It’s July and I suppose the season of vacation reading for some of us. Or maybe just finding a nice air conditioned cafe to read in?
Claudia: I’m just done with People We Meet on Vacation, another long-awaited library drop, and taking time to choose the next book!
Tara: I just finished One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston ( A | BN | K ) and I am ruined. I don’t know how I’m going to read anything else this week, because it was just that good.
Lara: I’m reading Partners in Crime by Elise Sax… ( A | BN | K ) it’s a little tiresome in terms of it’s one-note humour, but I’m still reading it because I’m dying to know more about the heroine
Shana: I’m in the middle of The Switch by Beth O’Leary and discovering that the switching lives with your grandma plot is serious catnip for me. As usual, I’m racing to finish it before it poofs back to the library. Why am I such a procrastinating reader?
I’m also reading the queer dating guide The Ex-Girlfriend of my Ex-Girlfriend is my Girlfriend by Maddy Court, and it’s hilarious.
Elyse: I’m reading Love Scenes by Bridget Morrissey and while I like the hero and heroine, the heroine’s family is super toxic and intrusive
Catherine: Ooh, I’ve been wanting to read One Last Stop! I’m belatedly reading Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe, ( A | BN | K ) which is a non fiction book that presents evidence (largely from the letters and journals of European settlers) that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples practiced agriculture, built villages and sophisticated fisheries, and basically were not the itinerant hunter gatherers we were taught about at school. Definitely food for thought this NAIDOC week.
Also, while I was out for my walk yesterday and reading (as you do), I got chatting with another walker-reader who was reading The Monk, which Austen fans will recognise as that horrid novel that so impresses Catherine Moreland in Northanger Abbey. Apparently, it’s on a list of all time great books. How very shocking!
What are you reading? Let us know!
Not sure if my comment was too long and went to “Awaiting Moderation” limbo or if it just didn’t post. I don’t want to repost my novel (well, novella) of comments, so I’m just testing if comments are working. Thanks.
Two Lisa Kleypas remakes: one a delight, one a disappointment.
Thanks to a tipoff from Stefka in a Books on Sale post earlier this week, I picked up the new audiobook version of DEVIL IN WINTER, narrated by Mary Jane Wells. Rosalyn Landor’s Sebastian sounds like some fusty old colonel to me, so I’m thrilled to be able to listen to Wells’s more languid, sardonic Sebastian.
Meanwhile, Kleypas is currently releasing revised versions of the Wallflowers books in anticipation of Devil in Disguise. I’m not a huge SECRETS OF A SUMMER NIGHT fan, so I’m honestly not sure what got updated there, but IT HAPPENED ONE AUTUMN was given a major midbook overhaul. (I hope I have the SBTB spoiler code right.)
In the updated version, the hero takes the intoxicated heroine to his bedchamber to sleep it off. When she wakes up, he tends to her hangover and declares they must marry because she’s been compromised.
I understand why Kleypas would want to alter this scene retroactively, but it significantly reduces the stakes for all the action that follows and keeps the hero on his ridiculously smug pedestal of flawless nobility. Kleypas could have dropped the drunkenness and had Westcliff tumble a sober Lillian.
Mostly, though, I find the revision very destabilizing for me as a reader. The new version of the book has slipped seamlessly into the old book’s slot at online retailers. The covers are identical (without a giant “revised edition” stamp). It’s mixed in with the other editions of the book at Goodreads. But it’s a different book. I could be trying to have a spirited discussion about the story with someone who has read a completely different version of the text. (That probably sounds exciting to some people. To me, it’s horrifying. Like The Commissar Vanishes. What is reality?)
* * *
In other news, is it possible for a category romance to be too woke? Continuing my Dani Collins Harlequin Presents spree, I found WAYS TO RUIN A ROYAL REPUTATION too unsubtle to enjoy. A perfect king hires a PR specialist to damage his reputation just enough that his fictional country’s council/parliament/whatever will accept his abdication in favor of his older twin sister (#downwithpatriarchy) without bringing down the monarchy as an institution. Meanwhile, the PR specialist is haunted by a youthful indiscretion that will eventually explode, leading her to write a #feministmanifesto editorial that rescues her reputation/saves her business/launches an online movement that will lead to Bill Cosby’s imprisonment for sexual assault and eventual release on a technicality. (Disappoint me more, legal system. I DARE YOU.) I applaud the sentiments, but I prefer to see them played out within the context of the characters’ actions in a story, not soapboxed. That’s what Twitter is for.
Since last time ~
— His Majesty’s Dragon: Book One of the Temeraire by Naomi Novik. I read this a dozen years ago and remembered only the basics of the story; now you know why I’m a frequent rereader! I enjoyed this a lot.
— The Vacuum of Space: A Funny Sci Fi Mystery (Space Janitor Book 1) by Julia Huni; this was entertaining, and I might read on.
— Three Tales by Mason Thomas; this was a pleasant collection of stories; however, I preferred the author’s longer work that I recently read.
— The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison. I enjoyed the book and will likely reread it at some point, but I don’t see it becoming a comfort read like the author’s The Goblin Emperor.
— My library’s summer reading program challenged me to read a book of poetry, so I reread The Apple That Astonished Paris: Poems by Billy Collins. I enjoyed it once more.
— My library’s summer reading program also challenged me to read a biography; I chose the illustrated memoir, The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui. It was a moving family history, and I learned a fair bit about Vietnam.
— My distant book group read Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: 28,000 Miles in Search of the Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux. This was my first book by the author; it was an interesting and erudite read but not so compelling that I wish to search out more of the author’s books.
— read Legacy: A Novel by Nora Roberts. I enjoyed the book but don’t foresee this being a book I’ll reread. I guessed the identity of the killer fairly early which is unusual for me.
— Ramsey Rules by Jo Goodman; I enjoyed this contemporary romance by a favorite author who mostly writes historical romances.
— Quarter Share, Half Share, Full Share, and Double Share all part of a science fiction series by Nathan Lowell. The first two were rereads while the rest were new to me. I look forward to reading on in the series.
Man, I have finished almost nothing since the last WAYR I clearly got too smug about my reading slump being over. Maybe ONE STOP ruined me too? It was a really good book.
