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This is a Good Book Thursday: Jodi Taylor

This week I glommed Jodi Taylor starting with Smallhope and Pennyroyal, which was a lot of fun, and then moving on to her new series that started with White Silence and moving on to the next three books in the series. After that, I know she has more Time Police books out, so I’ll go back to the first one and read my way through. Jodi Taylor has done an excellent job of getting me through a dicey weekend, so I’m sticking with her.

What did you read this week.

132 Responses

  1. I’m sorry to hear that life continues to be dicey, Jenny. I want to come up with some well wishes that pun on dice but it sounds stupid even in my head so I won’t bother. I’ll just say instead that I hope life gets better.

    I read the new Sharon Shinn, Shifter and Shadow, which tucks into her Mystic and Rider series (one of my top five fantasy series) between the second and third books. It answers the question of what happens to Kirra and Donnal when they travel to an island to cure the people who are dying of a vicious illness that mainly attacks children. Enjoyed it thoroughly although I think it could have used a moment or two of more suspenseful plot. It all flows a little too easily, but it’s a small point.

    And speaking of plot – I read The Fall by Tal Bauer, where a hockey player wakes up to realize he’s lost the memory of his past year and now he’s in a new city, on a new team, and with a hockey boyfriend. There are a couple of fun twists plus Bauer has evidently learned something more about hockey since his last mangled effort. However. His style is so melodramatic that I can’t prevent my eye rolling. His books are obviously very popular so clearly there’s an audience for readers who enjoy an MC who endlessly, ENDLESSLY reflects on every aspect of his situation, every moment of the day, every interaction with his man. But it’s not me. And hey, I do like me some over the top writing – see my love for Jesse Reign – but I want it to be crisp. Or with more plot twists. I don’t think I’ll be tempted to read another Bauer although I should probably never say never.

    And speaking of long books – I read another alternate version of the Captive Prince by A03 writer thickenmyblood, and didn’t mind the length at all although I had to read it in short bursts because it’s seriously edged. The premise delves into the back story of CP – what if Damen hadn’t killed Auguste? What would have happened? She’s quite brilliant with her answer.

    And speaking of A03, for those of you who love theundiagnosable, there’s a short hockey story that is wonderful: https://archiveofourown.org/works/72061181

    1. Thanks for the input on the Bauer one, Tammy. A friend kind of recommended the book just because I like hockey, but I wasn’t enamored by the one (football) book I’d read of his some time ago. And 800+ pages seems like a lot. Not for a fantasy book, but for a romance. And over-the-top is not my cuppa either. Crisp sounds more appealing.
      Looking forward to reading the AO3 by undiagnoseable!

      1. And hey – yay Maple Leafs who beat the Habs 5-2 in their regular season debut last night – without Mitch Marner which is what most of the commentators were focussing on – how can we survive without Mitchy??! Quite well, thank you, is the answer.

        1. Sorry, Habs fans over here.
          At least their second game was a win, even if Mo plays for the Red Wings.

    2. THANK YOU for The Undiagnosable link – not that it worked, AO3 being hinky as usual, but I got there eventually, and it’s now on my Kindle.

      1. I had the same issue, it told me I need to be a registered user. How did you solve that Jane??

        1. I just register as a user – it’s pretty easy to register and then I always have access to what I want.

          1. It’s also great as you can follow creators or series that you like, and get an email when something new is posted – love that feature.

        2. Yes: I’m already registered, it just insisted I sign in again on a home page, rather than sending me to the story link.

          2. Hume page for thickenmyblood? Enter that name into the search bar and then it will come up with a series of stories but click on the link to thickenmyblood for one of their stories.

          3. There’s a log in button on the top right hand side.

            Once you’re logged in, then come back here and use the link. You can then subscribe to the theundiagnosable and get an email each time they post.

    3. The Captive Prince one sounds good. I found two long CP fics by that author – was it “When the sun is on again” or “Hand in unlovable hand” that you were reading?

      1. I was reading When the Sun is On Again. And previously I read Hand In Unloveable Hand which is also wonderful – but entirely different premise. It’s a modern AU where Laurent and Damen have been live-in partners and starts after their breakup. Again, a lot of dark edges and had to read in short bursts but I became obsessed with it.

    4. Ha! In my search for some good hockey books I gave in and tried “The Fall” by Tal Bauer as well. This was definitely a case of the triumph of optimism over experience cause my previous experience with this author has not been successful. I recognize that many love him but I too find the endless introspection tedious and the melodrama is over the top and if he is doing it with humor I have missed the humor. I do believe I am ready to say never again after this one.

      1. There is no humour. Jesse Reign’s over-the-top style is definitely humorous but not Bauer’s.

      2. And PS, Christina, I don’t know whether to thank you or blame you for sending me down the long tunnel of Captive Prince fanfic (I even read another one this week by a completely different author recommended by thickenmyblood) but…thank you. I think.

