Welcome back to Whatcha Reading! This is our second and last one of February 2024. How are you ending the month?
Shana: I’m reading Three Holidays and a Wedding by Uzma Jalaluddin and Marissa Stapley. ( A | BN | K ) It’s a Ramadan-Christmas-Hanukkah romcom set in a Canadian small town. I really love that it takes place in 2000, because there’s lots of cultural easter eggs to enjoy.
Lara: I just finished The Martian by Andy Weir ( A | K | G | AB | Au ) and it was completely different to my usual reading. Truly an action movie in book form.
Sarah: I am starting Night for Day by Roselle Lim, ( A | BN | K ) because the Ladyhawke vibes are very effective on me, it turns out
Claudia: DNF’ed The Stranger I Wed by Harper St. George ( A | BN | K ) even though the synopsis was right up my alley, boo for me! I’m reading Alexandra Vasti’s In Which Margo Halifax Earns Her Shocking Reputation and really enjoying it so far.
Sarah: Oh I started that too! It’s very fun.
Claudia: Definitely stayed up too late last night!
Sarah: It’s so lively!!
Tara: I recently finished Vengeance Planning for Amateurs by Lee Winter, ( A | BN | K ) which is now my favourite romcom ever. The cover doesn’t do it justice at all, even if it’s showing items from the story.
Susan: I started reading NeuroQueer by CJ DeBarra, ( A | BN ) because the intersection of queerness and neurodivergence is where I live. Still only in the intro though, so I can’t say much about it yet
Elyse: I’m about halfway through To Cage a God. ( A | BN | K ) It’s reminiscent of the Grisha series but sapphic.
Whatcha reading? Tell us in the comments!
I’m working my way through the Chalet School series in early morning baby feeding sessions and have got up to Jo To The Rescue. Yesterday I managed to read an entire book in one sitting (something that hasn’t happened in months!) – Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith. Gorgeous.
Aw man, it feels like the only time I catch Watcha Reading as it’s happening is when I’m not currently reading romance xD Ah well, you all just go right ahead and blow up my TBR!!
Currently just Kaiju No. 8 by Naoya Matsumoto – guy gains ability to turn into a kaiju, joins the kaiju-hunting defense force, chaos ensues. There’s a whiff of guy-who-can’t-quite-write-female-characters to it, but I’m enjoying the monsters and the slapstick. Also, everyone is super hot lol. I’m also reading The Iron Flame; it’s fine. The first 150 pages could have been pared down and the trust subplots in the beginning were pretty unnecessary.
After, I think I’ll start either Jenn Shapland’s My Autobiography of Carson McCullers or Caroline Knapp’s The Merry Recluse.
I don’t think this is so much a biography of McCullers as it is questing around for answers on how a queer identities can find their way through spaces that don’t acknowledge or flat out erase them. IE, totally love McCullers and, 15 years (!) after mainling all her books, found out she had serious relationships with women via this book. Her queerness wasn’t deemed important enough to discuss in the introduction essays or include in the short bio – why? (We know why.) Shapland’s questions are adjacent to that observation that Jane Austen could have written a lot more novels if she hadn’t been a woman living during that time, so I think they are good questions to mull on.
Re: Caroline Knapp, years ago, I read her Pack of Two. It’s an essay collection about our relationship with dogs. I like her voice, she’s wise in a way that’s like…this lady has had hard knocks but has come through it. IDK how to describe it – aloof but clearly tender, 10% sad but can still laugh about it. I really liked that book, it gave me the words to comfort someone who was taking the sudden death of their dog really hard – like they were surprised at how affected they were (panic attacks). I had coincidentally just finished Pack of Two, it put me in a good spot to give them the right words. After that, I always thought I’d give this book to the next reader friend who has dogs. Well, somehow all my friends (except one) had cats and all the subsequent people I’ve met had or have gotten cats! In a sense, as someone who loves cats but can’t handle another pet, this works perfectly for me, but alas that copy of Pack of Two is still on my shelf waiting for the right somebody. Re: The Merry Recluse, I’m already of fan from Pack of Two, but I guess I would say I want to read the thoughts of someone who has done the living and done the thinking, high chance I’m going to learn something on top of enjoying the read.
I had a bit of a slump this month and went back then to my old standby of reading whump fanfic, but I did read the comeback by Lily Chu which I mostly enjoyed. I think it actually touched on some of the worst aspects of modern Stan culture (especially for male celebrities), which I think celebrity romance doesn’t touch on that much.
I also read the first volume of Mr Villain’s Day Off, which is a comedy manga about a sentai villain doing activities like going to the zoo and buying ice cream on his day off. It’s not as good as the similarly premised Duklyon: Clamp School Defenders by CLAMP but it is very cute
I have read a bunch of great books since the beginning of the month. Assume all are four ⭐️ unless otherwise noted.
CLEAT CUTE by Meryl Wilsner: adorable sports romance featuring two teammates with a bonus anti-TERF rant! What more do you want?
THIS IS THE HONEY edited by Kwame Alexander: A great selection of poetry by Black authors. I especially enjoyed the ode to hip-hop.
READY OR NOT by Cara Bastone: A women gets pregnant after a one night stand and keeps the baby. She grows to know the baby’s father and also a friend of hers really steps up. Very charming and character driven.
THE TAINTED CUP by Robert Jackson Bennett: A Holmsian mystery set on a fantasy planet. Great characterization, wonderful mystery, fantastic world building. 5 ⭐️
HOW YOU GET THE GIRL by Anita Kelly: Basketball and romance and great dialogue. A fast and fun read.
Currently Reading
MR. B: GEORGE BALANCHINE’s 20TH CENTURY: An incredibly dense biography of Balanchine that I am enjoying nonetheless because of the wonderful writing.
HIJAB BU*CH BLUES by Lamya H A memoir of coming out by a Muslim woman who finds strength in the stories of the Qur’an.
EMILY WILDE’S MAP OF THE OTHERLANDS: Returning to this book which I abandoned 1/3 of the way in. Here’s hoping I can finish it!
I’m reading THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB by Richard Osman. It’s really funny in places and really sad/melancholy in others. Not quite what I expected, but I’m enjoying it. A friend and I were talking about who we would cast, and we both thought Helen Mirren would be good for the role of Elizabeth. I thought Judi Dench would be good for the role of Joyce.
