Brain candy done right…

August 12, 2021 ~ Cathy ~ 8 Comments

I mentioned K.J. Charles in my previous review. Here is what I read…

The Magpie Lord (A Charm of Magpies, #1) by K.J. Charles

Very entertaining and well written brain candy with likeable characters, a nice mystery, some sorcery and the requisite hot sex toward the end. Couldn’t put it down! Well, I had to sleep at some point…

Interlude with Tattoos (A Charm of Magpies, #1.5) by K.J. Charles

Interlude with Tattoo (A Charm of Magpies #1.5) is a short story set just after the end of The Magpie Lord and is included at the end of that eBook. Nice little follow-up.

The Smuggler and the Warlord (A Charm of Magpies, #0.5) by K.J. Charles (Goodreads Author)

And this is set before the first full-length novel. Flash fiction, just a tiny snippet to set the mood, I guess. I liked the humour and sarcasm in it.

A Case of Possession (A Charm of Magpies, #2) by K.J. Charles

Main story again. Brain candy with magic, mentions of exotic locations, some fairly graphic m/m sex and a simple murder/revenge plot with shamans and scary rats, historical setting. Has a ~~Regency~~ Victorian feel to it (timing, not tone), I am not sure when exactly it takes place.

The plot is nothing too twisty or deep, this is a quick and entertaining read. The ending was a bit rushed. I was pretty surprised to stumble into the dramatic climax all of a sudden, also because I wasn’t aware that there was another story at the end. Best read in chronological order of the series, including the short stories.

A Case of Spirits (A Charm of Magpies, #2.5) by K.J. Charles

Quick read, Victorian setting, nobility, gay lovers, magic and a little suspense. Well written, entertaining.

Flight of Magpies (A Charm of Magpies, #3) by K.J. Charles

The third, full-length novel. I haven‘t read this one yet, it‘s part of my TBR pile, review to come…

Feast of Stephen (A Charm of Magpies, #3.5) by K.J. Charles

Read this out of order, before novel #3, and enjoyed it quite a bit. Very short, but for fans of the series worthwhile. Stephen seems to have gone through some interesting changes in the previous book.

Spectred Isle (Green Men #1) by K.J. Charles

This is the start of another series. Very similar set-up to The Magpie Lord, but in earlier times. Tall dark stranger, magic, mystery, the other character is generally more of a Dr. Watson type…

A saturnine, sardonic sort of face, clean-shaven; a mouth that seemed made to sneer. He looked like the kind of man Saul had met a great deal in the war in the officer ranks: a thoroughbred aristocrat, effortlessly superior, endlessly disdainful.

I like her writing. It rolls along nicely, good tension, she has humour. I don‘t know how much sense these stories make in their historical setting, but so far they have been fun. And I learned something about London‘s suburbs, parks and medieval, Norman sherifs.

Several refences in the book made me think that I missed reading an important prequel. Perhaps reading the stand-alone The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal would provide back-up to some of the stories hinted at in Spectred Isles?

I like the humour and the slow build-up between Randolph and Saul.

The stories about the war remind me a little of Nightingale’s backstory at Ettersberg in the Peter Grant series—opposing magical forces, misused by their respective governments, the destruction of all the wizards/occultists…

Very readable, creepier than expected, not too many horrid romance clichees, a not too predictable plot. I am very tempted to pick up the next book in the series.

2018 RITA® finalist for Paranormal Romance

And last but not least I have this on my TBR pile: Think of England (Think of England #1). Review to come!

Unlucky in any direction

August 11, 2021 ~ Cathy ~ 4 Comments

Widdershins (Whyborne & Griffin #1)
by Jordan L. Hawk

A reclusive scholar. A private detective. And a book of spells that could destroy the world.

Historical fantasy novel, set in the Victorian (?) era, me thinks. Horror with monsters made from resurrected corpses. Lovecraftian influences. Potential theft of an Egyptian mummy. Magic.

Several times I stumbled over the fact that this is set in New England. I kept waiting for London fog to creep up or for the characters visiting the British Museum.

Potential romance between the two male main characters — after 80 pages nothing much had happened in that direction, besides some angsty musings of the narrator, having to will down his misbehaving member.

I was bored, this story didn‘t work for me. I skimmed through the last two chapter and called it a day. I had hoped for another K. J. Charles. Sadly not.

Dewey‘s Reverse Readathon

August 6, 2021 ~ Cathy ~ 3 Comments

I just signed up for Dewey‘s Reverse Readathon. Spontaneously and rather foolishly. It will start in a little less than 3 hours, at 2 a.m. my time. When I will most likely be in bed, I am really tired already! Well, maybe…. I just started a batch of sourdough bread and need to do another two stretch-and-folds. Anyway… I can read a bit in the morning. In the afternoon I am at a birthday party and I might be there quite a long time. Maybe more reading in the last hours of the readathon. I will definitely not be around a lot for this one. We‘ll see!

