It’s that time again! We want to hear all about what you’re reading!
Susan: I’m reading Roslyn Sinclair’s Truth and Measure and I am incredibly resentful of every commitment I have that keeps me from reading more. The ice queen just woke her assistant up at 5am to talk about their (totally hidden, super platonic) feelings, and my bosses expect to do my job instead of screeching about that?!
Tara: Susan, it’s soooooo freaking good that I’m having a hard time reading on my Kindle anything after finishing both parts of that duology. It’s my favourite book ever now.
On audio, I’m listening to Harvey Fierstein’s autobiography I Was Better Last Night. ( A | BN | K | AB ) I’m still only in the first hour or two, but there’s something both beautiful and heartbreaking about how he discusses growing up as a gay, fat, and Jewish kid so many decades ago.
Amanda: Loved Nettle and Bone! Kingfisher balances quirky and dark very well.
Shana: I’m bouncing between books right now. I’m reading Land by Simon Winchester, ( A | BN | K | AB ) which I want to be a polemic on land reform and is actually a meandering collection of moments in the history of land ownership.
I’m also reading Three to Love by Rebel Carter but if they don’t bang soon, I’m going to bail.
Claudia: Bumblebeeing my way through several, too, and slightly jealous of all the good-book feelings here!
Elyse: I haven’t picked up a new book yet but on my 13 hrs of travel yesterday (thanks Spirit airlines! You suck!) I watched the HBO docuseries Black & Missing. Anyone who likes true crime should watch this. There’s so much bias to address both racially and gender based (ie there is no such thing as a “child prostitute”)
Maya: Ohhhhhhhh, thank you for the rec!! I’m currently going hard on true crime!!
I just finished listening to Bound to Battle God by Ruby Dixon. I generally enjoyed it, so I’m pretty excited about working my way through her back catalog. I also just started listening to This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron. ( A | BN | K | AB ) So far loving it. It’s the best when a truly beautiful book cover is only the beginning of the good stuff a book has to offer!
What are you reading? Tell us below!
Currently reading “Hither Page,” following the review here the other day and loving it so far. It took me a bit to get into the murder mystery, but now I am fully invested in learning who did it. The only thing that’s affecting me quite a bit is the writing about the WWII, given what’s going on in Ukraine. (I live in Eastern Europe.)
Just finished WRITTEN ON YOUR SKIN by Meredith Duran. It fell within the razor-thin range of what I can tolerate reading now, which can best be described as “everything is garbage, but we’re going to fall in love anyway, dammit.” (I’ve cast off most of the books I have available as “too obliviously cheery” and “too hopelessly dark,” both of which have their place but neither of which is working for me at present.) Four years before the main story, they met while Hero was a spy working to bring down Heroine’s rotten stepfather. Now the stepfather has escaped and taken her mother hostage. Heroine is pretty sure everyone offering to “help” her is corrupt, and while Hero is no more trustworthy, at least he owes her a favor from when last they met. Heroine is cunning, which she had to be to first survive her rotten stepfather and subsequently run a business so she can remain independent of rotten men, but she convincingly plays the part of an airhead when advantageous. Hero loathes himself for the things he did in his spy days. They’re not sweet and fluffy people, which is perfect for dealing with the situation they’re in, and they’re EVENLY MATCHED in not-sweet-and-fluffiness, so there’s no lingering certainty the softer one will eventually be ground to paste by the other’s hard edge.
Content warnings for domestic violence (not between heroine and hero) and opium use.
I’m about to start “The girl with the make believe husband” – I haven’t read a historical for a long time so this’ll be interesting! I just finished “No Place like Home” by Debbie Macomber, this one was weird and I didn’t vibe with it. And “A Virgin River Christmas” – I really enjoyed that one!
Some good stuff in the mix of late:
THE HEROINE’S JOURNEY by Gail Carriger–this is a book about craft and writing. Carriger takes three classic examples of the heroine’s journey (as distinct from the hero’s journey a la Joseph Campbell’s HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES)–Demeter, Isis, and Inanna/Ishtar–and uses them as the foundation for exploring other popular depictions of the journey. She has a lot to say about how the heroine’s journey is built in friendship and connection and how it’s often denigrated as being weaker. Found it really illuminating and also gave me language to explain why I HATED the end of LOKI so much (they took a heroine’s journey and slapped a hero’s journey ending on it.)
MORNING GLORY MILKING FARM by CM Nacosta. The premise of this book just sounds bananas–heroine’s job is to jerk off minotaurs whose semen is used to make pharmaceuticals; she and one of her clients fall for each other. And yet! Nacosta makes it sweet and charming and very sexy. If you can set aside or lean into the weirdness of the premise, I think you’ll really enjoy it!
BURNING BRIGHT by Melissa McShane–speaking of books where you don’t think the author is going to be able to make the premise work, this one is about a woman with the ability to set and extinguish fires who runs away to join the British Navy during the Napoleonic wars. I had so. many. questions. about clothes, personal hygiene, violence, misogyny, etc. but McShane handles them all deftly. If you’re looking for a “let’s burn the motherf&$^@*# down” type book, you could do a lot worse.
Less good: ROYALLY MATCHED by Emma Chase. (Spoilers ahead) The premise: Prince Henry is now heir to the throne of Wessco and decides that the way to find a bride (maybe) is to participate in a Bachelor-style TV show. Needless to say, our hero is tempted by the sister of one of the participants, Sarah Mirabelle Zinnia Von Titebottum. Gotta be honest, I picked this one up because the heroine’s last name was “Tight Bottom.” I was really curious about how the author was going to play that–is Henry an ass guy? Is she a bit uptight? Does it feature spanking or hot anal sex? Sadly, the answer to all of those questions is no, although Henry does joke about her last name (har har). The main problem for me with this book is that Sarah was really horrifically abused by her father growing up and Henry just doesn’t seem like the right guy for that set of circumstances–several times, he makes joking comments about committing violence (one time he pulls all these antique weapons off the wall) and I just, I dunno. I have been fortunate that all of the men in my life have been kind and loving, but men who even jokingly threaten violence? Especially around a victim of terrible child abuse? It’s upsetting and scary and I didn’t feel like Chase handled it with the care and consideration it merited.
Up next: THE JASMINE THRONE by Tasha Suri. This is really good, but super violent, especially at the beginning. I’m a bit over half way through and persevering because the story is so rich and the writing is so good, but forewarning that there’s a lot of violence against women and children, which I know would be a dealbreaker for a number of readers around here.
I was really hoping for more reading success for this Whatcha Reading because I was on a roll last time, but alas, it was not to be. Lots of duds and slow moving stuff that I’m not done with yet. The only thing successfully completed was KAIJU PRESERVATION SOCIETY by John Scalzi which I thoroughly enjoyed. I was definitely exactly what John Scalzi and the reviews promised. A fast 3 minute pop song that will leave you with a smile on your face. I made the deliberate choice to read it fast and not think about it too hard and I think that served me and the book well. And even though it’s one light-hearted book, I still have a lot of thoughts!
