It’s time for September’s Whatcha Reading! If you’re new here, Whatcha Reading is the post where we gush or gripe about all the books we’ve been reading this month. And sometimes, it’s awfully terrible on our wallets. We wish we could say we were genuinely sorry about that.
Sarah: I am very much looking forward to this month’s discussion of what you’re reading. I’ve DNFd several books in a row for a variety of reasons, so I’m now carefully researching newer-to-me sub-genres. Based on Amanda’s recommendation, I’m going to try Highland Dragon Warrior by Isabel Cooper ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). But I’m watching this thread like damn, hell, and whoa to see what you’re enjoying – so thank you in advance for sharing your recommendations!
Amanda: All right, Sarah. Strap in. Because you’re probably going to want to glom up both of these books.
I have two books on my Kindle that come out in October and I don’t know what to read first.
There’s Grigori by Lauren Smith ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). The heroine is working on her PhD in mythology and she totes believes there’s evidence that dragons are real. And of course, the hero is a dragon shifter.
Then there’s Take the Lead by Alexis Daria. It’s a contemporary romance that takes place on a dancing reality show. The heroine is a dancer and in the latest season, she’s paired with a dude who stars in an Alaskan Wilderness nature show. HELLLLOOOOO.
Sarah: OK I AM LISTENING TO ALL OF THIS.
Redheadedgirl: Ohhhhhhh
I’m reading The Duke’s Bridle Path ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), which is two related novellas by Grace Burrowes and Theresa Romain that involve horses. I like it!
I also, after finishing a disappointing book (and because of a conversation on the Book of Faces), just reread Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonflight ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), which I still like, in spite of McCaffrey’s myriad of Capital-I-Issues.
Elyse: I just started Deep Dark by Laura Griffin which features a white hat hacker heroine!
Redheadedgirl: Once I finish the Bridle Path, then I will move on to Alisha Rai’s Wrong To Need You ( A | BN | K | G | AB ).
Carrie: I’m reading Unwanted Girl by M.K. Schiller ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). It’s a romance between a wealthy writer who is a recovering addict and a woman from India who is studying to be a teacher. I like it so far because both characters tend to defy stereotype.
What have you been reading? Anything good or disappointingly bad? We want to know all the details!
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!
This month’s reading started weak but ended strong. Comics are just hitting it out of the park. I love that I can just jump into a section of the book world I knew nothing about and find amazing things. Just like when I jumped into romance!
Faves
– “Rat Queens, Vol 1: Sass & Sorcery” by Kurtis J. Wiebe & Roc Upchurch – LOVED IT. Female friendships, found families, queer characters, bright art, all my catnip! If you love The Adventure Zone podcast, check this out!
– “River of Teeth” by Sarah Gailey” – A spaghetti western caper (but not a caper?” with hippos! A diverse cast, including a romance with a bisexual man and a non-binary character, this is fun and violent and awesome.
– “We Are Okay” by Nina LaCour – I was scared to start this because it’s focused on a young woman dealing with the death of her grandfather, but it’s thoughtful and a realistic portrait of loneliness.
– “The Ruin of a Rake” by Cat Sebastian – m/m romance. I just love Sebastian’s ear for dialog. She always manages to make it unique to the character and it’s always sexy (when appropriate, anyhow). I also loved Courtenay and Julian’s vibe. Thoughtful but light.
– “Monstress, Vol 2: The Blood” by Marjorie M. Liu & Sana Takeda – The weirdness, epicness, and cuteness continues, now with an island of bones! Can’t wait for Vol 3!
– “Leviathan” by Scott Westerfeld (audiobook) – Would you judge me if I told you I picked this up solely because I wanted Alan Cumming to read to me for eight hours? Cause I did. It was a great book though, especially for fans of Temeraire.
Good
– “A Queen from the North” by Erin McRae & Racheline Maltese – loved the worldbuilding, the War of the Roses is also my catnip, and I loved Amelia’s unwillingness to back down. I couldn’t really understand why Arthur turned to literally the first woman he saw, but hey, I love a marriage of convenience story.
– “Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud: The Rise and Reign of the Unruly Woman” by Anne Helen Petersen – I’ve been following Petersen since The Hairpin so I was eager to read this and I wasn’t disappointed. Loved the pieces on Serena Williams and Hillary Clinton, especially.
– “The Fire Child” by S.K. Tremayne – A classic gothic story, this could have been pulled straight from the 70’s. While not as surprising or fresh as “The Ice Twins”, this makes great use of the Cornish setting and was a lot of fun.
– “The Dry” by Jane Harper – read this solely because of the Quick Review, I loved the way the dying farming community was written. Could have been my hometown, but in Australia … and with lots of murder.
– “This Monstrous Thing” by Mackenzi Lee – I LOVED LOVED “The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue” but wasn’t quite as bowled over by this one. It’s sort of a steampunk Frankenstein retelling, but Mary Shelley is there but also she’s not the main character? It was interesting, but I didn’t love it.
– “The Lady of the Rivers” by Philippa Gregory – Because “Queen” rekindled my interest in the War of the Roses, I decided to give this a shot, as it’s chronologically the first of her books. I loved the setting of course, but found her writing surprisingly dry. I’ll try again soon, but this wasn’t a favorite.
– “Lyonesse: Suldrun’s Garden” by Jack Vance – Overdrive featured a bunch of fantasy novels last month to celebrate Game of Thrones so I decided to give this classic a shot. It was weird and epic and sort of a fever dream/fairy tale of a story.
– “Ancillary Sword” by Ann Leckie (audiobook) – I WANTED to love this. I love the first one! But oh man, there was only so much talk of tea cups I could take. I did love the political machinations, I always do, but the tea cups!
– “The Witch Who Came in from the Cold” by Various Authors – I wanted to love this too, if only because my mother dumped a bottle of wine on it before I’d even started so I had to buy my library a new copy, but I don’t know, it was a little long and little dry. It is about witches battling it out during the Cold War though, so that was fun!
– “In This Grave Hour” by Jacqueline Winspear – I liked it, but it didn’t stick in my mind for very long.
