Because apparently I didn’t read any other kind of fantasy yet.

Supernatural Fantasy

 

Storm Cursed (2019) Patricia Briggs (Rating: 8.5/10) (Mercy Thompson)

Mercy is called when a rogue goblin is noticed by a farmer–a goblin who looks like on wanted for the murder of a policeman. Mercy takes Mary Jane and Ben with her–but also is smart enough to call Larry, the goblin king, to come deal with his wayward subject.

The video of the incident was all over the news,” I began, but paused when Larry glanced my way for a hair’s breadth. Long enough for me to see the odd expression on his face.

“And people say humans don’t have magic,” he muttered,

But this is only the start of Mercy’s long day, as she is called out to deal with another problem.

“Miniature zombie goats,” I corrected. “Or miniature goat zombies. The ‘miniature’ is important. ‘Zombie goats’ just sound satanic.”

This is the 11th book in the series I’ve been reading from the start.

Although there are some weaker books in the series (the previous book was one I didn’t particularly care for, for several different reasons) there isn’t a book that I haven’t re-read more than once.

If you haven’t read this series previous, don’t begin here. Start at the beginning. There is a large cast of characters (many of whom have had their own short stories) and you’ll be missing so much if you jump in here.

 

The Phoenix Illusion (2018) Lisa Shearin (Rating: 8/10) (SPI Files)

The 6th SPI Files book finds Mac and and her friends celebrating when a house suddenly appears in an empty lot–and catches on fire.

More distressingly, the house that appeared is Rake’s, and it’s from his homeworld (which isn’t Earth).

She’s switched to self-publishing this series now, which means it’s difficult for me to catch these books when they come out, but I still really enjoy this series. It’s got supernatural creatures, police procedure, and mystery. (Pretty much ALL my catnip.)

Mac is another heroine I adore, because her power doesn’t render her invincible, but rather places her in more danger, because she’s in a world with strong and dangerous creatures. And unlike some heroines (side eye to Mercy up there) Mac knows she can’t hold her own and is perfectly glad to get out of the way when something comes down.

 

Ben Aaronovitch

Lies Sleeping (2018) (Rating: 8.5/10)

This is the seventh Rivers of London novel. And it’s set in 2014, because the story moved slower than real publishing time.

You can read this if you haven’t read the novella or comics, but if you haven’t read the previous books? Forget it.

The story opens with the following epigraph.

The best revenge is not to become like your enemy.

A LOT of various threads are wrapped up in this book, but there is a new book coming out, although I haven’t checked to see precisely what it’s about, because I prefer not knowing.

As I’ve said before, one of the things I LOVE about this series is how multi-cultural it is, without making a point of being multi-cultural. It’s just that characters happen to be women or of color or Muslim (or all three in the case of Guleed). Yes, Peter and Guleed do make comments about being black, but those are almost throw-away lines, much like Peter’s obsession with architecture or Molly’s strange foods.

I do love this series, but do NOT start here if you haven’t been reading along from the start.

The October Man (2019) (Rating: 8.5/10)

This is set in the same world as the Rivers of London, but is NOT a Peter Grant book.

Just so you know.

Policeman Tobias Winter is an investigator for the Abteilung KDA, the German equivalent of the Folly.

I ended up in the Abteilung KDA because I didn’t talk myself out of it fast enough, and because the Director has a vile sense of humour. I ended up learning magic because you can’t trust the British to keep to an agreement over the long term.

I’ll be honest, I went not expecting a lot, mostly because the last several Rivers of London comics have been lousy.

With those expectations in mind, I was pleased with this story.

Tobias is clearly not Peter, even if he is somewhat in awe of Peter Grant and the Folly. Germans do things differently, and they have quite different feelings about the Folly.

It’s an interesting aside, and I quite enjoyed it.

 

Supernatural Fantasy, LGBT

 

The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal (2013) K.J. Charles (Rating: 8/10)

This is a M/M historical fantasy, with boinking, set in England between 1894 and 1914.

Simon Feximal helps the dead to rest. He doesn’t exorcise them, send them on, but instead allows them to finish telling their stories.

He was covered in writing. It was scrawled in black and red ink, from wrist to shoulder of both muscular arms, across his broad, powerful shoulders and chest. None of it was in a language I recognised, or could read, but it was unmistakably writing… and it was still being written.

I gaped. The lines, some spidery, some looping, still others jagged, etched themselves over his skin, a constant silent chatter of messages.

“What—” My voice failed.

“The stories write themselves,” he said, very matter-of-fact. “I serve as their page.”

I really like the world-building in this story, and how each short story tells you a little more about each of the characters. Theoretically each of these stories could stand alone, but in reality they build upon one another.

 

Angel Martinez

I stumbled upon Angel Martinez this year, and ADORE everything I’ve read by her. Most of it is fun and silly and just delightful.

Uncommonly Tidy Poltergeists (2017) (Rating: 8/10)

Taro has to make a confession to his family–and he’s afraid they’re going to freak out.

