Happy February, everyone! Even though it’s almost over and it’s a rather short month, I’m sure we’ve all been getting some reading time in, especially with winter refusing to go away. Be warned that this post is hazardous on your book budget, so careful with the one-clicking!
Amanda: I’m not actively reading anything right now because I’ve been in a weird slump, staring listlessly at my TBR pile. However, I’ve picked out two books that I really want to start soon. Beyond Shame by Kit Rocha ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Scribd ) – I’m really loving dark romances lately and it comes highly recommend. Sarah thinks I’ll really like it and it was recently free! So why not.
The other is Sweet Seduction by Daire St. Denis. I’ve never read a category romance before and the plot of this one is calling to me like a siren! The heroine is a baker and mistakes the hero for a famous food critic. However, the food critic in question is actually the hero’s twin brother.
Carrie: Plum Bun by Jessie Redmon Fauset! ( A | BN )
Sarah: I have Artistic License by Elle Pierson on my reader because Mandy from Smexybooks said Elle Pierson is a nom de plume for Lucy Parker. She wrote this book I hardly have ever talked about at all called Act Like It.
Nowhere But Home by Liza Palmer ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) was on sale recently and I grabbed that like it was on fire, which now that I think of it would be a really interesting way to program an ebook.
And I have a weird pair of books on my TBR. Years before my grandmother died in in 2006, she told me how much she loved Anthony Trollope, and that she had most of his books in print. She loaned me one, which I can’t put my hands on now (boxes still unpacked two months after we moved? OF COURSE) but I’m pretty sure is Barchester Towers ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au | Scribd ).
I also have ebooks of Miss Mackenzie ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Scribd ) and The Way We Live Now ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Scribd ), but if anyone wants to recommend a Trollope for the romance fan (That might be my favorite phrase ever) I welcome the suggestion!
Elyse: I am currently reading The Widow by Fiona Barton ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au ). I just started it and haven’t really formed an opinion yet
Sarah: People are hyperventilating over that book.
Elyse: I’m also reading Carter and Lovecraft ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au )and I cannot tell you how much it delights me that Lovecraft’s descendant is a black woman. This book is a horror/fantasy/noir set around a RI bookstore. Catnip alert!
Redheadedgirl: Joanne Shupe’s Magnate, the first full-length book in her new Knickerboxer series.
Elyse: I’m so on board for that series.
Amanda: I was actually curious about that one, RHG. Let me know how it is!
Redheadedgirl: The Vicar’s Frozen Heart by Karyn Gerrard( A | BN | K | G | AB ). And The English Housewife, by Gervase Markham ( A | BN ). Wanna know how to cure the flux?
Elyse: Yes.
Redheadedgirl: One of the remdies starts with mercury, so….
Elyse: Nope
Redheadedgirl: Oh, Amanda, The English Housewife is a 1615 cookbook/household management guide.
Amanda: I want to know about the “household management” portion.
Redheadedgirl: Medical remedies, how to preserve food, how to dye fabrics, “containing the inward and outward virtues which ought to be in a complete woman…”
Making various kinds of booze. Stuff like that.
Carrie: Every virtuous woman can make booze.
What have you been reading? What were the hits and misses in your TBR pile this month?
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, that’s wonderfully awesome of you, and if you’d prefer not to, no worries at all. Thank you so much for hanging out with us, and hopefully you found something good to read!
February has been slow for me.
I’ve been trying to finish Hero With a Thousand Faces, which is due back Monday.
I read Brotherhood in Death shortly after it came out. I enjoyed it, but the plot was reminiscent of one of the more recent in Death books, but this time with an ending that didn’t annoy me.
I’m also listening to A Wrinkle in Time, and thinking that I probably should have read it instead. I’m sure the main character is supposed to be a bit whiny, but hearing it is really grating.
I have read a lot in the last month, so I’ll just mention the best of the bunch.
Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand. A psychedelic-folk band spent the summer of 1971 at a remote country estate working on a new album; mysterious events took place, culminating in the disappearance of the guitarist/songwriter. 40 years later the surviving members tell about it. A wonderful, quiet story that gives a strong sense of what it was like making music at that time, plus a supernatural mystery concerned with the nature of the sacred.
