It’s everyone favorite post! It also might be the most expensive, but it’s an occupational hazard around here. Whatcha Reading is where we discuss all of our reading highs and lows of the past month. This month’s post takes a bit of a detour with reading experiences and the awesomeness of my last undergrad semester.
Sarah: I’m reading the new Lucy Parker, Making Up, almost a month before it comes out and I feel TERRIBLY guilty about it.
I also read a sample of a much older historical that I’d never read, Bewitching by Jill Barnett ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). I’m debating whether I want to keep going.
Amanda: I’m reading More Than Words by Mia Sheridan, who is a new to me author and I’m really surprised by my enjoyment considering musically-inclined characters are my anti-catnip for some reason. The heroine is super into medieval French history and the hero is a famous composer. They knew each other as kids but haven’t seen each other in a decade. He’s on a downward spiral and she wants to help him, but she’s cautious about a romance because he’s turned into a man that reminds her very much of her philandering father. I also like how their first “reunion” goes horrible as he doesn’t remember her and makes an ass of himself.
Carrie: I just started 84K by Claire North. It’s confusing at first but I think I’ve got the hang of it. At the same time I’m re-reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot ( A | BN | K | AB | Au ).
Elyse: I am also reading a book that isn’t out yet, but unlike Sarah I only feel mildly guilty about it. It’s The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel that Scandalized the World by Sarah Weinman.
It’s this wonderful intersection of true crime and literary history I didn’t know I needed, and it’s totally the first book to validated how icky I felt reading Lolita in school.
Amanda: Weirdly enough, Lolita is one of my favorite books BECAUSE of how icky it makes me feel.
It probably awakened my love of unreliable narrators.
Elyse: I think the fetishizing of girls made me super uncomfortable
Sarah: It is so fascinating to me how we react differently to the varying ick factors of different stories.
Elyse: I’m trying to remember if I had to read it for school or if it just read it. I think the latter because I was way too young to process that book.
Amanda: When did you read it, Elyse? I read it as a senior in college, so I’m wondering if our age at when we read it might have anything to do with it.
Elyse: I’m thinking 14-15, so it definitely wasn’t for school.
Amanda: Yikes, yeah, I can see why you’d have a different reading experience.
Elyse: I was a kid who just picked stuff up and started reading it because I could. My mom hid her Thomas Harris books because she didn’t trust me
Amanda: Mine was for an amazing literary criticism class called “Bad Romance” – A Streetcar Named Desire, Giovanni’s Room, Lolita, and Child of God are the only books I remember for the syllabus. We did get to watch Harold & Maude though, which was the real highlight.
Elyse: I may have responded differently if I had the maturity to separate myself from the text more.
It tends to be a really polarizing book though.
Amanda: And I was in a class setting, so it was a book that was heavily discussed and picked apart, which probably adds to the text separation. But yes, I agree with it being a polarizing book.
Sarah: Holy crap that class sounds terrific.
Amanda: It was really awesome. The adjunct professor was top notch! It was the same semester I took a film noir class, where I watched The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep, The Big Lebowski (which is a modernized retelling of The Big Sleep) and Bladerunner. My final paper in that class was on masculine identity in the movie Drive. Probably the best paper I ever wrote.
Totally unrelated, but I wish I could sort my Kindle books by length because I’ve been super in the mood for quick romances or romance novellas, but I have no clue which books on my Kindle library fall into that category.
Sarah: Oooh that would be a handy feature!
What have you been reading this month? Anything amazing? Let us know below 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, we greatly appreciate it, 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!
I started reading this post and the comments this morning, someone in the comments mentioned a book sale, and I remembered today was a huge book sale at a local Senior Center-one I go to every year. So many thanks to the SBTB for reminding me of that!! When I got home I decided to weigh my purchases-I bought 25 lbs of books 🙂
I really love Marie Harte-and I didn’t realize there was a Donnigan book I hadn’t read-Just The Thing-I loved it. I can’t wait for Hope’s story which I believe comes out in May. I enjoy how different series crossover, The Donnigans, McCauley Brothers, and Body Shop Bad Boys are real favorites of mine. She writes great dialogue, and her sense of humor is so enjoyable.
How To Bake a Perfect Life by Barbara O’Neal-she is a new to me author and this book touched me, I cried several times, but in a good way. I think this was a recommendation from SBTB-so thanks! It looks like she has written quite a few books, I can’t wait to read more.
I read the Hot in Hellcat Canyon series by Julie Ann Long-they are so good! I love the heroines, the heroes, the setting.
I was just thinking-I used to be a primarily historical romance reader. It wasn’t till I discovered this website that I expanded my horizons-so glad I did.
@CelineB-thank you for the heads up on Kristan Higgins new book, Good Luck With That. She was always an autobuy for me, I loved the Blue Heron series especially. But after reading Now That You Mention It-I was so turned off by the constant references to the heroine’s weight loss-and this new book sounds even worse with that kind of thing. It is very disappointing to me, because she is such a good writer.
DiscoDollyDeb deserves a reward for reading all the books! My reading list this past month hasn’t been anywhere near that extensive.
In this century, I read Sunset Bay Sanctuary by Roxanne Snopek and found myself all wrapped up in the two damaged main characters. Her books do that to me and I have pre-ordered the next in the series. I also enjoyed The Wedding Date By Jasmine Guillory. Impressive first book I recommended to some young’uns of my acquaintance. I loved Alexa’s voice. First person is growing on me.
In my Duke reading, I read The Heiress’s Deception by Christi Caldwell and really wanted to kick Lady Eve’s brother where it counts. Anyhow, it all ended well after Christi put the hero and heroine through the usual angst. I really enjoyed the Sinful Brides series with the mix of the ton and former street urchins.
I finished reading Theresa Romain’s new Lady Rogue this morning without renewing my membership in The Bad Decisions Book Club. I felt the ending was a little rushed but loved the chemistry between Isabel and Callum. Isabel showed her badassery, as we say in my women in tech group, once she realized who she was. Atta girl!
