November is quickly coming to a close. Here’s what we’re reading right now:
Elyse: I’m reading Christmas Fling by Lindsay Kelk. ( A | BN | K | AB )
Sarah: I have been reading The Hearth Witch’s Guide to Magic & Murder by Kiri Callaghan which is part murder mystery, part family drama, part fantasy quest – there’s been skulking in graveyards, magical tea, weird as murders, and fae cats. It’s got everything!
Alas, my TBR grows longer because as I record the Holiday Wishes episodes, my TBR gets more and more robust. What a terrible problem to have!
Shana: I was gifted several early 2000s large print Harlequins from a library book sale. I just read the first, Taming the Notorious Sicilian by Michelle Smart. ( A | BN | K | AB )
Sarah: Okay hang on – who does that cover photo look like? It’s like part Tom Holland with the nose and jaw of…
Sexy Squidward?
Shana: 1990s Chris O’Donnell?
It’s a mafia romance with a pediatrician heroine with a strong Not-Like-Other-Girls vibe. Looking at the cover, I don’t think it’s obvious which one of them is the notorious Sicilian though.
Sarah: YES 90s O’Donnell is very right.
Wait, the pediatrician is in the mob? Is this like those alien nanny books where the aliens need child care? The mafia needs a pediatrician?
OH HE is in the mafia. WOW I was like, dang, a heroine who is a mobbed up doctor? That’s new! LOLOL @ ME.
Shana: I would have enjoyed a mafia pediatrician MUCH MORE than one who kept trying to convince the mafia don to just call the police for help. Police love helping out organized criminals, you know.
Sarah: Oh sure all the time, yeah.
Amanda: I’m reading Done and Dusted by Lyla Sage, the first book since using my new TBR game board. I really like the characters and wowee the sex scenes are hot. However, part of the central conflict is the whole “best friend’s younger sister” which isn’t my bag at all. While the main characters talk about it and the heroine isn’t as hung up on the issue as the hero (and thinks the brother in questions is a bit of a nosy jackass), it does play a large role in their relationship.
Sarah: I’ve said before this is a conflict that always baffles me. In some situations, where the best friend sees the siblings’ family as their family, and doesn’t want to potentially compromise that, I get it. That seems like emotional security. But most of the time, I’m thinking, if you don’t want your best friend dating your sibling, wtf kind of friends do you have, and what kind of person are you?
Amanda: I think it’s more of the brother is a judgmental asshole and has always been overprotective. Like it’s clear he also thinks his sister’s BFF is a bad influence/troublemaker. And the hero is pretty upfront that “I like you and I don’t want this to be a secret,” but the heroine is working through some bigger things right now (coming back home after a traumatic injury on the barrel racing circuit). The brother has a future romance with the BFF, so I’m curious if his personality will be redeemed at some point.
I would LOVE if this sort of conflict is resolved with them telling the brother and him being like “oh cool, I love both of you and am happy for you both” given that there is still the injury part of the storyline to work through. But we’ll see!
Whatcha reading right now? Let us know in the comments!
Currently reading A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan and listening to Project Hail Mary!
I’ve been welcoming the colder weather with some solid and heartwarming reads despite the encroaching enshittification of Big River booksellers. Thank goodness for the Bitchery and the other bookish newsletters I follow.
Reproduction & Evolution by Penny Reid
(Hypothesis 8 & 9)
I finished this trio of short novels pdq and enjoyed them, because I always enjoy spending time with Reid’s characters. This story had three main plot strands: Sam’s academic life, centered around achieving her doctorate; Sam’s friends and found family; Sam’s relationship with Andreas, his toxic family, and the scandal around the loss of her parents fifteen years earlier. In the second book the story starts to heat up quite a bit and the romance becomes very intense. However, there’s more stuffing down of feelings and motivations than I like and too much obsessing over apologies intead of the woeful lack of communication between the MCs. I also would have appreciated more details about both the science and the chess background and less about the revenge plot. This was an entertaining read, if not my favorite by this author. It may just be that the three book structure doesn’t work for me as well I’d like, though I do appreciate the sense of enough time passing to make the relationship believable. I’ll probably reread it somewhere down the road and fine tune my impressions.
The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires by Molly Harper
I think this is my third rereading of this book–one of my favorites in the Half Moon Hollow series. It works very well as a stand alone. Running a concierge service for vampires and parenting her seventeen year old sister, Gigi, keeps Iris Scanlon more than busy, and that’s before she trips over an injured vampire and ends up taking him home. Assisting ancient vamp Cletus Calix–aka Cal–with his investigation proves to be a major challenge that Iris meets with dry humor and flinty sangfroid. I really enjoy the interactions between Iris, Cal, and Gigi. Basically, I came for the banter, but stayed for the warmth and care underlying it. This 2012 sub-urban fantasy holds up very well.
An American in London by Louise Bay
This was my first book by this author, and it kind of surprised me. Tuesday–the FMC not release day or taco night–finds herself in London for her job after her engagement and her New York life implode. She embraces the move enthusiastically as a fresh start and finds herself repeatedly tripping over Ben, a stand-offish English businessman. The story is tropey af, but the whole thing is so clearly an homage to the traditional rom com that I was unexpectedly charmed. Also I really liked the chemistry between the MCs. Overall, a pleasant surprise.
Behind the Net by Stephanie Archer
This hockey romance (m/f) was mentioned by @VicSolo in the last WAYR post. Hockey goalie Jamie takes a cut in pay to sign with the Vancouver Storm so he can be close to his ailing mother. He hires an assistant sight unseen, and she turns out to be a band kid from his high school years. Pippa wouldn’t consider working for her teen crush if she hadn’t lost her boyfriend and her music career in one stroke. Both hockey and music are mostly backdrop as the MCs evolve from pants feelings to devotion. This book is a pleasant diversion and the first book in a series.
Apt to Be Suspicious by Celia Lake
This next gen Albion story focuses on Edmund Carillon during his Oxford years. This is both a school story, a mystery, and a romance, with the emphasis on the relationship. Pen Stirling is the clever grump to Edmund’s brilliant sunshine, and they have real chemistry and a distinct Sayers vibe. My one gripe is that they barely meet during the first quarter of the book. Fortunately, a puzzle brings them together, and the relationship develops from there. I really enjoyed this one because it is so romance forward, and the plot is more tight knit than the more diffuse Albion novels. I also had fun revisiting favorite characters. Recommended.
The Fake Out by Stephanie Archer
Second in the Vancouver Storm hockey series, this book deals with a temporary relationship between reformed bad boy Rory Miller and no nonsense physiotherapist Hazel Hartley. Though Hazel is reluctant, she needs a shield between herself and her douchey ex, who’s been traded to the team. This story alternates scenes that show the evolution of their relationship from fake to not fake with very long, steamy sex scenes that I tend to skim. Underneath all that heat, this seems to be a very sweet, cozy romance with mild angst and comfortable outcomes.
