Welcome back to Whatcha Reading! Here’s how we’re kicking off July:
Lara: I’m reading a mystery-romance that is by turns pedestrian and annoying, but I am persisting because I need to know who killed the victim. I’m building myself into a state of high dudgeon and I’m sorely tempted to write a rant review. The book is The Cloak and Dagger Club by Jackie McMahon. ( A | BN | K | AB )
Elyse: I just started The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones ( A | BN | K | AB ) which I think is a magical academia romance with a school bully and a nonbinary character.
But I just started so no thoughts yet.
Sarah: I just finished The Parisian Heist by Jo Piazza, ( A | BN | K | AB ) and it is indeed heist-tastic, with lavish and complex friendships between all the women in the dual timelines.
I’m about to start Henry Tudor Must Die.
Tara: I’m reading The Guest Book by Mae Marvel. ( A | BN | K ) The ADHD rep is so real, it would have been super useful before getting diagnosed.
Amanda: I’ve started by Dungeon Crawler Carl ( A | BN ) journey. Everyone said it’s great on audio and I can confirm!
Whatcha reading right now? Tell us in the comments!
I am reading HEARTSTOPPER : VOLUME 6. It’s been a while since I’ve been in the HEARTSTOPPER universe, but I’m enjoying it. Obviously, I could have read it online in bits, but I personally preferred to wait until the whole thing was done. Looking forward to the final movie coming out next week on Netflix.
I am simultaneously rereading THE WALL OF WINNIPEG AND ME. I was in the mood for more Mariana Zapata after rereading KULTI because I was looking for something soccer-related. I’m not a soccer fan, but I work with soccer fans who are enjoying the World Cup.
I enjoyed The Healers’ Road by SE Robertson, a long slice-of-life fantasy which I think I probably heard about here when we have talked about cosy fantasies. The heroine was rather frustratingly young at times, but it was pleasantly slow and I will read the sequel.
Also enjoyed At Midnight Came the Cry, the tenth and I think final in Julia Spencer-Fleming’s Reverend Clare mysteries. I read these more for the characters than the plot.
Re-read two children’s books, Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright, and The Family from One End Street by Eve Garnett. Both were simpler than I remembered, but good to re-visit. There’s an excellent downpour in Thimble Summer, which I appreciated, reading in the UK heatwave.
I read the latest Nora Roberts THE FINAL TARGET. I generally only grade her books against her previous books. This was a C+. I was a little underwhelmed. Of course there were all those yummy la Nora things: snappy repartee, good family, competence porn and very good dogs, but there was way too much time spent in the villian’s head while he’s doing very bad things. Yes, yes, I went on about how much I enjoyed the Ruinous Love trilogy, but I found being in his head while he’s killing someone who loves him unpleasant. Keep in mind this is just in comparison to all her previous books. Compared to all other romantic suspense? Probably a solid B, B+.
Also finished THE BOOK WITCH. It’s one of those book within a book stories wherein the main character travels into books to repair damage. I have high standards for this sort of book, thank you Jasper Fforde. This one fell on plus side mostly because of the characters. I had a quibble or two about the world building, but that’s a me thing.
And back to the reading kindness goal: VIOLET THISTLEWAITE IS NOT A VILLAIN ANYMORE from Emily Krempholtz. Violet is starting over. Raised by an evil sorcerer, Violet became the fearsome Thornwitch, wrecking havoc at his command. After his death she determines to start over as a humble florist renting a storefront from a troubled Alchemist. Trouble comes to town in the form of one of Violet’s former cohorts and a mysterious blight effecting the local plant life. Can Violet and Nathaniel reverse the blight and stop the nefarious plans of her nemesis? What happens when Nathaniel and the townfolk discover her past? A lovely second chance story.
I’m snapping this off before I start trekking to NOLA. Tori Amos, here I come!
Anyway, since last time, it’s pretty much been all Bobiverse, all the time. I impulsively downloaded We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor, and have been burning through the series since. I’m on the 4th book, Heaven’s River, with a decent chance of downloading the 5th before the week is over. It is about a rich tech guy that dies on the very day he sells his company and agrees to have his head cryogenically frozen. He wakes up about a century or so later to find out that he’s now a command AI that runs an exploration ship. He then sets about making more of himself (part of the deal), and exploring strange new worlds. In the process, he’s still wrangling rival ship AIs, humans (who have just about wiped themselves out, because of course we did), and other intelligent life, both benign and decidedly not. They’re funny, since Bob in all his incarnations has something of a dry sense of humor, and will hit you in all the happy brain places that Star Trek and Project Hail Mary (I’m reading the Kindle version, but I think they have the same narrator as Project Hail Mary, I have to figure it’s the same Ray Porter). So anyway, byeee, I’m going on an adventure.
Started reading Jeannie Lin’s Lotus Palace series–I thought I had all of them, but apparently I only have LIAR’S DICE (novella) and THE HIDDEN MOON, both of which deal with the same couple–Bai Weiling, a privileged and educated lady who uses her cleverness to help her brothers and the local police constable but is starting to realize she wants something for herself, and Gao (just Gao), a street thug she meets while trying to dress as a man and explore the city. These are mystery romances, with most of the blood off-screen. Things I like: historical set in China in the Tang dynasty, mysteries that rely on that setting (the first deals with the Imperial exam, the second with the government censors), the romance between the two leads–I have a fondness for class difference tropes, and especially for tough criminals who are so lovesick they can’t keep up the tough front. Things I kind of wish were different: I don’t believe Gao as a dangerous mob enforcer like his reputation says (though I get that that’s a tough sell as a romance hero), and Weiling is so sheltered and sweet that sometimes I find her too silly (after the first time they kiss she runs behind a tree to hide while still talking to him, for example). I also found some of the ‘cleverness’ to solve the mystery in the first book to be too convenient. I’ll probably buy the other books in this series since these are I believe books 3 & 4 out of 4 or 5…
Hello my friends!
