It’s April and time for our first Whatcha Reading of the month!
I’m personally pretty deep into a slump and that’s okay! I’m trying not to focus too much on what I think I should be doing. Instead, I want to listen to my brain and body on what they’d like to do in this weird time.
So far, it’s play Animal Crossing: New Horizons and eat a bunch of string cheese.
Lara: I’m on a major Cat Sebastian kick at the minute, and we’ve chosen one of her books for our next book club book (hey Katusha!) So far, The Ruin of a Rake is everything I want in a Cat Sebastian novel – sizzle, witty banter and so much good book noise!
Shana: I’m reading On the Edge by Ilona Andrews. It was Aarya’s recommendation for a first Andrews book and it’s delightful so far. The story is compelling enough to suck me in via audiobook, which is rare for me.
Sarah: You’ll never guess. I’m still solving crimes with monks in the 1100s. The Leper of Saint Giles ( A ) is a really, really good book in the Cadfael series, too – lots of action and chases, with star-crossed forbidden love amid secondary characters, and wily folks in a leper colony hiding fugitives. This one is both soothing in the way all the Cadfael books are, and lively in a way that’s keeping me very engaged.
Elyse: I am reading The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup. ( A | BN | K | AB ) It’s a great mystery but fairly gory.
Tara: I recently started reading Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall. Because I’ve been following her for years on Twitter, the message isn’t a big surprise to me, but I love getting to spend more time with it as she talks in depth about things like #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen and why hunger is a feminist issue.
Claudia: I’ve strayed from romance and I’m reading The Convert, ( A | BN | K | AB ) which is… interesting! It don’t know if I could call it historical fiction, but the author interestingly enough inserts himself in the story and superimposes modern and medieval times. It’s a nice, different touch. The story is super sad and tragic, though, so I’m also reading an early Julia Quinn (Mr. Cavendish, I Presume) ( A | BN | K | AB ) to temper things a bit.
Carrie: I just finished The Rakess by Scarlett Peckham ( A | BN | K | AB ) and it was AMAZING. Next up – a re-read of The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, ( A | BN | K | AB ) for my Sacramento Public Library Book Club which we are working on making virtual.
Aarya: I recently read TJ Klune’s The House in the Cerulean Sea, an m/m fantasy novel with a strong romantic thread. It’s definitely adult fantasy, but the writing is gentler and whimsical. It has vibes of Harry Potter, The Umbrella Academy, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (I know those are all very different comps, but there are certain aspects that felt similar). I five-starred it on Goodreads and I recommend it for lovers of found family and magic.
I’m also on chapter four of Samira Ahmed’s Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know. ( A | BN | K | AB ) I love books with alternating timeline narratives, and the Parisian setting is lovely so far. In my favorite books, setting often acts like a character. The novel follows two Muslim heroines in Paris, one in present day and the other in the nineteenth century.
Shana: The House in the Cerulean Sea has been languishing in the second tier of my TBR list. Sounds like it’s time to move it on up!
Aarya: It won me over in the second chapter with this passage:
He couldn’t believe it was only Wednesday.
And it was made worse when he realized it was actually Tuesday.
And it only gets better from there!
Sneezy: My copy of Why Does He Do That by Lundy Bancroft ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) has to go back to the library soon. Oops.
So I’ll be powering through that this week. Then there’s On the Corner of Hope and Main by Beverly Jenkins, which just came in, also from the library.
I made heart eyes at my screen for a full minute after I downloaded it.
Catherine: I’m bouncing off a lot of things after a chapter or two at present, and can’t remember the last novel I managed to finish. So, um, do you want my Lent/Holy Week reading? Because Robert Alter’s translations and commentaries on the Old Testament are fantastic, mostly because he loves loves loves the Hebrew language and wants you to love it too and so his footnotes explain every single one of his translation choices and also all the puns and rhymes he wasn’t able to reproduce from the Hebrew (he manages a surprising number), as well as Rabbinical scholarship on particular passages – and as a result they are longer than the translation itself. But awesome. If you are a language and theology nerd like me, they are a fascinating read.
Ellen: I’m reading Headliners by Lucy Parker and loving it–I’m actually feeling more interested in contemporary than usual right now because it’s nice to read about people going outside and doing “normal” everyday things. I’ve also just started The Black Lily by Juliette Cross ( A | BN | K | AB ) which seems promising but I am really only a few pages in.
What books have kicked off your month?
I just finished “A Duke in Shining Armor” by Loretta Chase and I always feel slightly let down after I read a book by her that isn’t LoS because it set such a high bar that nothing else comes close.
I started on a reread of “The Restorer” by Amanda Stevens, the first in a series with a heroine who restores cemeteries and can see ghosts. I love the creepy, atmospheric way she writes.
I have an ARC of Kit Rocha’s “Deal with the Devil”, the upcoming first book in the Mercenary Librarians series. I started it the other day, but it felt TOO dark, so I put it back down for now.
Just got my BotM picks – Beach Read and The Library of Legends – so may dig into those next. Or I will turn back to my fave fictional comfort reads: Pride & Prejudice or RWRB.
I’m going through so many emotions at the moment that I’ve gone and wondered into the omegaverse by accident. I picked up Hunger by Milana Jacks on prime reading thinking it would be an alien romance and well. I wouldn’t say I’m not enjoying it but it’s in a ‘I can’t stop reading this total train wreck of a book’ it’s totally crazysauce. It’s Badly written, the heroines uncle gets strung upon a pile to starve and she has zero reaction and the “hero” is a genocide maniac who gets away with it because he’s hot and sounds like a twelve year old boy. It’s awful I can’t stop reading it. Next:
Read both M Greenhill’s Masked and Buried which were both very good but a bit annoyed some of the scenes from the Wattpad version have been left out or cut short. It didn’t affect the story of you want to read it, I just miss the nuances of the old version.
Also reading a book bundle of wildfire shifters by Zoe Chant. I loved the first book and the second was ok but the third one wasn’t as great. The fourth book is a secret baby story and I’m already throwing my eyes up at the thought.
Well that’s it. I’m waiting to see if I’m though to the next round of the open novella contest on WP, I’ve written 12k so far.
I find that I’m either not engaging with something at all and I’m struggling to finish or I’m completely engaged and I want to read it in one sitting. There’s no in between. I’m also watching a lot of YouTube kissing scenes.
The Excellent
YES, NO, MAYBE SO by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed. This is YA Romance very squarely set in the political here and now (before the virus) with two teenagers canvassing for a Democratic candidate. I was worried it night be too heavy, but it didn’t feel that way for me. The characters were passionate in the way teens often are, but nothing felt heavy handed or preachy to me (ymmv). And I got some emotionally cathartic tears out of it,so that was good. Definite warnings for Islamophobia,antisemitism, and general bigotry.
