Hey, everyone! It’s that time again! Please tell us what you’ve been reading and if you haven’t been reading anything, that’s okay too!
Shana: I have a kindle unlimited trial and I’ve been burning through KU romances. My favorite so far is the short story Fall Into You by Georgina Kiersten. It’s a small town f/f about a chubby graphic designer whose childhood friend is now hot, butch and recently moved to town to open a coffeehouse. Totally low-conflict and low-stress, with a simple plot that offered no surprises but plenty of sweetness. I read it during a heat wave, and found the fall setting very soothing.
Sarah: I am reading The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes. ( A | BN | K | AB ) The fact that the hero’s name is Rob is giving me such levels of joy. JOY I TELL YOU.
I also just finished the memoir Dinner for One by Sutanya Dacres ( A | BN | K | AB ) to prepare for a podcast interview. Dinner for One is also Sutanya’s podcast about preparing dinner for one after she married a French dude, moved to Paris, then was divorced a few years later. The memoir comes with recipes – an excellent addition to any memoir! The story of the memoir itself is very thoughtful, with elements of identity, language, existing across several cultures, and rebuilding or restarting one’s life in a new place.
Adjacent to all the algorithm recs for middle age or menopausal magic heroine paranormals, I am receiving So Many Bare Midriff and Leather Pants with a Sword book recs, too. What’s your rec carousel look like?
Shana: Um, I would like to play in your KU playground of leather pant-clad magic crones.
At first, my kindle app kept recommending Colleen Hoover books and thrillers about dead women. Now, it’s moved on to sex on cruise ships, and Brenda Jackson books.
Sarah: Oh, no the midriff sword ladies are not the menopause ladies. I’d have MANY QUESTIONS because leather pants have always seemed like a dreadfully uncomfortable sartorial choice, but especially while sword-wielding.
Sex on cruise ships…and Brenda Jackson. Oooooook?
I also find it fascinating that the menopausal magic books are all toned in fuchsia, pink, deep cobalt, or all of the above.
Shana: I would prefer my magic menopausal books be the color of the blood of my enemies
The cruise ship romances are especially entertaining because it’s not a trope I typically read. Apparently my kindle thinks I really need a vacation.
Sarah: Listen to your Kindle. Your Kindle knows.
Elyse: I am just at the beginning of The Stand In by Lily Chu on audio. It’s narrated by Philippa Soo from Hamiliton.
Claudia: Midway through A Lady for a Duke and loving it, regency romance with a trans woman main character and a friends-to-lovers plot.
Carrie: Reading Love Code by Ann Aguirre ( A ): it’s good, but not as good as Strange Love and I’m having a hard time staying focused. Also reading Hide by Kiersten White.
Who are all these menopausal magic users? I require details!
What are you reading? Tell us below!
Talking of recs, the Ivy Smoak book is still cropping up. Out of curiosity, I borrowed it. Turned out I’ve tried read it before and DNF’d. I don’t know, it just reads like a teenager at school with a crush even though its set in college. I stopped reading when the MC was goaded into going to a party she didn’t want to go to. Nope. Also teacher/student relationships yuck.
As I’ve said before, most middle aged menopausal paranormal novels are not for me as they all seem to have a plot where everyone has it in for the heroine. And I hate reading about the comically painful marriage breakdown in every single one! I quite fancy the blood coloured cover with some middle aged sword heroine but I fear someone is going to have to write that one.
I can’t look at a pair of leather trousers without thinking yeast infections. No thanks!
My Kindle Unlimited subscription ended a month ago, and I thought my reading would improve in its absence (KU is an endless source of low investment hate reads for me and six months of it had made me a pretty lazy reader). I was wrong.
MEET ME IN THE MIDDLE by Devon Daniels – A romance between two legislative assistants: one conservative and one liberal. I can handle that when we put politics in an idealized fantasy realm where members on both sides of the aisle have integrity, honor, and serve for the good of the people. Unfortunately, this book attempted to deliver an anodyne version of Trump-era politics. (Don’t you love how I write that as though Trump were a bygone political age and America would never go there again? I told you: I’m a political fantasist.) The liberal heroine’s legislation is the still-struggling Child Care for Working Families Act, while the conservative’s legislation is the corporate-favoring Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts which passed in 2017. The heroine’s “win” (since her legislation dies twice during Trump but only once in this book) is increased child care tax credits in the dude’s bill. I realize I haven’t said much about the romance: when the heroine meets with the male lead at the start of the book to discuss the possibility of bringing his boss on board the childcare act, he is condescending, dismissive, and hostile. We later learn he was a jerk to her then because it wasn’t their first meeting: they had been briefly introduced six months earlier and he had fallen in instalust with the heroine. He was incredibly excited about the opportunity to meet her again and was butthurt when she clearly didn’t remember him or share that instant attraction. Is there anything sexier than an upper middle class white man with a sense of romantic entitlement? You betcha: an upper middle class white man with a sense of entitlement and a gun who hands corporations a tax break then leaves public service because he can make more money in the private sector. So. Hot.
THE RETURN by Noelle Adams – Successful florist reluctantly rekindles romance with the guy who dumped her as a teenager to prove his manliness to his grandfather by becoming a commercial fisherman in Alaska. Noelle Adams has taught me a lot about the power of first impressions. The first book of hers I read was Second Best, which I wildly enjoyed (and I’m the Mikey of romance reading: I usually find something to dislike in everything). So I keep trying new titles by her, and they just seem so mechanical and bland. I would think Second Best had been a complete fluke, but I’ve also enjoyed books she’s published as Claire Kent.
PARTNER TRACK by Cat Wynn – I didn’t appreciate the romance in this one (it died the moment the lawyer heroine had sex in a conference room with the guy who just took the partnership she had thought she had earned…clearly dignity is just an aro/ace thing), but I absolutely LOVED the heroine’s relationship with her soulmate (female) bff plus the sensitive/self-aware OM, Noah. The irony of my reading preferences: while I would never have read this book if it weren’t a romance, this book would have been so much better if it weren’t a romance.
THE LIFESTYLE by Taylor Hahn – an Emma homage where our ersatz Emma (Georgina) is a successful lawyer who discovers that her also-lawyer husband has been having an affair with a junior associate at their firm. She’s determined to save her perfect marriage (and fix all her friends’ lives) by embracing “the lifestyle” (swinging). I’m not up on the vocabulary of ethical non-monogamy, but calling it “the lifestyle” felt very 1970s to me.
MISS BUTTERWORTH AND THE MAD BARON by Julia Quinn and Violet Charles (illustrator) – graphic novel of a comic-gothic tale that is apparently referenced in several of Quinn’s novels. I’ve only read Quinn’s The Duke and I, so this might have been more appealing to me if I had encountered it in the source material.
So even without the resources of Kindle Unlimited, I’m just making bad choices.
UNDER ONE ROOF by Ali Hazelwood – I read this because I wanted “an easy win” after hitting a bunch of DNFs in a row and this worked because apparently Ali Hazelwood works for me. Something appeals to me about the fanfiction roots and steering unashamedly straight towards tropes. Her voice is very entertaining to me even if I don’t always love the execution of some plot points. For example, every time someone says something in any book along the lines of “I’m clean, I swear we don’t need a condom” before the first time they have sex with someone (or worse, after the deed is done!), I have to grit my teeth to keep reading. I know I’m reading a romance novel and it is not real life but those are “famous lost words” as far as I’m concerned.
I will say it was a novella and in some ways it probably worked better b/c the plot was pretty thin. The flip side of that is I found the ending a little rushed and odd. But you know, it was just a quick palate cleansing read and I’d be happy to read more in this series.
WITH THIS RING by Carla Kelly – I read this for Wendy the Super Librarian’s TBR Challenge and I’m going to copy a little of my review. Marriage of convenience between an invalided Napoleonic soldier and a bit of a Cinderella heroine. This had all the classic Carla Kelly elements, wartime grit, (mostly) everyday people, a lot of emphasis on hard work and compassion for those who are struggling. I ate it up with a spoon. It’s very similar to her (later) Channel Fleet series, but different enough that I still enjoyed it.