Love Online by Penelope Ward
DNF @ ~31%
This book is well written with an interesting premise, but I reached a point where I couldnT stand being in the same room with the MMC. Ryder is a wealthy 27 year old who works at his dad’s Hollywood production company. He lost his Mom at twenty and is stuck in the aftermath of a bad break up. His inner life is steeped in melancholy and ennui. While surfing porn sites, he becomes fascinated by a “cam girl” with whom he develops an online relationship. Nothing horrible happens in the first third of the book, but I just couldn’t summon up any fellow feeling for this guy, and he dominates the narrative. Life is too short, and my TBR is too long.
The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley
This book should be made of nope, yet it’s one of the best I’ve read this year. The relationship is a snarky simmer that is, nonetheless, inexorable. The writing is sublime–edgy, vivid, and expansive. The humor is sharp, precise, and often bawdy. There is gore galore of both the medical and murdery kinds. (see “nope” above) I should have been repulsed, but this book brought out the hand-wavy Kermit in me. Enthusiastically recommended.
Mate by Ali Hazelwood
This one is on pause at ~60 %. I struggled a bit with Bride as well, so I’m wondering if this author’s take on urban fantasy just doesn’t fully work for me. I think this might be true for several authors who have moved to paranormal or urban fantasy from other subgenres. The language seems a little clinical at times, and I don’t need a blow by blow (hur) on the wolfy mated sex. Also? Fee fi fo fum! I smell the smug of a Chosen One!
Single Dad Dilemma by Karla Sorensen
This is the second in what appears to be an unnamed series, and I liked it so much better than the first. It’s mostly sports adjacent though the titular single dad, Barrett, is a football coach and twin brother to the football star MMC of Lessons in Heartbreak. This romance is delightfully grumpy/grumpy and is a masterpiece of glacial smolder. Lily, the house sitter next door, is a closed off introvert, and even her dog is a grump, succumbing only to Bartlett’s two preteen kids, whom even I liked. The romance is not showy but quietly intense, and it hit all the right notes for me. The reasons for Lily and Barrett’s restraint are valid ones; I honored their choices and loved their happy ending. Recommended.
Wishing everyone a safe, happy, and peaceful Thanksgiving.
Hello, my booky friends!
I have not posted for ages due to weekends crammed with SO MUCH BEING WITH PEOPLE. As extroverted as I am, very excited to have a quiet weekend to read!
I think I already reported that Felicity Niven’s BED ME, EARL (M/F historical) was fantastic. Thank you for the rec – it was from a SBTB discussion of short kings. This is a perfect example of why I read romance. Have I read a prickly, smart, heroine paired with an outgoing, somewhat airheaded, hero before? Yes, but by golly this was unique and just perfect. It reminds me emotionally of OPEN HEARTS by Eve Dangerfield (M/F contemporary) where she is a responsible, pulled together person who wants to start a family, and he is a ditzy free spirit that she doesn’t think is going to be a good partner for the long haul. I love the emotional growth in both books. I believe that @DiscoDollyDeb turned me on to Eve Dangerfield (may your tea always be hot, and your yarn free of tangles, Queen DDD!)
I have made sure to read all the Abigail Kelly, contemporary paranormal romances. All of them. They are not perfect (I think there is a bit too much internal life, and I think the novels could be trimmed a bit in the middle), however they are a SURE THING, which I really need right now. The novellas are particularly good. There is enough external conflict to drive the story, and while there is a fated mate component in most, almost all of the characters insist on really falling in love before they accept it, which is always satisfying. I recommend reading them in order, but you don’t have to.
I am finding that books about tired, stressed people are unacceptable right now. I DNF’s KD Casey’s most recent M/M hockey romance, and I just felt tired after I read HITHER PAGE by Cat Sebastian. It’s a good book, but two veterans dealing with a murder investigation and their own trauma, and falling in love, was just a lot.
Circled back to read/reread (I wasn’t sure) some Julie Kriss – she does a nice contemporary M/F billionaire romance if you’re in the mood.
THE DAYMAKERS by Grace McGinty was really just the suggestion of a plot to hang spicy scenes on. It’s a F/MMMMM contemporary rock band why choose – there is just some part of my brain that would never want to be involved with that many men. Too much work. Though I did finish it. YMMV.
Finally, I really liked the Abomination book of the Monster Security Agency, GUARDED BY THE PHANTOM, so I checked and Layla Fae, the author, also wrote GUARDED BY THE VODNIK. Both are M/F paranormal bodyguard books. It was not quite as good, but still a nice way to spend an evening.
Happy reading, happy weekend, and keep yourselves safe over the Thanksgiving holiday!
I’m not ready for the holidays to start up, but at least I’ve got some books to report. The past couple of weeks have been all about the sports romances.
Rookie Move (A Brooklyn Bruisers Novel Book 1) by Sarina Bowen
I picked up ROOKIE MOVE during a recent sale. In this one, hockey player Leo and team publicist Georgia get a second chance at love. They were the perfect couple in high school, but broke up after graduation for reasons that are complicated. In the present, they have to work through the fact that they have history, and that they are now coworkers, and it looks like her dad (the coach) might trade Leo. I enjoyed it enough to pull another book by the author. (If mentions of sexual assault as part of a character’s backstory are problematic, approach with caution.)
Brooklynaire: A Billionaire Romance (Brooklyn Hockey Book 1) by Sarina Bowen (KU)
Yes, this is a different series name and publisher, but it is taking place with the same characters and at almost the same time. This time we get the romance between billionaire team owner and tech wiz Nate and his former assistant now team manager Becca. I enjoyed it.
Moonlighter (The Company Book 1) by Sarina Bowen
Yes, this is a different series and follows a couple of minor characters from the previous books. At the end of Brooklynaire, we know Nate’s friend Alex is pregnant and that the father is not a good guy. When I realized that she got her own hockey player (Eric), I wanted more details. This one has more romantic suspense elements and requires a bit more suspension of disbelief, but whatever.
The Striker (Gods of the Game Book 1) by Ana Huang (KU)
More sports! Football player and ballet teacher in London. Challenges include: Paparazzi. Her football player brother hates him. Coworkers (she’s helping with his off-season training). She has issues with chronic pain. I was entertained.
The Defender (Gods of the Game Book 2) by Ana Huang (KU)
Even more sports! Football player and team nutritionist intern in London. Challenges include: Her dad is the coach. Coworkers. He’s her best friend’s brother. They are roommates. Again, it’s entertaining as long as you don’t take it too seriously.
I was DNFing so many romances I decided to take a break on the genre and focus on horror. But this weekend I started Cat Sebastian’s After Hours at Dooryard Books. Its m/m 1960s NY City. I’m reading slowly to make sure it lasts the whole weekend. I’m enjoying it a lot.
If anyone is interested in the horror books, both 4/5 stars
Grady Hendrix Horrorstor. Haunted House but in an Ikea knock-off store. Its an older book but his books are now auto-buy for my friends and I and we are going through his backlist
Del Sandeen This Cursed House. Southern gothic horror set in 1960s New Orleans. A teacher trying to escape a bad situation gets hired by a family in New Orleans to break the curse they are under
@BigK: thank you for your kind thoughts. I have an electric kettle, so as long as the power is on, my tea will be hot, lol. However, I’m not much of a knitter, so I hope I can transfer your blessing to one of my daughters (both a tea drinker AND an avid knitter).
