Welcome back to Whatcha Reading! Here’s how we’re kicking off October:
Claudia: I’m reading A Nobleman’s Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel by KJ Charles, after weeks of waiting for my library copy to drop. It’s book 2 of her new series and I’m glad to be back to the marsh (posh side) now.
Lara: I’m trying to get myself back on track with my reading challenge after a major diversion into Alice Coldbreath territory. So I’m reading a palate cleanser: the first book in the Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg series by Fred Vargas. ( A | BN | K | G ) It’s quirky and odd and utterly charming.
Sarah: I’ve been listening to The Belle of Belgrave Square, which is read by two narrators, something I don’t always enjoy but works very well in this case because the chapters switch POV between the heroine and the hero. I thought I’d downloaded it for a recent plane trip, and I was in midair when I noticed it hadn’t, and I was SO BUMMED not to be able to continue listening!
Claudia: I’d be curious about your thoughts on some of the resolution once you get to the end!
Kiki: I’m listening to A Fatal Thing Happened On the Way To The Forum by Emma Southon which is about murder in Ancient Rome and is interesting (even as someone who never thinks about the Roman Empire) and funny. I love when nonfiction authors are able to make their personality shine through the facts of something they’ve dedicated their life to studying and Southon is really good at that. She’s serious when it’s called for in talking about Rome as a slave state and snarky when comparing whiny men of old to whiny men of today.
Elyse: I’m reading Night of the Witch ( A | BN | K ) and I’m really enjoying it so far
Maya: I’m reading Stolen Wealth, Hidden Power: The Case for Reparations for Mass Incarceration by Tasseli McKay. ( A | BN | K ) I just did a panel with Tasseli about her book and she’s brilliant and wonderful. I’m also reading Creep by Myriam Gurba. ( A | BN | K ) I continue to adore how she writes!
Shana: That sounds so good, Maya! I just finished some delightfully improbable tentacle smut by Rianne Burnett. Now I’m reading The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian. I’m pretty confused, probably because I didn’t read the first book in the series.
Lara: Oh no, Shana! I read the first book in that series and I was still confused when reading the second because I’d forgotten the detail from the first. The two need to be read really close together, I find
Sneezy: I’ve restarted Moonrise by the Cliff
The art is beautiful and the story well done so far. When I tried to read it before, the story made me too anxious. Maybe I’ll need to circle back again, but so far I’m loving it
Susan: I accidentally fell into a Baldur’s Gate 3 pit but I’m dragging myself out to read volume two of I Want to Be a Wall! It’s a lavendar marriage between a gay man and an asexual woman, and it manages to be both melancholy and so funny that my partner came to check on me because I was laughing so hard.
So, whatcha reading? Tell us in the comments!
I’ve just started Wolves of Winter by Dan Jones. Part 2 of Essex Dogs trilogy. Much to my surprise I loved the first one, The Essex Dogs
I’m working on Menewood by Nicola Griffith. I re-read Hild on my kindle to get ready, and now I’m working on finishing the 650 pages before it’s time to take Menewood back to the library. It’s pretty good, but not being an edge-of-your-seat type thing. I don’t read library books while eating, and I use my kindle for just-before-sleep reading, so I have to make time to sit down and read it.
I’m reading Louisa May Alcott’s first novel, THE INHERITANCE, written when she was just seventeen. I recently rewatched the tv-movie adaptation with Thomas Gibson (love it), realized that I’d never read the book and decided to pick it up. I’m really enjoying it. It’s so soft and sweet.
Recent reads:
SUMMONING UP LOVE by Synithia Williams. A good rec if you’re looking for a romance with a non-scary ghost theme this October. A woman meets a trio of brothers who are paranormal investigators. She’s a sceptic, but hits it off with the eldest brother. I liked it. Nice, relaxing read.
THE RETURN by Rachel Harrison. Pretty good horror.
Have also been devouring Our Flag Means Death fanfic. The new season is soooo good!
Recent reads are
KNOCKOUT by Sarah MacLean. I enjoyed it, continuing the tradition that I generally like book 3 or 4 in her series better than the early ones. Next one looks good too.
THE GOOD ENOUGH JOB by Simone Saltzoff. More case studies than self help, still interesting.
ROAD TO ROSWELL, a sci fi screwball comedy by Connie Willis. There are always at least one or two plot twists in these stories that I find obvious, but I still get sucked into her plots. This one was a mashup of Westerns and alien stories. It was pretty delightful and I will be honest, I had no idea what Indy (the alien) was after until the very end. So good on her for pulling that off.
Reading more Alys Clare, this time the Gabriel Tavener series that’s set in the early 1600s in Devon. I’m not liking these as much as The World’s End Detective Bureau, but they’re still enjoyable.
I’m re-reading Charming Your Dad by Sarah Blue for Spooky Season. I was going to immediately continue on to Charming the Devil, but Probably Smut released a Trick-or-Treat yourself Box with the title and I asked for it for my birthday, so I have to wait on that. I’ll follow it up with Juliette Cross’ Wolf Gone Wild while I wait.
Just finished Cat Sebastian’s new novella LUKE AND BILLY FINALLY GET A CLUE. So good! Perfect early fall reading with lots of sweaters and hot drinks and walks in the woods. I wish it were longer!
I was in a reading slump so I took all the bookmarks out of my books and got my tbr down to 12 books. Then my back went out.
Anyway, I am reading:
FASHION KILLA: HOW HIP-HOP REVOLUTIONIZED HIGH FASHION by Sowmya Krishnamurthy which I am really enjoying. It is pretty much a book written Just For Me and I appreciate that.
This Weekend I am starting:
THE 392 by Ashley Hickson-Lovence for a book club.
I hope to get to:
THE ART OF DESTINY by Wesley Chu sometime this week. It’s a long book though and I am afraid of tweaking my back again. But I am so excited to start it.
I just finished reading all of Suzanne Brockmann’s Troubleshooters Series. I had started it years ago, but didn’t get very far into book 2 before I had to stop because the main character was making a lot of stupid choices (I-will-defeat-the-kidnappers-on-my-own-instead-of-trusting-the-people-with-training-and-resources-to-help type of choices). I’m glad a pushed past that this time. The series hit my sweet spot of large series with characters that reoccur in meaningful ways, not just cameos.
I had to keep checking the dates of publication, because a lot of the early books focus on international terrorism. Book 3, featuring an airplane hijacking, was published in August 2001. As someone who lived through that period as a young adult, it was interesting to revisit it. The books have held up surprisingly well, especially given levels of hate towards specific groups that I remember from the time. I was worried about how that would be portrayed. I had to laugh when, in the first book written after 9/11, the SEALs were sure Bin Laden was going to be caught in a matter of months.
