bluesalamanders 2023

Pretty much the best thing that happened last year is that I was introduced to the work of KJ Charles. I'd read her Will Darling books, but they didn't do much for me. Sometime last April, a friend recommended Band Sinister when I was down and wanted a light, fluffy read to cheer me up. Well, it did that, and I fell down the rabbit hole into KJC's work and a lot of other romance, too.

So, I still read a lot of science fiction and fantasy, but now I get to add romance to the list of genres I prefer.

Favorite new books I read last year:
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
the Finder trilogy by Suzanne Palmer
The Shivadhverse series by Sam Starbuck
Whybourne and Griffin series by Jordan L Hawk
Magic in Manhattan by Allie Therin
A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows
A Taste of Iron and Gold by Alexandra Rowland
Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty
The Last Binding series by Freya Marske
Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell
The spare man by Mary Robinette Kowal

And since I couldn't pick one book or even one series, here are my favorite KJ Charles books:
Band Sinister
Any Old Diamonds
The Sins of the City trilogy
The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting

Previous challenges:
50 Book Challenge lists: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
75 Book Challenge lists: 2011, 2011.2, 2012.1, 2012.2, 2013.1, 2013.2, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022

Here's hoping for a better and brighter 2023.

Wishing you a comfortable reading year in 2023, Blue.

Enjoy your 2023 reading!

Happy New Year and happy new thread Blue!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Welcome back, Blue!

Happy New Year, Blue!

Happy new year and happy new thread! I have a couple of your favorites from last year on my TBR.

I think Band Sinister is one of the best KJ Charles books, but my actual favorite is Spectred Isle. I live in hope of a sequel.

>10 reconditereader: Isn't it great? It just absolutely hit the spot when I needed something sweet and undramatic, or, you know, with minor drama that gets quickly handled.

Spectred Isle didn't make a big impression on me, for some reason. I'm planning to reread it at some point, though, and the Think of England ones, which I feel the same way about.

>9 foggidawn: I hope you enjoy them! I read a lot of really good books last year. It was honestly hard to narrow it down to even that short a list of favorites!

Finished Book 1: Ocean's Echo by Everina Maxwell
New read, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 17:25
Audible (but I’m going to return it and get Winter’s Orbit)

I loved Winter's Orbit and everyone said Ocean's Echo was so much better, I couldn't wait to read it! Unfortunately, I just don't agree. I thought it was...fine. Pretty good, I guess? But the story and the characters were nowhere near as engaging, and I had issues with the premise of the story from the very beginning.

First of all, the "sync" that everyone was trying to force the main characters into is a permanent and irreversible mind link, and everyone takes that far too lightly. Even the main characters don't acknowledge that as part of why they're unwilling. Surit is apparently willing to sync with some random person as long as they've volunteered, but it really seems like there should be a lot more involved in matching sync partners than "available and willing".

The other thing that a lot of people said they liked about Echo over Orbit is that the miscommunication part of Echo didn't last as long, and now I'm starting to wonder if we were reading the same books. Because even when they finally really synced, Tennal and Surit couldn't actually communicate clearly! It seemed to me their miscommunication lasted pretty much the entire length of the book.

So, I didn't hate it, I thought it was fine. It just didn't compare at all to how much I loved Winter's Orbit.

Finished Book 2: Sorcery and Cecelia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
Cecelia and Kate, book 1
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 8:44
Hoopla
Content warnings: kidnapping, abelist language, alcohol use/drunkenness, strangulation, misogyny, discussion of war, implied murder, abusive parental figure

Finished Book 3: Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
Wayward Children, book 1
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 4h 44m
Audible
Content warnings: brief transphobia, major character death, mutilation of bodies/corpses, discussion of emotionally/psychologically abusive parents, moderate gore

Finished Book 4: Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
Wayward Children, book 2
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 4h 4m
Audible
Content warnings: terrible parents (neglectful/controlling), death, moderate gore, fatphobia

Finished Book 5: Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire
Wayward Children, book 3
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 4h 11m
Audible
Content warnings: fatphobia, discussion of dieting and other controlling behaviors, discussion of racism, mild gore/body horror

You have content warnings for Sorcery and Cecelia but not for the Wayward Children books? Those things terrify me!

Happy reading in 2023, Blue!

>15 ronincats: that's fair! I don't always think to copy over my content warnings from previous reviews on rereads. Come to that, there are definitely things to be warned for in ocean's echo, but I forgot to note them down.

>16 FAMeulstee: Thanks, FAM!

Finished Book 6: Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire
Wayward Children, book 5
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 3h 52m
Content warnings: possession, drowning, major character death, panic attacks, moderate gore
Audible

Finished Book 7: Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire
Wayward Children, book 7
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 4h 31m
Content warnings: conversion therapy analog, fatphobia (seriously, like, a lot), disordered eating, bullying, brainwashing, suicide
Audible

Finished Book 8: The Twelve Points of Caleb Canto by Sam Starbuck
Shivadhverse, book 4
New read, adult, romance (contemporary), ebook, ??
Content warnings: panic attacks, transphobia
Free online

In book four of the Shivadverse series, we meet Caleb Canto, a music teacher and songwriter who inadvertantly becomes a Eurovision competitor.

These are truly delightful books and I’m really glad Sam is continuing to write the series. So far I’ve just been reading them online as he finishes and posts them, but at some point I’ll probably buy paper copies. If you’re interested (and I definitely recommend them), you can get pdfs for free.

Finished Book 9: Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire
Wayward Children, book 8
New read, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 4:53
Content warnings: death of a parent, gaslighting, grooming, discussion of physical abuse, ableism, mention of cannibalism
Audible

>18 bluesalamanders: Oooh! There's a new Shivadhverse story? The earlier ones quickly became comfort reads for me.

>19 justchris: They're so sweet, aren't they? The new one isn't published yet, but he's posted it for feedback. I really enjoyed it. I'll definitely go back and read the others sometime.

>20 bluesalamanders: They really are. So charming! Also, they can be downloaded as epubs and read in an ereader app, not just as pdfs. The stories are a real pick-me-up when the world's got me down.

>13 bluesalamanders: Sorry to see this! I also loved Winter's Orbit and Ocean's Echo is high on my TBR this year.

>21 justchris: True, but as I understand it, the pdfs are free and the epubs aren't.

>22 curioussquared: Don't take my word for it! Lots of people love it, I hope you do too!

Finished Book 10: Hither, Page by Cat Sebastian
Page & Sommers, Book 1
Reread, adult, romance (historical), audiobook, 6h 27m
Content warnings: sexual content, involuntary drug use, discussion of WW2, trauma/ptsd, flashbacks, homophobia, murder, suicide

Page is a spy and Sommers is a country doctor. They meet when Page is sent to deal with a suspicious death in a small town in England.

Page & Sommers are the only books by Cat Sebastian that I actually like. I don’t think Sebastian is a bad writer or anything, it’s just that for one reason or another I’ve just bounced off of every other Sebastian book I’ve read.

Finished Book 11: Juniper Wiles by Charles de Lint
Newford, book 21
New read, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 7h 10m
Content warnings: brief transphobic comments, body horror, mild gore

Juniper Wiles is a former actor who is best know for playing a Veronica Mars-like teen detective. One day, someone comes up to her and insists that she is the character, and tries to hire her for a case.

This book was fine, mostly, but it had a few odd bits that just seemed unnecessary and really pulled me out of the story.

One was when a new character was introduced and he offhandedly said some transphobic things, and it was never mentioned, called out, or brought up again. It made me really dislike that character and also wary of the main characters, since they didn’t even, like, exchange glances at what an odd thing that was for him to say.

Another was how Juniper discovered erotic fanfic and instead of just saying “ew” and moving on, she kept going on and on about how gross and depraved anyone who writes it is. I’m honestly not sure what the point of that thread running through the story was, and frankly as someone who reads and occasionally writes fanfic, I really didn’t appreciate it.

Also, I found the final confrontation with the antagonist ultimately unsatisfying. In short, I was interested enough in the plot to finish it, but I had enough issues with it that I’m not going out of my way to read any more de Lint.

Finished Book 12: The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia
New read, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 5h 4m
Content warnings: blood, racism, body horror, gore, classism

This is a good book. I’m probably not going to read it again, but I liked it.

Finished Book 13: Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade
Spoiler Alert, book 1
New read, adult, romance (contemporary), audiobook, 12h 48m
Content warnings: sexual content, fatphobia/fat shaming, discussion of disordered eating, ableism, bad parents, deception, sexism

April decides to tweet a picture of herself in cosplay when her favorite show’s official twitter puts out a call. As a fat woman, she anticipates a certain amount of negative responses. What she doesn’t expect is the lead actor to leap to her defense - and also ask her out to dinner!

