It’s everyone’s favorite monthly post! Now, we have no statistical data to prove that it’s everyone’s favorite, but it’s something I’m willing to put money on. If you’re new to SBTB, this is where we talk about what we’re reading or what books we’ve finished recently. Oh, and be prepared to add a ton of new books to your TBR pile!
Amanda: I stayed up until 3am to finish Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) after seeing a squeeing Twitter thread about the hero, Derek Craven. Next up is Barbed Wire Heart by Tess Sharpe ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), which is kind of a hillbilly thriller. I’m enjoying it so far because I love complicated heroines.
I’m also in the mood for a fun contemporary and I think I might give Hot Asset by Lauren Layne a try ( A ).
Elyse: I am reading Jane Doe by Victoria Helen Stone and it’s so, so good.
Sarah: I hope you’ll review Dreaming of You. I know you’re not really much of a historical romance fan! I love that you loved Derek Craven.
And OMG Jane Doe. Alisha Rai and I were telling people about it at the live podcast taping.
It’s SO GOOD.
Amanda: Dreaming of You is one of those books where I can recognize its shortcomings, but the reading experience was just so much fun.
Carrie: I’m about to start Lion by Saroo Brierley ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) because the book club I read (Arden Dimick Library, Sacramento, 10:30AM, 4th Sat of every month! Join us!) selected it. Yesterday I finished Meddling Kids, review pending!
Redheadedgirl: I’m reading Miss Bingley Requests by Judy McCrosky ( A | BN ). It’s Pride and Prejudice from the POV of Caroline Bingley. I really like it so far!
And even though Carrie got me Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) for Christmas, I’m finally reading that now, as well. It’s a very well researched biography of Wilder and puts her and a her family’s life and events, and her books, into historical context that lets everyone be the extremely complex, messy humans they are in a complex, messy life.
And I finished Sophie Jordan’s The Duke Buys a Bride ( A | BN | K | G | AB ).
Sarah: I’m reading Delicious Temptation by Sabrina Sol. The heroine is a very talented baker who has been asked to help save her family’s failing bakery (and of course they are resistant to her ideas for new flavors and what all). The hero has a bad neighborhood rep and was her older brother’s best friend and while I love the heroine, Amara, I’m struggling with the hero, specifically his tendency to talk about his cock. The degree of verbal and physical intimacy for me doesn’t match the emotional distance between the characters.
But I really like Amara, so even though I feel like they’re each in very different books, I’m going to stick with it.
Also: FOOD PORN DEAR GRACIOUS DO NOT READ WHILE HUNGRY.
Amanda: The first meeting of the hero and heroine in Hot Asset is amazing. He’s trying to flirt with her in the break room and she isn’t having it. He asks her for drinks and she turns him down because, “I’m with the SEC and I’m here to investigate you.” I cackled.
What books have you finished this month? What have you loved or hated? Let us know in the comments!
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Read a lot of new releases this month. And binged a lot of JANE THE VIRGIN. Also, have you guys checked out HARLOTS on Hulu? It’s AMAZING. And written & directed entirely by women!
Faves
– CONFESSIONS OF THE FOX by Jordy Rosenberg – a funny, odd, and mysterious trip through a possible history of the (queer) life and times of famed thief, Jack Sheppard
– STARLESS by Jacqueline Carey – Carey gets back into epic fantasy with this standalone (!!) story of fallen gods/stars, a princess and her protector, there are queer characters, a disabled main character, it’s great
– THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE WEREWOLF THAT WASN’T / ETIQUETTE & ESPIONAGE by Gail Carriger – the Great Gail Carriger Reread begins!
– THE CALCULATING STARS by Mary Robinette Kowal – an almost entirely believable alternate history of the 1950’s after a meteorite crashes down, and the need for for space travel that arises because of it. Smart women, strong women, grounded women. Great read.
– DAMAGED GOODS by Talia Hibbert – love Hibbert’s writing, even when the plot is tense, her writing and the romance that develops is always warm and funny
– EUROPEAN TRAVEL FOR THE MONSTROUS GENTLEWOMAN by Theodora Goss – I love spending time with these characters. So fun!
– A GENTLEMAN NEVER KEEPS SCORE by Cat Sebastian – love the way Sebastian works with class difference and race and healing in this romance. It’s quiet and thoughtful, but very steamy and sweet, in that way Sebastian always manages
– ANCIENT WONDERINGS: JOURNEYS INTO PREHISTORIC BRITAIN by James Canton (audiobook) – a quiet travelogue about history and nature. Very good.
– BETTE & JOAN: THE DIVINE FEUD by Shaun Considine (audiobook) – perfect audiobook for when you want the ultimate trashy read. A little dated, but still, I laughed in disbelief throughout.
– WITCHMARK by C. L. Polk – a cool, Edwardian-esque second world fantasy with a gay romance, fairies maybe, magic and a murder mystery
Good
– SOCIAL CREATURE by Tara Isabella Burton – The Talented Mr. Ripley but with women, Facebook, and more overt queerness
– THE DEATH OF MRS. WESTAWAY by Ruth Ware – Ware’s turn at gothic mystery hits every single possible trope and has some confusion moments, but it’s still fun
– TRAIL OF LIGHTNING by Rebecca Roanhorse – I thought the plot of this was a little confusing, but I liked the worldbuilding and the heroine, so I’ll read the next book
– MY PLAIN JANE by Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows & Brodi Ashton – a silly take on Jane Eyre, this was just as fun as the trio’s last book
– THE PURPLE DIARIES: MARY ASTOR & THE MOST SENSATIONAL HOLLYWOOD SCANDAL OF THE 1930’s by Joseph Egan (audiobook) – I’m on an Old Hollywood kick and this fit the bill, even if a child custody case is a bummer listen
– THE REST OF US JUST LIVE HERE by Patrick Ness – What happens in the day to day lives of the other students of Sunnydale/ insert urban fantasy high school here? This book attempts to provide some answers
– ONE FOR THE ROGUE by Manda Collins – a fun historical about a geologist and a fossil hunter. I think I would have enjoy it more if I’d read the rest of the series first.
– HOPE NEVER DIES by Andrew Shaffer – Obama and Biden! Solving a mystery! It’s darker than I expected, but still fun.
– EYES LIKE THOSE / HEARTS LIKE HERS by Melissa Brayden – f/f contemporary romances in LA – based around a coffee shop and apartment complex. I loved all the friendships and I especially liked the first book, about two tv writers
– STRANGE STARS: DAVID BOWIE, POP MUSIC, AND THE DECADE SCI-FI EXPLODED by Jason Heller – the writing was surprisingly dry but the subject was pretty interesting
Meh
– WOOLLY: THE TRUE STORY OF THE QUEST TO REVIVE ONE OF HISTORY’S MOST ICONIC EXTINCT CREATURES by Ben Mezrich – the writing was way too creative. He tried too hard to make it read like a novel. The subject matter is more than enough to make the book readable. The author’s embellishments were unnecessary.
– THE DARKEST TIME OF NIGHT by Jeremy Finley – the plot was basically a paint by numbers alien story, but I did like that the heroines were in their 60’s
Currently Reading
– VERMILLION by Molly Tanzer (audiobook) – weird western by one of my new favorite authors!
– SPINNING SILVER by Naomi Novik – there’s a lot happening in this fantasy (another stand alone!), but I’m loving it.
I also read DREAMING OF YOU this month, and I don’t know how anybody gets past the rest of the book to have such strong feelings about Derek. There was ranting involved.
The only thing I liked this month was SPITE CLUB by Julie Kriss (which is free). Nick reminds me of an absurdly hot guy I have fond memories of, which got me past some early-story violence I would otherwise have rejected in a contemporary. It’s fairly quick (~200 pages), but has a little more emotional depth than most of what I encounter in that length range, without getting super angsty. It was a good palate cleanser at the end of a rotten reading month. Bonding through boxing FTW.
This has been an awesome reading month! Loved:
– Stay by Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy
– Autoboyography by Christina Lauren
– Grave Phantoms by Jenn Bennett
– Beginner’s Luck by Kate Clayborn
– Dragonbound by Thea Harrison
Having trouble getting into:
-Man Hands by Sarina Bowen & Tanya Eby
Just started and really enjoying:
From Twinkle, With Love by Sandhya Menon
I haven’t had much reading time this month. I started a new job on July 1, but more importantly I bought a new house and have therefore spent my evenings painting and unpacking and hanging pictures (last box was unpacked last night – yay!); AND I adopted a kitten a week and a half ago to keep my 11-year-old cat company.
That said, I am currently part-way through a couple of books:
A re-read of A Town Like Alice (Nevil Shute). I read this 12 years ago but have never re-read it. I came across my copy while unpacking my books, and it has been a perfect read on the evenings when it has been too hot to unpack boxes, swinging on my deck.
Hurts to Love You (Alisha Rai) – I’m loving this series, and my turn for the third book came up on Overdrive last week!
I spent most of this month driving my kids places and waiting around, so lots of wonderful reading time for me.
The Good:
THE KISS QUOTIENT by Helen Hoang. I worried it couldn’t live up to the hype, but I’m happy to say that I loved it. I wasn’t even in the mood for contemporary romance when my library copy arrived, but the characters completely won me over.
THE ALL YOU CAN DREAM BUFFET and THE GARDEN OF HAPPY ENDINGS – Barbara O’Neal. I really enjoyed both of these, although the first one, which was about food bloggers and relationships, is more my style than the second, which focused a lot on struggles with faith and spirituality. I’d never read this author before, but I’m planning to work through all of her back catalog.
