Hello, everyone! I’m back and big thanks to Sarah for driving the Whatcha Reading party bus in my absence. I loaded up my ereader and my Libro.fm app for my long flights and of course, barely did any reading. Ain’t that just the way.
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Shana: I’ve been reading Say You’ll Be Mine by Naina Kumar ( A | BN | K ) on audiobook. I’m halfway in and loving it so far! It’s got two of my favorite tropes: a fake engagement and grumpy/sunshine. There’s a lot of kindness and I am completely in love with both the main characters.
Elyse: I’m reading A Letter to the Luminous Deep. ( A | BN | K ) It’s a slowly unfolding epistolary romance with mystery elements and it’s so lovely that I’m reading it slowly and just savoring the beauty of the writing.
Lara: I just read You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian ( A | BN | K ) and it wasn’t my favourite of hers which makes me a bit sad. It’s getting rave reviews elsewhere so this might be a me thing.
I’m currently reading The Hunter’s Daughter by Nicola Solvinic and so far it’s a really interesting mystery with the potential of a romantic subplot. But it’s early days yet.
Sarah: I am listening to The Ward Witch ( A | BN | K ) after so many people recommended it in the comments this week (thank you). And I’m reading Persephone in Bloom ( A | BN | K ) via KU, a recommended series from the podcast discord.
Whatcha reading, friends? Tell us about it in the comments!
I’m currently reading “That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf” by Kimberly Lemming and it’s a lot of fun. Things are progressing very fast but it still feels genuine and the humour is A+. Next I’ll probably start “My Season of Scandal” by Julie Anne Long which is already waiting on my eReader.
No romance this time, though I have WHEN GRUMPY MET SUNSHINE waiting, I think it will be my weekend book. I also put in a request for SAY YOU’LL BE MINE from the library.
My book club read for this month was THE MOUNTAINS SING by Nguyen Phan Que Mai, and it will be on my “best books” list for the year. I’ve read several novels and memoirs about those who left Vietnam during and after the war (Houston was a center for Vietnamese immigration), but this is the first one I have read about those who stayed. Absolutely fascinating, and I wish the story had continued to the present day.
I learned about morality chains from discussions here, but I don’t think I’ve ever read about literary chains, where one book leads to another. I recently read AIRPLANE MODE by Shahnaz Habib, subtitled “An Irreverent History of Travel,” which looks at “taking on colonialist modes of thinking about travel and asking who gets to travel and who gets to write about it.” One of the books she cites is TRAVELING BLACK by Mia Bay. That book just astounded me, starting with how little I knew about racial segregation in travel beyond the well-known buses. I hadn’t even thought about airplanes and airports, let alone how horrifying the “Jim Crow” railroad cars could be, or how “driving while Black” dates all the way back to the Model T era – and how long Black Americans have been resisting and fighting this.
I’m currently finishing Lucy Malleson’s autobiography, THREE-A-PENNY. She was a Golden Age mystery author under several pen names, including Anthony Gilbert (she hired a wig and beard at one point for a publicity photo, which never got used, but she kept the photo on her mantel and made mysterious references to an unhappily married “friend”). She worked for many years as a secretary/typist, and she wanted her readers to understand that despite what novels told them, there were no romances in offices, and not much excitement either. It’s a very realistic account of a middle-class working life (which also caring for her parents). I think I’ll have to look for some of her mysteries.
I’m looking forward as always to what everyone is reading and recommending!
Have not had time to dig into much lately. Really like OUTLAW by A.G. Wild. I will often consume alien abduction romances like popcorn – many are enjoyable, but kind of run of the mill. However, this was unique – kind of a Pale Rider (the old western) meets vampires and fated mates, with a lot of sweetness. Check it out!
So busy so no reviews just going to drop names, three best things I read since last time:
Fonda Lee’s THE JADE WAR
Robert Nennet’s THE TAINTED CUP
EH Lupton’s DIONYSUS IN WISCONSIN
All of which are fantasy, and only the Lupton could count as romance.