I have mixed feelings about this book. I did enjoy that it’s a romance with a fat woman and a conventionally attractive man and dealt with issues of fatphobia and fat shaming, ways that it’s easy for people to unintentionally stumble over one another’s traumas, and how simply apologizing isn’t enough without doing work to fix things.

Things that I didn’t like so much? Well, firstly, for a book about fandom, fanfic, cosplay, etc, it is a very straight book. And I’m sure there are groups of straight people out there in fandom, but my 20+ years in fandom have been full of groups of queer people of all sorts, so for me at least, this made the whole framework for the story feel odd.

The other things that bothered me basically amount to “this is not my kind of romance novel”. There's a lot of lying, misunderstandings and miscommunications that nearly lead to breakups, and there isn’t much of a plot outside of the romance.

That said, after all that, Dade did actually manage to sell them getting back together in the end, which I honestly didn’t expect. So, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it, but that’s largely because it’s not to my taste, not because it’s badly written or doesn’t end well.

Hope all is well, Blue.

>28 PaulCranswick: This weekend was extremely cold, but otherwise things are going ok. Hope things are good with you, too!

Finished Book 14: Lock In by John Scalzi
Lock in, book 1
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 10h 56m
Audible

Finished Book 15: Head On by John Scalzi
Lock In, book 2
Reread, adult, science fiction, audible, 7h 36m
Audible

Finished Book 16: Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
Old Man’s War, book 1
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 9h 58m
Audible

Finished Book 17: An Unseen Attraction by KJ Charles
Sins of the cities, book 1
Reread, adult, romance (historical, mystery), Audiobook 7h 38m
Content warnings: explicit sexual content, murder, torture, ableism, classism, racism, alcohol abuse, abusive family, homophobia, suicide, major character death

Finished Book 18: Petrichor Blooms by Mindy Briar
Halcyon Universe, book 2
New read, adult, science fiction, ebook, 319p
Early reviewer
Content warnings: sexual content, kidnapping, bullying, genetic modification performed on children, major character death, discussion of baby/child death, discussion of parent death

Dawn and Nox grew up on the rebel’s space station. Dawn is content to work in farming and food production, while her sister is a passionate soldier for the cause, each living their separate lives, until Nox injures herself and convinces Dawn to take her place in an upcoming mission. On a distant planet, Amy is a university student who is struggling to live up to her famous mother’s memory, so when she gets an offer to leave the studies that are making her miserable and join an expedition on another world, she jumps at the chance. Nobody expects the complications that will result from their choices.

I really liked this! I haven’t had the best luck with ER books, but this was a very entertaining story, I liked the characters a lot, the universe is a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to reading more books in the series. I didn’t realize it was book 2 in a series until after I’d finished, so you don’t have to read book 1 first.

Finished Book 19: An Unnatural Vice by KJ Charles
Sins of the cities, book 2
Reread, adult, romance (historical, mystery), Audiobook, 7h 54m
Content Warnings: explicit sexual content, murder, torture, abusive family, homophobia, cults, discussion of implied rape, classism, racism, major character death

Finished Book 20: An Unsuitable Heir by KJ Charles
Sins of the cities, book 3
Reread, adult, romance (historical, mystery), Audiobook, 7h 28m
Content warnings: explicit sex, cults, body dysphoria, murder, torture, homophobia, ableism, classism, racism, major character death

I just really, really like this trilogy. In all three books, I love the main characters, I love the relationships, and I really love how everything intertwines with the overarching plot. The final chunk of Unsuitable Heir, pretty much from when Mark arrives at Crowmarsh on, is not only excellent but in my opinion is one of those endings that makes the rest of the series better.

You might like books by Charlie Richards, her books are somewhat similar to KJ Charles. My favorite series of her's are Kontra's Menagerie and Wolves of Stone Ridge.

>33 SilverWolf28: Thanks for the recommendation! I'll check those out.

>34 bluesalamanders: You're welcome!

Finished Book 21: Any Old Diamonds by KJ Charles
The Lilywhite Boys, book 1
Reread, adult, romance, ebook, 265p
kobo
Content warnings: explicit sex, dubiously consensual sex*, murder, betrayal, suicide, classism, homophobia, terrible parents, death of parents
*a couple of times during D/s sex, one character really pushes boundaries, either because he doesn't care or is pretending not to care or because he's angry (it can be read various ways). He apologizes later.

I really, really like this one.

Finished Book 22: Proper English by KJ Charles
Think of England, prequel
Reread, adult, romance (historical), ebook, 225p
Kobo
Content warnings: sexual content, murder, bullying, racism, sexism, homophobia, apparent abusive relationship

Pat and her brother are invited to a shooting party with a couple of old friends, but when they arrive, there are three times as many guests and ten times as much drama as they expected.

I like this story, the romance is very sweet and the story is engaging.

Finished Book 23: Think of England by KJ Charles
England, book 1
Reread, adult, romance (historical), ebook, 204p
Kobo
Content warnings: explicit sex, dubiously consensual sex*, voyeruism, blackmail, antisemitism, ableism, homophobia, murder, suicide, torture, discussion of war, discussion of severe injuries
*characters have sex to put off suspicion, there isn’t time to discuss it first

Finished Book 24: Spectred Isle by KJ Charles
Reread, adult, romance, audiobook, 7h 34m
Hoopla
Content warnings: explicit sexual content, child abuse, body horror, panic attack, major charcter death, homophobia, trauma/ptsd, discussion of war, discussion of torture

Finished Book 25: Unfit to Print by KJ Charles
Reread, adult, romance (historical), audiobook, 4h 32m
Content warnings: explicit sexual content, homophobia, classism, racism, attempted murder
Hoopla

Two old friends who haven’t seen each other for years work together to find a missing person.

I think this is a good book, as I think almost all of Charles’ books are good, but this will never be one of my favorites.

Finished Book 26: Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase
New read, adult, romance (historical), audiobook, 11h 39m
Hoopla
Content warnings: explicit sexual content, racism, sexism, classism, terrible parents, excessive alcohol use, bullying, brief discussion of rape, sexual assault, attempted murder, constant miscommunication, suicide thread

Someone recommended this author and I found this audiobook is read by Kate Reading, who is one of my favorite audiobook narrators (she did the Lady Trent audiobooks, which are fantastic), so I thought I’d give it a try. It was really not my sort of thing. I didn’t hate it, I don’t regret reading it, but I won’t be running out to read more by her.

Finished Book 27: Sabriel by Garth Nix
Old Kingdom, book 1
New read, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 10h 43m
Library
Content warnings: death of a parent, zombie/undead type things, major character death

I kind of wish I’d read this when I was younger. I think I would have liked it a lot more. As it is, I thought it was fine, but that’s about it. A friend told me she liked the second book a lot more, so I might try that sometime.

Finished Book 28: The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi
Old Man’s War, book 2
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 10h 28m
Audible

Finished Book 29: Spellbound by Allie Therin
Magic in Manhattan, book 1
Reread, adult, romance, audiobook, 9h 24m
Content warning: kidnapping, torture, alcohol use, racism, trauma/ptsd,

I introduced my sister to these books and I’m rereading them so I can talk about them more with her.

Finished Book 30: Witches Get Stuff Done by Molly Harper
New read, adult, romance (paranormal, contemporary), audiobook, 8h 23m
Content warnings: dead parent, discussion of distant/controlling parents/parental figures, ghosts, brief misogynistic language, minor character death
Audible (included)

This is kind of a mediocre book, but the amount of Michigan references raised my enjoyment of it considerably. That said, I’m not sure where in Michigan it’s supposed to take place. It’s a Mackinac Island-like island, but it has cliffs on it? Which is dramatic and all, to have a haunted Victorian-esque mansion up on a cliff, but I’m pretty sure that’s not really a thing in Michigan. Also, the island is big enough to have a whole town on it, but it’s in a lake that’s small enough to freeze solid in winter, which is definitely not any of the Great Lakes.

My sister and I decided that it’s set in the same universe where South Detroit exists. And probably Pickax.

Finished Book 31: Phoebe and the Pea by Catherine Bilson
New read, adult, romance, audiobook, 1h 29m
Youtube (free)

I literally remember nothing about this, but it’s available here.

Finished Book 32: Kidnapping Lord Blaymire by Catherine Bilson
New read, adult, romance, audiobook, 2h 41m
Youtube (free)

This book is very silly and could have used another half hour to fill out the ending a bit, but it was entertaining. It’s available here.

Finished Book 33: A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland
Reread, adult, fantasy (historical, romance), audiobook, 18h 20m
Content warnings: mild sexual content, death, animal death, chronic anxiety, panic attacks, depression, self harm, involuntary drugging, kidnapping

This book definitely holds up to a reread. I enjoyed it at least as much as the first time through, possibly more.