I’m reading the graphic novel series LUMBERJANES as an informal mother-son book club pick (his choice ;-)) and they’re cute, but there are a bit too many characters and a bit too much zipping through tons of plot without room to breathe for my taste.
Other than that I’m listening to Becky Albertalli and Alyssa Cole audiobooks, but only ones I’ve already read, so I can fully relax. I may re-listen to WELL MET and MARRYING MR. BRIDGERTON *again* so we’re at major comfort re-read/re-listen levels here, people.
I also may just start working my way through my fanfic backlog. It hasn’t appealed to me for the last couple of months, but what I want right now is characters that feel very 3-dimensional and fleshed out, but in really tropey, fluffy, low stress plots. That is a itch that only my favorite fanfic writers can scratch.
Onward!
Honestly
July started with a couple of days off, and I may have made them into ‘bad decision book club’ occasions. IT was lovely…
Great
Hidden Wolves series by Kaje Harper (M/M Werewolves). One of the better M/M werewolf series out there. No instamates, just people who are wolves. The newest book is a good addition.
Valdemar Series by Mercedes Lackey – Rereading and getting caught up to date (I was 7 books behind!) The later books, including the newest about the founding seem shallower lately. The plots are still good, and the world amazing, but I don’t feel drawn into the characters as much.
Very Good
All Fired Up by Jenn Burke (M/M paranormal suspense). Start of a new Ashes and Dust series, but you need to have read the Not Dead Yet series for it to make sense.
Consulting Magic series by Amy Crook. (M/M Magicians). A lovely series. The first is the strongest in terms of character and plot. The others are pleasant re-visits to interesting people.
Men of Lancaster County by Eli Easton (M/M Contemporary). Sweet, interesting and mature romances, A nice breath of fresh air.
To Hive and to Hold by Amy Crook. (M/M Magicians). Not a romance, but it is a romance? Amazing world building.
Good
Blackthorn Manor series by Arden Stelle (M/M instant mates). Set in a paranormal boutique hotel, these are low angst meet cutes.
Sanctuary series by Susi Hawke (M/M Magical Mystical B&B). These are light and fluffy with no angst but center around an innkeeper and his vampire guest.
Underqualified Advice by Drew Hayes (Non-Fiction about writing). Even if you’re not interested in writing, the ficbits which appear every other chapter are fascinating. Especially the ‘leaked memos’ about office parties at Thunder Pear Publishing.
OK
Bodyguard Pack series by Casey Drake (M/M paranormal). Centers around a detective agency and is tangentially related to Macy Blake’s Chosen series.
Matched to His…series by Lorelei Hart (M/MPREG shifter instant mates) The series centers on a dating app which shifters are using to find dates. Good enough that I’m continuing to read the series
So-so
No Luck by Mel Todd (Urban Fantasy). This didn’t stand on its own. If you think of it as excerpted chapters from the other Twisted Luck books it works.
@Jill Q. – it must be the season of reading graphic novels and listening to comfort rereads.
Lumberjanes vol 3 is in my hoopla borrows right now. hoopla also had a couple volumes of a comics anthology called Boom Box that features several well known graphic novel authors/artists. And one of Sarah Andersen’s comic collections, Big Mushy Happy Lump – most of hers are familiar from random internet shares so it’s like visiting with an old friend.
Webtoons series I’d recommend – Punderworld, a Hades and Persephone retelling with beautiful art and just enough snark; and Acception, a queer high-school comedy-drama.
Listening to the Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse narrated by Jonathan Cecil; Lethal Bayou Beauty by Jana DeLeon narrated by Cassandra Campbell.
I’ve been binge reading the manga Library Wars which I believe was a SBTB rec at one time. Anyway I’m up to book 7 and I adore this series. I’m going to have to reread at sine point because I’m flying through them. I also started watching the anime on Prime video.
Still working on a reread of Truthwitch by Susan Dennard. I got sidetracked by Library Wars.
I did finish The President’s Daughter by Bill Clinton and James Patterson. It was fine. A bit predictable but a good read for the 4th as I was busy and didn’t really have to focus too much on it.
Currently watching the K-drama Oh My Ghost. I think this was also a SBTB rec. I don’t like the main love interest. He’s a douche.
@Kareni
I’m currently reading all the Nathan Lowell books too! I had never heard of him until my aunt recommended them, and they all showed up in KU so I took a chance. And I’m really enjoying them! I have read all six of the Trader’s Tales, am currently on book 3 of the Seeker’s Tales, and have also downloaded the 3 books of the Smuggler’s Tales. When my aunt recommended them she said “nothing much happens, and they drink a lot of coffee, but I really enjoyed them.” And I totally agree! It’s all about the characters, and spending time with them. My only quibble is that they are set in a very white cis gender universe, though women are well represented. Owner, captain, engineer, officers, pretty much any job on board the ship may be and is held by women. As they are traveling all over the universe, I would enjoy meeting some other beings and cultures, but there don’t seem to be any “aliens” (for lack of a better term) around.
For once my KU membership is actually paying off! I’m so glad they offered to extend my free trial for $1.99. I usually struggle with finding anything worth reading in KU, but this time I have scored!
I’ve been on a roll recently–I think it has to do with finding a good mix of books that have been holding my attention:
Things I really enjoyed:
LAZINESS DOES NOT EXIST by Devon Price. Sarah had Dr. Price on the podcast a few months back and I hadn’t picked up the book because I was expecting it to be dry/academic, but it was highly accessible and very practical. I really appreciated how it helped me to think about my work –I’ve recently-ish been moved into a new division at work that I’m learning has an unhealthy approach to work and this book really helped me articulate what I was seeing and ways to combat it. Highly recommend!
SUBTLE BLOOD–can KJ Charles do wrong by me? I doubt it. I love her books–they’re all twisty, pulpy, queer goodness.This was a highly satisfying conclusion to the Will Darling series, all of which I recommend.
THE INTIMACY EXPERIMENT by Rosie Danan. I didn’t totally buy the plot line and it had some big dramatic speech moments, but it still worked for me, especially Naomi talking about grief.
WINTERSMITH by Terry Pratchett, the third Tiffany Aching. I am really enjoying these.