My husband read it too and we got to have a little min book club which is nice because our tastes in new books don’t often overlap (he pretty just continuously rotates through the Discworld series, which* is* really enjoyable, but after 20 years, we’ve covered most of what we need to say).. My husband’s one quibble is that the characters are so thinly sketched and the dialogue is not always tagged, so in big conversation scenes, it’s easy to lose track of who is talking.I agreed with him, but said I just left it to wash over me b/c it rarely seemed very important who was talking exactly (shrug). I thought there could have been more description of the kaiju to set the scene, but I assume the inevitable movie version will take care of that.
The thing I found fascinating about the reading experience is that it is the first book I read that really acknowledges “covid reality” without me wanting to throw it against a wall. A lot of books written early in the pandemic were overly optimistic or had just an unfinished feeling b/c the writers couldn’t (no one could) project into what our future was like. Then it seemed as the pandemic went on, some books acknowledged it in a time jump sort of way, like the book was set sometime in the not too far future where it was magically not a concern at all, but might be mentioned in passing. It would always pull me out of the story when someone would awkwardly say in passing “boy wasn’t covid crazy? nice that’s over” to set the scene. But I do understand it is hard to acknowledge a global tragedy in a meaningful way unless you end up making the book about that specific tragedy.
So I was pleasantly surprised this worked for me (as always YMMV). I think some of it was me and time passing. But I think Scalzi made some interesting choices. First of all, it opens in the very beginning part of the pandemic, which I think most of us now can reflect and mentally slot into “a covid era” different from where we are now. Then he neatly sidesteps the whole thing by whisking the characters away to an alternate universe where Covid-19 isn’t an issue (even though everyone still remembers the reality waiting for them back home). If this would piss you off, don’t read this book, b/c the whole plot pretty much hinges on buying into that. And then a lot of the book isn’t just about kaiju preservation but making new friends, working and hanging out together, karaoke nights and goofing off together. My husband said reading it, you got a palpable sense of how much Scalzi missed his friends and I think it gave the vicarious thrill of hanging out in a normal way that so many of us miss. Then in the end, (spoiler alert?) everyone does have to return to “covid world” but they know they will get to come back to this special place and looking forward to that sustains them all a bit.
I haven’t read anything worth mentioning, although I guess The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo was alright. It’s better than I would have guessed a reworking of the great gatsby would be, I would definitely recommend it to anyone who liked that book. I have just never met anyone who did.
About to start the latest Eloisa James, fingers crossed. I have loved and hated and been thoroughly bored by her books so I never know what to expect from one of hers.
I had two 5-star books so far this month
Mia West Marked by Fire (Sons of Britain) Arthur accidentally causes Bedwyr to lose his hand. As a result Bedwyr is banished from their village for being useless. Arthur moves out to Bedwyr’s shack to train him to use his other hand and they fall in love
Alison Cochrun Charm Offensive. I got this from the library but wasn’t in the mood. Also, I think some of ya’ll didn’t love it. But when I started getting the due notices I thought I should at least give it a shot. I could not put it down! I started during a break at work and kept picking it up when I had 5-10 min breaks and rolled into an evening of sitting on the couch until it was done. So much fun
Today I’m finishing a re-read of Murderbot #2 for book club
@kkw, I’ve never realized it, but think you’ve got a point about the Great Gatsby. Most people I know have read it, but I’ve never heard anyone say “wow, I love that book.” Even the teachers who made us read it didn’t particularly love it! Admire it maybe, but not love it. It’s just an example of certain type of writing we’re all “supposed to read” in high school and it’s conveniently short and easy to explain so it stays on reading lists.
I’m reading THE LAST WATCH by J. S. Dewes.
On my TBR are a mix of books/genres, including BEAUTY AND THE BALLER by Ilsa Madden-Mills; PALACE OF SPIES by Sarah Zettel; and BLOOD & ASH by Deborah Wilde.
I have also been bingeing out GHOSTS on CBS, which is utterly charming and delightful. If someone is looking for gentle-but-clever humor, I would definitely recommend it. Thorfinn is my favorite ghost. Land ship! Land ship! 🙂
@Jill Q Right? Gatsby is sorta important to read simply because everyone else in America has read it so there’s a cultural fluency involved, along with idk what else, Catcher in the Rye? But most of the books people /have/ to read spark some fondness if not love, resentment if not hatred, and yet no one seems to care all that deeply about Gatsby. I mean, people must, Vo wrote that whole book and she’s not the only one, they make movies. Although that might just be about money, I suppose? Idk. Even when you add magic and POC and a woman’s perspective and make explicit the queer subtext, it’s still a story and group of characters that don’t matter to me.
My library acquired a copy of ICE PLANET BARBARIANS by Ruby Dixon. Because I don’t have a Kindle, I hadn’t read anything by her before. It was just what I needed- engaging, low-angst, likeable characters. There was a bit of off-page violence that I felt was gratuitous, but otherwise it was perfect. I’m looking forward to book 2.
I’m currently reading FROM LUKOV WITH LOVE by Mariana Zapata- another KU title acquired in paperback by the library. The characters are so immature for supposed adults, I’m not sure I’m going to be able to stick with it.
I’m about 2/3 through Boss Witch but I wish I was closer to the end. A lot of stuff could be condensed or left out. We see less of the “racist” (against non-magical people) grandmother character in this one so that’s a plus, but she’s still wack as hell.
Much more fun was A. Anders’s Kink Camp: Hunted that came out on the first. Not deep, not that serious. Already looking forward to the next book.
I didn’t love Jackie Lau’s Her Favorite Rebound because in the first part of the book Sierra is clearly with the wrong guy (as hinted at in previous books) and that’s kind of annoying to read, especially when they’re going on dates on the page.
I also read a pair of books with the same basic premise: Gentleman Seeks Bride by Megan Frampton and The Good Girl’s Guide to Rakes by Eva Leigh. Hero needs to be accepted in polite society to get married, heroine wants to experience the racier side of life. Both were solid Cs. Eva Leigh has become a “when on sale” author for me now.
It’s the weekend and WAYR time! How are you all?
I had some decent reading over the past couple of weeks. I finished IN A NEW YORK MINUTE by Kate Spencer, M/F contemporary last night, which I recommend. I liked characters a lot, but felt the conflict was forced – it took them long enough to get together that I would have been happy for them to continue coming together as a couple for the rest of the book. That was enough of a story – no need for the break-up/get back together drama. I also enjoyed the MCs relationships with their friends very much, and loved the depiction of living in NYC. Enjoy!
