Passing Strange (2017) Ellen Klages Set in San Francisco in 1940. Haskel is an artist who makes her living doing pulp covers. She and her friends live on the edge of polite society, either because they aren’t white or because of their sexuality, but they are found family. “Ah, Jack. You failed the three-garment test […]
Galaxies and Oceans (2018) N.R. Walker I know it’s only been a month since I read this the first time, but it came to mind for a recommendation request, and I went to look for a specific quote, and, well. I re-read the entire thing. Grief was like the great Southern Ocean; it moved in […]
Two Rogues Make a Right (2020) Cat Sebastian (Seducing the Sedgwicks) Set in London ~1817-1818 Will Sedgwick’s best friend, Martin Easterbrook, had been found fevered and somewhat delusional in the attic of Hartley Sedgwick’s home (a home that by rights should have belonged to Martin). So Will stole him away to the country in the […]
A Delicate Deception (2019) Cat Sebastian (Regency Imposters) Set in England in 1824 Amelia Allenby fled London to escape what she felt was an impending madness. She’s now comfortable in Derbyshire, but still tries to avoid everyone. But a hulking man interrupts her daily walk, and eventually her annoyance changes to something else. Sydney may […]
Something to Talk About (2020) Meryl Wilsner Jo Jones is a Big Deal in Hollywood. She started out as a child star, then went on to script-writing and producing, and although she’s currently working on an award-winning show, she wants to do something else–a super hero movie. He didn’t come out and say it was […]
Finders Keepers (2018) N.R. Walker After reading two Roan Parrish books–which are very angsty–I needed something super fluffy and happy. This is it. Griffin Burke has moved from Brisbane to Coolum Beach to take a new job–a promotion and a new place to explore. But when he finds a lost dog, he may be starting […]
Invitation to the Blues (2018) Roan Parrish (Small Change) This story is not for everyone. So there I was, working in my younger brother’s sandwich shop to make rent after moving out of my parents’ house, where I’d gone to temporarily lie low when I was released from the hospital I ended up in after […]
Raze (2019) Roan Parrish (Riven) Huey has spent a decade focusing on being sober, and helping others by being a sponsor. But in building his life, he hasn’t allowed anything unplanned or unexpected. I liked the dishes to be done in a particular way, and the routine was important to me. For as long as […]
Hottie Scotty and Mr. Porter (2017) R. Cooper I’m still struggling, and remembered this is a cute story, so I borrowed it again from the library. Scotty left the city and moved to a small down to help his sister care for her kids. And he likes working for the fire department. But it’s hard […]
The Pursuit Of… (2018) Courtney Milan Set in the United States in 1781 – 1784 At Yorktown John Hunter almost kills a British soldier–but instead ends up giving him his coat so he can escape. When told he’d repay the kindness, John things nothing of it. People say lots of things, and they almost never […]
Spooky Business (2020) S.E. Harmon (The Spectral Files) Rain Christiansen is settling into life with Danny. They both work for the cold case unit, which uses Rain’s (non-publicized) talent as a Medium to help solve cold cases. The fact that Rain worked as a profiler for the FBI doesn’t hurt. But the FBI wants him […]
Love, Marriage, and a Baby Carriage (2016) C.S. Poe It’s been a rough couple days. I desperately needed something light and funny so I decided a reread of Love, Marriage, and a Baby Carriage was necessary. This is a short story, and currently you can’t find it anywhere, but OMG it is one of the […]
How to Be a Normal Person (2014) TJ Klune Gustavo Tiberius lives in Abby, Oregon and is not a a little odd. He doesn’t really mind that much, because he is mostly content with his life. IT WAS seven in the morning when the alarm clock belonging to Gustavo Tiberius rang and he opened his […]
The Enforcer Enigma (2020) G. L. Carriger (San Andreas Shifters) When Colin’s brother returned from college, to find him completely withdrawn, Kevin decided they would both join the new pack moving out to San Francisco where Colin could be himself without fear of retribution. Judd has been a werewolf since before the Saturation. He may […]
The Omega Objection (2018) G. L. Carriger (San Andreas Shifters) Tank came east with the rest of what eventually eventually came to be the San Andreas Pack. Although he’s big enough to be an enforcer, he’s truly submissive and doesn’t like to fight, even if he does a lot of work as security. Isaac has […]
The Sumage Solution (2017) G. L. Carriger (San Andreas Shifters) Max is a sumage and, as far as his father was concerned, a complete failure. Instead of being a Surge, he’s a Placer, and instead of continuing the family line, he’s gay. So now he works for DURPS and lives in a small cottage. Biff […]
Waiting for the Flood (2018) Alexis Hall (Spires) The last book I finished wasn’t at all for me. This book was perfect for me. The waters are rising, and Edwin Tully worries more about his elderly neighbor than his own home–the home he bought with his ex. The home he thought was going to be […]
