Uh oh, it’s Whatcha Reading time! This is the post where we talk about what we’ve been reading and try desperately not to send our TBR piles into epic proportions. We also get to kvetch a little bit about our reading struggles. Gird your loins, or rather book budget, accordingly!
Sarah: I’m in a new place reading -wise. I’ve read 5 books on vacation and am now reading the same book as Adam, at the same time. I bought him Midnight Riot ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) and now we are both reading it. Plus we have long flights so we will probably have to buy book 2 before we get on the plane.
Amanda: I’m going through an unexpected personal clusterfuck. Usually, at the end of the day, I have just enough time for an hour of cross stitching & crying (sounds like a new YouTube channel I should start). I’m torn between wanting to read something fluffy or something that’ll give me an outlet for my anger. But, I am so pleased to see that Book of the Month club (I’m a member) had Final Girls as one of this month’s selections. I’ve been anticipating it for months and I mentioned it on July’s Hide Your Wallet.
Redheadedgirl: I just finished Simona Ahrnstedt’s Falling (I’m so annoyed with the English titles of her books, a straight translation of the Swedish titles would have been fine!) and loved it and now desperately need the next one.
I’m sort of flitting around but my life was pretty bonkers for a while up until today, so I’m going to start the book I mentioned in Hide Your Wallet about ballet dancers in Paris, Under the Parisian Sky ( A | BN | K | G | AB ).
ALSO I just got the ARC for The Half-Drowned King by Linnea Hartsuyker ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), which I have been waiting very patiently for for MONTHS. It’s about Viking-era Norway, so you know. Relevant to my interests.
Elyse: I just started The Red by Tiffany Reisz. It’s an erotic novel that ties into art history
Amanda: How is it so far? Or too early to tell, Elyse?
Elyse: Super good but not for all readers. Reisz pushes the envelope
Redheadedgirl: Oh good, I was meaning to grab that one, too.
Sarah: I finished the first Aaronovich and started the second, Moon Over Soho ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). In this one, I’m a little unimpressed with Peter’s lack of self awareness and am a little frustrated with the portrayal of some of the women in the series. But I’m still charmed I’m going to keep going through this one, for sure.
But I am still going.
Amanda: Well that’s a bit of a bummer.
Sarah: It’s still incredibly engaging and very funny. I do want to smack Peter in this one though.
Carrie: I just finished Dating You/Hating You by Christina Lauren ( A | BN | K | AB ) and I am about to start Lethal Lies by Rebecca Zanetti ( A | BN | K | G | AB ).
What have you been reading this month? Anything good? We sure hope so! But, if not, let us know your frustrations in the comments.
By request, since we can’t link to every book you mention in the comments, here are bookstore links that help support the site with your purchases. If you use them, thank you so much, and if you’d prefer not to, no worries. Thanks for being a part of SBTB and hopefully, you’ve found some great books to read!
Good news: my library just added Hoopla! I love Overdrive, generally, but Hoopla has no waiting and that’s amazing! Bad news: I’m in the middle of a move and oh BOY, am I stressed. Thank goodness for books.
Faves
– LITTLE WOMEN (reread) / EIGHT COUSINS by Louisa May Alcott – So. I love Little Women. It is my favorite book of all time. Recently, my mom treated me to a Little Women play and now I’m on a kick. AIt’s the perfect stress reliever. didn’t love COUSINS but it gets the bump by relation.
– THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by Taylor Jenkins Reid (audio) – omg, omg, omg. Old Hollywood, strong bisexual character, a bunch of queer characters, a lovely/realistic f/f romance. Twists and turns. I loooooooved it.
– KINDRED / BLOODCHILD AND OTHER STORIES (audio) by Octavia E. Butler – AHHH Butler’s writing is so perfect. I want everyone to read KINDRED. The short story collection was balanced and disturbing and thoughtful.
– BORNE by Jeff VanderMeer – VanderMeer’s stuff is so weird! There’s a gooey plant squid monster who quotes children’s books. A giant flying bear! A destroyed city and two people just trying to get by in a new world. Love it.
– FRENCHMAN’S CREEK by Daphne Du Maurier – This is a romance of the real classic variety. There’s a mysterious pirate, a bored society lady and Cornwall! However, the book is saved from its trappings by a truly independent heroine. Surprisingly good.
– THE GAME OF KINGS by Dorothy Dunnett – I need to read this like 10 more times to get a handle on the language, but I did love Lymond. He is THE antihero.
Good
– MY LIFE TO LIVE: HOW I BECAME THE QUEEN OF SOAPS WHEN MEN RULED THE AIRWAVES by Agnes Nixon – I was a huge All My Children fan. Like, meet actors, go to fan meetups fan. I’m still sad it was cancelled. This autobiography, published posthumously, is great. AMC was clearly Nixon’s first love, but just reading about all the work, all the soaps she was involved in and the passion she had for soaps, it’s inspiring. Oh American soaps, I miss you!
– THE BURNING AIR by Erin Kelly – Great mystery suspense novel full of family secrets. Yes, there are some silly elements but it was a real fun read.