He’s won the biggest power ball in history, and is going to keep it a secret from everyone but them. He is also, after buying his parents a vacation home and setting up accounts for his siblings and nieces and nephews, going to buy houses around the world and try to become a travel writer.

But somewhere along the way he seems to have picked up a ghost–a ghost who insists that the house must be clean. So when he heads back to New York, he ends up hiring a ghost hunter.

This was the most recent story I read, and I adored Taro (even if I’m probably Jack).

Also, Taro is demisexual, and this was the first story about a Gray Ace I’d read.

But mostly it was just a cute and fun story.

 

Offbeat Crimes

Feral Dust Bunnies (2017) (Rating: 8.5/10),  The Pill Bugs of Time (2016), Skim Blood and Savage Verse (2017), Feral Dust Bunnies (2017) (Rating: 8.5/10), Jackalopes and Woofen-Poofs (2017) (Rating: 8.5/10), All the World’s an Undead Stage (2018) (Rating: 8/10)

This was the first series I came across, and the title of the first book in the series is so over-the-top I really hesitated. Well, the over the top title and the ridiculous covers. (Ugh.)

It starts here:

Kyle Monroe has been a cop at the 77th precinct for several months, when he is assigned a new partner: the extremely stoic and handsome Vikash Soren. He wants to dislike Vikash, but instead falls for him–which is a terrible idea, since they’re partners.

These are M/M supernatural fantasy romance police procedural, and although the ideas are VERY silly, the stories were very enjoyable. Partially because it is joyfully geeky,

“Should get an Odo bucket,” Vikash murmured.

“A what?”

Kyle chuckled into his coffee. “Seriously, Carr? You never watched Deep Space Nine?

and partially because she works to get the non fantasy bits correct.

“All right, people.” Lieutenant Dunfee shook her head. “I have two officers on medical, one close to collapse and the rest of you look like crap.”

“Well, thank you for that.” Carrington sniffed in offense from his corner.

“If we try to solve this tonight, we’re asking for disaster. Everyone get the hell out of my building. We’ll start again in the morning.” She pointed toward the shadowed back wall. “Except Loveless, who wants to be a smartass.

Yet despite all that, my favorite character ends up being Alex Wolf, wolf who had been turned into a human as a child. He is utterly delightful, his mother is wonderful, and I adore how his group accepts him as he is, doing their best to help him with his quirks.

Here is Alex Wolf texting with his mother.

I hv her. Srry.

You took her to WORK?

“Damn it.”

I have all her stuff. It’s OK, Mom. She has peeps watching her.

Mom typed for a long time, then finally sent—

They better not be peeps. Marshmallow chicks should not watch kittens.

For the second time in fifteen minutes, Wolf sagged in relief. If Mom was making bad jokes, she wasn’t so mad anymore.

I adore everything about that passage, especially seeing just how patient his mother is with him, even when she is frustrated.

Although I hate time-travel, and although I don’t much care for the Carrington story arcs, I can still recommend this series without hesitation. It’s just adorably fun.

Brandywine Investigations

Open for Business (2016) (Rating: 7.5/10), Family Matters (2018) (Rating: 8.5/10)

Mythological beings.
M/M romance.
Murder and mystery.

That noise?

Those were a bunch of my buttons being pushed all at the same time.

This book is three novellas with overlapping characters, the main of which is Hades, who has things to work out.

(Orpheus) kept skimming even as he spoke, turning pages faster and faster. “Guys, this is bad.”

“How bad?”

“Epically bad.” Orpheus dropped the divorce papers on the table, shaking his fingers out as if the words had singed him. “(Persephone)’s kicking him out, too. Keeping the palace and the dog.”

So Hades decides to become a PI.

These stories were a bit darker than the others I’ve read, but they are still good. One character starts as an alcoholic street-person. Two are utterly co-dependent and their story is far darker than anything else in these two books. But it’s in the middle of the first book, so that made the darkness easier to deal with.

Mostly the stories are mystery and mythology and try to see the world the way millenia-old beings would.

“I’ve enjoyed reading fiction ever since humans began writing their stories down.”

“See, that kinda made me sad. When they started doing that.” Azeban sat on his haunches like a proper raccoon, gesturing at the shelves. “All these stories are stuck. They can’t change. When humans used to tell each other stories, stuff changed all the time. It was exciting to hear what they’d do with a story. Now they write it down, and that’s it. That’s the story.”

Again there is lots of boinking here, but also again, the stories are quite good, and I highly recommend them.

 

Charlie Adhara

Big Bad Wolf

The Wolf at the Door (2018) (Rating: 8/10), The Wolf at Bay (2018) (Rating: 8/10), Thrown to the Wolves (2019) (Rating: 8/10)

Agent Cooper Dayton was transferred from the FBI to the BSI after a werewolf attack. The job of the BSI is to deal with werewolf crime–and keep the existence of werewolves from becoming known to the general public.

