We’re nearing the end of January! Here’s what we’re reading lately:
Elyse: I just started Strike and Burn ( A | BN | K | AB ) and DNF’d after one chapter. 1. The hero is named Strike Madden. 2. The hero and heroine make out less than an hour after she sees her sister’s dead body in a morgue. 3. His parting words to her are “See you around this fucking world, Honor.”
Lara: I’m reading I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com by Kimberly Lemming. ( A | BN | K | AB ) The humour and I don’t mesh well but I’m really enjoying the twists and turns. I never know what’s going to happen next in this book.
Elyse: Update on Strike and Burn: they have sex in a room with a dead body
Claudia: I’ve just finished Earl Crush by Alexandra Vasti… ( A | BN | K | AB ) I’m not sure how I feel about it. There were fun moments, to be sure.
Sarah: I’m listening to the full cast audio of Sweep in Peace. ( A | BN | K | AB ) I think the single narrator versions, which aren’t abridged, are Audible only, but the full cast audio drama-style versions are on Hoopla.. I didn’t think I’d like the full cast versions but the first one was really fun to listen to. There are some benefits to having unique voices for the very over the top side characters.
Sneezy: I’ve recently started My Farm by the Palace. It’s cozy and low key unhinged.
Tara: Yesterday, I read the graphic novel I Shall Never Fall in Love by Hari Conner. Super lovely friends to lovers, trans regency romance. It’s pretty cozy, but also directly addresses the whole “but how did they get so rich, anyway?” of the time.
Susan: I am getting rid of approximately 200 books and finally reading the literary graphic novels my local comic book store keeps picking as book of the month, ask me anything @_@
Shana: I’m reading A Shore Thing by Joanna Lowell. It’s a m/f historical romance with a trans hero. I love that it takes the traditional scientist/artist pairing and makes the woman the absentminded scientist.
Amanda: I’m reading a cheese shifter book called Why Cheese? ( A | BN | K | AB ) No, I will not elaborate further
Tara: Amanda, I read what you wrote WAY too quickly and wondered why you’d read Who Moved My Cheese?, and if anyone hasn’t listened to that episode of If Books Could Kill, I highly recommend it.
Whatcha reading to cap off January? Let us know in the comments!
THE FAVOURITES by Layne Fargo
I am OBSESSED. This is a Wuthering Heights retelling set in the elite ice dancing world. I first heard about ice dancing when Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir performed their swoony Moulin Rouge number at the 2018 Olympics so I came into this book with certain expectations. Reader, I was not disappointed. This had it all, the yearning and angst and glitter. Rest assured, our Cathy and Heathcliff (Kath and Heath) get an HFN (with a possibility of an HEA) without any ghosts involved. I also enjoyed the shoutout to late 90s hits, I now have Savage Garden on my playlist.
ROMANCING MISS BRONTË by Juliet Gäel
I’m on a bit of a Brontë kick after The Favourites. This is fictionalised account of Charlotte’s life starting with Arthur Nicholl’s arrival in Haworth. The ‘romancing’ only occurs in the second half when Arthur proposes. As a novel it is disappointing because it reads like a biography at some points.
I much preferred Syrie James’ THE SECRET DIARIES OF CHARLOTTE BRONTË. It covers the same period and retells the same events but reads more like a novel with the Brontës and their circle as fleshed-out characters.
I just devoured an early copy of Lucy Parker’s upcoming Audible-first book, Misdirected, and loved it so much that I’ve been re-reading all of her backlist in a big delicious binge. I’m in the middle of re-reading Battle Royal right now!
My reading habits have been a bit different for me recently—re-reading and some self-help-y kind of stuff, neither of which is my usual jam, but ya know. Some seasons of life are like that.
Re-read was Theresa Romain’s Holiday Pleasures series—#2 and #4 were my favorites of the bunch (SEASON FOR SURRENDER and SEASON FOR DESIRE.)
I’ve also been re-reading Emily and Amelia Nagoski’s BURNOUT and am on to COME TOGETHER, both of which are helpful.
I also really liked LORD OF SCOUNDRELS by Loretta Chase. If you’re going to write a reformed rake, you could write a far worse heroine than Jessica Trent, but omg, I am sure Sebastian has STIs. (A common problem with this trope in historicals, I feel.)
I can’t remember if I recommended THE WILL OF THE MANY, but I think I found it here and it was on my Best of 2024 list. It’s an alternate version of Ancient Rome with lots of plot twists, conspiracies, magic, and a minor romance.
Up next: re-reading/finishing TAKE A HINT, DANI BROWN for book club and then will probably bite the bullet and buy the new Fourth Wing book.
I’ve been reading more for escape than anything else, and reading so quickly that I’m not retaining much. I can tell you what my Kindle says that I read, that these are all authors I’ve read before, and that they were all distracting enough to finish.
MARRIED TO THE DEVIL: A MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE MONSTER ROMANCE (Monstrous Matches) by Lillian Lark — Monster romance involving a gargoyle, a demon, and witch. To recap, the witch and demon were introduced in the previous book in the series (Hoarded by the Dragon), and were clearly interested, but (spoiler) the witch gets engaged to the gargoyle for political reasons. This books starts with the wedding. Yes, there’s knotting. It’s fine. (Kindle Unlimited)
PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION by Emily Henry — I do recall that partway through this book, I turned to my partner and said “You know the problem with reading a good book? It raises the bar.” This one has more of a friends to lovers vibe, with some self-discovery on the side. (While there is a literal take to the title, I think that the person she is really trying to meet on this vacation is herself.)
THE DREADFUL DUKE (The Bad Heir Day Tales Book 1) by Grace Burrowes — Historical romance. His father was the disowned black sheep of the family, and now he’s inheriting a dukedom he didn’t expect or want. He’s an artist who’d rather be working on his sculptures. But, he’ll fulfill his new role to support the former duke’s widow and young child. And it doesn’t hurt that she’s lovely. There’s some greedy relatives tossed in for drama. Similar vibe to the author’s Mischief in Mayfair series, which I also enjoyed.
THE HIGHEST BIDDER: A DARK SCOTTISH MAFIA ROMANCE by Arianna Fraser — Lot’s of tropes: mafia assassin, sex auction, kidnapping, forced marriage, explosions. (Kindle Unlimited)
KEEP ME (Sinful Manor Book 1) by Sara Cate — This one showed up in one of the new release posts a little while back. He’s a recluse with a bad reputation. She’s broke. His family offers her a payout to marry him for a year, collect an inheritance, and steal it for them. I’m going to put my comments on this one behind a spoiler tag because it turned out not to be what I was expecting. (Kindle Unlimited)
It took a long time for me to warm up to the main characters. They are both self-centered jerks for a good chunk of the book. But the book is really about two wounded people making a connection, so to get that character arc, you’ve to start at a bad spot. (Both characters have pretty terrible family situations, and an armchair psychologist might enjoy analyzing how those dynamics have influenced them.)
I’ve got some mixed feelings about this book, but honestly, with the setup, it could have been so much worse, that I’m willing to give the author credit for pulling things together in a believable way.
Oh, and for the record, my Kindle tells me that there were 77 “mutter”s in this book, but it bothered me less than it did in the SPC books.