I need to finish my sci-fi book club pick by tomorrow morning THE FRUGAL WIZARD’S HANDBOOK FOR SURVIVING MEDIEVAL ENGLAND (Brandon Sanderson) It’s fun, but I really want to be reading Reese Morrison’s newest SMART ASS (SPARK FILES #2) I really enjoyed the first one GARBAGE. The romances are between humans and robots who are self-aware, expect in Smart Ass the “robot” doesn’t have a body, they are self-aware software. I’m curious how the BDSM and intimacy will work.
I’m reading THE SPY COAST by Tess Gerritsen. The retired spies plotline reminds me a little of the Mrs. Pollifax series by Dorothy Gilman, which I loved.
I also have the MARPLE: TWELVE NEW MYSTERIES anthology waiting on my TBR pile, along with THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY by Sulari Gentill.
Maybe it’s the fall season and cooler weather (yeah!), but I’m in the mood to read spookier thrillers and mysteries. I love fall, football, pumpkin desserts, and the changing leaves. 🙂
Part 1
I’ve had a great couple of weeks on the reading front. After two months where reading time was in short supply, I finally had the luxury of settling down with some new books by some of my favorite writers. Who could ask for more?
I’M YOUR GUY is the second book in Sarina Bowen’s Hockey Guys series of m/m hockey romances, and I loved it! It’s one of the best books Bowen has published in several years—and one of my favorite books of 2023. In I’M YOUR GUY, deeply closeted professional hockey player Tomasso has been traded to the team in Denver after having a very public fight on the ice with his cousin (cw/tw: Tomasso’s cousin and uncle are vicious bullies & homophobes, and Tomasso’s fraught history with them threads through the book). Tomasso buys an unfurnished house and hires interior designer Carter to decorate & furnish it for him. As Carter transforms Tomasso’s house, so he transforms Tomasso’s life—allowing him to see that he could lead a different life, but that there would be risks as well as rewards for being true to his heart. But the changes are not all one-sided: Tomasso gives Carter the room he needs to confront some of his own past emotional choices and decisions. I loved everything about I’M YOUR GUY: Bowen’s smooth writing style that never calls attention to itself; the way she brings everything full circle, so that characters & themes recur but with different meanings from the start of the book through to the end; and I don’t think there’s been a book since Cait Nary’s SEASON’S CHANGE that addresses the complexities of coming out in a professional sport so thoroughly. After several books where I thought Bowen was just going through the motions, I’M YOUR GUY is a return to top form. Highly recommended.
HOTT SHOT is the first book in Serena Bell’s new Hott Springs Eternal series about a family-run hot-springs/spa & wedding venue. The family consists of five brothers and a sister, last name HOTT. The sister was the FMC of Bell’s last Wilder Adventures book (WILDER AT LAST); now we meet all of her brothers because, as designated by their grandfather’s will, they have to return home and help run the family business or the land will be sold to a strip-mining company. In HOTT SHOT, grumpy scientist Quinn Hott has to sit at the reception desk of the Hott Springs Salon & Spa, much to the dismay of Sonya, the bright and bubbly woman who manages the business. Naturally, there’s some antagonism—especially when the only place available for Quinn to stay is in Sonya’s spare room. Yes, the set-up takes a bit of hand-waving, but Bell’s writing is so good, and she individualizes her characters so well, that you’re never really aware that you’re reading some standard tropes: antagonists-to-lovers, opposites-attract, close proximity. Despite its rom-com presentation, HOTT SHOT also addresses some serious issues—such as how to set boundaries with the people we love, how to ask for help, and how to work with others (by the end of the book, both MCs are in therapy). A serious romance with a deceptively comic coating. Highly recommended.
Cate C. Wells dedicates her latest, RETURN TO MONTE CARLO, to Lucy Monroe, which is absolutely fitting because RETURN TO MONTE CARLO is simultaneously both an homage to and a deconstruction of the Harlequin Presents storylines of which Monroe has written scores. In RETURN TO MONTE CARLO, working-class American Diane marries wealthy Italian businessman Marco after a whirlwind romance (characterized by some very intense D/s sex). But once Diane arrives at Marco’s family home in Monte Carlo, she is slowly worn down by his odious family (to whose toxicity Marco seems oblivious), and, after Marco misses a dinner celebrating their first anniversary, Diane flees back to the States. By the time Marco catches up with her, Diane is five-months pregnant and grudgingly returns to Monte Carlo with her husband. But will things be different this time around? Wells sets the book in 1982/83, and I think that works for the story because it removes the technology we take for granted today (would it take a wealthy man five months to find his runaway wife in 2023?), and it also eliminates the way the internet lets us know so much about so many things. Both Diane and Marco are baffled by how much they love the dominance-submission dynamic of their sexual relationship, they understand nothing about it and have nowhere to go to acquire non-judgmental information about it. Today…well, that would be a different story. Marco is another in a long line of Wells heroes who want to do better but often lack the emotional bandwidth to do so without blunders. Diane is another of Wells’s wise working-class heroines who live in the world of the realpolitik and are disinclined to believe in Cinderella fairy tale endings. I think Wells is writing some of the best, most subversive, romances being published today. If you like Wells—even if you’re not a fan of Harlequin Presents—RETURN TO MONTE CARLO is highly recommended.
TIME TO SHINE is Rachel Reid’s first book since she completed her Game Changer series. Like the Game Changer books, TIME TO SHINE is an m/m hockey romance; but unlike the Game Changer books, TIME TO SHINE is relatively low-angst: most of the tension in the story derives not from the MCs’ fear of being outed but rather from their knowledge that they are at different points in their careers and one of them could be sent down to the minors or traded to another team at a moment’s notice. Landon is a rookie goalie, newly arrived on the team where Casey is already hockey royalty. Casey is openly bi (he also has what appears to be some form of ADHD, but that is never named), and his teammates are accepting of his sexuality and his frequent hook-ups. Landon is quieter, still suffering (along with his parents) from the (cw/tw) death of his sister in a car accident eight years ago. He is also a virgin and seems to be on the ace or demi spectrum (again, that is never precisely identified). Casey offers Landon a place to stay, and their romance grows slowly from there. If you go into this book expecting another HEATED RIVALRY/LONG GAME or ROLE MODEL, you’ll be disappointed; it is much quieter than those books, much more a “slice of life” story. But if you go in expected a solid slow-burn m/m romance where the conflicts and tension arise from situations that have nothing to do with the sexuality of the MCs and everything to do with their circumstances, TIME TO SHINE is a smoothly written read that is worth your time. Recommended.
