In case you missed it, we’re doing Whatcha Reading twice month! If you missed Part One, you can find it here.
This post is where we can talk books (obviously) and discuss all the good and bad we’ve read. Your TBR piles will never be the same and I inevitably end up adding at least two books from the comments section.
Let’s get started! So, whatcha reading?
Carrie: I’m almost done with The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson( A | BN | K | G | AB ) and it has been AMAZING.
Sarah: I cannot wait to hear about it.
Amanda: I’m getting ready to start The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren ( A | BN | K | G ). Their writing is so comforting for me and I think it’s what I need right now.
Elyse: I’m debating if I want to start Fumbled by Alexa Martin or A Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole ( A | BN | K | G | AB ).
I just finished The Savior by JR Ward ( A | BN | K | G | AB ).
Sarah: I’m reading Stealing Luna by Carla de Guzman ( A ) – there’s a princess and a bodyguard and a plan to kidnap a dude for revenge. It’s dishy!
Amanda: Oh! We just mentioned that on Book Beat. It looks good!
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!
So many new books out this by so many of my favorite authors, I’m so happy.
Faves
– AMBERLOUGH / ARMISTICE / AMNESTY by Lara Elena Donnelly – I love this trilogy. When I’m reading them, I want to do nothing else, I am just fully in this world. They give me the biggest book hangover and I want to give them to everyone I know. Now I’m on tenter hooks until Donnelly’s next book.
– PROPER ENGLISH by KJ Charles – this doesn’t come out til May 8th, but it’s worth the wait! Full length (!!!!) f/f romance, house party murder mystery, storms! So good! Set a few years before THINK OF ENGLAND.
Good
– THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD by John le Carre – read as way to keep that AMBERLOUGH high going, but it just wasn’t the same. Written well certainly, but not the same.
Currently Reading
– THE AUSTEN PLAYBOOK by Lucy Parker – *high pitched noise of joy only dogs can hear*
– HER BODY AND OTHER PARTIES by Carmen Maria Machado – disturbing takes on stories we know, the girl with green ribbon, Law & Order, others we don’t, all great
I am jealous of Elyse’s reading options.
Murder in G Major by Alexia Gordon was my favorite recent read. It’s a cozy mystery with a African-American conductor and violinist sleuthing in a small Irish town. Her sidekick is the local ghost, which I found initially annoying but it really grew on me.
I finished The Earl I Ruined by Scarlett Peckham which managed to take a character I thoroughly disliked and make me root for her. I found the previous book in the series bob sexier and less stressful, however.
Just for Show by Jae – f/f fake relationship between a psychologist and an actress. Totally angst free, fluffy and enjoyable.
DNF: Crashing Into Her by Mia Sosa – I loved the cover but couldn’t get into the heroine’s voice. She seemed to like the hero against her better judgement, which isn’t my favorite dynamic.
MEET CUTE by Helena Hunting. Darker than the cute cover and description. (VAGUE, INFERRED SPOILERS AHEAD) Enjoyable except for the obvious plot holes and annoyances: There is a custody issue and they don’t think of investigating the other party, even in the most basic terms? The child in the custody battle has had a traumatic event and even though the family is very well off, the only counseling she gets is once a week from the school counselor, who ends up being rather unprofessional (really!?)
BURNOUT by Nagoski twins, recommended by this site. Half way through and already filled with post it notes. Been mentioning it so many people, even though I’m not done.
IT HAPPENED ONE WEDDING. My first Julie James. Enjoyable and will be reading more of her.
Yay! I’m back after my self-imposed hiatus. I thought when I talk a break from most of the internet, I’d really get a lot of reading done, but weirdly I fell deep into a big fanfic project and discovering new music. Those were two things I hadn’t done for a long time. I think the break from social media helped my brain focus in a different way. I also listened a lot of the “Smart Podcast, Trashy Books” archive so thank you for that!
I did manage to read “Love and Other Train Wrecks” by Leah Konen. It was a cute, NA, traveling together on a train, throw together by circumstance story. There is a bit of characters not being entirely honest with each other (I feel like to say more might be a spoiler). I thought the author handled it well, but if that’s something that irritates you, might be better to skip.
I got into an Emily Nagoski mini-binge and read “Burn Out” and “Come As You Are.” Both excellent and worth it, even with some overlapping content. I want to give both of them to all my friends my age b/c we are almost all in that “juggling a million things” at once stage of life.
I also read “One and Only” by Jenny Holiday (“good girl” is supposed to babysit “bad boy” at a friend’s wedding) and it came so close to being a A/A+ read, but there were a few moments that “clanged” for me. There were jokes about being slutty that were kind of brushed off with “haha, we’re very sex positive and don’t care about that” but it felt kind of like a cop out in how they were phrased (we’re not judging you, except we totally are).
Also the heroine really like Xena (both the show and dressing as her for Comiccon) and one of her female friends is weirdly obsessed with the idea that this means she’s a lesbian. That just felt kind of retrograde to me and even if it did mean that (or that she’s bi, which is clearly also an option), why would you keep bringing it up, over and over again? If she needs you to know, she’ll tell you. Ten years ago, I probably would have read over both those things without blinking, but times do change.
And this may be TMI, but the author used the words pussy and vagina in the sex scenes, which just felt very tonally weird, in my humble opinion. Like one of the most slangy words and most clinical words in the same scene made it not. . . flow. I get it, English doesn’t have a lot of great words for female genitalia, but pick a lane.
Anyways, as usual, I’m only ranting b/c it came so, so close to perfect. If these type of things don’t turn you off, read it. I read it in two days b/c I loved the book overall. The heroine and hero both have layers and I really bought the forced proximity ‘falling in love’ quickly aspect which is hard to pull off. I will definitely read the rest of the series when I can, even if I might not rush out and buy it right this minute.
I haven’t actually finished a book this month. Unfortunately, that includes my Camp NaNoWriMo project.
I DNFed Three Dark Crowns, by Kendare Blake earlier this month, but I’ll probably give it another shot when I’m less distracted.
I recently started Red Sister, by Mark Lawrence. All I really knew going in was “assassin nuns.” So far, I’m liking it. I’m not that far in though and it looks like her training is going to hit a lot of standard plot tropes. I believe there’s some f/f romance in the series, but I think it involves a couple of side characters.
