I had to double check and see if it was the first or second Whatcha Reading post of the month. But as Sarah and I like to remind ourselves lately: time has no meaning.
Anyway, let’s get into the books!
Shana: I’m reading Get Well Soon by Jennifer Wright, ( A | BN | K | AB ) which is an irreverent history of plagues. I started it ages ago, after Aarya recommended it, but the library stole it back before I could finish. It is darkly funny and eerily prescient.
Susan: I’m reading House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard, ( A | BN | K | AB ) because she has a new novella in that world setting coming out today! It’s her gothic Paris controlled by factions of murderous angels, and so far I’m enjoying it a lot! Honestly the weirdest part for me is that I know exactly one spoiler about this series (murder husbands!) and I have no idea how it’s going to get there from here.
Elyse: I just started Daring and the Duke by Sarah MacLean ( A | BN | K | AB ) but I have several books coming in the mail today. Apparently past Elyse went a little crazy on July new releases
Claudia: I’m feeling very accomplished because I was able to finish quite a few books recently, yay! I had such a long string of DNFs… Anyway, one worth mentioning is Who’s that Earl by Susanna Craig, which I enjoyed despite it being a bit uneven in terms of pace and relying on one heck of a coincidence (which could be part of the larger series arc but if that was the case I wish it had been made clearer).
Sarah: Because Mary Balogh told me a bit about Truly, ( A | BN | K | AB ) her Regency digital re-release, which is a romance set against Welsh uprisings against tolls on the roads, I’m reading that one right now. So many of her books are in Hoopla, so thank you, My Library, for having a Hoopla subscription so I can deepest deep dive into Balogh backlist.
Carrie: I’m about to finish Finna by Nino Cipri, a fun, weird, touching book about alternate universe portals that open up in a fictional version of IKEA. I keep comparing it to my fav, Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix, which is about a haunted IKEA, but they are very different books in tone and plot and surely the world has room for more than one “IKEA is weird” story.
Catherine: I just finished Or What You Will by Jo Walton ( A | BN | K | AB ) which I adored, and I am now high on Renaissance Florence and gorgeous food and Shakespeare. I’m rereading it, slowly, in between other things, because it is such an escape and I can’t quite bear to leave just yet.
This is also preventing me from getting very far with reading other novels because my brain is in Florence, so I am finally starting to actually read some of the cookbooks I comfort-bought back in April – we are back in lockdown here, so I think cookbooks are the way to go.
I’m loving Falastin by Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley, which is a Palestinian cookbook – this cuisine is new to me, though of course it has strong similarities to both Middle Eastern and Israeli cuisine. I do love how every cuisine (perhaps every household?) in the region has its own slightly different version of hummus, and Falastin doesn’t even try to pick just one, but instead gives you two different versions and three ways to serve them, all three of which look pretty close to an entire meal as far as I can see…
Sneezy: Catherine, anytime you feel like making that meal, I will magically appear in your dining room. “Don’t worry, I’m Australian now!!! I’m not going a-ny-where.”
I’ve been going back to A Touch of Stone and Snow ( A | BN | K | AB ) over and over again for the comfort of grand miracles and a giant sabertoothed snow cat who will snuggle me and eat my enemies.
I’ll also be starting What’s Your Pronoun by Dennis Baron. ( A | BN | K | AB )
Tara: I’m reading The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows by Olivia Waite ( A | BN | K | AB ) and I’m enjoying it very much. So far it’s a super chill book, which is my speed right now.
Aarya: I DEVOURED Ilona Andrews’s Emerald Blaze (out August 25) ( A | BN | K | AB ) recently and felt ridiculously emotional the entire time. That book is a roller coaster and I want to reread soon. Hidden Legacy fans are going to love it (and if you’re not one, what are you waiting for?). It’s my favorite series at the moment and I’m very close to throwing books at random passerby.
I just started Holley Trent’s The Angel’s Fire. ( A ) I’m still in the mood for PNR and I’ve seen tons of positive buzz for Trent’s Masters of Maria series. This one has fallen angels, goddesses, and slow burn for centuries. I think it’s mostly set in a historical period? Hard to tell since I can’t figure out when/if the time will jump around.
Ellen: I just finished The Year of the Witching and it was SOOOO GOOD, everyone. Incredibly creepy and enraging and feminist and beautiful all at once! Now I’ve started Whiteout by Adriana Anders and so far I’m definitely intrigued if not completely sold yet.
Kiki: After weeks and weeks of having a really hard time reading and focusing, I seem to be back to my normal reading habits which is bringing me a lot of joy. I’m currently listening to Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski after years of people telling me to read it (they were right and I am preparing to shower all my friends with copies). I’m also reading A Rogue of One’s Own by Evie Dunmore. I’m liking it better than the first so far, but am still far from sold on the series as a whole.
So tell us! Whatcha reading?
A really interesting article, “ Writing about historical racism is not ‘controversial’” (https://katherinegrantromance.com/news/writing-about-historical-racism-is-not-controversial). Considering that the discussion started in a group devoted to Jane Austen, who included a POC in Sanditon, I’ll mention one of Austen’s favorites, Belinda, by Mrs Edgworth, which includes two POC as important characters, as well as an interracial marriage.
Slow reading month (again except for Never Have I Ever fanfic)
From best to “worst” (and it wasn’t that bad)
BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME by Ta-Nehisi Coates beautiful, short memoir written as a letter to his son. Almost like a poem in its language. I read it in one sitting.
MOST LIKELY by Sarah Watson. One of a group of 4 friends will grow up to be the first female president of the US, but which one. This one was really enjoyable with each girl’s life being very different (although I wish that had shown more in the narrative voices). They all would have made good presidents (passionate about what they believe, strong, learning how to live their values and be principled), in their own way, which I think was a bit of the point. I found the reveal of which one was the president a bit gimmicky, but it gets into a spoiler to say more.
One small thing, it was set in Cleveland and I never quite bought that. Couldn’t quite tell you why. Not terrible, just not convincing if you’re a native or lived there a long time. Something about the way she wrote the weather. If you know, you know. 😉 I hardly want to criticize that b/c I like it when stories are set in cities other than New York, LA, DC, etc.
PANDEMIC 1918 by Catherine Alder. Loaded with good information and well-organized, but I was expecting it to flow a little better. It was more “this happened, then this happened, then this happened.” Still interesting and relevant (in some depressing ways)
Onward!
I really liked Joanna Shupe’s The Devil of Downtown…even better than her last one.
Looking for a book club selection? Read The Vanishing Half—compelling story line that gets readers to ask hard questions about race.
So the whole country is being told, “You’ll just have to learn to live with it.” Yeah, it sucks—but now everybody can experience what it was like for a woman who had migraines or endometriosis prior to the 1980s.
I loved, loved, loved N.R. Walker’s Missing Pieces duet—PIECES OF YOU and PIECES OF ME—an m/m romance with an amnesia storyline. Although the amnesia trope is often disparaged (not without reason—PREGNESIA, anyone?), when it’s done right (J. Kenner’s BROKEN WITH YOU, Kylie Scott’s REPEAT), it can create an incredibly poignant story of love lost and regained—and the Missing Pieces duet does just that. The books are beautifully written and tell the story of Dallas and Justin, a couple who have been together for five years (they also work together in Dallas’s motorcycle repair shop). When Justin is involved a terrible automobile accident, he is severely injured physically and also awakens with retrograde amnesia that essentially wipes out the past five years of his life. He remembers nothing of Dallas and their life together. PIECES OF YOU is told mostly from Dallas’s point of view as he spends time at Justin’s hospital bedside and has to deal with the pain of Justin not recognizing him. PIECES OF ME is also narrated primarily by Dallas, starting after Justin is released from the hospital and the men have to adjust to a new normal as Justin recovers physically and has to relearn the emotional terrain of his life. Part of the quiet joy of the books is seeing Dallas help Justin’s recovery every step of the way and watching Justin fall in love with Dallas all over again. If you can apply to term “cozy” to a story about two “blokey blokes” who love motorcycles, motocross, “footy,” and each other, while one helps the other recover from major physical and brain trauma, the Missing Pieces duet is definitely cozy. Lovely books. Highly recommended.
