It’s Whatcha Reading time!
This is where we get to talk about what we’ve been reading, whether it was a good reading month, a slow one, or just plain terrible. It’s also a post that is terribly bad for all of our wallets.
Carrie: I am reading A Most Remarkable Creature: The Hidden Life and Epic Journey of the World’s Smartest Birds of Prey by Jonathan Meiburg. ( A | BN | K ) As a result I have a new animal obsession, the Caracara, which is a like a crow brain and a raccoon’s dietary habits crossed with a vulture’s dietary habits and all shoved into a hawk’s body.
Catherine: I am very bad and am marathoning ARCs that are still a couple of months off. So I just finished Devil in Disguise by Lisa Kleypas which was great fun, and am now giggling my way through Lucy Parker’s Battle Royal, ( A | BN | K ) which could have been written just for me – witty banter and sarcasm and also amazing cakes and desserts. This is definitely going to be a comfort read for me.
Elyse: I feel bad hyping this when it’s not out till 8/24, but I just finished Bombshell by Sarah MacLean ( A | BN | K ) and it was a total squee.
It has four women who are working to take down the patriarchy one asshole at a time and a very pine-y romance.
Claudia: Catching up on The Devil Comes Courting, which I finally got from the library! Their first meeting had me smiling!
Susan: The Hellion’s Waltz, which is WONDERFUL! It has queer women conning a slimy business owner out of his ill-gotten riches to support their workers’ society, and such a lovely romance!
Shana: I am racing against the library clock to finish Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia. ( A | BN | K )
What are you reading right now? Let us know in the comments!
I’m reading Subtle Blood by the fabulous KJ Charles. I’m also catching up on Jackie Lau’s back list, who I’ve just discovered
The Good:
THE DO-RIGHT by Lisa Sandlin. A gritty mystery set in 1970s Texas. A woman is released from prison and works for a private investigator.
ANCHORED HEARTS by Priscilla Oliveras. A fun second chance romance set in Florida. It’s the sequel to Island Affair, although you don’t need to read them in order.
The So-So:
MIRACLES AND MENORAHS by Stacey Agdern. A cute holiday romance. Moved down from good to so-so because the leads really could not use their words and it made the conflict feel a bit forced.
WICKED DESIGNS by Lauren Smith. This was…completely crazysauce. I had trouble with a lot of it (“hero” kidnaps the heroine) but it was so bonkers that I couldn’t put it down.
THE WITCH WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD (Complete Season 1 & 2) by Lindsay Smith, Max Gladstone, et al. — Cold War spies also fighting another magical war between the factions of the Ice and Flame where magical allegiances do not always align with their political ones. Season 1 is told mostly from the POVs of Gabe, CIA agent in Prague with magically-induced migraines picked up from a previous assignment in Cairo, and Tanya, KGB agent and Ice witch. There’s also a whole supporting cast of spies/wizards/diplomats running around Prague and it’s really a lot of fun. The story starts a bit slow and only really picks up around the halfway point, “A Week Without Magic” where the spies on both sides use plain old spycraft/lying to get nosy bureaucrats off their backs.
My main issue with Season 1, as expected from a project with so many writers, is the lack of continuity. Things that one would think might have more consequences in terms of character development sometimes get ignored in the next episodes. This, I think, becomes a bigger issue in Season 2 with more characters and more POVs introduced. Despite that, this series is so fun and engaging and I got very invested in the characters. I’m bummed out there’s no Season 3! On the romance side, there are some romantic relationships and one veeeerry slow burn one—another reason I’m so disappointed there’s no third season 🙁
SHARDS OF HONOR, Lois McMaster Bujold — I’ve never read any her books before but the main characters in this one remind me of Connie Willis’ characters in that I almost instantly liked them. Aral and Cordelia are very competent and compassionate people who sometimes make dumb decisions but ultimately have their heart in the right place. And speaking of Connie Willis…
BELLWETHER, Connie Willis — A fun story about a trends researcher teaming up with a chaos theorist to study sheep. I really liked this until that part at the end where Sandra Foster implies that secure funding kills off innovation. Hell, no. The precarious employment conditions of early career researchers is a very big problem in the scientific community.
Nothing that knocked my socks off, but some solid entries:
THE BEAST OF BESWICK by Amalie Howard— This was fine. The “will they or won’t they…?” angle went on for Far Too Long. When you’re 86% done with a book and the characters have been married since, oh, the 55% mark, there’s no need to raise the question for the 18th time.
THE QUEER PRINCIPLES OF KIT WEBB. I normally adore Cat Sebastian (the Regency Imposters series is my favorite and I think I’ve read her entire backlist), but this one didn’t quite work for me. There was something about the pacing that felt off, although sometimes that says more about my own mental state/level of distraction while reading it.
I’m currently reading WINTERSMITH, the third Tiffany Aching book by Terry Pratchett, and enjoying that. The Nac Mac Feegle always make me laugh.
Also working my way through THE INTIMACY EXPERIMENT by Rosie Danan. After reading THE ROOMMATE, I was super excited for Naomi’s book (heroine is a former porn star and current sex educator and the hero is the rabbi of a struggling congregation.) Ethan being a rabbi is a big part of the whole story, but as someone who has a lot of exposure to the Reform Jewish professional world, I feel like I have too much of an inside baseball view of synagogue/rabbi/board activities to really lose myself in the story. I really like Naomi and Ethan and am rooting for them! But I’m periodically like, “Well, that isn’t really how that would work…”
June was a great month…thanks to our public library for continuing to supply me with almost everything I request!
1. Our Woman in Moscow by Beatriz Williams…if you loved The Rose Code by Kate Quinn, this one should be your next read. Both outstanding!
2. The Girl In His Shadow…if you are a fan of the Lady Darby mysteries (I am ), you won’t want to miss this new release.
3. Writers and Lovers by Lily King…a look at what it means to follow your dream of making a living in the arts and the sacrifices you make. Masterful writing—perfect length, just loved it.
4. Thoroughly enjoyed Love Scenes by Bridget Morrissey and People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry. Both the kind of books you might even read in one sitting.
Happy reading!
I pre-ordered Nalini Singh’s next Psy-Changeling book (The Last Guard), which set me re-reading the Trinity books (“Bears!”). Now I have to decide if pre-ordering the Lucy Parker will just be too frustrating – I can’t wait for it!