The Anatomy of Curiosity by Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton, and Brenna Yovanoff. My review. Three YA authors talk about their writing process, each illustrating the explanation with an annotated novella. Interesting to have such different writing styles compared side-by-side, and good novellas too.
Dark Orbit by Carolyn Ives Gilman. A science fiction novel which throws together lots of observations about perception (how much of reality we can perceive, how experience shapes that, how people are changed by being seen, etc.) in the form of an expedition to a planet at a weird place in spacetime, which turns out to be already occupied by people who live entirely underground and don’t use vision. A bit awkwardly structured and inconsistent but interesting. One good main character who is an older woman with a sense of humor.
A Seditious Affair by K. J. Charles. I didn’t know how Charles could pull this one off, but I should never doubt her. This story of how two men at the most extreme political opposition find common ground, amid tense times, was perfectly emotionally pitched. Incidentally she managed to make one of the heroes of the upcoming book seem even less likable than he did previously; she evidently likes a challenge, because I know she’ll succeed in writing a lovely romance and deep characterization for him, without undoing any of his previous characterization.
Sunset Mantle by Alter S. Reiss. I mentioned this one in comments here earlier. Heroic fantasy with a nice understated romance element to it, plus a society carefully delineated, and a hero who succeeds in the challenge of both sticking to that society’s rigid principles and doing the right thing, and some good military action.
The Mazarinette and the Musketeer by Heather Rose Jones. A romp of a historical adventure, featuring actual kickass women of the 17th century (with notes on the history); plots, disguises, bets, swordfights, and f/f amours. (BTW it’s free online.)
The Raven and the Reindeer by T. Kingfisher. Have you ever read “The Snow Queen” and thought that Gerda was awfully “wet” and Kay wasn’t worth what the author put Gerda through? Kingfisher takes the best parts of the story, and the best of Gerda, and twists them into a wry narrative full of animal and plant (yes) characters. Recommended for YA and all ages.
I’d like to thank whoever mentioned Honey Girl last month. I usually avoid the YA/NA genre, but the 70’s setting caught my attention. The characters behave like irresponsible teenagers; they smoke, drink, smoke dope and even drop acid and NOTHING TERRIBLE HAPPENS! These are not necessarily recommended lifestyle choices, but I was a teenager in the 70’s, did all of the above and lived to tell the tale. The main character, Nani, is so vulnerable, trying to be tough, dealing with her grief and her sexuality. I really enjoyed this one.
I also just finished The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin. The writing didn’t do much for me, but I’m a sucker for the sex and shopping genre. This wasn’t quite that sort, but I enjoyed the story of the emotional affair between Truman Capote and Babe Paley and Capote’s fall from grace.
At least I feel like I’m beginning to emerge from the great book slump.
I finished the first Mistborn trilogy (Brandon Sanderson). It was good but a slog in some places, so now I’m re-reading Anne George’s Southern Sister mysteries to lighten back up.
I read (and loved) the first two books in the Magic Ex Libris series and am looking forward to acquiring the rest of the series. Now I’m reading My American Duchess by Eloisa James, which of course is wonderful, and Sarah MacLean’s The Rogue Not Taken is waiting for me.
I have 2 books going for my reading challenge this year.
Down on Ponce by Fred Willard (book about my hometown)
Level Up by Cathy Yardley (book recommended by a stranger). After listening to the podcast I knew I had to get it.
I’ve had a good reading month, especially considering that I’m a full-time student so really ought to be spending all of my waking hours reading school books…
I Capture the Castle (Dodie Smith) – how have I lived my life so far without discovering this book? It was delightful! One of my profs loaned it to me over the Christmas holidays, but I didn’t get around to reading it until later – I’m going to have to track down my own copy when I give it back to her.
Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) – this is one of my favourite re-reads – I’m working my way through it slowly, a chapter at a time at bedtime.