– SEX AND RAGE: ADVICE TO YOUNG LADIES EAGER FOR A GOOD TIME by Eve Babitz – I love Babitz’s writing. This novel, originally published in 79, was just republished this week. If you want a realistic antiheroine, this is the book for you. However, I don’t think this is as strong as her other books recently republished, EVE’S HOLLYWOOD and SLOW DAYS, FAST COMPANY.
– THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10 by Ruth Ware – marketed like a mystery suspense, this is much more of classic closed room mystery, but on a ship!
– EVERY FRENCHMAN HAS ONE by Olivia De Havilland – witty and charming sort of how-to memoir from 1961 of De Havilland’s move to France with her son, to be with her new French husband.
– THE DEAD IN THEIR VAULTED ARCHES by Alan Bradley – I wanted to love this because the emotional resonance is pretty strong throughout, but this mystery really only exists in the last third.
– MISS TREADWAY AND THE FIELD OF STARS by Miranda Emmerson – sort of a mystery, sort of a look at 60’s London, this was thoughtful and well-written, even if the mystery around a missing actress went a little soapy
– THE DEMON LOVER by Juliet Dark aka Carol Goodman – gothic tale of a writer in a new town with an incubus on her tail, so to speak. It was fun, but it had trouble finding it’s tone. Is it silly? Serious about gothic tropes? Is it romance? Or urban fantasy?
Currently Reading
– THE LITTLE WOMEN LETTERS by Gabrielle Donnelly – Told you I was on a kick. This take off featuring descendants of the March family doesn’t have a great GR rating, but I’m really enjoying it! It’s got the Little Women tone (charming, loving, a pinch of moralizing), as well as capturing the right kind of character voice. If you like take offs, I’d say give it a shot.
– SAGA: BOOK ONE by Brain K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples – Thanks to Hoopla (because oh boy, is the hardback enormous), I’m finally breaking into this graphic novel series. Loving it so far!
– BLOOD OF TYRANTS by Naomi Novik (audio) – finally catching up on this series, which has been audio only for me so far, because I love Simon Vance’s narration so much. Thanks again, Hoopla!
ARABELLA by Georgette Heyer. First time around, and loving it so far 🙂
Just finished LOVE-LETTERS TO THE DEAD by an author whose name I don’t recall, but the book is quite excellent, if you like YA.
I’m in the middle of a huge reading slump because I moved across country a month ago. Now I’m just marathon watching Father Brown on Netflix while I crochet.
I should read Day of the Duchess since I bought it last week, just need to be in the right mood.
I just finished Murder on Black Swan Lane, it has some issues, but the potential for a good historical mystery series is apparent in Ms. Penrose’s wonderful writing. The heroine is terrific!
I picked up Day of the Duchess and read a third of it before I put it down. DNF. The whole thing stinks, though not as bad as the first two, but pretty close.
The Peter Grant series is crazy, just you wait Sarah! I loved the audiobooks, the narrator is fantastic!
Approximately a month ago, I came up smack dab against a wall. No more current events. No more Twitter. No more reality. No more idiocy. (Twitter had been a daily, multiple-times-a-day visit for years. Book twitter and romance Twitter are invigorating and fun and informational and entertaining. Reality post-2016 Twitter is depressing. #bkbrk and #RomBkLove truly do the Lord’s work.) So I took to knitting socks, haunting Ravelry, and bingeing on knitting podcasts on Youtube. I can highly recommend Arctic Knitting podcast and Knitting Expat podcast for OMG-so-many-socks! Love them. Love love love.
All the kudos to Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar books. I’ve been reading and rereading the trilogies and miniseries and standalones for months and months now, with no end in sight. Love. (For a starting point, go with book 1 of any of the trilogies—except Mage Storms?)
Pamela Clare’s Tempting Fate made me so happy. I love the Scarlet Springs community, the climbing and the rescue logistics. Respectful view of modern-day life as a Native American, culture, and beliefs. Competent h/h—engineer and artist. Hot smex. I went back and reread Falling Hard to stay in my happy place.
La Nora rereads never fail to entertain and comfort. This time I wallowed in The Liar and The Obsession. I did the whispersync thing of reading on the Kindle app while in bed and listening to the Audible audiobook while up and about. So convenient.
And I finally took the plunge and invested in Wen Spencer’s Elfhome series. Best science-fantasy-magic-physics-cultural-clashing-elven-courtship ever! Love love love them all from Tinker onwards. So fun! So delightful! So destructive… I’m currently reading Wood Sprites, and am in awe of the resourcefulness of these inventive nine-year-olds.
I read Nalini Singh’s Silver Silence twice (bears! love!), and am considering using the audiobook as a carrot to get me out of the house for some exercise. Maybe.
Those are pretty much the highlights. (Gotta go turn some heels now.)
Am so happy (and relieved) you enjoyed FALLING. Yay! I am sure now you will adore the third installment; HIGH RISK.
How would the original titles translate? Only One Night, Only One Secret, Only One Risk?
I like the english titles, but it is very interesting to hear your opinions! Greetings from Sweden!