I think my favorite thing about Kelly’s books is that her characters usually develop a lot of affection and respect for each other before they act on their attraction. I read all heat levels, but something about people who genuinely like each other is refreshing when so many romances are “I hate you, but let’s have sex anyways.”
SEE YOU YESTERDAY by Rachel Lynn Solomon – A time loop New Adult book that I found really charming, but I’ve found that Rachel Lynn Solomon is another one of those authors that just works for me, no matter what she’s writing about. Resolving the time loop is a little simplistic, but I don’t ever read these for heavy sci vibes. I do kind of space out her books carefully b/c she has certain writing tics I notice after a while.
I was really pleased that I could get into it b/c I’ve always liked time loops and I’m happy it’s become very popular post PALM SPRINGS, but my last two reading attempts were abject failures. I was worried that the trope had gone stale on me. I couldn’t finish IN A HOLIDAZE by Christina Lauren or THE REHEARSALS by Annette Christie for the life of me. The Christina Lauren really wasn’t due to anything the authors did at all. I was just under the mistaken impression from the description it was going to be a SABRINA “I’ve loved the wrong brother all along” story (another favorite trope) and when I realized it wasn’t I was too bummed to go on. THE REHEARSALS the problem was more too much toxic family stuff going on to be fun to read about.
Read two Cate C Wells: Heavy and The Tyrant Alpha’s Rejected Mate. Couldn’t put them down. Pretty good writing for KU books. Likable characters. Good plots with action tho they slowed down considerably in the middle. Hesitating to gobble up the rest of her books in case of disappointment.
Tried reading the highly recommended A Lady for a Duke but couldn’t even finish the sample on Amazon. I guess it’s a matter of personal taste. First 10 pages or so have to pull me into the book like a tractor beam.
I lie. Read Doomsday by Connie Willis. It didn’t pull me in after 50 pages. This was my second attempt to read one of her books because she won the Hugo and Nebula awards so much. The sci-fi is old, 1990s. Her characters actually developed and changed over the course of the book. She ran two parallel but intersecting plots masterfully. Then I tried to start To Say Nothing of the Dog and gave up in disgust. Starting a book where people are looking for a piece of a cathedral? I know I’m probably wrong not to keep at it, but I couldn’t force myself.
Still reading the Story of Egypt by Joann Fletcher. Up to the 6th Dynasty. She writes good narrative history. Lots of gentle but witty Egyptologist jokes. Made me want to go to Cairo just to see the Narmer palette. I also want to see the latest film made of Death on the Nile. Can Branagh out Poirot David Suchet?
Happy reading, everyone!
Highlights only:
The Grief of Thrones – I am always surprised by the lack of sex in the books because my head apparently seamlessly supplies (a lot of) it to Katherine Addison’s books. Because I guess, they aren’t romances at all? Brain categorically refuses to accept this.
The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes – adored it, although not as much as the first one, almost certainly a matter of impossible expectations.
Something to Talk About – although age gap and NA and boss/employee and celebrity and zillionaire are all very much not my thing. I do not ever want the boss to have sex with the employee but I always very much want more on page sex so that’s a weird tension.
The Hourglass Throne – enjoy this series but it’s moving too slowly for me, again because perhaps it’s not actually a romance despite my filter. There is at least kissing, that I didn’t make up in my head, but they’re trying to save the world with magic most of the time. Which is also cool, needs more kissing.
Bryony and Roses – I don’t actually remember much about it but that’s definitely my fault. It felt very much like the writer had just gotten a new garden.
I am perpetually rereading KJ Charles so I don’t usually bother to mention a specific one as I love them all across the board, but I got someone else hooked on her recently who started with Band Sinister (not my call, just where the flow chart led her) which took me down a very enjoyable Catullus rabbit hole.
A Rising Man – detective fiction that doesn’t appear to have any romance at all, even to me, yet I plan on continuing the series go figure.
Stones! Grief of Stones.
Really enjoyed Elizabeth Lim’s SPIN THE DAWN and UNRAVEL THE DUSK, a completed duology, about a girl, Maia, who wants to be the imperial tailor. Unsurprisingly, things don’t go as planned. The first book’s blurb describes it as “Mulan meets Project Runway” which is true as far as it goes, but then there’s a quest, political intrigue, a romantic interest, a big bad, a lack of clarity about who the good guy might be, and lots of magic and sewing. They’re YA and I both appreciated that the romance angle wasn’t foregrounded–Maia’s 18 and not really sure what she wants or who she wants to be; Edan is hundreds of years old; no need to rush into things! Anyway, they are brisk and fun and I really enjoyed them both.
Also really liked Jacquelyn Benson’s THE FIRE IN THE GLASS about a young woman, Lily, in 1914 England with the ability to see the future. Lily foresees the death of a friend and goes about trying to prevent it which introduces her to a whole cast of supporting characters with various powers and brings her into contact with a much larger nefarious plot. Currently reading the second one, THE SHADOW OF WATER, which picks up not long after the first book ends (I think there are four in the series) where Lily’s abilities to see the future have additional complications in the looming shadow of WWI.
I did not enjoy Julie Anne Long’s I’M ONLY WICKED WITH YOU which kind of surprised me because I liked the other books in her Palace of Rogues series. I found the hero, Hugh, to be way too condescending to the heroine, Lilias–there’s a lot of head patting and the “there, there, you don’t really understand how the world works, do you, little girl?” type nonsense. Also, in one of the early scenes, Lilias is outside smoking a cheroot, and Hugh takes the cheroot out of her mouth, extinguishes it, and then rats her out to her father. Frankly, I would have told him off and then never spoken to him again. (Why did I not DNF it? I think I was waiting for library holds, etc. to come in.)
@kkw–if you liked BRYONY AND ROSES, I definitely recommend other books by T. Kingfisher, including THE WIZARD’S GUIDE TO DEFENSIVE BAKING, her Paladin series, THE SEVENTH BRIDE, and NETTLE AND BONE. (The Seventh Bride is probably closest to Bryony and Roses in that it’s a fairy tale retelling; Nettle and Bone also has significant fairy tale angles to it). I’ve loved everything of hers that I’ve read.
Kelly Hunter’s LOLA AND THE SINGLE DAD is set in the multi-author Wirralong universe and is the fourth book in the Outback Babies series. As usual, Hunter brings a unique take to some common tropes—in this case both single dad and widower. Struggling actress Lola returns to the Australian outback town of Wirralong where she spent the happiest years of her not-always-happy childhood. Her impromptu visit quickly gets extended when her godmother falls and breaks a hip. Lola feels an immediate attraction to neighbor Ned, a widower with a young son. Ned is a blacksmith who creates beautiful bespoke metalwork—including swords, jewelry, and wrought-iron lace. Hunter does a nice job of giving us a good overview of this uncommon career without belaboring things. I really liked the maturity of Lola & Ned: they accept that they feel an attraction to each other, but the focus of Lola’s career is in a city hours away and Ned worries that it’s too soon after his wife’s death to be thinking of another woman, so there’s a slow-burn element to their growing romance. Hunter is always a good writer—her smooth, uncluttered style never calls attention to itself, but communicates with a few sentences what it often takes other writers pages to do. Characters from previous Wirralong books (especially Maggie from MAGGIE’S RUN and Tilda from MATILDA NEXT DOOR) makes appearances, but they are seamlessly woven into the story and Hunter carefully avoids info-dumps on their backgrounds. If you’re new to Hunter or the Wirralong world, LOLA AND THE SINGLE DAD might not be the best place to start (that would definitely be MAGGIE’S RUN), but if you’re looking for a well-written book with mature characters and a distinctive take on several familiar tropes, LOLA AND THE SINGLE DAD is highly recommended.
