Glass Tidings (2018) Amy Jo Cousins Something caught at my memory and made me think of this story. Eddie witnesses a hit-and-run accident, and is asked to remain in town over night until the police can take his statement. A soft jacket dropped onto his shoulders. Eddie shrugged it off reflexively. The man caught it […]
The Furthest Station, Audio Edition (2017) Ben Aaronovitch narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (Rivers of London) This novella falls between Foxglove Summer and The Hanging Tree in the timeline. Although I highly recommend starting at the beginning, because it is outside of the primary story arc of the series, it should be accessible to those unfamiliar […]
The Hanging Tree, Audio Edition (2017) Ben Aaronovitch narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (Rivers of London) Lady Ty has decided to call in her favor. “Peter,” said Lady Ty, “Nightingale is not to know about this— is that clear?” “Crystal,” I said. As soon as she hung up, I called the Folly. Not that he’ll let […]
Adorkable (2020) Shane K. Morton I had some major problems with this story. Let’s start with the biggest one first. Billy’s best friend shows up to the most important class of her freshman year and crushes on the TA. Then, But I did think about asking you out to my fraternity’s mixer this weekend, if […]
His Quiet Agent (2017) Ada Maria Soto Arthur Drams likes his job. But he doesn’t like that he is going nowhere with it. “Hi, Arthur Drams, level two analyst, trying, badly apparently, to make friends because I’m really tired of getting promoted sideways because my own supervisors forget I exist.” As he is already out […]
And Everything Nice (2020) Ada Maria Soto I needed something fun and happy to clean my brain out. I really do adore this story. He had drawn the short straw and now had to explain to the entire version 5.1 team how a kid they shouldn’t have hired who had already left was going to […]
Ravensong (2019) TJ Klune (Green Creek) I struggled with this book just as much the second time through as I did the first time around. It was long. I still think it needed edited down. And it still was dark and upsetting. I WAS eight, and my father took a needle and burned ink and […]
Human Enough (2019) ES Yu Noah Lau joined the Vampire Hunters–first as an Intelligence Analyst, but after issues with his supervisor, as a hunter. Although people assume he joined in revenge for the murder of his parents, he really just did not want another child to have to live through what he and his sister […]
Pack of Lies (2022) Charlie Adhara (Monster Hunt) Whine whine whine. I don’t wanna read about Eli, I wanna read more about Cooper and Oliver. (finally picks up book) (devours book) (immediately preorders sequel) Eli is managing the retreat while Cooper and Oliver are on their honeymoon. What could possibly go wrong? Multiple things, including […]
Lucky Charm (2019) Chace Verity Set in Hollywood in 1928. Gilbert’s director and lover takes him out to dinner–and dumps him. “I need an actor who can go to the future with me. You can talk, but it doesn’t sound right.” I got tossed because there’s no longer any place in Hollywood for a deaf […]
Foxglove Summer, Audio Edition (2015) Ben Aaronovitch narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (Rivers of London) I love this series so much. This book is dedicated to Sir Terry Pratchett OBE, who has stood like a wossname upon the rocky shores of our imaginations— the better to guide us safely into harbor. There are so many subtle […]
Requiem for Mr. Busybody (2020) Josh Lanyon Aaaaand… I accidentally reread this as well. Michael spends a lot of time watching his neighbors. He has large windows, and since he doesn’t go out often, it gives him something to do. I usually woke up at about five-thirty and dealt with all the stuff that was […]
Sympathy (2009) Jordan Castillo Price I didn’t mean to reread this story. I was looking for books where a main character deals with a long term injury or disability, and I ended up reading the entire thing. I tried to brace my good leg and pull harder, get the lousy root ball up over the […]
The Other Side of the Roses (2017) R. Cooper Sami is content to live at home, while working as an aide in a nursing home. But he worries his family is disappointed in him. “Maybe I’ve already met my future husband,” he lamented. “Maybe he said ‘There is Sami, who lives at home and works […]
Wolfsong (2016) T.J. Klune (Green Creek) I’m trying this series again. I liked the first book well enough the first time, but the second book was a problem. I’m hoping that knowing the rest of the books are NOT about Ox an Joe will make the adjustment a little easier. Ox’s dad is awful. I […]
The Hourglass Throne (2022) K.D. Edwards (The Tarot Sequence) I really thought I had pre-ordered this. I hadn’t, and because I was failing to deal with all the things, I didn’t notice it was out until the end of August. That said, I read it almost immediately, and devoured it in a day. Rune Saint […]
The Ruin of a Rake (2017) Cat Sebastian (The Turner Series) Set in England in 1817 Courtenay has been ruined. He was already not accepted in polite society, but now he has fallen so far he has been denied access to his nephew–the one person in the world he loves unreservedly. Julian has more good […]
