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?

I decided to play the Ripped Bodice’s Summer BINGO.

Here’s my card as of today:

And here’s the list of books:
The Color of You, CS Poe
Daring and the Duke, Sarah MacLean
It Takes Two to Tumble, Cat Sebastian
The House in the Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune
Behind These Doors, Jude Lucens
A Seditious Affair, KJ Charles
Kneading You, C.S. Poe
Destined to Last, Alissa Johnson
An Unnatural Vice, KJ Charles
Knit Tight, Annabeth Albert
McAlistair’s Fortune, Alissa Johnson
The Color of You, C.S. Poe
Blank Spaces, Cass Lenox
Joy, C.S. Poe
Upside Down, N.R. Walker
The Ruin of a Rake, Cat Sebastian
Death in D Minor / The Color of You, Alexia Gordon / C.S Poe
As Luck Would Have It, Alissa Johnson

This year is insane. But you already knew that.

I read some good books this month–even a newish release!–but I re-read a lot, so only a few new reads I want to mention.

Oddly enough, it was all fantasy that floated to the top this month.

NPCs by Drew Hayes is the first book in his Spells, Swords, & Stealth series, and it is (unsurprisingly) wonderful. It’s sword and sorcery, except that the actions of D&D gamers are able to affect the people who live in this world. Like everything Drew Hayes, it’s a delight.

Turning Darkness Into Light by Marie Brennan is a sequel of sorts to her Lady Trent series, where we follow Lady Trent’s granddaughter, as she and a friend attempt to translate some ancient tablets that were discovered.

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune is a fantasy that seems like it wants to be YA (since many of the characters are teenagers) but with all the bureaucracy, really isn’t quite one. It is, however, fun and well-worth reading.

Fantasy

NPCs (2014) Drew Hayes (Spells, Swords, & Stealth) 8/10
Turning Darkness Into Light (2019) Marie Brennan 9/10

Fantasy, Supernatural

The Grimrose Path (2010) Rob Thurman (Trickster) 9/10
The House in the Cerulean Sea (2020) TJ Klune 8/10

Mystery

Death in D Minor (2017) Alexia Gordon (Gethsemane Brown Mysteries) 7.5/10

Mystery, Historical

Miss Marple
4.50 from Paddington (1957) Agatha Christie 9.5/10
A Caribbean Mystery (1964) Agatha Christie 9/10
The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side (1962) Agatha Christie 8.5/10,

Romance, Historical

As Luck Would Have It (2016) Alissa Johnson (Providence) 8.5/10

Romance, LGBT

Upside Down (2019) N.R. Walker 8.5/10
Blank Spaces (2016) Cass Lennox (Toronto Connections) 8.5/10
Sins of the Cities
An Unseen Attraction (2017) 8/10
An Unnatural Vice (2017) K.J. Charles 8/10
An Unsuitable Heir (2017) K.J. Charles 7.5/10
Society of Gentlemen
A Fashionable Indulgence  (2015) K.J. Charles 8/10
A Seditious Affair (2015) K.J. Charles 8/10
Seducing the Sedgwicks
It Takes Two to Tumble (2017) Cat Sebastian 8/10
A Gentleman Never Keeps Score (2018) Cat Sebastian 8/10
The Turner Series
The Lawrence Browne Affair (2017) Cat Sebastian 8/10
The Ruin of a Rake (2017) Cat Sebastian 7.5/10
Behind These Doors (2018) Jude Lucens (Radical Proposals) 7/10
The Boy in the Red Dress (2020) Kristin Lambert 6.5/10

Audio Book

The Night Watch, Audiobook (1998/2006/2010) Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield, narrated by Paul Michael (Night Watch) 9.5/10

Non-Fiction

The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History (2004/2009/2018) John M. Barry  7/10

And now, the stats!

eBook: 23
Audio: 1
Multiple Formats: 6
Re-read: 17

Lots and lots of re-reading this month. In fact, 37% of the books I’ve read this year are re-reads.

Fantasy: 6
Mystery: 8
Romance: 14
Boinking: 11
Historical: 15
YA: 3

The majority of what I read was historical in some form, mostly romance, but a lot of mystery as well.

Male: 3
Female: 14
Initials: 5
Male Pseudonym: 1

Male authors are unlike to catch up with female authors this year, since only 11% of the books I’ve read this year have been by male authors.

