You know what time it is! It’s that time where we talk about the books we’ve read this month and our bank account gets a little lighter.
For me, I’m finally getting around to reading my first Christina Lauren. I know I’ve mentioned that before (I think on the last Whatcha Reading), but I really mean it this time!
Since Elyse has reviewed two books in the Beautiful series, I decided to give the Wild Seasons series a shot since I know the least about it. I’m a quarter through Sweet Filthy Boy ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au ) and it’s so much fun! I’m already looking forward to the rest in the series.
I also got a notification that my hold for Manwhore by Katy Evans ( A | K | G | AB | Au ) came in at the library. I don’t even remember requesting it, though it’s possible I could have been drunk and browsing books. My roommate swears I came into her room and told her about it, but I honestly have no recollection.
Elyse:
I’m currently reading Scandal Never Sleeps by Shayla Black and Lexi Blake.
Also reading The Magic of Shetland Lace Knitting by Elizabeth Novick ( A ), which is perfect for anyone interested in designing their own lace projects.
Carrie: I lead a book club at Arden Dimick Library and they wanted to read Crime and Punishment ( A | K | G | AB ) – so I’m starting it today!
Redheadedgirl:
I just finished The Other Daughter by Lauren Willig and about to start Forever Your Earl by Eva Leigh ( A | BN | K | G | AB ).
And Lobscouse and Spotted Dog ( A | BN ).
Sarah: I’m comfort reading Dragon Actually by GA Aiken, because comfort is sometimes found in stories about Annwyl the Bloody, who decapitates people, and dragon shifters, because DRAGON.
Campy, violent, bloody, sexy fairy tales! AND DRAGONS.
On deck: One Good Dragon Deserves Another by Rachel Aaron ( A ).
I read Nice Dragons Finish Last ( A ) and realllllly liked it (excellent world building) so I’m happy to have the sequel.
Also: DRAGONS.
Tell us what you’re reading! What were your hits and misses this month?
Shopping note:
After a Whatcha Reading? discussion, Lisa M emailed me to ask if I could link the books mentioned in the comments to the various retailers to make shopping a little easier. I wish I could! But I can drop some retailer links for you right here, so that if you feel like shopping, you can select your preferred retailer.
Some of these links are affiliate-enabled, and SBTB receives a percentage commission from purchases made. If you use them, many thanks. If you don’t want to us them, no worries, mate! (And if your preferred retailer isn’t here, let me know and I’ll add it for you if I can!)
I am re-reading the Pink Carnation series, making my way to The Lure of the Moonflower. Right now, I’m in the middle of The Orchid Affair, which was my introduction to the series back in 2012.
I’m also on the waiting list for The Other Daughter. I wasn’t sure if i was going to read that one because I’m one of the few that didn’t like The Ashford Affair, but after listening to the podcast with Willig as the guest, I decided to give it a try. I was surprised that there were only 2 people ahead of me on the list. (Also surprised that neither of my libraries have it in digital.)
A couple of weeks ago, I read Maybe, Maybe Someday by Lauren Graham and was really disappointed with it. The writing wasn’t bad and it was one of the few first person POV’s that didn’t annoy me. However, the main character seemed very childish. I think she was supposed to be in her mid-20’s, but she read like she was 18 or 19 years old. Plus, it literally just stopped. In the middle of a sentence. Ridiculous.
I just finished The Girl of Thorns and Fire trilogy by Rae Carson, and it was excellent. Lately it’s usually taken me a few chapters to get into a new book but this one grabbed me from the start with interesting characters and almost non-stop action. It’s a YA fantasy series with romantic elements.
The protagonist was nicely outside of the norm, a dark-skinned, dark curly-haired, significantly overweight princess. She starts with little agency – being married off to an unknown king – but takes decisive action and control of her life soon thereafter and retains it throughout the series. The villainous race of the series are tall blue-eyed blondes. The first book features a romantic triangle and then throws out that trope in an unexpected fashion. The third does have a romantic HEA.
{{{{{{{{{{{Francesca}}}}}}}}}}}} So very sorry for what you are going through. My go-to reading when I am down is: Georgette Heyer ( particularly Venetia, Fredericka,and the Nonesuch, although, really, any of hers will do); Jennifer Crusie; Jennifer Blake (especially Midnight Waltz and Arrow to the Heart); Laura Kinsale.
Amanda, I’ve read Manwhore and Manwhore2 and loved them both.