Currently Reading (just about to start these, actually)
– “The Stone Sky” by N.K. Jemisin
– “Rat Queens, Vol 2: The Far Reaching Tentacles of N’rygoth” by Kurtis J. Wiebe & Roc Upchurch
– “Fortune’s Pawn” by Rachel Bach (audiobook)
I’m still having a hard time reading. I’m often choosing to watch movies and tv instead of reading. What I have read has went slowly, but I did get a few books read this month.
A Conspiracy in Belgravia by Sherry Thomas- I got an arc of this one through Penguin First to Read and liked it even more than the first. Sarah basically expressed the majority of my thoughts on the book in her review here and in a much better way than I’m capable of doing at the moment.
Crossing the Line by Kimberly Kincaid- I won this in a Goodreads giveaway. It was a nice romance and I really like the way the family dynamics were portrayed and dealt with in this installment of the series.
A Most Extraordinary Pursuit and A Strange Scottish Sea both by Juliana Gray- I had gotten A Most Extraordinary Pursuit for Christmas last year but had yet to read it. When I got the second book in the series through Penguin First to Read, I made a point to read Pursuit first. I found the concept interesting, but it was pretty all over the place. The second book, A Strange Scottish Sea, was definitely better. It developed the concept better while leaving plenty left to be discovered in future books in the series. I did think that Gray took a shortcut with the romance between the hero and the heroine with the way she had them end up together. I would have liked to have seen a more nuanced development of that relationship.
Full Package by Lauren Blakely- This was a fun, fast, light read.
Grin and Beard It and Beard Science both by Penny Reid- I’m finally getting to my backlog of Reid books! I enjoyed both of these quite a bit.
I also read a few non-romances for the reading challenge I’m doing:
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah (A memior) – I enjoyed this so much more than I expected to. It’s a really funny and insightful look into the effects of apartheid in South Africa and into Noah’s family.
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (A book being made into a movie)- I put of reading this one for a long time. I was sure it would be good, but I wasn’t sure I was in a place mentally where I would be okay with reading it. Luckily Thomas’s writing just pulled me in and it ended up being one of the quickest reads I’ve had in a while. It’s just so very good and so needed right now.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (a book you should’ve read in school)- For the record this was never assigned to me, but it was to a lot of my friends. It was great as expected and I really should’ve gotten to it sooner.
Right now I’ve started The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. I’ve been meaning to check out Butler’s books for a while and I’m using this one as part of my reading challenge. I’m only a chapter in since I haven’t really been in a reading mood the past couple days. Then I have Tryst by Elswyth Thane which I got as an interlibrary loan today. I keep hearing good things about it and it sounds right up my alley. Then I need to get on to the next Beard book by Penny Reid.
After reading all the Rivers of London series and loving it I wanted more like that so I cast about and found some good things. I read all of Elliot James’ Pax Arcana series which was great fun. There’s lots of snarky quipping and he writes very explicit battle scenes complete with explanations of the physics (if you are someone who notices bad science in movies and fiction you will like his attention to detail). I’ve started on Benedict Jacka’s Verus series which is pretty good but not as funny.
I also read Helen Harper’s Slouch Witch series, which stars a very lazy witch who just wants to hang out in her jammies and watch TV, but keeps getting roped into battling bad guys. Not mind blowing but definitely fun.
I read Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series which is about a coyote shifter in a world of wolves and other paranormals that are all more powerful than she, in theory, yet somehow she keeps coming out on top due to her power of chaos. I liked these a lot, in part because Briggs writes with proper grammar (doesn’t begin sentences with conjunctions, uses appropriate tenses, etc.) which is something I find lacking in a lot of these kind of books (e.g. I just read the new G.G. Aiken and while I love her hilarious energy, I do wish she would not start so very many sentences with “but”)
Whew,this has been a bad month for reading. Lots of DNFs and just slow, slow, slow. Very little is terrible but very little is grabbing me.
The highlight was definitely “The Duchess Deal” by Tessa Dare. It felt like a remix of some of her other works but I still love it. Tessa Dare has become my go to comfort read.
Not done yet, but my other really strong read this month is “When Dimple Met Rishi” by Sandhya Menon. This is cute, cute, cute. YA with two young Desi characters getting to know each other at coding camp after their parents have tried to arrange a match. I’m not sure if some aspects of coding camp are believable, but I love these two too much to care.
I’m reading “Hate to Want You” and I’m enjoying it, altough I find the family feud drama aspect a bit boring and skim to get to more relationship.
I have a ton of books from the library with one chapter read. Most promising so far is Caroline Linden’s
“Love and Other Scandals.” Who knows if any of them will get finished before they’re due.
Reading “Last Unicorn” to the older child and it’s so good but going slowly. Short book, long chapters… The whole family read is a Judy Moody glom and those are great. Reminds me a bit of Beverly Cleary and zips along.
In audio world. . .
I listened to “Tongues of Serpents” by Naomi Novik. I found it disappointing. Maybe because I just took a break from the series, but it felt kind of meandering. I will push on with the series because I do love Simon Vance.
I’m listening to “X” by Sue Grafton and enjoying it, altough I’m leery of The serial killer aspect. I’m also listening to “Brainstorm” by Elaine Viets and enjoying that. It’s different from her cozies without being super dark so far.
The big thing this month was binging on fiction podcasts. I loved “Jules and James.” Two strangers meet by accident on a wrong phone call and have meandering (and sometimes flirtatious) conversations about life and art on the phone. If the words “twee” or “pretentious” make you shudder, don’t listen. But it reminds me a bit of “Before Sunrise” and I love the romantic tension. They still haven’t met in person and I’m during from suspense.
In a totally different vein, I’m listening to “The Black Tapes,” which is “X-Files” crossed with something like “Serial” or “This American Life.” It’s deliciously creepy and unsettling. One of the recs I saw mentioned “UST” between the two main characters and I don’t really see it, but there’s a big age difference ( implied, but not directly stated), so YMMV.
I read Elantris by Brandon Sanderson: It was good (I liked it better than the first Mistborn trilogy), but took awhile and wasn’t exactly light.