Loud and Clear (2016) Aidan Wayne I just needed to reread this is all. This is a romance, but it’s also about the huge difference that money and power can make. Jaxon: “Serves you right for being the smart one,” he said, shouldering his phone so he could clear away his dishes. “Shut up.” Tatyana […]
The Soldier’s Scoundrel (2016) Cat Sebastian (The Turner Series) Set in England in ~1815 To be honest, I have avoided reading this book for ages, because the cover squicks me out. Luckily, neither character is anything at all like the models. Oliver sold his commission after taking a bullet to the back of his knee. […]
The Lawrence Browne Affair (2017) Cat Sebastian (The Turner Series) Set in England in 1816. Lawrence has a reputation as a madman. A reputation he fully believes. Penkellis was no place for a child, madmen were not fit guardians, and nobody knew those facts better than Lawrence himself, who had been raised under precisely those […]
Death at the Deep Dive (2022) Josh Lanyon (Secrets and Scrabble) This is book seven of the Secrets and Scrabble series. However, book six has not yet been published “due to circumstances outside our control”. Luckily, at this point in the series the switch isn’t a problem, since they are written as stand alones (mostly). […]
Husband Material (2022) Alexis Hall (London Calling) Although the characters are the same, this is a very different book from Boyfriend Material. Which I utterly adored. That doesn’t mean this book wasn’t excellent, just that you need to go into it with different expectations. First and foremost, Alexis Hall said he wanted to write a […]
Moon Over Soho, Audio Edition (2011) Ben Aaronovitch narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith This book has my hands-down all-time favorite quote. “You can’t die of jazz,” said Dr. Walid. “Can you?” I thought of Fats Navarro, Billie Holiday, and Charlie Parker who, when he died, was mistaken by a coroner for a man twice his real […]
For Better or Worse (2017) R. Cooper I reread the previous book, so I had to reread this one. To this day he could remember the exact feeling of relief at discovering terms like demisexual and gray ace, and his immediate need to know more, and then still, always, that faint shame of not being […]
Hottie Scotty and Mr. Porter (2016) R. Cooper Honestly, I’m not even sure what it is about this story, but it keeps catching at my mind. Part of it is how awful the women in the town are. Scott nodded, so weirdly nervous that his voice trembled. “It makes them want to read more. Maybe […]
Purloined Poinsettia (2022) Dahlia Donovan (Motts Cold Case Mystery) Motts has been fascinated by cold cases since her childhood best friend was murdered and no one every caught. Recently, she’s discovered that the majority of girls she went to school with have been killed in the interim. Now, as they are slowly closing in on […]
Lock, Stock and Peril (2022) Charlie Cochrane (Lindenshaw Mysteries) Set in early 2021 during the pandemic. What a year 2020 had been, and the start of 2021 wasn’t shaping up that great, either. The pandemic is a part of the story, because it was part of the world at the time, but it is not […]
The Labours of Lord Perry Cavendish (2021) Joanna Chambers (Winterbourne) Set in England in 1823 For no reason I could discern I thought of this story and wanted to reread it. I think what I like best about this novella is that since it is a shorter length, there isn’t time for misunderstandings to be […]
Midnight Riot, Audio Edition (2012) Ben Aaronovitch narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (Rivers of London) I’ve finished listened to the Jane Yellowrock and Faith Hunter series, with the exception of the two most recent books I haven’t read, so realizing I had a new Rivers of London book to listen to, I decided to restart the […]
Renovated to Death (2022) Frank Anthony Polito YA author PJ and his fiance, the actor JP, became starts of the home renovation show, Domestic Partners, and are trying to settle on a house for the next season. Unfortunately, one of the owners of the house the are planning to renovate doesn’t want to sell. And […]
The Lion Tamer (2018) Dahlia Donovan (The Sin Bin) First off, this story has a lot happening. Over the course of the series we’ve watched Scottie spiral out of control. The story just before this sees the start of the interactions between Scottie and Gray. Gray sees Scottie as a potential submissive, and sees something […]
The Unexpected Santa (2017) Dahlia Donovan (The Sin Bin) This is an interlude rather than a proper novella / short story. We saw Gray and Scottie meet in the previous story. This story shows Gray looking after the twins… “You two doing all right?” Gray crouched down by their table to avoid towering over them. […]
The Royal Marine (2017) Dahlia Donovan (The Sin Bin) Wyatt’s partner, Hamish, is set up with Graham and Freddie’s friend Akash. Except that the rugby players are also trying to set Akash up with Scottie. This does not go well for Scottie. Although this is Hamish and Akash’s story, a major thread is watching Scottie […]