I have been in that weird in-between time where my kids are wrapping up school and summer hasn’t stated yet and between that, PTO projects (yeah, yeah, I got suckered in for next year), and company coming, I haven’t read a lot, but almost everything I read I loved, loved, loved.
ONE LAST STOP by Casey McQuistion f/f romance set in New York with a kind of mystical, ghost, time travel element on t. This is a very different book from LOVE LETTERING, but a lot of the things that made me love that were in here. Well-drawn specific main character who really needed to grow as a person (and not just for romance reasons and within a romantic relationship), discussions of friendship love and love of a place, specifically NYC. A very different NYC than LOVE LETTERING, but still very a very vibrant, detailed picture. Best of all, the author got how a dirty, messy, chaotic subway can be romantic and fascinating. She nailed that liminal space thing that makes subways and airports intriguing. i
I felt like August (the contemporary person and POV character) was more sketched out than Jane (sexy, mysterious possible time traveler ghost person), but Jane was definitely not flat and getting to know her was part of what made the book so compelling. The whole thing that just had parts that were warm and emotional and funny and hopeful and it made me feel kind of excited to get out in the world again and take public transportation. 🙂 I hope McQuuiston writes more f/f.
COME FLY THE WORLD: THE JET-AGE STORY OF THE WOMEN OF PAN AM by Julia Cooke. I’m continuing my mid-century women’s history streak after enjoying a book about the women’s hotel The Barbizon. I think it was recommended in Whatcha Reading, so thanks to whomever did that! This followed a handful of women in particular, but also sketched in the broader culture of the time and how Pan-Am and their stewardesses fit into it. I think part of the reasons these stories hold such a fascination to me is this is my mom’s generation and it’s interesting to see how the world was opening up to women and yet there were still so many limitations that we would find insane today (quitting when you got married, weight requirements, etc).
THE BIRD BOYS by Lisa Sandlin. Yes, another LIsa Sandlin fan and another WYR rec! This is the 2nd in the series and it does pay to read them in order. Still vivid 70s working class Texas setting, still lots of fascinating characters (especially female characters, rare for noir) and dark and twisty, but not too gross or upsetting (by my personal standards). Some hints at a love story developing, but not romance. I really am jonesing for another one, but I suspect writing them slowly and thoughtfully are part of what makes them have such an unusual style and keeps them memorable. They are written in almost a poetic way that would usually be a turn-off for me (I prefer straightforward writers), but it’s done so well and I like the characters so much, it works.
STORY OF A NEW NAME by Elena Ferrante This was the only one that fell flat for me. I read it in Italian and the language was still as beautiful and compelling (and good practice for me!), but there was a lot of love triangle, men being garbage b.s. That reminded why I avoid literary fiction I also have a hard time suspending my belief of the heights of Lila’s continuing genius, but I guess that’s partially b/c we only ever see Lenu’s POV. I’m committed to finishing the series (I’ve already bought the two other books and books in Italian are not cheap), but I think i’m going to switch back to something lighter for my Italian practice for a while.
In Marley Valentine’s ACHE, a well-written and incredibly emotional m/m romance, Jordan and Gael have been best friends since kindergarten. When Jordan came out as gay in his teens, his family kicked him out and Gael’s family took him in and gave him a home and family full of acceptance and love. Now a wealthy realtor, Jordan is still very much part of Gael’s family, and no one knows of his unrequited love for Gael. Gael has always identified as straight and is about to marry Elena, a perceptive woman who often sees more than Gael wishes she did. Valentine does a very good job of setting up the tangled, codependent emotional history of Jordan and Gael, Gael’s nature as a “caretaker/rescuer,” and Jordan’s tendency to repay affection with expensive and extravagant gifts. One of these gifts is springing for a big bachelor party bash for Gael in Las Vegas, where a little too much to drink and a little too much success at the roulette table leads to a night of shared secrets and intimacy between the two men. At this point, I thought the story would be similar to some of Penelope Ward’s books where an “impossible situation” has to be resolved in a way that breaks at least one heart and there is an acknowledgment that sometimes loving one person means hurting another; but, while that is accurate to a point, midway through ACHE something happens that changes the trajectory of how the story plays out. While I don’t want to reveal too much about the rest of the plot, I will say it reminded me in some ways of N.R. Walker’s MISSING PIECES trilogy (which was my favorite book of 2020). If I have one quibble with ACHE, it’s that it seems to end rather abruptly with everyone happy for the new couple and not much thought for those left behind—so I certainly hope Valentine will revisit Elena and Frankie (Jordan’s friend-with-benefits earlier in the book and later just good friend) and give them stories with HEAs. I highly recommend ACHE, but there’s angsty heartache ahead—keep Kleenex handy.
There is a strong vein of suspense running through Julie Kriss’s latest book, COLD DARK HEART. Although the romance—between a former DEA agent and a woman reluctantly running her ex-husband’s bar—is front and center, the questionable behavior of the ex-husband and the criminal happenings at the bar provide all the trappings of a romantic-suspense novel. I liked the MCs of COLD DARK HEART—they’re both older (closer to 40 than to 30) and have been battered by life: the hero has been in recovery for many years and has nothing but scars to show for his years with the DEA; he spends his time regretting the part he played in the breakup of his brother’s marriage (detailed in Kriss’s previous book, WICKED DANGEROUS). Meanwhile, the heroine struggles to run a bar she never wanted but which is the only means of support for her and her troubled 13-year-old son; she also deals with a constant stream of belittling comments from both her father and her ex-husband. When she hires the hero to provide security at the bar, both of them have been running on fumes for a while. The suspense angle of COLD DARK HEART didn’t overpower the nice romance between two older, rather world-weary people, but I can’t help but wonder if COLD DARK HEART signals a shift in Kriss’s style.