I also enjoyed THE DRAGON’S BRIDE by Katee Robert – monster romance, M/F in alternate world. It was just the right length, spicy, and allowed both characters to evolve emotionally, which is always the meat of the story for me. Looking forward to the rest of the series (kraken book is next – don’t like tentacles, but I am in!).
LOVE CODE by Ann Aguirre – Alien/AI romance. Many things were done really well in this book. I especially think the depiction of how an AI might experience becoming corporal, or “meat,” as they said, was thoughtful and thought provoking. And there was a detachment in the writing that reminded me of our friend, Murderbot. However, I did not quite buy Qalu – was she a scientist, or a lonely woman who made herself a life partner? Some contradictory characterizations that didn’t ring quite true for me. Looking forward to the third book, though, which I’ve already purchased.
Finally, reread the Honeybadger books by Shelly Laurenston. I find the romances really weak in these books, and the plots are totally scattershot, but sometimes they are exactly what I am in the mood for. It helps that Charlie is kind of the focus for all of them – her ability to kick butt is very satisfying, for some reason.
Looking forward to Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire that was recommended here – in the mood for ghosts!
Hope you are all well! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Currently reading:
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel. I can’t describe the plot without spoiling but the book is so good it is giving me goosebumps.
On the horizon for this month (aka tackling my NetGalley queue):
Farrah Rochon The Hookup Plan
Jessie Mihalik Eclipse The Moon
Julie Anne Long You Were Made To Be Mine
Recent Reads: The Wedding Crasher by Mia Sosa which I thought lacked a coherent plot line and found the ending to be trite.
Serena Singh Flips The Script by Sonya Lalli was poorly written and the ending came out of NOWHERE. Also you don’t have to forgive people who do damage to your life. You can heal and move on without them. I thought the message of the book was awful.
Part 1
[CW/TW: Backstory involving abduction, death, and imprisonment] Kelly Hunter’s excellent RETURN OF THE OUTBACK BILLIONAIRE, like many of Hunter’s romances for HP, follows the Harlequin Presents conventions in broad strokes (fabulously wealthy hero, intelligent and virginal heroine, angsty circumstances, overpowering emotions, and eventual true love all set against gorgeous locales), but neatly circumvents them all with a story about a wealthy Australian landowner, released after serving seven years in prison for a crime committed in the process of releasing the heroine—a former-model-turned-photographer—from the obsessed man who had abducted her. Once the hero has returned to the Outback, he and the heroine (a neighbor since childhood) agree to a fake engagement (even though there are plenty of strong feelings on both sides). The couple grow closer, but both have a long road to recovery and Hunter does not sugar-coat their journey. I love Hunter’s characters: they’re mature, thoughtful, and, most refreshingly, they use their words! I think RETURN OF THE OUTBACK BILLIONAIRE is Hunter’s best book since her brilliant MAGGIE’S RUN from several years ago. Highly recommended.
Serena Bell’s HEAD OVER HEELS is the second of the three Under One Roof books that she originally published in 2018 and re-released during March of this year. It’s a single-dad/nanny romance with MCs who are good friends but have never had romantic feelings for each other—that is, until the heroine temporarily moves in with the hero to take care of his daughter while he looks for a new nanny (the heroine plans to move out of town as soon as she’s saved enough money and a new nanny has been hired). Of course, living in close proximity leads to pants feelings and deeper emotions. I found it harder to get into HEAD OVER HEELS than Bell’s earlier DO OVER—perhaps because I’m not a huge fan of parent-nanny romances. Bell is undeniably a good writer and her characters are mature, thoughtful, and willing to discuss their feelings, and you get all of that with HEAD OVER HEELS, but I found the book to be somewhat muted with a bit of a paint-by-numbers feel to it. Not a bad book, but, within a few days of reading it, the story is already fading from my memory.
I had much better luck with SLEEPOVER, Bell’s third and final book in the Under One Roof series. This might be described as a “grumpy-sunshine” pairing between a taciturn widowed furniture maker and divorced freelance writer who, months after a first-names-only one-night stand, discover they are new neighbors. However, in Bell’s capable hands, the story becomes a much deeper exploration of learning to love again after loss (whether through death, as the hero lost his wife, or through divorce, as the heroine lost her husband when he admitted he was in love with another woman). There are some parallels to Bell’s recent WILDER WITH YOU, which features a relationship between a widowed hero and his late-wife’s friend, but I give the edge to SLEEPOVER which is overall a more trenchant and emotional experience. (One cw/tw: reference to the death of a dog in the past.) Key quote: “The way back to life isn’t a straight line.” Highly recommended.
[CW/TW: Consensual non-consent and rape role-play] Interestingly, KINK CAMP: HUNTED by Adraina Anders (writing as A. Anders) also has a widowed hero—although, otherwise, HUNTED couldn’t be more different from SLEEPOVER. The premise of the series (there will be more books, HUNTED is the first) is that people go to Kink Camp to fulfill their deepest and wildest sexual fantasies in a safe, sane, consensual, inclusive, and non-judgmental place. The heroine of HUNTED wants to be exactly that: pursued and hunted down by an anonymous “primal” male. But after it happens, she and the man involved (despite the anonymity of the event) eventually find each other again. Can they make a relationship work outside of their shared kinks? Especially because both h&h have grief and loss in their pasts. When it comes to consensual non-consent, the bar has been set pretty high by books like Cara McKenna’s WILLING VICTIM/BRUTAL GAME and Katie Porter’s HARD WAY, all of which explore rape role-play in a sensitive and nuanced fashion; I think HUNTED is a little too Fantasy Island-ish to reach the level of insight that those books do, but, nonetheless, I found it to be a worthwhile read—and I’m really looking forward to the next book in the series which will focus on a pansexual actor and what happens when his kinky side (and his fake marriage) are exposed. Recommended–if you’re ok with the various triggers.
Amelia Wilde’s The Collector trilogy (DARK REIGN, S WEET MERCY, and LAST RESORT) is part of the multi-author Midnight Dynasty universe about two powerful rival families—the Constantines and the Morellis—who love and hate each other in equal measure. In The Collector books, the work of artist Daphne Morelli (and, eventually, Daphne herself) catch the eye of reclusive billionaire art collector Emerson Le Blanc. Theirs is a very dark romance and many triggers apply (abduction, captivity, dub-con, abusive childhoods, panic attacks, suicide ideation), and, in one scene, SWEET MERCY takes a detour to the really dark side—
—and consent throughout the book is rather nebulous because, although the heroine went willingly to the hero’s house, she was unaware that he planned to hold her captive once she was there. Regardless, I wish I could make anyone who thinks romance novels are poorly-written “mommy p0rn” read the first few paragraphs of DARK REIGN which describe an art collector’s lush and evocative perception of a city street on a winter’s day; it’s beautifully-written and would quickly put pay to any notion that romance is a genre of slap-dash trash. The books feature scenes where the heroine is creating paintings of the ocean and Wilde’s descriptions are so vivid, I wanted to see those canvases! I also love it when a book exposes me to something new and in LAST RESORT it was the work of Sofonisba Anguissola, an Italian Renaissance artist. Who knew a female artist was the official court painter of Philip II of Spain? Not I. While I know dark romance and its associated triggers are not everyone’s cup of tea, I would recommend The Collector trilogy to anyone interested in dipping their toe into the genre.