Before I Go To Sleep (S. J. Watson) – good gym reading
I’ve just started The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 (Christopher Paul Curtis); I’m working my way through Prayers for a Privileged People (Walter Brueggemann) as my Lenten reading; and I’m part-way through Slow Burn (K. Bromberg) as my current gym reading.
And I forgot to mention the audiobook I’m listening to on my commute these days – Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth (Margaret Atwood). I’m listening to this one for one of my classes, but it is fascinating.
I finished the decent FANTASY FREAKS AND GAMING GEEKS by Ethan Gilsdorf and the rulebook for the superhero rpg CHAMPIONS (6th edition), and now I’m between books. I’m waiting on REDSHIRTS by John Scalzi, THE MUNCHKIN BOOK by James Lowder, and TO MY DEAR CIVILIANS, WITH LOVE by porn star Rebecca Lord. So not exactly romance novels for me!
Re: Anthony Trollope and Barchester Towers–it’s been years but Can You Forgive Her, is really compelling and might work for the romance reader. (The Small House at Allington is also excellent BUT it does not have an HEA for everyone.)
Also, I forgot to mention that I one-clicked Artistic License because of this. Right now I’m reading Megan Mulry.
I recently finished Everything I Left Unsaid by M. O’Keefe. I’m now reading The Truth About Him, the next book in the series, because I couldn’t wait to see what happened.
jimthered- I want Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks to BE a romance novel! I’ve seen books set at renaissance faires, but not other geeky type venues. As to this months reading – I’ve got the flu from hell and just reread the Wallflowers series by Lisa Kleypas. Ah, comfort reads.
Revisiting the “Merry Gentry” series for right now, and re-reading for the third time “Furiously Happy” by Jenny Lawson, aka The Bloggess. It is probably the most “pee-my-pants” funny book I have read in years.
I am saving “Wolf Hall” by Hilary Mantel, “The Improbability of Love” by Hannah Rothschild, and “Feverborn” by KM Moning for my trip to Cozumel in two weeks.
My TBR pile is what most normal people refer to as a “Bookcase”, but readers like me call “Saturday”. Damned used book stores and their sneaky wiles!
@Tracy we’ve published a few romances w/gaming convention or fan con atmosphere at Carina Press, if you’re interested.
I just got done reading Devoted in Death because I was waiting for a library copy. I continue to love this series, and I’m not one who minds when the romance in the series takes a back seat to the mystery, because it’s been such a long series, I think that’s necessary to keep things interesting. So this book was a little more brutal/graphic in some of the descriptions of the victims’ suffering, but I otherwise still enjoyed it.
I’ve been reading mostly male/male PNR and fantasy in the past month and have read some fantastic romances in the course of it. I’m loving on Charlie Cochet’s PNR m/m series and wish she could write faster! If you’re looking for a different spin on shifters, this was a great one.
I was recommended Lyn Gala’s scifi trilogy, the 1st being Claimings, Tails, & Other Alien Artifacts and I really enjoyed the whole trilogy. One of the MCs is a true alien character, and the other a human male. They fall in love in an alien culture and the author does a good job of not making the alien a human in different skin but an alien w/a whole other set of cultural differences. I recommend it.
Last, I loved Family of Lies: Sebastian by Sam Argent. Really perfect, fun, not angsty fantasy romance with a fabulous cast of secondary characters. Stands alone and was just wonderful in the happy book sigh department.
I’m still on the lookout for more m/m PNR and fantasy romance recs. I’m a huge fan of both PNR and fantasy romance and I feel like I’ve gone through most of the great options in het romance so m/m` has been filling that void for me recently!
Thanks Angela!
I started reading the Captive Prince series after Lauren of Christina Lauren mentioned it in their interview. So, so good!
@Francesca: I mentioned Honey Girl. So glad you enjoyed it!
@Angela James: Have you read Lynn Lorenz’ “Bayou Loup”? It is a trilogy with m/m werewolves and the “Fated Mate” trope. I really enjoyed the trilogy a few years back when I read it.
Just finished reading Level Up – now I will listen to the podcast about it. Also reading the Kate Burkholder serires by Linda Castillo which I am enjoying.
