A Restless Truth (2022) Freya Marske (The Last Binding #2) Set on the Atlantic Ocean ~1908 Grief’s jaws were not blunt of tooth. They snapped shut like a poacher’s trap. “Clarence!” cried Violet, edging sideways on her chair to better display herself to the open doorway. “I’m not decent!” Her cousin scowled and shut the […]

Agents of Winter (2022) Ada Maria Soto (The Agency #2) “I’m sorry, which one is B-837?” “Romantic or sexual involvement with another agency employee or contractor.” “I… um…” Arthur felt his cheeks flush and didn’t know what to say. It had never crossed his mind to fill out the “Fucking Form” as it was referred […]

Merlin in the Library (2018) Ada Maria Soto (The Agency #1.5) Martin wanted to reassure Arthur that he was fine and send him back to bed, except his therapist reminded him every session that there was nothing wrong in asking for help and he should do so whenever he felt the need. This advice was […]

His Quiet Agent (2017) Ada Maria Soto (The Agency #1) It was seven when he walked into Martin’s room and found him tying his tie. “Wes hAl,” he greeted him with one of the dozen phrases the children had managed to teach him. Martin’s face had yet to retreat fully back into the silent blankness […]

Not Your Valentine (2023) Jackie Lau Helen is done with romance. And not unreasonably so. Charlie Kung broke up with me at a restaurant last Valentine’s Day, a break-up that practically everyone in the world witnessed. But everyone keeps asking her if she’s moved on, and it’s annoying, so the obvious solution is to create […]

System Collapse (2023) Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries #7) (According to Martyn, ART is of course capable of doing its own accounting, but it always ends up with extra numbers that no one can trace. So now Turi does it and has to keep a hardcopy ledger because otherwise ART would alter their data. No […]

The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love (2024) India Holton (Love’s Academic #1) Set in Europe in 1890 I’d forgotten how very silly India Holton stories are. That’s not to say they are bad, because they aren’t, but if you aren’t expecting the silliness it can be a bit of a surprise. Devon might be guiltless […]

Fugitive Telemetry (2021) Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries #6) “What controlled circumstances?” I said, “Isolated work installations.” Her expression turned even more grim. “Corporate slave labor camps.” I said, “Yes, but if we call them that, Marketing and Branding gets angry and we get a power surge through our brains that fries little pieces of […]

Network Effect (2020) Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries #5) “What is that thing?” Target Leader demanded. “What are you? You’re a bot?” Thiago said, “It’s a security unit. A bot/human construct.” Target Leader didn’t seem to believe him. “Why does it look like a person?” I said, “I ask myself that sometimes.” Over the comm […]

Exit Strategy (2018) Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #4) Listening to the SecSystem’s audio, I heard a crew member in the corridor say, “I’ve never seen one out of armor. They really do look human.” I made a gesture in that direction that I had only seen in the shows that were rated high on […]

Artificial Condition (2018) Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries #2) I didn’t care what humans were doing to each other as long as I didn’t have to a) stop it or b) clean up after it. Constructs sometimes fall under the same category as bots, sometimes under the same category as deadly weapons. (FYI, that is […]

All Systems Red (2017) Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries #1) This is why I prefer wearing the armor, even inside the habitat where it’s unnecessary and can just get in the way. Human clients usually like to pretend I’m a robot and that’s much easier in the armor. But the company would access all those […]

Hudson River Homicides (2025) C.S. Poe (Memento Mori #4) The sender is still taunting Everett with corpses. Scrawled across the door in all caps with what was likely permanent black Sharpie was the message: PIN ME TO DETECTIVE LARKIN. And Larkin is struggling not just to stop the sender, but to deal with his own […]

Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots (2022) Cat Sebastian (The Cabots #3) Set in 1973 in New York City Daniel returned from the war a bit lost. His mother used her influence to make sure he spent his time sitting at a desk, as safe as it was possible to be. So he’s living in a […]

Broadway Butchery (2023) C. S. Poe (Memento Mori #3) It hasn’t been that long since Everett resolved the issue of the subway killer, and his Cold Case Department is getting great press, but things are difficult, and someone with knowledge of the cases continues to send anonymous notes and evidence to Larkin. “Did you watch […]

Subway Slayings (2022) C.S. Poe (Memento Mori #2) Detective Everett Larkin is finally healed from the injuries incurred during his previous case. He is also now living with the detective be became friends at that time, Ira Doyle, as he’s in the process of getting divorced and wasn’t capable to living on his own until […]

The Lawrence Browne Affair (2017) Cat Sebastian (The Turner Series #2) Set in Cornwall, England in 1816 “Five servants quit,” Halliday said, tapping Lawrence’s desk in emphasis. Dust puffed up in tiny clouds around the vicar’s fingertips. “Five. And you were woefully understaffed even before then.” Five fewer servants? So that was why the house […]

