Whew, buddy! It’s March. Is Spring springing where you are?
Let’s talk books!
Carrie: I’m finishing Gentleman Jim by Mimi Matthews. It’s beloved by many but I’m feeling kinda cranky about it.
Shana: I’m reading at sloth speed lately, so I think I’m reading the same books as last month. I did start a new audiobook, Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price. It’s already challenging my deeply held assumptions and I’m only on chapter 1.
I think Sneezy was reading it last month. How did it land for you?
Sneezy: I’m still working my way through. So far it still feels like putting on ointment on skin so dry it’s bleeding. As in, good, it’s obviously good, but also WHAT HAVE I EVER DONE TO YOU FOR YOU TO CALL ME OUT LIKE THIS????
Sarah: So much of that book has hung out in my brain. I love how much Dr. Price’s writing carefully unravels SO MUCH of what I’ve never questioned about productivity and laziness.
I am reading Dark Archives by Megan Rosenbloom, a nonfiction study of anthropodermic bibliopegy, aka “books bound in human skin.” Several commenters, including Heather C and Claudia (The Other One) have mentioned this book, and WOW, it is seriously interesting. I am also about to start The Serpent Sea by Martha Wells, ( A | BN | K | AB ) book 3 in the Raksura series. I think Moon is a winged, clawed, sarcastic and clever proto-Murderbot, and I love the worldbuilding and the emotional uncertainty of the entire series.
Elyse: I’m reading The Heiress Hunt by Joanna Shupe. ( A | BN | K | AB )
Claudia: I’m in the middle of the mother of all reading slumps.
Tara: I’m going to do the rude thing where I talk about a book that isn’t out yet, but at least it’s out by the end of the month? I’m reading Knit, Purl, a Baby and a Girl by Hettie Bell. I’m only a third of the way through, but if you like the idea of an f/f romance with fat rep, knitting, friends with benefits, and a truly nonjudgemental dive into abortion vs opting to complete a pregnancy, this is the book for you!
In audio, I’m listening to Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood by Lisa Damour. ( A | BN | K | AB ) It was recommended to me by a good friend since my 9 year old is fully into her “I’M A TWEEN YOU, YOU KNOW” self. Some of it doesn’t apply yet, but I’m already finding it helpful.
Catherine: I am reading and rereading Paladin’s Strength by T. Kingfisher. ( A | BN | K | AB ) Haven’t been able to get into anything else for a while, but this one I got to the end and then flipped straight back to the beginning and started again. It is absolutely delightful – the romance itself is very sweet and fluffy, the characters are very down to earth and funny, and the fantasy plot and setting are thought provoking, and funny, and horrific, and sometimes tragic.
Also, the consent in this one is fantastic, even if it does make for a slow burn that is verging on taunting the reader. Gotta love a hero who is a really big guy and who is aware that being a really big guy makes him kind of intimidating and so he has to be very careful that the woman he is with doesn’t feel like she can’t say know.
Such a lovely, lovely book. Despite all the severed heads.
Susan: I am mainlining Jeannie Lin’s Lotus Palace Mysteries right now, which are centred on a courtesan and her family in Tang Dynasty China. I’m in the middle of The Jade Temptress and I don’t know if I’m internally screaming more about the mystery or the romance.
I keep circling back to how this stoic, plain-spoken constable describes Mingyu as “beautiful as a goddess.” Out loud. With his face. To potential suspects. And then I have to shriek a little bit.
What are you reading? Let us know!
Things haven’t been grabbing me as much as I would hope recently, but I think that may be more a combo of pandemic brain and some health and family stuff. Anyway, the books:
AN UNEXPECTED PERIL by Deanna Raybourn. This is the 6th Veronica Speedwell book and while not too much happens plot-wise, there’s a lot of good development in Veronica and Stoker’s relationship. It also gives insight into how Raybourn thinks about the two of them and, I think, her own reluctance to give them the tidy HEA that those of us who come at it from the romance angle might be hoping for.
FIRST COMES LIKE by Alisha Rai. I’ve really enjoyed a lot of Rai’s books, but this one wasn’t my favorite. I wasn’t really buying the romance between Jia and Dev and the friendship that often makes Rai’s books really crackle wasn’t there.
THE VISCOUNT AND THE VICAR’S DAUGHTER by Mimi Matthews. Similarly, I’ve enjoyed a number of Matthews’ books even if I wouldn’t necessarily identify them as my jam—they tend to be pretty closed door on the sexytimes and often have a Christian flavor to them, but Matthews writes characters with a lot of emotional depth and her plots and villains are very good. This one is a novella (I think) and the first half is a little clunky, but I quite liked the second half.
THE SONG OF ACHILLES by Madeline Miller, basically a re-telling of the Trojan War through the eyes of Patroclus and his romantic relationship with Achilles. Again, another book where the second half is better than the first. Patroclus is the narrator and for the first half, he’s just kind of a drip/I was unclear on why anyone would want to listen to him talk. Achilles is also somewhat opaque—he feels sort of Fae in the sense that he flits around and seems to have little consideration for others. Those shortcomings fall away when the war starts and Patroclus’s good traits become clear and Achilles’s motivations become more understandable. That said, I would caution readers about the treatment of women in this book. There are two (two!) on-page human sacrifices of women to appease the gods as well as general cruelty and mistreatment. Perhaps historically accurate, but I found it gratuitous in places.
Finally finished CASTE by Isabel Wilkerson. This book is phenomenal. It’s the sort of thing where you get to the end and think, “I knew all of that already!” and then you realize that, no, you didn’t, but that Wilkerson has given words and structure to so many things that have been hiding in the background for so long.
Up next: trying Elizabeth Chatsworth’s THE BRASS QUEEN which seems like it should be right up my alley, but I am not sure I’m in the right headspace for it. We shall see.
Also, I know they cause the site to be tetchy, but I miss the hearts so much when they are gone! They are very helpful for knowing how many other people might recommend a book or support an interpretation of a text even when people don’t comment directly.
I didn’t get a lot of reading done, but everything I read to the finish was great, so I’ll take it. There were quite a few DNFs too (I think 4 in one day at one point), but I think that’s just me and my pickiness, so they will go unnamed here. So in no particular order, here is what I l read/loved –
FICTION
THE EX TALK by Rachel Lynn Solomon. The heroine, Shay, is the youngest producer at an NPR station in Seattle who has to team up with her nemesis, Dominic, at the station to host a show about relationships. There is just one stumbling block, they have to pretend to be exes and they’ve never even dated. I found this adorable. I liked that it felt casually diverse and modern. Nothing earth-shattering, just a fun book. The heroine is a super NPR nerd to a level even I (regular old NPR nerd) found breathtaking 😉 So, you know, don’t read it if that’s going to annoy you.
SWEETEST IN THE GALE by Olivia Dade – This was a trilogy of novellas set in Olivia Dade’s Marysburg universe and I really enjoyed them although honestly I feel like there is a little thread of. . . bittersweetness? melancholy? running through her stories. I would hardly say that they are dark or angsty. That’s not it at all. I just think that her characters are often older and have had life experiences that they carry with them. It’s a good quality, but I think I couldn’t do a “glom” of her books b/c it would start to get to my fluff craving personality. These stories had the “effortlessly contemporary” feeling that I look for and rarely find. Good fat rep and everyone is a regular person, including the heroes! Two of the them are teachers and the third hero is a construction foreman, but the story doesn’t spend a lot of time beating you over the head with how strong and macho he is. In fact, he’s a little soft around the middle and cuddly. Give me all the every day people falling in love, please. I don’t need anymore Navy SEAL gazillionaires.