The Good
HEADLINERS by Lucy Parker. Adorable, adorable, adorable entry in the London Celebrities series. Not a good place to jump in but a lot of fun. And neither character wants to have kids and are on the same page right away about that which I like.
THE WRITE ESCAPE by Charish Reid this felt like a Thirst Aid Kit drabble in novel form and I mean that in the most delightful way possible Black heroine flees broken engagement to go to Ireland to write. Meets charming Irish man and they have to decide if they’re a fling or if they’re going to make it work. I loved it and want more Charish Reid now.
DREAMING OF BONES by Deborah Crombie. Cozy(ish) mystery written (and set) in the late 90s. Some cringy dated homophobia but not over the top considering the era it was set in. (once again ymmv). It had my favorite type of mystery where the problems start way in the past and the layers slowly unpeel.
A DANGEROUS COLLABORATION by Deanna Raybourn. This one dragged a bit and I think it’s partially because I’m a bit burned out on (possible spoiler?) sex clubs, etc to make the characters feel more sexy. It feels a bit cheesy and cliche to me. I liked Alisha Rai’s BE MY FANTASY/STAY MY FANTASY because the heroine owned the club and it was central to her identity. I can’t think of another single recent instance where it worked for me. Happy Reading, everyone!
Ooooh! Whatcha Reading is finally here! Will totally be reading this today; I seriously need some good tips!
I ended up reading ROALLY SCREWED and ROYALLY MATCHED by Emma Chase. I never thought I’d be into the whole royal thing, but I liked them. ROYALLY ENDOWED is currently in my TBR pile, but it’ll have to stay there a bit longer.
Then I read WALL STREET TITAN and TITAN’S ADDICTION by Anna Zaires. The second one I had to read because the first one ended with a cliffhanger. I really don’t know what to say about these. The H was kind of a stalkerish stalker who stalked and manipulated his way into the h’s life. But it’s a billionaire and a sweet cat-lady working in a bookshop, and the writing is very good, and the story is very hot, and I’m almost ashamed to say I really enjoyed it. There. I said it.
It was a bit much, though, so I picked ut MANEUVER by Chelle Bliss. Rich girl with a baby is left without money on the street one night by her evil father, H runs the bar she enters to make a phone call, he’s super hot and has a loving family and a good heart… I liked it; just what the doctor ordered, but approximately as memorable as ibuprofen after a night of too much red wine.
And then I found out the Penny Reid spin-offs (or at least some of them) are available in audio, with Chris Brinkley doing the male narration! And omg! How can you not love THAT? (His Cletus from Beard Science is really one for the history books!) So far I only heard BAKING ME CRAZY by Karla Sorensen. It’s a friends-to-lovers. H falls hard for h the first time they meet. She’s not in a good place at the time, still getting used to being in a wheelchair, and they end up being best friends instead. It’s not Penny Reid, but still really sweet. And did I mention Chris Brinkley? *sigh*
I just finished PLAYING THE PLAYER by Amy Andrews. Hot, hot, hot! It’s a sports romance about a rugby player not wanting a relationship and a woman not wanting a casual hook-up (original, I know!). I realized I’d already read PLAYING IT COOL in the same series earlier, but this one was (IMO) much better!
Oh, and I did find a “different” romance, actually. SEXY NERD by Kayley Loring! Best friend’s little sister. I know this isn’s everyone’s cup of tea, but I like them. The H is extremely left brain, and the h is a ballet dancer.
And for the historical: LORD HOLT TAKES A BRIDE by Vivienne Lorret. I believe this has been mentioned here on SBTB. It’s the one with the debutantes kidnapping a scoundrel to research the marriage habits of London’s aristocrats. I love me a good HR, and this was one of them. I’m looking forward to the next in the series.
I just finished Xeni by Rebekah Weatherspoon, and now I’m trolling the library for all the books about the related characters (my catnip) (I’d already read Rafe). I think Sanctuary will be next.
I was a student of Everett Fox who did a very literal translation of the Torah and then the Prophets (which I just wrote as the Profits LOL). Really interesting to see what it actually says…
I just grabbed some C.S. Friedman from the kindle store, she’s an author I love to re-read by my hard copies are at my parent’s house. Giant sci-fi, very much not romance but endings that are happy and hopeful. The Madness Season deals with how various characters sense of self is affected by fear and the quiet, sad, and anxious tone is the exact mood in the back of my skull. Looking forward to being dragged kicking and screaming back into hopefulness along with the characters.
Julianna Keyes’s excellent baseball romance, BENCH PLAYER, is set amid the same fictional baseball team as her earlier, equally good TEAM PLAYER. Much as TEAM PLAYER followed the development of a romance over the course of a Major League season, so BENCH PLAYER follows the development of a romance over the six months of the off-season. In BENCH PLAYER, the grumpy-gruff hero has just been released from prison after serving two years for insider trading (his imprisonment is a subplot of TEAM PLAYER) and wants to return to the team where he spent over a decade playing. The heroine—the team’s super-competent head of public-relations—works with the player to banish his ex-con image while she fights against the team’s clueless owner (who personifies the bullying, capricious, irresponsible, and whiny nincompoop that passes for a leader in the age of Trump). The player and the PR head clash, but eventually fall into a passionate (and secret) affair, all the while trying to ensure the hero gets a shot at coming back to the team. I enjoyed everything about this book: the emotional maturity of the hero & heroine; the hero’s acceptance that he has to be willing to start all over in the minor leagues and earn his place back on the roster; the heroine’s wise and tough-minded former baseball-player grandfather; the hero’s eclectic group of teammates; and Keyes’s obvious deep knowledge and love of baseball. Highly recommended, especially for baseball fans like me who are really missing the game right now.
Kate Canterbary’s MISSING IN ACTION is an m/m romance with strong ties to the Walsh Family series (one hero is Wes, Shannon Walsh’s brother-in-law, and the other is Tom, Office Manager of the Walsh Architecture Firm). MISSING IN ACTION is a sweet, sexy, and romantic story with Tom meeting and growing close to Wes, who is recuperating from wounds received in a covert operation gone terribly wrong. Despite being surrounded by the boisterous, extended Walsh family, both men are lonely: Wes, because he doesn’t know who is he without his covert-ops career or how to come out of the closet to his parents; Tom, because he was abandoned as a teenager by his awful fundie mother (cw/tw: for references to conversion therapy and later episodes of self-harm) and is extremely careful about who he invites into his life. As is often the case in Romancelandia (regardless of the sexual orientations or genders of the MCs), the sex is easy (and hot!), it’s the emotionally intimacy that’s difficult—and the guys have to work through that to achieve their HEA. You can read MISSING IN ACTION as a stand-alone, but I think it works best if you’ve read the Walsh Family series first: MISSING IN ACTION is another panel added to the vast Walsh Family quilt and I enjoyed (and recommend) it very much.
