Hey hey!
It’s Whatcha Reading time, where we discuss the books we’re been loving (or maybe hating) in the past couple weeks.
Let’s get into it!
Sneezy: I just finished Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert, ( A | BN | K | AB ) and EVERYONE WAS RIGHT!! IT WAS EVERYTHING!!
Aarya: Last week I finished Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic (out June 30) ( A | BN | K | AB ) after Elyse’s recommendation. I loved it! Socialite Noemí Taboada travels to her ill cousin’s aid after receiving a concerning letter about hallucinations. When she reaches the isolated and gloomy house by the forest, Noemí discovers that her cousin’s English in-laws are not what they seem. This book is creepy AF, so be prepared for spine-tingling dread and gothic horror.
I’m also organizing my Ripped Bodice summer bingo squares. I’ve already read six squares, the most recent being Roshani Chokshi’s audible original Once More Upon a Time for “Accidentally in Wilderness” (it also fits for Only One Bed, Apple Orchard, and I’m on a Boat). It’s adorable and I recommend it. It’s a fairytale novella about no-longer-in-love married royals falling in love on an enchanted road trip.
Claudia: Oh gosh, I DNF’ed so may books over the last two weeks, and I am (or used to be) a completionist, if that’s a word! I’m reading Someone to Romance by Mary Balogh, which is coming out in a few months, and I think this one gelled as I am a quarter of the way past. I’m a Balogh fan (loved our recent guest post about her books) and it has been lovely to spend the last couple of evenings in the English countryside circa 1818, where the riskiest thing to do is to play a piano duet with a near stranger.
Elyse: I just started a Heart of Blood and Ashes by Milla Vane.
Sarah: I have a guest review for that book – Crystal really liked it!
Elyse: It’s very immersive. A really great combo of epic fantasy and romance.
Aarya: I have never read a Meljean Brook book and I need to change that.
(Vane being a pseudonym for Brook.)
Elyse: It’s very nostalgic for me because when I was too young to have a summer job I would spent my summer lounging and reading epic fantasy novels from the library.
Shana: I just reread Once Ghosted, Twice Shy by Alyssa Cole. I shouldn’t like this novella as much as I do, it’s a second chance romance mostly set in one day, Before Sunrise-style, and it has a ton of flashbacks. I usually hate both of those things. And yet, I love those pining, proud, and tender girls so much that I can easily ignore the voice saying, don’t you hate this? And the New York City setting is basically a character, and it made me miss it. (edited)
I also just started Girl Gone Viral by Alisha Rai, which I borrowed from Carrie.
Ok. Wait, can I just say that I think the beautiful cover of Once Ghosted, Twice Shy should be a poster that I can purchase for my wall? It that weird?
Sarah: IIRC, the couple is a couple in real life and you can see how much they like each other in the photo.
Amanda: I firmly believe romance covers should have print options. For a while, sourcebooks was doing little posters of their covers as part of ARC mailings. I have two of them framed and then a giant Jaci Burton cover courtesy of Berkley.
Aarya: I have a ridiculous fantasy that one day I’m going to own this beautiful beach house (or cabin in the snowy mountains, I’m not choosy) and there’s going to be this library with massive floor-to-wall windows and bookshelves. One wall will display a collage of pages from my favorite romance novels (like, the exact scene or quote I love) and another wall will have a collage of my favorite romance novel covers). Also, I want a chaise lounge.
My contribution to the conversation is that I, too, would like a print option for romance covers so I can make my fantasy collage.
Tara: I really liked Once Ghosted, Twice Shy too! I thought it was structured really well, weaving their first time at love with their second time.
I’m still bouncing around between a bunch of books because I can never sit and just read through nonfiction from beginning to end. So I’m still reading some of the ones I’ve mentioned previously and I’ve also started reading Winners Take All by Anand Giridharadas. He talks about the idea of rich people and companies changing the world and solving all of its problems, and how letting them lead the charge is problematic because actually solving problems would mean dismantling the systems that gave them the power and wealth that they have. It’s a frustrating read, but very good, and especially interesting to read right now as companies are making their big donations.
On a much more fun note, I just finished The Adventurers by Bryce Oakley. It’s a really cute and funny age gap, f/f romance. The angst is super low, so it was a nice escape for a couple of days.
Susan: Claudia, I’m in a similar boat! I keep picking things up and putting them down because either I can’t focus or because what I want is “the exact degree of pining and unspoken feelings that The Untamed has” and nothing’s hitting that for me.
I’m trying going hard into other genres to see if that fixes it, so I’m reading volume three of The Way of the Househusband, a comedy manga about a former yakuza who’s now retired to be a househusband and keeps approaching hazards (instagram rivals, roaches, pushy salesmen) as though they were rival gangs.
Maya: The Way of the Househusband sounds fun!! I spent the weekend reading Get a Life, Chloe Brown and Take a Hint, Dani Brown both by Talia Hibbert and I LOOOOOOOOOVED them. Kiki did an amazing review for Get a Life, Chloe Brown. Take a Hint has a fake relationship/friends to lovers between a Black bisexual PhD candidate and a former rugby player turned security guard who also runs a nonprofit for boys that teaches them how to express their feelings. Expect a squee-filled review soon!
EllenM: I am in major jumping-around-between books mode, but I think i’ve settled in to FINALLY continuing the Inheritance Trilogy by NK Jemisin—read the first book in college and really enjoyed it, have owned the omnibus forever and am pretty hooked again after including it in my most recent session of book-nibbling.
I also just devoured the first volume of 10 Dance, ( A | BN ) an m/m romance manga series about 2 ballroom dance champions in different styles. It’s superrrrr angsty and I love it and I think I need to order the rest of the series from the comic book shop stat.
Catherine: Like a lot of people, I’ve been bouncing between books, but I picked up Julie Anne Long’s What I Did for a Duke yesterday ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), to see if it fit the Rec League we are working on. And then it kind of stuck so I am having a lovely reread.
Also, the Hugo Award voter pack is out, so we are reading the novelettes aloud to each other this week. For He Can Creep, by Siobhan Carroll, is a delight if you like cats (and more so if you like 18th century poetry, but liking cats is enough). It’s about Jeoffry fighting the devil to save his human, and it is very, very cat. It’s available for free here.
(Not sure if a content warning is required because cats are injured in this book, while fighting the devil, but they are ultimately triumphant.)
Carrie: I just started reading War and Peace – if you read one chapter a day you finish in a year, or so I’m told! Also just finished This is How You Lose the Time War, which I loved despite being a little too stressed an loopy to give it my proper attention and consequently I’m not sure what happened. I’ve heard it’s a joy to re-read and I can totally picture that.
Maya: Lol, when I used to work with incarcerated people, I would read books with my clients and we would talk about them together. One client was really hyped on reading War and Peace and I was like noooooooooooooo, ok.
Carrie: One chapter a day is all I’m good for but thank goodness they are tiny short chapters.
Maya: I’m so impressed, I would not have the strength.
Carrie: I love this article on This is How you Lose the Time War.
Catherine: Oh gosh, I read War and Peace of my own volition in year ten because I was going through a Really Big Books phase. And I think I was affronted because my English teacher told me I wouldn’t like it or understand it. Red rag to a bull, really, and I suspect my English teacher knew it.
All I remember is that I quite liked it, but was unhappy with the way the women were treated. I suspect if even fifteen year old Catherine’s budding feminist sensibilities were outraged, 44 year old Catherine would not be pleased with a reread… I did enjoy the weird numerology bit about Napoleon being the Great Beast of the Revelation, though, so you have that to look forward to.
Elyse: Update: I stayed up all night reading A Heart of Blood and Ashes and it was soooooo good. I also need all of the coffees
What have you been reading?
Going through a massive DNF spell at the moment. I’m not a completionist, I will stop reading a book of it isn’t doing anything for me. I keep thinking I want to read a paranormal romance but then I stop reading halfway through. I’m hoping it’s just a phase in going through and I’ll be reading again soon. The only book I’m on at present is in listening to Bricking it by Nick Spalding, I’ve read it before so I know how it ends.
