Whatcha Reading? March 2023, Part One

Cup of coffee and yarn for knitting on plaid with books close-upOkay for real this time. It’s time for part one of March’s Whatcha Reading. I know I jumped the gun in February.

Elyse: I just started Mountains Made of Glass ( A | BN | K ) and so far I’m really enjoying it.

Shana: I’m reading the Sum of All Kisses by Julia Quinn ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au | Scribd ) and wishing there was more banter.

I’m also listening to the audiobook of Drama Free: A Guide to Managing Unhealthy Family Relationships and it is amazing. Highly recommend!

Drama Free
A | BN | K
Carrie: I just finished Marvelous by Molly Greeley, ( A | BN | K ) such a beautiful and gorgeously written historical narrative novel about Pedro Gonzales, a person who was born with hypertrichosis and whose marriage inspired the beauty and the beast fairytale

Kiki: I’m listening to the Legend of All Wolves series by Maria Vale ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) on audiobook and having a lot of big feelings. My mom grew up going to the Adirondacks (where the series is set), and my family went to the Adirondacks pretty regularly when I was young, and it has such a special place in my heart that every time it’s described with such love and reverence I get a little teary eyed.

Which is a hilarious experience because I’ll be deep in my feelings about the forests and the fire towers and this beautiful, special place and in the next paragraph the characters are having sex against a tree.

Amanda: I love that series so much!

So whatcha reading? Tell us below!

Comments are Closed

  1. DiscoDollyDeb says:

    Part One

    Sarina Bowen’s THE NEW GUY begins a new m/m hockey series called The Hockey Guys set in the same universe as her Brooklyn Hockey books. In Bowen’s reliably smooth prose, we meet Hudson, a hockey player who has been traded multiple times during his career, leading to his last name, Newgate, becoming “New Guy” every time he changes teams. Hudson is bi, but, after a bad experience trying to come out years before, has kept his sexuality deep in the back of the closet. In his first night in town after being traded to the Brooklyn Bruisers, Hudson meets Gavin at a bar. Gavin is an athletic trainer for the Bruisers, but neither man is aware of who the other is. I’m glad Bowen upended the usual way this convention would play out: the guys do not have a one-nighter only to discover the next day that they work at the same place. Instead, they reveal their identities before “anything” happens and decide it would be better not to act on their attraction. Gavin is openly gay, a widower raising a young daughter. The men’s relationship develops over the course of a season—as both have to deal with overbearing relatives (Hudson’s micro-managing father who happens to also be his manager and Gavin’s pushy in-laws who want custody of their grandchild) and the vagaries of working for a popular sports franchise. My one quibble with the book is that Gavin is only 25, which seems awfully young to have gotten a college degree, been married, adopted a child, lost a spouse, relocated to a new place, and found job with a professional sports team; as I read, I was adding about five years to his age in my head. But that’s a minor point and overall THE NEW GUY is a very good book. Recommended.

    Nyla K has been hit-or-miss for me. I’ve liked some of her books and had to DNF others. I’m please to say that her latest, FOR THE FANS, falls squarely into the “thoroughly enjoyed” category. It’s an immense (700-plus pages, but it’s a fast read) m/m romance. It’s extremely tropey (stepbrothers, jock-emo, opposites-attract, antagonists-to-lovers), but done very well. FOR THE FANS takes place over a number of years in the lives of stepbrothers of Avi and Kyran, who start out as high schoolers. There’s immediate antagonism between the two when Avi’s mother marries Kyran’s father. Avi is a laid-back artistic stoner, Kyran is a laser-focused football player who has hopes for an eventual NFL career. Nyla spends a lot of time developing the personalities of both MCs and how they interact with each other and their parents. Avi & Kyran end up attending the same college, and even have some mutual friends, but they manage to avoid each other for the most part. Then financial circumstances become dire for their family—so, to generate income, the guys start filming themselves hooking-up for Avi’s OnlyFans site (Nyla peppers the book with comments Avi’s fans have made). Even as Kyran’s relationship with Ari becomes deeper and more emotional, and the guys begin to forget that what they’re doing is supposed to be “for the fans”, Kyran is still grappling with the situation from his childhood. (CW/TW: throughout the book, it becomes clear that Kyran has a significant unresolved trauma in his past.)

    Show Spoiler
    He was sexually abused by a priest.

    How that affects the relationship between the two men and Kyran’s relationship with his family takes up a good portion of the last half of the book. FOR THE FANS is a massive, meaty book. It won’t be to all tastes (take that warning seriously), but if you’re up for an emotional roller-coaster covering a lot of time and character arcs, FOR THE FANS may be a book for you. Recommended.

    I’ve loved the three m/m baseball romances I’ve read by KD Casey (UNWRITTEN RULES, FIRE SEASON, and ONE TRUE OUTCOME), but I’ve been hesitant to try the two books Casey co-wrote with Lauren Blakely (DIRTY SLIDE and DIRTY STEAL). I find Blakely’s books, while hot, have a “paint-by-numbers” feel to them, lacking insight or individuality. But I was recently in between books and decided to give the two books a try. DIRTY SLIDE and DIRTY STEAL, both novella-length, are quick, entertaining reads—but they lack the depth of Casey’s solo efforts. In DIRTY SLIDE, Josh & Chris are cross-town rivals on the two New York baseball teams. When Chris’s rough slide into second base allows his team to win the World Series, Josh accuses him of playing “dirty”. A sexy rivalry begins. In DIRTY STEAL, Derek & Adam, playing for different teams, have a one-nighter after a game. Months later, Adam is traded to Derek’s team, and Adam, while looking for an apartment, stays in the spare room in Derek’s condo—until a pipe leaks and ruins Adam’s bed. Guess where he ends up sleeping? Yes, there’s only one bed! I enjoyed the two books, but Blakely’s and Casey’s writing styles are not seamlessly blended. The moments of thoughtful self-reflection on the characters’ parts are definitely Casey’s contribution, whereas the facile flirtatiousness the guys exhibit is certainly Blakely’s part. In addition, a huge element of Casey’s solo books involve characters coming to terms with their sexuality and/or negotiating the stages of coming out, and in both DIRTY SLIDE and DIRTY STEAL, all the MCs are out and open, so that tension is completely missing from these books where being queer in the MLB is no big deal. It would be nice if that were the case irl, but it certainly removes a level of depth and soul-searching from the stories. If you’re looking for some quick m/m reads, I recommend DIRTY SLIDE and DIRTY STEAL—just don’t be expecting KD Casey’s intensity and nuance.