I’m pleased to say that Zoe York’s FEARLESS AT HEART (the fourth book in her Kinkaids of Pine Harbour series) is a huge improvement over the previous book, WILD AT HEART (which suffered from lack of chemistry between the MCs, along with an interminable subplot involving municipal parking). In FEARLESS AT HEART, the MCs (a pilot and a math teacher, who are now closing in on 40) were high school lovers. They haven’t seen each other much in the intervening years, but that changes when the heroine steps in to help run her family’s marina business—a place where the hero often lands his light plane. I really liked that York didn’t handle the “teenage sweethearts” trope the way so many writers do: treating the characters as if they’d been socially & emotionally frozen in time since they were last together. In FEARLESS AT HEART both h&h have continued to grow and mature, having had new relationships, friendships, interests, and careers in the two decades after graduation. The MCs are different people than they were 20 years ago, but each likes the person the other has become; and, of course, the old spark is still there. In light of yesterday’s appalling Supreme Court decision, one element of the story I really have to commend York for addressing is the heroine’s decision to terminate her teenage pregnancy: it’s not made a front-and-center element of the plot, but it’s not treated casually either, and two decades on, both the hero and heroine know she made the best decision for herself at the time. As the hero says of having a child: “It has to be a choice, or it would be misery for everyone.” (In her afterword, York also bravely addresses her own decision to have an abortion when she was younger.) Recommended.
Ruth Cardello’s STRICTLY BUSINESS is the first book of a duet called The Switch in which identical twin brothers (adopted by different families at birth) reunite as adults and temporarily trade places. In STRICTLY BUSINESS, driven businessman Jesse is spending time at the farm and animal rescue belonging to his newly-discovered twin Scott. Crystal, the niece of a man who wants to buy the farm, arrives to tender her uncle’s offer. The attraction between the Jesse and Crystal is immediate, but Jesse can’t tell Crystal the truth of his identity and Crystal knows that farm life would not be for her. Cardello keeps a busy plot moving: in addition to the twins’ subterfuge, there’s also something going on with Scott’s property that involves corporate skullduggery. (Although, I must say, events take an unexpectedly dark and violent turn toward the end of the book. Neither the hero nor the heroine are harmed, but that element of the story seemed to come out of left field.) How much you like STRICTLY BUSINESS may depend on how much you can tolerate a hero who is hiding a significant secret about himself from the heroine (although he does reveal his true identify before the couple get too close physically). I enjoy “the wrong twin” trope and I basically hand-waved Jesse’s failure to disclose who he was as soon as he and Crystal started acting on their mutual attraction, but YMMV.
Amelia Wilde’s dark romance, POWER PLAY, features MCs who first appeared as secondary characters in her Wealth trilogy. Gabriel is driven by the desire to exact revenge on the people he holds responsible for his parents’ deaths; Elise is the daughter of one such person, but she is estranged from her wealthy family and runs a small bakery. One of the most interesting things about POWER PLAY is how prominent a role the hero’s bisexuality plays in the plot. I’ve read several m/f romances this year (right off the top of my head, Katie Golding’s FALLING FOR THE ENEMY and Skye Warren’s ONE FOR THE MONEY) where casual references are made to the hero being bi, but on-page the hero’s sexual feelings are completely reserved for the heroine. Not so with POWER PLAY where the hero moves back-and-forth between his feelings for the heroine (complicated by his revenge plan) and memories of the boyfriend of his teen years (who has recently reappeared in his life). In fact, I found Gabriel one of the more complex heroes I’ve encountered in a dark romance—and not simply because of his sexuality. He spends a lot of time pursuing financial secrets from the elite of the city—and he’s not above using his charm and sexual reputation to acquire what he wants. The trauma of losing his parents as a teen, the subsequent loss of the family’s security and wealth, along with his torn feelings for the man from his past and the woman who could be his future, unbalance him and make him more sympathetic than the coldly amoral charmer he imagines himself to be. I have to say that, in comparison to Gabriel, Elise is pretty much the standard heroine of dark romance: innocent, kind-hearted, caught in a web of deceit and lies through no fault of her own but feeling responsible for the outcome nonetheless. She felt kinda flat next to the deeper, more nuanced Gabriel. I know dark romance—especially ones featuring the revenge trope—are not for everyone, but if you’re interested in a romance with a multifaceted hero, POWER PLAY would not be a bad choice—keeping in mind that, as is often the case with Wilde, the book is full of triggers and ends on a cliffhanger.
Garrett Leigh’s SAINT’S SONG is the second book in her Rebel Kings MC series and should be read as a duet with the first book, DEVIL’S DANCE. SAINT’S SONG begins right where DEVIL’S DANCE ended and concerns the same three heroes: Cam, Saint, and Alexei, and their combined attempts to make their MMM-menage work while they continue to root out the crime families who have infiltrated their motorcycle club and are sex-trafficking and drug-dealing on the Rebel Kings’ turf. I haven’t read much Garrett Leigh, but the books I have read have been angsty in the extreme—and SAINT’S SONG is no different: it’s gritty and full of content warnings and triggers, including sex trafficking, references to dysfunctional childhoods and past physical & sexual abuse, violence, and drug use & dealing. But the book’s real focus is on the shifting emotional dynamics between the three men. Recommended—but take the content warnings seriously.
@Deborah: I broke out in hives just skimming that first one. “We’ll compromise. I’ll impoverish children slightly less than I want to.” Swoon material right there.
I was reading The Easy Life in Kamusari by Shion Miura (translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter), in which an 18-year-old city boy is packed up by his mother and teacher with zero notice and sent off to a village in the mountains to start a forestry career. LOVED the people in the village and the traditional forestry practices and the local lore. Unfortunately, the main character takes a liking to a young woman, who is, even from the MC’s own POV, obviously unimpressed, so I can imagine how her version would go. He screws up his courage to ask her out–fine so far, we all know this struggle, sorry in advance, kid–to which she responds “There’s someone else” and rides her motorcycle into the night. And instead of rolling with it, as he’s done with everything else since being spontaneously evicted from life as he knew it, he does not pass go, he does not collect $200, he goes directly to “she must be lying.” (This is a very polite book, but I heard an unwritten “bitch” at the end.) He’s gone on and on about how beautiful and cool and accomplished she is, but no one before him could POSSIBLY have noticed this, it’s INCONCEIVABLE that she could already be in a relationship, so she must be LYING. And I had a moment of “ah, I recognize you, and I don’t want to spend another moment with you” and DNF’d about halfway through. Maybe he grows out of it later (or maybe he becomes a chainsaw killer!), but I’m not interested in adult-sized people who haven’t yet learned things like “other people don’t exist to fulfill my fantasies and disappointment doesn’t justify being an asshole.” After 18+ years on this earth, the same excuses applied to toddlers don’t fly with me.
Which finally cleared the deck to re-read Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames. Ordinarily, with “imagine a world without male entitlement bullshit” thoughts still sizzling on the grill, I wouldn’t grab a book written by a dude or even including a dude’s POV, but I know this book, despite being a sausage fest, treats the women in it like actual human beings rather than potential cum dumpsters, which frees up head space for the men in it to ponder the complexities of life all around them. (Who woulda thunk?!) It felt like settling in for storytime with old friends. (I cannot emphasize enough how bad I am with names, but here I’m yelling greetings to minor characters pages before they formally introduce themselves.) It’s in my Apocalypse Library (books I had to have in paper form so when the grid goes down I have something good to read), and I have a second paper copy I use like a writing textbook because there’s an art to fully characterizing a walk-on character who gets a total of two inches of page time. And it’s sStill $2.99 in multiple stores at the time I wrote this!
I have several books waiting on my TBR pile, including THE BONE SHARD DAUGHTER by Andrea Stewart and THE MONKEY’S RAINCOAT by Robert Crais.
I love royal-themed romances, so I’m also looking forward to checking out AMERICAN ROYALTY by Tracey Livesay, which comes out next week.
I’m also hoping to watch the final season of OZARK, but I accidentally spoiled myself about what happens to one character, so I’m pretty sure I’ll be angry/disappointed. Sigh.
@DDD—totally lol’d at this line: “an interminable subplot involving municipal parking.” Is there a way for subplot about municipal parking to NOT to be interminable? I am now very curious.