NONFICTION –
THE THREE MOTHERS: HOW THE MOTHERS OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR, MALCOLM X, AND JAMES BALDWIN by Anna Mailaka Tubbs. I didn’t plan to get this for International Women’s Day, but that’s when it came in from the library and I devoured it in about a day. The author is upfront in the foreword that b/c of the lack of material on these women there are times when she had to use some suppositions to fill in their lives, but I didn’t find it distracting. James Baldwin’s mother is the one I knew least about, but they were all interesting and seeing their lives develop in parallel was illuminating. I really appreciated how all these women were very different, but the deep love they had for their families shines through, along with their own gifts (music, writing, leadership, a sense of dignity and self-worth, etc).
YOU’LL NEVER BELIEVED WHAT HAPPENED TO LACEY: CRAZY STORIES ABOUT RACISM by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar. I feel like this is hard book to describe, but if you’ve seen Amber Ruffin on Seth Meyers or in her independent work than you know Amber can pull off writing about racism in a way that is insightful and funny. In this she basically shares conversations about real life with her sister Lacey who still lives in Omaha, where they both grew up. As a white person, it did make me squirm at times, which was absolutely the point and was one of the things that made it so well done. You would laugh and then they would shoot a little arrow of truth right at you to sit with for a while. I also just really enjoyed their sisterly back and forth and the little glimpses you got of the rest of their family, especially their mom and dad who sound like awesome people.
I actually finished two books! I think that’s a total of three for the year, bobbing in my DNF ocean. The slump is real.
The trend breakers:
SALVATION DAY by Kali Wallace. A team under the sway of a charismatic cult leader takes hostages and tries to claim an abandoned generation ship that’s still home to something dangerous.
(I believe that one would make a good creepy space double feature with Caitlin Starling’s THE LUMINOUS DEAD. Similar tone, dissimilar situations so it wouldn’t feel samey-same back to back.)
THE WEIGHT OF THE STARS by K. Ancrum. (Content warning for sexual assault.) The Outcast Whisperer aggressively befriends an angry girl whose mom went on the first private space exploration mission.
Carrie, it’s a relief to hear you say you aren’t loving Gentleman Jim. I picked it up several months ago based on all the love I’d seen for it and felt like it left me flat, though I couldn’t say why.
I’ve been working my way through Jodi Hart’s CHRONICLES OF ST. MARY’s series, which begins with ONE DAMNED THING AFTER ANOTHER. These have been good entertainment and have also confirmed for me that cutting World History class regularly in high school has left me quite ignorant of the past. Sigh.
Just finished TEN THINGS I HATE ABOUT THE DUKE by Loretta Chase. Loved it, and also it prompted me to go re-watch the movie Ten Things I Hate About You, which I also love.
I also just finished THE TRUTH ABOUT THE DUKE by Grace Burrowes. This felt slightly more angsty than most of her work, though with the subject matter (epileptic duke trying to reclaim his place in society) that did make sense.
I’m rereading PALADIN’S GRACE, by T. Kingfisher, as a way to put off PALADIN’S STRENGTH a little longer. You know, the way you save that last slice of really good cake. I also just reread SWORDHEART, same author, and can’t say enough good things about this ensemble road trip romance with a mature H/h, nonbinary/genderqueer lawyer buddy, and sarcastic gnole ox driver. T. Kingfisher has become my #1 comfort read these days.
Finally, another comfort read author – I’m about halfway through KJ Charles’ THE GENTLE ART OF FORTUNE HUNTING. Things just got really steamy! I love that her rogues really are rogues – they may have hearts of gold but they definitely have crime on the mind – and she always develops secondary characters well.
Work has been very busy, making it a tough reading month. I DNF’d more than usual. I think this is because I want to get into a book immediately if I’m reading it because I am so busy.
THE GOOD
MURDER MILE by Lynda LaPlante. The fourth in her Jane Tennison prequel series. Definitely not a romance! It was very creepy and well-done. I have the fifth in the series on my TBR list.
THE SO-SO
NO BETTER MAN by Sara Richardson. It had a lot of promise at the beginning, where the heroine deals with a public proposal, but things moved too quickly for me. I didn’t believe the connection.
THE RAKEHELL OF ROTH by Amalie Howard. This was tough, because I liked the preceding book, BEAST OF BESWICK. The heroine is great and the hijinks are entertaining. The main problem was that after a quick courtship and their wedding night they were separated for 3 years with no communication and somehow the heroine still loves him and wants him. I found this hard to believe and it would have worked better if the time apart was shorter. The big conflict toward the end was frustrating too.
THE HEIRESS HUNT by Joanna Shupe. This book had so much promise but didn’t get there for me in the end. I loved the heroine – a competitive tennis player during the Gilded Age. The hero was OK. I liked his devotion to the heroine, but it was a bit overdone and came across as overbearing at times. There also were some loose plot ends and the ending came very quickly, before things felt resolved. The secondary characters are fun and I’m willing to try the next book in the series.
NEXT UP
SOMEONE TO ROMANCE by Mary Balogh and SEA CHANGE by Darlene Marshall.
I’m in a baaaad reading stretch (=.=) I ended up disappointed by most fiction I read in the last 2 weeks…
A WINNING SEASON (Wickham Falls Weddings Book 10) by Rochelle Alers. I LOVE the cover of this book – the bird’s eye view of the couple, the movement, and her dress looks gorgeous. Seriously, it’s worth looking up. It’s book 10 of a series, but it doesn’t feel like it, there’s no obnoxiously happy couples bumbling anywhere. The story’s about an baseball player coming back to his hometown after his retirement, and his new neighbor, a woman who became head of her family at 18 (she has two younger brothers) when their parents died. The writing felt very didactic, it’s a lot of tell-don’t-show about great Wickham Falls where everyone is good neighbors, there’s no fast food or big chains and where the community is entirely made up of friendly, wholesome people. Stilted dialogues and info dump narrative gave the characters all the charm of robots on autopilot, with both MCs being Mary Sues (is there a term for the masculine equivalent of a Mary Sue?). The teenaged brother’s flirting with delinquency (since he’s a young black male, there’s also threats of being labeled and of jail hovering all the time over his head) and the heroine struggling to get a handle on it could have been very touching, but there’s barely any emotional input when the scenes are described. And then, with barely half an hour acquaintance, the hero came in, took charge of troubled younger brother and transformed him into a Proper Serviable Young Teen in a day. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I’m reading books about raising boys and it fits that at a certain age it’s a mentor that can make a difference. Also, the younger brother’s quick turn around shows the fondation was good, so it does not mean the hero just took over and negated years of the heroine raising her brother. But… something in there bothered me. It felt off, and I think it’s due to the stilted writing and the brother’s uneven characterization. *sigh* The story had lots of elements that should make it a great comfort read: the MCs are good together, they take their time with their romance, it’s a peaceful slow burn; the setting is imbued with generations-long histories, it’s a place of belonging ; the family bonds are strong for all characters, it’s comforting. Too bad the writing wasn’t up to par. Or up to that cover!
DNF midway through.
Then there was SPOILER ALERT by Olivia Dade. I found the first half depressing as heck. The way both set of parents undermined their kids confidence overwhelmed the book for me. It had such huge impact on both characters’ perception of themselves. Especially the hero. Between them, the hero and heroine never share or remember one happy childhood memory. It hurt my heart, to the point I had trouble picking up the book again. Plus, there are so many acts of gratis meanness in the book, mostly about appearances, it made me gnash my teeth and thinned my tolerance for how the heroine just kept slapping down the hero (like his parents did!), and how he kept taking it like a kicked puppy. This is my 3rd Olivia Dade story, and I find her heroines have a tendency to be judgemental and uncompromising. I think in the future, I’ll proceed with caution where this author is concerned. In the end, I found that book emotionally draining, it left me feeling off for the rest of the day. To think I picked up Spoiler Alert because I needed a pick me up after the book I’d just read (a depressingly pointless scifi)…
I next needed a sure thing and I went with THE CURSE OF CHALION by Lois McMaster Bujold. My first time reading it in 2021. It very effectively soothed my feathers. My favorite parts are the beginning – the gold coin on the road, and the soothing months of healing in Valenda -, the emissary trip to Ibra, and Pelli. I love every passage with Pelli, for himself (he’s a great guy) and because Caz is much more unguarded when he’s with Pelli. Often I pick up Chalion intending to read only certain passages, but the story’s so well-written, I always end up reading all the way through (like I did this time).
