It’s April and time for our first Whatcha Reading of the month!
Lara: I’ve fallen back into the comfort provided by a familiar series: Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter novels. ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) I’ve got to be in the right frame of mind for them, but when I am, they hit the sweet spot.
Sneezy: I’m re-reading the webtoon North x Northwest about a cross dressing pirate. It’s been on hiatus for a long ass time, and now the second season is finally coming back at the end of April!
The artist has changed though, and I don’t know what happened. I really hope the original artist is okay, exploitation of artists in the webtoon industry is rampant.
Susan: I’m still reading No. 6 Omnibus 1! ( A | BN ) My current summary is “weaponised drama kid falls in love with airhead science kid, please someone explain why there are killer bees”
Elyse: I just started Advikra and the Hollywood Wives by Kirthana Ramisetti
Sarah: I’m reading A Sinister Revenge, ( A | BN | K ) the latest Veronica Speedwell mystery. It is so easy to re-enter the world without having to re-read the series (not that re-reading the series is a bad thing!) and this time, Stoker’s brother thinks he’s going to be murdered so there’s a house party to flush out the potential murderer.
Elyse: I loved that one!
Claudia: My library hold for The Mountain in the Sea ( A | BN | K | AB ) finally came through so I’ve started it and so far so good!
Tara: I’m reading Faith, Hope and Carnage, ( A | BN | K ) the 300-page interview between Nick Cave and Seán O’Hagan. I can only read for 20 minutes or so at a time because the ideas are so dense, but it’s achingly beautiful.
Shana: I just started reading For Her Consideration by Amy Spalding. The LA lesbian haircuts are perfectly described.
Sarah: There is no more perfect one sentence review than that, Shana. 10/10 no notes
Carrie: I have a huge time-sensitive TBR right now – which is why it baffles me that I read the first page of Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey ( A | BN | K ) given that I have never been able to put his stuff down once I start and this is proving to be no exception.
So, whatcha reading? Tell us in the comments!
Squee:
YORK: THE CLOCKWORK GHOST by Laura Ruby, book two of three in her Shadow Cipher series. People, I cannot overstate the beauty, wonder and humanity of what is technically a kid’s book, an alternate future through the eyes of three young New Yorkers. Every character, including the smallest robot and chimera, is exquisitely drawn. You care so much about each of them, their strengths and worries, as they attempt to solve the greatest puzzle of all time. Book three is calling me. Oh, and they’re really funny, too.
LONE WOMEN by Victor LaValle is smart, scary and timely, for all that it takes place in the American West, where land was free to everyone–if you could hold on to it for three years/didn’t think about displacing the native population. Adelaide Henry, a black woman fleeing her home in Texas, was inspired by stories of other women making their way successfully to Montana. Nothing is what it seems, certainly not the people Adelaide encounters or the enormous steamer trunk she drags everywhere. Ultimately, this is a story of acceptance and forgiveness, so satisfying despite the horror that never goes away.
HELLO, TRANSCRIBER by Hannah Morrissey tells the story of a young woman who takes a job as a police transcriber in Black Harbor, Wisconsin. The writing is beautiful. The tension between Hazel and her husband; the gruesome crimes in the state’s most dangerous city; Hazel’s growing attraction for the top detective whose words she transcribes: what’s real, who to believe, and the answer is nothing and no one, including Hazel. Good and creepy.
RUTH BADER GINSBURG by Jonah Winter is a graphic novel for kids (and me). Written as a court case with evidence of the injustices RBG faced and fought all her life, the book is fun, informative and highly recommended.
YOU TRULY ASSUMED by Laila Sabreen follows three Black Muslim girls from different US cities in the aftermath of an attack attributed to Islamic terrorists. Each of the teenagers experiences the fallout that shakes their stable and well-loved neighborhoods, where what they thought they knew was safe. Sabriya begins a private blog called YTA, which goes viral and changes everything. Two more girls join her, all of them facing their fears, self-imposed limitations and parental dis/approval. So very powerful and empowering, a look into a fictional but lived experience. Highly recommended.
I’ve actually successfully finished enough books that I may have to edit down my comments. That feels like success after the DNF cloud I’ve been under for so long. It helps that this is the time of year that it’s warm enough to have the hammock up but not so hot you have to flee into air conditioning. There’s pollen and allergies to deal with, but I’ll take it. Hammock reading time is one of my favorite reading times.
The Best –
TWYFORD CODE by Janice Hallett. She got me again, very twisty. So good I devoured it in two days. She used some similar tricks as THE APPEAL, but a lot of the twists still fooled me. This one is all told in the form of audio transcriptions from a cell phone involved in a missing persons case. Instead of being a small town English cozy mystery, this was more in the vein of THE DA VINCI CODE. No, don’t run away! It’s about a man who has just gotten out of prison and he’s trying to track down a very special copy of a childhood book (think Enid Blyton). A copy that he has thought aboTHut most of his life because he is convinced that there are secret handwritten notes inside that reveal something important. Why? He’s going off the fact of how his teacher reacted when she confiscated his copy of the book and vanished shortly afterward. The only problem was at the time he couldn’t read (he was in a remedial reading class) so even though he saw the notes, he had no idea what they meant.He learned to read in prison and he’s stubbornly determined to make his life mean something by cracking this mystery. I don’t really want to say more, but this had a lot going on. I will say it was a little kinder in tone than THE APPEAL which made a nice surprise. There were some betrayals and nasty people, but it wasn’t all small town backstabbing nastiness like that one had.
THE SCREAMING STAIRCASE by Jonathan Stroud. First in the Lockwood and Co series. I tried to get in the show, couldn’t, switched to the audiobook and got interested enough in it that I switched to a Kindle copy and finished it quickly. It’s a children’s/YA book set in a world where ghosts run rampant and only children have the ability to see them. Lockwood and Co is different from the other ghost busting agencies because there are no adults involved, just Lockwood and his associates, Lucy and George. The age of the protagonists makes me think YA (they’re teenagers) but to me the tone and length is a little bit more tweeen/middle reader. It was very entertaining and just spooky enough for me. I love ghost stories, but I’m a baby when it comes to gore. I would read more of these as a palate cleanser between books.
SAVING TIME: DISCOVERING LIFE BEYOND THE CLOCK by Jenny Odell. This was her follow up to HOW TO DO NOTHING, one of my favorite nonfiction books of the last few years. This one didn’t reach quite that level for me, but it still was a very good “thinky” book. Not a light read but a meditation on how capitalism and our culture of optimizing everything has impacted our ability to perceive and enjoy time. I’m not sure what category to put her books in. Lots of observations on animals, societies, culture, history, labor, etc. Don’t pick up if you’re not in the mood to focus or if you’re not ready for a lot of pushback at the basic building blocks of Western thought. I didn’t agree with everything she said, but I enjoyed reading it.