Now, I’m reading Secret Rooms by Catherine Bailey: Weirdness among the nobility around WWI.
Still slumping. 🙁
The only new book I finished was Secrets in Death. It was pretty good.
I also reread a couple of random In Death books, Kindred and Innocent.
My copy of The Brightest Fell, by Seanan McGuire finally* came on Thursday. Just started it last night. (Toby’s bachelorette party! The Luidaeg sings karaoke!)
*I preordered it, it came out on the fifth, and it took over a week to actually get here. Not preordering from Amazon again.
The Elizabeth Boyce collection that was on sale was OMG amazing. Excellent reading for people who want historicals not in ballrooms. My favorites were Honor Among Thieves which is a romance about resurrectionists (aka corpse thieves) and anatomists, and Love Beyond Measure which has a hero who shipwrecks in what is now Thailand. That’s a setting I’ve never read and it was fascinating, and I thought it was done pretty carefully in terms of dealing with colonialism (but I am a white lady not-expert so don’t trust me).
I also discovered Sarina Bowen’s True North series and ugh swoon I’d forgotten how much I worship her. Fresh, compelling contemporaries in rural Vermont.
This month I discovered two new-to-me authors–Shannon McKenna and Jackie Ashenden–and then went on reading binges of their back catalogs. I don’t usually do that because it’s easy to get burned out on even the best writers if you read too much of their work all at once; but I loved the catnippy comfort I derived from these books–and, boy, couldn’t we all use some comfort right about now?
Kindle had a sale on a collection of McKenna’s McCloud Brothers books (I think it was $2.99 for the first seven books in what is, so far, an eleven-book series). I was unfamiliar with McKenna–but I downloaded the books, read the first one, then virtually inhaled the rest! These are romantic thrillers with intricate, twisty plots, strong, likable heroines, alpha heroes, scary villains, and very hot sex scenes. One thing I really enjoyed about all of the books is that the heroines–no matter how attracted they are to the heroes or how great the sex is–are willing to call out the heroes on some of their alpha bullshit (being too controlling or possessive or trying to dominate the heroine outside the bedroom, etc.), and the heroes eventually learn that that type of behavior is unacceptable. Be aware that there’s a lot of violence in these books, with high body counts and some really sick psychotic villains; both the heroes and heroines are in peril at different times and some of the evil masterminds live to appear in subsequent books–so there’s a lot of tension even with the promise of a HEA.
I liked the McCloud books so much, I downloaded another McKenna book: TASTING FEAR, three interconnected novellas telling the story of three sisters who attempt to unravel a secret their adoptive mother took to her grave while they simultaneously dodge some really bad guys and fall in love with three very different (but very alpha) men. Great stuff!
I tried Jackie Ashenden after reading a positive review of HAVING HER (on All About Romance). The two-book series, TAKING HIM and HAVING HER, is proof that a good writer can take a seemingly played-out genre convention and make it fresh. In the case of these two books, it’s the (imho) tired trope of “the love interest is forbidden because he/she is either sibling’s friend or friend’s sibling.” But Ashenden finds a way to reinterpret that theme. In TAKING HIM, the heroine has loved the hero (her brother’s best friend and business partner) for years; when they finally begin a relationship, she discovers he has a set of non-negotiable rules for their physical encounters. As she digs deeper, the heroine discovers the hero uses these rules as a coping mechanism in response to a traumatic sexual episode in his teen years. (Kudos to this book for challenging the myth that underaged teenage boys are never abused in sexual relationships with older women.) In HAVING HER, the heroine is a 25-year-old virgin who agrees to enter into a relationship with the older brother of her best friend (who was, in turn, the heroine of the previous book). He too has strict rules and sexually-controlling behavior–a response to his chaotic upbringing with an absent father and a schizophrenic mother. Both books are emotionally angsty, but not too dark. I thoroughly enjoyed them both.
After reading those two books, I plowed through Ashenden’s 9th Circle and Billionaires Club series (thank God my library had many of the books or I would have done serious damage to my budget). In a way that has nothing to do with setting, style, or time-period, Ashenden reminds me of Mary Balogh (I like Balogh, so that’s not a dig): two people, each with their own issues and histories of family dysfunction, begin a relationship which–though it has its ups and downs–allows them to confront and resolve those issues on their way to an HEA. Yes, like Balogh, there’s a basic Ashenden template that goes from book to book (all the women smell like vanilla, all the men smell like sandalwood, parents are distant, absent, or dead, and there’s usually at least one scene where the hero unpins the heroine’s tightly-bound hair and at least one sexual encounter on a desk or table) but that very predictability is in its way such a comfort.
Other books read:
Brenna Aubrey’s AT ANY PRICE is about a med student who is also a hardcore gamer. She finds herself still a virgin at 22 and decides to auction off her virginity to the highest bidder (Aubrey does a good job of making this pivotal plot point far less sleazy than it sounds). Naturally, the man who wins the auction is drop-dead handsome and has ulterior motives; and, also naturally, the heroine’s plan to make losing her virginity part of a business deal runs into complications. I know that gamers have complained that Aubrey does not accurately represent the gaming world, but I know next-to-nothing about online gaming, so that part of the story seemed authentic enough to me. If you’re a gamer, beware. Also, this is a HFN rather than HEA book–there are several more in the series…but I’m not sure I’m interested enough to read any of them.
Sherilee Grey’s SHATTERED KING was good. It involves an ex-con (unjustly imprisoned) reconnecting with his ex-girlfriend (who is unwilling to have anything to do with him, for a variety of reasons). This is part of a series so the book has a lot of characters who are being setup for their own books; it can be a bit distracting to be reading about two secondary characters and thinking, “oh yeah–they’re going to get together in a later book,” but that’s a minor quibble.
I was ambivalent about Lisa Marie Rice’s MIDNIGHT MAN (part of a trilogy involving a loosely-connected group of former military men). The storyline–about an interior decorator whose life is turned upside down when she becomes the target of an assassination attempt–was interesting, but some of the sexual aspects of the book left me uncomfortable, particularly equating extremely rough, in some cases borderline non-consensual, sex with the depth of affection a man has for the woman he desires. The subtext of much of the book’s sex scenes was “alphas gonna alpha, and what’s a woman to do but enjoy it and worry about the bruises later.” I like a good alpha hero as much as the next reader, but the idea that a man shouldn’t have to exercise any self-control (or patience or tenderness) in sexual matters made the book less entertaining than it could have been.
