Whatcha Reading? September 2018 Edition

OOpen book with light and sparkles floating up from the pages.h buddy, get ready. It’s time for Whatcha Reading! If you’re new, welcome! This is the post where we recount some of the good (and bad) things we’ve read in the past month. As always, we want to hear your hits and misses, so be sure to comment below!

Amanda: I finished A Notorious Vow by Joanna Shupe ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) and whoooo boy, it’s so good. I also nearly read the entire Born of Shadows by Sherrilyn Kenyon ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) last night. If you want to hear me rant about why I keep reading this trash series, Sarah and I talked about it on a recent podcast.

As for what’s next? I have no idea. I’ve been having trouble finding something that holds me interest right now. I might return to the Darkest London series by Kristen Callihan ( A | BN | K | G | AB ).

The Witch of Willow Hall
A | BN | K | AB
Elyse: Fall is my favorite time of year and Halloween is my favorite holiday so I’m gearing up for spooky shit.

Amanda: Do you read Stephen King?

Elyse: I bought The Outsider ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), but that’s the only book of his I’ve looked at.

I have The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), The Witch of Willow Hall by Hester Fox, and The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell ( A | BN | K | G | AB ).

Lily and the Major
A | BN | K | AB
Amanda: Ha! I was just about to mention The Outsider. One of the women in my book group who exclusively reads spooky shit (though I did rope her into reading The Kiss Quotient) was going nuts over it at the last meeting…so I bought it.

Redheadedgirl: A Notorious Vow is SO GOOD.

Amanda: I was assigned it to review for another site and I cried.

Redheadedgirl: I just got for our throwback reviews Linda Lael Miller’s Lily and the Major, book one of her 1990s Orphan Train Trilogy. I haven’t read it since early teenager-hood, so this will be interesting.

I also need to get started on Testament of Youth ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) for That Book Was Bonkers.

Sarah: I am going to start The Christmas Sisters by Sarah Morgan ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). Found family in Scotland, plus it was recommended by Nicola Cornick, who is my podcast guest this week!

What did you read this month? Tell us what books you loved!


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  1. KateB says:

    Lots of time travel this month, lots of time travel.

    Faves

    – OUTLANDER / DRAGONFLY IN AMBER / VOYAGER by Diana Gabaldon – my desire to reread this series up to the current point in the show has finally met my drive, on the eve of Season 4. Go me.

    – PHANTOM PAINS by Mishell Baker – loving this series and how it isn’t afraid to get real complicated with its interpersonal relationships

    – MEG, JO, BETH, AMY: THE STORY OF Little Women AND WHY IT STILL MATTERS by Anne Boyd Rioux – my favorite book EVER turns 150 on Sept. 30! This book is a great read for fellow fans.

    – THE FATED SKY by Mary Robinette Kowal – a great follow up to THE CALCULATING STARS. And did you know there’s gonna be at least two more books??

    Good

    – A STUDY IN HONOR by Claire O’Dell – a Sherlock Holmes retelling with Black, queer lady leads. The relationship between Holmes & Watson was … odd, but I’ll be reading the next one.

    – THE PHANTOM TREE by Nicola Cornick (audiobook) – it was a fun listen by I wanted to understand more about Mary’s powers & her wrap up did not go the way I hoped.

    – THE SHUTTLE by Francis Hodgson Burnett – readalong with the podcast, BONNETS AT DAWN. It meandered by it definitely went places I wasn’t expecting. And it made me want to finally read THE SECRET GARDEN (I knooooooow).

    Currently Reading

    – DRUMS AT AUTUMN by Diana Gabaldon – aw yeah, look at me go!

    – A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO VICE AND VIRTUE by Mackenzi Lee (audiobook) – reread in anticipation of book 2, out Oct. 2!

  2. KateB says:

    Oh, I love TESTAMENT OF YOUTH! It’s terribly sad and will rip you to shreds and it’s a huge book so it’ll do it a lot, but it’s a wonderful book. (And the ebook is currently $3.99 for anyone who wants to experience all that)

    The 2014 movie is awful. Do not recommend.

  3. MirandaB says:

    Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead: A good windup to the Vampire Academy series. These are fun. I will definitely pick up the Bloodlines series soon.

    Merciful Death by Kendra Elliot: I enjoyed the mystery and the setting (prepper community), but WARNING for unexpected rape and torture scene at the end of the book. It’s mostly off-screen, but you know it’s happening and WTF.

    Prairie Fires by Caroline Fraser: Biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder. I found the whole thing fascinating. I had no idea Rose Wilder Lane had detailed fantasies about killing FDR.

    Cold Bayou by Barbara Hambly: A good entry in the Ben January series, especially once you get past the exposition chapters.

    Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware: It was…ok? Mystery/thriller, not romance.

    My Dear Charlotte by Hazel Holt: This is a reread after several years. Austenian-style mystery told in letters. It’s cute and a sort of relaxing read.

    Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse: I’m working on this now and really enjoying it. I described to my husband as “It’s like the Supernatural television series, only it’s on a post-apocalyptic Navajo reservation, and Dean’s female.”

    Magus of Hay by Phil Rickman: The next in the Merrily Watkins series.

  4. Ren Benton says:

    Hell month, so leisure reading has been sparse.

    JOHANNES CABAL, THE NECROMANCER by Jonathan Howard: Has a quality I associate with British fiction. (This is certainly not true of ALL Brit-penned books, but when I get the “this must be British” feeling, it’s been accurate.) Great concept: necromancer traded his soul to the devil, lack of a soul is impeding his research, so he makes another deal with the devil to get his soul back, which involves running a traveling hell carnival and collecting more souls for the devil. Awesome! The delivery, however, was very… subdued? Like it was decided this content was too juicy and needed to be dried to dust in order to make it consumable. It put me in the awkward position of finding the story interesting but being completely unable to care because the book didn’t WANT to have an emotional connection. If you want to read about icky things from a detached distance, this might hit the spot, but it wasn’t what I wanted it to be.

    ASHFORD’S GHOST by Skyla Dawn Cameron: A novella in the Livi Talbot TombRaider-esque series. I doubt it’s essential in the series continuity, but I like the characters and needed a snack to tide me over until Book 3 comes out in October. It’s not a good entry point to the series, so start with SOLOMON’S SEAL if you’re interested in a disowned heiress/single-mother/magical artifact hunter with a side of hot Korean tiger shifter who quietly smolders and respects boundaries.

    Currently reading DREAMS AND SHADOWS by C. Robert Cargill: I liked SEA OF RUST (sentient robot revolution drama) earlier this year and was willing to try something different by the author. I’m not even sure how to classify this book. Urban fantasy with serious adult themes (postpartum depression, suicide, attempted infanticide in chapter 1) but starring a kid? This one forces disengagement by having no narrative flow. It alternates story chapters with mythology lesson chapters, and I just when I start to get a grip on the story, the book slaps it out of my hand and forces me to read a multi-page footnote that’s not a footnote. I need time to commit, and I get distracted easily by all these abrupt tone and subject switches. I’ll probably bail on this one soon.

    A CONSPIRACY OF WHISPERS by Ada Harper somehow keeps falling off my radar at book selection time, so I bumped it to the top of my Kindle library so I’ll be able to find it next time.

