Welcome back to Whatcha Reading! Here’s how we’re closing out the month of April:
Lara: I started BR Myers’ The Third Wife of Faraday House ( A | BN | K | AB ) about a week ago, but I haven’t managed more than a few chapters so far. I adored a dreadful splendor so assumed I’d love this one too. I’m not quite ready to admit defeat though and will try get into it again tonight.
Sarah: I have been listening to Chelsea Devantez’ memoir to prep for an interview (squeeeee!) and have also been listening to the Innkeeper Chronicles ( A | BN | K | AB ) full cast audio recordings.
Y’all. I am loving these except there was a kissing scene with MOUTH NOISES and I almost expired dramatically.
Kiki: Bleh kissing MOUTH NOISES in an audiobook should be a criminal crime.
Susan: Matsuri Akino’s Pet Shop of Horrors ( A | BN | K | AB ) is being retranslated/rereleased and I am being so normal about it. It was my first Real Grown-up Fandom (… I was fourteen), it was basically the template for my love of anthology supernatural mysteries, it was one of my first manga…
The art is still gorgeous, the stories are 100% more readable with the new translation, I’m just having a lot of feelings.
Kiki: After many false starts and lots of “it’s too hard to find a book I like”, I’m listening to Jo Goodman’s In Want of a Wife ( A ) which I’m liking well enough. It is very much a people-doing-very-descriptive-chores book, but I kinda like that sometimes? I mean, I don’t wanna do chores, but I’ll listen to other folks do them!
Shana: I’m reading Sylvia’s Second Act by Hillary Yablon. ( A | BN | K | AB ) It fun having a 60-something heroine.
Whatcha reading? Let us know in the comments!
I’m doing re-reads of Martha Wells’s MURDERBOT DIARIES to prep for the Apple TV show (out in a few weeks!). Love that telenovela-loving SecUnit. Started Holly James’s THE BIG FIX, and it’s fun so far — romantic action-comedy with a supportive family for FMC, while MMC is, of course, a loner.
Finished a Golden Age mystery — I really like that they’re being re-released, because I would find it much harder to learn about them without that promotion. Listened to THE WINTRINGHAM MYSTERY by Anthony Berkeley — I liked that there were people to root for and kindness rather than just rooting against the murder-mystery baddies.
Absolutely loved A DROP OF CORRUPTION by Robert Jackson Bennett, the second in his Shadow of the Leviathan series. It’s female Holmes and male Watson battling political intrigue, class warfare and Leviathans.
I’m slowly reading my way through the Orphan X series by Gregg Hurwitz. I just finished PRODIGAL SON and up next is DARK HORSE.
I also want to check out THE SPY AND I by Tiana Smith; IMMORTAL by Sue Lynn Tan; and some other books waiting in my TBR pile.
Hope everyone has a good weekend! 🙂
Willow Dixon’s OFF LIMITS, the latest in her Legacy Mechanics series of m/m romances, is about step-brothers who start camming together. In my opinion, the best book about camming step-brothers (yes, that is a very niche romance sub-sub-genre) is Nyla K’s FOR THE FANS, and OFF LIMITS poses no threat to that primacy of that book, but as usual Dixon has written a good book featuring the challenges facing Millennial/Gen Z MCs as they strive for love in an often confusing world. Mechanic Asa is “renovicted” from his apartment and, after exhausting other options, asks his step-brother Dex is he can stay with him. Dex, a former college football player working toward a degree in physiotherapy, is not particularly enthusiastic but is unwilling to see his step-brother on the streets, especially as they share several half-siblings. Asa has clearly been marginalized by his parents—both of whom have gone on to have other families and view Asa as either an inconvenience or an unpaid babysitter (he always feels that other people mean more to him than he means to them). Dex is treated as more of a “golden boy” but he is empathetic enough to understand how Asa has been dealt a poor hand. When Asa learns that Dex is camming to earn extra money, he suggests that the two of them cam together (Asa and Dex do have a past connection that is slowly revealed over the course of the book). What I found most interesting about OFF LIMITS is the focus on the logistical and technical sides of camming: what genders/pairings on what days are likely to bring in the most money, how the tipping and ticketing systems work, how to produce and sell additional content, and how cammers have to engage with their fans while maintaining distance and anonymity. OFF LIMITS is a serviceable step-brother romance but is much more interesting as a look at the actual work that goes into “sex work”. Recommended.
Sometimes a not-so-good book can lead you to much better book. This is what happened to me with Ashlyn Kane’s very good HOMECOMING FOR BEGINNERS. Earlier this month, I read TEXTBOOK DEFENSE (co-written by Kane and Morgan James) and was frankly underwhelmed. However, at the end of TEXTBOOK DEFENSE, there was an excerpt from HOMECOMING FOR BEGINNERS. I read one chapter, was hooked, and immediately downloaded the book from KU. HOMECOMING FOR BEGINNERS features the friends-to-roommates-to-lovers trope between Ty (a paramedic/EMT) and Ollie (an Army veteran and single dad). The two become acquaintances, roommates, friends, and eventually lovers (Ty is bi, Ollie is likely ace/aro). Ty and Ollie have to support each other through challenges both personal (the terms of Ty’s father’s will, a local politician who seems to have it in for Ty, Ollie’s PTSD, and the recent recovery from leukemia of Ollie’s son, Theo) and more general (an attempted burglary, a losing high school baseball team, the need for even a small community to have its own fire station). HOMECOMING FOR BEGINNERS is a nice slice-of-life romance—and, unlike TEXTBOOK DEFENSE, where the daughter of one of the MCs was an annoying on-page distraction, the character of Theo is well-drawn and age-accurate. Recommended.
Somehow, Kelly Hunter’s MUST LOVE MISTLETOE (which I purchased last December when it was released) slipped into my TBR and only rose to the top last week. Go figure. I was in the mood for one of Hunter’s crisply-written romances people with mature adults, so grabbed this one. MUST LOVE MISTLETOE features the late-best-friend’s widow trope as rancher Cal romances widow Beth (a nurse who is trying to keep her cattle ranch going for her son—a young man wise beyond his years). I really liked how both Cal and Beth had been knocked around a bit by life (Beth’s feckless, impulsive late husband was rarely dependable, Cal’s silent love for Beth as he watched her struggles both before and after widowhood), and I really liked how the couple used their words and were willing to make compromises in order to have a life together. There’s also an interesting subplot in the book involving how wolf packs are monitored in ranching communities, the potential for dog-wolf hybrids, and how it’s necessary to test any dog who presents as being possibly part wolf (there’s even a rather tense showdown between a dog and the wolf who fathered her pup). Recommended.