Caitlin Crews’s THE ITALIAN’S PREGNANT CINDERELLA features a standard Harlequin Presents plot (super-efficient executive heroine falls in love, then bed, with her boss, leading to unplanned pregnancy and unanticipated heartache before the joyous HEA) elevated by Crews’s excellent writing and insistent subtexts about how men will marginalize and ostracize women they can’t control (turning them into whores or witches, the heroine observes drily) and how family dysfunction (especially in regards to how men learn from their fathers how to treat—or mistreat—women) is handed down until someone is determined to break the cycle. THE ITALIAN’S PREGNANT CINDERELLA is a good corrective for the notion that HPs are nothing but retrogressive melodramas that reinforce dated gender roles and stereotypes.
Jackie Ashenden’s SEXY BEAST (the second book in her Billion $ Bastards series, published by Dare) is a good example of not judging a book by its trope: although friends-to-lovers is not a favorite of mine (and I probably would not have chosen this book if it hadn’t been written by one of my favorite authors), I enjoyed Ashenden’s take on it, especially the book’s rather unconventional heroine (she’s 30, almost six-feet tall, curvy, and works as a mechanic in her own car-repair business). She’s concerned about her inability to have orgasms with a partner (although she has no problem giving them to herself), so she turns to a man she’s been friends with since childhood for help, and he—by incorporating a d/s element—makes her come. One “problem” solved, but now there’s another one: they can no longer see each other as beloved friends but as sexual partners in a mild bdsm dynamic. Sexy-times—and the requisite Ashenden heartache—ensue.
You will rarely hear me complain that there is too much sex in a romance novel, but when said activity simply functions as page-upon-page of filler, then you will. The premise of Clare Connelly’s BURN MY HART (the second in her series about the Hart family) was interesting: a couple agree to a no-strings-attached affair with a designated end-date, but as that date gets closer, both of them are reluctant to end things and equally reluctant to admit their growing emotional attachment. But as the book progressed, there were just too many sex scenes: various positions, public, private, outdoors, in a car, on a plane, at work, mild bdsm, etc., and none of them contributing much to the forward momentum of the story. (Incidentally, there are also almost as many static scenes of the h&h going to restaurants or cooking and eating.) Things became really tedious and I’d lost interest by the 50% mark. I admit, I skimmed from that point. I can’t recommend BURN MY HART except as an object lesson in how NOT to incorporate copious quantities of sex into a book.
I have to be in the mood for Natasha Anders (not to be confused with Adriana Anders). If I pick up one of her books when I’m not feeling receptive, all I do is gripe about Anders’s earnest, overwritten, adjective & adverb-heavy style featuring entitled upper-middle-class white South African characters. But when I’m in the mood for a slow-burn plot full of angsty misunderstandings and heartache, I can rely on Anders to deliver. THE BEST MAN is the second book in Anders’s Alpha Men series. I read the first book, THE WINGMAN, last year and liked it enough to try the another book in the series. In THE BEST MAN, the hero and heroine (brother and sister, respectively, of the hero and heroine from THE WINGMAN) find themselves thrown together as they are the best man and maid of honor at their siblings’ wedding. They attempt a no-strings-attached affair, but messy emotions (going all the way back to high school 16 years before) keep getting in the way. If you’re in the mood for some real roller-coaster angstiness, THE BEST MAN would not be a bad choice.
During the quarantine, I’ve been devouring Cora Reilly’s various mafia romance series. I reread Reilly’s Born in Blood series (all of the titles begin with the words BOUND BY, and Reilly has published a couple of new ones since I first read the series) and then started on her Camorra Chronicles (all of the titles begin with the word TWISTED). Of the new reads, my favorite was TWISTED PRIDE, which involves a woman from one mafia family being taken captive by a rival mafia family—on her wedding day, no less. Much like Sybil Bartel’s books, most of Reilly’s books (regardless of the series) are interrelated, with characters from other books & series popping up all the time. Reilly’s stories are very dark and violent with heroines who have practically no agency whatsoever, but I find them comforting in their reliably “written to template” way. They’re like dark mafia romances filtered through the most regressive of Harlequin Presents plots with an incredible amount of virginity fetishism. Am I recommending them? Not really—unless you already know you like this sort of thing. Am I saying I consumed them like I would a jar of peanuts? Oh yeah—you know it, bitches!
Despite writing the lovely and melancholy TAP LEFT, one of my all-time favorite romances, A. Zavarelli is hit-or-miss for me. I’ve liked some of her books (especially in her Boston Underworld crime series) but others are too dark even for someone like me who enjoys the occasional “problematic” dark romance. Zavarelli’s BEAST, a Beauty & the Beast retelling from a few years ago, had the absolute least redeemable hero I’ve ever encountered and under no circumstances could I recommend the book, so I approached Zavarelli’s latest fairy-tale retelling, STEALING CINDERELLA, with caution. It is a very dark contemporary royal romance featuring (cw/tw) family dysfunction, abuse in both the past and the present, abduction, captivity, dubious consent, suicide ideation, an extremely damaged Prince (no Prince Charming, obviously), and some ultimately horrific retribution for the step-mother and step-sisters. Clearly a book with a very selective appeal…and yet, if you’re in the mood for something very dark, STEALING CINDERELLA is a fast read that generates sympathy for both its very resilient heroine AND its emotionally-isolated hero. Recommended…but only if you like really, really dark stuff.
Sadly, I reached the bottom of the GBPL pile last week. I can see all the books on my pick up list just waiting there, moldering, sighing of lack of a reader.
And then my Kindle decided to take a break from charging. It’s timing could not be worse as 90% of the books I’ve bought in the last couple years are on it, including one I wanted to write a book rant on – because I really need to rant about something – and now that I have time, I don’t have access. Argh!
So, I’m most of the way through Prudence, the first book in Gail Carriger’s Custard Protocol series. I don’t know if it’s me or the book, but I’m not loving it the way I have loved her other series. Yes, I have laugh snorted in several places, but I think I’m missing some emotional content. Maybe it’s just that I need something more angsty?
