en-US Fri, 02 May 2025 06:37:09 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 221288099 The Goblin Emperor, The Orb of Cairado offers an unlikely hero in historian Ulcetha Zhorvena.

Five years ago, Ulcetha was studying at the University of Cairado, working his way toward becoming a scholar first-class in the Department of History. Then a prize artifact disappeared and Ulcetha, deftly framed, was kicked out. Now he works for a crooked importer, using his knowledge of elven history to write provenances for the fake artifacts Salathgarad sells.

When the airship Wisdom of Choharo explodes, killing the emperor and three of his four sons, it takes with it Ulcetha's best friend, Mara Lilana. But Mara leaves behind a puzzle--the one thing Ulcetha can't resist. And the puzzle leads Ulcetha back to the Department of History... and maybe the chance to clear his name.]]> 120 Katherine Addison 1645242137 Em 0 currently-reading 4.09 2025
author: Katherine Addison
name: Em
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/02
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 165940202
Bound in an unwanted marriage, Freya spends her days gutting fish, but dreams of becoming a warrior. And of putting an axe in her boorish husband’s back.

Freya’s dreams abruptly become reality when her husband betrays her to the region’s jarl, landing her in a fight to the death against his son, Bjorn. To survive, Freya is forced to reveal her deepest secret: She possesses a drop of a goddess’s blood, which makes her a shield maiden with magic capable of repelling any attack. It was foretold such a magic would unite the fractured nation of Skaland beneath the one who controls the shield maiden’s fate.

Believing he’s destined to rule Skaland as king, the fanatical jarl binds Freya with a blood oath and orders Bjorn to protect her from their enemies. Desperate to prove her strength, Freya must train to fight and learn to control her magic, all while facing perilous tests set by the gods. The greatest test of all, however, may be resisting her forbidden attraction to Bjorn. If Freya succumbs to her lust for the charming and fierce warrior, she risks not only her own destiny but the fate of all the people she swore to protect.]]> 419 Danielle L. Jensen 0593599837 Em 3
there is a nugget of a good book in here, but it falls prey to every single "no one has an editor anymore romantasy blah blah" that booktok has enabled over the past few years. I don't really want to list them all but like. It's so frustrating. And the ending wasn't an ending! Extremely "this is one book we split into two" vibes.

I really wish this had been good.]]> 3.91 2024
author: Danielle L. Jensen
name: Em
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/18
date added: 2025/04/18
shelves:
review:
(⁠╯⁠°⁠□⁠°⁠）⁠╯⁠︵⁠��⁠┻⁠━⁠�� why are books like this now!!!!!!!!!!!

there is a nugget of a good book in here, but it falls prey to every single "no one has an editor anymore romantasy blah blah" that booktok has enabled over the past few years. I don't really want to list them all but like. It's so frustrating. And the ending wasn't an ending! Extremely "this is one book we split into two" vibes.

I really wish this had been good.
]]> 211004174
While his title may be gone, his duties are not. Celehar contends with a municipal cemetery with fifty years of secrets, the damage of a revethavar he’s terrified to remember, and a group of miners who are more than willing to trade Celehar’s life for a chance at what they feel they’re owed.

Celehar does not have to face these impossible tasks alone. Joining him are his mentee Velhiro Tomasaran, still finding her footing with the investigative nature of their job; Iäna Pel-Thenhior, his beloved opera director friend and avid supporter; and the valiant guard captain Hanu Olgarezh.

Amidst the backdrop of a murder and a brewing political uprising, Celehar must seek justice for those who cannot find it themselves under a tense political system. The repercussions of his quest are never as simple they seem, and Celehar’s own life and happiness hang in the balance.]]> 352 Katherine Addison 125081619X Em 2
Like the first two books, there are a number of different threads and mysteries. Unlike the first two books, none of what happens feels worth it. But I could have forgiven this if the author hadn't made two absolutely disastrous decisions.

[spoilers removed]

What a disappointment. ]]> 4.32 2025
author: Katherine Addison
name: Em
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2025
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/03
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves:
review:
The authorial choices in this book were so baffling that I am retroactively questioning if books 1 and 2, which I have read multiple times each, were actually any good either.

Like the first two books, there are a number of different threads and mysteries. Unlike the first two books, none of what happens feels worth it. But I could have forgiven this if the author hadn't made two absolutely disastrous decisions.

[spoilers removed]

What a disappointment.
]]> 195034827 292 James Alistair Henry 1916678017 Em 0 to-read 3.88 2025
author: James Alistair Henry
name: Em
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61431922 Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders...

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile�� humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die]]> 528 Rebecca Yarros 1649374046 Em 3
The romance was unreadably dumb and I put the book down for a while until I could work up the momentum to keep going. The extremely explicit sex felt uncomfortable against a Hunger Games reading level plot/prose combo of the rest of the book.

The dragon lore is weirdly specific and yet never followed through on, in a way that feels like it's following rules established elsewhere, or like fanfic of a better book that makes things happen for reasons.

And it's also not a horse girl dragon book!!

In conclusion, read Pern. Or The Hunger Games. They are both much better than this book.]]> 4.56 2023
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Em
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/28
date added: 2025/02/28
shelves:
review:
Forth Wing is not good. It's mostly not good on a sentence level, but it's also not good, though less bad, on a plot level. The first half or so was extremely readable anyway and I don't not recommend it, if you go in with eyes open.

The romance was unreadably dumb and I put the book down for a while until I could work up the momentum to keep going. The extremely explicit sex felt uncomfortable against a Hunger Games reading level plot/prose combo of the rest of the book.

The dragon lore is weirdly specific and yet never followed through on, in a way that feels like it's following rules established elsewhere, or like fanfic of a better book that makes things happen for reasons.

And it's also not a horse girl dragon book!!

In conclusion, read Pern. Or The Hunger Games. They are both much better than this book.
]]> 223227206 Murder disrupts the routine for four quirky librarians who hide among books to keep their secrets in this mystery from USA Today bestselling author Sherry Thomas.

Sometimes a workplace isn’t just a workplace but a place of safety, understanding, and acceptance. And sometimes murder threatens the sanctity of that beloved refuge....

In the leafy suburbs of Austin, Texas, a small branch library welcomes the public every day of the week. But the patrons who love the helpful, unobtrusive staff and leave rave reviews on Yelp don’t always realize that their librarians are human, too.

Hazel flees halfway across the world for what she hopes will be a new beginning. Jonathan, a six-foot-four former college football player, has never fit in anywhere else. Astrid tries to forget her heartbreak by immersing herself in work, but the man who ghosted her six months ago is back, promising trouble. And��Sophie, who has the most to lose, maintains a careful and respectful distance from her coworkers, but soon that won't be enough anymore.

When two patrons turn up dead after the library’s inaugural murder mystery–themed game night, the librarians�� quiet routines come crashing down. Something sinister has stirred, something that threatens every single one of them. And the only way the librarians can save the library—and themselves—is to let go of their secrets, trust one another, and band together....

All in a day’s work.]]> Sherry Thomas 0593640462 Em 0 to-read 0.0 2025
author: Sherry Thomas
name: Em
average rating: 0.0
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 214537773 From the acclaimed author of Chef's Kiss, a groundbreaking trans Regency romance that's both delightfully witty and refreshingly iconoclastic.

The notoriously eccentric Lord Christopher Eden is a “man of unusual make�� and even more unusual habits: he prefers to live as far from the prying eyes and ears of the ton as possible, and would rather have the comfortable company of his childhood cook and his aged butler, Plinkton, than the swarm of servants and hangers-on befitting a man of his station.

But Christopher's pleasant, if occasionally lonely life is upended when he receives word from his lawyers that, according to his late father’s will, he must find a wife by the end of the Season if he intends to keep his family's fortune and the Eden's End estate. Christopher cannot imagine a worse fate: as he isn't attracted to women, his chances of making a wife happy are slim. Furthermore, if his quest to marry has any hope of succeeding, he must move to London posthaste and acquire some more suitable staff.

Enter James Harding, Christopher's new, distractingly handsome—if rigidly traditional—valet. After a rocky start, the two strike up a fragile friendship amid the throes of the London Season . . . a friendship that threatens to shatter under the looming shadow of Christopher’s impending nuptials—and the secrets both men are keeping.

With its heady combination of dry wit, slow-burn romance, and a nuanced, complex portrait of trans identity and relationships that’s as relevant now as it was during the Regency era, A Gentleman's Gentleman stands to transform the historical romance genre as we know it.]]> 336 T.J. Alexander 0593686209 Em 0 to-read 4.11 2025
author: T.J. Alexander
name: Em
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 215968557 An irreverent new take on the Renaissance, which reveals it as anything but Europe's golden age.

From the darkness of a plagued and war-torn Middle Ages, the Renaissance (we're told) heralds the dawning of a new world--a halcyon age of art, prosperity, and rebirth. Hogwash! or so says award-winning novelist and historian Ada Palmer. In Inventing the Renaissance, Palmer turns her witty and irreverent eye on the fantasies we've told ourselves about Europe's not-so-golden age, myths she sets right with sharp clarity.

Palmer's Renaissance is altogether desperate. Troubled by centuries of conflict, she argues, Europe looked to a long-lost Roman Empire (even its education practices) to save them from unending war. Later historians met their own political challenges with a similarly nostalgic vision, only now they looked to the Renaissance and told a partial story. To right this wrong, Palmer offers fifteen provocative portraits of Renaissance men and women (some famous, some obscure) whose lives reveal a far more diverse, fragile, and wild Renaissance than its glowing reputation suggests.]]> 768 Ada Palmer 0226837971 Em 0 to-read 4.37 2025
author: Ada Palmer
name: Em
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 185629 229 Margaret Frazer 042514321X Em 0 to-read 3.87 1992
author: Margaret Frazer
name: Em
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 41552367 JAMES BEARD AWARD WINNER
IACP Cookbook Award nominee

In the face of apocalyptic climate change, a former fisherman shares a bold and hopeful new vision for saving the planet: farming the ocean. Here Bren Smith--pioneer of regenerative ocean agriculture--introduces the world to a groundbreaking solution to the global climate crisis.

A genre-defining "climate memoir," Eat Like a Fish interweaves Smith's own life--from sailing the high seas aboard commercial fishing trawlers to developing new forms of ocean farming to surfing the frontiers of the food movement--with actionable food policy and practical advice on ocean farming. Written with the humor and swagger of a fisherman telling a late-night tale, it is a powerful story of environmental renewal, and a must-read guide to saving our oceans, feeding the world, and--by creating new jobs up and down the coasts--putting working class Americans back to work.]]> 320 Bren Smith 0451494547 Em 0 to-read 4.39 2019
author: Bren Smith
name: Em
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 140278
Who, apart from Miss Marple, would take her story seriously? After all, there were no suspects, no other witnesses... and no corpse. Not the police.

Librarian's note: this entry is for the novel, "4:50 from Paddington." Collections and other Miss Marple stories are located elsewhere on ŷ������. The series includes 12 novels and 20 short stories. Entries for the short stories can be found by searching ŷ������ for: "a Miss Marple Short Story."]]> 288 Agatha Christie 1579126936 Em 0 3.96 1957
author: Agatha Christie
name: Em
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1957
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/31
shelves:
review:

]]> 55655125 A deeply moving and insightful collection of personal essays from #1 bestselling author John Green, adapted from his critically acclaimed podcast The Anthropocene Reviewed.

The Anthropocene is the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his groundbreaking podcast, John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet--from the QWERTY keyboard and Staphylococcus aureus to the Taco Bell breakfast menu--on a five-star scale. John Green's gift for storytelling shines throughout this artfully curated collection that includes both beloved essays and all-new pieces exclusive to the book.]]> 432 John Green 0593412427 Em 5 memoir, nonfiction
The review conceit, perhaps surprisingly, doesn't get old. As he points out in the introduction, rating something as big as a human experience, or even as small as a book, on five stars, is inherently absurd. The rating only has meaning because we bring meaning to it. So his review gives us the context, and the personal history, to understand why he is giving staphylococcus aureus one star, or sunsets five, and it's still funny and absurd every time this poignant essay on life is so succinctly summed up.

I highly recommend the audiobook, not only because some of these essays started as podcast episodes, and there are a few with sound effects (I got choked up when the recording of the last kuai o-o played). John as a reader is amused and moved by the human condition and it all comes through in the audio.

I give this book 4.5 stars. ]]> 4.31 2021
author: John Green
name: Em
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2022/11/22
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: memoir, nonfiction
review:
I don't have much to add that other reviews haven't covered more eloquently, but this collection of essays on the human experience, grounded in John's particular experience, was moving and relatable, and ultimately full of hope. John struggles with depression and anxiety, as I do, but despite that, he finds reasons to hope - even if it's as seemingly nihilistic as "the species will survive" - also as I do. There's always something to hold on to that makes the future seem like it has a future. The tone of the essays is similar to some of his youtube videos, and the thoughtfulness and meandering structure is similarly familiar.

The review conceit, perhaps surprisingly, doesn't get old. As he points out in the introduction, rating something as big as a human experience, or even as small as a book, on five stars, is inherently absurd. The rating only has meaning because we bring meaning to it. So his review gives us the context, and the personal history, to understand why he is giving staphylococcus aureus one star, or sunsets five, and it's still funny and absurd every time this poignant essay on life is so succinctly summed up.

I highly recommend the audiobook, not only because some of these essays started as podcast episodes, and there are a few with sound effects (I got choked up when the recording of the last kuai o-o played). John as a reader is amused and moved by the human condition and it all comes through in the audio.

I give this book 4.5 stars.
]]> 76699588
Imagine having that sentence said to you. And then imagine it actually being pertinent. Welcome to Evie King’s world.

What happens if you die without family or money? The answer to this very three-in-the-morning question is that Evie, or someone like her, will step in and arrange your funeral.

Evie is a local council worker charged with carrying out Section 46 funerals under the Public Health Act. Or to put it in less cold, legislative language; funerals for those with nobody around, willing or able to bury or cremate them.

Ashes to Admin lifts the coffin lid on some moving and unexpected personal life stories. Sometimes tragic, as with the case of an unidentified woman found on a beach buried without even a name, but often uplifting and occasionally hilarious.

Ultimately, Evie discovers that her job is more about life than it is about death, funerals being for the living and death being merely a trigger to rediscover a life and celebrate it against the odds.

'Evie's memoir of a life spent organising what were until recently still known as 'pauper's funerals' is by turns hilarious and heartfelt. It lifts the lid on the lives, and more importantly the deaths, of our country's forgotten people, dignifying them, and shaming our nation. It's a cliché, but I laughed and I cried and I realised I have wasted my life. A kind of campaigning journalism written in the witty and waspish tone of the funniest woman in the workplace, it should be essential reading for policy makers. I can't recommend this book enough. A Road To Wigan Pier for post-Brexit Britain. Poverty Porn in reverse, raising the spirits, dignifying the human experience, and demanding action'
�� Stewart Lee]]> 288 Evie King 1915306302 Em 0 to-read 4.26 2023
author: Evie King
name: Em
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 425377
Tough-minded Jessica Trent's sole intention is to free her nitwit brother from the destructive influence of Sebastian Ballister, the notorious Marquess of Dain. She never expects to desire the arrogant, amoral cad. And when Dain's reciprocal passion places them in a scandalously compromising, and public, position, Jessica is left with no choice but to seek satisfaction...

LORD OF SCOUNDRELS

Damn the minx for tempting him, kissing him... and then forcing him to salvage her reputation! Lord Dain can't wait to put the infuriating bluestocking in her place—and in some amorous position. And if that means marriage, so be it!—though Sebastian is less than certain he can continue to remain aloof... and steel his heart to the sensuous, headstrong lady's considerable charms.
]]> 375 Loretta Chase Em 0 to-read 4.08 1995
author: Loretta Chase
name: Em
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 16360
It was clear to nurse Amy Leatheran that something sinister was going on at the Hassanieh dig, something associated with the presence of ‘Lovely Louise��, the wife of the celebrated archaeologist Dr. Leidner. But she couldn't pinpoint it.