I also started a reread of The Book of the New Sun, by Gene Wolfe. I’m marking it up with page flags and taking notes, so this may take awhile. (It’s a four book sff series. The first book is The Shadow of the Torturer.)
I’m going to start ‘Any Duchess Will Do’, by Tessa Dare tomorrow.
I also want to start the ‘Once Upon’ anthology by Nora Roberts, Jill Gregory, Ruth Langan, and Marianne Willman some time this week, beginning with ‘Once Upon A Castle’.
Read: Desire Lines by Elizabeth Kingston. All you need to know is that it’s a great medieval historical romance with a really sweet hero and a badass heroine.
Reading : Queen of all Crows by Rod Duncan which is another book on his Fall of the Gaslit Empire series. So far it’s a decent book, but I think I like the first 3 more. So far it is really slow and while an all female pirate crew is promised later the book is taking it’s sweet time getting there .
INCOMING SPOILERS
Me losing patient is partially my fault because a character who was important to the first three books was unceremoniously killed off at the beginning and since I hate that particular trope I had to check that she’d be all right,(she is by the way). However, looking to that I found out about female pirates which are currently being built up as a grand reveal. I’m sure their reveal will be satisfying, once I get there that is.
END SPOILERS
Another thing about this book is how jerkish a certain character who was set-up as the heroine’s love interest has become, but if you aren’t a shipping person he really isn’t that important to the story. Moans and groans aside, if you like a little steampunk, a strong heroine and mostly engaging mysteries I’d Still check out the story, but if anything I mentioned bothers you, just read through to The Custodian of Marvels which closes the first trilogy of series in a satisfying manner.
I’m hoping to finish A PRINCE ON PAPER by Alyssa Cole this weekend. After that, I’m hoping to check out MEET CUTE by Helena Hunting and GETTING HOT WITH THE SCOT by Melonie Johnson.
Also, after seeing AVENGERS: ENDGAME, I want to read some comics, maybe some Cap and Black Widow titles.
Has it already been two weeks? I had hoped to get more reading done over spring break—but this thing called LIFE kept interrupting! Ah well, still not a bad haul for 14 days:
In Pam Godwin’s incredibly angsty Tangled Lies trilogy (ONE IS A PROMISE, TWO IS A LIE, THREE IS A WAR), a woman is torn between memories of her long-dead fiancé and the promise of a possible future with the man who owns the casino where she now works. I loved the dancer heroine—a bold, unapologetically sexual women who is resilient, kind, empathetic, and completely in touch with her body (Godwin’s descriptions of dancing and how it feels to dance are beautifully written). I was less enthralled with the two men in the heroine’s life—domineering alpha males with devastating secrets, both of whom betray her in different but equally painful ways. The story is full of juxtaposition: grief versus hope, mourning versus joy, past versus future, sex versus intimacy, toxic versus healthy, hate-fucking versus making-love. Very good, but your heart will ache for the heroine and the impossible position she finds herself in through no fault of her own. Key quote: “Love doesn’t end with death. It doesn’t shrivel and disintegrate with the ashes. It hovers, follows, haunts the living.”
(One last note about Tangled Lies: I rarely follow the playlist for a book, but I did for the books in this trilogy. Upbeat or ballad, pop or country, obscure or incredibly popular, lyrics that make you cry or make you smile, Godwin’s musical choices were always just the right song for just the right moment throughout the story. I found myself frequently going to YouTube to listen to a particular song—and the mood it evoked was always perfect for the scene in which Godwin had used it.)
Holley Trent’s WRITING HER IN has a very intriguing premise: a (female) writer has a one-night stand with a (male, married) cover model—a man whose image graces the covers of her books. Although the one-nighter takes place with the full knowledge and permission of the model’s wife, things start getting complicated when the one-off evolves into a more intense affair AND the writer also becomes involved with the model’s wife. I thought the book was a very nuanced and well-written account of a couple trying to negotiate how they will open their marriage to the third person they both want. I especially liked the character of the wife. She was raised in an extremely repressive religious home and still possesses a sheltered, naive air. She initially seems to be asexual or aromantic (I’m not very knowledgeable about how either of these are defined, but it is by her choice that her marriage is sexless); but, as the story develops, she realizes that—although she deeply loves her husband in a platonic way—her sexual interest is in other women. Trent does a great job of making it seem plausible that, in this day and age, a woman would be unaware of her sexuality until the fact of it was, literally, right in front of her. Key quote: “Love and sex didn’t always come in the same package, and that was starting to seem like a perfectly reasonable thing.”
Skye Warren’s BEAUTY AND THE PROFESSOR is a compilation of several of her previously-published erotic novellas about a college student in her early twenties and the older, reclusive, wounded veteran whose house she cleans and with whom she falls into a highly-sexual relationship. Prior to his injury (which left him scarred physically and emotionally), the hero had hopes of an academic or political career, but he gave up those dreams. Then a college professorship becomes available and, encouraged by the heroine, the hero takes the position. But will their happy, but secretive, relationship become a casualty of his new job? The book (which does end on a cliffhanger) is on the “lighter” side of Warren’s work: there’s angst, but none of the violence or problematic consent of some of her “darker” works. If you’re unfamiliar with Warren, this collection might be a place to dip your toe—as long as you keep in mind that much of her work is darker than this.
Despite having a likable hero & heroine, Kendall Ryan’s JUNK MAIL featured two secondary characters who made it difficult for me to enjoy the book as much as I wanted to. First, there’s the heroine’s “feisty grandma”—a stock character who ranks right up there with “plot muppet” as my least favorite supporting character in romance novels. I mean, the whole “isn’t it funny to hear a woman in her eighties make sexual remarks” is so eye-rollingly patronizing—as if we should be surprised that women of that age could think about or have sex (hey writers—please remember women like Rita Moreno, Tina Turner, Gloria Steinem, and Sophia Loren are in their eighties). The second character is…the hero’s dick, an organ that is talked/rhapsodized/fantasized about, anthropomorphized, imagined, described, nicknamed, punned, worshipped, blamed, and chastised so much throughout the book, it needed to narrate its own chapters. I agree that when the premise of a book involves a requested dick-pic being accidentally texted to the wrong number, the member in question is going to be an element of the book, but JUNK MAIL has an Elle-Kennedy-esque level of obsessive focus on the hero’s penis: what it looks like, how big it is, how it might perform, how many punny names and euphemisms it can be called. It hijacked the story and got exhausting real fast. Jeez—we get it: you’re business partners, but one of you has seen the other one’s dick, so how are you going to keep it cool and professional? Oh I don’t know—possibly by being grown-ass adults capable of compartmentalizing. A fun premise that was let down by its ongoing phallocentric focus.
