{"id":27096,"date":"2026-05-24T10:48:57","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T14:48:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=27096"},"modified":"2026-05-25T11:21:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T15:21:25","slug":"a-shore-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/27096","title":{"rendered":"A Shore Thing"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Shore Thing<\/em><\/a> (2024) Joanna Lowell<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>Set in Cornwall in 1888 <\/p>\n

Mrs. Muriel Pendrake has come to St Ives with her best friend James both to vacation and to find a painter for her botanical images for her upcoming presentation in New York. <\/p>\n

“You have enough people to worry about in London. This is a holiday. No operating on the fishermen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYour trunk is stuffed with microscopes, chisels, and pickle jars. And you\u2019re sniping at me because I brought my surgical bag. The hypocrisy.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kit Griffith came to St Ives to make his way as a painter and to live on his own terms.<\/p>\n

When he\u2019d first slipped out of his parents\u2019 house at fifteen, in clothing filched from his middle brother\u2019s wardrobe, he\u2019d anticipated ecstatic freedom from men\u2019s gazes.<\/p>\n

On the street, in the Burlington Arcade, everywhere, he was shocked to discover more clinging eyes. He soon learned that he was seen not as a boyish girl but as a girlish boy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After a falling out with his best friend, he can no longer paint, so his life revolves around his bicycle shop.<\/p>\n

An argument with another cyclist over the popularity of the new Safety Bicycles (which can be ridden by women) leads to a bet: Can Kit find a woman able to make the entire tour around Cornwall on a safety bicycle.<\/p>\n

As the ferry churned out of the shipyard into open water, he and Deighton went tit for tat with bicycle specifications, listing increasingly technical details in increasingly loud voices to an increasingly bored crowd.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I particularly enjoyed the tour and various interactions with the Cycling Club–particularly Egg and Prescott.<\/p>\n

When they overuse their brains, it depletes a certain other organ.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHair?\u201d guessed Egg.<\/p>\n

\u201cHair isn\u2019t an organ,\u201d said Prescott.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen why does thinking too much make you bald?\u201d asked Egg.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But what I liked best was the friendship between Muriel and James.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re extremely reliable. Also, they\u2019re quick. Quick to grow, I mean. Relatively speaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

James was nodding along. \u201cBrilliant.\u201d His lips twitched. \u201cNow can I say upsy-daisy when you topple over?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t see how you\u2019ll refrain.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The story is full of queer rep, from Kit and James to the Sapphic clubs Kit knows from him time in London.<\/p>\n

It’s all full of reminders of the many limitations placed upon women and the dangerous of being queer.<\/p>\n

“No,\u201d she attempted. \u201cI am more worried, and you are, therefore, less worried. It\u2019s the rule.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA rule that depends on there being a fixed amount of worry. But worry isn\u2019t six apples, where you take four, so I have two.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are sharing the worry.\u201d She spoke with firmness, rising and crossing to the chaise. \u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s important. Move over.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The author also notes she has tried to put as much of her and her husband’s lived experience into Kit and Muriel’s story as possible.<\/p>\n

There was boinking in this story, but I had no trouble skimming those parts without feeling like I was missing important details or character development.<\/p>\n

Characters<\/strong>: Kit Griffith, Mrs. Muriel Pendrake, James Raleigh, Thomas Everett Ponson, Mr. Trevaskis, Mr. Bamfylde, Colin Deighton, Lucy Coover, Gwen, Nelly, Johannes Bernhard, Arthur Hawkings, Shigeki Takada, Mrs. Glanvil, Grace Swanwick, Charlotte Tempest-Smythe, Miranda Ellis, Annie Groombridge, Octavia Jenkins, Amelia Clarkson, Mrs. Dorothea Yarrow, Lady Henrietta Chettam, Mrs. Oatridge, Eva Bamfylde, Wilmot Curnow, Johan Gustav Svensson, Mrs. Pengilly, Charles Heywood<\/p>\n

Cover art by Katie Smith<\/p>\n

Publisher: Berkley Romance<\/p>\n

Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Shore Thing (2024) Joanna Lowell Set in Cornwall in 1888 Mrs. Muriel Pendrake has come to St Ives with her best friend James both to vacation and to find a painter for her botanical images for her upcoming presentation in New York. “You have enough people to worry about in London. This is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12,189,30,938,292,204,33,148,26,56],"tags":[50,961,695,550],"class_list":["post-27096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-ace","category-british","category-dual-point-of-view","category-ebook","category-good","category-historical","category-queer","category-romance","category-sexual-content","tag-boinking","tag-joanna-lowell","tag-middle-aged-protagonist","tag-trans"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-732","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1535,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1535","url_meta":{"origin":27096,"position":0},"title":"The Painter of Battles","author":"Michelle","date":"December 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The Painter of Battles (2009) Arturo Perez-Reverte translated by Margaret Sayers Peden Andres Faluques was a renowned war photographer, but after he retired, he decided to again take up painting, which he'd given up in his youth for photography, because although he was a proficient painter, he wasn't a great\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fiction"","block_context":{"text":"Fiction","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fiction"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/Painter-Battles.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12376,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/12376","url_meta":{"origin":27096,"position":1},"title":"The Nun’s Tale","author":"Michelle","date":"January 10, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The Nun's Tale (1995) Candace Robb Set in England in 1365. Joanna Calverley, a young nun, disappeared from her convent--taking part of an ancient relic with her. Archbishop Thorsby isn't pleased to discover that Dame Isobel had neglected to tell him this--until the nun returns, claiming to have been resurrected.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The nun's Tale","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/The-Nuns-Tale.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6034,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/6034","url_meta":{"origin":27096,"position":2},"title":"The Nun’s Tale","author":"Michelle","date":"August 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Nun's Tale (1995) Candace Robb Set in England in 1366. This is the first Owen Archer book I read, many years ago, and I have forgotten how very unlikable the nun of the title was. (T)here is yet something else\u2014 something that frightens her. She was given the last\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The-Nuns-Tale","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/The-Nuns-Tale.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":26593,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/26593","url_meta":{"origin":27096,"position":3},"title":"Another Place in Time","author":"Michelle","date":"April 18, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Another Place in Time (2014) Tamara Allen, Joanna Chambers, K.J. Charles, Kaje Harper, Jordan L. 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Unfortunately, the administration at Harvard University--for which Holmes and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Dante Club","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.klishis.com\/Books\/images\/dante_club.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27096\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}