        1. Well, much as I would like to take the credit (or the blame?) I don’t think I set you on that road — you told ME about it!

  2. I’ve indulged in listening to the audiobooks included in my audible subscription again: Camera Shy by EJ Russel was a total winner. Her books are usually not on KU, and I’m a bit shy about buying new-to-me-authors after quite a number of busts recently, but I loved the book. Dustin, a PA who hates being in front of any camera for a reason, is thrust into a fake engagement to his employer (a tv host). Their boss is aware of the problem of such a relationship – even a fake one – and Dustin finds a good “revenge”. He’s a total sweetheart but no push over and his fake fiance is smart enough to embark on a self-improvement journey. I was kept glued to my earbuds, thankfully it was the weekend. I’ve immediatle picked up another audiobook by her, Summer Kitchen. Less addictive than Camera Shy, but nice, too.

    Also on audiobook and included was Willow Dixon’s Never have I ever punched my roommates V-card. Less cringeworthy than the title, but I really dislike it when the author looses track of good storylines in favour of adding more smut.

    I’m still eye-reading The Last Buzzer by JJ Mulder and at 60% don’t really know what to think. One MC is meant to be a college student and goalie on their hockey team but I don’t see Mulder’s characters do the studying I expect student to be busy with. And her hockey players don’t have that much gym time as I’d expect. Also, would someone in their mid-teens not be too old to start a college-bound hockey career?

    Since kiddo #2 has a major English project this year, I assisted as typist for her presentation on Twelfth Night. It’s soooo long since I’ve seen the movie with Imogen Stubbs and Helena Bonham-Carter. I’ve never read the play itself iirc. But seeing that today, Twelfth Night premiers at the Globe, we had the crazy idea to maybe hop over to London to watch the last night (the only date possible for us). A girls outing – hurray. But then the guys overheard us… Now it would cause major family upheavel if kiddo #1 wasn’t alowed to tag along even if this means he has to endure A WHOLE PLAY ABOUT LOVE. And my hubby shouldn’t be left out. Sigh. Wish me luck 😉

    Last but not least, my order of the nice new edition of Heated Rivalry can be picked up – without the shirtless covers (I’m the joke of the family for those covers on my books). Just in time for the TRAILER to the new tv adaptation that’s supposed to drop today.
    I’m excited and a bit anxious. So far, the stills and Rachel Reid’s posts are promising, Still… it’s never the same having your inner-depiction overwritten by the visual image of a film.

    1. Downloaded camera shy! Thanks! I have a hard time finding anything included in audible that isn’t voiced by AI.

      1. Which ones are narrated by AI?
        I usually try to get audiobooks by narrators that I know and like. Greg Boudreaux did a fabulous job with Camera Shy and in Summer Kitchen, he even sings – as one of the MCs is a musician and baritone, it not only fits, but his voice is great for that too.

        A friend recently reviewed – or not as she dnf – a book with such a strange narration that she assumed it must be AI. But badly done on top.
        I wonder if the authors get a say in this – AI narration kills the story as well.

        1. Depends on the relationship between audio publisher and author. Bob chose the narrators for the Lavender series, and the were people the publisher had used before and like, so that was easy. Then for the Rocky Start series they asked if we wanted the same people and we did, so that took about one e-mail. But I know some publishers aren’t that considerate of their authors.

          1. I really like the narrators for both Lavender and Rocky Start, but a couple of your audiobooks have…not as great narrators. My favorite narrators for your books are Aasne Vigesaa for Welcome to Temptation and Faking It, and Sandra Burr for Agnes and the Hitman, and Fast Women.

          2. Yeah, I never got to choose narrators for any but the last two series, and Bob chose those. Wisely, I hear.
            I do get some say over some of the covers. That’s about it.

        2. I am interested in a lot of indie, niche or self published stuff, so it’s probably done cheap and fast by Amazon. I really struggle finding anything included in my membership that I actually want to try. Mostly I don’t use it and go to the library and hoopla via same first, and then spotify.

        3. When my agent sold audio rights to Tantor for the Baba Yaga books, they used the same narrator they’d already used for the first two (I didn’t love her voice for those books, but at least she isn’t AI). When Berkley put the cozy mystery series out in audio, I was sent four different voice samples to choose from.

  4. I dnfed a lot and because I was tired of doing that I succumbed to the second Snow and Winter book by C S Poe. In my defense, the Internet said it was better than the first one. Unfortunately, the Internet lied. It’s funny, because the set up makes it feel so much like a Lanyon. Antique dealer who likes to read mysteries and has an unusual condition and meets a closeted cop. At least I finished it, which is more than I can say for anything else this week. Poe’s pacing is always good for me. I just can’t get passed the lack of motivation for the MC to be putting himself constantly in harm’s way. With the Memento Mori series, which I adore, they are both cops so it doesn’t bother me. I really plan on not reading any more in this series. Sadly.

