It’s time! It’s time for our monthly thread where we discuss what we’re reading, and then turn around and buy more books because everyone is reading something really interesting and we want to read that, too.
Have I mentioned how glad I am that I’m not alone with this habit? REALLY GLAD.
Let’s get started!
Sarah: I am reading Diablo Lake: Moonstruck by Lauren Dane ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). WITCHES FINALLY letting myself read WITCHES.
Redheadedgirl: I just finished The Hamilton Affair ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), which was good but kind of disjointed.
Sarah: Also, I’m re-listening to The Power of Habit ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) again to get ready to listen to the sequel Better Faster Smarter or some combination of those three.
Redheadedgirl: And I’m reading Woodiwiss’ Shanna ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), which Avon mailed to me as a rerelease.
Elyse: I am currently reading Make Me Love You by Johanna Lindsey ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) and Torn by Cynthia Eden ( A | BN | K | G | AB ).
I’m listening to Rook by Daniel O’Malley on audio ( A | K | G | AB | Au ).
Oh Shanna. So much crazysauce
Amanda: About to start the behemoth ARC I have of Shadow Rider by Christine Feehan ( A | BN | K | G | AB )! Plus I’ve been in the mood for some nonfiction and I’ve had Quiet ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) for ages. It’s about time I crack that puppy open.
Redheadedgirl: And I need to troll through NetGalley and load up the kindle.
Elyse: Oh and I have the new Eloisa James queued up for a binge read this Sunday!
Sarah: Oh – Adam is reading Rook, too. I read Carrie’s review of the sequel (coming next week) and gave it to him as a gift. He’s really liking it.
Quiet is going to blow your mind, Amanda.
Amanda: I’m so looking forward to it!
Sarah: It taught me so much about myself, and as a parent, it was invaluable.
Carrie: I’m reading All the Light We Cannot See ( A | BN | K | G | AB )for the book club I lead in Sacramento (Arden Dimick Library! Come on by, Sacramento area Bitches! 10:30AM Sat June 25!) and Breath of Earth by Beth Cato – alternate history of San Francisco with magic and international politics.
Elyse: How is Breath of Earth, Carrie? It’s on my TBR.
Carrie: I just started it – it’s good but not gripping, I think because I’m stressed out with first world problems and can’t concentrate. It’s very ethnically diverse, which I like.
Seriously – I have no actual problems but suddenly I have like 5000 balls in the air, how did this happen?
Elyse: Life, man.
Carrie: Happy busy life! A little too busy!
So, what are you reading this month? Do you also have too many balls in the air? Or are they all in your books (ba-dum-bum)? Please share with us what you’re reading, and what you recommend!
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 so great of you, and if you’d prefer not to, that’s cool too. Thank you so much for hanging out with us, and hopefully you found something good to read!
@Katie Lynn – thanks for mentioning Beta Test! I bought it and read it last night and loved it. (Except calling Ravi a graphic designer when he seemed to do illustrations bugged me, but I was able to mostly let it go).
Other books of note:
Rough Road by Vanessa North – mm bdsm with a big age difference with the younger man the Dom.
I bought Annabeth Albert’s Bundled Up on sale – first three novellas in her Portland Heat series. The last novella was definitely the best and worth the price of the whole set.
I read The Lodestone of Ys by Amy Rae Durreson – free mm fantasy and oh my gosh did I love this story. Lovely world building with a rivals to lovers romance and tons of UST.
And I’m reading Stuck Landing by Lauren Gallagher (aka L A Witt) in the Bluewater Bay series (why do I think I got the series name wrong?). F/F between tv producer Anna and bi stunt director / former gymnast. According to the blurb Anna has to overcome her biphobia to get her hea. LA Witt is one of my reliable comfort read authors but so far I’m not loving this one – I’m tired of being in Anna’s whiny, biphobic head, although I trust the author to bring her around eventually.
@Anne – I have recs for romances that deal with mental health. I’m a survivor of CSA and I keep a mental running list of romances that I think deal well with PTSD and/or recovering from abuse (based on my own experiences – ymmv of course).
Here’s my top 4. All of these have characters who are trauma survivors who actually get treatment for their trauma.
