melita's booklog - mostly

December 2020 books part 3: Northcote, Easton

2021-01-04T02:46:10Z

First Class Package, Jay Northcote
Jim, a WFH science writer, finds the temporary postman, Patrick, super attractive. Will they ever manage to get together? 3 stars

Rainbow Place (Rainbow Place 1), Jay Northcote

Seb moves to a small seaside town in Cornwall so he can open a cafe/bar. He hires Jason to help renovate the space. When word gets out that the place will be LGBT-friendly, it gets trashed. A bunch of people turn out to help clean up including the local rugby team (we'll see a bunch of their members in later books). Seb's out-and-proud. Jason's deep, deep in the closet with an ex-wife and daughter. Is a chance at love with Seb enough to bring Jason into the light? 4 stars

Safe Place (Rainbow Place 2), Jay Northcote

Alec is firmly in the closet but hopes to escape it when he goes away to university. Unfortunately, he fails a required exam and is now stuck. When caught by his father in a compromising position, he's kicked out and fired from his job. He ends up staying with Cam but Cam's not willing to act on their mutual attraction. 4 stars

Better Place (Rainbow Place 3), Jay Northcote

Joe is taking a break to concentrate on his writing. His partner, Harry, is not keen on it. Dylan finds Joe enticing and is worried when he overhears some of Joe and Harry's interactions. 4 stars

Mud & Lace (Rainbow Place 4), Jay Northcote

Wicksy has only been attracted to women before, but finds Lady Gogo, a new drag queen to be amazingly attractive. Charlie loves being in drag, and even dressing feminine to make himself and Wicksy happy. 4 stars

Happy Place (Rainbow Place 5), Jay Northcote

Quentin has been burned by noncommittal men but finds a kindred spirit in George who's just now dealing with an attraction to a man. George was strictly brought up to believe that gays are evil. Can he overcome it? 5 stars

Imperfect Harmony, Jay Northcote

John stopped being a musician when his partner died two years ago. When he ends up helping his neighbor after her operation, she entices him to join the local community choir since he's driving her there anyway. 4 stars

Cold Feet, Jay Northcote

Ryan and Sam are old friends. They head to a remote Welsh cottage for a meet up with 2 other friends. They make it but their friends don't, and are snowed in for a few days. 4 stars

The Trouble with Tony, Eli Easton

After a gunshot, Tony left the police force and became a P.I. He's taken on a case where a young woman committed suicide, but her parents don't believe it. Her husband has an alibi. As Tony investigates, he finds that the young woman was seeing a therapist as a sex clinic. Could the therapist be involved? 4 stars

The Mating of Michael, Eli Easton

Michael is a nurse and part-time sex surrogate. The latter has caused several relationships to go south. He gets a chance to meet J.C. Guise AKA James Gallway, his favorite SF writer. James caught polio while traveling in India with his mother. He also believes no one would ever want to be with him. 5 stars

Puzzle Me This, Eli Easton

Luke designs video games from home and walks his dog up into the nearby woods everyday. He suddenly realizes that the daily crosswords hold secret messages for him which means someone is watching...Alex is a crossword and logic puzzle creator, also working from home and wheelchair-bound. Can Luke make Alex realize that they may be able to make a happy life with each other? 5 stars

The Enlightment of Daniel, Eli Easton

Daniel has always been driven, just like his father. When his father gets a terminal diagnosis, he tells Daniel to stop working so hard and figure out what will really make him happy. Daniel realizes that he's lusting after his business partner and best friend, Nick. Nick is unhappily married with 2 kids. Is there a HEA for everyone? 5 stars

The Redemption of River, Eli Easton

River has always traveled and studied eastern philosophies. A licensed massage therapist including tantric massage, he's housesitting for 6 months or so in Seattle. He meets Brent, who owns several coffee shops, through his work. They get on like a house afire including River giving Brent an idea for a new style of shop. Is Brent enough of an attraction to keep River from floating on to the next interesting place? 4 stars

Secret Santa, Jay Northcote

Theo is gay but hooked up with his female BFF and ended up with part-time custody of a super cute kid. He decides to join an online dating app and finds Luke who's tired of hook-ups. Theo decides to keep his dad status a secret until he's more sure that this might be going somewhere and Luke's made some disparaging comments about kids too. Then Theo takes his son to see Santa at the mall, not realizing that it's Luke. Will their secrets drive them apart? 4 stars

What Happens at Christmas, Jay Northcote

Justin and Sean have been friends since college. The timing has never seemed right for Sean to make a play for Justin until now, when Justin is smarting from a breakup. They decide to pretend to be dating at Justin's work's holiday party... 4 stars

A Family for Christmas, Jay Northcote

Rudy comes from a close-knit family while Zac grew up in-and-out of the foster care system. While drunk at an office party, Rudy invites Zac to join him and his family for Christmas... 4 stars

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December 2020 books part 2: Blakely, Walker, Hart, Wilder

2021-01-04T02:43:08Z

One Time Only, Lauren Blakely

Stone is a high-flying rock star, shagging everyone that comes into reach. Jackson is one of his bodyguards. They get on great but Jackson is having trouble dealing with his growing attraction to Stone.

4 stars, after this and A Guy Walks into my Bar--probably no more by this author

Reindeer Games, N.R. Walker

Leif and his BFF win tickets to the annual xmas masquerade at the tony nightclub, Evoque. Leif designs amazing costumes for them. The owner, Russ, is super lonely but unwilling to do anything about it. Attracted by Leif's reindeer antlers, he's intrigued by this young man who doesn't know who he is and is attracted by him, not his money.

5 stars

Reunion, Neve Wilder

Dane and Cole were BFFs in high school but had a huge falling out. Ten years later they're reunited at Cole's brother's wedding and the flames take over. A little kinky (caning). 4 stars

Collide (3 stars), Riley Hart

Stay, 4 stars

Pretend, 3 stars

Return to Blackcreek, 3 stars

Noah and Cooper became friends when they conked heads during football. They were inseparable until one day Noah and his parents disappears. 17 years later, Noah's back. Family secrets, misunderstandings.

Wes just lost his sister and is now raising his niece. Braden, who was supposed to be a one-night-stand can't figure out why Wes immediately ducked out after their hook-up.

Mason wanted to succeed on his own and opened a bar rather than join the family's restaurant business. Gavin lost his music teacher job at a (religious) private school when he tried to help a gay student.

Return is a novella that catches up with all three couples.

Giving Chase (4 stars), Riley Hart

Murphy's Law, 4 stars

Hard Knox, 4 stars

Griff's Place, 5 stars

Chase and Griffin are BFFs. Kellan is Griffin's little brother. Chase has always treated Kellan like a kid brother until one evening when Kellan was 18. Chase joined the marines (already planned) and then became a policeman. He's now back in town and Kellan's looking mighty fine...

Lawson met the reserved musician Remy when they were eighteen. Law helped Remy realize his dreams of being a musician but because of the pressure to stay in the closet, Law left. Now Remy's back.

Callum ends up in Havenwood after a cheating ex where he meets "lumberjack" Knox. Knox's kid Logan has just moved in and connects with Callum. One kiss and Knox realizes he's bi.

Griff's never felt like he belonged but his brother Kellan suggests he might be ace or demi. Griff's becoming attracted to Josh, Kellan's best friend.

Dare You To, Riley Hart

Austin spends almost all his time at a LGBTQ youth center, except for a weekly night with his BFF, Dare. Dare's always been on the go, except for when he's with Austin. 3 stars

Exchange of Hearts, N.R. Walker

Harrison is destined to go to medical school just like his father, but all he dreams about it playing the piano professionally. Levi arrives from London as an exchange student to Harrison's prestigious high school. Can Levi convince Harrison to follow his dreams? 4 stars

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December 2020 books part 1: Albert, Walker, Rozan, Easton, Blakely

2021-01-04T02:39:23Z

Save the Date, Annabeth Albert

Randall is his sister's best man. During her bachelorette party, he hooks up with Hunter. Little do they know that they'll be thrown together a lot more as Hunter is best man to the groom. 3 stars, don't plan to read more by this author.

Switched, N.R. Walker

Israel has never felt like he belonged to his cold parents. Unlike most kid's feeling of alienation, he really was switched at birth. Sam, his BFF is with him all the way as Israel decides whether to meet his birth family. 5 stars.