    Up next is KJ Charles new one, so I am excited about that. And we started a Kdrama from 2016 that I am enjoying very much. Cinderella and the Four Knights. It hits somewhere between Coffee Prince and The Book of Firsts for me, with lots of silliness and shenanigans. I really like how the fmc has no compunction about putting the spoiled rich boys in a chokehold if they try to manhandle her. And there is a love triangle (square?) and I can’t figure out who is endgame yet, which is unusual for me. I would prefer a why choose situation, but I don’t think Kdramas are ready for that😅

    1. The amateur sleuth thing always bothers me a bit, but I ended up liking Snow, who knew he was being TSTL but gets drawn in due to his insatiably curiosity (and the media attention from the first murder)

      2. I liked him enough to continue but it really bothered me that he didn’t stop when he realized that the stress of the situations he was putting himself in was actively triggering his partner’s PTSD. It didn’t jive with Seb’s deep concern and empathy for me. I think I could get past it if there was a more compelling reason than that he was interested but as is it felt forced to me.

      1. Thanks, Phyllis!! my finger was hovering over the “order” button and now you pushed it down lol.

    3. I put the first Snow and Winter book in my Duds folder. There was a lot about it that should have worked, but she just didn’t have the writing experience with that first book. I’m not inclined to give the series another chance, not when the Memento Mori series is so good.

  5. I’ve been reading I think you only released it as an ebook, but the book is based on characters from your Crazy For You novel. Characters that weren’t that prominent in the actual story. I really enjoyed it, especially the bit about Barbara Neidemayer, hope I’ve spelt that correctly, but what you wrote made a fair bit more sense of why she did what she did with regards to other woman’s husbands. Was a very good read.

    And I’m just about to read the new Philippa Gregory novel ‘The Boleyn Traitor’, I’ve read all of Phillipa’s tudor based novels. Massive fan of that point in time, and the Boleyn family were quite the family I have to say. Wasn’t much they wouldn’t do with regards to gaining power. Hopefully it’ll be an awesome read

  6. I re-re-read Jenny and Bob’s book, Agnes and the Hitman. Humor, har. Still one of my favorite books of all time, and it got me through multiple long plane rides and eased me back into being home. Plus the inscription inside, from the first time I met Jenny in person, always cracks me up. I’ll try and put it up on Instagram so I can share it here.

    This morning I’m rereading my own new novella, Wickedly Wishful, because I’m going to write a flash fiction the segues off the ending, which I’m hoping to eventually turn into a novella of its own. (That’s how the first one started.)

    BTW, for the Argh folks who have been waiting for the Baba Yaga series to come out in audio, it’s finally happening. The first two novels have been out since they were with Berkley, but they never released the rest, and we finally sold the rights to the self-published ones. Baba Yaga: Collected Novellas came out yesterday, Wickedly Powerful will be out November 11th, and Wickedly Unraveled will be out December 23rd. Woot!

    2. I don’t remember the inscription. I remember the chocolate you gave me.
      Deb knows how to make an impression.

      1. I had talked to Bob on Twitter before I went to the convention (RWA NYC, I don’t remember which year…2009?) and told him I was excited and nervous to finally meet you in person. He told me not to worry, you were actually very nice. I told you about the conversation when I gave you my book to sign and then laughed like a crazy person when I read the inscription after you handed it back.
        https://www.instagram.com/p/DPmlcwKj_LF/?img_index=2

        And it’s true, I followed you around the convention, went to every presentation and panel you were on and gave you chocolate at every one. Every author needs a chocolate stalker. (I remember I tried to give you some at the last panel, with two other authors…maybe Krissie? And you said you couldn’t take it unless I had enough for everyone. Of course I did.) Honestly, it’s a wonder you didn’t take out a restraining order. LOL

        1. That’s hilarious! Their relationship has evidently not changed much over the years.

        2. I remember that conference and the chocolate. I think that was where we met in person for the first time, Deb. Pretty sure I have photographic proof somewhere.

    3. Okay, I’m behind on the Argh Author posts–I think I have three of them to get up–and I will try to search my e-mail and do that this week, so if you don’t see one you asked for, ask again. Deb, do you want one for the audio stuff?

      Oh, and CONGRATULATIONS!

  7. Best thing this week was finishing Ted Chiang’s collection “Exhalation: Stories” (2015). Chiang is known for writing “Arrival”, the story that inspired the film (which I haven’t seen). This is his second story collection, thought-provoking and intelligent, covering themes of compassion, choice, fate and morality. “The Great Silence” about the search for non-human life blew me away and “The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling” was fascinating. Even the stories that didn’t quite work for me were interesting.

    Finished the second Tarot book “The Hanged Man” by K D Edwards (2019). Fun urban fantasy adventure with queer found family vibes with a thoroughly decent MC. On to the next one …

    And then dived into Donna Andrews “The Penguin Who Knew Too Much” (2007) which is the one were Meg et al are babysitting zoo worth of animals. Lots of fun as usual.

