It’s that time everyone! Gather ’round and tell us what you’ve been reading lately!
Elyse: I just started King of Wrath by Ana Huang.
Shana: I just finished Even Though I Knew the End by CL Polk. ( A | BN | K | AB ) It’s a hardboiled period mystery set in an alternate Chicago, with a lesbian love story. I am totally in love with the heroine, a detective with sexy noir-ish vibes who’s trying to catch a magical serial killer and earn her soul back. It’s a great novella but I thought the romance part was meh.
Susan: My current “No thoughts, head empty” read is Jujutsu Kaisen, ( A | BN | K ) which is IMMENSELY silly.
Sarah: I am reading Anon Pls by Deuxmoi ( A | BN | K ) and it is a digital heir to The Devil Wears Prada. It is a very fast read too and rather fun, though I keep getting distracted by the idea of the “real” Deuxmoi writing a fiction of herself and it makes my brain tired
So, whatcha reading? Let us know in the comments!
On vacation in Key West and enjoying lots of good food (sea food, Cuban sandwiches, Key Lime pie!), sunshine and ASTRID PARKER DOESN’T FAIL, and CHICK MAGNET by Emma Barry. My favorite type of contemporary romances, funny and light hearted, but fleshed out with details and emotions. Not too forced so it’s “wacky” or “zany.” Very gratifying after a huge reading slump.
Last time I had just started reading Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory, and I really loved it! I think it’s my favorite book of hers that I’ve read so far. Now I’m reading Guillory’s Royal Holiday, and I’m liking this one too. There’s just something about Guillory’s style that just works so well for me.
I’m also reading Room to Dream, an autobiography by David Lynch, written with co-author Kristine McKenna. It’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect from a David Lynch memoir. I’m reading it slowly, because there’s a lot to savor. Loving it!
Are we free to mention Harper Collins titles now? I’ve wanted to talk about two books I read over Christmas (they were in KU) but I found out they were published by a sister company of HC. I think they had horrible rushed endings and the second had a lot of ablesism in it that is still bothering me two months on. Particularly since I am on the spectrum and so is my daughter (we got her ASD confirmed on the 23rd).
Other than that I’ve not done an awful lot of reading because of events. I listened to Dry Hard by Nick Spalding (a re read technically because I read it the first time) but I stopped because the characters seemed very self absorbed the second time around. I’ve started reading the third Nightingale Nurses by Donna Douglas which is easy to dip in and out of as it kind of about the goings on in a thirties London hospital rather than major events. Kindle unlimited membership finishes on the eleventh, probably will wait for another freebie before joining again as it’s gone up to £9.49 a month!
I haven’t read
Don’t know why those last three words came from at the end of my report. Please ignore!
I just discovered that one of my pandemic sanity-savers, Honor Raconteur, writes m/m under AJ Sherwood. I’m off for more ridiculousness and feel-good warm fuzzies! (I’ve only devoured four so far.) An author under any other name is just as crackalicious…
Oh, and I need to go pick up my library hold of Freya Marske’s A RESTLESS TRUTH. Awesome weekend ahead!
Okay, I just realized it’s not March yet. Must. Caffeinate!
(What is time anyway?)
I’m thoroughly enjoying the Amory Ames series by Ashley Weaver. A Most Novel Revenge is fun and frothy if you can call murder mysteries that. Next up is the Adventures of Holloway Holmes series by Gregory Ashe. Looking forward to the first book, The strangest forms. The second of the series The Old Wheel is out in April.
Read several books I’d gladly recommend to others:
UNWRITTEN RULES by KD Casey, an m/m baseball romance. It has two timelines (three years ago and present day) which gradually converge. One of the main characters, Zach, is deeply deeply closeted and his coming out story can be hard to read at times, but Casey writes him (and the other MC, Eugenio) with so much grace and empathy. Minor quibble: the whole thing (even the flashbacks/three years ago timeline) is written in present tense, but the story is so good I’ll let it go. One other thing that kind of bothered me—Zach has hearing loss which plays a big role in his arc. However, as someone who also has one sided hearing loss, the thing that’s actually hard is what I refer to as echolocation (aka finding your phone when it’s ringing when you can’t remember where you put it down.) I kept looking for details about this and not finding them. Side note: props to Casey for naming a character Eugenio and not giving him any nicknames.
THE PALACE JOB by Patrick Weekes—picked this up based on a books on sale post due to comparisons to THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA which I really liked. The comparisons hold in the sense that both books share a plot of “scrappy underdogs try to pull off daring heist to take down evil empire,” but LOCKE LAMORA is quite dark (evil monsters, battles to the death, child gangs, etc.) whereas THE PALACE JOB is light and fluffy (jokes about the unicorn seducing virgins.) If “light and fluffy heist with a number of smaller side romantic plots” sounds like your catnip, this is a solid option.
ASTRID PARKER DOESN’T FAIL—this was a good book, but not a me book. One of the MCs, Jordan, is a carpenter and I was often distracted by the lack of authenticity and specificity about her job—she uses an “electric saw” (is that a table saw? mitre saw? band saw? jog saw? etc.), uses a nail gun for things you would never use a nail gun for (though I agree it makes a highly satisfying noise when you’re mad!) and the number of projects she takes on (you are not making a full set of custom kitchen cabinets solo in a week) is unrealistic. If you or someone close to you is not a woodworker, this will probably not bother you! However, that is not me. But! Astrid and Jordan both have really good emotional arcs and hot sex. A lot can be forgiven with that.
Currently reading THE MAN WHO DIED TWICE which is the second book in the Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman which is regularly making me laugh out loud (four friends in their 70s/80s solve mysteries.) I am reading the second book without having read book one (book 1 had a 6 month+ wait at the library; book 2 was available immediately), but it seems to be working out just fine. (Will update in 6 months when I have read book 1.)
@Kit—yes, HC titles are back in the mix! HC and the union agreed to a deal and the employees went back to work last week.
