It’s our first Whatcha Reading of the new year! We all hope you’re off to a great start on your reading. But, if you aren’t, that’s okay too! There is plenty of time to catch up, especially if you’ve set some personal reading goals. For the second year in a row, I’ve failed to meet by Goodreads Reading Challenge amount, which is to read 60 books in a year. So, I’m attempting it again. Third time’s a charm, right?
Amanda: I’m reading Space Battle Lunchtime: Volume 1! ( A | BN ) It’s a super cute comic about a woman picked for a galactic “Top Chef” competition.
And then I’m reading Zero Hour by Megan Erickson ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), which has a South Korean hacker heroine. I like her, but the hero needs a timeout. I enjoy that the heroine calls him out on his “protective” bullshit.
Sarah: I just started Whiskey Sharp ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) and despite getting 4.5 hours of sleep, getting up at 5, and having the attention span of a sparrow, I am pretty charmed by everything so far. Easy, friendly romance with some family issues simmering beneath.
Elyse: I just started Surprise Me by Sophie Kinsella.
Sarah: Ok, finished Whiskey Sharp, because zoom zoom reading, and have started The Wedding Date ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), which I am so excited to read now.
Update: The Wedding Date is extreme levels of charming and adorable.
Elyse: Yup
Sarah: While I like the heroine I’m not sold on the hero.
Carrie: I am reading Miss Miles by Mary Taylor ( A | BN ), a friend of Charlotte Bronte’s. Just read the line “What matters it going into the medical details?” which is the most Victorian line ever.
Redheadedgirl: I just finished On Pointe by Sydney Ellis, and I’m in the middle of A Study in Scarlet (which I’ve never actually read!) ( A | BN | K | G | AB )for a podcast I’m recording next week.
I’m also reading What She Ate, which is a book about six women in history and what we can learned about them based on the meals we know they had. It’s FASCINATING .
How has your reading been so far? Good? Bad? And let us what know your reading goals are this year!
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One of my reading goals for this year was to reread some of my favorite books. So, naturally, I had 9 holds at my library by the 2nd. Sigh…
Faves
– THE INHERITANCE AND OTHER STORIES by Robin Hobb – I just love everything she writes. And the few Realm of the Elderlings stories in here? Excellent.
– HAMILTON by Ron Chernow – first read of the year! Very good and very readable.
– STAR WARS: BLOODLINE by Claudia Grey (audiobook) – one of my pop culture goals for this year was to dive into Star Wars (finally watched alllll the movies and will see The Last Jedi next week!) and so I wanted to read this Force Awakens Leia-focused prequel. I LOVED IT. And the audio production was amazing!
– BENEATH THE SUGAR SKY by Seanan McGuire – this series keeps getting better and keeps making me cry.
– IT TAKES TWO TO TUMBLE by Cat Sebastian – so sweet! I can’t wait for more in this series!
– MY FAMILY AND OTHER ANIMALS by Gerald Durrell (audiobook) – I love charming memoirs in which nature and animals play a part, so this was perfect for me!
– A CHRISTMAS CAROL / THE CHIMES by Charles Dickens (audiobook) – narrated by Tim Curry and Richard Armitage, respectively, these were my first taste of Dickens and I was surprised by how much I liked them.
– BINTI / BINTI: HOME by Nnedi Okorafor (audiobook) – an intimate tale of culture clash and prejudice. I was caught up.
– SAGA, VOL. 8 by Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples – this series has not had a miss for me!
– FREDERICA by Georgette Heyer – I loved this so much! This was the right Heyer for me!
– CONSTANTINE: THE HELLBLAZER, VOL. 1: GOING DOWN by Ming Doyle & Riley Rossmo – my first Constantine comic, I picked this one b/c his bisexuality is shown on the page. I enjoyed it a lot and it was a great intro for me, much better than that movie
– A HOPE DIVIDED by Alyssa Cole – dramatic, thoughtful, with a nerdy, bookish romance!
– THE BEEKEEPER’S APPRENTICE by Laurie R. King – another surprising fave! Ready to dive into the series and pick up my first Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock book!
Good
– DEADMAN: DARK MANSION OF FORBIDDEN LOVE by Sarah Vaughn & Lan Medina – recommended on the podcast, Bonnets at Dawn, for fans of gothic romance, this suits the bill! And with queer and genderqueer characters!
– A CHRISTMAS GONE PERFECTLY WRONG by Cecilia Grant – charming, with falconry!
– COLD DAYS/SKIN GAME by Jim Butcher – I’m caught up the series! Now what am I going to do??
– CRAZY RICH ASIANS by Kevin Kwan – I think I would have enjoyed this more on audio, but I thought it was funny and sprawling, in an 80’s sort of way.
– RAMSES THE DAMNED: THE PASSION OF CLEOPATRA by Anne Rice and Christopher Rice- I was shocked by how much I liked this. Maybe because it was more strongly plotted than her last few books? It was out there, but I enjoyed the world when I was in it.
– THE PASSAGE by Justin Cronin – my best friend wanted to read this and I liked it. It’s very epic, but it reminded me a lot of Stephen King.
– A GREAT DELIVERANCE by Elizabeth George – very well written and I will be continuing with the series, but the mystery was (very sadly) unsurprising.
– LOUISA MAY ALCOTT’S CHRISTMAS TREASURY by Louisa May Alcott (audiobook) – bunch of holiday stories. Charming, in full-blown LMA mode.
– PROVENANCE by Ann Leckie – I loved Leckie’s first book, but I just can’t seem to fall into her others in the same way.
– NOTES FROM A SMALL ISLAND by Bill Bryson – funny, but not as funny as I’d hoped.
– HOLIDAYS ON ICE by David Sedaris – kinda funny, kinda dark.
Currently Reading
– A TREACHEROUS CURSE by Deanna Raybourn – this is, quite honestly, my favorite of the series so far.
– CONSTANTINE: THE HELLBLAZER, VOL. 2: THE ART OF THE DEAL by Ming Doyle & James Tynion IV – still enjoying it!
– GET IN TROUBLE: STORIES by Kelly Link (audiobook) – only one story in, but so far, I’m pleasantly reminded of Charles de Lint
Since I struggled to hit my Goodreads goal of 70 books last year, I decided to set it to 80 this year. (Guess who’s already running behind.)
I also decided to focus on making a serious dent in my tbr list. Of course, I do that every year and it never seems to shrink. (Maybe I stopped adding more books to it? Nah, that’s just a silly idea.)
Anyway, I’ve finished three books so far and I’m making decent progress on a fourth. (I really need to work on spending less time online.)
A Darker Shade of Magic, by V.E. Schwab. I liked the world building, but I’m not entirely sold on the characters. I do plan to read the second book soon.
Beneath the Sugar Sky, by Seanan McGuire. I really loved this book. I really, really loved Cora.
Into the Drowning Deep, by Mira Grant. I enjoyed this, but it took me a while to read it. I kept putting it down so the characters would live longer. Anyway, if you’re looking for a good killer mermaid book, I’d recommend it.
Finished the Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin and immediately bought print copies because they deserve a place in my apocalypse library (books that must be preserved when the grid goes down).
Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames was recommended by Darlynne in the comments here ages ago. Lots of fun. I was bummed Bloody Rose isn’t out yet (tell me more about Rose and the Bunny Man, pls kthx), and I’m tempted to write romance fanfic for Galenon. (“I’m going to voluntarily re-petrify myself. Wake me up when the woman I love returns”—with a secret baby. COME ON.)
DNF’d Hate to Want You by Alisha Rai.
Mixed feelings about Under Her Skin by Adriana Anders.
Highland Dragon Warrior by Isabel Cooper went better for me. It’s refreshing to see characters with serious responsibilities not drop them all to hop on the train to Bonetown and yet manage to find moments in their busy schedules to connect and develop a relationship based on mutual respect and admiration rather than manufactured around pants feelings. I’m also very pro the non-magical heroine saving the day while the dragon warrior plays the supporting role.
Nearly a Lady by Alissa Johnson was also refreshing in that the hero has war trauma, but that hasn’t become his personality. He’s kind to everyone and has a sense of humor (I chortled a lot) even while determined to keep the feels at bay. The heroine is perfectly happy to be a spinster farmer in the beginning, middle, and end if he can’t get his shit together, so good for her.