Part 2
NIGHTINGALE is an anthology of 50 new stories from many of Romancelandia’s favorite authors with 100% of the royalties being donated to relief and human rights organizations working in Ukraine. I haven’t read all of the stories yet, but the ones I have read fall into what I would describe as the “post-HEA” trope: catching up with characters from the writers’ previous books; similar to a “bonus epilogue,” nothing is too heavy or angsty. Kate Canterbary’s EXPANSION has Will & Shannon from the Walsh Family series leaving their kids behind for the first time while they attend a destination wedding. “I had three little pieces of my heart walking around outside my body now,” says Shannon of her three daughters. In Skye Warren’s QUEENSIDE, Avery (from THE PAWN), now married to Gabe and mother of two children, starts a job as an Associate Professor at the local university—where she has to contend with a smugly awful Department Head. Katee Robert’s A LITTLE SURPRISE features Hades & Persephone from her Dark Olympus series. You can guess what the “little surprise” is. Amelia Wilde’s OLD MONEY has Mason & Charlotte from the Wealth Trilogy visiting a park on its opening day. In Karla Sorensen’s THE LAST WARD WEDDING, Logan & Paige (from THE WEDDING EFFECT) contemplate life now that their son is in his teens and each of Logan’s half-sisters are married. None of the stories I read broke any new ground, but it was nice to revisit favorite characters. Going through the book’s Table of Contents was like considering your choices while dipping into a box of chocolates and leisurely making your selections. My guess is that almost everyone will be familiar with at least one writer and one set of MCs in the anthology—and it’s for a worthy cause too. Recommended, particularly if you’re looking for something that won’t be too emotionally draining.
Until recently, the only books by Katie Golding that I’d read were FEARLESS and WRECKLESS, slow-burn romances full of technical detail about life on the Motocross and Rodeo circuits, so I was completely surprised by Golding’s latest, THE FOREVER NIGHT STAND, which is an erotic novella about a one-night stand (that extends to more than one night) between a music producer and a book publicist. This is definitely an insta-lust/insta-love romance with everything from first kiss to declarations of love happening (not to mention lots and lots of very inventive sex) within a few days. THE FOREVER NIGHT STAND is not a bad book by any means, but I would have liked more detail about the heroine’s job as a book publicist: in the first part of the book, much is made of a big presentation the heroine is about to make (on the Monday following her weekend with the hero), but then we only hear about how the presentation itself went in a quick throwaway comment later. I would have liked to know as much about the heroine’s job as we learn about the hero’s job in a long scene when he is producing a new album. I did smile at this quote from the hero when discussing the purchase of sex toys: “…if what you liked wasn’t normal, it wouldn’t be mass-produced.” Not a terrible book, but I prefer Golding’s slower-burning romances.
John Wiltshire’s LOVE IS A STRANGER is the first book in the nine-book More Heat Than the Sun romantic-suspense series that follows the twisty-turny path of Ben, a British Army veteran who now works for a shadowy black-ops organization, and his boss Nikolas, a Danish diplomat married to a member of the British nobility. When LOVE IS A STRANGER opens, Ben and Nikolas have already been “involved” for four years—although “involved” is an odd way of putting things, they are more “fuck buddies” (for whom, apparently, using condoms and/or lube is a foreign concept) than partners or lovers, and Ben has had at least one other relationship during the time he and Nikolas have been together. The story (told in third-person exclusively from Ben’s POV) is well-written and tightly-plotted with incredibly high levels of violence and sex (and sometimes violence with sex). The plot careens from one episode to another while we learn more about both Ben and Nikolas. I can’t even begin to list every trigger, but very little is off the table and both MCs (especially Nikolas) experienced abusive childhoods; plus there are a couple of times where everything Ben thought he knew about Nikolas is revealed to be false. Representative quote: “As far as Ben could see, Nikolas survived entirely on a diet of caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, and semen.” You gotta love an author who uses the Oxford comma! I enjoyed LOVE IS A STRANGER, but I’m not sure I’m ready to commit to nine books about the same couple (the final book, THE BRIGHT AND HUNGRY FUTURE OF HAWKS, is scheduled for April 15). However, if you like gritty m/m and are not turned off by multiple triggers, LOVE IS A STRANGER is worth checking out.
I’m reading My Darling Caroline by Adele Ashworth
Yay, I’ve been waiting for this! First of all, many thanks to Claudia for using bumblebee as a verb. That right there makes my day.
Last week I did something I’ve never done before: finished a book and immediately returned to chapter 1 to start again. It was Tal Bauer’s YOU & ME. I’ve already written about my love for this book on another site so I’ll quickly sum up and then give you more reasons. It’s basically a slow burn, bi-awakening, friends to lovers story that worked for me on every level. Two single dads meet at their sons’ football practice and the story goes on from there. The way Bauer handles one of the main character’s faith is really lovely, just how faith imbued the character and informed his actions without any proselytizing of any kind. I don’t think I’ve seen this handled so well in romance before. Another thing I appreciated was it stuck to one viewpoint. It’s hard to do alternating viewpoints well. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to go back to the beginning of a chapter to remind myself whose head I’m in this time. Anyone know any m/m authors who are really good at this? Bauer wrote the non-viewpoint hero so well that I felt like I knew him just as well as the viewpoint character. I saw him falling in love before the narrator did and it was lovely. YOU & ME is also a love letter to volunteerism and to parents of sullen teenagers. It’s a reminder of how important it is to have a good-fitting pair of jeans. I’ll leave it there – as usual, check out the sample first.
My other great discovery was that an update for HEATED RIVALRY was waiting on my kindle. I saw it there months ago but didn’t think much of it since I planned a re-read just before THE LONG GAME dropped. A few nights ago I checked and…what’s this? A preview of the first few chapters of THE LONG GAME?!?! Folks, we have 17 days to go and I’m going to be extra careful crossing the street because this is GOOD.
LIGHTS AND SIRENS by Lisa Henry is as good as readers here said. A disgraced Gold Coast detective is sent to a two-man station in the middle-of-nowhere Australia. His new Sargent is a widower with a young son and everyone is carrying years of emotional baggage. Real work happens–policing and personal–and the thoughtful course of both was very satisfying.
When it was first published in 2017 (I think), I read a quote from Laura Ruby’s YORK: THE SHADOW CIPHER, a middle school book about an alternate NYC and the never-solved Shadow Cipher.