Right now, I’m close to finishing THE IMPROBALITY OF LOVE by Hannah Rothschild. A woman trying to reboot her life, buys a painting for her maybe-boyfriend for his birthday; she gets stood up and thus keep ownership of the painting, a painting that ends up being a lot more than it first seemed. The book is announced as a satire of the art world and the epilogue opens on the evening the painting is to be auctionned off. The preparation of the auction house staff made me squirm, it trotted out so many offensive cliche. Since I wasn’t sure if it was Rothschild style or a dig at the auction house (the speaker, after all, was described as speaking “firmly and quietly in a voice honed by eight generations of aristocratic fine living and assumed superiority” – that says much in very few words), I read on. Unfortunately, it turned out to be Rothschild’s style, as her continued use of “Filipino servants” and other dismissive descriptions showed, including fat phobia – the first one is eeep, but you think maybe it served to characterize the guy’s whose head we’re in, but then a 100 pages later another character described the only other explicitely fat person in the book as a glutton fool, again, that’s a nope. That’s too bad, because her characters are interesting. It’s written omniscient POV and I got attached to every character we follow (and there are many, at least 8, including the painting) (yes, the painting. It’s the only “character” with a first person narrative) – they were all different degrees of callous, but all had a something, a vulnerability that endeared them. This, with the descriptions and science of the art, art restoration, the food, and the food art, kept me going. The heroine is a cook, and she falls into designing menus and soirées around paintings or art movements – I really liked these parts. All the research and effort into making a checkered chicken like the one that were served to Louis XIV… there’s even an anti potato rage passage ! “She imagined preparing Elizabeth I’s first potato—mashed and served with jugged hare with root vegetables braised in mead.” Too bad about the queer & ethnic short-cuts, and the fat phobia. If it weren’t for them this would be a book I would recommend. But as it is — NOT.
Good thing my sewing projects keep me entertained. I discovered a new quilting blogger I find great – Karen Brown – and I’ve fallen the last couple of days into the habit of running her videos in the backroung while I work (>.<) It doesn't promote good concentration though, I'll have to stop that.
The Bitchery has really come through for me in this past fortnight. The best read of the past two weeks was Eli Brown’s CINNAMON AND GUNPOWDER. When it was posted as on sale a couple of weeks ago, there was chatter about how good it was but also that the lack of an HEA was a big NOPE for some. Well, IMO there *was* an HEA, but it was an internal HEA, something I so needed to see/hear/read. For some of us well past our primes, HEAs or HFNs based on sex and intensely intertwined lives, or even, forfend, children, don’t sound in the least fulfilling. (And to me, they sound terrifying, having spent so much of my life twisting around other’s needs.) CINNAMON AND GUNPOWDER gave such a wonderful alternative to the typical HEA. The tiny, exquisite feasts made out of almost nothing were the perfect exemplars of creating beauty and joy in the face of the abyss. I alternated between the audiobook (while making a project for my step-daughter, dealing with newly-discovered and aggressive cancer) and the (e)print versions, which worked amazingly well. I’ve suggested this book to a couple of people already — and I only interact with a couple of people!
This is perfect! I’ve had trouble finding reading material lately, so I’m spending today in here to get good tips! 🙂
Nothing really hit home the last couple of weeks, so in desperation I finally tried something new. And I picked up…
CAMILLE PETERS. I read the first three books in her The Kingdom Chronicles series: PATHWAYS, SPELLED and IDENTITY. And they were so beautiful! Well… I may possibly be too old to really like the h in the second book, but still… I will probably read more of these. They had the right amount of fairy tale and a pinch of magic, and were perfect palate cleansers.
And since I was all into this YA fairy tale thingy, I started on The Four Kingdoms series by MELANIE CEILLIER, of which I read THE PRINCESS COMPANION: A RETELLING OF THE PRINCESS AND THE PEA, THE PRINCESS FUGITIVE: A REIMAGINING OF LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD, THE PRINCESS PACT: A TWIST ON RUMPELSTILSKIN, THE PRINCESS GAME: A REIMAGINING OF SLEEPING BEAUTY, and I got halway through THE PRINCESS SEARCH: A RETELLING OF THE UGLY DUCKLING. That was a lot of caps. Sorry. Anyway: I really enjoyed them too, but I suddenly had enough of YA fairy tales, and should probably have saved them as my earlier mentioned palate cleansers instead of reading them all back-to-back. But I have no regrets.
As I still hadn’t found the perfect read, I did a re-read of HELENA HUNTING.I’ve enjoyed her Pucked-series, and I re-read my two favourites: PUCKED and PUCKED OFF. I highly reacommend! They are very different books. The H and h in PUCKED are so wonderfully quirky, while PUCKED OFF is a lot darker. Unfortunately the h in PUCKED goes through some personality transplant between the first and second book in the series, and becomes extremely annoying instead of sweet (as she is in her book), but she shows up only very briefly in PUCKED OFF, so…
Then I did THE WEDDING GAME by MEGHAN QUINN. It was OK. I was happy to finish a book I hadn’t read before.
I listened to HARD CODE by MISHA BELL. It should have been good. The h ends up being a guinea pig, testing sex toys for a software company. It was quite good and funny, but the smexytimes were disappointingly technical.
But then I did a re-listen to HEIDI’S GUIDE TO FOUR LETTER WORDS by TARA SIVEC and ANDI ARNDT. Because it’s hilarious. This was my third time. I will probably listen to it again at some point.
Oh… And I finally read THE FLATSHARE by BETH O’LEARY. It was sweet, but I think maybe I would have enjoyed it more if my epectations hadn’t been so high.
@Arijo—I had a similar experience reading SPOILER ALERT. I just felt kind of gross and depressed after reading it.
I’m having a femnoir moment, so I can recommend QUEENPIN by Megan Abbott, MIAMI PURITY by Vicki Hendricks & THE LADY UPSTAIRS by Halley Sutton. Still focusing on the ladies, AN ELDERLY LADY IS UP TO NO GOOD by Helene Tursten, which is the most delightful book I’ve read in a long long time.
I’ve been doing a LORD PETER WIMSEY series re-read. I’m also in the middle of reading THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB by Richard Osman & loving it.
Nothing noteworthy so far, I’m still struggling to get into anything other than what I find on Kindle unlimited.
On the last cover snark, I mentioned I had found a reverse harem with ten men. Well I’m not sure if this is anything to be proud of but I just finished reading Ten Men by Stephanie Brother (blame a stormy night causing insomnia). It was disturbing but not for the logistics. I think if it had been written about a psychological thriller it may have worked. So here’s the basic premise: college student whose mother is about to marry a rich man with ten brothers finds out said rich man wants a wife for all of his ten sons (who were conceived with surrogates) and said heroines mother has agreed to let her daughter be the wife! It’s all pretty icky and incesteous, plus why on earth would a mother agree to such an arrangement in the first place. Heroine got on my nerves (first person POV) with some misogynistic thoughts (plus a comment on women in their forties not being into sex which made me laugh/rage at the same time). And it ended in a baby epilogue (rage!), with all of them still having sexy fun times after twins. Laughable really considering I spent the first weeks with a newborn in PJ’s, with sore nipples and eating Belvita between feeds.
