IT'S TIIIIIME! Time for The Most Expensive Thread where each month we talk about what we're reading and then we all buy a pile of books. Ready?
Whatcha reading?
Me, I just finished Chalice by Robin McKinley ( A | BN | K ).
After I mentioned that I was reading The Blue Sword in last week's podcast with Ilona Andrews, all the lovely fantasy romance readers who know much more than I do about this genre came at me with recommendations, and my library was all, Dude. Slow your roll.
Ha. No. I have ALL THE FANTASY to read now.
Chalice was… well, I finished it and kinda went like this:
It's light on the romance but the otherworldy, fairy-tale aspect of the setting and the heroine, who is a beekeeper, were…oh, Good Book Sigh®. I can understand why that book is a comfort read for so many of you. I was already reading The Blue Sword and I dislike when I buffet books because my brain gets all mixed up, but the first line:
Because she was Chalice she stood at the front door with the Grand Seneschal, the Overlord's agent and the Prelate, all of whom were carefully ignoring her.
And Sluuuuuurp! Off I went. I started the book while standing in the hall outside my son's classroom, waiting for an appointment, and didn't want to put my phone down.
I'm currently still working on reading The Blue Sword ( A | BN | WorldCat ), because it's a hardback library book and not easy to bring with me all the time. Chalice I found digitally so I could read it on my phone, but The Blue Sword is, as a hardcover, about as practical as carrying an actual sword around with me. But it's as evocative as Chalice, and I understand why so many readers adore Robin McKinley's books. (And thank you to everyone who wrote to me and commented with recommendations!)
RedHeadedGirl: I just finished Never Judge a Lady by her Cover by Sarah MacLean and I have so many feels.
I am about done with His Saving Grace by Sharon Cullen (brain damaged hero) ( A | K ), and enjoying it.
Once I'm done with that… Prisoner of My Desire by Joanna Lindsay ( A | BN | K ), which should be fun for EVERYONE.
Amanda: I was craving some sports romances (if you didn't catch my belly-aching on twitter), so I'm rereading the Play by Play series by Jaci Burton to catch up to the newer ones, though I know they could be read as standalones. I would definitely say her writing got me interested in the whole sports romance thing, so I'm happy to reread and revisit.
I'm also reading The Apartment by Amanda Black ( A | BN | K). Not too far into it just yet, but the whole “What happens in this room, stays in this room” premise (I think) is really neat.
Carrie: Just finished Un-Bridaled by Eileen Rendahl and three issues of Wonder Woman by Gail Simone – loving the new “Sensation Comics” Wonder Woman.
Also reading Hints for Lady Traveller, by Lillias Campbell Davidson, written in the Victorian Age. Love it. Her tips are still practical, except that I don't need an ivory glove stretcher. This book is hella expensive but I found a copy thanks to Interlibrary Loan, the best resource on the planet.
RedHeadedGirl: Carrie, everyone needs an ivory glove stretcher.
Carrie: What everyone needs is a foot warmer and a hot water bottle. She's very clear on that.
Amanda: Seconding that.
Elyse: I'm reading The King by Tiffany Reisz ( A | BN | K) (Nov. 2014) and The Duke of Dark Desires ( A | BN | K) (Dec. 2014) by Miranda Neville.
What about you? What books are you reading this weekend? Anything you recommend or want to tell people about? Share, share!
I love The Blue Sword so very much, I don’t have words to express my adoration of that book. It’s on the annual re-read list along with Pride and Prejudice and a few other “Good Books”(TM).
Currently I’m reading an eclectic mix of titles. I just wrapped up the first of Mary Balogh’s Survivor Club books and am eagerly awaiting the second from the library. I have Kristin Kallihan’s Firelight in my hands right now and an advance copy of Ashlyn MacNamara’s newest which I’m chomping at the bit to devour but I need to finish Callihan’s first since it’s due back at the library. . . .