In a few days�� time Hercule Poirot was due to drop in at the excavation site. With Louise suffering terrifying hallucinations, and tension within the group becoming almost unbearable, Poirot might just be too late…]]> 264 Agatha Christie 0007113803 Em 0 3.92 1936
author: Agatha Christie
name: Em
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1936
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/19
shelves:
review:

]]> 11821563
For 35 years, from the parties thrown for royalty and trips across the globe, to the air raids during WWII, Rose was by Lady Astor's side and behind the scenes, keeping everything running smoothly. In charge of everything from the clothes and furs to the baggage to the priceless diamond "sparklers," Rose was closer to Lady Astor than anyone else. In her decades of service she received one 5 raise, but she traveled the world in style and retired with a lifetime's worth of stories. Like Gosford Park and Downton Abbey, Rose is a captivating insight into the great wealth 'upstairs' and the endless work 'downstairs', but it is also the story of an unlikely decades-long friendship that grew between Her Ladyship and her spirited Yorkshire maid.]]> 354 Rosina Harrison 0143120867 Em 3 nonfiction Not what I expected.
It's an easy read. It's written informally, and you can easily hear it as this old lady telling you stories about her life. It covers an interesting span of time, through both world wars. It's also like, nominally Rose's autobiography but it's mostly singing the praises of Lady Astor, one of the richest women in England at the time, who Rose worked for as lady's maid for decades. Lady Astor is painted as a hard to please, argumentative dictator, but ultimately a benevolent one who did great services for her friends, relations, and country.

Near the end of the book, Rose mentions in vague terms a scandal that touched the family. It doesn't actually say what the scandal was, so I finally went and looked at Lady Astor's Wikipedia page, and got whiplash from the immediate description of her as a vocally anti semitic Nazi sympathizer. You would not know that from reading this book!

I don't really recommend it, but it's interesting.]]> 3.64 1975
author: Rosina Harrison
name: Em
average rating: 3.64
book published: 1975
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/11
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves: nonfiction
review:
Good? I guess?
Not what I expected.
It's an easy read. It's written informally, and you can easily hear it as this old lady telling you stories about her life. It covers an interesting span of time, through both world wars. It's also like, nominally Rose's autobiography but it's mostly singing the praises of Lady Astor, one of the richest women in England at the time, who Rose worked for as lady's maid for decades. Lady Astor is painted as a hard to please, argumentative dictator, but ultimately a benevolent one who did great services for her friends, relations, and country.

Near the end of the book, Rose mentions in vague terms a scandal that touched the family. It doesn't actually say what the scandal was, so I finally went and looked at Lady Astor's Wikipedia page, and got whiplash from the immediate description of her as a vocally anti semitic Nazi sympathizer. You would not know that from reading this book!

I don't really recommend it, but it's interesting.
]]> 95382 "Wickedness...such wickedness...."
The dying woman turned to Father Gorman with agony in her eyes. "Stopped....It must be stopped....You will...."

The priest spoke with reassuring authority. "I will do what is necessary. You can trust me."

Father Gorman tucked the list of names she had given him into his shoe. It was a meaningless list; the names were of people who had nothing in common.

On his way home, Father Gorman was murdered. But the police found the list and when Mark Easterbrook came to inquire into the circumstances of the people listed, he began to discover a connection between them, and an ominous pattern....

Every name of that list was either already dead or, he suspected, marked for murder.]]> 288 Agatha Christie 0312981716 Em 0 3.82 1961
author: Agatha Christie
name: Em
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1961
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves:
review:

]]> 16333
When Miss Marple comes up from the country for a holiday in London, she finds what she's looking for at Bertram's: traditional décor and impeccable service. But she senses an unmistakable atmosphere of danger behind the highly polished veneer. Not even Miss Marple can foresee the violent chain of events set in motion when an eccentric hotel guest makes his way to the airport one day late!

Librarian's note: this entry is for the novel, "At Bertram's Hotel." Collections and other Miss Marple stories are located elsewhere on ŷ������. The series includes 12 novels and 20 short stories. Entries for the short stories can be found by searching ŷ������ for: "a Miss Marple Short Story."]]> 223 Agatha Christie Em 0 3.72 1965
author: Agatha Christie
name: Em
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1965
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves:
review:

]]> 180314633
Camille loves Delphine and was almost ready to let her guard down. Ari’s reappearance stirs up old hurts and threatens them all—Ari’s enemy will stop at nothing to get his stolen artifact back. Camille’s conscience won’t let her abandon Delphine and Ari in danger, but she won’t stay to have her heart broken once they’re safe. Before Delphine, Camille, and Ari can imagine a happy future, they’ll have to reckon with the past.]]> 374 Felicia Davin Em 0 currently-reading 4.53
author: Felicia Davin
name: Em
average rating: 4.53
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 215511662
Then Lily Bei returns, armed with a printing press, her irrepressible spirit, and a sheaf of inconvenient documents that prove the very thing Andrew wants that he is actually the legitimate, first born son of the Earl of Arsell.

What’s Andrew to do, when the woman he’s always desired promises him everything he’s never wanted? Andrew’s track record of saying no to Lily is nonexistent. The only way he can avert impending disaster is by stealing the evidence�� while trying desperately not to fall in love (again) with the woman he shouldn’t let into his life.]]> 329 Courtney Milan 1937248763 Em 3 4.16 2024
author: Courtney Milan
name: Em
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/02
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves:
review:
And then all the suffragists clapped
]]> 16300
Soon after Gwenda moved into her new home, odd things started to happen. Despite her best efforts to modernize the house, she only succeeded in dredging up its past. Worse, she felt an irrational sense of terror every time she climbed the stairs.

In fear, Gwenda turned to Miss Marple to exorcise her ghosts. Have they dredged up a “perfect�� crime committed many years before?

Librarian's note: this entry is for the novel, "Sleeping Murder." Collections and other Miss Marple stories are located elsewhere on ŷ������. The series includes 12 novels and 20 short stories. Entries for the short stories can be found by searching ŷ������ for: "a Miss Marple Short Story."]]> 242 Agatha Christie 0002317850 Em 0 3.98 1976
author: Agatha Christie
name: Em
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1976
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/21
shelves:
review:

]]> 834378
Let us explain. Rex Fortescue, king of a financial empire, was sipping tea in his 'counting house' office when he suffered a sudden and agonising death. On later inspection, the pockets of the deceased were found to contain rye grain. What is that all about? It was a second incident, this time in the parlour at his home, which confirmed Jane Marple's suspicion that here she was looking at a case of crime by rhyme!

Librarian's note: this entry is for the novel, "A Pocket Full of Rye." Collections and other Miss Marple stories are located elsewhere on ŷ������. The series includes 12 novels and 20 short stories. Entries for the short stories can be found by searching ŷ������ for: "a Miss Marple Short Story."]]> 220 Agatha Christie 0451199863 Em 0 3.90 1953
author: Agatha Christie
name: Em
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1953
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves:
review:

]]> 216595852
I'm just a girl. And it turns out, I'm Hercules.

I'm struggling to survive in a Titan infested world where Spartans, immortals from twelve royal families who have god-like powers and obscene wealth, rule over all. A shy-stammering foster child with nothing, I keep my head down, cover my scars, and focus on excelling in school. At least, I try to. Then it happens.

My blood test reveals I'm part of the powerful elite. I'm one of them. A Spartan.

Forced to attend the Spartan War Academy, I undergo the most harrowing test of all time to see if I have what it takes to be an immortal. There's just a few problems. Achilles and Patro are my scary mentors. Kharon, the ferryman of death, and Augustus, the son of war, are my terrifying professors. Also, I'm pretty sure either someone's stalking me everywhere I go, or my sanity's slipping––I have a bad feeling both are true.

I'm surrounded by Villains and they're smothering me with their hate, obsession, and dark possessiveness. Too bad for them, they have no clue just who they're messing with.




]]> 496 Jasmine Mas Em 1
I'm frankly offended that a major publisher is willing to put out something so poorly written, and embarrassed that readers are reading it anyway.

It's just bad! It's not good! The craft is high school level at best and seems to have had absolutely no thought put into it. I didn't check if there's an editor listed but if there is, this is embarrassing.]]> 3.84 2024
author: Jasmine Mas
name: Em
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2024
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2024/12/16
shelves:
review:
I read 2 chapters and had to stop before I took more psychic damage.

I'm frankly offended that a major publisher is willing to put out something so poorly written, and embarrassed that readers are reading it anyway.

It's just bad! It's not good! The craft is high school level at best and seems to have had absolutely no thought put into it. I didn't check if there's an editor listed but if there is, this is embarrassing.
]]> 196674606 Alternate cover edition of ISBN-13: 9781770467118, ISBN-10/ASIN: 1770467114

A uniquely thrilling and emotive fantasy ride along a sea-bordered highway

The wondrous rustic landscape of Nova Scotia bursts from the page in Vera Bushwack , where reality gladly gives way to fantastical flights of fancy before gently coming back down to earth. A chainsaw fires up and Drew’s vision blurs. Their body vibrates alive with the whrrr of the engine, the whiff of gas. Drew dissolves as their alter-ego, Vera Bushwack, takes charge. Assless-chaps-wearing, unflinching Vera slashes through thick trunks, felling trees righteously from the back of a majestic steed.

Vera’s here to help, of course. Drew needs to clear the land for their future cabin in the woods. And if it weren’t for Vera’s brazenness, Drew may, ironically, fall reliant on others to learn self-reliance. Nevertheless, men enter Drew’s orbit, all too eager to explain how things work―an aggravating occurrence that comes crashing into Drew as dependably as the nearby ocean waves.

Joy, anger, grief, and self-acceptance ripple through these pages with Sig Burwash’s hilariously expressive pencil drawings and flair for buoyant watercolors. Approaching something like liberation, our protagonist comes to terms with past traumas, boundaries, and the many expressions of themself.]]> 267 Sig Burwash Em 4 It's good, really well told and with a lot of room to sit and think about what it's saying.]]> 4.06
author: Sig Burwash
name: Em
average rating: 4.06
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/11
date added: 2024/12/11
shelves:
review:
Do you like comics about gender and the fantasy of living in powerful seld sufficiency, just you, your chainsaw, and your pony? Then this is the book for you!
It's good, really well told and with a lot of room to sit and think about what it's saying.
]]> 16319
But who is she? How did she get there? And what is the connection with another dead girl, whose charred remains are later discovered in an abandoned quarry?

The respectable Bantrys invite Miss Marple to solve the mystery�� before tongues start to wag.

Librarian's note: this entry is for the novel "The Body in the Library." Collections and other Miss Marple stories are located elsewhere on ŷ������. The series includes 12 novels and 20 short stories. Entries for the short stories can be found by searching ŷ������ for: "a Miss Marple Short Story."]]> 191 Agatha Christie 157912626X Em 0 mystery-horror 3.86 1942
author: Agatha Christie
name: Em
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1942
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/11
shelves: mystery-horror
review:

]]> 202468408 Rule #1: They can't speak.
Rule #2: They can't move.
Rule #3: They can't hurt you.

Ezra Friedman sees ghosts, which made growing up in a funeral home a bit complicated. It might have been easier if his grandfather’s ghost didn’t give him such scathing looks of disapproval as he went through a second, HRT-induced puberty, or if he didn't have the pressure of all those relatives—living and dead—judging every choice he makes. It’s no wonder that Ezra runs as far away from the family business as humanly possible.

But when the floor of his dream job drops out from under him and his mother uses the family Passover seder to tell everyone that she’s running away with the rabbi’s wife, Ezra finds himself back in the thick of it. With his parents�� marriage imploding and the Friedman Family Memorial Chapel on the brink of financial ruin, Ezra agrees to step into his mother's shoes and help out . . . which means long days surrounded by ghosts that no one else can see.

And then there's his unfortunate crush on Jonathan, the handsome funeral home volunteer who just happens to live downstairs from Ezra's new apartment . . . and the appearance of the ghost of Jonathan's gone-too-soon husband, Ben, who is breaking every spectral rule Ezra knows.

Because Ben can speak. He can move. And as Ezra tries to keep his family together and his heart from getting broken, he quickly realizes that there's more than one way to be haunted—and more than one way to become a ghost.]]> 400 Shelly Jay Shore 0593723945 Em 0 to-read 3.88 2024
author: Shelly Jay Shore
name: Em
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 197678343
At precisely two minutes to seven every morning, Gabriel Ward KC steps out of his rooms in the Inner Temple, presses his oak front door three times to ensure it is locked, and walks to his office to begin his day. Except for today.

Today, the dead body of the Lord Chief Justice of England, immaculately clad in evening dress except for his bare feet, is lying on his doorstep �� with one of the silver Temple carving knives sticking out of his chest.
As rumour and gossip fly round the chambers and the press set up camp outside the gates, an internal investigation is ordered by the head of the Temple, who coerces a very unwilling Gabriel into taking charge.

Paired with the eager young Constable Wright, he must draw on every bit of his legal training to solve the case �� but not before he discovers that there are more surprising, and sometimes sinister, secrets hiding behind those heavy oak doors than he'd ever imagined.

The first in a brand-new series introducing a wonderfully eccentric sleuth, perfect for fans of S.J. Bennett and Richard Coles.]]> 352 Sally Smith 1526668718 Em 0 to-read 4.39 2024
author: Sally Smith
name: Em
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 16341
Librarian's note: this entry is for the novel, "The Moving Finger." Collections and other Miss Marple stories are located elsewhere on ŷ������. The series includes 12 novels and 20 short stories. Entries for the short stories can be found by searching ŷ������ for: "a Miss Marple Short Story."]]> 299 Agatha Christie 0007120842 Em 0 3.85 1942
author: Agatha Christie
name: Em
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1942
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/06
shelves:
review:

]]> 195790597 When Among Crows is swift and striking, drawing from the deep well of Slavic folklore and asking if redemption and atonement can be found in embracing what we most fear.

We bear the sword, and we bear the pain of the sword.

On Kupala Night, Dymitr arrives in Chicago’s monstrous, magical underworld with a perilous mission: pick the mythical fern flower and offer it to a cursed creature in exchange for help finding the legendary witch Baba Jaga.

Ala is a fear-eating zmora afflicted with a bloodline curse that’s slowly killing her. She's just desperate enough to say yes to Dymitr, even if she doesn’t know his motives.

Over the course of one night, Ala and Dymitr risk life and limb in search of Baba Jaga, and begin to build a tentative friendship. . . but when Ala finds out what Dymitr is hiding, it could destroy them both.]]> 166 Veronica Roth 1250855489 Em 0 to-read 3.71 2024
author: Veronica Roth
name: Em
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 209720233 When a young woman trades places with her noble cousin, their innocent ruse leads to true love in this new Regency-era romantic comedy of manners from the author of Mr. Malcolm’s List.When Arabella Grant’s wicked aunt dies suddenly, both Arabella and her cousin Lady Isabelle cannot help but feel relieved. She’d made their lives miserable, and now Lady Issie is free to read to her heart’s content, and Bella is free from taunts about her ignoble birth.�� Their newfound freedom is threatened, however, when Issie’s great-aunt commands her to travel to London for a come-out Issie has never wanted. Issie, who is in poor health, is convinced she’ll drop dead like her mother did if she drops into a curtsy before the queen. So when her great-aunt turns out to be nearsighted and can’t tell the noble Lady Isabelle from her commoner cousin Arabella, Issie convinces Bella to take her place. Bella can attend all the exclusive entertainments that her lower birth would typically exclude her from, and Issie can stay in bed, her nose in a book. Bella agrees to the scheme for her dear cousin’s sake, but matters turn complicated when she meets the irresistible Lord Brooke. He begins courting her while under the impression she’s the rich and aristocratic Lady Isabelle, who, unlike Bella, is a suitable bride for an eligible young earl. And Bella, who is convinced that she has met “Lord Right,�� worries what will happen when she reveals that he’s actually fallen for…the wrong lady.]]> 262 Suzanne Allain 059354966X Em 0 to-read 3.75 2024
author: Suzanne Allain
name: Em
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 31300
Nephew Raymond West has given his favourite aunt a vacation at a beautiful resort in the Caribbean. While there she encounters an old wind-bag. One of his stories is about meeting a murderer. He has a snapshot. Suddenly he hesitates, and gets flustered. By the next morning he is dead, seemingly of natural causes. Miss Marple has doubts.

And well she should.

Librarian's note: this entry is for the novel, "A Caribbean Mystery." Collections and other Miss Marple stories are located elsewhere on ŷ������. The series includes 12 novels and 20 short stories. Entries for the short stories can be found by searching ŷ������ for: "a Miss Marple Short Story."]]> 224 Agatha Christie 0451199928 Em 0 3.83 1964
author: Agatha Christie
name: Em
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1964
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/03
shelves:
review:

]]> 221261452
Well, they’re trying. Team captain Eleanor Ashwell has problems. Her fresh meat skaters are terrified, her blockers fall over when people look at them funny, and if the Glitter Girls don’t start winning bouts soon they’re going to be chucked out of the league. And off the track, things are no better: Eleanor’s job as a nursing sister is overwhelming her, and friends and lovers seem to be drifting away.