The public could never know about werewolves, though. That was one of the few things the BSI and the Trust agreed on. The panic, the prejudice, the senseless violence that would surely come if the truth was revealed.

After a teenage werewolf is shot and killed, the BSI and the Trust (the face of the werewolves) decide something new needs to be tried–that a BSI agent and a Trust agent should work together to search for what appears to be a new serial killer.

So this is a supernatural fantasy police procedural with a romance.

There was a lot for me to like in this series. They mysteries were good, Cooper has medical issues from the attack, and those issues don’t just magical go away, and in fact cause problems if Cooper ignores them.

I also like that both Park and Cooper have complicated families, but are willing to be patient with each other as they deal with their pasts.

I also appreciated that Cooper was full of self-doubt.

“I’m sorry,” Cooper blurted. His heart was beating hard, but fuck it, what were they here for if not this?

Park looked at him. He had that same odd look on his face he’d had when they first got to Jagger Valley that looked so much like nerves, but a little hopeful, too. “For what?”

“Everything. Well, for earlier, and for being, you know, me.” Cooper laughed awkwardly.

“What the hell, Dayton,” Park said, sounding angry. “That’s a horrible thing to say.”

And I love that Park calls him on it.

The mysteries were good, and I liked seeing their relationship develop over the books–and the amount of work they had to put into making things work.

Really, that’s one reason I thought I disliked romance, because the HEA made things feel magical and easy. But then I discovered that there are romances where the characters have to work towards understanding, and not just solving a big misunderstanding, but dealing with the day-to-day compromises that are part of being in love and in a relationship.

It’s not just series that does that, but it’s one of the things I particularly like about this series.

 

Audio Books

The Rook, Audio Edition (2012) Daniel O’Malley narrated by Susan Duerden (Rating: 9.5/10) (The Rook)

Stiletto, Audio Edition (2016) Daniel O’Malley narrated by Moira Quirk (Rating: 9.5/10)

Salsa Nocturna: Stories, Audio Edition (2012/2014) Daniel José Older, narrated by Daniel José Older (Rating: 9/10)

All three of these were books I’ve listened to several times before, and I was delighted to listen to them again.

The Books of Mid-Year 2019 Great Covers
The Books of Midyear 2019: Romance
The Books of Midyear 2019: Mysteries

I’ve loved mysteries since I was little (Encyclopedia Brown! The Bobsey Twins!) and that loved has continued unabated. I read other genres all the time, yet I feel like they’re always better with an element of mystery.

I’ve read a LOT of mystery series this year–some were meh, but plenty were REALLY good.

  

Historical Mystery

I generally like everything Anna Lee Huber writes, but I especially like her Lady Darby series. And I was delighted to finally get a copy of Secrets in the Mist (2016) (Rating: 9/10)

Set in England in 1812

Ella Winterton has spent the past four years dealing with loss and grief and anger. The deaths of her mother and brother sent her father into an alcoholic decline, and being jilted by the man she thought she loved while still in mourning made things worse.

I really liked Ella. She is struggling to hold things together as her father drinks himself to oblivion, regularly promising to stop drinking and then falling into the bottle once again when his struggle with his grief overwhelms him.

I sat listening to his broken weeping, wanting to reach out to him, wanting him to go away. He was my father after all. I wanted to comfort him, to tell him all was well. But it wasn’t. It never was.

Like Family Man by Heidi Cullinan and Marie Sexton, we see how alcoholism destroys families. It’s also hard reading, but it’s such a common problem that I think it’s important we see it, and see how characters struggle to deal with it.

An Artless Demise (2019) (Lady Darby) (Rating: 8/10)

The second story is another entry in the Lady Darby series.

Set in London in November 1831

Kiera and Sebastian are in London, trying to settle into married life, but murder and body snatchers are reminding people who Kiera left in the first place, and Lord Gage is reminding Sebastian that his marriage to Kiera would bring this down upon them.

Lord Gage is a complete ass, and seems to do his best to make things difficult for Kiera and Sebastian. The mystery is good, as is the struggle between Sebastian and Lord Gage.

  

C.S. HarrisWho Slays the Wicked (2019) (Sebastian St. Cyr) (Rating: 8.5/10)

Set in London in 1814

Lord Ashworth has been discovered naked and repeatedly stabbed in what looks like a crime of passion. But finding the murderer is a daunting prospect.

“Do you have any idea who might have killed him?” he asked Stephanie. “Someone who disliked him?” she suggested, her nostrils quivering with a pinched look. “That should narrow the list of suspects down to virtually everyone who ever dealt with him.”

Sebastian’s problem is that the murdered man is the husband of his niece–a marriage that Sebastian tried to talk her out of, knowing Ashworth’s brutal reputation. And the fact that it looks like he was murdered by a woman makes Stephanie an even more likely suspect, even if there are plenty of others who hated him.

This is the 14th Sebasian St. Cyr series, which I’ve been avid reading since the first book. Don’t start here. Go back to the beginning.