Love the Peter Grant series! And Frenchman’s Creek! My aunt read it aloud to me when I was a kid (blurring over the sex bits), and I seriously considered piracy for a career when I was a kid.
I read a couple of good ones this month:
No Proper Lady by Isabel Cooper: Grrrrreat! (/TonyTiger voice): This book was reviewed here a long time ago and it still holds up. Time traveling badass female comes back in time for Mission and meets Regency gentleman. Together they fight crime. Both Joan and Simon are great people. She has to learn to behave Regency-style for her mission, but she’s good-humored about it, and Simon is sweet. Even the stuff from the bad guy’s POV is ok because you know Joan can rip him to shreds.
The Dry by Jane Harper: Not a romance, but a well-written mystery. I know a lot of people who raved about this, and I finally got it from the library. Again, the writing is smooth and the story is engrossing. It’s not gross (the initial killing is bad, but then it’s all about the investigation), and the characters’ drama don’t get in the way of the story.
I’m still reading the same book I was last month – The Wheel of Fortune by Susan Howatch. I am enjoying it, but it’s really looooong and my attention span is very short these days and I couldn’t manage more than a few pages at a time. I had a mastectomy a couple of weeks ago and most of my time was spent in waiting rooms. Most of the time since has been spent watching anime and indulging in my guilty pleasure of professional wrestling.
I have been reading a lot of recommendations from last months SBTR and I am in the middle of playing the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo too.
Squee
Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor although trying to remember all of the characters made it a bit of a slow read for me.
Seven Minutes in Heaven by Eloisa James. I can’t wait to read more of hers. The only slight annoyance was that it hadn’t been properly edited which started to bug me a bit.
The Unleashing by Shelly Laurenston. I am definitely going to try and get the next 2 books.
Meh
And Then He Kissed Me by Cathy Kelly. A YA anthology. Some of the stories were really good but it got to the point when I wanted just to finish the damn thing as it was too samey.
At the moment I am reading Lady Audley’s Secret which I am really surprised to say I am really enjoying.
It’s been a couple of months since I last posted on Whatcha Reading, but here are some of my recent reads:
Thirteen Reasons Why (Jay Asher) – I read it because of the buzz that the Netflix series is receiving. I haven’t seen the Netflix series – I don’t have Netflix – so I don’t know how the book compares, but I was underwhelmed. I thought that it gave a good introduction to this Gen X-er of the current high school scene, but I was disappointed that it externalizes the causes of suicide and that none of the thirteen reasons mentions depression.
The Highwayman (Kerrigan Byrne) – I loved that the heroine was not your typical historical romance “society lady” but thought that the obstacles were cleared just a little to quickly and tidily.
The Friend Zone (Kristen Callihan) – I loved the banter between the two main characters and the friends-to-lovers plot line. I don’t normally read sports romances, but am quite enjoying this series.
Beauty and the Billionaire (Jessica Clare) – I think that I’m going to quit this series (this is the second book) as I don’t really like any of the billionaire heroes.
The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove (Susan Gregg Gilmore) – I just finished this one last night – it was a great airplane book. I have the same criticism of this one as with the other Gilmore book I read – that they seem to end abruptly and too quickly. I would have been happy to continue reading about Bezellia for another couple of hundred pages. She writes complicated family dynamics and coming-of-age well.
Bones Never Lie (Kathy Reichs) – It has been a couple of years since I picked up a book in this series, but this entertained me on a long weekend when I was visiting my sister. I guessed the “who” of the mystery and part of the “why,” but not the “how.” I don’t do scary, and this book had just enough of anxiety in the pit of my stomach and sitting on the edge of my seat without robbing me of sleep (other than the night as a member of the BadDecisionsBookClub in order to find out how it would end).
It’s the most wonderful day of the month! (twirls) 😉
This wasn’t a great month for reading, but I still had a few things I enjoyed.
“The Upside of Unrequited” by Becky Albertalli was my absolute favorite read of the month. Cute, but believable YA romance. A kind of love triangle with no “bad guys.” And the setting was not too far from where I live and I reveled in every wonderful detail of local color the author wove in.
“Cotillion” by Georgette Heyer. This was the first Heyer I really “got.” It helped that I listened to the audiobook. Loved the hero.
“Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” by Benjamin Alire Saenz. This was really sweet. Another audiobook.
“The Truth About Love and Dukes” by Laura Lee Guhrke. This was cute, but every book of hers I read and sigh and say ‘it’s not as good as “And Then He Kissed Her.”‘I think there’s no escaping that.
I read a lot of self help this month and I always hesitate to recommend that. I feel like lots of times, you can read a long article or watch a TEDtalk and get the same benefit in shorter bullet points, but when I’m really struggling with a concept, I need that repetition. Also, I was feeling a bit braindead this month and self-help and fanfiction are what I read when I can’t focus.