I just finished Child of a Hidden Sea by A.M. Dellamonica this afternoon. It had good world building, but the portal part of it being a portal fantasy was a little disorienting, as were some of the politics. I think the politics needed a little more explanation (I had a similar feeling when I read Three Parts Dead). The world building and magic system were good. The other stuff was a little jumbled.
I then spent the afternoon looking at my library books with a vague feeling of discontent, and ended up downloading The Winter Long by Seanan McGuire. Toby rarely lets me down.
I started reading Lord of the Sea by Danelle Harmon yesterday in honor of Talk Like a Pirate day. There are a few anachronisms (weren’t cookies called biscuits in 1813?), but I am certainly enjoying the swagger of Captain Merrick. On deck is The Suffragette Scandal by Courtney Milan because of recommendations here.
Read two by Kristan Higgins while traveling for work this week. Didn’t want to be caught reading something naughty on my Kindle in the cafeteria by the nerd boys, so I read Catch of the Day and The One and Only. I’ve decided I like her more recent books better as the heroines in both of these books could have used a smack upside the head or a wise friend.
Read a great debut book last week, Worth the Fall by Claudia Connor. It’s a hot navy SEAL meets the girl of his dreams story, but the thing is she is a widow with four kids and another on the way! Couldn’t put the damn Kindle down once I started reading.
I think you need to start a ‘what aren’t you reading” thread for people to list all the books they’re not reading (any more of). Because clearly that will save us all some time/money/agony.
I have been re-reading books lately—my mom’s in the hospital, and I think that’s caused me to really want comfort reads lately. I’ve re-read the first 4 Gini Koch “Kitty Katt” books, and the first 2 Tara Holloway “Death, Taxes, and [whatever]” books, and the first of the Molly Harper “Nice Girls” series so far. And I’ve been reading/rereading my way through the Pennyroyal Green books. I’d apparently read books 1-4 before, but starting with book 5 they seem to be new to me.
I have a slew and a half of other books to read, of course. One I was looking forward to reading, until I read the whole cover blurb or whatever, and it said, “[Heroine] is just done with rich guys!” and I was like, “yes, finally a book that deals with the problems I face in my dating life!” So that one has moved farther down my to-read pile, and I’ll probably read some cozy mysteries or urban fantasy instead next.
Currently reading Wide Open by Deborah Coates, which I think I picked up based on a rec from somewhere on SBTB! Really like it so far – it’s a good blend of mystery, small-town contemp and a hint of magic to make it interesting.
I just finished a re-read of Firelight by Kristen Callihan after I started Shadowdance and realized I needed a refresher on the world building. I’m looking forward to catching up!
Most recent new book was Night Whispers by Alisha Rai. Really good post-apocalyptic romance with a nerdy beta hero and a zombie-slaying former drug addict heroine. GoodReads lists it as the first of a series so I’m hoping there will be more!!
I also LOVE Chalice! One of my top three McKinley books. I also recommend Rose Daughter (her second B&B retelling and my favorite of the two), Spindle’s End, Deerskin and The Outlaws of Sherwood.
You might also like Patricia McKillip, though I find her a little more esoteric than McKinley. My favorite of hers is Alphabet of Thorn, which has a heroine who was adopted by librarians and spends her days translating ancient texts for merchants and the nearby wizards school.
Currently reading The Ring and the Book and The Story of Earth: The First 4.5 Billion Years, from Stardust to Living Planet. More noteworthy, I recently discovered The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin—amazing, original fantasy, and I’m eager to get to the other two books in the trilogy. I also read A Brother’s Price by Wen Spencer—glad to have finally got to a book that’s a bit of a classic, and in some ways it was very interesting, certainly put quite a bit of thought into the gender tropes and worldbuilding, but the character development was simplistic by contrast, and I was sharply disappointed by the book’s homophobia (my comment on that here).