  

Ellis Peters’ Brother Cadfael series

The Heretic’s Apprentice (1989) (Rating: 8.5/10), The Potter’s Field (1989) (Rating: 8.5/10), The Summer of the Danes (1991)  (Rating: 8.5/10), The Holy Thief (1992)

This series is set on the border of England and Wales between the late 1130s to the 1140s–during the war between King Stephen and Empress Maud.

In a country still torn between two rivals for sovereignty, and plagued by numerous uncommitted lords more interested in carving out kingdoms of their own, wise men observed their hospitable duties and opened their houses to all, but waited to examine credentials before opening their minds.

The main character is a monk who came to the brotherhood late in life, having spent his young on the Crusades and at Sea. He’s delightful and I love spending time in Cadfael’s world.

The books are historical mysteries, but each has a romantic sub-plot. Cadfael is marvelous, the mysteries are always good, and I love the historical bits, which are (to my uneducated mind) pretty historically correct (at least for what was known at the time of writing). Of course there are things she makes up, but the war between Maud and Stephen makes up the backdrop of the series, and is fascinating to someone who missed all of this in school. Don’t start here, mostly because you’ll miss some marvelous books.

  

Alissa Johnson’s The Thief-Takers Series

A Talent for Trickery (2015) (Rating: 8.5/10), A Gift for Guile (2016) (Rating: 8.5/10), A Dangerous Deceit (2017) (Rating: 8.5/10)

Often I’ll read a book and not know what to read next, so I’ll often pick a series that I know I enjoyed.

These are historical romantic mysteries. They are boinking book, but they are also enjoyable mysteries.

Charlotte and Esther Walker are the daughters of a confidence man who ended up working with the police. After his death, they–and their very young brother–have their names changed and are sent to the country to live where their father’s enemies won’t find them.

Owen Renderwell, Samuel Brass, and Gabriel Arkwright are the famous Thief-Takers who rescued a kidnapped Lady and then after the furor died down, went out on their own.

These stories are a lot of fun, with plenty of delightful banter and interesting mysteries and some adventure thrown in. And the third book has a heroine who is new to the story, but ends up being one of my favorites, but in a very different way than the other women in this series.

If you want something fun and exciting, I highly recommend this series, which I’ve re-read several times.

  

Michelle Diener’s Regency London Series
The Emperor’s Conspiracy (2012) (Rating: 8/10), >Banquet of Lies (2013) (Rating: 9.5/10), A Dangerous Madness (2014) (Rating: 8.5/10)

  

Mystery

Julie Anne Lindsey’s The Geek Girl Mysteries

A Geek Girl’s Guide to Murder (2015) (Rating: 7.5/10), A Geek Girl’s Guide to Arsenic (2016) (Rating: 8/10), A Geek Girl’s Guide to Justice (2016) (Rating: 8.5/10)

These are cozy mysteries with a heroine who is an unrepentant geek and who has one of the better reasons for vast wealth that I’ve come across in a mystery series.

She’s (obviously) very smart, she loves gaming and ren faires and and an identical twin sister who is in many ways her polar opposite.

She is also well-adjusted and quite aware of her limitations.

I’m just trying to figure out what’s happening, and body language and eye contact, and all those things most people get a bead on, kind of elude me, so if you could just state your intentions, that would be amazing.

The mysteries are fine, but not in any way the strongest part of the series. That would be the characters.

And Mia and everything she thinks.

I nodded in full acceptance. “Whatever. It’s my circus. They’re my monkeys.”

“I don’t understand hipsters and their dull, underenthused lifestyle.”

I highly recommend this series, even if the mysteries aren’t the best part of the books.

  

Mystery, Police

Death at Sea: Montalbano’s Early Cases (2014/2018) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli (Rating: 8.5/10)

I love short stories.

I love Inspector Montalbano.

I adore this collection of Montalbano short stories.

If you’ve not read any of these mysteries, this would be a good way to dip your toes in, to see if this brash, rude Italian police inspection is someone you’d like to spend time with.

  

Mystery, LGBT

Josh Lanyon’s All’s Fair series

Fair Game (2010) (Rating: 7/10), Fair Play (2014) (Rating: 8/10), Fair Chance (2017) (Rating: 9/10)

I’ve read multiple Josh Lanyon M/M mystery series this year, and although I liked them all, this is far and away my favorite series.

Elliot Mills loved being in the FBI–until a shootout left him unfit for anything but a desk job.

The pain after his knee replacement had been excruciating, beyond anything he’d imagined or previously experienced, barring the original experience of getting kneecapped.

Yes, I did shudder when I read that.

Now he’s a professor at the same college from which his father retired–living in the shadow of a famous 60s radical.

Elliot was good at what he did, but it’s understandable that he didn’t want to remain if it meant he would only have a desk-job, so I quite liked that element. I also liked that Elliot had physical limitations (many of her characters do in these series, which I very much like, but I can’t ready too many in a row or it starts to bug me). And I love that his dad was a radical hippy who was totally accepting of his son’s homosexuality, but NOT of his joining the FBI.