(Also, I’d be remiss if I did not point out this odd little “Hello, Editor” moment from MIDNIGHT MAN: at approximately three-fourths of the way through the book, the heroine suddenly announces that it’s Christmas Eve and she needs a Christmas tree! At no point in the book, prior to that, had there been any mention of Christmas, decorations, twinkling lights, carols, gifts, parties, or even that it was December! A true WTF moment.)
I’m finally reading A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet. I’ve seen so many good reviews for the book, and I’m looking forward to reading it.
I also have several books on my TBR pile, including Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo and some Jessica Jones comics collections.
Is it too early to start reading holiday romances? I usually don’t even say the word “holidays” until after Halloween, but I’m in the mood to read them now (and watch Hallmark movies). I’m looking forward to Chasing Christmas Eve by Jill Shalvis and A Snow Country Christmas by Linda Lael Miller.
The Golem and the Jinni was probably the best thing I read this month. It was a little slow to get going, and I’m not completely thrilled with the villain, but some lovely, lovely characters and delightful historical research/world building.
Also, I’m devouring the Master and Commander books, in an effort to help space out the Temeraire series. You’d think, with that title, they’re erotica, but no. It’s basically Temeraire without the dragons (I have repeatedly caught myself expecting dragons soon). Oh, and there’s so much rigging, like pages and pages of idk mains’ls and zebecs and hawsers or whatever. No real romance, although, pun intended, I ship it. I have heard the audio version is fantastic but I am not an audio person.
Samantha Kane’s menage football series is proving fun, although her historicals have thus far not done it for me, and I usually prefer historicals.
Also I started the Brenda Joyce series from a recent HaBO and it is horribly dated but I’m not giving up yet.
I’m unable to give emotionally to fiction at this time (2017, amirite?), so rather than preemptively sabotage those reading relationships, I’m sticking to adding to the Repository of Useless Knowledge via nonfiction. This month, that means autobios of sports figures.
Currently, it’s Adam Copeland on Edge. I’ve never been a WWE fan (it’s now on SyFy for some unfathomable reason, so I occasionally catch a glimpse between more logically placed programs, and my reaction is invariably “Somebody please hurry up and hit this guy with a chair to put an end to his heinous acting”), but Adam was, frankly, one of the better actors on Haven, so I “know” him from there. The book’s tone is very chillin’-on-the-couch-chattin’-with-your-bud, in the best possible way. He’s got patter, so when he’s casually joking about his body being smashed to pieces, I care more than he does, which is particularly impressive given my above-mentioned emotional deadness.
Everything else has been “Somebody please hurry up and hit this guy with a fist/football/racecar/bat/puck/diving board to put an end to his heinous writing.” Ghostwriters are a thing, people. There’s no shame in hiring someone able to make you sound like you have an iota of charisma; it is, in fact, a kindness to the reader when you’re the sole topic of hundreds of pages.
Just finished Laura Florand’s latest, and now I’m all sad she’s taking a year off writing – I’m so looking forward to Antoine’s story.
The library finally got the Seanan McGuire books on ebook, so I’ve been trying to catch up. I *finally* finished One Salt Sea and the short story that followed it “In Sea Salt Tears”. Blowing through “Ashes of Honor” at the moment and hoping to finish it this weekend or so.
Also reading:
Rose Lerner’s “Taste of Honey” novella
Stephanie Burgis’ “Snowspelled” – definitely a different twist on the Jane Austen + magic genre with the connection to elves and faeries and etc. Part of me *sighs* everytime I see “the lady shouldn’t do/study magic but she does” trope, though.
Her Hometown Girl, latest in Lorelie Brown’s Belladonna Ink series of F/F romances. The first two were SO good that I have high hopes for this one. The books can be read in any order.
I read but was “meh” on Susan Mallery’s You Say It First. I liked the premise of a town that’s built its economy on being a wedding destination, but the characters and conflicts felt awfully generic to me. Also I have just gotten tired of Mallery’s coy phrases. I swear every Mallery heroine is described as having “her girl parts take notice” of the hero, who always has a great “rear end.”
ALL THE BOOKS by KJ Charles, whose M/M Victorian romances (most with a dash of supernatural too) are so hot and yet often funny and emotionally satisfying too. The Magpie Lord series in particular.
And I re-read Sally Thorne’s The Hating Game because it is the most delightful romcom of the kind I wish still made it to the movie screen.
@Jill Q: The Black Tapes sounds fascinating. Definitely going to give it a listen!
@Lostshadows, the magic words were “Luidaeg karaoke.” Back from an electronic visit to the library.
Best of the month, an easy top-two for the year to date, was Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give. Great and important subject, but I loved the depiction of Starr’s family and the love among them.
So glad SBTB convinced me to look at Christina Lauren’s Dating You Hating You. My first book from the authors – I’d gotten the impression they were not my thing. Instead, this was my favorite contemporary in months. A bit screwball, with workplace details that rang true, and great leads.
Curtis Dawkins’ The Graybar Hotel was a worthwhile accidental read. The author is a convicted murderer serving life without parole, and his story collection is about life in prison, banality and stunted and ruined lives.
I re-read my favorite standalone by Barbara Hambly, Bride of the Rat God. The protagonist is the sister-in-law and keeper of a Hollywood silent movie star, and they get caught up in magical problems. Lots of fun and less-fun period details (the film-making is fascinating, the realistic plethora of period racists sometimes less so). Also many cute dogs, speaking as not a dog person.
Really enjoyed Tessa Dare’s The Duchess Deal, thanks for the review here at SBTB that moved it to the top of my TBR mountain.
Also, thanks to its mention here I asked for and received tickets for my birthday (Yay!) to the theatre production in Chicago of Georgette Heyer’s Sylvester for later this month – so am currently reading the book and as always thoroughly enjoying her writing (this was one I had not read yet so also a plus). Really looking forward to seeing how they adapt it for the stage.