I’ve just finished reading “Premiere: A RWA collection” and it was excellent, not a bad story in the bunch.
Also read the boxed set “Heroes in Uniform” which, like all boxed sets is a mixed bag but on the whole pretty good.
A boxed set I DNF is “12 Alphas: 12 Months” in which most of the stories were so badly written, I couldn’t bear to read them.
Next up a re-read of “Bridal Jitters,” part of the Harmony/Arcane series by Jayne Castle/Jayne Ann Krentz/ Amanda Quick
“The Long Tommorrow” by Leigh Brackett (SF)
“Second Chance Summer” Jill Shalvis
“Over the Top”, Rebecca Zanetti
“Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life,” Karen Armstrong
“The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It,” Peter Ennis
“Wheat Belly” William Davis (halfway through and I am convinced!!)
I have a whole buncha stuff to download to my Kindle, but I am holding off as I am trying to get through the backlog.
@lace, thanks for the Barbara Hambly recs, she’s such a versatile author!
I spent the past month triaging my Scribd library; after eliminating the expiring books which were also available on Overdrive or cheap at Amazon, I was trying to read what remained at the rate of about a book a day, and I almost made it before burning out during the first week of August!
So I read “Simon the Coldheart”, a Georgette Heyer medieval, written in a sort of antiquated style, and more adventure than romance, but somehow she makes it work.
I read “Sleep in the Woods” by Dorothy Eden. If you can overlook the patronizing and casually racist treatment of aboriginal people, it’s great adventure in the early days of settling New Zealand.
I read “The Ruin of a Rogue” by Miranda Neville, which I liked a lot better than the first book in the Wild quartet. The cover drives me crazy though, the hero’s got his big fat boot right on the white bed sheets. Every time I see it I want to yell at him, take your boots off before getting in bed!
Also, “Lady in the Briars” by Carola Dunn, a Regency set in Russia with a really lovely beta hero. Also a couple of Susanna Fraser books, “A Marriage of Inconvenience” and “An Infamous Marriage”. So far I’m loving everything she writes. I can’t wait to read “A Dream Defiant” next, it’s an interracial romance, the hero is a black British soldier in the Napoleonic wars and the heroine is a war widow, it’s still on Scribd till Sept. 13th.
And luckily there are still a bunch of Miranda Neville and Lorraine Heath books that haven’t expired.
@Gloriamarie: I actually didn’t enjoy Manwhore. I finished it the other day. It was okay, but I didn’t like how most of the women in the book were merely treated as obstacles for the hero and heroine’s relationship. I believe I gave it a 2/5 on my Goodreads.
Lace, one of my favorite Barbara Hambly books is her Star Trek novel, Ishmael; I recommend it if you’re a fan of Spock and Kirk.
Two of my favorite reads this week were both by Melissa F. Olson; they are the starting books of two different (but linked) series ~ Dead Spots (Scarlett Bernard) and Boundary Crossed.
I enjoyed a couple of re-reads ~ Angels Fall by Nora Roberts and LaVyrle Spencer’s Morning Glory.
Not My 1st Rodeo by Donna Alward, Sarah M. Anderson, and Jenna Bayley-Burke was light and enjoyable.
Erika Kelly’s I Want You to Want Me is a contemporary romance which I also enjoyed.
I also read two young adult novels this week ~ Boys Like You by Juliana Stone and Double Digit by Annabel Monaghan. The latter is a sequel. I enjoyed them both.
I’ve only read comfort reads recently, new-to-me Amanda Quicks, but I bought Kushiel’s Dart and I have vacation in a week so I hope to discover a new series that I’ll love. Same situation with Fantasy Lover. My reading is several years behind the rest of the world…
The Christina Lauren books are mos def CRACKTASTIC! Love them!
Okay. I have to say that “Brown Eyed Girl” is one of my comfort reads. I mean the one by Virginia Swift. Mustang Sally returns to her alma mater in Wyoming after 20 years. The former bar singer is now a history professor hired for a special project. She meets up with old friends, an old lover, resumes her lead singer role, and gets involved in mysteries. There are a couple of more books in the series, but this first one is great.