THE REST –
I read a very forgettable Ian Rutledge mystery by Charles Todd. I always enjoy most of the characters and setting (varying locations in post WWI England), but the mysteries have gotten so so. I also feel like Hamish (the mental manifestation of Rutledge’s post traumatic stress) gets a little bit old and repetitive. I should count how many times he says “‘Ware!” in each book. They (Charles Todd is two people) tend to use similar character types as suspects. They love jealous husbands. And as a romance reader, I definitely find it annoying that in almost every book they dangle some attraction to a woman as a plot thread only to have Ian decide he can never be with anyone because of his mental distress. I’m fine with no real romance threads in my mysteries, but don’t keep going back to the well if he’s never going to be with anyone. I’ll probably keep trying because like I said I enjoy the evocative settings, but it doesn’t hit that sweet spot.
THE REDEMPTION OF PHILLIP THAYNE by Lisa Berne. A very weird historical romance with a Groundhog Day/time loop plot. And yes, there’s a lot of references to Groundhog, excuse me, Plough Day. I read this because I was curious if the author could pull it off and came away thinking “hmm, not sure.” She made the decision to handle the time loop by repeating huge descriptive chunks of the book verbatim every reset. Then there would be only a slight change in emotional reactions or at the end of the scene to indicate the difference. This got pretty monotonous to read and made me appreciate the medium of film. I feel like other time loop books have handled that aspect better. There were some cute references to the original and one part that actually made me whoop out loud. The hero and heroine were fine but neither were standout characters. The hero has some pretty wild sexual flings early in the book (no consequences, remember) that are described in a jokey non super descriptive way. Then the hero and heroine don’t have an on the page love scene at all. That was a choice I found. . . interesting. I guess it’s true to the original film, it just didn’t make for great romance in my opinion. The author cheats a little by having the heroine have a vague sense of familiarity with each passing day so it doesn’t feel like she falls in love out of the blue. I wouldn’t avoid this author, but I may not go out of my way for her books again. I keep hoping for someone to fill that Tessa Dare shaped hole in my heart, but this was not it.
Part One
THE PLAYING GAME, along with the prequel novella, THE GIRL IN THE HOCKEY JERSEY, by Ainsley Booth (aka, Zoe York), begins a new hockey series titled Off the Ice. THE GIRL IN THE HOCKEY JERSEY (available as a free download) introduces Kieran, a professional hockey player, and Harper, a pediatric nurse. They meet at a post-game party and have a one-night hook-up (like most of Booth’s work, the sexy-times are very hot). Kieran feels that Harper could be “the one”, but in the morning she’s gone, without even giving Kieran her name. THE PLAYING GAME picks up the story two years later with Kieran (at 35, now moving toward the end of his career) being traded to an expansion team in Hamilton, Harper’s hometown. Kieran and Harper reconnect, but there are significant obstacles to their HEA—especially regarding Harper’s family situation. Although Harper’s reasons for not wanting to get involved with a hockey player were plausible, I really felt Harper’s relationship with her mother was way too co-dependent and without firm boundaries. However, I like that Kieran and Harper talk things out and come to agreements together about how they will proceed. THE PLAYING GAME reminded me in many ways of Kate Canterbary: MCs whose professional competence doesn’t prevent them from stumbling emotionally. (For fans of Zoe York, THE PLAYING GAME also features a connection to York’s Kinkaid Brothers series: one of the other players on Kieran’s team is the partner of Owen Kinkaid’s daughter Becca from RECKLESS AT HEART.) If I have one quibble with THE PLAYING GAME, it’s that the book—being the first one in the series—does introduce a number of characters who will presumably feature in future books, but that’s a trivial objection for a strong hockey romance with appealing characters and a solid story arc. Highly recommended.
Caitlin Crews’s latest HP, A SECRET HEIR TO SECURE HIS THRONE, is a royal romance with Crews firing on all cylinders: a king whose decadent persona disguises a lethal thirst for revenge? Check. A woman who, after a brief affair, gave birth to the king’s child years ago? Check. Mother and child summoned suddenly to the king’s tiny principality for marriage and presentation of the heir? Check. King and soon-to-be Queen discover the connection between them still burns bright? Check. Neither of them really wants that, though? Check. Upending expectations by having the true villain of the story never actually appear on-page? Check. Operatic levels of angst and heartbreak? Check and check. Yes, it’s all here—wrapped in Crews’s sumptuous writing and shot through with her acerbic wit (at one point, the heroine, having had it up to here with the hero’s emotional self-flagellation, notes tartly, “After all, that’s what the world needs, we can all agree. One more outrageously wealthy man on a personal quest that inconveniences as many people as possible”). I know HPs can be an acquired taste and often require more hand-waving than many readers are willing to do, but for HP aficionados, Crews is the real deal. I highly recommend A SECRET HEIR TO SECURE HIS THRONE.
FLIRTING WITH FOREVER is the fifth and final book in Claire Kingsley’s Dirty Martini Running Club series about the romantic adventures of four disparate but loving & loyal friends. The earlier books were released several years ago (before Kingsley published her Bailey Brothers series), and FLIRTING WITH FOREVER both catches readers up with what has been happening in the lives of the heroines of the other books and gives Nora (the one remaining single member of the club) her own HEA. Nora is in her mid-thirties and cheerfully single. She doesn’t think a happily-ever-after kind of love is in the cards for her—and that doesn’t bother her. When she buys a house in the suburbs, she grows close to her neighbors, tatted-up single dad Dex and his tween daughter Riley. Nora and Dex begin secretly hooking-up “just for the sex”—but we all know how that works out in Romancelandia. What I found most interesting about FLIRTING WITH FOREVER is that it reverses the traditional gender set-up: it’s Dex who wants something emotionally deeper and lasting in his relationship with Nora, and it’s Nora who wants to keep things on a “neighbors-with-benefits” level. It takes a few bumps in the road before Nora can confront some issues from her past (and Dex can learn to think about a situation before immediately reacting to it) for the couple to achieve their HEA. I liked FLIRTING WITH FOREVER, but there’s no doubt it lacks the depth of some of Kingsley’s best books (like BROKEN MILES or PROTECTING YOU/FIGHTING FOR US). There are also way too many detailed descriptions of clothing (I almost started counting how often we learned the style and color of Nora’s shoes or how frequently she and her friends wore pencil skirts), and those felt suspiciously like filler. On the other hand, FLIRTING WITH FOREVER is well-written in a smooth, readable style. Recommended—just don’t go into it expecting the substance and intensity of some of Kingsley’s other books.