When Claire Kingsley started publishing The Haven Brothers series, she announced that she had moved from writing romances (often with a suspenseful subplot) to writing full-on romantic-suspense. I’ve liked the Haven Brothers books, but I do think Kingsley has struggled to keep the tone balanced when she’s moving back and forth between romance and suspense. In the latest Haven Brothers book, WHISPERS AND WILDFIRE, Luke Haven reconnects with his high school girlfriend, Melanie, when she (newly-divorced after a ten-year marriage) moves back to their hometown. What neither Luke nor Melanie realize is that a specter from Melanie’s past is getting closer and presents a danger to Melanie and everyone who loves her. Luke and Melanie have a bit of antagonists-to-lovers going on—although once they finally confess and act on their feelings, the antagonism quickly evaporates—and there were times where I really wanted them to talk more (especially about a traumatic incident in Melanie’s past). I also found the scenes written from the villain’s point-of-view to be rather more disturbing than I’m accustomed to in Kingsley’s work (tw/cw: stalking, abduction, physical violence against a sex worker). I liked WHISPERS AND WILDFIRE and do recommend it, but I wouldn’t be sorry if Kingsley announced she was returning to writing romances that contained only a hint of suspense in the future.
I have a complicated relationship with Natasha Anders’s work. Her THE UNWANTED WIFE is one of my favorite angsty re-reads, but I’ve struggled with some of her other books, finding them uneven in tone with inconsistent, often immature characters. However, once in a while I’ll find something that—while not as good as THE UNWANTED WIFE—reminds me why I hate to give up on an author completely if I’ve liked their books in the past. This happened to me with Anders’s latest, FINDING FOREVER: it’s no THE UNWANTED WIFE, but it’s still a worthwhile read. Fern is under the thumb of her awful, greedy step-father and is bullied endlessly by her step-sisters (the Cinderella motif is unavoidable). In an attempt to wrest control of her own money from her step-father, Fern seeks out Cade, a wealthy businessman who Fern sees as her best chance of escape. An one-night-stand and an unplanned pregnancy later, the couple marry in haste, while Cade does all he can to help Fern out of the financial entanglements of her step-father. The marriage is one of opposites and is initially not particularly happy (unhappy marriages are one of Anders’s staples). Cade is determined to divorce Fern once her step-father is no longer a threat and wants nothing to do with the forthcoming baby. But as time goes on, the couple do grow closer (with plenty of roadblocks along the way). Yes, there are some whiplash-inducing pivots of sentiment along with scenes that can best be described as “melodramatic door-slamming”, but there are also moments of self-awareness and growth on the parts of both MCs. FINDING FOREVER is not the greatest romance ever written, but it’s certainly not the worst. Recommended for those who enjoy books where the characters are put through an emotional wringer. You know if that’s you.
Anything exceptional I have read lately comes via rereading KJ Charles looking for cricket references because it always feels so wrong when there’s a rec league and I can’t just say: KJ Charles. All I’ve got so far is “The others discussed shooting and cricket.” That’s in THINK OF ENGLAND, and since the import of the line is that nothing useful to our spies is happening, I’m having a hard time considering it even adjacent to being about cricket. Although what I personally love about cricket is the refreshment so I’m no judge. I might attend more sporting events if they understood we need everyone to stop for cocktails and li’l sandwiches.
I was excited for Lexi LaFleur Brown’s SHOOT YOUR SHOT. Hockey romance that’s m/f but still queer, written by someone who knows the sport? The publicity hooked me. Although there’s a hint of not like other WAGs to it all that should have warned me, and as I missed that hint I am warning y’all. I found it impenetrably poorly written. It had all the narrative structure of a four year narrating their day: and then this happened and then… It’s meant to get the hockey “right” and while this doesn’t matter much to me as I struggle to care about sports (see above re: refreshments) it is worth noting that at 38% or wherever it was I gave up, there had been no hockey at all. Proceed at your own risk.
Meanwhile I hang on every word Taylor Fitzpatrick adds to AO3.
Been listening to the audiobook version of JADE CITY in the car, and I hate audiobooks and much prefer the book version but I am trapped in the car, and at least I get to have Jade City. I want a tv/film version of The Green Bones Saga so so badly and if I had any control over development whatsoever I would be throwing money at it. It’s fantasy not romance, but there are romances, plus the characters and the politics and the world building and the families and the kung fu are all so well done I don’t understand how it hasn’t been picked up already.
Happy Saturday, Smart Bitches!
I have not read anything with any satisfaction for about a week, so I worried I did not have anything to share with you. HOWEVER, I forgot that there are two great books that I read right after the last WAYR (prob based on your recommendations).
WILD SIDE by Elsie Silver was excellent. M/F romance, enemies to lovers. Two people coming together for the good of a child and falling in love. The misunderstanding/animosity was handled beautifully, very realistic, and the spicy times were spicy. The plot moppet was not too moppety, and the portrayal of the work required for both of their careers and caring for the child felt believable. That work also interfered in their romance in ways that made sense to me without being insurmountable. Please be careful, though – discussions of addiction and loss of a sister, are central to the plot. I thought these issues were handled with sensitivity and the story was one of hope (I really can’t read anything particularly dark right now), but take care of yourself. Giving myself a minute, but I will definitely look for other books by this author (I think this was the third in the series, if you need to read in order, but I had no trouble jumping in at this point).
HELL FOR HIRE by Rachel Aaron – also excellent. Urban fantasy, demons, witches, all-powerful god is the big bad. The characters were vividly drawn and there was a lot of engaging action. Slow burn between the two main characters. Liked the nonbinary lust demon (sharply drawn without being a cliché, esp. as the series progresses), and the fact that the male lead is a witch, though men are not witches in that world, so that he can be free of the big bad’s magic system. Love that these choices are important to the plot, so it’s not performative/box-checking, but also part of the heroes building an open fair-minded world. Really well done.
I started the second book, but am going to give myself some time before I continue. I think there are going to be five in the series, so I want to pace myself.
Thank you for all your great recommendations! Have a great weekend!
