We’re wrapping up March with our second Whatcha Reading post and I have a feeling people have either read ALL THE THINGS or are in the midst of slump, like myself.
If you missed it, I’ll be doing Books on Sale posts every single day for the duration of the pandemic, to keep everyone well-stocked on ebooks.
Please keep take care of yourselves! We’re all in this together.
Carrie: I just started The Earl Takes a Fancy by Lorraine Heath. I had reservations but I’m loving this book and fervently hoping that the heroine, who runs a bookstore, never stops running a bookstore. I am much more heavily invested in her bookstore than in the romance itself although the actual romance is quite good.
Shana: I’m reading the Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller, which is just as good as everyone said it was. Occasionally the plot stresses me out. So, I’ve been using The Duchess War by Courtney Milan as a chaser.
Catherine: Ooh, I’m reading the Widow of Rose House, too! I wanted a nice comfort reread. And I just finished reading Goddess of the Spring by P.C. Cast, ( A | BN | K | AB ) which I used to love – I wanted to see if it still held up, and it mostly does. I have to admit, I wanted MOAR BAKING and less underworld, but that’s because I revert to wanting to Cook All The Things when under stress.
Shana: More baking and less underworld is my new life motto.
Catherine: I mean, it’s hard to go wrong with that motto. Our supermarket shelves are empty of flour, eggs, milk, sugar and butter, but not of much else, and I like to think that it’s because everyone is madly baking cakes while they are stuck at home, socially distancing…
Lara: I’m reading Straight from the Horse’s Mouth by Meryem Alaoui. It’s a story told from the perspective of a sex worker in Casablanca. I’m finding it… compelling, and difficult to describe. It’s unlike anything I’ve read before.
Sarah: Me + Cadfael continue. I’m reading Saint Peter’s Fair. ( A | BN | K | AB ) In our last podcast episode, Julia aka Mizzelle said, “I do find it funny Sarah is reading the Brother Cadfael series since it’s set during a period of political tumult (nicknamed the “the Anarchy” in places).” Julia is totally right and I didn’t recognize it until she said so: amid total chaos and seriously messed up circumstances, there’s still ritual and kindness and the methodical hunting of yet another murderer, and Cadfael’s probably drinking wine with someone in the next chapter, and that’s all very soothing. Amid chaos life goes on. Back to the 1100’s I go.
Claudia: I feel like I’ve been blumblebee-ing through a few old and new books and unable to focus right now. I’m taking a new tack and going for something completely new to me: steampunk. I’m starting Kiss of Steel by Bec MacMaster.
Elyse: Right now my brain is struggling to focus and I’m reading a lot of knitting pattern books. Harry Potter Knitting Magic by Tanis Gray is really great. Lots of patterns but also behind the scenes stuff from the movies
I loved that book, Claudia!
Kiki: I also loved that book, Claudia!
Tara: I finished Magic Binds ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) last night and now I’m having a an ebook hangover. I tried reading the Ahsoka book and bailed 20% in because it wasn’t great and then read the first few percent of a few other books. I’ve been doing better in audio, because I’m listening to Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au | Scribd ) and that’s great.
Kiki: I’ve been having a hard time reading for approximately two months but I’m hoping to start Chasing Cassandra tonight. Also I think my audiobook hold for This Is How You Lose The Time War has come in and I’m very excited to join the club of people who adore that book.
Tara: Oh, Kiki, I’m SO excited for you! Time War is gorgeous and I hope you love it
Maya: I’ve also been struggling to quiet my mind enough to read, but I listened to The A.I. Who Loved Me by Alyssa Cole. It’s an Audible Original and I thought it was pretty great. It was a little bit hard to get in to in the beginning because I struggled with believing that the heroine didn’t notice the hero was AI, but once it became more action-y and the reveals put everyone on the same page, it got amazing. The world building was excellent and I’m very excited about the next audiobook in the series!
EllenM: I just finished my arc of Bonds of Brass and it gave me all of the Space Boyfriend action i needed!!! Very excited to review it. Now I’m reading A Talent for Trickery by Alissa Johnson and so far I LOVE ITTTTT. mystery historical romance + heroines with unusual skill sets = a happy Ellen!
Claudia: Alissa Johnson is one of the most underrated romance writers out there! I love this series! I hope she has a new book soon.
EllenM: Yes, I’m already pre-excited for book 2 and I haven’t even finished book 1.
Sneezy: My copy of The Lord I Left by Scarlett Peckham just came in, so I’ll be digging into that.
I’m also listening to the audio book of Winners Take All by Anand Giridharadas. ( A | BN | K | AB ) It’s a very critical, system focused look at what’s wrong with the world, how it got this way, how some groups have fundamental ways of thinking and the problems with so much power being directed by essentially one mindset. The information is infuriating, of course, even if you already knew it, because it doesn’t get any easier to swallow the more times you hear it. The book is still gives me a lot of hope, because Giridharadas gives a lot of examples of how some people fight or are subsumed by the systems of power. I feel like it’s giving me a lot of language and ideas to help me continue figuring out how I want to fight the system. starts banging on drums (edited)
Aarya: I just talked about these books in a podcast episode recording with Sarah, but I’m reading Jennifer Wright’s Get Well Soon: History’s Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them ( A | BN | K | AB ) and Kwana Jackson’s Real Men Knit (out May 19).
The former is a very funny nonfiction book about famous plagues. Despite the topic matter, it’s oddly comforting because 1) I respond well to black humor and jokes about terrifying things and 2) all those plagues ended eventually and I’m finding solace that our current virus will end, too. Highly recommend to everyone of all ages, even teens. It’s not dry at all.
The latter is a soothing, gentle, and low-angst romance set in a knitting shop. Perfect for my mood now. I’m only halfway through and hopefully it sticks the landing.
Susan: I’m about a quarter of the way through Alexis Hall’s The Affair of the Mysterious Letter, which is a queer cosmic horror Holmes pastiche, and so far I love it. The narrative voice is so casual about the weirdest aspects of the world building, which I find delightful even when I can tell references are going over my head. I am just very deeply charmed by how much of a competent disaster Scheherezade Haas is, and how the Watson, John Wyndham, is unruffled by her practicing blasphemous sorceries in the living room, but very ruffled by her frankness of language.
…But seriously I’ve had to take a break from reading books this last fortnight because, y’know, everything going on, so I’ve mainly been inhaling fic for The Untamed.
Tell us all about the books you’ve finished this month!
I had books to pick up from the library before all of this but then my library closed and before that I couldn’t go anyway (previous pneumonia bout plus severe asthma mean I am very much staying home). I did read The Wrath & The Dawn & The Rose & The Dagger and they were So Beautiful It Hurts and also the first in Alyssa Coles Reluctant Royals series in which I adored the heroine so so so much.