Back to non-romance with The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden. Interesting creation myth-based story wherein all humans carry sleeping god potential and a long-awakened god wants to activate the baby gods and feast on them like veal, but my only emotional attachment is to the sentient robot revolution drama, of which there is far too little.
Pursuant to the aforementioned unfulfilled desire, the merciful universe delivered unto me post-apocalyptic sentient robot revolution drama in the form of Sea of Rust by Robert Cargill, which is up next.
Uprooted by Naomi Novik: As good as everyone said it was!
Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievitch: Non-fiction about Russian women in WWII. A good but hard read, very draining.
Phantom Pains by Mishell Baker: The second in the Arcadia series. There’s so much about the heroine working to manage her Borderline Personality Disorder, that I’ve actually picked up a few tips I’m using on my anxiety. I like the heroine and it’s nice to see someone who works to manage her condition instead of being magically cured.
Dead Stop by Barbara Nikless: The second in her Sydney Rose Parnell mystery series. She’s a former Marine turned railroad cop and has an awesome Marine working Belgan Mainois. All hail Staff Sargent Clyde!I got interested because the first book dealt with hoboes and my great-grandfather was one. Warning that the second book is about a missing child.
Just finished Kulti by Marianna Zapata.. I loved it. .. did not want it to end…I hadn’t read anything by her before. Can’t wait to read her next book !
My target this year is 100 books, after reaching 92 last year. A few 2018 resolutions: make more use of my local library, try more new (i.e. unknown to me) authors and don’t waste my time on books with substandard writing, regardless of how the story might appeal to me.
My blind date reading policy has worked so far. I plucked off the library shelves Mark Lawson’s The Deaths and Rowena MacDonald’s The Threat Level Remains Severe, based on the titles and the blurbs, and enjoyed them both. Both are smartly written and quite funny but in a very English way.
The closest thing to romance so far this year was It’s Not Me, It’s You by Stephanie Kate Strohm, a YA in which Avery, a high-school-princess-type decides to use her “epic dating history” as the subject of her senior oral history project. The whole book is constructed of snippets from her interviews with her exes, their friends, her friends and her bitter rivals. It’s a fun way to tell a story and it’s downright hilarious in parts.
I have so much crap in my life (divorce with complicated financial issues involving the –shudder — IRS) so I haven’t been reading as much as usual:
Twist of Faith, by Ellen J. Green, which is set in the Philly area so I have the hometown curiosity thing going. This is one of those thrillers that seem to be coming out in droves since Girl Gone, and it’s pretty obvious from the blurbs that there is going to be a major surprise plot twist. (Which basically ruins the surprise since I spend the book cynically evaluating every bizarre possibility of who could be lying or faking their death or really dead and just a ghost….) It took me a while to get to that “must keep reading” moment. Might be where my head is at, though. The author is clearly working a sequel so if you don’t like every loose end tied up, be forewarned. I’d give it a B.
Fire and Fury by M. Wolf. When I want to torture myself, I read the next chapter in this book. ’nuff said.
I also dabbled in some of the Duke novels that were included in that cowabunga bundle mentioned here recently.
This last month has been very productive, reading-wise. Combination of cold, snowy indoor days and quitting Facebook and (online) news. I also felt like this was the month of just throwing myself headlong into series, old and new.
For audio books
Ranked from the Good to the Not-so-good.
“Grave Peril”and “Summer Knight” by Jim Butcher. I’m still really enjoying these (I think Summer Knight was my favorite of these two), but I’m taking a short break so I don’t burn myself out on Harry Dresden. B
Currently listening to “Leviathan” by Scott Westerfeld, read by Alan Cumming. I got this for the very shallow reason I love Alan Cumming’s accent. It’s good overall, but it’s a little bit shorter and more simplistic than I thought it would be? I think I had mentally placed it as a little older on the “YA age scale.” I will still listen to the rest of the series if the library has them because, Alan Cumming. ‘Nuf said. 😉 B
Sorry, rant ahead!
“H is for Hawk” by Helen MacDonald. This was such a frustrating book. The author is a beautiful writer and she read her own work well, but she came off as self-indulgent to me. The author’s father dies unexpectedly and she takes to the woods to train a goshawk to deal with her grief. She is an adult in her 30s, so while her father’s death is sudden and unexpected, I felt she was very privileged to go off and hide from the world for months at a time. There is very little mention of her mother and brother, who are presumably also grieving.
The author also tries to make a connection between her grief and T.H. White’s (the writer of Sword and the Stone) inner turmoil over his homosexuality. Kind of a strained comparison, IMHO. Ordinarily, I would make this a DNF, but she wrote so beautifully about nature, I kept going, hoping for an emotional epiphany. I kept thinking “this is the end”, “no, this is the end.” Maybe it would be more interesting to someone who has dealt with complicated grief or is interested in falconry. C
As for actual books, also from good to not-so-good –
Saga Volumes 3-7. I gobbled this up in days and am anxiously awaiting my wait for Volume 8. A
“A Queen from the North” by Erin McRae and Racheline Maltese. This one really sneaked up on me. Alternate history royal romance! Slow burn! I got it because of the recommendation here and I read it slowly b/c it was my “emergency purse book.” By the time, I got to the end, I was really caught up in it. I liked how the hero could seem aloof or awkward at times, but it never felt like he wanted to use his power to manipulate the heroine. A
“Duke in Shining Armor” by Loretta Chase. This was really cute and probably my favorite Loretta Chase I’ve never read. I feel like a romance reading philistine, but a lot of her books have been “meh” to me. A
“Heaven and Earth” and “Face the Fire” by Nora Roberts. I’m not a Nora Roberts super-fan, but I love getting immersed in her trilogies with the world-building and relationships. This gave me a bit of “Charmed” lighthearted paranormal vibe. It felt satisfying to wrap this one up. “Heaven and Earth” was my favorite of the two. I felt “Face the Fire” was a little too “everyone gets a baby!” for my taste. Also, in a perfect world? I think Ripley and Mia would have made a good couple. Just saying. Both B reads.
“Countdown City” and “World of Trouble” by Ben H. Winters. The last two books in the “Last Policeman” trilogy. A policeman solves crimes while a meteor threatens to end the world. I enjoyed “Countdown City’ a lot, but “World of Trouble” felt really disappointing. It felt stretched out and like the the main character didn’t “learn” anything. Guess that makes it literary. (shrug). B read and C read, respectively.
“The Brightest Day” anthology. An anthology about Black heroines throughout history with their love stories connected to Juneteenth, starting right after the Civil War and going to the Civil Rights era and the Freedom Riders. Alyssa Cole’s “Let it Shine” was a strong favorite, so I give that an A, the rest of the stories, maybe a B average.
“Cold Dish” by Craig Johnson. First of Longmire series. Good writer, a little overly macho for my taste, but I’m picky about that. B-
“Murder in Montparnasse” by Kerry Greenwood. I love the Phyrne Fisher book, but this one was really weirdly plotted and dragged. Lots of flashbacks to Phyrne’s time in Paris right after the war, when I felt it would have been easier to just set the story in Paris and investigate. C
Happy reading, evveryone!
My reading goal this year is to complete my local library’s reading challenge, which is to read a book from each of 26 different categories (e.g. graphic novel, sci-fi, sports biography, book published before 1850, etc). And one of those categories is “a romance novel with a billionaire”. I’m pleased about the inclusion of romance, but a bit wary about the billionaire thing as I haven’t had good luck with billionaire romances in the past. I’ve completed 4 categories so far, so that’s a good start!
So far this year I’ve read:
The Saddler Boys by Fiona Palmer (rural Australian romance) which was fun although kind of predictable. Trigger warning for domestic violence from the heroine’s ex.
Someone to Wed by Mary Balogh, which I enjoyed. It was nice to see that it wasn’t solely the love of the hero that helped the heroine get past her insecurities about her looks (large facial birthmark).
Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh is a YA fantasy. There’s a bit of romance, but it’s not the main part of the book. I’m looking forward to the sequel which is due out in May.