Each story had a good mystery, and the relationship between the two men developed over the series. Yes, they are together at the end of the first book, but their issues were not magically resolved by their getting back together, which is something else I like about Josh Lanyon’s books: many of the characters have complicated histories, and any HEA is going to be a lot of work, and we get to see the work they put into things.

Also? Elliot is a secret geek.

The rest of the afternoon was spent quietly. Elliot graded papers and did his lesson plans for the following week. In the evening he worked on his Civil War diorama of Pickett’s Charge, which currently dominated the long window-lined sunroom on the west side of the cabin. He had received a hand-painted 15mm miniature of JEB Stuart to replace the former one lost during the move from Seattle to Goose Island. He placed the dashing Stuart with his two cavalry brigades and stepped back to admire. The game table was 4×8 feet and, according to Roland who had helped him construct it, irrefutable proof that Elliot was destined for long and dull bachelorhood.

That totally cracks me up.

So those are the mysteries I’ve read and enjoyed so far this year!

The Books of Mid-Year 2019 Great Covers
The Books of Midyear 2019: Romance
The Books of Midyear 2019: Supernatural Fantasy

An important reminder: I generally dislike boinking in books. Yet, there are a lot of really good stories out there with boinking, which means that boinking romance novels I like have managed to overcome an extra hurdle.

That said, I’ve read quite a few romances this year–and several books in other categories that are ALSO romances, and I’ll note them in those posts.

Historical Romance

I enjoyed most of the Lisa Kleypas historical romances I read, but these were four that I especially like.

The first series, the Hathaways, is set in the 1850s.

Married By Morning (2010) (Rating: 8.5/10)

Leo Hathaway, Lord Ramsay, spent several self-destructive years after the death of his fiancee. It took him several years to forgive Merripen for saving his life, and it was only being sent to accompany his sister Win to rehabilitate in France that saved him.

After Leo became Lord Ramsay (and after Leo and Poppy headed to France) the Hathaway family hired Catherine Marks to help his sisters Poppy and Beatrice to properly come out in society. Since the two first met, they argued and bickered and generally disdained each other.

Although the first three books were fine, this is the first book in the series I loved. When we see Leo in the first book, he’s drunk and his sister has gone to fetch him from a gambling house before he completely ruins the family. His redemption comes over the course of the first three books, so by the time you reach this book, he’s earned is HEA. But it’s not just Leo’s redemption that makes this story so good, it’s also the fact that he has four sisters and is very aware of how women fare in society.

“Think of it this way,” he said. “Marriage would change hardly anything between us, except that we would end our arguments in a much more satisfying way. And of course I would have extensive legal rights over your body, your property, and all your individual freedoms, but I don’t see what’s so alarming about that.”

He’s just a nice guy.

Also, there is lots of sibling bickering, which is always a favorite.

Love In The Afternoon (2010) (Rating: 8.5/10)

Beatrix is the youngest Hathaway sister, and the least tame of the family, preferring to spend most of her time with animals. But when a friend is going to dismiss a letter from a soldier without responding, Beatrix asks to reply in her friends name, feeling that the gentleman desperately needed a response.

Captain Christopher Phelan is a second son, and a bit of a rake, living for pleasure while leaving the responsibilities to his older brother. But when he is moved to the Rifle Brigade, and sent to war in Russia, his life changes dramatically, turning him from a wastrel to a soldier.

I’ll be honest that I was reluctant to read this story, because I tend to dislike convoluted misunderstandings, however, that’s now where the story went. Christopher is pretty damaged by life, and has PTSD (not called that at the time). And Beatrix has no interest in marriage, but despite their initial conflicts and misunderstandings they actually talk to each other and listen to each other.

Devil in Spring (2017) (Rating: 8.5/10) (The Ravenels) was not at all what I was expecting from the title.

Lady Pandora Ravenel doesn’t want to marry. She wants to make board games and live on her own, because women lose all their right as soon as they marry. But when she’s found in a compromising position with Gabriel, Lord St. Vincent, he is forced to propose, and she has to decide if her independence is more important than well-being of her family in light of the impending scandal.

The hero is NOT a rake or at all scandalous. He just carries the reputation his father made. And the heroine is marvelous with a loving and adoring family.

“Lady Berwick told me there’s no choice. If I don’t marry, the only other option is to hurl myself into the nearest live volcano. Wherever that is.”

“Iceland. And the only way you’ll marry St. Vincent is if you can convince me that you’d prefer him to the volcano.”

It’s a very sweet story.

  

A Modest Independence (2019) Mimi Matthews (Parish Orphans of Devon) (Rating: 8/10)

This is set in the 1860s and is the sequel to The Matrimonial Advertisement which I very much liked.

Solicitor Tom Finchley has worked his way up from nothing. He craves security, which is why he puts up with a job that often leaves him feeling uncomfortable, since the men he represents aren’t always good people.

