This week I read the new (tenth) Rivers of London book, Stone and Sky. It gave me interesting thoughts about series books, among them how happy I was that our series are three books and not ten, which is not a criticism of Stone and Sky. I’ll pretty much read whatever Abramovitch writes.
What did you read this week?
Jennifer Crusie is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author and co-author of twenty-three novels, one book of literary criticism, miscellaneous articles, essays, novellas, and short stories, and the editor of three essay anthologies. She lives in a cottage in Pennsylvania, where she often stares at the ceiling and counts her blessings.
Find out more about Jenny’s published works by visiting JennyCrusie.com
196 Responses
I’m still happily immersed in Murderbot, but I have a question. A friend of a friend is trying to support her granddaughter, aged 11, and asked me if I could recommend books on women’s studies for her. She’s very bright but struggling with serious mental health problems, including suicidal thoughts. She also shows a lot of talent as a writer, and is mixed race in a pretty white environment. Can any of you suggest books she might connect with?
I read “With the fire on high” by Elizabeth Acevedo about a Puerto Rican girl in high school who had gotten pregnant and because she is a talented chef makes it through high school with better life choices. It may be too old for her. But I thought of the way she turned her life around.
I think of women’s studies more as a college level discipline, although I have seen a few women in history books aimed at middle grade – is that the sort of thing you’re looking for?
In terms of fiction, maybe “Abeni’s Song” by P. Djèlí Clark (2023) is excellent African inspired middle-grade fantasy adventure about a reluctant magic apprentice and the stolen villagers she sets out to save.
I too liked Abeni. There’s a sequel to Abeni’s Song now, btw.
Ooh good to know! Had missed that.
Also, I just remembered when I was 10-11 I read a beautiful series called “Tales from around the world ” I read them so fast! I can’t recall the author. They were mostly fairy tales but each was a popular story from a different country. Maybe she would like that?
Vanya and the Wild Hunt by Sangu Mandanna is a pretty great YA story. It’s a fantasy where the protagonist is a young girl who gets introduced to a magical world/school.
The Circle of Magic series by Tamora Pierce was my first instance of having an lgbtq+ character in a book. As a young person being raised very Catholic, it was pretty formative for me. Her Defender of the Small series or Lioness Rampant might be a better fit for the gender studies dialog, but Circle of Magic has Bipoc characters… Pierce can get a little dark, but I really like her work. And I guess I always found fantasy and magic to sit with me better as metaphors for hard things in life than the more literary approaches. My husband calls it Misery Porn.
Lupe, I was going to suggest Pierce’s work, too! The Alanna/Tortall series is excellent, with a heroine about the same age as Jane’s granddaughter.
Yes! Pierce is a perennial favorite.
I think that just loading her up with lots of options is a good choice, and don’t be too worried about sticking to the right age group. A little lower and easier is fine, if the story is good and she enjoys it. A little harder and she will rise to the occasion.
The warriors series and Mercy Watson, a crime-solving pig were both very popular with the middle grade set when I was working at the library. Manga has been steadily growing in popularity and the art can be so good… Kate DiCamillo has some magical realism style books… I could list forever.
Oh! I listened to Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M. Montgomery over and over. Oddly enough I never read her other, more famous books.
And Lynn Reid Banks. Indian in the Cupboard, The Fairy Rebel and The Farthest Away Mountain.
A Hidden Magic and The Search for Delicious by Natalie Babbitt
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine… Childhood memories unlocked. Lol. I also had a full cast recording of The Lord of the Rings that got quite a work out.
Mollie adored Tamora Price when she was about that age.
I asked my girlfriends at work, one of whom was a middle school librarian for a while. The first series recommended was The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann. In it, children are sorted between Wanted and Unwanted, and the Unwanteds find they are encouraged to learn to use their creative talents in magical ways.
I’ll post the other rec when I get it (she has to look it up, but it is about a mixed race family in New York.)
My granddaughter loved Louise Rennison’s stories about characters Georgia Nicholson & Talulah Casey. I think the first book is Angus, Thongs & Full-Frontal Snogging.
They are funny books & I think they showed my granddaughter that everyone feels awkward sometimes.
Thanks, everyone!
Jane, I have no suggestions about the suicidal thoughts or mental health issues, which are the scarier problems. Unless it would help to realize that lots of other girls are trying to find their place in an often unfriendly mostly white environment, a situation that many books address.
There are a huge number of fantasy series, and a number of sf series, featuring mixed-race girls, either MG ones or YA ones suitable for a bright 11-year old. I myself recently discussed Kelly Jones, Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer, 2015, which has sequels unseen by me. The heroine of Jack Campbell, In Our Stars, 2024 and sequel is very visibly mixed race and has faced much prejudice because of it. As I discussed when I reviewed it here in February, those books seem to be YA, but certainly would be accessible for a bright 11-year old. Those Campbell books do eventually allude positively to premarital sex (no sex scenes), and to a third character who had been forced into an abusive child bride marriage (non-graphic description following her rescue, which happens almost immediately) which might be a problem for a reader that young or for her parents.
Clarification: Editing error left too many those’es in. Campbell books are YA. Jones books are explicitly MG.
Not an expert in kid-lit, but what about Terry Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching series?
Oh, yes. My grandkids were all over those.
Anything (or everything) by Madeleine L’Engle. ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ of course but ‘The Moon by Night’ also comes to mind.
‘The Velvet Room’ by Zilpha Keatley Snyder.
‘The Good Master’ by Kate Seredy.
‘The Trumpet of the Swan’ by E.B. White, also ‘Charlotte’s Web.’
‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull’ by Richard Bach.
These are all older books and not overtly about women’s studies or mental health, but I personally found them all mentally and emotionally supportive during an adolescence spent in a place I didn’t want to be.
Oh my, I loved The Velvet Room as a pre-teen. I hadn’t thought of it in years.
I love Richard Bach. & the story of him as an author is funny. He was going across the country in his biplane stopping everywhere & selling rides. He called his publisher & his publisher was like – Richard have you checked your bank balance lately. Jonathon Livingston Seagull & Illusions are best sellers. There are tv shows that want to interview you – etc.
He was a best seller & he didn’t even know it.
Or” The Young Unicorns” by L’Engle. Reading it made me feel so grown up.
yes!
No recommendations. Speaking of Murderbot:
From Reactor Magazine.
And! Season 2 is a go!
Prayers for your granddaughter’s friend. The misfits by Lisa Yee there are two of them and they’re funny. Several mixed race characters.
Brown girl, dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson.
Full Cicada Moon by Marilyn Hilton. (Loved this one)
This was the other series that was recommended
https://www.goodreads.com/series/216643-the-vanderbeekers
One last rec from my friend the middle school librarian. “if she’s a writer “The School Story” by Andrew Clements is a fun one about two girls who publish a book under a pseudonym”
The Rick Riordan Presents-imprint has a lot of MG and some YA with either mixed race or second generation immigrant kids. They often have to do with the myths and legends corresponding with the culture the kid or their family comes from. I have not read them all, but I’ve absolutely loved the ones I have picked up and I’m sure I would have at her age.
The Pandava-series by Roshani Chokshi, starting with “Aru Shah and the End of Time”
Stormrunner by J.C. Cervantes, starting with The Stormrunner
The Sal & Gabi-books by Carlos Hernandez, starting with “Sal and Gabi Break the Universe”
Graci Kim has two great series of which one is done and the other just started: The Gifted Clans-series, starting with “The Last Fallen Star”, and Dreamslinger, first book has same title as the series and was released earlier this year.
