Open Thread for Readers for May 2016
Misc / Need A Rec!book-pimp / Open Thread / Promotion27 Comments
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?
My unbroken and annoying rant: the higher-than-print price of digital books from the big publishers, who don’t seem to grasp the consequences of their grand scheme.
I’ve been reading contemporary romance, space opera, crime fiction and urban fantasy, with pleasant and surprising results. 2016 is shaping up quite nicely, reading-wise.
So far for April I’ve enjoyed Amanda Quick’s ‘Til Death Us Do Part and Nora Roberts’ The Obsession. Neither was a favorite, but both are good examples of why the authors are each long-time autobuys.
I also finally read Kat Latham’s One Night with Her Bachelor (Wild Montana Nights #1/Bachelor Auction #6). I enjoyed parts, but had mixed feelings about the way the heroine’s son’s injury was dealt with as well as the hero’s issue. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series though.
Mostly the books I read this month have been rereads like Linda Howard’s Duncan’s Bride which just released in digital (still one of my favorite LH heroines). And I am up to Declaration of Courtship in my complete Psy/Changeling reread.
I enjoyed Undecided by Julianna Keyes this moth. I enjoy few NA titles but had fun with this one.
I also liked Anne Calhoun’s novella The SEAL’s Second Chance, but felt it was too short. Am looking forward to the next installment in the series coming out next month, which is thankfully a full-length novel.
On the historical front, I read new-to-me author Megan Chance’s The Portrait and Fall From Grace, and found them unusual, fresh and gripping. I like my historicals on the angst-y side, and these books fit the bill perfectly.
I’ve just finished reading Magic Stars by Ilona Andrews and am finally current in the series (phew!). I thoroughly enjoyed the novella. It had so many OMG moments, and I hope we get more of Derek’s POV in the future.
I’ve stuck to urban fantasy in my next reading choice – Anne Bishop’s The Others series. I’m half-way through the first one and have liked what I’ve read so far.
So far this month I’ve read Alpha:Origins and it was a huge info dump on world building. Perhaps a precursor to a new series (how awesome!). I read Karen Robards Darkness but it seemed too familiar in plot device, scenario etc. Her writing was fine just the storyline felt tired. I Loved The Wall of Winnipeg and me. I immediately bought another book by the same author. I re-read Ender’s Game so I wouldn’t get so tired of the same genre all the time. Now starting Dirty by Kylie Scott and reading a library copy of Marked in Flesh by Anne Bishop.
My top read so far this year was Dirty by Kylie Scott, with The Obsession a close second. Enjoyed White Tiger by Jennifer Ashley also. Have started Eidolon by Grace Draven and so far, so good.
Finished up the Society of Gentlemen series by K J Charles with A Gentleman’s Position which I enjoyed very much, as well as Duncan’s Bride by Linda Howard and The Viscount Needs a Wife by Jo Beverley.
And at the end of the month, The Earl Takes All by Lorraine Heath, Magnate by Joanna Shupe and Ride Hard by Laura Kaye will all download into my Kindle. Not a bad month. :-)
I’ve really enjoyed Claudia Connors McKinney Brothers books. Really good contemporary romances with some unexpected depth. The third book had a hero with a leg amputation and I thought it was deftly managed. I like the family dynamics and the kids in the series manage to be adorbs without too much plot moppetry.
Also, I read the 3rd book in Erika Kelly’s rock band series TAKE ME HOME TONIGHT which deals really well with depression and loss while simultaneously managing to be funny and enjoyable. This series keeps getting better I think.
Just finished BOUNTY by Kristen Ashley and it was pretty good. Maybe a bit too much house porn and one too many big meaningful song moments –seriously, can authors cut back on this? Or maybe I’m the only one who finds it kind of annoying?
I’ve been on a bit of a queer sf/f binge. I read and enjoyed The Slipstream Con – m/m/f SFR space opera with almost no on page sex but excellent ust. Also enjoyed Darker Space by Lisa Henry (m/m sfr) – I thought it was a good sequel and not quite as dark as Dark Space – although I have to say I didn’t like the protag as much in this one.
I read and loved A Gentleman’s Position.
I also enjoyed Knit Tight by Annabeth Albert – m/m contemporary romance between a barista and a freelance knitwear designer who both have heavy care giver responsibilities. Most of the mm and ff knitting romances I’ve read have much more sex and much less cancer than mf knitting roms. But this one does include cancer (the aunt of one of the heroes) and tear jerking moments. I enjoyed it, even though I thought the ending and hea was rushed.
