Ridiculous. How is Jan 2024 OVER already?

The weather has been frequently crappy, and I’ve been unmotivated, so a fair amount of reading was done in January.

Just over 50% rereads, which, not really a surprise. And only three and a half books had new-to-me authors, so in that sense I had an idea of what I was getting.

There were two books I actively disliked. Once because it focused on characters I disliked the other because it was all about the boinking and didn’t have enough story to keep my interest.

But I did discover a couple new series, by authors I already liked!

I’d only read Lish McBride’s YA fantasies. Uncanny Romance is a boinking series, but I was easily able to skim those bits and enjoy the story.

I discovered Katharine Schellman’s Lily Adler series last fall and very much enjoyed it, so I decided to try this series, even though it was set in the US–historicals set in the US tend to make me skittish. I don’t like historicals that pretend slavery and segregation didn’t exist, but I have a hard time with stories that go into too much detail about sexism and racism. (I know. It’s ridiculous.)

Last Call at the Nightingale didn’t gloss over the racism and sexism and poverty of the Roaring 20s, but it didn’t dwell on it, hitting a good balance for me. (I know the world has been and continues to be awful for many people. Reading about it in detail puts me into a tailspin I have trouble escaping.) So I’ve got the next book lined up.

I ended up reading three ace romances, two of which had characters with ASD. And I ended up reading them one after another. My favorite of the lot was The Mistletoe Motive, despite the fact I generally dislike “enemies to lovers” as a trope.

Fantasy

• Uncanny Romance by Lish McBride:  A Little Too Familiar (2022) 8/10, Rough Around the Hedges (2023) 8/10
• Socially Orcward (2021) Lisa Henry and Sarah Honey (Adventures in Aguillon) 7.5/10
• Wolf Gone Wild (2020) Juliette Cross (Stay a Spell) 3.5/10

Mystery

• Last Call at the Nightingale (2022) Katharine Schellman (Nightingale Mysteries) 8.5/10
• Mrs. Holloway’s Christmas Pudding (2023) Jennifer Ashley (Kat Holloway Mysteries) 8/10
• Bodies from the Library: Lost Tales of Mystery and Suspense from the Golden Age of Detection (2018) 6/10

Romance

• A Kiss for Midwinter (2012) Courtney Milan (Brothers Sinister) 10/10
• Glass Tidings (2016) Amy Jo Cousins 9/10
• A Christmas Dance (2014) Alissa Johnson 8.5/10
• A Holiday By Gaslight (2018) Mimi Matthews 8.5/10
• The Mistletoe Motive (2021) Chloe Liese 8/10
• Shelter in Garnet Run (2023) Roan Parrish (Garnet Run) 6/10
• Stubbed Toes and Dating Woes (2023) Dahlia Donovan 6/10

Graphic Novels

• Bingo Love (2018) Tee Franklin, Joy San & Jenn St-Onge 7.5/10
• Rivers of London Vol. 10: Deadly Ever After (2022) Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Celeste Bronfman, Joseph Maria Beroy 3/10

Audio Books

• Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith:  Foxglove Summer, Audio Book (2014) 9.5/10, What Abigail Did That Summer, Audio Book (2021) also narrated by Shvorne Marks 9/10, The Furthest Station, Audio Book (2017) 9/10, The Hanging Tree, Audio Book (2017) 9/10, Lies Sleeping, Audio Book (2018) 9.5/10, False Value, Audio Book (2020) 8.5/10, Amongst Our Weapons, Audio Book (2020) 9/10
• The October Man, Audio Book (2018) Ben Aaronovitch narrated by Sam Peter Jackson (Rivers of London) 8.5/10

Apropos only of books, I’ve been putting together two spreadsheets: one for books with queer rep, and the other for those with mental and physical health rep. I’ve moved the to google docs, so I may make them publicly available to view.

We’ll see.