Point of No Return, N.R. Walker

Breaking Point

Starting Point

Matthew is an LAPD dectective working on illegal drugs. He's in the closet. He then meets Kira, boxing coaching and ex-MMA fighter. The sparks definitely there but is Kira willing to stay clandestine forever? Books 2 and 3 are equallly good but this is pretty angsty and has some violence. 5 stars

Upside Down, N.R. Walker

Very sweet story about two ace (asexual) men. Jordan is an awkward librarian. Hennessy starts a local support group for ace/aro/other people. 5 stars

The Art of Violence, S.J. Rozan

Bill Smith, NYC PI, is hired by a jailhouse artist, Sam Tabor, to prove decisively whether or not he's a serial killer. His art and powerful forces in the art world have gotten him released but more women have been killed and they fit the profile of the victim that put Sam in jail. Bill brings in his partner Lydia Chin to help. I really do love this series. There was a big leap forward in the previous book, and it's low-key but still here in this one. 5 stars

Family Camp, Eli Easton

I'm completely biased on this book. Travis was a foster kid taken in by a big mixed family that runs a camp in the San Bernardino mountains in southern California. I live right near there. Travis is now a popular and good baseball player for a local team. He's also in the closet for work reasons. Geo is a new foster parent with 2 unrelated kids who decides to take them to "family camp". They break down on the way up the mountain and Travis rescues them but is put off by an off-hand comment by Geo. However, they soon find that they have a lot in common. I took my 2 kids to a family camp this summer (in the pandemic! I know!) but I'd gone there as a camper, CIT, and counselor. It was really great and I loved this book. 5 stars

Angels Sing, Eli Easton

Jamie works in his uncle's bookstore and is dad to his sister's six-year-old daughter, Mia. Stanton ends up Mia's teacher and has to figure out a pageant too. Stanton is soon crushing on Jamie just as the bookstore looks like it's going to close for good. 4 stars

Tallowwood, N.R. Walker

August is a Sydney detective working cold cases. He thinks that he's spotted a serial killer but all the victims were written up as suicides, including his boyfriend. A new case in northern NSW has him matched with Jake Porter, local constable and LGBTQIA+ and Indigenous Liaison Office. Jake agrees that there's something going on but they find roadblocks from the coroners, their bosses, and everyone. 5 stars

Pieces of You, N.R. Walker

Pieces of Me

Pieces of Us

Hoo boy. This trilogy was really good. Dallas runs a motorcycle repair shop and is in love with one of his employees, Justin. Justin ends up in a terrible accident which wrecks him physically and mentally. He's lost 5 years of memory, including Dallas and the shop. The series is all about Justin recovering as much as he's able, falling in love with Dallas again, and learning how to cope with his new reality. 5 stars

65 Hours, N.R. Walker

Lucas and Cameron are ad execs in a very well-known agency. Lucas is also son of the owner. They've never gotten along personally. When a new, big account asks for a new campaign, good ol' dad sends the 2 off to come up with something in 65 hours.

5 stars

His Grandfather's Watch, N.R. Walker

Alex works at an antique store as a restorer. Callum brings in an old watch. We end up finding out about two romances. 4 stars

A Guy Walks into my Bar, Lauren Blakely

Fitz is an American hockey player helping his sister get settled into her new college in London and is leaving in under a week. He ends up hooking up with Dean, pub owner, who also play tour guide around London. 4 stars

The Hate You Drink, N.R. Walker

Erik, rich young scion--great family, job, everything. He's BFF with Monroe another young scion. Monroe's always dragged Erik off to parties, to adventures. Now Monroe's spiraling into addiction after the death of his parents. He's finally hitting bottom and an intervention by Erik and his family force Monroe into seclusion with a therapist-to-the-rich to see if he can come out the other side.

5 stars

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November 2020: walker, wells, poe, neuhold, wells, dade, scott, lee and miller

2020-11-29T00:17:43Z

Lots more MM (and one FM) HEA (happy ever after) books

Throwing Hearts by N.R. Walker

This one was lovely. Leo is buddies with Clyde, an older gay man, and takes Clyde out to talk and to classes. They sign up for a pottery class. Merrick has been too busy to date while getting his pottery + cafe business up and running. Merrick and Leo notice each other immediately. As a bonus, so do Merrick's uncle and Clyde later. A really fun, very short novel.

Best of Both Worlds, N.R. Walker

A drabble story. Sebastian and Ryland have been meeting anonymously for weeks at a bar then Ryland shows up at Sebastian's worksite.

Perfect Catch, N.R. Walker

Calvin and Troy have been best friends for ages. They head out on their friends' group usual yearly weekend, but everyone else has bailed. Plus, both are single at the same time for the first time. 3 stars

Elements of Retrofit, N.R. Walker

Clarity of Lines

Sense of Place

Thomas Elkin is legendary New York architect who came out a few years earlier. He recognizes a possible new intern as a friend of his son's and accepts him as his intern/assistant. Cooper's brilliant and knows exactly what he wants--to be as great as Thomas.

Book 2 finds the families not understanding the relationship.

Book 3 has outside forces affecting their relationship.

The architecture focus is cool, but oh! the intern/boss fling. No, just no.

Sunshine & Shadows, K.C. Wells

Jamie and Stephen were best friends as kids until Stephen moved to California. Now he's back. Stephen's had a hard time in California with at least one abusive relationship. Jamie was paralyzed at 18 in a car wreck. Can they become best friends again and maybe something more?

New Game, Start, C.S. Poe

Edgar works as a translator and scholar. He's been crushing on Walter, a top-level online gamer. Walter's going to be visiting NYC for a convention. Edgar replies to the announcement tweet and they start an online correspondence and arrange to meet.

Rocket Science, K.M. Neuhold

Elijah's now starting graduate school in California. His older brother contacts his best friend, Pax, and asks him make sure Elijah settles in, gets out, etc. Elijah's had the hots for Pax for years, as it turns out.

Four Letter Word, K.M. Neuhold

Polyamory between 4 men. Three were childhood friends. Two, Bishop and Hudson, remained local and are still friends. The third, Leo, fell out with Hudson, and ended up becoming a lawyer in New York. Leo is now moving back to California and staying with Bishop. Bishop meets Riot, a new bartended at the local hangout who introduces Bishop to polyamorous relationships. A bit neat that there's this completely with-it guy who can explain everything and soothe the rough edges and make them understand their feelings.

Network Effect, Martha Wells

Re-read. Murderbot...I'm sorry, SecUnit (I haven't been given permission to use that name) has been out on another mission with some Free Preservation members. On the way back, SecUnit and Dr. Mensah's daughter, Amena, are kidnapped by a strangely familiar spaceship which is inhabited by some weird-looking humanoids.

Caulky, K.M. Neuhold, Four Bears Construction series

Nailed

Hardwood

Screwed

Four guys started their own construction firm. Three are guy; one is divorced from a woman.

#1: Ren is on the rebound from a failed relationship. He has a steamy hook-up at a bar. Boy, is he surprised when he finds out who the contractor is to remodel the bathroom! Cole's never had a serious relationship. They both set up online profiles, not realizing who they are and start an online friendship.

#2: Stone moves into a house in need of renovation and immediately gets off on a bad foot with his neighbor, Dare. Dare's dog, an escape artist, starts showing up. Meanwhile, Stone is pulling pranks on his neighbor because hey, why not! Enemies-to-lovers.

#3 The divorced guy realizes he's gay and crushes on his kid's music teacher. Good family dynamics.

#4 Oliver falls in love at the drop of a hat and gets married but they never last. He gets ribbed about it ALL THE TIME by the other guys. Daniel is not having another serious relationship, no sir. In Vegas for the wedding of Cole and Ren, Oliver and Daniel wake up after getting completely trashed to find out they're married. They decide that they'll fake out the others by claiming it's real. If it lasts 6 months, they'll win a few thousand from the bets.

Closet Case, K.M. Neuhold

Jax's is out and proud in college who's sworn to not date another closeted guy. Along comes Matthew, football player. 3 stars.

Learning to Feel, N.R. Walker

Nathan is a high-powered doctor who decides to take a job in Maine. The job includes a house, complete with renovator, Trent, who has a few more weeks of work to finish. Nathan's amazed to realize that he's attracted to Trent.

Taxes & TARDIS, N.R. Walker

Brent is an electrician who needs an accountant to straighten out his books. Logan is the super-smart, geek accountant who can do it.

Spoiler Alert, Olivia Dade

I kept seeing this one show up as a recommendation. Olivia is overweight but happy with her life and the new job she's starting soon. She tweets out a picture of her cosplaying Lavinia, from a currently running tv series adapting a book series about Aeneas, Dido, Lavinia, etc. The actor who plays Aeneas sees it, likes and follows her, and asks her out to dinner. Little do they know that each are best friends online on a fanfiction site and discord. Marcus realizes it at dinner but doesn't tell her. She realizes that the dim-witted, happy-go-lucky actor has actually been playing roles on and off-screen and tries to draw him out. A lot of fun and laugh-out-loud moments with some angst in the middle.

Galaxies and Oceans, N.R. Walker

Ethan is in an abusive relationship with his politician boyfriend. Sequestered at a remote cabin with an oncoming wildfire, he walks away, leaving almost everything behind. Following the southern cross, Aubrey ends up on Kangaroo Island living in a decrepit trailer and doing odd jobs. Patrick lost his fisherman partner several years old and is happy enough tending to the local lighthouse. In this small town, everyone knows everyone else and Aubrey and Patrick quickly meet. Patrick wants to help this obviously troubled soul. Aubrey hasn't felt so safe or comfortable with anyone for a long time.

Spencer Cohen, Books 1-3, "Yanni's Story", N.R. Walker

Spencer is an Australian who came to the US a few years ago. He doesn't need to work, but now plays bait as the boyfriend of someone who's trying to get back a former lover. Is a breakup serious or not? Andrew's lover walked so his sister decides to hire Spencer to see if they can get the lover back. You can see where this is going, right? Books 2 and 3 are direct sequels so best to read them back-to-back. Yanni's Story is about a guy that Spencer was hired to find. Books 1 and 2 earned 4 stars from me but I bumped #3 up to 5 and Spencer's family situation is straightened out.

