It’s December and, for many, it’s the craziest time of the year! But we here at the Bitchery hope you all have a great holiday, whatever you celebrate, and that you find some time to treat yourself with a good book and some quiet reading time. And sorry not sorry if your TBR gets a few more additions before 2016 is over!
Sarah: I am reading Essentialism by Greg Mckeown ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), which I’ve seen recommended across several Twitter communities I follow.
I’m also reading A Book Dragon by Donn Kushner ( A ), a YA fantasy from 1991 about Nonesuch who guards a book of hours through history. It’s very quiet and almost meditative and I’m enjoying it so much.
The only problem is that my used copy is in print, and that print is small, so I can’t read it before bed or at the end of the day or I’ll get a headache from trying to focus on it.
Carrie: Alexander Hamilton by Chernow ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) and Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst ( A | BN | K | G | AB )!
Elyse: I’m reading In the Barren Ground by Loreth Anne White and loving it. It’s a murder mystery set north of the arctic circle in Canada and it has a female police detective and a hint of the supernatural. I really like mysteries set in extreme or isolated locations
Sarah: Adds to the menace! Like, when the place you live is actively or passively trying to kill you, it adds a layer.
Redheadedgirl: I just started the sequel to How Not to Fall. Ummmm right, it’s How Not To Let Go ( A | BN | K | G | AB ).
I also reread a bunch of Dragonriders of Pern ( A | K | G | AB | Scribd ) books, because comfort reads. Anne, you were good at many things. Continuity was not one of them.
And I just finished Mogul ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), the last (sob!) book in Joanna Shupe’s knickerbocker series.
Amanda: I have two library books out that I’m excited about getting to. A Murder in Time is a time traveling adventure with an FBI agent who finds herself back in 19th century England and, on a whim, I grabbed Delicious! by Ruth Reichl ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) because it sounded light and fun.
After those, I have some great books waiting for me on my Kindle, like Moonshadow by Thea Harrison ( A | BN | K | AB ) and the manga Everyone’s Getting Married ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), which has been recommended to me a ton.
What books have you read this month? Any standouts for the end of the year? Any books that just frustrated the hell out of you? Let us know!
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. Thanks for being a part of another year of SBTB and hopefully, you’ve found some great books to read!
It’s been a slow reading month, just the usual holiday insanity keeping me from reading as much as I normally would. But the baking is done now, and my Christmas menu is less labor-intensive than in the past, so I’m hopeful that next week (I’m off work) I’ll get to read a bit more to get in the holiday spirit.
I finally read Liberating Lacey by Anne Calhoun, and I really liked it. Thanks much for the rec here. I think it may be an eventual reread for me. I liked that the heroine is older than the hero, but the age difference isn’t that big a deal. Instead, the difference in socio-economic status is the primary hurdle. Not my favorite conflict, but I was happy that age wasn’t the problem.
I read a couple of seasonal Jill Shalvis titles: One Snowy Night and The Trouble with Mistletoe, both part of her Heartbreaker Bay series. It’s not my favorite series of hers, but they were cute and fun and holidayish, so it’s all good.
I’m slowly reading through a holiday anthology I got online (Amazon Kindle): You Had Me at Christmas. There are five stories in the anthology, and I’m on chapter two of the last one right now. The only author here that I’ve read before is Molly O’Keefe, and I love her writing. Surprise, surprise! I loved–LOVED–three of the other four so far, enough that I’ve already reread one of the stories once per day for the past three days. Yes, I loved it that much. That one was One Naughty Christmas Night by Stephanie Doyle. The hero and heroine are both in their 40s, and I really appreciate that the story is hot and emotional and they aren’t kids anymore. They’ve lived lives prior to meeting, but they aren’t dead yet. And Snow-Kissed by Laura Florand had me sobbing last night. Very little dialogue, mostly internal for the vast majority of the story, but it worked for me in a big way. It’s a very emotional, very moving story, and I believed it. That’s huge. Anyway, I highly recommend this anthology.
I just checked, and it looks like I got it free on Kindle Unlimited. I’m going to pay money for this so I have it for keeps. And then I’m going to find more books by these authors. What better gift could I get?
It’s been a slow reading month, just the usual holiday insanity keeping me from reading as much as I normally would. But the baking is done now, and my Christmas menu is less labor-intensive than in the past, so I’m hopeful that next week (I’m off work) I’ll get to read a bit more to get in the holiday spirit.