Although “rock star romance” is not one of my favorite tropes, I knew I could trust CD Reiss to put her own unique spin on it. In LEAD ME BACK, the fashion designer heroine, newly arrived in Los Angeles from New York, is given the cell phone number previously assigned to the hero, a former member of a hugely popular boy band. In a plot contrivance that Reiss’s excellent writing makes refreshingly plausible, the hero needs the heroine (or, at least, the heroine’s phone) to keep track of an obviously-troubled band mate who (because of reasons) has not been given the hero’s new phone number. Both h&h are intelligent and both of them bring a lot of baggage and history to their gradually-evolving relationship. The book covers a lot of themes—#me-too, drugs, mental illness, tabloid media, paparazzi, family, friendship, what we owe to others, what we owe to ourselves—and Reiss does a great job of weaving them into the main storyline; she even manages to make one of my least favorite character types—the “feisty grandma”—palatable. (There are also two secondary characters—a couple on the verge of divorce—whose story I would love Reiss to expand to novel length.) All in all, another entertaining and insightful book from an author who never lets me down. Highly recommended.
It took me a while to warm up to both the control-freak accountant hero and the self-aware but somewhat irritating personal assistant heroine (“I was quippy in a superbly off-putting way,” she says of herself) in Kate Canterbary’s BOSS IN THE BEDSHEETS—but once their opposites-attract dynamic took over, I enjoyed the book as another example of Canterbary’s ability to get inside the heads and hearts of thirty-somethings who are uber-competent professionally but still stumbling through their personal lives. If you’ve read Canterbary’s THE MAGNOLIA CHRONICLES (or if you remember Magnolia, aka GiGi, from the Walsh Family books), the hero of BOSS is her brother, Ash (in fact, the working title of BOSS was THE ASH CHRONICLES). He runs an accounting business, but his overly-controlling style has alienated and driven off his staff. The heroine had a touch too much of the manic-pixie-dream-girl for my liking as she helped the hero learn to delegate work and accept that he couldn’t control everything (although, in fairness, the hero also helps the heroine address unresolved issues from her problematic upbringing and a very bad adult relationship). I wouldn’t put BOSS IN THE BEDSHEETS in the pantheon of Canterbary’s books—it’s nowhere near as good as FAR CRY or the Walsh Family series—but it’s an example of how a talented writer can write an entertaining book even if she doesn’t knock it out of the park every time she’s up to bat.
(CW/TW: domestic violence, events of 9/11) Freya Barker’s VICTIM OF CIRCUMSTANCE is a deliberately-paced romance with older MCs (mid-forties) and a through-line of the long-term consequences of domestic abuse—physical and emotional. Both the hero and heroine lost a family member on 9/11 (they initially meet at the 9/11 Memorial on the 18th anniversary of the attacks) and the trajectories of both of their adult lives have been affected by domestic abuse. (I should stress that neither the hero nor heroine has committed any abuse.) Despite the rather downbeat setup—the hero has served time, the heroine feels alone now her adult daughter has moved out, both h&h are more than a little afraid to venture beyond their self-imposed limits—there’s a pleasant small-town feel to the story: yes, everyone knows everyone’s business, but people also look out for one other. VICTIM OF CIRCUMSTANCE does have one predatory female character who is more caricature than fully-fleshed person—and there were a couple of times when the hero’s behavior made me think he’d benefit from some therapy—but overall I enjoyed this story of middle-aged people confronting the shadow domestic violence has cast over their lives and unexpectedly finding love with each other.
I wouldn’t advice reading Clare Connelly’s NOTHING LASTS FOREVER if you’ve recently lost a loved one. Although the book is well-written, the story of a young widow who, after nursing her husband through his final illness, takes jobs proving companionship and palliative care to terminally-ill patients has a strong undercurrent of sadness, loss, and learning to say goodbye. When the matriarch of a large Greek-Italian family has a massive stroke, the heroine accepts a position as her companion/nurse and gradually falls for one of the woman’s many adult grandsons (the book is the latest in Connelly’s Montebellos series, so there is also a bit catching up with other members of the family). There’s some angst, some coming to terms with the past, and then a plot point that I thought was going to take the book into a completely unexpected direction—but the ending quickly rushed through this rather interesting turn of events. A competently written book, but unless you’re keeping up with the Montebello series, not an absolute must-read.
The prolific Connelly also published a new HP this month, HIRED BY THE IMPOSSIBLE GREEK. The heroine is an English school teacher concerned about one of her students—a six-year-old boy whose mother has just died and who now has to go to Greece to live with the father he has never known (the book makes it just this side of plausible that the father did not know of the boy’s existence). The heroine makes a case for easing the young boy into his new circumstances and his father offers her a summer job helping his son make the transition to his new life. The boy’s father is, of course, the standard HP hero: wealthy, powerful, and hiding the pain of a dysfunctional childhood behind a facade of charm and arrogance. Although HIRED BY THE IMPOSSIBLE GREEK has a fairly rote HP plot, I did find one aspect of the book very interesting: the heroine was a child prodigy, earning multiple degrees in her teens and working for prestigious research organizations; but when she told her demanding parents she wanted to be a school teacher, they essentially disowned her for failing to capitalize financially on her “genius.” I thought Connelly did a good job of showing how the heroine’s social isolation and loveless upbringing has affected her adult interactions, especially where romance is concerned.
(CW/TW: captivity, non-consent) With DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH, Skye Warren begins a new trilogy associated with her North Security series (the hero is a North brother). Warren writes some very dark romance and while DIAMOND is not as dark as some of her work, it’s still pretty damn dark. The h&h first meet each other at the Louvre in an incident that takes up the first seven chapters of the book (and is available as a free download titled HIDDEN GEM). They meet again eight years later when they are both being held captive by an arms dealer who also traffics in blood diamonds. Nether the hero nor the villain is exactly who they seem; as in many of Warren’s books, there’s ambiguity in the characters: the villain reveals a less villainous side while the hero occasionally acts less than heroically. The villain does force the couple into some sexual situations (although, similar to the dub-con/non-con scenes in Kati Wilde’s LOSING IT ALL, it’s not that the h&h don’t want to have sex with each other, it’s that they don’t want to be compelled to do it by a third party). When the couple finally escape, they continue their sexual relationship—which includes a D/s dynamic and consensual-non-consent. All through the book, the heroine, who writes YA fantasy, is running stories through her mind—dragons, mermaids, crazed tooth fairies, “ordinary girls” born to magical parents—which have symbolic bearing on what is going on in her life. And, of course, this being part of a trilogy, the book ends on a cliffhanger with the sudden appearance of the heroine’s free-spirited but rather irresponsible sister. I’m interested in where the story is going, but ymmv.
