Open Thread for Readers for August 2019
Apologies for being late for last month. :) Got a book you want to talk about? Frustrated with a book or series? In love with a new one? Found a buried treasure? An issue that keeps popping up in the books you are reading? Just want to chat about stuff in general?
What’s the deal with frozen peas? In the past few weeks I’ve read no fewer than three books (different authors, different sub genres) where the hero either got into an accident or a fight and needed some ice for his bruised/swollen face and, in every case, the heroine just happened to have a bag of frozen peas in her freezer and used it as an ice pack—including one book set in a mountain cabin! Do people (particularly single women, particularly in mountain cabins) really always have frozen peas just sitting in their freezer, handy for when the hot neighbor/MMA fighter/guy whose car just crashed needs an ice pack?
Ok, now I got that off my chest, I’d like to recommend two wonderful books I read this week, one an older title, the other a new release. First, MAGGIE’S RUN by Kelly Hunter, part of the Outback Brides series. Heroine inherits a run-down sheep station in the Australian outback and, with the help of a neighboring rancher she has known since childhood, renovates the property. A lovely, melancholy, beautifully-written story. Second, Molly O’Keefe’s ONE LAST CHANCE about a married couple who have been separated for most of their ten-year marriage. This one is so angsty and so emotional! I cried when the h&h finally got back together. Both books are highly recommended.
@DiscoDollyDeb: Just how melancholy is the Hunter book? Sad, sad and wipe away a tear or sad and bawling your eyes out?
@DiscoDollyDeb: I always have frozen veggies, including peas. Sadly no hot guys in need of an ice pack, so it all gets used for cooking.
@Jayne: Hunter’s book has an underlying strain of melancholy throughout the whole thing (cw for both infertility and PTSD from a fatal car accident) although nothing is overblown or melodramatic—which makes me appreciate Hunter’s skill even more. She shows us how life events have shaped the heroine, but how they have not defeated her. I love a splash of angsty melancholy in my romance reading, but as always, other readers’ mileage may vary.
@Rose: Yes, I too have frozen peas in my freezer—but I’m a person who likes to cook (and I have a family to cook for). I don’t remember sticking my freezer with things like that when I was single—although that’s been several decades so my memory may vague—lol. I just thought it was odd that all three heroines had frozen peas at the ready—especially the woman living alone in a mountain cabin. I guess from now on I’ll be known as “the frozen peas obsessive”!
@DiscoDollyDeb: You’re right. At least in my experience, it’s always frozen peas in romance; frozen peas or ice. I wish heroines had frozen corn on hand once in a while, but I’ve never seen that!
@Janine: Would my current 2 bags of frozen, chopped spinach count?
@Jayne: LOL. Spinach might thaw and sag too quickly…
@DiscoDollyDeb: The O’Keefe sounds really good. I love her writing though her books can be hit or miss for me.
I have an actual ice pack in my freezer. Does that disqualify me from ever being a romance novel heroine? Should I hide the ice pack and use the frozen carrots instead?
The Kelly Hunter book is free on Amazon right now so I snapped it up. Thanks for the rec!
I was very pleasantly surprised by m/m fantasy romance from Carina called “Spellbound ( Magic in Manhattan book 1) by Allie Therin. I don’t know if it was doing unique things but I really just liked what I read . The only thing I didn’t like was that it says book one but I guess stand alones are more and more thing of the past . Review will be up eventually
@Sirius: I enjoyed it a lot too; it felt like an instant comfort re-read. Looking forward to your review.
@Cristie: Thanks, I picked it up!
I am currently reading This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. It’s a fascinating look at time travel with an F/F enemies-to-lovers love story at its center. No idea yet if it will have a HEA, though.
@DiscoDollyDeb: I’ve always had bags of peas set aside in the freezer. My Dad used them when we were kids for hurt knees and ankles. Ice packs always hurt or slipped off where peas and corn bags stayed true.
I read a couple of Milly Johnson books, but I was put off by the horrific circumstances she sets up for her heroines. Not rape or murder, but the worst kind of family unloving indifference/hatred and so much loss. One heroine had three stillborn children and several miscarriages and her husband ended up a drunken vagrant and that was only her past. It was too much misery for me. The book covers are very misleading I thought I was going to be amused.
@SusanS: Yep that’s exactly it I already reread it once :).
@Janine: @Janine: Funny I was looking at this book couple days ago.