Listened to the audiobook of Hillbilly Elegy because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. A good listen with a few insights as to what a certain segment of the population is thinking, but no real ideas as to how to change minds or work together better so I’m not sure how useful it is to all the people who are buying this book. Mostly it was a book about surviving childhood with an addicted parent. I’ll be interested to see if the author builds on this in any way in the future – or will it just be a one-hit wonder.
I had a lot of time to read this month, since I was on vacation with my family. Plus I don’t start my new job until the middle of October, so I’ve been catching up on a lot of the books that came out this year.
When Tides Turn (Sarah Sundin): a WWII romance between a WAVE (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) and a naval officer, set in Boston. I would have liked knowing it was an Inspy before going in, but it wasn’t too overwhelming. There were definitely moments where I was rolling my eyes, but the story was solid and I loved getting a look at Boston during WWII. I had a deeply personal connection to the story as my grandmother was a WAVE cryptographer in Boston and my grandfather was a naval pilot.
Hate to Want You (Alisha Rai): I know this got rave reviews here on SBTB, but I just didn’t love it. Hotter-than-hot sex, but I was bored by the family drama. Hopefully the next one will hold my attention better.
The Duchess Deal (Tessa Dare): Laughed out loud multiple times while reading this, which hasn’t happened in a while. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Scandal of it All (Sophie Jordan): I don’t know if my expectations have been too high, or what, but I was bored to death by this.
Worth the Wait (Lori Foster): DNF. I had requested single dad stories, and someone recommended this one. I got 3 chapters in and was like… nope.
The Idea of You (Robinne Lee): Not a HEA. Surprisingly good.
Also finally finished Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, since I saw the musical (OMG SO GOOD) at the end of August, and wanted to have a sense of the backstory. And there is a lot of backstory. It was actually a really interesting book, so now I’m curious to read some of Chernow’s other work.
I’ve had a nice little stretch of reading the last few weeks, which surprised me given how crazy work has been. Worst thing I read was BROKEN RESOLUTIONS by Olivia Dade, which SB Sarah reviewed thoroughly & echoed my thoughts about why it wasn’t great.
Three highlights in reading recently-
THE THING ABOUT LOVE by Julie James (every summer she reminds me why I recommend her as a good entry point into contemporary romance- another winner in this superlative series); THE NATURALS by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (beginning of a YA series that can best be described as Criminal Minds boarding school- very fun book that lived up to the premise IMO); and WITNESS IN DEATH by JD Robb (I am LOVING this series and this is the best one I’ve read to date… solid mystery that was the right level of solvability + maybe the most adorable yet sexy love scene ever + awesome banter a la “The Thin Man”).
Next up is THE DUCHESS DEAL by Tessa Dare and JUDGMENT IN DEATH by JD Robb
To get out of my romance slump, I’ve been reading some non-fiction. I just finished two books back to back that I absolutely adored!
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Gann
This is about the killings of the Osage Indians in Oklahoma in the 1920s and 30s. I had never heard about this history and found it compelling and terrifying.
American Fire by Monica Hesse
A series of arsons occurred in the Eastern Shore of Virginia in 2012-2013. It is a fascinating look at rural Virginia and and unhealthy love story.
Please don’t judge but do enjoy the irony. I am currently wearing ripped off at the knees green plaid flannel pajama pants that once belonged to my now adult son and a grey and white striped 2XL tank top that once belonged to my elderly mom. It’s ragweed season so I keep sitting down to mouth breath and surf my book sites for something easy to read through my over medicated sinus stupor. Failing that I popped over to SBTB via’Fakebook’and chuckled because I am currently listening to CONFESSIONS OF A DOMESTIC FAILURE. That said, I’m off to binge Walking Dead season 7 while eating dry but chewy Fruit Loops that I keep around as a snack for the grandboys.
In the last few weeks I’ve been able to visit my to-read pile. I got through Alyssa Cole’s Let Us Dream, and the first three/four books in Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series, both recommended here. I also tried Loretta Chase’s Not Quite a Lady, a story about a soiled dove, who lives her life imprisoned by shame and guilt over the consequences of her youthful mistakes. The hero is a scientist-rake, which I didn’t buy at first. But his habit is to intellectualise about his biological drives and deny his emotions, so he is also not free. The developing romance and in particular, her sexual enjoyment were convincingly portrayed. I think I may read that again.
I finally read, and enjoyed Laline Paull’s The Bees, which made me think of Watership Down. She’s created a politico-religious oligarchy to describe bee culture. I must go read up on bees to see how far she strayed from biological fact.
Right now, I’m enjoying Connie Willis’ Doomsday Book, although time-travel isn’t usually my thing. I’ve had a copy for years and this is the first time I picked it up. What kind of fool am I? It’s excellent. And I’ve just started The Guns Above, by Robin Bennis. This is steampunk, that opens with our heroine in the aftermath of an airship battle. I’m a sucker for a good opening. And I thought I should re-read Handmaid’s Tale, because I’ve just seen the first episode of the TV adaptation. Not sure I can bear it, though.
But the high point has to be Longbourn by Jo Baker. Those of you who like Pride and Prejudice, and those who are interested in looking below the gloss of Regency romance may like this. We talk here from time to time about historical fiction and the characters who get left out. This is about the servants who are largely invisible in Austen’s novel. Baker has taken pains to get all the details, and if you want to know how they cooked, and cleaned and washed, it’s all here. I was sold in the first chapter, when it’s washing day and somebody comments that if Miss Elizabeth had to boil her own petticoats she’d be less likely to go tramping through the mud. I was surprised that the source of the Bingleys’ wealth, (West Indian sugar plantations, don’t you know) was bluntly discussed early on. And while it was disturbing that one of the servants was a handsome Black footman with the surname Bingley, that was probably quite realistic. But more than all of that, Baker’s prose was always eloquent and sometimes quite poetic. I was fully engaged by her characters and found myself rooting for them to find a little happiness in their often grim lives. Highly recommended.
I have had a summer with not enough time for reading (6-week intensive summer institute; then a cross-Canada move once I was home).