    Also read some meh, and one book that could have been good except the MMC nicknamed the FMC Lolita which squicked me out on every level – why as an author would you think that was romantic????!

    1. Maybe the other is less aware of the historical connotations of Lolita? It’s a fashion trend out of Japan nowadays and if you don’t know the earlier reference it might have been innocent?

      1. American author. MMC is an English professor. Sigh

        Interesting about the Japanese thing though.

        1. Eww. No excuse then. Here I was hoping he was implying she was cute and stylish in an offbeat subculture kind of way…

  8. Thanks for the positive response to my little piece about Navalny’s memoir. Still thinking about that moving book.

    Big thanks to whoever recommended Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz! (Sorry – I wrote down your name but now I can’t find it.) What a delight! My daughter lives in San Francisco so it was especially fun to read for that reason. It is quite different from Murderbot but if you love Murderbot I think you will love this one too. Marvelous characters and character development. Very well done. I was so impressed that I bought a couple each of her other works of fiction and her nonfiction books.

    Right now I am reading her Scatter, Adapt and Remember – How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction. Less than a quarter of the way in but I’m finding it very good fun. I love science, and she does an exquisite job of collecting facts and theories about life on our planet and making them into a narrative whole. I understand that this may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you think science is fun, it likely to please. Some great funny bits too, always a plus.

    AND thanks to the recommender of A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant. I liked the premise of a woman trapped in a bad situation who can only solve it by getting pregnant and giving birth. It could have been hackneyed, but it is not. It started out quite a good strong book and by ¾ of the way in became something rather extraordinary. We have two people who have difficulties in life, who are at first glance a terrible match, but who are both motivated and inspired by being of real service to those around them. Watching them grow and develop their strengths together is excellent. Made me cry at one point (in a good way). I would read this one again.

    In short, a very good week, book-wise!

    1. I may be the one who recommended Automatic Noodle, Marian. If so, I’m happy you liked it. It’s a delightful novella that would make an uplifting animated film. The robots are so very ‘human’, and the story is so topically relevant despite being a fully realized not-so-far-into-the-future world.

    2. Glad you liked A Lady Awakened. I recommended it a couple of weeks ago. I loved it too.

      I’m really enjoying the next one but not far enough in to post here. It’s been a slow reading week for me.

  9. I finished up The Anglo Saxons, the non-fiction history book. It was interesting, well-written and comprehensive. In fact, I thought I had a lot more to go, until I realized that the last 50 pages or so were citations.

    I then started Swordheart by T Kingfisher. It’s set in the same world as her Palladin series, and Penric and Desdemona – so far only one minor character from the Palladins series has made an appearance. I’m emjoying it quite a bit.

  10. So… the VOAT word opera continues to dominate my reading.

    I have all those “Fire & Ice” series audiobooks, but I just can’t seem to get started. I’ve cut down and cut back on the upsetting political reels and podcasts and mostly settled for the skits where entitled shoppers and hotel guests deal stupidity to service workers… almost as bad as the political stuff.

    Netflix is distracting me with HALO and Blacklist, which is NOT avoiding violence. Maybe I should rewatch The Gilmore Girls.

  11. I’ve been listening to Jessie Mihalik’s Consortium Rebellion trilogy. It’s a space opera set in a kind of corporate oligarchy where the largest corporate/ family empires are treated like nobility. Two books in and I’m enjoying them as much as I did her Capture the Stars books, mostly because her heroines are highly skilled for (mostly) believable reasons but still human. It’s nice to see characters competent enough to recover from their own mistakes.

  12. I haven’t made any suggestions lately partly because I have been very busy at work – I am teaching two new modules this year – and partly because I have been working my way through all the books by Rachel Neumeier I hadn’t already read and there are quite few!

    My conclusion is that Tuyo is still my favourite of her series, followed by Black dogs which is pretty good too. It is very gory though but not graphic enough to put me off. I also really liked the standalone No foreign sky. I thought the world building was excellent. I wouldn’t mind some other books set in that universe.

    Also, I find her use of language quite arresting at times:

    « Regret is fine, so is sorrow. That’s part of every important choice, every long step everyone takes towards the future. But, put aside guilt, or remorse, or grief. »

    I like this distinction made between regret and remorse and sorrow and grief.

  13. Writing Mr. Wrong by Kelley Armstrong: an M/F second chance romance between an NHL hockey player and a romance author. The premise is that they have known each other since kindergarten and had a “thing” in high school that ended badly when the M/C hurt the F/C in high school. Now she has written a romance novel using him as a model for the jerk alpha hero and he learns of it. It was fun. Not particularly believable but it had some hockey (not a lot) and the characters are now adults and ready to acknowledge mistakes they’ve made in the past. Not a reread but a pleasant read.

    Many thanks to Frozen Pond for the recommendation of Anne Tyler’s “Three Days in June” a lovely story of a divorced couple on the weekend of their daughter’s wedding. I loved it — so much emotion in so few words. Excellent book.