ARTISTIC LICENSE – Elle Piersen. I liked this straightforward tale of two New Zealanders finding love. It doesn’t measure up to her more sophisticated books published under the name Lucy Parker, but if you’re looking for a story low on angst, I recommend it. The characters are well-drawn, and the conflicts are relatable. It’s also nice to read about a hero who isn’t classically handsome, although he is of course completely ripped. Are there any books where the hero doesn’t look like he spends several hours in a gym each day?
TRAIL OF LIGHTNING – Rebecca Roanhorse. This was a lot of fun, but definitely on the dark side. I appreciated that the mythology was different from the usual run of European-inspired fairies, shifters, and vampires. The characters intrigued me and I’ll happily read any future installments.
The Bad/DNF:
TOUCH THE DARK – Karen Chance. One long info-dump. Even in the middle of action or sex scenes, the dialogue is almost entirely exposition. It’s a shame, as the world and characters have potential, but the writing didn’t work for me at all.
DREAD NATION – Justina Ireland. I liked the premise, but first person present narration really irks me. I put it down about 1/4 of the way in and never picked it back up.
SONG OF BLOOD AND STONE – L. Penelope. Gorgeous cover, but the story just never grabbed me and the world-building was awkward. It’s a fantasy, other-world setting, yet they have early telephones and other markers of late 1800s US prairie life. I gave up about halfway through when I realized that I was reading about a chapter at a time, with entire other books in between.
A NANTUCKET WEDDING – Nancy Thayer. I read it pretty quickly and initially found it enjoyable, but the more I thought about it afterwards, the less I liked it. It wrapped up several plotlines in ways that I found unrealistic and unsatisfying. I loved the fantasy setting (fabulous beach house, unlimited food budget, beaches without crowds or bugs or jellyfish), but the characters were a lot less appealing.
While I read on average about thirty books a month and love “Whatcha Reading,” I haven’t felt compelled to add to the comments until now. However, my reading of Heidi Cullinan’s “Antisocial” last week was an eye opener. While the book *might* be labeled a m/m romance, one of the issues it raised for me was the realization that a female on the grey spectrum would be labelled as ‘frigid’ in the same way that a female character who has a relatively active sex life would be slut shamed. Both tropes are used in current romance to belittle women who either rejected the H or who are a threat to h. Because “Antisocial” is about men (and not men/not women), it allowed me to reconsider a lot of the romance books I’ve read recently. As someone who identified with both main characters in the book, but who is also a woman with a long life behind me (and a lot of being inappropriately or at least unkindly labeled by others), this book helped me understand my own place in the world of loving and being loved. As Suzanne Brockman beautifully demonstrated in her RITA RWA speech, one should be able to love — and to see love — in diverse ways. Heidi Cullinan gets romance, and she gets me.
I would like to thank both Fangirl Musing’s YouTube channel, and SB Carrie for recommending When A Scot Ties The Knot. Because, oh how I LOVE this novel! (And of course huge thanks to Tessa Dare for writing it.) 😉
I can really relate to Maddie’s character. A LOT. She gets me. It also takes me back to when I first read Anne of Green Gables for the first time in middle school. I would take that book everywhere with me and just pour over the pages several times, even when my copy was falling apart. It’s THAT kind of book love. I’m not going to be able to focus on anything else until I finish it.
I’m also trying to get Drums of Autumn finished before Outlander comes back in November. I think I’ll be taking a break from the books (but not the TV series) after Drums. (I’ve heard The Fiery Cross is harder to get through, and it’s taken me well over a year and a half to get three-fourths of Drums read. And there’s other books I want to get to as well.)
What a great reading month! Not only did I read a lot, but much of what I read could be characterized as being highly-recommended and/or keeper-shelf material and/or even a favorite read of 2018. I love it when that happens!
Also: so many books = two-part post
PART ONE
Somehow, I missed Annika Martin’s MOST ELIGIBLE BASTARD when it was released last year, but when I saw it was recently available as a freebie, retitled MOST ELIGIBLE BILLIONAIRE, I grabbed it and read it in a Bad Decisions Book Club all-nighter. Catnip alert: Enemies-to-lovers, cute dog, jewelry designer/maker with an Etsy store, artisans collective in Brooklyn, couple working together to repair a damaged architectural model, elevator sex, griffins, hero’s contrition arc, righting a terrible past injustice—it’s all here and so good! The synopsis (along with Martin’s light, comedic touch) makes the plot seem almost fluffy: a grumpy and extremely wealthy woman wills 51% of her construction business to her dog—and, by extension, the dog’s human walker/whisperer. Naturally, the old woman’s son (the company CEO) suspects a scam and decides to expose it. But there’s much more to the story: the heroine has a huge trauma in her past that makes her both distrustful of rich men and adamant that she will never allow an attack on her character to go unchallenged, so she refuses (on the dog’s behalf) an offer to give up the company for a huge sum of money and insists that she and the dog sit in on board meetings and visit construction sites. Thus begins the see-sawing power balance (and escalating sexual tension) between the heroine and hero. This book is wonderful! It’s one of my favorite reads of 2018 so far.
Martin’s newest book, THE BILLIONAIRE’S WAKE-UP-CALL GIRL (hyphen placement is incredibly important in that title), didn’t grab me quite as much as MOST ELIGIBLE BILLIONAIRE. All the ingredients are there: sweet, feisty heroine with a good reasons for having trust issues; hot, gruff hero with good reasons for not understand the need for joy or fun; heroine’s creative vocation (designer cookies); hero’s important work (a medical device that prevents blood loss); somewhat plausible reason for bringing the h&h together (he needs an early-morning wake-up call, she provides it); hot phone (and other kinds of) sex; angst and conflict as the relationship develops; supportive best friend; supportive sister; hero overreach, contrition, and redemption. It’s all here—along with a zingy rom-com plot. But there was also a very dislikable secondary character who muddied the waters for me. [POTENTIAL SPOILER FOLLOWS] This character might be termed “scheming female administrative assistant”, and she was really over-the-top hateful—treating the heroine awfully, stealing her ideas, and getting her fired from her job. Her meanness seemed outsized (and unnecessary) to the story and detracted from some of the pleasure of reading it.
Penelope Ward’s STEPBROTHER DEAREST was a reader recommendation in a previous What Are You Reading post. Without that recommendation, I would never have looked at this book—because the title reminds me of some of the porny “stepbrother romances” out there—and I would have missed this incredibly-nuanced, melancholy, and heartfelt story of what happens when you meet the love of your life at 17, but then both of your lives go off in completely different directions, until years later when you’re unexpectedly face-to-face once more…and still feeling the spark. This book gave me all the feels. Thanks again to the Bitchery for introducing me to this wonderful book by a new-to-me author. Highly-recommended. (One caveat: while there is no actual cheating in STEPBROTHER DEAREST, there are scenes where the hero & heroine fight—successfully—not to give in to their mutual attraction since one of them is in a relationship with someone else. A character also confesses to a one-time instance of having sex with one person while thinking of another. Ward writes these scenes with great care, but I know even possible cheating can be a dealbreaker for some readers, so you’ve been warned.)
Ward’s NEIGHBOR DEAREST is the sequel, of sorts, to STEPBROTHER DEAREST. The heroine here is a secondary character in the previous book. Although NEIGHBOR could technically be a stand-alone, it makes for a deeper experience if you read STEPBROTHER first. The story involves a woman and her neighbor (who is also her landlord) moving from friends to lovers. The heroine is great, and I urge you not to give up on the hero—even though at first it seems as if he’s sending mixed messages; it makes him seem manipulative, but there’s more to his story if you stay with it. I also liked how, in a non-inspirational book where religion isn’t front-and-center, the characters make occasional references to their belief in God and the power of prayer. Oh—and have some Kleenex close by—you will need them.
I love Eve Dangerfield’s writing style. Her books have humor, heart, and just enough consensual sexy kink (usually of a dominance & submission variety) to keep things interesting. The road to true love is never smooth: both heroines and heroes must confront issues from their pasts and work to change their current outlooks in order to fully give and receive love. This month I read Dangerfield’s three interconnected books, LOCKED BOX, OPEN HEARTS, and PAYING FOR IT, featuring two sisters (who grew up in difficult circumstances with an alcoholic mother) and the men they fall in love with. The heroine of LOCKED BOX is the younger of the two sisters. Her day job is working IT for the local police department; in her free time, she and a friend are developing a female-centric game (the book touches on the shitty treatment female developers and players often receive from man-boys in the online gaming community). She and the cop she has had a crush on for years are inadvertently locked in the station’s evidence room for a weekend (luckily with a little water and some breath mints) with predictable, and not so predictable, results.
The heroine of OPEN HEARTS is the older sister—a nurse who longs for a child and, realizing her track record of deadbeat boyfriends does not bode well for finding good father material there, decides to go the donor-sperm/artificial-insemination route. Then she meets her sister’s boyfriend’s best friend: a kind and affectionate guy, but not one with much focus, ambition, or forethought. One interesting thing about the plot is that the heroine is the domme (most of the time) in the couple’s dynamic and a lot of their role-play is based on the Buttercup-Westley relationship at the beginning of “The Princess Bride”. Also, I really expanded my Australian slang vocabulary with this book: bogan, footy, larrikin, among other words, are peppered throughout the text.
Although there is a little catching up with the lives of the hero & heroine from OPEN HEARTS in Dangerfield’s PAYING FOR IT, the bulk of the novella is an extended prostitution role-play scenario between the hero & heroine of LOCKED BOX.