I’m thinking I’m just going to reread my Tamora Pierce books now honestly or maybe convince myself to splurge on some of the books on my wish list but I am Not Focusing.
Some comfort rereads: The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison; Sir Charles Grandison, by Richardson (romance and marriage 1750s style in 7 vols); and Charlotte Perkins Gilman novels and short stories (all about empowering women). All of Richardson and a lot of Gilman are available for free from Project Gutenberg and/or iBooks. I got a collected works edition of Gilman for about $1, though her masterpiece, Herland, is still sold commercially.
At the moment I’m sticking to the backlog of unread ebooks I had, but I’m almost through and probably can’t be buying books for the forseeable. Library’s closed, so I’m already thinking about what rereads to tackle first.
Also, the random assemblage of unread ebooks I had means I’m currently down to Dread Nation. Which is great! Don’t get me wrong. But…zombie book in the middle of a pandemic. Brain of mine, why do you make these choices?
Anyway, since last time I was here I’ve finished:
K.A. Doore- The Perfect Assassin
It was…fine. Nothing stand-out. I keep hoping for things from books marketed as asexual rep that I’m just not getting. I can’t even really put my finger on why, but I’m almost inevitably disappointed.
Sonali Dev- Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors
Another one that was…fine. I really enjoyed the whole extended family, but I felt like all their little dramas overshadowed the romance. And I didn’t believe the pivot from “I hate you with every fiber of my being” to “oh wait I love you” at all. I also thought it was a bit strange that a book that includes a large subplot about a character working through her impending blindness suddenly started throwing around ablest language about blindness just because the protagonist lost her contacts. It was weirdly jarring.
Alisha Rai- The Right Swipe
Loved this one. Rai never disappoints. Mostly I loved that when one character or the other overreacted or did something upsetting they a)realized *why* they were acting out that way and b)learned to communicate about it. Hooray for more romances where people talk like actual adults and realize that relationships aren’t a straight line, you will have ups and downs, but you have to be honest and communicative.
Anna Zabo- Outside the Lines
This was a cute, short book about navigating an open poly relationship and also general nerdery (one hero makes sets for a scifi tv show, the other hero and his wife own a comic book store and make comics and fanart). I felt like sometimes the characters reacted in rather big ways to really small things, but it was overall pretty fun.
I read about half of Disgraceland by Jake Brennan, based on the podcast where he tells stories of rock and roll debauchery and crime. It was a birthday present for my brother, so of course I had to test it out, but I didn’t have time to finish before I gave it to him. Brennan knows how to tell a really engaging story, but overall, I think I enjoy the podcast more.
So now I’m just left with zombies, and also working my way through The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (that’s the rather overwrought title of the book version of The Untamed.)
Keep on keeping on, everyone!
It has been pretty dismal for reading lately, but I think we’re all getting used to our “new normal.”
I did listen to an audiobook of “Persuasion” which was very comforting even though the narrator was just so-so. It was clearly before both Jane Austen and audiobooks became big business b/c it was some narrator I’d never heard of and the production was no frills.
I’ve been watching a lot of romantic movie clips on YouTube as my comfort lately. Declaration of love scenes, kissing scenes, just very romantic gazing/handholding scenes, etc. Jane Austen is perfect for that, but I’ve also been watching some of my non historical all time favorites, like “Some Kind of Wonderful.” I’d love to watch something (anything!) all the way through and it’s supposed to be rainy this weekend so maybe it will happen soon. Also watched the first new episode of One Day at a Time. Yay!
So –
THE GOOD –
THE WEDDING PARTY by Jasmine Guillory. I found this charming and flluffy with just the right amount of conflict for me these days. This was a “I hate you. Now we’re just sex buddies. Oops we’re in love” story which is not a story that always works for me b/c I really love slow burn, but I thought this was very sweet. I followed it fine even though I haven’t read this whole series.
ONE DAY by Gene Weingarten. This takes the conceit of picking one random day in American history and see all the things that were happening in that day, big and small, as microcosm of the human experience. It mostly succeeded. I will say the author is a newspaper columnist (a Pulitzer Prize winning one) and there was a lot of violence and maybe even a tinge of sensationalism to it. (I don’t even know how to trigger warning it all. Just all sorts of stories of murder, abuse, etc). But b/c of the format of going from event to event sequentially during the day, if you didn’t like one story, you would get pulled through it and start the next one. And b/c he was writing about one day over 30 years ago, even the darkest stories were written from a place of reflection and what had been learned. So I did find it a combination of gripping and comforting and I read it in one sitting which is what I needed at the time. I do think he maybe tried a little too hard to rehabilitate some people who I think don’t quite deserve it, but that’s my personal feeling.
THE MEH-
POLARIS RISING by Jessie Milhalik. Honestly, I should have just DNFed this one. This is definitely a “it’s not you, it’s me” type book. When I’m in a slump, I will try all sorts of random things I wouldn’t normally like to see “what sticks.” I had seen all the good reviews of this and it didn’t sound quite like my cup of tea (sci fi is not one of my top genres), but I was desperate for anything so I put it on hold on the library and it was the last thing I picked up before they shut down.
And I just found I had the problem with this is my problem with a lot of “romantic suspense elements” stories. The heroine gets physically close or emotionally close to the hero very early and my romance brain knows it’s okay, but my suspense/mystery brain is like “girl, I don’t trust him.” Which is strange b/c I grew up reading gothics, but I think I need that very specific atmosphere of spooky houses and castles for the suspension of disbelief to work for me. Otherwise, I just feel like the heroine is kind of stupid.
The action and plot was fine, I just found the characters a bit shallowly portrayed. I didn’t know or understand enough about them to care about them once they were in danger. I think I would enjoy this much more as a movie/TV series where you don’t need to be in people’s head for the story to work.
However! my husband, Mr. Q, read it and really enjoyed it .And he is a pretty big sci fi fan. He definitely read it for the sci fi/action, not for the romance, but nothing about the romance was “too much” for him. He’s not one to denigrate romance (b/c he respects it as a genre, I would expect nothing else!) but it’s not something he’s drawn to either. So, I can see why all the more devoted sci fi fans enjoy it and am bummed it didn’t work for me.
I have a lot of books coming in through my Libby app (I belong to 3 libraries) so hopefully I’ll have more to report next week.
Tallowwood (N.R. Walker) 5/5 m/m: Cold case detective August works with small town constable Jacob to solve a serial killer mystery.