Finished Book 34: Starcrossed by Allie Therin
Magic in Manhattan, book 2
Reread, adult, romance, audiobook, 10h 36m
Hoopla

Finished Book 35: Hunger Pangs by Joy Demorra
Hunger Pangs, book 1
Reread, adult, romance, ebook, 516p

Pearl’d: End of Story by Kylie Scott
This book had an intriguing premise, but the writing style just didn’t work for me and I got tired of rolling my eyes at things the characters said or did.

Finished Book 36: Stargazy Pie by Victoria Goddard
Greenwing & Dart, book 1
New read, adult, fantasy, ebook, 372p
Hoopla
Content warnings: seual assault*, alcohol use, involuntary drug use
*unwelcome advances, uninvited kissing, a mostly off-page drug-fueled orgy (not all participants seem willing)

This was one of the most baffling books I’ve ever read. I read a lot of sff, I’m used to being dumped into the middle of things and expected to pick it up as the story progresses, but it just felt like question after question with almost no answers or explanations.

Even so, I didn’t hate it, and I liked some of the characters quite a bit. I’m going to give the next book a try. My friend who recommended these loved the whole series, and another friend said that things start making sense halfway through the next book, so, we’ll see.

Finished Book 37: The Last Colony by John Scalzi
Old Man’s War, book 3
Audible
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 9h 51m

Finished Book 38: Stone Speaks to Stone by Victoria Goddard
Greenwing & Dart, book 1.5
New read, adult, fantasy, ebook, 77p
Hoopla
Content warnings: war, torture, death

Finished Book 39: Bee Sting Cake by Victoria Goddard
Greenwing & Dart, book 2
New read, adult, fantasy, ebook, 308p
Hoopla
Content warnings: discussion of drugs and involuntary drug use, moderate gore, does it count as animal harm or character death if it’s a sentient fantasy creature?

I don’t have much to say about this book that isn’t a major spoiler. My friend told me that this book had a baking competition and a dragon, and they intesect, and that is true, but it turned out to be in the most disappointing ways possible! I was looking forward to the dragon joining the baking contest, or at least lighting the ovens. I was extremely disappointed that the dragon turned out to be evil and not only that but when Jemis killed it, it destroyed all the cakes. Literally the worst possible end. Why.

I'll probably continue on with this series, but I am definitely not loving it as much as my friends did.

Finished Book 40: Wonderstruck by Allie Therin
Magic in Manhattan, book 3
Reread, adult, romance, audiobook, 9h 17m
Hoopla
Content warnings: bugs, vermin, murder, child abuse, ptsd/trauma, medical abuse, telepathy, possession/body control

Finished Book 41: Proper Scoundrels by Allie Therin
Roaring Twenties Magic, book 1 (Magic in Manhattan spin-off)
Reread, adult, romance, audiobook, 8h 41m
Hoopla
Content warnings: fire, torture, discussion of possession/body control

Absolutely delighted that there’s going to be another Wesley/Sebastian book!

Finished Book 42: Liar City by Allie Therin
Sugar & Vice, book 1
New read, adult, fantasy (thriller), audiobook, 11h 52m
Audible
Content warnings: murder, gore, fantasy bigotry, secondhand embarrassment, mind control

I read this book in two days and I'm not actually sure why? I got caught up in it, obviously, but at the same time I found it irritating and frustrating. I was frequently yelling at the main characters for the stupid choices they were making, and frankly I didn't actually like either of them for much of the book. I did like the end alright, though, and I am curious enough that I'll probably read the second book when it comes out next year.

However, I will read it in ebook, not audiobook format. I think my reaction was exacerbated by the narrator, who (in my opinion) often chose the most irritating tone possible for a lot of the dialogue, which made the main characters even more unlikable than they were written to be, and also forgot half the time than one of the main characters was supposed to have an obviously different accent. I may be on the fence about recommending the book, but I emphatically do not recommend the audiobook.

>39 bluesalamanders: I take it, Blue, that The Last Colony was book 37 not book 76?! Otherwise you will be the first to 75 that I have seen this year!

That's a slew of reviews! But behind a lot of spoilers, so I'll have to read with caution.

>41 PaulCranswick: bwahaha thank you, I had to renumbered a few and I guess I deleted the wrong digit without noticing.

>42 humouress: I didn't mean to post so many at once, but I keep falling behind.

Finished Book 43: Band sinister by KJ Charles
Reread, adult, romance (historical), audiobook, 7h 59m
Hoopla
Content warnings: Explicit sexual content, broken bone, financial abuse

When Amanda Frisby breaks her leg and has to recuperate in the home of the notorious Sir Philip Rookwood and his hellfire club, her brother Guy rushes to her side in an attempt to protect her and ward off scandal.

This is a really delightful book and I can’t thank my friend G enough for recommending it to me last year.

I don’t think KJC is planning to write any sequels or companion stories, but I wish she would! This book is full to the brim of fantastic characters that I would love to read more about.

Finished Book 44: The gentle art of fortune hunting by KJ Charles
Gentle World, book 1
Reread, adult, romance (historical), audiobook, 8h 1m
Hoopla
Content warnings: explicit sexual content, discussions of child abuse, discussions of slavery, classism

Finished Book 45: A Thief in the Night by KJ Charles
Gentle World, book 2
Reread, adult, romance (historical), audiobook, 2h 45m
Content warnings: explicit sexual content, hoarding, discussion of war, discussion of child abuse, mention of homophobia, discussion of elder abuse

I’ve heard rumors there’s going to be a third Gentle World book (presumably the siblings are reunited and Marianne gets together with someone), which would be nice.

Finished Book 46: Seasons of Love by Helena Greer
New read, adult, romance (contemporary, holiday), ebook, 384p
Library
Content warnings: death of a parental figure, discussion of child abuse, discussion of abusive relationship, alcoholism, brief mention of antisemitism

I was a little skeptical of the premise of a Jewish family running a Christmas tree farm and event venue, but it’s a good book with fantastic characters and I’m really looking foward to the sequel.

Finished Book 47: The Magpie Lord by KJ Charles
A Charm of Magpies, book 1
Reread, adult, romance, audiobook, 6h 25m
Content warnings: explicit sex, suicide, depression, body horror, discussion of child abuse, animal harm, discussion of incest, homophobia

Finished Book 48: A Case of Possession by KJ Charles
A Charm of Magpies, book 2
Reread, adult, romance, audiobook, 6h 24m
Content warnings: explicit sex, homophobia, murder, moderate gore, animal harm

These are not my favorite of KJ Charles’ books, but they’re pretty good.

Finished Book 49: Spelunking through Hell by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid, book 11
Reread, adult, fantasy (urban), dead tree, 352p
Owned
Content warnings: body horror, torture, betrayal, major character death, attempted murder, memory manipulation, kidnapping, implied rape

I reread this before the new book came out and it was still really good, although I still skimmed the really gory bit in, I can't remember, chapter 4 or 5.

Finished Book 50: The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles
Doomsday, book 1
New read, adult, romance (historical), audiobook, 11h 16m
Audible
Content warnings: explicit sex, homophobia, bigotry, neglectful parent, abusive parent, murder

This is another “I liked the book but don’t recommend the audiobook” situation, although I more straightforwardly enjoyed Secret Lives. The audiobook narrator did some Shatner-Style Random... Pausing... And Emphasis... and it was really very unpleasant and kept knocking me out of the story. This is another one where I’ll go for the ebook or paper book for the sequel.

Finished Book 51: Backpacking Through Bedlam by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid, book 12
New read, adult, fantasy (urban), audiobook, 12h 54m

This is actually kind of a weak entry to the Incryptid series. The story is meandering, there are several flashbacks that don’t really seem relevant, and there are multiple clumsy infodumps, including several that repeat the same information that was given a chapter or two previously. I guess every series this long is going to have a couple clunkers, and this is definitely one of them for Incryptid.

Finished Book 52: The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles
Doomsday, book 1
Reread, adult, romance (historical), ebook, 353p
Content warnings: explicit sex, homophobia, bigotry, neglectful parent, abusive parent, murder
Hoopla

I reread it in ebook, and it is definitely a more enjoyable experience to read in text than to listen to the audiobook (whether the issue is with the narrator’s style or the editing, I couldn’t say). I’m looking forward to the sequel, which is coming out later this year!

Finished Book 53: The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older
New read, adult, science fiction (mystery, romance), audiobook, 4h 27m
Content warnings: discussion of suicide, murder

This is a sort of Sherlock Holmes inspired mystery set on a space station in a distant future after the earth became uninhabitable. I liked the characters, I thought the setting was really neat, and I’m really hoping this is the first in a series.