Yesterday while I was dusting (yes, I actually was bored enough to dust) I pulled Jillian Stone’s Gentlemen of Scotland Yard books off the shelf for a reread. Even though it was apparent at one time there were other books planned, she’s apparently moved on from this series, which makes me very sad.
That will hopefully take me to the reopening of the GBPL. If not, next up will be rereading some first of a series books that I never got to the next one of with the plan to, big surprise, read the subsequent books.
Lorraine Heath is always a fun read…I liked The Earl Takes a Fancy, the latest installment in the Truelove family saga.
Care for a post apocalyptic suspense read that’s not biological? I liked Linda Howard’s After Sundown. A solar event takes down the power grid…
Reread Truly by Mary Balogh to kill time. Liked Lions and Lace by Meagan McKinney…longer than it had to be, but nowadays when everything has DNF potential depending on the news cycle, it’s a rare book that holds my attention. This one did.
Some unknown amount of time ago I bought R J Blain’s The Magical Romantic Comedy (with a Body Count) Starter Pack, likely as one of the sales posted on this site. I promptly read about 5 pages and then forgot about it. I found it four days ago and read all 4 novels and 3 novellas in a very short period of time. It’s kind of like if Kate Daniels magic waves mixed with Shelly Laurenston’s insanely violent and zany shifters, only with more incubus and angels. It’s insane. And completely distracting. More fade to black sex scenes then my preference, and the romances aren’t perfectly fleshed out, but it was very amusing, and I definitely neglected my work to read more.
Otherwise I’ve been staying up to date on a few WebToons (LoreOlympus, Questless and the Wrath and the Dawn) and glomming the Lovestruck narratives Queen of Thieves, Villanous Intent, Love and Legends and Starship Promise.
I’m hoping to check out THE PRINCESS PROBLEM by Christi Barth and BAD BACHELOR by Stefanie London.
I’m also in the mood to check out some thrillers on my TBR pile, including THE DIME by Kathleen Kent; LIGHT IT UP by Nick Petrie; and SAVE ME FROM DANGEROUS MEN by S. A. Lelchuk.
Stay safe, everyone! 🙂
There was a “spend $20 on ebooks, get a $5 credit” deal a week or two ago, so I splurged on the cheapest things on my wish list, including:
FINNA by Nino Cipro. Novella set in a “Scandinavian” furniture store that has a corporate policy in place for spontaneous opening of portals to other dimensions. I enjoyed it but would have enjoyed it more if the missing customer had been a terrible person so a minor character didn’t have to be deceived and eventually devastated. A positive twist on that part would have been more consistent with the humorous tone of the premise, IMO. Don’t read it expecting a second-chance romance.
MINOR MAGE by T. Kingfisher, which has been nominated for the Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book. Novella in which a 12-year-old mage and his talking armadillo familiar are sent by a village mob to the distant mountains to bring back rain to end a drought. The afterword mentions a debate about whether it’s a children’s story; I would absolutely have read it to my small child (who is now 24 and half a foot taller than I am) because I believe explicit insight into kindness, understanding, and honor in a grossly unfair world should be administered early and often, but bad guys dying and a friend getting beaten up may be deemed too dark for some kids by some adults.
THE MOSTLY TRUE STORY OF JACK by Kelly Barnhill. Barnhill and Kingfisher have a similar grim whimsy that I find soothing, so I tend to binge them when stressed. The titular character, who is functionally invisible and much too practical to believe in fairy tales, is sent to live with relatives in a town built upon an ancient bargain with a nature spirit, in which he’s unaware of his Chosen One role and has to revise his thinking in a hurry.
I tried to keep the kid lit train going with THE WATER AND THE WILD by K. E. Ormsbee. It started off in a similar vein with a kid who is “different” having some low-key extraordinary experiences, but once the portal fantasy kicked in and took her out of her familiar world, there was a long stretch of Other Character Explains Something, “What?”, Other Character Repeats the Explanation in a Slightly Different Way, which has kept me from picking it back up for several days. A firm editorial hand could have pared down the redundancy and kept the story moving.
Next I’ll probably re-read KINGS OF THE WYLD and BLOODY ROSE by Nicholas Eames, which are honest-to-god “rollicking good adventures.”
I’ve been driving to work again instead of taking public transpo, so I’ve been mainlining the Lucy Parker books on audio. They are the perfect listening material for me so that I don’t drive into work angry. All the characters are engaging and relatable (except that horrible Sadie), they aren’t complete froth and silliness (I save those for home reading), and the various narrators have great tone. I’m on the waitlist for Headliners.
While waiting for that one, I’m listening to book 9 in the Chicagoland Vampires series. I like the characters but am still missing the first narrator. My ears had gotten used to her voice. The world is a little too real, though, and I have to occasionally take a break from the horrible politics and rationalizations done by some characters.
At home, I’m reading the latest honey badger book by Shelley Laurenston. Katee Roberts’ Wicked Villains series is so, so dirty but the characters are great and the twists to familiar storylines is interesting to see. I think Hook and Tink are my favorite so far; their book is “A Worthy Opponent”.
I still have a huge pile in my TBR category, but I’ve been re-reading some comfort books.
Happy reading, everyone.
I’m also in the camp of finding it difficult to start and then finish the same book without picking up something else in the meantime.
I did read Blood and Sand by C.V. Wyk which is a retelling of Spartacus. Except Spartacus is actually a Thracian princess named Attia who is given to the gladiator Xanthus as a prize. This was supposed to be a trilogy and I’m sad that the publisher chose to not to continue.
As read Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean and this book was lovely and explored the concepts of power. There’s not a romance per se but I found characters to ship anyway.
Currently reading A Rogue By Night by Kelly Bowen. I read the other two Devils of Dover books last summer and I remember liking them better than I’m liking this one. Both Katherine and Harland just seem rather bland.
Also reading Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston. This is an Anastasia retelling set as a space opera. The world building could use some work, but I blew through almost 300 pages last night. I’m rooting for the romance between two of the secondary characters but those boys suck at communicating.
WHAT I CARRY by Jennifer Longo is a lovely YA story about a 17 year girl who has spent her entire life in foster care and is now dealing with what it means to age out of the system. This book is full of compassionate, good people doing their best to be kind and gentle with one another. It’s not a romance, but there is a love interest and he’s swooney and sweet and smart and just so great. The heroine and the love interest have a mutual interest in the outdoors and banter about Pinchot vs. Muir – it’s just wonderful.
