Whirlwind (2021) A. M. Rose (Daydream, Colorado) This book finishes the arc started in the previous book. Felix is clairvoyant. He didn’t have some grand purpose, but he could help ease the suffering of both the living and the dead, and that was just as powerful. He goes to where he is pulled, never settling […]
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. […]
A Sanctuary for Soulden (2021) J.A. Rock and Lisa Henry (The Lords of Bucknall Club) Set in an alternate England in the early 1800s. Philip Winthrop, Viscount Soulden is easily bored. But you wouldn’t guess that if you saw him out on the town, where he presents himself as a fop, concerned with little other […]
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 […]
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?” […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
Stranger in the House (2019) Josh Lanyon I didn’t have this book, so I was surprised to realize I’d read it before. It was in Footsteps in the Dark: An M/M Mystery Romance Anthology which had stories from multiple authors I very much enjoy. Miles has inherited a house–a mansion, really–from his godmother. Despite the […]
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 […]