The Winston Q-series by Stacey Lee, starting with “Winston Q and the Whimsies”
The Thousand Worlds-series by Yoon Ha Lee, starting with Dragon Pearl
Tristan Strong-series by Kwame Mbalia, starting with “Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky”
There are many more, but these are the ones I’ve read so far.
Not all these books have female MCs, but most do. There are always strong women in the books, independent, intelligent and often funny. They are delightful reads full of hope, and love, and community.
I think the Riordan Presents books are fun and it’s great to see fantasies that draw from a different mythology.
While it’s not exactly what you’re looking for, when I was a 10-11 year old girl struggling with mental health problems (and a mixed-race child in a white environment) I remember most connecting with Diana Wynne Jones and Terry Pratchett. Neither of them touch on women’s studies, but I’d argue Terry Pratchett is a master of human studies.
What about nonfiction with heroines?
Having our say, about the Delaney sisters who had impressive professional careers as black women and lived to be centenarians ? It’s not a children’s book but I think it would be accessible and talk about barriers but not be too grim. A children’s biography of Harriet Tubman or Sojiurner Truth or the lawyer Constance Baker or Rosa Parked ? And there were a series of fictionalized biographies of young princesses at least one of which was a black queen.
I would go to the African American Museum website and see if any books there seem appropriate.
For middle grade with Black girl characters by Black women authors, I really liked Renée Watson’s Some Places More Than Others (contemporary realistic, with a girl visiting family she doesn’t know in Harlem) and Dhonielle Clayton’s The Marvellers (girl goes to a magical school as the first student with conjure magic.) I also love Kim Baker’s The Water Bears, written about a bicultural Latino boy dealing with trauma by a bicultural Latina author. Let me know if you’d like more suggestions (I’m a former children’s librarian turned middle grade author.)
Thank you again to everyone who’s made suggestions. My friend is bowled over – she’s going to study them all and pass on those that seem the best fit to her granddaughter.
I am Malala? Some of it is from, but it is untimely about hope, Resilience, feminism, and agency I think.
Long time lurker etc. she might really connect with Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed. I read it with my banned book club of teachers and we all thought it was a must read for teenagers.
“Three misfits come together to avenge the rape of a fellow classmate and trigger a change in the misogynist culture at their high school transforming the lives of everyone around them in this searing and timely story.
Who are the Nowhere Girls?
They’re everygirl. But they start with just three.”
It is darker, than other books suggested but shows the strength females have when they share and work together. And how not alone you actually are. Since she’s 11, it might be something grandma and mom might want to read at the same time as her.
If she’s okay with a little bit of scary, the Spirit Hunters series by Ellen Oh is fantastic. The best thing about middle grade horror is that the kids, and there’s usually a mix of kids, have to face their fears but they overcome. The kids always win. Bad things happen and the adults don’t always listen but the kids band together and beat the monster.
Anything by Octavia Butler
I’m now onto ‘Dogs & Goddesses’ written by your good self, I’ll have soon have run out of books to read, well yours and yours and Bobs collaborations. Shall then wait patiently – she says, never been patient in my life for your next release. I do have quite a back log of books to keep me company till that happens. Just not sure what to start with lol,
I really like short series of books – like a trilogy or the pentalogy form that Rick Riordan seems to prefer (5x Percy Jackson, 5x Heroes of Olympus, 5x Apollo etc.): especially for kids/teens/ young readers that just got into reading, having a follow-up reading material is key. My oldest got hooked on some middle grade/YA series and almost inhaled those books.
It’s the same with his mom: if I love a book it’s lcomforting and sooooso nice to stay in the same universe.
However, having a series grow into more books than 3 or 5 can become difficult to pull off.
Example: the Harry Dresden series. Jim Butcher seems to have planned an arch of ca 20 books to the series (I could be wrong). Yet, it’s asking a lot of the writer to stick to such a length. Life may intervene (it did). The author might loose interest. The publisher might loose interest (and the readers don’t approve of loose threads). I definitely lost interest and after spoiling myself on the newer books decided I don’t want to develop a dislike of one of my fav characters by the new trajectory of the newer stories.
Sometimes the author(s) just keep on writing in spite of not having planned a longer series. The Puckboy series by James/Finley seems to have been intended to stop after book 6. But they are very popular, so the authors keep on writing. To me, book 7 felt like the authors went through the motions, the story felt tired, not cooked thoroughly, I kind of hated the unused potential there so much that I didn’t want to re-visit the universe for book 8 (only skimmed 8). Yet I’ll still watch out for 9 (out end of July). I tend to keep interested in series that I grew fond.
Actually, the books I read and listened to this week are also by James/Finley. The CU series is free until July 22 with my audible subscription. I’ve finished listening to book 3 and 4 in the series and am currently halfway through book 5 (and last one) of the series. I don’t like one of the two narrators but the other one is good enough to make me listen anyway. It’s a re-read and I found I like some of the books better the second time round (mainly thanks to Iggy Toma, the narrator).
Also by Eden Finley: Unspoken Vow (audible). One MC is a survivor of domestic abuse /nearly being killed by his ex. I liked it a lot (in spite of one less than ideal narrator – one I didn’t know yet) in spite of being a rather dark topic.
Jet lag is still kicking my ass, makes work far more difficult. And cuts into reading time.
Still on my tbr pile: Emmery Fox, Unrecognizable player and JJ Mulder, One Touch Pass. Also, I read the sample for Unloved by Peyton Corinne and found it intriguing (college: hockey player MMC, figure skater FMC, he’s suffering from PTSD after a traumatic incident on the ice, she’s struggling with a difficult family situation): interesting tone, not sugary, but focused on interesting hockey stuff.
And then there’s the books I brought back from Canada… one Sci-Fi for our mini book club, one summer romance and one fantasy.
I found the same with Kim Harrison’s Rachel Morgan’s series. When she wrapped it up nicely I was happy. Then she came back with this lit was a dream”, we’ll just continue on, I was done. I felt that was done in a “my next series isn’t doing well” kind of thing.
My apologies for the spell errors.
Yup. I actually bought the next one (the first on the new books) and haven’t bothered to read it. I guess I was done.
I feel the same way and I think she did too, until her next series didn’t do well and her publisher demanded more Hollows books
I don’t know anything about women’s studies books, whether for adults or suitable for a bright ll-year-old.
The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise
by Dan Gemeinhart is an excellent middle grade book about a girl and her dad, living in a bus and driving around the US. (I enjoyed it as an adult.) It might appeal to a girl who feels like she doesn’t fit in.
My friend writes a middle grade series about a girl who can converse with animals and her science-genius twin sister. The series has won many awards, and, speaking honestly, I enjoy reading them. The author is Carolyn Armstrong. The first in the series is At the Edge of the Ice. (It’s about polar bears, ringed seals and climate change.)
Finally, when I was about 11, I couldn’t find many good books in the middle grade shelves, so I began reading YA. Today’s YA is filled with many books suitable for 17-year-olds, but not 11-year-olds. At that young age, I discovered books by Tamora Pierce. She writes fantasies with strong teen girls kicking a**. Many of her main characters are magic users, but not all. There isn’t any on-page sex. There are a few pre-sex scenes, but only a few and those don’t get either hot or graphic. Suitable, IMO, for tweens.