And mentioning tech, I delayed and delayed reading Kelly Bowen’s latest, A Duke in the Night because the doors on the cover reminded me of computer equipment racks in a networking industry ad. Put a gimme polo shirt on that Duke and you have the latest Duke of Datacentre, styled hair, scruffy beard, and all. Then the word “network” was mentioned, thank goodness about shipping, a few pages in and I almost lost it. After all my silliness, I did enjoy the story. Work has been intense lately.
I have Bandwidth, a Kindle First, and Remedial Rocket Science in the TBR file but will delay reading about tech and probably find a nice Duke book to read next. However, after reading about all the crazy sauce in the Masters and Mercenaries bundle, I may have to take a side trip into Ops Land. I’ll decide tonight when I turn the Kindle on.
Oh and I forgot two. I read Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher which was her first memoir and based on a stage show. Its a quick read but with a lot of heart. I’m curious to read her other memoirs as her writing has a wonderful conversational style to it.
I’m also currently reading the first book of the Expanse books, Leviathan Wakes as I love the series. So far Miller and his storyline is my least favorite part but it did inspire me to go and reread a Vimes’ book for some good poking at Noir tropes.
Today I start A Duke of her Own by Grace Burrowes as I needed a break from the heaviness of Leviathan Wakes and I’d forgotten how much I enjoy her books. So I think I’ll be going back and reading the other Windham books.
“Sarah: I’m reading the new Lucy Parker, Making Up, almost a month before it comes out and I feel TERRIBLY guilty about it.”
You should feel guilty!! 😀
I preordered it, something I rarely do.
:::dances in to Superstar from Jesus Christ Superstar Live because it is such a jam and that production was top-notch:::
Been a good, good month. Looking over things, man, my reading has been VIOLENT. I have to figure it has a lot to do with my dissatisfaction over :::gestures broadly at everything:::.
Oh, well, let’s dive in. I did indeed follow A Duke In Shining Armor with Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, and the HYPE WAS SUPER REAL. It was excellent; the use of language was masterful in parts and the weaving in of actual experience of black people that don’t live in a fictional magic world made for very interesting reading. Then I picked up One Of Us Is Lying by Karen McManus, which was a very cool combo of The Breakfast Club (which was actually given a shout-out by the unfortunate victim) and a locked-room mystery. I enjoyed it very much, although I had begun to suspect the twist about 3/4 of the way through the book and one of the main characters had a late-stage attack of “stupid for plot” that was a bit frustrating. By this time, Dread Nation by Justina Ireland had made its debut, and again, the HYPE WAS REAL. I loved that book way too much. The zombie work was on-point, the book had amazing commentary on the history of using black people for extremely unethical and unsafe scientific experimentation and the challenges of “passing” during and after The Civil War, and some unexpected characterization, including taking what could have been a Nellie Olsen-type antagonist and turning her damn near as awesome as the heroine. I then finally stopped holding on to Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine, and had to check my newly installed deadbolt a few times. Seriously unsettling, and now I’m holding on to Killman Creek, because I don’t know when the third in the series is due. After that I picked up Defy The Worlds by Claudia Gray, because she is rapidly becoming one of my favorite sci-fi authors. I love her writing and man, can she do setting. Every world that she invents for this series is so well-described and I want to go. There was also some great character work, especially around Abel. He has a bit more overall character development that Noemi, as he is basically an android that is gaining consciousness and since his personality is still developing, whereas Noemi started off a strong personality in her own right, there’s more work being done there, so his arc really does read as more interesting. That said, it’s pretty clear that Noemi is going to undergo some serious changes of her own, so I think she’ll get to catch up that area. Keeping with the sci-fi (it’s been a very sci-fi/fantasy heavy month :::gestures broadly at everything again:::), I read Head On by John Scalzi. It’s the sequel to Lock In, which kind of introduced the world and the background information that you need to understand the story. I’m told you can read Head On as a standalone, which I would not do, but do you. You will understand what he’s doing better if you’ve read Lock In, though. Great use of sci-fi sports, very interesting discussion of disability, well-done police procedural, and Scalzi does like to bring some funny in. Finally (said all God’s children), we get to today, which is me reading Hot and Badgered by Shelly Laurenston. Which I’m loving, for the usual reasons I love Laurenston. It’s violent and hilarious, and honey badgers don’t give a shit. Hufflepuff Swag.
@Kate K.F. – Have you read Peters’ Never Pick Up Hitchhikers? That one’s awesome.
@MaryK No, I haven’t but I wondered about it since my library’s Hoopla seems to have all the Ellis Peters. I’ll bump it up my to read list.
@KateB & Laurel: My Kindle isn’t synced with my Goodreads account! For some reason, I’m oddly wary to do that.
@Iris: I have a Paperwhite! I’ll try looking at the dots. Thank you!
@Kristen, you’re going to love that MJ Putney Fallen Angels series, imho it’s her best work. They are all different, and all great. For instance “Angel Rogue” has more humor and “Shattered Rainbows” is super angsty.
@Maureen, did you know that Barbara O’Neal and Barbara Samuel(the histrom author) are the same person?
I’ve been reading two different historical series; on Scribd, the Rescued from Ruin series by Elisa Braden, and on Kindle, The Heart of Inquiry series by Grace Callaway. My favorite of the Braden series so far is “The Truth About Cads and Dukes”. The Callaway series is more sexually graphic(although it’s not full fledged erotica), which seems to be what I’m in the mood for right now. The prequel novella “The Widow Vanishes” really grabbed me. And I just finished “The Lady Who Came In From the Cold”. The protagonists are older, a couple that has been happily married for 12 years, with 3 children. It’s not spoilerish to tell you, since it gets revealed in the first chapter, that the heroine had origins in the gutter and was a spy during the Napoleonic Wars. She has been keeping all this a secret from her husband all these years. She had fallen into insta-love with him, so she quit the spy business and made herself over into the kind of lady that a hero who is from the nobility would fall in love with and marry. She even went so far as to pretend to be a virgin on their wedding night. As part of her former spy career, she did some morally questionable things, and when her past gets revealed, it sets off a major crisis in their marriage. Anyway, I loved it. Besides being sexy, it raised issues about the pitfalls of married couples keeping secrets from each other.