The one I found most interesting was “Deep Work” by Cal Newport. And yes, he does have a TEDtalk and a few articles that detail his concepts. Basically what it boils down to is that we’re living in a world with constant distractions just at the time when focused brain heavy, “deep work” is becoming more valuable as automation takes over more labor intensive jobs. I did NOT agree with all of his arguments and I wish he would have not relied so heavily on white men in business and tech for his real life examples. But reading it convinced me to give up Facebook for a month, cold turkey. And guys, life is so much better. I do get bored sometimes (I forgot what that’s like!), but I really can think better. I don’t want to go back. I still think social media can be a great tool for many people, but it’s something I personally can’t always manage well. If that’s something that resonates with you, I recommend at least skimming this book or looking up his work.
I’m reading “Wrinkle in Time” by Madeline L’Engle out loud to my oldest son and I’m enjoying it a lot although it’s not “perfect” as I remembered it from my own childhood. It’s beautifully written (I would give my right arm to write descriptions as well), but there’s a bit of “we are the most special, that’s why everyone hates us” that I find a bit wearying the farther I get from my teenage years. It’s also very Christian. It’s very much a liberal, science friendly version of Christianity, but that can also be a tiny bit wearying when that’s not your personal belief system. Thank goodness for grumpy, ordinary Meg. Also, I love Calvin. Calvin was my first ‘book boyfriend’ ;-).
Between the weather and having to call Verizon every couple of days to try to get my internet connection working, I haven’t read much this month. (I’ve started, and got distracted from, quite a few, but I didn’t keep track of those.)
I finished The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins. There are issues with the author, but it’s an interesting read.
I’m about halfway through Undeniable, by Bill Nye, which is quite interesting, and rereading Packing for Mars, by Mary Roach, which is still a delight. (The latter is due to being tackled by an aggressive plot bunny and needing to do research on colonizing Mars.)
I read the wiki for Game of Thrones, which is about as lengthy as the books and paced better than the portion of the book I read, so I’m totally counting it.
I read Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget by Sarah Hepola, a memoir of alcoholism and recovery that I acquired for research, but there was so much in there that my non-alcohol-consuming self could relate to, it ended up becoming personal. Good reminder that under the big, visible displays of who we are, we’re more alike than we appear to be on the surface. Also a couple of useful things research-wise, so a good find all around.
I’m currently slogging through How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships. (All kinds of relationships.) I can only read one “little trick” per day because it makes me want to commit violence against every slimy, manipulative SOB who applies these tricks and the narcissists who reward such fakery. It reminds me a lot of politics, which has alllllll of my disgust right now. I obviously am not cut out for big success in relationships and have renewed my commitment to hermithood.
I DNF’d a hippo western I had high hopes for because the concept was leagues above the execution. When I’m yelling at a book, it’s time to break up.
I ordered a paperback of Hungry Ghosts by Stephen Blackmoore with the Prime Day discount. Third in series about a necromancer in LA who previously got shotgun-weddinged to the Aztec death goddess and now has to deal with her ex, the king of the dead. As you do. I have the first two in paper and the ebook was never going to go on sale (PENGUIN), so my set will be consistent. I’ll probably read that the day it arrives, as opposed to the plethora of who-knows-what that the magic of Kindle seems to wipe from my memory immediately after download.
*sigh* I need to finish all these long-term projects, take a week off, and go on a Bad Decisions Book Binge.
I have had a short attention span, so I have been watching “The Librarian” movies and tv show.
Bookwise, I’ve been veering more towards graphic novels:
“Wonder Woman vol 1” by George Perez. His 5-year run on the series really defined WW and established the canon we are all most familiar with. Despite being 400 pages long, I blazed through it pretty fast and enjoyed it enough to pick up vol 2.
“Wonder Woman: War of the Gods”. DNF. To describe the story as “plodding” would be a compliment. There are about 50,000 characters and all of them want to tell their part. The art is pretty nice in that late 80s/early 90s style that is more detailed that you generally find today, but it isn’t compelling enough to keep going through what feels like the mental equivalent of drying, thigh-high concrete.
“Wonder Woman: Her Greatest Battles” was just meh. Neither good nor bad. Going through WW graphic novels has made me realize that unlike Batman, Superman, X-Men, etc, WW really has no classic, defining story arc. Batman has several – Knightfall, Death in the Family – and X-Men has the Phoenix Saga, for example. Somehow, over the course of 70 years, Diana has never had an iconic storyline that you could point to unhesitatingly as one everyone should read.
Also read “The Ruin of a Rake” by Cat Sebastian. Totally loved it, of course, because Cat just seems to know what I like best.
I read quite a few books this month.
First, I finally finished WHEN IT RAINS by TJ Ten Eyck which wax horrible and amateurish ( and it wasn’t even an e-book, it was 100% traditionally published and the typos and terrible,stilted writing was inexcusable )
While I was slogging through WHEN IT RAINS I was also reading BLACK CATS AND EVIL EYES . It was a nonfiction book on superstitions . The information was brief, but fascinating enough that I still enjoyed it
I also read A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES by Sarah J. Maas. It was a borderline New Adult “Beauty and the Beast” retelling involving fae. The first half was an enjoyable slow burn type romance, but the Second part is okay action with a little too much gore for my liking. Also it gets love triangly in the second half and the other guy is an alpha hole . All and all it was interesting enough that I want to read the sequel, but me reading the third book in the series depends on how much the 2nd book annoys me.