I just finished SIGNAL MOON by Kate Quinn, which features a time-travel plot (sort of). This was a short story — about 50 pages — so it was a good introduction to Quinn’s writing style.
I also have NOT THE WITCH YOU WED by April Asher and LOVE ON THE BRAIN by Ali Hazelwood waiting on my TBR pile.
On the TV side, I have started POKER FACE on Peacock, which I’m enjoying. Very Columbo-esque. I keep waiting for Natasha Lyonne to wear a trench coat and quip “Just one more thing …” 🙂
None of the books I read blew me away (not counting my comfort rereads lol, KJ Charles is a life saver), but all were in the enjoyable to quite enjoyable range. I read a book or several of: Annika Martin, Jordan Castillo Price, Kilby Blades, Arden Powell, Mina V Esguerra, Sarah Honey, and Katy Birchall. All of whom I believe have been discussed many times in the comments, and I don’t have much of anything to add. They’re good or at least good enough, that if you’re in the mood for whatever the back cover promises, they’ll more or less deliver it.
Alyssa Cole would be the exception and my top romance pick for the past couple weeks even though Let Us Dream was not my favorite of her books, mostly because it is a novella. Which I imagine is how it escaped my notice (I love Alyssa Cole but novellas are too short by definition). There’s also a didactic thing going on, which is a pet peeve. But it’s almost seamlessly incorporated – the MCs are political agitators and that’s integral to their awesomeness, so it makes sense that they’re going to think about, and lecture people, on civil liberties – and for any readers who missed that (often untaught) part of US history it’s probably less clunky and just fascinating. But basically, it’s Alyssa Cole, she can get away with an awful lot as far as I am concerned because (swoon) her characters! Her pacing, her settings…everything, really. I am so invested and entertained I hardly care if from time to time I suspect it’s all a bit of an after school special.
The best thing I read was not a romance. Drunk on All Your Strange New Words by Eddie Robson is great fun. Murder mystery sci-fi turns out to be a genre I could read more of! Alas this appears to be his first book. The sci-fi elements are very mild, it’s a real leave them wanting more situation which is /extremely/ rare for me. Not like the world building was thin at all, but like the plot left no time for exposition in a very good way.
Part One
WILDER AT LAST completes Serena Bell’s Wilder Adventures series about a family that owns a outdoor adventures company. If you have read the previous books in the series (and, if you haven’t, I strongly recommend that you do), you know that Easton Wilder and Hanna Hott are “frenemies” who work together at the company and have perfected the love-hate squabbling dynamic that characterizes the antagonists-to-lovers trope. But when a social media star comes to town to lead some Wilder Adventures in foraging/cooking, both Easton and Hanna (for very different reasons) want to catch the man’s attention: Easton wants a job with the man’s company, and Hanna just wants the man. Knowing that Easton might be leaving makes Hanna reevaluate her feelings for him; knowing that Hanna has a crush on another man makes Easton reevaluate his feelings for her. Yes, we know the tropey drill—but Bell is an author who can take a trope and, while being true to it, make it individualized and specific to the characters in the book. In WILDER AT LAST, neither MC feels as if they really fit in: Hanna grew up with five older brothers and now has made friends with the Wilder wives & girlfriends, but she still feels that she’s “Not quite one of the boys. Not quite one of the girls.” Easton as the youngest Wilder brother often feels as if his place in life has been already set for him. It’s only with each other that Easton and Hanna can truly be themselves—but it will take some angst, pain, and heartache (along with some hot sexy-times) for the couple to get to their HEA. Highly recommended.
One side note about WILDER AT LAST: if, like me, you were hoping that once Bell finished the Wilder Adventure series, she would return to the Tierney Bay series (which left the stories of several key characters untold after SO CLOSE and SO TRUE), alas Bell is starting a new series, Hott Springs Eternal, featuring Hanna’s five older brothers. The first book, HOTT SHOT, is due in December of this year. I’ll read whatever Bell writes, but I do hope she gets back to Tierney Bay one of these days.
I thoroughly enjoyed COWBOY, PROMISE ME ALWAYS, the sixth and final book in Genevieve Turner’s Cowboy Homecoming series. It’s a grumpy-sunshine pairing between brightly optimistic Allie and gruffly brusque Thorne, who have appeared as secondary characters in the previous books (although you can read COWBOY, PROMISE ME ALWAYS as a standalone, I would recommend reading the other books in the series). Allie has lost her job due the thoughtlessness of her selfish employers and has come to live on the family ranch where she now raises goats (I love how each of the goats, particularly the matriarch Hecate, have their own personalities). Thorne, whose two brothers are partnered with two of Allie’s sisters, is in love with Allie, but his emotional intelligence is limited to say the least, and his attempts to show his affection tends to be of the bull-in-a-china-shop variety. I really liked that Allie was not a complete softy and, as much as she loves him, she still pushes back on Thorne’s ham-handed way of trying to show his love: “I want to be your girlfriend, not your dependent,” she tells him at one point after he tries to interfere with her new job. (That reminded me in a oblique way of the moment in SPARE where Prince Harry was cruel to Megan Markle and she let him know she wasn’t going to take that shit and he better get his act together if he wanted them to have a life together.) I also like any book that can expose me to something of which I have no knowledge—in this case, the “milk test” required for diary animals (such as goats) to be certified for milk production. Who knew? Highly recommended.
I’m not quite sure Skye Warren’s existential and extremely melancholy THREE TO GET READY even qualifies as a romance, seeing as the HEA is rather qualified to say the least. After ONE FOR THE MONEY and TWO FOR THE SHOW, THREE TO GET READY brings to an end the story of Finn Hughes and Eva Morelli, but although the MCs do achieve their HEA, it is peppered with a strong sense of fatalism:
As Finn observes, “We all have a secret expiration date, and it’s never pretty. Whether it’s a curse—or a car crash or a heart attack.” Eva counters, “Life didn’t give us easy. I’m not sure it really gives anyone easy.” The book’s ending, while ostensibly upbeat, makes no promises that everything will work out in the future. As Eva says, “Love doesn’t fix everything, but it makes it worth fixing.” In an indirect way, THREE TO GET READY reminded me of Ted Chiang’s SF story “Arrival”, which questions how we could live our lives if we always knew what our future holds. I would recommend the Hughes Trilogy for someone looking for a story with a lot of emotion written by an author who is not attempting to hand-wave away circumstances that cannot promise an unmarred future.
