will be forthcoming. I like how she’s weaving in threads from the Disney animated and the original La Belle et Le Bete and turning themes on their heads.
My Lady Vixen is fucking crazysauce and involves a scarlet-pimpernelling hero who’s only getting away with it because everyone around him is REALLY DUMB and also he’s a pirate.
Amanda:
Speaking of scarlet pimpernels…I loved that book, but this is my favorite review of how bad it is.
RedHeadedGirl:
One of the hilarious easter eggs in the most recent season of Downton was that Richard C. Grant played an art collector who had mad love for Lady Grantham.
They played Lord and Lady Blakeney in the not-great 1990s tv miniseries Scarlet Pimpernel.
Elyse:
I’m reading Broken by Cynthia Eden ( A | K | G | AB | Au ). Amnesia! A serial killer! Jinkies!
I’m also listening to The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert. She talks about the five large extinction events in geological history and the fact that we’re currently in the 6th due to human expansion. It’s fascinating but a little morbid.
Carrie:
Oh, Sixth Extinction is on my TBR. As to what I’m really reading, I’m about halfway through Grave Phantoms by Jenn Bennett.
Next up is Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen of course, which I plan to read in conjunction with the commentary in Bitch in a Bonnet by Robert Rodi because I love to argue with him in my head.
So what about you? What are you enjoying or putting aside right now? Whatcha reading?
Shopping note:
After a 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 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 SBTB receives a percentage commission from purchases made. 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 have only now been sucked into the Lunar Chronicles. Just finished Cress the other day and now I have to wait until November!!! for the next book. Arrgggghhhhh.
@L. Omg yes! I love the Lunar Chronicles so much. Pretty much this entire month has been dedicated to reading the series. I’m just about to finish Cress and will proceed to wait impatiently for November.
On an unrelated note I’m also reading a nonfiction book on Alchemy and The Secret .
I’m planning to read Hard to Hold On To by Laura Kaye and Hawkeye Volume 3: L.A. Woman by Matt Fraction, Annie Wu, and Javier Pulido.
Went on a Cara McKenna reading binge after finding “Unbound”. Love the way McKenna writes intelligent characters and relationships.
After that I had a craving for historicals and went on a Theresa Romaine binge.
All and all a pretty good reading month.
Now reading One Night of Trouble (After Hours #3) by Elle Kennedy. I like her writing style and am enjoying this book more than the second one in the series.
I recently read Captive Bride by Bonnie Dee, which I loved. Definitely recommend it for a rather different historical romance. It’s set in 1870 in San Francisco, and the heroine is Chinese and doesn’t speak English at the beginning.
Just finished Nora Roberts, The Liar. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Southern location, murder mystery, non-tantruming 3 year old plot moppet. Great stuff. Normal weekend service is just about to resume ( the ironing pile is starting to resemble Corfe Castle)
I’m still in a reading slump and thinking of lowering my goodreads goal. 🙁
I’m currently in the middle of “Shades of Milk and Honey” by Mary Robinette Kowal, which is wonderful, but slow going due to the slump.
I recently read “What If?” by Randall Monroe, which was hilarious and fascinating, and “As You Wish” by Cary Elwes, which is basically a big, warm hug to “The Princess Bride.”
Just about to finish Jackdaw by KJ Charles and next The Shameless Hour by Sarina Bowen
Liar Temptress Soldier Spy. I blame you guys. I’ve come to the conclusion that the reason that the clothes were so huge then was because they were full of secrets.
Continuing my black romance binge: The Trouble with Love and Love and Other Things by Christina C. Jones; Maybe Baby by Kim Golden; Agyer the Storm by Te Russ. About to read Nice Girls Don’t Ride by Roni Loren and another CCJ… As well
As Maybe a Tonight by Kim Golden.