Part Two
I’m in two minds about Elizabeth O’Roark’s incredibly angsty THE SUMMER WE FELL, a dual-timeline (2013 & 2023) story of a woman’s tangled relationship with her late boyfriend’s best friend. On the one hand, it does a great job with getting inside the head of a woman who, despite major success in the music industry, still bears the deep psychological scars of a dysfunctional childhood full of abuse and cruelty, along with a sense of shame for the part she believes she played in the death of her boyfriend. On the other hand, the book edges very close to melodrama in how truly horrible the heroine’s situation (both in the past and now) is and how she feels she deserves the contempt & hatred being heaped upon her. After enduring terrible abuse in her childhood home (cw/tw for off-page references to sexual assault & physical violence, on-page verbal abuse and attempted sexual assault), teenager Juliet is taken in by a church pastor and his wife. Juliet is truly grateful for the safe harbor her foster family has provided, but she can’t help resenting how everyone expects her to spend her every waking moment proving her gratitude. O’Roark is excellent at showing how “good” people, with the best of intentions, can decide what’s best for others, not caring if that’s really what they want or need. O’Roark is equally insightful about Juliet’s ambivalence toward the people who are providing her with shelter: she goes to school, waits tables in a diner, helps the pastor’s wife with housework, cooks and serves dinner, sings in church, and still feels she cannot take even a few minutes to play her guitar or sing for her own pleasure. While living with the couple, Juliet falls into a romance with their son, Danny, who is a couple of years older than her. Danny’s feelings for Juliet are clearly rather shallow and based on his expectations of the church-centric life he’s mapped out for himself; but, again, Juliet feels she cannot tell Danny the truth about her feelings (much later in the book, someone comments that Danny wanted “something uncomplicated, but that’s something you can’t have with a complicated girl”). Then Danny brings home college friend Luke (a football player and surfer), and things begin to escalate as Luke (also a product of a dysfunctional home life) is the first person to actually “see” Juliet, to understand, believe in, and encourage her. Their burgeoning feelings for each other create an ominous sense of something bad about to happen—especially as O’Roark rapidly moves the timeline back-and-forth between then and now, and we swing ever closer to the events leading to Danny’s death. Needless to say, Danny’s death is only the first in a cascade of events that threatens to destroy both Juliet and Luke—and certainly destroys their feelings for each other until they are unwillingly reunited years later. Far more than O’Roark’s previous books, THE SUMMER WE FELL reminds me of books by Mia Sheridan or Aly Martinez—full of emotional upheavals and circumstances that have no truly good options—and I can’t help but assume that this stylistic pivot is being pushed by the current primacy of Book-Tok with its emphasis on romance heroines having to suffer misery piled upon misery as a prerequisite for an HEA. I’m cautiously recommending THE SUMMER WE FELL, but I really feel that Book-Tok has a lot to answer for.
It took me more than a week to read the 900 pages of At the Feet of the Sun, Victoria Goddard’s sequel to The Hands of the Emperor. I felt completely lost in the story, in a good way, but occasionally I thought “not another quest/journey, everyone needs a rest.” I also agree with all the reviews pointing out concerns about how the relationship between Cliopher and His Radiancy has developed, starting with CONSENT in capital letters. There is supposed to be a third book (in a few years) that I hope will address this. In the meantime I’ll be waiting for Jullanar’s book.
I really enjoyed Diana Biller’s Hotel of Secrets, despite my brain insisting that the Moores were going to show up at the hotel any day now. It felt like a HFN ending though. I want more of Maria and Eli’s story, to see how they settle in together, and what Eli finds to do in Vienna. I see Diana Biller has offered an epilogue in her newsletter, and I need to go find that.
I also re-read Lois Bujold’s The Assassins of Thasalon, because despite the title I needed some of her characters’ kindness and competence. I seem to need a dose of Bujold every few weeks lately.
I’m currently reading Sarah Addison Allen’s Other Birds, which I wasn’t ready for the first time I picked it up.
I love royal- and bodyguard-themed romances, so I’m reading HOW TO PROTECT A PRINCESS by Cynthia Eden.
I also have AMERICAN ROYALTY by Tracey Livesay and DO YOU WANT TO START A SCANDAL by Tessa Dare waiting on the TBR pile.
I binged out THE NIGHT AGENT on Netflix, and I’m hoping to check out the book by Matthew Quirk.
Hope everyone has a good weekend! 🙂
Hello, Smart Bitches! I have not read much over the last couple of weeks, but I did want to mention two books I found interesting.
The first is HIS QUIET AGENT by Ada Maria Soto. M/M, contemporary, story of two desk jockeys for a US government intelligence agency. This is a very interesting book. The characters were really well developed, and the dysfunctional cubicle office culture was almost a character in and of itself, which was well done. However, I feel like we’re missing the rest of the book. The two main characters’ stories are continued in future books, so I’m hoping that will take care of my issue.
I don’t know that I believe they are in love yet. Getting there, but one of the characters is so closed off, I don’t know if I buy that the other knows him well enough to love him. They don’t have a physical relationship, which rings true and was handled very well, but when do you know someone enough to love them? Looking forward to reading the next installments of the story – I would not be surprised if this is further explored there. If this all sounds interesting to you, check it out. AMS can really write.
A WHISKER BEHIND (The Worlds Behind Book 1) by W.R. Gingell did many things very well. It is not a love story, but an urban fantasy set in Korea. I believe in the world and the characters. Some of the characters were Korean, some fae from other traditions/parts of the world. I believed in the world building, and the characters were likewise fleshed out really well. I have two complaints – the story did not move quickly enough for the relative simplicity of what actually happened. And there was way too much internal dialogue about the two main characters’ motivations. I think this book would have benefitted from some harsh editing, and then maybe the next book could be the second half of this one. I see that there is a larger series that this is an offshoot of – should I go back to the beginning and read that series? Again, lots of good stuff here, but not enough happening for the amount of discussion about how characters felt about it all.
Hope folks are enjoying the holiday stuff, if you celebrate, and enjoying a quiet spring weekend reading, if you do not!
I also spent some time with Veronica Speedwell and Stoker. Loved A SINISTER REVENGE. I enjoy Stokers brothers so forcing him to spend time with them e as a delight. It’s also the first time I was able to guess the culprit within a few chapters – and even then Raybourne threw in a twisty little surprise.
I enjoyed THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB so much that I dove right into the second nook, THE MAN WHO DIED TWICE. It was equally as good. One of Elizabeth’s exes shows up in Coopers Chase and asks for her help. He’s run afoul of some bad people, and MI6 is not happy to be covering for him. Meanwhile sweet Ibraham has been mugged and beaten, and looks like the culprit will get away with it. Looks like, but not when the TMC and their friends get involved. Justice is meted out for all.
The Lucy Score backlist fest continued with MR. FIX-IT. A delightful romance set in the reality TV world. She’s the production manager and he’s the star of the show. They travel across the country fixing up homes of worthy people a la Extreme Makeover. So romance plus competence porn and a little screw the patriarchy.
