melita66: (Default)
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.
melita66: (raven)
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.

melita66: (AK blue)
 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. 
melita66: (raven)
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.
melita66: (Default)
So two odd months later...

I read books 3 and 4 of Rosemary Kirstein's Steerswoman series: The Lost Steersman and The Language of Power. It continues to enthrall, and I *really* want book 5. Rowan continues to hunt for answers which is leading her to a greater understanding of her world and the 'wizards'. 

I read an advanced review copy of By Demons Possessed by P.C. Hodgell. I am amazed at how these books just flow together. It will be very interesting when the series finishes to go and read the entire saga of Jamethiel. 

Based on a recommendation, I picked up E.E. Ottoman's The Craft of Love about a silversmith who meets and falls in love with a seamstress. Both own their own businesses. Historical fiction. 

I next read The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie. It was very interesting although I didn't glom onto any of the characters like I have in her other books. It's patterned after Hamlet and a Norse saga. The characters aren't straight out of the play, but you can figure out the analogues. There's also a big rock. A sentient rock which can do magic in a limited fashion, maybe. 

Sharon Lee and Steve Miller put out a chapbook, Fortune's Favors. It's mostly a novella about a "Luck" who finds his way to a Low Port establishment (orphanage) that we've seen before. In addition, there's a short story about Daav, Aelliana, and Kamele. Yeeeee!!!!

I then ripped through The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner. Twisty and turny with marvelous characters. I'm both dreading and looking forward to the publication of the last book in the series in August 2020--The Return of the Thief. I'm now debating between A Conspiracy of Kings and Thick as Thieves OR A Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse. Hmmm. 

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