I am reading books for two classes right now (blegh), but am looking forward to starting “Leonard” by William Shatner (about his 50-year friendship with Leonard Nimoy) soon, and have decided to start up the Gin Blaco series again. I binge read 8 or 9 of them in less than two weeks several months ago and burned myself out (introducing every character all over again every book, down to physical descriptions and their role in the series may be a great practice for the benefit of new readers who have picked a book at random and have started reading out of order, but it gets OLD when you’ve read it 8 times already!).
So I read Act Like it by Lucy Parker based on this websites recs and you did not disappoint. Lovely done story. I also read Spotless and Beating Ruby about an OCD hired hit man the heroine finds cleaning her apartment while waiting for her to get home. I liked them better than I thought I would.I also finished Strong Signal by Erickson and Santino Hassell (who I usually love). I thought it was well done but must not have been in the right mood to truly appreciate it. I also read the (shorter) story Never Loved by Charlotte Stein. I usually love love her stories but I got a bit irritated with this one. She writes in first person and dives pretty deeply into the head of the narrator and I noticed it took about 4 pages to get through 5 lines of dialogue. The main character was a bit Mary Sue for me so it was more of a miss (sigh*). I’ll still dive into her next with enthusiasm. I’m cracking open an oldie Daddy Long Legs next.
I’m also reading Brandon Sanderson right now. A new Mistborn book came out, and, despite my very mixed feelings about the Mistborn Trilogy, I picked it up and thought it was pretty good, and it prompted me to read some of his other stuff. In the past few weeks I read The Way of Kings (1088 pages), and now I’m 80% finished with the second book in the Stormlight Archive series, Words of Radiance (1328 pages). The third book is planned for next year. I’m going to be bereft when I finish this today. Sanderson has progressed tremendously as a writer since the first Mistborn books, primarily in pacing and characterization (though some reviewers disagree with me about the pacing in the first volume). And one of the odd things about the books (and Sanderson’s books in general, from what I’ve read) is that there is no sex in them. There is no direct mention of sex. There are, occasionally, bawdy jokes and references to “they might hurt her, or worse,” and one older couple appears to strike up a sexual relationship, but it’s more hinted at than established.
Oh, and I have the February Dreamspun Desires categories lined up, too: “The Lone Rancher” by Andrew Grey has a hero who gets a secret gig at a Dallas strip club to make money to save the family ranch and a friends-to-lovers plot. “The Stolen Suitor” by Eli Easton has a scheming mother and a sort of “rich guy/ shy virgin” trope. Both sound like oodles of fun!
With the Valentine sale of “The Playboy Sheikh’s Virgin Stable-Girl,” I decided I had to read it. My library only had it in the four-book bundle, “The Royal House of Karedes,” so I read it first and then read the other three, and then the second bundle. How fun! Kind of like pita chips. Not exactly delicious but definitely hard to stop.
Dyanama, last night’s read, was fun and light, but it did hit some very poignant every-day issues including “who is there for the kids when [literal] supermom has to keep on saving the world.”
Listening to SEP’s “Heroes are My Weakness.” I listen while I’m painting (rooms), but all my painting is done for a while, and I’m now trying to make up reasons to listen to the last few chapters.
I’ll second @rube that Can You Forgive Her? is a good starting point in Trollope, being the first in the Palliser books. There aren’t a lot of big carry-throughs from book to book in the Barsetshire books, but a few of them are more fun to encounter when you know what’s in the past.
Erin Bow’s The Scorpion Rules was a lot more fun than I’d expected. The world-building makes more sense than most YA dystopia (much of it revolves around water rights) and one of the semi-villains is fun. Once or twice, bits of apparent background color reappear in ways I found funny.
Reread Kathleen Woodiwiss’s Ashes in the Wind for the first time in mumble mumble years, having a vague memory that the leads were least irritating in that one. Had forgotten about 200 pages of side plot and coinkydink piled on coinkydink.
I read Mary Balogh’s Beyond the Sunrise for the first time. It’s one of her pairs who fight their endless way through endless great sex, which isn’t my favorite of her modes, but I was liking it well enough anyway, and then the book went on about 60 pages past where it should have ended.