JUST GOOD FRIENDS (Escape to New Zealand Book 2) by Rosalind James. Good characters and beautiful descriptions of New Zealand. He’s a rugby player, she’s an American getting away from her stalker ex. She’s not looking for a relationship, but she’s willing to be friends. (Kindle Unlimited)
ONLY ONE BED by Kati Wilde. Enemies to lovers. Characters have a lot of time for reflection on how to set boundaries with terrible family. Pretty well done. (Kindle Unlimited)
I went from a gangbusters reading start to 2025 to a slow trudge. I have been felled by the combination of some sort of horrible flu, the general state of. . . this (gestures to all of the United States), and the fact I’m moving at the end of the month. Brain just doesn’t want to brain and even my audiobooks have been mostly Sarah MaClean re-listens to help me sleep. But! I have been really enjoying SHAKESPEARE: THE MAN WHO PAYS THE RENT by Judi Dench and Brendan O’Hea (an actor and director). Apparently O’Hea is a friend of hers and he would visit her and they went through every Shakespeare play she’d performed in (sometimes multiple parts at different ages/time – think of Ophelia and Gertrude in Hamlet) and she’d reminisce and give her opinions while he gently guided her with questions. This really was kind of just a long gossipy conversation about Shakespeare and how to play it on the stage. She also has lots of outrageous stories of pranks and funny things happening on the stage. She definitely does not take herself too seriously. I am loving it, but I’m also a big Shakespeare/theater nerd.
A comfort re-read I did recently was MAC B KID SPY: MAC SAVES THE WORLD by Mac Barnett. I know I’ve mentioned this series before but these are just delightful, delightful middle reader books. You see Mac Barnett is now a children’s author, but in the 80s, he was a kid and a spy. The Queen of England calls him at home (on his landline of course) and asks him to go on secret missions and off he goes, often with one of the Queen’s favorite corgis, Freddie. Yes, they are just as silly as that and if you go with that vibe, wonderful. There are lots of 80s jokes for the grownups, silly parts for everyone, and Mac is always funny and resourceful but never comes off as one of those sarcastic 12 year olds written by cynical 40 year olds that have never actually met a child.
Anyways, the last book in the series is MAC SAVES THE WORLD and you can’t really read it alone, but there’s only 4 books and all the books probably only take about an hour for an adult reader to finish. The reason MAC SAVES THE WORLD is my favorite is b/c (apologies if I don’t get the spoiler tag right I’m setting aside a little).
The Berlin Wall comes down and every time it makes me cry. The scene where the author explains how it happened and talks about the street filled with joyous people just flowing through the checkpoints and even tearing at the wall with their own hammers is written in a way that is simultaneously childlike and beautiful. And you know? Wanting to believe that oppressive governments can be defeated, sometimes almost spontaneously by the will of the people is something a lot of us need right now.
Hold on everyone and keep reading!
Sorry guys, I tried!
Good morning from New England, where it is beautiful and cold. Perfect reading weather!
ONLY ONE BED – Kati Wilde is on auto buy for me, but I wondered, can the Queen of Barbarian Romances do a contemporary forced proximity, enemy to lovers? Yes, she can. I should not have been surprised, as I always loved her Christmas romances. Go get it! Great snowy, winter romance.
On another note, the dedication was upsetting. Hoping KW is OK.
BOMBSHELL and HEARTBREAKER by Sarah MacLean (historical romances with crew of vigilante ladies) were both good, but I admit to skipping chunks in the middle. That seems to be the best way for me to enjoy her work. I would love more time on the vigilante stuff and less on the romance. I love her MCs, but there is just too much middle, if that makes sense.
DNF’d THE HOT SHOT by Kristen Callihan (contemporary M/F sports romance). I saw where the plot was going, and I just couldn’t (I noped out — miscarriage in past relationship, fertility issues). YMMV. I also felt the MMC had all the power, and it gave me the ick.
In contrast I really liked EVERNIGHT by Kristen Callihan, which is a steampunk M/F romance. It’s a very solid series as a whole, but find I need to space out the books for maximum enjoyment.
The most interesting thing I have read recently is THE TRIBULATIONS OF ROSS YOUNG, SUPERNAT PA, by A.J. Sherwood. I loved the set up, and the characters are fantastic, but felt like there wasn’t enough time spent on either the action or the romance. It was a series of short stories that should have been developed into a series of novels, but we needed more of everything. I am going to keep my eye on this author, because they can write, and are really creative, they just need to flesh out their stories. More, please, AJS!
Hope you are all enjoying your version of winter, and staying safe and sane!
It’s only January, and I already have the first book on my favorites of 2025 list: Ari Baran’s GOALTENDER INTERFERENCE, the fourth book in her Penalty Box series of m/m hockey romances. GOALTENDER INTERFERENCE is a downbeat but ultimately hopeful second-chance love story featuring both mental-health struggles and the physical failings that are the natural result of years spent as a professional athlete. Aiden is a recently-retired professional hockey player at loose ends now that his 15-year career has ended. In a smooth, accessible style, Baran makes it clear that Aiden is desperately trying to fill his days with activities that will impart the structure and focus playing hockey used to provide. A chance meeting with his former lover, Matt (who is still a pro player), rekindles their affair (which is very intense and includes elements of BDSM). But all the love in the world can’t overcome Aiden’s crushing depression and sense of worthlessness or return Matt’s 35-year-old body (particularly his knee) to its youthful resilience. As the guys grow closer, the issues that drove them apart a decade ago are still in evidence: they will have a lot of work to do to achieve their HEA. GOALTENDER INTERFERENCE is a somber story that addresses serious issues, but the book is so well-written and nuanced that everything feels organic and true rather than bleak. (There are also a couple of supporting characters, Gabe and Jack, who I hope will feature in their own future books.) My first favorite of 2025. Highly recommended.
Did Kati Wilde write ONLY ONE BED just for me? Signs point to no, but if I had said “I want Kati to write a book featuring antagonists-to-lovers-snowbound-in-a-cabin-with-only-one-bed”, I couldn’t have asked for better than Kati’s latest, helpfully titled ONLY ONE BED. It’s a hot & heartfelt book about confronting the past, dealing with the toxic present, and looking with a hopeful heart to the future (oh yeah, and having smoking-hot sexy-times with your long-time enemy). Abbie is spending the Christmas break alone (other than for her ill-tempered cat) in an isolated mountain cabin. She is planning to decorate a tree, do some painting, and sing as loudly and as off-key as she wishes, far from the constant stream of criticism and negativity she gets from her mother and sister. Unfortunately, a snowmobiling accident lands Reed, a family enemy going back two decades, on her doorstep. What’s a good-hearted woman to do but bring him inside and help him recuperate even if there has been bad blood between their families since Abbie’s father ran off with Reed’s mother? As Reed recovers—and the snow gets deeper & heavier—feelings between the couple begin to thaw as they slowly come to understand how their families’ enmity has poisoned their interactions with everyone including each other. This being a Kati Wilde book, you know there are going to be incredibly hot sex scenes—and there are, but with plenty of heart and feeling and developing emotions between the couple. If I have the smallest of quibbles with ONLY ONE BED, it’s that
But that is a very minor complaint in a book that completely lives up to the promise of its title and cover. Highly recommended.
