It’s our last Whatcha Reading for the month of October! How are we all feeling? Exhausted? Thrilled for the holidays?
Right now, I have two modes: devouring a book in one sitting or not touching a book for DAYS.
Catherine: I’m reading Emily Wilson’s translation of Homer’s Odyssey ( A | BN | K | AB ), which I was drawn to after reading this review a couple of years ago. I grew up on Greek myths and legends, so I’m delighted to read a new perspective and a new translation (and the introductory essay at the start is fantastic).
And lest you think I am just showing off with all my classical reading, I am also reading Fifty Shades of Alice in Wonderland by Melinda du Champ ( A | BN ), which certainly is a thing. Think coming-of-age porn with Lewis Carroll-style rhymes and so much BDSM. It’s very funny (though the humour is a little mean-spirited at times), and very hot if kink is your thing.
Charlotte: I’m reading Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen ( A | BN | K | AB | Au ), which is pretty good but not great – the worldbuilding is strong but the characterization is a bit thin and I’m disappointed that Cecile’s singing ability is peripheral to the plot (especially given the title).
And I just finished Shadow of Doubt by Hailey Edwards which is the first in a spinoff of her Undead City series. I really enjoyed it. I thought I was tired of urban fantasy, but her books are super well-written and (to my great gratitude) there isn’t a sword-wielding woman in leather pants in sight.
Aarya: I’m in the middle of Sara B. Larson’s Sisters of Shadow and Light ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) and am perilously close to a DNF. It’s…fine? It’s one of those situations where I like the characters and the writing, but I’m strangely emotionally detached to everything (which is NOT how I want to feel when I’m reading). I can’t tell if the problem is me or the book (it’s me, if I had to pick). I’m going to shelve this and come back to it later. Normally I really like YA SFF about magical sisters, but I’m not in the mood now.
I’m also reading Talia Hibbert’s Get a Life, Chloe Brown and liking it so far. I’m a sucker for “bucket list-type” books, and this one has a GREAT list (camping, travel the world with nothing but hand luggage, meaningless sex, etc). I love “bucket list” books because the protagonist assertively sets out on their journey looking for something specific, but often ends up finding and accomplishing things they never dreamed of. The book deals with serious issues (chronic illness, near death experience, etc), but I’m laughing and having a good time. Fingers crossed it stays that way.
Shana: I’m halfway through The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). I was inspired to read it by an unflattering podcast review, but the romantic tension sucked me in and I stayed up to late reading. I love a fake date trope. I think this book has more delicious food descriptions than any book I’ve read. The MCs are in politics and medicine but are definitely California foodies. Where are my tacos?
Tara: I’m finally reading The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite and I’m loving it. I keep highlighting passage after passage because either the writing is gorgeous or something just strikes me in a way that I know I need to go back to it later. I love that more and more f/f historical romances are coming out and wish I’d been able to read these when I was a kid swiping my mom’s old romances (not that she would have read a lesbian romance).
In audio I’m listening to Party of Three by Sandy Lowe ( A | BN | K | AB ). Holy shit, is it ever a good one. It has linked erotic romance novellas, following three best friends as they go to a birthday party and each of them gets some real good sex and a HFN or HEA—one with a woman she’s just met, one with the woman she’s never told anyone she’s been in love with for years (who thankfully had a crush on her too), and one with an ex. I’m almost done the second part and it’s super hot and SO sweet. Also, Lori Prince doesn’t just narrate the book, she acts the shit out of it. I highly recommend this one, specifically in audio. (edited)
AJ: I just finished Any Old Diamonds by KJ Charles ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) and I’m heart-eyes forever. The heist! The twists! The banter! I have good book hangover again.
Claudia: Sorry not sorry, AJ…
I was chasing that book high for weeks after I finished Any Old Diamonds. Good news is you are ready for Gilded Cage now.
I am about to start the second book in S.A. Chakraborty’s The Daevabad Trilogy after some misadventures with library e-book expiration dates with the first one! I’m not usually a fantasy/science fiction reader but I did love the first book and I am very curious where this series is going to take me.
Kiki: I’m reading the same, Claudia! I’m listening to the audiobook and hoping to actually finish the book this time. I started it in the spring and put it down with a hundred pages left because I was so anxious over what was going to happen. Books tend not to activate my real-life anxiety but clearly S. A. Chakraborty tapped into something in me.
Aarya: I need to read this series but I’m terrified of starting a YA fantasy trilogy before the third book comes out. For incomplete trilogies, I don’t have the reassurance that things will end happily in the relationship (cough Divergent by Veronica Roth cough).
Claudia: I hate putting myself into these situations too. I’m not even sure the author has a date for the third book. I blame Sneezy for this state of affairs!! She was the one who told me about this series.