I finally read Liberating Lacey by Anne Calhoun, and I really liked it. Thanks much for the rec here. I think it may be an eventual reread for me. I liked that the heroine is older than the hero, but the age difference isn’t that big a deal. Instead, the difference in socio-economic status is the primary hurdle. Not my favorite conflict, but I was happy that age wasn’t the problem.
I read a couple of seasonal Jill Shalvis titles: One Snowy Night and The Trouble with Mistletoe, both part of her Heartbreaker Bay series. It’s not my favorite series of hers, but they were cute and fun and holidayish, so it’s all good.
I’m slowly reading through a holiday anthology I got online (Amazon Kindle): You Had Me at Christmas. There are five stories in the anthology, and I’m on chapter two of the last one right now. The only author here that I’ve read before is Molly O’Keefe, and I love her writing. Surprise, surprise! I loved–LOVED–three of the other four so far, enough that I’ve already reread one of the stories once per day for the past three days. Yes, I loved it that much. That one was One Naughty Christmas Night by Stephanie Doyle. The hero and heroine are both in their 40s, and I really appreciate that the story is hot and emotional and they aren’t kids anymore. They’ve lived lives prior to meeting, but they aren’t dead yet. And Snow-Kissed by Laura Florand had me sobbing last night. Very little dialogue, mostly internal for the vast majority of the story, but it worked for me in a big way. It’s a very emotional, very moving story, and I believed it. That’s huge. Anyway, I highly recommend this anthology.
I just checked, and it looks like I got it free on Kindle Unlimited. I’m going to pay money for this so I have it for keeps. And then I’m going to find more books by these authors. What better gift could I get?
Only finished Theresa Romain’s Those Autumn Nights novella and Caroline Warfield’s A Dangerous Nativity. The latter was a freebie Christmas Regency I saw linked somewhere. The backstory for some characters is pretty dark, but the current story is surprisingly not.
Currently working on Jasper Fforde’s Lost in a Good Book, 2nd in the Thursday Next series. I had trouble concentrating on it when I tried earlier, but I’m nearly done now. Thankfully I have the others on my shelf waiting. I just wish the ebooks were cheaper. *sighs*
Also started Erik Larson’s Dead Wake for a library book club next month. I hope I can find a cheerier counterpoint during my time in Florida for Christmas.
After three slow reading months, I finally got a lot of reading accomplished this month!
The Great/Very Good:
– The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin – I am in a two-person book club with my Dad and this was my selection. The personal stories and habits of the justices were fascinating (this book focuses on the court mostly in the 90’s and early 2000’s)
– One Hot December by Tiffany Reisz: bi-sexual blue collar welder heroine with an honorable but not stuffy business owner hero. Super super hot sexytimes and it covered both Hanukkah and Christmas!
– A Kiss for Midwinter by Courtney Milan: Hero has been in love with the heroine for a year but she hates him because he saw her at a “low” point in her life. Loved the set up and author delivered on it.
– The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith (pen name for JK Rowling) – I stayed up waaay too late reading this one night and had a book hangover headache the next morning but it was so worth it. One problem I have with a lot of contemporary mysteries is they seem to focus on serial killers or ritualized violence or even torture which don’t appeal to me to read. But this was a straight up mystery and I enjoyed following Strike Cormoran as he tracked down the clues.
– blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell: I especially found the sections on implicit and explicit bias (both about race and sex) to be deeply moving and thoughtful.
– Hell or High Water by Julie Ann Walker: I haven’t read a lot of romantic suspense since Suzanne Brockmann’s SEAL books and some of her Troubleshooters books, but I found this book to be well paced and fun (although is is very violent). And I cannot wait to read the second book in this series which was set up in this first book. It looks like it will be my catnip – the hero thinks he isn’t good enough for the heroine.
– A Man for All Seasons by Heather MacAllister: Really cute friends to lovers story. The H/h are roommates and the H buys the h a 12 Days of Christmas dating package to get her to leave the house (she works from home) and then figures out he is in both lust and love with her.
The Good:
– Her Naughty Holiday by Tiffany Reisz: loved the blue collar hero (also liked that he was “older” – ha ha in his late 30’s and had a teenage daughter), hot sexytimes, but there just wasn’t enough romantic conflict to put it over the top for me. I did like that it was set around Thanksgiving.