Because back in the day I truly was a Disco Dolly, while I was reading Alexis Abbott’s CAPTIVE OF THE HITMAN, I couldn’t help but think of Grace Jones’s disco classic, “I’m Not Perfect (But I’m Perfect for You).” In this story of a young congressional aide who gets roofied and ends up at a party where everyone else is wiped out by a hitman, there’s so much objectively “wrong” and yet…I found myself thoroughly engrossed in the book and rooting for the snarky, spunky heroine and the hitman who decides to protect rather than assassinate her. Sure he’s a cold-blooded murderer, but, hey, he looks really hot when he’s working out! And yeah, she should be plotting how to get away from the safe house where she’s being kept, but what’s a horny gal to do? I know using a word like “fun” when talking about a very dark and very violent hitman romance doesn’t make sense, but while CAPTIVE OF THE HITMAN is hardly a perfect book, it was a perfect read for the mood I was in while I was reading it. Cue Grace Jones.
[CW: child abuse] Victoria Quinn’s BLACK OBSIDIAN was a free download in the kindle store. It’s the story of a man who (as men are inclined to do) runs a philanthropic organization by day and an exclusive bdsm club by night. He falls into insta-lust with a woman who helps run a homeless shelters and a food kitchen. Despite their shared interest in altruism, both hero and heroine have a lot of secrets that they hide from the world and from each other. I didn’t care much for the hero—his callous dismissal of the sub with whom he’d been in a monogamous D/s relationship for over a year was unnecessarily cruel; and his decision not to share information about his dreadfully-abusive childhood or explain his bdsm tastes to the heroine made him less than sympathetic: it felt as if he were pursuing the relationship with her under false pretenses. Also, there’s an insistent subtext that the hero is using Dom behavior as an anger-management tool and that he wants to dominate and control the heroine outside of the bedroom and without her consent. (The most interesting element of the book was the h&h’s decision to refrain from p-in-v sex for the first month of their relationship. Everything else remains on the table, however, leading to some inventive configurations.) Not a terrible book by any means, but, with such an unsympathetic hero, I doubt I’ll continue with the other books in the series—especially as they’re quite pricey and I need a compelling reason to pay over $7 for an ebook.
“The Austen Playbook” on release day…Lucy Parker is about the only author I do that with. I was a little nervous because I adored “Act Like It” but “Pretty Face” and “Making Up” weren’t for me…not because they weren’t well-written but they both happen to be based on tropes that I really do not care for and while she did a better job with them than most, they were never going to be favorites. I was starting to wonder if maybe “Act Like It” was an outlier, but I really loved “The Austen Playbook.” I liked the hero and heroine together, and honestly I preferred the ending over that of “Act Like It.” One of the things I like in all the books is the way that for the most part characters from the different books exist in the same universe and casually encounter each other (as you do where people have jobs in the same industry and city) but the books aren’t sequels to each other. The one thing I wished for more of was the “theater competence porn”–it’s not that James and Freddie aren’t good at their jobs, but he’s taking time off from his during the book, and Freddie’s job gets relatively little attention compared to other Lucy Parker books.
Not been reading too much because academia has not let up for a while, but I made time for The Austen Playbook. I enjoyed it, but it hit a lot of tropes that don’t really do anything for me (though if you’re a Slytherin/Hufflepuff romance fan, The Austen Playbook really goes all in on that). Lucy Parker’s writing remains fantastic and this new one will definitely have lots of catnip for someone, just not me!
This one’s a left-field recommendation, but I re-read Kurt Busiek’s graphic novel Superman: Secret Identity, which is about a Clark Kent named for the comic books who just happens to develop superpowers which are kinda similar to Superman’s. It has a really cute romance and it’s very soothing and quiet, plus I love Stuart Immonen’s art. It’s one of my favourite Superman stories, though it’s not really about Superman as such.
As previously mentioned, my father had a bit of a (downplaying, it was enormous) health scare leading to unexpected travel. The best part of which was the Campfire Mocha I snagged on the way to my connecting flight at Minneapolis/St Paul (oh, how I miss Caribou Coffee) followed by quality time with my kindle rereading/binge reading Act Like It followed by Pretty Face and Making Up. They were a genuine pleasure and comfort. Now I just have to figure out the budget squeeze that will allow me to download The Jane Austen Playbook, and I will be a happy camper.
Because my Kindle battery life is, let’s say unreliable, I ended up reading Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty. Reading material at my dad’s tends to have a martial flavor. No half naked Navy Seals on the covers, though. It was satisfying if for no other reason than being able to say to my dad, as we were watching Hacksaw Ridge later that week, “You don’t know who Desmond Doss was? You have the book in the other room.”, and then handing him said book open to the profile. It’s not often I get one up on my Dad.
After I got home, I went into a bit of a reading slump. Seriously didn’t read anything for about a week. I’d cancelled all my GBPL reserves because I didn’t know when I’d be back, and nothing on the Kindle appealed, nor did a reread. Pretty unusual for me, and then an unplanned trip to the Kindle store led to the discovery of not one, but TWO Molly O’Keefe books in the Kindle Unlimited (thank you baby bro for the subscription) listings. My Wicked Prince lacked some of the angsty depth of her other books, but still had plenty to love. Royals isn’t one of my go to tropes, but this was handled nicely. There was O’Keefe’s usual redemption arc, although I did see the twist at the end a mile off.
Reading slump cured, I resubmitted all my GBPL hold requests and the very next day scored Kristen Callihan’s Fall, book 3 in her VIP series which is my favorite rock star romance series. Half way through and I am loving it.