I was in the mood for a “survival against the elements” book and chose Adrienne Wilder’s very good m/m romantic suspense, WILD. WILD is the story of August, a fashion model who is the survivor of a plane crash in the Alaskan wilderness, and Keegan, the man who rescues him—a man who has been living in the Alaskan bush for a decade, running from his past and the people out to get him. The early part of the story goes back and forth in time. We see August meeting and falling in love with fellow model, Dan, and August’s discovery—moments before the plane crashed—of Dan’s infidelity. We learn about Keegan’s role as a “doctor” for a drug cartel boss (all the CWs & TWs for the awful things the cartel boss does to people who cross him) and how saving August is, in part, Keegan’s expiation for the wrongs he has committed. Although a romance (with some hot “enforced proximity in a snowbound cabin” sexy times) develops between the two men, the focus is primarily their survival against everything an Alaskan winter can throw at them: wolves, bears, snow storms, thin ice, dwindling food supplies, bone-crushing cold, primitive conditions in a small, rough-hewn cabin, August’s severe injuries from the plane crash, Keegan’s injuries from encounters with a bear and falling through ice, and criminals in the form of poachers and illegal trophy hunters (CW/TW: for poaching and cruelty to wild animals). WILD might just have one subplot too many, but it’s a riveting story and you will feel that cold down to the marrow of your bones. (There’s also a very sweet sequel to WILD, a novella titled 63 DAYS LATER, which involves August, Keegan, and a litter of wolf pups.)
And speaking of surviving the elements: If there’s one thing we’ve learned from multitudes of HABOs and Rec Leagues, it’s that no matter how outlandish a trope or plot, there will almost always be more than one book that includes it. A couple of years ago, I enjoyed (albeit with much suspension of disbelief) Annika Martin’s SAVAGE MAFIA PRINCE which features a hero who was left in the wilderness as a child and literally grew up with a wolf pack. I was surprised that (beyond shifter romances) “hero was raised by wolves and/or grew up in the wild with no adult supervision” is a bit of a thing, so I tried two others books with a similar plot: one good, one not so much. I could not get into Sawyer Bennett’s UNCIVILIZED which has an older anthropologist heroine who is helping the “wild child” now-adult hero transition back to the modern world. In addition to sensing the h&h had nothing beyond pants-feelings for each other, I felt there was a rather distasteful element of fetishizing the sexual behavior of the indigenous people of the Amazonian rainforest. But Mia Sheridan’s SAVAGED was a much more engaging book, with a hero who was abandoned as a child in the Montana wilderness. As an adult, he grows close to a local nature guide. As the h&h learn more about each other, they realize their childhoods were connected in rather nefarious ways (CW/TW for harm to children and some really psychotic bad guys). I especially liked the “found family” aspect of the book as the couple—both orphans with no siblings—acquire their own “pack” of decent, caring, and helpful friends.
I’ve been reading a bunch of stuff, but the book that made me laugh so hard I cried was Alexis Hall’s Boyfriend Material. It’s such a sweet book but the humor keeps it from going saccharine.
I DNF’d The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon- I don’t know what Austin she set her book in but it’s not the one I live in and it kept pulling me out of the story (and even though I’m just married to a software engineer those bits kept distracting me too). I think if 95% of the proper nouns were removed it might be readable for me but as it was they kept getting in the way of the story and I couldn’t make it through.
Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert was perfection, I kept reading lines to my non romance reading husband because they were so good. I like how she builds so much complexity in her characters in relatively few words.
WAYR already? Hoooooow?
Back in June I downloaded a Tor sampler of queer novellas, so I’ve been making my way through that. My reading time and attention is still much more limited than it used to be, but novellas have been nice since at least I can feel like I’ve actually *finished* something. I even changed the way I notate novellas on my reading log, to match how I notate full length books, cause hey, I’m trying to tell myself: I read it, it fully counts.
Katharine Duckett- Miranda in Milan
This was…fine. I’m not hugely familiar with The Tempest (though I did once see it with Sir Patrick Stewart as Prospero which was !!!) so some of the depth behind it may have been lost on me. Basically Miranda gets back to “civilization,” is promptly imprisoned by her (definitely evil) father, an with the help of a servant who becomes her lover uncovers the mystery of her mother’s death.
Lina Rather- Sisters of the Vast Black
Nuns! In! Space! Specifically, nuns on a living ship that just entered it’s mating cycle, causing them to debate whether or not they should allow it to follow its biological imperative. Also, Earth government and the Church are up to some bad shit, impacting the colonists that the nuns minister to. I had a little trouble telling some of the characters apart, but I liked reading about them all so it didn’t matter much in the end.
And I’m currently reading The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson and…I’ll be honest, I have no everloving idea of what’s going on. Ah, well.
I recently finished ROYAL BASTARD by Avery Flynn, and now I’m reading THE WORST BEST MAN by Mia Sosa.
Up next, I’ll probably switch genres and read a thriller, like SAVE ME FROM DANGEROUS MEN by S. A. Lelchuk.
I also want to check out TEMPORARY WIFE TEMPTATION by Jayci Lee and THE HAPPY EVER AFTER PLAYLIST by Abby Jimenez.
I’ve also had Christmas in July on Hallmark Channel on in the background, which makes me want to read some Christmas romances, even though it is boiling hot outside these days. LOL. I am ready for summer to be over and for fall to get here.
I’m dwelling in book hangover territory since I finished Grand Master of Demonic Cultivation… AGES AGO! I’m getting a bit desesperate since I usually rebound easier than that.
Books that tried:
WITCHMARK by C.L. Polk. From the review and the description, I was expecting something like Henri Davenport and the Shinigami Detective, something sweet and with nice manners except with more closure on the romance part. What blindsided me was the abusive system of the magical world and the sheer meanness of, of… so many people! Both at home and at the hospital! I finished the book sooooo angry, and since it’s a part 1, the entitled old fu**ers who spread so much misery with the war and with the asylums DID NOT get their comeuppance. Instead, they finish still in a position of power, belittling and spreading their lies about the hero. ARGH! And his sister Grace! She’s the worst I want to say, except she’s not, even if she’s the one that infuriated me the most. Good thing the romance was cute, at least on Miles part (and Tristan too, in a lesser way; we did not have much access to him). The sequel is from Grace’s POV, I’m still debating if I’ll pick it up or not.
ALTERED CARBON by Richard Morgan. Once again, my expectations tripped me. I was expecting pure sci-fi, what I got was a noir in a sci-fi setting. Once I adjusted my expectations, I found it good. The world building is well-done and very coherent. But being noir-like, it of course ended bittersweet and was not the pick me up I hoped for; it kept me from the sequels.
There are a couple of other disheartening tries, book I could objectively see were good, but in the mood I’m in, could barely slug through (LEVEL UP by Catherine Yardley; THE GIRL WHO DRANK THE MOON by Kelli Barnhill — I definitely intend to come back to them once I’m over my slump). Only Ilona Andrews’ ‘Blood Heir’ posts hit the right spots. Thank God for the weekly updates.
Even old friends cannot cheer me. I chucked all my Megan Derr into the ‘won’t read again’ folder. *sigh* Now I’m debating between a reread of the madcap Gokusen manga (Yakuza heiress as a schoolteacher for delinquents) or Wen Spencer’s Black Wolves of Boston.
Or maybe something in here will spark. Finno does look interesting…
Thank you, as always for WAYR and everybody’s posts. @DiscoDollyDeb and everyone else who always reports in, never stop! I especially need it this week! I have been grumpy-reading most things and tossing them aside as if I was a teen named Ennui Spoiled-Britches.
