I’m sure some of you are checking your calendars and wondering there’s a Whatcha Reading today. Well, we’re now running this post twice a month!
A few of you have emailed us and asked for Whatcha Reading to happen more frequently, that way it’s easier to parse through all the lovely comments. We also love doing these posts and hearing what you all have been reading. So why not? Whatcha Reading, Part One will happen the second Saturday of a month and Part Two will be the last Saturday.
Now let’s get into the fun stuff: books!
Elyse: It’s new release Tuesday, so I woke up this morning to new books on my Kindle. Past Elyse made some excellent book buying decisions and now I’m trying to decide between starting The Lost History of Dreams by Kris Waldherr ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), A Duke in Disguise by Cat Sebastian, or The Last by Hanna Jameson ( A | BN | K | G | AB ).
Amanda: I’m in between books right now but I started Last Night with the Earl by Kelly Bowen ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). Everyone is angry horny is one another and it’s great.
Aarya’s Psy Changeling post also motivated me to get back into my re-read and catch up of the series. I pulled Vision of Heat off my shelf to read.
Sarah: I’m finishing Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb (review forthcoming) ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) and am about to start Play it Again by Aidan Wayne ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), a romance between two YouTubers that sounds extremely sweet. I’m really, really looking forward to it.
Carrie: The Affair of the Mysterious Letter by Alexis Hall. It is SO GOOD.
Elyse: Oh, I forgot to mention that I am listening to The Luminous Dead ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) on audio and the narrator is fantastic!
Amanda: I put in an order for that one at my bookstore today!
What books have kicked off your month? Are you excited about having two Whatcha Reading posts per month?
By request, since we can’t link to every book you mention in the comments, here are bookstore links that help support the site with your purchases. If you use them, we greatly appreciate it, and if you’d prefer not to, no worries. Thanks for being a part of SBTB and hopefully, you’ve found some great books to read!
I did some re-reading to prep for new releases that I’ll be reading on vacation:
Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theordora Goss: Still fun.
Blood on the Tracks by Barbara Nickless: Sidney Rose is an Iraq vet turned railroad cop. She has a Belgian Malinois named Clyde. This mystery featured hobos. My great-grandfather was a hobo, so I particularly enjoyed that aspect.
The Guns Above (Bennis): Still lots of fun.
Revelation (Sansom): Matthew Shardlake mystery. These are slow, but Sansom does a great job with the Tudor world.
A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder by Dianne Freeman: This isn’t gripping me, but it’s ok.
Last month, I was getting ready to read The Huntress by Kate Quinn. I’ll get back to it, but there were some family medical issues, and I couldn’t take Nazi war criminals on top of everything else.
Next up: Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray.
Yay! More Whatcha Reading!
Faves
– CALL ME BY YOUR NAME by Andre Aciman (audiobook) – have you listened to this book as read by Armie Hammer? Because … well, it’s worth your time. Will I listen to it again this year? Oh yes.
– A MEMORY CALLED EMPIRE by Arkady Martine – so good. So much political maneuvering, all the world building. Almost epic fantasy in space.
– THE WANDERING YEARS 1922-39 by Cecil Beaton – diary kept by the famed British photographer. You want your Bloomsbury gossip? Your Hollywood gossip? Your Wallis Simpson gossip? This is the diary you want. Other installments are available on Prime Reading. I’ll be stuffing those right into my eyeballs, thank you!
– THE WARMTH OF OTHER SUNS: THE EPIC STORY OF AMERICA’S GREAT MIGRATION by Isabel Wilkerson – stories taken from oral histories of the migration of Black Americans from the South to the cities of the North.
– THE MAGPIE LORD / A CASE OF POSSESSION / FLIGHT OF MAGPIES by KJ Charles – somehow, though I’d read the first and everything else by Charles, I’d never actually read this whole series. Wonderful. I love Stephen so.
– WE SET THE DARK ON FIRE by Tehlor Kay Mejia – revolution! Spies! Ladies in love! Danger! Give me Book 2 now, please!
– AN UNCONDITIONAL FREEDOM / CAN’T ESCAPE LOVE by Alyssa Cole – I especially loved “ESCAPE.” I’m trying to remember the last time I read a romance, or any novel, with a person in a wheelchair on the cover and I honestly can’t think of one? And I just loved the all out nerdery.
Good
– THE BLACK GOD’S DRUMS by P. Djeli Clark – a street urchin with a goddess inside her overhears key info that might get her aboard an airship. A lot of story in 100pgs. I hope Clark expands on this world.
– MY SISTER ROSA by Justine Larbalestier – if THE BAD SEED was a YA novel. Dark, totally creepy, really good.
– BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #4 – Jordie Bellaire & Dan Mora – Cordy! Cordy! It’s Cordy time!
– SOMETHING ROTTEN / FIRST AMONG SEQUELS by Jasper Fforde – still wacky, but I don’t think this series benefits from a binge read.
– THE TRUE QUEEN by Zen Cho – fairies and dragons and ladies in love! Very sweet but I kinda wish there was a little less plot and a little more relationship-y stuff.
– THE CABIN AT THE END OF THE WORLD by Paul Tremblay – I read the whole thing in a day but I didn’t enjoy it? It wasn’t that it was too scary or something, it was more that I just wanted out of the whole situation that characters were in. And it would have worked better as a novella, less room makes everything more tense.
Currently Reading
– ENDURANCE: SHACKLETON’S INCREDIBLE VOYAGE by Alfred Lansing (audiobook) – they were stuck on that ship in the ice for nine months, in the dark, before they decided to walk 300 miles to the faint promise of safety!
I’m reading MEEPLES TOGETHER: HOW AND WHY COOPERATIVE BOARD GAMES WORK by Christopher Allen & Shannon Applecline.
KILLMAN CREEK by Rachel Caine: I thought this would be a palate cleanser after a run of DNFs. It was a DNF. The switch from the first book’s singular first person POV to everybody-gets-a-turn first person POV destroyed all the suspense because we know everything that’s going on, destroyed the pacing thanks to everything that had to be repeated multiple times so we’d know what everybody thought about it, and made me dislike every single one of the characters. In the absence of focused attention, Gwen (the sole POV in the first book) transformed from ultra paranoid to incomprehensibly gullible. I’m glad I found out before I wasted $6 on the forthcoming sequel, though.
MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER by Oyinkan Braithwaite: Read it in one sitting, partly because every page turn ate up 1% and partly because it was fun. Carrie S reviewed it here and gave it an A-, covering pretty much everything I’d say about it.
https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/my-sister-the-serial-killer-by-oyinkan-braithwaite/
THE MATRIMONIAL ADVERTISEMENT by Mimi Matthews: For your strangers-getting-hitched needs. I loved that they were committed to teamwork from day one. It’s not religious, but there’s no sex—which is fine except that there’s nowhere for early smooches to escalate, so they just STOP any kind of physical intimacy about the halfway point, which created a warmth imbalance between the first and second halves. Content warning for discussion of the torture methods employed to get inconvenient relatives committed to an asylum and discussion of being a British soldier in India (he didn’t learn sex tips, but the war is clearly A WAR and not depicted in romanticized terms). It’s an Amazon monthly deal for April at $1.49, but $3.99 elsewhere.
THE ATROCITIES by Jeremy Shipp: Another short, one-sitting story. Wonderfully atmospheric creepy-house horror that drops the ball at the 1-yard line with a too-tidy ending. I prefer horror that sustains unease from the first page to the last. Not the place for a rosy HEA.
THE GHOST BRIDE by Yangsze Choo: This had so much promise, but I ended up hate-finishing it. Outside of the protagonist’s home life, none of her emotional responses to people made any damn sense. I kept reading to see the outcome of the afterlife corruption scandal, but there was no *there* there. She did her one little part, left, and toward the end there was an offhand one-sentence remark that dismissed the entire conceit of the book as completely irrelevant. I was fuming for the last 100 pages.
I’m currently a third of the way into BLOODY ROSE by Nicholas Eames, which immediately demonstrates that the only acceptable application of mansplaining is a worldbuilding infodump that’s just as annoying to the protagonist as it is to the reader, but you can’t argue it wouldn’t happen! Eames does amazing characterization that intimately reveals every single character through the eyes of a single POV. Also brawling and lols and questioning everything you think you know about life, as one does. I feel like it could stand alone without reading KINGS OF THE WYLD if you’re more interested in this young lesbian protagonist than the grizzled old white dude from the first book.
I’ll hopefully be done with that by Tuesday, when I get my preorder of Stephen Blackmoore’s FIRE SEASON. I need to make time for a refresher course on Aztec gods and Nahuatl pronunciation before I dive into that one.
I’m currently reading Lucy Score’s awesome,”Finally Mine”.
The Alice Network – Kate Quinn
I haven’t quite sorted out my thoughts about this. I liked it, and it brought to our attention one of the forgotten women’s stories, that of the ‘queen of spies’ in WWI. It showed how PTSD and grief affected combatants & civilians alike in the aftermath of both world wars, in realistic & very moving ways. The main female characters were inspiring & strong. But I felt a little distanced from it; I was expecting an emotional and cathartic read with ugly crying (like Code Name Verity) but instead only had tears in my eyes once or twice. This may have been because of the alternating POV dual timeline narrative; while I understand why Quinn made this as an authorial choice (it was necessary for the plot, for one thing, and the WWI timeline illuminated the post-WWII timeline) I do think it affected the pacing and sometimes jerked me forwards or backwards in time before I was ready, pulling me out of the story. Well worth reading though.
The Harlot Countess – Joanna Shupe
Picked this up because the premise sounded interesting – the heroine is an artist & political cartoonist (using a male pen name) who hosts slightly scandalous salons & parties to gather rumors & gossip for her cartoons. One of her main targets is an old love interest, the hero who has taken his seat in the Lords and is a rising star in parliament. I DNF’d this about a quarter of the way through. The hero was just determined to believe the absolute worst of her; during the heroine’s debut season he was supposedly in love with her and on the verge of offering for her, but didn’t even give her a chance to defend herself when an acquaintance accused her of dallying with other men (she was actually assaulted). Then for some reason he continues to believe she’s had legions of lovers which of course offends him. For her part, because she knows he thinks the worst of her, she figures why not just act that way, leading to several scenes where the MCs are flat out nasty to each other. I usually like enemies to lovers but the hero’s idiotic assumptions & slut-shaming and the heroine’s childish behaviors left a bad taste in my mouth.
Reread A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, for the first time in over 20 years. It wasn’t as good as I remember it being; it seemed short and almost not fully developed, with lots of abrupt scene changes. I think I remembered it as more a YA but it really is a children’s book.
A Notorious Vow – Joanna Shupe
Hard to believe this was the same author as ‘The Harlot Countess’!
MOC with a socially anxious heroine & Deaf hero. Wonderful relationship btw h/h. Nice supporting cast. Villains were flat & over-the-top and one of the plot points was wrapped up a little too easily.
The Duke with the Dragon Tattoo – Kerrigan Byrne
I put this on hold during the discussion about morality chain, a theme which Byrne has written before in this series. Ten chapters in and I was seriously creeped out by the hero – he was threatening and scary and showed no softness or vulnerability to the heroine, not even to explain where he’d been for the last twenty years, to the point where I’m thinking Stockholm syndrome and coercion if she sleeps with him, despite their rather sweet teenage romance. He does soften up and I bought their hea in the end but there’s a lot of external stuff going on that detracts from the romance. I’ll keep reading Byrne because when she hits one she knocks it outta the park but will continue getting them from the library rather than purchasing them.
The Scot Beds His Wife – Kerrigan Byrne
Another crazy sauce plot. I liked the American heroine, but didn’t care for the hero – way too much boasting about his prowess in bed for me. Insta lust & lots of mental lusting. He does appreciate Sam’s independence and skills (including shooting and riding). However I got to the scene when they’re discussing a marriage of convenience and have huge consent issues because she’s under the influence of laudanum (so can’t make an informed decision) and he’s being deceived about her identity, plus she’s pregnant with another man’s baby and planning on passing it off as his. I was deeply uncomfortable with level of deception – she doesn’t even begin to consider the consequences for the woman she’s impersonating. I basically skimmed through the rest of the book (including the purplish prose of the sex scenes) just to see how it was resolved. Plus Scottish accent transliteration was painful (ye doona canna ken etc), I wish Byrne would just not do it.
In honor of the NHL playoffs I plucked Sarina Bowen’s Hard Hitter (from her Brooklyn Bruisers series) out of my TBR. It was soooo nice to be back in a contemporary setting after the Victorian era crazy sauce violence of the Byrne books I’d just read. There were some heavy themes (the hero’s backstory was pretty horrendous and the heroine had a really shitty ex) but I just enjoyed it so much. The heroine is a massage therapist/yoga teacher and the depiction was spot on, and I loved how the hero made himself completely vulnerable and also paid attention to what the heroine said and did.
