Books I read in April: singles

I probably could have put all the books I read in April in one post, but it felt too long with just four; hence, the split. These books were chosen for Autism Awareness Month (MZGTG), Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) Heritage Month (TIHYLTTW), and Lesbian Visibility Week (both).

 

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone - science fiction - hardcover, my library (TBR)

I bought this book nearly five years ago and finally read it; please clap. The premise of this book is that there's a Time War being fought between two factions, and two soldiers, one from each side, chase each other across timelines and eras, leaving behind letters for each other that are taunting and then passionate as they fall in love. Both soldiers are women, although I don't really think the people from the deeply futuristic? factions are human or possibly ever were. This is definitely science fiction, but it's also partially epistolary and very poetic, rather genre-bending. The writing is so beautiful; this is such a lovely, puzzling, fascinating, romantic book. When I finished it I felt the impulse to immediately flip to the beginning and start again, something that rarely happens. I have so far been able to resist the impulse, although I keep thinking of this book. Highly recommended. ★★★★¼  TW for violence, gore, body horror

 

Margo Zimmerman Gets the Girl by Sara Waxelbaum and Briana R. Shrum - young adult contemporary romance - ebook, Libby/my public library

I realized I hadn't read anything with autistic rep this month, so I looked up books with both autistic and lesbian rep (TIHYLTTW's rep is unspecified sapphic) and found this book available on Libby. Popular straight-A student Margo realizes she's a lesbian during a fateful spin-the-bottle game at a party. She's used to using her autistic hyperfocus to study things until she's an expert, but she has no idea where to start with the gay stuff. Margo marches up to Abbie, an out bisexual girl, after their swim practice and asks her for lessons on how to be gay. Skater girl Abbie is failing US history and desperately needs to get her grade up in order to keep her admission at the college she wants to go to after she graduates. Thus, the girls strike up a partnership: Margo will tutor Abbie in US history, and Abbie will tutor Margo in Gay 101. No, not like that! Well... 👀 Margo has to deal with her newfound identity (is she too femme to be gay? etc.) and how it conflicts with the persona she's crafted for herself, and Abbie has to deal with her terrible neglectful parents, biphobic friends, and realizing she has ADHD. This book was so good and funny, although some of the Gen Z girls' jokes and pop cultural references were suspiciously Gen X/older millennial. It was also kind of sad due to Abbie's home situation, but the girls get a happy ending. Lesbian, bisexual, autistic, Jewish (both girls), and some ADHD rep. ★★★★, 🌶½ (spicier than most YA books)  TW for some homophobia, biphobia, parental neglect & emotionally immature parents 

Books I read in April: series

I read quite a few books this month! I finished the two series I've been reading on Libby thanks to my public library, and will write about the other books I read in another post. As always, DM me for trigger warnings.

 

Role Model (Game Changer #5) by Rachel Reid

Remember how there were some jerks on Ryan's hockey team who were mean to him? The main one is accused of serial sexual assault, and his second in command, Troy, wakes up to what a bad dude his best friend is and how bad he's being as well. Someone leaks a video where Troy yells in his ex-best friend's face, calling him a rapist, and Troy's team lets him go because the league cares more about protecting their star players than the fact that they have been accused of sexual assault. Ugh. Troy is now a pariah with a reputation for being a sexist, homophobic jerk, and the only team that wants him is the worst one in the league, the Centaurs. Oh, and he's secretly gay and has just been dumped by his secret boyfriend, and he can't talk to anyone about it. Luckily the Centaurs have a very nice coach, our boy Ilya, and Harris, a super friendly, out and proud social media manager. Harris is basically the opposite of Troy in every way, but he helps Troy come out of his shell, and they're drawn to each other. The main romance in this is very sweet, but the real highlight of this book for me was how much time we got to hang out with Ilya! He's the star player of the Centaurs, obvs, and they get better under his captaincy. There's also an adorable puppy that Ilya spends 90% of his time in the book playing with. ★★★★  🌶🌶🌶