I started with Layne Fargo’s novel THE FAVORITES, about a controversial ice dancing pair’s saga (romantic and professional) over several Olympics. It’s structure is very similar to DAISY JONES AND THE SIX, but more side characters makes this oral history worldbuilding even more sprawling. I was riveted by the first half’s detail (I’m only a casual skating fan, but the fine points felt authentic). Unfortunately, the second half got too soapy, and I lost sympathy for the couple thanks to their occasional TSTL behavior. There is apparently a limited series in the works, and I do think the story could work better that way.
Ione Skye’s memoir SAY EVERYTHING is a real page turner; she’s painfully honest about everything from her bohemian Hollywood upbringing and strained relationship with her father (folk-rocker Donovan) to her growing pains as an actress and her struggles navigating relationships and her sexuality. Gen Xers are likely to wince at some details, and there are heartrending trigger warnings here and there, but it ends in a good place.
Of course, I made a beeline for volume 10 of Shou Harusono’s SASAKI AND MIYANO, and this volume may be my favorite so far. I was relieved that a Big Misunderstanding hinted at in volume 9 was not in the cards, and both guys had me squeeing out loud. Sasaki had my demi heart skipping a beat as usual, and Kuresawa’s gruff devotion to his girlfriend continues to be reliably adorable (especially in an unexpected moment that, while obviously fan service, worked for me). I’ll be so sorry to see these characters go!
Happy Saturday!
A Thorn In Every Heart (Enchanted Legacies Book 1) by Kate King (Kindle Unlimited)
Billed as Beauty & the Beast + Anastasia. A bit of mistaken identity, sends a contemporary woman to a cursed fantasy kingdom where she must try to break the curse while hiding her true identity from the cursed king. With bonus NSFW sketches in the chapter headings. It’s got an interesting premise, but had some things that annoyed me as well. Let’s put the negativity in a spoiler tag.
– Also, contemporary woman has absolutely no concept of absolute monarchy. If you are engaged to the king, and if you have the hots for his half brother, you really are committing treason by sleeping with the half brother. When he says, “My brother will kill me if he finds out about this”, that’s a very real possibility, and I don’t think that contemporary woman gets that.
Boss in the Bedsheets by Kate Canterbary (KU)
If you can get past one week time frame for the majority of the book, this one managed to make a bonkers situation reasonable. The romance is between woman looking to start over in a new town and her new grumpy boss.
40 and (Tired of) Faking It: An Over 40 Small Town Romance (Silver Foxes of Black Wolf’s Bluff 1) by Ella Sheridan (Free on Kindle)
On the plus side, older main characters (she’s 40 and he’s not yet 50). She’s the mayor and he’s a developer who’s come to a small Appalachian town with a dream of turning his grandparent’s land into a ski resort. I enjoyed this well enough, but there’s a lot of suspension of disbelief required. Like, the bulk of the action takes place over about a week of real world time, which is a pretty whirlwind romance.
40 and (No Longer) Fighting It: An Over 40 Second Chance Romance (Silver Foxes of Black Wolf’s Bluff 2) by Ella Sheridan
I liked the first book in the series enough to grab the second one, and I liked the 2nd chance between a big city restauranteur and a small town baker premise of this one. It’s fine, but also suffered from the whirlwind romance pacing and Hallmark channel situational fixes as the first book. It’s fine, I just thought that there was the potential for a better book somewhere in the plot lines, which left me a little dissatisfied.
Night Broken (Mercy Thompson Book 8) by Patricia Briggs
In this entry, Mercy has to deal with her mate’s ex-wife who has appealed to the pack for help when she acquires a stalker. The last few books in this series have been less mystery and more thriller flavored, which works here.
Of Visions & Secrets (Tenebris: An Occult Romance Book 1) by Kathryn Ann Kingsley (KU)
Of Flesh & Bone (Tenebris: An Occult Romance Book 2) by Kathryn Ann Kingsley (KU)
Of Grave & Glory (Tenebris: An Occult Romance Book 3) by Kathryn Ann Kingsley (KU)
Have you ever wanted more romance in your Call of Cthulhu TTRPG? How do you feel about tentacles? The story opens with a young woman trying to find her missing brother in the cursed town of Arnsmouth. Instead she finds cultists, horrors, and a really hot professor (who might also be cursed). I had a good time with this horror romance.
Wow, I say this every time–time is flyin’, y’alls…
@Kiki, I really enjoyed Jo Goodman’s IN WANT OF A WIFE. I have several others by her on my TBR–maybe I need to pick them up…
@DiscoDollyDeb, I found that part of OFF LIMITS fascinating also, the details about camming and how it could be an effective way of making money. That is so out of my realm of everything, but so interesting to read! I really enjoyed the book overall and thought Willow Dixon did a great job with how their antagonistic relationship changed as each made efforts to alter how they treated the other and then chose to be vulnerable and be willing to build on that fine thread of trust that created. I’ve read that this is the last book in this series, and that the next sounds like she will be going in more of a darker, taboo romance kind of direction.
Another great read I consumed is ON THIN ICE, the third in Beth Bolden’s Portland Evergreens m/m hockey series. Evergreens goalie Finn Reynolds can be an excellent goalie. But he’s got too much going on in his head to play to his potential, and his frustrating relationship with his famous retired star player father is at least partially responsible. He finds retired goalie Jacob Braun, one player whom his father never managed to best, and realizes that this man might be able to help him face what he struggles with most.
Beth Bolden has taken her sports romance to the next level. I loved how she handled Jacob’s and Finn’s understandable reservations and fears and then the gradual healing and growth they both experience as they determine to live their lives more fully as they intend. I really enjoyed seeing them lean on their friendships and other relationships as well, as they work to find their footing. And the kindness and loving support those relationships provide and engender are also beautiful. I found this deeply satisfying.
Also very entertaining–ON THE ROCKS, the sixth in Taryn Quinn’s Brothers Three Orchard series. The writing duo of Cari Quinn and Taryn Elliott keep getting better and better, and On the Rocks is a delicious return to the Brothers Three Orchard where celebrity bartender Lennon and retired rock musician Griffin clash, while of course, also warily circling each other, with interest, however reluctant, on both sides.
Quinn and Elliott keep bringing their A-game to this next stand-alone chapter in the Brothers Three Orchard setting and it is a delicious, page-turning read as Griffin works hard to win Lennon over, and they work to keep each other and their community safe when some of Griffin’s rocker past sneaks up to haunt them. Some terrific cameos from their existing series and titles, and a great read altogether.
