It’s that time again where we talk about ALL THE BOOKS! We have a lovely group of new reviewers joining us, which means more books in discussion.
Let’s jump right into it!
Carrie: I’m prepping for some Clarkesworld Magazine articles so I’m reading Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) and then back to romance.
Susan: I’m reading Artificial Condition by Martha Wells ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) because I’m doing my Hugos reading, and I forgot how much I love Murderbot!
Elyse: Oh Murderbot is the best!!
Sneezy I’m reading Through a Dark Glass by Barb Hendee. Oof! CW for homophobic and abusive family members.
Megan is up for an old noble house/financial match that was meant for her sister, except her sister died the day her new in-laws/hubby-to-be arrived. Her dad was able to wrangle a the deal so his daughter could at least choose which of the three brothers she wants to marry. Megan had expected to live out her days as a spinster, helping her father out with politics and finances, but now she has to step into her sister’s shoes. A three sided mirror shows up, showing her what her life would be like with each of the brothers as her husband. At the end she’ll lose all memory of what she’s learned, but she’ll get to make an informed choice. Hendee’s writing is pretty good, and I was engaged throughout all three life times.
I’ve…mixed feelings on how the abuse is handled in parts though.
Amanda: I have no earthly idea of what I’m reading? I’m trying to decided on train reading for RWA and I’m all over the place. My friend let me borrow her copy of Magic for Liars ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), which I’ve heard good things about. I’ve also picked up the first book in the Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear ( A | BN | K | AB ) from my library.
That’s what I’m considering!
Tara: I’m going to be diving in to Create a Life to Love by Erin Zak. Teenager who was put up for adoption finds her bio mom. Bio mom and adoptive mom fall in love, likely with a bucket of angst on the side.
Aarya: Thanks to Elyse posting about her Ripped Bodice summer bingo (which is something that I was very determined not to participate in because I’m terrible at structured challenges), I realized that I had unintentionally filled out 18 squares with my summer reading. So now I’m actually motivated to finish the dang thing (only 7 squares!), and am lining up books for this week (before and during RWA):
1) *Dragons:* Sweep of the Blade by Ilona Andrews ( A | BN | K | AB ). I read this as a serial in weekly (and excruciating) installments, so I’m interested to see how the experience will differ when I read it all at once.
2) *On The Page Atheist:* It Takes Two To Tumble by Cat Sebastian ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). How often do we see atheists in historicals?
3) *Kilts*: Under His Kilt by Melissa Blue ( A | BN | K | AB ). I literally searched “kilt” in my kindle library and was shocked that something came up! LOL. I just checked and it’s free on kindle right now. The first chapter is fun, so I’m hoping the rest lives up to it.
I still have four more squares to plan out (tarot, cowboys, eloping, and show business), but I have another month. How is everyone’s bingo going (if you’re participating)?
Claudia: I’m not participating but enjoy seeing what others are picking up and I like the prompts!
I was telling Sarah that I was on a bit of reading slump and reaching for older titles until something catches my interest. So I’ve reread a few favorites and some new-to-me older works, including going on a Teresa Medeiros binge to chase the high that Yours Until Dawn ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) was for me. It didn’t quite work (those things usually don’t!), although A Kiss to Remember was good ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). I will say again that His at Night is Sherry Thomas’ most underrated book, it was fun to re-read it. I also picked up Appetites and Vices by Felicia Grossman ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), and she’s an author I’ll watch with interest as this was a good debut novel.
Amanda: YOURS UNTIL DAAAWWWWNN
Claudia: I’m still processing that twist and unsure if I liked it!!
Sneezy: I ended up marathoning A Dark Glass series by Barb Hendee. It’s like being reincarnated over and over and I think it broke my brain.
Will you suffer with me? All the books in the series are $0.99 on Amazon right now.
Elyse: I’m between books and just sort of staring at my TBR blankly. I’m not sure what to read next.
Tara: That’s when I usually hit up fanfic…
Claudia: I sympathize, Elyse. And Tara, I’m here for more romances featuring moms.
Sarah: I’m reading Lady Helena Investigates by Jane Steen, historical mystery with a very strange family and a widowed heroine who is being told by a locally mistrusted French coroner that he believes her very beloved husband’s death is suspicious. Her widowhood is giving me some anxiety and upset so I am picking it up and putting it down.
I’m mixing it with nonfiction, but not sure which book to read in that department.
Lara Diane: I’m about to start reading Bound for Eden by Tess LeSue ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). I was completely unaware of just how much an Oregon Trail romance would rock my world. I began with Bound for Sin (the second in the series) and my wagon is firmly hitched to this train!
Elyse: I keep thinking of the game and how someone also died of dysentery.
Maya: I’m finishing up The Witches of New York by Ami McKay today ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) and then onto Thorn by Anna Burke thanks to Tara’s recommendation.
The Witches of New York mostly made me recall other, better stories of witches, so I’ll probably grab Shadowhouse Fall by Daniel Jose Older ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) since Shadowshaper was so great (and I am deeply excited for Shadowshaper: Legacy).
Ellen: I’m having serious book attention span issues so I’m currently partway through like four books: Doing Harm by Maya Dusenbery (Basically about sexism in the medical system–I started out kind of worried it was going to turn into something kind of reductive and biologically essentialist but she’s won me over and I’m really enjoying it now) ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), Bloody Rose (sequel to Kings of the Wyld–I’m liking it, I think, but finding it a lot slower than the first one) ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), Somewhere Only We Know by Maurene Goo (fluffy goodness) ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), and Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) (I loved Uprooted so I’ve been kind of weirdly putting off reading this because I’m worried it won’t live up to my expectations!!).
I’ve also been marathoning the Ars Numina series by Ann Aguirre ( A | BN | K | AB ) and its kind of crazysauce but I like it?? SHIFTERS and DEMONS and ELVES and WEIRD SEXY SEX PHEROMONES.
Susan: I’m currently in the middle of Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado, which so far is a very peculiar anthology.
Amanda: Very curious to hear your thoughts on Her Body and Other Parties! Elyse and I are going to be reading it for a podcast.
Susan: It’s good, she just does this surreal blend of horror and fabulism that leaves me staring at the end of the story going “What just hit me?!”
Amanda: Oooh! I love that!
Susan: I’m only a quarter of the way through, but I’ll report back!
What have you read this month? Anything good to round out July?
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!
Great couple of weeks reading wise, even if the heat was murder.
– WATERSHIP DOWN by Richard Adams (audiobook) – read by The Doctor himself, Peter Capaldi! While I think this book would have benefited from does earlier in the story, it is excellent overall. I cannot believe it took me this long to read. And I’ve never seen the movies so it was a complete surprise the whole way through!
– WILDER GIRLS by Rory Power – boarding school story meets Jeff Vandermeer’s ANNIHILATION. If that intrigues you, definitely read it!
– A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon – so long that you start to forget that what happened at the beginning of the book actually happened in that book, but there’s nothing like the world of Outlander, for me.