Jenny Holloway became a companion for her cousin, to escape her life in a small town, where she was expected to look after her alcoholic father (since she hadn’t married). After her cousin’s marriage, she has received a modest independence, and plans to spend her life traveling, to escape the rules and strictures of society.

First, no boinking here! Yay!

Second, after being at the mercy of men because she had no rights, and seeing that her friend was almost put in an asylum because women lacked rights, the main character has ZERO interest in marriage once she has gained an independence.

“Come. You can’t expect me to believe that you’ve never dreamed of marrying and having a family.”

“And giving up all of my rights? Not only over my money and property, but over my body? No thank you.”

I was actually worried about the resolution of the book, because I didn’t see how the characters could compromise on their deep needs that were so far apart.

However, I recommend that you read The Matrimonial Advertisement first, since it gives some of the background of Tom, but also helps clarify just why Jenny is so opposed to having to answer to any man–even one she might trust.

This is one of the few boink-free romances I read this year.

  

Historical Romance, LGBT

At the end of last year I binged on a lot of K.J. Charles, so there were fewer books for me to read this year. I did re-read one, and another was a new publication.

Think of England (2014) (Rating: 8.5/10)

Set in England in 1904

Archie Curtis lost three of the fingers on his right hand as well as much of his company when a delivery of guns proved tragically defective.

“It was a damned business. My company lost as many men in two minutes’ practice firing than in six months of war before it.” Seven deaths on the field; six more in the field hospital; two suicides, later. Three men blinded. Mutilations and amputations. “The entire crate of guns was deadly.”

Now, two years later, he is searching for clues as to why it happened.

This is a mystery and a M/M romance (with boinking) and I really love the characters.

Archie is a considered a bit dense–probably the modern equivalent of the star of the HS football team. Although his life changed completely after the accident that maimed him and took the lives of so many of his men, he is expected to be the same as he was before he went off to fight. I really adore Archie. He’s a decent guy and doesn’t know what to do with himself and the world he now finds himself inhabiting.

Daniel de Silva is a dandy and an effete. Curtis has no idea how he ended up at the house party, but he the man makes him uncomfortable.

He grabbed for the nearest serving dish and proffered it, in the hope of changing the subject. “Ham?”

“No, thank you.”

“It’s a jolly good one.”

Da Silva blinked, slowly, like a lizard. “I dare say, but I fear I haven’t converted since we last spoke.”

“Con— Oh. Oh, I beg your pardon. I quite forgot you were a Jew.”

“How refreshing. So few people do.”

de Sliva is a jew, a poet, and it’s known (although not with certainty) that he’s a homosexual. He is also far more than he seems. I liked him just as much as I liked Archie, because I can’t imagine precisely how difficult his life must have been, yet still he has beliefs he stubbornly sticks to.

This is a M/M boinking book, and a mystery, and it’s one of my favorites.

Any Old Diamonds (2019) (Rating: 8/10)

Set in England in 1895.

Lord Alexander Pyne-ffoulkes–who goes by Alec Pyne–desperately wants revenge upon his father. So he hires the Lilywhite Boys to steal the diamond parvane his father is planning to give his second wife on their 20th anniversary. But Jerry Crozier knows far more than Alec is comfortable with–and Jerry doesn’t trust Alec not to back out of the deal once things are set in motion.

This story is single POV, which is unusual for KJ Charles, but worked extremely well for this story.

There is also a bit of mystery here, and a lot of surprise.

  

Romance, LGBT

Family Man (2017) Heidi Cullinan and Marie Sexton (Rating: 8/10)

This is a M/M boinking book.

This is an unusual book for me. It’s a modern romance–no mystery, no magic, no supernatural creatures, just two lonely men with complicated families.

After three failed marriages, Vincent “Vinnie” Fierro has started wondering whether he family and religion are why he has denied to himself so adamantly that he might be interested in guys.

Trey Giles is working his way through school, one class at a time, while holding down two jobs to support his mother and grandmother. He’s been so busy that he’s never had time for a relationship, and has never been interested in hook-ups, but when he finds Vinne looking completely out of place at a gay bar, the two flirt and develop a friendship that seems odd–even to them.

Apparently closeted men are a trope in modern M/M romance, but since I don’t read modern romances I was perfectly fine with the trope. Additionally, part of why Vinnie is in the closet is because of his family and the homophobia he perceives there.

What I liked best about the story was Trey. It’s clear he’s not your typical young, gay college student. His mother is an alcoholic, and there is no easy solution to her problems, and her alcoholism his deeply impacted the lives of Trey and his grandmother.

It’s hard, reading about Trey’s family, but I haven’t read many books where the main characters have to deal with addicted family members and the difficulty this makes for their lives, and the complexity of loving someone who is addicted.

This is a very good story, and I highly recommend it.