Finished Book 54: An Unseen Attraction by KJ Charles
Sins of the cities, book 1
Reread, adult, romance (historical, mystery), Audiobook 7h 38m
Content warnings: explicit sexual content, murder, torture, ableism, classism, racism, alcohol abuse, abusive family, homophobia, suicide, major character death

Finished Book 55: An Unnatural Vice by KJ Charles
Sins of the cities, book 2
Reread, adult, romance (historical, mystery), Audiobook, 7h 54m
Content Warnings: explicit sexual content, murder, torture, abusive family, homophobia, cults, discussion of implied rape, classism, racism, major character death

My sister read these (and loved them! woo!) and I reread them so it would be easier to talk about them with her.

Finished Book 56: A Cat May Look by Alex Ankarr
New read, adult, romance (shifter), ebook, 46p
Owned
Content warning: Not really anything

This is a cute, silly book. Really all I have to say about it.

Finished Book 57: Desire Untamed by Pamela Palmer
Feral Warriors, book 1
New read, adult, romance (shifter), ebook, 385p
hoopla
Content warnings: explicit sex, sexual assault, kidnapping, brief discussion of child abuse, mind control, torture

This is a very silly book. It’s not intentional, I don’t think, but it made me laugh in someplaces that were supposed to be dramatic or intense. I’m not planning to read any more in this series.

Finished Book 58: Salt Magic, Skin Magic by Lee Welch
New read, adult, romance (historical, fantasy), audiobook, 9h 14m
Hoopla
Content warnings: explicit sex, homophobia, mild body horror, discussion of child abuse, kidnapping, mind control, discussion of drowning

I liked this book a lot. I definitely recommend it. Try not to be put off by the title and cover art, which really don’t say “historical romance”. At least they do say “fantasy”, I guess.

Finished Book 59: Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan
Lady Trent series, book 1
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook: 10h 16m

Finished Book 60: Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai
New read, adult, romance (fantasy), audiobook, 11h 42m
Library
Content warnings: explicit sex, brief misgendering, bullying, geas/compulsion

This book is really excellent, also highly recommended.

Finished Book 61: Keeper’s Six by Kate Elliot
New read, adult, fantasy, ebook, 201p
Library
Content warnings: slavery, human/sapient trafficking, kidnapping, bugs (brief)

A group of semi-retired adventurers go off to help rescue one of the group's kidnapped son.

I really enjoyed this, the characters were great, the worldbuilding was really neat, there was just so much packed into such a short book. I hope there will be more stories set in this world!

Finished Book 62: Masters in this Hall by KJ Charles
Lilywhite boys, book 2
Reread, adult, romance (historical), ebook, 119p
Kobo
Content warnings: explicit sex, attempted murder, classism

This is entertaining and has some very cute parts (”it was like being attacked by an Angora rabbit” will always make me laugh). Also some stressful bits, but the cute parts are a little more memorable. Definitely needs to be read after Any Old Diamonds, though, or a lot of references won’t make much sense.

Finished Book 63: Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 1
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 20m

Finished Book 64: Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz
New read, adult, romance (science fiction), ebook, 118p
Library
Content warnings: hate crime, fantasy bigotry

This is an incredibly sweet book and I really enjoyed it a lot.

Pearl’d: The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry
Content warnings (to the point I read): animal harm, drug use/abuse, bugs, body horror, murder, classism, fantasy bigotry

I didn’t stop reading this because I had any particular problem with this, in fact there were a lot of things I really liked about it. But somehow the story really never grabbed me, so I kept getting distracted by other books and finally I just shrugged and returned it to the library.

Pearl’d: Light from Uncommon Stars
Content warnings (to the point I read): transphobia, homophobia, sexism, physical and sexual abuse, racism, rape prostition, hunger, gore, murder

I guess these two books are really DNF’d rather than Pearl’d, but whatever. I got maybe two-thirds of the way through this one and then got distracted by other books (I don’t remember what anymore). I was planning to go back and finish it but at this point, I don’t think I’m going to. What I read of it was excellent, but it’s been months and I haven’t felt like going back to finish it, so I’m just going to let it go.

Wow! You're almost to your first 75 and it already looks like I'm too far behind to get to my 75 by the end of the year.

Blue your reading is going on at a fair lick this year!

Have a great weekend.

>49 humouress: Believe me, I am also surprised at how fast I've been reading recently!

>50 PaulCranswick: I know, right? And some really good books, too!

Finished Book 65: Fete for a King by Sam Starbuck
The Shivadhverse, book 1
Reread, Adult, Romance, ebook
Content warnings: Literally none that I can think of

The crown prince of a small European country accidentally hires a celebrity chef to cater his coronation banquet. The somewhat stiff and buttoned-up prince gets to know the flamboyant celebrity chef and surprisingly (or not, really), sparks fly. This is a light and fluffy romance and I loved it.

Finished Book 66: Infinite Jes by Sam Starbuck
The Shivadhverse, book 2
Reread, Adult, Romance, ebook
Content warnings: discussions of family-related trauma, kind of a lot of alcohol use

Michaelis, former king of Askazer-Shivadlakia, is a bit at loose ends since handing over the reins to his very competent son Gregory. The answer to this is clearly to start a podcast.

This one is less light and fluffy, but only a tiny bit. Michaelis meets Noah, a teenager with a podcast, and his parent Jes, who also has a podcast, and decides to ask them for help with his idea. This sets off a chain of events involving a flood, a library, fishing trips, drinking games, and an unfortunate encounter with an old stairway.

Pearl’d: The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows
I really liked the first book in this series, but this one got a resounding eh. While I am usually a big fan of pining and slow burn in romance, this just didn’t hit the right notes for me.

Finished Book 67: The lady and the tiger by Sam Starbuck
The Shivadhverse, book 3
Reread, adult, romance, ebook,

Third book in Sam’s new romance series! This one is mostly political intrigue with a little bit of romance. I enjoyed it much more this time around than I did the first time, I think.

Finished Book 68: The Twelve Points of Caleb Canto by Sam Starbuck
Shivadhverse, book 4
New read, adult, romance (contemporary), ebook
Content warnings: panic attacks, transphobia
Free on AO3

In book four of the Shivadverse series, we meet Caleb Canto, a music teacher and songwriter who inadvertently becomes a Eurovision competitor.

These are truly delightful books and I’m really glad Sam is continuing to write the series. So far I’ve just been reading them online as he finishes and posts them, but at some point I’ll probably buy paper copies. If you’re interested (and I definitely recommend them), you can buy them here or get pdfs of the first three (so far) for free.

Finished Book 69: An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, Book 3
Reread, Adult, Fantasy, audiobook: 12h 32m
Content warnings: kidnapping, torture, discussion of the deaths of children, mind-altering enchantments, involuntary shapechanging, murder, blood

Spoilers for later in the series: reading this after having read Be the Serpent is absolutely heartbreaking.

Pearl’d: Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune
Content warnings (for as far as I got): inappropriate workplace conversation, extremely unsympathetic/asshole boss, death, ghosts

The beginning of this book is really extremely unpleasant. You’re supposed to hate the main character, and you know what, it worked great! I loathed him so much that I couldn’t figure out why I was supposed to want to read about him. So I stopped.

Finished Book 70: Tommy Cabot was here by Cat Sebastian
The Cabots, book 1
New read, adult, romance (historical), ebook, 110p
Content warnings: explicit sex, divorce, discussion of: homophobia, neglectful parents
library

I've found Sebastian's work very hit-or-miss, leaning toward miss, but this series came highly recommended, specifically since they're set in the mid-20th century, which is a very different time than most of her other books, so they have a very different feel to them. And, honestly, I really liked this one and I'm looking forward to the sequels.

Finished Book 71: Defender Chimera by Zoe Chant
Protection Inc: Defenders, book 4
New read, adult, romance, (shifter), ebook, 353p
Purchased on kindle

This is really an enjoyable series.

Finished Book 72: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Wayfarers, book 1
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 14h 23m
Content warnings: misgendering, fantasy bigotry, involuntary medical procedure, major character death
audible

Finished Book 73: Unwritten Rules by KD Casey
Unwritten Rules, book 1
New read, adult, romance (contemporary, sports), audiobook, 13h 19m
Content warnings: ableism, weight discussion, internalized homophobia, I honestly don’t remember if the sex was open- or closed-door
Hoopla

I liked this way more than I expected! I'm even more picky about contemporary romance than I am about historical, and I'm very ehhh about sports in general (though of all sports, I dislike baseball the least) but this was very sweet, I cared a lot about the characters, the baseball was pretty interesting - and I've been told that it's still a fun book even if you know nothing about the sport.

