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?
Oooh, Darlene, the Rook sounds made just for me! Am going to search the libary catalog asap!
I also just finished The Hunger Games and found an awesome coupon from Kobo through the Books on the Knob site, so now I own the second and third books and they cost $1.07 EACH! Yay for reading, Boo for my houseguests who won’t be seeing me. I am stuck in Panem for the forseeable future.
Emma is *wonderful*. Have you gotten to Hans yet? I can’t remember what volume he appears in. I have to admit, I kind of wanted Emma to end up with Hans instead of William. I had to settle for reading as much as possible into his facial expressions and watching the anime, which turns the hints of interest into more than just hints.
I’m rereading at the moment, as I can’t risk serious distraction from uni assignments. I finished Sarah Rees Brennan’s ‘The Demon’s Covenant’ last night and I’m just starting ‘To Darkness and to Death’ on audiobook. It’s not my favourite of JSF’s series, but I just finished the previous one, and want continuity.
I’m reading Carmen Caine’s The Kindling Heart. But I read the second book in the series first, The Bedeviled Heart, and liked it better.
Currently reading Blame it on Bath by Caroline Linden, her latest.
I’m reading Myke Cole’s Shadow Ops: CONTROL POINT
I just finished Elizabeth Taylor’s “Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont”, a compassionate story of a lonely elderly woman who makes her home at a London hotel.
I just five minutes ago picked up “Daughters-in-Law” by Joanna Trollope, which begins with a man sitting in a church contemplating the wedding-dress-clad bottom of the woman his son is in the process of marrying. It’s a good beginning.
Have picked up a few recommendations from this thread, so thank you. I’m in the mood for some sci-fi/fantasy after this.
(Warning: spoilerish) I’m about 2/3 of the way through Fifty Shades of Grey, with very mixed feelings. It was very nearly a DNF for me, because there were so many tired RN cliches from the get-go.
A small one: I hate it when the protagonist’s POV, as she looks in a mirror, lets us know self-deprecatingly that her eyes are “too large for her face.”
Puh-leeze. Saying your eyes are too big is like saying your feet are too small or your hair is too shiny or your teeth are too white.
But a bigger issue is that I am so SO tired of the scene where we meet the potential love interest, and he is impossibly handsome (not to mention rich, powerful, and confident). Describing a man as an Adonis does not pique my interest—it makes me yawn.
Only a few pages in we already got that cliche, the moment when they shake hands and she feels that “tiny electric shock” that lets us know Something’s Going To Happen between them.
And I’m just not buying that Our Heroine, at 21, is not only Still A Virgin (although, of course, quite attractive) but has never really been thoroughly kissed—just somehow because she’s a bookworm and couldn’t be bothered with all that mess.
I did, however, slog on (long plane trip with layovers), and the writing improved considerably. The sex is pretty well written. My suspension of disbelief is strained that this virgin—who has also never masturbated (again, WTF?) is, from her very first time with Our Hero, able to achieve effortless and multiple shattering orgasms from penetration alone—hell, she has one just from enthusiastic nipple stimulation.
But here’s the thing that bothers me most—and because I’m not finished, there’s a chance this may be redeemed by the end. BDSM is presented as a pathology that must be the result of some childhood trauma or abuse.
I could understand presenting this as the protagonist’s POV, since she appears to have made it all the way through college graduation enclosed in some sort of sex-proof bubble—but as the plot moves on, she is uncovering disturbing details of his background (Born to a crack whore! Suspicious small circular scars! Long-term molestation by a Domme friend of his mom’s!) that explain his troubling kinks (which are, BTW, pretty tame by BDSM standards: so far there’s nothing that even pinged my squickdar).
Meanwhile, she’s opening his eyes to the joys of vanilla sex, and Making Love vs just Fucking.
I suspect this is going to end with them reaching some sort of glorious compromise while she nurtures him back to a more “normal” sexuality.
Oh, and that reminds me: when Our Heroine meets Our Hero’s mother—an urbane, wealthy physician—she’s briefly puzzled by what seems like a look of relief on the motherly features. The penny drops for us when it’s revealed that Mom has never seen Hero with a girl before, and was probably thinking he was gay. So Heroine is apparently in like Flynn with Mom, just by virtue of having a vajayjay. Because, let’s face it, no 21st-century mother wants a gorgeous, cultured, successful, fabulously wealthy gay son.
Reading back over this I’m kinda surprised that I intend to finish reading this book…but like I said, the sex scenes are pretty well written.
And I’m almost certain there’s anal coming up.
I too got the first 4 books of the Robyn Carr Virgin River series because of this blog and now feel compelled to read them all! Book 13 this weekend….
I’m reading A Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer. Too funny!
Just finished The Black Hawk by Joanna Bourne. I loved it even though it was a tad traumatizing. I do NOT enjoy child sexual abuse in my romances, but I thought it was dealt with very well. One thing that I also really loved was that the hero had been featured in her first book Her Ladyship’s Companion. I had always felt that he would get his own story and finally he did!
I highly recommend Her Ladyships Companion if you can get a hold of it. It’s a very different book from the Black Hawk. Her Ladyships Companion was written a while ago and is a more traditional Regency romance. It’s not as complex as her French Revolution stories and the characters aren’t as remarkable. I still really love it, though and reread it every so often. I don’t reread the espionage books even though they’re very good. There’s a comfort factor in HLC that is absent in her espionage books.
I hope she’ll start another series soon, because as much as I have enjoyed the espionage books, I’m interested in reading something from her that’s a little less fraught with danger. She’s a great writer.
I’m just finishing Keepsake by Antoinette Stockenberg. I found out about it in one of the Deals posts here, tried the sample, and went on to get the whole 99 cents worth, but sadly, the second half is downhill for me. The mystery sputters to a close and the main female character irritates the living daylights out of me. I’m so near the end that I’ll finish it, but eh.
