I read a lot of romance this year. As the dumpster fire that is 2020 continued, I simply couldn’t stand to read anything that wasn’t going to end well. Really, I picked mostly happy, fluffy books, with little to no angst.

Because 2020.

Something to Talk About (2020) Meryl Wilsner – Berkley
Contemporary, LGBT

Cover design and illustration by Vi-An Nguyen

Cover the first that promoted me to read a book that I might not otherwise have been interested in.

The story was fine, but I didn’t like it as much as I liked the cover.

There’s something her that makes me keep looking at all the different bits, as my eye rovers around. In some ways it’s very simple–almost a line drawing–but you also see immediately what is happening–one woman is whispering into the ear of the other. It’s also a scene from early in the book, which is lovely.

Boyfriend Material (2020) Alexis Hall – Sourcebooks Casablanca
Contemporary, LGBT

Cover design and illustration by Elizabeth Turner Stokes

I love absolutely everything about this book.

I love the bold colors and the boxes and subtle drawings of things and how Luc (it’s obviously Luc) is leaning casually while Oliver is upright and in a suit.

All I can think of is Luc saying “In the end I went with my skinniest jeans, my pointiest shoes, the only shirt I could find that didn’t need ironing.” Even if he’s not wearing a jacket here.

UGH. This story. Even looking at the cover makes me want to read it all over again.

Blank Spaces (2016) Cass Lennox (Toronto Connections) – Riptide
Contemporary, LGBT, Mystery

Cover art: L.C. Chase

This is another perfect cover. I love all the things about it–the colors, the space between the two, the pinkie join–everything.

Real Men Knit (2020) Kwana Jackson – Berkley
Contemporary

Cover art and design by Farjana Yasmin

This is another book where I was drawn to read book because of the cover, and ended up disappointed, because the story didn’t live up to the cover. Which makes me sad because I love almost everything about this cover, from the colors to the guy knitting to the yarn loops around the title.

The Kiss Quotient (2018) Helen Hoang – Berkley
Contemporary

Cover design and illustration by Colleen Reinhart

I think these drawn / comic style covers just really work for me. But the fact they’re standing on the long division symbol makes the entire cover for me.

Get a Life, Chloe Brown (2019) Talia Hibbert – Avon
Contemporary

Cover design and illustration by Ashley Caswell

Chloe looks precisely as described in the book.

Precisely.

I love all the rep this cover gives. It’s lovely.

Meet Cute Club (2020) Jack Harbon (Sweet Rose)
Contemporary, LGBT

Cover by Jack Harbon

He designed his own cover.

Let that sink in for a minute.

This cover that initially drew my attention to the book, was made by the author.

This shames every single terrible cover we’re still getting from major publishers.

Upside Down (2019) N.R. Walker – BlueHeart Press
Contemporary, LGBT

N.R. Walker & SJ York

This is a non-comic/drawn cover (thus breaking the trend) but I really adore it because everything about it matches the story. It’s simple and eye catching and cute.

Glass Tidings (2016) Amy Jo Cousins
Contemporary, LGBT

Cover art: L.C. Chase

This cover is gorgeous. No, it doesn’t tell you it’s a romance, although it does give you a hint of the story, with Eddie walking away.

But mostly it’s just so very pretty and evocative and I really want that as a Christmas ornament for my tree.

The Remaking of Corbin Wale (2017) Roan Parrish – Monster Press
Contemporary, LGBT

Cover design by Natasha Snow

Again, this book doesn’t tell you it’s a romance, but it also isn’t something you’d likely be seeing on the shelves of stores, and chances are someone looking at this story already knows about Roan Parrish, so if that is the case it does hint that this is going to be a somewhat less angsty story than is normal for her.

It also gives hints to the fact that you’re never quite sure if this is actually a fantasy or not. (I lean towards not.)

All the blues blues and the sky and the snow–it’s just another flat-out gorgeous cover.

The Books of 2020

A Murderous Relation (2020) Deanna Raybourn (Veronica Speedwell) – Berkley
Historical

Cover art and design by Leo Nickolls

I love the covers for this series. Just two colors with everything looking embossed. Embossed shapes above the silhouette of Veronica. It’s just so simple and lovely.

Who Speaks for the Damned (2020) C.S. Harris (Sebastian St. Cyr) – Berkley
Historical

Jacket art: cloaked running man by Roy Bishop / Arcangel
Jacket design by Adam Auerbach

Although my favorite cover will always be the original first book in this series, I do like these covers. Again, we have the character in silhouette, and everything monochromatic.

I love the ships in the background.

I love that although the basics of the above to covers are the same (two colors, characters in silhouette) each is recognizable as being to that author and that series.

A Stroke of Malice (2020) Anna Lee Huber (A Lady Darby Mystery) – Berkley
Historical

Cover by Larry Rostant

This cover is also primarily composed of two colors (although some of the earliest books in this series had far more color) but is quite different from the other two, and also recognizable as a Lady Darby cover, with her in the foreground, facing away from you looking towards a somewhat barren or empty landscape.

The green here is lovely and eye catching, really making the cover, especially since greens often look artificial to me.

The Art of Theft (2019) Sherry Thomas (Lady SHerlock) – Berkley
Historical

Cover Design by Vikki Chu

This cover also follows the pattern of the previous books in the series, with Charlotte Holmes centered and looking behind her, mists or fog obscuring the scene beyond her.