I read a really interesting book over the last two weeks — GREEN CITY WARS by Adrian Tchaikovsky. This book fulfilled the family reading challenge category of “main character is not a human” perfectly, because almost none of the players are human. They are all intellectually augmented animals who fulfill all the service jobs in the “Green City” that is Vienna (?) of the future.
I really enjoyed this book. The world building was fantastic. It had a great, vivid characters, like the racoon PI, the rat queen, the tortoise spy master, etc. The plot moved quickly and there was a lot of action. It was also interesting from an environmental perspective, as someone in that field.
My only quibble was that there was a lot of internal dialogue about what it all meant. The book would have been stronger if most of that had been stricken. Show, don’t tell, dude. In fact, I would love this to be a movie, because if the internal conversation went largely away, it really was almost a perfect story. I think I heard about this here, so thank you for the recommendation, and I turn think many would really like it. Complicated cats who might be playing both sides! Mouse geniuses for the win! Doesn’t get better than that!
Otherwise, I am partway through about five books, none of which are hitting so far. I am looking forward to digging into the “Best book of 2026 post” from a couple of days ago, and the recommendations you all post here.
Have a great weekend and happy reading!
I pressed on w/ the Avery Ames books and listened to DEATH WEARS A MASK by Ashley Weaver. These are just smooth, easy to read historical mysteries w/decent plots. I continue to want to strangle the heroine’s husband, but I think you’re supposed to feel that way. They remind me of Carola Dunn’s Daisy Dalrymple books and Rhys Bowen’s Lady Georgie books (although I had to stop reading those b/c Georgie started to annoy me). Last year I did a deep dive into a medieval mystery series (Sister Frevisse by Margaret Frazer). I think this may be the series I gobble up and read straight through this year. Thankfully, it’s a lot shorter than the last one, so I should get through them all.
Romance reading continues to be a struggle. I dnfed a romance that I won’t name here, but it made me sad b/c it’s an author where I’ve loved most of her books. It felt like two nice, slightly insecure people who had poor communication skills. Every time a real conflict came up, either internal or external, it seemed to just “poof” away. I got less than 100 pages from the end and thought, “I just don’t care” and sent it back to the library.
I pressed on and read BAD REPUTATION by Emma Barry and this one was a C+/B- read and at least finishable (is that a word?). This one is another celebrity/normie romance (sigh). The heroine is Maggie, a woman who is trying to make it as an intimacy coordinator after losing her last job in a very public controversy. The hero is Cole, an actor with a himbo/tabloid fodder reputation. He’s trying to make a name for himself as a more serious actor. They meet on the set of a TV show and since she’s the IC for the production they can’t get involved. Or can they? This was. . . fine? I liked the idea of both of the characters grappling w/reinvented themselves (particularly Maggie struggling w/having to start over and not feeling confident). The book was disjointed at times (almost like there were scenes missing or skipped over) and had a lot of telling. I did think it was cute that the made up TV show was an adaptation of the Waverly novels by Walter Scott and was given a kind of Bridgerton/Outlander mashup spin. Hey, at least I got one square on romance bingo down.
I don’t know guys, sometimes I just feel like I’m drifting away from romance and it makes me sad ☹️. I’m the same age my mom was when she stopped reading romance and switched to nonromance completely. I’ve always been a reader who reads lots of things, but I’ve loved romance for its optimism and the fact I can count on the main female character not to die (I read a lot of noir and literary fiction when I was younger). It’s been romance less and less over the last couple of years. I’m hoping the summer bingo will shake me out of my funk, but I also have the goal to read a lot of (nonromance) short stories this summer. We’ll see which wins, I guess.
Happy Weekend!
The Muse of Maiden Lane (Belles of London Book 4) by Mimi Matthews
Bingo: Artist or Performer, Victorian, Animal on Cover, Based on a Rec
This was a very sweet romance between an artist and a wallflower. She’s a bit of an outcast due to her unusually white hair. He’s grumpy, but with good reason since his legs were severely weakened by a fever leaving him to rely on a wheelchair. He’s also a talented artist who wants to paint the heroine (scandalous!). She knows her (terrible) family wouldn’t approve, but they find themselves drawn (hah!) to each other. I found this one in my Kindle library while looking for books that fit the various bingo squares, but I haven’t read the previous books in this series for her friends or the previous series for his family. I can confirm that you don’t have to have read those books to understand this one, but there are a significant number of cameos. My main complaint was that it felt like the main characters spent a lot of time apart, which gives plenty of time for building their relationships with their friends who were featured in the previous books, but not enough time building their relationship with each other.