And I read it all, it was a total Trainwreck, I couldn’t stop reading despite the rage. Definitely an F rating for the sheer WTFery. Apart from that not a lot, been reading a few Open Novella Contest Entries on Wattpad white getting a serious case of Writer’s Block with my own entry. Going into isolation because daughter had been exposed to a Covid case at preschool didn’t help (thankfully symptom free). Keeping a nearly four year old occupied when you can’t go out is surprisingly difficult. I also attempted to read another book I’d mentioned in a previous comment here (Tied Up With Love by Holly Martin) I enjoyed it all those year ago but sadly it has dated horribly since I last read it. Hero is a total alpha hole. However, the most annoying thing I found this time was when he gifted a kitten to the heroine when her cat died. I suppose it was to create “awww, sweet,” feeling in readers. I kept on thinking “kittens (or any pet) are hard work and not a commitment to take on lightly. What kitty shelter in their right mind sell a kitten as a gift?” It’s probably going to be a DNF in all honesty. I have found lately that Chick lit written in the 2010’s has dated worse than any other subgenre, particularly since the pandemic. Am I the only one?
[CW/TW: mental illness, suicide attempt in the past] Sarah Mayberry’s excellent SWEETHEART is not only a smoothly-written romance about a woman falling for her sister’s ex, but is also a sensitive exploration of the toll mental illness takes on the sufferer and their family. The heroine—a barista who also creates custom leather goods, including boots and belts, and sells them through her Etsy store—has long accepted that she ranks below her older, more glamorous, but also mentally-fragile and emotionally-unpredictable sister in their family dynamic. Ever since her sister’s suicide attempt a decade before, the heroine’s parents have spent all their emotional resources on their older daughter, expecting their younger daughter to subsume her own needs and desires to assist the family in keeping the sister on an even keel—which, of course, as a dutiful daughter, she does. When the heroine encounters her sister’s ex-boyfriend, who now runs a specialty coffee bean company, sparks fly; but the memory of how the sister’s behavior created so much havoc in his life (cw/tw: including lying about the death of a beloved dog) leaves the hero ambivalent about pursuing a relationship with the heroine, despite their hot chemistry. There’s a strain of melancholy running throughout the book—about chances missed and choices made when a loved one is ill and requires the lion’s share of the family’s attention and resources. Sarah Mayberry has written a nuanced book about a difficult subject—alongside a nice romance between two decent people—and it’s also set in the same world as Sarina Bowen’s True North series and Mayberry seamlessly weaves some of those characters into SWEETHEART. The first book published in 2021 to make my Favorite Reads of 2021 list. Highly recommended.
I was unfamiliar with Katie Golding, but when Kini (who until recently blogged at SMEXY Books and whose tastes frequently align with mine) listed Golding’s FEARLESS as one of her favorite books of 2020, I decided to give it a try. FEARLESS is a “relationship in trouble” story featuring MCs who are both professional motorbike racers and are also both active on the rodeo circuit. The book goes back and forth in time, so we see the hero & heroine meet and fall in love (it’s often hard to portray a truly kind hero without making him seem weak, but Golding does a wonderful job of showing a decent, empathetic, strong, consent-seeking man), but we also see the things that start to drive a wedge between h&h: the demands of their individual careers that often require them to be in different places; the hero’s family dynamics, which marginalize and downplay his successes; the hero’s screw-up of a younger brother—selfish & spoiled by the same dysfunctionality that minimizes the hero’s accomplishments, but who is in many ways enabled by the hero himself; and the heroine’s insistence that she rank higher in a cowboy’s estimation than staying on the back of a bull for eight seconds. There are changes the hero and the heroine will both have to make if their relationship is to continue and thrive. FEARLESS reminded me quite a bit of the works of Kari Lyn Dell and Pamela Clare: the competence porn, the finely-observed detail, the technical aspects of very specific sports & activities, and the emphasis on the demands required by hard physical work. (I also loved the hero’s relationship with his favorite horse, one that he is allowed to ride and care for, but that he cannot afford to own. I felt as if the horse became a major supporting character in the book.) If you enjoy either Dell or Clare, I think you would enjoy FEARLESS. I liked it very much and look forward to the next book in Golding’s Moto Grand Prix series. Highly recommended.
[CW/TW: death of family members] Jackie Ashenden’s latest HP, the uber-angsty THE WORLD’S MOST NOTORIOUS GREEK, deals with the long-term generational impact of unprocessed grief. Both the hero and the heroine were raised in homes suffused with loss: the hero’s parents mourned the loss of their older son, ignoring and resenting their younger son; the heroine was still a baby when her mother died, leaving the heroine’s father crushed by his loss and woefully unprepared to raise a child. When the h&h enter into a marriage-of-convenience, it seems at first that each of them may be able to help the other overcome the negative self-perceptions they have internalized. But lessons absorbed through family dysfunction aren’t so easily overcome: it will take a number of missteps and misunderstandings before the HEA. I’ve said before that Jackie Ashenden’s style is a perfect match for Harlequin Presents’s template—and THE WORLD’S MOST NOTORIOUS GREEK is one of the most thoughtful recent examples of that pairing. Recommended.
Two books that I’ve had on my tbr for years were both recently on sale—and both of them, coincidentally, have driven alpha CEO heroes (if that is or isn’t a factor for you): UNBUTTONING THE CEO by Mia Sosa (published in 2015) and ALL IN by Simona Ahrnstedt (published in 2014). UNBUTTONING THE CEO is a pleasant enough romance but is undone by the length of time the hero lies about who he really is: A tech company CEO has to perform community service for reckless driving and, using an assumed name, takes a volunteer position with the heroine’s foundation which is committed to helping people in underserved communities get access to technology and on-line programs. For various reasons, the hero keeps his identity a secret from the heroine—and, no matter how plausible his reasons, I thought this made the hero somewhat disingenuous. However, I really liked the bright, optimistic heroine who keeps a positive attitude despite the ongoing financial needs of the foundation she runs. Still, when the couple’s no-strings-attached affair blossoms into something deeper, the hero’s continuing subterfuge felt wrong to me. An ok read, but I’m surprised that out of all Mia Sosa’s books, UNBUTTONING THE CEO is the one Sarah MacLean recommends on the “Read More Romance” section of her blog.
Simona Ahrnstedt ALL IN is, as the English say, another kettle of fish entirely. It was a thoroughly engrossing read, but I’m not sure it qualifies strictly as a romance, even though there is a central romance running through the book. ALL IN reminded me in some ways of the “shopping & fucking” books of the 1970s & 1980’s: big and glossy, with multiple plotlines about incredibly rich and glamourous people living lives of operatic joy and heartache. The main couple of ALL IN are Natalia, product of the Swedish nobility who, despite being brilliant at her international investments job, is marginalized by her misogynistic and racist father (he really is awful), and David, who rose from a working-class background to become CEO of one of Sweden’s premier venture capital firms. David first approaches Natalia as a way to gain access to her family’s prestigious but poorly-run investment firm, but after a time the relationship becomes something more. Meanwhile, Asa, Natalia’s best friend, and Michel, David’s business partner, have been attracted to each other since law school and continue dancing around each other. We also learn about David’s background, his teenage years as a scholarship student at one of Sweden’s top boarding schools, and the role Natalia’s brother and father played in an event that has left David thirsting for revenge for the past two decades (cw/tw for rape of a family member and horrific hazing behavior at the school; nothing is described in detail, but there are discussions about them). In addition to the four major characters, we see events from the POVs of Natalia’s two brothers and David’s sister and father. ALL IN weaves a big tapestry with a lot going on. Purely a romance or not, ALL IN is an entertaining book and I highly recommend it.
When Silvia Violet’s DEVIL popped up on my Kindle Unlimited recommendations, I was unfamiliar with her or the book, but DEVIL’s hot cover model had me deciding to give the book a try (yes, I’m very shallow). Apparently, Violet has carved a specialty niche for herself writing m/m mafia romances, usually where one hero is part of an organized crime family and the other is a “civilian” of one sort or another. DEVIL fits this template: Devil (the character’s nickname) is part of a mafia family; Joe is a cop trying hard to uncover corruption in the police force and get to the bottom of two murders where Devil is the suspect. Despite being written in a rather jumpy style, DEVIL was not a terrible book—although, beyond both of them being danger junkies, I’m not sure what drew the heroes to each other. I can’t totally recommend it, but if you like mafia or m/m romances and you have a KU membership, you could do worse than give DEVIL a try.