The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse by Alexander McCall Smith. I enjoyed this overall, but I feel the sub-title “A wartime romance” is misleading, due to lack of lasting HEA. (*SPOILER* One of the happy couple dies.) As a look at life during WWII in England and the aftermath in Europe, it was very good and I would still recommend it, but as historical fiction, not as a romance novel.
Come Rain or Shine by Tricia Stringer, another rural Australian book. This isn’t exactly a romance as the main couple in the book are already married with a baby on the way when the book starts, but their relationship does go through some rough patches (especially when the hero keeps secrets from the heroine) so it may still appeal to romance readers.
I seem to have read more than usual this month, probably because of the two-week Christmas break (I work in the public school system) and the Amazon gift cards I found under the tree—which I applied directly to my kindle. So, with apologies for how long the list is, here goes:
Much as I did with Anne Calhoun’s back catalog a few months ago, I’ve been reading as many of Jill Sorenson’s books as I can. Most of her books are romantic suspense/thrillers set in Southern California, in either the surfing beach towns around San Diego or in the grittier inland and desert communities further east. Her heroes run the gamut from law enforcement or former military to ex-cons (occasionally, they’re both). Her heroines are strong, competent, and hard-working. I like the fact that some of her heroines already have children and/or work in marginalized jobs (waitress, stripper), but there is no condescension on Sorenson’s (or the hero’s) part to women in that sort of employment. I also like the interaction and inter-relationships between Anglo and Latino characters, and how many of her books feature a secondary romance often involving relatives or friends of the main characters.
I read the first three books in Jill Sorenson’s Aftershock series—gritty stories featuring characters connected by a massive earthquake in the San Diego area. In AFTERSHOCK, the first book, an EMT and a former marine work together to save survivors trapped by a freeway collapse. Complications arise in the form of three escaped convicts along with diminishing supplies of food and water. I love the EMT heroine in this one—competence for days (she even manages to devise an improvised blood transfusion) and not afraid to declare her feelings for the marine (who, of course, has secrets of his own).
FREE FALL, the second book, takes place some time after the earthquake. The hero here spent most of the first book in a coma after being struck by debris, and even now he hasn’t regained his memory of the months before the quake when his fiancée died in a rock-climbing accident. He’s become a loner living near a national park in the Sierras. When he finds a crashed plane (with a dead pilot and duffel bags of drugs and money) at the top of a mountain, he has to team up with a park ranger (another wonderfully-competent heroine) to uncover the bad guys—some of whom may be working for the park service. Meanwhile, the ranger’s sister is on a river rapids trip unaware that one of those bad guys is on the same boat.
BADLANDS, the third book, takes place five years after the quake. The pregnant teenager and the young man who delivered her baby in the first book are now the daughter of a presidential candidate and her bodyguard. When they are kidnapped by a gang with ties to the Aryan Brotherhood, the bodyguard must keep the woman and her son safe in the badlands in and around California’s Salton Sea. Although not a direct prequel to Sorenson’s Dirty Eleven MC series, those two books (RIDING DIRTY and SHOOTING DIRTY) have some of the same characters as BADLANDS and have some plot points that develop from the aftermath of the kidnapping.
Then I dove into many other Sorenson books: DANGEROUS TO TOUCH (a detective and a woman with psychic powers team up in pursuit of a killer; the heroine in this book runs a boarding kennel and has a great affinity for dogs and cats—TW for a scene where a cat is killed); WILD (a zookeeper and a security guard try to stop animals from escaping the San Diego zoo after a quake—this book has a super-competent heroine); WILD FOR HIM (novella featuring the romance between two secondary characters from WILD); EDGE OF NIGHT (a detective and a waitress find romance while a killer has them in his sights); CRASH INTO ME (a kick-ass FBI agent heroine, working undercover, falls for the man she’s investigating—a surfer suspected in a series of murders); CAUGHT IN THE ACT (to save her sister, a woman has to smuggle drugs across the border, all the while falling for a Border Security officer who knows more than he can tell her); and OFF THE RAILS (a propulsive plot involving drug cartels in Mexico with a hero & heroine who are secondary characters in CAUGHT IN THE ACT; there are three additional plot lines which seem to be setting up future books).
I loved and highly recommend the excellent, if somewhat melancholy, TAP LEFT by A. Zavarelli, but please don’t give up (as I almost did) because the hero is initially so awful—he does eventually redeem himself; plus, the heroine is so genuinely likable, you’ll want to see how her story plays out. As her 30th birthday approaches, the heroine is determined to get her life out of its rut. She joins a Tinder-like dating app called Tap Left. In addition to receiving unsolicited dick-pics and vulgar sexts, she makes a connection with a guy who seems refreshingly normal and they begin to talk on-line. Meanwhile, the heroine also attempts to resolve the thirteen-years-long, complicated, antagonistic (and unconsummated) relationship she has with a long-dead boyfriend’s brother. This man starts out cruel and judgmental, with cringe-worthy thoughts about the heroine, but gradually the story is teased out: why his feelings toward the heroine are so conflicted, why he has a damaged leg and must walk with a cane, how his brother died, and what role the heroine played in both their lives. In a broader context, this is a book about different kinds of addiction, co-dependency, enabling, family dysfunction, toxic relationships, learning to say no, and how hard it sometimes is to give up familiar patterns of behavior (even when they’re bad for us) in order to get a chance at something better. Here’s the heroine’s key quote: “Sometimes we don’t love what’s good for us. Sometimes we board a sinking ship and punch the ticket anyway. Because self-sacrifice is such a romantic notion. Until you grow up. And then it isn’t.” This is the first Zavarelli book I’ve read, but it won’t be the last.
I liked Julianna Stone’s THE DAY HE KISSED HER almost as much for what she didn’t try to do as for what she did. The hero and the heroine are both from dysfunctional families. The hero’s parents are trapped in an abusive-alcoholic/enabling relationship (TW for flashback scenes of physical abuse—including toward children); the heroine’s neglectful, much-married father has bequeathed her many siblings and half-siblings, one of whom is a reality tv star and hopeless drug addict. Understandably, both the hero and heroine have intimacy issues and, despite their sexual chemistry, have to work hard to achieve their HEA. What I really liked about the ending was that Stone didn’t wrap everything in a big bow. The hero realizes that his mother will continue to choose her abusive husband over her children and grandchildren; the heroine’s sister is still strung-out and her father remains distant and judgmental. It is enough, Stone seems to be saying, that this particular couple have found the strength to break the cycle of dysfunction—not everyone will see the light.
You can tell by my screen name that it’s been years (well, let’s be honest, it’s been decades) since I was a “new adult”, so I generally leave the NA category alone, but I read a rave review for Kati Wilde’s GOING NOWHERE FAST and, despite the heroine being just 22 (the hero is 27), it seemed catnippy (enforced proximity and very angsty). It turned out to be a fantastic read. Both the hero and heroine have experienced loss and upheaval and, as they take a hiking/camping trip through the Pacific Northwest, their relationship evolves from adversarial to loving (with lots of sexual tension and page-burning sex along the way). Highly recommended even if, like me, Jimmy Carter was president the last time you qualified as a “new” adult.
I read the first two books in Shannon McKenna’s Obsidian Files series: RIGHT THROUGH ME and MY NEXT BREATH. As in McKenna’s McCloud Brothers series, the Obsidian books are linked by the main characters’ unwilling connection to a powerful, shadowy corporation helmed by an evil mastermind. In the Obsidian books, the main characters have been even more cruelly used than the McClouds: brain and body implants, genetic manipulation, changes to their basic DNA structure—all of which makes them more powerful than other humans but also leaves them vulnerable to those who would exploit their “gifts” for gain. I thought McKenna did a great job of world-building, especially in how the “modified” characters process their environment and the coping mechanisms they devise in order to function as “normally” as possible. I’ve seen these books described a paranormal, but I’d almost call them SF. No matter—as always with McKenna, there’s plenty of high-octane thrills and also plenty of hot, hot sex.
