Whatcha Reading, Part The First!

old book on the bench in autumn parkOoops! Usually, to prepare for the Whatcha Reading? posts, I have an automation tied to my site calendar (the site has its own calendar) (I love calendars) that will post a message to our internal Slack asking, well, the obvious question.

The Ex Hex
A | BN | K
Somehow, and I suspect it was fingers being clumsy on my phone, I accidentally turned off that automation (darn!) so the query didn’t go off. So this is a shorter, but no less heartfelt inquiry, because I know y’all love this thread.

As for me, I just started The Ex Hex, by Erin Sterling, which was featured on our Bitches Love Witches compilation of allll the witch fiction coming out this month and next (there is so much, and I’m so happy about it).

I also love this thread and love how much you enjoy it, so, please tell me: whatcha reading?

Comments are Closed

  1. Jane says:

    I just finished “Cemetery Boys”, thought it was pretty good. And now I’ve just started “The Ones we’re Meant to Find” and “One Last Stop”. Both of these are very popular so looking forward to digging into them.

  2. Lilaea says:

    I am so so stuck on what to read (I just want fluffy OT3 triad romance books) but I did manage to read a bunch of YA fantasy that I mostly enjoyed – We Hunt The Flame especially.

  3. Arijo says:

    Ahoy! Long post ahead to compensate for Sarah’s short intro! 😉

    About 20 years ago, I read a dictionary of citations of outrageous things very rich people used to say.  One that stuck with me came from a Britsh earl who had to let his servants go after loosing his fortune; one of the thing that bewildered him in his new life was how his toothbrush did not foam anymore… turns out, he did not know about dental paste (or was it dental powder? I forget), or how his valet used to always put it on for him. (It makes me wonder about some HR heroes, it does – do they know how to brush their teeth?!?) HER ROYAL SPYNESS by Rhys Bowen is about these kind of people.  It was a change of pace to read about upper (really upper) society during the 1930s, with a duke that of course couldn’t have written an incriminating note to the murdered man because he always only used his special ducal paper for correspondances…! Luckily the heroine is much more degourdie, and her almost-Waterloo is about coal chutes & starting heaters, something most readers would also draw a blank about and can sympathize with. As for the mystery, it’s an okay one, the kind where the reader realises what’s going on long before the characters, but not infuriatingly so. I mean, the heroine is relatively quick on the draw once her flutes are aligned. Not sure I like the love interest, but I plan on reading more of the series – the heroine and the era interested me.

    I’m also still on with the Bedwyns. SLIGHTY MARRIED by Mary Balogh. Meh. Not as good as the previous installments. It was slow to start, the middle was quite good but the last quarter dragged on and was way too long. I hate miscommunication and misunderstanding. But oh yeah, Wulfric is The Duke Man and I’m enjoying the anticipation of reading his book. I’m sure he knows how to brush his teeth.

    Next was SPACER’S CINDERELLA by Adria Rose. Oh, how life kept screwing the poor heroine over. She was born on a doomed planet, she’s too nice and too bright, of course the only boyfriend she ever had was a scumbag with an inferority complex who took it out on her, and of course she works and live in cutthroat academia where 7/10th of the people she meets are jealous of her particularly charming blend of cuteness/innocence/brain power. If you enjoy this kind of character, Rose’s iteration is one of the most well-written; her heroine is a brainiac, she sees all the meaness directed at her but she’s also desperate (she’s got to save her planet by inventing world revolutionary terraforming solution people! Her parents only have 1 year left to live!) as well as desperately nice, and she just doesn’t have the drive to be malicious back – what I mean is, she’s coherent as a character, and we’re shown her to be so, and not told. The hero is a genius-inventor-cum-maverick-businessman-cum-ace-pilot-cum-surhuman. He knows how to multitask. He has very strong alpha tendencies but he keeps reigning them in – very much enlightened hero. …Okay, I seem snarky, but the book was actually entertaining. The scifi part of this scifi romance, I found well-done, as was the academia ribbing, heh. Only, it feels to me like it’s the author’s first romance and she crammed in everything: her heroine is too twee; her hero has almost every positive characteristics a romance hero should have;  the heroine has so many adverse things happening to her, by the last one I actually threw my arms in the air. But if it’s a first effort its a pretty good one and I’d read more by this author.

    Next was THE ANGEL OF THE CROWS by Katherine Addison. A Sherlock wingfic. It had a familiar feel – the Sherlock template was unmistakable – while bringing me into surprising corners, corners I enjoyed! I like being surprised.  The end is aprubt, but satisfying. Thanks to the Smart Bitch that recommended it! I loved it.

    In the same style, I read MAGIC OUTSIDE THE BOX (The Case Files of Henri Davenforth 03) by Honor Raconteur. I like these, but I also find them a bit… boring? Took me 3 months to finish this one. But nevertheless, I know I will eventually buy vol. 4 and read on. It has that kind of appeal.

    Another thing I did this summer was a reread Murderbot – all 4 novellas and the novel and the short story Home. Caved and bought Fugitive Telemetry.
    It was good, Muderbot is equal to itself (what a great character). The villain was a bit too evident, but the story amply made up for it – I don’t read Murderbot for the whodunnit anyway. My thought when I finished: I want moooooaaaare (>_<).

    Desperate time, desperate measure so next I cracked open something I kept for emergencies : THE ASSASINS OF THASALON by Lois McMaster Bujold. I did not enjoy it as much as I did Murderbot or Bujold's earlier work, but still solid. Her world building is so coherent, I love how she does that. Her series also don't suffer from heroitis syndrome (y'know, how sometimes, in some series, the fact that everything always happen to the same person feels overdone and contrived?).

    Maybe anything I read after that would've seemed bad, but whatevercthe cause, I DNF  CHAOS STATION by Jenn Burke and Kelly Jensen (Chaos Station book 01).  M/M with a long backstory (they were besties from 12 yo on, graduated, didn't see each other for 4 years, met we don't really know how or why or when, became a couple, had 5 days together then one's ship was lost, he was declared killed in action, the other became a prototype super soldier and became inaccessible under layers of red tape). The book starts 8 years after they became a couple, the war with another alien race ended just 6 months priors, they meet again by chance … and blah blah blah, the huge back story doesn't really get explained so we're left floundering in their tortured feelings, it's heavy, and I didn't like their dynamic. One of them is part of a crew that apparently has a Firefly vibe (can't say, I didn't watch it) and that was nice. But when I realized there were 5 books in the series, I read the synopsises and nope, I'm not spending all that reading time on them, they do not interest me enough. DNF at 39%.

    And weaving through it all, there was SHIT, ACTUALLY by Lindy West. Fun fun fun. Made me realise I'm a bit lost on entertainment references (who is Joey Pants?) and taught me new words (gavel! At first I thought it was an acronym…) She ruined some movies for me but she did it so funnily I didn't mind (then again, would I really have wanted to rewatch Face/Off ?? And I never really liked Love, Actually anyway) ; she also made me want to watch The Rock (what I remember most is the music – I bought the soundtrack back in the day, one of my first CD) and Speed again. Reading the book was a bit addictive, at every end of chapter I couldn't help sweeping the page to see which movie was next. I was pretty bummed when I swiped the last and realized it was over…. so I went to her blog and read her newest entry, hehe.

    Happy September everyone! (I love the back to school energy ^^)

  4. Jill Q. says:

    Still having a hard time getting into adult fiction reading, but the 9 year old is really enjoying being my book concierge and recommending all his current favorites (lots of middle grade graphic novels, mostly.) Maybe I’m wrong, but I feel like we’ll only have this short window left where he’ll want to share this stuff with us and I intend to soak it up.