Kiki: It’s actually adult! And I think it reads like adult too, in the way that I think of adult fantasy as tending to have more complex socio-political systems. And I REALLY would caution against going into it for romance. I don’t really know how to talk about it without spoilers but on the list of things the series is, a romance is very close to the bottom.
I think the third is coming in July 2020!
Aarya: Ah. I’ll still def read it but thanks for the heads up.
Still going to wait for book 3 to make sure she doesn’t kill everyone off. I’ve been burned too many times in SFF, adult or YA.
Carrie: I’m studying Beats, the work of Neil Gaiman, and Women’s Suffrage so I’m re-reading the Sandman series ( A | BN | G | AB ) while also reading The Woman’s Hour. The inside of my head right now is a strange place.
Elyse: I don’t know what to read next ::flops dramatically::
Ellen: I just finished the Bridge Kingdom by Danielle Jensen and I’m still collecting my thoughts. Like, it made me feel intense feelings but I’m not sure what those feelings are yet. Before that, I read Hate to Want You ( A | BN | K | AB ), which I enjoyed even though contemporary is not one of my favorite genres.
Sneezy: Been snuggling up with everything Beverly Jenkins in between Our Women on the Ground ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). Just started Rebel. ( A | BN | K | G | AB )
Susan: I’m rereading Any Old Diamonds in preparation for Gilded Cage as well! I never forgot how much I loved Susan Lazarus (and the Lilywhite Boys, and Alec), but it’s nice to get the reminder!
But I DID just get Sarah Gailey’s Magic For Liars ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) as a birthday present, so I’m very tempted to dive into that…
What have you been reading? Let us know in the comments!
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@oceanjasper: if you like hockey romances and haven’t already read it, I strongly recommend Rachel Reid’s m/m hockey romance, HEATED RIVALRY, which covers ten years in the relationship of two closeted professional hockey players. It’s beautifully-written, sexy, emotional, with lots of subtle touches that make it my favorite book of 2019 (so far). Reid has an earlier m/m hockey romance, GAME CHANGER, which I liked but felt was more about one man’s journey to coming out than about the romance.
I’ve been reading Cathy Glass memoirs so nothing romantic! Also reading a Lynsey Sands but forgotten the title (it’s the vampire series). Nothing hurl worthy except a couple of spiritual magazines (don’t ask unless you want a rant about cosmic ordering/manifestation and blinking unicorn cards!)/ Luckily they were Prime reading borrows.
@ Katie C – Congratulations on your new little one! Read to him often. <3
@ Crystal – So happy you are home again!
I also enjoyed Bringing Down the Duke and am looking forward to the rest of the Extraordinary Women’s stories. I think Evie Dunmore is one to watch.
After reading about the fight for women’s marital legal rights in Victorian England, Whisper Network was jarring. The villain could have been stopped with a well-timed knee in the groin and he should have received one (or a dozen) years ago. I DNF’d the book, which is rare for me, because it angered me so. Sexual harassment is to be reported, not tolerated. Putting the soapbox aside ….
Room to Breathe by Liz Talley was a Kindle First read about starting over. I enjoyed the mother and daughter’s journeys to find what they really wanted out of life. However, TW, there was a young man with a bit of a consent issue.
I am currently reading In Her Pumpkin Patch: A Holiday Romantic Comedy by Alina Jacobs which a workplace romance with lots of Halloween and baking innuendo. And a bunch of young men rescued from some sort of cult and a pair of goth twins. I think I am going to find a nice Regency to read or re-read next.
@Nan De Plume: just FYI, both gender and sex were in use in the 19th century, and by that point had been in use by centuries already, so its use in the Sebastian book is not an anachronism.
I have struggled to get any books read since about the beginning of September which is unusual for me. My attention span just sucks these days. I have only been able to finish various Star Wars fan fictions on AO3.
Currently reading Polaris Rising. I won a copy of Aurora Blazing in a Goodreads giveaway and I’m bound and determined to hold up my end of the bargain and leave a well thought out review. I just need to finish Polaris first. So far I like it. I like the chemistry between the main characters but the author stopping to explain some part of the world building keeps throwing me out of the story. It’s slow going.
Starting Ninth House which is Leigh Bardugo’s adult debut. The library wants it back in 3 days because 97 other people want to read it too.
Best book of my month….The Binding by Bridget Collins. I had it on the library waitlist for months, and as usual, I completely forgot why I had chosen it. TW for pretty much all types of abuse as well as suicide. I devoured it in one day, and it has stuck with me. I thought it had interesting points about memories and owning your own life story. I also loved the romance.
Count me as someone who loved Discovery of Witches. The second book is my favorite! I thought the show was pretty well done, not as bad as that mess they made out of The Magicians.
The rest of my month has been spent rereading every book by Tana French to get ready for the new show on Starz. I tried to stick to the first two, but her Dublin Murder Squad books are so good. Not much romance (and when there is, it usually goes bad), but I find something I missed every time I read them.