The Okay:
BOOK OF LOVE by Erin Satie. I liked this just fine, but there’s no real conflict in the story? A perfectly capable story about people being nice? That’s all?
THE DUKE UNDONE by Joanna Lowell. This book has a lot of good pieces (some interesting history, a deeply creepy villain, some excellent side characters), but the romance doesn’t really hold together as the main plot line and I felt like the hero and heroine really belonged in separate books (neither of which I think should be a romance). Lucy is a painter and her book should have been about her awesome friends and classmates at the academy and Alastair should have gotten his own gothic novel with his super creepy guardian. (Also, I’ve realized I can tell I’m not buying a romance when I skip the sex scenes—“blah, blah, blah, they’re having sex, blah, blah, blah. Can we get back to the plot?”)
THE MIDWINTER MAIL ORDER BRIDE by Kati Wilde. It’s like a Game of Thrones romance if George RR Martin were capable of focusing on one character and one plot line for 200 pages. It’s not bad, but there’s nothing particularly impressive about it in terms of plot, character, etc.
The DNF
BLOOD HEIR by Ilona Andrews. I’ve been meaning to give Andrews a try and someone suggested this as a good entry point to the world, but I found it just had too much info dumping at the beginning combined with a lot of violence and I decided it wasn’t for me.
Up Next
THE SUM OF US by Heather McGhee about race and racism in America
A HEART SO FIERCE AND BROKEN by Brigid Kemmerer.
@Wait, what?:
I’m happy to hear that the other series by Nathan Lowell are also well worth reading. (Sadly, my library just has the one series so the others will likely go on my wishlist.) I do own his contemporary (our world) fantasy The Wizard’s Butler but have yet to read it.
Since it appears my earlier comment did not post, I’m trying again. Possibly it was too long, so I’ll post in two parts. If my original post does show up, apologies for the duplication.
PART ONE:
I’ve had a really stellar reading fortnight: New books by some favorite writers; older books by some new-to-me writers; a couple of books added to my favorite reads of the year; and a bunch of books added to the never-ending tbr. Oh well, as Schopenhauer said, “We buy books in the hopes that we will live long enough to read them.”
As the Bitchery knows, priests driven by passion to betray their vow of celibacy is one of my catnips—it’s also a very rare trope, so I couldn’t wait for Pam Godwin’s transgressive-on-so-many-levels, LESSONS IN SIN, about the relationship between a priest and an 18-year-old student at the Catholic girls school where he is principal. The heroine (a member of the Constantine family featured in the multi-author Midnight Dynasty series) is intelligent, compassionate, and perceptive; she reminded me in some ways of a Skye Warren heroine—a young virgin, but an “old soul,” wiser than her years. She’s aware that her mother has arranged a marriage for her with the son of another powerful family and she feels trapped, unable to exercise any agency over her future. The hero of LESSONS IN SIN, much like the hero in Sierra Simone’s PRIEST (the ne plus ultra of priest romances, imho), became a priest for all the wrong reasons, but, until he meets the heroine, he has refused to acknowledge that he chose the priesthood as a way to hide from his essential self. One of the things that makes LESSONS IN SIN so good is that despite everything objectively “wrong” with the romance—age-gap, teacher-student, power imbalance, and, oh yeah, he’s a priest—Godwin is able to show that the MCs are actually good for one other. Through their relationship—transgressive and illicit as it is—the h&h are able to help each other overcome the obstacles that have prevented them from having dominion over their own lives. Although it’s close to three-quarters of the way through the book before actual p-in-v sex takes place, I wouldn’t classify LESSONS IN SIN as a slow-burn because there’s plenty of “sex-adjacent” activity taking place prior to that, most of it involving the ultimately unsuccessful fight not to give in to their mutual attraction (which just makes things sexier)—but there are a couple of rather odd scenes, including one involving tampon insertion, that jumped the shark from hot & sexy to weird & cringy. Other than that, if “priest fights unsuccessful battle to not break his vow of chastity” is your catnip, I strongly recommend LESSONS IN SIN.
Imagine a universe where the heirs to all the organized crime syndicates (mafia, cartels, yakuza, motorcycle gangs, etc.) were some combination of bi/pan/trans/poly/fluid/D/s & bdsm-kinky/in open relationships and attempting to change the criminal cultures in which they were raised into something more positive and humane. That’s the rabbit hole I fell down when THE OTHER SIDE OF UNHAPPY by Kailee Reese Samuels (a new-to-me author) popped up on my KU recommendations. THE OTHER SIDE OF UNHAPPY seemed to be something I would like: a dark erotic m//m antagonists-to-lovers romance between two organized crime figures (Salvatore from the mafia, Dante from the cartel), one of whom (Dante) has never previously been involved with a man (and, to add complications, Dante has been involved with Salvatore’s estranged wife). The KU algorithm was right—I did like THE OTHER SIDE OF UNHAPPY: despite it being extremely dark and full of triggers, Samuels writing style is dreamy and poetic (as when Dante says of Salvatore, “He needs to be wild to be his beautiful self”). However, the story is less about two men finding love than it is the about two men—having found love—trying to determine the right path for being together, out and proud, and making a family unit with Salvatore’s young children. (Sal & Dante also have interesting discussions about and interactions with concepts of gender fluidity, masculine & feminine, top & bottom, and dominant & submissive.) Here’s where the rabbit hole opened up: although THE OTHER SIDE OF UNHAPPY is marketed as a stand-alone, when I went to look at Samuels’s backlist, I discovered she has published about 30 interconnected novels, novellas, and short stories about the organized crime world she has created, most of them involving Salvatore on some level and his self-described “fluid…bi…pan…poly….me” history, so now I have to go back and read all of the backstories. You know if you liked dark/mafia/mm romance, so make your decision to read THE OTHER SIDE OF UNHAPPY accordingly—but if you do read it, be prepared to add a lot more books to your tbr.