My only real issue with it is the format of the book. It’s told in two parallel stories - “three years ago”, when the two main characters first meet and “present day”. There’s really no reason to do that, it’s often confusing, and since you know from the beginning what the “past” story is building up to, there’s no suspense. I think it would have made more sense to just tell it in chronological order.

I still enjoyed it, though, so that’s honestly a pretty minor quibble.

Finished Book 74: Late Eclipses by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, Book 4
Reread, Adult, Fantasy, audiobook: 11h 51m

Finished Book 75: One Salt Sea by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 5
Reread, adult, fantasy, Audiobook, 12h 42m

Finished Book 76: Ashes of Honor by Seanan McGuire
October Day, book 6
reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook: 12h 26m

Finished Book 77: Chimes at Midnight by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 7
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 12h 15m

Finished Book 78: Peter Cabot Gets Lost by Cat Sebastian
The Cabots, book 2
New read, adult, romance (historical, mid-19th century), ebook, 199
Library
Content warnings: on-page sex, discussions of homophobia, brief panic attack, neglectful family

Finished Book 79: Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots by Cat Sebastian
The Cabots, book 3
New read, adult, romance (historical, mid-19th century), ebook, 244
Library
Content warnings: on-age sex, discussions of homophobia, brief homophobic language, internalized ableism

These stories are extremely sweet, with almost no drama or angst. They’re just very lovely.

Finished Book 80: The Winter Long by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, Book 8
Reread, Adult, Fantasy, audiobook: 11h 57m

Finished Book 81: Full of Briars by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, novelette set between books 7 and 8
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 44p

It’s really interesting to see Toby and Toby’s world from someone else’s perspective.

Finished Book 82: A Rival Most Vial by R. K. Ashwick
The Side Quest Row Series, book 1
New read, adult, romance (fantasy), ebook, 340p
Early Reviewer
Content warnings: discussion of child abuse and neglect

This book was ok at best. I liked the main characters, especially once the story moved past the kind of silly and pointless rivalry and on to the collaboration part of the story. But a lot of plot points were not integrated especially well into the story. I also felt like the book could have ended better.

The worst thing was when Ambrose and his friend Dawn were searching dangerous caves for potion ingredients. They had an argument and in response she used their return-home portal and abandoned him in a dangerous cave, alone. I honestly hardly have words for how much that horrified me (I admit I may be relating a bit too much to Ambrose in this particular situation), and the resolution of it is even worse. Ambrose made it back fine, but he soon decided that he needed to apologize to her, which I simply find breathtakingly awful. He did literally nothing wrong. Their argument was even because she wanted them to do something unsafe!

Congrats on blowing way past the goal!

>55 bluesalamanders: Congratulations on reaching 75!

>57 drneutron: >58 FAMeulstee: Thanks newt, FAM!

Congratulations on 75!

Finished Book 83: A Red-Rose Chain by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 9
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 12h 47m

Finished Book 84: Once Broken Faith by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 10
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 27m

Pearl’d: A Skeleton in Every House by Isabella Duke
Early Reviewer

I gave up on this one pretty quickly. There was too high a ration of infodump, there appeared to be an upcoming (uninteresting) love triangle, and the main character was supposed to be a feisty get-up-and-go sort of girl but she seemed to be on the verge of making some very stupid decisions that I just wasn’t interested in reading about.

Finished Book 85: The Brightest Fell by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 11
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 36m

Finished Book 86: Night and Silence by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 12
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 28m

Pearl’d: Esprit de Corpse by EF Deal
Early Reviewer
I’m sure this is a perfectly fine book, but while it has a number of elements that I usually enjoy, unfortunately it just didn’t grab my interest.

Finished Book 87: The Unkindest Tide by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 13
Reread, adult, fantasy, 11h 57m

Finished Book 88: Emergency Skin by NK Jemisin
New read, adult, science fiction, ebook, 33p

This short story was recommended in a podcast I listened to about solarpunk and I thought it was excellent.

Finished Book 89: A Killing Frost by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 14
Reread, adult, fantasy, 11h 48m

Finished Book 90: The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi
The Interdependency, book 1
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 9h 24m

Finished Book 91: The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi
The Interdependency, book 2
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 8h 19m

Finished Book 92: The Last Emperox by John Scalzi
The Interdependency, book 3
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 8h 7m

Finished Book 93: The Android's Dream by John Scalzi
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 10h 34m

Copied from a couple years ago:
This is a light and funny (mostly funny) book, which is what I needed.

If you do read this, just try not to judge the whole book on the first chapter. Scalzi sometimes decides to experiment with his books, and this time the experiment was to see if he could write a chapter-long fart joke. Which, I mean. He did? Yay, I guess? But in my experience, it can turn off some readers who would likely enjoy the rest of the book.

Finished Book 94: Proper Scoundrels by Allie Therin
Roaring Twenties Magic, book 1
Reread, adult, romance, audiobook, 8h 41m
Content warnings: fire, torture, discussion of possession/body control, trauma, nightmares/flashbacks, definitely other stuff I don’t remember

Copied from last year:
Very good, very funny at times (very upsetting at other times). I enjoyed how the two main characters were like ”I’m a bad guy, you shouldn’t want to be around me!” “No, I’m the bad guy, you shouldn’t want to spend time around me!” When in reality they both just, like…have complicated histories and trauma and stuff.

ETA: I really like this book and I’m excited that the sequel is coming out next month!

Sorry I missed the 75 congrats but I am in time for you reaching 100 very shortly, Blue. Have a great weekend.

>64 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul! You have a good weekend, too!

Finished Book 95: Mean and Mighty by Seanan McGuire
October Daye short story
New read, adult, fantasy, ebook,

Finished Book 96: Distinction of Place by Seanan McGuire
October Daye short story
New read, adult, fantasy, ebook,

Finished Book 97: Flight Risk by Cherie Priest
The Booking Agents, book 2
New read, adult, fantasy (mystery), ebook, 317p
Content warnings: corpses/body parts, adultery, inappropriate professor/student relationships

These books are pretty silly but entertaining.

Finished Book 98: Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
Old Man’s War, book 1
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 9h 58m

Finished Book 99: The Gentleman’s Book Of Vices by Jess Everlee
Lucky Lovers of London, book 1
New read, adult, romance, audiobook, 8h 54m

This book felt a bit like the author dumped all of KJ Charles’s books in a bag, shook them around, pulled out various character traits and plot points, and shoved them together to make a story. There’s an inherited bookstore, a tragically dead lover, a porn writer, a collection of erotica, a silly fiance who I’m expecting to turn out to be lesbian (sadly, she did not), a gay man who Just Can’t Be With a Married Man…

Overall, I’d say this book was Okay but Could’ve Been Better. The end in particular was…supposed to be clever and twisty, but really was just kind of dumb. The women characters were treated kind of poorly by the narrative, but the characters themselves were pretty good. And there were a few blatant Checkov’s Guns that never went off, which was a little frustrating. Basically, overall kind of eh.

I specifically do not recommend the audiobook, though. The main characters are done pretty well, but the narrator does truly terrible female voices, and some of the secondary male voices are also very irritating.

Pearl’d: His at Night by Sherry Thomas

I started this because I was poking around audible for free books read by Kate Reading, one of my favorite audiobook narrators. Reading is delightful as always, but the book is not what I hoped. The story is about two characters who are caught in flagrante and forced to marry, but it turns out it was engineered by the lady to escape her abusive uncle. This setup takes half the book to accomplish, which is the first problem, because it definitely didn’t need to take that long. But that was more-or-less ok, until the wedding night, which fell victim to the extremely boring “a virgin’s first time is always painful” trope in the most ridculous way I’ve ever read, which was the last straw and I completely lost interest.

Finished Book 100: Silver Silence by Nalini Singh
Psy/Changeling, book 1
Reread, adult, romance (shifter), audiobook, 16h 1m

Finished Book 101: The spare man by Mary Robinette Kowal
Reread, adult, science fiction (mystery), audiobook, 11h 24m
Content warnings: murder, ptsd, flashbacks, chronic pain, brief ableism, lots of alcohol use, involuntary drug use, discussions of drug and alcohol abuse, police brutality (off page), police abuse of power, the dog is fine

Really enjoyed this just as much the second time around, it’s an excellent book.

Finished Book 102: The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
New read, adult, romance (fantasy), ebook, 334p

This turned out to be a very sweet and enjoyable book.

Finished Book 103: The Interview by Liz Tuckwell
New read, adult, fantasy, ebook, 33p
Short story, free on kobo

A woman has a strange job interview.

I didn’t really understand the point of this story. Maybe because I found it obvious from the very beginning what was happening, so the “twist” wasn’t a surprise and there wasn’t enough build up for it to be a meaningful resolution.