The Botanist (2017) Dahlia Donovan (The Sin Bin) This is another dark story. It opens years prior to the events in the previous stories, with Wyatt helping to rescue Aled, a young botanist who was mistakenly grabbed by drug runners. This story takes course over several years and Aled slowly (slowly) heals and Wyatt falls […]
The Caretaker (2017) Dahlia Donovan (The Sin Bin) This story picks up after The Wanderer. Taine is another retired rugby player. Freddie is the traveling nurse who helped Graham through his cancer treatments, and became a friend. Taine is fascinated by the slight young man. Taine stood silent while the nurse gathered himself. He squared […]
The Wanderer (2017) Dahlia Donovan (The Sin Bin) After a hookup at his friend Francis’s wedding, Graham doesn’t expect to see the handsome rugby, but when the meet a second time, when Graham’s brother books him at the Inn BC inherited, he has a wonderful time–and then leaves in the middle of the night. Graham […]
After the Scrum (2016) Dahlia Donovan Although there are occasional issues with this series that could have been solved with stronger editing, this remains a series that has lodged itself in my brain and keeps popping up at random times. Francis is an interior designer who lives with his grandmother. He’d gone away to college […]
The House in the Cerulean Sea (2020) TJ Klune This book came out a week into the pandemic lockdown, and it’s possible it might have been lost in the ensuing insanity. Except that it is such a comforting read, it was precisely the thing to read to escape the world. Linus works for DICOMY (Department […]
Twice Baked (2019) Andrew Grey Luke is a popular food blogger–known for writing about foods he hates, and how it’s okay to not like goods. Professionally, I was a graphic artist, and I had a small number of clients that I worked with. Each of the businesses had been very successful but didn’t have the […]
An Impossible Impostor (2022) Deanna Raybourn (Veronica Speedwell) Set in England in 1900. Veronica and Stoker are back in London, when Sir Hugo comes to them to ask a favor: check on his goddaughter, and see if the man claiming to be her brother is truly returned from the dead. He is asking Veronica, because […]
The Cubby Hole: A Bear Camp Short (2022) Slade James I’ve enjoyed the other stories I’ve read by Slade James–I picked the first novella up free, and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. (It’s set in a gay nudist camp, so there was a whole lot of potential to be absolutely something not […]
Murder in Pastel (2015) Josh Lanyon Kyle Bari still lives in the home that belonged to his father, the famous painter Cosmo Bari, and makes his living writing mysteries. “That was the summer I got sick. Rheumatic fever.” “ Which left you with a weak heart.” “It was the summer my father disappeared.” Adam MacKinnon […]
Color of You (2017) C.S. Poe (A Lancaster Story) I think I finally figured out why this is my least favorite story in this series. Although it has a mystery (good!) and I adore the characters (good!) the dynamic between the couple isn’t standard (good!) and the misunderstandings are … understandable, something has always felt […]
Liberty & Other Stories (2018) Alexis Hall (Prosperity) Shackles Squamous with a Chance of Rain From the Journal of Mrs. Miranda Lovelace Cloudy Climes and Starless Skies Liberty This is collection of stories about the characters from the Prosperity. The first story, Shackles, was my least favorite. Because I don’t much like Milord, and I […]
Joy (2017) C.S. Poe (A Lancaster Story) There is something about this book that just calms me. Makes me happy. It’s low-stakes, and funny. “Are there, like… street signs or—” “He’s not from around here,” Nancy said to a guy at the counter who started laughing. I noticed over his shoulder that several of the […]
Kneading You (2016) C.S. Poe (A Lancaster Story) Reread. Because I can’t settle down into anything. Rating: 8/10
Prosperity (2018) Alexis Hall (Prosperity) Set in Prosperity in 1863. I’ve had this book for a bit, but wasn’t sure I was in the mood for a fantasy, but when a discussion of Our Flag Means Death. Which I haven’t seen, but sounds utterly marvelous. So since I’m not going to be watching Our Flag […]
All Systems Red (2017) Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries) MURDERBOT! We’ve been listening to Network Effect and so I needed to start rereading the Murderbot Diaries. After I secured the habitat, I went back to what was called the security ready room, which was where weapons, ammo, perimeter alarms, drones, and all the other supplies […]
Wrong Number, Right Woman (2020) Jae Denny is not good at flirting. Or talking to women. What she is good at is being a fantastic aunt and helping her sister raise her daughter. Eliza has had terrible luck dating, so her best friend and neighbor gives her a subscription to a new dating service. When […]
Amongst Our Weapons (2022) Ben Aaronovitch (Rivers of London) It’s been two years since the previous full Rivers on London book, although in between we had a story set in Germany, comics, short stories, and Abigail’s novella. And I am GREAT with all that. Did I want to know what was happening with Peter? Of […]