Excellent:
A MAN CALLED OVE — by Fredrik Backman I’m sure you all read this years ago. I really enjoyed it. Not a romance. The tale of how a curmudgeon connects with his community again after losing his wife, who in the past did the connecting for him. Very entertaining and bittersweet in the loveliest way.
A LITTLE LIGHT MISCHIEF — Cat Sebastian, is there anything you write that I don’t love? Not so far! F/F historical.
DNF (Now you will see what I mean about my mental state)
MARRIAGE GAME by Sara Desai — Contemporary M/F I understand why the hero made the choices he made, but he was such a jerk about them. He seems to be a good human being layered over a core of asshole (or the other way around?) and I just can’t right now.
THE DEVIL OF DOWNTOWN by Joanna Shupe — Historical, M/F — Meh. I found the poverty and misogyny described to be realistic and depressing, and the hero and heroine seemed unrealistic and depressing, so I just couldn’t get through it. It may be where I am right now emotionally as much as the book in this case, though.
YOURS UNTIL DAWN — Teresa Medeiros — M/F regency, hero blinded in the war. I thought both of the main characters were shallow morons. I skimmed until the end, and, yup, they were still idiots. Would have rather read the romance between the butler and the housekeeper that happened behind closed doors, honestly.
READING
NETWORK EFFECT by Martha Wells (the Murderbot novel) which you are either in the mood for, or you’re not. While Murderbot is emotional for a robot, it is still very even-tempered, so I am enjoying it, overall.
Outside reading (hate using the NOOK/Kindle outside) GIDEON THE NINTH, which I am into, yet not always patient with (I like that I’m not sure what’s happening, but it is a little exhausting that no one seems to know). Very well written, and original, but not for everyone.
Very excited about Katherine Addison’s new book, THE ANGEL AND THE CROWS and Zoe Archer/Eva Leigh’s new one, MY FAKE RAKE. Bought Addison’s — should I buy MY FAKE RAKE? I think it may be my weekend splurge. 🙂
Enjoy the weekend, and happy reading!
So, having finally taken all those recommendations to heart and reading Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice, I devoured the remaining books in the trilogy. They were everything I’d been told. I have a soft spot for AI/living space ships and Justice of Toren is my new favorite, even if she isn’t a ship anymore.
This morning I finished The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner. I honestly don’t recall how this ended up on my radar, but it was a lovely little low stress read as enjoyable for the way the relationships mirror Austen’s works as the way they talk about Austen’s work. And yes, one of the relationships is resolved with a letter. Sigh.
Next up is another Ann Leckie, Provedance, which takes place in the Ancillary universe, but does not involve any of the events/characters of that trilogy. I’ll miss Breq, but I’m pretty sure I’m in good hands. And Evie Dunmore’s Bringing Down the Duke is patiently waiting at the GBPL if I decide to leave the house. Unless by leaving the house I decide to give in to my low level panic and go retrieve my father from Arizona before it starts digging mass graves. Sure, he’s expressly told me no, but I think I can manhandle one 90 yo man into the car.
Last WAYR I said that I am going to make this the summer of YA – which is true, I have three YA books going right now, but none to report as finished. Instead, I have finished up a few other books!
Excellent:
The Moor by Laurie R. King: The fourth in the post-World War I set mystery series featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, these books are always wonderful. This one takes place on the same moor from “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” As always, the characters are deeply and imaginatively drawn, the plots intricate, and the writing excellent. I especially enjoyed the imagery of Holmes and Russell trudging across the moor battling both the landscape and meeting the locals. Highly recommend the series.
Very Good:
None
Good:
The Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill: Set is Laos very soon after the Communist Revolution there, this mystery (first in the series) follows the investigations of the country’s one and only (reluctant) coroner, Dr. Siri Paiboun. He was trained as a doctor, has no training as a coroner, and is under-resourced and under-staffed, but does the best that he can. There was A LOT going on in this book – three different mysteries as well as a spiritual journey for Dr. Paiboun which involved meeting the persecuted Hmong minority (who had fought against communism). Dr. Paiboun is a champion of the underdog and interested in truth and justice. I would have planned to continue the series if not for the end – I can’t say anything without spoilers, but while the mysteries were resolved quite satisfactorily, there was twist on the last page to the future prospects for Dr. Paiboun that made me so mad, I won’t continue. CW: one of the two people who work for Dr. Paiboun has Down Syndrome and is often referred to in offensive terms by other characters (not Dr. Paiboun).
Meh:
The Ultimate Disney Vacation Club Guide by Shaun Brouwer: Just what it says on the tin. We are big Disney people and (usually) go to Walt Disney World once a year – although this year we will not be going because – pandemic. I wanted to learn about the DVC. Unfortunately, this book had a lot of dated information which no longer applies after changes Disney has made. And if someone is interested enough in the DVC to read a book about it, this book fell far short of delivering enough nitty gritty details about things like points, use year, evaluating resale offers, etc. However, it was fun to read about all the Disney resorts especially the ones in Hilton Head, Vero Beach, and Hawaii and dream about vacation.
The Bad:
None
Did you know (and I’m sure it’s just me who didn’t) that C.S. Harris (IRL historian Candice Proctor) who writes the St. Cyr mysteries, also writes a thriller series as C.S. Graham with her husband, former intelligence officer Steve Harris? The premise of THE ARCHANGEL PROJECT appealed to me (CIA remote viewing project, female Iraq war vet, New Orleans) and I enjoyed it so much. Completely different from her historical mysteries, but still well done.
THE RAGE OF DRAGONS by Evan Winter: First in an African continent-set military fantasy series. Society is class-driven and brutal among the Chosen, at the same time they’re also fighting against the Hedeni, the native population the Chosen drove out. Not an easy read, but definitely worthwhile in terms of what characters learn about themselves and their world.
THE BELLES by Dhonielle Clayton: Wow, a different kind of brutal war. The Belles control beauty, which is everything in Orleans where people are born gray, and being the Queen’s favorite is the ultimate goal. This is a cutthroat PRETTIES with gorgeous gowns, power and talent rather than surgery. Hard lessons learned and a cliffhanger.
THE WEIRD SISTERS by Eleanor Brown: Loved it, loved it. Three sisters in a small Ohio college town who desperately need to figure out themselves and their relationship to each other. Their father speaks in Shakespeare quotes and they are all so supremely messed up, but what a painful, touching and funny journey.
ALICE PAYNE ARRIVES by Kate Heartfield: I couldn’t figure out this time travel story at first, finally caught on and greatly enjoyed the ride. Another cliff hanger and I’m looking forward to the next.
BINARY WITNESS by Rosie Claverton: Had no idea going in that this was a Welsh crime novel featuring an agoraphobic hacker and a former felon, and it was great! Apparently I own most of the Amy Lane series, so yay, me.
IN 27 DAYS by Alison Gervais: A high school student dies by suicide and a classmate is offered a chance to prevent it, if she agrees to go back 27 days in time. What if what if.
VELOCITY WEAPON by Megan O’Keefe: Space opera, time weirdness, intergalactic politics, intrigue and war. Complicated and so, so worth it. And there’s a second book.
Time does, indeed, have no meaning. My test, yes, that test, was supposed to be back yesterday but I am still in limbo. So I am reading.
Rereading The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Cason. Still enjoying it. Also re-read Come Sundown by Roberts – not her best and I still reread. I think I like the horses.
I read Chreish Hard by Halini Singh, related to her Rock Hard series, this is Gabriel’s brother meeting his wife long before the action in the other books. It was fun. Much of the drama was situational and previous family trauma but nothing horrible and all ends well.