As you might have noticed, Berkley swept the field this year, which isn’t a surprise because they produce my favorite mystery covers, year after year.

The Books of 2020

I didn’t read a lot of new fantasy this year–most of the new books I read were automatic pre-order authors, and even then in some cases it took me months to actually read the books I pre-ordered.

Spells for the Dead (2020) Faith Hunter (Soulwood) – Ace
Supernatural, Mystery

Cover art by Cliff Nielson
Cover design by Katie Anderson

Every single cover in this series has made by best-of-the-year list.

They’re gorgeous and they are very clearly part of the same series, although I’ll note Nell has broken out of the circles of of the previous books–which pretty much describes Nell in this book, that she has pretty firmly broken with her past.

I adore the swirly colors in these covers.

Shattered Bonds (2019) Faith Hunter (Jane Yellowrock) – Ace
Supernatural

Cover art by Cliff Nielsen
Cover design by Katie Anderson

Even in the first books, when they clearly didn’t have a cover budget, Ace managed to portray Jane pretty perfectly. I love that they now consistently have a Native American model for Jane, and I adore how from the start it is clear that Jane is the hero of her own story.

These covers have become more monochromatic as the series has progressed, and the colors have shifted to icy whites and blues.

The Affair of the Mysterious Letter (2019) Alexis Hall – Ace
Steampunk, LGBT

Cover design by Adam Auerbach

This is a simple but effective cover. The silhouettes which are currently so popular in mysteries are giving you a clue (ha) that in addition to fantasy (see the tentacles) this is also a mystery. And her dress gives you the idea that it’s going to be some Victorian flavor.

It’s simple and good.

A Study in Honor (2018) Claire O’Dell (The Janet Watson Chronicles) – Harper Voyager
SF, LGBT, Mystery

Cover design by Richard L. Aquan
Cover illustration by Chris McGrath

I love this cover, and it does a good job of representing the content of the book. The story has so many elements hidden in the shadows it feels precisely like this cover looks.

A Wizard’s Guide To Defensive Baking (2020) T. Kingfisher – Red Wombat Studio
YA

This is another cover that accurately represents the content: pissed off gingerbread men.

It’s a fun story and this simple cover perfectly illustrates that.

Passing Strange (2017) Ellen Klages – Tor
Historical, LGBT

Cover art by Gregory Manchess
Cover design by Christine Foltzer

This cover is so very pretty.

It actually depicts a scene from the story, and also (with the shadows in the corners) hits at the mysterious elements of the tale.

Turning Darkness Into Light (2019) Marie Brennan – Tor
Historical, YA

Cover art by Todd Lockwood

Although this cover isn’t as gorgeous as the covers for the Lady Trent books (which are some of the most beautiful covers I saw in probably the past decade) it does have a similar feel to the other related books, while also telling you this story is about different characters.

It also feels like it could well be an illustration of the book the two main characters are translating.

The House in the Cerulean Sea (2020) TJ Klune – Tor
LGBT, Alternate Timeline

Cover art by Red Nose Studio

This cover is very different from any of the other fantasy covers I particularly liked this year, which is perfect, because it’s very much not like the rest of the fantasy books I read this year.

The colors are bold and eye catching, and the house teetering on the edge of the cliff is a perfect representation of all the main characters in the story.

It’s lovely.

Ace – 3
Tor – 3

It looks like this year is a tie between Ace and Tor, which is a good showing for Tor, because Ace usually, well, aces the best covers in any given year.

The Books of 2020

As is traditional, I’ll start with the book covers I hated. That way we can be positive from there on out.

Pleasantly, there were only three covers I really disliked this year, and as expected, they were all from Avon.

Emerald Blaze (2020) Ilona Andrews (Hidden Legacy) – Avon

This isn’t as awful as the other covers in this series–but that’s not saying a whole lot, since it’s still pretty awful.

I do not understand what they have done to get such abysmal covers, but they are always awful. I don’t recall her wearing a dress even once in this story–and the dress in the picture is ill-fitting. They did an awful job photoshopping her knife/sword into her hand, and the guy just creeps me out, with his blank stare and no neck and terribly photoshopped hands.

Ugh.

A Delicate Deception (2019) Cat Sebastian (Regency Imposters) – Avon

His shirt unbuttoned and tucked into his pants. Besides that there’s nothing explicitly awful about it, yet it creeps me out.

Daring and the Duke (2020) Sarah MacLean (The Bareknuckle Bastards) – Avon

Again, there is nothing specific about this cover I can put my finger on, but I hate it all.

The Books of 2020

It’s that time again–time to rave about my favorite books of the year!

I read a LOT this year. Not including December (which still has half a month to go) I read more books in a single month than I did previously.

The Book Covers I Hated
My Favorite Fantasy Covers
My Favorite Mystery Covers
My Favorite Romance Covers
My Favorite Comic Books
My Favorite Mystery Books
My Favorite Fantasy Books
My Favorite Romance Books
The Stats of 2020!
The Books of 2020: Wrap Up

The start of the month was all re-reads, but as the political news progressed, so did my ability to read new book.

First off, I read and really liked three new(ish) releases!