Although I’ve liked almost all of the Jackie Ashenden books I’ve read so far—and a few are even on my keeper shelf—I found her three Sheikh books (NEVER SEDUCE A SHEIKH, NEVER REFUSE A SHEIKH, NEVER RESIST A SHEIKH) a little lackluster. I haven’t read any other Sheikh romances by any other writers, so I don’t know if Ashenden was hewing close to the conventions of the “Sheikh-romance genre,” but I found the absolute absence in Ashenden’s books of ANY discussion of religion, customs, or the role of women (particularly in light of the fact that two of the three heroines aren’t originally from the Middle East) peculiar. I hope I’m not opening a can of worms here, but without acknowledging the vast differences between the heros’ and the heroines’ upbringings, cultures, expectations, and backgrounds, the books could just as well have been Billionaire romances set in the western world. Perhaps that was the intention—but it doesn’t make me inclined to read any more Sheikh romances.
So after being disappointed by the Sheikh trilogy, I was pleased to find the first two books in Ashenden’s Living In… series to be back to the reliable standards of what I think of as the “Ashenden template”. Set in Auckland, New Zealand, LIVING IN SHADOW features a biracial hero who is significantly younger than the heroine. The hero has lived through terrible trauma; the heroine has been betrayed by her ex-husband. The couple develop a mild bdsm dynamic (blindfolds, tied hands) as part of their healing. I’m glad the heroine recommends that the hero seek therapy to address his experiences because no amount of good sex would ever completely heal him. In LIVING IN SIN, the Maori owner of an exclusive Auckland club becomes involved with a much younger woman who happens to be the daughter of his business partner. This being Jackie Ashenden, we know the hero and heroine both have to overcome difficult pasts (the heroine is a cancer survivor, the hero was once a male prostitute). The bdsm element here is stronger (including use of sex toys and a flogger) than in the previous book.
[TW for references to incest and abuse.] Despite its inclusion on a couple of year-end Best Romance Novels of 2017 lists, Eve Dangerfield’s ACT YOUR AGE didn’t seem at all my catnip; not so much because of the hero being 20 years older than the heroine (you don’t read as much Jackie Ashenden as I do without growing accustomed to age gaps of a decade or more), but because the couple bond through their discovery of a shared kink: step-father/step-daughter role-play. My first thought was “God, ugh, no!”; but I ended up being surprised at how thoughtful, nuanced, humane, and even funny the writing was—exploring topics such as friendship, family dynamics, ADHD, sexuality, and a very timely look at the multiple, ongoing micro- and macro-aggressions women face in the workplace. ACT YOUR AGE is a good example of how a book’s tone is sometimes even more important than its subject matter. (It really helped that the hero had no children and didn’t want to be a father; I don’t think the book could have worked if either the hero or heroine were a parent.) If I have one complaint about the book, it would be that it wraps up rather quickly and resolves several significant conflicts in a somewhat pat fashion. However, at the end of the book, there’s an announcement that the hero & heroine MAY appear again in a future book titled NOT YOUR SHOE SIZE, so perhaps this is a HFN not a HEA. (Also, although there’s a strong emphasis in the book on both full consent and awareness on the hero’s and heroine’s parts that their Daddy role-play does not translate to incestuous desires in real life, it goes without saying that this is undoubtedly a book to avoid if you have been abused or molested by a parent or step-parent—the role-play is very intense and would undoubtedly be a trigger.)
I had all of these bright, shiny reading goals for 2018 … and I have only read one book so far this year. Sigh.
I read an ARC of A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole, which I enjoyed.
I’ve also got a lot of books on my TBR pile that I want to get to, including The Hundredth Queen by Emily King, Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo, and The Late Show by Michael Connelly.
Reading goals? Hmmm…I should definitely look into that. Maybe something across genres? Thanks for the recs, guys. A growing TBR pile makes me v happy. 🙂 In the meantime have finished:
1. Amanda Bouchet’s Fire Trilogy: I enjoyed it. Clever world building and an interesting set of characters. However, book 2 and 3 felt like they were trying to do too many different things. They kept teetering between fantasy and PNR with some very awkward sex so not sure about those. The heroine also veered into Mary Sue territory. A tart and enjoyable read. B/B-
2. Simone St. James (Lost Among the Living; Silence for the Dead; The Other Side of Midnight; An Inquiry Into Love; and The Haunting of Maddy Clare): gothic mysteries set in post-WWI and WWI England. Gothic mysteries and accompanying shivers and thrills abound. What makes them interesting is the exploration of relationships in a post-war world as men and women return home only to find that they don’t recognise home and home doesn’t recognise them. The female protagonists are clever and stubborn but not bullet proof and quite often dealing with grief, abandonment and emotional turmoil. St. James has a deft touch with relationships. I’m a chicken at heart, and embrace it, so read them with the lights on! Lyrical writing, strong characterisation, and a touch of old-world romance make these very enjoyable. B+
3. Kristin Cashore’s Jane Unlimited: Loved it! I know it won’t be to most tastes. Cashore uses an old-school choose-your-own-adventure narrative as a vehicle to examine grief, loss and tipping points in Jane’s (the central character) life. I found it melancholy but oddly soothing. And the style worked for me. A huge fan of Cashore’s writing, it was lovely to read her again. B+
4. Deanna Raybourn’s A Treacherous Curse (#3 in the Veronica Speedwell series): reminiscent of Lady Julia Grey mysteries but I have to admit, I find Veronica much more likeable. A Victorian naturalist, Veronica and her adventure’s with Stoker are convoluted and studded with odd characters. Sub-plots and red herrings abound. Veronica and Stoker interactions are laced with UST reminiscent of Scully and Mulder in the X-Files. The writing is fresh and fast-paced. Thankfully, Raybourn doesn’t annoy readers, like some other writers, by moving the relationship between her main characters at a snails pace so much so that you leave the book so incensed and frustrated that it’s off the auto-buy list forever! While it’s not necessary to read the first two books in the trilogy — since each mystery is standalone — to understand Veronica and Stoker’s history it’s better to start from book 1 – A Curious Beginning. B
I had a pretty good month of reading overall, after several months worth of disappointments.
THE EDGE SERIES – Ilona Andrews. I’m in book three at the moment and it may be my favorite yet. It’s helpful to read from the beginning, though, as there is a lot of world-building. Book three has a heroine who is trying to go straight after being forced into thievery and grifting throughout her childhood, and a hero who is using his conman skills for secret agent work. Plus monsters and magic and stuff.
HIS PERFECT PARTNER – Priscilla Oliveras. A very sweet (G-rated) novel about a woman who is teaching at a dance school while caring for her sick father and a single father of one of her students. I loved the emphasis on family and relationships. I thought the author did a very good job at balancing the use of Spanish and English. These are characters who speak easily in both languages, and it can be very difficult to convey that while still writing understandable dialogue. Some authors use too little (just a random exclamation here or there), and some leave you unable to follow the dialogue (Charlotte Bronte, who just assumes everyone speaks French as well as she does).
THE DUCHESS DEAL – Tessa Dare. I have to be in the right mood for her books, since her characters are so clearly 21st century people dressed up in Regency clothes. I generally just find that trend irritating, and have turned away from historicals because of it. I particularly recall one book (by a different author) in which the hero and heroine have a conversation about privilege which I couldn’t imagine characters having 20 years ago, let alone 200. The hero of that book was very woke for a Regency nobleman. Overall I found the book funny and charming. I’m so tired of every hero being a duke, though. I wish the publishers would ease up on that.
CHARMING – Elliott James. I nearly quit after the first chapter, but ultimately ended up enjoying it. It’s told in first person and the hero’s voice annoyed me at the beginning. He calmed down and started telling the story in a less “Gosh, I’m funny and adorable” voice, at which point I began enjoying it more. I’m looking forward to continuing the series.
HATE TO WANT YOU – Alisha Rai. Another book I nearly gave up on after the first chapter. I kept going because of all the raves here, and it got better. I don’t think I loved it nearly as much as most people seem to, but I’m glad I read it and I’m very intrigued by the characters in the next book.
DATING YOU/HATING YOU – Christina Lauren. I found the work scenes very stressful – which we are meant to – and the couple engaging.
THE THING ABOUT LOVE – Julie James. I really liked how she developed the misunderstanding between the H/h. Both of them looked at the same accordingly, but it made sense. You weren’t left feeling like either of them were unreasonable. It’s a tricky balancing act, and I admire how the author pulled it off.