It is hot in Utah, and I am staying in doing scattershot re-reads: Thomas Perry’s Jane Whitefield series (a Seneca woman who helps people in trouble “disappear”, some Cherry Adair books about treasure hunting and marine salvage (hot rich guys with big yachts -cough- get the gold, the girl and beat the bad guys. In the water). I want to read the new Elizabeth Lowell, but I refuse to pay 14.99 for a kindle book. I might try to dig out my 1920s children’s encyclopedia “Our Wonder World” to look for a story about Japanese children celebrating the August Moon festival. It has been wafting around the edges of my brain for a while. I think there were instructions for planning an August Moon party. That sounds kind of fun. When it is this hot, sweet drinks are not going to cut it for me -i.e. watermelon balls. I’m relying on refreshing, astringent Bombay Sapphire gin and tonics with a healthy chunk of lime to accompany my re-reads.
Amanda, so sorry you didn’t enjoy Manwhore as much as. Yes, I noticed that about the other women, but it seemed appropriate to me, given that he had previously fulfilled those other women’s expectations.
I’m rereading a series from Siren I realize I don’t like, but I’m 10 books into the 12-book series reread and might as well finish. (They’re all really short. Don’t be impressed) and the only reason I haven’t stopped before now is because I’m too bored with everything else on my kindle and it’s too hot to think (107 Friday/Saturday/Sunday and I have no AC) so I haven’t gone TBR Pile surfing to find anything else.
I’m also reading the Deadpool comic books for the first time. Actually, it’s only the third time in my life I’ve ever read a comic book series. The others were Bone and Sandman (back when it was still just a comic book and we all waited anxiously for the next issues). I’m loving it. Wade cracks me up.
And for an audiobook, I’m on book 2 of the Kit Rocha Beyond… series. Holy Hot Sexy Times, Batgirl. Phew! I told Twitter I’ve been scarring valets and parking attendants over 3 counties. If you like sex hot, dirty, and with multiple partners, GO GET THESE BOOKS. Seriously. Go. So good. And I’m loving the narrator, too, which is always nice.
Oh, I just saw that comics count too! I’m gobbling up Jellyfish Princess, which has the first four volumes on Crunchyroll for subscribers (anime fans will recognize that). It’s just SO good, especially as a female geek.
@Lynda the Guppy
The Beyond Series is excellent, and they keep getting better. I think you’ve just put me in mind of my next reread.
I finished Magic Shifts and this writing duo does not disappoint. Also read K J Charles new one “Fashionable Indulgence” (Loved Think of England) but this one was good but not great. I think the hero came across a little “Too” Beta. I’ve been in a Historical slump so I went back and read “Devil in Winter” by Kleypas and Unknown Ajax by Heyer to remind me what great writing is supposed to be like. Also read “This is Where I Leave You” which was laugh out loud funny. Up next, Him, by Serina Bowen and “Incognita” by Jaima Fixen
@Gloriamarie: That’s a fair point! And no worries, not all books can be winners for everyone unfortunately! 🙂
@lijakaca: Out of curiosity, are you the same Lijakaca that runs an otome blog? If so, I’ve been following that blog for years and lamenting the lack of otome English games.
@Kaye – I adore the October Daye books! They’re one of the only auto buys I have nowadays. I’d also recommend McGuire’s InCryptid series, starting with Discount Armageddon. Really fun!
@Kaye & @Kate I agree about the October Daye/ Incryptid books, although I’m perpetually behind in both series! Also if you enjoy fairy tales, Seanan McGuire has her Indexing serial that runs through Amazon. The second season Reflections just started last week.
@MirandaB I have heard Blackout ends on quite a cliffhanger, so you might want to find All Clear, if you haven’t already!
@Kaye and Kate: McGuire’s standalones are also great. Indexing was my favorite book last year, and Sparrow Hill Road is wonderful. She also writes a couple of post-apocalypse series as Mira Grant.
@ Francesca
I’m so sorry for your loss and for the stress you must be feeling.
It sounds like you have a two-fold problem.
Grief is a distraction that might require light reading, something uplifting, funny even. On the other hand, there’s something to be said for commiseration. I sometimes find it cathartic to read stories that, if they were set to music, would be called the blues. Somebody else’s fictional stress can make my problems seem less weighty.
But for myself, when I’m having a slump in my motivation, in my desire to read, I need something that grabs me and won’t let go. Something deep, perhaps dark, maybe even frightening. That’s the sort of thing that I get a charge out of. When I read that sort of thing I have no choice but to become fully immersed in it. And when I finish with that I crave more.
Slump over.
I could not begin to tell you where you’re at or how, or even if, you should get out of it. Sometimes, where we are is where we need to be. Sometimes we just have to wait. What we need will come to us.