Currently I’m reading another nonfiction book on The Dust Bowl of the 1930s called THE WORST HARD TIME and another Book in Roberta Gellis’s ROSELYNDE CHRONICLES called ALINOR. Both are really good books for different reasons, but I’m enjoying both.
I haven’t had much reading-for-fun time lately, but I’m hoping to dig into some of the books on my TBR pile, like Coin Heist by Elisa Ludwig, Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake, and A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet.
I also have several comics/graphic novels to read — Flash, Arrow, Jessica Jones, Captain America, and iZombie.
I also just finished watching the last season of Penny Dreadful, which I found very disappointing. It was dark and depressing, and there wasn’t much resolution for most of the characters, except that they were miserable.
This month I went on reading binges of books by Sarina Bowen and Melanie Harlow:
I started with the first three books (I assume there’ll be more; some secondary characters seems to have been set up for their own stories) in Bowen’s TRUE NORTH series, about the interconnected lives and loves of people in and around a Vermont farming community:
In BITTERSWEET, a farmer (who is also a cider-maker) reconnects with a college hook-up, now an aspiring chef. There’s a lot of character introductions and set-up for the subsequent books, but the romance is nice and the book shows how much labor and time goes into running a family farm.
STEADFAST, the second book in the series, is about an ex-addict (and ex-con) struggling to stay clean and sober. He reconnects with his high-school girlfriend. Both come from different types of dysfunctional families (the hero’s father is an alcoholic; the heroine’s father is both verbally and physically abusive). The book is quite gritty and doesn’t shy away from how hard it is for an addict not to relapse. Kleenex alert for a scene in the book where a toddler receives cochlear implants and hears for the first time. I defy anyone to read that section without blubbering.
KEEPSAKE is the third book in the series. The hero escaped from a religious cult some years before and is still a virgin in his mid-twenties. He falls in love with a woman who has recently experienced a significant trauma and is still trying to recover from it. I really liked how Bowen interwove Bible verses into the storyline, considering that the hero had lived 19 years with no access to any reading material but the Bible, it makes sense that he would filter his impressions through Scripture. There’s also a sweet subplot (running through all three books) about the hero learning elements of the pop culture: Star Wars, Harry Potter, Monty Python, etc.
I then read the first three books in Bowen’s BROOKLYN BRUISERS series about the players (and support staff) of a hockey team. I enjoyed the first two books, ROOKIE MOVE and HARD HITTER, but I had trouble with the third book, PIPE DREAMS, because the hero initially became involved with the heroine when he was married to his first wife (there were mitigating circumstances, but still…). Later, the hero finds himself in an untenable position and decides that since someone’s heart has to be broken, it will be the heroine’s. I never felt the hero suffered enough for his treatment of the heroine or understood the depth of his betrayal. Frankly, he came across as an entitled douchebag and I couldn’t be particularly happy for the heroine’s HEA–although she was.
I then read four Melanie Harlow books: The three books in the HAPPY CRAZY LOVE series (about the romantic lives of three sisters) followed by MAN CANDY (the first book in a series where I’d already read the other two books):
SOME SORT OF HAPPY is the first of the HAPPY CRAZY LOVE books. The heroine falls in love with a man who has severe OCD and anxiety. I thought the book did a good job of showing the challenges of having (or loving someone who has) a mental illness.
SOME SORT OF CRAZY features an unplanned pregnancy. I don’t want to open a can of worms, but the book has an odd pro-choice-not-pro-choice vibe with the pregnant heroine paying lip service to the pro-choice position while expressing obvious revulsion for abortion and making it clear that the idea of terminating the pregnancy would never be a consideration. I liked the love story but the rather dissonant message threw some cold water on things, IMHO.
In SOME SORT OF LOVE, the heroine falls in love with a single father who has a son who has autism. Having a child (now an adult) who is “on the spectrum”, I thought the book did a good job of presenting the significant challenges of living with and parenting a child who has autism.
Finally, I read MAN CANDY, the first book in the series that includes AFTER WE FALL and IF YOU WERE MINE (both of which I’d already read). MAN CANDY features a heroine with commitment issues and has some really hawt love scenes. Because I’d already read the second and third books (I’m terrible about reading series books out of order), I already knew a lot of the backstory, but it was good to see the whole story fleshed-out.
Bingeing my way through Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunters series, so much fun! Also, Cross Stitching & Crying will be the name of my next album, featuring tunes such as Does My Ring Burn Your Finger & Those Memories Of You.
I ordered Radiance and Eidolon by Grace Draven based on the recommendations herein and loved both. I am looking forward to the sequels. I also reread Murder in G Major just before Death in D Minor by Alexa Gordon came in the mail and really liked both. I hardly ever turn on the TV but am looking forward to Midnight Texas on NBC set to premier on July 24 based on the series by Charlaine Harris. I had to borrow the books from the library to reread since I loaned my copies to someone ( I can’t remember who) and they haven’t come back.
I’m still rationing out the Temeraire books, and also the Tana French Dublin books, and reading lots of boring useful books about running training. I have never been one for audio books, as the act of reading is as appealing to me as the content, but they might be just what I need for long runs…
An Extraordinary Union was probably the best romance I read this month, although it was not very successful as a romance. Very interesting otherwise, though.