I tried my first Nora Phoenix books
Firm Hand, Gentle Hand, Naughty Hand (Perfect Hands series) m/m kink, I’m excited to try the Ignite series
The Replacement Husband (Elliot Grayson) 3/5 m/m historical: Arthur marries Owen after his brother almost ruins Owen’s reputation
Backward to Oregon (Jae) 4/5, f/f historical: I signed up for a 30 day free trial of Scribd specifically for this book. Luke lives her life as a man. She’s about to join a wagon train to Oregon. Having a wife will give her cover during the trip and extra land in Oregon so she purposes to prostitute Nora (who doesn’t know her secret). This was really good and I hope to read more by Jae in the future. It was just a smidge too long.
Weekend at Bigfoot’s (Addison Albright) 4/5 m/m: Tabloid reporter Wilson meets townie Oliver while interviewing people who claim to have seen Bigfoot. This was super cute.
I’m trying to track down Wright’s Get Well Soon now. That seems right up my alley
I;m hoping to read THE REAL DEAL by Lauren Blakely. I really like fake relationship stories so I’m looking forward to it.
I’m definitely in the mood for some lighter reads right now, so I’m also hoping to check out CHRISTMAS WISHES AND MISTLETOE KISSES by Jenny Hale and THE PRINCESS PROBLEM by Christi Barth.
I also have several fantasy books waiting on my TBR pile, including SPIN THE DAWN by Elizabeth Lim and SHERWOOD by Meagan Spooner.
Stay safe, everyone!
Dispatches from the quarantine: I always thought I’d love to have endless time to do nothing but read. Be careful what you wish for, indeed.
I was unfamiliar with Marley Valentine, but I was intrigued by the hot-yet-tender cover of her WITHOUT YOU and decided to give the book a try. I’m pleased to report that this most recent venture into reading a book because I liked its cover was far more successful than the last time (when I had to DNF Erika Wilde’s clunky NO INHIBITIONS despite its smoking cover). WITHOUT YOU is an interesting twist on one of my favorite tropes: a man falling for his late brother’s widow. However, in WITHOUT YOU, the late brother was gay, so this is a case of a man (who has always identified as straight) falling for his late brother’s widower. Valentine has written a nuanced, bittersweet slow burn with lots of sexual tension and a “gay for you” element (similar in some ways to Cara Dee’s IF WE COULD GO BACK). WITHOUT YOU is also one of the few romances I’ve read that shows the utter devastation caused by the death of a family member: destroying the fabric of close family bonds, with grief-stricken survivors lashing out in cruel, hurtful ways; I simultaneously ached for and condemned the grieving mother who is unable to process her loss and constantly ignores or berates her surviving son. Another thing I really liked about the story is how both heroes try to work through their attraction to each other, examining their feelings and asking themselves how much of what they feel is their shared grief at losing someone they both loved. Valentine doesn’t shy away from the idea that grief changes us in ways that make us different people, inclined to do things that we never would have done before the loss. I had no idea when I first saw WITHOUT YOU’s sexy cover that I was soon to add a new-to-me author’s back-catalog to my ever-growing tbr mountain, but WITHOUT YOU is a lovely, subtle book and I’m interested in what else Valentine has written. Highly recommended.
One of my favorite romance novel angsty jams (and one that is a fixture of the HP universe) is when a woman marries a man she loves unaware that he is marrying her for business/financial/revenge reasons. Usually, the story then goes one of two ways: either the hero falls in love with the heroine and all is sunshine & roses until the heroine discovers the true origin of their marriage, or the heroine discovers the truth and leaves the marriage and only after that does the hero realize he loves her. Either way, there’s angst & drama to spare. Clare Connelly’s LOVING THE ENEMY (the latest in her Montebello Family series) is a second-chance romance with a couple whose first marriage disintegrated when the heroine discovered her husband had married her as part of a business deal with her father. Years later, the couple reconnect and have a one-night stand, but you know what’s coming next…unplanned pregnancy! They remarry, but must learn to navigate a new marital landscape. Although not an HP, LOVING THE ENEMY is every bit as angsty, emotional, and over-the-top as any HP. I enjoyed it very much, but approach with caution if you’re not an HP fan.
Although technically a stand-alone, Skye Warren’s MATING THEORY is a richer reading experience if you’ve already read her Trust Fund duet (SURVIVAL OF THE RICHEST and THE EVOLUTION OF MAN). In those books, a woman is torn between two men—unable, until the very end, to choose the one she truly loves. The man she did not choose is the hero of MATING THEORY, where his complex feelings for the woman he lost—and for the man she chose—play a significant role. He begins a relationship with a young sex worker he meets one night on the streets—and that leads to more heartache. Many of Warren’s usual themes are explored: the differences between sex work, emotional connectivity, and physical pleasure, the enormous power imbalance between those who have money and those who don’t, how family abuse and dysfunction drive people to desperate actions. Key quote: “Love is the great human experiment. We try it again and again. It doesn’t matter how many times we fail or how much it hurts…I have this theory that sometimes it doesn’t [hurt]. If that person loves you back.”
Although Julie Kriss is one of my favorite writers, I somehow missed her Eden Hills duet, BAD BOYFRIEND and BAD WEDDING, recently republished with new, tropey titles, HOW TO DATE YOUR BROTHER’S BEST FRIEND and HOW TO DATE THE GUY YOU HATE, respectively. The heroes of the two books are best friends who enlisted in the Marines after high school. Now in their mid-twenties, they return to their home town and find themselves out of sync with their old friends who seem to be holding onto the social dynamics of high school. The hero of HOW TO DATE YOUR BROTHER’S BEST FRIEND begins a relationship with his best friend’s younger sister. There’s some angst, especially involving the hero’s family situation, but it’s fairly low-key. I would have liked to have read a little more about the heroine’s business of buying vintage clothing and altering it for modern tastes. The hero of HOW TO DATE THE GUY YOU HATE returns from the Marines and picks up his life right where he left it: getting engaged to his high-school girlfriend and resuming his job at a local bank, although nothing about either situation excites him and he eventually loses both the fiancée and the job (much of this set-up actually happens in the previous book, so you need to read both books to get the full story). Then he reconnects with a woman he knew in high school (now his sister’s best friend); she asks him to be her fake date for her ex’s wedding—and sparks fly. One of the things I really enjoyed about the two books is how firmly grounded in the working class they are: characters work minimum-wage, service-industry jobs—usually more than one at a time, rent small apartments, drive old, unreliable cars, count their pennies, but continue to pursue goals and hobbies that bring them joy. Although not as good as Kriss’s Riggs Brothers or Bad Billionaires series, I still enjoyed the Eden Hills duet and recommend both books.