– Oh Naughty Night by Leslie Kelly: Super hot beginning which turns into a enemies to friends and then friends to lovers, but some of the conflict felt forced to me and the ending rushed.
– Proposal at the Winter Ball by Jessica Gilmore: friends to lovers story but the hero’s backstory was darker than I expected. A lot of the story takes place at an ultra posh ski resort in Austria which was fun.
– The Queen’s Christmas Summons by Amanda McCabe: the romance was meh, but I enjoyed the setting of Christmas in the court of Queen Elizabeth and the historically correct inclusion of the Christmas Lord of Misrule.
The Meh:
– It Started at Christmas by Janice Lynn
– A Countess for Christmas by Christy McKellen
The Bad:
– Home for the Holidays by Arlene Hittle – two problems: first the hero generalized all women – why do all women always want to talk about their feelings? Why do all women do this or that? WE ARE NOT ALL THE SAME. Second the hero’s mental health struggle was suddenly and magically cured because he loved the heroine – not how it works.
– A Christmas Vow of Seduction by Maisey Yates – hero seemed to be a scumbag and I didn’t believe in his change and he certainly didn’t grovel enough at the end.
– A Royal Vow of Convenience by Sharon Kendrick – I have no idea how to explain the hate for this one without being spoliery, but the reason the hero’s ex-girlfriend was “evil”, had “damaged” the hero so much that he never wanted to be with anyone and the way the hero described her choice were rage inducing to me.
I’m reading “Marrying Winterborne” and it is everything squeelicious. Lisa Kleypas is a genius!
If I can actually get the time to sit and read a print book, “Double Down” by Gwenda Bond (her second Lois Lane YA book) is next on my to-read list.
Started JAK’s latest When All The Girls Have Gone this morning. It’s in her classic style, which means I’m enjoying it a lot.
Earlier this week I walked into work and asked if they had heard my squee cannon go off an hour before when I finished Alice Hoffman’s Faithful. I don’t know how she does it. You end up smiling and ugly crying at the same time.
The last couple weeks have also included my other favorite Alice, Alice Clayton. I devoured both Nuts and Cream Of The Crop. So looking forward to book three. And since the new Nora is waiting for me at the GBPL drive through, December is shaping up to be a great reading month.
@Francesca – I have “The God Beneath the Sea” on my TBR now!
@Amanda – YAY! I hope you like them!
I haven’t read it yet, but for fans of Eve Kenin’s (aka Eve Silver) Northern Waste series she has new novella out with Raina and Wizard (the h/h from Driven) called Frozen.
I’m hoping it does well and that she’ll finally write the long-awaited third book about Yuriko and Trey.
Since I haven’t been able to wring any more comfort from my poor worn out comfort reads, I decided to go the other way and read some books that were Not My Thing, and never would be, so I couldn’t be disappointed. I’ve always hated YA, NA, and first person narration, even when I was more inclined to like things, so obvs ymmv.
Just finished A Promise of Fire, which I actually enjoyed despite hating the narrator. I was expecting this – although she was tiresomely whiny and dishonest for someone supposedly tough and invested in the truth. I’m so grateful for the warnings about how messed up the abduction plot is, and all the emotional manipulation to get her to fall in line, because I would have been utterly sidetracked by it. As it was I could just focus on the fun worldbuilding parts, which were excellent. It is repetitive, and I don’t like any of the characters, but it’s still an engaging story.
I finally got around to The Iron Duke. I don’t understand why Steampunk is so off putting to me, but I’m utterly sure it is something about the genre, because that book is pretty much flawless, and I…idk, I liked it fine. It got me though a few hours, so that’s a plus.
Of course, Time Served also got me through a couple hours, even though it was basically a hate read for me. It didn’t have to be so bad! The writer is talented, the concept is fantastic if poorly executed, but sweet baby cheeses the characters were *unbearable* like, I had an ongoing bet with myself that the narrator couldn’t get any worse, and I kept losing.
@Mjb-Funny you mention Elizabeth Peters, because she has been what I have been reading this month! I am working my way through the Amelia Peabody mysteries. I read at least the first 5 books years ago, and started at the beginning this month. I realized why I stopped-when Ramses grows up, he loses all the charisma he had as a child, and so far-the latter books seem to focus on him. I’ve read lots of her other books, and I totally agree-she has such a great take on feminism-and so funny at times!