Jesse H Reign’s POETRY ON ICE (the first book in her new Totally Pucked series of m/m hockey romances) is one half a great book and one half a rather meh one, leading to a book that, while engaging and readable, seems a bit of a let-down after its initial set-up. Robbie and Ant (Anthony) are professional hockey players who have known each other since their teens. When the affable, outgoing Robbie is traded to Ant’s team, he immediately begins fighting with the introverted, grumpy Ant. In alternating first-person narratives, Reign cleverly lets us see what the MCs can not: their antagonism is based on mutual, unacknowledged attraction. When the team’s manager insists the two players share a hotel room on the road in order to become better teammates, the expected slowly begins to happen, including some mild (but quite effective) humiliation kink (such as Ant calling Robbie things like “Princess” and “Pretty Boy”) which escalates throughout the book. The build-up was really well done—if you’ve read Reign’s THE STEP-BRO SITUATION or RENT: PAID IN FULL, you know she does antagonists-to-lovers and humiliation kink very well—and I had hoped the second half of the book would live up to the promise of the first. However, I think Reign’s biggest mistake in the second half of POETRY ON ICE is having Robbie and Ant fall in love too easily and too abruptly. Robbie experiences a bi-awakening and seems to have no uncertainty or questioning about this new same-sex attraction. Meanwhile, grouchy, closeted Ant blossoms into a romantic (one is almost tempted to say, sappy) lover. Because the guys fall so fast and so easily, the second half of the book palls somewhat. I would have liked a little more fighting or self-examination before the journey to the HEA begins. Nonetheless, POETRY ON ICE is a worthwhile read, especially for fans of m/m hockey romances. Recommended.
Kelly Hunter’s latest HP, STOLEN PRINCESS’S SECRET, is imbued with so many of the trappings of historical romance—a mountainous kingdom, castles, buildings made of stone, falconry, and frequent travel on horseback—that the appearance of things like cell phones, drones, Range Rovers, and hot-water showers feels anachronistic. If you’ve read Hunter’s 2018 HP, SHOCK HEIR FOR THE CROWN PRINCE, you may remember that the hero’s sister, Claudia—long presumed dead—shows up unexpectedly at the very end of the book. We’ve had to wait six years to get Claudia’s story (kidnapped as a child and raised in another kingdom) and her romance with Tomas, the royal falconer. What I like about Hunter’s HPs is that, however outlandish the plot line, her characters are grounded in common sense, self-awareness, and the ability to grow. Claudia is passionate and strong-willed, but she is also a people-pleaser who spreads herself too thin. Tomas is very much the strong, silent HP hero, but he also understands and wants to protect Claudia from her tendency to do too much for too many. An unplanned encounter (after Tomas has been elevated to the peerage) leaves Claudia pregnant and then, abruptly, married to Tomas. Like most of Hunter’s books, STOLEN PRINCESS’S SECRET does not feature a third-act break-up or big-mis. Instead the book is about two people adjusting to life together and discovering what will work best for them as they move from being a couple to being a family. As Claudia says to Tomas, “I’m prepared to consider you a real person—complex and flawed—if you’ll do the same for me.” And I think that summarizes the approach of all of Hunter’s characters. Recommended.
I can’t stop rereading Taylor Fitzpatrick help. Idk if it’s more accurate to say I have a problem or I am the problem. I finished all the AO3 stuff, reread it, reread the books*, and now I am back on AO3. Again.
*My libraries don’t have the latter two of her Jake/David books, so that isn’t quite as much reading as it sounds like, but I also got about a quarter of the way into some dozen other books, many of which I had been looking forward to, before giving up and going back to the youcouldmakealife verse.
The fluffy ones are so fluffy. The angsty ones are so angsty. Neither of which are my favorite thing, I had believed! Definitely a lot of teenagers throughout these stories which is usually a no. The nickname thing, as I mentioned last time, is sadly trying for my brain. One of my favorites on AO3 even involves violence which is super not my kink but the way she plays with the timelines just kills me – which again, I did not think was what I was looking for. Structure is generally not her priority though. Killing me apparently is.
It is a delightfully interconnected world, which is a thing I crave and adore, and it’s always about people whose flaws align which is another of my favorite things. The dialogue is utterly convincing, which is important to me. It’s not that I can’t point to lots of good things about her writing! It’s just that while I had read and liked it before, somehow right now I am refusing to stop wallowing in this rabbit hole.
I mean, I am very actively interested in distracting myself from the news cycle, of course. I just don’t know why I am so profoundly disinterested in the other books I have tried to read, if they’re just not that good or what, but my brain is not having it.
It was nice knowing y’all, I am going back in.
@kkw: I can relate, lol. I have both STILL ALWAYS IN TANDEM and CARDS ON THE TABLE bookmarked so that I can check in frequently to see if Fitzpatrick has updated either story. She has what I think of as the perfect-for-me always-show-never-tell elliptical style. She also doesn’t shy away from non-HEA endings, so right now I’m on tenterhooks wondering if Robbie & Georgie will ever reunite or if the next installment of SAIT will be the end of the line for the guys.
If you don’t read anything else this year, read Kim Fay’s Love and Saffron. It is an epistolary novel of charm and grace, an unexpected friendship which enhanced the lives of both women.
I cannot remember where I learned of this book. When I picked it from the library I asked the librarian if she was certain I requested the hold. I am so glad I did.
Chase’s My Inconvenient Duke
I took all the good recs to heart and picked up THE LOVE OF MY AFTERLIFE. I am greatly looking forward to Kirsty Greenwood’s next work because this book was wonderful. Delphie has closed herself off from life. Deserted by her parents, bullied in school, she has determined to have no friends, no dates, no ambitions. If it weren’t for her elderly upstairs neighbor and her coworkers, no one would know she’s alive. Dying and finding out that there might be a true love out there gives her a new determination. In the ten days she’s allowed to find Jonah, the soulmate she had a brushing encounter with in the afterlife, Delphie opens herself up to more life than she’s allowed herself in a decade. She sees more of London than in her entire 27 years, goes to clubs, classes, the library. She has a fake relationship with her grumpy downstairs neighbor, Cooper in exchange for his help tracking down Jonah. She makes friends who help her on her quest. She starts to see said grumpy neighbor in a new light. Delphie’s journey is moving and funny and ultimately satisfying and a little heartbreaking in that whole “if I’d known that would be the last time” way. Highly recommend for the emotional journey.
Then scrolling through the increasingly slim pickings in my Kindle, I found UNDER HER SKIN the first book in Adriana Anders’ Blank Canvas trilogy (oh how I wish there’d been a book four with Ive’s sister and the bartender). The reread led to a hurried trip to the GBPL so I could grab BY HER TOUCH & IN HIS HANDS. I am again grateful for the drive-thru that makes it possible to stock up on books without leaving my car on these below zero days. If your library doesn’t have one, you should start a petition.
Next up on the pile is A FRAGILE ENCHANTMENT from Allison Saft. I like my fantasy a little darker than this appears to be, but it was a rec from The Bitchery, so how can I go wrong?
I’m having a bit of a slump after reading like a maniac during the latter half of 2024. I think the cold weather is inspiring me to hibernate, and I have trouble reading and napping simultaneously.
Saving Susy Sweetchild by Barbara Hambly
This well constructed historical mystery is the third entry in Hambly’s excellent Silver Screen series. Though not a romance, this novel perfectly captures the glam and the (literal) grit of 1920s Hollywood. The MC is Emma Blackstone, a widowed Englishwoman with wartime experiences and scholarly inclinations. She acts as companion to her American movie star sister-in-law and wrangler for Kitty’s trio of Pekes. In this outing, Emma, Zal (Emma’s love interest), and Kitty become involved in the search for the titular Susy Sweetchild, who along with her mother, is kidnapped while filming a western. (CW: off page child abuse, child jeopardy, non-graphic gun violence) Hambly manages to incorporate landscape, social conditions, politics, finely drawn characters, and the daily grind of primitive film making to bring this time and place vividly to life. I would recommend the entire series to anyone enamored of this legendary era. It has the frenetic energy of “Flickers” and is arguably one of the most vivid fictional portrayals of Hollywood’s silent film era. This was the best of the bunch this time around.