I got an ARC from NetGalley of “Much Ado About Nada” by Uzma Jalaluddin, which will be out in June. It’s a Persuasion-inspired second chance contemporary Muslim romance. I read almost half of it last night, so there’s a hint about how good it is, and it has reminded me that I still haven’t read her second book even though it’s been on my shelf since release day.
I’m also reading “A Treasury of A’ishah” by Sofia Rehman. It’s a short book that compiles just some of the prophetic narrations attributed to A’isha, one of the wives of Prophet Muhammad (saw) and who is still considered one of the religion’s greatest scholars, if not THE greatest. She was renowned for the accuracy and clarity of her memory and so much of what we know about Islamic jurisprudence and rulings comes from her.
I’ve been craving a really absorbing read but bouncing off a lot of books for a while now. Finally found a few I was able to finish, mostly cozy fantasy.
Loved:
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree – very late to this party, the sample was too short / slow and didn’t click for me, in case anyone else feels the same it does get better very soon. The coziest of cozy fantasies. The found family is wonderful. F/F slow burn closed door romance.
Liked:
A Rival Most Vial: Potioneering for Love and Profit by R. K. Ashwick – this one gave me gaming vibes, going on quests drinking healing potions. As the title suggests there is a rivals to friends to lovers romance (M/M), with personal growth on both sides, also nice supportive friendships and fun side characters.
Jinn and Juice by Nicole Peeler – this was fun and fresh, as others said I wanted it to be a series. Enjoyed the fantasy worldbuilding, friendships and interesting plot. The (M/F) romance did not fully develop for plot reasons. The author does have another series I might try later.
Fee Simple Conditional by H. C. Helfand – this was mentioned by several people in the last Whatcha Reading. Not a fantasy but offbeat enough to scratch a similar itch. There is a romance (M/F) but it’s not the focus.
not working for me:
Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne – 30% in, there is less coziness and more violence than I was looking for. Might come back to it later when in a more adventure-fantasy mood. F/F romance with an established couple.
Reread:
Innkeeper Chronicles book 2 Sweep in Peace by Ilona Andrews – enjoying the scenes with the chef, skimming over the violent parts. The romance is a subplot.
Black Ball: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Spencer Haywood, and the Generation That Saved the Soul of the NBA by Theresa Runstedtler is very good so far. Very detailed, not polemically, and a smooth read. Recommended.
The Fiancée Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur is my newest purchase. I haven’t started it yet but pretending to be engaged is a favorite trope. Will report back at the end of the month!
Work has been stressful – took lots of time to read and do BDBC instead of doing other stuff at home… guess I needed the balance!
Incidentally, like @Big K, I read HIS QUIET AGENT by Ada Maria Soto too. I agree, the ending there is a bit more HFN-ish, though I did believe they were in love at the end. And yes, there is more: MERLIN IN THE LIBRARY, a novella happening right after, which gives us the first peek at Martin’s POV (the first book in entirely Arthur’s POV, so a lot of Martin remains a mystery as he is so closed off, though things get hinted at). And then there’s another boo, AGENTS OF WINTER, that takes place a few months later, over the next Christmas and New Year’s. This one is written from both POVs and gives us Martin’s back story. The two books and the novella really make up the whole story and should be read in sequence. I just loved the both so, so much. And even though both MCs are asexual, and cuddling is the most that happens, they gave me all the feels – which is what I find I need most from a romance.
EMPTY NESTS and BOWERBIRDS also by Ada Maria Soto. M/M contemporary, but totally different premise than the other series, but also two books that make up one story. Also liked these a ton too! One of the MCs is in his early 30s, became a teenage father at 15 and his son who’s now a high school senior, has been his whole world. And he’s had no time for relationships or sex due to that, though he’s out. The other MC is a few years older and CFO and one of three owners/founders of an Apple-like tech company and he’s had lots of unsatisfactory relationships or just hook-ups, but never anything serious since a disastrous early relationship. It starts with a wonderful slow burn that feels realistic, and also when it finally comes to sex, it’s not like they go from 0 to 100 on the first night as it sometimes does in other romances featuring one MC’s first time. I appreciated that a lot. Good on the feels and there’s also quite a bit of humour and one particularly funny but embarrassing scene when dad and his date go back to the house instead of eating at the restaurant as planned and things start heating up nicely – only for son and his date to walk in because the son thought he’d have the house to himself that night. There’s also quite a bit of power imbalance between the MCs – single dad does ok now but there’s still not a lot of money around and times have been hard, whilst the other one is pretty loaded thanks to his job and the company still being in the hands of him and his pals. There is talk of that, he has to learn that he can’t just move in and start paying for everything, though single dad also learns it’s ok to accept gifts from time to time. There’s a few side plots going on that have to do with both MC’s work and the CFO learning to let go of doing all himself still. Lots of great side characters too. Mostly the two MCs talk about things and there’s not much angst, though there is a crisis moment at the end that doesn’t come entirely out of the blue but still feels a little much. Thankfully they have friends and family who all keept telling them to use their words! It ends in a good spot, but I’d still love to see some kind of epilogue a bit further down the road, not least to know how the son fares at college. Really recommendable if you want a longer M/M with slow burn and no big angst.
SILENT KNIGHT by Layla Reyne (m/m contemporary) – got this as it was on sale. Not sure if I’ll get the other books in the series too (because… assassin MC – not really my jam). I mostly got this as it features Brax and and Holt who turn up in the Perfect Play series and also some other characters from Reyne’s universe turn up here. As usual with Reyne, it features a suspense plot turned up to max in the second half of the book, not particularly realistic but I know that about her books and somehow I have been able to overlook that so far even though my sometimes too rational brain keeps going “duh”. It delivers on the feels and kept me at the edge of the seat, so all good. Less sex scenes and in some of her other books and it happens late-ish due to the course of the story, but that didn’t detract anything for me. Just if you expect the same level as from the Agents Whiskey & Irish or Trouble Brewing series, you might be disappointed.
NEVERMORE BOOKSTORE – Kerrigan Byrne & Cynthia St. Aubin (m/f contemporary). Bought this after it was recommended here recently and others found it over the top but just the right level of OTT it seems. For me, it was honestly too much, and there was too much that didn’t sit right with me. But I get what the authors wanted to achieve, and I would have needed more of certain parts and less of others. Like more of the late-night phoe calls between Fox and Cady, maybe even to see how it started. Then I asked myself – what did Fox do with all the books after reading them? Couldn’t have kept them all in his hideaway? Also, it’s never clear how much the Sheriff knew from the beginning – there’s that little intermission that left me scratching my head. Also the whole double identity thing, we see how it happened and it was absolutely right that Cady was not ok with it once she found out – but there needed to be a lot more groveling from Fox about this! And the voyeurism bit? Just felt creepy to me, everything else withstanding. As did his whole Alpha male thing, that’s just not my thing. Just as his turning up almost at the end and just telling what he’d been doing. I’d have loved to see more of his getting there. But the biggest no-go really? When they finally have sex, there’s no thought and now talk of protection/contraception. Nope, just nope. So yes, there were some good bits, I also loved Myrtle and Vee – these two ladies were definitely a high point for me – but there were also things that I couldn’t get past.
