It’s our first Whatcha Reading of 2024! Are you starting off strong or taking a more casual approach to your TBR pile?
Sarah: I’m listening to the Kurland St. Mary Mystery series by Catherine Lloyd, which I learned about in the December 2015 issue of RT. We’re talking about it in this week’s episode, in fact. BUT. BUT!
I learned about book three. So like a weirdo I started with book one, and then listened to book two. Now I’ve arrived at the book reviewed in the Dec issue, and it’s an Audible Exclusive and I’m so annoyed. I cancelled my audible membership last year because there are only three series of audiobooks that I re-listen to, and using credits to “own” audiobooks I won’t listen to again seemed wasteful when I could borrow from the library.
I’m so peeved.
Carrie: I just finished reading The Hidden Language of Cats by Sarah Brown. ( A | BN | K ) My big takeaway from it was that we don’t know much about the hidden language of cats. But it was written in a funny, conversational style, speculation was noted as such, and I did pick up a few things. My cats seem unimpressed by my new techniques.
Elyse: I just finished The Scarlet Alchemist and it’s so amazingly good, but it ends on a cliffhanger and the sequel won’t be out until late this year.
Shana: I had a lot going on in December so I’m celebrating holiday romance season in January, instead. I just finished Mistletoe and Mishigas by M.A. Wardell ( A | BN ) which has more sex scenes than any other Hanukkah romance I’ve read this year. Now I’m reading Christmas Inn Maine by Chelsea M. Cameron. ( A | BN | K ) It’s a f/f enemies to lovers romance and there’s a lot of snow. I think Tara might have recommended it, and I love it so far so I’m happy to give her credit.
Lara: My best friend has influenced me to read Katee Robert’s Dark Olympus series ( A | BN | K ) and I’m absolutely hooked.
Kiki: I’m reading Once Bitten by Heather Guerre and have been openly weeping for the last hour or so reading it. It’s the third book is the Tooth and Claw series, all of which have been phenomenal, but this one is…wow. I haven’t been this emotionally destroyed in a long time.
Susan: I’m reading Speak of the Devil by Rose Wilding, ( A | BN | K ) and… Hm. Can I put it down? No. Am I enjoying it? I don’t know! I wasn’t expecting the unrelenting twenty-six consecutive chapters of trauma.
This is absolutely a me problem, I keep forgetting that thrillers aren’t structured like mysteries. The trauma needs to be explained up front so I understand where the characters are coming from, rather than revealed in the endgame to recontextulise the story up to that point
…Or something.
How are you kicking off your reading this year? Sound off in the comments!
Have been in a slump in recent months but I think that’s largely attributable to a baby who hasn’t been sleeping super well and reading about 4 pages at a time. In any case, here’s hoping for a better start to 2024.
IT HAPPENED ONE FIGHT by Maureen Lee Lenker. I liked the classic Hollywood premise, but man the third act is BLEAK. I think the way the heroine behaves is basically unforgivable and the catharsis and resolution felt like highly anachronistic wish fulfillment.
A DREADFUL SPLENDOR by BR Myers. Zoomed through this one (thank you, trans Atlantic flight). I enjoyed the Gothic mystery but the reveal at the end left me a bit cold. The author says in her notes that she was a big fan of RL Stine growing up and I was like, “Yeah, that tracks.”
THE DUCHESS TAKES A HUSBAND by Harper St. George. This was fine, just not my jam. (Camille, widowed Duchess of Hereford has to come to terms with how her husband was abusive and how to move forward/love someone).
Non-fiction: MAYBE YOU SHOULD TALK TO SOMEONE by Lori Gottlieb. Enjoyed this insider’s look at therapy. I found the stories she uses to structure the narrative to be really effective and liked her commentary. Recommend.
Currently reading CONSPIRACY IN BELGRAVIA, the second in Sherry Thomas’s Lady Sherlock series. So far so good.
I’m reading the Captain Lacey regency mysteries by Ashley Gardner (aka Jennifer Ashley). They are comforting- like a cup of tea on a cold day. I like the Below Stairs series and her gladiator series better but there are a lot of Captain Lacey books and I do love a long series. The mysteries keep the books moving along but don’t keep me at the edge of my seat.
Part 1
After loving Cait Nary’s first book, SEASON’S CHANGE, and liking the next, CONTRACT SEASON, I was completely amped up for her latest m/m romance, and I think my high expectations probably played a role in why I felt rather deflated by LUCKY BOUNCE, which I found to be a decline in both angst-level and quality from Nary’s earlier two books. This isn’t to say that LUCKY BOUNCE is a terrible book: it’s a pleasant enough grumpy-sunshine romance between a professional hockey player and his young daughter’s P.E. teacher; but Nary made some narrative choices and revealed some stylistic tics that caused the book to be less engaging than its predecessors. Lucky Bounce is told entirely from the point-of-view of Zeke, the P.E. teacher, who meets his hockey crush, Spencer, when Spencer enrolls his young daughter in the school where Zeke works. Zeke goes into total fan-boy mode when he comes face-to-face with Spencer. Gradually, as school events and free tickets to hockey games put them in each other’s orbits, Zeke & Spencer grow closer and eventually become lovers. And that’s basically the story. There’s a lot that could have ramped up the angst or even create a mild conflict, but every time something might potentially throw a wrench in the works (Spencer’s migraines, his travel schedule, the fact that’s he’s not out publicly, the ethical question of a teacher having a relationship with the parent of a student), Nary just glides over it. There was simply not enough tension or angst for my liking. I also think the book would have benefited from Spencer’s POV. We’re in Zeke’s head the whole time, which can get exhausting because Zeke is highly anxious and hyper, and his thoughts go around like a hamster wheel. Plus Zeke’s inner monologue feels so young. It’s a shock when Zeke refers to himself as being 25 (a year older than Spencer) because his squeeing over Spencer (even after they begin a relationship) is at such an adolescent/teenage level. I also have to point out Nary’s overuse of the word “whatever”–a word that popped up so frequently, I started counting the times it appeared (never a good sign). That’s a stylistic tic a good editor whould have ruthlessly excised. While LUCKY BOUNCE has some fun moments—especially in the school setting (which put me in mind of some of Kate Canterbary’s books set in an elementary school)—I just wish we could have had something from Spencer’s viewpoint and a whole lot less, um, “whatever”. A mild recommendation for LUCKY BOUNCE—but you’ll be hard-pressed to believe that it was written by the same person who wrote SEASON’S CHANGE.