I just finished the newest Flavia De Luce mystery this morning. I loved the earlier books, not quite sure about the most recent ones. Enjoyable, but I was crazy in love with the first couple books-Flavia was my hero. Now, I’m not so sure…
I picked up the children’s book Me…Jane by Patrick McDonnell-I cried when I saw the last page. A book for all the girls who have or had dreams, and seeing them come true.
I’ve read a couple Christmas novellas. I loved Amy Jo Cousin’s Glass Tidings (m/m). I also enjoyed Heidi Cullinan’s latest in her Minnesota Christmas series, Santa Baby – although it was not the light, sexy romp I was expecting based on the cover. It’s about the couple from book 2 and how one of them (Gabe) figures out that he’s actually poly and all three of them figure out he can marry Arthur and date Dale. Some of it read like poly 101 but most of it was good. (tw for abuse).
Alex Beecroft’s Labyrinth was great – it’s a historical queer romance set in ancient Crete that imagines the origins of the minotaur legend from the pov of the Minoans. The romance is between a cis man and an agender person and there’s also an asexual character and an aromantic character. And it’s a lot of fun.
I loved Ann Gallagher (aka LA Witt)’s Lead Me Not – inspie m/m. (I can’t remember if I mentioned it last month, but it’s good enough that it deserves a second mention even if I did). This is a book that probably has a small audience – not sure how many people are willing to read about a gay romance between two (Protestant) Christian men who sincerely quote scriptures and talk about God’s will. And I hope it finds every person within that target audience because it is so, so good. I’m a queer Christian and it was a little bit preachy for me in places but it was also so, so compelling . The romance was classic slow burn friends to lovers and I was on the edge of my seat about how they’d get to an HEA, but they did.
Read Amy Rae Durreson’s Reawakening and loved it – m/m pnr between a dragon and a dessert elemental spirit.
In non-fiction I read Neither Wolf nor Dog; On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder by Kent Nerburn. The jacket copy calls it an unlikely cross between On The Road and Black Elk Speaks and says that every American should read it and in this case I think it’s true.
I am reading “Size Matters” by Alison Bliss. I picked it up because it seemed like shades of “Bet Me” – average-to-plus size body positivity, she owns a bakery, mother is thin and always commenting on heroine’s weight, etc – but the heroine is always demeaning herself, either out loud or in her own head, with self-descriptions like cow, whale, talking about eating her way through the pastry menu, calls herself Large Marge, etc. On top of that, skinny women are disparaged as sticks by the “hero” – who, btw, also strips the heroine to her underwear when she’s passed out drunk – and as “Miss Anorexia” by the heroine (her ex marries a thinner woman, who is also implied to be an airhead, because apparently thin = vapid?). Everyone female is fair game for body shaming, no matter their size. At one point, she mentally tells herself to shut up. I couldn’t agree more. I am less than 50 pages in and this one might have a ragey ranty review in its future. Stay tuned.
Also reading “Part of Our Lives: A People’s History of the American Public Library”. It was a graduation present (woo hoo! BS degree!) from a friend who knows me well and I am enjoying it immensely.
@Heather S Thanks for the comments about Size Matters. I put it in my wish list for the same reason you decided to read it. I will now be taking it out of my wish list.
Oh, and I have a digital stack from Dreamspinner Press’ recent sales, including “Noble Intentions” by Andrew Grey, a modern marriage of convenience story with one hero suddenly inheriting a title and English estate (but no money to maintain said estate) and a tech mogul who has money and wants a title to impress snooty rich people. The sample I read was great, so looking forward to reading the whole thing.
OK I have been on a bit of a reading frenzy recently and sorry I lost track of who said what so here goes:
A Murder in Time was excellent – my library recommended the ebook, and its my catnip so took a chance and it was really good.
I have Gunpowder and Cinnamon downloaded ready to go after reading a recent review.
Melissa McShane is my new fave author – I took a chance on Brightly Burning after it was reviewed here and I am GLOMMING ALL THE BOOKS – really really enjoying her writing
person who posted about Borderlands and the author never finishing the series – as I understood it, they were really badly marketed, never did very well and the contract wasn’t extended. I think there was some disagreements behind the scenes. Last I heard she was going to self pub the last one but sounds like it didnt happen. I really enjoyed the series so its a shame.