I’ll be back shortly with my WAYR post. I finished a book last night and want to add it to this week’s notes before I post.
Hello fellow readers!
AFTER HOURS AT DOORYARD BOOKS by Cat Sebastian
I just finished this one this morning, so it hasn’t had time to marinate in my brain. It was thoroughly enjoyable, as all Cat Sebastian books are, but I don’t know that it will end up on my favorite’s list. The story plot lines seemed a bit more meandering than usual maybe? This is another book set in midcentury NYC, but doesn’t seem to be unrelated to YOU SHOULD BE SO LUCKY or WE COULD BE SO GOOD.
The story revolves around a second hand bookstore that doubles as a place for people to get back on their feet. The owner has a habit of rescuing strays who come to work and live in the bookstore while getting back on their feet. Patrick, who runs the bookstore, was a stray himself many years ago after being arrested in a raid on a gay bar. He never left the bookstore and has helped a series of other people down on their luck. Nathaniel, the latest stray, arrives in the middle of winter and has clearly had some sort of mental breakdown. Shortly thereafter, Patrick’s sister-in-law arrives, brand new baby in tow, to tell Patrick that his brother has been killed in Vietnam.
As is generally the case with Cat Sebastian novels, this is all the action that really happens in the book. From here on out, there’s just a lot of emotional unwinding. The shear number of threads going on made the book feel busier than usual for a Sebastian novel to me. Perhaps as a result of all the side plots, the romance itself felt a lot less central to the story than her other stories.
THE WILL DARLING ADVENTURES by KJ Charles (re-read)
I don’t know why I decided to re-read these book other than they just sounded good to me. And they were good. Very good! It had been long enough that I’d completely forgotten the plot details, which is the best way to read books with this many twists and turns. The menacing Zodiac conspiracy is just the right antagonist for Kim – dashing, clever, untrustworthy – and Will – solid, violent, and unbending.
AFTER THE END: A DYSTOPIAN ROMANCE COLLECTION by lots of people
Ali Hazelwood and Adriana Herrera recently had a Kickstarter with 8 novellas by 8 different authors. I’ve been trying to plow my way through all 8 and I’m not there yet. The overarching theme of people stuck underground in various kinds of claustrophobic locations is just not working for me. Definitely read the content warnings before proceeding.
I borrowed THE END OF SUMMER, by new-to-me author K.J. Micciche, from Kindle Unlimited after reading @Amanda’s recommendation (“Get Rec’d,” Vol. 102), and I’m glad I did– I liked this antagonists-to-lovers story a lot. FMC Gretchen and MMC Brady both are fired from the same Cape Cod restaurant and Gretchen thinks Brady (a manager) is responsible for her lack of employment, but she doesn’t know the whole story. They become neighbors as well as co-workers of sorts at Cosmo-pole-itan, an underground bachelorette party venue where Gretchen hands out Jello shots, occasionally performs as a pole dancer, and for a while is the interim manager of the business. Meanwhile, Brady becomes a “Magic Mike” type dancer/stripper who visits these carefully choreographed parties to give the women in attendance even more to enjoy. Both MCs make a lot of money (always paid in cash) and both MCs deal with a variety of complications related to their unusual work. The plot took several unexpected turns that made the path to the HEA even more interesting.
So I quickly downloaded two more KU books by this author. THE BOOK PROPOSAL is a second-chance romance with numerous intriguing twists. FMC Gracie, a romance writer, reconnects with her high school crush MMC Colin while she’s dealing with writer’s block, and eventually Gracie finds inspiration in stories Colin shares about his experiences with his recent ex. But Colin’s ex works in publishing and has a connection to Gracie that neither MC knows about until everything blows up, leading to a third act breakup that’s different from others I’ve read. In Micciche’s follow up, THE GUEST BOOK, Gracie’s best friend Melly (soon to be divorced) collaborates with Colin’s best friend Dom (a divorce lawyer with a reputation as a “player”) as they plan a surprise backyard wedding for Gracie and Colin after the originally planned destination wedding in the Caribbean is canceled by a hurricane. I’m about two-thirds of the way through this one, and I’m continuing to enjoy Micciche’s character development (for MCs as well as many others who populate these stories) and plot development. All three of the Micciche books include some lengthy conversations between characters, or moments of characters ruminating to themselves, when I found myself thinking, “just get on with the story”– but I never considered DNFing, since I was fully immersed in wanting to learn more about the characters and wanting to find out how the HEA would be accomplished.
I also finished LOVE IN FOCUS, by Lyla Lee, an OK second-chance romance. Gemma, who is bi and has just broken up with a male fiancé, is a relationship advice columnist for a print and online magazine, and is hoping for a promotion. She’s assigned to work on a project with Celeste, her ex from college who is now a famous photographer and who Gemma hasn’t seen in more than seven years. Both are Korean and Celeste lived in Korea for several years immediately after the break with Gemma (the reason is revealed eventually) before returning to the U.S. Their project is a Valentine’s Day themed article about love and romance as viewed by several “modern” couples (young, old, queer, straight, and other forms of diversity) and as the exes work together, they rekindle their attraction. Gemma’s narration is in first person but Celeste’s chapters are in third person, and I couldn’t figure out a reason for this switch in POV. The storytelling was fine, but this isn’t something I’m likely to reread.
Recently I’ve bought several books by favorite authors, so I’m looking forward to some satisfying end-of-year reading and wishing the same for everyone else!
I am DNF-ing Maria V. Snyder’s Ixia series at book 8, “Night Study”. Nothing makes me quit a book faster than the plot revealed in the last sentence in the previous book and what this book now seems to be headed for. Nope. I’m out. I’m really annoyed, because I read all of the original trilogy, then slogged through the Opal Cowan trilogy with a heroine that I really didn’t like and is TSTL with truly terrible taste in men, only to get this nonsense. I don’t read spoilers or even reviews before I read very often, because I want to experience the book for myself and not be influenced by others’ opinions, but in this case I think I should have read some synopsis of the plot and I could have spend that time on better books. I liked “Poison Study”, but the rest? Meh.
I’m swimming in wonderful ARCs right now – I got ARCs for both of Cat Sebastian’s new/upcoming books, “After Hours at Dooryard Books” and “Star Shipped”, as well as one for Martha Wells’ “Platform Decay” (out next May). I need to finish “System Collapse” and then I can start on it.
Mostly I’m looking forward to some extra days off from work this week. I want to putter around at home and read and maybe cook a little and eat some delicious food.
In a Jam and the Worst Guy by Kate Canterbary
Some Elise Kennedy seasonal novellas
Say it isn’t snow (best friend’s older brother) by Veronica Eden
I could never, Penelope Ward (one of a couple stories I’ve read recently with deceased spouse or fiancés best friend)
I like the part in best friend’s sibling where the sibling acknowledges they’re their two favorite people (isn’t always spelled out but). Because yes, the complete over protectiveness doesn’t work as well.