I was just thinking about Tamora Pierce. Highly recommended for young women of any age. Also old women.
Pierce’s “Magic in the Weaving” (1998) might be good – about a group of four orphans who become friends at a school for magic. At least one of the four is a person of color (Daja) and none of them really fit in. There are three sequels in the original set, and another four when they’re a bit older.
Haha, I should have read farther before replying above. We are all on the same page with Pierce. I think Briar in that series is brown, maybe middle eastern descent (or the magical universe equivalent.)
Really I think that an abundance of good books is always helpful, even if the themes aren’t specifically what the reader is looking for.
I also loved Sherwood Smith and Patricia C. Wrede. Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson may be a little too old, but there isn’t anything overly graphic or inappropriate…
Jerry Spinelli has some good stuff too, even though it may be somewhat outdate. He was writing in the 80s and 90s, so no cell phones and such.
I’m going back to the previous book in the Rivers of London series — so much time between releases I’d forgotten the details — before starting the new one. I agree, I’ll read anything that Ben Aaronovitch writes, although the graphic novels aren’t very satisfying.
There were a few references in Stone and Sky to the previous story (?) that made me feel like I’d missed an installment… I was listening to the audiobook, so maybe I wasn’t paying attention? I don’t remember anything about them being in Wales, for example.
I started and DNF a book recommended by many here which just wasn’t my cup of tea (The Retired Assassin’s Guide to Country Gardening). I’m at the end of a disappointing new book from one of my favorite British authors, Freya Sampson. The Busybody Book Club turned out to be slow-moving and I didn’t connect with any of the main characters. It was supposed to be charming, but it didn’t charm me. I’m going to finish it (it’s a mystery, and I want to find out the answer, and I REALLY want to see if the main protagonist dumps her stoopid boyfriend and his horrible parents), but just barely.
After this I’m going to reread Rest in Pink, because I need something I know I’ll enjoy.
Funny, I’m working on The Retired Assassin’s Guide to Country Gardening now. Hasn’t hooked me deeply yet but I’m only 16% in. Mind if I ask what didn’t click for you?
I can’t speak for the others, and I don’t know how far they got, but I can certainly see why they couldn’t get into it. The first half a dozen chapters I wasn’t into it either, but once the other characters started getting more play, and the paranormal elements started showing up, I started to enjoy it a lot more.
Agreed – slow start, but once Eleanor’s chapters started I enjoyed it more.
Best thing I read this week was “The Last Hour Between Worlds” by Melissa Caruso. Great concept and very quick clear world-building – a New Year’s party falling through beautifully weird layers of reality. The characters are vivid, I really liked the FMC, so brilliant to have a mother two months after childbirth be the kick-ass hero and she’s on leave ffs. Nice f/f sub-plot and some great characters I’d be happy to see again. Thanks to Jeanine for the recc.
“Kitemaster” by Jim Hines, is a change from his LOL humor. It’s a coming of age fantasy with inventive and beautiful world-building, from the spirit kites to the cloud serpents, and the dragons who eat meteors, all of which I loved. Driving the plot is newbie Kitemaster Nial, a young widow caught up in royal and military affairs. Very much liked the way the book handled grief and family, and the story telling was sweet in a lot of ways despite the dark aspects to this world. Borderline YA; no romance. Well worth reading.
“Miss Kopp’s Midnight Confessions” by Amy Stewart is #3 in her series about real life Constance Kopp, deputy sheriff in 1916 New Jersey. As always, Stewart weaves fact and fiction beautifully, focusing on the fate of young women who want more than a traditional life, rather than any particular mystery. Appalling to realize that young women could be sent to a reformatory for illegal co-habitation, or being wayward: the freedoms we take for granted are really very recent. Solid story with some engaging side characters. Will continue with the series.
Yuri, Frustratingly, local libraries have not picked up Kitemaster, possibly because it’s from a small publisher. Perhaps I’ll put in a request. That or buy it. We’ll see.
I hadn’t noticed it was by a different publisher. Maybe because it’s a different style?
I saw Jim C. Hines at ConFusion in January and he said basically because it was so different from his usual stuff none of his usual publishers were interested, and since it couldn’t really be presented in an elevator pitch he couldn’t find any regular publishers interested at all.
A young widow who can control the winds has adventures on a skyship and talks to dragons? Seriously, publishers weren’t interested in that?
I’m a friend of Jim’s (although we’ve alas never met in person) and I got to read Kitemaster early for review purposes. It completely blew me away. SO good.
I’m trying to remember what I read as a tween. I think I had moved on from Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys to fantasy. I recall The Riddlemaster of Hed, and I know I gobbled up the Deryni series by Katherine Kurtz. (I don’t know that they stand up to rereading, and there are very few female characters, but apparently I loved the adventures of Morgan and Duncan.) Sorry I can’t be of more help.
I finished up Irresistible by Mary Balogh, which had a satisfying ending. I then re-picked up Mr Darcy takes a Wife, a “continuation” of Pride and Prejudice. This time, the language and style are not as off-putting as they were the last time I tried to read it a few weeks ago. It starts after the engagements of Jane and Elizabeth, but before the actual marriage. “Old married woman” Lydia comes home to give her older sisters her considerable knowledge of what happens between a man and a woman, much to their dismay. And we get a picture of the shared youth of Darcy and Wickham. So far, there is nothing too revelatory or stunning.
It’s funny, but I generally have a mental picture of the characters of a book, usually plucked from clues the author gives. This time, it’s all Colin Firth.
And I just remembered my fascination with Anne McCaffrey and her dragons. The Harper Hall trilogy is focused on a young girl coming into her own, realizing her talents with music. (I would not recommend the original trilogy for a young woman as there are some misogynistic things going on in there.)
I still love the Harper Hall trilogy
And anything by Tamors, Pearce
I seem to recall some sexual harrassment, or even outright sexual assault(?), in McCaffrey, so if that’s the case, I definitely would not recommend that book or books to this young girl. Maybe someone who has read them recently can confirm or deny. On a similar topic, I remember re-reading an Elizabeth Moon sci fi book recently and was shocked to find fairly graphic description of ongoing sexual batteries against multiple women which I had not recalled. I was really sorry that I had re-read the book, and now I’m afraid to look at any others of hers at the moment. Which is sad because I did/do enjoy her other books.
I should specify that the Moon was a much older book and my tolerance for such things has greatly changed over time and with cultural change. Stuff I could read with impunity, I can no longer tolerate. YMMV.
McCaffrey varies – there is sexual assault / dubious consent in “Dragonflight” (1968) and “Dragonquest” (1971), but by the time we get to “Dragonsong” (1976) which is the first book about Menolly and “Dragonsinger” (1978) that has pretty much gone. I read all of them when I was 11 😉
That said, Menolly is being pushed to limit her self in gender appropriate roles and breaking out of those expectations is a major theme of the books.
Was there also something with Lessa btw? It’s been decades since I read, so not sure.
I’m just asking because I’m wondering if I want to reread or stay away. Thanks.
Lessa in “Dragonflight” and Brekke in “Dragonquest”, although Lessa is such a dominant personality I don’t notice it as much. This is back when “forced seduction” was the way one got around women characters enjoying sex without being morally repellent. So McCaffrey made the riders subject to the dragon’s sex drives – pretty much overrides any notions of consent.