THE SEARCH is a Nora Roberts romantic suspense set in the Pacific Northwest with a heroine who survived an abduction by a serial killer who murdered her fiancé as retaliation for her escaping. Eight years later, the killer is behind bars and she now trains search and rescue dogs and runs the searches. She’s your typical badass, uber competent Roberts heroine, and the love interest is a wood artist with a cute dog that needs training. Some Roberts suspense drag on a bit too long for me but this one keeps a good pace. There was great banter and fun dog antics – would recommend.
There’s not much to say about MISSING IN ACTION by Kate Canterbary that @DiscoDollyDeb hasn’t mentioned, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one and loved revisiting the Walshes and their extended family. I read one review that said it couldn’t buy Wes’s reluctance to come out given what we know about how loving his parents are from their appearances in other Walsh novels, and I was totally prepared to be on board with this criticism, but I think Canterbary writes this point well. I have several older male family members who are career military, and even though they’re all pretty politically left leaning I think there’s still a feeling of “we don’t talk about certain things” with them. If you grew up with that, and remember that we’re not so far removed from Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, Wes’s feelings make a lot of sense.
THE TROUBLEMAKER NEXT DOOR by Marie Harte was…not so great. I’ve had her on my list of authors to try for a while, and I started THE KISSING GAME when it came out recently, but got a couple chapters in and felt like I was starting in the middle of a series when it was supposed to be a standalone. Turns out, even though it is advertised as a standalone, it’s in the same world as several of her previous related series, so characters you would already be familiar with if you had read those make appearances. I figured, okay, I’ll go back to the beginning and if I like them then I’ve discovered a new series, win-win. This one read like a cross between Jill Shalvis and Elle Kennedy’s more erotic stuff, which could be fun, but there wasn’t really enough character development. Two people don’t want a commitment, have a lot of sex, then discover wait commitment’s okay after all. And I mean a lot of sex, and not really the best written sex, to the point where I was just skimming over these scenes.
Currently reading SWEET LITTLE LIES by Jill Shalvis, the first in her Heartbreaker Bay series. It’s good so far but hasn’t grabbed me yet like the Lucky Harbor series did.
@DonnaMarie:
Amazon keeps every book you’ve bought in their version of cloud storage. You haven’t lost them. There are apps for which ever computing device you want, computer, phone or tablet.
I think one or two WAYR ago (maybe more – time is a weird thing right now) @DiscoDollyDeb was mentioning the disappointment you feel when you read a series which sets up a couple and then when you FINALLY get to their book it doesn’t quite live up to expectations – I had three books like that this month – I still enjoyed them, but they didn’t give me all the feels like I thought they would.
Excellent:
None
Very Good:
To Love and To Cherish by Lauren Layne: This is one where the couple had been set up in the first two books and this book was very good, but something still felt missing to me. This should have been right down my alley because the hero (an accountant) has been pining for the heroine (wedding planner) for eight years – 8 years!!! However, his transformation from passive piner to aggressive alpha seemed inauthentic and I didn’t quite buy the reason the heroine had shut herself off from relationships so long – I mean I understood the heartbreak but the incident had happened like 10 years earlier (no one died or was injured) and I kept thinking if you can’t find a way to move on in a healthy way, you need to get therapy in order to resolve these issues.
Love You by Stacy Finz: Again, this couple had been set up in the previous one or two books and while I enjoyed it, the growth and development of the hero left a lot to be desired. He starts the book as a man-child (disorganized, always late, relies on the organization and productivity of those around him including the heroine) and although he does step up in his role at the family business, I just kept thinking he needed to grow up MORE. Also the start to this one was really weird – the heroine uses a key the hero gave her to feed the neighborhood cat when he is out of town to let herself into his house and climb into his bed in lingerie to try to seduce him in the middle of the night. He correctly calls her out on that and is like how would you like it if a guy friend did that to you? I love the small town setting in this one (a resort town) and I love all the detail about the family business (guiding outdoor adventures such as white water rafting, hiking, cycling, zip lining, etc.). It kinda of made me feel like I had gone on vacation – especially when we can’t really go anywhere right now.
Disturbing His Peace by Tessa Bailey: As I mentioned in the last WAYR, I love Tessa Bailey despite the heros who sometimes border on alpha-holes and sometimes make questionable decisions. This is the third book in The Academy series and this couple, too, had been set up in the first two books. The chemistry between the two was absolutely scorching and I loved the emotional development of both the hero and heroine. Unfortunately, the conflict at the end and the resolution both just felt meh to me – not the angsty, drama-filled feel fest I was expecting. I should mention that there is a power differential here – the hero supervises the police training academy while the heroine is a recruit in training – so if that bothers you – steer clear.
Good:
None
Meh:
None
The Bad:
The Bride Who Got Lucky by Janna MacGregor: I read the first one in The Cavensham Heiresses series and absolutely hated it. But I knew it was the author’s first book and someone in the comments here at SBTB encouraged me to continue. I have decided that this author just must not be for me – I found the hero in the last book controlling and unstable. I found this hero dangerously unforgiving. Without trying to give anything away, towards the end of the book, he is given a choice to do the right thing or not (when the clearly right thing is in conflict with a person from his past) and his initial decision is to double down on NOT doing the right thing. This was not a morally ambiguous question – there was a very serious issue with very serious consequences and, to me, there was no excuse for the “hero” not to render help immediately.
Wild at Whiskey Creek by Julie Anne Long: Second in the Hellcat Canyon series, I cannot believe I am putting a Julie Anne Long book in the bad category but this one was a fail to me for so many reasons (despite this being a friends-to-lovers and pining hero story). 1. The couple spends most of the book apart and a significant amount of time flirting with and dating other people – I wanted to see more of their relationship on page. 2. Because of where they were in their lives, I had a very hard time at the end believing that they would stay together for the long haul. 3. But the most egregious thing was the the hero abuses his power as a police officer TWICE to help the heroine. These were not minor things like let me provide a police escort so my musician girlfriend can get to an audition on time – these were civil rights violations for which he should have been fired. Both were dangerous, but one was especially dangerous and could have set up an officer-involved shooting. One of my favorite Suzanne Brockmann novels has a a hero talking about lines you don’t cross and he says something like “Even if you love someone an 11 (on a scale of 1-10), you don’t do that.” Early in the book, the hero is described as always going by the book and I think this was supposed to show how much he loved the heroine, but it was NOT OK.