Up next, I might finally check out THE COLD DISH by Craig Johnson. My dad loves the Longmire series, and I’ve been meaning to read it for a long time.
Not a lot of reading because I was prepping for and then attending quilt retreat! My sewing has been in a slump and nothing recharges you like three days in the hinterlands of Wisconsin with nothing to do but sew. And drink. And sew. And check out/advise on other people’s projects. And sew. And eat. And sew.
As for my reading slump… There have been lots of C- and D reads not worth mentioning. This led to a reread of Jillian Stone’s THE DO IT LIST once again sparking the question: Where is book two? We left the characters on an airplane with lots of story ahead of them. Years later and still mo book two. Argh!!
I have THE LADIES REWRITE THE RULES by Suzanne Alain up next as well as MACRIEVE (thank you for SB Podcast for the reminder that I hadn’t been keeping up with the IAD series) and EMILY WILD’S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FAERIES waiting for me at the GBPL. I am hopeful the mediocre book streak is over.
Part 1
CRUSHED ICE by Ashlyn Kane & Morgan James is the latest book in their Hockey Ever After series of m/m hockey romances. It’s well-written with engaging MCs and features the veteran-rookie trope. It reminded me in some ways of Taylor Fitzpatrick’s THROWN OFF THE ICE (although without the devastating ending of that one), with the veteran player trying hard to be “sensible” but eventually falling hard for the brash young rookie. Russ is a professional hockey player in his early-thirties, which means he’s closer to the end of his career than to its start. Russ is also gay, publicly closeted, but most of his teammates know about his sexuality. Liam is a rookie who is called up to the team for a few games and, ultimately, for the season. Liam is openly gay, very flirtatious, and falls for Russ in a big way. Russ, for his part, tries to be professional about things, but he also mentors Liam—and, eventually, the guys do begin a relationship, although not without hurdles and misunderstandings. I liked CRUSHED ICE and thought Kane & James gave just the right amount of emphasis to the MCs’ differences: In addition to being gay, Russ is Black and so contends with additional layers of macro & micro aggressions (although, thankfully, not from his teammates); Liam is French-Canadian and his English is not always on point (I liked the light touch given to his syntax, where he speaks English but his phrasing often follows French grammar rules); both men come from big families and both have overbearing (in different ways) mothers—again, I liked how Kane & James show that even the closest families can sometimes make blunders by thinking they know best. And Dante “Baller” Baltierra (one of the MCs in WINGING IT, the first Hockey Ever After book) shows up as he has done in the other books, functioning in a way similar to Ilya Rozanov in the Game Changers books: dispensing advice, encouragement, and wisdom. There are so many m/m hockey series out there, it’s hard to bring something unique to the storyline, but CRUSHED ICE stands out with good writing and absorbing characters. Recommended.
I grabbed Julie Soto’s FORGET ME NOT (published last year) when it was recently on sale. I found it a thoroughly engrossing read which I gulped down in a couple sittings. However, I almost felt it was just as much the story of a young woman trying to get her wedding-planning business off the ground (and being fundamentally too nice to understand that her former boss & mentor was undermining her) as it was the second-chance romance between her and the florist with whom she’d had a brief relationship two years before. The book also features more about planning a wedding (especially a huge wedding with a quarter-million-dollar budget) than you will possibly ever want to know (unless you’re planning a wedding with unlimited funds). All that being said, I did enjoy the opposites-attract romance between Ama, a bright & vivacious wedding planner, and Elliott, a taciturn florist with whom she once had a relationship. The book is a dual timeline, with Elliott narrating the past events and Ama narrating the present. Ama is planning a huge wedding for a social influencer and—although she doesn’t want to—contracts with Elliott to provide the massive amount of flowers & greenery that will be required for the ceremony & reception. During the course of the story, we learn how Ama & Elliott first got together and what lead to their break-up. We also see Ama & Elliott getting closer in the present as we also witness the frantic undertaking required to stage an “event” wedding. I liked to core story of Ama & Elliott—and really wished there had been more of that rather than long passages about parking permits, centerpieces, and endless runs to the donut shop. I also got a little frustrated with elements of the story: Ama’s much-married mother would have received an intervention from me at least ten weddings ago. It also annoyed me that it took Ama so long to see that her former boss was damaging Ama’s business—I mean it’s not subtly done. And finally, why anyone with a peanut allergy so severe she has to carry an epi-pen would buy peanut butter donuts is a plot point I could not unravel. However, I go back to what I first said: FORGET ME NOT is a propulsive read, once you start it, you’ll find it hard to put down. Whatever my irritation with certain parts of the story, I’ve already put Soto’s next book, NOT ANOTHER LOVE SONG, on my tbr, so obviously I’m in. Recommend.
Part 2
I was unfamiliar with Devon Doe when their STRAIGHT CRUSH appeared on my recommendations and looked interesting. (I later discovered that Devon Doe is a writing duo that also publishes very dark romance as K.A. Merikan. I would never have connected the two writing teams because STRAIGHT CRUSH is so difference from the books I’ve read by K.A. Merikan.) Although billed as a “rom-com”, STRAIGHT CRUSH didn’t strike me as such: yes, it has amusing moments and funny lines, but it also has enough angst to balance the levity (not being a rom-com fan myself, I liked the angstier elements of the book). Kai—a self-described “fabulous twink”—inherits his late aunt’s house. When he goes to the house, he finds it in a state of disrepair. He also finds a squatter living there: Jake, a homeless man who lost the lower part of his leg in a construction accident several years ago. Kai discovers that Jake has actually done quite a bit of cleaning and fixing up, so Kai offers him a place to stay in exchange for help refurbishing the house—and, oh, would Jake be ok pretending to be Kai’s boyfriend? (There are reasons for that request.) The best parts of STRAIGHT CRUSH are those involving Jake (who has always considered himself straight) becoming part of Kai’s social group and starting to notice the differences and similarities between same-sex and opposite-sex relationships. I really liked seeing Jake (who is not a homophobe, but is sometimes rather clueless about social interactions) begin to understand how sexuality can be on a spectrum and begin to acknowledge his feelings toward Kai. If you’re looking for a quick, fun read—with just enough serious stuff to keep things from being too fluffy—STRAIGHT CRUSH would not be a bad choice. Recommended.