  5. Deborah says:

    EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT LOVE I LEARNED FROM ROMANCE NOVELS by Sarah Wendell [nonfiction] – After reading a toxic-to-me trope in August, I needed to wallow in genre analysis to answer the questions “why is that particular trope simultaneously my catnip and my kryptonite?” and “what do I get out of reading romance that could possibly make all this non-cathartic pain worthwhile?” Ironically, the first thing this book told me was that I wasn’t going to be able to use it for therapeutic purposes: “Techniques that bring you to some understanding of yourself are all good — but that is not what this book is about.” (B…b…but that’s what I need!) It assisted in the detox, anyway, because the book focuses on the positive, affirming aspects of the genre as opposed to scenarios that make me want to stab myself in the eye while rending my garments and praying for mercy to a vengeful god. Also, Derek Craven is clearly the “missing” Top [10] Romance Hero.

    A NATURAL HISTORY OF THE ROMANCE NOVEL by Pamela Regis [nonfiction] – Glad Everything I Know about Love was my first choice for healing, because this 2003 genre analysis brought me no comfort or self-awareness at all. I did enjoy Regis’s essay on Jayne Ann Krentz, which examines JAK’s incredibly consistent vision of romance at the midpoint of her career and inspired the rest of my detox: re-reading favorite scenes from JAK/Amanda Quick/Jayne Castle’s backlist ca.1983-1996.

    Thus fortified, I was able to resume loving love (more or less):

    AN EARL LIKE YOU by Caroline Linden [historical] – This book kept me up all night (bad decisions book club!) while I waited to discover who would be responsible for revealing to the heroine that her father had purchased her husband. But other than that suspense, nothing stands out about the novel. The characters are nice but not memorable. There’s no exhilarating emotional rollercoaster, no scene so funny or sweet or heartbreaking that it would draw me back to the book. (I eagerly await the day when punny, hipster titles are no longer trending for historicals.)

    MURDER IN SHADOW by Anne Cleeland [mystery] – So many major plots in the Doyle and Acton series are capped in book 6, but I would have loved this installment just as much if the narrative had been nothing but Acton scheming to get Doyle to eat more foods high in iron. There’s nothing like watching a ruthless mastermind apply his considerable skills to domestic tasks. Also, here we get Acton’s origin story.

    SPECIAL INTERESTS by Emma Barry [contemporary] – There’s a lot going on here. He’s a political staffer for the Senate Majority Leader; she’s a lobbyist for organized labor. She’s enduring 15 minutes of fame for having been in a hostage situation, from which she’s suffering PTSD. She’s also going through what she describes as a “quarter life crisis” as she approaches 30 and faces her dissatisfaction with her achievements. His family life is overshadowed by his beloved grandfather’s Alzheimer’s, he has long since abandoned idealism for pragmatism in public service, and he just doesn’t do relationships. I feel like all these pieces are intended to snap together in a thematically unified way, but it’s not seamless. The romance jostles with the politics for attention and usually loses. Example: I absolutely love when they get turned on by heatedly debating each other, but that hotness is undermined when the heroine expresses her disappointment that he’s arguing for gamesmanship rather than from conviction.

    UNFORGIVABLE by Joanna Chambers [historical] – The youngish hero was in love with an ideally beautiful neighbor girl when his father’s gambling losses forced him to marry the sickly, pockmarked heroine (who had no idea he was being blackmailed into marriage). Bad wedding night, then he leaves her at a remote estate and returns to London for mistressing until his wife decides after 5 years of no contact that it’s time to reclaim her marriage and social position (even though she now believes she genuinely dislikes her husband). I liked the premise, loved the heroine, needed significantly more grovel from the hero plus some additional resolution re: his first love. It felt to me like the (now married) first love was a dog in the manger and the disastrous dinner party at her home was an elaborate set-up, but she gets no comeuppance, so that narrative thread was either really unsatisfying or I misread her horribly.

    MORE OR LESS A COUNTESS by Anna Bradley [historical] – This is the second Somerset Sisters book to begin with the heroine witnessing the hero in flagrante delicto with a lover. This repetition is either unimaginative and tacky, or — if it occurs in every one of Bradley’s books — a brilliant signature move. If you wrote romance, what would your signature move be? I think mine would be heroes gifting their heroines with a puppy, kitten, or hedgehog. (But it would be nuanced between cuteness and angst. Like in one book, the heroine would learn that the puppy came from kennels owned by the hero’s widowed former mistress. (Jealousy!) And then there’s the heroine who is allergic to cats. (Cruel indifference!) And the hedgehog is, of course, a metaphor for the heroine’s shyness. Or the hero’s, if I’ve moved past 1990s cliches by that point in my hypothetical writing career.)

    MURDER IN MISDIRECTION by Anne Cleeland [mystery] – I found the opening quite jarring. Until now, the Doyle and Acton books basically elided one into the next. In book 7, the protagonists are suddenly swamped with children (two children constitute a swamp) and a major secondary character has been imprisoned between books and…it was all very disorienting. Plus, the hijinks surrounding Doyle’s childbirth ventured toward satire. Nevertheless, I remain impressed by plot threads that had their origins all the way back in book 1 and I’m still giddily infatuated with Acton and Doyle as a couple. (I love them. So. Much.)

  6. DiscoDollyDeb says:

    I enjoyed Julie Kriss’s first three Riggs Brothers books, DRIVE ME CRAZY, TAKE ME DOWN, and WORK ME UP (a fourth book is scheduled for publication in November), about four motherless brothers raised on the wrong side of the tracks by a negligent, abusive father. Each brother has his own book and romance, but they all appear in each other’s books. Kriss does a great job of showing how the brothers have internalized the town’s negative opinion of them—untrustworthy trash who will never amount to anything—and how hard they have to work to avoid making that a self-fulfilling prophecy. The heroines also have moments of realization as they understand how much their men have absorbed the town’s judgment of them. The books are also true to the dynamics of siblings raised in dysfunctional families: the brothers initially have trouble giving, receiving, or asking for help from one another, even when they desperately need it; and their expressions of affection for each other are wrapped up in profanity-ridden, balls-busting insults.

    DRIVE ME CRAZY is a second-chance romance with a hero and heroine who are both reluctantly returning to the town after years away—from home and from each other. They were secret lovers during their last few months of high school; there were reasons for keeping their relationship a secret—she was the prototypical high-achieving, college-bound, middle-class “good girl” and he was one of the “feral” Riggs boys. Once the couple reconnect, their secret relationship starts up again—but this time the heroine sees how cruel and condescending her demand for secrecy is—especially when she realizes the hero is the only person who truly “sees” her. An interesting element of the story is that the heroine is the daughter of a high-ranking cop—but it’s her mother, rather than father, who is the parent on the police force. And, of course, the police have reasons for keeping the Riggs brothers in their sights.

    TAKE ME DOWN was my favorite of the Riggs Brothers books. The hero is recently released from prison; the heroine is a therapist who counseled the hero a few times as part of his probationary requirements. Once he is completely free of the correctional system, he and the heroine start seeing each other. The hero has lots of secrets; the heroine has a dangerous ex. The hero also has some beta elements: he’s a bit younger than the heroine, reads voraciously, is quiet and thoughtful, and carefully considers his actions. There’s also an element to the hero that, when revealed, is unexpected and a mild plot twist, so I won’t spoil it, but will say it works beautifully within the context of the romance. The hero is also very much the antithesis of the boner-led hero. Here he is explaining why: “My dick goes down when I tell it to. It goes up when I let it. It’s called being a guy with a fucking brain.” Yes indeed!

