Is it really Whatcha Reading time again? Admittedly, with my recent travel, I haven’t been reading as much as previous months. But summer in the U.S. is fast approaching and I’m hoping that means some quality outside reading and lazing. Have you hit a lull like me or is your reading pace full steam ahead?
Redheadedgirl: I just finished the Romance Readers Guide to Historical London (what, you don’t read travel guides like novels?) and just started The Glassblower by Petra Durst-Benning ( A | BN ), which I bought during the Reader Rec party at RT. “How do you spell that? d-u-r..? Yeah, that’ll be waiting for me when I get home.”
Carrie: I just (as in, one minute ago) finished reading Carry the Ocean by Heidi Cullinan. It’s a romance between two young adults (18 and 19) who are gay – one has major depressive and anxiety disorder and the other is on the autism spectrum. I disliked the fact that the autistic character, Emmett, is a savant because I know that is a stereotype. I also noticed that all the main characters are white. Other than that, I loved the discussions of autism, depression and anxiety, and physical disability, I loved the interactions between characters, and I loved that the couple has an active sex life and insists on being respected as an actual couple, not something “cute.”
I will warn readers that at one point a character discusses suicidal ideation in a way that is very powerful but was also very triggering for me – on the other hand, that passage in addition to so many other conversations helped me think about my own disabilities in a more positive way. The book explicitly spells out that loving relationships are helpful and important but do not “cure” things. I don’t feel knowledgeable enough about the topics the book addresses to give a full review, but as a novice reader I loved it, moving on to the sequel!
Amanda: I’m currently listening to Wicked Intentions ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) on audio and I’m really loving it. I was just lying in bed listening to it the other night. It’s wonderful.
After that, I have no clue what to start. Right now, it’s between White Hot by Ilona Andrews ( A | BN | K | AB ) – EEEP! Or The Deep End by Kristen Ashley ( A | BN | K | AB ), which was the book I was desperately searching for at RT and mentioned in our Sleepy Bitches RT podcast.
Sarah: I’m reading Dragon Bones by Jasmine Walt and Ines Johnson. So much is revealed in the first six chapters or so I’m not sure what is and isn’t a spoiler!
Nia is an immortal archeologist, and there are a handful of other immortals in the world. There’s relics and history from multiple cultures and continents — and also some violence against animals so be ye warned. Nia teams up with a woman named Loren who has a relic that Nia can authenticate – likely because she wrote it a few thousand years before.
I’m not huge into urban fantasy, but this is a lot of fun, and a feminist, intelligent spin on the idea of Lara Croft.
Elyse: I’m reading The Day of the Duchess by Sarah MacLean ( A | BN | K | AB ). It’s about a Duke trying to woo his wife back when she wants nothing to do with him (for excellent reasons) and it’s both wonderfully angsty and funny. And there’s a cat named Brummell who is there for comic relief.
What have you read this month? Has anything surpassed your expectations? Let us know in the comments!
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A lot of psychological suspense this month. I basically inhaled one unreliable narrator after another.
Faves
– “Fool’s Quest” / “Assassin’s Fate” by Robin Hobb – It’s OVER! What am I going to DO? No, but for real? I cried at the end. And I’m seriously considering a related tattoo…
– “The Fifth Season” by N.K. Jemisin – At least I have a new epic fantasy series to binge!
– “The Ice Twins” by S.K. Tremayne – the start of my suspense binge. Gothic, Scottish, twins, absolutely wild read.
– “The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie” by Alan Bradley – “I Capture the Castle” with muuuurder.
Good
– “Who Thought This Was A Good Idea?: And Other Questions You Should Have Answers To When You Work at the White House” by Alyssa Mastromonaco – funny and real and recently optioned for TV by Mindy Kaling!
– “Brimstone” by Cherie Priest – its Florida in 1919 and a physic is having dreams of a man and a fire that wants him dead. Solid spooky story.
– “Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes” by Svante Paabo – Paabo’s memoir concerning his Neanderthal genetic research. Readable and even funny!