Part Two
After POWER PLAY and UPPER HAND, Amelia Wilde’s FAIR GAME brings to a close the dark and fraught romance of Gabriel Hill and Elise Bettencourt (whose father heads a sinister business consortium that was responsible for the deaths of Gabriel’s parents). Initially, Gabriel’s interest in Elise was based on a thirst for revenge, but (as per the dark romance revenge trope) as time passed, his feelings morphed into something far more complicated. Meanwhile, Elise must leave the quiet life she has created for herself as a baker to return to her childhood home to help protect her sisters from their father’s sadistic rage (CW/TW: this is a dark romance, and the father is awful). Gabriel (who after his parents’ deaths, resorted to sex work to support himself and his siblings) describes himself as “A person who spends half his time forgetting the past and the other half stuck in it.” I like dark romance, and Amelia Wilde is right up there with Skye Warren as one of my favorite authors of the sub-genre, but I can only recommend FAIR GAME (and the two books before it) for someone who is ok with the characteristics of dark romance: pain, suffering, cruelty, morally ambiguous MCs, and some really terrible bad guys. However, if you don’t mind those elements, the romance of Gabriel and Elise features an interesting story with engaging redemption arcs.
I’m ambivalent about THE TRAGEDY OF FELIX AND JAKE by new-to-me author J. Daniels. On the one hand, I tore through this story of two addicts trying hard to maintain their sobriety while falling in love with each other. On the other hand, the book desperately needed proofing, editing, and better attention to detail. At the beginning of the book, Jake (a marine who has been sober for seven years) goes on a bender after receiving a break-up letter from his girlfriend. This was the first moment that Daniels’s rather cavalier approach to facts became apparent. Jake’s emotionally visceral response to the letter, along with his ability to justify consuming a massive amount of pain pills, were well done, but wouldn’t a person who has swallowed a bottle of Oxycontin tablets at least need their stomach pumped? Jake receives (and apparently requires) no medical intervention. Also, would a military service member be dishonorably discharged within a few hours of falling off the wagon? Dishonorable discharges take time to process. Again, I wish Daniels had done a little more research. As it is, within a few hours of losing his sobriety battle, Jake is out of the military and on his way to go live with his brother and start his life over again. Jake begins attending meetings where he meets Felix—younger, sober about a year, and emotionally very immature (which I found accurate for a person who spent most of his teen years drunk or high). There’s an attraction there, but both men realize that having a relationship when both of them are trying to stay sober simply won’t work—especially when Felix volunteers to be Jake’s sobriety sponsor. That doesn’t mean the two men don’t “fall off the wagon”, both sexually and substance-wise, at certain points. I thought Daniels did a good job of showing how stress and unanticipated life events often incline an addict into using again. However, not to keep harping on the same chord, but after I started noticing the editing errors in the book, I kept seeing them: “staring” for “starring”, “nauseas” for “nauseous”, characters being introduced to people they’ve already met, characters not knowing the location of places they’ve already been, scenes where the location suddenly switches mid-paragraph. Hello, Editor! So, in conclusion, I gobbled up THE TRAGEDY OF FELIX AND JAKE because of its angsty, propulsive plot, but the book needed waaaay more editing (especially in the first half) than it apparently got. Recommended if you’re there for the angst and can handle the lack of careful copyediting.
I’ve been reading mysteries these past couple of weeks. For reasons unknown to me, both KU and Scribd seem to have many more mystery books available than romance.
The Bea Abbot Agency series is set in London, the series character a widow returning after a world trip with her terminally ill husband. I didn’t like the character at first – she complained about noise, about having too many people in her house, even while getting on with things – but continued reading because the plots and supporting characters were excellent. This shows as cozy, but the situations in the books are not light and fluffy.
Next up, Kiki Lowenstein mystery series, which started strong – the first title was an Agatha Award finalist. But…I don’t write, which makes me slow to criticize. Yet if in book 3 a continuing character is being tested for breast cancer and in book 4 no mention is made of this but in book 5 the same character is completing treatment for throat cancer, as a reader, I’m disconcerted. Add Cohen brothers instead of Coen brothers; “she was being calloused” instead callous [or perhaps I’m the one wrong about this usage]; broach instead of brooch, and I start to feel like a ping pong ball bouncing in and out of the story.
Meanwhile, Lucy Score’s new novel, Things We Hide From the Light, is available. This follows Things We Never Got Over, one of my favorite books last year. I’ll re-read Things We Never Got Over so I can enjoy it all over again before I read Things We Hide From the Light.
And…Julie Kriss’ Reverb is available for pre-order. I don’t pre-order very often, but I’m looking forward to this story – have been since reading the second and third in her Road King series.
Still rereading IN DEATH books.
ENCORE IN DEATH was pretty good, even if I did figure out who the killer was. (I almost never do, even when rereading a mystery.)
My one attempt to read something else, MY YEAR OF REST AND RELAXATION, by Ottessa Moshfegh ended in a DNF, mostly because I hadn’t realized it was set in 2000/2001. 9/11 is a huge nope for me, even outside of fiction. (Did confirm it was headed there.)
About to start THE MEMORY LIBRARIAN, by Janelle Monáe.
The books were Vox and Q (I think it has a different title in the US) by Christine Dalcher. The former I’m convinced that women would’ve found a way to communicate verbally despite this being explained away earlier on both books felt very rushed in their endings, I like dystopia to have a hopeful ending but this felt very unrealistic how the systems were turned around quickly. The latter I found very abolish, perhaps I should’ve known better. I’m not reading the third book Femlandia by the way!