DO YOU WANT TO START A SCANDAL – Tessa Dare (m/f Regency). Also bought upon recommendation here, sounded like fun. It was… ok? But again it didn’t quite do it for me. Regencies were my gateway to romance and for years and years almost the only type of romance I ready, and there are some super-keepers from the time that will live in my heart forever, but I find that any new ones I still try have become hit and miss for me. Yes, this had some true LOL moments (peaches and aubergines!), some sly hints – there’s the one TSTL thing the Hero does near the end that others have mentioned was a total no-go for me. Plus the resolution of the “mystery” left me kind of blah. Especially the one about the poisond flower, that was such a nope moment. Also the couple spend rather a lot of time together alone, and have sex and nobody suspects. As for Delia, I feel for her and she had every right to be mad at being let down by her friend.
THE THREEFOLD TIE – Aster Glenn Grey (m/m/f, historical). This is just a novella, but really well done. If you’re looking for hot m/m/f action, this isn’t it – there’s just one sex scene at the end. This is really about the MCs figuring out their feelings between flash-backs showing what happened before, learning to talk about said feelings and figuring out how this might work. And that’s what I loved about this story! Two soldiers were lovers in the Civil War but never talked about feelings, they keep in contact after by letter and by seeing eachother once a year – til one of them marries a woman and things are thrown off-balance due to their not talking about things.
I loved HOTEL OF SECRETS by Diana Biller, once again, with an unusual setting for a historical romance, 1880’s Vienna, which was fascinating to read about. Both MCs are strong and very competent, so much so that this becomes a fun plot point. Maria is restoring and running her family’s hotel, given to her great-grandmother by a former lover and passed down to each succeeding daughter. Eli is an American treasury agent investigating the theft of secret US government codes and staying at the hotel. While I loved the paranormal elements of the author’s previous books, this one skips those and has a more lighthearted tone, sometimes almost verging on farcical.
I’m currently reading YOURS TRULY by Abby Jimenez, releasing this coming Tuesday. It features fake dating between two ER doctors, with SO much yearning. The book starts with them getting off rather spectacularly on the wrong foot when he starts as a new attending at her hospital. He suffers from severe anxiety which was depicted realistically and sympathetically and is too anxious to talk to her so he instead writes her an honest apology letter and leaves it at her locker. She is charmed and replies the same way until they are comfortable enough to start talking directly. My only complaint is that I’m at the 75% mark and they are BOTH still yearning.
Missed last time so just going to do a quick overview of what I read! I’m currently in the middle of “Delilah Green Doesn’t Care” and it’s fine but the romance isn’t hitting for me yet. We’ll see how I feel by the end.
“Fire Season” by KD Casey: M/m contemporary, my first ever sports romance. I tend to prefer a romance where the central relationship is a little more high-angst and high-drama but I did definitely get on board with this relationship and how supportive the characters were of each other. Probably not going to become a regular sports romance reader but I enjoyed this a lot and will check out Casey’s other books.
“The Remaking of Corbin Wale” by Roan Parrish: M/m contemporary/magical realism? This really didn’t click for me although I did like Parrish’s writing style and some of what this book was trying to do. I think the romance just felt unbalanced and odd because Corbin is such an eccentric, specific character while Alex felt very generic and less interesting. Made it hard to understand why they were so drawn to each other or see their relationship lasting. We need more romances where BOTH people are isolated weirdos imo. Also I’m just sick of bakery settings personally.
“Mad Honey” by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan: I have a lot of thoughts on this one but they’d be spoiler-y and I won’t get into it here except to recommend looking up trigger warnings, because there is a twist that made it a much harder read for me. Glad I read it but I wouldn’t really say I liked it.
“The Dark Half” by Stephen King: Really fun horror novel. There’s some typical SK weird language about women but I liked this one a lot.
“The Mystery of the Blue Train” by Agatha Christie: Not a favorite Poirot novel, some weird twists and pretty forgettable characters. On to the next one!
“Flung Out of Space” by Grace Ellis and Hannah Templer: Fictionalized graphic novel about Patricia Highsmith and her inspiration for writing “The Price of Salt.” Very quick read, I liked the art, but I didn’t think the portrayal of Highsmith was as nuanced as the foreword promised.
In nonfiction, I read and enjoyed “The Utopia of Rules” by David Graeber, “The Unpersuadables” by Will Storr, “The Atlas of Extinct Countries” by Gideon Defoe and “When McKinsey Comes To Town” by Walt Bogdanvich and Michael Forsythe.
I was totally charmed by ABOUT A ROGUE by Caroline Linden. The so-called rogue in this historical was not a rogue, he was really just looking for family, stability and a place to belong, and he finds it by marrying into a well-off merchant class family. The heroine’s passion is inventing ceramic glazes for the pottery her family manufactures, and I loved the details about her craft, and the way the hero wins her over by appreciating and supporting her work.
THE HEIRESS BRIDE by Madeline Hunter was another good historical, and it also featured a heroine who is passionate about her work, in this case, she’s a rare book dealer who unexpectedly inherits a fortune. It’s the 3rd of a trilogy, which I recommend reading in order.
I just started reading JAM ON THE VINE by LaShonda Katrice Barnett, set in early 1900’s Jim Crow era Texas, and it’s got a very THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD vibe to it. The vernacular the characters use is really vibrant but not overdone. It’s a coming of age novel, so right now the MC is still a girl, but there is a queer romance coming later in the story. The Kindle version is still on sale for $1.99, in case anyone wants to snap it up.
One book I really enjoyed and two in the solid B territory:
THE VIOLIN CONSPIRACY by Brendan Slocumb which I picked up based on one of Amanda’s Get Rec’d posts. A young, Black violinist, Ray, discovers that his great grandfather’s fiddle is actually a Stradivarius which is then promptly stolen. Slocumb’s descriptions of the music and Ray’s experiences as a Black classical musician are wonderfully done. One content note: at the end of the book, Ray finds out what happened to some of his enslaved ancestors. The violence is thematically in keeping with the book (which doesn’t shy away from the racism Ray experiences), but it’s tonally a departure from the overall whodunnit vibe. Definitely recommend.
