It’s that time again! Settle in to talk about what you’ve been reading!
Lara: I just DEVOURED Cait Nary’s Season’s Change. ( A | BN | K ) Turns out I have a thing for m/m ice hockey romances and this one pushed my buttons in the best way. Love a slow burn!
Sarah: I am reading The Last Daughter of York by Nicola Cornick. ( A | BN | K ) It was a slow start, but then remains are found and kings are betrayed in dual timelines and I’m all in. See y’all in a few hours.
Elyse: I’m in a slump and focused on knitting.
Catherine: As a mad Ricardian I am both deeply tempted by the Last Daughter of York – because Yorkists! Wars of the Roses! Possible Perkin Warbeck retcon! – and also a bit afraid to pick it up, since I will certainly have Opinions and they are unlikely to be remotely fair or objective!
I’m doing very little reading at present but did just read and adore The Magnolia Sword by Sherry Thomas. Such a fun story!
Sneezy: FINALLY got to Dial A for Aunties. ( A | BN | K | AB ) I’m still at the beginning, and even though the details are different, it reflects so much of my personal experience of family and diaspora… If Meddy and I ever met, we would be friends, and a large chunk of our friendship would be us flopped on top of each other in an anxiety puddle, all jittery cuddles and warbles. Then I’d try to hold her up as I make semi-coherent sounds about how healthy boundaries are necessary.
Tara: I’ve started picking up holiday romances and am reading The Great Charade by Gerri Hill. It’s an f/f, fake relationship Christmas romance that’s being released on December 7.
Shana: A new Gerri Hill, with a fake relationship, and it’s Christmas-themed? I clearly need to read this.
I just started The Wild Sight by Loucinda McGary. ( A | BN | K ) It’s a romantic suspense about a reluctant Irish psychic who returns to his family’s home in Northern Ireland.
Carrie: I just finished the House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward. It’s easy to see why it has a lot of hype – it’s incredibly gripping. However it also contains graphic and upsetting portrayals of child abuse/torture/medical abuse and that has been upsetting and disturbing me since I read it.
Susan: I’m swinging between rereading Wotakoi ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) to satisfy my craving for fandom nerds in love, and The Luminous Dead ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) because survival horror is my comfort genre
Where we’re going we don’t need tonal consistency in our reading habits!
What have you been reading? Let us know!
My reading has taking a backseat to caretaking, but I managed to finish Rosie Danan’s THE INTIMACY EXPERIMENT last night and found it truly excellent for its unexpected tropes. The basic [but not that useful] outline is ex-sex worker/porn star and current sex expert backed by a couple of useful academic degrees with a highly successful online teaching series is trying to find a way to get hired as a teacher/prof in an established venue. She meets a rabbi at a networking event who wants to expand the membership of his synagogue through a series on building intimacy. Both are attracted to the other but neither feel they can really act on that attraction, that is, until the 57% mark in the book. What makes this book stand out is the thoughtful discussions of science and religion, marginalization when one is bi- anything (cultural, sexual, etc.), the fallacy of assumptions, and the place of community. BUT, that still doesn’t hit what was best about the book: it is structured in a series of lessons about intimacy that begin with each individual figuring out their needs prior to going out to find another person, and it ends with two amazing lectures (one from both F and M in different venues) about how to survive a break up. Wow. Each step of the process is nicely outlined, although the F/M make a hash of those steps in their own discovery of the other. All this wonderful melange of discussion, yearning, and learning is accomplished within the context of Reformed Judaism. This one gets an A from me.
I have been doing a lot of rereading this month, as “comfort rereads FTW” seems to be my reading theme of 2021. But I did continue my foray into the Kate Daniels series with books 4 and 5. I thought book 4, AKA F**KING FINALLY THEY DID IT, was the best. Also this month, I read IT HAPPENED ONE SUMMER by Tessa Bailey–delightful. I thought the heroine was going to annoy me too much for me to enjoy the story but I was very glad to be wrong about that. Also that book was H-O-T. Library came through with THE EX HEX by Erin Sterling a little after Halloween but I decided to go for it anyway and enjoyed it. The whole setup was a little slapstick and ridiculous but the writing was light and smooth and that made it fun rather than obnoxious. Next up was THEY’LL NEVER CATCH US, a YA mystery about a high school cross country team. I picked it up at the library because my daughter is running cross country this year, and that might have made it hit a little TOO close to home. This one was meh. The twist at the end came out of nowhere and it was less “wow, the author really surprised me there” and more “WTF, where did that even come from?” Earlier this week I finished THE DUKE GOES DOWN by Sophie Jordan. This was…fine. I usually like her writing, but in this one, despite a quick-moving story and her trademark cast of wacky small-town characters, I just didn’t believe the attraction between the two MC’s. Currently reading TYCOON by M. O’Keefe, my first by this author and I’m enjoying it. Next up, Christmas Harlequin Presents! I have to do it every year as soon as December 1st rolls around.