    Just so I wouldn’t feel like a complete fraud trying to talk about books on a romance website, I did sit on the porch in the sunshine yesterday and finish THE SURGEON’S LADY by Carla Kelly. I will say, I feel like she’s an author who writes characters that are a little bit too good to be true sometimes (not flat, just very virtuous and universally loved by everyone), but then again she puts so many external calamities upon them, there certainly isn’t a lack of conflict. This had a widowed heroine who was searching for a new life and I liked that. The hero wasn’t noble, just a simple surgeon for the Navy, so definitely “gritty regency” (with lots of surgery and body injury for those who want to avoid that). It had one moment of putting the heroine in danger which I felt was very manipulative and annoying, but it doesn’t last long and you can see it coming. (I think, YMMV) Very good book and I continue to go back and buy her back list that I haven’t read, so she must be doing something right even though I’m not sure I’ll ever enjoy them as much as I did 10+ years ago. My tastes have changed.

    THE PLAGUE YEAR: AMERICA IN THE TIME OF COVID by Lawrence Wright. Exactly what it says on the tin, so yeah not for everyone. Starts in January of 2020 and ends not long after the Capital Insurrection. It has some short excursions into China to understand how their political situation affected the situation here, but really is mostly about the US. I know it sounds like a grim book and at some times, it was very grim, but I think I really appreciated putting a lot of the last year (which felt like a horrible blur or fever dream) into context. It was a lot about Covid and our country’s very poor response, but not just about Covid directly. It talked a lot about Black Lives Matter protests, the economy, the election, specifically the way Covid impacted them and they did (or didn’t) impact Covid. I feel like Wright does a good job of condemning a lot of Trump and the White House while maintaining a level, journalistic tone.It may sound like a strange analogy, but it really reminded me of one of my favorite books as a kid, A NIGHT TO REMEMBER by Walter Lord. You know the Titanic is going to sink, but when you read it, you understand how the chain of error upon error ended up in a horrible tragedy. Maybe that seems a little too dark for some people, but I’m in a place where I’d rather look back and wonder “why did it turn out this way?” That feels preferable than looking ahead and wondering “what next?” Just the way my brain works.

    CULTISH: THE LANGUAGE OF FANATICISM by Amanda Montell. I picked this s b/c I’m a language nerd and because it met my Book Riot Read Harder Challenge of ‘read a book with a cover you don’t like.’ I think it’s meant to be intentionally ugly/corny, but still. . . This book took a very broad view, not just talking about Heaven’s Gate or Jonestown, but also groups that have “insiders” and “Insider language” like SoulCycle and Mary Kay Cosmetics. And no, she doesn’t see all groups as equally dangerous,but I feel like the broad view helped me understand the general dynamic. Interesting to me as someone who has never been a “joiner.” I grew up in a nonreligious household, my parents were affiliated with no social groups, and I only made it one year in the Girl Scouts begrudgingly. A quick, easy to read nonfiction pick. Also between this and NINE PERFECT STRANGERS on Hulu, I am now freaked out to try even a tame sounding “wellness retreat” which is kind of funny to me b/c that is my jam and has always been a life goal of mine.

    PS Let Melissa McCarthy and Bobby Canavale just do a straight up romantic comedy, you cowards, please and thank you. I will watch them in anything, but I want more flirting and kissing!

  5. Jill Q. says:

    @Arijo and Spacer’s Cinderella, yes I know exactly what you mean! I know everyone has a different threshold for what’s ‘too good to be true.” I often avoid anything that is tagged “Cinderella story” b/c I just often end up feeling emotionally manipulated rather than invested. And I have some sympathy for “too nice, trod-upon”characters (BLUE CASTLE by L.M. Montgomery is one of my favorite books), but I really want to see them get stronger and tougher not just see them beautifully suffer.

  6. FashionablyEvil says:

    Some stuff I really enjoyed recently and one that I did NOT. Note that there are spoilers for the latest Mary Balogh (Someone to Cherish, Harry’s book in the Westcott series) below.

    WHILE WE WERE DATING by Jasmine Guillory. Really, this is just a delight from start to finish. Guillory’s books often have more telling than showing, IMO, but in this one the dialogue really sparkles and the characters are just great.

    HANA KAHN CARRIES ON by Uzma Jalaluddin. I really liked Hana and the representation of her family and culture. That said, there is a LOT of plot crammed into this book—there’s a storyline about Hana’s family restaurant and it’s challenges, Hana’s job in radio and her sketchy coworkers, Islamophobia (x3 major incidents), secret family members, a secret admirer, and that’s just scratching the surface. I guess this is nominally a romance, but it’s much more about Hana figuring out who she is as a Canadian Muslim woman and how she relates to her family—that’s where the story really shines. The romance? Eh. Could have done without it.

    THE HIDDEN PALACE by Helene Wecker. This is the sequel to THE GOLEM AND THE JINNI which I adored. Wecker’s writing is beautiful and her depictions of turn of the century New York and the Middle East are so evocative, but I wasn’t totally sold on the plot here. But I’m not totally sure I care because the writing’s so good.

    LORD OF NIGHT by Erica Ridley. If you’re looking for historical accuracy, this book is definitely not for you. If you can suspend your disbelief, it’s fun—she’s the daughter of a baroness who steals from the ton to support the girls’ school she runs. He’s a Bow Street runner investigating a thief.

    SOMEONE TO CHERISH by Mary Balogh. Honestly, this book might have turned me off Balogh for good, and I’ve normally enjoyed her for slower stories. Spoilers ahoy!

    The bones of the plot are fine—she’s a widow who had a not great first marriage; he’s returned from the Napoleonic wars with some significant physical and mental wounds. Neither of them wants anything serious (we can see how this will go…). But. Lydia’s family is awful. I keep waiting for her to realize that they may say they love her but they’re limited, stifling, and controlling. Nope. Harry has the sisters and cousins and aunts out the wazoo all of whom seem to be present and accounted for by name even when they have no role in the plot. Really, I know this is a big family saga, but it’s too much.
    I also felt like Balogh was almost trolling on gender—so many references to “both genders,” and Avery is a casually misogynist arse about potentially having another daughter.

    But my main complaint is that the villain in this book is a CHILD whom Harry threatens to beat the shit out of in a scene that I found deeply disturbing and Lydia’s all, “Oh you’re so strong and that was so romantic!” No, it’s fucking gross. Not sure I would choose to read another of Balogh’s novels after this one.

    Up next: HELL’S BELLES by Sarah MacLean. Enjoying it so far, but I wish there were more about the titular belles (who are amazing) and less mooning between Sesily and Caleb.

  7. DiscoDollyDeb says:

    Despite on-going hurricane clean-up, I had an epically-good reading fortnight, with not one but two books that went immediately onto my “Favorite Books of 2021” list.