Spells for the Dead by Faith Hunter is her latest book in the Soulwood series, which runs parallel to the Jane Yellowrock series. The events in Jane’s series have gotten so big there haven’t been any clean conclusions to any of those books in awhile. This series, being more of a procedural, has a completed story arc, although Nell’s personal life is still a bit of a mess. Which is fine.

Conventionally Yours by Annabeth Albert is one I’d put off reading, since I generally dislike enemies to lovers, however, I was told it wasn’t that type of enemies to lovers story, so I picked it up, and was glad I did.

The Deadly Hours is a sequential anthology by Susanna Kearsley, Anna Lee Huber, Christine Trent, C.S. Harris. I’ll be honest, I didn’t like the third story at all, but the rest of the novellas were excellent.

Valor: Swords edited by Isabelle Melançon and Megan Lavey-Heaton is a graphic novel about self-rescuing princesses. It’s folk and fairy tales retold, with LGBT & POC main characters. It’s wonderful.

Glass Tidings by Amy Jo Cousins is a holiday story and it had a bunch of elements I really liked.

Plus, of course, I re-read books that I already knew I loved, because the start of the month needed all the comfort.

Fantasy, Supernatural

Tales from the Folly: A Rivers of London Short Story Collection (2020) Ben Aaronovitch (Rivers of London) 7/10

Spells for the Dead (2020) Faith Hunter (Soulwood) 8/10

Emerald Blaze (2020) Ilona Andrews (Hidden Legacy)

Romance, LGBT

Boyfriend Material (2020) Alexis Hall 9.5/10

And Everything Nice (2016) Ada Maria Soto 8.5/10

Joy (2017) C.S. Poe (A Lancaster Story) 8.5/10

Kneading You (2016) C.S. Poe (A Lancaster Story) 8.5/10

Conventionally Yours (2020) Annabeth Albert (True Colors) 8/10

Glass Tidings (2016) Amy Jo Cousins 8/10

Three Stupid Weddings (2018) Ann Gallagher 7.5/10

A Boy and His Dragon (2013) R. Cooper (Beings in Love) 7/10

His Mossy Boy (2017) R. Cooper (Beings in Love) 7.5/10

Ben’s Bakery and the Hanukkah Miracle (2018) Penelope Peters

Gifts for the Season: Winter & Christmas MM Charity Anthology (2020)

Romance

Real Men Knit (2020) Kwana Jackson

Mystery, Historical

Secrets in the Mist (2016) Anna Lee Huber (Gothic Myths) 8/10

A Vigil of Spies (2008) Candace Robb (Owen Archer) 8/10

The Deadly Hours (2020) Susanna Kearsley, Anna Lee Huber, Christine Trent, C.S. Harris 8/10

A Pretty Deceit (2020) Anna Lee Huber (Verity Kent) 7/10

Graphic Novels

Valor: Swords (2015) edited by Isabelle Melançon and Megan Lavey-Heaton 8.5/10

Audio Books

Half-Resurrection Blues, Audio Edition (2015) Daniel José Older, narrated by Daniel José Older (Bone Street Rumba) 8/10

Skinwalker, Audio Edition (2009/2010) Faith Hunter narrated by Khristine Hvam (Jane Yellowrock) 8/10

I still don’t feel like writing up the stats, so I’ll end here, and just ask if you’ve read anything really good in the past month.

It’s not really October, it’s actually March the 200th.

Coming as no surprise to ANYONE, it was all comfort all the time here. Because I just can’t even with pretty much anything right now.

Alexis Hall is a new favorite author; he writes MM romances, and even the ones that don’t work for me are still good and compelling (that would be the BDSM romance, which was kind of like reading an anthropological study for me, since that may as well be a foreign land to my brain).

I didn’t love either of these books as much as I loved Boyfriend Material, but they were still very enjoyable (even the one that felt like visiting a foreign land where I didn’t speak the language).

I did read a handful of new-to-me books, and although a couple of them worked for me, most didn’t. I feel kind of bad for those books, because there is a good chance it wasn’t the books, it was me. So if something looks interesting to you and I didn’t rate it highly, consider that it might just have been the wrong book for me right now.

Despite my lower rating, you may want to consider A Study in Honor. I didn’t love it, but that’s because it’s a SF dystopia, and I don’t like either of those genres. But the characters were great and I enjoyed the mystery as well as the Holmes & Watson riff.

And if you’re struggling like I am, I do have some recommendations for some of my favorite comfort reads. Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV.

Romance, LGBT

Glitterland (2018) Alexis Hall (Spires) 8.5/10
For Real (2018) Alexis Hall (Spires) 7/10
Finders Keepers (2018) N.R. Walker 8.5/10
Galaxies and Oceans (2018) N.R. Walker8.5/10
Invitation to the Blues (2018) Roan Parrish (Small Change) 8/10
Raze (2019) Roan Parrish (Riven) 8/10
Two Rogues Make a Right (2020) Cat Sebastian (Seducing the Sedgwicks) 8/10
Something to Talk About (2020) Meryl Wilsner7/10
A Delicate Deception (2019) Cat Sebastian (Regency Imposters)
Passing Strange (2017) Ellen Klages
Elements of Retrofit (2017) N.R. Walker (Thomas Elkin)

Fantasy

Eight Skilled Gentlemen (1990) Barry Hughart (The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox)

Fantasy, Urban

The Case of the Damaged Detective (2020) Drew Hayes (5-Minute Sherlock) 7.5/10

Science Fiction

A Study in Honor (2018) Claire O’Dell (The Janet Watson Chronicles)

