Whatcha Reading? October 2018 Edition

old book on the bench in autumn parkIs it nearly the end of October already? I feel like we were just doing Whatcha Reading last week! We hope all of you have been enjoying some quality reading time this month, and we wish we were sorry about the damage these comments are about to do to your TBR.

Sarah: I’m nearly done with my fall window cross stitch, so I finished the audiobook of A Royal Pain by Rhys Bowen ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) two days ago. I like Georgie, the heroine, and I love the narration, but the resolution of the mystery happened to fast, and too many details were revealed at the very end in one conversation with little to no provenance to that information. But, boy, was I hooked. I listened during dental work (audiobooks + crown replacement = A+++ idea, will listen again) and couldn’t stop listening. This is probably why the fall window is nearly done.

For my next audiobook for cross stitching accompaniment, I’m trying a new mystery series courtesy of Hoopla’s digital catalog. I started Dying in the Wool by Frances Brody ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), the first in the Kate Shackleton Mystery series. Apparently I like lady sleuths in cloches? This is a new thing for me.

How the Dukes Stole Christmas
A | BN | K | AB
As for reading, I’m starting How the Dukes Stole Christmas anthology. I don’t care much about Christmas stories one way or the other, but historical novellas? Yes, please.

Elyse: I just got back from Rhinebeck and I am very sleepy. I just started In Fairleigh Field by Rhys Bowen on audio ( A | BN ). Sarah, we’re audio sisters!

I also started reading The Witch Elm by Tana French ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) but I keep falling asleep reading. That’s not a reflection of the book but of all the fun I had this weekend catching up with me

Sarah: Bowen’s audiobooks are SO well done, aren’t they?

Elyse: They are. And they’re the perfect blend of historical detail and mystery for me.

Sarah: Yes. That’s one of the things I like about the Kate Shackleton book so far. She’s got a car – and it’s a convertible! – but she has to figure out if she has enough petrol with her in the can in the boot to take a detour, and she describes the “out of fashion” coat she wears to keep warm, and suddenly I want, like, six cloche hats, and a two-door convertible. No gas can in the trunk, though. After Sandy and the gas rationing, it took forever to get the smell of gasoline out of the car.

A Blade So Black
A | BN | K | AB
Carrie: I’m finishing A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney, and then starting The Beast’s Heart by Leife Shallcross ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). Reviews of both on the way!

Elyse: I also just got Julie Kagawa’s Shadow of the Fox ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) in my Owlcrate so that’s tempting me too.

Amanda: I’m picking up a lot of books that have been on my TBR pile for a while or are from series that I dropped. Shout out to my library!

For some reason, my library doesn’t have book one of Donna Grant’s Dark Kings dragons series, but I got an interlibrary loan for it: Darkest Flame ( A | BN | K | AB ).

Cold as Ice
A | BN | K
Then there is Anne Stuart’s bonkers romantic suspense series. I’m on book two, Cold as Ice, and it’s set on a yacht. BOAT DANGER!

Lastly, still going sticking with my emotionally confusing read through of Sherrilyn Kenyon’s The League series. I’m on Born of Shadows! ( A | BN | K | G | AB )

Redheadedgirl: I am almost done with A Duke Changes Everything by Christy Carlyle ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). I am really enjoying it.

I also just finished Janna MacGregor’s The Good, the Bad, and the Duke (where she used the Oxford comma in the title, I knew I liked her!) where she used a “home alone” set up, but then didn’t overly drag it out. I really like her writing a lot.

The Good, the Bad, and the Duke
A | BN | K | AB
And on the recommendation of…someone in the most recent Historical Kitchen, I picked up Ratio ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), which is about the right ratio of ingredients for baking and how to build recipes based on that. It’s very cool.

Amanda: And if you want a fun audio book, I’m enjoying The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). Lots of fourth wall breaking and a great cast of women, though it takes a while to get used to.

Sarah: I tried the Alchemist’s Daughter in print, and was very confused by it. Should I try audio, then?

Amanda: It takes a while to get used to because I didn’t know other characters would be chiming in. But try a sample! It’s also a bit on the graphic side when it comes to gore. Like there’s a crime scene and they don’t skimp on details.

Did you read anything great this month? Let us know in the comments!


By request, since we can’t link to every book you mention in the comments, here are bookstore links that help support the site with your purchases. If you use them, 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!

Buy from Amazon.com

BN LogoKoboGooglePlayIbookstore

Comments are Closed

  1. KateB says:

    Happy Halloween! I read so much this month. I don’t even… how.

    Faves

    – CURTSIES & CONSPIRACIES / WAISTCOATS & WEAPONRY / MANNERS & MUTINY / POISON OR PROTECT by Gail Carriger – the Great Reread continues!

    – NIGHT AND SILENCE by Seanan McGuire – how does she keep innovating this series? October’s life gets more complicated and she grows and her friends grow and people change, it’s so refreshing.

    – THE LADY’S GUIDE TO PETTICOATS & PIRACY by Mackenzi Lee – I love the unexpected fantasy elements in these books. Just pops out of nowhere!

    – SAGA, VOL. 9 by Brian K. Vaughn & Fiona Staples – WHAT? Wait. WHAT? Give me volume 10 now, please!

    – THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson (audiobook) – have started the Netflix series. Am properly terrified.

    – IMPOSTER SYNDROME by Mishell Baker – this series is so good and so weird, I want more!

    – THE WITCH ELM by Tana French – not my absolute favorite French, the Murder Squad has all these interesting relationship dynamics that this story lacks, but her writing is still fantastic.

    – MONTRESS, VOL. 3: HAVEN by Majorie Lui & Sana Takeda – I kinda have no idea what’s happening in this series, but it’s so pretty!

    – THE WINTER GHOSTS by Kate Mosse – 1920’s, France, medieval history, a solid Christmas ghost story. Has convinced me to try her other work.

    – SMALL FRY by Lisa Brennan-Jobs – I had no idea what to expect but, it’s worth it. Her relationship with father Steve Jobs is vivid in this book.

    – THE RAVENMASTER: MY LIFE WITH THE RAVENS AT THE TOWER OF LONDON by Christopher Skaife – so sweet. You can tell he loves his job and those ravens.

    Good

    – ALL SYSTEMS RED by Martha Wells – I love Murderbot! I get you, Murderbot!

    – THE LOST QUEEN by Signe Pike – I looooved Pike’s memoir FAERIE TALE, and was pumped to read these. A historical take on Merlin/Arthurian lore, I really liked how things came together.

    – THE KISS QUOTIENT by Helen Hoang (audiobook) – oof, my heart! I can’t wait to read book 2.

    – AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER: THE PROMISE, Part 1 by Gene Luen Yang – I just finished rewatching the series and this is a canon continuation. It’s really good!

    – EXIT STAGE LEFT: THE SNAGGLEPUSS CHRONICLES by Mark Russell & Mike Feehan – if Snagglepuss was Tennessee Williams and victim of the Red Scare.

    – SYNCOPATION by Anna Zabo – m/m rockstar romance with some bdsm. The outer conflict here made very little sense, but the relationship was lovely.

    – WHITE IS FOR WITCHING by Helen Oyeyemi – disturbing, both for story and for writing style. A house having a voice is just… real off-putting.

    – GIVE ME YOUR HAND by Megan Abbott – this one takes a weird turn, hey?

    – MONKEY BEACH by Eden Robinson – a Haisla women goes in search of her brother, and is haunted by ghosts (maybe?) and memories.

    – WOMEN OF THE DUNES by Sarah Maine – her writing is solid and the mystery really made my skin crawl.

    – TO ALL THE BOYS I’VE LOVED BEFORE by Jenny Han – I liked the movie better, but this was so cute!

    – A GENTLEMAN IN THE STREET by Alisha Rai – I didn’t really understand why they liked each other? But the book kept me interested.

    Meh

    – BLOOD COMMUNION by Anne Rice – I missed the aliens! Without them, Rice’s writing these days is just… shrug emoji.

    Currently Reading

    – MATILDA by Ronald Dahl – when the book turned 30 years, I realized I’d never read it (or any Dahl). It’s delightful!

    – DRACULA by Bram Stoker (audiobook) – third time through, first time on audio, and it’s really perfect for it. And the audiobook has talent like Simon Vance and Alan Cumming.

  2. Jill Q. says:

    This has been one of the hardest months I’ve had for reading in a long time.
    Something about the Brett Kavanaugh hearings and feeling discouraged about the continuing political situation in our country really killed my ability to feel empathy for fictional people. Their problems all seemed small and annoying. (My life is fine and safe, so it really is just about the larger situation) Which was incredibly discouraging because reading fiction has been my main hobby and stress relief since uh 2nd grade.
    I know what the solution is. Do something constructive, practice gratitude and thankfulness, then take a news break. But that’s hard with the midterms coming up!
    Sorry for the whining, but I know this is a safe space for book whining:-)

    However! I really enjoyed

    “Good and Mad” by Rebecca Traister – About women’s anger, how it fuels social movements and how it makes a large part of society uncomfortable so it’s often squelched and ridiculed.

    “Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower” by Brittany Cooper. This is a more personal meditation on the same phenomenon and touches more particularly on how black female rage is dismissed in a world where both those identities are marginalized.

    The only fiction I’ve come close to finishing is “The Crow Trap” by Ann Cleves, the first Vera Stanhope mystery. It was slow starting, but lots of complex female characters which is what I want now.

    And yes Soraya Chemaly’s “Rage Becomes Her” is next on my list.

  3. Deborah says:

    Yes
    MURDER IN SPITE by Anne Cleeland – Spite has everything I love about Acton and Doyle’s romance: the baby steps toward intimacy for two intensely private people, the mixture of respect and exasperation and affection and obsession they feel for each other, the dry humor, the sexy funtimes. I fangirl this pairing so hard. But I am put off by the book’s climactic action, in which Doyle (once again) inserts herself into an Acton scheme and finds herself (once again) in jeopardy. Usually when Doyle does this, it’s to save somebody (frequently, to save Acton from himself) and her involvement leads to a more humane outcome than Acton’s original ruthless plan. This time, unless I’m missing something, all she succeeded in doing was endangering herself while the outcome was exactly what it would have been without her intervention. Previously, I’ve been allowing the positive results to mitigate her reckless actions. Here, there’s nothing to offset the TSTL. I’m hoping Doyle’s ineffectiveness in book 8 serves some larger purpose as the series continues. (It’s not bad writing. It’s foreshadowing!)

    A CHRISTMAS ROMANCE by Betty Neels – This novella is a cuddle in text format. A goodnatured but unambitious heroine is rescued from her lonely life in a grotty bedsit by an enigmatic, authoritarian doctor of Dutch descent. (I don’t believe he’s actually Dutch, just Dutch-adjacent.) Ridiculously anachronistic attitudes (was this really written in 1999?), but an excellent seasonal choice for readers looking for a sweet vintage instead of old skool crazysauce.

    AT HIS COUNTESS’S PLEASURE by Olivia Waite – Lovely! One reason this romance worked better for me than other historicals I’ve read with a similar kink is that the focus here is on the heroine’s need for control rather than the hero’s need to submit. This isn’t a book about a submissive man. It’s about a sexually dominant woman. And — though the sex scenes are many and explicit — sex is just one aspect of their life together. My only criticism is that I have absolutely no idea what century the book is set in, much less which decade or year. To recompense for this great historical fog, Waite crafts characters with the most satisfyingly authentic emotional responses to life’s challenges. Burn it down, Countess.