In a mood for more excellent sports romance, I went on a reread binge of Brigham Vaughn’s Rules of the Game series–ROAD RULES, BENDING THE RULES, CHANGING THE RULES, UNWRITTEN RULES, RULES OF ENGAGEMENT, BREAKING THE RULES–love this hockey universe she’s created and the community and characters. I also reread Keira Andrews’ KISS AND CRY, about a couple Olympic figure skaters.
I also read the first couple in Eve Gaddy’s Devil’s Rock at Whiskey River series. REBEL PILOT, TEXAS DOCTOR and HIS BEST FRIEND’S SISTER were solid small-town romances. I don’t have the third in the series but would probably read it if I pick it up later…
Can’t wait to catch up on everything you all are reading!
Over the past two weeks ~
— For my local book group, The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict. I liked two things about this book — it was not a dark, depressing book like so many of the books my group reads also it was a very quick read. Despite that, something about the book grated. The story is a fictionalized account addressing the eleven day disappearance of author Agatha Christie in 1926.
— enjoyed Goaltender Interference by Ari Baran which is a contemporary romance in which two hockey players (one just retired at 36) reunite after ten years apart. While I enjoyed it, I felt that it could have been somewhat shorter.
— Promises Made Under Fire by Charlie Cochrane is a romance novella set during/after World War I. One of the leads carries out his comrade’s last wish that he visit the man’s mother and also that he deliver a letter to a man whose name is unfamiliar to him. He’s somewhat surprised that he isn’t asked to deliver a message to the man’s wife as he’s so often heard about her.
— enjoyed Escape Velocity by Anah Crow which is a science fiction romance about two men from different worlds that have very different religious belief systems.
— enjoyed aspects of Zero Gravity Outcasts by Kay Keppler which is a science fiction novella. I liked the heroine and her business partners, but the man who had been her lover in an earlier time fell short of being called the hero of the story. That said, I would like to read more by this author.
— enjoyed Murder by Memory (Dorothy Gentleman Book 1) by Olivia Waite which is a science fiction mystery set on a space ship. On this ship, which is on a thousand year journey, people save their memories in an electronic book; after they die, their memories can be restored to a new body. The book begins with a ship detective being born into an existing (rather than a new body) and being told that a murder has been committed.
— enjoyed Christmas in Caterwaul Creek by Kay Keppler which is a contemporary road trip novella in which the lead character is determined to travel across the country to be with her sister for Christmas. She is accompanied by a taxi driver and a pawn broker on the run from the mafia. It was farfetched and amusing.
— quite enjoyed the contemporary romance Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone. It is set in New York City and features a young woman, a nanny, who is deeply grieving the death of her best friend. The male lead, who has himself grieved the death of family members, has little experience with children and asks for the woman’s help in building connections with his niece; he offers help with grieving issues.
— stayed up late to finish A Gentleman’s Gentleman by TJ Alexander. This was a unique historical romance in that the main character, an earl who needs to marry within the next few months to secure his inheritance, is “a man of unusual make” (i.e., trans). In order to find a bride, he decides to attend the London season which requires that he hire a valet. He and the valet gradually form a connection. I quite enjoyed this book though portions of it did strain credulity.
— read the latest book in a favorite mystery series ~ Murder in Mercy by Anne Cleeland. I don’t bother trying to solve the mysteries in this series, I simply enjoy visiting the characters. If interested, you should start with the first book in the series, Murder In Thrall.
— enjoyed another science fiction book in the Liaden universe, Balance of Trade by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.
I haven’t been able to finish a book in many weeks, sadly, not sure why (besides the constant barrage of NEWS, I guess). But I’m currently reading Brandon Sanderson’s Alloy of Law, book 4 in Mistborn, and finally a book has caught and held my interest. Next up is Lonesome Dove, which has been recommended to me several times so giving it a go.
I’m listening to Quicksilver on audio and enjoying it. That might actually be the last book I read to the end, in like February when I was sick with the flu, so when I saw the audiobook available at my library I figured it was a good option with my current state of (lack of) concentration.
How do other people cure a book slump? Just keep trying new books? Constantly abandoning books kind of feels like a failure.
As a follow up to my comment, I had a similar experience earlier this year, with the book slump, and I “solved it” by doing a reread of about half a dozen Ilona Andrews books. Highly recommend rereading old favorites, often. I’ll probably be doing that again, maybe with Anne Bishop’s Others books, but it’s not really a cure in my opinion because I still can’t pick up a brand new book and finish it!
Also, Quicksilver is by Callie Hart.
I just finished the new Emily Henry book, Great Big Beautiful Life… and is was just kinda okay, imho. I didn’t feel as connected to the story or the characters as I have in some of her other work. I appreciated that she wanted to tell a bigger story (ie, themes of making meaning, connecting with purpose, connection with family and family narratives) — but it just didn’t connect for me. I’m looking for something else to read to shake off the feeling being dissatisfied.
This wasn’t something I planned, but I read three books in a row that were the third in a series where I’ve already read the first two entries.
Jackie Lau’s TWO FRIENDS IN MARRIAGE is the third in her “Weddings with the Moks” series, and had a different tone than the first two books. MMC Evan Mok and FMC Jane Yin have been friends for many years when they make an agreement– during the pandemic, when both feel lonely and isolated– to get married and buy a house in the suburbs together if they are both still single when Jane turns 33. Evan is bi but not sexually active because his meds for depression slow his libido; Jane is demi and wants companionship but not sex. They agree their relationship won’t include sex with each other, except for possible procreation if they decide they want to have kids together. As their suburban life progresses, both find themselves surprised to be feeling attraction, and not just friendship, for their spouse. The story also includes typical Lau scenes of interactions with parents– Evan’s are supportive (and constantly supplying the newlyweds with food) but concerned about the unexpected marriage. Jane is still grieving for her mother who died when Jane was young, and still seething at her father who has been distant for decades. I can’t say this series is my favorite from Lau, but there’s one more Mok brother’s story to be told, and I’m sure I’ll read that one also.
SO NOT MY TYPE by Dana Hawkins is the third in a series of “Single in Seattle” F/F romances. All are on Kindle Unlimited, and all use “opposites attract” tropes in varied Seattle settings. In this book, Sophie and Ella are two 24-year-old project managers in a marketing firm, but Sophie, who has a buzz cut, numerous piercings, and no college degree, has worked her way up the corporate hierarchy, while polished, privileged Ella is the CEO’s daughter. So it’s also an antagonists-to-lovers trope, with Sophie resentful that she has to train Ella while they work long hours to please a picky client. The reasons for the third act break-up seemed overly complicated to me– it’s a combination of miscommunication about a past relationship, merged with the aftermath of an epileptic seizure. Also, because of my past professional experiences in marketing, the descriptions of the work of the agency didn’t ring true. I finished the book, but it wasn’t my favorite from this author.
