Welcome back to Whatcha Reading! Here’s what we’re reading right now:
Sarah: I’m reading the end of Mate ( A | BN | K | AB ) and I am both engaged with the story and infuriated by it.
I’m also reading a book about magic and writing.
Pam Grossman’s Magic Maker: The Enchanted Path to Creativity. ( A | BN | K | AB ) I dislike the cover but the writing is warm and supportive in a way I appreciate. I love books about writing that are informative and unique but also chill.
Amanda: I just finished The Midwinter Mail Order Bride by Kati Wilde. ( A ) Cute fantasy medieval novella as a palate cleanse between all these middling dark why choose romances I’ve been marathoning.
Lara: I just finished the first in a new series and I’m so pumped for the rest of the books! Murder in Manhattan by Julie Mulhern ( A | BN | K | AB ) is giving me Miss Fisher vibes in the best way! Full review coming!
Shana: I’m reading Tusk Love by Thea Guanzon. ( A | BN | K | AB ) I wanted some cozy fantasy for my Fall comfort read needs.
Whatcha reading? Let us know in the comments!
I’ve borrowed Gideon the Ninth from the library, about a hundred years after everyone else, and it’s great fun. I know that there are many twists to come, but not what they are, so I’m trying just to hang on and enjoy the ride.
This has been a good year for reading (which I feel like is an accomplishment considering how crazy life has been both of a national and personal level for me) but kind of a lousy year for romance reading. But, we persist. I finally gave up my Kindle Unlimited subscription, but I am still hanging onto my Kindle and may load it up w/books for my Thanksgiving trip. A long, long car ride.
I slogged through a part of WAR AND PEACE where Leo was doing a lot of scolding about all the things that historians get wrong and then BAM! beauty, tragedy, catharsis. It’s truly been quite a ride and it’s not over yet.
I’m also really happy I stuck with the Sister Frevisse mysteries by Margaret Frazer. They haven’t all been great, but they have been pretty consistent and it’s interesting to see things start to build up to the Wars of the Roses and see how relationships grow over time. I should have the last book read by New Year’s Day and the symmetry of reading a whole series in a year pleases me.
Also, I’m reading Wolf Hall next year, so this feels like a good warm up.
I want to tell everyone I know to read THE EVERLASTING by Alix E. Harrow. Her last book, Starling House, was really, really, good, but this meta fairy tale love story with time loops and political commentary is beyond words. The story lulled me into a false sense of familiarity with its wry British academia humor, and then proceeded to blow my mind and shred my heart. I couldn’t stop reading it, but at the same time I didn’t want it to end, and I made sure I was alone for the last 25% so I wouldn’t bite the head off anyone who tried to interrupt me. It’s best not to know too much about the plot going in, but here’s the blurb summary: a genre-defying quest about the lady-knight whose legend built a nation, and the cowardly historian sent back through time to make sure she plays her part–even if it breaks his heart.
Have I already raved about QUEEN DEMON and ALL OF US MURDERERS? I think I have, and they remain the best new books I have read recently, but in a new material extravaganza that still leaves me with Freya Marske’s CINDER HOUSE -delightful retelling, no notes, no spoilers, just read it even if like me you don’t care one way or the other about Cinderella ordinarily- and T Kingfisher’s HALCYON FAIRY BOOK which might not have much or any new material (but who cares). The thing with T Kingfisher’s retellings, and commentary which is the first half of the collection, is that it’s all so familiar feeling and spot on and insightful that I find myself remembering them even as I read them the first time. Of course it was always this way, I have loved the talking pigs of Snow White all my life, they’re essential to the story. So I might or might not have read these essays and short stories all online previously over the years, I am always happy to read Kingfisher. It is always cozy but never insipid, and always fresh but still familiar.
Speaking of cozy, but also a bit insipid, I devoured CLEANING SPELLS BEFORE COURTSHIP. It’s the fourth (and weakest) of a series that I really enjoy despite being frankly boring. There is like zero plot to these books, and the characters are forgettable (but the book absolutely things I am going to remember and care about them, it’s Balogh levels of reoccurring protagonists) and the style …kinda… just… isn’t, so by all standard metrics I wouldn’t like these but I super do. They’re just so sweet and careful and decent and people are really impossibly patient with one another and it’s great.