If you’re curious: She’d died on the way to her actual job interview, so this was an interview about whether she’d get into heaven or hell.

Finished Book 104: The Work of Art by Mimi Matthews
New read, adult, romance (historical), ebook, 652p
Kobo
Content warnings: brief animal abuse, poorly trained animals, discussion of spousal abuse, discussion of drowning, misogyny, discussion of war, ptsd, flashbak

This was surprisingly good for a free book. The books available for free are often of quesitonable quality at best, but this one has reasonably good writing, characters I was interested to read about, and an interesting enough story. My biggest complaint is that it wrapped up very abruptly, with almost no time spent winding things down after the big climax. But even so, I enjoyed it and I may look into other books by this author.

Finished Book 105: Fire by Kristin Cashore
Gracling, book 2
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 12h 39m

Finished Book 106: Soulless by Gail Carriger
Parasol Protectorate, book 1
Reread, romance (historical fantasy/steampunk), audiobook, 10h 48m
Audible

Finished Book 107: Nettle and Bone by T Kingfisher
New read, adult, fantasy/horror, audiobook, 9h 3m

Finished Book 108: Jillian vs Parasite Planet by Nicole Kornher-Stace
New read, children’s, science fiction, audiobook, 6h 50m
Content warnings: bugs, oh god so many bugs, parasites, animal death, drowning, mind control

Finished Book 109: Shore to Shore by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, short story (updated)
New read, adult, fantasy, ebook,

Finished Book 110: Hot New Toy by Seanan McGuire
Indexing, short story
New read, adult, fantasy, ebook

Finished Book 111: Blameless by Gail Carriger
Parasol Protectorate, book 2
Reread, adult, romance (historical fantasy/steampunk), audiobook, 11h 54m
Audible

Finished Book 112: Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
New read, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 7h 19m

This was a lot of fun, I really enjoyed it.

Finished Book 113: Ocean Light by Nalini Singh
New read, adult, romance (shifter), audiobook, 12h 52m
Hoopla
Content warnings: ptsd/trauma, suicide attempt

Not my favorite.

Finished Book 114: Unhallowed by Jordan L Hawk
Rath and Rune, book 1
Reread, adult, romance (fantasy/horror), ebook, 226p
Content warning: open-door sex, body horror, murder, cults, discussions of bad parenting/child abuse

Finished Book 115: Unseen by Jordan L Hawk
Rath and Rune, book 2
Reread, adult, romance (fantasy/horror), ebook, 234p
Content warnings: open-door sex, body horror, murder, cults, discussions of bad parenting/child abuse

Finished Book 116: Unknown by Jordan L Hawk
Rath and Rune, book 3
New read, adult, romance (fantasy/horror), ebook, 218p
Content warnings: probably the same as the previous two, I forgot to note them down at the time

I really like this series! I’m so excited that this new book is out, and I really enjoyed it.

Finished Book 117: Heartless by Gail Carriger
Parasol Protectorate, book 4
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 19m

Finished Book 118: When Sorrows Come by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 15
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 12h 13m

Finished Book 119: Once a rogue by Allie therin
Roaring twenties magic, book 2
New read, adult, romance (historical, fantasy), audiobook, 9h 17m
Audible

So excited about a new book in this series, I couldn't put it down! Or turn it off, technically, since I was listening to the audiobook.

Finished Book 120: Be the Serpent by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 16
New read, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 12h 44m
Content warnings: child death, murder, attempted murder, mind control, possession (sort of), blood, attempted suicide (sort of), kidnapping, cliffhanger end

Finished Book 121: Role playing by Cathy Yardley
New read, adult, romance, audiobook, 10h 2m
Content warnings: brief diet talk, brief secondhand embarrassment, discussion of divorce, queerphobia (specifically homophobia, biphobia, malicious outing)

Ok, I thought I liked this book when I had just finished it, but I talked it out with a few friends and figured out how I really felt about it.

I like the main characters, and their relationship. But.

Unfortunately, that’s, like, half the book? Maybe? And everything else sucked. Every other character, literally every single other character in the entire book was awful. And not even varying degrees of not-so-bad to full-on, oh, no, they were all full-on horrible.

You want to know who’s a terrible person in this book? Because it’s been a couple months and apparently I’m still annoyed about this, because I really wanted to like this book! Main Dude’s mother is awful, she maybe has the excuse of oncoming dementia, I guess, but I got the impression her behavior wasn’t actually new. He was spending all his time taking care of her, and she was so nasty to him constantly. His mom’s church friend (I can remember nobody’s names and I don’t care enough to look) was interested in him and thought he seemed lonely, so her plan for how to help cheer him up was to invite a bunch of strangers over to his house without his permission, which i have to say is my definition of hell. His brother married his ex-fiance. His ex-fiance had dumped him because he told her he’s bisexual and she’s a raging homophobe and she outs him to his family and his new girlfriend in public. Main Lady’s ex-husband was awful, I forget why, but he was. Every conversation with her so-called best friend made me wonder why they were friends. Her son, who I thought was cool for most of the book, at least gets “not great” instead of “awful” for the really stupid choices we find out he made.

Speaking of choices, I don’t understand why the author made these choices. Yes, we need the two main characters to be thrown together somehow, but, like, they’re already socially anxious gamers. That’s reason enough. There is no reason to make their lives so much worse, as if having untreated social anxiety and depression isn’t bad enough already!

Yeah, I, uh. I have feelings about this book.

Finished Book 122: Timeless by Gail Carriger
Parasol Protectorate, book 5
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 29m

Finished Book 123: You Sexy Thing by Cat Rambo
Reread, adult, science fiction, Ebook, 304p
Content warnings: kidnapping, torture, gore, bugs (one short gross scene), mutilation (one brief non-detailed scene), mind control (discussion), major character death

I decided to reread this since the sequel is coming out. I enjoyed the story but I did find the writing style somewhat distracting. Rather that being an omniscient 3rd person perspective throughout the whole book, or switching up perspectives between chapters, it's a close 3rd person perspective but the focus character changes almost from paragraph to paragraph.

Finished Book 124: Stalked by the kraken by Lillian Lark
New read, adult, romance (shifter), ebook, 252p

It kept my interest enough that I finished it, but it is extremely not my thing and I won’t be seeking out anything else by this author.

Finished Book 125: A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske
The Last Binding, book 1
Reread, adult, romance (historical fantasy), audiobook, 14h 30m
Content warnings: open-door sex, suicide threat, bullying, murder, attempted murder, torture

Finished Book 126: A Restless Truth by Freya Marske
The Last Binding, book 2
Reread, adult, romance (historical fantasy), audiobook, 14h 43m
Content warnings: open-door sex, murder, possession, body horror (mild as such things go), involuntary drugging

I really like these books and I decided to reread them in advance of the third book coming out.

Pearl'd : Smilodon by Robert m Kerns
Free from kobo
I bounced off this one pretty quickly. The writing is bland at best, and I could have handle that, however in several places the author decided to justify his worldbuilding choices by insulting the choices used in similar books, like, “I don’t know why humans think (common trope in shifter books)," Character thinks. "That’s so stupid, everyone knows it’s (the way he’s written it) really”. I enjoy shifter romances, and I’m not interested in reading a book by an author who looks down on the genre he’s writing in.

Finished Book 127: Proper English by KJ Charles
English, book 1
New read, adult, romance (historical), ebook, 225p
Content warnings: open-door sex, racism, homophobia, misogyny, murder, blackmail, discussion of drug abuse

Finished Book 128: Sleep no more by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 17
New read, adult, fantasy (urban), dead tree, 384p

New Toby book! Yay! And, well. It was ok, for a Toby book. I don’t know, I might feel differently when I reread it, but it felt a little exposition-heavy, like a lot of things were just, Toby goes over here and hears a lecture from this person, then goes over there and hears another lecture from that person, and yes, I get that she’s Bespelled Toby, not normal Action Toby, but it just felt kind of…uneven. Also, the ending seemed to wrap up extremely quickly and it felt like there were a couple of missing scenes, like her reunion with Quentin, for instance.

That sounds like a lot of criticism, but I still enjoyed it and it definitely made me Feel the Feels (I cried at least twice). I can’t wait for the Tybalt book!

Finished Book 129: The ruin of Gabriel Ashleigh by KJ Charles
Society of gentlemen 0.5 (short story)
Reread, adult, romance, ebook, 53p

Finished Book 130: Think of England by KJ Charles
England, book 2
Reread, adult, romance (historical), ebook, 204p
Content warnings: sex, war imagery, descriptions of injuries, voyeurism, blackmail, murder, suicide, homophobia, antisemitism

When I first read this, I really thought I was not going to want to reread, but it turns out I was wrong.