I think Cate C. Wells is one of the most innovative and subversive writers working in romance today. Regardless of the sub-genre she’s writing (shifter, mafia, motorcycle club), her work explores deeper social themes within the context of romance, and her latest, THE STONE WOLF’S REJECTED MATE, is no different. STONE WOLF, a novella that is part of Wells’s Five Packs series of shifter romances, is both an angsty romance and an indictment of end-stage capitalism. While Wrenlee and Clay work out their romance (they possess incredible chemistry, but initially it does not seem that they are “fated mates”), the story also explores how the ”Fireside Alpha” and his cronies lounge before warm fires and eat the best food while the have-nots (including Wrenlee & Clay) work back-breaking, dead-end jobs, fighting each other for literal scraps, while the haves spout jingoistic phrases meant to keep everyone else in line and in agreement with the status quo. Clay is being groomed as a fighter (one of the only ways the Ditches, the lowest class of their pack, can work their way up), but Wrenlee does not figure into his handlers’ plans. If Wrenlee & Clay want a future together, they’ll have to fight the entrenched system to attain it. Key quote: “How do you change minds, though? How do you get people to imagine something different than what they’ve always known?” Recommended.
Maisey Yates’s RANCHER’S SNOWED-IN REUNION is exactly what it says on the tin: it’s a contemporary cowboy romance featuring a former rodeo star who is unexpectedly reunited with his former love, a country singer who exploded into superstardom with a song she wrote about their break-up. Yates moves back-and-forth in time, showing us how Tansey & Flint meet at the rodeo, have a passionate, if brief, romance, and then break up under the stresses of different expectations and a pregnancy scare. Two years later, the couple find themselves alone in a hotel, stranded by a snowstorm, where they begin the hard work of unpacking their past. As is usually the case with Yates, the story is uber-angsty and tackles some tangled emotions, but ends on an upbeat, optimistic note. Key quote: “…that was the problem with a heartbreak anthem. It didn’t give credit to the good things. And it was the good things that made losing love sad.” Recommended.
Part 2
One of my favorite iterations of the fake relationship trope is when one of the people in the fake relationship (in m/f romances, almost always the heroine) is attracted to someone else but can’t let that person know that the relationship she appears to be in is fake, so I was beyond ready to read Winter Renshaw’s latest, FAKE-ISH, which uses that set-up as a jumping off point. Briar and Dorian meet at the destination wedding of mutual friends; there’s an immediate spark, but—for a variety of reasons—neither is ready for a relationship. They decide to put things on the back-burner and then pick things back up in two years. One year later, having waited for Dorian faithfully, Briar is offered the chance to earn significant money posing as her boss’s fiancée for a few weeks during his family’s annual vacation. Briar agrees, but when she arrives at the family’s beach vacation home, she discovers that her fake fiancé is Dorian’s brother—and Dorian is there and devastated to learn that Briar (muffled by NDAs) has discarded their pact in order to marry his brother. Renshaw, as always, does a great job of keeping all her plot threads clear, and the book has plenty of angst. I can’t say FAKE-ISH is one of Renshaw’s absolute best (that would be THE BEST MAN)—especially since the story relies on not one but two separate cases of overheard conversations to advance the plot—but is still a worthwhile read. Recommended.
Marley Valentine’s UNLOVED is an incredible angsty m/m/m romance featuring three MCs who are each struggling with a variety of issues: one MC is experiencing hearing loss caused by a genetic condition but exacerbated by a football injury and the abuse he suffered while in foster care; another MC is clinging to sobriety, unable to connect the dots between his frequent relapses and his father’s bullying; and the other MC is still processing the fallout from his father’s suicide when he (the MC) was a child. Needless to say, UNLOVED is full of content & trigger warnings—so tread carefully—but its focus is on how the MCs learn to navigate a world where they have to protect their own physical, mental, and emotional well-being while also caring for each other. Because two of the MCs are in their early 20s and the other is 27, I’m not sure I fully bought in to their emotional maturity when dealing their combined situations—it seemed much more realistic when one of the younger MCs threw a jello cup across the room because he was frustrated with his hearing loss diagnosis—but I did like the thoughtfulness with which the MCs treated each other. I also felt that Valentine simultaneously wrapped up the story too quickly and had far too many epilogues (each MC gets two!). I give UNLOVED a mild recommendation, but if you’re unfamiliar with Vaentine’s work and would like to read one of her best (and similarly angsty) books, WITHOUT YOU is the place to start.
Several of Amelia Wilde’s recent series have focused on members of the Hill family, a group of adult siblings who, when young, lost their parents to an arson fire set by members of a business consortium. Each sibling attains adulthood determined in one way or another to exact revenge against the families in the consortium—usually by focusing on a completely innocent member of the target family (and, eventually, of course, falling in love with them). Wilde’s latest, DEARLY BELOVED, is related to the Hill family saga but somewhat in reverse. Jacob, the hero, is the son of the member of the consortium and is determined to try to make amends for the misery his family has caused. He enters into a fake engagement with Catherine (daughter of another member of the consortium) so that she can escape from her abusive father and gain access to her trust fund. No one will be surprised when the fake relationship turns into real feelings, but Jacob is not sure he deserves anything good whatsoever. We spend a lot of time in Jacob’s head in DEARLY BELOVED, and that is not always an easy place to be because Jacob is plagued by insomnia, delusions, and guilt-driven acts of quixotic altruism (one of which sets into motion a situation that will have dire consequences). The book ends on a cliffhanger with the now-married Jacob & Catherine finding themselves in a very precarious place. Recommended if you’re OK with relatively dark romance but read the other books in the Hill family saga first.
Nothing excellent since Paladin’s Faith, but a few better than average: LEXICON by Max Barry sci-fi with m/f romantic elements, about a decade old now so endearingly dated. Not as smart as it thinks it is, but well paced. CARNIVAL by Elizabeth Bear sci-fi with m/m romantic elements. Also tediously philosophical in that standard sci-fi way (I blame you Isaac Asimov) but I appreciated that the couple was older. And a tentative recommendation for SWEETEN THE DEAL by Katie Shephard a contemporary m/f with an autistic billionaire heroine, just because that isn’t something you see every day, even if it isn’t ultimately quite as progressive or consistent or believable as it might have been.
Because the news adaptation of “Shogun” by James Clavell willbe out on Disney+ soon I am reading the monster of a book and spend half my time rolling my eyes at it. It reads very 70s and I can tell the impact it had on the Western image of Japan back then. I think it’s one of those books that is so incredibly well-researched (I checked some of the things I found in there) that the average reader will take everything in it as some sort of gospel, and, uh.
Also when a female author writes a character that is beautiful and better at everything than anyone else it’s unrealistic and a Mary-Sue, when a male author does it, it’s ~literature. Apparently.
@FashionablyEvil, may you get more sleep soon!
I had a pretty good start to the year and I am using my handy dandy 2024 Smart Bitches book tracker for now. I’ve been off and on about it the last few years. It was really helpful during lockdown when I was averaging a book a day, but I’ve been more lackadaisical since then. I read A WIZARD’S GUIDE TO DEFENSIVE BAKING by T. Kingfisher. Wonderful, as always. I feel like T. Kingfisher is like a chef who has a few signature notes to all her dishes (non-nonsense characters, anger at injustice and creepy/fantastical vibes), but I always like the way it tastes. Made me cry a bit at the end.
