Better Than People (2020) Roan Parrish (Garnet Run) I’ll be honest–I’ve been wanting nothing but comfort and fluffy reading right now, and Roan Parrish is generally the last author I’d turn to for that. Her other books–while excellent–have been extremely angsty. But reviews said this was NOT full of angst, and one of the characters […]
Take a Hint, Dani Brown (2020) Talia Hibbert (The Brown Sisters) Two books in a row that were very much Not My Thing. This is the second story about the Brown sisters, and we do briefly see Chloe, but mostly it’s Dani and Zaf. Dani is focused on getting her doctorate, and isn’t interested in […]
A Fashionable Indulgence (2015) KJ Charles (Society of Gentlemen) Set in London in 1819. Harry Vane has spent his life on the run. His parents were both radicals and they had to flee England after a riot broke out during one of his father’s speeches. After his parents died of cholera, he sneaked back into […]
An Unnatural Vice (2017) K.J. Charles (Sins of the Cities) Set in London, 15 November – 25 December 1873 The second Sins of the City book overlaps the first, but shows those events from Nathaniel Roy’s point of view. The other character is Justin Lazarus, who is spiritualist Nathaniel is determined to expose as a […]
Hottie Scotty and Mr. Porter (2016) R. Cooper Scott Yun moved to Montgomery to help his sister take care of her kids, but it’s an extremely small town, and one of the few single gay guys is extremely cute, but also a widower. So Scott goes to work at the firehouse, helps to care for […]
A Dangerous Madness (2014) Michelle Diener (Regency London) Set in London in 1812 Miss Phoebe Hillier has been prepared to follow her father’s dying wish and marry Sheldrake, but when he tells her he is ending their betrothal and leaving the country she is as much relieved as she is horrified. “No. I’m . . […]
Banquet of Lies (2013) Michelle Diener (Regency London) Set in England in 1812. After reading Death Below Stairs I wanted to re-read a favorite of mine that also features a woman working as a cook in historical Britain. Every time I read this I love it a little bit more–there is just so very much […]
His Quiet Agent (2017) Ada Maria Soto (The Agency) It hasn’t been that long since I read this, but I really wanted to revisit it, and it was actually better than I had remembered, since I picked up more details the second time through. Arthur Drams is an analyst for The Agency. He may have […]
Dim Sum Asylum (2017) Rhys Ford Roku MacCormick is part of the Chinatown Arcane Crimes Division, and things are not going well for him. He lost his love and his daughters, and there is nothing in his life anymore but following in his mother’s footsteps and trying to be order to a deeply disordered place. […]
Served Hot (2015) Annabeth Albert (Portland Heat) Robert Edwards (Robbie to his friends) runs a coffee cart in the atrium of the Old EMerson building in Portland, and every day, his favorite customer, David, comes by at 11:50 for a vanilla latte. Robbie has a huge crush on David, but isn’t sure if David is […]
Whiteout (2017) Elyse Springer Noah Landers wakes up with with a crushing headache and nausea, and no memory of who or where he is. The man he’s with says he fell and hit his head, but that the storm means no rescue vehicles can reach them, so he’s been doing his best, calling the doctor […]
Single Malt (2017) Layla Reyne (Agents Irish and Whiskey) Aidan Talley is back at work eight months after the hit-and-run that killed his husband as well as his partner. His best friend (also his boss and his sister-in-law) has a new partner for him, but also a new case to work off the books: evidence […]
American Dreamer (2019) Adriana Herrera Nesto Vasquez is chasing his dream. He’s moving his food truck from NYC up to Ithaca (where is mother and sister live) to see if he can make a go of it there. All he wants is to focus on making a success of his business; he didn’t expect the […]
His Quiet Agent (2017) Ada Maria Soto Arthur Drams has worked hard for The Agency and is hoping to move up in the ranks. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be happening. “That’s…” Arthur didn’t want to rock the boat, complain or seem ungrateful, but it had been four years. “A bit more of a lateral […]
The Haunted Heart: Winter (2013) Josh Lanyon This isn’t really supernatural; it’s a ghost story. But I didn’t have a better category for it. Flynn Ambrose is living in the house he inherited from his uncle on Pitch Pine Lane while he sorts through the antiques and other items collected over a lifetime. I said, […]
Secrets in the Mist (2016) Anna Lee Huber Set in England in 1812 Ella Winterton has spent the past four years dealing with loss and grief and anger. The deaths of her mother and brother sent her father into an alcoholic decline, and being jilted by the man she thought she loved while still in […]
How to Be a Normal Person (2015) TJ Klune This is a silly and utterly ridiculous story. It also had me laughing ridiculously on multiple occasions. The Internet was vast and had men with disproportionately large testicles. Gustavo Tiberius isn’t normal. He was not a firework. Or, if he was, he was those black snake […]
A Dangerous Madness (2014) Michelle Diener Set in England in 1812. Miss Phoebe Hillier was bethrothed to Sheldrake at the insistence of both their families. But when Sheldrake breaks their engagement, she feels relief more than anything else. She had all but accepted the anger and the frustration as constant companions, but Sheldrake cutting her […]
Banquet of Lies (2013) Michelle Diener Set in London in 1812. This is my favorite book in this series–and I like the other two books quite well. Giselle Barrington has seen her father murdered for the secrets her carries. She manages to escape back to London, but does not know who she can turn to, […]
A Dangerous Liaison with Detective Lewis (2012) Jillian Stone Set in England and Scotland in 1887. There were so very many things wrong with this story, I can’t even list them all. But I’m going to try my damnedest to give you a sound accounting. Fanny Greyville-Nugent’s father has died in a horrible industrial accident. […]
A Fashionable Indulgence (2016) KJ Charles (Society of Gentlemen) Set in London in 1819 As I continue to read backwards through this series, we come to the story of Justin and Harry. Harry’s father was disowned by his family, and took his wife’s name, Gordon. The family ended up on the continent when they were […]
The Dream Thieves, Audio Edition (2013) Maggie Stiefvater narrated by Will Patton This is the book where Ronan breaks my heart. “And you, Ronan,” Niall said. He always said Ronan differently from other words. As if he had meant to say another word entirely — something like knife or poison or revenge — and then […]
Lady Helena Investigates (2018) Jane Steen Set in Sussex in 1881 Lady Helena Whitcombe survived the death of her first love, and now she must get past the accidental death of her husband. Except that her husband’s doctor doesn’t think the drowning was an accident, but a murder. Helena’s is the youngest of her siblings, […]
An Unnatural Vice (2017) K.J. Charles Set in London in 1873 This book follows–and in some cases overlaps–An Unseen AttractionClem’s brother is dead, his heir has been made a bastard, and now Clem’s friends are trying to keep Clem’s cousin from throwing him out of his home by searching for another possible heir–the children on […]
This Side of Murder (2017) Anna Lee Huber Set in England in 1919. Verity Kent is a war-widow. Her husband was killed during the Great War and she has spent the last 15 months trying to come to terms with his dead and adapt to her new status. The period during and immediately after the […]