After reading UNDONE BY THE EX-CON, I can see why Talia Hibbert’s popularity has recently been exploding throughout Romancelandia. She so deserves the moment she’s having. This was the first book of hers I’ve read—and I love the careful way Hibbert peels back the layers of her characters, gradually revealing their pasts, their secrets, and their fears. The biracial ballerina heroine, child of critical, controlling parents, has to curtail her dance career because of a chronic health condition. She falls for a man who has served time and written a best-seller about his experiences behind bars. But as they discover their mutual compatibility and start to fall in love, outside factors threaten to destroy their relationship. Beautifully-written and highly-recommended.
Adriana Anders has revised and expanded two stories she wrote for the political romance anthology, Rogue Affairs, and the resulting novellas are both so good! LOVING THE SECRET BILLIONAIRE has a Guatemalan-American heroine who’s a pre-school teacher in a low-income district; she sees the results of budget-cutting all around her so she decides to run for office to help change priorities. While conducting door-to-door canvassing, she meets the hero—he’s blind, reclusive, a hacker, younger than her, and a virgin. Lots of catnip, beautifully rendered. LOVING THE WOUNDED WARRIOR features a journalist heroine who—just knowing there must be a story in it—stops to talk to a man pushing a wheelchair up a mountain trail. She realizes they knew each other in high school where her burgeoning journalism career inadvertently caused trouble for him. He’s now a former marine on a quest. They both have a lot of issues—so much delicious angst—not to mention sleeping-bag-in-a-tent sex.
There are four books in the King Family series, each about a different sibling from a Texas oil and ranching family, and each of the first three books written by a different author (the first three books are available now; the fourth book will be published in the fall). M. O’Keefe’s THE TYCOON is the first in the series. A second-chance romance between the oldest King sister and the man who, five years before, seemed to want to marry her only for her money. Lots of angst—and also interesting for a very ambiguous hero who doesn’t initially seem very “heroic”. But there are so many layers to both hero & heroine in this one—and O’Keefe does a marvelous job of gradually peeling them back. A great romance about how hard it is to be emotionally vulnerable in a relationship.
I wish I could have liked the second book in the series, S. Doyle’s THE BODYGUARD, more. The heroine is a reality tv star who is being stalked. She has food/eating/weight issues and a very distant relationship with her cold mother. She’s also kind and caring. The hero—the local sheriff, once the heroine’s high school crush—started out a decent guy in flashbacks—protecting the heroine from bullies, etc.—but became a raging alpha-hole “boner-led” hero who kept demanding that the heroine eat more and telling her that he was going to “teach” her what good sex was. Plus he was constantly yelling at her. Ugh! I couldn’t help wondering if HE were the stalker, his behavior was so awful. The heroine deserved so much better.
The third book in the series, THE BASTARD by Julie Kriss, was much better than THE BODYGUARD and introduced me to a new-to-me author (yay—big back-list!). THE BASTARD is about the illegitimate half-brother of the King family sisters. He is former Special Ops and his unexpected arrival throws the rest of the family into disarray. He becomes involved with the family lawyer—an icy professional who, naturally, melts for him. There’s a lot of sexual tension in the story, but, I thought the book ended too abruptly with the hero willing to forgive the heroine for something that would have required a contrition arc had the genders been reversed. I believe the book would have been better with a few more chapters and a bit more conflict.
However, I liked THE BASTARD sufficiently enough to check out some of Kriss’s other books, starting with a freebie download, SPITE CLUB, which had a zippy premise and some serious undertones. The heroine and hero meet when they discover their respective significant others cheating together, and they decide to pretend to be a couple to spite their now-exes. You know where the fake relationship is going; but the book has things to say about the double-standard (especially in the workplace), slut-shaming, the pressure society puts on women to conform to specific ideals about feminine behavior, family dysfunction, the soul-crushing effort that goes into trying to be someone you’re not, and the empowerment of being yourself. Key quote: “The easiest way wasn’t always the best way in the end.” A pretty deep book for an ostensibly light “fake” romance.
After reading THE TYCOON, I realized I had some unread books by M. O’Keefe on my kindle. I made quick work of two related books, BAD NEIGHBOR and BABY, COME BACK. I really like O’Keefe’s style—in a way, she minds me of Charlotte Stein: the self-aware/self-conscious heroines—always comparing themselves to others and coming up short—the deep, nuanced descriptions of emotional growth, the complexities of love, the fear of being hurt, the realization that you have to move forward, it’s all there. In BAD NEIGHBOR and BABY, COME BACK, the heroines are twin sisters, the heroes are brothers; each couple becomes involved unaware of their siblings’ similar involvement. O’Keefe does some interesting things with the stories here—particularly in the case of the hero of BABY, COME BACK, who is more or less the villain of BAD NEIGHBOR. How she redeems him and makes him “heroic” is part of her excellent narrative style. I also thought BAD NEIGHBOR had a pleasingly ambiguous subtext in that there are a couple of scenes that seem to imply that the book’s hero is bi. He neither confirms nor denies that orientation, but it remains there for the heroine (and readers) to consider.
Despite references to cell phones and the internet, along with relatively-explicit sexual passages, Susan Napier’s lovely category romance, PUBLIC SCANDAL, PRIVATE MISTRESS, reminded me of the “romantic travelogue” books writers like Elizabeth Cadell or Mary Stewart published in the mid-20th century: an intelligent, self-effacing heroine discovers that the handsome stranger with whom she shared an impulsive one night-stand in Paris is staying at the same villa in Avignon as she is. A satisfying romance along with such beautiful descriptions of southern France that you’ll want to take your next vacation there.
PART TWO
The heroine of C.D. Reiss’s novella, PRINCE ROMAN, is a minor character in the KING OF CODE series, but this book can be easily read as a stand-alone. For a short book, PRINCE ROMAN addresses a lot of important contemporary workplace issues including fraternization, harassment, and wage parity. The heroine is the new HR administrator for a Silicon Valley company; the hero is leading the outside legal team overseeing the rollout of the company’s new HR policies and software. They are attracted to each other immediately, although they make attempts not to act on their mutual attraction—but this IS a romance story, so you can guess how successful they are with that. One of the key questions throughout the book is whether you can be harassed in the workplace if (1) you don’t “feel” harassed, and/or (2) you like the person who is “harassing” you. My only problem with the book is that the “villain” (or, at least, the person whose ambition blinds her to how she might be destroying another person’s livelihood) is an older woman who “always wears pantsuits”. Please, could we just not use Hillary-manques to represent evil types right now?
Earlier this year, I read Kati Wilde’s GOING NOWHERE FAST and since then she has become one of my favorite go-to writers. Regardless of the sub-genre she’s writing (fantasy/fable, princess, new adult, motorcycle club), her heroines are reliably intelligent and thoughtful, heroes are smoking-hot alphas with enough self-awareness to avoid becoming alpha-holes, there are issues and obstacles that must be overcome, and the eventual sex is page-burning—but only after an appropriate level of conflict and angst. BREAKING IT ALL is one of Wilde’s motorcycle club romances (she’s written a lot of those with recurring characters, but BIA can be read as a stand-alone). I always like it when a writer can take a worn-out trope and make it fresh—and, in BREAKING IT ALL, it’s the old standby, “my best friend’s sibling is forbidden.” Wilde provides very plausible reasons for why the heroine (a cancer survivor) and the hero (who has dangerous family members who represent a threat to the heroine) cannot be together and why neither of them realizes their attraction is mutual. And one other thing I absolutely adore about Wilde’s characters is that they actually talk to one another and listen to what’s being said, even if there are occasional misunderstandings. In fact, one of the sexiest (and saddest) scenes in BIA is an extended conversation between the h&h as they dissect their non-relationship and the reasons why it has to remain that way, even while each of them is broken-hearted about it; the heroine then stages and takes the most melancholy selfie ever. Another of this month’s “all the feels” books.
Audra North’s Stanton Family series comprises four novellas, each one featuring a particular trope: FALLING FOR THE CEO (Cinderella transformation—but she does keep her eyeglasses); ONE NIGHT IN SANTIAGO (enforced proximity); HEALING HER HEART (work-related medical romance); and LESSON IN TEMPTATION (second-chance—with tango lessons). The stories are well-written, but—as is often the case with novellas—the emotional development tends to be somewhat hurried. However, I liked the overarching theme of characters learning to listen to their hearts and ask for what they want.
[TW for suicide.] Just when I think I’ve read every Jackie Ashenden book, I discover one I’ve missed. So it was that I found ONE NIGHT WITH THE MASTER and gulped it down in a couple of hours. The heroine is traveling in Thailand, having left New Zealand months before following her sister’s suicide and the subsequent emotional freezing out by her parents. The hero is a Russian-American chess grandmaster, in Bangkok for a tournament. He is very cold—icy and self-controlled (if you’re familiar with the song “One Night in Bangkok,” he’s really got that vibe going on). He doesn’t know how to deal with the turmoil of his childhood or his grief at the death of his mentor. What starts as a one-night stand between two damaged people develops into something deeper as each helps the other to navigate a new emotional path. A wonderful example of the ”Ashenden template.”
But as much as I usually like Jackie Ashenden’s work, I must say I’ve been less than impressed with the MC romances she’s recently published as part of Harlequin’s Dare line. RUINED and DESTROYED both feature heroines who are trying to get away from controlling men (one a boyfriend, the other a father). Neither of the books did much for me—the heroes seem to be little more than well-muscled, tatted-up horndogs, and there are orgies, casual sex, and references to the women who hang around the bikers as being “club pussy”—ugh! I really can’t recommend either of these books. I just hope that one day Ashenden will complete her Dare contract and go back to finishing her Texas Bounty series!