I enjoyed Kate Stewart’s THE GUY ON THE LEFT when I read it last year, so I was predisposed to enjoy the other two books in Stewart’s Underdogs series (the three heroes are older college students who share a rental house off-campus): THE GUY ON THE RIGHT and THE GUY IN THE MIDDLE. These are NA romances and the MCs have some maturing to do—which I think is much more realistic than some NAs where characters just out of their teens have the maturity and experience of people in their mid-thirties. I liked THE GUY ON THE RIGHT with its band-geek/beta hero who allowed his insecurities to almost destroy his relationship with a woman he felt was “out of his league”—and I liked how the heroine did not take that crap and wouldn’t twist herself into an emotional pretzel to appease him. I didn’t like THE GUY IN THE MIDDLE as much. The basic plot—a football player and his girlfriend have to keep their relationship a secret because she’s the daughter of his football coach, and, later, when they finish college, they are separated by career goals and geography—was next-level angsty, which I generally enjoy, but I had trouble with one element of THE GUY IN THE MIDDLE and that affected my entire perception of the book: the way Stewart portrays the heroine’s gay, Hispanic best friend whose accent and speech patterns are rendered in a cringingly stereotypical way, along the lines of, “Oooh, Mami, ju know jour man ees so hot!” Julio from the Simpsons is less of a flamboyantly gay caricature. Apparently, no one involved in the process of bringing this book to publication said, “Hey, maybe we should re-think how we’re presenting this character.” A real lapse of judgment which detracted from my overall interest in or enjoyment of the book.
NON-ROMANCE
There’s not much I can add to the fully-deserved rave reviews Simone St. James’s THE SUN DOWN MOTEL has received. It’s a dual timeline (1982 & 2017) mystery-horror hybrid about a young woman trying to discover what happened to her aunt who disappeared without a trace from her job at the title motel 35 years before. St. James does a masterful job at gradually escalating the tension and sense of dread (there’s a scene where all the lights in the motel begin to flicker and go out that I would not advise reading alone at night) as it becomes obvious that a serial killer was at work in the area in 1982 and that the disappearance of the heroine’s aunt was related in some way to her search for that killer. St. James keeps full control of a lot of moving parts in the book—ghosts, secrets, female rage, female friendship, serial killings, a run-down motel that time forgot, a mystery where the pieces ultimately fit neatly together, and even a (very low-key) romance. Highly recommended.
I’ve been reading the same book for a couple of weeks. I’ve finished three books this year.
Essential Uncanny X-Men, Vol 1 (b&w reprints of 1960s X-Men comics) It was a goofy era in comics, but not a particularly well written one.
Golden in Death, by J.D. Robb. I remember enjoying it at the time, but I can’t remember what happened. (Last month was a long time ago, so it might be better than that makes it sound.)
Come Tumbling Down, by Seanan McGuire. The most recent book in the Wayward Children series. I really enjoyed it, but you definitely want to have read at least the first two books before reading it.
Currently reading, and determined to finish this weekend:
X-Men: Mutant Empire Omnibus, by Christopher Golden. It’s a trilogy that came out somewhere around 2000 and just got rereleased last year. It’s not great, but it’s entertaining enough to distract me.
Thank you all for doing this post! It is always a good source of new books for me. And I am planning on reading a lot this weekend. Like everyone, I am worried about the world and so sad for everyone who is suffering. Don’t know how people who don’t like to read get through this stuff. Partly because of my own malaise, I have probably been a little impatient with much of what I’ve read so far this month, so take it with a grain of salt:
CAULKY by K.M. Neuhold – B -solid, M/M. A little flippant, but entertaining. I actually think I might enjoy the stories of the other members of “Four Bears Construction” more.
SCORING OFF THE FIELD and KILLER CURVES by Naima Simone – B-/C+ Meh. Friends to lovers and bodyguard M/F romances. Not terrible, but others have done it better.
STARIELS BOOKS 1&2 — AJ Lancaster C+ Really disappointed. Writing was solid, and the plot and world made sense, but I just kept waiting for something to happen, and then not caring when it did. I think the characters were just wooden. And I didn’t buy the romance — it was too fait accompli, esp. considering that the H/h hadn’t seen each other for years, and we never were privy to what they said in their letters, which they wrote as friends. I finished both books, but not going to bother with the third.
SWEATPANTS SEASON – Daniella Allen – C – So much discussion of sexism, with lots of terms you’d use in a workplace or classroom to figure out (which I kind of enjoyed), yet I felt the characters were all kind of awful and mean to each other. And to me, the whole point of this kind of cultural examination is to learn how best to treat everyone with respect. The “dick print” thing was especially off-putting. I found the insta-lust a bit unbelievable, too. Also, would have liked some real time spent on the photography to give the characters a place to show growth, so that was disappointing.
MATZA BALL SURPRISE Laura Brown – C- See SBTB review — a lot of this book just didn’t make sense. I really was looking forward to a good book about a deaf hero, so that was a disappointment.
PARKER Jillian Quinn – DNF – As soon as the hero said (in his head) that at least the heroine hadn’t slept her way to her job, which was what he thought most female sports agents did, I was out of there. There is no arc that could redeem that kind of thinking, thanks.
CRUX Moira Rogers — D- God, this was horrible. I have to stop reading free books, or my brain is going to run out of my ears.
With that in mind, off to read some books I’ve been saving for a rainy day (maybe some Lois McMasters Bujold, or Gideon the Ninth). Have a good weekend, and stay safe!
I started The Worst Best Man this morning. My first actual romance in a while, and it’s pretty enjoyable so far. She’s left at the altar; he’s the younger brother of the runaway groom. They have to work together on a project that could lead to a professional success for her.
I still fall back on reading as an escape, but the current climate has not had me in the mood for HEAs. Too much work stress, to much financial stress, too much nearly 90yo dad living 2000 miles away & blithely unconcerned about anything other than the fact that he won’t be able to get distilled water for his CPAP stress. There were two left at the store, and he took one. Because he wanted to be sure someone else in his situation would be able to get the other. This is the mindset of the man who raised me, and I agree in theory with his decision, and I would have done the same thing, but part of me wishes he’d just taken them both. But I digress…..
Nearly to the bottom of the GBPL pile I acquired in the week prior to them closing. Since when are libraries not vital public services? The GBPL a drive through just like Starbucks. Again, I digress…
So there’s been The Starless Sea, which certainly provided escapism, but it took me over a week to read because it occasionally made my brain hurt, so I had to put it down a lot.
And Upright Women Wanted which was just okay. Since we watched A LOT of westerns when I was growing up, this broke no new ground for me even with its dystopian setting. Ester’s ultimate obliviousness about what the Librarians were actually up to made me disappointed in her as a character.
Next up is The Last Train to London by Meg Waite Clayton. Another not romance, it’s the story of a woman racing against time to remove children from Nazi occupied territory. Just a little light reading in these troubled times.
After that… well, there’s the backlog on my Kindle, six shelves and three boxes of keepers to reread. And, of course, all the temptations offered by Amanda’s sale posts. Yes, I did pick up that Ilona Andrews deal. Who wouldn’t?