    Part One

    Sierra Simone’s SAINT is a brilliant and beautifully-written second-chance m/m romance with a road-trip element. It’s a candidate for my favorite book of 2021, but there’s no doubt it is problematic and will not be to all readers’ tastes. SAINT is the next book (after PRIEST, MIDNIGHT MASS, and SINNER) in Simone’s series about the Bell brothers and their spiritual, emotional, sexual angst, especially where the Catholic Church is concerned. Although it can be read as a standalone, I really think you need to have read PRIEST and SINNER to get the full impact of SAINT. As in the previous books in the series, SAINT is about the MCs’ conflicted and complicated relationship with the Catholic Church; but in SAINT the complications are thornier because one hero, a monk named Brother Patrick (previously, Aiden Bell), is bisexual and, although it’s been almost five years since he broke up with his lover, Elijah, and became a celibate monk, memories of their relationship and what prompted his decision to join a monastery continue to plague him. Brother Patrick is only a year away from taking his final vows when Elijah appears at the monastery to write a magazine article about the beer the monks brew there. Feelings between the two men flourish once more (although Elijah is engaged to be married—so there is cheating when the two men first reconnect: Elijah cheating on his fiancé and Brother Patrick cheating on God; Elijah eventually breaks up with his fiancé, but Patrick never breaks up with God). Then Elijah accompanies Patrick/Aiden as they visit monasteries in the European countryside (beautifully described in Simone’s lovely, lush language): Elijah continuing to write his article about beer-brewing monks and Patrick searching for a stricter monastic practice to join. But as the men spend more time together, they inevitably fall back into a sexual relationship, which uplifts and destroys them in equal measure; while the events that lead to their breakup are finally explained. SAINT is much more critical than the previous books about the “fundamentally broken” doctrine of the Catholic Church—especially where queer people are concerned—and there are debates about whether a life of monastic prayer, work, silence, service, and celibacy is productive or valuable in a world crying out for true engagement with its problems. The book is also quite blunt about depression and mental health (cw/tw: there is suicide ideation in Aiden’s past and, if you’ve read PRIEST and SINNER, you know what happened to the Bell brothers’ sister). SAINT is profound story about complicated people sincerely questing for spiritual peace but also in deep need of human connection through love and intimacy while continuing to ask themselves if such things are possible within the hierarchical system of the Catholic Church. Key quote (one of many): “Christ…demanded everything of his followers, not the least their certainty that they knew all the shapes of right and wrong in their world.” I know SAINT won’t be for everybody, but I highly recommend it.

    Caitlin Crews’s latest from Harlequin Presents, THE SICILIAN’S FORGOTTEN WIFE, has all of the things I expect in a Crews arranged/revenge marriage HP: handsome & wealthy hero singlemindedly focused on making the heroine pay for perceived damage to his family, smart & practical heroine (a virgin, of course) from a rather isolated background, and operatic levels of angst & heartache. What I was not expecting was the humor in the book—including a couple of laugh-out-loud moments. The basic story is primo Crews HP: the heroine agrees to marry the hero (son of her father’s best friend), unaware that the hero is seeking revenge for what he believes was a terrible betrayal. Once the marriage has taken place, the hero whisks the heroine off to an isolated Italian island where he outlines his plan of revenge—but, before he can implement it, he falls down a flight of stairs, hitting his head in the process; when he awakens, he has amnesia and has no memory of who either he or the heroine is. And so begins a different story—of who the hero would be without the drive for revenge poisoning his mind. The story takes an unexpected twist that I’m going to try to put the next part in the spoiler box (hope it works!):

    Show Spoiler
    The heroine decides to turn the tables and informs the hero that he is her servant and that his greatest joy is serving her. As weeks pass, the hero does everything the heroine tells him he has always done: he cooks for her (he’s a good cook), cleans (he does not like scrubbing floors, although the heroine assures him it is one of his favorite activities), sleeps on a palette on the floor in a small room, reluctantly accepts that the wedding ring he wears is a purity ring that confirms his vow of celibacy (I guffawed at that), and grows to love the heroine—and she, of course, grows to love him, at least the version of him that she has created. Naturally, this being the HP universe, their idyllic life cannot continue indefinitely.

    Eventually, the hero does regain his memory, bringing with it recrimination, renunciation, and the need for resolution. I’ve said before that I think Caitlin Crews is pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable within the Harlequin Presents template. She takes the expected and adds elements that I’ve rarely encountered in HPs. I loved how neatly Crews upends all the the elements of the revenge-marriage and amnesia tropes—and have added the book to my favorites reads of 2021. Highly recommended.

    I was irritated by the hero of Jackie Ashenden’s latest HP, THE WEDDING NIGHT THEY NEVER HAD, because of how he vacillated between adoring the heroine and shutting her out. I’m accustomed to Ashenden’s characters acting out the patterns of their dysfunctional upbringings, but the hero in this book—a formerly dissolute prince who becomes a severe and sober king—can’t decide whether the woman he married on impulse (and then sent away to live alone) years ago is someone he wants to keep as his queen or divorce in order to marry a more “suitable” bride. Meanwhile, the heroine—a shy mathematical genius with limited social skills—also alternates between standing up to her husband and being a doormat. Frankly, I got a little tired of both of them. Jackie Ashenden is one of my queens of angsty heartache, but (despite the promising epigraph from Wallace Stevens, one of my favorite poets) THE WEDDING NIGHT THEY NEVER HAD has a very rote, by-the-numbers feel. I think you can safely skip it unless you’re an HP/Ashenden completist.

  8. DiscoDollyDeb says:

    Part Two

    J. Kenner’s RAVAGED WITH YOU features one of my favorite tropes: the hero is in love with his late best friend’s widow and has been pining for her for years. The book is the seventh in Kenner’s Stark Security romantic-suspense series and includes a lot of OTT violence and many triggers (including the hero’s PTSD and flashbacks to the hero being waterboarded and sexually tortured). The heroine’s husband (from whom she was estranged) has died, apparently by suicide but it quickly becomes clear that he was actually murdered. The heroine and the hero (her husband’s best friend and business partner) have to team up to investigate her husband’s death and to discover the whereabouts of the items for which he was killed. The time-frame of the story is extremely compressed—the h&h are in bed together within a few days of the husband’s death and the story wraps up in less than two weeks—which means the action just keeps coming but also that the MCs seem to have emotional whiplash: one moment mourning the death of the victim, the next having crazy-wild sexy-times against a wall. There are also a lot of check-ins with couples from previous books—and when a series (which itself started as a spinoff of another series) has gone to seven books, that’s a lot of characters to keep up with. A busy book—but recommended if you’re keeping up with the series.

    One of the best things about Allyson Lindt’s MMF-menage romance, THEIR MATCHMAKER (published in 2019), is how realistically flawed all three MCs are. Aaron and Gavin have been in a committed relationship for years; they are both bi and have opened their relationship to others at various times. Although they love each other, cracks are beginning to emerge: Gavin, a former child star, struggles with addiction and periodically falls off the wagon; Aaron, who grew up on the streets running cons for his father, blagged his way to becoming a partner in a Venture Capital firm—every time a deal falls through, he’s afraid his past will be exposed. Each man simultaneously loves and resents the other (Lindt absolutely nails the self-justification/indulgence/resentment/forgiveness cycle of an enabling relationship). Aaron meets Cynthia when she applies to his company for funding to expand the matchmaking algorithm she has developed. Cynthia has a tendency to speak before considering the impact of her words—a trait that has already cost her a dear friendship. Aaron suggests Cynthia use him and Gavin as test subjects for her software—and, surprise!, the closest match for the two men is Cynthia. Aaron, Gavin, and Cynthia do have a couple of hot three-way encounters and eventually grow closer emotionally, but the bulk of the story is really each of the characters coming to terms with how their actions have hurt themselves and others and how they can do better. An interesting book, just as focused on emotional healthy connections than on hot sexy-times. Recommended.