I was so busy at the end of October and beginning of November, I didn’t have time to write up my notes for the previous WAYR, so for the first time in about a decade I didn’t post anything. Oh well, streak broken, but the reading continues:
Sasha Avice has been one of my favorite discoveries of this year. After inhaling her Contested Possession series (including WE WERE NEVER LOVERS, one of my favorite reads of 2025) and her latest, ON THE LAND, WE SHOOT STRAIGHT, I went back to one of her earlier books (published in 2023), THIS AIN’T NO GAY ROMANCE (part of Avice’s Perimeter series, set in Australia in the late-1990s/early-2000s), in which a veteran with PTSD, working for a dodgy criminal enterprise, takes his boss’s openly-gay son under his wing and gradually falls in love with him without even realizing it. When TANGR opens, veteran Rollins is a engaged to a woman and half-heartedly helping plan his own wedding. When Rollins is told to show Jay, the boss’s son and an object of his father’s wrath and derision, the ropes of the organization, Rollins is at first bemused by this young gansta-wannabe who seems to smile through every adversity and insult, but—within the first few pages—Rollins (who has had sexual relations with other men, but refuses to acknowledge his actual sexuality) follows Jay into a back room and has not-entirely-consensual sex with him. Before we have time to completely process this (in Rollins’s words) “kinda rapey” moment, the story flashes forward one year and we find Rollins & Jay drifting on a life raft in the Indian Ocean—although how and why they got there are only slowly uncovered through the remainder of the book. One of the things Avice does very cleverly in TANGR is to intersperse the chapters from the past with the occasional moment on the life raft. As I was reading THIS AIN’T NO GAY ROMANCE, I realized that one of the reasons I like Avice’s writing so much is that she writes the m/m version of Cate C. Wells’s m/f romances in that both writers feature heroes who want to do better but often lack the emotional intelligence to do so without blunders (sometimes terrible ones): in TANGR, that is definitely Rollins. I thoroughly enjoyed THIS AIN’T NO GAY ROMANCE and its portrait of a man slowly coming to terms with who he is and who he loves. Highly recommended.
After finishing THIS AIN’T NO GAY ROMANCE, I immediately grabbed the next book in Avice’s Perimeter series, AFTER THE SHOW which features a romance between Cisco, a once-promising ballet dancer, and Franco, the bouncer who works at the club where Cisco dances as part of a group that is “somewhere between drag queens and glam rockers” (there’s definitely an element of “Pricilla, Queen of the Desert” to the story). It is clear from the start that Cisco acts out as a result of much unresolved trauma (the source of which is slowly revealed over the course of the book): he smokes, drinks, uses drugs, is verbally abusive to his friends, and has numerous meaningless hook-ups. Frankly, even with his moments of self-insight, Cisco is not easy to like. On the other hand, Franco, despite his size and kickboxing champion credentials, is very much a golden retriever type, loving Cisco from afar and seeing more goodness in him than Cisco himself (and possibly the reader) does. Franco has his share of issues too: a dysfunctional family with a homophobic father and brothers and an almost-mute mother, an inability to read, and difficulty expressing himself, especially around Cisco. Even after the two men do eventually get together, things are definitely not all hearts & flowers: Franco, a complete virgin, does not acquit himself admirably in the bedroom, so Cisco volunteers to “teach” him—and not just about sex, but also helping him learn to read, starting with THE FLAME AND THE FLOWER (which is an ongoing and amusing part of the couple’s growth). However, Cisco continues to run away whenever his feelings for Franco threaten to get too close to his heart. The most interesting thing about AFTER THE SHOW is that the ending, although definitely an HEA/HFN, does not feature a verbalized commitment on the men’s parts: Cisco is far too skittish to go that route, and Franco (understanding Cisco) does not demand it. While not as good as THIS AIN’T NO GAY ROMANCE, I still found AFTER THE SHOW an engaging read. Recommended.
When it comes to Garrett Leigh’s MCs, I usually say that either the sex between them is easy but the intimacy is hard or the intimacy is easy but the sex is hard; however, in Leigh’s latest, JUST THIS ONCE (the first book in her new Cornwall-set Men of Porth Luck series), both the sex and intimacy present problems for the MCs. Mal is a veteran, returning to his hometown of Porth Luck on the Cornish coast for the first time in years. There he meets his brother’s housemate, Skylar, an ER nurse. Mal, who suffers from PTSD and Afib, says he is “so sick of fucking acronyms I want to scream.” Meanwhile, it is clear the Skylar suffers from some form of (cw/tw) disordered eating and that he tends to use working long and extra shifts at the hospital to avoid confronting the traumas of his childhood. As he says of himself, “My life is a never-ending game of using one unhealthy thought pattern to derail another.” The guys dance around each other for much of the book—lots and lots of angst and sexual tension—as they struggle both physically and mentally to get to a point where they can be together wholeheartedly. There’s a subplot in JUST THIS ONCE involving bad guys who are out to ruin a friend’s fishing business—and this ropes in some characters from Leigh’s Rebel Kings books—but, for the most part, JUST THIS ONCE focuses on the changing dynamics between two hurting and vulnerable people and how they move (not always smoothly) toward self-acceptance and love. Recommended.
Jay Hogan’s THE QUESTION OF US continues the story started in THE MEANING OF YOU in which 50-somethings Nick Fisher (who lost his husband in the first book) and Madigan Church move their relationship forward while continuing to investigate the human-trafficking operation that originally brought them together. There were things I liked about THE QUESTION OF US, especially how Nick and Madigan have to learn to navigate their connection: there are several very good scenes early in the book with Madigan letting Nick know that his behavior is unacceptable and that Madigan knows he deserves better than someone who runs hot & cold on a whim. Suffice to say, Nick (despite being in his 50s) has some maturing to do (and he does so over the course of the book). But there were parts of the book that I didn’t feel as connected to, particularly the entire mystery element: I think Hogan made an error in continuing the crime from the first book into the second book. A self-contained mystery would have worked better because it often feels as if we’re treading the same ground in THE QUESTION OF US that was already covered in THE MEANING OF YOU; and it made the denouement of the suspense element feel a bit repetitive. I recommend THE QUESTION OF US for the emotional growth of two middle-aged people still discovering new things about themselves and each other; but a rather lukewarm recommendation for the mystery.
Everyone knows I love a good amnesia romance, and LET ME REMIND YOU by new-to-me writer Gianni Holmes seemed as if it would be right in my wheelhouse: after a decade as secret lovers, openly-gay (and proudly fem) Jeremy finally breaks off his relationship with closeted professional football player Clay, assuming that after ten years, Clay will never come out and will never prioritize Jeremy. Then, two years after the break-up, Clay is in a terrible vehicle accident that completely wipes out his memory. Clay reconnects with Jeremy (or perhaps connects would be the better word, given that Clay has no memory of their earlier relationship) and things proceed from there. However, despite its interesting if hand-wavey premise, the book was undone by sloppy execution and flat characterization. Jeremy was a vibrant character who leapt off the page, but Clay (who, in all fairness, can’t help being a blank slate) is pretty much a cypher. The rest of the characters are either completely good (like Clay’s supportive bisexual teammate) or utterly awful (like Clay’s harpy of a fiancée and his father whose only concern is when Clay will be able to play football again). I also felt that for someone who had no memory of his previous life, Clay adapted remarkably quickly to having a relationship with another man and learning that they had been lovers in the past. Overall, a rather blah excursion, and I can’t really recommend LET ME REMIND YOU, even for readers like me who enjoy the amnesia trope.