HI, HONEY I’M HOMO: SITCOMS, SPECIALS AND THE QUEERING OF AMERICAN CULTURE by Matt Baume. Some of this was rehash of stuff he’s covered on his YouTube channel and I think I prefer that format for his work, but it was still a delightful, quick read.
After that I read THE GOOD PART by Sophie Cousens. I feel like Sophie Cousens straddles ‘women’s fiction’ (bleah to that term) and romance in a very successful, appealing way. I often find books like that leave me cold b/c I want more romance and less life misery but she does it in a way that seems thoughtful and still upbeat. This one was about a 26 year old woman in our time who wishes she could skip ahead to ‘the good part’ of her life when she has a partner, a good job, and her life is settled. Of course, when she gets her wish, it’s not as simple as she thought. The author definitely borrows elements of BIG, 13 GOING ON 30 and even FREAKY FRIDAY (It reminded me more of the original book that the 2 movie versions) but she gives recognition to this in the acknowledgements. I read another book recently with a similar premise that ended up being a DNF, so I was glad this one was a nice, smooth read. The futuristic elements (a talking car named STAN that sounded like Stanley Tucci) were fun and not distracting. It gave me THE TWO LIVES OF LYDIA BIRD vibes, so if you like that, you might like this.
New Year, New Books:
ALREADY READ:
DON’T WANT YOU LIKE A BEST FRIEND by Emma R Alban (queer romance): Hated it. I thought the writing was terrible and the protagonists were poorly drawn. Would have much preferred their parents’ story.
MICKEY CHAMBERS SHAKES IT UP by Charish Reid (contemporary romance) Fun, predictable, C+
SECOND DUKE’S THE CHARM by Kate Bateman (historical romance) charming and fun, B+
CURRENTLY READING
CALIFORNIA AGAINST THE SEA by Rosanna Xia (oceanography) I already have a book hangover and I have 50 more pages to go. Gorgeous language, persuasive without being repetitive or hitting you over the head. Highly recommended.
CAMILLE by Alexander Dumas (classic) gorgeous language and very quotable
EMILY WILDE’S MAP OF THE OTHERLANDS by Heather Fawcett (fantasy) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
KLAN WARS by Fergus M Bordewich (history) clear and concise writing, dense
DNF:
LOVE, NATURALLY by Sophie Sullivan (romcom) Not every book is for every reader.
@Steffi,
My husband read SHOGUN when he was a teenager and he said you are 100% correct on all accounts.
It’s supposed to snow here over the next few days (yeah!) so I’m in the mood to read some winter-themed books, like ICEBREAKER by Hannah Grace.
I also have THIN ICE by Paige Shelton waiting on my TBR pile. The author revamping an Alaskan newspaper plot caught my eye. I used to work at a daily newspaper so I’m always interested to see how newspapers, reporters, etc. are represented in books.
Stay warm and safe this weekend! 🙂
Hello and Happy New Year, all. Let’s get the seasonal smut out of the way first(!), as it seems a long time ago now:
A MERRY LITTLE MEET CUTE by JULIE MURPHY and SIERRA SIMONE
M/F contemporary with a Christmassy setting. Sunshine porn star accidentally gets cast in a Hallmark-type movie with a redemption-seeking, anxious, former boy band bad boy (got it?). Hugely entertaining, nice real and found families and plenty of heat. Excellent seasonal reading. Followed it up with A HOLLY JOLLY EVER AFTER, set in the same world. Entertaining but not in the same class.
THREE NIGHTS BEFORE CHRISTMAS (HOT HOLIDAYS) three steamy (M/F contemporary) novellas by KATI WILDE. This was a perfectly-timed @DDD rec from December part 2. And they were, as promised, hot. And in my quest for more KW, I am delighted to find that I already have the first three Dead Lands books on my Kindle. Clever old me.
WRECK THE HALLS by TESSA BAILEY. Lots of emotion and plenty of heat. The adult children (M/F, who have only met once as teenagers) of an estranged rock duo sign up for a reality show designed to get the band back together but end up being the main attraction. Just go with it…
THE STONECUTTER EARL’S FIRST CHRISTMAS by ADELLA J HARRIS
M/M historical. This is a real charmer. A newly-minted Earl needs tutoring in the ways of the aristocracy. He meets an estranged younger son in a molly house and after hiring him for sex, hires him for everything else. Two delightfully soft MMCs in a low angst (but hot) Pygmalion story. I shall search out more from this author.
And now we return to our regular programming:
ALEXIS HALL, 10 THINGS THAT NEVER HAPPENED. Oooh, secrets! And lonely people. And found families. Very slow burn but delightful as always from Mr Hall. He has the ability to write about hard things but in a soft way. The amnesia trope was inspired and with a clever subtext. Yummy M/M goodness. 17/10 will read again.
Followed immediately by a re-read of BOYFRIEND MATERIAL and HUSBAND MATERIAL, because I needed to keep the author’s voice in my head. Even better second time around.
I have very much enjoyed a couple of MARY BALOGH’s Bedwyn novels (M/F historical): SLIGHTLY DANGEROUS and SLIGHTLY MARRIED. Both lovely but ‘Married’ was a real favourite. She really brings the swoony stuff – what’s it called… oh yeah, Romance. With a capital R. Gorgeous.
LORETTA CHASE, TEN THINGS I HATE ABOUT THE DUKE. A companion to THE DUKE IN SHINING ARMOUR which I read last year. Entertaining historical which features a proper Ducal Himbo and a likeable cast of characters.
MILE HIGH by LIZ TOMFORDE. M/F, enemies-ish to lovers, hockey romance. Came up on offer and I’d read some decent reviews. But I was disappointed; too long (600pp), too repetitive and the whole premise is pretty thin – MMC’s bad boy image and FMC’s lack of confidence hold them back and they’ve both got parental issues. I try hard never to DNF (because the writer has done the work) but I did skim. I do enjoy a hockey story, usually but there are better series out there.
FINAL OFFER by LAUREN ASHER. The finale of the Dreamland Billionaires trilogy. I mostly enjoyed the first two, so decided to be completist when this was on offer. It’s a second chance, single mother story, with added addiction issues, mostly alcohol. It was just OK. As with the other two books, a bit long-winded (nearly 600pp). I wasn’t tempted to DNF but I did find myself speed-reading in parts.
So… a mixed bag so far this year but the highs outweighed the lows and I learned more about what works for me and what doesn’t. Onwards and upwards.
Happy New Year, Smart Bitches!
CMARS, the electronic library system here in central Massachusetts, continues to spur me to take a chance on books, yet be willing to drop them if they are not working for me. I had also purchased some books that I was really looking forward to.
