melita's booklog - mostly

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? 

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.