tardis' 2022 reading record

New Year, more books!

I wish all my LT friends all the best in books and life in 2022. I do follow all the reading threads in the Green Dragon, although I don't always comment.

Mount TBR currently stands at 65, counting the ones my friend loaned me.

Happy new year and I hope your thread reflects many satisfying reads!

Happy reading in 2022!

Happy New Year! Looking forward to expanding my TBR pile with your help. ;)

Happy New Year, and enjoy those book piles!

1. A Bitter Feast by S.J. Rozan. Lydia Chin is hired to find four missing restaurant workers participating in a union drive. As part of the job she goes undercover as one of the ladies pushing a cart at dim sum. This made me so nostalgic for dim sum and the friends I used to go with. I love dim sum and some of those friends are gone now. Anyway, there's union busting, Chinese gangsters, and more. Very good.

Happy new year! I know you will hit me with lots of BBs as usual!

Happy reading in 2022!

2. Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee. The conclusion of the Green Bone Saga. Clans, gangsters, family feuds, etc. Wraps up the story well. I thought it was very good, although I don't think I'll be revisiting it.

Hi! Just stopping by to wish you a Very Happy New Year!

>9 tardis: I read the first of that series and really enjoyed it. Need to get back to it.

>11 majkia: If you liked the first, you'll like the sequels, too.

3. Dead Iron by Devon Monk. On the steampunk western frontier "the Strange" is trying to get through from its world to ours and a werewolf, a dead man, a witch, and a clever young lady are what stands in it's way. Liked this.

4. Castle Shade by Laurie R. King. Holmes and Russell travel to Transylvania to investigate threats against a Roumanian princess. Lots of red herrings but Holmes and Russell are on form.

>6 tardis: The Lydia Chin series can be a lot of fun!

>13 jillmwo: I've been enjoying them!

5. And Only To Deceive by Tasha Alexander. Emily, Lady Ashton, is a widow, and not terribly sad about it, having barely known her husband by the time of his death. A year after his death she begins to learn more about him from his journals and friends, and discovers a trade in stolen artifacts that leads to danger. Very enjoyable.

6. The Convent's Secret by C.J. Archer. #5 in the Glass and Steel series. Matt and India still pining after each other, a few steps forward in the mystery. Enjoyable.

7. Oddball : A 'Sarah's Scribbles' Collection by Sarah Anderson. A short but hilarious collection of cartoons by a person I frequently see shared online. Funny.

8. The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison. Audiobook. Still very enjoyable. The reader was pretty good. Want more in this world.

>17 tardis: Me too!

>17 tardis: Thanks for the reminder to borrow this ebook.

>17 tardis: Good news, you can pre-order the sequel now!

>20 reconditereader: And I have! :)

9. Rivers of London : Monday, Monday by Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmell, and others. A graphic novel taking place after the last regular novel in the series, False Value. The inimitable Miriam Stephanopoulos takes over a unit working on street crime after the previous head has a breakdown. Needless to say, the breakdown is "Falcon" related and Peter Grant and the Folly team are brought in. Liked it very much :)

10. The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Book bullet from a couple of people. Wow. Multiple parallel Earths has been done, but not like this. Great characters, twisty plot. The "science" was a bit handwavy, but I liked it anyway.

>>22 tardis: I got hit by that ricochet, too. Sounds great.

>22 tardis: I'm glad you enjoyed it!

>22 tardis: & >23 majkia: I think many of us got caught in that particular hail of bullets. I have this one on hold, and I'm so glad to hear someone else loved it.

11. Stone Quarry by S. J. Rozan. Bill Smith is up at his country cabin in upstate New York when he gets a local client, a woman who has had a burglary and wants her stuff back with minimal fuss. Lydia comes up to help out. Local gangs, murder, and family angst. Good as always.

12. Reflecting the Sky by S.J. Rozan. Lydia and Bill go to Hong Kong on a supposedly simple errand for Grandfather Gao. Nothing goes to plan. Very tight and good.

>27 tardis: These are such fun. I especially enjoy Lydia's mom.

>28 Jim53: She's a treasure, all right :)

13. Winter and Night by S. J. Rozan. When Bill's nephew has to be retrieved from a police station and then disappears, Bill and Lydia go on the hunt for the nephew. Family (and other) secrets, football, drugs. Excellent as always.

14. The Ink Master's Silence by C.J. Archer. Matt still needs to get out of his engagement to his cousin, Patience, so that he can marry India. A newspaper editor has been murdered. Not the end of the series, but the library doesn't have any more (except in audiobook) and I don't love it enough to pursue it further.

Catch-up post. Have been reading a lot, between flights and sitting around while my dad was ill.

15. The Dragon Conspiracy by Lisa Shearin
16. The Brimstone Deception by Lisa Shearin
Two entries in Shearin's SPI Files series. Makenna (relatively new agent of SPI) and colleagues to up against dragons and hell. Lightweight, fun.

17. Fantasy In Death by J.D. Robb
18. Indulgence In Death by J.D. Robb
19. Treachery In Death by J.D. Robb
More Eve Dallas futuristic mysteries. They're a bit formulaic but easy to swallow when I'm stressed.

20. New York to Dallas by J.D. Robb
21. Celebrity in Death by J.D. Robb
22. Delusion in Death by J.D. Robb
More Eve Dallas futuristic police procedurals.

23. Absence of Mallets by Kate Carlisle. A Fixer-Upper mystery. Shannon and crew are working on a tiny home village for veterans. Cozy.

24. Calculated In Death by J.D. Robb. The murder of an accountant leads to a much larger case.

25. A Sense of Danger by Jennifer Estep. Charlotte Locke toils in obscurity, writing reports that her supervisor steals the credit for. She works for Section 47, who deal with "paramortal" threats, and her gift is a kind of synesthesia that highlights errors and lies. The arrival of a new "cleaner" (aka assassin) at the agency is the start of a dangerous adventure for her. Not bad urban fantasy. Would read more if the series takes off.

26. The Ghoul Vendetta by Lisa Shearin. Next in the SPI Files series. Ghouls robbing banks, a vampire kidnapped, etc. Makenna & co. need to track down the source of the problems.

27. Death in the Off Season by Francine Mathews. Detective Merry Folger gets her first murder investigation when the body of a local resident's long-lost brother turns up on his property. Good mystery, liked the characters. Will keep reading the series.

I DNFed a "Ghostly Southern Mystery" that I found too cute for my taste.

28. Design Remix : A New Spin on Traditional Rooms by Corey Damen Jenkins. I borrow a lot of home décor books from the library, but I seldom bother to add them to my reading record - mainly because I mostly look at the pictures. This one was an exception. Jenkins' chatty commentary, gorgeous (and comfortable!) rooms well photographed, and sensible, useful advice made me spend a good deal more time than usual on this book.

29. Thankless in Death by J.D. Robb. A spoiled man murders his parents and then goes after other people who have done him wrong. Eve Dallas & co. know who the murderer is pretty much from the beginning so the story is tracking him down. Always enjoyable.

30. Firebird by Mercedes Lackey. An older book that I must have missed. Retelling of the Russian fairy tale of the Firebird. I enjoyed this.

31. A Poisoned Season by Tasha Alexander. Second in the "Lady Emily" mystery series. Emily, juggling suitors (all but one unwanted) and her mother's nagging to remarry, is scandalizing society. Add a putative heir to the French throne, a cat burglar who only takes things that belonged to Marie Antoinette, and murder for another enjoyable mystery.

32. The Witch Collector by Charissa Weaks. The Witch Walker Trilogy, #1. Raina Bloodgood is a witch, but her power is underestimated because she’s mute and can’t sing the spells. She’s learned to hand-sign them instead. She’s been plotting revenge on the Witch Collector (Alexus) who comes every year to (duh!) collect a witch from the village. The witches are needed to defend the kingdom. Years ago, Raina’s sister was one of the collected. This year, though, things don’t go to plan. A vicious invading army wipes out many villages, with the Witch Collector riding ahead to try to warn them, and Raina is one of the few survivors. Forced to team up, Raina and Alexus travel to try to save the Frost King from the invaders. This is clearly the first in a series, with only a partial resolution at the end. Raina is the special girl, the only one who can save the day. Alexus n is hunky, with tragic backstory. They fall in love pretty quickly, and the age difference is substantial, although ignored. There’s some graphic sex towards the end. I thought the plot had some originality but I wasn’t enthused enough to go out of my way to read on in the series. Reviewed from an ebook copy received through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program in return for an honest review.

33. Winter Gardens : Reinventing the Season by Cedric Pollet. A stunningly beautiful book, but nearly useless for the Canadian climate with the possible exception of the West Coast. The gardens featured are all in France and England and they're gorgeous. I particularly liked the paired photos of the same garden in different seasons so one could see how the wonderful colours and textures of bark became prominent in the winter. A great book for inspiration, but not so much the nuts and bolts of creating a garden that shines in a Canadian winter.

>41 tardis: Ah, yes... That difference in climate is quite the impediment even where I am. (Though I can probably get away with just bit more than you.) I think I might see if I can borrow this from the library, just to oooh and aaah at the photos.

>42 clamairy: Well worth it from the library. Not one I'd purchase; besides the climate problem, the gardens were mostly enormous. I'd have swathes of red-twig dogwoods, too, if I had room. They'd look amazing against the snow.

34. The Liar's Knot by M.A. Carrick. Second in the Rook & Rose Trilogy. Ren is now a full member of the Traementis family, and heir until Guina comes of age. She's also Arenza Lenskaya, a foretune teller, and The Rose, a new vigilante in town. She, Grey Serrado (member of the Vigil (police) and secretly The Rook), and Vargo (crime lord turned noble), need to team up to track down the cause of the magical problems in the city. Still with the lush Florentine/Venetian inspired world, strong characters, and deadly peril. Enjoyed it greatly.

35. The Joy and Light Bus Company by Alexander McCall Smith. Mma Ramotswe is worried - her husband, the steadfast Mr. J.L.B Matekoni, is feeling a bit unfulfilled and wants to invest in a bus company, but it means mortgaging Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors. Meanwhile, the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency has a client who thinks his father is being taken advantage of by his nurse. The usual gentle, appealing story.

36. A Fatal Waltz by Tasha Alexander. When Lady Emily's best friend's husband is arrested for murder, solving the case takes her to Vienna and back, and involves anarchists and spies. Good mystery.

>44 tardis: I just read this too! It's becoming one of my favourite fantasy series.

>44 tardis:, >46 Sakerfalcon: It sounds fascinating!

37. A Liaden Universe Constellation Volume 5 by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. Ten stories, some practically novella length, in the Liaden Universe. I enjoyed all of them, but especially the last one, following up on Bar Jan and his servant, Khana, after Bar Jan's stupid attack on Jethri Gobelin in I-forget-which-novel-might-look-it-up-later. After that event, Bar Jan's delm declared him dead, and he and Khana are left on Port Chavvy to fend for themselves. Anyway, always love being in the Liaden-verse :)

38. The Shanghai Moon by S.J. Rozan. Lydia Chin is brought into another PI's case, in which a lawyer for German Jewish family wishes to reclaim some jewelry lost in Shanghai during WW2. The jewels have been brought to New York by a rogue bank official. History, family secrets, and a legendary jewel called the Shanghai Moon. Very good, as always.

39. Quantum of Nightmares by Charles Stross. Corporate takeovers, a nanny with an agenda, four hell-raising children, a supermarket chain with a really unpleasant source of meat, and tons of action. This latest entry in the Laundry Files is great!