Slow reading time for me but I did finish OVERNIGHT SENSATION by Sarina Bowen. It was okay and I like the hockey team setting but I feel like it’s hard for me to bond with heroines who are significantly younger than me. The heroine is a college junior who leaves school to work at a hockey team, in part because her father is hockey commissioner and gets her the job. I didn’t realize until I was already reading it that she was so young (I have a kid who is a junior in college!). She seemed immature and naive in many ways. even for a 20 yr old, and I found myself agreeing with her dad to the extent that he thought quitting Bryn Mawr College with one year left was a short-sighted thing to do. (I would kick my kid’s ass if he wanted to do that.) Especially to work with a professional sports team – I mean, c’mon, the guys on the team were so wholesome it seemed terribly unrealistic. Not that I’ve ever been around such a team but I’m sure it’s more frat house than let’s pop popcorn and watch teevee. The hero seemed like a nice enough guy but a bit flat as a character. The heroine’s father was a manipulative asshole, though, and I wasn’t crazy about the plot line in which he controlled her job duties and purposely made her do things like work for a sexual harasser. And as someone who lives very near Bryn Mawr College, I found the portrayal of it as a prep school for spoiled girls to be ridiculous. At one point the heroine talks about how her dad “made me go to Bryn Mawr” — eyeroll. (You’re lucky you got in, Heidi Jo.) I think the heroine didn’t make sense to me because at some points she was so ditzy and yet the hero kept describing her as this spitfire who could handle anything. At one point they are pulled over for speeding and she pulls out some kind of NASCAR driving license to get out of the ticket — whut?
I’ve got Sarah McLean’s WICKED AND THE WALLFLOWER teed up. Always a pleasure to read her.
I just finished A PRINCE ON PAPER by Alyssa Cole and all I can say is wow, it had just about all my flavors of catnip in there! I especially loved the heroine, who was recovering from some pretty epic bad parenting and finding her own voice. Still gathering my thoughts on this one but I would say highly recommended!
Also recently finished A DUKE IN DISGUISE by Cat Sebastian, which was as advertised – cheese, sedition, and a whole lot of lovely caring relationship between the H and h.
Other than that – a lot of rereads. I’m halfway through MANAGED by Kristen Callihan and finding it even better the second time around. Gabriel Scott is definitely my book boyfriend.
I’m reading PRIEST by Sierra Simone and I don’t know how I feel about it, but I’m delighted that it’s set in a historical town near where I live. Most of the residents are white and vote Republican so it’s fun to imagine naughtiness happening there. When the blurb said the heroine was a stripper I was hoping for someone other than a rich girl slumming as a high class stripper because she’s bored. I just wanted a nice hard working gal with no caveats to what is a legit profession. I think that would be more interesting. The hero is pretty adorable though.
What I’m not reading: A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES by Deborah Harkness. I have been on the waiting list behind 30 some people at the library for months and I finally got it and then promptly forgot about it. Gotta get around to that.
I have a love/argh-why-are-you-doing-this-to-me relationship with MURDER IN JUST CAUSE, book 9 in Anne Cleeland’s Doyle & Acton series. At the end of book 8, Doyle did something typically reckless that exposed her baby to danger. When I read it, I hoped that event would serve a purpose later in the series. The good news is it does. The bad news is the consequence just makes me angrier with Doyle. (The series POV is third-person limited from Doyle’s perspective, and our heroine can be remarkably blithe about the chaos she wreaks.) Meanwhile, half the plot in book 9 is based on a secondary character’s throwaway line from book 2 of the series, and I am in awe of Cleeland’s Babylon 5-levels of plot seeding.
I read the first two books in Cora Reilly’s BOUND BY… series. They’re mafia romances with an arranged marriage trope and a virginity fetish (both of which I can shamelessly get behind) and a level of chauvinism and general disdain for women that I associate with outlaw motorcycle club romances. (Caveat: I have never actually read an MC romance. My bias is based entirely on the labels “old ladies” and “club whores.”) I really wanted to like book 2 for its cool, classy criminal hero, but I don’t think the happy endings in these books leave the women in a good place. The heroines don’t seem stronger than their toxic environment.
I then read books 1, 5, and 6 in Katee Robert’s THE O’MALLEY’S series because I didn’t want to judge all mob romances on the Reilly books. Despite the same reliance on the arranged marriage trope (yay!), this series definitely offers a 180 on the treatment of women from the first book’s first scene through to the final *spoiler*. Robert also does an infinitely better job with mob business than Reilly (whose mob setting is more of an aesthetic choice than a plot driver). However, don’t randomly skip ahead as I did. I wanted the tropes/pairings in the last two books, but the series has an integrated plotline. Whoops. (Book 1, THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT, is currently on sale for 99¢ at Amazon.)
Currently reading Lucy Parker’s THE AUSTEN PLAYBOOK, which may have to arm wrestle Pretty Face for the coveted position of my second-favorite London Celebrities book. I love Freddy, her professional/personal dilemma, and the pairing’s Slytherin x Hufflepuff vibe, but the book also seems really busy to me, as if all its moving pieces are grinding up against each other instead of smoothly turning the gears. Plus there’s a disappointing lack of cameos from characters I want to see again. (Basically, I just want Richard and Lainie to show up in every book, dispensing unsolicited advice and flirting with each other and maybe buying cat food.)
Everything I’ve read this month has been 4/5 stars. Its been a good streak.
I finished the audiobook for Beard Science (Penny Reid) m/f Small town, woman blackmails man into helping her find a husband. I usually read romance and listen to non-fiction so this was a departure from norm. I got to the point in the story where I wanted to go faster then the audiobook would let me, if I had had a print version I would have switched to it
Swift for the sun (Karen Bovenmyer) m/m historical, man is shipwrecked onto an island and falls in love with another shipwreck survivor. This didn’t give me the same happy feels that a good romance usually does but it was really interesting and caused me to go down a research rabbit hole to learn more
In His Corner (Christa Tomlinson) m/m friends to lovers, professional wrestlers. I heard about this book through Jeff & Will’s podcast. I liked it so much I immediately ignored the 50 other books waiting on my kindle and grabbed another book in the series, which was….