Daydreamer (Daydreamer Book 1) by Susie Tate (KU)
Outlier (Daydreamer Book 3) by Susie Tate (KU)
Bingo: Contemporary
I’m starting to see a pattern with Susie Tate’s books. She really seems to like to abuse her heroines. (I’ve only read three books by her, but the heroine is assaulted in all of them. It shouldn’t be a surprise as it’s mentioned in the warnings in the description.) Anyway, Daydreamer is a grumpy billionaire, older brother’s friend and a shy bookworm with an unrequited childhood crush. Outlier is about a rich autistic woman who becomes obsessed with a handsome but grumpy working class gentleman who is also the brother of the female lead in Daydreamer. So, pluses for depictions of chronic health issues, and a note to self to space this author’s work out more so it doesn’t feel repetitive. I think these are very much YMMV kinds of books, but I enjoyed them. (I skipped book 2 because I was mostly interested in Outlier but wasn’t familiar enough with the author’s work to know if they were truly standalones.)
Untie My Heart by Judith Ivory (KU)
Bingo: Heist or Con, Victorian
This one was mentioned in a books on sale post a couple of weeks ago, and people seemed to have reasonably good impressions of it. The set up is a widowed shepherdess loses a sheep to a new Viscount’s carelessness. She asks him to pay for her losses, but his funds are tied up due to his evil uncle’s shenanigans, and he refuses. So, she decides she’ll get her money through other, less legal, means. Her skills gain the interest of the Viscount, who thinks he can use her to regain part of his inheritance from his uncle. I paused at 36%. You would think that with the number of crime lords, billionaires, assassins, and such that usually populate my reading that a con artist wouldn’t even register. But, strangely, I find stories about cons rather stressful, particularly when the main characters are lying to each other. Brains are weird. I finished a chair scene that is likely the one mentioned in the comments and decided to take a break.
Hott Shot: A Steamy Rush Creek Romantic Comedy (Hott Springs Eternal Book 1) by Serena Bell (Free Ebook)
Bingo: Contemporary, Person’s Name in Title, Vacation Place
I think this one was mentioned favorably in previous WAYR posts, so could count as “From a Rec” for bingo as well. This is the first of a series about a family of very hot and wildly successful brothers whose lives are about to get turned upside down by grandpa’s will. So, to save the
ranchresort and protect his sister whose story was part of the Wilder Adventures series, our grumpy STEM hero must return home for two months and work at the reception desk at the spa. Our sunshine heroine runs the spa. Queue the hijinks. It’s pretty good.And in non-romance, I picked up Murdoku: Back in Time. It’s a collection of murder mystery logic puzzles that are grid based with clues like “Alice is next to a chair, Bob is in a corner, and Vincent is alone with the murderer”. I’m having a lot of fun with them. They also have a website .
Disagree, I read The Cloak and Dagger Club and I absolutely loved it!
Well, July came roaring in like a tornado made of hellfire, followed by a mini deluge. Fortunately, things have settled down though. I’ll be travelling mid-month, so I’m not sure how much reading I’ll be doing. My Bingo card will never forgive me. Sigh.
The Summer Share by Jenn McKinlay
DNF @69%
You would think that having made it more than two thirds into this book, that I could finish it. In fact, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. When I think of this book the word that comes to mind is “innocuous,“ except for the giant black and white pony-dog who is the most entertaining character on page. This is a lovely, cozy small town romance in which the two very likable MCs each inherit half of a beach cottage from their respective grandads. But my eyes just won’t stay open, and I can’t fight the bland any more. ymmv
Knead for Speed by Lindsay Buroker
Bingo: Food service, Next in a series, Released in past three months.
This book is the second fantasy in the Tales from the Dragon Diner series. In this one, Rylana’s ex is still stirring up trouble, releasing a curse in Luminous Lake for his own nefarious purpose. Rylana and Jildarin join forces to try and defuse the bad mojo while avoiding clashes with local peacekeepers and a posse of female dragons determined to coerce Jildarin into a mating of convenience. Jildarin is starting to pat Rylana on the shoulder, and that’s as spicy as it gets. This fantasy adventure is lightened by snarky dialogue and Buroker’s characteristically dry humor, and I’m enjoying the heck out of it.
Dolly All the Time by Annabel Monaghan
Bingo: Contemporary, Place you’d like to vacation
I’d been postponing reading this due to my high expectations. I finally succumbed, and it was mostly well worth the wait. Dolly is a 40 year old single mom who became the caretaker for her family at age twelve when her own mom left home on a vacation that slid into permanence. At home in Rhode Island for the summer, she encounters a scion of the town’s founding family and agrees to a fake relationship for their mutual convenience. I often have issues with fake relationships, but I loved Dolly’s narration, the upending of the Cinderella trope, and the parallels between Dolly and Stewart’s roles and interactions within their families. I deeply enjoyed their relationship, but I did have a problem with
Details would be even more spoilery, but
and that left me with a persistent niggle of dissatisfaction. I’m curious as to whether anyone else had this reaction to reading this. And, yes, in spite of my issue with it, I would recommend.
The Dark Lord’s Guide to Dating (and Other War Crimes) by Tiffany Hunt
This fantasy was mentioned by multiple commenters on an Ilona Andrews blog post as a possible follow up to TKWNKM. I had high hopes for this one. I really liked the villain and his abductee. They had great chemistry and managed to fill their somewhat satirical roles without any of that nudge-nudge-wink-wink crap, though the smug/smirk count was pretty high. However, as I continued reading, I realized that my dominant feeling was ennui. This book moved sloooowly. Despite the antagonistic sparks between Kazimir and Arabella that evolve into some heated sexytimes, not a lot else seems to happen. Yes, there are “alarums and excursions” with various hench persons and assorted enemies, but there’s not a lot of character development or depth to the magic or the plot. Like the title, this book seems excessively long with surprisingly little substance or excitement till the very end. Also, there’s a mild cliffie, but I am not tempted to read book two.