I’ve been binging the HEARTSTOPPER graphic novels by Alice Oseman. Or rather, I would have been binging the graphic novels except that they’re back-ordered everywhere and it took me a month to get my copies. In desperation, I actually read them online as the web comic, but the physical books just really added something to the experience. Perhaps I will have to rethink my years long kindle addiction.
As a novice reader of graphic novels, I was initially disappointed with VOLUME 1. This covers the story up to the empty ballroom scene at Harry’s party, for those who have seen the excellent Netflix series. But then I realized that my approach was all wrong. As someone who reads novels constantly, I was focusing exclusively on the words and skimming the graphics. This of course defeats the purpose of a graphic novel. Once I slowed down and purposefully paid attention to the drawings, the magic began to sink in. So much lovely body body language. So much blushing. So much swoooooon!
VOLUME 2 takes Nick and Charlie up to the beach scene and rounds out the rest of the story told in the Netflix mini series. In standard romance land, the story arc is over and we can imagine our happily-ever-after. But what about volumes three and four? You might think that perhaps another couple would take center stage. There is one obvious pair that seem to be heading toward coupledom. But Oseman, genius that she is, decides to go in a different direction.
VOLUME 3 takes us to France. Yes, France. It’s summer and the gang is taking a school trip to Paris. What could possibly go wrong? Fellow readers, I had serious flashbacks to my own high school trip to Paris when I read this volume. It was all there – the drinking, the secret romances, and less adult supervision than parents might want. Vomiting aside, however, Oseman somehow captures what it is like to be wholly human and a teenager. Her characters capture the complexity of being essentially good humans who desperately want the best for each other, but who are dealing with some truly difficult life challenges.
VOLUME 4 takes us further down the path of Charlie’s health challenges and Nick’s family struggles. So many stories about teenagers feature bullying and relentless social climbing among teenagers, without also taking time to show how beautiful and supportive teenage friendships and relationships can be. In this story, Nick shows incredible fortitude when he encourages Charlie to reach out for medical help. And Charlie’s emotional honesty puts many adults to shame.
This of course begs the question – are volumes three and four romances? Or is all the swoon in volumes one and two? The answer is a resounding YES! Even with all the trials and tribulations of Nick, Charlie, and the whole gang, volumes three and four are unequivocally romantic. In summary, read these books. They are amazing and you will love them even if high school has been in your rear view mirror for several decades.
During a very stressful week–not only because of the news Friday, but also not being able to *sleep* leaving me deeply useless–I am basically not reading anything. I have two books on the table that I’m not far enough into to judge at all, and two comics issues I haven’t started.
I did read issue four of NAOMI season two (it’s in “seasons” of six issues, tho I think the character appears in other DC books those runs feel like complete stories for the character) and I am very much enjoying it. Far, far better than the pathetic attempt that the CW made in adapting it, the comics are very worthwhile if you maybe like superheroes but don’t want to get involved with something extremally expansive.
@FashionablyEvil: Lol. I was a little worried when, around page 30 of FEARLESS AT HEART, a character mentioned the city’s public parking lot, but thank God it was a false alarm! No more parking-related issues were mentioned in the rest of the book.
I’m excited to be on the first day of vacation!! Unfortunately I cannot completely unplug from work, but I should be able to spend much less time having to think about it. Also a little harder to enjoy the time off with the SCOTUS decision from yesterday looming in my thoughts.
Romance:
THE LADY TEMPTS AN HEIR by Harper St. George: I liked this a bit less than the other two books in the series, but it wasn’t bad—fake relationship-but-real-feelings is usually fun for me. I really liked Max and Helena’s banter, and I appreciate that their relationship had a couple of smaller conflicts before the final big conflict, and that the resolution involved Helena having to make the romantic leap (rather than Max). I felt like the epilogue didn’t fully make sense for me or just that the life changes were abrupt. The parents are also somewhat let off the hook at the end (after three books of them being manipulative jerks about using their kids for social climbing!), but I appreciate that the work it will take to repair their relationships with all three Crenshaw kids is going to take a while.
MAKE A SCENE by Mimi Grace: Really cute fake dating relationship set around the lead-up to a wedding; I wished it had been a touch longer to flesh out a few things, and there were some between-chapter jumps I didn’t expect. Really liked Retta and Duncan together, and will have to read the next book with Anthony and Gwen sooner or later
THE BRIDE by Julie Garwood: I can see why this was so iconic of its time (spunky heroine! Alpha-but-turned-soft-by-love hero! English/Scottish! A sense of humor!), but also reading it in 2022…the consent is bad! The villain being a mentally ill woman seething with envy about the heroine having the hero! Jamie is the most special of women / isn’t like the other girls! Also…violet eyes.
THE LOVE CONNECTION by Denise Williams: Really sweet novella set mostly at an airport with two people who need to learn to take risks for love, and some very funny bits in it; I’m reading from Kobo so the second novella in this series is now out (and waiting for me) and the third is out next month, and I look forward to them!
Non-romance:
BULLET TRAIN by Isaka Kosaro, trans. Sam Malissa: I wanted to read this before the movie comes out, and also I rode the Shinkansen twice in Japan back in 2019 and loved it, so the setting was a big draw. Very fun (and funny) action-mystery about a bunch of assassins with competing goals all on one train headed out of Tokyo. I learned afterwards that some of the characters here appeared in an earlier work of the author’s (which is finally being published in English…this year?) so some of their cameos make more sense to me now. What does not make sense to me after reading is the direction the movie adaptation is taking. I get that the Shinkansen is much, much cooler than any of the trains in the U.S., and also there are various minor and more major plot points driven by the specifics of the bullet train, but casting a bunch of non-Japanese (mostly white) actors for the primary roles in what is a very Japanese story in certain ways is puzzling. IMO they should have decided to set it in some sort of AU America with fancier train service if they wanted to cast Brad Pitt (who also is maybe way too old for the role?) as one of the leads. Anyway, a fun read with a surprising number of references to Thomas the Tank Engine.
LIBERTIE by Kaitlyn Greenidge: Intensely moving and what a coming-of-age novel about many things, including what we owe each other in an unfair world. The setting felt well-researched but in a natural way where it was immersive and not over-explained, which is always nice to experience. Strong recommend if the setting speaks to you—it’s a novel largely driven by character and setting rather than a particular plot (well, coming-of-age is its own plot, really).
Up next:
Still deciding!
“In the Shadow of the Past” by J.E. Leak: This is the first book in a f/f series set in the 1940s that I would say falls in the broad category of romantic suspense. Jenny Ryan is a reporter who gets a tip that a local mob-affiliated businessman is no only working for the Nazis, but is responsible for her father’s death. Her attempts to investigate are immediately complicated by her attraction to the mobster’s apparent mistress, nightclub owner Kathryn Hammond. But Kathryn is actually an OSS agent (precursor of the CIA) who knows that Jenny’s father may have had Nazi ties himself. This is a very high-drama and sometimes silly plotline (I haven’t investigated whether the OSS had agents stationed in New York during WWII pretending to be mobsters’ girlfriends, but it seem unlikely) and the writing is pretty uneven. Jenny is a perfect example of the plucky journalist character in fiction who has no apparently reporting skills other than stumbling into dangerous situations. It’s also odd to hear the characters espouse ideas that were probably widespread at the time but sound right-wing today, like saying a workers’ strike is unpatriotic. I obviously have a lot of complaints about this book but I have to say I enjoyed it enough that I will probably read the sequel. It’s an extremely slow burn both in that the lead characters don’t even kiss in this first book and none of the major plot threads are resolved, so I do want to see what happens next.
“Her Countess to Cherish” by Jane Walsh: After engineering a marriage to a man wealthy enough to pay her father’s debts, Beatrice Sinclair learns that her new husband intends to have nothing to do with her after her produces a male heir. Determined to brush off the sting of rejection, Beatrice sets out to have an affair with the charming Mr. George Smith. She doesn’t know that George and his cousin Gina are actually the same person, political radical Georgina. Georgina is, in modern terms, genderfluid and is referred to with both male and female pronouns.