    Maybe
    FREE FALL by Emma Barry and Genevieve Turner – This novel’s strength is worldbuilding, and the setting of America’s space race in the 1960s definitely makes the trip worthwhile. (Why isn’t everyone writing romances set in mid-twentieth century America? McCarthyism! The interstate highway system! Drive-ins! Beatniks!…um, these are suggestions other than NASA and do not reflect the content of this book. Sorry, I got excited.) Anyway, the setting is fabulous and the characters think and behave in era-appropriate ways while still skewing progressive enough not to offend modern readers, but the romance felt lukewarm to me. For relationship moments, I was actually happiest with the babylogue, and that never happens for me, so…*shrug* Regardless, I requested my library add the entire series to their Overdrive collection, because vintage NASA.

    TEN THOUSAND HOURS by Ren Benton – I did my version of a DNF: I started to skim, then skip, then flipped to the end, where I read the most perfect love (not sex) scene. Normally, when I find something perfect at the end of a romance I skipped through, I’ll go back and read the journey more carefully. Here, I just decided to pocket the perfect moment and walk away. In part because the heroine’s family situation cut too close to home. In part because I’m allergic to odes to DIY/craftsmen. But mostly because the heroine strikes me as rather judgmental and while her happy ending made me happy, I maybe would like her better from that moment instead of until that moment.

    No
    UGLY LOVE by Colleen Hoover – Residents in the same apartment building become FWBs because his heart is dead to love and she’s an emotional masochist. I’ve only read this and All Your Perfects by Hoover, but I haven’t connected emotionally to her work so far. Her writing keeps me on guard against blatant manipulation.

    1105 YAKIMA STREET by Debbie Macomber – I hadn’t read any small town series romances before, so of course I just plunged right in with the eleventh book in Macomber’s Cedar Cove series, which is probably not a fair way to assess the subgenre. The book’s distinct storylines read like chapters from four or five separate novellas shuffled together. I don’t see the benefit to packing them into a single novel unless there’s some thematic overlap or more relevant interaction between the characters from the individual stories.

    WTF?
    UNCOVERING HER NINE MONTH SECRET by Jennie Lucas – If your reaction to The Playboy Sheik’s Virgin Stable Girl was “this story is too gritty and realistic for me,” then UNCOVERING may be the Harlequin Presents for you. The heroine has been living for years in the grungy attic of her socialite cousin’s London mansion as an unpaid servant. She meets the handsome but hopelessly cynical billionaire duke Alejandro and bears his secret love child alone after learning the pregnancy was a plot by the billionaire duke and her cousin to guarantee him an heir because the cousin is infertile. But you do not read this book for the romance. You read this book for the climactic scene in which the villainous OM attempts to kidnap our Cinderella. If your library has a copy, indulge yourself in the ending. Jaws will drop and eyes will roll. (Also, billionaire duke. You’re getting your duke book and your billionaire book in one serving.)

  4. Another Kate says:

    So a mixed reading month…
    I’m back on track with my exercise program which gives me several hours of reading time each week; but work has been busy so that leaves fewer non-exercise hours for reading!

    I read A Princess in Theory (Alyssa Cole) and loved it! I’m now waiting for the next one in the series to become available through Overdrive.

    I’m just about done Lady Bridget’s Diary (Maya Rodale), and as long as I can continue to suspend my disbelief it’s a fun romp. As long as I don’t think to hard about it.

    Over the past year, I’ve been enjoying the Louise Penny series featuring Armand Gamache. I read The Long Way Home and it was the most beautiful, heart-breaking book I’ve read in a long time; but now I’m struggling to get into the next one in the series, The Nature of the Beast. I just renewed it from the library so I’ve got 3 more weeks. What I probably need to do is dedicate several hours to it to really get into the story – maybe this afternoon?

    I do have a bunch of books (paper and electronic) that I’m looking forward to in the next month!

  5. Heather C says:

    First, I was so angry at the world this last month that I thought I might be rage-level ready to try Call of Crows: The Unleashing. And wow was it fantastic. Thank you. I’m reading The Undoing this weekend.

    His American Detective(5 stars): m/m victorian-historical. American Patrick tracks down English Edmund to ask him questions about a crime that Edmund witnessed when he was a kid
    Chasing Thunderbird(4 stars): Dreamspun Beyond book. Human Simon starts teaching at a small collage, but he doesn’t know its a collage for shifters.
    Liam Davis & The Raven(4 stars): m/m contemporary, new adult. Im not that into contemporary but I’ve loved every Anyta Sunday book Ive read so far
    What it looks like (4 stars): m/m Ex-con dating a police chief inspector’s son. This book was intense.
    Hamilton’s Battalion (5 stars): All three stories were good but i loved, loved, loved the first one

    Trail of Lightning(4 Stars): Picked this up on recommendation from you guys, I’ve passed the recommendation on to others
    Kingmaker’s daughter(2 stars): I read this for my book club. Its my first P.Gregory book. I didn’t like the style of writing and I REALLY didn’t like the main character. I didn’t feel like she did anything to shape her destiny

  6. I’ve been busy, so I’ve been eyeing my TBR pile longingly instead of getting to read anything for fun.

    But I’m looking forward to reading FIGHT OR FLIGHT by Samantha Younger, THE WEDDING DATE by Jasmine Guillory, and ONE AND ONLY by Jenny Holiday.

    I’m also in the mood to start reading some holiday books, like THE CHRISTMAS SISTERS by Sarah Morgan.

    Also, I just binged out BODYGUARD on Netflix. It was interesting. It started off as one thing and then sort of morphed into something completely different by the end.

  7. DiscoDollyDeb says:

    If you’re looking for some book recommendations (and which of us isn’t?), check out the “Read More Romance” section of Sarah MacLean’s website where she maintains an occasionally-updated list of recommended reads. The list comprises a wide variety of romances (historical, contemporary, paranormal, steampunk, etc.) and includes a sentence or two about why Sarah recommends each book. I’ve found several wonderful new-to-me authors and books on that list. It’s worth a look.

    Which brings me to a MacLean recommendation which became one of my favorite reads of the year: the beautifully-written, emotionally-nuanced FOR REAL by Alexis Hall. It’s an m/m bdsm romance with both an age-gap and social-class differences (the book is set in London and elements of the British class system permeate much of how the characters see each other and themselves). The book defies easy expectations, starting with the power dynamics between the two main characters: it is the older man (a wealthy, 37-year-old, Oxford-educated doctor) who is the sub in the relationship; and the 19-year-old poetry-quoting greasy-spoon cook is the budding dom (he’s never handled a flogger before—but he know what he wants). Hall does an amazing job of writing the book in two completely different voices—one eloquent, assured, but scared of another heartbreak and what people will think of his May-December romance; the other jittery, unfiltered, his thoughts a mishmash of classical and pop culture, but absolutely confident in a way that only the very self-aware can be. The couple’s sexual and emotional blossoming is gorgeously written and will give you all the feels. Even if m/m and/or bdsm are not your usual catnips, I highly recommend this one. (By the way, I’ve seen two different covers for the book, both of which do a nice job of communicating the essentials of the relationship between the two men.)

    In Skye Warren’s Trust Fund duet, SURVIVAL OF THE RICHEST and THE EVOLUTION OF MAN, a woman loves two very different men and can’t decide with which one she’d be happier. It’s an indication of how good Warren’s writing is that I couldn’t decide either and, just like the heroine, went back and forth between the two heroes. Because of stipulations in her very wealthy father’s will, the heroine’s enormous trust fund is under the control of her stepbrother—a man she hates and loves in equal measure. She thinks her stepbrother is the only man she could ever love, until she meets his business partner, the stepbrother’s opposite in every way except in his drive to amass wealth. Let the heart lacerations begin! Despite several emotionally-fraught three-way sex scenes, this is not a ménage story where the heroine gets an HEA with both men; choices must be made. Using images and symbolism involving Medusa and Cleopatra, Warren’s timely theme is how very rich men use their wealth to control the world and, by extension, the women in it. There are also some appearances here by characters from previous Warren books—including a lovely dinner scene where we catch up with Beatrix and Hugo from ESCORT.

    Cara McKenna’s HARD TIME was one of those books that, ten pages in, I absolutely knew was going to be another favorite read of the year—and I was not wrong. So much catnip—librarian heroine, incarcerated (later, paroled) hero, secretly-exchanged love letters (he writes them to her as part of the class she teaches at the correctional facility)—and so beautifully written. As usual with McKenna, both h&h are thoughtful people who talk, argue, listen, compromise. I liked that the heroine was not starry-eyed about her involvement with an ex-con; I admired the hero’s love and loyalty to his family—even when those emotions appeared to be misplaced. Add in some realistic conflicts (from both outside and within the relationship) and some incredibly steamy sex scenes—and, voila!, a favorite read of 2018.

    DRIVING HER WILD is another reliably good romance from Meg Maguire (aka, the above-referenced Cara McKenna). It is set in the same Boston-area boxing/MMA gym where MAKING HIM SWEAT and TAKING HIM DOWN (which I read and enjoyed last month) are also set. WILD’s heroine is a retired MMA fighter who is hired by the gym to lead jujitsu classes and help train fighters. (I’m not much of a gym rat, to put it mildly, but I felt Maguire did a good job of showing an athlete who is in incredible shape, enjoys being active and working out, and is at ease and in tune with her body.) Because she was raised in difficult financial circumstances, the heroine’s goal is to meet an established professional man with a steady income and she joins an upscale matchmaking program hoping to do so. Instead, her head is turned by the electrician who is doing some upgrading work on the gym’s electrical system. They share an Irish heritage and incredible sexual chemistry, but will that be enough when financial security is on the line?

    The late, great movie critic Roger Elbert once observed that fiction doesn’t have to be accurate but it must feel authentic. I thought of that as I read Lexi Ryan’s very entertaining DIRTY, RECKLESS LOVE—where the narrative is driven by a character with…AMNESIA! I have no idea if anything presented in the book about retrograde amnesia is medically factual, but it seemed completely credible (the heroine loses her memory after being badly beaten by an unknown assailant). I thoroughly enjoyed the book: there’s a love triangle, a very flawed boyfriend, a large cast of secondary characters, and an intriguing suspense element which is uncovered gradually as the heroine’s memories slowly return and she starts remembering the events (including her growing feelings for her boyfriend’s best friend) that lead up to her attack. Also interesting was the heroine’s previous happiness (including sexual pleasure) with the man she was involved with prior to her attack—a man who struggled with drug addiction, a man who is not the hero of the story. I thought that was refreshing: a woman who has been happy with a man other than her eventual true love. Key quote: “It’s amazing the things we endure when we fall in love with the best version of a person. We become afraid to lose them even at their worst.” This was my first Lexi Ryan (not to be confused with Lexi Blake, Kendall Ryan, or Kennedy Ryan), but it won’t be my last. (Also, although billed as a stand-alone, I think DIRTY, RECKLESS LOVE would work best when read in order with the rest of the books in Ryan’s Boys of Jackson Harbor series because there are some spoilers about events that happen concurrently in the earlier books plus several backstories that are developed over the course of the series.)