    Sometimes it’s hard for me to remember that Amelia Wilde—who excels at dark romance like her just-completed Beauty & the Beast trilogy—was as recently as 2019 writing much lighter fare, such as her Bliss Brothers series about six brothers who run a destination wedding resort. As much as I’ve enjoyed Wilde’s recent darker works, the fluffier Bliss Brothers books are still worth checking out (although I do have to deduct points for barely a mention of condom usage, birth control, or health status prior to sexual activity in any of the books):

    CRUSH ON YOU: The older Bliss brother tries to corral his brothers into refurbishing their family’s resort. When the new media manager arrives, he discovers she’s the young woman he vaguely knew in high school—unaware that she had a huge crush on him back then. Now the heroine has other secrets.

    STUCK ON YOU: Easy-going events-planner (who never lets anyone see his more serious side) is blind-sided when he’s given a professional events-coordinator to work with for two weeks. Laid-back meets Type-A, with predictable Romancelandia results.

    HOOKED ON YOU: Ironically, the only Bliss Brothers book to mention using condoms is the one with the unplanned pregnancy plot. The hero falls into insta-love/lust with a woman who has a job lined up in New York City—but a month after their smoking-hot one-nighter, the lines on the pregnancy test tell them their plans for the future will have to be adjusted.

    CRAZY ON YOU: Buttoned-down accountant reconnects with the free-spirited woman he loved in college and navigates a second-chance romance while trying to discover where a vast amount of the resort’s money is going.

    LOVE ON YOU: Friends-to-lovers between a couple who have been best friends since junior high school and are afraid becoming lovers will ruin their friendship.

    WISH ON YOU: The mystery as to what has been happening to the resort’s accounts is finally resolved, along with the reappearance of a long-missing Bliss brother who arrives with his wife (whom he married so she would not lose her Montana ranch) in tow.

  9. Sarah says:

    All Romcoms All The Time

    A Lot Like Adiós, While We Were Dating, People We Meet On Vacation

    Also reading Nothing Ever Dies by Viet Thanh Nguyen which talks about memory in the context of the Vietnam War but really can be applied to any large scale event. Who gets remembered and how do they get remembered?

  10. Pear says:

    On my first vacation in some time, and since I missed the last Whatcha Reading due to moving, a few extra books to highlight. Hoping to get lots of fun reading done on this vacation!

    Romance:

    UNTOUCHABLE by Talia Hibbert: as the second full entry in the Ravenswood series, we follow Hannah, Ruth’s sister, as she takes a nanny position with Nate, a widower who’s recently returned to their small town. I’m realizing I trust Hibbert with tropes I’d normally find uncomfortable (here, employer/employee) because she’s not going to completely ignore the power dynamics at play. I liked Hannah and Nate together, and the way this series continues to highlight the good and the bad about small towns. I’ll get to the final book one of these days.

    THE DATING PLAYBOOK by Farrah Rochon: another solid, funny entry in this series, although now I’m realizing I read two contemporaries with employer/employee in a row. Rochon also handled this in a way that didn’t leave me *too* uncomfortable, although Taylor was in a more precarious financial situation and needed to maintain employment as Javon’s personal trainer. The fake dating element felt a little underutilized here somehow, though it did at least move the plot along. Looking forward to London’s book when that is ready!

    HARD KNOCKS by Ruby Lang: the second in the Practice Perfect series, this is nominally billed as enemies-to-lovers, but that felt less present in the overall internal conflict IMO—Helen and Adam don’t feel like enemies for long—though I did enjoy what tension they did have, as two people who have some competing goals. Helen and Adam also had some very athletic sex scenes, and while I tend to skim sex scenes, I slowed down a bit for these. Also, I’m realizing I haven’t read many sports romances recently that *don’t* get into negative issues around sports leagues (wealthy team owners who are jerks, CTE & player safety, etc.). Ruby Lang is going to turn into an autobuy for me if I keep enjoying her contemporaries.

    DEVIL IN DISGUISE by Lisa Kleypas: I’d agree with reviews pointing out a lack of strong internal conflict between the hero and heroine here, although I feel like I’ve seen that more from books published in the last year (perhaps a response to the world being very stressful is to lower fictional stakes). Despite this, I found Merritt and Keir’s story to be charming, the scenes involving the Wallflowers and their families to be fun, and the descriptions of the whisky had me craving some Scotch. Kleypas made this book much hornier than I remember her recent Ravenels books being, but then I disliked CHASING CASSANDRA and perhaps blocked that from my mind more. Also, I haven’t read a historical with a Scottish lead in a while and forgot how committed some authors get with the dialect. Probably best a book for fans of DEVIL IN WINTER.

    THE HEART PRINCIPLE by Helen Hoang: I’m not sure I’d actually classify this as a romance with respect to how much of the plot was focused on the relationship between Anna and Quan versus Anna’s individual issues. I know THE KISS QUOTIENT and THE BRIDE TEST both dealt with some more serious topics/had a little bit more angst than a cartoon cover may imply, but the tone here felt much darker for more of the book. Based on the author’s note at the end, I think this was the book Hoang needed to write, but it’s not what I was expecting based on her previous works and the book marketing.

    THE HELLION’S WALTZ by Olivia Waite: some fun heist elements, beautiful descriptions of the craft involved in making fabric and in composing & playing music, comforting descriptions of families born and found, and of course a strong theme on the rights of workers to collectively bargain and have power within their workplace. That said, there’s almost no internal tension between Sophie and Maddie after a certain point in the book (another example of what I mentioned above re: authors ditching internal conflict? Or perhaps it’s an Avon thing) and I just wanted a bit more.

    Non-Romance:

    FILTHY ANIMALS: STORIES by Brandon Taylor: wonderfully crafted & emotionally wrenching short stories; my favorites were the connected ones. Looking forward to whatever Taylor publishes next.

    OLIO by Tyehimba Jess: one of the most intricately wrought, genre-bending works I have ever read, with enough material here to be a semester’s main discussion material. Jess weaves together history and identity and music and poetry together in absolutely stunning ways.

    BREASTS AND EGGS by Kawakami Mieko: a novel concerned with the state of women in Japan and what choices women do or do not have with respect to their own bodies (exacerbated by circumstances) and the ethics of having children. There are some surreal moments that evoke Murakami, who has praised this novel extensively, and I do think some of the dialect decisions Kawakami made have been lost in translation. Still, I didn’t want to stop reading and it was a good distraction from being on an airplane.

    Currently reading + on deck:
    Listening to HIDDEN FIGURES by Margot Lee Shetterly during my 10k training runs. I haven’t seen the movie and it’s been an informative dive into WWII in the US so far. (I’m like 1/4 of the way in, I guess I’ll get to the space race stuff soon.)

    OUTCROSSING by Celia Lake—will probably start this today, I remember her works getting lots of love on here a few months back, and being on vacation, I feel I have more capacity for reading about new worlds.

  11. Heather M says:

    I read The Hidden Palace by Helene Wecker. I’ve read The Golem and the Jinni several times, but it still took me a while to get into this one. I felt lost for a while, and there was a lot of sort of “greatest worst hits of the early 20th century” going on (Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire! Titanic! Oh and here comes WWI!) that I found rather wearying. Ultimately, though, I did enjoy it a lot. The writing is beautiful, the character work was excellent. It was in the end the story of two people realizing that even though they’re deeply connected, they’re not *good* for each other, and yet they will always love each other. Bittersweet, in a way that felt quite real.

  12. I’m reading BATTLE ROYAL by Lucy Parker, which I am really enjoying. She does grumpy/sunshine so well, and I love all the cake/food talk.

    I’m looking forward to THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS by Ali Hazelwood, which comes out next week. I also have THE HIGHLAND FLING by Meghan Quinn and YOU LUCKY DOG by Julia London waiting on my TBR pile.