When asked by a therapist why Tess had drawn herself with a little golden crown on her head, “That’s not a crown,” she’d told him. “That’s a nimbus of outrage.”
Such power in those words, I wrote to the author to ask if she’d considered selling t-shirts with that quote and promptly forgot about it.
It took me all this time to stroll through the TBR of Chaos to remember that and I’m here to say this book is amazing. Also surprising that its target audience is 8-12 year olds.
When the unusual building they’ve lived in all their lives is scheduled to be torn down, three young residents set out to save it. Yes, they figure it out, this is middle school territory after all. But they’re dealing with some heavy issues themselves at the same time, and not everything is resolved. Not a cliffhanger, but more is coming their way.
This one goes on my SQUEE shelf.
Correction: The first title in Lisa Henry’s series is TWO MAN STATION. That is all.
Thank you to Carrie for her review of The Astronaut and the Star; I read it yesterday and not only was it wonderful and memorable but also a book I am unlikely to have come upon myself and would be sorry to have missed.
Following Karin’s suggestion, I read and enjoyed Mary Lancaster’s Crime & Passion series. I find her plots very creative, and I read a lot of historical romance, so this is high praise.
Rebecca Zanetti’s Deep Ops series was a good mix of suspense and romance. I especially enjoy the ensemble aspect of the romantic suspense novels I have been reading this year.
@Darlynne – Two Man Station is great – and so is Lights and Sirens!
As to my recent reads…
SHADOWS LEFT BEHIND – Josh Lanyon, m/m short stories/novellas set in the earlier half of the 20th century, all with some kind of mystery. Some end more HFN than HEA, especially the first one’s ending is very tenuous as it’s set in the middle of WWI, and the second one ends so abruptly before the HEA really happens – one can only assume it will with the main stumbling block to that out of the way. Not for everyone, I would say, but I enjoyed it all the same for the feels and just for being different.
Currently reading STRONG WINE, which follows up from SWORD DANCE and SAFFRON ALLEY by AJ Demal. m/m romance, set in a historical world that is very much reminiscent of ancient Greece (though one MC clearly sees himself as genderfluid – it seems that world doesn’t really have a word for it, but he lives it and the other MC is totally on board). They’re good, the world building is very good and I like the MCs – they admit they have doubts, they assume the wrong thing some time or manage to talk totally at cross-purposes, but they talk about it out in the end and there are no big misunderstandings. Not a lot of angst either. There’s an overarching story that starts with the mystery in the first book and looks to be finally resolved in the last.
OFF PLAN – May Archer. m/m, first in a trilogy. It sounded cute, then at the beginning I found it really hard to get into it. Uncle of one MC lures the other MC to a forgotten resort island on Florida’s gulf coast with overdone promises of a ritzy resort etc., and I hated that. And the other MC hated it too and wasn’t always happy with his life there (and I thought “then get your sh****t together and leave”…). So, the start was not promising, but it got better, there’s a quirky local community, the two MCs, once they got over their initial animosity were cute together and a lot is resolved at thend. The uncle’s motives are good, even if his way of doing it isn’t always great – and the “big mystery” is actually resolved. There’s two more books in the series and I will probably read them too. The MC of the next one is the big cinnamon roll cousin’s book, and when I read the blurb, I got slight vibes of Perry and Jonny from Joanna Chambers’ The Laberours of Lord Perry Cavendish – yes, that’s a historical romance, but just the characters…
LOVE WASN’T BUILT IN A DAY – Renee Dahlia – m/m historical novella. This was lovely, lots of feels and pining even in a short story. It’s also the introduction to a new series by this author, so I will have to check back where this goes. This turned up in that 100 free romance novels or something post that someone had mentioned here recently, so I got it. I then picked up HIS LORD’S SOLDIER, another m/m historical novella (but set after WWI) by this author because I’d liked the other one. Well, I didn’t like this one as much, though both MCs harbour hidden feelings for one another, it’s not so much pining as constant lust… add in a bit “I’m not good enough because I’m disabled”-feels and – it just wasn’t so good.
I’ve been reading the Jacky Leon series (KN Banet) and something I really like is that Jacky is stronger than Heath (the slow burn love interest). Like, if they’re going into danger she’s the tank and he’s the rogue. And he’s cool with it! I feel like we almost never get this – if a woman is set up as physically powerful most authors make sure we know the man she’s with is more powerful (Red Sonja Syndrome). I think this might be a fun Rec League.
@FashionablyEvil: thanks for the Carriger rec. I recently reread le Guin’s Carrier Bag essay and I think about it alot so I clicked and am looking forward to reading this.
THE DIVINERS, Libba Bray. YA in ways that are neither good nor bad but definitely aren’t working for me at this stage of life, constantly veers off from its plot into slice-of-life stuff for its characters. The plot keeps me going, a supernatural murder mystery in jazz-age Manhattan and characters trying to solve it with their burgeoning psychic abilities that even they don’t understand. The characters tend to be jerks, which I like, and they’re treated as jerks by the other characters, which I love. The romances are subplots at best and the violence is gruesome, so it’s probably not going to work for a lot of readers here. Still, I’d call it an uneven C grade–some parts are bad, some parts are great, and they average out into ‘I can see your potential and I wish you were better.’
I’m also reading through the Discworld books, not particularly in order; I know they’re classics but I haven’t read ’em until recently. I loved MONSTROUS REGIMENT and enjoyed THE TRUTH and am working through the Watch series. I didn’t care for CARPE JUGULUM but I also didn’t realize it was at the end of a different series and isn’t entirely a standalone.
I’ve picked up and dropped–bumblebeeing sounds too gentle–way too many romances recently. First of all I just need to get out of the regency period, it’s never appealed to me and I have to stop trying to force it. For a while I was enjoying the thoughtless goffick appeal of vampire and werewolf romances of the ‘everyone wears ballgowns or pirate shirts & oh no the moon is suddenly full whatever will we do???’ variety but…you can only eat so much cotton candy.
As for THE GREAT GATSBY, I read it in high school and hated it, but it’s my sister’s favorite book and she’s got two copies–one to read, one to display–plus both the 70’s movie and the more recent one. I think Fitzgerald sounds like an ass in his own writing and everything I’ve learned about his life only drives that home, but apparently it appeals to someone.
Simone St. James, THE BOOK OF COLD CASES. It’s terrific.
Happy April!
Romance:
HER EVERY WISH by Courtney Milan: a solid second-chance novella from a favorite author. Daisy’s arc felt more centered to me than Crash’s, but his wasn’t entirely eclipsed by hers, and I appreciated they both had to mature and discuss their prior breakup.