– LOVE ALL by Rachel Spangler – I liked this f/f sports contemporary, even if I didn’t love it. Personally, I could have used less about the traveling from match to match, and more about the romance.
Currently Reading
– TOLL by Cherie Priest – Southern Gothic about a mysterious bridge where people disappear, or maybe it’s the town? Or the townspeople? It’s creepy, in any case.
– PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER by Patrick Suskind (audiobook) – I’m quite enjoying the narrator, Nigel Patterson. And the book, even if the descriptions of scents tend to go on.
Having a tough time of late, so I really enjoyed ONE FINE DUKE by Lenora Bell. Humorous tone a la Tessa Dare, with some intrigue and adventure thrown in. Wallpaper historical but I DON’T CARE! The heroine has a plan but is willing to modify it as she changes. Her goal to repel the Duke is utterly charming. The hero (yes, a Duke, get over it) doesn’t hesitate to defer to her pretty amazing skill set whenever the opportunities arises (how sexy is that?). I am not always a fan of Lenora Bell, but this one hit my sweet spot.
I re-read Omens by Kelley Armstrong. I want to give the series another chance, given how much I love her Rockton series.
I’m also reading Pandora’s Boy by Lindsey Davis (latest Flavia Albia mystery) and A Quiet Life in the Country by TE Kinsey, which is another mystery that’s being kind of slow.
@SBEllen: I just want to say that I’ve read every book written by Naomi Novik. I’ve enjoyed some more than others, but I do feel Spinning Silver is on par with Uprooted. In fact, there were aspects of ‘Silver’ that I preferred. While I felt the heroine was not as likable at first and the romance slow to start, the overall storyline was more satisfying, especially the ending. So, if you liked Uprooted, I think that you’ll also like Spinning Silver.
@LMC: Ooh. I’m gonna try Lenora Bell as I am waiting (impatiently) for the next Tessa Dare novel. Thanks for the recommendation.
@LaraDiane: Because it is stinking hot outside and I’m always up for a good disaster story, I’ve been reading about the Donner Party. Nothing like people freezing to death to cheer me up. So thanks for the Oregon Trail recommendation. They fit my mood and are available at the library!
@Claudia, Thomas’s “His at Night” is one of my all time favorite romances, period. It is an odd combination of sex puppy meets deadly smart spy, with both h/H on the deadly smart spectrum. Love that book.
I’m still continuing on with The Wallflowers series. (Though I’ve been sidetracked playing Sims 2. I’ve needed to shut my brain off after these past couple of weeks.)
Finished ‘Secrets Of A Summer Night’. While I enjoyed it well enough, Simon said something regarding Annabelle’s mother that really rubbed me the wrong way and kind of put a damper on the story for me.
I just started ‘It Happened One Autumn’ the other day, and am really enjoying it thus far.
My mother and I are in a race to see who can finish ‘Stranger Things: Worlds Turned Upside Down’ first.
I’m also about to finish ‘Castle Doom’, which is the second short story in the book ‘Once Upon A Castle’.
Thanks for the many recommendations. I hear praise of Martha Wells from all sides, so will have to add her to the TBR pile. I love Naomi Novik, but Spinning Silver best of all. I just read the latest in Sherry Thomas’ Charlotte Homes series, and enjoyed it. I’ve got the latest Penric & Desdemona novella from Lois McMaster Bujold but will read it on my vacation (soon).
I got Nora Roberts’ stand-alone, Under Currents, the day it was published and didn’t put it down until I had read it twice. Like Shelter in Place, it deals with the long-term effects of a real, almost daily problem: domestic abuse. CW for descriptions of child and spousal abuse, but Roberts does an excellent job of making these scenes horrible, rather than titillating. Engaging characters and settings otherwise, and some literary Easter eggs for book-loving readers. I noted Yeats, Shakespeare, Dante and Jane Austen, but there may well be more. Will have to read it again, just to check …
@ LMC – I started reading One Fine Duke last night and after reading your comments am even more looking forward to Mina’s story! Lenora Bell is one of my auto-buy authors and one of the few I let get away with historical wallpapering.
Earlier in the evening, I finished When a Duchess Says I Do by Grace Burrowes. I liked the story and, as always, the beta hero. However, some of the actions of the heroine had me questioning her strategic capabilities despite her being a superior chess player.
Before that, finishing up Christmas in July, I read Lady Osbaldestone’s Christmas Goose by Stephanie Laurens, found in my holiday TBR file. The grand dame tutors her grandchildren on their place in society while enjoying the Christmas holiday and a little mystery about missing geese. I enjoyed Lady Osbaldestone’s appearances in previous books and now seeing her in her retirement from the ton.
Next up is The Bees by Laline Paull unless the library fairies gift me with one of the four “Available Soon” books on my Hold list.
My mother passed away earlier this month. Her death was not unexpected—she suffered from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and was under hospice care—but it was still difficult, even while knowing how fortunate I was to have made it to my sixties with my mother still alive. Mum was an avid reader and I owe my life-long love affair with books and reading to her. In my grief, I turned to comfort reads (although, for me, comfort still means angsty and complicated), cycling through a number of my favorites: Sierra Simone’s PRIEST, Melanie Harlow’s AFTER WE FALL, A. Zavarelli’s TAP LEFT, Kati Wilde’s GOING NOWHERE FAST, Cara McKenna’s AFTER HOURS, Caitlin Crews’s NO MORE SWEET SURRENDER, Carolyn Crane’s INTO THE SHADOWS, Jackie Ashenden’s TAKING HIM, and Sybil Bartel’s RUTHLESS. Reading books that I’ve read so often I know many passages word-for-word was balm for my spirit. Goodbye Mum—I’ll always love and miss you.
Other books read:
I loved Julie Kriss’s latest book, CRASHED. It has realistic disability representation and a hero & heroine who have both experienced major traumas (cw: both have attempted suicide in the past), but help each other move forward on a path to love. Although CRASHED is technically a standalone, it really helps if you’ve read SPITE CLUB, because the heroes of the two books are brothers and you get more of an understanding of the family dynamics in CRASHED if you’ve read SPITE CLUB first. The hero of CRASHED has been in a wheelchair for seven years since an automobile accident left his legs paralyzed (he wasn’t driving the car, but both he and the friend who was driving were drunk). I really liked that he wasn’t portrayed as a saint, but as a real person who sometimes gets angry, impatient, or bitter about his circumstances. He’s also essentially turned himself into a recluse, rarely leaving his house and interacting only with his brother (with whom he has created an on-line comic strip) and the medical and maintenance workers who tend to him and his home. The heroine is a new neighbor who just moved into the house across the street. She’s hoping for a fresh start after a troubled childhood and a failed modeling career. Kriss does a great job of showing two hurt and cagey people beginning to open up and fall in love with each other. CRASHED is one of my favorite reads of the year so far and I highly recommend it. I just wish Kriss received a little more notice in Romancelandia. Sigh.