While Beatrice is acquainted with both George and Gina, she doesn’t realize they are the same person until Georgina tells her about halfway through the book. This is asking a lot from the reader in terms of suspension of disbelief, since it means Beatrice never thinking that two people who are staying in the same house with her, who look very similar and never appear in the same room, could be the same person. The book doesn’t seriously engage with how Georgina is getting away with this, which is fine, you just have to accept it as part of the fantasy. (It also tends toward a bit of anachronism: while trans people certainly existed in Regency England, they probably didn’t use the very modern term “gender identity.”) if you can accept that kind of contrivance and don’t mind your romances being set in a somewhat kinder and gentler version of regency England, you may like this book. It’s a quick, engrossing read and I especially liked Beatrice, who is allowed to be prickly, arrogant and scheming and still get a happy ending.
“Undiscovered Country” by Kelly O’Connor McNees: Not a romance, but a historical novel about the romantic relationship between Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena “Hick” Hickok. Told from Hick’s pov, focusing on how her life as an AP reporter changes when she meets the woman who will soon be First Lady. Mixed feelings on this — parts of it are quite good, but Hick’s narrative voice often feels unserious and naive for someone who was one of the most successful woman reporters at the time. Ends on a melancholy, ambiguous note that feels like the author wanted to write a different ending where Hick breaks out of the Roosevelts’ orbit but was constrained by history.
“Walking to Aldebaran” by Adrian Tchaikovsky: A sci-fi/horror novella about an astronaut trapped in a system of physics-defying tunnels between the stars, recently discovered by Earth. A lot of reviews compare the narration to a much stranger, darker version of Mark Watney from “The Martian.” This was a really creepy little book with a disturbing twist ending; liked it a lot.
“In the Dream House” by Carmen Maria Machado: Machado’s beautifully written memoir about experiencing emotional abuse, told in short vignettes and fragments. Deals with, among other things, cultural reluctance to talk about domestic abuse that occurs between women. A difficult read, but very worth it
I’ve just read the first two Rose Lerner Lively St Lemeston, which I enjoyed, though I’d have preferred less sex and more detail of printing presses and village life. Also read Courtney Milan’s prequel to the Brothers Sinister series, which I didn’t like but think that was just the constraints of the short form, may go on to read the rest. And Naomi Novak’s Temeraire, which was ok but I struggled to visualise the dragons and their fighting get-ups and found part of it upsetting. The Regency language was amazingly well done and I did relish that, but don’t think the series is for me. Also read Felicity Cloake’s book about cycling around the UK in search of the perfect breakfast, which I enjoyed.
I read and loved On Rotation by Shirlene Obuobi. It’s an #OwnVoices coming of age story, but it has strong romance undertones with a 25 YO 3rd year med student who is a from a Ghanaian immigrant family and is struggling to meet her demanding parents’ expectations while also trying to match to the residency program of her choice. She’s also trying to figure out how to be comfortable in her own skin while always being told by former romantic partners (and friends) that she’s “too much”/”too foreign”, etc. The author did a great job conveying the sense that she’s balanced on the edge of a knife blade, with so many competing demands on her time and energy, yet somehow she manages to get through it all with grace and is so much stronger by the end of the book. The author also dealt with such heavy topics as racial bias in medicine, ethnic health disparities, parental expectations, and mental health issues without ever letting them overwhelm her core story. Highly recommended.
I also read and loved Call Me Maybe by Cara Bastone, about a woman on a deadline to launch a website for her business, who ends up on the phone for hours with a customer support rep who tries to help her when the website crashes disastrously. The romance is conducted entirely via phone and text. They don’t meet IRL until the end of the book. This book was originally an Audible Original and although I find that audio books aren’t usually my thing, this book almost tempted me to listen to it, their interactions were so cute.
Finally, Big Wild Love Adventure by Julianna Keyes ended up just as good as promised – a fun frothy summer romance featuring a delightfully tropy take on reality dating shows. The heroine was down-to-earth with a core of decency that never faltered, no matter what unusual circumstances she found herself in on the show. I also loved that none of the other contestants were depicted as villains. Even the obliviously arrogant guy and the purported mean girl were shown to be decent people and they all formed a strong friendship bond over the course of the filming.
The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System (vol 1) – Mo Xiang Tong Xu
I’ve been waiting to dive into the official translations of MXTX’s danmei novels because I don’t like starting multi-volume works before all the volumes are out. However with vol 3 (of 4) of this out in July, I figured I might be okay to start and not completely forget everything by the time I get to the end.
Scum Villain is the only one of MXTX’s novels that I haven’t previously read. I enjoyed it–its sharply funny at points–but it also presupposes a familiarity with Chinese webnovels and pop culture that I don’t have as a nearly-40 year old white American woman. Even though many of these tropes have bled into the type of fanfiction I read, I still felt a bit of dislocation from the story. And with the sarcastic tone it doesn’t have the same emotional depth of her other works (at least yet). Though its fun to see all the sorts of tropes she will later reuse in this first work of hers.
I’m partway through vol 2 now and still enjoying it.
Real Queer America: LGBT Stories from Red State America – Samantha Allen
I joined a queer summer book club, and this was the first book! We don’t actually meet until tomorrow but I’m kind of excited about it.
Real Queer America is the road trip narrative of Samantha Allen, an ex-Mormon transwoman, across the south and midwest. She visits Utah, Texas, Tennessee, Atlanta, and Indiana in the wake of the Trump administration. This was written in 2017, published in 2018, and I was kind of astonished how long ago that already feels. It has a very hopeful, positive tone about queer people’s experiences outside of the coasts, and maybe we need that positivity now more than ever, but I did have trouble tamping down my cynical self. Still, it got me thinking deeply about a lot of issues and helped me put aside some preconceptions about small town America naturally being hostile to queer life.
Hither, Page – Cat Sebastian. Reread; wanted to remember it a little better before I start The Missing Page, which is my next read. Very enjoyable, cozy, and perhaps better read in winter but oh well, even in a 100+ heatwave cozy winter vibes can be good.
I have a KU gift languishing in limbo until the GBPL and I get on a more even footing with my reserve list. I currently have 16 books piled up on the coffee table. SIXTEEN. Just because I told them I wanted these books, doesn’t mean them have to give them to me all at the same time. Can’t give KU a whirl until I can give it priority. Still, I’ve downloaded A LOT freebies, some with better results than others, even a few surprises. As far as my suggestions, lots of shifters and military romances. Or shifter military romances and lately, more than a few middle-aged witches.
Current reads? I recently found out that my work friend is a big fan of military/first responder romances. What a can of worms she opened. Have you read this? How about this? Or this? Here, try this one. And this one. One of her favs is Riley Edwards who coincidently has been offering a freebie on Kindle, NIXON’S PROMISE. Always ready to take a rec, hence my presence here, I Finished it this morning and it was… okay? Maybe I need a little more crazysauce with my romantic suspense? Still, I will not be discussing it with her as no one wants to hear that you think an author they love is just okay.
Another freebie was Sarina Bowen’s STEADFAST, which I enjoyed immensely. Town bad boy and the good girl sheriff’s daughter. He comes home after three years in prison for manslaughter and a stint in rehab. She’s the sister of the boy killed in the accident and the girl he left behind. I really liked the versimilitude with which Jude’s sobriety was handled. His chapters start with his craving level. As someone who has an addict in their life, I can tell this is a spot on. I’ve read books by Bowen before, but they never pulled me in the way this one did.
BEARD SCIENCE, by Penny Reid rounds out the freebie reads. Also a delight. Truly enjoyed Cletus’s mindset. His ability to play the long game as well as the instant mic drop public revenge. It’s also a friends to lovers sort of story where the overlooked girl – well, not so much overlooked, because who could miss a woman dressed like a 1950’s housewife/banana, but disregarded. Cletus agrees to help her become dateable. Of course, he never likes her actually dating anyone. Loved it.
Of the sixteen library books? Finished THE CARTOGRAPHERS by Pen Shepard. Imagine, if you will that a place drawn on a map to prove someone else has copied your work rather than done their own, or a change is made in an architechural design, but copies of the original plan with a room or a door or a closet still exist and these maps allow you to enter that town or that room or escape a trap. Really good, suspenseful read, if you don’t dwell too long on how heartbreaking the back story actually is.