Part 2
WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT is the fifth book in Julie Kriss’s very good Road Kings series of rock star romances. While the first four books in the series featured romances involving the four members of the Road Kings rock band, WHLN is about the group’s manager, Will, a self-contained man who discovered later in life that he was half-brothers with the Road Kings guitarist; Will eventually funded the Road Kings reunion tour that formed the backdrop of the first four books of the series. Will hires Luna to be his personal assistant. Sparks fly from the start, but both Will & Luna do their best not to give in to their attraction to each other. I know boss-employee romances are problematic, but Kriss always handles them well (see Kriss’s FILTHY RICH). Kriss is also one of the best writers of enthusiastic consent and how it works. WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT is not the strongest of Kriss’s books: while I loved Will and Luna and their journey to love, I quickly tired of Luna’s nosy, pushy family and her lunk-headed brothers. On the other hand, it was nice to catch up with the members of the band and what’s going on in their lives now. Recommended.
Interior decorator/designer MCs seem to be having a moment in Romancelandia. Not only Sarina Bowen’s I’M YOUR GUY, but Karla Sorensen’s latest, THE BEST LAID PLANS, also features an MC in that profession. Sorensen is the queen of the slow-burn and THE BEST LAID PLANS is no exception—it is past the 75% point in the book before the MCs have penetrative sex—but the build-up has been so carefully done that the sexual tension feels organic rather than a tease. Retired football player Burke is at loose ends: the career he pursued for years is gone after a bad knee injury and his best friend was recently killed in an automobile accident. Burke’s friend has left him a large but rundown house in northern Michigan. When Burke arrives at the house, he finds Charlotte, the interior decorator & historical preservation expert hired by his friend, already on the premises. Much as the transformation of Tomasso’s house in I’M YOUR GUY is symbolic of the transformation in Tomasso’s life, so the renovations of the house in THE BEST LAID PLANS reflects the changes in Burke’s and Charlotte’s lives. THE BEST LAID PLANS is a serious and melancholy book: Burke and Charlotte both have a lot (and I mean, a lot) of baggage to deal with, and Burke—unlike the more fearless Charlotte—has a tendency to run when he feels emotionally vulnerable. I really liked how complex and imperfect the MCs were in THE BEST LAID PLANS: both are relatable and nuanced, and their journeys are difficult and exhilarating. If you’re a fan of slow-burns and/or home renovation romances, THE BEST LAID PLANS is a great choice. Recommended.
Maisey Yates’s latest HP, A VIRGIN FOR THE DESERT KING, is the second book in her Royal Desert Legacy duet. It’s not necessary to read the first book, FORBIDDEN TO THE DESERT PRINCE, to know what’s going on in A VIRGIN FOR THE DESERT KING, but because the MMCs of the books are brothers and each of them had an initial connection with the FMC who eventually ends up with the other brother, the stories are richer if read in tandem. I’ve said before that Yates always writes on two levels: the surface romance and the story that is taking place beneath that, and in A VIRGIN FOR THE DESERT KING, the second story is about different types of trauma and how we process them. It’s rare that I have to issue content & trigger warnings for Harlequin Presents, but A VIRGIN FOR THE DESERT KING includes a hero who has been kept a political prisoner for more than half his life, finally being freed but emotionally still stuck in the dungeon where he lived for 15 years, and a heroine whose father was a crime boss whose intent was to traffic his own daughter. This being an HP, the story does not dwell of the physical aspects of those traumas, but on the long recovery required to process the emotional damage done. It seems odd to refer to a book as a “family trauma romance” but that’s undoubtedly what A VIRGIN FOR THE DESERT KING is. Recommended for fans of Yates and HPs, but it’s definitely not for the faint of heart.
FAKERS WITH BENEFITS is the second book in Willow Dixon’s Crimson Club series of m/m romances featuring MCs who dance at the title strip club. Dixon is a new discovery for me, and I’ve enjoyed the books of hers I’ve read so far (I especially like how she avoids the third act “big mis” moment). FAKERS WITH BENEFITS is about Nick, a dancer at the club, who agrees to enter into a fake relationship with wealthy businessman, Evan. I thought I knew where the book was going, guessing it would follow the standard path of the fake-relationship trope. However, the book surprised me by taking much more of a romantic-suspense turn about midway through the story when someone who has been stalking Evan turns their attention to Nick. Recommended—especially if you’re looking for an interesting take on fake relationships.
I just finished THE BURNOUT by a Sophie Kinsella. I wasn’t sure about the topic—who doesn’t feel burned out these days— but I loved the book. Laugh out loud funny in places and very touching in others. I also enjoyed THE TAKEDOWN by Carlie Walker in which a CIA agent has to spy on her sister’s mobster fiancé at Christmas.
I am listening to MEET ME AT THE LAKE by Carley Fortune. I had tried to read it when it came out and couldn’t get into it on the written page. Having better luck with the audio. However, my main objection to this and some other recent books is that they knew each other for one day. One day!!
I’m about to start THE JINN-BOT OF SHANTIPORT in the hopes that it lives up to its “if you love Murderbot” marketing. Also up next on my kindle is PLAY FOR ME by Libby Hubscher, which my Libby app keeps helpfully telling me that 21 people are waiting behind me to read.
Just completed Celia Lake’s Albion series about magical Britain from Edwardian to WWII. Some continuing characters but each a romance of some kind across a broad range of combinations. Seanan McGuire’s SLEEP NO MORE was in the mix somewhere. I know not everyone feels the same but I’m looking forward to Tybalt’s view of events.
I’d been waiting for Huda Fahmy’s new graphic novel to come out, so I reread two of her previous books, “That Can Be Arranged” and “Huda F Are You?”, to get ready. I picked up “Huda F Cares” at B&N yesterday and read it last night. She’s always so funny and relatable.
MURDER YOUR EMPLOYER: from the chronicles of Dean Harbinger Harrow, The McMasters Conservatory for the Applied Arts, Dean of Admissions and Confessions, Professor Emeritus, Department of Arts and Blackmail Letters, Senior Fellow, International Guild of Murderists, by Rupert Holmes; illustrations by Anna Louizos. Yes, that Rupert Holmes, although maybe only a few of us are old enough recognize the name. Cliff Iverson finds his life changed forever when his plot to murder his former boss goes awry in every possible way. He awakens from a drugged sleep blind folded in the back of a van that delivers him to McMasters’ Conservatory. There he and his fellow students are taught the skills to execute a successful final thesis: the deletion of their deserving target. And a little (really just a grain or two, touch of romance for flavor. Delightfully witty and twisty. I am 2 for 2 with singer/songwriters turned author.
I’ve been weeding out some less than readable material from my Kindle. Sometimes you read a chapter or two tht are just okay, but you can see that it’s improving as you go, but sometimes you can see that it’s just going to get more and more mediocre. Deeply unsatisfying in every way. Download remove. As a reward I reread Nalini Singh’s ROCK COURTSHIP, a novella in her Rock Kiss series, which I rediscovered during my Kindle spelunking. David is my favorite band member for being delightfully uncomplicated. No family issues, no trauma, just an abiding love for Thea.