Chase Lovett Wants Me by Helena Hunting
I find myself very much on the fence about Hunting’s work these days. This particular book is a pretty typical college hockey romance between freshman player Chase and dorm neighbor Cammie, and it’s Toronto Terror adjacent. The central couple is cute, likable, and very, very young. Also on the plus side is the genuine if occasionally crude humor and a healthy amount of sex positivity, which can be fairly crude as well. What I do have a problem with is the tangle of mean girls/puck bunnies, slut shaming, and not-like-other-girl vibes. This element is pretty common in Hunting’s sports romances and while I don’t have a problem with negative portrayals of some female characters, I do dislike how shallow and flat these characters are and how their existence seems to be a motif in so many of her hockey romances. I’ll also admit I’d prefer more hockey and less nookie in a sports romance. Anyway, I think I’m done, though I didn’t hate this particular book.
Indiscretion by Vi Keeland
I generally buy Keeland’s stuff as soon as it comes out, but I don’t always read it immediately. There are a few I’ve DNFed as well. I love her writing, but she can be rough on the feels. Also, she almost invariably uses flashbacks which I often dislike. Happily, Indiscretion really worked for me. Dawson and Naomi were a great couple. They meet (cutely) at the wedding of mutual friends. and end up as work colleagues at Dawson’s law office. There is delightful banter and, eventually, extremely steamy love scenes. There are subplots involving cancer of family members and grief at the loss of loved ones. Keeland doesn’t pull her punches, so this can be hard to take. However, the various elements of this story were beautifully balanced and the main characters, fully fledged adults. Would recommend.
The Secret Daughter by Anne Gracie
This was an enjoyable European historical, the fourth in the Brides of Bellaire Gardens series. Zoe (aka Vita) meets “Reynard” on the road in France. He is an itinerant artist travelling through the countryside via caravan, and she reluctantly throws her lot in with him and collaborates on his artistic endeavours. He proves to be a gentlemanly companion, but when Zoe discovers his secret, they have a fallong out, and she leaves. Once they part company, neither expects to see the other, but fate has other ideas, once Zoe is reunited with her half sisters in Bellaire Gardens and “Reynard” assumes his real identity. I prefered the first, vagabonding half of the book, but, overall, a good read.
Flirting with the Frenemy by Pippa Grant
DNF: boring af. There is nothing objectively wrong with this book, but, looking back, I don’t think I’ve ever finished a book by this author. (It’s not you, book, it’s me.) Still I keep trying. I have six unread or partly read books by Grant on my ereader. Why did I buy this? What is wrong with me?
Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas
This showed up on a sale post, and, much to my surprise, I didn’t have it in ebook. Though I prefer Kleypas’s historicals, this contemporary demonstrated her customary writing skill. It may actually have been a reread, as I did a lot of pbk shopping in an excellent local used book shop once upon a time. I know I read the two earlier series entries. I enjoyed the book overall, as it didn’t seem excessively dated in the areas of tech and health, and the MCs were mostly engaging. What I found jarring were some mild consent issues that were typical for the time, heavy promotion of traditional values and roles, and some nuance-free portrayals of stereotypically “bad” women. In fact, there’s a whole lotta gold diggin’ goin’ on. I doubt that I’ll reread it.
Stay warm, all.
My favorite recent read was YOU, WITH A VIEW by Jessica Joyce, a novel about overcoming grief and finding your way to a better place in life and love. The story contains numerous lovely passages about discoveries, concerning one’s self and about others. FMC Noelle Shepard is grieving the death of her grandmother, while unemployed and living with her parents at age 28, when she stumbles on very old photos of her grandmother, Kat, with someone who is not Noelle’s grandfather, plus a letter that opens the door to what appears to be her grandmother’s long-ago secret romance. Noelle uses social media to share her discoveries and ask for information—and soon learns that her Gram’s first love, Paul, lives nearby and is the grandson of Theo Spencer, a friend but mostly a rival of Noelle’s from high school. Noelle, Theo, and Paul decide to take a 2-week road trip together on the “honeymoon route” that Paul and Kat had planned.
This road trip story has beautiful descriptions of the places visited, including the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, and other southwest U.S. locations, but the heart of the story is Noelle coming to terms with why Paul and Kat’s romance ended with a breakup, while simultaneously gaining renewed confidence in herself and her career ambitions—and also falling for Theo, who isn’t the perfect “Forbes 30 under 30” success Noelle believed he was. The romance between Noelle and Theo is both steamy and humorous, and I appreciated Joyce’s many thoughtful reflections about families and how these relationships— whether cozy or conflicted– affect us in so many ways.
Theo gets a brief mention in Joyce’s novella A RISK WORTH TAKING, which she says (in an author’s note) she started writing as an exercise to ensure that her first book wasn’t a fluke. The novella has a different tone than YOU, WITH A VIEW, although the theme of a woman examining her past and opening herself to future changes is part of both books.
The “risk” of the title refers to the behaviors of FMC Clair, who is trying to break away from a series of life choices that have given her the nickname “Clairful.” She’s bartending at a winter holiday gig in Portland on the evening before departing for a new job in San Francisco when she decides she’ll leave town after a one-night stand with Connor, the intriguing guy she’s noticed keeping an eye on her. Weather problems turn the one-night stand into a three-day (and night) adventure, leaving both MCs thinking this relationship could be more if they had more time. Although much of the novella focuses on Clair and Connor’s sexual chemistry, there’s a lot of good character development along with the bedroom scenes. Joyce has one more published book, THE EX VOWS, and I’ve added that one to my TBR list.
I finished the second book of the “When in Rome” series by Sarah Adams, PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT. FMC Annie is 26 or 27 (I think) and wants to find a life partner and get married, but believes she is “boring” on dates, and doesn’t like that her three older siblings treat her as a fragile kid who can’t stand up for herself. She starts a fake dating romance with Will, who is temporarily living in small-town Rome, Kentucky, while he’s working as the bodyguard for Amelia, the pop star who is engaged to Annie’s big brother (that story is covered in the first book in the series, WHEN IN ROME). Will agrees to be Annie’s dating tutor (at Amelia’s request) because he’s bored with life in Rome, KY, but he doesn’t expect to develop big feelings for Annie. Meanwhile, Annie is also feeling strong connections to Will but doesn’t think he wants anything serious or long-lasting.
This was my least favorite of the four Adams novels I’ve read. While I liked Annie, there were just too many unchecked assumptions made by both Annie and Will on the way to the HEA. Also, I wondered why there were repeated references to Annie being a virgin (until she sleeps with Will), which seemed to be another not-particularly-necessary way of pointing out Annie’s general lack of confidence about starting meaningful relationships. I’d describe the sex scenes of the novel as partly-open-door but not explicit, and I didn’t expect a lot of processing of Annie’s “sexual awakening,” but the descriptions of the sexual part of the romance seemed “off” to me, in a way that I’m having trouble articulating. I’ll read the next book in this series eventually, but I’m not in a hurry to start it.