    A Seditious Affair, KJ Charles which was wonderful, even after the 3rd reread.

    Finally, I am reading “Show Don’t Tell” by Curtis Sittenfeld. These are short stories and generally I am NOT a fan of short stories but this collection works. While the characters in each story are a bit similar, I found each situation interesting. The stories are humorous but also sad at times. And she does a very good job in each of living up to the title of the collection.

  14. I’m so sorry life is still dicey Jenny. I hope it improves soon.

    I finished Liza Mundy’s The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA, which documents the women of the Central Intelligence Agency. The sexism was stunning and apparently remains pretty bad. I had always been wryly amused that it was the sexism that let women catch Aldrich Ames and Robert Hansen.

    Then I read a biography of Tanaquil le Clerc, the amazing ballerina married to Balanchine who caught polio at 27 and never walked again. She actually was in line to get the vaccine right before the tour on which she caught polio and decided it was too long. I am considering some other biography’s of Balanchine dancers. I think he must have by far the most documented company of any choreographer ever and they are often fascinating. I have already read biographies or autobiographies of 3.5 of his 4.5 wives, all of whom danced for him, and at least 4 others. My TBR shelf includes 4 more and I just found 2 others I want to read.

    I just started The Writer’s Garden which talks about the gardens of twenty or so great authors. So far I’m not terribly impressed but maybe it will improve. I may switch to a book about Jane Austen’s garden which I bought because I also have a book about her clothes by a woman who replicated them . They seemed to go together so I may read them next.

    I have also been on a New Yorker binge working my way through the 100 or so that piled up during the pandemic when I could only reread. They are easier to read when DH travels and I can keep the light on in bed. I think I read about 20 while he was in Chile so maybe I will get another 10 done when he is in Panama.

    And I read a moving article in the Atlantic about a woman getting to know her aunt who her grandparents had given up in early childhood at the advice of doctors because she was mentally handicapped. When my grandmother was approaching death at 90+ she finally told my mom that her baby sister had not died but had been given away because she had Down’s syndrome. Apparently my grandparents never visited her but one of my great uncles did. We have been unable to track what happened to her—suspect she died very young since they didn’t used to treat the associated heart problems.

    And I’ve been reading a lot of Agatha Christie’s since I need a world where evil is found out and punished.

  15. •Martha Wells,  Network Effect, 2020, audiobook narrated by Kevin R. Free.   This is a full novel, although it could be regarded as several novellas put together.  We learn quite a bit more about ART/Perihelion.  Murderbot also spends a lot of time with Mensah’s daughter Amena, who looks like she’s shaping up to become an important series character.  I won’t say more since it’s been widely discussed here already.

    •Martha Wells,  Fugitive Telemetry, novella, 2021, audiobook narrated by Kevin R. Free.  A little confusingly, by internal chronology this comes before Network Effect. Murderbot is asked to help the police solve a murder on Preservation Station.  Murderbot has no programming toward such a task, but it uses to good effect all the cop shows it has watched and its general data processing abilities, plus some more specific secunit functions.  I’m not quite sure if it was a fair-play mystery, since I’m not positive if the reader had all the background knowledge necessary to deduce the murderer.  I know a lot of it was disclosed, and possibly I just don’t remember the bits where the rest was.  Entertaining in any case.

      1. Somewhere outside of Italy I had alleged gelato that seemed far inferior to the best ice cream I’ve had elsewhere. I gather the real stuff is better?

        1. The real stuff has amazing flavor. Plus very unusual flavors. I have not had anything like it outside Italy and I’ve tried.
          It’s been a while but if I was going to Florence I would go back to Vivoli and in Rome it would be Giolitti. Both have been around over 100 years.

          1. There’re culinary guide tours in various European cities, among them in Florence and Rome, the latter offers interesting info about gelato and what to look out for qualitywise. On my to do list.

          2. When I lived in Berkeley there was a Vivoli’s that had the best gelato that I’ve ever had. I wonder if it was related in any way to Rome?

          3. The internet says no although one post says they falsely claimed to be. But they seem to have been loved.

  17. •Lawrence M. Principe, The Secrets of Alchemy, 2013. This is a history of alchemy, readable by laypeople but more scholarly in orientation than the other works by this author that I’ve read. It nonetheless somehow ended up in Kindle Unlimited and priced for ebook purchase at a stiff but non-outrageous sum.  Principe stresses that alchemists mostly were striving to create physical substances by means that we would now call chemical, via use of what they believed were procedures known to the ancients of a bygone age of greater worldly knowledge. (This worldly superiority somehow had to be squared with the alchemists’ belief in the greater spiritual knowledge of more recent times through Christianity or Islam; I don’t recall discussion of any Jewish alchemists).  Principe added that the worldview of these alchemists was very different from that of contemporary scientists.  Besides their belief in a former golden age whose knowledge could be recovered by correctly interpreting its deliberately obscured writings, they held to a generalized belief of “as above, so below.”  Thus spiritual knowledge could also be obtained by analogy with alchemical processes, and at least some alchemists tried the reverse process, piggybacking off the superior revealed spiritual knowledge of the moderns.  Principe rejects, and has pretty well disproven by chemical experiments reproducing alchemical recipes, the contention of some such as Carl Jung that alchemy really was almost entirely a matter of psychological transformation rather than of physical substances. 