Currently reading Pippa Grant’s NOT MY KIND OF HERO. After more than one scandal ends her marriage and her career, D-list reality star Maisey Yates moves herself and her teenaged daughter to the hobby ranch she inherited from her favorite uncle. Flint Jackson, her uncle’s tenant and best friend, is the much younger than expected local hero. Soccer coach, math teacher and jack of all trades that everyone looks to for assistance with odd jobs. Until Maisey, much less incompetent than her home improvement show portrayed her, comes to town. He’s a no strings kind of guy. She’s focused on getting her daughter through a very traumatic time. It is funny and sweet and yes, the confrontation with her ex can be seen coming from a mile away, but I’m looking forward to it. Maisey isn’t the doormat he married.
@DonnaMarie: wait? The heroine of Pippa Grant’s book is named Maisey Yates? That’s a little too meta for my Maisey-Yates-loving mind.
And I do remember THAT Rupert Holmes. Although I was never a fan of his “Pina Colada” song, I loved the underrated “Him” about a man who knows his partner is cheating on him.
This time I have more books to comment on…
Annabeth Albert – FIND ME WORTHY (M/M contemporary). Last in her Safe Harbour series. Worth’s story, that has already been teased at at the end of the last book. We already know the solution to the old criminal case that provided the story arch for this series. This is now Worth finding his way back. He’s in a bad stat when he arrives on Sam’s doorstep, physically and psychologically (check out the CW/TW). It’s not just his past which kept him away from the town, it’s als most recent happenings that put him where he is – we already had a glimpse of that in the other books. Sam recognises that and gets him help. The rest of the book is Worth getting better (though we don’t see much of him working through his depression) and the two falling in love, though Sam really has always been in love with him, figuring out their future and worries about Sam’s coffeeshop. There is a bit of conflict involved in all that but thankfully the bleak moment is short and they finally get it. The end after that felt a little too rushed, there’s a marriage proposal that feels too fast and tacked on, though the epilogue is sweet. Still, a good finish to the series.
WEST END EARL – Bethany Bennett (M/F Regency). I had to take a break from this, almost DNF’d it. This could be a great book, but it’s unfortunately not. The dialogue is much too modern and American, which ruined the book for me. Every now and then, a period perfect expression or turn of phrase turns up, to be undermined again by writing that isn’t right for a Regency. I guess I’ve just gotten used to too many writers who get it right or at least approximately right, but Bennett isn’t one of them. The story sounded great: the heroine has been impersonating her dead twin brother successfully since her teens, and she’s employed by an earl has his steward – nominally, she’s more his spy, jack of all trades and so on. They have a great friendship going and the Earl suspects nothing. Of course she’s in love with thim though. But the moment he realises by accident that his friend and employee is a woman, he has off-the-charts pants feelings for her, which I also found super unbelievable, and it felt for me that this belittled all the effort she put into what she’d been doing. Also, the conflicts and problems are piled up high on the MCs at the beginning and the the resolution for most of them just fizzles out. It thake the hero the whole book to grow a pair and stop solving his father’s problems and do what he should have been doing all along – and in the end to do what he spent the whole book long trying to avoid because it would be so bad. Apparently it wasn’t! That is a resolution to a conflict I don’t like much anyway. Also his sister is a real brat at the beginning – and then suddenly she’s nice at the end. There’s just too much that had me grinding my teeth. There are more books in the series and in the first one we apparently see Cal and “Adam” from other people’s eyes, so that would be interesting, but I can’t take more bad dialogue writing…
MANN HUNT – Peter E. Fenton (M/M contemporary). I found this via a list of indie queer books that was posted here in comments a few weeks ago. M/M romantic suspense, though I see it more as suspense with some romantic elements. It’s the start of the series, and we have Declan Hunt, super hot private detective, and his new assistant Charlie who’s in instalust the moment he sees him though Declan doesn’t know. The suspense part of the book is good, kept me guessing and not everything is solved, so I hope we get the solution to Monarch in later books. It’s set in Calgary, which was interesting, and nominally during the Calgary Stampede, but we don’t see much of that (the blurb promises otherwise). There are a lot of queer side characters and we see the seedy and the rich parts of the city. But like I said, don’t expect much romance. Both Declan and Charlie get into bed with other people during the book, and I feel really bad for one character who has every right to be mad at Charlie – as much as Charlie did want to help him, he does also use him and he gets into a terrifying situation. My heart bled for him… Also, Charlie seems very naive sometimes for 23, and he has his TSTL moment when he goes off on his own investigation. In the end, there is a hint that Declan starts noticing Charlie not just for being his assistant – but we we’ll have to wait for more in the next book! So, the book wasn’t quite what it promised to be, but I still enjoyed it, despite the things I mentioned. I will read the next one when it’s out, not least because I want to know how this continues.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – Joanna Chambers & Sally Malcolm (M/M contemporary). Last in the Creative Types series, which I love. This was really good! This is the story of Jay, lead actor in the TV series that Lews from book one created, and Tag, barista-cum-struggling-actor who was trying to hook up with Aaron in book one and in the end gets a role in the new series that Aaron ends up working on. At the beginning of book two, we see them competitevily fake-dating Mason – and Mason of course gets it right when he drunkenly tells them to get a room. In this book whe see their not-so-meet-cute at a certain Halloween party where they totally get their wires crossed – which will happen a few times more. We also see that awards dinner from their perspective and why Jay was so keen on the fake dates for publicity with Mason. That all is followed by a disastrous one night stand – and then they end up in a two-man play together! Sounds crazy? The why this happens isn’t crazy at all, and it already shows that Jay is not a bad guy at all, despite Tag trying to paint him as such. The rest of the story is Tag realising that and Jay also realising there’s more to Tag. It’s a proper slow-burn, enemies to friends to lovers, which I really enjoyed. There is a proper bleak moment near the end, though it doesn’t last long but it had me at the edge of the seat because it could have been resolved in a number of ways. They again get their wires totally crossed and finally have a proper talk. They definitely need to learn something about communication…! The ending is sweet and satisfying, whith another cameo from Lewis and Aaron. I still love the first book in the series best, but this one is definitely my second favourite. Overall, the three stories have a similar structure and the antagonists get their just deserts at the end, with social media and press playing their part in bringing them down. But still, the lead characters are all together different in all stories, so it doesn’t feel like the same story all over again if you read them in a row. They can be read on their own, but it’s more fund reading them in sequence and seeing the same scene playing out from different POVs like that awards dinner. And it’s just a couple of scenes that overlap.