This blog has also provided me with some reading matter in the recent discussions of science fiction romance. I have been cutting a swath through the Liaden books at my library; I find that I like but don’t love them, the main problem being that all the psychic-powers stuff, and especially the lifemate-bonding-mindsharing thing, really doesn’t work for me (almost never does, it’s not just these authors). By coincidence, the sf-rom thread also lead me to Dark Space by Lisa Henry, which actually deconstructs that idea quite thoroughly—the main characters find themselves sharing a lot of their mind and it’s not a good thing, their HEA depending on being able to unlink themselves. Anyway, I rejoice at discovering Lisa Henry, and have been reading more of her very dark and brutal stories than is probably good for me… Like them better than Liaden sweetness, tells you something about me.
This month I’ve done Loretta Chase’s Vixen in Velvet, and E. Lockhart’s The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. Both excellent, but in very different ways. I think I preferred Scandal Wears Satin, because I liked Sophy’s hijinks, but Leonie is a likable heroine and as usual Chase’s writing is catnip to me. Speaking of likeable, Frankie Landau-Banks is very much so. I liked Lockhart’s description of her growth over the course of a year in a posh New England prep school, and she doesn’t let her infatuation with Mr. BMOC keep her from realizing when he underestimates her intelligence.
At the moment I’m comfort reading Georgette Heyer, and I’ve got to tackle The Catcher in the Rye for book club by Friday. Should be interesting—I never had to read it in school, and I’ve never caught up with it as an adult.
Oh—and everyone should read Sunshine. Seriously. That’s what a vampire novel should be.
@Teev, on your recommendation I bought Untamed and it was everything good that you mentioned. I couldn’t bear to stop until I finished.
Working my way through Cress, by Marissa Meyer. (Book #3 in ‘The Lunar Chronicles’ series.) So far I like Cress and Captain Thorne better than Scarlet and Wolf.
@Clare C: I LOVED Wide Open! The prairie setting was interesting, and Hallie is awesome.
Working on The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg (YA about a girl who gets super tired of the way she and her friends are always trying to change themselves for boys). I had previously read her “Better Off Friends” which is YA catnip for anyone who likes friends-to-relationship and loved it.
….also reading a lot of Supernatural fanfiction. I may have a problem…
Swamped with books here (and lovin’ it!). Reading _Jane Eye_ and _Robinson Crusoe_ for my classes. Countering these classics with Cynthia Eden’s _ Midnight’s Master_.
Anything by penny reid
I’ve just read Victoria Holt’s The Shivering Sands – little bit scary, a lot undemanding – which was what I needed at the moment.
[a href]=“http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/808879.The_Shivering_Sands”%5B/a%5D
Also just DNFed Seanan McGuire’s Discount Armageddon, which didn’t grab me – less character depth than say the Tanya Huff Enchantment Emporium series, also urban fantasy.
Tried DE Stevenson, whom I had not read before. Didn’t particularly like Emily Dennistoun but did enjoy Charlotte Fairlie, which had more going on.
[a href]=“http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/118462.The_Enchanted_Isle”%5B/a%5D.
Sports heroes: A friend, Kristina Mathews, has two baseball romance books out now with Lyrical/Kensington. They are awesome!
But since I’ve already read those…
I’ve been historicaling lately.
I glommed all of Anne Gracie’s Devil Riders (still need to reread the Seasons books in preparation for the next in the series).
Then I read Christine Merrill’s The Truth About Lady Felkirk, which was a) awesome, and b) While You Were Sleeping in the Regency.
And then the last two in Mary Jo Putney’s Lost Lords series. I wasn’t thrilled with them, but even with a few plot holes and lots of long scenes of catching up with former heroes and heroines, her stuff is good.
And Susan Andersen’s No Strings Attached (a return to Contemporarying)
Returned to historicity by reading Courtney Milan’s Suffragette Scandal and Talk Sweetly to Me. So good!
But right now I’m reading Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and getting close to the end with the sinking feeling that it’s going to leave me hanging. I just looked it up on Goodreads and yeah, it’s just first in the series. I like series, but I think it’s going to just… end.