[TW for abuse.] I read Skye Warren’s Endgame trilogy (PAWN, KNIGHT, CASTLE) several months ago. It was very dark, but I enjoyed it. For some reason, I never got around to the related story in Warren’s Masterpiece duet, THE KING and THE QUEEN, about an underworld crime boss and the math prodigy he’s known since she was a child. Both h&h have been horribly abused by the hero’s father (most of the abuse takes place off-page and in the past, but references to it occur throughout the books and could be triggering). The interesting thing about the books is that there is very little actual sex in them—although the hero and heroine dance around that possibility from the time she’s 15-years-old. The idea of something beyond mere sex, of what it means to be connected to another person in ways beyond the physical, runs as a subtext through this story of neglectful (or worse) parenting, growing up on the mean streets, the damage one person can inflict upon another, and realizing that no matter how removed you are from childhood, for better or worse your childhood is always in you and you have to come to terms with it. These books might not be to everyone’s taste, but I found them to be well-written and riveting.
Callie Hart’s Dead Man’s Ink series comprises three novellas: REBEL, ROGUE, and RANSOM, which must be read in order. The hero is a former marine who is now president of a motorcycle club; the heroine has witnessed a murder and is being pursued by various drug and trafficking cartels. She and the hero become involved when she hides out at the club’s compound. The heroine here is the sister of the heroine of the Blood & Roses series and some characters crossover between the books. There’s also a subplot about the search for the missing sister of the hero’s best friend, which continues with the best friend as the hero in Hart’s VICE. VICE takes place in Ecuador and involves the hero with a crazed cocaine cartel leader, the leader’s beautiful daughter, some very unpleasant sex & drug orgies, and a pack of hungry, hungry wolves. As usual with Hart, things are very dark with lots of violence, which is offset by extremely hot, very explicit, and very frequent sex. I like Hart’s style, but ymmv.
I liked Roni Loren’s bdsm romance BREAK ME DOWN, which I discovered through a Rec League post on female dommes. In BREAK ME DOWN, the hero has been a dom but has sub tendencies; the heroine is unapologetically dominant. Both have childhood traumas to confront and overcome. The book features one of the best descriptions of “sub-space” I’ve read (a lot of bdsm books talk about “sub-space”, few describe it). My only quibble with the book (and with Loren’s entire Loving on the Edge series) is the same one I have with Lexi Blake’s Masters & Mercenaries books: how all of the characters know everything about each other’s bdsm sexual proclivities and discuss them with each other in detail. I understand that’s one way to communicate information to the reader, but would that level of sharing actually occur irl? I think not.
I read Tessa Bailey’s three-book contribution to the Serve series: OWNED BY FATE, EXPOSED BY FATE, and DRIVEN BY FATE. All of the books in the series (there are a number of them, written by several different authors) involve characters who are connected with an upscale New York bdsm club called Serve. In Bailey’s books, the heroines are all subs and the heroes are all doms; but in each book the emphasis is more on the developing emotional bonds between the couple rather than bdsm play (although there’s plenty of that too). I liked the books with some caveats: a few of the conflicts felt manufactured (including the old “my sister’s best friend is off-limits” trope), there were too many false stops & starts as relationships developed, and some of the heroes’ possessive words and behaviors verged on being controlling and/or threatening. But even the massive error (for an old person like me) of referring to a vinyl album as a “45” could not overshadow my overall enjoyment of the three books.
And speaking of the Serve books…a few months ago, I read two of Katee Robert’s contributions to the series, MISTAKEN BY FATE and BETTING ON FATE, but for some reason, until this month, I hadn’t read her third, PROTECTING FATE. The book features a number of romance tropes: bodyguard, enforced proximity, and the heroine being the sister of the hero’s friend. Although I thought the couple moved a little too quickly from their first meeting to having wild bdsm-tinged sex in the isolated house where they’re hiding from the heroine’s enemies, there was enough other stuff going on—including the hero & heroine both having to face their past turmoils—to stop that implausibility from being a distraction.
Staying with Katee Robert, I read two recent books she wrote for Harlequin’s Dare line, MAKE ME WANT and MAKE ME CRAVE. WANT has a friends-(with benefits)-to-lovers trope with the hero ostensibly helping the heroine meet potential partners. What I most liked was the realistic way the heroine has to work to disregard her toxic ex’s constant critical words, which seem to play in her head on an endless inner loop even years after they broke up. CRAVE has a (business) enemies-to-lovers trope as the investment broker hero tries to negotiate the purchase of the heroine’s gym, while they are both on vacation in the Caribbean (I want to go to the beautifully-depicted exclusive resort where they’re staying). The heroine here is almost six-foot tall and is described as having “generous” curves; the hero’s name for her is Aphrodite—completely appropriate since she spends a lot of time in the ocean.
Callie Harper’s ALL OF ME is a slow-burn romance about a woman in an abusive marriage who gradually grows close to the bar-owner grandson of an elderly patient in the assisted-living facility where she works. The romance develops slowly, but eventually the h&h do get together, while the heroine is still married—although she has already left, but not divorced, her horrible husband by then. I thought the book ended too abruptly and there were some logistical questions about the heroine’s marriage (and how it ended) that were never adequately explained or even addressed.
[TW: rape & abuse] Natasha Knight’s latest mafia romance, GIOVANNI, is very dark indeed. The heroine bears both physical and emotional scars from a brutal gang rape (described in some detail); the hero still mourns the long-ago death of his first love (and its violent aftermath). I had a hard time getting a handle on Giovanni—does he have any feelings for the heroine or is his attraction for her completely tangled up in the fact that she resembles his dead love? My heart went out to the heroine—a rape survivor who understandably has many trusts and sexual issues. Less a romance than the story of two people coming to terms with their own and each other’s damage. Not badly-written, but not recommended unless you really like to go dark.
There was so much going on in Knight’s BEAUTIFUL LIAR, I felt as if I occasionally lost the thread. The basic Knight template is there: a man, wronged by the actions of others, exacts his revenge on a woman who, it turns out, is just as wronged as he is. But in this book, there’s so much else going on: the hero’s ex-wife, her new husband, and their child; the heroine’s sister, niece, stepfather, coworkers, neighbor, and even the neighbor’s dog! The essential conflict between h&h was resolved three-fourths of the way through the book…then all the other storylines had to be finished—and the result was something too busy for my taste.
But Knight’s DEVIANT was much more my style—and very much cut from the Natasha Knight template: a young woman, hiding from her dangerous step-family, inadvertently witnesses a hit man with his latest target. The hit man thinks he will eliminate the threat by killing the witness, but when he discovers there’s a bounty for turning the woman over to her family, he has second thoughts. Then, when he actually begins talking to her, third thoughts. Some very rough sex in this one, but not completely a Stockholm Syndrome situation.
Not sure if I’m going to continue with Pepper Winters’s Indebted series. The first book, DEBT INHERITANCE, has an intriguing premise: to settle a 600-year-old debt, in every generation, a family gives their first-born daughter to the first-born son of the family to whom they are indebted. I thought there might be a paranormal element to the story, given the whole “six centuries of owing this debt” thing, but there wasn’t. It was just very, very dark with the heroine being treated appallingly by the man who “owns” her—and by the other men in his family. Then there was this “Hello, Editor” moment when a man chastises himself for being too kind to the heroine: “I’d been too soft. Too gentile.” Oy vey!
Chelle Bliss’s erotic bdsm novella, TOP BOTTOM SWITCH, had the potential to be interesting. The heroine is not sure if she’s a domme or a sub; the hero is a dom; play commences. But the writing is so slapdash and the characters so wildly inconsistent, the story felt more like a first draft than a finished publication. Still, it was a free download, so I shouldn’t complain…but, because I’m me, I will. Don’t bother with this one—freebie or not.
@DiscoDollyDeb: Even when no money changes hands, your time has value, and you have every right to complain when you feel it’s been wasted.
The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert: The writing style towards the end got really trippy, but I really liked and related to Alice. This is basically a non-romance, if that’s a no-go for anyone.
Death Below Stairs by Jennifer Ashley: Nice, light mystery/romance. Kat was fun.
City of the Lost/A Darkness Absolute by Kelley Armstrong: I hated (HATED!) Bitten, but enjoy the writing in this series. It’s fairly dark, especially the second book (woman rescued from being held prisoner in a cave for a year). I’m not finished the second one, so I don’t know how much darker that gets.
Highlight of the month was Susan Elia MacNeal’s latest Maggie Hope book, The Paris Spy. I am so loving Maggie’s journey, even though I, like Maggie herself, begin to doubt there’s a HEA in her future. Still, action, intrigue, Nazi’s, nuns, it’s all so good. @SBSarah, have you tried these yet?
Also this month, a couple SB reqs, thank you ladies. Defenseless by Elizabeth Dyer. She’s the butt kicking bodyguard. He’s a hot tech genius. They’re looking for answers and fallin’ in love. Good times. That makes it sound funny… it wasn’t funny. It was good for you action/adventure romance fans.
The other req was The Immortals, an original take on the pantheon of Greek mythology in modern times. Selene DiSilva lives a solitary existence while she works to protect innocent women and dogs. Then one night she feels an inkling of her former power, and the next day discovers a murdered woman. Her godly rage is reignited, for Selene is Artemis, daughter of Zeus and goddess of the moon. With the help of a Classic Studies professor, she’s going to get vengeance for the woman who invoked her name as she died. And boy, does she. Really looking forward to the next book.
Currently reading Strange Practice and next up, since I seem to be on a low romance, high strong women taking charge kick, is Circe, which has been on my radar for ages, but never bad it to the bedside pile until now.
I’ve been re-reading Georgette Heyer: Arabella, Black Sheep, A Civil Contract, Bath Tangle, Regency Buck and I just finished the amazing An Infamous Army, which is a powerful read. Saved Frederica, Venetia for traveling next week. Also re-read Uprooted, because my copy of Spinning Gold is waiting on my reader for vacation. We are going to Scotland for festival, whisky and the Highland air.