  2. DiscoDollyDeb says:

    Part Two

    Last year I read Samantha Christy’s UNTAKEN TWIN, an angsty romance featuring the “late twin’s fiancée” trope. It was the first book I’d read by Christy, and I enjoyed it very much. Christy’s latest, NO SMALL BET, features MCs who made brief appearances in UNTAKEN TWIN (Christy’s books are interconnected, so characters do recur in multiple books). NO SMALL BET is a single-dad/nanny romance between Hawk, wealthy local “bad boy” (although he’s almost 30), and Addison, who lost a leg in a drunk driving accident several years before and now wears a prosthesis. When a local woman dies in childbirth, Hawk is unwilling to acknowledge her daughter is his, but DNA don’t lie, and soon Hawk has a newborn baby to care for. With his grandfather calling the shots by threatening Hawk’s access to his trust fund, Hawk reluctantly agrees to bring the baby into his home. He hires Addison to be the baby’s nanny—and we all know the set-up from here. NO SMALL BET doesn’t break any new ground in the employer-nanny sub-genre, but I did like learning about Addison’s experiences with a prosthetic limb. She’s scrappy, determined, and resolved not to be limited by her situation. I really liked her spirit. I just wish Hawk hadn’t started out as such a jerk. Yes, he does learn to be better (and he never makes disparaging remarks about Addison’s leg or mobility), but he begins the book as such a selfish, cold person, it’s hard to root for him as a father or for him & Addison as a couple. Another issue I had with the book was the amount of drinking people who are charged with looking after a new baby seem to do. Although Addison is strict about not drinking when she has to drive (and she makes Hawk promise not to drink after he’s been drinking), there are a number of scenes in the book where Hawk, Addison, or both of them decide to drink at home, even though they are responsible for caring for a newborn. And I’m not talking about a glass of wine either—there’s some pretty heavy drinking going on once the baby is put in her crib for the night. This just didn’t sit right with me, and it affected my overall feeling toward the book—so, a rather lukewarm recommendation for NO SMALL BET.

    WED FOR THEIR ROYAL HEIR is Jackie Ashenden’s latest HP. On the surface, it’s a royal romance featuring an unplanned pregnancy. But, as is often the case with Ashenden, many other subjects are addressed: wealth/class disparity, different types of dysfunctional childhoods (the heroine grew up in poverty, moving from foster home to foster home, the hero was raised in luxury as the heir to the country’s throne, but with a cold, disapproving father), post-partum depression, even how the wealthy use NDAs to cloak their behavior. Once they have a child, the couple must navigate a difficult emotional landscape that neither of their backgrounds has prepared them for. Physical attraction between them is never a problem but learning to trust each other is a bigger hurdle. Part of the resolution involves the MCs having to accept that the people who should have loved and cared for them in their childhoods didn’t always do an acceptable job. Ashenden’s template is angsty and full of dysfunction, but also with high heat (she probably writes the sexiest and most explicit HPs) and operatic levels of emotion. Recommended—if the HP style is your jam.

    DNF

    I have now read three books by Allison Rhymes—with, alas, diminishing returns. Her first book, BROKEN PLAY, was a sensitive and nuanced look at a married couple trying to decide if they can mend their relationship following the husband’s infidelity. It was one of my favorite books of 2022. The follow-up, BRUTAL PLAY suffered from a self-righteous and sanctimonious hero. He berated and belittled the heroine and, despite her being “the other woman” in the first book, I felt she ultimately deserved better. Rhymes’s newest release, BITTER PLAY, features her worst hero yet: domineering, stalkery, and convinced that he and the heroine are meant to be together, even when she’s not sure. As I read BITTER PLAY, I kept wondering if, in her three False Start books, Rhymes is exploring how horrible she can make a hero and then still redeem him. If that’s the case, it may be time for Rhymes to make her heroes a bit more pleasant from the get-go because I simply couldn’t make it through BITTER PLAY because of the dreadful hero. In BITTER PLAY, Leighton is on the fence about her feelings for Reed, who happens to be her neighbor AND her best friend’s brother. Reed, on the other hand, is completely sure that he and Leighton are meant to be together, to the point that he stalks her, frequently enters her home uninvited (they share a duplex), and interrupts her dates with other men. Ugh. There’s an unintentionally amusing moment when Reed reprimands a male coworker for making sexual comments about Leighton; he admonishes the man about not giving women the respect due to them—I thought that was rich coming from someone who was not respecting any of the heroine’s boundaries or the ambivalence she is clearly expressing toward him. Then I came to a scene where Reed monitors Leighton’s food intake, insists she needs to eat more, and puts some of his own steak on her plate. WTF? It was “Check, please!” for me, and I was outta there. DNF at around the 50% mark.

  3. Ely says:

    It’s mid-March already? How did that even happen? After I read “Love on the Brain” last month, I went on a re-read binge starting with Ali Hazelwood. I only read a couple of new books.

    Great

    CAPTIVATED by Tessa Bailey & Eve Dangerfield – re-read. This book was my first exposure to Eve Dangerfield, and I instantly fell in love. I’m guessing American author Tessa Bailey wrote the hero’s POV and Australian author Eve Dangerfield wrote the Australian heroine’s POV. I saw in a recent rec league that it’s considered a Beauty and the Beast re-telling and I’m a little embarrassed that I didn’t realize that, because it’s extremely obvious. It’s a sweet and believable love story, with a lot of very, very steamy sex scenes (and some extremely Australian language, if that’s off-putting for anyone).

    STUCK WITH YOU by Ali Hazelwood – re-read. Erik & Sadie meet when he offers her the last croissant that she desperately needs because it’s part of her good luck ritual. They hit it off, have dinner that night, and then a fantastic one-night stand. Things go south the next day. This part of the story was told in flashbacks, as Erik and Sadie are stuck in an elevator 3 weeks later. I was super impressed that Ali Hazelwood made me believe that 2 strangers would fall for each other in the space of a day (and then muck it up just as quickly). It was a little forced that the hero and heroine would have EXACTLY the same interests (environmental engineering and soccer), but I loved their banter and chemistry.

    Good

    RED HEIR by Lisa Henry & Sarah Honey – Adventures in Aguillon, Book 1. Both authors are new to me, and I saw this series recommended on SBTB. Very funny, surprisingly sweet M/M romance set in a fantasy world. Loth, the POV character, is accidentally caught up in a jailbreak that wasn’t meant for him. The rescue party is not as ept as you’d hope, and the rescue isn’t all that it seems either. Loth is a bit of an arse, but he owns it and watching him slowly fall for the man he calls “Grub” is fun. The sex scenes are fairly euphemistic, which I found a bit odd considering the long running joke where Loth pretends that Grub was in jail for inappropriate relations with a horse. The authors can be graphic about bestiality but not sex?