You might ask, “Big K, why do you like books about sociopaths falling in love?” Who knows? Maybe because I like the idea of someone who usually does not give a f@#& about anyone absolutely adoring another person, and put their needs ahead of their own? Or because the sex scenes are hot? I don’t know. Don’t judge me.
Regardless, DAMAGED, UNHINGED, PSYCHO, and MOONSTRUCK by Onley James are all about this trope, and I really enjoyed them. Family of psychos, killing bad guys together, and each of them falls in love with someone that they absolutely will do anything for. You will either eat these up like Cheetos, or you will turn your head in disgust and say, “Why would I want to have orange fingers?” Me, I think I’m going to read the two books about the twins next.
Did not care for ORPHAN X by Greg Hurwitz. It was exactly what it said it was on the tin, but very much been done, and no surprises at all. Please give this book as an example if anyone ever complains about how formulaic romance novels are – this book adhered to the action/adventure formula to a T, complete with plot moppet, sex with the woman in distress, predicted betrayals, and amazing physical skills/knowledge of weaponry by the protagonist. Not to mention meditating to rid yourself of pain. Not the formula for me, but def someone’s catnip.
Kristen Callihan’s DEAR ENEMY was really good. I have read a lot of her stuff – I esp like her Darkest London series (speaking of which, I’m going to double check that I’ve read all of them) but this is totally different. Contemporary M/F romance, famous, rich guy who was a jerk to a girl when they were kids, now there is forced proximity, and they revisit their past and move beyond it. While some of it was a little thin (the need to be living together was pretty forced) what I liked about the book is that you believed the emotional evolution of the characters, and that they built trust over time. This is rushed in most books. Here, KC let time pass in the book, so their feelings could evolve, and I really appreciated it. I never believe in a total reset over a weekend. I like that there were some misunderstandings in their past, but there were also actual acknowledgements of shitty behavior, and apologies in present day. That is very appealing to me – we all need to do better at saying when we screwed up and changing our behavior moving forward. So, I recommend this book is you are looking for enemies to lovers done well.
Looking forward to reading your recs, so please, for all that is holy, share them! I love reading these posts. Have a great two weeks!
Reading Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett which I picked up thinking it was going to be a great fantasy novel (it is!) but there seems to be a mystery afoot as well. I am praying this author nails the landing. It is extremely enjoyable 1/3 of the way through!
DNF’d Best Served Hot by Amanda Elliot because I couldn’t stand the female protagonist.
It’s been a slow reading month with a rotator cuff injury. Hope next month is better!
My unintentional theme for this period was all mysteries and crimes.
“Any Old Diamonds” by KJ Charles: M/m historical. Alec is the second son of a duke and has a lifelong grudge against his father and stepfather. He hires Jerry Crozier, a jewel thief, to help him get revenge (and enough money for his siblings to live on). Not one of my favorite KJC books, mostly for personal taste reasons; I’m not a fan of d/s or single POV romance. Still a fun book, and I’m reading the sequel now.
“The Decagon House Murders” by Yukito Ayatsuji: Mystery novel translated from Japanese. A group of seven students who are members of a mystery fiction club go on a trip to an island where a disturbing murder recently occurred. Meanwhile, an ex-member receives a threatening letter purportedly from one of the victims. This is very much an homage to Western murder mysteries from a Japanese perspective, influenced by “And Then There Were None” in particular. Unfolds in a very twisty and satisfying way.
“The Tea Master and the Detective” by Aliette de Bodard: Sci fi, an interesting take on Sherlock Holmes in which a sentient spaceship who brews teas that help people survive in deep space gets pulled into a mystery by her latest client, a consulting detective. Fun story, very unique universe. This felt more like it should be the start of a novel or a series than a standalone novella, but I enjoyed it.
“The It Girl” by Ruth Ware: Mystery/thriller. Years ago, Hannah’s best friend and roommate at Oxford, April, was murdered. Now married to April’s former boyfriend, Hannah is approached by a journalist who believes the wrong man was convicted and begins to doubt her own eyewitness testimony. I’ve read three of Ware’s books recently and this was my favorite. The Oxford flashback sections were a little tedious, though essential to the plot; Ware was clearly going for making April complex and fascinating but we saw very few positive traits. The rest of the book was a page-turner and has by far the most satisfying twist ending I’ve read from her.
“The Whole Picture” by Alice Procter: Nonfiction about the history of colonialism’s influence on the creation and development of museums. This is told in vignettes about the histories of specific items, so it’s not super comprehensive or linear, but it was a good read and I learned a lot.
I’ve been reading and in some cases re-reading Theodora Taylor’s books this month. The genre and characters aren’t always my cup of tea, but DC or Marvel have nothing on her in creating a multiverse.
I do like that the characters don’t make excuses for each other. They own their behavior.
I’ve been listening to Annika Martin’s Billionaire books for my commute. Those characters I find more frustrating but not enough to ditch the series
Currently reading two paranormals – Don’t Hex and Drive by Juliette Cross and Fairy Godmothers, Inc. by Saranna DeWylde. I’m finding the first better developed for my tastes than the second. Then there’s also a Victorian which has been sitting a year or two on my TBR shelf – Meredith Duran’s Wicked Becomes You.
I adored Jackie Lau’s contemporary Her Unexpected Roommate – very cozy and satisfying. A old style Regency re-read (I think) by Barbara Metzger, Miss Treadwell’s Talent was less satisfying as it was rather zany.
I read Paul B. Rainey’s graphic novel Why Don’t You Love Me? based on Abigail Nussbaum’s excellent review here: https://wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2023/02/recent-comics-why-dont-you-love-me-by.html. I knew I wanted to read it before I encountered any spoilers, and I’m glad I did.