@Jill Q. – Polaris Rising didn’t work for me, either, although I don’t know why. I ended up DNFing it around 50% because I just didn’t like anyone or care what happened to them. I’ve seen many raves about it, so clearly I’m just the wrong reader.
I’ve done a lot of re-reading over the last few weeks, and most of the new to me books that I read were just ok. However, a couple standouts:
I read Mimi Matthews’ The Matrimonial Advertisement since it was on sale. I thought the first half was terrific. I loved the Gothic touches, and I like how the menace hanging over the heroine was gradually revealed to be something that absolutely could have happened to her, as it did happen to many people of her era. The tension kind of disappeared over the second half, unfortunately, but I’d still recommend it based on the beginning.
I also read The Two Lives of Lydia Bird, which read like a combination of Sliding Doors and Truly Madly Deeply. To be honest, I liked both of those movies much better than this novel, but it was interesting nonetheless. The heroine gets some experimental sleeping pills and discovers that when she takes them, she experiences an alternate universe where her fiance is still alive. It was a satisfying read, and might actually be better if you haven’t seen either of the movies that I suspect influenced it. If I could have stopped mentally comparing them, I would have been more involved in the story.
Lastly, I read Lord Perfect by Loretta Chase for the first time. Like all of her books that I’ve read, the emphasis is on banter and fun. It was just what I was looking for, so I’m glad I pulled it out at last.
@ Tara – have you tried the audiobook of the Ahsoka book? Ashley Eckstein (aka Ahsoka herself) reads it. I’m biased because I loved the book and the audiobook, but you might find the audiobook a little easier to get into. There are some nice parallels to what’s going on in The Clone Wars right now.
For those of you missing the start of baseball season, I HIGHLY recommend two books by Julianna Keyes, TEAM PLAYER and BENCH PLAYER (Bench Player is releasing this coming Monday while Team Player is already out). Julianna Keyes knows her baseball and these romances about a fictional team in Charleston, SC really are sports oriented as opposed to the way the sport is often relegated to the background in many sports romances, not to mention the chemistry between the leads and the romances themselves are lovely.
I also loved THE GUY ON THE RIGHT by Kate Stewart, which featured college students actually acting like college students (quite a bit of drinking, partying, ridiculous pranks, etc.). It took me right back to college as I experienced it and that sense of trying on various behaviors (both good and bad) and an adult persona that doesn’t necessarily fit quite right yet.
Finally, I read a couple of books from a newly formed group of authors calling themselves the paranormal women’s fiction group. Each book features female MCs in their 40’s whose kids are out of the house and who are going through life changes that involve getting involved with the paranormal, as well as divorce, menopause, etc. (i’m not sure which is more disruptive – menopause, or suddenly discovering you can see dead people, LOL). I’ve read two so far, MAGICAL MIDLIFE MADNESS by K.F. Breene and HALFWAY THERE by Eve Langlais and enjoyed both although there were a few too many mentions of not feeling young anymore. Waiting for me on the TBR pile are SUCKS TO BE ME by Kristen Painter, LET IT ALL BURN by Denise Grover Swank, SUDDENLY PSYCHIC by Elizabeth Hunter, and BETWIXT by Darynda Jones. I should also mention that these are NOT romances. There was a hint of it in the two I read, but don’t go into any of them expecting any romance at all.
I had some personal difficulties separate from all the coronavirus craziness these past few weeks, and have gone back to some comfort rereads, finding it difficult to dive into anything new. Elle Kennedy’s Off Campus series (The Goal in particular), Kristen Callihan’s Game On Series (The Friend Zone and The Game Plan are my favorites), Sarina Bowen’s Ivy Years series, and Helena Hunting’s Pucked series (the ones about Randy and Lily are the best, imo).
I was in the mood for some good old fashioned smut and picked up Katee Roberts’ Thalanian Dynasty trilogy, THEIRS FOR A NIGHT, FOREVER THEIRS, THEIRS EVER AFTER, about a prince and his bodyguard who fall for a recent college grad. It was fine, and the sexy times delivered, but Sierra Simone’s AMERICAN QUEEN series is a better, more satisfying version of this story.
BREAK THE FALL by Jennifer Iacopelli was a thoroughly enjoyable YA book about a couple Olympic gymnasts. With no olympics happening this year, this helped fill the void. If you were a fan of Make It Or Break It, you’ll love this. There is a romantic subplot, but the real focus here is on the gymnastics and the relationships between the teammates.
WE ARE OKAY by Nina Le Couer was a beautiful rumination on young grief. YA, not a romance, and quite heartbreaking. I’m not sure right now was the best time for me to read this one, but I can’t deny it’s beauty.
NO BAD DEED, the debut from Heather Chavez. Fast-paced thriller, not a romance, really enjoyable. One night a woman witnessed a man attacking another woman, intervenes, the man escapes, and then strange, terrifying things start happening to the woman who stopped to help. Some great plot twists you won’t see coming.
Right before things closed down, I was able to go to the library and pick up the latest of Lois McMaster Bujold’s Penric and Desdemona series which I really enjoy. They’re all novellas with an element of mystery and suspense to them with the later ones having some romance. I love the worldbuilding and characters.
Since I’ve had a lot of holds come in on ebooks, I’ve been reading all over the place. I read Horrorstor in about a day, great writing and book putting together but I found the ending not as satisfying as I was hoping.
In terms of satisfying though, I’ve now read the first two books of the Greta Helsing series which I’m really liking. I love the clear knowledge and enjoyment of monster tropes and history, the characters are great as is the quiet romance. The second one set in Paris had a whole part through it that reminded me of my days playing Vampire the Masquerade in high school and Hot Topic goths. From the way she writes, Vivian Shaw seems like she’d be fun to hang out with.
I read the newest Incryptid book by Seanan McGuire: Imaginary Numbers which was really good but with a killer of a cliffhanger.
Oh and I also ready Minor Mage by T. Kingfisher about a teenage mage with an armadillo familiar who has to get his village rain. Its a really good book about growing up, responsibility with fascinating magic.
I’ve been doing a lot of rereading mainly Jeeves and Wooster and Terry Pratchett.
At the moment, I’m reading The Wallflower Wager by Tessa Dare since I was able to snag it during my last trip to the library. Dare’s writing always makes me happy.
@JenM, thank you! This is the subgenre I didn’t know I was looking for. All in for “change of life” MCs.
@lostshadows: I loved the Mutant Empire trilogy as a kid! I had B. Dalton in the mall special order them for me. They were published in 1996/97.