It doesn’t read well to modern readers, but I still think there’s a lot of interesting gender stuff going on in these books. Lessa survives the massacre of her family, hides as a drudge for years, achieves her revenge only to discover that there is a much bigger world out there. The dragon Weyrs are much more sexually permissive, including of m/m relationships, the result of bonding male riders to female dragons, although it also leans into some unfortunate stereotypes at times. There’s the contrast between the Holders and the Weyrs, and between the much freer women from 400 years ago, versus the ways people try to limit Lessa’s actions – without much success. And the contrast with “Nerilka’s Story”, which shows a much more traditional type of feminine strength and started me on my love of plague stories.
Still wouldn’t hand the series to someone cold. Pity because they’re still some of the best dragon characters I’ve read.
I read the final book in Nicky James’ Valor and Doyle series, from the Two Guys Solving Cases and Falling in Love genre, except they’re already in love at this point, married and expecting a child through surrogate. It was a bit saccharine. The really interesting part was the afterward by the author who wrote that she lost a child many years ago and so has avoided any books about children or pregnancy, with children, etc. so this book posed a unique challenge for her because she felt her MC’s deserved this kind of happy ending. She talks about the difficulties of pushing through the writing. It kind of deserved its own short story.
I read two books in Josh Lanyon’s Secrets and Scrabble series, another TGSCaFIL. It’s a cozy series which as far as I can tell at least in this case means it takes place in a small town and there’s no on page sex. And it generally lacks Lanyon’s edginess. I’m continuing on with the series because I like the MC, and there are occasional sightings of Lanyon’s uniqueness, but unlikely to be one of my favourites. Am thinking it’s time to reread the Adrien English, Fair Game or Art of Murder series.
I’m also listening to the new Rivers of London book; more on that next week.
Was that “Matrimonial Merriment”? I felt the Valor & Doyle series lost steam after book 3, which is where I suspect the original arc ended. However I really liked how the friendship between Ruiz and Quaid developed in the later books.
Yes it was Matrimonial Merriment. And the friendship between Ruiz and Quaid continues to develop in this book and I quite liked it.
I reread Lights Out by Navessa Allen because I don’t know why exactly but it served its purpose.
I am currently rereading Ward Against Death (Chronicles of a Reluctant Necromancer book 1) by Melanie Card.
Ward D’Ath reanimates an assassin and adventure with romantic undertones ensues.
I have three books, and I remember that when I finished reading them however long ago, I really missed the characters. I’m not sure if the series stopped at 3, or if I just couldn’t afford more books at the time. I’ll find out later.
I really enjoyed the first 60 percent of Lights Out. I thought the premise was interesting and the characters were distinct and fun. Then I hit the Big Misunderstanding and wandered off. Why are authors still using this? Argh.
I started reading The Last Second Chance by Lucy Score and set it aside after about a third. I may eventually go back to it. After setting that aside I re-read Lisa Kleypas’ Bow Street Runner series, Someone to Watch Over Me, Lady Sophia’s Lover, and Worth Any Price. Loved the first one again but the next two were just okay. Then I re-read a couple of older Linda Howard books and A Skyful of Miracles by Kim Cates, a definite comfort read.
Speaking of Lisa Kleypas, does anyone know what has happened to her? She hasn’t had a new release in years. I haven’t seen anything from her since 2020’s Chasing Cassandra.
Not sure if anyone has anything more recent, but there’s a reddit thread from two years that reports “I reached out to Eloisa [James] on instagram and she said that Lisa moved to another state and because of that she took a break from writing for a while but apparently is now working on her new book and all is well (Eloisa’s words).”
Yuri, thanks!!
Elizabeth Hoyt hasn’t released anything since covid, I don’t think and she was one of my go tos. I think that aside from Bridgerton, the taste for historicals has dwindled significantly. I know CM Nascosta loves them and was excited to try out her own version, but has paused because they didn’t sell well. I have read almost everything by her and I have to admit that I wasn’t particularly interested in starting those. I don’t know why. Oversaturated market? World got too hard and regency problems feel to fluffy?
Lupe, now that you mention it, I haven’t seen anything new from Elizabeth Hoyt either. I also loved the contemporaries she wrote as Julia Harper, Hot, For the Love of Pete, and Once and Always. I know they didn’t get great reviews but I enjoyed them and now I want to pull them out and read again.
Elizabeth Hoyt had a book come out last December
I’ve seen a lot of discussion about how few good historicals there are around. Maybe they aren’t selling because they all became too wallpapery and lost their distinctiveness?
Although I’ve read good historical romances from KJ Charles, Cat Sebastian, and Julie Anne Long published in the last three years and from Mary Balogh, Joanna Chambers, Evie Dunmore, Alexis Hall, Rose Lerner, Jeannie Lin, Courtney Milan, Mia Vincy, and Olivia Waite in the last five. Plus, I see quite a lot of historical romances on the new book shelves at the library so they can’t be selling too badly!
Perhaps not as well as romantasy, but that trend is beginning to feel a bit over-saturated?
Have you tried Loretta Chase? Almost all are winners for me.
Oops, somehow I missed her off my list. The last thing I read by her was 2020’s “Ten Things I Hate About the Duke” which I rather liked 🙂
Starting with audio this week as I’ve been having a lot of success.
Firstly, to Josh Lanyon’s Holmes and Moriarity. I had read the first 2 in the series but the cost of the third had put me off but as I was using audible credits before cancelling I got ‘Boy with a Painful Tattoo’. I was in for a surprise when it started… with the voice of Murderbot 🤣. Yes, Kevin R free reads it! It only took a minute to shake the Murderbot feelings, he does a really fab job as Kit Holmes. The book is really funny (enhanced by the reader I think) so after zooming through that I went back and listened to the first again and enjoyed it once more, enhanced by the great reader.
Running low on Spotify hours I picked a shorter Josh Lanyon ‘A Vintage Affair’ set in an antebellum mansion in Georgia. Unsurprisingly it is MM crime, but the crime element isn’t explored much, so it is mostly a romance, MC1 is a wine expert, while MC2 isn’t Josh’s usual type as he’s both bisexual and promiscuous. I enjoyed it, it felt somewhat rushed at the end, but the writing is good and the reader did a nice job and I loved hearing the Southern US accents (they sounded good to me but I wouldn’t be an expert).
Finally on audio, I am listening to ‘The Goblin Emperor’ Katherine Addison, which has been much recommended here. I love it and I have been listening at every opportunity. The politics are intriguing and the characters great, though it has to be said I can’t keep track of the names and so am just going with the flow.
On paper I have taken a break from Romance and gone back to Dorothy Dunnet’s ‘Pawn in Frankincense’, the fourth of the Lymond chronicles. The first half whizzes through France and the Barbary coast and most of the rest is in Constantinople /Istanbul). The plotting is great, I’ve been surprised a lot, descriptions and settings are fab, and Phillippa’s role is more significant than in the previous ones. It is densely written, and I take occasional breaks to read something else , especially if anticipating some high drama.
I am also reading ‘The Aerodynamics of Pork’ an early Patrick Gale. I am enjoying the 80s setting (contemporary when it was written) and the cast of characters and places (London and Cornwall). Definitely not his best but enough in it to make it worth reading.