I’m late but new to Jennifer Estep’s Elemental Assassin series. Just finished book 3 and plan on bingeing the rest.
I was worried that my “best of 2017” list would be really short, but then I read three really good ones in a row:
1. I Knew you Were Trouble by Lauren Layne
2. Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas
3. Clean Breaks by Ruby Lang
Haven’t decided what to read next…
I’ve re-discovered my library. I need to go there more often. After all, it’s my tax money helping to buy all those books, so in a sense they’re all mine. I just finished The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (‘zalright’) and will be starting The Night Bird by Brian Freeman.
I’ve been reading through my previously purchased tbr pile. I really enjoyed Heartbeat Braves by Pamela Sanderson. I bought it after a review on Dear Author because it was the first #ownvoices romance I’ve seen by a Native American writer. I really enjoyed it, and I’m looking forward to reading more in the series.
I’m still getting my reading mojo back, but I did make it through “Jagged” and “Sweet Dreams” in the Kristen Ashley Colorado Mountain Men series. Both were solid and had an acceptable level of alpha in them without getting into alphahole territory. I’m sad, because I think this is the only series I’m going to be able to read from KA… any other ones I’ve tried are just too alpha and borderline abusive, and I can’t deal with that.
Next up is “Come Sundown” by Nora Roberts (I need my Nora thriller fix more often! I wish there were like 4 of these released every year), and then I’m going to catch up on the Psy-Changeling series… I have “Allegiance of Honor,” “Wild Embrace,” and “Silver Silence,” and I am going to binge them by the pool next weekend.
I also want to HIGHLY recommend “Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions” by Chimamanda Ngozie Aditchie. It’s not groundbreaking in terms of its ideas, but it is SO well written and I want to give it to every person I know who is raising little girls… or little boys, for that matter. It’s very short but very good!
I just finished up The Blue Castle (at the recommendation of the Bitchery!) and adored it. I was never super into Anne of Green Gables as a kid, but I may have to revisit it now.
Now I’m just starting A Gentleman for All Seasons! I don’t often read novellas/novella collections, so I’m excited to give it a shot.
My recent reading has been “The Hugo voting closes mid-July? Not the end of the month?” So I’m freshly overloaded on great SFF and ready to read other things for a bit.
I’d been putting off N.K. Jemisin’s The Obelisk Gate until I felt ready for a merciless book, and got it. We learn much more of the main character, and it’s harsh, and it’s real. Looking forward to the last in this great series soon.
My one shiny-new SFF read was Robert Jackson Bennett’s City of Miracles, which narrowly avoided Bad Decisions Book Club twice. (“If you don’t make a solid case at tomorrow’s meeting, you’ll be paying for it in increased workload for months.” “But, but, but BOOK!”) Some fun epic battles but people and relationships at the core. Be sure to start with City of Stairs, though.
(I’m just reporting on all these books so you procrastinators can binge on the whole series, without having to wait like I did.)
I have a theory that my appreciation for Nora Robert’s recent standalones varies, depending on where they fall on a couple-centric to full-of-family axis. Come Sundown had lots of family and I enjoyed it.
I re-read Heron Carvic’s Picture Miss Seeton, a favorite cozy-ish mystery from the 60s. Miss Seeton is a nominally Marple-ish spinster with a gift for inadvertent chaos, and a willful ability to not see bad things when she chooses. She witnesses a murder, gets involved with the police, and things go from there. A short read, teaser priced at Amazon but not available electronically from others. (There are five Carvic books, plus a bunch more by conveniently-initialed pen names. I’ve heard the pen name for the next few isn’t much good at all, while the pen name for most of the series is OK but not magical.)
First, I must talk about a book that just knocked my socks off: Peter Darling by Austin Chant. (I learned about it from Shira Glassman’s blog, check out her detailed review.) The author is a trans man and it’s a return-to-Neverland take on Peter Pan with a trans man as hero, and a romance between old rivals… and if that sounds like you’ve heard it before, I doubt there’s another telling this subtly written (I kept noticing thoughtful things about it, and the fantasy worldbuilding works just as well as the romance) and this emotionally intense. I started sniffling about halfway through the book and never stopped until the end.
Also good, if not as extraordinary, was Not Another Rock Star by Amber Belldene. A woman who’s an Episcopal priest and ex-opera singer, and a guy who fills in temporarily as her organist, though he’s a rock keyboardist/singer/songwriter by profession. They bond over music, she is hindered with her drive to perform a facade of perfection at all times, and he goes through hell due to an illness which will most likely destroy his hearing (he does behave in a few rather unfortunate ways from his insecurities, but is never an really asshole towards the heroine). Nice details about what being a priest in this very liberal Episcopal diocese is like — not something I’ve read before.