After gulping down Claire Kingsley’s Miles Family series earlier this month, I basically inhaled the first five books in her Bailey Brothers series (there will be a sixth book in the future). I do think you need to read the Miles Family books before you read the Bailey Brothers because some of the characters are connected and do recur throughout both series. I would classify the Bailey series as a little “busier” than the Miles Family—there are several stories that run in the background of the books: a generations-long feud with a rival family in the town; an unsolved mystery from a century ago involving a missing couple; a trove of old love letters; a hoard of treasure supposedly buried somewhere in the area; even the behavior of some very mischievous squirrels! Kingsley’s books are a little more “humorous” than I usually go for—but the humor is gentle, not forced, and is tempered by some deeper (and occasionally darker) events and emotions. The first two books in the Bailey Brothers series (PROTECTING YOU and FIGHTING FOR US) are a duet about the same h&h—a couple whose future looked happy and uncomplicated until the hero went to prison for manslaughter after he killed the man who was attempting to rape the heroine (cw/tw: although not described in detail, the assault was violent and involved a group of men). When he is finally released from prison, the hero has a difficult time adjusting and the h&h must recalibrate their relationship and their plans for the future. I loved this duet—especially FIGHTING FOR US—and the way Kingsley refused to sugarcoat the way both the hero and heroine have to come to terms with what has happened to them. The third book in the series, UNRAVELING HIM, features a grumpy-gruff hero who restores custom cars, and a sunny-but-kickass mechanic heroine whose father is involved with some very shady characters. The next book, RUSHING IN, has a dare-devil firefighter hero falling for the fire chief’s daughter—a shy writer struggling with a bad case of writer’s block. The fifth book, CHASING HER FIRE, is antagonists-to-lovers between a firefighter and his sister-in-law’s best friend. Their antagonism toward each other has simmered in the background of the previous books—but we all know what antagonism leads to in Romancelandia! Did I mention this story also involves an unplanned pregnancy? I highly recommend the all Bailey Brothers books Kingsley has published so far and am looking forward to the final book in the series.
Having spent almost two full weeks in the relatively sunny climes of Claire Kingsley’s universe, I had to return to the DiscoDollyDeb den of darkness with a new book from Skye Warren, STRICT CONFIDENCE, the second in her Rochester Trilogy, which is a modern retelling of Jane Eyre. In STRICT CONFIDENCE, Jane Mendoza and her employer, Beau Rochester, have escaped what appears to be an attempt on their lives, but now Rochester is frantic to protect Jane and his young niece Paige (for whom Jane is employed as a nanny). Meanwhile, the detective investigating the possible murder attempt is also Paige’s uncle and an old enemy of Rochester. As usual in Warren’s work, there’s social isolation (Rochester, Jane, and Paige are the only guests at an area inn), unexplained appearances (a woman in a nightgown wanders along the beach at night), many thoughts of transgressive sex (although rather less of same in actuality), and the de rigueur cliffhanger ending. Key quote: “…sharing…feels like knives inside my stomach. I guess this is intimacy, cutting open your old scars to show people around inside them.”
CD Reiss’s MAFIA KING is the second book of her DiLustro Arrangement trilogy about an arranged marriage between a young Italian-American woman and an Italian mafia don. At the end of the first book (MAFIA BRIDE), the heroine discovered some distressing facts about the deaths of her parents and her sister—and how her husband was connected to them. As the second book begins, the heroine is committed to preventing other young women from being forced into arranged/debt-repayment marriages. MAFIA KING’s hero kept annoying me because he refused to tell the heroine everything she needed to know to be safe, just expecting her to trust him and do as he instructs. Arrgghh! But I think Reiss expects the reader to be exasperated by the hero…she’s too smart a writer not to have a reason for making the hero the way he is. Key quote: “We have solutions for problems that were already solved in other ways, and now we’re calling them traditions we have to live by.” Another cliffhanger ending—and so begins the long wait for the third and final book.
Along with Claire Kingsley, Karla Sorensen has been one of my favorite new-to-me author discoveries this year. After reading Sorensen’s Ward Sisters quartet, I read her BAKING ME CRAZY, which is published through Penny Reid’s Smartypants Romance imprint and is set in the same Green Valley, Tennessee, universe as Reid’s Winston Brothers books. Friends-to-lovers is not one of my favorite tropes, but I thought Sorensen handled it well in BAKING ME CRAZY: the heroine is in her early-twenties and has been in a wheelchair since her teens when a bout of transverse myelitis left her with limited function in her legs—she can stand and take a few steps, but is unable to do so without assistance; she feels much more confident in her wheelchair which she maneuvers with grace and precision (and, no, this is not a story where at the end the heroine miraculously achieves effortless movement back in her legs). When she’s not working out, the heroine works part-time at Jennifer Winston’s bakery. The hero is a few years older and has been friends with the heroine since their mid-teens (he has never known her without a wheelchair) when he coached her wheelchair basketball team. He has been in love with her since then, but has never felt the time was right to declare himself, but when the heroine feels an attraction to her new physical therapist, the hero knows the time has arrived. A gentle book with a rather prickly heroine and a loving/pining hero—and, for fans of the Winstons, both Jennifer and Cletus make brief appearances.
Lexi Blake’s first Masters & Mercenaries book (THE DOM WHO LOVED ME) appeared in 2011, but time moves faster in the M&M universe than in real life, so much so that the teenage son of the heroine of DOM is now a college professor in his mid-thirties and the hero of Blake’s latest M&M book, TREASURED, which features one of my favorite tropes, client-bodyguard, but also in one of its rarest manifestations: male client, female bodyguard. Yes, please! Once the story gets started, it’s full of the usual M&M espionage shenanigans (MacGuffins on a South American island) and hot D/s sexy-times, but it takes a while to finally get to that point because (as is often the case with novellas published through the 1001 Nights series) so much of the first part of TREASURED is expositional. 1001 Nights books are marketed in large part to readers unfamiliar with an author’s work, so explanatory passages are a requirement, but, for those of us who already know these characters and their stories, all the exposition is a bit of a slog. My advice: if you’re already familiar with the M&M world, skim through the first three chapters until the MCs get to South America—that’s where the story really kicks in.
Because none of my Harlequin Presents Angst Queens (Crews, Ashenden, Connelly, Yates) released a new category romance this month, I grabbed Louise Fuller’s latest HP, ITALIAN’S SCANDALOUS MARRIAGE PLAN. It’s about a couple on the verge of divorce who discover an amazingly effective intervention: using their words and talking it out. In between long discussions of the heroine’s troubled childhood and the hero’s discovery of a explosive secret regarding his mother, the couple have lots of HP-appropriate sex (I lost count of how many times the hero “felt himself harden” as he gazes upon the heroine). ITALIAN’S SCANDALOUS MARRIAGE PLAN is not a terrible book, but based on it, Fuller will not be joining my Harlequin Presents pantheon.
I have several books waiting on my TBR pile, including THICK AS THIEVES by Sandra Brown and THE SPACE BETWEEN WORLDS by Micaiah Johnson.
I’m looking forward to TOO GOOD TO BE REAL by Melonie Johnson, which comes out soon.
I’m also bingeing out the final season of BOSCH this weekend. It’s such a good show, and I find all the police department politics really interesting. I keep meaning to check out the Michael Connelly books too.