I flew through Nora Phoenix’s Ignite Series: m/m/m. The US has split into 3 separate countries. The main characters are in the conservative portion. And then aliens land. I liked the first 2 books a lot, the 3rd was more brutal then I could handle (big TW)
World Turned Upside Down, Elyse Springer. Janitor and scientist fall in love at a station in Antarctica. 3/5 stars. I liked the characters, I did not like that it contained the trope of “a bet” (as in I bet you to sleep with him)
And then I saw Nora Phoenix released a new book in her Perfect Hands series (I read those last month) (m/m/m kink) I like that the masters in these books recognize that their subs need “x” in the bedroom…but out of the bedroom, they need therapy. Great sex doesn’t solve all life’s problems or past traumas.
I’m going to read a couple Eliot Grayson historicals this weekend
@KatieC: I refer to that feeling as “BROOKLYNAIRE Syndrome,” because I had been anticipating (and shipping!) Nate & Becca’s story from the start of Sarina Bowen’s Brooklyn Bruisers series. By the time BROOKLYNAIRE was published, I don’t know if I was just over the couple or if I’d just built up their story in my mind to the point that any book was going to be a letdown, but my response to it was lukewarm.
On a related note, I just learned that Kati Wilde’s long-anticipated, much-postponed LOSING IT ALL (the latest in her Hellfire Riders MC series) is now scheduled for April 27. Clear the decks! I’ve been waiting for Stone & Cherry’s story since it was set up so beautifully at the end of BREAKING IT ALL (in 2016!). I’m just hoping this will not be a case of BROOKLYNAIRE Syndrome!
I’ve been reading everything in sight, more willing than usual to DNF books that don’t talk to me or that I can’t hear.
Excellent:
Corey J. White’s Voidwitch space opera trilogy, starting with KILLING GRAVITY. From White’s website: Before she escaped in a bloody coup, MEPHISTO transformed Mariam Xi into a deadly voidwitch. Their training left her with terrifying capabilities, a fierce sense of independence, a deficit of trust, and an experimental pet named Seven. These are novellas, must be read in order and are fairly dark, but Mariam/Mars Xi is a great character.
Also excellent in space: S. K. Dunstall’s LINESMAN and John Scalzi’s REDSHIRTS.
In crime fiction, I highly recommend:
Adrian McKinty’s Belfast-based Sean Duffy series, starting with THE COLD COLD GROUND
Stephen Booth’s Peak District series, BLACK DOG
Stav Sherez’s Carrigan and Miller series, A DARK REDEMPTION
I don’t know how so many of you manage to write lengthy and detailed descriptions of books you’ve read, especially those you didn’t care for. I struggle to put down more than title and author; basically, my recommendations are “Here, read this.”
@ Stephanie, I didn’t think I’d lost them. I just can’t access them until my Kindle comes back from vacation. It’s done this before. If I leave it alone for a few months, and then try recharging, it comes back. I don’t read on my computer it’s not very comfortable & my back wouldn’t tolerate it.
Audible stuff, I suppose.
I lapsed and left my membership on, so I have six credits in my account. I’m in the mood for a Dystopian long read, but I’m not sure what sounds like a good read while I work on filling out paperwork.
@DiscoDollyDeb: I thought of you when I finished listening to Brooklynaire because I, too, had a “meh” reaction when I had been looking forward to it so much.
Some MM books I have enjoyed:
OUT ON THE ICE by Lane Hayes is a hockey player and baseball player NA book with bi-awakening in a low angst enemies to lovers setting. I absolutely loved these two guys to death! I read with a goofy smile on my face most of the time.
BET ON LOVE by AF Zoelle is my favorite childhood best friends to lovers trope. They are in Vegas for one of them getting married to a woman, but end up married to each other.
LOVING LAYNE by VL Locey is a significant age gap between a pro hockey player and a college journalism major with a bit of a twist. Another low angst story which I am currently in to.
WAITING FOR THEM by Alie Nolan is a poly relationship between three guys with a little taboo thrown in. Two were secret boyfriends as teens and meet again ten tears later when one of them is married….bringing in the third character to the relationship.
REBOUND by VL Locey is a finale spinoff of the wonderful couple Vic and Dan. Both are in professional hockey and this centers around Vic dealing with the emotional upheaval in his life. I love these two men with all my heart, but was a little sad reading it.
HIM by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy. This I listened to on audio for the first time. I have read it several times because it is near and dear to my heart, but decided to try audio so I could multitask. And, sweet Jesus, it was everything I wanted and needed wrapped up together in perfect narration. It is my ultimate comfort read and now it is going to be my comfort listen. #Wesmieforever
Some MF books I enjoyed:
THE BEST MAN by Winter Renshaw is a sort of love triangle with an angsty slow burn. It has the twistyness I associate with WR, but I would have liked a little more time for the HEA main characters to be together than they were.
LIAR, LIAR HEARTS ON FIRE by Pippa Grant is a story about a super great single dad who has an amazingly current-sounding germaphobe tendency due to his wife having died from the flu. It ends up being a very sweet story between Tripp and Lila who has a secretive past with definite trust issues. Great banter.
THE HIGHWAYMAN by Kerrigan Byrne. I am late to the party on this book and it has been on my TBR for so long. So I decided to take the plunge and borrow the audiobook and absolutely loved it as a perfect distraction while doing chores inside and out. Reminded me of the historicals I cut my teeth on many years ago.
I just finished STICKY DILLY BUNS, a spinoff of Gisele Lagace’s MENAGE A 3 graphic novel series (though it worked really well as a standalone). It features boy-crazy struggling actor Dillon, his ex-pornstar roommate Amber, and Amber’s no-nonsense younger sister Ruby (who’s just moved to Montreal after finishing her business degree). There’s a definite homage to THREE’S COMPANY going on, but while that show drove me crazy (in spite of how much I liked John Ritter), this comic got everything right! While the plots revolve around everybody’s love and sex lives, the tone is weirdly sweet (the nudity is all implied, and the actual sex is off-camera 99% of the time). It’s really sex-positive; in spite of Ruby being called “prudish” in the blurb, the characters don’t mock her virginity, and her realization of her sexual imagination is really lovely to watch unfold. (It also makes for some great visual Easter eggs for yaoi and gay romance fans!) All orientations are represented (yeah, ace maybe less so, but that’s understandable). It was even educational, thanks to Ruby’s heart-to-heart convos with her fellow yaoi lover Ramona (an intersex character enjoying her own hot relationship), Everybody is really lovable (even the villain ends up sympathetic in the end), and it was a joy to see lots of cute, scantily clad guys throughout. The author makes it sound like a one-shot, but it’s called “Volume 1” …dare I hope for more? Anyway, I highly recommend it, especially to fans of Tara Lain’s lighter books, yaoi fans, sitcom lovers, and comic geeks in general
I only had 3(!) books checked out when the library closed, one of which is in a series, and only realized after I checked it out that the library does not own the book before it In Any Format. Grrr. Having trouble finding anything in the ebook collection that I want to read. So I’ve only read one book so far this month, but it was excellent: The Girl with No Face. It’s book 2 in the Daoshi series by M.H. Boroson, and you should definitely read The Girl with Ghost Eyes first. Both are excellent urban fantasy based in Chinese mythology/Daoism, set in late 1880s San Francisco Chinese immigrant community with an amazing female main character. No romance, but still, all of you should read these now.