Finn by Angel Martinez
Thanks to @kareni for mentioning this tender queer love story with its deep roots in folk lore and fairy tale. When Diego coaxes Finn from the edge of a bridge and carries him off into the metal and glass wilderness of the city, he is only fulfilling his inbuilt mandate to succor any creature in need. Deep in his own worries and sorrows, Diego is slow to accept that Finn’s primary problem isn’t mental health, but rather it’s being an Irish Pooka stranded in New York. I loved Finn’s blend of innocence and (other) worldliness and Diego’s warmth and kindness in the face of his own sadness and disappointments, but most of all I loved them as a pair–whether finding their footing as a couple or battling a supernatural threat. Recommended.
Big Stick Energy by Sarina Bowen
I enjoyed this entry in Bowen’s New York Legends series. This sports romance was a fun, mostly low angst story with a minimal level of actual hockey content and a healthy dose of spice. Though this isn’t the most gripping work of hers that I’ve read, the characterization is first class and the prose, well crafted. There is something about Bowen’s writing that is so seamless and natural that it just frees me up to get lost in the story. I would have liked more hockey drama, but, eh, you can’t always get what you want. (Cue earworm.)
The Boss + the Maid = Chemistry by Louise Bay
Bingo: One night stand; Mistaken or secret identity
This story opened with a down & dirty one night !stand, but grew complications when they met again at her new summer job in a luxury hotel. Efa, the FMC, is a likable 21 year old spreading her wings in NYC while pursuing a job in tech. Bennett is the totally non-icky 34 year old tech billionaire who (unbeknownst to her, owns the hotel she’s working in. This romance is mostly just workplace adjacent and becomes almost closed door between the bangin’ opening and final climax.. There’s a little mystery built around corporate espionage and hand-wavy tech. In short, a mildly spicy summertime diversion.
“It felt like two nice, slightly insecure people who had poor communication skills. Every time a real conflict came up, either internal or external, it seemed to just “poof” away.”
@Jill Q, this is such a precise diagnosis of many romances I’ve struggled with, too. It’s like there’s an allergy to thorny or complicated conflicts spreading within the genre, and it baffles me. Thank you for this description!
@Crystal: Enjoy the show. I live on the Northshore of Lake Pontchartrain, and I was driving on Canal Street earlier this week and saw the marquee for Tori’s concert at the Saenger. Unfortunately, it didn’t work with my schedule, but, if I could make it, I’d be hoping that she’s does “Professional Widow”—my favorite Amos song. Have a great time!
HOT, HOTTER, HOTTEST is the fifth and final book in Serena Bell’s Hott Springs Eternal series of romances about five brothers who return to their home town to help their sister run a destination wedding venue in the Pacific Northwest. In this last installment, some of the loose ends from the prior books are tied up (especially regarding incidents of sabotage at the family business), and (unlike the previous books) there are a couple of times that the heroine is in some real danger—so the book takes a big swerve into romantic-suspense territory especially toward the end. Tucker Hott, the last remaining unattached Hott brother, enters a fake relationship with Autumn (the sister of the bride of an upcoming wedding) for reasons. In addition to fake relationship, the book also features the grumpy-sunshine trope because Tucker is essentially a uncommunicative recluse due to a traumatic experience at his previous security job, meanwhile Autumn is so sunshiny she has a social media channel called “How to Be Happy”. But it turns out that Autumn’s life is not so completely bright—starting with an internet stalker who hosts a rival channel called “How to Be Miserable”, turning all of Autumn’s positive affirmations and recommendations on their head. Throw into the mix some family drama (cw/tw for mental health struggles) and “accidents” that seem deliberate at the wedding venue, and there’s a lot for Autumn & Tucker to overcome before the final HEA. I enjoyed HOT, HOTTER, HOTTEST—Bell is a good writer, and she can make even the most overused trope interesting—but I don’t think you can read it as a standalone, so much of the story involves things that have happened in the previous Hott Springs books. I was also somewhat affronted by the two “old” characters in the book arguing about things that happened when they were in high school “fifty years ago.” Wait—I was in high school 50 (well, 51) years ago—does that make me old too? Lol. Recommended—but read the other books in the series first.