On the non-romance front, I very much enjoyed the anthology The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories edited by Mahvesh Murad and Jared Shurin. Stories about djinns– immensely varied. Not much comedy, but ranging from fantasy to horror to science fiction (really). Authors mostly either Pakistani or British; a good contribution by JY Yang from Singapore (a brief, moving portrait of a lonely outsider who gets what satisfaction she can from granting other people’s wishes and making them happy). My favorite: a slow-burning horror story, “Reap” by Sami Shah, in which American drone operators doing surveillance of a Taliban operative in Pakistan distantly watch a dark drama unfold, and find themselves unexpectedly implicated.
I’m reading “Postern of Fate” by Agatha Christie (since I think I missed it somehow over the years)– can I tell you how refreshing it is to have a happily married couple solving mysteries together where I don’t have to worry about one or the other of them dying (looking side-eye at the four books I read in a row who all killed off main characters’ significant others).
Also, I’m about to start Gabourey Sidibe’s memoir.
Just finished “Lost Lake” by Sarah Addison Allen and “The Lucky Dog Matchmaking Service” by Beth Kendrick– both soft, small-town-type gentle romance/woman figures out what she wants her life to be stories. They worked well as easy Summer reads.
p.s. I love that Sarah and her fella are reading the Aaronovitch books. I started with the 4th one and went backwards, then forwards. Then I made my fella read them so I’d have someone to talk to about them. The problematic issues with women and his self-awareness improve as the series goes on. That second book is the difficult second album. (Since you said on the podcast that you like listening, can I say that the audio-books are phenomenal and the narrator has a great voice).
I picked up Beginner’s Guide: Love and Other Chemical Reactions by Six de los Reyes recently on sale and really enjoyed it. The scientist heroine not just window dressing for the plot. Her character was somewhat reminiscent of the MC in The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion, totally out of her depth with human interactions. I also recently read and loved First Step Forward by Liora Blake with a football wide receiver hero and a “hippie chick” heroine who owns a failing orchard. It was very hot, very sweet and low-conflict.
Right now, I’m reading A Wish Upon Jasmine by Laura Florand to get in the right frame of mind for a trip to Provence next month, and tapping my foot waiting for Spellbinder by Thea Harrison and finally at the end of the month, Wildfire by Ilona Andrews. I also just started a book called The Talk-Funny Girl by Roland Merullo for my bookclub about a girl who grows up in backwoods New Hampshire with abusive parents who are part of a fundamentalist religious group and how she breaks free of all that. It’s somewhat grim, but so far it’s totally drawn me in and I also know it ends well, so I’m okay with it.
I read Resisting Roots: Audrey Carlan. And I feel like I need SMTB to do a review because I was left feeling so confused. This is romance in 2017?
While I loved the themes of yoga in the east bay, the hero in my opinion was an awful character and that ruined the novel for me. He seemed to have such a negative view of women, with some exceptions: his mom and his new love interest, the heroine of the novel. Romance has a long history of the loveable bad boy with a heart of gold, a rake redeemed. Trent sweeps the heroine off her feet and saves the day. But he seems so full of sexism and misogyny.
Early on, I found his inner monologue to be off putting. Example: “There were two kinds of women. The kind that love any type of nickname, endearment, or attention I might deem to lavish on them, or the feminist kind that flip out at the first hint of what they might consider chauvinism.” He calls the heroine “gumdrop” at her place of work when he met her. She liked it. I wouldn’t have. Guess I’m “the feminist kind”!
He’s a famous baseball player, referred to as an “alpha”, and mentions groupies quite often. He has a low opinion of them, alluding to how they’d used him, but he used them as well. I found that disconcerting and depressing. “Maybe I should just find one of my groupies, call the bimbo over to my pad, and work her over the way I wanted to work over Genevieve.” He had only sought out groupies, rather than looking for a relationship, but then seemed to despise them for being… groupies.
Resisting Roots: Audrey Carlan
While I loved the themes of yoga in the east bay, the hero in my opinion was an awful character and that ruined the novel for me. He seemed to have such a negative view of women, with some exceptions: his mom and his new love interest, the heroine of the novel. Romance has a long history of the loveable bad boy with a heart of gold, a rake redeemed. Trent sweeps the heroine off her feet and saves the day. But he seems so full of sexism and misogyny.
Early on, I found his inner monologue to be off putting. Example: “There were two kinds of women. The kind that love any type of nickname, endearment, or attention I might deem to lavish on them, or the feminist kind that flip out at the first hint of what they might consider chauvinism.” He calls the heroine “gumdrop” at her place of work when he met her. She liked it. I wouldn’t have. Guess I’m “the feminist kind”!
He’s a famous baseball player, referred to as an “alpha”, and mentions groupies quite often. He has a low opinion of them, alluding to how they’d used him, but he used them as well. I found that disconcerting and depressing. “Maybe I should just find one of my groupies, call the bimbo over to my pad, and work her over the way I wanted to work over Genevieve.” He had only sought out groupies, rather than looking for a relationship, but then seemed to despise them for being… groupies.
In one scene, the heroine makes it clear that they won’t be intimate, and here’s where I checked out completely: “Damn, gumdrop, want to take you right here, right now, but I respect you too much to go against your wishes.”
Can we please unpack that?
Where are my feminist romance readers at? 🙁
^^ Please excuse the repeated information; I’ve no idea how that occurred and wish I could fix it!