Hi Amanda. You were looking for a book title in 2018 about a hero being breastfed. I read that book in french ‘La proie du faucon’ in English its ‘ A year and a day’ by Virginia Henley.
Hey, Smart Bitches! Hope you are hanging in there – I know this stage of the pandemic has been really rough for lots of folks. Really looking forward to sinking into some books this weekend to escape it all, so please share your recs!
ROOMMATE by Sarina Bowen M/M contemporary – Really liked this book. I liked their history and how that was worked into the book, and they both acted in logically illogical ways, knowing what they had each been through in their lives. I recommend it highly! Very satisfying romance.
THE BEAUTIFUL THINGS SHOPPE by Philip William Stover M/M contemporary Opposites attract and misjudge each other, then fall in love. It was fine – short and sweet.
BEST LAID PLANS by Roan Parrish M/M contemporary – I liked other books by RP much more. I don’t buy that some contractor is just going to start rehabbing a house for some person who shows up in town. I’ve renovated a house – fall in love first, then take on the house. Just not believable for me the way it was written.
TEDDY SPENSER ISN’T LOOKING FOR LOVE: AN LGBTQ ROMCOM by Kim Fielding – Eh. It’s been done better, and though I always like an opposites attract/wrong about the first impression and learn that you were wrong plot, the premise for the business trip they took together was just stupid – no reason to make the set up that bizarre.
ALL IN by Simona Ahrnstedt M/F billionaire romance – DNF I had high hopes for this book, but it didn’t work for me. It took the crazy-sauce, old skool billionaire plot and mixed it with a very calm, northern European vibe that I just couldn’t buy. I knew I was going to drop it when the guy started his seduction by having breakfast with the heroine at a hotel (previous to that, he told himself that it was a business relationship). The civility/restraint was discordant with the over the top plot. I skipped around (spoiler alert) there was even a surprise pregnancy. Also, characters seemed to just decide “Now I’m ready for love – I’ll stop self-sabotaging” without any emotional growth to make it believable. Know others here love it – maybe what I didn’t like was what others did? I also don’t like sweet potatoes (are you sweet or savory? Make up your mind!) so it might be a me problem.
Have a great weekend! Wishing for vaccines for everyone!
I’m hoping to start NAVIGATING THE STARS by Maria V. Snyder. After that, I will probably switch gears and read more of a thriller, maybe THE HUNTING PARTY by Lucy Foley. I also have A COURT OF SILVER FLAMES by Sarah J. Maas, but I think I will save it for a less busy weekend when I can read a chunk of it all at once.
I also have a bunch of Star Wars and James Bond comics/graphic novels to read.
And I’m hoping to find a new TV show to binge, maybe MISS FISHER’S MODERN MURDER MYSTERIES. Hope everyone has a good weekend! 🙂
All of Jeannie Lin’s Lotus Palace novels are amazing, but I’m just excited that Susan still has ‘Liar’s Dice’ and ‘The Hidden Moon’ to go. Taken together (the former is a prequel short story for the latter), they were hands down the best romance I read last year.
I’m reading A Scot In The Dark, and absolutely loving it!
I have fallen down the Sarah MacLean rabbit hole. (Which is fine, since I pulled a muscle or pinched a nerve simply from sitting up wrong a few days ago. *facepalm* Just leave me here with my MacLean / Dare / Kleypas books, pain relievers, and a beverage and I’m happy to stay where I am. lol)
@Qualisign: I love Cinnamon and Gunpowder! The descriptions of the feasts and how he prepares them is swoonworthy. I’ve been meaning to re-read it for a while now. Thanks for reminding me of this book.
And I’m sorry to hear about your step-daughter’s diagnosis. I wish her the best possible outcome.
As for me, I haven’t read much lately because of work and anxiety but I did manage to finish two books.
BLUE CASTLE by L.M. Montgomery – I read this for the first time a couple weeks ago and it’s as lovely as everyone says. I could do without that ending but fine I’ll take it. I loved all the descriptions of the changing seasons in their little island.
SWEETWATER SEDUCTION by Joan Johnston – This was pretty funny. Schoolteacher convinces the wives in her small town to stop having sex with their husbands until they resolve they the rivalry between ranchers and farmers so the husbands hire someone to seduce her. I think it mostly worked for me Kerrigan is on to Eden’s defensiveness from the start but he doesn’t push her and patiently waits for her to admit her feelings. Could do without the baby-centric epilogue.
Happy Saturday! It’s been toasty in my area this week, but will cool back down a bit next week. (I actually really love the weather between like 45-65 degrees F, but it’s not for everyone!)
Romance:
TEN THINGS I HATE ABOUT THE DUKE by Loretta Chase: A- for me, one of the best Chase novels in some time! (I know I read the Dressmakers series but I also don’t really remember reading the Dressmakers series.) Cassandra really put Lucius through the wringer and it worked for me. I also loved Hyacinth and Lady DeGriffith–always here for the very, very clever women who have found ways to thrive within patriarchal systems, I guess! I did like the one before this, too, so now my hopes are a little high for the third one, whenever it comes out.
LOVE AT FIRST by Kate Clayborn: B+ bordering on A-, I *adored* the found family of the six-flat and almost cried at the end. Clayborn’s writing on grief worked well for me here. I think Will’s individual emotional arc go ta little more development than Nora’s, but overall I liked it a lot. I’d been nervous after I loved LOVE LETTERING so much.
ACCIDENTALLY ENGAGED by Farah Heron: B/B+, lovely contemporary with an interesting mashup of arranged marriage/fake dating, and I liked the chemistry between Reena and Nadim. Also, I was so hungry the whole time, the food descriptions are all great. I really enjoyed how Heron handled the ~interfering family~ here–everyone gets called to account within the pages of the book and it worked well for me (versus a sort of hand-wave-in-the-epilogue resolution for family problems). I don’t think my library ever picked up THE CHAI FACTOR so I’ll have to grab that elsewhere.
HOW TO FAIL AT FLIRTING by Denise Williams: B+ here as well, really charming contemporary with a higher-ed setting, although some elements didn’t quite work for me. [CW: Domestic abuse] Naya’s on the cusp of my threshold for “I need you to go to therapy before you pursue a serious relationship” but I think Williams had Naya at far-enough-along-with-personal-healing that I kept reading. Naya and Jake’s work-related conflict of interest had me bothered (reading Ask a Manager has really put me off a lot of workplace romance) although they did talk about it and there were consequences for the ways they did and did not try to avoid improprieties. I generally prefer third person POV and both of the main couple to narrate, but Naya’s first person POV here had a really strong voice. I’m looking forward to the next book Williams is releasing in the fall!
Non-romance:
DISAPPEAR DOPPELGÄNGER DISAPPEAR by Matthew Salesses: this is a very weird novel (reminding me in many ways of THE WIND-UP BIRD CHRONICLE by Murakami, for reference) grappling with identity, grief, parenting, and how we connect with other people. I think I need to go back and read the last chapter again before discussing it with my long-distance partner (this was my most recent pick for our individual book club).
THE THREE-BODY PROBLEM by Liu Cixin, trans. Ken Liu: A strong sci-fi novel on the harder science end of the spectrum. This was actually the most “hard” sci-fi I’ve read probably ever and I learned it’s not quite for me–I don’t want to think about physics at the expense of characterization! I do kind of want to argue about it with someone, so it might be a good one for a book club? I am glad I’ve read it before the GoT showrunners do their take on it for Netflix (if that’s still in production?). Probably not going to read the rest of the series, but I think this kind of stands alone well enough. (I’m fine with an ambiguous ending–see, Salesses above!)