>50 tardis: I am way behind. Glad to hear standards are holding up.

40. The Hatmakers by Tamzin Merchant. A book bullet from libraryperilous (THANK YOU!!). The Hatmakers are one of the 6 feuding guilds of Makers in London. Cordelia Hatmaker is 11 years old, the youngest of the family, not yet able to make hats, but clever and kind and maybe a bit naughty. When her father's ship is lost at sea she's the only one who doesn't interpret "lost" as "dead" and never gives up hope. In the mean time, she has a secret friendship with the youngest of the Bootmaker family and they and street urchin Sam have to foil a dastardly plot against the nation. Loved this, and am really looking forward to the sequel.

>52 tardis: Yay! Glad it hit the spot. I'm so excited that the sequel features a magical map!

41. Isolate by L. E. Modesitt Jr. Dekker is an Isolate, a person that can't be read or affected by empaths. Ysella is his empath security partner, and Obreduur is their client, a senior politician. Civil unrest, political machinations, government corruption, censorship of the press, election gladhanding. Very wordy, and not exactly gripping, even when there are assassination attempts happening, but if you liked Modesitt's Imager series (I did), you'll like this.

>54 tardis: That sounds interesting. Not an author I have heard of before.

42. Heart of Lies by Lisa Edmonds. Alice Worth series #7. Paranormal romance. Now moved in with alpha werewolf lover, Sean Maclin, Alice is finding her place in the pack, getting used to having her biological father back in her life, and worrying about her ghost pal, Malcolm, who is distant grieving his own lover’s loss. Adding to the complications, there’s a private investigator digging for dirt on Alice and her evil grandfather is trying to get her back into his organization and she’s being forced to come to terms with her own “white knight” complex, which is causing her friends and family a lot of aggravation and pain. So, she takes a case (who wouldn’t?) to find a missing artist, and goes up against the Dark Fae. Maybe not terribly original, but action packed, good characters and a decent plot. Recommended. Reviewed from an eBook received from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program in return for an honest review.

43. Heart of the Pack by Lisa Edmonds. Alice Worth series, #7. Paranormal romance. Sean figures out who was behind the PI following Alice in the previous book, and it leads to a showdown. Alice is learning that despite not being a shifter, she’s integral to the pack, and that they are her supports, too. The same Fae who gave her Daisy, the puppy version of her own internal wolf, gave her an amulet that would allow her to be a wolf and run with Sean for 7 days, but afterwards more action! The thing I liked least was an “epilogue” which seems to be the lead-in to a spin-off series featuring SPEMA agent Trent Lake. It just didn’t contribute anything to this book. Recommended. Reviewed from an eBook received from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program in return for an honest review.

>56 tardis: You seem to have reviewed the same book twice, under different titles. Was that deliberate, or a copy-paste issue?

>57 -pilgrim-: copy paste. Caught it on the actual reviews. Will fix it here. Sigh

edited to add: turns out I made the same copy-paste error EVERYWHERE, including the review copy on my computer, so I had to re-write it. Good thing it was all still fresh in my mind!

>58 tardis: Ouch! I commend your patience.

>59 -pilgrim-: I do not know how I managed to make such a mess, but it's an early reviewer book, so I really needed a proper review :)

And speaking of Early Reviewer books, I'm caught up! Here's the review of only one I have outstanding:

44. For the Murder by Gabrielle Ash. Diana Van Doren is a crow shifter. She and her parents were exiled from their murder (of crow shifters) some years ago because her father is a liar, cheat, and con artist and they’re in hiding from a major demon that daddy double-crossed. Now daddy dearest has a cunning plan to acquire a blade that can kill the demon and also be an attractive enough item to get the First Crow and the rest of the murder to take them back. Only problem is, Diana is the one who has to steal it. Sasha is the servant of the demon in question, who also wants the knife AND to kill Charles Van Doren. He and Diana team up with a demon-possessed boy, Nobu, and spend a lot of time lying (or otherwise not telling each other stuff). There’s instalove and one-true-mate stuff but overall, a pretty good story. Would read more from this series and this author. Reviewed from an eBook copy received through the LibraryThing Early Reviewer Program in return for an unbiased review.

45. On the Line by S.J. Rozan. A guy Bill once put in jail (or at least found the evidence that put him in jail) is out and he's kidnapped Lydia to make Bill play a crazy scavenger hunt to find her. Bill doesn't play? Lydia's dead. Tight, twisty, and gripping.

46. Concealed in Death
47. Festive in Death
48. Obsession in Death
49. Devoted in Death
50. Brotherhood in Death
51. Apprentice in Death
All by J.D. Robb, in the Eve Dallas/In Death series. Brain candy. Eve Dallas catches murderers with help from her team and her sexy rich husband. Familiar characters, predictable plotlines, rather a lot of sex and more violence than I prefer, and suspension of disbelief is required, but still engaging.

>62 tardis: Sometimes brain candy is exactly what is needed at points in one's life. I'm on a Georgette Heyer binge myself. :)

>63 Marissa_Doyle: I am a huge fan of brain candy. Love Georgette Heyer!

>63 Marissa_Doyle:, >64 tardis: I had a run where I was reading serious grown-up books again, and now I am back on a middle grade binge. Brain candy is v important!

>62 tardis: Knowing when and how to jump between the brain candy and the more serious stuff is a good life balance skill to have acquired.

>66 jillmwo: Right now, brain candy is about all I can handle :)

52. Three In Death
53. Big Jack
54. Echoes In Death
55. Secrets In Death
56. Dark In Death
All by J.D. Robb. All Eve Dallas mysteries. The first is a collection of three novellas (Interlude, Midnight, and Haunted In Death), and Big Jack is another novella. The rest are regular books.

57. In Defense of Plants by Matt Candeias. Matt hosts the "In Defense of Plants" podcast, which I generally enjoy, and this little book looks at various aspects of plant life: plant sex, carnivorous plants, parasitic plants, etc. The black and white line illustrations are nice, but there are only black and white photographs, which do not do justice to whatever they're supposed to be depicting.

58. Leverage in Death by J.D. Robb
59. Connections in Death by J.D. Robb

Two more Eve Dallas mysteries. Leverage features a strangely convoluted plot to create suicide bombers, and Connections is low life gang members feuding.

>67 tardis: Wow! There are a lot of books in this series.

I usually don't like to read more than 1-2 books by an author in a row. I admire your fortitude. :)

>70 libraryperilous: Most authors i also have trouble reading more than a couple in a row. Robb has her tropes that repeat too often, but overall the stories are still varied enough to work for me. YMMV, of course :)

60. Eternity in Death
61. Missing in Death
62. Possession in Death
63. Ritual in Death
All by J.D. Robb. 4 Eve Dallas novellas from various collections.

64. Ghost Hero by S. J. Rozan. Lydia Chin is hired to find alleged new works by a Chinese artist who was supposed to have died in Tiananmen Square. Is he really dead? Why has someone else hired another PI to find the same artworks? Lydia and Bill team up with the other PI, Jack Lee to find out. Really good.

65. I'm going to count these as one - more J.D. Robb shorts: Chaos in Death, and Taken in Death. Eve & co. solve a bunch of mysteries (quelle surprise!)

66. Spelunking Through Hell : A Visitor's Guide To The Underworld by Seanan McGuire. Alice Price-Healy has been looking for her husband, Thomas, for fifty years, helped by her old friend Naga, and to the detriment of her family relationships. Pregnant when he disappeared, she dumped the kids on a friend as soon as she was recovered from the birth and headed off into the unknown. Now the Crossroads are dead, and her granddaughter Annie has told her that Thomas isn't dead (or at least that the Crossroads didn't kill him), so she strikes out in a new direction. Alice is smart, sarcastic, and competent but sometimes her single-mindedness trips her up. I really enjoyed this. Bonus novella in the back.

67. Death of a Green-Eyed Monster by M.C. Beaton. The last Hamish McBeth mystery that Beaton had direct involvement with. It's very much like any other in the series. Hamish falls for the new constable, but she has secrets. There's a murder. It's sort of soothing to be back in Lochdubh, but it won't win awards.

68. Vendetta in Death by J.D. Robb. Someone is playing vigilante, kidnapping, torturing and killing men who done their women wrong. Eve doesn't approve of vigilante justice, and tracks down the murderer. If you like the rest of the series, you'll like this.

69. Golden in Death
70. Shadows in Death
71. Faithless in Death
All by J.D. Robb. I only have a couple left in the series (not counting whatever Robb/Roberts has in the writing/publishing queue, of course. The woman is a writing machine!). Watching Eve Dallas kick ass and get the bad guys is quite satisfying :)

72. Murder at Old St. Thomas's by Lisa M. Lane. First in the “Tommy Jones Mysteries” but Tommy is a minor character at best. Detective Inspector Cuthbert Slaughter and his new sergeant, Mark Honeycutt, investigate the death of a talented but much-hated surgeon. The corpse was found sitting upright in the viewing seats of the operating theatre of the disused Old St. Thomas’s Hospital. There’s no shortage of suspects from the hospital and the theatre community, but the most likely murderer was fairly obvious well before the end. I still enjoyed it well enough. Good characters, a fairly decent handle on the era (or at least to me no obvious jarring notes) and the dialogue felt smooth. I would definitely read more by this author. Received from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program in return for an honest review.

73. Forgotten in Death by J.D. Robb. A harmless homeless woman is found in a dumpster on a construction site, and then a pair of very old skeletons on another site nearby. Eve and company have to find justice for both. Enjoyed it, as always.

74. A Chalet Girl From Kenya
75. Chalet School Fete
both by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer. In the first, Jo Scott comes to the Chalet School while her parents are at their coffee farm in Kenya. In the second (apparently part 2 of A Genius at the Chalet School) is more about pianist Nina Rutherford. The usual alarums and excursions. I enjoy this series, although it's a bit quaint now.

76. The Art of Violence by S. J. Rozan. Bill and Lydia are back in the art world, but this time it's Bill's turn to narrate. An old acquaintance of Bill's is out of prison (murder) and becoming the next big thing in the art world, as well as a stressed out alcoholic. He thinks he committed some new murders, and asks Bill to prove it. The police don't think he did it. Bill doesn't think so either, but the guy is definitely crazy and not dealing well with sudden artistic success. Very good.

And that gets Mt. TBR down to 61. Need to nibble away at it before any more books arrive!

>76 tardis: I really liked that one too.

77. A French Affair by Katie Fforde. A re-read. I usually get this author's work from the library, but someplace I got a cheap copy of this and I guess I didn't notice that I'd already read it. Light-weight romance, kind of gentle. Easy on the brain.

78. Guards, Guards by Terry Pratchett. Just finished watching The Watch tv series (borrowed from the library) and had to re-read the book to re-set my brain. The TV series was a terrible adaptation, but had some fun bits. The book is better. I'll probably go on to re-read more of the Watch subseries because my brain seems to need it.

79. Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett. Re-read, because of The Watch. Pratchett skewers equal-opportunity hiring in the police force. Still excellent.

80. Paper Son by S. J. Rozan. Lydia's mother sends her to Mississippi to help out a cousin she's never heard of. The cousin is in jail for murdering his father, but Lydia's mom says he couldn't have done it because he's related to Lydia's dad. Lydia and Bill find more family secrets and trouble. Very good.