    I continued my stroll through Caitlin Crews’s Harlequin Presents category romances with A ROYAL WITHOUT RULES and THE DISGRACED PLAYBOY (both recommended last month by Iris in a WAYR exchange about Crews’s books). The two books have heroes who appear to be dissolute but use that image as a cover for the pain of traumatic family secrets. Both heroines are typical of the thoughtful and intelligent heroines in the HP line. I especially liked the heroine of A ROYAL WITHOUT RULES: she’s descended from a long line of royal mistresses and has always been ashamed of her family’s reputation. As the story progresses, she slowly comes to terms with her ancestors and their royal liaisons—especially after she becomes involved in one herself.

    Crews’s HIS FOR A PRICE and HIS FOR REVENGE are interconnected books about siblings (the sister is the heroine of the first book, her brother is the hero of the second) whose lives have been overshadowed by the brutal death of their mother when they were children. They are both forced into marriages in order to save the family’s business. I really liked REVENGE which has a plus-sized heroine who is writing her Master’s thesis on Gothic novels. The heroine’s family is awful (Crews lays their awfulness on a bit thick, but that ties in with the gothic undertone of the story) and they force her into marriage with the hero. PRICE was a bit more problematic since the hero (and, by extension, Crews) seem to think what is obviously a case of PTSD on the heroine’s part (she has had nightmares every night since her mother died) could easily be cured by luuurve. Yeah, it really doesn’t work that way.

    THE GUARDIAN’S VIRGIN WARD was the first Caitlin Crews book that I’ve really had trouble with—I think because it read as if the much-older hero was apparently “grooming” the heroine since she was 12, when she lost her parents and he (her parents’ business partner) became her guardian. I don’t mean there was anything physically inappropriate between them (the book is at pains to explain that the h&h did not see each other for ten years after he became her guardian), but there’s still a sense that he designed her life from afar to suit his plans for her. I found the hero to be far too controlling with many strict, non-negotiable requirements for the heroine’s public and private behavior. I never felt the heroine truly had a chance to become herself before she had to step into the role the hero created for her. I can’t recommend this one—the power balance between h&h is too one-sided.

    I did read another of Crews’s books, UNLEASHED, which is published by Harlequin’s Dare line (I haven’t been particularly impressed with the Dare line overall, but that’s another story for another time). The heroine is a college professor whose academic focus is cultural attitudes toward sex. She gets stranded by a snowstorm in an Icelandic hotel that caters to the sexual fantasies of consenting adults. The hero is the hotel owner (his name is Thor—Dare books are really not into subtleties). A push-pull of attraction and attitudes ensues. The heroine believes sexual expression should be primarily an intellectual exercise; she can never get out of her own head. The hero sees sex as a purely physical pleasure with no need for an emotional or cerebral component. They each have things they can learn from the other, if they can stop debating (and shagging) long enough to listen. There are a lot of interesting ideas in UNLEASHED, particularly in the nexus of academia, feminism, politics, self-determination, and sexual desire/fantasy/satisfaction. In fact, there were so many ideas circulating throughout the book, they almost overwhelmed the love story. Have you read it? I’m interested in what other readers in the Bitchery thought of UNLEASHED and its various sexual theories.

    Also in this month’s Dare collection was Jackie Ashenden’s KING’S PRICE. Despite the fact that Ashenden is one of my favorite writers, I had not cared for the books she’s previously published through the Dare line, but that changed with KING’S PRICE. It’s a forced marriage story with a crime boss hero who is trying to move into legitimate business and a scientist heroine who has been celibate since being the victim of a leaked sex tape. The story is a perfect example of Ashenden’s themes and tropes: distant/dead/absent/abusive parents? Check. Unresolved traumatic events from years ago poisoning the present? Check. Hero and heroine being the only people who can understand the other because of similar life events? Check. Hero and heroine both in possession of extraordinary eye color and smelling of the appropriate sandalwood/soap/floral/musk combination? Check. An interesting element of the story is that the hero is “pretty” (he uses this adjective about himself several times, not in a positive way), while the heroine has always thought of herself as skinny and plain, especially in comparison with her curvier, glamorous sister. As usual with many of the Dare books I’ve read (regardless of author), I found some of the conflicts to be simultaneously overdone and yet too easily resolved, but all-in-all, I felt Ashenden was back in the game with this book and look forward to subsequent books in the Kings of Sydney series—although by now I’ve basically given up hope that Ashenden will ever complete her Texas Bounty series.

    I may be revealing a somewhat provincial attitude, but I’ve always been convinced that “Reverse Harem” romances are primarily written by men (regardless of the name on the cover) and are little more than a throwback to 1970s gang-rape porn. My opinion remains fairly firm on that score, but I must admit Annika Martin’s funny and sexy THE HOSTAGE BARGAIN (the first book in her Taken Hostage By the Kinky Bank Robbers series) transforms a rather sordid trope into something fresh and entertaining. The heroine is a bank teller, miserable in her job, and responsible for her younger sisters and their sheep/dairy/wool farm. She’s a bit of an adrenaline junkie and, when three bank robbers show up in zombie masks at her workplace, she ends up assisting them in the robbery and leaving with them as a hostage—but very quickly she decides she wants to stay with these three diverse (but all extremely intelligent and smoking hot) men. As usual with Martin, the book is full of humor, heat, and heart. Recommended—as long as you have no objections to a book with a heroine who has multiple sex partners, often simultaneously.

    Lily Danes is a new-to-me writer whose KISS OF A STRANGER was a freebie download. It’s a well-written book with an interesting premise: an ex-con, after serving time for a crime he didn’t commit, plans to uncover the truth about the man who set him up; to do that, he needs to get close to the man’s personal assistant—a woman totally unaware of what her boss may have done. A “fake” courtship begins, but the closer the hero gets to the heroine, the more he questions his own plan. This is a bit of a slow-burn romance and is also the first book in a series—so lots of secondary characters and parts of their backstories are introduced. If you can handle that—along with a rather obvious villain—KISS OF A STRANGER is worth a look.

    [CW: child sexual abuse, death] A. Zavarelli’s CONFESS (the first book in her new Sin City Salvation series) starts right in the middle of the action: a woman is showing her fiancé incriminating photos of him and another woman. Needless to say, he doesn’t remain her fiancé much longer, but not before he ponies up a huge payoff. The now-single woman next appears in Las Vegas where, in order to protect her younger sister, she is forced into marriage with a much older man whose controlling behavior the heroine finds simultaneously restrictive and comforting (there’s a DDLG subtext running through their relationship). The book then goes back and teases out the stories of these two people and how they ended up where they are. The book is quite dark, with references to past child abuse and sexual molestation (mostly off-page, but there are a few flashbacks) and the long-ago death of another child. [SPOILER AHEAD] There’s also an emotionally-exhausting plot point where, for several chapters, both the heroine and the reader are permitted to think the worst has happened to the hero (I kept flashing back to Natasha Knight’s SERGIO, where the worst DID happen). Zavarelli did a good job resolving and explaining the situation, but I didn’t like feeling manipulated—although maybe the manipulation was Zavarelli’s goal, so we’d empathize with the heroine. [END SPOILER] Recommended if you like fairly dark. [Also, please note: The term “gypsy” is used throughout the book to refer to the Romani people and their culture. Although Zavarelli presents the Romani community in a positive light, I understand they consider the word “gypsy” to be pejorative. Zavarelli should have used their preferred term to refer to themselves—and she certainly should have given her heroine a name other than, you guessed it, Gypsy.]

    At first Layla Frost’s GIVE IN irritated me because of Frost’s frequent incorrect use of objective-case pronouns (sorry—I try not to be a grammar nazi, but sometimes I slip up; on the other hand, it’s the only kind of nazi I will ever be), but I quickly got absorbed in the story: while attending a buddy’s bachelor party at a strip club, a college professor discovers one of his students working there. A see-sawing power dynamic ensues involving lap dances, classroom shenanigans, spankings, and other d/s behaviors—with both hero and heroine feeling powerless against the other—and things progress from there. Key quote: “We were a dysfunctional pendulum—a wrecking ball swinging between bitter animosity and unrelenting desire. Both had the power to hurt. Only one would inevitably destroy me.” A perfect example of how a not particularly well-written book (college-level Political Theory assignments seem more like 8th grade Civics class projects, female orgasms are apparently subject to male thought-control experiments, and achieving state-wide political office before the age of thirty is perfectly do-able for a former stripper) can be made captivating with enough angst, emotion, and—oh yeah—a really evocative cover.

    Leslie North’s IN SAFE HANDS was a ho-hum bodyguard/enforced proximity romance with North trying waaaay too hard to ratchet up the sexual tension between a former cop and the mobster’s daughter he’s assigned to protect. There’s insta-lust (on both sides), followed by exchanges of adolescent double-entendres and verbal sniping that the characters found sexy but left me rolling my eyes. Plus there were small details that took me right out of the story: how, in a supposedly completely isolated safe house in the wilds of Wyoming, did a newspaper get delivered? “No one can find us. No one knows where we are.” Well, I thought, other than the person who delivered that newspaper! This is the first book in a series, but I’m not interested in reading any further.

  8. K.N.O’Rear says:

    This month has been busy, so I haven’t read more than a few books.

    Read:

    HIS VERY OWN GIRL by Carrie Lofty.
    My favorite part of of the book was the historical detail because it’s in there in droves and I ate it up with a spoon. I also loved the tragic aspect of a romance during Wartime(specifically WWII) which made for a beautiful romance where you heart just went out to the hero and heroine.I highly recommend this book, especially if you are a WWII buff.

    FOUNTAIN of DREAMS by Jose Litton
    This was one of those books that sounded incredibly interesting based on the description, but when I finished the book I immediately forgot the characters names and what exactly it was about since the book was so incredibly generic.

    Reading:
    AMARANTHA by Melanie Jackson
    I picked this book up because it looked like a fun gothic read and while that’s the case to a degree, it leans more towards adventure and a rather generic one at that. Not to mention it is really dense. I’ll still finish it since I have less than 100 pages left, but I really can’t recommend it to anyone.

  9. SusanH says:

    I’ve been doing a lot of re-reading over the past few months, working my way through the first six of Suzanne Brockmann’s Troubleshooter books, Courtney Milan’s Brothers Sinister series, and some of Sarina Bowen’s True North. They are all as good as I remembered.

    MY LORD AND SPYMASTER by Joanna Bourne was a wonderful read. I haven’t read any of her novels before, but I’m hoping to work through all of them soon. After burning out on romances with modern characters dressed in ballgowns, I really appreciated reading a historical that had characters who spoke and thought more like their time period. I also liked that it was set firmly in the more squalid reality of the 1800s, with characters who will never drink ratafia at Almack’s.

    Alyssa Cole’s A DUKE BY DEFAULT was a fun read, but I found myself wishing she had dropped the royal plotline. It seemed contrived and unnecessary, when there was already plenty going on in the book. I’m just so tired of dukes. I might have been less annoyed if I read it at a different time. But the characters were great and I enjoyed the descriptions of the swordmaking studio.

    I also read DEAR MR. KNIGHTLEY, which I had mixed feelings about. The book is an updated version of Daddy Long Legs, which I read for the first time a year or two ago. I felt this book didn’t really bring anything new to the original story, and it occasionally became Christian in a very awkward manner. Those scenes felt like they’d been inserted after the fact, rather than being an integral part of the narrator’s development.

  10. Lostshadows says:

    I only finished three books this month and one was a reread.