Trust No One by Debra Webb, a first read from Amazon. Not a romance. Police officer dealing with murder and missing women, including later in the book her niece. Her home life is also a mess and she has a new partner. It was OK. Some of it a little too “god in a box.” Didn’t like most of the characters. Unlikey to reread but not a bad book.
Also working on Watcher in the Woods by Kelley Armstrong, one of her Lost City books. There are shootings, murder, family drama. I am enjoying it so far but I generally like this series so that is not a surprise.
Kiwi Rules by Rosalind James, heroine loses her place in a company she helped found, pushed out, in part, by her own boyfriend. Hero played rugby and is now coming back from a career ending injury (I think I have met this plot device before). But he is still a tough man. It was fun. I don’t know if I will reread but I am having a go at the second in the series. And I like that the heroine gets a good business outcome, too, plus gets to reject loser ex.
I loved ONE TO WATCH by Kate Staymon-London so much. The book stars Bea, a popular plus-size fashion blogger who is pretty comfortable in her own skin and not looking to change herself, but who has just been burned badly by her best friend/10 yr crush, who she finally slept with only to have him completely ghost her. Her other best friend is encouraging her to put herself out there, but neither of them expects what happens next – on her blog she calls out a BACHELOR style reality show for their lack of diverse body representation, and the new producer then contacts her to see if she’d be interested in being the bachelorette on the next season of the show.
I used to watch The Bachelor/Bachelorette (now I just devour Elyse’s recaps LOL), and I love books with a reality show theme but this book did the best job I’ve seen of evoking the frenetic pace, mixed-up emotions, and alternate reality that the TV show conveys. There is plenty of body positivity, and no attempts to suggest that Bea would be happier/better if she lost weight. However, true to life, Bea gets humiliated and body shamed by a couple of the male contestants (who weren’t told who their Bachelorette would be in advance). This is balanced out by a couple of contestants who think she’s amazing and are totally attracted to her. The book is more ChickLit/WomensFic in that it focuses on Bea’s self-discovery, but the also book does reach a satisfying romance solution. Highly recommend.
I also wanted to second @DiscoDollyDeb’s rec of LEAD ME BACK by C.D. Reiss. The hero is a bit of a spoiled brat initially – he’s clearly got a good heart but fame has caused him to casually disregard anything but his own needs/wants. The heroine basically tells him to piss off, she’s got better things to do then change her life to just to suit him. Slowly, as the book goes on, he comes to see how self-centered he’s been and starts following his better instincts leaving the book with a very satisfying romantic conclusion.
I’m currently reading and loving BY A THREAD by Lucy Score which features an arrogant-seeming wealthy businessman, and a woman who refuses to kowtow and keeps putting him in his place. Her nickname for him is “Charming” (meant sarcastically) while his for her is “Malificent”. You can see where this one is going. Lots of great banter.
I’m actually in the process of adding my reviews to Goodreads so the timing for this is perfect.
Most of my reading time has been taken up with Fire and Blood, George R. R. Martin’s history of the Targaryens, which ended up reminding me why I at one point liked the first three Song of Ice and Fire books and why I stopped reading them. Its written as an in-universe history which is a set up I always enjoy and there are dragons, but the ending is abrupt, awful things happen to everyone and all the women seem so young. Yet, I had a hard time putting it down because there’s a propulsive quality to his writing which is why I read the first three books of Song of Ice and Fire before hitting the Red Wedding and noping out.
I also read No Beast, So Fierce, a history of a man eating tiger that lived around 1900 and which is a great nonfiction book. The author does his homework to show how politics and environmental issues can result in tigers that eat people.
Slightly lighter reading, last night I read The Lost Carnival, a graphic novel about Dick Grayson but the fact he’s in there doesn’t matter that much. Its really a YA love story with a little magic, sweet and easy read with interesting use of color to show different places.
In terms of what I’m currently reading, I’m about a quarter through The Mermaid, the Witch and the Sea, but my library’s about to take it back and I’m not in as a rush to finish it. The writing and characters are interesting but its seriously dark and I don’t think I’m in the place for it at the moment. It kind of reminds me of some of Frances Hardinge’s books and True Voyage of Charlotte Doyle. Lots of sharp edges and the characters are well written and so the awful stuff they’re going through hurts.
Since the BPL opened up last week for picking up holds, I actually have new library books that aren’t on Libby, Wizard Smallbone by Delia Sherman, The Black Tulip by Dumas and the Deep by Kelly Powell, so I’ll probably read one of those next. Then check out my other ebook holds.
Gulped Becoming Duchess Goldblatt last night with a bad decisions bookclub lights out/last page at 2:45. Yes, it was worth the good book hangover this morning. A love story about learning to love yourself. Which is really the beginning of every hea.(?) Working on mine!
And also Boyfriend Material- delightful.
:::saunters in singing “The Whole Being Dead Thing” because my sense of humor is nothing if not mordant, I’m in one of the epicenters, and thanks to Hamilton I’m listening to a lot of Broadway:::
Well, let’s see, greatly enjoyed My Calamity Jane. Snarky, interesting, and Annie Oakley was almost as cool as she was in real life. Moved on to About A Rogue by Caroline Linden, which was clever and fun. I really loved how the heroine was highly competent at her chosen profession and enjoyed the slow-burn between the main characters as they developed trust and grew to like and love each other. Also, there’s a scene where the heroine makes extremely clear that she is more than capable of disposing of a body and I am always here for that. More of my heroines being capable of and having a plan for efficient body disposal, please. Then my digital library hold on City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty came in, so I definitely had to do that (due dates, yo). I had been curious about this series for a bit, since I am a sucker for fantasy that incorporates mythologies other than, you know, elves and such. I like that, too, but I’ve read A LOT of it over the years, so when you tell me about something that has say, djinn, like this does, I’m going to pay attention. Enjoyed the use of Middle Eastern mythologies, and really enjoyed the royal politicking. Royal politicking is one of my major catnips in fantasy. After that, I decided it was time to stop holding onto The Rakess by Scarlett Peckham and just read it already. Tore through it in a day. Damn, it was great. It wasn’t a light read by any means, but I enjoyed the characters, and yes, bad bitches getting things done is one of my major sources of enjoyment at the moment, and this book was all of that. It was feminist AF, it was angry AF, and I loved it. Which brings us to today, in which my brain went, “Well, that was some very nice historical romance and fantasy…so you know what time it is! Time to GET WEIRD!” I ended up downloading Home Before Dark by Riley Sager, which is about a woman who inherits the haunted house that made her family famous years before due to some Amityville-like goings on. As an adult, she doesn’t believe any of it actually happened, and that her father made the whole thing for, as the kids say these days, “the clout”. The house, however, does not seem to have gotten that memo. It’s written as both the chapters from the book her father wrote about the experience, and her experiences as she gets ready to renovate the house herself. Already I think it’s just the weird my brain needs. Until next time, folks, if your brain tells you it’s time to get weird and read some horror, or it tells you to cross-stitch and watch The Baby-Sitter’s Club, go with it. We are living in strange times.
I started “The State of Us” (queer contemporary YA where the sons of the respective parties’ presidential candidates fall in love). DNF’ed it very early on – not because it was bad, but because RWRB basically stole the show for all contemporary political queer romance forever and everything else feels like it wants to be RWRB and just… isn’t.
Enjoyed “I’ll Be The One” by Lyla Lee. Very cute story, left a lot of things feeling unresolved, especially Skye’s relationship with her mom, but it also felt very real in the sense that in life there’s usually no sudden moment of understanding and that we can love people but still never understand them or see eye to eye with them, and that in order to grow and be in a healthy place, sometimes we just have to accept the relationship as it is, not as we wish it would be.
