It’s Whatcha Reading time, where we discuss all the highs and lows of our month’s reading. We all hope you’ve had some good book noises this month, but we know sometimes that doesn’t happen. Feel free to rage and gripe as much as you want. However, we can’t be held responsible if your TBR pile doubles in size from the book recommendations you’ll most likely get.
Sarah: I am reading a nonfiction and a romance, because my brain is tired and stressed. The nonfiction is Deep Work by Cal Newport (insert all jokes here) (insert jokes about inserting jokes here) (fin). On one hand, the reframing of what is deeply focused work and what is shallow, distracting work is interesting and very helpful to my own feelings of productivity and accomplishment, especially when paired with a recent podcast interview with Basecamp CEO Jason Fried.
I’m constantly questioning what I do, and why I do it, and whether I can do less, do things more efficiently, or not do them at all. So the idea of focusing intently on my creative projects and goals is something I’m very curious about. But the book itself, while it contains several helpful concepts, grates on me with the sexism and the ignoring of other work that women typically do (e.g. emotional labor and caretaking). Most of the examples are men, with two exceptions, one of them negative, and most of these examples portray work as a singular monolith or field of study. So I take frequent breaks between chapters so I don’t get too angry to keep reading and cheat myself out of valuable ideas.
Carrie: I am reading Chasing Power, a YA by Sarah Beth Durst ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), and also What She Ate, a nonfiction about six historical women and their relationship to food. The former is entertaining but uneven and the latter is excellent.
Sarah: I’m also currently reading The Offer by Sara Portman ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), which is coming out on 10/24. The heroine is a penniless vicar’s daughter who opens the story in the strange position of deeply envying her best friend, now a duchess, who is in the midst of horrible morning sickness. The hero is also in debt, and not in a position to offer for anyone unless that person comes with several wagonloads of money, so OF COURSE they are going to be drawn to each other. I just started it, and am very curious, so ahoy, more reading time for me.
Elyse: I just started The Bloodprint by Ausma Zehanat Khan. It’s an epic fantasy about a group of women with magical abilities working to overthrow a patriarchal, repressive society. Their magic is tied to the ability to read and use words of power, so it’s pretty solidly my catnip
Sarah: I read the first chapter of that book and so wanted to continue, but it was giving me the “your brain is going to wake you up with nightmares” feeling with some of the violence. But the women in that first chapter are SO INCREDIBLE.
Elyse: One of the things that I found really fascinating and relevant is that the authoritarian regime bans reading as a means of controlling its populace
Sarah: YES. This is a perfect example of a book that I wanted to read but knew would give my brain middle-of-the-night freakouts.
Amanda: Can I just say that I love these little conversations we have about books? What we like, what we don’t like, what aspects work of us as readers. It gives me the warm and fuzzies.
Sarah: I know, me too.
In the past year I have learned so much about how to work with my brain and my brain chemistry. it’s life-changing on a very basic level.
But knowing when something violent is going to exacerbate my anxiety to the point of losing sleep is a big help, much as I want to read this book.
Redheadedgirl: So…I maaaaaaaaay be at “one book bought per day of trip” so that’s a lot?
Elyse: Nah.
Amanda: I just finished an exhausting week in South Florida, cleaning out my late grandparents home where they lived for over 40 years. On the cool side, I found my great grandmother’s bible from 1917. On the bad side, who knew just looking at belongings could sap so much energy. Because of this, I’m waffling between two different types of reads – dark and gritty to channel some of my negative feelings. And reading an autobuy author for some comfort.
For the former, I have An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard from my library ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). It has a magical NYC and a heroine who wants to destroy the current magical system.
For the latter, I have Roomies by Christina Lauren. They write such great modern romances that make me laugh and cry. It’s like a hug in book form and something that I totally need right now.
What have you been reading this month? Something spooky? A comfort read? Let us know in the comments!
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, thank you so much, and if you’d prefer not to, no worries. Thanks for being a part of SBTB and hopefully, you’ve found some great books to read!
Guys, I have read so much this month. So much. I don’t even… at least most of it was great!
Faves
– CALL ME BY YOUR NAME by Andre Aciman – a beautifully written story (I was actually sighing in joy while reading because of how evocative the language was) of a romance between a 17 year-old & the 24 year-old grad student who comes to stay at his family villa in Italy.
– THE BRIGHTEST FELL by Seanan McGuire – I initially got this from the library but 5 pages in, I was like, “nope, favorite series, gotta own it!”
– ROMONA BLUE by Julie Murphy – YA novel about a girl who openly identifies as a lesbian falls for a boy she knew as a child. This handles questions of sexuality, sexual fluidity and YA-hood wonderfully. It’s realistic and funny. Loved it.
– THE MOTH DIARIES by Rachel Klien – a teen at a boarding school in the ’60’s becomes obsessed with her new classmate. Is the new girl a vampire or is our main character having a breakdown. Shades of Dracula, Carmilla, all the gothic boarding school novels you can think of. Also a great movie!
– THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA, VOL. 1: THE CRUCIBLE by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa & Robert Hack – Sabrina the Teenage Witch but with actual scary horror. And the art, oh the art!
– TASTE OF MARROW by Sarah Gailey – more cowboys, hippos, and queer rep!
– SLAM! VOL. 1 by Pamela Ribon and Veronica Fish – a graphic novel series with great art about women and roller derby! I loved the realistic depiction of female friendships.
– WONDER WOMAN, VOLUME 2: YEAR ONE by Greg Rucka & Nicola Scott – I totally saw the movie and started looking into the comics. This one was great!
– WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI by Sandhya Menon – super cute! I felt the Bollywood vibes, but I especially loved how unabashedly Dimple loved tech.
– THE NAKED CIVIL SERVANT by Quintin Crisp – written in 1968, this memoir by a man who was gay and very out by 1931 is periodically misogynistic and bitter, but it is also honest, ridiculously brave, very funny, and often sad.
GOOD
– THE CUTTING SEASON by Attica Locke – I loved most of this murder mystery that takes place on a former plantation/now working museum, though I found myself questioning some of the main character’s choices
– YOUNG JANE YOUNG by Gabrielle Zevin – a novel about how mistakes can roll off men and ruin women, but also, how women can be angry and come together. Great book.
– SPECTRED ISLE by KJ Charles – loved the worldbuilding (1920’s paranormal hunters) but didn’t really buy the development of the romance
– TURN COAT by Jim Butcher (audiobook) – thought the story was great and James Marsters’s narration is fabulous as always but man, less physical descriptions of the women please! The constant mention of nipples is just…come on.
– THE OTHER ALCOTT by Elise Hooper – I read two novels about May Alcott (Amy) this month, and they were both pretty great!
– LITTLE WOMAN IN BLUE by Jeannine Atkins – this one covers more of May’s life, if only by a few years
– THE RULES OF MAGIC by Alice Hoffman – the PRACTICAL MAGIC prequel is finally here! YAYYYY! All about the aunts! YAYYYYYY!
