Good Enough to Eat (2015) Alison Grey & Jae (The Vampire Diet) After nearly killing someone on New Year’s Eve, Robin has decided to give up drinking for good. But for a vampire, drinking is what keeps her alive, so looking for support, she ends up at an AA meeting. Alana gave up everything for […]
Lucky Yellow Shoes (2020) Jae This is a short story set after Wrong Number, Right Woman. Denny wants to propose, but cannot find a ring that both suits Eliza and that she can afford. It’s a sweet story about family and acceptance and love. Rating: 7/10
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 […]
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 / […]
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 […]
The Murder Next Door (2021) Sarah Bell Set in England in 1912. Louisa is startled to discover their next door neighbor has been found dead–and the wife has disappeared with their young son. Ada saw Mrs Pierce hurry away from the house early in the morning, with a look of terror on her face. I […]
The Fog of War (2021) A.L. Lester (Bradfield Trilogy) Set in England in the summer of 1919. Dr Sylvia Marks returned to the village where her father had been the local doctor, after the end of the war and her time as a surgeon at Royaumont, where she was later joined by Walter, a nurse […]
Murder Most Actual (2021) Alexis Hall Liza and Hannah are having a bit of struggle with their marriage. A struggle that Hannah tried to help by scheduling a vacation for just the two of them: no internet, no cell services, just the two of them in the wilds of Scotland. Except that Hannah didn’t consult […]
Dead Dead Girls (2021) Nekesa Afia (Harlem Renaissance Mystery) Set in Harlem, NYC in 1926 Louise Lloyd became famous as a teenager, when she escaped a man who had kidnapped her and two other girls–girls who would have been ignored because they were Black and in Harlem. Ten years later, someone is killing young women, […]
Fortune Favors the Dead (2020) Stephen Spotswood (Pentecost and Parker) Set in New York in 1945. Will Parker ran away to join the circus, to escape her abusive father. But an event one night in 1942 in NYC changes everything, and she ends up working for Lillian Pentecost, a private investigator. “I trust you to […]
Making Love (2017) Aidan Wayne Carla is a cupid, and she wants nothing more than to go out into the world and find True Love matches for humans. But as good as her aim is, Carla is terrible at seeing possible chemistry between people. A cupid’s arrow only held the Spark of Interest. It got […]
The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows (2020) Olivia Waite (Feminine Pursuits) Set in England in 1820 Let’s start with what I loved about this story: The history. The politics. George had at the same time enjoyed a cheery reunion with his mistress, Lady Coyningham, whose husband had recently been elevated to the Privy Council […]
A Little Light Mischief (2019) Cat Sebastian (The Turner Series) Set in England in 1818 Alice Stapleton has spent her life keeping house for her father and taking care of her siblings and nieces and nephews. So it came as a rude surprise when her father threw her out and disowned her, and she was […]
Making Love (2017) Aidan Wayne Carla wants to be cupid that finds and brings about True Love. But although her aim is perfect, her ability to figure out who to aim at… is much less so. “Oh,” Carla said, abashed. She’d seen the travel match in both of their profiles and hadn’t dug deeper to […]
Heathen Volume 3 (2020) Natasha Alterici, Ashley A. Woods Aydis has entered the lands of the gods, searching for Odin. But Odin, angered by Aydis’ brash demands and actions, wants revenge against her, and will take it out in her people. Some of those she has met along the way are also journeying–some towards her […]
Iron & Velvet (2013/2019) Alexis Hall (Kate Kane, Paranormal Investigator) Kate Kane is a paranormal private investigator, called when something goes wrong i the supernatural world. She’s called out to Velvet–an expensive nightclub–to investigate the exsanguiation of a werewolf in the back alley. It doesn’t look like he had been killed by a vampire, but […]
A Study in Honor (2018) Claire O’Dell (The Janet Watson Chronicles) Here’s the deal. I don’t like SF. I don’t like dystopias. But I love mysteries, and I’m a huge Sherlock Holmes fan, although I really dislike Sherlock Holmes stories that were NOT written by ACD. So this was not going to be an easy […]
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 […]
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 […]
Heathen: Volume 2 (2019) Natasha Alterici, Rachel Deering The second volume picks up where the first volume left off. Brynhild and her lover have separated from Aydis who has been sent on a quest by Freyja. Aydis needs to reach Heimdall, but the sea is cursed, and filled with mermaids who see humans as delicious. […]
Heathen Volume 1 (2017) Natasha Alterici Aydis was sentenced to death or marriage for kissing another girl, but her father secretly saved her life and sent her into exile. Aldis has decided to that as a warrior she will go on a quest, and free the Valkyrie Brynhild. But the goddess Freyja has other ideas, […]
Mooncakes (2019) Suzanne Walker, Wendy Xu Nova Huang lives with her grandmothers and helps out at their store. She’s also an apprentice witch who hasn’t yet left home for an apprenticeship. Tam Lang was Nova’s childhood friend whose family never stayed in once place for long, but she’s back now because there’s something unpleasant in […]
Thaw (2017) Elyse Springer (Seasons of Love Book) Dedication: You are not broken. You are not alone. You are perfect exactly the way you are. And you are loved. The first thing to know about Abigail is that she loves her job as a librarian. The second is that she isn’t particularly social, but agrees […]
The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics (2019) Olivia Waite Set in England in 1816 Lucy Muchelney spent years helping her father, and writing many of his astronomical maths. Catherine St Day finds widowhood a relief, after years of dealing with her husband’s wants and tempers, and financing his expeditions. When Catherine asks if her father […]