London’s Slough House is where disgraced MI5 operatives are reassigned to spend the rest of their spy careers pushing paper. But when one of these “slow horses” is kidnapped by a former soldier bent on revenge, the agents must breach the defenses of Regent’s Park to steal valuable intel in exchange for their comrade’s safety. The kidnapping is only the tip of the iceberg, however, as the agents uncover a larger web of intrigue that involves not only a group of private mercenaries but also the highest authorities in the Security Service. After years spent as the lowest on the totem pole, the slow horses suddenly find themselves caught in the midst of a conspiracy that threatens not only the future of Slough House, but of MI5 itself.

Review:

Dear Mick Herron,

I finished this entry in your series yesterday and I still cannot figure out how to review it.  I enjoyed the book a lot, however I also spent a lot of my reading time yelling at a certain character and it is really hard to explain why without talking about spoilers. The blurb conceals the punch of the story, but I have to at least try and this is at least mentioned in the blurb.

So here it goes, when as blurb says one member of the “slow horses” team is kidnapped, another member of the team is contacted by the kidnappers and asked to steal something or “the kidnapped person’s” safety is not a guarantee at all.

Can someone please please explain to me why the person whom kidnappers contact does not call Jackson Lamb, who is this person’s boss and the kidnapped person’s boss? I mean, what in the name was that?  I understand that this person had the kidnapped person’s safety in mind of course I do, but if you need to have your “grand adventure,” at least call your boss first then rush to do it if you so desire. Oh my god.

Again, all members of this team became Slow Horses because they either made a mistake or their superiors decided that they did, so I get that, but this was to me such a disappointing lack of trust that I could not shake it off for most of the book.

I still like this character a lot mind you, such is the talent of the writer, but my opinion of this character’s intellectual abilities went down a lot.

As I said above, I get that it was done because of the desire to help the kidnapped member, which was great and I want to go into what I actually appreciated a lot. I thought that the Slow Horses Team actually started to trust each other and care for each other more than before. Oh, they do not do fluffy bunnies stuff, but I thought that it showed in their actions in the field a lot. I was happy that the characters continue to develop and showed us some new layers, good or bad.  And Jackson may not have perfect trust of his team yet, but if I had any doubts that he cares for his team and their safety, this book erased them.

I sort of complained about previous books being a little too slow in the beginning. I actually did not feel this about this book at all, maybe because I was worried about several characters at the same time and it started too early in the story.

Grade: B/B+

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Enoch Wallace is an ageless hermit, striding across his untended farm as he has done for over a century, still carrying the gun with which he had served in the Civil War. But what his neighbors must never know is that, inside his unchanging house, he meets with a host of unimaginable friends from the farthest stars.

More than a hundred years before, an alien named Ulysses had recruited Enoch as the keeper of Earth’s only galactic transfer station. Now, as Enoch studies the progress of Earth and tends the tanks where the aliens appear, the charts he made indicate his world is doomed to destruction. His alien friends can only offer help that seems worse than the dreaded disaster. Then he discovers the horror that lies across the galaxy…

Review:

Dear Readers,
I often enjoy reading science fiction from its Golden Age and knowing that this book was a Hugo Winner in 1964 increased my desire to read it when I heard a recommendation from a book tube blogger I enjoy.

I liked it and respected it quite a bit, but it did not knock my socks off AND I know the main reason it did not knock my socks off! It is not a fair reason at all, but it is not as if it happened on purpose. See I am a big fan of the Ilona Andrews’ writing duo and I now strongly suspect (don’t know for sure of course) that their Innkeeper series main premise took its inspiration from this book.

Obviously this book was first, and of course Simak deserves all the credit for coming up with the idea of galactic transfer station old Earth. But Andrews developed it so much more with the premises of Inkeepers as a profession, their Houses being alive, so many fun alien beings and all the adventures. Anyway, now unfortunately this story pales in my mind in comparison to those series through no fault of its own!

I really liked the description of the alien travel here; it may have been quite new for its time I think. It was interesting and the main character was wonderful. I thought the writer described his struggles really well. I also think that author showed Enoch as someone who is older despite not physically aging while he is inside the house. I liked it much better than what I find in some fantasy romance stories when the character is presumably hundreds years of age (part of the reason why I almost stopped reading about vampires) and the thoughts they have are of the young people in their twenties.

Not here. Enoch is very curious about the world around him and his Guests and the Galaxy he got exposed too, thats why he reads as a dynamic character, but he very much remembers his past and things that changed or not changed. I thought his story was well done.

Now, the blurb if you ask me gives enough spoilers already – I feel like the main premise should not have been spoiled, so I am going to try scratching my head about another character without giving too many spoilers. There is a young woman there, who cannot speak or hear and she ends up having a good ending as a character, but she also ends up being very VERY special and I just don’t know about that. I think her disability and her being special was too connected if that makes sense.

Also, and I know I keep talking about other things in this review rather than the book, but hopefully it is at least somewhat connected to the book. Some of you may remember the Hugo related squabbles few years ago and the arguments that science fiction of the past was not progressive or something, did not discuss the political issues of the days it was written in or something.

I take it they did not mean this book when they were making those arguments.

Grade: B

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The Kingdom of Cremisio is in turmoil—the royal family dead by assassination, a secret heir no one can find, and three enemy kingdoms fighting bitterly to each take control of Cremisio for themselves. If the missing heir cannot be identified and located, Cremisio will fall once and for all, and thousands of people will die with it. Only one person knows the identity of the missing Lord Cohea Szelis, the Duke of Lindquist, also known as the Fox of Cremisio. Notoriously honorable, impossible to break, leaving those who have captured him frustrated and helpless. Until one of his captors notices the ring he wears, a ring that marks him Bound, an old, illegal spell that binds two people together, body and soul. If one dies, so does the other. If they can locate the person Cohea loves enough to Bind himself to, they might finally get the Fox to break…The task of finding that Bonded falls to Jethue Bittersea, notorious exiled traitor to the throne, and an assassin who has never failed. It will also give him a chance to do some hunting of his own for this mysterious heir who is the key to everything…

Review:

Dear Megan Derr,

I have read many of your books by now. The description for this one sounded like one of your themes I enjoy the most – politics, fights and love stories (often but not always exploring from friends to enemies tropes) mixed up with suspense and adventure. In many ways this is exactly what this book ended up to be and I liked that but I also wanted to give sort of a warning. It is not exactly a warning – I am sure many readers will enjoy this part of the plot and characterization more than I did – but I still need to share: Jethue Bittersea one of the main characters in the story is an assassin as the blurb tells you.

I don’t often pick up a story featuring an assassin no matter how non graphic the descriptions of his killings are, however at times here we have graphic descriptions of blood spilled and some torture involved as well. In fact the book begins with some torture too (not done by Lord Bittersea but torture nevertheless). The violence and torture are not done *just because*. It is very much a necessary part of the story and Bittersea does have his own moral code but I won’t deny that at times his *enjoyment* of killings was too much for me as a reader no matter how much a lot of people he did in deserved it.

Mind you I didn’t blink an eye at the killings that characters including Lord Bittersea engaged in during the war when they have to protect their home and their king. Although Lord Bittersea’s motivations even at that time included some enjoyment I have to say. I’m going to sound contradictory and say that he is a fascinating character. Some book assassins are actually way too noble and fluffy bunnies deep inside. The book actually seems to acknowledge that he has serial killer tendencies no matter if he often does kill bad people but he certainly didn’t shy away from killing for hire in more grey circumstances.

And even the person who loves him seems to acknowledge that Bittersea won’t ever love him the way he does and he is okay with it. Bittersea may change a lot for one person whom he fell in love with it but his love of killing doesn’t go away and he seems to decide to exercise it *solely* on horrible people only now. I thought the characterization here was fascinating.

Also Bittersea and his love were very hot together I thought – obviously opinions differ.

There are two more love stories developing along with this one. I think I liked them all.

I also very much appreciated how the story here sent a message – this is actually the kind of message I love in the fictional books. I said the war finally breaks in the last third (I think ?) of the book and one paragraph, one paragraph of the musings that one of the characters engaged in suddenly made me think that the author may have wanted to show her disgust over the war in Ukraine.

“Cohea looked at him, at Oskia, in silent conversation. It was stupid. It was pointless. Cremisio was a small kingdom that bothered nobody, and all they’d ever asked in return was the same courtesy. They didn’t restrict travel, they didn’t levy heavy tariffs, they didn’t do anything to impede their neighbors from working with each other. They’d more than compensated everyone over the years for the damage caused by the dead sea.So many people dead, so many families ruined, because Terek and their—cronies weren’t content with the power they already had. The citizens of three whole countries would be suffering now, from the deaths caused, the property destroyed, the livelihoods lost… for what?”

I have not been in author’s head. I have no idea if this was what she had in mind, but because this is something that had been on my mind that paragraph invoked these thoughts in my head. Maybe somebody else will read that passage and think about other terrible wars where a big aggressive state decided to attack a small neighbor who did not attack anyone first. I don’t know but I liked how it was done. I think I like when the message can be more universal I guess and invoke different thoughts from different readers and still be clear enough.

B+

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Calgary PI Ben Ames expects a relaxing evening off as he supports his boyfriend, Jesse, one of the star performers at a charity concert. But it turns out relaxing isn’t on the program. When last-minute guest Matt Garrett shows up, it creates a frenzy backstage. An A-list movie star with an ego to match, Garrett has bad blood with many of the performers—Jesse included. So when Garrett turns up dead, Ben begins to dig for the truth, both to protect Jesse and to satisfy his own instinctive curiosity. So much for his night off. When the police arrive, emotions backstage heat up, but no one can step out to cool off, because the Western Canadian winter is so cold that hypothermia waits outside. With such a high-profile crime, the lead detective seems poised to make a quick arrest… and Jesse’s a prime suspect. Ben has his work cut out for him to solve the murder under the police and paparazzi’s noses before Jesse’s reputation becomes collateral damage.

Review:

Dear Gayleen Froese,

This is the book two in the Ben Ames Case Files m/m romantic mystery series. I really enjoyed the first book and grabbed this one as well. Both books were on KU and I already preordered the third one (not on KU).

I believe that six months passed after the first book. Jesse and Ben reconnected in the first book under somewhat dramatic circumstances and here we see them together working on their relationship and of course Ben gets a chance to investigate another murder. Only this time the murder hits closer to home to both of them. As the blurb states Ben accompanied Jesse to a charity concert and one of the supposed performers there who comes at the last minute, ends up dead and Jesse is one of the prime suspects.

I have to say that despite reading the blurb carefully, the story surprised me somewhat. Yes, it is clear that a celebrity gets killed, but I did not expect that Ben’s investigation (according to my calculations anyway) lasted about 24 hours or maybe even less. This ended up essentially being a closed room (or is the expression a “closed door”?) mystery. We have a limited amount of people as performers on the upcoming show for charity and some of them (not even all of them!) end up being suspects.

I liked that author did not repeat the structure of the first book and the characters even make a joke about that.

“I sure hope someone else here is moonlighting as a world-class private detective,” I said, “because that’s not me.” “You solved a whodunnit last year.” “No, I solved a keep-chipping-away-at-it last year. I ran down leads until there were no more. I have no experience with this Murder on the Orient Express business.” “Oh, we should have all killed him together!” Luna said. “Why didn’t we think of it?”

The structure of the story is interesting. I think the murder is taking place and discovered in chapter eight, and the book has twenty five chapters with the epilogue. So a third of the story at least we watch various characters, who are about to perform at this ensemble show for charity, interacting. With some of them Jess has a previous history, with some – not really. I will be honest that besides letting us see more Ben and Jesse together, I was not really sure what was the point of those chapters and all the new characters. I mean, my thought was that they all will be suspects later on, but they were not!

There were only four viable suspects (one more person looks like a possible suspect for a short period of time, but is discarded as a suspect pretty fast), and one of them is Jess and once again, no offense to the author, but despite Jess having a pretty good motive, I was really REALLY sure that he could not have done it. I was sure because of the meta reasons of course – one half of the main romantic couple is a murderer? Unless Ben planned to run away with him from the justice system, I would say no and Ben really did not sound like a guy to do that.

So why all the other people were there I was not sure. I mean some of them ended up helping in the investigation a little bit, but I cannot say that I cared much about them one way or another even when the story ended. Maybe the author plans on bringing at least some of these people back and develop them further in the next book? That would have been awesome.

Having said all that, I still enjoyed this story a lot, a whole lot I would say. I still think that Ben and Jesse have great chemistry and I really enjoyed seeing them both on page. You could see that not all angles are smoothed between them after the break up that lasted seven years, but I could also see that they both really love each other and want to stay together and hopefully make it work.

I have no frame of reference of what it means to date a celebrity of any kind, but somehow Ben’s reactions also made sense to me (genuine love and support, but also irritation about some negative aspects of his job that may take some toll on Jesse).

I was actually quite amused about how Ben tried really hard to do a balancing act about catching a murderer because he was hired (not by Jesse thank goodness) to find the real murderer and kept telling himself that Jesse could not have done it for Reasons even if many things could point at him actually doing the murderer.

I also liked that even if Ben had his eyes on the real murderer as a real suspect several times during his short but eventually very effective investigation, he kept trying to look into everything, into other people, into all the motives, in other words he tried to be thorough. I just thought that he once again was a pretty decent investigator, his inexperience (according to him) with closed door mysteries notwithstanding :)

Grade: B/B+

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The CWA Gold Dagger Award-winning British espionage novel about disgraced MI5 agents who inadvertently uncover a deadly Cold War-era legacy of sleeper cells and mythic super spies.

The disgruntled agents of Slough House, the MI5 branch where washed-up spies are sent to finish their failed careers on desk duty, are called into action to protect a visiting Russian oligarch whom MI5 hopes to recruit to British intelligence. While two agents are dispatched on that babysitting job, though, an old Cold War-era spy named Dickie Bow is found dead, ostensibly of a heart attack, on a bus outside of Oxford, far from his usual haunts.

But the head of Slough House, the irascible Jackson Lamb, is convinced Dickie Bow was murdered. As the agents dig into their fallen comrade’s circumstances, they uncover a shadowy tangle of ancient Cold War secrets that seem to lead back to a man named Alexander Popov, who is either a Soviet bogeyman or the most dangerous man in the world. How many more people will have to die to keep those secrets buried?

Review:

Dear Mick Herron,

I hesitated a little (not much!) about continuing to read this series, because as much as I enjoyed the first book, a good part of it was sloooow. But I liked the characters a whole lot, I suspected that they will continue to develop and grow and at times the first book was just so unexpectedly funny (touches of humor obviously – this series is a not a comedy), that I spent ten dollars and bought this one.

I liked this one quite a bit too and I think more than a first one, because even though the writing does remain a little slow (I think this is just this writer’s style), the suspense storyline starts much earlier and even though slow bits come and go throughout the story, all together it just worked really well for me. I mean, it was clear enough for me in the first book that as much as Jason Lamb loves to verbally destroy some of his fellow “screw ups” (and at least some of them give back as good as they get!) who work under him in the Slough House, he considers all of them members of his team and clearly “one of our own” means something to him.

I also wondered how the rest of the characters that we met in the first book will continue to interact in this book, whether they will start to develop something like friendly ties and, call me an endless optimist, but I think they clearly did :), they just don’t always show it.

The murder described in the blurb happens very very early in the book and Jason starts conducting his own investigation very early in the book as well, but the rest of the Slow Horses get involve in the action a little later in the book and I really enjoyed watching the spy games taking place, seemingly different pieces of action coming together and I had no idea how the storyline will end. The babysitting of the Russian oligarch certainly ended with unexpected results. I have to say though, please do not get too attached to any member of Jason’s team, because the author does not seem to have any problems with killing them. Not randomly mind you, and so far none of my favorite characters died, but who the heck knows what will come later.

Grade: B+

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Can a disillusioned former cop track down a missing girl before it’s too late?

Seven years ago, criminologist Ben Ames thought he’d change a big city police force from the inside. He failed. Now he’s a private detective trailing insurance frauds and cheating spouses through the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Like police work, the job would be easier if he didn’t have a conscience.

When university student Kimberly Moy goes missing, her sister begs Ben to take the case. But before Ben can follow up on any leads—What does the Fibonacci series have to do with Kim’s disappearance? What do her disaffected friends know? And where is her car?—chance and bad timing drop his unexpected ex, Jesse, into the mix.

Ben doesn’t have time to train Jesse into the junior PI he seems determined to become. Amateur sleuths are always trouble. Unfortunately, this is turning out to be the kind of case that requires backup, and his intuition is telling him Kim’s story may not have a happy ending….

Review:

Dear Gayleen Froese,

I got this book on Kindle Unlimited and it worked really well for me. Partially because I am the kind of m/m reader who prefers to read not *pure* romance. Oh I really like a romance storyline if it’s well done, but I can easily get bored if the main characters spent all their time on page mooning over each other and they have no jobs and no other interests to spend their time doing.

The bottom line is, for me this book achieved a happy medium – the mystery which is investigated by the main character, a PI and our narrator, Ben Amos and a second chance romance with his ex Jesse.

Of course I also think that this book was really well written, to me Ben and Jesse came alive on page and I found their second chance romance to be believable, because too often when two exes reunite after many years I roll my eyes when apparently all they were secretly doing for a couple of decades was to see each other again. Seven years in this book for me was I guess a shorter period of time to buy that their feelings for each other were still strong enough, and regardless it was just shown convincingly for me. I do wonder though what Jess being a rock star will do to their romance.

I also thought that Ben made a believable private investigator, although of course I don’t have first hand knowledge of what it means to be a PI, but going around talking to people sounds more real than constantly getting into trouble while chasing bad guys.

As the blurb tells you in this book, Ben is trying to find a missing young woman. I cannot tell you what came out of this search, but I liked how it was done, even if I thought the answer to who was the villain was both straightforward and a little out of nowhere. Isn’t it how it supposed to be though? If you keep trying to find the answer and investigating and putting aside the possibilities you will eventually run into the correct one.

I am looking forward to the next books in the series.

Grade:B/B+

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When the war is lost, what else is worth winning?

Lt. Francis Ransome is newly promoted and completely miserable. After a year and a half of fighting in Russia’s revolutionary fallout, his regiment is retreating across the bitter Siberian wilderness, the war lost. Home has never been so close and yet so far, and any breath could be their last. When they stumble upon the remains of a Czech evacuation, they offer what help they can, but out here, it’s every man for himself.

Francis is instantly drawn to Sasha Jandácek, a handsome but withdrawn young soldier. The attraction is mutual—and enthralling—but it could spell the end for them both. Despite their best efforts, hesitance grows into friendship, and friendship blossoms into something else. Together, they struggle to conceal both feelings and fear in a world that won’t accept either.

As war stalks their footsteps and relentless winter gnaws on their morale, the journey home becomes a fight for survival. Francis and Sasha face the threat of discovery, death, and one burning question: even if they make it home, what future can they possibly have together?

Review:

Dear Ravella Ives,

This was a surprise recommendation by Amazon and it was a very good one. It is a historical with strong romantic elements rather than a full blown romance and it is a pretty well researched historical. Please heed the warning though, it is taking place during the Civil War in Russia, at the time when troops from many countries were trying to exit it or more specifically to run away from it. It is a painful read, a realistic one as well as far as I am aware and horrors of war were shown as part of the story, not to dial up the angst of the story to eleven.

The story shows the soldiers who are trying to leave the hell of revolutionary Russia and all they had to endure on the way out. Does the war show the worst or the best in people living through it? I always thought that the war can show both and it really depends on the people, so we see people doing things to survive, but also something like bringing an almost dead soldier to die in a relative comfort and safety (relative is the key word here) just because they could not bear the thought of him dying alone for example.

And there is that building romance between Sasha and Francis. It would have been so easy for me to roll my eyes if the author overdid romance in the midst of war, not because people cannot have romance and love in the middle of war, but because war comes first, before anything else. Somehow though I thought author managed very well to mix the romantic storyline in between everything that was happening and did not overdone it at all.

I was so rooting for Sasha and Francis to make it against all odds after the war with all their traumas and I was grateful for the ending we got.

I have to say that I cannot judge whether the English in the story sounded exactly how people spoke in 1919-1920s, however I can definitely say that it did not sound quite modern to me and I do hope that it fit the time well.

A-

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Welcome to the thrilling and unnervingly prescient world of the slow horses. This team of MI5 agents is united by one common bond: They’ve screwed up royally and will do anything to redeem themselves.

This special tenth-anniversary deluxe edition of a modern classic includes a foreword by the author, discussion questions for book clubs, and an exclusive short story featuring the slow horses.

London, England: Slough House is where washed-up MI5 spies go to while away what’s left of their failed careers. The “slow horses,” as they’re called, have all disgraced themselves in some way to get relegated there. Maybe they botched an Op so badly they can’t be trusted anymore. Maybe they got in the way of an ambitious colleague and had the rug yanked out from under them. Maybe they just got too dependent on the bottle—not unusual in this line of work. One thing they have in common, though, is they want to be back in the action. And most of them would do anything to get there?even if it means having to collaborate with one another.

When a young man is abducted and his kidnappers threaten to broadcast his beheading live on the Internet, the slow horses see an opportunity to redeem themselves. But is the victim really who he appears to be?

POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THE REVIEW

Review:

Dear Mick Herron,

I have had your book on my kindle for a few years (three or four years to be precise). I tried it once or twice, but it just felt slow and more importantly not that easy to read, I felt like I was drowning within the book if that makes sense. Recently I encountered the book in Russian translation in the library and decided to try again.

I am happy to report that I at least finished the book and overall quite liked it. I understand that these series are well known and quite popular and that there is a TV show going on which I have not watched.

I came to this also without reading the reviews at all, but the blurb was clear enough that spies will be the central characters in the story and specifically spies who supposedly did something wrong at one time of their careers, or not even wrong, but something that MI5 did not care for even if this was something that MI5 ordered them to do in the first place. Bottom line – off to the dog house you go, and hopefully you will resign within the next few years, since no serious and/ or exciting assignments will ever be given to you. Of course best laid out plans often do not work out as planned.

Even in translation the first I would say third of this book felt really slow to me. I understood why of course – the author was introducing the characters, just setting up the whole story, describing the place they work in now, etc and more importantly those are people who supposed to use their brains a lot, right? So less running and fighting made perfect sense, although I have to say, I think the author managed to insert some faster bits and pieces in the narrative and it worked well for me, too.

As I said eventually all of these disgraced former spies (no, not former, most of them are still very good) end up participating in an important attempt of trying to save a young man from having his head cut off.

In the meantime we get to observe (and sometimes be very annoyed) at the games the chiefs of the spy agencies play and of course involve their people in playing those games and I have to say this, of course I can imagine that what they do in real life is probably much much worse, ends justify the means and all that, but the stunt that had been played which ended up being connected to our victim made absolutely zero sense to me. I am trying not to spoiler much here, but as much as I get annoyed when innocent people are being stepped upon for the “higher purpose”, as I said I would understand if the result made some sort of sense. I was staring at the page and basically screaming – that’s it? That’s what you did it for and he almost got killed and got saved through no fault of yours? Why was it worth it?

Overall however, I ended up really liking most of the characters from the Slough House and wanted to see them doing more interesting things and already bought book 2.

Grade: B+

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A thrilling race across the multiverse to save the infinite Earths – and the love of your life – from total destruction for fans of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, The Time Traveler’s Wife and Everything, Everywhere, All at Once.

Film-maker Hayes Figueiredo is struggling to finish the documentary of his heart when handsome physicist Yusuf Hassan shows up, claiming Hayes is the key to understanding the Envisioner – a mysterious device that can predict the future.

Hayes is taken to a top-secret research facility where he discovers his alternate self from an alternate universe created the Envisioner and sent it to his reality. Hayes studies footage of the other him, he discovers a self he doesn’t recognize, angry and obsessive, and footage of Yusuf… as his husband.

As Hayes finds himself falling for Yusuf, he studies the parallel universe and imagines the perfect life they will live together. But their lives are inextricably linked to the other reality, and when that couple’s story ends in tragedy Hayes realises he must do anything he can to save Yusuf’s life. Because there are infinite realities, but only one Yusuf.

With the fate of countless realities and his heart in his hands, Hayes leads Yusuf on the run, tumbling through a kaleidoscope of universes trying to save it all. But even escaping into infinity, Hayes is running out of space – soon he will have to decide how much he’s willing to pay to save the love of his life.

Review:

Dear Nathan Tavares,

Your book was recommended to me by DA Commenter SusanD when I complained about having trouble finding SFF books with gay romance being an integral part of another storyline. Of course I bought it right after I read the blurb. In some ways your book was a perfect fit for me, it is exactly what I want to read in the book that features romance. The setting was well drawn, the characters had depth and the underlying adventure was very enjoyable.

The book has a lot of social commentary in it as well, some of it I agreed with, some I empathically disagreed with but still that was something I was quite worried that we may end up with. However, I very much appreciated how well all of it was incorporated in the setting.

I have to say though that I also found the structure of the book to be a bit … chaotic I guess. I understood that it was chaotic by design. I think partially because the book chapters meant to invoke the feeling that not only Hayes is filming his movie, but also that the story itself can be seen as a movie and I got a little dizzy sometimes trying to figure out what was real and what was his imagination playing tricks on him. Also, during a major part of the story our main characters jump to different universes trying to run away from the people who were trying to catch them. No, no, I am not going to tell you whom they are trying to outrun, but I think this also played into the chaos I felt at times while reading.  And I think also the fact that throughout the book Hayes himself is trying to figure out how different universes work.

I was really curious to see how the actual romance would develop during all the action and excitement that was going on and I was very pleased with that as well, all despite the short time Hayes and Yusuf had to start falling in love, but probably because they spent a lot of time in different universes somehow it felt as if they spent more time together. And I loved Yusuf so much I just had to say that.

Lastly, since it is hinted in the blurb but not described in detail, I am just going to briefly mention that.  The moral dilemma of one life v many lives is featured quite prominently in the story and let us just say that I found at least part of the resolution quite surprising.

Grade: B+

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My Fair Lady meets the classic teen film She’s All That in this charming and swoony new rom-com from Brian D. Kennedy, author of A Little Bit Country. Perfect for fans of What If It’s Us and She Gets the Girl.

Wade Westmore is used to being in the spotlight. So when he’s passed over for the lead in the spring musical, it comes as a major blow—especially when the role goes to his ex-boyfriend, Reese, who dumped him for being too self-involved.

Shy sophomore Elijah Brady is used to being overlooked. Forget not knowing his name—most of his classmates don’t even know he exists. So when he joins the stage crew for the musical, he seems destined to blend into the scenery.

When the two have a disastrous backstage run-in, Elijah proposes an arrangement that could solve both boys’ problems: If Wade teaches Elijah how to be popular, Wade can prove that he cares about more than just himself. Seeing a chance to win Reese back, Wade dives headfirst into helping Elijah become the new and improved “Brady.”

Soon their plan puts Brady center stage—and he’s a surprising smash hit. So why is Wade suddenly less worried about winning over his ex and more worried about losing Elijah?

Review:

Dear Brian D. Kennedy,

I enjoyed your first book so much that I decided to take a reviewing copy of this one and overall I am very happy that I did.  If the background of the first book was country music, this story is about high school kids who love theater. As the blurb says, Wade loves theater and Elijah joins the stage crew for the musical that was being rehearsed in his school to get more confidence and possibly make some new friends. I am not sure whether this is going to be a big spoiler, or not, since the blurb does not state the name of the musical, however it is a big part of the set up so I feel like I have to share it.

The musical they are going to do is “My fair lady” and at the same time Wade and Elijah are playing out to the readers their own spin on that story.  Elijah feels that he does not have it in him to be cool, to have confidence and he is asking an outgoing and popular Wade to “transform” him, to make him more worthy of people paying attention to him.

I thought this was done well.  I liked that the homage that both boys are paying to the storyline of “My fair lady’ was playing out at the same time as kids were rehearsing an actual musical. I liked that it was not a play by play repeat of the story and both Wade and Elijah were learning their own lessons as they were getting to know each other. It was not done too in your face if that makes sense. I love theater (as a consumer of the art mind you, I have never acted even as a hobby), love love love it and I was grateful to the author for a chance to look behind the scenes at what actors do, even if those actors were high school kids.

Wade and several of his friends want to pursue theater as a profession, they were trying to get into colleges with strong theater programs, I loved how much passion they seemed to have, but man I wish them luck, living in New York and knowing just how very many actors never make it to the stage, despite trying really, really hard.

I really liked Wade, flaws and all, and I had to roll my eyes at characters (and Wade himself doing it often enough) describing him as self centered and conceited.  Um, yes he had those flaws – sometimes they served him well sometimes not so much, but he is a teenager and some of these kids showed selfishness and conceit too. And they are teenagers! They should be allowed too in my opinion :). What I am trying to say is that while none of these kids were perfect, had plenty of life lessons to learn, etc, I felt like I was supposed to think that Wade was the worst in that department and had to change more and I just did not agree.

Of course I liked Elijah too, who had to understand that while it is cool to learn how to get more confidence and change something in himself if one wants to, it is okay to just be himself too.  I thought Wade and Elijah had nice sweet chemistry, but Elijah just felt so young to me, which is no kidding, he is sixteen. It was wonderful to observe how he was getting an experience of falling in love for the first time in his life.

I just had tons of trouble believing that this would be his forever relationship and that is totally okay, he is sixteen, Wade is eighteen, they have their whole life in front of them.  I just want to caution you against buying this book if you want Romance with the capital R.

Grade : B+

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Dawn mage. Twilight mage. Cursed, useless, damaged, dangerous…

His birth magic leaves Prince Nikola with nothing but bad choices: live as another man’s possession, subject to his whims and his desires, or remain dependent on a potion that stunts his powers and prevents him from knowing love.

Andreas vows to protect the prince with his life—whether Nikola wants him to or not. After all, the queen pays his soldier’s wage. Nikola’s nothing but a job to do.

But when they find themselves stranded, with Nikola’s potion running out, Andreas has to…improvise. Because what Prince Nikola needs to survive is the opposite of a lowly guard’s respectful protection.

It should’ve been only one night. Just until the potion’s refilled. But now that Nikola’s had Andreas’s touch, he craves Andreas again and again. He shouldn’t. But he—and his magic—can’t live without it…

The Royal Curse is a high-heat MM fantasy romance with a stubborn prince, an even more stubborn soldier, and cursed magic that can’t be denied. There is an on-page attempted sexual assault that is not between the main characters. HEA guaranteed.

SPOILERS

Review:

Dear Elliot Grayson,

You contacted DA, where I review, with a review inquiry for this book. I however decided to wait till the book came out on KU simply because I got superstitious recently. I take very few reviewing copies, and I still got burned with them quite a few times.Basically this book was not for me. There was some occasional humor that I liked and some sex scenes were really hot when it was not described in a very over the top way. However the blurb for the book says *high heat fantasy* right? Obviously, obviously I expected the two men to have sex on page in the book. But I also expected fantasy and the fantasy settings were so incredibly thin and even worse for me, the explanation given as to why things were happening or not happening were so thin.

Let’s look at the main premise of the story. Prince Nikola’s magic is killing him and he has to take a potion to suppress it or he has to sex it out with the person of his choosing (small mercies for that) who has to dominate Nikola a/k/a Niko in bed, then Niko does not need the potion and his magic will work fine.

I understand that all kinds of what ifs can work in fantasy, but I still would like a satisfactory explanation as to the more outlandish ones. And to me, his magic only working if he is being dominated in bed is silly. I mean I have read stories with sex magic in it for example (not that many and it had been awhile but I certainly have read them), when it amplified the magic of the character. Why does only domination work here?

We do get one explanation about one God cursing twilight mages, but I have read this one page or half a page and I am still scratching my head as to why this is happening.

I did try to merrily move along and hoped to see how Prince Nikola’s magic will work when he was being dominated by Andreas. Eh, I will speculate that all of this was done for that one moment when he got to save Andreas’ life, but I still do not know what else his magic can do besides tearing off trousers and throwing them out of the window (yes, that was the humor I liked )

Besides that magic that works when Andreas getting all the topping that he deserves, I am still not sure why this story was called a fantasy. I know, I know even a nominal amount of magic is enough to call the setting a fantasy, but I wanted more of that.

I wanted adventure, danger and fun. There was a short moment during their trip when the author actually wrote some suspense and adventure, but for me it was just resolved and done too fast.

Starting at the moment of them getting together when it was needed to help Niko at about 36% of the story, for the most part they were having sex and at some point being in love with the interruption that was supposed to be conflicts between the main couple? “Oh no, he is embarrassed at being with me, no you are embarrassed, how could he? How could you? Let us go back to having sex again.”

Oh, I liked Niko’s family, mostly his sisters. I thought his mother the queen was an idiot. Do not get me wrong, I never held it against a fictional mother if she is being over bearing *if there are reasons for that*. She is a mother after all.

Why was his mom being overbearing exactly to the point that she did not want to let her son go on a trip which could presumably make his life much easier? Potion was working for him (before the trip) – so why could he not go?

Grade: C-

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WHEN THE CAT’S AWAY THE MURDERER WILL PLAY….

In his will, Peter Laxter guaranteed his faithful caretaker a job and a place to live… for life. But Laxter’s grandson Sam says the deal doesn’t include the caretaker’s cat—and he wants the feline off the premises by hook, crook… or poison. When Perry Mason takes the case, he quickly finds there’s much more at stake than an old man’s cat—a million dollars or more to be exact…

Review:

Dear readers,

For years Perry Mason books had been some of my favorite comfort reads. I have read many, many of them in Russian then in English, however I have not reread them in a while. As much as I loved the noble defense lawyer who of course only defends people innocently accused of murder or those who have mitigating circumstances to help the reader feel for them, to me these books do not stand up to rereads as well as say Niro Wolfe and Archie Goodwin series do simply because I remember “who done” it and am not interested as much in rereading the book. However I came across this book on kindle in the Russian translation and it had been years since I first read it and I figured why not try the reread.

And it worked very well for me and a couple of things even surprised me. The first surprise had nothing to do with actual investigation. If you know the books well, you remember that very clear hints of attraction between Mason and his wonderful secretary Della Street run through most of them. I used to imagine that they had a relationship off pages but of course I have no idea if that was what author intended.

In any event the surprise part for me was that in this book at least Mason and Della had to play act as husband and wife as part of the charade Mason decided to play at some point in his investigation to hopefully clear up his client and when they do so, Mason seems to act surprised when Della kisses him. I wonder if this is the book where it all started from. Amazon lists it as book seven, but I am not sure if it was written that early in the series or not.

The investigation itself was a little bit surprising too, but I had seen it in some other books of these series. Mason really does not spend that much time in the courtroom here. Most of the action and investigation takes place outside of it and yes, it all started with a cat :). It still had a lot of fun action and *some* court room time and I enjoyed it all.

The last surprise of the sort for me was that Mason tries to offer some hint about the potential murderer early in the book to Hamilton Burger, District Attorney who is his constant adversary throughout the books. Again, if you read the books you may know that while Mason constantly bests Burger in the court room, Burger is terrified of accusing an innocent person of the crime and when the evidence finally staring him in the face, he always agrees to reopen the investigation, however this book to me features one of the attempts of collaboration between them which happens early enough in the plot of the story. This attempt does not turn out to be very fruitful, but not because Mason tries to conceal anything, he just does not know all the facts yet, still it was interesting to me, I did not see that too often in the series.

Of course everything turns out to be wonderful at the end, as I said comfort read is a comfort read.

Grade: B+

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*NOW A NETFLIX SERIES*

Dive into the first book of this frightfully fun series and join the ghost-hunting gang as they defend our world from the most fearsome phantoms!

A sinister Problem has occurred in London: all nature of ghosts, haunts, spirits, and specters are appearing throughout the city, and they aren’t exactly friendly. Only young people have the psychic abilities required to see and eradicate these supernatural foes. Many different Psychic Detection Agencies have cropped up to handle the dangerous work, and they are in fierce competition for business.

In The Screaming Staircase, the plucky and talented Lucy Carlyle teams up with Anthony Lockwood, the charismatic leader of Lockwood & Co, a small agency that runs independent of any adult supervision. After an assignment leads to both a grisly discovery and a disastrous end, Lucy, Anthony, and their sarcastic colleague, George, are forced to take part in the perilous investigation of Combe Carey Hall, one of the most haunted houses in England. Will Lockwood & Co. survive the Hall’s legendary Screaming Staircase and Red Room to see another day?

Readers who enjoyed the action, suspense, and humor in Jonathan Stroud’s internationally best-selling Bartimaeus books will be delighted to find the same ingredients, combined with deliciously creepy scares, in his thrilling and chilling Lockwood & Co. series.

Please note that this is a review of book one and book two in the series

Review:

Dear Jonathan Stroud,

I have noticed that the show based on these books appeared on Netflix, however I did not watch it. Then I heard a book blogger mentioning the series very favorably and I decided to give it a try. I believe Janine reviewed the Bartimaeus trilogy here at DA a while ago. (I found the review of the first book of that trilogy in 2013, but did not search any further).

The blurb is excellent and gives you a good set up.  Only kids and teenagers (presumably their talents start to fade around nineteen or twenty based on at least one character we are meeting in the first book, but I am not hundred percent sure) have an ability to fight ghosts and other evil spirits which appear in England after dark and cause all kinds of problems.  Kids may start their training and sometimes even their work when they are as little as eight years of age. Once again this is my observation based on things mentioned in the first book, there was no definite rule mentioned at least in the first two books which I have read so far.

Now let’s back track a little bit. The reading age of these books is stated as ages 8-12, however in all honesty I could not put these stories down being an adult several decades older than the target audience.  I thought the author wrote these with such a skilled touch. The dark atmosphere of the “after dark” London full of ghosts and other evilness that may attack you, the constant danger to the kids that fight them, a lot of really great action. I really liked all that. I have to specify that ghosts are not necessarily evil per se, but very often because of the unfinished business they have, our heroes still have to put them away.

I think what I liked the best is that the author does not downplay the dangers our characters face, even writing for a younger audience. Kids with psychic abilities do die in the books and even though so far we saw very episodic characters die, I am not at all sure that the main trio will make it out alive at the end of the book five.  I both appreciate it and dread it, so if anyone who read the books can spoiler me (just tell me that you know the ending and I can email you, or do the spoiler tags which I forgot how to do :)) as to their fates, it will be much appreciated. I don’t want to read book five and be very annoyed.

Lucy narrates this book and the next one. I suspect she will narrate the rest of them too, but I do not know that. I loved her voice.  I at first thought that she sounded older than her age, but then I decided that she sounded like someone who had to take a very dangerous job at the very young age.

The first book gives us the backstory of how she came to work for Lockwood and couple of cases they did together.  I am glad that the author clearly knows what he wants to do with the story and things they have done in the first book, the characters that appear clearly appear there for a reason and I suspect will have a role to play in the later books.

I think the second book has one big case and the events taking place here would have even bigger repercussions in the next book.  The action was almost non stop and if there was a criticism I wanted to offer, it would probably be wanting more breathing room.  I loved the chemistry our trio has with each other, so I certainly would have wanted them to have more interactions when things are quieter, at least temporarily. To be fair, the author does offer some of those. I guess for the target audience more action is better than less action .

I also have to note that normally ghosts, corpses and evil spirits are very much not my kind of thing, but I really loved the main characters and the writing, so no matter how dark and grim the books can get (and yes, I got scared a few times, but I have a very low barrier for being scared, so that means nothing), I loved it and looking forward to their further adventures – if they won’t die that is.

One more thing, reading as an adult, it is often hard to convince me that kids have to do dangerous stuff without adult supervision in kids adventure books.  However, of course kids like books where kids, not adults do dangerous stuff and I thought that the author’s explanation here was as good as it gets. I mean, adults really cannot help here,  because they just do not see or hear the ghosts anymore as they get older.

Grade: B+. (for both books)

The Screaming Staircase buy links

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The Whispering Skull buy links

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After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors—until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late.

Shelby Van Pelt’s debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.

I got the book from the library.

Review:

Dear Shelby Van Pelt,

For once I get to read a New York Time Bestsellers List Book when the book is still sitting on that list. It appears that the book is number four this week when I am typing my review. I have to admit that this book confused me. The plot was simple and the main “mystery” (it is not billed as a mystery, but the characters need to figure out something and the blurb kind of hints at it, but not quite, so that is why I called it a mystery) was easy to figure out, but Marcellus the Octopus confused the heck out of me.

Please do not get me wrong, I am aware of books that use animals as narrators, I am aware of the movies that do the same thing!  Not as if this was a narrative device completely new to me, however sometimes I can buy an animal who can express thoughts more complex than many human beings and sometimes I cannot. For me, the book either has to be a fantasy to buy it OR the animal’s narration should be limited to the things they can observe to share with the reader if that makes sense.

I think the author did try to describe Marcellus talking as an actual octopus in captivity and that made sense, but then he started making general observations about human beings and moreover he figured out a “mystery” way before the main human characters did, moreover he figured out what to do to speed up the human characters’ thought processes – so to speak – and I was sitting there, asking “What?”  And at the same time, I really liked his slightly sarcastic voice, despite all my criticisms. That is why I said that this character confused me.

This is billed as a story of friendship between the main female character Tova and Marcellus and I agree with that, although they never actually talk to each other (thank Goodness for that if you ask me, because if Marcellus started making small talk I probably would have been done with the book), but they still find a way to communicate and I liked that.

I really liked Tova, I even admired her and this story is also about her living and dealing with her grief over her son’s death (and, relatively recently in the book’s timeline, her husband’s death as well). This is also about Tova trying to understand how her son died, even if it happened many years ago. Also the book is about something that came out of her son’s death and I cannot discuss that at all, because to me this is the biggest spoiler of the book.

The story’s narration switches between Marcellus (first person mix of past and present), Tova’s (third person mostly present tense) and a couple other characters, one more prominent another rather secondary (I think he only got a few chapters but I can be wrong).  This unnamed third prominent character I actually found the most annoying in the book. I warmed up to him as story moved along, but for at least first half of the story I thought of him as a loser.

The ending was quite hopeful and I was glad for Tova’s sake, as I thought she needed that.

Grade: B-/B

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As always I am doing my Best of 2023 mostly in no specific order. I remember the years when I could pin point my best of the year book out of the books that I reviewed here at DA, but even that does not always happen. You will also see some books which I gave B too, because my main criteria for the Best of the year list is how well I remember the book and how much I will want to reread it. Of course I will not put C or D books on this list, but sometimes I think about a memorable book with B grade at the end of the year and think that going back I would probably want to grade it higher. And now without further ado.

Greenglass House (Greenglass House #1) by Kate Milford.

“It’s wintertime at Greenglass House. The creaky smuggler’s inn is always quiet during this season, and twelve-year-old Milo, the innkeepers’ adopted son, plans to spend his holidays relaxing. But on the first icy night of vacation, out of nowhere, the guest bell rings. Then rings again. And again. Soon Milo’s home is bursting with odd, secretive guests, each one bearing a strange story that is somehow connected to the rambling old house. As objects go missing and tempers flare, Milo and Meddy, the cook’s daughter, must decipher clues and untangle the web of deepening mysteries to discover the truth about Greenglass House—and themselves.”

This is probably the most unexpected book for me book to land on my Best of year list.  It is a book for middle grade kids, which I pick up very occasionally even less than I pick up Young Adult Literature, but the book blogger I like listening to recommended the whole series (so far I have read two books out of five) as a possible comfort books for adults as well. And for me it just worked, I know it is not too complex and it should not be, but I just found the whole story and characters so very charming and indeed calming and I just could not believe that I did not guess the plot twist.

My review is here

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We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian

“Nick Russo has worked his way from a rough Brooklyn neighborhood to a reporting job at one of the city’s biggest newspapers. But the late 1950s are a hostile time for gay men, and Nick knows that he can’t let anyone into his life. He just never counted on meeting someone as impossible to say no to as Andy.

Andy Fleming’s newspaper-tycoon father wants him to take over the family business. Andy, though, has no intention of running the paper. He’s barely able to run his life–he’s never paid a bill on time, routinely gets lost on the way to work, and would rather gouge out his own eyes than deal with office politics. Andy agrees to work for a year in the newsroom, knowing he’ll make an ass of himself and hate every second of it.

Except, Nick Russo keeps rescuing Andy: showing him the ropes, tracking down his keys, freeing his tie when it gets stuck in the ancient filing cabinets. Their unlikely friendship soon sharpens into feelings they can’t deny. But what feels possible in secret–this fragile, tender thing between them–seems doomed in the light of day. Now Nick and Andy have to decide if, for the first time, they’re willing to fight.”

I said it before that as much as I think that Cat Sebastian is an amazing writer, her historical romances/mysteries set in the twentieth century work so much better for me than the ones set in the 19 century and this book is no exception. I thought it was great and that’s not a small feat considering that I often prefer my m/m books to have some sort of adventure storyline in addition to a romance one and this one was mostly a character study which I loved.

My review is here.

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Magic Claims (Kate Daniels: Wilmington Years # 2) by Ilona Andrews

“New town, new friends, new challenges…. And a new heart-stopping adventure from #1 New York Times bestselling author, Ilona Andrews. Kate, Curran, and Conlan may have left Atlanta for Wilmington, but the usual magic mayhem has also hitched a ride!

Kate and Curran have just settled into their new home and their ‘low prolife,’ when a local businessman approaches them with an offer they can’t refuse. A mysterious evil has spawned in the nearby forest and is holding a defenseless town hostage. The ‘due date’ is rapidly approaching.

It’s exactly the kind of fight the Lennarts can’t resist, not for the prize the town offers, but for the people who will surely die if they ignore it. If they succeed, they’ll be rescuing an entire community and can build a strong new base for their family and the Wilmington Pack. If they fail…well, fail is a four-letter word. Nothing comes without a price. Now Kate must decide if she has what it takes to pay it.”

It is not a secret that I have loved a lot of books that this writing duo have published and Kate Daniels was and will be my favorite fantasy series probably for a long time to come, however I was a little skeptical when the sequels were announced because I did not care for Julie’s book much and was worried about what this may mean for Kate Daniels’ continuation. I should not have worried. I liked the first Wilmington novella, but I really really liked this one.

Here is my review.

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Arthropoda (Arthropoda #1)by Xenia Melzer

“Detective George Donavon doesn’t plan to stay in Charleston long. Skeptical and by-the-book, he’s on the fast track to the top, and he won’t let anything derail his career. Especially not Andrew Hayes, his grumpy, awkward new partner—and not the chief’s secret order to find out how said partner solves even the most difficult cases.

George and Andi can’t agree on anything except their mutual dislike, but when three dead girls turn up at a storage unit, they must put their differences aside before the suspected trafficking ring claims another victim.

There is no crime without witnesses. Andi knows George suspects his always-right “hunches” point to corruption, but he doesn’t care. All that matters is catching a killer… and keeping his secret. But with leads on this sprawling conspiracy drying up, he has no choice. He just can’t let his partner find out how he’s getting the information.

Andi’s on the verge of losing his life, his mind, and his career. He could take George down with him…

If the violent criminals who are always one step ahead don’t get to them first.”

I have read and reviewed here the whole trilogy, however for space saving I am putting only the first book here. These are mysteries with the very strong friendship (that started from suspicion and mistrust) turning into a realization that they love each other. I adored both George and Andi, however if the only thing these books had going for was Andi’s unique paranormal abilities I felt like I still had to put them on my Best of list. I have not read anything like that before I started these books.

My review is here.

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Once a Rogue (Roaring Twenties Magic #2) by Allie Therin

“Two reformed scoundrels have renounced the battlefields and scandals for one another, but their troubled pasts could destroy everything they hold dear…

New York, 1925

Cranky and jaded Lord Fine—Wesley, now, to the kindhearted lover he cynically doubts life will let him keep—arrives in Manhattan with one goal: find the American paranormals and get their help with the relic burdening Sebastian. His plans are upended when the other paranormals seem to have vanished, and a mysterious letter warns Wesley that he’s in danger.

Sebastian has no doubts when it comes to his feelings for Wesley, but he’s still haunted by the time he spent enthralled by blood magic right here in New York. And now, his magic is unstable, bolstered by a relic that seems to drain energy from his very blood. But there is a threat to Wesley, and Sebastian needs control of his magic to protect him—even if former Great War captain Wesley wants Sebastian to rely on him for a change.

Chasing a trail that leads from Fifth Avenue’s bootleggers to a Halloween masquerade at a Tarrytown mansion, they must race to find their friends before devastation is unleashed on New York—and on magic everywhere.”

This is actually the second book of the spinoff from the original trilogy. I do not suggest starting here, at least start with the first book of the spinoff, but even then you will miss the beginning of the adventure/ magic storyline.

I actually have had some issues with the magic in these books, but the romance between Wes and Sebastian was why I am including this book here. I loved them together.

My review is here

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A Little Bit Country by Brian D. Kennedy

Dumplin’ meets Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda in this heartfelt and funny contemporary romance inspired by Dollywood, about two boys who fall in love against the backdrop of a country music-themed amusement park, from debut author Brian D. Kennedy. Perfect for fans of Erin Hahn, Phil Stamper, and David Levithan.

Emmett Maguire wants to be country music’s biggest gay superstar—a far reach when you’re seventeen and living in Illinois. But for now, he’s happy to do the next best thing: Stay with his aunt in Jackson Hollow, Tennessee, for the summer and perform at the amusement park owned by his idol, country legend Wanda Jean Stubbs.

Luke Barnes hates country music. As the grandson of Verna Rose, the disgraced singer who had a famous falling out with Wanda Jean, Luke knows how much pain country music has brought his family. But when his mom’s medical bills start piling up, he takes a job at the last place he wants: a restaurant at Wanda World.

Neither boy is looking for romance, but sparks fly when they meet—and soon they’re inseparable. Until a long-lost secret about Verna and Wanda comes to light, threatening to unravel everything.

Will Emmett and Luke be able get past the truths they discover…or will their relationship go down in history as just another Sad Country Love Song?”

This is another book I had very little expectations for when I started. I received it as a gift at the book exchange on Good Reads. It is set in a Country Music settings, which I am deeply indifferent to, it is very much Young Adult, but I really liked it.

My review is here

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Hammer and Powder (Seven Brothers #1) by Megan Derr

“The Kingdom of Rinaha is all that stands between the violent, greedy Boorna and the rest of the continent, and they do so by way of their immense and heavily guarded Wall of Gamala, an enormous undertaking that runs the length of the southern end of the continent, standing strong for more than two hundred years.

Maintaining the Wall and the forces that guard it is an expensive undertaking, one that other countries are reluctant to contribute significantly to, despite the fact they benefit greatly from its existence. In an effort to change that, the king of Rinaha arranges a marriage between the powerful Takahara family and a royal relation of the neighboring kingdom of Aaran.

Hideki, better known as Warhammer, is playing escort for his brother Saburo, the chosen candidate being sent off to marry the nephew of the king of Aaran and bridge political divides once and for all. Shortly after arrival, though, Saburo runs away, with only a letter of apology left to explain what he’s done. Now it is Hideki, ill-suited to political games, who must keep anger and wounded pride from erupting into war.

Meanwhile, back on the Wall, his twin brother Daisuke discovers the enemy is using children to do what their soldiers cannot, and in rescuing them, finds himself in exactly the sort of situation he prefers to avoid. On top of that, his brother Jiro, General of the Wall, expects him to entertain foreign guests, despite the fact everyone knows not to trust delicate situations to the man known as Gunpowder.”

I have been reading this author for many years now almost since I first started reading m/m and I loved a lot of what she wrote, but quite a few of her latest were not my cup of tea. This one I really enjoyed.

My review is here

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