– ONCE UPON A MARQUESS by Courtney Milan – I loved the heroine and the family but was just puzzled by the romance
– THE TWILIGHT PARIAH by Jeffrey Ford – a weird novella about a haunted house and a demon baby. It doesn’t have great reviews, but I thought it was kinda funny
– AN ENCHANTMENT OF RAVENS by Margaret Rogerson – I thought the story and heroine was great, kinda Labyrinth-y, until the romance overpowered everything (very un-Labyrinth-y)
– ROSE IN BLOOM by Louisa May Alcott – I couldn’t get over the cousins thing, especially when the uncles were like, “now, we don’t don’t normally approve of cousins getting married buttttt…”
MEH
– FINDING FRASER by KC DYER – Outlander homage, neat! This book, no! Our 29 year-old heron acts MAYBE 16, her decisions are dangerous and illegal and the romance just happens, because?
– RAT QUEENS, VOL. 3: DEMONS by Kurtis J. Weibe & Tess Fowler – the story and relationships just fall apart
– WONDER WOMAN: EARTH ONE, VOL 1 by Grant Morrison & Yanick Paquette – I liked the bondage-y callbacks to Wonder Woman’s original origins, but this hit some weird beats, especially when it came to Etta Candy. Since when would Wonder Woman fatshame ANYBODY?
Currently Reading
– THE TIGER’S DAUGHTER by K Arsenault Rivera – OKAY OKAY OKAY. Epic fantasy novel starring queer women of color who are warriors and badass and the book is huge and omg, it’s everything
– CHANGES by Jim Butcher (audiobook) – I can’t quit you, Dresden (or you, James Marsters)
Currently somewhat in love with THE VISCOUNT’S GUIDE TO VICE AND VIRTUE which I found via the bitchery. My enjoyment of the book is only a bit spoiled by the author’s sloppy research of women’s fashion in the 1720s. For one, people wore stays, not corsets. Second, women did not tight-lace. You couldn’t have had you tried as stays are mostöy meant for support, and not sturdy enough. The seemingly thin waists were achieved by wearing bum pads. They were optical illusions. And third, the ridiculous hairdos came way, way later. But still, it’s a good book so far.
I read Jane Steele by Lindsey Fey and loved it! I thought it was going to be some weird takeoff on Jane Eyre, but it wasn’t really. JaneS likes the book JaneE, but has her own story.
Currently, I’m reading Maplecroft: The Borden Dispatches by Cherie Priest. It’s a lot darker than I thought it would be. I would classify it more as horror than fantasy. It’s very good, though. Priest writes horror well. Her Dreadful Skin is one of the scariest books I’ve ever read.
This has not been a very productive month for reading.
Sarah, I had a similar problem with “Deep Work” but I got some helpful takeaways from it anyways.
The best read of the month by far was “Half A Crown” by Jo Walton, which was the last book in her “Farthing” trilogy. These are set in an alternate history where England capitulated to Germany early in WWII and fascism is slowly creeping unto English shores. Even the “good people” make a lot of moral compromises to survive and “The Greater Good. ” One of the early chapters of this book has giggling debutantes debating what they should wear for a torch light march. So, yeah. . . Not a happy read and almost frighteningly prescient considering it was written ten years ago maybe? I’ve owned it for a long time and I’ve put off finishing the series because it seemed a little too close to reality. But I ended totally engrossed *because* it felt so relevant.
The only real through character for the series is Peter Carmichael, but I don’t think the books standalone because so much of the books are about his evolution as a character. Also, I’ve got to say the ending felt a little bit overly simplistic (unfortunately), but I’m glad the author didn’t go for a completely downbeat ending. That would have felt too bleak right now.
I also really enjoyed the first volume of Saga by Brian K. Vaughan. I need to remember not to read that one when the kids are not around.;-)
In the decent, but not great category –
“Seven Minutes in Heaven” by Eloisa James. I wanted to like this better because I loved the rest of the series and I loved the beginning of this one. Alas, too much Big Mis stuff. Still looking forward to her new series.
“Double Sin” by Agatha Christie. Book of short stories. I liked the Hercule Poirot ones best, but there were some creepy supernatural ones too.
“Vintage Murder” by Ngaio Marsh. This was a well crafted classic murder mystery with some over the top racism at the end, which makes it hard to recommend. YMMV
I’ve also been slowly working away with “Away With the Fairies” by Kerry Greenwood. I find I really have to be in the right mood for the Phryne Fisher mysteries and this one is starting to pick up for me.
My audio books have been very disappointing this month. The only thing I’ve finished was “The Girl With the Make Believe Husband” by Julia Quinn. This series is the must I’ve enjoyed her books in ages even though shockingly I have never read the Bridgerton series that they are a prequel to.
I have finished absolutely nothing this month
I’m really close to the end of Three Parts Dead, by Max Gladstone, which I’m really enjoying.
It hasn’t really been that great of a reading month for me . I finished The Rope Dancer by Roberta Gellis that I mentioned last month and it ended as well as it began.
This month I started Dracula by Bram Stoker cause I never read it before and Halloween is this month. While mildly ahead of its time since Mina actually has agency and is smarter than most of the men in the story and actually actively fights becoming a vampire, the book still suffers from a lot of the problems many books written during the Victorian era did. It is slow-paced , none of the characters really grow or change and it suffers from wordiness. As a result i want to finish it, but getting through is a slog , so I haven’t. Also if you have anxiety issues do not read the book before bed.
I also started A Kiss at Midnight by Eloisa James. I’m only at about chapter 10 and the book is an okay, fun Cinderella retelling.
Lastly, I bought a Nonfiction book about writing romance novel called Write Naked. If you’re a writer, amateur or published I’d definitely pick it up. It’s an easy read with tons of helpful wrong advice within. It’s also arranged so you can easily skip around in the book for the information that is most relevant to you at the time.
I haven’t had much time to read for fun, so I’ve been staring longingly at the books on my TBR pile, including Chasing Christmas Eve by Jill Shalvis; The Hundredth Queen by Emily King; and Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo.
I also have some Jessica Jones comics to read, along with Henchgirl, a graphic novel about someone who works for a supervillain. It looks like a fun, different take on superheroes/villains.
I’m gradually working my way through Anne Calhoun’s back catalog. She’s an object lesson for me about giving a second chance to a writer who, for whatever reason, didn’t grab me the first time I tried her books. I have no idea why I previously couldn’t get into her work because I love most of the books I’ve now read by her. I read Calhoun’s three SEALS novellas: THE SEAL’S SECRET LOVER, THE SEAL’S REBEL LIBRARIAN, and THE SEAL’S SECOND CHANCE, which are actually part of her ALPHA OPS series. So then it was off to the rest of the ALPHA OPS books (these all involve heroes in law enforcement and there are some reappearances by characters from the SEALS books): UNDER THE SURFACE, GOING DEEP, and TURN ME LOOSE. So much good stuff: competent, determined heroines, honorable alpha heroes, angsty without being melodramatic, and thoughtfully-developed characters and storylines. (TURN ME LOOSE being particularly catnippy—featuring, as it does, a fraught past connection, fake relationship, enforced proximity, and, initially, so much unresolved sexual tension between the hero and heroine that you could cut it with a knife.)