Robin, Eleanor’s pretty-in-pink new jammer, is hawk-fast and fearless, and she’s a brilliant skater to boot. But she’s never on time, she forgets her kit, she comes to practice in stupid frilly dresses, and according to Eleanor, she has no respect for the traditions of the game. It’s only because the team needs her so badly that Eleanor is teaching her to play at all.

But ditzy, silly Robin isn’t quite what she appears to be. And if Eleanor can see past that candy-pink exterior, then there might be some things Robin can teach her, too. About how to win, how to lose, how to rediscover a little glitter in her life. How to get herself back up from where she’s fallen—and how to fall in love.]]> 153 Iona Datt Sharma Em 0 to-read 4.51
author: Iona Datt Sharma
name: Em
average rating: 4.51
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 16331 288 Agatha Christie 1579126251 Em 0 4.07 1930
author: Agatha Christie
name: Em
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1930
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 49596
The Great War is over and jobs are scarce. Tommy Beresford and Prudence "Tuppence" Cowley, who were friends before the war, run into each other in London and discover they are both equally short of money and opportunities. On a whim, they decide to start a business, advertising themselves as "The Young Adventurers."

Their first job leads them into a series of increasingly dangerous situations involving international spies, a society beauty, a Russian count, the wreck of the Lusitania, an amnesia patient, an American millionaire, and a fiendishly clever arch-criminal known only as "Mr. Brown."

By the time the dust settles, all the puzzle pieces have been fitted together—and the young couple have realized their feelings for each other and have become engaged.]]> 266 Agatha Christie 1600963943 Em 0 3.82 1922
author: Agatha Christie
name: Em
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1922
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/22
shelves:
review:

]]> 131359
Who is also on board? Christie's great detective Hercule Poirot is on holiday. He recalls an earlier outburst by a fellow passenger: ‘I’d like to put my dear little pistol against her head and just press the trigger.�� Despite the exotic setting, nothing is ever quite what it seems…]]> 352 Agatha Christie Em 0 4.13 1937
author: Agatha Christie
name: Em
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1937
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/22
shelves:
review:

]]> 16328
The peaceful English village of King’s Abbot is stunned. The widow Ferrars dies from an overdose of Veronal. Not twenty-four hours later, Roger Ackroyd—the man she had planned to marry—is murdered. It is a baffling case involving blackmail and death that taxes Hercule Poirot’s “little grey cells�� before he reaches one of the most startling conclusions of his career.

Librarian's note: the first fifteen novels in the Hercule Poirot series are 1) The Mysterious Affair at Styles, 1920; 2) The Murder on the Links, 1923; 3) The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, 1926; 4) The Big Four, 1927; 5) The Mystery of the Blue Train, 1928; 6) Peril at End House, 1932; 7) Lord Edgware Dies, 1933; 8) Murder on the Orient Express, 1934; 9) Three Act Tragedy, 1935; 10) Death in the Clouds, 1935; 11) The A.B.C. Murders, 1936; 12) Murder in Mesopotamia, 1936; 13) Cards on the Table, 1936; 14) Dumb Witness, 1937; and 15) Death on the Nile, 1937. These are just the novels; Poirot also appears in this period in a play, Black Coffee, 1930, and two collections of short stories, Poirot Investigates, 1924, and Murder in the Mews, 1937. Each novel, play and short story has its own entry on ŷ������.]]> 288 Agatha Christie 1579126278 Em 0 4.26 1926
author: Agatha Christie
name: Em
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1926
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/22
shelves:
review:

]]> 52843028
A refugee of the Great War, Poirot has settled in England near Styles Court, the country estate of his wealthy benefactor, the elderly Emily Inglethorp. When Emily is poisoned and the authorities are baffled, Poirot puts his prodigious sleuthing skills to work. Suspects are plentiful, including the victim’s much younger husband, her resentful stepsons, her longtime hired companion, a young family friend working as a nurse, and a London specialist on poisons who just happens to be visiting the nearby village.

All of them have secrets they are desperate to keep, but none can outwit Poirot as he navigates the ingenious red herrings and plot twists that contribute to Agatha Christie's well-deserved reputation as the queen of mystery.]]> 174 Agatha Christie 1734452595 Em 0 4.06 1920
author: Agatha Christie
name: Em
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1920
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/22
shelves:
review:

]]> 16307
That night, Hercule Poirot is called in to find the 'evil presence.' But first he must establish whether he is looking for a murderer or a double-murderer!]]> 336 Agatha Christie 0007120680 Em 0 mystery-horror 3.56 1969
author: Agatha Christie
name: Em
average rating: 3.56
book published: 1969
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/22
shelves: mystery-horror
review:

]]> 853510
One of the passengers is none other than detective Hercule Poirot. On vacation.

Isolated and with a killer on board, Poirot must identify the murderer—in case he or she decides to strike again.]]> 274 Agatha Christie 0007119313 Em 0 mystery-horror 4.22 1934
author: Agatha Christie
name: Em
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1934
rating: 0
read at: 2024/11/22
date added: 2024/11/22
shelves: mystery-horror
review:

]]> 16299
"Ten little boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine. Nine little boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were eight. Eight little boys traveling in Devon; One said he'd stay there then there were seven. Seven little boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in half and then there were six. Six little boys playing with a hive; A bumblebee stung one and then there were five. Five little boys going in for law; One got in Chancery and then there were four. Four little boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were three. Three little boys walking in the zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were two. Two little boys sitting in the sun; One got frizzled up and then there was one. One little boy left all alone; He went out and hanged himself and then there were none."

When they realize that murders are occurring as described in the rhyme, terror mounts. One by one they fall prey. Before the weekend is out, there will be none. Who has choreographed this dastardly scheme? And who will be left to tell the tale? Only the dead are above suspicion.]]> 264 Agatha Christie 0312330871 Em 0 dnf 4.28 1939
author: Agatha Christie
name: Em
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1939
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/22
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> 1362394 From top ranking historical romance writer, Dorothy Garlock, comes the first novel in a new trilogy. This is the romantic saga of a courageous widow who forges the Illinois frontier to make a new life. The author is an expert on the pioneer era, and she uses actual diaries and letters from that time to authenticate her stories.

Her cornsilk hair loose in the wind. Liberty drove her Conestoga wagon as if the devil were after her. She had run away from New York when her Pa demanded she marry Stith Lenning, a domineering coward who would use her body and break her spirit. Liberty's response was NEVER...never, as long as a land waited in the West where a river ran fast, and a woman was free to follow her dreams. But rampaging Indians along the Wabash's deep waters and Stith's relentless pursuit were more than even a feisty beauty could handle.

Then, guns blazing, frontiersman Farr Quill rode into her life. With the same steely strength that had tamed the wilderness, he offered Liberty his protection...all he demanded in return as her total surrender.

]]> 384 Dorothy Garlock 0445203625 Em 0 4.13 1987
author: Dorothy Garlock
name: Em
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1987
rating: 0
read at: 2024/11/22
date added: 2024/11/22
shelves: m-f, pre-2000s-romance, romance
review:
Well I absolutely do not recommend this - it's racist, there's a lot of on page violence, descriptions of rape, and orphaned children that I wasn't here for. I read it for the historical interest, and even then, I probably should've read something else. It's just that every other romance novel I've tried to read recently has been depressingly poorly written.
]]> 202969855
Meet Augustus Berrycloth-Young - fop, flaneur, and Englishman abroad - as he chronicles the Jazz Age from his perch atop the city that never sleeps.

That is, until his old friend Thomas Nightingale arrives, pursuing a rather mysterious affair concerning an old saxophone - which will take Gussie from his warm bed, to the cold shores of Long Island, and down to the jazz clubs where music, magic, and madness haunt the shadows...]]> 165 Ben Aaronovitch 147322442X Em 4 sf-f
[spoilers removed]

Jazz age NY is a great setting and overall, yeah, great little book
]]> 4.15 2024
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Em
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/01
date added: 2024/11/01
shelves: sf-f
review:
I liked it! I liked it a lot more than the last novella I read (the one with agent renolds). I'm not sure the tone was /quite/ right. Like I kind of think Augustus was meant to be someone who could've been played by Hugh Laurie in the 1980s and I'm not sure it got there, but maybe that's just me. What it was was totally fine and enjoyable, so, no biggie.

[spoilers removed]

Jazz age NY is a great setting and overall, yeah, great little book

]]> 62802757
Philippa, elder daughter of the Earl of Stratton, grew up eagerly anticipating a glittering debut and a brilliant marriage. Then her brother caught their father out in a clandestine affair and denounced him publicly. The whole family was disgraced, and Philippa’s hopes grew dim, then were fully shattered when she overheard the dashing, handsome Marquess of Roath viciously insult her upon learning of her father’s identity. Only years later does Philippa find the courage to go to London at last to meet the ton . She is an instant success and enjoys a close friendship with the granddaughter of a duke. Only one man can spoil everything for her, but surely he will not be in London this year.

The Duke of Wilby is nearing death and has tasked his grandson and heir, Lucas Arden, Marquess of Roath, with marrying and producing a son before it is too late. Lucas, who usually shuns London, goes there early in the Season in the hope of finding an eligible bride before his grandparents come and find one for him. He is instantly attracted to his sister’s new friend, until that young lady asks a simple “Remember me?�� And suddenly he does remember her, as well as the reason why the daughter of the Earl of Stratton is the one woman he can never marry—even if his heart tells him she is the only woman he wants.

Unfortunately for Philippa and Lucas, the autocratic duke and his duchess have other ideas and believe them to be perfect for each other. They will simply not take no for an answer. Telling Philippa the full truth is the hardest thing Lucas has ever faced, and the discovery of it will change them both before they discover the healing power of love.]]> 368 Mary Balogh 0593438159 Em 1 m-f, romance
I skimmed most of it but nothing happens so I don't think I missed anything.]]> 3.65 2023
author: Mary Balogh
name: Em
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2023
rating: 1
read at: 2024/09/25
date added: 2024/09/25
shelves: m-f, romance
review:
I'm embarrassed at how poorly written this book is.

I skimmed most of it but nothing happens so I don't think I missed anything.
]]> 55750790 A Sheltered Monk

By day, Lucían brews potions and illuminates manuscripts in service to the monastery that took him in as a child, wielding magic based in his faith and his purity. By night, he dreams of the world outside the cloister--a world he knows only in books and scrolls...

A Mysterious Warrior

A mercenary known as the She-Wolf hunts for a shipment of stolen manuscripts. When she needs a mage to track them down, she chooses Lucían for both his adorable blushes and his magic. She purchases his contract, hurling him headfirst into an adventure that will test both his skills and his self-control...

A Sacred Vow

Inexorably drawn to the She-Wolf's strength, surprising kindness, and heated touches, Lucían fights temptation at every turn. His holy magic is both vital to their mission and dependent upon his purity. How can he serve both her and the Lord if he gives in to his desire? As intrigue and danger forces them closer, how can he possibly resist?]]> 541 Scarlett Gale 1393846742 Em 0 to-read 4.09 2020
author: Scarlett Gale
name: Em
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 54876963 “The courtship between the high-class courtesan and the street cop is well drawn and nuanced�� in this historical murder mystery��(Publishers Weekly). �� Beauty and treachery abound in the infamous Pingkang Li, home of the celebrated Lotus Palace courtesans��.��.��.�� �� As the most requested hostess at the Lotus Palace, Mingyu can charm any man who seeks her company—except Wu Kaifeng. Wu Kaifeng is a no-nonsense constable who maintains his level head even in the most desperate situations. Having crossed paths with each other in the past, the two have a strained history, but that doesn’t stop Mingyu from falling for the secretly sensitive officer. �� When a powerful official is found dead in a highly suspicious murder, Mingyu and Kaifeng become involved in the dangerous mystery. Amid the chaos, Kaifeng discovers his reluctant, yet fierce attraction to Mingyu, but the temptation to give in to her could destroy them both. After all, a forbidden affair is bound to have consequences��.��.��.]]> 384 Jeannie Lin 0369700686 Em 3 m-f, mystery-horror, romance
It's a mystery-romance, about 50/50 each one like the previous book in the series. The romance this time is constable Wu Kaifeng and courtesan Mingyu, and while I liked the endgame there (possibly greatly influenced by the novella Liar's Dice that is set just a few months later), most of their dalliances for most of the book felt abrupt. I never really got any chemistry between them until their gentle companionship at the very end of the book.

With the mystery side, maybe this is just me, but there was a red herring and I was very disappointed it turned out to be so monumentally unrelated to the case. I guess that's the point of such a thing, but it took up so much time in the novel that the payoff felt weak.

so IDK that's a pretty negative review of a book I enjoyed reading ¯\_(��)_/¯ It's fine, the previous in the series maybe had my expectations high. I like the author's voice enough to definitely buy another in the series so I hope this was just a fluke!]]> 4.17 2013
author: Jeannie Lin
name: Em
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2020/08/21
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves: m-f, mystery-horror, romance
review:
I was struggling with where to start with this review and I realized, overall I enjoyed this book but individually neither major component really did it for me.

It's a mystery-romance, about 50/50 each one like the previous book in the series. The romance this time is constable Wu Kaifeng and courtesan Mingyu, and while I liked the endgame there (possibly greatly influenced by the novella Liar's Dice that is set just a few months later), most of their dalliances for most of the book felt abrupt. I never really got any chemistry between them until their gentle companionship at the very end of the book.

With the mystery side, maybe this is just me, but there was a red herring and I was very disappointed it turned out to be so monumentally unrelated to the case. I guess that's the point of such a thing, but it took up so much time in the novel that the payoff felt weak.

so IDK that's a pretty negative review of a book I enjoyed reading ¯\_(��)_/¯ It's fine, the previous in the series maybe had my expectations high. I like the author's voice enough to definitely buy another in the series so I hope this was just a fluke!
]]> 195791340
It’s that, or end up like countless knights before her, as a puddle of gore and molten armor.

Maddileh is a knight. There aren’t many women in her line of work, and it often feels like the sneering and contempt from her peers is harder to stomach than the actual dragon slaying. But she’s a knight, and made of sterner stuff.

A minor infraction forces her to redeem her honor in the most dramatic way possible, she must retrieve the fabled Fireborne Blade from its keeper, legendary dragon the White Lady, or die trying. If history tells us anything, it's that “die trying�� is where to wager your coin.

Maddileh’s tale contains a rich history of dragons, ill-fated knights, scheming squires, and sapphic love, with deceptions and double-crosses that will keep you guessing right up to its dramatic conclusion. Ultimately, The Fireborne Blade is about the roles we refuse to accept, and of the place we make for ourselves in the world.]]> 168 Charlotte Bond 1250290317 Em 0 to-read 3.75 2024
author: Charlotte Bond
name: Em
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 216488999 A Deadly Education meets Rivers of London in this captivating contemporary fantasy from Sunday Times bestselling author Emily Tesh, winner of the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards.

Dr. Walden is the Director of Magic at Chetwood Academy and one of the most powerful magicians in England. Her days consist of meetings, teaching A-Level Invocation to four talented, chaotic sixth formers, more meetings and securing the school’s boundaries from demonic incursions.

Walden is good at her job �� no, Walden is great at her job. But demons are masters of manipulation. It’s her responsibility to keep her school with its six hundred students and centuries-old legacy safe. But it’s possible the entity Walden most needs to keep her school safe from, is herself . . .]]> 368 Emily Tesh 0356525643 Em 0 to-read 4.21 2025
author: Emily Tesh
name: Em
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 24823034 Zoella didn’t know whether she was devastatingly happy or happily devastated.

Zoella has been in love with Fardeen Malik, her best friend’s gorgeous older brother, since she was ten, but he’s always seen her as a ‘good girl’—not his type—and he can barely remember her name. Besides, he’s engaged to a gorgeous leggy socialite, someone from the same rarefied social strata as the imposing Malik family. In short, Zoella has no chance with him.

Until a brutal accident leaves Fardeen scarred and disfigured, that is. Suddenly bereft of a fiancée, Fardeen is bitterly caustic, a shell of the man he used to be, a beast that has broken out of the fairy tale world he once lived in. And a twist of fate lands him his very own beauty—Zoella.