    It took me a long time to finish the book.  It was not a particularly difficult read, but it needed enough concentration that sometimes I needed a rest from it, and then got distracted before continuing.  Recommended to those interested. 

  18. •Grace Burrowes, A Gentleman of Questionable Judgement (Lord Julian no. 9), 2025. I read enough of this novel to decide to include it here, but I found it tedious and finally skipped to the end. The solution to the mystery about fixed horse races was ingenious. Too bad the buildup wasn’t better. 

    Evidently someone has finally shouted in Burrowes’s ear about the Year Without a Summer loudly enough to get through, since there is an allusion here to “a series of bad harvests [and] terrible winters” in the recent past. (I think we are up to 1818 by now.)  This is of course inconsistent with the weather actually described in previous books.  In fact, Burrowes seems obsessed with abnormally hot summers and once again here has Julian quaffing cooling meadow tea.  At least this time it’s relevant to the plot. In addition to the several multibook plot-arc elements still hanging fire from previous books, Burrowes evidently now has decided that Hyperia’s feckless brother Healy is to become not an already solved problem but a chronic one.  In this book the subplot involving him, and the subplot about Julian and Hyperia’s relationship have each been smoothed over enough to get us to the next book.  All in all, I think this novel could be safely skipped in hopes of a better one to come.

    (One more review coming if I get it written up in time.)

  19. I’ve had trouble reading anything this week. I’ve been reading my own books, reformatting them (Atticus is a miracle!) to take them out of ku and go wide, so I guess my reading brain’s on that.

    Listening though! I listened to the two Percy Jackson senior year quests that are out (Chalice of the Gods and Triple Goddess). He’s not saving the world, he’s just getting letters of recommendation to college by doing quests, so the stakes are lower.

    I had an ARC of KJ Charles’ All of us Murderers and had already read if, so got the audio and listened to that. A great book!

  20. I re-read three things and read two new things.

    1. ‘The Rules of Royalty’ by Cale Dietrich. A YA MM about an ordinary American 17-yr-old who learns he’s the son of a (fictional) European king, and the Nordic 17-yr-old spare prince who’s tasked with teaching MC1 how to be royal. Gave this one 3 stars because at least I finished it, but considering all the editors and agents named in the acknowledgements, it should have been a lot better.

    2-4. [re-read] ‘Driving Force,’ ‘Decider,’ and ‘The Edge’ by Dick Francis. All three are from my preferred period of his writing, but ‘The Edge’ is still a standout for me. It’s a unique approach (we know the criminal, not the crime), suspenseful, with a clever & resourceful hero as usual but this time working alongside his love interest in a way that really supports their connection, plus along with the horse stuff there is the play within the story. As someone who frequently has my characters’ creativity guide their lives, this is a joy.

    5. ‘All of Us Murderers’ by KJ Charles, MM Edwardian Gothic. I loooooved it.

  21. Rats! I have a write-up of a last book partly done, but it’s running long and I’d better move on to other things, so I’ll hold it over.

  22. I’m with you on life being Dicey, Jenny. I hope we both have a better report next week.

    I’m still trying to finish Faking It, not because it’s a hard read, but because seeing double makes it a difficult read. In two weeks, I have an appointment with an Opthalmologist who can prescribe some prism glasses for me, to help with the double vision. I wonder if I will see rainbows everywhere? That would be nice.

    I hit bottom this week, and am trying to be more upbeat about life as it is, now. I hate being dependent on others for daily tasks and needs. I miss being outside, especially since the weather is cooling off. I thought being at home would help, but it is just making me realize how much my life has changed for the worse.

    My advice to everyone is: Do what you can, while you can! The future is not guaranteed.

    1. Jan, I see from the Wikipedia that some kinds of double vision work even with only one eye. Assuming you have the more common two-eye kind, could you put on an eyepatch while reading and use only one eye?

      In any case, you continue to have my sympathy and I hope things will improve soon.

      1. Patrick, my eyes do not track together, so one-eyed reading works, but gives me a headache. It’s a strange problem. My family has supplied me with various fun eye patches. Thank for your sympathy.

