Holly: I spent the week rereading old Linda Howard favorites. Dying to Please, Midnight Rainbow, Diamond Bay, White Lies, Heartbreaker, Tears of the Renegade, Against the Rules, Mackenzie’s Mountain, MacKenzie’s Mission, White Out and Heart of Fire. It’s amazing how well they hold up, even after all this time.
I started Moonshadow by Thea Harrison but I couldn’t get into it. That has nothing to do with the book and everything to do with my current reading mood. I’m going to try again this weekend. Currently I’m reading The Thing About Love by Julie James. So far it’s fabulous.
Rowena: It’s been an interesting week of reading for me. I finished Managed by Kristen Callihan (good stuff), Fly with Me by Chanel Cleeton (great stuff), and Bad Boy by Elliot Wake (different and good but frustrating). Right now, I’m reading This is Our Song by Samantha Chase and it’s slow going right now. Hopefully it picks up. Fingers crossed.
What are you reading this week? Any new favorites or books that drove you crazy? Share!
Linda Howard books just never seem to age. Although every so often when they talk about phones (cell or pay) it reminds me, but not too much. They’re so amazing – I will always love her stuff.
My list for the week:
A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn- I got an arc of this through Penguin’s First to Read program. I liked it quite a bit. The romance was lighter than I would have liked until the very end, but I enjoyed the mystery and I love the character of Veronica Speedwell.
Boss Man by Vi Keeland- I got this from my local library’s ebook site; it was my first by this author. I really enjoyed it. It had great characters and it handled the conflict (both internal and external) well. I bought Stuck Up Suit which Keeland is a co-author on a while back with a Kobo coupon, so I need to make a point to read that soon. I also have a free book by Keeland I acquired somewhere.
Archangel’s Enigma by Nalini Singh- I finally got around to reading this and I just loved Naasir and Andromeda. Singh delivers another well-done installment in her Guild Hunter series. I have the newest one on hold at my library so hopefully I’ll get it soon.
Fatal Frost by Karen McInerney- This is a cozy mystery that’s well-done with good characters and setting but not really note worthy.
The Bronze Key by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare- I went into this thinking it was the end of the series, so I was disappointed that nothing was resolved. It was a short, fast read with a few revelations, but not enough action.
The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman- I liked this one better than the first, maybe because I was more familiar with the world-building.
Currently I’m reading the latest Stephanie Plum book by Janet Evanovich. I’m not sure why I insist on sticking with this series, but I do. I’m halfway through and it’s fine; it hasn’t annoyed me like some recent installments have, but it still lacks the charm and successful humor of the earliest books in the series.
Oh it looks like you both have gotten some good reading in!!! I do love Thea Harrison, but I need to be in the right mood for her though.
I am so glad that you liked Managed Rowena. I can’t wait to pick that one up since I really enjoyed Idol so much. I just finished Fire In You by Jennifer Armentrout and so dang good.
I’m looking forward to that new Thea Harrison book, Holly. A couple of her books are amongst my very favorite books. And I have serious envy about that forthcoming Julie James book that you’re already reading!
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve read:
–Hope(less) (Judgement Of The Six Book 1) and the companion book Clay’s Hope by Melissa Haag. These were enjoyable light reads. They are currently free to Kindle readers
— re-read Laura Florand’s Once Upon a Rose
— The Taking Tree: A Selfish Parody by Shrill Travesty with art by Lucy Ruth Cummins. This was a short book that I read aloud to my husband; it made us both laugh. It’s best suited to those (like me) who dislike Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree.
— I quite enjoyed Amanda Bouchet’s A Promise of Fire (The Kingmaker Chronicles Book 1) and look forward to reading the follow on book(s). I’d describe the book as fantasy romance.
— an enjoyable holiday novella that is a historical romance. It is currently free to Kindle readers: A Christmas Gone Perfectly Wrong: A Blackshear Family novella by Cecilia Grant
— I enjoyed Lisa Henry’s Adulting 101 which is a male/male romance.
— more by Laura Florand: Snow-Kissed (this novella will likely make you cry and Sun-Kissed: A Novel (Amour et Chocolat Book 7). Also All for You (Paris Nights Book 1) and A Wish Upon Jasmine (La Vie en Roses Book 2)
— Astounding! by Kim Fielding. This is a male/male romance with some out of this world elements.
— It Ends with Us: A Novel by Colleen Hoover. This was moving and also eye opening on the subject of domestic abuse; I recommend it. In the author’s note, she discusses the fact that she was born into an abusive home.
— A Study In Scarlet Women (The Lady Sherlock Series) by Sherry Thomas. This is a historical mystery which I very much enjoyed; I’ll recommend it. Now I’d like to read my favorite Sherry Thomas book, her historical romance Delicious, as one of the characters from that book is named in this book. It’s possible that there is more overlap as some other names seem familiar.
— the fantasy novel The Pages of the Mind (The Uncharted Realms) by Jeffe Kennedy; I enjoyed it. It’s a spin-off from the author’s Twelve Kingdoms series, and I think a reader would find it valuable to start with those books. It’s fun to see a librarian as the heroine.
— a re-read of the historical romance novella A Matter of Class by Mary Balogh; I enjoyed revisiting it.
I still haven’t read Managed, but after seeing all the thumbs up, I really should pick it up. Fly With Me is also on my wishlist. I read Flirting With Scandal by Chanel Cleeton awhile back and adored the hero.
I’ve been reading a lot since Thanksgiving. My favorite book was The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan, a lovely book with a shy librarian heroine who gets laid off and decides to radically change her life by buying a van and setting up a mobile bookstore in the Scottish Highlands. She rents an apartment from a big, gruff Scottish farmer, and, well, you know where that’s going LOL. This book was made of catnip for me.
I also enjoyed Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon (campy and fun), and The Emperor’s Arrow by Lauren D.M. Smith, a fantasy romance with a plot that reads on the surface like the reality show The Bachelor, but actually the emperor (the bachelor in this book) is trying to suss out a rebellion and uses a bride competition to do it. The heroine is a warrior from an Amazon-like tribe and she is just fantastic. Strong, direct, totally kick-ass but not snarky or hard.
I just finished The Engagement Game by Jenny Holiday which is the third in her 49th Floor series and was my favorite. It was an opposites attract, fake engagement story with a buttoned down, 40 YO CEO hero from a wealthy Jewish background and a 30 YO Indian, vegetarian, non-profit fundraising heroine who is colorful, strong, and direct and doesn’t take any of his nonsense.