LUKE & BILLY FINALLY GET A CLUE – Cat Sebastian (M/M). This one dropped unexpectedly this week, thankfully it was mentioned in comments on another post here, so I had to get it – and read it in one night! It’s a novella, set in the 1950s, about two baseball players. It’s typical Sebastian – not much happens story-wise, the two MCs are cluelessly pining for one another and one’s a grump. It’s all told from grumpy Billy’s POV and it’s simply cute. This may not be enough for some readers, but it was just right for an enjoyable evening’s reading for me!
A FLOWERING OF INK – KL Noone (M/M contemporary). Another novella that proved a nice bit of escapism for one evening. This starts with the MCs writing letters and then texting each other and the writing is just gorgeous, how things are described etc. They end up in bed too quickly really and the bit of conflict at the end feels a bit much, but I guess that’s due to it being a novella. Still, it’s worth a read for the lovely writing alone!
As I mentioned in a previous post, both of our kids started preschool this year and the influx of germs is real. Basically, we have been sick non-stop for the last 5-6 weeks, this week with Covid – eek. My reading has really slowed down – I am just so run down and fatigued.
Excellent:
None
Very Good:
BROKEN BY THE HORDE KING by Zoey Draven (SFF/Alien/Barbarian – M/F – Horde Kings #4): A wonderful second chance love story between the heroine who has loved the hero since she was very young and the hero who has to grow up before realizing she is his everything.
THE ALIEN’S SEDUCTION by Zoey Draven (SFF/Alien – M/F – Warriors of Luxiria #7): This entry in the series had more depth – the heroine had been in an abusive relationship (sexual, physical and emotional) and was reluctant to trust the alpha hero (who wanted nothing more than to honor and love her as his fated mate). There was also real conflict between the two about the choice to return to Earth if given.
FREEING LUKA by Victoria Aveline (SFF/Alien – M/F – Clecanian #2): The hero and heroine meet under less than ideal circumstances – the heroine has been abducted by rogue aliens looking to perform fertility experiments on her and the hero discovered these experiments and is being kept drugged, shackled, and then experimented on in the facility. Even in that state, the hero recognizes the heroine as his fated mate, but once they are rescued he has to win her over to accepting their bond and spending a lifetime together. The world building gets more interesting with each book and I am really enjoying the series.
TEMPTING AUZED by Victoria Aveline (SFF/Alien – M/F – Clecanian #4): A fake engagement between a human female and male alien and forced proximity – yes please! And the conflict here between the heroine’s yearning to return home and her feelings for the hero – the angst! I should note that these really do need to be read in order to understand both the world and the backstories of some of the characters.
Good:
HER HALLOWEEN TREAT by Tiffany Reisz (Category – M/F – Men at Work #1): While sorting through books in the basement, I came across this one that I enjoyed in the past and decided to re-read it, since it is that time of the year. I still really enjoyed it, but wished there were more story and more character development. The heroine surprises her “boyfriend” on her way to her brother’s wedding and finds out he is married. She shows up to her cabin at the wedding early to nurse her broken heart and runs into her brother’s best friend from high school – and sparks fly.
SAVING VERAKKO by Victoria Aveline (SFF/Alien – M/F – Clecanian #3): In the first half of this book, the hero and heroine fight the wilderness as they search for the heroine’s missing friend. The hero suspects that the heroine may be his fated mate, so he doesn’t give all of his background so as not to scare her off. When they return to the hero’s home city, the conflict then revolves around his dishonesty (which as a plot did not do much for me) and then him trying to protect the heroine from being forced to stay with him if it should be found out they were mates (much more interesting).
USING FEJO by Victoria Aveline (SFF/Alien – M/F – Clecanian #4): The hero is an alien space captain and the heroine is a human attempting to illegally travel back to Earth. She tricks him into thinking she wants a relationship with him, but really intends to ditch him at a port and hitch a second ride. This was uneven because I loved the outwardly tough, but internally vulnerable hero and the heroine who will do anything to see her sister again. And there were a lot of themes of shame, guilt, and self-worth that were so good. But the external conflict at the end as well as the wrapping up of some of the other threads was meh.
Meh:
None
The Bad:
None
Just here to express my gratitude for this and all the other book rec segments on SBTB. I put the reparations book on hold for myself immediately and the I Want to be a Wall on for my teen, who is always looking for more ace representation.
As for me, I”m reading G-Man, the biography of J. Edgar Hoover. So far I am finding it engaging and informative. I have a vague notion that Hoover is evil but what I like about this book is that the author is honest about him and his problems but also shows surprising moments where he was on the side of civil liberties. He’s a complicated person. I haven’t got past the late 40s yet so for now it’s not making me feel like I need a shower after spending time with him. For example, he was *not* in favor of mass incarceration of the Japanese during WWII and he actually did try to do something about lynchings in the South but was stymied by lynching not being a federal crime. That said, I’m just dipping into the post-War years and I think it’s going to get roooooooough.
PULLING THE CHARIOT OF THE SUN by Shane McCrane: The poet-author’s memoir of being kidnapped at age three from his black father/white mother by his white grandparents. The writing of that traumatizing and life-altering event is lyrical and deeply sad. There is resolution of sorts, but literally uprooting a child so he can live “a white life” is fundamentally harrowing and evil.
ASSISTANT TO THE VILLAIN by Hannah Nicole Maehrer: A pleasant and fun surprise, despite my wariness of any TikTok bestsellers. Grumpy villain needs and acquires a sunshine assistant; she just gets him and he is completely stumped. Funny and silly in a really nice way.
WITCH KING by Martha Wells: Anything that helps me wait for the next Murderbot is a good thing. I really liked this book, quite similar in my opinion to THE CLOUD ROADS; an anti-hero who doesn’t know how he’s supposed to be the hero everyone needs him to be. Highly recommended.
MARRY ME BY MIDNIGHT by Felicia Grossman: A reverse Cinderella romance to love and learn from at the same time. London’s Jewish population in the 1800s had much to deal with in life and business, from both outside and inside forces. Found family, grief, acceptance and understanding all combine to make a remarkable book. Highly recommended.
CURVES FOR DAYS by Laura Moher: All the praise is well-deserved here, although possibly a little too perfect. Rose has fled her life and ended up in perfect-small-town Galway, NC. I would hate all the perfection except that Rose deserves it, deserves to make a new life and meet grumpy Angus who wrestles with his own demons. Highly recommended, I’m on a roll.
THE UNDETECTABLES by Courtney Smyth: Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket because the last few weeks have witnessed some stellar books. “Be gay, solve crime, take naps.” I was immediately hooked to read about three witches and a ghost working together to figure out why magic folks are being killed. These friends have to push through a lot of their own issues, including a recent diagnosis of fibromyalgia for one. The dialog kept surprising me, taking some funny and unexpected turns. Loved loved loved this book.