Having thoroughly enjoyed Elizabeth Wheatley’s TEARS OF THE WOLF, I immediately downloaded the next book, OATH OF THE WOLF. This was an action-packed outing: political intrigue, murder, monsters. When we rejoin Cenric and Brynn they are settling into a loving marriage, their lands and people are thriving, and the dogs are very good. Then comes the request for attendance across the sea to the king Cenric served in his mother’s lands. A relationship that still has many strings of affection and debt attached. The King of Valdar has ambitions, and Ombra features prominently in his plans. Wheatley’s world building continues to be consistent & interesting. She has a deft hand with the web of politics, friendship and obligations Brynn and Cenric find themselves caught in. When the bad things start to happen, she maintains a nail-biting level of tension. Yum.
I’m counting THE NATURALIST SOCIETY toward my kindness reading goal. Funny how many of these reads have elements of female magic use. Not every character is kind. The FMC has a uniformly awful family. The three main characters, however, are uniformly kind and careful of each other. Set in 1877 New York, Beth Stanley has been allowing her husband to take credit for her discoveries in Arcane Taxonomy. She’s cast adrift after his sudden death, unable to publish her work, even under his name. Her mother is pestering her about remarriage (bitch it’s only been a minute). His mother is hovering watching for a pregnancy. Enter his best friend, Brandon West and West’s adventuring partner and secret lover, Anton Torrance. They uncover her truths during a condolence call. They are disappointed but not surprised that their friend would take advantage of her. They decide to try and support her by getting her work accepted, albeit still under his name. A friendship develops, betrayals are committed, contrition and healing follow. Also, some absolutely beautiful observations on the natural world. My favorite Carrie Vaughn novel bar none.
Still processing Catherine Mack’s EVERY TIME I GO ON VACATION, SOMEONE DIES. I know I should be charmed, and most of it was charming. Maybe I’m not in the head space. Maybe it was the 200+ foot notes. Sure, sure, reading footnotes is optional, but I’ve never met a footnote I could pass up. It was amusing in parts, romancey in other parts, but, yes, I figured out the whodunit about halfway through. Yes, there were moments of doubt, but ultimately, I was right. A perpetrator is still at large at the end, so high jinx shall continue in another book. Yes, I’ll read it, but not right away.
Happy Thanksgiving to those celebrating! We should have another What Are You Cooking post.
I stayed up waaaay too late last night finishing Neal Stephenson’s Termination Shock, which I purchased several years ago, and it’s been languishing in my (virtual) TBR pile because I worried that near-future SF with a climate change focus would be too heavy for my brain these days. And it does indeed have some less-fluffy elements, but I do love Stephenson’s way with a rollicking yarn.
I’ve been trying to make myself focus on reading my backlog of purchases, but now my list of “must buy this because I adore this author” books is getting out of hand, so I’m going to maybe buy the latest from Emily Tesh, Cat Sebastian, and/or T. Kingfisher.
On a totally different note: I realize this is a “whatcha reading” not a “cover snark” but I can’t believe no one commented on the weird hand-on-shoulder in the mafia/pediatrician cover. It really doesn’t look like it could be connected to her, does it?
Over the past two weeks ~
— enjoyed Heart Strings by Ivy Fairbanks, but I put it down a couple of times for several days when it had too much tension for my taste. A young woman, an American Latina, is a medical student in Ireland; she was motivated to study medicine by her own experience as a teen with leukemia. Her ex, a lawyer turned musician, returns to town when they are called to serve as maid of honor and best man for the main leads of the author’s prior book.
— enjoyed Animated, a novella by Kim Fielding set in the 1950s in Hollywood. One lead is an animator, previously a paratrooper injured in the war. The other lead is a famous actor who will be voicing a frog that the animator is tasked with drawing. They meet so that the animator can learn the actor’s mannerisms.
— enjoyed The Cowboy and the Wheelman by Jackie North which featured two ex-convicts, previously on an illegal chain gang, who have just been paroled to a working ranch. Each carries emotional and physical scars from his experiences.
— enjoyed Lavender’s Blue by Jennifer Crusie, a contemporary romance which begins when the female lead, returning for a quick visit to her mother after being away for some fifteen years, is stopped for speeding by the male lead, an ex-ranger now police officer. I’d describe this as a busy book; it features alcoholism, attempted murder, murder, suspected suicide, euthanasia, war injuries, corrupt politicians, illness caused by contaminated water, an overabundance of teddy bears, and a neurotic dog. I plan to read the next book in the series.
— enjoyed Drive the Net by Hannah Henry but had hoped for something a little more compelling. It featured two hockey players, one new to the big leagues and the other who is well established and a year or two from retirement. The latter hosts the former when he is traded to his team, and feelings develop. This book also had a dog!
— enjoyed Transparent Is a Color by Kaje Harper which features a young man working in a mail room; he is a disappointment to his mother as his superpower is the ability to change the color of things. The story begins when he uses his power to turn a package transparent and sees a bomb. The other lead is part of the bomb squad. This book also has a dog, the third in a row. (You’ve heard of the dog days of summer? I appear to be experiencing the dog days of autumn.)
— enjoyed My Not-So-Super Blind Date by Allison Temple which features two men who are stuck in a time loop which begins with their blind date and ends within hours as one of them dies. (This book has a fair amount of death and violence, but it’s almost cartoonish.) One is a physicist, the other is a programmer who works for a supervillian for good reason.
— quite enjoyed (with only a few small quibbles) the contemporary romance Writing Mr. Wrong by Kelley Armstrong. This book featured a newly published historical romance author and a professional hockey player that she knew from kindergarten through high school; her book hero was modeled in some ways on the hockey player and not in a flattering way. I’ve read quite a few of this author’s paranormal books, but this was the first of this type by her I’ve read. I will look for more.
— read The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon for my book group. I initially found this a challenging read because of a feeling of impending doom; however, I ultimately got caught up in the story and am glad to have read it. The story is set in Maine in 1789 and the main character is a midwife based on a real woman who kept a diary for some twenty years. One thing I appreciated is that every question I had while reading was ultimately addressed in the story.
— Time and Forever by Susan B. James was as enjoyable book that featured two romances. Two women (one divorced, one recently widowed and both with adult children) buy tickets for a two week long virtual reality experience. They choose to visit London in 1969 where one of the women had briefly visited and had had a memorable encounter with a man on the Tube. Once in London, they are returned to their younger bodies and realize that they have traveled back in time. They soon encounter the man from the Tube, and one woman connects with him. Events ensue.
— Overdues and Occultism by Jamie Sands was a slight fun novella with a librarian who is a witch and a man who investigates paranormal events in haunted locations. The men spend a fair bit of time together and connect. What was particularly interesting to me is that the book is set in Mt. Eden in New Zealand where I frequently visited my grandmother when I was young.