Showing Him the Ropes (Christa Tomlinson) m/m may/december, professional wrestlers. I was surprised how much i liked these books since I’m not into wrestling. They were both really good
@Jennifer Estep I’m also considering checking out some comics now, I’m interested in more black widow and nebula. I did pull the Black Window: Forever Red out of a Little Free Library nearby
@Deborah: if you’d like to read some MC romances with inclusion and better treatment of women (including a “patched-in” total bad-ass female club officer) than many of the genre, try Kati Wilde’s Hellfire Riders. There’s about 11 or 12 books in the series, so far, and they’re often on sale or bundled in the kindle store.
I finally read The True Queen by Zen Cho. It’s a fantasy / alt history with magic set in Malaysia and Regency England. It’s charming! I liked it even more than the first book (which was also good). There’s a very low key ff romance. It’s very much in the tradition of Sorcery and Celia and other Heyer + magic type books, but with a much more nuanced portrayal of British imperialism. Plus dragons!
I also read Murder House (PsyCop 10) by Jordan Castillo Price – this is more standalone than a lot of books in this series but it probably is only of interest to fans of the series.
Play Hard (Glasgow Lads 4.5) by Avery Cockburn just came out – the follow up novella to Liam and Robert’s story (book 3). This is a solid entry in the series but I had trouble getting into the story.
So many books, so little time!
NON-FICTION
As You Wish (Cary Elwes & Joe Layden): A love letter to the cast & crew & fans of “The Princess Bride”, by Westley. Elwes & Layden have a lovely authorial voice, & from Elwes’ own words, & the quotes from cast & crew throughout the book, it’s obvious that the film is as dear to him as it is to fans.
The Unwomanly Face of War (Svetlana Alexievich): Translated from the Russian, this is an oral history; the author specifically sought out women who served in the Red Army during WW2 & collected their stories. The book was written decades ago & only recently translated. She has a lyrical writing style, although there are musings on gender essentialism I disagree with. It’s unlike any other history of WW2 I’ve read, focusing far more on combatants’ experiences than on who-what-when-where; each woman’s story – a half-page to several pages – is told in her own words, & may focus on only one event. They don’t shy away from the blood & guts, sounds & smells. Well worth reading, but be prepared to take frequent breaks from it.
FICTION
Polaris Rising (Jessie Mihalik): Lady Ada is the 5th child in one of the Consortium’s High Houses, & she’s pledged to wed a son of another House. Tired of her evasion, her father puts a bounty on her head; when a mercenary troop captures her, she joins forces with their other prize, Marcus Loch, to escape. Danger, political maneuvering, world building & romance. I’ve preordered book 2!
Kill the Queen (Jennifer Estep): Our heroine is an orphan of the ruling line, brought to live in the castle after her parents’ death, who barely escapes the massacre at her cousin’s wedding, thanks to her innate magical talent. From there, she becomes a gladiator, & trains to face her cousin, now the queen, once again. There are echoes of the Red Wedding & of Gladiator – I mention this only in the sense that some storytelling themes inevitably recur in different media, & not as criticism; the world-building is great & both concepts fit in with the society. This is an excellent, imaginative start to the series & its world. Book 2 is on my TBR list!
The Demi-tasse Debut (Katy Leen): This is novella-length, & is the meet-cute of Lora Weaver, a non-French speaking American social worker newly arrived in Montreal, & sibling private investigators Camille & Laurent Caron. If you’re a stickler for reading stories in chronlogical order, read it; I love Leen’s writing style, it’s good, & it introduces the series’ main characters. But I think you’ll appreciate it & the characters more if you start with the first novel-length mystery in the series, “The First Faux Pas”, instead.
Any Groom Will Do (Charis Michaels): Spirited, intelligent, barren (thanks to a childhood illness) Willow longs to be an interior designer like her aunt, but in order to do so she needs the freedom an unmarried young woman can’t claim. So she & two friends advertise for spouses – & Willow’s groom, the young Earl Cassin, responds. Desperate for funds to finance their guano mining operation (yes, really, this was a thing in the 19th century) he & his two partners wed the girls & claim their dowries – & their hearts. I liked Willow’s determination to pursue her own interests, & the romance-by-letters was a nice touch. I also appreciated the lack of a baby-centric epilogue.
DID NOT FINISH
Every Single Secret (Emily Carpenter): DNF. Unlikeable & uninteresting characters; I gave up a few chapters in. The older I get, the less willing I am to keep reading a book that feels like a slog. Too many books, too little time to waste.
CURRENTLY READING
Bad Bachelor (Stefanie London): So far, I’m enjoying it – only a few chapters in, so I’ll hold the review for next time.
This month for me…
Duke of Desire – Elizabeth Hoyt
A good installment but way out of tone with the other Maiden Lanes considering how “darker” it felt.
The Immortal Who Loved Me – Lynsay Sands
Expected content in this PNR. Fans of series probably find things to like after so many installments in the Argeneau series. Nowadays for me it’s like getting to be updated on lost friends.
Inferno – Dan Brown
A great adventure again with the protagonist Robert Langdon! Might not be the best literary work but it offers enthusiasm with cultural details. The end was really great too 🙂 Recently saw the movie and what a let down!
Seducing an Angel – Mary Balogh
I expected more out of this 4th Huxtable series book, because it was Stephen’s story. I understand his heroine’s reasons for her behavior but didn’t like her much.
The Bravest Thing – Laura Lascarso
An interesting m/m story featuring two opposed attract protagonists in a very challenging and anti gay environment. Some details better than others but it captivated me.
Governess Gone Rogue – Laura Lee Guhrke
It’s an unrealistic historical story, not socially accurate for certain but I still liked every chapter. Perfect to ease up on the worries with sweetness and fairy tale possibilities.
The Savior – JR Ward
I’m still a 100% fan of this world. This reminded me of the first books in the series in terms of pacing but the main relationship depicted was a little too insta-love.
In the Days of Rain – Rebecca Stott
A non-fiction story by a woman/author who used to live in a cult-like religious group. Interesting and educative somehow but I don’t know if the personal content wasn’t a little unbalanced in relation to the message intended.