Currently reading the sequel Pipe Dreams and will re-read Brooklynaire after (which happens concurrently with Pipe Dreams).
I’m thrilled WAYR is going to be twice a month—it’s like pay day, with books!
I thought of two other writers as I read Molly O’Keefe’s very good (and very melancholy) MY WICKED PRINCE. The first was Charlotte Stein: O’Keefe and Stein both excel at creating intelligent, self-aware, not-conventionally-beautiful heroines who are often overlooked or underestimated by the world at large—and the heroine of MWP checks all those boxes. She’s six-foot tall, bookish, and completely unimpressed by the royal family into which her mother has recently married; she’s also the subject of palace gossip and ridicule because of these very characteristics. The other writer I thought of was Caitlin Crews who has written a number of HP romances featuring ostensibly dissolute princes whose supposedly debauched lifestyles mask an underlying seriousness and purpose. The title hero of MWP has spent years cultivating his decadent image; but what will happen when his father dies and the prince has to return to his struggling Nordic country (beautifully evoked by O’Keefe) and become its ruler? I loved this book—the characters, the world-building, the sense of loss and sadness that underlies even the hottest sex scenes (which are pretty damn hot), and the clever way O’Keefe threads a rather intricate plot into the story of step-siblings who struggle unsuccessfully against falling in love. One of my favorite reads of the year so far.
Sybil Bartel was one of my “finds” of 2018, but it took the recent SBTB discussion of tropes to crystallize the reason I love her books so much: almost all of them synthesize my two favorite tropes—enforced proximity and bodyguards. RUTHLESS is the latest of Bartel’s Miami-based Alpha Bodyguards series. The heroine is an events planner who gets caught in a “wrong place, wrong time” situation. When bad guys succeed in injuring (and identifying) her, she has to convalesce in the home of a smoking-hot bodyguard. It’s opposites attract: she’s working-class, raised in the foster-care system, kind-hearted, chatty, with a tendency to be both clumsy and messy; he’s a strong, silent, locked-down former Marine who turned his back on his wealthy family to join the military and, later, work for a private security company. This couple shouldn’t work, but they do—each sees something they admire and need in the other—and their chemistry and sexual tension are off-the-charts. This book hit all of my catnip pleasure centers. Another favorite read of 2019.
And speaking of bodyguards, WICKED SIN is the latest in Ainsley Booth’s Forbidden Bodyguards series, but first here’s an interesting side note: when Booth started the series in 2014, one of the books she planned was called FIRST LADY—about a woman unhappily married to a brutish, boorish, thuggish, mob-connected criminal who inexplicably becomes president (as if that could ever happen!). This woman appears as a secondary character in DIRTY LOVE where her story is clearly being set up. But, as Booth puts it in the foreword to WICKED SIN, “Long story short, the fictional world collided with the real world, and it was too close for comfort.” Booth decided against publishing that book and instead wrote WICKED SIN. The heroine of WS is the older sister of the heroines of HATE F@#K and BOOTY CALL. In the previous books, this woman is very much a “wild child,” starring in a sex tape with a prominent politician among other things. In WICKED SIN, we learn more about how she was groomed to use sex as a way of implementing the agenda of her politically-connected family. After several years of therapy and celibacy, the heroine is on the road to recovery. She becomes involved with the detective who is protecting her from a stalker. I loved the book’s emphasis on recovery from trauma, its casual and nonjudgmental approach to plastic surgery (a very minor plot point—but I remember a while ago the Bitchery was looking for positive representations of plastic surgery), and the healthy, happy, vibrant sexual relationship the h&h cultivate. In fact, one of the sexiest scenes in the book involves the couple simply discussing how they will incorporate some relatively mild D/s kink into their lives. Key quote: “We all have stuff in the past. It’s how far we are from it now that’s worth judging.”
It’s no secret that I love Harlequin Presents romances: the intelligent & well-bred heroines, the smoldering & wealthy heroes, the exotic locales, the angsty misunderstandings, the rocky path to true love & lessons learned—I enjoy all of it. But one word I would never use to describe an HP is HOT. Sexual passages are written in sedate, euphemistic prose which, while in keeping with the overall tone of the line, ensures no one is going to nominate an HP for sexiest book of the year. But then there’s Caitlin Crews’s NO MORE SWEET SURRENDER, which is the most erotic HP I’ve ever read. While observing all the conventions of an HP, Crews keeps the sexual tension between h&h on a constant simmer. In a way, NMSS reminded me of another book Crews wrote—the much more explicit UNLEASHED, which was published by Harlequin’s Dare line. In both books, the heroine is an academic who downplays the physical elements of her nature and in her relationships with men until she meets the hero—a man who simultaneously attracts her physically but repulses her for what she feels he represents (carnality without control). In NMSS, the heroine has attained some small level of fame by writing a book about “testosterone poisoning” and its cultural consequences (the term “toxic masculinity” is never used, but her conclusions about the damage caused are the same). Her example of the worst of this sort of man is the hero—an MMA-fighter-turned-movie-star. Through a series of events, the two enter into a supposedly mutually-beneficial fake relationship (the logistics of which are handled very neatly by Crews). Uncovering secrets, sharing childhood traumas, and a near-constant level of sexual tension ensue. I loved everything about this book—and Crews’s ability to deliver so much more than the standard HP. Although published in 2013 (pre-#metoo and pre-Trump), the book has some very serious things to say about the social & cultural consequences of male-female power imbalances and the healing power of mutual understanding, respect, and love. NO MORE SWEET SURRENDER is one of my favorite reads of 2019. Highly recommended.
Because I love baseball, it’s hard for me to be objective about Julianna Keyes’s wonderful baseball romance, TEAM PLAYER. To me, it ranks right up there with CD Reiss’s HARDBALL as a book that gets romance and baseball just right. TEAM PLAYER covers the season of a (fictional) major league team, from inauspicious early games to gradually moving up in the standings to a possible post-season Wild Card spot. As the long season plays out, the team’s most famous player begins a relationship with a woman who works for the team’s PR department. Unlike many insta-love/lust romances, the h&h path to love almost meanders—they feel especially ambivalent because of their working relationship. Meanwhile, there are multiple subplots to the story which, like baseball itself, moves at a deliberate and steady pace. A great read for a baseball fan—if you’re not an aficionado, ymmv.