– “Queens of Geek” by Jen Wilde – YA duel romance featuring a heroine on the autism spectrum and a bi Asian heroine. A trio of friends goes to “SupaCon” in LA, as fans and, in the case of one, actress and vlogger, and find themselves falling into/realizing love. Very sweet. Sped by like a geeky Love, Actually.
– “The Unyielding” by Shelly Laurenston – funny, weird, and full of adventure. Not sure I bought the romance, though.
– “Dark Matter” by Blake Crouch – very Twilight Zone/Fringe/Michael Crichton.
– “The Last Neanderthal” by Claire Cameron- heartfelt and heartbreaking (I’m a giant paleoanthropology nerd, btw)
– “What She Knew” by Gilly Macmillan – a child goes missing and the whole family is under suspicion.
– “Ink and Bone” by Lisa Unger – I didn’t know this was part of a series, but this part horror/part psychological suspense still worked on me and I’d read Unger again.
– “Into the Water” by Paula Hawkins – I read it like, two hours, so definitely a page turner, but it needed some serious editing.
– “Behind Closed Doors” by B.A. Paris – it was well-written but I really didn’t buy the premise.
Nope
– “The Scarlett Letters: My Year of Men in an L.A. Dungeon” by Jenny Nordbak – it started out fun, but it soon became clear that the book was often exploitive, sometimes shamey, and cavalierly uninformed about the bdsm scene. This is not the bdsm memoir I would recommend.
Currently Reading
– “The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag” by Alan Bradley – Flavia’s on the case when a puppeteer winds up dead!
Ooh, Day of the Duchess and Carry the Ocean both sound really good.
I just finished An Unseen Attraction by KJ Charles. It was even better than my high expectations and now I’m feeling discontented about the other books I was midway through when I stopped to inhale it.
Also read the super sweet if not at all sexy All I Have by Nicole Helm and am now on the lookout for more farmer’s market romances.
Ashes to Dust by Ysra Sigurdardottír, my first Icelandic mystery, kept me guessing til the end, although I was not a fan of the gender politics and there’s some light fat shaming.
I would like to say that I’ll be dutifully finishing my pile of ebooks that seem to be perpetually stuck at 75%, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be buying Grin and Beard It by Penny Reid instead.
My latest reads are re-reads, which is a theme lately. It is also a sign of how much chaos my life is in right now. *cry*
I have re-read Dana Marie Bell’s Heart’s Desire series, which was so good. I am thinking I will re-read more of her books soon.
I have also re-read Playing with Fire by RJ Blain for the second time in 2 months or something, still awesome.
And I re-read Michelle Sagara’s Elantra novels.
On the not re-read front, I just finished Chemistry of Magic by Patricia Rice, which I loved. I also finally read The Case of the Feckless Ferrets by Laura Anne Gilman (I highly recommend that you read it when she release it, I got it as a patreon reward)
As for what I am reading next… I should re-read the Hugo package, but I think I’ll do some more re-reading instead. Or maybe read the novellas and novelettes…
I’ve been rereading my favorite Phryne Fisher book, especially a Murder in Montparnasse and Away with the Fairies. Now buckling up to do my reading for the Hugo awards. Pro readers’ tip: just €35 gets you a supporting membership in the World Science Fiction Convention, with the right to vote on the Hugos, so you also get a packet of nominated materials: novels, 3 forms of short fiction, related works, graphic novels, the whole shebang!
Just finished Told You So by Kristen Heitzmann. There was a lot of eyerolling on my part at the sheer ridiculousness of most of the book but the bit where I nearly tossed it was when the playwright hero went to Australia. To rescue the Australian theatre scene. Apparently an entire continent’s theatre future rested on one American playwright to rescue it. Huh? Didn’t she do the most basic of research about Australian theatre? Rescuing one production, I’d give her a pass but the whole bloody industry?
Then it got really whackdoodle.
Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor. This is the first in the St. Mary’s series. Time-traveling historians who are all snarky! Thrills, tension, romance (not the main point of the book, but a solid component), and an awesome heroine! This is my favorite book of the year so far.
It’s been a slow month for me.
I finished the first three books in Ursula Vernon’s Hamster Princess series. I would have loved these books as a kid and liked them a lot as an adult. (Also, quick, fun reads in a world where I increasingly want to hide under the covers forever.)
I’m also about 3/4 of the way through Surface Detail, by Iain Banks and about 1/2 way through The Atrocity Archives, Charles Stross. (The latter having distracted me from the former.)
If anyone is looking for a humorous blend of Lovecratian horror and bureaucracy, I’d recommend The Atrocity Archives, which is currently on sale for $1.99. (At least at Amazon.)
Just finished True Love at the Lonely Hearts Bookshop by Annie Darling. Just as delightful as the first book but can be read as a stand alone. Set in a romance bookshop in London, heroine is an introvert shop emplyee and hero an architect.
Just finished rereading The Precious One by Marisa de los Santos–I adore her books but the dual narration works really well in this one. Taisy is a 35 yo writer summoned to her estranged father’s mansion to ghostwrite his totally narcissistic and partly fictional version of an autobiography. She becomes acquainted with his adored and beloved younger daughter Willow,a brilliant but very sheltered and smug 16 yo starting public school for the first time. I would read the worst dog of a book by this author because of lines like “He smiled the kind of smile that was the reason for wars and poetry.” Damn
@Flora
That rings bells about Australian theatre, but it’s heavily reductive. Australia did once have a dominant playwright (David Williamson) and later Cate Blanchett did make a triumphal return to Australia and become rather queenly in the (Sydney?) theatre scene, though not without putting noses out of joint among competitors.
I would rather read about an American rescuing the Australian sex advice industry. The real life Emily Nagoski has better things to do with her time, no doubt, but we really do need rescuing from the dominant voice, Bettina Arndt, who is a bit of a toxic masculinity sympathiser and not very rigorous as regards social science (sweeping conclusions based on small sample sizes).
I’m reading and enjoying The Thing About Love by Julie James. I also want to read New York, Actually by Sarah Morgan and About a Dog by Jenn McKinlay when they come out later this month.
I also got several books at RT17 a few weeks ago, including A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet. She was so lovely to chat with, and I’m looking forward to reading that series.
My goal is to seriously whittle down my book TBR pile and my TV/movie TBW pile this summer. We’ll see if it actually happens or not. LOL.
Oh, no I lost my beautiful reading notebook, so this month is a blur! I also fell into a bit of fanfiction hole and didn’t read a lot of books. Which is terrible because I have so many library books and they’re going back unread.
Some highlights
“Blame It On the Duke” by Lenora Bell. Fluffy, light historical. You know if that’s your thing or not. It did have a subplot about “madness” and I’m still deciding if it was handled well or not.
“The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas. Really good YA about Black Lives Matter. I love how the author took a lot time setting up the loving (if sometimes complicated) family and neighborhood dynamics.
“Attachmments” by Rainbow Rowell. This was my first Rainbow Rowell and I really enjoyed it. Kind of chick-lit, romantic comedy style book. Someone commented they hated the characters on Argh Ink. I get why, but I forgive a lot if I find the characters funny or I like the voice. I love epistolary stories and I’m determined to read some more.
Finally reading “Pretty Face” by Lucy Parker and almost done. Really enjoying it.
I’m also currently listening to “An Ember in the Ashes” by Sabaa Tahir. I find it kind of cracktastic, personally, but enjoyable. The male narrator has delicious British accent and I’m shallow enough that it matters to me.
The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli – a YA romance, about a girl who’s had over twenty unrequited crushes but never kissed a boy. The heroine has anxiety, and there is a lot of diversity within the secondary characters. I think I liked her first book, Simon vs The Homosapien Agenda, better but this was still very enjoyable with a few moments of laughing out loud on the train.