Good Time Bad Boy – Sonya Clark
Average for me. Two opposites attract, age gap too, seriously emotional backgrounds but… their attraction dididn’t feel “unavoidable” and I felt they could have just been friends.
Hand-me Down Bride – Juliet Waldron
I thought it would be a sweet mail order bride type of story with a twist( older groom dies and she needs to be the groom’s son housekeeper to survive) but the writing put me off and the characters were way too underdeveloped.
Teach Me – Ella Sheridan
Didn’t like it. Silly situations and I would say the abuse suffered by the heroine wasn’t portraied well. The end made me angry because it was really stupid (for me) considering the story’s main subject.
Portrait in Sepia – Isabel Allende
I tend to like the author’s stories even though this felt so-so, but since it was available at the library, I thought why not…
This is Going to Hurt – Adam Kay
Very sweet, serious and poignant, perfectly balanced non fiction in journal entries format about the author’s experience as a junior doctor and all that it entailed.
Ten Days in August – Kate McMurray
This m/m story was a little boring even if the historical side of things seemed to be well researched. The protagonists were ok but I didn’t really “see” why they wee such a good couple.
Dear Aaron – Mariana Zapata
Liked it, but less than the two others I’ve read by her. The first person heroine narrator felt a little unsure and slightly childish by telling and describing things the reader can so easily see between the lines, that the hero also seemed to understand but for her it was like “oh I didn’t see it coming”. This is why third person narrator usually works better in romance (in my personal preference).
Unclean Spirits – MLN Hanover
My first ever DNF since I’ve decided to start doing it as my 2019 reading resolution. Too many books in the TBR, yes… this was boring and UF is no longer my “go to” genre of preference. Disheartening since I have plenty of UFs in the pile that i feel like I need to at least try…
His Lady Bride – Shelley Bradley
Another “oldie” (from 2000), currently reading…
I have/had the Cold That Would Not Die (it may be gone, but I’ve thought that before. When I was at my sickest, I didn’t have the energy to stitch or read. I just laid on the couch watching spring training baseball through to the start of the regular season. There’s nothing quite so soothing to listen to (for me) as baseball. Before I got sick, I started a book called “No place for a dame” by Connie Brockway. The premise was great: in late 1819 England, the heroine “rescues” the hero from his engagement to a totally unsuitable woman (he hadn’t asked her to, but his fiancee was over-the-top awful). In return, she wants him to help her infiltrate the Royal Astronomical Society, disguised as a boy. She is supposed to be some sort of astronomical prodigy, prevented by her gender from having her genius recognized. Sounds good, right? The problem is that the author never convinced me that the heroine could science her way out of a paper bag. I think the problem was that the AUTHOR didn’t have any deep (or even shallow) understanding of science, so she couldn’t write a convincing scientist heroine. Competence porn this wasn’t.
But that started me looking for convincing scientist/heroines, starting with Stevie Stasiuk-McKilligan. Even though we never see Stevie actually doing any science, she was still more convincing as a genius that the heroine in “NPFAD.” Plus this rant: “You expect me to be humble when I deal with men like you all day, every day? Men who seem to make it their purpose in life to convince me that I can’t be good in science and math because I have tits and a pussy? My confidence is my armor. Against assholes like you.” Sing it, sister.
Then there was a modest little duology that I pulled out of the TBR because it looked low maintenance, literary-wise: “Keeping the castle” and “A school for brides” by Patrice Kindl. Sweet, low-angst Regencies, but what kept my interest was a character in “A school for brides.” The author deliberately named her Rosalind Franklin, and in the story she’s another astronomy savant, stuck in an out-of-the-way School for Young Ladies, whose only purpose in life to to marry somebody, anybody. She keeps a notebook full of her observations, and shows it to a potential suitor who shows up and is also an amateur astronomer. The jerk steals her notebook and publishes her findings as his own (sound familiar?), but oopsie–she hadn’t finished writing the corrections to her conclusions. When the jerk published her work, other scientists jumped all over the math, and he crawled back into his hole and never tried to do science again. At the end of the book, the heroine had given up astronomy in favor of running the school’s greenhouses and studying the inheritance patterns in scarlet runner beans.
Then there was “Scout’s progress” by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. I had dipped into the Liaden universe in the past, and never gotten very far. I guess you canNOT dip in anywhere and expect to make sense of it all. But this title is early in the series, and very good. This heroine is emotionally abused by her older brother, who seems to be intimidated by a woman who is smarter than he is. She gets a chance to escape the family and use her math skills to become a space pilot. The best part of the book is watching her grow in confidence and ability, with the help of the hero, who is completely supportive.
Sigh…I’m not quite done, but the Puppy Dog has just gotten up, and she requires a walk, then her pill, then breakfast. I was hoping she’d sleep later, darn it.
I’m almost done with Daisy Jones and The Six. My Facebook reading groups loved it, I’m meh on it.
I’m also two chapters into Intercepted by Alexa Martin, and I have high hopes for it.
I just finished K.A. Tucker The Simple Wild, and I liked it so much that I foresee a binge into her older books. I really loved her for a while and then fell off, I can’t remember why. I think I was tired of new adult, but her newest has sucked me back in.
I have the Austen Playbook sample waiting for me, I didn’t love the last two the way I loved the first one, so I’m excited to see people really enjoying it. I’ll probably bump it up my list based on the comments on this post.
I read Sherwood this week. It’s Meagan Spooner’s retelling of Robin Hood with Marian as the outlaw archer. I absolutely loved it and now I’m suffering from book hangover.
I just finished Kingdom of Copper by S A Chakraborty, and I really liked it, nearly as much as the first book. It’s a fantasy series with a middle eastern vibe. (Possible Spoilers) I have no idea where the romantic threads are leading because there are Nahri-Ali vibes I was picking up, and I’m not sure how I feel about that, while Dara keeps doing possibly irredeemable or unforgivable things. The hardest part of course is waiting for the third book!
Currently listening to The Winter of Witch by Katherine Arden, the third in a trilogy, set in Russia. I’m doing a lot of vicarious literary traveling! I’ve just started it.
