Wards of the Roses (2019) Celia Lake (Mysterious Charm) Set in Wales & England in 1920 I still want these books to be edited. But the story and world building keep pulling me in. Kate Davies doesn’t want a return to war, but she would like the more interesting assignments she got while all the […]
An Agreement with the Soldier (2021) Sadie Bosque (Necessary Arrangements) Set in England in 1817. Miss Samantha Lewis twice had her coming seasons interrupted for periods of mourning. So she is quite old to be on the marriage mart despite her looks and her dowry. John Godfrey never expected to become the Baron of Ashbury. […]
Bee Cave Magic (2020) Kelly Fox Micah is a dud. He’s 25 and never shifted, which means that he avoids his long-time crush, Rex, like the plague. I’m a non-shifter, and he knows as well as I do that shifters and non-shifters should never date or fall in love. Also, coming from a family of […]
Heartwood (2021) A.M. Rose (Daydream, Colorado) For months, Darian has been searching for the man his friend Mason has Glimpsed. Someone hurt, in danger, being chased. So he isn’t surprised when Tate shows up. Tate, however, had no idea that magical communities such as Daydream even existed. I’ve read several books and novellas in this […]
Magician’s Hoard (2019) Celia Lake (Mysterious Charm) Set in England in 1926. Pross has been a widow for six years, raising her daughter, running a small bookstore, and taking on the occasional research project. “What did you want from the Society, then? You seem to have most of it covered.” He looked up at her […]
Dark Heir, Audio Edition (2015) Faith Hunter narrated by Khristine Hvam (Jane Yellowrock) This is the point where story arcs begin to leak between books, with more being unresolved than is resolved. I don’t actually blame her for this, because the story has been building for almost a decade, so it is now heading towards […]
A Case for Christmas (2021) J.A. Rock and Lisa Henry (The Lords of Bucknall Club) Set in an alternate England during the Napoleonic Era. The only thing that makes this a fantasy is this bit: In 1783, the Marriage Act Amendment was introduced in England to allow marriages between same-sex couples. This was done to […]
The Love Hypothesis (2021) Ali Hazelwood There are things I quite like about The Love Hypothesis–first and foremost all the science and academia bits. I’m a grad student living in Stanford, California. I make less than thirty thousand dollars a year. My rent takes up two-thirds of my salary. I’ve been wearing the same pair […]
That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon (2021) Kimberly Lemming (Mead Mishaps) This is utterly ridiculous. My self-preserving habits made me a bit of an outlier with the other girls in town. “Who wouldn’t want to go off on a grand adventure with a bunch of hot heroes also chosen by the goddess?” […]
Lessons in Seduction (2010) Charlie Cochrane (Cambridge Fellows) Set in England in 1907. Jonty and Orlando go undercover to investigate a possible murder! Jonty has to go as himself, since he and his family are too prominent for him to be unrecognized, but few people know Orlando on sight. “We thought the role of professional […]
Lessons in Temptation (2009) Charlie Cochrane (Cambridge Fellows) Set in England in 1907 Orlando is sent off to see if any of a collection of books being sold in Bath would be worth purchasing. Jonty takes the time as a vacation, and becomes involved in a production of Macbeth with an old friend. “I’ll definitely […]
Lessons in Discovery (2009) Charlie Cochrane (Cambridge Fellows) Set in England in 1906 Amnesia! An historical murder! Letters hidden for centuries! It’s been a year since Jonty and Orlando met, but they didn’t expect to spend their first anniversary in the infirmary, with Orlando suffering from a concussion and a complete loss of memory of […]
Dearest Milton James (2021) N.R. Walker Malachi Keogh’s father is giving him one last chance to stick with a job. What Malachi isn’t expecting is to end up at what used to be known as the Dead Letter Office. (T)his is the Mail Redirection Centre. It used to be called The Dead Letter Office, but […]
Lessons in Desire (2009) Charlie Cochrane (Cambridge Fellows) Set in England in 1906 Jonty and Orlando take a vacation! Murder ensues! That’s the summation, but it isn’t at all the feel of the story, just so you know. Unsurprisingly, Orlando has never taken a vacation. “It sounds delightful, Jonty,” Orlando said, with liar written plain […]
The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels (2021) India Holton (Dangerous Damsels) Set in an alternate Victorian England. Cecilia Bassingwaite is a proper Victorian young lady, and she is also a member of the Wisteria Society crime sorority, and she flies around England drinking tea, blackmailing friends, and acquiring treasure by interesting means. Ned Lightbourne goes […]
Life’s Too Short (2021) Abby Jimenez (The Friend Zone) After her sister’s death and the realization she had no idea how long she herself had to live, Vanessa Price quit her job and decided to follow her dream of traveling the world. “I never save anything,” I said, grabbing the bottle opener on the counter. […]
