Whatcha Reading? August 2020 Edition, Part One

Young woman reading book and eating sushiIs it that time already? I suppose that’s what happens when the month starts on a Saturday.

Let’s get right into the book talk!

Claudia: I just finished A Rogue of One’s Own by Evie Dunmore ( A | BN | K | AB ) and I really liked it! I had been saving this one for so, so long (I got an ARC long ago) and for once I wasn’t disappointed. There were some issues that felt unresolved, but for the most part it was a very good one.

Shana: I’m in a poly relationship with 7, no…8 books right now. The one I’m enjoying the most is Artificial Condition, the second Murderbot book. ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) It’s so good. I just finished Samantha Irby’s new collection, Wow, No Thank You ( A | BN | K | AB ) and her essay on the awkwardness of trying to make new grown-up friends really spoke to me. It’s not my favorite of her books, but it made me laugh.

Sarah: Shana, which is your fave?

We Are Never Meeting in Real Life
A | BN | K | AB
Shana: I loved We Are Never Meeting in Real Life. I remember laughing until I cried reading it. One of the essays is a mock application to the Bachelorette, and it’s gold. She also has some great pieces on living with a chronic illness. Should you want to relive the hilarity and miserableness of dating, her first book, Meaty, covers that with painfully accurate precision.

Amanda: I’ve been in an RPG playing mood, so I’m hoping The Librarian and the Orc ( A ) scratches that itch in my reading. I would also definitely play a Dragon Age-eque video game with an open world and an archivist trying to romance their orc party member.

Elyse: I am in the middle of The Golden Cage by Camilla Lackberg ( A | BN | K | AB ) but it’s not holding my attention

How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge
A | BN | K | AB
Carrie: I just started How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge by K. Eason. And still reading War and Peace at a chapter or three a day! Pierre just joined the Freemasons! My God, the excitement!

Maya: I’m also in that Murderbot frame of mind! I read Network Effect this weekend and loved it so much I turned right around and read through all the novellas again. And now I’m back to reading Network Effect a second time.

Sarah: Yesssssss! (I did that too. Twice.)

Tara: I am also bouncing between a bunch of books right now. I’ve just started Aurora’s Angel by Emily Noon, ( A ) which is an f/f paranormal romance between a shifter and an angel. It’s too soon to tell, but it’s holding my attention pretty well.

The other, which I’m totally in love with, is Lindy West’s forthcoming film book Shit, Actually. ( A | BN | K | AB ) I’ve started reading half an essay or an essay a night and it has made me laugh really hard at least 10 times and I’m only three chapters in.

Black Sun
A | BN | K | AB
Catherine: I’m having difficulty reading anything at the moment, because things are rather depressing in Melbourne right now, but I am halfway through A Wizard’s Guide To Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher. ( A | BN | K | AB ) It’s funny and foodie but also a little grim in tone (I think. That could just be me.), with a fourteen year old apprentice baker heroine who is also a minor magician who can animate bread and sourdough in a town that is becoming increasingly hostile to magicians. It’s clearly headed for a happy and satisfying ending, but I think I’m the wrong reader at the wrong time for this book.

Aarya: I’ve been listening to the audio of Jeannie Lin’s The Dragon and the Pearl for weeks now and with no end in sight. It’s not that it’s bad (I love Lin!), but then Taylor Swift’s folklore came out and that took over my entire listening time (“the last great american dynasty” is the best song and I will not be accepting alternate opinions). I really need to get back to the Lin — I’m using it for a Ripped Bodice summer bingo square and that ends in a few weeks!

I also just started Rebecca Roanhorse’s Black Sun (out October 13) last night. It is glorious and I can’t say enough good things about it (and I’m only on chapter five!). I want to pause and savor it so that it won’t end, so maybe I’ll take a few weeks with it.

Shana: I’m so jealous, I can’t wait to read Black Sun!

Ellen: I just finally read Rafe: A Buff Male Nanny and while any kind of nanny situation is like the opposite of my catnip, it was so funny and sweet that I loved it! I’m also still reading a lot of comics because sometimes that is all my poor tired brain can handle and I just started the classic manga series Nana by Ai Yazawa. So far I have met only 1 of the 2 nanas but it is very fun.

Amanda: The Nanas ARE TOO POWERFUL. I have a softness in my heart for that manga.

Sarah: I am about to start The Lost Jewels, ( A | BN | K ) which came out last week.

It’s based on the true story of a hoard of incredible jewelry from the Tudor era – I’m very curious. Lost treasures through time are a catnip strain I like.

Sneezy: Ai Yazawa? Did they also write Paradise Kiss?

I’ve been really agitated and anxious, so I’ve been having trouble focusing on one book. However the recent update of the webtoon Muted has me wailing.

(And my phone thought I misspelt ‘webtoon’ because I was screaming in all caps. Calling me out like that, how dare.)

Ellen: Yes, the very same Ai Yazawa!

What have you been reading? Let us know!

Comments are Closed

  1. Magenta says:

    Come on, Aarya, how is Illicit Affairs not the very best song? 😉 (Just joking, love the whole damn thing with all my heart.) Also really enjoyed The Dragon and the Pearl.

  2. Jill Q. says:

    The good

    JUST MERCY by Bryan Stevenson, which was good, but sad. A memoir by the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, which advocates for people caught in the justice system without sufficient resources, including those on death row and children who have been sentenced to life in prison. Fascinating, at times very sad, very moving.

    THE DARING AND THE DUKE by Sarah Maclean. I have been kind of lukewarm on the series. I really like my historicals on the fluffy side and I feel like the Bareknuckle Bastards has been a bit melodramatic for me. I also wasn’t too keen to see how to the villain redeemed himself after he was terrible in the first 2 books. But weirdly, this worked for me. I kind of enjoyed the melodrama with these two and it had a great ending that stuck with me. Maybe I was just in the right mood? Or maybe it helped that I started listening to it on audiobook and then switched to kindle copy? It really helped me sink into the world easily.

    GET A CLUE, DANI BROWN by Talia Hibbert. Okay, I have like a chapter or two to go but I’m really loving this so I’ll risk the bad luck and put it on the good list. Danika and Zafir are both charming. Zafir is such a great hero. Big, scowly appearing teddy bear who is a marshmallow on the inside. He loves his family and romance novels and deals with anxiety. Danika is a awkward nerdy workaholic. It’s one of those books where you can’t help rooting for the couple. And another book that feels pretty “effortlessly contemporary.”(my words for when a romance novel still feels grounded in contemporary reality, appropriate cultural references for the correct generations and without zillionaires, princesses, and twee cupcake bakers) I mean, they’re fake dating, but they acknowledge it’s a weird thing to do and they got the idea from Zafir’s romance novels. . . so it checks out 😉 Don’t get my wrong, I love tropey romances. But I also love when I feel like I’m just reading about people falling in love in a natural way.

    The Okay

    THE BOYFRIEND PROJECT by Farrah Rochon. I had been kind of dragging my feet on this one and then I read the review here and that actually helped me decide to finish. I guess b/c I knew what its flaws were and I wasn’t as worried by blindsided. I also had recently loved a book where the hero keeps a secret for similar reasons (trying to be deliberately vague here) and I loved that book, so I figured this one deserved a chance. This one didn’t work quite as well, but it was enjoy it while I read it, B read for me. After I read it, I thought more about what the hero had done, talked a little bit more with my husband (who has experience with the federal government) and my feelings about the ending have gone from slightly implausible to very implausible. But it worked while I was reading it and sometimes that’s good enough.

