All right! It’s time for everyone’s post they love to hate because it often leaves very unhappy wallets! March is nearly over (wow!) and hopefully it’s starting to feel a little like spring wherever you are. I know I’m looking forward to bringing my book outside to laze around in the sun.
So let’s get this party started!
Amanda: I mentioned on a previous Whatcha Reading that I had picked up Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au ), though I set it back down to read some other things. So I’m reading that again! I need some Dolly Parton-esque, Southern wisdom in my life right about now.
And then I’ll be starting Exposed by Jasinda Wilder ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au ), which is the continuation of Madame X. I can’t tell you enough how much the first book just sucked me right in and I’ve put off reading Exposed long enough! I’m expecting another cliffhanger-ish ending since I know there’s another book to come. So if you see any angry caps on Twitter from me in the near future, that may be the culprit.
Sarah: Based on a recommendation via Real People I Know Who I Talk to on Facebook, I’m reading The Queen’s Wings by Jamie K. Schmidt
There are dragons! Dragons all over the place. And the women are being confined by a curse so there are five total female dragons in the world, who are worshipped like queens and get to have sex with whomever they want though they are expected to birth dragons to continue the species and all. It’s first person, so there’s sarcasm and goofiness, and it’s not dark and emotional and scary, which is exactly what I need.
Redheadedgirl: I just finished How the Duke Was Won by Lenora Bell, which is a delightful “You there, bastard daughter of my husband, you look like my daughter enough to be her twin and I need you to pretend to be her so she can land a duke.” Also there’s hot chocolate invovled.
Carrie: Charlotte Bronte: A Fiery Heart by Claire Harman ( A | BN | K | G | AB )
Sarah: You like?
Carrie: Oh yes, it’s very good! Review pending.
Elyse: I just started Barefoot with the Bodyguard by Roxanne St. Clair ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), but like literally just started so I haven’t formulated an opinion yet
Amanda: Also, I recently received a copy of The Assistants by Camille Perri and 1) I love the cover and 2) it was described to me as a modern day Robin Hood, but with a female executive assistant as Robin Hood and rich big wig CEOs as John.
Redheadedgirl: Ohhhhhh!
Sarah: HELLO.
What have you been reading this month? Tell us what you loved and hated!
I’ve had a good reading month: some terrific Pride and Prejudice fan fiction, plus “My Kind of Wonderful” by Jill Shalvis and “Barefoot Season” by Susan Mallery (thank you, 99 cent sales!)
I also read “Lighting the Flames” by Sarah Wendell, which was lovely but too short (hating the novella form right now) and “Kingfisher” by Patricia McKillip (engaging but not her best).
Now in the middle of “Linesman” by SK Dunstall and “Solar Express” by LE Modesitt, Jr. Hugo nominations are due in less than two weeks so I’m on an all-SFF reading binge until then.
So, the post has been up for a day and my Kindle account and reserve list at the GBPL are completely out of control AGAIN.
Also totally rethought my reading plan. I scored the 2nd book in Molly O’Keefe’s Crooked Creek Ranch trilogy yesterday so I can now binge read all three along with The Truth About Him which just popped to the top of my reserve list at the GBPL. This week is going to be all Molly O’Keefe. The amount of good book noise is going to make the neighbors wonder.
I read the latest book by C.S. Harris, When Falcons Fall shortly after it was issued. I loved it and will now wait impatiently for the next book in the series, which probably will not release until next year. If you like Regency mysteries with good historical detail, I highly recommend this series.
In an effort to clear off some of my paper TBR shelf, I read Anything for You by Kristan Higgins and Dukes Prefer Blondes by Loretta Chase. I like both authors and these did not disappoint.
I’m really trying to focus on clearing TBR books from my shelves and send them off to others through Paperback swap, but I have not been able to resist a couple Alyssa Cole books that have been featured as deals, because I really enjoyed her podcast with Sarah. So those have been added to my digital TBR folder.
I’m also considering the book, Some Sort of Love, mentioned in CelineB’s post, precisely because of what she did not like about the book. I have worked with many families trying to navigate through the special ed system and IEP process. Truthfully, it is a very difficult and unpleasant process for the majority of them. Nice to see a book about a child with autism that apparently actually addresses the frustrations that families experience with this process.