Spinning Silver!! Sheesh….
@RenBenton: Thanks Ren! I sometimes feel bad dragging a book when I got it for nothing (or even 99-cents), but I like to be truthful about what appeals (or doesn’t) to me in a book—and that Bliss book was an absolute don’t bother. I could rant about how writers need professional editing and proofing even on freebie giveaways, but I’m sure I’d be preaching to the choir here.
I see you also read SPITE CLUB. I really enjoyed it. Am currently on a glom of Kriss’s back-catalogue. Really like her style.
Read:
THE FORBBIDEN HEARTS series by Alisha Rai
This series was a bit out of my comfort zone, but despite that I absolutely loved this angsty series, so no regrets here
Favorite book: HURTS TO LOVE YOU
Favorite hero:Jackson
Favorite heroine:Eve
THE THUNDER ROLLS Bethany Campbell
This book is part of a long-running series from the 90s called Crystal Creek Texas , named after the town all the books are set in.Essentially it was The Lucky Harbor of it’s day. Because of it being such a long series and most of those books being out of print( I found my copy at a used book store and I haven’t found them anywhere else ), I can’t recommend them. However, if you like to collect old books i’m sure you can find them online. THE THUNDER ROLLS was a mostly generic romantic suspense with an abusivve ex-husband the heroine had to be protected from. For me it stood out a little since it was set on
the 4th of July and I was reading it around that time . I also have to give it props for having a realistic 7-year-old whose own fears about the abusive ex are actually addressed( nothing happens to the kid btw, but his fears are still understandable) .
THE LUCKY CHARM by Helena Hunting
I received this ARC in the smart bitches giveaway I won a few months ago, however if I hadn’t been obligated to review it, I probably would have left it as a DNF. For one I’m not all that interested in sports romances and picky with second chance romances which this story contains both. For another, to me the hero and heroine’s realationship came across as codependent to an unhealthy degree. They get better, but considering the heroine neglected her own needs for the hero and the hero unconsciously brought her into his pre-game rituals, I have a hard time believing they got a happy ending without a lot of couple’s counseling . However, if you are a huge fan of Helena Hunting the book will be out August 7th.
Reading:
FIRE SONG by Roberta Gellis
I kind of love Roberta Gellis by default, but I really do think this book is really good so far. It is without a doubt the heroine’s story ( seven chapters in and the hero has only made a handful of appearances in comparison to the heroine), but she’s an incredibly compelling character who is constantly fighting her own insecurity and anxiety, but keeps moving forward which I’m sure many people can relate to. That alone is enough for me to recommend the book, especially if you’re a Gellis fan and haven’t read this one yet.
I do love this post. It’s like ‘Hide Your Wallet’ Part 3.
A lot of romantic suspense this month.
First up was Lea Griffith’s Endgame Ops series, starting with the novella in the anthology ‘Way of the Warrior’, followed by ‘Flash of Fury’ and ‘Running the Risk’ – I liked the absolutely diabolical plotting (seriously the twists just KEPT COMING) and the fact that the heroines (and female characters in general) were highly competent and able to look after themselves. I didn’t like the insta-lust in ‘Flash of Fury’ (although by the end Griffith had convinced me the MCs were right for each other), nor what I read as a cavalier attitude towards killing and torture. The second book had a defter hand with characterization. I will definitely continue with the series, as so many plot threads were left hanging.
Susan Stoker’s Ace Security series – ‘Claiming Grace’, ‘Claiming Alexis’, ‘Claiming Bailey’, ‘Claiming Felcity’ – Lots of trigger warnings for the backstory of almost every character. The heroes of the 1st three books grew up in a house where their mother was abusing their father. I liked all of these, particularly the somewhat nerdy beta hero of the third book ‘Claiming Bailey’.
A change of pace with ‘One Good Turn’ by Carla Kelly – This was a bit unusual as it’s all in the POV of the hero, who is thoroughly charming. The heroine has an air of mystery and huge strength of character. Despite the charm, there is still a lot of meat to this romance, as she is a survivor of the siege of Badajoz (and the appalling brutality of the British and Portuguese troops following their victory), and the hero is a veteran of the Peninsular War and Waterloo.
Next off I read the first two Studies in Scandal books by Manda Collins. I really enjoyed the premise of this series – four female scholars and artists are left a house (with an amazing library) so that they can concentrate on their studies, and I liked all of the heroines. However the execution found a little to be desired. In ‘Ready Set Rogue’ (the first one) the relationship between the hero & heroine developed waaaaay too quickly and the plot seemed overly melodramatic. I don’t remember much about the second, ‘Duke With Benefits’, except how the heroine’s manner of speaking was described many, many times as ‘plain speaking’. In both books the e-book formatting was very distracting – odd multi-space breaks and *** sometimes placed in the middle of a scene – I’d be expecting a new scene, passage of time or just a POV change and… nope, just the next line in that scene in the same point of view.
I discovered some old PDF e-books on my laptop (some of them were freebies from Harlequin) and read those in my downtime at work.
‘Waking Up Married’ by Mira Lyn Kelly – from the Harlequin Kiss line. I really liked that line but I must have been a lone ranger there. This was thoroughly charming, with a thread of humor and a strong conflict.
‘The Italian’s Inexperienced Mistress’- Lynn Graham – You may guess by the title this was a Presents. I persisted to the end just to see how she wrapped everything up. I was nearly driven completely wild by the head-hopping!!! Practically every other sentence was in a different point of view. Seriously. In the same paragraph. I didn’t hate the hero (I didn’t love him either) – although he was another in the ‘revenge’ vein, getting revenge on the heroine’s father – and felt the heroine was incredibly self-delusional about her father and what she supposedly owed him. The secondary characters were shallow, thinly drawn and almost entirely unrealistic in how despicably they treated the heroine. *End rant*
I also came across ‘The Dirty Secret’ by Kira A. Gold, which I liked. The main characters are an architect setting up a display home and the set designer he hires to furnish and decorate it for him. Gold has a very strong, almost quirky voice which I liked, and I loved the details about both characters’ jobs that were weaved into the narrative. The sex scenes, though, for what I assume was meant to be an erotic romance, were pretty repetitive.
Next off was ‘The Best Man’ by Natasha Anders. Set in South Africa. I enjoyed the heroine’s character arc – at the beginning she was incredibly bitchy and barely likeable, but Anders did a good job teasing out her insecurities and making her relatable. I adored the hero, Spencer. Curiously, despite the fact that the MCs seemed realistic, a number of secondary characters were drawn with a broad brush and were very OTT. The plot ‘twist’ was evident from a mile away. Although it was a B- for me, I won’t read the next book in the series because the ‘hero’ of that one came off like a complete d**k in this one.
‘Guarding Suzannah’ by Norah Wilson – I liked the romance in this one, particularly the ‘opposites attract’ aspects. The conclusion to the suspense plot though seemed contrived and was unsatisfying.
‘The Princess Trap’ by Talia Hibbert – got this one free! There’s been a lot of well-deserved gushing over Hibbert’s books lately, so I’ll just say that I loved this, and both covers, old and new, do the content a disservice – it’s so much more nuanced than the party boy playboy prince on the cover.
‘I Am Justice’ by Diana Munoz Stewart – this reminded me a bit of the assassin nuns (those books were awesome by the way). It lived up to its badass cover but suffered from ‘first book in a series’ syndrome. I loved the premise and the main characters, and the reversal of typical gender roles. I didn’t love the insta-lust or how some characters’ motivations were vague at best. I will definitely read the next in the series.
‘The Gaucho’s Lady’ by Genevieve Turner – Turner’s writing is massively underrated, especially her historicals. She is so good! This one is set in Argentina at the turn of the 20th century. Did you know there was an anarcho-communist feminist movement in Buenos Aires in the late 1800s / early 1900s? Their motto was ‘No Gods, No Masters, No Husbands’. This is mostly a road trip romance. I adored both MCs and they both grew so much over the course of the novel. This ties into Turner’s ‘Las Morenas’ series set in California.
‘The Engagement Game’ by Jenny Holiday – This was cute and had some depth under the fluffy outer layer. Set in Toronto with an Indian-Canadian heroine and a Jewish hero. Her shoes never match her outfit, she works for an environmental not-for-profit and she’s vegetarian. I love her. The hero was more problematic for me but he did redeem himself.
‘Come Away With Me’ by Kristen Proby – I’ve liked some of her other books but this one… I’m glad it was free. The dialogue was unrealistic and repetitive (sometimes the POV character would think something, then say it out loud in the next paragraph), there were lots of boring details (I don’t need every step of putting makeup on, or to know where you bought your fluffy pink quilt that matches several different pieces of furniture in your bedroom) and the relationship was largely based on instant lust. I don’t mind first person POV, but in this case it actually seemed like a shallow POV rather than deep, and seemed to have breaks in the POV (like when the heroine thinks of her own hair as long and chestnut). Too many exclamation points, both characters totally over-reacting to so. many. things. and the sex scenes were boring and repetitive. The dealbreaker though was that the ‘hero’ was jealous, a bit controlling, and angry all the time, mostly over things he has no right to be angry about (seriously he goes all pissy and weird when she tells him she’s on the pill. Dude, she has a sex life. Deal.) I ended up skimming through the second half, mostly hoping for a more compelling conflict than him being angry and her not knowing why. I didn’t get it.