    LIPSTICK JIHAD by Azadeh Moaveni. This was another memoir of a young Iranian-American woman who grew up in California after the Revolution and then moved to Iran as a young woman to be a reporter for time. She talks a lot about not fitting into either culture and always feeling displaced, which is a topic I find fascinating. And she wrote beautifully about the nuances of culture. But at times, I felt like she was very easily dismissive of Iranian people who didn’t come for her cultured, wealthy and secular background. Also, it wraps up shortly after 9/11 and was written in 2005, so really it is a time capsule or snap shot of a different time. She did write a sequel which I’m interested in reading after taking a break.

  3. DiscoDollyDeb says:

    Love! Passion! Angst! Emotional roller-coasters! Menages! Second-chances! Unplanned pregnancies! Secret babies! BDSM! Kink! And…Amnesia! Just another month in my reading life.

    A couple of WAYR posts ago, I rhapsodized about N.R. Walker’s lovely Missing Pieces duet—PIECES OF ME & PIECES OF YOU—an m/m romance that beautifully utilizes the amnesia trope. The books were immediately added to my Best of 2020 list. Because the second book seemed to end on a perfect note, I didn’t realize that Walker planned a third book for the series—PIECES OF US. As soon as I saw it, I grabbed it and gulped it down in a day. In PIECES OF US, Justin continues to recover his memories after a terrible vehicle accident wiped them out. He also continues to recover physically, which means he is once more interested in sex with his partner, Dallas. There is a lot of sex in this book—but it’s not overdone or gratuitous; the sex scenes complement other scenes of Justin returning to physical and emotional health. There’s also quite a bit of angst in the book due to the reappearance of Justin’s homophobic mother whose sole interest is getting her hands on Justin’s insurance settlement money. She’s horrible, but ultimately love prevails. In a way, PIECES OF US (in fact, the whole Missing Pieces trilogy) reminds me of Zoe York’s LOVE IN A SANDSTORM in that they both deal with one partner helping another on the road to recovery after serious brain trauma. Key quote: “Real love is hard. And sometimes it hurts. Sometimes we need to change what was our normal course and take a different path. Sometimes everything we knew becomes something different, and we need to adapt…I don’t mind one bit…because when I fell in love with you, it was forever….Falling in love with you was the single best thing to ever happen to me.” Happy sigh. I highly recommend this lovely trilogy about ordinary people dealing with an extraordinary event.

    Elyse Springer’s WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN is a sweet and sexy m/m novella set in a research station in Antarctica. The heroes are Simon, a station janitor, and Asher, a research scientist. Simon begins crushing on Asher when the scientist first arrives at the station. Because of Asher’s imposing physical appearance (“he looked like a linebacker”), Simon imagines Asher will be forceful and dominating—in bed and out of it. But when Simon actually gets to know Asher, he discovers his crush is instead shy and quiet. So, rather than enact Simon’s fantasy of going directly to bed, the two date and get to know each other (there’s a lovely scene where the two men watch the auroras, simply sitting together in the darkness, holding hands, and staring up at the sky). A gentle slow-burn romance with very appealing MCs. Recommended.

    There are a number of tropes in Kelly Hunter’s very good MATILDA NEXT DOOR (the first book in the new Outback Brides Return to Wirralong series): friends-to-lovers, slow-burn, and secret-baby. But, as usual, Hunter puts her unique spin on events and creates a lovely romance in the process. Matilda and Henry grew up as friends on neighboring farms in the Australian Outback. Quiet and studious Henry, raised by his rather difficult grandparents after his mother died, leaves for college and a career in England as soon as he graduates, while kind and gregarious Matilda stays at home in Wirralong, becoming well-known in the area for her baking prowess and eventually creating wedding cakes and desserts for the nearby destination wedding venue. When Henry plans one of his rare trips back to Australia, he offers Matilda use of his London flat for her concurrent trip to England. Matilda has only spent a few days in London when a baby is unceremoniously dropped off at the flat—the product of Henry’s brief relationship with a co-worker who subsequently left the job (Henry did not know she was pregnant) and died of cancer when the baby was six months old. So, not too unhappily, Matilda returns to Australia, Henry’s daughter in tow, and then the developing romance begins. Henry and Matilda have feelings for each other, but both of them have to deal with the hand life has dealt them: Matilda wants Henry to want her for who she is and not simply as a surrogate mother to his baby—and Henry, who has difficulty articulating his emotions, is nonetheless determined to be a better parent to his daughter than his mother or grandparents were to him. One thing I love about Hunter’s work is that she refuses to be fluffy or mushy, even with a storyline that could easily head in that direction. Instead, her work is bracing, emotionally real, and has just the right touch of melancholy to make it a great read. Recommended.

    One of the most interesting elements of Caitlin Crews’s TEMPT ME is the acknowledgement that for young women in their early-to-mid twenties today, 50 SHADES OF GREY has been a fixture of their cultural landscapes, if not their sexual lives, since their teens; and that many of them were first exposed to bdsm while secretly reading their mothers’ copies of the books. TEMPT ME is the third and final book in Crews’s bdsm-themed Filthy Rich Billionaires trilogy published by Dare; it features a young artist, an ex-pat living in Paris, who supports herself cleaning houses. One of the houses she cleans has a room where the door is always locked—until the day it isn’t. She opens the door and steps into what is obviously a “playroom” (which she immediately references as a red room of pain) when, unexpectedly, the owner of the house—an icy, self-contained businessman (who has been a supporting character in the previous two books)—appears. So begins verbal banter (including the dom hero throwing shade at 50 Shades), emotional angst, and the lead up to a bdsm “scene” that eventually comprises half of the book. At first, Crews cleverly lets us think only the young heroine (who rather tiresomely talks in buzzwords about “curating her brand” via social media posts) will learn anything, sexual or otherwise, from a D/s relationship with the older hero; but, of course, the locked-down hero, for all his dominating expertise, has a thing or two to learn about opening himself emotionally to love. Although not as good as Crews’s previous Dare, the ultra-hot TAKE ME, TEMPT ME is a good way to conclude the trilogy and an indication that Harlequin’s Dare imprint just might finally be finding its footing.

    Several years ago, Jackie Ashenden published MAKE YOU MINE, a bodyguard romance with a twist—it featured a female bodyguard who falls for her male client. Ashenden revisits this trope in her latest HP, PROMOTED TO HIS PRINCESS, where again a female bodyguard and her male client fall in love—with the requisite level of Ashenden/HP angsty heartache along the way. In PROMOTED TO HIS PRINCESS, the heroine is the first woman to hold a position in the royal guard in the (fictional) kingdom of Axios. She is part of the detail protecting the king’s brother—a playboy prince once exiled by his father but returned to his place in the kingdom when his brother became king. Ashenden does a good job of showing elements of the heroine’s history that make her so disciplined and committed to her army career, but also why she is so insistent on ignoring her body’s sexual needs. When an unanticipated night of passion with the prince results in an unplanned pregnancy for his bodyguard, the prince wants to marry her—and the angst factor gets dialed up to 11. As is the case with all Ashenden’s books, hero and heroine must unlearn the lessons of their dysfunctional upbringings (imparted by some combination of absent/abusive/distant/dead parents) before they can achieve their HEA. I’ve always maintained that Ashenden’s angsty style makes her a perfect writer for the emotionally-fraught template of Harlequin Presents and PROMOTED TO HIS PRINCESS just reinforces my opinion. Recommended—if, like me, you find OTT emotional roller-coasters to be comfort reads.

    Clare Connelly’s IT STARTED WITH A LIE is the latest in her Montebellos series about a large Greek-Italian family. This one features a fake relationship and includes one of my favorite fake relationship elements: “We’re pretending to be a couple while we attend this big destination event, so our hosts have put us in a single room and…oh nos—there’s only one bed!” As usual with Connelly, both h&h have many secrets in their pasts and this has a bearing on how they relate to and handle their growing feelings for one another. Plus, I might have mentioned…there’s only one bed—and a fairly narrow one at that! A nice fake relationship romance—although cw/tw for reference to a stillborn child (not the heroine’s).