So I don’t do this, and I don’t think I’m going to be making a habit of it, but this month I read not one but two male/male romances. They were both quite good.
My library suggested to me When All the World Sleeps by Lisa Henry and J.A. Rock. Luckily for me I read the description before I realized it was m/m and was hooked on the story.
I’m a fan of romantic suspense, and the grittier the better. This one sounded like it might fit the bill. This has a character, Daniel, who is a murderer, but not just that, also, seemingly, a tweaker, a liar, a freak. One who is terrified of his own actions. I wanted to see how that character could be redeemed.
I assumed this would be sexy, and it was if not in a way that I am entirely comfortable with, but I had no idea that I was going to cry through the first 60 or 70 percent of it. The writing is good. The characters are very well developed. You cannot help but feel for this man. He is desperate. He is alone. He is hopeless.
Your experience of this book may be different than mine, I was reminded very much of my brother, who is not gay but is seen very much as Daniel is by his community. Reading this made me hurt. This ends well for Daniel. I only wish my brother would have as happy an ending.
This book ended up being less suspenseful than I expected but I am so glad that I read it.
The second book, Bonds of Denial by Lynda Aicher, was something I likely would not have read if it were not for my OCD which demands that I read all of the books, of a particular series, in order.
Bonds of Denial is part of the Wicked Play series. It is Rockford’s story, he’s an ex military man who was raised by a very strict, bigoted, military man. He has been in denial for a very long time. But now he’s found someone he can’t deny.
I think this may fall into the “out for you” category, also somewhat fetishizing, but as I say I’m not a regular reader of m/m so don’t take my word for it.
I find Lynda Aicher’s books to be fun to read, well developed, though I often would like to slug whoever edited them, or didn’t. She seems to drop pronouns and prepositions with maddening regularity.
I read Word Play by Amalie Silver, this was fun, I’ll read her again. This one is about an author, Michael Rourke, who would prefer to be writing mysteries but instead is stuck writing erotic romance to pay the bills. I would call this a romantic comedy, it could have been somewhat insulting to readers, and writers, of romance but I don’t think it was. I think she did a good job of joining rather than making fun.
I finally started reading Allison Brennan’s new series, the Max Revere novels, and I couldn’t even get through the prequel novella. I just don’t like this woman. And then to find out that there’s not going to be any real romance to it, at least not at this point, just turned me off. Apparently she’s planning on having a happily ever after at some point but not an overarching romantic storyline.
I have got her most recent Lucy Kincaid novel, Best Laid Plans, up next. And I cannot wait!
I am currently reading Ace’s Wild by Sarah McCarty. This should be a historical, western, BDSM, erotic romance. It’s not. It’s fine, but it’s just alluding to things that either shouldn’t be alluded to at all or should be on the page. If he’s going to be a Dom, that should be happening. The only scene that’s been shown is between Ace and a whore at the saloon. And even that was not finished on the page.
It doesn’t have to be a historical, western, BDSM, erotic romance, but that’s what it’s trying to be. It’s just not. Still, it’s enjoyable, I’m enjoying it. I just wish it would be either smoking hot or quit trying to be smoking hot and just get to the story.
I have been incredibly busy with my crochet. I have a valid excuse for not reading much! I have finished two simple sweaters, and started a third, and once again many, many dishcloths.
Also I’m catching up on some movies and TV. I finally saw The Hobbit movies, meh. Sence8, WHOA! I hope that comes back. I’m watching The Last Ship now, so far it’s good, I wouldn’t say great but it has Adam Baldwin, and so I watch.
I haven’t really been in a slump this month, but have been reading slower than normal.
*The Girl Next Door by Amy Jo Cousins (Contemporary) — Third in her Bend or Break series and focuses on a m/f romance rather than m/m like the earlier books. The hero is just a nice guy who has never gotten over his college “friend with benefits” breaking up with him. I wanted more interactions between the couple outside of the bedroom though there is an impressive threesome scene.
*The Mistake by Elle Kennedy (New Adult) — Sequel to last year’s The Deal and just as good. The hero meets the heroine and then screws things up early on. He spends the rest of book making up for his mistake and convincing her to give him another chance. Both characters are well-developed and the romance was really sweet.
*Bitter Spirits by Jenn Bennett (Historical Romance) — I adored the 1920s setting and the fact that the heroine is a medium and the hero a bootlegger. I felt like the love story got lost in the mystery and the worldbuilding at times.