Enjoyed Zen Cho’s Sorcerer to the Crown, but honestly hoped to enjoy it more than I did. The female lead is both a tad overpowered and in the mode of the more impulsive Heyer heroines. She had a few Too Stupid to Live moments that got to me.
Likewise I’m in the camp that enjoyed aspects of Bujold’s Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen but. To me, Cordelia doesn’t work well as a main character in a plot this size – she’s too much of a force of nature, and comes across rather Cordelia Sue. I also felt herded through all the retconning and additional coincidence to lead up to a set of present interactions. Her books, her characters, fun to visit with them again, but this one won’t be in my top five.
My favorite reads of the month were Claire North’s Gameshouse novellas, especially the first one, The Serpent. It’s a game of political manipulation in 17th century Venice. I enjoyed the slow build and the gradual fitting of elements.
I’m currently reading Charmed and Dangerous, a collection of Gay Romance and Urban Fantasy. I bought it due to a K. J. Charles short story being in the collection, but I’m really enjoying the stories.
@Qualisign: with you on Dynama except that I enjoyed the family dynamics more than the rather goofy superhero elements. Has (one possible) convincing solution to “how do you talk to children about their father having done bad things?”
Just finished Anne Bishop’s “Vision in Silver,” which is my favorite of the novels so far. It does still have the Bishop trope of “the majority side in this conflict is 80% evil people and 20% weak people going along with the evildoers” which gets a bit tiresome for me at times – but I’m enjoying it nonetheless.
Also finished “Ancillary Sword” by Ann Leckie. Lots of people say this book was weaker than “Ancillary Justice” but I actually enjoyed it more!
Wanted to take this chance to tell folks about a nonfiction book that just stunned me: “The Only Woman in the Room: Why Science is Still a Boy’s Club” by Eileen Pollack. She has an interesting and informative take on the whole issue. She was in high school and college around the same time I was, and what she experienced really resonated with me (She was a physics major at Yale; I was an engineer at Cornell). She talks with woman currently in science and has some fascinating insights. I want my kids to read this, even though only one of the four looks like they will be involved in science as a profession, just because it is a very revealing view of how insidious prejudice can be.
It’s been a slow month for me, but I’ve been rediscovering how much I like Noelle Adams’ short stories and novellas. She never does a hero POV, so far as I can tell, which would usually be a turn off from me. Somehow, she makes it work for me. Also, she routinely makes her stuff free :). I particularly enjoyed “Holiday Heat.”
The first couple of months every year are always bargain-hunting-book-reading- months for me. Stephanie Doyle The Contestant was free, or almost free book I spotted on my Bookbub feed. Sometimes I get lucky and the free books are nice or just ok, but this was really good! Suspence and romance and hot, hot jungle lovin’.
I listened to some YA, These Broken Stars by Meagan Spooner and Amie Kaufman. It was good, even though the plot was a little weird and muddy at places, but the main characters were well written and wonderfull.
I also listened Amy Harmon’s Slow Dance in Purgatory and Prom Night in Purgatory on Scribd, based on someone’s recommendation on a recent HaBo. They were addictive, even though the main character suffered at times from Bella-itis, as in “my life does not matter if I’m not with my true love. I might as well DIE!” Urgh…
I also bought The Winter Stone novel collection that was on sale, because 1) I was told there would be highland hotties (yey!), 2) time travel (GIMME!) and 3) magic (yeah, ok). So disappointed! The stories were rushed and I didn’t feel any chemistry between any of the couples. I know they are novels and It’s difficult to cram all the story and all the feels in short stories, but In the past I’ve read great short stories with all the feels and all the chemistry. These didn’t do it for me.
Thank you for selecting Lucy Parker’s Act Like It for the Harlequin’s Valentine’s Day Sale. I LOVE IT SO MUCH! It was the best thing I have read in ages. It was like the great old skool romances I read in the 90’s, but with a great heroine, and the hero wasn’t a total douche like in the older Harlequin’s… Just a little douche, but wonderfull and a little broken. Awww, let me fix you my darling!
I recently re-read Ruthie Knox’s Ride With Me and Truly and then found the Camelot-series, so I’m now reading them.