GENUINE LIES – Nora Roberts. This is one of her earlier books, and it shows. It’s better written than her first few novels, but very 80’s feeling in tone and subject. It reminded me of the Judith Krantz/Sidney Sheldon soap-y books I loved so much as a teen, which made it more appealing to me than it might be for others. An aging Hollywood diva brings a celebrity biographer to her estate so they can work on her explosive tell-all memoir, which leads to danger. Some of the mystery was less than mysterious, but the flashback scenes to the actress’s life were very entertaining.
I haven’t really read much this month and only finished on book .
The book I finished was MASQUES of GOLD by Roberta Gellis l. From a premise perspective it was absolutely fantastic. Basically it was a Romantic Suspense set just before King John( nasty king John from Robin Hood) signs the Magna Carta which could have been awesome,but the book moved at a snail’s pace, especially during the third act. It was just one of those books that could have ended at several different but instead just kept going and going and going ad nauseum; definitely one of my least favorite Roberta Gellis books.
After that I started The Arrangement by Mary Balogh , which I’m about halfway through. So far I love it , but I don’t think it’s for everyone since there is very little conflict between the two leads. However, if you’re in the mood for a warm and fuzzy hurt/comfort story with great leads and aren’t in the mood for something too angsty, pick this one up.
I’ve had a reading month that feels to be all over the map…
Theresa Romain: Season for Temptation, Season for Surrender, and now I’m 3/4 of the way through Season for Scandal. They have been good gym reading (I borrow e-books from library to read on my iPad at the gym), but a 2-week vacation (including 2 weeks away from the gym) interrupted Season for Surrender and I’m having a hard time getting back in to it.
Louise Penny: I started reading her Inspector Gamache series back in September and am now on book 6 of the series (fortunately she has written 13 so far so I have lots still to read – and even more fortunately, the local library has most of them!). Original plot lines, 3-dimensional characters, lots of mentions of good food – they have been great books to read through this long dark winter.
Sarai Walker: Dietland. Has anyone seen the meme floating around Facebook about the Icelandic tradition of exchanging books on Christmas Eve? A year ago, a friend and I decided that we should adopt this tradition, and mail each other books to be opened only after our last Christmas service was over (we are both clergy). This is the book that she mailed me this year. I think that I liked it, but it was one of the most bizarre stories that I have ever read. I had no idea of what to expect, and could never have predicted any of the plot twists. The opposite of formulaic writing! Radical (and often violent) feminism opposing the beauty industry, with the story of one woman’s liberation superimposed. Not quite dystopian as it is grounded in the present misogynist reality, but it imagines what might happen if women were to object with violence.
Let’s see, this week I really enjoyed some Ilona Andrews books, I think it was the Hidden Legacy series? I happily hate read several Cara McKenna books. I thought Hate to Want you was kinda boring and pedantic, and the plot was weak, but I somehow didn’t mind slogging through. Basically happy to read anything these days, which is a delightful change of pace.
Still more Heyer and O’Brian and Wodehouse, for tough days.
Oh, and my favorite this month, very much not a romance, idk that it would appeal to anyone but me but wow was it tailored to me: if you care at all about The Odyssey, read Daniel Mendlesohn’s memoir about it, and his dad, and the year his 81 year old dad sat in on the course he was teaching. I don’t generally care about memoirs but this was basically my perfect book.
I got a new job at the public library. The great irony of librarianship is that you are surrounded by books, but don’t have time to read them. I signed up to read ten whole books by April for the library’s reading challenge, but I’ve only finished the one so far! I’m trying to read a variety of YA novels so I can start a teen book club when my probation period ends – the library has a criminally-underused YA section – but I’m missing my historicals so I’m hoping to go back to them soon.
So now I’m working on:
REBEL SEOUL by Axie Oh
SHADOW AND BONE by Leigh Bardugo
MEDDLING KIDS by Edgar Cantero
Really good reading month so far due to “snow days”. Live in Alabama so even the chance of snow means school is closed!
GREAT:
The Trouble with Mistletoe by Jill Shalvis (2nd in Heartbreaker Bay series). Loved this book. Love the chemistry between the hero and heroine. Loved all of the heroines friends and really loved the cat Pita. So funny and a great read.
A Treacherous Curse by Deanna Raybourn (3rd in Veronica Speedwell Mysteries). I love her mysteries and adore Veronica. She takes no shit and doesn’t care what anyone thinks of her. I also love the banter and friendship between her and Stoker. We find out more about Stokers past in this book which i really enjoyed and I think each book gets better and better.
The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon. Normally I’m not a fan of insta love but she does a great job of making me believe in the couples attraction and connection to each other. She tackles race and immigration issues beautifully and once you start this story you will not be able to put it down.
Forbidden by Beverly Jenkins. This was my first Beverly Jenkins book but it will not be my last. I really enjoyed the historical detail about a time period and area of the country I didn’t know much about. I loved the character of Edie because of her strength and determination to reach her goals. Loved the connection between her and Rhine
OK:
The Day of the Duchess by Sarah MacLean. I love Sarah’s books but this is my least favorite. I hated the hero in book one of this series so it took a lot to redeem him. I didn’t hate him as much by the end but he could have done more groveling to win the heroine back, I adored Sera and her relationship with Caleb and her sisters as well as how much she grew as a character. Can’t wait for sesily and Caleb’s story.
Wintersong by S Jae Jones. I loved the writing but couldn’t connect with either Liesl or the Goblin King. The story dragged in places and wasn’t my cup of tea.
I haven’t been getting a lot read lately, but I’m mostly OK with it. My task tracking setup had completely broken down under two years of “twice the work and half the people” at work. So my year-end and January have involved a lot of bullet journaling blogs and consulting Getting Things Done. So far, I’m cautiously optimistic. Hopefully the books will come back.
Seanan McGuire’s BENEATH THE SUGAR SKY was an enjoyable close to the series, though EVERY HEART A DOORWAY remains my favorite. I’m hoping she’ll have short stories or something about all the bits and pieces that appear to still be percolating in her head.
I finally got to reading THE NINTH DAUGHTER, by Barbara Hambly writing as Barbara Hamilton. This is the first in a short series of mysteries starring Abigail Adams, set right before the Revolutionary War. The mystery is interesting, but the historical detail is fascinating.
2017 was the first time I didn’t met my GoodReads challenge, which is what happens when you volunteer to host a service reunion. This year I am determined to clear out the owned books that have been hanging around the house unread for way too long. I am sadly magpieish when it comes to books. Easily distracted by the new shiny. One for every 2-3 that I bring in new. So far it’s one for every 5-6…..
Ended 2017 on a high note with the first book in Anne Bishop’s Black Jewel trilogy. Started 2018 just as good with Harry Dolan’s The Man In The Crooked Hat as much detective story as a man’s journey back to life after a tragedy. Back to romance with Laura Chase’s A Duke in Shining Armor, which was charming,and JAK’s newest, Promise Not To Tell, which, JAK, so enough said. Followed that with Into The Drowning Deep which I felt lacked an element of tension, but I’ll still be coming back for the nest installment. Also, does this new tv show, Sirens, that I keep seeing commercials for have anything to do with the book? Anyone? Picked up the Ashley Grimes Past Crimes to prep for Death Below Stairs book chat. Currently halfway through Ruthie Knox’s Truly which has been lingering on my Kindle for a loooong time.
I recently finished The Sparrow by Mary Dioria Russel, and it made me cry, made me laugh, gave me awful nightmares, and left me feeling depressed after I read it. I know there’s a sequel but I’m torn between “I want to know what happens next” and “if anything more happens to Emilio I will be So Angry.”
Currently attempting to read Hot Head by Damon Suede, which has been on my TBR pile for forever, and I’m feeling conflicted on it. I’m enjoying the emotional aspect of it (the emotional connection between the two heroes is making me cry,) but all the talk about sex is making me uncomfortable–and I haven’t even gotten to any *actual* sex scenes yet! I’m normally fine with sex in romance, so why *this* is making me so uncomfortable I have no idea.
Can anyone recommend any m/m romances that have little to no sex in them, or with asexual characters?
I made my reading goal last year, but I cheated since halfway through the year I changed it to a lower number then a month later to an even lower number. This past month I’ve read a lot. Here’s the list:
THE DUCHESS DEAL BY Tessa Dare- I loved this one. Seriously one of my best reads of the past 12 months and I’m pretty sure I can safely say it will be on my list of the best books I’ve read in 2018 at the end of this year. I laughed out loud and practically swooned a time or two. Why did I take so long to get to this one?