Mystery

Death at La Fenice (1992) Donna Leon (Commissario Brunetti) 8.5/10
Execution in E (2020) Alexia Gordon (Gethsemane Brown) 7/10

Audio Books

Last Watch, Audio Edition (2009/2010) Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield narrated by Paul Michael 8.5/10

Non-Fiction

Mindf*ck: Cambridge Analytica and the Plot to Break America (2019) Christopher Wylie

Once more, I don’t feel up to going into the stats, except to say that I’ve already blown past my previous records for books read in a single year. I read 230 books in 2017, but as of today, I’ve already read 254 books. Which is insane, except that we are in a pandemic, and I did break my foot in May, both of which have kept me home more than usual.

So that’s October in books. Anyone read anything particularly excellent in October?

Welp. It’s fall. At least it’s feeling like fall, temperature-wise.

I had a LOT of re-reads this month, but I did read some new-to-me books as well, some of which were very good.

What did I especially like this month?

Spooky Business by S.E. Harmon which is the latest entry in The Spectral Files. (And perhaps the last book?)

I read two books by Alexis Hall: Boyfriend Material and Waiting for the Flood and now I believe I need to go and read everything he has written.

Also excellent was Galaxies and Oceans by N.R. Walker which was more angsty than I’d come to expect from her, but also went all kinds of places I wasn’t expecting, keeping me turning pages when I should have been going to sleep. But it was worth it.

Then there was Better Than People by Roan Parrish which was LESS angsty than I’d come to expect from her, and was full of pets. Adorable!

Fantasy

A Wizard’s Guide To Defensive Baking Fantasy, Supernatural

Alpha and Omega (2007) Patricia Briggs8/10
Cry Wolf (2008) Patricia Briggs (Alpha & Omega) 9/10
Hunting Ground (2009) Patricia Briggs (Alpha & Omega) 8/10
(2020) T. Kingfisher 7.5/10
Fair Game (2012) Patricia Briggs (Alpha & Omega) 8.5/10
Unappreciated Gifts (2014) Patricia Briggs from A Fantastic Holiday Season: The Gift of Stories 8.5/10
Dead Heat (2015) Patricia Briggs (Alpha & Omega) 8.5/10
Burn Bright (2018) Patricia Briggs (Alpha & Omega) 8/10

Fantasy, LGBT

Love, Marriage, and a Baby Carriage (2016) C.S. Poe9/10
The Sumage Solution (2017) G. L. Carriger (San Andreas Shifters) 7/10
The Omega Objection (2018) G. L. Carriger (San Andreas Shifters) 7.5/10
The Enforcer Enigma (2020) G. L. Carriger (San Andreas Shifters) 7.5/10

Mystery

Fatality in F (2019) Alexia Gordon (Gethsemane Brown) 7/10

Mystery, Historical

Murder in the East End (2020) Jennifer Ashley (Kat Holloway) 7.5/10

Mystery, LGBT

Spooky Business (2020) S.E. Harmon (The Spectral Files) 8/10
The Best Corpse for the Job (2014) Charlie Cochrane (Lindenshaw Mysteries)

Romance

Ice Cream Lover (2019) Jackie Lau (Baldwin Village)

Romance, Historical

A Dangerous Deceit (2017) Alissa Johnson (The Thief-Takers) 8/10

Romance, LGBT

Boyfriend Material (2020) Alexis Hall9.5/10
Galaxies and Oceans (2018) N.R. Walker8.5/10
Better Than People (2020) Roan Parrish (Garnet Run) 8/10
Waiting for the Flood (2018) Alexis Hall (Spires) 8/10
Hottie Scotty and Mr. Porter (2017) R. Cooper 8/10
How to Be a Normal Person (2014) TJ Klune8/10
The Pursuit Of… (2018) Courtney Milan 7.5/10
Best of Both Worlds (2017) N.R. Walker7/10

Audio Books

Day Watch, Audio Edition (2000/2006/2010) Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield and narrated by Paul Michael (Night Watch) 8.5/10

And…. I don’t feel like doing a round-up of stats this month.

What have you read that’s particularly good?

Lastly, some contemporary romances I’ve been re-reading for comfort. These are in increasing order of heat (ie amount of boinking) More than half are ace romances, though some of those do have some boinking.

His Quiet Agent (2017) by Ada Maria Soto is an ace romance that has few of the elements people think of when they hear romance. There is no boinking or even kissing. Just two people slowly (slowly) becoming friends and being there for each other.

I have read a lot of books by N.R. Walker recently, and I went back to reread Upside Down (2019) because it was the sweetest and cuddliest and most adorable thing. This is another ace romance, and there is some kissing—but that’s it. The two ride the same bus home every day, a romance develops, and the entire bus becomes invested in their romance. IT IS SO SWEET! I may need to go re-read it again. Just because it makes me so happy.

Another ace story, Play It Again (2019) by Aidan Wayne is a long distance romance where the two fall in love over text messages and phone calls. One character and his sister are YouTube stars—the other works in IT in Ireland and I almost want to see if the audio version gets their voices right.