RED BLOSSOM IN SNOW by Jeannie Lin: I’m kind of mad I didn’t like this one more, as I’ve loved this series. I might re-read THE HIDDEN MOON and then read this one again, as some of the Li Chen/Song Yi relationship developed then. It’s quieter—two quieter characters and a less suspenseful mystery plot. I did think the ways Jeannie Lin revealed their backstories worked well.
HER FAVORITE REBOUND by Jackie Lau: I liked this a lot, as a Jackie Lau fan! One, this was a structure I haven’t seen a ton (heroine is in relationship with someone else for a good chunk of the book + hero falls for her at first sight) and I think it’s a nice stretch for Jackie Lau as an author. Two, incredible takedown of actual billionaires for people who are not able to lose themselves in the wealth fantasy in romance. Three, Sierra and Jake going from friends with benefits to lovers was handled well. Four, Sierra has a more complicated family relationship and Lau doesn’t make it magically better by the end, which is nice to see when so many happily-ever-afters make *everything* exceedingly rosy.
About halfway through Kelly Bowen’s A GOOD ROGUE IS HARD TO FIND and it’s another interesting Regency premise from her—this heroine is running the Dowager Duchess of Worth’s horse breeding program (for money to fund their Robin Hood-type activities) and helps with making sure vendors to the ton get paid (rich people skipping out on their bills, ugh). The hero is the current Duke and he’s worried about his mother (who is hiding her justice activities by cultivating a reputation as very eccentric), so there’s been a series of deceptions on the part of the heroine because she and the Duchess want to keep helping people and don’t know how the hero will react. His journey so far has mostly been a mix of learning-about-privilege and falling-in-love-for-the-first-time. Liking but not loving it all, though if the last third is going to involve some more conning the rich, I’m looking forward to that.
Non-romance:
IN THE LAND OF INVENTED LANGUAGES: A CELEBRATION OF LINGUISTIC CREATIVITY, MADNESS, AND GENIUS by Arika Okrent: A fun and insightful look at languages, and what they are versus what people think they should be.
Also, I finished listening to KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON by David Grann. The structure reminds me a bit of John Carreyrou’s BAD BLOOD, where the author becomes a character on page in the final third of the book after the first two thirds read chronologically of the events around the crimes. I think I prefer the more postmodernist approach in Becky Cooper’s WE KEEP THE DEAD CLOSE, where the author explained her choice to investigate very early and instead interwove her research into the account, which made it very clear that she was only writing one version of events and not presenting it as a definitive version in any way. Anyway, the Grann book was fine, not sure how I feel about Scorsese adapting it into a film.
Up next:
Need to start Ken Liu’s DANDELION DYNASTY series since that’s going to take a while and I think the final one is due out soon?
I also picked up Mia Sosa’s THE WEDDING CRASHER, looking forward to it as a DC resident!
@Eliza you sent me haring off to check my copy of Heated Rivalry, but sadly it looks like the Nook version isn’t being updated. Back to waiting impatiently.
I re-read Seanan McGuire’s That Ain’t Witchcraft, because it sets up the third Rose Marshall book, Angel Of the Overpass, which I’ve had sitting on the TBR. I found both very satisfying, and Angel sent me back to Sparrow Hill Road. I may carry on to re-read the second book as well, despite library books coming due all around me. I have to be in the mood for Seanan McGuire’s books, but when I am I can get lost in them.
I also really enjoyed AJ Demas’s new book Honey and Pepper (I keep reversing the title words). I’m glad to see it’s the first in a trilogy.
I’m about half-way through AGAIN RACHEL by Marian Keyes. Yes, I bought it at full price as soon as it came out because, well, the Walsh family is simply too entertaining to pass up. I was worried that it would just be a tired sequel by an author who had run out of interesting new things to write about, but so far am pleased with the book. Rachel’s Holiday came out about 20 years ago, and was I think the second in the series concerning the 5 Walsh sisters. At the time, I liked it but didn’t really identify much with Rachel (big-city party life style leading to drug addiction). I’m more of a Maggie I guess. But Again Rachel is about middle-aged Rachel, many years into sobriety, and deals out the kind of middle-age drama that, well, is something I CAN identify with a lot more than I identified with the first book. But it isn’t dreary–it has lots of Marian Keyes’ trademark humor, and lots of the other Walshes make an appearance–Claire for the most part so far, though Mama Walsh’s 80th birthday party is coming up soon and I have high hopes for her.
Since last time ~
— I continued my Doyle and Acton reread and enjoyed revisiting Murder in Shadow, Murder in Misdirection, Murder in Spite, Murder in Just Cause, and Murder in the Blood all by Anne Cleeland.
— stepped off my reread-athon to read The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch. I’d describe this as a mix of science fiction/time travel and mystery with a lot of gore. It was an interesting read but not a book I’m likely to reread.
— Last month, my book group read author Jane Harper’s first book, The Dry. I liked it so elected to read the author’s second mystery which I also enjoyed. Force of Nature: A Novel by Jane Harper
— a contemporary m/m paranormal romance, Mind Magic (The Triad of Magic series Book 1) by Macy Blake. This was pleasant but not a book I’m likely to reread.
— read Akin by Emma Donoghue for my book group; I very much enjoyed this book about a 79 year old man and the 11 year old great-nephew he suddenly gets custody of and their trip to Nice, France. I would happily read more by the author. The book has a slight mystery element and some poignant history; it also has a lot of humor and I laughed aloud several times.
— Hunt the Stars by Jessie Mihalik; it’s my favorite of her sci-fi romance books thus far.
— enjoyed Near Death (A Raney/Daye Investigation Book 1) by Rich Hosek, Arnold Rudnick, et al. which I won in a Goodreads giveaway. This is a mystery with paranormal elements and, for once, I actually figured out the evil-doer before the reveal. Should book two be written, I’d happily read on.
— the fantasy Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson which I enjoyed. It actually reminds me a bit of Lois McMaster Bujold’s Penric and Desdemona series. If a sequel to this book appears, I would happily read it; however, I don’t think I’ll likely reread this book. This book has violence, but I think it could be a fine choice for teens and adults.
— continued my Doyle/Acton reread and enjoyed revisiting Murder in Deep Regret, Murder in Revelation, and Murder in Unsound Mind all by Anne Cleeland.
Lover Arisen by J. R. Ward. Darker than usual for the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Also the cover has a nipple staring at me. Also some older Victoria Alexander books.
My corner of the middle of nowhere just got a set of remote library lockers, so we can pick up holds from the lockers instead of driving into town, so I’ve been signing out a lot of books. Sadly, the new books take a long time to get ordered in and distributed compared to a big city library system (looks forlornly at my hold on Nettle & Bone, which is still on order). On the other hand, they’re very quick and eager to add requested titles to that list of new books… that they take a long time to order… (looks forlornly at my hold on Legends & Lattes, which is now on order).