Private Charter, N.R. Walker

Stuart's a financial analyst finally taking a few weeks off on a private charter boat. His sometime-lover bails but he decides to go by himself. He and the captain (as it turns out another financial analyst who chucked it all several years ago) are seriously attracted to one another...There's a fun scene in Sidney which bumped up my rating.

Three's Company, N.R. Walker

Wilson is outed in his small southern town and dumped by his even more closeted boyfriend, leading to ostracism by many and the probably collapse of his restaurant (he's a chef). He heads to Key West alone where he meets Simon, manager of the hotel resort, and Adam, bartended and Simon's partner. Adam and Simon often invite in a third for a day or two, no longer, but find that they're willing to keep Wil around for over a week. The resort is also threatened by a homophobic developer who's making a point of buying LGBTQIA+ friendly properties and making sure they're no longer friendly.

The Weight of it All, N.R. Walker

A Very Henry Christmas (follow-up, short story)

This was very nice and got 5 stars from me. Henry is dumped by his partner of 8 years because he's overweight and boring. He decides to make a change and heads to the gym where his personal trainer, Reed, is super friendly. Friends-to-lovers. Just really fun.

Love Happens Anyway, R.J. Scott

Derek has taken over his father's advertising agency but feels stifled by the old guard and his father's continuing suggestions. He's made up a boyfriend, and is now trapped into producing said boyfriend at several holiday-related functions. He ends up hiring Luke, who is fits the description, and desperately needs money to renovate his family's bar. Sparks fly immediately--but that's crazy, right? Fine, probably won't try other works by this author.

Tic-Tac-Mistletoe, N.R. Walker

Hamish has decided to move to the US from Australia for two years. His sister travelled to the US 4 years earlier and settled in Idaho. After a diversion due to a snowstorm, Hamish ends up in western Montana and decides to drive. At least one wrong turn later, he runs off the road and the car won't start. Luckily, Ren hears him honking and takes him in for a few days...Love at first sight (practically).

Ambient Conditions, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

A short story and a novelette. "A Visit to the Galaxy Ballroom" is set on Surebleak. The Liaden Scouts have sent an administrator and a scout to figure out why the schism has occurred. The scout ends up angering the administrator. She decides to become part of the solution than the problem (aka Liad). "Ambient Conditions" is the retelling of this year's story, "Preferred Seating." At some point, Liad decided to cull the 'small talents'--not strong enough or a talent already listed as acceptable to the Healer's Guild. Korval and Ixin agreed to take them to off-world colonies. Kishara is one of the culls. She ends up on a world which tends to amplify talents and can send them mad. She already knows that one of her travel group has a talent of persuasion and command and has stolen from others. Kishara's talent is luck and occasional foretelling. She ends up finding a Korval pilot and they team up to take down the bad guy.

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October 2020: Walker, Turner, Charles, Datt Sharma, Bujold, Hibbert, Ripper

2020-11-01T03:19:16Z

The Queen of the Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner and half of The King of Attolia before reading Return of the Thief. Pheris, a disregarded son of the house of Erondites, is the narrator. Pheris has also lived his life via deception and misdirection, mostly so is uniquely qualified to tell of the final showdown with the Medes and the now united countries of Sounis, Eddis, and Attolia. Twists and turns as usual in a MWT book. I really need to reread it. Well, finish rereading KoA, Conspiracy of Kings, and Thick of Thieves first. There were some details added that felt like ret-conning and that I wasn't happy about, but the book was still very good.

The Love Study by Kris Ripper. A funny, contemporary romance. Declan left his last partner at the altar (they're friends now) and has a group of good friends but is beginning to feel that there's something lacking in his life. He ends up agreeing to be set up with several dates with people who watch Sidney, a YouTuber who focuses on advice. I can't imagine it's much of a spoiler that he's smitten with Sidney although it takes a bit to realize it.

Division Bells by Iona Datt Sharma. Recced by several bloggers who I follow. Another contemporary, this one set in London in a group of civil servants trying to get legislature through Parliament. Ari is the head of the group and is saddled with a special advisor/subject matter expert due to aristocratic fiat named Julian/Jules. Ari is less than thrilled and tosses Julian into the deep end by assigning him to write supporting documentation. Julian actually does a good job and helps them with the legislature. A very interesting look at behind-the-scenes Parliamentary business and a cute love story too.

Finders, Keepers by N.R. Walker. Set in Australia, contemporary. Griffin finds a lost, muddy dog in a park and texts the owner, Dane. Dane's stuck at a work conference out-of-town so Griffin watches the dog and takes in on adventures. Very cute and set me on a multi-book streak with this author (in and among some other books).

Red Dirt Heart, 2, 3, 4, Imago, and Red Dirt Christmas by N.R. Walker. Set in Queensland on a large cattle station. Charlie Sutton has taken over Sutton Station after his estranged father died. He's got a good crew, and the cook + foreman couple are like his real ma and pa. He's been slowly upgrading the property and agrees to take on an agronomy student. The last one didn't work out too well--a paler than pale Englishman who got burnt to a crisp in the Australian summer. This one may do better. Travis was raised on a cattle ranch in Texas so is used to *some* heat. He has some great ideas to further improve the station. There's a bit of every problem imaginable in these books. Employer/employee, pregnancy (ha, not mpreg), stick-in-the-mud neighboring farmers, communication/lack of issues, poisonous critters, immigration, longlost and surprise family members, etc. A lot of fun, lot of interesting characters. Red Dirt Heart Imago sets up/crosses over with another series read later.

Guarding Temptation by Talia Hibbert. Set in England. Nina is a radical and ends up threatened after an article is published. She ends up staying with her brother's friend, James, who's actually had the hots for her for a while--but she's a commitment-phobe and she's his friend's sister and he's watched her grow up, and, and...you get the picture. Sexy times end up happening. I don't know, the steamy bits weren't quite what I liked or something so this is probably it for me by this author.

Masquerade in Lodi by Lois McMaster Bujold. Yay, another Penric and Desdemona story! This steps backwards in time to just after Penric realized he was not cut out to be a fulltime healer and started working on old manuscripts, translations, and other work instead. A demon is loose and Pen and Des need to find it. They get aid from a young woman, an orphan, who's also a saint. She's thrilled to be set free in the town (from her island-based orphanage) on the eve of a festival. I didn't find the mystery very compelling/difficult but it was fun still.

Imago and Imagines by N.R. Walker. Lawson comes to Tasmania to help another lepidopterist find a new species of butterfly. The professor saw it once, but has never seen another one. A local Parks/Wildlife office, Jack, ends up helping Lawson on his search.

Blind Faith, Through These Eyes, and Blindside by N.R. Walker. Carter, a new veterinarian in town, finds out that the retiring vet still has a handful of people that warrant house calls. One, Isaac, is neglecting his new guide dog out of grief for his previous one. Carter decides to continue the house calls and somehow get Isaac to realize he can love this dog too. It doesn't hurt that Isaac's amazing handsome too...These are set in Boston, and there are some words and phrasing that I don't think fit. "give it a go," "to hospital" and things like that. I mean maybe Boston has more English/Australianisms in the local dialect, but I don't think so. They weren't terrible, just every once in a while something would catch my eye.

The Ruin of Gabriel Ashleigh by K.J. Charles. This one's been staring at me for ages since I read the rest of the Society of Gentleman series. It's short about how Gabriel ends up a member.

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September 2020 books: Lee and Miller, Burgis, Ottoman, Turner, Hall, Wells, Thomas

2020-11-01T01:50:20Z

Trader’s Leap by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller – latest entry in the Liaden Universe series, #23. Shan yos'Galan is hunting for new and profitable routes to stabilize Korval's fortunes. His daughter, Padi, is trying her best to become master pilot and master trader as soon as she can. Meanwhile, her psychic abilities are growing stronger...

A set of Sherry Thomas books – Claiming the Duchess, Beguiling the Beauty, Tempting the Bride, and Ravishing the Heiress – Late 19th century historical romances. I liked them enough to read the set about the related characters, but didn’t like them enough to keep the author on my check-out-her-other-works list.

reread – Edge of Worlds and Harbors of the Sun by Martha Wells – finishing up the Raksura series.

Frostgilded by Stephanie Burgis – a short story in the Harwood Spellbook series – a treat for her Patreon and which will be released to the public soonish, if I remember correctly.

Documenting Light by EE Ottoman – Wyatt is struggling with a sick mother, underemployment, and stronger and stronger feelings about their gender and how its expressed. Wyatt finds an early 20th century photo of two men and wants to know more about it. Wyatt asks a local historian, Grayson, to do some research on it. Grayson is trans and has lost most of his family because of it. Can they help each other? A lovely romance story. Part of its premise (that I may be misunderstanding) is that historians and others shouldn't assume that historical documents and photos are necessarily het/cis just because.

best of month – The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner – I’m rereading the series to be ready for the latest, and last book in the series, Return of the Thief, which is being released in October. YAY! It’s also a giant, compared to the others–480 pages.

There will be Phlogiston by Alexis Hall – alternative universe, roughly late 19th century about two aristocrats and a rich-but-from-the-gutter industrialist (kinda) who find love. I didn't feel this was as strong as many of Hall's other books. I doubt I'll ever reread this one.