I’ve still been making the most out of my free trial at Scribd even though I’ve decided to definitely keep it when my three months are up. I finally read my first Sarina Bowen, The Understatement of the Year. I own a few of her books that I picked up on sale but hadn’t gotten around to reading them. Understatement was one I didn’t have and it was marked as expiring soon on Scribd so I decided to read it. I am so glad I did. I loved and I’m planning on glomming on the rest of her books this week.
I also read The Deal by Elle Kennedy. This was on my radar after reading so many good reviews of it but if I hadn’t realized it was on Scribd it would have been a lot longer before I got around to reading it. I’m not a huge NA fan (one of the reasons I hadn’t read Sarina Bowen before) but I loved this one. The hero and heroine had such great dialogue and the heroine’s issues were handled so well. I’m so glad I read this one.
My favorite book from Scribd is hands down Always to Remember by Lorraine Heath. I’ve enjoyed a lot of Heath’s other books but she can be hit or miss for me. This was a five-star hit for me. The hero in this one is the town pariah because he refused to fight in the civil war. The town thinks he’s a coward and the book does a great job exploring the subject of courage. The heroine lost her husband, a friend of the hero’s, in the war and decides to teach the hero a lesson by making him sculpt (he’s a sculptor!) a moment to the men of the town that lost their lives in the war. Of course, while he does this she begins to realize that maybe the town’s version of events isn’t exactly the truth. I loved this one so much and I highly recommend it to all romance fans!
Other Scribd highlights this month include Anticipation by Sarah Mayberry, the audio version of The Other Side of Midnight by Simone St. James (probably my favorite book of hers so far), the audio of Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch and the audio version of Four Nights With the Duke by Eloisa James
My non-Scribd book highlight was Beyond Sunrise by Candice Proctor. This was a fun, adventurous historical sent in the South Pacific. I read it as part of my quest to seek out more non-Regency historicals.
I’m currently listening to the audio of Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs since all but the most recent Mercy Thompson and Alpha and Omega books were included in the recent audiobook deal Scribd made. Finishing those series will take a while.
I just finished Sarah Morgan’s First Time in Forever, which starts a new series. I’m working my way through Jayne Castle’s (JAK’s) Harmony books and Eloisa James’ Four Nights with the Duke is on deck.
Thinking:
@CelineB Ooh! I want to try Scribd, but I’m afraid it will turn out to be the missing piece in my life and I will never be able to cancel it, never be able to quit them, and my heirs will inherit my active subscription. But maybe it’s worth it. 🙂
I love that scarlet-pimpernelling is now a verb. Hell–it’s already a trope. It’s out there. Now, I just have a word for it.
@Amanda I also liked the book The Scarlet Pimpernel, but I really enjoyed the take down of it that you linked to. It reminded me, however, how AWESOME the 1982 Andrews/Seymour version was. (Formative, pre-Bitchery romance for me, right there.) Come on — it has a dastardly, dark-haired Ian McKellan as Chauvelin, for crying out loud! And it has Bunter (Richard Morant) from the really good (Edward Petherbridge) Peter Whimsey adaptation (as Robespierre), and Julian Fellowes (creator of Downton Abbey) as the Prince Regent! Benedict Cumberbatch’s dad even shows up! This version is about as awesome crazysauce as The Scarlet Pimpernel gets. Andrews dresses as a lady! Seymour communes with her wallpaper! Watch this as soon as humanly possible.
Reading:
I’m rarely in the process of reading things any more (to read is to binge and to finish), but I’m on a Mary Jo Putney streak right now, reading her Lost Lords series in no particular order. V.G.
I’m also re-listening to Romancing the Duke on audiobook (which is the only way I’ve ever experienced this book, for some reason), inspired by listening to Sassy Outwater’s episode on the podcast followed by (coincidentally) This American Life’s episode Batman (#544). I really like this performance, but after a recent podcast (Sassy’s? Elyse’s?) I am curious how I would feel differently about the characters/situations if I read it to myself…
Right now, I’m reading The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty and it’s a fast read for me told from 3 different perspectives and I still don’t know what the husband’s secret is on page 100 so the jury’s still out on an opinion.