I’ve liked almost everything I’ve read by Jackie Ashenden and was happy that KING’S RANSOM, the third and final book in her Kings of Sydney series, was finally available. Anyone familiar with Ashenden’s template knows what to expect in this story of a man who kidnaps a crime boss’s daughter. There will be astonishing eye colors (here they are icy blue and emerald green), amazing fragrances (the hero smells of sandalwood, the heroine of roses), some combination of dysfunctional backgrounds caused by some combination of dead, distant, absent, and/or abusive parents, angsty complications, and hot sex scenes. Despite a rather abrupt ending (often the fate of Harlequin’s Dare line), I liked KING’S RANSOM, but would recommend reading the other two books in the series first.
I read Dakota Gray’s PERV last month and, despite sex scenes that were so explicit they became clinical in their anatomical detail, I liked it enough to read the next two books in the Filth series, HARDCORE and ADONIS LINE. I liked HARDCORE much more than PERV—the sex scenes were actually sexy and I enjoyed the way the book evoked the workplace (politics, gossip, jockeying for position) of a prestige law firm. The hero is a lawyer, determined to make partner, who reconnects with a woman he had a one-night stand with three years before. I thought the heroine was great, she owns her own legal services firm and she’s refreshingly imperfect (including stretch marks, which are casually noted and nbd); I thought she was almost too good for the hero—a man determined at all costs to avoid connecting with emotionally with anyone—until a really good grovel near the end.
However, I was as ambivalent about Gray’s ADONIS LINE as I was about PERV. ADONIS LINE features a hero and a heroine (both POC) who have both experienced physical and emotional traumas. The physical ones are obvious in their scars, the emotional ones take a while to percolate to the surface. The heroine, a photographer, hires the hero to lead her on a two-week hike through the Pacific Northwest so she can photograph various places for a contest. If she wins the contest, the prize money is sufficient to help her setup her own business. Over the course of two weeks, the h&h share tents, sleeping bags, long car trips, hotel rooms, and…well, you do the math. They have sex in various places and configurations (including as part of a foursome—two men, two women—in a long scene that won’t be everyone’s cup of tea). I liked how much the hero and heroine talked with each other, exposing their inner selves alongside their bodies. What I wasn’t as fond of was (as in PERV) the clinical level of detail in the sex scenes. Dakota Gray is undoubtedly a talented writer, but, for me at least, she frequently crosses the line from sexy to gross.
A couple of months ago, I enjoyed J. Kenner’s PRETTY LITTLE PLAYER, the second book in her Blackwell-Lyon Security series (I’m terrible about reading series books out of order), so I wanted to read the first and third books, LOVELY LITTLE LIAR and SEXY LITTLE SINNER (there is a fourth book scheduled for release this year). LOVELY LITTLE LIAR was expanded from a short story Kenner wrote and the expansion shows. There were a number of travelogue/filler scenes of the hero & heroine taking in the sights and sounds of Austin. While it’s nice to read a book set somewhere other than New York, Los Angeles, or Any-Small-Town USA, these scenes didn’t add much to the story of a commitment-phobe who meets his match in one of his clients (the sister-manager of a teenage actress). SEXY LITTLE SINNER was so full of tropes, the story was almost buried under the weight of them: sibling’s friend (hero is the friend and business partner of heroine’s brothers); age gap (hero is 15 years older than heroine); second-chance (the two once had a fling but then decided on being just friends); fake relationship (to infiltrate a bad guy’s crime empire, h&h have to go undercover as a couple). Neither book was in any way objectionable, but I’m glad I read the far superior PRETTY LITTLE PLAYER first or I would have felt little inclination to continue the series.
I enjoyed both the premise and execution of Pam Godwin’s INCENTIVE (which is a crossover with Aleatha Romig’s Infidelity books, a series with which I’m unfamiliar). A down-on-his-luck (through no fault of his own) bartender agrees to work for an expensive, exclusive, and highly-confidential escort service. He is matched with a famous actress; she is beautiful and successful, but also has several traumatic episodes in her past. Despite their age gap (the actress is 12 years older than the escort), they hit it off, sexually and otherwise: he helps her heal from her trauma and she helps him find a way to resuscitate the business he lost. My only quibble with INCENTIVE is the bitchy “mean girl” vibe exhibited by every other actress in the book. Surely the heroine can’t be the only nice actress in the world!
Still in rereading mode.
Discworld – found this lovely site where Mark posts videos of reading the books and fans comment on each chapter. Wonderful sense of community. There’s a bunch of Tamora Pierce books too. http://markreads.net/reviews/past-books/
The Night Garden by Polly Horvath – this is a middle grade sort-of fantasy with quirky characters, humor, musings on nature and making art and being a family… I like a lot of her books, she’s my speed of weird.
Slowly reading Burnout by the Nagoski sisters. It’s excellent but I’ve been so stressed that I need my comfort rereads above all.
I’m so glad you guys are doing this post twice a month. We all need more books to read/talk about, right? 🙂
I recently finished CAN’T ESCAPE LOVE by Alyssa Cole. I also got an early copy of A PRINCE ON PAPER by Alyssa Cole at KissCon last weekend that I am reading right now.
Up next, I want to read THE WICKED KING by Holly Black. I really enjoyed THE CRUEL PRINCE.
In a sea of DNF’s, only two books have really worked for me recently. The first was Talia Hibbert’s Damaged Goods, which was a very well-done contemporary about two people who were in love as teenagers who meet up again years later. I really want to read more of her books, as the two I’ve read so far have been excellent.
The second is Hard Hitter by Sarina Bowen. I haven’t finished it yet, but I love it. I find sports extremely boring, so I was reluctant to try her hockey series, but I shouldn’t have been. She’s a writer who is so quietly good at what she does that it’s hard to say exactly what I love about her books. Her writing isn’t showy, but the tension is handled well, the characters are complex and believable, and the plots are normally centered around real-life situations. And in a small note, I particularly like the way she handles consent, which is always present, but never heavy-handed.
I love the idea on an extra what ya reading post! Now into the books.
Read:
AGAINST THE FIRE by Kat Martin
This book was okay, but it was just like most of her other Romantic Suspense books with basically the same alpha hero and independent woman who doesn’t trust men dynamic as always.