    Night and Silence, by Seanan McGuire. Book 12 in the October Daye series. I was really looking forward to this and it did not disappoint.

    Rosemary and Rue, by Seanan McGuire. Book 1 in the October Daye series. It occurred to me that I’d never reread any of this series and I hadn’t read this one since 2013. I didn’t enjoy it as much as the more recent books, it suffers a bit from that thing first books do*, but it held up well.

    Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson. I really liked this, but it could have used more female characters. For the first book in a trilogy, this can work pretty well as a standalone novel. (Between the ending and the titles of the next two books, I’m pretty sure I know where the story is going.)

    I’m currently reading:

    Renegades, by Marissa Meyer. Superheroes and moral ambiguity are my catnip. Bought a copy when I realized my library copy was about to expire, so hopefully the ending doesn’t suck.

    The Language of Thorns, by Leigh Bardugo. Fairy tales and really pretty artwork that grows in the margins. (Do not flip ahead to look at the pretty pictures unless you wish to risk spoilers. Oops.) There set in the same world as Six of Crows and such, but they completely stand alone. I’ve only read the first two so far, but I enjoyed them.

    *The MC ends up having to meet up with, or at least mention, most of the important supporting characters from the rest of the series, for a variety of reasons.

  11. Lostshadows says:

    Ack! “They’re” not “There”

  12. Alexandra says:

    I have a mountain of picture books to go through right now. Our library is having their semi-annual book sale! Imagine a conference room with tables lining every wall, then 6 rows of 4 tables in the middle, all covered in boxes two-deep and 6 across of books (plus another small room filled in the same way but only 12 tables or so) with all the hard cover books being only fifty cents and the soft cover books a mere quarter. I’m trying to get a good base-stock for my future classroom (next fall!) and the book sale is a treasure trove. My favorites so far are The Rooster Prince of Breslov, a Yiddish folktale, and Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns: A Muslim Book of Colors. The former is hilarious and I love folktales, and the latter is so beautiful. I’m also trying really hard to make sure I get books that cover every single culture, which I think is really important for a classroom, and there are so many good finds. I could only go for 10 minutes yesterday, but bought 60 books (for $25!), so I’m going back today and doing another look-through and getting some books for myself. Eventually I’ll need to go through everything and sort it and weed out some of the books, but right now I’m just joyous that when I do start teaching my book budget from the school can be used for specifically for quality and filling in gaps, rather than just trying to cobble together collection.

    For my own reading, I’ve been in a bit of a book slump. I’ve started and put down several books that I could see were good, but weren’t grabbing me. Books I’ve read and actually loved:

    Roni Loren’s The One Who Got Away and The One You Can’t Forget- IDK why I put off buying these for so long, but I saw them on The Book Queen’s Amazon storefront and picked them up. Amazing! I was worried they’d be too dark for me right now, bc I’m tired and stressed all the time, but they were perfect.

    The Craftsman by Sharon Bolton- IDK why I think I only want happy, light things, bc I loved this book (horror/suspense, not romance). The heroine is a high up British police officer visiting the town she lived in when she first started on the force, 20-30 years prior, for the funeral of her first big arrest. While there she discovers things may not have been what they seemed and the book interweaves the timeline of the case back then and what’s going on in the present. I couldn’t put it down, Bolton never disappoints.

    Sara Rider’s Real Kind of Love and Make Me Fall- A+++ books. The first has a fake relationship between a narrator for audiobooks and a microbrewery owner and the second is an enemies/neighbors-to-lovers story but with like, the kind of enemies that makes sense for a smallish-town contemporary, where the hero is always using his power tools and mowing his lawn during the heroine’s book club and she leaves him passive aggressive notes to STFU. Very low-key enemies.

    Beastly Desires and What a Bear Wants by Nikki Winters- These were good. Shifter books with loads of hot sex and a good plot. There’s the whole “one sniff and it was obvious we are forever-mates” thing, which I don’t love, but overall I did really like the books.

    Hailey Edwards’ Beginners Guide to Necromancy series- I started a few of her other series, but the Necromancy one was my favorite. 4 books so far, more UF than PR. A necromancer was wrongfully imprisoned in a horrific place for 6 years for crime she didn’t commit, and the book starts just after she was released. There’s some romance, but veeeery slow burn and doesn’t pick up until the 4th (and latest) book. There’s also an interactive house, similar to The Innkeeper series and dealing with PTSD and lots of stuff on friendship.

    Jenn Bennett’s Arcadia Bell series- I read this and liked, but not loved it, then saw a thing on Twitter about writing Asian characters and racist stereotypes to avoid and no specific book/series was mentioned but I think a character from this book was referenced. So that’s bad. Also, in the 4th books *SPOILER* the heroine is pregnant and casts a spell on herself to make her forget she’s pregnant so the baddies won’t know she’s pregnant bc they can read her mind, which also means she does a lot of stuff that is not recommended for pregnant ladies bc it’s dangerous for the baby. All 4 books have the same overarching villain, so to get closure you have to read all 4, but it’s my least favorite and if I could go back in time I’d skip it.

    Also read most of the back lists of Ainsley Booth, Charlotte Stein, and Eve Dangerfield. Loved all of them, with my personal favorites being Personal Delivery, Telling Tales, and Locked Box.

    AND, just finished The Immortals by Jordanna Max Brodsky and loved it. In it, the Greek Gods and Goddesses were real and have been losing powers and aging over the past hundreds of years bc nobody worships them anymore. The heroine is Seline aka Artemis, and she beats up bad guys who hurt women, then finds a dead body and realizes someone is sacrificing women as a form of worship, so she teams up with a classics professor to solve the mystery and get the bad guys and it was very well done. My library has the next two books so I’m going to grab them when I’m over there today

  13. Perrine says:

    @Kate, have you seen the 1963 film “The Haunting”? It is based on the Shirley Jackson novel and is the most terrifying movie I have ever seen. There is no gore or blood and there are no images of ghosts. It’s all suggestion and just terrifying. Wonderful cast, too – Claire Bloom, Julie Harris. I have not seen the Netflix series, though, so don’t know how it compares.
    As for reading, I really enjoyed the Guido la Vespa trilogy, by Veronica Bell, recommended by my romance-loving housemate. My preferred is the Christmas romance “Amore and Pinot Grigio” but all three are good fun and the heroines are independent and smart. (I’m glad I got beyond the cover on the first one, which is not so great.) All have heroes or heroines (sometimes both) helping abandoned animals. I also loved “Not another Family Wedding” by Jackie Lau. Great read!
    @AnotherKate, I adored “A Princess in Theory”. ;
    Re-read “Angle of Repose” by Wallace Stegner – beautiful story, inspiring.
    Still on the wait list at the library for the Bob Woodward Trump book.

  14. Jill says:

    I read Sandhya Menon’s From Twinkle, With Love. I happy cried for like half of it, it gave me such feels. It does have one of my least favorites features of YA toward the end and it irritates me, but the rest was lovely.

  15. JenM says:

    I just finished Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating and it was so cute. I think some readers found Hazel to be over the top and too outrageous but I’ve known people like her and they are absolute joys to be around – not afraid to say what they think and march to a slightly different drummer. That always inspires me to push my own limits and take more chances. I also loved that she accepted herself and had realized that it wasn’t worth it to try to tone herself down just to get a guy, although she did have some moments of self-doubt (as we all do). Plus, Josh, the hero is Korean and an absolute dreamboat.

    I made a bookish resolution this year to read more non fiction, but slacked off over the summer, so when a close friend took a trip to Mongolia, I decided to read Jack Weatherford’s Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. It’s rather dense so I’ve had to read in small chunks but it’s fascinating. I never understood how the Mongols created such a far flung empire or how much influence Genghis Khan had in creating traditions that live on today. He was truly a visionary and I still can’t figure out how this one man rose so high. The author also has a book out on the Mongol Queens (I think it may have been reviewed here?) and I think that is going on the TBR list.

    Right now, I’m reading Barbarous by Minerva Spencer after reading and loving her first book, Dangerous. She takes harem and Barbary pirate tropes and gives them just a bit of a twist and makes them fresh again. I’m also reading and enjoying Not Another Family Wedding by Jackie Lau which I picked up after a mention here a week or so ago. The heroine is 36, a climatologist, slightly cranky, happily childless, and sick and tired of everyone asking her when she’s going to get married and start having babies. This is someone I can relate to 100%. We need more happily childless people in romance!

  16. Reetta R says:

    I started a new (to me) Urban Fantasy Charlie Davidson series by Darynda Jones. The first book is called First Grave on the Right. The heroine is a PI who sees dead people. She is also a portal through which the souls of good people pass into the other side. She has a scorching hot relationship with a mysterious man who appears in her dreams.

    I love the snarky voice of the series. There is a good mix of humor and grimness. The series will conclude with the 13th book coming out early next year.

    The 9th book (The Dirt on Ninth Grave) is a pretty perfect Halloween book since it’s set to autumn and features the Headless Horseman ghost. Also, the heroine has amnesia and is freaked out by seeing dead people so it’s kind of a second starting point to the series.

    I’m really looking forward to the end of October since then comes out Jeaniene Frost’s Shades of Wicked and Nalini Singh’s Archangel’s Prophecies.

  17. JJB says:

    I got a few, mostly short things done in the past month, all pretty good to excellent:

    THE LEGEND OF KORRA: TURF WARS PART THREE – the GN continuation of the fantastic series, which I have been mostly liking. I don’t generally enjoy comics/superhero anything (the Avatar is basically a superhero imo) where the protagonist’s girlfriend gets kidnapped unless it is handled just right, but I think this vol established that Asami was taken because of who she is as much as because she’s Korra’s girlfriend, which helps. I am having trouble remembering what’s going on between volumes and the art could be a bit better, but I am enjoying it overall. I am definitely going to keep going with the series; it’s a medium where Korra and Asami can actually kiss!

    THE BEAR AND THE NIGHTINGALE by Katherine Arden – I LOVED THIS. I feel like I’m constantly seeing recs for adult fairytale type books with pretty covers and that’s probably why I waited so long on this one–but I finally broke and I’m so glad I did. I loved the heroine and the story…everything really! I can’t wait to read the next one (just in time for the last to come out early next year.) Def has some CW/TWs associated, for the record.

    THE LADY’S GUIDE TO PETTICOATS AND PIRACY by McKenzie Lee – quite liked this one, too. I don’t think it’s getting quite the hype of GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE, but I honestly felt like it’s better. More interesting relationships and I felt like the fantastical element was handled much more to my liking, at least. The feminist language did feel very modern (not because it’s feminist, but because it’s sounds like it was written last week. I could be way off base, though, as I’m not up on historical feminist writings), but it was still nice to read and I’m sure will be even better for younger ppl… I really liked the romance/friendships and that the plot ended up being more complex than I had initially thought it might be. But I think the main female characters were my favorite part of the book. And the historical note at the end! (I loved BYGONE BADASS BROADS, so I’m always ready for Lee to talk about awesome ladies of history.)

    THE MAKING OF OUTLANDER: THE OFFICIAL GUIDE TO SEASON ONE AND TWO by Tara Bennett – a bit repetitive at the start, so much that I had to check that each chapter wasn’t written by a different person, but then it was fine so IDEK. I wanted to get into the show again for s4, but I wasn’t ready for a full rewatch and didn’t feel like just rewatching s3 yet, and this ended up being a nice way to do that. Not the most amazing making-of book, probably because there’s no concept art, but very enjoyable and quick.