Frogkisser! by Garth Nix – a children’s book that plays on fairytales. No romance, but lots of fun, with a heroine who doesn’t wait for a prince to save her – actually, Princess Anya is determined to save all the princes from her evil step-step-father who turned them into frogs. Bonus points that for once it’s not an evil step-mother causing all the problems.
The Thing About Love by Julie James – I liked this but didn’t love it; I don’t think it’s her best. Liked the FBI stuff, but the romance was just okay.
I’ve also been reading my way through the backlists of a couple of Aussie authors, Fleur McDonald and Fiona McArthur. Both write romances set in outback Australia. Fleur’s are generally in the romantic suspense category; Fiona’s are medical romance/women’s fiction. I’ve been enjoying them both.
DUDE! I was standing in line with Sonja at RT and you talk about one surreal ass moment! We were chatting, and she was like, “Oh yeah I wrote this,” and I was like, “OMG I’VE SEEN THIS BOOK ALL OVER ROMANCE TUMBLR!!!” and then kind of had a, “Damn our community is awesome” moment. I can’t WAIT to get that book in my face!
Also, am I the only one who reads all the bitches posts/comments in their voice? Is that weird? WHY DOES MY BRAIN DO THE THING?!
Right now I’m reading an indie book called Strange Brew by Angela Colsin, and lurving it! It’s about an alpha witch heroine and a werewolf and there’s ritual sex, a sassy momma, oh, and the best part? THE HERO IS A BETA! Yep. Beta werewolf- they DO exist!
I’m reading “Rest Ye Murder Gentlemen” (a cozy mystery, I’m enjoying it so far), and the Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson (Who I keep meaning to read). I’m going to start “Dashing through the snow” by Debbie Maccomber soon as well, as I’m feeling strangely Christmassy!
@Berry: Cream of the Crop by Alice Clayton is farmer’s market-esque. The heroine works in NY as an ad exec and she has a major thing for this dairy farmer at her weekend farmer’s market.
@Jane Ok, Christmas-y in May, that is a thing?! I like it! I have this weird thing that I don’t read seasonal books, even when in season. I think it’s because I only read by trope. It seems more Christmas romances are almost always house parties if they’re historicals, and small town family shindigs if they’re contemporaries.
But dude. HERE’S THE REAL QUESTION!
Where are the paranormal Christmas romances at???? WHO HIDING THEM?! hahaha
@Amanda, I wanted to read that but the heroine of Nuts was so smug and annoying to me that I’ve resisted despite the obvious quality of Clayton’s writing. Is it worthwhile?
@Lora: I like Natalie better. She’s confident, but turns into a puddle of goo around the hero at first. I think Roxie’s smugness in Nuts came from her cooking skills and wanting everyone to know she’s a different person than when she grew up (a popular trope in small town romances, IMO). That’s not an element in Cream of the Crop since Natalie is a city girl and has no ties to the small town of Hudson Valley.
I loved, loved, loved Julianna Keyes’s TIME SERVED–a second-chance romance (which I realize is anti-catnip for some readers), sadder and darker than many, about a lawyer and the ex-con who was her boyfriend when they were teenagers. Refreshing in that the guy’s crime is not minimized or romanticized. Also, while the sex scenes were hawt, hawt, hawt, each one reflects an evolving aspect of the couple’s relationship. I also liked how the cases the lawyer worked on (one a big class-action lawsuit, the other a pro-bono property case) had a real bearing on the plot and weren’t just window dressing. The book was so good, I immediately downloaded and read the other two books in the trilogy–IN HER DEFENSE and THE GOOD FIGHT (each can be read as a standalone); both were pretty good, but nowhere near as good as TIME SERVED.
Somehow, I collected all the Maiden Lane novels by Elizabeth Hoyt and have never read a single one. Fixing that RIGHT NOW!
Getting ready to read book five. Perfect for the end of a busy school year!
I read Anything For You by Kristan Higgins, which means I’m now finished with the Blue Heron series and that makes me sad. I want to move to that town and be friends with all these people.