Both of these series, by the way, have interconnected characters and stories, and it’s preferable to read them in order.
I also read a couple of very good old Regency romances. “The Mock Marriage” by Dorothy Mack had a heroine who is a respectable lady who is pretending to be an actress, and is then hired by the hero to pretend to be a respectable lady that he can present to his family as his wife. Because of reasons, naturally.
“His Lordship’s Swan” by Martha Kirkland was funny and charming. It had a similar plot to Tessa Dare’s first book, “Goddess of the Hunt”, i.e. the heroine is infatuated with the wrong man, and can’t see the man who she really belongs with who is right under her nose. Nice little subplot about a deaf character, and using sign language. I read most of the Signet and Zebra authors back in the day, so I don’t know how this one escaped my notice.
@Kate K.F. – It’s different from her other work – it’s not part of a series, and the H/H are very young – but it’s very clever.
Holy Reading Month, Batman! I read A LOT since the last Whatcha Reading and am now back on track to hit my goal of 100 books for the year!
Excellent:
Ruthless by Anne Stuart – my head understands that the hero made some problematic decisions and choices (especially at the beginning of the book), but whew, my gut/feelings/heart still loved this book (I don’t know if others agree but it seems like book that bridges romance between Old Skool and now). It features a plain Jane spinster heroine and very debauched older hero (almost 40!). I loved their interactions and also appreciated that the hero actually felt somewhat period-appropriate – he wore high-heeled slippers and lots of lace. And surprisingly for a book where the hero hosts wild sex parties, there actually isn’t that much sex between the hero and heroine – so perhaps this could be classified as a slow burn. There is also a great second romance in the book too. TW for sexual abuse in one character’s backstory.
Completely Yours by Erin Nicholas – Cos-playing heroine and EMT hero. The conflict felt very real – the hero had a savior complex and not just towards the heroine and the heroine struggled with trust issues. Both recognized that they needed to work on their issues.
Where They Stand: The American Presidents in the Eyes of Voters and Historians by Robert W. Berry: a fun read for a history buff like me, this book covered various polls of historians which ranked presidents, why certain presidents may rise or fall dramatically in those polls and what the voters thought at the time.
A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horowitz: part history and part travel memoir, this covers Europeans who came to the Americas before and up to the pilgrims. There was a lot I didn’t know and feel like it is forgotten history.
League of Dragons by Naomi Novik: the ninth (and last!) book about Temeraire the dragon and his faithful human Laurence. I am sad to see the series end, but this was a really great way to finish it.
Very Good:
A Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas – liked both the hero and heroine (as well as seeing Sebastian and Evie again) and the plot, BUT this lacked the emotional punch of some of my favorites by her like Tempt Me at Twilight, Seduce Me at Sunrise, or The Devil in Winter.
Bare Pleasure by Lindsay Evans: Former male stripper hero meets shy, plus-sized heroine. The conflict felt real and I really liked both main characters. I just wish the heroine’s older sister got her own book.
Blood of Tyrants by Naomi Novik: The eighth book in the Temeraire series, still loved it, but not one of my favorites of the nine.
Good:
The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach – very good basic personal finance book, but nothing new covered here.
She’s Far From Hollywood by Jo McNally: heroine is a Hollywood star on the run from a stalker and hero is a former soldier with severe PTSD. I got this at RT last year and while I enjoyed it, it is heavy – TW for mental illness, PTSD, and talk of suicide.
An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole – I loved the historical fiction aspect of this – spying for the Union in the South during the Civil War, but I had a more difficult time with the romance – I spent a lot of time worrying about the danger they were both in. I do plan to read the next in the series.
Hot in Hellcat Canyon by Julie Anne Long – I loved about the first half of this contemporary, BUT the plot went off the rails in the second half and a lot of the hero’s actions were completely inexplicable to me. So even though it gave me a lot of feels, it also made me mad. TW for abuse in the backstory.
Saving Simon: How a Rescue Donkey Taught Me the Meaning of Compassion by Jon Katz – the beginning of the book about the rescue and rehab of a severely criminally neglected donkey was heartbreaking and sad, but ultimately uplifting. But the second half of the book kind of petered out with a lot of repetition from earlier in the book.
Meh:
For the Love of You by Donna Hill – not enough conflict for me, felt like I read a book about two nice people who meet, date and fall in love without any obstacles to really overcome.
Fax Me a Bagel by Sharon Kahn – I really wanted to like this story about a rabbi’s widow who solves a murder, but the story was convoluted and a lot of the characters came off as annoying. I don’t plan to read the next in the series.
The Bad:
Wild Montana by Danica Winters – you know how sometimes a book is bad to you because you don’t like the plot or characters, but you have to admit it was at least passable or even well-written? This is not that book – the characters are flat, their actions inexplicable, the plot terrible, and the writing was really poor.
Agatha Raisin and The Terrible Tourist by M.C. Beaton – I LOVED the first two books in the series, but I am now on book 6 and have grown really tired of Agatha’s pathetic pinning for a doofus and the mystery in this one is thin and was resolved in an unsatisfying way. I felt that the writing on this series really went downhill starting with book 3 and hoped it would return to where it was in books 1-2, but I think this one might cause me to throw in the towel on the series.
Apparently, my Goodreads didn’t sync up between my computer and my iPad, so I’m not quite sure what I read this month.
Currently, I am reading Courtney Milan’s “After the Wedding”, which I am absolutely enjoying (and I love the link to her novella in Hamilton’s Batallion). I love that neither the hero nor the heroine is your typical romance novel character. I can see this book being a problem for someone on the right side of the political spectrum. It is absolutely a response to the Me Too Movement and for those on the right, it might be too political for them, especially if they are annoyed by the idea that women finally feel safe speaking out against those who have victimized them. (You would think this would only be men, but sadly, many women would rather believe that claiming someone raped them is a cash-grab or attention-seeking.). While reading, I’ve been listening to a women-only Spotify playlist (https://open.spotify.com/user/1215420025/playlist/4pmiPxufdcS3P519CEoG83?si=png76Y8USRy7GQ1Pe3co3w) and it is just a perfect companion to it. (Yes, it really is 24 hours long.)
