It’s our second Whatcha Reading of June! It’s been quite the month, hasn’t it? As you’ll see from the convo below, some of us are crushing our TBR, while others are in a bit of a slump.
What about you? Has it been a good reading month? Or are you in a dreaded slump, too?
Sarah: I’m reading/listening to a review copy of the audiobook for Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes, read by Julia Whelan. I read an early-early-early draft of this book well over two years ago, and really, really enjoyed it. I definitely remember thinking, “This right here is why I shouldn’t read manuscripts. I can’t talk to ANYONE about this book.” Reading the finished novel and recognizing some of the changes has been a complete freaking delight. I still love the dialogue and the storytelling inside, and I like how the structure creates room for grief, love, loss, and the really hard work of rebooting one’s life.
Aarya: I’m nervous to read that book.
I love, love Linda Holmes and have been a Pop Culture Happy Hour listener forever. I went to their Brooklyn live show and she was so nice in person. But all this just means that I’m nervous to read the book. Because what if I don’t like it?
Sarah: I think you’ll like it, Aarya. It’s kind people trying to do better for themselves and others, and making mistakes and trying again. There’s grief and humor all mixed together.
Aarya: I like Julia Whelan so I guess I’ll save a credit!!
To answer the earlier question: I’m reading Victoria Helen Stone’s new thriller. I loved Jane Doe ( A | BN ) and am interested to see if this one lives up to it (different characters).
Sarah: Oh, which one is this?
Aarya: False Step ( A ). It’s out in a few weeks but was made available early by amazon prime reads
It’s good, but not that same spark as Jane Doe. But that revenge storyline was irresistible to me.
Sarah: A good revenge story is SO satisfying sometimes, isn’t it?
Aarya: The other book I’m reading is A Lady’s Desire by Lily Maxton. I was in the mood for another f/f historical after loving Olivia Waite’s A Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) and several people recommended this novella to recover from my book hangover.
Elyse: I don’t know what to read! I have a bunch of stuff on my TBR and I’m just kind of staring at it vacantly and overwhelmed.
Amanda: Hard same. I have to think about it because I’m feeling some major reading exhaustion.
Sarah: I wonder what causes or contributes to reading exhaustion. I have it sometimes, too. Like my brain is way too tired to construct the world I’m reading about.
Elyse: When I’m mentally tired I don’t want to make choices. My brain is like “eh, we’re done.” I don’t want to decide what to make for dinner, or wear to work, or read next.
Amanda: I’ve been busy with outside stuff lately – book clubs, attending a wedding, allergies – that I want to exert zero brain power.
Carrie: I just finished Lent by Jo Walton and am starting A Treacherous Curse by Deanna Raybourn ( A | BN | K | G | AB ).
Sarah: Amanda, what does your brain want to do?
Mine is really hoping to set some kind of blueberry record in Stardew Valley.
Amanda: Sleep, haha. I’ve been watching a lot of horror game play throughs on Twitch and YouTube.
Elyse: I’m with you on the sleeping
Sarah: To quote Mary Oliver, You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
Amanda: I think I may take a small break from romance and read a couple others things that I’ve recently picked up. First is Rage Becomes Her by Soraya Chemaly. I flipped through this at my local bookstore and it was a no brainer to buy.
At my recent book group, someone brought up the The Rook by Daniel O’Malley ( A | K | G | AB | Au ) adaptation coming out and one of my very best friends loves the series. I have the first book and I think that might be great to start.
Elyse: Rich loved that book!
Amanda: I’m wary of books with female protagonists written by men, but I’ve heard nothing but good things and I know Carrie has enjoyed it. I trust her judgement.
Sarah: Why was it a no brainer to buy Rage Becomes Her?
Amanda: It discusses how powerful women’s anger can be on both a personal level and then on a larger societal level. I think part of my recent exhaustion is just feeling frustrated and well…angry and having no outlet for that.
Carrie: Rook was AMAZING.
Amanda: Will you watch the show, Carrie?
Carrie: I’m not planning to, although it looks well done.
How was your reading this June? Tell us in the comments below!
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!
Also, boy I wish Jane Doe was available in other e-reader formats!
@taffygrrl, you can convert e-books from Kindle to whatever using calibre.
I picked up a Robyn Carr book at a library book sale a month ago and was hooked. I am working my way through her series of series. I want to move to Virgin River. I also got and loved Hope for the best, the latest St Mary’s book. I then started rereading the series (Jodi Taylor) and have pre-ordered the collection of her more recent short stories which were previously only available in digital format.