As a result, lots of good reading so far!
WALK OF SHAME Lauren Layne – contemporary, M/F, light on real conflict, entertaining. Recommended, but if you are not in the mood for reading about rich people, you will hate it.
HIS CURVY REJECTED MATE Cate C. Wells – paranormal, werewolf, M/F, same theme (rejection of mate with eventual understanding of how much they screwed up and groveling). I find these books eminently satisfying, but they are either your jam sandwich, or they are not. Please read warnings before proceeding – there is some self-loathing that is hard to read, though done well, in my opinion. Highly recommended.
THE FAVOURITE Alice Coldbreath – faux medieval court (some European-type country that has ever actually existed). I like this whole series – not as much as the Victorian boxer books she wrote, but AC does emotional journeys and growth very well. Highly recommended.
CODENAME CHARMING Lucy Parker – Contemporary, M/F – not the royals but their STAFF fall in love. Really worked for me. LP can really write. Fake romance evolving into the real thing done beautifully. Chef’s kiss!
THE LIES OF VAMPIRES AND SLAYERS K.M. Shea – Paranormal, M/F – Slow burn, there are a series of these books where couples fall in love over three books each. They are not great, but I would say they are kind of cozy paranormal – like a low impact workout. You won’t get quite as much out of it, but it’s easy and you don’t have to invest as much, either.
THE FAKE MATE Lana Ferguson – Contemporary paranormal werewolf fake romance between two doctors. Feel like I’ve read this before, without the mate part? But a solid book, nonetheless. They were always working, which I really appreciated – most young doctors are always working, in my experience.
BLOOD FURY J.R. Ward – I have read a lot of her books, and the quality of the story, and whether I find the plot appealing, changes quite a bit for me. I liked this one. Glad to see Saxon fall in love, mostly.
KISS OF STEEL Bec McMaster (reread) – In the mood for some Steampunk? Paranormal, M/F, part of good series that has already been written, so go for it!
Looking forward to seeing everyone’s reading! Have a great weekend!
While my reading has slowed down in January, I read 108 books in 2023 – which is a record for me! The bulk of my reading this year has been inhaling romantasy, paranormal and alien romance.
Excellent:
None
Very Good:
The WEDDING NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS by Katie Wilde (Contemporary – M/F – Hot Holidays #3): I actually thought this modern marriage of convenience tale set-up made logical sense, a difficult feat in contemporary romance. But the heroine felt very inconsistent to me – she says not to label her or try to diagnose her, but the closest approximation seems to be that she is somewhere on the Autism Spectrum. But then during a pivotal point in the book, she is at a loud rowdy crowded party where she knows no one, but is perfectly fine and this is juxtasposed against a part earlier in the book where she has a hard time dealing with a party and she just seems like two different people. Rather than seeming to say anything about the character, it seems to be convenient short hand for how great the hero’s friends are and as a plot device to set up another part of the party. Other than that, I love the blue collar mechanic hero, the billionaire business woman heroine and the smoking hot smexy times really worked.
THRONE OF THE HORDE KING by Zoey Draven (Alien/Barbarian Romance – M/F – Throne of the Horde Kings #6): While the overall series plot lines were resolved nicely here and the emotions felt by the two characters were deeply drawn and very affecting, the plot suffered from some logical holes of why the hero and heroine just couldn’t be together that didn’t make much sense. I loved this series, but I would say this is labeled alien only to explain how humans came to be on the planet, other than that it is very much barbarian/fantasy romance.
YOU ARE NOT A SH*TTY PARENT: HOW TO PRACTICE SELF-COMPASSION AND GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK by Carla Naumburg, PhD (Non-fiction – Self-Help/Parenting): Exactly what it says on the tin – I really appreciated the emphasis on the fact that having children and your life being chaos is just a fact not a personal failure. And she also was excellent in talking about stressors that are put on on us from outside events and then the second and third line stressors we then put on ourselves from how we talk to ourselves and deal with those first line stressors. You can’t stop the first line items, but there are much better ways to deal with the second and third line items and she had good strategies that I have been trying to use for those. BUT there were areas that needed more concrete examples which is why I marked it down from excellent. Overall, a recommended read if you are a parent and have negative self-talk
Good:
WILD INVITATION by Nalini Singh (Paranormal – M/F – Short Story Collection): The real gem here was the story of the very submissive (in pack heirarchy) wolf changeling heroine and extremely dominant wolf changeling hero. They had to take that pack dynamic and work through it in their own personal relationship so that the power dynamic between the two of them was equal. The other three stories were enjoyable, but mostly forgettable.
ICE PLANET BARBARIANS by Ruby Dixon (Alien Romance – M/F – Ice Planet Barbarians #1): If I can do a bit of alien romance analysis here, in all of the other alien series that I enjoyed this year, the heroines moved from their current situation into an equal or better level of civilization (and by that I mean level of medicine, technology, cleanliness, etc). But in this series, we have modern heroines who are stranded on a planet with basically no modern medicine or technology with a hunter/gatherer level of living. Frankly, that sounds like a nightmare to me – I like my Diet Coke and HVAC and indoor plumbing and, you know, antibiotics, so it took a lot of the fantasy of out of the book for me. However, the romance was still good and I may try to the second one. CW: sexual assault (in my updated version it was off page, but I know in earlier versions it was on page), suicide, and dub con (due to cultural differences/misunderstandings)
THE MID WINTER MAIL ORDER BRIDE by Kati Wilde (Barbarian/Romantasy – M/F – Dead Lands #1): I didn’t realize that a substantial unrelated story was included at the ned in the print version of this book, so I was expecting a much longer story and by what I thought was the middle wondered why everything was wrapping up. I enjoyed the match up of the hulking “brute” of a hero and heroine unwanted by her family, though, and probably will read the next in the series.
Meh:
A GAME OF FATE by Scarlett St. Clair (Romantasy – M/F – Hades #1): This is the same story as A TOUCH OF DARKNESS, but told from Hades point of view. This sat languishing half-read on my nightstand for months. For an ancient, immortal god, being in Hades brain is much the same as I imagine a 20 year-old frat boy’s brain, so disappointment there. Also, other than having pants feelings for each other, it is still a mystery why these two love each other. Although the series continues, I don’t plan to.
The Bad:
None
Capote’s women by Laurence Leamer was a fluffy gossipy bit of fun. It was released in 2021. I enjoyed it throughly.
I have ARGYLLE , The Mystery Guest and Inheritance on hold. I’m really looking forward to ARGYLLE.
Boy, happy new year, everyone–I’m still trying to get my feet under me, LOL!
Hugs, @FashionablyEvil–hope your little one gets to better sleeping soon! And may you get to some better reading!