Also reading Piper J. Drake’s Hidden Impact, but I’m having difficulties with it and I don’t know why. I just keep skipping pages, waiting the story to get going already.
I tried to get into Kit Rocha’s Beyond Shame, but the heroine was startingbto get on my nerves with her bambyish act and her “I can’t bear these notty, dirty feelings I have” wailings. Urgh…
I just (minutes ago) finished Cathy Yardley’s Level Up geek romance that you recommended on your podcast. It was so much FUN! And hot! Yey!
Next lined up, are Alyssa Cole’s Radio Silence and Shelly Thacker’s His Captive Bride.
My best reading this month is from the extensive back list of M.C. Beaton via kindle unlimited. The publisher has packaged these early Regencies into “series” with charming cover art, but perhaps without actually reading the titles. Three women friends feature in the final two books of one series while the third friend’s HEA takes place in another “series” entirely.
I read three romances: On the Surface; A Little Sugar, A Lot of Love; and One Scandalous Kiss, each of which had solid reviews and interesting synopses, but all of which fell into my “yeah, okay” category.
Not a sparkling reading month. I think it is time to reconsider my spending habits and stop hanging around the 99 cent aisle.
I’ve got My American Duchess by Eloisa James and The Readers of the Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald on deck for this week. Normally I read a lot of books per week because of my commute, but I’m not feeling well so I’ve only read a dozen or so books this year. I am so behind on my reader challenge.:(
@Hera: Try Sanderson’s Steelheart series. That’s my favorite.
Decided to do the next two in Anne Bishop’s Others series and did like Murder of Crows and Written in Red a lot. Will probably pre-order the next one but then there is how long to wait for the last in the series? I hate waiting!
Also read Letters to My Sister’s Shrink by Heather Balog. Nicely done but deals with abuse so trigger warning.
Re-read Betty Neels’ Tabitha in Moonlight. Neels is always reliable though this was not one of her best. Fun, still. I was a huge Betty Neels fan as a young adult.
Read Frisk Me by Lauren Layne. Not a huge fan of the insta-lust thing or the obnoxious heroine thing. Also read Pairing off by Elizabeth Harmon which was fun.
I see Scribd is changing the ground rules again. I did read that notice, also. It is making me wonder if kindle unlimited would be a better bet.
I just bought Artistic License, So much for my not buying any more books until I get my tbr list down. Still, I’m really excited to read another book by the author of Act Like It.
My best romances of the month were Ninja at First Sight and Happily Ever Ninja by Penny Reid (connecting novella and novel). I loved Fiona and Greg so much! The humor was amazing and the way she captured the conflicts that can happen between longtime couples who still love each other so much was well done.
The other great book I read this month was Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson. I had heard of her blog and her first book, but never checked either out. I think maybe her love of taxidermy, which I find creepy, turned me off to looking into her work initially. This book was just what I needed this month. It was super funny and incredibly relatable.
Other books I enjoyed this month were The Score by Elle Kennedy, Sleeping with the Enemy by Jenny Holiday (we need more Asian heroes), and Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh. Everything else was decent, but nothing really special.
Right now I’m reading If the Viscount Falls by Sabrina Jeffries and enjoying it so far. I’m trying to read as many books on Scribd as I can before the rules change next month. I feel like I’m always trying to read books on Scribd before they expire which mean I read less of the books I actually buy. I feel like the rushing is actually hurting my enjoyment of the books I read.
I recently read a book that was so very HORRIBLE that a scathing review is forming itself in my mind and I will shortly be delivering myself if it.
It is the second in the House of Pleasures series by Kate Pearce. Earlier this week the first in that series, Simply Sexual, was featured on this blog and I remembered I had yet to read it. It was OK, nothing great, but I did kinda like the characters and the second in the series, Simply Sinful, was about the character Peter Howard. So I read it.
I wish there was a way to wash my eyeballs. The plot is not remotely possible. Yes, there were brothels in Regency England, and yes, there were places for men to get it on with men. But since sex with men was a hanging offence at the time, I sincerely doubt men would have been prancing around where others could see them, no matter how exclusive the membership list of the House of Pleasures is. There are other things I found completely unbelievable about the HofP.