On deck:
Like Susan, I’ve been working through Jeannie Lin’s Pingkang Li Mysteries and THE LOTUS PALACE is next. I’m also very excited for Weiwei’s stories!
I also need to swing by my local indie down the street to pick up my preorder of ACT YOUR AGE, EVE BROWN by Talia Hibbert. I really enjoyed the first two and am looking forward to this!
INVISIBLE WOMEN: DATA BIAS IN A WORLD DESIGNED FOR MEN by Caroline Criado Perez was a Christmas gift and I think I’ll start it today!
Oh, not a book, but I just finished watching “Lovestruck in the City” on Netflix–really great K-drama with an unusual format (perhaps because KakaoTV produced rather than one of the main networks?). I’m a huge Ji Chang-wook fan (from “Healer” and “Suspicious Partner”).
A little late to the party I just finished Rosie Danan’s THE ROOMMATE, and really liked it. I am pretty conflict averse these days, sometimes just dropping a book before I get to the dark moment, but this one was sorted out without too much delay. Josh was a lovely hero, and it was great that his family was loving and realistic. Looking forward to Naomi’s book.
Fated Mates is having a review podcast about Mary Balough’s A MATTER of CLASS, so I picked it up. It took me several tries to get into it because I hated the hero at first, but was glad I had.
For delightful froth I recommend WHAT NOT to BARE, Megan Frampton’s story of of a woman purposefully dressing to not attract suitors, reminiscent of The Heiress Effect by Courtney Milan, who is recruited into writing a fashion column by her sister. Her uncle, the spymaster, assigns a disgraced Duke to pretend court her, and it all evolves from there. Shenanigans ensue.
If anyone else is feeling melancholy, you’re not alone. This too shall pass.
Reading – DNFs and rereads. I’ve had better luck with audio and video this past couple of weeks. Recs below.
Missing my favorite authors (mainly Lois McMaster Bujold and T.Kingfisher) but unable to finish anything new by them or even reread much, the dark moments stress me out too much. A few chapters of their lightest fluffiest titles is all my fried brain can handle – that would be Captain Vorpatril and Nine Goblins, while skimming strategically to avoid the dead bodies.
Listening – audiobooks:
Been half listening to favorite audiobooks while scrolling blogs – SBTB, tor.com, Rachel Hawkins’s twitter and random internet rabbit holes resulting from the above. Mostly the same old comfort rereads/listens: Terry Pratchett narrated by Mark Oshiro of markreads.net, P.G. Wodehouse narrated by Jonathan Cecil, Sheila Turnage middle grade mysteries narrated by Lauren Fortgang.
Cassandra Campbell is a great narrator with a soothing voice who has apparently recorded hundreds of titles, including the Miss Fortune cozy mysteries by Jana DeLeon. The first one is free on kindle, many of them are on hoopla or libby or can be found cheap on audible if you already own the kindle version.
Listening – podcasts:
SBTB – latest episode and relistening to previous Sarah and Amanda chats. It’s like hanging out with friends.
Heaving Bosoms – latest episode with guests Kate Clayborn and Christina Lauren recapping Crash Landing On You, and Erin and Melody being awesome as always.
NPR’s Ask Me Another with songs by Jonathan Coulton and silly quizzes. Got some catching up to do, last episode I finished was with Jesse Tyler Ferguson of Modern Family who is lovely.
Watching:
Derry Girls on Netflix is very funny with an amazing 90s soundtrack. I watched two whole episodes and paid attention the whole time, quite an achievement these days.
Coming 2 America was…fine. Read the NPR review first. Beautiful gowns indeed.
The best things I read this month were SBTB comments, best things I listened to were this Friday’s podcast episode and Tuesday’s Stereo stream. Thank you all for being your unique lovely selves and sharing your light.
A few months ago I pulled THE LORD OF STARIEL by AJ Lancaster off my TBR mountain thanks to the praise it received here and loved it. Last week I finally read the next book in the series, THE PRINCE OF SECRETS. Initially I was a bit disappointed because it mainly follows Wyn, the Fae love interest of Hetta, the Lord from the previous book and since I adored her, I missed her being the main narrator (she’s very present throughout this book, just not the primary focus). However, once I settled in, I loved this book even more than the first book. If you are looking for intelligent fantasy romance, in which the MCs actually act like adults, make rational decisions, and work together in spite of differences they’ve had in the past, this is the series for you.
Aside from that, I loved DRAGONS DON’T EAT MEAT, by Kim McDougall, a fun UF romp with a compassionate Valkyrie hero who removes unwanted magical pests, but doesn’t like to kill anything, so she has quite a menagerie of rescued creatures. I love UF with a magical creature kitchen sink approach so this was total catnip for me. I also really enjoyed MAGICAL MIDLIFE LOVE by KF Breene, the 4th book in her paranormal women’s fiction series in which we finally get a romantic payoff between the lead character and the alpha shifter that she’s been attracted to. This is another one with a kitchen sink approach to magical creatures, probably another reason I enjoyed it.
As for current reads, I just started MAKE IT SWEET by Kristen Callihan, with a hockey player hero forced to retire due to concussions, and an actress heroine who’s just been cut from a popular fantasy TV show. I have high hopes for this one. I’m also reading YES & I LOVE YOU by Roni Loren with a heroine with Tourette’s syndrome (mainly facial tics) and severe social anxiety. I’m enjoying it but although I think the author has done a good job with the Tourette’s, I think the social anxiety was just a convenient plot device as it seems to have magically vanished. IRL I don’t think the heroine would have gotten over it that easily.
I feel like I’ve had a wonderful run of books this past couple of weeks. All of these would rate 4.5 to 5 stars if Goodreads allowed me to give half-stars.
Love At First, Kate Clayborn 4.5
First Comes Like, Alisha Rai 4.5
Yes & I Love You, Roni Loren 5
Accidentally Engaged, Farah Heron 4.5
Act Your Age Eve Brown, Talia Hibbert 4.5
Sandcastle Beach, Jenny Holiday 5
Liked pretty well:
So Forward, Mina Esguerra
OK, I guess.
The Invitation, Vi Keeland
(Trust) Falling For You, Charish Reid
I spent a lot of Paladin’s Strength thinking “this is so much fun, but too many subplots,” and then T. Kingfisher started flipping pieces over and sticking them together in ways that made so much sense.
I was thinking about why I enjoyed Seanan McGuire’s Calculated Risks, and the whole Incryptid series, so much, and a big piece is the family relationships, especially Verity and Antimony. Looking at one through the other’s eyes is a perception flip that makes so much sense if you have a sibling relationship. And of course, more mice. And maybe you won’t love Greg, but I loved Greg.
I’ve been meaning to read Mick Herron’s Slow Horses for years – I think it was a KJC rec originally? It didn’t disappoint. A great story of underdog outsider spies, but also disturbingly now-relevant for something published in 2010 – a false flag operation, a glib, media-savvy politician/entertainer under whom “this country could be great again.”
@Arijo I’ve always heard that the male equivalent of the Mary Sue is a Gary Stu.
—
The only book I’ve finished recently was She Lies in Wait by Gytha Lodge, which I really wish I had DNF’d. I used to read a lot of these procedural mystery type books and maybe I just wore myself out on the genre because I feel like I’ve read this book 20 times before. The characters were flat and each defined by one characteristic, the prose was boring, and the reveal of the killer was ridiculous. So just blah on the whole thing.
I’ve been doing quite a lot of reading, lately, so yay for that!
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T Kingfisher: Loved it. I know it’s aimed at a younger audience, but it was such a good story and it didn’t feel “simple” or juvenile to me.
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik: I’m on the fence about this one. Actually, I’m on the fence about a few of the Novik books that I’ve read . . . El was enjoyably snarky, but also off-puttingly snarky – if that makes any sense. I had questions about the world building, wondering if leaving all the teens to the rigors of the Scholomance was really the best solution to that particular problem. And as for repairs to the Scholomance, why was that an issue? I’m undecided at this point if I will read the next book.