As a Harlequin Presents aficionado, I’m accustomed to crazy-sauce HP plots, and they don’t get much more whack-a-doodle than Jackie Ashenden’s latest, THE INNOCENT CARRYING HIS LEGACY, in which the heroine (a virgin) agrees to carry an IVF-conceived child for her best friend, but midway through the pregnancy her friend dies, whereupon the heroine seeks out the sperm donor and discovers he’s a sheikh (because, of course he is—this is the Harlequin Presents universe, after all). It’s best not to overthink the details of this premise (although I have questions, so many questions) and just go with the flow of the story—which, of course, involves the sheikh and the inadvertent mother of his child falling by angsty fits and starts into love. With the Ashenden-template requisites of dysfunctional upbringings, absent/abusive/dead/distant parents, and amazing fragrances and eye colors. Recommended for the Harlequin Presents cognoscenti.
On her blog a while back, Wendy the Super Librarian recommended the work of L. Setterby—a writer I was unfamiliar with—saying she wrote very good erotic romances, so when I was scrolling through my tbr and Setterby’s BREATHE, WHISPER, and FLINCH popped up, I grabbed them and ended up inhaling them, one right after the other, they were so good—well-written with excellent character development and, yes, hot and emotional sexy-times. BREATHE and WHISPER are both set in the small town of Grenton, Vermont, and, although interconnected, each can be read as a standalone. In BREATHE, a quiet, serious police officer begins a relationship with a woman he knew distantly in high school and who now works in a local fine arts shop. Their dynamic seems to fall into the domme/sub spectrum, but different life experiences, family upbringings, and expectations, not to mention a series of unsolved crimes (cw/tw: the heroine is robbed at gunpoint), ensure all is not smooth sailing for the couple. I loved this story of two people stumbling their way to love and self-acceptance. WHISPER is an m/m romance featuring two police officers: one a closeted military veteran on the force for over a decade; the other a rookie who is out and bi—he’s fairly new to the town and has recently left an MMF-menage relationship when the other two partners got engaged. (CW/TW: the younger hero was sexually assaulted in his teens and some years later a friend of his was raped. Neither of these incidents is described in detail, but references are made to them.) Against a backdrop of several arson fires (the older hero also works for the fire department), the two heroes have to come to terms with their feelings towards their jobs and for each other. Although not quite as good as BREATHE, WHISPER is still a good read with two strong heroes. FLINCH is a short story about exes who run into each other unexpectedly at a work convention. The hero finally explains to the heroine that their relationship failed because he had not been honest with her about his masochistic desires; and the heroine offers a chance for them to try again—provided that the hero be honest about his needs. I would have liked FLINCH to be a longer story or a novella: these two characters were so interesting and I wanted to see if they achieved their HEA. I highly recommend all of these L. Setterby romances and I look forward to more from her.
@Kareni
The Wizard’s Butler was the first Lowell that I read! While I was reading it I was totally involved and on board, enjoying the story. But after I was finished I started having those “but what about this” and “wait, that didn’t make sense” and “how come?” moments. In my opinion it is a weaker book than all the “space” books, but still well written and enjoyable
I have TOO GOOD TO BE REAL by Melonie Johnson waiting on my TBR pile, along with CHASING THE SHADOWS and DEFENDING THE GALAXY by Maria V. Snyder.
I’m also hoping to binge out LEVERAGE: REDEMPTION. I loved the original show, and the reboot/continuation looks really good. I also want to watch the new season of VIRGIN RIVER. Between these shows and BLACK WIDOW, I feel like everything I want to watch this summer dropped this weekend. LOL.
Happy weekend, everyone! 🙂
:::yawns in:::
There was an outdoor work event and then a family picnic and it IS SO HOT OUT.
Anyway, I feel like a bad reader, because I have been playing a bunch of video games. I beat Bastion, though. I feel like that needs to be celebrated, so I celebrated by buying Transistor and Little Nightmares. “My husband shaking his head sadly while I buy video games” is the new “my husband shaking his head sadly while I buy books”. Except I still buy books.
I kicked things off with Finley Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano. I enjoyed it, as it was funny and clever, with some fun little meta moments. Plus, her former babysitter being completely unbothered by the need to hide a body and perhaps commit some light murders for the right price, because hello, student loans? Relatable. Then I went with Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor. I liked the conceit of a place where people are jumping about the timeline seeing historical events in their own time, because history, and there were some very funny moments in there, but the book got just a little too bogged down in some parts and it slowed the pacing of it some. Which brings us to now, in which I’m reading Daughter of Sparta by Claire Andrews and really enjoying it. It’s a retelling of the Daphne/Apollo myth, with changes including Daphne being a clever, brave warrior that was trained by the Spartans and is coerced into a quest to save the gods, who are losing their powers, with Apollo as her hot (ha, I’m hilarious) guide/cohort. I am a sucker for myth retellings, and this one provides Daphne with the agency and backstory that the myth doesn’t, especially the fact that she, as a human (as far as she knows anyway), has little reason to want to get involved in any kind of affair, love or otherwise, with the gods, because it never ends well for the human in question. So until next time, why, yes, dearie, you should definitely look in the cave.
@Deborah I find this issue really interesting, and weirdly just this morning I had read an article about internet rot (dead links which are referenced not only in casual online contexts but also in archival and legal documents) which also brought up the issue of book revisions, especially those which are digital and pushed out to reading devices or online libraries. It’s a long form article if anyone is interested https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2021/06/the-internet-is-a-collective-hallucination/619320/. IT HAPPENED ONE AUTUMN really turned me off Kleypas specifically because of the scene she has revised, and while I’m happy to hear she made an attempt to remedy the major problematic element, your suggestion makes more sense to me! I do also feel very uncomfortable with the idea of making major revisions but keeping the same title. Talia Hibbert revised WANNA BET and retitled the new edition THE ROOMMATE RISK, which seems a good solution to the situation. Another option is to add to the title, as Diane Duane did with her YA Young Wizards series, which she started in the 80’s. She revised earlier books starting in the early aughts with each title clearly indicating NEW MILLENNIUM EDITION. Obviously that wouldn’t work for a historical romance, but maybe there is some tag or addendum that could be added to newly revised and updated romances?
I read an early beta copy of Murphy Lawless’ Gladiator Wolf. It’s the 4th in the series and just as fun and ridiculous as it sounds, and the heroine is a professional wrestler! Start with Gladiator Bear, then Gladiator Cheetah, then Gladiator Hawk.
@Wait, what?:
Thanks for the added information on The Wizard’s Butler; I look forward to reading it.