The Mistletoe Motive (2021) Chloe Liese There is a lot I love about this story: the ace rep, the female lead with ASD, the single point-of-view. Jonathan glances up and meets my eyes, his gaze speaking some cryptic language that I don’t. I hate that feeling. It’s old and familiar, and it never fails to […]

We Could Be So Good (2023) Cat Sebastian (Midcentury NYC #1) Set in NYC in 1958 Nick is a reporter at the New York Chronicle, I job he worked hard to get, and loves doing. So he finds himself annoyed to be working with the boss’s kid, Andy Fleming, who is now on the city […]

Network Effect, Audio Book (2020) Martha Wells narrated by Kevin R. Free (The Murderbot Diaries #5) Thiago: “You trust it that much?” Mensah: “With my life, literally. I know what it will do to protect her, and you, and the rest of the team. Of course, it has its faults. In fact, it’s probably listening […]

Exit Strategy, Audio Book (2018) Martha Wells narrated by Kevin R. Free (The Murderbot Diaries #4) (Deleting memories like that doesn’t work. I can delete things from my data storage, but not from the organic parts of my head.) I “liked” these clothes. Maybe I actually liked them enough to remove the quotation marks around […]

Rogue Protocol, Audio Book (2018) Martha Wells narrated by Kevin R. Free (The Murderbot Diaries #3) (The good thing about pretending to be an augmented human security consultant instead of a construct SecUnit is that you can tell the humans to shut up.) (A)nybody who wanted to hang around and live on a deteriorating terraforming […]

Artificial Condition, Audio Book (2018) Martha Wells narrated by Kevin R. Free (The Murderbot Diaries #2) I didn’t care what humans were doing to each other as long as I didn’t have to a) stop it or b) clean up after it. Spending that much time with something that didn’t want you there, or that […]

All Systems Red, Audio Book (2017) Martha Wells narrated by Kevin R. Free (The Murderbot Diaries #1) I don’t know why, because it’s one of those things I’m not contractually obligated to care about. But the company would access all those recordings and data mine them for anything they could sell. No, they don’t tell […]

Loud and Clear (2016) Aidan Wayne “Serves you right for being the smart one,” he said, shouldering his phone so he could clear away his dishes. “Shut up.” Tatyana always got touchy when Jaxon brought up that he was the stupid one in the family. He didn’t know why; it wasn’t like their parents hadn’t […]

Agents of Winter (2022) Ada Maria Soto (The Agency #2) “I’m sorry, which one is B-837?” “Romantic or sexual involvement with another agency employee or contractor.” “I… um…” Arthur felt his cheeks flush and didn’t know what to say. It had never crossed his mind to fill out the “Fucking Form” as it was referred […]

His Quiet Agent (2017) Ada Maria Soto (The Agency Book 1) “Do you have anyone running a Super Bowl pool up here?” Arthur hated football but he couldn’t handle another sideways promotion, even if that meant sticking his head up. “Agent Sims used to do it, but he bashed a fax machine to death with […]

An Unseen Attraction (2017) K.J. Charles (Sins of the Cities, #1) Set in London in 1873 This is one of my favorite queer historicals. It’s the first book in a series, and I’ve read just this book, or just the first two, because I adore Clem and Rowley. Look me in the eyes, boy! had […]

The Heiress Effect (2013) Courtney Milan (Brothers Sinister #2) Set in Cambridgeshire, England, 1867 She asked Whitting about his studies, and when he made a wry comment about preferring to concentrate his efforts on the study of liquids, she stared at him. “How surprising.” Her eyes were very round. “I had not thought you to […]

System Collapse, Audiobook (2023) Martha Wells narrated by Kevin R Free (Murderbot Diaries #7) I still felt radically off my game and I was hoping for reassurance rather than statistics that confirmed that I was correct in thinking that everything sucked right now. (According to Martyn, ART is of course capable of doing its own […]

Fugitive Telemetry, Audiobook (2021) Martha Wells narrated by Kevin R Free (The Murderbot Diaries #6) I guess if you were really determined, you could find a way to get yourself killed by exposing the power connectors under the panels and shielding and, I don’t know, licking them or something, “What controlled circumstances?” I said, “Isolated […]

The Lawrence Browne Affair (2017) Cat Sebastian (The Turners #2) Set in England in 1817 Georgie had too much practice deceiving others to be able to deceive himself. “I apologize,” he said in a normal tone of voice. “I had a valet, but he left.” “I daresay he did, if you insisted on dressing like […]

A Case for Christmas (2021) J.A. Rock & Lisa Henry (The Lords of Bucknall Club #2) Set in alternate England during the Napoleanic Era Chant was well versed in the difference between rudeness for rudeness’s sake and rudeness born from an anxiety that was rapidly becoming unmanageable. “What do you need from me?” Gale hesitated. […]

Lady Ambition’s Dilemma, Audiobook (2022) Jane Steen and Elizabeth Klett narrator (Scott-De Quincy Mysteries #3) Set in Sussex in 1883 “In any case, we’re not discussing me. Are you trying to tell me Dederick . . .” I searched for the right words, “prefers the company of other men?” “A little in love with him […]