I reread the Vorkosigan series last month. After I picked up Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold, I was inspired to revisit the entire series (outside of Falling Free and Ethan of Athos, since Miles and Cordelia aren’t really in those). It was a tremendously satisfying reread! I also think Gentleman Jole was great—I wonder if it would stand alone or not? I’m not really in a position to judge.
@Judy W.: I doubt there will be further works in the Alphas universe. According to long ago blog posts on the subject, they wrote this as part of an anthology, but then had to make drastic cuts and changes to fit in with the other works in the book. They weren’t happy with the gutted version. Also, I think they just ultimately decided it didn’t fit with their overall “brand.” (I hope I’m remembering all that correctly.) I get the impression that we won’t be seeing any more Kinsmen stories, either, which also bums me.
I am new to audio books, but loving the ones I have heard so far. I am currently listening to the Pay/Changeling series. I’m on Bonds of Justice now. I should be done with the books currently available in time for the new book coming out. It’s interesting to listen to the books after reading (and rereading) them. Great way to pick up on things missed while reading.
@cleo: I am so glad you enjoyed “Slip Stream Con”. I really loved that book and I rarely pick up m/f/f ménages. Loved it.
I’ve actually had a pretty good reading streak this past month. I liked both The Obsession by Nora Roberts and ‘Til Death Do Us Part by Amanda Quick. I loved the Darkest London series by Kristen Callihan and can’t wait to read the final book in the series. Also loved The Undoing by Shelly Laurenston.
I’m now working my way through Grace Draven’s backlist. I loved Radiance and stayed up until 4AM to finish Eidolon. I’m about halfway through Master of Crows and can’t wait to get back to reading it.
Looking forward to The Devil’s Doorbell anthology, the new Eva Leigh book and Extreme Prey by John Sandford, all of which are released tomorrow, and a new Alisha Rai novella which should be out later this week(?)!
@Darlynne: Tell me more about the urban fantasy you’ve been enjoying.
@Janine: Immediate brain malfunction whenever I am asked that question. NB: *I* think of these as urban fantasy and could be completely off base.
Steve McHugh writes the Hellequin Chronicles that start with CRIMES AGAINST MAGIC. I had low expectaions for what I thought might be grittier than my usual fare, and ended up buying the second book because I really liked the characters.
Paul Cornell wrote LONDON FALLING about a squad of magic investigators, quite violent really, but so well done.
I loved CHARMING by Elliott James and the rest of the series is one of those that never drops below $9.99. I should just buy them to support the author, but doing so kind of irks me because print is less.
A common thread in each of these series is the un-hero, the one who has done and may have to continue to do questionable things for good and bad reasons. I like the conflict, I genuinely like the characters.
If I can remember the others, I’ll come back and share. Thanks for asking.
I’m currently enjoying the second book in Jennifer Foehner Wells’s space opera – Remanence (Book 1 is “Confluence.”) It was a totally random find and I’ve been waiting for the continuation – written by popular demand, and published by Wells’s own imprint, I do believe. The heroine is awesome and the series is mainly about her journey. The hero plays a lesser role but has a hilarious personality and is worthy of her love.
I recommend this highly!
@Janine: Gees, how could I forget Devon Monk’s HOUSE IMMORTAL? “One hundred years ago, eleven powerful ruling houses consolidated all of the world’s resources and authority into their own grasping hands.” Except for Matilda Case, a girl pieced together from bits. *squee cannon*
NEVERWHERE by Rob Thurman, the most recent in her Cal Leandros series.
Not urban fantasy, I suppose, but I must mention Kameron Hurley’s excellent GOD’S WAR.
And I’m starting NICE DRAGONS FINISH LAST by Rachel Aaron.
@Demi: This sounds great. One can never have too much space opera. Thanks!
@Sirius: I’m pretty sure I put it on my wish list because of your review, so thank you for the recommendation!
I’m also not usually into m/m/f (or m/f/m), but I thought this one was great fun. It had a little bit of a lot of things I enjoy – space opera, nanotechnology, heists, secret identities, and UST – what could be better?
@cleo: very happy to hear that . Thank you :).
@Darlynne: Thank you!
@cleo: Ooh I liked Slip Stream Con a lot.