    WORK ME UP, the third Riggs Brothers book, features several tropes: former athlete, single Dad, newly-hired Nanny, long-ago one-night stand—but each of those tropes is tweaked just a little bit to make things more interesting. For instance, the hero is a former athlete, but he isn’t wealthy or famous, he was a minor league pitcher whose career was ended by a shoulder injury. He now worries about money and how he can care for his son. The heroine is hired to be the boy’s nanny; she has no experience taking care of children, but she’s thoughtful, organized, well-educated, and completely at loose ends job-wise. The hero and heroine each provide a missing component in the life of the other. My only quibble with the book was the character of the child’s mother, long absent from her son’s life, who makes a surprise reappearance and is painted in such broad, cliched stripes that she becomes a caricature. I would have liked her to be a little more three-dimensional. But overall WORK ME UP is a sexy, breezy read about two likable and refreshingly imperfect people finding love. Now I’m eagerly awaiting the fourth and final book in the series!

    I thoroughly enjoyed ENEMIES LIKE YOU by Annika Martin & Joanna Chambers. It’s an m/m romance about a would-be assassin who falls for his target’s bodyguard. In addition to being seriously sexy, the book also plays with concepts of appearances and expectations—even, in certain ways, gender roles. The bodyguard is somewhat androgynous (as part of his job, he occasionally appears in public disguised as a woman), he’s slim and beautiful—but also focused and lethal. By contrast, the big, bulky, gruff assassin would undoubtedly be a complete alpha in an m/f romance. And yet, because of how the couple’s emotional dynamic works, the bodyguard is initially the top in their encounters (even when he’s completely trussed up at a bdsm club—as he is in one extended scene). Also, underneath all the layers of espionage, spying, double-agents, and secret files that provide the scaffolding for the plot, there’s a very sweet love story about two very cagey people, both terribly hurt by the choices others have made, who tentatively learn to trust and give their hearts to each other. Highly-recommended.

    After discovering—and loving!—Cara McKenna’s books a few months ago, I was thrilled to learn she had written a slew of romances published under the name Meg Maguire. I read a couple she’d published through the now-discontinued Harlequin Blaze line: MAKING HIM SWEAT and TAKING HIM DOWN, interconnected stories about the people working at a building that houses a Boxing/MMA gym. If you’ve read McKenna’s WILLING VICTIM/BRUTAL GAME, you’re familiar with the milieu: working-class Boston heroes who train hard at the gym and are involved in the fight scene, even if there’s rarely a monetary payoff, and heroines perhaps more middle-class in terms of background and education, but not snobs. In SWEAT, the heroine has just inherited the gym from her late father; she wants to remodel the building to showcase her matchmaking business. Naturally, she butts heads with the man who has been managing the gym. In TAKING, an MMA champion who used to train at the gym returns home while his broken foot heals. He starts seeing a woman who works for the heroine of the previous book. In the Blaze books, the physical aspect of the couple’s relationship is nowhere near as intense as that in WILLING VICTIM, but there’s a nice blend of heat, emotion, and conflict.

    THEIRS FOR THE NIGHT and FOREVER THEIRS are the first two books in Katee Robert’s Thalanian Dynasty series. Although the books are full of hawt-hawt-hawt three-way action, I found the best part of the writing was how carefully Robert describes the shifting emotional dynamics between the three main characters. The heroine is a graduate student, working long hours trying to make enough money to finish her degree program. At a club celebrating her birthday, she meets, talks to, dances with, and eventually goes home with two men. (I was discomfited by how nonchalantly a supposedly sensible, level-headed young woman agreed to leave a public area and get into a vehicle with two men she’d first met a couple of hours ago; and I thought the heroine’s best friend, who encouraged her to go with the men and have a birthday “celebration,” was equally irresponsible. I suppose that’s the “anxious-mother-of-three-adult-daughters” coming out in me.) After a night of wild M/M/F sex (vividly described), the heroine learns that her partners are the unjustly-deposed prince of a small European country and his long-time friend/bodyguard/lover. In short order, the three have to go on the run to escape the evil cabal that wants the prince removed permanently. But wherever they go and whatever methods of death they manage to dodge, their physical and emotional dependence on each other continues to intensify. Now I’m invested in the outcome of their triad and wonder how Robert will make an HEA work for three of them. Alas, the next book is not scheduled for publication until December.

    One of the signs of a good writer is that she can create something fresh within the confines of rigid genre conventions while still providing the desired elements for a “comfort read”. This month I discovered Caitlin Crews and her large backlist of Harlequin Presents category romances. We all know what we’re getting with a Harlequin Presents: brave, intelligent heroine (back in the day, she’d be called “plucky”), usually in straightened financial circumstances through no fault of her own; wealthy, smoldering, brooding hero torn between desiring the heroine and thinking the worst of her; angsty misunderstandings and recriminations; exotic locales; perhaps an arranged marriage, secret baby, or—dut-dut-dum—AMNESIA!; the big revelation/contrition/reconciliation arc; and finally a satisfying HEA. That’s why I admire a good category romance writer—it takes true talent to make rote requirements feel new. This month I read Crews’s CASTELLI’S VIRGIN WIDOW (hero falls for the younger-than-he-is widow of his much-married father) and IMPRISONED BY THE GREEK’S RING (hero served ten years for a crime he did not commit, upon his release he marries the woman whose testimony put him away—angst and revenge ensue). I enjoyed them so much, I tried one of Crews’s non-HP romances, THE BILLIONAIRE’S INNOCENT, about a New York heiress and the Middle-Eastern diplomat who helps her try to locate a missing friend. I liked the book, but a subplot about trafficked women would probably have been more understandable if I’d read the other books in the series (each of which is written by a different writer).

    I was immediately drawn to the angsty premise of Natasha Anders’s THE UNWANTED WIFE: 18 months after her wedding, a woman discovers her marriage was arranged as part of a business deal between her father and her husband, and she decides to initiate a divorce. But I had ambivalent feelings about the story’s rather choppy execution, especially the husband’s see-sawing responses to ending the marriage and the couple’s ongoing sex life even when they plan to separate. Key quote: “Chemistry was a terrible thing; sometimes it simply sparked between the wrong people.” In a way that has nothing to do with time period or setting, the book reminded me of some of those early, angsty Mary Balogh regencies (particularly THE DEVIL’S WEB), where a couple in an arranged/forced marriage have to navigate their emotional antagonism while continuing to burn up the sheets every night.

    The heroine of Jane Henry’s ISLAND CAPTIVE is a U.S. Marshall who goes to Samoa to apprehend a fugitive: a dom convicted of murdering his sub. On the way back to the States, the plane crashes on an uninhabited Pacific island, with the heroine and the prisoner the only survivors. Because ISLAND CAPTIVE is billed as a “Dark BDSM Romance,” you can guess what happens next. I’ve said before I’m not opposed to dark, what I’m opposed to is labeling a book as a romance when consent is coerced or non-existent. By approaching the book as a dark suspense/thriller, rather than a romance, I found there were things to like about ISLAND CAPTIVE: it’s well-written with an intriguing premise and some lovely descriptions of idyllic island nature. But there’s also lots of nonconsensual sexual activity and some really brutal pain infliction. I strongly disliked the “hero” using his large size and dom skills to subjugate the heroine. I did like the heroine’s spirit and refusal to be completely cowed. At one point she says, “I didn’t sign up to be tossed in the middle of nowhere with a convict who has a penchant for control and pain.” Despite the eventual, rather bonkers, HEA, I thought the heroine deserved better.