Unless you count THE PRINCESS BRIDE (which I am reading for a mother-daughter event with my daughter’s book club next month), for the past two weeks, I have read nothing but the books in Nicky James’s Valor & Doyle series. I was looking for some romantic-suspense and really hit the jackpot with Valor & Doyle. The books (there are seven—I’m midway through the sixth—plus a prequel novella) are about two Toronto police detectives, the cases they work, and their evolving romance. Each book features a self-contained mystery, but several overarching threads weave through the entire series. James’s writing style is excellent: the books are essentially police procedurals (with finely observed detail about appearances, clothing, décor, furniture, vehicles, and houses) that share space with an on-going (sometimes rather rocky) romance. All of the books I’ve read so far are highly recommended, but you must read them in order—and read James’s list of trigger warnings at the beginning of each book: the series can get very dark.
We meet the two heroes in the prequel novella, DEPARTMENT RIVALS. Quaid Valor, a detective in the Missing Persons Unit, is in his mid-30s; he’s gay, not in the closet, but very private and somewhat stern and repressed. Meanwhile, Aslan Doyle, who works in Homicide, is a little older, openly bi, and extremely flirtatious. (As a aside, James obviously does not subscribe to the DiscoDollyDeb theory of naming romance heroes: Call ‘em “Jake” and “Zack” and keep it movin’.) Both men are struggling with personal issues: Valor’s ex has been revealed as a serial cheater, sending him into a tailspin of anxiety, distrust, and self-doubt, exacerbated by his already high-strung personality; Valor has also been haunted for most of his life by the disappearance of his sister when he was six years old—and his relationship with his retired cop father is often fraught. Meanwhile, Doyle is a recovering alcoholic, estranged from most of his family, sometimes handling the physical and emotional elements of continued sobriety better than at other times, prone to using sex (with men or with women, he’s not picky) as a way to deflect his own self-awareness. In DEPARTMENT RIVALS, the two men must work together on a team-building exercise in which neither wants to participate. However, they discover they work well together—even given their initial animosity. They end the day (and the book) sharing a kiss that gives Valor the distraction he needs to ignore his importuning ex’s push for yet another chance.
In the first full-length Valor & Doyle book, TEMPORARY PARTNER, Doyle is seconded to Missing Persons to help Valor investigate a case involving a kidnapped baby. James’s eye for detail and ability to hide clues in plain sight is on full display here. Alongside the mystery, we see Valor & Doyle dancing around their mutual attraction. When they finally do get together, things do not go smoothly afterwards.
In ELUSIVE RELATIONS, Valor’s cheating ex has been almost beaten to death (the man he was with was not quite so lucky). The ensuing investigation exposes a pornography ring (with participants not always aware that they are being filmed) and its connections to an exclusive BDSM club. Valor & Doyle continue trying to put their relationship on a firmer footing.
In UNSTABLE CONNECTIONS, the reappearance of two missing girls reveals connections to Valor’s long-vanished sister, and Valor is pushed to his mental & emotional limit (anyone who has read anything by James knows that she’s especially good at showing how characters who think they’re coping really aren’t). Valor & Doyle’s relationship continues to evolve, and I love this quote from Doyle when Valor expresses concern that they are too different to ever make it long term: “We aren’t always going to be perfect, and there will be all kinds of bumps in the road. New flash, we’re going to fight. It’s inevitable. All couples fight. Any couple who tells you they don’t is lying. It’s having the ability to move past an argument and forgive each other that makes us stronger. This isn’t a romance novel….let’s be honest, real life is a lot more complex. It doesn’t magically become perfect when you find someone….It’s getting through the hard times that makes us stronger. Perfection doesn’t exist.”
The above quote from UNSTABLE CONNECTIONS is not the last time James gets meta about romance novels (Valor is a secret romance reader): in the next book, INEVITABLE DISCLOSURE, there’s a lot more about romance novel tropes & bi-awakening, as a missing teen’s body is discovered and her group of friends are the most likely suspects. This book does need all the content & trigger warnings, as the killer (and what happens when they are identified) has long-term traumatic after-effects for everyone involved.
While DEFYING LOGIC has an interesting and intricately designed setup (the association between three seemingly unconnected missing persons cases), much of the book focuses on the healing (physical, mental, and emotional) that must take place after the events in UNSTABLE CONNECTIONS. I really like how the men go back and forth in being the comforter or the comforted, depending on whose need to be supported is greater at that moment.
I haven’t finished the series yet, but I would say the Valor & Doyle books are on par (or better) than any of the other popular romantic-suspense series featuring MCs who are in a relationship, including Cordelia Kingsbridge’s Seven of Spades and Ripley Hayes’s Daniel Owen Welsh Mysteries. Highly recommended.