Just to say, thank you for reposting, @DiscoDollyDeb–I always look forward to reading your updates and recommendations!
@FashionablyEvil
I’m sorry that you didn’t like Blood Heir but I don’t think it’s a good place to start. It’s effectively children returning home for a cause so there is a lot of catch up. Excellent if you read the preceding (Kate Daniels) series but not great if you haven’t.
I would suggest starting with the Hidden Legacy series (first book is Burn For Me) if you want to try Ilona Andrews again.
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith – Rachel mentioned this in the Cold War Rec League for the relationship between a KGB officer and a wife who secretly hates him. Leo and his wife Raisa have a complicated relationship in that she only married him because she was afraid turning down a KGB officer, something that Leo is blissfully unaware of until she spells it out for him. So not only has he lost his job and exiled to a factory town for trying to protect his wife but also finds out that said wife never really loved him all along. The plot revolves around the hunt for a child serial killer in Stalinist Russia where the authorities insist on covering up the cases because murder does not happen in their society. This book excels as a thriller but I think the more intriguing element is Leo’s relationship with his wife. With little in the way of allies, he works with Raisa to investigate the murders and this partnership forms a more solid basis for their marriage than the lie they were living in Moscow.
Secret Speech (Leo Demidov #2) and Agent 6 (Leo Demidov #3) — Leo Demidov’s ongoing quest for redemption. In Secret Speech, Leo sneaks into the Gulags to break someone out and Agent 6 is his fifteen-year (?) quest to find the person responsible for [spoilers]. Honestly, I think these sequels are rather unnecessary and in a way, kind of makes the end of Child 44 less significant. It was already apparent at the end of that book that his and Raisa’s life won’t exactly be easy given *everything* but these two books are really intent on making Leo’s life miserable. Secret Speech has a ridiculous plot but has interesting detours (e.g. the Hungarian Revolution of 1956). Agent 6 delves into the Communist Party in America and their conflict with the FBI and I think should have been an entirely different book as the Demidovs’ part in this conflict seems rather contrived to me.
@Penny – thank you so much for that link to the article in The Atlantic. It’s always a comfort to see my anxieties acknowledged and shared, if not resolved:
Yes, this. If a book is to be altered post-publication, then some sort of change log should be maintained and accessible to the reader.
I missed last Whatcha reading because I was on vacation (and it was fantastic. We did day hikes in Zion national park, Bryce Canyon and Grand Canyon-north rim)
I reread Allie Therin Spellbound (Magic in Manhattan) and then continued the trilogy Starcrossed and Wonderstruck (m/m historical fantasy). So great. Prohibition NY. Arthur is non-magical and upper class but works with magical people to protect the world. Rory secludes himself because he has a dangerous gift.
Kim Fielding Farview (m/m historical fantasy). Victorian Britain with magic. Oliver is cursed in the big city and moves to a seaside cottage he inherited to die. Felix is a little bit of an outsider in the village and befriends and then nurses Oliver. It was just delightful.
Then I read the first and forth book in Sam Burns/WM Fawkes Wolf Moon Rising series (m/m paranormal) . The world is a/b/o where omegas help calm alphas but a mysterious Condition is killing them off. The series focuses on a pack that is less affected but is doing the medical research to figure it all out.
1) Black Moon. Omega Journalist Colt visits the Grove pack to try to find out why they don’t seem to be affected. He visits just after an attack from a rival pack kills their alpha and kidnaps one of their packmates. Linden must step up to be the new alpha
4) I was semi interested in the couple from the third book, not interested in the couple from the second at all. While I was waffling and deciding if I could skip book 2 completely and still follow the throughline, book 4 came out and I was super interested and just jumped straight to it. Skye is affected by the Condition (that is killing other omegas) but he’s mostly holding steady. Dante is from the rival pack (from book one) but he’s super sweet.
Hey, Smart Bitches! I looked for WAYR yesterday morning and it wasn’t on my feed, so I didn’t see it until last night. Already went through the recs listed so far and got hold of a couple of them. Thank you all!
Read a few good books on vacation which I now recommend to you:
SUBTLE BLOOD – K.J. Charles, M/M historical spy romance, third in series – definitely read them in order, and enjoy! Great series, all the compliments you’ve read here are spot on, and I wished I lived near the author so I could drop off meals and snacks at her house SO SHE COULD WRITE ALL THE TIME. If you haven’t read ALL of K.J. Charles’ books, and you liked this one, you should also do that. Some historical, some with paranormal elements, all really great.
THE QUEER PRINCIPLES OF KIT WEBB – Cat Sebastian, M/M historical, in Georgian (I think? powdered wigs) period. Loved the characters, loved the clothes, loved the relatively realistic resolution of conflicts and life problems. Again, if you liked this, jump into C.S.’s backlist – really fantastic writer delivered another great book.
THE MID-WINTER MAIL-ORDER BRIDE – Kati Wilde, M/F Conan the Barbarian-type romance. A little too much telling each other stuff, vs. showing, but totally crazy sauce and good, light example of this type of book. Definitely not for everyone, but looking forward to the next one.
MOONFLOWER MURDERS – Anthony Horowitz – Mystery. This is the second in the series. YOU REALLY SHOULD READ THE FIRST ONE FIRST (MAGPIE MURDERS)or you will not enjoy it as much. What Horowitz did in both books was to construct a murder mystery around a woman named Susan Ryeland, who is an editor. In both books, a classic “cozy mystery,” a la Dame Agatha that Susan edited, is important to the resolution of the crime in the book. So, the key benefit of this, to me, is that you get two interconnected murders in each book. I really enjoyed the way they echoed each other, but were two different genres of mystery that both needing solving. Might be a bit of a slog if you were not on vacation — lot of pages in both books — but perfect books for the beach.
Hope you are all well and enjoying some downtime!
@TamB—thanks for the suggestion! I’ll give it a try.
@Penny—thanks for posting that Atlantic article. Very interesting and informative.
@Big K—I think something may have been up with the site yesterday. I kept seeing Cloudflare redirects and no new posts (even though I kept refreshing to look for WAYR.)
The recent podcast with Lois McMaster Bujold led me to re-read A Civil Campaign, and I am suddenly deep into Vorkosigans again. I’m now re-reading Diplomatic Immunity, which I wrongly thought I didn’t care for (after the first and only read), and I have Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance lined up already – because, Ivan.