I had high expectations for ON HER TERMS, the third in the “Out in Hollywood” F/F novels by Amy Spalding. I liked the first book in this series a lot (FOR HER CONSIDERATION) and had fond memories of the first book’s MCs, Nina and Ari, who figure into the plot of the newest book also. However, I didn’t remember until I started re-reading FOR HER CONSIDERATION that both MCs of ON HER TERMS had been introduced, briefly, in the first book, along with several other characters who Spalding has continued to feature in all three parts of the series.
ON HER TERMS works as a stand-alone told from the POV of Clementine, a 36-year-old plus-sized woman working in a marketing agency, who has just ended a relationship with a long-term boyfriend because she didn’t share his goal for getting married and having kids and definitely didn’t appreciate his plan to visit her father and “ask for her hand.” Instead, she’s eager to fully explore her bi identity, despite moments of concern about whether she’s “queer enough.” On her first venture to the queer space Johnny’s bar (a major component of the plot of book 2 of the series, AT HER SERVICE) Clem meets Chloe, a dog groomer who offers to assist Clem in “learning how to date girls” via mutually beneficial fake dating. Clementine will be Chloe’s date for a destination wedding that involves the mostly coupled-up extended friend group we met in FOR HER CONSIDERATION, and Chloe will return the favor as Clementine’s date at an anniversary party for Clem’s parents.
I usually like the fake dating trope and a slow burn path to realization of feelings, but Chloe’s relationship avoidance leads to a painful third act breakup, followed by what seemed like an abrupt HEA resolution. Also, Clementine’s brother is a pain, with no redeeming qualities even at the point in the book where we’re supposed to see some improvements. However, of the three “third in the series” books I read, this was the best. The friend-group banter is fun, the serious conversations are credible, the marketing agency scenes had verisimilitude, and there are some great interactions with pets, including Clementine’s kitten named Small Jesse Pinkman.
After finishing ON HER TERMS I re-read books 1 and 2 from the series, and then re-read book 3 as well (Re-reading series books seems to be a recurring activity for me in 2025.) I still think FOR HER CONSIDERATION was the most enjoyable of the three, but I appreciated books 2 and 3 more after reading all three in proximity. Spalding says there’s a fourth book coming– I’m uncertain who the MCs will be and I’m eager to find out!
@Liz, sorry that you’ve been in a reading slump. For me, I do tend to go the re-read route, or sometimes I may find that I’ve had a book on my TBR by a favorite author that I haven’t had a chance to read yet, and that might be worth the “in case of emergency” break the glass 🙂
Thanks for the recs, @EditChief–I’ve read the first two in Jackie Lau’s Moks series too, and haven’t read the third yet.
@kkw – good to know about Shoot Your Shot! My library hold just became available today, so I’ll go in with expectations adjusted.
For our girls weekend/book club in Savannah, we read MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL by John Berendt. Somehow, I missed reading it when it come out in the ’90’s but it was the perfect choice for this trip and didn’t feel at all dated. I’d recommend it in audio though, it’s so dense with descriptions and atmosphere that it’s almost too hard to absorb as words on the page.
I also read a fascinating historical fiction, SAVING VINCENT by Joan Fernandez, that highlighted the almost priceless contribution of Jo van Gogh Bonger, Vincent van Gogh’s sister-in-law. She was married to his brother Theo, who passed away within a year of Vincent’s death, leaving her a young widow with a 1 YO son and a treasure trove of 300 of Vincent’s paintings. She worked tirelessly and thanklessly for the rest of her life to make sure that his talent was not lost to obscurity, battling the many men who tried to tell her that she knew nothing of art or business and that she needed to stay out of the way and forget this “silly” notion that she could advance his art.
Finally, I’m just about finished with THE LAST ELIGIBLE BILLIONAIRE by Pippa Grant, a fun, well-executed, grumpy-sunshine romcom featuring the best/worst failed service dog ever.
@Liz Sympathies! I have to believe that constantly abandoning books is living my best life, and not failure at all, because life is short and I can’t be bothered to finish an awful lot of books. Like a lot a lot. I tell myself that specialization is the point of civilization (technically it’s plumbing but for our purposes here it’s specialization) so I don’t have to read something adjacent to my interests when there are so many books out there that are exactly right. I just have to find them. And when I have bounced off several things in a row that I can’t get into despite them being seemingly everything I wanted? First I go for a run to get away from feelings, because feelings are stupid and sometimes I can out pace them. And then like @flchen1, either turn to rereads or the emergency stores, what growing up we called the books we were saving for prison. Also a genre switch can help – if the romances aren’t treating me right I often turn to murder.
Uh, fictionally speaking. That doesn’t sound right, especially in context of familial expectations of prison…. Anyway.
Good luck!
I am looking at this and seeing some books/authors mentioned that I have been reading
I re-read some Natasha Anders including THE UNWANTED WIFE which DDD also likes. I really like about half her books and am meh on some others. I am still always interested in finding out if she has another book coming out.
I am also a fan of Kate Canterbury and did read BOSS IN THE BEDSHEETS in common with C. I enjoyed it though a good deal though the h is a bit manic pixie for my taste. Still, it works.
I did get a little slumpish recently due to the imperfect storm of rushing to finish my taxes, doing my NRP recert, and finishing reapplications for the two hospitals where I work. Found I was missing CMEs and will strongly recommend the free CME for docs, nurses, and pharmacists that Cincinnati Children’s Hospital has online. Does that count as a reading recommendation even though it’s video?
In honor of the stress, mostly re-reads. An old Nalini Singh, MARRIAGE BED SECRETS, where she has asked him for a divorce but now she’s pregnant. They have never communicated well and now the moment has come.
Lots of Caitlin Crews, most recently MY BOUGHT VIRGIN WIFE, which, yeah, is pretty much what it sound but I love her writing and sometimes I need that emotionality. Ditto her CASTELLI’S VIRGIN WIDOW.
Julia Connor’s Boston Rebels series, hockey romance with somewhat more mature persons. For some reason, I keep re-reading her CROSS-CHECKED, older woman and his boss. Oh, and he’s a single dad.