Reading: DESIRE LINES by Elizabeth Kingston
So far this book is great, mostly because two damaged people comforting one another and falling in love is one of my favorite tropes. Furthermore, the historical detail is lovely and I adore both the hero and the heroine. I will warn that the voice of the book took sometime for me to get into because it is very distant and while I love the heroine it does take a little to get her point of view. Despite this if you like any of the elements I mentioned you should definitely pick it up!
I read Thea Harrison’s new book (the first in a new series), American Witch, and really enjoyed it. It’s a super-smart, steamy urban fantasy romance, which starts with a traditional dark, handsome and mysterious man swooping in to offer to train the heroine in her powers – but the heroine is in her early 40s and has NO interest in that relationship dynamic! Their romance almost completely flips that initial power dynamic by the end, and I loved seeing her claim her own strength and find a future that really, really works for her.
And I’ve spent this past week devouring Andrea K. Höst’s Touchstone trilogy, which is fabulously immersive and fun and has such a fabulous slow-burn romance. (REALLY slow-burn.) Totally swoon-worthy!
I’ve actually read more in the first two weeks in April than I read all last month. Once I seemed to lean into my slump it eased a bit. Here’s the highlights:
NOT ANOTHER FAMILY WEDDING AND HE’S NOT MY BOYFRIEND by Jackie Lau- I loved WEDDING so much! It was probably my favorite read of the year so far for personal reasons. Objectively, it isn’t perfect, but I can’t be objective about it. I’ll try to keep my review short because I could go on forever about this book. Basically it’s a friends-to-lovers with an imperfect heroine who doesn’t want kids and is generally considered to be grumpy and pessimistic. The hero is a complete sweetheart who’s known the heroine for 18 years (met at 18, now 36) and forced himself to get over the crush he had on her early in their friendship when she started dating someone else. He’s always appreciated the heroine for who she is and doesn’t want her to change. He also does not want kids and that was why his marriage broke up a few years before. The reason it isn’t perfect is that 100% of the conflict is internal on the heroine’s part. There’s no external conflict or internal conflict on the hero’s part which may not work for everyone. The conflict is solely based on the heroine getting over her belief that she isn’t worthy of love (or maybe she believes she’s worthy, but there’s no man out there that will think she is) caused by the way her past boyfriends and society in general treat women who don’t act in a certain way or believe certain things. I loved that the heroine wasn’t happy-go-lucky all the time and I loved how she eventually realized that she actually wasn’t as negative and pessimistic as she had come to believe due to unrealistic standards imposed on her by society. I loved the way the book explored different women’s experiences with having/wanting children in a non-judgmental way (the heroine comes off very judgmental in the case of her sister’s choice to become a stay-at-home mom as soon as possible after the wedding referenced in the title, but the author and book do not seem to judge her for that choice and the heroine realizes she handled it badly). I also loved how the book didn’t shy away from showing the way the heroine did not always act in a sympathetic manner due to her insecurities. When I went to rate the book on Goodreads, the first review I saw was 1 star so I had to read how they had such a different opinion and it was all about how the heroine was unlikable and didn’t deserve the hero which basically just proved the point that the character’s insecurities were justified. Anyway, I instantly became a Lau fangirl after reading WEDDING so I read the next book in the series right after. I liked BOYFRIEND quite a bit, but didn’t have the same kind of love I felt for WEDDING.
THE GIRL HE USED TO KNOW by Tracey Garvis Graves- I’m a bit torn on this one, but overall I liked it. I loved Annika, the heroine, and the way her high-functioning autism spectrum disorder was portrayed. I also loved her best friend and liked the hero quite a bit. I like the way we see the hero and heroine when they first meet in college (1991) and then again ten years later (2001). Their relationship was sweet and well-handled, but the ending takes a turn I didn’t expect, but should have (the years chosen were significant, which should give you an idea of where this book goes) and it devastated me emotionally. It does have a HEA, but I felt pretty emotionally manipulated due to the event depicted at the end. The author needed to show Annika’s growth and that she could step up and be there for the hero when need be. She needed to make it known that Annika could definitely stand on her own and wouldn’t always need someone to take care of her because of her ASD. I just felt like it could have been done in a less emotionally manipulative way.
TIGHTROPE by Amanda Quick- Another entry in her Burning cove mystery series. It was okay, but took me forever to get through. I didn’t get pulled in the way I did with the first two in the seres.
NATALIE TAN’S BOOK OF LUCK & FORTUNE by Roselle Lim- This was fine. I liked some aspects to the book, mainly the descriptions of food and the community-building aspect, but the romance was basically an undeveloped afterthought. Also the pacing had issues.
THE WEE FREE MEN by Terry Pratchett- I’m on Tiffany Aching fangirl train and I can’t wait to get to the next book in her series. My favorite part was when she corrects her brother on something then has an internal dialogue about whether that’s the type of person she wants to be and we get this quote, “Yes! I’m me! I am careful and logical and I look up things I don’t understand! When I hear people use the wrong words, I get edgy! I am good with cheese. I read books fast! I think! And I always have a piece of string! That’s the kind of person I am!” Me too, Tiffany, me too.
KILL THE QUEEN by Jennifer Estep- I liked this one, but think it does suffer a bit from the first in a series problem of needing a lot of exposition/set-up in order to build the world. I did love the characters and look forward to the next books.
I just finished FIREWORKS by Sarina Bowen which was another great installment in her True North series. I think I’m going to start an ARC of WAITING FOR TOM HANKS by Kerry Winfrey, but I may go with WOLF RAIN by Nalini Singh instead.
Well, I’m reading A Duke in Disguise by Cat Sebastian, of course (and LOVING it). I’m also reading some Nora Roberts (paraNora stuff) because it’s what I need right now. Oh, and a book called How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind, by Dana K. White, which is the first cleaning/organizing book I’ve ever read that was written by and for someone like me (a slob)!!
It’s spring and even though there’s snow on the ground (thank you April in Colorado) it’s time for my yearly reread of Nora Roberts In the Garden trilogy. I finished Blue Dahlia yesterday in pretty much one sitting and I’m about 30 pages into Black Rose. These books are so soothing and even after numerous rereads, I still find the ghost story to be creepy.
Tempt me at Twilight and Married by Morning by Lisa Kleypas — I really liked Twilight but I was eager to get through it to get to Cat and Leo’s story and boy was I disappointed. Married by Morning was not what I expected and I was astounded by how bored I was. Where was my banter? Where was my witty repartee?
