It’s November! And the holiday season and food comas are on marching toward us.
Are you the type to dive into the fervor of the season, or more likely to curl up with a book and shun all contact?
Shana: I’m in the middle of Tempest by Beverly Jenkins. It might be my favorite Jenkins! It’s definitely has my new favorite Jenkins couple. The book opens with a fiery mail order bride shooting her intended, and it’s kept me continually entertained ever since. Clearly the groom got more than he bargained for.
Carrie: I’m reading John Eyre by Mimi Matthews ( A | BN | K ). Not great as a Jane Eyre retelling (it lacks the character development) but a super fun spooky gothic!
Elyse: I’m reading A Holly Jolly Diwali by Sonya Lalli ( A | BN | K ) and I’m loving it…that is when the cat lets me have my book.
Kiki: I was deeply craving audiobooks and none of the ones I had on hold looked like they were going to come in soon, so I borrowed two others. Only to have two of my holds come in. So I currently have like 48 hours of audiobooks to listen to, which I personally feel is an excellent problem to have. I’m just starting Down Comes The Night by Allison Saft which is a gothic YA.
So…whatcha reading? Tell us in the comments below!
I’ve just downloaded Prime Minister since it’s free on kindle. There’s enough talk on here to make me curious about it! So thanks for that. I’m currently reading the books I borrowed on KU before it expires. I got an extra three months for the price of one but it’s too expensive to justify the monthly cost, ditto audible (which I also cancelled once I bought the books I wanted). Unfortunately, I now subscribed to Disney plus on a cut price trial despite vowing never to give any money to “The Mouse™”! But after spending every Saturday rolling my eyes at every film netflix/prime has to offer (why does every film consist of animals shouting all the way through it or Barbie?) I gave in. We watched Cinderella yesterday, I didn’t realise how much they focused on the mice than the humans! I suppose I will see what the fuss about the Mandarlorian is about sometime.
I obviously picked a very bad time to read catch up on Wacha Reading. My house is quiet and only the animals are bothering me, so I’ve been madly clicking away and buying far too many titles to add to my TBR mountain. Thanks a lot, Bitchery! (But as an aside from my quick shopping, @JillQ – how LUCKY is it for an author to have Stephen King blurb one’s book!)
@FashionablyEvil – I completely agree with your assessment of The Heart Principle. I read it more than six weeks ago, but reading your review brings up the lingering sense of misery that filled me during so much of that book.
I think it’s been a while since I commented since I often don’t read the posts til days after the comments have started, but my best reading of late was STATE OF TERROR by Hilary R Clinton and Louise Penny. Not a romance (you knew that) but a fantastic on-the-edge-of-your-seat thriller (suspense?) that simultaneously celebrates a most glorious friendship between two marvelously strong women. I loved it.
Fun and romantic: THE EX HEX by Erin Sterling and TRUE OF HEART by Marth Keyes. Lots of readers have written of the Ex Hex and Sterling’s other YA work. I went into it not expecting much but was delightfully surprised all around and heartily recommend it. True of Heart is a delightful retelling of Twelfth Night and the third in the author’s Shakespeare series. I listened to the audio version and enjoyed the character development immensely. The author’s adaptation to the regency period was skillfully done. Of course this is a time-honored tale of gender switching for the sake of plot, so I admire the author in taking it on when I can envision readers eager to pounce with accusations of bias or insensitivity. In this telling, the heroine poses as a man in a desperate attempt to save her family from economic ruin. She and the hero become close, but there are no intimations of sexual awareness/attraction on his part until he discovers her ruse.
And most recently (and this falls in the category of how-in-the-world-did-this-book-end-up-in-my-queue-but-I’m-so-glad-it-did): THE FORTY RULES OF LOVE by Elif Shafak. The book chronicles the dissatisfaction and gradual awakening of a middle-age American wife and mother through her exposure to the tales of 13th century Rumi. It’s not a romance, but it’s definitely a discourse on the many facets of love. I preferred the historical sections to the contemporary ones, but I’m sure elements of the story will remain in my consciousness for a long time.