I am reading Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life by Jason Roberts; It is a dual biography of two early biologists and their approaches to biology and how that effects our thinking today.
I am reading There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib which is about basketball and community and love and grief.
I plan to start My Season of Scandal by Julie Anne Long next.
I did not finish a book in April for mental health reasons and I am hoping May is better!
I hope everyone enjoys their books!
I just finished listening to “Outlive” by Peter Attia. Non-fiction and the closest I’ve come lately to not finishing a library borrow before the deadline. It was interesting and had good tips that I may follow.
Thank you to the person who recommended Rosalind James during the last Whatcha Reading. I thoroughly enjoyed KIWI RULES and STONE COLD KIWI from the New Zealand Ever After series and JUST THIS ONCE: A RUGBY ROMANCE from the Escape to New Zealand series. I found them to be sweet contemporary romances.
I also read a couple of Olivia Dade’s Spoiler Alert series (ALL THE FEELS and SHIP WRECKED). Also recommended.
It’s been a good couple of weeks for reading.
I just started a new job a couple weeks ago so that has really cut into my reading, LOL! It feels like I blinked, and here it is, the end of the month!
So I did read and really enjoy ELITE CONNECTIONS, an LGBTQ+ romance charity anthology in support of Outright International and Lambda Legal. It’s a terrific collection of m/m, f/f, and other LGBTQ+ stories. Standouts include BA Tortuga’s SOLID AS GOLD, Frances M Thompson’s TASTES OF HONEY, Jax Calder’s HIRED BY THE ENEMY, Jodi Payne’s SPOTLIGHT, and Kelex’s AT HIS WIFE’S BEHEST, but every story was solid. Well worth the read.
Maryann Jordan’s newest in her Lighthouse Security Investigations West Coast series, JEB, is a great RS. It’s a second chance story with a former SEAL operative and a computer engineer who’s gotten in over her head. Their story is told partly in flashbacks, which worked well since their history really informed their present. I’m really enjoying this series.
And the other read I managed was a reread of Beth Bolden’s HIT THE BRAKES, the second in her Food Truck Warriors series. It’s warm and funny and emotional, and Tate and Chase make me smile and laugh and sigh…. their mental and personal journey is wrenching and heartwarming. Love this couple! Also very much appreciate the straightforward handling of mental health as an important component of health and wellness, and understanding that it looks different for each person.
Anyway, looking forward to hearing what everyone’s been reading!
I actually DNF’d a book after the first page for making such an egregious historical error that I could not go on. Deep sigh.
On a happier note, two most excellent reads: A GRAVE ROBBERY, by Deanna Raybourn. Always a joy to spend time with Veronica and Stoker, but this one had a creep factor levels above previous books in the series. Loved it. Then there was Simone St. James’ MURDER ROAD. Delicious. This woman is the queen of creepy ghost stories. One element was a little predictable, but where it went was not. At the end you know that April and Eddie are going to be happy ever after and that somewhere in the future the Snell sisters have an epic podcast following.
Started THE LOVE REMEDY by Eliabeth Everett this morning. I’m really liking the tone, the setting and the MMC, but I think I’m going to be finding the FMC trying. Burdened with the future of her family at very early age, I’m finding her less plucky and more sad sack, despite her intelligence. She’s been emotionally and professionally abused, over-worked and just plain tired for years meaning her presentation is natural. I’m exhausted reading her. Now that she’s actually asked for help, I have hope that she’ll improve over the course of this rainy afternoon.
And tomorrow, having won library chicken, I will immerse myself in all things Guild Hunter. Sciatica and bad weather mean guilt free time flat on my back with ARCHANGEL’S LINEAGE.
Starting with my absolute favourite this month:
HOW TO END A LOVE STORY by YULIN KUANG. M/F contemporary.
Well, this is an utter joy. A complex, emotional story with a hard-earned HEA. The author is a screenwriter who has been working on a couple of Emily Henry adaptations and EH’s Happy Place is probably the nearest comparison I can make to give you a feel for this book. A really difficult set-up for the characters to deal with (cw: suicide of a sibling) and you really will wonder how they can overcome all the obstacles. Deeply sexy and angst-ridden. I flat out loved it.