ONE LAST RUN by Bryce Oakley was satisfying. I’ve read other books by this author (it’s been a few years, though) and as I recall, all of her past characters were in their 20s. This book introduces five women, all age 37, who were friends in college and are gathering 15 years later for a week-long Colorado winter vacation. The interactions among the group were credible and their conversations were convincing examples of people who had a long, and sometimes complicated, history with each other.
Main characters for the romance plotline are Petra—known to the group as “Pete”—and Danica. These two were friends-with-benefits (or more but not admitting it) in college who had a big falling out just before graduation revolving around what their future would be and whether they would stay together. Fifteen years later, Dani is a successful workaholic neonatal doctor who has just broken up with her (male) fiancé—but doesn’t want her friends to know. Pete runs a non-profit that assist foster children—but doesn’t want Dani and some of the others to know that she’s a philanthropist who funds her good works via a boatload of money gained from selling an app she developed during her senior year of college. Instead, Pete is evasive about what she does beyond traveling and having fun.
The others in the friend group—Izzy, Maggie, and Kiera–are all distinctive characters who represent a variety of relationships (inside and outside the friend group) and family situations. Each plays a significant part in the main story that revolves around Dani and Pete, and while the run-up to the HEA is a little melodramatic, I enjoyed the storytelling a lot.
Also finished books 3 and 4 in the “Matzo Ballers Hanukkah Romance” series (I covered the first 2 books in the previous WAYR). MCs for each book include one member of the self-named “Jew Crew,” a group of eight NYC-based friends who all worked on the same Israeli kibbutz for a year, and meet up for an annual Hanukkah harbor cruise. These holiday novels were released in pairs in 2023 and 2024, with sets of stories that intersect at each year’s Matzo Ballers event.
I liked book 4, THE RUGELACH ROAD TRIP, by Jessica Topper, more than book 3, THE MENORAH MATCHMAKER, by Amanda Usen. The ROAD TRIP’s MCs are Jew Crew member Avi, a rock star who is stranded in Ohio when the band’s bus takes off without him, and Leah, who was Avi’s neighbor when both were kids, and whose bat mitzvah was ruined because aspiring rock star Avi was performing the same night and nearly all of Leah’s invited guests abandoned her to see Avi instead. Stranded Avi is able to reach Leah’s father, the cantor who helped him develop his musical skills, but Cantor Joel sends his daughter—who was already planning a road trip to the NYC area—to rescue Avi and get him to the Matzo Ball where he’s a headline performer. ROAD TRIP has numerous tropes and themes I like, including antagonists-to-lovers and only one bed, and Tapper does a great job making each of the familiar elements distinctive while building complex characters who I enjoyed getting to know.
MENORAH MATCHMAKER wasn’t as compelling for me. The Jew Crew MC in this one is Jay, the owner of an event planning company and the facilitator and host for the annual Matzo Ball. He’s the creative “brains” of his company and relies on people like his super-organized assistant, Rebecca, to handle details. There’s mutual attraction, but Rebecca had a past very bad experience resulting from sleeping with a supervisor that she doesn’t want to repeat, and Jay knows that hooking up with a subordinate is not OK… so there’s a lot of will-they-or-won’t-they that seemed tedious and repetitive. Also, Rebecca “challenges” Jay to handle some of the Matzo Ball details himself—which of course he’s able to do. I think the point of this plot device was to give Jay new insights into the full range of Rebecca’s qualities, so he had even more to admire… but continuous discussion of the lack of competence of the company owner didn’t seem fully credible to me. However, I liked that the supervisor/subordinate situation was resolved along with the HEA.
I guess it will be the end of 2025 before books 5 and 6 are available, but I look forward to the next two Matzo Ballers sagas— a couple of the Jew Crew members who don’t yet have their own books have received fascinating introductions in books 1-4, and the weaving of Jewish religious and cultural traditions into these romances is an appealing component of all of the books so far.
It’s been a mixed bag for me.
Pick Up by Nora Dahlia was the worst book I have read in a loooong time. Sasha was one of the most self-involved, myopic characters I have ever encountered in fiction. And the MMC had the personality of a jellyfish.
Unromance by Erin Connor was too ironic for me but ymmv. Avoiding any description for that reason.
Earl Crush was fab. An easy A-/B+ for me. It checked all the boxes.
Work In Progress by Kat Mackenzie had a doormat of a FMC and a MMC who took advantage of the FMC’s doormat qualities. I don’t like bullies and he wad definitely a bully.
I think I need to stop reading romance for a while bc I am on a terrible streak!
Happy reading yall. Enjoy all the basketball on tv!
Over the past two weeks ~
— For my book group, I reread Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach. (I had mistakenly read this several months ago instead of that month’s book…oops!) The book was liked by everyone in the group which was a little unusual, and we had a good discussion.
— finished Andrea Höst’s Touchstone series by rereading In Arcadia and Snow Day.
— reread Michelle Diener’s science fiction romances Dark Horse and Dark Deeds and enjoyed them again.
— continued my reread of Michelle Diener’s science fiction romances with the novels Dark Minds, Dark Matters, Dark Class, and Collision Course. I also reread her novella Dark Ambitions and some bonus epilogues. I enjoyed them all.
— read The Last Letter by Rebecca Yarros; this is a contemporary novel/romance with epistolary content. The main leads are a single mother of twins and a man in special services. When I was about a third of the way through, I considered jumping to the end rather than continuing; however, when next I opened my Kindle, I simply read on. I got to a certain point, and tears were rolling down my face. Content warning for death.
— also read Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton this week; this is a fantasy I’ve wanted to read for quite some time, and a friend was willing to read it, too. I’ve seen the book described as Jane Austen with dragons, and that description has merit if you add the fact that these dragons eat their dead and the weak. They wear hats and sometimes jewels, sleep on their gold, travel by train or by wing, attend church and balls, correspond by letter (mostly the women write as they have hands), file lawsuits, bind the wings of their servants (serfs), and chaperone their maidens. It took me a while to get into the story, but ultimately I enjoyed it.
Happy reading all!
I’m reading an ARC, and I’m just getting nowhere with it. I’ve read the book before and have enjoyed her writing, but this one is so slow and just kinda… weird. I’d DNF, but I got it off NG. It took me a week to get 25% read. I hate giving up, but it’s just… ugh.
But, I read some other ARCs earlier this month and they were great. Even read a couple of books off my kindle TBR.
I am alternating between a reread of Naomi Novik’s HP and GOT fics on AO3 and my nephew’s Wings of Fire books – I am up to book 9. I also listened to Braiding Sweetgrass while walking the dog or gardening and it was exactly the right vibe and tempo for both the activities and the book.
Currently reading AN EXTRAORDINARY UNION by Alyssa Cole which was recced here so many times that when I found it on sale I had to grab it. It definitely lives up to its hype, engrossing and insightful. Thanks everyone who mentioned it!
Also for whoever was looking for feminist fiction, it definitely fits that bill as well.
Excited to hear about ONLY ONE BED by Kati Wilde!
I’m good and mad about these billionaire bozos interfering in our political systems – and am thoughtfully shifting away from using the Amazon ecosystem and working to be more mindful about where I spend my money. Instead of Goodreads, I’m using StoryGraph (which is great).
I’m now looking at options for ereading – any recs for ereaders/ KU subscription alternatives? I trust this group’s opinions.
