Wednesday I was lucky enough to get to go to the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens for the light show.

Yeah, there was flower pr0n galore, but the lights were really wonderful.

I took a few more pictures, which you can see if you click through to Flickr.

I may just refuse to acknowledge it is now December, and that Christmas is really close.

Nope. Still October. I’m sure of it.

I reached 200 books this month–205 at month’s end.

There was a fair amount of re-reading there, but I also managed several new releases (all of which were borrowed from the Library).

What was good this month?

I’m rereading the Fred, the Vampire Accountant series, which is tremendous fun (and there is no boinking!). It starts with The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant and is just as over-the-top as it sounds.

Being a vampire grants you many things. A sudden burst of intuition and confidence with the opposite sex sitting directly on top of you is sadly not one of them.

You should definitely read that series.

I’m also re-reading Justin Gustainis‘s Occult Crimes Unit Investigation series, which starts with Hard Spell. It’s a supernatural police procedural, set in Scranton, and it’s also marvelous.

My name’s Markowski. I carry a badge.

Also a crucifix, some wooden stakes, a big vial of holy water, and a 9 mm Beretta loaded with silver bullets.

Just ignore the covers, because they’re really awful, although they’re bad in an amusing over-the-top way, rather than taking themselves seriously.

And I read what may be the best short story I’ve read in a long time (and I read quite a few short stories). Marriage, Love and a Baby Carriage by C.S. Poe is a short story about gay fated-mate penguin shifters and an unexpected baby. It is an utter delight. (There is boinking here, but even that ended up being charming).

I was attending a singles’ convention for special people like me to find their forever penguin partner. But after I paid the attendance fee, got a hotel room, and booked my flight, I found out it was specifically for guys and gals.

I actually read it twice, because it was so fun. Also, I would TOTALLY read a series about penguin shifters.

Just sayin’.

I also want to mention Whiteout by Elyse Springer, because a couple chapters in I was all, “Oh. No. I do not like where I think this is going. No. No I do not. And then read the remained of the book in a single sitting. This is very much a boinking book.

So here’s what I read:

Supernatural Fantasy
Fred, the Vampire Accountant
The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant (2014) Drew Hayes (Rating: 8.5/10)
Undeath & Taxes (2015) Drew Hayes (Rating: 8.5/10)
Alpha & Omega
Dead Heat (2015) Patricia Briggs (Rating: 8.5/10)
Burn Bright (2018) Patricia Briggs (Rating: 6/10)
Hard Spell (2011) Justin Gustainis (Occult Crimes Unit Investigation) (Rating: 8/10)

Mystery
The Other End of the Line (2016/2019) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli (Rating: 8/10)

Mystery, Historical
Penny for Your Secrets (2019) Anna Lee Huber (Verity Kent) (Rating: 5.5/10)

Mystery, LGBT
Murder Takes the High Road (2018) Josh Lanyon (Rating: 8.5/10)
Adrien English
Fatal Shadows (2000) Josh Lanyon (Rating: 6/10)
A Dangerous Thing (2002) Josh Lanyon (Rating: 7/10)
Death of a Pirate King (2011) Josh Lanyon (Rating: 7.5/10)
The Dark Tide (2011) Josh Lanyon (Rating: 7.5/10)
So This is Christmas (2016) Josh Lanyon (Rating: 8.5/10)
The Art of Murder
The Mermaid Murders (2015) Josh Lanyon (Rating: 8/10)
Holmes & Moriarity
The Boy with the Painful Tattoo (2014/2018) Josh Lanyon (Rating: 6/10)
In Other Words… Murder (2018) Josh Lanyon (Rating: 8/10)

Romance, Historical
Brazen and the Beast (2019) Sarah MacLean (Rating: 8/10) (Bareknuckle Bastards)
The Wallflower Wager (2019) Tessa Dare (Rating: 6/10) (Duchess Deal)

Romance, LGBT
Whiteout (2017) Elyse Springer (Rating: 8.5/10)
Marriage, Love and a Baby Carriage (2016) C.S. Poe (Rating: 8.5/10)
Kneading You (2019) C.S. Poe (Rating: 7.5/10)
American Fairytale (2019) Adriana Herrera (Rating: 6/10) (American Dreamers)
Portland Heat
Served Hot (2015) Annabeth Albert (Rating: 5.5/10)
Baked Fresh (2015) Annabeth Albert (Rating: 7/10)
Delivered Fast (2015) Annabeth Albert (Rating: 6/10)

And… the stats!

I’m almost certainly read a couple more books than I did last year (I’ve already finished one book today) but won’t break my all-time record, which would be 2017’s 230 books. That’s a lot of books, but since I don’t watch video, I squander my time this way.

eBook: 25
Re-read: 13

All eBooks again, and half of them were re-reads. But I did also read six books that were new or new-ish releases, so there’s that.

Genre-wise romance lead the pack, with lots of boinking. Lots of mysteries in there, and fantasy opened and closed the month, with finishing my reread of the Alpha & Omega series and starting two other re-reads.

Fantasy: 6
Mystery: 13
Romance: 20
Boinking: 18

Male authors are simply not going to make 50% of my reading this year.It’s possible they won’t even make 15% of the books I’ve read. And I’m ok with that.

Male: 4
Female: 10
Initials: 2
Male Pseudonym: 9

Character-wise, guys are doing much better, since I’m still reading lots of M/M romance. Not unexpectedly, all the books but one had at least one white main character. But there was pretty good representation with secondary characters.

Male: 20
Female: 5
Ensemble: 0
White: 24
Minority: 7
Minority 2ndary: 2
Straight: 9
LGBTQ: 16
LGBTQ 2ndary: 4

And that closes out the pent-ultimate reading wrap-up of 2019. Anything you read that was particularly good?