More about this readathon here: WHAT IS DEWEY’S 24-HOUR READ-A-THON? | Important Links

I feel a little lost, actually, as I haven‘t done any of the preppy things. Oh well, I will check in when I can. And I will set up my timer to keep at least some kind of track of my reading. There is a bingo card for updates to Instagram…

Current bookstack:

Paper: Tietjen auf Tour: Warum Camping mich glücklich macht by Bettina Tietjen — Yes, we camp! Well, I don‘t actually. But I like the author, a German TV journalist and talk show host.

Audio #1: Babylon’s Ashes (The Expanse, #6) by James S.A. Corey — re-read of the Expanse series.

Audio #2: Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch #1) by Ann Leckie — re-read

eBook #1: Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora (ebook) by Zelda Knight

eBook #2: Widdershins (Whyborne & Griffin #1) by Jordan L. Hawk

Graphic novel: Gideon Falls, Vol. 1: The Black Barn (Kindle Edition) by Jeff Lemire

Romance, mystery, court intrigue, space and then some

March 16, 2021 ~ Cathy ~ 10 Comments

Winter’s Orbit
by Everina Maxwell

A quarter into it the book it felt like this: potential m/m romance in an SF setting, marriage of convenience, potentially a murder mystery and court intrigue, hints of space opera.

As the mystery unfolded at a snail’s pace, the author didn‘t offer many details. Elaborate explanations were given to other characters in the off, without engaging the reader very much. Which made that part of the narrative pretty superficial.

The romance was mostly nonexistent in the first half of the book. Kiem and Jainan didn‘t have any meaningful conversations. I know this is pretty typical in many romances — bad communication, misunderstandings, etc. But there wasn’t a lot of internal dialogue either and little to no character development. Not very satisfying.

I can understand why people abandon this book in the first half of it. It felt a bit as if the author wasn‘t sure where she was going with it. Is it a mystery? Is it a court intrigue? A romance? Definitely not space opera in the typical sense. I decided to just go with the flow and wait out the glacial pace of it all. The writing was good, the story just took its sweet time.

Then something happened in the middle and the story became interesting. Suspense, romance, scenery, space station, the lot. I was enjoying myself. There was even something truly inventive towards the end. Good stuff. I was much happier with the character development in the second part of the book as well.

Besides Kiem and Jainan I liked Bel and Rakal the most. The humour was good throughout the book. I liked the rest so much, that I would even pick up a sequel.

So, if you don‘t expect elaborate SF, but like your brain candy with some suspense, this might be for you. Just be patient with the beginning.

I received this free e-copy from the publisher/author via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review, thank you!

First Line Friday: Romance in Space

March 12, 2021 ~ Cathy ~ 13 Comments

First Line Friday is a meme created by Hoarding Books. Feel free to head over there, have a look around, grab your nearest book and post its first line in the comments there and in your blog.

I started reading Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell this week. I am a quarter into it now. Quick summary of what it feels like so far: m/m romance in an SF setting, marriage of convenience, potentially a murder mystery and court intrigue, hints of space opera. It‘s also one of my overdue NetGalleys.

Ancillary Justice meets Red, White & Royal Blue in Everina Maxwell’s exciting debut.
from the book blurb

Both of those are excellent books. I recommend the audioversion of Ancillary Justice. Adjoa Andoh does an excellent job. She seems to be Leckie‘s standard audiobook narrator. I also listened to her narration of The Raven Tower — or was that Provenance? — not sure which right now. And she plays a role in Bridgerton — one more reason to finally check that out.

Anyway, I am rambling, back to First Line Friday…

“Well, someone has to marry the man,“ the Emperor said.
First line of the book

As first lines go, that is a pretty good one! I also like the cover.

I received this free e-copy from the publisher/author via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review, thank you!

My favourite books of 2020

December 29, 2020 ~ Cathy ~ 19 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted over at That Artsy Reader Girl. The current Top Ten is MY TOP TEN FAVORITE READS OF 2020, predictably so. Let‘s see, how many 5-star reviews I can scare up for this year… no particular order, I listed them as they popped up.

Moon Called (Mercedes Thompson, #1)
by Patricia Briggs

I re-read the whole series, plus Alpha & Omega spin-off, at the beginning of this year. Still good and still one of my favourite UF series of all time. I am looking forward to the new Alpha & Omega in March 2021.

The Walking Dead, Vol. 8: Made to Suffer
by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn

I am slowly working my way through The Walking Dead, the ultimate zombie graphic novel, that spawned an ever increasing horde of books and TV series… this volume was a very good ones. I am still at it, currently reading Volume 13.