Also recommend THE SECOND DEATH OF LOCKE by Bovalino. It’s a smidge YA feeling even though the protagonists are supposedly adults (who do not act that way) which I don’t love, and it’s m/f which I can’t tolerate much anymore (but it’s not particularly heteronormative mercifully) and the prose has a lot of redundancies. Like it’s a slow burn, which I enjoy, but I feel like I did a lot of skimming over the same interior monologue which is not the same thing. But whatever, I am burying the lede: it’s all about the magical bond between a lady knight and her sworn mage. Walk or run at your own pace.
Also finished BLITZ, the third book in O’Malley’s fantasy series. Harder to get into than the first two – I do NOT love a dual time line although I gather I am in quite the minority there. And his writing is full of fairly tedious info-dump digressions that I am pretty sure I am meant to find delightful, and don’t get me wrong, his delight in the world he’s created is part of the fun, and he is funny, but it makes the pacing atrocious. Sometimes it’s like talking to a bright eight-year old who is stammering out and then and then and then and snort laughing at their own jokes so hard that zero communication is actually occurring and it’s like ok this is cute but I have a life to live so I’m just going to let you carry on entertaining yourself. So it took me a little while to get into this one, but worth it. Obvs don’t start with this one, but definitely still recommend the whole series.
Only sour note was Bellefleur’s THE DEVIL SHE KNOWS which looked so incredibly promising. Maybe it would be a good story if you aren’t expecting a romance? It is not a romance novel, it’s seriously a good 70% of the book has the main character trying to get with her ex and not with her endgame demon. It was tedious and repetitive and sad and counterproductive. But if you don’t think of it as genre, if you aren’t in it for the romance, if it’s just a sort of random playful ride through AUs of an unhappy couple… yeah no I still can’t picture liking it. What a gorgeous cover, though.
We’re dipping into the rainy, cooler weather here in Chicago – with the “S” word being thrown around in the weather forecast. We’ve had one of the longest falls since I moved here 20+ years ago. It’s been lovely. I’m feeling a little more prepared (and maybe even welcoming of the dark winter months).
From @PamG’s tale of reading Kate Clayborn’s LOVE LETTERING – I did a reread of her CHANCE OF A LIFETIME trilogy, which follows 3 friends who won the lottery together. I did a first time read of LOVE AT FIRST, which was good but not as good as LOVE LETTERING, which I also reread. LOVE LETTERING has a unique story and though the couple are separated in the last 3rd, it’s not a breakup. The slow growth of the relationship between the main characters is well paced and satisfying. Clayborn’s books have emotional depth and nuance without being too cutesy. I also read GEORGIE ALL ALONG, which was a solid, sweet story,
I finished listening to THE BILLIONAIRE’S WAKE UP CALL GIRL. This was a reread, with good narration. Kinda the opposite of Kate Clayborn – insta relationship with more passion than depth. But it’s not meant to be more than that.
I’m currently listening to DON’T HEX AND DRIVE by Juliette Cross. Another reread – enjoyable paranormal set in New Orleans. The series follows a family of witch sisters. Sexy, funny, mild drama.
I read Ilona Andrew’s short story ALPHAS: ORIGINS, found in a the ANGELS OF DARKNESS compilation. They mention on their blog this is a dark, “controversial” story – it’s definitely a departure from their well-known stories. I wish it had been longer but I feel that way about most of their books. Looking forward to the release of THIS KINGDOM WILL NOT KILL ME this winter.
I got sucked into THE LIBRARIAN AND THE ORC by Finley Fenn – I must have gotten this a freebie on KU awhile ago. It was a total bag of potato chips read. The writing wasn’t awful, but the conflicts were SUPER repetitive.
Currently, I’m reading Cara Bastone’s JUST A HEARTBEAT AWAY. I grabbed READY OR NOT on sale this week, and remembered Hoopla had a few of her books. I would call this an age gap romance (FMC is 28/MMC is 42) but mostly because the MMC struggles so much with the age difference. TW for grief r/t wife and parents’ death and experiences in the foster care system. Like Kate Clayborn, I like the emotional depth of Bastone’s writing, though she lets a little more fun and quirkiness seep into her books. I’ll definitely keep reading the series.
My TBR includes the audiobook of THE THINGS WE WATER by Mariana Zapata. I’m not buying new on Amazon, but when I went to explore my Audible library, I found I had a couple credits from my cancelled membership. I jumped on it and grabbed Zapata’s newest release, which is a paranormal.
Still waiting on Brynne Weaver’s TOURIST SEASON from the library. I had to give my husband a heads up that I might send him to pick it up when I get the notice. My in laws live next door (in a lovely arrangement) and my MIL sometimes picks up my library holds for me. Not really wanting her to read the blurb about serial killers and dark spicy romance. Just no!