Star Wars Jedi Academy Revenge of the Sis — I loved the first trilogy of this children’s series and my kids loved them too, but these last 4 books just haven’t done it for me. The change in authors just hasn’t sold me and the last 4 have been from the library not bought outright.
Strange and Ever After by Susan Dennard — The final Strange book. I enjoyed it but I do think that Dennard’s Witchlands series is better. This is very definitely on the YA scale.
The Unearthly and The Coveted by Laura Thalassa — I got these on Kindle Unlimited. The story isn’t unique and the characters are pretty typical of YA, but I’m enjoying the overall story arc. It’s a light read.
Of Blood and Monsters by Denise Grover Swank — I enjoy Swank’s urban fantasy more than her romances. This one is book 3 out of a quartet and is part of an earlier series. I didn’t remember how book 2 had ended so it took me a little while to pick up the pieces of the story.
Lady Notorious by Theresa Romain — I felt like I was reading a contemporary disguised as a historical. I liked the hero and the heroine but I felt like I got dropped into an existing plot and frankly it was boring.
Forged by Fate, Ariadne and the Beast, Postcards from Asgard, and From Asgard, with Love by Amalia Dillin — I love Dillin’s writing and I love how she gives women their voice back. I am completely sold on the Fate series and I can’t wait until I finish up some of the other demands on my time so that I can get back into Eve’s story.
Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte — this was a debut and it read like a debut but I enjoyed the mix of science and fantasy and a murder mystery set in a fantastical world.
The Girl He Used to Know by Tracey Garvis Graves — I hated, hated the ending but I loved the characters so I still gave it 4 stars. Like someone said above, the story years should have clued me in but oh that was a slap in the face and not in a good way.
The Unleashing and The Undoing by Shelly Laurenston — I slogged through Unleashing but Undoing was a DNF. The over the top dialogue and slapstick just didn’t do it for me.
Currently reading Black Rose, Helen of Sparta and A Sorrow Fierce and Falling.
I just finished THE AUSTEN PLAYBOOK by Lucy Parker and it was just too charming for words. The best romance I’ve read for a long time- it had a perfect combo of tropes for me, plus a couple that I could not love more.
Another big hit for me was finishing the Book of the Ancestor series by Mark Lawrence and it was fantastic. The TL;DR of this series is: warrior assassin nuns who run a boarding school in a post-climate change ice world in the midst of huge political upheaval. And some of the nuns fall in love. Ugh, guys it is so good! It’s a trilogy: RED SISTER, GREY SISTER, and HOLY SISTER.
Next up is THE BRIDE TEST and I’m pumped!
Yay! Thanks so much for this! So, let’s see what’s in my recently-read stack…
NON-FICTION
The Liberator (Alex Kershaw). I picked this up because my grandfather fought in the Italian campaign; this follows one recruit, Felix Sparks, from the invasion of Sicily through Italy & France & ultimately the liberation of Dachau. It’s hard to read, both because war really is hell & because so many of the people you briefly meet die. But it’s an excellent war biography & well worth reading if you have any interest in WW2.
Apollo 8 (Jeffrey Kluger): I picked up this book because I remember Apollo 8. – I was 5 & completely obsessed with space. For those not so versed in it, Apollo 8 was the first manned mission to orbit the moon – meaning that Lovell, Anders & Borman were the first humans ever to see the far side of the moon, & the first to be completely cut off from earth (no radio conract). Excellent history of the early space program.
FICTION
Justice Calling (Annie Bellett): As a D&D geek since 1978, how could I resist a series called “The Twenty-sided Sorceress”? It’s the first in a series (I’ll definitely be reading the others) about a game store owner who’s actually a powerful sorceress in hiding from her ex, becaus he wants to kill her & take her power.
Hired (Zoey Castile): Chapter 1 opens with our hero drinking his fourth hurricane; man after my own heart, right there. Give me all the rum drinks! I still prefer the couple from Stripped (the first in this series), but Faith & Aiden are a sweet couple & the New Orleans setting is great.
Darkness Becomes Her (Kelly Keaton): Book 1 in a series. In brief, hurricanes decimated coastal Louisiana; the federal government evacuated the entire region, but the Novem – nine families – bought the land. New Orleans is now a home for the different – witches, vampires & others. Ari comes to the city in search of answers about her dead mother, & ends up drawing the attention of an angry goddess. Another series I’ll be reading more of.
Last Call (Libby Kirsch): Janet & her boyfriend, Jason, a security expert, bought a bar called The Spot on the shadier side of town. Business is OK, except that there’s been some theft – cash missing – which led Jason to rig a security system for the bar, complete with cameras. Then a regular patron turns up dead in the empty lot next door. It’s a good mystery; I also liked the “found family” vibe of the bar’s employees & patrons.
The Space Between (Dete Meserve): I bought this book because I was intrigued by the astronomer heroine. And, sure enough, I learned some things, such as the existence of the Pistol Star. But the actual mystery left me flat. I didn’t particularly care about either the heroine or her missing, possible-killer husband. I ended up skimming the last third of the book.
I’m currently halfway through Pippa Grant’s “America’s Geekheart” & giggling enough that my husband & cats are looking concerned.
I think this might be the shortest list I have ever had. I’ve only read one book since this last post.
–Time by Penny Reid. The 3rd and last book in her Law of Physics series. Has a rockstar hero and scientist heroine. Wasn’t my favorite of the series but it was good.
–Currently reading Stay by Sarina Bowen
I’m hoping since I finished binge watching the Turkish show Erkenci Kus that I will read more..but I kind of want to re-watch it
I just finished LORD OF DANGER by Anne Stuart and remembered why I don’t like medieval romances (lol ur wife is a saucy wench you should beat her more often lol). Also the hero was just too morally suspect and he’s a wizard with long silver streaked hair and I kept picturing Justin Theroux from a terrible 2011 movie called Your Highness and it was not sexy.
I’m making my way through the LADY DARBY mysteries by Anna Lee Huber and I’m super pissed about the way she portrayed war PTSD in the second book.
The only book I read recently that I was enthusiastic about was AT YOUR SERVICE by Sandra Antonelli where a British spy falls in love with his Doc Marten wearing, 50-something butler/landlady. Not a perfect book but I loved it.
I think twice a month is an awesome idea, so thank you! I’ve had a really good couple of weeks reading.
First I read Lake Silence by Anne Bishop, and I really, really enjoyed it. I read a few meh reviews but I have only good things to say about it.
Next for something totally different I read Any Old Diamonds by KJ Charles. Then I read it again. Guys, this book is so good.
