My favorites and my borrowed list are overflowing, but is that going to stop me?
Ha. No. Please tell me what you’ve discovered in your reading subscriptions!
If you’ve got any of the subscription services like Scribd, Kindle Unlimited, or Kobo Plus, I want to know what your latest discovery is.
(Kindle Unlimited has a deal right now for $4.99 for two months, FYI.)
Library folks may also be using Hoopla Digital to access ebooks and audiobooks, and services like Kanopy to watch scripted series and documentaries.
As for me, I found some books inside KU that I’m very excited to read!
First, in a recent podcast episode about The Bachelor, Jodi McAlister recommended A Wolf in the Garden by Allegra Hall, which is a shifter romance by a Maori author with Maori characters. (The Maori are the Indigenous people of Aotearoa, aka New Zealand.)
A friend asked me if I’d read Don’t Forget to Write by Sara Goodman Confino, who I learned is a teacher in my school system. My friend told me she’d inhaled it and hadn’t stopped thinking about it since.
It’s about a young woman who gets sent to live with her great aunt for a summer in 1960 after she’s caught making out with the rabbi’s son. They go to the Jersey shore! There’s matchmaking!
My friend said she loved this book so much, and is making her way through Sara Goodman Confino’s backlist.
I also added a very long (580 pages!) YA/teen mystery thriller called A Curse in Kyoto, by SJ Cullen. A cursed museum exhibit, a missing student at the British School of Kyoto, and two teens for “an unlikely alliance” to try to find out where the student went, and what the heck is going on. I’m really into stories that transplant me to a whole other world (see my review for Blood of a Gladiator, which takes place in ancient Rome) and even though the page count is a little daunting, I’m going to try it.
And over on Hoopla, I’ve got the audiobook for Passion Favors the Bold by Theresa Romain saved for listening during my next quilting project, along with the audio recording of Chelsea Devontez’s memoir, I Shouldn’t be Telling You This.
Finally, I found the audiobook of Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies by Misha Popp on Hoopla, after several folks talked about it in the podcast Patreon discord. This is book one of the Pies Before Guys series, which is a truly perfect series name.
Do I want more recommendations? Of course! The favorites list has no limit! So, what are you watching, reading, or browsing?
Please share! What recent treasures have you discovered? What’s on your TBR inside your subscriptions?
I just discovered KM Avery and their series Beyond the Veil in KU – the series follows 1 couple for the first 3 books (which I have not read yet), and then they are side characters as it spins off in book 4 to follow a separate character for the next 3 books. Thanks to one of the Rom Free Days I heard about on here I got book 4 and started there, but it was not hard to catch-up/jump in in the middle. I totally loved the grumpy elf homicide detective and the sunshiny Xoloitzcuintli shifter witness/victim he takes in while trying to solve who is killing shifters. Book 4 is the slowest of slow-burns, but books 5 & 6 have the romance stumbling along, and I really liked these characters and their romance. Each book does have violent crimes going on that need to be solved, so trigger warnings for that, but I liked the mystery/detective aspect – reminded me a little of Nicky James’ Valor and Doyle series (even though this one is supernatural and single POV). I am going to start book 7 today, and then probably swing back around to books 1-3 🙂
I don’t think this author has all her books in KU which is a bit of a shame, because she has a bunch of connected series. The author is Lauretta Hignett and the first series is the Imogen Gray series (which is in KU), starting with IMMORTAL. I like the Blood & Bones series best (about a different main character called Prue Nakai), also in KU! There’s a bit of romance (not quite fade to black, but not very spicy) but what I love most of all is that it’s urban fantasy with actual quality female friendships. Women who actually genuinely like each other’s company, seek it out, and don’t just have a token scene here and there.
This is a Prime thing, not KU (I don’t think), but honestly some of the sweetest stories I’ve read in awhile, so I’m going to mention it. The Improbable Meet-Cute collection has novellas (40-100 pages) by Sariah Wilson, Ashley Poston, Jasmine Guillory, Abby Jimenez and my absolute two favorites are by Sally Thorne (with a claustrophobia TW) and Christina Lauren. All of the situations are extremely improbable, and I finished each one smiling. It was lovely.
I’ve recently joined the Queer Liberation Library – https://www.queerliberationlibrary.org/
It’s a digital library accessible through the Libby app. You just apply to get your library card through the QLL web site and then you can check out ebooks and audio books through Libby.
And they have great curated lists of books! Because my library system has an excellent LGBTQ+ collection, I haven’t checked out any books through QLL yet (I want to keep the wait times down by only checking out books I can’t get anywhere else) but I am LOVING browsing their lists and doing subject searches.
The KU deal isn’t showing for me, maybe because I’ve used KU before. But for those who like historical mysteries, I found these fun, and they’re still in KU.
Heathcliff Lennox Investigates, 1920s Murder Mystery series by Karen Baugh Menuhin
Anty Boisjoly Mysteries by PJ Fitzsimmons:
Another spiffing mystery with peculiar characters, twists both literal and figurative, and a jaunty, cheerful narration. My only criticism is that the prose gets a bit purple at times, making it hard to follow. It’s still an enjoyable read.
Oooh, I just found out “Assistant to the Villain” is on KU. I saw the second book came out and I’m on hold at my library for it.
AJ Sherwood’s stories are all on KU, including the Jon’s Mystery’s series featuring lie detector Jonathan Bane and cinnamon roll Donovan Havili. Everyone needs a Havili in their life.