I haven’t read as much as usual since my husband had major surgery a week ago; he’s now home recovering.
Since last time ~
— The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune which I quite enjoyed; this contemporary fantasy would be fine for teen readers as well as adults.
— Regency Royal Navy Christmas by Carla Kelly which was a highly enjoyable collection of four novellas. I had previously read the final novella, but the other three were new for this collection.
— the graphic novel Estranged by Ethan M. Aldridge; it was an enjoyable read, but I don’t believe I’ll be rereading it. My library has it classified as a children’s book.
— a science fiction novel which I quite enjoyed ~ Guest by E. Stoops. This would also be a fine read for teens as well as adults.
— a reread of SK Dunstall’s Linesman which I enjoyed once again. (I’m glad to see you also enjoyed it, @Darlynne!)
And — finished The Parable of the Mustard Seed by Lisa Henry, a male/male romance. I enjoyed it, but I prefer other books by the author. This one had abuse content that some might find disconcerting.
I’ve been reading so much that everything is kind of running together…a few favorites though.
Things You Save In A Fire-Katherine Center. A new to me author, I was on hold for a very long time for this book! Main character is a female firefighter who moves from Texas to the East Coast, her journey of fitting in to a new station, and reconnecting with her mom. I read this book in one sitting, I really enjoyed the heroine, and her love interest was adorable. I’m excited to read more from this author.
The Lager Queen of Minnesota-J. Ryan Stradal. Another book I couldn’t put down, I loved it. Great characterizations, I felt quite emotional reading this book. The book is about the women in a family, and the making of beer. Not a romance, I’ve been trying to think of who this author reminded me of, I finally figured it out-he reminds me of Elizabeth Berg. I’m super excited because my hold on Kitchens of the Great Midwest came in this morning. Can’t wait to dive into this one.
Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs-don’t know why it took me so long to read this series. I’m on book 6 right-River Marked. The series grabbed me right away, but definite CW for violence and sexual assault. Also reading her Alpha & Omega series, but only on the first book, Cry Wolf.
Like other commenters, I loved Bench Player by Julianna Keyes. One issue I had, the main character had been in jail for insider trading-something he didn’t even realize he had done at the time. My problem was believing everyone would have such a hard time accepting him back. Unfortunately professional athletes seem to weather much more distressing crimes just fine, so it felt a bit manufactured. I was able to set that aside though, and very much enjoyed the book. I’m much more of a hockey, rugby romance reader-but Keyes is very good.
Speaking of hockey romance-Sawyer Bennett’s series with the Arizona Vengeance is a lot of fun. I caught up with the series, reading Tacker and Dominick. Tacker is about a hockey player going through grief counseling, Dominick is about the owner of the team. I’m invested in these characters and this team!
@DonnaMarie-I’m so sorry about your Kindle! My favorite Kindle is the one with the keyboard, it is a pretty old model but it is the one that feels most comfortable in my hand. The other day it didn’t want to turn on-and even though I have a Kindle Fire as backup, it wasn’t a good feeling. Thankfully it came back up after a bit, I hope yours is up and running soon!
I skipped last week because I was in a slump, but I’m back this week .
Read:
1. Breath of Magic by Teresa Medeiros
This book was an old skool, bonkers science fiction romance involving a time traveling, cheerful witch heroine and a grumpy billionaire hero. It was written in 1996 and definitely shows it’s age , but it was also a lot of fun. I can’t necessarily recommend it, but it was the perfect soap bubble read I needed at the start of all this mess.
2. Miss Lottie’s Christmas Protector by Sophia James
This book was a Harlequin Historical and it was okay. It was an enjoyable enough read , but the characters left a bit to be desired and the plot was fairly paint-by-numbers. However, if you enjoy wounded heroes, “spunky” (for lack of a better term) Heroines and some victory over the patriarchy check it out.
3. Marry in Secret by Anne Gracie
Before I even say how I felt about the book I have to issue a few content warnings for a a miscarriage in the heroine’s backstory and white slavery, especially the white slavery since it’s in both the hero’s backstory and a major part of his character motivations. For some people that will be an immediate turn off. If that last bit doesn’t bother you this book is one of Gracie’s best. I absolutely adore both the hero and the heroine and the plot was compelling, so compelling in fact that I finished the book in just a few days, I simply could not put it down. If you are a big fan of Anne Gracie definitely pick that book up. I also recommend picking up the other books in the series as well because her current MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE SERIES is my favorite of the ones I’ve read so far.
Reading:
The Waking Land by Callie Bates
This is an adult fantasy series( with some YA tendencies) that I’m not too far in. For some reason, even though I’m enjoying the book, it really isn’t a page turner for me. I know part of the issue is that it’s written in first person, present tense, which I personally hate. However, the magic system and the world are interesting enough that I do want to finish it. Hopefully it gets better as I get farther into the book.
@Katie C. – Holy unintended results, Batman! Something about the way you describe the hero’s bad actions in the Janna MacGregor book makes me want to read it for myself.
Unrelated: I think my second-favorite things about Whatcha Reading? (my first-favorite being opinions! on books!) is getting a peek into the matrix of peoples’ reading when they list 3+ books. So it is with sadness that I only bring one this time:
A MATTER OF CLASS by Mary Balogh [A-] – I recently said that everything I’ve read by Balogh leaves me with a sense of melancholy. This novella proved to be a delightful exception. If you haven’t read it, try to go in without any spoilers. (Though I will say that the “minus” in my rating is entirely because the spoiler isn’t reallllly a spoiler.)
Lately every book I try to read irritates me, even my normal comfort reads. My brain just picks everything to death. I did find a good SFR that my brain was willing to accept. It’s a very calm book somehow. Even though stuff happens, it’s not tense. It was Catalyst by Jody Wallace. There’s a sequel, Catapult, that I’m reading now. It’s about a guy and his super intelligent, psychic cat companion. The heroine owns a recycling business and finds them in the trash. (It’s not a comedy even though my description makes it sound that way.)
@K.N. O’Rear – I wish they’d stop with first person, present tense. I started one recently by a favorite author and haven’t finished it yet because it got so bogged down in internal monologues. It’s a rare author who can pull off that tense well, IMO.