S. Massery’s FIERCE OBSESSION is the fifth book in her Hockey Gods series. I think FIERCE OBSESSION works best if you go into it expecting a rather dark romantic-suspense story because much of the book involves a subplot about sports betting & game fixing and there is violence and what I suppose must be termed “cheating” on the part of both MCs. Also, in addition to having a medical condition and being in peril during certain parts of the book, the heroine has a very difficult relationship with her ex-husband (or, as we discover, her current husband, because he refuses to give her a divorce). Knox & Aurora had an impulsive teenage marriage, but the circumstances of the marriage and why the couple broke up are gradually unfolded throughout the book. Aurora is now engaged to the goalie on Knox’s hockey team—but if Knox won’t divorce her, she can’t marry him. I liked the parts of the book that dealt with Aurora & Knox’s relationship—the things that drove them apart seemed right for teenage lovers who were probably too young and didn’t know how to use their words; reasons that would seem ridiculous if the couple were older make sense when they’re not yet 20. The subplot about game fixing, although important to the storyline, was more clumsily done (including a villain so obvious he might as well be twirling his moustache). Recommended—if you’re looking for something dark and somewhat off the beaten path.
It might seem incongruous to use the word “sweet” to describe a book which features several scenes where one MC rails the other one (his stepbrother) against a wall, but “sweet” is exactly the right word for Willow Dixon’s m/m STEP BULLY (published in 2022) which slowly peels back the antagonism between two stepbrothers to reveal the dysfunctional family backgrounds that have led them to their antipathy and, ultimately, to their love. Julian’s father had an affair with Asher’s mother, breaking up both of their marriages and resulting in a baby daughter. Jules & Ash don’t like living under the same roof with their now-married parents, but both young men love their half-sister and manage to tolerate each other for short stretches. It’s only when the guys have to share an apartment during their senior year of college that they start getting closer—although there’s a lot of antagonism to get through first. What I really liked about STEP BULLY is how vulnerable both MCs finally allow themselves to be with each other. Jules is openly gay, but shy & socially awkward; Ash, a bit of a party boy, is bi but closeted, keeping his hook-ups with men on the d/l. The circumstances that led them to their dislike are uncovered as they move from hate-fucking to affection to love. I’ve liked every Willow Dixon book I’ve read and, although it’s a little more on the N/A side than I usually like, STEP BULLY is no exception. Recommended.
@Jennifer Estep, my friend and I had similar thoughts with Charles Dance as Stephen and Alun Armstrong as Ron. We are still debating Ibraham.
And, of course, the actual movie cast is none of those people.
I really enjoyed Olivia Atwater’s THE WITCHWOOD KNOT. In the current Gothic moment, this one really stands out—very creepy and with the slowest of slow burns. (Of note: neither of those things are my catnip, but Atwater does a great job with both aspects. Both characters have some healing to do and watching them do it together is especially charming.) You’d probably get more of this if you’ve read some of Atwater’s other books, but it would work as a standalone.
Currently reading Alexis Hall’s 10 THINGS THAT NEVER HAPPENED. I have laughed out loud probably half a dozen times, but I don’t much like either of the MCs and am not really rooting for their romance. (Sam=unprofessional twit who’s faking amnesia; Jonathan=currently unrelenting asshole.) I’m going to stick with it for the humor, but don’t have high hopes for the romance angle.
Some amazing recent reads–
Kimberly Kincaid’s SIZZLE, which kicks off her new Remington Rescue Squad series. Well written RS, it ties into her Reminton universe, but stands well alone. I admit I rarely read RS, but I will read anything Ms Kincaid writes. Sam and Lucy are fellow firefighters, and an enormous fire puts them both into the crosshairs of a frightening criminal. I love how well she balances their emotional journey with the external action.
Jay Hogan’s THE SCIENCE OF ATTRACTION, the third in her Mackenzie Country series, set in the hill country of New Zealand. Gorgeously written bi-awakening story that deals with entrenched homophobia. I read and really enjoyed the first in this series, and need to loop back to read the second, although I think this stands alone well. Definitely brought me to tears at times. Very satisfying.
Naima Simone’s THE SINGLE DAD PROJECT. Ms Simone knocks it out of the park with this single-dad story that is the latest in her Rose Bend series. Her characters are SO well written, and she writes so, SO beautifully.
Tracy Solheim’s CATCH AND RELEASE, the latest in her Milwaukee Growlers football series. I found this terrifically entertaining.
Melanie Moreland’s ALDO, sort of dark-ish romance with a hero unafraid to get his hands dirty to keep the heroine safe. A definite page turner.
And I confess I was kind of meh on WHEN GRUMPY MET SUNSHINE by Charlotte Stein. Like I loved the premise, but couldn’t quite buy the execution. Alfie is supposed to be this fearsome man who intimidates the heck out of everyone, but it’s like he’s a giant marshmallow in a tough-guy footballer suit… And Mabel is so prone to self-doubt that it’s a little hard…
Still working on an anthology, Fake It Til We Make It, which is fun but a bit of a mixed bag, as can be expected. Tracy Brody’s story and Lily Kindall’s are standouts so far…
I am finally reading House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas. I had high hopes but so far it is not quite landing for me. I found Bryce really abrasive in a lot of the first book, and once again I’m finding her really abrasive. It also bothers me on a deeper level that, as of midway through the books, there’s a whole lot of male ride or die friendships and absolutely zero female ones. I’m going to wait and see how the book ends, though, and see if there’s a payoff for it.
Before that I read Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree. That was A++, would definitely read again, made me want to read Legends and Lattes again. I especially liked the author’s notes, where Baldree explained that he had actually substantially written two other sequels and shelved them before writing this one!
I also read my way through the Mage Wars trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon (flawed but fun), White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link (short story collection; some were amazing and some were just OK) and We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian (really enjoyable). I also DNFd several books that just did not land right with me. If I find myself deep-diving into news rather than reading a book in the morning, it’s a red flag that the book isn’t for me.