I finished A RIVER ENCHANTED by Rebecca Ross 10 minutes ago, not realizing that it was part of a duology and was going to end on a cliff hanger. After several “WHAT!?!?!”s, I have now downloaded book 2, A FIRE ENDLESS, and must return to my reading.
(Needless to say, A RIVER ENCHANTED was great. Very atmospheric. The twist at the end honestly doesn’t make a whole heap of sense, but I’m going with it because atmosphere and fun world building.)
Similar to C above I’m going through a simultaneous reading frenzy and slump.
For the Good: Right before the new year I read Shelly Jay Shore’s Rules for Ghosting and it knocked my socks off. Trans Jewish paranormal with so much grace and healing. I’ve been recommending all over the place, so I’ll pop it here.
Also highly enjoyed Cara Bastone’s Love Lines series (I think they were originally Audible-only). As with all of her books, just a nice set of stories about nice people trying their best. Very low stress.
I read the last two books in Julia Anne Long’s the Palace of Rogues, and as ever, she makes Very Pretty People Having Problems eminently readable. (I mean this as a compliment – it’s rare that a romance author has a character with socially accepted beauty be aware of that and have that actually be affect how they operate through the world.) I think this series is much more even than Pennyroyal Green and appreciate the continued development of Dot.
If you have a thing for celebrity memoirs, Lisa Marie Presley’s posthumous one with her daughter Riley Keough is very good on audio. They intersperse Lisa Marie’s own recordings with Keough reading her own memories and Julia Roberts reading the Lisa Marie text. Fascinating structure for a story about a woman who never really had the chance to have her own identity.
Finally, enjoyed Caitlin Rozakis’ Dreadful, about a dark wizard waking up with amnesia and deciding not to be an asshole anymore. Pure fantasy, of course, but I think we’ll all be needing that for a while.
I just finished A Letter from the Luminous Deep, and I liked it, but I don’t quite think it stuck the landing. I’ll still give the second book (yes, it’s a duology) a try. Definitely for lovers of epistolary romance and making fun of academia.
For the less Good – DNF’ed Julia London’s An Inconvenient Earl. I wanted to like a messy heroine, but it just got so repetitive. TBH, I think Courtney Milan’s The Heiress Effect ruined me for all other books wherein one character is concealing BIG INFO from the other. If the cards aren’t on the table by the 30% mark, I’m probably going to get bored.
I also have to call out JJ Mulder’s From Coast to Coast for some really problematic sex scenes. (For those who might recall SBSarah’s link to the Adib Khorram interview a few weeks back, I definitely had some “do you know what a butthole looks like”? moments) A shame because I thought Mulder’s Shots on Net actually did a pretty good job on that score.
Okay I could definitely keep going, but I think I’ll stop there!
(PS Echoing the praise for Only One Bed by Kati Wilde)
@Sheri – I’m similarly making the shift away from Big River and recently invested in a Kobo (and StoryGraph). One thing I like about it is if you link your library card through Overdrive, it will check the listing and give the option to borrow/place on hold from the buy page.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t link to more than one library system, so if you are like me and have reciprocal access to multiple systems through Libby it does make it a little harder. On another hand, Kobo Plus has a LOT of authors that rarely (or refuse to) do KU, like KJ Charles, Jackie Lau and ‘Nathan Burgoigne, so you might not be giving up as much as you think with switching.
Also! I have started using Hoopla, which is how I finally got to read the famous Taylor Fitzpatrick, so it’s worth checking to see if you have access to that as well as they sometimes license KU or older self-pubbed work.
Amongst all the hockey boys and billionaire shenanigans this month, I have mostly been comfort mainlining MARY BALOGH’s historicals.
Today I immersed myself in SOMEONE TO CARE, part of her Westcotts series. It’s one o’clock in the morning here and I have just finished it! And it’s an absolute five-star charmer. One of the best of hers that I have read (and I have been busy in her backlist, I can tell you!). A later in life (40s) second chance story, featuring a spur of the moment road trip and leads who fall hard but can’t quite believe it. Gorgeous. If you like a good costume drama with plenty of found family thrown in, don’t miss this one.
And now I need to get myself to bed if I want to stand a chance of getting up early (for a Sunday) to watch the tennis from Oz.
Happy reading all!
Since I last posted a “Whatcha reading”, I’ve been down many a bingey rabbit hole. I’m not sure I’ll even remember everything.
On recommendation or reminded by the Bitchery:
Kristen Ashley – parts of ROCK CHICKS and CHAOS. All of the DREAM MAN, MOTOR OIL AND MOONLIGHT and WILD WEST MC series. My favorites have been STILL STANDING, SMOKE AND STEEL and LAW MAN.
Loretta Chase – I’m in the midst of a mini binge. I reread the first two DIFFICULT DUKES books, and have the 3rd, MY INCONVENIENT DUKE, sitting in my piles of TBR for our upcoming vacation. Since I was visiting with her books, I reread LORD OF SCOUNDRELS and am currently reading DUKES PREFER BLONDES. Both have such great main characters. Love the banter in BLONDES.
Zoey Draven – found her books on KU and was totally sucked into the HORDE KINGS OF DAKKAR series. 6 books, MF, lots of Alpha maleness, different couples, storyline thread through all of the them – satisfying conflicts, fairly spicy. I was impressed at how Draven wrote each MC to be unique. This had great world-building over the course of the series. No info dumps, we often learn alongside the FMC. Then I read THE HORDE KING OF SHADOW, which is the new series that builds off the other. Dragons (not shifters) and bookish heroine – fantastic combo.
I also read a few of Draven’s WARRIORS OF LUXIRIA. These were average-good. Human women – alien males. Standard fated mate, rescuing and seducing storylines.
I also have Draven’s new book, THE MIDNIGHT ARROW, in my vacation TBR. Witch saves a Fae storyline.
Cate C Wells – started my binge with the newest FIVE PACKS book, THE WILD WOLF’S REJECTED MATE. And, like others have mentioned on this site, it shed a lot of light on the series as a whole. I ended up rereading the whole series backwards, which was kinda fun. This has been a really good series.
From there I read Well’s STONECUT COUNTY duo. The first one has so much gaslighting and white male privilege everywhere, it was hard to get through at times. And though the MMC was sweet – I wanted to smack him upside the head and tell him to get his head out of his ass. The second book is a bully to lovers deal. Wasn’t sold at first, but ended up really enjoying the MMC’s golden retriever vibe.
I took a dip into Well’s STEEL BONES MC as well. The first 3 were good! 3rd has a trauma, rape backstory, PTSD in the FMC. I have read further cause the descriptions haven’t really called out to me.
A couple “cozyverse” (cozy + omegaverse) books from KU – A PACK FOR WINTER and A PACK FOR AUTUMN. I read WINTER first and liked it – the FMC really struggles with perfectionism and saying no. It was satisfying to watch her start to be cared for and allow that care to happen. AUTUMN was ok – felt rushed emotionally, and that says something with the fated mates/insta love style.
I done usually do gothic/macabre, but I liked Kelly’s St Clare’s SUPERNATURAL BATTLES series, especially WEREWOLF DENS. So I took a chance on OF MONSTERS OF KINGS, the first book in her newest series. It was a truly strange and trippy read. It felt like a crazy Alice in Wonderland – Tim Burton-esque monster romance. Nothing is expected, and yet I was charmed by the FMC, Patch, and her adjustment to a new reality and understanding of beauty, and her acceptance of herself. I started the second book, OF BRIDES OF QUEENS, and paused cause I couldn’t quite get into it.