And I’m reading Iced, by Karen Marie Moning, which picks up Dani’s story. This book certainly has a lot of adult men lusting after a young teenager. Suspending judgment for now but that may change.
Puppy has been walked and fed. Before she got up I was getting ready to get to the Big Finish. I started watching the televised version of “A Discovery of witches” and dove back into the All Souls trilogy plus the sequel, “Time’s convert.” I want more of Dr. Miriam Shephard, who throughout the series has had a tendency to take over any scene she’s in, and who started an adorable romance with Dr. Chris Roberts in “The Book of Life”. I love the scene where she strides into Chris’ Yale lab wearing a tee shirt that reads “Stand back. I’m going to try science” and DOMINATES. (There’s another scene where she wears a tee that reads “Science–ruining everything since 1543”. Back to the point I was making at the beginning, author Deborah Harkness is a historian, not a scientist, but she can write about alchemy and mitochondrial DNA with the best, because she did the research. By now authors should know that they can’t fake competence, let alone expertise.
I also read a couple of nonfiction books during The Cold. “Plato and a platypus walk into a bar…understanding philosopys through jokes” by Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein is undeniably light, but using humor did make it easier to get through some heavy thinking, and I was pleased to read at the end that the authors don’t get Kant either. I also sort of read a book called “The Areas of my expertise” by John Hodgman, which was relentlessly silly. Exhaustively so.
Back again. In Part 1 of my post I neglected to mention that Dr. Stevie Stasiuk-McKilligan is the heroine of Shelly Laurenston’s “In a badger way”. I usually check my writing before I click Submit, but — Puppy.
Boy just reading this thread has grown my TBR list! Especially psyched to read Zen Cho.
I am currently reading The Duke I Ruined by Scarlett Peckham and absolutely living it. Just finished Rafe A Buff Male Nanny. I was so impressed by the way Rebekah Witherspoon makes me want to read a book about literally every side character that appears. (Except Drew, who should crawl into a hole.) She makes every character that appears on the page vivid and unique. Since so many of them have their own books or have books coming, that has also grown my TBR list.
I also just read Alyssa Cole’s Can’t Escape Love and absolutely adored it. It warmed my entire heart.
@Deborah
We deserve a Richard/Lainie sequel where they star in a Jacobean revenge tragedy at the National Theatre and do London things and go on holiday to a country B&B (which Richard hates, naturally) and buy cat food. And get married at Hamlet’s castle in Denmark, because that’s a real thing people do. Does Lucy Parker read this site?
I’ve been having a better than normal reading month for romance! Recently, THE UNHONEYMOONERS was stellar (my favorite Christina Lauren to date, and I’m usually not so into enemies to lovers), and I really enjoyed DATING-ISH by Penny Reid (friends to lovers FTW!).
Right now, I’m reading THE BRIDE TEST by Helen Hoang and am really enjoying it. At least as good as THE KISS QUOTIENT, but we’ll see how it winds up. Also in the middle of PROMISES IN DEATH… good bless Eve & Roarke & Peabody. They always make me smile
More praise for The Austen Playbook, a very close second to Act like it in the Lucy Parker canon. LOVED it! I’m all about Slytherin/Hufflepuff.
I finally tried and enjoyed A Duke by Default so I also read A Princess in Theory and Can’t Escape Love. Neither lived up to the Duke for me, Can’t Escape maybe because it was a novella, Princess just seemed a little YA…
Kelly Bowen’s A Duke in the Night was enjoyable, and I finished up with some Knitting in the City rereading – Penny Reid is a comfort read – and am currently reading a rugby romance by Rosalind James set in New Zealand that I found on KU. I had to look up rugby online since I had no idea…
The best books I have read in the past two weeks are:
THE UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE YEAR by Sarina Bowen — I went deep in my TBR pile and read the first three books in her Ivy Years series. This was my favorite one. I am not crazy about books set in the college years, but I do read them on occasion depending on the author. This was a a M/M childhood friends to lovers that is my ultimate catnip. There was also the added bonus of being on a hockey team.
FOR LILA, FOREVER by Winter Renshaw — This was a real page-turner with wondering where the story was leading. It is broken up into four parts alternating from the past to present. It starts with young first love between a couple with a big class difference that progresses to twists and turns.
I’ve bought more than I’ve read in the last two weeks including ten from http://www.harlequin.com this week-end during their week-end sale with the code SPRING19BOGO through April 28th. I was bummed that the Library of Lost and Found was not included in the sale due to geographic restrictions. I’m in the US and was trying to buy the trade paperback.
I’m reading a lot of categories from Harlequin Love Inspired. I’m
My daughter was visiting from South Korea for the past two weeks, so I haven’t been reading as much as usual.
Recent reads ~
— American by Day by Derek B. Miller which I read for my book group. I quite enjoyed it. It’s the rare book group book that had me laughing from time to time but also thinking. Several years ago, my group read and enjoyed the author’s first book, Norwegian by Night; this book features a character from that book and follows it in time. I’m half tempted to go back and reread that earlier book since I only recall a fraction of its details. That said, this book can stand alone. Interestingly, my library has this labeled as a mystery while I would classify it as fiction. Sadly, I was sick and had to skip the meeting.
— Ben Aaronovitch’s The Hanging Tree (Rivers of London Book 6) which I enjoyed. I have one more book to read and then I’ll have finished the series.
— started but did not finish The Last Dog on Earth by Adrian J. Walker and Today I Am Carey by Martin L. Shoemaker before deciding to go for a comfort book. I reread SK Dunstall’s Linesman (A Linesman Novel Book 1) and Alliance (Book 2).
***
— another reread of SK Dunstall’s Confluence (A Linesman Novel Book 3) which I enjoyed once again.
— a reread of The Goblin Emperor: Katherine Addison which I enjoyed once more. (Note: the book is currently on sale for $1.99 for Kindle readers. I recommend it.)
— And a handful of samples. I liked the sample I read of The Care and Feeding of Griffins: A Lords of Arcadia Novel by R. Lee Smith; however, I read some reviews and decided the book was not for me. I did enjoy her The Last Hour of Gann previously. I’d like to reread it, but it’s quite long!