I read the most romantic romance yesterday The Playboy’s Plain Jane by Cara Coulter about an ex- baseball player and a florist. No sex scenes but you could really tell he loved her…It was wonderful!!
I just finished NK Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, propelled by those pitiful pups in Hugo world to buying some of the **shockingly** diverse books that filled their itty bitty hearts with trouble. It was great! Although I had to recondition my romance/thriller reader expectations for finales that end differently in the SFF genre. I have to remember – not HEA b/c not romance, but still satisfying.
I have ML Buchman Light Up the Night to read next, and we’re listening to The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander in the car (because, kids). I am enjoying the audiobook – the Chronicles of Prydain is perhaps my favorite kid series of all time. The narrator is very pleasing except for when he does Eilonwy’s girl voice – that’s killing me! It’s like a Monty Python sketch when he does her voice and I can’t stand it, even though Eilonwy gets all the good lines. You don’t really realize how deliciously awful she is to Taran until you hear someone else read her lines. Alexander was a master of the end of the chapter hook though. And this narration leaves a nice beat of silence after each chapter for you to sort of breathe and go “wow. what next?” before it picks up. Very respectful of the author’s cliffhangers, I think.
Last night I read a regency with a fresh storyline that didn’t fall into any set trope, characters who were both nice people with genuine, believable problems to overcome and lovely pacing. I found the title on Scribd (thank you for the push in that direction, SBSarah) after a G-search for historicals in a particular trope. A subsequent novel in author Elizabeth Boyle’s series was on a list and Along Came a Duke is the first in that series.
I hesitated because I do not recall this author’s work appearing on SBTB in the time I’ve been reading, but the author has several books published and really, it is only a little risk to try a new author. After all, new-to-me authors Rose Lerner, Darlene Marshall and Leslie Wells contributed many happy hours to my reading time last year. I look forward to starting And the Miss Ran Away With the Rake this evening and am resigned to another night of insuffficient sleep.
I’ve stumbled into Megan Murly’s Unruly Royals series. I’m loving that although they are typical contemporary romance, Murly is adding some twists to characters that I’ve never seen. The 4th book the heroine is has ended a 10 year relationship with another woman, but falls hard for a guy. It’s not just a lesbian goes straight story, it’s more nuanced and incredibly open minded. In an upcoming book will have an interracial couple. I can’t wait. Oh and she created the most douche-tastic, evil, manipulative, make me wish I could punch a fictional character ex-husband I’ve ever seen. I spent two days telling friends “omg I read this book and you wouldn’t believe what the ex husband did in the book I read!”
I just got All The Light We Cannot See by Anthont Doerr. Looking forward to it.
Last book finished was It Started With A Scandal – Julie Anne Long. It was nice to see what happens to Lavay. I kept feeling like maybe I missed a book in the series though. This has happened before. Recently I reread Courtney Milan’s Turner series and realized I never read the middle book, only the first and third. How does something like this even happen? Weird.
LML #16 – I’ve read several books by Elizabeth Boyle and liked them. I like the heroines and the heroes, as you said, and the idea of a cursed spinster village is cute.
After checking out the best sellers list, I caved and bought The Bollywood Affair. So glad I did. It’s charming and funny, sweet and heartfelt, and so beautifully written. It’s a perfect love story. I loved every word.
Just finished Cassandra Clare’s Infernal Devices series. A bit slow, but a good story overall.
I just finished Dead Sexy, the second in the Garnet Lacy series by Tate Halloway, an intriguing story filled with paranormal elements. Right before that I had finished The Dragon Conspiracy by Lisa Shearin — a fun, but violent, romp through paranormal New York and Under the Final Moon by Hannah Jayne — the conclusion to the Underworld Detection Agency mysteries that includes a slightly silly paranormal romp through San Francisco.
I am currently reading The Accidental Alchemist by Gigi Pandian. It had me hooked by the end of the first chapter!
