I know Sheri was reading Evanovich's Plum series from the beginning last month (sorry I goofed on your name originally, Sheri, my apologies), as was Alina, and Booklight said Amanda Quick's backlist was on the reading schedule – how are you enjoying them?
This week I've tried to read two self-published works, one full length and one short story, and had problems with both. But this weekend I'm spending about 10 hours in the car, and it's audio book time for me, which I'm looking forward to more than I expected. I am curious to see if I recall the story enough to review it when I'm done listening.
So what are you reading this week? Are you embarking on a massive backlist read-a-thon? What books are you loving right now?
I picked up some Courtney Milan and have really been enjoying her stuff. I finished off Unlocked last night, so today I’m picking up Unraveled. I would be that much more pleased with my purchase if its title were Raveled. /nerd
I’m reading the short story eroitca collection Allison’s Wonderland. It’s very hit and miss for me. I’m reading it to kill time unitl after I see The Hunger Games this afternoon. After the movie I want to start Catching Fire.
Once I get through my bleeping chores, I have a new Amy Lane and a new Mary Calmes to read. They both write m/m romances very, very well, and I’m so looking forward to turning off my phone, locking the door, and pretending the rest of the world doesn’t exist for a few hours.
I am reading Be my baby by Meg Benjamin. I enjoy it so far.
House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones. Howl and Sophie are still one of my favorite couples so I’m half reading this for them, and half for Jones writing style.
Very late to the Hunger Games party (a phrase that sounds wrong, somehow!)—bought the trilogy for a steal last year but only got around to reading the first book this week. Now on to the second.
But because I generally like having at least two or more reads going at the same time, I’m alternating with Jeannie Lin’s short story, The Lady’s Scandalous Night. I’ve also had that for a while, but only got around to starting it now that I know her third set of short story/novel is out/coming out.
I’m also partway through Julie Cohen’s Getting Away With It, which I have to read in print since I can’t seem to buy e-versions of her books until they’ve been out for a few years!
I’m reading The Night Circus and loving it! The setting is absolutely fabulous, and the love story is starting to really come to the fore.
Bravely ploughing through Diana Gabaldon’s Dragonfly in Amber. I bought her latest book in the Outlander series for my daughter at Christmas, thinking it looked a bit like The Time Traveller’s Wife – now there’s a good book – then realised it was number eight in a series! Amazon very kindly supplied me with the other seven and I started wading through them. I’m just finding it so boring, twee and anachronistic that it is annoying me.
I just finished Thea Harrison’s Oracle’s Moon. All I can say is that I want a djinn of my very own! Going to start Natural Evil, also by her, thanks to your sidebar, Sarah. :/
I also want The Witness. It sounded sooo good, and it is La Nora. But the price might make me wait even though I like her stand alones best of all. 🙁
I just finished the last book in the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews and I can’t say enough about it. Read them all. I just started “Silk is For Seduction” by Loretta Chase. I have a burgeoning TBR pile that is a direct result of that March Madness you started here. I’m also waiting for the latest JR Ward, “The Dressmaker” by Kate Alcott, (hmmm, might be a nice chaser for “Silk….”. Chaser, get it???), and a biography of Margaret Sanger. The local librarians haven’t even broken a sweat keeping up with my hold requests, which shows you how totally awesome they are. I love the library!!!
I loved the first four Virgin River books by Robyn Carr (thanks, smart bitches, for letting me know about them) – especially since they are set in my neighborhood. And the medical stuff was pretty reasonable which is important to me. So this weekend, I am reading the first Grace Valley book, Deep in the Valley. It’s the story of Dr. June Hudson and I have to say that, while I do kind of like it, it’s much harder for me to get through. Some of the medical stuff is WTF. Really, Ukiah does not fly out for transport that I know of – we have to call Oakland or UCSF. I will keep reading Robyn Carr but this book is making me a little more cautious about whole-hearted endorsement.
I’m reading THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO KINK: BDSM, ROLE PLAY AND THE EROTIC EDGE by Tristan Taormino (and others). It never hurts to brush up on the basics!
Timeless, Book #5 in the Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carriger, probably more from a need to complete the series than absolute love. They are fun, if a little fluffy.
I am reading Alien Proliferation by Gini Koch. It’s terribly terribly goofy and so much Mary Sueism it hurts hurts hurts. But at the same time the writing is snappy and fun and the characters are all intriguing. The whole premise makes me laugh and it’s really an enjoyable bit of fluff. Read the whole series so far and will keep reading but have moved on to getting it from the library. 🙂
reading two books I’m considering reviewing for the geek cred – Scientific American: Love, Sex, and the Brain (nonfic), and Chemistry for Beginners (fic)
Just started Mr. Impossible by Loretta Chase – very good so far.