How to Be a Normal Person (2014) by TJ Klune is yet another ace romance, and is also completely crazy. Gus is neuroatypical and runs the video store his father started and ran until his death. Gus has three friends, who are elderly biker ladies, and maybe the woman who runs the local coffee shop. When her nephew comes to town, Gus doesn’t know how to deal with this ace stoner hipster, except to try and maybe become a normal person so this ace stoner hipster who he is unsure about maybe will like him.

Although Blank Spaces (2016) by Cass Lennox is an ace story, the second character is very much NOT ace and although nothing is graphic, he has sexual encounters throughout the story (although not with the romantic interest). I spent most of the book worrying how things were going to work out between the two, because they were so incompatible on one level, even if they worked so well on all other levels. There is also a mystery element that was interesting.

For Better or Worse (2017) by R. Cooper has a demisexual main character who has fallen for his neighbor and co-worker, but because he is completely unable to read emotional cues, and because he doesn’t even know if his co-worker is gay or bi, he has no idea what he should do about how he feels. There is boinking here.

And the rest of the books all have explicit sex.

Work for It (2019) by Talia Hibbert is a novella that is part of her Just for Him series. I read it without having read the preceding books and it was good, but it was far better after having read his sister’s book. Olu was outed after his ex sold sex pictures to the tabloids. He was disinherited, but since he’d invested much of the money he’d received from his father, he’s fine financially, but completely lost and unsure what to do with himself (aside from worrying about his pregnant sister). This is rather angsty, but Olu is such a fascinating character, and you really want things to work out for him. And of course his love interest is a complete cinnamon roll who you want all the good things for.

And finishing up the comfort reads is C.S. Poe. I’ve liked everything of hers I’ve read, but I found her Lancaster series: Color of You (2017), Joy (2017), Kneading You (2019) to be especially comforting. They are novellas, and the issues and problems are all external. All the books are sweet and lovely. And then there is her short story Love, Marriage, and a Baby Carriage (2016) which is where she essentially took every single trope she could think of, and put them into a single story. So it’s a virgin, fated-mates, surprise baby, shifter story. With chase scenes. It. Is. Fantastic.

And that’s what I’ve been reading for comfort this year. Dog only knows I’ll need more in the coming days.

Time for more comfort reads–this round is historical romances.

I’ve loved historical genre fiction from my introduction to Sherlock Holmes (and then Agatha Christie). Which I recognize weren’t initially historical fiction, but they gave me a love of stories set in the past. When I discovered that some authors actually do tons of research on the periods in which their stories were set, I was hooked.

I’ll start with the only books without boinking, the Regency London series by Michelle Diener: The Emperor’s Conspiracy (2012), Banquet of Lies (2013), A Dangerous Madness (2014). (She has also written a series about two actual historical individuals, Susanna Horenbout and John Parker, which is also good.)

But there is something about this mystery/romance series I find particularly comforting. The second book is my favorite—it features a young woman who is hiding from her father’s killer, and uses her hobby of cooking to hide in plain sight—as a young French chef just starting on her own. I love her trips to the market and the descriptions of the meals she makes—as well as her search for someone she can trust with the information her father gave her.

The first book is the least likely of the three, but once I got past the premise of an older woman being willing to adopt an orphan sweep stuck in her chimney, it’s quite good.

She does an excellent job with her characters, giving them distinct personalities and realistic motivations, which makes the whole thing enjoyable.

All the rest of the books have boinking. Just so you know.

I discovered Alissa Johnson when I picked up the first book in her Thief-Takers series: A Talent for Trickery (2015), A Gift for Guile (2016), A Dangerous Deceit (2017). These are mysteries as well as romances, and the first two stories deal with the daughters of a confidence man who, after his death, left London and changed their names to hide from the many people who might want to take revenge upon them. The thief-takers of the title worked with her father, and hope the man’s old journals might give them a clue in solving a series of thefts that ended in murder.

The third book is especially interesting as it has a young woman who has an auditory processing disorder as the heroine. I generally don’t care for stories where a lack of communication causes the problems between characters, but in this case she has excellent reasons for hiding her problems—especially since she doesn’t initially believe she is in danger.

Her other two series, The Providence Series: As Luck Would Have It (2008), Tempting Fate (2009), McAlistair’s Fortune (2009), Destined To Last (2010) and Haverston Family series: Nearly a Lady (2011), An Unexpected Gentleman (2011), Practically Wicked (2012) and thoroughly enjoyable historical romances, all of which have lots of witty banter (which is always a favorite of mine). They’re fun and very enjoyable.

Courtney Milan has written some excellent historical books, but my favorite is the Brothers Sinister series: The Duchess War (2012) A Kiss for Midwinter (2012) The Heiress Effect (2013) The Countess Conspiracy (2013). There is another book and novella, but I stopped here in my re-reading.

The Countess Conspiracy is my favorite of all her books, but the novella A Kiss for Midwinter comes in a close second. In the Countess Conspiracy, Sebastian presents Violet’s scientific work as his own, because no one will accept a woman as being capable of such work. Eventually, the lies get to Sebastian and their long friendship falls apart because of that, as well as the secrets Violet has been hiding.

A Kiss for Midwinter has a young doctor looking for a wife, and the young woman who believes the doctor is judging her for past mistakes. This story is set just as doctors were discovering germ theory, and the doctor is a proponent of both germ theory and of women not having babies until they wear themselves out and die. But all four of these stories are excellent and well-worth your time (as are the following two, I just don’t love them quite as well).