A SINISTER REVENGE is the latest in the Veronica Speedwell series. At the conclusion of the previous book (AN IMPOSSIBLE IMPOSTER), Stoker and Veronica were on the outs due to some questionable judgments by Veronica, and so while this book has a lot of character growth for Veronica (and the mystery is solid), it’s missing what makes the other books in the series so fun, which is the banter and snappy dialogue between Stoker and Veronica. This book has precisely one scene like that at around the 200 page mark. It’s not bad, and Stoker’s brothers, Tiberius and Merry are great, but it’s missing the signature verve. Here’s hoping Stoker and Veronica are back to it in the next installment.
THE SECRET LIVES OF COUNTRY GENTLEMEN. Normally KJ Charles can do no wrong by me, but this one has a main character with one of my least favorite attributes: dismally low self esteem. There are reasons for this and it does improve, but, ugh, I hate it. Also, there’s a large amount of missing money which is a major plot point but just stays missing. There are hints that this will be revisited in the next book, so here’s hoping that’s the case.
Up next: something by Joanna Shupe that I grabbed from the library because it looked smutty and fun which is what I was in the mood for next.
I read more than this, but want to double down on the recommendations for Diana Biller’s HOUSE OF SECRETS which felt like a wonderful book to fall into.
I also just finished the audio of Kristin Cashore’s upper-YA SEASPARROW and loved it. I gather some people find it slow but I loved inhabiting this world and these adventures, its very difficult MC and the people she loves and meets. There are some horrible things that yes a content warning would be good for but overall this felt redemption and a world to delight in.
I have discovered MIA VINCY. Someone on here (apologies as to whom, it was a couple of months ago) said that she was underrated and I agree.
A WICKED KIND OF HUSBAND is very compelling. Historic, arranged marriage, with a lovely slow-ish burn of awareness on the part of the MMC as to the treasure he has been ignoring. Perceptive writing, excellent banter and supporting characters, especially the various Secretaries of… (It’s not all light and fluffy though – note a content warning for the previous death of a child.)
Next I downloaded the other De Witt brother’s story: A CHRISTMAS AFFAIR TO REMEMBER and enjoyed it even more! A virgin M in his late 20s gets instruction from a widow in her 30s, so he can find a suitable young wife. You know how this one goes, Delightful. Ms Vincy writes the character exchanges so beautifully.
Then straight into A DANGEROUS KIND OF LADY – interlinked as part of the Longhope Abbey series. Highly recommended.
MEGHAN MARCH is also new to me. DIRTY BILLIONAIRE was free on the recent Stuff your Kindle offer. Enjoyable, pretty steamy, with a solid story but it’s part of a trilogy (which I knew going in), so I am still debating buying the rest.
Another freebie: RELEASE by SUZANNE CLAY. An age gap, workplace relationship with two neurodivergent leads. I’m not sure what to say about this one. A bit out of my zone – I didn’t understand the F character enough to really buy into it. The ultimate in people pleasing with some kink thrown in. I remain ambivalent.
Also free: SHIVER by JOCELYNN DRAKE and RINDA ELLIOT held my attention and I have added the others in the (Unbreakable Bonds) series to my wishlist. M/M, billionaire and bodyguard. Strong characters and emotions and a twisty enough plot to drive the story along.
Finally, PROFESSED by NICOLA RENDELL has a very particular, breathless style but once I got used to it, I was hooked in. Age gap, professor/student relationship. Listed by the author as high heat but although there is a lot of sex, I didn’t find it particularly steamy, if that makes sense? That’s not a slight, just an observation. I enjoyed the book and will read the other story in the series.
I am currently trying my first M/M MC story. Will report back. Happy reading all.
Huge thanks to the SBs who recommended Amy Aislin’s STICK SIDE M/M hockey series as I’m adoring it. Seriously, I’ve read ON THE ICE, NATURE OF THE GAME, SHOTS ON GOAL, and RISKING THE SHOT in as many days. Her character development is superb, and I love how real all these guys are and how she connects the stories.
Frankly I’m loving it even more than Rachel Reid’s GAME CHANGER series (which is truly a fave of mine), so just an FYI as Aislin is an amazing author.
How lovely, @spinsterrevival! I just enjoyed Amy Aislin’s GAME PLAN, the first in her new Vancouver Orcas m/m hockey series.
I finally read Shelli Stevens’s NEGLIGEE BEHAVIOR, an m/f contemporary set in Vegas. It’s a sort of more strait laced runaway bride who leaps onto the motorcycle of a seeming bad boy, and the shenanigans take off from there… cute and funny.
BREWING SUNSHINE by Taryn Quinn is the new start to their Brothers Three Orchard series, and I loved the descriptions of the cider making and food as much as the characters. Also a fun and engaging story.
And also read a handful of the titles from the Vino and Veritas series that have been sitting on my ereader: JE Birk’s BOOKLOVER, Sarina Bowen’s ROOMMATE, Eden Finley’s HEADSTRONG, Eliot Grayson’s UNDERCOVER, and Rachel Lacey’s HIDEAWAY. They’re all different but make good use of the Vermont small-town setting, and it has been a very enjoyable visit!
Like @Escapeologist, I too read FEE SIMPLE CONDITIONAL based on recommendations here. I very much enjoyed it — quirky story, interesting characters, compelling locales; the analogy I’m using in explaining it to friends is that it’s like James Herriot’s ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL but for real estate (and in 1980s Maryland as opposed to England). And I read the first two of Ilona Andrew’s INKEEPER books, and just started the third – gotta love a well-grounded woman who triumphs over every strange thing that the universe throws her way. Thank you to all the Bitchery who recommended those books!
Let me return the favor and recommend something myself. Last week I read two books by Karelia Stetz-Waters, and then I noticed yesterday that she’s the most recent guest on the podcast. I am here to attest to the fact that both SATISFACTION GUARANTEED and BEHIND THE SCENES are great! I liked the latter a bit more, maybe because the characters are slightly older and more experienced and that gives the author a bit more to explore. But they are both highly enjoyable f/f romcoms, and I particularly loved the friend group in SATISFACTION GUARANTEED. I’ve observed here before that for some reason there seems to be a lot more well-written m/m romance than there is f/f, but I sense that tide is turning. BEHIND THE SCENES involves two competent, mature and very interesting women, with friendships and careers that are meaningful and well developed and a lovely romance that builds quietly and believably. It is a strong contender for my list of 2023 favorites.
My sister-in-law and I have started the Psy-Changeling series and are busily reading and then texting each other our thoughts – fun to read, but fun to discuss too!
Excellent:
None
Very Good:
SLAVE TO SENSATION by Nalini Singh: First in the Psy-Changeling series, I loved the world building and loved the heroine. I also loved that some of the romance tropes and my own expectations were subverted. I am way behind on the Smart Podcast, Trashy Books (like I am listening now to episodes from 2021 now) and Sarah mentioned some of the early heros in the series were very typical of the time and over the top alpha. So I am looking forward to see how the series grows.