It starts out as the story of an apocalyptically dysfunctional marriage – wife drunk and chain-smoking all the time, husband on couch, two takeout orders in rotation, kids being sent off to school on Saturdays – with hints of something else around the edges. It gradually gets stranger and then there’s an SFF twist. And from there it gets surprisingly warm and hopeful. Like many, I ended up re-reading the first part for little details after I finished the story.
I will say it took me some hoops to set up a good reading configuration of my Kobo purchase, though that’s not unusual for graphic novels. But if any of this sounds interesting, take a further look at Nussbaum’s review – this was an accidental find for me that I doubt I’d’ve have seen any other way.
@DiscoDollyDeb, agree with your thoughts on Serena Bell’s Wilder series and her writing in general–VERY well done, and tropes always feel fresh.
Just finished a binge of Brigham Vaughn’s The Midwest Series boxset, which is four m/m stories about guys just graduating from college. Some athletes, and dealing with the pressures of being closeted, or the freedom of stepping out of the closet, plus a bunch of very enjoyable bonus scenes. I couldn’t put them down, and also loved there are nods to some of these characters in her more recent series, the hockey series Rules of the Game.
And loved Mari Carr’s newest release, Wild and Wicked, a fun snowed in, surprise pregnancy story in her Italian Stallions series, which yes, is as hot and funny as one might imagine…
Just finished Chilling Effect by Valdes as I’m going through the Space Opera/Cozy recs from a few weeks back. On to # 2 Prime Deceptions because Space Cats and Cuban food are my jam.
Since last time, I checked last year’s spreadsheet and I read a lot more romance last year than I remembered, so I haven’t beaten my total yet for romance reads this year compared to last as a I thought – a fun number to try to best. And overall, I am pleased with how many books I have finished year to date.
Excellent:
The Anatomist’s Wife by Anna Lee Huber: First in the historical set Lady Darby series, I see the flaws in this book, but adored it just the same and I hope there is an eventual payoff for the romantic arc started here. The MC is a disgraced noblewoman who moves in with her sister and brother-in-law after being widowed. While at a house party at their remote castle, another noblewoman is murdered and our main character is forced to join forces with a houseguest to solve the crime. I loved the setting, loved the MC’s supportive and loving family, and loved the MCs themselves. Content warning: the murdered woman was pregnant
Very Good:
Heartstone by Elle Katharine White: A high fantasy retelling of Pride and Prejudice, I found this a calm and gentle read despite the violence sprinkled throughout the book. It read more or less like a standalone and I was surprised to see that the next book in the series followed the same couple rather than being in the same world with a different couple, so I am not planning to read it.
Good:
Have You Seen Me? By Kate White: A woman shows up at her office only to find that she hasn’t worked there in five years. Shortly after her memories (mostly) return, but she still can’t remember the previous 2-3 days. What follows is a thriller as she races to find out what happened to/by her during that time. The problem is the first 3/4 of book I found super compelling and fantastic, but the ending was too crazy and kind of ruined the book for me
Meh:
The Cocoa Conspiracy by Andrea Penrose: Second in the Lady Arianna Regency mystery series, I had high hopes as the main characters in the first book had entered in a MOC while investigating a crime. I had hoped this second book would really develop their relationship, but that fell flat for me. The writing too fell flat as there was a lot of historical info-dumping as the supposedly super intelligent heroine asked her husband to explain things to her. I don’t plan to read the next in the series.
The Bad:
None
I just finished my favorite book of the year so far, A Little Too Familiar by Lish McBride. She’s not a particularly prolific writer and her previous books were mainly YA, so I was thrilled to find out she had written an adult PNR with a animal mage heroine who matches familiars to witches, and a sweet lone wolf shifter hero who’s lost his pack and had very bad experiences in the past with his animal mage stepmom. Lots of a found family, great friendships and that “cozy” paranormal vibe that I adore.
I also loved I Married A Minotaur, part of Regine Abel’s Prime Mating Agency series, with another lovely cinnamon roll alien hero. She really excels in sweet heroes who actually communicate with their partners and couples who work together to achieve a common goal. Next up is I Married a Merman.
Finally, Georgie All Along by Kate Claiborn. I’m such a fan of her writing. Her latest did not disappoint. Love Lettering is still my favorite, but this book was a close second.
SWEEP OF THE HEART by Ilona Andrews was very good, as expected. I was afraid I’d get confused with all the names, contestants, multiple story lines, and I did, but who cares. Love these characters and their machinations.
EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE by Benjamin Stevenson was a twisty, tangled crime novel set in Australian ski country. Talk about dysfunctional families and devastated people. Ultimately, this was a great read.
Currently reading Tessa Bailey’s MY KILLER VACATION, holding on by my last nerve if I have to read “baby brother” one more time. My goal is to finish and be pleasantly surprised.
Listening to SCORCHED GRACE by Margot Douaihy. Sister Holiday is a young, angry, talented and queer nun who teaches guitar to the students at St. Sebastian’s School in New Orleans. Unraveling the truth behind the fires and murders at the school sets her on a path against the police, her fellow nuns, and right to the heart of her own past. I LOVE SISTER HOLIDAY. The narration is calm and deliberate, belying the chaos outside. New Orleans is very much a character and Sister’s faith is all that keeps her tethered, but not in an annoying way. Highly recommended.
Listened to THICKER THAN WATER by Mike Carey, the fourth book in his Felix Castor, exorcist, series. Carey also wrote THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS among others and does not shy away from violence here either. Castor is another great, damaged character and if daemons in London are your cuppa, grab the first one and settle in.
I just finished the 2nd Amory Ames/Ashley Weaver mystery. I’m not wild about the underlying theme of the MCs troubled marriage, but Amory and the mysteries are a lot of fun.
The recent sci-fi romance post here led me to Heartmate by Robin D. Owens. I don’t think I could read a lot of these in a row, but it hit the spot as a fun escapist read.