The Books of Mid-Year 2019 Great Covers
The Books of Midyear 2019: Mysteries
The Books of Midyear 2019: Supernatural Fantasy

I do yearly wraps ups, but it’s summer and it’s hot and I know you’re looking for something to read, so I decided that y’all need a midyear wrap up of some of my favorite books.

As is my habit, I’ll start with some of the covers I really liked. Shockingly, I don’t have any terrible covers so far this year! (This probably means I haven’t ready any Avon books.)

To make this list, a book had to be published in 2018 or 2019.

An Artless Demise (2019) Anna Lee Huber (Berkley)

She always gets lovely covers, but I think this one is particularly beautiful.

The color is gorgeous, with everything sepia-ish with that pop of red. The way she’s in motion. The feeling of atmosphere that tells you this is a mystery.

I love this.

A Dangerous Collaboration (2019) Deanna Raybourn (Berkley)

This matches the previous books in the series, and I love that they didn’t got with a model. The silhouette is gorgeous and striking, and obviously of the main character (since she has a butterfly net).

It’s just a very good cover that draws me right in.

Who Slays the Wicked (2019) C.S. Harris  (Berkley)

She always has good covers, although I admit that I preferred her first covers that didn’t have people in them at all. But if we are going to have a person, then this is perfect for this book.

I love that everything is grayscale except for the title.

Berkley has knocked everything out of the park for me so far this year.

Good job y’all.

Murder Takes the High Road (2018) Josh Lanyon (Carina Press)

For a publisher that does erotica, they have some really good covers. (Sorry, I just expect boinking books to have covers that I want to hide in a brown paper package (like a lot of the epic fantasy I read in the early 90s.))

This is clearly a mystery, which is what drew me in initially (this was the first of MANY Josh Lanyon books I read this year).

Another cover with mostly grays and that spurt of red of the title and an eerie splash of yellow.

But the birds are really what make the cover. Very nice.

 

Mrs. Martin’s Incomparable Adventure (2019) Courtney Milan (Courtney Milan)

I’d like to point out this is a self-published book. So although there are a couple issues with the production, I am NOT going to quibble.

First and foremost, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this model! The main characters are older women, and here we have a lady who is clearly gray haired and past what would have been considered her prime for that era. Yet she is clearly comfortable with herself and her place in the world.

This is MAGNIFICENT.

The Duke I Tempted (2018) Scarlett Peckham (NYLA)

Straight up. This is just a really pretty cover.

 

Circle of the Moon (2019) Faith Hunter (Ace)

I have liked pretty much every cover Faith Hunter has gotten with Ace. Even when they clearly didn’t have much of a budget, they were clearly trying to stay true to her characters, and as the books became more popular, they kept the same feel but everything was just nicer.

The covers for this series have all been gorgeous, with the strong colors and the sense of circular movement. I can tell at a glance this is a Soulwood book.

Lies Sleeping (2018) Ben Aaronovitch  (DAW)

Although the initial US release for the first couple books of the series were fine, I love that they have switched to the map based covers.

I keep meaning to zoom in on a high res version of these covers and see all the details, but I never quite get around to it.

The October Man (2019) Ben Aaronovitch (Subterranean Press)

Although this novella has a different publisher, it keeps the map and river theme. If I have a quibble, it’s that for a related novella it’s not truly clear enough this is NOT a Peter Grant story.

In theory it shouldn’t matter that much, but I think it does, because the Rivers of London series is very much Peter at its heart, so it needs to be a little more distinctive to separate this story a bit.

The Phoenix Illusion (2018) Lisa Shearin (Murwood Media, LLC)

This is another self-published book, and I think she did an excellent job matching the feel of the previous books in the series. It’s nowhere close to my favorite cover in this series, but for self-published it’s pretty excellent.

Family Matters (2018) Angel Martinez (Mischief Corner Books, LLC)

This is a delightful cover and it fits the book perfectly.

You’re getting a Minotaur librarian. What more could you possibly want?

The Wolf at the Door (2018) Charlie Adhara (Carina Press), The Wolf at Bay (2018) Charlie Adhara (Carina Press), Thrown to the Wolves (2019) Charlie Adhara (Carina Press)

Three more for Carina Press.

These are supernatural mysteries, and I love how the theme carries across all three books in its color and simplicity.

Skin and Bone (2019) TA Moore (Dreamspinner Press)

This is another series I found because the covers caught my eye. The colors are gorgeous. And although it’s clear there is a dog in the story, it’s not floating or looming or weirdly presented, it’s just hanging out in the background, precisely as it does in the story.

And those are the book covers I’ve loved so far this year.

Three from Berkley, four from Carina Press, and two self-published.

HUZZAH to all!

The Books of Midyear 2019: Romance
The Books of Midyear 2019: Mysteries
The Books of Midyear 2019: Supernatural Fantasy

As I noted on the book roundup, I’ve been listening to podcasts rather than audio books recently, so I thought I’d give y’all a round up of what I’ve been enjoying.