Male: 14
Female: 7
Ensemble: 2
White: 13
Minority: 5
Minority 2ndary: 5
Straight: 8
LGBTQ: 14
LGBTQ 2ndary: 1

As far as characters go, guys are edging out gals. Mostly because I’ve been reading a lot of MlM romance.

And that’s June.

What have you read recently that was particularly enjoyable?

It’s June. And I’m once again recovering from a broken appendage, unable to hike or do any of the fun things one wants to do in the spring.

In short: I read a lot again.

Mysteries have always been comfort reads for me, and Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple series is the coziest most comforting read there is.

Andrea Camilleri died last year, so his Inspector Montalbano series is quickly drawing to a close. Although some of the most recent stories have been on the weaker side, I very much enjoyed The Safety Net the most recent English publication.

Slippery Creatures is a new series by K.J. Charles and I very much liked it. The Will Darling Adventures are set just after The Great War, which is a time period I really like reading about, since it balances between modern and what we traditionally think of as “historical”.

Of course this crappy time needs romance. I very much recommend Throwing Hearts by N.R. Walker, Love in 24 Frames by C.S. Poe, and the He’s Come Undone: A Romance Anthology by Emma Barry, Olivia Dade, Adriana Herrera, Ruby Lang, and Cat Sebastian. Especially Throwing Hearts because NR Walker writes the sweetest romances, with almost no angst at all AND this one had an sweet secondary romance.

I finally read a bunch of the new supernatural fantasy releases that came out in the past several months. There was a backlog because I kept putting off reading the most recent Jane Yellowrock because I knew it was going to be dark and a hard read, which meant I then put off the others. But I finally got through them and of the lot The Immortal Conquistador by Carrie Vaughn was fantastic. It’s the backstory of Rick the Vampire, and has one of my favorite short stories embedded in it. Smoke Bitten by Patricia Briggs is the latest Mercy Thompson book, and was also good and enjoyable.

I read Joanna Chambers Capital Wolves Duet with Gentleman Wolf and Master Wolf and really liked them. There have been a lot of shifter and werewolf books in the past decade or so and fated-mates is a trope I really dislike. This book does werewolves AND mates extremely well. And the last historical was Allie Therin’s Magic in Manhattan Spellbound and Starcrossed which was also set after The Great War and was an historical urban fantasy with a m/m romance where the boinking was fade-to-black.

Anyone got any amazing recommendations for me to escape the awfulness of the world right now?

Mystery, Police

The Safety Net (2017/2020) Andrea Camilleri (Inspector Montalbano) 8/10

Mystery, Cozy

Miss Marple
The Murder at the Vicarage (1930) Agatha Christie 7.5/10
The Body in the Library (1942) Agatha Christie 8/10
Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories (1985) Agatha Christie 9/10
The Moving Finger (1943) Agatha Christie 7.5/10
A Murder Is Announced (1950) Agatha Christie 8/10
They Do It With Mirrors (1952) Agatha Christie 7.5/10
A Pocket Full of Rye (1953) Agatha Christie Rating: 8/10
Apple Cider Slaying (2019) Julie Anne Lindsey (A Cider Shop Mystery) 7.5/10
Murder in G Major (2016) Alexia Gordon (Gethsemane Brown Mysteries) 7/10
Too Big to Miss (2006) Sue Ann Jaffarian (An Odelia Grey Mystery) 7/10
The Secret, Book, & Scone Society (2017) Ellery Adams (Secret, Book, & Scone Society) 6/10

Graphic Novel

Heathen: Volume 2 (2019) Natasha Alterici, Rachel Deering 7.5/10

Mystery, LGBT

Slippery Creatures (2020) K.J. Charles (The Will Darling Adventures) 8/10
Principles of Spookology (2020) S.E. Harmon (The Spectral Files) 7.5/10

Romance, LGBT

Throwing Hearts (2020) N.R. Walker 8.5/10
Love in 24 Frames (2019) C.S. Poe 8/10
His Grandfather’s Watch (2015) N.R. Walker 7.5/10
Five Dates (2015) Amy Jo Cousins 7/10