‘Concrete Evidence’ by Rachel Grant – This was definitely one of my highlights of the month. I saw ‘free’ and read ‘underwater archaeologist’ so I picked it up and am so glad I did. It was very tightly plotted (I read it in one sitting, staying up till 1am, Bad Decisions Book Club), and I loved that the hero is NOT a Navy SEAL, cop, ex-Army Ranger or PI – no, he’s a computer nerd (granted one with a black belt in karate…). Grant herself is an archaeologist so those details were very true-to-life and interesting. I did think that the main characters doubting each other got a little repetitive at times, but the heroine’s backstory definitely explains why she has problems trusting anyone. This was Grant’s debut novel though so I found that minor flaw pretty forgivable in the grand scheme of things. I’ve got the next in the series, ‘Body of Evidence’ queued up, and I’ve also moved ‘Tinderbox’ up the TBR (that was another knee-jerk purchase – Horn of Africa? Paleoanthropologist? Take my money please)
And finally, ‘Wed to a Spy’ by Sharon Cullen – set in Elizabethan England and the court of Mary, Queen of Scots. I loved the setting (they hide out in an unused bedroom at Holyrood Palace at one point, and 16th century Edinburgh is really brought to life) and liked both main characters. A solid B.
Besides ‘Body of Evidence’ and ‘Tinderbox’, I’ll be reading the early Suzanne Brockmann ‘Tall Dark & Daring’ Navy SEAL books, finally coming in at the library. And for something a bit heavier I’ve got Jessica Valenti’s ‘Sex Object’ on request at the library.
I blitzed through Katee Robert’s O’Malleys series after the first book was featured in a sale post not too long ago, and it was just as crack-tastic as everyone said it would be. Loved the soapy elements and quick pacing, but I couldn’t quite get past all the criminal activity. I’ve got the last book left to read, but I’m still holding off as the heroine (the youngest O’Malley sibling) still feels quite child-like to me.
Sarah Maclean’s ‘Wicked and the Wallflower’ was a return to form, especially after the lacklustre Scandal & Scoundrels series (I never thought I’d ever DNF a Maclean, but ‘Day of the Duchess’ was a complete snooze). I did feel that the book ran out of steam towards the end, but overall it was still pretty good. The only other histrom I read was KJ Charles’ ‘Unfit to Print’ which was predictably wonderful; Vikram and Gil were such great characters, and I wished the book was longer.
The two available instalments of Jenny Holiday’s Bridesmaids Behaving Badly series were also good fun – I liked that the books were set in Canada, which is a refreshing change from the US/UK-centric contemporaries I’ve been reading lately. Great rom-com vibes, and I loved the friendship between the women in the stories.
My best book of 2018 is still Mia Hopkins’ ‘Thirsty’ and I’m doubtful that anything else coming out this year will top it (seriously – it’s soooo good) but I’m looking forward to Alyssa Cole’s latest which comes out soon – yay!
I’ve been burned out on reading lately. Actually I’m just burned out in general so watching tv or a movie just seems easier than reading. I am still listening to audiobooks at work when what I’m doing allows it so I did get some reading in that way. Here’s a list of the few things I read and highlights from what I listened to :
The Duke with the Dragon Tattoo by Kerrigan Byrne- I happened to get an email inviting to get an arc of this book from Netgalley so I made a point to read it. I loved it. It was my favorite of the series so far. It has great characters, crazy sauce, the right amount of angst, and a nice emotional payoff at the end. Even after being disappointed in the last book in the series, I had high expectations for this book based on the hero. I’m glad it lived up to them.
Hard Sell by Lauren Layne- Another arc and another book I enjoyed more than the last one of the series. Layne does enemies to lovers so well. It has the great banter I have come to expect in a Layne book, great characters, and left me with that ‘awww’ feeling when I finished. My one slight complaint is that the reason the hero and heroine were enemies felt like it wasn’t developed enough. I didn’t quite buy that it would bring that level of prolonged animosity.
Arrogant Devil by RS Grey- Another fun enemies to lovers story by Grey. After not finishing her last book and hearing some things about another of her recent books that made me not want to try it, I’m glad this one worked so well for me.
Melt for You by JT Geissinger- I actually read both books in this series plus her Bad Habit series and enjoyed all books, but this was by far my favorite. The heroine was a bit shy and had some self-esteem issues when she meets/becomes annoyed by her new playboy athlete neighbor. The way the hero just loved her for exactly who she is and made her see her own value was just so well done. Plus it was very hot.
A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole- I’ve owned this since it came out, but ended up listening to the audiobook on Scribd to finally get it done. I liked it, but want to reread it. I have a feeling that I might have loved it if I hadn’t been listening on a day I kept getting interrupted at work.
There were others, but nothing I’m super excited to talk about. I have to read Iron and Magic by Ilona Andrews before it’s due back to the library so I need to snap myself out of this slump.
This was the month were 3 of my pre-order authors released books within 2 days. I saw that on my calendar and deliberately planned reading only days
I started the month with Off the Beaten Path by Cari Z.: A man’s daughter turns into a werewolf and is taken away to be raised by a werewolf pack. Man tracks her down and refuses to leave her or the pack, falling in love with the alpha of the pack in the process. I enjoyed this so much I tracked down the free short stories/novellas by the same author “Ten Simple Tips for Surviving the Apocalypse” and “You Get Full Credit For Being Alive”. All 3 stories are 4 to 4.5 stars
Then in prep for the new release I read Annabeth Albert’s Squared Away. Its #5 in her Out Of Uniform series, m/m about Navy Seals. I liked it but it has kids and I’m not a fan of kids in my stories (unless they are werewolf kids apparently)
Then I went into my marathon reading week with
• Annabeth Albert: Tight Quarters (4 stars): #6 in her Out of Uniform series, m/m about Navy Seals
• KJ Charles: Unfit to Print (5 stars)
• Cat Sebastian: A Gentleman Never Keeps Score (4 stars) @KateB gave a good description
Today I will finish Antya Sunday’s Scorpio hates Virgo.
On the non-romance side I read “Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine”(4 stars) and “The Line Becomes A River”(3 stars)
@SusanH: I thought Dread Nation sounded so interesting and I’m on the wait list at the library. I’ll temper my expectations now
@Qualisign: I’m so glad you liked Antisocial! I really enjoyed that book also and it caused me to think about labels long after I had finished reading it
Somehow I missed Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series when it was new, but I’m making up for lost time now. I’m nearing the end of 4 and have 5 already on the nightstand. Before that, I read Stephen Kiernan’s THE CURIOSITY about reanimation. A bit of romance involved, but definitely not a romance novel. I enjoyed it. I have to read outside my genre every once in a while to prove to my friends (who don’t read romance–tsk!) that I can!
@DiscoDollyDeb: I read the hero in BAD NEIGHBOR as clearly bi. That is a great book and I also get Charlotte Stein vibes from her heroines.
I grabbed TIED SCORE by Elia Winters on sale. It had been on my TBR since the femdom recommendation post here and it is amazing. I’m starved for good femdom content and this book does it so well!
I read and adored UNFIT TO PRINT by K.J. Charles.
Eagerly awaiting next weekend when I’m planning to binge A DUKE BY DEFAULT by Alyssa Cole and FREE FALL by Emma Barry and Genevieve Turner. I’ve had this scheduled for MONTHS.
This was a busy reading month for me. Thank Goodness.
THE GOOD:
IRON AND MAGIC by Ilona Andrews. Super Sqee and why haven’t you read this yet?
THE QUEEN’S THIEF SERIES- THE THIEF, THE QUEEN OF ATTOLIA, THE KING OF ATTOLIA, CONSPIRACY OF KINGS. This Series!!++ I loved this series so hard
The author managed some wonderful surprises which doesn’t happen often
anymore when I read. Who knew military, politics and manipulation could be
so sexy. That aspect reminded me of “CAPTIVE PRINCE” (minus the m/m
factor). There were times when I thought; How will the author get them out
of this? Only to cry “Brilliant” when it was done. You need this series.
TATTERED (LARK COVE #1)by Perry Devny. This is a secret baby trope that was
actually handled very well. She wasn’t TRYING to keep it a secret but the
nature of the hook-up made it impossible to locate the father. The book
starts out with a chance encounter, years later. I Liked this
one,especially the heroine.
THE BILLIONAIRE’S WAKE-UP CALL GIRL by Annika Martin. I really liked this one
and thought the banter was great.
SCANDAL ABOVE STAIRS by Jennifer Ashley. This Kat Holloway mystery was an
audio book pick and I really liked the female narrator which is one of the
few. Kudos to the creation of a pragmatic, level headed, servant class
character. I started the series here instead of the first book but will
definitely go back to Death Below Stairs.
SCORING OFF THE FIELD by Simone Naima. This is the personal assistant to
athlete trope which I love. It was a good read but not up to Wall of
Winnipeg worthy. Still worth a read and enjoyable.
NOT SO GREAT:
BURN (DARK IN YOU #1)by Suzanne Wright. Meh. I thought the anchor for every
demon a nice idea but the charcters and world was busy, busy, busy.
THE POPPY WAR by F. Kuang- Not so much. This suffered from a busy plot with
too much minutia. There was a sharp divide in middle that made it seem like
two books rather than one and it ended on a cliffhanger. Boo. It suffered
with the comparison to “The Queen’s Thief”.
INVITATION TO THE BLUES by Roan Parrish. I usually like Roan Parrish and her
books with all the feels but this time I just didn’t care for the too
damaged hero alongside the too perfect hero. Unusual miss for me but won’t
keep me from future books.
HERE BE SEXIST VAMPIRES by Suzanne Wright. Just No. Super unlikable hero who
really doesn’t redeem himself and a kinda boring heroine. The focus was too
much on the training of other characters. Two words “anal musk” (snort).
Got to get out the door, but wanted to say that THE KISS QUOTIENT has the closest thing to a relationship with a sex worker & client that didn’t squick me out re: the power dynamics, and I’m really looking forward to what’s next from Helen Hoang!