Cara Dee’s IF WE COULD GO BACK is a beautifully-written character study of two lonely men, both unhappily married, both with children, who become friends as they commute daily on the same train. With deliberate pacing, Dee shows how that casual friendship gradually develops into something deeper and, eventually, something sexual. However, I did feel some ambivalence toward the story: On the one hand, Dee (a new-to-me writer) does an excellent job of showing the step-by-step tightening of attraction between the two men and the avalanche of family complications that unleashes. On the other hand, there’s a subtext that seems to imply the men turned to each other because their wives were sexually unavailable, unenthusiastic, or unrealistic. Dee writes the two men in a nuanced and fully fleshed-out fashion, while she presents their wives in a flat, single-dimensional way: one wife still resentful about a decade-old unplanned pregnancy, the other stubbornly refusing to acknowledge her husband’s true sexual orientation. Ultimately, I liked the book overall more than I disliked specific aspects of it—Dee is especially good at showing how happiness for one person may come at the expense of unhappiness for another—but I would almost classify IF WE COULD GO BACK as a family drama (a la Jodi Picoult or Aly Martinez) rather than a romance. Plus, I know cheating is a hard no for many readers and the men in the story are obviously cheating on their wives with each other—so make your decision to read the book accordingly.
Tessa Bailey’s HEAT STROKE is an m/m romance between two lifeguards (one completely out, the other closeted and confused). The book is very sexy & emotional and has an opposites-attract theme: the out partner is intelligent and bookish (he teaches at an upscale private school during the school year), while the closeted partner is a muscle-bound Cross-Fit enthusiast who often has a hard time processing the written word. I liked the book, but there is one element that troubled me: several years before the start of the story, the out partner was the victim of an anti-gay hate crime (a sad daily reality for the LGBTQ community); the attack was led by a closeted man the victim had briefly dated. I don’t understand why—at a time when hate crimes against marginalized people are on the rise—Bailey chose to have this specific hate crime against a gay man be perpetrated by another gay (if closeted) man. It reinforces so many stereotypes about “self-loathing gays” and lets straight people off the hook for our collective responsibility to address and help eliminate hate crimes. A baffling—and, I think, damaging—decision on Bailey’s part which detracted from my overall enjoyment of the book.
I thought I’d read everything Jill Sorensen had written, so I was pleased to discover an unread book on my kindle: SCENES OF PERIL is one of two novellas in a book titled PASSION AND PERIL written by Suzanne Brockmann and Jill Sorensen. Although the book doesn’t indicate which writer wrote which story or if they were both collaborative efforts, SCENES OF PERIL is very much a Sorensen book: a photographer living in a mountain cabin pulls an unconscious man from the river when his vehicle skids over an embankment. The photographer manages to get the man back to her cabin. As he recovers, a snowstorm rolls in. Enforced proximity in a snowbound cabin? Yes, please!
Kelly Hunter’s well-written (and rather sexy for an HP), CONVENIENT BRIDE FOR THE KING, wraps the standard-issue “princess betrothed to king she must marry for political alliance but grows to love despite angsty misunderstandings” plot around some interesting characterizations, most specifically that of the king’s cousin, who is bisexual and has found his true love with another man. Even in a supporting role, LGBTQ characters are rare in the HP universe and it was interesting to see one fully fleshed out and permitted to have his own HEA.
After having to DNF Clare Connelly’s HIS INNOCENT SEDUCTION last month, I was thrilled when Connelly’s latest, REGRET ME NOT, was full of the angsty, even melodramatic, moodiness that characterizes her best work. REGRET ME NOT is a “secret baby” romance where the hero discovers he is a father some two years down the line. (CW: The hero’s first wife gave birth to a stillborn baby and subsequently had several miscarriages. These events are discussed in the course of the story.) Naturally, after the hero learns he is a father, he and the heroine have a bumpy road ahead—full of emotional misunderstandings, sheet-burning sex, and a really top-notch grovel, all against the backdrop of a beautiful Roman villa. I love this kind of stuff, but to each her own, so ymmv.
Melynda Price’s FIGHTING FOR CONTROL is about an MMA fighter (and military veteran) who, due to a PTSD-induced meltdown, must attend mandated therapy sessions. When he arrives for his first appointment, he discovers his therapist is—oh nos!—the woman with whom he had anonymous smoking-hot mile-high sex in the restroom of an airplane six months before. Despite (or, possibly, because of) their transgressive nature, stories that feature a psychiatrist/therapist heroine who becomes romantically involved with a patient/client hero are a bit of a jam for me. Yes, the circumstances are utterly inappropriate (although most writers do manage to maneuver the plot in a way that clears the ethical hurdle), but that element of trying to resist falling for the absolute-worst-yet-absolute-best person always presses my catnip button. Although not in the DiscoDollyDeb pantheon of great therapist-client romances (such as Jill Sorenson’s RIDING DIRTY or Julie Kriss’s TAKE ME DOWN), FIGHTING FOR CONTROL is a solid book with a couple you really want to find their HEA.
[CW: child abuse] I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a romance novel with the amount of pot smoking that occurs in A. Zavarelli’s latest book, CONVICT (not sure if that’s a noun or a verb—either would work in the context of the story). In a way, CONVICT reminded me of a Skye Warren dark romance—both the hero and heroine have experienced horribly-abusive childhoods and turn to each other as the only other person who can truly understand what they’ve been through. A subplot of the story involves the hero’s grow operation and how both h&h self-medicate with his product. CONVICT is very dark and there are numerous flashbacks to abusive episodes. Although I’ve liked a number of Zavarelli’s books (her TAP LEFT is one of my go-to comfort reads), I can’t recommend CONVICT unless you like really dark and/or want to read a “pot romance.”
THE WINGMAN by Natasha Anders (not to be confused with Adriana Anders) is another of her earnest, tell-not-show, adjective-and-adverb-heavy, South Africa-set romances. In WINGMAN, the veterinarian heroine is the “other sister”— shorter and plumper than her glamorous, willowy older sisters and, despite being a professional in her late twenties, she lives with this internalized dynamic: she knows people call her “the ugly one,” so she cultivates a self-deprecating approach to keep the hurt and ridicule at bay. The hero is a former special ops soldier and bodyguard from a rough background. He is approached by his brother to be his “wingman” at a party—to distract the “other sister” while he tries to flirt with a prettier one. Surprisingly, hero and heroine hit it off—in a rather bumpy, stop-and-start fashion. There’s a lot of hurt to overcome: the heroine’s understandable tendency not to trust the idea that she can be perceived as attractive; the darker things the hero has seen and done. But, if their dogs can be happy with each other, why can’t the hero & heroine? [I should note that there is a rather uncomfortable “white savior” subplot in THE WINGMAN involving the heroine providing free veterinary services in a nearby township. That part of the plot could easily have been jettisoned to no ill effect.]