    After my re-read of Zoe York’s wonderful small town Pine Harbour books last month, I decided to read some of the “spicier” books York publishes under her alternate pen name, Ainsley Booth. I love Booth’s Forbidden Bodyguards series, but I had yet to read her Frisky Beavers erotic romances (co-written with Sadie Haller). When I saw the entire series is now available on KU, I grabbed them. There are four main books in the series—PRIME MINISTER, DR. BAD BOY, FULL MOUNTIE, and MR. HAT TRICK—along with a number of associated novellas & short stories. The books are centered around interconnected (fictional) Canadian political, cultural, and sports figures. The stories are all sexy—with a bit of kink thrown in and some humor to prevent things from getting too serious:

    In PRIME MINISTER, the title character and a younger woman (he’s 39, she’s 25), who is working as an intern in his office before returning to a university research job, embark upon a D/s relationship in some ways influenced by the 2002 movie, “Secretary.” Then they realize that emotional intensity is just as amazing as anything they might do to and with each other physically. This is a political/workplace romance and, even if the PM is politically liberal, there’s still a massive power imbalance between the h&h outside the bedroom. If you can overlook that enormous elephant in the room, PRIME MINISTER is a quick and sexy read (although a subplot about a terrorist attack seemed out of place for the book’s tone).

    The hero of DR. BAD BOY is the Prime Minister’s best friend. He’s a former child star who became a doctor—and he’s also a Dom with a “playroom/dungeon” in his basement. He’s been searching for the woman with whom he had a one-night stand several months before; then he discovers she’s an associate at the law firm that handles some of his business matters (neither of them knew of this connection when they first hooked up). It’s inappropriate for a lawyer to have a relationship with a client—a fact they both acknowledge multiple times (as the heroine notes, “We’re totally a thing. A hot, complicated, fucked-up, off-limits, can’t-happen thing”)—but when has that ever stopped a couple in Romancelandia? Lots of Dom/sub play and other kink in this one. (This book squicked me out a little bit because of the couple’s continuous bdsm play during the heroine’s pregnancy. Yes, everything was consensual and they took safety precautions to ensure nothing would hurt the baby, but I still wasn’t totally on-board with so much pain-infliction behavior toward a pregnant woman.)

    FULL MOUNTIE was my favorite of the four Frisky Beavers books—I liked it so much, I purchased it for my keeper shelf after reading it on KU. It’s an M/M/F menage romance, but it starts with two people who work closely with the Prime Minister and who have been pining for each other for over a year: Beth, the rather prim, but super-efficient Executive Assistant (who, according to one character, looks like Phryne Fisher, so I had my visual image set), and Lachlan, the Head of Security. They have been circling around each other without actually doing anything because Beth presents as “vanilla” and Lachlan is decidedly not. Into the mix comes Hugh, a new member of the Prime Minister’s security detail and once, ten years before, Lachlan’s lover. Now Hugh is also interested in Beth, although the spark is still there with Lachlan. Beth begins dating both men, initially unaware that they share a past romantic history; but, once she learns the truth, she is fully on-board with their simultaneous love for her and their rekindled feelings for each other. Let the angsty heartache and smoking-hot sexy-times begin! Excellent bi & poly representation and acceptance. Heat level: Molten.

    MR. HAT TRICK is a “hockey adjacent” (Booth & Haller’s term) romance featuring a professional hockey player and a wealthy heiress who have spent a year being thrown together when socializing with their mutual friends. They don’t like each other—or do they? There’s an antagonist-to-lovers element as they attempt a no-strings-attached affair—although, as we all know, there is no such thing as “no-strings-attached” in Romancelandia. The central kink in this book is voyeurism: the couple enjoy watching other people acting out sexual scenes (with the full awareness and consent of the people being watched). I don’t know if it is because I had a book hangover after FULL MOUNTIE, but I really didn’t get into MR. HAT TRICK. The conflicts felt overblown and a lot of the action (sexual and otherwise) seemed repetitive. I did like checking in with what was going on in the lives of the characters from the previous Frisky Beavers books, but MR. HAT TRICK is not one for the re-read pile.

    NON-ROMANCE

    [CW/TW: This book includes references to a stillborn child, miscarriages, and failed fertility treatments. There is also an ongoing subtext about the ease with which wealthy men conceal the consequences of their affairs.] Allison Dickson’s THE OTHER MRS. MILLER is a twisty psychological suspense story where every character has something to hide—some more than others. Phoebe Miller is a very wealthy heiress in her thirties, with a burgeoning drinking problem and a crumbling marriage to a self-contained therapist. Other than watching tv and drinking, Phoebe’s primary interest is keeping track of a car that often parked on her street and appears to be from a courier service. What is it doing parked for hours a day on the street? Who is the person who sits behind the wheel, watching Phoebe as Phoebe watches her? Phoebe begins a log, noting the dates & times the car shows up; but when new neighbors move in, the car and log are forgotten as Phoebe quickly becomes friends with Vicky, a high-strung woman married to Ron, a demanding neurosurgeon with anger-management issues. Phoebe also becomes more-than-friends with Jake, Vicky & Ron’s 18-year-old Stanford-bound son. While a secret, adulterous “cougar/boy-toy” affair is hardly healthy, Dickson makes us see how much this relationship, along with the friendship with Vicky, helps Phoebe emerge from a fog of alcohol and boredom. But then things start unraveling: Vicky and Ron have money problems and Phoebe’s attempt to help them backfires. Meanwhile, Jake announces that he’s in love with Phoebe and doesn’t want to leave for college. There’s also the matter of a blackmail letter Phoebe has received—threatening to expose her affair with Jake. Phoebe decides on a course of action that she thinks will set her free from all these entanglements. But then there’s an absolutely astonishing turn of events (I promise, you will not see it coming), taking the second half of the book in a completely unexpected direction. An entertaining book, especially if you don’t mind morally-ambiguous characters who keep you wondering just what their next move will be. Recommended.

  4. I’m looking forward to reading DEAL WITH THE DEVIL by Kit Rocha and MR. KNIGHTSBRIDGE by Louise Bay, among other books.

    I’ve also been bingeing MISS FISHER’S MURDER MYSTERIES, which I’m really enjoying. The banter and clothes are fabulous. I want to check out the books by Kerry Greenwood too.

  5. Nagarajas says:

    My brain has been wanting Urban Fantasy lately which is DIFFICULT because 1. I can’t read insta-love/lust. I’m demi-sexual. It’s just confusing. 2. NO COPS. Take out all the detective and fated mates from Urban Fantasy and there’s… not a lot. What I have found that is very squee worthy is:

    Wolf of Black Pines by S.J. Himes. This series went straight to the keeper shelf. The books are big so there’s room for characters to breathe and for the worldbuilding to be deep and clever.

    Necromancer’s Dance by S.J. Himes. (Yes I just went and read everything by the author) Vampire and Necromancer communicating and checking in on each other. Constructive collaboration with each other and their communities. Cops show up just to be aggravating. After book 1 there is a dragon.

    Clayton by Rachelle Mills. One of you recommended this and you have a lot to answer for. I was sobbing uncontrollably. How DARE you? How DARE the author?

    Clean Sweep by Ilonna Andrews. Science Fiction guests in a magical bed and breakfast in a Texas Suburb. Cool aliens. The universe’s most awkward phone call to parents. The perils of small business ownership. Romance happens over series arks rather then book arks.