Yes, the audio version of Holmes and Moriarty is really good and I agree the humor comes out specially well in the audio version. I read the last book in the series (she’s currently working on one more to finish out the series) and I didn’t care of it that much. It occurred to me that perhaps I’d have liked it better if I’d listened to it! When I do my next Holmes and Moriarty reread — as I am sure I will do — I might opt to listen to that last one and see if I like it better.
I’m definitely going to listen to the last one, I’m converted!
Speaking of Dorothy Dunnett, she also wrote a fun modern day spy/mystery series starring Johnson Johnson. Hard to find now though. Will have to see if I can track them down again.
I found them on overdrive (libby)!
Ooo! Will go to look! Thanks.
Sadly not available to me on Libby. Ugh.
I finally finished Judi Dench, Shakespeare: the man who pays the rent. It took me so long I had to renew it twice! I loved it, but I could not read very much of it at one time.
This week included a partial Penric and Desdemona reread, and all Caluen all the time as I try to finish all the 22 books I bought in the Smashwords sale before I go buy some more in this sale. Thank you, Chacha1, for giving me this universe to wallow in. Also, you write such good cats. I chanced to read several in a row that had cats, and I swear I could feel them under my hand.
DNFd a couple of promising romances where the MC s were just sort of…there. Nice setup, and then nothing.
Mary Anne, that’s happened to me with the last couple of romances I tried to read. The MCs just felt flat or something.
I think I may DNF Lily Chu’s Drop Dead, where the characters are anything but flat, but the plot, so far, is tiresome. Getting picky in my old age. I pick it up and read a little and it sucks me in for a while, and then I start asking “But why? Why are we doing this? Can we get on with it?”
I wonder if having sixty years of rereads to savor has anything to do with it. Very little of my collection has been visited by the Suck Fairy. (Although I was trying to reread Dickson’s George and the Dragon and the paper has browned so much that the lack of contrast between brown paper and black print had me putting it back on the shelf.)
That is a problem with ancient paperbacks.
And somehow the print shrinks while they sit on the shelf!
And the paper of some paperbacks have become so brittle that it’s difficult to read.
Besides the print size and the brittle brown paper, the pages can come loose, individually or with large chunks detaching from the cover. An expert in old paperbacks said that Elmer’s Glue is good enough for such books, with not much longer to live anyhow. One of several glues that will damage paper less is reportedly Elmer’s Craft Bond.
Rubber bands. Some of my Heinlein and a few of my Robin McKinleys are held together with rubber bands and when I read them I pick up the pages one at a time and transfer them to a stack beside me.
I like the fact that the pages only drop out of ‘perfect bound’ books.
I spent my childhood reading second hand copies of books from the 1880s and 90s, where the page corner would crack off as you turned them, so that aspect of aging paper is long familiar to me. Those have not gotten any browner or more brittle in the last sixty years, though.
Deborah, I started life so near-sighted that print does not shrink for me, especially post cataract surgery.
Books of that age still had some rag content, as I understand. I have a few old books with more rag content where the pages are practically white. It’s the chemicals used to process wood pulp that mostly make paper age, as I understand it. The librarians here could explain in detail. Hence the modern turn to acid free paper for any book meant to last for a long time.
Drop dead was a DNF for me. I was sorry as I’d really liked the first two Lily Chu (Film stars and K Pop), I wasn’t so keen on the 3rd (corporate change, felt too much like work!) and never got into Drop Dead.
I felt much the same, Frozen.
Thank you! Now I need to write another cat, LOL.
Please!
Saggy middle problem seems to be rampant. I dnf a lot. Sometimes it is me, but I do usually think it is the books.
Well, so far I haven’t even gotten to the middle. The plot just doesn’t appeal to me at all.
Things were very busy here this week so I was only able to read two books after I DNF’d “The Assassin’s Guide to Country Gardening.” I was probably in the wrong frame of mind when I picked it up and I might try it again because I know so many people here really enjoyed it.
Kill Your Darlings by Josh Lanyon: M/M story that is a variation on 2-guys-investigating-and-falling-in-love. One MC is a writer and former cop, the other is his editor. Lanyon remains the queen of “feels” for me and this one didn’t disappoint. The setting is a writer’s conference on the California coast and there are cameo appearances by some of the MCs from previous books; the story stands on its own but it was nice to be able to check in with characters from previous books. I’m not sure the mystery story holds together or is particularly convincing but it was a fun read. Lanyon remains in my top 10 favorite authors list.
The Shots you Take by Rachel Reid: M/M second chance romance between former NHL teammates whose hockey careers took very different paths. There is some mental illness involved and I was a bit uncomfortable with the disparity the MC’s situations: one a future hockey hall of famer and there other…not. Still, it held together and while not her very best it was still pretty good.
I meant “The Retired Assassin’s Guide to Country Gardening”…
I just DNF’d that one too. Only made it about 4-5 chapters in. Meh.
I DNF’d The Shots You Take around 50%. Having spent 10 years getting over someone I wasn’t sure jumping back in was the best decision for the guy… but then it wouldn’t have been a second chance romance!
Yup. I agree. I had the same thought as I was reading it. As a result I totally didn’t get the “feels” at all from this story.
I’ve blasted through Barbara Monajem’s Lady Rosamund books and just started the novella last night.
I’m relistening to some Nalini Singh psy-changeling while I work this week. New book next week! I haven’t loved the last few, but am devoted to the series overall
LOL, I guess that means you enjoyed Lady Rosamund! :~))
I listened to the first two Holmes and Moriarity mysteries by Lanyon. As FrozenPond says, Kevin R Free does a wonderful job. I downloaded the third, but am ambivalent about starting it. Cozy isn’t my favorite flavor of Lanyon, but they aren’t terrible.
I dnfed Lights Out by Navessa Allen. I really liked parts of it, but the Big Misunderstanding was a disappointment and I didn’t care enough to get through it. I liked it better than Butcher and Blackbird and I may try the second in the series… Undecided.
Now I am at loose ends again. Too tired try to start anything new, too cranky to visit an old favorite. Bleh.
I think the third H&M is absolutely the most fun, so I’d say go for it. On the other hand, I know it is often good to take a break mid series.
Short stories?
I am reading / working through Bob Mayer’s book: The Green Beret Guide For Success – The Strategies of the Quiet Professionals. It is thought provoking and as such I am taking it slow.
Same goes for Living Abstinent written by Greysheeters Anonymous members. A chapter a day.
For pleasure & escape I am rereading Amanda Quick’s series Burning Cove. So far I have read: The Girl Who Knew Too Much, The Other Lady Vanishes, Tight Rope & Close Up. Just started The Lady Has A Past. 2 more to go after that.
For me Amanda Quick & Jayne Castle & Jayne Ann Krentz are always a much needed pleasurable escape for me.
That’s so funny because I was reading Burning Cove this week too. Am on book 6 now.
This week I read and finished Peace River Village by Christopher Amato. The story is about a grandmother who lives in a retirement community in Florida. Her granddaughter goes missing and she enlists the help of several residents who are retired police from many parts of the country. That’s because the town police believe her granddaughter to be a runaway and do not search for her. I hope this is the start of new series. The characters just bounce off each other.
Another book I have to finish by 12 tonight is Nightshade by Michael Connelly. This is a murder mystery that takes place on Catalina Island with a deputy sheriff that has been transferred from the mainland as punishment (cop politics). I hope, too, this is another series start by Michael Connelly. The reason I have to finish it today is because it will be put back on the e-shelf tomorrow because I forgot I had it and was notified that would happen. Only 80 pages to go.