I had read some positive reviews of Zoey Draven’s CAPTIVE OF THE HORDE KING and, now that I have Kindle Unlimited, I was able to give it a try. It’s an erotic SFF with a human female becoming the (voluntary) captive of the warrior-leader of an extraterrestrial race (humanoid, but, um, bigger—and with tails). If you read these sort of SFF stories, you’ll know what to expect: innocent/virgin human, battle-scarred alpha alien, lots of vividly-described sex, external conflict that drives h&h apart and then closer together. For what it is, COTHK is fine, but I couldn’t get beyond the heroine’s colloquial speech. She says things like, “You’ve created a monster,” “I’ve paid my dues,” and “I’m learning to give myself permission to be happy”—things that make absolutely no sense in terms of the agrarian subsistence society in which the heroine was raised or the nomadic warrior culture of the hero. There’s some nice emotional growth on the parts of both main characters, but the story’s world-building is inconsistent to say the least and nothing about it made me interested in reading other books in the series.
DNF:
The blurb for Ella Fields’s PRETTY VENOM intrigued me because it said the book included cheating (but did not indicate which partner cheated). I had liked Fields’s BLOODSTAINED BEAUTY when I read it last year—she has a way with complicated characters—so I was curious to see how she would handle the cheating aspect of the story while still allowing the couple their HEA. Unfortunately, I had no idea that the h&h were so young (about 14 at the start of the book, 18 when they become a committed couple) and I just couldn’t with the college drama that started about a third of the way through the book. Unless I missed it, the blurb did not mention PRETTY VENOM is an NA story—without the fairly explicit sex scenes, it could easily be YA—and I just wasn’t interested. Not badly written, but just not my style.
I tried Leigh Lennon’s LIKE FATHER LIKE SON hoping for something along the lines of Penelope Douglas’s BIRTHDAY GIRL—an emotionally-nuanced, wistful, almost melancholy story of a man gradually falling for his son’s ex-girlfriend (and vice-versa). Instead I got a book with inconsistent characters, sloppy pacing, and an off-putting porny subtext (the hero and heroine start having sexual thoughts about each other the day after the funeral of his son/her husband). I knew when the hero kept referring to his ex-wife as a “bitch,” Lennon was really going to have to bring an A+ game to get me over that—and it just didn’t happen. (I do, however, have to give Lennon credit for having age-appropriate play lists: one for a hero in his forties, the other for a heroine in her twenties.) I suppose there’s a reason “father-in-law” or “de facto father-in-law” romances are rare—it requires extremely delicate handling and is a very difficult trope to get right. I guess I’ll have to stick to men falling for their brothers’ exes and widows.
I recently finished JANE DOE by Victoria Helen Stone. Now, I’m reading THE KILLER COLLECTIVE by Barry Eisler, which is a sort of team-up book with characters from his various books/series coming together to deal with a threat.
I’m also looking forward to TRULY MADLY ROYALLY by Debbie Rigaud, which comes out next week.
@DiscoDollyDeb – I’m really sorry for your loss. Losing your mother is devestating regardless of your age or her health.
Last week I read the latest Nora Roberts, UNDER CURRENTS. It’s a romantic suspense, and if you’ve read her novels before, you know what you’re getting. I did enjoy it, but it’s about abuse survivors and she doesn’t shy away from describing the abuse, if that’s likely to be a deal breaker for anyone.
I also read THE SIMPLE WILD by KA Tucker. A 26 year old woman learns her absentee father has cancer, and she travels to a remote part of Alaska to meet him. Naturally she also meets a hot pilot to have an enemies-to-lovers romance with. It took me a little while to get caught up in the story, but in the end I quite liked it. The setting was lovely and well-described. I’ve always wanted to visit Alaska.
Now I’m reading SNOWED IN by Rhoda Baxter. I have no idea why I’m reading it, as it’s a Christmas novella, but it’s good so far. Maybe it’s the heat wave we just had that makes it so appealing to read about a tiny, snowed-in British village.
Read:
BRIDE BY MISTAKE by Anne Gracie. This is the final book in her DEVIL RIDERS about a band of brothers who were traumatized by the Napoleonic wars and no it isn’t as well done as THE SURVIVOR’s CLUB series( disclaimer: I’ve only read two books in the series). That said I still really liked this book. The heroine is great and has some Rapunzel vibes ( the heroine rescued her from some brutes on during the when she was 13 , Married her to protect her from an evil relative intent on marrying for her fortune and married her in name only with the intent to annul and dropped her off in a covenant where she spent 8 years) and the hero’s PTSD was treated much better than in the other DEVIL’s RIDERS’ book I read.
There’s also an evil ex in this one, but she didn’t ruin women for the hero and there’s a healthy female friendship to counter it. Lastly there’s a road trip through Spain where the hero and heroine fall in love and I adore their relationship. I recommend this book if you just want a fun time, otherwise the book really didn’t do much for me.
HOW TO BE VICTORIAN:DAILY LIFE OF VICTORIANs from DAWN to DUSk by Ruth Goodman. This was a nonfiction book about, as it says , daily life during the Victorian Era and was probably my favorite book I read over these past two weeks. It’s an easy ( word and voice wise ) read that I finished in 3 days. I love it so much because it covers every class’s day, not just the wealthy and alongside obvious bits like what the Victorian’s wore, it also covers more obscure subjects like what a woman did during her period and how to subtly announce a wish for a homosexual affair. She also talks about her own experience “Trying to be Victorian” to give the reader and even clearer idea of how the Victorians lived and doesn’t hide from the harsher aspects of Victorian life without every getting depressing. I highly recommend this book if you have even a passing interest in the era. However, I do have to issue a CW for the harsher things addressed in the book. Besides obvious things like Sexism, about the only section I had a hard time with was the section on childcare. Some it is fun , like what children wore, but other things mentioned would be considered child abuse today. Thankfully headings in the book are clear, so you can skip or skim the harsher parts of childcare section if you wish too.
Reading:
HOW TO BREATHE UNDERWATER by Vicki Skinner. This book is a YA contemporary romance about the aftermath of a divorce and how the teenage heroine deals with it and moves on with her life. It’s okay, i decided to read this for a friend despite the fact that I’m not a fan of contemporaries, and as a result I find this book pretty boring at times. However, if this sort of book is your thing you can probably get it online or pick it up at your local Barnes and Noble.
Loved Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes. Tore through Betrayal In Time…adore that Regency time travel series featuring an FBI profiler. Liked the newest Mary Balogh, although other books in the series were more compelling reads for me.
@DiscoDollyDeb: I’m so sorry. Sending you love and light and comfort.
I DNF’d the young adult novel “The Great Unknowable End” because i loved the title, but the plot involved a 1977 dystopia, a cult, a hologram countdown projected on the main character’s closet, sudden horrific animal deaths and a case of mistaken identity. I noped out.
Now I’m reading The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton (I *love* her novels The Secret Keeper and The Forgotten Garden–they’re more Susannah Kearsley beautiful historical mystery than a romance, nb) and so far ghosts, which is not my fave. But I love her writing and shall persevere.