Just finished Off Campus by Amy Jo Cousins thanks to the recent DBSA podcast on m/m romance. It was my first m/m story and I found it enjoyable, despite some of my issues with the NA tropes. My library has the rest of the series and I’m looking forward to the third one especially.
Before that I binged on Caroline Linden’s The Truth About The Duke series thanks to the recent Kindle sale. I love her books and was glad these didn’t disappoint. While they were all good, I think the prequel novella and the third novel were my favorites. Interesting heroines FTW!
Right now I’m thisclose to finishing Assassin’s Gambit by Amy Raby. I’d read the novella in the Hearts & Thrones series a while ago and snagged this in the 1/2 price bin at the used bookstore. I’m loving the mix of magic, firearms and Romanesque setting and will definitely get the rest of the series.
@Laura Jardine – Captive Bride sounds really interesting and my library has a copy, so thanks for picking out my next book!
I’m reading:
“Save the Date” by Mary Kay Andrews because I read all of her books eventually and this one was just a Kindle Daily Deal.
“The Demon’s Brood: A History of the Plantagenet Dynasty” and holy cow is that a lot of really messed up people. Very enjoyable.
I finished The Liar by Nora Roberts last night and really enjoyed it. Then I started The One in my Heart by Sherry Thomas. I can’t wait to see what one of my favorite historical romance authors does in a contemporary romance.
So…I was deep into a reading trough (deeper than a slump), and feeling like I’d never again find an author whose work was so transfixing that I would read their grocery list and love it. I had finished “Dr. Mutter’s marvels,” which was interesting enough to plan a trip to Philadelphia to see the museum named after him, but for fiction–meh. Then I went rummaging through my TBR box and found The Book. I picked it up a few years ago after reading rapturous recommendations here, but I haven’t read much SF for years. I might have gotten to it sooner if someone had just mentioned that it’s dedicated to “Jane, Charlotte, Georgette, and Dorothy–long may they rule.” Anyway, many, many thanks to the Bitchery for alerting me to all things Vorkorsigan. I started with “A Civil contract,” and now I’m hunting for the rest of the series. I’ve read maybe half of them–and dammit where’s some more good UBS/book sales/garage sales/whatever when I need them? But the thing is, while I hunt for the rest of the books, I can happily occupy myself with the ones I’ve got, reading and re-reading. Good-bye (for now) book slump.
I also did the Scrib’d thing and have been adding books to the library right and left – another TBR expands. I am currently reading Rebecca Solnit’s Men Explain Things to Me and I am finding it interesting and useful. I just finished reading Heyer’s Regency Buck again because I needed a comfort read. Enjoyed it as usual. Before that, I got into Nalini Singh’s back list and read Secrets in the Marriage Bed. I enjoyed it a good deal – a second chance story in which the protagonists share secrets and work on communication! I also read A Flame in the Wind of Death – mystery involving anthropologist (male and normal) and state trooper (female) with their relationship evolving as they solve a crime. This is the third in series that I have enjoyed very much.
@CelineB I also have been bingeing with my free scribd subscription! If you liked The Deal by Elle Kennedy, may I recommend The Hook-Up by Kristen Callihan? It has a similar theme as The Deal and I LOVED both books.
@Jennifer Estep I hope you enjoy the Hard Ink books as much as I have. I love Easy’s story so much.
Of the books I have discovered during my scribd subscription, the one I was the most surprised at enjoying is Never Never by Colleen Hoover. It is a continuing novella series and I normally shy away from those books, mainly because I dislike the lack of closure at the end of each book, but this story is really well done and the lack of closure is building anticipation for the next book (instead of my normal frustration.)
P.S. I almost forgot–a friend of mine did the straw bale garden thing a couple of years ago. It beat the heck out of digging out all the rocks and clay soil that we have around here, plus she had a lot fewer problems with the kind of garden pests that you can’t just shoo–bugs and such. The biggest problem she ran into was that in the heat of an Ohio summer, she had to water a couple of times a day because of course the bales don’t retain water.