Happy weekend, everyone! 🙂
It’s officially summer! Woohoo! Camping time! I’m gonna read and knit and embroider a ton.
Didn’t have much time for reading, work was so busy. There was SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW by Maurene Goo. I usually don’t like retelling, but this was Roman Holiday… Roman Holiday holds a particular place in my life. I first watched it as a teenager on an exchange student trip, at a time I felt a bit lost and a lot vulnerable and old romantic movies were my solace. The ending took me completely by surprise and totally wrecked me (it also taught me to be careful of what I watch&read and when, because sad fiction on top of feeling down = me a lot depressed ^^;) It took a decade before I was able to watch it again and maybe it’s just my old teenage feelings coloring it but that last scene with Gregory Peck in that empty gilded ballroom is one of the most poignant movie scene IMO. Anyway, I gave Somewhere Only We Know a try and I’m glad I did. It had all the charm of its model. The heroine is a go-getter and the hero is such a good guy, they’re great together. They’re young and in her case very sheltered, so their connection had a sweet attraction that felt very new and pure. The setting was another plus – Hong Kong, unusual and new to me. Their connection over being American-Korean kids and how it made them feel, both belonging and not at the same time, was particularly interesting to me as my own kids are half Asian, and I often wonder what impacts this has/will have for them. It was cute.
Then I read THE AI WHO LOVED ME by Alyssa Cole. The title says it all. The Li Wei POV chapters really helps in pacing his ‘evolution’. They were spot-on. (I liked his interactions with Penny the house system.) Given the stunted place both characters start from, the beginning is slow, but the story eventually picks up. There is a mystery going on, an underwave that is very subtly brought about. What makes it peculiar is the way the mystery unfold – the clues pile up, but only the reader feels curiosity. To Li Wei, the clues are only one set of data among many others, and he does not feel the urge to prioritise them. To Trinity… well, to say more would spoil things. The climax is… I don’t know… not satisfying? Too rushed? The mystery revealed is commonplace (I found), and borderline boring, and there’s a lot left unexplained. A lot. Still, I liked Trinity, and Li Wei. A lot. I liked how Li Wei processed information, very clinically showing the depth of his fascination with Trinity. One of my favorite quote:
‘Trinity is visually pleasing. I hadn’t given much thought to her physical attributes apart from the body scans I do to ensure that she hasn’t been injured, but I have useless software that compares uploaded photographs to the great masterpieces of mankind, both contemporary and those lost to the flooding, fires, and warfare of recent history. Something prompts me to access this software, to run her photo against the treasure trove of data. To me, Trinity is more visually pleasing than any comparative result. One could deduce that she is more beautiful than any known masterpiece in creation, though perhaps this is an example of hyperbole.’ (^_^)
The only other thing I had time to read was Proust, still a couple pages a day and I still like it very, very much. I’m glad Lost Time is going to last me a year or two… I enjoy savoring it.
Summer Reading Time, Bitchery! Yippee! My e-reader is so loaded up for my week off, I’m giddy. Absolutely giddy!
I have not read that much over the last month, but I will report out on what I have (mostly free books on Kindle, because I just didn’t have the brainpower to dive into anything meaty).
Alessandra Hazard rabbit hole – Some fae and real world books, some shapeshifter urban fantasy with magic, M/M. Entertaining, predictable, pretty short, just what I was in the mood for. I read four of them.
Eliot Grayson rabbit hole – Regency paranormal books, and urban fantasy with fae books, M/M. Similarly entertaining, predictable, pretty short, and just what I was in the mood for. I think I read three or four of them, too.
RHYTHM by Marie Lipscomb – How is that possibly the correct way to spell that word? Good m/f contemporary, but just a novella, so kind of wanted more. Same with THE MIDNIGHT COUCH, by Jae, f/f, and FEED by Aveda Vice erotic creature/monster romance – good novellas, but of course, too short.
JON’S CRAZY HEAD-BOPPIN’ MYSTERY (2nd book) – A.J. Sherwood – Meh. M/M, paranormal with psychics. Love the premise, mystery was flat, though, and just not quite enough there there. Yet I will probably read a third because the premise is sooo perfectly my catnip.
POPULATION – Elizabeth Stephens – M alien/F premise, apocalyptic alien invasion, so dark, but writing style is kind of light? Not working for me. Also, the world building and motivations of characters don’t quite make sense to me. Yet, I really liked the hero, so I might be back for book two.
ACT YOUR AGE, Eve Brown, by Talia Hibbert – M/F If you liked the previous books, you will like this one. Enjoyed how neuro divergence of two main characters was handled. Only gripe was that the heroine’s personality was at times too twee for me.
BAD GUY, Ruby Dixon, M alien/F – Really liked this, to the point that I then read a bunch more of Dixon’s books, but this was my favorite by far. Cinnamon Roll Alien Gladiator, anyone?
THE LOTUS PALACE – first Pingkang Li Mystery – Historical romance set in China, M/F – Really interesting portrayal of a period of time and place I have read little about. Setting was the star for me – romance, mystery, characters felt a little stiff, but looking forward to rest of books.
PENRIC’S DEMON — Thank you, Lois McMaster Bujold—love your stuff. Planning on reading some more of Penric and Desdemona’s books soon!
What am I going to read next? EVERYTHING – New Mary Balogh, new K.J. Charles, new Katherine Addison (happy dance, happy dance, happy dance). My Sister the Serial Killer, The Priory of the Orange Tree, The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels, The Space Between Worlds – there is literally something for every part of my tired, stressed out brain, so I am, as I told you up front, GIDDY!
Happy reading! Hope you are all well!
I June I finished up Charlie Adhara’s Big Bad Wolf series, which I highly recommend. W great balance of procedural suspense plots with a very well done relationship arc. M/M
I also listened to Cat Sebastian’s Seducing the Sedgwicks trilogy. Great. And I also started Josh Lanyon’s Secrets and Scrabble cozy mysteries. Plus I listened to all three in N.R. Walkers Thomas Elkins trilogy (novellas). These are really nice age gap romances with a superb narrator.
I read Unguarded by Jay Hogan and Booklover by J.E. Birk,both part of the Vino and Veritas series set in Serena Bowen’s True North world. Both were good, the Hogan a little better.
I read Spellbound by Allie Therin, which I found out about here. I enjod it. I read Counterfeit Heart by K.C. Bateman,the third of her Secret and Spies series. I love the entire series.