I also read Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid, which branches off into two parallel stories based on the different decisions the character could have made at one point. Lots of interesting food for thought about how the tiniest decisions affect our lives and the different ways in which we can be happy.
Also finished Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows – this was my second time through the series, on audio this time, and I fell in love with it all over again. Now reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
At the same time I’m finally reading Pioneer Girl by Laura Ingalls Wilder, which I’ve been putting off for a couple of years just because the book is so large and heavy that I can’t carry it around with me.
I am having either a genuine slump or bad luck picking books. I’m trying to read books out of my comfort zone, and I was intrigued by Built, by Jay Crownover, but it’s all tell and no show in typical first person narration style, and before the first chapter ends the heroine is whining because she has to take care of her own needs, and the next chapter starts with the hero realizing his employees are scared of his temper because he’s too obsessed with the heroine to be able to control his feelings, and there’s just nothing he can do about that, and I was like, *why* am I reading about these entitled twits? So I started The Trouble with Honor by Julia London, thinking I’d do better with a historical, and also found that heroine unbearable, like she’s obsessed with some petty rivalry she has with her brother’s fiancée, so unless this unexpectedly turns out to be a lesbian novel, I’m not interested. And I started another one that I can’t even remember why it irked me, but I got scared that I was in a funk and curled back up with the Temeraire series where it’s safe.
@Regina OH MY YESSSSS!!!! You will love love LOVE the Maiden Lane series! It’s my goal to get a video review for every single one of those books buuuut time is a thing. Sigh.
I love how the external plots always tie so intimately in with the characters. You never feel like The Big Bad Thing is just there for the sake of a 3rd arc.
I can’t wait to read The Day of the Duchess! It’s one of my most anticipated this year. As for my reading this month, I seem to have finally pulled out of a major reading slump in the last couple weeks. During the slump, I started Etched in Bone which I ended up having to return to the library before I could finish. There was nothing wrong with it, I just couldn’t concentrate on reading. I just got it back from the library after it ran through the hold cycle so hopefully I’ll get back to it soon.
I’ve read 13 books this month, 10 of which were in the last two weeks, which is still low but better than the 9 I read last month. Almost everything I read was from the library and I’m almost caught up on those books. Here’s the list:
Where the Dead Lie by C. S. Harris- I really enjoyed this one and felt like it was setting up some really interesting future storylines.
Frogs and Kisses by Shanna Swendson- I hadn’t realized a new book in the Enchanted Inc series had come out until a couple months ago. I’m not sure how I found out about it, but I put it in my wish list to get at some point in the future then it popped up at my e-library. This was pretty much the perfect book to read while I was in a slump. It’s light, sweet, fun, and I already knew the characters. In this one Katie ends up going undercover in a rival magical business that’s basically run by the magic community equivalent of the mob. It also sets up some interesting directions for possible future books in the series to go.
Forever Mine by Erin Nicholas- I read this based on the review here on SBTB and really enjoyed it. It was light and cute with a great hero and geeky heroine.
It Started with a Kiss by Marina Adair- This was my Amazon Prime library book of the month. It was enjoyable with low angst and a great heroine.
Cold Fury series books 3-6 by Sawyer Bennett- My e-library got the sixth book, Max, and I had already read one and two plus had three through five on my kindle so I put it on hold. When I got it, I used it as motivation to read the ones that had been sitting on my kindle for a while. I had mixed feelings about all of these books. In the third one, Zack, I had some issues with a little slut shaming. The heroine, Kate, wore her sister’s hand me downs as a kid, the sister liked tight clothing which the heroine said must be why she had a baby at 16. It was a small, throwaway line, but it bugged me. The heroine developed early is sexually harassed at school and a teacher tells her it’s her fault because of the tight clothing. She learns to wear baggy clothes and hide her beauty then can’t seem to unlearn it when she decided she would like male attention in college. I felt like this whole issue was not addressed to my liking. Also the hero’s longtime girlfriend and mother of his child died four months previously. The books makes a big deal about how he loved her a lot, but never felt like she was ‘the one’. I think that was done so the reader would be okay with Zack moving on four months later, but it just felt weird to me. I did like Zack and Kate’s romance though, so mixed feelings. Ryker, the fourth book, had kind of a instalove thing that didn’t work for me. The hero and heroine had known each other some for a while, but it just turns into relationship too fast and a lot of the development was done through telling not showing. I also had some issues with the way the power imbalance (the heroine is the first female NHL manager and the hero is a goalie on the team she manages) was handled at the end. Despite that, I liked the characters and the plot so again, mixed. The fifth book, Sawyer, was the most successful for me. It was a second-chance love story and there was some misunderstandings/miscommunications that were a little annoying, but not enough to stop me from enjoying it. The sixth book, Max, was my least favorite. It had instalove and Cinderella story, but I never felt like the relationship was developed well. Basically Max loved her just because and she liked that he helped her out so much with her hard life and the niece and nephews she was raising.