    Several folks have also recommended TED LASSO to me. I’m about halfway through season 1, and it is utterly delightful so far. I have no idea how Jason Sudeikis keeps from cracking up while being that relentlessly folksy and cheerful.

    Happy reading, everyone!

  13. KatiM says:

    After Lothaire was featured on sale (spoiler I bought it) I decided to start at the beginning and holy rollercoaster Batman, these books are so fun. Definitely early 2000s paranormal, but just so over the top. Started with The Warlord Wants Forever and then immediately into A Hunger Like No Other. I’m almost done with Hunger and them I have to wait for my prospector hold to come in on the next one. Kresley Cole definitely has me hooked.

    Also listened to the three Rogue Queen novellas by Jessie Mihalick. They were ok but I liked her Consortium books better.

    About halfway through A Deal With the Elf King still by Elise Kova. Sorry book, you got thrown over for Kresley Cole. But I’ll finish you someday. In all seriousness I do like this book. The slow burn understanding between these two characters is such a treat, I don’t even care if they bang.

    Come on Prospector, find my library book!

  14. footiepjs says:

    Echoing Pear regarding The Heart Principle, because, holy shit, that book packed a hell of a wallop. I went in expecting something more like the previous two books. It’s worth reading but I think readers should take care and emotionally gird their loins before reading.

  15. Big K says:

    WAYR! YIPPEE!
    @SBSarah, we’ve all been there. Thank you for putting up the post, even if it’s not in your usual format.
    PSYCHO Onley James and UNHINGED Onley James – My favorite books from the last two weeks. M/M, Umbrella Academy meets Dexter about seven brothers whose family was built by adoption, not birth, and are all sociopaths. Content warnings for everything – very violent, horrible back stories, etc. This is either exactly what you need to escape the real world for a few hours (as it was for me) or for others this world will feel dark, dark, dark, so proceed with caution. Personally, I am really looking forward to the third book, which I preordered.
    GUARDIAN OF CHAOS by Michelle Manus – I enjoyed this slow burn, paranormal, M/F enough so I am upset we only have the first book. Kind of a goofy Innkeeper Chronicles (Ilona Andrews, may you write until the star stop twinkling). Moving toward a HEA, but not there by the end of the book. A little all over the place, but my only real complaint is that I want to binge the rest of the series that has not been written yet. ☹
    SIREN’S SONG by Michelle Manus — Paranormal, M/F – not as strong on Guardian of Chaos, but not bad. Classic “girl can’t trust because there are bad guys after her, but her new guy can help save her from them” book.
    UNDONE by Leslie McAdam – Contemporary, M/M – MC realizes he is bi after falling in love with his new roommate. Seemed to be done pretty well, and I did buy that he was in love, not just lust with the roommate, but this trope is not a favorite of mine. I worry too much about the gay MC being hurt by the MC figuring out their sexuality to enjoy the book, even in Romancelandia.
    ICY PLANET BARBARIANS and BARBARIAN ALIEN by Ruby Dixon – Earth girls kidnapped by aliens and rescued by hunky blue warrior guys, fated mates abound. Predictable and pretty light.
    FALLEN by Suzanne Wright – Paranormal, M/F, main characters are “demons” meaning they each have a separate demon entity within them and a variety of different powers. Very similar to prior books in the series – a little too much so, if you’ve read all of them like I have.
    ADDIE by Raven Kennedy – Shifter, reverse harem contemporary. Playful. Exactly what you’d expect if someone wrote about a bunch of different kind of shifters (predators, mammals, birds, etc.) forming a pack and one of them hooked up with three best friends when she goes into heat.
    Hope everyone is healthy, happy, and safe!

  16. DonnaMarie says:

    I’ve had a some really good books interspersed with some really meh stuff. I may have finally learned my lesson about free Kindle books.

    There was THE SOULMATE EQUATION from the always delightful Christina Lauren. Is love encoded in our DNA? Can the perfect match be just a cheek swab away? Jess is a busy single mom with a difficult history: unknown father, addict mother, deadbeat baby daddy and zero interest in dating. She does have supportive grandparents and a delightful bff, Fizzy, who writes romance novels (if there’s a god, there’s a Fizzy book on our future). Little do they know that the buttoned down, extremely punctual, & very hot man they call “Americano” for his usual drink at the coffee shop they frequent is the lead scientist and driving force behind GeneticAlly, a new dating app based around genetic markers. River Pena is smart driven and not looking for love. He’s set his match percentage so high, there’s never been a hit. Until Fizzy drags Jess to GeneticAlly for research purposes. I think you see where this is going.

    Then there’s was Sally Throne’s SECOND FIRST IMPRESSIONS. Like her other books, this may be a love it/hate it book. I loved it. Sweet Ruthie has taken some pretty hard kicks from life. Imagine losing your virginity on prom night only to have your boyfriend feel so remorseful for his sin that he seeks counselling from his pastor. Your father. She’s built a safe stable life for herself helping run a retirement community, leaving it’s environs only when absolutely necessary. She’s 25 going on 90. Then along comes Teddy, a rich man’s feckless son who can’t pay for his gas. He first mistakes her for an older woman, then compliments her on her costume thinking she’s going to a party. This was a sweet heartfelt book about two people who come to see the other as someone so much more than they see themselves. I actually teared up a little when Ruthie and Teddy finally have a real first kiss.

    Somehow I’ve had THE DO IT LIST on my Kindle for years without actually reading it. I don’t know how this happened. I love Jillian Stone. I was sure I was going into a reread, but, no. Up and coming copy writer Darcie has no time for men. Bradley is the man brought in to ruin a new department at the agency. Smexy emotionally mature romance ensues. And they meet in an elevator. And there’s a power failure.

    Currently I have two books going: Mark Weir’s HAIL MARY, guy wakes up on a space ship with no memory. Story bounces back and forth between the present and his gradually returning memories of his mission, a list ditch effort to save Earth from an invasive alien species that is destroying the sun. And, yes, he has to science the sit out stuff.

    Book two is THE PIRATE CAPTAIN, Chronicles of a Legend by Kerry Lynne. It’s the start of a series that is pretty popular with my Outlander group. I’m only two chapters in, but I’m liking the sense of authenticity and the heroine. It’s been awhile since I read a good pirate romance (side eye to the Darlene Marshall ad), so fingers crossed.

  17. DonnaMarie says:

    Brought in to RUN a new department. Auto correct slips one by me again.

  18. DonnaMarie says:

    Science the SHIT out of stuff. Away to ruin a reference autocorrect.
    I really do proof read, I swear.

  19. DonnaMarie says:

    WAY to ruin. Someone make it stop!!!!

  20. JenM says:

    I’ve mentioned this before, but Regine Abel has a SF Romance series that I’m really loving because unlike the usual fated mate, often dub con, alien abductions, etc. this series features genuine and mutual respect between two very alien species (a human female and a typically VERY alien male). Her newest release is I MARRIED A NAGA with a lovely cinnamon roll hero, determined to win his human mate’s heart after she saves his young nephew, but then has to marry him to avoid punishment because she broke several laws to rescue the boy.

    A caution though, the hero has snakelike characteristics with a hood, a serpent tail (no legs) complete with rattle, scales, and a forked tongue. Personally, I love snakes, but YMMV. The author did a good job with her world building and in envisioning what their society would look like. For example, they only eat once every few weeks and it’s not a fun process, so their dwellings have no kitchens or bathrooms and the hero initially doesn’t realize that the heroine needs to eat and eliminate several times a day. Those are the kind of details I love to see in an alien romance.