Started la Nora’s newest, NIGHTWORK. In keeping with the style of her recent work, we start in the childhood of one of the characters which, I feel, takes them out of “romantic” suspense. I’m on chapter ten, and while the conflict that will inform the later part of the book has been set up, we still haven’t met the love interest. A bit of a departure, as previous books following this format have the characters crossing paths throughout their lives. This time we meet the male character first. Harry Booth becomes a thief at a very early age. So far he’s a likeable enough character: smart, kind, generous. He doesn’t steal from people he knows, and he steals specific things (including a college education) rather than everything he can, and only from people who can afford the loss. I know, I know, a thief is a thief is a thief, but I am a bit of a sucker for the TO CATCH A THIEF vibes this is giving off.
After that, in an unintended theme, PORTRAIT OF A THIEF by Grace D. Li is next up on the GBPL pile. The perfect American Dream son of every immigrant parent gets caught up in planning to steal artifacts stolen from China. Museums and collectors who have such pieces don’t see themselves as the thieves. Nor do they feel they need to return items of cultural significance when it’s pointed out that they had no business “collecting” them in the first place. I have a feeling this will be both satisfying and enraging at the same time.
Thanks for the recommendations and the community here. I only discovered Romancelandia during lockdowns and I have been so comforted and delighted by the joy that the books, readers, bloggers and authors offer on a daily basis. I can’t imagine what took me so long but I am glad to be part of it.
As it’s Pride month, I’ve been bingeing some M/M stories, mainly historicals:
On my Kindle, Cat Sebastian is hitting the spot: The Soldier’s Scoundrel, The Lawrence Brown Affair and The Ruin of a Rake. Loved them all. Steamy, heartfelt and heroes to die for.
I also very much enjoyed Joanna Chambers’ Restored, book five in the Enlightenment series. I read books one to three then got distracted, so to realise I still had this and the fourth in the series to read was a treat. Again, historical – excellent characters, plenty of story, sexytimes and soul.
As I was so enamoured of these, I one-clicked one of her contemporary novels: Enemies with Benefits co-written with Annika Martin. A bodyguards/spies tale which was suitably plotty and brought some nice heat. On a JC roll, I then plunged straight into Total Creative Control co-written with Sally Malcolm. Both the modern stories were enjoyable but my heart is really in historicals. I just prefer the manners, the settings, and the obstacles that have to be overcome. To me, they have more depth and it’s nice to escape from all our present-day stresses like jobs, mobile phones and social media. However, that aside, I couldn’t resist Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall which was on offer. I started it this morning and have had to force myself to put it away and get on with my Saturday. I can’t wait to get back to it.
Back in M/F territory, I read my first Tessa Dare (I can hear you all shouting “What took you so long!”). The Governess Game. What a delight! A historical but written in a modern (but not distracting) style. Needless to say, I’ve got another couple of hers now stacked up ready to go – helped by Amazon UK having a lot of romance on offer at 99p – my finger is exhausted from one-clicking…
Also still on a Kathleen Ayers kick, she is so easy to read. Worked my way through her Arrogant Earls series (three novellas around 150 pages each) which are all lovely, especially book two: Chasing the Earl which features a sharp-tongued spinster and a (you guessed it…) arrogant second son who doesn’t really want to be the Earl. He falls hard and they are a very entertaining pairing.
In ‘real’ books, I invested in another couple by Anne Mallory, who has rapidly become a favourite. She writes the slowest of slow burns with such depth and dreaminess I cannot even. She draws you completely into her world. Three Nights of Sin and Seven Secrets of Seduction were both just wondrous. I am part way through The Earl’s Pleasure and it is…different, so far. Will report back next month.
I have also bought A Lady for the Duke by Alexis Hall, in paperback – and am saving it as my emergency TBR. Or maybe for a short trip planned next month. It definitely feels like it’s a special occasion read.
I often wonder if I am depriving myself of my emergency TBRs – the pile features some Kleypas (of course it does) and four of the Kristen Callihan Darkest London series, PNR set in Victorian London. I loved the first two – Firelight and Moonglow. Should I go for immediate gratification and just read them?!
Signing off and sending solidarity and love to all of you in the US after yesterday’s utterly devastating events.
Since last time ~
— For my local book group, I read Anxious People by Fredrik Backman which proved to be a far more entertaining read than many of our prior books; it was also silly and poignant. This is my first book by this popular author. If you have read this and others of his books, would you say this is representative of his works?
— enjoyed We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse Book 1) by Dennis Taylor; this was a fun science fiction read. If my library had the next book, I’d happily read on.
— enjoyed rereading Written on His Skin by Simone Stark; this is a contemporary romance with some epistolary content. It’s a fairly explicit novella which I think someone here recently mentioned.
— the historical romance, Fortune Favors the Duke (Cambridge Brotherhood Book 1) by Kristin Vayden; this was a pleasant book but not one I’m likely to reread. Prior to his death, the female lead is engaged to the brother of the male lead. It’s described as a sweet (closed door) romance.
— a book that I quite enjoyed, See You Yesterday by Rachel Lynn Solomon. It features two college students who are trapped in a time loop and live the same day over and over again.
— stayed up late finishing A Grave Calling (Bodies of Evidence Book 1) by Wendy Roberts. I enjoyed this mystery featuring a woman who finds the dead by dowsing; it managed to surprise me. Content warnings for alcoholism, physical abuse, and murders.
— read a second (unrelated) book by the same author: Grounds to Kill by Wendy Roberts. It was enjoyable, but I preferred the prior book.
— Another late night as I stayed up to finish Funny You Should Ask: A Novel by Elissa Sussman. I quite enjoyed this book and could well reread it. The leads were a journalist and the movie star she interviewed ten years ago; the story takes place in the past and present. The author was recently interviewed here.
— and a host of book samples.
I read a lot and fast (and always have an audiobook and an ebook on the go and sometimes add in a physical book) and I should be writing down my thoughts about everything but never manage to. Every time WAYR comes up I write half a post, intend to come back to it and rarely do or hit submit with what I have written. Once or twice I’ve posted, I think. However, three of my recent reads are yelling at me to recommend them because I enjoyed them so much.
Akwaeke Emezi’s YOU MADE A FOOL OF DEATH WITH YOUR BEAUTY is about a young Black artist who lost the love of her life to a car accident she survived. A few years later she’s making her first attempts at post-widowhood relationships. She starts with a semi-regular hookup, then meets a guy she thinks she might maybe possibly have more with–at least until she meets his father. I loved the characters, the LGBQT rep, the descriptions of art and the island they wind up on, and her emotional journey.
The first Roxie Noir I read, ENEMIES WITH BENEFITS (which is still free on Kindle) surprised me so much I immediately purchased and inhaled the rest of the series. The stories are about tropes that are well-traveled in Romancelandia, but there’s something about the characterizations and emotional resonance of her stories that caught me from the start. I’m not sure if I can pinpoint it, but they really stand out for me. My uncertainty about they work so well for me meant I wasn’t sure I was going to buy THE ONE MONTH BOYFRIEND, but I did. Then I thought it would languish on my TBR like so many other books, but I started it and couldn’t stop. I loved how the characters seemed like they should be unlikeable but were the exact opposite. Their troubles (anxiety for the h and PTSD for the H) seem very particular to the characters. This is a fake dating, enemies-to-lovers story that really, really worked for me, and I believed the characters’ growth and romance. I’m going to be grabbing up the stories about their friends.
I’d never connected with Lucy Score’s work until THINGS WE NEVER GOT OVER–that slow-burn, grumpy/sunshine story really worked for me. So when MAGGIE MOVES ON appeared I snagged it from my library when it popped up Tuesday afternoon in my library’s catalogue. I loved it. Maggie is a woman who is building a Youtube empire by filming herself and work crews flipping and renovating interesting houses, moving across country from house to house to house. When she buys a mansion in a small town in Idaho and immediately meets (and contracts to rework the mansion’s landscaping) a hot landscaper her life starts to change. He’s sure she’s the woman for him while she’s expecting to continue moving on–but she gets more and more invested in the town and its population and history. And of course the house and landscaper, and ends up having to confront her own history. Many, many great characters and a delightful romance.