I did listen to the Harry Potter audiobooks on the drive (got through the first 4 1/2 – 5800km of driving gave me lots of audiobook time!).
Books read with my eyes instead of my ears have included:
– Unveiled, Unlocked, Unclaimed, and Unraveled by Courtney Milan – I’m bogged down now in Unraveled – I enjoyed the rest of the series but am having trouble caring about the characters in this one. I’ll probably finish it, but it’s not my favourite in the series.
– Bittersweet and Steadfast by Sarina Bowen – loved them! I can’t wait to read Keepsake (but my library doesn’t have the e-books so I will be waiting for it to come on sale…)
– Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher – confession time – I don’t have Netflix. But I kept hearing about the series so I decided to read the book instead. I can’t comment on the Netflix series (for obvious reasons), but I was disappointed in the book. To me, the elephant in the room that was not addressed was depression; and the focus of the book was on externalizing the causes of suicide.
And those are the ones that I remember! I’ve started a new job that gives me more time for reading than being a full-time grad student plus working on the side did. The first thing that I did after I moved was to get a library card in the small town where I’m now living, and the library is a 3 minute walk from my apartment. This is a good thing.
@Joanna – Sylvester is one of my favorite Heyer books, partially because of Sylvester’s nephew. Have you gotten to the Jack in the Beanstalk reference yet? I hope that the stage adaptation is good.
This has been a slower reading month for me. I did read Kit Rocha’s latest, Deacon, which I enjoyed. I also read The Other Side of Midnight by Simone St. James, which was very good. I’ve done my share of re-reading: some Kristin Ashley, some Mary Balogh and some Jo Beverley, because nothing in my very very big TBR folder or on my overflowing TBR shelves has interested me much. I think I may start Al Franken’s memoir next — I bought the audiobook and I have been hearing good things about it. Right now, I am going to take advantage of the nice weather and go rake some leaves!
I just got an ARC of the new Christina Lauren (Love and Other Words) and stayed up too late with it. I also am reading The Fifth Season (FINALLY) by NK Jemisin.
THE GOOD
“Beard Science” and “Beard in Mind” by Penny Reid which were both really good.
“Illegal Contact” by Santino Hassell which is the start of a new m/m sports series and I recommend this starter.
“Six of Crows” by Leigh Bardugo is fantastic. There is a very good reason it has a high Goodreads grade with over 100,000 ratings. I’m starting the sequel Crooked Kingdom and so far it’s great.
The Kingpin of Camelot” by Cassandra Gannon was a well done fantasy romp with a twisted view of familiar fairy tales.
NOT SO GOOD
“What Lies Beneath” by Andrea Laurence felt way too close to Mirror Image by Sandra Brown.
“A Lady Out of Time” by Caroline Hanson seemed a bit convoluted and I didn’t care for it
Up next- Crooked Kingdom, A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue from the library!
My big recommendation for this month is Jubilee by Margaret Walker, a book I had read so much about as being an antidote to Gone with the Wind. Curiously, the book starts out with chapters from points of view other than the heroine’s which leaves readers distanced from her to start, but I did come to care about what happened to her as this changed. Considering that this was written about the Civil War, and the author and heroine are black, I could have seen where the author made out all the white characters to be the bad guys, but she didn’t. It’s not a romance, but the story does end in a good place for the heroine and her family.
@Another Anne No Jack in the Beanstalk yet, will look forward to that. Really enjoyed the Al Franken audiobook, especially since he reads it you really feel his take on some things (like how much he hates Ted Cruz). Also, I learned a lot about how campaigns and the Senate actually work
The Stolen Child by Lisa Carey – American woman returns to the isolated Irish island her mother fled – some of her story, some of mom’s story, not a romance as we think of one but engrossing and does look at relationships.
The Splendor Falls by Susanna Kearsley – good as usual, did enjoy it.
The Devil’s Daughter by Kate Robert – An FBI agent who is also the daughter of a cult leader based in Montana returns to her childhood hometown to confront the cult/her mother while investigating a murder. So much of this is my catnip and it was pretty good. I do tend to wish that the women in some of these books would not seem so much like teenagers as they approach the relationship part.
Rose and Thunder by Lilith Saintcrow Beauty and the Beast retell – loved it, read it through again, strongly recommend.
Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raeburn Victorian widow (early 20s) learns her husband was murdered and investigates. I loved the world building and the voice. She is also a little immature as far as male female relationships and that seems appropriate for the time. Loved it, strongly recommend.
Broken Resolutions by Oliva Dade Recently reviewed librarian book and I agreed with those who did not enjoyed this book. Moved it to my nook archive without finishing it.
I have had several disappointments and DNFs this summer but I just finished Temporary by Sabrina Bowen and Sarah Mayberry and loved it! Sarah Mayberry is a go to author for me and she never disappoints. Not my favorite trope ( rich guy gets thrown together with struggling poor girl and loves that she is not fake like the models etc he knows) but they made it fresh and really believable.I also binge read Pamela Clare’s High Country series and liked every book in that series. Julie James is another auto buyfor me and I savored reading The Thing About Love. I stalled until I knew I had an afternoon with no interruptions so I could truly enjoy it! Finally Family Tree by Susan Wiggs was surprisingly good! Teresa Dare is hit or miss for me but the Duchess Deal was a good summer story. The not enjoyed list unfortunately is much longer but it is nice to reflect on those books that were 5 star for me this summer.
@Judy W: Six of Crows is what I was reading when I decided to take a break from fiction because I was dismally aware I would love everything about it if I wasn’t in such a lousy mood. I set it back to page one, and it’s first in the queue when I can be a better reader.
I read G.A. Aiken’s “Bring the heat” and J.D.Robb’s “Secrets in death” as soon as they came out. Liked “Secrets” a lot, but the ending felt like Robb/Roberts said, “Well crap, I need to wrap this thing up…OK the villain will be (this person who stuck out like a sore thumb, and the whole thing wrapped up too quickly.) And anyone looking to read Aiken’s Dragon Kin series should NOT start with “Bring the heat.” She wraps up a whole bunch of storylines, and there are way too many characters to keep track of if you haven’t read the whole series.