  21. Kate says:

    I’m on quite a romance roll lately, plugging my way through Psy-Changeling interspersed with trying to make inroads on my Kindle backlog.

    UNTIL YOU by Jeannie Moon – thanks to those who recommended this to me as a not erotic sports romance. So much going on in this book! I thought the subplot with the daughter’s secret relationship could have been cut, but otherwise quite enjoyable and All The Feels.

    PSY-CHANGELING by Nalini Singh 1-4 – I’m more captivated by the overarching plot than the individual relationships at the moment as there’s a bit too much insta-hots and disrepect of boundaries, but excited to keep going. My library hold on #5 should arrive today.

    ON POINTE by Shelly Ellis – inadvertent younger man/older woman theme going on here! I liked the dance school setting and the characters, but wasn’t thrilled that much of the non-romance plot continues in the next 2 MacLaine Girls novellas.

    Continuing our theme with 40-LOVE by Olivia Dade – I’ve been getting back into watching tennis this year so this was a fun read, laugh-out-loud funny and very sweet. I just didn’t quite buy Lucas being 26–maybe28 or 29?

    ARCHER’s SIN by Amy Raby – picked this up solely because archery and it was fine as a quick insomnia read. It’s a side story from a longer fantasy series and while the worldbuilding is cool, the central conflict got wrapped up way too neatly with a bow on top at the end.

    Non-romance: OPEN by Andre Agassi – finally finished the audio which was long but very interesting. I loved his sarcastic sense of humor. Gave me a whole new perspective to watching pro tennis, especially the added element of social media that wasn’t even a thing when Agassi played but certainly is weighing heavily on athletes now like Naomi Osaka.

  22. Kareni says:

    Since last time, week by week ~

    — Nora Roberts’ The Awakening: The Dragon Heart Legacy, Book 1 which I somehow managed to miss last year. I enjoyed it.
    — Holdout: A Novel by Jeffrey Kluger; this is a just published science fiction book that I enjoyed.
    — Wayward Souls (Souls of the Road Book 1) by Devon Monk; I enjoyed this paranormal novella and hope to read on in the series.

    — Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris for my distant book group. I have somewhat mixed feelings about this book — early in the book, the narrator says something to the effect that ‘you are probably wishing I would just get to the point’ and I could identify with that thought. It’s the second book I read recently that centered to a large extent on a child, in this case a nine year old in world war two era France.
    — I’m participating in a challenge on another site where I need to read a book by a new to me author; I read four.

    Playing the Palace by Paul Rudnick
    Featured a romance between Carter, an American assistant event planner and Edgar, crown prince of England. It was entertaining and made me chuckle several times; however, I also considered putting it aside after 100 pages. It takes place in the US and the UK. I’d describe it as an almost closed door romance.
    **
    Sunshine & Shadows by K.C. Wells
    Two men, best friends until age thirteen, meet by chance a dozen years later. Jamie works from home in web design and is a talented artist; when he was 18, a drunk driver caused a spinal injury that has him in a wheel chair. Jamie is the Sunshine in the title. Stephen works as an accountant in a business his father is starting; he has had some bad relationships and carries a lot of Shadows. Jamie offers his guest room while Stephen house hunts and the men reconnect as friends and then more. There is frank discussion of the daily life of someone who deals with paralysis (physically and emotionally) and also of the challenges and rewards associated with intimacy. I enjoyed this book, but I don’t expect to reread it.
    **
    Heart of Gold: A Summer Olympics Romance by Anna Martin
    This book takes place at the (fictional) 2020 Olympics in Tokyo in 2020 in a non pandemic world which was a little jarring. This was a romance between two men (one Canadian, one American) who were just starting a relationship at the 2012 Olympics when one was in an accident that resulted in a spinal injury. They reconnect at the 2020 Olympics where one is competing and the other is a commentator. I liked the emotional connection between the two leads and could imagine rereading this.
    **
    A Rational Arrangement by L. Rowyn
    This lengthy fantasy featuring a polyamorous relationship takes place in a world similar to the regency era (arranged marriages, the season, homosexuality punishable by death), but with differences such as the Blessed (who can heal or build) and sentient talking Greatcats. Our three leads are Lord Nikola (Blessed in mind healing, poor-ish), Lord Justin (wealthy, charming), and Wisteria (intelligent, neurodiverse). When the story begins, the two men have been secretly intimate for years, and Lord Nikola’s family is pressing him to marry a wealthy woman. Throughout the book each character develops a relationship with the others. I REALLY enjoyed this book and plan to read more by the author. (Caution: one violent scene)

  23. KatiM says:

    @JenM I had seen those Regine Abel books in Kindle Unlimited but hadn’t picked any up. Just borrowed the Naga romance. I had really loved Ann Aguirre’s Strange Love because of how Ann had to make a realistic romance work with an alien that is more bug like than human. Happy to see others are continuing with those types of stories.

  24. Vivi12 says:

    I just devoured the latest book by Rosalind James in her Escape to New Zealand series, Just One Look. All the books are centered on rugby players in NZ, and the setting is a big part of the draw. The heroine is a talented neurosurgeon who goes to NZ after her boyfriend breaks up with her because she’s always working. The hero is a great rugby player whose body is wearing out. They both have almost unbelievably bad upbringings to overcome. There is also an almost archaic emphasis on perfume that seemed like a throwback to the 80s. The whole series is on KU and I end up reading each new one as it comes out.
    Elizabeth Vaughan’s Warprize was an enjoyable fantasy romance, which is part of a 6 book series.(I have to admit I skipped the world building first few pages when I was checking it out before buying, planning to read it when I had the book but I never have)
    Like.many others I picked up CM Nascosta’s Morning Glory Mailing Farm, about a human in a partially integrated society with all kinds of different creatures, who works at a minataur milking station since minataur semen is used in making viagra. I like it enough to read her Girls Weekend, about 3 elves that go to a nudist Orc resort. Adventures ensue, shenanigans etc.
    I have just started Bombshell by Sarah Maclean, which I like so far but there’s some at the very least danger kissing, maybe banging? I don’t know because it stressed me out and I’ve paused. It’s so good I’ll definitely pick it up again soon.

  25. Janice says:

    Currently reading “A Highlander Walks Into a Bar” by Laura Trentham which is mildly cute and “The Heart Principle” by Helen Hoang which is slow burn and hella angsty but lightly leavened with her excellent character-based humour.

    Finished “Second First Impressions” by Sally Thorne which I found so forgettable that I had to work to recall what it was about while I was reading it. I still don’t get what was on with the hero: did he change and grow through the story at all or just had to find out he was perfect all along?

    I mostly enjoyed “His Accidental Countess” by Annie Burrows. The heroine and hero share similarities that they come to understand. There’s a silly bit of villainy but otherwise just self-inflicted wounds as they struggle towards a relationship.

    “Devil in Disguise” by Lisa Kleypas threw me badly in the last chapters where the buildup to dealing with the long-standing threat to the hero and their future was dispatched without any real excitement. Meh.

  26. Jcp says:

    I highly recommend Undone by Leslie McAdams a sweet and hot M/M story
    I’m reading Loving the Marquess by Suzanne Medeiros which is still free in kindle also a sweet but hot historical romance

  27. I started rereading the Westcott series by Mary Balogh, after plowing through the Survivor’s Club series over the previous two weeks. So far, I have reread the first two books, Someone to Love and Someone to Hold. I am enjoying them, but unsure if I will push through a reread of the entire series before starting the one that comes out this fall.