I discovered Connie Brockway. Glom glom glom, lovely historicals, fantastic characters, spies and intrigue and fancy dresses. I love that a heroine I expected to hate (spends her fortune, “What do you mean there’s NO money?” opening) turned out to be sharp as a rapier and just. Yes. Happy times. This has derailed me from just about everything, although I did read A SEAL’s Rebel Librarian and loved it, Jayne Rylon has a new Divemasters series I’ve been enjoying immensely as she does a lot of diving herself and I feel like she really captures it well, and I’ve been reading Nalini Singh’s Archangel (or Vampire-Chaser, hee) series in French (and if you thought Illium was adorable in English…).
I’ve also wound up tossing a few Club D’Esclavage books at the wall (or well, deleting them off my Kindle) which is a shame, as the concept was okay and I was hoping it’d be cracktastic like Club Shadowlands. Not so much.
OH. And I read The Starving Years by Jordan Castillo Price thanks to a daily deal here and have promptly bought everything else because it was phenomenal, I can’t recommend it enough. I really enjoy menage books but usually go into them expecting a lot of sex and some fluff plot (even Jayne Rylon’s, I love the characterizations, but they’re pretty fluffy), and this one blew me away with a fantastic plot and worldbuilding, great characters, and (sadly!!) very little sex but plenty of tension. Also the two straight characters (a frat-boy ish dude and a kind of mousey woman) they’re far more than just cardboard characters and both are very smart and competent in their own ways. I really liked that.
I shoooould be catching up on the voter package for the Canadian Aurora Awards (SF/F) but but but. Company Town’s not on the list (it’s not actually out until May) and it was phenomenal if you like dystopian future Canadian oil rigs with First Nations heroines (and I mean, who doesn’t?).
I’ve also been reading a couple of books in the Kindle Worlds and quite enjoying them, and the only problem I have with them is that I have absolutely no idea what World/author/series they’re actually connected to. This is a problem, Amazon! I don’t know how to find more in the same world! Fortunately they all stand alone really nicely.
I spent the past month catching up on the Laura Florand books on my TBR pile. Enjoyed them thoroughly and will pick up the next one soon. I also caught up on the new Courtney Milan series, which were also excellent. At the moment, I am reading Eidolon by Grace Draven. Radiance was one of my favourite books of 2015, and Eidolon will definitely make the list for 2016.
Guy Gavriel Kay’s next book comes out May 10th – can’t wait!
I have managed to sustain a couple of great reading months in a row over the past few months. Let’s hope that this means I have finally recovered from my huge reading slump.
@lindsay – Company Town sounds great.
@Lindsay – forgot to ask – have you read Svaha by Charles DeLint? Canadian dystopian cyber punk-ish with a First Nations hero. It’s long out of print and not typical of DeLint, but I really loved it back in the day. Not sure how well it holds up.
@cleo: Oooh, I have not, and it looks like there’s a Kindle edition, so score! Not that hunting through used bookstores is any kind of hardship for me. ;)
Company Town’s out May 16 iirc and while it’s not a romance it’s definitely a lot of fun. I’d put it around China Mieville in terms of “interesting concept pushed to the limits” but without quite the same learning curve some of his novels have and is definitely faster-paced. It was my first Madeline Ashby book but I have License Expired as part of this year’s voting package, so that’s got me really excited! I may have to scoop up All The Books.
I’ve read a bit, Nora Roberts The Obsession was a great read. Really enjoyed the heroine. The wall of Winnipeg was so good, I read the authors entire backlist. There was only one I didn’t enjoy. I also read a new book by Santino Hassell, First and First. Really enjoying this series. A few urban fantasy which were OK. One of my favourites was Paper Princess by Erin Watt. It was like crack, and I’m ashamed to say it was a very late night reading this one. So good, despite awful cliffhanger. If anyone has any suggestions of similar novels to this final one, let me know. July is a long way away!
With all the “best of lists” published at the end of last year I somehow missed that Kaje Harper published a new book in January – called Tracefinder: Contact. Downloaded it two days ago and could not put it down. Clearly the first book of a series, it is as much police procedural as romance, and absolutely no “instalove” or gorgeous physical specimens to be found here! Brian and Nick clumsily become friends over the course of this first book but with plenty of obstacles to anything more serious or permanent. It’s going to be interesting to see how Harper manages their relationship – and their relationships with a whole bunch of other interesting other characters’ – as the series unfolds over the next (several?) book(s). Such interesting, flawed, sympathetic people. Other reviewers at Amazon compare this to the way the first books in the Adrien English and Cut & Run series set up those MCs relationships in their early books – and it looks to me like Harper is well on her way to doing just that!