Very late to the party but my friend has convinced me to start Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series. Apparently my friend knows Ms Briggs though having had kids in the same school. And apparently my friend’s address is used in the books. So I just finished MOON CALLED and enjoyed it. I will probably continue the series.
I found Elizsabeth Scarborough’s THE GODMOTHER in the bottom of my TBR and read it. It’s a mash up of fairy tales set in Seattle. It was OK but not my favorite of her work.
I ALMOST DO and I ALWAYS DID by Evangeline Williams. Love both of them. The first is an arranged marriage that he feels too protective of her to consummate. She leaves for college but they date and things progress. The second, she is BFF for h from first book and he is bodyguard to same. He secretly marries heroine to protect her. But feels he cannot have a real marriage with her.
Mostly decent reads these last two weeks but nothing blew me away. Everything felt long and not quite distracting enough.
Kristin Hannah’s THE GREAT ALONE was an angsty, mainstream read, but still strong. Warnings for on-page domestic violence. I have a lot of respect for her after reading THE WOMEN (that was mostly great).
Liked London Sperry’s debut f/m contemporary PASSION PROJECT. Will read more of hers.
Linda Holmes’s f/m contemporary BACK AFTER THIS was solid.
Enjoyed Madeline Hunter’s f/m historic THE CHARMER, recommended here.
Finally read a Sarah J. Maas after bouncing off ACOTAR years ago. HOUSE OF EARTH AND BLOOD was a decent entertainment, so I just started the second in the Crescent City series. A dark book but a popcorn book. Kind of hate the cheesy Graphic Audio versions of the books, but that’s what the library has.
Enjoyed Jasmine Guilllory’s first f/f romance, FLIRTING LESSONS, the characters especially.
Carrie’s SBTB review of fantasy GREENTEETH totally caught my reading experience.
Bailed on Olivia Blake’s Atlas series. Just not for me–I couldn’t care about those characters.
I read some good books, I think, but nothing’s really stayed with me.
Spellbound: A Graphic Memoir by Bishakh Som
4 stars – a really interesting memoir that was not what I was expecting. I’d read and really enjoyed a series the author did for AutoStraddle called Scenes from a Gender and was expecting this memoir to be similarly about her experiences as a trans woman, and it is but it also isn’t. It’s mostly about a character she created before she realized she’s trans Not sure I can explain it better than that.
Flirting Lessons by Jasmine Guillory – f/f
4.0 Enjoyed this tropey, emotionally satisfying sapphic romance.
The set up (the titular flirting lessons) is silly and required a big suspension of disbelief. But once I relaxed into it, I enjoyed how their friendship and relationship developed. And I LOVED the friendships – both protags work on their friendships during the course of the book and it was really satisfying to read.
Say a Little Prayer by Jenna Voris
3.5 stars – I wanted to like this sapphic ya romance more than I did.
Oh, and I re-read The Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune series by KJ Charles and I am newly impressed with how well it works as a series.
Re: Chelsea Devontez interview
SQUEEEEE!!!!!!!!!
Her interview on Sex, Death $ Money made me love Anna Sale even more (as if that’s even possible).
Glamorous Trash is deeply romance adjacent but she’s never read romance… dying for the Smart Bitches rec skills to make an appearance
@Liz– I don’t think abandoning books is a failure. Being able to recognize that something isn’t enjoyable and that you are thus entitled to stop doing it is an important skill that I am still working on myself. Life is full of things we don’t want to do but must (like cleaning the bathroom), so why do things you don’t enjoy for “fun”? I’m currently abandoning so many books that would probably work for other readers that I’m only mentioning here the ones I finish.
My non-fiction kick continues. Thanks to a recommendation here, I read VANISHING TREASURES by Katherine Rundell, which was full of fascinating facts about a variety of endangered animals.
I can’t keep track of what I’ve mentioned here, but I highly recommend BLOOD IN THE MACHINE: THE ORIGINS OF THE REBELLION AGAINST BIG TECH by Brian Merchant. It is about the Luddites and what they really were about, which is completely different from the way they are usually described. There’s a lot of detailed history of the Luddite revolts and why they happened, and some excellent comparison with current exploitative technology and the lies told to promote it, and who pays the price for the prosperity of the technocrats.
Also enjoyed MATTER: THE MAGNIFICENT ILLUSION by Guido Tonelli, a short but informative book about the physics of matter. I would have appreciate some diagrams, because I understand more that way, but I still learned a lot.
I’m still bouncing off most fiction, but did finish 3 novels.
YIN YANG LOVE SONG by Lauren Kung Jessen is a fake dating romance. The MMC is a famous musician whose brand centers on being a heartbreaker, and the FMC runs an inn with her aunties which focuses on using traditional Chinese medicine to heal heartbreak. He needs someone to break up with and she needs a famous person to help promote her new herbal teas. She’s used to heartbreak because the women in her family are cursed to never find lasting love. I’d read more by this author.
THE HEALING SEASON OF POTTERY by Yeon Somin is a Korean novel about a woman who quits her job due to burnout and gradually rebuilds her life thanks to a local pottery studio. There is a romance but this is not primarily a romance novel. I liked the characters and the found family aspect, and would read more by this author.
YEONNAM-DONG’S SMILEY LAUNDROMAT by Jiyun Kim was a bit of a disappointment for me. I liked the idea of a 24 hour neighborhood laundromat creating a community by means of a notebook where people write their worries and others respond. Each section is about a different set of people who connect via the notebook, and all of them come together by the end of the book. Perhaps because each section was short, the problems for each set of characters resolved a bit too quickly and easily for me, except for the last chapter. I felt like some of the things I disliked about this book may be aspects of Korean culture that clash with my own ways of thinking, and that felt very uncomfortable. The main problems for me were the acceptance of criticism which (to me) seemed very harsh as a way to motivate people, the acceptance of a parent striking a grown child (twice), and the way a son who does not follow the example and instructions of his father is set up as both foolish and villainous. (The son is not a nice guy, his values strike me as crummy and he has a bad attitude towards his father, but his father isn’t wonderful to him either, and both were almost caricatures of Good Father and Bad Child.)
Thanks for all the great recommendations here, y’all. Especially when I’m finding it so hard to get into books, this community is a godsend.
Recent standouts include Amal El-Mohtar’s The River has Roots and Robert Jackson Bennett’s A Drop of Corruption. I also loved the new Susannah Kearsley, The King’s Messenger.