Lillian Lark – MONSTROUS MATCHES series. I’ve read most of this series. I prefer the full length books over the novellas. I read HOARDED BY THE DRAGON and started MARRIED TO THE DEVIL. They’re spicy books with some decent relationship building, though the 3rd act breakup is fairly prevalent.
I can’t believe I forgot this one. I listened to Cara Bastone’s READY OR NOT. It was a such a great listen. The narrator was energetic and really reflected all the characters’ emotions, especially, Eve, the FMC. It’s told from Eve’s perspective. We go through the entirety of Eve’s pregnancy and her navigating the relationship challenges between her best friend, the baby daddy, and her best friend’s brother, Shep. I don’t want to say much cause it’s so well paced and the timing of revelations is so well done. Like other Bastone books, it’s set in NYC. And I felt like I was watching a movie while I listened to it. So so good.
Not a romance, but I read Sarah Bonner’s How to Slay at Work. It’s a Devil-Wears-Prada type setup, but the newly semi-promoted assistant realizes that every time she accompanies her female boss on a business trip, a man dies under unusual circumstances in that city. The ending gets a bit all over the place, but still a fun read.
Hi, everyone,
Super fortunate to have enjoyed several more excellent reads this month so far…
MORE THAN FRIENDS by Reese Ryan is the third in her Love & Music Suite. Leilani Stephens and Tobias Hanlon have been BFFs since high school. They tried dating for about thirty seconds then, but decided they were better off as friends and have been each other’s ride or dies ever since. Lately they’ve been flirting more and an ex’s malicious prank ends up spurring them into a with-benefits situation but Toby is hoping for more.
Reese Ryan packs a lot of characterization and plot into More Than Friends, and it’s a real page turner in the best ways. Lei and Toby have a rock solid friendship and it’s a joy to see how it carries them through the challenge of changing or adding to that with a romantic component, and also how the trust they’ve built allows them to face other major life concerns. Ms Ryan doesn’t hesitate to show readers the ups and downs that come their way and the support and pain that sometimes comes with those who love us the best and most. An excellent read.
SOME LIKE IT HOTT is the third in Serena Bell’s Hott Springs Eternal series, about the Hott family legacy set in small town Rush Creek. It’s an opposites attract, forced proximity situation, where straitlaced, wound tight Preston Hott is required per the stringent requirements of his grandfather’s will to partner up with Natalie Archer, who has been hired to oversee the Hott Springs event program. Preston is under tremendous pressure to wrap up a critical deal at work in order to secure a rare promotion while Natalie is reeling from a blindside breakup and feeling very much the outsider in her overachieving family.
Serena Bell’s characters feel real and well crafted, from Preston and Natalie to their mostly well-intentioned families and friends, to the late Hott patriarch… And their thoughts and feelings pack a real punch. Couldn’t put Some Like It Hott down, and I can’t wait for more in this series!
GOALTENDER INTERFERENCE (not the much anticipated recent release by Ari Baran, which was also excellent) is the first in Brigham Vaughn’s Scoring Chances m/m hockey series. Boston Harriers’ team captain Connor O’Shea is a divorced thirty-five year old father of three who takes his responsibilities to his team and his family very seriously. Goalie Jesse Webber has a reputation for being the life of the party, and at twenty-four, has the energy to deliver. Jesse’s freewheeling style initially drives Connor up the wall, not in any good ways, and their first connections are very much because of their undeniable physical chemistry.
Brigham Vaughn’s characterizations really shine, and Connor and Jesse and their friends and teammates and families are all well drawn. I loved seeing how they built connection and trust over time, and I especially appreciated her portrayal of organized religion, and people’s often complicated relationships with it. And loved how Connor and Jesse truly are a part of a wide community, mostly supportive, as they explored their attraction. A fantastic read.
SECRET FLING WITH THE BILLIONAIRE by Michelle Douglas is a lovely stand-alone sweep-me-away fairytale-esque story. Cleo Milne literally lands on Jude Blackwood’s doorstep. And like a storybook hero, he shields her from invasive press and takes, albeit reluctantly, under wing.
Michelle Douglas turns this grumpy-sunshine, gruff protector with secrets story into so much more. Cleo and Jude are both bearing scars from past relationships and seeing them build a genuine connection and learn to trust and to truly live fully and joyfully is a tremendous pleasure. Cleo in particular is a lovely heroine, vulnerable and brave, with an enormous heart. Ms Douglas should be on more people’s TBRs, and this read is not to be missed.
Finally, I binged Amy Lane’s Bonfires series, which included BONFIRES, CROCUS, SUNSET, and TORCH SONGS, all of which hit that sweet spot of small-town found-family m/m romance for me. The first three follow high school principal Larx, who has caught the eye of local deputy Aaron George, and how they settle into a relationship that combines their families while they fight small-minded bigots and work to protect their community from the real dangers. The last is about Sacramento police officer Tad Hawkins and musician Guthrie Woodson. A story full of love and family and finding one’s courage and home and family. An altogether thoroughly enjoyable series.
Hope you’re all having a great close to January!
I’ve spent the past few weeks completely engrossed in Sarah Kozloff’s Nine Realms series. It was recommended on an NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour episode back in 2021, and they do a much better job than I will at explaining why it might appeal to you, but I’ll at least give a try at sharing what I loved about it. (1) it’s a complete four book series with excellent world building and an HEA, (2) it is a tightly plotted and suspenseful journey to get to that HEA, (3) I was genuinely unsure whether to get attached to any character – I would usually avoid this but the validity of threats to each character made it that much more all-encompassing when what I needed was escape (4) the second and fourth books are very much in the spirit of a heist/heists throughout, (5) there is the potential for a huge miscommunication near the end where I put my hand over my mouth because I was horrified at how things could proceed….and the characters handled the situation with such maturity and caring that I can’t stop thinking about it.
After a reread of my favorite Grace Burrowes book HOW TO CATCH A DUKE, I picked up THE TRUTH ABOUT DUKES, an earlier book in the uneven series. This was another win for me. I loved the hero, Robert, A duke who’d been consigned to an asylum by his father because he was epileptic, and Constance, the heroine who grew up poor, forced to beg by her alcoholic abusive father, then her brother inherited a dukedom. We find out they knew each other in their teens, and renew their relationship when their siblings are engaged. Their relationship is lovely, supporting each other without stifling. Robert’s 10 year incarceration, resulted in many fears and idiosyncrasies, and along with his seizures result in a plot to declare him incompetent and have his land and money taken over by a guardian, for his own good of course. I didn’t realize this was even a thing, I assumed the family would work it out. The story also made me reflect again on the gifts of modern medicine since I too have a seizure disorder, luckily completely controlled by medication. It’s sobering to think what life might have been like if I’d been born earlier.
LIEUTENANT MAYHEW’S CATASTROPHES by Emily Larkin was a quick almost completely conflict free novella KU
novella about a couple who fall in love and decide they’re well suited during a trip across the English countryside, with the catastrophes of the title. Sweet, not too memorable.
I signed up for a three month trial of Kindle Unlimited and have mainlined mostly Ariana Fraser books, a few Cate C. Wells’ books that I hadn’t bought yet, and a few Ruby Dixon books that are not yet available through my library system. The Mactavish books and Ares Academy books were my favorites so far from Ariana Fraser. They all have similar set ups, but I cut my teeth on category romances and like finding the differences.