After eight years, S.J. Rozan has a new Chin/Smith mystery, PAPER SON!!! So happy! This one is set in Mississippi, with Lydia narrating and trying to adapt her “keep moving forward” style to the South, and Bill as locally-born guide. I enjoyed some of the use of tropes and expectations.
Seanan McGuire’s MIDDLEGAME is her best to date for me, and I’m up to date on most of her non-Grant series. It shares DNA with the Wayward Children series and some with the Mira Grant horror books, but it’s not retreading them.
@DiscoDollyDeb: Sending you hugs.
I am rage re-reading THE ROOK and STILETTO by Daniel O’Malley because I love-love-love the books and cannot watch the truly horrible Starz series. The scriptwriters kept the names of the first book and main character, and that’s pretty much it. They’ve made Rook Thomas completely incompetent, chose a dark Gothic theme and completely lost her exquisite humor. Honestly, the book is so much an interior one, I was surprised anyone would try to televise it. Read the books, skip the show.
@DiscoDollyDeb, So sorry for your pain. I’ve walked that path, and it doesn’t matter how old you are or how long they’ve been ill. It universally sucks and the grief never quite goes away.
I’ve recovered from Outlander vacation 3.0 and gotten back into my routine, which means a score of books from my reserve list at the GBPL. First u,p and finally, The One You Fight For, by Roni Loren. I loved this so much. She has managed to handle the delicate and painful topics of this series and especially this book, so deftly. Shaw will break your heart.
Then it was on to Nora Roberts’ latest, Under Currents. I grade her books against each other rather than other authors. That being said, solid A material here. Great characters, smallish town setting, wonderful doggie, competence porn, engaging level of suspense. Or maybe because it’s set in the North Carolina high country. I can totally picture the setting. Actually, I have pictures of the setting. Lots of them as I just came back from Outlander vacation 3.0 which is outside Boone, NC. I made the mistake of starting it on a weekday. I was all in after the first chapter, which led to a second, and then I got to the very satisfying end to chapter six and realized I had to put it down or call in sick. As my PTO hours are seriously depleted due to Dad emergencies, I managed to get to work only five minutes late. All week. My only quibble was that the end seemed pretty quick. I knew who the villain was, and I know you can sustain the level of tension only so long, but it wound up just a little quick for me. Or maybe I just wanted to spend more time with the characters. Or move to the town.
Started Evvie Draper Starts Over thanks to the recs here. Wasn’t sure about it at first, but now I’m enjoying it.
Next up is a stand alone suspense from Kelley Armstrong, Wherever She Goes. Loving her Rockton series so much, I have to try it – even though the cover copy leads me to believe there isn’t a smidge of romance in it.
Alyssa Cole- An Unconditional Freedom
I found this one really compelling and heart-wrenching. Both hero and heroine were so damaged it was difficult to read sometimes, but it’s an excellent book.
Cat Sebastian- Hither, Page
A nice gentle sort of romance/mystery.
Jeannie Lin- My Fair Concubine
Set in the Tang Dynasty, the story follows a man who has to find a “princess” to send to the emperor for a dynastic marriage since his sister, who was supposed to fill the role, has absconded, and a tea girl who seems the perfect solution to his problem. Except, of course, they fall in love with each other. I really liked the characters and while I thought the ending wrapped up a little too conveniently I wasn’t mad about it.
Tana French- The Witch Elm
I must have really lowered my expectations on this one because I didn’t think it was nearly as bad as everyone else seemed to be saying. There was definitely a point where things went off the rails, and it’s definitely not my favorite French, but I don’t know that it’s my least favorite, either.
Lucy Worsley- The Art of the English Murder
Read this on audio during a long car trip and it was absolutely perfect for that. Just engaging enough to keep me distracted from my driving anxieties but not super dense and involved.
Jordan L. Hawk- Widdershins
m/m paranormal historical. It was fun but kind of forgettable for me.
Alyssa Cole- A Prince on Paper
I knew this was going to be my favorite of the Reluctant Royals series as soon as I read the cover copy, and: bingo. Although I did find it a mite ridiculous how much of the plot seemed to hinge on everyone but the heroine conveniently “accidentally” seeing every notification that came up on her phone.
Rowan Hisayo Buchanan- Harmless Like You
This hit my threshold for downer literary fiction for the year, I think. Yukiko abandons her son and runs off to Germany to be an artist. 30 years later, her son Jay is a new father contemplating leaving his own family when he tracks her down. Not bad in terms of the actual story, but it definitely dragged my mood down.
V. E. Schwab- Vicious
Two college “friends” experiment to turn themselves into superheroes; it works but with disastrous results, and ten years later they’re on course to destroy each other. This was ok, but the characters seemed really thin and I had trouble getting invested. I’ve got the sequel on order from the library but I don’t know that I’ll want to read it.
Currently reading HIGHBALL RUSH by Lucy Score and Claire Kingsley. I have loved this weird little West Virginia mystery series and am sad to see it end, but so far enjoying reading more about Gibson, thus far the most mysterious of the Bodine family members. This series requires a bit of a suspension of disbelief and a tolerance for the wacky, but it’s a lot of fun.
MAKING UP by Helena Hunting – I don’t enjoy this series as much as her Pucked series, largely because the whole billionaire trope doesn’t really do it for me, but I always enjoy Hunting’s writing, and this was a quick fun read. 11 year age difference with a younger heroine (22 to the hero’s 33), which would normally make me roll my eyes, but it’s handled well and the hero is self aware of the potential cliche, and the heroine is awesome.
TRASHED by Mia Hopkins – I have been waiting for this ever since I finished Thirsty when it came out, and it did not disappoint. Hopkins’ ex-gangster heroes are so well written, with a sensitivity to the trauma their upbringing and former lifestyle has caused and how that continues to affect a person even as they try to go straight, and I really appreciate her characterization of Los Angeles and the effects of gentrification.
THE WEDDING PARTY by Jasmine Guillory – I read some so-so reviews of this one before reading it so was cautious going in, but I really loved this one. I agree that Guillory gets a lot of mainstream press for doing something that plenty of other romance writers have been doing forever, so I get the frustration there, but that doesn’t prevent me from enjoying her books. I love that her heroes are well-rounded and real, not crazy alphas. They feel like men you might actually meet in the real world, with normal jobs and normal problems. I also love how she gives her heroines careers that are important to them, and goes into their work lives a bit (shout out for competence porn, I guess). The other thing I love about Guillory, strangely enough, is that she writes conflict really well. In each book so far there’s always an argument where both the hero and heroine say things that kind of make me gasp, but it’s totally realistic in the way that a couple might fight, and say things they don’t mean in the heat of the moment, then have to talk it out and apologize later. The conflict never feels false or overly dramatic or shoehorned in, it’s very organic to the characters and what they’re going through. So excited for her next one, which was inspired by Meghan Markle’s mom!
GRADING CURVES by Naima Simone – sexy novella with a tattoo artist hero who unknowingly sleeps with his college professor the night before he starts classes (he’s 24 and going to school later in life, so it’s not creepy).