This man, however, is a far cry from the Fardeen of her dreams. Stripped of her illusions, Zoella creates her own twist in the fairy tale, beating him at his own game.

Zeenat Mahal explores themes of love, longing and arranged marriages in this modern, unusual interpretation of the old-age fairy tale]]> 260 Zeenat Mahal Em 0 to-read, romance 3.93 2013
author: Zeenat Mahal
name: Em
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: to-read, romance
review:

]]> 209563735 The newspapers called us the Seven Wonders. We were a group of friends, that’s all, and then Toby died. Was killed. Murdered.

1905. A decade after the grisly murder of Oxford student Toby Feynsham, the case remains hauntingly unsolved. For Jeremy Kite, the crime not only stole his best friend, it destroyed his whole life. When an anonymous letter lands on his desk, accusing him of having killed Toby, Jem becomes obsessed with finally uncovering the truth.

Jem begins to track down the people who were there the night Toby died �� a close circle of friends once known as the ‘Seven Wonders�� for their charm and talent �� only to find them as tormented and broken as himself. All of them knew and loved Toby at Oxford. Could one of them really be his killer?

As Jem grows closer to uncovering what happened that night, his pursuer grows bolder, making increasingly terrifying attempts to silence him for good. Will exposing Toby's killer put to rest the shadows that have darkened Jem’s life for so long? Or will the gruesome truth only put him in more danger?

Some secrets are better left buried��

From the bestselling, acclaimed author of The Magpie Lord and The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen comes a chilling historical mystery with a sting in the tail. You won’t be able to put this gripping story down!]]> 273 K.J. Charles 1805082280 Em 2
Technically weak, with a lot of boring rehashing of thoughts over and over again, but also the ending was bad!

I truly did not buy the premise, that Jem cared for Toby as a friend enough to still be driven to solve his murder, and I'm just sure KJ did either, given the number of times it was weakly justified on page. "he was our friend!" Jem says, remembering a man who had revealed himself to be anything but. Without any sense of his supposed charisma and charm, because there's really very little on page besides people walking back and forth, as a reader it fell incredibly flat.

The reveal is anti climatic and has no stakes or consequences. The love interest felt perfunctory and unexamined. I truly did not believe the confession at first because it was such an emotional nothing I thought it was supposed to read as a fake confession. It could've had 4 characters instead of 7 and been better for it. There's no discomfort with the reality that you can be friends with bad people. It's just a surface level, mediocre book.]]> 4.33 2024
author: K.J. Charles
name: Em
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2024/07/29
date added: 2024/07/29
shelves:
review:
I didn't like this!

Technically weak, with a lot of boring rehashing of thoughts over and over again, but also the ending was bad!

I truly did not buy the premise, that Jem cared for Toby as a friend enough to still be driven to solve his murder, and I'm just sure KJ did either, given the number of times it was weakly justified on page. "he was our friend!" Jem says, remembering a man who had revealed himself to be anything but. Without any sense of his supposed charisma and charm, because there's really very little on page besides people walking back and forth, as a reader it fell incredibly flat.

The reveal is anti climatic and has no stakes or consequences. The love interest felt perfunctory and unexamined. I truly did not believe the confession at first because it was such an emotional nothing I thought it was supposed to read as a fake confession. It could've had 4 characters instead of 7 and been better for it. There's no discomfort with the reality that you can be friends with bad people. It's just a surface level, mediocre book.
]]> 39322199 368 Juliet E. McKenna 190803968X Em 0 to-read 3.92 2018
author: Juliet E. McKenna
name: Em
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 40683417 The Nighthawks are hockey’s new expansion team. They’re ice hot. And they’re all about the chase. �� They call me a hockey god because I’m a beast on the ice . . . and off. Men want to be me and women just want me. But now that the New York Nighthawks expect me to lead their team to victory, it’s all work and no play. My eyes are on the prize. Until I meet Serena Ellis, a sexy, curvalicious blonde who doesn’t know me from jack. And just like that, I’m hooked. I don’t do one-night stands—especially with celebrity jocks who date models. Lots of models. But the god of hockey is a temptation that’s hard for mere mortals to resist. And after the best kiss of my life, I’m ready to throw my one-night stand rule out the window. Except Christian Chase won’t let me. He doesn’t want a one-night stand. He wants it all. This ebook includes an excerpt from another Loveswept title.]]> 248 Tracy Goodwin 1984800124 Em 1 I received this as an ARC from NetGalley

This book did not clear the lowest of bars I set for it. I've read my share of hockey romances and this one had such high stars in reviews, I thought it would be good, but I've read better fanfiction than this one.

Let's just get it out of the way that this author clearly hasn't spent a long time among hockey fans/fandom. I would rather the sport of choice is more than window dressing for a romance, but even if it is just window dressing there are some key remarks about Christian that just don't make any sense.

But hockey aside, none of this was good. It's cliche to the point of nausea. The characters motivations and actions don't hold up under the lightest of scrutiny. Christian hates the way he's surrounded by paparazzi and puck bunnies so he...goes to a sports bar with his teammates near their arena with pictures of NHLers on the wall. Serena was so hurt by a crush at 16 she'll never open up but literally all it takes is Christian reveals he has a puppy and wow, guess he's trustworthy (seriously?). The prose is all telling not showing, and the way the sex is written is shading pretty violet.

Finally there's a bunch of internalized body shamey stuff that's pretty unfortunate. Serena is described as: curvy, not plus sized but smoking hot, tight but not emaciated, and having a real body (compared to all the skinny girls at school).

I was really disappointed by this book and didn't enjoy it.

Merged review:

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley

This book did not clear the lowest of bars I set for it. I've read my share of hockey romances and this one had such high stars in reviews, I thought it would be good, but I've read better fanfiction than this one.

Let's just get it out of the way that this author clearly hasn't spent a long time among hockey fans/fandom. I would rather the sport of choice is more than window dressing for a romance, but even if it is just window dressing there are some key remarks about Christian that just don't make any sense.

But hockey aside, none of this was good. It's cliche to the point of nausea. The characters motivations and actions don't hold up under the lightest of scrutiny. Christian hates the way he's surrounded by paparazzi and puck bunnies so he...goes to a sports bar with his teammates near their arena with pictures of NHLers on the wall. Serena was so hurt by a crush at 16 she'll never open up but literally all it takes is Christian reveals he has a puppy and wow, guess he's trustworthy (seriously?). The prose is all telling not showing, and the way the sex is written is shading pretty violet.

Finally there's a bunch of internalized body shamey stuff that's pretty unfortunate. Serena is described as: curvy, not plus sized but smoking hot, tight but not emaciated, and having a real body (compared to all the skinny girls at school).

I was really disappointed by this book and didn't enjoy it.]]> 3.71 2019
author: Tracy Goodwin
name: Em
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2019
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2024/07/18
shelves: dnf, romance, contemporary-romance, m-f
review:
I received this as an ARC from NetGalley

This book did not clear the lowest of bars I set for it. I've read my share of hockey romances and this one had such high stars in reviews, I thought it would be good, but I've read better fanfiction than this one.

Let's just get it out of the way that this author clearly hasn't spent a long time among hockey fans/fandom. I would rather the sport of choice is more than window dressing for a romance, but even if it is just window dressing there are some key remarks about Christian that just don't make any sense.

But hockey aside, none of this was good. It's cliche to the point of nausea. The characters motivations and actions don't hold up under the lightest of scrutiny. Christian hates the way he's surrounded by paparazzi and puck bunnies so he...goes to a sports bar with his teammates near their arena with pictures of NHLers on the wall. Serena was so hurt by a crush at 16 she'll never open up but literally all it takes is Christian reveals he has a puppy and wow, guess he's trustworthy (seriously?). The prose is all telling not showing, and the way the sex is written is shading pretty violet.

Finally there's a bunch of internalized body shamey stuff that's pretty unfortunate. Serena is described as: curvy, not plus sized but smoking hot, tight but not emaciated, and having a real body (compared to all the skinny girls at school).

I was really disappointed by this book and didn't enjoy it.

Merged review:

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley

This book did not clear the lowest of bars I set for it. I've read my share of hockey romances and this one had such high stars in reviews, I thought it would be good, but I've read better fanfiction than this one.

Let's just get it out of the way that this author clearly hasn't spent a long time among hockey fans/fandom. I would rather the sport of choice is more than window dressing for a romance, but even if it is just window dressing there are some key remarks about Christian that just don't make any sense.

But hockey aside, none of this was good. It's cliche to the point of nausea. The characters motivations and actions don't hold up under the lightest of scrutiny. Christian hates the way he's surrounded by paparazzi and puck bunnies so he...goes to a sports bar with his teammates near their arena with pictures of NHLers on the wall. Serena was so hurt by a crush at 16 she'll never open up but literally all it takes is Christian reveals he has a puppy and wow, guess he's trustworthy (seriously?). The prose is all telling not showing, and the way the sex is written is shading pretty violet.

Finally there's a bunch of internalized body shamey stuff that's pretty unfortunate. Serena is described as: curvy, not plus sized but smoking hot, tight but not emaciated, and having a real body (compared to all the skinny girls at school).

I was really disappointed by this book and didn't enjoy it.
]]> 30292689
Now Mike has arrived to Japan to meet Yaichi and his daughter Kana. Yaichi has to face his own preconceptions and come to terms about who his brother really was.]]> 180 Gengoroh Tagame Em 4 graphicnovel 4.11
author: Gengoroh Tagame
name: Em
average rating: 4.11
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2017/08/14
date added: 2024/07/18
shelves: graphicnovel
review:

]]> 198271721 372 Courtney Milan 1937248755 Em 3 m-f, romance 4.22 2023
author: Courtney Milan
name: Em
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/10
date added: 2024/07/10
shelves: m-f, romance
review:
A solid meh on this one :\ Some of it's fine, it's nice to see an MC who's a potter, but honestly the author's notes at the end were more engaging to me than most of the story.
]]> 57789637
“Epic, romantic, and enthralling from start to finish.”—Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Caraval series

“An all-consuming work of literary fantasy that is breathtaking both for its beauty and its suspense."—BookPage, starred review

A captivating and romantic debut epic fantasy inspired by the legend of the Chinese moon goddess, Chang’e, in which a young woman’s quest to free her mother pits her against the most powerful immortal in the realm.

Growing up on the moon, Xingyin is accustomed to solitude, unaware that she is being hidden from the feared Celestial Emperor who exiled her mother for stealing his elixir of immortality. But when Xingyin’s magic flares and her existence is discovered, she is forced to flee her home, leaving her mother behind.

Alone, powerless, and afraid, she makes her way to the Celestial Kingdom, a land of wonder and secrets. Disguising her identity, she seizes an opportunity to learn alongside the emperor’s son, mastering archery and magic, even as passion flames between her and the prince.

To save her mother, Xingyin embarks on a perilous quest, confronting legendary creatures and vicious enemies. But when treachery looms and forbidden magic threatens the kingdom, she must challenge the ruthless Celestial Emperor for her dream—striking a dangerous bargain in which she is torn between losing all she loves or plunging the realm into chaos.

Daughter of the Moon Goddess begins an enchanting duology which weaves ancient Chinese mythology into a sweeping adventure of immortals and magic, of loss and sacrifice—where love vies with honor, dreams are fraught with betrayal, and hope emerges triumphant.]]> 503 Sue Lynn Tan 0063031302 Em 3 dnf, sf-f
My expectations may have been too high here, because I did not realize it was YA until 10% in, but surely even YA can expect better than 2 hours of info dumping to start a book? And not even info dumping to build up to something, but info dumping to explain things that had just been discovered but, we're then told, the protagonist had totally been interested in this whole time. It's not *that bad* but I also don't see myself enjoying another 10 hours of this. ]]> 4.08 2022
author: Sue Lynn Tan
name: Em
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/06/13
shelves: dnf, sf-f
review:
DNF @ 20%.

My expectations may have been too high here, because I did not realize it was YA until 10% in, but surely even YA can expect better than 2 hours of info dumping to start a book? And not even info dumping to build up to something, but info dumping to explain things that had just been discovered but, we're then told, the protagonist had totally been interested in this whole time. It's not *that bad* but I also don't see myself enjoying another 10 hours of this.
]]> 208918808 Don't miss the second thrilling Regency romance in the Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune series by KJ Charles...

The Duke of Severn is one of the greatest men in Britain.

He's also short, quiet, and unimpressive. And now he's been robbed, after indulging in one rash night with a strange man who stole the heirloom Severn ring from his finger. The Duke has to get it back, and he can't let anyone know how he lost it. So when his cousin bets that he couldn't survive without his privilege and title, the Duke grasps the opportunity to hunt down his ring-incognito.

Life as an ordinary person is terrifying...until the anonymous Duke meets Daizell Charnage, a disgraced gentleman, and hires him to help. Racing across the country in search of the thief, the Duke and Daizell fall into scrapes, into trouble-and in love.

Daizell has been excluded from polite society, his name tainted by his father's crimes and his own misbehaviour. Now he dares to dream of a life somewhere out of sight with the quiet gentleman who's stolen his heart. He doesn't know that his lover is a hugely rich public figure with half a dozen titles. And when he finds out, it will risk everything they have...]]> 336 K.J. Charles 1398715794 Em 0 to-read 4.19 2024
author: K.J. Charles
name: Em
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 76812 302 Lois McMaster Bujold Em 4 mystery-horror, sf-f
On a second read, I'm downgrading this to 4 stars. A very solid 4 stars, but it didn't stand out on a reread and I was surprised to find I'd rated it so highly before. Still good, but just not the best in the series.

Another unrelated note, I find it very interesting that the front blurb/quote is from Romantic Times, a genre romance magazine. You may have noticed this is decidedly not a romance novel? I had just been reflecting after listening to the 99% Invisible episode on romance novel covers that Shards of Honor sounds like it's very much in the "women's adventure" vein they mention as the forerunner of genre romance. Now I'm thinking about how we market authors, especially ones presenting as female in the 80s, that this mystery in space has gotten blurbed by a romance magazine. It's a great book! But it doesn't even have a romance B-plot (at most, an infatuation drives some motivations).

---

Not specific to this book but now that I've read a bunch of these, I regret starting with Cordelia's books only because I realized I didn't want to give this one 5 stars only because I don't like Miles as much as I love Cordelia. I wish the entire series was just about Cordelia and I didn't realize when I started that Miles is actually the main character for most of it.

Anyway. Political murder mystery procedural in space! I liked all of it. I sped the audio book up because I was so invested in what happened next I couldn't wait for the narrator (same one, still excellent) to get there in his own time. I finally have real affection and investment in Miles and Ivan and am looking forward to their next adventure together.]]> 4.16 1995
author: Lois McMaster Bujold
name: Em
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1995
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/29
date added: 2024/04/29
shelves: mystery-horror, sf-f
review:
update 9/21

On a second read, I'm downgrading this to 4 stars. A very solid 4 stars, but it didn't stand out on a reread and I was surprised to find I'd rated it so highly before. Still good, but just not the best in the series.

Another unrelated note, I find it very interesting that the front blurb/quote is from Romantic Times, a genre romance magazine. You may have noticed this is decidedly not a romance novel? I had just been reflecting after listening to the 99% Invisible episode on romance novel covers that Shards of Honor sounds like it's very much in the "women's adventure" vein they mention as the forerunner of genre romance. Now I'm thinking about how we market authors, especially ones presenting as female in the 80s, that this mystery in space has gotten blurbed by a romance magazine. It's a great book! But it doesn't even have a romance B-plot (at most, an infatuation drives some motivations).

---

Not specific to this book but now that I've read a bunch of these, I regret starting with Cordelia's books only because I realized I didn't want to give this one 5 stars only because I don't like Miles as much as I love Cordelia. I wish the entire series was just about Cordelia and I didn't realize when I started that Miles is actually the main character for most of it.

Anyway. Political murder mystery procedural in space! I liked all of it. I sped the audio book up because I was so invested in what happened next I couldn't wait for the narrator (same one, still excellent) to get there in his own time. I finally have real affection and investment in Miles and Ivan and am looking forward to their next adventure together.
]]> 57729433
What, then, of the young girls of the Martian colony? Their brothers might be sent to Earth for education at Eton and Oxbridge, but girls are made of sterner stuff. Be it unreasonable parents, Russian spies, or the deadly Martian wildlife, no challenge is beyond the resourceful girls of the Crater School.]]> 305 Chaz Brenchley 1913892093 Em 0 to-read 4.29 2021
author: Chaz Brenchley
name: Em
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61284002 The scandalous women of the SOCIETY OF SIRENS are back with an explosive secret...their ranks include a duchess in disguise

Once upon a time she married in secret...