My favourite read of the last couple of weeks is fantasy love story THE BOOK OF LOST HOURS by Hayley Gelfuso I liked this nearly as much as Alex Harrow’s THE EVERLASTING in my last WAYR and these two are definitely on my list of top reads of the year. THE BOOK OF LOST HOURS is a m/f fantasy about war and conspiracy and time travel and memory. Highly recommended.
@PamG, I also really enjoyed Celia Lake’s APT TO BE SUSPICIOUS. Celia Lake has become my favourite to read at night when I’m trying to wind down for the day. Her books keep me interested and engaged but not overwound. Sadly, I’m running out of her oeuvre.
Also really enjoyed Claire Gilmore’s PERFECT FIT and Nora Dahlia’s PICK-UP. Both are contemporary f/m romance. They weren’t top top reads but highly enjoyable compared to a few that I still found worth reading. For me, that included the first two books in Jodi McAlister’s MARRY ME, JULIET series. These were readable and enjoyable but didn’t spark for me as much as her AN ACADEMIC AFFAIR, which hit me more emotionally. I don’t know why. It’s chemistry. That one had stronger emotional hooks for me.
Also read Mary E. Pearson’s THE LAST WISH OF BRISTOL KEATS, which I liked but not as much as her earlier fantasies, like the THIEVES Duology.
Quite likedKalie Cassidy’s IN THE VEINS OF THE DROWNING, a romantasy about sirens and was happy to read Travis Baldree’s BRIGANDS & BREADKNIVES.
Now I’m in the midst of Callie Hart’s romantasy BRIMSTONE and yes, I’m enjoying it as I also liked QUICKSILVER.
I hope this isn’t a duipliation–it didn’t appear after a couple of refreshes.
My favourite read of the last couple of weeks is fantasy love story THE BOOK OF LOST HOURS by Hayley Gelfuso I liked this nearly as much as Alex Harrow’s THE EVERLASTING in my last WAYR and these two are definitely on my list of top reads of the year. THE BOOK OF LOST HOURS is a m/f fantasy about war and conspiracy and time travel and memory. Highly recommended.
@PamG, I also really enjoyed Celia Lake’s APT TO BE SUSPICIOUS. Celia Lake has become my favourite to read at night when I’m trying to wind down for the day. Her books keep me interested and engaged but not overwound. Sadly, I’m running out of her oeuvre.
Also really enjoyed Claire Gilmore’s PERFECT FIT and Nora Dahlia’s PICK-UP. Both are contemporary f/m romance. They weren’t top top reads but highly enjoyable compared to a few that I still found worth reading. For me, that included the first two books in Jodi McAlister’s MARRY ME, JULIET series. These were readable and enjoyable but didn’t spark for me as much as her AN ACADEMIC AFFAIR, which hit me more emotionally. I don’t know why. It’s chemistry. That one had stronger emotional hooks for me.
Also read Mary E. Pearson’s THE LAST WISH OF BRISTOL KEATS, which I liked but not as much as her earlier fantasies, like the THIEVES Duology.
Quite likedKalie Cassidy’s IN THE VEINS OF THE DROWNING, a romantasy about sirens and was happy to read Travis Baldree’s BRIGANDS & BREADKNIVES.
Now I’m in the midst of Callie Hart’s romantasy BRIMSTONE and yes, I’m enjoying it as I also liked QUICKSILVER.
Got the new Thursday Murder Club book (R Osman), The Impossible Fortune, and enjoyed it. It felt a bit bitty on my first breakneck read through. I’m hoping it hangs together better on a slower reread. As ever, the dynamics of the relationships are what I come for. Glad to see everyone again, exploring how they fit together in new ways.
Also finished Lindsey Davis’ new Flavia Albia mystery, There Will Be Bodies. Albia’s husband is sent to dig out a villa from the detritus left by the eruption of Vesuvius, and reading how people experienced survived and then recovered from the disaster is fascinating.
Half-way through a new novel by T Kingfisher, Hemlock and Silver, a riff on Snow White, so there’s mystery, romance and some horror elements. On tenterhooks as Anja (a specialist in poisons) tries to find out why the king’s daughter Snow is wasting away …
Next on the TBR list is an item I first heard about here: The Raven Scholar by P Hodgson. Terrific start – let’s see where it goes from here.
I just finished a new biography of Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to the US Congress, and an unflinching pacifist, whose “no” votes on American entry into both the world wars ended her two terms in Congress. She was a Kick-Ass Woman, but I struggled to finish the book, WINNING THE EARTHQUAKE by Lorissa Rinehart. The prose was convoluted, cliched, and overly ornate for my taste. I was also frustrated because Rankin moved from her native Montana to Athens, Georgia, and the author wrote that there Rankin learned the realities of racism and the oppression of Black Americans, which would later fuel her involvement in the civil rights movement. The author presented this as a counterweight to the way that Rankin, as a suffrage activist, sold out Black women by convincing white Southern congressmen to support white women getting the vote, because they would vote with their fellow white people. And then Rinehart completely skipped over the civil rights movement, but brought in Coretta Scott King in the last chapters, as a fellow worker with Rankin. I admire the woman but not the book.
I am two-thirds of the way through THE ROADS OF HEAVEN by Melissa Scott, a sci-fi series where interstellar travel is based on Tarot and harmonics – and with a poly relationship at the center. I found an omnibus edition of the three books in the series, and I’ve read the first two, FIVE-TWELFTHS OF HEAVEN and SILENCE IN SOLITUDE. I am taking a break before the third book, THE EMPRESS OF EARTH. I’m also re-reading the chapbook of stories from her Astrient series. My love all things Melissa Scott writes continues unabated.
I found Nghi Vo’s latest book in the Singing Hills cycle, A MOUTHFUL OF DUST, so unsettling that I was reading the Astrient stories as a palate-cleanser (appropriate for a book involving cannibalism).
Finally, I found Marie Kondo’s LETTER FROM JAPAN on the new books shelves at the library. The blurb describes it as “examining the Japanese customs that she grew up with,” and “a testament for her three children,” whom she felt were losing connection to their heritage while living in the US. It’s a series of short chapters on different topics, good for dipping into.
I got my copy of Cat Sebastian’s AFTER HOURS AT DOORYARD BOOKS, and I think it’s next up. I have the week off for Thanksgiving this year, and I am looking forward to diving into books. Happy reading, everyone, and I’ll be checking back for recommendations as always.
@DonnaMarie, I’ve never met a footnote I could pass up, either.
My kindle isn’t working, so I’m stuck partway through several books. I do not like this.
Before it died, I read the final one of Nora Roberts’s Lost Bride Manor trilogy, which I quite liked. It felt as if this should have been two books, rather than a trilogy, but NR does stand-alones or trilogies, so that’s what we’ve got. The final action and resolution happened overly fast at the end. But a ok-ish NR is still preferable to a lot of other books.
Read and enjoyed a non-fiction book about girls’ career novels of the 1950s-70s, A Smart Suit and White Gloves, by Kay Whalley.
Re-read the first four Mike and Psmith books. I’d forgotten how much cricket there is in the first three. And how racist the fourth one is.
Re-read Carola Dunn’s The Black Ship, not one of the best – Dunn had a bit lost her way with Daisy being so domestic at this point, I think.