    A few weeks ago, I discovered the SPI Files series by Lisa Shearin. This is my kind of urban fantasy, fun and action-packed and not too dark or angsty. I began with book 7, The Solstice Connection, because the author very kindly gave me a review copy. I promptly went on Amazon to buy rest of the series; I’m currently finishing up book 2. The series is described as “Men in Black with supernatural creatures” (instead of aliens), and that’s definitely the right vibe. The heroine, Makenna “Mac” Fraser, is a seer who starts out with no training in law enforcement, combat, or self-defense. As SPI’s only seer, she is immediately thrust into some pretty dangerous situations, and assigned a seasoned human partner for protection. Shearin draws on all sorts of mythologies and fantasy tropes for her nonhuman creatures, both sentient and not; it’s a hodgepodge of cultures and backgrounds, much like the series’ New York City setting. Mac’s boss is literally a dragon-lady whose chief of staff is a vampire, Mac’s driver and backup bodyguard is a werewolf, SPI’s chief technology guy is an elf, and in the first book, they are fighting a plague of grendels. It’s a wild ride, and I’m thoroughly enjoying it.

    I’m listening to Anna Lee Huber’s Lady Darcy novels, a historical mystery series set in 1830s Scotland and England. The books are wonderfully atmospheric, with a decidedly gothic feel, complete with a heroine who gets herself into dangerous situations she could have avoided with a little common sense and forethought. I figured out the first two mysteries well before the heroine and her investigative (and slow-burn romantic) partner did, but kept listening because I’m invested in the characters and their relationship, and because I’m enjoying the narrator’s reading. She handles the various accents and voices pretty well, barring the occasional mispronunciation or oddly placed emphasis. The third mystery is proving more challenging, and the heroine, while still strong-willed, is behaving at least a little more sensibly, so even my mild quibbles with the first two books are being overcome. I will definitely be continuing with the series.

  28. Jcp says:

    I was scrolling through my Amazon wish (like I really need to buy anything but I like to check frequently for price drops) when did publishers think it was okay to price an ebook or a paperback for that matter at $8.99 when it was $6.99 a month ago?

  29. Midge says:

    @FashionablyEvil – you are so right about Mary Balogh! The having to have ALL the family and characters from the series in there and enumerating all their offspring – it was like she was just rattling it off for the sake of it. Already bothered me in the previous book and in the last one it was just wayyyy too much! I have been a MB fan since forever, but her latest felt a little meh. Not throw at the wall bad, but just… meh.

  30. denise says:

    Reading the ARC of Love and Latkes by Stacey Agdern.

  31. Quinn Wilde says:

    I just tore through Mrs. Gaskell’s Wives & Daughters. It’s a 19th century novel, not a romance, but I found the secrets of each character that are slowly revealed over the course of its pages to be so compelling, I couldn’t put the book down! I thought North & South was well-done, but loved this one so much more.

  32. Deborah says:

    THE SICILIAN’S FORGOTTEN WIFE by Caitlin Crews – So frustrating. The middle part of the story, in which the hero suffers from amnesia, is mostly excellent (and occasionally hilarious). But the set-up and the resolution are just weak. This heroine is not docile enough to have found herself in the clutches of a man whose mustache-twirling revenge fantasies are built on the lies of a transparently untrustworthy source. Maybe I misplaced my HP-strength suspension of disbelief goggles. [B]

    ACTING UP and METHOD ACTING by Adele Buck – Buck’s Center Stage series details the romantic lives of theater professionals. The defensive and contentious heroines don’t work for me, but I enjoyed the egocentric actress serving as the stock troublemaker. Method Acting was a particular disappointment because I was more interested in the hero’s career as a political lobbyist for STEM issues than the heroine’s career as an actress. [C+]

    FIGHT OR FLIGHT by Samantha Young – This came under fire in a recent sale post, so I had to check it out for myself (thank you, public library). It’s every bit as awful as the commenters suggested, and — honestly — the male lead’s attitude about abortion doesn’t even factor into that judgment for me. He’s just a douchebag and why the heroine would imprint on him after the way he treated her (and caused her to be treated by others) is a mystery I have no interest in solving. [F]

    I’ve also spent the last two weeks re-reading selections from Kristen Ashley’s Rock Chicks, Dream Man, Colorado Mountain, and The ‘Burg series (plural suggestions: serieses, seriae). I can snark at Kirsten Ashley books for days (the alphaholes, the excessive wardrobe descriptions and the superficial values they signal, the appropriation of Black Vernacular English, the cringeworthy stereotyping of non-white, non-cis, non-het characters), so I want to state clearly that while much of my reading pleasure comes from MST3K-style interaction with the books, I wouldn’t bother reading them if I didn’t also love Ashley’s style of emotional drama. I don’t respect most of these women, but that doesn’t stop me from feeling their pain and enjoying their petulance. However, this read-through soon became focused on identifying the worst of the worst Ashley heroes. Is it…

    1) the guy who keeps telling the heroine she’s broken and he’s going to fix her?
    2) the divorced single father who dumps the heroine after he discovers she was sexually assaulted as a teenager and he feels like she hasn’t dealt with the trauma so he wants to keep her away from his kids?
    3) the man who blames his ex-wife for not fighting for their relationship when he used emotional distance deliberately to drive their marriage to divorce? (Note: the ex is not the heroine. If she were, this would be a pretty good set-up for a reconciliation romance in which the hero learns to take responsibility for his poor behavior. But, no. The heroine here is the woman who is willing to do the emotional heavy lifting in a relationship…though this heroine didn’t get to say “you’re broken and I’m gonna fix you.”)

  33. Kris says:

    I’m reading Aunty Lee’s Delight by ovidia yu. Quite enjoying it.

    I read Murder on Cold street by sherry Thomas and skimmed it. I think I might be done with the series.
    I reread Devil in disguise thinking maybe I was in a crappy mood the first time around but I disliked it even more this time. Once Sebastian appeared, it became his book. Im also tired of previous characters showing up and having the author explain who they all are.

    The only romance books I love to read anymore are all written by KJ Charles .

  34. Kit says:

    Downloaded the Regine Abel book but there’s another snake-like alien series by Naomi Lucas. Both on KU so will try them out, as I’m a little tired of the six foot six blue aliens rescuing “females” and instantly deciding they’re their fated mate. A little character development.

    Progress in reading is slow due to getting four year old ready for school (they start early in the UK but it’s very similar to kindergarten the first couple of years) and all the associated panic with that. Tried and failed to read Zoe Chant’s latest series (stonefire dragon) but couldn’t get into it. It was based more on individual people rather than a team and lacked the usual banter. I found out that she is actually a group of authors. They’re quite open about it on their website (unlike another prolific author of PNR who I won’t mention here that’s written hundreds of books in five years, I’ll let you guess). Maybe it’s one of the authors in the collective who I just don’t like the writing style of?

    I’ve tried and failed to read some other PNR but have reached the point where anything written in 1st POV is off-putting. These often have lots of info dumps and feature heroes and heroines with attitude. I don’t get the gradual revelation of the world building that I enjoy. One Book I’m a third of the way through that I am enjoying so far is the Vampires Mate by Valerie Twombly. Enjoying the slow reveal and fated mates element (so far without stalking hero and both MC’S reluctant to form a relationship).

    That’s it for now, hopefully next time I’ll manage to finish a book!

  35. Crystal says:

    :::strolls in humming the Avengers theme:::

    The kid is watching selected episodes of What If…? again. She’s on the T’Challa as Star-Lord episode, which was lovely.