    An interesting element of Amber Bardan’s three-book Bad For You series (DIDN’T I WARN YOU, DIDN’T YOU PROMISE, DON’T LIE TO ME) is how thoroughly the cultural identities of the heroes are divorced from their ethnic heritages. One hero is originally from Egypt, the other from India, but nothing about them is nation-specific: Their bases of operation appear to be in India and Australia, they speak multiple languages, they have somewhat biblical first names and one has an Italian last name, they were educated in the United States, are fabulously wealthy, and travel freely throughout the world—true “international men of mystery”. I enjoyed the series to a degree, but suspension of disbelief is a must and tolerance of ultra-alpha behavior an absolute necessity:

    The plot of the first book, DIDN’T I WARN YOU, addresses a central question: can you truly love someone who is keeping secrets from you? Does it change your answer if you discover that he is keeping those secrets in order to protect you? When a young Australian woman makes a spur-of-the-moment decision to follow an attractive man she meets in a coffee shop, her impulsive act has far-reaching and unforeseen consequences. Although the book has a suspense/espionage element, that is more of a MacGuffin than a pivotal plot point. The real story is about two people, both with enormous loss and grief in their pasts, who don’t know enough about each other to avoid making assumptions about, and talking at cross-purposes with, each other. Bardan is excellent at showing how the hero and heroine misunderstand each other’s words because they just don’t know enough about one another’s intentions and motives and so insert their own best guesses—which are seldom correct. 

    I found it harder to get into the sequel, DIDN’T YOU PROMISE, which is much more focused on the technological innovation invented by the hero and for which many people are willing to hurt or kill the hero’s loved ones, particularly the heroine. The h&h spend a great deal of the story being apart and heartbroken—I must admit to some skimming through those sections. The book also features one of my least favorite female characterizations (which has been cause for a DNF for me in another book): the man-hungry flight attendant who throws professionalism out the window when a hot guy gets on the plane. No, just no. Writers, please don’t one-note your characters like this.

    Bardan’s DON’T LIE TO ME, the third book in the series, has a different hero and heroine (the best friends, respectively, of the hero and heroine in the previous two books). Once again we have a technical innovation that gets the attention of some very bad people and once again we have hero with a lot of secrets. The heroine is smart, sexual, and has her own secrets. All-in-all, I liked the three books, but there was a sameness to them that led to unnecessary repetition in themes and action. I think Bardan could easily have edited and condensed three rather bloated books down to a much tighter and more entertaining two-book duet.

    On her website, Kati Wilde says publication of her next Hellfire Riders MC romance, LOSING IT ALL, has been delayed due to contractual obligations. I was bummed to read that because I’ve been eagerly anticipating that story ever since it was set up so carefully during BREAKING IT ALL (based on what happens in that book, LOSING IT ALL is definitely going to be enemies-to-lovers, with enforced proximity, angsty misunderstandings, and—unless I’m very much mistaken—some intense hate-fucking; therefore, total catnip). So in preparation for the eventual release of LOSING IT ALL, I’ve been having an enjoyable reread of the entire Hellfire Riders series (in order! something of a rarity for DDD). Set in rural Oregon (Bend is the closest town), the books focus on various members of the motorcycle club, their romantic entanglements, and interaction (sometimes as allies, sometimes as enemies) with other clubs. The first three books are about the club president and his involvement with the daughter of a rival club president. The next three books are about another club officer and his relationship with the only female “patched-in” club member: she’s a total badass—a veteran, a helicopter pilot, a mechanic, six-feet tall, an underground MMA fighter, and unapologetically bi. These three books have the most overtly feminist slant as the heroine has to call out some fellow club members on their attitudes. The remaining books each focus on a different couple. As usual with Wilde, the heroines are thoughtful and perceptive, the heroes are totally alpha but self-aware enough to avoid alpha-hole status, the hero & heroine have long conversations where they listen carefully to—and learn from—each other, and there’s page-burning sex. What’s not to like?

  7. DonnaMarie says:

    Slow month for me. Work stress and the resurrection of my Kindle had me rereading The Brothers Sinister. The there was the Written in Red while I was at my Dad’s service reunion in Buffalo, since that’s the area the series is set in. BTW, Niagara Falls is as amazing as they say. Now I’ll be making some tea with lemon for the cold I brought home with me and starting The Phantom Tree, my reward for a week of maid and pack mule duty.

  8. K.N.O’Rear says:

    Read:
    1. JAGUAR’s EYES by Cathy Claybourne-This book was better than I thought in would be. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still full of crazy sauce and very old skool(it was written in 1995), but I actually liked the characters. Not to mention as silly as the premise is ( Amazon meets a Victorian era scientist ) I actually liked it. Anyways, if you’re in the mood for some old skool fun definitely check out thirftbooks.com or something similar.

    2.MOONSHINE by Jasmine Gower
    I wasn’t a huge fan of this book based mostly on my own triggers about addiction and how casually it was treated in this book, but the premise is interesting. Basically, it a book set in a fantasy world based on Prohibition era America, but alchohol is replaced by “Mana” which is a liquid version of magic that all the characters besides the protagonist are addicted to;despite this they also use it to protect themselves from “magician hunters”. The cats is also full of LGBQ and POC representation, including a gender fluid character and an aromantic character among others. Lastly it’s an Own Voices book. I’m sure someone on this site will enjoy that sort of thing, so check it out.

    3. STAND BY YOUR MAN by Kathy Clark- this was a nice, quick read that’s part of the retro Crystal Creek Texas series of the 90s. Trigger Warning for animal abuse. It’s all off screen but it’s there and the animals in question don’t make it out okay, but the bad guy is eventually caught. If you can get passed that it’s an interesting romantic suspense that unfortunately revolves around the animals I mentioned. One thing that was fascinating though was that despite being written in the 90s the hero is a Mexican American and the issues that come with that. That part of it is handled respectfully, and the only less than PC scene related to him is a blink and you miss it unnecessary mention of a sombrero.

    AGAINST THE WIND by Kat Martin
    This book was pretty generic and there are better romantic suspense books, but I had to read it cause my grandmother gave it to me. If your really hankering for a romantic suspense and want to read this one I have to leave a trigger warning for a child in peril and several flashbacks related to domestic abuse

    Reading:
    HIS VERY OWN GIRL by Carrie Lofty
    I only a couple chapters into this WWII romance, but so far it’s pretty good particularly the competence porn of the heroine who is a female pilot. The one thing that is hard to get used to in this story is all the 1940s slang on it, but once you get used to it it’s far less noticeable. This book is also only available in ebook ( as far as I know). However, if you want a little bit of a different setting for your romance novel I’d look this one up.

  9. Heather T says:

    I’m reading TRAIL OF LIGHTNING by Rebecca Roanhorse and I’m really enjoying it. I loved, loved loved her short story “Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience” that’s available to read online (Google it). She won the Hugo for that story and the John W Campbell award as best new writer this year.

  10. RachelT says:

    There was an excellent TV mini series of Testament of Youth on the BBC in 1979 starring Cheryl Campbell. I remember interviews at the time with Shirley Williams, a Member of Parliament and daughter of Vera Brittain. I had a look and DVDs can still be obtained through Amazon sellers.

  11. I recently finished UNTRACEABLE by Laura Griffin, which is the first book in her Tracers romantic suspense series. I also read THE SWEDISH PRINCE by Karina Halle, which is a royal-themed romance.

    Up next, I’m hoping to read THE THEORY OF HAPPILY EVER AFTER by Kristin Billerbeck and THE KISS OF DECEPTION by Mary Pearson.

    I also have a bunch of comics to read — Jessica Jones, James Bond, and more — and I want to check out CAPTAIN MARVEL VOL. 1: HIGHER, FASTER, FARTHER, MORE by Kelly DeConnick and David Lopez. I haven’t read much about Captain Marvel, but the new movie trailer intrigues me.