    UNDER ONE ROOF by Ali Hazelwood – re-read. Mara is willed half ownership of a house when her PhD supervisor passes away. The co-owner, Liam, isn’t aware of this and would really prefer not to share his home. Now this one deserves a USE YOUR WORDS PEOPLE OMG. This was a good enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, but Liam and Mara are so oblivious! I also realized that apparently, I have a rule about romances: it’s not happily ever after if they don’t explicitly say “I love you” to each other.

    HEATED RIVALRY by Rachel Reid – re-read. M/M with 2 hockey players. This used to be firmly in the GREAT/A++++++++/ILYA+SHANE 4EVA category for me, but I guess THE LONG GAME reduced my love of it. I enjoyed THE LONG GAME when I read it but have no interest in re-reading it. As wonderful as it was catching up with Shane and Ilya a decade later, it was still an incredibly challenging read. Re-reading HEATED RIVALRY, I was sad thinking about all they’d have to go through in their next book. They’re not real people! They don’t go through anything! And yet. Still a very sexy, slow burn romance that I enjoyed immensely, but not as much as previously.

    Ok

    ACQUIRED POSESSION by Cari Silverwood – new to me author. All the content warnings. The author says at the beginning that it’s a dark romance, and it definitely is that. I don’t read a lot of dark romances, so I don’t actually know if it’s a good one or not. Emery, along with some other humans, finds herself on an alien world, a slave for a human-esque race called The Mekkers. All human fluids provide something called Factor H which The Mekkers need (blood is best, semen and vaginal fluid next and so on). She ends up the slave of House Oren, but catches the attention of the House Master, Mako. There’s so much plot in this book – it’s a well thought out, brutal world, and it was interesting to watch Emery try to navigate it. The main problem I had was the shift from Emery being a badass to “actually I really think I want to be owned by Mako”. And I can’t believe I’m saying that about a book where consent is a laughable concept, and had some very challenging sex scenes.

    DNF
    None this month.

    UP NEXT/ONGOING
    Still working my way through GUNS, GERMS AND STEEL and it’s getting really interesting! Jared Diamond is starting to explain the environmental factors that influenced whether hunter-gatherers in a specific geographic location would have been able to develop farming and animal husbandry. I’m learning so much about corn and wheat and it’s interesting!

    Not sure what else I’m going to read because I think I can feel the start of a reading slump. I read recently that people with anxiety are more likely to re-watch and re-read, because there’s comfort in knowing what will happen. The fact that I’m re-reading so much these last few weeks tells me I might be needing that familiarity. If that’s the case, I might pick up some Mary Balogh or Julia Quinn – one of those series that has lots of books, and nothing too bad happens. Either that, or I’ll break out The Custard Protocol series by Gail Carriger, which I’ve been holding on to in case of emergency. If anyone has any “this is a really lovely story that has some top-quality sexy times” please recommend!

  4. Kit says:

    There’s been snow for some in the UK this week but down on the south coast where I am all we got is rain, so quite a few soggy school runs this week.

    My kindle unlimited runs out today which is just as well because I’ve exhausted all the books I’ve wanted to read on it. I tackled a few sci fi romance series by Ella Blake and Annabelle Red but even they felt tired near the end. I think I’ve finally ready to read something else that doesn’t feature well endowed alien men. Trouble is I am back in the same reading rut. I’d love to Get stuck into a really epic sci fi and fantasy romance or go off on a different genre entirely. I’ve noticed an up tick on comedic woman serial killers and wonder if anyone else has ventured into this subgenre. A part from that dreaming of a little bit of snow so my five year old can build a snowman (or person) for the first time (ok I want to build one too!)

  5. Jill Q. says:

    Ugh, my reading continues to be dire. Lots of DNFs. I’m reading a few promising things right now, but I won’t mention them b/c I don’t want to jinx myself. There are two things that I read and liked that I forgot to mention in the last Whatcha Reading, so I’ll mention them here. THE APPEAL by Janice Hallett is one of my favorite reads of the year so far. I bought this at Barnes and Noble on a whim with my leftover Christmas gift card and devoured it in two days. The only reason it lasted two days is because I forced myself to go to bed the first night. Definitely not a romance! It’s a twisty epistolary mystery composed totally of texts, emails, letters etc. It’s contemporary with a small town English setting but it isn’t so cozy that it’s twee and it isn’t horribly gruesome and depressing like a lot of “serious” modern mysteries. That is a sweet spot that I can’t find often enough these days.
    The story centers around a small town community theater group. The group has a married couple that are founding members and a big deal in their small English village. When their granddaughter gets very sick with a rare form of cancer, they start a charity appeal to raise money for an experimental treatment. But not everyone is sure everything is on the up and up and when they start digging, skeletons may pop out. . .
    I will say this followed the post Gillian Flynn “modern thriller format” that writers like Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware seem to follow. In other words, almost every character is a horrible messed up person on some level. I read those occasionally but often get tired of the nasty characters. This had a lot of mean, self-serving people, but also a bit of black humor which made it read a little differently than those. I would also say it’s definitely more mystery than thriller (which I liked!). A lot of the book goes by before you are even sure who was murdered. Usually with thrillers I find the twists very predictable or just not credible. (Don’t even get me started on the last third of GONE GIRL. I’m still angry and flabbergasted at the love for that book.). In this I predicted some of the twists (including one big one), but definitely not all and I felt the author played fair. The only suspension of disbelief that might be an issue is sometimes people text, email something that would make more sense to say. But I love epistolary novels, so I rolled with it.
    The other book I liked was FINISH: GIVE YOURSELF THE GIFT OF DONE by Jon Acuff. This was just a short breezy self-help book about how to motivate yourself to finish what you start. Nothing earth-shattering, but I find self-help and nonfiction in general is often the best thing to read when I’m in a slump. He had some really good exercises for self reflection as well. He has published some stuff that is explicitly Christian and for a Christian audience, but this was secular and appropriate for everyone, I think.

  6. Sarah says:

    Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Fairies by Hannah Fawcett. I am almost done and this book has been so entertaining. Definitely a keeper. I am a little worried, since it is first in a series, about it ending on a cliffhanger.

    The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty is a page turner so far and I have heard good things about it from many people. I have high hopes for the rest of the book.