*Lonely Hearts by Heidi Cullinan (Male/Male) — I loved Love Lessons and Fever Pitch and I thought this was just as wonderful. Baz and Elijah had me crying early and I was hooked from then on. I enjoyed how both had journeys to go on and how they relied on each other and their friends. I would love to see Elijah’s trans friend the focus on the next installment.
*Lois Lane: Fallout by Gwenda Bond (Young Adult) — Teenage Lois Lane moves to Metropolis and gets herself caught up in a mystery. Reminded me of early Veronica Mars episodes and full of fun comic tidbits. I especially liked the inclusion of Lois’s online-only friend, Smallville Guy.
I’m currently reading Naomi Novik’s Uprooted and enjoying it though, since it is early, I am a little confused by the magic. I also started Kelly Bowen’s You’re the Earl That I Want which is a best friend’s sister romance. I’m only a chapter in, but I have a good feeling since I liked the other Bowen historicals I’ve read.
I just finished “True Pretenses” by Rose Lerner which is the second in her Lively St. Lemeston series (it’s the village they take place in, not the stripper they all know). I read the first one awhile back and thought it was good, but this is the one that makes me want to read all her books. The backdrop is all smalltown politics of Tories and Whigs and who will be elected to Parliament which I don’t feel like I’ve seen before in a historical. The guy is a grifter who grew up an orphan in St. Giles (so appalling childhood) and the heroine is the daughter of a local bigwig who just died and now she has to figure out how to fund all the charity that influences the vote. She is also really into the charity and helping people and that’s great but we also get the hero’s perception of this charity. So like yay your dress costs more than it would take to feed everyone in this workhouse for a year, but you got a 9 year old a job, but we also get her POV of whethter or not I get this dress there is a workhouse and my party is pro better schools (but still she also reflects on whether her charity is self-congratulatory, much as he must reflect on his idea that grifting is a victimless crime). I’m not presenting it as well as it is in the book but I like that there is a nuanced take on all of it, and also funny moments. Anyway, I recommend it.
I’ve been in a book funk–unmotivated to read, setting partially-finished books aside, not really enjoying the books I do finish (including re-reads of normally tried-and-true comfort reads), etc. The one bright spot was the latest Ilona Andrews, Magic Shifts. But, even there, I was irritated by the audio book–and I normally really enjoy Renee Raudman. (I always listen to the audio books in this series immediately after finishing reading them.)
I decided to try a cozy mystery to shake me out of my doldrums, one of Marty Wingate’s Potting Shed series. I’m about halfway through book 3 (which I started with even though I already own the first two, as well). I’m enjoying it (yay)–it’s both interesting and undemanding. Just what I needed, apparently. The protagonist is a (ahem) mature woman, and there is a romance.
My audio adventures have been more successful. I normally stick to listening to books I’ve read first since I’m not a great listener. But I’ve been branching out and tried a children’s book, The One and Only Ivan. Oh, my. I had to stop listening to it in the car and finish up in the privacy of my home, where I cried continuously for the last two hours. It was very good, but it messed me up.
I also listened to Naomi Novik’s His Majesty ‘s Dragon which I really liked. Oddly, I tried reading the book more than once and couldn’t get into it, so I’m glad I gave the audio a shot.
Now I’m off to read everyone else’s comments and see what I can find to buy.
I just finished Beautiful Stranger and Beautiful Player (both of which I liked tremendously; I had some issues with the first book).
I’m currently working on Having Her after finishing Taking Him early this morning.
And up on deck in my audiobooks, I’m listening to an old favorite, All Played Out by Cora Carmack. I’ve probably listened to this like three times in the last two years or so. It’s just really well done. I’m also waiting for the fifth Maiden Lane book to come available in audio through my library. I am really enjoying those.
If you enjoy Georgette Heyer, I recommend Clare Darcy. She wrote in the 70’s, and books are available on amazon or possibly the library. Witty, light entertainment and great characters, just a treat.
I’d love to see these promoted and made available as ebooks, as Heyer is popular, and Darcy’s books
– Georgina, Lydia, Victoire, etc, all women’s names- are just almost as good as the best of Heyer’s and as a reader, it’s so hard to find that flavor. Ratafia sorbet!
Not much romance for me this month.
I read The Heirarchy of Needs by Rebecca Grace Allen which I enjoyed! I love a good friends-to-lovers story and it was a light quick read. On the other hand I struggled through The Vampire’s Wolf by Jenna Kernan, which was a HQN Nocture with terrible worldbuilding and bland underdeveloped characters.