An activist painter of radicals and harlots, Cornelia Ludgate dismisses love and marriage as threats to freedom. But when an inheritance gives her the chance to fund the cause of women's rights--on the condition she must wed--she is forced to reveal a secret: she's already married. To a man she hasn't seen for twenty years.

Oh...and her husband is a duke.

A horse breeder with a clandestine taste for revolution, Rafe Goodwood never expected to become a duke. But now that the title is his, he is plotting to shock the ruling class with ambitions of reform--and reveal the infamous Cornelia is his duchess. That just presents one problem: he must not fall in love with her--again.

Now they must resist the temptation to rekindle an affair...

Although determined not to sacrifice her principles for passion, Cornelia is still drawn to the man whose very being threatens her independence. Hurt too many times, Rafe can't risk love again--especially with the woman who once shattered his heart. But a conspiracy to upend the inequalities of the aristocracy bring Cornelia and Rafe closer, forcing them to finally decide what--and who--they hold dear.


]]> 384 Scarlett Peckham 0062935631 Em 0 dnf, romance, m-f 3.23 2023
author: Scarlett Peckham
name: Em
average rating: 3.23
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/23
shelves: dnf, romance, m-f
review:
DNF at like 5%. Not for me, seemed to be hitting a lot of elements that I dislike in my histrom including fake dating and the kind of benevolent autocrat accidental Duke that lefty authors have started writing instead of just not writing about Dukes.
]]> 54659771 He was supposed to be a myth.
But from the moment I crossed the River Styx and fell under his dark spell... he was, quite simply, mine.

Society darling Persephone Dimitriou plans to flee the ultra-modern city of Olympus and start over far from the backstabbing politics of the Thirteen Houses. But all that’s ripped away when her mother ambushes her with an engagement to Zeus, the dangerous power behind their glittering city’s dark facade.

With no options left, Persephone flees to the forbidden undercity and makes a devil’s bargain with a man she once believed a myth... a man who awakens her to a world she never knew existed.

Hades has spent his life in the shadows, and he has no intention of stepping into the light. But when he finds that Persephone can offer a little slice of the revenge he’s spent years craving, it’s all the excuse he needs to help her—for a price. Yet every breathless night spent tangled together has given Hades a taste for Persephone, and he’ll go to war with Olympus itself to keep her close��

A modern retelling of Hades and Persephone that’s as sinful as it is sweet.]]> 380 Katee Robert 1728231736 Em 0 erotica, m-f
And on one level, I am totally fine with how stupid it is. It's erotica (you could argue erotic romance). The worldbuilding and plot is only there so the sex scenes have somewhere to live, and it's silly to nitpick the worldbuilding and plot in these cases. If you liked this book, I get it! But sometimes you just have QUESTIONS. Like, they live in this set-apart bisected city of Olympus and reflect aspects of the Greek pantheon but it's NOT in Greece and they aren't magically embodying the gods, and it's unclear if anyone ever viewed them as gods, and also OHIO EXISTS. AND ZOOM MEETINGS. Like where is this reality bubble?? Why is this reality bubble??? I would have questioned it a lot less if the characters just didn't know what was outside their bubble or had more explicit magic but the level of handwaving wasn't quite at the right place for me.

The plot, similarly, you can't look at too hard. It reads as if the author did it straight through in one shot and did not go back to add any kind of set up or justification or whatever. No one knows about Hades, except a bunch of them do, actually a lot of them do and he was actually on the upper side of the river, but only once, and also for reasons no one who knows he exists told anyone and also it's not at all a big deal when he stops pretending he doesn't exist. If you break ~the treaty~ you'll start a war except if the big bad [spoilers removed] then everyone forgets why there was a treaty in the first place, or something, or it doesn't matter WHO CARES WHAT TREATY we need to have another public sex scene!!

Which brings me to, even the sex is set up and not followed through on? Hades is all broody broody domly dom who says he's too dominant to enjoy it if Persephone tops from the bottom and when asked what kind of dom/sub dynamic she wants, Persephone says she wants to misbehave to be punished, and then none of this is ever brought up again. Also she has a stupid safeword (pomegranate. It's pomegranate). Betty nailed it when she said the kink is the BDSM talk, not the actual BDSM. Which is FINE. It's fine. It's not for me.

I get why some people like it though. It is 110% id and if your id lines up with this book's id, you'll love it. I wanted to read something stupid though and oh boy it delivered. ]]> 3.68 2021
author: Katee Robert
name: Em
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2024/04/21
date added: 2024/04/21
shelves: erotica, m-f
review:
oh my god this book is so dumb.

And on one level, I am totally fine with how stupid it is. It's erotica (you could argue erotic romance). The worldbuilding and plot is only there so the sex scenes have somewhere to live, and it's silly to nitpick the worldbuilding and plot in these cases. If you liked this book, I get it! But sometimes you just have QUESTIONS. Like, they live in this set-apart bisected city of Olympus and reflect aspects of the Greek pantheon but it's NOT in Greece and they aren't magically embodying the gods, and it's unclear if anyone ever viewed them as gods, and also OHIO EXISTS. AND ZOOM MEETINGS. Like where is this reality bubble?? Why is this reality bubble??? I would have questioned it a lot less if the characters just didn't know what was outside their bubble or had more explicit magic but the level of handwaving wasn't quite at the right place for me.

The plot, similarly, you can't look at too hard. It reads as if the author did it straight through in one shot and did not go back to add any kind of set up or justification or whatever. No one knows about Hades, except a bunch of them do, actually a lot of them do and he was actually on the upper side of the river, but only once, and also for reasons no one who knows he exists told anyone and also it's not at all a big deal when he stops pretending he doesn't exist. If you break ~the treaty~ you'll start a war except if the big bad [spoilers removed] then everyone forgets why there was a treaty in the first place, or something, or it doesn't matter WHO CARES WHAT TREATY we need to have another public sex scene!!

Which brings me to, even the sex is set up and not followed through on? Hades is all broody broody domly dom who says he's too dominant to enjoy it if Persephone tops from the bottom and when asked what kind of dom/sub dynamic she wants, Persephone says she wants to misbehave to be punished, and then none of this is ever brought up again. Also she has a stupid safeword (pomegranate. It's pomegranate). Betty nailed it when she said the kink is the BDSM talk, not the actual BDSM. Which is FINE. It's fine. It's not for me.

I get why some people like it though. It is 110% id and if your id lines up with this book's id, you'll love it. I wanted to read something stupid though and oh boy it delivered.
]]> 59496015
London, 1815: where magic can be purchased at convenience, and the fashionable and wealthy descend for the start of the social Season. But 25-year-old Gavin Hartford finds the city intimidating when he arrives, alone, to his family’s townhouse. The only company he seeks is in his beloved books and weekly letters to his sister, Gerry.

Then dashing man-about-town Charles Kentworthy gallantly rescues Gavin from a foolish drunken mishap and turns his life upside-down. With Mr. Kentworthy, Gavin finds himself discussing poetry and magic, confessing his fears about marriage, expanding his social circle to shocking proportions �� and far outside his comfort zone.

When family responsibility comes knocking, Gavin’s future looms over him, filled with uncertainty. As he grapples with growing feelings for his new friend, Gavin will need to be honest with Mr. Kentworthy �� but he’ll need the courage to be honest with himself first.

This epistolary Regency romance is the first in a historical fantasy series, Meddle & Mend.]]> 262 Sarah Wallace 1737432706 Em 0 to-read 4.16 2022
author: Sarah Wallace
name: Em
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 28644556 England, 1817. Miss Adeline Hays is out of options. Determined to escape marriage to a repugnant earl, Adeline plans to deliberately allow herself to be caught in a compromising position at a house party with the much kinder man she’d hoped to marry. Instead, Adeline accidentally enters the wrong chamber and tumbles into the bed of the mad duke.

Edmond Rochester, the duke of Wolverton, is seeking a wife to care for his two daughters. A young lady of sensibilities, accomplishment, and most importantly, one who he is not attracted to—a complete opposite of the bewitching beauty who traps him into marriage. But despite the lust he feels for his new duchess, Edmond is resolved to never allow them intimacy, refusing to ever again suffer the tormenting loss of a loved one.]]> 224 Stacy Reid 163375653X Em 1 dnf, m-f, romance CW for pregnancy and death in childbirth (past). The majority of the back half (that I got through) of the book is Adele wanting a baby and the duke insisting that if he gets her with child her life will be in danger. Technically true! But uh....handled really unconvincingly in this case. ]]> 3.96 2016
author: Stacy Reid
name: Em
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2016
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2024/04/12
shelves: dnf, m-f, romance
review:
Poorly written, boring story! Don't mean to kick a book when it's down but I'm still sort of convinced this was born as Twilight fanfiction (derogatory). I did laugh out loud when the book randomly dropped that the Duke took his grief from his first wife's death and became an undefeated gentleman boxer, insisting on bare knuckle fighting so he could feel the pain. This was apparently parallel to the previous lore drop, that the Duke had drunk himself into a stupor after his wife's death. If these seem unrelated it's because the book did not seem to remember the drunkenness when it lore dropped the boxing.
CW for pregnancy and death in childbirth (past). The majority of the back half (that I got through) of the book is Adele wanting a baby and the duke insisting that if he gets her with child her life will be in danger. Technically true! But uh....handled really unconvincingly in this case.
]]> 61273326 Two Victorian marriages, two dangerous love affairs, one extraordinary partnership . . .

London, 1894. After a lifetime spent navigating his desires, John Addington, married to Catherine, has met Frank, a working-class printer.

Meanwhile Henry Ellis's wife Edith has fallen in love with Angelica - and Angelica wants Edith all to herself.

When in 1894 John and Henry decide to write a revolutionary book together, intended to challenge convention and the law, they are both caught in relationships stalked by guilt and shame. Yet they share a vision of a better world, one that will expand possibilities for men and women everywhere.

Their daring book threatens to throw John and Henry, and all those around them, into danger. How far should they go to win personal freedoms? And how high a price are they willing to pay for a new way of living?]]> 392 Tom Crewe 1668000830 Em 0 to-read 3.71 2023
author: Tom Crewe
name: Em
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 200153487 A strikingly original and absorbing mystery about a white-passing bookbinder in Victorian England and the secrets lurking on the estate where we she works, for fans of Fingersmith and The Confessions of Frannie Langton

The library is under lock and key. But its secrets can't be contained.

1896. After he brought her home from Jamaica as a baby, Florence's father had her hair hot-combed to make her look like the other girls. But as a young woman, Florence is not so easy to tame—and when she brings scandal to his door, the bookbinder throws her onto the streets of Manchester.

Intercepting her father's latest commission, Florence talks her way into the remote, forbidding Rose Hall to restore its collection of rare books. Lord Francis Belfield's library is old and full of secrets—but none so intriguing as the whispers about his late wife.

Then one night, the library is broken into. Strangely, all the priceless tomes remain untouched. Florence is puzzled, until she discovers a half-burned book in the fireplace. She realizes with horror that someone has found and set fire to the secret diary of Lord Belfield's wife–which may hold the clue to her fate��

Evocative, arresting and tightly plotted, The Library Thief is at once a propulsive Gothic mystery and a striking exploration of race, gender and self-discovery in Victorian England.]]> 368 Kuchenga Shenjé 1335909699 Em 0 to-read 3.27 2024
author: Kuchenga Shenjé
name: Em
average rating: 3.27
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61067597 It is not the monster you must fear, but the monster it makes of men. . .

For readers of Circe or Ariadne, a brilliant literary revisiting of Mary Shelley's classic Frankenstein with a fresh, queer, provocative twist.

Mary is the great-niece of Victor Frankenstein. She knows her great uncle disappeared in mysterious circumstances in the Arctic, but she doesn't know why or how...

The 1850s is a time of discovery, and London is ablaze with the latest scientific theories and debates, especially when a spectacular new exhibition of dinosaur sculptures opens at the Crystal Palace. Mary, with a sharp mind and a sharper tongue, is keen to make her name in this world of science alongside her geologist husband Henry, but without wealth and connections, their options are limited.

But when Mary discovers some old family papers that allude to the shocking truth behind her great-uncle's past, she thinks she may have found the key to securing their future... Their quest takes them to the wilds of Scotland, to Henry's intriguing but reclusive sister Maisie, and to a deadly chase with a rival who is out to steal their secret.

Our Hideous Progeny is a sumptuous tale of ambition and obsession, of forbidden love and sabotage; an adventure story that blends classic, immersive storytelling with contemporary themes.]]> 400 C.E. McGill 0857529048 Em 0 to-read 3.92 2023
author: C.E. McGill
name: Em
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 123498090
Fall, 1969. Ulysses Lenkov should be working on his dissertation. Instead, he's developing an unlucrative sideline in helping ghosts and hapless magic users. But when his clients start leaving town suddenly—or turning up dead—he starts to worry there's something afoot that’s worse than an unavenged death or incipient insanity. His investigation begins with the last word on everyone's lips before they vanish: the mysterious Dionysus.

Sam Sterling is an archivist who recently moved back to Madison to be closer to the family he's not too sure he likes. But his peaceful days of teaching library students, creating finding aids, and community theater come to an end when the magnetic, mistrustful Ulysses turns up with a warning. There's a god coming, and it looks like it's coming for Sam.

Soon the two are helping each other through demon attacks, discovering the unsavory history of Sam's family, and falling in love as they race to find a solution. But as the year draws to a close, they'll face a deadly showdown as they try to save Sam—and the city itself.]]> 356 E.H. Lupton Em 0 to-read 4.12 2023
author: E.H. Lupton
name: Em
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 204201791 A tightly woven blend of myth, magic, and the ties of a found family.

Ghosts that speak in smoke. Spirits with teeth like glass. A parasitic, soul-eating spirit worm has gone into a feeding frenzy, but all the Jong-ro Police Department’s violent crimes unit sees is a string of suicides. Except for Kim Han-gil, Seoul’s only spirit detective. He’s seen this before. He’ll do anything to stop another tragedy from happening, even if that means teaming up with Shin Yoonhae, the man Han-gil believes is responsible for the horrifying aftermath of his mother’s last exorcism.

In their debut novella, Sam Kyung Yoo weaves a tale of mystical proportions that's part crime-thriller, part urban fantasy.]]> 144 Sam Kyung Yoo 1953736289 Em 0 to-read 4.12
author: Sam Kyung Yoo
name: Em
average rating: 4.12
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 150247395
Called in to investigate this mystery is Ana Dolabra, an investigator whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities.

At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol. Din is an engraver, magically altered to possess a perfect memory. His job is to observe and report, and act as his superior’s eyes and ears--quite literally, in this case, as among Ana’s quirks are her insistence on wearing a blindfold at all times, and her refusal to step outside the walls of her home.

Din is most perplexed by Ana’s ravenous appetite for information and her mind’s frenzied leaps—not to mention her cheerful disregard for propriety and the apparent joy she takes in scandalizing her young counterpart. Yet as the case unfolds and Ana makes one startling deduction after the next, he finds it hard to deny that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.

As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the safety of the Empire itself, Din realizes he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra—and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.

Featuring an unforgettable Holmes-and-Watson style pairing, a gloriously labyrinthine plot, and a haunting and wholly original fantasy world, The Tainted Cup brilliantly reinvents the classic mystery tale.]]> 410 Robert Jackson Bennett 1984820702 Em 0 to-read 4.28 2024
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: Em
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 199311542
As he observed this frenzy, investigative reporter Zeke Faux had a nagging feeling: Was it all just a confidence game of epic proportions? What started as curiosity—with a dash of FOMO—would morph into a two-year, globe-spanning quest to understand the wizards behind the world’s new financial machinery. Faux’s investigation would lead him to a schlubby, frizzy-haired twenty-nine-year-old named Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF for short) and a host of other crypto scammers, utopians, and overnight billionaires.

Faux follows the trail to a luxury resort in the Bahamas, where SBF boldly declares that he will use his crypto fortune to save the world. Faux talks his way onto the yacht of a former child actor turned crypto impresario and gains access to “ApeFest,�� an elite party headlined by Snoop Dogg, by purchasing a $20,000 image of a cartoon monkey. In El Salvador, Faux learns what happens when a country wagers its treasury on Bitcoin, and in the Philippines, he stumbles upon��a Pokémon knockoff mobile game��touted by boosters as a cure for poverty.��In an astonishing development, a spam text leads Faux to Cambodia, where he uncovers a crypto-powered human-trafficking ring.

