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!
@ DiscoDollyDeb
Thank you for recommending L Setterby. I enjoyed Breathe and went back and downloaded the other two books. I normally do not reread a book immediately after finishing one but Whisper is such a wonderful read.
I am in awe of the quantity and range of your readings, as with the SBTB team and other contributors. I also appreciate the quality of everyone’s recommendations- I’ve come across so many new-to-me authors whose books are such a joy to read.
Have to really thank everyone!
Omgosh! We’re already mid-July? Yikes! It’s done nothing but rain here for a week, I had a 5-day holiday for 4July, so definitely some reading got done:
1. HOW TO MARS by David Ebenbach, about 6 people chosen to go on a one-way trip to Mars; winsome, charming..and based on a sort of true story.
2. UNFATHOMED by Anna Hackett (#4 in her Treasure Hunters Security series) – it was my first of the THS and was … kinda good, with a VERY strong Alpha female, a smart Alpha male, nice balance of erotica and an actual story (the whole series is underpinned by this villainous group, Silk Road, who are after Indiana Jones-type artifacts). I decided to skip ahead to the final installment
3. UNDETECTED (#8) – except for the bizarre scene where some guy comes into the office, points a gun at the heroine (with an entire group of armed SEALs and other badasses literally RIGHT THERE), INTRODUCES himself and says he’s taking over where Silk Road left off (you have to read it to see just how insane that is – I’m not exactly sure why Hackett threw that in there) well, except for that, the story is interesting (both of these are heavy on the whole ancient artifacts trope and the writer gives good story on that). I’m a fan of dom-adjacent sex and this one delivers without it taking over the whole book.
4. THE BRIDE TEST by Helen Hoang. Welp. I know this one is a huge hit with a lot of readers and I loved the focus on the heroine’s goals (Ms Hoang talks about her mother’s challenges coming to the West in her afterwords). However, as a motorcyclist, I was yanked completely out of the story when we got to The Motorcycle plot point. Not really a spoiler: if you leave a motorcycle to sit for a decade, there is no way in hell you can just start it up and go for a putt. That was hard for me to get past because I expect much better from her.
5. Finally got through CLEAN by James Hamblin. Nope. I’m lying. I can’t seem to get through this. I got 150 pages in and then just skipped to the chapter on the skin’s mantle, which is the one I wanted to read anyway.
6. The entire Kleypas ‘Wallflowers’ series, in anticipation of Merrit’s story. I’m easy pickin’s for her Ravenels/Hathaways and like the wallflowers. I read Devil’s Daughter before I read Devil in Winter, so it was nice to get the backstory on Sebastian.
7. DNF: Started to read a Shayla Black – MORE THAN WANT YOU that a friend was howling over but.. omg. Nope.
8. Rereading THE DOUBLE FLAME by Octavio Paz, his notes on love and eroticism. I love Paz’s poetry and TDF opens portals into his mindset like nothing else. So beautiful.
@KB re: the 2021 update to It Happened One Autumn
Thank you for expressing that so much more eloquently than I could! I was initially surprised Kleypas didn’t attempt to preserve that dynamic by keeping the seduction and ditching the intoxication. Now I suspect she may be overcompensating for the unanticipated negative reader response to the original scene. Changing the scene so Westcliff seduces a sober Lillian wouldn’t be enough to restore his character; he must model proper behavior when dealing with an inebriated woman. (Or maybe Kleypas just really likes the factoid about how they get the pear in the brandy bottle and wanted to keep the drinking for that reason.) But the romance suffers as a result.
[I’m been a longtime lurker and this is my first time actually posting here. Hello!]
I’ve just finished SYLVESTER by Georgette Heyer, and I loved it. The protagonists are both really well-developed characters — they make some cringe-worthy missteps but I still found them sympathetic throughout. The dynamics between Heyer’s heroes and heroines don’t always work for me, but in this case I can totally see them being happy together in the future.
Before that, I read Olivia Atwater’s HALF A SOUL and TEN THOUSAND STITCHES. I think I first heard of this series in the comments here, and I’m glad I did because they were a lot of fun, especially Ten Thousand Stitches. I’m not usually one for paranormal romance but I loved the world-building and thoughtful exploration of class and gender (which doesn’t overshadow the romance). Eagerly anticipating the f/f sequel coming out later this year!
I also read Laura Lee Guhrke’s SCANDAL OF THE YEAR. I’ve read a few of her books before, and this is definitely my favorite. I really liked the way the heroine’s trauma from her previous marriage was handled: she’s not a “perfect victim” by any means, just a human being with strengths and flaws. I was a bit less invested in the hero, but I appreciated his genuine struggle with his belief that he’s behaved immorally against his best intentions. There’s one iffy minor element — a villain who turns out to be into BDSM, and is the only kinky character — which I wouldn’t expect in a romance published today (this book was published in 2011).
Hey, Bitchery! I’m baaack!
Just popped in to change my DNF on CLEAN. I did finish it last night (felt bad about not being able to get through 75 pages – I mean, c’mon, Musette – you can DO IT!)
it was… okay. I was surprised by how ‘meh’ I felt about the whole thing, given Hamblin’s CV – but I think it’s because he didn’t evince all that much enthusiasm for it, though the writing was engaging. It just felt shallow.
Oh, well.