I DNFed the audiobook of Alexandra Petri’s U.S. History (I was not in the mood for it, I guess) and am trying to get into The Spellman Files.
I re-listened to the Graphic Audio version of “Sweep of the Blade” for my 15+ hour flight and it is a perfect travel book. Well, the GA Innkeeper books in general are great. If I hadn’t downloaded a bunch of YouTube videos for my return trip, I would have jumped to “Sweep of the Heart”.
@Sheri, I subscribe to Scribd/Everand, and I find lots of stuff to read there, but it would depend on your reading tastes.
I am still reading in slo-mo, so I may have mentioned this book before, but I finished DRIVEN by Eve Kenin, who writes dark historicals as Eve Silver. The MCs are ice truckers in a dystopian, post-nuclear future world. I liked it enough to put the sequel, HIDDEN, on my TBR. CW for violence.
I have been gobbling down S.M. Violette(aka Minerva Spencer) books on KU like a box of chocolates, lately her Academy of Love series. Next up is DANCING WITH LOVE, a reverse eaty and the Beast story I am looking forward to. They are all very tropey and easy to read, which is about all my attention span can handle right now.
The Dating Countdown by N.G. Peltier – 4.0 stars.
– Lovely Sapphic bi-romance set in Trinidad. This is pretty standalone but it’s probably better to read the previous two books first. I read book one but not book two and I missed some of the relationship development of the MCs – they’re already occasionally secretly making out when their book starts.
Something Extraordinary by Alexis Hall – 4.0 stars.
– The queer platonic historical romance I didn’t know the world needed until I read it. An aro, pan woman and gay man find / create a home with each other. Maybe not quite as enjoyable as book 1, but much more fun than book 2. Lots of laugh out loud moments, even though the last quarter dragged. Lots of sex (m/m, f/f and m/f – and off page m/m/m) but not between the two MCs. There’s some mild kink, including a Daddy scene that was hot but kind of came out of nowhere. I wasn’t expecting Sir Horley / Rufus’s background to be so dark. I’m still not sure it worked when the rest of the book was so fluffy.
Fire Spells Between Friends by S.O. Callahan, Sarah Wallace – 3.5 stars
– Queer, Fae Lady Whistledown. Cute queer (m/nb) romance set in a queer norm, magical version of Regency England. I wanted more character development and world building.
that should have read “a reverse Beauty and the Beast”.
Sliding back in, post tennis and after staying up until 5am reading Cat Sebastian (more on that next time), to heap praise upon CECILIA GRANT’s A WOMAN ENTANGLED. M/F historical. A slow burn friends to lovers, so beautifully written that I was constantly re-reading bits. The main characters are so serious about their separate ambitions that they nearly miss each other along the way.
A strong cast of supporting characters and a conclusion to the various hanging threads in the previous two books in the (Blackshear) series make this a compelling and satisfying read.
As you were…
@Sheri & @Omphale, I thought it was just me! I haven’t downloaded anything that wasn’t free in years. Which is why the new read pickings on my Kindle are getting slim. You get what you pay for after all. Luckily, I have a lot of really great books purchased back when I wasn’t feeling so malevolent towards certain… businesses and as mentioned on numerous occasions, I have a PHENOMENAL public library.
@ElsieEm, thank you and sold! On the book, I mean. I actually reserved thru the GBPL.
I read the first two books in Scarlett Peckham’s Society of Sirens trilogy and then decided that I didn’t want to read the third. Peckham is a very frustrating author for me, because she writes histoicals about subversive women who actually walk the walk, which is exactly what I want to read, but I don’t really trust her because she has a tendency to absolve her heroines of any need for character development and accountability when they in fact need both and expecting me to applaud, and I can’t.
I’ve seen more and more of this in romance over the last few years, and it’s genuinely causing me to read less romance. It’s wonderful that the genre no longer requires heroines to be improbably saintly and put up with shitty treatment, but there’s a crucial difference between that and cheering on women who refuse to take accountability when they need to. Accountability is important no matter who you are, and I see too much of my abusive mother in these heroines.
Now I’m reading the final book in Ausma Zehanat Khan’s four-volume Khorasan Archives fantasy series, which is set in a Silk Road inspired world where women are fighting back against a Taliban-inspired military group. Great setting; great premise; and the author is writing about her own heritage, religion, and profession (she was a human rights lawyer), which shows.
Unfortunately, it’s not really working for me. Khan writes beautifully, but she doesn’t really succeed in communicating the story and characters in her head very well, so it feels like you’re reading half a book. The main character has very little personality, so none of her relationships feel authentic. She has a love interest, but I wish she didn’t, because that plotline adds very little for how much pagetime it gets and mostly goes in circles. The magic seems more driven by the plot than anything else. Etc.
I’m going to finish it because I do feel invested in the C plot (which was not in the third book at all) and a couple of the characters who have been rather ill-used, but I can’t really recommend it.
If the premise appeals to you, which I sympathize with, read the Goodreads reviews first. I wish I had, and the three-star and lower reviews are imho quite fair. I’m very disappointed; the Silk Road is such a fascinating and underused setting, and this one had everything going for it on paper.
@Star—I am similarly ambivalent about Scarlett Peckham. (See also: her Secrets of Charlotte Street series.) The premises are so interesting but the execution isn’t totally there. But I really wish it were!
And she’s coming to you with a cold! Because January doesn’t really suck until you get sick!
Also, I’m in Florida, and had a yard full of snow this week. That was weird. But fun.
Let’s see, in audio I just started Play Nice by Jason Schreier. It’s about Blizzard Entertainment, the company that gave us WoW and Overwatch, among other things. It details how it came to be, and what caused the massive implosion it underwent a few years ago, due to bad management, tech-bro bullshit, and rampant misogyny and sexual harassment. As a gamer, it is the kind of inside baseball that I like. Since I was at a conference last week, and then it snowed all over my region, I also got a bit of Kindle and library reading done as well. I went in on Nobody’s Fool by Harlan Coben (comes out in March, I think). It was, as is usual for Coben, very clever, and I honestly didn’t see some of the twists coming. I also enjoyed that the main character teaches a criminology class at night, and recruits his students as amateur investigators, as he has correctly intuited that several of them are very talented. Then it was time for The Queen’s Spade by Sara Raughley, which is basically Sarah Forbes Bonetta as The Count of Monte Cristo. The real Sarah Forbes Bonetta was a young African princess that was “given” as a gift to Queen Victoria and raised as her goddaughter. This story re-imagines her as seeking revenge on all of the people responsible for her abduction and the abuses she experienced. It was a surprisingly fun read, as Sarah was smart and ready to burn all of the things down, and that’s always fun. After that I yoinked out the library copy of The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava. The character was bright and motivated, but every time she lied again, I wanted to reach in and shake her. The characterization was great, in that you knew why she was doing it, but at the same time, you’re like “Noooo, that’s going to make things worse, you’re smarter than this!” Dan, the love interest, though? HOT. Perfection as romance novel guys go. Which brings us to today, in which I am burning my way through One Death At a Time by Abbi Waxman. It bills itself as cozy, but I’m not sure. This is a lot of snark for a cozy, and I am here for it. This one involves a retired actress and her much younger AA sponsor trying to solve a murder that the actress is accused of committing. Both women are smart and resourceful, and their interactions with those around them tend to be hilarious.
So until next time, may you have a husband that takes one look at your face, and heads right out to buy you some cold sore medicine. That’s love.