Ice Cream Lover (2019) Jackie Lau (Baldwin Village) Drew Lum has sworn off dating. His fiancee left him standing at the alter, and then wrote a book about “your inner ice cream sandwich” that accuses Drew (under a pseudonym) of stifling her, being a terrible boyfriend, and someone who would make a terrible father. Chloe […]
Galaxies and Oceans (2018) N.R. Walker TW: This story opens with one of the main characters recovering from having been beaten by his boyfriend–for not the first time. Ethan Hosking walks out of his boyfriend’s second home and into the a chaos of a wildfire and comes out of the forest as Aubrey Hobbs, a […]
Best of Both Worlds (2017) N.R. Walker I had no idea what I was in he mood to read, so I thought I’d go with a novella. I read a few pages and thought this wasn’t the book I was in the mood for (it opened with trigger warnings for homophobia and violence) but I […]
The Best Corpse for the Job (2014) Charlie Cochrane (Lindenshaw Mysteries) Adam Matthews is on the committee to help select the new headteacher for the school, and nothing is as easy as it should be. First one of the candidates called in sick, and then another candidate is found dead in the children’s kitchen. (Luckily […]
Better Than People (2020) Roan Parrish (Garnet Run) I’ll be honest–I’ve been wanting nothing but comfort and fluffy reading right now, and Roan Parrish is generally the last author I’d turn to for that. Her other books–while excellent–have been extremely angsty. But reviews said this was NOT full of angst, and one of the characters […]
Boyfriend Material (2020) Alexis Hall This story was an utter delight. I started it mid afternoon, and pretty much didn’t set it down until I’d finished it–past my bedtime. Luc O’Donnell is a mess. Because both of his parents were semi-famous musicians, he’s always been in the eye of the press, and when his relationship […]
The Sugared Game (2020) K.J. Charles (The Will Darling Adventures) Set in London in 1924. Will Darling has settled in as proprietor of the bookstore he inherited from his uncle. He’s cleaned out the upstairs so he has room to sleep, and is slowly organizing the books. Unfortunately, all that is not keeping his mind […]
A Murderous Relation (2020) Deanna Raybourn (Veronica Speedwell) Set in London in 1888. Victoria and Stoker are not to get much time to recover from their last adventures, as they are almost immediately asked to call upon Lady Wellie who has some important visitors she wants Victoria and Stoker to help. But Victoria doesn’t have […]
Think of England (2015) KJ Charles Set in England in 1904. Comfort read. Which for me generally means murder. This story doesn’t start with murder, but there is death, and blackmail, and treason. Archie Curtis lost friends, his career, and several of his fingers when a shipment of guns exploded upon use. When Archie learns […]
Vincent’s Thanksgiving Date (2014) R. Cooper Vincent has issues with anxiety, and it makes him avoid talking to people–even his super cute neighbor who works at the florist. There was no easy way to explain being a grown man who was terrified of meaningless conversations and meeting new people. Saying small social embarrassments haunted him […]
A Gentleman’s Position (2016) K.J. Charles (Society of Gentlemen) Set in London in 1820 It’s not that this is a bad story, it’s just that I really don’t care that much for Richard, so it’s difficult for me to care about him having a HEA. David Cyprian I do like, but I really don’t understand […]
Starstruck (2014) L.A. Witt (Bluewater Bay) Levi Pritchard retired from Hollywood, tired of being typecast. (H)e was pretty sure some of them were still furious about the piece of Eastwick fanfic he’d anonymously penned a while back. It was still floating around out there somewhere, along with all the angry— and some alarmingly supportive— comments […]
Taxes and TARDIS (2012) N.R. Walker Brent Kelly and his shoe-box of receipts are about to meet his new accountant. But Logan Willis isn’t old, but is instead Brent’s age, and wearing a startlingly blue shirt. Logan is nothing like the kind of guy Brent usually likes, but then Brent generally doesn’t see the same […]
The Engineer (2020) C.S. Poe (Magic & Steam) Set in the American West in 1881. Gillian Hamilton is a Special Agent for the Federal Bureau of Magic and Steam–and a powerful magic user. He is sent out west to catch a renegade magic user, but runs into a completely different wanted man while on the […]
Jericho Candelario’s Gay Debut (2018) R. Cooper Jericho Candelario has spent his adult life helping to raise his siblings and his niece. His father is now sober, but between his past alcoholism, his PTSD, and his health, he wasn’t much help to the family after their mother left them. For five years, Jerry has enjoyed […]
A Very Henry Christmas (2017) N.R. Walker (The Weight of It All) This is a novella / short story set a year or so after the end of The Weight of It All. It’s just a cute story of Henry throwing an elaborate Christmas Eve party for their friends. Unlike the original story, we do […]