81. The Frangipani Tree Mystery
82. The Betel Nut Tree Mystery
Both by Ovidia Yu. These are the first and second books in the Crown Colony series. I read the fourth book, The Mimosa Tree Mystery last year and really liked it, although the time period (during the WW2 Japanese occupation of Singapore) was not a happy one. These two take place in the late 1930s, before the Japanese invaded Singapore, but there are rumours swirling about trouble in Europe, and the Japanese are attacking China. Chen Su Lin starts working with the head of detectives, LeFroy, and helping solve mysteries. There's a good deal of racism and sexism (not unexpected, given the historical period) but Su Lin is a great character and the mysteries are good.

83. Hold Fast Through the Fire by K.B. Wagers. The second of Wagers' NeoG books (after A Pale Light in the Black) and just as action-packed and good. Fresh off their second consecutive win in the Boarding Games, the crew of Zuma's Ghost are facing some changes - new crew members, new missions. There are secrets, lies, horrifying tragedy, and also fun moments. I enjoyed the characters and the story in Hold Fast Through the Fire very much. The only tiny thing that bothered me was that Wagers referred to some characters as trans men or trans women. I am neither, and maybe this is a non-issue (or even a good thing - representation matters!) for people who are, but I always figured that trans men are men and trans women are women, and in this future I would expect medical science to be even better at helping people transition so that being trans would be either not obvious or a non-issue. Anyway, minor quibble and two thumbs up for gender spectrum inclusivity.

84. Spotted Dog by Kerry Greenwood. Corinna Chapman, baker, is surprised early one morning to find a distraught man at her door, looking for her boyfriend, Daniel. Daniel is a private eye, and the man's dog has been stolen. Baking, gang warfare, cats and dogs, and more. Very enjoyable.

84. Tears of Pearl by Tasha Alexander. Lady Emily and husband, Colin, are on their honeymoon in Constantinople, where there's murder in the harem and a twisty route to the truth. Enjoyed it well enough.

>80 tardis:
I think the fallacy in your comments about trans men and women in this future is the assumption that they WISH to transition. A significant number in the trans community wish simply to be accepted as belonging to the gender with which they identify; being thus accepted, they feel no desire to alter the bodies they were born with to conform to expectations of that gender.

But of course, many do wish to transition. So that is simply drawing a different set of categories based on external appearances (which does not come out any better than the issue that you noted).

I do not have any suggestions for a solution - but the problem of terminology exists: either a distinction between trans and non-trans or between transitioning and non-transitioning. Either sounds overly intrusive and undesirable.

Maybe in the future we will be placing less emphasis on distinctions of gender. That would be a true expression of inclusivity. It is extremely offensive to try to force people into the wrong boxes, but perhaps best not to be so insistent on finding boxes for people at all, and accept them as individuals.

>82 -pilgrim-: Good point. My trans friend sample size is ONE, and she is transitioning. Also, she isn't close enough for me to ask (assuming she even wants to discuss it with me) and its not a discussion I would like to have over email.

I think my irritation in this case relates to your last point. In this particular future, other gender/sexual preference choices just ARE. People have two dads. People are ace, bi, non-binary, poly, gay, lesbian, they/them, etc. mostly without labels because their actions, pronouns, and relationships say what they are. Only trans people are labelled. It IS pretty hard to both refer to a person only by the gender they represent outwardly AND include their experience as a possibility. Representation does matter.

It didn't impact my enjoyment of this book and the previous one in the series. It's a cracking good story and I hope Palmer will write more in that 'verse.

>83 tardis: If the trans people are the only ones labelled, then it does seem to other us (I'm non-binary). However, it's possible that the author wanted to include representation without knowing any more subtle ways to indicate it. From your description of the setting and its general diversity, I'd probably take it as a well-meant, if clunky, attempt at representation.

>84 nonil: The author is also non-binary. I think you're right, that it's just the best attempt at representation when there aren't any smooth ways to do it.

85. Abandoned in Death by J. D. Robb. I'm finally caught up with the In Death series! This was much like the rest: gruesome crime, race against time, putting clues together. A woman's body is found in a playground, carefully dressed and made up, and with a sign saying "Bad Mommy." At this point I think I read these books as much for the familiarity and the lives of the characters as the actual mystery.

86. House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas. I was somewhat handicapped with this book by not remembering much of the first in the series, which I read a couple of years ago. Took me a while to get back into it. Bryce and Hunt are trying to keep their heads down, but stuff keeps getting chucked at them. Bryce is a bit of a Special Saviour Girl - super powerful (although thankfully not invincible). I do recall being annoyed by the worldbuilding last time, and it hasn't improved. Otherwise, a decent read.

87. Someone Perfect by Mary Balogh. Historical (regency-ish) romance. An Earl brings his estranged half-sister home after her mother's death. Her friend and the friend's twin brother come along for a visit to help her adjust. Family secrets, pride, prejudice, etc. Fluffy but comforting.

>86 tardis: I’ve been wondering if I should read House of Sky and Breath. I read the first one a couple years ago and wasn’t super impressed. Your review doesn’t really make me want to run out and find a copy. :)

88. Sailor's Jewel by Celia Lake. Rhoe and her brother, Cyrus, are taking an ocean voyage across the Atlantic. Cyrus is escorting a powerful magical object, and Rhoe is taking a break before her final vows at the Temple of Healing. Hugh is the younger brother of the owner of the line, and travelling on the ship as part of learning the ropes. When the magical object starts attracting the wrong kind of attention, they team up to solve the problem. As with all of Lake's books, a fairly gentle magical romance.

89. Fool's Gold By Celia Lake. Beatrice is used to not being noticed - it's a curse, literally. Nobody outside her family ever really sees her. Robin screwed up royally and has been immured on a family estate for a couple of years. Now they've decided he's fit for the world again and he's reestablishing his art business and gallery. When he overhears a couple of forgers, he follows them and sees Beatrice. The mystery of why nobody else sees her intrigues him. Magical romance, or romance with magic. Anyway, enjoyable.

>88 tardis: Would you say Fool’s Gold can be enjoyed well enough without starting from the beginning of the series?

>89 2wonderY: It can, although there are a few minor spoilers for an earlier book in that series.

90. An Impossible Imposter by Deanna Raybourn. Veronica Speedwell and paramour Stoker Templeton-Vane go to an estate evaluate a collection of dead (stuffed) animals and bugs and also the prodigal son who has returned from the dead. Is he really who he says he is? Secrets, jewels, and a stuffed thylacine. Fun.

91. Family Business by S. J. Rozan. Lydia and Bill are hired by a woman, Mel, who has inherited a building occupied by the members of a tong. The late head of the tong was Mel's uncle. A slightly shady developer is trying to buy the building, someone is taking pot-shots at people who oppose the development, there's a battle for control of the tong brewing, and there are rumours of treasure walled up in the building. Also, Lydia's mom does some detecting. Always a good time.

92. Fated Blades by Ilona Andrews. The Adler and Baena families are old enemies. Descended from genetically enhanced super-soldiers, they've competed for domination on the planet Rada for generations. Now, catastrophic betrayal forces Ramona Adler and Matias Baena to team up. Sparks fly between them, of course, and there's a lot of killing involved in getting back what was stolen. It's a good time-waster, but not deep lit.

>91 tardis: I'm always up for more of Lydia's mom!

>93 Jim53: She's a treasure, all right :)

93. The Assassins of Consequence by Marshall Ryan Maresca. The beginning of the second phase of his Maradaine series. Veranix Calbert is still moonlighting as The Thorn, a vigilante, but one job pushes things a bit far and his enemies figure out his true identity and start coming after him. Action packed to the max, but also propels the story along well. I very much enjoy this series, but I'm concerned for the author as this book is (so far) only being released in eBook format. I prefer to buy the paper. I've had to take the touchstone brackets out because the right book isn't coming up, but I'll try again in a week or so.

94. No Judgements by Meg Cabot. Bree has fled to Little Bridge in the Florida Keys, in the wake of a series of tragedies and shocks. She has a job, a cat, and a good roommate, but there's a hurricane coming and her over-protective mother and ex-boyfriend are nagging her to evacuate, come home and go back to law school. Which makes her more stubborn. Romance-fluff, but satisfying.

95. The Clockwork Solution by Michelle D. Sonnier. An Early Reviewer book that I finished a few days ago and have been struggling to review. Arabella Leyden is the first ever technomancer, a witch who can work with mechanical things. After her investiture as a witch, she's sent to Ireland where witches are feared and reviled, to get her out of the way of assassins and maybe help out with solving the potato blight. There are family secrets coming to light. I found most of the characters annoying - the females are all hyper-emotional, the males shallow. I felt most of the character conflicts were manufactured to add drama, rather than arising out of their personalities. It didn't help that this is the second book in a series, and I haven't read the first. On the whole, not for me.

96. Amongst Our Weapons by Ben Aaronovitch. The 9th Rivers of London novel, and I enjoyed it very much. Peter and Folly trainee, Danni Wickford, are called to the London Silver Vaults where a man has died under unnatural circumstances. This leads to a very convoluted trail from the north of England to Spain. Peter has a deadline - his partner, Beverly, is due to have twins at any moment, and he wants to wrap the case before starting his paternity leave.

>95 tardis: I lost track of Rivers of London after Foxglove Summer, which I didn't find all that enjoyable. Sounds like I need to get back to the series.

97. Death in Rough Water by Francine Mathews. When an older fisherman dies after being swept overboard in a storm, his daughter asks her old friend, Detective Merry Folger, to prove that he was murdered. Merry doesn't think he was, but her friend is hurting so she agrees to look into it. Community and family tensions abound. Good mystery.

98. Risen by Benedict Jacka. Alex Verus is heading for the endgame of his long conflict between and with his former mentor and the Council. Lots of battles, wizard politics, hard choices. A good conclusion to the series.

99. Dangerous to Know by Tasha Alexander. Lady Emily is at her mother-in-law's home in France, recovering from the injuries suffered in Constantinople. She stumbles across the mutilated corpse of a young woman, and she and Colin are drawn into that investigation and some related mysteries. Good.

100. The Devil You Know by Kit Rocha. 2nd in the Mercenary Librarians series. Contracted to retrieve a "package" from a tech company, Maya, Nina, Dani, the Silver Devils, etc. find a cloning ring that needs to be shut down. Meanwhile one of the Silver Devils, Gray's, body is rejecting his implants, which is a death sentence. Exciting and good.

101. A Crimson Warning by Tasha Alexander. Someone is splashing red paint on the front steps of London's elite, followed by revealing dirty secrets about each targeted family. Lady Emily and husband, Colin, investigate. Pretty good.

102. Small Gods by Terry Pratchett. Audiobook, read by Nigel Planer. This was one of our driving books on our way to Vancouver. Always great to be back on the Disc.

103. The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi. This was a lot of fun. Jamie Grey is unemployed when an old friend offers a job at a mysterious non-profit called KPS. Recommended!

>100 tardis: I think you're second person to recommend this one. I'm bumping it to the top of my wishlist.

>99 tardis: The Mercenary Librarians series sounds great! Not sure how I missed your review of the first book, but it's going on my wishlist now.

104. No Offense by Meg Cabot. Fluffy romance. Children's Librarian Molly Montgomery loves her new job at the Little Bridge Public Library, despite a few challenging patrons. When she finds an abandoned newborn in the women's washroom it's the start of a whole lot of excitement and romance with the hunky sheriff. Brain candy, but needed.

105. Escape from Yokai Land by Charles Stross. A novella featuring Bob from the Laundry, sent to Japan to help them with a problem. Enjoyed it as always.

106. High Jinx by Kelley Armstrong. Cursed Luck #2. Curse weaver Kennedy Bennett is running her antique shop, specializing in previously-cursed items in her home town. When the seller of a cursed painting reneges on the sale to Kennedy and Aiden Connolly, they are off on a chase to find it and the other three in the set. Fun.