Since last time… after starting the Lord Julian series by Grace Burrowes, I doved deep into another of her series – I’ve already read one book earlier and realised that Quinn, head of the Wentworths, also has a brief appearance in one of the Lord Julian books. It seems all of her Regency novels share a universe, and she makes characters from different books appear in other ones, sometimes just in brief appearances – it never feels contrived and she doesn’t overexplain. It’s entirely up to the reader to see it.
So, Bourrowes’ Rogues to Riches series is about the Wentworth family who go from desperate poverty to riches – and a ducal title. Some of the books stand well on their own, some not. As the family story and some of their secrets are threaded through the whole series, it is definitely recommeded to read them in order, certainly Stephen’s book, as he shows up a lot and we see him progressing through the other stories. Book 1 is MY ONE AND ONLY DUKE that introduces the family, has a marriage of convenience and a bit of mystery at it’s heart that looks simple in the beginning but takes a couple of twists. Not quite your usual Regency romance plot – I liked it. WHEN A DUCHESS SAYS I DO is Duncan’s story and a lovely slow-burn, again with a bit of a mystery at it’s heart. FOREVER AND A DUKE is the one that’s most easily a standalone as the MCs are not family members. And unlike other characters, they do not really show up any more in the next books. This one has a great heroine (auditor at the Wentworth bank), but the mystery at the heart of the story kept dragging, and the resolution felt a bit anticlimactic. The next 2 books, A DUKE BY ANY OTHER NAME and THE TRUTH ABOUT DUKES can really only be read together as the story of Robert, male MC of the second book, is already introduced in the previous one. I liked them and they kept me wanting to know what’s going to happen next, but the “mystery” – Robert – is one that one soon suspects and both love stories feel like they’re going too fast. Plus the sex scenes felt a little meh.. HOW TO CATCH A DUKE is finally Stephen’s story, maybe the most interesting character of the lot, though we see him meeting his love interest Abby already in the previous book. The mystery at the heart of this one felt more interesting, though the resolution of who did what with who in the past… again felt a little too convenient. One of the more interesting aspects of Stephen is that he’s bisexual. Not that that’s the word he uses, but from how he tells it, that’s what it is. I have not yet read the last book, which is Ned’s story.
WAITING FOR THE FLOOD (m/m contemporary) by Alexis Hall, the next story in his Spires series, has been republished last week. This one is a novella, but in my mind one of the best things Hall has written. It’s quiet, lyrical – but has banter too, just not so much the laugh out loud variety. A quiet story about a man still reeling from a painful breakup finding love again when he doesn’t expect it – and learning not to be afraid of being hurt again. Adam, the other MC, is just delightful. I highly recommend this! New to this reissue though is a second story, CHASING THE LIGHT, which is the “other half of it”. Chasing the light finally gives us Marius’s story, the ex that Edwin from Waiting for the Flood is still thinking about, which is very different. Marius too is hurting, but he is also hurting a lot of people around him and all in all, it is not an easy read. Check out the TW/CW at the beginning!
INTERWOVEN, Book 8 in Ripley Hayes’ Daniel Owen Welsh Mysteries series. The MCs are Mal Kent (cop) and Daniel Owen (cop at the start of the series, now studying to be a teacher) who solve mysterious crime. There’s some steam but nothing very explicit. This one had an interesting twist in the relationship and the mystery/crime was interesting enough. The descriptions of the fictional Welsh town and the characters who live there are entertaining. I’ve enjoyed all of these but haven’t yet delved into the spin-offs.
I started THE LONG GAME, Book 6 in Rachel Reid’s Game Changers series, but I haven’t been able to get into it. I don’t read many sports romances but HEATED RIVALRY, the first book for this (m/m) couple, was one of my favorite reads last year. I’ll bury myself in some non-fiction and come back to this.
On that note, I started THINK LIKE A FREAK (the authors of Freakonomics offer to retrain your brain). This is the third Freakonomics book – I read the first two books many years ago and lost track of the fact that there were more. These guys very cleverly apply economic theory to human behavior. Some people find it offensive (notably, their data-based argument that legalizing abortion contributed significantly to the decline in crime rates) but I find the diversity of subjects and the creativity of their analysis interesting and entertaining.
This latter half of February has mostly been me with a witless grin on my face, from all the amazing reading discoveries I have made:
THE TRUE LOVE EXPERIMENT CHRISTINA LAUREN. M/F contemporary.
I’ve had this (and others by CL) on my Kindle for months. Why did I wait so long? What an absolute treat this book is. Straight into my personal top ten. I swooned from start to finish and was disappointed when it ended. My first ever by these authors and from there I went straight into THE UNHONEYMOONERS which wasn’t quite as wonderful but was pretty damn good. And (I was obsessed at this point) from there to ROOMIES which was a charming tale about a fake marriage, set in the world of New York theatre. An insecure (but talented in spite of herself) FMC and a charming (upfront talented) MMC are obviously made for each other but misunderstandings and mistakes lead to the inevitable conflict. However, I bought into the relationship and would have liked more of it. It felt slightly rushed at the end and I really wanted a decent epilogue. Still loved it though.
LOVE LETTERING by KATE CLAYBORN. M/F contemporary.
My first taste of Kate Clayborn and another of those well-reviewed contemporaries that have been hanging around my Kindle and again, why did I wait? An absolutely gorgeous book. I was completely and utterly enchanted, reading well into Bad Decisions Book Club territory. I am now well stocked with more stories by Ms Clayborn and nothing is going to stop me…between her, Christina Lauren and Emily Henry, I may never leave the house again.
And now for something completely different…
KAJE HARPER x3: UNACCEPTABLE RISK, UNEXPECTED DEMANDS, UNWANTED APPEAL
Werewolves/shifters are not usually my thing (except for Nalini Singh’s PsyChangeling books which opened up a whole new world in lockdown) but the first one was free and the next two on offer, so I gave into curiosity. M/M stories all based around the same pack; a harsh world, with a lot of homophobia (content warning), so the various pairings have a constant struggle with these attitudes and the violence they propagate. The main characters are likeable enough and bring some heat, plus some positive progress is made by the end of the third book, so I am now invested enough to see the series through to its conclusion. Enjoyable.