I also read Tigers and Devils by Sean Kennedy, which I know a lot of people love but didn’t do much for me. I liked reading a romance set in Melbourne because it is my city, and it’s always nice to read things set there, but I didn’t get as much feeling for the relationship between the main characters and why they actually liked each other as I wanted. I felt like Simon interacted more with his friends than his boyfriend, so I wasn’t as convinced by the romance as I liked. And the book felt long. I honestly felt it would have been more interesting written from Declan’s point of view, because as the gay footballer I felt he had the more interesting story.
I’m also struggling through You Really Got Me by Erika Kelly – I feel like the hero and heroine keep going back and forth with ‘we’re attracted but we can’t’ and not getting anywhere and it’s getting annoying. Possibly I’m just too picky for romance right now.
I’ve been speeding through Ben Aaronovitch’s Peter Grant books. I’m part way through Whispers Under Ground and loving it. The first two books were so great in such different ways, and I love the way Moon Over Soho dealt with music. I’m also speeding through Cassandra Clare’s Infernal Devices series (which is I think a prequel series for her other books, but it’s an easy Victorian-set fantasy read so I’m not really fussed about that). I think it’s the first time I’ve genuinely thought the best ending to a love triangle in a YA series is threesome relationship, but I know that’s not going to happen.
@Kate, the Jane Whitefield books by Thomas Perry are amazing, I especially love the ones with outdoor lore. I recommend Metzger’s Dog by Perry, it’s a Carl Hiassen style comic thriller.
@Laura, Yes I was lucky enough to win an ARC and it is such a splendid story. I actually thought to myself, well I would totally have paid $12 for an ebook of this if I hadn’t got the free ARC. Which is a nice change from grumbling that I wouldn’t have paid X for such and such a book if I’d known it would be dull/annoying/predictable.
Borrowed a bunch from the library and managed to read most of them before they were due back!
Silk is for Seduction and Scandal Wears Satin were my first from Loretta Chase. Really enjoyed the H/h in each, the descriptions of all the dresses and the bantering all around. Will definitely read the next two soon!
Three Weeks With Lady X by Eloisa James was very good, though not quite what I was expecting from the cover copy – for some reason I’d got it in my head that she was a sort of etiquette teacher helping him refine his manners! I really enjoyed a heroine who worked for a living and was glad the secondary love story had a happy ending as well.
It Takes A Scandal by Caroline Linden was sitting on my Kindle and ended up being quite enjoyable. Looking forward to the rest of the series!
Looking For Trouble by Victoria Dahl, Grave Phantoms by Jenn Bennett, The Mane Squeeze by Shelley Laurenston, and The Mystery Woman by Amanda Quick were all good reads and part of series I will continue.
I borrowed Back in Play by Lynda Aicher based on a review here and really really liked it! Nice to read about a hockey player at the other end of his career for a change – the portrayal of what it takes to play competitively for so long and the toll it takes on your body was moving. And YAY for a heroine who didn’t give up her whole life for the chance at lurrrve. I thought the arguments and compromises between Scott and Rachel were very realistic and adult.
Love on the Line by Deeanne Gist was also prompted by seeing her mentioned on this site. I mentioned to a friend I was reading it and she indicated that Gist is often classified as a Christian or inspirational writer. If I hadn’t known that going in I don’t think I would have picked up on it – the character’s faith seems very appropriate for the time period and there isn’t any profound message beating you over the head. While I was really into all the historical detail – seriously, she did her research on telephone operations, birding, train robbery and shooting competitions – the actions of the hero near the 2/3 part really threw me out of the book and soured the ending for me. I won’t get too spoilery, but to me it felt like the heroine wasn’t the most important thing to the hero and he did a really shitty thing while justifying his actions for a larger cause. Sorry if that doesn’t make any sense! She has a few other books with plots that sound really interesting, but now I’m hesitant and will wait a few months before trying those.
Currently reading Sinner’s Heart by Zoe Archer and liking it. Second in the series, but I feel like I’ve got a handle on what’s going on. I had to DNF (for now) Hot Blooded by Donna Grant for the opposite reason – it’s #4 in the series and I had no clue what was going on! Sad because there are DRAGONS.
Someone just pointed me to this version of “Tam Lin” done as a Shakespeare play, and it is downright amazing.