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End of August 2020 books: Charles and Parrish

2020-09-03T23:24:04Z

KJ Charles released The Sugared Game, the sequel to Slippery Creatures. Will Darling learned to be a hard man in the war. Now he's a bookseller. Kim Secretan is from the upper reaches of society...and works for a secret agency in the government that covers up incidents that can't go to court. Kim's been chasing a group called the Zodiac. Will ends up involved again as Zodiac hasn't forgotten him.

Next up was another Roan Parrish, Natural Enemies. Stefan Albemarle has never felt like he fit in. He now works as a researcher. He meets Milo Rios at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Milo would rather teach kids about botany and gardening than spend his time stuck in a lab somewhere. Can these two completely different people find love?

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August 2020 up to 25th: Wells, Parrish, Hall, Poe, Chambers, McQuiston

2020-08-26T21:54:24Z

Even with school starting for my kids, I still managed to finish a bunch of books. Mostly romance plus some fantasy rereads.

I reread the first three books of the Raksura series by Martha Wells. It's set on another world with a bunch of different races. The main character, Moon, was separated from his race as a child but was rediscovered about 20-odd years later by another group. So it's about found family, abandonment issues, etc. I think Martha Wells does great characters who are smart and capable. Catnip for me!

Based on Kindle rec, I tried In the Middle of Somewhere by Roan Parrish. I was drawn to it because it's set in northern Michigan. An academic, Daniel, heads there for an interview for a tenure position at a small college. While the interview goes well, he ends up driving into a ditch and rescues a dog. There's no cell service, of course. He ends up rescued by a local man, Rex, and sparks fly! I liked it enough that I continued reading a bunch of Parrish's other books. Where We Left Off is the story of a side character in the previous book, who ends up going to NYC to college. I skipped book 2 in the series because the main character (brother of book 1's main character) is a mean bastard. Several reviewers found the book difficult because of that (even though there's a HEA, I think) so I decided not right now.

Parrish's Small Change duology uses characters from the previous trilogy. Small Change focuses on Ginger, a tattoo artist and best friend of Daniel. Ginger's been so busy with her business that she's really had no time for herself. Then she meets Christopher who's opened a sandwich shop down the street...

Invitation to the Blues focuses on Faron, a tattoo artist in Ginger's shop, and Jude, a gifted pianist who suffers from mental illness. As Jude gets his life back together, will he be able to continue his burgeoning relationship with Faron?

The Riven series starts with the self-titled book about Theo, super-famous, chased by paparazzi lead singer of ahem, Riven. He meets Caleb, a recovering addict and fabulous musician himself. Caleb is very attracted to Theo, but can he stand to be around the music scene which got him into trouble in the first place?

Book 2, Rend, has another musician, Rhys, and Matt. I can barely remember anything from this book except that Matt has insecurity issues. So ddn't like it as much as Riven.

In book 3, Raze, Huey has been a bar owner for a while, and sober for even longer. He comes off as a big, hulking, laconic, bruiser which most people don't look beyond. Felix has been taking care of his younger siblings for years after the death of their parents. He and his sister sing a Riven song in Huey's bar one night and Huey arranges an audition with Riven's ex-singer Theo. Liked this one better than book 2.

The Remaking of Corbin Wale by Roan Parrish edges into fantasy. Corbin is fey, raised by two aunts in an old house in the woods. We're never quite sure of the entire backstory. Why did the aunts die together one day? What happened to his parents? Alex ends up losing home and job in the big city and heads home to Michigan to lick his wounds. His mother runs a bakery/coffee shop there. Alex decides to redo it so she can retire. One day Corbin walks in and sits in the corner. Alex is drawn to him and over weeks, begins to draw Corbin out...a really nice, quiet story.

Looking for Group by Alexis Hall is set at a college. Drew play a MMO, Heroes of Legend and has a good friends group that gets together to watch movies, play board games, and so on. Drew rage quits his guild and applies to join another one. There he meets a female elf-healer who's really cool and attends another university in the same city. Imagine his surprise when Drew finds out that Kit is a young man, but does it really matter? I enjoyed it quite a bit. I'm not a gamer but know enough that I could figure out most of the jargon and the online conventions like something marked as "so-and-so whispers" means that it's a private message.

The Engineer by C.S. Poe is a steampunk, magic alternative western set around 1880s. Gillian Hamilton (is supposed to be a call-out to Niven's Gil Hamilton? I don't know) works for the government as a magic-user about the only way it's legal. He's sent out west to arrest a madman named the Tinkerer, a gifted inventor of steampunk devices. Gillian runs into Gunner the Deadly, another wanted criminal except Gunner is more of a Robin Hood or masterless samurai, taking out the villains who threaten hard-working folk. Gillian and Gunner team up to get capture the Tinkerer and find their mutual attraction complicates matters. I liked it, but so far not enough to see if there's a book 2. I was disappointed that the bad guy was literally a madman so no real reason to kill random people as he'd done.

I then read two shortish books by Joanna Chambers, Introducing Mr. Winterbourne and Mr. Winterbourne's Christmas, both Regencies or maybe later--19th century anyway. Lysander Winterbourne is a charming younger son. His sister is engaged to an ambitious mill owner's brother who sees the connection as his path into politics. The Winterbourne family is deeply in debt so this will help put them on a stable footing. Lysander agrees to take Adam Whitman (mill owner) around society to help easy the brother's way and make him feel welcome. That goes swimmingly (ha-ha-ha) until Lysander and Adam end up in a fencing salon and they start to see each other's true selves. Lysander ends up working for Adam on his country estate which leads to other issues in Mr. Winterbourne's Christmas. Eh. If there's more about these characters, I'll read it, but her other books haven't attracted me.

I then decided to pick up a present-day comedy-romance that I've seen a lot of recs for: Red, White, & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. Actually fantasy/alternative history. Alex is the first (and only) son of the first woman president of the US, Ellen Claremont. He's also half-Hispanic from his mom's ex-husband. While he's run into the spare heir of the UK, Prince Henry (third in line, if I figured it out right), they've never really gotten on. Sent to the UK to a royal wedding, their latest encounter causes the destruction of the wedding cake. To counter the bad press and relations between the two countries, the two are required to pretend to be best of mates...which gets interesting very quickly. Loads of fun. I've already preordered her next book, One Last Stop.

Yesterday (okay, Monday night), a new Roan Parrish was release, Better Than People, was released. Jack's life has been on hold for most of a year after being betrayed by his long-time friend (hah!) and collaborator. He hasn't drawn anything since. He badly breaks his leg while out walking his pack of 4 dogs (1 cat tags along) so he looks for a dogwalker. Simon has extreme anxiety issues and works remotely as a graphic designer. He can't have pets because his grandmother is allergic. Simon and Jack are attracted to each other, but once Jack can get out again, where does that leave Simon?

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End of July 2020 book: Charles

2020-08-07T02:00:10Z

I went back to Charles and read A Queer Trade. Crispin Tredarloe has been learning blood magic as an apprentice. While he was gone, his master dies and all the papers are sold off. Some of the papers contain spells so Crispin rushes off to recover it. That entangles him with Ned Hall, wasteman. There's a sequel, Rag and Bone. It's set in the same world as A Charm of Magpies.

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July 2 - 23 2020 books: de Bodard, Pacat, Elliott, Wells, Charles, Hall

2020-07-24T04:20:10Z

I have still be reading like gang-busters. I've upped my goodreads year goal once, and am about to raise it again!

I read Of Dragons, Feasts, and Murders by Aliette de Bodard. I haven't been interested in her novels but enjoyed The Tea Master and the Detective last year so decided to read this novella too even though it's in her Dominion of the Fallen series. I liked enough that I almost started the series, but wanted to read more about Thuan and Asmodeus which I think is in book 3 so...I've left it for now.

I've gotten confused with the Fence series written by C.S. Pacat. 18 issues are out, collected in 3 volumes when I got a notice that volume 4 is out. I don't think I've read the individual issues, although there's definitely that structure. Quick synopsis: about the members of a fencing squad at a private boys' school--how they're going to overcome their problems and become a team.

Start of new series by Kate Elliott!!! I'd gotten my greedy mitts on an ARC of Unconquerable Sun but started it late and ended up partially reading it on my phone (where I do almost all my reading) and in dead tree form so I finished it after it had been released. Space opera. Huh, empire that does a lot of gene modification (Cetaganda AKA Medes/Persians), intellectual nation (Beta colony AKA Greece) that has been conquered by war-mad neighbors, Chaonia, who have thrown out conquerors in the previous generation (Not quite Barrayar AKA Macedonia). Current Queen-Marshal is a brilliant commander and ruler who's working on solidifying hold on local space and expanding into the empire's area. Has several concubines, one acknowledged heir, Sun, whose father is unfortunately not Chaonian and is considered and enemy and a barbarian. Sun is continuing trying to impress mom, but never seems to please her enough. Sun has several Companions chosen from the other high houses, often misfits and totally loyal to her. We follow several points of view--Sun, Apama, a newly trained fighter pilot in the Empire, Persephone, Chaonian but from the family that hates Sun and her father the most, Zizou, a warrior from the same culture as Sun's father, maybe a few others. A bit slow in the beginning maybe as the various characters are introduced, but then it kicks into high gear. Oh yeah, Sun is based on Alexander the Great, and corresponds to him at around age 19.