Also really liked Ava Wilder’s HOW TO FAKE IT IN HOLLYWOOD, Jill Shalvis’ THE FRIENDSHIP PACT, Rachel Lynn Solomon’s SEE YOU YESTERDAY, Chloe Liese’s EVER AFTER ALWAYS (a re-read on audio, and I liked it more the second time around), and Denise Williams’ THE MISSED CONNECTION and THE SWEETEST CONNECTION. Williams is becoming a new favourite, though I prefer her full-length novels to the novellas.
More mixed for me: Amy Lea’s SET ON YOU was overall okay, especially for the cinnamon roll love interest; I’m not really into throuples, but liked Katee Robert’s WICKED BEAUTY.
@Deborah – At some point, Noelle Adams started writing a book a month or something close to that. It really affected the writing quality. Her Claire Kent books come out very irregularly so she apparently takes more time with those.
Hi! I just wanted to give a heads up: I think that it’s preferred to use “trans woman” instead of “transwoman” in the trans community, with trans being an adjective describing the noun “woman.” My understanding is that this is because having it be a single word implies that trans women are a separate category from “women.” (Caveat that I’m not trans, but my spouse is, so I may be missing some nuance). I agree with Claudia that “A Lady for a Duke” is a lovely book!
Mostly good reading this time. I did DNF a book by Pippa Grant whose work I usually enjoy. This one was The Grumpy Player Next Door, one of her baseball ones. I think meant to be a comedy romance and when will I learn those usually don’t work for me? The heroine was so darn annoying. I think it was meant to be cute and funny. and I could see that eventually Hero would love that about her. But she was annoying, her family were meant to be quirky and they were annoying, her practical joke feud with her brother was meant to be cute and it and he were annoying. I just stopped.
OTOH, while Loretta Chase often does not work for me, Ten Things I Hate About the Duke did. She was so true to herself, she was able to talk about things clearly, her family did pull through when it mattered. And the hero read Vindicatioin of the Rights of Women (he starts out as a major d-bag and does a lot of growth). I finished this one yesterday in between episodes of tears and political discussion and it really was the for me in that time.
The Price of Scandal by Lucy Score was excellent. A billionaire story where the woman gets to be the billionaire based on her own brains and work (and, yes, a little bit of trust fund). I enjoyed it and will definitely be checking out more from this author.
I revisited Sarina Bowen with Bombshells and Sureshot. I enjoyed both of them. I’ve read most of her hockey books and may grab the few I have missed.
Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen if basically Little Mermaid with Orishas and slave ships. Nicely done, lovely writing, sad things happening. I would recommend.
Like Water Catching Fire by E M Lindsay is M/M firefighters with one of the heroes Deaf. I enjoyed it though I don’t think I will re-read.
The Bombshell Effect by Karla Sorensen. Young blond woman inherits football team meets her single father quarterback who mistakes her for a bimbo. I enjoyed it. Possible more than the SEP I thought it might remind me of.
Think Outside the Boss by Olivia Hayle. Young woman about to start high powered job wanders into sex club, meets hot older man, you know where this is going. He values her smarts, they deal with workplace spying, Handled nicely. I enjoyed this.
Finding Ivy by Clare Kingsley. She meets a guy who already knows all about her, is kind of following her around. I skimmed through it, seemed a little stalkerish though explained in the end. Yean, not really for me.
And for a complete change of pace, Her Dragon Daddy by Roxie Ray. She is abandoned by high school boyfriend, finds she is pregnant, raises child while marrying and having another and divorcing. Then they meet again. And just in time since he forgot to mention he was a dragon shifter and their son may be a dragon, too. For all the potential for craziness, it was a very pragmatic little romance. I think I gave it 3 stars which is an OK from me.
CW next paragraph:
Sending hugs to my fellow women who are dealing with political whatever. This has been triggering to me. I remember life before RvW. My dad was a GP in a large city in the 50s. I have shared my bedroom with some of his desperate patients. The first baby I lost as a physician was due to sequelae of a back street abortion performed without her informed consent on an early teen. We can be sad, devastated, afraid, angry today. We need to then move into our strength and persist.
Currently reading C.S. Harris’ WHEN BLOOD LIES, #17 in the St. Cyr series. Sebastian finds his mother in Paris and that’s all I am going to say. I love these books.
Also reading SOUTH POLE STATION by Ashley Shelby. A 30-something woman accepts a place in Antarctica as a resident artist at a research base following a family tragedy. She becomes a “Polie,” the neophyte misfits who want to live in six months of darkness at -54 F. The dynamics and hierarchy of life at the station are social minefields and Cooper bumbles her way along with the rest of them. Enjoyable so far.
I made the mistake of listening to the audiobook of what I thought would be a light read (cartoon cover, blurb says “an utter delight”) on my dog walk the morning SCOTUS set the clocks back. Turns out the first 1/2 of Lessons in Chemistry is a relentless diagnosis of women’s choices in the 1950s. I shamed my dog by sobbing on the sidewalk. I finished the book in a day (in part to complete the stress cycle) and although NOT A ROMANCE it ends in a satisfying sort of feminist fairytale HEA.
@Ange: Oh, wow – thank you so much for the heads up. I’d seen both used so much I thought they were interchangeable but clearly I was incorrect. Thank you for letting us know, as we absolutely want to support the trans community.
I’m counting to read the Carolina Cold Fury hockey series by SawyerBennett
@Deborah, duh at your review of MEET ME IN THE MIDDLE. I guess the author should have read the room.
I read a few HPs, and it’s been a long time. Lynn Graham used to be my main go-to and Dani Collins and Michelle Smart seem to hit the same sweet spot. Smart’s “A Cinderella to Secure His Heir”; what you see in the title is what you get. Collins’s “The Marriage He Must Keep” and “The Consequence He Must Claim” were connected stories involving babies switched at the hospital and OTT villainous family members. It was hard to believe it took the heroes so long to catch on, but if none of that triggers you, she writes smoothly and it’s a good escape for a couple of hours.
I read Linnea Sinclair’s Games of Command. Wow, this was a fat book, over 500 pgs! Fast moving with lots of action. CW for violence. I don’t claim to have followed all the plot complexities, with alternate universes, mental telepathy, and lots of different warring factions. But the main couple was really likeable, there was an HEA for a secondary couple, plus some cute telepathic pets that help save the day. A good read.
On the historical mystery front, I decided I’m going to have to break down and create a spreadsheet. I never keep track of what I read, but the number of historical mystery series I am following is totally out of control, yet I keep starting new ones instead of catching up with the ones I’m behind on. So I read the first two books of a very good series set in pre-World War I Singapore, Singapore Sapphire and Revenge in Rubies. I loved the suffragist heroine. The male detective character already has a love interest who is a sympathetic character, so it’s hard to say how or if a romance will develop between him and the main female lead.
I also read “Murder at Morrington Hall” the first of a Gilded Age mystery series by Clare McKenna. It’s a dollar princess/arranged marriage set up. The hero starts off as a jerk, but seems to improve in the second book, “Murder at Blackwater Bend”. I’m hooked on this series too, but taking a break to read book 3 of the Veronica Speedwell series, “A Treacherous Curse”. The series is now up to 7 books, I told you I was way behind!
I did actually finish one romance series, Rescued from Ruin by Elisa Braden. The last book, A Kiss From a Rogue, was not the best of the series, but overall it’s very good, I recommend it. Historical romance with some detective and spy plots in the mix.
THE KILL by ÈMILE ZOLA is so so good. These people are awful. I can’t stop reading about them.
THE MURDER OF MR WICKHAM by CLAUDIA GRAY is fun. I don’t really care who did it. That man was awful. So less invested in the mystery and more in just enjoying the interaction of the characters.
ROSALINE PALMER TAKES THE CAKE by ALEXIS HALL is a fun and fast read. A very good and interesting romcom so far.