Then there was Hellbound Guilds and Other Misdirections (Codex:Warped #2) by Annette Marie and Rob Jacobsen. I love all the Codex series.
Happy Saturday! Some good books read, others underway.
Romance:
ACUTE REACTIONS by Ruby Lang: I read this contemporary during a stressful weekend and the heroine’s prickliness resonated so well. I suspect I’d be more bothered that the heroine was the hero’s doctor (allergist) for a time if I were in the medical field, but I felt like they addressed everything on page enough. The pacing and external versus internal conflicts worked very well for me too.
WILD RAIN by Beverly Jenkins: SQUEEEEE this is my new favorite Jenkins! Spring is a delightful heroine (“I sleep with a Colt Peacemaker” will never not be an iconic line), Garrett is indeed a cinnamon roll, I liked both their arcs here. I had read TEMPEST with Spring’s brother earlier, I might recommend reading that first for some background. Content warnings for past sexual assault discussed on-page.
HAPPY ENDINGS by Thien-Kim Lam: a strong debut with a second-chance romance set in DC amidst gentrification crises. There was a little bit of first-book-ness to it that I can’t articulate very well, but nothing that completely threw me out of the book. Lots of sex scenes as one might expect, given the heroine’s work selling sex toys. Also lots of food descriptions, books have me wanting to go out for so much food now. I hope some of the side characters get sequels!
Non-Romance:
BLACK WATER SISTER by Zen Cho: finally got around to reading Zen Cho! I really liked this as both a coming-of-age/reconnecting with family (in this case more literally) story and as an urban fantasy. Jess coming into her own as an adult and as a ghost medium were fun to read and the world-building kept me engaged.
In progress:
THE YEARS OF RICE AND SALT by Kim Stanley Robinson: a fascinating alternate history exploring what might have happened if the bubonic plague had wiped out 99% of Europe’s population, going from geopolitical intrigue & colonization to philosophical discourse to scientific inquiry. The time and geography jumps are tied together by a core cast of characters who are members of a jati that keeps getting reincarnated together (they keep the first letter of their name the same to make it easier to follow). It’s very long and I’ve been enjoying it but also I’m glad to only have a hundred-odd pages left.
Up next:
DESIRE LINES by Elizabeth Kingston, A DELICATE DECEPTION by Cat Sebastian, probably FUGITIVE TELEMETRY by Martha Wells soon too.
I stayed up way too late last night, despite having to be at work today, because I had to finish the new Murderbot novella, “Fugitive Telemetry”. My friend said the events were set before “Network Effect”, so I wanted to read it before NE. Now I have “Network Effect” to read and then I’ll probably go back and reread the whole series, because I enjoy Murderbot far more than I thought I would. 🙂
Still on a Webtoons kick. Beautiful illustrations make it easier to get lost in the story. I was trying to read slowly but then pulled some bad decision book club nights so now I’m all caught up on my favorite series and have to wait a whole week for the next episode. Oh well, worth it.
Nothing Special – currently rereading this one. Strong female characters, magic, lots of cute little jokes and geeky references in the background. Season 3 is currently coming up on its final battle and probably will take months to wrap up… lolsob it’s fine, I’m fine, not obsessed or anything…
Aerial Magic – cozy, gentle story, soothing watercolor artwork, people being lovely to each other. Reread several times. This one has 2 complete seasons, was planned for 5 but is on hiatus. No cliffhangers.
Crumbs – magical bakery, flying on brooms, adorable characters. Completed series.
Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez is the only book without pictures that has grabbed me lately. The first 5 chapters were a free sample on my library app. Fun banter, adorable dog, but also some heavy backstory for the heroine (grief, depression).
I’m alternating between reading for the current Hugos (SILVER IN THE WOOD by Emily Tesh and NETWORK EFFECT by Martha Wells) and reading for future Hugo nominations (A DESOLATION CALLED PEACE by Arkady Martine and ONE LAST STOP by Casey McQuiston). All four books are marvelous and I highly recommend them. The Tesh is a gentle M/M romance fantasy. The Wells is a SF adventure novel with a snarky android narrator. The Martine is a SF space opera, and the McQuieston is a F/F romance and time-slip fantasy. Also, I took your site’s recommendation and have been reading a few novels by Celia Lake; they’re gentle and really well written.
Since last week ~
— Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman for my local book group. I’ve seen this book on lists of uplifting reads; however, I found it a fairly dark read with an optimistic ending. It has a revelation near the ending which came as a total surprise to me.
— a lovely graphic novel … lovely visually and in content: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy.
— Outlawed by Anna North which I enjoyed. I’d describe this as an alternative history feminist western.
— Deductions, Derivation, and Divergence by Lyn Gala, the first three books in Lyn Gala’s Aberrant Magic series. I enjoyed them all and would happily read on.
— quite enjoyed One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston; it’s a romance with a unique premise. It has a time slip element and the main characters are two women.
— Mrs. Martin’s Incomparable Adventure by Courtney Milan. I enjoyed this romance novella featuring two older women.
— I’m participating in the adult summer reading program at my local library. One of the challenges is to read a book with a color in the title. I just finished Blue Guardian (Hybrid Book 1) by S.J. Madill; I enjoyed this sci-fi book and would happily read on.
— quite enjoyed the m/m fantasy The Shadow Mark by Mason Thomas. I suspect I will reread this at some point. I look forward to reading more by the author.
— Red, White & Royal Blue: A Novel by Casey McQuiston which I quite enjoyed though not as much as the author’s more recent book.
– and a boatload of samples.
Lainey at #2 — enjoy Bujold! You might also like Jo Walton’s essays on Aral and Cordelia at Tor books.
As for myself?
I’ve been inhaling CELIA LAKE’s Albion books. I started with the recently reviewed ECLIPSE and liked it so much that I’m devouring the rest of her backlist.
SARAH WALDOCK’s AN ELOPEMENT OF CONVENIENCE is a nice light tale, with a few serious elements. I really enjoy how her characters deal with the idea that menstruation is a thing that we just cope with and, yes, can be romantic around. (Just ignore the cover art. It’s like reading SF novels in the mid-80s. One ignores the covers.)
@Bea: in Cara McKenna’s WILLING VICTIM, there’s a reference to a red towel the couple keep in the bathroom to use after the heroine has dyed her hair or when they’re having sex during the heroine’s period—and it occurred to me that I had not encountered that matter-of-fact attitude toward menstruation, especially having sex during menstruation, in very many romances.