I reread Maybe This Time, and enjoyed it very much. Jenny, I would read ten books about Rocky Start, or the Blues and the Porters, or The Goodnights and the Dempseys, or the Archer clan. Anything you write, or you and Bob write, really.
I also read The Path of the Hedge Witch, by Joanna van der Hoeven, thinking it was going to be a lot of new stuff, but it ended up being a review of the Pagan/Wiccan history and practice I already know. It does have several different grounding and centering exercises, and a guide to Hedge Riding, which I plan to try. The author is based in Suffolk, England, and some of the comments and guidelines she presents are based on country living and the plants and animals, there. It’s a good book for a solitary witch.
I had never heard the term ‘hedge riding’ before, Jan, so looked it up. Really interesting stuff.
As I predicted yesterday, I have no reading to report. I am almost through with several items, both fiction and non, so I should do better next week.
I did binge a lot of episodes of a YouTube nonfiction show, Max Miller’s _Tasting History_, in which he makes dishes from old or reconstructed recipes and provides historical context. I think I’ve watched all his Roman Empire ones (yes, I still probably think of the Roman Empire at least once a day, as males are said to) and possibly all the ones on recipes from the World Wars. (Miller for some reason seemed to think that chipped beef on toast is a lot more exotic than I do; you can or recently could even buy frozen chipped beef in white sauce, after all.) I’ve felt no urge to make anything he’s made in what I’ve seen, partly because of hard to find ingredients.
I remember my mother making chipped beef on toast when I was a kid and how much I despised it.
Agreed- chipped beef in white sauce not a fave of Mom’s Ohio cooking.
My Dad liked it even less in the navy when the meat had been out at sea too long.
My mother and grandmother also made what they called ‘dried beef gravy’. Same thing, and I loved it. Still do, but I wouldn’t make it, since I now know how bad gravy and salty dried beef are for you. Also I don’t cook anymore unless forced.
We had a much less polite name for it. Sh!t on a shingle. Bleh.
That’s what the military called it too.
I like chopped beef, but between its dubious healthiness and my iffy ability with white sauce, I haven’t had it in a long time, probably not since that readymade frozen package.
Chipped beef, not chopped!
White sauce is really easy. I bet you have a bad recipe. Of course, I like it better after you add other things which make it something else.
One of the things my mother insisted I learn was how to make a roux.
I didn’t read much at all. Too busy being sick and then doing my taxes. Ugh.
I must be years behind re the Rivers of London series. Must catch up…
Barbara, I feel your pain. I too am doing my taxes. One of my least favourite things, but at least it will all be over in a couple of days.
VARIATION ON A THEME Book 6 is up to chapter 80. Half done.
Rereading book 6 of the Vixen War Bride series. The real Dark Ones have arrived.
I finished season 3 of HOUSE.
I wonder how long it takes after terraforming for a planet to lose that new world smell? – from Freefall by Mark Stanley
Steven Brust is finishing up his Vlad Taltos fantasy series that started with Jhereg and was always planned as 18 books, one for each of the Houses of the Empire, (Jhereg, Yendi, Dzur, etc.) and one final book. It’s been 40 years in the writing and he’s now writing The Final Contract.
I personally spent the last two weeks in Milwaukee following my summer nationals routine of coach, eat, collapse, rinse and repeat.
I did read Stone and Sky over the last two days and quite enjoyed it.
Before I left someone (Yuri?) recommended a book by Carol Van Natta, but it was the third book in a series and the first book only sounded meh. But I saw she had also written something called Galactic Search and Rescue which sounded much better, so I read that and really liked it. That led to discovering another book by her called Cats of War, which of course I had to read, and it was also fun.
Yup I recc’d Carol Van Natta’s Central Galactic Concordance series. And yes I loved the crazy winged military cats in “Cats of War”.
Last count she had eight books and two novellas in this (very) loosely connected series and everything I’ve read has been good. Glad that someone else enjoys them 🙂
In case it of interest I just saw that most (all?) of Josh Lanyon’s book are 50% off on Smashwords at the moment.
Oooh thank you! I bought the rest of the Secrets and Scrabble series. Sadly, the one series I don’t own, the Fair Game series was not on here.
At least one Fair Game book is reduced in price on B&N as I speak.
I read the house of Frank. Good book, but not really my thing.
Then The Retired Assassins guide. The sequel will not be out until December. I really enjoyed it. I read the assistant to the villain and apprentice to the villain and the sequel to that will not be out for a while darn it. Looking for something to read tonight.
Still recovering (mostly my stamina) from a nasty virus that kicked my behind for a few weeks, so my reading was mostly comfort rereads. I just finished rereading the first three books by MCA Hogarth, Mindtouch, Mindline, and Dreamhearth.
Rouan, I wondered where you were. I hope you’re much better, now.
Jan, thanks for asking. Yes, I am doing a lot better now; it’s just taking a while to get my stamina back.
I’ve started rereading Grace Burrowes’ A Gentleman Fallen on Hard Times, the first in her historical mystery/romance series about an aristocratic “legitimized bastard” solder trying to rebuild his life after Waterloo, battling matchmakers and the damage his mind and body sustained in the war. I’m reading it in bed at night, as I’m an insomniac, and her sentences can be so challenging to untangle that I have hopes I’ll give up and go to sleep. However, the plot is interesting, I loved the twists and turns and gradual reveal of the Tragic Hero, and I enjoyed it enough on first read that I bought the second one, then stopped there for awhile but now I have to buy the third one.
But last night I realized that Sheila Simonson wrote the best historical novels since Georgette Heyer, and while Burrowes is decent, she’s no Sheila Simonson. Lady Elizabeth’s Comet and Bar Sinister have been on my bookshelf for many years. My sister and I both mourned when Simonson turned to writing modern mysteries.
I’ve never heard of Sheila Simonson — will definitely try something of hers.
Oh she is great! I like her modern detective novels too. She has I think 5 historicals.
I’ve never heard of her either, but the preview is terrific, so I’ve bought Bar Sinister.
I am reading “Relax, Dammit!” by Timothy Caufield. This is a non-fiction book about the myriad health decisions we make throughout a typical day. There are twin themes: we make a lot of decisions based on bad information or no information, and we aren’t perfectible. For example, have breakfast or don’t have breakfast. There is plenty of evidence that eating healthy meals is good for you, but no evidence that breakfast is especially important. If you hate eating breakfast, skip it and have a healthy lunch instead. Caufield is a professor of Health law at the University of Calgary, and he frequently writes about alt health/wellness scams. In this book, I particularly appreciate how he talks about conflicting studies and how the conclusion the scientist might draw from her own study could be quite different from what reaches the general public. He writes with some humour, but also a trace of compassion for people who are just trying to figure out what they should be doing for themselves and their families.
I finished listening to “Black Water Sister” by Zen Cho. I had read it previously, but i think I enjoyed listening to it even more. The audio version really highlighted the claustrophobic effect of a family where most are keeping secrets from each other out of a desire to protect and coccoon their loved ones. 21-year-old Jess and her family have moved from the US back to Malaysia because of medical bankruptcy. They are part of the Hokkien-speaking Chinese community in Malaysia. Jess is dragged into the spirit world of Daoist gods and ghosts when she is possessed by the ghost of her grandmother. Her grandmother was the medium of a god, the terrifying Black Water Sister. The god’s altar is in a garden shrine that is threatened by a new condo project. The condo project is backed by a very wealthy man with a gangster past that is maybe not so past. Grandmother wants to use Jess’s body to stop the destruction of the shrine. I highly recommend this book. I didn’t like Zen Cho’s “Sorcerer to the Crown” very much, but this book is compelling and original.