DESIRE AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA by Olivia Dade – I loved loved loved Dade’s Teach Me, so I was quick to gobble this one up. It’s a short novella that kicks off what seems like will be a series about reality shows (but think more HGTV/TLC type shows, not like the Bachelor). Dade writes very emotionally competent, beta heroes and confident, curvy heroines. This felt a bit rushed because of the novella length, but totally enjoyable.
OPEN HEARTS by Eve Dangerfield – After all the love for Dean in the Sex Puppies Rec League, had to give this one a try since it was free on Kindle, and I was not disappointed. Dean discovering his sub-light kink after watching the Princess Bride as a kid was such a hilarious detail, and it was fun to see this kind of dynamic with the woman telling the man what to do in bed. I had previously only read Dangerfield through her collaboration with Tessa Bailey, but I’ll definitely be checking out more of her work.
STRIPPED by Zoey Castile – I had been wanting to read this for a while but it was like $10 and I just didn’t want to pay that much, but it just got added to Kindle Unlimited so I jumped on it. Very Magic Mike-esque. I enjoyed the characters and thought they were well written, but sometimes the relationship and conflict felt a bit rushed and inorganic. The whole book is about 250 pages, and I felt like it could have used another 50 pages to really flesh out everything that happened.
My favourite recent reads have been rereads of some of my favourites. I’m in a mood I guess.
It started with BURN FOR ME by Ilona Andrews for the Goodreads July pick, and then I had to move onto WHITE HOT. I’m trying to pace myself but WILDFIRE will be up shortly.
I also reread HIM by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy. They make an amazing writing team.
Currently I’m rereading THE LIGHTNING-STRUCK HEART by TJ Klune in preparation to read A DESTINY OF DRAGONS. Even though I only read book one about a month ago it was so enjoyable I had to read it again before moving onto the next book. Klune is a recently discovered author for me and his writing style is so unique and his characters are so full of heart he is now definitely a favourite.
First-time reads:
THE CRUEL PRINCE by Holly Black. It was okay but I don’t understand all the hype. I have a few weeks of waiting for THE WICKED KING to become available from my library and I’m just fine with that.
A SORCERY OF THORNS by Margaret Rogerson. Really fun world-building involving libraries full of sentient grimoires and a heroine who is unapologetic about her strengths . There wasn’t as much interaction between the H/h as I’d have liked and I think the story could have benefited from being expanded into two books where certain plot points could be fully flushed out.
GOOD AND MAD by Rebecca Traister was excellent. Written in regards to the current political climate and the anger and rage that is simmering in certain groups of society. I’ve been reading a lot about women’s anger and I’m hopeful that it is going to spark some much needed change.
Currently reading THE ONE YOU FIGHT FOR by Roni Loren.
@MirandaB – The Cainesville series gets better. I was unsure with Omens but I got sucked in more and more with each book. You get a lot of answers and the characters really grow thru the series.
@KateB I have this dream of one day writing something that would basically be “Watership down but almost all does”–while I have known lots of amazing bucks (two, even, who went on adventures (neighbor’s rabbits; I never let mine roam)) just as many or more of the most intelligent, bold rabbits with complex personalities I’ve had the pleasure of keeping or just knowing have been females. I haven’t reread Watership down in ages, but I totally feel that criticism, esp on behalf of my current two does who are pretty darn awesome.
Anyway. Having finished PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE (fantastic–only sight issue I had was kinda feeling I’d know how it would go, which may be the downside to a standalone: it’s hardly going to end in failure) I’ve been catching up on single issue comics. Just started the new Jane Foster-as-VALKYRIE solo title and it’s really good so far. Great to have her as a super-superhero again, esp with the announcement that the MCU’s Jane will become the Mighty Thor in Thor Love and Thunder… (“Mighty Thor” per the director setting straight a troll who wanted to call her (ugh) “Female Thor”, so I’m very optimistic. :D)
Sadly, my beloved STAR WARS main title is having some issues in its new arc/team: the art is fab, but the writer doesn’t seem to quite get the voices. And for a tie-in comic the voices are perhaps the most important thing for me. No matter what strange places the characters went during the last writer’s run they always sounded and FELT like themselves, and now they sound…a bit too modern, I think. I will stick with it a while and see if it improves, since the art IS great and the story’s fine. And I’d hate to drop it, esp when I think I read they’re going to catch up to Empire and then be done. IDK.
I also read Why Won’t You Apologize? by Harriet Lerner, ph.D. It’s the first of her books I’ve read and I found it hugely enjoyable and helpful. I have a family issue that I wanted to get a good idea how to tackle, and I feel more prepared now. I really love that she isn’t shy about airing her own shortcomings. (And the preferred or equal status she gives to female pronouns “her or his” instead of the other way around almost every time is aces.) I did want a couple points, esp about the source of over-apologizing, to be expanded upon a bit, but I left the book feeling very satisfied and I’m definitely going to read more of her work.
I’ve just started Death and Relaxation by Devon Monk, :). https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H98SNOA/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
My elevator pitch for Kameron Hurley’s THE LIGHT BRIGADE would be Starship Troopers meets Live Die Repeat meets Slaughterhouse Five but really it is its own lovely original novel. This is one of my favorite books of the year so far, the kind that makes you kind of mad when you’re done cuz what the hell are you gonna read now? Nothing else will do! (I ended up re-reading some old favorites)
SPARROW HILL ROAD was a different sort of story for Seanan McGuire and I really liked the non-linear structure. It’s listed a the start of a series but it felt like a satisfying one-and-done.
I snagged all three books in Alyssa Cole’s Loyal League trilogy and plan to hunker down over the next two days and do little else but read.
Reread Saving the CEO (Jenny Holiday) and that made me think of reading more romance novels, so I hit Twitter and SBTB for recommendations.
Blasted through The Duchess Deal (Tessa Deal) and Hate to Want You (Alisha Rai), and I’ve added a lot more to my To-Read list!
I meant to say I snagged Alyssa’s books at the library. Good thing it’s my Friday; I need quiet book+kitty time.
Jana Aston – WRONG (B+), RIGHT (B+), FLING (B-), TRUST (A-), GOOD GIRL (B+), GOOD TIME (A-) – Jana Aston’s books are half New Adult (young, sex-positive heroines with a uniformly quirky narrative voice) and Harlequin Presents (30-something millionaire alpha heroes who go down hard…sexual innuendo not intended, but definitely on-point). I consumed ’em like Pringles and am queued for more.
Ashley Weaver – THE ESSENCE OF MALICE (B+) and AN ACT OF VILLAINY (B-) – books 4 and 5 in the Amory Ames series, which I glommed onto after the last Whatcha Reading post. I got really excited because MALICE came soooo close to revealing what I expect is Milo’s hidden backstory, then…nothing. If Weaver is trolling me, it was very well done, but future books in this series (including VILLAINY) only get a skim from me until Milo steps up or steps off. (I was so excited to see that Billie Fulford-Brown narrated Murder at the Brightwell, the first book in this series, but I simply couldn’t make it past the first sixty seconds of the audiobook. Don’t judge her by this! Listen to her wonderful performance of Lucy Parker’s Act Like It instead.)