107. Sword and Shadow by Michelle Sagara. Second in the Wolves of Elantra series, which is a prequel to her "Cast In... series. Severn Handred goes to the west with one of the Barrani, and into the green. Good.

108. Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett. Audiobook, for a long car journey.

109. Death in a Cold Hard Light by Francine Mathews. Detective Merry Folger is called back from her vacation with fiancé Peter Mason to deal with a drowning death that may be murder. Her dad (police chief) is hiding something. Good mystery.

110. Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus : Beginnings by Lydia Sherrer. Lily Singer adventures, book 1. Lily, wizard and archivist, gets drawn into a couple of adventures by her mentor's witch nephew. I liked that Lily and Sebastian didn't fall in love. Yet, anyway. Later entries in the series may change that. Liked this one enough to keep going.

111. The Homewreckers by Mary Kay Andrews. Short of cash, Hattie, a builder/renovator agrees to do a reality TV house renovation show with an annoying designer. Sabotage, personality clashes, and network politics. Enjoyed it.

112. Death on Nantucket by Francine Mathews. Police Detective Merry Folger investigates the death of a woman found on the widow's walk of her father's house. Family secrets, lies, murder. Good.

113. Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League et al. A Compendium of Evils by Earl Mac Rauch. Sigh. I love the 1984 Buckaroo Banzai movie, and I own the novelization, so I was really looking forward to this. I don't recommend it, though. It's bloated, full of pseudo-philosophy and nastiness, and has none of the quirky humor of the original movie.

114. Of Claws and Fangs by Faith Hunter. A collection of shorter fiction in the Jane Yellowrock/Soulwood 'verse. Features mostly side characters to the main novels. I enjoyed it.

115. Death on Tuckernuck by Francine Mathews. Merry Folger has her hands full, with an oncoming hurricane and preparations for her wedding, but when bodies are found in a stranded motor yacht off the nearby island of Tuckernuck she still has to spring into action. Good.

116. God Rest Ye, Royal Gentlemen by Rhys Bowen. Ah, nothing like a Christmas-themed mystery on a warm June day :) The latest in Bowen's Royal Spyness series finds Georgie and Darcy planning their first holiday house party as a married couple. Of course things don't go to plan. Summoned to a house party at Darcy's aunt's home near Sandringham, there's royal intrigue and murder. Enjoyable.

117. Still Just a Geek by Wil Wheaton. An annotated version of Wil's earlier book, Just a Geek, with all new material added. He talks frankly about his career, his mental illness, and his geekness. Going by this, he's a pretty cool guy and I quite enjoyed it.

118. Bad Girls Drink Blood By S.L Choi. Lane Callaghan and her sisters-by-choice Mae and Y’sindra, run a PI business, doing retrievals and investigations mostly in the borderlands between the Fae world and ours. When the queen of the Fae asks her to retrieve some immensely important stones that have been stolen, they’re tested to the limits. Fast, action-packed, and snarky, this was pretty good. I liked the sisters and their relationship, and Lane’s love interest, bartender Teddy, who turns out to be more than he seems. Although I could have lived without him calling her “sweet fangs” so often. Very cringe-y. There was extensive use of the usual paranormal tropes: kick-ass magic heroine, sexy hunk, borderlands, etc., but the package was attractive and it was well written. I would read more from this author. Reviewed from an e-book copy received via the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program in return for an honest review.

119. Playing With Myself by Randy Rainbow. I'm a fan of Randy Rainbow (yes, that is his real name) and enjoyed this memoir of Randy's life to date. He starts from childhood and moves through his hand-to-mouth days in New York to his current viral stardom. Influences, drooling fanboy moments, and anecdotes galore. Very enjoyable.

I really need to read Randy's book. He's so great!

120. Tear Down the Throne by Jennifer Estep. 2nd in the Gargoyle Queen series. Crown princess/spy Gemma Ripley is trying to find out what evil Prince Milo of Morta wants with all the tearstone he's been stealing from her country. She's also dealing with her unwanted attraction to his brother, Prince Leonidas, inter-kingdom politics, and attempted murders. Good story with the usual sloppy worldbuilding (why are they eating gruyere cheese?).

121. Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls by Kaela Rivera. A book bullet from libraryperilous and as good as she said! A unique magic system and mythology with a Mexican flair. 12 year old Cece lives in Tierra Del Sol, a town on the edge of a desert filled with criaturas. The townsfolk consider them all evil and take the job of repelling them very seriously. Cece's beloved older sister is stolen by one of the most evil, and Cece vows to do anything get her back, including becoming one of the hated brujas. So good!

>112 tardis: oh, I forgot he had a book out! Just requested it from the library.

>114 tardis: Yay! My aim was true. :) The sequel is out in the US in September.

122. Framed in Fire by Iona Whishaw. Lane Winslow and husband Inspector Frederick Darling solve several local mysteries in their small central British Columbia town, including a very old murder. Very good.

123. The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison. This arrived today and I dropped everything to read it. Thara Celehar is doing his duty as Witness for the Dead when he unexpectedly acquires an apprentice, a widow who discovered that she could hear the dead at her husband's bier. In training her, they solve several mysteries. I loved this.

>117 tardis: Is everyone's favorite opera company manager back? If so, I may have to buy it.

>118 libraryperilous: Indeed :) His role this time is smaller, but important.

124. The Dispatcher by John Scalzi. A short, quick read. Inexplicably, people who have been murdered are coming back, corpses vanishing and live bodies appearing in their own beds. But ONLY people who have been murdered, so there's a new industry of people who "dispatch" people close to death so they come back. When one dispatcher disappears, another gets roped into figuring out what happened. Pretty good.

125. The Dispatcher: Murder by Other Means by John Scalzi. Sequel to the above book, and also a good read. Tony is taking slightly less above-board jobs to make ends meet, and happens to be in a bank, making a deposit, when a robbery goes down. Not all is what it seems.

126. The Void Ascendant by Premee Mohamed. Conclusion to her Beneath the Risingtrilogy of Lovecraftian horror. Nick is living as the Prophet of a people not on Earth (destroyed, see end of last book), and content enough, but when someone tries to break into the archives and he recognizes her, things go pretty much to hell. Very good.

127. The League of Gentlewomen Witches by India Holton. Light, silly romance between a pirate and a witch. It's supposed to be 1800s England, but packed full of anachronisms, which, as usual, I find a bit irritating, but the characters are fun and the story clips along.

My TBR pile has grown to 71 books, counting the two latest ER eBooks I won. It includes almost every book I've bought since January. However, the library hasn't delivered any of my holds lately, so I'm hoping to make progress on it.

128. Speedy Death by Gladys Mitchell. First in the Mrs. Bradley mysteries. A guest in the house where she's visiting fails to come down for dinner, and is discovered dead in the bath. Murder? Some of the other guests and, of course, Mrs. Bradley, investigate. Twisty.

and that's the TBR down to 70 :)

>121 tardis:
The concept of a two-digit count for a TBR pile is somewhat alien to me. Mine is currently in four-digits. :-)

>122 pgmcc: My pile was once in three digits, but is generally in the 60s. Anyway, it's gone up again by 2 because I went past a bookstore today and... well, you know what happens...

129. Saving Time by Jodi Taylor. Team Weird are now full-fledged Time Police Officers and the Time Police are facing a huge threat to their organization and the whole timeline. Excitement, laughs, tears. Loved it.

>123 tardis:
because I went past a bookstore today and... well, you know what happens...?

Yes, I know. It is one of the marvels of the Universe and I love it when it happens.

130. Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher. The first of yesterday's additions to the collection. In the Harbour Kingdom, the youngest princess of three sees her oldest sister married to the prince of the Northern Kingdom to secure a peace. The sister comes home in a box. Then the middle sister is wed to the same prince and the youngest is sent to a nunnery to prevent her from marrying and having a child that might contest the throne, and also to keep in reserve in case the middle sister also dies and she's needed to marry the prince. Marra quite likes the nunnery. Mucking out stables and weeding and doing embroidery suits her much more than court politics. But when she finds out how her sister is being abused she can't stay. She has to find a way to kill the prince. This was So Good. Highly recommended.

131. Long Shadows by Jodi Taylor. Elizabeth Cage is between weird emergencies, on vacation with Michael Jones. Of course weird stuff happens, even at remote fishing lodges in Scotland. But that's only the beginning, and the truth about who Elizabeth really is is not what anyone expected. Not the laugh-riot of the St Mary's series, but very good.

>121 tardis: I really enjoy the Mrs Bradley mysteries. Even when the mystery itself isn't so good, the characters (esp. Mrs Bradley) are always great.

>126 tardis: I liked the first two books in this series and picked this one up, but haven't gotten round to reading it yet. Thank you for the reminder.

132. Along the Saltwise Sea by A. Deborah Baker (aka Seanan McGuire). Continuing the adventures of Zib and Avery over the woodward wall. I quite like it, although it's not my favourite. If not for my continuing desire for Seanan to make enough money to feed her cats (not to mention keep writing), these would likely be from the library instead of purchased.

133. All the Seas of the World by Guy Gavriel Kay. I mean, it's Kay - if you like his style, you'll love this as I did. Another richly layered fantasy in an analogue of Mediterranean Europe in the Middle Ages. Ish. A slow, savoured read.

>129 tardis: I've grown disillusioned with Kay and his writing style over the last few years. Disappointing, as I love this kind of historical fantasy. I'm glad his writing still works for you!

>129 tardis: I'm about 200 pages into Children of Earth and Sky so I can read All the Seas of the World soon!

>129 tardis: how many pseudonyms does McGuire have? I put this series on my TBR list.

>132 catzteach: I had no idea! Maybe more than the three I now know about...

>132 catzteach: >133 clamairy: A. Deborah Baker was the in-book author of a series of childrens' books quoted extensively in McGuire's Middlegame so when she decided to write the actual books, she stuck with the fictional author's name.

134. Death in the Floating City by Tasha Alexander. Lady Emily and husband go to Venice to help out an old frenemy of Emily's, whose husband is suspected of murdering his own father. This was okay, although not the best of the series.

And Mount TBR has grown by another two books, because I went to a used book sale today. Actually you could argue 4 books as one is an omnibus of the first three in a series.

>134 tardis: oh, that’s kinda cool! I have yet to read the Middlegame books. I do have one of her latest (as McGuire) on my pile at the moment. Maybe I’ll read it next.

135. Ombria in Shadow by Patricia A. McKillip. One of my lucky finds at the booksale yesterday. I love McKillip's prose, and her stories are wonderful. In this one a prince dies, and his mistress is turned out on the street by the new regent for the child heir. Meanwhile, a girl who is apprenticed to a sorceress in the under city takes an interest and the bastard cousin of the heir goes up against court politics and the regent. So good.

>136 tardis: Ooooh. I've got to see if that's available from OverDrive. She is one of my favorites.

>136 tardis: I haven't read that one yet, I'll put it on my list too, thanks!

136. The Unrighteous Son by Gabrielle Ash. Matilda Ashby is back at Ashby Industries with her surviving brother, trying to put her life back together, but also missing Samson the assassin-turned-bodyguard that she fell for in the last book. When she receives a letter with a photo of Samson being menaced by a woman with a knife, she panics and gets hauled back into the supernatural world, trying to find and save him. Matilda has more than a tendency to go off half-cocked, or to freeze up with indecision and not go off at all, and it got a bit disorienting as she went back and forth. She has skills and money, but no self-confidence. Anyway, it was overall enjoyable, and I'll definitely look out for the next in the series. Early Reviewer book received in return for an honest review.