As for my current reading, I’ve only read “Finding Peace in the Holy Land”, Lauren Booth’s memoir. She’s best known for being Tony Blair’s Muslim convert sister-in-law. I enjoyed learning more about her; she’s had an interesting life. It also gave me food for thought on how Western white people – even when they are Muslim – can have issues with prejudice, Orientalist, and colonialist attitudes.
I am planning to follow it up with “The Invisible Muslim” by Medina Tenour Whiteman, which examines being a white woman who doesn’t wear hijab and the privilege that comes from Western society when you can “pass” as not Muslim.
Oh, and I started rereading “All-American Muslim Girl” by Nadine Courtney, which I loved as a digital ARC but found was missing some parts, so I bought the finished print copy.
@Sarah Oh my! I’ve been reading Brother Cadfael (for the first time) also. Kindle offered me a 30 day trial and to my surprise and pleasure the entire series is available. I’m more than half way through the series and will be VERY sorry to finish.
I’m currently reading Tasha Suri’s “Empire Of Sand” which is a romantic fantasy set in a magical world inspired by medieval India. I’m not far into it but I’m already loving the experience – although my heart kept breaking for the heroine at the beginning of the story. It’s one of these books that completely whisks you away into another world if you let it. Highly recommend.
The next book I’m planning to start is “There Will Come A Darkness” by Katy Rose Pool which is another fantasy but no romance as far as I know. It’s a story about some characters trying to stop the end of the world which is probably not the best reading choice for these uncertain times. The synopsis reminds me of my favourite book series though so I’m hoping it’ll give me that nostalgic, comforting feeling. We’ll see.
:::stumbles in with absolutely no idea what day it is, as time is a flat circle:::
Hoo boy. What a month.
I don’t think I’ve read as much as some. This isn’t really a slump thing, it’s more a “keep my hands busy”, so I’ve been cross-stitching like a fiend. It keeps my hands and brain busy, and bonus, I watch TV while I’m doing it. Good things.
So, let’s see, we’ll jump this off with the fact that I read Be Not Far From Me. It involves a 17 yo girl that has gone on a camping trip with friends, catches her boyfriend cheating on her, and runs off very upset, but loses direction, gets her foot crushed when she loses her footing while running, and is now in the middle of nowhere with the clothes on her back and a foot that is crushed and rapidly becoming infected. I tend to really enjoy YA survivalist fiction (I think it’s a product of the many, many times I reread both Julie of the Wolves and Hatchet when I was a kid), and this was METAL AF. There is just other way to describe it. The main character, Ashley, actually does have some experience in how to survive the wilderness and is just so damn stubborn and determined to NOT DIE. Then, because the world just isn’t scary enough right now, I decided to read Wolfhunter River by Rachel Caine. I am a big fan of her Stillhouse Lake thriller series, and this one moved the story forward nicely, in that while there is still discussion of her serial killer ex and the consequences his actions had for her family, this one also moved the story forward. By the end of the book, Gwen has realized that her experiences, while scarring, have left her with a skill set and intuitions and she can use them to help others and stop other predators. I liked the acceptance, and where that can take the series in the future. After that, I thought I might need to try giving my brain something light, so I went with Chasing Cassandra by Lisa Kleypas. It was fun and sweet, and I greatly enjoyed both Tom’s very literal interpretations of the novels that he reads and his interactions with Bazzle. Followed that up Crush The King by Jennifer Estep. The action scenes were great, I really like the characters. It was somewhat predictable, but not in a way that I minded, and I really grooved on the court politics (I love some devious, bacckstabby and frontstabby royals in my reading). The thing that tends to bug me about Estep’s writing is that she can be very repetitive with her descriptions; I noticed the same tic in her Elemental Assassin books. Which brings us to today, in which I cracked open (figuratively, e-book, ya know) Rules For Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall. This is a horror story that involves a girl looking for her sister that disappeared a year ago by following in her footsteps. There are ghosts, disappearing and dangerous roads, cryptic warnings, all the ghost story trappings, and I do love me a ghost story that also has a modern epistolary element. The conceit of the book is that it is the transcripts and information being used in an investigation by a shady government agency (think X-Files), and that kind of thing is wholly my shit. I’m hoping for scary. Until next time, folks, if reading scary shit and cross-stitching keeps your brain from acting hinky, do what you have to do, for we are in some weird times.
I finally got around to trying ECHO IN ONYX by Sharon Shinn and was fairly disappointed.
CW for attempting sexual assault (I guess I should have read reviews before I read the book, but for my go to authors I generally don’t read reviews since my taste can be quirky and I trust that my fav authors’ books won’t be terrible).
Spoilers!!
So… That was triggering but also the wake of trauma was strangely handled, in that the death of the echo was what was most upsetting to the characters and the assault itself felt like it was barely mentioned.
And the end was pretty clearly telegraphed which normally might not have bothered me but I was just bothered throughout. The main character was Brianna clearly drawn but I never got much of a sense of the Marguerite. Her main character attribute was her secret romantic partner (gasp! Another woman! Is it really necessary to construct your world with rapists and homophobia and patriarchal structures without challenge or subversion?) I never understood why Brianna was so devoted to Marguerite. And there was a whole conversation about consent with the love interest for Brianna, Nico but it felt awkwardly handled…
Sorry for the mini rant. I was just so disappointed.
Maybe I’ll just reread Tamora Pierce like @Lilaea!!
Like many, my attention span just sucks right now. I’m ready for my kids to go back to school and my husband to go back to work so I can have the house back to myself. Hope everyone is able to stay healthy!
Just finished The Vanishing Deep by Astrid Scholte which is a mystery set in a post-apocalyptic water world. I really enjoyed it, but be warned, it is not a romance. The story revolves around two sisters and the premise of what would you do if you could bring back the dead for 24 hours.
Aurora Rising — Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. I blew through this one last weekend. I love anything these two write together or separately so it was no surprise that I enjoyed this so much. This is a YA Sci-Fi take on Sleeping Beauty and features hot space elves.
The Bone Houses — Emily Lloyd-Jones. This is another YA fantasy where the dead are rising due to magicks set loose in the world. This is really a lovely book and really explored what life and death truly means. May not be the best thing for some right now but I found the positive outlook soothing.
A Righteous Kill — Kerrigan Byrne. Typical Byrne with her crazy plotlines. Hereo is an alphahole and he knows it. Found this one a bit more difficult to get through even though I enjoyed the story. It just dragged in places.
Currently reading Ten Kisses to Scandal by Vivienne Lorret. This will probably end up being just a 3 star read for me. While I adore Briar and her headcanons, I’m not really getting her interest in Nicholas. He’s kind of boring as a hero.
Currently reading Playing to Win by Amalia Theresa. This is the first contemporary by Amalia Dillin writing under another name and I will read anything that she writes. This one is a friends to lovers which isn’t really my jam, but our heroine is a Lord of the Rings fanatic and our hero likes to feed her. They do have relationships with other people in the beginning of the book so that might be a turn off for some.