My reading is happening in spurts, nothing for 5 days then bam, 4 books in 2 days, then nothing again. I think some of that is that most of my TBR is contemporary romance and it’s hard for me to want to pick any of that up right now and some is just *waves hands* everything. But my brother is letting me use his library card so I have access to another library’s ebooks and that is fantastic. And, my brother’s library had the extremely elusive ebook Hot as Hades by Alisha Rai!!!
-Hot as Hades was definitely an early Rai book, I enjoyed it but it was short (99 pages) and lacked the depth I appreciate so much in her books.
-Bound to Submit and Mastering Her Senses by Laura Kaye were both great erotic romance reads. Both featured heroines with PTSD (not from sexual assault) and the heroine in Bound to Submit had a prosthetic arm. The books did a great job at being erotic romances I think, the sex was necessary to the character development but it wasn’t all sex. Highly recommend.
-Personal Geography by Tamsen Parker wasn’t my favorite. I wanted more sex and more scenes of the characters together. I felt like there was a lot of showing what a hardass the heroine is in her everyday life, but then more telling and less showing about the relationship between the main characters. And SPOILER: It ends on a cliff hanger, couple is split up but the hero has been in a bad accident. I don’t love external circumstances bringing the characters back together and wasn’t invested enough to pick up the next book.
-Blue Room VIPs by Emily Ryan Davis was an impulse purchase after seeing it on this weeks HABO. It was a 3 book digital box set and I’d be interested in seeing how the author’s writing has changed/improved since it came out (in 2014), but I wasn’t really impressed. The first story was the one mentioned in the HABO post and it was meh. There was a suspense subplot that really didn’t need to be in there and the romance seemed to be more about kink than respecting each other and it was mentioned multiple times that the hero’s sister was too young and naive to live on her own at 23 which had me rolling my eyes a lot. The second book seemed to be entirely about kink, and extreme kink at that, with pretty much no relationship building. When it starts the main characters have been hooking up regularly, but both really want consensual non consent play and neither wants to admit it. Then the third story was the sister from the first book and an older BDSM club owner. They had sex in an airplane bathroom, were both in the wedding party for the couple from the first book, and the entire story was basically him saying the heroine didn’t understand what she wanted and didn’t know enough to be with him and was too naive. The second and third book made it clear to me that if a book has more internalized shame or “no we can’t do this” than positive interactions I’m not going to like the book at all. I did appreciate that in the first book the heroine already knew she was a sub and was familiar with the club scene so it wasn’t the Big Bad Dominant introducing her to a brand new world.
That was all the erotic romance I read, which seems to work for me even when contemporary doesn’t. Other than that I was all about the mysteries.
-The Guest List by Lucy Foley was very enjoyable. I wasn’t super surprised by most of the twists, but it was a great example of weaving a story together. Definitely recommend it.
-They All Fall Down by Rachel Howzell Hall was good but had me conflicted. A group of strangers is invited to an isolated island retreat but then they start dying one by one. The narrator is unreliable and unlikable, she’s narcissistic and has done some pretty awful things, but there are definitely times when I got where she was coming from. The book stuck with me, I’m still thinking about it weeks later.
-The Elouise Norton series by Rachel Howzell Hall was very good. I felt uneasy about trying a cop series with everything, but the protagonist being a Black woman who was aware of issues in the system made things a little better I think. Also, the series is only 4 books long and I felt like it ended really well. I’m satisfied with what I got.
-Black Water Rising by Attica Locke was one of those books where I know it is a Good Book, but it wasn’t for me. I don’t do very well with books that involve any sort of political intrigue, but it was well written and even though I put it down partway through bc that’s not my subgenre, I couldn’t resist finishing it to see what happened.
I also read The AI Who Loved Me by Alyssa Cole. I bought the audiobook when it first came out, but I just can’t with audiobooks, nothing sticks. Being able to read it was fantastic though, I loved it and would like to read several more books set in the same world. I can see how it would work Really Well as an audiobook, I just prefer print.
And I read all of Simone St. James’ books, with The Broken Girls being my favorite of the bunch. All were kind of spooky and had paranormal elements, but I think James’ earlier works weren’t as strong in the mystery department as her later ones.
I think overall this month was a good reminder that authors often grow so I shouldn’t judge an author based solely on their debut if it doesn’t wow me.
Leah On The Offbeat- Becky Albertalli
Albertalli’s books are generally fairly light and fun. I enjoyed this f/f outing, though stories where big drama happens at prom aren’t exactly my thing. Also I thought it was rather upsetting that one of the White straight cis male characters was displaying increasingly erratic and dangerous behavior throughout the book, to the point that I thought other characters might actually be in danger, and yet in the epilogue it was written off with “he got a new girlfriend, he’s good now.” Left a very bad taste in my mouth.
Melissa Albert- The Hazel Wood
I’m not actually finished with this one yet, but I’m dropping it in this WAYR because it’s the first book in months where the prose has actually grabbed me and made me excited to get back to reading. I’ve been bouncing around books and dropping them and just generally not loving reading since March or so, but this one has caught me. Hope it keeps working for me!
Other than that….lots and lots of fanfic. To the point that I actually made an A03 account to organize it. I haven’t had a fanfiction website account in like 18 years. But hey, guess it’s what my brain really needs these days.
The War and Peace discussion reminds me of how I read the unabridged version of Les Miserable *twice* in high school, cause I thought that was the sort of thing that was going to impress people. (It really, really did not. I was bad at being a teenager lol).
The October Man by Ben Aaronovich: Set in the Rivers of London world but introducing Tobias Winter and set in Germany. Peter and the rest don’t make an appearance. Aaronovich does a good job in differentiating between the characters and it’s a great world-build.
Aurora Blazing by Jessie Mihalik: Speaking of great world-building, I love the setting in these books.
Cold Days by Jim Butcher: I’m re-reading the last couple of books to prep for the new one!
Dying Light in Corduba by Lindsey Davis: Next in the Falco series. Calm mysteries. They’re my wind-down reading before sleep.
@Heather M, I read THE HAZEL WOOD in one weekend, I enjoyed it that much. I thought it was a very interesting and intriguing take on fairy takes and being in one. I really enjoyed it.
I had been doing well with my reading in 2020 despite the craziness of the pandemic and the financial fallout and all the stress that accompanied those incidents. I managed to keep to a strict schedule and get through lots of books. But now with video after video of racism and the protests and the govt.’s threats of military action against Americans — all in the month of June — I’m struggling to concentrate and I’ve had a few nights of not sleeping. I’m just about ready to write the month off for leisure reading. Having said that I’m still trying to read Talia Hibbert’s charming and funny _Take a Hint, Dani Brown_ and deeply regret that I’m struggling to give this novel the due it deserves. It’s really good and I know I’ll recommend it once I finish. I sympathize greatly with any author releasing new books right now.
Read Nora Roberts’ latest standalone, Hideaway. Not in the top drawer, but entertaining, enjoyable and continuing her admirable recent interest in the long-term effects of trauma, and thus in finding the drama needed for romantic suspense from less obviously attention grabbing events. A little weird to read about what used to be normal (pre-COVID) life, and to see competent, caring law enforcement professionals – in stark contrast to what we see everyday from people’s smartphones, but that’s reality’s fault, not Roberts’.
In a stronger nod to current reality, am halfway through White Fragility, which I strongly recommend, with Ibram X Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist following next.
Breaking up the hard nonfiction with The Queen’s Secret, which started out annoyingly inept and silly, but is improving, though the author is unfortunately much better at telling than showing. But I’m interested enough to finish it, if not to keep it. Too bad. The Queen Mum’s life would make a fab novel in the hands of a skilled writer.
I’m currently reading “Strange Weather in Tokyo” by Hiromi Kawakami. It’s a love story between a woman in her late 30s and her former Japanese teacher who is somewhere in his 60s or 70s. It’s a short book and often feels like diary entries but I can already feel the heartbreak coming.
Other than that I’m currently listening to the audiobook of “Beach Read” by Emily Henry. I’m usually not much of a contemporary reader but it seems to work for me with audiobooks.
I’m not sure what is wrong with me this morning, but my comments have been eaten multiple times. It’s definitely me, not the website. Now I’m trying to just cut and paste my reading spreadsheet, so sorry if this is wonky.