I just finished Starry Night by Debbie Macomber – I’ve been on a real kick with her Christmas novels. And I’ve started The Farm – it looks very interesting (not a romance), and I’m mid-way through Falling in Love (despite the title, not a romance!) – it’s a very interesting mystery novel for a book club I run.
I tore through the RED RISING series by Pierce Brown this month and really enjoyed it. Sci-Fi dystopia where a boy from the lowest caste is sent to infiltrate a school for the ruling caste. Some similarities with Hunger Games and The Traitor Baru Cormorant (also good). Very entertaining and I enjoyed that the series follows through to the afteraffects of the uprising. I _adored_ one of the characters Sevro and who he ends up with, though Brown isn’t a romance writer and there are not. enough. details. about. their. relationship. GRRR. Lamentably, there’s not even much fan fiction about them.
Also read A PRINCE ON PAPER by Alyssa Cole and it was wonderfully sweet and sexy. I loved how well Nya and Johan communicated with each other and helped each other work through their issues. Cole also seemed to be setting up a marriage of convenience story with the rulers of the neighboring kingdom, which I am intrigued by.
Also read THE BRIDE TEST by Helen Hoang and didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. There was some insta-lust and though I liked the protagonists separately, still am not sure why they liked each other more than anyone else in the book. But Quan’s book is apparently next and I am so here for it. Will just wait right here. Because apparently this is the month of sequel bait.
Am about to start THE KINGDOM OF COPPER by SA Chakraborty and I am so excited! It’s the second book of the Daevabad series and I HIGHLY recommend the first: Con artist heroine, Djinn, Magic, Palace Intrigue, Beautifully described world. So good.
I’m still working my way through Katee Robert’s O’Malleys series about Boston mob families. The second in the series, The Wedding Pact, was high-stakes and high-conflict (of the ‘how is she going to pull off the HEA?’ type), which ended up being solved a little too easily and quickly for my liking. The sex scenes were hot but most of the relationship development took place during them and I would’ve liked to see it develop more outside the sex.
I accidentally DNF’d the next in the series, An Indecent Proposal – I couldn’t get into it (I didn’t connect with either h/h, was irked by the mixed signals the heroine kept throwing, and the stakes didn’t seem as high as the previous 2 books), so it got returned to the BPL when I was about 2/3 finished. I probably will finish at some point but it’s on waitlist again…
Also read Fireworks by Sarina Bowen, the latest in her True North series. I love this series and enjoyed this one even though I don’t think it was the strongest in the series. I loved the flashbacks to a sweet teenage romance, and the hero Benito was swoon-worthy although perhaps a little too good to be true. The conflict was mostly external with the exception of Skye working through her mixed up feelings about sex and intimacy. It made me want to re-read the earlier books in the series and I will definitely pick up the next.
Other than that I’ve still been stuck in fanfiction land – somehow I got onto Harry Potter time-travel fanfic and gee there’s a lot of that out there!
Next up is Courting Darkness by Robin LaFevers, the next in His Fair Assassin series, which I am very much looking forward to reading.
It’s been a very conference-y month, which means the reading has been, well kind of all over the place. I left off on The Death of Mrs. Westaway, which I really, really enjoyed. Then I read Rebel by Beverly Jenkins. Her understanding of history and how to use it effectively in a story is nuts. You learn from the story, but never do you feel the writing is talking down to you. I also really enjoyed the characters. I’ve seen where others felt like Valinda didn’t have a lot of agency in her story, but I read her character as someone that had had her adventurous spirit beaten down for so long that naturally she would take a bit of time and caution to find it again. Also, righteous comeuppance via swamp gator, hee. The bloodthirsty part of my brain enjoyed that part quite a bit. After that I went with The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch. It had been a long time since I read one of the Peter Grant books, but I fell back into without too much trouble. I liked the characters and really enjoy Peter’s snarky narration, but I felt like the pacing was a bit herky jerky, and it ended up taking me awhile to read as a result. Which brings us to today, reading The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White. It’s a retelling of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein from the perspective of Elizabeth Lavenza, Frankenstein’s childhood companion/future wife. It’s very interesting so far, with the characters of Josephine and Elizabeth being intriguing foils for each other, and it has some very cutting things to say about how women were treated. For instance, Elizabeth deliberately cultivates a fragile, pretty image, because that image is another weapon of manipulation for her. She also is fairly ruthless in the lengths that she goes to in order to keep people from finding out how what Victor and his work are really about. TW/CW for some violence against animals. Victor’s interest in anatomy manifests early, and gorily. That said, I’m really enjoying it. White’s a dab hand at rewriting some of the old penny dreadfuls but with her eyes on the women. Till next time, I’m just going to go listen to “I Punched Keanu Reeves” again, because it’s never not funny.