I’ve been on a big fantasy kick this month.
Read:
THE SOUL OF POWER Callie Bates.
This book was the final book in a newish fantasy trilogy, as I’ve mentioned previously.All three are really great books and must be read in order. This one, in particular, has all the feminism in it since the heroine is basically a bastard(literally) trying to rule as queen in a patriarchal society. She wins. I will warn that she has a bit of an inferiority complex at first which her a little annoying until she comes into her own. After that she’s awesome. I also must issue a content warning and a spoiler that:
. Other than those two caveats the book is highly recommended.
DNF:
MIRROR, MIRROR by Gregory Maguire.
The best way to describe this book is pretentious. It’s one of those books where the author tried to put as much critical analysis bait in the work as possible, but if the reader thinks about it too hard they’ll realize that rain puddles have more depth than the actual book. Also, like most of these sorts of books, the characters are flat and the plot and pace are nonexistent. Not to mention Maguire will change POV randomly and some “chapters” are just poems. I dropped the book at about page 60. I’ve also heard this is probably Maguire’s worst books is that true? If WICKED and such are better I may give Gregory Maguire another chance, but for now, this book turned me off of reading any of his other novels.
Reading:
THE BLACK SWAN by Mercedes Lackey.
I’ve been wanting to pick up a Mercedes Lackey book for a while now, but I wasn’t sure where to start until I found one of her few standalones at a local used bookstore a month or two back. I’m not disappointed. So far this is a really good retelling of “Swan Lake” and book in general. Even just a couple chapters in I can already tell I’ll be digging into Lackey’s backlist; basically this book is highly recommended.
UNEXPLAINED MYSTERIES OF WWII by William B. Breuer
This is the only non-fantasy book I read recently and it’s pretty interesting so far if a bit dry. Basically it’s just a collection of very short real-life mysteries that still haven’t been explained. I mostly bought it for research purchases and while it is interesting enough I wouldn’t really recommend it unless your just that into WWII or unsolved mysterious.
Not a great month, but not a bad one either. Hopefully, next time I post I’ll have a better month to talk about.
Aren’t we early on this Watcha Reading? Isn’t it only the 11th? Granted, I’m not sure the 11th of WHAT, but that’s the number in the little box on my dock! But it’s always good to get recommendations. As soon as I hit send, I’m off to look up @DiscoDollyDeb’s Pieces of Me/PIeces of You.
All the hullabaloo is justified: The Vanishing Half is really good. I was so sorry to reach the end.
And like Sarah, I was inspired by her talk with Mary Balogh. I bought Truly but haven’t started it yet, but I did realize that I was behind in the Westcott series and am now well into Someone to Honor. Listening to Mary Balogh speak just sent shivers of delight through my fangirl self. Thanks, Sarah!!
I started a bunch of books that I gave up on after only a few chapters, but I was happy I stuck with The Lieutenant’s Nurse by Sara Ackerman. I listened to it on audio, and I did NOT particularly enjoy the narration, but the story of a nurse who arrived at Pearl Harbor the week befor the attack was both educational and engrossing.
Ought not there be a question mark as part of the title of Who’s that Earl by Susanna Craig?
About “Falastin”; I’m a little sensitive about cultural appropriation, so I think it’s more accurate to say that Israeli cuisine has elements of Palestinian cuisine, rather than vice-versa. Palestinian cooking has deep roots, while Israeli cuisine is a recent development, and is kind of an amalgam of Jewish diaspora cooking from all over the world, combined with traditional Eastern Mediterranean(mostly Palestinian and Lebanese).
OK, off my soapbox and back to the books.
I managed to finish, but was not crazy about, “The Paris Seamstress” by Natasha Lester. It’s more women’s fiction than romance, and there is so much going on with two timelines, one World War II and the other current, two different romances, the fashion industry, and the French Resistance, that there was really no need to drag Evelyn Nesbit and Harry Thaw into it.
I’ve been on a medieval kick. I reread “The Crusader’s Bride” by Claire Delacroix, which I enjoyed for the unusual setting, starting off in Jerusalem and then traveling through Italy and France. So far I haven’t found another of Delacroix’s books that I like as much as that one.
I’ve also been reading medievals by Alice Coldbreath who I think was mentioned in the last Whatcha Reading. So far I’ve gone through “Her Baseborn Bridegroom”, “Wed By Proxy” I’m now reading “His Forsaken Bride”. It’s not literature for the ages but it seems to be what my brain is craving right now. They take place in an imaginary medieval kingdom, as far removed from current reality as you can get, and they have humorous elements.
Two weeks ago ~
— quite enjoyed Beach Read by Emily Henry which had me laughing aloud from time to time. It had some witty one liners, and the story was entertaining.
— read and enjoyed a new book Hideaway: A Novel by Nora Roberts even if it did strain credulity a time or three and even though it seemed to end rather abruptly.
— Another challenge from my summer reading program was to reread a childhood favorite. On our bookshelves, I found a copy of Æsop’s Fables selected by Louis Untermeyer with illustrations by Alice and Martin Provensen; this was inscribed to me by my grandmother in 1969. I think it’s safe to say that I’ve had this book for a few years! This was a fun book to revisit.
— Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold which I enjoyed despite the sad ending.
— the most recent book in the Vorkosigan series ~ Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold. I enjoyed the book. I’ve now finished the series save for one novella that I’ve yet to lay my hands on.
— a couple of shorter contemporary romance works by Sarina Bowen. I reread the standalone novella (a favorite of mine) Blonde Date: An Ivy Years Novella as well as a short piece, Yesterday, that works best if you’ve read a particular one of the author’s full length novels. Both pieces can be found in the collection Extra Credit: Three Ivy Years Novellas by Sarina Bowen. I enjoyed them both.
— Into Thin Eire: Another John Pickett Mystery by Sheri Cobb South which I quite enjoyed. The only problem was that it had been some time since I’d read the prior book, and I’d forgotten key details. This is a series that is best begun with book one and read in order.
— the novella Penric’s Demon: Penric & Desdemona Book 1 by Lois McMaster Bujold which I quite enjoyed. I look forward to reading more in this series.
This past week ~
— Brother, Can You Spare a Crime?: Another John Pickett Mystery by Sheri Cobb South which I quite enjoyed. It had the side benefit of meeting one of my summer reading program challenges in that it was set in a foreign country.
— Breakfast on Mars and 37 Other Delectable Essays edited by Rebecca Stern and Brad Wolfe which I suspect might be of interest to those of you who are teaching essay writing to your children. One of my summer reading challenges was to read a book in the 300s (Dewey decimal) and this was my selection; it was an entertaining and occasionally informative collection.
— reread Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold which I first read in May of last year. Since I read the rest of the series only recently, I’d forgotten some details from this first book. In fact, I was about halfway through the final book in the series before I realized that that book was taking place in the same location as this one and that the series had come full circle. I enjoyed revisiting this book.
— Goldilocks by Laura Lam. This science fiction novel surprised me several times. One review describes it as a mix of The Martian and the Handmaid’s Tale.
— Penric and the Shaman by Lois McMaster Bujold which I quite enjoyed. It’s the second Penric book, and I recommend beginning with the first.
— reread with pleasure The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison; it was funny to learn that my daughter was rereading it at the same time in South Korea.
I always love reading the comments on these post and thought it was time to finally start sharing too. My most recent reads:
– A Dangerous Kind of Lady by Mia Vincy – I loved the previous two books in Vincy’s Longhope Abbey series and this one is a great addition. I think Vincy’s plots can sometimes be a bit convoluted but her characters are always so strong. I think this one took a different direction than I expected from reading the blurb but it’s still a good spin on the enemies-to-lovers trope.