In the great category
WHITE FRAGILITY Robin DiAngelo
THICK Tressie McMillan Cottom
BEACH READ Emily Henry
In the okay category
THE FUTURE OF US Jay Asher/Carolyn Mackler
MURDER AT MENA HOUSE Erica Ruth Neubauer
THE ART OF SHOWING UP Rachel Wilkerson Miller
THE VIRGIN AND THE ROGUE Sophie Jordan
SAY YES TO THE DUKE Eloisa James
In the “I had to re-read these even though I never re-read things” category (and they were even better)
WELL MET Jen Deluca
HOW TO DO NOTHING: RESISTING THE ATTENTION ECONOMY Jenny Odell
The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow is a wonderful read for lovers of Pride and Prejudice. If you have ever imagined lifting the curtain on the backstory of a beloved literary character, you will be amazed at what Ms. Hadlow does with Mary Bennett and her world. Movie version fans will still enjoy this read.
I keep a list going specifically for Whatcha Reading, and I had to go to the prior post to make sure I didn’t already cover what’s on the list on my desk. Nope. This is current. Every half month is just 74 years long now.
DNF’d Brandon Sanderson’s WAY OF KINGS. There were two plot lines, and my reaction every time one returned was UUUUUUGH. Life is too short for half-hated doorstoppers.
GHOST MONEY by Stephen Blackmoore. Book 5 in a series about Eric Carter, necromancer, so obviously I like something to get this far. By the end, however, it struck me that the protagonist is an “iconic” character who never learns, never grows, never changes, and I’ve reached my limit of how often I can watch him respond the same way to similar situations (which occur because he keeps responding the same way to similar situations). That’s fine when I’m binge-watching a Jason Statham movie franchise, but I need a sense of progress to make a book series satisfying.
THE TWISTED ONES by T. Kingfisher. Folksy horror. I thought some things were creepy, but the only fear-in-my-chest moment was when the dog ran off. THAT BEING SAID, I’ve been known to fall asleep during horror movies, so I’m a terrible yardstick and my “creepy” might scare the pee out of someone else. A lot of horror relies on the protagonist being alone or with antagonistic companions (emotionally alone), so it was nice to see one who was believed and supported by friends every step of the way.
THE LIGHT BRIGADE by Kameron Hurley. While not “scary,” this did have me internally screaming the whole time. Corporations have carved the world into territories and are now the governments rather than merely bribing governments to serve corporate interests. Wars are super profitable, per usual. They have the technology to beam ground forces right into battle, but some people getting beamed go slippery in time. The protagonist is one such person and sees everything at varying stages of going to hell, and she’s trying to get back to her “first” mission, of which she has no memory, to see if there’s anything she can do differently to avert *gestures at every damn thing*.
THE MURDERS OF MOLLY SOUTHBOURNE by Tade Thompson. A novella about a young woman whose blood (yes, even menstrual), if not properly destroyed, spawns murderous clones of her, which she has to fight, kill, and dispose of without attracting attention to the whole blood-clone-murder issue. If somebody’s not making this into a movie, they should be.
Currently reading WE SET THE DARK ON FIRE by Tehlor Kay Mejia. Privileged men in this country get two wives (in crass terms, a brain and a breeder). The protagonist is married off from wife-training school, along with her childhood rival, to a man with presidential aspirations, and she’s being blackmailed to spy on him by rebels who know she hails from the wrong side of the wall. This has been in the TBR pile for so long, I had no idea what it was by the time I opened it, and now I’m just whispering “please be gay, please be gay” at it because the husband is trash and the rebel guy (mandatory typecasting as sexily dangerous) is also trash and I’ve BEEN sick of characters who have multiple options picking obvious trash.
I’m reading and enjoying CHAOS REIGNING by Jessie Mihalik. I hope she writes more books in her Consortium Rebellion series.
I’m also looking forward to reading ROYAL BASTARD by Avery Flynn; ISLAND AFFAIR by Priscilla Oliveras; and THE BRIDGE KINGDOM by Danielle Jensen, among many others. My TBR pile has exploded in recent weeks.
Unlike SOME people (who shall remain nameless for the benefit of my blood pressure if nothing else), I have actually read the Bible—rather than using it as a prop in a disgraceful photo op—and the verse I keep coming back to is from Habakkuk 1:4: “Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.” But take heart, Bitches—remember, “This too shall pass.”
And now, books—
One of the reasons I no longer read much historical romance is that the characters in so many HRs have anachronistically contemporary attitudes toward social/cultural situations: divorces, children born out of wedlock, couples living together without being married, men marrying their mistresses—so few recent HRs contain even the slightest suggestion that any of these situations could have resulted in social ostracism (or worse) for the couple, especially the woman, involved; not to mention what might happen to someone who wanted to love and live openly with a person of their own gender. So I very much appreciated the emotionally-accurate reflection of 19th-century attitudes in Aster Glenn Gray’s THE THREEFOLD TIE, a sensitively-written novella set in New York State after the Civil War. The story involves two former Union Soldiers, a printer and an artist, who were once lovers, and the printer’s wife—a woman the artist also falls in love with—and how the three of them decide to embark upon a “complex marriage.” While it contains flashbacks to earlier times, the true action of THE THREEFOLD TIE occurs over a few days when the artist arrives for his annual visit to his married friends and a spontaneous kiss leads to all three of the characters having to confront their feelings for each other and negotiate how they intend to move forward. These people might be somewhat ahead of their time, but they are also definitely part of it, so it takes much conversation (I loved how the characters talked—and listened—to each other) before they are able to determine what their future path shall be. I recommend THE THREEFOLD TIE for the quiet way its shows how cultural shifts frequently begin as personal decisions of the heart.
Caitlin Crews’s latest HP, CLAIMED IN THE ITALIAN’S CASTLE, is a retelling of the Bluebeard legend. It is so steeped in the trappings of dark fairy tales—crumbling chateau, isolated fortress castle, rumors of missing/dead wives, dark passageways, a forbidden room—that references to flying to Ibiza or being a social media influencer left me momentarily surprised: Oh, that’s right, this is set in the 21st century. Crews’s take on the legend is both sexy and sad. A young woman (very much a Crews heroine: physically innocent, but emotionally mature and aware) marries a wealthy man so that her family’s dilapidated home and dire finances can be restored. The woman is more curious than concerned about her new husband, especially when the spark of passion between them is so strong. But what exactly happened to the hero’s previous six wives? And will the heroine be able to resist opening the door to the one room in his ancestral home that has been designated off-limits? There’s an overriding gothic sensibility to CLAIMED IN THE ITALIAN’S CASTLE (even down to the dour housekeeper, a Mrs. Danvers manque), that setting the story in contemporary times and making it fit the HP parameters seem almost a shame. I’d love to see Crews try her hand at an actual historical gothic—based on CLAIMED IN THE ITALIAN’S CASTLE, I’m sure it would be excellent.
Karina Halle’s LOVEWRECKED was a bit “fluffier” than some of her previous books (such as NORDIC KING, my angsty-melancholy favorite of hers), but I found myself carried along with the story: a woman, who has recently lost both job and boyfriend, travels to New Zealand (obviously in the pre-covid “have passport, will travel” days) for her sister’s wedding, where she continually butts heads with the sexy, half-Maori best man. The book’s blurb makes it seem like it’s going to be antagonists-to-lovers, but it’s more opposites-attract with enforced proximity thrown in for good measure. The story really gets going when the hero offers to sail the newlyweds to Fiji on his boat and the heroine comes along to help. During a storm, the boat runs aground on an island that houses an abandoned scientific research station. Fortunately, the castaways have access to water, food, shelter, and a satellite phone, so their survival and ultimate rescue is never in doubt; but the logistics of getting to the island mean that rescue cannot be arranged for several weeks. Sexual tension between the bright & bouncy heroine and the quiet, self-contained hero runs high: when the heroine’s water-tight suitcase, containing alcohol and honey (purchased as gifts), washes up on the shore, cue the bow-chicka-bow-wow music. Of course, before the HEA, both h&h have issues to overcome: the hero has yet to fully process his grief from a tragic death that occurred in his teen years, and the heroine and her sister have to finally confront the ways in which unequal parental treatment has affected their adult relationship. Key quote: “Better to become than just be.” A fun read with a serious center. (In the book’s Acknowledgments, Halle writes frankly about having to put aside the heavier-themed book she had been working on before the pandemic and focus on something a little lighter with LOVESWEPT. This is the first book I’ve read where the author addresses how what’s going on in our world right now has affected her writing, but I’m sure it won’t be the last.)