I am finding immersive non-fiction a very helpful and enriching way to create some space from the crisis right now. I started with JANE AUSTEN’S WARDROBE, by Hilary Davidson. The illustrations were so gorgeous, and the text (incorporating her letters and references to her books) were equally illuminating. I learned so much about fashion in the late Georgian and Regency eras, and I immediately requested her earlier book from the library, Dress in the Age of Jane Austen.
Reading Jane Austen’s Wardrobe inspired me to finally buy a book I’ve been waiting (in vain) for my library to acquire: THE KING’S PAINTER, THE LIFE OF HANS HOLBEIN, by Franny Moyle. Like the Davidson book, it has gorgeous color illustrations that track Holbein’s life and work, starting with the infamous portrait of Anne of Cleves, and then backtracking to his start. I feel like I’ve been immersed in the 16th century for the last week. I expect to have book hangover after I finish this today.
Just here to bitch! I made a BIG MISTAKE and changed my Everand(Scribd) subscription to their new Standard plan, and now almost all the books on my Saved list are locked. I did it because the new plan allows me to unlock one Premium title a month, but I didn’t know that I would lose the ability to read so many books that were freely available before. So if you are grandfathered in their old subscription plan, don’t change it! Once you switch, you can’t change back.
I can understand see why they would lock recent bestsellers, but I’m talking about stuff like old Patricia Wentworth mysteries, books by D.E. Stevenson, old Harlequin Presents and Harlequin Historicals titles, and other romances that are decades old. All now considered “Premium” titles, only 1 a month can be unlocked.
Well that’s just terrible. Thank you for the warning! I’m a legacy subscriber, too, and my Saved list is full of audiobooks I’m looking forward to listening to. Thank you for the heads up!
Hello, hi, long time no post from me because I haven’t finished any books in months. Until my ability to focus returns, I’m doing bite-sized comics with pretty pictures.
These are all fantasy romance, slow burn, friends to more, with varying levels of cozy vibes and cute cats (ongoing series with a good amount of romance development so far, free on Webtoon):
– Hello, hello – m/m werewolf / sorcerer, contemporary setting
– A Spell for a Smith – f/m shy anxious witch / dwarf blacksmith with a heart of gold, medieval-ish setting
– Of Swamp and Sea – f/m human possessed by a wolf spirit / monster hunter with a curse, strangers to friends to partners to lovers, 1920s setting
– The Moth Prince – m/m fairy prince / human, contemporary setting; been following this one a long time, no kiss yet but plenty of emotion.
I’ve gotten a little tired of these raw April showers, and now–zing!–it’s fucking summer.
Tattered Huntress by Helen Harper
Fiendish Delights by Helen Harper
I am having so much fun with these books! There are four books in the Thrill of the Hunt series, and I just gobbled down the first two. These are urban fantasy done right. Daisy Carter is a low elf working as a delivery person in England. She has a unique, sassy voice and an unswerving loyalty to those she loves. She’s also a drug addict, but her flaws are what make her a sympathetic character. Hugo Pemberton is a high elf and a successful, famous treasure hunter with a scunner against drug addicts. From the moment Daisy and Hugo meet they are at odds. Daisy is more than she seems, but she clearly has limits. Watching her prove herself to Hugo and his Primes is as much a delight as watching her deal with trolls, brownies, and dragons. Recommended with bells on.
One on One by Jamie Harrow
Thanks go to @EditChief for mentioning this book in a recent WAYR post. A college basketball romance was a nice change of pace for me, and this one satisfied my craving for more time on the court as well as the nitty gritty details involved in running a high level college program. Mind you, the slow burn between analyst Ben and videographer Annie definitely worked for me. Written from Annie’s first person POV, the emphasis is on Annie’s evolving feelings as she returns to her alma mater and the sport she grew up loving. Her conflicts and interactions with her office neighbor Ben evolve as layers are slowly peeled away to reveal the bright goodness within. This book is about so much more than basketball or sex. There are the fascinationg contrasts between the lively group of friends, families, and colleagues, the pure love of the game, and the problematical aspects of big time college sports. This novel was totally absorbing and so beautifully written. Enthusiastically recommended.
Saddled and Spurred by Lorelei James
The second book in the Black Top Cowboys series left me feeling bemused. There’s a mythos around the West that persists into the twenty-first century, and this series is permeated in it. It’s not blatant and it’s not exactly romanticized, yet I’m fundamentally suspicious of it. Also, since this is an older book, it feels a little politically one dimensional to me. Other than that, this had a lot of ranchy competence pR0n and plenty of raunchy erotic fun. I found it good if not great with well wrought characters, and a MMC who confined his alpha nature mostly to the bedroom where it was welcome. The FMC has a more complicated life caring for her now college aged sister, working multiple jobs, and distancing herself from her wayward mother’s legacy. I mostly enjoyed this book in spite of all the wistful yet gritty yearning for a certain way of life. I doubt that I’d read it again though. Recommended if cowboys put a kick in your gallop.
Skullduggery by Helen Harper
This is the third book in the Thrill of the Hunt series. I enjoyed this continuation of Daisy’s saga and the opportunity to spend quality time with Hugo, the Primes, and the Brownie siblings, Hester and Otis. Several of the plot threads that are hinted at in the earlier books, including Daisy’s origins and her relationship with Hugo, are developed in this book. However, the fiends–notably Athair–continue to bedevil our heroes. The book does use a plot device that kind of detracts from the mystery element, but it’s still a lot of fun. I look forward to reading the fourth and final book.
The Royals Upstairs by Karina Halle
I read and enjoyed The Royals Next Door by this author some time ago. Like its predecessor, this story deals with a PPO in service to a royal (Norwegian, this time) family. James is newly employed to guard Princess Ella and her two sons, but much to his dismay, his responsibilities also include Laila, the boys’ nanny, with whom he had a passionate affair during his previous assignment. This book was hard for me to get a grip on. I found the main characters kind of one dimensional. Laila’s vibe is heavy on the doom and gloom, while James comes across as overly slick and a bit shallow. Both have reasons, but I wasn’t wholly convinced of their validity. There are flashbacks that are mostly sex and pretty unnecessary. I’m not fond of a dual timeline at the best of times, and this wasn’t a best use of the technique. In fact, I found most of the explicit scenes eminently skippable. The supporting characters are great, especially Prince Magnus the two “little” kids. Here’s the best line in the book (said by Magnus): “I swear to god, that child is someone I wronged in a past life.” This book might hit better for royal watchers, or fans of the second-chance-at-love trope, but it really wasn’t my fav. Will not reread.