The Rook caught me by surprise, but it was great fun. Let me know what you think of it.
Thanks for all the recs and especially to Darlene – just downloaded the Audible version of The Rook – it has great reviews there.
I highly recommend the Patrick Rothfuss series – The Name of the Wind and Wise Man’s Fear. It’s sci-fi/fantasy but it is great storytelling, excellent writing with characters you will believe are real, lots of humor, mystery and some romance. My best read so far this year.
Just finished this week – When Maidens Mourn by C.S. Harris, the Audible version and enjoyed it also, this is a great historical/mystery series but I think you must read from the beginning of the series.
I’m reading 50 Shades of Grey part 2…. will probably finish it while in New Orleans this week ; )
The futuristic romances that Jayne Ann Krentz writes under her ‘Jayne Castle’ pseudonym might be just the thing for you. There is a whole series of them starting with “After Dark”, they are completely angst-free and there is some humor. On the historical side, Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series is funny and romantic with simple story lines. Plus there are a whole bunch of them, so they’ll keep you busy for a while.
I prefer Jayne Castle’s St. Helen’s books (first one is Amaryllis), but otherwise I second this recommendation. 🙂
H.P. Lovecraft is amazing. Good choice!
I just this weekend finished Magic on the Line because I hadn’t gotten around to it since it was published last November. Boy, am I glad I waited, because cliffhanger much? Fortunately, Magic Without Mercy comes out on April 3rd. This series gets better and better. And I want a Stone of my own, I think. He can organize my books.
Oh, man, Thursday Next? Really? I would be all over this book, but $12.99 is a tough call. Maybe my library will have it. Either way, thank you so much for mentioning The Rook.
As The Pig Turns – It’s the newest Agatha Raisin by MC Beaton. I’ve also got romance called Unclaimed waiting in the wings as I rip through the AR books in a day.
I chose to re-read Connie Brockway’s All Through the Night rather than pick something from the TBR pile. I’m thoroughly enjoying it.
At the moment I’m reading WHEN A SCOT LOVES A LADY by Katarine Ashe. I’m hoping to finish by 12m Monday as my pre-ordered ebook HOW TO RAVISH A RAKE by Vicky Dreiling should show up on my Kindle fire shortly after midnight!! Wish me luck! Feb proved to be a great month for HR, and March is great too!
I’m finally reading the second book in the hunger games series.
On Lavender Lane by JoAnn Ross. After a long day wrestling with my characters to meet deadlines she and Robyn Carr are better than chilled wine and chocolates.
The Windflower- yes, that one!
Rereading all of the Sherry Thomas books. Except Delicious. Something about that book I cannot deal with.
How in the world did I manage to miss that Anne McCaffrey passed away? She was my absolute favorite author as a teenager. Gosh. Now I’m going to have to go back and reread something. She’s still the only person who takes up more than a full shelf on my bookcase (closer to a shelf and a half). The only other person who’s close is Bujold, and she’s still the entire twilight series away from the end of the shelf.
I’m so freaking jealous. I am dying for The Witness! I am a Nora whore, but that would looked so good on top of it all with the quirky female character. I’m glad to hear you’re loving it.
I just finished Heart Signs, Cari Quinn…so if you like quirky characters. MUST read. I also just finished Everything You’ve Got, Erin Nicholas. A great contemporary romance. I specifically loved the heroine in this one. Oh and I finally got on the Nalini Singh train. I just finished Archangel’s Kiss. GOD. Those books are evil. I couldn’t get enough. I did the audio version and it was just amazing.
Reading ATM…Hidden Fire: Jess Dee. I’ve been waiting for this one. She’s going to tear me apart, but I’m ready.
Finally got around to re-reading A Knight in Shining Armour after being reminded of its awesomeness here awhile back. And now I have an incredible urge to continue re-reading Jude Deveraux backlist. I have Sweet Liar on hand to start next.
If you enjoy Evanovich, I recommend Nancy Martin’s Blackbird Sisters mysteries. They are light and a funny with a nice ongoing romance through the series of 7 or 8 books. Also, I don’t find that Martin is just writing the same book over and over. There’s actually a certain amount of character growth and development through the series. Wishing you good reading, much tlc, and all the best in your fight.
Just finished Carriger’s Timeless and am smiling broadly. Am a few pages into Cooking the Books, Kerry Greenwood’s latest Corinna Chapman mystery. I also finally finished Unfamiliar Fishes this past week. That was a library book that got stuck on my Kindle and took me ages to finish. It was good but I was frivolling my time away with fiction. Also finished Paretsky’s latest. Warshawski just keeps on getting better. I just love me an alpha liberal. It’s also fascinating to compare Paretsky’s method of dealing with passing time in a long-running series with Grafton’s. At least neither Kinsey nor V. I. are trapped in a neon jello mold like Stephanie Plum.
Book #4 in Hannah Howell’s Wherlocke/Vaughn series If He’s Dangerous. Really liked this series.
Finished Deanna Raybourn’s Lady Grey books yesterday, and was totally bereft that there wasn’t another one to click on. Then started the Gardella Series by Colleen Gleason, which I’m enjoying, if not quite as much as Lady Julia & Brisbane.
Just a heads up—Hunger Games may be young adult, but it’s definitely not “lighter reading.” Read it first.
Second the recomendation for Nancy Martin’s books – very entertaining, and not nearly as predictable as Evanovich. PamG – hope you enjoy Cooking the Books – a good addition to the series.
Thank you for the recommendations and give your mom my best.
Adding “pinged my squickdat” to vocabulary. Thank you.
Joan: kick cancer’s ass, ok?