You May Kiss the Bride by Lisa Berne- I read a couple good reviews, and one bad one, of this book so I decided to check it out when my e-library got it. The heroine is a poor orphan raised by indifferent relatives, the hero is an a Earl, Duke, something who has decided to do his duty to his name and produce an heir. There’s instalust, but the romance is developed later on. The heroine can sometimes go from plucky and independent to stupid and annoying then back again. There’s some good dialogue and nice moments between the hero and heroine. The book is uneven, but overall decent. I’m looking forward to checking out future books in the series since this is a debut book that shows promise.
You’re the Earl That I Want by Kelly Bowen- I enjoyed this one, but it was my least favorite Bowen book so far, Part of that may be still dealing with a slump (it took me forever to read this one).
Lauren Layne- My e-library got Love Story so I checked it out and then checked out the Redemption series bundle they’d had for a while, but I hadn’t gotten around to checking out. I really liked Love Story although sometimes the characters came off a little immature. It’s a second chance love story between a hero and heroine who had grown up together (the hero was the heroine’s brother’s best friend but there was never any I can’t touch her, she’s off limits issues) and had briefly gotten together before breaking up. Lots of good banter in this one. The Redemption series has three books, but I already had read the first one. The second one, Broken, had a beauty and the beast storyline with a wounded vet and a rich girl from Manhattan looking to escape her life by taking a job as his caretaker. This was well-done and I enjoyed the characters despite my antipathy towards the heroine after the first book. The third book in the series, Crushed, was really sweet. The hero moves to Texas from New York to meet his real father. He decides the use his half-brother’s girlfriend as a means to get to the family. He ends up clicking with her more ‘average’ looking sister, Chloe. Chloe has been in love with her sister’s boyfriend forever so she and the hero, Mike, form a pact to help her get the guy. Chloe has some minor weight issues that I feel were handled well. Of course, Chloe and Mike end up realizing they were actually right for each other. I thought the whole trying to break up the sister and her boyfriend plot line was handled well. They didn’t actively try to put a wedge in their relationship, just focused on trying to get the guy to notice Chloe as more than a little sister figure. This is another one with a lot of great banter, a little angst, and a lot of sweetness.
Right now I’m reading an arc of Silver Silence by Nalini Singh that I got from Penguin First to Read. I’ve never been into the idea of bear changelings, but I’m loving them so far. I think the change in focus has definitely brought the series in a fresh and interesting direction. After this I’m finally going to read Archangel’s Heart, which I’ve checked out of the library about a million times and have yet to read. Then I have Rock Wedding by Singh sitting on my kindle. Plus, there’s still Etched in Bone to finish. Hopefully, I’m out of the slump for good and those will go fast!
@Amanda: I hate you just a little bit right now as I have another 10 days to wait for White Hot. Envy is ugly.
Finished rereading Laurenston’s Crow books.
Just finished reading Someone Like You by Lauren Layne, which was recommended here. Liked it very much.
Stealing Mr Right and Derby Girl by Tamara Morgan. Didn’t care for Stealing at all- kept finding myself wanting to slap the heroine. Don’t think that was what Ms Morgan was aiming for. However, Derby made up for it. Have Party Girl on deck ready to go. Can’t wait.