Lynn Turner’s very good PAS DE DEUX is almost as much as love letter to dance (especially ballet) as it is about the romance between a prima ballerina and a dancer/choreographer who are working together on a Hamilton-esque Broadway show. Love of dance permeates the story, but I’ve rarely read a book where the demands of dance were laid out right alongside the joys: the heroine accepts her on-going bloody toes, muscle strains, and bruises because, for her, the alternative of not dancing is inconceivable. As the hero says at one point, “It’s hard, trying to explain to someone who doesn’t dance, why you love something that hurts you.” This is also an interracial and intercultural romance: the heroine is Black, born in America but raised primary in France by her Franco-Tunisian mother; the hero is anglo, but was adopted from foster care by a close-knit Puerto Rican family, whose boisterous members provide continual commentary on the developing romance. Unlike some interracial romances, where the only indication of the heroine’s race is a reference to her skin tone or hair, Turner provides interesting details that highlight differences between the couple—for example, the first time the heroine spends the night with the hero, the next morning she is without her shower cap to prevent her hair from getting wet so resorts to using a plastic bag to cover her hair. The heroine also speaks frankly about why she feels the need to always be perfect in her dancing and why certain roles have been denied her despite her obvious dancing genius. (Also, cw/tw for sexual abuse the hero suffered in foster care. It is not described in detail, but it does have bearing on some of the hero’s behavior, especially regarding food.) Recommended—even if, like me, you know next-to-nothing about ballet.
After loving Winter Renshaw’s THE BEST MAN last month, I tried a couple more of her books. I couldn’t get into P.S. I DARE YOU where the heroine came across as far too young and too easily flustered to have acquired her reputation for being a super-efficient PA. However, I thoroughly enjoyed THE CRUELEST STRANGER which (like THE BEST MAN) examines how chance and coincidence affect the course of our lives. The heroine is still grieving the loss of her fiancé a year ago when she allows a coworker to set her up on a blind date. When she arrives for the date, she mistakenly approaches the wrong man, who is, in turn, very rude to her (the hero really is a jerk for the first part of the book, but don’t give up). Through a series of chance encounters (and a couple of incredible coincidences that almost push the book into Aly Martinez territory), the hero and heroine gradually fall in love—but there is angst and heartache ahead, especially where the hero’s wealthy, utterly dysfunctional family is concerned. Although I didn’t like it quite as much as THE BEST MAN (one of my favorite books of 2020, so far), I still recommend THE CRUELEST STRANGER, especially for the way Renshaw makes the heroine sweet and sincere without making her insipid or Pollyanna-ish.
I was unfamiliar with Freya Barker when I decided to read A CHANGE IN TIDE and I liked it very much. It’s a quiet, deliberately-paced romance between a former midwife in her early-forties and a professional hockey player a few years younger who moves into the lakeside home next to her cabin in the Ontario woods. The heroine has suffered for years from agoraphobia, with debilitating anxiety and panic attacks; she enjoys the quiet, almost isolated life she has made for herself. (I should stress that the heroine sees a therapist regularly. This is not a book that suggests lurve is all you need to overcome mental-health issues.) The hero is at a crossroads: his single-mom sister and baby nephew are living with him, a severe knee injury has ended his playing career, and he’s not sure about accepting the offer of a coaching position with an NHL team. There’s a nice rhythm to the way the h&h’s lives gradually become intertwined. Barker’s style reminded me in a way of Zoe York’s Pine Harbour books: the characters are decent, emotionally-mature people who are open to discussing conflicts and reaching compromises. Now I’m looking forward to reading more of Barker’s work. If you’re looking for a placid—but definitely not saccharine—read, A CHANGE IN TIDE would be a good choice.
The neuro-atypical hero of Jackie Ashenden’s BAD BOSS says of himself, “I didn’t understand the jokes people made and I often had the sense that there were unspoken discussions being had that I wasn’t part of, discussions everyone else could understand.” He is very successful in his job as an investor, but very uncomfortable in social situations—so he leaves all of that to his uber-competent assistant (who happens to be the sister of his business partner). While this is very much a “friend’s sibling” and “employee/boss” romance, I thought Ashenden did a good job of showing the hero’s confusion in the face of his assistant’s baffling (to him) emotional behavior after they share a kiss. Eventually, the couple do more than kiss, but the hero’s inability to read social/emotional cues causes distress to both of them. I wondered if the heroine’s obvious need for emotional reciprocity would make it impossible for her to be completely happy with a man who has as much difficulty with interpersonal relationships as the hero—and this made their HEA somewhat hard to swallow. [One other thing about the story really bugged me: there is a plot point involving the hero’s childhood. His foster father would use him to count cards in casinos in Las Vegas. This absolutely would not have happened; there’s no way a child would have been permitted to sit at the gambling tables in a casino. Knowing this important story element was utterly unrealistic took away from my interest in the rest of the story.]
When I started Mia Sheridan’s SEEK, I was afraid the heroine was going to be TSTL. Her fiancé left on a business trip to Miami and never returned. After some investigation, she discovers her fiancé never went to Miami, but went to Colombia instead. She hires a Colombian-American mercenary to take her to where she believes her fiancé is—in a earthquake-ravaged section on the Caribbean coast of the country. I asked myself, why would she do this? Apparently, the soldier-for-hire hero thinks the same thing—there aren’t too many reasons for a man to lie about going on a business trip and ending up in South American and none of those reasons are good. But as the h&h travel further into the country, more of the heroine’s and the hero’s backstories are revealed and their motivations become more understandable—each, in their own ways, has a need to protect and help others. As the hero notes, “Reality could be so different than perception.” I ended up enjoying SEEK much more than its initial set-up led me to believe I would—but cw/tw for the gang-rape of a teenager (we don’t see the act itself, but the aftermath) and flashbacks to abusive behavior toward children and dogs. Recommended—but I also have to deduct points for no discussion of birth control, health status, or condom use during the sex scenes.
After Natasha Knight’s DESCENT and Jackie Ashenden’s THE SPANIARD’S WEDDING REVENGE from earlier this year, the myth of Hades and Persephone is being used as the symbolic backdrop in yet another romance, Ava Harrison’s CORRUPT KINGDOM, where a ruthless crime boss kidnaps a young woman—ostensibly to keep her safe from an even worse villain—and installs her in a big empty house on a remote island with only a large dog (named Cerberus, natch) for company. The heroine sees the hero and his criminal underworld as Hades; she’s attracted to him, but spunky enough to keep trying to find a way of out her predicament. You know how these stories go and you either like them or you don’t. CORRUPT KINGDOM is an acceptable enough dark crime romance, but unless you’re an Ava Harrison completist, you’re fine giving this one a pass.
NON-ROMANCE
Tanen Jones’s incredibly well-paced psychological suspense novel, THE BETTER LIAR, is about secrets—what people will do to uncover them and what they’ll do to keep them hidden. Leslie is desperate to claim her inheritance from her recently deceased father, but can’t do so without her sister Robin—who she hasn’t seen in ten years. On the spur of the moment, Leslie asks Mary—a woman she meets in Vegas and barely knows—to impersonate Robin, promising Mary that she can have Robin’s half of the inheritance money for doing so. So Mary accompanies Leslie to Albuquerque, staying in the guest room of the house Leslie shares with her husband, Dave, while they wait for the money to be released. Meanwhile, the sharp-eyed and cunning Mary is soon discovering all sorts of things about Leslie, about Dave, and even about Robin. Why does she need that information—and what will she do with it? I was totally caught up in this story of families, sisters, children, and how—for better or worse—our childhoods remain with us forever. (CW/TW: depression; suicide of a character in the past.)