The first part of this year has been a mix of re-reads and new reads…
I eased into things with a reread of Ashlyn Kane and Morgan James’s THE WINGING IT HOLIDAY SPECIAL (it ties into their m/m Hockey Ever After series) and then picked up an old Blaze by Jo Leigh that I think I’d seen recommended here, MS. MATCH. Parts of it felt very “true to the time” (it came out in late 2008) but I really enjoyed the story overall, and think Ms Leigh did a good job with the leads and their desire to not just be who they ought to be. They consider more deeply how attractiveness plays into attraction and “fit”, and it was a memorable read.
Also new, TEMPTED AND TAKEN by Mari Carr, which is sixth in her Italian Stallions series–it’s an enemies-ish to lovers, and deliciously hot and funny.
Sabrina York’s THE AIRMAN’S HOMECOMING is the second in her Tuttle Sisters of Coho Cove is a lovely insta-lust to friends/coworkers-to-more story, and I really enjoyed this story about a retired para rescue medic and a widowed mom.
THE AMAZING ALPHA TAU SELF-IMPROVEMENT PROJECT by Lisa Henry and Sarah Honey is a hilarious feel-good bros to lovers about the irrepressible Marty O’Brien and the generally more serious Dalton Beauregard. Marty gets it into his head that he needs to up his life game, and to that end, decides he needs a tutor. Dalton’s that man. One thing I enjoy a lot about Lisa Henry and Sarah Honey’s stories is that while they feel light in tone, they give the characters and their stories weight and consideration. Loved this installment in the series and look forward to more.
DK Sutton’s 12 GAYS OF CHRISTMAS was a cute roommates to lovers story, but not super memorable.
Rye Cox’s THE HOLIDAY DISASTER is a cute older-brother’s best friend, just one bed story. Also not super memorable.
Started Hannah Nicole Maehrer’s ASSISTANT TO THE VILLAIN, which seems promising, but didn’t have a chance to finish before the hold got returned, and read a review which says this ends on a cliffhanger, so now I’m proceeding with caution…
Finally, reread and thoroughly enjoyed again Brigham Vaughn’s THE HEAD GAME, Beth Bolden’s THE GAME and her HIT THE BRAKES…
Oh, and I also read and loved LUCKY BOUNCE by Cait Nary more than I think @DiscoDollyDeb did. I agree that this is way less angsty than Nary’s previous books, but had less concern with it (I guess more a feature than a bug for me), and felt like I was able to get enough insight into Spencer through Zeke’s PoV. (I would for sure have enjoyed Spencer’s PoV also, but it would have been a different story in that sense.) I found Zeke a likable enough narrator to be charmed, and I loved their friends and families. I think it put me more in the mind of Rachel Reid’s Time to Shine or Ari Baran’s Delay of Game.
Comfort-reading meant a re-read of KJ Charles’ The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting, which is so good on so many levels.
I was given another nerd history book for Christmas, so I had to dive right in: Simon Winder LOTHARINGIA – A Personal History of France, Germany and the Countries in Between. It’s good, written in a rather chatty tone, but I’m not fast reading it because there’s a lot to unpack and look up. Though my knowledge on the side of all things Burgundy (as in the medieval duchy) and Habsburg is pretty good, there’s always something new to be learned or a new angle to a known story.
I visited my best friend over New Year’s, so no time for reading either, but because we’re always treasure hunting vintage and second hand things, which includes street libraries, she gave me one of her finds as a gag gift: a 90s Mills & Boon category romance, THE FOREVER AFFAIR by Catherine George. What can I say? I’m not much of a contemporary category romance reader, I admit, but this one is terrible – mostly because of the hero. He’s such an alpha man-child, ugh. This is a second chance romance, no billionaires or exotic locales, and rather low heat. Anyway, in the past the hero did not meet up with the heroine for their date and left her wondering what happened ever since because he’d been snooping around her house earlier that the day and in a laneway saw a woman kissing a man – he saw her only from behind but assumed it was the heroine, so he went away all angry and drove all the way from Wales to Scotland in his rage right away! Duh. Also, when they first meet, 10 years before, she’s 18 and he’s 28 which I find slightly uncomfortable in a contemporary, and when he notices the changeable colour of her eyes, one of the first things he says is “I wonder what colour your eyes are when you’re naked.” Ugh, no, no, no, run, girl! Plus of course he does not tell her he’s married and getting a divorce. She hears about the wife from the hotel he’s been staying at when they meet (as in he should have stayed there with the wife but she did not come) but she doesn’t get to talk to him about it because he’s already done a runner. Oh, and the heroine has a 9-year old stepbrother in the present (her mother was widowed and remarried) and just because he’s dark haired with blue eyes like the hero, the hero of course thinks of that standard romance trope and assumes the heroine got pregnant by him (even though she told him she was on the pill) and thinks her mother brought the boy up to keep up appearances. And even though she tells him it isn’t so and the math totally doesn’t work out as the brother was born over a year after their affair, he doesn’t believe her and keeps insisting. Yikes!
Also, the heroine’s other beau/casual date is called Julian Fellowes… The real Julian Fellowes probably wasn’t famous or well-known yet when this book was written, so I assume it’s a coincidence but it is a bit weird reading this now!
Oops, forgot something. Regarding Shogun, may I suggest the book SAMURAI WILLIAM by Giles Milton, which recounts the real story of William Adams, who was the inspiration for the novel.
So many Elizabeth Cadell books! Some are charming, some are annoying, most are both.
I really enjoyed Nary’s LUCKY BOUNCE too. Yes, it was less angsty than her earlier efforts (which I also really liked), but I honestly didn’t mind the relative lack of angst. I appreciated the lack of a stupid misunderstanding as the “crisis” to be overcome in the relationship. And the slight making fun of upper middle class parenting made me crack up more than once. It’s a fun, sweet novel about a slightly neurotic but basically decent elementary school gym teacher and a grumpy but lovable professional hockey player.
@Steffi – I read about 2/3 of Shogun in 2022 and need to finish it. The historical detail is fascinating but yeah not all of it is accurate. With all the political shenanigans and ready violence, it feels like a Game of Thrones comp in many ways.
@Midge – good rec!
I just finished Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett and enjoyed it very much. The next one is on hold at the library.
Otherwise in a bit of a slump. Have started several things but nothing is really grabbing me.
I feel like I keep talking about Melissa Scott, but she was my favorite author discovery last year. I just read her WATER HORSE and loved it. She created such an immersive world, where an invasion of religious fanatics threatens a patchwork of allied communities with their own gods and magics (all of which the invaders want to stamp out – as well as any uppity women, especially priestesses). It reminded me of Martha Well’s WITCH KING, and after I finished it I happily rearranged my bookshelves so that their books are side by side (I’m sure I’m not the only one here who rearranges bookshelves on a regular basis?).