I am DESPERATELY missing the library. Not simply picking up books, but apparently I am a cat.
A big part of cat socializing is “mirroring,” hanging out in the general vicinity of their colony mates mimicking each other’s position and activity. Apparently this is actually why cats like to get on your keyboard while you work. “You are doing stuff with the tappy clicky thing? I shall also do stuff with the tappy clicky thing! Here we are, sharing an experience, hanging out, being bros!” (This is why getting your cat their own keyboard sometimes helps.)
It turns out sitting in a space quietly reading while other humans in that space also sit and quietly read was more vital to my mental health than I realized. I’m an introvert and I didn’t think of myself as social but apparently that’s what socializing looks like for me! Who knew?
… I am seriously considering posing my stuffed animals to look like they’re reading and then playing a “café chatter” white noise generator in the background to see if it helps. Not even joking at this point.
@Sara and @LML: My parents have the complete (I think?) Brother Cadfael series in slightly decrepit paperback. I’m thinking of picking that up again from where I last left off.
Currently reading Among Others by Jo Walton via library ebook (it’s not the saaame). A lovely, lyrical book, though occasionally a hard read because of the grief and frustration the protagonist is going through, having lost her sister and been rendered disabled and in chronic pain by magical battle that took place before the book began.
I read The 5th Gender by Gail Carriger and I just… I laughed so hard. Not because the book was funny, I mean, sure, it often was. But… It was my first time encountering straight up A/B/O omegaverse mpreg fic outside of fanfiction and I wasn’t expecting it. That’s not actually my thing and I was mostly familiar with the subgenre via looking for other fics on Archive of Our Own and going “no thank you” when those tags arose. And just.. I had no idea those very very SPECIFIC kink tropes were widespread enough to leak into professional original fiction and yet HERE WE ARE.
The ebook library (still not the saaaame) just coughed up my hold on N.K. Jemisin’s latest novel, The City We Became, which I’m very excited about. I loved the short story, The City Born Great. https://www.tor.com/2016/09/28/the-city-born-great/
I shall now see about setting up the stuffed animals and cafe noises. I was not at all kidding.
I am still having a lot of trouble focusing on words on a page but after downloading and returning three library audiobooks this week, I managed to get through and enjoy COME TUMBLING DOWN by Seanan McGuire. She reads it herself which I didn’t love at first but it was ultimately fine. As @Lostshadows says about, not a good place to start this series.
The great thing about audio is that I can cross stitch while listening so it’s all very calming.
@ Big K, your comment “Don’t know how people who don’t like to read get through this stuff.” resonates with me because I don’t know how people who don’t like to read get through LIFE.
@LML, I know! Exactly! I keep trying to hook my son on reading, not only for educational reasons, but so he doesn’t miss out. Can’t imagine a life without books!
1/3 of the way through HONEY DON’T LIST by Christina Lauren, might be a DNF. They set up why the two “PA” can’t quit, but not alot of spark or that interested in either character. The squabbling couple they are assisting are just unpleasant. The heroine is downtrodden and taken advantage of (not my jam, didn’t realize when starting the book). Another quibble: they are on a book tour but are taking a fancy bus from Jackson Hole to LA and up the coast. These are BID HGTV stars (TV show, books, product line), they couldn’t fly? I know they needed the bus for forced time together, but did I miss something as I began to skim read? And they wake in LA do one book signing and then drive to Palo Alto in the afternoon? What a shitty publicist they must have–they should be onbooked on TV, newspapers as well bookstore. I would think they would spend at least a few days in LA (I know nothing about book tours or how they work but I do know you can fly from Wyoming to LA, LA to the Bay Area, etc).
Since last time ~
— Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate which I read for my book group on Thursday; we met via Zoom. It was a sad, poignant story that is based on some true events. If you’re in the mood for a depressing/cathartic story, I can recommend this!
— Jon’s Downright Ridiculous Shooting Case by AJ Sherwood. I enjoyed it, but I don’t think I’ll be rushing to reread it.
— Trinkets by Kayleigh Sky; this had a somewhat dreamy/slightly distant feel.
— a boatload of samples.
— a short contemporary romance, Ghostwriter of Christmas Past by TA Moore. Yes, clearly March is the obvious time to read a Christmas inspired story! It was a pleasant story but not something I’ll be quick to reread.
— a couple of science fiction books: Ascending (The Vardeshi Saga Book 1) and Bright Shards (The Vardeshi Saga Book 2) by Meg Pechenick. I enjoyed them both and look forward to the next book in the series.
— Headliners by Lucy Parker. I enjoyed this contemporary romance and imagine I will reread it at some point.
Stay healthy all!
Sorry, nothing but comfort reads. Bishop’s Others series currently, and some Nora. I am also brushing up on vent management for adults. I do not want to have to do it. I am a pediatrician and working only nursery at this point so I am trying very hard to stay disease-free for the babies. I also know that, if the adult docs get sick, I will have to do it. So sticking with comfort reads.
If you are enjoying Brother Cadfael, I recommend Ariana Franklin’s “Mistress of the Art of Death” series-female M.D. and forensic scientist, a bit of romance murder and mayhem in the 1170’s. Begins with Grave Goods.
@neh, Oh, yes. They are so good and on my keeper shelf.
I’ve been doing a lot of baking, but having trouble focusing on reading. I’m 6 or 7 weeks behind on my issues of The New Yorker. The one thing that captured my interest, and put me back in the Bad Decisions book club till 3 am the other night, was “Ayesha at Last”. It was so much fun. Probably still on sale at Amazon. Other than that, just reading the fine print on all these coronavirus aid bills, emergency grants and the unemployment websites.
I just finished Lock Every Door by Riley Sager and The Dark Corners of the Night by Meg Gardiner, both of which I liked. Now I’m reading The Stand by Stephen King for some reason.
I read the first 3 Kate Daniels books, and -Spoiler Alert- she and Curran still aren’t together!! It’s really way to bloody for me, and the rest of the plot is sort of incidental, but I wanted them to get together! Now I’m telling myself that $7.95 for the next book is too much if I’m skimming except for the love parts.
I picked up Kylie Scott’s Rich Boy, but it just didn’t work for me, I’m notoriously unfashionable, and having to have the every item of clothing the heroine put on described AND the brand was painful for me. Then the cars, the house – turns out conspicuous consumption is not my preferred plotline… I know I really like Kylie Scott though so I read Lies as a palate cleanser and liked it much better, it’s a over the top spy story.
I’ve been saving Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, and just started it. I love the series, and this one too so far.