Finally, finally, finally had the time to sit down and read, read, read! Buckle in, because even though I posted on the last Whatcha Reading, I have finished a ton of books since then.
Excellent:
None
Very Good:
The Bargain by Mary Jo Putney: MOC between a wealthy heiress who needs to marry in order to fully inherit and a soldier who everyone believes is close to death, but, surprise, he gets better and they have to figure out what to make of their relationship
Testing the Limits by Kira Sinclair: Hero has always loved the heroine – the problem was she was his brother’s fiance. His brother is now dead and he wants her, but has a lot of complicated feelings. The ending was rushed. The heroine is a social worker so CW for domestic and sexual abuse off page but described in some detail.
Insatiable by Leslie Kelly: One night stand becomes complicated when it turns out the heroine works for one of the hero’s companies. Several allusions and some similar plot points to Pretty Woman. CW for assault.
The Scottish Duke by Karen Ranney: Heroine is impoverished gentry pushed into household service by circumstances. The hero’s mother was simply delightful – instead of the cold, forbidding mother often featured in historicals, she was warm, loving and kind. Steer clear of this one if you hate a scorned female sub-plot. I liked this one enough to put the second in the series on my TBR list.
Triple Dare by Regina Kyle: Best friend’s little sister trope which works for me although I know it doesn’t for many. The hero is afraid that if he screws up with the sister, he will no longer be a part of their family which was like a substitute for his own distant parents. This story also contains a ugly duckling turned into a swan plot for the heroine. CW for negative self-talk and self-belief around body weight.
Cabin Fever by Jullian Burns: This is a slight trope flip – instead of the hero being emotionally distant and wary of relationships, the hero is all for a relationship and the heroine has a hard time dealing with her feelings.
The Man with a Load of Mischief by Martha Grimes: First in the Richard Jury mystery series set in England, I loved way the characters were written and look forward to reading the second.
A SEAL’s Pleasure by Tawny Weber: I read the prior book in this series which sets this book up. The heroine is a writer focusing on sex and being single. She likes to hook up, but doesn’t want a relationship. The hero also like no strings attached relationships. It was fun to watch two relationship phobic people fall for each other.
Hungry Like the Wolf by Paige Tyler: The first in the SWAT series where all the members of the Dallas Police SWAT team are werewolf shifters, this is actually the first shifter romance I have read. I wasn’t sure how I would like the Fated Mate trope, but it worked for me and the sexual tension was electric. I also liked the heroine’s conflicted feelings about being a journalist but ultimately deciding to keep a confidence.
Good:
Wicked Nights by Anne Marsh: A enemies to lovers story set on a small resort island off the California coast between a former competition diver and a Navy SEAL.
All the Right Moves by Jo Leigh: Hero is a Air Force fighter pilot at a cross roads in his career and heroine is a psychology graduate student who also works the bar at her brother’s establishment. The ending was too rushed.
A SEAL’s Secret by Tawny Weber: Meet cute between a fitness star and SEAL who compete in a bar against each other in a push up contest. CW – SPOILER SPOILER – the heroine has an infertility problem (PCOS) and becomes pregnant in what her doctor terms a miracle even though they also used a condom.
Meh:
Deep Focus by Erin McCarthy: Heroine gets dumped right at the beginning of a fully paid vacation that she was supposed to take with her boyfriend. For reasons, she has a bodyguard and they end up deciding to have a fling during the vacation. The reason the bodyguard was hired was super flimsy which was why he did not feel he was violating ethics to get involved with her.
Seducing the Marine by Kate Hoffmann: a second chance romance between a doctor heroine and her college sweetheart who is recuperating from an injury he received while serving in the Marines.
The Bad:
Wound Up by Kelli Ireland: The premise has so much promise – the hero was a psychology grad student who was a stripper to put himself through school. The heroine was one of his students when he was a TA so he never pursued her. The day school ends for him he sees her at the strip club and sparks fly freely. This ran off the rails quickly – the hero crosses so many lines and boundaries, I wanted to scream at the heroine to run far far far way from this crazy controlling man. Also something is revealed late in the book that made me think the “hero” should be in jail and it was revealed in such a callous way it made me sick. Nothing about this relationship was in the least bit romantic.
Pick Me Up by Samantha Hunter: So many things to hate in this book – the heroine convincing the hero during sex (even though he kept objecting) that they didn’t need protection – even though she wasn’t on birth control she “knew” it would be ok. There was a weird suspense subplot involving human trafficking on the US/Mexico border that was too easily and not realistically resolved. There is another subplot involving the hero’s “evil” ex. CW for emotional abuse in the heroine’s backstory.