KJ Charles writes queer romances, primarily MM. And she also has diverse characters, which is something you don’t often find in historical romance. Sins of the Cities: An Unseen Attraction (2017), An Unnatural Vice (2017), An Unsuitable Heir (2017) has one main character who is the son of a noble and a nursemaid (CW: it’s made quite clear the nursemaid was raped, and then went back to India, leaving her bastard son behind. Which is a lot.) The rest of the series deals with the mysteries uncovered in the first book but has different main characters.

The Society of Gentlemen series: A Fashionable Indulgence (2015), A Seditious Affair (2015), A Gentleman’s Position (2016) has a lot of focus upon just how dangerous MM affairs could be, leading not just to social ruin, but possibly to jail and deportation.

Think of England (2015) is a stand-alone mystery and one of my favorites. A young man is trying to discover why a batch of guns exploded, killing and maiming so many of his men (he did not escape unscathed).

Band Sinister (2018) is her take on Georgette Heyer’s Venetia. It’s a delightful romp.

Cat Sebastian also write queer romance, and the best of the lot is A Gentleman Never Keeps Score (2018) (Seducing the Sedgwicks), which is The Sound of Music with a young rector instead of a nun. It is a LOT of fun.

Any suggestions for comfort reads? Here are some of my non-romance and romance-adjacent recommendations.

As I said yesterday, I was somewhat (but not wholly) surprised to see that a lot of my comfort reading was either romance or romance-adjacent.

The reason it isn’t a surprise is because romance has a guaranteed HEA (happily ever after), and right now, I need some kind of guarantee that things are going to be ok—even if those things are only fictional.

On the romance-adjacent front is the Trickster series by Rob Thurman: Trick of the Light (2009), The Grimrose Path (2010)

I love the Cal Leandros series—except that it ended badly and she apparently wrote what was supposed to be the final book in the series, so I never read the last book that was actually published in the series. That give me a sense of unease, plus Cal has a lot of angst (much of it justified) and that’s just a little more darkness than I can handle right now. So instead I read another duology set in the same world.

This story has some of the same feel as the Cal stories: Griff and Zeke are somewhat parallels to Cal & Nico, as well as the Korsak Brothers. But Trixa is female, and as a narrator–unreliable as hell. Which is fine.

As much as I hate them in real life, I adore fictional trickster figures. Plus, she’s more chaotic good, which is always a little easier to read. Chaotic evil tricksters tend to be villains—and generally paper thin ones at that.

I’m in the middle of re-reading the Alpha & Omega series by Patricia Briggs: Alpha and Omega: A Companion Novella to Cry Wolf (2007), Cry Wolf (2008), Hunting Ground (2009), Fair Game (2012)

This series is a little shorter than the Mercy Thompson series, and I’m saving Mercy for if things don’t get better (although I will totally skip Iron Kissed, because I just can’t read that right now.)

Although in this series Anna is badly damaged by her past, the series—especially the earlier books—are about her healing, as well as learning to save herself. It’s very cathartic to see Anna rebuild her life. And it’s also good to see the work that she and Charles put into their relationship—not just because of Anna’s past, but also because of who Charles had to become for his father, to keep the werewolves safe.

But this series may well not be for everyone since Anna’s abuse is referred to throughout the series, especially in the earlier books. And although most everything is off the page, there are harmed children in more than one book.

But the books do always end on a positive upbeat note, with Charles and Anna having a stronger relationship as the series goes on.

Everything I have read by Angel Martinez is MM or MF romance and quite explicit. Which is definitely not going to be for everyone. But her fantasy is extremely interesting and very well done.

Uncommonly Tidy Poltergeists (2017) is a novella about a man trying to deal with a haunting. Also, Taro is ace, which is not a common characteristic in romance, so the story navigates the relationship he develops as well as trying to figure out how to deal with his suspected ghosts. It’s a very sweet story, and leaves me feeling ridiculously happy.

The Brandywine Investigations series Open for Business (2016), Family Matters (2018) has some wonderful world building, that works extremely well with the MM focus of her stories. The gods (from Greek mythology as well as all the other pantheons) exist in the world, and have to keep themselves hidden from people, while also keeping themselves busy.

Each book has three stories, and each story centers are two different characters, although Hades appears quite often throughout the books. My favorite stories are the first, where Hades decides to become a private detective after Persephone sues for divorce, needing to become her own woman, and the forth story, which involves Dionysus and a Minotaur.

These stories are definitely not for everyone, but they are delightful (as are all the stories of hers I have read.)

Then there is Charlie Adhara’s Big Bad Wolf series: The Wolf at the Door (2018), The Wolf at Bay (2018), Thrown to the Wolves (2019), which is officer of the law agent dealing with the supernatural in a world where the supernatural is not supposed to exist.

The world building here is excellent, but I also really love the characters, and how throughout the story past injuries are not things lightly shaken off.

Cooper joined the BSI after a werewolf attack that led to some ugly scars as well as the loss of part of his intestines. He spends the series having to live around the problems and limitations that caused, while still managing to be a good agent.

There is a lot of boinking in these books, which makes it not for everyone, but the mysteries are quite good, and watching the relationship between the two grow over the course of the series is very lovely. Especially since both characters are flawed in their own ways and need to come to terms with those flaws in themselves and each other.