Lessons in Love (2008) Charlie Cochrane (Cambridge Fellows) Set in England in 1905. Jonty has returned to St Bride’s College as a fellow in English. He is immediately drawn to dark, silent, and grumpy mathematics fellow Orlando Coppersmith. The words aren’t used (because of the setting) but Orlando is very clearly demi. Orlando thought it […]
Life Saving Dal (2017) Ada Maria Soto It’s been one year since his divorce was finalized, but Nathan still fantisizes things aren’t truly over. “Waiting for the other half of that?” He nodded to Nathan’s ring on the bar top. Nathan shrugged again. “My ex-husband loved movies, the kind with big romantic gestures at the […]
Something Fabulous (2022) Alexis Hall (Something Fabulous) Set in Historical England. To be honest, I don’t think this is historical England as much as fantasy historical England. Which is fine, since as he says in the author’s note, almost everyone in the story is queer. Valentine Layton, the Duke of Malvern is expected to marry […]
Frog (2012) Mary Calmes THis story doesn’t open with a sex scene–but it comes close. If it hadn’t had the opening scene of the phone call I would have put it down and not looked back, but I was curious, so I skimmed and read on. Weber Yates has spent his entire adult life on […]
Jericho Candelario’s Gay Debut (2018) R. Cooper I needed the softest and fluffiest of escapes, so I turned to this, even though it hadn’t been that long since my last reread. Because Jerry is sweet and adorable. They always asked for him. Probably because a slender, average-sized man with a low voice was a lot […]
Conventional Shadows (2022) Lissa Kasey (A Simply Crafty Paranormal Mystery) Alex and Micah are taking a trip to an anime convention–one that will hopefully go better than the previous convention they went to, which ended up with Alex bringing home a ghost cat. Alex is still learning about crafting, but is more than happy to […]
The Boy Next Door (2017) Josh Lanyon Encyclopedia Brown grows up and wants to be a private detective for real. But his former sidekick is now the town sheriff who refuses to grant him his PI license. And the detective, his former sidekick, and his nemesis all went to school together. And I wasn’t crazy […]
The Missing Page (2022) Cat Sebastian (Page & Sommers) Set in England in 1948. It has only been a few months since James and Leo met during a murder case, but Leo is now claiming James “spare room” as his landing place when he is home from whatever missions he is sent out on. But […]
Mr Warren’s Profession (2017) Sebastian Nothwell Set in England in 1891 I almost gave up on this book. The first dozen chapters dragged for me and I did a lot of skimming. I put the book down to do something and decided to give it one more chance to draw me in. I did continue, […]
Reflection of a Curse (2022) Lissa Kasey (Romancing a Curse) After getting the second story in this series for free last winter, I’ve been getting Lissa Kasey’s newsletter, and in the fall she started sharing chapters of this story in the news letter, and to her Patreon followers. About six chapters in I finally started […]
Christmas Wish List (2021) N.R. Walker (Hartbridge Christmas) Last year I read Tic-Tac-Mistletoe which was cute and sweet, so I was pretty sure I was getting cute and sweet here. Cass inherited an old manor and has spent the last two years turning it into a modern B&B. He just needs a chef to help […]
Threshold (2013) Jordan L. Hawk (Whyborne & Griffin) Set in Boston and WV in the late 1800s. This wasn’t bad, but Lovecraftian monsters just aren’t my thing. So why did I keep reading? Because it was set in WV, and it featured mining and was actually accurate for those things! I mean, this: By the […]
A Marriage of Equals (2021) Elizabeth Rolls Set in England in 1804 TWs: Discussion of attempted rape, parental death, slavery, violence against women. Psyché Winthrop-Abeni may be the bastard daughter of a slave, but her father eventually sought to do right by her, bringing her to England and her freedom, where she eventually came to […]
The Mystery of the Spirits (2021) C.S. Poe (Snow & Winter) This is the fifth Snow & Winter mystery. Sebastian and Calvin are happily married, and Sebastian has managed to avoid getting involved in murders–until now. “We should get one of those OSHA scoreboards for the shop. You know, for recording accidents? Except we record […]
Nearly a Lady (2016) Alissa Johnson (Haverston Family) Set in Scotland and England during the Regency. Lord Gideon Haverston and his brother are discovering the full duplicity of their step-mother, as his brother–the new Marquess–tries to straighten out the family finances. Their most disturbing discovery is a young woman who was supposed to be the […]
A Christmas Dance (2014) Alissa Johnson Set in historical England. William Renwick, Earl of Casslebury, always has a plan for everything. He was four-and-thirty, and it was time he did his duty to the title by producing an heir. Never mind he hadn’t expected to outlive two cousins and an older brother to inherit the […]
Widdershins (2014) Jordan L. Hawk (Whyborne & Griffin) Set in New England in 1897 This is a Lovecraftian story–only without all the racism and misanthropy. One advantage of not being able to picture things in my head is that I can read things like this: Its head was worse, however. Thanks to Christine, I’d spent […]