I’ve just started listening to “A Drop of Corruption” by Robert Jackson Bennett. This is a sequel to “The Tainted Cup.” It’s another fantasy-mystery featuring a pair of detectives who remind many of Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin. I’m liking it.
I’m so glad you liked Relax, Dammit! But small correction, re a common mistake.
Timothy Caulfield is a professor of health law at the Faculty of Law at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, not U of Calgary. (I worked in the faculty’s communications department for a while.)
Whoops! Sorry about the wrong University.
I loved Blackwater Sister too.
@JaneB: Lots of recommendations for YA and MG books in this post, but I don’t think anyone mentioned Kristine Cashore and her Graceling series. It could be a good read for a bright 11-year-old girl.
Thanks, Olga.
Several rereads this week, but only one worth mentioning: Mary Balogh’s Simply Love. As it is always the case when I first read the book years ago, I didn’t remember much of the story, so it read like new. It was a bit mushy, and I prefer a tighter narrative, but overall, it was a heartwarming historical romance.
I read R0cky Start! It has been sitting on my kindle since I got back from Italy, and I just hadn’t got around to it, but this week I did, and loved it to bits. I adore Poppy and Marley and the llamas and pretty much everything. Such a great build up, and a satisfying ending to the trilogy, so thank you Jenny and Bob. Now I need to go back to the beginning and reread the three books.
Also re-read Murderbot.
Apart from that, I had a lot of DNF this week. And I’m pissed off at Amazon, because they changed the cover of my digital copy of All Systems Red from one that I really liked to the movie tie-in, which I don’t like nearly as much and makes Murderbot far too human.
It’s creepy, the way they can reach into your Kindle and change things. Very stalker-ish.
They did that to me, too. Annoying.
That happened to my Nook version of All Systems Red. It is creepy and probably done bc if a new to series is looking for the book, the movie tie-in is on the cover. Still creepy. DH enjoyed the series and is looking forward to the season 2.
I wouldn’t mind so much if they asked. ‘Would you like the new cover?’ ‘No thanks.’
99 times out of 100 I am going to choose an original art cover over a movie tie-in. They’re just more interesting.
Absolutely!
Another reason to keep a copy of all e-books offline! At least it’s obvious, rather than when they “update” the actual text.
It’s amazing how much difference a cover makes – I have purchased new copies of books I already own to get the cover I want. It would actually be something publishers could monetize, an extra few cents for purchasers to chose their covers. E.g. I love some of the Magpie Lord foreign covers.
One year my Mother bought me a copy of my favorite book at a school book sale. I had read the library copy with illustrations by Tasha Tudor and the one they had at the book sale had been illustrated by someone who obviosly hadn’t red the book. The story was about a girl who was being used as an unpaid servant at a boarding school and never was given enough to eat. The illustrator drew her as a chubby child with round limbs and cheeks. It literally gave me a pain evey time I opened to an illustration.
I’ve been mostly watching Wimbledon and not reading much. I did read the three books in the Seana Kelly Sea Wicche series.
I finished #3 in Rivers of London on audiobook, now have to wait for #4 to come in at the library. Read several books for Disability Month. Am reading A River Enchanted by Rebecca Moss. I have 8 library books to read, 1 done and 1 in progress and I may have new holds come in any minute, eep.
It’s a rule of physics–they all come in at once.
Mine certainly did yesterday.
finished stone and sky at 3 am
recommend!
also use the elastic book binding method on old cruisie and aaronovitch books that i re-read often
Carnivorous, violent unicorns have claimed the majority of my reading-time this past week as I read further in the Skandar-series by A.F. Steadman. I bounced through book 3, “Skandar and the Chaos Trials”, and yes indeed very not nice things did in fact happen, as my gut-feeling suspected. In book 4, “Skandar and the Skeleton Curse”, the situation turned even worse and it really is quite dark right now. These books touch a lot on the subject of being different, of loneliness and what it does to you, of feeling misunderstood and not seen and unappreciated, and the lengths people go to to feel that they belong. Despite the tough subjects, there’s also a LOT of love and compassion and humour, and a great group of people being great to each other. I’m in awe of the narrator, who is not just able to remember everyone’s voices, but also everyone’s accents. He’s brilliant. Looking forward to book 5, which should be out at the end of August.
After the unicorns, I read “The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy” by Megan Bannen and I am not really sure what to think about it. Some parts were all right, but I had a bit of trouble connecting with the MCs, feeling more drawn to the other characters. The world is intriguing, but I’m a bit tired of the undead being the big threat (sorry Bob). Feels like all books circle around that right now. First kiss-scene was sweet and made me think of when Sven and I first met, but “the big misunderstanding” just didn’t sit right with me. I don’t know. Might have to let it sink in.
Not sure at all what to read next, so I’m gonna rewatch The Good Place, I think and hope to run into something readable in the coming days.
Shass, Your mention of carnivorous unicorns put me in mind of two YA novels by Diana Peterfreund that I read soon after they appeared, circa 2009, Rampant and Ascendant. I don’t remember too much about them besides that they involved a teenage unicorn-slayer girl, but I recall liking them, so that I read all of Peterfreund’s other YA work. She then moved on to MG books and I lost track of her.
I think there was a Charles Stross novella, Equoid, about carnivorous unicorns?
Never heard of that one either, Jeanine, but I will look it up. Thank you!
Not that unicorns are my special thing or anything, I’ve just been thoroughly charmed by the Skandar-books. Possibly because community, and how quirky the unicorns are. Doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy reading about more of them in other people’s work, of course. 🙂
Oh wow, I had never heard about these before. Thank you, Patrick! Rampant is on my list now!
I’ve branched out to new authors to me, some recommended here. I bought a lot on BookBub; several memoirs, crime novels, etc.
Building Material – Park Avenue Doorman, Stephen Bruno
I’m Off Then, Hape Kerkeling
How to Lose Your Mother, Molly Jong-Fast
The Last American Heiresses – a novel, Stephen Greco
One Dangerous Lady & Social Crimes, Jane Stanton Hitchcock
The Life Impossible, Matt Haig
Roderick Alley Series – Ngaio Marsh
When in Rome
Swing Brother Swing
Hand in Glove
Surfeit of Lampreys
Death in White Tie
**Trigger warning**
I am reading A Spark of Light – Jodi Picoult.
A hostage situation at an abortion clinic in Mississippi.
Never read any of her books. It is written in the POV of young and mature people (opposing and affirming), reasons for being in the clinic, the shooter, the police negotiator, and the police SWAT team including the story line of a teenager arrested for murder. It has taken me a few chapters to get all the characters straight and the time lines. There are a few interlacing stories. A handful of very nasty characters. It is written with compassion and incite. Very thought provoking. Probably not for some. Sadly it goes back underground, to the dark ages. Have not finished the novel yet.
I enjoyed Emily Henry’s Great Big Beautiful Life, which has drawn some quite nasty reviews, from people who appear to believe that writers should never attempt something new. I appreciated the plot and the mystery.