When the bubble suddenly bursts in 2022, Faux brings readers inside SBF’s penthouse as the fallen crypto king faces his imminent arrest. Fueled by the absurd details and authoritative reporting that earned Zeke Faux the accolade “our great poet of crime�� from Money Stuff columnist Matt Levine, Number Go Up is the essential chronicle, by turns harrowing and uproarious, of a $3 trillion financial delusion.]]> 10 Zeke Faux Em 4 nonfiction
Most of the facts here weren't new to me, but it's very well written and lays out the bizarre black box that is Tether in a very compelling way. I wish Faux had been able to wrap up that investigation, which drives the book but through no fault of his own has no satisfactory conclusion. I also wish he'd emphasized a bit more just how much the crypto economy relies on business from sanctioned governments, and how the value of Bitcoin has been shown to be largely in the hands of "whales" holding vasts amounts of the coin (he would've gotten bonus points for mentioning that the US government owns a bananas amount of Bitcoin thanks to seized criminal assets).

But those are quibbles. This is a well written, very compelling book, that was entertaining to someone already skeptical of crypto, and I think would be enjoyed by someone who's never heard of Bitcoin before too.]]> 4.02 2023
author: Zeke Faux
name: Em
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/13
date added: 2024/03/06
shelves: nonfiction
review:
I've had my nose pressed voyeuristically to the window of crypto scams since someone showed me Molly White's a few years ago. My morbid fascination peaked last year when SBF was charged with a lot of crimes. Despite his face on the cover, the book isn't about him, but he is used as a through line for crypto's shiny rise and ignominious fall to very good narrative effect.

Most of the facts here weren't new to me, but it's very well written and lays out the bizarre black box that is Tether in a very compelling way. I wish Faux had been able to wrap up that investigation, which drives the book but through no fault of his own has no satisfactory conclusion. I also wish he'd emphasized a bit more just how much the crypto economy relies on business from sanctioned governments, and how the value of Bitcoin has been shown to be largely in the hands of "whales" holding vasts amounts of the coin (he would've gotten bonus points for mentioning that the US government owns a bananas amount of Bitcoin thanks to seized criminal assets).

But those are quibbles. This is a well written, very compelling book, that was entertaining to someone already skeptical of crypto, and I think would be enjoyed by someone who's never heard of Bitcoin before too.
]]> 139923147 From the acclaimed author of Georgie, All Along and Love Lettering, a pitch-perfect, radiantly transporting love story about an unexpected road trip, true crime obsessions, and hard won vulnerability��

Hairstylist Jess Greene has spent the last decade raising her younger half-sister, Tegan—and keeping a shocking secret. Ever since their reckless mother ran off with a boyfriend she’d known only a few months, Jess has been aware that he’s the same accomplished con man who was the subject of a wildly popular podcast, The Last Con of Lynton Baltimore.

Now thirty-one, Jess didn’t bargain on Tegan eventually piecing together the connection for herself. But Tegan plans to do exactly what Jess has always feared—leave their safe, stable home to search for their mother—and she’ll be accompanied by the prying podcast host and her watchful, handsome producer, Adam Hawkins. Unwilling to let the sister she’s spent so much of her life protecting go it alone, Jess reluctantly joins them.

Together, the four make their way across the country, unraveling the mystery of where the couple disappeared to and why. But soon Jess is discovering other things too. Like a renewed sense of vulnerability and curiosity, and a willingness to expand beyond the walls she’s so carefully built. And in Adam, she finds an unexpected connection she didn’t even know was missing, if only she can let go and let him in . . .]]> 373 Kate Clayborn 1496737318 Em 0 to-read 3.67 2024
author: Kate Clayborn
name: Em
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 63028658 An Entertainment Weekly "Best Romance Novels of Spring 2023" Pick!

One last summer.��

For Manuela del Carmen Caceres Galvan, the invitation to show her paintings at the 1889 Exposition Universelle came at the perfect time. Soon to be trapped in a loveless marriage, Manuela has given herself one last summer of freedom—in Paris, with her two best friends.��

One scandalous encounter.

Cora Kempf Bristol, Duchess of Sundridge, is known for her ruthlessness in business. It's��not money she chases, but power. When she sees the opportunity to secure her position among her rivals, she does not hesitate. How difficult could it be to convince the mercurial Miss Caceres Galvan to part with a parcel of land she’s sworn never to sell?

One life-changing bargain.

Tempted by Cora’s offer, Manuela proposes a her beloved land for a summer with the duchess in her corner of Paris. A taste of the wild, carefree world that will soon be out of her reach.��What follows thrills and terrifies Cora, igniting desires the duchess long thought dead. As they fill their days indulging in a shared passion for the arts and their nights with dark and delicious deeds, the happiness that seemed impossible moves within reach…though claiming it would cause the greatest scandal Paris has seen in decades.]]> 368 Adriana Herrera Em 3 f-f, dnf, romance
It has promise! It opens strong and the premise is good! But wow is this book tell and not show. And wow is it repetitive, and not even about stuff that I actually care about. A third of the way through the book and I'd lost count of how many times the narration had explained that Manuela's grandfather had fled the Dominican Republic "seeking exile" to Venezuela where he'd built a fortune in candlemaking only for her father to ruin the family business. I propose that once would have been enough for any part of that story.

Manuela and Cora are both fascinating characters, but I felt like both of them had character notes just dropped in at random times. Like Manuela's grandfather's story, Cora's background is also just narrated to the reader, and it felt pretty unnatural and borderline irrelevant. We learn 50% through the book that she's reluctant to get involved with Manuela because of a previous mixing of business and pleasure that went wrong. She'd had to dig herself out of a hole and she built back her reputation and now she's an unassailable business woman. But this had no emotional impact, because just telling me about her journey while we're looking at her after all her growth is, in a word, boring. It provides an after the fact justification for the half the book so far of "no, I can't!" she's doing to herself over her pants feelings for Manuela.

I'm being harsh because I had such high hopes after the first book, and look this is not a bad book. It's not great though either. ]]> 3.95 2023
author: Adriana Herrera
name: Em
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/04
date added: 2024/03/04
shelves: f-f, dnf, romance
review:
rrrrgg I wanted to like this SO MUCH but it's just not...good...

It has promise! It opens strong and the premise is good! But wow is this book tell and not show. And wow is it repetitive, and not even about stuff that I actually care about. A third of the way through the book and I'd lost count of how many times the narration had explained that Manuela's grandfather had fled the Dominican Republic "seeking exile" to Venezuela where he'd built a fortune in candlemaking only for her father to ruin the family business. I propose that once would have been enough for any part of that story.

Manuela and Cora are both fascinating characters, but I felt like both of them had character notes just dropped in at random times. Like Manuela's grandfather's story, Cora's background is also just narrated to the reader, and it felt pretty unnatural and borderline irrelevant. We learn 50% through the book that she's reluctant to get involved with Manuela because of a previous mixing of business and pleasure that went wrong. She'd had to dig herself out of a hole and she built back her reputation and now she's an unassailable business woman. But this had no emotional impact, because just telling me about her journey while we're looking at her after all her growth is, in a word, boring. It provides an after the fact justification for the half the book so far of "no, I can't!" she's doing to herself over her pants feelings for Manuela.

I'm being harsh because I had such high hopes after the first book, and look this is not a bad book. It's not great though either.
]]> 65214313 A sapphic rivals to lovers rom com for fans of Ted Lasso and A League of Their Own, where two soccer teammates are at odds before falling in love as their team gears up for the World Cup.

Grace Henderson has been a star of the US Women’s National Team for ten years, even though she’s only 26. But when she’s sidelined with an injury, a bold new upstart, Phoebe Matthews, takes her spot. Phoebe is everything Grace isn’t—a gregarious jokester who plays with a joy that Grace lost somewhere along the way. The last thing Grace expects is to become friends with benefits with this class clown she sees as her rival.

Phoebe Matthews has always admired Grace’s skill and was star struck to be training alongside her idol. But she quickly finds herself looking at Grace as more than a mere teammate. After one daring kiss, she’s hooked. Grace is everything she has been waiting to find.

As the World Cup approaches, and Grace works her way back from injury, the women decide to find a way they can play together instead of vying for the same position. Except, when they are off the field, Grace is worried she’s catching feelings while Phoebe thinks they are dating. As the tension between them grows, will both players realize they care more about their relationship than making the roster?]]> 328 Meryl Wilsner 1250873304 Em 0 to-read 3.72 2023
author: Meryl Wilsner
name: Em
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 17345207 Highclere Castle has a new resident, the daughter-in-law of Lady Almina, an American beauty from New York and a descendant of famous American families.

Catherine Wendell first met Lord Porchester (Porchey), son of Lady Almina, the heir to Highclere and 6th Earl of Carnarvon, in Gibraltar. At just 19 and utterly entrancing, she had already received many proposals of marriage and immediately caught 24-year-old Porchey's discerning eye.

They married in 1922, and after the unexpected death of Almina's husband, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon, they moved into Highclere Castle. Beset by death duties and money problems, the Earl and Countess were unsure they could keep Highclere. Thanks to the sale of the decade at Christies Auction House, hundreds of cherished paintings went under the hammer, from a Leonardo da Vinci to works by Reynolds, Gainsborough, and Romney. Porchey even sold the famous family pearls. By 1926 Catherine and Porchey knew they could stay.

Over the next few years, the young couple entertained at Highclere, sharing it with other royalty and friends from London society. Catherine was much loved by the staff and adored by her husband and two young children. Although Almina still occasionally came to stay, Catherine's own American mother, Mrs. Jacob Wendell, was the most regular visitor.

By 1936, Catherine and Porchey's marriage had become increasingly troubled. Devastated, Catherine bravely unraveled her marriage. Porchey hastily traveled to New York to marry his new lover, who, however, ran off the night before the wedding with a Hollywood mogul.

Now in London with her children, Catherine fell in love with a handsome and charming man, whom she married in 1938. Porchey continued at Highclere, having to find new staff (the old staff accompanied Catherine to London) and marrying the famous Austrian actress Tilly Losch on the day war broke out in 1939. Catherine's husband joined the navy while Porchey's new wife quickly left for America.

Highclere Castle was turned into a home for evacuee children as well as lodging for soldiers. Porchey joined the war effort as an army adjutant (later a liaison officer) and was commended by the Americans stationed near Highclere. Catherine and Porchey's son Henry also joined the war in 1943. Like other wives and mothers, Catherine endured the unbearable stress of waiting for news of two beloved people in her life.

Using copious materials - including diaries and scrapbooks - from the castle's archive, the Countess of Carnarvon brings alive a very modern story in a beautiful and famous setting, paying particular attention not just to the goings on upstairs, but also to the butler footmen and other staff whose lives downstairs kept the Castle moving forward into the twentieth century.]]> 400 Fiona Carnarvon 0385344961 Em 3 nonfiction
It's an entertainment based on the lives of one of the Earls of Carnarvon, written by the current Countess Carnarvon (did I get that title right? is it "of Carnarvon"? It's said several times in the book and I've already forgotten). The foreword makes it clear that although it's based on firsthand sources, she cares more about the vibes than strict historical accuracy. I wanted to listen to something I didn't really care about about people whose problems are extremely remote from my own, and this did the trick. I got about halfway through. WWII is starting and I was bored of these peoples' problems so, time for something else.

If you want an uncritical book about old aristocracy and can stomach listening to hours about a man called "Porchey", this is perfectly fine.]]> 3.63 2013
author: Fiona Carnarvon
name: Em
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/16
date added: 2024/02/16
shelves: nonfiction
review:
ok so TECHNICALLY. This is a DNF, not a "read". But I don't care.

It's an entertainment based on the lives of one of the Earls of Carnarvon, written by the current Countess Carnarvon (did I get that title right? is it "of Carnarvon"? It's said several times in the book and I've already forgotten). The foreword makes it clear that although it's based on firsthand sources, she cares more about the vibes than strict historical accuracy. I wanted to listen to something I didn't really care about about people whose problems are extremely remote from my own, and this did the trick. I got about halfway through. WWII is starting and I was bored of these peoples' problems so, time for something else.

If you want an uncritical book about old aristocracy and can stomach listening to hours about a man called "Porchey", this is perfectly fine.
]]> 347339
When the injured and beaten Galen Vachon, aka, the Black Daniel awakens in Hester's cellar, he is unprepared for the feisty young conductor providing his care. As a member of one of the wealthiest free Black families in New Orleans, Galen has turned his back on the lavish living he is accustomed to in order to provide freedom to those enslaved in the south. However, as he heals he cannot turn his back on Hester Wyatt. Her innocence fills him like a breath of fresh air and he is determined to make her his, but traitors have to be found, slave catchers have to be routed and Hester's refusal to trust her own heart have to be overcome before she and Galen can find the freedom only love can bring.
(back cover)]]> 370 Beverly Jenkins 0595002021 Em 0 to-read 4.30 1996
author: Beverly Jenkins
name: Em
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 60054472
The festive mood, however, quickly sours. Wolsey’s historian, charged with proving the king’s descent from King Arthur, is found murdered, his body posed in a gruesome tableau. A reluctant Anthony is charged with investigating the affair. His mission takes him on the path trod by the historian, through ancient monastic libraries and the back streets of London.

On a journey that takes him from Hampton Court to Windsor and Winchester, and which sees him lock horns with secretive monks, historian Polydore Vergil, and a new face at court, Anne Boleyn, he must discover the murderer, secure the great masque, and avoid King Henry’s wrath.]]> Steven Veerapen Em 0 to-read 3.55
author: Steven Veerapen
name: Em
average rating: 3.55
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 16043567
So begins the extraordinary true story at the heart of How to Create the Perfect Wife, prize-winning historian Wendy Moore’s captivating tale of one man’s mission to groom his ideal mate. A few days after he turned twenty-one and inherited a large fortune, Day adopted two young orphans from the Foundling Hospital and, guided by the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the principles of the Enlightenment, attempted to teach them to be model wives. After six months he discarded one girl, calling her "invincibly stupid,�� and focused his efforts on his remaining charge. He subjected her to a number of cruel trials—including dropping hot wax on her arms and firing pistols at her skirts—to test her resolve but the young woman, perhaps unsurprisingly, eventually rebelled against her domestic slavery. Day had hoped eventually to marry her, but his peculiar experiment inevitably backfired—though not before he had taken his theories about marriage, education, and femininity to shocking extremes.

Stranger than fiction, blending tragedy and farce, How to Create the Perfect Wife is an engrossing tale of the radicalism—and deep contradictions—at the heart of the Enlightenment.]]> 343 Wendy Moore 0465065740 Em 4 nonfiction
The man in question, Thomas Day, is apparently pretty famous (national portrait gallery material) but either because I'm ignorant or because I'm American, I'd never heard of him. I liked that this book focused not overly on Day (although a lot of it is about Day and what he came from and what possibly could have driven him to this bizarre project), but also on his victims/charges. It's written with a more novelistic, narrative voice, which makes it easy to read, but contains a buttload of references and citations at the back of the book (thankfully without distracting hyperscript in the main text) should you want to know more. Much is drawn from contemporary sources and firsthand accounts.

The biggest reason I have one star off is the author makes a point to claim one of Day's friends, Anna Seward's, romantic obsession with her gal pal Honora couldn't be and wasn't gay. Harold, they're lesbians. I have never read such abjectly gay shit as Anna Seward's poems about Honora and her vitriol when Honora married a man. I am out to find a biography of this woman and see if someone else has a more saphic point of view because my gosh, that was some lesbian shit right there.]]> 3.63 2013
author: Wendy Moore
name: Em
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/09
date added: 2024/02/09
shelves: nonfiction
review:
A fascinating account of a girl, eventually called Sabrina Bicknell, taken from an orphanage, bizarrely trained to be the wife of a rich philosophical lawyer in 1700s Britain who thought the best life would be to retire with his wealth to a rustic cottage where his wife would do all the domestic labor and agree with him all day, then rejected as wife material and left to build what appears to be a fairly happy life.

The man in question, Thomas Day, is apparently pretty famous (national portrait gallery material) but either because I'm ignorant or because I'm American, I'd never heard of him. I liked that this book focused not overly on Day (although a lot of it is about Day and what he came from and what possibly could have driven him to this bizarre project), but also on his victims/charges. It's written with a more novelistic, narrative voice, which makes it easy to read, but contains a buttload of references and citations at the back of the book (thankfully without distracting hyperscript in the main text) should you want to know more. Much is drawn from contemporary sources and firsthand accounts.