Although completely different in tone, style, and plot, Samantha Downing’s MY LOVELY WIFE reminded me in an oblique way of Oyinkan Braithwaite’s MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER in that both books examine what happens when enabling becomes complicity. MY LOVELY WIFE is the story of a married couple in their late thirties—she’s a realtor, he’s the tennis pro at the country club in the upscale Florida community where they live—who became killers, initially by accident, and then with much more deliberation. The story is narrated by the husband (I was halfway through the book before I realized that, like the narrator of REBECCA, we do not know his name) and he is less an unreliable narrator than a naive one, parceling out pieces of information interspersed with descriptions of a busy family life with two teenaged children. It seems obvious (to the reader, not to the narrator) that he does not realize when he needs to pay closer attention to things that are happening around him. The meticulous planning required to carry out a murder seems to be a bonding experience for husband & wife, but when some of the “collateral damage” of the murders begins to affect the couple’s children and people in their social circle, the husband starts having second thoughts about what they are doing. A twisty and tightly-plotted novel which, given its subject matter, is light on gore and violence.
DNF
I had to DNF Suzanne Wright’s shifter romance, WHEN HE’S DARK. It’s the first book of a new series, so I expected the usual “first book” introduction of secondary characters along with their backstories; what I didn’t expect was Wright’s clunky way of doing it. While there are ways to present expositional information organically through character interactions, this did not happen in WHEN HE’S DARK. Instead, every time a new character showed up, all action came to a screeching halt to allow a tedious info-dump of exposition. Well past the 20% point of the book, characters were still being introduced in this choppy and confusing fashion. Meanwhile, the stop-and-start narrative provided no opportunity to get involved in the plot or in the dynamic between the two MCs: a female Pallas cat shifter and a male wolverine shifter. The book kept telling us about their “insane” sexual chemistry, but there wasn’t actually any textual evidence of it. All tell, no show. Way too many characters. Life’s too short. DNF.
WAYR! What a great way to start the weekend!
I had a weird few weeks of reading. Nothing that I loved or hated, but lots of stuff I hoped would get better, and didn’t quite. Reminds me of my long ago dating life. Maybe someone else will love them as I could not!
THE BLACKSMITH QUEEN G.A. Aiken – (B-) – I get why people liked this, and you may too — badass peasant/blacksmith woman and her amazing family taking on the world. It just didn’t have enough depth for me to work. The story is so big and dark, yet the worldbuilding is so cursory, and the characters are too able to deal with that darkness. We are also not given any time to know anyone, just action scene after action scene, to the point where I didn’t even quite buy the love story. Would have loved some time with the characters before everything exploded. Also, a personal peeve of mine — it’s one thing to have a plot moppet, but in this book the heroine was the oldest of about a dozen kids, most of whom were unnamed, and one was a nursing infant. I was the oldest of 6, so maybe it’s me, but babies in danger (like running near a swimming pool) just give me way too much angst in real life to dismiss this cavalierly. Especially an unnamed crew of toddlers and babies. I kept wanting to count them.
MAGIC AND A MARGARITA and DARK ARTS AND A DAIQUIRI by Annette Marie – (B-) – I like the main character and author’s voice, and I really liked the descriptions of working at a bar (AM clearly has real life experience, so shout out for that). Unfortunately, these books, similar to Blacksmith Queen, are not quite enough. After two books I feel like I know the characters the same amount as I did the first page of the first book. Also very light/non-existent worldbuilding. I also feel like the heroine and the author are keeping their options open, romance-wise, which is often smart IRL, but really boring to read about.
Again, I can see why others liked them, I was just disappointed.
HEARTACHE AND HOOFBEATS (read most of first four books) by Maz Maddox – (B-) – Again, love the concept (old Wild West town, shapeshifters that shift into mythical creatures, most main characters are LGBTAQ) but I needed more worldbuilding and time to develop the characters. The sexytimes were hot, however, which I appreciated. And I read two and parts of two more of these books, so there was something there for me, obviously.
Just so you know it wasn’t just me (I am very worried and sad about the world right now, so it’s partly me) I really liked the MURDERBOT novellas by Martha Wells. For all the reasons stated by others on this website, it is very soothing to have emotions held at arm’s length by the main character. The books suffer from some of the same flaws I have been complaining about (we could use more worldbuilding, and more development of the other characters) but because we are looking through the eyes of an AI, it makes sense that we don’t, so it doesn’t bother me. Looking forward to the novel.
Splurged and bought BOYFRIEND PROJECT (Farrah Rochon), MARRIAGE GAME (Sara Desai), and CONVENTIONALLY YOURS (Annabeth Albert) EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE NOT ON SALE BECAUSE I DESERVE IT, DAMMIT! Even if I don’t deserve it, I DON’T CARE! And I can’t wait to dig into everyone else’s recommendations. Thank you!
Hope you can give yourself a treat of books, a nap, a walk, or whatever you need in these fraught times!
I read Simone St James Sun Down Motel (Elyse’s review). And then I bought a copy to give as a gift.
I was so engrossed I screamed when my cat jumped up on the couch next to me
@Alexandra, I considered going to her back list, did you enjoy the other books enough to recommend?
Ruby Run (Tin Star Witches: The Witches of Ruby Gulch #3) by Sam Burns
m/m old western/paranormal: Augie inherits his aunt’s ranch, Griff is to escort him from the east coast to new Mexico (while they are being pursued by something trying to kill Augie)
I really enjoyed it and I would have jumped straight to the first in the series if they had all been written by the same author, but this is a shared universe with all new-to-me authors. I’m in a very weird headspace for reading right now and didn’t want to take that on.
I’m cleaning my hard drive so I’m going through my ‘read’ folders, specifically the books I marked as good and so good!!. I’m on the m/m romance folders and my taste changed A LOT in ten years. I’m sometimes left scratching my head, wondering how I could have liked such dross. I think I gave points to stories being completely out there, like an m/m story about an alien whose true form is a silver puddle and the villain is a pair of legs walking around without a torso o.0 (More Molten by Kira Stone).
Others stood the test of time like FORCE OF LAW by Jez Morrow. I bought Force of Law back in the day from Torquere and I wanted it on my kindle but I can’t find it on my country’s Amazon… I did find a review on the blog ‘Dear Author’ though: I didn’t expect anything of this book except that the excerpt intrigued me, so to discover a gem like this was a wonderful surprise. I love how you played with both the Cinderella fairytale and the old skool Harlequin Presents tropes and came up with something so powerful and good. My thoughts exactly! 😉
MUSCLING THROUGH by JL Merrow also was good on re-reading. The narrator is big and scary, but simple, so he doesn’t exactly understand the impact he has on others. He’s so sweet and he loves his partner so very much, even though he knows he’s not ‘good enough’ for him. He’s wrong of course and it’s very satisfying to read how they turn their entourage’s expectations on their ear.
Someone on this blog somewhere also recommended Maria Vale’s wolf trilogy so I tried it. It was good. The romance left me a bit cold – we don’t really connect with the character that is not the narrator, especially the heroine in the 2nd book – but the world building is so well done, I read through the books in a blink and had fun.
One of my favorite read this month was not romance though: THE UNLIKELY ESCAPE OF URIAH HEEP by H.G. Parry. This novel is all about readers. (How I love well written books about us!!) The main characters are two brothers and I’m a sucker for dysfunctional family that love each other. The ending is also very,very gratifying, with everyone settling down with a book to read 😀 It left me with the urge to read Dickens in the worst way.
Read:
THEN COMES SEDUCTION by Mary Balogh
I’ve been mentioning this book a lot lately on this site, so you’d think I absolutely love it, but honestly it was just okay. It was better than the first book in the series and I enjoyed the subversion of “ the bet” subplot , but otherwise the characters weren’t super interesting and the book ran a little long. If you like Balogh or bet plots you’ll like this book , but otherwise I’d skip it. There are definitely better Mary Balogh books out there.
MARRY IN SCARLET by Anne Gracie
This was another okay book, however I think was a case of it’s not the book it’s me. At the time I was more in the mood for fantasy than Regency romance, but I’d been looking forward to this particular book of Gracie’s for a long time, so I read and finished it. If you are in the mood for an ElizabethxDarcy-esque romance, a fun tomboyish heroine who loves animals and
found family shenanigans definitely pick this one up. It is a good, solid Anne Gracie book that I think I’ll enjoy more upon a future reread.