  6. Heather M says:

    Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall was very cute and fun. I’m not a big romcom reader or watcher, so sometimes it fell a little too far on the twee side, like “it’s funny, but give it a rest.” But overall I really liked the character arcs and I thought it was a great read.

    I started reading Thorn by Intisar Khanani. Sadly, I think it’s probably going to be a DNF. I’m going to give it one more chapter, but the prose is just not catching me at all and the plot is not what I quite expected it to be.

    My The Tale of Genji project has stalled, but I’m gonna try to get back to it. 2020 is long so surely I’ll be able to get through it.

    Other than all that, I think my next read is gonna be the new David Mitchell.

  7. Pear says:

    Romance:

    WHITEOUT by Adriana Anders was a delightful romantic suspense. I enjoyed the relationship between the two leads and I thought Anders did an excellent job conveying just how terrifying it is to be crossing the terrain of Antarctica, I had to read during daylight hours. The ending did remind me why I kind of fell out of reading romantic suspense–once I start thinking about the paramilitary groups so many RS heroes belong to, I can’t enjoy the stories so much. I’ll probably keep up with this series, though. I think the villain is just over-the-top enough that I can buy there being a paramilitary organization that has to be the one to stop it?

    10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT PINKY by Sandhya Menon did not work very well for me, though it has some fun tropes going on (enemies-to-lovers in a fake relationship!). I think I found the bickering between Pinky and Samir to be a little too immature. I appreciated the positive discussions of therapy and of joining existing social movements led by locals.

    LOVE AND OTHER SCANDALS by Caroline Linden was a reread from 2015 or so and I didn’t really remember anything about it. Fairly low-stakes Regency, I liked Joan and Tristan together but their conflict pacing felt odd (perhaps because it was wrapped up at the final pages and also felt like a non-conflict). In contrast to the discussion last time around the CHASING CASSANDRA body shaming, I appreciate that Joan’s aunt is there to act as a positive mentor and helping Joan to dress in clothing that fits and makes her feel confident.

    NOT THE DUKE’S DARLING by Elizabeth Hoyt worked pretty well for me, like B+ territory! I’d been a big fan of the earlier Maiden Lane novels, with Wicked Intentions as my favorite, but when I finally got to the later installments at the beginning of the year, I had to tap out as they’d jumped the shark for me. This plot has some Old Skool energy and I’m so appreciative of the emphasis on the group of women helping other women gain and hold autonomy for themselves. I look forward to the second one coming out in December.

    THE LADY’S GUIDE TO CELESTIAL MECHANICS by Olivia Waite was a beautiful tribute to the undervalued work of women in science and art! I liked Lucy and Catherine together a lot and how they supported not only each other but also other women around them. This was on the fluffier side, but that’s so lovely In These Times. I’ll pick up the next Feminine Pursuits at some point.

    On deck: I’m holding TAKE A HINT, DANI BROWN in my TBR pile for a more stressful period, as I think it’s going to blow my mind. I have NOT QUITE A HUSBAND by Sherry Thomas checked out from the library, I feel like I also read this circa 2015 but do not remember it. I thought a lady doctor sounded like a nice follow-up to the Waite book.

    Non-romance:

    THE TENTH MUSE by Catherine Chung is a literary fiction work about a biracial (white & Chinese) woman mathematician looking back at her life in the 20th century and recounting how she came to understand her own family background better. I don’t think that sentence does it justice as a summary, but I loved Chung’s first novel and this was a delightful tribute to math & science as beauty.

    LOWER ED by Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom was a very edifying read for me, as I’m from and continue to live in the socioeconomic spheres where for-profit colleges are not on my radar. Very helpful for thinking about the changes to the economy with regards to job security & training.

    TWILIGHT OF THE ELITES: AMERICA AFTER MERITOCRACY by Chris Hayes was apparently very prophetic and I resent not having read it sooner to make sense of how 2016’s election happened. I finished it this morning and maybe the internal shrieking I’m now experiencing is enough of an emergency to break the glass & start into TAKE A HINT, DANI BROWN already…

  8. Escapeologist says:

    Miranda’s Daily Guide to Such Fun – Miranda Hart is a treasure, her TV series and books and emails are giving me life.

    Sandra Boynton’s social media posts – cute animal cartoons with dry humor and the occasional silly song.

    Ice Cream Lover by Jackie Lau – one clicked from a recent books on sale post – 60% in and taking a break from it. Loved the foodie parts, but I’m having a hard time with the darker elements of the backstory. Maybe I’d better reread the Ultimate Pi Day Party for now.

    The Bride Takes a Groom by Lisa Berne – inspired by the Rec League on Broody Heroines. 60% in and very good. Content warning for trauma as mentioned in the rec league post. Taking a break but will probably come back to finish this one.

    The Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking – tried the kindle sample and agree with the review above – a bit too dark for me at this time.

    Rereads:

    The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett, aka the first Tiffany Aching book, re-listened twice, it got me through a very stressful anxious time (school reopening stress). I love the videos and comments on markreads.net even though Mark cannot do the Scots accent, his reactions are so fun.

    Joy in the Morning and the Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse narrated by Jonathan Cecil. Also the BBC series with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.

  9. Joyce says:

    If you haven’t picked up Julie McElwain’s Kendra Donovan time traveling murder mysteries, you are in for a treat. This series has it all—wonderful characters, Regency London, historical accuracy, romance and time travel.

    Book 5, Shadows in Time, is A+ reading.

    Start from the beginning with A Murder in Time.

    You’re welcome!

  10. Lauren says:

    @Aarya- YES!!! on “last great american dynasty,” I’ve been listening to it constantly for a week. I feel like I have plenty of books where if someone were to say “I also loved this book and it meant a lot to me and is precious to me,” I’d feel a sense of reader-kinship with them, but I almost never feel that way about a song, but I definitely do about this one.

  11. CLAUDIA (the other one) says:

    It’s currently the Dewey 24 Hour Readathon! I, uh, slept/was distracted for the first 10 hours? So hopefully the hours I do have are useful! I’m currently reading WHITE HOT by Ilona Andrews (loving it, of course), and my tbr includes a manga, a middle grade novel, and a horror!

    My reading priority is to get a bingo blackout with the Ripped Bodice, so these weeks have been even more romance heavy than usual.

    SLAVE TO SENSATION by Nalini Singh:OK the idea of fated mates + alpha males is ehhhh to Me, but I loved Sascha and the world???

    BITTERSWEET by Sarina Bowen: weird vibes of uh? Hating career women??? But otherwise pretty great. I mostly liked the resolution & am so excited to read Jude’s story.

    THE WORST BEST MAN: Loved it! The romance works, the conflicts work, and I adored having a latinx h.

    A FAKE GIRLFRIEND FOR CHINESE NEW YEAR: the family was a little too cutesy and I was sad to see that Jo’s conversations with her best friend were only focusing on Zach? But I loved the setting, the couple, and the way their romance progressed.

    HIS PERFECT PARTNER: once again some weird writing around career women??? But very solid, full of heart, and their conflict made sense. I can also relate to Yaz’s choice between what you/your family think success is vs what you really want. Has a heartbreaking storyline around family.

    Also read SWEET BEAN PASTE (I was not expecting the twist and I learned a lot).

  12. CLAUDIA (the other one) says:

    UGH not useful. I meant productive. Also: YESSS, Jen, I love Miss Fisher!

  13. MirandaB says:

    Grove of the Caesars by Lindsey Davis. Latest Flavia Albia mystery. CW that it involves a serial killer/rapist, although everything happens off-page.

    The Season by Kristen Richardson: History of the debutante season. Interesting material, but really flat writing. B-

    Plan for the Worst by Jodi Taylor: Intense enough to be exhausting and led to a semi-bad book decision. I put it down at bedtime, but I was so tense from the book that it was hard to sleep. There are a couple of REALLY disturbing scenes, and I would rate this R for violence. Grade A+ though.