WAYR always sneaks up on me.
SILVER IN THE WOOD by Emily Tesh: Just as described here and everywhere. Lovely.
TRADING IN DANGER by Elizabeth Moon: DNF at 25% read. Should have been my space jam, but I just couldn’t. I may try again one day.
LESS by Andrew Shaw Greer: For book club, and I’m still sorting how I feel about this one. Our sad, anxious writer MC has no idea of his value, talent or lovableness, and manages to put himself in impossible situations as a result. His globetrotting mis/adventures were enjoyable and I hope he found what he was looking for at the end. Still would recommend.
LOVE IS A REBELLIOUS BIRD by Elayne Klass: Another for book club. Someone asked what the point of this book was and we were all pretty much stumped. Is love forever; is there such a thing as a soulmate; what does love mean? I kept thinking of Scarlett O’Hara’s obsession with Ashley whats-his-name, if that gives you any idea.
CHRIST ON A BIKE by D.J. Doyle: A short story from the author of THE CELTIC CURSE: NEWGRANGE (not read) wherein a group of priests are called to another exorcism. Except for narrator Father Jack, they’re completely inept and quite funny.
Listening to: LULLABY ROAD by James Anderson. This is the second book after THE NEVER-OPEN DESERT DINER and is just as appealing, funny and grim. Ben Jones drives his truck up and down remote Highway 117 through an even more remote desert in Utah, delivering mail and goods to the inhabitants (fugitives, criminals, characters) who dwell there. Ben is immensely likable, there is a romance, but also the reality that past violence never stays there. Probably every kind of TW/CW, must be read in order and I cannot recommend these books highly enough. YMMV.
With my new, shiny Audible + membership, I listened to long sections of several “included” books, none of which spoke (ha) to me. But how great to have so many choices to take for a spin.
I’m in a rather good reading stretch right now – fingers crossed for more!
Jane Oliver and Ann Stafford’s Business as Usual is a epistolary novel from the 30s with a protagonist working in a London department store. Fascinating period details. The authors also wrote a ton of Mills and Boon romances.
Lois McMaster Bujold’s The Assassins of Thasalon is another fun Penric and Desdemona read.
Kieron Gillen is basically the only writer whose comics work I do more than pick up at random, and Die v.3: The Great Game was another good installment in his and artist Stephanie Hans’ “players transported to their RPG world” story. The layers are getting deeper, and I’m looking forward to the wrap-up installment. In Hoopla, if you’re looking for a place to dabble in graphic novels.
Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary had its moments, and needed more editorial oversight. Basically The Martian dialed up to fifteen.
One telling difference for me is that my favorite of Mark Watney’s crises is the second- (third?)-to-last – I’m still interested in the problem even on a re-read. The last few crises in this book I just groaned, because they were making the end of the book further away.
Katherine Addison’s The Witness for the Dead is a fun book that’s going to disappoint most of its readers, I expect. Quite a different book from The Goblin Emperor overall – it has more in common with The Angel of the Crows in structure and other ways, unsurprisingly given the times of writing. It’s interesting how much more magical Celehar’s world is than we saw in Maia’s. It’s a short novel of interlocking mystery threads, and I enjoyed it, but I think it will be an occasional re-read, not one I pick up at least every other year and own in three formats.
(You need to read The Goblin Emperor, though!)
I just finished reading Like Wind Against Rock by Nancy Kim and, in a weird way, it may be life-changing for me. This is a women’s lit sort of story about a 30-something Korean-American woman living with her mother in Orange County after her father dies and after her marriage dissolves. She is dealing with the fact that her mother does not seem to be grieving and is serial dating through an online dating app. When her mother purges all her father’s stuff, she sneaks it away, goes through it, finds her father’s diary, asks her supervisor at work, also Korean, to translate it. Doesn’t sound life changing but, although the details are very different, the story of her parents’ marriage is very much the story of my marriage, including the things that come out only at death. Which led me to look at my life and choices in a new way. Would I recommend this book? I have no idea because it is so immediate to me that I cannot think about how others would react. But, to my mind, this is was a good book does, make personal experience universal.
I also read Crossroad by W H Cameron, not a romance. This is a young woman who has more or less hit bottom and is offered a job by her missing husband’s uncle at the family mortuary in eastern Oregon. She is picking up bodies at a big accident when she literally stumbles over a live baby. Then bodies disappear, people are killed, she is threatened, etc. Did enjoy it.
All That’s Bright and Gone by Eliza Nellums is a mystery narrated by a six year old girl which is a hard thing to pull off and I think she does it well. Her mother has a nervous breakdown in the middle of an intersection and the girl thinks that if she can find out what happened with her brother who died that she can help her mother get better and come home. This was an interesting story, dealing with the mother’s ongoing mental illness and the mystery of the brother.
The Professor Next Door by Jackie Lau is great, especially if you are into a beta hero and a sex positive heroine. You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria, also excellent and fun. Re-read a Nora, UnderCurrents which, while not her absolute best, has a couple of scenes that just grab me and I do like her main couple and many of the supporting characters.
omgosh! I am SO happy to hear that both the Kleypas and MacLean are good – I have preordered them and was nervous that they would suck.
I’ve been managing some freefloating work anxiety this past few weeks (difficult project mgrs and constantly shifting fabrication and delivery timelines and important customers just Making Shit Up). I offset that by letting Tessa Bailey sweep me up in ‘Fix Her Up’ and laughing like a lunatic over Shayla Black’s ‘Decadent’ (there was a lot of ‘WTF did I just read??’ but I couldn’t put it down – it was like watching a 100-freight car train wreck wherein no one is hurt but crap is strewn all over the place and some of it is on fire)… but not nearly as much as I laughed at the review and comments here on SB. Omg. I must’ve cackled for an hour!! Fiona Maazel’s ‘A Little More Human’ has a promising start (fingers crossed) – and then a new to me writer, K. Alex Walker (Angels & Assassins Book 1) which was better than I was anticipating, though the hero/FBI planning on the drop was a bit more loosey-goose than I was expecting (All the badasses and NOBODY thought to surveil/recon the drop BEFORE? Dude. My dog knows to do that). I LOVED Rosie Danan’s ‘The Intimacy Experiment'(Love any heroine with close combat skills ;-). Finished Sally Thorne’s ‘Second First Impressions’ in one sitting (last night, in fact) and am surprised that I did so, given that it’s somewhat of a nuanced book.
