It’s October! My favorite month! I love the cooler temperatures in New England, the changing leaves, and breaking out my fall wardrobe, which I look much cuter in than my summer attire. It’s hard to make boob sweat fashionable.
We hope your reading selections have been bountiful and squee-worthy! If not, you’re always welcome to kvetch in the comments.
Shana: I’m reading Office Hours by Katrina Jackson ( A | BN | K | AB ) and it is fulfilling all my Hot Professor needs. I highly recommend it if you need some counter-programming to The Chair. You still get academic antics, but with a love interest who’s actually worth swooning over.
Amanda: I brought Neon Gods for my flight. Will I actually read instead of sleep? Who’s to say!
Catherine: I am reading all the Sarina Bowen hockey romances because I am recovering from a broken ankle, and the first novel in her Ivy Years series has a hero on crutches and a heroine in a wheelchair and it is comforting to read stories in which people are dropping their crutches or trying to manage the logistics of carrying things without falling over. And it turns out I can’t read one hockey romance without immediately reading eight more. (NB: I have never in my life seen a game of ice hockey. Not sure whether doing so would enhance my appreciation or diminish it…)
Elyse: I’m reading Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao and it’s the bloodthirsty feminist rage book I needed
Sneezy: Making my way through the audiobook of Conflict is Not Abuse by Sarah Schulman. ( A | BN | K )
I’ve tried to listen/read it several times now, and it’s hard for me because ADHD and the book opens with real life racial violence as an example to ground the ideas Schulman is introducing and synthesizing. I’ve heard other people learning a lot from it, so I’m trying to trundle my way through.
Claudia: I just finished The Runaway Duchess by Joanna Lowell, ( A | BN | K ) which is scheduled to come out early next year. I enjoyed this one quite a bit — unlikeable heroine who remains unlikeable, which was refreshing to me.
Sarah: I’m reading the Wrexford and Sloane series by Andrea Penrose, ( A | BN | K | AB ) which are historical mystery. I am enjoying them a lot, though I should not mainline a series because my brain loves patterns and starts to pick out quirks and repeated elements in the writing. I like the character evolution immensely, though.
EllenM: I’m reading The Devil You Know, ( A | BN | K ) the second mercenary librarians book, and I think I like it even more than the first one so far! A good mix of action and angst and suspense and LONGING.
I also just finished Blood and Ember by Isabel Cooper, ( A | BN | K ) the third book in the Stormbringer series. I thought it was a strong series ender and I liked seeing more of the fantasy world Cooper created, although I did think it had the weakest romance of the trilogy.
Shana: Ooh, is that Maya and Gray’s book? I’m reading the first Mercenary Librarians book now, and I keep wishing I was reading Maya’s story instead.
EllenM: Yes it is! and haha yeah I loved the premise and action of the first one but I found myself more invested in both Maya and Dani than Nina (sorry Nina!!!).
Shana: Saaaame! Dani and Maya 4 ever
Carrie: Same!
Tara: I’m reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower ( A | K | G | AB | Au ) and it’s very cute.
Tara: I also started reading Squad by Maggie Toluda-Hall and Lisa Sterle tonight and I gobbled the whole thing in one sitting. Dang, that was fantastic.
Carrie: I’m reading Cackle by Rachel Harrison ( A | BN | K )and it’s really ruining my productivity I can tell you.
So, whatcha reading? Tell us below!
First, I want to say a big Thank You to Heather C for mentioning the Maz Maddox m/m dinosaur shifter series last month – I one-clicked the first book right away and loved it.
Here are the highlights of the last 2 weeks. Lots of 4 star / B something grades.
Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers – B/B+ f/f contemporary
I wouldn’t call this a romance, although there is a love story with a nice hfn ending – the blurb led me to expect more of a romance than I got. I’d call it more of a coming of age story, even though the MC is 28.
The Larks Still Bravely Singing by Aster Glenn Gray – B+?
This is beautifully written, with a deceptively simple surface and many hidden depths. And yet I didn’t enjoy reading it as much as I’ve enjoyed AGG’s other books (and I think I’ve read almost all of them). It was a little stressful, frankly, to read about two damaged and wounded young men struggling to deal with the aftermath of a wasteful war and current global pandemic. It hit a little close to home.
This is a very slow burn romance that doesn’t follow typical mm romance conventions. In many ways the romance is built on the MCs slowly (slowly) letting down their guards and defenses and allowing a little intimacy to develop.
Sweethand (Island Bites, #1) by N.G. Peltier – B- (and an A for the cover!)
Opposites attract / forced proximity m/f bi romance set in Trinidad. This was a lot of fun. I loved the bi male rep. But I was annoyed by the big miscommunication (seriously – don’t just think about talking to each other, actually do it).
Sailor Proof (Shore Leave #1) by Annabeth Albert – B
Tropey, fluffy fake dating mm romance (with only one bed at a family reunion). I enjoyed it but it didn’t stay with me.
Smash & Grab (RELIC #1) by Maz B+
Gay dinosaur shifter romance. There’s really not much else to say. This was delightfully ridiculous – a book that doesn’t take itself too seriously but also doesn’t insult the readers intelligence. It’s the book equivalent of a summer blockbuster movie.
Definitely not for everyone. Read the sample – it’s first person dual narration and the dinosaur shifter character does describe hunting animals in his dino form.
I paused the Psy-Changeling series at #8 (first readthrough like @Penny) to pick up Elvira/Cassandra Peterson’s new autobiography, CRUELLY YOURS. She has had such an interesting life!
Since finishing “The Lights on Knockbridge Lane” by Roan Parrish, I’ve circled back to read the others. I read “Better Than People” and most of “Best Laid Plans” yesterday. So far I think “Best Laid Plans” is winning as my favorite. “Lights” seemed to set up the next book being about River (the enby sibling (they/them) of Adam in “Lights”) and the handsome guy running the Christmas tree farm.