Before reading this one, I continued re-visiting Candance Camp. I re-read “A Gentleman Never Tells” and “An Affair Without End.” Both books revolve around characters related to a set of American sisters who go to find their mother’s family in England. Aside for the uncouth American stereotype (we all carry guns, are bold in our speech, don’t want servants to do everything for us, and we all live in the wilderness), the books are so much fun. I love books where the hero grows up, which is absolutely what happens in “A Gentleman Never Tells.” The hero, Fitz, is left in charge of his older brother’s household, which includes their cousins, the Bascombe sisters and their chaperone, Mrs. Eve Hawthorne, a young widow (who unfortunately is still a virgin despite being married for a couple of years to a man she loved). The attraction between the two was immediate and despite Eve’s reluctance to become involved with her employer’s brother because (a) it would look bad and make it hard for her to find a job after she no longer works for that family and (b) it would harm her charges’ reputations. Their story involved a measles outbreak, a dandyish male cousin trying to escape his former mistress, a crashed French balloonist, a measles outbreak, a romance between the youngest Bacombe sister and Fitz’s nearly engaged best friend, and the almost fiance of the said best friend, who. is accompanied by her harpy of a mother. All of this causes Fitz to realize that at 32, it is time for him to grow up.
“An Affair without End” involves an opposites attract storyline. The hero, Oliver, is a stickler for the rules and it drives him nuts that the heroine, Vivian, constantly breaks them. At one point, she points out to him that he called her a “red-headed hoyden” only the previous summer. I loved their interactions, especially when Vivian drags Oliver into one of her schemes. They end up investigating a series of jewelry thefts and they go undercover at a gambling establishment (she dresses in costume so no one could recognize her). It is so much fun.
I also read her new release, “His Wicked Charm,” the final book in her Mad Morelands series, which is completely different from anything else she has ever written. It takes place during the Victorian Era (the first 4 books in the 1870’s and the final two in 1892) and involves various paranormal storylines. This book had to do with the possibility of an apocalypse brought on by the heroine’s family doing something stupid about 60 years earlier. The hero (Con) and heroine (Lilah), as well as his brother and sister-in-law, work together to figure out what was going on. Con has always believed that he was the only member of his family not to have a psychic ability, but throughout the course of the novel, he realizes that he does–he never gets lost and always knows exactly where he is. Lilah is the Scully to Con’s Mulder and this works just as well as the real Mulder and Scully did–thankfully with a more satisfying romance. The one issue I had with this book (this series, really) is that unmarried women always seem to be traveling on their own. No one ever has a chaperone and in multiple books (this one included) the heroine travels with the hero sans chaperone. In other books in the series, there was at least a decent chaperone at the destination, but Lilah’s aunt was socially ruined years earlier and would not have been an appropriate chaperone for an unmarried lady, especially one as young as Lilah (I believe she was only 20). (To round out my 90’s pop-culture references, I’d like to add that Lilah had an Aunt Vesta, who was apparently the “fun” aunt, so of course, I was hoping that she lived in the Pleasure Dome, but alas she did not.)
Next up, is going to be the new Annabeth Albert. It looks like a second-chance romance between two men who are trying to get custody of the niece and nephew of one of the heroes. It looks so good.
I’ve been bingeing a couple series on KU since I got a deal for a two-month membership. I’ve read all of Anna Hackett’s Galactic Gladiators series, and really wish her treasure-hunting/archaeologist series was available as well (I might break down and buy the first one).
Also been binge-reading a few Ruby Dixon series – I am now fully invested in the Ice Planet Barbarians world and just finished the 12th full-length book. I’m also reading (and really enjoying!) her Fireblood Dragons series.
Breezed through Mister Hockey by Lia Riley as consolation for neither of my teams making the playoffs. It was okay, but probably forgettable in the long run. I’ve got Shot on Gold by Jaci Burton from the library and have higher hopes for that.
I borrowed The Ones Who Got Away by Roni Loren and liked that a lot as well. I commented on the recent sale post it was featured in, and agree with Anonymous’ comment as well – it’s awful that school shootings are now a reality for so many people, but they are, and those survivors should get just as much of a shot at HEA as the billionaires and playboys (if not more!). Loren makes the shooting just one part of the character’s overall story, and the heroine also has a great group of female friends who support and uplift her. There’s also a good male-female friendship between the hero and one of the female friends, and it’s so nice to read that instead of the “horrible other woman” trope.
Also read the first two books in the Seven Brides for Seven Scotsman series by Hannah Howell, but she may write with too much of an old school style for me. Both plots were intriguing and could have had a lot of action, but there were so many strange conversational asides and repetitive descriptions that pulled me out of the story. I also have doubts about the consent between the hero and heroine in the second book.
Next up: more blue barbarians and maybe The Wedding Date, since I bought it for Independent Bookstore Day today (one of the few romance novels on the shelf, grrr).
Books read in April ~
— I finished T. Hammond’s Team Red series which I began in March. The first volume is currently free to Kindle readers at https://www.amazon.com/Blind-Seduction-Team-Red-Book-ebook/dp/B00C8UB0JK/ref=la_B00BS93JK0_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1523067552&sr=1-1&refinements=p_82%3AB00BS93JK0
— How to Stop Time by Matt Haig – This an enjoyable novel about a man who ages incredibly slowly. When the story begins he looks about forty but is over five hundred years old. The story raises some interesting questions about life and more.
— A Country Christmas by Josi Kilpack, Carla Kelly, and Jennifer Moore. I was interested in reading this collection of historical romance novellas because it contained a work by a favorite author, Carla Kelly. I very much enjoyed Kelly’s The Christmas Angle (no, that is not a spelling error) and look forward to her forthcoming book which will continue the story of these two characters. The other two stories left me untouched.
