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 […]
Hearts and Flowers: A Tale of Hay Fever and Bad Decor (2013) Angel Martinez This is a very silly story. The ballroom looked like a Hallmark store had wandered by and thrown up its innards in a fit of disgust over the excesses of the season. Michael has been forced to attend a costumed Valentine’s […]
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 […]
The Voyage of the Basilisk: A Memoir by Lady Trent, Audio Edition (2015) Marie Brennan narrated by Kate Reading Six years after her return for Eriga, Lady Trent and her companions set out for a two year journey around the world, to study dragons. For my own part, I found my quarters at first shockingly […]
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 […]
Celtic Myths series (2021) A. L. Lester These are stories based upon various Celtic myths, shifted, twisted, and retold. Surfacing Again (2021) Lin (Malinda) is now spending her Christmas alone, after a blow-up with the friend with whom she was supposed to be vacationing with. The subtext was that she’d turned up on Lin’s doorstep […]
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?” […]
Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World (2017) Laura Spinney This one took me a bit to get through, but mostly because I completely stopped reading non-fiction for awhile last year. This is another story about the Spanish Influenza, this time focusing upon the changes the diseases wrought upon […]
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 Power (2009) Charlie Cochrane (Cambridge Fellows) Set in England in 1907 Orlando is not best pleased when Matthew Ainslie visits–he and Jonty are settling into their new home–but is willing to listen to what the man wants. What he wants is for Orlando and Jonty to look into the murder of which his […]
Fearless (2016) Shira Glassman Lana Novak is okay being divorced, as she and her ex-husband were finally able to admit who they were to each other–and the world. Although neither of their parents are enthused, their kids are fine with it, so when Lana develops a crush on one of the high school conductors / […]
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 […]
Parker Pyne Investigates: A Short Story Collection (1934) Agatha Christie “The Case of the Middle-Aged Wife” was first published as “The Woman Concerned” in Woman’s Pictorial, 8 October 1932. “The Case of the Discontented Soldier” was first published in the USA as “The Soldier Who Wanted Danger” in Cosmopolitan, August 1932, then as “Adventure—By Request” […]
An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination (2021) Sheera Frenkel, Cecilia Kang This book sets out to tell you how things are, and pulls no punches, right from the start. For years, Facebook had exercised a merciless “buy-or-bury” strategy to kill off competitors. The result was the creation of a powerful monopoly that wreaked […]
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. […]