Just this afternoon finished Impervious by Laura Kirwan. Loved it. Bitchy 50ish lawyer returning to her father’s home in the first time forever, taking over his old jub and discovering that magic is involved. The romance, such as it is, is not the big part of the story; the magical battle is. I enjoyed the world building, the characters, the various backstories. There romance was total insta-lust but, to my happiness, the two of them approached it like adults, saying this is not a good time, we can wait and see where things go. Really enjoyed. Expect to read the second book sometime quite soon.
Also read Close to Home, the first book in SuzanLand of Shadows by Rne Ferrell’s Westen Series. Single mom with twin boys and poisonous ex finds happiness, after some misunderstandings and threats, with town’s temporary doc. Cute though a little too down home in a couple of places. And, as a pediatrician, I doubt I would ever get involved with a patient’s parent. (Ethically, this is questionable.) Still, fun enough.
Land of Shadows by Rachel Howzell Hall followed LAPD detective Elouise Norton as she tries to solve both a current crime and her sister’s disappearance a number of years prior. There are parallels. There are threats. Her marriage disolves. I liked it.
The Negotiator by Avery Flynn was OK. It was cute and fun and did require some suspension of disbelief. Billionaire hires young woman because she can stand up to him mom and protect them, decides to make her his fake fiance, you can guess what happens.
I like YA so I tried The Purgatorium by Eva Pohler. Too YA for me. (spoiler alert inserted here) Suicidal teen from troubled family is sent to a resort on an island off the west coast, has frightening adventures, does not know who she can trust, but does have a break-through and decides she wants to live. At which point she joins the rest of the island in scaring other newcomers out of their depression, aka Stockholm Syndrome. I can imagine young teens like this. I didn’t.
I also re-read Nora Robert’s High Noon which I liked well enough at one point to buy in hard cover. It was still good but just not as excellent as I recalled. Probably would not buy in hard cover at this point. Though I don’t regret the re-read.
On a possibly related note, today I went on my first date in 40 years. Thanks to my grandson making me try online dating. I had a good time.
Sorry for the typos. My Great Dane was distracting me. He hires the girl because she can stand to him mom and protect him from his mom.
Close to Home is by Suzanne Ferrell
Read this month (that I can remember…lol)
An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson – I really, really enjoyed this. I don’t generally have a lot of patience for YA but I was very intrigued by the premise and I’m glad I picked it up. The prose was beautiful and the characterization was very intriguing. The romance had a nice combination of sweetness and angst. Very excited for her new(er) book.
Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho – I wanted to like this more than I did. I think people with slightly different tastes than I would love it–the description I read that it’s like a combination of Susanna Clarke and Georgette Heyer was pretty accurate, I think, although I vastly preferred Susanna Clarke. I found it to be a little too twee for me even though it dealt (very well) with some very serious issues.
The King’s Man by Elizabeth Kingston – LOVED IT! Great medieval enemies-to-lovers romance. Very complicated and imperfect characters. Love doesn’t solve all problems. Incredibly badass sword-fighting heroine. I want to read the next one but its also about a character I really hated in this book so I may have to wait a bit to let my hatred fade.
COMICS:
Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku vol. 1 – so cute!!!! adorable romance manga about nerds in relationships. It was mostly funny but there were also some very sweet romantic moments. If you are into video games, anime, manga, etc, I highly recommend. I cant wait to get the next volume at the library.
Heavy Vinyl vol 1 – I really, really enjoyed this story of badass crime-fighting teens at a record store but I felt it really ended on a cliffhanger and I can’t find any information about a follow-up volume!!
My Boyfriend is a Bear – this is pretty much what I expected from reviews. It was cute and funny and a nice light thing to read on my commute.
@EllenM-same! I’ve been avoiding the sequel to The King’s Man for the same reason. But now I want to read #3, Desire Lines, so….
I don’t know what is going on but I haven’t read too much this week. Part of the problem is I started watching The Office on Netflix. But Before that I’ve read…
–Barbarian Mine by Ruby Dixon. Cute series, short books about women trapped on a planet and find their soul mate with aliens.
–Pucked Up by Helena Hunting–2nd book in her hockey series. They are just ok to me. Not sure if I’m going to continue.
***Somehow I managed to lose everything I just wrote so now it’s going to be short descriptions***
–Full Package by Lauren Blakely–Liked it
–Slaying It by Chloe Neill–Novella. Liked It. Ending/Beginning of series
–Most of All You by Mia Sheridan–LOVED IT!