Some novels I enjoyed very much included:
Looking Inside by Beth Very
Silver Silence by Nailing Singh
Copycat by Kimberly Lawson Roby
Knit One, Girl Tow by Shira Glassman
Beautiful Player by Christina Lauren
North to You by Tif Marcelo
Some novels I enjoyed very much included:
Looking Inside by Beth Very
Silver Silence by Nailing Singh
Copycat by Kimberly Lawson Roby
Knit One, Girl Two by Shira Glassman
Beautiful Player by Christina Lauren
North to You by Tif Marcelo
Haven’t been reading much this month… :/
The last book I’ve read was THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR by Shari Lapena — I rarely read thrillers, but wanted to give this one a go since I took a peek at it and it had an addictive narrative style (full of sense of immediacy; cold and detached and yet managing to pull me into characters’ heads). The plot is simple: The baby is kidnapped while the parents are away at a dinner party next door.
YAY for the first 3/4 of the story, the hook and the style; NAY for failing to really surprise me, and some plot turns felt like the author was overdoing it.
Next to read: PAUL GOES FISHING, a comic book by Michel Rabagliati. I loved Paul’s Summer Job, the warmth and the sentiment in it, so I’m looking forward to read more from the series.
I’m also eager to read a good, fluffy historical romance, but still haven’t decided which one to get…
Last night I read Hot in Hellcat Canyon – how could I not after two entertaining and positive reviews? I enjoyed it as much as SB Sarah enjoyed that Lucy Parker book.
Over at DA, Jayne wrote a review for The Wicked Cousin by Stella Riley. I enjoyed her review so much, and the book sounded sooo good, that, as it is the fourth in a series of four, I started with the first, The Parfit Knight, and in three days read my way through the series. It has been a long time since I’ve enjoyed a new-to-me author’s work so very much. I personally think that one of the best – if not The Best – benefits of electronic books is the new availability of books that were out of print which I would never have had the pleasure to read.
I bought Theresa Romain’s Scandalous Ever After and re-read the first, A Gentleman’s Game, to remind me who was who. They were such fun. As soon as I finished I clicked my way through SBTB back to Amazon to order the third in the series…which doesn’t exit. Yet, I hope.
I also enjoyed Libby Kirsch’s mystery series which begins with The Big Lead. Series character Stella Reynolds is a fresh-out-of-college news reporter as the series begins. I have a bit of experience with news rooms and my, did those in the books feel real. The characters were multi-dimensional, relationships and situations plausible, and yes. A romantic arch -or two- through the series.
Thanks to a lot of library holds coming in at the same time, I’ve got a backlog of solid nonfiction.
–Recently finished Masked, the latest biography of Anna Leonowens. (Fun fact: Her husband began life as Thomas Lean Owens. Around the time they got married, he decided “Leonowens” would be swankier.) Interesting and maddening, because from a modern perspective her life would have been every bit as interesting if she’d simply told the truth. Some lies were necessary; others absolutely weren’t. The saddest thing is that a later king of Thailand provided her with a way to save face about the most egregious lies … and she chose not to take it.
—This Gulf of Fire about the Lisbon earthquake of 1755. Currently in progress.
–a recent biography of Joan of Arc.
By the time those are done, I’ll be due for some fluff. I’ve got The Gentleman pre-ordered at Amazon (the paperback comes out early next month), and the shopping cart currently holds God Smites and Other Muslim Girl Problems. Both of those got enthusiastic SBRB reviews, so I hope for the best.
Week by week I’m reading Affective Needs as it gets posted online. I’ve never read a complete novel in this way before. It’s odd, having no idea where in the book I am at any point (we’re told the chapter number, but not how many chapters there are altogether): How far into the story am I? Is this the big climax, or is it just another incident along the way?
@Steffi:
Arabella is definitely one of the more entertaining Georgette Heyers, though I get exasperated at what an idiot the heroine is in some ways.
@Jill Q:
Cotillion is currently my favorite Georgette Heyer for rereading. Just pure pleasure–and, anomalously, you get character development on the hero’s part.
@Sophia Zarifis:
I’ve been thinking of adding Lady Audley’s Secret to my ebook collection. I’ve got a Cheesy Fiction category where it would fit right in.
@K.N. O’Rear I had the same issues with that first Sarah Maas book. The second one blew my mind with how good it is and how it totally changed my viewing of the first book. I didn’t like the love triangle aspect or Rhys in the first one. It’s amazing how she handles it. I’ve stated the third, but so far I’m having a hard time getting into it. I think this is because my brain is not currently wanting to read anything but light contemporary romances.
Just finished RED by Tiffany Reiz. She is SO HOT! But she knows how to craft erotic without being sleezy. An uncommon talent in today’s erotic romance genre.
@KateB Have you read An Old-Fashioned Girl? My two favorite Alcott’s are Little Women (both parts) and An Old-Fashioned Girl (both parts)!
Eight Cousins is good, we could use a refresher course in how sexist clothing 19th century clothing was! (which is part of Eight Cousins) (looking at you historical writers)