Missing, Presumed by Susan Steiner. I believe this to be another rec from here. Either that or else I saw it on the library shelf and thought it looked good.
Also have the first 3 stories available to date in Nico Rosso’s Black Ops: Automatik series, the 2nd of which, One Minute to Midnight was a RITA review and received an ‘A’ grade.
I just finished a re-read of a bunch of Shelly Laurenston books and I’m about half way through Stealing Mr. Right by Tamara Morgan, which was recommended by so many people I couldn’t not pick it up. So far enjoying the heck out of it but also losing sleep because I keep reading way too late into the night. The narrative shift between past & present works really well to build the tension.
Kobo messed up my pre-order of Rachel Goodman’s Intercepting the Chef. It won’t load on my e-reader but I just figured out I can still read it on my phone app so I’m excited to start that! Also on my list to tackle this week are An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole and Hard Knocks by Ruby Lang.
The fact that almost every time I picked up my tablet I thought, “Oh! That’s what I’m reading right now,” tells you how forgettable most of my reading has been lately. So I retreated to some old favourites and went on a Kathleen Gilles Seidel reread. Please Remember This – not her best, but even mediocre Seidel is better than 90% of the rest and Summer’s End.
I also reread The God Beneath the Sea by Leon Garfield and Edward Blishen, illustrated by Charles Keeping. This is the best book in the history of the universe and I will fight anyone who says otherwise. It’s a gorgeous retelling of Greek myths with lush and violent prose. I read it for the first time when I was ten or eleven and it left me shaking with wonder at what a book could be.
I gave The Millionaire’s Daughter by Dorothy Eden a go, but lost interest half-way through. I liked the mother’s story, but the daughter’s didn’t interest me.
And, about an hour ago, I finished Jackie Collins’s Chances. It was free on Amazon a while back and I was curious how well it would hold up. Not too well, it turns out, but the nostalgia factor and super cracktasticness kept me reading. It’s nasty, brutal schlock that I used to devour and then hate myself for.
My reading was dramatically slowed down over the past month because my husband I went on a road trip vacation and then my mom and I were at RT! So this month I only have two books to report that I have finished:
Very Good:
– To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: The last time I read this I was in high school. I read it again because I took a class with my dad on the novels of Harper Lee. I have mixed feelings about it – the writing is beautiful and compelling – especially of lazy summer days in the hot south sleeping on the porch and drinking cold lemonade during the day. But my view on how the racism in the book is portrayed has changed – the “hero” of the story was a privileged white man who is revered for doing the right thing. I would much rather heard more from Tom Robinson and his family about his life and his actual innocence.
Meh:
– Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee: I read this for the same class mentioned above. A lot of of things in this book really made me mad including one character’s assertion that the civil war was not about slavery and that the civil rights movement was kinda the same way – not really about people of color. Uh, no. And as much as I liked Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird I didn’t like her here. The only thing that saved this again was the style of Harper Lee’s writing. It was also interesting to read it immediately after To Kill a Mockingbird because you could find passages that were word for word the same (she wrote Watchman first and that later morphed into Mockingbird)
Loved Lisa Scottoline’s One Perfect Lie. Excellent mystery with a twist. Finished Roxanne St. Claire’s Sit..Stay..Beg and immediately ordered and began reading the next book in the series, New Leash on Life. This is a series about 6 adult siblings who run a canine rescue/training business. I am not a dog lover, never had a dog, but these stories are heartwarming and “educational.” I am not a political person but I enjoyed The Gatekeepers by Chris Whipple. The book is about the chiefs of staff of the presidents since Nixon. Learned a lot about the intricacies of the Oval Office.
Just finished The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society and LOVED it. How had I not read it before?? Before that I read DD Ayres’ Primal Force. Not my favorite in the series so far, but I so enjoy reading about the service dogs.