Meet Cute Club (2020) Jack Harbon (Sweet Rose) 6.5/10

Romance

He’s Come Undone: A Romance Anthology (2020) Emma Barry, Olivia Dade, Adriana Herrera, Ruby Lang, and Cat Sebastian 8/10

Fantasy, Supernatural

The Immortal Conquistador (2020) Carrie Vaughn (Kitty Norville) 9/10
Smoke Bitten (2020) Patricia Briggs (Mercy Thompson) 8.5/10
Shattered Bonds (2019) Faith Hunter (Jane Yellowrock) 7.5/10
Capital Wolves Duet
Gentleman Wolf (2019) Joanna Chambers 8/10
Master Wolf (2020) Joanna Chambers 8.5/10
Magic in Manhattan
Spellbound (2019) Allie Therin 8/10
Starcrossed (2020) Allie Therin 8/10

And the stats!

Trade Paperback: 1
eBook: 26
Multiple Formats: 7
Re-read: 7

One comic this month, and all the re-reads I own in multiple formats.

Fantasy: 9
Mystery: 13
Romance: 11
Boinking: 8
Historical: 11
Comic: 1

Lots of mysteries. Lots of historicals. Lots of romance. Lots of fantasy. Lots of everything, really.

Male: 2
Female: 21
Initials: 4

Another bad year for male authors it looks like.

Male: 13
Female: 11
Ensemble: 3
White: 13
Minority: 7
Minority 2ndary: 7
Straight: 15
LGBTQ: 11
LGBTQ 2ndary: 1

I’m still reading a fair amount of M/M romance, so lots of male characters. Still lots of white characters, but a some minority representation here, and not too shabby as far as non-straight representation.

And that was May.

I have read Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple books more times than I can count, yet I feel like I discover something every re-read.

Because there is something timeless about the stories, I tend to forget they are, in fact, set in a specific place and time. In this case, 1930, between the two world wars.

‘Is he really ill?’ ‘There’s nothing radically wrong with him. You know, of course, that he’s had Encephalitis Lethargica, sleepy sickness, as it’s commonly called?’

Christie, Agatha. Miss Marple Bundle: The Murder at the Vicarage, The Body in the Library, and The Moving Finger (eBook Bundle) (Kindle Locations 1593-1594). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

This popped out at my because (for obvious reasons) I’ve been reading about the 1918 flu, and came across encephalitis lethargica as part of that story.

a new brain disease that appeared in Europe and North America between 1916 and 1926. The disease, a kind of sleeping sickness known as encephalitis lethargica, killed an estimated five million people before it abruptly disappeared.

other medical scientists in years since have argued that the sleeping sickness was a peculiar result of the 1918 flu. In 1982, R. T. Ravenholt and William H. Foege, two scientists at the Centers for Disease Control, made this case based on epidemiological data from Seattle, Washington, and the Samoa Islands.

Kolata, Gina. Flu (p. 292). Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Kindle Edition.

Now, there is no definitive evidence for this, but as I said, it jumped out at me, and reminded me that those book was written little more than a decade after The Great War, and World War II was still on the horizon.

Last night during my bedtime reading about the flu epidemic of 1918, I came across a mention of cholera, which jolted loose in my brain The Velveteen Rabbit. And then I remembered The Secret Garden, which opens with the little girl’s family all dying of cholera. (The Velveteen Rabbit is scarlet fever). Which immediately brought to mind a scene from the Little House books, where they all suffer from some terrible illness on more than one occasion. (I was remembering a scene where everyone is sick and Laura (while dreadfully ill) has to go to the well to fetch everyone water.)

What struck me is that when I was reading these books, all of this seemed completely normal–people got sick and died. I mean, how many kids’ books centered around plucky orphans of unknown providence?

In retrospect, it seems weird to me, these deaths that all but casually happened in the background, but then it seemed normal. After all, my grandmother talked about family members who died as kids.

I’m sure there are other such books I read as a kid, but these came immediately to mind. I have memories of reading about a polio epidemic, and tuberculosis (consumption) but I can’t remember any specific books off the top of my head.

Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams- scarlet fever
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett – cholera
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder – scarlet fever, malaria (Was the malaria in By The Banks of Plum Creek?)
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott – scarlet fever

Of course, I feel like I jumped immediately from kids books to Sherlock Holmes and Miss Marple, so I guess all my childhood reading was full of death.