– One To Watch by Kate Stayman-London – eh. I’m all for good stories and in particular good romance featuring plus size ladies but this felt weak and just… not compelling? I had high expectations from reading reviews and comments beforehand so that compounded my disappointment
– Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall – WONDERFUL AND GLORIOUS. Hilarious and romantic and heartwarming and just very, very good. I would say the side characters stole the show here but I also loved the two leads. Hall does a tremendous job of building the relationship between the two leads and navigating the myriad of issues they both share as individuals. Definitely one of my favourites of the year so far
– Finding Joy by Adriana Herrera – sweet but a bit boring. My favourite parts were the descriptions of Ethiopia and the detail Herrera devotes to building that world
– You Say It First by Katie Cotugno – this was a really great YA about an enthusiastic teenage girl dedicated to progressive politics from a privileged background and a boy from a nearby state with a job going nowhere and a shabby home life. They end up talking on the phone when she calls him as part of a voter recruitment drive and their correspondence continues from that point on. Their relationship was very sweet but also I loved the portrayal of the very real difficulties of navigating a relationship where there’s such an explicit class divide. Usually stories like this where one person is from “the wrong side of the tracks” get depicted as almost this outside obstacle? But here everything either character does is motivated by their background and it was satisfying to see that play out. It was also just charming and romantic in an epistolary-esque kinda way
It’s my birthday month and I always save books that I think I’ll really enjoy most to read this month. So far I’ve re-read the first two Bareknuckle Bastards books by Sarah MacLean, WICKED AND THE WALLFLOWER and BRAZEN AND THE BEAST (my fave of the series). Then I read the last in this series DARING AND THE DUKE. I don’t know if the redemption of the hero really worked for me, but I did mostly enjoy the series. I like Sarah MacLean’s writing, but still haven’t been able to bring myself to read THE DAY OF THE DUCHESS because that hero was too awful in the earlier novel for me to want to invest in his story. So I’ve only had glimpses of the American tavern owner who I guess first appeared in that book. But from what I’ve seen of him in the Bareknuckle Bastards novels, I do hope we get to read a longer story featuring him and Sesily someday.
Next I finally read the last in Lisa Kleypas’s Ravenels series CHASING CASSANDRA. I’ve had the ebook since it was published but held on to it for my bday. I enjoyed it too, though the Ravenels series is not one I will probably re-read like I do the Wallflower and Hathaway series.
Next I snagged two of my top wishlist books on sale recently and am super excited about them. The first I finished last night – THE WIDOW OF ROSE HALL by Diana Biller. I adored this book! The hero is just such a sweetheart and so funny. And the heroine was fantastic too and I loved that she was so charmed by the hero’s family. Just what I needed to read right now. What a fantastic debut novel. I am very excited to read more from this author. I read that her next book will be about the hero’s brother and the heroine’s best friend. I’m hoping we get to spend some more time with the hero’s family in that story too!
Today I’m starting the other wishlist book I snagged on sale – BRINGING DOWN THE DUKE by Evie Dunmore. I haven’t read many books set during this novel’s historical period. But after just watching the PBS American Experience episodes “The Vote” about the passage of the 19th Amendment in the US, I’m definitely in the mood to read more about the women’s suffrage movements in England and the US.
I have a few other books saved for this month but I’m not sure if I’ll get to them or not. I’ll save those for the next Whatcha Reading update.
Stay safe and best wishes to everyone!
My life is just stressors on all fronts, so YES TO THE DUKE by Eloisa James was such a balm (I read it based on the the review in SBTB). It’s a great couple at the core, with low angst which is my level at the moment. I started DARING AND THE DUKE by Sarah MacLean but couldn’t not finish due to the drama–nothing against her writing, I loved her other books (“The year of Hattie!”) but just not in my head space at the moment. Does anyone else have any low angst, good banter books to recommend (historical or contemporary)?
@LMC: ever read Act Like It by Lucy Parker? When someone say ‘banter’, this one always comme to mind.
https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/act-like-it-by-lucy-parker/
Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher is also full of banter, just not necessarily between the hero and heroine. It’s rather that a lot of people around them are snarky; sometimes, even the narration has a banterish feel. Here, try a quote:
Oups, sorry I didn’t use the quote command right. Here’s the real quote:
‘He wished that he could break out his knitting, but for some reason, people didn’t take you seriously as a warrior when you were knitting. He’d never figured out why. Making socks required four or five double-ended bone needles, and while they weren’t very large, you could probably jam one into someone’s eye if you really wanted to. Not that he would. He’d have to pull the needle out of the sock to do it, and then he’d be left with the grimly fiddly work of rethreading the stitches. Also, washing blood out of wool was possible, but a pain.’
Like @Kareni I am reading Alive Coldbreath for the first time, THE UNLOVELY BRIDE, and am enjoying it. My one quibble so far is sentences written in very modern style, especially She.Could.Not.Believe.It. I’m old enough that that always looks weird, but even more so in a historical.
I had to pause in the dark moment of THE KING’S MAN because I was afraid it would be too stressful getting through it, but it was fine once I got the nerve up to read it. A medieval with a king’s fixer and a Welsh warrior heroine.
I love Alexis Hall’s books FOR REAL and WAITING FOR THE FLOOD, so I picked up GLITTERLAND. The romance between a depressed intellectual and a small-time model was sweet, and realistic in showing the way the world shrinks down to you when you’re depressed. Also the way unlikely partners can be the right ones.
And I’m probably the last person who hadn’t seen HAMILTON, watched the movie and loved it.
@DiscodollyDeb this x20000 “So the whole country is being told, “You’ll just have to learn to live with it.” Yeah, it sucks—but now everybody can experience what it was like for a woman who had migraines or endometriosis prior to the 1980s.” I just finished Never Deny A Duke by Madelaine Hunter (it was meh) and Chasing Cassandra by Julia Quinn (which was a lot of fun). I’m going to re read a Susan Sontag novel–The Volcano Lover because I want to exercise my brain a little but I’m not sure if it’s ready for unfamiliar subjects.
Having discovered there is not one but TWO sequels to Howl’s Moving Castle I promptly ordered the third (THE HOUSE OF MANY WAYS) and am working my way through the whole delightful trilogy. May watch the film again as well.
On a side note, does anyone else wish someone would make a (GOOD)movie adaptation of the Chrestomanci series? I think it would blow Harry Potter away.
And welcome, everyone, to the wonderful world of agoraphobia!
I am currently reading BITTER SPIRITS (medium and a bootlegger romance) and MANGOS AND MISTLETOE (lesbian Dominican women participating in a baking competition in Scotland!) in order to get a Ripped Bodice bingo. But my goal of 3 romances a week is suffering because I also have other books I’m reading!
WHY FISH DON’T EXIST: truly no idea how I ended up with this book but the way this biography on a scientist devoted to the taxonomy of fish turns is… a lot. But I enjoyed it.
INDIAN-ISH: Fun writing and fun recipes. I’ve only tried a couple so far but excited for more.
ROMANCING MISTER BRIDGERTON: I know! I’m finally working my way through it. Loved it and am so excited for the series and Nicola.
ELLIE AND FHE HARPMAKER: Strange? But good? But also surprising ? I wasn’t expecting that much sadness.
THE LADY’S HANDBOOK TO HER MYSTERIOUS ILLNESS: I might have mentioned it last time but it’s a harrowwwwinnngg view into being a woman with a chronic illness, and being one, I found it… helpful but haaaard.