I then had to go back and read Calhoun’s early classic, LIBERATING LACEY. It could have been a cliche–wealthy divorcee with a job in corporate finance begins an affair with a younger police officer–but in Calhoun’s hands it becomes a much deeper and richer story of two very different people who discover a bond. It’s unbelievable to me that this was Calhoun’s first published novel, the writing is so confident and assured, the characters so well-drawn, it seems to be the work of a much more established writer. This book also features, hands down, one of the absolute sexiest role-play scenes ever–I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t read it yet, but those of you who have know what I’m talking about!
I then read Calhoun’s two UNCOMMON books: UNCOMMON PLEASURE and UNCOMMON PASSION, both set in Galveston. I really liked UNCOMMON PASSION, which features a heroine who has recently left a religious cult and experiences her first sexual relationship in her mid-twenties. (Escaping religious cults seems to be a romance-novel-trope du jour–Calhoun, Sarina Bowen, and Adriana Anders have all written books with this theme, and I’m sure there are others I’ve missed.) UNCOMMON PLEASURE, which is actually two interconnected novellas, was a bit more problematic for me. Both stories in PLEASURE featured M/F/M menages, which is not my catnip at all. Although I thought Calhoun did a reasonably good job of developing the plots so that the menages seemed plausible, it made it difficult for me to truly believe the eventual HEAs–especially in the first story where the hero essentially bullies the heroine into the ménage as a way to get her to break up with him (there are mitigating circumstances, but still…). So, if menages in your reading material aren’t for you, UNCOMMON PLEASURE might not be for you either.
I continued my stroll (started last month) through Jackie Ashenden’s catalog by reading her three BILLIONAIRE FAIRY TALE books (I think there’s at least one more scheduled for publication later this year). Each book is a contemporary take on a classic fairy tale. THE BILLIONAIRE BEAST is based on Beauty & the Beast. I liked it, but several SBTB commenters have noted how passive the heroine is. I felt that while the heroine (a personal assistant to a demanding, agoraphobic billionaire “beast” of a boss) did take a lot from the hero/beast, Ashenden worked in some plausibility for the behaviors (on both the heroine’s and hero’s parts). THE BILLIONAIRE’S INTERN, based on Sleeping Beauty, was more difficult for me: there was a fairly significant age gap between the hero and heroine (he’s older and has known her since she was a child, a plot point that always requires extremely careful handling to avoid a creep factor), plus (trying to avoid spoilers here) the heroine has been responsible for a terrible accident and I never felt she displayed true awareness of how horrific what she’d done was. THE BILLIONAIRE’S VIRGIN, based on Cinderella, has the rather implausible premise of a billionaire falling for a homeless woman he meets while doing charitable work at a soup kitchen: a bit too much of a rescue fantasy for my tastes.
I also read the three books in Ashenden’s Motor City Royals series: DIRTY FOR ME, WRONG FOR ME, and SIN FOR ME: these are about a group of people living in a somewhat rundown but rapidly regentrifying area of Detroit. Although these books are rougher and grittier than many of Ashenden’s various billionaire books (and with far more tattoos), the basic Ashenden template remains in place: beautiful women who smell amazing and have glorious hair, handsome men who smell amazing and have astonishing eyes, lots of family dysfunction, angst, page-burning sex, and–of course–satisfying HEAs.
I’m having a hard time explaining exactly what I find so enthralling about Lynda Chance’s HOUSE OF RULE series: the writing is pedestrian at best (I lost count of how many times characters “bit out” their words), some of the idiomatic language is so odd I wondered if it the books were originally written in another language and then run through Google Translate, the conflicts between heroes & heroines seem trite and contrived—easily overcome if only the characters would, ya know, use their words, the heroes cross the line from alpha to alpha-hole almost from the first page (often skirting the very edge of consent), and the heroines revel in the controlling, possessive, and jealous natures of their men. And yet, and yet…I devoured the four books in the series (RULE’S OBSESSION, RULE’S PROPERTY, RULE’S ADDICTION, and RULE’S SEDUCTION) about the romantic lives of four siblings (three brothers and a sister). Perhaps it’s the absolute conviction that Chance and her characters bring to her crazy-sauce plots and paper-thin motivations; perhaps it’s the endearingly slap-dash approach to creating the environment the characters inhabit (just one small example—Chance doesn’t seem to realize that it takes more than four people to run a large hotel); perhaps it’s the unexpected pathos as a character’s vulnerabilities are revealed; perhaps it’s the single-minded focus on achieving an HEA. All I can say is Chance has become a “guilty pleasure”—and, given her enormous back catalog, one I’m likely to continue indulging.
[Trigger warning: reference to sexual assault follows.] I struggled with
exactly how I felt about Jill Sorenson’s motorcycle club romance, RIDING DIRTY, because of a scene in which the hero commits sexual violence against the heroine. Aside from that scene, there’s a lot to like in this book—Sorenson’s writing is excellent: she keeps full control of a very intricate plot; she develops the characters, lets us see their strengths and weaknesses, shows us how their choices—and the choices of others—impact their current situations; and she does a great job of evoking the dusty, dispirited world of Southern California’s desert communities. But this story of a therapist who becomes involved with an ex-con (who is also her patient) includes a scene where the hero brutalizes the heroine when he believes she has betrayed him. To me, it’s irrelevant that the heroine has indeed, in part, betrayed the hero, his resorting to sexual violence cannot be justified. More problematic still is that the heroine feels she “deserves” the hero’s rough treatment (and wants it for both punishment and sexual arousal). Even though the hero is eventually contrite, I still found the scene shocking. I’d be interested in knowing what other readers thought about the book in general and that scene in particular.
Denise Grover Swank’s THE SUBSTITUTE was a free download. The premise seemed fun: due to mistaken identity at the airport, a woman—who has broken up with her cheating fiancé six weeks before the wedding but has failed to inform her demanding mother—ends up in a fake engagement with a man she’s just met on the plane. As it was a freebie, I thought I’d give it a try. But I was turned off in the first few pages by a jaw-droppingly misogynistic presentation of a flight attendant named “Tiffani” (comments are made regarding the unorthodox spelling in a way that assumes we’ll share the patronizing attitude toward her because of how she spells her name). Tiffani is shown to be an unprofessional, man-hungry vamp who ignores the needs of female passengers to focus on a handsome man. This is coming from a female writer in a book published in 2015? No thanks. I didn’t even wait to see how dreadful the characterization of the heroine’s mother was. Whenever certain female characters are reduced to the worst misogynistic cliches just so the “good” female character can shine even brighter, it’s a big DNF for me.