Finished Book 131: A nobleman's guide to seducing a scoundrel by KJ Charles
Doomsday, book 2
New read, adult, romance (historical), dead tree, 336p

This book is everything I wanted in a sequel to Secret Life.

Finished Book 132: An unseen attraction by KJ Charles
Sins of the cities, book 1
Reread, adult, romance, Audiobook 7h 38m

Finished Book 133: Secret life of country gentlemen by KJ Charles
Doomsday, book 1
Reread, adult, romance (historical), Dead tree, 352p

Finished Book 134: A nobleman's guide to seducing a scoundrel by KJ Charles
Doomsday, book 2
Reread, adult, romance (historical), dead tree, 336p

Yup, I turned around and read it again less than a week after the first time. And you know what? I enjoyed it just as much.

Finished Book 135: An Unnatural Vice by KJ Charles
Sins of the cities, book 2
Reread, adult, romance, Audiobook, 7h 54m

Finished Book 136: An unsuitable heir by KJ Charles
Sins of the cities, book 3
Reread, adult, romance, Audiobook, 7h 28m

Finished Book 137: A Fashionable Indulgence by KJ Charles
Society of Gentlemen, Book 1
Reread, adult, romance, audiobook, 8h 47m
Content warnings: explicit sex, murder, classism, misogyny, police brutality

Interestingly, I did not like this one as much this time. I think this particular series just isn’t for me.

Currently reading:
Devil’s Gun by Cat Rambo (audiobook, 9h 14m)
Band Sinister by KJ Charles (audiobook, 7h 59m)
Starter Villain by John Scalzi (dead tree, 272p)
Marry Me by Midnight by Felicia Grossman (ebook, 401p)

Wow! you read fast!

(By the way, you've listed 131 again at 134.)

>74 humouress: Yeah, that's not a mistake, I read the same book twice within a few days. I picked it up from the bookstore and read it, reread the first book in the series, and then turned around and read book 2 again! I really like them.

>75 bluesalamanders: Then maybe I should give those books a go.

I'm re-reading a few recently read books myself, this year.

>76 humouress: If you like historical romances, I definitely recommend them! They're very good.

I always reread a lot, usually at least half of the books I read in any given year are rereads, but I do not usually reread the same book twice within a few days. And I'm actually having to resist picking it up and reading the series again! Very unusual. But I am resisting, because I can get tired of books if I read them too often too close together. Though that's usually months or years, not days or weeks.

Finished Book 138: Band Sinister by KJ Charles
Reread, adult, romance (historical), audiobook (hoopla), 7h 59m

Finished Book 139: Starter Villain by John Scalzi
New read, adult, science fiction, dead tree (owned), 264p
Content warning: implied gore, major character deaths, the animals are fine

Entertaining new Scalzi novel. Unsurprisingly this one is largely a light romp, but still manages to touch on some heavier topics in meaningful and also story-relavent ways.

Finished Book 140: Devil’s Gun by Cat Rambo
You Sexy Thing, book 2
New read, adult, science fiction, audiobook (library), 9h 14m
Content warnings: major character death, grief, probably some other things I forgot to note down

This book starts with a brief recap of book one, which is fantastic. It’s a great alternative to trying to integrate the recap into the first couple of chapters, which so many series do; it’s there if you want to read it and it’s easy to skip if you don’t. Love it, hope more series that this route.

As for the book itself, it’s okay. I liked the first book better, I’ll definitely pick up the third one when it comes out, this was a fine middle book.

Finished Book 141: Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan
Memoirs of Lady Trent, book 3
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook (audible), 11 hrs and 52 mins

Finished Book 142: In the Labyrinth of Drakes by Marie Brennan
Memoirs of Lady Trent, book 4
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook (audible), 10h 31m

Finished Book 143: We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian
New read, romance (historical), audiobook (library), 11h 46m
Content warnings (not as long as it looks, just a little more thorough): open-door sex, homophobia (some slurs, discussions of entrapment and arrest), anxiety/trauma (abandment, fear of outing/arrest and social consequences), some secondhand embarrassment (not a lot, but these guys just really suck at communicating), adhd-like mental health issues (handled pretty well by the narrative as far as I can tell), lots of alcohol use (drunkenness, lowered inhibitions, mostly around talking), smoking (well, it is the 50s)

I liked it, especially the end. Well, except for one part, which is not really related to the main story: when Gerald came, like, why did she welcome him? There was zero indication that she was interested in him coming, she literally said she was happy with her life! And also we had no indication of why he supposedly changed his mind! Perhaps there will be a book 2 that will explain that. But that’s a very small part; I really liked the rest of it, especially how the main characters work through their different and sometimes conflicting traumas and anxieties, sometimes by talking it out (eventually; oh, boys), sometimes just by figuring out how to accommodate each other, like Nick doing his best not to make Andy be home alone, since he knows it upsets him, even if he doesn’t really know why..

Finished Book 144: Fete for a King by Sam Starbuck
The Shivadhverse, book 1
Reread, Adult, Romance (contemporary), ebook (free online), ???
Content warnings: Literally none that I can think of

Pearl’d: Bombshell by Sarah Maclean

I didn’t have any particular problems with this book, I just got a few chapters in and it was not holding my interest, so I decided to give it a pass.

Pearl’d: Boxing Baroness
Content warning: mention of animal harm, misogyny

I might have liked this book but I reached a point with the mention of animal harm and it disturbed me out so much that I just closed the book and was done. I will not go into further detail.

Finished Book 145: Infinite Jes by Sam Starbuck
The Shivadhverse, book 2
Reread, Adult, Romance (contemporary), ebook (free online), ???
Content warnings: discussions of family-related trauma, kind of a lot of alcohol use

Finished Book 146: Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky
New read, adult, science fiction, audiobook (hoopla), 4h 14m
Content warnings: body horror (animal and human bodies altered and merged), depression (main character has clinical depression)

A space-age anthropologist is asked for help by one of the people he’s supposed to be observing.

Really liked this. The most interesting thing is how the two main characters have trouble communicating, because the anthropologist doesn’t quite understand the local language and the local people don’t understand advanced technology, so no matter how many times he tries to explain that he’s not a wizard, it’s not what they hear.

Finished Book 147: A Market of Dreams and Destiny by Trip Galey
New read, adult, romance (fantasy), ebook (library),

Delightful!

Finished Book 148: The Lady and the Tiger by Sam Starbuck
The Shivadhverse, book 3
Reread, adult, romance, ebook (free online), ??

Finished Book 149: The Twelve Points of Caleb Canto by Sam Starbuck
Shivadhverse, book 4
Reread, adult, romance (contemporary), ebook (free online), ??
Content warnings: panic attacks, transphobia

Finished Book 150: Within the Sanctuary of Wings by Marie Brennan
Memoirs of Lady Trent, book 5
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook (audible), 10h59m

>80 bluesalamanders: Congratulations on reaching 2 x 75!

>81 FAMeulstee: Thanks, FAM!

Finished Book 151: The Duke Who Didn’t by Courtney Milan
Wedgeford Trials Book 1
New read, adult, romance (historical), ebook (my sister’s kindle), 352

Finished Book 152: The Marquis Who Mustn’t by Courtney Milan
Wedgeford Trials Book 2
New read, adult, romance (historical), ebook (my sister’s kindle), 328p
Content warnings: description of abusive childhood (raised by con artist and forced to participate in cons, punished for mistakes, blamed by victims for parent’s actions) and ongoing trauma related to that

I liked both of these.

Finished Book 153: The Innocent Sleep by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book
New read, adult, fantasy, audiobook (audible), 15h 18m

And here’s the one from Tybalt’s perspective. I actually liked this one a little better than Sleep No More. While I had some issues with Tybalt (his possessiveness around Toby, for instance), I found this book better structured, the plot beats made more sense, and I actually found the climax dealing with Titania’s Ride more satisfying. Some of that may be because we already know what happens in Toby’s book, to be fair. Maybe when I reread the other one, it will feel better. But these are my first impressions.

Finished Book 154: Xeni by Rebekah Weatherspoon
New read, adult, romance, audiobook (hoopla), 7h 13m

This book has mostly African American women characters with a few white Scottish characters. There is not one single English person in the book. The narrator, however, is a white English man. It is the single most baffling choice for narrator I’ve ever seen in my life. He isn’t a bad narrator per se, he doesn’t lapse into racist stereotypes or anything, but most of the black American characters just sound like a slightly British-flavored Generic American, which is frankly a pretty white sounding accent. Also, hearing a conversation between a black woman from California and a black woman from the Bronx and being unable to tell them apart seems weird. That said, I'm not speaking from any real knowledge, just a little research and probably a lot of assumptions, so if anyone has a more informed opinion, I'd be curious to hear it.