@DiscoDollyDeb — Nope, it’s not Maisey Yates but Maisey Spencer in NOT MY KIND OF HERO. She’s a terrific character, and the book is really delightful, too.
Some very good reads since our last check in…
Laurel Greer’s A HIDEAWAY WHARF HOLIDAY is an excellent forced-proximity sibling’s best friend small-town story. I think more people should be reading Ms Greer, who writes characters beautifully, including love scenes that don’t fall into the same-old, same-old category.
Annabeth Albert’s FIND ME WORTHY was an excellent close to the trilogy, and I loved how she really leaned into the community and how vital friends and family can be to our health and well-being. Loved how Sam really quietly but determinedly showed Worth that he is precious and loved.
Mari Carr and Lila Dubois’s STOLEN FAITH is another wild and crazy ride in their Trinity Masters series—they never fail to entertain!
Totally loved Lisa Henry and Sarah Honey’s BRO JOBS, a novella in their new Alpha Tau series. I think it’s free with newsletter signup, and is another hilarious story with another somewhat oblivious frat guy and bi-awakening…
Reread Laura Kaye’s FIGHTING THE FIRE, which is a fabulous antagonists to lovers, Susan Andersen’s JUST FOR KICKS, another delightful antagonists to lovers (clearly I like this trope a lot, LOL); and Debbie Macomber’s MORNING COMES SOFTLY, an ugly duckling, marriage of convenience story. It’d been a while since I last read it, and it definitely works as a not-quite-modern-day story 🙂
I am currently reading Connie Willis’ The Road to Roswell and enjoying it very much. I have no idea how it’s going to turn out, though I was right about one character hiding something major. Earlier this year I finally read her Crosstalk, which I’ve had unread on the TBR shelves since I bought it in 2016. I struggled a bit with that one, so I’m glad Roswell is an easier read.
I just finished a re-read of Victoria Goddard’s Greenwing and Dart books. I was completely caught up in the on-going story this time, not just racing to find out what happens next (I think in part because I was reading paper, which slows me down). I was feeling a bit bereft with the last one, and then today I got a notification of a new novella. It’s called The Game of Courts, and it’s Conju’s story, running parallel with Petty Treasons. That’s my weekend reading set (because I’ll need to re-read Petty Treasons of course).
I’ve also been working my way through Courtney Milan’s Brothers Sinister series. I bought a box set at some point (possibly via a SBTB sale notice) but never got around to reading them before. I finished The Countess Conspiracy and enjoyed it, though the grief both MC got from their families was difficult to read.
I highly recommend Ann Patchett’s TOM LAKE. My controversial take is that it is a romance disguised as literary fiction. Regardless, it’s a fabulous book containing several gorgeous love stories and a HEA. It starts off in the 1980s when the main character is in high school and ends up cast as Emily in the play Our Town. Just that scene alone is worth reading the book – Patchett captures being a 17 year old girl so wonderfully. After that, the book shifts back and forth through time as the main character is in her 20s and her late 50s, and beautifully explores love, passion, desire, hurt, parenting, marriage, friendship, and so much more. I can’t recommend it enough. It’s vivid, sad, and so darned well written. Plus it will make you read the play OUR TOWN (which I’m currently in the middle of, and is available on Hoopla). And the audio book is narrated by Meryl freekin’ Streep!! Total squee from me on both the hard copy and audio book.
Other books that I have very much enjoyed recently (though it’s tough to follow in Ann and Meryl’s wake, for sure) include:
1. MY BROTHER’S HUSBAND (vols. 1 & 2), which explore acceptance by a traditional Japanese man who is a single dad of his dead brother’s sexuality. The brother emigrated to Canada where he could live more freely and marry. But he was cut off from his Japanese family, and then died. The brother’s widower arrives in Japan for a visit with his dead husband’s brother, and the traditional brother and his Canadian brother-in-law have to figure a lot of stuff out. It shines a light on cultural challenges and is lovely by the end, though it’s a bit of a bumpy ride to get there. Recommend.
2. Kerrigan Byrne and Cynthis St. Aubin’s small town romance series on KU, starting with THE NEVERMORE BOOKSTORE (which I listened to on audio book and was quite well done) and BREWBIES. NEVERMORE features a FMC with some pretty tough physical issues, and a MMC with post-traumatic stress disorder. I was surprised by how affecting parts of the book was (the FMC has “bad body days” and she is very inventive in the way she literally dialogues with her disability) and there’s some really great sexy times in this book. I look forward to reading the rest of the series, as there are a few mysteries that are undergirding the small town life, and a fun cast of characters. Recommend.
3. SELF-MADE BOYS by Anna-Marie McKelmore, a retelling of the Great Gatsby with trans and gay main characters, and some characters are passing as White. It’s pitched as a YA book and the author has made Gatsby, Daisy, Nick etc. a bit younger than in Fitzgerald’s telling, but to me it read quite adult. Jay and Nick falling in love is something that I didn’t know I’d been waiting for since reading the book in high school English class. It’s part of the Remixed Classics project where classic books are reimagined by diverse contemporary authors to “subvert the overwhelming cishet, white, and male canon”. I have yet to read other titles in that project, but they are on my TBR (especially the Wuthering Heights redo). Recommend.
It’s like I had a mind-meld with @DDD this past month – I too read HOTT SHOT, WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT, I’M YOUR GUY and RETURN TO MONTE CARLO, and I second all of her reactions!
@tripleD, Sorry, that was totally senior brain. The character’s last name is actually Spencer! I miss my estrogen!
Added “A Fatal Thing Happened…” to my library list.
I’m well into spooky book mode and just finished THE RUINS by Scott Smith. I really enjoyed it, despite the annoying characters and body horror. Great sense of mounting dread and helplessness.
Started Darcy Coates’s GALLOWS HILL on library ebook last night. I haven’t read anything else by this author but she keeps popping up all over the place so figured this was a good place to start. It’s a ‘Girl Gets House’ gothic in the tradition of Barbara Michaels and fairly creepy so far (about 1/3 along) but I keep waiting for the MC to develop a personality. Or ask the obvious questions. Or look for the bathroom. One giant nitpick is that she is told her family bought the land and started a winery in 1761, about 100 years after the town was founded. If this is set in Australia where the author is from, that’s not possible. Maybe it’s Canada? Hard to tell! I like more sense of place in my books.
Since last time ~
— quite enjoyed the contemporary romance Role Playing by Cathy Yardley though it took a while to grab me. This featured a woman (48) and a man (50) who become friends in an online game. Due to a misunderstanding, he initially thinks she’s his mother’s age while she thinks he’s her son’s age.