So those are the romance-adjacent books I’ve been comfort reading.

Got any good comfort reads for me?

This has been a rough year for everyone. A lot of people either can’t read at all, or are devouring comfort reads. I obviously fall into the latter category. 40% of the books I’ve read so far this year have been re-reads.

I decided to share what I’d been reading, in case you were searching for an escape from a world that isn’t getting any better.

With four exceptions, my rereads were romance or romance-adjacent. Those exceptions ended up being books/authors I’ve re-read countless times.

Start off with two of those exceptions, I re-read most of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple series: The Murder at the Vicarage (1930), The Body in the Library (1942), Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories (1985), The Moving Finger (1943), A Murder Is Announced (1950), They Do It With Mirrors (1952), A Pocket Full of Rye (1953), 4.50 from Paddington (1957), The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side (1962), A Caribbean Mystery (1964).

I fell in love with the Miss Marple series in high school, and they were always the stories I reached for when I was sick. They also work well for sick-at-heart.

Miss Marple stories are the original cozies: no gore, no sex, the bad guy always gets their comeuppance in the end. What I had managed to forget is just how old the books are. The Murder at the Vicarage is 90 years old and set after the Great War.

Yet aside from the setting, it doesn’t feel dated—mostly because the solutions come from a little old lady who can’t easily get around. In fact, the first stories—written in 1927 and 1928 were riddles posed after dinner, to which one participant knew the result and the rest of the guests had to posit their answer to the solution.

There is no action or adventure, just an old lady with a strong sense of justice wanting to make sure wrongs are righted.

The other mystery I grabbed for comfort is the Small Vices, Audio Edition (1997). This is the first Robert B. Parker Spenser mystery I came across, and in a very rare occurrence, my first encounter was the audio book narrated by Burt Reynolds.

I fell in love, and read the Spenser books as I could find them at the used book store (so very much out of order. Even all these years later, I still think this is a nearly perfect book. Spenser is almost killed, and unlike every other action hero, has to spend months rehabilitating. It’s those scenes–Hawk and Spenser walking up the hill—that show you just how determined Spenser is to get better, but also how much Hawk and Susan love him, that they are willing to give up their lives for the endeavor. (Even if that is a word Hawk would never EVER use).

The other thing is that despite being a comfort read, there is a LOT of gray here. Spenser is hired to see if a murder conviction needs to be overturned, but the man who was convicted is in no way innocent, and the world probably is a better place with Alves behind bars.

But the whole story comes together so perfectly in all its complexity and is an amazing portrait of a man who does what is right—even if it isn’t seemingly what is good.

And like the Agatha Christie stories, aside from the rare mention of cell phones, this is another story that sits outside of time for me.

The only straight-up fantasy to make it as a comfort read is Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series: Guards! Guards! (1989), Men at Arms (1993), Feet of Clay (1996), Jingo (1997), The Fifth Elephant (1999). Specifically, the guard story arc. However, I’ll note I got hung up on Night Watch because it’s time travel adjacent, and I really can’t stand anything time travel related. I really need to just put it down and go onto the next story.

Like the previous two comfort reads, much of this series focuses on justice. Vimes observes everything around him, and his internal commentary upon the world remains dead-on. And Men At Arms has four paragraphs that are some of the most biting social commentary I have read anywhere. Ever.

The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of okay for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. These were the kinds of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years time, when a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

This was the Captain Samuel Vimes ‘Boots’ theory of socio-economic unfairness.

Why is this a comfort? Because Pratchett managed to do all this with incredible humor and even gentleness.

The last of the four is Sergei Lukyanenko‘s Night Watch series translated by Andrew Bromfield, narrated by Paul Michael : The Night Watch (1998/2006/2010), Day Watch (2000/2006/2010). I listen to podcasts or audio books while exercising and cooking and cleaning, and I was having difficulty finding something to motivate me, so I feel back upon the Night Watch series.

I truly have no idea how many times I’ve read this series. This is a Russian series, set primarily in Moscow, and remains unlike anything else I’ve read. The books follow Anton Gorodetsky, Other through his time in the Moscow Night Watch, but they are so much more than that.

I’ll admit that his female characters tend to be weak. Alissa is the only female character whose mind we really see—and she’s pretty awful. Yet she’s also complicated, and in some ways redeemed at the end of her story.

But why the series is a comfort read for me is because it is a complete escape from everything I know.

Got any good comfort reads for me?

I don’t even time anymore, really. Because it’s now September, but still March, and I am definitely feeling like Billy Pilgrim.

Good thing there are books.

Four new releases this month (ie books that came out in 20200 which is impressive, except I have far more new books sitting unread on my kindle.

I am not sure if it was just me, but there wasn’t a lot I loved this month, but there were some things. I read three Alissa Johnson books, including beginning a re-read of her Thief-Takers series, which starts with A Talent for Trickery.

R. Cooper‘s Jericho Candelario’s Gay Debut was a sweet and lovely story about a man who has raised his siblings and helped raise his niece and now doesn’t know what to do with himself, and isn’t quite sure if he’s actually fallen in love or not.

And the other things I particularly liked was Lady Mechanika: La Dama de la Muerte by Joe Benitez et al. This story is set outside the timeline of the rest of the series AND is set during Dia de los Muertos. I really REALLY like this series.