I’ve been on a reading drought (Busy!) but I’m about to begin The Precious One by Marisa De Los Santos who is always incredible.
I just finished Sarina Bowen’s The Shameless Hour. It was good but the first and third books are still my favorites (The Year We Fell Down and The Understatement of the Year). I think this is because they have more romantic tension and less external conflict than book two (The Year We Hid Away) and four (The Shameless Hour). But I like them all! Right now I need to start The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin because it’s going back to the library on Wednesday! The Lunar Chronicles are also very close on my TBR.
Recently read three out of the seven books in the Montana Romance series by self-published author Merry Farmer. I really enjoyed her couple pairings and how historically accurate her books are and still interesting as a work of fiction. I read the novellas Seeks For Her and The Indomitable Eve (town pastor/former prostitute and actress) and the full length novel Our Little Secrets. I enjoyed these stories so much, I am making plans to carve out time to read the rest of the series.
All the rest of my reading this month has been academic (one week left in my final class for my BA) or contemporary romances that were awful/rage inducing/stupid.
Just finished The Sentinel by Nancy Northcott which I have to admit I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would. I’m generally not much for contemporaries and this is kind of like the adult version of Harry Potter, with a magical community living within and beside the mundane world without attracting attention to themselves. Also takes place locally here, with a few details not quite right but nothing I can’t forgive. The hero is an investigative reporter for a magical news service who is called upon to get some dirt on an accused murderer by infiltrating his family; however when he gets to know the sister of the accused he starts realizing there is more to this story and her brother might not be the villain he is painted to be. It probably helped that I kept seeing the hero being played by Josh Holloway, but I liked the characters and am hooked enough on the mystery that now I want to get the brother’s story and find out what really went down, so I’ll be looking for that.
Right now I’m reading The Shocking Secret of the Guest at the Wedding by Victoria Alexander which – eh. I have always had issues with people who write Victorians as if they were Regencies (two totally different social environments, people) and for various reasons I just can’t quite like any of the characters. I think that may be the problem; they’re characters, not people, just there to further the plot. I’ll stick it out, though, to see if I warm up to any of them.
Sending good thoughts for plentiful tomatoes. There’s nothing that compares to a fresh home grown tomato!
I just finished Lifers by Jane Harvey-Berrick. I enjoyed it, but I’d read so many rave reviews that I was expecting more.
Also recently finished Debra Dean’s The Madonnas of Leningrad for my book group. It was a good read though it covered some sobering topics (war time deprivation and Alzheimer’s).
I enjoyed the most recent Captain Lacey Regency Mystery ~ Murder in Grosvenor Square by Ashley Gardner and a re-read Marry Me by Jo Goodman.
I’ve been reading slowly this month but it’s been interesting reading overall. My favorites so far have been:
“Lives in Ruins: Archaeologists and the Seductive Lure of Human Rubble” by Marilyn Johnson – a light look at that variety of professions and professionals in the in that field
And “Guards! Guards!” by Terry Pratchett – How wonderful is Lady Sybill??
The books I really wanted to love but fell just short include:
“The Nuns of Sant’ Ambrogio: The True Story of a Convent in Scandal by Hubert Wolf -lesbian sex scandal? Murder?? Oh it promised to be so juicy but ended up being 20% juicy, 80% rundowns of Inquisition judiciary practices. Very dry reading.
“Destiny’s Captive” by Berverly Jenkins – My first Jenkins and, while I found the heroine’s journey disappointing, I am inspired to read more. Maybe “Topaz” next?
Currently reading:
“Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea” by Barbara Demick – fascinating and infuriating
“An Inquiry into Love and Death” by Simone St. James – A reread. I love love St. James’s books and I think many of The Bitchery would as well. They tend to be gothic romances with supernatural mystery plots. And! They take place in the early 1920’s and deal with the aftermath of the war. Really great stuff. Her newest book was just published last week!
@Amy I actually own The Hook-Up but I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet. It’s always near the top of my list but never quite reaches the top. Maybe I’ll have to change that soon.