@Vicky: I know what you mean about wanting to see the art created by characters in books. I just finished Amelia Wilde’s DARK REIGN: it’s a dark romance and is the first book in what will be either a duet or trilogy and it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but the heroine is an artist and the hero is an art collector. The book features scenes where the heroine is creating paintings of the ocean and Wilde’s descriptions are so vivid, I wanted to see those canvases! There are also scenes where the hero (very much a deeply-troubled dark-romance hero) is looking at his surroundings and imagining how they would be translated into art. In fact, I would love to show DARK REIGN’s lush and evocative opening pages to anyone who thinks romance novels are nothing but sloppily-written mommy-p*rn.
@Kit: I liked all four of Booth & Haller’s Frisky Beavers books, but my favorite was FULL MOUNTIE, which is an MMF-romance and hot-hot-hot, but also has a nice emotional balance as these three people (who appear as supporting characters in the other books) try to negotiate their path forward. For those who might not know, Ainsley Booth is also Zoe York, who writes more mainstream, small-town romances, such as her Wardham or Pine Harbour series. The books she publishes as Ainsley Booth are far more on the erotic end of the spectrum and often have a suspense element, such as her Forbidden Bodyguards series.
@DDD, I hope we will get to see your missing post!
@Kareni: It showed up—it had gone to comment moderation. I think it’s at comment #4.
@Jeannette: Thanks for the recommendations!
:::tumbles in in a pre-grad haze:::
Semester almost over. MIS almost achieved. Brain entirely fried.
Let’s see, I jumped off reading The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz. Very clever, I can see why he gets a lot of comparisons to Dame Agatha. One of the most interesting aspects of the book was the insertion of himself as a character solving the mystery alongside his fictional (maybe?) detective. I remember Googling a few things because I was trying to figure out what was fiction and what was actually real. Then, because why not get emotionally wrecked, I read Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby. It involve two men, both ex-felons, that come together after the deaths of their sons, who were married to each other. One man is white, one is black, and both regret their relationships with their sons, which were strained due to their lack of understanding and compassion about their sexuality. They basically decide to work out their guilt and rage by teaming up, finding out who killed their sons, and killing them bloody. It was such a smart, sad read, with a lot of commentary about racial and generational differences alongside the often satisfying violence (we know I’m bloodthirsty). Which brings us to now, in which I’m reading Bloody Rose by Nicholas Eames. I like his fantasy world, and I like the conceit of having the heroes be members of “bands” that are like rock stars. He also tracks in a lot of sadness and melancholy in his writing, but also some moments that are so damn clever that you both laugh and wish that you had thought of it first (“Some people could kill a conversation. Cura could make it wish it had never been born”). So until next time, eat some stuffing and cranberry sauce for me, and make sure to drink some hot chocolate.
@Crystal: My favourite Horowitz mystery is MAGPIE MURDERS, an extremely clever deconstruction/pastiche of cozy cottage mysteries, presented as a complete manuscript that contains the clues to the murder of the author. The follow up mystery, MOONFLOWER MURDERS, is also enjoyable but not quite as smart, IMO.
Ah, thank you, @DDD! I wonder if some authors notice a DDD inspired up tick in sales after a Whatcha Reading? post….
I listened to and really enjoyed Hazards in Hampshire by Emma Dakin on hoopla. It’s a cozy mystery about a woman who organizes mystery book tours and just moved to a small English town. It was very slice of life in that the heroine is going about her business not trying to solve the crime so the plot is very low key. I really liked it. The heroine’s job was interesting, and I’m not a fan of mysteries where the heroine snoops around out of pure nosiness.
@Kareni – The Peter Grainger books are showing up in KU for me, if that helps.
After seeing a rec in a Facebook group, I ended up reading CONVENTIONALLY YOURS by Annabeth Albert, a m/m new adult about a group of gamers going to a Magic The Gathering-type tournament, and loved it. One of the characters is neurodivergent, which is very common in this subculture, and the setting was handled very well.
Thank you, @MaryK! I’ve not yet broken down and subscribed to KU, but that is one more incentive.