>129 tardis: Is Kay's book All The Seas of the World a stand-alone or is it one that is part of a trilogy? I hate to sound ungrateful to an author whose work I usually enjoy, but I seem to be more in a place where I'm more willing to tackle 600+ pages when the story is complete within the single volume.

>140 jillmwo: It's a complete story, although it does have links to previous books in the Sarantium series - most particularly Children of Earth and Sky.

>140 jillmwo: There were many references back to the Sarantium series, but I'm not sure you'd even notice you'd missed something if you hadn't read them. He doesn't assume, but sometimes you can tell there's more he isn't saying, at least in Children of Earth and Sky. Quite a few references to mosaics and architecture, for example.

Oooooh, >141 tardis: and >142 Karlstar:. Thank you so much for the clarification! I'm willing to fall down a very long rabbit hole if that's the case.

>136 tardis: That's one of my all-time favourite McKillips!

>139 tardis: - I quite liked the first one, so will watch out for this too.
>129 tardis: I'd missed that she'd also written the in-book version of Middlegame. The sequel to that is out now too.

>143 jillmwo: I've always been a big fan of the 2 book Sarantine Mosaic series.

>145 reading_fox: I thought the second was a bit weaker than the first, but it was still decent.

137. Behind the Shattered Glass by Tasha Alexander. Lady Emily and husband are at home entertaining friends, when a dying man falls into their drawing room. He turns out to be the marquess in possession of an nearby estate, and his reputation rather better than he deserves. Some of the minor character motivations were a bit weak, despite a last-minute attempt to make them more relatable. Also slightly squicky power and age-differential romance.

138. The Counterfeit Heiress by Tasha Alexander. Lady Emily and co are in London, enjoying the season, when at a masked ball one of the other guests is unmasked as an imposter. In trying to find out what happened to the real Estelle Lamarr, they go to Paris. Decent.

139. A Psalm for the Wild-built by Becky Chambers. Re-read as the next in the series is due to arrive soon. I still love this gentle little novella of a young monk trying to find themself and the robot that they meet along the road.

140. Death in St. Petersburg
141. Uneasy Lies the Crown
142. In the Shadow of Vesuvius
143. The Adventuress
144. A Terrible Beauty
145. The Dark Heart of Florence
All by Tasha Alexander, in the Lady Emily series. I'm not going to recap them individually as they are all quite similar. Lady Emily and husband investigate something. Interspersed are chapters from the point of view of someone in the past that relates to the mystery being explored. Decent time-wasters, not great lit. Probably didn't benefit from me reading so many in succession.

146. Alone in the Wild by Kelley Armstrong. Latest in her Rockton series. Casey and Eric are on a short holiday camping trip when Casey finds the body of a woman protecting a still-living baby. Finding the baby's family and the woman's murderer becomes a priority. Decent story.

147. A Prayer for the Crown Shy by Becky Chambers. 2nd in her Monk & Robot series. Dex and Mosscap are travelling around Panga, meeting people and allowing Mosscap to ask its question to determine what humans need. It's gentle and thoughtful and there are no simple answers. Well, maybe there are SOME simple answers (sometimes you just really need a squeaky door fixed), but mostly they're not at all simple or clear. In a way, it reminds me of those dire management parable books like Who Moved My Cheese (I guess this would be a philosophy parable) but it doesn't have the forced feeling that they do. I loved this.

148. Rosebud by Paul Cornell. Five artificial intelligences running a survey ship meet something odd in space. This was... weird. Not bad, but I didn't love the characters, and the plot didn't fully engage me. Pity, because Cornell is usually a reliably enjoyable author for me.

>150 tardis:
Your reaction to Rosebud is much the same as mine.

>150 tardis: But thanks for the reminder that I hadn’t yet read his last Lychford title!

>150 tardis: >151 pgmcc: Thirded. I bought the kindle version out of curiosity. Schrödinger’s Moonwatcher*, perhaps?

*Moonwatcher was the hominid who throws the bone in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

As it happens, I just started A Prayer for the Crown Shy on my Kindle. Wasn't blown away by Psalm but figured that a second round with the characters might help to clarify why. I like the robot and I like the human. I keep hoping for more, though.

2 re-reads because brain didn't want anything new. I read them last year and liked them enough to buy them, and they've been sitting on the TBR pile for a long time.

149. The Midnight Bargain by C. L. Polk. Beatrice Clayborne wants to be a sorcerer, but her family needs her to marry well to save their finances. Since women's magic is suppressed from marriage until the end of childbearing years, she can't do both. Very good story.

150. Black Water Sister by Zen Cho. Jess Teoh moves from the US back to Penang with her parents. When she starts hearing a voice in her head she is drawn into a world of gods and ghosts to save an old temple from destruction. Loved Jess and her family. Very good.

151. The Assassins of Thasalon by Lois McMaster Bujold. Re-read as I bought the print. Pen and Des go to Thasalon to deal with a blasphemous temple sorcerer. Very good.

152. Another Time, Another Place by Jodi Taylor. There's no peace at St. Mary's for any length of time. New management, a new head of security, and nobody's happy. However, Max and team muddle on. So good, but such an annoying ending! Need next book NOW!!!

Two more off the TBR pile!

153. Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire. Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children isn't the only school for kids who have been through the back of wardrobes to other places. There's another one, and Cora thinks maybe it can help her be "normal" again, so she transfers there. Nice to see Regan from Across the Green Grass Fields again. Very good.

154. Square3 by Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire). I can't be bothered making the 3 a superscript. If I was cataloguing this book in a library I'd make an alternate title for "Square Cubed" but I don't know if any other cataloguer would :). Susan and older sister Katherine are inseparable, until something deeply weird happens and Susan is the only one left. Years later, Susan is a scientist, still trying to figure out what happened to her sister. Very good.

155. Queen of Clouds by Neil Williamson. Billy Braid is apprenticed to a woodworker who makes “sylvans” out of special trees. Sylvans are sort of sentient puppets, animated by “motes” and Billy is the only one who can hear them think. They work until they eventually rot back to the earth. When the master receives an order for a sylvan from a family in the city of Karpentine, he sends Billy to deliver it. Billy has never been out of his mountain backwater, but he’s quickly sucked into the Machiavellian politics of the city and the fight for Law for All. This was quite enjoyable, and I will definitely look out for Williamson’s other work. Received via the LibraryThing Early Reviewer Program in return for an unbiased review.

156. The 5th Gender by G.L. Carriger. I'm getting a bit fed up with Carriger. This one has more in common with her San Andreas Shifters series than her earlier books - same sex couple getting to know/trust each other and having lots of fairly graphic sex. Yes, I'm a prude. I don't like extensive sex scenes of any kind. I page past them in most books. They mostly just pad (and almost never advance) a meagre plot. The way the human partner, Drey, refers to the alien, Tris, as "baby" all the time (including in public and on the job) irritated me. The plot itself, with Drey (a detective) trying to solve a murder on a ship crewed by Tris' people, was good, and Carriger writes well. I just didn't care for the relationship at the heart of the story.

Catch-up entry:

157. Hello Summer by Mary Kay Andrews. Award-winning reporter loses a job and goes home to her small Florida town, where she is coerced into working for her sister at the local paper. Romance/fluff.

158. Bad Girls Drink Blood by S.L. Choi. Early Reviewer book. Lane Callaghan and her sisters-by-choice Mae and Y’sindra, run a PI business, doing retrievals and investigations mostly in the borderlands between the Fae world and ours. When the queen of the Fae asks her to retrieve some immensely important stones that have been stolen, they’re tested to the limits. Fast, action-packed, and snarky, this was pretty good. I liked the sisters and their relationship, and Lane’s love interest, bartender Teddy, who turns out to be more than he seems. Although I could have lived without him calling her “sweet fangs” so often. Very cringe-y. There was extensive use of the usual paranormal tropes: kick-ass magic heroine, sexy hunk, borderlands, etc., but the package was attractive and it was well written.

159. Mai Tais for the Lost by Mia V. Moss. ER book. Marrow Nightingale is the only PI in the undersea enclave of Electric Blue Moon. When her adoptive brother is murdered, she's on the case and on the suspect list, dodging paparazzi and digging for the truth. I enjoyed this - Marrow is damaged and not always nice, but she's tenacious and she loved her brother. Fast-paced and action-packed.

160. Sex, Bugs & UFOs by Warren A. Shepherd. ER book. Dave Morrissey, former UFO investigator, never knew anything about his father and was abandoned by his mum at the age of 7. When he's dragged back into the UFO investigation game, he's suddenly a target for intergalactic thugs and gets dragged halfway across the universe. Who was his father? What happened to his mum? What is it about this kind of nebbishy guy that everyone wants? This was pretty fun, if a bit hard to swallow sometimes. Well-written.

161. The Hare and the Oak by Celia Lake. When a conscientious landowner contacts the Council because his land is sick, Mabyn and Cyrus must solve the problem. Later life romance, mystery, magic. Enjoyable but lightweight.

162. Point by Point by Celia Lake. Lydia, intrepid investigative reporter (in the mold of Nellie Bly) recruits her friend Galen to get her an in to higher class circles to investigate the aftermath of a scandal. Romance/mystery/magic. Again, enjoyable but lightweight.

163. Winter's Charms by Celia Lake. Three novellas with a vaguely winter/Christmas theme. Mysteries, magic. Liked them all.

164. When in Greece by Emma Lathen. Sloan Investment Bank Junior Trust Officer Ken Nicholls disappears while overseeing the bank's interests at a big infrastructure project in Greece. Senior Vice President John Putnam Thatcher has to get involved. Very good.

165. Murder to Go by Emma Lathen. Someone has added poison to a fast food franchise's Mexicali Chicken mix. The Sloan Bank has loaned Head Office 12 million and Thatcher wants to protect their investment. Lots of red herrings. Very good.

A note about both of these - they were published in 1969. Aside from the obvious technological changes (no ubiquitous mobile phones, for one thing!) it's surprising how well they've stood up. Banking, international finance, and international relations haven't changed much at all. They are heteronormative, but not as sexist as one frequently finds in books of that era.

>161 tardis: It's the wrong touchstone for the title Point by Point. You know that LT is totally wonky when it substitutes Dan Brown for Celia Lake!

>163 jillmwo: fixed! Usually I check before I save - touchstones are so often wrong!

166. Creating a Garden Retreat by Virginia Johnson. Speaking of wonky touchstones! If I include the subtitle, this one gets no results, but just using the main part of the title gets me the link with the subtitle. Sigh. Anyway, a nice book about creating a garden and the evolution that gardens go through. It is adorned with charming watercolour sketches throughout but no photos. Nothing madly original, but does list some of the things to think about when creating a garden.

167. Seasonal Fears by Seanan McGuire. Sequel to Middlegame. The king of Winter and the Queen of Summer are dead. Melanie, who has been dying all her life, and Harry, who has loved her since they were children, have a destiny. No, make that a Destiny. This was excellent.

>165 tardis: Oooh!

>165 tardis: >166 libraryperilous: Oooh, is right. I really have to get to Middlegame! This woman is so prolific that I have to wonder if she sleeps at all.