— the contemporary romance suspense work Whispers to the Heart by Kimberly Reeves; I finished this but the description was more appealing than the story.
— The Last Wolf (The Legend of All Wolves) by Maria Vale. It took me a while to get caught up in the story, but I ultimately enjoyed it. I look forward to reading the author’s next book set in this world. The Last Wolf reminds me a bit of Anne Bishop’s The Others, but I can’t quite figure out why.
— Melissa F. Olson’s Blood Gamble (Disrupted Magic Book 2) which I enjoyed. I’d recommend that this series be read in order. In fact, it would be best to start with the author’s earlier series since a number of the characters reappear.
— re-read Sheri Cobb South’s For Deader or Worse and the short story, Finders Weepers. Read for the first time, Mystery Loves Company. I enjoyed them all.
— The Bones Bundle by Kim Fielding which includes three novels and a story. Kim Fielding is a favorite author of mine, and I enjoyed all of these male/male romances.
— Taproot: A Story about a Gardener and a Ghost by Keezy Young; this graphic novel was a pleasant read
— Some Kind of Magic (Being(s) in Love Book 1) by R. Cooper is a paranormal male/male romance between a werewolf and half human/half fairy and was another pleasant read.
— for my book group, Orhan’s Inheritance by Aline Ohanesian. I found this to be a very quick read though it dealt with a heavy subject, namely the Armenian genocide that took place about a hundred years ago. While I found the story poignant, I didn’t feel touched by it.
— re-read with pleasure Lord of the Fading Lands (The Tairen Soul Book 1) by C. L. Wilson; this is a fantasy with an element of romance.
— the historical mystery What Angels Fear: A Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery by C. S. Harris; I enjoyed it. I suspect I’ll read on in the series at some point.
— re-read two wonderful romances by Kim Fielding, a favorite author: The Tin Box and Rattlesnake
— N.R. Walker’s Taxes and TARDIS which was an enjoyable contemporary male/male romance
— E.J. Russell’s The Artist’s Touch (Art Medium Book 1), a somewhat spooky male/male romance.
— The Nerd’s Pocket Pets by D.R. Grady; a pleasant romance though one must be willing to suspend disbelief. Amazon has it classified as a Clean and Wholesome romance; I’d agree.
— North Wolf by M.A. Everaux; it’s an out of print book about which I’ve heard for years. The build up was far better than the book. This would definitely NOT be classified as Clean and Wholesome!
I have started the following:
Veil of Lies / Jeri Westerson First book in her Crispin Guest Medieval Noir mystery series
Duke of Desire / Elizabeth Hoyt Most recent entry in the Maiden Lane series. Love Hoyt as she can always be depended on for a solid read. This’ll probably be the next book I finish. I doubt either this or the previous Duke can equal Duke of Sin though. It was satisfying to bring the series up to date this month.
The Hate You Give / Angie Thomas New YA at my library. Excellent write; promises to be a painful but necessary read.
Falcon for a Queen / Catherine Gaskin. A favorite of my youth (1972) that may or may not stand the test of time.
Getaway Girl / Tessa Bailey Light and fluffy as a good meringue.
Also queued up: Prophecy Con /Patrick Weekes; After the Wedding / Courtney Milan (hoping she’s back in stride); Him & possibly Us / Sarina Bowen; Hello Stranger / Kleypas (anyone else feel the urge to read that as “Hello sailor”); White Night / C. D. Reiss; something by Ilona Andrews–either a Kate or Wildfire.
Last month I finished Defending Hearts / Rebecca Crowley & really enjoyed it. Crowley shows a real gift for turning one’s expectations inside out. I also read The Learning Hours / Sarah Ney, another author who can flip expectations. Learning Hours is first in a new, aptly named series called How to Date a Douche Bag. Some readers will find the “hero” really off-putting, but his mouth is his worst feature; his actions and motivations seem mostly ok, but sometimes inconsistent. I found the book well written and often hilarious, but YMMV. I also retread my least favorite Bujold series, The Sharing Knife and found it very relaxing this time around. Also relaxing & comforting was Taming the Tycoon which is still my favorite by Amy Andrews
@K.N. O’Rear, I have to thank you for the Bed of Spices rec. I spent the evening reading it, and it was beautiful. Also pretty amazed at the author wresting a HEA for a noble Christian girl and a Jewish doctor amid the black plague in medieval Europe. Dang.
@Jenny Linsky, there was a subplot involving a young Jewish doctor and a well-off Christian girl in The Plague Tales by Ann Benson. I read it about a decade ago, and if I remember correctly, there are two storylines, a contemporary one and one that takes place just as the Plague hit Europe. The contemporary plot had to do with a piece of cloth from the middle ages being found in modern Europe and Y. Pestis was found on it. Somehow, the bacteria wakes up and the story of what happens in the present is told alongside the story of the young doctor. There’s also a section about the French Pope in Avignon, who summons to Jewish doctor to be his personal physician.
After the Wedding by Courtney Milan rocked my world. I read it and then read it again. I’m still processing the story. Your discussion about unreliable narrators hits a resonant point. Camille isn’t exactly unreliable, but she’s hiding a great deal from herself as she struggles to survive and then works to thrive. She’s anything but the purely perfect young herons who usually features in historicals. Life has been hard but she realizes that she isn’t a villain despite the strong suggestion of others. No, Camille realizes that she deserves to be someone’s priority, which is great because that really challenges the story since we’re after the wedding for real. Adrian, the hero, is fascinating both in his character (he’s a self-sacrificing fixer foot his family) and his background. As the son of an English nobleman and an abolitionist of African-American descent (there are family links to Milan’s Hamilton’s battalion novella), he’s faced by racism at most every turn. Camille and Adrian are thrown together (the wedding), but go through so much in terms of personal connections and overcoming the challenges of their legal and family situation. All done with Milan’s amazing plotting, with perfect use of intricate social context, and heart-stopping emotional punches.