A Soldier’s Heart by Kathleen Korbel – 90s era category about two Vietnam vets (a nurse and a marine (iirc)). The first PTSD romance I read and still one of the best. I wrote a review of it for Dear Author.
From Out in the Cold by LA Witt – mm contemporary about two old friends / lovers who reconnect after both have gone through significant trauma (one was in the military and one witnessed a violent crime). I particularly liked that one was in therapy and was able to help the other get grounded when he got triggered.
Brandon Mills vs the V-Card by Lisa Henry and J A Rock – mm NA contemporary. Probably the best portrayal of recovering from CSA that I’ve read in romance – the healing timeline is accelerated, but it felt emotionally true.
Between Saints and Sinners by Marie Sexton – mm contemporary with CSA survivor. The hero in this one should probably get even more therapy but I really loved the portrayal of him figuring out how to be physically and emotionally intimate with someone.
Other books that deal with PTSD without specifically naming it:
Love in the Afternoon by Lisa Kleypas – historical with hero who fought in Crimean War
Psy/Changling series by Nalini Singh – I think Singh does a great job of portraying trauma symptoms in many of her characters, without actually naming them. She has an annoying (to me) tendency to label these characters as broken until they’re redeemed by love – and almost no one gets therapy. But the portrayal of trauma / PTSD symptoms rings true to me.
Other books that deal well with recovering from rape and abuse
A Quiet Gentleman by Heidi Cullinan – mm historical about a survivor of rape and abuse (this one is good but very, very, very triggering).
Deerskin by Robin McKinley – fantasy retelling of the fairytale donkey skin. (Also quite triggering)
The first two books in Nora Roberts’ Chesapeake Bay series.
Re-read Calico Palace by Gwen Bristow for the first time in ages. Still interesting but found myself bothered by the treatment of the California native people.
Read The Enforcer by Nikki Worrell, about hockey in San Diego. I liked it well enough though some of the details seemed unnecessary and it was a little cute.
Also read The Memory Closet by Ninie Hammon about a woman revisiting her childhood home, which she does not remember. It was done well but I would have liked it more if I hadn’t already read a rash of these books recently, revisiting childhood and discovering abuse and coming to terms with it. Seems as if each one is trying to make the abuse more shocking which really should not be necessary. Abuse is abuse. It is all bad.
And The Singing Bone by Beth Hahn. It has an interesting format, winding around the folk songs the heroine is researching while looking at her experiences in the cult she was part of as a teenager. I would recommend this one.
Something completely different was Stoneheart by Baer Charlton, about a gunny in the Marines who is sidelined due to a TBI and then travels the country, meeting up with people he served with and with people who needed his help. It was nicely done though a bit of a “fairy tale.” I would also recommend this, especially if you want a feel good book.
The Unleashing by Shelly Laurenston – I really loved it until halfway though when the angst of the hero became a little wearing. I also had some really good dreams after reading this, something about Vikings fighting a final battle.
And several more.
Currently reading, The Weekenders by Mary Kay Andrews. Mystery and romance combine in this beach read. Enjoying the descriptions of the fictional island set off the coast of North Carolina.
@Katie Lynn I’m so excited to read “Kulti” this weekend! I know I have most of Saturday free and I’m going to mainline it.
@Judy W– Hope you enjoy RC&M! It’s in the vein of “Lingus,” but with rock stars rather than porn stars. And that’s a sentence I never thought I’d write…
I started reading “Rebel Queen” by Michelle Moran, about Rani Lakshmi, last night. I finished it this morning. Reading slump broken! (FINALLY)
If you haven’t read Michelle Moran’s books, she writes fabulous female-centric historical fiction. “Nefertiti”, “Cleopatra’s Daughters”, and “The Heretic Queen” are all set in ancient Egypt. “Madame Tussaud” and “The Second Empress” are set in France, and “Rebel Queen” is set in 19th century India. She’s really SO good and her books are binge-worthy. She has one about Mata Hari coming out in July!
Just started Seven Nights In A Rouge’s Bed by Anna Campbell. 😀 Tried but DNF’d two of Sylvia Day’s historicals Pride & Pleasure and The Stranger I Married and discovered that I don’t enjoy her historical voice and much prefer her contemporaries.