168. Weave a Circle Round by Kari Maaren. A friend described this to me as being as close to Diana Wynne Jones as you could get without actually being written by DWJ, and she was right. Age 10 Freddy is crying about her parents' divorce when a weird woman gives her a key that she claims will help Freddy not cry. Four years later, Freddy still has the key, which she has been able to use to help when she's upset. She and younger sister Mel are also now living with their mom, new stepfather, and deaf stepbrother, Roland, with whom Freddy doesn't get on. And then a pair of very odd people move in to the house next door and things really get weird. I really liked this.

as close to Diana Wynne Jones as you could get without actually being written by DWJ
Well that's all the recommendation I need!

169. Lord Mullion's Secret by Michael Innes. Portrait artist Charles Honeybath is commissioned to paint the portrait of an old school friend's wife and travels to their estate to do so. Dotty elderly aunt, disappearing paintings, no actual murder. Innes has a tendency to write asides to the reader that are mildly annoying but overall a good mystery.

170. The Silvered by Tanya Huff. Re-read of an old favourite. Emperor Leopold's soldiers are invading all the nearby countries, and a special detachment are sent to abduct the mages of the kingdom of Aydori, home to the Hunt Pack of wolf shifters. A junior officer of the hunt pack and an intrepid but apparently not particularly talented mage team up to rescue the mages. Still very good.

>170 tardis: I loved The silvered. Wish she'd write more in that universe.

>171 Sakerfalcon: Me, too. Although she has a new fantasy coming out, Into the Broken Lands and I'm looking forward to that!

171. The Long Farewell by Michael Innes. Sir John Appleby investigates the suspicious suicide of an old friend. Classic golden age mystery, and quite enjoyable.

172. Round Up The Usual Peacocks by Donna Andrews. The latest in the long-running Meg Langslow series. Meg's brother Rob's wedding is coming up and she's being drafted into implementing many of the mothers' plans for the wedding. When her nephew, Kevin, asks for help investigating an attack against his true-crime podcasting partner, it comes as something of a relief to not be doing wedding stuff. Very enjoyable, as always.

173. Carson's Conspiracy by Michael Innes. Carl Carson is a self made man with a crazy wife who claims they have a son (they don't). He comes up with a way to take the money and run. Sir John Appleby (retired from Scotland Yard) is drawn into the affair. Some surprises. Enjoyable.

174. Death at the Chase by Michael Innes. Appleby gets involved with another set of neighbours, this one featuring a dotty old miser and his estranged brothers and their offspring who all need money. Also good.

175. Into the Broken Lands by Tanya Huff. REALLY good. Ryan, Heir of Marsan, has to go into the mage-war shattered Broken Lands to get fuel for the Black Flame, which is burning out. To do it, he has to collect a weapon that can cope with the magically twisted lands and their inhabitants. Weaving the Protector of Marsan's story of his own long ago journey to do the same with Ryan's story, this is an absorbing tale. I loved it.

>173 tardis: oops, check that third touchstone.

>167 clamairy: The Alexis Hall or Grace Burrowes of fantasy. Incredible productivity.

>173 tardis: The Huff sounds fantastic!

>174 2wonderY: thanks - once again forgot to check. I've had to delete the brackets - the correct touchstone isn't coming up at all. I'll go back in a few days and see if it will work.

176. Be the Serpent by Seanan McGuire. Toby and Tybalt are settling into married life, but trouble is not far away. After a hearing to determine if Rayseline Torquill can be wakened from her elf-shot coma, two seers begin screaming, and Toby and co., are pitched into another crisis. My only problem with this one is that I want the NEXT BOOK NOW.

177. Holiday Heroine by Sarah Kuhn. Bea Tanaka is settling into her new life in Hawaii, missing her family (boyfriend, Sam, friend Leah, sister Evie and the rest of the Aveda Jupiter team), but making great new friends and only worrying a bit about going dark and using her persuasive powers for evil. Then she sees a tiny kaiju, and things really get weird. I love Bea and her family, and especially Aveda Jupiter and her power ponytail. So much fun. Sadly, this is the end of the Heroine Complex series, but I look forward to more from Sarah Kuhn.

178. Blood Orange by Susan Wittig Albert. A young nurse contacts China Bayles for help in solving a possible murder at the hospice where she works. Before she can get to China, though, she is badly hurt in an accident. China backtracks to figure out what the nurse was investigating. A good story but I confess I skip over a lot of the herb lore.

I am so excited for the new Huff!

179. Ruby Fever by Ilona Andrews. Prime magic user Catalina Baylor, head of House Baylor, and her family are settling into a new compound. Immediately, they're pitched into investigating an attack on the Warden of Texas, and murder of the head of another house. Action-packed! Wraps up several loose ends, but leaves room for further installments.

180. Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison. Audiobook/re-read. Doctor J.H. Doyle comes home from Afghanistan with a secret and a nasty leg wound that won't heal. Crow, the Angel of London, needs a roomie, and they take lodgings together in 221 Baker Street. An enjoyable Sherlock Holmes pastiche I did not, however, really like the audiobook reader.

181. The Lady With The Gun Asks The Questions by Kerry Greenwood. A collection of short stories featuring the inimitable Phryne Fisher, solving mysteries in 1920s Australia, while looking fabulous and eating lovely food.

182. The Ghosts of Lewis Manor by Marcia Maidana. ER book. Seraphina can see the dead, and during the London Blitz they’re everywhere, so her parents arrange for her to go to the country house of an old friend of the family. There, she encounters mysteries, more ghosts, a murderous stalker, and a hunky American air force officer. The vocabulary was a bit pretentious but the book was okay – not great, but I found it mostly readable. Mind you, the things that stuck in my memory are the annoyances. Seraphina is brave and wants to help, but she goes into danger more often than is even remotely sensible, sometimes even on purpose, and needs to be rescued every time. Well, maybe one time she got out on her own, but immediately had to be rescued from the next crisis. I picked the correct villain well before the end. Wouldn’t people have been shocked when Seraphina went outdoors in “pants”? I tried to figure out what common terminology was in that time period, and couldn’t find anything conclusive, but it seems like it should have been trousers. And this I do know: no one in that time period would have measured the girth of a tree in metres. The title refers to “Lewis Manor” but in the book the house is mostly called All Hallows.

183. And What Can We Offer You Tonight by Premee Mohamed. A little gem of a novella. It's a far, dystopian future in a decadent city. In the luxurious House of Bicchieri, Jewel is a courtesan: experienced, talented, elegant. Her colleague, Winfield, is murdered by a client for kicks, and the House owners cover it up. When Win comes back from the dead bent on revenge, Jewel has to choose a side. This was so good - the Nebula Award for best novella is well-deserved.

>183 tardis: I do enjoy the novella form these days -- will give this one a try!!

>183 tardis: I've been hesitant to read Mohamed because I don't like horror. This one sounds too interesting to miss.

>185 libraryperilous: Premee's Beneath the Rising series is Lovecraftian horror, but her other books are not. The Apple-Tree Throne is a ghost story, The Annual Migration of Clouds is post-apocalyptic SF. I liked both of those very much. She's also fun to follow on Twitter :)

184. Soul Taken by Patricia Briggs. Latest in the Mercy Thompson series. Old and crazy vampire Wulfe has disappeared and the leader of the local vampire seethe tells Mercy and Adam to find him. There's a lot more going on, though. Someone is carving people up with a sickle and the other vampires are also missing. Enjoyed it.

185. Wild Sign by Patricia Briggs. A re-read because I forgot I'd read it and got it from the library again. An Alpha and Omega novel. When all the inhabitants of a remote back-to-the-land community go missing, Anna and Charles Cornick get sent to find out what happened. Enjoyed this one again, too.

I DNF-ed The Princess and the Scoundrel by Beth Revis. An account of the wedding and honeymoon of Leia and Han, it just didn't grab me.

186. A Wedding in Provence by Katie Fforde. Fforde's books are absolute comfort food - cheerful, happy-ever-after, with relatively minimal conflict but a good story. In this one, set in 1963, 20-year-old Alexandra stops in Paris on her way to Switzerland and falls into a temporary job as a nanny for a Comte with three children. The 15 year age gap between Alexandra and the love interest was a bit squicky, but she's mature for her age and it's as much a fantasy as you can get without actual magic. The three kids were charming.

>188 tardis: You must have said good things about Katie Fforde before; because when I searched in Libby for an audiobook, I borrowed the only one there and discovered I’d read it last year. Hmmm.

>188 tardis: I'm intrigued by Fforde, but this one won't suit because of the age gap. Which other Fforde books do you love? Thank you!

>190 libraryperilous: I tend to like best the ones with older protagonists and/or women who are good at doing stuff (or learning to do stuff) and finding love is just a bonus. Can't think of specific titles off hand, but I have enjoyed all of them.

187. The Mystical Murders of Yin Mara by Marshall Ryan Maresca. Phadre Golmin (scary-smart mage) and Jiarna Kay (scary-smart non-mage) have graduated from the University of Maradaine and are off to the city of Yin Mara, to new positions in a research group at Trenn College. The boss of the caravan they're travelling in dies in a mysterious and horrible way and when more people die the same way in Yin Mara, the two can't help investigating. A pretty good mystery, and it's always good to be in the Maradaine-verse. I like Phadre and Jiarna very much, their new colleagues are interesting, and it's neat to see another part of this world. I hope Maresca will write more about them.

188. What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher. Creepy and atmospheric, this retelling of Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher is one I'm glad I read in daylight. Retired soldier, Lieutenant Alex Easton (za/zan, non-gendered pronouns for a soldier in zan home country), goes to the Usher family home at the request of old friend, Madeline Usher. Maddy is dying and her brother, Roderick, isn't much better. Also visiting is an American doctor named Denton. Easton is accompanied by zan batman, Angus. The animals on the estate are weird, the pond is odd, the house is cold and falling apart, and neither Denton nor Easton can convince Madeline or Roderick to leave. If you've read the story this is based on, you know what happens, but Kingfisher fleshes it out more and I really enjoyed it.

>191 tardis: Thank you. I'll see what's available on Kindle Unlimited.

I'm intrigued by all of Kingfisher's stories, and I like Poe, but I'd held off on this because I thought there might be sad animal things. I might try it soon.

The Maradaine universe sounds fun!

>192 libraryperilous: Kingfisher is pretty good about not making you sad about animals you've grown to like.

The Maradaine universe is fun- Maresca does it all. Heists, police procedurals, action/adventure, and more. He also has a stand-alone non-Maradaine that I really liked. The Maradaine books mostly need to be read in order, though. There are subseries, but they eventually cross over. This one could be read out of order, but having a grounding in the world first would probably help.

189. Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers. Audiobook. An old favourite, but this is the first time I've tried the audiobook. The reader is Ian Carmichael, and I began by really wishing they'd had a woman reading it, since 80% or so of the characters are female, but
by the end he sort of grew on me.

190. The Deepest of Secrets by Kelley Armstrong. In the Rockton series. The Council is planning to close Rockton down, although most of the residents don't know it yet. Casey and Eric solve murders while battling unrest among residents and trying to plan for the future. Pretty good. Not sure if this is the end of the series, or if there will be more.

>193 tardis:
Gaudy Night is my next Lord Peter read.

It was interesting that Ian Carmichael narrated the story. He was the actor who played Lord Peter Wimsey in the TV adaptation. He also played Bertie Wooster in the 1960s TV series, The World of Wooster, with Dennis Price playing Jeeves. Having grown up with Ian Carmichael playing those roles he strikes me as a very appropriate choice. If you have not had that experience in your formative years then his reading might not strike the right chord.

Tardis, if I ever feel like I'm in danger of running out of entertaining reading matter, I'm going to come back here, spread my arms wide, and just embrace the barrage of BBs blasting from your list.