    2. Sending all good energies to you. I hate to be dependent when I have had to as well, but have reminded myself that I was only too happy to be able to do something helpful for someone I love when they needed it. Nothing worse than NOT being able to make things better for someone. Fingers crossed for changes for the better

    3. I’m sorry you’re struggling. I was having much milder eye issues a few years ago (side effects of overactive thyroid), and I switched to audiobooks. Even though the eye issues cleared up after a year or two, I’ve become so addicted to audio that I hardly ever read (for fun) by eye. I don’t know if that’s an option for you, and mostly just wanted to say that I would have been extremely cranky if I couldn’t read at all during my relatively mild eye issues, and can’t quite imagine how I’d have felt dealing with more serious issues.

      1. From what others on this blog say, Jenny’s books are not available on some audio sites. My library offer Libby for free.

    4. Oh, Jan, so sorry to hear this. As JenniferNennifer said, it’s often a favor to let others do a favor for you. Hope you can get outside more, and that things get better.

  23. This week I read Automatic Noodle, a delightful scifi about entrepreurial robots who start up a noodle restaurant in a postwar future San Francisco after being abandoned by the human owners. It fed my love of found family trope in a new and interesting way and left me happy.

    I also reread Deborah Crombie’s A Killing of Innocents, one of her Duncan and Jemma series involving murders of a doctor and nurse near Russell Square, a place I’ve walked across numerous times in visits to London. Her books always include detailed maps, and I can relive some streets I’ve strolled down. Great characters and complex mysteries.

    1. My hold on Automatic Noodle just came in and the beginning is certainly delightful.

  24. Since DS bought, read and recommended them, I also read “Automatic Noodle” and “A-Lady Awakened” and can also recommend. Thanks Marian!

    Also read the new Thursday Murder Club book and enjoyed. Read a mediocre MM romance- had some fun bits but got very unrealistic at the end. Read and did not buy a bunch of samples. Started the last of the Dr Siri books, but wasn’t in the right mood so saving for another day. May do the samples of some the good sounding recommendations above next. I love GBT, I found done if my favorite books ever where. ❤️

  26. I’m still rereading. Most recently, Loretta Chase – Dukes Prefer Blondes, Lord of Scoundrels, The Last Hellion, all excellent as ever. Switched to Jo Beverley, The Devil’s Heiress, and not enjoying it as much. It’s not my favourite of hers – that would be Devilish – but I suspect she’s not wearing as well for me now, for some reason. Will switch back to the new stuff on my Kindle after this.

  27. Megan Bannen’s latest novel, The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam, left me conflicted. I loved the first two books of the series, but this one, the finale of the series, felt controversial. The first 75% or so of the story was lovely, the world full of whimsy but believable and relatable, the characters alive and sympathetic, especially Rosie, the protagonist. She is an immortal demigod. Most immortals I encountered in fiction so far are cynical and stuffed with ennui, but Rosie is different. She wants to live, not just exist. Despite having lived for over 150 years and dying (temporarily) multiple times, she is still kind and compassionate, still retains her humanity. She is still searching for connections.
    The other characters are a worthy frame for Rosie, particularly Adam, the man she is falling in love with. Her interactions and dialogs with Adam and other characters are full of humor and occasional tear-jerking moments. She is such a wonderful, multifaceted personage, I couldn’t help but care for her. I wanted her love for Adam to flourish.
    But then, they both enter the Gods’ realm, and suddenly everything was surreal, and the warm, quirky ambience of the tale turned dark and hopeless. The entire overall arch of the story the author started building in the first book unraveled. I stopped believing and stopped enjoying the story. In the last 25% of the book, the heroes, instead of acting of their own free will became the playthings of the divinities, to be hurtled hither and thither like ping-pong balls. I didn’t like this ending and didn’t want it. I wanted to delete it and create my own denouement for this whole series.
    Then I read Ali Hazelwood’s Hot for Slayer. It was an OK novella, quick and dirty. Almost like an oxymoronic anecdote: a vampire and a slayer fall in love. Lots of blood, lots of violence, lots of sex. Hardly anything else, and totally ridiculous, but fun all the same.

  28. Sorry to hear about the lousy week, Jenny. I really enjoyed Smallhope and Pennyroyal, and apparently she has a new one coming. I haven’t been able to get into the White Silence books.

    I read The 5th Gender by GL Carriger – the alien/space platform version of two men solving crimes and falling in love. Except they’re already in love when the book starts, but they don’t think the other one is interested. It was a cute read – lots of smut for those who don’t mind it, and the alien is a bit like an elf who everyone loves. I really enjoyed it.

    Also Murder at the White Palace – #6 in the Sparks and Bainbridge series by Allison Montclair. I continue to adore this series. The characters are so good.

    Now rereading R Cooper’s A Suitable Bodyguard. She has a distinct sweet spot – one neurotic, small, clever male character and one (or sometimes two) hefty, loyal, silent one. Some of her characters are just too neurotic, to the point of being irritating, but this one isn’t too bad. Not my favourite, but enjoyable.