The Camelot Caper by Elizabeth Peters (Barbara Mertz) Reread; on pause.
Warning: Vicki Bliss does not appear in this book, but marketers gonna market. I saw this on sale and bought it because I’m a Barbara Mertz fangirl and series completist. I first read it sometime in the 70s or 80s. Even without knowing the original 1969 publishing date, the heroine’s (I use the term advisedly) John Meyer style suits and hot pink vinyl raincoat with matching cap are a dead giveaway of the era. So, this is road tripping romantic suspense with our heroine fleeing mysterious pursuers, falling in with an equally mysterious stranger, and careening from one historical beauty spot to another. It has some surprisingly meta elements and is both an appreciation and a send-up of the genre. I don’t know if anyone did this before Mertz, but nobody did it better. (Maybe Austen?) Mertz’s combination of sharp observation and sly humor was such a revelation to me back in the day, and I wanted to see if it held up. Mostly, I think it does, though one may need to treat it as historical fiction. I’ll go back to it when I’m in the right headspace.
Rainshadow Road by Lisa Kleypas
I also picked this one up on sale, though I hadn’t read Kleypas’s contemporaries before. I enjoyed this story of a glass artist who is dumped by her fiance for her younger sister. An accident results in physical injuries and a temporary sojourn with a local vinyard owner. The writing is excellent–both witty and beautiful. Descriptions of the vinyard and Lucy’s glass art are detailed and fascinating. When Lucy and Sam’s relationship segues into passion, the prose retains both wit and beauty. These characters and their story really worked for me. The only thing that didn’t work were the little touches of magical realism associated with the crafts of the MCs. Somehow, making that magic literal, diminished the real magic of coaxing art from cold glass or grapes from the warm earth. I plan to hunt down the rest of this series pdq.
Recommended.
Wrangled and Tangled by Lorelei James
DNF. So, this one has two romance plot lines, and both couples start boning a little past the 40% mark. Do you know how much boning, i.e., skimming*, that amounts to? And the stuff in between? Squick-worthy af. More sexist bs than you can shake a peen at. Little gems like a silver fox coat hung on an antler coat rack, or two characters having a bad feeling about the land because they’re Crow. It’s like death by a thousand trite paper cuts, and I am out.
* A note about skimming through or skipping sex scenes. There are many reasons for this from personal distaste to pure boredom. I do it when I feel like you could delete the entire scene and still be reading the same book.
Christmas at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas
I see that this became a TV Christmas movie, and I’m not surprised; it has all the elements. I read it because I enjoyed book two of this series. This book–the first–is kind of slight by comparison. At 224 pages it’s almost a novella. It was well written with finely observed descriptions and deft touches of humor. Though not the most original story, the characters were well drawn–even the dreaded plot moppet. My only real complaint is that the ending felt a bit rushed. I was all like, “Wait. That’s it?” Basically, if this is your trope of choice (single dad, widow, kid wanting a mom for Christmas, small town), go for it.
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
I preordered this because I love anything by Emily Henry that involves books. I buy all her stuff cuz what I like, I REALLY like. Basically, if you’re contemplating this book, read SB Lara’s review to get the scoop. Personally, I liked the mystery unravelling elements much better than the generational drama. I think the latter dragged things down a bit, though it was a well constructed and integral part of the intricate narrative. The very best part of this book for me was the developing relationship between Alice and Hayden, especially the way they listen to each other and the way their growing closeness is interwoven with Alice’s sessions with Margaret and the often tragic story of the Ives family. Recommended.
Dream Lake by Lisa Kleypas
The third book in the Friday Harbor series is, first and foremost, a ghost story. Despite the fact that I am not generally a fan of spooks–even or especially in service to love–I was so absorbed in the progress of the dual love stories that I couldn’t put the book down. Alex, the third (and grumpiest) Nolan brother undergoes a compelling journey, but his experiences tended to overshadow Zoe’s role as his eventual lover and partner. Or maybe I’m just a sucker for a harsh hero. I even developed a fondness for the ghost and a stake in his quest. Here’s my problem: If the success of your difficult journey to love is dependent on the intervention of a spirit, can the HEA even be valid? Eh, it mostly worked, though the ending kind of irritated me, using a somewhat gimmicky and over dramatic plot device to resolve the various plot threads. Recommended for readers with a high tolerance for woo-woo.
Kathryn Ann Kingsley’s Tenebris trilogy sounds like fun!
I plan on starting on book 1 today. 🙂
:::plops down after a 2.5 hour nap:::
Look, I have two kids graduating in the next few weeks, dance recitals, work stuff, and yikes on bikes.
Anyway, I am almost 300 pages deep into Joe Hill’s next novel, King Sorrow. It’s his first full-length novel since The Fireman, I think. I’m enjoying it a great deal, but my dudes, if you decide to get into a Faustian bargain in which a dragon carries out a hit for you, WATCH YOUR WORDING. It’s a dragon. Anyway, Joe Hill is definitely firing on all the necessary cylinders, it’s chonky (858 pages), and I’m enjoying the odd reference in which it’s clear that he’s not afraid to play around within his dad’s mythologies as well. It’s not out until October, so I’ll stop there.
The real world is doing some scary stuff around us, might as well read horror. Until next time, watch your wording.
@kkw – OK, so I read Shoot Your Shot and it was … fine.
All I can say is that it might get the hockey right, but wow, does it get being an artist wrong. I’m still mad about the mural. I’ve actually read this particular bit before and it never fails to make me mad when a heroine (and it’s always the heroine) just shows up and paints a mural without doing a lot of prep work, or IDK, getting approval on her design from the client.
@kkw – oh, one more rant about Shoot Your Shot. This might be a bit controversial, but as a queer cat lover I feel compelled to mention that if you bring someone over and your beloved cat throws up while you’re making out and your make out partner just LEAVES and never really explains it or apologizes, maybe you aren’t that compatible and you dodged a bullet.
I actually liked the hero in this book but I was not particularly convinced that the two of them were a good fit.
@cleo I’m so glad to get your take on it. I’m impressed you made it through.
Everything about the mural was infuriating, yes, starting with why they’d commission a tattoo artist for it, and not care someone else showed up. I was also surprised what they wanted was portraits of the current team. Since players get sent down and injured and traded and stuff, you’re going to have to constantly be redoing it. Idk. I rapidly went from trying to figure out why things happened to not believing that they did.
So yeah, if I believed that either of those cardboard cutouts existed, I’d have said they didn’t belong together.