Reading
MEMORY OF FIRE by Callie Bates
This book is a sequel to a novel I read a couple months back called THE WAKING LAND. The series revolves around an 18th century based world with a fascinating magic system and sorcerers and sorceresses rising up against witch hunters and later an entire country. So if you’re in the mood for just burning everything to the ground pick these books up. They are unique stories that I highly recommend. I will warn though that all three have a different first person narrator ( all narrators are introduced in the first book though) which caught me off guard when I started the second book since I didn’t know the narrator would switch .
DNF
CONSUMING PASSIONS: LEISURE AND PLEASURE IN VICTORIAN BRITAIN by Judith Flanders.
This book is really more like a DNF for now because it is an interesting nonfiction book that I will finish eventually , but it is also quite dry, especially for Flanders. As a result it’s hard to just want to read it, particularly since I’m taking a break from writing historical fiction at the moment. I can really only recommend it if you need it for research or are just that interested in the Victorian era.
Hey @Heather M and @Caro – the 2and book in Melissa Albert’s Hazel Wood series is on sal ed today, $2.99. I actually haven’t started the first one yet but grabbed the 2nd anyway based on probabilities.
The GBPL has really been coming through for me. Did I mention they reopened the drive thru?
In a fit of nostalgia, I picked up Afer Sundown by Linda Howard with Linda JOnes. I must say, that while it still didn’t grab me like her older books, it was an improvement over more recent books. A solid C+ because there were still elements of OCD level detail, but I liked the curmudgeonly anti-social hero.
FINALLY read Ancillary Justice, and am hooked. Unfortunatly, I have so many books that I’m next up on on reserve list, I’m putting off the next book for fear of the conundrum so many choices will present if they all come through at once. Which has happened. Chase in point, the last pick up netted this embarrassment riches from the GBPL:
Pride, Prejudice & Other Flavors from Sonali Dev. more family drama than romance.
Close Up, the latest from Amanda Quick/JAK. She’s a photographer making ends meet with crime scene photos while trying to break into art photography; he’s a somewhat psychic PI. It was yummy. After all these years there’s a formula to her books, which luckily works for me, but this one was especially engrossing.
The Flat Share lived up to all the rave reviews. It was delightful in every way. One of those books where the main characters seem to have exactly what the other needs to fix things in their lives just when they need fixing. He has a patient who knits, she has a friend who’s an attorney, etc. I sometimes find that confluence of coincidence eyerolling, but the writing was just so good I was able to go with the flow.
I was a little hesitant about Alisha Rai’s Girl Gone Viral. I did not find the previous book, The Right Swipe as enjoyable as others, but it is Alisha Rai, so I bit and was well rewarded. Loved the characters, the underlying messages about mental health, self care and family (found and blood). So, I’m back on board with this series.
I started Christina Lauren’s The Honey Don’t List this morning and had to force myself to put it down. The weather is beautiful, and I need to make the biweekly trip to the grocery store… I shall reward myself with wine and chapters on the patio, if I get my chores done. I’m worried about doormat issues with one character. It seems apparent that she’s the actual creative force behind the home dec stars she works for, and I hope she rescues herself from this rather than being rescued.
Then I have to decide between continuing the contemporary binge with You Deserve Each Other or switching it up with The Age of Witches. Decisions, decisions.
Amazing:
Jane Casey’s THE BURNING (crime series, where have you been all my life?)
Elizabeth Bear’s ANCESTRAL NIGHT (space opera FTW)
Really Enjoyed:
Kelly Jamieson’s PLAY TO WIN (gotta love big dysfunctional families)
Lawrence Wright’s END OF OCTOBER (the pandemic’s worse than you think)
Kirk Wallace Johnson’s THE FEATHER THIEF (fascinating non-fiction)
Blake Crouch’s RECURSION (mind-bending sci-fi thriller)
Jasmine Guillory’s THE PROPOSAL (just what I needed)
Salman Rushdie’s QUICHOTTE (brilliant, but ask me no questions)
OK:
J. R. Ward’s THE SINNER (yes, I know)
Reading:
L. Penelope’s SONG OF BLOOD AND STONE (great so far)
@Heather C- I wholeheartedly recommend The Broken Girls, but for the others I’d recommend getting them from the library rather than buying them. They’re completely historical rather than the dual timeline set up and they’re really good, but not so great that I’d reread them.
I just finished GET A LIFE, CHLOE BROWN the other day and loved it–can’t wait for Dani! I definitely want to read WAY OF THE HOUSEHUSBAND, too. I was loving 10 DANCE, but the side characters’ occasional casual ethnic stereotyping of the leads was amplified in Volume 5, when their discussion of a Black dancer made me queasy. (He apparently is from another series, which I should probably find at a library to see if it’s not similarly icky, but I don’t know.) I’m hoping it’s just very clunky translation and the endnotes’ mention of him as “the intelligent Black dancer” aren’t loaded with implications. (Maybe someone will call their BS in the Volume 6 finale? God, I hope so.)
On to happier things! Jackie Lau’s MR. HOTSHOT CEO was my favorite of hers so far, with a great couple. Julian is a salt of the earth type underneath his moneyed exterior, and Courtney’s effervescence makes her even more sympathetic as she battles her depression. (Lau handles the mental health aspects really well, and the tonal shifts are very subtle and not overwhelming.)
This month I especially loved EAT UP! by Ruby Tandoh, a memoir/manifesto with recipes that is EVERYTHING. It’s a lighthearted paean to life and food, an outspoken and joyful expression of her bicultural BIPOC and queer pride, a hard-won tale of body positivity (Tandoh is an eating disorder survivor, and is adamant that we should dismantle all the messages of shame around food, eating, and weight), and ever so much more. (She even discusses being a GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW contestant, though perhaps not as lengthily as some would like.) It feels like the perfect antidote to so many things right now. I haven’t read her FLAVOUR yet, but I plan to!
I just finished MAGIC LESSONS by Alice Hoffman for review – I didn’t really like the way it messed with Maria Owens’ backstory is all I’ll say.
I haven’t wandered into the Watcha Reading thread in a long time. But it’s making me happy today. Thanks everyone for your contributions!
When the pandemic began I had a terrible time reading. It was like pulling teeth to read a chapter. But I gritted my way through and now I am back to my pre-COVID reading habits.
Great audiobooks via Audible Escape:
Wanderlust by Lauren Blakely
Yes, the story was only semi-compelling but damn, Richard Armitage was a salve to listen to. It was also nice to travel to Paris in my mind.
The A.I. Who Loved Me by Alyssa Cole
An all star cast and really terrific world building. Can’t wait to read more of Alyssa Cole’s work.
Ride the Fire Pamela Clare
This takes place during the period after the French and Indian War. The romance really worked for me but wow I learned a lot about this historical period.
Great romance reads:
The Honey-Don’t List by Christina Lauren
I can safely say I am a Christina Lauren fan. The ones I have read so far are workplace romantic comedies. They lean more into romance than this genre often offers. So a cut above.
Escorted by Claire Kent
Sarah Maclean recommended this one. Simply one of the best steamy romances I have ever read. (Also available on Audible Escape)
Great literary novels
When Will There Be Good News? By Kate Atkinson
Technically a crime novel but Kate Atkinson’s works are so well crafted. As per usual this Jackson Brody series novel takes 3 unrelated stories and weaves them together by the end.
The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason
Re-reading for my book club (which has continued via Zoom, thank God for technology). This is such a great book but a grim subject (but it does not read in a depressing way.) About a young Polish doctor during WWI and the nurse he works with. This book is not a romance but does have a great love story. Maybe it doesn’t have the HEA you want but as a literary read, I found the ending fulfilling.
I’m rereading/alternating two series that are both set in the future with kickass heroines and amazing significant others, which couldn’t be more different 🙂
In Death – read many of these books about 15 years ago, got caught up with what had been released to that point and then for some reason I just stopped. So a month ago I thought I’d read them again. It’s fascinating to think about what technology she just got wrong – I mean, no hands free phones in the car? But I still love Roarke and the books remain compulsively readable.
Magic Bites – I listened to the audiobooks the first time around but the series hadn’t come concluded yet so I’m in new territory now. I was on a bit of an Ilona Andrews kick earlier this spring and eventually got around to this, the one series I’d already read. My library doesn’t have these ebooks sadly so I’m buying them. That is an endorsement! 🙂
Currently reading The Tourist Trap by Sarah Morgenthaler and finding it a bit too quirky for its own good. I love a quirky small town setting but so far this is feeling a bit try hard.