–Played by Jen Frederick–good
–The Fifteenth Minute by Sarina Bowen–Love her books
–Cupid has a Heart On by Tara Sivec–funny. Really liked it
–Sparrow by LJ Shen–LOVED IT
–The Offer by Karina Halle–liked it
–Axel by Harper Sloan–Hated it. Dirty talk was cliche and not well written
–Run to You by Charlotte Stein–Liked it
–Lingus by Mariana Zapata–Re-read. Liked it but not as much as the first time. This is why I hate to re-read.
–Riding Dirty by Jessica Soreneson. Sat on my TBR for a long time. Psychologist wants revenge for the murder of her husband. Decides to use her client, a motorcyle club criminal that she ends up falling for. Really liked it.
–Fault Lines by Rebecca Shea–2nd chance book. It was ok
–The Smallest Part by Amy Harmon–Loved it. Follows the story of three friends and one dies.
–Wicked Beautiful by J.T. Geissinger–Love her books.
–American King by Sierra Simone–End of a really good series.
My favorite read of the last two weeks was The Dead Queens Club by Hannah Capin. It’s a YA reimagining of the story of Henry VIII and his six wives, set in a contemporary high school. I loved it and recommend it to any fans of that period in English history. The author is very clever in how she updates the situations, and the more you know about the actual history, the more Easter eggs you’ll be able to spot. Before that, I read Emily Wilson’s new translation of the Odyssey. I’m doing Book Riot’s Read Harder Challenge for the second year in a row, and this was for the “book in translation written or translated by a woman” prompt. I preordered Hither, Page by Cat Sebastian, and have already finished it. Before I discovered romance, mysteries were my genre of choice, and I love the classic Golden Age British mysteries, so this was the perfect combination of genres for me. Now I’m reading Take the Lead by Alexis Daria, which I’m really enjoying despite ever only watching dance competition shows when I visit my parents.
@AmyS: Although there is a writer named Jessica Sorenson, RIDING DIRTY is written by Jill Sorenson. I liked it (even recommended it on the recent Rec League for Blue-Collar/White-Collar relationships), but do warn readers there is violence, including sexual violence. Somewhat O/T, but Jill Sorenson hasn’t published anything new for a while. It seems as if all my favorites (Sorenson, Anne Calhoun, Cara McKenna) appear to be on hiatus. I hope they’re all doing alright, no medical issues or anything like that. Does anyone know?
@DiscoDollyDeb: I also read Rachel Reid’s HEATED RIVALRY and GAME CHANGER this month. I agree with your assessment of both of those books. With GAME CHANGER, I was certain I had read it before, and it turned out that I had. It was originally a Captain America fanfic, with Scott as Steve Rogers and Kip as Bucky Barnes.
@Jules: Wow—I would not have guessed that GAME CHANGER was developed from FanFic. It’s so polished and nuanced. I know I sound like the world’s biggest snob, but I’m so old, I remember the Slash/Dot days full of (it must be said) not very good Captain Kirk/Mr. Spock FanFic. But regardless of their origins, I strongly recommend both GAME CHANGER and HEATED RIVALRY. So, so good!
I’m currently almost done with PARENTAL GUIDANCE by Avery Flynn, the first in her Ice Knights hockey series and a spin-off from her Hartigans series. Flynn’s books are usually enjoyable, easy reads with a bit of a rom-com bent to them. This one is about a hockey player with a big PR flub who has to let his mom take over his dating apps in order to get back in the public’s good graces. The heroine is a lot of fun and there’s a cute great dane named Anchovy.
Others I’ve read in the past month:
FIX HER UP – I’m a ride or die Tessa Bailey fan so I read this despite some mediocre reviews. I really liked it, though some of the elements strained credulity, and I hated the hero’s “baby girl” term of endearment. It wasn’t my favorite Bailey, but it was fun, and I’m excited for the next one in the series about Dominic and Rosie.
THE FRIEND ZONE by Abbi Jimenez. This one totally sucked me in, and the hero was a very swoony fireman, but be warned that there is some angst, a death (which is handled very well but is still very sad), and the heroine’s constant inner turmoil over why she couldn’t be with the hero got a bit annoying.
UNEXPECTED by Kelly Rimmer. Super cute male and female best friends decide to have a baby together due to woman’s unexpected early declining fertility. I’m always a bit skeptical of friends to lovers trope, because it always seems unrealistic that the friends in question wouldn’t have gone there already (that old When Harry Met Sally men and women can’t just be friends bit), but the main characters in this one were just really lovely.
TEACH ME by Olivia Dade. Oh my goodness I can’t recommend this one enough. Not only is it a very sweet, sexy romance between two older (40s) teachers, it’s also a love letter to excellent teachers, the ones you remember years down the road. The sexy times are also hot, but with a great focus on consent and checking in with your partner. So wonderful that I actually checked out a couple of Dade’s librarians in love books, which were cute, but her writing has definitely improved here.