ASSISTANT TO THE VILLAIN by HANNAH NICOLE MAEHRER
I’m not sure I gave this book a fair chance. I read it very piecemeal, on short Tube journeys. It was perfect travel reading – easy to dip in and out of, not too much concentration needed. But such a fragmented experience means I don’t really know if I enjoyed it or not. Featuring a sunshiney FMC and grumpy MMC (the aforementioned Villain) in a fairytale/fantasy setting. A fairly weak plot and paper thin characterisation, plus ending on a cliffhanger didn’t elevate it. Will I read the sequel? Who knows?
What I will read, however, is anything by KJ CHARLES and now I have started on the Widdershins universe, I jumped on her freebie, REMNANT, written with JORDAN L. HAWK. A cracking little short featuring Whyborne and Griffin encountering Simon Feximal and Robert Caldwell on a trip to London. Excellent. And thanks to those of you who encouraged me to carry on with my Whyborne and Griffin odyssey in the last WAYR.
Happy reading all.
Long post b/c I missed it last time!
BRIDE Ali Hazelwood -M/F paranormal, political drama between paranormal races. Good, but the emotional arc of the couple was not quite on point. Would read the next one. 4/5 stars.
THE ROOK Daniel O’Malley – Paranormal contemporary spy, not a romance. Solid, but needed a good editor. Some of it felt really unique at first, and then became more mundane as book went on. Lots of explaining, lots of redundancy, and then some of the most interesting pieces were glossed over, including some seminal, violent scenes. Why rush when stuff is finally happening? Will read the next one after a break, though, and recommend it generally. 4/5
GUARDIAN ANGEL Julie Garwood – Historical, M/F, reread – old skool, but I still love this book. 5/5
P.S. YOU’RE INTOLERABLE Julia Wolf M/F — M/F billionaire book – really believed that they fell in love around and through her being pregnant with her ex’s baby. Loved how she and the baby made a family with the main character by the end. 4/5
FINALLY FOREVER Nadia Lee – I liked this M/F billionaire book, so I read three more of her books, until the last finally broke me. Don’t do what I did. Read this one if you are in the mood, and skip the other three. 4/5
MY GRUMPY BILLIONAIRE Nadia Lee – OK M/F billionaire book. 3/5
CONTRACTUALLY YOURS Nadia Lee – OK M/F billionaire book. 3/5
BEAUTY AND THE ASSASSION Nadia Lee – Pretty foolish book. I finished it, but there were numerous times when I said, “This is nuts, and not in a fun way.” Heroine’s stalker has been killing people around her for years, and keeps finding her, even though she moves, through obvious means. TSTL. Don’t bother. 2/5
NERO S.J. Tilly – This is the kind of book you finish and think, “I should have gone to bed.” And I think I read this before, which makes it even sillier. Meh. 2/5
HE’S NOT MY TYPE Meghan Quinn – I kept waiting for this book to take off. The premise was good, and the texts between the friends were really excellent – best part of the book by far. The relationship she developed between the team members deserved to be a book by itself. Unfortunately, I didn’t see them fall in love. Just didn’t work that well for me. 3/5
DRAGGED TO THE WEDDING Andrew Grey M/M – I found this book very heavy handed and uncomfortable in a bad way. I am a cis hetero woman, so I am not putting myself out there as the arbiter of how a story about two gay men should be told. However, there were multiple times when it felt squicky to me that one man was paid to pretend to be a woman so the other can stay in the closet to his family. And that when the Drag Queen was in drag, the other main character’s internal dialogue seemed to be about seeing through that drag, in a way that felt dismissive.
And I did not like the fact that this new “girlfriend” then had to solve every emotional and wedding planning problem the family had – which the family expected. And then the family was reconciled to their son being gay in one conversation – if it was that easy, why all the subterfuge? Finally, he was out to his coworkers (?big city police department?) but not any family? Many elements just didn’t ring true for me. Would love to hear thoughts of others. Generally disappointing. 2/5
A CHRISTMAS TO REMEMBER Lisa Kleypas and others. Collection of historical novellas. Meh. 3/5
PROTECTION Kelly Fox – M/M – Billionaire with a heart of gold, mob adjacent, bodyguard, international tech genius kidnapping – trying to do too much and just kind of weak. Meh. 2/5
Reading A TEMPEST OF TEA Hafsah Faizal — Paranormal heist book in an alternate world. Some romantic elements. Not a negative, but would classify it as YA because the worldbuilding is somewhat black and white, and the characters are either young adults or ancient vampires. I am looking forward to seeing what happens and I like the author’s voice – lyrical and full of whimsy.
Looking forward to @JenniferEstep’s new sci fi after that, 3rd in the series! ONLY HARD PROBLEMS is locked and loaded for a great Saturday night! Thank you, @JE!
Over the past two weeks ~
— continued with the fantasy series I began a couple of weeks ago and read Jeweled Fire (An Elemental Blessings Novel Book 3) by Sharon Shinn. I enjoyed it and will continue on, but the first book, Troubled Waters, remains my favorite to date.
— quite enjoyed Colony One by T.L. Ford which I’d describe as science fiction. It covers the life of an incredibly intelligent young woman with an eidetic memory from a horrible childhood to perhaps early thirties when she has founded a new world. It requires some willing suspension of disbelief, but I’d be interested in reading more in this world or other books by the author.
— reread Cooper West’s Parker’s Sanctuary along with the prologue, Rescued, and the epilogue, Second Chances, and enjoyed them all again. These are set in a world where some children become protectors (who can shift to a dog) or handlers and pair bonds form. This usually takes place at around puberty, and they attend a special school. In Parker’s Sanctuary, however, a dog is rescued (in the separate prologue) from an abusive owner who is convinced that the dog is a protector. The dog is placed into a foster home and the story takes off. Warnings for animal abuse and adult content; this is a male/male romance.
— continued the fantasy series I’ve been reading with Unquiet Land (An Elemental Blessings Novel Book 4) by Sharon Shinn which I also enjoyed.
— quite enjoyed the contemporary romance Sweet Talk: Is it love on the line? by Cara Bastone. This story begins when a man with insomnia leaves a voice text for his sister to the person next to his sister in his contacts. Since the man has dyslexia, that woman’s name is listed as a mishmash of letters. She knows who he is, but he can’t figure out who she is. They build up a relationship over their phones.