I just finished the audiobook version of Giant of the Senate by Al Franken. I really enjoyed it. Although the stories about his work in the Senate were interesting, I actually found the parts about his life before politics and the stories about his campaign the most interesting. Highly recommended.
I read and enjoyed the latest book by Julie James (the title is escaping me now). I also read a couple of the latest books in Sarah Morgan’s NY series and am looking forward to the next.
Another of Jim Butcher’s books was on sale last week for Kindle (Proven Guilty) and I bought it and then re-read it. Like KateB, I am a big fan of the Dresden audiobooks and eventually hope to expand my audiobook library as well as my digital library to include all the Dresden books. I find the stories uneven sometimes, but the James Marsters narration improves everything and now when I read those books, it is his voice that I hear.
Just renewed my membership in the Bad Decisions Book Club last night, because Sarina Bowen’s latest book, Bountiful appeared in my kindle and I stayed up far to late reading last evening. So far, I am enjoying it, even though I’m yawning this morning.
Chemo brain and extreme fatigue has shortened my attention span to nearly zero these days so I’ve been sticking to manga, comics and short fiction by local authors that I picked up at a couple of nearby comic cons. Since I spend an awful lot of time waiting around at the hospital and doctors’ offices lately, I’ve been sticking to re-reads of old favourites – stuff I know I’m going to enjoy and, if I have to set aside for a bit, I can pick up without trying too hard to sort out who’s who, etc. I am currently on an Anya Seton kick: just finished Green Darkness and I just started on Katherine. I cut my teeth on old school historical fiction like Jean Plaidy and Margaret Campbell Barnes and, right now, hearing their voices is like settling down to a conversation with an old friend.
Add me to the “not a great reading month” list. (Blah blah work blah blah The Great British Baking Show.)
Most of my excellent reads were re-reads. The wonderful exception was Genevieve Valentine’s The Girls at the Kingfisher Club. It’s a retelling of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” set in Prohibition-era New York. The princesses are the twelve daughters of a controlling rich man. The focus is on the oldest as she desperately tries to keep her sisters safe, but there’s individual personality conveyed in small spaces. Not a fantasy, unless I missed a snippet.
I re-read Murder on the Orient Express in hopes of a good adaptation next month, and was reminded of some of the details that could translate well on screen.
I also re-read Murder Must Advertise, one of my two favorite Lord Peter Wimsey novels. This one stands almost independently, so could be a good first read if you haven’t tried Dorothy Sayers. The mystery is fine, but the portrayal of the period advertising industry grabs me every time I read the book – Sayers worked as a copywriter for a time.
My other happy re-read was Georgette Heyer’s April Lady, which I enjoyed much more than I remembered. Heyer at her best writes great characters who can be young and inexperienced without being young and stupid, and this book has a fun heroine.
On the downside, it turns out I’m really, really not Marie Lu’s target audience for Warcross, which I found oddly structured with cookie-cutter leads. More time to read other authors, though.
The Good:
The Chronicles of St. Mary’s series, which is about a group of time-traveling historians. I’m two books in and really enjoying the characters and adventures. The plotting and pacing seem off at times, but overall, highly recommended.
A Scandal in Belgravia – the second Charlotte Holmes book by Sherry Thomas. I really love the characters and world-building, but have to admit I didn’t try to follow the mystery. I lost track of who was who amongst the minor characters and stopped trying to figure it out after a while. That’s probably just me, though; I’m not much of a mystery reader, although I read them occasionally. I am eager to see where the characters go next.
The bad:
I DNF’d Anita Hughes’ Christmas in London. There are two romance plots, one of which was insta-love and the other a reunion of two people who were at college together. I found the men oddly controlling and prone to jealous tantrums that made absolutely no sense for how little time was passing. In the wake of current events, I am probably extra-sensitive to men telling women they barely know how to dress and who to see. Telling a woman you haven’t seen in years how to wear her hair when you take her out that night is creepy, not romantic.
Not a stellar month for me.
I read Positively Pippa by Sara Hegger. Disgraced makeover show host returns to small town and hooks up with her eccentric grandmother’s contractor. The romance had its moments but was overwhelmed by the amount of family drama on both sides, and the family resolution on Pippa’s end sounded like everybody was reciting from psychology textbooks rather than a discussion anyone would ever actually have. If they were all that enlightened, they wouldn’t have had any of these problems to begin with.
Your Wicked Heart by Meredith Duran didn’t have nearly enough groveling to compensate for the abduction, accusations, and heinously misguided attempt to “make things right” that preceded the heroine’s decision to ditch the hero. I was so far from satisfied with his redemption that I’m convinced she took him back only because he showed up when the landlord was demanding rent she didn’t have.
I wish I’d never met Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces. The writing is so pretentious, every myth it touches becomes boring, and every single page is so packed with type from top to bottom and margin to margin, just looking at it causes fatigue. It’s taken a full month to slog through 80 pages of this 400-page monstrosity. Finishing it would be my own “hero’s journey,” and I think I’ll refuse the call due to lack of compelling motivation.
I’ve had a slow reading year at this point. Very little holds my attention
lately.
I’ve been reading a lot of NA this month which is weird because I have a definite love/hate relationship with it but I guess focusing on the problems of college aged kids is an escape and a distraction from adulting.
I read:
Penny Reid’s BEARD IN MIND- which I liked but didn’t love as much as THRUTH OR BEARD or BEARD SCIENCE.
Rebecca Yarros WILDER- skimmed most of this one. The conflict was flimsy and the heroine was not Like Other Girls… the whole thing was just too NA’ish for me.
LH Cosway and Penny Reid’s THE CAD AND THE COED- I definitely love PR’s voice but Cosway’s not so much and for me the writing didn’t flow seamlessly but secret baby trope!!! The heroine was so intractable, it was super frustrating. Loved the hero tho.
Cora Carmack’s ALL BROKE DOWN- I really enjoyed this one. I like this author’s voice and the bad boy and goody two shoes heroine is my catnip.
Cora Carmack’s ALL PLAYED OUT- liked it but was missing something and I can’t quite put my finger on it. Bonus points for featuring a Mexican American hero.
Sara Ney’s THE LEARNING HOURS- third book in the How to Date a Douche bag series. Premise was so my jam, near virginal hero who was not so good looking and with no game at all, heroine is the gorgeous one with all the experience. The execution, sadly, fell short. Heroine was so vain and without an ounce of depth. Hero was so insecure at times it drove me up the wall. I could understand his insecurities regarding his looks but dude was a top wrestler with a body to match. Also google college or olympic wrestling. You will not be sorry.
Currently reading Sarina Bowen’s BOUNTIFUL and so far so good. I cannot resist you secret baby trope.