The Hating Game was the best book I’ve read this month. LOVED it so much. I also enjoyed All In by Simona Ahrnstedt.
Everything We Keep frustrated me so bad but in the interest of spoilers, I won’t spill why.
@CelineB I read Baller by Vi Keeland a few months ago. It was the first I’ve read from this author and while I haven’t read another one yet, I’m planning to. I’d highly recommend Baller as your Keeland read!
I think someone may already have posted this, but until December 20, Open Road Media is offering about 5000 titles free for Kindle. Just go to the Amazon Kindle store, use the advance search feature to search for publisher Open Road Media, and filter from lowest to highest price so that all the free titles show up first. There’s a bunch of Heather Graham, Evelyn Anthony, and Elizabeth Chadwick among others, plus lots of SF, mysteries, westerns, suspense, and non-fiction. Happy hunting!
SOMEONE TO LOVE by Mary Balogh: The SBTB review had dozens of comments, as the book was downgraded for having a pivotal, yet stereotypical, Chinese martial arts teacher. I’m Asian American and remain deeply offended by VOYAGER. But I gave STL a chance because Ms. Balogh participated in the SBTB convo and was really decent about the criticism. Despite a few implausible elements, there’s an appealing sweetness to the H/h. If you like Mary Balogh’s Survivors Club and accept her mea culpa, you’ll enjoy this book.
LEGEND OF THE HIGHLAND DRAGON by Isabel Cooper: London-based, Victorian romantic mystery in which one character sometimes turns into a dragon. Not my usual cup of tea and a little rushed at the end, but fun escapism (akin to NO PROPER LADY by the same author).
THE COLLECTED POEMS OF AUDRE LORDE and TEACHING MY MOTHER HOW TO GIVE BIRTH by Warsan Shire: Poetry. Complicated and beautiful. Highly recommend.
IDOL and MANAGED by Kristen Callihan: Wounded rock god heroes and quirky heroines in a series of sexy books. Looking forward to the next one.
MCCAULEY BROTHERS NOVELS by Marie Harte: These all feel like the same book. Would not read again.
My reading lately has been podcast inspired. After I listened to Sarah talk with Jill Shalvis, I bought the first Heartbreaker Bay book (it was on sale) and the novella. I read them both quickly during my post-Thanksgiving travels. Then, I listened to the Deanna Raybourn interview and realized that I had read at least one of the Lady Julia books. Checked my kindle TBR folder and discovered that I had bought a 3 book bundle of the first three books in October 2011, plus the other novels and two of the novellas (probably on sale) over the course of time. I usually start a TBR folder and shelf reading project in January, so I have gotten a head start on it this year. Thanks Sarah! I re-read the Lady Julia book and then have continued with the rest. I just finished the last novella earlier this week. I am hoping for some Christmas gift cards, so that I can buy the Veronica Speedwell books, which sound like something that I would enjoy too.
Yesterday was hair appointment day (which means two metro rides, plus about 40 minutes of uninterrupted reading time with color on my roots). So I started the latest Kit Rocha book, Beyond Surrender, on my ride downtown yesterday. I expect to finish it later today. So far, it is really a great read and I am enjoying the hero and heroine more than I expected to.
Next up, is probably the latest SEP, which I bought on sale recently. Then I need to spend some time organizing my unread Kindle books, so I can start on my 2017 TBR pile reading project. My usual goal is not to buy new books (except sales) until the end of January, so that I can clear out my TBR folder and shelves. Then, I try to continue to read at least one of the books in my TBR folder and one from a shelf each month.
Forgot to mention One Life to Lose by Kris Ripper. I may have mentioned once or twice how much I love this freaking series (Queers of L A Vista). I love it. I’ve been excited for this series ever since I saw the covers in Riptide’s coming soon section – because the people on the covers look like real queer people, the kind you’d meet at a queer bar or book club. Or at least the kind I’ve met in various queer and queer friendly spaces. The series itself has been a little uneven but I continue to love the matter of fact representation and to really enjoy the author’s voice and zir ability to create such distinctly different first person pov characters.
One Life to Lose is the 4th and while the blurb says it can work stand alone (and it probably could) I think it works better in order because it has the culmination of the serial killer sub plot from book 3. It’s darker than the first 3. But the romance is so so good – super slow burn m/m/m. The MC is a shy awkward vanilla book and movie geek who’s invited by a younger couple to be their third in some non sexual bdsm scenes and it grows from there. Ok. I should stop now.