To The Center Of The Earth
by Greig Beck

As pure escapism goes, this was an excellent choice. Cavers go down to find the centre of the Earth. And things they did not bargain for. Reminding you of Jules Verne? Yes, indeed.

Paper Girls #1
by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang (Illustrator)

Paper Girls is another excellent graphic novel by Vaughan, that I really should continue. Good story, great colouring, fun!

Dune (Dune, #1)
by Frank Herbert

Another re-read, in a pretty Deluxe hardback edition. The book shows its age and author‘s bias in the treatment of women and LGTBQ representation, but if you can look past that it is still one of the best SF novels out there.

The White Dragon (Pern, #3)
by Anne McCaffrey

This seems to be my year of re-reading old favourites, because I also read the first Dragonriders of Pern trilogy again. And I still like it a lot, phew. The treatment of women in this one is even more problematic than in Dune though. Odder still, the author is a woman. However, if dragons are your thing, this series should be on your list.

Monstress, Vol. 5: Warchild
by Marjorie M. Liu, Sana Takeda (Artist)

Another graphic novel series that is still going strong. The plot thickens though in this horror/fantasy story full of demons and gorgeous artwork.

Red, White & Royal Blue
by Casey McQuiston

My winner in the romance genre for this year. Good sense of humour, believable and not cringe-worthy amounts of drama and angst, blessed lack of the most stupid romance tropes.

Mindtouch (The Dreamhealers, #1)
by M.C.A. Hogarth

Finally I picked up something by Hogarth again, after a longer break. Very chilled, very relaxing, a nice amble through her unusual universe. Let’s call it Pastoral Science Fiction. A slow book with mellow drama and a slowly building asexual romance. Uplifting. Another reviewer called it a cozy, finding-one’s-place story and that sums it up nicely.

Emerald Blaze (Hidden Legacy, #5)
by Ilona Andrews

Ilona Andrews, well… I would rate their shopping list with five stars.

Not a very sophisticated list with a lot of literary merit, but I had fun. I could list a few more graphic novels. In terms of novels there were no massive highlights this year. Plus the longer I review books, the stricter I seem to get with my ratings.

Fairly conventional enemies-to-lovers

November 15, 2020 ~ Cathy ~ 1 Comment

Conventionally Yours (True Colors, #1)
by Annabeth Albert (Goodreads Author)

Our main characters Conrad and Alden go on a road trip to a gaming convention. Both of them are desperate to win at the tournament taking place there, for a variety of reasons.

Obviously they don‘t like each other, so we have plenty of strife and arguments on the way. And, rather expectedly, their animosity undergoes a change during the trip.

Chapter POVs alternated between our two main characters, with some slight overlap. Nicely done, but sometimes I had to check back to the chapter headings, to remind myself whose chapter I was reading.

The first chapters did not endear either of the main characters to me. Once the reasons for their desperate wishes to win the tournament got clearer, they became more likable. But I never became a fan of either of them or their blooming romance.

The story didn‘t do much for me. The road trip was a nice idea, but was pretty dull. Their soul searching was pretty bland as well. Predictable, with a relatively uneventful plot. It wasn‘t boring, but it never grabbed me either. I skimmed heavily during the middle bit, because I simply didn‘t care what happened. I liked the last 30% at the convention. Sadly, the ending felt rushed.

I am giving this New Adult enemies-to-lovers M/M romance the benefit of the doubt, rounding it up to three stars.

I received this free e-copy from the publisher/author via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review, thank you!

Brain candy

November 27, 2017November 27, 2017 ~ Cathy ~ Leave a comment

The Lodestar of Ys by Amy Rae Durreson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Marriage-of-convenience, m-m romance, in a fantasy setting where magic makes ships sail between islands that float in the air.

The threat of a neighboring, evil empire more or less forces our heroes to get married against their will, to help protect the good guys against magic-destroying hounds, ogres and invading hordes.

I went into this expecting brain candy in a light fantasy setting, predictable, shallow and touching on all of the usual cliches. Nice guy has to marry tall, dark and grumpy with lots of muscles. They hate each other’s guts, then grudgingly become friends and eventually lovers, with the required HEA. Or at least a HFN.

I got all that, but on top of that there was actually a plot. Well, at least until the romance smoop and sillyness took over. And some pretty decent world building.

So, if you are looking for some pretty well written romance smoop, that has a decent plot, is not cringe-worthy, with a little porn thrown in and some suspense, this works well.

Free on Amazon, including two additional short stories, Homecoming and Hounded. Those are mostly fluff and porn and don’t add to the story.

View all my reviews