    THE DAILY COYOTE: TEN YEARS IN PHOTOGRAPHS by Shreve Stockton. This is the single-printing followup to THE DAILY COYOTE that came out last year via the author. I have a bad habit of getting awesome books and then waiting forever to read them, but I think right now was when I needed to read it… There isn’t much text, but what is there is very powerful, and of course the photos are great (many were unreleased, I think, and many have made it onto her calendars etc. but are still great to have in a book…and two that I have on my wall!) This book isn’t available anywhere, as far as I know, unless someone sells their copy on ebay.
    I do wish I’d picked something better for my name in the back, tho; some people had really memorable stuff in there.

    And I’m just starting Confessions of the Fox: A Novel
    by Jordy Rosenberg… I’m not sure I have the attention span for it atm but it looks interesting. I am feeling thoroughly lost on what to read in general, so I might switch to something else.

    TV has been where it’s at for me lately: Daredevil s2, Anne with an E s2, Bodyguard s1–all absolutely fantastic in different ways. And the sadly-canceled Iron Fist had in its second season what is for me perhaps one of the best superhero romances I’ve seen or read: Danny and Colleen have had something really nice since season one, but in this season I felt like they achieved a kind of parity, a power balance, I don’t generally see in canon superhero ships (probably why I’m always shipping “officially just friends” couples, lol!) and while there was tension, there weren’t any, hmmm, overdramatic cliche threats to their relationship. And their growth as individuals was never sacrificed for shippiness. Don’t wanna give away how the season ends, but it felt right while definitely needing continuation. I hope Marvel finds a way to finish their story/stories ASAP.

  18. DonnaMarie says:

    @Perrine, YES! I’ve been telling people for decades that The Haunting is the scariest movie ever. No gore, no gratuitous bodies, just camera angles and atmosphere that takes over your imagination. For years, when my brothers would come in late at night, they would bang on the wall as they went down the hall to their bedrooms because the hallway shared the wall with mine. Bastards. They are the best brothers.

    My reading? Well, as mentioned in Carrie’s review, The Fated Stars was responsible for several mornings of Bad Decisions Book Club. Really enjoyed it, absolutely recommend it. A protagonist you can totally root for. People in space. Social issues, tragedy, team building, and sciencing.

    There was also a Christina Lauren catch up with >i>Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating and Dating You/Hating You. I do love the way they write the give and take of relationships, as well as that the relationships don’t exist in a vacuum. Everyone has friends, families, jobs. Love and Other Words is up after some atmospheric, seasonal reads: Treacherous is the Night and This Side of Murder both from Anna Lee Huber and Sherry Thomas’ latest Lady Sherlock.

  19. Well, @Deborah could not have written a better crazysauce pitch to me on that Jennie Lucas book if she tried. To the library!

    It’s been a pretty good reading month for me overall. I’ve really enjoyed getting into Laura Griffin’s Tracers series after reading TOUCH OF RED on the recommendation of SBTB’s Instastory. It’s a series that feels like if Nora Roberts and Susan Mallery got together to write interconnected thrillers that feel like a small town romance series. Very light, very good for my brain this month.

    Reread THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by the goddess Shirley Jackson and remembered why she is everything. So good

    THE SEVEN AND A HALF DEATHS OF EVELYN HARDCASTLE by Stuart Turton was good and a fun isolated house genre bender of a mystery, but not quite as amazing as the hype had led me to believe.

    THE PHANTOM TREE by Nicola Cornick was an excellent historical fiction/mystery/time travel thing that felt right for fall, would definitely recommend

    The latest Argeneau Vampire book from Lynsay Sands (I think VAMPIRES LIKE IT HOT?) was a real let down. I think that series is going to be demoted into my “read it when you get to it” group, rather than on first release. It just has a LOT of problematic shit in it that I can tell the author wants to subvert, but it just didn’t work for me, and it felt like a chore to read.

    And finally for those looking for another sex worker/client to love trope contemporary that isn’t entirely problematic after THE KISS QUOTIENT, I really enjoyed ESCORTED by Claire Kent (aka Noelle Adams). Not perfect, but I thought it had an interesting exploration of the power dynamics and emotional relationship between a female client & a male sex worker

  20. MO says:

    I have had a fantastic reading month!
    Reread the first book in the Lady Sherlock series by Sherry Thomas(A Study in Scarlet Women) and then continued on with the next two (A Conspiracy in Belgravia and The Hollow of Fear). Fantastic mysteries in all three and I love how the characters continue to grow. I loved how each book interwove the storylines and mysteries and I definitely did not see the ending of the third book coming. Can’t wait for book 4 with more of Olivia and Charlotte/Lord Ingram!

    Mating the Huntress by Talia Hibbert. This was my first book by the author but it will not be my last. Was definitely a comfort read because Chastity was a fantastic heroine. I love how the fated mate trope was handled because the heroine still got to choose the hero and he tried not to force that choice on her. The hero was also just the best- so supportive.

    The Broken Girls by Simone St James (TW for attempted suicide, rape, and violence against women and children). THIS BOOK WAS SO GOOD! It centers around two murders, one in 1950’s Vermont and the other in 2014 at Idlewild Hall. There are fantastic female friendships, a ghost and a little romance. This book was everything I wanted and more because both murders focus on those forgotten by society and how the police mishandled both.

    Jane Doe by Victoria Helen Stone. I bought this book based on Elyse and SBSarah’s recommendation and I was not disappointed. The main character avenging her friends death and taking down the men responsible was the best!

    Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzie Lee. Another fantastic read. Explores how women have to continue to fight for the same rights as men through the three female main characters. Loved Felicity and her friends and also the cameos of characters from the first book. If you enjoyed The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue this book does not disappoint.

  21. CelineB says:

    I had a good reading month although a lot of it wasn’t romance. Here’s the highlights:

    DUCHESS BY DESIGN by Maya Rodale- I am so glad that I won this in a Goodreads giveaway because I would not have gotten around to it until who knows when otherwise. This is one of the best books I’ve read all year. @Jill Q, I think this might be just the read you need. I know it felt like just the book I needed after all that. It’s set in the Gilded Age and has a heroine who is actually independent working as a seamstress to a goal of opening her own store featuring her own designs (dresses with pockets!). She really does not want a husband. The hero has to marry for money because he feels a sense of obligation to his mother, sisters, and employees so he goes to NY to bag himself an heiress. Despite needing money, he lives in the privileged bubble that is the aristocracy. He and the heroine meet cute in a hotel lobby and from there he gets his eyes open to what life is like for a women who has to earn her living in that time. He actually listens to the heroine and is open to learning about the world outside his bubble. The conflict of his needing an heiress and her not wanting to give up her independence is handled so well. All the supporting characters are well-developed including the ‘rival’ to the heroine who is liked by both the hero and the heroine and has her own passion outside of balls and society. There is so much women helping, supporting, and empowering women in this book. It was so refreshing. Just please go read this.

    LONG SHOT by Kennedy Layne- After the first chapter I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to join the club of people who love this book. I had a problem with the way the hero and heroine opened up so much to each other in their first meeting. It didn’t feel organic to me. It ended up sucking me in and became another entry in my personal bad decisions book club. I won’t say much about it to not ruin it, but basically all the trigger warnings apply so keep that in mind before trying it.

    THE DUKE I TEMPTED by Scarlett Peckham- This was an interesting companion read to DUCHESS BY DESIGN. It has a lot of the same elements, a woman owning her own business that she’s passionate about with no desire to marry, but it’s darker and hotter. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but felt the pacing was off in some places and a lot of the conflict centered on a lack of communication. The conflict felt authentic because of the time period and the fact that it dealt with what they desired in the bedroom, but it was still drawn out a little too long. I do recommend checking it out.

    AIN’T SHE A PEACH by Molly Harper- Solid and enjoyable although not one I’ll probably remember a lot about a few months from now.

    LETHAL WHITE by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling)- I enjoyed this one although the ending had an element that didn’t really think worked. Overall it’s a good addition to the series.

    THE LADY IS DARING by Megan Frampton- Enjoyable road trip book with a bluestocking heroine that I loved.

    THE JOY LUCK CLUB by Amy Tan- Read for the reading challenge I’m doing, a book recommended by a friend, and I loved it.

    STATION ELEVEN by Emily St. Mandel- I read it for my second selection for the same prompt in my book challenge and found it beautifully written and engaging.

    JOSH AND HAZEL’S GUIDE TO NOT DATING by Christina Lauren- I’m one of the people who couldn’t stand Hazel. I don’t know anyone exactly like Hazel in real life, but I know similar people who lack the self-awareness Hazel has and who have paired with her traits the trait of saying really hurtful things because they just have no filter and not caring and they’re usually irresponsible expecting people to clean up their messes for them. So I did like that Hazel was a self-aware and basically responsible manic-pixie-dreamgirl, I liked that she refused to change for anyone. I may not have liked her character, but she shouldn’t have to change for anyone if she didn’t want to. I did like Josh and the writing was fast-paced and well-done like I expect with this writing team. So basically if Hazel doesn’t bug you, you’ll probably enjoy the book.

    THE 7 1/2 DEATHS OF EVELYN HARDCASTLE (also titled as just 7 without the half due to some sort of titling dispute) by Stuart Turton- This is like a classic British murder mystery combined with Quantum Leap and Groundhog Day. I was interested throughout, but I think it’s a little more style than substance. It’s structure is both what makes it unique and made me want to keep going and what prevented me from connecting to any characters or the story on a deeper level.

    I’m about to start either Someone to Trust by Mary Balogh or The Mortal Word by Genevieve Cogman as my struggle to juggle arcs and library books continues while my huge bought tbr goes ignored as per usual.

  22. Kati says:

    I didn’t realize that I’d read so much this month until I looked at my Goodreads completed list. This was the month of escapism fiction, no thinking necessary. I wanted to be entertained and I did not want anything heavy.

    The Demon’s Lexicon trilogy by Sarah Rees Brennan: I enjoyed this series more than her Lynburn Legacy. I liked the change of narrators for each book and I admit I didn’t notice the problematic colonial themes in the third book that I saw mentioned in other goodreads reviews. But then again see disclaimer above. I was not deep reading.

    A Wallflower Christmas, Marrying Winterborne, The Devil in Spring, Hello Stranger, Again the Magic by Lisa Kleypas. What can I say? It was a Lisa Kleypas month. These books accomplished exactly what I was looking for.

    A Night to Surrender, Once Upon A Winter’s Eve, A Lady by Midnight, When a Scot Ties the Knot, Any Duchess Will Do by Tessa Dare. See above notes concerning Lisa Kleypas. Tessa Dare makes me happy. I wanted to be happy while reading.

    Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco: I love these mysteries and I’ll be sad to say goodbye to Audrey Rose and Thomas after the 4th book comes out next year.

    Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve: I had to read this for my Teen Reads for Grown Ups book club. This book sucked. At least it was short.

    From Duke to Dawn and Counting on a Countess by Eva Leigh: I had high hopes for this author but she just doesn’t do it for me. I found myself losing interest in the middle of both of these books but this was the month of not DNF. I was going to finish what I started. I then removed the 3rd book in the series from my Amazon wishlist. Eva Leigh is just not for me.