@KateB Welcome to the Robin Hobb fandom! You’re going to love the other two trilogies in the Farseer tales and there’s MOAR dragons in the LiveShip Traders stories too. I’m anxiously tapping my toes until May 2017 when the third book in the Fitz and the Fool trilogy arrives 🙂 Robin Hobb (aka Meghan Lindholm) was at RT when it was last in Chicago and I took my oldest son, who’s a big fan of her books too, to the book signing. She didn’t have any of the Farseer books with her but signed 9 bookplates for him, which was very cool.
The last few books I’ve read are:
THE CURSE OF THE BLUE SCARAB by Josh Lanyon, which I enjoyed. Victorian mystery, a cranky doctor and a hot Egyptologist (M/M)
WOUND TIGHT by Tessa Bailey where an uptight businessman falls for his bodyguard (M/M)
THE ENGINEERED THRONE by Megan Derr where a royal marriage between a prince of a rival nation and the second son of a pretty terrible duke, sets off a whole new set of conflicts. I enjoyed it but I think it’s the first of a series and I can see the second book potential in some of the secondary characters. (M/M)
BRUTAL GAME by Cara McKenna. She’s an auto buy for me and this is the follow up book to WILLING VICTIM. So good!
A TASTE OF HONEY and SORCERER of the WILDEEPS, by Kai Ashante Wilson. Fresh, new and enjoyable Fantasy M/M
I read a lot of M/M this past few weeks, huh? 🙂 All great books
Ugh, stupid autocorrect. THESE past few weeks 😐
I’m still just barely into Phoebe Robinson’s You Can’t Touch My Hair. Zero time to read anything this month, but I did already hit my 50 books for the year goal. I’d like to get at least one book under my belt for this month.
@DiscoDollyDeb-Thank you so much for the info on the Open Road Media sale-so far today, I’ve downloaded about 50 books-all for free!! They have a wide variety of books, which makes it really interesting to pick and choose.
I was debating this month whether to buy Moonshadow by Thea Harrison (currently on sale for $2.99). Then someone recommended it in the post on recs for angry heroines. That was enough to get me to one-click and I zipped through it yesterday. I absolutely loved Sophie, the heroine. She was fearless, strong, brave, true and yes, angry LOL. Every time the hero tried to order her around she literally laughed in his face and told him to take a hike. I think this was my favorite since Dragon Bound (technically, this is the start of a new series and you don’t need to have read the Elder Races novels, but it is set in the same universe).
@Amanda, I haven’t read “Delicious” but I love Ruth Reichl, she’s so funny.
I read “Unmasking Miss Appleby” by Emily Larkin. It’s a Regency historical with a magical element, namely the heroine can metamorphosize into any creature she wants to be, and back to herself, as often as she wants. She finds this out on her 25th birthday, when a fairy godmother appears and grants her this power, which all the women in her family get, because of something a female ancestor did. She’s been living as a poor relation/unpaid drudge with some horrible relatives, so the first thing she does is change herself into a man, so she can escape them and earn a living.
She gets a job as secretary for a nobleman, who is being persecuted, someone unknown is trying to ruin him and even possibly kill him. It’s not really a spoiler to let you know that she falls in love with him, but now has a dilemma because he only knows her as a man.
I thought the book was wildly original and compelling. The prose was not especially polished or lyrical, and the historical background and minor characters were somewhat wallpapery. And she leaned on the metamorphosis trick a bit too much, with lots of changes into different animals. But the plot was so imaginative that when I got to the midway point, I had absolutely no idea where the story was going, and how often does that happen after reading hundreds of historicals? So I’ll definitely read the next in this series.
And I just started reading “Tribe” by Sebastian Junger, non-fiction. The premise is that modern society gives humans a sense of dislocation and causes a lot of mental ills, because we are psychologically designed to live in interdependent, close-knit communities like our ancestors, iow, tribal societies. He ties it in with post-combat PTSD, which is exacerbated by soldiers being suddenly cut off from their ‘band of brothers’. Very interesting and thought provoking.