Reread of "Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory", a short story by Martha Wells set before Network Effect. It's Dr. Mensah's viewpoint, rather than Murderbot's.

Yet another K.J. Charles, Slippery Creatures. Set post-WWI, Will Darling has inherited his uncle's bookstore. Various people start asking for the information, but Will has no idea what they want. A charming man named Secretan makes his acquaintance and starts to help Will figure out what's going on...

Based on recs from several people, I decided to stop outside my usual genres and try Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall, a contemporary M/M romcom (romantic comedy). Oh what fun! I really enjoyed but couldn't really explain why I was laughing to my 8 year olds. Luc is the child of minor celebrities who ends in the paparazzi gaze again. It's spun badly and he's in danger of losing his job. He's told to get a nice, tame boyfriend to mend his image or else. Enter Oliver Blackwood, barrister, and friend of friend. He could also use a boyfriend for some upcoming events. They have very little in common, so why not be fake boyfriends for the summer!

I then went on a Hall kick and read the 4 books + 1 story that make up the Spires series: Glitterland, Waiting for the Flood, For Real, "In Vino", and Pansies. They're all M/M, with various past relationship issues and/or kink to be worked through. Glitterland's main character is bipolar. For Real has BDSM with a 19 year old dom, and a 37 year old sub, and dealing with death of a relative. "In Vino" is set during For Real. Pansies deals with childhood bullying and death (off-screen).

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June 21 to July 1 book: Charles, Hawk, Wells, Moore

2020-07-05T00:01:55Z

Books without an author listed are by KJ Charles.

Another Society of Gentleman entry (#1), A Fashionable Indulgence. Harry Vane is the son of Radicals. He’s actually heir to a fortune, so to make his grandfather happy, the nonpareil Julius Norreys take on the task of turning this Cit into someone who can navigate the ton. Julius has been desperately unhappy since Waterloo but finds himself attracted to the happy Harry. Add in a cousin Harry’s supposed to marry to please the old man, and who’s giving mixed signals, some suspicious deaths, and it’s another excellent entry.

Jordan L. Hawk, Widdershins (Whyborne & Griffin #1). Whyborne is a linguist working at a museum in a town famous in the past for witch hunts. Griffin is an ex-Pinkerton agent looking for someone to translate a journal written in code for his current job. Both have lost people important to them in the past. Whyborne turns out to be integral to solving the mysteries swirling around the town of Widdershins. I liked it fine but so far not enough to read book 2.

Terry Moore, Five Years #10, a series uniting his earlier comic book series: Strangers in Paradise, Echo, Rachel Rising, and Motor Girl. The element discovered in Echo united with some material written by Lilith will destroy the earth. The people from the earlier series unite to stop its development. They estimate that they have 5 years. I’ve only read SiP and Echo and didn’t have much trouble following this, but I think at least part of SiP should be read first.

For a cross-country trip which ended up being about 8 hours longer than planned, 3rd read of Martha Wells’s Network Effect (best of month).

Spectred Isle (Green Man #1, sequel not out yet). Saul Lazenby is an archaeologist working for a man researching arcane places and events. He was disgraced in the war and otherwise unemployable. While investigating a place for his employer, a tree catches fire and he meets a man called Glyde. Glyde turns out to work for a government agency that also keeps track of magical occurrences and both men can’t figure out way they keep running into each other.

The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal. The true stories behind some of the magical doings of Feximal and his friend and chronicler, Robert Caldwell. So somewhat reminiscent of Holmes and Watson, but Feximal isn’t a genius, but he can settle ghosts. Caldwell is very observant and often helps figure out the story behind why a ghost is haunting a location. Some of the stories in this book have been published separately.

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May 31 - June 20 2020 books: 11 Charles and a Sebastian

2020-06-21T03:57:04Z

Okay, so they're like popcorn or chips and I just can't stop reading books by KJ Charles! (ratings 3-5 stars) Partially because I can't figure out what else to read right now. Actually, I did start a reread of Jean Lorrah and Jacqueline Lichtenberg's First Channel but DNF. I really liked these when I read them in high school/college including tracking down some fanfiction (more difficult at that time in the '80s) but ugh. Economy still doesn't make any sense and the writing is...not so good. Post-apocalyptic world where humanity has split into Simes and Gens. Gens produce selyn. Simes need selyn to live. Although Simes can eat most regular food, it's not enough to survive on for very long. A Sime normally needs a gen's whole production of selyn each month and kills the Gen. Gens don't start producing selyn until puberty. Although there's some hunting for "wild" Gens, it doesn't seem sustainable for very long. I tried this in the middle of the period.

A Seditious Affair (Society of Gentleman) - Regency England. Dominic Frey works for the government, specifically the department that deals with sedition and traitors AKA the illegal pamphleteers and radicals. He ends up entangled with Silas Mason, radical. They're...very compatible behind closed doors but neither one realizes who the other one is. A colleague of Dominic's has promised to lock up and hang the radicals. Can Dominic save Silas?

Proper English (England World) - Patricia Merton, noted shot, heads to her friend's father's country estate for some shooting. Jimmy's fiancee is pretty and buxom and happy, but Jimmy's not. Pat's going to figure out what's going on before Jimmy and Fenella end up in a very unhappy marriage.

Think of England (England World, early 20th century) - Archie Curtis is trying to figure out if a rival arms dealer had sabotaged the weapons provided to his squad. While trying, badly, to sneak around the manor house, he keeps running into effete Daniel da Silva. Other house guests include Pat and Fen from Proper English.

Band Sinister - Sir Philip Rookwood has a band of friends called the Murder and it's known as a hellfire club. They're visiting his country estate when a neighboring girl, Amanda, takes a tumble and breaks her leg. She ends up being patched up by Rookwood's friend who's a doctor. Amanda's sister, Guy, rushes over to protect her, only to find that he can hardly take his eyes off of Sir Philip...Full of neighborhood scandal, terrifying aunts, and disapproving neighbors.

Wanted, A Gentleman - Martin St. Vincent is a well-to-do merchant in London. The young daughter of a family has been corresponding with an unsuitable gentleman via a lonely hearts newsletter. St. Vincent tracks down the publisher, Theodore Swann. When they realize that the girl is eloping to Gretna Green, they take off after her.

Unfit to Print - Vikram is a lawyer in London who tries to help the Anglo-Indian and Indian communities. Tasked to find a young man who's disappeared into the sordid side of London, Vik finds an old friend from school, Gil Lawless, now a bookseller.

Hither, Page - Cat Sebastian - Post World War. A shell-shocked doctor in a tiny English village runs into a spy that he patched up once in France. The spy/secret agent, Leo has been sent there to try to uncover profiteering by the local lord. A locked room mystery happens. A cozy mystery with lots of interesting characters. Supposedly, a sequel is due this year.

An Unseen Attraction (Sins of the City 1, Victorian) - see previous blog entry

An Unnatural Vice (Sins of the City 2) - Nathaniel Roy is a journalist interested in debunking spiritualists. He sets his sights on Justin Lazarus, the Seer of London. Still unhappy after the death of his lover 5 years prior, Nathaniel's amazed to find how attractive he finds the amoral Justin. Justin has information about the unknown heirs to the Talleyfer (this is the name that Clem uses from An Unseen Attraction but there's a different spelling for the noble family) that were introduced in the first book).

An Unsuitable Heir (Sins of the City 3) - Mark Braglewicz, enquiry agent, tracks down the Talleyfer heirs. The son, Pen (Repentance), and his sister, Greta (Regret), are trapeze artists in a London theatre. Pen, in particular, is really not ready to be a noble heir. It would likely kill him. The trouble is, if Pen doesn't take up his position, Mark's friends and Pen and Greta are all in danger. I like this series and the following one quite a bit. Pen is genderfluid (I hope I have that right) and attracted to men).

Gilded Cage (Lilywhite Boys 2) - Sukey, now Susan, from An Unnatural Vice has grown up and is now a private investigator with the firm Roy and Lazarus. As a teenager, she was friends with yound, wild, nobleman. They ended up breaking each other's hearts and he went away for 17 years. Now, he's back as a jewel thief. Susan ran into him in Any Old Diamonds, where it was obvious she had not forgiven him. However, framed for a horrific double murder, Templeton Lane turns to Susan as the only person who might save him. A nice mystery and I like Susan a lot!

The Rat-Catcher's Daughter (Lilywhite Boys 2.5) - The story of the Lilywhite Boys' fence, Stan Kamarzyn and his crush, Miss Christiana. I don't know the correct terminology. Miss Christiana is as much trans as she can be for the time. Both she and Stan are asexual, at least beyond cuddling.

Any Old Diamonds (Lilywhite Boys 1) - Yes, I read this after Gilded Cage. Jerry Crozier and Templeton Lane are hired by Alec (Lord Alexander) to rob Alec's father, the Duke of Ilvar. The Duke remarried when his children were still young, and completely focused on his new wife. The children have been made to scratch for their livings. One of the children has died due to the neglect and Alec wants revenge. This one surprised me in the plot. I liked it a lot.