@SB Sarah ~ just to let you know that the buffering issue still persists. The main page says there are twenty comments on this page, but I can currently see only thirteen.
@LisaM
Thanks for the review of the Rankin book. Sad but not surprising to find racism in the US suffrage movement.
Have you read M Scott’s (co-writer) The Armor of Light? One of my all time favorites. Great to find another Scott fan!
I have to say, I am looking forward to a few days off. I’m not responsible for the turkey this year, so I get to relax a touch.
Since last time, I started listening to Replaceable You by Mary Roach. Roach is one of my favorite science writers. She goes for very intriguing subjects and is gifted at making the science itself understandable and accessible. This book deals with the science of prosthetics and replaceable body parts. I also read A Forgery of Fate by Elizabeth Lim. I pull out Lim whenever I want something lush and fantastical. This one is a Beauty and the Beast retelling, with Chinese mythology and DRAGONS. We know I’m always going to be into a dragon. Which brings us to now, in which I am a little ways into Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore by Emily Krempholtz. It is about a young woman that until very recently was the henchwoman of the local Dark Lord. She’s been recently liberated from that role, and just wants to raise and sell her beautiful flowers and try to be a good person. It’s got nice push and pull between the two sides of her nature, and how she is trying to reconcile who she is now with the villain of the past. I like her, but so far, the hero is a DICK. I hope he improves fast, because thus far, I kind of wish she would have a minor reversion and let her sentient homicidal houseplant get stabby. He deserves a little stabby, as a treat.
So until next time, Happy Thanksgiving.
Not much reading got done this month. THE PRINCESS AND THE ROGUE by Kate Bateman was a fun read; most of her books can be categorized as “capers”.
CANADIAN BOYFRIEND is a contemporary, recommended by someone whose tastes I often concur with. It’s a perfectly fine story with lovely characters, but easy to put down because the stakes are pretty low, and there’s no big conflict. The hero is an ice hockey player.
I also reread WHITEOUT by Adriana Anders. Now THERE is a book with high stakes and lots of action. I love wilderness survival stories, which must be part of the reason I loved THE FROZEN RIVER. Although TFR takes place in a small town, the primitive conditions of Maine in 1789 had the feeling of being on the edge of civilization.
@DiscoDollyDeb – have you read The Fall by Tal Bauer? One of my favorite reads this summer, and a VERY different take on the amnesia trope, but I loved it!
TIDE AND SEEK, the 8th book in S.C. Wynne’s Dr. Maxwell Thornton Murder Mysteries (m/m romantic suspense). The 7th book was published in October 2022 and I wasn’t sure there would be any more. The series has been entertaining – prickly big city doctor moves to a small town after a bad experience and meets a big, good looking sweet cop. The mysteries provided unique story lines for all of the books. I enjoyed this last one a bit less than I remember liking the others. It may just be memory failure, but the dialog came across as a little less natural, which took me out of the story.
MOONSTRUCK, the third book in Onley James’ NECESSARY EVILS m/m romance series. Each book focuses on a different couple with one partner coming from a family of vigilante psychopaths. The family was formed by a wealthy man who adopted boys diagnosed with psychopathy and trained them on how to pass as neurotypical and to assassinate pedophiles and rapists who manage to evade the law. It’s dark with occasional grisly descriptions of murders, but, so far, no cruelty between the main characters. MOONSTRUCK features Atticus, a respected doctor and secret psychopath assassin (but he doesn’t like it!) and Jericho a mechanic who is not a psychopath, but is a vigilante. They meet in the least cute way imaginable and things progress rapidly (but Atticus is not gay!). I read the first two a while ago but this popped up as a KU recommendation when I was in the mood for vigilante justice. I’m pretty sure this series was only recently added to KU.
@Kareni – thank you for letting me know! I’m on it.
@Msb I haven’t read that one, thank you for the title. I’m encouraged that so many of her books are available used, since the libraries don’t seem to have many.
@book_reader_ea01sj71r4 – I felt the same way about After Hours at Dooryard Books. I enjoyed it but didn’t love it as much as my favorites like We Could Be So Good.
I’m still mostly reading non-fiction, although I did just go down a “you may also like” rabbit hole on the library website and put holds on a lot of Japanese and Korean cozy novels, so fingers crossed.
BORN IN FLAMES: THE BUSINESS OF ARSON AND THE REMAKING OF THE AMERICAN CITY by Bench Ansfield is a fascinating account of the arson epidemic in NYC in the 70s and the role of racist insurance practices in causing it. Highly recommend.
THE GOLDEN ROAD: HOW ANCIENT INDIA TRANSFORMED THE WORLD by William Dalrymple. Not sure if I mentioned this one before, but do not want to miss recommending it. He describes how long before the Silk Road, sea trade routes connected India to the Mediterranean (first) and then to Southeast Asia and spread Indian goods, learning and culture. My only complaint about this book is that I wanted a lot more pictures of all the art and architecture described.
THE GENIUS MYTH: A CURIOUS HISTORY OF A DANGEROUS IDEA, by Helen Lewis. This was also really interesting– she looks at both a series of people who have been considered geniuses, and the development of the idea of geniuses and people trying to develop “scientific” ways of defining genius and identifying geniuses. She points out the problematic connection of the idea with eugenics and elitism.
The only novel I recall enjoying recently was ADVOCATE, book 3 in Daniel Ford’s Warden series. The plot was interesting and the main character seems to be getting a bit more aware of both her own failings and her privilege as a noble and wizard. She is a capable fighter, but prefers her role as a healer, which I appreciate. So much of fantasy glories in violence, and this series has violence, but our POV character doesn’t like it.
Recently finished THE DEVIL’S SUBMISSION by Nicola Davidson, Regency novella with a Dominant heroine and submissive hero, aka Catnip Express. Short and spicy and lovely. I’m coming to adore stories where a distinctly ‘edgy’ place like the club in this series ends up a wonderfully supportive, liberating safe space for the people who need it. I think we all need a place to be Bad(TM).
IRON WIDOW by Xiran Jay Zhao, scifi giant robot fights against bug aliens with a love triangle solved via polyamory and an entire story built around female rage and feminism that doesn’t back down. I devoured this on a trip I took about a week ago. The romance is a subplot but is intrinsic to the entire story, both in literally how the giant robots function and in the theme about breaking out of the patriarchal mode of thinking that tells people there’s a “correct” form of relationship they need to have. This was YA and felt like it, but it was fast paced and exciting and I needed the feminist rage right now. Warning for blood and injuries in the context of both war and patriarchal oppression (ex. the heroine has bound feet, many men feel free to abuse women without consequence, etc. There’s no onscreen sexual assault though it’s clearly a part of the world.)
Finishing up my horror pick for Halloween, BAT EATER AND OTHER NAMES FOR CORA ZENG by Kylie Lee Baker. During the Coronavirus lockdown and the wave of anti-Asian racism in the US that came with it, Cora Zeng’s sister is murdered right in front of her and recently more and more Chinese women are being murdered by someone who leaves dead bats as a calling card. And now it’s Ghost Month, and the hungry ghosts are coming back with their sharp teeth and insatiable hunger. There’s (dark) humor here–a ghost eats someone’s obnoxious roommates at one point; Auntie Zeng burns joss paper for her dead husband only because he annoys her and she doesn’t want to hear from him–but to reiterate: This is Horror. It is so, so good, but it is bloody, anger-inducing, and horrifying.
@cat_blue: Just chiming in to say that I loved your mini reviews.
If anyone else was intrigued by @Crystal’s review of A Forgery of Fate by Lim, it’s currently showing for me as a black Friday Kindle deal for 1.99.
Had a rough few weeks when my library hold for THE SPELL SHOP by Sarah Beth Durst came in. It was just what I needed – definitely cozy fantasy. Though the book opens with an escape during a violent rebellion, it’s distant enough to stay in the cozy fantasy realm and the FMC’s resiliency and adaptability keep it from being too dark. This is the book with a sentient spider plant.
Also reading and listening to THE WITCH KING by Martha Wells. I tend to listen to it on audiobook during drives and chores and then read up to the point I listened to. It’s got such a complex world and enjoyable, deep secondary characters that it doesn’t feel boring to do this. I also am enjoying seeing the spelling of the various names and proper nouns that I have heard on audio. Maybe a weird personal quirk. The MC Kai, is a demon trying to find missing family members. (Found family, not FOO) and the story is told in an alternating split timeline. Will pick up the next book, QUEEN DEMON, after I finish this.
I’ve been trying to reorganize my Kindle Collections, since apparently books get deleted at random once the collection approaches a certain number. It’s been an enlightening process in a number of ways. I don’t mind limits; its the lack of transparency that bugs me. I can’t help wondering what other undisclosed limits I’ll discover. I’ve disconnected from most of social media because of enshittification. Also institutional ethics or the lack thereof. Still, it’s so hard to separate from Amazon due to the investment–emotional as much as monetary–represented by my ebook library. Sunk cost is a bitch and not in a good way. *sigh*
Suddenly You by Sarah Mayberry
I resurrected this book while sorting ebooks, dipped into it, and found myself hooked. Although this novel has never been a particular favorite, it does have one quality that exemplifies what I most like about Mayberry, and that is the grounded realness of her characters. Even her rich folks work. In this case, the MCs are an auto mechanic and a woman juggling school, work, and raising her infant daughter. One of the highlights of this story is watching Harry and Pippa struggle with long held assumptions about themselves and each other as they sort out their relationship. I’d call this an oldie but goodie.
Wolf With Benefits by Shelly Laurenston
Holidays are not undiluted bliss for me, so I’ve been hitting the comfort rereads–not to be confused with cozy reads. This is the eighth in the Pride series and the point where I first noticed the author really leaning into the beta support heroes. It also holds up fairly well as a standalone. I enjoyed Toni and her herd of fractious self-absorbed prodigies, but I loved Ricky Lee with his philosophy of “if you wait long enough, the entertainment comes to you.” (Reminded me of my late Dad.)
Daddy Issues by Kate Goldbeck
It seems like I waited ages for this one to be released, and now I hardly know what I feel about it. You, Again was so masterful, edgy, and like nothing I’d read before, but it cast a long and perhaps undeserved shadow. Daddy Issues is the story of Sam, who’s spent years suspended in the vacuum of her father’s absence and her mother’s unspoken disappointment. Change happens when Sam encounters Nick and his extreme extrovert nine year old daughter Kira. Sam’s journey is messy, complex, and necessary; full adulthood requires her to untangle herself from personal stagnation and the staticky input of friends, family, and her own head. Sometimes heart-wrenching and often funny, this romance might make you wince but never cringe. This novel is a treasure trove of deft characterization and intelligent writing about the interactions of parents and children, work and art, emotion and lust. Recommended.
An Academic Affair by Jodi McAlister
Thanks to those who’ve mentioned this in the WAYR posts and elsewhere. Turns out that this venture into into the vicious halls of higher learning was just what I needed. Fierce Sadie and fascinated Jonah are tested in the arena of academia over a fifteen year rivalry, until circumstances drive them into an unexpected alliance. The dual first person narrative does a great job presenting two distinct characters from completely different backgrounds who have more in common than they are willing to admit. An Academic Affair is not just a gritty depiction of the cutthroat world of higher education but a convincing exploration of why its denizens cling to it anyway. Beautifully written, this novel is an exceptional slow burn romance as well as a story of family bonds damaged and renewed. I live in hope that this becomes a series. Recommended.
Second Chance Romance by Olivia Dade
The title of this one says it all. The mature protagonists share both history and trust issues. Molly’s are due to a toxic seventeen year relationship with her narcissistic ex, while Karl has difficulty articulating his deepest feelings. Karl’s premature obit and their impending High school reunion provide that second chance. I loved the way that the citizens of Harlot’s Bay cheerfully celebrate the town’s raffish history in their daily life, but my favorite part of this story is big, brusque, foul-mouthed marshmallow Karl and his struggle to use his (polite) words, Serve with your favorote hot drink and baked goods of choice.
Rogues Lie by Jenny Schwartz
This is the third book in the Caldryn Parliament series, which should probably be read in order. These are fantasies that present as sci-fi, and take place in a magical world full of familiar elements, such as food, clothing, tech, even people’s names, yet there is no overt historical underpinning to link it to our world. The MC is Vanda who has stepped into a hereditary position as Warden and is dedicated to restoring the protective elements of her role. The writing is straightforward–no flourishes or drama–but not simplistic. Basically this series is for anyone who enjoys the maneuvers and machinations of a political novel leavened with a healthy dose of kindness and a strong moral compass. The romance arc is delicate not dominant. I wouldn’t necessarily call it comforting, but it is a comfortable read and I enjoyed it.
Grace and Henry’s Holiday Movie Marathon by Matthew Norman
This is the holiday novel I didn’t know I needed. Henry and Grace are a year into mourning their respective spouses, facing that first Christmas without. They get “mommed” by their worried parents into an awkward and incremental new friendship. Norman frames their relationship within a series of slightly offbeat holiday movies and sets it against a clearly beloved Baltimore backdrop, artfully avoiding mawkish sentimentality. There’s a stunning moment when Henry is startled by mice in Grace’s kitchen, and she confesses that she can’t just kill them because her two children “know what death is. They know what it means.” I read that and I was just gone. This novel is a tender, funny exploration of grief and love, as well as an excellent romance. Highly recommended.
Bed Me, Earl by Felicity Niven
Well, it looks like I’ll be reading this series backward since I started with the third book. Thanks are due to the Short Kings Rec League and to @Big K who talked this one up. I’m a sucker for what was once called a sex puppy hero; in fact, I kind of collect them. Open hearted, chatty Phineas Edge, Earl of Burchester, certainly fills the bill. What really makes this book soar, though, is smart, courageous Caro, the tall, willowy MFC who’s been isolated by speech issues and the loss of her mother. I especially liked the way this couple admired specific traits because they were a characteristic of their partner, rather than admiring their partner due to conventionally desirable qualities. These two are a truly exquisite match in every way. Also very very hot! Definitely a winner.
Happy holidays to those who celebrate and a cozy Good Book Noise(™) to all!