I also read a couple of completely different takes on Arthurian legend: Thea Harrison’s “Spellbinder,” and Karen Chance’s “Ride the storm.” It reminded me that I read somewhere that Patricia Wrede called the Arthurian cycle “medieval fan fiction”, and that well hasn’t run dry yet.
I also read a couple of different takes on Sherlock Holmes: Mercedes Lackey’s “A study in sable”, and Laurie R. King’s collection of short fiction from her Holmes and Russell series, “Mary Russell’s war.” (It contains the story “The marriage of Mary Russell”, which nicely filled in a gap between “A monstrous regiment of women” and “A letter of Mary”, and includes the detail that Lord Peter Wimsey attended the wedding reception. (Now I wonder if Holmes and Russell went to Lord Peter and Harriet Vane’s wedding?)
In my list of reading recommendations I had written the name Wen Spencer, and when I happened on the first two of the Elfhome series (“Tinker” and “Wolf Who Rules”), I took them home and inhaled them. Then I found the third book, “Elfhome” and had to order the fourth, “Wood sprites”. Now I need the next book, “Project Elfhome” and I’ll be caught up, BUT with an immediate and pressing need for the next book in the series, which sadly does not exist, as yet. This, THIS is why I really understand the folks on this site who won’t read a series until it’s finished. I really need the next book. Right now.
Halfway through Alyssa Cole’s An Extraordinary Union, and heavily invested in the H and H. Also feeling super disappointed about some of my ancestors.
I read a bunch of things this month, but nearly all short fiction. The exception was a 1997 science fiction novel called Eternity Road which I can’t recommend at all, really (a road trip through the ancient ruins of the 21st century should have been more interesting than this was).
The other novel I read this month was Ravishing the Heiress by Sherry Thomas. The short version was that I liked it– it was beautifully written and the characters were carefully drawn– but some things kept me from thinking it perfect. Let me discuss in detail, if you don’t mind. We have to keep in mind that at the start of the book, the heroine is sixteen and the hero is nineteen; this helps explain why they made some truly unfortunate choices. The real problem is that eight years later, they’re convinced that they need to hold to the vows that they made then, and can’t move beyond them. You see, the teenage Fitz was madpassionately in love with his childhood sweetheart Isabelle, and she with him, but then he unexpectedly inherited an entailed estate lumbered with huge debts, and instead of running off to Australia with Isabelle, he capitulated to duty and married an heiress, not able to conceal from said heiress, Milly, that he could barely recall what she looked like because of thinking of Isabelle all the time. (At that age Fitz is kind of awful, full of dramatic self-pity and no use to anyone else. But as a reader, I stuck with him and thought he had the potential to improve.) Meanwhile, Milly is wholeheartedly devoted to duty and self-sacrifice, and makes much less fuss about it than Fitz. The problem is that she falls in love with Fitz immediately on meeting him, despite knowing how he feels about her. Full of powerful teenage crush-feelings, she decides to marry Fitz and be a perfect wife but never, ever let him know that she loves him. The one thing she can’t bring herself to do is have sex with him (would you want to have sex under such humiliating circumstances?) and proposes a pact with him that although she’s expected to produce an heir, they should put it off for a while, and they settle on eight years. During those eight years, Fitz is growing up, expanding his mind (a little), and noticing what an excellent best friend Milly is (they even joke together about his mistresses), and yet he’s stubbornly convinced that he’s still the same person who promised Isabelle he’d never love anyone but her. And Milly, though often unhappy, stubbornly keeps her vow to never let on that she is. The twin crises that shatter the status quo are the approach of the date when they must try to produce an heir, and Isabelle returning to town, determined to hold Fitz to his promise: she wants to live not just as his mistress but as his wife in all but name, ignoring the difficulty of doing that in Victorian society. I liked the fact that although Isabelle and Milly are in effect competing for Fitz’s attention, they manage to have a conversation about the practical side of the situation where they are civil and force their misgivings aside in order to deal as honestly with each other as they can– hampered by the fact that Milly still hasn’t had an honest conversation with Fitz. The biggest problem I had with the book was how very long it took before Milly told Fitz that she was unhappy (Fitz, to his credit, notices that things aren’t right with her, and cares — he’s gotten his head out of his nether regions to some extent by this point — but he can’t figure out what’s up because she’s very good at hiding and lying). It makes her a bit underdeveloped as a character. She has nothing much to do but be excellent (in ways that are admittedly fun to read about) and wait for Fitz to notice her excellence.
Favorite short story of the month was “Neptune’s Trident” by Nina Allan, which is weirdly not much of a downer for a cosmic horror story about the extinction of humanity! At the end of the story the narrator is feeling like it’s kind of okay that something incomprehensible is replacing life as we know it, and she managed to get me to share her point of view, at least for that moment.
I was blown away by Naomi Alderman’s prizewinning book “The Power”: what if women became able to physically dominate men? It’s beautiful, horrible, funny and deeply thought provoking. And I would love to hear some other reactions to it.
Spurred by a review here, I read “A queen from the north”, which I thought had a number of good ideas but fell down on execution, especially in the use of several tired old tropes. The heroine really annoyed me by being quite reasonably scared of what she had let herself in for but refusing to use any of the information offered to her in order to (a) find out what she was actually in for and (b) tackle her fears, instead of just writhing under them.
Managed to finish Philippa Gregory’s latest, The Last Tudor, which is basically sniping at Elizabeth I for Not Being Nice by two of the stupidest protagonists since the last Tudor novel by Philippa Gregory. I was also annoyed by Gregory’s inability to portray a real scholar, Lady Jane Grey. All she makes her is a vain prig, and Gregory apparently fails to notice that Jane, Edward VI and Mary I were all religious absolutists. People condemn “Bloody Mary”, but Edward and Jane were both equally certain that anyone opposing their religious views should be punished. And surely a skillfull writer could have made the point that, if Mary hadn’t beheaded Jane as a traitor, she might well have burned her as a heretic later on.
