September is wrapping up and that means it’s time for our second Whatcha Reading of the month. We want to hear all about your reading highs and lows!
Elyse: I just started The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths. ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) It’s spooky season and I want spooky!
Lara: I was influenced by Sarah. I’m reading Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn and I’m loving it!
Claudia: I am at the very beginning of Sailor’s Delight by Rose Lerner!
Sarah: I am reading A Restless Truth, ( A | BN | K | AB ) the sequel to A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske.
Tara: I’m listening to The Memory Librarian by Janelle Monae ( A | BN | K | AB ) and it’s sooooo good.
Shana: Ooh, good to know! I have The Memory Librarian on hold at the library.
I’m midway through The Bad in Each Other by Tasha Harrison. ( A | BN | K | AB ) It’s a second chance romance, and the hero was enough of a jerk in the backstory that I’m going to need a LOT more groveling. And it better happen soon.
Susan: I marathoned Sailor’s Delight and loved it, so I hope you enjoy it too, Claudia!
So, whatcha reading? Let us know in the comments!
I’ve been reading some midcentury kid lit, including the Jill pony book series by Ruby Ferguson and the SHOES series by Noel Streatfield. I’m also really enjoying IRISH LUCK, a YA horse book by the NZ author Kate Lattey.
@DiscoDollyDeb: Whenever I hear the name David Cameron, I think of the pig’s head episode of Black Mirror & start to snicker. Definitely not a hero’s name, pig event or otherwise.
@Susan/DC and @hng23: Huge apologies! I frequently make this kind of mistake! An Oliver North romance would be *shudder*
Renews my lapsed membership in the Bad Decisions Book Club last week, when I decided to start reading Warprize by Elizabeth Vaughan at 10pm. I think I bought it a couple years ago, based on a books on sale post and although I was really tired the next day, I’m glad I picked it up. Fantasy novels are hit and miss for me, but this was a joy to read.
Another recent read from a sale post was The Roommate by Rosie Danan. Overall, I enjoyed it, but I’m looking forward to reading other books about some of the characters who were introduced in this book, including the heroine’s Aunt Jill.
I gobbled up Kristin Ashley’s last book, Making the Match, which I enjoyed very much. She set up several future relationships for future books, but I liked both the heroine and the hero and was pleased to see cameos from other characters in her other books.
On the audio front, I’ve been working my way through the Pink Carnation series, most of which are narrated by the fabulous Kate Reading. The spy antics still make me giggle and Reading is a great narrator for these books.
Not sure what I’ll read next, although maybe another read through of these posts will give me some ideas.
@Another Anne, that may be just the motivation l need to pick up Warprize. I remember buying it a few years ago and just adding it into the TBR… Thanks for the inspiration on what to read next! I just finished By the Book by Jasmine Guillory. It’s clearly Beauty and the Beast but the tie ins made me laugh and l thought it was surprisingly charming.
I’m having a massive book hangover from Kathryn Moon’s “Lola & the Millionaires” (Part One and Part Two). The book was way out of my comfort zone (MMMMMMF, RH, omegaverse) and comes with a lot of trigger warnings but I found it oddly comforting and I’ve caught myself re-reading my favourite parts even after moving on to other books.
Next up I’ll probably read Erin Sterling’s “The Kiss Curse” which is the sequel to “The Ex Hex”. I read “The Ex Hex” in early September and it was just an ok read for me. I loved the ~vibes~ but it took me a while to get over the fact that everyone (including the hero) thought the hero deserved to be cursed because he broke the heroine’s heart nine (9) years ago. The curse wasn’t meant to be real (the heroine and her cousin jokingly cursed him while drunk after the initial break-up) but when they find out it was, everyone’s reaction is basically “Well, he deserves it.” It’s been nine years, please move on. And the reason for the heartbreak wasn’t even that bad imo. It seemed like the author wanted to give a good reason for the hero to be cursed without making him look like an irredeemable asshole. I get that break-ups hurt a lot but when the heroine meets the hero again after – and I can not stress this enough – nine years she (accidentally) almost runs him over with her car which causes him to roll down a hill and after she checks up on him and realizes it’s him she just leaves him lying in the middle of the woods with a possible concussion and no form of transportation or light. And then she tells her cousin (the heroine of the sequel) about it and the cousin says she should have just run him over. Hello?!? Luckily the book moves on from the whole “he deserves it” spiel once the characters realize the curse has fucked the whole town over and from then on it’s just the spooky rom-com I craved (witches, ghosts, family secrets, over the top fall festivals, you name it). I’m hoping the sequel is more in this style since the set-up is different and it seems to be a rivals to lovers romance. If anyone has recommendations for lighter/fun witchy romances that aren’t published Reylo fanfiction please send them my way.
I read the first volume of “Heartstopper”. It was cute.
I’ve started “Thorn” by Anna Burke, an f/f “Beauty and the Beast” retelling that has all the richness of detail I loved in the fantasy books I read when I was younger.
Also DNFed the “Divergent” series around, maybe, the beginning of the first book? I’ve taken too long to read it and have lost interest, but I also think the books meander and draw out events and introduce characters that don’t really serve a purpose in the story, imo. I actually prefer the movies, because they trim down this overabundance of plot and characters to the bare essentials and they’re better for it.
That should have read “the beginning of the third book”. Ugh.
Big fan of Elly Griffiths. Just finished the standalone The Postscript Murders on a long plane ride. (I think she may be doing another book with the same main character, though, which is good.)