THE UNHONEYMOONERS by Christina Lauren. Not my favorite from these two, but still cute and enjoyable. Maybe would have been improved with alternating POV instead of just the heroine’s.
SMITTEN BY THE BRIT by Melonie Johnson. Really cute romance between a dashing Brit and an American heroine obsessed with Shakespeare and Jane Austen. I liked this one more than GETTING HOT WITH THE SCOT, the first book in this series, probably because this couple was teased in the first book so I was anticipating their story.
HOOK SHOT by Kennedy Ryan. Oh man, I am sad to see the end to this series. All of Ryan’s Hoops books are so beautifully written. Plus, they’re all available in Kindle Unlimited.
BRIDE TEST by Helen Hoang. Liked this one better than The Kiss Quotient. Can’t wait for Quan’s story up next.
I have been in a reading slump but Thirsty by Mia Hopkins pulled me out. It’s about an ex-con gang member on parole who is trying to negotiate life outside of prison. (CW for some violence in the past and present [on and off the page], and also for drug use [off the page, not the main characters] and self-harm [on the page].) It’s present tense, first person from the hero’s point of view, and I really loved his character and how he’s trying to change the direction of his life. The heroine is a woman he knows from the neighbourhood. I loved that although she’s described as a “good girl”, she is not “fixing” him, and he is not changing his life for her, but for himself. The main romance is tied up at the end but there is a bit of a cliffhanger of a subplot, and I’m looking forward to reading the hero’s brother’s book.
Now I’m rereading the first two Maria Vale books (Last Wolf, A Wolf Apart) in preparation for Forever Wolf. I decided I had gotten these out of the library enough times that I’m going to continue to reread them, so I bought them all this past week. Happy early birthday to me!
I’ve been re-reading a stack of Jill Mansell”s book after reading her new book MAYBE THIS TIME. I enjoy Brit Chick Lit more than anything!
One thing I did notice reading so many in a row is that JM uses the same names over and over and over. It was so weird and confusing, at times I forgot what book I was reading.
THE PRINTED LETTER BOOKSHOP is a nice read though bittersweet and sometimes a little too over the top.
I tried to read A BEAUTIFUL CORPSE by Christi Daugherty, but I couldn’t get into the plot.
I also read WOLF RAIN and I was very disappointed. Nalini Singh has become the Stephanie Laurens of PNR and her fantastic worldbuilding is fading.
June is not fun at work – the fiscal year ends in 6 days, thank goodness! The highlight was two new-to-me authors, Eileen Glass and Honor Raconteur. July cannot come soon enough (as long as the work gets turned in)
Very Good
Albert, Annabeth – BETA TEST – M/M Contemporary. A sweet story about two co-workers in a gaming company. It held up to re-reading and is refreshing to have characters work and have real lives.
Glass, Eileen – HUMAN OMEGA – M/M/M alien adventure. I picked this series up on a whim and was pleasantly surprised. All three characters have different voices, feelings, and motivations. Reminds me of Lyn Gala’s work with the depth of writing.
Raconteur, Honor – THE SHINIGAMI DETECTIVE series – Steampunk detective novels. Interesting characters, worldbuilding and detective work.
Raconteur, Honor – THE HUMAN FAMILIAR series – YA Fantasy. Mages and adventures. Gobbled down the series in a weekend and enjoyed it!
Singh, Nalini – WOLF RAIN
Good
Deiner, Michelle – TRAILBLAZER – F/M Sci-FI. A good sci-fi adventure novel. Not a lot of character growth, but lots of action and likeable hero andheroine.
Derr, Megan – ALWAYS THERE – M/M Fantasy. Trilogy of short stories, good for their length (although there are others of hers that I like much better).
Grace, Viola – BREAK THE MOLD – F/M Sci-Fi novella. A good addition to the ongoing series
Kingsolver, BJ – SHADOW HUNTER ; NIGHT STALKER – Urban Fantasy. Nice world building – I am going to be reading the next in the series when it comes out.
Price, Jordan Castillo – SOMETHING STINKS AT THE SPA – M/M fantasy. It doesn’t take itself too seriously but tells an interesting tale. Fun.