  7. wingednike says:

    Still trying to untangle the Gordian Knot that is Theodora Taylor’s multiverse. I believe I’m finished with the MC and mafia characters. I’m delving into her paranormal books this month.

    I’m very, very close to putting “Nettle and Bone” in the DNF pile. I can tell it’s well written but it feels too dark for me right ow. My library borrow period ends this week and I just may let it lapse.

    It’s interesting to me because I jumped into Ruby Dixon’s Corsairs books because it feels lighter. Terrible, horrible things happen to her characters and they aren’t always off-page, but doom and gloom don’t seem to hover around the story. With “Nettle and Bone” there’s a dead dog already mentioned within the first few pages. I can tell there’s humor and I’ve heard a demon-possesed chicken (aren’t they all?) shows up later, but so far it feels like an end of the world story.

  8. kkw says:

    The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen came out this week, and of course I dropped everything to read it and it was delightful. The “surprising number of beetles for a romance” remains a hilarious review but I am relieved to report that all the insects are outdoors where they belong (out-sects) so really it’s less surprisingly beetletastic than The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting. The plot is basically all peril and betrayals with smuggling and mysteries and intensity when there isn’t an entomological reprieve, so I thoroughly enjoyed Romney Marsh as a character despite not being a nature fan. The sex scenes are remarkably free of tension also – in a good way. That’s the piece of the relationship that just works, and is consistently joyous in a way that perfectly balances the challenges the main couple face otherwise. Idk how Charles manages to do all the same things that I love about her books and still have them be so varied but she is so talented it’s outrageous. I am now in a funk because it’s all gone. Obviously I can and will reread it, but I have plunged from a world in which there was a new KJ Charles back into one where there isn’t.

    And then! There was a coda to the Lilywhite world! After she’d said the (unexpected, thrilling) Masters in this Hall was the end! Such joy and excitement! Although for mysterious reasons it was only published on Facebook, and I had literally been in the middle of reading about how Facebook gives the cops information about who’s breaking the law – including those seeking abortions in states that have banned them, just in case it wasn’t immediately apparent how problematic that is. So I was still not tempted to break down and join any social media, not even for KJ Charles, but I did make my boyfriend join her private Facebook group and send me the pdf. I am not sure that I loved it as much as I expected to, although those are delightful characters to revisit and see interact. Mostly it was short and I hate that. But also there was a development that …well it is what the characters would have wanted, so I am going to be thrilled for them, even though it’s not my thing, personally. Charles is great at making me do that, and it’s a process I love, but it’s difficult when it’s so quick. And now it’s all gone. Again.

    Nothing much else worth mentioning. I read so many mediocre books it’s deranged. I have no real excuse for this behavior except I would read more KJ Charles if I could?

    I did find Truth and Measure entertaining, despite not caring about The Devil Wears Prada, and disliking most workplace romance, not to mention surprise pregnancy. The second book bored me and felt unnecessary, but I think if you were really invested in the situation it would have been gratifying.

    I am trying The Actor and the Earl, because the premise is delicious but the quality of writing is not promising.

  9. FashionablyEvil says:

    Okay, I have a question I have been very curious about: how do people decide how to capitalize titles or format their posts? I am a fan of ALL CAPS for titles because it makes it easier to spot what books people are reading but recognize that might be due to the fact that I’m pretty much always commenting on my phone where caps lock is easy and space is at a premium. Anyway…

    I loved THE MAN WHO DIED TWICE and THE BULLET THAT MISSED by Richard Osman, the second and third books in the Thursday Murder Club series. A group of four septuagenarian friends (a retired MI-6 officer, psychiatrist, trade union organizer, and nurse) solve mysteries. The characters are great and I regularly chortled while reading. Lots of fun and several romantic subplots.

    I am currently reading KUSHIEL’S DART and I just don’t know. The society is a version of Europe where they groom people for sex starting in childhood. Like, it’s clearly intended to be provocative and transgressive (the main character has a genetic condition/marker that makes her a submissive who gets off on pain) but it’s all just kind of a lot. It was recommended in a recent books on sale post and podcast and I just kind of wonder if it was one of those books that was transformative for a lot of folks when it first came out (it’s 20 years old), but doesn’t hold up so well now. Would love to hear from other readers about it.

    Wishing all of my fellow Americans good luck with the obnoxious hellishness that is daylight saving time this weekend!

  10. I’ve been looking through some older books on my TBR pile, and I am hoping to (finally) read KUSHIEL’S DART by Jacqueline Carey and REDSHIRTS by John Scalzi, among others.

    I also want to re-read BEAUTY by Robin McKinley. I almost never re-read, but it’s one of my all-time favorite books, and I would like to revisit it.

    I think I’m going to have to start making a list of things I download and want to read. Otherwise, books get pushed waaay down in my Kindle app, and then I forget about them and never see them again.

  11. Jill Q. says:

    @FashionablyEvil, my (baby boomer) mom loved KUSHIEL’S DART and I tried to read it when I was a teenager (I was not sneaking it, I was allowed to read whatever I wanted) and bounced off it hard. I don’t think it was the sexual content, although that might put me off now.
    I think for me it was more that I was starting to figure out my own taste and realizing that dark, angsty fantasy was not for me. I’m not a big fantasy reader, but when I am, I’m much more PRINCESS BRIDE than Jacqueline Carey, Anne Bishop etc. Good writers, but not for me.

  12. Heather C says:

    @FashionablyEvil I love your question about formatting! When I’m reading the posts I try to format to match what other people seem to be doing. I guess trying to adjust to community standards

    I’m reading UNMASK ALICE: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World’s Most Notorious Diaries. I had this on hold at the library. It would notify me I was top of the line, but I was always busy and just kept re-upping my hold. Third times the charm and this book has been fascinating. When I tell people what I’m reading its been super interesting to hear people’s memories of Go Ask Alice. My brother is 12 years older then me and he said it was required reading in school (but it wasn’t by the time I came through)

  13. kkw says:

    @FashionablyEvil I am extremely lazy regarding capitalization (among other things) and ordinarily put titles in italics but that’s an extra step here so… I don’t bother. Using all caps always feels kinda agro to me but I confess to finding it convenient when other posters use it, perhaps I will make an effort remember to do that!
    Re: KUSHIEL’S DART (which is a book I definitely don’t consider worth shouting about, lol) there really wasn’t anything like it 20(!) years ago. I mean, Anita Blake had by that point lost the plot, and I’m sure there were others, but it was definitely pioneering kink. That’s pretty much all it has going for it, although FWIW it’s the best of that series to a truly alarming degree. Don’t feel like you’re missing anything if it doesn’t interest you initially, it’s exactly what it appears to be.