The biggest reason I have one star off is the author makes a point to claim one of Day's friends, Anna Seward's, romantic obsession with her gal pal Honora couldn't be and wasn't gay. Harold, they're lesbians. I have never read such abjectly gay shit as Anna Seward's poems about Honora and her vitriol when Honora married a man. I am out to find a biography of this woman and see if someone else has a more saphic point of view because my gosh, that was some lesbian shit right there.
]]> 23587120
A Scottish sweetheart. One who was handsome and honorable and devoted to her, but conveniently never around. Maddie poured her heart into writing the imaginary Captain MacKenzie letter after letter . . . and by pretending to be devastated when he was (not really) killed in battle, she managed to avoid the pressures of London society entirely.

Until years later, when this kilted Highland lover of her imaginings shows up in the flesh. The real Captain Logan MacKenzie arrives on her doorstep—handsome as anything, but not entirely honorable. He's wounded, jaded, in possession of her letters . . . and ready to make good on every promise Maddie never expected to keep.]]> 390 Tessa Dare 0062349031 Em 2 m-f, romance
premise: young wallflower writes letters to her boyfriend in Canada Scotland to get out of social obligations, finds out a decade later that they went to a real man this whole time! Fun! Wacky hijinks!

No! It's boring as fuck. Plot crucial character attributes, like Madeline's debilitating anxiety in crowds, fizzle out like nothing. Logan is boorish and tramples on all her boundaries but it doesn't matter because suddenly when he's here Maddy thinks she could do anything (why??). There's way too much time spent on waiting for a pet lobster to (literally) come out of her shell (GET IT) so she can mate (GET IT??!?) and then the lobster just fucks off and goes missing? God I hated listening to this book.

But I did finish it, and I don't think I've finished a fiction book in 5 months, so that's one thing in its favor. ]]> 3.88 2015
author: Tessa Dare
name: Em
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2015
rating: 2
read at: 2024/02/06
date added: 2024/02/06
shelves: m-f, romance
review:
2 stars may sound harsh for a romance that was ultimately inoffensive, but although the premise is fun, the actual text made me want to toss my steering wheel out the window and slide into a ditch.

premise: young wallflower writes letters to her boyfriend in Canada Scotland to get out of social obligations, finds out a decade later that they went to a real man this whole time! Fun! Wacky hijinks!

No! It's boring as fuck. Plot crucial character attributes, like Madeline's debilitating anxiety in crowds, fizzle out like nothing. Logan is boorish and tramples on all her boundaries but it doesn't matter because suddenly when he's here Maddy thinks she could do anything (why??). There's way too much time spent on waiting for a pet lobster to (literally) come out of her shell (GET IT) so she can mate (GET IT??!?) and then the lobster just fucks off and goes missing? God I hated listening to this book.

But I did finish it, and I don't think I've finished a fiction book in 5 months, so that's one thing in its favor.
]]> 194943621 A F/NBI enemies to lovers romantic suspense

Love always shows your true face.

Jillian Rhodes lies to everyone she meets. As one of the world's best art thieves, a life of infiltration and con artistry has left her flying solo, which is exactly the way she likes it. When Jillian is hired to steal a collection of photos belonging to the late—and deeply controversial—Russell Key from the Art Institute of Chicago, everything should be business as usual.

Except she has two first, fellow master thief Sloane Caffrey also has their eye on the photos. Second, Sloane is her smoking hot ex.

Three years have passed since a messy breakup, but Jillian and Sloane have been getting vengeance on each other ever since. When the Key theft becomes their latest competition, love and loathing ride a fine, shaking line.

Trying to destroy each other should be simple. But confronting past mistakes is hard, especially when the entire job is starting to look like a setup to put Jillian and Sloane behind bars...]]> 174 Rien Gray Em 0 to-read 4.08 2023
author: Rien Gray
name: Em
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 30166695
As manager of one of the finest hotels in Arizona Territory, Portia Carmichael has respect and stability—qualities sorely missing from her harsh childhood. She refuses to jeopardize that by hitching herself to the wrong man. Suitors are plentiful, but none of them has ever looked quite as tempting as the family friend who just rode into town…and none have looked at her with such intensity and heat.

Duchess. That’s the nickname Kent Randolph gave Portia when she was a young girl. Now she’s a stunning, intelligent woman—and Kent has learned his share of hard lessons. After drifting through the West, he’s learned the value of a place to settle down, and in Portia’s arms he’s found that and more. But convincing her to trust him with her heart, not just her passion, will be the greatest challenge he’s known—and one he intends to win…]]> 376 Beverly Jenkins 0062389025 Em 0 to-read 4.07 2017
author: Beverly Jenkins
name: Em
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 994065 Passing firmly established Nella Larsen's prominence among women writers of the Harlem Renaissance. The Modern Library is proud to present Passing—an electrifying story of two women who cross the color line in 1920s New York—together with a new Introduction by the Obie Award- winning playwright and novelist Ntozake Shange.

Irene Redfield, the novel's protagonist, is a woman with an enviable life. She and her husband, Brian, a prominent physician, share a comfortable Harlem town house with their sons. Her work arranging charity balls that gather Harlem's elite creates a sense of purpose and respectability for Irene. But her hold on this world begins to slip the day she encounters Clare Kendry, a childhood friend with whom she had lost touch. Clare—light-skinned, beautiful, and charming—tells Irene how, after her father's death, she left behind the black neighborhood of her adolescence and began passing for white, hiding her true identity from everyone, including her racist husband. As Clare begins inserting herself into Irene's life, Irene is thrown into a panic, terrified of the consequences of Clare's dangerous behavior. And when Clare witnesses the vibrancy and energy of the community she left behind, her burning desire to come back threatens to shatter her careful deception.

Brilliantly plotted and elegantly written, Passing offers a gripping psychological portrait of emotional extremity. The New York Times Book Review called Larsen "adroit at tracing the involved processes of a mind divided against itself, that fights between the dictates of reason and desire." The Saturday Review of Literature said, "[Larsen] has produced a work so fine, sensitive, and distinguished that it rises above race categories and becomes that rare object, a good novel."]]> 301 Nella Larsen Em 0 to-read 3.77 1929
author: Nella Larsen
name: Em
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1929
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 75505273
The earl and the smuggler should be natural enemies, but cocksure, enragingly competent Luke is a trained secretary and expert schemer—exactly the sort of man Rufus needs by his side. Before long, Luke becomes an unexpected ally...and the lover Rufus had never hoped to find.

But Luke came to Stone Manor with an ulterior motive, one he's desperate to keep hidden even from the lord he can't resist. As the lies accumulate and family secrets threaten to destroy everything they hold dear, master and man find themselves forced to decide whose side they're really on...and what they're willing to do for love.]]> 336 K.J. Charles 1728255902 Em 3 m-m, romance 4.24 2023
author: K.J. Charles
name: Em
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/12/24
shelves: m-m, romance
review:
Ugh idk, this might be a me thing, I read this in tiny pieces over like 3 months, but it just felt like a retread of previous KJC tricks less cleverly executed. It wasn't *bad* but I didn't think it was good either. Oh well.
]]> 61237017 ��
When Susannah Breslin is a toddler, her parents enroll her in an exclusive laboratory preschool at the University of California, Berkeley, where she becomes one of 128 children who are research subjects in an unprecedented 30-year psychological experiment that predicts who she and her cohort will grow up to be. Decades later, trapped in an abusive marriage to a man with a violent history and battling breast cancer, she starts to wonder how growing up under a microscope shaped the person she became and her life choices. Is she the narrator of the story of her life—or is something else? Already a successful journalist, whose published work has appeared in Forbes, The Atlantic, and Harper’s Bazaar, she decides to make her own curious history the subject of her next investigation and embarks on a life-changing journey that will expose the dark secrets hidden behind the renowned longitudinal study of personality development that she grew up believing knew her better than she knew herself.
��
Fearlessly vulnerable, unflinchingly raw, and lyrically written, this groundbreaking book is a remarkable account of a woman’s quest to reclaim her voice and an unblinking expose of why we turn out as we do. Data Baby’s story is unlike any other, but its message is universal. Sometimes you have to give up everything you have to become the person you were truly meant to be.]]> 224 Susannah Breslin 0306926008 Em 0 to-read 2.73 2023
author: Susannah Breslin
name: Em
average rating: 2.73
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 63057794
In 1579, a Portuguese trade ship sails into port at Kuchinotsu, Japan, loaded with European wares and weapons. On board is Father Alessandro Valignano, an Italian priest and Jesuit missionary whose authority in central and east Asia is second only to the pope’s. Beside him is his protector, a large and imposing East African man. Taken from his village as a boy, sold as a slave to Portuguese mercenaries, and forced to fight in wars in India, the young but experienced soldier is haunted by memories of his past.

From Kuchinotsu, Father Valignano leads an expedition pushing inland toward the capital city of Kyoto. A riot brings his protector in front of the land’s most powerful warlord, Oda Nobunaga. Nobunaga is preparing a campaign to complete the unification of a nation that’s been torn apart by over one hundred years of civil war. In exchange for permission to build a church, Valignano “gifts�� his protector to Nobunaga, and the young East African man is reminded once again that he is less of a human and more of a thing to be traded and sold.

After pledging his allegiance to the Japanese warlord, the two men from vastly different worlds develop a trust and respect for one another. The young soldier is granted the role of samurai, a title that has never been given to a foreigner; he is also given a new name: Yasuke. Not all are happy with Yasuke’s ascension. There are whispers that he may soon be given his own fief, his own servants, his own samurai to command. But all of his dreams hinge on his ability to protect his new lord from threats both military and political, and from enemies both without and within.

A magnificent reconstruction and moving study of a lost historical figure, The African Samurai is an enthralling narrative about the tensions between the East and the West and the making of modern Japan, from which rises the most unlikely hero.]]> 275 Craig Shreve 1668002868 Em 0 to-read 3.99 2023
author: Craig Shreve
name: Em
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 41940267 Beowulf by the author of The Mere Wife.

Nearly twenty years after Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf �� and fifty years after the translation that continues to torment high-school students around the world �� there is a radical new verse translation of the epic poem by Maria Dahvana Headley, which brings to light elements never before translated into English.

A man seeks to prove himself as a hero. A monster seeks silence in his territory. A warrior seeks to avenge her murdered son. A dragon ends it all. These familiar components of the epic poem are seen with a novelist’s eye toward gender, genre, and history. Beowulf has always been a tale of entitlement and encroachment �� of powerful men seeking to become more powerful and one woman seeking justice for her child �� but this version brings new context to an old story. While crafting her contemporary adaptation, Headley unearthed significant shifts lost over centuries of translation; her Beowulf is one for the twenty-first century.]]> 140 Unknown 0374110034 Em 4
I read the Seamus Heaney translation in High School and enjoyed it, but that was my first and only experience of Beowulf, it's not something I'm particularly familiar with. ]]> 4.10 1000
author: Unknown
name: Em
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1000
rating: 4
read at: 2020/11/25
date added: 2023/10/27
shelves: fiction, historicalfiction, swashbuckles
review:
Really enjoyable to listen to. Sometimes the changes from modern vernacular to kennings was a bit of a mood swing. I definitely liked the novelty of the vernacular choices as well as the ease of comprehension that it brought (very much in mood if not in actual substance, though that too) and if anything wanted it to stay there longer and more often. By the last third I had started to zone out on everyone's names and who was whose father - not the fault of the translation - but it's good and I recommend it if you like this kind of thing.

I read the Seamus Heaney translation in High School and enjoyed it, but that was my first and only experience of Beowulf, it's not something I'm particularly familiar with.
]]> 58700918
At the time of his death in 2015, award-winning and bestselling author Sir Terry Pratchett was working on his finest story yet - his own.

At six years old, Terry was told by his headteacher that he would never amount to anything.

He spent the rest of his life proving that teacher wrong. At sixty-six, Terry had lived a life full of achievements: becoming one of the UK's bestselling writers, winning the Carnegie Medal and being awarded a knighthood for services to literature.

Following his untimely death from Alzheimer's disease, the mantle of completing Terry's memoir was passed to Rob Wilkins, his former assistant, friend and now head of the author's literary estate.

Drawing on his own extensive memories, along with those of Terry's family, friends, fans and colleagues, Rob recounts Terry's extraordinary story - from his early childhood to the literary phenomenon that his Discworld series became; and how he met and coped with the challenges that 'The Embuggerance' of Alzheimer's brought with it.]]> 435 Rob Wilkins 0857526634 Em 0 to-read 4.66 2022
author: Rob Wilkins
name: Em
average rating: 4.66
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61975
To the nobles who live in Benden Weyr, Lessa is nothing but a ragged kitchen girl. For most of her life she has survived by serving those who betrayed her father and took over his lands. Now the time has come for Lessa to shed her disguise-and take back her stolen birthright.

But everything changes when she meets a Queen dragon. The bond they share will be deep and last forever. It will protect them when, for the first time in centuries, Lessa's world is threatened by Thread, an evil substance that falls like rain and destroys everything it touches. Dragons and their Riders once protected the planet from Thread and the blood-red star, but there are very few of them left these days. Only the gigantic, golden Queen can breed new dragons. And the Queen is fading... dying...

Now brave Lessa must risk her life, and the life of her beloved dragon, to save her beautiful world...]]> 299 Anne McCaffrey 0345484266 Em 4 sf-f 4.09 1968
author: Anne McCaffrey
name: Em
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1968
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/07
date added: 2023/09/07
shelves: sf-f
review:
re-read! Not the first time but the first time in a while. Still great. Not interested in interrogating this in any way in a review, it was too formative for my id.
]]> 110303
Enter their dazzling world of high society and breathtaking seduction…where each will seek love, fight temptation, and court scandal…and where Morgan Bedwyn, the willful youngest daughter, discovers that true love is a temptation no woman can—or should—resist.

Young. Ravishing. Exquisitely marriageable. From the moment he spies Lady Morgan Bedwyn across the glittering ballroom, Gervase Ashford, Earl of Rosthorn, knows he has found the perfect instrument of his revenge. But wedlock is not on the mind of the continent’s most notorious rake. Nor is it of interest to the fiercely independent Lady Morgan herself…until one night of shocking intimacy erupts in a scandal that could make Gervase’s vengeance all the sweeter. There is only one thing standing in his way: Morgan, who has achieved the impossible—she’s melted his coolly guarded heart. For Gervase, only the marriage bed will do, but Morgan simply will not have him. Thus begins a sizzling courtship where two wary hearts are about to be undone by the most scandalous passion of all: glorious, all-consuming love.]]> 356 Mary Balogh 0440241065 Em 4 m-f, romance
After the first two I tried were complete duds to me, I had low expectations for this book, but I actually really enjoyed it! It's not plot heavy, but the romance is nearly overshadowed (affectionate) by opening the book in Brussels right before Waterloo. It gives the first 2/3 of the book, and the budding romance, a sense of place and time that really grounds what would otherwise be nothing much to write home about - she's making her debut, he's a rake who wants to get back at her brother, he flirts, she shows that she has a brain - it's all fine, but the setting and the way the setting influences the characters (Morgan, in particular) sets it apart.

The back third, when Morgan has decided she was wrong to trust Gervase and is going to get back at him by...accepting his proposal and making him fall in love with her, is a bit thin in comparison. But by then I was ready to suspend my disbelief, and it all worked out.

Shockingly, this otherwise extremely traditional book knows lesbians exist? Another plus.]]> 3.87 2003
author: Mary Balogh
name: Em
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/03
date added: 2023/09/03
shelves: m-f, romance
review:
Wow, is Mary Balogh usually this good? Is this why she's so popular??

After the first two I tried were complete duds to me, I had low expectations for this book, but I actually really enjoyed it! It's not plot heavy, but the romance is nearly overshadowed (affectionate) by opening the book in Brussels right before Waterloo. It gives the first 2/3 of the book, and the budding romance, a sense of place and time that really grounds what would otherwise be nothing much to write home about - she's making her debut, he's a rake who wants to get back at her brother, he flirts, she shows that she has a brain - it's all fine, but the setting and the way the setting influences the characters (Morgan, in particular) sets it apart.