Had a bit of a Jill Shalvis kick – IT HAD TO BE YOU and ALWAYS ON MY MIND, in her Lucky Harbor series, were typical Shalvis, cute, light, fluffy. This trio in the series lacks a bit of the strong female friendships the past books in the series had, but I still enjoyed them. ALWAYS ON MY MIND was a friends to lovers, second chance trope, which is a catnip for me.
ONE SNOWY NIGHT was a novella in her Heartbreaker Bay series. It was cute but forgettable.
Also went on a Nora Roberts kick – BRAZEN VIRTUE was an old romantic suspense from the 80s that hasn’t really aged well. It also has some pretty intense violence against women, which isn’t necessarily uncommon in Roberts’ suspense, but in this one in particular it didn’t sit well with me.
I’d never read any of Roberts’ non-suspense contemporaries, but have had the Brides series recommended to me so many times I thought I’d give it a shot. I was a bit skeptical, because I don’t really care about weddings and all the consumerism around them (courthouse wedding here), and the series revolves around 4 women who run a wedding planning business, but I ended up really enjoying VISION IN WHITE. Sure, it’s basically wedding porn, but the heroine still felt very much like a typical badass Roberts’ heroine. I also really loved that the love interest was a nerdy professor cinnamon roll type hero. The second book, BED OF ROSES, didn’t really work for me. The heroine didn’t have much of a personality, and no flaws, and the hero was your basic afraid of commitment type, which doesn’t make for very interesting reading.
Despite not really caring about weddings, I ended up reading THE WORST BEST MAN by Mia Sosa, whose main character is a wedding planner. She ends up falling for her ex fiancée’s brother when they’re forced to work together. The banter between the two characters was great, and I loved all the details about the heroine’s Brazilian heritage, but it was hard to buy that she had ever been engaged to the hero’s brother. They just didn’t seem to know each other very well. It felt like a very contrived setup to what was otherwise a really enjoyable book.
THINGS YOU SAVE IN A FIRE by Katherine Center was a lovely story about a female firefighter who finds herself trying to make it in an all male firehouse outside Boston and reconnecting with her mother, who left her when she was a teenager. The dialogue was a bit heavy handed at times, but the love story was very sweet. However, the heroine does have sexual assault in her history and this plays a part in the storyline, and I know some people are just over that, so it’s good to know beforehand.
NOT THAT KIND OF GUY is Andie J. Christopher’s follow up to NOT THE GIRL YOU MARRY, and honestly I was a little disappointed. I really enjoyed the first in this series, and I was looking forward to Bridget’s story, but it fell a bit flat. I don’t love the drunken accidental Vegas wedding trope, and I didn’t really buy the main characters’ relationship. I would, however, really love a story about the priest character. Not sure if we’re getting that, but it felt like Christopher kept hinting at it.
Winner Takes All is so great, and really timely with private individuals basically taking over our coronavirus response.
I should mention that the EAT UP! recipes are well-suited to pandemic life, and easy on the nerves (her “life-changing fizzy energy drink” will make you smile).
Some M/M books I enjoyed:
HOME IMPROVEMENT by Tara Lain — this is opposites attract with a shy mystery shopper in a home improvement store
LOVE ACCORDING TO LIAM by VL Locey— this is a charming third addition in this series that features a now married couple with a 5 yo side character that I believe is best read in order
THE CASTLE by May Archer — a novella with childhood friends to lovers (if you listen to the podcast Fated Mates, this is a trip to the pet store for me …. making me a very happy reader)
Some audiobooks I have enjoyed:
THAT SECOND CHANCE by Meghan Quinn — M/F small town Maine, very slow burn with a widower and a school teacher. Best part for me was the family banter.
WANT ME by Neve Wilder — this was a re-read for me to just make me happy. It is a M/M college age bi-awakening with a LOT of sexy times. Seriously a lot, so beware if that is not your thing. Or you’re welcome if it is.(-:
A LIE FOR A LIE by Helena Hunting — M/F second chance story between a hockey player and a woman that doesn’t recognize him. Don’t even get me started on Jason Clark!
DANCING WITH DADDY by Susan Hawke — M/M with an adorable cover of the single dad trope with a slight twist and an uber slow burn that was a bit too slow for me, but I can see others may like that.
I just finished THE TWO DATE RULE by Tawna Fenske this morning. A M/F that features a smokejumper, which takes firefighting to another level. The heroine is so focused on her career that she limits herself to only two dates with a guy before she moves on. Guess what romance people, he wants more than two dates!
@Ren Benton, I loved THE TWISTED ONES. It was the first book I’d read by the author but now want to check out her fantasy. People rave about SWORDHEART.
@Trix, thank you for reminding me that I have ON POINTE by Shelly Ellis sitting on my Kindle. Embarrasingly, I also have samples of both EAT UP! and CRUMB that I’ve only skimmed so far.
I finished BLEAK HOUSE by Charles Dickens last weekend and have been struggling with a book hangover ever since, starting several things but not getting very far in any of them.
I wish I could claim to be reading something fun. See, I read all day long (hooray bar exam prep), but what I read is so boring and complicated that once I’m done I need to basically do anything else but read. (dear gods … the hurting!!)
Guys, if anyone ever recommends that you attend law school, that person is not your friend and you should punch them in the neck! Cuz it’s a trick designed to get you to share their pain! (I literally had a Gandalf moment at a 0L earlier this week “Fly you fool!!!”)
Until the end of July, I’m reading general and state specific outlines, blackletter law, flashcards out the wazoo (pray for me guys… pray). So, until that’s done, every time I so much as look at a book I feel exhausted. One day I’ll come back, but until then it’s binge food for my brain whenever I get two moments together to think about something other than the bar exam.
@DiscoDollyDeb – I loved Pas De Deaux by Lynn Turner. The descriptions of the choreography were stellar. She made the dancing as much romantic foreplay as anything. It was a great look at the world of both dance and theatre. So much job competence porn. And a great romance to boot.
For myself some notable recents:
Evidence of the Affair – a little epistolary novella by Taylor Jenkins Reid. It told a great story that did not feel small. Took me on a emotional rollercoaster (the kind where you feel a bit exhilarated in the end). Had a great ending. I love the cleverness of the title.
Butterfly Bayou – By Lexi Blake. The heroine made this book for me. She was not a comfortable, sweet person. She was prickly and blunt and sometimes a little off putting. But I LOVED her for it.
The Unbound Queen – by MJ Scott. The third book in a fantasy romance trilogy (?) that centers on court intrigue and magic. The first book was my favorite of the three so far. The middle book felt disconnected a bit. This one rebounds. A bit slow going at first but the second half is all action.
Sugar Daddy – By Lisa Kleypas (audiobook) – I last read this back when it first came out. I think this series must have recently been released on audio because suddenly my library’s overdrive seemed to be throwing them at me. LOL. Since I had read it so long ago I had forgotten all but the very vaguest outline. I really enjoyed it. The audio was great and I loved the story. #TeamGage!
I’ve been steaming through ALL the category romance ebooks my library holds. I know what Marion Keyes meant when she said she read a lot of them at a difficult time of her life because you know what you’re getting and there are no nasty surprises.
I did particularly remember one Trish Morey title, Consequences of the Greek’s Revenge. At the end, where the hero reveals the reason he’s ruined the heroine’s life (her father was a shit to his father sort of thing), instead of being sympathetic, she’s basically ‘Sorry what? How does that make it okay to take it out on me? Like, what the Actual Fuck were you thinking?’ and I appreciated that very much.
I’ve been reading paranormal fantasy quite a lot. I enjoyed Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison, but found the heroine a little bit too perfect, and the end was kind of anticlimactic. I liked it enough that I might try the next book in the series after reading a sample chapter.
The Innkeeper Chronicles by Ilona Andrews were fun (they did a 99p deal which was helpful as I was trying to come up with comp titles for a writing thingy*). I got a bit lost with who was doing what to who at one point (my brain is fried with homeschooling and working) but enjoyed the ride a lot.
I’ve had several goes at The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman but I am having trouble finishing which is weird because it ought to be my catnip (magic libraries! Fairly normal heroines!)