One of the problems I have with overtly comedic rom-coms is that if the humor really doesn’t land for me, I get irritated; so I spent the first half of Jax Calder’s THE REVENGE MISHAP rolling my eyes because what Calder apparently thought was laugh-out-loud funny (a pirate-themed pancake restaurant, a tech billionaire being required to dress up as a unicorn for children’s parties) did not come across as funny at all to me. However, I powered through, and I’m glad I did because the second half of the book was the angsty tangled web plotline that will lure me in every time. In MISHAP, Leo is determined to take revenge on the co-worker who stole his idea for a new tech macguffin. Unfortunately, a case of mistaken identity leads Leo to taking revenge on Archie, the brother of his nemesis. Because of a series of unintended consequences, Archie then breaks his ankle, and Leo feels duty-bound to help with Archie’s two income-generating businesses: dog-walking and children’s party magician (unsurprisingly, he’s not very good at either, but he perseveres). When Archie’s nosy godmother shows up, Leo & Archie have to pretend to be in a relationship, including sharing a bedroom…and a bed. Cue the angst, the yearning, and the hot sexy-times. As time goes on, Leo learns more about Archie’s dysfunctional family dynamics and why a member of a wealthy family is earning his money walking dogs and performing at children’s parties. Of course, everything boils down to Leo being reluctant to let Archie know the truth of how they first met. As Leo says, “I hadn’t anticipated…how much you want to cling to a secret when the alternative means changing the way someone looks at you.” I like how Calder gets her characters into some thorny situations and how those characters grow when they have to extract themselves from said situations using honesty and self-awareness. I could wish that Calder didn’t lean so heavily into the comedic side of things at the start of the book, but, by the end, it was angsty all the way—and I was totally there for it. Recommended.
Over the past two weeks, I spent ten days visiting my sister and her family who I hadn’t seen since 2019. I had a great time! I read throughout my travels but did negligible reading while there.
Week one, I read Project Hail Mary Fan fiction on AO3.
— Message in a Beetle by ConalltheLibrarian
— one half of a whole by interstellarisms
— Saving Grace by CptnBara
Week two, I read more PHM fan fiction on AO3. Some of these are marked as complete; others are unfinished.
— The Hail Mary, full of Grace by Second_Sol
— The Return of Ryland Grace by Crazy_Castle_Girl
— The Astrobiology Immersion Program by startingatmidnight
— Without a Doubt by voidknight
— Project Hail Mary: The Next Generation by TEMullen
— I’d wave my hand, reveal the stars by WyvernQuill
I am in the middle of several books. Library, I wish I could quit you — or that all the books didn’t arrive on the same day — but that will never happen.
THE BRIAR CLUB by Kate Quinn: must finish before book club or the discussion will spoil who was killed. I’m not ready.
THE ELSEWHERE EXPRESS by Samantha Sotto Yambao: so incredibly lush and imaginative. Like the passengers on the train, I have no idea where we’re going, just very glad to ride along.
THE RULES OF MAGIC by Alice Hoffman: never read the others, thought I’d start with the prequel. Why is everyone so angry?
WORSE THAN A LIE by Ben Crump: Civil rights attorney Crump has written a legal thriller about a Black man shot by Chicago cops on the night Obama was elected. Chilling and infuriating.
@SB Sarah, @JillQ
@JillQ’s description of an unsatisfying romance describes most of my recent DNFs, but I don’t know if the problem is limited to romance.
Do you think that this phenomenon might be at least partially a response to the current obsession with all things “cozy” and so many readers’ aversion to stress in perilous times? Also, a lot of conflicts and difficulties within a story might be viewed as potentially triggering or offensive. However, if you strip out all that’s difficult, what is left?
I suspect a tendency to bowdlerize one’s own work may be at play here, and the result is pablum. Sadly, if this is a trend, the publishing world will probably amplify the hell out of it. It’s like book banning or censorship in miniature, but just as noxious.
@PamG ~ I’m so pleased to learn that you also enjoyed Finn. The author certainly succeeded in surprising me in a good way.
Not quite so many titles since I’m not skipping a week this time. I still feel like my reading has slowed down, or maybe it’s just that the books are longer.
THESE SUMMER STORMS by Sarah MacLean – I’m not actually a fan of MacLean’s historicals. This one intrigued me with the plot of “inheritance game,” but yeah, it’s not really that. It’s very readable but the characters didn’t feel fresh, and honestly I don’t really care to read about a dysfunctional billionaire family.
LET’S MAKE A SCENE by Laura Wood – I loved this one, despite the flashbacks (I am so tired of those in romance. Please stop.) I was surprised to find out after I finished that Wood is a children’s author. Not only is this book open door, but it’s just so different from other YA/Children’s authors who have turned to adult romance. And by different I guess I really mean, better. The dialogue is fantastic, the characters are real (despite being celebrities), and the romance is just beautiful. I’m kinda mad I didn’t read the first book in the series first. I hate going back, and I probably won’t because the hero is a musician, which is my least favorite thing. I am looking forward to the next book though.
CHERRY BABY by Rainbow Rowell – This is my first book by the author. I did not love it. I also did not hate it. (Flashbacks again. Just stop.) The blurb does this book no favors by being misleading. This is one book where I feel like the characters are not going to be in a good place moving forward. They did not talk enough (and yes, I do know that some people are better at expressing their love through action than through words). Still, there were more steps to be made by the couple here, and I definitely do not feel like they took them by the end.
Just finished THE PURSUITS OF LORD KIT CAVANAUGH by Stephanie Laurens and it was — fine? There is initially some tension between the H/h (she’s running a school for boys in poverty to help them move up in the world, he needs the warehouse it’s in for his business so he kicks her out) but the hero is very kind hearted so makes it his business to find her school another location and otherwise supports her in various ways, so there’s no real conflict between them. Both of them are being stalked/attacked at various points in the book, but each of the threats turns out to be a one-off and easily resolved; the final big black moment threat literally comes out of nowhere and has nothing to do with the rest of the book. A pleasant enough read but frustrating with all the dead ends. More frustrating is that they keep referring back to events in the first book of the series, and I KNOW I’ve read it but don’t seem to still have it to refer back to.