THE TROUBLE WITH MISTLETOE and LOST AND FOUND SISTERS by Jill Shalvis- Both were solidly enjoyable Shalvis books with Lost leaning slightly more into women’s fiction than pure romance.
A VERY MERRY PRINCESS by Susan Mallery- Very cute novella, after getting pretty burned out on Mallery I’ve enjoyed her last couple.
KISSING TOLSTOY and DATING-ISH by Penny Reid- I loved KISSING TOLSTOY; it was just so sweet. I know she released it through email and I do subscribe to her email list, but I never got around to actually reading the installments. The only problem with this book is that it made me want to read WAR AND PEACE and I don’t want to want to read an insanely long Russian book. I don’t have the time! I could probably read at least ten romances already sitting on my kindle in the time it would take me to read that single book. DATING-ISH was a disappointment. I didn’t dislike it, but it really should have been a book that I loved. I enjoyed the discussion of Matt’s (the hero) project of developing AI to help with loneliness and companionship plus Marie’s (the heroine) research for her article on the AI and dating/singlehood in modern times. I also really related to both Marie and Matt a lot. My two main problems were that I wanted a more in-depth discussion of the issues dealt with in the book and I needed more of Matt. I needed his POV on his relationship with Marie to connect to the relationship more and I wanted his self-worth issues dealt with more in-depth in the book not just alluded to in the epilogue. I’m used to Reid pulling off complex issues like the ones in this book so I probably felt more let down than I would have if a different author had written this. Also, there was a scene with the knitting group that I had a small problem with. Basically the group was discussing topics and words that could be offensive and basically how to navigate society while being respectful, but understanding that people can cause offense when the person talking only had good intentions. I didn’t have a problem with the actual discussion, my problem was it felt tacked on and was not in keeping with the rest of the story. Maybe it’s something dealt with more in-depth in the last book in the series, but for this one it came out of nowhere then just went away which felt like poor writing. It really felt like Reid was trying to respond to something she had blogged about and the backlash over it many months ago and it just didn’t belong in this book.
CHERISH HARD by Nalini Singh- Really liked this one.
READY TO RUN by Lauren Layne- Another cute, fast read plus it was a second book I got for Christmas and read within a month!
BEGINNER’S GUIDE: LOVE AND OTHER CHEMICAL REACTIONS by Six de los Reyes- This one took me a couple chapters to get into. My brain sometimes has a block when it comes to science and I think that was the problem with this one. I started it late at night and my brain rebelled at any sort of talk of science. Once I got past that, I found this one to be sweet and different. I loved both the awkward scientist heroine and the rather sweet artist hero. I’m looking forward to future books in this series.
THE HOT SHOT by Kristen Callihan- I feel like a broken record this month. Another fast, fun, sweet read that I thoroughly enjoyed.
INTO THE BRIGHT UNKNOWN by Rae Carson- Wonderful ending to the series that felt very relevant.
BOLLYWOOD AND THE BEAST by Suleikha Snyder- Another one I enjoyed although I did find the pacing to be a little inconsistent. It had great characters and a nice story. I’m looking forward to checking out more by Snyder.
ROOMIES by Christina Lauren- I wanted to love this one. It’s by Christina Lauren a duo whose books I usually love, it’s a marriage of convenience trope which I usually love, and it’s set in the world of Broadway musicals! It’s like all my catnip written by one of my favorite authors. Maybe my expectations were just too high. I loved the heroine, Holland. I really related to her and so many things about her life hit a chord in me. Despite this, I never really got the connection I needed between her and the hero, Calvin. I think if we had gotten his POV, that would’ve helped me feel the pull between them more. So it ended up just being okay for me.
JUST ONE DAMNED THING AFTER ANOTHER by Jodi Taylor- This one was slow-going for me. I know part of it was because I was attempting to read it during an exceptionally sucky week, but I’m not sure that was all of it. The pacing seemed off and I didn’t particularly love for any of the characters. I did like the concept and the parts that dealt with the actual time travel so I’d like to check out the next book in the series to see if that works better for me
A SOUPÇON OF POISON and DEATH BELOW STAIRS by Jennifer Ashley- I got Death through Penguin First to Read and was disappointed. It was fine. Just fine. It was slow, but I think the characters have potential and I’m planning on checking out the next on in the series. For those of you who want to check out Soupçon, but maybe don’t want to spend $2.99 on a novella, it’s free as part of Ashley’s compilation Past Crimes: A Compendium of Historical Mysteries. If you’re reading Death for this month’s book club, I do recommend reading Soupçon first, but it’s not strictly necessary.
MISTER MONEYBAGS by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward- I love the voice of these two authors and there was some great humor in this incredibly crazy book. However, it took a turn maybe two-thirds of the way in to a type of storyline I just can’t stand. I finished it because I was listening to it on three times the speed so I decided I might as well stick it out since I was cooking anyway. If I had been reading, I may have abandoned it. I don’t want to put spoilers in here, but maybe read some reviews with spoilers before deciding to try it.
THE CHARMER by Avery Flynn- I had a couple minor quibbles while reading this one that I mainly can’t remember now, but overall it was another fun, fast, and sweet read. This one has a Henry Higgins/Eliza Doolittle plot line that I thought was well-done.
Some non-romances I read for the 2017 reading challenge I did and then the 2018 one I’ve started:
BONFIRE by Krysten Ritter- Read for my book written by a celebrity prompt, I liked this one but it definitely felt like a first book. The pacing was off and I was yelling at the heroine for trusting someone she shouldn’t have at one point. I didn’t really feel that the story supported her decision to trust them at that point. Despite that, I still liked the mystery and hope Ritter continues to write and improve.
MIDNIGHT AT THE BRIGHT IDEAS BOOKSTORE by Matthew J. Sullivan- Another one where the pacing was off and I figured out one of the key aspects of the mystery early on, but not all aspects of it. Overall, a solid read. It fit the prompt for book chosen mainly for the cover (it’s so pretty!).
MAGPIE MURDERS by Anthony Horowitz- This one was for my library book prompt in this year’s challenge. It was a well-written and involving mystery. As someone whose idea of a comfort program is a good British cozy mystery like Father Brown, I found this book very satisfying.
MEDDLING KIDS BY Edgar Cantero- I wanted to love this one. I adored Scooby Doo growing up and may have still watched the new incarnation on Comedy Central a few years ago. It starts with an article written by Nancy Hardy about a mystery near the Zoinx River. I loved that! It also takes place in a town called Blyton Falls which I knew was a reference to Edith Blyton, but I never read any of her books growing up. It started off well and ended pretty well, but got bogged down by too much exposition in the middle making it a slower read than it should’ve been.
Right now I’m reading THE POWER by Naomi Alderman, for my challenge, and 10% HAPPIER by Dan Harris.
January is always a great reading month in New England …snow, fire in fire place, stew on the stove..so have done a lot of reading partically to avoid projects I put off until after Christmas.
Best book this year by far: The Ones who got Away by Roni Loren. Having lived through a school tragedy in our town, this spoke to me in particular. Lots of angst but felt very authentic.
I am a Donna Alward fan and have thoroughly enjoyed her catalogue. Finally read some of her early books and they were decent and did show some promise but I would recommend her more recent books for small town romance.
Just finished the Suburbs have Secrets by Barbara Wallace. Actually was very enjoyable for a cozy mystery…took place outside of Boston. For some reason reminded me of a lighter Liane Moriarity. Will definitely get the next in this series
I “discovered” Michelle Major ( more small town romance series) and enjoyed reading her catalogue with Second Chance at Crimson Ranch my favorite.
Level Up by Cathy Yardley was cute but too lightweight maybe because I think it is YA?
And tried another Brenda Novak but just could not finish it. Reading is so incredibly subjective and I am sure she has devoted fans but I can’t get into her books sadly.
My goal is to read all the books sitting on my Kindle app that I get after reading SBTB recommendations!
Almost finished with The Underground Railroad. It’s an easy and challenging read at once, if that makes any sense.