I am binge reading the Rocker Chick series by Kristen Ashley…I have loved every book in the series and cannot find a weak one in the bunch. Love the characters and all the zaniness….I want my own RC Posse!
@taffygrrl: Glad you felt like I did about the portrayal of Indian characters in The Sandalwood Princess. It wasn’t just stereotypical, it was cartoonishly dreadful and offensive or orientalist and offensive. I nearly DNFd that one, but got through it and gave it a thumbs down. Devil’s Delilah is also an early Chase and it was sooo much better.
@Kareni: Talking about Hambly’s ST novel Ishmael – you mentioned it being good for Kirk and Spock fans. Does that mean there is slash fodder galore? (Although I’ve yet to find published Trek novels more K/S than The Entropy Effect, The Price of the Phoenix, The Fate of the Phoenix, and the first edition of Killing Time (which was pulled from shelves and edited in a second edition to be less Space Husband-y). OTP!!!
I’ve just glommed most of Thea Harrison’s Elder Race novels after discovering that she used to write as Amanda Carpenter–my favourite 1990s Mills and Boon author. The new stuff is Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance, but the old stuff is brooding alphas, strong but brittle heroines and the best prose in a M&B ever (unless you are looking for Hemingway).
Most memorable this month was Without Restraint by Angela Knight. Not a reader of BDSM stories but I stayed up late to finish this book! Great dialogue and chemistry between the hero and heroine, plus a suspense story around all the sexytimes, all set in the South. Hell, I am not even much of a romantic suspense reader ….
I can’t remember how I discovered it, but I came across Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon (apparently a pseudonym for a bestselling author) and it was TERRIFIC. Spaceship holding a group of kidnapped human women crashes on an ice planet (“not-Hoth” is their name for it) and they run into tall, blue, horned and verrry sexy aliens. So much fun and the heroines are smart, brave and funny. Second book, Barbarian Alien, was just as good. Third book coming soon. World-building really inventive. Has anyone else read these? What did you think?
My mom came out to visit me and the kids, so there was no reading to be had in two weeks. This weekend I read a MG book, Dear America/The Diary of Piper Davis: The Fences Between Us by Kirby Larson as a bookend to the VJ celebrations. Highly recommend to young readers so they could see a different perspective of America’s fight in WWII (Japanese internment in the West). I am currently heading back into The Witness by Nora Roberts (so good, but I put it down to spend time with mom) and The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough (one of his short works).
While my mom was out visiting, we traveled to Bath and I took a tour of the Jane Austen Center. Pride & Prejudice is now on top of the TBR pile for September – I got a big “read all the JA books” after the visit, but need to clear out this month’s books first.
@Nancy House: Thanks for the Clare Darcy recommendation! My library has quite of few of hers listed.
I’ve only read two books that I can say I really enjoyed so far this summer. Magic Shifts and Tremaine’s True Love. Big disappointments were Lady Be Good, The Other Daughter and The Lure of the Moonflower. Awful just awful were Brown Eyed Girl and The Bourbon Kings. I hated BEG from the first chapter!
Patiently waiting for Nalini’s new Guild Hunter book…..
@Amanda – Yes, that’s me! Thanks for reading my blog – I haven’t been posting nearly as much as I should. But there are some otome games coming over soon, and good ones! I have high hopes.
I’m currently reading The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer. I had seen her bandied about (a lot) on this site, and then the local library happened to have some of her books in their overdrive library, and I decided now was the time.
I just finished Throne of Glass by Sarah Maas (I had recently read A Court of Thorns and Roses and really enjoyed it, so I decided to check out her other work) and it was okay. Good action, a lot of potential in the court politics, but it could have used some editing, specifically in her use of exclamation points. She had entirely too many, especially at the beginning. That should have been redlined with a note from her editor that said, “Oh, honey. No. You sound like a lab puppy.”
I also went and picked up the audio book of Devil In the White City by Erik Larson. I have this weird quirk where I like nonfiction, but I prefer it being read to me.
Graphic novel wise, I’m reading Gotham Academy with my eight year old girl spawn. At some point, she’s going to tell me to stop reading with her, and I am not looking forward to that day. :/ Complete Mom-brag aside: she won the Bookworm Award for her second grade class last year. I told her to mention it when she meets her new third grade teacher tomorrow.
Today, August 16, is the birthday of Georgette Heyer.
Crystal, I just love the Grand Sophy. Turns a lot people upside down.