— learned of a new book in a favorite series, Murder in Protocol by Anne Cleeland. I promptly bought it, started reading, and finished it late at night. It’s a mystery, but I simply enjoy getting to spend time with the characters.
— reread The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold, a favorite fantasy and enjoyed it once again. This is another book that features a main character who is a genuinely good person.
— read Hidden Light (The Lydents’ Curse Book 1) and The Bridge Over Snake Creek (The Lydents’ Curse Book 2) both by Nikki Bolvair. These were pleasant fairly short paranormal reverse harem stories featuring young adults; in each, the heroine learns that she has magical powers.
— read The Hostage Bargain by Annika Martin, a reverse harem erotic romance. I’d describe it as rather silly and straining credulity. It begins with a bank robbery on a SUNDAY afternoon in smallish town America, and the heroine is one of SEVEN tellers. She leaves voluntarily with the three bank robbers and escapades ensue.
— For my distant book group, The Mothers: A Novel by Brit Bennett. As you might surmise, much of it is about mother/child relationships, but it’s also about friendship, dating, relationships, infidelity, suicide, church, gossip, and more. The Mothers are a group of elderly women who are much involved at a church; the main character is a girl/teen/woman whose family attends that church.
— enjoyed the contemporary m/m romance Unguarded by Jay Hogan. This featured a young man, now homeless, who has just left an unfaithful partner and a vet (a single parent after being widowed) in dire need of office help.
— reread with pleasure Blonde Date by Sarina Bowen; this is perhaps my favorite new adult romance novella.
— enjoyed a reread of a favorite urban fantasy novella, Alpha and Omega by Patricia Briggs.
— read the science fiction romance Capture the Sun by Jessie Mihalik. This was the third book in a trilogy, and I enjoyed it (but it’s not a book or series I’m likely to reread).
— reread Shifting Shadows by Patricia Briggs which I enjoyed once again. This book is a lengthy collection of stories which take place in the author’s Mercyverse.
— read several stories that were in a recent giveaway of male/male romances. I enjoyed A Bad Case by Hollis Shiloh; The Marvelous Mr. Strike by Will Forrest was pleasant; and The Sacrifice by Saga Nansen I found ho-hum.
— reread a favorite science fiction romance, Dark Horse by Michelle Diener. I enjoyed it once again.
@Sarah: hope that your back will soon heal.
@Katie C.: hope that you and yours will get and stay healthy.
I haven’t been reading a lot lately.
A Nobleman’s Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel by KJ Charles, m/m historical
3.5 stars
I wanted to like this more than I did. Especially since I loved the first book. I enjoyed reading it but I didn’t completely buy the romance – I don’t really see how they’d work together long term.
They Ain’t Proper by M.B. Guel
B-/C+ Enjoyable queer Latinx nb/f historical romance set in the American west. A mail order bride is delivered to the wrong ranch and ends up staying. The writing is a little rough (it’s a debut) and the plot definitely overwhelmed the romance in the second half of the book. But I still recommend it for anyone wanting a less white, less male exploration of Old West tropes.
Let’s see: re-read MARRYING WINTERBOURNE and have to say, it holds up very well. Hero is quintessential, pure, unadulterated Kleypas. The best of the Ravenels series, IMHO. The same didn’t apply to HIM by Sarina Bowen, I don’t think it has aged well.
Listened to LOVE, THEORETICALLY by Ali Hazelwood. Narrator does a fantastic job but the heroine bordered on TSTL a bit too often for my taste. In terms of story, THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS is stronger.
Listened to THANK YOU FOR LISTENING by Julia Whelan and wow what a tremendous narrator she is (I am kind of new to audiobooks, can you tell?). Loved the story and found the depiction of the audiobook industry very interesting and entertaining.
Tried to get into A TOUCH OF DARKNESS by Scarlet St Clair but LORE OLYMPUS is a tough act to follow for a Hades/Persephone retelling.
Very much enjoyed A TIME TO SHINE. All that @TripleD said. My inner Heated Rivalry superfan went WHAAAAAATTT when one of the MCs thinks that long distance relationships don’t work
Just begun FRIDAY’S CHILD by Georgette Heyer. Delightful so far!
I have been reading Kristen Proby’s With Me series and am enjoying it. Just finished TIED WITH ME, sixth book, which includes a police officer, a baker, and, surpriese, rope play. Nicely done, both of them grown in the relationship. They learn to communicate, especially her.
Also just finished the Medigan’s Mountain series. Three brothers, very sad backstory, estranged dad. First was A LITTLE TOO LATE by Sarina Bowen. Second chance. He very reluctantly returns to the famiy ski area and finds her working there. Groveling and grieving ensue. Then A LITTLE TOO CLOSE by Rebecca Yarros, forced proximity, single mom photographer, ex-military helicopter pilot. The kid is not a plot moppet. Finally A LITTLE TOO WILD by Devney Perry, sibling’s best friend. I totally respect that one of the characcters in this one is not redeemed. Though I continue to question why sibling’s friends/ friend’s siblings are off limits. My brother and I certainly dated each other’s friends with respect and happiness.
HEATED by Naima Simone was fun. She is part owener of a company that will break up with your ex for you. He is one of the exes.
Also DNF’d a couple because I am suddenly just not liking friends who push the h (always the h) into making stupid decisions. Maybe another time
One or two WAYRs ago I asked for recs for books with kind people and someone suggested Serena Bell. I’ve just binged the Wilder brothers series and mostly enjoyed it! The library didn’t have book 1 so I was missing essential backstory, but I did read the other four. WILDER WITH YOU was my favorite and I liked WALK ON THE WILDER SIDE and A LITTLE WILDER – I didn’t love the last one (I couldn’t stand how everyone called the MMC “the panty melter” – such a crass cringe-y name and that general attitude didn’t fit in with how generally feminist the MMCs were).
Otherwise I’m really struggling with a slump, or maybe just having a hard time finding the vibe I want right now. I started INK BLOOD SISTER SCRIBE which has been good but wasn’t my vibe at the moment (too dark!), and then my loan ran out so I aim back on hold. But if you like slightly creepy witchy magic vibes it might be up your alley! Have started THE WAKE UP CALL and it’s fine so far. I read about three pages of MAYBE ONCE, MAYBE TWICe by Alison Rose Greenberg and immediately DNFd. I also started and DNFd THE FIREMAN WHO LOVED ME. Maybe I need to just do some re-reads till I get over this, or try more PNRs.
I’ve been starting a lot of books and finishing almost none of them. Maybe this next batch of library holds will be better. Here are the standouts from the past few weeks:
Holiday Brew by Tansy Rayner Roberts – I only finished one of the 3 stories in it, as they are all set during different holiday seasons and I’m sticking with Halloween. This is the Southern hemisphere version so pumpkins are not in season, the weather is all wrong, not to mention spells are going awry and shenanigans ensue. Enjoyable, not deep.