  14. DiscoDollyDeb says:

    @FashionablyEvil: I put titles in caps because it’s easier than formatting for italics (where I inevitably forget to close the circuit, and everything after the title is in italics). I think all caps makes the title stand out too. I’m not SHOUTING the titles, I promise. Lol

    As for KUSHIEL’S DART, I read it years ago and was underwhelmed. I had no interest in continuing to read the series. I thought Anne Rice’s Sleeping Beauty book did the whole “society defined by BDSM activity and grooming young people to participate in it” better—although that’s an admittedly rather low bar.

  15. Star says:

    I have read absolutely nothing, because of real life issues, but things are more or less sorted now, so that’s about to change.

    Re: Kushiel: this is the Cliffs Notes version of a much longer rant. I liked the original Kushiel trilogy the first time I read it because Carey has a gift for creating evocative flavor, but it didn’t hold up very well, because when I reread it, I was inured to the flavor and also less sleep-deprived, and the flaws became way more obvious.

    Carey is great at vibes, but she’s horrible at pacing and bad at plotting (the latter is particularly unfortunate because her heroine is supposed to be this super spy, but she’s bad at plotting because Carey is bad at plotting, but the story doesn’t know this about her, so…), and her world building is sort of…it’s very very pretty, but it’s all held together by paper clips and Scotch tape, and the more you think about it, the more you realize that it doesn’t actually make any sense.

    Also…her Jews are Christians? Idk.

    Honestly I wish I’d never reread it, because if I hadn’t, I’d have vague but fond memories of it, and instead, whenever I have cause to think about it, I get very annoyed. Ah, well.

  16. Jen says:

    I just finished Scarlett Peckham’s THE PORTRAIT OF A DUCHESS and kind of hated it. The FMC is the “stereotypical” woman who says no but means yes, which seems anathema to her beliefs. I thought the MMC deserved so much better.

  17. Gwen says:

    Barbara Hambly’s SCANDAL IN BABYLON and ONE EXTRA CORPSE, her Silver Screen historical mystery series. Straight historical mystery, no fantasy elements (e.g. paranormal, magic). Fascinating setting – all around and in filmsets and filming of silent movies.

  18. Jess says:

    I just started KD Casey’s “Fire Season,” thanks to all the recommendations here and elsewhere on social media. I think this will be the first sports romance I’ve read.

    “Gilded Cage” by KJ Charles: M/f historical. Templeton Lane and Susan Lazarus were childhood sweethearts; now he’s a jewel thief and she’s a detective. When Templeton is accused of two brutal murders, Susan is the only one who can help. This was really great: a second-chance romance that’s angsty but easy to root for, a mystery, and an excellent FMC. Loved it. I didn’t love the first book in the series, but would recommend reading it first for additional character depth.

    “Desert of the Heart” by Jane Rule: Literary fiction but centered on an f/f romance. In the 1960s, the quickest way for English professor Evelyn Hall to get a divorce is by spending six weeks in Reno, Nevada. While there, she meets and falls into a relationship with Ann Childs, a younger woman who works at one of the local casinos. There were not a lot of books like this at the time it was published and I think it holds up as a snapshot of the time and a compelling portrait of a whirlwind romance. Particularly enjoyed the very descriptive, atmospheric prose.

    “Women Talking” by Miriam Toews: Novel about a Mennonite community where the women learn nearly all of them have been sexually assaulted by a group of men and have to decide whether to leave their small, insular home. I watched the Oscar-nominated movie and then read the book. The two versions are told differently (the book is narrated by a man who’s taking minutes for the women’s meeting, the movie by a teen girl in the group) but it’s a faithful adaptation. I thought both were very well-done.

    “The Big Four” by Agatha Christie: Poirot and Hastings get sucked into investigating an international criminal conspiracy masterminded by four shadowy figures. I knew this one was more spy thriller than traditional Christie mystery, and it is a weird one involving the power of magnetism and some really improbable geopolitics (plus lots of racist tropes about China). It is a fun and fast-paced read but definitely not a new favorite.

    “Binti” by Nnedi Okorafor: Sci-fi novella about a girl who is the first member of her usually isolationist culture to get into a prestigious university on another planet, and has to survive an alien attack on the way there. This is really too short for the amount of character/plot development it wanted to have, but I liked the writing style and concepts. Planning to read the other books in the series.

    Read the latest Adventure Zone graphic novel, “The Eleventh Hour.” I loved the original campaign of this D&D podcast, and reading these makes me so nostalgic about listening to it for the first time. Really fun and well-illustrated.

    Also read “All Labor Has Dignity,” which is a collection of Martin Luther King Jr’s speeches on labor and economic rights. These can get a little repetitive because a lot of the speeches have similar ideas and language, but it’s a good way to learn about parts of MLK’s legacy that tend to get left out of more shallow historical narratives.

  19. Dejadrew says:

    I have decided that this is the month that I FINALLY finish Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. That door stopper has been sitting on my TBR pile with a bookmark one fifth through, intimidating my ADHD butt for years. It’s a good book! I enjoyed that fifth! There’s just a lot of it! Well by golly I am climbing that mountain.

    For when I need breaks and a change of pace, I have Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake, and the library is supposed to be sending me my long awaited hold of the fifth graphic novel adaptation of The Adventure Zone.

  20. DonnaMarie says:

    I inhaled Kelley Armstrong’s MURDER AT HAVEN’S ROCK, the first book in the Brockton offshoot series. The powers that be having such down Brockton the search for a new location has born fruit and construction begins. Casey and Dalton get called to them new settlement ahead of schedule when two workers disappear into the forest. Solid beginning to them new series with a nice little foreshadowing of trouble to come, because best laid plans…

    Then I fell down a Lucy Score rabbit hole. The billionaire/Cinderella trope isn’t generally my thing. I’ll be honest, if some hot rich guy popped up in my life wanting to make things easier for me and buy me nice presents? YES, please. But this trope always has the female character who wants to succeed on her own merit and gets angry at the idea of him throwing his money around. Who says you can’t succeed without working there jobs, or having you school loan paid off? Anyway Score is making me love these books. The characters aren’t their jobs. They have families and friends. So far I’ve finished THE WORST BEST MAN and UNDERCOVER LOVE with MR FIXER UPPER cued up on the Kindle. Considering her backlist, I don’t think I’ll be surfacing soon.