Finally, my library finally got the Karen Marie Moning Fever series ebooks, so I’ve been tearing through those. A little late to the party but I’m having a great time!
I re-read And All the Stars, my favorite stand-alone from Andrea K. Höst – YA alien invasion with great characters, found family, and a late twist I pause to savor and think about every time I read the book. Some other excellent reading, but that’s the one that makes me want to say “Guys! This one!”
I had a couple I started and didn’t finish so am doing a comfort re-read of Sarina Bowen’s Brooklyn Bruisers. Also, on a personal level, Contemporary Pediatrics’ May 1, 2015, issue had some great stuff on adolescent bipolar which is what I am dealing with at home and so I have been re-reading that and finding it useful. Link in case anyone else could benefit.
https://www.contemporarypediatrics.com/contemporary-pediatrics/news/bipolar-disorder-children-assessment-and-diagnosis
AT THE PRESIDENT’S PLEAURE by Shayla Black and Lexi Blake. The last of the series. Liked other books in the series more. Lot of crazy sauce, conspiracy, Russians trying to influence the White House, how believable is that? (when did they start writing the series….)
THE ULTIMATE PI PARTY by Jackie Lau. I enjoyed the growing charm of the couple and how they liked each other and he always is clear about her consent. Didn’t like that they started a relationship after he hired her for a catering job–a job that would end less than a month (I think), so it’s not like that had to wait a year. I also didn’t care for the “I have Daddy issues so I can’t be in a relationship” from him.
VIVIENNE LORRETT. I read the first two books in the matchmaker series. I enjoyed the humor and charm. So I thought I would read some of backlist and it didn’t hit me the same way.
Do other people find binge reading an author makes you like them less. What authors do you find improve with binge reading and which authors do you ending loving more. Just curious.
This week I read Can’t Escape Love by Alyssa Cole and then read Bad Blood by M. Malone for the Romance Sparks Joy book club. Now I’m reading Thirsty by Mia Hopkins on my phone (they did a book club on the When in Romance podcast) and 99 Percent Mine in paperback in anticipation of Heaving Bosoms upcoming episode.
Brilliant read: THE HANDMAID’S TALE (graphic novel edition). People, this is an astonishing work. This is the color red as I’ve never seen it before, a gorgeously inked story that is powerful precisely because it is so very quiet. I was left speechless at the end and will have to purchase a copy to treasure. Considering I haven’t re-read the original novel since 1985, I approached this edition, and the series, with a truckload of trepidation. Not the book I wanted, but the book I needed. So grateful to artist Renee Nault.
NB: For some reason, other readers thought the graphic novel was the entire book, expecting it to be better than the TV series. I can’t even.
Other reads: Catching up on Colin Cotterill’s Dr. Siri books with the latest three. I would love to be friends with these characters.
It’s me, not you: Unbelievably, I couldn’t get into BLACK LEOPARD, RED WOLF by Marlon James. This kind of story is my catnip, but I had to set it down for now.
@LMC re AT THE PRESIDENT’S PLEASURE: see my comment above about why Ainsley Booth decided not to publish FIRST LADY about the unhappy wife of a horrible president; it was just too close to what’s going on right now.
Forgot what I’m currently reading: WHO SLAYS THE WICKED by C. S. Harris. My favorite historical series.
Next up: EARLY RISER by Jasper Fforde, then MY BRILLIANT FRIEND by Elena Ferrante for book club.
@Ren Benton: I was so excited to see your reaction to BLOODY ROSE. Can’t wait to get to it myself.
@DiscoDollyDeb Thanks!
I signed up for Kindle Unlimited this past week when I noticed some books on my wish list were on it. (I had dismissed it in the past, not thinking it included any of the authors I enjoyed.) I’ve been madly downloading ever since.
– The Shameless Hour by Sarina Bowen which had a heavier tone than I was expecting but loved it nonetheless, especially the adorable virgin hero.
– Block Shot by Kennedy Ryan. Love her writing but I struggled with the heroine’s infidelity and the hero’s lack of compassion.
– Whiskey Chaser by Lucy Score & Claire Kingsley. Enjoyed the handy-woman heroine and setting. First in a series which I will read.
Not on KU but on my Libby app, was An Unseen Attraction by KJ Charles. Really enjoyed the main characters and the mystery kept me guessing. Not sure how I haven’t read KJ Charles yet – don’t take away my license to read romance!
I saw the Watcha Reading post and immediately thought I’d entered a weird time warp and lost 2 weeks of time. Was very confused for a moment, but now I’m just happy to get it twice a month! I’ve been adulting this month so haven’t had as much time to read. However, I just finished DEVIL’S DAUGHTER by Lisa Kleypas. Reading it was like curling up under a warm, comfy blanket by a roaring fire on a cold winter’s night. I also read WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by Delia Crawford and while I found it quite unrealistic (I have a hard time believing any child in the US would have been left alone to raise herself, even in the North Carolina swamps in the 1960’s), the writing was evocative and the story compelling.
Also, continuing my 2019 reading goal to read at least one non-fiction book a month, I read THE UNBANKING OF AMERICA, by Lisa Servon, and found it a fascinating and very readable survey of alternative financial services (like payday lending and check cashing stores) in the US and the reasons for their growth and popularity. You’d think this would be quite a dry subject but the author manages to make it interesting and accessible, and covers quite a bit of ground in relatively short book.
It has been a historical romcom halfmonth for me.
Mia Vincy’s A Wicked Kind of Husband is great/5 star/reread list. The first 6 chapters are unbelievably funny. Fully deserving of its 4.39 stars on goodreads.
Julia Quinn’s section of The Lady Most Willing was good and funny, but not up to the standards of What Happens in London or Ten Things I Love About You.
Wicked, My Love is a funny sparring romance that somehow completely managed to lose me overnight. It was bizarre.
Since the last post ~
— The Stars Down Under: Sandra McDonald. It was different from the first book in the series but proved to be an intriguing story.
— Duchess by Deception by Marie Force: this is author Marie Force’s first historical romance. While I enjoy the author’s contemporary romantic suspense Fatal series, I’ll admit that I found this book less satisfying.
— an enjoyable short story, A Dead Djinn in Cairo by P. Djèlí Clark which is available for FREE as part of this large collection Some of the Best from Tor.com: 2016: A Tor.com Original. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01MS8EZ9X/ref=dbs_a_w_dp_b01ms8ez9x
— started but did not finish three new books; I ultimately decided to reread a favorite. Read Michelle Diener’s Dark Horse (currently free) and then went on to read Dark Deeds, and Dark Minds.