But I’ve got a fair number of titles that have come through. I’ve been catching up on a bunch of new manga that I hadn’t tried yet. DELICIOUS IN DUNGEON is a lot of fun so far, a series that combines DnD with cooking manga to have stories about a team of adventurers figuring out how to stretch their rations for a long dungeon crawl by cooking and eating the monsters they encounter. GOODBYE, MY ROSE GARDEN is a f/f Victorian historical romance about an English noblewoman and her Japanese maid falling for each other. And WITCH HAT ATELIER is a story about student witches which has a lot of themes about class, disability, accessibility, and also just, lovely artwork.
I’ve also signed out Anne Carson’s translation of BAKKHAI, which was my favourite classical Greek play in university and that I haven’t read in a while. I’ve heard a lot of good things about Carson as a writer and translator, so I’m curious what she brought to it.
Various fantasy novels as well, but so far none of them is sticking. Dang ADHD brain. I’ll keep rotating them and see if one finally grabs me long enough to get past the first few chapters.
I started a reread of Cat Sebastian’s book after finishing the Queer Principles of Kitt Webb. (By read I mean listened to, as I’m still having issues actually reading on my kobo or a physical book). So far finished the Turner series, Sedgwicks, and Regency Imposters. A GENTLEMAN NEVER KEEPS SCORE remains one of my favorites of Sebastian’s. But this time around I found I really liked A DELICATE DECEPTION more than the first time I read it. I think that the MCs anxiety with people felt too real when I initially read it, but now on reread, while it still felt a little too stressful, I was better able to enjoy it knowing how it handled. Also the secondary characters are great. I loved UNMASKED BY THE MARQUESS when I first read it, but the audiobook rubbed me the wrong way. I generally am fine with the narrator Joel Leslie but this time his characterization of Alistair sounded so different than what was in my head I couldn’t enjoy it at all. My preference totally, it’s still a good book!
Sadly that’s all I had time for the last few weeks… but I’m continuing on with Cat while I anxiously await my copy of NETTLE AND BONE! Hopefully I can focus and read the book itself.
:::dances in to some Lord Huron, since I’m trying to convince husband that we should see them for our anniversary:::
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My daughter and I visited a cat rescue this week and came home with a 7 month old. Daughter has christened her Raine (after a character from The Owl House). As you can see above, she says hello.
Well, let’s see, I jumped things off with a library copy of Abandoned In Death by J.D. Robb. The killer in this one was pretty creepy, and I appreciated that even his creep factor was not as straightforward as initially thought. Then, because occasionally you just need some slasher in your life, I read Clown In a Cornfield by Adam Cesare. I enjoyed the hack and slash of it all once it got going, and it had a great Final Girl character, but it took a little too long to get going. It’s possible that I am a product of my favorite types of horror, but if you’re going to tell me that this is a horror slasher, I need bodies to start dropping pretty much from the jump. I followed that up with The Night Shift by Alex Finlay. I really liked the procedural aspects of it, and thought the FBI character was great (shades of Marge Gunderson, if you know, you know). After that, I felt like a straightforward romance was probably in order (that’s enough murders for now, brain) and fired up After Dark With the Duke. I enjoyed Mariana (which incidentally, is my mom’s name, and you so rarely see that spelling) and always enjoy the found family aspect of this series. Also, it had top-notch banter, which is always nice. Which brings us to now, in which I have started Crowbones by Anne Bishop. I really like the community portrayed in this series, how protective everyone is of each other, and hey, from a pacing perspective, this is not a series where you have to wait too long for the bodies to drop (they seem to drop like rain in this town, which, cool cool cool). So until next time, I probably need to go see what my new cat has gotten into.
Well, I missed last WAYR and will most likely miss the next too, so I’d better get this in before it gets too long even if I’m a little late 😀
Kazuo Ishiguro – Klara and the Sun
It’s been a long while since I last read Ishiguro. I remember quite liking his prose, but unfortunately this one didn’t really work for me. It’s about AIs who are created to “help” children who are genetically modified, and I’m sure he was saying something profound about consciousness or free will or something but I just did not get it.
Aster Glen Gray – Briarley
m/m Beauty & the Beast retelling, WWII. I will read any & all B & B retellings, and this one was very well done. Though, while I know its a fairy-tale-style convention, I was annoyed how long it took to learn the parson’s name.
Alison Cochrun – The Charm Offensive
I adored this book. Absolutely loved it. Somewhere around chapter two or three I started yelling at Charlie “baby, you’re asexual” and then…he…was? And I was so happy to be right. It rarely happens that I see ace rep that feels so realistic to me, and characters that talk about whether labels are helpful or harmful, about boundaries, about their desires, and I just loved it. Plus (!!!!) he was not even the only ace-spec person in this book! The fact that there were multiple and varied types of queer characters was so refreshing. I did not expect to enjoy a book about reality dating shows so much (I don’t understand the appeal of dating shows in the real world). I read this through the library but I will have to buy it when I can dig up the money
Ashiya Kuniichi – What the Font: A Manga Guide to Western Typefaces
I’ve never been much of a manga reader, but I started following Seven Seas Press on social to keep track of the MXTX danmei release schedule, and that was how I found this. I’m a bit of a typeface nerd (I’ve seen Helvetica more than once) and I had to give it a go. It’s a loose “narrative” – a sales rep is pressed into service to design a presentation for her company and in the midst of her freak out she…meets a bunch of anthropomorphized typefaces who teach her all about the history of typeface design. Only in Japan. Anyway, VERY silly but this was actually a fun way to learn and retain information.
Timothy R. Pauketat – Cahokia: Ancient America’s Great City on the Mississippi
I’m not sure when I first learned about Cahokia, but I’ve been interested in it for a long time and frustrated that it seems to be so little discussed. We have this preconceived notion of indigenous Americans being widespread in small family groups, and and the only pre-Columbian cities in the Americas being in Mexico and South, but there was a large metropolis in what is now St. Louis in the eleventh century. And most of it lost to farming and highway construction. Anyway, this was a small book and rather dryer than I’d been hoping for. I was also rather frustrated that there were no images. Pauketet goes into great detail to describe artifacts and suspected reconstructions of sites around Cahokia, but I needed some imagery to cement it in my mind (I did find a short documentary on Cahokia in the Kanaopy app which helped supplement the book. Though this was written in 2009 it felt somehow much older. And there have been some new discoveries since then that invalidate some of Paukatet’s assertions. So I’d be interested to see another book on this topic someday.
Having a contractor in to do some work allowed the much needed time to fully immerse myself in Anne Bishop’s CROWBONES. I admit, I did not have my usual fan girl response to the first Lake Silence off shoot, but this was JUST. SO. GOOD!!!! A little suspenseful, a little funny, a little romance, a lot spooky. Crowbones is sort of hitman for The Others moving through the land meting out justice as They Elders see it. Crowbones even strikes terror in the hearts of the shifters living in The Jumble. Someone is playing cruel tricks, humans an Others are dying and worst of all, an apex Karen has moved into town. And there’s a drive by from Lakeside Courtyard’s Meg and Simon. I devoured it the way an Other would a child abuser. Aside from the wonderful characters and expert world building there’s the reassuring knowledge that eventually the bad humans will get their satisfyingly crunchy end.