— also enjoyed The Christmas Leap (Festive Fakes) by Keira Andrews which is a contemporary romance between two male friends who find themselves in a fake relationship.
CONFESSIONS OF LYDIA BENNET, WITCH by Melinda Taub. Very enjoyable but forcing the story to stick to the events in P&P held this book back. It would have been so much better if the author just created her own characters.
I have had some great reads, quite a few Bad Decision Bookclub nights. Many of you have read these so I’ll just squee quietly.
CHECK & MATE by Ali Hazelwood: Run to this book.
ARGYLLE by Elly Conway: NOT the movie, this was an exciting spy novel, completely unexpected.
LOOKING FOR JANE by Heather Marshall: Toronto-based story of three women whose lives are connected. A teenager in 1971 was forced to give up her baby thanks to the cruelty of nuns at a home for girls. She joins the Jane Network, committed to giving other women a choice she never had. The story ricochets forward in surprising ways, alternately haunting, horrifying and hopeful.
CAN’T STOP THINKING by Nancy Colier: I bought my own copy after borrowing the library’s. Chronic overthinker, much? and how does one overcome it without overthinking? Highly recommended and while self-help books usually make me more anxious, this one was different.
All the Bad Decision Bookclub reads:
THE SPIRE and PRESERVATION by Kate Canterbary
CHICK MAGNET by Emma Chase
I AM PILGRIM by Terry Hayes
AGNES AND THE HITMAN by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer
Happy weekend, and I hope those in the daylight savings zone are enjoying seeing more of the daylight!
Continuing from the last WAYR, I jumped into book 3 of Charlie Adhara’s wolf shifter series, THROWN TO THE WOLVES. This was practically a one-seat binge, I almost made it entirely through the book without leaving the sofa. I’d seen from other SBTB comments that in books 2-3 the pair’s relationship really develops, and it was a delight to see it mature further in this book, plus we got to learn more about the wolf world and the pack dynamics/politics.
Next, WHAT THE RIVERS KNOWS by Isabel Ibanez, a YA book that definitely has teen/tween feeling MCs who make teen decisions without stopping to think about the consequences. I enjoyed the read and the Latin American & Egyptian history was well-woven into the story (I was click-baited by The Mummy comp), but the MCs irked me too much to be interested in the next book. I also thought the underlying “villain” had potential to be really interesting rather than a 2D bad person.
I submitted to the Bitchery’s fans with A CURIOUS BEGINNING by Deanna Raybourn, #1 of the Veronica Speedwell series. It took me a while to get into the story, both because the heroine & story had strong parallels with another of Raybourn’s series I’ve read, and also because of the stick up Veronica’s ass and how she was “not-like-other-women”. It picked up for me in the second half and I liked the sniping banter, but I don’t think the series is for me, alas.
Another The Mummy trope bait with free novella CURSE OF BRONZE by Tansy Rayner Roberts, this one I came so close to DNF-ing, but ultimately powered through. It was too sweet to be my cup of tea – the tropes and humour just didn’t land for me.
Then a freebie, and book 8 in a series, so it is partly self-inflicted issues, with SCION OF THE SORCERESS by Lisa Blackwood. I was fine with being dumped in the middle of a larger story and having to suss out the world-building, and I enjoyed the snarky banter between the two MCs, but as the book progressed, more and more characters POVs got added, so we spent less time with the MCs. Then the book ended on an absolute cliffhanger, despite my vague recollection/impression from the book description that the series could feasibly be read as standalones.
Finally, another binge-a-day completed today with another rec from the Bitchery’s comments, CROCODILE ON THE SANDBANK by Elizabeth Peters. And why yes, another The Mummy (x Miss Marple) comp clickbait. The FMC reminded me of Veronica above, very (too) sure of herself, only sees things from her POV and feels herself superior to most women. There was also some superiority to the “natives” too – beware of the language, though potentially representative of the time setting. I greatly enjoyed the ribbing between the two MCs and I think my libraries have the first 8 or so in the series as ebooks, so I anticipate more books to follow. I did get some deja vu while I was reading, but I think that was due to overlap in theme with Veronica & What the River Knows.
It was interesting having read WHAT THE RIVER KNOWS and CROCODILE IN THE SANDBANK reasonably close together, as they’re set in a similar time period, feature the same settings (both groups stay at the same hotel during the stories) and even some overlapping background characters. However, Crocodile is from a white english “older” wealthy woman’s POV, while River is from a young hispanic wealthy woman’s POV, and so the resulting attitudes and views differed. Clearly having money and kahunas was the way to travel as a woman at that time.
It does make me really want to read a The Mummy trope-related Egyptian-authored book, so if anyone knows anything like this, recs are happily accepted.
Finally, I’m also slowly working my way through Zen Cho’s SPIRITS ABROAD anthology – she has a knack for sly humour and unexpected stories, and I can recommend if you’re a short story fan.
THE MAZE OF THE ENCHANTER: The Collected Fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith vol. 4 — I haven’t read the other volumes; I’m enjoying this one.
WORK IT OUT: A Mood-Boosting Exercise Guide for People Who Just Want to Lie Down by Sarah Kurchak (via a recommendation here, if I remember right) — Not far into it but liking it so far.
THE BIRDS AND OTHER STORIES by Daphne du Maurier — All the stories have been good so far (including the title story which was loosely adapted into the Hitchcock movie) but I’ve been taking long breaks between them. The one I just read was “The Little Photographer”, which isn’t romance but has some elements (a HEA isn’t one), plus lots of great sense detail.
SISTER OUTSIDER by Audre Lorde — I’m only on the first essay which is a travel journal of a trip to the Soviet Union — not the sort of thing I expected, but it’s good.
I finally got around to reading ROLE PLAYING by Cathy Yardley and loved everything about it, from the age of the MCs (48 and 50), their introvert tendencies, and that they met through online gaming, but I think what put it over the top was the way the MMC, who has always struggled with his sexual identity, finally learns that there’s actually a label for the feelings he’s always had (he’s bi and demisexual) and he’s not alone or weird for feeling that way.