  21. CK says:

    February was the month I read a lot, I re-read Jeannie Lin’s Lotus Palace mysteries as a refresher so I could read Red Blossom in Snow. Wei Ling is still my fave – I saw Jeannie Lin saying somewhere she has considered doing a spin off mystery series with Wei-wei as the lead and I REALLY wish she would!!

    I’ve been reading a few pages of The Easy Life in Kamusari each night before knocking off; it’s slice of life about this high school graduate who gets signed up without his knowledge to work for a forestry agency way, waaaay out in the middle of nowhere. It’s meant to be a vibey book; the vibes are a bit stop and start – although, when they hit they really hit and it can be vivid and dreamy, plus she sticks the landing at the end of each section so far, so I’ve mostly been enjoying myself. The love interest is a young woman named Nao who agrees to give the MMC a ride to the train station on her motorcycle and their first conversation went something like her saying “Do you have a helmet? Okay.” Then, “Don’t cry.” and I just loved that. Very efficient writing.

  22. flchen1 says:

    Another reader here with thanks to @DiscoDollyDeb for her strong recommendation for KD Casey and her m/m baseball romances. It took me a bit to get into UNWRITTEN RULES (and I felt like Zach really put Eugenio through the wringer) but I ultimately enjoyed it and dove into FIRE SEASON and loved it. Ms Casey’s portrayals of mental health and people’s struggles to find their own footing feel very nuanced and kind and positive, and I appreciate that so much. I was super excited to receive an ARC of DIAMOND RING, and loved that also. I admit that I don’t even like baseball, but I am captivated by how Ms Casey used it vibrantly as a part of her books.

    Thanks also for reporting on her co-written romances with Ms Blakely; I won’t be rushing to grab those just yet.

    For other m/m sports romance, I’ve also enjoyed Amy Aislin’s STICK SIDE series so far—I’ve read the first three in this m/m hockey series, and found them very readable and entertaining. ON THE ICE, THE NATURE OF THE GAME, and SHOTS ON GOAL all have some overlapping characters, but each story stands alone.

    And I absolutely loved Jeannie Lin’s LOVE, DEATH & LANTERNS, which is currently available through the HEA Collective’s Patreon. It’s part of her PingKang Li Mysteries universe, and as beautifully written as you might expect.

  23. CK says:

    @FashionablyEvil that’s a good question on formatting, I’m interested to see what people respond. I used to do capitalize titles bc it helped me skim a review and see what the poster was talking about (and in some cases I could skip a title I didn’t want to be spoiled by). But at some point a switch got flipped and I started reading all caps like there was an “!!!” at the end of each instance of it so I stopped capitalizing too, idk what to do \0/

    I only have 2 thought on Kushiel’s Dart which are (1) I’m surprised HBO hasn’t done anything with this series except maybe not surprised since there’s a lot of female pleasure in it underneath all the other stuff. And (2) imo with Jacqueline Carey, stop reading after the leads get together. Everything is cool and interesting until they get together, then the story does a backward roll entry out the window. It happened in Phedre’s series and again in Imriel’s. Well one more thought: from what I recall, this was one of the few fantasy doorstoppers that actually used all of its page count. Plus, when people say there’s political intrigue in a story what they mean is there’s a lot of poorly written leading dialogue but there was actually intrigue in there. (((Sort of Spoilery)))…..Phedre gets embroiled in/starts 2 wars in 1 book so at least she was getting a lot done! (((End Spoilers)))

  24. Karin says:

    I was very excited about borrowing THE KEY TO DECEIT from the library because I thought it was a new Electra McDonnell mystery, but when I cracked it open I realized I had already read it, and book 3, PLAYING IT SAFE, will not be released until May. Oh well. In the meantime, I read the 3rd book, A MOST NOVEL REVENGE, in Ashley Weaver’s other mystery series, set in the 1930’s. The MCs in that one are a very Nick & Nora couple, and it’s a lot of fun, but I love Electra McDonnell more.
    I just finished HEART DUEL the 3rd book in Robin D. Owens Celta Heartmates series(sci-fi/fantasy), after skipping book 2 because I didn’t like the male MC. There were some surprise twists, and lots of sequel bait, so I will be continuing the series.
    I did a couple of rereads of books found while cleaning out a closet. First was THE SUBSTITUTE WIFE by Dallas Schulze. Old timers may recognize the author’s name, she wrote a lot of category romance back in the day. This one was a standalone, contemporary MOC story. It’s hard to think of a modern justification for an MOC, but this one was sorta kinda believable if you don’t think about it too hard. Unusually, for a book published in 2003, there was a really lovely M/M romance alongside the M/F main story. Some outdated language and cultural references, but I thought it held up pretty well. All of the characters(except for the villainess) were people you wouldn’t mind spending time with.
    The other reread was MARRYING THE CAPTAIN by Carla Kelly. This was peak Kelly, one of her best. She even goes into the bedroom(or a hammock on board ship, as the case may be) with this one, although nothing graphic.

  25. Nancy Levine says:

    The books I “read” are audio books.
    I am almost finished with TEXT FOR YOu by Sophie Cramer. I love the foreign setting, and Sven and Clara are great characters. I felt bad that Clara’s boyfriend died. I understand because I lost my husband after 21 years, so I get what she talked about.
    I also liked Sven, and how he wanted something different out of his life.
    The other book I loved is VErY SINCERELY YOURS by Kerry Winfrey. Everett, the hero, has a kids’ TV show, and Teddy, the heroine works in a vintage toy store. They meet when she writes to Everett. Not only does the hero have a cool name, I liked reading about his background, and how he admired Fred Rogers and Jim Henson. Teddy was lots of fun, too. She liked vintage toys as opposed to what they sell today. The book is set in my home state of Ohio.

  26. Neile says:

    I enjoyed the first KUSHIEL’S DART series back in the day, but I kind of knew the author (in an online group with her) and how excited her publishers were about the series. I didn’t read the next ones though I have some of them…

    I also read and really enjoyed EMILY WILDE’S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FAERIES. I’ve been off fantasy after reading too much of it for 20 years, but this was delightful–a nice mix of the bluestocking/rogue tales with dark faery and a slow-burn romance. This installment had a satisfying end, and I’ll definitely read the followups.

    I almost DNFed BEST SERVED HOT–about a food influencer vs a traditional print restaurant critic. I really didn’t like the behaviour of the FMC, but did end up finishing and mostly liking the overall story–the food descriptions were unique and definitely gave the story life.

    Enjoyed ARTFULLY YOURS, Joanna Lowell’s recent Victorian romance about am art forger and an art critic.