Little Red Rodent Hood (Hamster Princess #6) by Ursula Vernon – this is T. Kingfisher’s alter ego, she also draws the illustrations. A fresh interesting twist on the fairy tale, I did not figure out what the heck was going on in that forest until the very end. The big bad wolf is a were-weasel. My kid really enjoyed this series when she was in late elementary school, I didn’t realize we’d missed book 6.
New Patricia Wrede alert! It’s not Enchanted Forest Chronicles, a more contemporary portal fantasy – The Dark Lord’s Daughter, released September 2023. I didn’t get very far yet, so fingers crossed.
Prudence by Gail Carriger (book 1 of the Custard Protocol) – so far it’s quite entertaining, and we’re not even on the dirigible yet. I probably jinxed myself and now won’t finish it.
Not a book: Kim’s Convenience on Netflix – the first season was excellent, second season a bit watered down. Toronto looks like such a vibrant diverse city, Mr and Mrs Kim are sweet and hilarious, their Canadian-born son gives me Jackie Lau cover model vibes.
Books 1-7 in the Kate Daniel series by Ilona Andrews (A) – so it turns out that I lied last month when I said no more GraphicAudio for me. I needed something for my ears and ended up listening to dramatized adaptations of the first three Kate Daniels books (MAGIC BITES, MAGIC BURNS, MAGIC STRIKES), which were excellent and had no tea slurping (the downfall of GraphicAudio’s Innkeeper Chronicles performance). But MAGIC STRIKES has to be the worst place to leave off in the series (GraphicAudio is releasing their production of MAGIC BLEEDS in November), so I continued with Renee Raudman’s narration of the next four books, which was not as good. A comment on the books themselves: I had tried to read the series back in 2018, but couldn’t get past MAGIC BITES because I was of course reading for romance and the first volume is basically a prologue to romance, with Kate starting in her darkest, most isolated place and rapidly evolving as the series progresses. Early Curran is also not my ideal romantic lead. Though I love some Beatrice and Benedick sparring, a man showing disrespect or a lack of affection for his previous lovers is really off-putting for me. In the end, it’s the world itself that won me over: the various factions, the side characters, the descriptions of now-shattered locations that I vaguely remember from my teen years in Atlanta, the magic/tech dichotomy.
RETURN TO MONTE CARLO by Cate C. Wells (C+) – Diane was a 19-year-old salon assistant in a posh Dallas hotel when she was seduced by Marco de Noli, an Italian millionaire who married her, dumped her in the family mansion in Monte Carlo, and left her at the mercy of his snobby relatives while he worked long days alongside his gorgeous, sophisticated personal assistant. I had been hoping for an homage to vintage (late 80s/early 90s) Harlequin Presents romances that would make me feel the way they do (like Natasha Anders’ THE UNWANTED WIFE), but Wells went in a different direction. First, the atmosphere isn’t pure HP but has a heavy overlay of 1980s primetime soaps like Dallas and Dynasty. But more significantly, Wells focuses most of her attention on reimaging the dub/noncon from those romances as consensual non-consent (rape play) and I didn’t like what that dynamic did for either character. Diane repeatedly provokes Marco into sex by acting like a brat, which only emphasizes her immaturity. Marco, meanwhile, is trapped in a madonna/whore complex and experiences incredible self-loathing for treating his wife “like a whore”…a phrase repeated so frequently that I needed Wells to do something to defuse his misogyny, and she didn’t.
I had to re-subscribe to Kindle Unlimited to read Return to Monte Carlo, so I’m spending this month in an indy-published angst/melodrama rabbit hole. For the past couple of years, I’ve noted and been vaguely irritated by the tropey rom-com series Amazon would try to push at me. (I don’t read them, so I can’t think of one to link here, but they’re the series with generic illustrated covers that tick off “best friend’s older brother,” “grumpy boss,” “single dad,” “second chance lovers” like so many spaces on a bingo card.) Now it appears romantic melodrama has hopped on that marketing bandwagon: series full of imposed marriages of convenience, second-best brides, the dirty secret, etc.
Agree with @DiscoDollyDeb & @RoseRead about I’m Your Guy – really enjoyed it! I was afraid Carter would turn out to be a Manic Pixie Dream Boy bringing the stoic Tommaso out of the closet, but the characters had so much more depth.
I just started Ghost Book by Remy Lai. Not a romance, but a juvenile graphic novel about a girl who sees ghosts. Enjoying it so far for the Halloween season.
Thanks, @DDD and @Deborah, for the two different takes on RETURN TO MONTE CARLO. It’s made me very curious to read it.
I fell down a Christmas historical anthology rabbit hole. The best one was UNDER THE MISTLETOE with novellas by Bronwyn Scott and Marguerite Kaye. Both heroines were nurses during the Crimean War and some shade was thrown on Florence Nightingale. They were definitely on Team Mary Seacole.
I read a few more Mary Lancaster books, in her DUEL series and PLEASURE GARDEN series. They’re all so tropey, she’s really got her formula down pat and it works for me.
I read SOFTLY FALLING by Carla Kelly. This is one of her books set in the American West, but not LDL. Honestly, there was so much sadness and death in this story, it overshadowed the HEA for me.
Right now I am reading a very good mystery, WHOM THE GODS LOVE by Kate Ross. It’s the 3rd of a series, I read the first two many years ago, but had no problem getting right back into the world of amateur detective and man-about-town Julian Kestrel.
LDS(Latter Day Saints) not LDL!
I’m rereading the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness for #witchtober. I finished A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES and I’m 3/4 through SHADOW OF NIGHT. I’m watching the TV series at more-or-less the same time (obviously not while I’m actually reading!)
I’m also halfway through WITCHA GONNA DO? by Avery Flynn, which is quirky and fun and often funny. And I’ve read one chapter of THE CURSE OF PENRYTH HALL by Jess Armstrong (an ARC; it comes out on Dec. 5.) That one chapter was enough to make me fall in love with the 1st-person heroine’s voice, although the spooky stuff hasn’t started yet.
I just finished A Nobleman’s Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel by KJ Charles and was with @Cleo on this one. It was ok, but I didn’t love it like I loved the previous book.
I wasn’t planning on reading Sarina Bowen’s I’M YOUR GUY because she hasn’t worked at all for me lately, but @DiscoDollyDeb has me thinking I’ll give it a go after all.
I’m about to start the graphic novel Heavy Vinyl: Y2K-O! by Carly Usdin. I loved the first one when it came out, but totally missed the release of the follow-up. That’s on my list for this week.