This morning I started Miss Grimsley’s Oxford Career by Carla Kelly. My library audio hold of When Beauty Tamed the Beast by Eloisa James arrived, but after giving it a few minutes, I confirmed that romance on audio just doesn’t work for me.
Reading ARC of Nalini Singh’s “Silver Silence”. All I can say is “because bears” whenever asks why.
I also have the second Renee Patrick mystery “Dangerous to Know” out from the library. 1930s era Hollywood with Edith Head as a recurring character.
The Hugo awards digital packet just came out and it is chock full of good things this time around. Basically for $40 supporting membership, you receive the full packet in pdf/epub/mobi formats, including the whole Seanan McGuire October Daye series and Max Gladstone’s Craft Sequence. I’m plugging through the short fiction in between my main books. I’m hoping I can focus on it more next month. Some only have excerpts as heavily watermarked PDFs.
This month has been a mixed bag, I started it off with a really bad( and not in a good way either ) science fiction book called World War Moo by Michael Logan that was supposed to be a sort of parody of the zombie apocalypse story , but it wasn’t that funny and the head hopping was ridiculous. I ended up not finishing it
After that I read Tender Wings of Desire by “Colonel Sanders” , if you aren’t aware this novella was published as a joke by KFC on Mother’s Day. The cover was floating around Facebook for awhile , mostly cause it was hilarious. I read the book for a laugh and was surprised that while funny and a parody of the Romance genres is was actually strangely heartfelt and sex positive. Definitely pick it up on Amazon if you get the chance.
Lastly, I’m currently reading Rhiannon by Roberta Gellis. If you don’t look into the history of romance much, this book is a historical romance classic written in 1981. While purple prosey in parts it’s also really, really good and way ahead of its time. Check it out, Roberta Gellis is pretty famous, so I’m sure you cans find it on Amazon.
@Julia aka mizzelle – 1930’s Hollywood! Edith Head, Girl Detective! I’ve got to put this in my eyeballs immediately.
@K.N. O’Rear – Ah! The Roselynde Chronicles! I loved Roberta Gellis. Medieval romance with strong women and men who appreciated them. None of this fair Saxon maid and rapey Norman stuff (I’m looking at you The Wolf and the Dove). I also loved A Tapestry of Dreams – a wealthy heiress with – wait for it – a kind and loving, guardian uncle.
I’m reading my way through Deanna Raybourn’s Lady Julia Grey series, which I think would be a good fit for fans of Phryne Fisher. It’s not really romance, though there are elements of romance novels in her relationship with Nicholas Brisbane, even once they end up firmly together.
I also just read Megan Frampton’s My Fair Duchess based on the review by Redheadedgirl and I lurved it so much. It was just so sparkly and fun.
I’m reading the Sub’s Club series by J A Rock. Super cool if the kink genre is your thing.
I am really book grumpy right now. It’s worse than a book slump because rather than just not being hooked by anything I try to read, I am also grouchy at making the attempt.
I am really looking forward to the next Great Library book by Rachael Caine, and Loretta Chase has a new book coming out in November, but I need to break this book grumpiness sooner rather than later.
I did read “And It Came To Pass” by Laura Stone, which I picked up from her at the RT Giant Book Fair. Set in Spain, with a plotline inspired by the movie “Latter Days”, which is one of my favorite movies. I enjoyed it very much and plan to read Laura’s backlist.
@Francesca The first book in that series “Design for Dying” is on sale digitally for $2.99. I blasted through it which surprised me!
I’m reading The Handmaid’s Tale for a book club. I have a lot to read between now and tomorrow night.
This month I read and/or listened to a bunch of forgettable books, apparently. But one big highlight was the audiobook of Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys, which I highly recommend.
Next up: Etched in Bone, by Anne Bishop. I’ve seen some mixed reviews so I didn’t start it right away after getting it from the library last week. I love the series so much – the reviews made me a little worried!
@Jill Q – I also LOVE Steve West’s voice. I have listened to several audiobooks from my library simply because he’s the narrator. One good one was Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater.