Two reviews

There's a war brewing, between Ankh-Morpork and Klatch, over a patch of land that has risen out of the ocean. 

Sam Vimes just wants to do his job, and go home at the end of his shift.

But - somehow - he gets dragged into the war.

Mr Sir Terry Pratchett had a wonderful knack of highlighting the absolute absurdity of aspects of the human condition. In this case, he turned his laser gaze on the absurdity and tragedy of war.

Jingo is hilarious, while also making some very, very savage points.

The trouble with reading a new-new book, that's the first book in a series, and is very, very good, and was published in January ... there's no book 2 out yet.

The Principle of Moments is a sci-fi/fantasy/historical hybrid of a novel. There's time travel, which I'm not usually a fan of, but it also has one of my absolute favourite tropes, which is found family.

A boy in 1812 in love with a prince, time travels to try and find a cure for the displacement he suffers each time he travels. A girl enslaved on a planet in the distant future finds out she has a destiny she knew nothing about. And an alien discovers the same thing about himself.

This was SO good, and such a satisfying read - I shook the book when I'd finished it to see if the second one would magically fall out.

It did not.

 

Short reviews

 

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travls Baldree is a prequel to Legends & Lattes, which I absolutely loved. And, I have to say, this one had me grinning like an idiot as well.

Viv is a young, brash Orc, just starting out as a mercenary with Rackham's Ravens when she's badly injured by the minions of necromancer the crew is chasing.

She's forced to take downtime and finds herself settling into Murk - a sleepy beachside down to rest and recuperate.

Viv doesn't take the enforced rest very well to start with, and things start to stack up for her.

Luckily, she meets some friends along the way, including Fern who owns the town's only bookstore, and Maylee, the dwarf - and romantic interest for Viv - who owns a bakery.

Unfortunately, the necromancer is still out there, and she's heading for Murk...

This was just. Lovely. I don't know how else to describe it honestly. I loved it so much.

After the book of Miss Marple short stories by modern writers didn't work out, I decided to go back to the source material. 

I picked up A Caribbean Mystery, in which Miss Marple is on holiday in the Caribbean - slightly bored if she's honest, but overall enjoying herself - when someone is murdered.

The murder - of a retired Major who's main goal seems to be boring everyone rigid with his stories - sets off an unexpected chain of events, leading to Miss Marple acting as a very unlikely Nemesis.

I haven't read this one for a few years so had forgotten whodunit. So I was entertained and surprised at the same time.

I had seen Foundryside at my library a few times, but - true confession  - the cover put me off for some reason, so I never picked it up. I *think* I saw someone on an instagram reel mention it and I though "oh, that DOES sound lik me," so I borrowed it from the library.

And it's SO good! Sancia is an escaped slave, living on the margins of a society with a very strong dividing line between the haves and the have-nots.

She survives by stealing, and she also has a secret - Sancia has a scrived plate in her head, which means she can ... talk? to things that she touches - walls, doors, windows ... 

She does a job for a fence, and steals a key. What Sancia doesn't realise is how important that key really is.

The worldbuilding is great, and Sancia is a truly compelling main character. Fantasy plus heist is one of my favourites, and this did not disappoint.

Short reviews

 

Fourteen year old orphan Mona works in her aunt and uncle's bakery. She bakes, she sells to customers ... she can also create magic through dough.

However, when Mona literally trips over a dead body in the bakery's kitchen, things start to get bad very quickly.

A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking - apart from having the greatest title - is a fun fantasy novel. The magic system is a lot of fun, and there are some truly memorable characters. Not just Mona - there's Bob, the sourdough starter, Knackering Molly and Spindle, the thief. 

It's so much fun to read.

The Scottish Play, by way of Terry Pratchett's endlessly creative imagination. 

Featuring Nanny Ogg,  Granny Weatherwax, and Magrat, the newest witch, who has definite ideas about How Witching Should Be Done. Unfortunately, she's stuck with Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax, who just sort of .... get on with it.

The old king of Lancre is murdered, and a new one sits on the throne. A bad king. What are three witches to do? 

Well, not interfere, certainly ... 

Whenever I don't know what to read next, I have three go-to authors. Agatha Christie, PG Wodehouse - and Terry Pratchett. You really just can't go wrong with Discworld.

I wanted to read this one before watching the Netflix show. I'm glad I did, but they have very little in common. That's not a bad thing, though.

The book hints at terrible things and hauntings, but - for me - it didn't dive into them enough. I wanted ... more, if that makes sense. I read We Have Always Lived in the Castle a few years ago, and loved that one. It's creepy and tense and incredibly atmospheric.

I enjoyed Hill House, and do love a spooky story, but I wanted more from it than I got. 

Short reviews

 These are the first 3 novels I have read in 2024. I haven't done reviews for a while and I don't want to go too far back, so fresh start and all that jazz.

   First up is Under the Mountain, by Maurice Gee.

This is a re-read for me, and is a book that is deeply embedded in the psyche of many Kiwi Gen X kids. The book came out in the 1970s/80s and a TV series followed.

Twins Rachel and Theo come to Auckland from the country to spend the summer holiday with their aunt and uncle. However, there's more going on than the twins realise, to do with the creepy and secretive Wilberforces and Mr Jones, a mysterious old man with an interest in the twins.

This is one of those books that I absolutely cannot be objective about. I love it for the story, for the nostalgia, and for the deep essence of Kiwi-ness that it just ... exudes. 

Next, is the graphic novel The Tea Dragon Society by Kay O'Neill. I know it's only halfway through January, but this was a five-star read. It's so charming and the art style is so lovely. Blacksmith's daughter Greta finds out about the dying art of tea dragon care-taking from a kindly tea-maker. 

She also discovers new friends - not least shy Minette, and also the tiny tea dragons themselves. First book in a series, and I need the rest of them immediately, if not sooner than that.

Highly, highly recommend.

Last up for this post is Paladin's Grace by T Kingfisher. The only other book I've read by T Kingfisher is Nettle & Bone, which I loved.

And ... I loved this as well. 

Stephen is a Paladin, but of a dead God. He's drifting a bit and doesn't really feel like he has a purpose. He and his fellow remaining Paladins serve the Temple of the White Rad, which means they mostly stand around looking intimidating.

Then Stephen meets Grace, a perfumer with a troubled past and it all kicks off.

I will say - I'm not a fan of "romantasy" novels. Romance generally isn't my thing, and this burgeoning genre which - given I don't read it - seems to mostly be made up of teenagers mooning about so definitely not my thing. HOWEVER, Grace is in her 30s and Stephen is in his 40s. They're adults with their own pasts and lives and - despite the severed heads - it's ... low stakes? Not Legends & Lattes low stakes (which is also great) but Stephen and Grace aren't out to Save The World. 

They just want to save themselves. A fun read.

Two reviews

 

I picked this one up at the library, because I quite enjoy Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs together.

And I always have high, high hopes that Jeffery Deaver is going to shock me again with the twist like he did with his early books.

Alas. Maybe I need to stop trying.

And the thing is, the book isn't bad. An old nemesis surfaces, determined to murder Rhyme, and then giant cranes around the city start malfunctioning on construction sites, and it's all related somehow?

Honestly I started to get a bit confused. Then slightly bored, then confused again. And that signature twist was missing.

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney is a riff on And Then There Were None. The Darker family gather on an isolated island to celebrate the matriach's 80th birthday. The house is on an island off Cornwall that can only be reached by a causeway, and when the tide is in, the house is completely cut off.

So the family - estranged parents, estranged sisters Rose, Lily and Daisy, and local laddo Connor who the family had taken under their wing when he was a child - gather at the house, Seaglass.

Then, they're cut off. THEN, the murders began.

I wanted to like this so much more than I did. I love And Then There Were None, and I was expecting a similar reveal or a clever twist. And there WAS a twist, but it was ... not clever. And it made absolutely no sense to me.

The book read okay, although the jumps into the past could get a little tedious, but the payoff wasn't worth the time spent reading, for me.

Short reviews

 

Tangerine by Christine Mangan is set in Tangiers in the 1950s.

Alice Shipley has come to Tangiers with her new husband. However, Alice feels uneasy and out of place and seldom leaves their apartment.

The very last person Alice expects to see on her doorstep one day is her old college room-mate, Lucy Mason. Not after what had happened...

Tangerine has a very strong 1950s Hitchcock film or film noir vibe. It's claustrophobic and tense, with secrets simmering just under the surface.

Even the cover looks like a film poster from the era.

The only quibble I had with the book was the ending, which I wasn't a big fan of. Otherwise, enjoyable.

Carpe Jugulum, by Mr Sir Terry Pratchett. This is a treat, but basically anything by Terry Pratchett is a treat. 

Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Agnes are preparing for the christening of Magrat and King Verence's baby girl. Before that can take place, however, there are other things the witches need to contend with.

The family of vampyres for a start, that intend to move into Lancre Castle and basically take over. Then there's the falconer, searching for a phoenix. 

And we can't forget the Wee Free Men ... Discworld is pure escapism, but also very very clever, and all you can really do is hop on your broomstick and go along for the ride.

The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer. I have to confess - I have had this book on my bookshelves for a very long time.

I've decided to make a bit more of an effort to actually ... read my own books, and so I started here.

The Land of Stories is a series of books by former Glee star Chris Colfer, starting with the Wishing Spell in which twins Alex and Connor find themselves trapped in a fairytale world, and have to find a way home.

It's a cute, easy-to-read middle grade/intermediate fantasy that can definitely be enjoyed by kids of all ages who secretly still believe in magic. (It's me. I'm kids.)

The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz is a ... wild ride, to say the least.

Five young women are invited to the isolated mansion of an eccentric write for a month, after winning a competition.

They will spend a month at the retreat, writing a novel and being mentored by the famous author. At the end of the month, the idea is that they will have completed manuscripts.

It's not long, however, before everything starts to go a bit pear-shaped.

Then it gets strange, THEN it straight up goes whack-a-doodle. 

I wasn't a great fan of Alex, the protagonist, but she kind of grew on me as the book progressed. And I can definitely say I was entertained. If I had to classify it genre-wise, I'd call it a modern-day gothic thriller. Entertaining and readable and honestly? Bonkers.

Short reviews

Somehow I've read three books over the past week or so and not realised. Instead of doing three separate posts, I'm doing one short reviews post for all three books.

First up, is It Devours, by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor. Oh yeah, I've read that book.

It's the second Night Vale-based novel and let me tell you - I love Night Vale. I'm behind on the podcast, but that doesn't make my love for it any less true, pure and full of spiders.

In It Devours, Carlos the Perfect tasks another scientist - Nilanjana ("Interloper!") with figuring out what's behind mysterious rumblings in the desert outside of town.

Nilanjana's investigations lead her to the Joyous Congregation of the Smiling God - and to Darryl, one of its most devoted members. As Nilanjana and Darryl figure out what's happening, a romance starts to blossom, houses start disappearing, and Carlos is, as always, perfect.

I have to admit, I enjoyed the first Night Vale novel slightly more than It Devours, but it was still greaet. Full of Night Vale weirdness and insight and absurdities, which are all the things I love about Night Vale.

Next, we go from both the sublime and the ridiculous to... just the ridiculous. I picked up The Exodus Quest by Will Adams from the withdrawn shelf at the library. And - I mean - it's just. It's a very very silly book.

Archaeologist Daniel Knox spots something in a bazaar somewhere in Egypt that sends him off on a chasey-chasey quest for .... uhm.

I *think* the fundamental premise of the book is that there's solid proof that the heretical Pharaoh Akhenaten was actually Moses and the Old Testament of the Bible is just a collection of folk stories that all have to do with the same Exodus event? Honestly, I'm not even sure.

Hanging the premise on Ancient Egypt is catnip to me, so I forgave A LOT, including Knox rushing about Egypt like a lunatic with a fairly serious concussion. That's mentioned once and then completely ignored for the duration. It's a bit Da Vinci Cod in the whole ... absurd theory turning out to be true, but it was readable enough and just seemed to want to be LIKED.

Jasper Richardson is struggling. His house has turned into little more than twisty corridors between piles of books and papers and he knows he needs help.

He finally calls hoarding clean-up specialists Carroll and Lewis for help to manage his home and figure out why he's basically barricaded his life behind his hoard.

When he meets Lewis, Jasper starts to realise that maybe there is more to life than giant piles of stuff. As for Lewis, he struggles to remain professional in the face of his obvious attraction to Jasper.

This was really good - readable and it had a lot of depth. Jasper is just so vulnerable and clearly lonely when he meets Lewis, and Lewis does his level best to act ethically and professionally towards Jasper.

The two eventually fumble towards something solid and lasting. A really good read.

Short reviews

I didn't realise it had been a while since I had done any reviews. And now suddenly here we are - five books behind. Well. Here I am. You all shouldn't have to suffer because of my laziness.

Speaking of which, these are going to be very very short reviews. Highlight reels, even. But then at least I'll be caught up.

First up is Dance Off by Ariel Tachna and Nessa L. Warin. It's an M/M romance novel, set during a reality dancing show - think Dancing with the Stars. Professional rugby player Olivier and Olympic

swimmer JC are both competitors. Soon, though, they're doing more than just cutting a dashing rug. Dance Off is sweet, undemanding and the developing relationship between the two men is shown really well - not too fast, but not so slow that you want to shout JUST KISS. There's little angst, and it's a really pleasant way to pass a few hours.




Next is Foreign Affairs by Patricia Scanlan. I picked up the free ebook a few weeks ago and honestly didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. It's not the kind of novel I read very often, but it made for a pleasant change of pace. The book follows four friends - Paula, Jennifer, Brenda and Rachel through different stages of their lives. It opens with the four of them waiting to go on a Greek holiday together, and they're all bringing different kinds of baggage. The novel then travels backwards and traces how each women came to be there. It was an oddly cosy read somehow, and I enjoyed dropping in on the women in the different stages outlined in the book.

Third in this highlights reel is How to Repair a Mechanical Heart, by J. C. Lillis. And it's absolutely delightful. Another M/M romance, but this time it deals with first love, and pining and also road trip. Add in found family and honestly JC Lillis can have my axe. A sweet, sweet story, with some teenage-relatable angst thrown in, but not so much that you get impatient with the characters. Friends and sci-fi show Castaway Planet fans Brendon and Abel set out for a series of Castaway Planet conventions, their sights set firmly on the fangirls who ship two of the characters in the show. Not so simple - Brendon and Abel's feelings. As they travel from con to con with Brendon's best friend Nat, feelings surface and shenanigans happen and EVERYTHING IS GREAT.

 


Next up is What Would Mary Berry Do? by Claire Sandy.
 A sweet (sorry) novel about family, changes, baking and love, it's an easy and fun read with a great main character. Marie Dunwoody has
a husband she loves, three great kids and an equally great life. However, when she compares herself to her seemingly perfect neighbour Lucy, Marie feels somewhat lacking. A chance purchase of a cookbook by Mary Berry at a school fair changes pretty much everything. Marie is relatable, and her family is well-rounded as well. Lucy, the perfect neighbour, doesn't have everything as great as Marie thinks, and when the two women find common ground, both their lives change. So fun.




Okay, four books. The last book I finished was Return of the King and Lord of the Rings is the book series of my heart, so I'm not going to review it because it's my heart. :)

Short reviews

13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Clay Jensen comes home to find a box of cassette tapes on his doorstep. He soon realises they're a recorded suicide note from classmate Hannah Baker, who had recently taken her own life.

Hannah has tapes for various different people from her life, and how they impacted and affected her decision. Clay spends a long night listening to them all, to find out why Hannah did what she did.

13 Reasons Why was a difficult read for sure, and I found the plot a little bit clumsy at times, but it was an absorbing and moving book.

Leviathan Wakes: Book one of The Expanse by James S A Corey
Humanity has spread itself out across space - from earth to Mars and beyond. It hasn't, however, conquered the stars as of yet.

When the crew of an ice miner runs into an abandoned ship and a secret they don't want on their hands, events tip out of their control very quickly.

On Mars, security officer Detective Miller is looking for a missing girl. When his case and that of the abandoned ship collide, things happen that no one expects.

Leviathan Wakes is like a noir novel but set in space, and I enjoyed the fusion of genres greatly. Also the adverserial relationship between cynical Miller and idealistic Holden from the ice miner. Good stuff.

Dragon Age: The Masked Empire by Patrick Weekes
Set before the events of Dragon Age Inquisition, Empress Celene is fighting to keep her throne as the ruler of Orlais. Her cousin, the chevalier Gaspard is right on her heels for the throne, and complicating things even further is Celene's Elven lover, Briala.

Orlais is a kingdom of masks, and the Game, which plays out among the nobles and the elite. Meanwhile, the elves of Orlais suffer under the burdens of prejudice and poverty. Briala is trying to improve their lot, but when Celene takes drastic action against an elven uprising in Halamshiral, things spiral even further out of control.

I love this stuff. Honestly. Murder and masks and conspiracies and magic ... The Masked Empire fills in a lot of the background as well for one of the main questlines in Dragon Age: Inquisition and honestly leads me to the conclusion that Orleisians are collectively terrible, terrible people.

Dead Wrong by Leighann Dobbs

I picked up the first three books of this series free on iBooks. It happened to be just what I needed at the time - something relatively light, with a hint of mystery and a touch of romance.

The Blackmoore sisters all enjoy their life in a small sleepy Maine town, even as they struggle with property taxes on their home. However, when a woman that Morgan Blackmoore had a long-running feud with turns up murdered, things get a whole lot murkier.

All four sisters pull together to find out whodunit, and for Fiona Blackmoore, there's the new detective in town: Jake. Romance, mystery, family bonding. It's a short, slight novel to be sure, but it's also ideal for filling that I-don't-know-what-to-read-next gap.

Short reviews

Former best friends Clark and Bryce are reunited unexpectedly at a comic convention. They have a bit of a history, and Bryce is wary, especially after Clark broke his heart a few years ago.

Clark, however, is determined to make it up to Bryce and to get back into his good books (and his pants).

Super-cute novella about life, love and second chances.

I got these two as freebies on iBooks. Book one and book two of Aria Grace's Mile High Romance series. I didn't really know what to expect, but hey, the price was right.

I was mostly pleasantly surprised overall, although the angsty parts felt overdone and awkward. One of the characters - both grown men who presumably know how to use their words - ups and leaves one day with no explanation, and just assumes other grown man will move on with his life with no closure. Um. 

I enjoyed book 2 more than book 1. There was still some angst, but it felt more organic and plot-relevant than the angst in book 1. Pleasant M/M romances, both of them.

Short reviews

Wishful Drinking is a short and somewhat wild ride through Carrie Fisher's life. From being the child of celebrity parents - Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher - to playing Princess Leia in Star Wars at 19 and weathering the storms of addiction, bipolar disorder and other stressors - Carrie Fisher tells the story with a wry eye to the punchline and a sometimes un-nerving honesty.

You're laughing, for sure, but at the same time there's a lot of sadness just under the surface.

It's a witty and memorable memoir from a woman who has certainly earned her Hollywood stripes.

Marguerite Caine is having possibly the worst day of her life so far. She's landed in an alternate dimension, using the Firebird - an invention of her brilliant physicist parents, and she's on the trail of the man she believes has just killed her father.

Marguerite has joined forces with Theo, one of her parents' grad students, as they plan to jump across as many universes as it takes to find Paul and take revenge for Marguerite's father's death.

Of course, nothing is ever THAT simple, and as the book unfolds, so do the truths and lies that Marguerite has to contend with.

I enjoyed this very much of a lot, I really did. It felt ... cosy somehow? And okay, yes, there's a touch of a love triangle, which is normally enough to put me off because I HATE love triangles but it's handled very deftly and never takes over the narrative.

The different universes ... om nom nommmm I needed more of that. More of alternate London, and Russia and under the sea, and I think that's why the book was such cosy catnip for me. I love love love a good multiverse.

Short reviews - Too Many Fairy Princes; Looking for Group

Okay, yes that's a terrible title. And the cover ...... well. But I read a few reviews on goodreads and the consensus was largely positive, so I dived in.

And you know what, the story itself is much better than both the title and the cover suggest.

Kjartan is the titular fairy prince - one of four brothers vying for the throne of the kingdom, once their father decides to actually .... die. Well, he's already dead but he's still ruling because magic.

Kjartan doesn't want the throne, but that doesn't stop his younger, more murderous brother from making an attempt on Kjartan's life. Kjartan is forced to teleport away, and ends up in our world, where art gallery worker Joel - who is having The Day From Hell, discovers him.

What delighted me the most, is that Joel just goes straight to "well, here, clearly is a being from another world", and not "oh, a theme restaurant must have opened", or "there must be some kind of convention on this weekend, A+ cosplay". Nope. Joel goes straight to "being from another world" and gets dragged into Kjartan's shenanigans.

I wanted the book to be longer, to explore more of the dynamic of Kjartan as a fish-out-of-water and the politics of his own world, but what I got was fun and delightful. And they met the queen. Grand.

Ever since I read For Real, Alexis Hall has been one of my go-to authors. I even broke my $10 ebook limit for this one (by $1 but it's the thought that counts) because I knew it'd be a good'un.

Drew plays Heroes of Legend - an fantasy-based MMO, and at the start of the book, he's just left his previous guild and is looking for a new one. The guild that "Solace" plays for, needs a new tank. It's a match made in gamer heaven.

Drew hits it off with Solace, and they start hanging out in-game. Drew develops a crush on who he believes is a nerdy, funny girl. When he finds out that Solace is actually a nerdy, funny GUY, he stumbles for a bit, but picks himself up and goes for it anyway. They meet, sparks fly, everyone is happy.

Except Drew thinks Kit is playing Heroes of Legend too much; that he's too invested in the friendships he's formed with other guildmembers. Is Drew right? Or should Kit be allowed to form his own bonds wherever he wants to?

My favourite Alexis Hall novel now and forever is Glitterland, but I liked Looking for Group very much of a lot. A lot of the dialogue does take place in-game and that takes a bit of getting used to, but Drew and Kit are great characters - especially Drew, and I read the whole thing in one big go.

Short reviews

I caught sight of this readalong on the twitter, organised by the lovely Care from https://bkclubcare.wordpress.com/ so with my usual grace and style,  I barged in ;)

I'd had the book for a while and I'm trying this new thing, where I actually read the books I bought in a couple of book depository BUY ALL THE BOOKS sprees instead of ... not reading them,which is my usual MO.

Anyway. There's a disease spreading like wildfire (pun intended) through the population. The experts call it Draco Incendia Trychophyton which doesn't catch on really. Instead, everyone calls it Dragonscale. And it's thought to be entirely fatal (the whole spontaneous combustion thing.)

Harper is a school nurse, trying to emulate Mary Poppins and do her best, when everything starts going downhill. Dragonscale is everywhere, she finds out she's pregnant AND she has Dragonscale AND her husband is actually a giant bag of tiny dicks.

Enter the Fireman, and a kind of community of people who also have Dragonscale, but seem to be immune to the whole spontaneous combustion thing. Good news for Harper, but there are still Evildoers out there, determined to. Do Evil.

I did enjoy The Fireman, but I felt like I was waiting for The Big Thing to happen, and it just kind of never came. Harper is very derring-do and practical and she has the worst timing ever in the history of everything ever, which I found a bit annoying.

I gave it 3.5 stars on Goodreads, and I think, honestly, I enjoyed the concept more than I enjoyed the actual novel itself.

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys is based on one of the worst maritime disasters of World War 2 - the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff.

Four young people are trying to flee Germany in the dying days of World War 2. Their stories - told in alternating narratives - make up the novel's narrative.

It gives the overarching tragedy - which I had never heard of - that all-important personal touch. It's very readable though I found trying to follow all four narrative strands did get a little bit confusing at times.

After my two previous  and fairly heavy reads, I was on the lookout for something a bit lighter. Also, I had just watched The Unicorn and the Wasp, so was in the frame of mind for a mystery.

I could have picked up one of my many Agathas but I decided to go in a different direction.

Snow White Red-handed is the first book in a new cosy mystery series by Maia Chance. The stars of the show are former actresses Ophelia and Prue.

Having been given the boot from their show, they need new jobs, and Ophelia manages to blag them into jobs as maids for the very rich Mrs Coop, who is heading to the Black Forest with her husband to take possession of a castle.

Ophelia is plucky and clever and Prue .. well, Prue is pretty. But both girls are resourceful when they need to be. Set mid-19th century, with the story of Snow White (not the Disney version I have to say) weaving in and out of the mystery, this was just what the book doctor ordered.

Great fun.

Short reviews

Ed feels like he's doing okay after the neck injury that benched his semi-pro football career. He's got a job with decent insurance, and he vounteers at a local community centre.

Laurie is trying to move on from a very public humiliation. He teaches aerobics at the same community centre, and spends a lot of time dodging his overbearing mother.

Laurie and Ed clash at first, but when Ed asks Laurie for dance lessons, sparks fly.

Laurie and Ed are set on a rocky road, between Ed's depression and his on-going injury, and the shadow hanging over Laurie's dancing, but they fight on.

There was a lot to like here - Ed and Laurie were very well rounded characters, and I enjoyed the development of their relationship. But I finished the book wanting more ...depth? I think? Also the weird voyeur scene near the end where Ed and Laurie get it on in Laurie's godfather's tub in front of the godfather and his husband is a bit ... much.

Good and readable overall, though.

The Closer You Get is the second book in The Distance Between Us series, following on from  Rhett and Ethan's story in the first book.

In this one, self-described manwhore Kieran is understandably wary when he meets virginal just-out-of-the-closet Alex who has moved away from his homophobic family to finally start living his life on his own terms.

It's not long before chemistry strikes, and Kieran has to decide if he wants to get closer to Alex, or whether he can bear to give him up.

Kieran and Alex are great together, and I really enjoyed this entry into the series. It's a quick, fun read.

Book three in The Distance Between Us follows Ethan and Rhett's friend Dale, as he re-connects with Adam - the one who got away not once, but twice.

Dale's understandably wary, and he has to decide whether Adam's worth going through heartbreak again for.

I didn't enjoy this one as much as The Closer You Get - it felt like Dale was doing all of the emotional heavy lifting, which is a problem of the first-person narrative I think. This one would have benefited from a few chapters from Adam's point of view to see what was going on inside his head. Fun, but not like, FUN fun.

31 days of blogging, days 8 and 9; Short reviews

I've decided to keep blogging every day if I can, but sort of abandon the list that I originally chose. I  might poke around some other lists, and see if I can find topics that strike my fancy.

For today, I'm finally doing another short reviews post as the read books vs unwritten reviews is starting to tip over a bit.

Starting with the Tigers and Devils trilogy by Sean Kennedy. This isn't a spoiler as such but in the third book, there is maybe my favourite quote: "There are some people that are in your life forever, and there is nothing you can do about it no matter how much you try to cut them out." ah, Simon. I love Simon. He's so grumpy and cynical. Anyway.

In book one, grumpy Simon meets Declan, an in-the-closet NRL player. They get together, Declan is perfect, Simon is well, Simon and all is well. UNTIL Declan is outed against his will, then everything goes down the drain. Given that it's a trilogy, obviously things start to look up a bit.

I loved this series a lot. Simon is great, he has hilarious friends, and Declan is damn near the perfect man. There's not a lot of hey-hey but that's fine because  each book focuses on Simon and Declan's relationship and whatever crisis rears its ugly head. (Forced outing in book one; sleazy ex in book two; runaway teen in book three), and I was invested in Simon and Declan and all of the other relationships as well.

Book three does end with what might be considered a cliffhanger. And although the series is sort of centred around sportsball, you don't need to know much (or anything) about the NRL to enjoy the books.

Next up is Vision in Silver by Anne Bishop, one of her The Others series of novels. I'm co-reading this series with a friend of mine and we're kind of bipping along with it and catching up when it occurs to one of us - lol. Vision in Silver is a solid addition to the series, though I felt like I was waiting for something to happen for most of it.

The Big Bad is off-screen for a lot of this book which, for me, doesn't add a lot to the tension but I like the way Meg and Simon's relationship is developing - slow and steady.

Now for Wacky Wednesday by J A Rock  - a fun take on the body swap trope. Boyfriends Jayk and Amon have been at odds lately, and after one particularly brutal argument, wake up in each other's bodies.

But how will they go, living each other's lives for a day? Will it offer the insight they need to reconcile?

This was a fast read, and pretty heavy on the hey-hey (kinky hey-hey at that) but as Homer Simpson says, there's nothing wrong with a little hey-hey.

Lord of the Shadows, by Jennifer Fallon is up next. Yes, I finished a series! I mean, if you count Captive Prince, All for the Game and Tigerland, I've now finished four series in this Year of the Series,so go me?

This was a pretty satisfying end to the trilogy. There's magic, and a dollop of ancient science, mystery, romance, court intrigue, drama, tragedy ... basically this series has everything ever that a good, solid fantasy trilogy (ALL HAIL THE TRILOGY WHY DOESN'T ANYONE WRITE TRILOGIES ANY MORE) needs.

It's also a lot of fun to read. Dirk Provin has been marked as a traitor, and he needs to find a way to defeat his enemies before they all close in on him ...

Last, but not least, is Apple Polisher, by Heidi Belleau, book one in the *ahem* Rear Entrance Video trilogy. Buttoned-down Christian is doing his best to become a trainee teacher, but with new room-mates - including the verrrrry distracting Max - a very sick Auntie, and a very sick Auntie's porno store on the verge of closing - Christian finds himself juggling far more balls *ahem* than he had anticipated.

He just wants a quiet life, but with all the aforementioned, a blackmailing workmate and a picky professor, it's just a matter of time before something gives out ...

Apple Polisher is an easy read, and all of the characters were very likeable, although a couple of times I did have the feeling of WELL THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY. All in all a good read, though.

Area woman reads several books but doesn't blog - you won't believe what happens next!

Sex, scandal and village politics converge in J K Rowling's first post-Harry Potter novel. I can imagine there was a fair amount of head-scratching over this one, as it's about as far from Harry Potter as you can get, but I really enjoyed it.

I worked as a communities copy-editor for a few years and so I  felt right at home with Pagford and all of the little scandals of the village. My only complaint is that there is rather a large cast of characters and sometimes the point of view switches were too quick, but other than that, I really enjoyed it.

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Melanie is a very special little girl. Every morning, she waits to be collected from her cell so she can attend class with all of the other special children on her block.

Melanie's favourite person in the world is her teacher, Ms Justineau, and it's that bond that is the catalyst for what comes next. I don't want to say too much, because The Girl With All the Gifts is one of those books you're better going into knowing as little as possible. Apart from a speedy ending, I liked it a lot, and felt deeply for Melanie's struggle to find her place in a strange world.






The All for the Game trilogy by Nora Sakavic is, I will admit up front, not for everyone. I am not one of those everyones - I devoured the trilogy in three days. There is a heavy focus on sportsball - Exy, to be precise, a kind of cross between hockey, lacrosse and volleyball as far as I can make out - that Sakavic created for the series.

Neil Josten has been on the run for most of his life. His criminal father is in jail, and his mother is dead. Neil's plan is to get through the rest of high school unscathed, and disappear. However, his plans are scuppered when a college Exy team comes to his school to scout him.

Boys! Feelings! Sportsball! It's all right here! There's a lot of heavy-going stuff in these books, but I got suckered in to Neil's story and his budding (and slow-burning, there's nearly nothing in book one) relationship with hissing snake-hedgehog boy Andrew.

This reminded me of Glitterland by Alexis Hall, a little bit. Men from very different walks of life - Cambridge University professor Larry Morton and muscly Al Fletcher - meet in a dark alley one night. Larry thinks he's about to be attacked, Al is thinking "better get this pretty, pretty man home before someone hurts him."

And so the relationship starts. It's very much opposites attract, and worlds colliding but Al especially is a great character with an A+ narrative voice.

Marius and Tessa, on Leiliana's orders are about to undertake a nearly impossible mission for the Inquisition, as the Inquisitor readies themselves to face Corypheus in the final battle.

Tessa and Charter have a couple of sweet moments, and I'm looking forward to the next issue - it feels like a nice way to expand on the Inquisition's back story, in a way.

And, of course, it ends on a cliffhanger. Again.

Tom Worthington is trying to keep a low profile at college after his father is arrested for a ponzi scheme and his assets frozen. Tom is determined to Make His Own Way  by gypsy cabbing at weekends and keeping his head down.

HOWEVER, Tom has reckoned without his room-mate, out-and-proud Reese, who is not happy at having to share his off-campus housing.

Can these unlikely room-mates come to some kind of understanding, despite their traumatic pasts?

I liked this one, rather than LOVED it, but it was readable enough.

This one straddles an interesting line between procedural crime drama and science fiction. I'm not entirely sure it was completely successful - not for me, anyway. I kept getting caught up in the science fiction part and confused by the crime drama part.

However, it's deftly written, and the main character is a compelling and interesting narrator. The premise of Lock In is great, I just. I don't know. I got confused by something somewhere along the line, and somehow couldn't get into it properly after that.