Recently read An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green. I’ve been a fan of Hank and his brother John for years and I was a bit afraid that I wouldn’t enjoy his book, since when I first began reading it the tone of the main character wasn’t quite settling well with me. It didn’t take long for me to adjust to her voice, and I was absolutely sucked in. It’s an amazing rumination on the development of internet fame and Hank did an amazing job of making the main character into a proper Tragic Heroine with a fatal flaw while also making her perfectly relatable. Even as she’s making terrible decisions and you KNOW these are choices that she’s made, it feels almost like a slippery slope, like this was the inevitable end. It’s fascinating since (if you know much about Hank Green and his story) he’s the best possible person to write about the cultivation of internet fame into a persona and ultimately a fandom community (for all the good and bad that entails.) My experience of reading the book was definitely enriched by how long I’ve been aware of Hank and John’s careers, but I definitely believe the book would be enjoyable to anyone.
I also reread the latest book in The Locked Tomb series, Nona the Ninth, since a friend of mine is finally finishing it and I couldn’t resist a reread while I waited on him. What an amazing series! Incredibly rich, fascinating characters and amazing world building. The author isn’t afraid to make characters unlikable, and even the most unlikable ones are so complex that you just want to study them like some sort of bizarre, unpleasant insect even as you’re busy wrinkling your nose and going “ugh, what are you doing HERE, you repellent creature?” I constantly have a desire to write essays of analysis on her characters and world building, especially her metaphor of love as consumption or our lovers/victims
I loved The Locked Tomb series too! What a layered, mindbending ride (and a great re-read.)
I liked the first half of Nona more than the second. I can’t believe its been three years since its been published – I wonder if she’s having difficulty finishing the series?
I’m not sure! There’s information floating out online here and there about long covid and mental health issues and rewrites, but for the most part I don’t think there’s a strong consensus on the status of the book. Whatever the reason I hope she’s doing well!
My reading week:
1. [re-read] my own F/M novella ‘A Random Sequence,’ about two lottery winners who meet at counselor’s office and slowly … well, you know. 🙂
re-watched HAMILTON. All the stars.
2. [re-read] my own M/M novel ‘Liberty,’ age-gap, income gap, big city-small town, interracial marriage of convenience.
3. ‘Pride by the Book’ by Jeff Adams, a harmless bit of fluff in a multi-author series set around various festivals in a Vermont town obsessed with maple everything. Rounded up to 4 stars.
4. ‘Here for the Wrong Reasons’ by Annabel Paulsen & Lydia Wang, two pro writers who became a couple while co-writing this F/F contemporary set in a Bachelor-esque TV show. The MCs are both allegedly competing for the heart of the male star, who comes across as a genuinely nice guy and does a deus ex machina thing to facilitate the happy ending. There were opportunities here for big feelings – one MC is closeted and the other doesn’t even realize she’s gay until she falls for the other woman – and those didn’t really make it to the page. Because I thought two women falling in love while writing this could have done more to make me feel it, gave it 3 stars.
5. [re-read] my own novelettes ‘We Shall Be Changed’ and ‘Fishnets & Tinsel’ about drag queens in Las Vegas.
6. ‘Futbolista’ by Jonny Garza Villa, New Adult M/M featuring a college freshman soccer star who has a fling with a cute girl but then falls for her gay BFF. All the big feelings are here! Some funny stuff too. Someone blurbed this as ‘Red White & Royal Blue meets Heartstopper’ which is not far off if you also add ‘Mexican American.’ 5 stars.
7. ‘The Lighthouse Keeper’ by Liv Rancourt, Victorian M/M fantasy with insta-lust, disappointingly obvious villainy, abrupt and inconclusive ending. 3 stars.
8. ‘American Love Songs’ by Ashlyn Kane, M/M, two kind of adorable twentysomething rock musicians on the rise and their confused, conflicted, oblivious, messy love affair. Shaved off half a point for distracting format that combines narrative and blog posts … with footnotes. 4 stars.
Futbolista sounds intriguing. Question though: you describe it as a M/M, but then you say “falls for her gay BFF.” Is that supposed to be his, not her? Or is something else going on there? Not that it matters, but just wondering if the relationship is even more interestingly convoluted than it already sounds!
That was supposed to be a reply to ChaCha..
The second MC in the romance arc is the girl’s gay BFF. 🙂 It’s a bit convoluted, especially because all three young people remain friends, which is Growing Up Goals. The POV MC also navigates his friendships with three roommates/teammates.
I would add, this book is very much about friendship, maturing into self-awareness, existing as an intersectional minority in a culture that is hostile to each minority aspect of a person, making hard choices, and trying not to hurt other people while preserving some shred what’s most important personally. It’s a deep book but I thought JGV succeeded in keeping the tone light enough for the swim to not be exhausting.
Thanks for the extra detail chacha1. Looking for it now.
Just finished Jesse Sutanto’s latest Vera Wong mystery, VERA WONG’S GUIDE TO SNOOPING (ON A DEAD MAN). It’s even better than the first installment. 😀
I’ve just finished reading ‘The Court of Silver Flames’, book 5 in Sarah J. Maas’s Court of Thorns an Roses series. She’s an amazing storyteller but they’re not good books to be reading if you have a writing deadline. Hard to put down once picked up 🙂
I read the VERY short new Murderbot story, Rapport.
Murderbot wasn’t in it. It cost me $2. Took me eight minutes to read.
$2 for eight minutes and no Murderbot? Ouch.
It’s ART’s humans.
Stone and Sky was waiting for me when I came back from my holiday. It’s not Aaronovitch’s strongest story IMHO (why take all the usual suspects to Scotland?) But I love how he builds a sense of place. I’ve been up the East coast of Scotland, although not to Aberdeen, and as I read I could almost feel the town being built around me.
I took masses of books on holiday (still traumatised by the time hubby said I should just take my Kindle, only to find there was virtually zero Wi-Fi and also no bookshops!). I loved The Unsought Farm by Monica Edwards (non fiction) and cackled my way happily through How to Grow Old (dis) Gracefully (fiction). Also raced through The Palace Papers by Tina Brown (non fiction). Next on my list is Butter by Asako Yuzuki, which is supposed to be very good.
Back to Stone and Sky, I enjoyed the insights into Abigail’s story, even though I generally find her an annoying character. Still trying to work out why Peter’s mum and dad were included in this story – the only thing I can think of is that including Lord Grant’s Irregulars meant Zak and his lockpicking skills were on hand, but it seems a very loose connection.
SPOILER ALERT
I
It wasn’t stated why the bad guys had kidnapped the selkie children. I assume it was something to do with forcing the adults to work on the platform, but that wasn’t clear. The rest of the family are going to have to wait, I’m going to have to read it again.
I wasn’t clear on why the kids had been kidnapped either until almost the end. I thought maybe I just wasn’t paying close enough attention, so it’s a relief to hear that someone else wasn’t sure either!
I listened to Stone and Sky during our camping trip this week. It was a good read overall, but not going to be one of my favorites. I found myself wishing Abigail would just have a separate book. I found the POV switches really jarring, and I much prefer the original narrator (Kobna Holbrook Smith? Is that right?). He’s my favorite audiobook narrator hands down, so I felt shortchanged by the other chapters. I’m going to reread it with my eyes and see how I feel about it. It was just lacking something for me, and I can’t decide if it’s me or the book…