Between studying for the LSAT, work, and watching The Roosevelts on PBS I haven’t been doing much reading. I did start to re-read Out of the Shadows by Kay Hooper, which is my favorite of all her books. I also started to re-read NR’s Ardmore Trilogy, but I’ve just been so scattered that I forgot starting that and started Out of the Shadows too.
Just finished Neanderthal Marries Human by Penny Reid and adored every minute of it. Parts made me laugh out loud. Other parts made me all teary. I had previously read and loved Neanderthal Meets Human. I have her others on my kindle but am saving them for another day.
I then started Anne Stuart’s Nightfall which I bought on sale. But it is too dark and didn’t suit my current mood so I put it aside to read Eloisa James’ An Affair Before Christmas, also purchased on sale. I have mixed feelings about it. I am enjoying the romance between the main characters (estranged husband and wife) but the book seems cluttered up by other characters and story lines that aren’t really doing it for me. I will finish it though.
Next up may be Meljean Brook’s Iron Duke. Or maybe the new Ann Calhoun.
In Audio form I am currently listening to Knots and Crosses, the first Ian Rankin mystery involving Inspector Rebus. Next up will probably be a Laura Kinsale. I could listen to Nicholas Boulton read the phone book and still be entranced.
I’m on a gothic kick thanks to your post last month about updated Gothic romances. I blazed through the Eve Silver books. And, even though they were incredibly formulaic, I really enjoyed the plots.
Then I did something I shouldn’t have. I looked in the comment section and decided to try Amanda Stevens’ Graveyard Queen series. HOLY HELL, people. I have work to do….classes to teach…a conference paper to write and there I was reading all three books like they were an extra large rootbeer float. Are they straight-up formulaic romance? No, but I really liked Stevens slow-build to romance.
So yeah, this week I read all three of the Graveyard Queen books, did no laundry, did not write my conference paper, and did no grading. THANKS, AMANDA STEVENS.
Ahem. Please folks, if anyone else has any Gothic/horror/weird romances for me, I’d love to hear about them.
Currently reading “As You Desire” by Connie Brockway which is a lot of fun. She writes dark books and funny books, and this is a funny one, set in Egypt.
Before that I read “The Earl’s Mistress” by Liz Carlyle. I enjoyed it but judging by the reviews a lot of her longtime readers are not happy with the BDSM elements. I’d be interested in what other readers here think.
@Phyllis, thanks for the Christine Merrill rec, it’s been a long time since I read anything by her.
@RedHeadedGirl: I read Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover last week and, I too, have so many feels. Now I’m reading the Love by Numbers series to see how those tied in to Rules of Scoundrels.
I recently read Martha Wells’s Stories of the Raksura: Volume 1, which includes two novellas and two short stories set in the world of her earlier trilogy (The Cloud Roads, The Serpent Sea, and The Siren Depths, also available as an e-book omnibus called The Books of the Raksura). I liked the new one a lot, and it sent me back to reread the earlier books. I had read them as they came out in a “got to know what happens” rush and liked the chance to enjoy the nuances when I read them from start to finish. Worldbuilding, nobody beats Wells for realistic and fascinating fantasy worlds and societies.
These are a fantasy series with a romantic subplot. It’s set in a world with a number of intelligent species, none of which are human. (Quoting from the Publishers Weekly review: “while her protagonists may not be human as we understand it, they are definitely people”)
Moon, the main character, is a Raksura. He is a shapeshifter with two forms, one a winged hunter and one a “groundling.” But he was separated from his people as a child and doesn’t know anything about them. He lives among other tribes or groups of groundlings – until they decide he’s too different and throw him out – and he doesn’t look much beyond survival and perhaps a little company. As the first book in the series opens, Moon is in trouble with his current tribe and is rescued by Stone, a much older Raksura, who takes Moon home to Stone’s colony.
Raksura have a complicated kind of extended clan social structure, and we learn it through Moon’s eyes since he doesn’t know any of it either. Queens are the rulers. There are also consorts and warriors who shift to winged forms like Moon does, but also subgroups called Arbora who don’t have wings.