Also, recommend HOW TO BE SAFE by Tom McAllister, which is lit fic about the aftermath of a school shooting that explores the relationship between gun violence and misogyny (given the discussions on this site recently about guns on the covers of romance, I thought this might be something of interest to the community). Also, I CAN’T DATE JESUS by Michael Arceneaux was a great memoir with fascinating thoughts about being a black gay man from a devout Catholic family.
I’ve gone over to cozy mysteries for quick reads. Krista Davis’s Domestic Diva books are great. Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swensen books are okay. I tried Leslie Meier’s Lucy Stone books and got the first one but when someone strangled her cat maybe fifty pages in… nope, nope, nope. I stopped. I’m catching up on older Mary Balogh books, the Bedwyns and Miss Martin’s School books.
Oh, I love Dreaming of You.
I finished Note Worthy which is about a girl pretending to be a boy to join an A cappella group. Different than I was expecting but I enjoyed it.
Then Truly by Ruthie Knox which was a nice breezy book.
On Frolic they had a post about authors that used Daniel Henney as inspiration and found Scandalized by Tera Frejas. The heroine works for a kpop group (which seems to be one of my summer romances, lol) so one clicked that.
It will be the next book I read then on to Love and Other Train Wrecks.
I’m reading Eloisa James Essex Sister series. I’m almost finished with the third book. Taming the Duke. I really liked the first 2 books in the series, the 2 main characters are driving me nuts.
SPOILER
The heroine is selfish and while on page 369 of 392 the heroine has not figured that her lover is the Duke (her ex-guardian (not his half-brother)
I hope I like the last book in the series better
I read KJ Charles’s Magpie series – love, love, love.
Currently reading Wicked and the Wallflower by Sarah MacLean and it’s kind of driving me crazy. I’ll probably finish it but just because an author puts the faintest historical veneer on a plot, that doesn’t make it historical fiction. Too much instalust too.
Maybe the book is so irritating because I also read Mary Balogh’s recent installment, Someone to Care. She is just so very good, others in the genre pale by comparison.
Audio – listening to Obsidio, the third book in the Gemina trilogy. These are fantastic audiobook productions – highly recommend. I bought my teenager the hardcovers because they’re so interesting as well and she devoured the library copies.
Read the Elder Races series by Thea Harrison. The series is complete, no waiting for the next book, and a nice “goldilocks not too hot not too cold” fit for getting out of this world and into a slightly altered one. And Dragons!! And Harpies, and Unicorns!!
Also enjoyed Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians, I usually prefer the book to movie. And this is a great soap opera of a story. Looking forward to the 2 follow up books.
Let’s see. My TBR pile is enormous, I went on vacation where I mostly read old mysteries, and I am halfway through the Giant Harry Potter Sampler. So of course I have been re-reading the Kate Daniels series to prepare for “Iron and magic.” Here’s the stuff interesting enough to mention, in no particular order:
THE MEANING OF EVERYTHING by Simon Winchester. I think that after writing “The Professor and the madman” Winchester still had enough research left over for a whole ‘nother book about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, and this is it. If you liked “Professor” or just like books on language, I recommend this one.
THREE MEN ON THE BUMMEL by Jerome K. Jerome. This is a sequel of sorts to “Three men in a boat, not to mention the dog” but unfortunately without Montmorency the dog. It’s about the same three guys, this time on a bicycle tour of pre-World War I Germany. It’s not as good as TMIAB, but it has its moments, notably the tale of the man, the dog, the two pigs and a chicken.
HUMAN IN DEATH: MORALITY AND MORTALITY IN J.D. ROBB’S NOVELS by Kecia Ali. This was quite academic in the sense that I had to keep one finger in the footnotes section because I had to keep flipping back and forth. She raises some interesting points, but at times it seemed like she was criticizing because that’s what she was supposed to be doing. I’ve written papers like that, so that’s what it felt like to me.
WOLFSBANE AND MISTLETOE: an anthology of Christmas stories with werewolves (or werewolf stories at Christmas): whatever. I got it for a story by Karen Chance, but I had not idea there were so many authors who wanted to write about Santa being eaten by werewolves.
LEGENDS OF RED SONJA: a graphic novel I picked up because some of the listed authors were Mercedes Lackey, Meljean Brook and Marjorie M. Liu. Their contributions amounted to a page or two, and didn’t actually stand out in any way, but I really liked the book. One of the original fantasy kick-ass heroines who doesn’t take anybody’s shit.
I read a very odd book called THE TOUGH GUIDE TO FANTASYLAND by Diana
Wynne Jones. It’s a very tongue-in-cheek guide to fantasy tropes, written like the kind of tour guide you’d need if you actually visit Middle Earth or any other fantasy location. Here’s a sample:
PRINCESSES come in two kinds:
1. Wimps
2. Spirited and wilful. A Spirited Princess will be detectable
by the “scattering of freckles across the bridge of her somewhat
uptilted nose.” Spirited Princesses often disguise themselves as
boys and invariably marry commoners of sterling worth. With
surprising frequency these commoners turn out to be long-lost
heirs to Kingdoms. (see PRINCES)
Finally, HOW TO TALK ABOUT BOOKS YOU HAVEN’T READ by Pierre Bayard, an actual Professor of French Literature at the University of Paris who freely admits to never having read Proust. It opens with a quote from Oscar Wilde: “I never read a book I am to review; it prejudices one so.” It is very much about how we interact with the books we read, or don’t read, which books we admit into our lives, and the part they play in our innermost selves, since all reading is in a sense an act of ongoing personal creation. In fact, to be true to the book’s philosophy, I probably shouldn’t encourage all y’all to read it.
P.S. I predict that when “Magic triumphs” comes out next month, Hugh and Elara join with Kate and Curran to kick Roland’s ass.
I started listening to Joanna Bourne’s Spymaster series on audible toward the end of June, because I needed to cut down on my news listening while walking or doing housework, for my mental health. t was a delightful experience and I enjoyed both the narrator and listening to the books (instead of reading them) when I knew what was going to happen, helped me pay more attention to the Easter eggs in the earlier books. I listened in chronological order (not publication) because the third book (The Forbidden Rose) is one of my favorites and I needed it! I’ve listened to all except for the last book and will probably start that next week.
In the past month, I have become a Kate Daniels aficionado! I enjoyed Sarah’s interview with Ilona Andrews several years ago and put the books on my “buy on sale to try” list, because I have a very mixed experience with urban fantasy. Some I love and others I can’t get through the first chapter. Although, I will say that I have learned over the years that if I enjoy an author interview with Sarah, I usually like the author’s books too. The first book was on sale last month, so I bought it. I started it over the 4th of July holiday and was hooked! I had quite a bit of reading time this month, so I’ve burned through much of the series. It has been a great escape from reality. I think that I have one more published book to read and then I wait until the next one comes out.
I interrupted my Kate Daniels’ binge to read Some Kind of Hero by Suzanne Brockmann (another sale book that I somehow missed when it was released). I always enjoy Brockmann’s books and this one was no exception. I’ve also been reading Jim Butcher’s Brief Cases, which was my big Prime Day expenditure so I could maximize my credits. Since it is a collection of short stories and novellas, it is a nice way to take a break from the Kate world.
BTW, this is my favorite post, because I like reading the comments and getting suggestions for new books!
This month, I decided to read a popular author that somehow I had missed which is Sophie Kinsella. I read Undomestic Goddess and I’ve got your number while vacationing at a cottage at the beach and they were perfect…very cute and in places LOL funny ( got whooshed by husband at one point and asked to leave the room if I was going to continue giggling..which I did!) . Two were enough for the moment though but maybe will try more in the future. Very British humor and I enjoyed them!
One problem I find is I read a few books in a series and since the others aren’t out yet, I forget about the author and miss later books. That happened with Laura Trentham’s cottonbloom series so I read the latest two…Leave the Night On and When the stars come out. I am a new englander but this southern series always felt real to me and I enjoy the mixing of the different classes in the characters. Good contemporary series which I thoroughly have enjoyed.
A miss for me wss Jane Austen girl by Inglath Cooper. It had a lot of elements that could have made a better read but for me, the storyline was choppy and there were enough inconsistencies in character and plot to make np e struggle to finish it.
My favorite post of the month for sure!!! And of course most expensive…
July is my Birthday month, so it’s only appropriate that this was a stellar reading month for me. Hopefully August will be more of the same. My standouts:
THE ACCIDENTALS by Sarina Bowen – I pretty much love everything Sarina writes but even for her, this was top of the heap. What makes it even more surprising is that this is a YA book and I rarely read or enjoy YA. However, I trusted in Sarina’s magic touch and I was not disappointed. Rachel, the main character, is a totally believable 17 YO. After losing her mom to cancer, then meeting her previously absentee rock-star father, her emotions are all over the place but she’s smart and self-aware, sometimes very mature, other times still a child just on the brink of adulthood. This book will definitely be going on my best books of the year list.
ROYALLY MATCHED by Emma Chase – sometimes Emma’s heroes are a bit too much for me, other times they are just right. Happily, this book fell into the latter category. I couldn’t help picturing Prince Harry in all his ginger glory and that made it even better.
THE KISS QUOTIENT by Helen Hoang – I have to admit to squeeing just a bit when I got the notification that this I’d moved to the top of the library hold list. It was every bit as good as all the raves I’d read about it. I especially loved that Stella came to the realization that she couldn’t and shouldn’t change herself, she just needed to find someone who loved and accepted her as she was.
WHEN IT’S REAL by Erin Watt – after my great YA experience with The Accidentals, when this book went on sale, I grabbed it after being totally sucked in by the sample. It was more young NA romance rather than YA and I loved it. I think I just have a hard time resisting rock star books under any circumstances.