  14. Katie C. says:

    My summer of YA continues…

    The Excellent:
    The Last of August by Brittany Cavallaro: The second in the Charlotte Holmes YA mystery series. This one follows Watson and Holmes over Christmas break first to England and then to Berlin in pursuit of her missing uncle. I think one of the main reasons I adore these books is that the brooding, moody alpha with the dark past and who has trouble with feelings is the HEROINE. Maybe there are a lot of stories out there like that, but it is refreshing for me. This reminds me too of a past Rec League for Slytherin/Hufflepuff pairings. I would categorize Charlotte Holmes as a Slytherin, but Jamie Watson is more of a Gryffindor. I like that Charlotte has made bad decisions and done bad things and is coming to terms with that. CW: she has a dark past: drug addiction, toxic and abusive parents, and was raped. The story itself was both thrilling and confusing – there was so much double crossing going on at the end that I wasn’t even sure what exactly had happened (thankfully, it is all explained in better detail at the start of the third book).

    Very Good:
    A Case for Jamie: The third Charlotte Holmes book – I didn’t rate this quite as highly as the first two because this is told from alternating viewpoints – Jamie and then Charlotte. The first two books were told almost exclusively by Jamie and I much more enjoyed viewing Charlotte through his eyes rather than her own – which I know sounds strange. In addition, the two spend most of the book apart and part of what makes this series so good is their time together. And my third problem was some of the plot holes at the end of the book – I thought both Watson and Holmes would be too smart for some of the choices they made and things they believed. All that being said, I still raced through this one – I loved watching Charlotte grow as a person away from her family’s influence and her fierce loyalty to Holmes. And I love the complicated feelings Watson has for Holmes – some of the hero worship he felt for her has worn off and he is learning to be in a relationship with an imperfect person.

    The Good:
    None

    The Meh:
    The One by Kierra Cass: The third in the The Selection Series – this one didn’t live up to the first two for a number of reasons. First, this was billed as a five book series, but the main story line was resolved in this book – books 4 and 5 are set 20 years in the future and I felt a little suckered that I ordered all five books thinking it was one story. Second, everything was wrapped up much, much too quickly at the end of this book – I felt that relationship issues between the two main characters were glossed over and not fully explained – I kept thinking “You need to talk this out in detail!” Other smaller plot lines were wrapped up a little too neatly and unbelievably. The ending was more violent than I expected too. All that being said, I still liked the main characters in the book. I am not sure if or when I will read books 4 and 5 although I have them sitting on my YA TBR shelf.

    The Bad:
    None

  15. KatiM says:

    Last weekend was apparently Olivia Dade weekend and I binge read Teach Me, 40 Love, Sweetest in the Gale and Desire and the Deep Blue Sea. I find Dade’s writing to be very soothing and it was a relaxing weekend.

    Tuesday was my Midnight Sun delivery. I’m about halfway through and Edward sure thinks a lot and the stalking is even more cringy than it was in Twilight. But I couldn’t not buy it and I’m glad to see the series finally completed.

    I’m also listening to the second Lady Darby mystery Mortal Arts while at work. I like the reader and find the voice soothing in the afternoons when I’m stuck auditing.

  16. LN says:

    One book that stood among the various books I have read this month is A lady awakened by Cecilia Grant. I have mostly gone off regencies but I really liked this one.
    The premise suggested that it would essentially be about sex but the awakening actually was about many other things, including agriculture which ended up being surprisingly interesting and all the plot threads were very cleverly woven together I thought.
    I also really liked the way the author writes. It feels very authentic without being a Heyer pastiche.
    I have bought the second one too and I am really looking forward to it even though I am not into courtesan books at all. I hope it holds up to the first.

  17. JenM says:

    This is about 4 weeks worth of good books:

    PARADISE COVE by Jenny Holiday – the author is great at mixing fun situations, friendship and banter with just enough emotional heft but not so much that it overwhelms the book and becomes too angsty. I really liked MERMAID INN, the first book in the series, but I LOVED this one.

    THE BROMANCE BOOK CLUB by Lyssa Kay Adams – I’m a sucker for the marriage in trouble trope and I loved the scenes with all the guys discussing romance.

    THE QUARRY MASTER by Amanda Milo. Her STOLEN BY AN ALIEN series is crazy in the usual alien abduction SF Romance way, but it’s the kind of crazy I love, complete 7 ft. tall, horned alien heroes with prehensile tails, who are grumpy and lethal on the outside but total cinnamon rolls inside. I immediately dropped everything to read this installment and was not disappointed.

    ICE CREAM LOVER, and MAN VS. DURIAN by Jackie Lau – the second and third books of her Baldwin Village series. Lots of yummy food, and as a bonus, the third book featured not one but 2 favorite tropes, fake relationship and the grumpy one is sweet for the sunshiny one, only in this case it was the hero that was sweet, uncomplicated, and full of sunshine and the heroine who was a bit grumpy/prickly.

    HOLLYWOOD PARK by Mikel Jollette, the front man of the Indie rock band, The Airborne Toxic Event. This is a fantastic autobiography and one of the best books I’ve read this year. His mother and father were both members of the infamous Synanon cult in the mid 1970’s and he spent the first 5 yrs of his life in basically an orphanage. Add to that a severely depressed, classic narcissistic mother and you have a man who has struggled with attachment disorder for his entire life. Fascinating, chilling, but ultimately very hopeful memoir as he is now in his 40’s, has a solid marriage, a pretty successful career and two young children.

    Coming up, I’m very excited as I just received notice that I have two highly anticipated books waiting for me at the library, TAKE A HINT, DANI BROWN by Talia Hibbert, and CHAOS REIGNING by Jessie Mihalik.

  18. Leanne H. says:

    May I humbly submit a vote toward “Mad Woman” in the folklore discussion? It keeps getting stuck in my head. 🙂

    I have been reading my way through the Parish Orphans Of Devon series by Mimi Matthews (in a very unconventional way which will likely irritate some series purists, haha). I read the first one last year when it came out and enjoyed it, but never caught up on the series as a whole. Then the fourth book came out recently, and it included a lot of my catnip, so I snatched it up! Now I’m going back to read them all from the beginning. I love that these historicals are set in the Victorian era rather than the Regency. And each story feels very different from the others so far—which is hard to do when they’re so closely tied to a place (Devon) and a group of friends. I’m on the second book now, which is a love story between Tom the lawyer who compartmentalizes his past and keeps lots of secrets and Jenny the former lady’s companion who longs for adventure and independence. It’s a travel romance, as they are making their way to India.

    I also read and enjoyed The Sharing Knife: Beguilement by Lois McMaster Bujold. It was my first read of hers and I wasn’t sure what to expect, though I know she is beloved by many. It turned out to be a really lovely May-December romance, though CW: miscarriage. I kept expecting big things to go wrong in the latter half of the book, but I later learned that it was originally written as the first half of one book (the second book being the second half), so after the initial drama in the first 20%, it’s more about recovery, healing, and falling in love. There are three more books after this in a setting based on “magical Ohio” so… I’m considering reading more, but I also like being at a place where the main couple is HFN.

  19. Kate K.F. says:

    I’m in the middle of couple books at the moment.

    Rereading Deep Secret since I read Zombies in the Gene Pool and needed to read some happier fans interactions. McCrumb’s take on cons and SFF feels realistic but depressing and the mysteries felt very tacked on. Also I’m pretty sure that I actually read this book maybe back in high school but not the first one. I know she has a major backlist of mysteries but I don’t know if I’m going to read them, I might try another one. She’s good at place and characters but the plots at least of these two books seems more like putting people in the same place.