Good:
VISION IN WHITE by Nora Roberts: This is the first Nora Roberts I have read because I was always turned off by the large picture of Nora Roberts on the back rather than a blurb – I need to know what a book is about before I buy it. Of course, I say this as someone who has almost exclusively purchased books online for the past 15 years, so I have no idea why this was such a large pet peeve. Anyway, I thought it was good, but it didn’t blow my mind. I actually liked reading more about the wedding planning business than the actual romance, which was cute, but nothing special to me? I liked the friendship and business part enough that I think I will read the next in the series. Did I start with the wrong Nora book?
ELECTRIC IDOL by Katee Robert: I liked this more than the first in the series. I liked that the heroine is fat and curvy and most of the time happy with her body (CW there is body shaming in the book directed at the heroine). I liked that the hero was basically a villain until he met the heroine and tried to turn himself around as his feelings for her grew. But the world building is just as bad here as in the first book and in the end the story was mostly forgettable. My sister-in-law also pointed out that books 1, 2, 4 are all the fake relationship trope (which I like, but not all in a row). Book 3 is a throuple (MMF) and that is very much the opposite of my thing, so I wasn’t even contemplating reading that one. So I think this is the end of the series for me.
Meh:
None
The Bad:
None
Over the past two weeks ~
— read three related works by one author ~ Space Junk: Houston, We Have a Hottie; Space Age: Houston, Prepare to Launch (a novella); and the story “Space Landing.” These were pleasant entertainment, but I don’t expect to reread them.
— I’d been fighting a cold so was in the mood for a comfort read. I reread a favorite science fiction series: Linesman, Alliance, and Confluence by SK Dunstall and enjoyed them all again.
— reread Written In Red (A Novel of the Others Book 1) by Anne Bishop. I enjoyed this once again; the real question is whether I’ll be able to resist reading on in the series. Be warned that this series contains violence and gore.
— For my distant book group, I read Clock Dance by Anne Tyler. I found this contemporary fiction to be a very quick read; it’s about the life of a woman at about ages 10, 20, 40, and 60. I enjoyed the last section of the book the most but found the ending rather abrupt.
— quite enjoyed All Gremlins Great & Small by T.M. Baumgartner. I look forward to reading the book that follows this contemporary fantasy novella which takes place after portals from other worlds have opened up on ours.
— enjoyed yet another reread of Stray (Touchstone Book 1) by Andrea K. Höst. This science fiction book is FREE for Kindle readers. This is one of my comfort books.
— reread another favorite, Quarter Share (Trader’s Tales from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper Book 1) by Nathan Lowell, which I’d describe as mellow slice of life science fiction. Then read the next in the series, Half Share.
I read the first two books of Lauren Blakely’s Virgin SOCIETY. Age gap stories though do not seem all that transgressive; it’s the family drama around it. I read the second first because the blurb for the first book seemed a little weird (who writes these?). Fling at conference, keep in touch, he moves to NY and, at first meeting, he’s her ex’s father. High finance business person, they have to work together but not be together because of son, etc. The first one, he is the younger associate of her father a major skeeve. Who would not approve. Reads better than that. And I like the talk she has with her father near the end.
I also discovered Marie Johnston’s books. The OIL BARRON series is on kindle unlimited and I read the heck out of it. Sex is fade to black for those who care. These are four children of a really dysfunctional family. Really dysfunctional. And, yet, to my astonishment, she managed to redeem the parents by the fourth book. Really enjoyed.
Read Robin McKinley’s DEERSKIN for the first time. Great book about bad things happening to a young Princess who really eventually heals herself, deals with the person who hurt her, and accepted a happy ending.
I just finished Amy Aislin’s latest, GAME PLAN, this morning and it was ok. I liked the characters, and I thought she handled the topic of depression well, but ultimately there wasn’t an awful lot of unresolved tension to keep me that interested. It was nice to see some of my favourite Calgary places/events briefly mentioned, though!
I’m kind of at loose ends – impatiently waiting for a library hold on OCEAN’S ECHO by Everina Maxwell – so I may revisit Pennyroyal Green and see if I can get back into historicals.
THE LOST WIFE by Susanna Moore. Despite shedding light on the fucked-up actions of the US government and the Union army towards the Sioux when the Civil War was going on, no less, it probably shouldn’t have been framed as a captive narrative. Also while I don’t have a problem with sparse prose, it left something to be desired. Last month’s LONE WOMEN by Victor LaValle was a better Western and even though I wish I had more to sink my teeth in with THE FOREST by Alexander Nemerov, the writing was more lyrical.
A FEVER IN THE HEARTLAND by Timothy Egan. Holy shit, a very intense read but a very good one. Warnings for racial and sexual violence about Madge Oberholtzer’s murder leading to destabilizing the Klan’s influence in Indiana politics. I’ve been doing some personal genealogical research with family living in Indiana in the 1920s, some sobering context for what they might have considered normal.
DAUGHTERS OF NANTUCKET by Julie Gerstenblatt. Just the type of historical fiction I read all the time in high school. Nothing groundbreaking for centering an historic event around the women who lived through it, but an enjoyable read.
Not a read, but just finished playing GOD OF WAR RAGNAROK. A ton of wonderful performances, but none so heartbreaking as Christopher Judge’s Kratos. I’m fascinated by the Shakespearean tragedy this universe’s Thor is acting out while still being framed as an antagonist. Surprisingly slim pickings on the fanfiction front for an older video game franchise; I inevitably will be writing some post-game Kratos/Freya to fill my personal void.
I’ve been reading like crazy lately but I’m not sure I could tell you half the books I’ve finished, let alone all the ones I DNF’d.