I’m rereading an old school favorite:Flavor of the Month by Olivia Goldsmith. It’s a Hollywood is hell(the price of fame and so forth)type of book with plenty of snark thrown. Since it was written in the nineties,some of the pop culture references are a little dated but it’s still a lot of fun. I’m calling it my Spring Break read,mainly because I’m not a big fan of the beach:)
I just finished and loved Thea Harrison’s Oracle’s Moon, which kept making me think of Ilona Andrews’ Edge series and that I’m a book behind. Currently reading Devon Monk’s Magic on the Line and wishing more people read her or were more vocal about it. Also started Benedict Jacka’s Fated about a Camden Town wizard. And I’m listening to Practical Demonkeeping by Christopher Moore in advance of the signing next week for Sacre Bleu. Squeee!
I just finished reading “Fifty Shades of Grey.” I hadn’t even heard of this book until you started talking about it. 🙂 I think I’m going to start Lauren Oliver’s “Pandemonium” next. If you want a great chick lit that really fits modern times, check out “I’ve Got Your Number” by Sophie Kinsella. One of my favorite books EVER, but maybe it’s because my husband and I chat by text message so much of the time.
Timeless by Gail Carriger
I’m not enjoying it as much as the previous books, mostly because I foresee bad things happening to my favourite characters. Not bad as in they end up dead, just not what I’d like to happen to them. I find that the fluffier the book, the less I can forgive an author for doing things “wrong”.
I also have a couple of literary novels and a gritty mystery on the backburner. I’m one of those people who always reads more than one book at the same time.
Had my third chemo for breast cancer on Monday, I’m now in a period of rest and recovery until the next treatment. SBTB is truly helping me get through this, thank you. I’ve been downloading romances ebooks and audiobooks from the library. I have been through the available Courtney Milan, Lisa Kleypas, Suzanne Brockman, Elizabeth Hoyt, and Jennifer Crusie, mostly suggestions from SBTB. I read Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series when it first came out. I just started Stephanie Laurens’ Bastion series. It’s kind of Meh. Any suggestions for HEA romances with easy to follow plots. Humor is good, snarky humor is better. I liked Janet Evenovitch’s (sp) Stephanie Plum series but it’s getting stale. I’m not into supernatural [witches and vampires] but like sci-fi.
D.R.: I completely agree! I love Howl and Sophie!!!
Hey, Joan, good luck to you! If you like humor try Carol K. Carr’s India Black. Not particularly romance, although it may get there later in the series, but I laughed so hard, I almost ruptured my spleen. For more traditional (but funny) romance, I really like Lauren Willig’s Pink Carnation series, Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie, and I’m finding Georgette Heyer’s Corinthian (which I’m reading right now) to be pretty funny.
Miranda
I’m re-reading Dragonquest – the second book in the Pern series – in memory of Anne McCaffrey. It’s one of those books I liked as a teen that really isn’t holding up to my adult tastes. The romance especially isn’t holding up – I remembered it as sweet but I’m finding it alternately tepid and icky.
I recently read Natural Law by Joey Hill – from a rec here. I liked it but didn’t love it – I just don’t like serial killers in my romances, and even though the blurb clearly mentioned that the hero’s undercover in search of a serial killer, I decided to read it anyways. Serves me right.
I’m not sure what’s next – either a Sarah Mayberry or a Kim Dare (how’s that for range?)
Oh gosh, I am such a Lovecraft fan. It’s true, characterization is often nearly nonexistent, but I do love the bizarre, baroque style in which he writes. “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” is my favorite, because it has, in an odd sense, a happy ending.
Good luck Joan. You might try some older Amanda Quick / JAK – Ravished, Desire, Deception and The Paid Companion are all historicals that are comfort reads for me. There are some mystery elements and plot twists, but iirc they’re easy to follow – I find I can let JAK’s plots roll over me and just enjoy the banter and the humor. Also, JAK’s first two Harmony books are good – they’re SF. The world building is silly, as are the plots, but they’re also fun.
but the Pern books aren’t romance – they’re SF/Fan! The development of romantic relationships between any of the characters is not the point of the series, it’s about the development of the people/culture as a whole.