BOOK LOVERS by EMILY HENRY. M/F contemporary.
I went straight into this after the Yulin Kuang because I wanted to maintain the mood and it did not disappoint. Again featuring complex, grownup characters dealing with realistic life issues. You can feel the deep connection and know that you are in safe hands in their struggle to the (just lovely) happy ending. Recommended.
RESONANCE SURGE by NALINI SINGH. M/F, paranormal (PsyChangeling Trinity).
Finally got my hands on the paperback. I love this series. It was one of my entry points into Romancelandia. This one features a bear and a Psy and the bears are definitely my favourite changelings. So naughty. It follows the formula and no complaints from me. Very enjoyable. Now the endless wait for the next one.
LUKE AND BILLY FINALLY GET A CLUE by CAT SEBASTIAN. M/M.
What else is there to say about this author? Just a delight. Two hapless young guys finding their way to each other in her trademark ‘no plot just vibes’ style. I will read everything she writes.
Staying in the M/M space: LONG WINTER by RACHEL EMBER and KISS AND CRY by KEIRA ANDREWS are both fairly gentle stories about finding your person. I would categorise them both as low angst, with ‘soft’ MMCs. Both new authors to me and both justify further reading. Long Winter is an HFN and I plan to read the sequel.
KJ CHARLES is a perennial favourite and I have been saving her Sins of the Cities series for the right moment: AN UNSEEN ATTRACTION and AN UNNATURAL VICE are both first class M/M historicals, set in Victorian London. Out of the two, I preferred the latter because I love the dynamic of a starchy, upper class character being emotionally poleaxed by a clever, manipulative protagonist who then turns out to be quite the softy. Waiting for a reasonable price for the third and final book.
And finally, LINESMAN by S K DUNSTALL
Although not romance, I noticed that this was recommended in a previous WAYR by a number of people, so, as a lover of sci-fi, I bought it in paperback. Started it on a day return train journey (ignoring the friends I was travelling with, who are used to my introvert ways…) and just kept reading when I got home. I devoured it in two days! What an excellent, heartfelt piece of space opera. Already halfway through book two, and three is on the (teetering) TBR pile. Thank you Bitchery.
Going through book shelves and found my Mercedes Lackey stash. Used to live for Valdemar but then developed very complicated feelings around the author. Also, she kind of writes as if her audience is seven. However, I am re-reading Exile’s Honor and feel that it is holding up. And who didn’t have a secret crush on Alberich! Not a romance, tho.
I have been crazy busy with my new admin stuff, especially as I am getting ready to go on vacation tomorrow, so mostly reading what I call my potato chips, aka Harlequins. Continue to love Caitlin Crews, Lynne Graham, Jackie Ashenden.
I did download Julie Saman’s Irresistibly Dangerous, for the long plane ride to, yay, Kona! It’s the fifth in her Irresistiibly Yours series. I find her a reliable and engaging writer. This series is not as medical as most of her books. I will let you know next time what I think.
I inhaled Holly Gramazio’s The Husbands and would enjoy seeing it reviewed here. The protagonist is a single woman whose previously-nonexistent husband comes out of her attic one day. She quickly learns that the attic will swap out husbands for her. It’s a fun variant on Groundhog Day with some interesting differences, but some of the best moments are when she’s returning a husband for very petty, very relatable reasons.
Bea Wolf is Zach Weinersmith & Boulet’s middle-grade graphic retelling of the first part of Beowulf, with child protagonists. Should be a fun read for that age, but if you’ve read Beowulf – I read Maria Dahvana Headley’s translation earlier this year – it’s hilarious and spot-on and amazing.
Over the past two weeks:
— read (the currently free) Cursed (The Electi Series Book 1) by Elise Noble. This featured a woman who can see (and talk with) ghosts and a private investigator who together solve a mystery. This is not a book I expect to reread, but I could see reading on in the series.
— enjoyed the male/male romance Beautifully Unexpected by Lily Morton which is set in London and features a barrister and an artist who are aged 52 and 48. I enjoyed the friendship that developed between the leads as well as their banter.
— reread Quarter Share (Trader’s Tales from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper Book 1) by Nathan Lowell.
— read a goodly number of the hundreds of Kindle samples I’ve managed to acquire.