    1. I really liked R Cooper’s Blessed, a sweet short rewrite of Cupid and Psyche and Fox of Fox Hall, where the mmc is somewhat of a trickster protagonist in a tricky political situation. And a stalwart knight. And I agree that she has a range of meh to very good. I have been hesitating trying the few audiobooks available for that reason. Purchase only, and so far not the ones I love.

      1. Not Blessed. Little God. Blessed is a rewrite of A Suitable Consort, which I think handled the sex scenes somewhat better than the original, but the longing and angst less so. I prefer the first version.

        1. Yes, A Suitable Consort is really delightful. I feel as if she hit her sweet spot just right with that one. I haven’t read Fox of Fox Hall, but will give it a try. Thanks, Lupe.

  29. Not a book but…
    Has anyone watched The Year I Turned Pretty? I read a long review of it in the Guardian which is what got me to want to watch it. My daughter told me I wouldn’t like it but even though I am sure it is not aimed at my age group, hahaha (mid 70’s), I liked the first episode so far. It is indeed very young. But we expect young people in school to read about old people, so why shouldn’t it work the other way? The classic Hunger Games books come to mind. So many imitators, none in my opinion anywhere close to as good.

    1. Hi Marian, my kids both told me not to watch The Summer I turned pretty LOL. Kid #1 doesn’t like anything revolving around love, so I take his advice with a grain of salt.
      Kiddo #2 is 17 and the right demographic for the series. But her tolerance towards the typical girly girls who can’t make up their mind is very low. Like her mom she prefers series like Derry Girls, Wednesday or Brooklyn 99. But if you enjoy the show, good for you!! Don’t let any age rec discourage you!!
      And yes, they make youngsters read while old men stuff at school ANYWHERE.
      Shakespeare was alright for kiddo, but she’s struggling with Goethe’s Faust. In Twelfth Night at least a young girl survives her adventure by being smart while she’s quite turned off by the middle-aged Faust leering after young women’s breasts…

  30. Jenny, Sorry to hear that your time is still dicy. A member (now, alas, mostly inactive) of my sf group was, and probably still is, a huge Jodi Taylor fan. I’ve mildly enjoyed her work but I haven’t haven’t given her another try in years. One more addition to a long list of books that I ought to try.

  31. A side defect of being sedentary – sedentary is the rock formation strewn with old fossils – is all that time available for avoiding one’s diet strictures. I ate two sandwiches today, as well as ice cream and chocolate candy. Each sandwich started with a buttered and toasted English muffin. Add a broiled hamburger patty, 85% lean. Now add one slice each of Black Forrest ham, one slice of hard pepperoni, two strips of pre-cooked bacon, and a slice of cheese. One sandwich got my last slice of Pepper Jack. The other got baby Swiss. Season said sandwiches with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika.

    Beverages were not exempt from overindulgence. Only two cups of coffee. Both were doctored with two ounces of Atkins Dark Chocolate Shake. Each. I like to say I’m lightening the coffee. The dotter claims I’m darkening the chocolate.

    I wish I could claim the rest of the week was dissimilar. Alas, only once did I harvest lettuce, tomatoes, green onions, and hot peppers to enjoy a salad.

    Next week will be better. Maybe.

  32. I finished The Incandescent and greatly enjoyed it. Thanks to whomever recommended it.

    I’ve moved on to some fun non-fiction-Human History on Drugs by Sam Kelly. So far it’s a hoot.

    1. I believe that was me and I’m so glad you enjoyed it. It’s not for all markets. My goddaughter has become obsessed with it.

  33. Hope all the health issues resolve themselves soon!
    I’ve had a great reading week. Auston Habershaw’s IF WISHES WERE RETAIL, a warm, wise book about a djinni and a teenager staffing a booth in a dying shopping mall. Nicole Glover’s THE CONDUCTORS marries the Underground Railroad with magic. Louis Sachar’s THE MAGICIAN OF TIGER CASTLE is as wonderful–and surprising–as the reviews suggest. (Surprised me. I’ve had rum luck with well-reviewed books of late.) Finally, T. Kingfisher’s latest Alex Easton novella gives us her take on Lovecraft’s shoggoths does not disappoint. Five stars all around. 😀

  34. PSA – Target is having Circle Week this week which means you can buy 2 get 1 free in books and dvds/blurays. Includes preorders. Great time to stock up.

    As for books. I’ve been rereading Tanya Huff’s Torin Kerr milsf series. Can’t go wrong with a kick ass female gunnery sergeant running around the universe and saving various beings, human and alien.

  35. I have three library books I am trying to read. The Spellshop, and The Enchanted Greenhouse, both by Sarah Beth Durst and the Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo. I have to make myself actually sit down to read them before they are due back to the library.
    I am currently rereading the Owl series by Mercedes Lackey: Owl Flight, Owl Sight, and Owl Knight.

  36. I’ve just started “Queen Demon” by Martha Wells and realized that I need to re-read the first book in the series, “Witch King,” because the world and story are so complex and I can’t remember enough of the prior story.

About the Author

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

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