This weekend, I picked up the copy I recently discovered at a used book sale of the book that first got me into reading romance: Flames of Glory by Patricia Matthews! Originally published in 1982, I would have read it around 1992 or ’93 (stolen from my mom’s coat closet stash of bodice rippers), and had long since forgotten the title and author (and even most details about the story, other than a brief few that I didn’t think would help anyone HABO- nor did I want to be disappointed if I couldn’t remember enough for anyone to help me!). So far, it’s not terrible, although there’s some serious instalove/instabanging going on between two different couples, and the villain is mustache-twirlingly evil. (If my memory is correct, I think it gets rapey at some point, though, and I know there’s some death going on later on in the book.) I was expecting the language used in the book to be way more florid and over the top, given the book’s back cover description, but so far, it’s been a fun read.
Up next? I’ve got an enormous stack of library books, including Love Inshallah by Nura Maznavi, I Believe In a Thing Called Love by Maureen Goo, and Eyes On Me by Rachel Harris (and some non-romancey stuff, too!).
Happy reading, everyone! 🙂
So as has been the case for pretty much all of 2019 so far for me, my month’s reading involves plenty of Kresley Cole and Lisa Kleypas. Which is not too shabby, really. I read Dark Skye by Cole, to keep up with Fated Mates. Almost to the end of that series now and I will really miss it. Can’t wait to see where she is going to go next with it but whatever happens I think it’s clear that Kresley Cole’s brain must be a seriously interesting place. Then I read two mostly forgettable Harlequin Presents entries, The Untamed Billionaire’s Innocent Bride, by Caitlin Crews, and Reunited by the Greek’s Vows, by Andie Brock. Crews has been one of my favorite authors in this series, but I felt like this particular book did a lot more telling than showing, and was lacking some of the drama that make an HP so delicious in the right circumstances. Brock is a new author for me. This book was OK, but I found myself skimming quite a bit in the middle. Lots of opportunity for drama in the setup but it just never quite got there, in my opinion. This past weekend I started reading Cold-Hearted Rake, by Lisa Kleypas, since it came up in my library holds. There is just something about her writing that makes my brain very happy. It’s like a warm blanket, except with much more sexual tension. I’m also reading an older non-romance book that I got from the library, Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. Super interesting–the community where the book is set is not far from where I grew up, and also very much like the community where I live now in many ways (fairly affluent, super intense keeping-up-with-your-neighbors culture, extremely homogeneous, etc.). I expect that the book will explore all the weirdness that goes on beneath the surface in communities like this, and I am so here for that.
This month I’ve been on a couple binges–one was the Wedding Date series by Mira Lyn Kelly. Overall I enjoyed them all–lots of fun friend group interactions as well as the couple’s.
Also tearing through Kati Wilde’s Hellfire Riders MC series, thanks to @DiscoDollyDeb’s recommendation a little while ago. I didn’t think I was much of an MC reader, but apparently I just needed the right author 😉
Curious whether anyone’s read the other authors in that group–Ruby Dixon, Alexa Riley, Ella Goode? If yes, I’d welcome hearing your thoughts!
@flchen1 I tried some of the other MC club novellas and was not a fan. The writing was just not as good as Wilde’s (Jack and Lily 4ever). I know a lot of people love Ruby Dixon’s alien romances, but the MC ones fell flat. I would recommend Going Nowhere Fast by Kati Wilde (same universe as the MC books), but it’s not in KU.
@flchen1: I love Kati Wilde, so take this with a grain of salt, but I haven’t been very impressed by the other three MC romance series that are interconnected with Wilde’s Hellfire Riders books. I’ve liked some of Ruby Dixon’s SF/alien romances—there are lots of them and they can be fun reads. Alexa Riley, imho, is much better at virginity and breeding fetishism than the gritty elements that make a good MC romance. She does the “Royal/Princess” stuff really well, but tolerance for extreme alpha heroes is a must. I don’t think I’ve read any of Ella Good’s books. As for Wilde, I second Emily B’s recommendation of GOING NOWHERE FAST (a New Adult novel even for old adults like me) and would also recommend any of Wilde’s novellas, especially THE KING’S HORRIBLE BRIDE and SECRET SANTA.
Currently reading: A Curse So Dark & Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer. It’s one of those books that you just want to everyone to leave you alone so that you can read it. I’m about half way through and I’m counting down the hours until I’m done with work and can read it again.
Also started Sing Unburied Sing by Jessamyn Ward. The bit that I did read was well written and I really wanted to continue but misplaced it and can’t find it. I’ll have to start it over again now.
Excellent:
Night of A Thousand Stars by Deanna Raybourn. Her heroines are just so singular. They are characterized so well and even though generally there is a formula to her books, it always works for me. This was no exception. My only regret is that I won’t get to read more about Poppy and Sebastian.
The Power by Naomi Alderman. READ IT. Especially if you like Margaret Atwood and her particular type of sci fi plus feminist informed novels.