I just read Sarina Bowen’s The Shameless Hour on Scribd and really enjoyed it. I added it yesterday, I believe, but now I can’t find it when I search either the name of the book or by author so I’m not sure if it’s still available or if it just let me read it through some sort of fluke.
Glad to see I’m not the only one who’s been in a slump lately! I thought it was just me. I have been patiently reading my way through my Kindle Unlimited subscription. One of the best I found on there is the Kricket series by Amy A. Bartol. Under Different Stars is the first in the series, and it’s about a teenage foster runaway who is kidnapped and taken to another world, thus the title. It’s sci fi but with some romance thrown in. I liked the first book and loved the second. Otherwise, it’s just been rereading Heyers (most are included in Unlimited) and searching for new stuff. I’m thankful for this thread. Maybe I can find some inspiration!
I am reading The Duke’s Disaster by Grace Burrowes and am totally enamored of Noah, the pragmatic hero. I need a historical break after reading a string of contemporaries including Before I Fall by Jessica Scott, Someone Like Her by Sandra Owens, Irresistible Force by D.D. Ayres and Bringing Home the Bad Boy by Jessica Lemmon. All were good reads. I think Jessica Lemmon is one to watch … the first few chapters of her book brought on the feels and I loved the layering of the story.
Linda Ladd
Brenda Novak
Liliana Hart! (Cannot write fast enough!)
Penny Reid
???
This month has been so much better for me! I’ve read rather a lot.
I discovered Linda Ladd two weeks ago, woohoo!, and I’m just starting book six of her Claire Morgan series, which is dark, and creepy. I like. She writes villains that are so bad that they will just creep you right out but the way she writes them is how they got to be the bad guy that they are. She tells you stories about how they begin and keeps telling you right up to the end so that you can almost understand how they became who they are.
In book five you know right away who the bad guy is (she’s being revisited by an escaped serial killer she previously put away) but Claire is in complete darkness as she’s got amnesia. I know, amnesia! But, she does have a head wound, two of them actually, and it’s kind of more about trauma, physical, but also mental, like she’s hiding from herself. And believe you me, you would be hiding too.
So far, in the rest of the books she keeps you guessing.
The books are a little bit funny too, she describes the characters very well, and each has its own personality. Actually, Claire describes them very well, the first four books are from her point of view so you get some dialogue but you also get monologue which is not my favorite thing but it seems to work here.
Trigger warnings!!!
Linda Ladd puts children, animals, adults, and me!, in peril. Also, there’s gory details.
I also started reading Brenda Novak. I’m reading on Scribd but my library has a lot of hers, and most of hers are not in a series, so I’m waiting on them so I can get the series that my library does not have (Claire Morgan) out of the way. But I think I like her.
And I’m so happy! I haven’t read them yet, but my library just acquired the fourth books in two series by Liliana Hart, the Addison Holmes series which is rompy, PI fun and the J.J. Graves series which is less of a romp and more dark. I’ve been so looking forward to continuing both of these series because they’re really, really good.
She has a whole series of The Mackenzies, I think, which are apparently more erotic, I don’t know. I haven’t read those, I don’t know anything about them but these two series are really good. You should read them.
The Addison Holmes books start out with Whiskey Rebellion, they should be read in order. Addison, a high school history teacher, has just been left at the altar, her apartment is going to be condemned, she’s financially strapped and decides to even try stripping, at which point she finds her principal, dead, in the parking lot of the seedy little strip club she was at. Addison Holmes is having a bad day.
Addison’s best friend Kate, is a PI, and she offers her work doing surveillance for her agency. Hilarity ensues. Nick is the hero and a cop she keeps running into, or getting in the way of. And I cannot remember his name but there’s a sexy FBI agent that gets into the mix too (but not in a menage sort of way, that would be a totally different book…), and one of her fellow teachers joins her on some of her escapades and the woman is a riot.