I read Cheap Land Colorado, which is about people living off the grid in Southwestern Colorado, but not in a cool counter-culture way. More like a trailer park, outcasts from society kind of way. A bit of overlap with Nomadland, except these people are hunkered down in place.
Right now I’m reading a really old book I dug out of my TBR closet, Outlaw Lovers by Pat Warren. It’s a Silhouette category book, and they sure did this author a bad turn. The cover shows a dark haired guy and a blond woman, but the heroine is a Native American woman and the hero is very blond. Her long black hair, and his blondness get mentioned multiple times. My belated sympathies to the author for what they did with the cover. It’s set on a tribal reservation, and it’s obvious from the details that she is very familiar with the community and with Native American issues of poverty, housing, education, and past injustices. A few things are dated, but considering it was published in 1995, it holds up pretty well. Also, the H & h are very down to earth and likeable.
I read My Favorite Mistake by R.L. Kendrickson in KU in the US which I really liked. Best friends to more troupe. Last Night I started to read Glove Save by Teagan the latest in her Carolina Comets series. (KU)
I also am continuing to love Laura Frantz’s clean historical romances (most in KU).
@Kit check to see if you will be offered a better deal once you cancel your KU subscription or if buying yourself a Kindle Unlimited gift subscription (if it’s allowed by Amazon in your country (if it’s cheaper than a last minute offer from promotion to keep you as a customer. I know in the US, you can buy yourself a Kindle Unlimited gift subscription for cheaper than the regular $9.99 plus tax a month.
Also I googled it to confirm there is a UK and a U.S. version of the fantastic free Ereaderiq website that allows you to track Kindle book price drops. It allows you to track by author or title (you set the price). The website will alert you when a title on your watch list has dropped to the desired sale price on Amazon. If you track a lot of titles I recommend you turn off your email notifications and check your notifications on the website daily.
http://www.booksalefinder.com helps you find library and community book sales in the Us and Canada. US and Canada readers can buy cheaper physical books (although limited selection) through http://www.Bookoutlet.com
There’s also http://www.littlefreelibrary.org to find little free libraries to browse and/or browse and donate used books (118 countries)
I hope these tips help someone.
Over the past two weeks ~
— stayed up late finishing A Coup of Tea (Tea Princess Chronicles Book 1) by Casey Blair; this was an enjoyable cozy fantasy. I would be happy to read more in the series.
— Aetherbound by E.K. Johnston was an enjoyable young adult science fiction novel that did some interesting things.
— Agnes Moor’s Wild Knight by Alyssa Cole was a quick read, a historical romance novella featuring a black woman in medieval Scotland in the court of King James IV.
— DOODLE ART HANDBOOK: The Non-Artist’s Guide in Creative Drawing by Lana Karr, a book about doodling which I enjoyed reading.
— The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict for my local book group. This is a fictionalized account of the life of Belle da Costa Greene who served as the personal librarian of J. P. Morgan. Part of what makes her life so interesting is that she lived most of her life passing as white.
— Previously I read the first in a science fiction series by a favorite author; I finished the follow on book, Regi’s Goddess (Gods of Misfortune Book 2) by Lyn Gala, which I also enjoyed. I would happily read more.
— enjoyed reading the young adult science fiction novel A Beautiful Friendship (Honor Harrington – Star Kingdom Book 1) by David Weber. This novel tells the story of humans’ first interactions with treecats; it’s a standalone story in the Honor Harrington world and features her ancestor.
— quite enjoyed the contemporary romance Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade; the author’s wit appeals to me and had me laughing aloud several times. The book is about two actors and spans some six years.
I’ll start with the one romance that I read, since I don’t read that genre much anymore, though give me a good sci-fi romance and I am there!
A Gift of Ghosts by Sarah Wynde: Our heroine, Akira, is interviewing for a job with a mysterious company, after being pushed out of her academic/research job due to a comment she made in an article about how ghosts/spirits are just a different type of energy. She is being interviewed by Zane, our hero and love interest. Akira can see and talk to ghosts, and Zane’s family company is interested in her ability to do so and hires her immediately for a great salary and unspecified duties. After a little “OMG Zane is so hot!” dithering, Akira actually makes the first move and seduces Zane and the romance never really is in question from there on. This is a very low angst book. The story moves along, it gets a little hand wavy in places and doesn’t stand up to real scrutiny, but it is reasonably entertaining. There is a second book in this series, but I won’t be reading it. TL;DR – light-weight story, kinda hand wavy, the main crisis resolves very quickly with no consequences, and there’s a surprise pregnancy that is met with absolute delight and the pregnant person is completely unaware of her condition and is told by another person (one of my least favorite plot points in any book). CW/TW for death of a teenager due to an unintentional drug overdose
The Redemption of Maribeth-5 by Chloe Garner: Fourth book in the Carbon Chronicles. Sci-fi, though there is an extremely slight, very slow-burn romance angle. I have read all four in the series, and I guess my total review is “meh.” Obviously they were interesting enough for me to keep reading, but I won’t be seeking out any further books. Each book has a complete story, though there is an overarching story arc that still is not resolved by the end of the fourth book, which is what makes me think there will be more. The characters are slight, we are told things about them but not really shown those things, and there is a teenaged character who was introduced for some unknown reason. She is the main character’s, Carbon, sister, and I think she may have been introduced to make Carbon more caring? warmer? more human? I don’t even know. Is there such a thing as a teenage plot moppet? TL;DR – okay space opera, enough to keep my interest but I’m not raving about them. Which is sad, because space opera is my jam! More Linesman books, please, S K Dunstall!!
Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann: I think my favorite of my recent reading. A murder mystery where the detectives are a flock of sheep. You read that correctly! The description calls it a witty philosophical murder mystery, and I would concur. Experiencing the events of the story through a sheepy lense is quite entertaining! The mystery is resolved, the sheep are safe and happy, all in all an enjoyable story.