I read Lynn Kurland’s fantastic first trilogy of the nine kingdoms series (Star of the Morning, the Mage’s Daughter and Princess of the Sword). Miach is now possibly my favorite male hero out of all that I have read in the romance/romantic fantasy genre. Although I loved the books, it was the main couple’s relationship that I really enjoyed (the fantasy world was good but sometimes had clunky bits where things happen for Plot Reasons and also sometimes lacked satisfying detail). So I’m not all that keen to start on the second two trilogies in the series, as it seems that the couples do not really live up to the first one. But I might give it a go later anyway.
I actually had a pretty good reading month partly due to my ability to listen to some audiobooks at work. I always listen to them on triple speed so I can get more done. I did have to give up on reading Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower. It was good but too depressing given current events.
Victorian Rebels series by Kerrigan Byrne- For some reason the reviews I read of The Highwayman, the first in this series, made me think I think this book wouldn’t be for me even though the reviews were mainly good. I ended up loving it. It had a great balance of action, emotion, angst, and a little humor. I enjoyed the second book, The Hunter equally well. The third and forth books, The Highlander and The Duke were also solid although I didn’t love them as well as the first two. I won a copy of the fifth book, The Scot Beds His Wife, through a Goodreads giveaway and thought it was just okay. The plot and action worked well, but I never felt more than a superficial attraction-based connection between the hero and heroine. This meant that I didn’t feel an emotional payoff when the deceptions were revealed and conflict resolved. Byrne has a talent for making me enjoy a trope that I usually don’t. That trope is where one of the lead characters hiding something or deceiving the other, but in the last book it didn’t work.
Beauty and the Mustache, Beard in Mind, Neanderthal Marries Human, and Love Hacked by Penny Reid- I enjoyed all of these. Love Hacked was probably my least favorite although I still enjoyed it. The heroine sometimes grated on me more often in her appearances in the rest of the series, but it wasn’t enough to keep me from completely dislike her in her own book. Beard in Mind was my favorite. I loved both the hero and heroine. Reed did a great job making Shelly sympathetic and in tackling the issues her OCD created for her. I also loved that Beau was handled just as well. Sometimes when one character has such deep issues the other character ends up underdeveloped or comes off as a perfectly balanced person with no problems of their own. Beau had his own issues and they were addressed alongside Shelly’s.
Tryst by Elswyth Thane- This is a YA novel that features a ghost hero. It’s often compared to the movie The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. It was fine, but the age difference between the hero and heroine bothered me. The heroine came off as very immature to me. I have a feeling that is I had read this as a preteen or early teen I would have loved it.
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn- This is a woman’s historical fiction novel that alternates between Charlie’s POV and Evelyn’s POV. Evelyn was a spy during WWI and Charlie is looking to find her cousin who disappeared in WWII. I liked how feminist this novel was. The story was well-paced and always kept my interest.
American Gods by Neil Gaiman- This was one I listened to on audiobook. I’ve owned it forever and with the tv series coming out on dvd I thought it was time I finally read it. I really enjoy stories that weave mythology or mythological characters in it and this was no exception. I did find the pacing was inconsistent, but that didn’t affect my overall enjoyment of the book.
Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster- I learned about this book when it was reviewed here and decided to use it for the reading challenge I’m doing. I used it to meet the requirement for a book that you can read in a day. It was absolutely charming. It just left me in a cheery mood. I’m looking forward to reading the sequel. A few hours after I read the book I watched the Fred Astaire/Leslie Caron musical version and I did not enjoy it. Part of that was because I did not picture the Daddy-Long-Legs character as looking for Fred Astaire and part was that I never thought of the age difference between the hero and heroine as being 32 years (the difference between Astaire and Caron’s ages). I can’t remember them saying the age difference but I was picturing it around 15 years which somehow seemed more reasonable. Also I’ve never been a big fan of the 50s musical trope (theme? tradition?) of long dream/flight-of-fancy dance numbers that seem to go on forever. I like Singing in the Rain and Oklahoma! despite of them, but in lesser musicals I’m not as forgiving. I do want to check out the 2005 Korean movie based on the book and maybe eventually the 1931 version.
Bless Me, Ultima by Rodolfo Anaya- I read this for banned books week and to meet one of my challenge requirements (a YA or middle-grade book). It’s well-written and I appreciated the story and themes it addresses. Despite this, it didn’t illicit the kind of love I have for other YA books that address similar themes.
New York, Actually by Sarah Morgan- I liked the characters and the story was fine, but it won’t be one that sticks in my memory.
Currently I’m reading both Till Dawn Tames the Night by Megan McKinney and You Say It First by Susan Mallery. Work and life has been hectic this week so my brain is fried and reading is slow-going.
Not a great reading month for me, either; I spent it slogging through King’s Knight by Regan Walker, which I was kind of obligated to buy at RT for Reasons. As someone once said, the Exposition Fairy and her cousin the Introspection Fairy have both blessed this book richly. It is SO BLOODY SLOW. Nobody has much of a personality. The hero, Alex, is a decent enough hero, caring more about respect and consent than most; he is a knight in service to the son of William the Conqueror so for most of the book he gets sent off to various battles which are promptly expositioned away. (As my son said, “Wait, this is a book about knights having wars and there is NO ACTION? How does that even happen?”) The heroine, Merewyn, is obsessed with the fact that she is a product of rape and therefore unworthy, and also with defending herself against rape so she becomes a stellar archer. (Which, girl, they may be afraid of your bow, but that just means they’ll just ambush you in the hall when you don’t have it with you. A dirk up your sleeve would be more useful.) Everyone is nice to each other, all the conflict is external and handwaved away in a couple of chapters, and there is no internal conflict for anybody, with the exception of Merewyn’s Unworthiness, which nobody else even notices.
In short as soon as I finished it (still waiting for something to actually happen) I dove straight into the newest Magnus Chase book by Rick Riordan. I needed his brand of nonstop comedy-action-adventure as a palate cleanser.
@Francesca: I hope you kick cancer’s ass. We’re cheering you on.
Currently reading and adoring: THORNYHOLD by Mary Stewart : thanks to y’all!
INTERMEDIATE THERMODYNAMICS by Susannah Nix: Loved this one, thought the romance aspect was stronger than in the first in the series, which I also enjoyed: REMEDIAL ROCKET SCIENCE.
AN UNSEEN ATTRACTION by K.J. Charles: The utterly swoony sweetness of the falling in love feels gave me all the romance reading heart eyes!
ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE by Gail Honeyman: Triggers abound, content warning: I didn’t know what I was getting into but oh, how glad I am because I adored this one. Not a romance novel, more of a coming of age story.
BRAIN ON FIRE: MY MONTH OF MADNESS by Susannah Cahalan: A memoir that I found riveting.
SILAS MARNER by George Eliot: Audiobook comfort re-read, thought I listened to it. Which I realize is obvious because I wrote audiobook.