Also big thumbs up for THE RUNAWAY DUCHESS from Joanna Lowell. Livinia Yardley is the thoroughly disgraced on the verge of poverty former fiancée of the titular Duke of Lowell’s A DUKE UNDONE. Her father is in jail, her friends have turned in her and her mother has engaged her to a vile letch of a duke who is practically drooling at the thought of deflowering his third bride. She escapes the train carrying her to said fateful event and is mistaken for a renowned lady adventurer/botanist by the manager of a large nursery who has been corresponding with her and hopes to marry her.
I was a little iffy on the mistaken identity thing. Lavinia was tap dancing as fast as she could, but a little willful blindness on Neal’s part is the only reason it went on a long as it did. The thing is, these two characters are just so delightful. Complex and likeable. They’ve both taken their blows from life, but they’re still game. Lowell has become a must read for me based on these two books.
Now going back to catching up on Murderbot
@Jennifer Estep – I adore Ghosts! So glad it has been renewed.
Taking a break from Ice Planet Barbarians (got through #4) to read UPROOTED by Naomi Novik and it’s just wonderful: a smart, plucky heroine who is relatable and not annoying, interesting magic, and motivations driven by friendship. See @FashionablyEvil’s comment above about the heroine’s journey.
Also started listening to THE DEATH OF MRS. WESTAWAY by Ruth Ware on audio from Libby but may save it for a long drive on Thursday. Haven’t read her before but picked it up based on The Professional Book Nerds podcast about tarot-related reading this week.
I’m about to finish Meredith Duran’s A Lady’s Code of Misconduct. I never thought I’d see the day where I’m mentally castigating BoJo, Priti Patel, Michael Gove, etc. for not being enough like 1860s politicians. “You see this speech by a man I would hate if he were real?! This is what REEAAAL MPs are like!”
“The Guest List”. by Lucy Foley: The much-hyped thriller novel in which a wealthy couple’s island wedding turns deadly thanks to fraught relationships with many of the guests. Considering the amount of praise it’s received, I found this really disappointing. The writing is mediocre and the number of bizarre coincidences is just too many to suspend disbelief.
“The Covert Captain” by Jeannelle M. Ferreira: Historical f/f romance in which one of the heroines is a woman living as a man. Eleanor Fleming assumed her dead brother’s identity to fight in the war against Napoleon. In peacetime, she continues living under the name Nathaniel and is content with a quiet life tending to warhorses until she meets her best friend’s spinster sister, Harriet. Marriage is the last thing Harriet wants after all three of her sisters died in childbirth, but she can’t help being drawn to the mysterious Captain Flemish. The writing style in this novel was a bit strange — old-fashioned and sometimes confusing — but I ultimately didn’t mind much. This isn’t the sexiest or most dramatic romance but it is a very sweet story about two lonely people finding each other. Some people might be bothered by the writer not really clarifying how Captain Fleming would identify in a modern context; I enjoyed that and I think the depiction of someone who’s fine with being a man in some areas of life and a woman in others felt quite true to lives of some historical “passing women.”
“The Viscount Who Loved Me” by Julia Quinn: Okay, I enjoyed the second season of Bridgerton, loved Kate, and heard enough crazy things about the source material to read this book. For me this was an interesting tour of a somewhat outdated m/f romance, but I… kind of can’t believe it wasn’t better? There are so many series out there with essentially the same premise and it’s a mystery to me why they decided to adapt this one. I think the show is an improvement in basically every way.
Also continued my Poirot reads with “Lord Edgware dies.” Fun read with an interesting, twisty plot; unfortunately I’d say the casual anti-semitism puts it somewhere in the middle of the Agatha Christie cringe scale.
I discovered a new author this month: Gregory Ashe. I read the first book in two different series: Pretty Pretty Boys (Hazard & Somerset #1) and Mr. Big Empty (Hollow Folk #1). Both are very impressive. Ashe is a tremendously vivid writer, evoking the landscapes and and rhythms of life in these towns (one in the Ozarks, one in Montana) and the ravaged minds of his main characters. Mr. Big Empty is the story of Vie, a gay teenager with psychic powers, who finds himself caught up in the hunt for a serial killer while almost succumbing to his own violent and self-harming impulses in the wake of an abusive upbrining. I don’t think it’s intended as YA; it’s just too brutal, despite containing those teenage staples, a coming-out story and a love triangle. Pretty Pretty Boys is a police detective story; Hazard is a gay policeman who returns to a job in his hometown nursing a deep rage about events in his youth, and finds himself partnered with Somerset, who is superficially more sunny than he maybe ought to be, given his culpable involvement in those same events…. It’s a twisty, satisfying mystery (with lots and lots of violence and unpleasantness) and a nicely tentative start to a love story. However, reviews of Ashe’s series are almost unanimous in saying that he’s not good at progressing them, just cycling his characters through the same angst, so maybe I will stop here. One note: anyone who goes to gay fiction seeking a better alternative masculinity won’t find it in Ashe’s characters who are an absolute stew of violent, emotionally-closed-off toxic masculinity. Ashe maybe comments on this in Pretty Pretty Boys in the character of a lunatic heterophobic radical who reproaches Hazard for not being a queer alternative to straight social mores… she’s pretty violent herself and depicted as not having any valuable alternative to propose.
Currently I am reading three books at once… one to carry around with me, Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff (convinces me there needs to be novels set in Hellenistic Alexandria); one audiobook to listen to during boring tasks (The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin, brilliantly read by Robin Miles); one relaxing book to read a few pages of before bedtime, Exercises de style by Raymond Queneau (how can a book that old be so hilarious? it is though).
Still doing a ton of Harlequins thanks to kindle unlimited. We’ve been busy in the nursery, dealing with what are mostly likely the Fourth of July babies and Harlequins are perfect to read in bite size bites with breakfast and lunch plus easy to put down if you get called back in a hurry.
I have also read Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron. Very good. Nicely diverse with engaging main characters as well as supporting characters. And the food! Since the plot is fake relationship for a cooking show, you know there will be food. Although the food here is Indian by way of Africa, it is Caribbean adjacent and thus somewhat familiar to me. I may start baking bread including varieties of flat bread, again.
Public Secrets by Nora Roberts was a KDD recently and I re-read that. Rock stars, kidnapping, murder, etc. I thought it still stood up. Now re-reading Nora’s Catching Fire, one of my comfort reads. I miss Missoula sometimes so there is that. Plus such competence porn and great descriptions of fire fighting.