    Let’s see. We’ll start off with the fact that I continued my trek through the Sebastian St. Cyr series with Where Shadows Dance. I always enjoy Sebastian’s tendency to just dismantle the folks that would kill him, I liked the dilemma of him trying to solve a murder when he can’t tell anyone how he knows it’s a murder, and I’m really enjoying this slow realization between him and Hero that they may actually be perfect for each other. Then I went headfirst into The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang. Her books are just gangbusters on the autism rep, and I loved me some Quan (not that I didn’t love Quan before). There was a point in the last third of the book where it got a bit hard to read, and I gave myself a video game break (Luigi’s Mansion 3 at the moment), and then I just finished it, and the compassionate, but realistic, treatment of mental health was first-rate. Then, because sometimes you want something that you just know is going to work for you, and I had been holding onto Captured by Beverly Jenkins for just that purpose. This one had A LOT of plot, but Jenkins can handle plot, and as usual, I really enjoyed the history and characters. Also, she’s great at having villains get theirs in very fitting ways, and I am a bloodthirsty sort when it comes to that sort of thing. And now I’ve just started a library copy of The Tyrant’s Tomb by Rick Riordan. His Apollo series is another one that I am working my way through, and I do love a mythology twist. So until next time, yes, just be patient, eventually you will beat the ghost in LM3 that is playing the piano and kicking your tiny green ass.

  36. Susan/DC says:

    I’ve read several current best sellers lately, with Laura Dave’s “The Last Thing He Told Me” the most recent. It’s well done and exciting, although I had a few problems with it. Hannah’s husband Owen has disappeared, but manages to smuggle her a note that says simply “Protect her”. Hannah knows Owen would do anything for his 16 y.o. daughter Bailey. She also soon realizes that Owen isn’t who he said he was, but she also knows that she understands who he is at heart even if he isn’t exactly the person he presents to the world. I understood his desire for revenge on the person he thought had caused a tragic event, but I didn’t understand why others didn’t go after the actual perpetrators. I also recently finished S.A. Cosby’s “Razorblade Tears”, and there is a parallel situation here that is not followed through, and I didn’t understand why not. Sorry to be so cryptic, but I don’t want to give away spoilers. Also, the motive for an action that starts the wheels of the plot turning is a $6 billion fine, and I find that laughably small for a large American corporation to be upset about. We common folk look at these numbers as unimaginably large, but for Exxon or BP or Amazon or Apple, $6 billion is more than a rounding error but tiny compared to their revenues and profits. So, a good book but one with bits and pieces that pulled me out of the story.

  37. Karin says:

    I’ve had a mostly meh couple of weeks. I did like Andrea Penrose’s “Murder at the Royal Botanic Gardens”, even more than the previous books in the series. It’s a lot of fun, and both the main and side characters continue to develop. I DNF’d “Rosalie Palmer Takes the Cake”. I don’t enjoy self-deprecating heroines, although I know many loved it. I should have guessed it would not be for me, since I also DNF’d The Great British Baking Show, after like, 10 minutes.
    “Not the Duke’s Darling” (Eliabeth Hoyt) was OK, but not great. It took me a little while to warm up to the heroine. Then, once I did, the book seemed to end much too soon. That was the psychological effect of reading a big fat paperback, and thinking I still had a good 1/3 of the story to go, and suddenly it was THE END, followed by a lightweight Grace Burrowes novella of over 150 pages!
    But I am now really enjoying “The Once and Future Duke” by Caroline Linden. The heroine is a professional gambler.

  38. KB says:

    @Lark thank you for the Lisa Shearin rec–adding to my Goodreads TBR immediately!

    I’ve had a pretty good couple of weeks for reading. Finished SIX OF CROWS by Leigh Bardugo, which took me a while but was worth it. My 11 year old blew through it in 2 days, but then again she has me to feed and shelter her so she has plenty of free time to read! Then I read SEVEN DAYS IN JUNE by Tia Williams. Y’all. I LOVED THIS BOOK. It is rare for a book to actually make me laugh out loud and this one did, several times, but it did not shy away from serious subjects either (check trigger warnings before reading). I thought the description of the female MC’s medical disability was so on point and I loved her journey toward taking ownership of her condition by the end of the book. I am learning that the way to my reader heart is snappy banter between characters, and this book excelled in that department. Also in the last couple weeks I read ONE WILD NIGHT WITH HER ENEMY, a Harlequin Presents by Heidi Rice. It was mostly forgettable. And I finished MAGIC BITES by Ilona Andrews, first in the Kate Daniels series. There were a couple of scenes that really, really bothered me but I love their writing so much–the way it just propels you forward through the story is amazing! Very excited to dive into the rest of that series. At the moment I’m about midway through NEON GODS by Katee Robert. It’s been a struggle to wrap my brain around the world-building here and I feel like there are some big parts that just got hand-waved away but no denying, this book is H-O-T.

    Next up I have THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME by Laura Dave and BATTLE ROYAL by Lucy Parker! Library holds FTW!

  39. Stefanie Magura says:

    I’ve been busy for the past few weeks, for reasons which I’ve detailed in the comments to other posts, but I ho[e to finish Stella Riley’s Roundheads & Cavaliers series soon. I gave my thoughts on the first two books which I posted about in August Part two after reading them.

  40. Emma L says:

    Aaah! This has turned into one of the most expensive comment strings I have ever read (even on SBTB!).
    Thank you everyone.
    Feels wrong to just take from the comments without adding my own recently read books, so here you are.
    I love me some NATASHA ANDERS – she can set the hero up and make them grovel like no other, in a way I find very satisfying. I just discovered THE BEST NEXT THING (loved it, but TW for heroine recovering from VERY abusive relationship with flashbacks), then MORE THAN ANYTHING (also enjoyed it, though incompetence of heroine was frustrating at times, even allowing for emotional scars; TW for baby loss). Now part way through NOTHING BUT THIS, but finding it frustrating as it is set concurrently with MORE THAN ANYTHING, following the brother/bff couple, and so I have “seen” so much of the story already. Trying to finish it (even though the books I have bought because of the above comments are calling me!).
    Normally I love KRISTEN ASHLEY (though @Deborah’s comment above is very true and made me laugh/think), but I found CHASING SERENITY (after reread of AFTER THE CLIMB) a bit hard going. I think it is because she is trying to blur too many lines in this one and I am not in agreement with her – e.g. the “bad uncle” is not so bad, cheating should be forgiven, acting as a fixer/intrusive PI is fine if intentions are good… I might forgive some of those, but it was crossing a line for me when all together. Also the set up for the books involves someone “committing suicide”, and I don’t like that terminology, which she uses. As the family peacemaker and appeaser/rock, the heroine in CHASING SERENITY was making me feel seen as well, and I am not sure I enjoyed that.
    I have also been rereading TALIA HIBBERT and her Small Town Romance/Ravenswood Series, which I love. I found her as part of my efforts to read authentic books by diverse authors, and I am really pleased I did. I would encourage @Pear above to read the third, as I think it is my favourite.
    Finally, I saw on SBTB that Lucy Parker had BATTLE ROYAL out. She has quickly become an auto buy for me, and I did really enjoy the book, though I am wondering if her pairings are getting a bit too repetitive (misunderstood/grouchy hero who is famous and very good at his job learns to love despite his tortured past because he can’t resist overly chipper up-and-coming, in his field, heroine with heart of gold).
    Going to stop there, though I could go on as I am in a book-binge mood at the moment, and seem to be constantly in the bad decisions book club.

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