I had a couple DNFs, which is disappointing. I started a fantasy series, The Hundredth Queen, downloaded from KU after reading a sample (which was obviously interesting enough for me to do that.) Unfortunately the rest of the book did not live up to the sample portion. It was very YA, written in first person, and has the weirdest example of insta lust I think I have ever experienced. Our main character, Kalinda, is an orphan and has been raised as a nun by the Sisterhood, where she hopes to stay for the rest of her life. For reasons people can come to buy? the young women as wives, concubines, or servants, and a lot of the young women are okay with that and actively seek to be chosen. There is some weird fighting competition – oh, yeah, the girls are like battle nuns or something – to see who will be chosen when a mysterious man comes to get a couple of the women. Of course Kalinda is chosen, even though she is a terrible fighter and only accidentally wins her bout. She meets our hero, Deven, as she is snooping through the halls of the abbey trying to hear a man’s voice, as she has never actually met a man in person. Of course he protects her from being discovered, and he is her guard/protector on her journey to the house of the man who chose her. On the trip away from the abbey, Kalinda sneaks away from the caravan to try and get one last glimpse of the abbey, the only home she has ever known, and is trailed by Deven, who is of course doing his job and trying to keep her safe. Kalinda realizes she is being followed, is scared until she learns it is Deven, they have a whispered general conversation in the moonlight, and practically the first thing she asks him is if he desires her! He hasn’t done anything to indicate any sort of feelings for her, has barely spoken to her, would absolutely be in deep trouble with the guy who chose Kalinda as a wife if he so much as laid a finger on her, and arrggghh! What the what is this even?!? I’m out!
My second DNF was Twilight Kingdom by H J Tolson. Another fantasy that I didn’t realize was going to be so YA. I stopped at 55% on my kindle, just got too bored. It felt like events were happening in real time, and I just didn’t care any more. I think there’s an interesting story here, if it could be tightened up. I read the last chapter to see if my suspicions on what was going on were true, and they mostly were. It appears to be the first book of a series, the rest of which isn’t out yet. The description calls it a dark fantasy with steampunk and horror elements, but I don’t think it lived up to any of those. Perhaps I’m just a cranky old lady who shouldn’t be reading YA books …
LML – at the least, the author needs a competent editor.
From my own recent reading – STATION ETERNITY is not as tightly plotted as it might be, though the story is interesting. It has a gross ton of narrators, which doesn’t drive me nuts (unless incompetently done) but I know is a real buzzkill for some of us.
ADULT ASSEMBLY REQUIRED was fun, but not quite as good as The Bookish Life of Nina Hill.
KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE was a hoot, definitely recommended.
THE SPARE MAN was fun but I prefer the Lady Astronaut main sequence books.
And I really hate the revamped book page format at GoodReads.
@Wait, what?, have you tried Stray by Andrea Hõst? It’s the first of the Touchstone series and is generally free for Kindle readers. I’d describe it as science fiction romance.
Missed the last couple of WAYRs – I’ve almost finished my KU trial and I think I’ll do what Sarah recommended in January (thank you Sarah) and let my KU subscription run for a few more months and evaluate whether I think it is worth it to keep it going or cancel.
Haven’t read any outstanding romances over the past month but did read some good ones. When it came out, I read the first book in Serena Bell’s Wilder Brothers series; I found it okay, but not compelling enough to want to go on with the series. But this month I found an earlier book of hers, Sleep Over, in the KU library and decided to give her another try. And I’m glad I did because I enjoyed Sleep Over. So I’m now thinking of picking up more of the Wilder series to try.
Another enjoyable read was Emma Barry’s Chick Magnet about a social media influencer (whose postings and videos are on keeping backyard hens) and a small-animal vet, whose practice is failing. The story opens with the heroine Nicole having just moved herself and her chickens all the way across the USA to a small Virginia town, where her beloved grandmother had lived as a child. She’s trying to start over after a horrible emotionally abusive relationship with a fellow social media star, who for likes staged a livestreamed break-up with her where he accused her of trying to seduce her best friend’s husband. Nicole is still somewhat disappointed in herself for falling for such a con artist and upset that her BFF believed the jerk over her, but over all she is looking forward to starting this new chapter in her life. She is soon butting heads with the local small-animal vet, Will, who is at first hostile, because he claims that she has irresponsibly discouraged people from seeking a vet’s advice when their chickens are ill. But this isn’t really an enemies to lovers book — the real issues at stake are not H/h clashing about how to raise chickens, but about how the H/h deal with their own personal issues, which in part have been either improved or worsen by the upheaval caused by the pandemic. Before Covid Nicole was a PR and marketing specialist for successful winery; her social media postings and videos on chickens were originally just a fun, personal project. When the pandemic strikes and she loses her job, she uses her marketing and PR skills to grow her social media channels into a successful new business (her jerky ex did help, but it’s clear that she would have been successful without him). Business-wise Nicole has flourished in spite of the pandemic, but for Will, although he is a good and caring vet, the early stages of the pandemic, when people stayed home and ordered their pet medicine and food online instead of buying it from him, hurt his already struggling practice. And he now doesn’t have the cash flow to cover all his expenses from his mortgage to his vet school loans to his staff salaries. Will’s grumpiness to Nicole is one of the signs of his sorrow and depression – but as he and Nicole begin to grow closer her support helps him begin to seek help. This is not a perfect book – the ending especially felt rushed and while Barry is trying to address the Covid pandemic and its consequences (not easy thing to do at all), I thought there were some odd gaps and silences in how she tackled the issue. Still I loved how Barry offers a romance where the value of the hero is not simplistically tied to the value of his bank account. And the chickens were allowed to be chickens not twee plot “moppets.”