Lady Helena Investigates by Jane Steen I found a bit more substantial than lot of other historical books, although the romance is somewhat lower-key. Lady Helena actually considers how her actions have impact on local society and her place in that community, rather than shagging her way consequence free round the Home Counties.
Halfway through Mr Hotshot CEO by Jackie Lau which I’m enjoying a lot.
I’ve also been comfort reading favourites such as KJ Charles, T Kingfisher and Lois McMaster Bujold.
*much vocabulary, so literate
Hmmmm, not to be curmudgeonly, but I find myself disagreeing with so many of the accolades this month. I did not overly love Pas de Deux when I read it a few years ago – I usually love dance books but found the narrative hard to follow. I also did not love @DiscoDollyDeb’s recommended A Change in Tide, which I coincidentally finished recently, as well. I found many of the scenes to be illogical and eventually got tired of rolling my eyes. And to continue my rant, I was a bit disappointed in The Honey-Don’t List. The conflict seemed overly contrived and not up to their usual standard.
On the positive side, I truly enjoyed Bitter Legacy by Dal Mclean (did someone from the BItchery recommend it? I can’t remember) and am eager to read more of her books. I also enjoyed Elise Marion’s The Gypsy Prince. It’s total crazy-sauce and a throwback to last century’s bodice rippers, but it was fun. Also absolutely captivating and frightening was The Red Lotus by Chris Bohjalian. It was written before our current pandemic but the story line hints – no, it downright predicts – worse things that lay ahead. But it was a great read!
@Empress of Blandings, even if you skip the second and third Thea Harrison books, be sure to try Oracle’s Moon, the fourth in the series. It’s as good or better than Dragon Bound.
Since last time ~
— The Hallowed Hunt (Chalion Book 3) by Lois McMaster Bujold. I enjoyed this fantasy, but my favorite of the series is the first, The Curse of Chalion. While the first two books are linked, this one (while set in the same world) is described by the author as an independent prequel.
— a collection of stories that I won from a Goodreads giveaway ~ Glow: A Collection of Stories by Jason Messina. The stories were somewhat eerie, and I don’t expect to read then again.
— Hemingway’s Notebook: A Love Across Time Story by Jackie North. It’s a time travel male/male romance that I quite enjoyed.
— Field Notes on Love by Jennifer E. Smith. This is a young adult novel which I quite enjoyed. I would happily read more by this author.
— Wild as the West Texas Wind: A Love Across Time Story by Jackie North which I enjoyed.
— Eating Stars by Angel Martinez, a science fiction romance novella which I quite enjoyed; the alien character was bi-pedal yet plant-like.
— Her Cold-Blooded Protector by Lea Linnett. It was pleasant but not a book I’m likely to reread.
— The Omega Objection: The San Andreas Shifters by G. L. Carriger. It was an enjoyable read but not a book I’ll be quick to reread. G. L. Carriger is the name that Gail Carriger uses for her titles with ‘sexy queer joy.’
— Cetaganda (Vorkosigan Saga) by Lois McMaster Bujold which I enjoyed. I would not, however, recommend starting the Vorkosigan series with this book.
— continued on with my read of the Vorkosigan series and finished Ethan of Athos and the novella Labyrinth. I enjoyed them both.
— Borders of Infinity (3-novella collection – Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold. I’d previously read two of the three novellas, but I enjoyed the title novella which was new to me as well as the framing story.
— the book that my book group will be discussing next week. It was definitely an intriguing read, and I look forward to our Zoom discussion: The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea.
I just have to pop in to say that the book that Catherine is reading “What I did for a Duke” was one of the first romance books I ever read. I just fell it love with it. I should do a reread and see if I love it just as much now that I’m not a total newbie to the genre.
I am about to start an arc of The Switch by Beth O’Leary and if I like it even half as much as The Flatshare, I’ll be very happy.
Just finished ALPHA NIGHT today, which l loved! My favorite in the Psy-Changeling Trinity series thus far and possibly one of my favorite in that universe. Loved the alpha heroine, more than any of the other alphas we’ve met thus far, and I always love the Arrow heroes. I’m doing a re-read of all of them and before AN had just finished KISS OF SNOW. Also a good one. I love this world. Will we get a full SBTB review of ALPHA NIGHT? I hope so! Would love to hear what others think of this one.
Other than my re-reading all the Psy-Changeling books, not much luck the last couple months. Started and didn’t finish GIRL GONE VIRAL and Robyn Carr’s new THE COUNTRY GUESTHOUSE. Both had to go back to the library before I got too far in. I can’t get into contemporaries these days. Too depressing, reading about cafes and parties and travel, while under stay at home orders.
I’m also working on some nonfiction (HOW TO BE ANTI-RACIST and a parenting book). Next up, back to Nalini Singh and whatever comes off my holds next. And reading aloud tons and tons of the Rainbow Magic fairy books, sigh…
I have finally had a decent reading month. I read a bunch.
Comfort re-read: Shelter in Place by Nora Roberts. I want the houses.
Really Good: Mountains of Mourning, The Warrior’s Apprentice, both by Lois McMasters Bujold. I especially liked The Mountains of Mourning. Miles, as a very recent Imperial Academy graduate has to solve an infanticide while dealing with prejudice and with himself.
The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan. Alternate history, American girl at Oxford falls in love with heir to British throne – initially light and fun and gradually more serious, though still some fun. Did keep me reading.
Mr. Hot Shot CEO by Jackie Lau – his family makes him take a vacation, he hires a woman with cyclic depression to teach him how to have fun. Good chemistry, reasonable depiction of emotional illness, HEA does not cure all. I enjoyed it.
Good:
The Gold Letter by Lena Manta Greek woman in Germany who has been through hard times inherits large house and lots of money from Greek family she didn’t know she had. Finds letters – you know where this is going. Three generations of estrangement later, the house is rehabbed, and some happiness is found. Heartwrenching at times but interesting and kept me reading.
What Remains True by Janis Thomas. The affects on a family of the accidental death of a child, told from the POV of each family member including the dead child and the family dog. Each section is a different day. Nicely done. TW for child death.
The Broken Girls by Simone St. James. Murder and ghosts at an abandoned girls’ school, not one of the nice ones. The sister of one of the victims starts investigating. There are chapters in the present day and chapters from when the school was open and the previous victim disappears. I enjoyed it.
DNF: Silent Threat Dana Marton Retired SEAL goes undercover at a rehab for vets. He and his therapist fall in love. Sorry, even if he is not really your patient due to being undercover, love between therapist and client is a no go for me.
My reading seems to have ticked up a bit since the last WAYR.
Excellent:
None
Very Good:
Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems by Richard Ferber, M.D.: This book is quite famous and some would say infamous as a proponent of the graduated cry-it-out method of sleep training which has A LOT of critics. But whether or not you agree with that method of sleep training, is does a great disservice to this book to talk about it only those terms. It covers everything from sleep associations, to night weaning to phase shifts, sleep while traveling and even more specific disorders like sleep apnea and narcolepsy. It is very comprehensive and no matter where you stand on the sleep training debate, I suggest reading it for its deeply comprehensive detail on all things sleep including the basics of infant, childhood, and teenage sleep.
Good:
The Meh:
The Enforcer by Helenkay Dimon: The second in The Games People Play series, you must first go into these books knowing that they are dark. Both the hero and heroine have very dark backstories and the book itself is romantic suspense. The heroine is the lone survivor when three other people are murdered in her house. The hero tracks her down to investigate if she really is the killer. I liked this much better than the first in the series and it scratched the romantic suspense itch I had been having when I picked it up, BUT it just didn’t hit me in all the feels.
A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd: The third book in the Bess Crawford series, this one centers around Bess (a nurse on the front lines during WWI) on leave at home and finding a woman huddled on her doorstep, a victim of domestic violence. Bess accompanies the woman back home to her estate in the country where a murder takes place. This book goes in many directions and the ending was a complete surprise rather than drawing on any of the story to that point. I am so conflicted about this series – I enjoy mysteries set during either of the World Wars and the writing is certainly good, but Bess makes a lot of questionable choices and the mysteries are often solved in unsatisfactory ways. I am on the fence about whether to continue the series, which usually means I will go ahead and read the next one to see if it is a final answer on whether to continue or stop.
The Bad:
None