  12. Lostshadows says:

    Currently, I’m rereading The Player of Games, by Iain Banks, which is a really good SF book and just happens to be a KDD today (9/22). It’s also the generally recommended starting point in the series it’s in.

    Things I’ve read/reread recently:

    Guards! Guards!, by Terry Pratchett. Apparently its been long enough since I last read it, that I’d completely forgotten the main plot involved a dragon.

    The first seven volumes of Transmetropolitan, by Warren Ellis. The politics are, disturbingly, still relevant.

    Leverage in Death, by J.D. Robb. It was what I was expecting.

    This Savage Song, by Victoria Schwab. I really liked this book. I hadn’t expected much, since I’d DNFed the last book I’d read by her and had been meh about the one before that, but this one really worked for me. I did see most of the twists coming, but I didn’t actually care.

    Strange the Dreamer, by Laini Taylor. This an odd book that I’d never even heard of until shortly before I borrowed it from the library. Now I’m annoyed that the sequel isn’t out until early October.

    I’ll probably be starting Night and Silence, by Seanan McGuire, Monday. It’s book 12 in her October Daye series and I’m really looking forward to it.

  13. Paula says:

    Based on recommendations from last time, I read and recommend “Clockwork Boys,” by T. Kingfisher, and finished the “Guido la Vespa” series, by Veronica Bell. The Guido la Vespa books are sort of like the movie “The Yellow Rolls-Royce,” in that they follow a Vespa and its various owners. I thought they were all terrifically fun and well-written, but my favorite was the first, “Amore and Pinot Grigio: A Guido la Vespa Christmas Tale,” because I’m a sucker for people falling in love at Christmas in Rome. I especially like that the heroines in the series are smart and snarky and Canadian (like me!). Also appreciated that each story has an animal-rescue subplot.
    Just started reading a YA novel, “Upside Down in a Laura Ingalls Town,” by Leslie Tall Manning. I’m a huge Little House fan – I read every book as a kid — and couldn’t resist the concept of a contemporary family who go on a reality show where they have to live like pioneers! Just started it – will report back next month.

  14. CelineB says:

    I just started my first book by Megan Frampton, THE LADY IS DARING. I won it in a Goodreads giveaway. I’m only a few pages in, but the excerpt in the front of the book is great and the dedication has made me a Frampton fangirl already. The dedication is “This is for all the women who’ve been shamed for being too smart.” I see myself diving into the six books by Frampton that I already owned before winning this one sometime in the very near future.

    As for what else I’ve read this month, here’s the highlights:

    FIGHT OR FLIGHT by Samantha Young- I’ve been meaning to check out Young’s books for years and I finally got around to it with this one. I struggled with the beginning. I didn’t like the hero and didn’t see how the author was going to transform him from major alpha-hole to someone who’s romance hero worthy. I also didn’t love the banter in the beginning. It felt more annoying and snippy than fun and sexual-tension filled. I thought about abandoning it, but it grew on me just in time to make me keep going. By sticking with the book, I was able to see a different side of Caleb, the hero, that made me like him. The journey of the heroine, Ava, to overcome the way she’d been hurt in a past relationship and her friendship with her best friend, Harper, was great and I think I may have loved it even more than the romance. Caleb helped her with overcoming her past and he became a pretty supportive friend-with-benefits before the final conflict and then their becoming an official couple. So I did find the romance aspect well-done overall as well and ended up with that ‘great book’ feeling.

    MAGIC TRIUMPHS by Ilona Andrews- A nice ending to this series, leaving me happy about where Kate and Curran end up while setting up some other possible stories set in this world (other than Hugh’s series that’s already started).

    THE GOVERNESS GAME by Tessa Dare- So good! Just so fun and sweet. Tessa Dare’s books are like comfort food to me. I always know I’m going to savor the entire experience of reading her books and end up feeling happy and satisfied once I’ve consumed the entire story.

    KISS THE GIRL by Tara Sivec- The publisher sent me an arc of this Little Mermaid retelling and I was simultaneously excited and worried about it. I love Disney’s The Little Mermaid and even saw a local production of the stage musical a couple weeks before reading this. My brother is so scarred by me watching the movie numerous times growing up and ‘singing’ along (I believe I was a good two steps above Scuttle in my renditions) that he refuses to watch the movie as an adult. I was worried the humor would be too cheesy and over-the-top. I found all the references to the movie to be fun and the humor fell just short of too over-the-top for me, but I have a feeling that this is very much a book where your mileage may vary. As for the romance, it was cute and fluffy with little conflict. I’m looking forward to checking out the others in the series.

    SPEAKEASY by Sarina Bowen- I found this one solidly enjoyable. It wasn’t my favorite of the series, but I liked May and Alec together.

    UNTOUCHABLE by Talia Hibbert- I know I’m a broken record, but I just love all of Hibbert’s books. The representation of depression in this book was amazing and made me feel seen. The romance was sweet and well-done as well.

    NOT SO NICE GUY by RS Grey- This was a cute, super low-conflict friends-to-lovers book. I liked it, but it was almost too low-conflict even for me. I usually am good with books that are low-conflict as long as they’re fun. I’m not sure if this one just was just a notch too low on the fun scale or if I just wasn’t in the right mood, but it felt just a little flat to me.

    I also didn’t finish Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. I was having a hard time getting drawn into it so I just decided to give up on it for now. It wasn’t bad by any means, but I think after my major reading slump, I just wasn’t up for a fantasy book just yet.

  15. JJB says:

    I finished a grand total of nothing in the past month. I worked on Gibraltar: The Greatest Siege in British History (sieges suck, big surprise. But it’s really well written, and I rly appreciated having multiple women’s POVs from the besieged frequently referenced) before going to the beach and bringing A Daughter of No Nation by A.M. Dellamonica.
    –I quite liked the first book in this series, and I’m about 3/4 of the way through this one and enjoying it a lot as well. They’re fun and quite smart, though sadly in this book our supposedly highly educated and intelligent heroine referred to some snakes as being “poisonous” when she obviously meant venomous. It did not feel IC for her, someone so concerned with evolution and the natural world, to make a mistake like that. (But at least she hasn’t called the ferret character a rodent!)
    That aside however I’m totally into it. I also have a good size stack of single issue comics to read whenever I get to a good stopping spot…

  16. Critterbee says:

    The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton, a little late as it has been out a while, and was featured in Cover Awe. In a world devoid of color, the Belles are revered as they help ‘beautify’ people. But this turns out to be more Hunger Games than Fairy Tale. The second book, The Everlasting Rose, is due out next March.

    Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler. Wonderful, as is everything that she has written. This is a sci-fi vampire story, set in present times and done in a quite believable style.

    Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, heartbreaking epic of 7 generations of descendants of two sisters, beginning in 1800s Ghana (then known a the Gold Coast) and ending in the present day.

    Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse is fresh hard-hitting dystopian speculative fiction, with the most badass of heroines, an immortal, bad boy love interest and an adorable, magically powerful fellow human good boy. Very gory, does not pull any punches.

    The Quiet Gentleman, a classic from Georgette Heyer, meant to be a regency romance, but more a regency mystery, with almost non-stop hilarity.

  17. Mostly just wanted to sub to the comments, but the 3 most notable things I’ve read recently are STAMPED FROM THE BEGINNING by Ibram X Kendi, ELOQUENT RAGE by Brittney Cooper, and REMEDIAL ROCKET SCIENCE by Susannah Nix (probably my fav NA book I’ve read- snaps to Wednesday SBTB Insta recs for suggesting this one!)