I love you B’s SO much! Just coming on here and reading you dropped my BP a few points. Thanks!
xo
@Bea: Thanks for the Jo Walton rec! I will look for them!
After last time I was beginning to think I was out of my reading the but alas it was only a break. I ended up not finishing the alien sci fi with the woman who wouldn’t wear the ugly boots because she ended up getting bitten by some alien beasties as predicted. I have some hopefully great reads lined up on KU while I wait for wildfire Phoenix by Zoe Chant to be released (no date set yet).
@Pear I bought a second hand copy of The Years of Rice and Salt (huge alt history/parallel universe fan here) but I fear it’s an epic read and I haven’t been in the mood for one of those since little one was born. Maybe one day?
Completely forgot about (not an indication the book is forgettable) THE GARDEN ON SUNSET by Martin Turnbull. This is book one in Turnbull’s “Hollywood’s Garden of Allah Novels”, all of which take place at the real Garden of Allah Hotel on Sunset Blvd. What intrigued me first was that I’d seen a small recreation of the hotel at Universal Studios Orlando and was completely captivated.
This is an unusual book, filled with famous people doing, apparently, real and outrageous things. The POV, however, is three young people who’ve come to Hollywood to hit the big time as writer, movie star and journalist. They are very likable and have created their own found family, as well as meeting everyone who’s anyone in 1927 LA.
There are nine books in the series, the first is available for free on Amazon; both the first and second are available from the author for free if you sign up for his newsletter (martinturnbull dot com). Turnbull’s website is a rabbit hole filled with all kinds of history and photographs about LA/Hollywood.
If Hollywood history (mixed with truth, rumor and behind-the-scenes just before talking pictures arrive) interests you, I say go for it. I pulled a Bad Decisions Book Club to finish the first book and that was because everything that happened, even to our non-famous trio, was fascinating.
I was lucky enough to get an ARC of the next psi-changling novel, The Last Guard. It’s a good one.
I’m reading Love Me by Alexa Verde. That’s it. I love WAYR but I have so much life stuff going on that I spend any free time online looking for free or discounted reads, entering giveaways for Amazon gift cards to help my book budget that I don’t have time to actually read. Am I the only one?
I bought a new Kindle with 32GB of space. It will be here in August. It was $131 dollars for Prime Day.
@Jcp – I binged on Kindle freebies from the recent post on freebies – so I’m having a blast going through some execrable stuff, knowing it won’t irritate me because I didn’t pay for it. So. Much. Lazy. Bad editing? check. No editing? Check. Where’s the damb storyline? Check. Sexsexsex…zzzzzzzz… check.
Sometimes a gal just needs to read piss-poor stuff for a minute, I guess. Makes logistics seem workable (I’m getting beaten up by logistics right now – makes me wanna cry). I was picking my way through a new-to-me writer, Tiya Rayne. Her novel ‘Hawk’ … I’m 35 Kindle pages into it and sweatergawd… it’s so confusing (and not that good) that I’m not exactly sure why I was reading it. But it was one of the freebies so I’m merely mystified, not enraged.
Freebies spark my adventurous nature. That’s a good thing. I think.
Cherise Sinclair’s The Effing List, #15 in the Masters of Shadowlands (BDSM) has an older hero/heroine and the heroine is a GRANDMOTHER!!! I am way behind on this series but it is a standalone. The heat level is scorching but what I like best are the connections between all the characters who go to Shadowlands.
I’m finishing up book 1 of the Murderbot diaries and they I will start Kit Rocha’s The Devil You Know (8/31).
:::flounces in from the bookstore:::
As I am still sans wheels, I went out with a friend today and we hit the bookstore. She did more damage than I did, but oh well.
So I read The Business of Blood by Kerrigan Byrne, which was okay, but not as good as I wanted to be, and I like Byrne’s historical romances. It should have worked for me more: good historical setting, a good setup for a lady that wants to sleuth (she cleans up murder scenes and occasionally disposes of bodies for the mob), and some Jack the Ripper doing Jack the Ripper things. However, I didn’t really find myself caring about the characters, the central mystery was just okay, and I wanted more of the nerdy sleuthy stuff. Then I read Home by Harlan Coben. I only started reading Coben late last year when I read The Boy From the Woods, and so far, Coben just might be my new boyfriend. I loved it. I liked Myron Bolitar, I liked the twistiness of the story, and I really enjoy Myron’s sociopathic BFF, Win. After that I read Slouch Witch by Helen Harper, which was funny and clever, and OH MY GOD THE TALKING CAT. Now I’m back on my Coben bullshit and reading Drop Shot, and again, I love Myron and how funny and self-deprecating he is, I like his approach to sleuthing, and again. Win. He’s a bit of a shit, and yet, I love. So until next time, she-crab soup, French toast, and a Bloody Mary make a nice trip out of the house.
I don’t normally mention the book I’m currently reading because who knows how the experience is going to turn out? However, Ashley Poston’s BOOKISH AND THE BEAST is listed in today’s Amazon Daily Deals ($1.99), so I checked it out of the library to see if cheapo me wanted to spring for it. Sprung! This is the third book in Poston’s young adult Once Upon a Con series (that’s a fan convention, not a swindle), and though I’m only three chapters in, I’m charmed. I’m also a little lost with regards to the Starfield/ExcelsiCon universe, so I would recommend reading the series in order unless you’re me and are only inspired to read books by trope. (Disclaimer: I’ve only ever skated on the fringes of fandom, to consume more content for my favorite series and scrape up as much analysis as possible…and that behavior faded five years ago. While this book makes me nostalgic, I can’t say whether it accurately reflects current fannish experience.)
And then my library dropped Celia Lake’s PASTICHE on me (requested during the Lake lovefest in May’s WAYR). I have two eyes. Why can’t I read two books at the same time?