Nalini Singh – ROCK HARD (B+), ROCK REDEMPTION (B-), ROCK WEDDING (C) – That is not a good rating trajectory for a series. Rock Hard, a refreshed version of the powerful CEO/mousy PA archetype, lured me into this series which is otherwise focused on rockstars. Rockstars and addiction just don’t do it for me, and that undoubtedly influenced my ratings. But with ROCK WEDDING, I was also uncomfortable with some narrative choices that felt like a cliched representation of the African-American protagonists. (Note: I am manifestly unqualified to be the race representation police. There was a just a different focus on clothes and body types and even professional accomplishments in the last book that I wouldn’t have questioned in an #ownvoices author, but was sufficiently unlike the previous two books to stand out as artifice.)
Tessa Bailey – FIX HER UP (B-) – I’m so muddled here. I liked the silly camaraderie of the “Just Us League” and the ridiculousness of the sister-in-law. (Actually, I’m kind of obsessed with the s-i-l and wonder if her particular brand of cheerfully obnoxious sweet perfection could be sustained/tolerated in a main character.) I have mixed feelings about the romance and am absolutely appalled by the big gesture at the end.
Clare Connelly – REGRET ME NOT (C+) – In the old days, when an alpha millionaire (pre-inflation) threatened to use his wealth and power to take custody of his secret love-child from the mother, it was because he desired the mother and was using the child as bait. Nowadays, he just wants his kid and to punish the heroine. In neither scenario are the child’s best interests the baby daddy’s top priority, but I definitely preferred the old school version.
Re-read Nora Robert’s High Noon. Still good but not sure I liked it as well as I did the first couple times. The city, Savannah, felt pretty generic despite a few nods to local color. The boyfriend didn’t seem to have any edges to him; he was just generically wonderful. And very rich.
Also re-watched the Lifetime movie – so much editing that not everything made as much sense as in the book. Generic city, mostly. Uniformly pleasant, boyish, supportive boyfriend though he did get to have a little interpersonal violence in the movie.
I got into Libby from the local library and read a couple books there. Wired by Julie Garwood was OK but I found I had to go back and look up details three days after reading it. I liked that the heroine and her BFF were tech goddess. I disliked how the h let her “family” manipulate her. Doubt i would re-read but would read others by this author.
The Last Policeman by Ben Winters, that was good. Interesting concept – dealing with the impending end of the world and wondering if murder even matters. Such a range of how people deal with this.
Summer Island by Kristin Hannah. Mother and two daughters reconciling after many years separation. Misunderstanding plus dealing with the death of a friend. I liked it well enough though I found the one very angry daughter a little over the top. Romance also happens.
Discovered Prime Reading and just read Last Summer by Kerry Lonsdale. One of those looking at a woman’s life with her husband and giving you the twist at the end. CW for stillbirth. There is amnesia.Didn’t completely like either character. Won’t re-read but that’s me – currently looking for somewhat happier fare – not to rule out dark stories but I want to walk away with my HEA and feeling that good came out at least a little ahead.
Regular reading – Fisherman’s Court by Andrew Wolfendon. Someone is trying to murder him in his home in Maine so he goes to a tiny Maine island where he can be trapped with everyone he grew up with while figuring out who is trying to kill him. Interesting.
Superfan by Sarina Bowen – not her best but still good. Missed chance story.
Hilariously Ever After – multiple authors. The only two that I found at all funny were two I’d already read. Maybe I am more depressed than I thought. Or maybe I don’t enjoy 20 year olds who can’t travel without their vibrator and talk about it in detail.
Kelly Bowen, You’re the Earl That I Want
I’m 4 chapters in and it’s a hell of a fun ride. Kickass heroine, a mystery and loads of snark – yes please! Reminds me of Tessa Dare but with more action. CW: there’s blood and murder if that bothers you, usually it bugs me but here it’s offset by the humor.
Someone on here had recommended her One Night With the Earl, which also looks promising. I just picked up the only title of hers my library had.
I’ve been listening to the Fred the Vampire Accountant series by Drew Hayes on audiobook and they’ve been such fun, the narrator really nails the excitement about accounting and the dry resignation about the “adventures” part. I wish the character and relationship development went deeper but as light entertainment they’re pretty delightful. Plus, most importantly, my library has the whole series on Hoopla so no waiting for holds to come in.
Read Kill the Queen by Jennifer Estep and loved it, strong female characters and lots of them with hints of a romance to come- can’t wait to get off the holds list for the next in the series!
Romance wise, I’ve been reading through Jane Ashford’s back list- I can’t say I find the romance parts particularly engaging but I love her heroines and most of the characters who aren’t the hero, and if the romance is an excuse to hang out with all of them that’s fine by me.
I finished a few dense-ish non-fiction books recently and a few mysteries/thrillers!
Excellent:
None
Very Good:
A Quiet Life in the Country by TE Kinsey: The first in a historical mystery series set just before WWI in England – I read this for my mystery book club. It took a little while to get into it, but I really enjoyed it (and it picked up pace) when it became a country house party mystery. And some of the supporting characters were fully drawn and very interesting.
A Royal Pain by Rhys Bowen: The second in her Royal Spyness series, I liked this one a lot better than the first. Set in London during the period between WWI and WWII, we get a spoiled princess, a series of deaths that seem unrelated, and brief glimpses of the main character’s love interest.
Pets in America: A History by Katherine C. Grier: Although this could get a little dry at times, I really enjoyed reading about pet keeping in America – the evolution of how people kept, treated and viewed various animals as well as the growth of the commercial side of the pet trade were well covered.
The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn: A sort of take on Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, although this one features a main character that is housebound because of mental illness rather than confined due to a physical injury. There were what I would call two major twists – the first one in about the middle of the book I saw coming a mile away, but the ending was somewhat surprising. This book was compulsively readable – I stayed up way too late finishing it, but the ending was somehow not quite satisfying which is why I rated it Very Good instead of Excellent. Basically all the content warnings except for sexual violence apply here.
Good:
Malachy McCourt’s History of Ireland: the history of Ireland as told through biographical sketches of various historic Irish figures. Even though a large part of my heritage is Irish, I knew next to nothing about the history, so from that perspective I enjoyed learning about it. On the other hand, sometimes it was assumed that the reader would have some knowledge of Irish history, so it wasn’t the perfect introduction I had hoped.
Meh:
None
The Bad:
None
Last week I read and loved PROTECT THE PRINCE by Jennifer Estep, the second book in her fantasy trilogy. It was just as good as the first book, KILL THE QUEEN, and the romance that was only hinted at in the first book is much more explicit in the second, so that was a big plus for me. I rarely buy books at full price anymore, but I just could not wait on this book and it was totally worth it.