@DiscoDollyDeb-thanks so much for that tip! Checking out Open Road Media now, so much great free stuff there! I highly rec “Table Money” by Jimmy Breslin, it’s about an Irish-American family of sandhogs(those are the guys who dug the New York City subway tunnels. I just got “Ahead of Time” by Ruth Gruber, memoir of a pioneering woman journalist & a couple of Muriel Spark novels. And I was thrilled to find “Marlene Dietrich’s ABC’s”, a book my mother had when I was a kid. It’s got her recipes and fashion tips, which I still follow to this day!
@Karin-I also grabbed Ahead of Time, a bunch of Muriel Sparks, and was also so happy to download the Marlene Dietrich’s ABC’s. I seriously cannot wait to read that! I need to go back and get Table Money.
At first, I was excited to see all the Elizabeth Chadwicks-because I have bought a lot of her books, but don’t have them all. Then I read the description and thought “wait, I don’t remember this title…”. Turns out there are two authors with the same name, I only knew about the English writer.
I downloaded 50 books, and I am not even on page 100! I had to take a break because I did have other things to do today, like my Christmas cards. I hope the sale lasts a bit longer!
Moonshadow by Thea Harrison, which I loved.
After reading the recommendations for angry heroines I re-read Agnes and the Hitman, a truly angry heroine, and enjoyed reading it again
I have listened to Someone to Love by Mary Balogh, narrated by the wonderful Rosalyn Landor. I was also put off a bit by the treatment of the asian character, but apart from that enjoyed both the book and the narration. After listening I went back and read some of the reviews, as well as the comments made by Mary Balogh on this site, and was impressed that she has taken the criticisms on board.
I have started listening to When all the Girls Have Gone by Jayne Ann Krentz, and am enjoying it so far.
I have also The Great Reckoning by Louise Penny and The Wrong Side of Goodbye by Michael Connelly, both the lastest in long running series.
If you are looking for a good mystery, I recommend the Belltree Trilogy by Barry Maitland – Crucifixion Creek, Ash Island and Slaughter Park, which are set in and around Sydney, Australia.
@Pamala – I’m reading “The Mad Ship” right now and Malta is emotionally maturing and I’m SO EXCITED, like even more than I am for the dragons. Also! Overdrive had “Ship of Destiny” available so I’m set!
That Open Road Media Sale is great! I grabbed a collection of essays by Mary McCarthy, a collection of short stories by Elizabeth Hand (I read and listened to her 2015 release, “Wlyding Hall” and it was truly one my favorite reads this year) and two biographies by Diana Souhami, about Radclyffe Hall and Hannah Gluckstein, a famous lesbian author and famous lesbian painter, respectively. I might pick up some Muriel Spark, too!
The holidays are here, so I’ve been immersed in holiday romance. My elderly Poodle and I watch at least Hallmark Christmas movies many nights after everyone else has gone to sleep and I’ve switched to only holiday books for a few weeks. This year, I feel like there is a dearth of historical holiday offerings. I spent my 99 pennies on The Heiress and the Hothead and realized I read it last last year. I finished reading The Virtues of Christmas by Grace Burrowes today and the second story in the set, “Patience for Christmas,” is my favorite this season (so far). The hero and heroine are both writers and I love a grumpy beta hero. I enjoyed Christmas in America, but I liked Joanna Shupe’s story the best. @ Katie C. – I agree with you on One Hot December, good stuff and I loved the character development through the story.
I’m saving Glass Tidings, recommended here, for my holiday break and may have to go through the Holiday file on my Kindle for my next read. A Christmas Gone Perfectly Wrong, I’m thinking of you….
I made the mistake of downloading “Diggy’s Adventure” on my phone and have become somewhat addicted. It’s rather badly impacted my reading time.
That said, who recommended “A Study of Scarlet Women”? Who? I’m thinking that review/recommendation should come with a warning. That book was so damned good and I loved it, but have to wait until next fall for the sequel. I’m making grabby hands for it now to no avail, darn it. (psst, write faster, Ms Thomas, please, please write faster! ;))
Ian Graham’s “Scarlet Women: The Scandalous Lives of Courtesans, Concubines, and Royal Mistresses”. Looks to be interesting though I’m not saying I was influenced by the aforementioned book, oh no, not at all.
Reading Jana Deleon’s Harlequin back list from the library. Also have her 2 most recent Miss Fortune books on tap.
Patiently awaiting the release of Ilona Andrews’ One Fell Sweep on the 20th. (Yea, tomorrow! Or, much more accurately, yea, midnight!). Not so patiently waiting for White Hot in May.