    Shadow Fall and Shadow Rise by Audrey Grey: supposed this is supposed to be a trilogy but I haven’t seen a release date on the third book. I enjoyed the first two. Some pacing issues and it did stray close to the border of not having to think and no books making me mad.

    Ross Poldark and Demelza by Winston Graham: I started these because I love the TV show. Quick read. I found myself skimming over some of the description of stuff I didn’t care about but I’ll read the rest of the series.

    The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White: I started off despising all the characters. They are all manipulative jerks and I knew exactly what was going on the whole time. But the end changed my mind and I finished it with a bang and I really loved it.

    Next month plans: more Lisa Klepyas, Sarah MacLean, Sophie Jordan and I will finish the Throne of Glass series if it kills me.

  23. Perrine says:

    @DonnaMarie – yes! Thank you! I mean, I haven’t seen the Netflix series, but I feel like an old curmudgeon when all my young friends are raving about it, and I’m all, “Oh yeah, no way it could be scarier than ‘The Haunting’!”
    Your brothers sound hilarious!
    I honestly cannot watch that movie alone.

  24. Zyva says:

    Finished “Evelina” (Frances Burney). Mostly via the Brit audiobook (Finty Williams, Judy Dench, Geoffrey Palmer).
    Enjoyed it myself. Even epistolary style and each narrator covering all characters not irritating. Apparently it’s try-hard falsetto and false baritone that get on my nerves and make me wish they’d switch over to the gender match voice actors for dialogue. Williams was very versatile.

    Won’t be to all tastes; turns out the book’s commonly singled out for being rather classist, but I reckon there was toxic behaviour (tyrannical elders, misogyny) all over the place, the crass tradies & co were just blunter about it. Kind of “Upper Middle Bogan” gone wrong; you don’t have ‘rough diamonds’ showing up the rich by having hearts of gold instead of empty display, but by being matter-of-fact and self-righteous in *their* bullying, whereas the ‘posh’ try to conceal it under a courtly veneer.

    There was an ugly twist in the true crime podcast world, as the male commentator from Real Crime Profile, in a different pod, pretty much minimised the allegations made by Dr Ford.
    There is no room for that in my world. Pick on someone smaller and your rep dies. It’s not minor, ever. I was *non-sexually* assaulted as a child, had no memory of it though I had nightmares of running for my life (specially jumping, and finally missing and falling) for years, and only got a fuller picture when I had a PTSD flashback decades later (while reading SB Sarah’s novella, as it happens. Apparently that written world created a safe space in my mind for the truth to flow into. (Which was not how I intended it to be safe. I figured I could buy Jewish holidays as heart-warming because I always liked seeing the seasonal supplies on the shelves and imagining people having a good time. But apparently Hannukah is timed too close to Christmas.) …Not that I didn’t know a basic outline of the facts ‘by reputation’. It was legal at the time, after all. Uncontested. Irrelevant. Now it’s family violence, even from non-parent carers. The parent who didn’t pick that babysitter would milk it in the divorce, and quite right too.)

    I still need analytical material, scientific, forensic, to assist me. History and prehistory to unpack. And I have trouble simply aligning myself according to gender or politics: ‘taking sides’ was so frowned on in family law, which was formative for me; and also I have been victimised by people technically on my side of those fences. Not the worst that could happen to anyone and happened to others, but what with critical ages or chronic exposure, it was they who left the biggest memory gaps due to traumatic amnesia.

    So I started not only reading but following Alice Vachss and drawing on the best of my local law enforcement, the latest best practice (outlined in the “Unspeakable” podcast by Vic Police) and the greatest back in the day (cf Liz Porter’s “Written on the Skin”). Some scope for hope in that. (And, TW, a lot of horror in the past and to prevent.)

  25. Maile says:

    It’s so much fun checking out what everyone’s been reading (although both the wallet and TBR are not having as much fun!)

    The highlight of my month was Anyta Sunday’s latest installment in the Signs Of Love series, ‘Pisces Hooks Taurus’. She writes the fluffiest and sweetest stories – I had such a huge smile on my face while reading this.

    Also read Scarlett Peckham’s ‘The Duke I Tempted’ but I found it pretty melodramatic, and not in a good way – it felt like the poor man’s Sherry Thomas. In fact, I was so dissatisfied by this reading experience that I went straight to a couple of Sherry Thomas titles I’d been saving up: ‘Delicious’ was gorgeously written and gave me all the feels, but while ‘Not Quite A Husband’ was equally moving, I found its portrayal of colonial India to be very problematic. Honestly, I expected better from Sherry Thomas.

    I read the first two stories in the anthology ‘How The Dukes Stole Christmas’ – Tessa Dare’s ‘Meet Me in Mayfair’ was predictably lovely and worth the price of admission, but Sarah Maclean’s ‘The Duke of Christmas Present’ was surprisingly disappointing. While second chance romance is my absolute jam, the conflict in this one felt very weak to me. Spoilers ahead: the hero inherits a debt-ridden estate along with his title, and spends all his time working to fix this, consumed by his responsibility for the livelihoods of his tenants. This leaves the heroine feeling neglected, but rather than speak to him about it like a normal person, she drops a few vague hints which he naturally doesn’t pick up, and then abandons him to travel the continent before returning over a decade later. Of course by now he’s turned into Scrooge, but he eventually has a Christmas epiphany and realizes that he was wrong, she was right, and strives to win her back. Maybe I’m inferring too much from the central conflict but the heroine came across as being extremely self-centred and faithless, when she could have instead been a supportive partner to the hero who was genuinely struggling. In contrast, the Tessa Dare novella featured protagonists who each learned from the other and grew as a result of these interactions – this is the kind of character development I want to see in my romance.

    Next up is the fantasy anthology ‘Devil Take Me’ – I’m very excited for this one as it includes a new story from the always brilliant Ginn Hale.

  26. Iris says:

    SEPT 25th –
    This was an amazing month for reading, so many books from series that I have been following, so many were fabulous! Which was a relief because otherwise the news was so bleak and discouraging.

    LOVED:

    A STUDY IN SCARLET WOMEN The Lady Sherlock Series, Bk 1 – Sherry Thomas ***** Re-listen ahead of new book coming out
    A CONSPIRACY IN BELGRAVIA The Lady Sherlock Series, Bk 2 – Sherry Thomas ***** Re-listen ahead of new book coming out

    THE HOLLOW OF FEAR The Lady Sherlock Series, Book 3 – Sherry Thomas ***** I love this series so much and my thoughts could go on for hours and frequently do, as my husband can attest! I love the performances that the women are constantly involved in, the differences between disguising oneself as a different person, an older woman, or a man, for instance but also wearing society’s expectations as a disguise as all the main characters do to some extent. I am hoping, though it doesn’t have to be soon because I was pleased at where Charlotte and Ash’s relationship was left, for a non-traditional HEA for them.

    THE MUSE OF NIGHTMARES – Lainy Taylor ***** 2nd book of a YA fantasy duology. I loved The first Book STRANGE THE DREAMER, and this one is just as good. This series has quests, romance and many fascinating and extremely angry female characters; some with their completely justified hatreds become destructive in their ego-centrism and others who work toward the possibility of forgiveness. Taylor’s world building is amazing and with her abundant use of similes her language is almost but not quite too lyrical. I read this and listened to the audiobook, both were wonderful but I would give the nod to the audiobook. Steve West is an amazing narrator.

    LAST NIGHT WITH THE EARL (The Devils of Dover book 2) Kelly Bowen ***** the first book in the series was great but I think I liked this one even better probably because heroines who are artists, sexually experienced and frustrating are my catnip. Ian and Rose had had a platonic friendship centered around their mutual love of art which was interrupted when he and his best friend Anthony, who happened to be Rose’s fiancee went off to fight Napoleon. 6-ish years later Anthony is dead and Ian is thought to be until he turns up with terrible facial scars at his estate in Dover which Rose and her family have been renting. The counterpoint to Ian’s visible scars are Rose’s internal ones. In the intervening years Rose has been living with the psychological fallout of something that Anthony (and she thought Ian too) had set in motion before leaving for the Continent. The author takes a risk in establishing Rose as a talented and determined woman who suddenly, frustratingly acts in ways that appear to Ian and readers as hypocritical and uncourageous. Rose acknowledges this, she is disappointed in herself, but never doubts that she has a right to protect herself, and she is not required to heal according to anyone else’s wants or timetable.

    AN ACT OF VILLAINY (Amory Ames Mystery Series bk5) Ashley Weaver **** The mystery set in a wealthy and glamorous 1930’s milieu is quite good but it’s the underlying disquiet in the relationship between the main couple which draws me to this series. The male lead, Milo, is in some sense part of the mystery; he’s charming but frustratingly withholding and careless, refusing to relieve Amory’s worries about his rumored but not necessarily actual indiscretions. All the emotional labor is Amory’s while Milo treats everything with detached amusement or boredom. This is not a relationship I’d want to be involved in but the tension adds an element that sets them apart from most married sleuths. Something from Milo’s POV might be interesting as there are hints about his unhappy childhood but I suspect even that wouldn’t really make him completely sympathetic to me.

    MAGIC TRIUMPHS – Ilona Andrews **** A generally excellent finale to Kate’s story although many of the characters and situations seem intentionally unresolved and ready for their close ups. Hopefully the Ilona Andrews team gets right on that. I was glad for more time with Elara and Hugh and I really need one of those KNIGHT IN THE STREETS, WIZARD IN THE SHEETS t-shirts Luther was wearing.

    LETHAL WHITE – Cormoran Strike Bk 4 – Robert Galbraith **** I primarily read these for the relationship between Cormoran and Robin although the cases themselves are intricate and interesting in their own right. This mystery felt less violent than books 2 and 3 which was a relief though there are still disturbing elements to be sure. The relationships, romantic/platonic/wavering play a big role in this book which is great because I think characterization is one of Galbraith/Rowling’s strengths, though it’s less about depth than that the observations and details seem so true and so humane.

    THE FALCON AT THE PORTAL Elizabeth Peters
    HE SHALL THUNDER IN THE SKY Elizabeth Peters – The kindle is wonderful for finding specific sections and characters so I read all my favorite scenes which are nearly all of them during bouts of insomnia

    GOOD:

    MAGIC STARS – Ilona Andrews ***: A short novella within the series starring Julie and Derrick. I read this while I was waiting for MAGIC TRIUMPHS to hit my kindle. I am looking forward to more of this couple (PLEASE!!) now that Kate’s storyline is wrapped up.

    CROWN DUEL – Sherwood Smith *** good but would have liked more interaction between leads.

    THIS SIDE OF MURDER -Verity Kent Mystery bk1 – Anna Lee Huber (3.5) – Re-listen ahead of new book coming out.

    TREACHEROUS IS THE NIGHT – Verity Kent Mystery bk2 – Anna Lee Huber (3) I didn’t like this one quite as well as the first. Though I still found the protagonists intriguing and their relationship struggles believable, I was stressed out by the post WWI setting.

    ONCE A MISTRESS – Rebecca Hagan Lee (3) This was mentioned on a recent HABO and as it was available on kindle unlimited at the time I decided to give it a go. Unusual premise, hero is left at the altar and later discovers that his fiancee was his father’s lover and she is now the mother of his young half-brother. A welcome change in that despite some very large misunderstandings which are not cleared up until the end of the book, for the most part both leads behave like mature adults. I appreciated the hero despite his shock doesn’t wallow in grievance for too long and rather quickly abandons his spiteful plans.