Valour and Vanity by Mary Robinette Kowal continues her Glamourist series of fantasy regencies. This one is mostly set in Venice, Murano to be exact, and is in the nature of a heist story. Vincent and Jane are well along in their marriage, but still navigating their personal and professional partnerships. That adds strain to the already fraught situation of being on a shop attacked by pirates and now left penniless in a foreign country. This makes for an interesting emotional tension in what is also a gripping fantasy adventure. Plus Byron at his outrageous best! Now I just have to figure out where I stashed the last volume in the series because it’s not on the shelf with the others.
The Five-Minute Marriage by Joan Aiken is a classic Regency, originally published in 1977, that I borrowed as an reissued ebook from the public library. It’s a surprise in terms of characters and situation. I’m still unraveling a bit of a dark comedy of errors with Gareth and Delphie, who are brought together when she travels to appeal to a rich great-uncle to help support her mother, who’s been estranged from the family for decades. Instead, Delphie agrees to pretend to marry Gareth, his heir, as the old man insists upon a long-awaited match before succumbing on his deathbed. However, nothing is what it seems. The old man recovers. The fake clergyman is real. And the original fiancee that Delphie replaced appears to have stolen Delphie’s identity. That’s only a tenth of the troubles so far. I also give a shout out to Aiken’s excellent evocation of Regency London. Each place is wonderfully described and worked into the storyline. That impresses this historian of London. And I love the cast of characters even if the heroine is ac touch too perfectly self-sacrificing.
I finally read Ilona Andrews’ Hidden Legacy series, and it was a total rush – I glommed everything within a few days. I’m super-selective when it comes to UF/SFF (I have no patience for world-building) but the series was terrific. Can’t wait for the upcoming novella and the continuation of the series next year.
Also really loved Talia Hibbert’s ‘Wanna Bet’ – a really good take on friends-to-lovers, and I thought it was great that she highlighted how the ‘I’ve secretly loved you for years’ trope isn’t always healthy. I loved both protagonists, and the ‘beta in the streets, alpha in the sheets’ hero is absolutely my catnip.
I struggled with ‘What Angels Fear’ (the first Sebastian St Cyr mystery) – it felt overlong, but mostly I was really bothered by the very violent death of the young victim at the heart of the mystery. These days I’m getting tired of women characters being raped and/or murdered as plot devices. Not sure if I’ll continue the series, especially since the next one kicks of with the murder of yet another woman.
Up next: Josh Lanyon’s latest, ‘Murder Takes the High Road’. She’s such an amazing writer and I’m torn between holding off on reading it or just inhaling it in one go!
I’ve finished the new Courtney Milan, AFTER THE WEDDING. I love Milan’s books and she is one of my favourite authors, and auto-buy. Alas! This one has been a disappointment. I loved the first book in the saga, but I found this #2 quite boring. The hero was wonderful. The heroine? I couldn’t stand her.
I’ve been re-reading Jayne Ann Krentz’s oldies but goldies, FAMILY MAN and PERFECT PARTNERS, because of a Reading Challenge and OMG, they are still funny and comfortable, decades later. I didn’t remember she was so good, although there can be a little bit of nostalgia tinting my reading.
Now I’m 24% into IRIS AFTER THE INCIDENT, by Mina V. Esguerra, a new to me author. I am enjoying it a lot! I would say is kind of NA, in first person narrative about two young people with a past they want to forget, trying to have a low profile in order to go back to a ‘normal life’. Quite enjoyable, and a refreshing environment, as it is set in the Philippines.
I am waiting for the next Mary Balogh book in the Westcott series to come out Tuesday. I read the five books in her Huxtable series this month. I also read Lucy Monroe’s Kostas’s Convenient Bride. I’m really not a Harlequin Presents/ Greeks and sheikhs fan but I do like Lucy Monroe’s writing and dialog. Who hasn’t wanted to hear a heroine say to the alpha Greek hero… “You are such an ass.” Well, he was. And she did say it. I read J.R. Ward’s The Thief. I read Hot and Badgered.
Here’s what I’ve read so far in April…there’s a day left, who knows how ambitious I’ll be this evening!
THE PRINCE AND THE DRESSMAKER by JEN WANG: Oh MAN, this GN. What a perfectly sweet story. I cried and fell so in love with the way the story was told and the ILLUSTRATION! It wrapped me up in a soft peach world and I never wanted it to end. This is the historical romance I want, and it was packaged in a teen graphic novel. I heard the rights have been bought to make a movie out of it and I sure hope they do it justice.
THE ALTERED HISTORY OF WILLOW SPARKS by TARA O’CONNOR: Another teen graphic novel released this year. It’s the story of a girl who works in a library and has a tough time at school. She discovers books full of the lives of real people…and decides to change her story. It felt really rushed, even though I liked the general concept. Nothing extraordinary, but cute all the same.
CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE by TOMI ADEYEMI: YA fantasy novel – SBTB did an excellent review of this book not long ago so I won’t bore y’all with the synopsis. This book is GORGEOUS. Lush, tactile magic in a complicated world. Some of the romantic elements were tough to connect with, but I loved the world-building and what it sets up for the rest of the series.
IN THE DISTANCE by HERNAN DIAZ: I cannot recommend this book enough. It tells the story of a Swedish immigrant in the 1860s who, upon coming to America, loses his brother, ends up in San Francisco, and begins a decades-long trek back to New York to find him. It’s a lush, heart-wrenching novel that tells of a man moving against westward expansion in a land that is beyond foreign to him. The characters he encounters on the way are so varied and interesting and it’s a fresh look on the US at that time.
DALSTON MONSTERZZZ by DILRAJ MANN: Yo, this plot was so convoluted I am having a hard time knowing where to start. So I wont! The illustration of this book was incredible, though.
EDGE OF GLORY by RACHEL SPANGLER: I am someone who has never cared about sports, but good lord did I watch a lot of skiing and snowboarding videos after this book. The romance was FIRE and I loved how supportive the two protagonists were of each other. Absolutely swoon-worthy, strong babes in this book. I often sigh just thinking about it.