First up is Make Me Smart with Kai & Molly. Because I love listening to Kai’s voice, and the repartee between Kai and Molly is wonderful. Especially when Molly utterly geeks out.

Also, the episode What. The. Fed. opens with Kai cussing, and it is delightful.

But what you really want is CRISPR for Beginners. For work a wrote a piece on ethics and gene-editing, because this is something we need to consider NOW.

Next up is Planet Money, which I listened to right after it started (and even have the T-shirt!)

What I especially like about Planet Money is that I had NO (zero, none, zip, zilch) classes in economics and finance through all my many years of school. Planet Money doesn’t assume you know anything about economics AND it has really interesting stories.

You should check out this short episode on the Indicator, The Private Firefighter Industry . I recently read a book that was set during the time public fire companies were first being set up in London, and I find it disconcerting that we might be returning to a time when only those with money can afford real protection.

Another podcast I’m adoring is Smart Podcast, Trashy Books, which is (unsurprisingly) the podcast for Smart Bitches Trashy Books. Yes, the focus is romance books, but they can talk about so much more here, and I recommend to every woman a recent episode: Burnout – A Feminist Book about Stress: An Interview with Emily and Amelia Nagoski

If you like science, I highly recommend This Podcast Will Kill You. They recently did a two-parter on vaccines that I HIGHLY recommend.

They also talk a fair amount about epidemiology, which is a highly underrated science. (Correlation is not causation!) Thanks to Mary for pointing this one out to me.

So have you been enjoying any interesting podcasts?

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Hard to believe, but the year is half over. I’ve read 124 books so far this year, which is the largest half-year total since I started keeping track (in 2003).

I read two new releases this month, both of which I really liked: Storm Cursed by Patricia Briggs and The October Man by Ben Aaronovitch. Note that the Ben Aaronovitch is a Rivers of London novella, but NOT a Peter Grant story. Which worked out perfectly fine.

I also read several LGBT supernatural fantasies, all of which I really enjoyed. The Big Bad Wolf series by Charlie Adhara was a nice solid supernatural mystery: a man works for a secret law enforcement agency that polices the (secret) were-wolves. The world building was strong, both characters were complex, and the mysteries were good. The Brandywine Investigations series by Angel Martinez was another supernatural mystery, featuring mythological gods living in the modern world. I LOVED this world building. In fact, I’ve adored everything I’ve read by her, including Uncommonly Tidy Poltergeists, which was ADORABLE.

Here are June’s books.

Supernatural Fantasy

Storm Cursed (2019) Patricia Briggs (Rating: 8.5/10) (Mercy Thompson)
The October Man (2019) Ben Aaronovitch (Rating: 8.5/10) (Rivers of London World)
Jane Madison
Girl’s Guide to Witchcraft (2006/2015) Mindy Klasky (Rating: 7/10)
Sorcery and the Single Girl (2007-2015) Mindy Klasky (Rating: 6/10)
The Leopard King (2016) Ann Aguirre (Rating: 5.5/10)

Supernatural Fantasy, LGBT

Uncommonly Tidy Poltergeists (2017) Angel Martinez (Rating: 8/10)
Big Bad Wolf
The Wolf at the Door (2018) Charlie Adhara (Rating: 8/10)
The Wolf at Bay (2018) Charlie Adhara (Rating: 8/10)
Thrown to the Wolves (2019) Charlie Adhara (Rating: 8/10)
Brandywine Investigations
Open for Business (2016) Angel Martinez (Rating: 7.5/10)
Family Matters (2018) Angel Martinez (Rating: 8.5/10)

Mystery, LGBT

Point Blank: Five Dangerous Ground Novellas (2017) Josh Lanyon (Rating: 7.5/10)
Seance on a Summer’s Night (2018) Josh Lanyon (Rating: 7/10)

Mystery, Historical

A Dangerous Collaboration (2019) Deanna Raybourn (Rating: 7/10)

And now: THE NUMBERS!

This month was all eBooks, all the time. I’ve been listening to podcasts instead of audio books, so that dropped those off the list.

eBook: 14

Genre-wise things were pretty evenly spread. Lots of multi-category books, which is great since I adore supernatural mysteries.

Fantasy: 11
Mystery: 9
Romance: 10
Boinking: 9

Only a single male author this month (Ben Aaronovitch).

Male: 1
Female: 8
Male Pseudonym: 5

And looming at the character breakdowns, since I read a lot of M/M romance, I had lots of male characters. Lots of white males, although at least some of the books had diversity in their supporting characters (the Brandywine Investigations might have counted as secondary minority, what with Anansi and Coyote showing up, but they didn’t play very large parts). And lots of LGBTQ stories, with lots of LGBTQ secondary characters (although the historical mystery was a little shaky in that category)

Male: 6
Female: 7
Ensemble: 1
White: 13
Minority: 1
Minority 2ndary: 2
Straight: 6
LGBTQ: 8
LGBTQ 2ndary: 5

And that’s what I read in June.

Anything you’d recommend this month?