The back third, when Morgan has decided she was wrong to trust Gervase and is going to get back at him by...accepting his proposal and making him fall in love with her, is a bit thin in comparison. But by then I was ready to suspend my disbelief, and it all worked out.

Shockingly, this otherwise extremely traditional book knows lesbians exist? Another plus.
]]> 193551975
Cavalry lieutenant Russell Krause is all at sea in this strange new century of electric lights and automobiles. But he soon acquires a Caleb O’Connor, a kind-hearted, history-loving college student with secrets he’s desperate to hide. Caleb is gay, and he’s completely smitten with this lively, warm-hearted soldier, who has swiftly become his best friend.

But Russell’s nineteenth century understanding of friendship is far more affectionate than any 1960s friendship is allowed to be. In between telling Russell about escalators, record players, and the Civil Rights movement, Caleb has to explain that men in 1965 are no longer allowed to hold hands or share beds or kiss�� which is tough, because Caleb would love to be kissing Russell.

Despite these chilling changes in social customs, Caleb and Russell’s loving friendship grows ever closer. But the cultural divide may prove wider than even love can bridge. Content period-typical attitudes in general, but especially toward homosexuality.]]> 350 Aster Glenn Gray Em 0 to-read 4.23 2023
author: Aster Glenn Gray
name: Em
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 802145 488 Laura Kinsale 0425211665 Em 3 romance, m-f where they have the exchange, "I have no way to harm you."/" I have no shield if you do." There's some extremely romantic refusal to go to confession until your lover's excommunication from the church is forgiven. There's historical femdom!! It's extremely sexy.

There's also a big stretch in the second half where politics takes over, and while I appreciate the focus on Elena's development and growth and personal story, there's a big "a year passed" while her romantic interest is imprisoned and it very much killed the momentum for me. I let the book languish for weeks until I finally finished it.

CW: rape, late 14th century Christianity]]> 3.90 2004
author: Laura Kinsale
name: Em
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/27
date added: 2023/08/27
shelves: romance, m-f
review:
I was very into the romance in the first half. There are some KILLER lines, like the first sex scene
where they have the exchange, "I have no way to harm you."/" I have no shield if you do." There's some extremely romantic refusal to go to confession until your lover's excommunication from the church is forgiven. There's historical femdom!! It's extremely sexy.

There's also a big stretch in the second half where politics takes over, and while I appreciate the focus on Elena's development and growth and personal story, there's a big "a year passed" while her romantic interest is imprisoned and it very much killed the momentum for me. I let the book languish for weeks until I finally finished it.

CW: rape, late 14th century Christianity
]]> 67990585
Winter's Gifts will be Ben Aaronovitch's first US-set standalone story - featuring FBI Agent Reynolds, in the depths of winter, trying to solve a case which all gets pretty weird, pretty quick...]]> 214 Ben Aaronovitch 147322439X Em 2 sf-f
The audiobook narrator is not great, and only looks (sounds) worse when you put her next to Kobna Holdbrook-Smith. I think she's British? And attempting to do some kind of midwestern accent for an entire novella? Her website has a USA demo reel but that didn't convince me either. I would have just read it with my eyes but for some reason it's only available in the US as an audiobook at the moment.

But the narrator, while not a plus, didn't tank the book for me. It just wasn't that interesting. There's almost no magic in it and there's not much of a procedural. It's really just Reynolds wandering around a lake in Wisconsin, stumbling into something she doesn't understand, and saving the day more or less by accident, as far as I can tell. Again, I was distracted. Maybe there was more going on than I thought, but I'm not going to bother rereading to find out. ]]> 3.92 2023
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Em
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2023/08/24
date added: 2023/08/24
shelves: sf-f
review:
Was it not good because I was distracted, or was I distracted because it was not good?

The audiobook narrator is not great, and only looks (sounds) worse when you put her next to Kobna Holdbrook-Smith. I think she's British? And attempting to do some kind of midwestern accent for an entire novella? Her website has a USA demo reel but that didn't convince me either. I would have just read it with my eyes but for some reason it's only available in the US as an audiobook at the moment.

But the narrator, while not a plus, didn't tank the book for me. It just wasn't that interesting. There's almost no magic in it and there's not much of a procedural. It's really just Reynolds wandering around a lake in Wisconsin, stumbling into something she doesn't understand, and saving the day more or less by accident, as far as I can tell. Again, I was distracted. Maybe there was more going on than I thought, but I'm not going to bother rereading to find out.
]]> 57884665 Aristotle and Dante meets The Hate U Give meets The Sun Is Also A Star: A stunning YA contemporary love story about a Mexican-American teen who falls in love with an undocumented Mexican boy.

Finding home. Falling in love. Fighting to belong.

The Santos Vista neighborhood of San Antonio, Texas, is all Ander Martínez has ever known. The smell of pan dulce. The mixture of Spanish and English filling the streets. And, especially their job at their family's taquería. It's the place that has inspired Ander as a muralist, and, as they get ready to leave for art school, it's all of these things that give them hesitancy. That give them the thought, are they ready to leave it all behind?

To keep Ander from becoming complacent during their gap year, their family "fires" them so they can transition from restaurant life to focusing on their murals and prepare for college. That is, until they meet Santiago López Alvarado, the hot new waiter. Falling for each other becomes as natural as breathing. Through Santi's eyes, Ander starts to understand who they are and want to be as an artist, and Ander becomes Santi's first steps toward making Santos Vista and the United States feel like home.

Until ICE agents come for Santi, and Ander realizes how fragile that sense of home is. How love can only hold on so long when the whole world is against them. And when, eventually, the world starts to win.]]> 368 Jonny Garza Villa 1250843995 Em 0 to-read 4.21 2023
author: Jonny Garza Villa
name: Em
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61423847 A forbidden love between a Mexican heiress and a shrewd British politician makes for a tantalizing Victorian season.

Ana María Luna Valdés has strived to be the perfect daughter, the perfect niece, and the perfect representative of the powerful Luna familia. So, when Ana María is secretly sent to London with her sisters to seek refuge during the French occupation of Mexico, she experiences her first taste of freedom far from the judgmental eyes of her domineering father. If only she could ignore the piercing looks she receives across ballroom floors from the austere Mr. Fox.

Gideon Fox elevated himself from the London gutters by chasing his burning desire for more: more opportunities, more choices. For everyone. Now as a member of Parliament, Gideon's on the cusp of securing the votes he needs to put forth a measure to abolish the Atlantic slave trade once and for all--a cause that is close to his heart as the grandson of a formerly enslaved woman. The charmingly vexing Ana María is a distraction he must ignore.

But when Ana María finds herself in the crosshairs of a nefarious nobleman with his own political agenda, Gideon knows he must offer his hand as protection...but will this Mexican heiress win his heart as well?]]> 352 Liana De la Rosa 0593440889 Em 0 to-read 3.44 2023
author: Liana De la Rosa
name: Em
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 55135062 334 Aster Glenn Gray Em 0 to-read 4.21 2020
author: Aster Glenn Gray
name: Em
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 42275704 From��New York Times��bestselling author Sabrina Jeffries comes a sparkling new series about an��oft-widowed mother’s grown children, who blaze through society in their quest for the truth about their fathers . . . and in the process find that love just might conquer all . . .
��
A series of stepfathers and a difficult childhood have left Fletcher “Grey�� Pryde, 5th Duke of Greycourt, with a guarded heart, enviable wealth, and the undeserved reputation of a rogue. Grey’s focus on expanding his dukedom allows him little time to find a wife. But when his mother is widowed yet again and he meets the charmingly unconventional woman managing his stepfather’s funeral, he’s shocked to discover how much they have in common. Still, Grey isn’t interested in love, no matter how pretty, or delightfully outspoken, the lady . . .
��
Beatrice Wolfe gave up on romance long ago, and the arrogant Duke of Greycourt with his rakish reputation isn’t exactly changing her mind. Then Grey agrees to assist his grief-stricken mother with her latest “project��: schooling spirited, unfashionable Beatrice for her debut. Now that Beatrice is seeing through Grey’s charms to his wounded heart, she’s having trouble keeping him at arm’s length. But once Grey starts digging into her family’s secrets, she must decide whether her loyalties lie with her family . . . or with the man whose lessons capture her heart . . .�� ��
��]]> 208 Sabrina Jeffries 1420148591 Em 2 romance, m-f 3.82 2019
author: Sabrina Jeffries
name: Em
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at: 2023/08/09
date added: 2023/08/09
shelves: romance, m-f
review:
another insomnia book. I probably read about 80% of the actual words? It wasn't great.
]]> 63027759
Every love story begins with once upon a time .
��
London, 1832 : Isabelle Lira may be in distress, but she's no damsel. Since her father’s death, his former partners have sought to oust her from their joint equity business. Her only choice is to marry—and�� fast —to a powerful ally outside the respected Berab family’s sphere of influence. Only finding the right spouse will require casting a wide net. So she’ll host a series of festivals, to which�� every ��eligible Jewish man is invited.
��
Once, Aaron Ellenberg longed to have a family of his own. But as the synagogue custodian, he is too poor for wishes and not foolish enough for dreams. Until the bold, beautiful Isabelle Lira presents him with an irresistible offer . . . if he ensures her favored suitors have no hidden loyalties to the Berabs, she will provide him with money for a new life.
��
Yet the transaction provides surprising temptation, as Aaron and Isabelle find caring and passion in the last person they each expected. Only a future for them is impossible—for heiresses don’t marry orphans, and love only conquers in children’s tales. But if Isabelle can find the courage to trust her heart, she'll discover anything is possible, if only she says yes.��]]> 378 Felicia Grossman 1538722542 Em 0 to-read 3.54 2023
author: Felicia Grossman
name: Em
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 62873999
Qven was created to be a Presger translator. The pride of their Clade, they always had a clear path before them: learn human ways, and eventually, make a match and serve as an intermediary between the dangerous alien Presger and the human worlds. The realization that they might want something else isn't "optimal behavior". I's the type of behavior that results in elimination.

But Qven rebels. And in doing so, their path collides with those of two others. Enae, a reluctant diplomat whose dead grandmaman has left hir an impossible task as an inheritance: hunting down a fugitive who has been missing for over 200 years. And Reet, an adopted mechanic who is increasingly desperate to learn about his genetic roots--or anything that might explain why he operates so differently from those around him.

As a Conclave of the various species approaches--and the long-standing treaty between the humans and the Presger is on the line--the decisions of all three will have ripple effects across the stars.

Masterfully merging space adventure and mystery, and a poignant exploration about relationships and belonging, Translation State is a standalone story set in Leckie's celebrated Imperial Radch universe.]]> 422 Ann Leckie 031628971X Em 0 to-read 3.96 2023
author: Ann Leckie
name: Em
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 56476848
Alex White and Xander Browne are newly-hired curators in the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The rediscovery of a long-forgotten silver bowl covered in Arabic and Hebrew inscriptions sends the pair on a hunt for clues as to why it was made and by whom. Their search begins to unravel the secrets of the bowl’s origins as well as its connection to the Bencliffe family, whose centuries-old history is darkened by a legacy of madness and suicide.

What begins as a professional friendship for Alex and Xander quickly turns personal as the two find their lives increasingly intertwined in unanticipated ways. Far beyond a mere curatorial research project, the story of the Bencliffe bowl takes on the aura of destiny as Alex and Xander make discoveries together that turn their world upside down.

From neglected archives in New York and Boston to the shadowed corners of Cliffhanger, the turreted Bencliffe mansion looming over the Hudson River, the truth emerges, forcing Alex and Xander to wonder if, perhaps, their meeting might not have been a coincidence after all.


GENRE: Gay Paranormal Interracial Romance.
LENGTH: 62,374 words.]]> 209 Ulysses Grant Dietz 1646566408 Em 0 to-read 4.33
author: Ulysses Grant Dietz
name: Em
average rating: 4.33
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 62209768 Sometimes true love takes a little heavy lifting

The gym is Lizzie's life--it's her passion, her job, and the only place that's ever felt like home. Unfortunately, her bosses consider her a glorified check-in girl at best, and the gym punching bag at worst.

When their son, Lizzie's best friend, James, begs her to be his plus one at his perfect sister Cara's wedding, things go wrong immediately, and culminate in Lizzie giving a drunken pep talk to a hot stranger in the women's bathroom--except that stranger is actually the bride-to-be, and Lizzie has accidentally convinced her to ditch her groom.

Now, newly directionless Cara is on a quest to find herself, and Lizzie--desperate to make sure her bosses never find out her role in this fiasco--gets strong-armed by James into "entertaining" her. Cara doesn't have to know it's a setup; it'll just be a quick fling before she sobers up and goes back to her real life. After all, how could someone like Cara fall for someone like Lizzie, with no career and no future?

But the more Lizzie gets to know Cara, the more she likes her, and the bigger the potential disaster if any of her rapidly multiplying secrets get out. Because now it's not just Lizzie's job and entire future on the line, but also the girl of her dreams.]]> 304 Jennifer Dugan 0063307480 Em 2
All three main characters are self centered assholes, the main conflict is Cara's cartoonishly narcissistic and social climbing mom, and everyone's characterization changes depending on the current plot point.

I picked this up because I'm often willing to go out on a limb for f/f, I like dumb sports pun titles, and I love weight lifting. This book also failed to deliver on the weight lifting, which was disappointing.

The one positive is I am kind of glad that f/f has hit mainstream enough to get it's own mediocre books that could've been decent with a heavy developmental edit. Diversity win!]]> 3.42 2023
author: Jennifer Dugan
name: Em
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2023/07/23
date added: 2023/07/23
shelves: contemporary-romance, f-f, romance
review:
This was my insomnia read this weekend and I'm too tired to be diplomatic: it's not a good book.

All three main characters are self centered assholes, the main conflict is Cara's cartoonishly narcissistic and social climbing mom, and everyone's characterization changes depending on the current plot point.

I picked this up because I'm often willing to go out on a limb for f/f, I like dumb sports pun titles, and I love weight lifting. This book also failed to deliver on the weight lifting, which was disappointing.

The one positive is I am kind of glad that f/f has hit mainstream enough to get it's own mediocre books that could've been decent with a heavy developmental edit. Diversity win!
]]> 233649
Rand cannot run for ever. With every passing day the Dark One grows in strength and strives to shatter his ancient prison, to break the Wheel, to bring an end to Time and sunder the weave of the Pattern.

And the Pattern demands the Dragon.]]> 705 Robert Jordan 0812517725 Em 0 4.25 1990
author: Robert Jordan
name: Em
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1990
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/23
shelves:
review:
It's fine. I mostly read it between 1 and 3 am when I couldn't sleep.
]]> 164225904 “Welcome to One Wizard! How may I help you?��

Being an intern at a wizarding firm sounds magical on the page, but in practice mostly means getting yelled at by senior mages—and angry clients who’ve been turned into platypuses. So when Journeyman Wen receives a frantic call from a young man who’s awoken to a talisman on his bedroom wall and no memory of how it got there, they jump at the chance to escape call center duty and actually help someone for once.

But the case ends up being more complicated than Wen could ever have anticipated. Their client has been possessed by a demon prince from Hell, and he’s not interested in leaving…]]> 139 Em X. Liu 1786189917 Em 0 to-read 3.99 2023
author: Em X. Liu
name: Em
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 62365905 Casey McQuiston meets The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo in this mid-century romdram about a scrappy reporter and a newspaper mogul's son--perfect for Newsies shippers.

Nick Russo has worked his way from a rough Brooklyn neighborhood to a reporting job at one of the city's biggest newspapers. But the late 1950s are a hostile time for gay men, and Nick knows that he can't let anyone into his life. He just never counted on meeting someone as impossible to say no to as Andy.

Andy Fleming's newspaper-tycoon father wants him to take over the family business. Andy, though, has no intention of running the paper. He's barely able to run his life--he's never paid a bill on time, routinely gets lost on the way to work, and would rather gouge out his own eyes than deal with office politics. Andy agrees to work for a year in the newsroom, knowing he'll make an ass of himself and hate every second of it.

Except, Nick Russo keeps rescuing Andy: showing him the ropes, tracking down his keys, freeing his tie when it gets stuck in the ancient filing cabinets. Their unlikely friendship soon sharpens into feelings they can't deny. But what feels possible in secret--this fragile, tender thing between them--seems doomed in the light of day. Now Nick and Andy have to decide if, for the first time, they're willing to fight.]]> 384 Cat Sebastian 0063272768 Em 0 to-read 4.25 2023
author: Cat Sebastian
name: Em
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/10
shelves: to-read
review:

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