UNMASKED BY THE MARQUESS by CAT SEBASTIAN: I am an unabashed Cat Sebastian fan girl and have been thrilled by every book she has released. This book is about Charity Church, who has been masquerading as the deceased Lord Robert Selby in order to protect Robert’s sister, who would stand to lose everything if his death was discovered. They fall in with Alistair, Marquess of Pembroke and my GOODNESS, goodness ensues. I love charmingly rude characters and to have a historical with a non-binary love interest with a HEA is too much for my heart to handle.
THE ASTONISHING COLOR OF AFTER by EMILY X.R. PAN: A new YA release that deals with so many heavy topics: suicide, young love, grief, cultural identity etc. As someone who is biracial, I felt like this book did an amazing job illustrating how you can simultaneously feel “too exotic” and “too white” for either group. There are elements of magical realism and vivid descriptions of color. Loved it.
A HOPE DIVIDED by ALYSSA COLE: The Loyal League series is now the metric by which I judge all historicals. They are well-researched, complex, steamy, vivd, realistic…they are EVERYTHING. I almost preferred this one to An Extraordinary Union because I prefer a hero who is less swagger-y. And I thought Marlie was a fantastic heroine who was brilliant.
I’m currently in the middle of THE LIBRARY AT MOUNT CHAR by SCOTT HAWKINS and FINDING YOUR FEET by CASS LENNOX. I’m loving reading what y’all are reading. Yay books!
I discovered Harper Fox’s Tyack & Frayne series and have been in reading heaven this month. I read Once Upon a Haunted Moor first and was so blown away that I immediately ordered the print collections of books 1-3 & 4-6. Since then I’ve read Tinsel Fish, Don’t Let Go, and just finished Kitto last night. All the books were wonderful and the writing is so beautiful that it reminds me of Mary Stewart. I highly recommend this series if you like M/M romance/mysteries with a touch of the supernatural.
I don’t usually keep track of which books I read what, as I don’t want to feel bad over having a month or two of not reading. But I think I will start keeping track, even if just to see what kind of patterns I have!
For example, this has been a very stressful month, so even remembering to read has been hard! Thankfully I’ve had a lot of short books to try out.
Read this month:
– On Pointe novella. I want to read many, many more books featuring WOC, dancing, and an older female lead!
– Christopher Pike’s Bury Me Deep (read during a road trip) and Final Friends 1, 2, and 3. YA horror from the ’80s! I’m a patreon of the Teen Creeps podcast, and I love reading the books and then getting to hear their eps on them!
– Grief is a Privilege. I try to read a poetry book every month. The title is gorgeous.
– A jury of her peers. Short story? Also for the Teen Creeps podcast.
– Griffin and Sabine. I can’t wait to read the rest of the series! The art is beautiful and holding the letters feels so special.
– The Sluts. I… I felt deeply, deeply disturbed by this one. It was a rec from John Waters, though, so I stuck with it. Reading other people’s thoughts about it helped me make sense of it and feel less horrified. I still don’t know if I would recommend it to anyone… I started it one stressful night while doing the laundry to escape everyone.
– The Audiobook of the Year. I absolutely love the podcast No Such Thing as a Fish, and they put together this audiobook.
– Bingo Love. Queer black women romance comic book! I’m crying from how much I love it.
Currently reading:
– Pairing Off by Elizabeth Harmon. My second ice-skating romance, and I’m enjoying it so far.
– The Brides of Rollrock Island. Delightful, delightful. Recc’d by Margaret Hillison on Smart Podcast, Trashy Books!
– Furious Love, about Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. IT IS SO GOOD. I WANT TO STAY UP ALL NIGHT READING IT.
– Struggling with the Persuasion audiobook. I think I may have to just read it first and then listen to it.
My TBR is a little out of hand right now, so I’m excited to just focus and try to get through some more books!
I think this is the first time I’ve posted on these monthly threads. Too many recs…my wallet hurts:)
After a two year romance reading slump I’m back in to about one romance novel a week mode on top of other reading, too. Here are some books I finished in April…
THE KISS QUOTIENT-HELEN HOANG Read an ARC and it will be out soon. This #ownvoices debut deserves all the early buzz. It’s just wonderful. The heroine is on the austism spectrum and hires an escort to help her learn how to enjoy sex and intimacy. I’m surprised there aren’t more contemporary books with sex workers as heroes and heroines…it makes for an interesting dynamic. Claire Kent’s Escorted was the only other one with this hook that I’ve read. The book starts out really sexy but quickly ends up being an equally satisfying emotional romance.
MARRYING WINTERBOURNE-LISA KLEYPAS Second attempt at reading this one and glad I went back to it. I loved the fact that the hero and heroine are already in love right at the beginning and know that they want to be together. Therefore the book can be more about family and class dynamics (which Kleypas writes so well) and outside forces threatening the match.
DUKE OF MIDNIGHT-ELIZABETH HOYT The Batman meets Maiden Lane book. Definitely enjoyed it and the Batman allusions didn’t annoy me that much. The three “Ghost of St. Giles” books in this mini-trilogy within the ML series were all very cool and I liked all three matches.
Also read the 3rd in the Maggie Hope WWII mystery series, HIS MAJESTY’S HOPE by Susan Elia MacNeal. The research in this series definitely shows and the cast of characters is strong and varied, but I wish that we had a little more of their eternal dialogues sometimes. The way that the author dealt with the traumatic climax for Maggie was a little chaotic and I hope that the PTSD that she clearly has will be dealt with well in the future books. As for the romantic subplots in this, I think both her love interests so far are completely uninspiring. Wondering if the endgame might actually be this Peter Frain/MI-5 handler for Maggie.
Also read two literary fiction titles that coincidentally deal with immigrants to the US and have kind of sweet central romances, too. AMERICANAH by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and BROOKLYN by Colm Toibin. Both were keepers.
I am slow to post this month but I was painting my basement this weekend. Hopefully it will be done soon. Somehow this month I managed to read 20 books. That seems like more than normal. Not quite sure it’s correct.
–Dark Wild Night by Christina Lauren. 3rd book in a series and I liked it but I’ve liked everything they have written so far.
–Way Down Deep by Charlotte Stein and Cara McKenna. Book awkwardly written via text message made it hard to read. It was just ok.