But if my pre-order of the new Nalini Singh happens to come in early, or my paper copy of KJ Charles’ Subtle Blood finally gets here, I may jump ship temporarily.
Since the last time I was here:
Camilla Bruce – In the Garden of Spite
This is a novel about Belle Gunness, a Midwestern turn-of-the-last-century serial killer/black widow. The writing wasn’t always my cup of tea (in particular the dialogue was often laughably bad), but the story was quite engrossing. My main complaint is that there was one major character the author invented out of mostly whole cloth, and you could REALLY tell.
Carol Rifka Brunt- Tell The Wolves I’m Home
This was a reread of one of my very favorite books. It doesn’t look like Brunt has published anything else, and I hope one day she was, because Tell the Wolves I’m home is just gorgeous. It’s the story of a teen girl in the mid-eighties who’s just lost her uncle to AIDs starting a secret friendship with her uncle’s lover. Without trying to assume authorial intention on something that was never explicitly stated in the text, this is one of the first books that made me feel seen as an asexual person. There are some passages that just hit me like. ‘Oh. Yes. Of course.’ Anyway, glad to see that it holds up on a reread.
Bei Tong (pseudonym) – Beijing Comrades
This is one of the first–potentially the first–queer Chinese webnovels, written pseudonymously in the late 90s but taking place in the late 80s and early 90s. It’s about a playboy businessman who has an on-and-off-again relationship with a young, poor student. The narrator is frankly an awful person, but he kinda gets better as he realizes that oh, this is actually love. It’s a really interesting book on a lot of levels. Not really a romance in any sense–both characters have sex with other people, there’s a sad ending, and the student always feels like something of a cypher because you only see him through the narrator’s biased eyes. I think I found it more interesting than actually good or enjoyable.
@flchen1: Thank you for your kind words. I’m beginning to think the commenting system has it in for me. It allowed me to post Part One, but Part Two (which didn’t appear to be any longer) disappeared into the ether. I’m glad I always write my comments down before I post. Anyhoo, I’m going to try to post Part Two again—this time in two parts and see if commenting likes that better. Again, if my original posts show up, apologies for duplication.
Cora Kenborn’s SHALLOW (published in 2017) is an exceptionally good & angsty “revenge romance” only slightly marred by the unnecessary inclusion of the “psycho ex-girlfriend” character. When I say SHALLOW is angsty, I mean it: unlike in so many revenge romances—where the heroine is either innocent of what the hero suspects her of doing or has committed a very minor offense against which the hero’s thirst for revenge is completely outsized—the heroine of SHALLOW starts out as a thoughtless, selfish, self-involved young woman who allows a young man to take the fall for her in an incident that has lasting consequences for both of them. Years later, the heroine’s carelessness causes another devastating tragedy and she finds herself beholden to the hero who has spent the last seven years plotting how he will take his revenge should the opportunity ever arise. What I found so interesting about SHALLOW is there were times when both the hero and the heroine each make some morally-gray choices—and Kenborn doesn’t mitigate that—but Kenborn made me care about what happened to the h&h and how they were going to make peace with the consequences of their actions. There’s a brilliant arc to the story—about love, forgiveness, redemption, second (and third) chances, and coming to terms with your choices and things you can’t undo. Key quote: “Salvation is everlasting. Penance is never-ending.” Kenborn is a new-to-me author, but I will certainly be reading more of her backlist. One of my favorite reads so far this year. Highly-recommended (even with the “crazy ex” element).
After loving SHALLOW, I immediately tried another Cora Kenborn book—SIXTH SIN (originally titled STARLET), an uber-dark romantic-suspense based on the Anastasia story. 15 years after a major Hollywood couple and their children were murdered, a million-dollar reward is offered to discover what happened to the couple’s youngest daughter, who has been missing since that night and whose body was never found. A down-on-his-luck tabloid TV producer persuades a former-actress-now-cocktail-waitress to pose as the missing woman…and so the plot is set in motion. There’s a lot going on in SIXTH SIN, including attempts to discover what really happened on the night of the murders and interference by a number of people who would prefer what happened to the family to stay unsolved. While I didn’t like SIXTH SIN as much as SHALLOW, I still enjoyed the twisty mystery (although the central villain is quite obvious) and the way Kenborn doesn’t sugarcoat her characters or pull her punches when it comes to them—even the hero and heroine—doing bad things. SIXTH SIN does have triggers (including violence and past instances of pedophilia and child abuse), but overall it’s a crisply-written suspense story where the romance almost feels secondary. Recommended—if you don’t mind the dark stuff.
Last ones—I promise!
[cw/tw: homophobia, homophobic violence] Another older book that became a favorite read of 2021 for me is the m/m romantic-suspense WHEN ALL THE WORLD SLEEPS (published in 2014) by Lisa Henry and J.A. Rock. In WATWS, Daniel—one of the few openly-gay men in his small town—has been subject to sleepwalking episodes since he was a child. Daniel has no memory of what he does when he is sleepwalking, but people often mistake his sleepwalking behavior—where he often becomes uncharacteristically violent or aggressively sexualized—for being high. Several years before the story opens, Daniel was the victim of a brutal beating by a group of men; no one was ever charged for that hate crime, but not long after it happened, the ringleader of the group burned to death when Daniel, while sleepwalking, set his house on fire. As the book begins, Daniel is on probation for the fire (having received a reduced sentence because he was unaware he was setting the fire in his sleep); he is persona non grata in the town, harassed by the men who beat him, distanced from his unfeeling family, and living alone in a small rural cabin. Bel is a local cop a few years younger than Daniel. He’s not exactly in the closet, but he’s not exactly out (Bel’s sexuality is one of many things people in the town “know” but refuse to acknowledge). One night while on patrol, Bel helps Daniel during a sleepwalking episode and witnesses the extremes Daniel goes to to try to avoid sleepwalking (Henry & Rock do an excellent job of showing Daniel’s fatigue, fear, disorientation, and confusion). Bel offers to help Daniel, but his altruistic tendencies are tangled up with his own complex feelings toward Daniel as the two begin to grow closer and work their way to a deeper relationship, one that has significant repercussions for both men. Despite the ominous sense of ever-present anti-gay violence simmering just below the surface, WHEN ALL THE WORLD SLEEPS is a well-written book that is especially good in the development of the relationship between the two men—showing that love, care, and concern will flourish in even the stoniest soil. Recommended—but keep the trigger warnings in mind.