* * *
THE ROAD TRIP by Beth O’Leary – I haven’t read either of O’Leary’s earlier books (The Flatshare and The Switch), but I had the impression that these were…I dunno. Super-healthy, affirming reads that were the love child of a cozy blanket and cup of chamomile tea. I’m either very wrong or The Road Trip is very different. I liked the synopsis (a couple who broke up two years earlier are obliged to drive together to a wedding, accompanied by her sister, his best friend, and a wildcard stranger), but the best friend is a particularly toxic character and I currently favor distancing myself from rather than rescuing the toxic people in my life. Also, there’s a “wacky” sideplot involving someone stalking the bride that doesn’t sit well next to the reason behind the protagonists’ break-up. [C-]
LIZZIE & DANTE by Mary Bly (aka Eloisa James) – a woman with stage-three ovarian cancer goes on a summer trip to Elba with her gay ex-husband and his partner (a popular actor who plays the role of Captain Britain in the Avengers franchise) where she meets a single-father chef. It’s more about living with love than romantic love, or at least that’s my explanation for why her long, loving relationship with her ex overshadows this new romance. The chef is a dream. (Not literally. Just a perfect father, perfect flirt, perfect guy to fall in love with when you’re living while dying.) [B]
The entire HP backlist of Dani Collins – ever since reading Confessions of an Italian Marriage, I’ve been plowing through Collins’s category romance backlist. While I can’t point to a single title and say “it’s magic! go read this and fall in love,” I can say that everything she writes interests me. She places larger-than-life characters in tropetastic HP scenarios and tries to give them relatable emotions. It doesn’t always work. I can think of at least three books where I thought the characters were a narrative mismatch (one backstory clearly swamping the other’s, to the detriment of the plot) and several where the hero in particular comes across as too New Adult for my liking, but I love that she’s experimenting with the formula. Collins is particularly adept at plotting out duologies and series in interesting, interlocking ways. Her latest HP, HER IMPOSSIBLE BABY BOMBSHELL, is a standalone featuring a Chinese-Canadian heroine who discovers she’s pregnant after a one-day dalliance with a Chinese billionaire who had told her he had a vasectomy. (Yes, I know all Harlequin plots sound cringeworthy. That’s why I read them! The way Collins handles these scenarios is what makes her a cut above. Although this specific title was only a [B] for me, I would rate Collins’s backlist at an average of [B+]. She is the only current HP author whose books I eagerly anticipate.)
@Pear & @Kit: Another enthusiastic thumbs-up for THE YEARS OF RICE AND SALT. A challenging read but a worthwhile one.
I love WAYR! Thanks for whoever mentioned Arkady Martine! Totally forgot about her second in the series! Going to be looking into that!
I finished Pastiche by Celia Lake last night and loved it. Have to go and buy her whole back list now.
Also enjoyed: Return to Thrush Green (5th in the series), Book of Love by Erin Satie, All Else Confusion by Neels, and Swordheart. My favorite though of my recent reads along with Pastiche: The Galaxy and the Ground Within. I’m tempted to go back and read the whole series from the beginning. Just as I know I will be rereading Pastiche. Good reading times.
I feel like I’m flitting from book to book. A few have settled here and there but my library pile is huge and all I want to do is reread books I already own.
I did pick up Stacey Abrams’ new book While Justice Sleeps. I enjoyed it for what it was. The chess aspects reminded me of Katherine Neville’s The Eight. The characters were interesting and I’d be happy if she continued it as a series. I will say that some parts of the mystery lost me and it does deal with extreme crimes against humanity so be warned.
Currently rereading Truthwitch by Susan Dennard. The Witchlands is one of my favorite fantasy settings and while it is classified as YA, it’s written more as an epic fantasy. Large cast of characters, lots of different kingdoms, a good magic system, pieces of the plot dropped here and there. I really like this series and I decided to reread the first 3 to prep for book 4.
Also reading Mercury Rising. I don’t normally read nonfiction but this book was featured on NPR and I found the whole discussion of the space race with the Soviets during the Cold War fascinating. My 8 year old son was also really interested and I’m reading it out loud to him (while skipping over some of the bad words). He’s getting a crash course in history while listening to his favorite topic.
The very good…
PALADIN’S GRACE and PALADIN’S STRENGTH (Kingfisher)
Someone tell me there are more books coming soon because I am in love with this series.
ACT YOUR AGE, EVE BROWN (Hubert)
I adore the Brown sisters, and I want to be adopted by their whole family.
THE DEVIL COMES COURTING (Milan)
Everything works — the romance, the complexities of racial identity and oppression, the political and technical intricacies of telegraph codes and cables, the realities of grief and loss, the challenges and joys of neurodiversity, the liberation of working at a task that consumes you, the discovery of desire — everything comes together beautifully in this layered and compelling story.
The good…
ONE LAST STOP (McQuiston)
I enjoyed the delightful cast of characters a lot, but the pacing really dragged, and I got so bogged down in the middle that I ended up skimming to the end. This surprised me because I basically read RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE in one sitting (and loved it).
Next up…
SUCH A FUN AGE (K. Reid)
THE SPACE BETWEEN WORLDS (Johnson)
RUFF & TUMBLE (Gilmore)
WHILE JUSTICE SLEEPS (Abrams)
YES, NO, MAYBE SO (Albertalli, Saaed)
TOTALLY FOLKED (P. Reid)
BATTLE ROYAL (Parker)
HOW TO CATCH A QUEEN (Cole)
FOR REAL (Hall)
@JB Hunt—if you liked the Paladin books, I would also recommend T. Kingfisher’s THE WIZARD’S GUIDE TO DEFENSIVE BAKING and the two Clocktaur War books (CLOCKWORK BOYS and THE WONDER ENGINE) which are published as two books, but are really just one story. They’re all set in the same world, but feature different characters. They all have that delightful sense of weirdness combined with a deep belief in doing the right thing and understanding that everyone has bad things happen to them and aren’t irretrievably broken. Definitely recommend them all (and I also can’t wait for the next one in the Paladin series!)
@FashionablyEvil — thanks for the suggestions!
THE WIZARD’S GUIDE TO DEFENSIVE BAKING is now on my Kindle. Ready to dive in.
Big fan of Kim Stanley Robinson here, especially if you like “hard” science fiction. Much recommended. (Years of Rice and Salt is … tough but really interesting. The only advice I would give going in is to pay attention to the starting letters of major characters’ names.)
I’ve been reading for the Ripped Bodice bingo and so far finished:
– THE AI WHO LOVED ME by Alyssa Cole. Surprising and strange but a good enough time.
– ACCIDENTALLY ENGAGED by Farah Heron. Loveeeee a romance full of baking, food, and immigrant families.
– THE AUSTEN PLAYBOOK by Lucy Parker. Good!
And a couple of others.
Also read UNFOLLOW ME after I saw some folks comment on it here. I expected more of a straight up thriller and an indictment of mommy bloggers and it almost but not really is that. But I enjoyed it!
Currently re-reading LAMB by Christopher Moore and reading HIS UNTIL MIDNIGHT by Reese Ryan (date auction) and THE COWBOY SAYS I DO (for the struggling town prompt).