On audio I usually go for YA because the books tend to be shorter and I can reliably finish them in a couple weeks of dog walks and commutes. Almost through The Red Queen and looking forward to the next book in the series. Before that I listened to Erotic Stories for Punjabi Ladies which is NOT YA lol – highly recommend.
Next book is a The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden, second in a series. I got the audiobook of the first book in the series, which was great because there are lots of Russian proper names and place names which were lovely to listen to and no doubt unpronounceable by me. But my library doesn’t have the audio version yet, sadly!
I just finished The Bloodprint by Ausma Zehanat Khan. It took a bit to get into the world, learning the different regions and races/societies/tribes. The map in the front of the book is very helpful. I really enjoyed it.
Second book comes out in October. I wish I had waited to read the first one, so could go right into book 2. It ends on a cliffhanger and I may bring some of the female rage while I wait!
I was on holiday from late December into mid-January, so most of these books were in the Holiday Reading category.
I had a ball with the first two Winston Brothers books by Penny Reid. I found myself chuckling through much of these stories and I’ve just started the third to chuckle over Cletus. Was pleased to find that Reid had made a conscious effort to make her characters more diverse. These were very entertaining romantic comedies.
From the ads on this site, I picked EXTREME HONOR by Piper J Drake. This is the book with the military working dog on the cover. OK, so the dog was the best thing in this suspense/romance story, but I love working dogs, so I’m probably going to read the other books in the series, too. J
A really good read was Elizabeth Bear’s ALL THE WINDWRACKED STARS, which had been sitting on my list for ages. I had not read what you might call high fantasy for yonks, and I did think Bear was trying too hard with the language at times, but overall, I had a good time with it.
I think one of you recommended Sheila Simonson and I greatly enjoyed her BAR SINISTER; intelligent regency romance that was mildly reminiscent of Georgette Heyer and quite outside of the ordinary. I finally read Alyssa Cole’s A HOPE DIVIDED, also much recommended here, and I liked it better than the first in that series.
I’d had Skinwalker on my list for some time, and liked that enough to get the next couple of Faith Hunter’s Jane Yellowrock books. I reread and really enjoyed Agatha Christie’s Crooked House. Some of that may just be nostalgia value, but it was fun. I read a couple of Elizabeth Hoyt’s Four Soldiers series- adequate, but unmemorable.
Unfinished
I tried Lucy Dillon’s Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts. I’m sure it’s perfectly good, but it wasn’t my cup of tea; similarly, Seanan McGuire’s Rosemary and Rue.
Andrea Levy’s prize-winning The Long Song, had also been in the queue for ages, but I’m finding it slow going. Perhaps I’m just not in the mood for a slavery narrative.
An article in the Guardian made me look up Susan Edmonstone Ferrier, the Scottish author who was described as a forgotten peer of Jane Austen. I started Marriage, but it was too good to read with half my attention, so I’m going to restart next month.
I started the year off with a bang, reading 28 Cherise Sinclair books back to back. Gobbled ’em up like popcorn. Put me 14 books ahead of schedule on my reading goal of 300 books this year. I love being retired! At this particular moment I am reading A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki.
I’m reading Dan Brown’s ORIGIN. I just started it so can say much yet except I expect to enjoy it as much as his previous books (of which I’ve read all). I’m retired so I have time to read 1-3 books a week of all genres from romance/erotic to mystery/si-fi and much in between. Really enjoy your website too.
I just finished Bountiful by Sarina Bowen. I don’t know what it is about her books but they always do it for me. I think it’s because she writes great heroes – kind, protective, just alpha enough without being obnoxious about it, and always respectful of women.
I also grabbed The Duchess Deal while it was on sale. Tessa Dare is another author that never disappoints me. I don’t care in the least that her books are mistoricals, I love them anyway.
I also had a couple of great UF reads, Curse on the Land by Faith Hunter (book 2 in her Soulwood series) and Whisper of Shadows by Diana Pharoah Francis (book 3 in her Diamond City Magic series). I highly recommend both of these series. They are not at all the usual UF and both feature excellent worldbuilding.
Finally, I also read and loved Trusting Miss Trentham by Emily Larkin. In this historical PNR series each heroine is visited by a faerie godmother and allowed to choose one gift. In the first book, Unmasking Miss Appleby, the heroine chose the ability to change shapes, and changed into a man so that she could get a job to support herself and get away from her family. If you like cross-dressing Regencies, you’d probably like the book. In thie second book, the heroine, who is an heiress (and is tall and not considered beautiful) chooses the ability to hear lies, so that she can always tell when a suitor is after her for her money. There isn’t much historical PNR out there that doesn’t feature vamps so I really appreciated the twist to these stories.
I read “Fire and Fury” by Michael Wolff on the day it came out. I read “Nikan Rebuilt” by Scarlett Cole which I liked quite a bit.
Not long ago I finished American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee, an autobiography of the famous burlesque performer. As with most biographies (especially those involving child performers of the vaudeville variety) it was more than a little sad. But, she’s an interesting woman, with a really interesting life. After seeing Dita von Teese’s show, I’m a little sad Gypsy isn’t around to see how burlesque has grown and changed.
Right now I’m reading Sin in the Second City, about the brothel/club run by the Everleigh sisters in the late 19th and early 20th century in Chicago. The pair of them ran a house that provided excellent pay, great medical care, education and seemingly above all respect to their workers. From this perspective the sisters seem to almost be attempting to elevate the profession to courtesan rather than mere prostitute, all at the expense of the men who so cheerfully shelled out for it. It’s slow going, cuz I have so much homework this semester. But I’m enjoying it a bunch.
So far the theme of this year’s books appear to be about women who use and glory in their sexuality, and couldn’t really give a shit if people think it’s base or not.
I’ve had the best reading month in years. Probably because I started the year on a cruise ship which meant lots of reading time on the lido deck.
US- Sarina Bowen, Elle Kennedy
Enjoyed it but not as much as the first. HIM was my first m/m and these two will always have a special place in my heart- B
AN AFFAIR WITH A NOTORIOUS HEIRESS- Lorraine Heath
I love Heath. Even her lackluster books are worth reading, imo. I found this one slow and repetitive but I couldn’t put it down. I also wondered about the likelyhood of a woman getting divorced from a peer and being able to keep his house and title. C+
THE TRUTH ABOUT CADS AND DUKES- B+
DESPERATELY SEEKING A SCOUNDREL-C-
THE DEVIL IS A MARQUESS- A+ Elisa Braden
I think Braden was mentioned here in a rec league and I went down a rabbit hole. I have enjoyed the books so far in the series but I found Desperately Seeking a Scoundrel the weakest entry so far. I didn’t see the hero redeem himself sufficiently and the whole book felt rushed and disjointed. The fourth book The Devil is a Marquess was a lovely story about love and redemption. I loved the sweet way Chatham and Charlotte fell in love. No insta anything here. It was wonderful.
HARD EVIDENCE- Pamela Clare
This was a reread. I read hardly any RomSus so this series is an exception. B+
A DARING ARRANGEMENT- Joanna Shupe
This one had me a little flummoxed. I liked it but it was a let down at the same time. The hero was pretty tame despite having a scandalous reputation. I think the setting- Gilded Age NYC- was more interesting than the unfolding love story. C
In keeping with my resolution to read more from my TBR I am currently reading Rainshadow Road by Lisa Kleypas. It’s OK but I wish she’d make up her mind with the magic stuff. It’s there but hardly. Next up I got a free three book bundle of new to me Rachel Grant which is also part of a resolution to branch out in my reading, and the next book in the Braden series.
A little slow this month, but getting it together!
Read and loved:
The new-ish? Kristan Higgins book, Now That You Mention It. She is a favorite for me. I love her books, except for a few of the Blue Heron series, and really loved the humor, and the sweet moments and female friendships. Just a sweet read.
Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan: Clever, well executed premise! I plan to get into the rest of the series this year.
Reread and loved:
Illona Andrews – The Hidden Legacy trilogy and the Innkeeper series. This has moved into comfort reading for me quickly!
Currently reading:
We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Little FIres Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Hated/DNF:
The Liz Duran books that were on sale recently – I thought it would fit into my catnip of older woman, younger man…. but these were just clumsy to me.