THROUGH THE FIRE by Katie Ruggle – this was the fourth and final book in the author’s Rocky Mountain K9 series and wrapped up all of the dangling plot threads nicely. For once, it was the heroine who was a K9 officer (her canine partner was a tracking bloodhound), while the hero was a bearded, reclusive, sweet and geeky fire spotter who was somewhat on the spectrum and lived in an isolated mountain tower. My one complaint was that this book focused more on the plot and the suspense and there just wasn’t enough romance in it.
CHASER by Kylie Scott – Kylie is another author who rarely goes wrong for me. I usually love everything she writes. In this book, the hero she redeems a character who in previous books was a bit of a self-centered manwhore. He falls hard for a woman who is about to have a baby and finally figures out that it’s a good thing to actually grow up, act like an adult, and feel strongly enough about another person that you want to place their needs above your own.
I recently read RED SPARROW by Jason Matthews, which is an interesting take on a spy thriller, although I thought it needed more female characters.
I’ve also been reading a lot of royalty-themed romance. I just finished A DUKE BY DEFAULT by Alyssa Cole, which I enjoyed, and I’m now reading PRINCE IN DISGUISE by Stephanie Kate Strohm, which is cute so far.
Read in July ~
— re-read Anne Cleeland’s Murder in Retribution, Murder in Hindsight, Murder in Containment, Murder in All Honour, Murder in Shadow and Murder in Misdirection. Now I need to wait for the author to publish another book in the series. If you choose to read this series, do start with the first book.
— Dark Space and Darker Space both by Lisa Henry; these are male/male science fiction romances which I enjoyed.
— enjoyed Roni Loren’s contemporary romance The One You Can’t Forget (The Ones Who Got Away).
— The paranormal romance Tempted by Fire: Dragons of Bloodfire 1 by Erin Kellison. This was pleasant but not a book I’ll likely re-read.
— re-read with pleasure Anne Bishop’s Written In Red, Murder of Crows, Vision In Silver, Marked In Flesh and Etched in Bone. And I introduced my husband to this series; he’s now reading the third book.
— read a very short piece titled Wanted, an Author that is a male/male romance. It’s a follow on to a book I read and introduces a new book by the author, KJ Charles.
— a young adult novel that I quite enjoyed ~ The Accidentals by Sarina Bowen; it’s rare for me to read a book on its release date, but I enjoyed the sample so bought the book.
— The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester for my book group; I enjoyed it. This was the first Simon Winchester book I’ve read, but I’d happily read more by this author.
— I realized that I had about eighty unread book samples on my Kindle, so I spent a goodly amount of time reading those. (That would probably count as three or four books in terms of pages read!)
— finished a re-read of Marie Sexton’s Winter Oranges which I enjoyed once again. This is a non-scary, not quite ghost story, that features two men.
— quite enjoyed J.A. Sutherland’s science fiction novel Into the Dark (Alexis Carew Book 1) which happens to be currently free to Kindle readers.
— two linked science fiction books. A number of reviews for the first book mentioned a surprise ending which had me arrogantly thinking that I’d not be surprised. Ha! I quite enjoyed these books. Both of these books are currently free for Kindle readers: Shoot the Humans First PLUS The Battle of Hollow Jimmy by Becky Black
— liked Eli Easton’s The Mating of Michael (Sex in Seattle Book 3). This is a contemporary male/male romance.
— enjoyed a re-read of Anne Bishop’s Lake Silence (The World of the Others)
— enjoyed a re-read of Kim Fielding’s not scary ghostly male/male romance Motel. Pool.
— re-read with pleasure Kim Fielding’s male/male fantasy romance Brute which I enjoyed once again. This is currently on sale for 99 cents for those reading on a Kindle.
— By A Thread by L.A. Witt was a pleasant male/male romance with a supernatural element.
— Joran: Star-Crossed Alien Mail Order Brides (Intergalactic Dating Agency) by Susan Hayes, overall, I found this rather ho hum.
–a collection of four contemporary romance stories; this was an okay read but not something I’ll likely re-read. It’s currently free for Kindle readers: One Week in December (One Week in Love Book 3) by Alexis Anne, Audra North, Julia Kelly and Alexandra Haughton
— quite enjoyed the non-fiction Making Art From Maps by Jill K. Berry. The projects vary from relatively simple to quite complex.
Recently, in a comment on this site, someone recommended Rosalind James. I want to thank whoever it was. I started binge reading her backlist and only stopped due to book budget restrictions and because I didn’t want to burn out through over familiarity. In one, Welcome to Paradise, the characters are competing on a reality tv show which was interesting and very different especially since I do not watch reality tv. I also particularly liked Silver-Tongued Devil. The hero is an unabashed charmer who falls for a no nonsense heroine who’s had a tough life.
Reading Spinning Silver atm and it’s awesome!
I too read “Most Eligible Billionaire”, which @DiscoDollyDeb has already done a great job summarizing. It was a delight, even though it is written in alternating 1st person POV, which is not my usual thing. What I got such a kick out of, was that the plot and the tropes were straight out of a Lynne Graham-type Harlequin Presents: billionaire hero, impoverished heroine, he mistakenly thinks that she is a con artist taking advantage of his elderly relative, her broken home/traumatic childhood backstory, his secret revenge plan which backfires and causes the plot crisis/breakup, the cute pet that she loves and he just tolerates. It was the entire HP package but written as a romcom.
And then, unusually for me, I read another contemporary romcom and loved it!
It was “Goody Two Shoes” by Janet Elizabeth Henderson. It’s set in Scotland, with an uptight heroine and rock star hero, and an unlikely MOC plot. It’s hard to come up with a plausible reason for an MOC in a contemporary, so just ignore that, and enjoy the wonderfully funny dialog and colorful cast of characters in a small Scottish hamlet. Especially a group of elderly men who hang out at the community center where the heroine works, and act as a Greek chorus.
Not a book review, but an odd thing that happened to me recently. I belong to some romance FB groups, and on one of them there was a post asking for recommendations of historicals in wartime settings. Somebody rec’d THAT BOOK, the one with the Nazi who runs a concentration camp. You know the one. I had a few words to say about how offensive that was. Then I went to bed and got up sort of dreading my FB notifications. But to my surprise there was nothing there. No like, no hates, no replies. I suspect an admin deleted either my reply or the original comment, but I decided to leave well enough alone, so I didn’t go back to check. So I have no idea if that happened, or if nobody thought my comment was even worth a response. But yes, people are still recommending that book and giving it good reviews.
On the historical side, I am now reading “Do No Harm” by Carla Kelly, which is lovely and well written but kind of melancholy, because of the setting, involving the tragic Highlands land clearances in the early 1800’s.
I first have to mention the book that I’m reading right now because it’s freaking awesome: Pearls on a Branch, folktales told by women in Lebanon, collected by Najla Jraissaty Khoury and translated by Inea Bushnaq (super translation, full of flavor and fun rhymes and verses)… these stories of tricksters and marriages, marvels and clever, intrepid women are putting a big old smile on my face. If I had space in this paragraph I would tell you about how the story of the daughter of the sun and moon has very much the structure of an Old Skool romance (and explain how a pitcher and a jug indicate that the wife has conquered her husband)…
I also was highly impressed by Margaret Killjoy’s novella The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion; the main character is a traveling anarchist with a bunch of queer friends, and the story is sparked by an anarchist community summoning a spirit of justice to deal with a dangerous person in their midst. Very thoughtful book. It’s the first in a series; the second one didn’t have quite the same impact, but I’ll keep reading.
Other reading this month has been a mixed bag. I spent two days down a rabbit hole reading the back archives of the YA fiction website The Hanging Garden—I don’t know where I got the idea that YA fiction nice and universally optimistic because dang, these authors go to some weird and dark places. My favorite was “One Note of the Devil’s Trumpet” by Natalie C. Parker, starting with flirtation in a flower shop. Other good online stories were the extremely sweet “Woolfy and Scrapo” by Rebecca Lloyd (I’m not even going to tell you the premise of that one, because you’ll say “no way”—read it and see if you like it) and on the other end of the spectrum, the excellently unpleasant “Weft” by Rahul Kanakia, about a magic-user whose skill is manipulating threads. Kanakia has written a number of the most surprising dark stories I’ve read recently.
I’m not going to mention all the legion of less memorable short stories I read this month (although I will mention the anthology Alice Unbound to advise people to stay away from it: what a high proportion of real stinkers in the contents). Oh yeah, there was the YA anthology All Out, mostly boring or poorly written, although with a delightful story in which an ex-movie-star misses the last train out of a small town and meets a waitress who’s just closed the diner for the night, “Walking After Midnight” by Kody Keplinger.
I’m in the middle of a novella which I’m not sure I want to finish, The Three Books by Paul SaintJohn Mackintosh, about a poet, his mistresses, and books written on vellum (animal skin)—if that’s going where I think it is, nope.
I devoured CJ Charles’s latest, Unfit to Print, on the day it was released and can basically only complain that it was over in 3 hours; I would have very happily spent more time with the characters & the world (which is an indirect followup to “Wanted, a Gentleman” and also has shoutouts to the Sins of the Cities series). On the whole it seemed a bit lightweight, though.
Another novella: “How Saeter Robbed the Underworld” by Meredith Katz. A young teen fights with his best friend and so his two dads tell him a story about two sons of the gods who had a really serious conflict between them even though they loved each other. It was nicely written and engaging although I didn’t entirely love the way it ended.
That’s all I can remember, I’m sure there was more.
I really enjoyed The Book Ninja by Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus. It was a lot of fun.