The J. J. Graves Mysteries start with Dirty Little Secrets, and also should be read in order. J.J. is a local mortician and also the county coroner. Her best friend is Detective Jack Lawson. This is a friends to lovers romantic suspense. It’s awesome.
I can’t remember all the details on the murder mystery, I don’t believe it was too terribly triggery. On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I like the dark. The suspense was good and the romance is fabulous.
Oh, and I got myself current on the Penny Reid Knitting in the City books and I can’t wait for the next one! So good.
I have, believe it or not, read more than that this month but I can’t remember what.
I’ll stop there.
That’s enough right?
@Roserita
Thank you! We’re just conditioning the bales now, and will put the drop hose on them in a week or two, but I’ll watch for dry weather and make sure it gets a lot of water. I have big tomato hopes. HUGE in fact.
And Bujold is GREAT for breaking a slump – I hope you enjoy all of them as much as the first!
Right now I’m reading Jane Ann Krentz’s Smoke in Mirrors. I had glommed a bunch of Krentz’s stuff quite awhile ago, avoiding the paranormalish stuff, just as I had Amanda Quick’s historicals. I find the woo-woo much less bothersome than JAK’s early contemporaries though. I started a number of mid-80s & early 90s titles and couldn’t finish them because the heroes were such alph-holes and the heroines were such drips. One fuck and I looooovvvve him. Ew-DNF. Anyway Smoke in Mirrors avoids that particular pitfall, so far.
I’m also reading and relishing Johannes Cabal, the Detective, the second in Howard’s series. Thank you, SBTB.
Reread Glory in Death for my mystery book club and am really looking forward to the discussion this Monday.
Finally read Seanan Mcguire’s Pocket Apocalypse which was fun but didn’t rev me up. Also read It Started with a Scandal by Julie Anne Long and really enjoyed it. I love Pennyroyal Green; it’s one of my auto-buys and didn’t disappoint.
I picked up Ridiculous by D.L. Carter for a ridiculously low price and thoroughly enjoyed this Regency tale of a cross-dressing heroine shepherding her family through their first London season. I really enjoyed the relationship between North and Shoffer. Some of it was a little eyebrow raising, but North/Mildred just cracked me up. Subsequently, I sought out Carter’s other works. Loved the odd elven fantasy of The Use; liked the misleadingly titled Crimes of the Brothers; loathed the incredibly amateurish and unedited Adventures of a Super Hero’s Insurance Adjuster. In fact, I’m reading the Krentz as a palate cleanser. No matter how much woo-woo or alph-holery one encounters, the writing is always smooth and competent.
Ooh, I’m excited for the next Jenn Bennett! I enjoyed the first two Roaring Twenties books. And as a former San Franciscan, I love the combo of a real sense of place plus a little-bit-of-paranormal. (Tho I’m actually from Rhode Island originally and I’ve NEVER found a RI book to love that is really Rhode Island-y — taking recs!)
Just finished Station Eleven (HOLY CRAP SO GOOD), The Martian (meh; I’m not the demo), Bone Gap by Laura Ruby (YA, really interesting — at first I thought the language was too self-consciously lyrical but I’m glad I stuck with it, and I’ll say it’s a mystery and a love story and a little bit paranormal in a hick town and i’m still PISSED at a spoiler I read in a review so let me just say the reviews have been rapturous so if you’re thinking about it, go for it and don’t read any reviews, whew, I’ll take a breath now), Also finished the Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutoski (2nd in a YA trilogy after The Winner’s Curse, LOVE, much more politics/spying/intrigue than the pretty-girl-fancy-dress romance covers would suggest) and Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda (funny and adorable, sweet, gay-boy-protagonist YA romance/mystery/friendship story). In romance, just finished Elizabeth Hoyt’s Hot (meh — like her historicals more) and am currently enjoying The Diabolical Miss Hyde (as recommended here!). I have Bec McMaster’s Of Silk and Steam up next — I’ve liked each book in the series less than the one before, so I if I don’t really like this one, I’m done.