  18. Varian says:

    I recently read The Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zehanat Khan. It’s a mystery that takes place in Canada, and I think Inspector Khattak might by my new detective crush. It involves a civil war in Bosnia and gets pretty dark at times, but I will read the rest of the series. I just need to read something light for a while.

    I’m reading Dark Legend by Christine Feehan right now. The Carpathians are my comfort reads; I know everything that’s going to happen, and the lifemate trope annoys me to no end…yet I love these books.

  19. Janice says:

    I listened to Darcie Wilde’s “A Purely Private Matter”, her second Regency haut ton mystery. Wonderful narration of a fascinating story.

    I’m halfway through Tessa Dare’s perfectly charming “The Governess Game”.

    I joined the bad decisions book club and galloped through “Time’s Convert” by Deborah Harkness over the last two days. It blends several different storylines linked through characters from her earlier All Souls trilogy. I could have wished for three hundred more pages.

  20. Amelia says:

    I tried to branch out a bit from my usual romances this month, but did enjoy Untouchable by Talia Hibbert (m/f contemporary, live-in nanny scenario only somehow not totally creepy) and By The Currawong’s Call (m/m historical circa 1900 in small town Australia, utterly charming vicar/policeman romance).

    Adored Jane Doe after reading about it on SBTB (sociopath gets revenge on her best friend’s abusive ex, the kind of book where you want to yell ‘yes, bitch!’ every page), so thanks everyone that recommended that.

    Finally got round to reading Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin (gay literary classic set in 1950s Paris, everyone’s awful but the writing makes it very compelling).

    Also loved Kirsty Logans’ The Gloaming (f/f magical realism on a remote Scottish island, though more about grief than romance), The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gower (late 1700s historical with magical realism, sex workers and lots about class, one for fans of Harlots), and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (contemporary fiction about the struggle against loneliness and childhood trauma, though mostly less bleak than that sounds).

  21. Carol says:

    Most of the stuff I read this month came from Goodwill and library sales of donated stuff. Someone unloaded their old Blaze collection and I read some shirtless, oiled-up firefighters from Jill Shalvis and some shirtless, oiled-up professional athletes from Joanne Rock. I haven’t seen the movie, but I bought and read Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians trilogy. Shenanigans of the ultra-rich of another culture. I liked them.

  22. Elise Elliot says:

    Been on a craft book and non-fiction kick lately.

    The Situation and the Story by Vivian Gornick. About memoirs, but the advice is great and can apply to a lot of writers.

    The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson. Amazing – about the great migration of African Americans during the 20th century.

    Prince of Darkness by Shane White. It’s about a thief/Wall Street con-artist from the early days of the stock market. Super fascinating; everything by Shane White is great.

    Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. Theoretically it’s about H. H. Holmes, but actually it’s 90% about titans of industry trying to put on the Chicago World’s Fair. Still couldn’t put it down.

  23. Mary says:

    I’ve been meaning to participate in this thread for months now, so I’m taking the plunge! I’ve read a lot this month but last week I feel into a bit of a slump.

    LOVE

    I ended up rereading THE KISS QUOTIENT by Helen Hoang and loved it even more the second time around. I ended up recommending it to a coworker (I’m a teacher and at a new school, and I don’t know my coworkers very well yet) and have been feeling kind of anxious about reccing a book that has so much (hot) sex in it. I hope she doesn’t judge me, lol. So that’s having me rethink my approach to romance and how I hold all this so close to the chest. I know logically I’m not shamed by it but part of me wants to go to her next week and be like I ALSO READ THINGS LIKE THE HANDMAID’S TALE AND THE GLASS CASTLE OK?

    That aside. I just finished HIGHLANDER MOST WANTED and NEVER SEDUCE A SCOT by Maya Banks and I totally loved them. NEVER SEDUCE A SCOT has a deaf heroine and I loved that. The second one, HIGHLANDER MOST WANTED, has a lot of references to sexual violence and one attempted rape scene, which isn’t usually my thing. But Genevieve was great and I definitely cried at one of the happier moments toward the end of the book, which is rare for me. I would recommend them both.

    THE DUKE I TEMPTED by Scarlett Peckham (so many of my books are ones that were recently discussed on here, I have no shame) was a lot of fun. I loved Poppy’s botany business and I really wanted to go to the ball they designed as like an indoor forest.

    TRADE ME and HOLD ME by Courtney Milan were also on my LOVE list from this month. I liked that the heroine in HOLD ME was trans and it wasn’t a big deal. I think we need more of that kind of diversity in romance, where it diversity is included but not the star of the show.

    EXILE OF THE SEAS by Jeffe Kennedy was excellent. I autobuy almost everything she puts out, especially in her Twelve Kingdoms/Uncharted Realms series. This one had the cloistered princess Jenna making her way on her own, and while there was a lovely romance, it was more about her own growth and her own vengeance, which was awesome.

    I also read JOSH AND HAZEL’S GUIDE TO NOT DATING and THE GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO VICE AND VIRTUE, which have been widely reviewed, so I’ll just say I enjoyed them both. JOSH AND HAZEL had a steamy romance scene or two that I definitely reread. For scientific purposes.

    OKAY-ish

    I was in the mood for some fae/fantasy reads and Amazon recommended HEART OF THE FAE by Emma Hamm. I enjoyed the first book but wouldn’t glowingly recommend it to anyone unless fae stuff is your catnip. The second book in the series, VEINS OF MAGIC, I abandoned at 61%, if that tells you anything. I am a huge fan of Sarah J Maas’ A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES and this sometimes felt like it was a pale imitation of that, but I loved how the heroine was a talented healer.

    THE UGLY

    Got a sample of HOLLYWOOD HOT MESS by Evie Claire because I was into some fake-relationship tropes and put it down almost immediately when the heroine referred to a black woman at a doctor’s office as a (pause while I unfortunately open the book up again to see the exact term) a Ghetto Queen. Yup. Abandoned that one pretty fast.

    I also attempted LEVEL UP by Cathy Yardley but couldn’t get past the immature dialogue in the first chapter.

  24. Amanda says:

    @Mary: I don’t think I’d worry too much about The Kiss Quotient! I’ve recommended it to many non-romance readers in my monthly book group and they’ve all loved it.

  25. Catherine Ryan says:

    Rereading A Peace Divided, by Tanya Huff, as refresher before diving into the Privilege of Peace; the main character is Torin Kerr, a Marine noncom, who was unfavorably impressed w Craig, her eventual partner, when they met, the Better Part of Valor (book #2). I was Army, not Marine Corps (and an officer, a nurse!) but I love this series, and especially the way the 3 “Younger Races” are depicted

  26. Stefanie Magura says:

    @K. N. O’Rear:

    His Very Own Girl seems like exactly my kind of book and even more so because of the 1940’s slang. A Moment Forever by Cat Gardiner, while a time slip story, is similarly great at evoking that World War II era and I loved it.
    @Elise Elliott:
    I am also reading that Isabel Wilkerson book.
    Other comments:
    I’m currently rereading the Tea Rose trilogy by Jennifer Donnelly and am enjoying it just as much the second time around. I’m on the second book, the Winter Rose, which is my favorite in the series. I would call this trilogy a family saga, but each book is nominally about one of three siblings and the setting is Victorian/Edwardian/World War I.
    I forgot to mention this last month, but I read Indigo by Beverly Jenkins and loved it, but I’m not sure where to go next with hers, since she seems to have quite a back list.
    I blew through the Purple Diaries by Joseph Egan which covers the divorce, custody trial, and resultant scandal that was made of the personal life of actress Mary Astor when it was found out that she had affairs during her marriage. This is worth a read if your into old Hollywood.