Hexbreaker (2016) Jordan L. Hawk (Hexworld) Set in New York City in 1897. Tom Halloran escaped the death of his family–and his own imprisonment–and became a city cop. But hiding the fact he is a witch is about to become difficult. Hexbreaking was too rare a skill. If anyone found out, they’d want to know […]
Goblin Fruit (2019) Celia Lake (Mysterious Charm) Set in England in 1924 Lizzie has taken a job for the ministry, hoping it will allow her and her sister to survive–especially since her work during the war hadn’t helped her to get any other jobs. Carillon also does work for the ministry, and keeps a public […]
Possessed by Shadows (2021) Lissa Kasey (Simply Crafty) Alex may be content trying to let his past go, but his brother isn’t. He’d decided to go from police homicide detective, to paranormal detective. I was not a fan. But he didn’t see the same sort of stuff I did, and it seemed to be a […]
Marked by Shadows (2020) Lissa Kasey (Simply Crafty) Micah has a complicated past. But he’s happy where he is now: running a craft shop and spending time with Alexis. Even if the ghost tours can be a little stressful. I watched other ghost hunters, or paranormal enthusiasts as they called themselves, do something called ‘provoking […]
Stalked by Shadows (2019) Lissa Kasey (Simply Crafty) Alexis Caine received a medical discharge from the army after witnessing an attack that the government insisted could not have happened the way he stated. After a stint in a mental hospital, he goes home with his twin, to try and restart his life. My social services […]
Last Night at the Telegraph Club (2021) Malinda Lo Set in San Francisco, mostly in 1954-1955 I frequently try to start a book not knowing anything about it. It keeps me from having preconceived notions and all that. But once in awhile I start a book and realize it’s not what I thought it was. […]
Perfect Rhythm (2017) Jae (Fair Oaks) Leontyne Blake grew up wanting nothing more than to escape the small town where she grew up, and now she has that, as pop start Jenna Blake. But at the end of her tour she receives a call from her mother, that Leo’s father has suffered a stroke and […]
A Marvellous Light (2021) Freya Marske (The Last Binding) Set in England prior to The Great War. Maybe 1906 or 1907. After his parents were killed ina car wreck, Robin Blyth has to pick up the pieces of the life they left him and his sister. “You don’t talk about your parents much.” “I am— […]
Outcrossing (2018) Celia Lake (Mysterious Charm) Set in alternate England in 1922. Rufus returned from The Great War unscathed, to a village that doesn’t understand why he returned when their sons and brothers and fathers didn’t. (T)hey found him even more suspicious and – just wrong, one of the wives had called him. “Nothing natural […]
A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem (2020) Manda Collins (A Lady’s Guide) Set in England in 1865 Lady Katherine Bascomb inherited The Gazette after the death of her husband, and has come to thoroughly enjoy running it–including writing articles of her own. Two years ago, her husband, George, had been alive and making her […]
Learned Behaviors (2020) Jayce Ellis (Higher Education) JaQuan Reynolds has dedicated the last 18 years of his life to his daughter. For four years, Tanisha had begged Santa to give her a new mommy, and had stopped believing in him not long after that. Now that she is off to college, he is faced with […]
Faces (2021) A.M. Rose Dorian was born blind, but that blindness came with a gift–the ability to draw the soulmates of those whom he touches. The portrait I draw is the image of the soulmate the way they look when the person sees them for the first time” Hayden knows that soulmates exist–his parents were […]
Sweetest in the Gale (2020) Olivia Dade (There’s Something About Marysburg) This is actually three novellas, all set in the town of Marysburg: “Sweetest in the Gale”, “Unraveled”, “Cover Me” “Sweetest in the Gale” Griff Conover has worked with Candy Albright since moving to Marysville, and he’s always had his eye on her. But his […]
Galaxies and Oceans (2018) N.R. Walker Apparently my brain things I need to be having feelings. Grief was like the great Southern Ocean; it moved in ebbs and flows, often turbulent and rough, or peaceful and settled, and even over time when I could navigate the waters, the tide never stopped. “(S)ometimes you have to […]
Rend (2018) Roan Parrish (Riven) Matt Argento was abandoned as a child, and from that moment on has never felt himself to be enough. To be deserving. He has a job he loves, but in the back of his mind he still expects everything to be taken away. “You were so used to things being […]
Riven (2018) Roan Parrish (Riven) This book is full of so many strong feelings and so much angst, yet bits and pieces of it kept tugging on my mind, so I decided to reread. “Don’t ever apologize for doing what you need to be okay,” he said. But still the shame trickled through me like […]
Open Hearts (2020) K. Evan Coles (Stealing Hearts) Jae-seong Bak love his job as a Nurse Anesthetist, but the swing shifts are starting to get to him as he gets older. For now, he’s back in Boston, where he grew up, and getting ready for his brother’s upcoming wedding. What he didn’t expect was to […]