    I’m reading The Shadow of Kyoshi, the second Kyoshi book by F.C. Yee and I highly recommend these books if you want more Avatar. Fascinating worldbuilding, great characters and with that same heart of self-discovery that makes the series work.

    Barely started Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis, which I’m liking and looking forward to getting into. The writing has the same pull as her videos so I think I’ll enjoy it.

    Last night I started Red, White and Royal Blue and I’m having mixed feelings about it. Its a fast read but I’m hitting the same issue I did with Boyfriend Material of only having one viewpoint makes it feel more of a fantasy. And I mean it is, the political fantasy is kind of nice, I love the secondary characters, it kind of reminds me of The Royal We in that way. Also the pacing kind of threw me off as it was in this great place of building a friendship then jumped into sex and without having that second PoV, I’m finding it kind of tricky to buy the relationship. I think I’m learning that this kind of contemporary isn’t really my thing, unless I can get inside both characters’ heads. This was the issue I had with Beach Read as well though that one was heavier with the theme of grief.

    At some point, I’m going to head to the library since I have a couple of books on hold including the new Katherine Addison, a memoir by a woman who’s sommelier and a book called Sharks in the Time of Saviors. There are also some other library books that I don’t know if I’m going to read including the second Clocktaur books by T. Kingfisher. I like The Wonder Boys but it didn’t pull me in the way that that later ones in the same world did so I think I’ll return it. Then I’ve got some ebook holds which again, don’t know what I’ll get to.

  20. Trix says:

    Oddly enough, I just finished the 20th anniversary omnibus edition of Yazawa’s PARADISE KISS yesterday…the fashions are beautiful and it held my attention, but most of the characters are hard to like. The men especially tend to be awful, and the handling of sexual assault and any non-het or non-cis person definitely made me wonder what people were thinking 20 years ago. The realistic ending made sense, but definitely seemed rushed. I’ve read a volume and watched one season of NANA (loved Nana O, could take or leave the other one)…should warn you that Yazawa never formally finished that series thanks to illness, and left it at a very upsetting point in the story.

    Ngozi Ukazu’s CHECK, PLEASE! 2: STICKS AND SCONES was the perfect end to the story…nearly angst-free, which was exactly what I needed. I have a lot of manga (mostly BL) to read, will see how that goes. Molly McCully Brown’s essay collection PLACES I’VE TAKEN MY BODY (about navigating life, travel, and sex with cerebral palsy) is painfully honest, but gorgeously written and cool. I’ve just started JoEllen Notte’s THE MONSTER UNDER THE BED (about sex and depression), and already wonder why hardly anyone has mentioned it anywhere…

  21. DonnaMarie says:

    As always I start with what I JUST finished: Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal. This was just… I need to get a thesaurus. I feel like every superlative in my repertoire is overused and inadequate to express my love for this series and this book. Nicole is everything – fierce, focused and flawed. Her picture is next to the term competence in the dictionary. Her journey is so full of triumph and pain. Also, so many props for writers who DO THEIR RESEARCH. So much verisimilitude! I’m not sure how I feel about the end, I liked it and it certainly fit the arc of the Nicole’s character, but I feel like it was quite the leap for the world of the early sixties even with the changes forced on society by the meteor. If you aren’t reading this series, you should be.

    I had just started Lovely War at the last WR, and had noted that I was finding the narrator delightful. Bitchery it was.. see the above for lack of superlatives! It is mostly narrated by Aphrodite, with occasional input from Hades and Ares in the framework of a “trial” wherein she is being judged by her husband, Hephaestus. Her testimony is the story of two couples who meet during WWI. There’s sweeping history, the horrors of war, the rise of Jazz, a whiff of mythological magic and OMG soooo swoony romantic. This is a beautiful book, and I wholeheartedly recommend it. And Aphrodite’s voice! It is EVERYTHING!!

    I wanted to like Mexican Gothic, but found it surprisingly lacking in the creepy suspense the word Gothic evokes. It has a good premise, and an original idea for the spookiness, but ultimately it was unsatifying. I didn’t love the narrator, and the love interest was… creepy, but only at the end because, WHY?

    In the traditional romance vien was The Harlot Countess by Joanna Shupe. I know the first book in this series (which I have not read) got A LOT of negative reviews from the Bitchery. I imagine there’s who’ll paint this one with the same brush. It may be that I have a high tolerance for the things that happen in this book because I started reading romance back in the early 70s. So, yes, in a Regency I expect a man’s word to be taken over a woman’s; I expect high society to shun a young woman for the slightest infraction; I expect her to be shunted off on the first old man who’ll take her off her family’s hands; despite marriage I expect everyone in society to continue to treat her as a pariah. That would be an accurate representation of the mores of the time. My more enlightened self expects said woman to take control of her life and her choices at the first possible opportunity, and Maggie does just that. I expect her to skewer the man who failed her, and oh, how she does. I expect her to stand up for her own value, and, oh yes, she does that. I expect that she will be more than able to have a happy life without being rescued by the hero, although in a way she is. All in all, a solid B read.

  22. Carrie G says:

    I have read three contemporaries lately and only one worked for me. The Kiss Quotient and Ice Cream Lover both had good things about them, inclusive characters being the best, but not much character development, especially with secondary characters. Always Only You was very good and had more meat too it, and well developed characters.

    I’m listening to the Rockcliffe series by Stella Riley and they are WONDERFUL. But right now I’m listening to Lessons in French which I’ve had in my Audible library for years. So far so good. Nicholas Boulton narrates it and he’s fabulous.

    On Kindle I’m reading Deadly Defense: Alec Halsey Mystery by Lucinda Brant. I’m just a little ways in, so no real thoughts yet.

    Lined up are:
    Warping Minds and Other Misdemeanors: Guild Codex
    Warped by Annette Marie (I love all the Guild Codex books)
    How to Tempt a Duke,by Madeline Martin
    From the Ashes by Sabrina Flynn
    Archer’s Voice by Mia Sherridan

  23. Margaret says:

    What a wonderful/terrible gift this Whatcha Reading always is! @Joyce: Thank you. A Murder in Time looks good and I just added it to my library queue. @Jennifer Estep: let us know how Mr. Knightsbridge is. I really liked her Mr. Mayfair, but my tbr mountain is SO high!

    I’m currently reading the widely lauded THE DUKE A LADY AND A BABY. I’m enjoying the story, but I’m finding the writing a bit erratic. Sometimes it seems words were just thrown at the paper and a period was put at the end and it was called a sentence. In both story and writing style, Vanessa Riley reminds me oddly of Katharine Ashe. I’m also in the middle of the heart-wrenching HAMNET. Definitely not a romance, but an absolutely engrossing story of the death of Shakespeare’s son four years before he wrote “Hamlet.” I’ve borrowed both these books from the library, so I gotta hustle!

  24. AmyS says:

    Some great M/M books that I have loved:
    OUT ON THE SERVE by Lane Hayes — volleyball players in a roommates to lovers setting
    FANCY LOVE by A. F. Zoelle— age gap with lots of sweet and lots of heat
    HOPELESS BROMANTICS by Isla Olsen — childhood friends to lovers with a single dad element
    DURING THE FLIGHT by Emma Alcott — childhood enemies to lovers with a single dad element

    M/F books that I enjoyed:
    WINNER TAKES ALL by Anna Harrington— historical novella that centers around horse racing
    TRILLION by Winter Renshaw — usually not a fan of mega rich Heroes, but I liked this one that has a fake relationship with boss taboo and a secret
    DIRTY LETTERS by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward — the audio was great and loved the pen pals to lovers storyline
    HOT AS PUCK by Lili Valente — another great audio with a hockey player needing to teach his best friend how to be more attractive to guys, and of course sex!
    ROMANCING THE DUKE by Tessa Dare was a re-read in audio for me and I loved it just as much this time as originally, but maybe even more because hearing them come to life was the best!