@Anne, The IEP part of Some Sort of Love was small, but the struggles of dealing with a special needs child was a big part of the book. My dad was a school psych and my mom started her career as a speech path and then spent the last half of her career before retirement as an Early Childhood teacher who dealt mainly with special needs students. She’s actually helped a lot of my friends who have struggled with knowing their rights and what they need to ask for on behalf of their kids, so I do know that it can be a problem, especially in certain schools. I also know how many times my dad had to stay late to finish an IEP because he didn’t have the parts he needed from teachers and how much work my mom had to do at night, both on regular classroom things and IEPs. I think the hero’s frustration is very much how people feel and maybe if there had been examples of how the school hadn’t been cooperating or meeting his son’s needs, other than getting the IEP done as fast as he wanted, it wouldn’t have bothered me as much. I still definitely recommend the book!
My reading budget has been reduced to zero (GASP). So I mostly just wanted to thank whoever it was that posted Whiskey Tide as a freebie for kindle. I haven’t stayed up all night reading a book until it was finished in forever.
Slow and believable build on the romance. Interesting setting and motivation. Well thought out secondary characters. I almost want to read it again right now.
@Allison: It will never cease to floor me when people read my novella. Thank you.
My big find last month was “The Cryptographer”, a Regency spy romance by Alice Wallis-Eton. It could have been subtitled “A Girl and Her Dog” because the heroine is a real loner and introvert, her dog is her best friend, and she has an amazing talent for deciphering codes. Highly enjoyable, it’s the first of 4 connected books, I’ve already bought “The Courtesan” and “The Conundrum”. They’ve got gorgeous covers too.
The C.S. Harris book “When Falcons Fall” was a new experience for me, because once Hero appeared in that series, in every book I was frantically skimming through for the scenes with her and Sebastian. Now that they’re happily married, there’s no relationship drama, and I was able to just read it at a leisurely pace and enjoy the mystery. Something’s lost but something’s gained, as Joni Mitchell said.
I read a bunch of stuff on Scribd: early Caroline Linden, “What A Gentleman Wants”, every bit as good as her later stuff, several old Regencies by Anne Barbour and Jane Ashford, and the first book of an old Elizabeth Thornton series, “Tender the Storm”. The title just screams crazy sauce, and it’s during the French Revolution. Not a great book, but one of those ones you can’t put down anyway.
I just bought Donna Thorland’s new American Revolutionary era spy adventure, “The Dutch Girl” (shelved under Fiction & Literature instead of Romance at B&N, in case you are looking for it). I love her writing, but I doubt it will beat my favorite by her, “The Rebel Pirate”. Because, pirates! That one hade wonderful dialogue, with lots of nautical and pirate slang, and a nicely drawn M/M secondary romance between a pirate and an officer in the British Navy. Another author who has absolutely gorgeous covers.
Well, in between posting yesterday and today, I finished Heir of Fire and slapped a hold on Queen of Shadows in the Overdrive library. I’m third in line, it’ll take me awhile.
I tried starting Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, and quickly decided the writing was not hitting me in the happy place. It just struck me as being a good concept, but the execution was not living up to the concept. So instead I started Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton. Better. Needs to get going, but the Wild Western Arabian Nights thing works for me.
@Karin: Jeez Louise. If I had known there was m/m romance in that book, I would have picked it up a lot sooner. *click* See y’all next month!
@Heather S, make no mistake, it’s VERY secondary, and they are rarely seen together on the page, nevertheless, very touching and memorable characters.
@Karin: I think this calls for me to pester the author until she gives them their own book, then.
On a slump lately. Got half way through Lauren Dane’s Drawn together and lost interest and hoped Fire Touched would spark my interest, but alas, a no go. I’m half way through and while I love Mercy, my attention span just isn’t in it right now. I sorted through my very large TBR pile, and nothing is working for me right now. I hope this mood doesn’t last long….
I read books 4,5 and 6 in Kit Rochas Beyond-series and enjoyed how the world is getting more and more complex with every book. I’m getting increasingly bored by the sex scenes though, since everyone seems to have pretty much the same kinks.
I also read These Broken Stars, a YA scifi romance by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. (Last month I read Illuminae, which Kaufman wrote together with Jay Kristoff and I absolutely LOVED it.) I enjoyed the worldbuilding and “the scifi part” in this one but not so much the romance.