Lady Odelia’s Secret, Audiobook (2022) Jane Steen and Elizabeth Klett narrator (Scott-De Quincy Mysteries #2) Set in Sussex in 1882 I felt Michael—who hated to touch, or be touched by, other people—flinch as I rested my fingertips as lightly as possible on his arm. “I enjoy reading about people who are real to me for […]

Network Effect, Audiobook (2020) Martha Wells narrated by Kevin R Free (The Murderbot Diaries #5) Characters: Dr. Arada, Overse, Dr. Thiago, Dr. Mensah, Dr. Ratthi, Dr. Bharadwaj, Amena, Pin-Lee, Farai, Tano, Copilot Mihail, Specialist Rajpreet, Pilot Roa, Adjat, Remy, Hanifa, Kanti, Perihelion/ART, Eletra, Ras, Officer Tifany, Senior Officer Indah, Supervisor Leonide, Martyn, Karime, Turi, Seth, […]

Exit Strategy, Audiobook (2018) Martha Wells, narrated by Kevin R. Free (The Murderbot Diaries #4) Ship’s drones gathered to watch me, confused as to why I was going out the wrong door and beeping sadly about it. (Humans never think to tell their bots things like, say, don’t respond to random individuals wandering the outside […]

Rogue Protocol, Audiobook (2018) Martha Wells, narrated by Kevin R. Free (The Murderbot Diaries #3) Or Miki was a bot who had never been abused or lied to or treated with anything but indulgent kindness. It really thought its humans were its friends, because that’s how they treated it. I signaled Miki I would be […]

Artificial Condition, Audiobook (2018) Martha Wells, narrated by Kevin R. Free (The Murderbot Diaries #2) (Constructs sometimes fall under the same category as bots, sometimes under the same category as deadly weapons. (FYI, that is not a good category to be in.)) How the hell was I supposed to know there were transports sentient enough […]

All Systems Red, Audiobook (2017) Martha Wells, narrated by Kevin R. Free (The Murderbot Diaries #1) The hostile that had just exploded up out of the ground had a really big mouth, so I felt I needed a really big gun. So we didn’t lose our ramp when the hostile came up under it, big […]

Lady Helena Investigates, Audiobook (2018) Jane Steen and Elizabeth Klett narrator (Scott-De Quincy Mysteries #1) Set in Sussex in 1881 “I can’t have you back, so I’m forced to move forward with my life. I let Daniel’s death reduce me to some kind of paralysis, but you rescued me from it in the end. Perhaps […]

A Scandal in Mayfair, Audiobook (2024) Katharine Schellman narrated by Henrietta Meire (Lily Adler Mystery #5) Set in London in 1817 Fanny hesitated, then added in a serious whisper, “My Aunt Judith would not approve of my saying saliva.” “Well, I promise not to tell,” Lily replied, not knowing what else to say. As Lily […]

Silence in the Library, Audiobook (2020) Katharine Schellman narrated by Henrietta Meire (Lily Adler Mystery #2) Set in London in 1815 “How horrid!” Lily said, gazing at them with rapt—and encouraging—attention. “He’s not like other boys,” the maid said at last. “He never has been. The family says he’s feebleminded, but I don’t think that’s […]

System Collapse (2023) Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #7) (According to Martyn, ART is of course capable of doing its own accounting, but it always ends up with extra numbers that no one can trace. So now Turi does it and has to keep a hardcopy ledger because otherwise ART would alter their data. No […]

Fugitive Telemetry (2021) Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #6) The bag had lights but turning them on would just be stupid plus I didn’t really want to see what was happening. Farid came into the room, spotted me, and came over to say, “Uh, we’re making tea. Do you—” I paused my feed and told […]

Network Effect (2020) Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries #5) Thiago: “You trust it that much?” Mensah: “With my life, literally. I know what it will do to protect her, and you, and the rest of the team. Of course, it has its faults. In fact, it’s probably listening to us right now. Are you listening, […]

Exit Strategy (2018) Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries #4) Ship’s drones gathered to watch me, confused as to why I was going out the wrong door and beeping sadly about it. I “liked” these clothes. Maybe I actually liked them enough to remove the quotation marks around “liked.” I was having an emotion, and I […]

Rogue Protocol (2018) Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries #3) (There needs to be an error code that means “I received your request but decided to ignore you.”) Or Miki was a bot who had never been abused or lied to or treated with anything but indulgent kindness. It really thought its humans were its friends, […]

Artificial Condition (2018) Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries #2) Constructs sometimes fall under the same category as bots, sometimes under the same category as deadly weapons. (FYI, that is not a good category to be in. I could feel ART metaphorically clutch its function. I closed the story by reflex, like that would make it […]

All Systems Red (2017) Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries #1) I said, “It’s part of my job, not to listen to the System feeds when they . . . make mistakes.” That’s why you need constructs, SecUnits with organic components. But she should know that. Before she accepted delivery of me, she had logged about […]