  25. Darlynne says:

    Just started HARROW THE NINTH and my eyes want to devour it immediately. Restraint is the order of the day.

    Kameron Hurley’s THE LIGHT BRIGADE is next. Also TOO LIKE THE LIGHTNING by Ada Palmer.

    I read CAUGHT IN AMBER by Cathy Pegau and really struggled with the instant pants-feelings-I-must-save/fall-in-love-with-him/her. The story was good, but the real trouble these characters were in was made less intense as a result.

    Ren Benton mentioned HUNGER MAKES THE WOLF by Alex Wells being on sale last week, iirc. It was great! Yes, very much a Furiosa-Mad Max vibe, a wild West motorcycle flavor liberally sprinkled with witchiness. The MCs are interesting, complicated, unsure, but determined. So enjoyable.

    P. Djeli Clark’s THE BLACK GOD’S DRUMS was also excellent. Alternate-history in post Civil War steampunk New Orleans.

    Has anyone read or even heard of THE QUANDERHORN XPERIMENTATIONS by Rob Grant and Andrew Marshall? Grant wrote RED DWARF episodes and I can’t decide after a few chapters if this is my catnip or too weird right now.

    Thank god for books.

  26. Darlynne says:

    Talk about burying the lede. Imagine that this comment is written in all caps, bold, italics and fireworks that squee.

    Ren Benton, you astounded me with TEN THOUSAND HOURS. You created lovely, wounded characters who had to work so hard for themselves, who stuck up for each other, and were, as your Goodreads bio says, “the greatest obstacle to their own happiness.” Also: “Ren Benton’s talent for perceiving disaster in every situation is most productively applied to tormenting the characters she writes.” Word.

    And ohmigod. While you tore out my heart, you had me laughing past 1:00 am when my husband wondered if I was OK and I said, “It’s Bad Decisions Book Club night! I’m FINE.”

    Well. I was far from fine, because of the completely believable emotional wringer you spun so artfully, but I’m declaring TEN THOUSAND HOURS one of my favorite all-time reads. You are a master of word play and witty dialog and I can’t thank you enough for all of it.

  27. Wait, what? says:

    Since last WAYR I finished The Wonder Engine, the second book in the Clocktaur Wars series by T Kingfisher, and also read Paladin’s Grace by TK. They were both very good! I love the humor, I actually laughed out loud several times in each book. I have now read four books by T Kingfisher, and have really enjoyed them all. Apparently I’m a fan!
    I’m currently reading a non-romance fantasy book, A Good Running Away, by Kevin Pettway. It’s entertaining, sort of a buddy comedy/caper vibe with a little fairy tale thrown in for good measure. I won’t say that it’s particularly well written, but it’s good enough that I’ll finish it. I probably won’t continue on with the series though. We’ll see . . . I do like that one half of the buddy pair is a woman, who is awesome. I’d read more books with her as the focus!

  28. Stefanie Magura says:

    @Carrie G:

    Do you mean Deadly Engagement, Deadly Affair, Deadly Peril, or Deadly Kin by Lucinda Brant? These are the names of the books out right now in that series. Regarding your other selections, you are getting a dose of audio greatness. I have seen many comments about Mr. Boulton, and can personally attest to Mr. Wyndham. Wyndham also narrates several of Brant’s books including the three which are currently in audio format in the Alec Halsey series. The fourth has not been recorded yet that I’m aware, it might be in process though.

  29. Stefanie Magura says:

    I don’t have much to report, because I seem to read a book here and there, and then not read for awhile. The main exception to this pattern is a recent read of Mia Marlowe’s The Curse of Lord Stanstead which I picked up because of a recent books on sale post and because I have to have my audible and Kindle libraries line up as close as possible, I also bought the audio book. This is the book which caused me to renew my membership in the bad decisions book club. I stayed up until four o-clock in the morning reading, knew that there was no way I was going to be able to finish even though I was so close to the end, went to sleep, and finished the book once I woke up at noon. The way I explained it to my best friend went something like this*: “I read a book which is totally not your kind of book because it is a paranormal historical, and caused me to renew my membership in the bad decisions book club.” *I don’t remember what I actually said. Even though my best friend is more into contemporaries than anything fantastical or historical, she did ask for the name of the book. I haven’t started the other books in that series yet, but they are waiting patiently I hope in my library.

  30. Stefanie says:

    A caveat to my previous comment: My best friend has shown interest in American historicals. We’ve both read Beverly Jenkins, but she’s read the Blessings Series while I’ve read several of Jenkins’ historicals. Now, it’s up to the other to catch up. Lol.

  31. Kareni says:

    Since last time ~

    — Monkeewrench by P. J. Tracy is a mystery thriller which I enjoyed. It had a complex storyline and kept me guessing. It’s the start of a ten book series which I’d like to continue. So, my libraries have books four and on but not books two and three…hmmph!

    — Burn by Patrick Ness. This was a book that went in directions that I did not anticipate. It’s a new young adult book; if a sequel were to magically appear, I’d read it.
    — enjoyed Beyond the Sea by Keira Andrews which is a contemporary male/male romance that takes place on a small island after a plane crash.
    — a lovely historical romance story, ‘The Mender’ by Carla Kelly which was in the All Regency Collection (A Timeless Romance Anthology Book 10) by various authors.
    — The Fantastic Fluke by Sam Burns; this is a contemporary male/male paranormal romance which I enjoyed.
    — I started half a dozen books that I put aside and also tried a boatload of samples.

    Happy reading all!

  32. Merle says:

    My favorite recent read, finished yesterday, is Sleigh Ride, by Heidi Cullinan, an M/M romance in her Minnesota Christmas series (book 2) — heroes are a librarian and a logger/Mr. fix-it, and I kinda want to recommend it to every librarian I know because it is the sweetest fan letter to libraries and librarians I have ever seen, but maybe not because it also has BDSM. The other 2 Minnesota Christmas books, Let It Snow (1, stylist and logger/lawyer) and Winter Wonderland (3, nurse and carpenter/repairman)are also cute snowy small town romances, fun to read as Arizona continues to sizzle.

    Thank you to whoever here recommended Karen Lord’s The Best of All Possible Worlds recently. Such a fun SF road trip romance.

    I also read The Fifth Gender, a sex-heavy SF mystery by Gail Carriger which was funny and sad and thought provoking.

    I have mercifully blanked on the author and title of the M/M romance I had to DNF when the supposedly reformed bully was going to get together with his former victim without even apologizing, instead having the victim feeling bad for the “suffering” that the bully claimed caused his scumbag behavior. I don’t get bully romances– is this some sort of fantasy for bullies? I can’t imagine wanting a happy ending with someone who had bullied me– those people don’t deserve me, and I have no interest in their happiness. Why reward the bastards when the world is full of genuinely decent people?

  33. Allison R-B says:

    My husband is listening to the audiobook of Alexis Hall’s Boyfriend Material with me in the kitchen during dinner prep! It’s a tropetastic treat, and our first foray together into the romance genre via audiobook. Alex Twaddle has us both snorting with laughter.

    I adore Reese Morrison’s Love Languages series so far, especially Love Lessons. Both are character-driven, and full of heart. Highly recommended!

    Rebekah Weatherspoon’s Harbor came out in July, and I’ve been re-reading a bunch of her backlist. Her recent title A Cowboy to Remember is $1.99 today, which is a hot deal.

    Next on my re-read list is KJ Charles’ Slippery Creatures, to get ready for the next Will Darling book, The Sugared Game, due out 8/26.