>194 pgmcc: Ian Carmichael narrates ALL the Lord Peter books. He's not bad at accents but sometimes it's hard to differentiate between men's and women's dialogue. I have seen his version of Lord Peter - not bad, but I preferred Edward Petherbridge who was Lord Peter in the adaptations of the stories in which Harriet Vane also features. Petherbridge managed Peter's nerviness a bit better, I thought. Carmichael is too solid.

>196 tardis:
I have not seen any Edward Petherbridge Lord Peter episodes. I was not aware anyone else had played Lord Peter.

>195 Meredy: agreed!

191. Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers. Audiobook, narrated by Ian Carmichael. Peter and Harriet decide to start their married life at Tallboys, a house that Harriet visited and loved as a child. Everything goes wrong - the previous owner doesn't show up to let them in and nobody knew they were coming, but they manage until murder intervenes. Very good.

192. Desperation in Death by J.D. Robb. Eve Dallas and team go after an operation that appears to be abducting and grooming tween girls for sex slavery. Horrific case but watching the police team track down leads and zero in on the culprits is always satisfying.

193. Far Sector by N.K. Jemison, art by Jamal Campbell. Graphic novel. Green Lantern Sojourner "Jo" Mullein is a long way from home, working to keep the peace in a civilization shared by three races who have had their emotions suppressed. Very good.

194. Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold. Audiobook. An old favourite, and still good. Betan Survey Captain Cordelia Naismith meets Aral Vorkosigan and gets caught up in war and politics.

195. Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold. Audiobook. Sequel to Shards of Honor. Cordelia and Aral are married and expecting their first child. The dying Emperor, Ezar, asks Aral to be the regent for the 5 year old heir, Gregor. Other Vor think they should get the job instead and there are attacks and sedition. Very good, as always.

>201 tardis: I started Gentleman Jole and DNFed it. I'd like to try this series again. Do you recommend reading them in a certain order?

>202 libraryperilous: Yeah, I liked Gentleman Jole but it is NOT the place to start. I'd follow the Vorkosigan chronological order (https://www.librarything.com/nseries/231/Vorkosigan-Chronological-Order) - the novels and/or omnibus sections, whichever you can get hold of.

196. Heroic Hearts edited by Jim Butcher and Kerrie L. Hughes. A very satisfying anthology of urban fantasy heroism by a whole pile of excellent writers, including Butcher and Hughes, plus Patricia Briggs, Charlaine Harris, Kelley Armstrong and more.

197. The Mapmakers by Tamzin Merchant. Cordelia Hatmaker and her friends stopped Lord Witloof's dastardly plans in the last book, but the danger isn't over. Witloof escapes from the very scaffold on which he's to be executed and Cordelia must unite the Makers to save magic. Fun stuff.

198. High Times in the Low Parliament by Kelly Robson. Lana Baker is the despair of her hard-working family - a fine scribe, cheerful, charming, but more interested in kissing girls then doing much useful. When she's drafted to be a scribe in the Low Parliament, where the Deputies are human but fairies run things, she gets pitched into a tricky situation and with the fairy Bugbite and a beautiful Deputy, she has to step up to save the day. I enjoyed this quite a bit.

199. Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments by T. L. Huchu. Sequel to The Library of the Dead, which I enjoyed quite a bit. Ropa Moyo's looking for work because ghost-talking isn't making her anything, but the fab-looking internship with her mentor turns out to be unpaid. So she takes a side-job, trying to figure out what happened to a boy in a coma, with help from her friends, Priya and Jomo. Very good.

200. Councilor by L.E. Modesitt Jr. Steffan Dekkard, newly married to former security partner empath Avraal, and new Councilor, is pitched into more politics than he ever dealt with before, dodging assassination attempts, demonstrations and general unrest. Fortunately, Avraal is on hand to protect him. Pretty good. Will keep on with the series.

201. Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty. Mallory Viridian is that woman in the cozy murder mysteries around whom people die like flies and who always solves the case. It's no fun, and she's tired of losing jobs and having to move and people dying just because she's there. She begs asylum on a space station in earth orbit that has only a couple of other humans and is otherwise populated by aliens, and it seems like it worked. But when the imminent arrival of a shuttle full of human visitors is announced, she panics. This was a lot of fun. Enjoyed it thoroughly.

202. The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal. Extremely wealthy honeymooners Tesla Crane and Shal Steward are taking a cruise to Mars, accompanied by Tesla's service dog, the adorable Westie Gimlet. When murder happens, the "frog-brained" security chief arrests Shal. Tesla and Gimlet (with long-distance help from their awesomely insulting lawyer, Fantine), have to investigate. Murder, cocktails, cute dog, twisty plot, what could be better? Not much - loved this!

I'm convinced you've been stalking my off-LT wishlist (-;

I also loved Station Eternity and have The Spare Man on the to-read list.

>207 tardis: These are my number one and number two sci-fi releases of the year. I am soooo jealous! More seriously, I'm glad you liked both of them. Your reviews have made me more eager to read both of them.

203. Blitz by Daniel O'Malley. In September 1940, three women of the Chequey are standing in mid-air, watching the bombing of London when one of them snaps and attacks a German bomber. In the present, librarian Lyn Binns has a bad headache all day and when she gets home with her three-year-old daughter the pain becomes too much and she zaps her entire kitchen and electrifies a pickle jar lid that shocks a firefighter into cardiac arrest. Naturally, she is recruited into the Chequey. Told in alternating sections, the two stories eventually dovetail, and it's a wild ride. It was fun to see some prominent members of the Chequey earlier in their careers, and there are the usual fun allusions to other stories (spot A Little Princess!). Protagonists of previous installments in the series are not really part of this one except for a brief appearance by Odette early on and Rook Thomas at the very end. Loved it.

>210 tardis: Oooh! Thanks for the heads up on this one. I didn't realize it existed.

>210 tardis: I was just wondering if there would be any more Chequey stories... WOOT!

>210 tardis: Right between the eyes!

>210 tardis: I'm with Clam! Didn't realize there was a 3rd Chequey book. Can't wait to get my hands on a copy :D

The Chequey series sounds fabulous!

>210 tardis: >213 haydninvienna: Seems that it’s available in the US (and presumably Canada) but not in the UK. Not even mentioned on Amazon UK or Waterstones.

But 23 hours for #2? I put it on hold anyway.

>215 libraryperilous: The first book, The Rook, was simply wonderful. The second didn't work for me, but #3 seems to be getting good reviews, so I'm hopeful.

>217 2wonderY: The reader is really good, though. My library doesn't have the third book in audio yet, but as soon as they do, I'll put a hold on it.

I love all three Chequey books. I re-read (either in print or audio) regularly. I really hope that O'Malley has more in the pipeline, because there's a big loose end from #2 that wasn't even touched in #3.

>218 Marissa_Doyle: I didn't hate the second, but I didn't love it like I did the first one.

I've got the third on hold through OverDrive. Yay!

204. Plaid and Plagiarism by Molly MacRae. First in The Highland Bookshop mystery series. Four women from the US buy a bookstore in Scotland and move there. Mother and daughter Janet and Tallie, Tallie's college roommate, Summer, and Janet's old friend Christine, who grew up in the village before marrying and moving to the US. This is pretty much a bog-standard cozy mystery, with amateurs who can't help sleuthing and are mostly ahead of the police. I enjoyed it well enough, but it wasn't special.

205. Firefly: Brand New 'Verse by Josh Lee Gordon. Graphic novel. Zoe Washburne is Captain of the Serenity (not really clear what happened to Mal) with her daughter, Emma, and a new crew. When they grab a mystery "package" off a Blue Sun ship, they need many old friends to help out. Excellent art, decent story.

206. Back to the Garden by Laurie R. King. At the Gardener Estate, once a fancy home visited by Hollywood elite and later a commune, a skeleton is found beneath the foundation of an enormous statue. It's been there 50 years. Was it another victim of the serial killer known as The Highwayman or does it relate to the former commune members? A really good stand alone mystery.

207. Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree. Viv, an Orc, tired of being a hired sword, decides to retire and follow her dream and finds the perfect city in which to open... a coffee shop. This was a delight. Found family, beating the odds, building a business. Loved it.

208. Murder on the Vine by Camilla Trinchieri. When a local bartender goes missing, former New York detective Nico Doyle helps his friends in the police department to investigate. Tuscan countryside, Tuscan food, good mystery, what's not to like?

209.Where the Sky Begins by Rhys Bowen. Josie Banks' bullying husband is overseas in the army and she is working in a tea shop to make ends meet. When the tea shop, and then later her house are bombed she has nowhere to go and staying in London is intolerable. She is evacuated to the countryside and billeted with a crotchety old lady. I liked Josie a lot - she's kind, loyal, and a hard worker, and the supporting cast are good, too. Enjoyed this.

>222 tardis: I saw Legends & Lattes described as a “cozy fantasy” and liked the concept. I have the urge to come up with a list. But I guess I need to read this one first.

>222 tardis: & >223 2wonderY: I really enjoyed Legends & Lattes. And it made me hungry!

>224 clamairy: Me too! I want to try those cookies and things :) This copy was borrowed from the library, but I have one on order because I am going to want to read it again.

210. Southwest Heat by E.L. Adams. Addyson Owings works for the Southwest Supernatural Society, using her psychic talent to investigate crimes, and she’s darned good at it. When a family is killed without apparent cause, she gets partnered with the guy who broke her heart, and has to solve the mystery with him while figuring out what to do about her feelings for him. Said partner, Cooper Braxton is perfectly clear – he wants her back. There’s lots of sexual tension and erections and foreplay, and I found it a bit tedious after the third or fourth iteration of the protagonists’ many attractive features. Without all the sex padding it, this novella it would be barely a novelette. There are intriguing hints of the conflicts between paranormals and regular humans, but the world isn’t fleshed-out enough to get a real feel for it, and in addition they only solve half the mystery by the end of the story. Might read future installments if they come my way, but likely won’t seek them out. Reviewed from a free ebook received through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program.

>225 tardis: I understand completely. I'm pretty sure I have my mom's recipe for cinnamon rolls somewhere. When it gets a little cooler I'm digging it out.

211. A Bride's Guide to Marriage and Murder by Dianne Freeman. Lady Frances is finally marrying George Hargreaves, but when the wedding reception is marred by a nearby murder and her brother is accused they must put off their honeymoon to solve the case. Fluff, but I liked it.

212. Once Upon a Tome: The misadventures of a rare bookseller by Oliver Darkshire. Oliver gets a job at Sotheran's Rare Books and Prints as an apprentice rare book seller. This is his story - the quirky staff and weird customers, the odd things kicking around the shop. I enjoyed this very much.

>228 tardis:
I picked this up last week. Your post reassures me it will be a good read.

>229 pgmcc: I liked it very much - I think you will, too :)

213. A Song of Comfortable Chairs by Alexander McCall Smith. Latest in the #1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi solve many problems, including some of their own :) As usual, a gentle, comfortable read. I enjoyed it but it was very much the usual formula.

>228 tardis: I love following Oliver (Sotheran's) on Twitter. His book isn't due to publish here in the States until March of 2023. Should I go ahead and just order this one from Waterstone's? Is it really that much fun? I am so tempted!!!

>228 tardis:, >231 jillmwo: Ha! I hadn't realized this was the Byron RPG guy. I see he's done one in honor of Buttered Jorts. Fab.

>231 jillmwo: YMMV - I'm happy I ordered from UK, although I'd have been just as happy with a copy from the library. I just didn't want to wait.