— continued rereading the Trader’s Tales from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper series by Nathan Lowell and have now finished Half Share, Full Share, Double Share, and Captain’s Share. I enjoyed revisiting them all.
— I was surprised to find Life of Fred–Jelly Beans in a Little Free Library so, out of curiosity, brought it home and read it. This is part of a math curriculum used primarily by homeschoolers.
@AnneUK: So pleased to hear that you enjoyed Linesman as it’s one of my favorite series/regular comfort reads.
Stars, Hide Your Fires by Jessica Mary Best – f/f sci-fi with murder mystery and fate of the galaxy at stake. Started out good, then kept testing my ability to suspend disbelief. So much plot armor. Kind of reminds me of the movie Jupiter Ascending – pretty scenes held together by implausible plot and a royal family drama in spaaaace.
Since someone mentioned Persephone, shout out to my favorite visual representation of her, Punderworld on Webtoon. The art style is a bit like Disney’s Hercules but prettier, less cartoony, Hades is better looking. I really like the flower crowns on Persephone and Demeter that change/grow with their moods. Ongoing comic, the story is just getting started but we all know how it goes.
@LisaM That Malleson beard story delights me so much! And THREE-A-PENNY is only $2 right now — *sold*. AIRPLANE MODE sounds interesting too.
I’m reading THE WISTERIA SOCIETY OF LADY SCOUNDRELS by India Holton and mostly loving it. The romance angle is bleh so far, but the lady scoundrel stuff (and flying houses!) is hitting the sweet spot of fun for me. Sometimes stories like this feel like they’re trying too hard, but WISTERIA plays its eccentricities straight without too much winking at the audience. https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/the-wisteria-society-of-lady-scoundrels-by-india-holton/
Also still reading JONATHAN STRANGE and MR NORRELL by Susanna Clarke and still liking it pretty well.
BLESSED WATER by Margot Douaihy: The next adventure for Sister Holiday, who joins Magnolia Riveaux’s private detective agency in sultry, impossible New Orleans (love that city). The trouble starts immediately with a dead priest, a missing priest, and the discovery of decades-long sexual abuse, as well as an unexpected visit from her brother. Sister H generally makes things worse because she cares so much, no middle of the road for her. Highly recommended.
THE BOOK OF DOORS by Gareth Brown: This may be one of the few time travel books that actually works, or who cares anyway because we’re just along for the ride? The are special books out there, each capable of great and terrible things. The Book of Doors is gifted by a customer to Cassie Andrews, lowly bookstore employee. A great deal of violence ensues, also a lifetime of learning, plus two romantic subplots. Really satisfying on many levels.
THE BOY WHO CRIED BEAR by Kelley Armstrong (#2 in Haven’s Rock): Casey and Eric are back, protecting the haunted/hunted people in their new compound and still no one is who they seem. I love this series so much, absolutely must be read in order starting with the Rockton books.
THE RED SCHOLAR’S WAKE by Aliette de Bodard: I know some readers didn’t buy the romantic connection between captive Xich Si and Rice Fish, sentient ship and pirate band leader. My take was that *they* felt it too much and, with all their individual baggage, were bound to court misery. The story is about learning, trust and truth despite everything that came before. Highly recommended.
THE SPY COAST by Tess Gerritsen: A retired CIA spook lives in a small town in Maine, raises chickens, keeps her head down. And then unwelcome visitors want to know about a long ago operation that went completely wrong, bodies start showing up and Maggie’s neighbors are in trouble. Fortunately her small town has a “Martini Club” of retired spooks to help, as well as a determined acting police chief who understands too much. What a great read. Let’s here it for elderly protagonists.
OK, “here” works, sort of.
@kkw I read THE TAINTED CUP and really liked it. Hope a sequel pops up soon.
THE GOOD
JUST A TASTE by Briar Prescott. I have never read this author before but I liked both this book and the previous book AND THEN YOU. There is some pretty deep emotions in both books and I must investigate this authors backlist. Both these are m/m stories with nice dialogue and rich emotion.
DEATH IN THE SPIRES by K.J. Charles. This is heavily promoted by the author as a mystery but NOT a romance. Maybe to head off expectations but there was a bit of romance after all. Seven college friends of diverse backgrounds have their futures upended when one of them is murdered. The narrator of the story was the “charity” student with a club foot and small stature and had a lot going against him. Fast forward a decade and he’s fired from every job every time somebody mails an anonymous letter to his bosses calling him a murderer. The internet trolls of the era. He decides to get some closure and try to decipher which of the friends involved is probably the murderer. Good times.