Currently reading A RIVAL MOST VIAL by RK Ashwick, which as a long-time DM I am finding delightful. (I have already head-cast Neil Patrick Harris as Ambrose.) It was passed on to me by a friend who didn’t care for it but I personally am digging the cozy fantasy vibes and the throwaway D&D references.
@Sarah @JillQ @PamG, is there a possibility that these books are being written with AI assistance to get them to market faster? AI not being human, it doesn’t grasp the emotional complexity of human internal conflict and views it as something with simple resolutions that can be hand-waved away. As in my experience with KIT CAVANAUGH above, throwing in a lot of small, random conflicts that are easily resolved does not have the same emotional impact as a single overarching conflict that takes the entire plot arc and serious efforts from the MCs to resolve.
@PamG, I think you’re right that it’s not just in romance, but I think other genres have the luxury (?) of leaning more on external conflicts and villains, but romances need to have emotional growth (IMHO) to feel satisfying.
It’s funny b/c there’s a desire for cozy but also for very dark romance. I would just like something between those two extremes, but maybe that’s hard to market and/or sell.
I had several DNFs this round, and in my comments just said “Meh,” so I’m running across several uninteresting romances, too, both in contemporary and romantasy. That said, I’m not sure things are necessarily worse. I do know I’m getting pickier because the good stuff out there just is so darn good these days.
My favourite book was definitely Alicia Thompson’s IN EVERY POSSIBLE WAY. Her previous books were worth reading, but this one really caught me. It’s a BEFORE SUNSET story (like the movie) with a magical realism twist. A woman is both in a coma at home in the U.S. and dropped into Ireland near Dublin where she runs across the younger brother of a recent bad first date. There’s wonderful character development for both FMC and MMC and a truly lovely building romance.
I also really liked Sarina Bowen’s BIG STICK ENERGY for exactly the reasons @PamG said. It wasn’t groundbreaking, but I found it truly refreshing and was so happy while reading it.
In fantasy, I finally picked A.J. Lancaster’s STARIEL off the TBR mountain, and enjoyed it.
Jaclyn Rodriguez’s A VOW IN VENGEANCE was an enjoyable romantasy, the first in a series. Nothing groundbreaking but I’ll be watching out for the next in the series.
Not a lot of reading for me this fortnight, but I finished multiple books featuring queer MCs. The best was FOR THE BRIDE, the second novel by Becca Grischow. This F/F antagonists-to-lovers story has the same kind of great character development and great banter I enjoyed in Grischow’s first book, I’LL GET BACK TO YOU. In the new book, MCs Alice and Renee, both in their late 20s, are helping their mutual friend Virginia (Gin) plan her wedding and agree to put aside animosity that began in their early 20s. Alice is focused on her sobriety and is still grieving the loss of her father to alcoholism-related illness. Renee is a type-A planner who takes over much of the work, rather than fully sharing responsibilities with other two bridesmaids. The lead-up to the wedding includes numerous and sometimes humorous challenges, and we experience both MCs expanding emotionally as they clash and then grow closer. The writing is wonderful– my summary isn’t doing justice to how much I enjoyed Grischow’s storytelling and how much I look forward to her next book.
AMONG THE WILDFLOWERS is the second book in Anita Kelly’s “Greyfin Bay” series, which features a variety of queer characters who live on or near a small town on the Oregon coast. MMCs in this story are Luca, a fisherman who wants to be a writer, and Emerson, a recently divorced farmer with a 4-year-old daughter he shares with his former husband, a trans man. Emerson meets Luca in a bar and then agrees to let Luca work on the farm for room and board only, because Emerson can’t afford to pay wages. Several characters from Kelly’s “Nashville Love” series make cameo appearances in this novel, which is about finding love, and recognizing that it’s possible to love many people (friends, family members, exes, kids) in many ways, at the same time, and that’s OK. Kelly writes wonderful descriptions of emotions and locations, and while I still think the three “Nashville Love” books are Kelly’s best work (and HOW YOU GET THE GIRL is high on my list of comfort re-reads), the residents of Greyfin Bay are appealing, too.
Also read Jennifer Dugan’s 2024 YA novel PLAYING FOR KEEPS. MC June is the star pitcher on a baseball (not softball) team who is ignoring her shoulder pain because of upcoming “showcase” games where she hopes to impress college recruiters. MC Ivy is set on becoming a professional baseball umpire, despite knowing that few women make it to the top tier of that profession. They know they shouldn’t be dating while Ivy is an umpire for June’s league, because it’s a breach of ethics for both– but young love is a powerful emotion. Lots of teen drama and sports drama on the way to the HEA.
In addition, I finished two older graphic memoirs by Maggie Thrash: HONOR GIRL (2015) and the follow-up, LOST SOUL, BE AT PEACE (2018). I greatly enjoyed the illustration style and the tone of these complex and yet intimate coming-of-age stories.
Some new, but mostly re-reads still. Finished re-read of Ilona Andrews’s THIS KINGDOM WILL NOT KILL ME, and now am listening to the audiobook because I guess I can’t get enough (also the narrator, Kristen Sieh, is excellent). Re-reads/listens of Agatha Christie: CARDS ON THE TABLE, SAD CYPRESS, THREE-ACT TRAGEDY. Re-read of Ilona Andrews’s novella BEAST BUSINESS.