–The Studying Hours (How to date a douchebag series) by Sara Ney. Have to admit I don’t really like to read NA but maybe that’s changed because I’m reading it and liking it and as soon as I finished I bought the next one in the series.
–Under Her Skin by Adriana Anders. Trigger warnings about this book dealing with abuse/stalking. I liked it but it ended at about 60% and it had 8 chapters from the next book!
–Deacon by Kristen Ashley. I’m not really sure what happened with Kristen Ashley books. I really liked them in the beginning but now it feels kind of like a chore. Maybe they are all way too similar to each other.
–Temporary by Sarina Bowen and Sarah Mayberry. I have been on a big Sarina Bowen kick lately but I really like her books.
–Intermediate Thermodynamics–by Susannah Nix. Nerd Heroine doesn’t like her screenwriter neighbor until she does and they become friends. Really liked this one and the previous one in the series. Instantly bought the third book in the series after finishing.
–Bad Romeo by Leisa Rayven. I read Mister Romance by her previously and I really liked it. This one is about a couple who meet in drama school, become a couple but he somehow screws it up and three years pass when they reunite on broadway. Sadly this one ends on a cliffhanger.
–Good Luck With That by Kristan Higgins. I received an ARC from this one from First to Read. *Sigh*. I love Kristan Higgins, I really do. But this one was a DNF for me at chapter 5. The fat shaming in this book was bad. I get it, it’s about weight but it’s on every single page and it just seemed way over the top. Maybe I give it another change when it comes out.
–The Year We Fell Down by Sarina Bowen. Yep another Sarina Bowen and another NA and it’s not my last for this post. Heroine has a spinal injury sustained from playing hockey, meets her neighbor across the hall who breaks his leg and can’t play hockey for the season.
–Sledgehammer by P. Dangelico. Heroine accidentally ends up setting her ex’s parent’s house on fire and ends up having to stay with the lawyer that bails her out of jail. Slow burn romance (Ha ha)
–Alex by Sawyer Bennett. Asshole hockey player with a bad image is sent to help out with a community drug program to improve his image. First Sawyer Bennett book and I liked it.
–The Failing Hours (How to Date a Douchebag #2)by Sara Ney.
–Neanderthal Marries Human by Penny Reid. Decided to start rereading these books on my lunch hour at work. I don’t normally re-read and I’m enjoying because I’m catching things I didn’t before and I know how the rest of the series goes.
–The Viking Queen’s Men by Holley Trent. This book was being talked about on Twitter so I got it. It was ok and I’m not sure I’m going to continue on with the series
–Man Hands by Sarina Bowen and Tanya Eby. This was my favorite read of the month. It was really funny and it was set in Grand Rapids, MI, which is near me, so I need to go for a drive.
–Tapping the Millionaire by Max Monroe. I didn’t have high hopes for this one before I started but I really liked it.
–Us by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy. M/M romance, sequel to Him. Wes is having an awesome season as a rookie in the NHL but he and Jamie need to hide their relationship during his first season. Loved these two.
–The Year We Hid Away by Sarina Bowen. Second book in the Ivy Years series. Hero is hiding his sister at college while their mother battles a drug problem. Heroine is trying to escape from her father’s scandal.
–Peachy Flippin’ Keen by Molly Harper. Novella, set up for her book that comes out in June. Frankie the coroner must deal with the new sheriff in town, who happens to be her one night stand from a night out in Atlanta.
I read Circe by Madeline Miller. It was wonderful, just like I expected. 🙂
I am posting really late this month but wanted to say–@Deborah! Thank you for the tip about Goodreads reviews of category romance. I am a Harlequin Presents fan from way back and am always looking for reviews of those that strike a balance between respect for the sub-genre and a little well-placed snark (because for real, how many billionaires honestly need to get married to keep their company in this day and age??). On a related note, I also read The Unwanted Wife by Natasha Anders a few years ago and totally agree that it read exactly like a 1990’s HP. Scheming relatives and Italian billionaires FTW.
This month I read The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory, which I thought was super good. It would have had to work really hard to live up to the hype surrounding it, but it definitely came close. I also read The British Knight by Louise Bay, meh but I did love the London setting. And two YA books, The Selection and The Elite by Kiera Cass. These were described to me by a friend thusly: “you know, it’s like that show The Bachelor meets The Hunger Games” and I had my phone out one-clicking before she even stopped speaking. They were….OK. Despite the fact that they are YA I thought the writing was a little juvenile. But the story was addictive and I need to read at least the third in the series to finish the main storyline (there are a total of 5 books but I think the last 2 follow a different couple). I read two of the aforementioned Harlequin Presents, one by Kelly Hunter that was pretty good and the newest from Dani Collins who is my favorite author in that line right now and her new one did not disappoint. And finally, The Chosen by JR Ward because I got it on sale. I have a complicated relationship with the Black Dagger Brotherhood after all this time, but I was pretty invested in this one and found the ending satisfying in a very JR Ward way.
@KB – I can’t speak to reviewers of newer HP authors/titles, but there is a strong cadre of Goodreads reviewers for the 1990s authors who show a real appreciation of the books, the tropes, and their place in both the historical moment and the development of category romance.
boogenhagen – could teach a master class in the history of Mills & Boon romances.
Dianna – equal parts snark and insight. I value her obvious love of the tropes she skewers.
StMargarets – occasionally recaps/reviews in the form of short plays or letters to Dear Abby with devastatingly amusing accuracy.
I’ll need to check out Dani Collins, thanks! I really am frozen in the Lynne Graham/Michelle Reid HP generation.
@Deborah, thank you so much for the links!! I foresee some happy review-reading hours in my future. Def. check out Dani Collins. I read her Sauveterre Siblings series for HP and really enjoyed it. They seemed to get better with each book, or I just got more invested in the characters maybe. Michelle Reid is one of my all-time favorites from that line too. Always so dramatic and I loved every minute of it….aaaaand now I am feeling like I might need to spend this weekend reacquainting myself with a few of her books!