BRIDE by Ali Hazlewood. Loved this arranged marriage trope between the vampires and werewolves. Misery is daughter to the Vampyre council leader. The Werewolves, Vampyres and Humans live uneasily next to each other and war could start at any minute. Misery already served 10yrs as a vampire “collateral” in human territory but dear old dad isn’t done with her yet. Now she is expected to marry the alpha of the Were community to broker a peace agreement. Misery has her own reasons for agreeing and she was the star of the show. Pragmatic and with a sense of humor I really liked her story.
THE HUMANS by Matt Haig. A surprisingly funny alien story. Humans are about to make a major math breakthrough that could accelerate their influence on the universe. Higher function Aliens from waaaay far away are having none of it. They send a doppleganger to replace the math professor and to kill anyone who might know anything about his breakthrough. The missteps while the alien acclimates to human customs were hilarious. He comes to realize there might be more to this species than they thought.
I haven’t participated in one of these in ages. I could tell that the latest Risdaverse book was setting up the a’ani clones to have their own books so I wasn’t surprised when Ruby Dixon announced Only the Clonely. It wasn’t my absolute favorite in this universe but I look forward to the others, especially the book for Ruth Ann and the not-very-good baker on Risda, assuming that’s one of them.
I took a long break between books 2 and 3 of the Bridgerton series because what was shown of Benedict thus far wasn’t very interesting. He carried his book well enough and now onwards to Colin and Penelope!
Blazed through Archangel’s Lineage by Nalini Singh! Now for a second, closer read.
Since I last posted, I also enjoyed Where The Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek, a coming-of-age fantasy set in alternate history Poland. Very immersive and I could not put it down.
DRAGON HEIST – by Alexander Kane (Fantasy) – Humor + Dragons + Heist + found family = Winner. Fantastic as audio. Got me out of a massive reading slump.
WEDDING OF THE YEAR – Jill Mansell (Romance/chick lit) – Comedy + Romance + Soap Opera messiness + a derailed Wedding = another winner. I liked the unexpected way the wedding took a left turn and set off a bunch of splinter stories.
MIND GAMES – By Nora Roberts (Romantic Suspense) – I got an ARC. The heroine is a bona-fide psychic of the ‘I can read your mind’ type. I respect that her psychic abilities don’t fizzle out at important moments. She is the real deal and it very much complicates her life.
I feel like all of my library holds are coming in at the same time, so I’ve been working through a number of books that I learned about from SBTB… Right now I’m reading THE EMPEROR AND THE ENDLESS PALACE (soul mates across 3 lifetimes – it’s early in the book, but engaging and interesting so far) and THE AGE OF MAGICAL OVERTHINKING (NF about the problematic mental models we use to make decisions, usually without realizing,ie sunk-cost fallacy and survivor bias, but with lots of social media and pop culture examples. It’s breezy and easy to read, and is an accessible introduction to the concepts.
I recently finished JUST FOR THE SUMMER. It was engaging and well written, but not as light and fluffy as the cover art and back copy led me to believe. Both main characters have some heavy stuff to deal with and the heroine’s trauma is a central feature of the book. It is all very well HANDLED, IMO, and the author included a trigger warning, so check that out if you have concerns.
Because of the recent dying of my iPad (it was a 2, I was long overdue for a replacement), I’ve mostly been swimming in the Netgalley pool on my phone. I bounced off of a library book (it was written in present tense, nothing makes me nope out faster), and then went in on One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware (comes out in June). I love most of Ware’s work, and this was one of my favorite things that I have read in a bit. The concept was basically “And Then There Were None”, if it were set on Love Island/Bachelor in Paradise. She was very clever about how she hid the main villain in plain sight, since at the beginning of the disaster that kicks off the main part of the story (Love Island gets nailed by a hurricane), the suggestions the person was making seemed fairly logical, right up until the person revealed themself to be a psychopath. She also does twists well, and the last part of the book piles them on. Also, yay for women bonding and helping each other. Now, in a total 180, I’m reading Funny Story by Emily Henry. I find Henry a bit inconsistent, in that so far, I liked Beach Read okay, I LOVED Book Lovers, I did not find that Happy Place was my happy place, and so far, I love this one almost as much as I did Book Lovers. I imagine everyone knows the premise of this one, since Henry is getting no small amount of press these days, but the long and short of it is that two people move in together after being cheated on and jilted by their significant others (who, naturally, cheated with each other and are narcissistic a-holes, to the point that they have the same name). Naturally, they find out that they are highly compatible and begin falling in love. It’s funny and sweet so far, and Miles is an A+ sweetheart hero (if you can deal with the Crocs, which are right there on the cover). So until next time, I have a training to do this afternoon, so off I go to listen to some Florence and the Machine and Kate Bush to psych up (it’s all about female power, baby).