The antics among the three main characters had no credibility. I really doubt that modistes stripped their female clientele in front of men, even their husbands, and especially not in front of a man not the woman’s husband. I also sincerely doubt a modiste, whose income was dependent upon reputation, would have allowed men to grope a client.
As for the things they got up to at home, has the author never heard of servants and servants’ gossip? Servants knew everything their employers were up to.
The resolution of the story is contrived. Nothing felt natural or remotely plausible. The gossip would have been outrageous and would have been the ruin of Valentin’s and Peter’s business.
OTOH, if all you care about is sex sex sex sex in as many varied ways as possible, and you don’t care about history, proper spacing after commas, a decent plot.
Hmmm, my review seems to have come to full term.
Simply Sexual: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JSAOYGE?keywords=simply%20sexual%20kate%20pearce&qid=1455997657&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Simply-Sinful-House-Pleasure-Book-ebook/dp/B00KH7ZJR0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1455997700&sr=1-1&keywords=simply+sinful+kate+pearce
I always open tabs for the GBPL and Amazon before I start reading this post every month. Nothing like a little instant gratification. Especially since I totally missed the new Molly O’Keefe release! Thanks @Laura Jardin! CLICK!!
Surprisingly, February not a big romance month. So far. There’s a week left, after all.
Read The Bookseller, which had an interesting, road not taken premise. Then The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend which did actually have romances in it, while not really being a romance. One of those giant casts of characters that never seems to give you real satisfaction because they can’t be as fully fleshed as you’d like.
Started Wicked Sexy Liar yesterday and would’ve finished it this morning if it weren’t for pesky social obligations like buying a birthday present for the bff’s younger girl so I don’t look like a thoughtless auntie tonight at dinner. I just gotta say, if I don’t get a Not Joe story from Christina Lauren, I’m going to be sorely disappointed.
Then it’s the third book in Lauren Dane’s Ink and Chrome series – another release I somehow missed back in December. Where are my Amazon and GoodReads reminders?
At the moment, I’m reading A Geek’s Guide to Murder after picking it up during the freebie deal and I’m mixed on it. The main character feels real and some of the side characters are great but I keep getting tripped up by stupid assumptions and how the pacing feels really off. The hero especially annoys me, he seems to think things about the heroine just so she can tell him off and reveal more about herself, but he doesn’t seem like a person to me. I’m liking the mystery and its a good setting but its a bit disappointing. Its also not showing up wonderfully as I’m in the midst of reading through Donna Leon’s Brunetti’s mysteries which are so well done.
I’m also reading and being incredibly informed by a book called How Long Have You Been Native? about being a tour guide in Alaska. The author’s an anthropologist and does a lot of questioning of her own assumptions and everyone else’s. As someone who loves to travel and lived for a time in New Zealand which has a similar tourist culture, I’m learning a lot and its giving me tons to think about.
Earlier in the month I read The Sport of Baronets which I breezed through, the writing was great as were the characters and I wished it had been a full length book. Some parts of the pacing felt weirdly condensed. Chain Reaction was another novella I enjoyed, where the quickness worked, it felt like an episode of a good tv show. I also all but inhaled Back to the Good Fortune Diner, as someone who’s currently living at home and trying to get the life I want, this book hit close to home in the best sort of way.
I read a fascinating YA called Willful Machines that’s near future and this mixture of AI ethics, political issues, the main character’s the closested son of the president and a school story. Highly recommended for how it all came together.
The new Bujold is on my TBR pile but I’m wary and curious about it from all the different reviews.
I just finished reading Aline in the Dark by Karen Rose and Brotherhood in Death by JD Robb. They were so heavy and now I’m looking for something light. I loved them both, but I can’t read another rape/torture-centric book right now.
I just downloaded the first magic ex Libris book on audible and will be listening to that as I get ready to go to a Bermie Sanders rally tonight. I just can’t read anything right now, so I’m going to watch some DVD’s today and hopefully be able to get back to my TBR pile tomorrow.