About to start The Good Daughter by Diana Layne – got a Top Pick from RT and it’s a mafia book, so different from my typical fare. I wanted to read the Stephanie Doyle book since it was recommended on DA, but not out till April 1st. Also going to alternate with one of Julie Ann Long’s backlist books. Never tried her but since I’ve heard so much on here and other review sites about her, I’m thinking I’ll give historicals another spin. I’ve been burned out on them for awhile so I’d love something really juicy and good to kick me back into reading historicals.
You might try the Matthew Swift novels by Kate Griffin. Urban Sci-Fi but not fluffy at all. I loved them. You might also like “Claire deWitt and the City of the Dead” by Sara Gran, although it has magic in it.
Hope every day gets a bit better and you’re soon feeling fine!
Oh, I love the Devon Monk series! It drives me crazy that my best friend won’t read it. I think she got thrown by the major plot twist (and its affect on the relationship), and dismissed the series out of hand. I keep telling her to push through to book 2, but she won’t. 🙁 I highly recommend the series to anyone who enjoys Ilona Andrews’s Kate Daniels series.
I am rereading my Toby Daye series (Seanan McGuire) after attending her book release party last week for Discount Armageddon, the first book in a new series. (I think the series has a lot of promise, and there was some great action, but the characterization was oddly weak. I hope this will improve as she is able to relax on the worldbuilding stuff.)
I rarely read crime fiction but I just finished “Defending Jacob” and it was amazing!
I’m reading “In Bed with a Highlander” by Maya Banks. Rather wallpaper historicalish but holding my interest. Reminds me of Julie Garwood’s historicals.
I’m reading Nina Bruhns’ Red Heat. Not liking the hero or heroine much, but I just started. And I love the setting, so will keep reading.
I’ve gone old school with Tears by LaVyrie Spencer. Over halfway through and really liking it. I have always had a thing for the older man/younger woman dynamic, especially when the young lady is just entering adulthood and the older man is under 40. I had a crush on an older gent when I graduated high school, so the 14 year age difference always interests me. Although I am now the age of the older man in the book, not the eighteen year old lady. (How time goes on.)
just finished a re-read of Lois Bujold’s The Sharing Knife books – these are Fantasy/Romance, and just get better and better with each reread.
Joan, I hope you kick cancer’s miserable ass. My mom just finished up her final round of chemo for breast cancer, and all she has felt like doing for the last several months is reading. She tore through the entire Hunger Games series in record time, and since then she’s been working her way through the Georgette Heyer canon for the third or fourth time.
I have recommendations for you straight out of my “Favorites” folder on my Kindle: there are two Caroline Linden books—“I Love the Earl” and “A View to a Kiss,” which are the only two of her books that I’ve read, leading me to believe that she’s a good author; “The Care and Taming of a Rogue” by Suzanne Enoch; “The Other Guy’s Bride” by Connie Brockway. If you’re looking for snarky erotica and don’t mind some fairly anachronistic stuff, I’ll recommend Olivia Cunning—but do take this with a pinch of salt; she’s not for everyone.
Best wishes with your treatment; I hope you snuff out the miserable bastard that is breast cancer.
I think I’ll have to read at least another 600 pages to get to “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” (hard to tell in my crappily formatted – but free – e-book), but I’ll look forward to it. I had never read any Lovecraft at all before starting this collection, although I’d come across the Cthulhu mythos before via Neil Gaiman.
Right now I’m slogging my way through “A Selkie Spell” by Sophie Moss. I’m not going to lie; I picked it up for free for the Kindle, and now I’m starting to regret that I’ve devoted this much of my Spring Break to it. I have to force myself to pick it up, and frankly, I’d rather be watching back episodes of “Downton Abbey.” I foresee myself ditching this book in the very near future and either trying one of the other 179 titles in my TBR folder or just rereading some of my favorites.
Alternately, I could drive to the beach; it’s only an hour away, and I’ve been craving some good calamari. Decisions, decisions…
Just finished Ava Gray’s “Skin Tight” and it wasn’t as good as “Skin Game” but still a “B.” I think I’m heading to Jaci Burton’s newest from here. Although I keep wasting time trying to borrow as many books from my TBR list as possible. After all, that’s why we have relatives with library cards…right?
Lynn Viehl, Nightborn. Somehow she always sneaks up on me with the new ones. Walking to the pharmacy past the books and it jumped out, tripped me, and had me walking in a daze, chuckling softly to myself, Korvel finally. Counting down the minutes until I can get home, fix a pot of tea, and vacate the premises for a few hours.