Featured

Stuff We Like: Household Staples

Amanda has discovered some hidden gems during her first year of home ownership.

Get Rec’d with Amanda – Volume 49

Welcome back to Get Rec’d! We are rapidly approaching fifty of these things. Wow! As always, thank you for sharing your recommendations with me. This one has some academic texts, a spooky mystery, and an Austen-inspired romance set in Chinatown. Want to pass along any recommendations? Drop them in the comments below!

Book, Lightning Review

Once There Was by Kiyash Monsef

Once There Was

If you are into cryptids/imaginary beasts/monsters from mythology and folklore, then you’ll find Once There Was to be a real treat. In this story, a teenager named Marjan is left an orphan when her father, a veterinarian, is murdered. Marjan soon discovers that her father had an unusual clientele consisting of magical animals and that she has inherited a gift of sensing their feelings and needs, a discovery that upends her life in every possible … Continue reading Once There Was by Kiyash Monsef

Kickass Women in History: Edith Maude Eaton and Winnifred Easton

This month’s Kickass Women was found in the pages of Why She Wrote: A Graphic History of the Lives, Inspiration, and Influence Behind the Pens of Classic Women Writers by Lauren Burke and Hannah K. Chapman, illustrated by Kaley Bales. The book traces the connections between different authors and their common motivations for writing, and depicts some of the turning points in their lives. I had never heard of the author Edith Maude Eaton, who … Continue reading Kickass Women in History: Edith Maude Eaton and Winnifred Easton

Hide Your Wallet

September 2023 Queer Romances

Whether you’re riding out the last days of warmth or jumping straight into curling up under a cozy blanket, there’s no greater September accessory than a great romance novel, and this month runneth over with excellent queer options. Treat yourself!

Podcast

578. Harlem After Midnight with Louise Hare

Louise Hare is the author of the Canary Club mystery series, and book two, Harlem After Midnight is out this week! Louise joins me to talk about her main character, Lena Aldridge, and how Lena uses every asset at her disposal to navigate both a transatlantic cruise in book one, and Harlem in the 1930s in book two. We also talk about writing in dual timelines and the fun of writing family drama and murder, … Continue reading 578. Harlem After Midnight with Louise Hare

Book Review

Our Hideous Progeny by C. E. McGill

Our Hideous Progeny

I’ve written, taught classes, and led panels about Mary Shelley and Frankenstein so often that, at a recent science fiction convention, one of my fellow panelists pointed out, “No matter what the topic is, Carrie, you always end up mentioning how much you hate Lord Byron” and I SO VERY MUCH DO! ASK ME WHY! The point is, I seized upon Our Hideous Progeny with gimmie-gimmie hands and although I will not tell you what … Continue reading Our Hideous Progeny by C. E. McGill

Books On Sale

Cosplay, Mysteries, & More

Books on Sale: Verity and the Forbidden Suitor by J.J. McAvoy & More

Verity and the Forbidden Suitor by J.J. McAvoy is $1.99! This is book two in the DuBells series and Shana gave it a B-:

Verity and the Forbidden Suitor is not a stand alone book, y’all. I started reading and immediately flailed in a sea of characters that I might have cared about if I’d read the first book in the series. I was annoyed, but the book eventually settled down into an unabashedly romantic, and slightly gothic, story set in a racially mixed nobility reminiscent of Bridgerton.

Continue reading →

Links: Podcasts, Colleen Hoover, & More

Workspace with computer, journal, books, coffee, and glasses.

Welcome back to Wednesday Links! I hope you all are doing well. Over the weekend, my partner and I visited a giant anime store and a disappointing aquarium. You win some; you lose some. We also suspect that our new upholstered headboard from Wayfair came to use with a few…friends already hitching a ride. So we’re dealing with that whole situation – wrapping our mattress in a plastic cover, steam cleaning everything, tossing furniture, etc. … Continue reading Links: Podcasts, Colleen Hoover, & More

↑ Back to Top