Lori Sjoberg’s DRIVEN had languished in my tbr for years (it was published in 2016). It’s about a woman who runs her family’s horse farm and the property developer who wants to buy the land from her. They make a wager that if the hero can hack dawn-to-dusk farm work for two weeks, the heroine will sell him the farm. Of course, they do not count on the growing attraction each feels for the other. I was of two minds about DRIVEN: I really enjoyed the scenes set on the farm and working with the horses—they reminded me of some of the technical detail and competence porn you find in Kari Lynn Dell’s or Pamela Clare’s books. But the romance was blah to say the least and I never felt that the spark between the h&h, despite constantly being told it existed. DRIVEN is the first book in a four-book series called Southern Alphas—and I see at some point I added book two, FRACTURED, to my tbr—however, I’m not particularly interested in continuing with the series based on my rather tepid response to DRIVEN.
I just finished “Paladin’s Strength” by T. Kingfisher and now I’m ruined for other books. Definitely my favourite read of the year so far. In order to overcome the book hangover I ordered four more T. Kingfisher books that will hopefully arrive while I’m still on vacation.
Other than that I’ve been reading lots of manga lately. My current favourites are “Wotakoi” by Fujita and “My Genderless Boyfriend” by Tamekou.
Had a dismal run of DNFs. I would particularly like to wag the Finger of Judgment at writers who can make up gods and magic systems and botany but just can’t restrain themselves from using stereotypes and slurs about real-life marginalized people.
Just started LEGEND OF THE HIGHLAND DRAGON by Isabel Cooper, whom I’ve found pretty reliable. This one has a working-class heroine (she’s a secretary, sister is a maid, not from a privileged family that’s fallen on hard times forcing her to grudgingly resort to menial labor) who accidentally discovers this Scottish associate of her boss turns into a dragon, so she has to become HIS (extremely well-paid) secretary to cover the fact that he’s basically taking her hostage until his enemy, who would greatly appreciate dirt like “turns into a dragon,” ceases to be a problem.
One refreshingly healthy feature of the Cooper books I’ve read is that the dragons aren’t needlessly cryptic (more like “Regrettably, you’ve stumbled into A Situation. Here’s what you need to know to stay alive. May I offer you a sandwich or an adult beverage while you process this information?”), which is probably for the best because their human counterparts are sufficiently self-possessed to eviscerate them over a gaslighting attempt.
Like @DDD, I’m testing to see if this comment posts. I’ve tried in the last 3 Whatcha Reading posts and my comment gets eaten every time. I have absolutely no idea why.
I’m reading “A Few Right Thinking Men” by Sulari Gentill. It’s the first in a mystery series set in 1930’s Australia. The MC, Rowland Sinclair, is an artist, and has a circle of friends who are a very entertaining group of bohemians and radicals. The tone of the writing is mostly lighthearted, but the subject matter is serious. It’s the Depression, and the politics of the country are very sharply divided. The plot involves a right wing vigilante group, who are obsessed with guns, nationalism, and crackpot conspiracy theories about an imagined Communist takeover, that they want to forestall by doing their own coup. I don’t know anything about Australian history of that era, but I’ve gathered that Gentill is hewing very closely to real history, and incorporates historical characters in the story. It is unnerving how much it calls to mind recent history in this country, especially because Gentill wrote it a decade ago. Either she’s clairvoyant or history repeats itself. I’m loving the fresh setting and characters. No romance so far, but Rowland is carrying a torch for another artist in his circle of friends. I recommend reading the prequel novella, “A Prodigal Son”, first, except it seems to be no longer available online. It was a free giveaway, so if someone is really hooked on the series I’d be happy to share my copy with you.
I also read two Meredith Duran books back to back, “Lady Be Good” and “Luck Be a Lady”. They really go together as a pair, with different main couples but continuity in the plot and characters. Both truly excellent reads, and I still have a few to go to catch up with her Rules for the Reckless series.
And I don’t know if this site is to blame, or I saw it somewhere else, but I fell down a rabbit hole at Tor.com, reading Jo Walton’s blog. It’s a lot of long reviews and analysis of Bujold’s Vorkosigan series.
@DiscoDollyDeb: If you’re on a MAC, avoid Safari!! I find my comments disappear there, but they survive if I’m on Firefox (I use Safari as my default for everything, but I’ve learned to switch when necessary.)
Great recommendations from everyone. I just spent 20 minutes reading but now have to walk my dog and cook dinner. I’ll try to stay awake later to add my recent reads to the list!
I have n’t posted here lately, because I just haven’t read that much. I do have something to add this time. I have been snapping up the releases of some of Beverly Jenkins older titles on Audible, and five of them showed up in my library on June 22nd. I read one of these, Topaz, between the last whatcha reading and this one, and every time I read I keep wondering why I space out the reading of her books, because they are so good. This one might be my favorite next to Indigo, which was the first of hers I ever read, and made me a fan of her historical romances. The others I have to mention were a couple books about Motown. The first of these was Nelson George’s Where Did Our Love Go which covers the record company from itss founding in Detroit to its move to Los Angeles. Since the book was unauthorized, in that no current employees at the time were interviewed for this book, I wondered if it might be gossipy and/or sloppily researched, and while there were some gossipy parts, and maybe a few minor errors on names and dates, I thought the book presented a fascinating look into the running of this company. My only real nitpick is that since the audio book was released in 2021, and the book is now on Kindle, I wish there were an afterward on some of the key players, musicians, singers, songwriters, staffers etc. The book was released in 1985, and a lot has happened since then. Reading it lead me to my second book, Come and Get These Memories, a memoir written by Brian and Eddie Holland, who were two thirds of Motown’s Holland/Dosier/Holland songwriting and production team. While their names may not be familiar, the songs they wrote for groups such as the Supremes and Four Tops in the 1960’s certainly are, and that part of their lives is what the bulk of the book is focused on. I really like well-written books on music history, and these were certainly worth my time. Next, I’m going to get back to the books I accidentally left off to read all three of these, and I hope to read Lamont Dozier’s book.