G Willow Wilson wrote the groundbreaking and addictive Ms. Marvel series until recently and I, who had never enjoyed a comic before, will read everything she reads forever.
Needed some fluff and comfort after Change of Heart by Sonali Dev, so catching up on perennial favorite Julia Quinn’s backlist. Just finished Lady Whistledown Strikes Back which was really enjoyable, particularly the way all the character arcs intertwined. Continuing now with What Happens in London which — I don’t know, it’s not grabbing me. Partly I think because it’s slower than her usual (I’m a third of the way in and we’re still in setup), although it could be because of my currently high tension level that’s not allowing me to relax into it (doing my first convention Dealer’s Room since my husband died and since I switched my shop over, and it’s a new show for me in a new venue; then looking at my first vacation with my sister in over 30 years which — best case scenario is we both survive psychologically more or less intact.) Although I still love how she plugs characters and references from other books into all her stories so that they all become one giant braid of interaction, and I hope that’s one of the things Shonda Rymes is able to keep in the video series. Currently I’m loving that the hero Harry Valentine is best friends with Sebastian Gray (from Ten Things I Love About You) and even though Harry is an accomplished espionage agent he knows nothing about the Miss Butterworth novels. Hoping he discovers this at some point; the irony is already delicious.
Not much romance this month. Just finished MIDNIGHT IN CHERNOBYL (a nonfiction book on the Chernobyl disaster which is, as you might expect, both fascinating and depressing), RUIN OF KINGS (highly recommended fantasy with some complex world-building and in which a lot of people die), and DEVIL’S BRIDE. Now reading NINE PINTS (nonfiction book about blood – I read most of the chapter about leeches out aloud to my husband because it was so interesting) and THE VANISHING STAIR (second in a series of YA mysteries – enjoying it so far).
I also have an insane number of ebooks (many bought based on the recommendation of this site) awaiting my attention.
I’ve read a lot more than I initially thought I did this month.
Marissa Meyer- Renegades (YA, superheroes vs. supervillains, the inevitable star-crossed love affair scenario)
This took me longer to get into than her previous series, and some of the worldbuilding felt really…I don’t quite know how to say, simplistic? Or, like, I didn’t really *get* how the world worked. But in the end I did enjoy it and look forward to reading the sequel.
Mary Robinette Kowal- The Fated Sky (second book in the Lady Astronaut of Mars series)
I read this book in a single day. I was so mad at myself, too, because it was supposed to last me all week at work. But when I picked it up I just couldn’t stop. I absolutely loved everything about it.
Courtney Milan- Mrs. Martin’s Incomparable Adventure
This one…didn’t work for me at all, and I’m sad about it. I’m still trying to unpack why, but, ultimately, the story to me felt like there wasn’t enough *there* there to even fill a novella, and maybe a shorter length would have served it better.
Alexis Hall- Glitterland
Mostly loved this, though I perhaps need to take a break on characters experiencing severe depression because it hit home, hard. And the dialect used for Darian got real old, real fast
Tana French- The Trespasser
And that finishes out my Dublin Murder Squad reread. This one’s great, I dig Antoinette. I’m probably going to tackle The Witch Elm in May, which I’m a bit apprehensive of because I haven’t heard many good things, but I do want to be a Tana French completest for now.
Elizabeth Hoyt- Duke of Pleasure
I don’t know why I’m still reading Maiden Lane, each one has diminishing returns for me. I didn’t like this at all. It feels a bit like Hoyt created this pairing by throwing darts at a list of names of minor characters, and I prickled on some issues of consent (just because it’s the woman who does the unexpected surprise kiss/grope & the man doesn’t resist doesn’t mean it’s exactly *okay*) and the idea that a 21 year old woman who has presented as male her entire life & clearly should have at least *some* gender identity issues to unpack was instead solely defined by the fact that she wanted babies, babies, babies, all the time babies. (not t say that very young women or gender nonconforming women can’t/shouldn’t desire motherhood, but it didn’t make a lot of sense to me for that particular character, and it seemed like a weak motivation to build her character on.)
Crystal Hana Kim- If You Leave Me
Set in South Korea immediately postwar through the mid-60s. I’m not usually one for multi-generational family sagas, particularly ones that feature love triangles and infidelity, but this was beautifully written and the characters were well drawn. Very tragic, but an interesting debut.
Mackenzi Lee- The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue
This has been on my shelf for a while and I’m glad I finally picked it up because I adored every word of it. I’m currently zipping through the sequel.
Scarlett Peckham- The Duke I Tempted
My first by this author, and I really enjoyed it. Especially because it took tropes I don’t often like (marriage of convenience, the tragic backstory that makes the hero think he Can’t Ever Love Again) and made me love them. Both Poppy and Archer were great characters (though I can’t ever look at the name Archer without hearing John H. Benjamin) Anyway, I look forward to reading more from her.
Have been making my way through Lisa Kleypas’s Ravenels series even though I loathed the one with Pandora (Devil in Spring). Heroine doesn’t want to marry because she wants to start a business and married women have no property rights, no ability to sign contracts, etc. And then she promptly marries a duke because he’s kind of cute and is going to put money in a trust for her? The premise just failed for me.
Also, reading book 5 of the Invisible Library which I thoroughly enjoy and wish there were more sexytimes with Irene and really any of of the male main characters (Kai, Vale, and Silver). (Maybe there were some in book 4? My library annoyingly owns books 1, 2, 3, and 5.)
@Janine—totally with you on the Lucy Parker books. Going to try the new one but really wasn’t into Making Up and Pretty Face.
My reading slump seems to have turned into a feast or famine situation where I read 4-5 books in 2-3 days then nothing for 4 days. Here’s the best I read:
Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons by Shirley Jackson- I loved these fictionalized memoirs of Jackson’s life raising four kids. Funny and somehow relatable even though I don’t have kids. I highly recommend them.
Wolf Rain by Nalini Singh- I seem to love the changeling/psy matches in this series the most so this was a big hit for me.
Currently I’m reading Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey which I have mixed feelings on. A lot of the story is pretty cute and I love all the rom-com movie references, but I have periods where I get a little bored and I’m not sure how I feel about the hero. I actually feel like I really want a book about the heroine’s best friend and her boss more than this story.