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May 2020 books: Henderson, Demas, Wells, Bujold, Charles

2020-05-30T22:09:38Z

Things settled down a bit in May and I was able to start reading again.

I decided to read a bunch of the People stories from the Ingathering collection. These are by Zenna Henderson. While there are scary moments in these, they're also very hopeful. The People are refugees, who have landed on Earth after their planet shook itself apart. The stories take plane in the American southwest, starting late 1800s and into the middle of the 20th century. The People meeting good and bad humans, of course, with a recurring theme of "Different is dead" and finding new homes with found family. There's some racial profiling with Hispanics, etc.

I slammed through the four Murderbot novellas and the short story, "Home." that the publisher released to people who bought the hardcover. Home takes place on Preservation Station after Dr. Mensah had been rescued. It's told from Mensah's point of view and reveals that she's struggling with PTSD.

A short story, "Spoken For", by A.J. Demas. The continuing story of Pheres and Bedar from "One Night in Boukos". The power balance is changing as they travel to Zash where Bedar is from.

A new installment of Desdemona and Penric from Lois McMaster Bujold! The Physicians of Vilnoc find Penric married and with a child. His brother-in-law asks him to investigate an outbreak of disease at the local military fort. The main doctor has died so his second and Penric start treating and investigating the cause of the disease. I squirmed a bit because the timing is not so good because the COVID-19 pandemic. An excellent entry in the series nonetheless.

K.J. Charles released a few books for free. I've seen her books recced multiple places so I thought I give one a try. I picked up The Magpie Lord and quickly read it and its 2 sequels, A Case of Possession and Flight of Magpies. These are fantasy. There's energy in the ether and some people can use it to do magic. Lucien Vaudrey is now heir after the death of his father and brother. He's returned to England from China with Crane, his crony. He got sent to China by his father due to his "proclivities." It turns out there's a curse on his house and Stephen Day, magician, shows up to get rid of it. There ends up being a conspiracy, many secrets, and so on that wind through the three books. Engaging characters and decent worldbulding. There are some related stories but I haven't read them yet.

I then picked up An Unseen Attraction, a story in the Sins of the Cities series. This one is about Clem Talleyfer, a bastard son who's been set up as a boarding house keeper and one of his tenants, Rowley Green, a taxidermist. A terrible tenant who has been living there for free at the request of Clem's brother shows up dead. An author trope showed up--one of the couples will be big and brawny, while the other will be slim, weedy. So far the other books in the series haven't piqued my interest enough to buy them.

I switched to another series, The Society of Gentleman, and read the final story, A Gentleman's Position about David Cyprian, valet to Lord Richard Vane. This series and the previous one are historical, not fantasy. I assume I'll read more from Charles but will likely try something else next.

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2020 books, Mid-January through April: Wells, Dolan, Gray, Bechdel, Gingell

2020-04-30T02:54:36Z

So work had gotten busy, I hadn't picked up anything, then COVID-19 hit. It's only in the last few weeks that I've really began reading regularly, and generally new stuff is all shorter lengths. Anyway, not in actual order...

I reread two books by Martha Wells--Between Worlds, a collection of stories starring characters from the Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy, and Network Effect. Network Effect is a forthcoming novel in her Murderbot series. I shelled out for an ARC (advanced reader's copy) a few months ago. It's much easier to read things on my phone, but I've read this one twice. All the feels! For anyone who doesn't know, Murderbot is a created android that's used as a security unit. It's sent out to mining colonies, planetary exploration missions, etc. as part of a security/insurance "bond". This occurs off-Earth in what's known as the Corporation Rim. Contracts are all, many people are indentured or in terrible contracts. Security units, SecUnits, have a mix of metal and artificial components and some farmed brain tissue. It was part of some sort of massacre and although its memory was wiped, its human brain tissue remembers bits and pieces. Murderbot decided never again! and hacked its governor module. It's continued to work for the Company (we still don't know its name) because it doesn't know what else to do. Four novellas later, it's out on another contract but this one specially written for it.

Early on in the book, there's a scene where Murderbot has saved everyone again. The head of the group starts looking a little emotional and Murderbot quickly says, "No hugs!" (and thinks to itself, 'It's in the contract.')

We get to see several characters from earlier the novellas and it's just lovely. I dearly love this series and hope Tor.com gives Wells contract for another book.

I also read the novella, "Indigo and Cloud" which is in the Raksura series.

Based on recs, I read Twelve Days of Faery by W. R. Gingell. I had to reread a few pages before I could remember the story at all. It's a pleasant enough trifle, but I won't be reading on in the series. The son of the king is cursed. If he falls in love (or lust) with someone, they end up severely injured or dead. A witch arrives to try to remove the curse, shenanigans ensue. Ending isn't qute what you might expect and the prince isn't a main character.

When I couldn't think of anything to read or reread, I picked up the ebook of The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel. It's the highlights of the long-running Dykes to Watch Out For comic strip. I'd read the previous collections and this in dead tree versions but it was fun catching up with Mo and the gang. The characters were moaning about politics and presidents then. I can't imagine what they would be like if the strip was still running.

I then read two books by Aster Glenn Gray: The Threefold Tie and Briarley. I'd seen recs for Briarley last year and then more for TTT so I decided to try TTT. It's set post-US Civil War. Two soldier become friends and more during the war. They continue the connection afterwards intermittently with one in New York City studying art and the other in a small town as a printer/newpaper publisher. The publisher falls in love with a woman and marries her. They later drag the artist out of the city to nurse him back to health. After some mixed signals, they end up in a polyamorous relationship. I liked it enough that I picked up Briarley which is set during WWII. A country vicar loses his way and ends up in a strange mansion that's surrounded by rose bushes. It's a retelling of Beauty and the Beast but in this case the father doesn't let his daughter take his place. Very nice, but I haven't felt the need to track down the other books by this author.

I was getting a lot of recommendations for regency novels so I decided to try a new author to me, Charlotte Louise Dolan, who had good reviews. I picked Three Lords for Lady Anne. Lady Anne is an uncommonly tall young woman and heiress with scapegrace parent and a dead mother. After getting abandoned at a terrible relative's house, She ends up with another female relative who's never held with getting married and has had all kinds of adventures. To make her way once she becomes an adult, Anne becomes a governess. The woman who got her set up with Aunt Leticia (the adventuress), now decides that she should marry a man that she knows so she arranges for Anne to become the governess of his wards. Lord Leatham is also an adventurer and rarely in England so the boys and the estate are looked after by a Mr Trussell. Lord Leatham thinks Trussell is fleecing the estate but hasn't caught him yet. A fairly complicated plot ensues. Charming, doubt I'll move on to her other books.

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2020 books: King

2020-03-30T01:02:23Z

Many thanks to Bantam for an advance reader's copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Publication date is 09 June 2020.

Riviera Gold is the latest book in the long-running series about Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes. Mary Russell first met Holmes in Sussex when she was 16. She went on to get an Oxford degree and become Holmes's partner, professionally and personally.. After the events of the previous book, Island of the Mad, Russell is feeling the aftermath of a solved case (a bit down) and decides to join some friends as crew on a sailboat heading to Cote d'Azur and Monte Carlo. Russell has the idea that Mrs. Hudson might be there. Mrs. Hudson left England after the events of The Murder of Mary Russell (spoiler: she survived),

At this point in time, the mid-1920s, Monte Carlo and the surrounding areas are busy in the winter, but not the hot summers and the famous casino has fallen on hard times. There's some movement to rejuvenate the area, and some nutty Americans have begun vacationing there in the summer. Russell meats Gerald and Sara Murphy, American expats. In their company, she sees Mrs. Hudson.

Mrs. Hudson had come to Monte Carlo to reconnect with an old friend, but finds that some other old acquaintances are also in Monte Carlo.

I found this entry quite enjoyable. There's a nice mix of real people whom I always check out online, and new characters. We get to learn more of Mrs. Hudson's backstory. Holmes does make an appearance after a few days. I enjoy watching two very, very smart people working through a mystery. There's a quite exciting denouement and a nice resolution of Mrs. Hudson's story--at least for now.

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December through mid-January 2019-2020 books: Stevermer, miscellaneous

2020-01-14T21:24:07Z

I couldn't settle on a novel so I ended up reading a bunch of fanfiction on AO3, Archive of Our Own. I'd think of an author that I liked, search it, and read a what was available. They have a big request/fulfill thing called Yuletide so I read some when the new stories were revealed too.

I had managed to snag an advanced reader (review) copy of The Glass Magician by Caroline Stevermer from NetGalley during the holidays as well.

Thank you to the publisher, Tor Books, for providing it in exchange for an honest and fair review.

Stevermer hasn't had a novel out since 2010 with the middle grade book, Magic Below Stairs. The setting is new, early 20th century in an alternative America. There are solitaires--ordinary people, traders--who can change to an animal form, and sylvestri--who have an affinity to nature and appear to be, in the Americas at least mostly First Peoples. I'm not sure that made much sense as there should be a bunch from the "Old World" too who had then emigrated to the new world, but it wasn't explained. Traders stick together and create family trusts. There's a throw-away line deep in the book that in addition to trading between their two or split souls (human and animal), they literally were traders, shipping goods around. Which made me wonder if they were supposed to represent Jews.