    I’m really behind in tracking my reading. I should probably stick to the ones I particularly liked. One of which was listening to Sherry Thomas’s contemporary romance THE ONE IN MY HEART on audio after reading the ebook several years ago. It stands up to the re-read. I wish she’d write more! or more of her straightforward historical romances. For some reason Sherlock Holmes versions don’t interest me that much, though Sherry Thomas is so great I should probably pick on of my TBR pile.

    Other particular likes: Kylie Scott’s END OF STORY, Falon Ballard’s JUST MY TYPE, and Kristina Forest’s THE NEIGHBOR FAVOR.

  27. DeborahT says:

    I just finished THE NEW GUY by Sarina Bowen and found it a struggle to get through. It just didn’t work for me. Both main characters had family conflicts and they both resolved themselves off page with no real explanation of how any of the characters reached that resolution. I didn’t connect at all with one of the characters, and I didn’t find the other character credible in his career or how he managed his feelings around past traumas. The climax was cliche and I was left unsatisfied with how the characters arrived at their HAE.

    Currently reading KJ Charles’ THE SECRET LIVES OF COUNTRY GENTLEMEN and while I’m only about half way through, I had to force myself to put it down at 3am tonight and I’m itching to get back to it. Other than the Magpie series, this might just be my favourite!

  28. Trix says:

    I finished the nonfiction anthology WOMEN: WRITING ABOUT DESIRE last week…as is often the case with general-pub anthos on this theme, there’s not much romance (except for Joanna Rakoff’s mesmerizing true-life story, which I will not spoil here) or even sex, but it’s still thought-provoking. I liked Torrey Peters’ deep dive into the life of poet Thomas Merton, which at first seems irrelevant to the proceedings and then turns out to be completely in keeping with it. There are a *LOT* of harrowing true tales here, so there are trigger warnings aplenty. I thought it was worthwhile, though one essay near the end (the last or next-to-last, I don’t have a copy anymore so I can’t say which) felt acephobic and left a bad taste in my mouth about the whole thing. (The author casually invalidates her asexual nephew, insisting that at 25 he must not know his body/good sex well enough to be sure of that orientation. Uh, that’s not how it works.) I don’t know how these anthologies manage to include everything EXCEPT the ace spectrum…I’d do it myself, but I’ve given enough tortured explanations of my experiences being demi to people to know I’m not the ideal describer of same. 🙁

    Moving on! Jen Sookfong Lee’s SUPERFAN: HOW POP CULTURE BROKE MY HEART is a memoir told in essays, dealing with her experiences growing up the Chinese-Canadian daughter of immigrants and how various fandoms brought her joy while complicating her life. She’s very open, honest and engaging, and I came away with lots of new books/authors to seek out (such as the poet Evelyn Lau).

    Volume 7 of Shou Harusono’s SASAKI AND MIYANO is finally available in LibraryPass! I read it last night in a fury, and the guys’ romance continues to be the balm to my demisexual heart. There are some new wrinkles/revelations to the story that had me sympathizing with both fellas, but thankfully the graduation arc didn’t seem as bittersweet as it could have been. Can’t wait for the light novel next month!

  29. Trix says:

    Ack, it’s WANTING: WOMEN WRITING ABOUT DESIRE! I’m so sorry…

  30. JJ says:

    STORM ECHO by Nalini Singh: I’ve headed back to the Psy Changeling world as an immersive escape.
    THE SPARE MAN by Mary Robinette Kowal: Not a romance but there is a lovely romance between the spouses in this sci fi/mystery Nick and Nora – esque wonderful novel.

  31. Darlynne says:

    Listened to and loved Lily Chu’s THE STAND-IN, which is available free through Audible Plus. So much fun, all the LOLs, and also really difficult things. Just a joy.

    I finished listening to SCORCHED GRACE by Margot Douaihy. Still loved Sister Holly, still recommend it, but a warning that it can be brutal. And a twist at the end that I should have seen coming. I’ll be thinking about this book for a while.

    For a book that has found family and working through trauma, Lish McBride’s A LITTLE TOO FAMILIAR is just the ticket. Magic, witches, shifters in an uncanny Seattle. The characters are warm and funny, a true balm for the devastated werewolf who joins the group. This is not always an easy read and sometimes people are just too perfect, but I really, really liked it.

    MURDER AT HAVEN’S ROCK by Kelley Armstrong is the eighth book in her Rockton series. Technically a spinoff with a new location and old and new characters, this is everything a Rockton book should be. Murder, new terrain, emergencies and conspiracy. Perfect.

    Ausma Zehanat Khan’s new series, BLACKWATER FALLS, is excellent, also timely and enraging. One brutally murdered Muslim teen, two others missing in a conservative Colorado town. Det. Inaya Rahman, reeling still from her own trauma in Chicago, is now part of a community police effort working with vulnerable communities. Expect all the racism, bigotry, police corruption and conflict; stay angry, but make room for the beauty of family.

  32. Jcp says:

    I’m reading Logan by Samantha Whiskey one of the reapers hockey series. It’s good.

  33. Kareni says:

    Over the past two weeks ~

    — the young adult novel, All That’s Left in the World by Erik J. Brown. I enjoyed this survival romance story, but I could imagine that a book featuring a pandemic might not suit every reader.
    — enjoyed the contemporary romance The Foreman and the Drifter: A Gay M/M Cowboy Romance (Farthingdale Ranch Book 1) by Jackie North. I’d say though that I favor the author’s time travel romances.
    — I hurriedly finished my book group book before my daughter’s arrival; this was a challenge since the book was about 600 pages but I was successful! I did have to admire the author’s wit when in the acknowledgments she thanks her editor and says, “Paring down an unwieldy thousand page manuscript into this slender wisp of a thing was not an easy process….” I enjoyed Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead (but did I say it was long?); it is basically the life story of an aviatrix and her attempt to circle the globe over the poles and the story of a modern day actress who is cast to play her in a movie. The book also tells the story of the pilot’s parents and her twin brother. The book has a huge cast of characters, and I could have benefited from a list. This proved to be a good read led to a meaty discussion.
    — The Flaw in All Magic (Magebreakers Book 1) by Ben S. Dobson was an enjoyable quick mystery/fantasy. The main character was expelled from a magical university after revealing in his thesis that he did not possess any magic. He is asked to help solve a murder at that same university.
    — read in its entirety in one evening, Fee Simple Conditional (Arcadia Chronicles Book 1) by H.C. Helfand; it was a mellow enjoyable book that I’d describe as slice of life. I learned a lot about land title searches! (While it is mellow, issues such as infidelity, depression, and death do occur.) If the book description sounds appealing to you, you might wish to know that it currently costs 99¢ for US Kindle readers.
    — for a forthcoming book group meeting, found The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim to be a very quick read; I finished it in three sittings. The title character is an illegal immigrant from Korea to the US; the story begins with her adult daughter finding her dead. The book deals with the daughter trying to learn about her mother’s death but also about her life. I enjoyed it.