Romance, Historical

A Talent for Trickery (2015) Alissa Johnson (The Thief-Takers) 8.5/10
A Gift for Guile (2016) Alissa Johnson (The Thief Takers) 8.5/10
Practically Wicked (2012) Alissa Johnson (Haverston Family) 8.5/10

Mystery

Killing in C Sharp (2018) Alexia Gordon (Gethsemane Brown) 7/10

Mystery, Historical

A Murderous Relation (2020) Deanna Raybourn (Veronica Speedwell) 6.5/10

Romance, LGBT

Jericho Candelario’s Gay Debut (2018) R. Cooper 9/10
Think of England (2015) KJ Charles 8.5/10
Vincent’s Thanksgiving Date (2014) R. Cooper 8/10
Taxes and TARDIS (2012) N.R. Walker 7.5/10
The Sugared Game (2020) K.J. Charles (The Will Darling Adventures) 7.5/10
A Gentleman’s Position (2016) K.J. Charles (Society of Gentlemen) 7/10
Starstruck (2014) L.A. Witt (Bluewater Bay)
A Very Henry Christmas (2017) N.R. Walker (The Weight of It All)

Fantasy

The Fifth Elephant (1999) Terry Pratchett (Discworld) 7.5/10

Fantasy, LGBT

The Engineer (2020) C.S. Poe (Magic & Steam) 7/10

Non-Fiction

18 Tiny Deaths: The Untold Story of Frances Glessner Lee and the Invention of Modern Forensics (2020) Bruce Goldfarb 5/10

Comics

Lady Mechanika: La Dama de la Muerte (2017) Joe Benitez, M. M. Chen, Peter Steigerwald, Beth Sotelo, Beth Sotelo 8/10

And the numbers!

I read a paper book this month! It was a comic, of course, but still! Paper! And only six re-reads, which is half as many as last month (though I also read fewer books this month).

Trade Paperback: 1
eBook: 16
Multiple Formats: 1
Re-read: 6

Lots of romance this month, mostly because I still need that HEA. I just can’t deal with a lot of angst, and I really can’t take anything that ends badly.

Fantasy: 3
Mystery: 6
Romance: 11
Boinking: 11
Historical: 8
Non-Fiction: 1

Three whole male authors this month!

Male: 3
Female: 4
Initials: 8

And as I’m still reading a lot of MM stories, I have a lot of male leads. And since I’ve read a lot of historical, lots of white people. But there was at least some minority rep.

Male: 9
Female: 5
Ensemble: 3
White: 12
Minority: 4
Minority 2ndary: 1
Straight: 8
LGBTQ: 9

And that’s what I read in August. Did you have any good escapes this month?

This year.

Jeesh.

So what did I read this month? It was mostly re-reads, and the new books I read were, sadly, really not my thing.

So one new-to-me book that I really enjoyed was The Weight of It All by N.R. Walker, which is a M/M romance set in Australia about Harry, who gets dumped by his long term boyfriend for being too old and too fat. Harry sets out initially to try to change himself to get his ex back, but quickly decides the weight he needs to lose was that of his ex and trying to be what other people want him to be other than who he really is.

It’s lovely.

Other than that, the re-reads were excellent.

Fantasy

The Story of the Stone (1988) Barry Hughart (The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox) 8.5/10
Discworld, City Watch
Guards! Guards! (1989) Terry Pratchett 9.5/10
Men at Arms (1993) Terry Pratchett 9/10
Feet of Clay (1996) Terry Pratchett 9/10
Jingo (1997) Terry Pratchett (Discworld) 7.5/10

Romance

Teach Me (2019) Olivia Dade (There’s Something About Marysburg) 7.5/10
Take a Hint, Dani Brown (2020) Talia Hibbert (The Brown Sisters)

Romance, LGBT
A Lancaster Story
Kneading You (2019) C.S. Poe  8/10
Joy (2017) C.S. Poe  8/10,
Color of You (2017) C.S. Poe  7.5/10
The Weight of It All (2016) N.R. Walker 8/10
Knit Tight (2016) Annabeth Albert (Portland Heat) 7/10

Romance, Historical

Haverston Family
Nearly a Lady (2011) Alissa Johnson 8.5/10
An Unexpected Gentleman (2011) Alissa Johnson 8/10
Providence
Tempting Fate (2009) Alissa Johnson 8/10
McAlistair’s Fortune (2009) Alissa Johnson  8/10
Destined To Last (2010) Alissa Johnson  8.5/10
Daring and the Duke (2020) Sarah MacLean (The Bareknuckle Bastards)

And the stats!

All ebooks and mostly re-reads, as previously noted.

eBook: 18
Total: 18
Multiple Formats: 5
Re-read: 13

Oddly, I didn’t read a single mystery this month. I can’t remember the last time that happened.

Fantasy: 5
Romance: 13
Boinking: 10
Historical: 7

Mostly female authors, but rereading Discworld is giving male authors a showing.

Male: 4
Female: 10
Initials: 1

Only one female centered book this month, and not a lot of racial diversity; I classified the Discworld books as white, because in some of the books he pretty blatantly parallels white western society and our reactions to “the other”.

Male: 7
Female: 1
Ensemble: 9
White: 12
Minority: 4
Minority 2ndary: 1
Straight: 9
LGBTQ: 6
LGBTQ 2ndary: 2

And that’s July. Did you read anything particularly good recently?