I just finished “A Viscount for the Egyptian Princess” by Heba Helmy, a new Harlequin Historical category romance. There was a very smart and educated woman, a handsome viscount who loves listening to her talk about the history of objects and places, and a LOT of tension and pining. It was a quick, easy read that was just what I wanted when I wanted it. I’m going to go back and read Heba’s first book, “The Earl’s Egyptian Heiress”.
I also started a new manga series, “The Masterful Cat is Depressed Again Today”. It’s a low-stakes, enjoyable manga about a young professional woman who doesn’t have her stuff together and her giant cat, who spends his time cleaning the house, grocery shopping, and making her meals so that she can continue to go to work and make money to buy him cat food. The art is very cute.
I’m reading and thoroughly enjoying the “Marry Me, Juliet” series by Jodi McAlister. Although I’m not a fan of “The Bachelor”-type TV, I like it as setting for romance, so I grabbed the 3-book series when it was mentioned in a “Hide Your Wallet” back in December.
McAlister’s academic research focuses on these kinds of programs, and she shows off her backstage knowledge with great aplomb in the series– which MUST be read in order, since all three take place in the same season of a fictional Australian version of “The Bachelor” and have intertwining stories that are deftly and entertainingly told.
HERE FOR THE RIGHT REASONS introduces the “Romeo” of the series, Dylan, a bevy of would-be Juliets, and key members of the show’s production crew. It’s a pandemic-era season, so forced proximity plays a part in several intriguing twists to the narrative. CAN I STEAL YOU FOR A SECOND tells the same story, but from the point of view of two Juliets who fall for each other. The characters are complex and compelling, which adds to the fun (and occasional frustrations) of a close look at “how the sausage is made” in reality-TV-land.
I’m about a third of the way through the final book, NOT HERE TO MAKE FRIENDS, where we see the season again from the perspective of the super-villain, Lily Fireball, and the lead producer, Murray. I’m already regretting that the story is coming to an end– it’s so good!
According to Amazon, a new paperback US edition of book 3 is coming out in June (and ebooks 1 and 2 are free right now on KU)– so if you haven’t read them yet, I endorse stepping into the “Marry Me, Juliet” world!
I started reading the fifth in Sharon Shinn’s Elemental Blessings series, which was published a long time after the others. Then realised I couldn’t remember the earlier books well enough, so re-read the first four before coming back to the fifth. Enjoyed these – the first is the best, but the others hold up and give good glimpses of the earlier characters too. Have started Wild Atlantic Women: Walking Ireland’s West Coast, travel and women’s history, which is good so far. Also started Dear Hugo, an epistolary novel from 1955. It’s good so far, fairly low-key, though some reviews say the ending is disappointing.
@DiscoDollyDeb – I also am loving the Valor and Doyle series! I only got through book 3 before my KU subscription expired in March, but the next 4 are the first thing I am checking out when I sign back up!
Just finished I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jeanette McCurdy – tore through that one, her writing really drew me in and while the subjects are difficult to read, it was totally worth it.
Tried to get into Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend by Emma R. Alban, but whatever this tense is I don’t like it – almost a combo of 1st and third? Like it seems like I am getting the 2 MC’s POV, but the pronouns are “she” not “I” and it is impossible to lose myself in the book because of this.
So instead I switched to the first Genevieve Lenard book by Estelle Ryan – pretty sure that was a rec on here recently and I am liking it a lot so far.
Also not reading, but (re)watching: We Are Lady Parts season 1, because season 2 is FINALLY coming on May 30. I CANNOT RECOMMEND THIS SHOW ENOUGH. And the hint of romance between Amina and Ahsan is fucking adorable.