  27. Mary says:

    @KateB- I didn’t know there was going to be a sequel to the GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE! I just read that this month too.

    @MirandaB- I like that Mercy series a lot. I was totally taken aback by the same scene you mentioned though.

    @CelineB- I love Talia Hibbert but your comment about the depression being handled well means I’m getting this one next. I also gave up on SPINNING SILVER as well! I liked it but it was so long and dense I needed a break.

  28. AmyS says:

    The winners for me this month:

    HOT HEIR by Pippa Grant — fake relationship with royalty and lots of funny times
    P.S. I MISS YOU by Winter Renshaw — roommates with enemies to lovers trope, I had to learn to love the hero, but really appreciate WR’s take on relationships
    HOW THE EARL ENTICES by Anna Harrington – – forced proximity with a widow helping out a spy
    JUST THIS ONCE by Mira Lyn Kelly – – (releasing in early October) really love this whole series following 4 guy friends; this third book has forbidden little sister, friends to lovers, roommates goodness

    Just OK for me:

    NOT SO NICE GUY by RS Grey – – first half was really great friends to lovers with lots of smiles and chuckling, then it kind of fell off for me
    SWAGGER by Liz Lincoln – – loved the STEM career heroine, but didn’t get invested in the relationship antics with the NHL star
    PRENTENDING HE’S MINE by Mia Sosa – – loved the first book in this series; as book two this one didn’t hold my attention as well
    RAISING THE BAR by Marie Harte — this is the third book in the series and had an interesting MMF dynamic, but something seemed off with the believability

  29. Mary says:

    @Amanda- thanks! That does make me feel a little better.

  30. Kareni says:

    I’m yet another who gave up on Spinning Silver (even though I did enjoy Uprooted).

  31. Lace says:

    Murderbot!

  32. Kareni says:

    Things I’ve read since the August post (most recent last) ~

    — My husband and I listened to The Oracle Year by Charles Soule and narrated by Charlie Thurston en route to a camping trip. Usually I fall asleep when we listen to an audiobook in the car; however, this is the third book that I’ve managed to listen to in its entirety. We had a good number of conversations about the book — some were of the what would you do? variety, others discussed inconsistencies in the storyline, while in others we made predictions of what might happen. This novel certainly helped us pass some twelve plus hours in a pleasant way.

    While camping I read:

    — the fantasy All the Paths of Shadow by Fred Tuttle
    — the contemporary romance A Girl Like Her: A Small Town Romance (Ravenswood Book 1) by Talia Hibbert (this features an autistic heroine)
    — the contemporary romance novella Apples Should Be Red by Penny Watson (this features a mature hero and heroine in their fifties/sixties)

    and shorter works:

    — The Sentinel by Eden Winters
    — First in Line by Annabeth Albert
    — Stranded with a Scotsman by Serenity Woods
    — Sightings by Kari Gregg
    — Persistence of Memory by J.M. Snyder

    — read Anna Butler’s book Gyrfalcon (Taking Shield Book 1) (which is currently free for Kindle readers). I’d classify it as futuristic military science fiction. I enjoyed this book and will happily read on.
    — read Seasonal Sentiments: NineStar Press 2016 Holiday Stories which introduced me to many new authors. As with all anthologies, some stories appealed more than others. I particularly liked Stone and Shell by Lloyd A. Meeker, Hearts Alight by Elliot Cooper, Ibiza on Ice by Gillian St. Kevern, and A Christmas for Oscar by Alex Whitehall
    — read the novella Different Names for the Same Thing by Francis Gideon. This featured a writer pre- and post-transition and his connection with a fan both in the current day and five years earlier.
    — read E.M. Lindsey’s Time and Tide. The story begins in 1890s Baltimore and features William, an American with an exceedingly domineering mother, and Theodore, an author and Frenchman who has almost no vision. I didn’t care for the book initially as William, a new lawyer, is bullied by his mother into marriage and into defending a wealthy criminal. Ultimately, I grew to enjoy the book though certain events strained credulity. This book is currently 99 cents to Kindle readers.

    — One of my favorite series last year was a science fiction trilogy by author (a pair of Australian sisters) S. K. Dunstall, so I’d been eagerly anticipating their new book which I read with pleasure. Now I get to look forward to the next book. This book is set in a totally different universe from that of the first trilogy, but it is equally intriguing. It’s Stars Uncharted by S. K. Dunstall.
    — I was then inspired to go back and re-read Dunstall’s earlier trilogy. I enjoyed re-reading Linesman, Alliance, and Confluence. Fans of Patricia Briggs might be interested to know that these books have her recommendation.
    — read Idyll Threats: A Thomas Lynch Novel by Stephanie Gayle which was a mystery which I enjoyed. It’s the first in a series, and I plan to continue on.
    — also read Fields of Gold (Tarnished Souls Book 2) by Dev Bentham which was a pleasant m/m contemporary romance.
    — read an enjoyable children’s book with lovely illustrations, The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus by Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet 

    — Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad for my book group. I found it a dismal story which likely means that the author did a good job. My group had a lively discussion.
    — Leta Blake’s Any Given Lifetime which I quite enjoyed despite the story aspects that strained credulity. It’s a male/male romance with a reincarnation theme. I’ll likely re-read it.
    — Jackie North’s Heroes for Ghosts: A Love Across Time Story. This was (surprise!) a time travel romance set in WWI era and present day France featuring a student of history working on his thesis and a doughboy (an American soldier). I have a fondness for time travel stories, and I enjoyed this one despite having a few quibbles. It’s the first in a time travel series by the author and I look forward to reading the next book which features different characters.
    — Would it Be Okay to Love You? by Amy Tasukada which was a pleasant m/m story set in Japan featuring two very different characters: a voice actor and an accountant (a salaryman). I thought the story did well at giving a sense of place through food, celebrations, even bathing. That said, I don’t have an interest in continuing the series.
    — two books that the authors describe as “…essentially Regency Romances set on alien world — Space Regencies, if you will, and our bow to Georgette Heyer ….” They are set in what is known as the Liaden Universe; I enjoyed them both. They are Local Custom and Scout’s Progress.
    — read TEAR SOUP: A Recipe for healing after loss by Pat Schwiebert and Chuck DeKlyen which was a book about grieving. It was a thoughtful story that is intended to be shared with children.

  33. Heather C says:

    Love and Payne (THIRDS Universe, #1) (3 stars): I sucked down the THIRDS series (1-9). I’m ready to leave that world behind. But the main characters for this book were introduced during the series and I wanted to read their HEA

    Changing Worlds (Worlds, #1-2) by Cari Z. 4 stars: Future – A human and an alien fall in love and try to settle on the alien’s home planet.

    Rustic Moment (Rustic, #3) 2.5 stars. Contemporary m/m takes place in Australia. Reviews for this were very high, it just didn’t click with me

    The Ghost Slept Over (4 stars). A struggling actor finds out his ex boyfriend left him his home/estate. When actor goes to collect, the exboyfriend is haunting the house. This was pretty funny

    How To Marry A Werewolf (Claw & Courtship, #1) by Gail Carriger (4 stars). A disgraced American heiress is sent to England to marry a werewolf. This was fun.