On the fantasy / YA side I read Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan. This is a fantasy novel based on Chinese legends and it has very mythological/fairy-tale narrative structure. The heroine’s adventures to save her mother, the things that she must do to complete her quest, the descriptions of the fantastical places, people, and animals that she encounters are more important than character motivation and development. Like all good myths and legends this story exists in a timeless, ahistorical moment (which makes sense given that is a story about immortal beings). Because it is a YA there is the requisite triangle between the heroine and two potential love interests – but you can’t really read this book as a romance in the modern sense. It’s much more like reading Perrault’s version of Cinderella where the unnamed stepmother is mean to Cinderella and the unnamed King’s son falls for Cinderella because that is what they are supposed to do. Have a request in for the 2nd book in this duology.
Read the first two Regency-set mysteries by Andrea Penrose featuring Wrexford and Sloane. There were enjoyable, but I’m not planning to pick up the next ones right now.
For non-romance I read Suzette Mayr’s The Sleeping Car Porter, which won the 2022 Giller Prize (Canada’s richest literary prize for fiction). It’s a fairly short book, set in 1929 in the summer before the start of Great Depression. Baxter, a young black gay man, is working on a trans-Canada passenger train as a sleeping car porter, trying to earn enough money to pay for dental school. Mayr’s prose is quite stylistically complex – when the book opens the sentence and paragraph structure is choppy, details of Baxter’s endless workdays are piled on top of each giving a sense of train’s relentless rhythm and the exhaustion that Baxter feels as he struggles to complete all his assigned duties. As the journey stretches on, Baxter becomes more and more sleep deprived. When he begins to hallucinate the prose becomes more twisty and confused, reflecting Baxter’s state of mind. Mayr’s command of historical detail about the era is strong – from her accounts of all the ways that Baxter is marginalized for being Black and gay in 1920s Canada to her recounting of Baxter’s love for science fiction and fantastic adventure and horror novels (think Edgar Rice Burroughs or Lovecraft).
Also read a bunch of romantic “comedies” romances that weren’t bad but weren’t memorable either. I need to become better at DNF-ing books that are just so-so. I’ve finally learned to discard books that totally are not working for me, but I still keep on with books that are at best predictable and uninspiring. What’s the virtue in completing a book that doesn’t offer me much pleasure or interest? It’s not like I’m going to run out of reading material in near future. My TBR pile alone could keep me going for a long, long time.
@Kathryn: if you’re giving Serena Bell a second chance (and, because she’s one of my auto-buy favorites, I’m glad you are), I would strongly recommend trying her Returning Home series (HOLD ON TIGHT, CAN’T HOLD BACK, TO HAVE AND TO HOLD, and HOLDING OUT). These books—all of which involve military veterans—lean more toward the serious side and include a variety of tropes and situations (including a hero who has lost a leg in combat, another with PTSD, another with a form of amnesia). I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read by Bell, but these four books are my favorites.
If anyone needs me today, I am basically crouched in front of my door, because my daughter and I went halfsies on a PS5 and it’s being delivered today. After that, if anyone needs me, I’m downloading Stray.
Anyhoo, I started this off with Stay Awake by Megan Goldin. Fun twisty little mystery with strong Memento vibes, since the heroine is trying to find the person that attacked her and killed her best friend and boyfriend, but every time she falls asleep she loses her memory and it’s like the last 2 years haven’t happened. As with the guy in Memento, she writes reminders all over her arms and hands. Then it was back into the Netgalley pool with A Witch’s Guide to Fake-Dating a Demon by Sarah Hawley. This one had some nice banter, and I particularly enjoyed the setting, which could best be described as “Magical Stars Hollow”. That said, the heroine was a doormat with her family for WAY too long. I know that was her journey, but it still got a touch old. And last night, I finished up Hotel of Secrets by Diana Biller. Very fun, and another great setting in 19th century Vienna. There was again some funny banter, both hero and heroine are highly competent in their respective vocations, and there was an entertaining espionage plot and ancillary cast.
So until next time, catch me playing Stray. Or The Quarry. Definitely gonna be playing something.
Who Knew?! I’m definitely fan crushing on this new to me writer, Xio Axlerod and her book The Girl with Stars in Her Eyes. Seriously talented starving artist gets a bid to play with an about to explode band – and then there are complications. The past is never past when Seb, her former best friend and music coach/muse, reappears in her life. If you love tough women who love music as much as I do, loving friendships, and guilty/sincere/sexy men, enjoy the music they create.
And after some google gaggle, I’m ready to ingest the next in The Lilly’s series, but it is nowhere in stock . . .I finally understand addiction’s craving pain. To soothe myself I might have to buy some of Xio’s merch, an Electric Unicorn tee shirt as consolation.
Too much work, not getting much reading done – been listening to podcasts and reading blogs, going down all sorts of rabbit holes online…
Finished:
KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE – Deanna Raybourn. Upon all the recs here, liked it a lot. Took me a moment to get into it and then couldn’t put it down.
THE SERVANT AND THE GENTLEMAN – Annabelle Greene. M/M historical, last in the Society of Beasts series. It’s ok but not hugely great. The terrible impact of things that happened in the first book on Hartley are shown and my heart goes out to him. Lots of feels too, also lots of instalust, fake relationship and forced proximity. My issue with this book as with the other ones in this series is the inaccuracies, historical and otherwise. Like the terms “breeches” and “trousers” being used interchangably. Not the same thing! Same with boots and shoes. And no boots for balls please! Not everybody might notice that, but I am interested in fashion and I do notice those kinds of things. Also the description of Hartley’s evening suit doesn’t sit right with me either for the time period. There are other small things that don’t sound quite “right” to me, expressions, ideas that sometimes just seem to modern. Maybe I’m nit-picking, but I can’t help it… and maybe I have been spoiled by authors who do get it right.
I’m reading “The Red Scholar’s Wake” by Aliette de Bodard. The cover blurb is “Lesbian Space Pirates. Enough said.” but that’s seriously NOT enough said, Katee Roberts. That totally sells short how gorgeously this book is written and how incredibly romantic it is. I’m obsessed with Rice Fish and Xich Si and their marriage of convenience. I put it down for a few days because I don’t want to finish it yet.
Oooh, Diana Biller has a new book coming? I want it now!