Still reading new-to-me K. L. Noone’s M/M romances, right now in the first book of the CHARACTER BLEED series, SEAWORTHY. I like how she definitely focuses on the romance but there’s a real sense of the characters’ work–in this case, co-stars of a historical drama (movie). Some heavy themes (childhood neglect, abuse by a partner, eating disorder, phobia due to a sudden death). Mostly the traumatic events are in the past and they are dealing with healing (no abuse or neglect or death in the present, although some very brief flashbacks). I really enjoy Noone’s writing style. I generally find serious angst difficult to read but SEAWORTHY keeps the focus on healing and starting anew.
BTW @Darlynne ‘s rec THE ELSEWHERE EXPRESS is on sale right now for 2.99 at amazon and kobo (and maybe other places?)
I’ve been re-reading Cat Sebastian – right now I’m on “You Should Be So Lucky” and it’s reminding me how much I enjoy her writing and characters. I really hope she’ll write more midcentury NYC novels, because “We Could Be So Good” and “You Should Be So Lucky” are excellent.
Otherwise, it’s all “Heated Rivalry” fanfic all the time.
Have been rwading a bit lately due to the winter weather in Melbourne.
Based on the recommendations for the new Rachel Griffiths I decided to read THE TROUBLE WITH ANNA – and enjoyable read.
Also read SCORE by Kennedy Ryan. Could not put it. She does k ow how to turn on the angst.
My library finally came through with Cara Bastone’s NO MATTER WHAT. A slow burn but good.
Have also been reading more Australian set romances. I enjoy being more familiar with the settings. The most recent was Penelope Janu’s OUT OF THE BLUE. A bit of mystery thrown in with the romance, but didn’t quite meet the familiar setting requirement and a lot of the story was set on a base on Macquarie Island near Antarctica. Still enjoyed the read.
I just signed up for Stephanie Burgis’s newsletter so I’ve been reading the free bonus chapters she gives out, including one for WOOING THE WITCH QUEEN.
I’ve been plotting out holiday gifts so I’ve been reading pattern books, including CARDIGANS by Maja Karlsson and THE SOCK PROJECT by Summer Lee.
And I started THE HEART OF THE NHAGA by Lee Young-Do. It’s an epic fantasy Korean series and it’s being translated into English and this is book 1. So far, it’s slow but I assume the scaffolding is needed for the rest of the story.
I’m also re-reading via audiobook the Meg Langslow mystery series by Donna Andrews. Kooky family, Meg is the strait-laced one who is a blacksmith and stumbles onto bodies. There’s an ongoing romance that’s sweet. The last one I listened to was NO NEST FOR THE WICKET, when they’re all playing extreme croquet and a body turns up with ties to a couple of them. Meg must clear their names!
Thanks for doing this — I always enjoy seeing what people are reading.
Haven’t done one of these for a while. And, sitting here, just back from the nursery and expecting to be called back in another hour, I am remembering why. But here we go.
A little burnt out including with reading so, for the last several weeks, I have been re-reading Nalini Singh’s Pay-Changling series, at least my favorites. CARESSED BY ICE because Judd will forever be my ideal. The way he takes care of his family and Breanna. And the way she fights to heal. BRANDED BY FIRE because watching a strong woman and an alpha male work together while fighting attraction and figure out dominance is hot. KISS OF SNOW because we don’t have enough blond alphas and Sienna dancing on the bar! HEART OF OBSIDIAN and SHARDS OF HOPE and SHIELD OF WINTER. All these hard, cold men going soft for their women.
I did read L Steele’s THE UNWILLING BRIDE and it’s prequel THE UNWILLING LOVE. He is her brother’s friend, coming back from the military damaged and burnt out. They have a moment in the first book and he walks away. In the second book, he is out of the military and now a famous chef who hires her for his kitchen, yes, she has the skills, and forces her to marry him for convenience. No feelings allowed. We know how that goes. I enjoyed them.
Started getting into the cheating/grovel books but so many of them seemed AI generated so I backed off. Too many bad turns of phrase, too much repetition, too many plot holes. Ugh.
I’m not sure when I posted last, but all of the excellent books I have read of late are all in series well known and loved in these parts: Walschotts’s VILLAIN, Hall’s FATHER MATERIAL, Sebastian’s CABOT series, and EH Lupton’s RENAISSANCE. I don’t think I have anything particularly insightful to add to the general chorus of approbation. These books might work for a given reader or not, of course, but they’re definitely all at the very least written by authors who are intelligent both intellectually and emotionally, who are both skilled and gifted at writing as a craft, and so worth giving a shot if there’s anyone who has yet to check them out. Add in KJ Charles, T Kingfisher, Martha Wells, Katherine Addison, Fonda Lee, and Taylor Fitzpatrick and those ten authors are 90% of what I have enjoyed reading in recent years. I mean, KJ Charles alone is probably 90% of my favorite releases.
The only cautionary note I have is one that I am reasonably certain I had read here and alas forgotten – France’s White’s VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED is incredibly disappointing. Marketed as adult though feels very YA, it has all the elements I look for – fantasy, detective, queer romance – but it’s just incredibly superficial, terrible world building, one note characters that are nevertheless inconsistent based on the needs of the plot, only plot is not the word I am looking for because wow does it not hang together.