And I finally read The Magpie Lord by K.J. Charles. It was of course lovely. But I’m more invested in her Society of Gentlemen series at the moment so A Gentleman’s Position will definitely be my next buy and I’ll get around to the rest of the Magpie-series later.
My favorite this month is Uncovering Ray, a debut by Edie Danford, that I picked up at the Samhain sale. An NA with just the right amount of angst and drama and real life problems. The MC, Ray, is genderqueer and meets fratboy Wyatt and while Ray’s gender identity certainly plays a part in their problems with parents, college life etc it’s really not a part of the conflict with Wyatt and the romance at all and that was just SO refreshing to read. I’m always on the lookout for any kinds of gender bending romances. I really liked both characters and it was weird how much I could relate to them, which isn’t always the case with NA characters for me.
I bought Act Like It when someone here said it was on sale for $.99 and really liked it. As I expected from all the comments about it, Richard Troy had Richard Armitage stamped all over him. What’s not to like?
But the best thing I’ve read in the last month or so (heck, the last six months or so) is Carry the Ocean by Heidi Cullinan. This one was a life-changer for me. It’s NA and M/M, but so incredibly different that I absolutely fell in love with it and ugly-cried the whole way through. Emmet’s autism and Jeremey’s depression and anxiety were treated with so much care and both characters are depicted as different, but in no way broken or wrong.
I related SO MUCH to Jeremey and his depression, and no one has ever described it like Cullinan, which is exactly the way I feel in the middle of an episode. I’ve never had a book touch me quite so deeply and made me feel that someone, anyone, understood exactly the way I feel. I even used some of Jeremey’s feelings to explain how it is for me with other people, and that’s saying a damn lot.
This beginning of this month has been devoted to catching up on the Kate Daniels series (with Magic Breaks and Magic Shifts). Now, I am joining all the other Andrews fans waiting impatiently for the next book later this year.
I also read…
The Hunter by Kerrigan Byrne — Second book in the series with The Highwayman which continues to have plenty of historical romance crazysauce plotting that kept me entertained from beginning to end.
The Princess Wore Plaid by Karen Hawkins — Cute Beauty and the Beast retelling in early 19th century Scotland that I would loved to have seen in a longer format.
Sleeping with Her Enemy by Jenny Holiday — Very sweet contemporary where the heroine is jilted on her wedding day and decides to go to her office in her bridal gown. While there she runs into her “office enemy” and hijinks occur. I didn’t really get the enemies to lovers feel that I was expecting since the main couple were pretty cordial to each other the entire time, but it was still a good read.
Love Me Like a Rock/Hard Candy by Amy Jo Cousins — Two NA male/male novellas where best friends (and occasional lovers) find their happy endings elsewhere. I liked both stories with Hard Candy being my favorite.
Duke of My Heart by Kelly Bowen — Historical romance with a super capable heroine and a duke who doesn’t want to be a duke. Nothing super special, but I’d recommend it for the heroine alone.
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion — Read it for this month’s TBR Challenge and I am so glad I finally picked this one up. I loved the hero and his unique outlook on life.
Act Like It by Lucy Parker — I’m so glad I got to see all the ladies gush over this or I would never have caught it which would have been a tragedy. I just adored it and can’t stop thinking about certain aspects of it.
Currently, I’m reading Sabrina Jeffries’s The Study of Seduction which is full of my catnip: stoic, super proper hero who is intrigued by a heroine that is his complete opposite and has no idea that what he is feeling is love. I’ve been anticipating Edwin’s story for awhile and, so far, it is living up to my expectations.
The Unleashing by Shelly Laurenston. I love, love, love this book! Kickass retired marine for a heroine, kickass Viking asshole sweetheart for a hero, a pitbull with wings named Brodie Hawaii and a host of kickass female Viking warriors modeled after a roller derby team.
I cannot fully express my joy. I want to hug my kindle. I want to buy the physical book to hug the book. And the next book in the series is out at the end of this month. I can hardly wait.
I’m about to start ‘Laird of Stonehaven’, by Connie Mason.
Finally got around to ordering and watching Season 1B of ‘Outlander’ and finishing ‘Voyager’, to cope with the series finale of ‘Downton Abbey’. I really should look through my collection of old paperbacks and see what other Scottish historicals are buried in there.