Last night just finished MURDER IN LITTLE ITALY, Victoria Thompson. Historical mystery series, this is one of the middle of the pile but they’re stand-alones. The title is the premise really, a murder in Little Italy, New York City, at some point in the 1800’s. A young Irish girl married to an also-young Italian boy has her baby, the family does the math and realizes that the boy isn’t the father despite the couple’s shotgun marriage, and then in the night the girl is murdered. (No harm comes to the baby besides an upset tummy, if you’re worried.) There’s mafia connections and Tammany Hall stirring up Irish/Italian tensions and mistaken identities, but all the same the story felt oddly…empty. You know how sometimes a movie gets reverse-engineered into a play and the plot is largely the same, but a lot of the grandeur and many of the side characters and settings just can’t carry over to the stage? It felt like we really saw nothing of Little Italy besides this one family’s home, and the main characters’ personal lives were quickly summed up and thrown at us instead of having any weight like a sort of “what you missed last week.” That may be because of it being a series, but I still felt it could’ve been handled better. The two main characters are a freethinking midwife with connections to the the Roosevelts, the Astors, and the rest of New York’s ‘royalty,’ and a straight-laced Irish-American detective–they have a Phryne Fisher/Jack Robinson vibe to them, although I like Phryne and Jack better; I found the banter in this book lacking and the chemistry okay but not fantastic. The descriptions of the rest of the series on Goodreads make it seem like their relationship does actually develop (which is a huge plus in my eyes; I’ve suffered through enough series that rely on Will They Won’t They and never bother to draw a satisfactory conclusion that I’d give the letter grade a bonus just for not doing that). Detective Malloy is a character you’ve definitely seen before if you read mysteries, but I mean, I liked him well enough. I loved the idea of a midwife mystery-solver, but there was a constant aura of Too Good To Be True around Sarah Brandt, a little too much twee in how she dealt with babies and children, a bit too much perfect-ness in how she always had the right solution to everyone’s problems. The author also does something I detest wherein she assigns certain values to Sarah’s character as a result of “good breeding” instead of, you know, having a personality or integrity or morals. I found the setting to be lacking as well, I was never really sure what era we were in except “gas lamps and horse-drawn carriages” until Teddy Roosevelt showed up. For a series that had been recommended to me for its well-drawn historical setting, I found that disappointing. Overall I can’t say I liked the book, but I’ll still probably pick up more of them since my library has several in the series.
Oh, and before that I read A IS FOR ALIBI from Sue Grafton. After being released from jail for the murder of her cheating high-profile divorce lawyer husband (so, a man with more enemies than casual acquaintances, let alone friends), a woman hires a private detective to find the real killer. A good mystery premise; unfortunately I hated it. I do not think this one aged well since the 1980’s. Fat shaming, creepy sexual dynamics, pro-police ‘rule bending’ and pro-insurance company(?!) tangents, unnecessary violence towards animals…I hope the rest of the ‘Alphabet’ series improved, but I won’t be reading them.
:::comes in humming the theme from The Owl House:::
My daughter and I might just be holding a grudge…
Anyway, I decided to hop into my ARC of Codename Charming by Lucy Parker. It was some lovely trope-y goodness, with a fake-dating plot and a bonus plot about the heroine figuring out the history of her family. We also had some humorous set-pieces with a profane cockatoo and a sudden if humorous reaction to an otherwise innocuous drink (it turns the unknowing victim into a blathering drunk). Then, because I’m apparently in a fake-dating trope kind of mood, I followed up with The Love Wager by Lynn Painter. It opens up with the central couple having a very enthusiastic one-night stand. They then become besties after realizing they’re on the same dating app, and decide to act as each other’s wingmen while telling themselves they’re not completely gaga over each other. They then pretend to be a couple for a destination wedding so that the heroine doesn’t have to be there without a date. It’s going exactly like you think it would. The banter is hilarious, and the two main characters are appealing. So until next time, weirdos forever.
Annnd I’m back! Powered through MURDER IN CHINATOWN, same author (Victoria Thompson) last night. A young mixed-race girl from Chinatown (NYC), runs away from her family. They find her but she refuses to return home, and shortly after is found dead. The story deals heavily in the prejudice faced by Chinese immigrants and interracial couples and their children, so even without the murder it’s a heavy read. This one seemed to answer a lot of my previous issues–the characters have well-drawn personalities and seem grounded in their world, which is rich (or sometimes, stinky) with all the life and culture going on around it; the mystery had twists even a longtime genre reader like myself didn’t predict (and an ending that took a turn for the bonkers); the recurring characters seemed like they had real relationships that were invested in each other…unfortunately, there was a gross undercurrent of racism that I’m really hoping was either my mistake of misreading characters’ opinions as the author’s, or else was a product of being published over a decade ago. I think I’ll try another one from this series written more recently because I like the setting and some of the characters, but this one disappointed me in ways that couldn’t have happened if I hadn’t thought the rest of it was improving.
I finished Mad Honey last night, and I’m about to start What Lies in the Woods
Welp I’m back one more time. Finished MURDER IN THE BOWERY (same author, Victoria Thompson) and I think I’ll leave this series alone. My library has some more and I know that the first few books of a 20+ book series are probably different beasts than the latter ones but the latter ones aren’t working for me so much. Much as my last two posts here in this thread, the mystery plot is in the title, although this one gets rather convoluted (minor spoilers).
A young man hires the recurring MCs as private detectives to find his younger brother, whom he was separated from when they were sent out on the Orphan Train. Supposedly, his brother was returned to New York and likely returned to the Bowery where they’d previously lived. This investigation quickly falls apart when Detective Malloy finds the boy, a newsie living on the street, who doesn’t seem to remember having any brothers and suspects this has something to do with “the girl.” Apparently the boy also worked for a Bowery gangster whose girlfriend recently disappeared. Investigating into that leads to a decently gothic subplot that makes me wish there was more in the category of Gotham gothic (you’d be surprised how well ‘isolated crumbling manor inhabited by a secretive family disconnected from reality’ works in the middle of a major city…). All the while the newsboys’ strike is happening, few people use their real names, rich people go on slum tours of fake gambling dens and brothels, young women disguise themselves as men but everyone knows they’re women but still pretends they’re men, and the plot keeps twisting further.
Warning: Children do get harmed and killed. Offscreen, but still.
I liked this one up until the plot & twist reveal, the first of which felt like it was pulled out of a hat and the second of which made me go “What? But I thought we already established that this couldn’t have happened?” It also suffered from late-in-the-series syndrome, where multiple minor characters from past installments show up for two seconds with no real purpose but to remind you they exist, past events are referenced in the same manner with little insight beyond “oh yeah, THAT incident! That was kooky! Anyway,” and long-term characters contradict older books’ characterization of them in ways that don’t indicate development so much as being forgotten, like changing backstory details. I also just…didn’t like the main characters anymore. They had a sort of coldheartedness about the ultimate fate of everyone that I think was meant to be a “justice is brutal sometimes” but came across as “for all these people talk about caring for others and seeking justice, they’re actually assholes.”
Also, I skipped so far ahead in the series that the two main MCs who were in the Will They Won’t They stage of a relationship have now been married for some time. Which, good for them, and I think it improved their chemistry since they no longer tried to be coy about their attraction to one another.
I also liked the relationship between the previously-mentioned gangster and his girlfriend, which was unexpectedly sweet and sad and made interesting use of the social norms of the time. Basically, she wanted to marry anyone who would get her out of Creepy Gothic House and he wanted a ‘respectable lady’ to make him look respectable, only for them–or him at least, since we don’t see her perspective (see title of book)–to have real affection for one another and an almost-marriage of opposites. I would read a romance based on the same set up…with a romance ending. I think you could get a gothic-style twist in the murder plot to still get a happy ending.