After reading some of the numbers for people’s reading goals, I am wondering if maybe I need to do more things with my time since I finished just under 200 books in 2017. I don’t really watch much TV and with no wifi, I am not a slave to the Internet. This month, the best I have read is THE ONES WHO GOT AWAY by Roni Loren and THE REBOUND by Winter Renshaw. Both were filled with more angst than I am usually comfortable with but, I loved them both. I am almost finished with WILDE IN LOVE by Eloisa James and am finding it another EJ example of fine writing.
Finally!, last month was a strong reading month in quantity with some good reads!
Excellent:
None
Very Good:
Sleigh Bells in the Snow by Sarah Morgan – I thought this book did a good job capturing why the holidays can be so hard. I also loved the setting – a resort in Vermont with gorgeous, private cabins and excellent food. However, the ending felt a little too cutesy and wrapped up the heroine’s problems a little too easily.
Last First Kiss by Lia Riley – this one wasn’t my usual jam – a divorced mother with a small child, but I got it at RT and now I am so glad that I read it. The hero was awesome and the story really dug into how people portray themselves online versus the reality of real life. I also liked the set up for the next book too.
Not a Creature was Stirring by Jane Haddam – hard to classify this one – it was like a cozy in that it was set around Christmas and involved a locked room (a mansion, really) mystery during a house party. However, the story was told both from the perspective of the detective and from that of the suspects and there were a lot of un-cozy things about that – drug use, fraud, abuse and more. I really liked that the detective in this series is Armenian and lives in an Armenian community. My step-mom is half Armenian (her grandmother survived the genocide and then moved to the USA), so that made the book all the more interesting to me. This was written in the early 1990’s so some of it is a little dated, but overall a great story.
A Soldier’s Christmas by Leslie Kelly, Joanne Rock, and Karen Foley – loved the first and second stories, but the third (by Karen Foley) really fell flat for me.
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen: This was my selection for the two-person book club I have with my dad. I wanted a counterpoint to Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes which was the last book we read. This novel is told from the viewpoint of a North Vietnamese spy who infiltrated the Southern Vietnamese army and then continues with the army refugees to America to keep tabs on any possible stirrings of resistance. First, this is a brutal depiction of the aftermath of war and displacement. Second, it is a bitingly funny take down of American norms, values, and attitudes. But to be clear, this is very much a novel of war and has depictions of violence and very graphic depictions of rape and torture. It was a difficult book to read – emotionally, but I am very much glad that I read it.
Good:
Wild Holiday Night by Samantha Hunter, Meg Maguire & Debbi Rawlins – the real gem is the story by Meg Maguire about two people who reunite at a rental car counter as they try to make it back to their hometown for Christmas. They went to high school together and this one really punched me right in the feels. The story by Samantha Hunter was good, but the Debbi Rawlins story was not.
After Midnight by Katherine Garbera – “Ice Queen” ski champion heroine who is recovering from a horrific ski injury and bad boy snowboarder.
Meh:
The Inspector and Mrs. Jefferies – I loved the set up of a housekeeper who helps her employer, a detective for Scotland Yard, solve crimes through clever manipulation (he thinks he solves the cases himself, but she gives him all his ideas), but the execution was meh and I didn’t like it enough to continue the series.
A Cowboy Under the Mistletoe by Vicki Lewis Thompson
The Mighty Quinns: Dex by Kate Hoffmann
The Bad:
Under Wraps by Joanne Rock – two problems with this book. First the hero is a PI who has planted a video camera to watch the heroine (who he believes is a possible suspect in a crime) in her office which is also her home and that got icky real fast. But even if you could get past that, there is waaaaay too much plot here for a category romance. The plot has a mystery thread involving embezzled money, a private sex hotel/club which seems expensive and exclusive but then not?, a secondary romance involving two other people at the sex hotel, and the main romance itself.
Yours in Black Lace by Mia Zachary – with all revelations in the last four months, I just think I couldn’t deal with the set up for this – the heroine anonymously sends explicit notes to her boss about all the sexy stuff she wants to do to him. I just kept thinking this seems not good in a workplace environment. Throw in a suspense plot involving a drug cartel and a hero who owns one business but also has a secret other business that makes him SO MUCH MONEY and this thing was just one big pot of crazysauce.
Space Battle Lunchtime is great! My biggest problem with it was that it ended too quickly.
I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump for months, but I seem to finally be crawling out of it. The books I’ve been reading lately have actually been holding my attention, even when I ended up not liking them.
So far I’ve read:
– Sea of Wind by Fuyumi Ono – A reread and old favorite of mine. It’s YA fantasy about a boy who gets transported to another world and told he’s a kirin, a being meant to choose his kingdom’s next ruler.
– The Fold by Peter Clines – An audiobook re-listen. Sci-fi, takes place in the same world as Clines’ 14. I prefer 14, although this is still good.
– The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter – A Middle Grade adventure that I mistakenly thought was going to be fantasy. I loved the cover but disliked the book.
– Tiffany Girl by Deeanne Gist – Christian historical romance. I’m generally not a fan of Christian fiction, but the religious elements in Gist’s books tend to be pretty light, and this one has had the lightest religious aspects of the three of her books I’ve read so far. Very good, although I wish Gist had shown readers more of the post-makeup courting.
I failed at my reading goals for last year, so this year I’m setting more cautious goals. I want to read 100 works (books, novellas, manga volumes, etc. all count). I’m also trying something a little different: I tagged 19 paper books and 19 e-books as things I’d like to read in 2018. I don’t expect to read them all since, according to my stats, I only read about 42 books last year, but I’d like to read at least 12 from each list.
Varian- check out Waiting for the Flood by Alexis Hall. One guy is a flood engineer, the other a super shy book book binding expert, who has taken a long time to get over his previous relationship. The whole book takes place as the book binder’s neighborhood prepares for flooding and then is flooded. Super sweet and no sex on the page.
I’ve read fifteen books this month, five were novellas and three were “skimmers”.
THE ENGLISH WIFE by Lauren Willig is interesting, but flawed, nevertheless I like Willig’s writing style.
Elizabeth Rolls and Julia Justiss are (new to me) HR authors and I enjoyed their books very much.
I read the new JAK which was good, but not as “meaty” as her nineties RS novels.
I also read NR’s latest YEAR ONE. I didn’t like it.
Bella Osbourne and Rebecca Raison’s cozy chick lit books were a big fail for me.
The Kit Holloway series by Jennifer Ashley was little disappointing, I felt she “showed her cards” too early in regards to the romance and history of her main characters. The idea is good, so I am going to continue with the series. Hopefully she can pull herself out of the quagmire and start afresh.
@JenM, Thanks for recommending Emily Larkin. I checked B&N and the first book in the series is FREE. Made my day!
@Varian – Tigers and Devils by Dean Kennedy is m/m with all fade to black sex scenes – nerd / jock pairing set in Australia with a super snarky narrator.
Blank Spaces by Cassie Lenox is m/m with an ace MC and I think SB Sarah reviewed it here.
And I read a lot this month – especially early in the month when I was recovering from a killer cold.
My favorite probably was Agent Bayne (PsyCop, #9) by Jordan Castillo Price. I think this is one of the best of the series, which is remarkable to me.
I discovered Anna Zabo – read Outside the Lines which is m/m with a poly V and I really enjoyed it. It’s part of the Bluewater Bay series but it’s pretty stand alone.
I liked that one so much that I read Takeoever next and was really pleasantly surprised. It’s a very tropey setup – the h/h have a one night stand on vacation and the next week discover that one is the new CEO of the startup the other works at / helped found. But it avoided most of the pitfalls of boss / employee romances and the characters actually acted like grown-ups and dealt with the consequences of their more reckless behavior.
I read Amy Jo Cousins’ Full Hearts series – HeartShip (expanded from a short story in a holiday anthology) and the new one, HeartOn. They were cute.
Down by Contact (The Barons, #2) by Santino Hassell didn’t work as well for me
And I went on a bit of an Avon Gale binge after really enjoying Off The Ice last month. This month I read two of her Scoring Chances books (1 and 3) and enjoyed them too – set in professional hockey’s minor leagues, they’re fun and were refreshing after reading a lot of NHL / NFL romances recently.