Oh I think I’m going to reread a few Brother Cadfael mysteries when I get sick of rereading all the Miss Silver mysteries. (There are 32 of them. Author: Patricia Wentworth)
OK folks, it is break glass in case of emergency time on buying and reading some of the next books in series I really enjoyed in the past. The world is just too weird right now not to enjoy some favorite authors.
Excellent:
For Better or Worse by Lauren Layne: This one was so good it made my teeth hurt – for real. The second in her Wedding Belles series, the heroine is an assistant wedding planner and the hero is a former hedge fund executive turned musician. They meet when the hero is practicing his music too late at night and the heroine, his new neighbor, goes over to complain. The hero is in remission from a serious battle with cancer. The ONLY thing that kept this from being a complete squee is the first chapter or two – when the heroine goes to complain – this is at their FIRST meeting – the hero kisses her five minutes after they meet. That threw me a little bit off but the rest was so great – I mean so so so great! I will note that if you live in NYC this might drive you crazy since the apartment the heroine moves into BY HERSELF is in Manhattan with a view of Central Park – which judging what I know about NYC real estate (which is very little) I think there is zero chance she could afford.
The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz: This is a very meta mystery novel – the author Anthony Horowitz writes himself as a character in his own story – I was very skeptical about the premise, but it was the choice for my mystery book club. I ended up loving it. It was a really good mystery with red herrings and interesting characters, but it was also a love letter to mysteries and kind of a wink and a nod at all of us who love them. All the tropes and cliches are there, but written so excellently and entertainingly that they seem fresh.
Precious Little Sleep: The Complete Baby Sleep Guide for Modern Parents by Alexis Dubief: I don’t plan to take every suggestion from this book, but this was so funny and had a lot of different strategies and solutions to try to get your baby to sleep. I highly recommend to new parents.
Very Good:
This Earl is on Fire by Vivienne Lorret: The second in the Season’s Originals series – I loved the story between the jaded rake hero (who is also a lover of antiquities and a bit of a pack rat) and the heroine who is disabled and whose loving and wonderful parents sometimes try to protect her too much. My only complaint is that this was not that long and there was a fair amount story around secondary characters including setting up the next in the series – I would have much rather spent time with the two MCs.
Indecent Exposure: I am a Tessa Bailey fan girl for sure although I understand why others would not be fans – her heros in general tend towards alpha holes and there can be some problematic elements. I get it – I still love her. This is the second in a series centering on trainees in the NYC police academy. The hero is in training and also has an alcohol problem. The heroine is a world-class marksman and Olympic gold medalist brought in to train the recruits. I would classify this as NA. As always, the chemistry between the two MCs was off the charts and the smexy times are absolutely smoking. While I loved it, I wanted to see a little more of how the hero was going to deal with his recovery from addiction. Also, don’t be fooled by the cover, this is angsty as all get out. CW – the HERO was sexually assaulted in the past (don’t think that is a spoiler because it is alluded to pretty early on).
Good:
Forever Mine by Erin Nicholas: The second in the Opposites Attract series, this one centers around a doctor hero who is a pediatrician specializing in genetic diseases and has hemophilia himself. The heroine is a former cop turned martial arts studio owner. The hero just found out he has a 10 year-old daughter from a one-night stand and the heroine teaches kids in some of her classes. This is very much a love letter to cosplay and fandom. It was good, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first in the series.
Meh:
Scarlet Devices by Delphine Dryden: The second in her Steam and Seduction series, I really wanted to like this steampunk romance. Unfortunately I found both the hero and heroine so bland that I didn’t really care whether they ended up together or not. And the plot centers around a race through the Americas using steam cars and airships, but for such an important part of the plot, the rules and strategies for the race were frustratingly unclear. We need more steampunk in romance, but this didn’t do it for me.
The Baby Sleep Solution: A Proven Program to Teach Your Baby to Sleep Twelve Hours a Night by Suzy Giordano with Lisa Abidin: I think with parenting you need to be careful to remember that you should, in general, not judge and remember that what works your child and you may not be right or work for other parents and children. So, while I am not going to follow the plan in the book, if it works for someone else, great. Unfortunately, I have to knock it down because there was not enough emphasis on sleep safety – she seemed especially lax about putting babies to sleep on their stomachs rather than backs – putting babies to sleep on their backs has dramatically reduced the incidents of SIDS and I think it is irresponsible in a book about infant sleep not to say how important the “Back to Sleep Movement” really is. If you already know your sleep safety basics then you could read the rest of the book for her plan and be ok.
The Bad:
None
@KatieC: I can’t speak for any other new mother, but I’ve had three children (admittedly they were all infants many years ago) and I cannot remember a single incident of any of them ever sleeping 12 hours a night. Even if you say a baby can sleep for a few hours, then wake up for a little while, then go back to sleep, I still can’t see 12 hours being feasible. I also agree wholeheartedly about the “back-to-sleep” movement. My father-in-law was a pediatrician and he was a strong proponent of putting babies to sleep in their backs; he said the research seemed very clear on its advantages (and this was well over 25 years ago).
@Sneezy, did you know that Anand Giridharadas is also cute as heck and gives great interviews? I recommend listening to Preet Bharara interviewing him on his podcast, Stay Tuned With Preet”,it was back last October.
Update, I did indeed give my stuffed animals books and then use a noise generator to play page turning noises and low conversation to simulate the sound of a library. It wasn’t quite right at first and then I realized it was missing the sound of my library’s children’s corner so I mixed in a free audiobook from librivox of a volunteer reading The Secret Garden on very low volume so it sounded like the children’s corner was having storytime.
… It helped SO MUCH oh my god it is MORTIFYING how much that helped my concentration and my mood. Why did that help so much?!
*sigh* Anyway Teddy Bear Book Club is apparently gonna have to become a regular part of my strategy for basic self care and mental health maintenance until real libraries open again.
During Teddy Bear Book Club, I finished Jo Walton’s Among Others. A solid ending and ultimately a very satisfying read. Another library ebook came in, Unmasked by the Marquess by Cat Sebastian. I kinda wanted to move on to the Jemisin but Unmasked has two other patrons waiting for it and I feel an obligation to get that out of the way so I can return it quick and send it along to the other pandemic shut ins.
… Meanwhile my Teddy seemed to enjoy Shaun Tan’s the Arrival, finding it very thought provoking, and Baz the Polar Bear thought Hip Hop Family Tree by Ed Piskor was interesting but hard to follow.
… No YOU’RE losing it.
@Allison, I’m so excited to see another Patricia Wentworth fan here! I’m been talking her up for years, and scrounging through used bookstores since before there were ebooks. Don’t forget to read “Nothing Venture”. It’s one of Wentworth’s few books without Miss Silver, so it’s straight romantic suspense, and it’s GREAT!