The Weight of It All (2016) N.R. Walker After eight years, Henry Beckett’s left him, because he was too old (35!) and too fat. At first Harry things that he wants to get into shape to get Graham back, but he quickly realizes he wants to make the changes for himself. “Who’s Graham?” “What?” He […]
Color of You (2017) C.S. Poe (A Lancaster Story) Bowen Merlin has moved to Lancaster in the middle of the school year to become the band director for the high and middle schools, after the previous teacher was fired. On of the first things he does, however, is dump apple cider all over the cutest […]
Joy (2017) C.S. Poe (A Lancaster Story) Another book I re-read becuase I needed more fluffy happy. Gideon Joy has bad luck. This time his bad luck is a moose. That he runs into with his car as he’s passing through a small town. I ran a hand through my hair and then pushed up […]
Kneading You (2019) C.S. Poe (A Lancaster Story) I needed some happy fluffy with outside conflict (not internal angst). Christopher Hughes is is applying for what he hopes will be his dream job–librarian in the small town to which he has moved. But a local businessman wants to tear down the building and put up […]
Knit Tight (2016) Annabeth Albert (Portland Heat) This is the fourth book in the Portland Heat series. Brady works as a barista at People’s Cup, and one of the busiest nights he works is Wednesday, when the local knitting group meets. It’s good for tips, which he needs, because he and his eighteen year-old sister […]
Upside Down (2019) N.R. Walker Jordan O’Neill is unhappy. Things have been going terribly for him in all of his relationships, so his co-worker convinces him to go to an asexual support group, to see if perhaps that’s what’s going on. I didn’t need another label. I had enough of them. I had enough hang-ups, […]
Blank Spaces (2016) Cass Lennox (Toronto Connections) Vaughn Hargrave is tired of dating. He doesn’t want what every other guy wants, so he’s decided he’ll just stop trying. Devon took a hefty gulp, then pressed his mouth to Toned’s. Vaughn saw liquid dribble from one corner as the gulp passed from mouth to mouth. His […]
A Seditious Affair (2015) KJ Charles (Society of Gentlemen) Set in London in 1819. This book dovetails and overlaps with the previous, A Fashionable Indulgence. Dominic Frey is a Tory who works for the Home Office. He also has want and needs that embarrass him, because he has been told that what he wants is […]
A Fashionable Indulgence (2015) KJ Charles (Society of Gentlemen) Set in London in 1819. Harry Vane has spent his life on the run. His parents were both radicals and they had to flee England after a riot broke out during one of his father’s speeches. After his parents died of cholera, he sneaked back into […]
The Boy in the Red Dress (2020) Kristin Lambert Set in New Orleans in 1930. It’s New Year’s Eve and Millie Coleman is in charge of her aunt’s speakeasy for the evening. When a rich young woman comes looking for her aunt’s star performer, Marion Leslie, Millie does what she can to protect Marion. When […]
The Ruin of a Rake (2017) Cat Sebastian (The Turner Series) Set in England in 1817 Lord Courtenay has a reputation of the worst sort–as a rake, libertine, and wastrel. Courtenay was effectively stranded in London, a city populated by people who thought him a monster. He had spent the last of his money getting […]
The Lawrence Browne Affair (2017) Cat Sebastian (The Turner Series) Set in England in 1816 Georgie Turner needs to leave London ASAP. He has run afoul of the crime lord with whom he had worked for several years, because he couldn’t go through with a confidence game. So his brother sends him out to Cornwall […]
Turning Darkness Into Light (2019) Marie Brennan Audrey Camherst, grand-daughter of the famous Lady Trent, is a scholar in her own right. But it’s so hard when I can feel everyone looking at me, waiting to see what I’ll do. Not my family, of course; if I decided I wanted to retire to a country […]
A Gentleman Never Keeps Score (2018) Cat Sebastian (Seducing the Sedgwicks) Set in London in 1817. Hartley Sedgwick has been hiding in the house left to him by his godfather–a house he earned, that is now almost a prison as rumors have swirled about just what Hartley did to earn that house, and the livings […]
It Takes Two to Tumble (2017) Cat Sebastian (Seducing the Sedgwicks) Set in England in 1817. Imagine the sound of music, except with three kids, Maria is a local vicar, and the sea captain is hiding his reading disability. The children of Barton Hall have been running wild since their mother died. Their father is […]
Behind These Doors (2018) Jude Lucens (Radical Proposals) St in England in 1906. Aubrey Fanshawe spends much of his free time with his best friends,Lord and Lady Hernedale. When an accidental meeting with Lucien Saxby turns into something more, Aubrey fears his trust will be betrayed. But when Saxby turns to him for him, things […]
An Unsuitable Heir (2017) K.J. Charles (Sins of the Cities) Set in London, 29 November 1873 – January 1874 This book ends the Sins of the City series, and we finally learn who has been behind the murders, as well as why (although that had been pretty obvious). Mark Braglewicz is looking for the heir […]