Also read:
AUTOBOYOGRAPHY by Christina Lauren and WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI by Sandhya Menon :: I had been taking a break from YA and these two books have been a sweet return, and may herald more YA reads to come. Hello Turtles All the Way Down, I’m looking at you!
A DESPERATE FORTUNE by Susannah Kearsely: I enjoyed reading the POV of the heroine who identifies as on the spectrum, but the historical part of the novel was hard for me to read due to my worrying about the dog all the time.
I read Pamela Clare’s Tempting Fate, and was disappointed. There was lots of interesting information on Lakota religious and social practices etc, but very little in the way of the plot, character development and structure that make a novel. The material would have made a good non-fiction article, but it was poor fiction. I finished it, but reluctantly, and promptly deleted it from my Kindle.
I’ve just started Angus Watson’s Clash of Iron, which reads as though Watson was inspired by Joe Abercrombie’s gritty blood and guts fantasy writing, but can’t mimic his energy and verve. I may not finish this, which is a pity as my husband very kindly got me the trilogy for my birthday.
The week of my birthday I finished Katherine Addison’s The Goblin Emperor which was reminiscent of NK Jemisin’s work. Again, not as good as the master, not much in the way of character development etc, but pretty enjoyable. I also read Deanna Rayburn’s Silent in the Sanctuary which wasn’t as much fun as Silent in the Grave. Birthday reading also included Silk is for Seduction by Loretta Chase, which I think was ok, but which I really don’t recall.
It occurs to me that I’m listing all bad/so-so books, but this is how it was until I tried Res Benton’s One Thousand Days last week. Fabulous! I haven’t read or liked much contemporary romance, but I really enjoyed this. From my Amazon review:
I realised that for most of the first third I was grinning like an idiot. It felt like an old-fashioned romantic comedy, with that kind of humour and sharp dialogue. At the same time I noticed that the characters and their interactions were not stereotypical, but felt very real. And I wondered how Benton would then develop the story. Almost halfway through, I met the heroine’s ‘difficult’ sister and things became very serious, very quickly. There was much more at stake than just banter and humour and a few rolls in the hay. By then, I was so invested in these characters that I began to worry over the fates of the lead couple and the extended family. Even though I knew it was a romance, and so there would have to be a happy ending, I was uneasy until we got there. It could perhaps have been a little more tightly edited in the middle, but overall, I was greatly impressed by Benton’s use of language, the characterisation and the structure of the story. This is far more complex, intelligent writing than I usually see in romance. Even the hero became more of a real person, not just an idealised male figure. Kudos.
Damn autocorrect! I mean Ren Benton. 🙂
First rec is not a book but a TV show: CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND is back and continually to be delightful, subversively feminist (I know the title’s hard to get past, but the concept is thoroughly critiqued!). The latest episode is pro-female-orgasm, citing clitoris-friendly statistics, and critiques the “fairy godmother” outfit trope (guy gives woman an outfit and nothing fits, including a way-too-flimsy-for-breasts-of-a-certain-size bra).
Read my first Nora Roberts (strange for someone who’s been devouring hundreds of romances a year for about a dozen years, but in my defense I mostly read historical) and loved it–VISION IN WHITE made me fondly remember my own wedding pictures, though the toxic antagonists were too real. BED OF ROSES, however, had a whiny man-baby “hero” and dim-witted heroine 🙁 Still going to read the rest of the Bride Quartet, though.
Also read one of my first inspirational romances–THE WIFE CAMPAIGN by Regina Scott. Gentle, lovely matchmaking Regency England romance that happened to have low physicality and characters who turned to prayer when unsure what to do, and who thought about the nature of God and religion in their society. I was very happy with it. Tried another one, GUARDIAN by Terri Reed, contemporary romantic suspense with K-9s. I had been interested in seeing how religious beliefs worked with the violence of a suspense storyline (questioning the nature of God? having a moral motivation for their work that pushes them into zealotry that requires them to step back?) but, alas, in this one it seemed like the only religious aspect was a quick prayer when the hero or heroine was in danger. Oh well. I’m looking forward to incorporating more religious romances into my diet. I know they’re mostly Christian, particularly as I’ve just been finding them in Harlequin Love Inspireds, but I did read SOFIA KHAN IS NOT OBLIGED, which has a hijabi heroine with a romantic storyline that I really enjoyed.
THE LIBRARIAN AND THE SPY by Susan Mann has a terrible cover (I joked on Goodreads that it looks like The Farmer and the Beautician) but is a delightful spy action romp with a multi-book romantic arc and adorkable librarian references (some of the librarian aspects seem a little contrived, but that is retroactively explained by some developments toward the end).
THE UNTOUCHABLE EARL by Amy Sandas had a fascinating structure. I know some people would complain about the unrealistic nature of how much time the hero and heroine spend together without getting caught, but I let that go–partially because the series has an overlapping timeline (LOVE this, very rare approach in romance!) and the other sisters are busy rendezvousing with their own heroes. But the thing I loved so much was that it spends so much time on bedroom scenes (I swear, more than 50% of the book) BECAUSE that’s where the character arc is happening–the hero has some psychologically-linked pain issues, while the heroine is a virgin with very strong sexual curiosity, and those are the two things that get worked on. This is definitely one of those books that would completely fall apart if you cut all the intimate scenes out–i.e., a well-written steamy romance novel 🙂
Sarina Bowen had some sales recently on GOOD BOY and KEEPSAKE, and I remembered how much I utterly adore her work. GOOD BOY is hilarious but heart-wrenching; KEEPSAKE I’m halfway through but OMG Vermont farm food scenes make me so hungry, plus male virgin is catnip for me.
HAMILTON’S BATTALION made me happy because…diversity and hope.
Finally, I’m working on an ARC of THE CHAMELEON by Michele Hauf. Enjoying it so far, because con woman heroine.
Happy fall, y’all!
@Amanda. I Loved An Unkindness of Magicians! Hope you enjoy it. One of my favorite books this year. Interesting setting and magical system, great main character. However, trigger warning for violence against children – it’s more referenced than shown but it’s also a driving force for the storyline.
@Francesca. Seconding what SB Sarah said, we are so cheering you on. Also hope you enjoy Katherine, it’s been on my keeper shelf since I was a teenager.
@Hazel, I believe it’s TEN THOUSAND HOURS by Ren Benton but yes I heartily second that recommendation (and thanks SBTB comment section for being an author matchmaker, since Ren’s always-delightful comments were the first thing that caught my eye!). I actually like her first (unconnected) book, WHAT COMES AFTER DESSERT, better, but only out of personal catnip preference. I think they’re both standout examples of contemporaries and I’m so desperate to read more of her work that I started supporting her on Patreon to get my hands on some more snippets.
Thank you, Cat. Oh dear, got that completely wrong, didn’t I?
I think I’ll buy What Comes After Dessert, too. Do you have any more recommendations of that ilk? I feel like I may have been missing out on contemporary romance.