I had the worst book hangover after I finished Water Horse, and I bounced off a couple of books until I stared Nathan Lowell’s QUARTER SHARE – for probably the 4th time. I really enjoyed it this time – the lack of tension and smooth sailing through the galaxies was just what I needed at the moment. I lost interest though in the second book in the series (Half Share).
I’m currently reading the new Pen and Desdemona novella, DEMON DAUGHTER. I like the shifting POV, particularly Nikys’s, and seeing more of Pen’s life at home. I think it will be PALADIN’S FAITH next, since my paper copy finally arrived.
Lots of KU books, all of them varying degrees of enjoyable:
SALT & BROOM by Sharon Lynn Fisher: I loved this retelling of Jane Eyre, a Jane Aire who was sure and confident in her witching abilities. Some unexpected twists and all of it a delight.
THINGS WE HIDE FROM THE LIGHT by Lucy Score: I had to read the second in this series after finishing the first. Um. These men, the chest thumping, the “you are my woman” men. Fortunately the books so far have been funny and Waylay is a treat. Wish I could quit them.
LOVE IN DUE TIME by L.B. Dunbar: Hmmm. I have family members who are bikers and the testosterone and drama are almost more than I can handle. I liked parts of this book, liked seeing semi-older MCs and there was serious trauma to confront. Rather heavy lifting.
RESTORED (Walsh #5) by Kate Canterbary: Good book noise.
THE FAMILY YOU MAKE by Jill Shalvis: Found family for someone who has never been part of one. Lots of comfort to be had.
ONE PUZZLING AFTERNOON by Emily Critchley: 84-year-old Edie kept her friend Lucy’s secret for sixty years. Lucy disappeared in 1951, but Edie is convinced she just saw her the other day. Aging, the onset of dementia, the clues that no one ever put together made an interesting what-really-happened mystery.
THE NEIGHBOR FAVOR by Kristina Forest: I expected something different than the book delivered. A book editor and the author of her favorite fantasy novel begin a heartfelt and sincere correspondence. He ghosts her for reasons, they end up living in the same NYC building, develop all the feels and then discover who the other really is. Drama ensues. I loved the idea of a best-selling Black-centered fantasy novel to rival she-who-shall-not-be-named, and this wasn’t it. Still a charming romance.
@SBSaraH:
Is the book available to check out digitally? Alternatively, you could buy a credit, read the book, and then return it. Be careful to not do this too often though. I tried to tell someone I know to use their library instead of doing, this, they didn’t listen, and got themselves in trouble with Audible. Lastly, if you embership has been cancelled long enough, you might get that book for free, becauseAudible might try to get you back with a trial.
Once again I have a dozen books out from the library, started them all and only finished one. Two if cookbooks count (reading, not actually cooking the recipes.)
– The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich – graphic novel by Deya Muniz, f/f romance, cute and fluffy, not exactly historically accurate but makes up for it with cheese puns.
Nonfiction:
– Lingo: Around Europe in sixty languages by Gaston Dorren – short chapters, mostly amusing anecdotes about the history and quirks of various languages, wrapping up with words English has borrowed from them. Entertaining if you enjoy word origins, regional dialects, weird spellings and that sort of thing.
– Bake Me A Cat (cookbook) by Kim-Joy – only attempted the simplest cookie recipe, it did turn out edible and recognizably cat-shaped, yay! Probably should quit while I’m ahead and return it to the library for others to discover.
I finished the DARLING GIRLS ARC, and wow! Twisted domestic thriller. Trigger warnings for child abuse and gaslighting.
Reading the EVERY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE ARC now, and I’ll get back to romance in a few days.
I missed the last couple WAYRs, and it’s hard to recall all that I read in December, but I loved THE CHRISTMAS HE CLAIMED THE SECRETARY(Caitlin Crews). It was a perfect Cinderella story, with no 3rd act breakup/betrayal, just smooth sailing. I tried a couple of other Crews after that, including THE REPLACEMENT WIFE and ALL NIGHT LONG WITH A COWBOY, and they were fine, but didn’t trigger my pleasure centers the way SECRETARY did. I DNF’d NECESSARY JUSTICE(Anna Del Mar), too many graphic descriptions of violence, sexual assault and what can only be described as torture.
I read A CIVIL CAMPAIGN(Lois McMasters Bujold) which was an absolute delight, a sci-fi romcom. I followed it with another Bujold, ETHAN OF ATHOS, which is an offshoot of the Vorkosigan saga. Charming but Miles was offpage. Amazing to think she started writing these books almost 4 decades ago, with gay, trans and disabled MCs, and they hold up so well. I continued the sci-fi theme after discovering I had some of Michelle Diener’s books in my Kindle library that I hadn’t read yet. I enjoyed BREAKAWAY, the first in her Verdant String series, and 2 novellas, INTERFERENCE and INSURGENCY. Lots of rescue tropes and super competent heroines, which I love. I find all her books highly bingeable, whether she’s writing in the Tudor era, the Regency, or space opera. I started the next book, BREAKEVEN, but then SYSTEM COLLAPSE, the latest Murderbot book, came up on my library waitlist, so that’s what I’m reading now. It’s starting off a bit slow, tbh, hoping things pick up.
Intermittently also dipping into a couple of historicals,
I regret to confess that I’m reading my very first AO3 Dramione romance on a dare, and I actually love it. It’s better than the last few published romances I’ve picked up and been disappointed by, even if the author seems to be under the impression that British people say ‘pip pip’ to each other, ever, which is rather like assuming that all Americans greet each other with a hearty ‘howdy, pardner’. Anyway, apparently she has a book deal (for a different work, I assume!), and I’m going to watch out for her book when it’s published. Yay, new author discoveries!
I finished the last T. Kingfisher Saints of Steel, and was mildly disappointed. The romance didn’t quite stick the landing for me this time, but even her sub-par stuff is still a great read.
I read the first volume of “She Loves to Cook, She Loves to Eat”. It’s a Sapphic ace manga about neighbors who become friends because one of them loves to cook big meals but can’t eat much, and one who loves big meals. It’s a very low-key, relaxing manga and the art style is very cute. I’m looking forward to getting the next volumes on hold at the library.
We’re only two weeks into the new year, but so far my resolution to not buy any books is holding. 🙂
@LisaM – Water Horse sounds really interesting, adding it to my list. It’s ironic that the author of a book about a religious cult has the same name as the wife of televangelist Dr. Gene Scott who took over his church after he died and is… something.
The Good:
A Dish Best Served Hot by Natalie Caña- contemporary with a tough FMC who’s actually cool. Great audiobook narrator.
The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman- book 1 in a historical series about twin aging spinsters who decide to use their invisibility as older women to be vigilantes. More plot and subplots than usually et stuffed into a single book but I was along for the ride. So fun! I’ll be reading the hell out of all future books. M/F romance running in the background but not full fleshed out in this book.