It would be spoilery to say much about Moon’s romance with Jade, the younger queen at the Raksura colony, except that it develops slowly across all the books and it’s fun to watch. I recommend the books highly.
I read Catherine Coulter’s latest, Power Play and was surprised to enjoy it thoroughly. She, like other long-time authors, had fallen into the Slough of Rename and Repurpose. But Power Play had all the right stuff – interesting characters, strong action, a good mystery. The second story line didn’t begin in the second chapter – and that helped that sense of twofer which CC has had going for a while.
M.L. Buchman’s Light Up the Night had me making the yummy noises. Light Up the Night is set in Somalia and has Beale’s old crew adventuring against evil doers again. Just Lovely.
I read my way through Carla Kelly’s adventure trilogy thanks to SBTB – Marrying the Royal Marine, Marrying the Captain, and Marrying the Surgeon – yes, I read them out of order and it didn’t matter a bit. Wonderful – rich and thoughtful and romantic. Then I added in Beau Crusoe,thanks to Carla, which I thought was absolutely superb – if you haven’t read it, it begins where Tom Hanks’s Castaway ends, with the hero’s reintroduction into human society.
Sunshine. Yes. It’s about a baker – cinnamon rolls, Vampires and superb writing!! What’s left to say?
McKinley’s Spindle’s End is the first book I can remember reading where I wished afterwords I hadn’t, just so I could read it for the first time again, but slower. And Deerskin and The Blue Sword hurt. And Beauty is one of my oldest comfort reads – I forget how often I checked it out of the library before buying it. (Sadly, I think that it rather interfered with my reading of Rose Daughter – it’s beautiful, and mature, and I just can’t love it the way I love Beauty.)
And I’m so glad Sunshine and Chalice came up now – I was thinking about the books, but I couldn’t remember the name or author!
Patricia McKillip hits some of the same buttons for me. Such luxurious prose. I love her books just a little less, though.
I just started getting into Caroline Linden (via an A-grade review on Smart Bitches for “Love and Other Scandals” – thanks for that) and feel like I should have discovered her before this. Love this book and will definitely be reading others by Linden. I also read Sarah MacLean’s “No Good Duke Goes Unpunished” and liked it much better than the previous book, “One Good Earl Deserves a Lover.” I’m looking forward to Chase’s story – both reading it myself and reading RedHeadedGirl’s review!
My computer just ate my post, so if I’ve somehow already replied just ignore this one!
Recently read:
* Kitty French’s Lucien Knight trilogy – liked this
* Lorelei James’ latest Blacktop Cowboys book and novella – also enjoyed these
* Courtney Milan’s Talk Sweetly To Me – not my favourite but still liked this a lot
* A collection of erotic romances that I got via a books on sale post (no idea what it is called, but includes a book from the same series as the “fucking her ass, saving her life” book) – very hit and miss, haven’t been able to finish it yet
Currently reading The Siren and liking it so far.
I’ve added so many books to my towering TBR list after all the great recommendations here!
I’ve been in a more daring reading mood lately and have willingly read books that I wouldn’t normally be my first choice. This includes some litfic like Gone Girl and Cheryl Strayed’s advice column book, Tiny Beautiful Things, both of which I loved. But I’ve also read many romance novellas, which I don’t usually like, to get a feel for new authors. The best of the bunch were Jeanette Grey’s new adult Take What You Want and Victoria Dahl’s Fanning the Flames. Dahl’s was my first romance with an older central couple and I appreciated how their maturity supported their burgeoning relationship.
I also finished my first disappointing read by Noelle Adams, Engaging the Boss. It had the brilliant, absent-minded scientist hero, usual catnip for me, but I never felt like I fully got to know the hero or that he grew enough for me to believe in the HEA.
I’m currently reading Master of Crows by Grace Draven in the 99 cents fantasy romance anthology Darkly Dreaming. I’ve heard several people say they love the story and, while I’m not too far into it yet, I’m enjoying the set-up for the h/h and the world-building.