Currently I’m reading APPETITIES & VICES by Felicia Grossman and loving it so far. So much catnip for me in this book. The book is set in 1840’s Philadelphia (how rare is that setting for a historical romance?). The heroine, Ursula, is Jewish and is a strong personality, possibly a bit on the spectrum as she’s rather unaware of social cues and has always suffered in society as a result, but she’s refreshingly honest and truly just doesn’t understand all of the interpersonal subterfuge and lies that people usually engage in. She’s also intellectually curious and quite smart in math and luckily, her father, a banker, allows her to participate in his business. Hopefully the rest of the book will live up to the first third.
:::comes in humming Tell That Devil because it’s a jam:::
Well, I’ve DNFed two books in the past two days, but we’re not going to focus on that. I also don’t like to name off DNFs since they’re not usually bad books, and it’s not their fault that I’m just in a mood. Well, I left off on Nightchaser by Amanda Bouchet and I loved it, Bonk forever, I have the next one in the series preordered because I need more. Then I read Under Currents by Nora Roberts and whoa Nellie, if you have a history of abuse, trigger warning like whoa. Roberts remains a highly skilled writer and the characters are interesting and likable, and I liked that they are characters that have done the work when it comes to handling their pasts. That said, too many plots. Pick a plot. One plot too many. It caused the book to bog down toward the middle. Then I read Evvie Drake starts over, and it was kind of a different feel for me. I really wanted Evvie and Dean to open up and do the work, but the book also made you understand what caused them both to be as closed off as they were. Much of the book was genuinely hilarious, but again, there are going to be some difficulties if you have a history of abuse, so stay safe. Which brings us to today, after a couple of frustrating DNFs, I fired up Star Wars: Master and Apprentice by Claudia Gray. Gray, as well being a lovely person (I met her at a con, and I will never stop saying that), is probably my favorite Star Wars writer, and I am here to know more about Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan’s Padawan training. I also seem to be into stuff that’s set in SPAAAACE lately, which :::gestures broadly at everything:::. Till next time, get in line early, they expect a lot of people at this guy’s author signing.
@DiscoDollyDeb, I’m so sorry for your loss. I’m glad you’re finding comfort in favorite reads.
@Vicki Soloniuk – I was equally disappointed in Hilariously Ever After!
I’ve been trying some of the authors from the under appreciated Rec league. I’m always looking for paranormal w/o fated mates and read Handcuffed to a Bear because who can resist that title? It was a pleasant B type read for me, and based on that I read two other books that were part of a n anthology.
Axel’s Pup by Kim Dare had really interesting world building with werewolves as a discriminated against minority with almost no rights, combined with an interspecies 24/7 bdsm relationship, and that full time sub dom situation always kinda gives me the willies… so – interesting… I also read Duck by Kim Dare.
My favorite was Between the Sheets by Molly O’Keefe, 2 cautious people finding love, though the dark moment was ridiculous and the mutual accommodation made NO sense. She hadn’t done anything wrong and he was 100% wrong! (others may disagree…)
@Ellen Oooh! I just recently finished Bloody Rose. We read Kings of the Wyld for book club earlier this year and I just loved both of the books so much. Bloody Rose is slower than KotW but I liked that it my enjoyment didn’t dip despite it being a sequel (that’s so rare) and I don’t know – I laughed and cried a lot xD I wish they’d make it into a movie, Eames puts so much ding dang effort into making the world so varied and interesting. And it’s just so funny and has so much heart, I really loved them.
I’m still in a reading slump, just really burned out right now. I read Bloody Rose in a month and a half and I’m ~1/3 the way through Moby Dick. That’s about it! On the plus side I finally replaced my ereader so I think it will be fun sorting and redownloading my ebooks.
Through a Dark Glass has such an interesting premise, I think I will try it.
@Rebecca, Fred the Vampire Accountant sounds right up my alley I’m adding it to my TBR, thank you x)
@DiscoDollyDeb I’m so sorry, my thoughts are with you
I finally finished Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France, by Caroline Moorhead. Largely about the concerted effort by the inhabitants of the plateau Vivarais-Lignon to shelter & protect Jews during the war, it also had intriguing themes of the evanescence of memory, the nature of trauma (some children who were reunited with their severely traumatized parents would have preferred to be orphaned or remained with their gentile hosts), who is a hero and who a villain, and the shades of grey coloring people’s behavior. Sobering reading, and uplifting at times.
Courting Darkness by Robin LaFevers. A return to form in the His Fair Assassin series after the last, weaker, entry. The world-building (medieval court intrigue, pagan gods adopted as saints, the brutality and coarseness of life in the Middle Ages) just sucked me right in, and I adored the two main characters, Sybella and Genevieve (although Genevieve makes some foolish mistakes). BUT IT ENDS IN A CLIFFHANGER and the next book won’t be out until June 2020.
It took me a while to get into Fall by Kristen Callihan – I didn’t buy the meet-cute and I can’t stand when the hero immediately thinks of how the heroine would look when giving him a bj. I was glad I hung on though, as the hero does redeem himself and I found the romance satisfying. TW for hero dealing with the aftermath of a suicide attempt (happens before the book begins).
I enjoyed Rebel Hard by Nalini Singh as much for the peek into Kiwi Fiji-Indian culture as I did for the romance. I didn’t feel the main characters were entirely consistent throughout but found myself enjoying it too much to really care.
I also finally finished An Indecent Proposal by Katee Robert. After such a slow beginning that I abandoned it, the ending was incredibly fast-paced, even rushed. I had very little confidence in the HEA since the h/h had been together for just one week, under a lot of stress, and most of the relationship development happened during the sex scenes.
I am committed to finishing the series, so I moved on to Forbidden Promises. Sloan, the middle sister of the O’Malley family, escapes the mob life with the help of one of her brothers and moves cross-country to a quiet beach town in Oregon. She’s starting to spread her wings when she gets sucked back in by the guy she meets. He’s a hit man (with a moral code I’m a little dubious about – lots of claiming he never kills ‘innocents’) who is out for revenge on the mob boss who massacred his family – conveniently, the father of Sloan’s sister-in-law. I liked the setting and the heroine, and that she turns into Jude’s moral compass (morality chain is one of my favorite themes/tropes). However as in the last book the relationship was really rushed and compressed into a short time frame. There’s very little sexual tension because they basically meet and bang right away, then spend every spare moment banging even when running for their lives, and there is too much focus on the sex to the detriment of emotional relationship development.
Moving on to the next book in the series, Undercover Attraction – I liked this one even though I couldn’t quite figure out why the mob boss hero Aiden needed the heroine to be his fake fiancee for his plans. High stakes, with the ex-cop heroine falling for the mob boss and trying to work her way through her emotional and logical conflicts about it. The development of the relationship seemed more evenly balanced than in the previous two books, and the pacing felt more even also.
Next up is Trashed by Mia Hopkins, and then I’m on a book buying moratorium until I work my way through my giant Kindle TBR.
@Jerrica and @LauraL: I hope you both enjoy it as much as I did!