    — a reread by a favorite author, Kensho (Claimings) by Lyn Gala. This is a collection of stories which will make little sense if you have not already read the author’s Claimings series. I enjoyed it once again.
    — reread Prelude to Claimings, Tails, and Other Alien Artifacts by Lyn Gala which I enjoyed once again. This collection of short pieces is no longer available as a collection; I believe that the author incorporated the stories into her Claimings books when she republished the series.
    — a young adult science fiction novel, Fire Season (Star Kingdom Book 2) by David Weber. This is a follow on to a book I recently read; it was enjoyable but I don’t think I’ll continue on with the series at this time.
    — Misfit Mage: Fledgling God: book 1 by Michael Taggart was an enjoyable urban fantasy. The main character has a good sense of humor and a big love of kittens. I will caution though that the book begins with a violent scene that almost had me putting it aside.

  34. Marci says:

    I have been making my way through Lisa Kleypas’s books – using SmartBitches Lightning Reviews: Lisa Kleypas as a guide. The books are all sort of blending together now. So might take a break from them. But mostly enjoying them.

    I also read Skye Warren’s THREE TO GET READY, the final book in her Hughes Trilogy. The hero has a family history of early onset dementia. It was an emotional read but I enjoyed the series enough to check out more books by Warren. I’d say you have to read all the books in the trilogy to get the full impact of the story. I usually avoid books with cliffhangers, so not sure if Warren’s writing style is something I will continue to enjoy.

    I also spent a few days downloading copies of the kindle books I’ve purchased from Amazon so I have copies backed up to my computer. Took a few days because I have 1000s of ebooks. But Amazon keeps changing formats and I wanted to make sure I have copies saved in case anything happens. I’ve lost ebooks I’ve purchased in the past due to changing formats or stores closing.

  35. DiscoDollyDeb says:

    @Marci: I love Skye Warren, but her work (especially earlier books) can get very dark. She mines a vein of dysfunction where some people have been so damaged by their lives that only someone equally damaged can understand and love them. Her later books (especially the ones she’s written for the interconnected, multi-author Midnight Dynasty universe) are less dark and focus more on questions like what it means to be part of a family and what obligations do we have to our relatives. If you like Warren’s style, check out some of the books she’s co-written with Amelia Wilde (like their Deserted Island trilogy), or try some of Amelia Wilde’s solo efforts (like the Controlling Interest trilogy) because I think her style (since about 2019, prior to that she was writing more light-hearted rom-com-y stuff) is very similar to Skye Warren’s.

  36. kkw says:

    @DDD Do I have you to thank for the BY THE CURRAWONG’S CALL recommendation? This title is worth being a little shouty about, lol. Thanks to whomever prompted me to put a hold on it. Really charming Australian historical m/m. There’s a hot priest, lots of sports, angsty hard times…none of which call to me particularly, but you can see why I assume it was one of yours. This was just such a lovely, loving story. I didn’t even dislike the cop, which is a rarity for me.
    Also could not agree more re: DIRTY SLIDE and DIRTY STEAL, two more holds that just came in -those two are super short, though, the two of them together barely add up to a book which is how I wound up reading 3 books yesterday/today. Wait, 4, I did make it through the THE ACTOR AND THE EARL although it was fairly terrible, and also short, which I hate. I may need to make different life choices… Anyway, I also have really enjoyed Casey’s books and not Blakely’s, although I have liked her collaborations. These basically weren’t even stories, they were advertisements for their other books. Blerg.

  37. DiscoDollyDeb says:

    @kkw: no, BY THE CURRAWONG’S CALL was not my recommendation. However, “angsty with a hot priest” is my catnip and do the book goes right onto my tbr. Thanks!

  38. Kareni says:

    @kkw: I also enjoyed BY THE CURRAWONG’S CALL. This was in 2018, so I doubt that it was my recommendation that prompted your read.

  39. Peggy C. says:

    @wingednike NETTLE AND BONE is very good. I hope you stick with it. It’s not as dark or horrific as it may first seem. I loved it and I guarantee I am NOT reading anything dark or horrific right now.

  40. Crystal says:

    Anyone else feeling like they need to tape their eyes open? GOD, I HATE DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME.

    All right, timey wimey rants aside. I parked up Amari and the Great Game by B.B. Alston. Like the first one, it was incredibly fun, with some serious undertones. A good option if you need something that reads a bit like the boy wizard but don’t feel like supporting his terfy creator. Then I had the new J.D. Robb, Encore In Death, out of the library, and went for that, since the librarian was straight up like “Hey, we have a ton of holds on that, could you read it first?” (I was picking up a few books, natch). This one had some very interesting work in that it had some effective red herrings that even fooled Eve herself. I also liked the setting it against the theater community (she did that way back when with Witness In Death, too, and that was one of my favorite In Death books back in the day), and there was a Game of Thrones reference that made me chuckle (Roarke is apparently a fan). Then it was on to Spelunking Through Hell by Seanan McGuire from the InCryptid series. We’re continuing to see the after-effects of Antimony offing the crossroads a few books back, and we also finally spend time with Alice, an octogenarian dimensional explorer that looks and operates like a woman in her 20s (thanks to an absolutely horrifying magical rejuvenation routine) and her quest to find her long-lost husband, who was lost to the now-dead crossroads 50 years ago. I liked it, and I liked Alice’s voice, but I found the pacing a touch choppy; either nothing was happening or everything was happening. And now I’m on my spring break vacation (if the kids are off, I get to be off too) and I decided to go with Happy Place by Emily Henry. I’m enjoying it, if not as much as I did Book Lovers. This is a sadder book than that one was, as these protagonists are currently broken up and trying to hide that from their friend group so as not to interrupt their group vacation. There’s still snark, and I enjoy the dynamics between the friends, but I’m also wanting to snarl “USE YOUR DAMN WORDS, AND NOT THE MEAN ONES!!!” at the two main characters so they’ll stop hurting each other. So until next week, I plan to spend this week playing video games (new PS5 is too fun), see Scream 6 tomorrow, and read. So much read. See you on the not-working for a week side.

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