214. Firefly: What Makes Us Mighty by M.K. England. One of the better tie-in Firefly novels (aka official fan fic), set during the series before the episode "Heart of Gold." Mal and crew take a sealed shipment to the planet Kerry, where a very hospitable duke invites them to stay in his luxurious estate and holds out the promise of more well-paid work. Zoe has a bad feeling about this...

215. Trouble with the Cursed by Kim Harrison. Rachel Morgan is coping more-or-less well with being subrosa of Cincinnati, keeping the paranormal community in line. A visiting vampire from DC and problems with the demons threaten it all, though. I like that Rachel has friends and she's getting better at relying on them. Decent page-turner.

216. Dashing Through the Snowbirds by Donna Andrews. A dozen or so Canadians are staying with Meg and Michael while they work on a rush project with Meg's brother Rob's company, Mutant Wizards. Their inconsiderate boss, the prospect of not being home for Christmas, and the project stress are affecting morale, so Meg and family are trying to help out. But is the project really a good idea? And who are the stalkers chasing the nasty boss? Always fun.

218. Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones. Audiobook. An old favourite, and I still love it. Good reader, too. Gwendolyn and Eric "Cat" Chant are orphans. Gwendolyn is a witch, Cat isn't. When they're taken to live at Chrestomanci Castle, their lives change enormously.

I've listened to a pile of other audiobooks, lately, but mostly I've listened to them so many times that I've not even bothered to count them.

I've got behind again.

219. The Magicians of Caprona by Diana Wynne Jones. Audiobook. The children of feuding magical families in the small city-state of Caprona must solve a mystery and stop a war. So good.

220. The Quarrygate Gambit by Marshall Ryan Maresca. Asti and Verci Rynax and friends are arrested on trumped-up charges and to get them out, Verci's wife, Rayche, has to get a team together and plan a heist. Problem is, Rayche is a baker, not a thief, but that's what friends are for. Very good. Love this series.

221. Sugar Plum Spies by Jennifer Estep. Novella. Spies Charlotte and Desmond from Section 47 (which deals with "paramortals" (i.e. the supernaturally talented)) infiltrate a lavish Christmas soiree at a rich woman's estate, looking for clues to an evil genius. This was okay. High body count.

222. Peril in Paris by Rhys Bowen. Lady Georgina Rannoch O'Mara (pregnant) and husband, Darcy, go to Paris so Darcy can do something secret for the British government and Georgie can visit her friend Belinda. Belinda is apprenticing with Coco Chanel, who volunteers to design a maternity dress for Georgie. Fashion, Nazis, murder.

223. The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett. Audiobook, and old favourite. Tiffany Aching starts learning to be a witch :)

>235 tardis: I finally came across Her Royal Spyness in audio, and have begun the adventure. I have to call the storyline preposterous, but the characters are fun. Glad to know Darcy is respectable and that their relationship flourishes.

The magicians of Caprona is so good! I love Diana Wynne Jones!

>235 tardis:, >237 Sakerfalcon: I should read the rest of the Chrestomanci books. I enjoyed the first one.

>235 tardis: Yep, still interested in the Maradaine series.

>238 libraryperilous: The Chrestomanci books are all great!

>237 Sakerfalcon: >238 libraryperilous: DWJ never wrote a book I didn't love.

>236 2wonderY: Yes, the Royal Spyness books are deeply silly, but mostly light and fun. Sometimes that's enough :)

224. Dance with the Devil by Kit Rocha. #3 in the Mercenary Librarians series. Dani and Rafe go undercover on The Hill to get intelligence that will help the teams overthrow the TechCorps. This is complicated and rather bloody, but very good.

225. Railsea by China Mieville. This is a really weird book - steampunk Moby Dick with trains instead of ships and a giant mole instead of whale. Lots of authorial asides. I liked it, but it's not a keeper.

226. Terminal Peace by Jim C. Hines. The third of the Janitors of the Post Apocalypse series, and just as much fun. Mops and the team may have been trained to clean, not save the galaxy, but they're going to do it anyway. Good.

227. Final Heir by Faith Hunter. Latest in the Jane Yellowrock series. As the Dark Queen, Jane is fighting to maintain control of New Orleans and defend the world against the latest menace, the sire of the entire Pellissier vampire bloodline.

228. Book Lovers by Emily Henry. You know when the young businessman goes to the small town and falls for the cute baker, or librarian, or whatever, helps save her business, and dumps his ice queen fiancée who stayed in the big city? This is the story of the ice queen, Nora Stephens, who has been dumped 4 times for sweet small-town girls. She's a fantastic literary agent, big sister, auntie, with unfortunate taste in men. When her pregnant sister wants a vacation in the town where a famous romance novel was set, she goes along with it. Does she meet the handsome rural hunk and leave the big city for him? This was fun.

>242 tardis: I can’t believe I’ve read two books before hearing from you about them! It has always run the other way before.

229. The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones. Audiobook. An old favourite. Christopher is a lonely kid who dies a lot :)

230. The Truth by Terry Pratchett. Audiobook. Another old favourite. The invention of newspapers, reporters, and tabloid journalism in Ankh-Morpork.

231. Flight Risk by Cherie Priest. Second in her Booking Agents series. Although there's only one booking agent involved. Leda Foley, travel agent and psychic, is hired to find a client's sister. Meanwhile, Seattle PD Detective Grady Merritt's missing dog returns with a human leg as a chew toy. I especially appreciate that Priest doesn't seem to be herding Leda and Grady into bed together. They're just friends. I really like this series and I hope there's more of it in the works.

232. Jingo by Terry Pratchett. Audiobook, old favourite. Ankh-Morpork goes to war against Klatch for control of an island that has appeared in the middle of the ocean. Pterry's usual sharp observation of humanity (also dwarves, werewolves, etc.).

233. A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher. Audiobook, re-read. Mona is a wizard of dough, who loves being a baker. Being a hero? Not so much, but she does it anyway. Love this.

234. Planting Clues: How Plants Solve Crimes by David J. Gibson. Nonfiction. A fascinating, if a bit academic, look at how knowing about plants can help solve crimes, from murder to smuggling. Plant fragments used to link victim to criminal, plant poisons, plant genetics, endangered plant smuggling.

>246 tardis: That does sound interesting!

235. Dead Man's Hand by James J. Butcher. First novel by the son of Harry Dresden series author Jim Butcher. Plot was good, main characters started kind of unlikeable but grew on me. Secondary characters weren't developed much. Writing was... i don't think JJB ever met an adjective he didn't like, and some of the metaphors! I mean, what the heck is a starving avalanche? Could have used a good editor, IMO. Anyway, I think the author has promise, and I'll give him another book or two, but I'm glad this was a library book.

236. Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett. An old favourite in a new audiobook, read by Indira Varma, with Bill Nighy as the footnotes and someone else as Death. This was really well done. Varma is an excellent reader.

>248 tardis: I was confused at first because Harry Dresden had a daughter, but not a son, that we know of. 🤪

>249 2wonderY: LOL

237. Nerd : Adventures in Fandom From This Universe to the Multiverse by Maya Phillips. A memoir of growing up as a black female fan, with commentary and a clear-eyed view of the objects of her fandom. Enjoyed it.

238. Conrad's Fate by Diana Wynne Jones. Audiobook, old favourite. 12 year old Conrad is sent up to be a servant in a castle to expiate a bad deed in a past life. One of the other young servants, hired at the same time as he was, is the mysterious Christopher. They have adventures :)

239. Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett. Audiobook, old favourite. Polly masquerades as a man to enlist in the army to find her brother. Acute commentary, funny, clever. Love it.

240. Null States by Malka Older. Chewy political intrigue in a post-nationalist future where information flows are critical to peace and commerce. I liked this but it was sometimes tough going.

>252 tardis: I really like Older's trilogy, though I still have to read the final part. It's a very interesting vision of the future and a thoughtful look at whether and how such a system would work.

>253 Sakerfalcon: It is different - I'm looking forward to part 3, too.

241. The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik. Third book in the Scholomance series. El is grieving the loss of Orion after getting out of the Scholomance, but she is still dragged into destroying a mawmouth at the London Enclave, and then around the world to try to save Orion and also find out what's killing the Enclaves. Very good.

242. Sisters of the Forsaken Stars by Lina Rather. Back to the 'verse of the spacefaring nuns met in Sisters of the Vast Black. Out on the rim of known space, rebellion is forming against the central authority and using the rumors of what happened in the first book to draw people to the cause. Very good.

243. Castle Deadly, Castle Deep by Veronica Bond. Cozy murder mystery at Castle Dark among the mystery theatre and community theatre cast. A bit formulaic but I like the characters.

>254 tardis: I read the first in the Scholomance series. I really liked it. The others are on my TBR list. Glad it was good.

244. In The Serpent's Wake by Rachel Hartman. Tess goes on a long sea voyage to find a dragon in the polar region to heal her friend, the quigtutl Pathka. She's also sending reports home to her sister, Seraphina. Tess means well, but good intentions aren't always enough. That's a very tepid description of a very good story. Recommended.

245. Illuminations by T. Kingfisher. Rosa Mandolini is the youngest of a family of painters of magical illuminations. When a malicious creature is released from long captivity and starts wrecking havoc in the studio, she needs to find out how to recapture it. I loved Rosa's ingenuity, the talking crow, and her charming family. Lovely book, very Diana Wynne Jones-ish.

246. When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill. Alex Green is a child in a 1950s alt-Earth where women sometimes turn into dragons and fly away. It's taboo to talk about it, and the patriarchy is well in control, what with the HUAC and "it's a waste giving girls higher education because they will just get married and have babies" crap. With a hyper-protective mother, absentee father, and irrepressible little "sister" Beatrice, Alex has to face the consequences of the dragoning and make her own future. This was really very good. Lovely writing, and it sucked me right in.

247. Even Though I Knew The End by C.L. Polk. Noir mystery/fantasy. Private detective Helen Brandt sold her soul years ago in return for her brother's life and was consequently expelled from the magical society, is offered one last job before her time is up. It just might pay for everything. Very good.

>257 tardis: This sounds fascinating. I struggle with books set in this time period, because the HUAC hearings are so infuriating, but this sounds worthwhile. I really loved the Polk novella.

248. The World We Make by N.K. Jemisin. Conclusion of the Great Cities Duology. R'lyeh is still hanging over Staten Island, there's a fascist mayoral candidate that's causing identity problems for New York, and most of the other cities of the world aren't very helpful. Very much enjoyed this.

249. Weed-Free Gardening: a Comprehensive and Organic Approach to Weed Management by Tasha Greer. A useful and sensible guide to weed management. Weed-free may be an exaggeration, but certainly using this book to promote soil health and understand weed life cycles will help the gardener control weeds.

250. Hotel Magnifique by Emily J. Taylor. YA. 17 year old Jani works in a tannery and looks after her little sister Zosa. When the mysterious travelling Hotel Magnifique comes to town, they apply for jobs there, wanting to see all the magic it contains. There's a dark heart in the hotel, though. Can Jani solve the mystery and save her beloved sister? Very enjoyable read and I was rather pleased that there were consequences magic couldn't fix.

>260 tardis: Other than mulch or ground covers, what were some of their suggestions? I have a large garden at my parent's house to reclaim from the weeds.

Happy New Year!

>262 Karlstar: Minimal tillage (tilling destroys soil structure and brings weed seeds to surface where they are more likely to germinate), mulch, understanding life cycle (best times to control), maintaining soil health (weeds are nature's way of reclaiming depleted soil). You should just get the book from your library :)