My reading month has been mostly meh so far.
@DiscoDollyDeb, thanks for the Caitlin Crews rec, an HP may be just the thing to get me out of my slump. I reread “An Earl Like You” by Caroline Linden and liked it even better the second time around. The hero kept a lot secrets and lied by omission to the heroine, but this time around I came to the conclusion that rather than manipulative, he was just too much of a people-pleaser, and had trouble balancing the demands of his family, his wife & his father-in-law. Then I read an early Linden book, “What a Rogue Desires” which I didn’t like as much.
I’m reading “Aurora Blazing”, the second of the Consortium Rebellion books by Jessie Mihalik, and so far not liking it as much as “Polaris Rising”, probably because enemies to lovers is not a favorite trope of mine. I also started reading “The Thin Woman” by Dorothy Cannell, which another reader here had recommended on the post about funniest book they ever read, but so far it is not my cuppa.
Before my library closed indefinitely last month, I had an hour, child free, to grab whatever I could for the duration… I got the 1st 4 Black Dagger Brotherhood series books, Nora Roberts Bride Quartet, several Elizabeth Hoyt’s books I was up to in the Maiden Lane series – several more that I’ll leave to mention another time. I’ve been rotating the above mentioned in paperback format, and… they have been holding my attention, exactly what I needed. I had found nothing in my kindle library was holding my attention more than a few pages, even amazing series I was into, “before” – I actually stopped reading several long series I was into, because I didn’t want to ruin them due to my current world pandemic mood. So, total digital break, and reading ‘Old Skool’ is working for me. Oh, plus deleting my Facebook app has worked wonders.
I can’t wait to dig into all these thoughtful recommendations!
I haven’t read anything great this month so far — I had big plans to dive into some books I’ve been saving, but I just didn’t have the energy or heart to engage.
The Good —
Reread SWEET REVENGE: A NEMESIS UNLIMITED NOVEL, by Zoe Archer Historical, M/F, revenge story. Not sure I quite buy that they fell in love, but it wasn’t bad. B
PLAYING IT COOL by Amy Andrews solid M/F sports contemporary. B
THE HOCKEY PLAYER’S HEART by Jeff Adams, Will Knauss M/M hockey player romance. B-
The Disappointing:
SAVING RAFE (LORDS OF DISCORD BOOK 2) by Jocelynn Drake M/M vampire paranormal. I thought this sounded great, but it just didn’t deliver. Characters were two dimensional, not much world building, and the plot was very weak. Should I bother to read the first one or anything else by this author? C
BLACK DOG BLUES by Rhys Ford M/M fae paranormal. Again, nothing really worked, for all the same reasons as SAVING RAFE, only the creepy factor was intense. The fae ate other fae? But we aren’t told why? History of torture and babies in danger? No, thank you. F
DNF-
ALWAYS MY GIRL — Samantha Chase Friends to lovers M/F The hero was so selfish, and worried that he was selfish, and still was such a jerk, that I just couldn’t. Yuck. And I usually like SC, so I was saddened.
Hope everyone is safe and sound at home!
@Katie C: I agree about the Lauren Layne book (whom I usually enjoy). The 8 years wait (during which, if I remember, neither was in a relationship) then he abruptly decides to leaves, just didn’t work for me, nor did I find a lot of chemistry (really, 8 years!)
I was a little disappointed in the second Veronica Speedwell book by Deana Raybourne. Veronica is just a little too hard to warm up to for me.
I listened to an interesting (non-romance): THE LIBRARY BOOK by Susan Orlean (author of the Orchid Thief). It’s mostly about the LA Main Library, the fire, the history and also about the development of libraries in general. Worth listening (and probably reading) to!
Based on reviews from this site (!) I recently finished Matzah Ball Surprise, which was cute and enjoyable, and then A Taste of Her Own Medicine, by Tasha L. Harrison, which I really really liked. I’m on an herbal kick myself — planting all sorts of seeds — and I’m a similar age as the heroine. I really liked the nuance and the true feelings. If you’ve got a not-great ex, be warned; there’s no violence but I found the encounters with the ex-husband to ring disturbingly true. But they’re brief and nothing terrible happens. A copyeditor would be handy, too; I’d volunteer 🙂
I also picked up the Write Escape by Charish Reid and am looking forward to that. Enjoyed Hearts On Hold a lot.
Working through We Sold Our Souls — hasn’t fully grabbed me yet. The Blacksmith Queen also isn’t quite grabbing me, which is surprising me. Picked up Chai Factor and Feast of Sparks too. We’ll see!
Just finished TEMPTATIONS OF A WALLFLOWER by Eva Leigh; I had issues with the whole climax (snerk)with both the hero having a snit because his wife didn’t tell him she was writing erotic romance before they married and the heroine deciding to give up writing to please him. I would have liked to see her get more moral support from the heroines of the two previous books in the series (also writers)and decide to stand firm earlier in the conflict.
Then I realized that the only Heyer book I had never read, even though it’s been in my collection for ages, was AN INFAMOUS ARMY, so I have just started on that. Having fun spotting the cameos by characters from her previous books!
I’ve done a fair amount of reading, some new, some re-reads.
I re-read the first four Murderbot books, by Martha Wells, because I finally own all four so could read them one right after the other. I love Murderbot! I’m really looking forward to the next book, which should be out soon. The only bad thing about the books is they are expensive, and don’t seem to go on sale 🙁
I also read Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray, a YA sci-fi sort-of romance. The romance is very slow to develop. This is the first book in a trilogy, so I assume the romance will pick up as the series progresses. I won’t find out, though, because I’m not going to continue with the series. The book was okay, but just didn’t grab me enough to want to keep going. Maybe it’s a little too YA for me …
I read Hollow Kingdom, by Kira Jane Bixton, and really liked it. I wouldn’t usually read a zombie book, but the zombies weren’t the main focus. It was all about S.T. and his friends, who were awesome! Makes me want to hang out with crows 🙂
I read the first two books of the Vardeshi Saga by Meg Pechenick, sci-fi with a slow-to-develop romance that I wasn’t expecting. The story is about first-contact with aliens, and what happens after. The main human character is a linguist in grad school, but to me reads younger in a lot of ways. The third book isn’t out yet, but I will definitely be reading it when it is!
I’m currently reading The Secret Place by Tana French, the fifth book in the Dublin Murder squad series. So far it’s good, I’ll see if my guess as to the murderer is correct!
Just want to say a big thank you to all of you writing your reviews. I’ve found several gems because of you. Virtual hugs to all!