As for the book itself, I liked it well enough to finish it, but it was definitely missing something and not just because I didn’t know it was book two in a series. The characters just seemed kind of flat. I’m not sure I really know anything about Xeni, except for surface stuff like how she watches reality tv with her friends and that she’s a teacher. And I appreciate sex scenes as much as the next romance reader, but I felt this book could have used a few fewer sex scenes and a few more scenes with substance. What did Xeni and Mason really know about each other by the end of the book except that they’re sexually compatible? That’s a solid basis for a fling, not a marriage.

Finished Book 155: Turning Darkness Into Light by Marie Brennan
Memoirs of Lady Trent, related
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook (audible), 11h 35m

Finished Book 156: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin
Inheritance Trilogy, book 1
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook (audible), 11h 46m

Finished Book 157: The Broken Kingdom by NK Jemisin
Inheritance Trilogy, book 2
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook (audible), 11h 28m

Finished Book 158: A Power Unbound by Freya Marske
The Last Binding, book 3
New read, adult, romance (historical, fantasy), audiobook (audible), 16h 7m

I really liked this! It was a good follow-up to the other two.

Finished Book 159: Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View edited by Elizabeth Schaefer
New read, adult (?), science fiction, audiobook (library), 15h 3m

The idea is cute and the stories are a bit of a mixed bag. Some are really good, some are just ok, and a few just seem pointless (why do we need a story from Greedo’s perspective right before Han kills him? What does that add to anything?). The narrations in the audiobook are great for the most part, although how the narrators decide to do alien voices is occasionally grating. Unlike the other fully audio produced Star Wars book I listened to, the music and sound effects generally contributed to the story instead of overwhelming the narration.

This review does sound like damning with faint praise, I know, but I really did enjoy it and definitely recommend it if you like Star Wars.

Finished Book 160: The Kingdom of Gods by NK Jemisin
Inheritance Trilogy, book 3
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook (audible), 12h 43m

Finished Book 161: System Collapse by Martha Wells
Murderbot, book 7
New read, adult, science fiction, dead tree (owned), 256p

Absolutely loved it, every book in this series has been a delight.

Finished Book 162: Spellbound by Allie Therin
Magic in Manhattan, book 1
Reread, adult, romance, audiobook (hoopla), 9h 24m
Content warning: kidnapping, torture, alcohol use, racism, trauma/ptsd

Finished Book 163: Terrier by Tamora Pierce
Beka Cooper, book 1
Reread, Young Adult, Fantasy, Audiobook (audible), 15h 3m

Finished Book 164: Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher
New read, adult, fantasy (fairy tale retelling), audiobook (library), 3h 43m
Content warnings: kidnapping (faerie changling situation), discussion of animal harm (list of animals tortured by an evil character), suicide, major character deaths

Really liked this!

Finished Book 165: Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce
Beka Cooper, book 2
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook (audible), 18h 6m

Finished Book 166: Starcrossed by Allie Therin
Magic in Manhattan, book 2
Reread, adult, romance, audiobook (hoopla), 10h 36m

Finished Book 167: Wonderstruck by Allie Therin
Magic in Manhattan, book 3
Reread, adult, romance, audiobook (hoopla), 9h 17m
Content warnings: bugs, vermin, murder, child abuse, ptsd/trauma, medical abuse, telepathy, possession/body control

Finished Book 168: Proper Scoundrels by Allie Therin
Roaring Twenties Magic, book 1 (Magic in Manhattan spin-off)
Reread, adult, romance, audiobook (audible), 8h 41m
Content warnings: fire, torture, discussion of possession/body control

Finished Book 169: Once a rogue by Allie Therin
Roaring twenties magic, book 2
Reread, adult, romance (historical, fantasy), audiobook (audible), 9h 17m

Finished Book 170: A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland
Reread, adult, fantasy (historical, romance), audiobook (audible), 18h 20m
Content warnings: open-door sex, death, animal death, chronic anxiety, panic attacks, depression, self harm, involuntary drugging, kidnapping

All of these books are just really fantastic and have rapidly become some new favorites.

>80 bluesalamanders: Congratulations on double 75!

Thinking about you during the festive season, Blue

>87 humouress: Thanks, humouress! Happy new year!

>88 ronincats: Happy holidays, roni!

>89 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul! Happy new year!

Finished Book 171: Masters in this Hall by KJ Charles
Lilywhite boys, book 2
Reread, adult, romance (historical), ebook (kobo), 119p
Content warnings: open-door sex, attempted murder, classism

Finished Book 172: Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews
Innkeeper Chronicles, book 1
New read, adult, fantasy, audiobook (hoopla), 6h
Content warnings: animal harm (off-page death of several dogs)

It took a while for me to get into this, but once I got used to the writing style, it was fun. The worldbuilding, with the mix of science fiction and fantasy, was very entertaining, too. I’m definitely planning to read more in this series.

The audiobook narration, on the other hand, is a real mixed bag. It’s a full cast production with music and sound effects and while most of the voices are fine, the sound effects are…let’s say, distracting. I don’t need, for example, a noisy *sluuurp* punctuating each sentence in a conversation to remind me the characters are drinking tea. And there’s a scene where large pieces of concrete are grinding against each other, and the sound is decidedly squishy. Ugh.

I’ve been told that are also single-narrator audiobooks out there that are much better, so if you want an audiobook, I recommend finding those, NOT the “dramatized audio” ones.

Finished Book 173: The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles
Doomsday, book 1
Reread, adult, romance (historical), dead tree (owned), 353p
Content warnings: open-door sex, homophobia, racism, classism, neglectful parent, abusive parent, murder

My sister read this one for the first time, and I couldn’t resist picking it up again. It really is a very good book.

Finished Book 174: One Night in Hartswood by Emma Denny
New read, adult, romance (historical), audiobook (audible), 9h 48m
Content warning: open door sex, discussion of parental abuse, wounds/wound care, lying (the main characters conceal their identities from each other for a large portion of the book)

Penn runs away, trying to escape his abusive father and arranged marriage. Raff, whose sister was not looking forward to the wedding either, is sent to find him.

I liked this. I don't think it'll become one of my favorite books or anything like that, but I enjoyed it and I'm definitely looking forward to the two planned sequels.

Finished Book 175: A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows
Reread, adult, fantasy (political thriller, romance), ebook (sister’s kindle), 544p
Content warnings: open-door sex, homophobia, transphobia, misgendering, rape, trauma, major character deaths, animal death, blood, suicidal ideation, self-harm

Very good, stands up well to a reread

Pearl'd the holiday trap by Roan Parrish
I wanted to liked this (I love the movie The Holiday, which has the same essential storyline) but it just didn't do it for me. I didn't like either of the main characters much, and also there were about sixteen different plots all going on at once and I just wasn't interested.

Finished Book 176: An Unseen Attraction by KJ Charles
Sins of the cities, book 1
Reread, adult, romance (historical, mystery), Audiobook 7h 38m
Content warnings: open-door sex, murder, torture, ableism, classism, racism, alcohol abuse, abusive family, homophobia, suicide, major character death

Finished Book 177: An Unnatural Vice by KJ Charles
Sins of the cities, book 2
Reread, adult, romance (historical, mystery), Audiobook (audible), 7h 54m
Content Warnings: open-door sex, murder, torture, abusive family, homophobia, cults, discussion of implied rape, classism, racism, major character death

Finished Book 178: An Unsuitable Heir by KJ Charles
Sins of the cities, book 3
Reread, adult, romance (historical, mystery), Audiobook (audible), 7h 28m
Content warnings: open-door sex, cults, body dysphoria, murder, torture, homophobia, ableism, classism, racism, major character death

Finished Book 179: Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
Old Man’s War, book 1
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook (audible), 9h 58m

Finished Book 180: The Last Colony by John Scalzi
Old Man’s War, book 3
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook (audible), 9h 51m

Overview:

New or Old:
70 new reads, 110 rereads, 12 pearl’d

Adult/YA:
12 YA/J, 168 Adult

Genre:
60 Fantasy
26 Science Fiction
94 Romance

Format:
9 Dead Tree
119 Audiobook
52 eBook

One thing I find the interesting about my reading is how I’ve changed over the past few years to largely audiobooks. And I love audiobooks, obviously, but I would like to pivot a little bit back to reading text, especially since I have a pretty good ereader now.

The other thing I find interesting is how I’ve almost entirely stopped reading young adult books. Mostly when I see recommendations for YA, they just don’t appeal anymore. Which is of course not a judgement of the books! I’ve just finally outgrown the YA section.

New thread this way.