    I’m also excited for Roan Parrish’s next book, Better Than People, due 8/25.

  34. Scifigirl1986 says:

    I recently got a second bookshelf and have been buying books to put on it. Mostly these are keeper shelf books that I’ve read and loved, so I’ve done a lot of rereading.

    The Three Sisters’ Island Trilogy by Nora Roberts
    I love this trilogy, which came out when I was in high school, so it is nearly 20 years old! It is about the descendants of three Salem witches, who were cursed with having to fight an ancient evil that had caused the deaths of the original witches. My favorite is still Heaven and Earth, the second book in the series.

    It Happened One Wedding and The Thing About Love by Julie James:

    These books make me so happy! They both involve hidden relationships, although there was more of a focus on keeping it hidden in the first book. Also, the characters in that one are Sydney and Vaughn, so yes, I picture a red-headed Jennifer Garner and Michael Vartan. As for The Thing About Love, the only thing I don’t like about it is that there are 2 chapters devoted to the characters’ backstory, one from each perspective. I feel like it could have been handled differently. Other than that, this book is literally the physical manifestation of the Good Book Sigh. Every time I read it, I end up in the Bad Decisions Book Club.

    Muffin Top by Avery Flynn:

    I started listening to this as an audiobook, but I knew I wouldn’t have a reason to listen to an audiobook for a couple of days, I downloaded the ebook as well. This was my first Avery Flynn and omg I loved it. I loved that Lucy was actually a plus sized girl instead of a size 10 person moaning about being fat. Lucy was literally my size. So many of her experiences were mine, especially having had someone intentionally buy her clothes too small to motivate her to lose weight. My aunt did this to me all the time.

    I’ve also been listening to a lot of audiobooks as I work.

    Not That Kind of Guy by Andie J. Christopher:

    I loved this so much. It was my first if her books (I tried a sample of Not The Girl You Marry, but couldn’t get into it), and I was pleasantly surprised at how funny it was. My one issue is that it should have ended when they decided to stay together. There shouldn’t have been a final push to break them up, which felt like it was just a way to make the book longer.

    Some Like It Scandalous by Maya Rodale:
    I’ve read this before, but this was my first time listening to the audiobook. So good. Plus, they have oral in a carriage.

  35. Carrie G says:

    @stefanie magura– YES! Thank you! I got the name wrong! I’m about 70% through Deadly Engagement now and I’m enjoying it. I have several of Brant’s books cued up on Audible. Once I saw they were narrated by Wynnham I was there. He does the amazing Rockcliffe series by Stella Riley. Money’s tight so I’m mostly listening to books I already own or those available from Audible Escape right now. I was happy to see the Lucinda Brant Roxton Family series as well as several of of Stella Riley’s books there.

  36. reader,reader says:

    True Pretenses by Rose Lerner
    Why did it take me so long to read a book by this author? I blame my too tall stack of books. The characters were just so loveable and real and their romance reflected that. The conflicts that they faced were also very real feeling. The sense of time and place made me feel so grounded in the story. The opposite of wallpaper historical, yet I never felt that the details overshadowed the pacing and character development. I am truly blown away by the quality of Lerner’s writing

    Color Me In by Natasha Diaz
    (not romance) Such a compelling story about a girl growing up in two cultures. The author’s notes at the end are not to be missed.

    Two Rogues Make a Right by Cat Sebastian
    I know it has been discussed here before so I’ll just add that I loved it. Ok, I’ll add one more thing. The chronic illness representation was done, in my opinion as someone who has one, so extremely well.

    Temporary Wife Temptation by Jayci Lee
    Not interested in bosses or business but I really, really enjoyed the heck out of this book because of the quality of Lee’s writing. Lovely characters and interesting plot.

    Currently reading and enjoying (not a romance):
    Yaffa and Fatima: Shalom, Salaam
    Two neighbors―one Jewish, one Muslim―have always been best friends. When they both fall on hard times, can they find a way to help each other? In Fawzia Gilani’s retelling of this folktale―which has both Jewish and Arab origins―differences are not always causes for conflict and friendship can overcome any obstacle. (blurb from Amazon)

  37. Blackjack says:

    I’m most looking forward to Beth O’Leary’s _The Switch_ this month. I adored her debut, _The Flatshare_, last year and am hoping the second book holds up to expectations. Plus, it features a septuagenarian heroine, and that just sounds very cool.

    I’m looking forward also to Madeline Martin’s _How to Start a Scandal_, a historical romance that’s been getting good buzz.

    Additionally, I’m playing catch up from previous months and am currently reading Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s _Mexican Gothic_. It’s creepy and has an intriguing and courageous heroine paired with a frail and vulnerable hero, and their relationship is really working for me in a fascinating gender bendy way. Plus, Also, I’ve always detested mushrooms and this book is filled with terrifying mushrooms – real and imagined. If I didn’t like mushrooms before, I definitely won’t after this book.

    I’m also hoping to get to Jasmine Guillory’s _Party of Two_ this month.

  38. Stefanie Magura says:

    @Carrie G:

    I think the only Brant books not on Escape are those mysteries. One Brant Series has the books sold individually and as a boxed set. The individual versions are by another narrator, while the boxed set is by Wyndham. I think the Alex Halsey book being written is something like Deadly Diplomacy, so you had sort of stumbled in to the right area.

  39. Maeve says:

    Nagarajas, I also hate insta-love and insta-lust. Have you tried Jim Hines Libromancer series? It’s urban fantasy with magical books and has a really interesting exploration of the problematic nature of that trope.

    I also read Alex Acks’ Hunger Makes the Wolf and Blood Binds the Pack. Thanks to whichever of you recommended them! Space westerns, labor movements, and female friendships for the win!

  40. Crystal says:

    :::slides in baseball style to Only Happy When It Rains, since my daughter is watching Captain Marvel:::

    So I seem to swinging pendulum-style back and forth between “sweet and happy romance” and “MURDER MURDER MURDER”. Let’s see. I followed up A Touch of Stone and Snow with Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall. I was laughing before I got out of the first paragraph. It was sweet and funny and British as all hell, and I just wanted good things for both Luc and Oliver. It just left you with a happy sigh. Then I decided to stay in Britain but jump back a couple of centuries and oh, yeah…MURDER. I’ve had Death Below Stairs by Jennifer Ashley for literally 2 years (picked it up from a bookstore in Ohio, and it’s somehow one of the books that did not find its way into storage post-hurricane). I really enjoyed the competency of the main character, and focused she was on doing a good job, but also how dedicated she was to ferreting out crime. One of the things that really stuck out about her was that when training a maid under her, she was all about helping the woman learn and improve, and enjoyed that aspect of her job both from the perspective of how training her would give that woman more ability to make a better living and improve her situation. Also, some of the lines made me laugh, particularly one about the fact that many laws regarding women made no sense because they were written by men (sing it, babe). After that, You Had Me At Hola by Alexis Daria was looking at me flirtatiously. This hit me in the same area that likes Lucy Parker’s London Celebrities books. There was a lot of focus on set life, and how the running of a TV show actually works, including things like running lines and having to do a bajillion takes of a kiss, until the all the sexiness has been drilled out of that process and your face hurts. It was also, again, incredibly funny in parts. Ashton, bless his heart, just such a closet nerd in so many ways, which makes his on-screen suaveness all the more appealing. And Jasmine was smart and sweet, and just cared so much about everyone around her. And now we’re on today, in which I am reading The Night Swim by Megan Goldin. I am a sucker for a story in which someone is investigating a decades-old crime and if you add in the element of a true-crime podcast you can just throw that shit right into my eyeballs. Until next time, folks, make sure you water the plants.

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