And now I’m back! Since school ended, I’ve been making my way through Julia Spencer-Fleming’s Clare Fergusson mystery series. I just finished the fourth one (TO DARKNESS AND TO DEATH) in audio, and I’m eager to move right on to the next. It’s a complex series set in a small upstate-New York town that puts Cabot Cove to shame in terms of body counts. There’s also a slow burning romance that’s beautifully presented, and I’m totally hooked. Unfortunately, (whining about riches, I know) I have a backlog of ARCs and borrowed library books I have to get to before I allow myself to start the next book in the series.
And speaking of ARCs, I just finished the light-hearted but delightful THE BOSS PRINCE by Alix Nichols. I found both her Paris-based La Bohème series and the Darcy Brothers series highly engaging several years back and would gladly read them again someday.
I wasted time listening (at high speed) to the addictive but ultimately silly Paradise trilogy by Elin Hilderbrand. I loved 28 SUMMERS, but that too-many-Doritos feeling this trilogy left me with makes me think it will be a while before I try her again.
On a more serious note, I was tossed about by three separate novels that all captivated me. My college senior son demanded I read AGAINST THE LOVELESS WORLD by Susan Abulhawa. The story of a Palestinian refugee, it really opened my eyes to ideas I hadn’t previously considered. Not at all a romance, it was a gripping love story nonetheless. And then somehow two audiobooks came up from my hold list in that mysterious way that they do, and it turned out I owned paper copies of both of them: ASTONISH ME by Maggie Shipstead (a beautiful story about mangled love in the ballet world) and THE ART OF HEARING HEARTBEATS, an astonishingly heart-wrenching book by the German author Jan-Philipp Sendker. Neither one is a romance with a HEA, but they are both first and foremost love stories. Amazon was kind enough to inform me that I actually own the sequel to THE ART OF HEARING HEARTBEATS, which was particularly odd in that it seemed complete at the end, and I had no memory of there being a sequel. I hope I’ll remember enough of the first by the time I someday get around to reading the second!
I have read a bunch, some re-reads: Nalini Singh’s Rock quartet, some Heyer. I have worked my patootie off over the long weekend so that seemed good.
I am slowly working my way through Empire’s Crossroads by Carrie Gibson which is a well researched (and foot-noted) history of the Caribbean starting with Henry the Navigator and moving forward. It is holding my interest so far, though, having sat upon cannons that fired on pirates in the harbor at Port of Spain and at Bacalar, I have a special interest in this history.
Finally read Paladin’s Strength by T Kingfisher and loved it. Shape-changing nuns! A heroine who is taller than I. It was good.
Don’t think I mentioned The Goblin Emperor previously. Thanks for the rec, Bitches. It is very much like sinking into a warm bath only with fizz and sparkles. Loved it. Read it a couple times in a row and tried to make my daughter read it.
Also read The Girl Who Was Taken by Charlie Donlea. Not a romance. A woman finishing a forensic pathology fellowship teams up with a young woman who escape an abduction to find out who was responsible and what happened to the doc’s sister who was abducted at the same time. It was interesting. And a little weird.
Just finished When Books Went to War! As hostess of this month’s book club, I got to pick our read. And am so excited about discussing this one. I laughed and cried! Thank you so much for bringing this book to my attention!!
@Mary:
I read that I think two months ago or maybe three months ago, and found it a fascinating read.
@Deborah and @Penny I also find this really interesting and appreciated the link to the Atlantic article that was posted. I love the Wallflowers series and just did a vacation-based reread of It Happened One Autumn and Devil in Winter. While I found the library scene in IHOA super jarring on my first read and it has always bothered me, I am not sure that the idea of going back now and editing the book makes sense to me, both from a storytelling standpoint and a personal one. This speaks to a problem that I have with e-books in general, in that I feel like I don’t really own the book and while I dearly love my e-reader for its unlimited book storage and unparalleled nighttime reading capabilities, that makes me sad. The idea that a beloved book could be so significantly changed and I wouldn’t have the opportunity to accept the new version or decide to keep the book in the original form does not sit well with me. Plus in this particular book, the removal of that scene does take away some of the major tension of the following scenes and I agree with Deborah that it allows the hero to remain this infallible paragon when one of the central pieces of the relationship between the two main characters is that she is the first person who can really push him out of that persona. I guess what I am taking a lot of words to say is that I’ve always been bothered by that scene and wished it was different, but have also recognized that in order for that to be different, the entire rest of the book would have to be different as well. I don’t think you can just take that bit out and call it good.
As far as What I’m Reading, I went on vacation so I read more than usual this month, but my brain was tired so a lot of it was rereads. I did the aforementioned Lisa Kleypas reread including Again the Magic as well as the first 3 Wallflowers books, and I read The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren which I truly loved and may be my favorite of the more mainstream work they have been doing recently. I also read Queen Move by Kennedy Ryan which was H-O-T and I really enjoyed. Reread a bunch of Sarah MacLean. Then my 11 year old daughter started reading the Shadow & Bone series by Leigh Bardugo. She had watched the Netflix series with my husband and really wanted to read the books. Based on her rave reviews, I started reading the series as well, and that’s how we ended up going to the tiny local bookstore 3 different times during our beach vacation to buy more books in the series! It was super fun to share that experience with my daughter and I love seeing her get as excited about new books as she does about ice cream. So far we’ve read all 3 books in the initial series and are working on Six of Crows. I’ve heard that SOC has more…mature themes so I want to read that before she does. Finally, I DNF From Blood and Ash which gets a lot of love on TikTok (I have a teenager, hence I started TikTok and now I can’t stop, it is simultaneously the worst and best time suck in my life) but I felt the writing was clunky. I might go back to this once I have some distance from Shadow & Bone but the two setups were just so similar that I found myself comparing the two and not favorably.
@KB
we ended up going to the tiny local bookstore 3 different times during our beach vacation to buy more books in the series! It was super fun to share that experience with my daughter and I love seeing her get as excited about new books as she does about ice cream.
That is completely adorable and I absolutely love it. I am grinning so much right now. Fabulous!