I might have said this before, but I’ve been reading so much, things are starting to blend together. These are the books that were highlights for me.
Boyfriend Material-I can’t say how much I loved this book. My family got incredibly bad news last weekend, and reading this book was such a bright spot for me. So witty, heartfelt, and as many others said-not only are the main characters delightful, but the cast of characters? I WISH for books about all of them.
The Guest List- Lucy Foley? Who are you and how have I been missing you? This book was a page turner, I was so tired but there was no way I was going to bed until I got to the end. She does an excellent job on setting the scene-there are several different viewpoints, but I never got lost and they blended together well. Very Agatha Christie, and I literally tried to go to sleep, but gave it up to finish the book.
Relentless in Texas-finally the story of Gil Sanchez! He’s shown up in the previous books, and what a great set up! Kari Lynn Dell is a must read for me. If you want competence porn-look no further. I did read the new release, then of course went back and read again the Texas Rodeo series. I absolutely love the setting, and how the women are so competent, and often more so than the men. THEN the men give them the credit due to them. I LOVE this author!
I also read Mary Balogh’s Simple Quartet. Very enjoyable, about the Miss Martin School that Freyja Bedwyn supports. The second one, Simply Love was so satisfying for me. Sydnam’s story-horribly wounded in the war and working for the Duke of Bewcastle in Wales. I was so very happy he got his story, and it is very heartfelt. I have a hard time not saying Duke of Bedwyn-I always feel the title and the family name should be the same! I longed to see what happened to him after reading the Bedwyn series, and the resolution was more than I could have asked for.
Daring and the Duke-Sarah MacLean. Hard to describe this one-I love the Bareknuckle Bastards-I was so looking forward to this one. Grace and Ewan-where it all started. I think I might have been a victim of very high expectations, while it explained so much-I was not invested like I was with the characters in the first two books. Oddly, this story didn’t have the intimacy that I expected-I felt removed from the story. Still, I would recommend this series-absolutely loved the first two.
I had a string of DNF at the beginning of the month and finally broke it by reading The Beholder by Anna Bright. It’s labeled as YA Fantasy but it’s more of an alternate history where the British empire crumbled, there’s no USA and Imperial Russia is swallowing up all of Europe. The MC Selah has her marriage proposal rejected and is forced by her her stepmother to sail from North America to Europe to search for a husband. I loved the world-building and how Bright wove fairy tales into her story. Currently reading the sequel The Boundless.
I’ve been reading Dickens’s Little Dorritt – I’ve been going on and off a book diet, aka read books I already own, and I thought, “You know what? A slow burn romance would be really great, why don’t I read this book which is the length of three books and the kiss, only one, happens all the way at the end and probably nothing will work out well for anyone?” IDK why I didn’t just come here and look at the slow burn & related tags. Why didn’t I do that? Anyway, it’s Dickens so I’ve been enjoying the syntax and hating the antisemitism (just…gross), been confused about what the heck he was trying to accomplish with Miss Wade and Rigaud (what even is the point of Rigaud?), and depressed about how real Mr. Merdle is despite the Society~~~ chapters being written so over-the-top cartoonishly. Just a side note…I know Rigaud and Merdle are the obvious villains, but Mrs. General reminds me of Umbridge in a way.
Or What You Will caught my eye from a previous post (I love meta concepts like that!) and I’m interested in The Year of the Witching based on that cover alone. Other than that I have Network Effect which I’m excited to start 🙂
Mixed month so far. I rapidly read Kiss of Steel, Heart of Iron, and My Lady Quicksilver by Bec McMaster, and started the 4th book, but the obvious similarities between the books and something about the heroes started to annoy me, so I DNFd the 4th one. Disappointing, because Kiss of Steel was a lot of fun, but it just went downhill from there, although I still liked some of the characters and may go back to the series later.
Enjoyed Waiting for the Flood by Alexis Hall, although I was kinda frustrated by the fact that we never really find out what Edwin looks like. I’ll probably look for more Alexis Hall.
Thanks to a recent recommendation here, I looked up Annabeth Albert and read both of her Portland Heat collections: Bundled Up and Gathered Up. Both were very sweet, although I was really bothered by the way Hollis’s family and “friends” (in Wrapped Together)insist on subjecting him to teasing and gossip which he clearly finds genuinely uncomfortable. They supposedly know that he is quiet, introverted and very private, but they show no respect for this and treat him as if he is a loud extrovert like them. Makes me wonder why is it so hard for adults to recognize that if someone is not laughing, you are not laughing with them, you are laughing at them, and that teasing which upsets other people for your amusement isn’t friendly, it’s just bullying pretending to a nicer name.
Also read Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness on a recommendation from this site. It was interesting, but a little abstract/theoretical, probably because the author’s a philosopher. Got any cephalopod books written by biologists to recommend?
Currently reading The End of Policing by Alex Vitale, grim but informative.
I was supposed to be posting here about how much I love the community series by Tracy Tappan. It’s a different take on the vampire legend and it was so refreshing. Also I was going to recommend it for heroes that are virgins (because they physically can’t until they meet their soulmate). Unfortunately, in the third book, the so called heroine ‘rapes ‘ the hero and his brother. That’s a hard DNF for me (I just can’t root for anybody who does that no matter what their upbringing or motivations are) a shame because the side plot. That said, I can read dark romances with similar themes but usually in those the MC is known from the start as a villain and there’s no ambiguity. Apart from that, I stopped listening to Mad Love by Nick Spalding, I enjoyed reading it the first time round but this time found the hero self absorbed and irritating. Maybe I’m just not in the mood for romantic humour? Plodded through an Evangeline Anderson that I bought on a whim last year (I know, grief leads to strange impulse buys) I have one left to read and it’s a body swap book, I’m already lowering my expectations…
Like @Marci I started this month with a re-read of the first two books in Sarah MacLean’s Bareknuckle Bastards series, Wicked and the Wallflower and Brazen and the Beast. Loved them as much, if not more, than the first time around. Now I’m reading Daring and the Duke and am trying to read slowly and savor it, although considering I got to 40% on the first night, that goal might not be working all that well for me… @Marci if you’re reading this, I highly recommend taking the plunge with Day of the Duchess! The hero was truly awful earlier in the series but she redeems him SO thoroughly, the heroine is amazing, and the banter in that book is TOP NOTCH. Probably my favorite of all Sarah MacLean books!
I’m currently struggling with the problem of “too many library holds all at the same time” that occurs every so often. In the past two weeks I’ve been lucky enough to have holds come through for The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, which I’m reading in preparation for giving to my 13 year old so that we can discuss, as well as The Guest List by Lucy Foley, and Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore, forgot the author for that one but it sounds delightful. I’m going to need to seriously apply myself if I’m going to read all these before the library takes them back!
@Arijo, thank you for the suggestions! I always appreciate new discoveries!
Just finished THE DEVIL OF DOWNTOWN by Joanna Shupe (enjoyed the previous books of the series) but found too much of the book had the hero solving problems for the heroine. She also seemed like a stereotypical humorless “do-gooder”, not sure why the hero would like her or whether we should, too.
My absolute favourite read in June was Roseanne Bittner’s ‘Outlaw Hearts’ which just, oh my God, yes. I have her ‘Thunder On The Plains’ in my keeper shelf and after Outlaw Hearts I think she just might be an autobuy author. Right now I’m a little over halfway through Lilah Pace’s ‘Asking For It’ and LOVING IT SO MUCH!