This month has conspired to be a very bad month for reading – first a two week vacation with extended family during which I got sick, then we got home and my husband got really sick. AND October is the month for all of the sports and I have been watching A LOT: MLB playoffs, NASCAR playoffs, NFL regular season AND tip-off for the NBA regular season (the only month that comes close is a month with the Olympics and that is coming up in February – can hardly wait!)
Anyway, I only finished two books this month:
Crucible of Gold by Naomi Novik – the 7th book in the Temeraire series which is the Napoleanic Wars with dragons – any book with Temeraire is a good book, but this was one of my least favorite in the series so far.
Get What’s Yours for Medicare: Maximize Your Coverage, Minimize Your Costs by Philip Moeller – this was good (his book about Social Security was much better). I help my parents with Medicare decisions and so need to be very up to date on this topic. While there was decent information here, I much preferred Medicare Demystified by Ronald Kahan MD.
:::strolls in to the sounds of Bruno Mars’s Perm, because I was at his concert Thursday night and it was magical:::
This is Halloween, this is Halloween! And the reading is spooky. Well, sometimes, not right this second.
Let’s see (nerd alert, I entirely look at last month’s post to see where I left off, this is a safe place for that, right?). I left off on Godsgrave, which was STABBY STABBY MCSTABBY ALL THE STABBY. The author also roasted himself hilariously in the footnotes, which was awesome. I love me some Jay Kristoff. Then I read Warcross by Marie Lu. I saw the twist coming a mile away, but it’s hard to mind because Lu is a damn queen. After that I read The Late Show by Michael Connelly. I’ve been itching for a new hard-boiled lady detective, and I’m hoping Renee Ballard manages this, but I wanted to like it more than I actually did. Then we entered the “THIS IS HALLOWEEN THIS IS HALLOWEEN” part of my month. I read There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins. It was a pretty straightforward teen slasher flick, I mean book. A lot of reviews called it the “YA version of Scream” but Scream had teenagers, so isn’t Scream the YA version of Scream? Discuss amongst yourselves. I really liked it, but then, I loved Scream, soooo…yeah, target audience, apart from the fact that I’m 38. Then, because God sometimes wants me to have nice things, my preorder of Before The Devil Breaks You hit my Kindle and it was tasty. It’s the newest Diviners book, and all I want in life is the next one. I need to know what happened to Memphis and Jericho, dammit! Also, it must be said, Libba Bray gave not a single damn in terms of how she related what was going on her book (a historical paranormal) and what is currently going on in our nation right now. Not a word was minced. Which brings us to today, in which I am reading The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. My mom and one of close friends have wanted me to read Follett for some time now. I’m really enjoying it. It is a very meaty historical, which it would have to be at over 900 pages (I’m in about 400ish right now). I love some of the characters, and want to choke out some of the bad guys, and am pretty engrossed. I will warn, I saw it coming, and I’m (unfortunately) used to it in these kinds of historicals, but there has been at least one horribly graphic rape scene. I didn’t need quite that much detail, believe me. I mean, it’s pretty clear that Follett’s definitely a detail guy, but still, I could have stood for that part not being so detailed, or even better, not at all, since I don’t want to really read rape anyway. It’s an excellent book otherwise, with a lot of depth of characterization and the world-building is top-notch, but I was glad to get past that part.
Side note, if you ever get the chance to watch Bruno Mars live, treat yo self. He’s a wizard.
I read m/m fiction Murmuration by TJ Klune. The story takes place in the peaceful small town of Amorea and the year is 1954. Bookstore owner is in love with Sean who works at the diner. Mike’s life seems perfect until he starts hearing voices in his house after he goes to sleep, seeing people at the foot of his bed, while outside birds swarm over him. He also starts to wonder what’s on the other side of the mountains that surround his town and why can’t he remember how he arrived to Amorea.
I’ve been reading many other books, but I wanted to highlight here what a great book TJ wrote and hopefully you can add it to your TBR pile.
@Francesca:
Best wishes to you. I loved Katherine when I first read it a few years back, so I’m glad to find others who enjoy old school historical fiction in a similar vain. I haven’t read Seton’s others, but they’re all on my e-book shelf.
The new Sarina Bowen is out? Which rock have I been under? ‘Scuse me. BRB.
@Amanda, my library just coughed up An Unkindness of Magicians as well. It’s on the schedule for tomorrow.
I’ve been trying to clear out owned books that have been hanging around a while, both paper and kindle. The Danger And Desire anthology wasn’t really worth the price of admission except for the Pamela Clare offering, which was excellent, as expected. Currently in the middle of Lisa Unger’s Die For You nice and suspenseful. Nice for chilly pre-Halloween reading. It’s morning read. For bedtime I’ve got A Most Unlikely Duke which I could not resist when I saw it in the sale post. It’s going pretty quickly and very enjoyable in every respect.
Blessings Francesca. You’ve got some good comfort reads there. My copy of The Green Darkness is yellow and crumbly and precious.
Pretty good reading month so far… Really enjoyed THE DUCHESS DEAL by Tessa Dare. Fun, light historical, which is how I like ’em.
I’m still making my way through the “In Death” series, and got through JUDGEMENT IN DEATH, BETRAYAL IN DEATH, and TIME IN DEATH. La Nora never lets me down, though I am getting fatigued with the “Roarke is always right, Eve is always the emotionally inept one” dynamic. I often think Roarke is full of it and Eve is the one in the right, but the authorial attitude never seems to align with that. ***shrugs***
LEVEL UP and ONE TRUE PAIRING from Cathy Yardley were fun takes on a contemporary romance- I am always here for a geeky romance.
KILLER INSTINCTS and ALL IN by Jennifer Lynne Barnes are *great* additions to her “Naturals” series! I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed a YA series so much… it’s well written, age appropriate, has a solid romance element, and is building in a good direction without selling out the original premise set up in the first book. Highly recommend this series if you like serial killer/thriller books & are open to YA!
I’m rereading all of the Poirot books from Agatha Christie for the Project Poirot series on my Youtube channel, and I was particularly happy with how well MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS held up to rereading. If you haven’t read the book and/or seen the original movie from the 70s, I highly commend them to you.
And finally, I have been in full on conspiracy theory/tin-foil hat mode on the topic of sugar. Holy hidden terror, Batman, I have fallen down the rabbit hole! Lots of articles & videos have been in my rotation for this topic, but some of the books I’ve read & really enjoyed so far around this are: WHY WE GET FAT by Gary Taubes, THE BIG FAT SURPRISE by Nina Teicholz, and SALT, SUGAR, FAT by Michael Moss. Let’s see if I can put the foil away by the next Whatcha Reading post o_0
This month has been very busy with the beginning of a new job, and an out of town trip, which have made it hard to read. I did finally finish all the other books that I began earlier this year and just stopped. Lol. This months book which I began, stopped, restarted, and by the end blew through was Linda Barlow’s fires of Destiny. If you’re a fan of Old School Romances with plenty of family secrets, this should fit the bill. It’s also set in the time of Queen Mary of England, so it’s what I can guess is an under used setting. Stella Riley’s The Black Madonna is what I would call more of a family saga, but I did enjoy the romantic story line of the main hero and heroine. While the events of the English Civil War, an even more under used setting, come off very complicated in the author’s hands, I’m still interested in the series. Now, I’m trying to decide to read her book A Splendid Defiance, which deals with a secondary character and isn’t really part of this series, or continue on with Garland of Straw, which is the second actual book.