@Joanna and @Another Anne: I learned about the stage adaptation of Sylvester here as well and I went to see a preview last week. I really enjoyed it.
I think I finished a book this month…? I reread M. O’Keefe’s Wait for It because having my heart and guts rearranged seemed like a good idea.
I watched seasons 1 and 2 of Little Witch Academia on Netflix. It was enchanting. Also, a lot of times anime can be such a bummer with the way it portrays female characters and this series shockingly didn’t really stoop to any of that. It is a lighthearted action/adventure, the backdrop is like the more playful parts of Hogwarts, and the animation is absolutely beautiful.
I’m listening to WILLPOWER by John Tierney and Roy Baumeister right now. They take a long time to advise things like get a good night’s sleep, eat low glycemic index foods, making a lot of decisions reduces your ability to make decisions (so learn to prioritize). Also they keep putting in these weird catty asides that basically come down to “GSD Rules and 7 Habits Drools!” It’s so unnecessary lol.
I’m also listening to THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE, narrated by Lizza Aiken, Joan Aiken’s daughter. She has such a great narration voice! I’ve only read Aiken’s THE SERIAL GARDEN (in sixth grade, when I should’ve been paying attention in class but my teacher Mr. A was super nice :P). I just remember being so totally engrossed in it and then it ended (unsatisfyingly) and feeling stuck between “Thank you!” and “How DARE you?”
@kareni TO SAY NOTHING OF THE DOG turned out to be a dnf :\ Early on I told the other two members we could switch to HOCUS POCUS by Kurt Vonnegut if they couldn’t get into it and we’re reading that one now. I think what bothers me is thoughts, descriptions, and dialogue kept getting truncated to make things comically chaotic but interrupting others is a huge peeve of mine so it came off as irritating instead of funny. Also, some of the jokes were a little half baked, like Terence not correcting Ned when Ned asks him if Cyril, back at the boat, has any money and Terence says he never does. The joke is when they get to the boat Cyril is a dog. But Terence isn’t time lagged and even the most whimsical person would see the need to correct Ned. I think I’d enjoy this more if the historical trivia was some other period I know nothing about. If we’re going to have a joke about kedgeree I’d like the joke to be *about* the kedgeree, not a call back to a fish spoon joke 300 pages earlier, which was itself just an observation that people used an unreasonable amount of tools to get food in their faces. I’m definitely going to try another Connie Willis book because she hits all my buttons, I just couldn’t get into this one.
HOCUS POCUS by Kurt Vonnegut is a cold comfort low key bummer. It’s important to think of all the ways life isn’t in one’s direct control and how it’s cruel and farcical but I feel like dwelling on it (and Eugene is looking back on his life so dwelling on it is all that he’s doing. Like, he’s even in jail when he writes the book, he is literally a prisoner of these thoughts) is kind of…not where I’m at. Then again, the pitfall he’s talking about is feeling tricked and used by his government so maybe he has the right to dwell.
I’m a third into Patricia Gaffney’s CROOKED HEARTS, set in 1850s (?) California about two swindlers teaming up to get back money that was stolen from them. So far I really love it! I really enjoy being in the head of this hero, who is a mellow beta conman. I like the heroine too, she’s so smart and funny. Good banter and a refreshing setting (I usually read ballroom historicals or contemporaries). I’m a little nervous for when the bandits come back because I just really really don’t want to read pigeon. Or “jabber” or “chatter” used to describe them speaking to each other.
:::rolls in with the sounds of Beastie Boys “Whatcha Want?”::::
Hey, you know how to get a lot of reading done? Crack up your knee again. It’s foolproof.
Well, let’s see what we did this month. The month started off with The Half-Drowned King by Linnea Harstruyker, which was one of the better historical fictions I’ve read in a bit. I did have to google image some pictures of Norway, since I don’t have the strong visual reference that I would have had if I had been reading a Tudor novel or something like that, and also haven’t watched Vikings (I’m told that I need to remedy this). Then, because God loves me and wants me to be happy, I read The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare. IT WAS SO GOOD THAT I AM USING THE CAPS LOCK AND I HATE THE CAPS LOCK. There was a Deadpool-style shitty childhood snark-off, and I swear I died and was reborn laughing during that part. My husband got several passages read out loud to him. Couldn’t help myself. Then, because I was riding the Good Book High and did not want a hangover, I went ahead and read a Beverly Jenkins from a few years back that I picked up from one of the sale posts, Destiny’s Surrender. It was reliably excellent, because Jenkins has mad skills, and caused me to have an interesting conversation about prostitution and human trafficking at work, because we all read romance novels and this shit gets talked about. The Labor Day weekend was In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan. To paraphrase Stefon, this book had everything: evil carnivorous mermaids, bisexual protag, a-hole unicorns, a sweetly awkward boy with beautiful wings, and all the snark you could possibly ever eat. It was fun. To follow up my reading Hot In Hellcat Canyon from earlier in the summer, I read Dirty Dancing At Devil’s Leap by Julie Anne Long. She continues to write good small town, and the prank war was too funny. After that it was Ash and Quill by Rachel Caine, the third in The Great Library series. I thought it was a lot stronger than the second in the series, which I was very glad off (I remember being vaguely dissatisfied with Paper and Fire). I then blew through Secrets In Death by J.D. Robb in about a day and a half, because I’ve now been reading Eve and Roarke for about 20 years now, and I still love them both. Which brings us to now. I’ve been eyeing my library pile all day, and there is a lot of, but I can feel Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff beckoning me with all its stabbiness and given that my knee injury has made me a tad moody, I think some stabbiness could be just the order.
The Saga Series, and finishing up The Stone Sky, #3 in N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth Series.
Both are amazing!
Saga is graphic novel bliss, and Jemisin’s work is mind-blowing, addictive and just about perfect.
@kkw– no romance in the Master & Commander series? I suppose some people might disagree with me, but I’m very much on board for Stephen’s relationship with Diana (they meet in book 2, and their troubled relationship is an ongoing theme thereafter, though not mentioned for long stretches, especially when the ship’s at sea). Angsty in the extreme, though. O’Brien is good at varying the tone from action to humor to real heartbreak in different parts of his books.