    AS SHADOWS FADE (Gardella Vampire Hunters, Bk5) Colleen Gleason (2.5) Final book in the PR series, ok, but didn’t add anything new.

    A LADY’S GUIDE TO ETIQUETTE AND MURDER – Dianne Freeman (2.5) Historical cozy mystery. I am assuming this will become a series and while it has promise this was somewhat generic. I listened to this as an audiobook and the narrator had a lovely voice but strange intonation.

    MEH:

    WICKED – Susan Johnson (1.5), only the second book I’ve read from her, had the flaws of the other (GORGEOUS AS SIN): immature hero, mad that he has feelings, screws other women to prove something to someone, but without the bookselling bluestocking heroine who I liked from the first book.

    HATED:
    FOOL ME TWICE (Rules for the Reckless #2) – Meredith Duran this was a huge disappointment because I really liked the first bk 1 in the series. The heroine, Olivia was intriguing in bk 1 and continues to be smart and determined and indomitable etc. except no because while working as a housekeeper she becomes involved with a petulant, tantrum throwing duke whose internal and external thoughts are primarily about dominating Olivia, about taking her hopeful, determined personality and wrecking it, with sex, because his pride is hurt. Alastair is awful.

    AFTER THE NIGHT – Linda Howard the only other Linda Howard book I’ve read is Mr Perfect which I didn’t love but it was long ago so when I saw this positively mentioned somewhere(?) I decided to try it. And I loathed it! I absolutely hated the male lead in small ways and large; he constantly refers to the female lead, Faith, as ‘baby’, he justifies bullying behavior as long as its in service to an uninformed and distorted sense of family loyalty and no you jerk, a woman’s orgasm isn’t retroactive consent! A few manly tears and an admission that your hair is long because of a childhood fear of electric trimmers ain’t going to cut it as a redemption arc. Truly vile.

  27. Iris says:

    @Deborah

    I am both horrified and amused to admit that your description nearly had me checking my library for UNCOVERING HER NINE MONTH SECRET by Jennie Lucas? And I am not a lover of crazysauce.

  28. Pat says:

    I only have finished 5 books this month and thoroughly enjoyed them all ( there were also 3 DNF which I hate…waste of time and money!)

    5 stars from me on Goodreads for 3 books in Emma Chases Legal Briefs series…Sustained, Appealed and Sidebarred. Love her writing style and her characters are well defined. Plots, secondary characters andpace all are realistic to me at least which I appreciate .

    I also thoroughly enjoyed the Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory even though I know I am the last person in the universe to read it. Again, strong interesting characters with interesting professional lives.

    And finally since Rae Anne Thayne is an auto read for me, I broke my do not read holiday stories until mid November rule and read her latest, Season of Wonder. Not my favorite of hers but the perfect book for a lazy rainy Sunday in front of a fire.

  29. Lace says:

    I got back to KJ Charles’ A Seditious Affair and A Gentleman’s Position, a while after reading the first in the series. Great explorations of complicated situations.

    And Martha Wells’ Exit Strategy – so glad we’re getting more Murderbot.

    My favorite of the month was Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White. Easy to see why it became a Victorian sensation – a great female character before her time, and a really fun villain.

  30. L. says:

    I finally got my hands on the library copy of Real by Katy Evans. Was this book Bitch reviewed? I’m about a third of the way along and think the title should have been Fluid because there’s just so much.

  31. Carol S. says:

    I just discovered Penny Reid (I know, what took me so long) and am happily nomming through her back list.

  32. AmyS says:

    There aren’t any romance book clubs in my area, so I look forward to this every month to hear what other people are reading and recommend.

    Most all of my hits this month were hockey romance. I read my first Samantha Wayland book and then kept reading more. The one I liked the best was HOME & AWAY. But I also enjoyed TRADED OUT, CRASHING THE NET, and CHECKING IT TWICE. If you like M/M hockey books, you should check these out.

    Not M/M, but still hockey-themed books I liked were THE GOOD LUCK CHARM by Helena Hunting
    and BIG STICK by Kelly Jamieson.

    Another book that ticked off my boxes was BOUGHT BY THE SEAL by Zoe York.

    Books that were just so-so:
    ROUGH & READY by Tracy Wolff
    A NOTORIOUS VOW by Joanna Shupe – – the writing was as good as one expects and the hero being deaf (set in a historical) was interesting, I just never really liked either MCs.

  33. Kareni says:

    Read this month:

    — Laura Spinella’s Echo Moon: this book had a decidedly ominous vibe but was not too frightening for me to read. (I definitely avoid horror as I like to sleep peacefully at night.) It’s the third in a series, and I definitely recommend reading these in order.
    — The Plastic Magician (A Paper Magician Novel) by Charlie N. Holmberg: while the story stands alone in the sense that it introduces new characters, I think one really needs to read the previous books in the series in order to best understand the world.
    — browsed through Jessica Pigza’s BiblioCraft: A Modern Crafter’s Guide to Using Library Resources to Jumpstart Creative Projects which was a rather meaty book. 
    — RR Haywood’s Extracted (Extracted Trilogy, volume 1): The premise of the book was interesting (time travel has made the world go awry, so use time travel to retrieve heroes at the moment of their deaths so that they can go forth and save the day); however, …. There were parts of the book that I think were meant to be amusing but struck me as silly. Also, the book ended with a huge cliffhanger. That said, I read the whole book, so it was somewhat compelling.
    — Lights and Sirens by Lisa Henry: This was an enjoyable Australian set m/m contemporary romance featuring a police officer and a paramedic. It had more depth than many of the romances I’ve recently read; it also had some humor which is always appreciated and a lot of Australian-isms.
    — The Bureau: Volume 1 by Kim Fielding which is a collection of three linked and separately published paranormal novellas, Corruption, Clay White, and Creature. I enjoyed all of the stories though Creature was my favorite.

    — I enjoyed browsing through The Art of Creative Watercolor: Inspiration and Techniques for Imaginative Drawing and Painting by Danielle Donaldson for inspiration in advance of my monthly art gathering.
    — read and enjoyed Mating the Huntress: An Interracial Romance by Talia Hibbert which is a contemporary paranormal romance with an amusing tone.
    — finished Bones (Gothika Book 2) which is an anthology of works by Kim Fielding, Eli Easton, Jamie Fessenden and B.G. Thomas. All four stories deal with voodoo, and I actually feel like I learned a bit about a religion of which I knew little. That said, I don’t think I’ll be in a rush to re-read this.
    — a memoir dealing with autism; it was a relatively easy read ~ Bad Animals: A Father’s Accidental Education in Autism by Joel Yanofsky.
    — If you’re in the mood for a book about people doing kind things for strangers, I’ll recommend Jim DeFede’s The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland which was an enjoyable read.
    — Not A Mistake (Hot Under Her Collar Book 1) by Amber Belldene is a contemporary romance that I enjoyed. What’s novel about this romance is that the heroine is a minister, and the author is herself a minister. 

    — with my husband, listened to Sleeping Giants (The Themis Files Book 1) by Sylvain Neuvel which proved to be enjoyable. It did leave us with questions, and I see now that the book has two sequels. I might read on.
    — listened also to Moriarty: A Novel by Anthony Horowitz and got about half way through the book. I don’t have a desire to hear more, but my husband continued on and enjoyed it. He was massively surprised to the point he said he considered re-reading. He’s more of a Sherlock Holmes fan than I am.
    — enjoyed a re-read of The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison which is a fantasy I recommend for adults and teens.
    — read The Last Days of Night: A Novel by Graham Moore for my book group; it was an enjoyable historical novel.
    — read Sheri Cobb South’s Peril by Post (John Pickett Mysteries) which is the most recent book in a pleasurable historical mystery series. This is a series that should definitely be read in order. [The first book in the series is In Milady’s Chamber.]
    — also enjoyed the author’s free short story, Tales out of School, which precedes the novel above.
    — read and enjoyed Heidi Cullinan’s historical male/male romance A Private Gentleman though there is one big issue that strains credulity. Trigger warning for sexual abuse of children.

    — I quite enjoyed Idyll Fears: A Thomas Lynch Novel and Idyll Hands: A Thomas Lynch Novel which are the second and third books in a mystery series by Stephanie Gayle.
    — read Empire of Bones (Book 1 of The Empire of Bones Saga) by Terry Mixon. (If you happen to have Amazon Prime, this is in their library of books.) I’m a bit surprised to see that the rating on Amazon for this book is about 4.5 out of 5.0, as I was not overly impressed.
    — re-read (yes, again) Katherine Addison’s The Goblin Emperor and also S.K. Dunstall’s Linesman trilogy.
    — Tessa Dare’s enjoyable historical romance The Governess Game was an entertaining read
    — Outbreak: A Nightshades Novel by Melissa F. Olson; I enjoyed the book (the third and final book in the series), but this is definitely a series that should be read in order.
    — re-read (yet again) Anne Bishop’s Lake Silence. While this could stand alone, I’d recommend starting with the author’s other series which begins with Written in Red.

  34. Heather M says:

    My favorite read of the month has been Caitlin Doughty’s From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death, which is an exploration of how different cultures treat death.

    In honor of the season, I reread Frankenstein. I forgot how creepy the whole Elizabeth situation was (sure, fam, let’s basically abduct this child from her peasant family cause she’s pale and blonde and so obviously actually noble, then raise her as our son’s sister but also make sure she’s going to grow up to marry him. Uh…ok.)

    As for romance, KJ Charles’s Band Sinister was predictably delightful. But I think it’s the only romance I got to.

    I’m currently working my way through The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton. It’s a dark fantasy kind of based on King Lear (I don’t quite remember my Lear but I don’t think the plot tracks *exactly*, though I can definitely see the inspiration). It’s pretty incredible and beautiful on a prose level, but it’s really long and dense and taking me longer than I expected. (I don’t usually pick up books longer than 400 pages these days, but I think this one is worth it.)

  35. Ren Benton says:

    I didn’t care for the three romances I read this month, but everything else was pretty good.

    BIRD BOX by Josh Malerman: I yawn at most horror, but there were so many layers of danger, insecurity, and apprehension involved in this end-of-civilization book, every scene ramped up the unease. Even the “happy” ending was rife with new sources of tension that will make me worry about Malorie and her kids at random times for years to come.

    THE HIKE by Drew Magary: Fantasy horror that made me laugh more than it made me anxious. Guy gets “lost” on a hike and is advised by an assortment of strange characters to stay on the path or die, never mind there are plenty of things ON the path that will be happy to kill him. The last quarter or third sloooooows waaaaaay dooooown, but there’s a payoff at the end that made persevering worthwhile.

    EMPEROR’S TOMB by Skyla Dawn Cameron: The third novel about Livi Talbot, disgraced celebutante, single mother, and magical artifact hunter. Plenty of adventure, found-family themes, and an enigmatic tiger shifter in a hot tub (eventually). Livi develops a conscience about her work toward the end of this one, providing a new direction for her to grow in as the series continues instead of doing the same thing over and over again.

    THE ARMORED SAINT by Myke Cole: Traveling to a neighboring village for work, Heloise and her father run into militarized mage-murdering zealots who know damn well they’re not fighting the good fight but get off on killing people. Heloise is mildly defiant, her father comes to her defense, and making themselves memorable to these assholes was a huge mistake. Oh, and it turns out the magic is also BAD, so Heloise and her little village have to fight BOTH Templars (for lack of a more expedient word) and Demons with little going for them but one determined young woman in stolen power armor. It’s physically brutal and surprisingly emotionally sensitive.