The main character, Thalia Cutler, is working as a stage magician as part of vaudeville. Her mother died when she was little and she was taught her skills by her father and his friend, David Nutall. Her father has also died. Something strange happens during one of her shows--she seems to change shape when the trick goes wrong. So could she be a Trader? She's also hit with a non-compete for one of her best tricks so she and Nutall have to find, and finance, some new amazing feat.

Thalia, having lived in show business, is generally able to take care of herself which I appreciated. There are many interesting characters. I'd like to know more about the sylvestri. Thalia meets several Traders who end up helping her out and there are hints of a possible future romance...maybe. I thought I caught a hint that Thalia's and father and David Nutall might have been more than just close friends but Thalia resolutely doesn't want to think about that. <rolls eyes> I may have been reading more into it because of the fanfiction binge where I read many stories about characters being in non-canonical relationships (AKA not in the books/source material).

Honestly, if this hadn't been an ARC and by an author that I've loved in the past, I would probably have stopped reading about 1/3 in. It did pick up pace not long after that and it wasn't a hardship to finish. I will likely read the sequel. While the story ends well, there are several open threads that could be picked up.

Why didn't I like it more? I think the worldbuilding didn't seem deep or broad enough. The book felt relatively short (a check shows the hardcover is 288 pages). It felt like it was written a little young. Solidly trying for young adult maybe? Like I said, I will be on the lookout for the next book.

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Late November 2019 books: Vaughn, Demas, Scott

2019-12-01T22:05:59Z

Carrie Vaughn released another book about Cormac and Amelia, Badlands Witch. They take a job in the Badlands where a small university archaeological team has discovered a pot with an odd shape and runes. Cormac and Amelia, separately and together have to fight off bad guys. I found the end more interesting as Cormac admitted his attraction to Amelia.

A.J. Demas released a snippet set after One Night in Boukos called "Turquoise"In the earlier story, Bedar, a visitor to Boukos and member of the Zash's ambassador's household, and Pheres, a young male prostitute, met while Bedar was chasing after the ambassador. Bedar paid off Pheres's bond and invited him to accompany him home to Zash. The snippet is about the journey and Pheres's trying to adapt to a very different culture.

I then wasn't really in much of a reading mood because I was sick. Instead I pulled all the Astreiant snippets/stories from Melissa Scott's Patreon into a Word document and put them on my phone so I could easily read the whole set whenever I want to. They include missing scenes, worldbuilding, etc. Lots of fun. I decided to reread Fairs' Point which is set later in the series, after Rathe and Eslingen have moved into together and are acknowledged lemen? lemans? Eslingen has accepted a captain's commission in the new City Guard by the end of the book while Rathe continues moving around between the different stations. Some background--Astreiant is modeled after a low country city--strong trading center, Renaissance-level technology with the addition of working magistry and astrology. A person's stars matter, and can affect someone's profession and daily life. Terrific worldbuilding and wonderful characters.

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Mid-October to mid-November 2019: Chambers, O'Dell, Wells, Vaughn, Lansdowne

2019-11-09T23:42:57Z

Comments on Becky Chambers's To Be Taught if Fortunate have been a little mixed. I liked it very much but, OH, the ending. I wonder if anyone on AO3 has written some alternative endings/continuations. Space exploration has become citizen-funded, with small teams sent out to explore various planets. The trips are one way in that they won't be able to return to their own families and friends although they can return to earth when their mission is over. I thought it dealt well with how nuts things can get in an enclosed environment.

I've started Claire O'Dell's The Jewel-Bright Sea but stalled about 1/3 through. I will try to get back to it. It's more straightforward fantasy (with magic) than her near-future Janet Watson chronicles. The fact that I had to really work to recall the plot a few weeks after stalling, and I still can't remember any character names is...not really a good sign.

I did two week-long trips in October so I felt like some rereading was in order. I settled on the Murderbot Diaries. It's so long until the novel is released!!

While checking around for books, I found that Carrie Vaughn had released a novelette/novella (maybe) featuring Cormac and Amelia, Dark Divide, with another coming out this week (Badlands Witch). Cormac is rebuilding his life now that he's off parole and still carrying around the witch Amelia in his head. While he used to be a monster hunter, he's now using Amelia's skills to clear out hauntings, etc. They've been called to the Donner Pass to investigate the death of a NPS researcher of starvation. Recommended for Cormac and Amelia fans.

A while ago, I read a ton of Regency Romance books (set in the early 1800s). I generally stuck to the G/PG-rated ones AKA maybe a few kisses or slightly risque language or situations. Anyway, a few authors became favorites and I've kept copies. Because these books were often seen as disposable, reprints were unlikely. I now read almost solely on my phone, so I always check for ebook versions. There was very little online about this author so I didn't have much hope. Last week I did another search and found that one of her books had been released as an ebook! Amelia's Intrigue by Judith A. Lansdowne sets up Amelia Mapleton, a 22-year-old on her come-out season meeting Tony Talbot, the heir to the earl of Rutlidge. The Earl hasn't been seen for over 15 years while Tony appears to handle the estate and his affairs. We soon learn that the earl had rescued Tony from a carriage mishap when they were boys, but the earl ended up with brain damage. Amelia is sure Tony is keeping his brother out of the limelight against his will, Tony has other secrets he's been keeping as does Amelia's father, etc. The earl himself, Geordan/Geordie is delightful and even he has secrets. We also get to meet multiple family members and servants, learn about the deframers, and pretty much everyone gets a happy ending. Lovely and fun! I'm so pleased that it looks like her books may come back into print. Unfortunately, I also found out that Lansdowne had died about a month ago.

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Mid September to early October 2019: Stevermer and Wrede, O'Dell

2019-10-08T02:01:59Z

I reread The Grand Tour or, the Purloined Coronation Regalia and The Mislaid Magician or, Ten Years After. These are the sequels to Sorcery and Cecelia or, the Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Caroline Stevermer and Patricia Wrede. The first book is an epistolary novel, AKA told through letters between Cecelia and Kate who are cousins. One has gone to make her debut in London while the other starts taking magic lessons. The second book is a combination of journal entries and depositions while the third is again told via letters. Charming, but I have to continually remind myself which characters are the magicians!

I then jumped into Claire O'Dell's The Hound of Justice, sequel to A Study in Honor. Told by Janet Watson, they are set in a divided United States. With the south and west now the New Confederacy. Janet's apartment mate, Sara Holmes is finally getting back her security clearance when she disappears completely. Meanwhile, Janet is trying to get back to being a surgeon with a new high-tech prosthetic arm. I have to admit that I didn't believe something that happened near the end of the book. Anyway, looking forward to the next book!

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Early September 2019 books: Shinn, Lee, Miller, Randall

2019-09-15T03:15:03Z

And a quick follow-up to the August post because I screamed through several books already this month. At least one was started in August.

The e-ARC (electronic advanced reviewer copy) of Accepting the Lance by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller was released, with official publication occurring later this year. The latest story in the Liaden Universe, we get updates on a bunch of ongoing story threads. Yay!

The sequel to Mapping Winter, The River South by Marta Randall was released. This time the protagonist is Iset Kievesdaughter (yep), who was left in the care of the guild when Kieve took off into the wilderness. She's not been treated well, and suddenly people start trying to kill her. One of Kieve's comrades, who owes her, decides to help Iset. Interesting story with an ending that I didn't foresee.

I then read books 2 and 3 of Sharon Shinn's Uncommon Echoes series: Echo in Emerald and Echo in Amethyst. The second book starts near but before the end of the first and focuses on a minor character from the first book. Chessie was abandoned by her father and her mother died young. After her guardian died, she headed to the capital city. She's made a life for herself as an errand-runner and, through her echoes, a bar maid and a laborer, respectively. No one realizes that the echoes are not just friends as they have a little autonomy and Chessie is able to change bodies to allow them to speak (echoes don't ever speak). She ends up entangled with Lord Dezmen who is investigating the killing of a noble in the city.

In the third book which is also almost contemporaneous with books 1 and 2, we follow Hope and Elyssa. Elyssa is the original, daughter to a western lord. The western provinces have been agitating for autonomy for years, but the fate of Lady Marguerite (book 1) has brought everything to a boil. Lady Elyssa is bored and bitter, ignored by her parents except that she might bring an advantageous marriage. She's tortured her echoes for years, and one has actually become sentient. I really expected a different ending, and spent some time trying to figure out how everyone could end up happy.

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August 2019 books: Shinn, Wells, Burgis

2019-09-15T01:58:15Z

I read Stephanie Burgis’s latest book, The Princess Who Flew with Dragons, about the younger Princess Sofia who’s always prickly and angry. She gets sent to a neighboring kingdom for a big meeting of royalty and ends up antagonizing her hosts, but making friends with a group of goblins! Then the ice giants show up.

I had a hankering for some Martha Wells so reread The Death of the Necromancer for the umpteenth time. The main character, Nicholas
Valiarde, is a mild-mannered art importer by day and a criminal mastermind most of the time. His long game is to frame a nobleman (who’s done quite a bit of crime himself) to take revenge for the nobleman’s causing the death of Nicholas’s foster father. This is all derailed when one of this daring robberies finds something else was stolen, and then things get worse. Great characters, including a more human Holmes and a smarter Watson.