THE BAD:
{Fake Empire by C.W. Farnsworth} BORING M/F contemporary. The richest dynastic scions have an arranged marriage to consolidate their family billions but they’re totally good people because they’re both super hard workers in their respective rich people jobs that make no sense- She’s a venture capitalist who bought a struggling fashion magazine so that she could build a fashion brand because she’s the greatest designer despite having zero experience or training…. I’m convinced the author has no idea that these are different jobs.
All of these authors writing billionaire wealth fantasies but their imaginations are so limited that they think that means shopping trips to buy a cart full of dog toys at PETCO. These characters are supposedly the richest billionaires in America and spend page time worrying about getting a baby crib in time. I know the human brain can’t even fathom what a billion looks like but it’s not having ONE assistant and being forced to move to a new city for a job opportunity .
Mrs. Nash’s Ashes by Sarah Adler- The MMC is an asshole who hates Stevie Nicks. I only finished the book to see if there was a twist or he fell off a cliff or something. He’s a writing MFA creative fiction bro but bizarrely Adler puts sections of his work on page and it is SO BAD. Just bad writing. So he’s terrible at his job AND he’s an asshole. The FMC is a boring manic pixie dream girl who stops the book to make speeches about how she’s “not a manic pixie dream girl. She’s weird even when men aren’t looking.” SO WEIRD and interesting she brings her knitting to poetry readings- like everyone in Brooklyn since 2007.
If you happen to be in elementary school (or know someone who is): Friday Barnes by R.A. Spratt is INCREDIBLE!!! The jokes per-page ratio is off the charts and they all HIT.
Girl detective solves a bank robbery and uses the reward money to send herself to boarding school which turns out to be a hotbed of crime and intrigue. There’s even an enemies to lovers romance with her “greek god” looking boy villain classmate. The best part is that the characters and plot actually age and get more mature with each installment (my reading buddy made the Anne of Green Gables comparison).
R.A. Spratt reads the excellent audiobooks but my 9 year old reading buddy prefers the eyeball version.
I thought I was having a slow reading start to 2024, but I’ve read 4 books, which is pretty good for me.
System Collapse (The Murderbot Diaries #7) by Martha Wells
5 stars. My library hold finally became available and it was worth the wait. One of my favorites of the series.
A Power Unbound (The Last Binding #3) by Freya Marske – m/m fantasy
4.5 – Excellent, satisfying conclusion to the Last Binding trilogy
The Mischievous Letters of the Marquise de Q (French Letters #2) by Felicia Davin – 4.25 stars – poly, queer epistolary fantasy romance set in 19th C France with magic.
Not Here to Make Friends (Marry Me, Juliet #3) by Jodi McAlister – m/f straight contemp
4 stars
I surprised myself by how much I enjoyed reading about two manipulative, morally gray people scheming and stumbling their way to a happy ending that they both desperately want but secretly aren’t sure they deserve.
This is the first straight m/f romance I’ve read in ages, probably years. And I wouldn’t have read this one except that book 2 was a lovely Sapphic romance and Murray and Lily intrigued me in it – and I wanted to see how on earth the author was going to pull off a romance between them.
My first 2024 read where I want to button-hole strangers and say, “Get this series!” is PALADIN’S FAITH (The Saint of Steel, #4) by T. Kingfisher. All the Paladin books (fantasy) are good and have a strong romance at the core, but I think this one’s my favorite so far. It’s got everything! An adorably hunky and shy hero, the spy who loves him, short berserker nuns, wise ladies of a certain age that people actually listen to, a road trip, and thieves who mainly want your boots. I do recommend reading them in order to become acquainted with the paladins and their world, and the FMC of this one is introduced in book 1. Three of the four books (so far) are F/M, the other is M/M. If you love “romantasy”, you’ll want to read this series.
I read “The Tyrant Alpha’s Rejected Mate” by Cate C. Wells and I enjoyed parts of it, but am wondering why no reviews I saw mentioned the pregnancy obsession the mmc has. I must have read some variation of how bad he “wanted to put a pup in her belly” at least 20 times. BARF! Just typing that made me queasy. I hate pregnancy in romance and I hate it when the characters are obsessed with reproducing. I’ve read a number of paranormal shifter romances that didn’t involve that at all. It was annoying and I’m not going to be reading any more by this author.
I just finished the second book in Megan Montgomery’s “Last Responders” series. The first book, Morgue to Love, was hot–as well as informative about the jobs of people who deal with death daily. But the second book–Undertaking Love, is my choice for very best book I’ve read in years! Characters grow and change–there is a very patient woman and a man who has denied himself feelings for many years, as he helps others cope with the grief of loss. Now I’m reading an advance copy of Veil by Ellen Mint. She’s almost done with the Coven of Desire series, and I’ll be bereft when she is–I’ll have to reread them all again!
I’m here late as I had no power for several days due to a big storm. Since last time ~
— reread the first three books of a favorite series over the course of the week and enjoyed them all again.
Stray, Lab Rat One, and Caszandra (Touchstone series 1-3) all by Andrea K Höst. Stray is FREE for Kindle readers.
— read and quite enjoyed the children’s picture book, The Dot by Peter Reynolds. It’s about creativity and appreciation.
— for my distant book group, Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout. I found this to be a quick read and finished it in two sittings. The narrator tells of her interactions with her ex-husband, the father of her grown children.
— In late December, I reread the first three books in Andrea Höst’s Touchstone series. I’ve since finished my reread of the series with Gratuitous Epilogue, In Arcadia, and Snow Day. I enjoyed them all.
— Better Than People (Garnet Run Book 1) by Roan Parrish is a contemporary romance featuring an artist with many pets who has broken his leg and a graphic designer with anxiety who loves animals. The first man advertises for a pet walker which is how they meet. I enjoyed it.
— the contemporary romance Time to Shine by Rachel Reid. I enjoyed this story featuring two professional hockey players both of whom have baggage.
— A Power Unbound (The Last Binding Book 3) by Freya Marske, the third book in a fantasy trilogy. I enjoyed it once details of the two previous books came back to me. This is definitely NOT a standalone story.
— plus a boatload of samples.
I read 25 books in 2022, which was a personal best. Last year, I didn’t even make it to 10. This year, I’m going to stick to books I’m sure I’m going to like. (I’m probably going into to book-gathering mode also, seeing how it’s an election year, and I’ll likely want a break from RL.)
I started 2024 with Thief of Hearts, by Teresa Medeiros, and was pleasantly surprised. It’s a pirate-bodyguard romance. Enemies to lovers. Slow burn. Lots of salty banter between the hero and heroine. Takes a while for them to get together, but they do eventually get there.
Currently re-reading Say Yes To The Marquess, by Tessa Dare. (Might re-read Do You Want To Start A Scandal right after because I want Piers to have his happily ever after.) I plan on starting my first full-length series read of Joanna Shupe after that.