  36. Shana says:

    Faves:
    Romancing the Inventor by Gail Carriger – this f/f novella was the whole reason I started the Parasol Protectorate series and it actually lived up to the long wait.

    A Duke by Default in Alyssa Cole – Is there a sexiest cover contest, cuz this should win. My my my.

    Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole – Has this been optioned as a film yet? I want my plane ticket to Thesolo, please.

    Just ok:
    A Gentleman Never Keeps Score by Cat Sebastian – I adored the secondary characters and the romance had some lovely moments, but the character development was uneven between the heroes…with the Black hero getting the short shrift. And the internalized classism of the white hero was hard to read and needed WAY more groveling to balance it, imo.

    DNF:
    Packing Heat by Zuri Day – Loved the idea of this working class romance in a post office with a plus-size heroine, but there was so much fatphobia early on with the heroine babbling about weight loss.

  37. MaryK says:

    @Kareni – I’ve listened to Anne Bishop’s Lake Silence at least three times. I keep checking it out from the library. I need to just buy it.

  38. Jane says:

    I’m on a Sarah Morgan kick. I finished “Sleight Bells in the Snow” and “Moonlight over Manhattan” recently, and I’m onto “Miracle on 5th Avenue”

  39. Kristen says:

    Scandalous Ever After – Theresa Romain
    The second in the Romance of the Turf series. I really liked this one. The back cover blurb sells it short – it’s much deeper and more emotional than I’d’ve thought.

    The Wedding Date Bargain – Mira Lyn Kelly
    The main characters have a history and decide to have a fling (partly because the heroine wants to rid herself of her virginity) while the heroine is temporarily in town. I liked both main characters separately and they both have solid friendships which made the novel more enjoyable. But I didn’t get where the hero’s commitment issues came from, which seriously weakened the conflict.

    Getting Real – Ainslie Paton
    Romance between a roadie & a rock star. She’s a really complex character, he was just a delight and perfect for her. I didn’t think there was quite enough grovel at the end, and the ending felt abrupt – I would’ve liked an epilogue.

    Beautiful Crazy and Beautiful Mess – Kasey Lane
    I liked these – they were both set in Portland, OR amid the tattooing and music scene and it’s clear the author knows that milieu really well. The first is an enemies-to-lovers with both characters trying to sign an up & coming band to their respective marketing businesses. There was a lot of push & pull and the conflict was mostly external. The second was a romance between an uptight lawyer and heavy-metal drummer who have a history. The conflict in this one was mostly internal and it worked much better for me.

    Hate to Want You – Alisha Rai
    Had this one in my TBR for ages just waiting for the right time. It was just as complex and satisfying as I was expecting.

    From Lukov with Love – Mariana Zapata
    Ice skating plus Zapata’s usual slow burn romance. I really enjoy her athlete heroines. I usually find her heroes to be quite opaque (we’re never in their POV) but in this one I felt I could read Ivan’s feelings towards Jasmin which made it more satisfying. There was less slut-shaming & use of ‘whore’ as an insult than in some of her previous books.

    Drive Me Wild and Bad Billionaire – Julie Kriss
    Read the first one on DiscoDollyDeb’s recommendation and thoroughly enjoyed it. Picked up Bad Billionaire because it was free. Both very gritty (reminded me a bit of Cara McKenna) and both had similar themes of survival and redemption. I’ll read the sequels to both.

    My Absolute Darling – Gabriel Tallent
    Another book I picked up after a discussion about unsympathetic characters. It’s about a teenager and the warped relationship with her survivalist father. I read the first few chapters with a growing sense of dread, then came a scene that made my physically ill so I noped the hell out of there. Life’s too short. CW for incest & rape.

    Never Sweeter – Charlotte Stein
    This is the one where the heroine falls in love with her former bully. It was on sale and I wanted to see if Stein could pull it off. It’s a pretty daring premise. I read it twice and thought a lot about it afterward. It nearly worked: if it hadn’t been for the scope & seriousness of the bullying (he’s complicit in an incident that sees her hospitalized), and the fact that some of the bullying acts had to be premeditated, and that OF COURSE it all starts with her turning him down for a date (she’s a nerd, he’s an athlete, she doesn’t even really get that he’s asking her out). When he meets up with her again he’s more enlightened and has realized it’s not her problem, it’s his, but frankly, too little too late. I also kept wondering how she would break it to her family, who were by her side when she was in the hospital. Saying all that, I did find it compelling, and their relationship (if you could overlook the backstory) was quite sweet and the sex scenes were hot.

    Hard Ink series – Laura Kaye
    Romantic suspense series with a continuing storyline of a group of former soldiers trying to clear their names. Found family, one of my favorite themes. Hard As It Gets is the first and I liked it especially because of Becca, the heroine, who is an ER nurse. The second book, Hard As You Can, features a heroine dealing with a history of rape and a sexually coercive relationship and a hero who is super careful to always get her full consent and choice for everything. There are two novellas, Hard To Hold On To, which has an interracial relationship, and Hard To Be Good, an m/m romance. The heroines throughout are all really strong, and I thought the heroes in the final two full-length novels, Hard To Come By and Hard To Let Go, were both awesome. Many of the characters seek therapy for PTSD, suicidal thoughts and dealing with their tremendously shitty childhoods.
    Two questions – in Hard To Hold On To, both characters have thoughts (usually during sex scenes) about the contrasts between the pale milky skin of the red-headed heroine and the dark skin of the Black hero. It made me a little uncomfortable and I wondered if anyone has thoughts about this?
    Second question – why do tattoos on cover models so often look fake? The tattoos matched the description in the text but they just look so photoshopped.

    Mating the Huntress – Talia Hibbert
    Loved it. Talia Hibbert is magic. Can’t believe this was something she just threw together for Halloween and yet all the characters seemed so real. I would totally read sequels about the rest of the Adofo family.

    Holiday in the Hamptons & Moonlight Over Manhattan – Sarah Morgan
    Liked both of these. In both the heroine had a stronger emotional arc than the hero which was refreshing. Moonlight in particular was very comforting with both MCs being very nice people, low on angst.

    Love Me, Watch Me, Find Me – Margaret Watson
    The first three in the Donovan family series – three ‘women in peril’ romantic suspense in a series about a family of cops. All very similar – instant lust & love at first sight, more telling than showing. Solid without being spectacular.

    Wager of Hearts series – Nancy Herkness (The CEO Buys In, The All-Star Antes Up, The VIP Doubles Down)
    These were on sale for 99 cents each. Cute series about a trio of billionaires who make a bet on finding love. The middle one (quarterback and concierge) was my favorite, but the third had the highest stakes & most angst.

    Seduced by a Stranger – Eve Silver
    Dark Gothic romance. Great UST, good use of setting and weather to convey tone and mood, heighten tension or highlight contrasts. I intensely disliked being in the villain’s POV. I thought it was going to be predictable but there was a twist at the end I should’ve seen but didn’t.

    The Chocolate Touch – Laura Florand
    I love love love her writing – it’s so lush, descriptive and sensual. This was one of my favorites in the Amour et Chocolat series. The hero Dominique is just swoon-worthy (he goes to see his therapist to figure out how to do relationships). This reminded me of how much I love Florand’s writing so I re-read all of her books in my Kindle library.

    The Governess Game – Tessa Dare
    Just delightful, loved every moment of it. I laughed out loud several times but especially at ‘This. Is. Nap. Time.’
    I know the series is called ‘Girl Meets Duke’ but I would so love to see either Penny or Nicola to have a f/f romance. I can really picture Nicola especially in a ‘Boston marriage’

    Brighton – Michael Harvey
    This was featured in a newsletter I get, and since I spent nearly a decade living in Brighton I picked it up at the library. It’s a gritty crime novel in the vein of Dennis Lehane, written by a journalist with a journalist as a main character. Twisty plot, the setting of Brighton (and Boston in general) played a big part, and it was very compelling (I read it in one sitting).

    I Think I Love You – Lauren Layne
    Very fluffy friends-to-lovers office romance, the last in the Oxford/Stiletto series (heaps of cameos from the other couples in the series). Almost zero angst and very little conflict, just the usual don’t-want-to-ruin-our-friendship of a friends-to-lovers. Cute but not super memorable.

    Poison Evidence – Rachel Grant
    Don’t know how I missed this one when I was glomming her books! This is a high-stakes RS with a STEM heroine. I spent most of the book on the edge of my seat wondering how the heck Grant would pull off a happy ending – the conflict seemed insurmountable! (Spoiler alert: she did it)

    A Duke in the Night – Kelly Bowen
    I adored this book. The heroine, Clara, is just phenomenal. She runs a finishing school and every summer chooses a group of students for her special summer school. The scene where her students are getting to know each other, and the reveal of the question she asked them – it just stabbed me in the heart & brought tears to my eyes. I loved how her constant questions actually changed August’s beliefs and behaviors, even though he had really compelling reasons to be the way he was. Definite keeper shelf.

    Down With Love – Kate Meader
    Romance between a divorce lawyer and a wedding planner, definite enemies-to-lovers flavor to it. Instant lust (a bit more mental lusting than I care for) but a slowly developing love. Cute without being super compelling.

    Next up – the rest of Julie Kriss’s Bad Billionaire series, and if I’m still in the mood for gritty after that it might be time for a Cara McKenna re-read.

  40. Karin says:

    @Deborah, thanks for the Betty Neels recommendation, after this past week it seems like just the escapism I need.
    So this month I read the 2nd Murderbot book, Artificial Condition, a quick fun read.
    After enjoying “The Bengal Bridegift” by Anne Cleeland, I read “Tainted Angel”. This is one where the H&h are both spies, not necessarily for the same side, which gave it a bit of a Joanna Bourne flavor. Very twisty plot and lots of double crosses, before they finally reach a place of trust. I must say, her books are page turners.
    “The King’s Man” by Elizabeth Kingston. Wow, this was a heavy, angsty book but one of the best medievals I’ve ever read. OK, maybe the best. It’s hard to find one with fully realized characters, where characters thought and acted in keeping with their time, but are not caricatures. TW for violence. It was a violent time.
    Lord Garson’s Bride by Anna Campbell-this is part of a series of lightweight romances, the rest were novellas, and this full length book could have easily been a novella, there was so little plot to it. But if you enjoy MOCs(and I do) this might be your jam. The whole book is about the H&h adjusting to marriage, and naturally, falling in love. Literally, nothing else happens in this book.
    Last but not least, “Untie My Heart” by Judith Ivory. I can’t believe in all my years of reading historicals I’ve never read anything by her before. This book was so well done, and so unique. Ivory’s powers of description are unmatched by anyone I can think of. She can spend a page talking about the hero’s overcoat in a way that not only has you craving the coat, but reveals so much about the man wearing it. There’s great character development, a really fun plot about confidence games(the heroine is a reformed con artist turned sheep farmer), and just a little bit of kink to the sex scenes. The H&h are both wicked clever and sort of take turns outsmarting each other. And I loved the way the hero loved the heroine’s not so svelte body.

Comments are closed.

By posting a comment, you consent to have your personally identifiable information collected and used in accordance with our privacy policy.

↑ Back to Top