Epidemics in Children’s Literature

Coming as a completely surprise to almost no women, an analysis of almost 200 bestselling fiction books by SuperSummary found that best-sellers were overwhelmingly written by men, and about men, and that those male authored, male-centric books frequently don’t past the Bechdel test.

As I said, this shouldn’t be a shock to any reader who has been paying attention.

But where the research got interesting was in the analysis of the language used to describe characters.

Female characters were most often described with words like beautiful and pretty and married, while men were most often described with words like big and great and rich.

Although they did a lot of research, the graphs are clear and concise, and it’s not a long read, so I highly recommend you browse the article.

And then consider the characteristics of the books you’ve been reading.

Strong Man; Beautiful Woman: Exploring Gender Differences in Literature

Yup. Read a lot of books in April.

Here are some of the best.

First up is a comfort listen, Small Vices, Audio Edition by Robert B. Parker narrated by Burt Reynolds. This was my first Spenser book and remains my favorite. Parker hit every note perfectly on this story, and Burt Reynolds managed to perfectly voice Hawk and Spenser for me.

I read quite a few comics last month. Best was finishing Check, Please! Book 2: Sticks & Scones by Ngozi Ukazu Y’ALL. This is SO ADORABLY CINNAMON BUN GOOD. At the other end of the spectrum is Heathen Volume 1 by Natasha Alterici, which is a young woman’s coming of age adventure.

Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It by Gina Kolata. I’ve now started John Barry’s Influenza book.

I started re-reading Courtney Milan‘s Brothers Sinister so I could re-read The Countess Conspiracy and A Kiss for Midwinter.

Several new mysteries from series I’ve been reading came out last month, and shock of all shocks, I read them immediately. A Stroke of Malice by Anna Lee Huber (A Lady Darby Mystery) and Secret at Skull House by Josh Lanyon (Secrets and Scrabble)–there was also a CS Harris new release, which was good, but nowhere near as good as the earlier Sebastian books.

Supernatural Fantasy, LGBT

Brandywine Investigations
Open for Business (2016) Angel Martinez 8/10
Family Matters (Brandywine Investigations (2018) Angel Martinez 8.5/10
Gumption & Gumshoes (2013) Alex Kidwell 7/10

Mystery

Naked Once More (1989) Elizabeth Peters (Jacqueline Kirby Mysteries) 8/10

Mystery, Historical

A Stroke of Malice (2020) Anna Lee Huber (A Lady Darby Mystery) 8.5/10
The Guilt of Innocents (2006) Candace Robb (Owen Archer) 8/10
Who Speaks for the Damned (2020) C.S. Harris (Sebastian St. Cyr) 7.5/10

Mystery, LGBT

Secret at Skull House (2020) Josh Lanyon (Secrets and Scrabble) 8/10
P.S. I Spook You (2019) S.E. Harmon (The Spectral Files) 7/10
Grasmere Cottage Mystery
Dead in the Garden (2018) Dahlia Donovan 7/10
Dead in the Pond (2018) Dahlia Donovan 7/10
Dead in the Shop (2018) Dahlia Donovan 7/10

Romance, Historical

Brothers Sinister
The Duchess War (2012) Courtney Milan 8/10
A Kiss for Midwinter (2012) Courtney Milan 8.5/10
The Heiress Effect (2013) Courtney Milan 8/10
The Countess Conspiracy (2013) Courtney Milan 9/10

Romance, LGBT

Connection Error (2016) Annabeth Albert (#gaymers) 8/10
Goalie Interference (2019) Avon Gale & Piper Vaughn (Hat Trick) 5.5/10
Bookmarked (2015) Piper Vaughn (Heartsville) 5.5/10

Non-Fiction

Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It (1999) Gina Kolata 8.5/10

Comics

Check, Please! Book 2: Sticks & Scones (2020) Ngozi Ukazu 9.5/10
Lady Mechanika Vol 3: The Lost Boys of West Abbey (2017) Marcia Chen, Joe Benitez, Peter Steigerwald, Marcia Chen 7.5/10
Lady Mechanika Vol 4: Clockwork Assassin (2018) Joe Benitez, Peter Steigerwald, Mike Garcia 8/10
Lady Mechanika, Vol. 5: La Belle Dame Sans Merci (2019) Joe Benitez, M. M. Chen, Martin Montiel 7/10
Heathen Volume 1 (2017) Natasha Alterici 8/10
Jessica Jones Vol. 1: Uncaged! (2017) Brian Michael Bendis, David W. Mack, Michael Gaydos 6.5/10
Rivers of London: The Fey and the Furious (2020) Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Lee Sullivan 6/10

Audio Books

Small Vices, Audio Edition (1997) Robert B. Parker narrated by Burt Reynolds (Spenser) 10/10

There are some good books there, if you’re looking for something to read.