Alan Cumming’s memoir “Not My Father’s Son” is currently sitting in my Cloud Library app. Just finished his life in pictures. NMFS gives a much more detailed description of the abuse he suffered at his father’s hands. It’s good but painful. I absolutely do not understand why his mother waited so long to divorce the rotten SOB. I’m hoping that’ll be addressed before the ending, otherwise I’m going to be unhappy. Definitely trigger warning material.
Just read Penny Reid’s Truth or Beard and liked it and would like to read the others, but my library doesn’t have them. Book money is currently nonexistent (thank you, holiday spending) so will have to wait until next year. Weirdly, none of my local library systems have these books (Thanks to a recent post I learned that as a MD resident I can join multiple libraries. The only thing limiting me is the distance required to drive to a branch to apply).
Cinnamon and Gunpowder may be next, not sure. It’s sitting on my nightstand along with 3 Kate Noble’s. Have to take my dog back to vet today- he’s not well and appears to have an abdominal mass, which couldn’t be x-rayed yesterday because it wasn’t working. Depending on the outcome I may be strictly comfort reading.
I’m still working my way through some of the Harlequins that I bought during the sale back in October–I saved some Christmas-themed titles just for this time of year, because I love a good roaring fire/glass of wine/Christmas romance combination. Was lucky enough to have that opportunity over the weekend and celebrated with a Harlequin Presents Christmas anthology that was unfortunately just meh. I should have a couple more chances to recreate this scenario coming up this week and plan to read Sarah Morgan’s Miracle on 5th Avenue and maybe The Trouble with Mistletoe by Jill Shalvis. Just last night I finished North of Need by Laura Kaye, which I got from one of the books on sale posts a couple weeks ago. It was….OK? Definitely hot sexytimes and a Christmas story. But the suspension of disbelief required for the story stretched me pretty thin, and I am a paranormal reader from way back, so I know a thing or two about suspending disbelief. If you ever read it, you will understand why I could not get Frosty the Snowman out of my head and that created some very confusing mental imagery. Just saying. Also read The Hating Game this month and loved it! The slow burn, oh my goodness. When I am ready to put away the Christmas titles, I think I will move on to the new Thea Harrison book because I could do with a good angry heroine about now.
Also @kitkat9000 I really hope everything works out OK with your dog!
My work life got complicated in the past month so I decided to re-read Larissa Ione’s Demonica series and found myself as engrossed as I was the first time. The world building and the character development is impeccable and I continue to have a huge crush on Eidolon. I read (and liked) Nalini Singh’s Archangel’s Heart. I did feel like the middle was a little boring, but the ending was worth it. This weekend was freezing so I hunkered down to read One Snowy Night by Jill Shalvis (sweet, but short) and His Heart’s Revenge by Jenny Holiday (sexy second chance M/M romance). For this month’s TBR Challenge, I read the anthology A Grosvenor Square Christmas with stories by Vanessa Kelly, Shana Galen, Anna Campbell, and Kate Noble. All the novellas were entertaining with Noble’s being my favorite.
I am currently reading Four Weddings and a Sixpence, a historical romance anthology with stories by Julia Quinn, Stefanie Sloane, Elizabeth Boyle, and Laura Lee Guhrke. I’ve only read the Sloane novella so far, but am really liking it.
Halfway through Karen Hawkins’ Sleepless In Scotland and loving it so far!
@kitkat9000: I just read Penny Reid’s Truth or Beard too, and immediately devoured the next two in the series plus Beauty and the Mustache, the book that this series was spun off of. So, so good! I adore all of the characters so much. Now I have to go out and get everything else she’s written.
Also, if your library doesn’t have the titles or authors you want, request them! I’m a librarian, and I can tell you that we love requests because then we know for sure that the item will have a reader, and not just sit mouldering away on a shelf. My library doesn’t have more than one Penny Reid title in the collection, and I will be remedying that sad state of affairs toute suite!
@Nancy C: I DO make requests, often enough that I’ve bookmarked the page. Sometimes the curator gets right back to me letting me know what they’re going to do and other times I hear nada and only realize they’ve listened is when the book(s) appear in the collection.
In a reading slump for the last few months but did start Maisey Yates` cowboy books. Meh. I thought they were too similar to Linda Lael Miller’s books.
Just started Jon Krakeur`s book Missoula and it’s caught me.