    I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer: 3 stars, I’m still interested in the subject but I’m more interested in what we learn now that the guy has been caught. Also, what happens for the people who were obsessed with the case for so long

    Dread Nation (Dread Nation, #1) by Justina Ireland. (4 stars). A reader from a previous Whatcha Reading gave a review that caused me to drop my expectations but I really enjoyed this book. I want to read the next installment

    Book I will finish tonight: I Can’t Date Jesus: Love, Sex, Family, Race, and Other Reasons I’ve Put My Faith in Beyoncé

    Book I will finish tomorrow: Summer Heat by Jay Northcote

    @MirandaB “Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse: “I described to my husband as “It’s like the Supernatural television series, only it’s on a post-apocalyptic Navajo reservation, and Dean’s female.”” – SOLD! going on the TBR (Edit: I see a lot of people are reading this, getting more excited)

    @Amelia, I think I’ve reached rage level that I might enjoy Jane Doe

    @Elise Elliot I LOOOOOVEEEE Warmth of other suns (and heard the author speak) but very few people take me up on the recommendation because of the length

  34. Jill Q. says:

    Ah! I can’t believe I forgot it was “Whatcha Reading” day. I usually like to write up my entry bright and early.

    The Good

    The big win this month was the “Fly Me to the Moon” Series (60s astronauts/NASA folks fall in love) by Emma Barry and Genevieve Turner. And yes, I glommed the whole series in a month. Actually I haven’t read “Free Fall” b/c it’s more expensive, but I’m weakening fast.

    My absolute favorite of the series was “Earth Bound” with a reaaaaaaaaaallly tightly wound engineer (he likes to make astronauts cry) and an ambitious female mathematician who is kicking ass in her male dominated world. The two are working with each and set up a “just sex” relationship and of course, slowly fall in love. It’s not usually a trope that works for me, but it so worked for these two characters and and it was really satisfying to see their walls slowly come down. B for the series, A+ for “Earth Bound.”

    “The Governess Game” by Tessa Dare. I found this adorable and liked it better than the first in the series. I’m trying to read a Lenora Bell with a similar premise and feel like it is suffering in comparison. A

    “A Kiss in Midwinter” by Courtney Milan. I loved the rest of the Brothers Sinister, but I didn’t want to read this one b/c it sounded depressing and I don’t like novellas usually. But really, I just need to read everything Courtney Milan writes b/c I loved it. A

    “The 57 Bus” by Daska Snyder – This was a nonfiction book about Oakland, California and a horrible prank gone wrong. Maybe I saw a rec for it on this site? I really don’t want to say too much about it, but I’ll just say I think the author handled a lot of difficult topics with sensitivity. It was a fast read (might even technically be YA), if not always an easy read. I almost put it down a few times b/c it was upsetting, but I couldn’t b/c I was so gripped. If you’re someone who is interested in sociology or cultural issues, you might like it. A

    “Marry in Scandal” by Anne Gracie This book was filled with coincidences that would have put a Victorian novelist to shame, but I really enjoyed it. It was just fluffy and sweet and filled with nice people. Anne Gracie does that so well. B

    “Iron Hand of Mars” by Lindsey Davis I read this series just to hang out with Falco and his compatriots. This one dragged a little, but I enjoyed it B

    “The Wicked and the Wallflower” by Sarah Maclean – I know I read this one and enjoyed it, but it didn’t stick with me. B

  35. Lucy says:

    If I was to list everything in my TBR pile, I would crash the webpage.
    However, at the moment, I’m feeling the need for familiarity and comfort but without any of the pain that comes with nostalgia. So, I’m thinking of rereading the first ‘Romance’ book I read, which was by Anne Mallory. (Obviously, I had read lots of romance but not Romance with a capital R of the type with kitsch covers featuring dramatic poses and crinoline gowns.) According to my annual lists of books read, it was Seven Secrets of Seduction.
    Speaking of Anne Mallory (who I picked at random for my first Romance but turned out to be my favourite), does anyone know if she is still writing romance? Because she has had nothing out for years now.

  36. Iris says:

    @DiscoDollyDeb
    I totally agree about Caitlin Crews and how interesting she makes tried and true tropes. I first got back into reading romances (after years) while deep in the weeds researching 19th century women novelists. I stumbled upon a Caitlin Crews Harlequin Presents novel: HIS FOR REVENGE. The heroine was a graduate student writing about Jane Eyre. I went on to read 5 or 6 of hers but it seems she took a turn somewhere and most of her heroines are now virgins.

    I’m not sure if I’m in the minority or what but I really prefer reading romances where the heroines have some sexual experience, even historicals though I am less bothered by those, but I positively avoid Harlequin’s with virgins as they seem to particulary bother me in this regard.

    In fact I wish Harlequin had a tagging system whereby I could tell if it is a virgin romance, other than the titles which are always amusing but unreliable, because sometimes Harlequins are perfect for my mood and attention span.

    Anyways it’s one of her novels, NO MORE SWEET SURRENDER which includes one of my very favorite passages which I think about any time a heroine’s virginity or lack thereof is questioned by the alleged hero:

    “Are you a virgin, then?” He couldn’t help the way his mouth curved at the idea, as if he was the very caveman she’d accused him of being. He shouldn’t have cared. He shouldn’t have wondered suddenly and with far too many detailed images, what it would be like to be her first. “Chaste and untouched?”

    “Yes,” she replied, her voice tart. Offended, perhaps. Or simply annoyed. “And I am also a unicorn. Surprise!”

  37. Ren Benton says:

    @Lucy: Anne Mallory’s site says she’s on a historical romance hiatus while she writes YA fantasy under a different, unspecified name.

  38. Kati Musson says:

    I read quite a lot this month but The Governess Game (which I read in one sitting) sticks out. I’m now in the mood for nothing but froth.

  39. Camilla says:

    So for September….
    Leverage in Death, by J.D. Robb. Good solid entry…I love this series.
    Josh and Hazels Guide to Not dating..Laurens – bought it today read it today, enough said!
    The Guilded Shroud, Bailey just two chapters in, but so far so good
    Among Others Walton Best book this summer!!!
    The Hate List Brown Sobbed at the end, but great book
    To love a Duchess Ranney Loved it so much I am on a glom of her backlist. I read her for awhile, then quit…….Don’t know why I quit now???
    Th Chocolate series by Florand, comfort reads in troubling times!!

  40. ClaireC says:

    I finished bingeing my way through Anna Hackett’s Treasure Hunter Security series (and have already re-read two of them). HIGHLY recommended if you want some adventure romance along the Lara Croft/Indiana Jones line. Smart heroines, tough but not alphahole heroes, mysterious ancient artifacts, and a shadowy evil out to steal them.

    I also read the first two in Hackett’s Phoenix adventure series, which is a very similar pretense (though I believe this one came first), but does away with the security team aspect and is set in spaaaaaaace. Still eminently bingeable and fun reads.

    Too Wilde to Wed (Eloisa James), Virgin Territory (Lia Riley), and Tempting the Marshall (Julianne MacLean), were all good reads, but not great.

    Caught up on my Innkeeper books with One Fell Sweep by Ilona Andrews and loved it. I think this series is now tied with The Edge books for my favorite by them. Can’t wait for the current serial to finish so I can read all about Maude!

    The Governess Game was great, as I always expect from Ms. Dare. I appreciated the diverse heroine, but Chase wasn’t as memorable a hero as I would have liked.

    And I just finished Rebel Hard by Nalini Singh today and am still coming down from a good book high. Delightful characters who are grownups and talk to one another and their friends, a great group of supporting characters, and amazing descriptions of both food and dress. Now I really want to go back and re-read the first in the series, and then Rock Hard as well (Charlie-mouse + T-rex 4-ever!!!!!).

    Next up are finding books to fit my last two required for the SBTB Goodreads challenge – a farmer and a baseball player (thankfully not in the same book).

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