The Queen’s Thief by Megan Whalen Turner: I borrowed the first 5 books (as an omnibus edition) from the BPL, and loved the first one. Eugenides was such a great person to spend time with, and I never suspected who he was and was so surprised at the reveal! So I eagerly started the second book, The Queen of Attolia, and YIKES. I believe it was the end of the first chapter, and something so awful happens to Eugenides that the book and series became a hard DNF for me. I’m going to spoil it a little, but if you read the description of the third book, The King of Attolia, it mentions it so I guess it’s not that much of a spoiler. The titular Queen purposely, with malice aforethought and hate in her heart, cuts off Eugenieds’ right hand. I was so traumatized by that, that I would have thrown the book if I hadn’t been reading it on my Kindle. I’m still nauseated if I think about it, and I am having trouble not thinking of it at random unguarded times. And then the absolute kicker – apparently in the book Eugenides and the Queen fall in love and get married!!!! There are always spirited discussions on this site about how much groveling is necessary for a hero to redeem himself to the heroine, but in my mind there is not enough grovel or apology in the universe to make up for being purposely and maliciously maimed! And then to expect the reader to believe in a romance between the maimer and the maimed??? No. Thank. You.
A Deal with the Elf King by Elise Kova: This was a palate cleanser after the horrifying events of the previous book, and as that, it was okay. I spotted the ending from about the first page, and every “twist” was fairly well telegraphed and expected. The relationship between Luella and Eldas was minimally sketched out, I never really “felt” their emotions or the connection between them. So this one was a “meh” for me, but YMMV.
Pledge by Catherine Miller: This is the third book I’ve read from her Deridia series. The Deridia series is, I guess, sci-fi romance, so they take place on an unnamed planet where there seem to be several different races of beings, some of whom are vaguely reptilian in description, and then there seems to be a crash-landed spaceship of humans from Earth? And I really don’t know why I keep reading them. It’s like eating slightly stale cookies or chips – they’re not the best, but somehow you just keep eating them. This one was the stalest chip in the series, at least to me. The writing was terrible, missing words, misused words (“rouse” for “ruse,” “coiffeur” for “coffer,” “clamor” for “clamber”), but still somehow I kept reading. And nothing happened! The set-up is a man offers his daughter as his “ante” in a game with a bunch of unidentified men. This society is male dominated, where the women are expected to do all the work and earn money for the men and male children are rare so daughters are not valued, so the women are to be seen and not heard. Anyway, our hero is playing in the game and essentially buys the heroine to save her from being gambled away by her father. They marry right on the spot, and go back to the hero’s house where they must bone to complete the marriage ritual. I think consent is fairly well established, the H doesn’t want to “do it” because he realizes that the h is fearful, but she’s fearful that if they don’t do it the H will be able to discard her because they won’t be truly married due to their customs. So he asks, she specifically says “let’s do this thing,” and off they go. The sex is mostly implied, not a lot of detail is given. But other than that, nothing happens! The book is just them talking, immediately working through a few minor misunderstandings, the H attempting to let the h know that she is valued by him as a person, not just as a worker and/or possible mother. The H is very much a Marty Stu, very gentle and sweet and understanding. One thing that bugged me, he calls her “darlin’,” which immediately threw me out of the story (though why I was even in the story is a mystery to me!). He is apparently not one of the crash-landed humans, so why is he talking like a Texan? Couldn’t the author have made up an endearment for him to use? I have no idea why I kept reading, but I did – so there you go.
Bitterburn by Ann Aguirre: I’m about halfway through this one, and so far am really enjoying it. It’s a Beauty and the Beast retelling, so we know where it’s going, but it’s a good retelling so I’m on board!
@DiscoDollyDeb, the Mayberry is on my TBR pile! Thanks for your review of it.
As for my reading, I just finished the last Stella Riley book available on audio. I’ve listened to all the Rockcliffe series, her stand-alones, and the two books available from her Roundheads and Cavalier series. All of them are narrated by Alex Wyndham and they are incredible. I’m hoping the last two books will eventually get recorded, but if not I’ll read them in print. Her grasp of history is amazing and the way she weaves fictional characters into history is masterful.
I’ve been reading a lot of books by Annabeth Albert and Lily Morton. I also read a great m/m urban fantasy series, NOT DEAD YET by Jenn Burke. Funny and so well done. Narrated by the marvelous Greg Boudreaux. Also read THE GENTLE ART OF FORTUNE HUNTING by KJ Charles which was excellent, and finished her Society of Gentlemen series.
In the non-romance category I’ve gotten hooked on a Kindle Unlimited urban fantasy series by Melissa F. Olson called Boundary Magic. They are clever and the worldbuilding is solid. They are whispersynced for free right now on Audible, so you can check out the book and read/listen at the same time. The audiobook returns when you return the book to KU. I’m also listening to the Annette Marie Guild Codex: Spellbound and Demonica series on audio while I wait for the new releases in the Warped series and the new Unveiled series due out in the fall. I fell in love with this world and characters. The Annette Marie books are also available on KU.
Happy reading!
I was working a stressful job the first two months of this year so haven’t read that much. I’ve been enjoying reading more this month.
I loved Calculated Risks by Seanan McGuire though it made me miss my friends and family a lot.
Also I started Chernow’s Hamilton, it was on the Lucky ebook part of Libby and its a much faster read than I expected. Fascinating, crowded history and a reminder of how much of a mess the US has always been. I know I won’t be finishing it in time so it will go into my waiting for a hold section.
I’ve been doing lots of rereading and I’m thinking about treating myself to the two Paladin’s ebooks by T. Kingfisher as Paladin’s Grace has become a favorite of mine. The way she writes romance makes me think of Mary Balogh where her characters feel real and awkward.
In terms of what’s next, I have Loretta Chase’s 10 Things I Hate About the Duke in my pile and she’s a favorite.
I’m reading A VOW SO BOLD AND DEADLY. The second book really made me worry about the romance of the first book, but it looks like they’re more or less back on track. There’s still a lot of “Well, nobody really wants to fight, so why are you preparing to fight??” If people could just be honest with each other…
I just missed my library hold on ACT YOUR AGE, EVE BROWN and I’m really upset about it. Also, I’ve requested LAZINESS DOES NOT EXIST at every single MA library I have access to, and not a one has bought the ebook yet. Next step will be searching the libraries for the physical copy, for probably the first time in 2 years.
What voracious readers you are. Pretty admirable example you set, too.
Many thanks for the tips: I mean to read more T Kingfisher, and everyone who’s read Caste tells me it’s great. Curse of Chalion is a comfort read for me, too.
Depending on your current circumstances, “ This too shall pass.” is either a threat or a promise. For me, it’s a promise at present.
Having been to a short online conference about Georgette Heyer, which I heard about here (many thanks!), I’ve been re-reading Heyer and now understand why Frederica is so many people’s favorite. Mine are still A Civil Contract, which I enjoy more on every reread, and The Unknown Ajax. My goodness, what writing skill Heyer had. Never seen her equal for sustained comic endings.
The Denver area is getting the storm of the century so I’m staying in this weekend.
Currently rereading The Queen of Attolia and I absolutely adore this book. I love the discussions of character and power and how women rule in a society of men. The different directions that Eddis and Attolia take in governance are starkly rendered in a few sentences. But I can see why others do not find the book appealing as referenced in a previous comment.
Also reading Down Comes the Night by Allison Saft and I love this book to pieces. It is a YA fantasy Gothic novel and it has everything. There’s the dark house! Snowstorm! Strange sounds! Don’t go into the east wing! Servants disappearing! I have about a hundred pages to go and I can see this being a favorite re-read.