Now, the stats!

Format had actual paper books this month! (Because I generally dislike reading comics digitally.)

Trade Paperback: 6
eBook: 21
Audio: 1
Multiple Formats: 3
Re-read: 10

Genres were pretty evenly split.
Fantasy: 11
Mystery: 13
Romance: 15
Boinking: 11
Historical: 8
YA: 1
Comic: 7
Non-Fiction: 1

Authors have women leading the pack. As usual.
Male: 6
Female: 19
Initials: 2
Male Pseudonym: 1

Characters are male heavy, cuz I’ve been reading lots of M/M mysteries and fantasy.
Male: 15
Female: 8
Ensemble: 4
White: 15
Minority: 6
Minority 2ndary: 6
Straight: 13
LGBTQ: 13
LGBTQ 2ndary: 1

That’s it. The books of April. What have y’all been reading? ANy good escape recommendations?

More parallels in recent books.

This time it’s just how hard the British empire was trying to steal tea plants so they could grow tea in India, which they controlled.

I knew about the opium trade, but it was never clear in history lessons that the British empire was flooding China with opium in an attempt to control the country (and thus make money)

Who Speaks for the Damned (2020) C.S. Harris set in England in 1818.

Here we have mention of just how hard the East India company was trying to steal the plants and processes from the Chinese–and the start of the use of opium to try and drug the Chinese into submission.

One of these days the company is going to get its hands on the secret process the Chinese use to make the stuff, along with some seedlings of their precious Camellia sinensis, and then we’ll be able to grow and produce tea ourselves in India.

They’re impossible people to deal with, you know— the Chinese, I mean. They insist we pay for their silks, porcelains, and tea with silver because they have no interest in anything Europe produces. And the one thing we could use to trade with them, opium, they refuse to allow into the country.”

Death in Kew Gardens (Kat Holloway Mysteries, #3) by Jennifer Ashley set in England in 1881

I borrowed this book, so I can’t grab any quotes, but the mystery centers on tea plants. The British empire is growing tea in India, but the finest, most expensive teas, are still controlled by the Chinese.

If an Englishman in China commits a blatant crime—whether against another Englishman or a Chinese—he is tried by a British court, not a Chinese one. If found guilty, he is sent home, out of our reach.”

In both quotes, you can see the blatant racism, and the disdain for the Chinese, and how the British government was overtly trying to subvert the Chinese government.

At any one time I am reading multiple books. It often fascinates me when I come across random parallels while reading two different (and unrelated books).

I’ve been re-reading Candace Robb’s Owen Archer serires for months now. I’ve read it several times, so it’s perfect bedtime reading: it’s interesting, but not fast-paced to keep me awake.

What else I am reading is entirely dependent upon my mood. With the world the way it is, I’ve been doing a lot of re-reading for comfort. After reading Jennifer Ashley’s Kat Holloway series, starting with Death Below Stairs, I wanted to re-read a favorite, Michelle Diener’s Banquet of Lies, which is also partially set in an historical British kitchen and features a lot of cooking.

Which meant that in one week I ended up reading two references to Thomas Becket.

“Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?” Bartlett spoke from the window, his words jumbled and slurred, almost unintelligible.

“Get out, Bartlett, you’re drunk.” The Prince Regent heaved his bulky frame to his feet.

Diener, Michelle. A Dangerous Madness (Regency London Series Book 3) (p. 140).

If Wykeham’s fears proved justified, that Lancaster saw him as a Becket— a too-powerful prince of the Church who stood in his way…

Robb, Candace. The Cross-Legged Knight: The Owen Archer Series – Book Eight (p. 329). Diversion Books.

It’s fun to track coincidences.