Next month: frantically read all of the books on my wishlist that come available at the exact same time from the library.
I finally picked up a Christina Lauren for the first time ever, after hearing about them here a number of times. Twice in a Blue Moon. Hello, Bad decisions book club! But it was fun. Second chance love. I do have to say I think she forgave a little too quickly but I did enjoy the book.
Other than that, the month was all comfort reads as the kiddo and I continue to struggle with his new chronic illness, bipolar disorder. Even though I am a health care professional and even though this is not uncommon in my family of origin, it’s a new adventure with lots of new learning, as well as the five fun stages of grief that come with any new chronic illness diagnosis.
Vicki, sending good thoughts to you and your son as you navigate these new waters.
Not romance – funny and sweet middle grade series about a girl detective. Audio narrator really brings out the southern charm, humor and oddball small town characters. I’ve listened twice in a month.
Sheila Turnage – Three Times Lucky, Ghosts of Tupelo Landing, The Odds of Getting Even, and I think there’s another sequel coming.
@EC Spurlock – I was not expecting to see my own book in this thread! Oh, my gosh. I’m flabbergasted and delighted. Thank you! 🙂
@Katie C, congratulations!! I’m sending you good sleep vibes.
The past couple of weeks have been a little light on reading, but I finished Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean. LOVED. Total 5 star read for me. The setup requires some suspension of disbelief, but when I’m enjoying a book that much I really don’t care. Then I read War of Hearts by S. Young (Samantha Young). I enjoyed this author’s contemporary series set in Edinburgh but this foray into paranormal did not really work for me. For some reason I’ve never been drawn to shifter books in general, so maybe that was part of it. No idea why, but just not my personal jam. This was a wolf shifter story with other paranormal elements. It was….OK. After that I did a couple of rereads, About Last Night by Ruthie Knox just because I love that book so much, and Dark Lover by JR Ward because they are talking about it on Fated Mates and it has been years since I went back to it. My non-romance reading this month was Educated by Tara Westover. Whew. That book is intense. She was raised by fundamentalist Mormon doomsday preppers who were anti-modern medicine and pretty much any kind of school, and the story is about how she came to leave home to attend college and eventually get a doctorate from Cambridge. Lots of interesting issues raised here but massive content warnings for physical abuse. I’m glad I read it but it would be inaccurate to say I enjoyed reading it.
Just to weigh in on A Discovery of Witches, because I so wanted to love that series and was disappointed that I did not, my thoughts are as follows: first book was OK but I felt extremely frustrated with the hero and heroine at different times and for different reasons. Second book was a DNF. Just could not take the sanctimonious hero and heroine who was supposed to be a very smart lady but made the most ridiculous decisions for one. second. longer. UGH.
My reason for not reading shadow of night was that I just don’t like time travel novels which was what it became. Other than that, I did enjoy A Discovery of Witches, I just wish Diana had been a bit more proactive. I do agree it was very well researched by the author.
I just finished Beauvallet by Georgette Heyer. It was better than I expected, but not as funny as most of her other books, and the romance was more secondary to the adventure. Lots of swashbuckling to be had though 🙂
So much reading this month. Of note, I recently read WELL MET by Jen DeLuca, and then started reading it again two hours later. Its been about a week since I read it and I want to read it again.
I’m also reading the Hartigan series by Avery Flynn. The first, Butterface, was okay. I’m currently reading Muffin Top, and I’m having some struggles with it. I’m a fat lady, and I’m getting really annoyed at a woman who is a size 20 bitch about not fitting in airline seats (I’m bigger than that on bottom and I still fit in airline seats). The constant derogatory thoughts and defensiveness are also wearing on me. I remember being that self-derogatory, if not as defensive as she seems to be, but have mostly lost that as I’ve aged, so part of me is frustrated with it while being reminded of my own misguided youth.
I guess some parts ring true to the fat lady experience, but other parts felt over the top for someone who was a size 20.You are not undatable if you are size 20. I was that size in college and could get dates, and it wasn’t with fat fetish guys either. I’d expect more of the angst if the heroine were bigger. My weight related agnst was so much less than the heroine’s when I was size 20, her angst and my angst were probably matched around my current size, when I was younger. The book is reminding me of an interview I read with Camryn Manheim years ago where a studio person was telling her they wanted her to play a hugely fat person, who weighed 200 pounds! And she was like, that’s what I weigh, and they were like, no you don’t understand, hugely fat! Its like the author thinks that size 20 is hugely fat. And I feel like if they’re putting all this shit into the world (via the heroine’s self-talk and defensiveness) when she’s a size 20, what kind of shit would be spewed about someone even bigger? I hope this makes sense. Honestly, I’m not even sure it makes sense to me.
Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who wished us well on the arrival of our newborn! All the thoughts, well wishes, and good vibes are much appreciated!