@Lace: I’m one of the people who love the Slow Horses books, mostly because Herron makes me care so much about characters who aren’t easy to like. I’m reading SLOUGH HOUSE now, the newest–they absolutely have to be read in order because, yikes, the twists–and if I’m ever in trouble, I want Jackson Lamb on my side. If I don’t get killed first. 0_o
A WARM HEART IN WINTER by J.R. Ward: I know, I know. This one focuses on Blay and Qhuinn with a heaping of grief. For all the OTT, exhausting writing, I’ve appreciated some of the thoughts Ward shares on subjects like grief and loss.
THE SPACE BETWEEN WORLDS by Micaiah Johnson: Wow. It took a while for me to understand what was happening, but what an outstanding story. Traversers travel between worlds/different versions of Earth, and narrator Cara is the best. The implications, personally and for society, are enormous and costly, but it’s the “razor-sharp social commentary,” as one reviewer put it, that makes this book so powerful. It has a really twisty plot/mystery, too. Highly recommended.
WOLF AT THE DOOR by Charlie Adhara: An agent is assigned to work with a werewolf and discover who/what is killing citizens in a small town. I so enjoyed this book, as have others here, and really want to know what happens next for Park and Cooper, especially Park’s intriguing family.
I LOVE the Raksura series. They keep building on each other and they’re great. I’ve read/listened to them so many times I’ve had to place a moratorium on them.
@DiscoDollyDeb – “ALL IN reminded me in some ways of the “shopping & fucking” books of the 1970s & 1980’s.” Hah, I now feel completely justified in judging this book by its cover which makes me think of Judith Krantz type books which I’m not a fan of.
@Jennifer Estep – I just discovered The Murdoch Mysteries, a Canadian historical mystery series based on a series of books. It’s fun and not as grim as a lot of mystery shows.
I finished “The Bride Takes a Groom” by Lisa Berne, and it’s stuck in my head a little. I loved that the author had the courage to create a difficult heroine. She really does act bitchy and unlikeable for quite a while, sees herself doing it, and yet can’t stop. So the journey to the HEA was one step forward, two steps back, more like real life.
I’m reading “A Duke in Shining Armor” and it’s very amusing and well written, but somehow not what my mood is calling for. I am feeling the murder mysteries more, so I’m continuing with Ann Granger’s Inspector Ben Ross and Andrea Penrose’s Wrexford & Sloane mystery series.
Also, I am I last person to discover Enola Holmes on Netflix? I haven’t seen anyone mention it here. She’s Sherlock and Mycroft’s younger sister, and smarter than both of them. Enola is 16, so I guess you could say the movie is YA oriented, with some great steampunkish production values. I just loved it. I want more. I want a series. It really hit the spot.
Per usual, where @DiscoDollyDeb leads, I follow. She mentioned Juliana Stone’s new release (not out till March 26th), but I went back and have been reading all Crystal Lake books, then the Barker triplets, and now on the Bad Boys of Crystal Lake-Jake’s story. I’m on spring break right now, so that has been the majority of my reading. I love Stone’s writing, descriptive and engaging. The one thing that is striking home with me, I’m not a huge fan of of the second chance romance, especially when the first chance was in high school.. Maybe because I’m old? Stone has quite a few with that theme, and I’ve enjoyed them, but I feel like I’m more the “meet a new person, see where it goes ” kind of mind frame right now. I’ve actually been thinking about this for the past year, so I think it has been just reading one author exclusively for the last 8 days that is bringing it home. I do HIGHLY recommend Stone, and especially loved her OFFSIDE, about a female hockey player coming back to her hometown after a career ending injury, and signing up to play in the men’s non contact hockey recreational league.
Also read SWEETHEART and COWBOY, part of the Busy Bean series. Love the ties to the True North Series of Sarina Bowen. Cowboy has an older heroine and hero which I loved!
OMG! I post my comments before I read others, or I get so distracted..
@Corrine-I think you are absolutely right on that HABO! I was even thinking about it the other day, it has bugged me for a long time, I wasn’t the original poster but HAD read the book! I thought I had bought it, but I must have gotten it from the library. Makes sense because Henley isn’t very familiar to me. But reading the description of the book, the names strike a chord. I CAN’T tell you how happy I will be if this mystery is solved!
The last few weeks have been a mixed bag for me. I had just started THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE at the last Watcha Reading, and I stayed captivated by it for several days. I have to say, though, I didn’t love, love, love the ending, and the not loving part left me kind of sad and deflated.
I quickly started and discarded a few others and then settled into SPOILER ALERT. As others have mentioned above, it is definitely not all puppies and unicorns. Very well-written, but the earnestness of the whole thing kind of zapped the joy right out of it.
On the search for lighter fair, I turned to a perennial favorite, Julie Anne Long, and listened to SINCE THE SURRENDER. I really enjoyed the first couple of books in the PENNYROYAL GREEN series, and this one was good, but not quite as great as the others.
Finally, still not finding light escape, I got caught up in THE STATIONERY SHOP by Marjan Kamali. Beautifully written, it is not a romance but a powerful love story nonetheless that sheds light on a time and place (1953 Iran) many of us have probably never really pondered. It’s a book I believe I will reread again someday, and I heartily recommend it.
I am still slowly and enjoying Anne Gracie’s last two books in the Chance Sister series. My conception is crap and I have busy with the mundane details of life. I have bought more than I read in the last 2 weeks. I did get my first dose of the Covid vaccine so I’m hoping after the 2nd dose it will ease my anxiety about getting it.
Life got distracting so I’m not finished but DARK ARCHIVES is still very interesting, I’m a little more than half way through.
In the last Whatcha Reading? @Allison R-B mentioned Reese Morrison’s LOVE LIMITS: Reese Morrison is on my auto KU checkout list now. One of their books was part of a cover snark post (there were tentacles) not my kink but I had read the book just because I really like their writing. I’m so glad Allison R-B brought up Love Limits because I had missed that Reese had a new book out! This one is kink (with deaf characters) where one MC is asexual and the other is gender queer. 4 out of 5 stars
Meghan Maslow MUST LOVE DEMONS (Magic Emporium). Its part of a multi-author series where a magic shop appears to help creatures who need a magical item. An Incubus is in a trial period to become a cherub and accidently gets magically chained to a phoenix shapeshifter. It was short and sweet and hit the spot on a day I needed that. 4 out of 5 stars
Harper Fox ONCE UPON A HAUNTED MOOR. Gideon is the policeman in a small village where a child is missing. Lee is a clairvoyant who shows up to offer his services. Another 4 out of 5 stars!
:::walks in with Point Break playing in the background:::
Mmmm. Patrick and Keanu. Rawr.
Okay, yeah. Books. Books are a thing. A thing that I have read…Keanu.
Okay, I’m back. Let us see, I followed up Paladin’s Grace with Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell. I liked the space politics, because that’s always fun, and enjoyed the two space princes in love, although I think they spent a little too long not understanding each other’s signals, to the point where I wanted to knock their sweet heads together. Then I followed up with Why Mermaids Sing by C.S. Harris, the third in the Sebastian St. Cyr series, which is rapidly becoming one of my favorite things. The mystery was solid, as well as deeply unnerving, and Sebastian and Kat are great characters, and the final twist made me laugh. It was just so damn diabolical. And then, because apparently I’ve not been reading enough historical mysteries, I read The Satapur Moonstone by Sujata Massey, the second in her Perveen Mistry mystery series. I love Perveen as a character, really enjoyed what might be a solid love interest for Perveen, and the setting (1920s India) is just aces. Which brings us to now, in which I’m still reading We Had A Little Real Estate Problem (I do a couple of chapters of it daily, on the rare occasions that I read more than one book simultaneously, one of them, usually the nonfiction, is going to get read extremely slowly) and just started Get A Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert. I’m only a couple pages in, but so far, I enjoy Chloe’s voice. And on that note, stay vaccinated and wear the masks, friends. Keanu and Patrick would want you to.