For my bookclub, we read THE MEASURE by Nikki Erlick, a book I never would otherwise have picked up but it was well written and so thought provoking. It’s speculative fiction in which one morning, every adult in the world wakes up to find a small, indestructible box sitting on their doorstep with a string inside that turns out to be an indicator of the length of your life. How would the world change in response?
Finally, on a whim, I picked up AN IMPRACTICAL GUIDE TO SATYR CHARMING, by Cynthia Diamond, a romance between a witch who had her powers stolen, and a satyr whose herd was killed by witches and is determined to drive her off the property she has bought. The plot sounds heavy, and both MCs have serious anxiety issues, but it was actually a sweet and relatively lighthearted read.
I canceled Kindle Unlimited a couple months ago and have been doing a deep dive into my unread books and into Libby. I visited a friend in Berkeley and added that library to my collection so I have even more access. And when I was telling the folks at work about that, a couple people went and signed up for Libby also.
Just finished I ALMOST DO by Evangeline Williams, liked it a lot. Pretty standard arranged marriage. Daddy wants his baby girl taken care of and his company cherished by tough mentee. They both have feelings that they are not ready to deal with and both have a ton of changing to do. Given that the marriage is not consummated until near the end, there are still plenty of sexy times.
Still reading medical romance, too. THE DOCTOR’S CHRISTMAS MIRACLE by Holly Rayner is an enemies to lovers set in an ER at Christmas. Dr and RN are annoyed by each other but she discovers his sweet secret and it brings them together (no, not a plot moppet). Very sweet with, of course, the misunderstandings and penultimate chapter breakup. I enjoyed it though it was light on actual medicine.
GAME OF BRIDES by Megan Crane who I generally like is part of a series about a wedding contest somewhere out by Bozeman, MT. Second chance with meddling grannies and not nearly enough grovel. I am starting to have less tolerance for meddling and/or quirky families unless really well done and organic to the story. Did not dislike but unlikely to re-read.
WISH by Deborah Bladen. She comes home to find a naked man in her apartment; her meddling sister (who I did find somewhat annoying) rented the other room to him. He is a cop, She is a vet assistant which she loves but which does not impress her family. They manage to cohabitate and then more. I gave it 4 stars.
A book I read previously, A FALSE START by Elsie Silver, is currently free on Amazon. It’s third in a series but can be read as a stand-alone. I enjoyed it.
And, of course, the many books I found by typing Harlequin Presents into the search in the Libby App. Currently ready Doukakis’ Apprentice by Sarah Morgan for the second time this week. Grumpy sunshine, he buys her father’s company, not realizing that she is really running it due to dad’s lack of interest in being a business man or father. They are fraught backstory and rampant, yes I am using that word, chemistry. And, of course, the traumatic childhoods. I really like the heroine, she seems a flake but she is tough.
No romance this time, though I just picked up Charlotte Stein’s WHEN GRUMPY MET SUNSHINE at the library yesterday (a new-to-me author).
TASTE MAKERS by Mayukh Sen is about six women who emigrated to the United States (from China, Iran, France, Italy, India, and Jamaica) and then wrote cookbooks about their home cuisine, looking at how they shaped and fit into America’s changing food landscape and diversifying population. He also includes Julia Child, who of course dominated much of the food landscape from the 1960s on, which is part of his exploration of how male and Anglo/US writers dominated the food scene, and what that meant for the six women.
I am currently reading Kate Clifford Larson’s biography of the civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, WALK WITH ME, which is unflinching in discussing what Hamer endured throughout her life as a sharecropper in Mississippi, before she began working with civil rights groups (CW for descriptions of violent attacks, and Hamer was sexually assaulted while jailed after a protest).
I am also reading Ross Gay’s BOOK OF DELIGHTS, which is inspiring me to note moments of joy and delight (SBTB being a regular source of those).
In addition, two re-reads of mysteries: Dorothy L. Sayers’ THE UNPLEASANTNESS AT THE BELLONA CLUB (which I was surprised to learn via the Shedunnit podcast was one of the early titles released by Penguin after its founding). I’m also coming to the end of my years-long re-read of the Cadfael mysteries, with THE HOLY THIEF (which I had no memory of reading before). I just have the last one, Brother Cadfael’s Penance, which I haven’t read before. But I suspect I’ll be going back to A Morbid Taste for Bones, and probably reading on from there – though not straight through, more just when I need some time in that world.
The thing about meddling families is that I don’t want them to succeed so there’s always a part of me that wants the meddled relationship to fail.
I also don’t like it when the heroine (it’s usually the heroine) meddles in the hero’s family relationships. Back in the day, there was a story by, I think, Jo Beverley were the hero is estranged from his aristocratic family and tells the heroine his grandmother is terrible. The heroine of course is all “but family” and goes to meet her, gets kidnapped by the gran, and has to be rescued by the hero. I still remember that fondly.
@DonnaMarie — Oh, those are great choices! I was thinking about Michael Caine for one of the guys. Ron, maybe?
@Big K — Thanks! Hope you enjoy the new book.
Kathleen, Jo to the Rescue is a really interesting one, I always think. Wish Brent-Dyer had referred to Zephyr in later books.
I’d love to brag about how much I’m reading, but between running two book clubs (side hustle stuff), my day job, and playing Ghost of Tsushima semi-obsessively, I really have not been. Plus, House of Flame and Shadow took me the better part of two weeks, it was a lot of book. At any rate, I just finished Set On You by Amy Lea (I start humming the George Harrison song every time I pick it up). It’s about an Instagram Curvy/Fitness Influencer who meets a hot firefighter at the gym when they initially find themselves in conflict over a squat rack. But they’re hot for each other and also their grandparents are getting hitched, as it turns out. It’s quite funny, and as someone who is chubby but likes to exercise, I could identify with some of the inner conflict between that one runs into with that stuff, and unfortunately, the incidents with internet trolls was pretty real (the internet, what a hellscape, amiright?). Haven’t figured out what I’m reading next, because as usual, I have an embarrassment of options (TBR gonna TBR).
So until next time, may no one be crushed by the TBR.
Yikes, my comment is so long I had to split it. First of 2 comments.