— Midnight Riot (Rivers of London Book 1) by Ben Aaronovitch
— Moon Over Soho: 2 (Rivers of London 2) by Ben Aaronovitch
— Ben Aaronovitch’s Whispers Under Ground (Rivers of London 3)
– also read a boatload of samples out of the 200 plus that are on my Kindle.
— enjoyed Lucy Knisley’s latest memoir, Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos
— continued reading Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series and finished the fourth book, Broken Bones. This ended on a surprising note. I enjoyed it (save for the continuing use of “Me and so-and-so”). Went on to read Foxglove Summer: A Rivers of London Novel, Book 5.
— Reread with pleasure Anne Cleeland’s Murder In Thrall, Murder in Retribution, and Murder in Hindsight from her New Scotland Yard series.
I just reread the Unleashing and the Undoing by Shelly Laurenston because I am full of feminist rage and these books are cathartic. The premise of the series is that a Nordic goddess gives women who have been killed by men talons, wings and powers. They are her crows -her fighting force. The female friendships are strong and more interesting than the romances. The women are flawed and interesting and fight with each other but also have each other’s backs. It’s awesome.
I absolutely looked at my calendar thinking this was not the end of the month. I have been sick this week, but surely it only felt like I had lost time…..but not weeks!
So far this month, my best reads have been:
HEAT STROKE by Tessa Bailey – – I loved it from start to finish. A M/M story about lifeguards with such witty banter and accepting family members.
AMERICA’S GEEKHEART by Pippa Grant- – former boyband member turned underwear model with a heart of gold falls in love with a girl that just wants to save the world and run from her past. Beck is gold BBF material. I dare you to not fall in love with Beck.
NEW YORK NIGHTWINGS COMPLETE COLLECTION by VL Locey – – during the NHL playoffs, I like to read hockey, so I am deep in my hockey TBR folder. This collection is three M/M novellas connected by two friends and their hockey playing lovers. I liked all three stories because VL Locey knows how to write hockey and likable characters. I would mention a content warning of sex workers with traumatic pasts.
I’ve been making my way through both the Garden of Allah Series by Martin Turnbull, and the Crazy Rich Asians Trilogy by Kevin Kwan. I have reach the end of the first, and am about to end the second, so it will soon be time for me to find another series or two to read. I was waiting to finish Allah until all the books were written even though I love the old Hollywood setting so I would essentially buy and hoard them and the ninth came out this year. Crazy Rich Asians was a buddy read with my best friend, and it looks like next for us will be a read of Tamera Alexander’s Bellmont Mansion Trilogy. It’s Christian by the looks of it, but I like historical fiction of any flavor, even though I’m no longer religious in my daily life, so I’m interested to see what I think of it. The omnivorous nature goes for US Civil War fiction which this is also. Otherwise, I might finish some romance package titles which I’ve had checked out for awhile and some more recently. A few Beverly Jenkins,and a few Georgette Heyer. Maybe I’ll finally start that Stella Riley series that I’ve been meaning to. I’ve never read her Georgian set books, and the first one really interests me with a blind heroine. The last book in that one came out also. I truly do love when I can read through a series all at once.
By the way, I was very confused by the latest Whatcha Reading Post, and until seeing the explanation chalked it up to lack of sleep. I did wake up early this morning after staying up late.
I don’t have any books to recommend (that tells you how my reading has been going, ugh!)
BUT – I want to say that I am so happy this post will now be twice a month!! Thanks so much!
@CelineB – I had the opposite reaction to The Girl He Used to Know. The plot twist near the end is the part of the book that has stuck with me, since I found the characters somewhat bland up until that point (and still find the hero somewhat flat).
@Kate- I did think the hero was a little bland, but I loved Annika and her friendship with Janice. I enjoy reading about characters who are neuro-atypical and I haven’t read one like Annika before. I enjoyed getting to know her and exploring life through her eyes.
After I commented, I started thinking about why some twists work for me and others don’t. I think a twist needs to be at least close to the same tone as the rest of the book. This was a complete change tone wise from a low-stakes, low-drama, character-driven story to very high stakes, high drama, high angst story out of nowhere. Like another commenter said, it felt like a slap in the face. That’s not what I read romance for. Part of the appeal to me is I know what I’m getting. Angsty and drama-filled is fine if I’m in the right mood and I know what I am getting into. I was lured into believing it was a different kind of story. Plus that specific event just still evokes such powerful emotions, for me at least, that it just felt like it being used almost as a ploy or a gimmick for shock value instead of a natural progression of the story. The character growth Annika displayed could have been shown in another similar way with a different dramatic event. I still liked it overall, but I felt like the ending was a misstep.
THE WOLF AT THE DOOR and THE WOLF AT BAY by Charlie Adhara are absolutely fantastic! If you like werewolves, mystery and M/M romances (or any combination thereof) you need to give this series a read!
BROOKLYNAIRE by sarina bowen. I love sarina bowen s books especially the true north series, but i DNF d this one. The story jumped around in time too much and i didnt really care about either characters.
ALL SYSTEMS RED by martha wells. A very smart and funny sci fi told by the perspective of a grumpy security that just wants to watch TV but keeps on having to save their friends. There are 4 novellas and a full length book coming out this year! I ve been listening to the whole series on Scribd on audiobook-the narrator does a great job.
I’m excited about 2X the Whatcha Reading posts! I’m hoping it’ll spread out my many post-Whatcha Reading library checkouts so I might actually have time to read them all before their due date.
I’ve read two books I loved this month:
Mrs Martin’s Incomparable Adventure by Courtney Milan, and
An Unconditional Freedom by Alyssa Cole.
These are two of my favorite authors and these might be two of my new favorite books by them. Mrs Martin had nearly everything I might ever want: f/f romance, a frank exploration of class difference, hilarious feminism, emotional vulnerability with no angst, and the extremely satisfying destruction of a misogynist.
I almost didn’t read An Unconditional Freedom, because I found the last book in this Civil War spy series so anxiety-producing. Not only did I find this one much less stressful, I actually found it healing to read. I loved the slow burn relationship between the tender, broken hero and a heroine who spends the book deprograming herself from internalized racism.
I also read sci fi novel Six Wakes, which was a page turner but had some fat shaming and strange focus on thinness.