Good:
Melt for You by JT Geissinger. I liked it. The hero was excellent. I got a bit frustrated with the heroine at times for not figuring out that he was into her and insisting on pursuing her crush instead.
MEH:
Right by Jana Aston. The heroine had some potential and so did the hero but they were thrown together so quickly and the conflict was SOOOOO CONTRIVED. It seriously came out of nowhere. I honestly find it more frustrating when this happens with the potential for a good book than if the book is just all out bad.
@EmilyB and @DiscoDollyDeb, thank you both so much–exactly what I was hoping for in terms of info, and alas, what I was afraid of 😉 Will try to stop myself from devouring the last two unread Kati Wilde’s I have so that I keep a tiny bit in reserve until Stone’s story comes out (September?) Many thanks to you!
@flchen1: I’ve been waiting for Stone & Cherry’s story for well over a year—since it was set up in BREAKING IT ALL. It’s going to be so much catnip—can’t wait! But I’m always a bit tentative about Wilde’s publication dates—they are frequently changed.
Good to know, @DiscoDollyDeb! In that case, I’ll just keep my fingers crossed 😉 And thank you again for turning me onto Ms Wilde’s stuff!
My June so far:
The Shadow Land – Elizabeth Kostova
This is a fascinating novel but I think the author takes too long to move things forward so the heroine’s adventure to return something she kept by mistake at the entrance of a hotel and the historical story of a man in a concentration camp just didn’t really mesh cohesively, for me.
Once Upon a Christmas Eve – Elizabeth Hoyt
Again, a not enough developed story and what a pity that the maiden Lane series ended in such a rushed manner.
No Ordinay Love – Anita Notaro
What a surprise, I thought this would be another standard chick lit plot but it offered a bit more than that after all. Too bad about some plot choices but overall, I liked reading this.
St. Nachos – ZA Maxfield
An m/m book in the pile for years, it’s not the style of writing I prefer nowadays and there were some issues with the development, but this story of two guys finding love was relatively balanced in sweetness and angst.
Say Yes to the Marquess – Tessa Dare
A fun story, a very well done plot in sexual tension to the point of being a little too much but for those who like the genre and this author’s style, I’d say it’s a good story, although I have liked others by her more.
About a Vampire – Lynsay Sands
This installment in the Argeneau series wasn’t a very good one for me. I liked some things but disliked others more. The way the main characters meet and start a relationship was certainly not fun as it happened in the first books, nor mildly intricate as in some of the older ones.
The Virtuoso – Grace Burrowes
This author has a natural talent for storytelling and plotting but her descriptions and time spent to explain everything with usually anti climatic reveals, makes her a little difficult to appreciate fully. I liked this one but the romance was’t very “romantic” and the heroine’s secret a little disappointing.
The Best of Adam Sharp – Graeme Simsion
What a disappointment. This is a book divided into two parts about a guy who reconnects with his first love and whether they still have a spark between them. I liked the first reminiscent part but the second present timed one… argh.
The Game and the Governess – Kate Noble
The first book by this author I try, I liked the style but the reason why the hero changed places with his secretary was very silly indeed and his supposed “character development” through the novel felt too little, too late and the poor amazing heroine deserved more, I think.
My Brain on Fire – Susannah Calahan
A non-fiction tale of how the author faced a mental breakdown not caused by mental illness despite all clues pointing that way. Very interesting although some things only worked the way the did because of her social status and location. How many more would not have the same chance if they were in different places without access to experts or doctors with time to study their symptoms?
From Lukov with Love – Mariana Zapata
So far I have to say my favorite book of the year (even if it was published in another one) because all seemed to have worked well for me, both plot and character development. I’d add the hero’s POV anyway, as I think all her books could benefit from but… it was great spending time with the characters.
A Private Gentleman – Heidi Cullinan
This was a little boring, the characters weren’t always people I’d like to read about and their relationship didn’t feel balanced at all, nor romantic. I liked some details, I liked some elements the author used (one of them is a sort of botanist) but really, I don’t think this author is for me…
The Darkest Warrior – Gena Showalter
Many faithful readers have raged because this book’s couple meant the heroine would not be matched to another character, something hinted for years. Personally the time between releases makes me appreciate each story more so, for me, I liked this romance and the details used to make it move forward.
Sting – Sandra Brown
Currently reading. I still plan on reading Agatha Christe’s While the Light Lasts this month.
@DiscoDollyDeb – I’d heard of Kati Wilde but hadn’t tried her until your recent comments here and the free bundle of the first MC story. I just finished and really liked The Midwinter Mail-Order Bride. In the author’s note at the end, she says her day job has been interfering with her writing schedule.