THE BALLAD OF PERILOUS GRAVES by ALEX JENNINGS is fantastic. I don’t quite understand what is happening but I know I eventually will and, until that time, I am enjoying the ride nonetheless. Music is MAGIC with a New Orleans setting? I am THERE.
I posted elsewhere on the site that ROSALINE PALMER TAKES THE CAKE by ALEXIS HALL is a US Kindle well today for $1.99.
Hmm, WELL ought to have been DEAL in my post above.
Counterpoint: I DNF’d ROSALINE PALMER pretty quickly. I hate hapless, self-deprecating heroines. Also, I had zero interest in that British baking contest everybody loves, which I guess makes me an outlier.
@Karin, you are not alone. I also did not finish Rosaline Palmer.
I’m with @Neile in that I often plan on posting and then somehow don’t. But I have to share an incredible title with y’all: REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES by Shelby Van Pelt. Not technically a romance, it’s a book so chock-full of love that it leaves you stunned. I shed a few tears, but I ordered a copy for my sister the moment I finished, and she says she cried for hours. This is the author’s first book (I hate her!!!), and I’ll be candid and tell you that, yes, indeed, one of the main characters is an octopus. Trust me, it is beautiful.
Reading a new book isn’t that typical for me, and I’m just this week getting around to reading the first J.D. Robb, NAKED IN DEATH. I like most of the Nora Roberts books I pick up, and I’m enjoying this one. I sincerely doubt I’ll make it through the whole series, but I’ll probably at least get to number two!
I do have to say, though, that trying to focus on books is remarkably hard at the moment. Despair has a way of making you feel like you’re trying to push your way through quicksand, and you just want to give up and crawl into a hole. Yes, we can make our voices heard, but they don’t listen and they don’t care. Last time I was this miserable I plowed my way through the entire Virgin River series, but its white-bread, hetero-normative blandness wouldn’t be enough at this point. I may turn to Mary Balogh. Yes, yes, I know – the same could be said about her work, but somehow it comforts me. Hope you all find a book or two to bring you solace during these dark days.
I was supposed to be visiting family this week. But our flight was just one of the many flight cancellations that have been happening over the past few weeks. After trying to find another set of flights that would work and having no luck, we gave up and the trip is now postponed. Will probably end up driving – good thing that we have the summer off so can afford to spend over week driving there and back on top of the visit. Am planning to stock up podcasts and audiobooks before we go.
All the planning and replanning around that trip-that-didn’t-happen meant that reading was down. I finished excactly 2 new books, Witch Please and Shenanigans, and reread/skimmed some others.
Witch Please (Ann Aguirre): This is the second book about modern-day witches set in small-town Illinois that I’ve read recently (the first was Lana Harper’s Payback’s a Witch). I found it a relatively low drama romance; in part because the two protags, Danica and Titus, are both beta, conflict-avoidance people. There were times in fact when I found Danica, almost TSTL in her conflict-avoidance tendencies, especially when it came to the family problems. As a result the plot was a bit wobbly, depending too much on Danica and her mother never having had an honest discussion bout their family. Reviews that I’ve read also jumped all over Danica’s grandmother and her manipulative behavior, but, near the end of the book, Danica’s mother confesses that she also did something that I thought was problematical and manipulative. However I enjoyed Witch Please enough to put in a hold at the library for the next book in this series (which is about Danica’s assertive and prickly cousin and a witch hunter). I also have a hold on the next book in the Lana Harper series. I just wish that all these Illinois witches would start using their magic to turn the Cubs’ season around.
Shenanigans (Sarina Bowen): most of the Bowen books that I have read, I have found pleasant, but not memorable. This was another one of those – it’s part of her Brooklyn hockey series. The book opens with the hero (Neil) and heroine (Charli), waking up in bed together after a wild night in Vegas. And do you know what those crazy young kids did during that wild night? – of course you do because you read romances. I thought that the opening scene depicting the morning after — where Charli and Neil gradually realize what they did and try to figure out what they should do now — worked fairly well. Shenanigans is at its heart a Cinderella story: Charli, who comes from a poor family, is working full-time at second job, because women’s hockey pays peanuts, while Neil is not just a star men’s hockey player, he’s the heir to an enormous fortunate. The book hums along competently enough although I thought the ending was rushed.
@DDD you mentioned Julie Kriss recently – and I was pretty sure that I had bought and read some of her books because of a previous recommendation by you. So I went looking on my Kobo app, found the first 3 books from her Filth Rich Series (Filthy Rich, Sexy as Sin, and Dirty Talk) and reread those. And then I remembered that there was supposed to be a fourth book in the series that wasn’t out yet when I purchased the first three. When I checked in the Kobo store, I found that none of her books are currently for sale there. Guess she has signed one of those annoying, monopolistic deals with Amazon. Kobo’s my preferred ebook store, but if I must, I will occasionally purchase from Amazon. I’m just debating if this should be one of those times.
Currently reading: Dating Playbook (Farrah Rochon); The Raven and the Reindeer (T. Kingfisher); & Siege and Storm (Leigh Bardugo)
I discovered how much I like Ali Hazelwood after reading Under One Roof and picking up my copy of The Love Hypothesis. I also tracked down the original Reylo fanfic and I’ll read that when I finish the 30 library books I accidentally checked out all at once.
Also finished The Hacienda and The Diamond Eye. Both were 5 star fabulous reads. The Hacienda reminded me of reading old Barbara Michaels books in the 90s and I might have needed to get up and turn on a few more lights.
In my last WAYR post, I mentioned that I was the primary planner for a long, large, complicated multi-generational vacation. Well, the trip happened and it was kind of a disaster (for my husband, my kids, and me anyway). Because COVID, this was our first trip anywhere ever as a family and my 17 month-old did NOT adjust well to sleeping in a hotel room – each night her sleep got worse and worse. Then what was supposed to be halfway through the trip, she and I both got COVID and then a few days later my husband and son were COVID positive too. We ended up driving home early. The kids got over their illnesses quickly and my husband did pretty well, but I had extreme fatigue for a week and a half and a nasty cough even fully vaccinated and boosted. So not the rest and relaxation we were looking for to say the least.
Now on to the books:
Excellent:
The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin: I absolutely adored this nineteenth- century, Russian set mystery (first in the series) about a low ranking detective who doggedly follows various clues to unravel an international murder. However, there is a part of the story at the end that shocked me and I read the synopsis for the next book and I am unsure whether I should continue the series or not. If anyone else has read the series, I would love to hear your thoughts!
Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews: My sister-in-law and I reading the Hidden Legacy series together this summer (books 1-3 are re-reads for me) and I love this book now just as much, if not more, than the first time I read it.
Very Good:
Hour of the Red God by Richard Crompton: National hero, honest Nairobi cop (which makes him an outcast in his corrupt police department) investigates the death of a prostitute leading him to the doors of the country’s rich and powerful. Great description of place and great characters. I would caution that this is not an own voices story and there are several content warnings including discussion of FGM.
Circle of Shadows by Imogen Robertson: Fourth in the eighteenth-century set Westerman and Crowther mystery series, this is set in a duchy in Germany. I re-read this to lead my mystery book club (which ended up getting postponed). I liked it, but I noticed flaws in it that I did not see the first time. Still, it was lush, complicated, dark, and eerie. Multiple content warnings including a child in peril. In addition, this really should not be read as a standalone – you really need to read the first three books to fully understand the decisions the characters make in this one.
Good:
Royal Flush by Rhys Bowen: The third book in Her Royal Spyness series, where our heroine (sister to a duke and something like 34th in line to the throne), travels to Scotland to keep an eye on the royal family after a series of suspicious accidents. These stories are cute and I plan to read the next in the series.
Meh:
The First Man in Rome by Colleen McCullough: This was my dad’s pick for our father/daughter book club and it took me approximately 14 months (maybe 16?) to finish it – I am not kidding. I generally like historical fiction, but this was so uneven with interesting characters and plot lines then weighed down by horribly boring and, dare I say, not well written historical descriptions, battle descriptions, geographic descriptions, etc. Yet at the end I kind of wanted to read the next one in the series – what is wrong with me?
The Bad:
None