@Midge ICYMI! KJ Charles, Martha Wells, T Kingfisher, and Malka Older are doing a virtual panel on 2/4 and the theme is Comfort Reads! It’s hosted by a bookstore called Loyalty Bookstore, you have to register to login to the chatroom. I’ve never gone to a virtual event before – exciting!
OH somehow I thought I was in the “re-reads” post, not the watcha reading xD It’s Friday, what can I say…
This year I want to read the books that’ve been on my TBR for longer than 3 years, so it’s a bit mish-mashy but I’m glad to be doing it!
__READ:
Pig City by Louis Sachar – I wish this man would write an adult book. He observes people and relationships so well; he can make anything interesting. I just love him so much. My 3rd grade teacher read this to us and I’ve been meanining to reread it since then because I think I missed the day when she finished it.
Spying on Whales by Nick Pyenson – it was fine. I don’t think someone willing to listen to 8 hours of whale facts needs to be convinced of the majesty/importance/interesting-ness of whales but there you go. I learned that whale poop is fleecy and floats for a bit and that this is actually important and one of the ways that whales are “biological pumps” (a real science term), aka they circulate nutrients up and down the ocean layers. This is important because most marine animals live in a narrow band up/down the y-axis of the ocean. The author name-dropped himself so much (he is the whale curator for the Smithsonian) that multiple colleagues he mentions in his own narrative made jokes about him name-dropping himself, which he then includes in the narrative. I was just like, “SIR! PLEASE!”
Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrande – I’m too old for this book. It would probably be great for an actual young adult though. It was too on the nose for me, though I think it’s great to have stories that want to say the Patriarchy is monstrous (there is a literal monster eating girls to empower itself) and female solidarity is essential to breaking the cycle. She’s not wrong – in fact, she’s very right! I just didn’t enjoy the execution. I liked that the LGBTQ rep wasn’t one sad side character pining uselessly over a classmate like it would have been when I was in the age demographic. Instead, it was all the characters figuring themselves out and getting into/out of/already being in relationships and talking about their feelings. It’s cool to see how far YA writing is coming, so kudos to Legrande for that.
The last half took too many cues from Buffy and X-Men, which was at real odds with how it started, as a more dramatic story. The audiobook narrator was trying really hard to sell the story – perhaps a little too hard!
__STILL READING:
Nisei Daughter by Monica Sone – a classic of Japanese American lit, memoir of a very irascible and smart young lady whose family was sent to the internment camps. I read the first 1/3 to my mom because she is so ding dang funny. This is a point people should make about reading Own Voices: that writing is so much more textured, it’ll be as funny and rageful and wry as it can be sorrowful. Out of respect, a lot of “outsider” writing veers into Dignified Sorrow and it’s really just part of the picture. People exist well outside their lives’ injustices. Also loved the portrait of early Seattle Skid Road. Very cool.
Be Not Afraid by Alyssa Cole – this should be a full length book. There are so many ideas in these 86 pages why isn’t this a 450 page lit fic?
Ace, King, Knave by Maria McCann – Probably the book I’m most excited to read!!! I just recently tracked down the blogger, Kathleen Keenan, to thank her for recommending McCann’s first book, As Meat Loves Salt. I was so upset and impressed after that book that McCann became an insta-buy author and then she wrote…two more books, that’s it. But they’re just so insanely detailed, I can see why it takes her so long to write them. The second book was OK. I think Ace, King, Knave is a return to form; her hallmarks are: super deep research, LONG, setting-as-character, lots of terrible secrets. There are also a lot of TRIGGER WARNINGS. Just a lot of them – I don’t know which ones yet for Ace but, as an example, As Meat had at least one on-page sa and other implied ones and I think child death. The Wilding also had off-page sa.
Her writing is so efficient, excellent, and evocative. The stories tend towards dark and psychological and there is A LOT of story but it’s also super character driven. The main themes seem to be duplicity and identity – the ones that we choose, the ones that are pressed on us – and there are professional cardsharps, impostors, grave robbers, etc. I also appreciate that she doesn’t seem to be shying away from the racism of the times. It’s unpleasant but she could have easily just excluded it from the story, so I appreciate that.
I don’t understand the packaging for her books though. Look at the first edition of As Meat Loves Salt – the cover design is the vibe of that book: voluptuous, dangerous, moody. Then look at the blue dress cover. What is that!! The two most important characters are men! Also, you can’t see this, but the first edition book is super floppy (A++) whereas the 2nd and 3rd books are kind of small and stiff, although they still have nice paper (C+).
They really did her dirty with the cover of The Wilding, with its terribly lit stock photography. Then Ace, King, Knave has this…circa 2005 Philippa Gregory knock off vibe…what is Faber doing??
Yona of the Dawn by Mizuho Kusanagi – the kiddos are so lucky, these days they have shoujo with heroines that AREN’T tstl. Yona is like…if someone grew up as a fan of Yu Watase’s Fushigi Yuugi and then took a Women’s Studies course and, when she started doing manga professionally, decided that she, too, will write an alternate history reverse-harem fantasy adventure drama featuring a quest to find sacred warriors to save a kingdom from a long haired blonde antagonist who is hyper competent, manipulative, and strangely sympathetic……..but this time, the heroine actually gets things done and although all the guys totally love her, they aren’t dumb about it, and the girl-friends don’t become competitor-enemies but actually help her and are smart and cool in their own right. That’s my head canon anyway.
It has ~35% the emotional intensity of FY so I can’t say I’m enthralled, but I am happy to find another series I feel comfortable recommending to an actual young person! I keep it in my pocket alongside Koukou Debut, Kimi ni Todoke, and Nodame Cantabile. I’m also surprised at just HOW expressive her art is. I’ve been reading manga for ~25 years, ie, I’ve looked at a lot of Big Eyes Great Hair, but she just gets so much fine emotion in there. Very talented lady.
Side note, I was 13-15 when I watched/read/adored FY and I knew where it was being silly and/or toxic. I think a lot of people do, it’s not like you turn 21 and suddenly grow sense.
Also! The Politics (TM) are actually pretty good. A lot of times Politics (TM) is written in the same gobledygook meaningless way as technobabble is in sci-fi…throwing around a lot of words around for the vibe, very little plot points. Yona doesn’t do that – respect for Kusanagi!
The Sacrifice Box by Martin Stewart – a bit of a joke between me and my friend. 5+ years ago I mentioned seeing it in a Stranger Things read-alike list (no connection or impression otherwise) and ever since, she’ll ask me if I’ve read it yet or if I know who took their Sacrifice back. This is the year I find out!!
Pleasantly surprised at how nice the writing is.
It’s like if someone who loves Stephen King wrote a kids-on-bikes horror story that is also a little bit The Breakfast Club.