I’m not sure why I randomly searched for new Sharon Shinn books, but she has 3 released in August in the Uncommon Echoes series. I’d heard her read an excerpt from the first several years ago when she was still working on it. Alternative fantasy setting, medievalish technology. Some nobles have ‘echoes’, basically homunculus/golems who are their exact duplicates and copy all movements and mannerisms but are usually non-speaking and don’t initiate action. A few people do have more control and can loosen the bonds so that the echoes do not have to fully copy the original. For many years, fewer echoes had been born, but the numbers have been going up in this generation. That’s thought to be a sign of coming war or other dangers.

The books were Audible originals, at first. I never listen to audiobooks, so I hoped that they would be released as ebooks. Yay!

The first book, Echo in Onyx, has the viewpoint character, Brianna, who becomes a ladies’ maid for Marguerite. Marguerite is being sent to the capital to try to catch the eye of the heir along with a bunch of other young noblewomen. Marguerite has 3 echoes and can ‘release’ them–they can move independently.Marguerite and Brianna run into trouble on the way to the capital and end up having to carry out an elaborate masquerade. Meanwhile, Brianna is falling in love with the nephew of the Inquisitor...

can move independently.

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July 2019 books: Randall, Rozan, Demas, Bujold

2019-09-15T01:53:23Z

YAY, Marta Randall has a new fantasy novel out! Mapping Winter by Marta Randall. It’s rewritten (I think extensively) from her earlier A Sword in Winter and is a start to a new series.

The various realms are connected with a Rider’s Guild which is in danger of being replaced with a telegraph system and other technological advances. The main character, Kieve, has been oathbound to a diabolical ruler for several years. He’s on his deathbed and she can hardly wait until he dies and free her from her oath. Meanwhile he hasn’t named an heir and various relatives and lords are congregating…

I continued reading A.J. Demas’s stories: "Thalia’s Gift", "Something Human", and Sword Dance. These are set in an alternative Greek/Persian world with Sword Dance set several years after One Night in Boukos, I believe.

A comment somewhere let me know that Bujold had published a new Penric and Desdemona book, "The Orphans of Raspay". Penric is now married to Nikys and is returning home from a mission when his ship is attacked by pirates. Many shenanigans ensue as Penric get increasingly frantic trying to escape and rescue some orphans.

The rest of my reading were books in the Lydia Chin/Bill Smith series by S.J. Rozan. She just published a new book, Paper Son. Lydia is an ABC (American-born Chinese) who is a PI in New York City. She often partners with Bill Smith, ex-Navy, older white guy. The books in the series alternate narrators, so some are labeled with Bill Smith/Lydia Chin instead! In Paper Son, Lydia and Bill are dispatched to the south to help a relative. Because of immigration restrictions, Chinese men already established in the US would return to China and state that so-and-so is my son. The “son” would be primed with details about the village, relatives and so on.

I’d been meaning to reread the series for a while, so this triggered the start. Being away from home, I had to stick to ebooks and there are several that haven’t been released as ebooks yet. So far, I’ve finished:

China Trade (1, some Chinese porcelains have been stolen, museums and provenance)
Concourse (2, deaths at a home for the aged in the Bronx, non-profits and politics)
Mandarin Plaid (3, start-up designer, her lo faan (white) boyfriend, high society)
No Colder Place, (4, construction site, bribes, unions)
Winter and Night (8, Bill’s nephew Gary is picked up by the police, is released to Bill and then disappears, small-town football, many details about Bill’s past)
The Shanghai Moon (9, stolen jewelry from Shanghai and a dead policeman, wartime atrocities)

5,6, and 7 don’t appear to have ebook versions, so I’ve borrowed one from the internet archive. Now that I’m home, I can read my hard copy instead.

This series debuted in 1994 so no cell phones and definitely of its time. Bill is in love with Lydia before she starts reciprocating. The earliest books made me roll my eyes a bit because of that on this reread.

Lydia still lives with her mother in Chinatown. The mom’s a hoot, still trying to get Lydia to stop her embarrassing PI work and marry a nice Chinese man.

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June 2019 books: Marks, Demas, Pacat, Pocorobba

2019-09-15T01:48:02Z

Wow, has it been a while since I posted. Luckily, I've been posting about books I've read at fantasyliterature.com.

So pleased to be able to read Air Logic by Laurie R. Marks, the final book in her Shaftal/Sain series. Everyone in Shaftal has a particular logic strength: water, air, fire, or earth. Some people have 2. People with very strong leanings in one direction can have magical or almost superhuman powers. Air Logic focuses on that power of which the strong ones can tell truths from lies and compel truth from someone. Most were killed when the Sainnites invaded (think vikings). Norina, the last one, is now teaching several children who read as on the autism spectrum.

Meanwhile the rest of the characters from previous books are there–Karis, Zanja, Medric and Emil have their own stories to tell.

What attracted me to this series in the beginning, and that caused me to think about it well after I finished the first book, is that Karis and her family are trying to forge peace with the invader Sainnites. They’re not fostering rebellion or battles. Very different from most invasion stories!

I whipped through the Fence series by C.S. Pacat, Johanna the Mad, and Joanna LaFuente. Set at a boy’s boarding school, it focuses on the fencing club and the two new boys–one, the unacknowledged son of a master fencer whose acknowledged son is on the best junior team (at another school) and is expected to win the state championship, and another well-off scion, ignored by his father, who lost to the golden boy and is trying to get his mojo back. Some m-m romances/sex (off-screen) and a bunch of the hothouse emotions you get in a closed environment like a boarding school.

Non-genre memoir, The Fourth String by Janet Pocorobba. The story of an American woman who teaches English in Japan. She finds a Japanese woman who gives free lessons in the arts to foreigners and ends up staying 3 years, studying mostly the shamisen. Another hothouse emotion story with Pocorobba dealing with jealousy, uncertainty, imposter syndrome, etc. as well as the joy of mastering an instrument and managing in a foreign culture.

I think I finished in July, but started it in June…One Night in Boukos by A.J. Demas. A trade mission from Zash is hoping to arrange a trade agreement with Boukos, a city-state in a quasi-Roman or Greek culture. Zash is more Persian in nature and both cultures find the others difficult to deal with. The ambassador disappears into the city on a wild festival night. His secretary Bedar, a eunuch, and the guard captain, Marzana, decide to find him. As they find out some unhappy things about their boss, and meet some interesting people, the hunt goes awry. It’s a lot of fun. I’ve already bought the author’s other book and signed up for some short stories.

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NYT Bestsellers when I was born

2019-05-26T01:04:43Z

A meme is going around to see what books were on the NYT bestsellers list the week you were born. Do you recognize any of the authors? Have you read any of the books?

1 VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, by Jacqueline Susann. (Random House.)
2 THE ADVENTURERS, by Harold Robbins. (Trident Press.)
3 TAI-PAN, by James Clavell. (Atheneum.)
4 THE SOURCE, by James Michener. (Random House.)
5 THE DETECTIVE, by Roderick Thorp. (Dial Press.)
6 TELL NO MAN, by Adela Rogers St. Johns. (Doubleday and Company.)
7 THE DOUBLE IMAGE, by Helen MacInnes. (Harcourt, Brace and World.)
8 GILES GOAT BOY, by John Barth. (Doubleday and Company.)
9 THE KREMLIN LETTER, by Noel Behn. (Simon and Schuster.)
10 THE EMBEZZLER, by Louis Auchincloss. (Houghton Mifflin Company.)

I haven't heard of Thorp, St. Johns, or Behn. I've read Shogun but not Tai-Pan.

Meanwhile, according to ISFDB, the SF books published that month include

Fantastic Voyage
Victory on Janus

and lots and lots of reprints!

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May 2019 books: Roanhorse, Duane, Davis, Turner, Lee and Miller

2019-05-26T00:19:20Z

So I did read Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse first. It took a bit because I wasn't sure if I was up to the high level of violence. When I started, I fell right in. Maggie gets called in to help investigate a cult leader, 'White Locust." That goes bad...of course, and she ends up mentor to a girl who clan powers (speed, tracking). There's a kidnapping as well. The setting is still great. We get to see a bit of what it looks like outside the wall / off the rez--it's not good. Where's the next book??

Diane Duane has released the second novella in the Tale of the Five, The Landlady, during her run-up to finishing/releasing The Door into Starlight. This one focuses on Segnbora and her new duties as head of her family. Meanwhile there's several kids and at least two locations for the large, polyamorous household.

I then read another novella (I think) by Lindsey Davis called Vesuvius by Night. I'm actually sorry that I read this. I didn't feel it was up to her usual standard, and, as you might imagine, it's not a happy ending. The main character is related to Falco.

A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner was next. In this book, Sophos, the heir to Sounis, is kidnapped during a civil war. He has to decide whether to stay where he ends up, somewhat happy, or try to take the kingdom from the rebels.

Sharon Lee and Steve Miller put out a second novella/novelette, "Shout of Honor". It's a side story with characters whose story they thought could be told in the novels, but there just wasn't quite room. It involves an Xtrang ambassador and a mercenary captain. Quite good!

I'm currently reading Thick as Thieves.

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