Finally finished LES MISERABLES by Victor Hugo, which pretty much consumed my reading for months. Every time I thought “life’s too short to spend so much of it on one book”, Hugo would go off on another amazing tangent or include a brilliant insight or simply write something so beautiful that I couldn’t stop till I’d read the whole book. One of the more interesting facts I learned was that the book came out in the middle of the American Civil War and both Union and Confederate troops loved it. The Southern readers, however, got an edited version: all of the anti-slavery and anti- capital punishment passages were removed from their editions.
I just finished a big ol’ dish of crazysauce called Cheyenne Captive by Georgina Gentry. I highly recommend it for the WTF Factor.
I’ve also been reading the Questions and Answers section for the JL421 Badonkadonk Land Cruiser (which can be purchased from Amazon for the incredibly reasonable price of only $19,999.95)
I am currently reading a boxed set on my nook, Sweet Dreams, put out by Brenda Novak in 2015 for her diabetes fundraise, and remembering why I hate boxed sets. The books are great, many of my favorite authors. However, there is no way to navigate within each book. You can go to the start of each book but there is no way to go to the chapters. Unless you remember to bookmark every time you stop reading and let your kids at your nook, there will be a fair amount of time looking for where you left off. Ugh.
I also read Stealing Parker by Miranda Kenneally and enjoyed it a lot. A YA about a teen dealing with attraction to a teacher and with her mom leaving the family for a girlfriend/partner. It is first person POV and some trigger warning for inappropriate conduct on the teacher’s part. Nicely done, though.
Rereading Mary Stewart on the kindle, lots of fun.
Wickedly Magical by Deborah Blake, which I found on this site, was on the lightweight side and a lot of fun. I see there is a second book that I may need to look into.
Being new to SBTB, I’ve been enjoying books already recommended here. There’s one, however, that I came across on my own that I’d like to give a nod to: The Beauty of Surrender: An Erotic Romance by Eden Bradley. Maybe it’s because I read it as the sole occupant of a quiet house, but the meditative properties of the book really got to me. Or perhaps it was the stripped-down character roster or the absence of an action-y subplot. Not to mention the moody San Francisco atmospherics…but what I ended up with was a sense of love and life that lasted beyond the last page.
It’s not perfect (not sure I’ll ever enjoy a female protagonist being compared to a doll, plus the unquestioned-ness of white people as shibari masters) but there was something about it.
Also wanted to thank Sarah in the main post here for letting us behind the scenes of how she’s going about extracting what serves her from a flawed, male-centered resource. Can never have too much in the way of the pro tip with this sort of thing.
Books read thus far in October ~
— Alex Beecroft’s Foxglove Copse (Porthkennack Book 5). I found it a pleasant read, but there were aspects that strained credulity. I don’t think I’ll be likely to re-read.
— My sixth book by Anne Cleeland, Murder in Shadow (The Doyle and Acton Murder Series Book 6). My, but the author weaves a complex storyline! This is a series that must be read in order. (Trigger warning that the hero is a stalker.)
— re-read with pleasure Murder in All Honour: A Doyle and Acton Mystery by Anne Cleeland
— Kaje Harper’s Life Lessons and the follow up short piece And to All a Good Night (Life Lessons). I’d likely describe the first as a romantic suspense; I enjoyed them both. I hope to read more in this male/male romance series.
— The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld which was a gripping read. Trigger warning for child abuse.
— Elizabeth George’s A Great Deliverance (Inspector Lynley Mysteries, No. 1). I was curious to read this book after reading a review of Anne Cleeland’s Acton and Doyle series. The review had insinuated (in a vaguely condemning tone) that the Acton and Doyle books were derivative of the Inspector Lynley books. While both series feature Scotland Yard detectives — one aristocratic male, one lesser ranked female — they are otherwise quite different. This was a compelling and unsettling mystery due to its subject matter. I may read on in the series; it would be interesting to see how the main characters develop.
— To Siri with Love: A Mother, her Autistic Son, and the Kindness of Machines by Judith Newman. This was a quick read which raised some interesting questions while also being enjoyable and touching.
— The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin which I enjoyed. I heard mention that a movie was going to be made of this story and thought I might like to see it; however, it appears that the movie is being panned.
— Marie Lu’s Warcross was an enjoyable young adult science fiction read; it ended with an unexpected revelation and definitely leaves the door open for a sequel. I’ll likely read on when the next volume shows up.
— the contemporary romance Sledgehammer (Hard To Love Book 2) by P. Dangelico which was a pleasant read. I don’t think that this is a book I’ll be rereading though I’ll likely read book three in the series when it’s published.
— the male/male romance The Ghost Slept Over by Marshall Thornton which featured (surprise!) a ghost. This was not a scary book but nor was the ghost entirely benign. I enjoyed this and look forward to reading more by this author.
— Pins and Needles by A.J. Thomas another male/male romance; this one had an element of suspense. I also look forward to reading more by this author.
— These are all alien romances by author M.K. Eidem and were pleasant reads (despite their shortcomings in the grammar arena). Grim (a re-read), A Grim Holiday (Tornians Book 1.5), Wray (Tornians Book 2), Ynyr (Tornians Book 3), and Oryon (Tornians Book 3.5).
— For my book group, I read Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. This was a collection of stories all of which (save one) featured to some extent the title character. It was a fairly quick read that won the Pulitzer Prize; I found it rather morose.
— the fantasy romance The Undying King by Grace Draven which I enjoyed; it had something of a fairytale vibe.
This month I’m re-reading. Sometimes that entails buying a book I previously got from the library, because if I’m going to read something twice, it ought to be on my shelf. And, heck, the author deserves those thirty cents or whatever one gets in royalties on a trade paperback.
In this department I just finished Vikram Seth’s An Equal Music. (Incidentally, if anyone in the bitchverse has never read his earlier A Suitable Boy, do so right now. I’ve read it at least three times. Thrice, for those who’ve read it.) This one has to be re-read at some point just to see if it works differently when you know the Big Spoiler–revealed about halfway through the book. It also doesn’t hurt to know the Little Spoilers: It’s OK, he gets the record back. It’s OK, he ends up with the love of his life. (The foregoing sentence is not a spoiler. Read the book and you will understand.)
Next in line is Fingersmith. After seeing The Handmaiden–the Korean movie version reviewed here–I had to reread the book just to see if I can make sense of the third part, which the movie omitted.