Apropos the general discussion of books in which there are a series of lackluster conflicts that dissipate effortlessly, resulting in no stakes nor growth for the characters, I blame fanfic. Which, I love fanfic and I read a ton of it and it contains multitudes of course. But just as a generalization, it is often based on the idea that these are characters we already love and just want to spend more time with, and it is often written without the benefit of an insightful editor (which of course is also true of traditionally published books now too) so there’s no one to advise on structure, to make the authors kill their darlings, or ever make bad things happen to their beloved characters (except perhaps in a sentimental, tragic backstory). And of course, AI was trained on fanfic so if people *are* using AI to write these books…
Continuing my historical fiction binge, although several of the books I read had a romance subplot. THE VINEYARDS OF CHAMPAGNE by Juliet Blackwell is about a young widow who, deep in grief, is unsure what to do with her life. She has a job as sales associate for a champagne distributor in NAPA. She’s sent to the Champagne area of France where she makes a fresh start. Pleasant read but not gripping.
THE ENIGMA GAME — Elizabeth Wein is one of my favorites. A young woman is sent to Scotland to serve as a companion to an older woman with health issues. She is near an RAF base and through some unlikely plot developments, finds a German ENIGMA code machine. Not my favorite of her books, but diverting.
THE ELEMENTS OF MARIE CURIE — a thorough biography, with a lot of technical descriptions of her work. I really didn’t assert myself to follow all the physics and chemistry, but she’s a fascinating figure.
YEAR OF WONDERS by Geraldine Brooks. Recommended by many people and it was great. Beautifully written, poignant, it is written during a year where bubonic plague strikes a town. The town self-isolates from the outside world. Interesting to read in light of the 2020 pandemic.
THE HAND THAT FIRST HELD MINE by Maggie O’Farrell. Dual timeline, alternating between a young woman who leaves her country home for London during the 1950s; and a contemporary woman with a newborn who is struggling after a difficult delivery in which she nearly dies. O’Farrell is a great writer and this had an edge of suspense (in an emotional, not thriller way).
Queen Charlotte. I just finished the second season of Bridgerton.
When they moved the TV on top of the dresser to be mounted on my side of the room, we found a romance novel buried behind it. Midnight Sun, by Kat Martin. My new roommate doesn’t read, so it isn’t hers. I found two more ‘contemporary’ romances of Martin’s in the library room.
Apropos the general discussion of books in which there are a series of lackluster conflicts that dissipate effortlessly, resulting in no stakes nor growth for the characters, I blame fanfic…just as a generalization, it is often based on the idea that these are characters we already love and just want to spend more time with, and it is often written without the benefit of an insightful editor (which of course is also true of traditionally published books now too) so there’s no one to advise on structure, to make the authors kill their darlings, or ever make bad things happen to their beloved characters (except perhaps in a sentimental, tragic backstory).
–kkw
This really articulated why some books ‘feel like fanfiction’ to me–that I’m reading meandering scenes meant to spend time with characters the author loves, but don’t contribute to an overarching plot. I’ve noticed more than a few books recently that feel like this yet were traditionally published. I like scene setting as much as the next smart bitch, but that space can be used to create character depth or development rather than a rehash of staring into each others’ eyes for the umpteenth time.
And specifically to the discussion about conflicts that disappear, I too feel like that’s been a trend in the past few years where it used to be considered bad writing. I really dislike getting invested in an upcoming scene only to have everyone decide “oh but of course I’m fine with that! Why would you even worry!” or having the exact solution immediately fall out of the sky and into their lap. (Part of the reason I can’t do YA/”YA vibes” queer romance where the main conflict is coming out with the end result “of course everyone accepts you, silly-head, why would you ever think otherwise! You’re just so silly for thinking your marginalized identity might be used against you!” I remember being a queer teenager in a small town, writers; I don’t trust like that.)
Messy relationships and difficult decisions are what MAKE a book for me, and letting the characters tangle up in the conflict and needing to pick it out knot by knot is deeply satisfying (and an author saving their darlings by taking the hard choices out of their hands is a reason to drop the book for me). Especially in romances, I want to know why these two (or more) are together. I want them to choose each other even through the hard, unpleasant times–preferably, even when they CAUSED those hard unpleasant times!
…That being said, I remember one of my favorite youtube reviewers mentioning in her review of the Bridgerton books (“i read nine bridgerton novels in seven days as an act of self loathing” by julia cudney–don’t be put off by the title) that she noticed the conflicts would evaporate by the point of the big reveal, either all being a misunderstanding or simply being forgotten. It’s been around for a while at least.
As to the cozy trend in particular, that exact avoidance of conflict tends to come across as cutesy instead of cute and sometimes as preaching a moral I never asked for and don’t necessarily agree with. On the plus side, “cozy vibes” have such low stakes I feel okay putting the book down and coming back later so long as they didn’t induce real rage.
To that end, I suppose, I started THE TELLER OF SMALL FORTUNES by Julie Leong just yesterday. This is very much a cozy fantasy about a woman traveling across the land in a wagon and telling, you know, small fortunes–if it’ll rain, if you’ll burn your hand next week, where your goats have gone off to. Larger than that is strictly off-limits…except pretty early she also tells someone to move from their life-long village and start a whole different life (not too large, I guess?). So far this is a “don’t think about it too hard” fantasy, and there are hints of a plot beyond just “cozy vibes” that I’m looking forward to.
Phew, that turned into an essay.