It’s been a while since I posted to WAYR. Through December and January, I had nothing but negative or lukewarm thoughts for the romances I read and decided it was unproductive to spread the gloom. But two of them were soooo bad I’m going to give myself permission to gripe about them here:
A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES by Sarah J. Maas (DNF) – It’s rare for me to actually DNF a book; I usually skim ahead to the ending in case there’s something redemptive there, but I found the heroine Feyre so completely intolerable in the first three chapters that I just walked away. In Feyre’s world, everyone — her sisters, her father, her dead mother, her occasional hookup in the village — is just a leechy waste of space holding her back because she made a commitment to take care of them. Honey, when everyone else is the problem, it’s time to find a mirror. (Admittedly, figuring that out could have been her journey. That’s why I usually leap ahead rather than walking away from a book. But I saw no breadcrumbs for that development.)
THE UNFORTUNATE SIDE EFFECTS OF HEARTBREAK AND MAGIC by Breanne Randall (D) – The heroine, the romance, and frequent use of cringeworthy metaphors in this book all earned an F, but I dragged it up to a D because there was something charming in the herbal/cooking magic and I may have felt guilty after reading the author’s afterword. In the books defense, I think it was miscategorized as a romance, but the romance plot — and there is a romance plot — was terrible. A moral and ethical disaster of a romance.
Oh, wait. The negativity continues:
SOME KIND OF BLUNDERFUL by Livy Hart (C+) – This romance starts with a terrible first date that set out some interesting obstacles to a lasting relationship between the protagonists (she’s happiest living and working in the town where she grew up and all her family and friends live; he’s ambitious and happily moves wherever his next career goal takes him), but swiftly devolves into an awkwardly forbidden romance because he’s her dad’s new boss who got the job even though her dad had applied. (I’m not a huge fan of dads or brothers disapproving of a heroine’s relationship unless we’re dealing with billionaire revenge plots in Harlequin romances.)
The Tairen Soul series by C.L. Wilson (C) – I read the first two books in this 5-book series a few years ago, but never finished, so I decided to revisit them when I needed new audiobooks to fill my chore time. I had fond memories of the fairy-tale nature of the romance between the fae with the tragic backstory who could transform into a giant flying fire-breathing cat and the plain daughter of a humble wood carver, but by the end of the series I was irritated with the sexist fae culture (specifically the empathic women who had to be sheltered from the psychic pain of the fae warriors whose souls had been darkened by centuries of warfare) and repelled by the vaguely eroticized descriptions of rape and torture.
Second of 2 comments.
Okay, finally. Good books.
The Last Binding series by Freya Marske:
• A MARVELLOUS LIGHT (A-) – back in my manga fandom days, I would have called this a dog x cat pairing: in an AU of Edwardian England, golden retriever Sir Robin Blyth is (mis)appointed as the civil service liaison between the Home Office and a secret magical society and is immediately intrigued by his unsociable magical counterpart, Edwin Courcey.
• A RESTLESS TRUTH (B-) – Robin’s sister Maud goes on a magical adventure of her own when she has to solve the shipboard murder of the woman she was accompanying on a transatlantic journey. I loved Maud (characterized as a young Alexander the Great) but had no patience for her prickly love interest, Violet. This was also my first sapphic romance and I was disappointed by the number of times magic was invoked to reproduce heteronormativity.
• A POWER UNBOUND (B) – the character of Jack Alston, Lord Hawthorn, is everything I love in an historical romance hero (grumpy, superior, reluctantly moved by honor and a secret soft heart to do the right thing and become attached to others) but his backstory was too depressing for me to overcome and frankly there’s too much at stake in the magical plot for any focus on love. Also, regarding the resolution of the magic plot: I felt like Marske was aiming for the democratization of magic, but there seems to be an inherent contradiction with land ownership/being bound to the land.
THE EXCEPTION TO THE RULE by Christina Lauren (A) – a wrongly addressed email leads to an epistolary romance between two young adults. Novella length, not a lot of plot depth but nice chemistry between the protagonists.
WORST WINGMAN EVER by Abby Jimenez (A) – another novella in Amazon’s “Improbable Meet-Cute” collection, but there’s more emotional heft to this story of a hospice nurse caring for her dying grandmother who gets some respite via the notes she exchanges with the stranger who accidentally placed his brother’s Valentine’s Day card to his sister-in-law on the heroine’s windshield instead.
The Xiveri Mates series by Elizabeth Stephens (B+) – alien romances with an uneven mix of eroticism, depressing/dark themes (rape, prejudice, sexual slavery, addiction), tropey silliness, and effective sequel-baiting that had me devouring nine volumes in the last two weeks of my Kindle Unlimited subscription.
SWEETEN THE DEAL by Katie Shepard (B+) – A socially awkward young woman (possibly on the autism spectrum, but her love interest very deliberately steps back from pathologizing her, which I appreciate) who recently inherited $2M from her grandmother hires a financially strapped artist from a sugar baby site to expand her cultural education.
EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE by Benjamin Stevenson (B) – an intellectually fun mystery that ultimately suffers from vaguely unappealing and uninteresting characters. I would still recommend it to learn all the ways the narrator’s extended family have killed people + enjoy his golden age of mystery rules-based approach to mystery writing, but I read so few mysteries that I can’t help but compare the book negatively to Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series where every character — even the villains — is a freaking delight.
BRIDE by Ali Hazelwood (B-) – Just not that interesting as a romance (I thought the heroine’s most compelling relationship was with her brother) or as an exploration of the convergence of two paranormal cultures or the ethics of one-sided soulmate relationships. The politics of the world were interesting to me, but the characters were not.
I just finished THRONE IN THE DARK by A. K. Caggiano and I was SO hooked by it. It’s a grumpy/sunshine romance between a half-demon and a human who are forced to travel together and has a glacially slow-burn romance, and in spite of the demon-y parts it’s light-hearted and even funny. I was sneaking away from my office to read mid-workday. (Note, it’s book 1 of 3 and ends with some resolution but many loose ends.)
In addition to a true crime-type book (free from Prime), I just finished THE FOURTH WING by Rebecca Yarros and it was very exciting and fun. A little trope-y — at a school to learn magical skills, boy from home as a possible crush, bad boy older than heroine attracts her, fellow students fighting to the death — but I enjoyed it very much.