The Last Devil to Die (The Thursday Murder Club #4) by Richard Osman

The nice antique dealer friend of Stephen's who helped track down some rare books to reveal who their buyer/Elizabeth's blackmailer was back in book 2 is murdered over a package of drugs he hid, and naturally the Thursday Murder Club wants to find out who did it and bring them to justice. Drug dealers and art forgers and academics, oh my! Also one of their friends (not the fab four) is getting scammed by a love-frauder, so they need to sort that as well. SPOILERS, highlight to read: Ibrahim comes out to a new friend (maybe the rest of the TMC already knew? It's not really stated) who seems like a potential new love interest! Took the series long enough; I already knew that since Ibrahim (played by the incomparable Sir Ben Kingsley) introduces himself as a "confirmed bachelor" in the TMC movie, and that's old people-speak for gay. Not sure why Osman dragged this out, but a lot is always happening in every book, to be fair. I hope Ibrahim does get a boyfriend and is happy; he deserves it! Ron also got a girlfriend a book or so ago but I care much less about that. Poor Stephen finally realizes he has Alzheimer's, and ends his own life via lethal injection (that seems to happen a lot in this series). Poor Elizabeth, she loves him so much :( Anyway, excellent and funny and fascinating as always.  ★★★★

 

The Long Game (Game Changer #6) by Rachel Reid

We return to the most famous and beloved couple in the series, Shane and Ilya! This book basically takes place throughout books 4 and 5, but from Ilya's and Shane's points of view. They struggle with being closeted and not being able to share one of the most important parts of their lives with anyone, Ilya especially. Both men deal with their own mental health struggles in this book. SPOILERS: Ilya hates that they're out to Shane's parents and best friends, but he has no one who knows about him/them :( He comes out to Svetlana and I think one of the other hockey boys (Troy?) :) Our boys are outed, Shane's worst fear :( The commissioner is a jerk, and I cannot wait for his comeuppance! >:( Shane's team is actually pissed that he's with his/their rival?!?!? literally who cares, grow up 🙄 Shane's friends are mad he didn't tell them :( Shane gets to join Ilya at the Centaurs, the allyest/gayest hockey team there ever was! :) Shane and Ilya get married!! <3 At least our boys get a happy ending! To be honest, my favorite books are the ones that are about or have a healthy dose of Ilya & Shane; they're my favorites :) The next book in this series is also going to be about them but isn't coming out until June 2027 :(  ★★★★  🌶🌶🌶

 

The Impossible Fortune (The Thursday Murder Club #5) by Richard Osman

This book is different in taking place a year after the one before, instead of right afterwards or after a month or two. Joyce's daughter gets married, and the best man pulls Elizabeth aside to ask for help: he thinks someone is trying to kill him over a huge Bitcoin fortune. He disappears, and the fab four look into his business partner (who shared the fortune with him) and Joyce's own new son-in-law. Ron has to take in his grandson after his daughter's husband disappears after years of abusing her, with a grudge against the whole family. Ibrahim's favorite client, drug queenpin Connie, is out of prison, and is trying to follow his advice about giving back by influencing a young criminal... So much happens in this book, but all is resolved mostly satisfactorily. I hope Osman writes more books in this series; I love these old people so much. ★★★★

March reads: series books

Wow it's been so long since I wrote any book reviews lol. 

I was able to read these ebooks via the Libby app and my public library. No cover images as Blogger's insert image by url tool is refusing to work. DM me for trigger warnings. 

Tough Guy (Game Changer #3) by Rachel Reid

Ryan is the enforcer on his and Scott's (from Game Changer, book 1 of the series) hockey team, which means he has to fight and physically keep other hockey players away from the scorers. It is wild to me that these professional athletes are actually expected to straight-up punch each other?! Ryan has near-debilitating anxiety, especially on planes. He happens to run into Fabian, an out and proud, femme musician whose family Ryan lived with for a while as a teen for hockey reasons, and they reconnect. They're attracted to each other, and it turns out they both had crushes on the other when they were teens. They start dating, but Fabian hates hockey and the fact that Ryan has to fight for a living and wants him to quit. Ryan also has to deal with his homophobic teammates/hockey culture and injuries on top of the anxiety. I enjoyed this book, although it bothered me that Fabian was pressuring Ryan to quit his whole career just because he didn't like the idea of him fighting, which is basically his whole job. And they'd only been dating like a couple of weeks at this point!  ★★★★  🌶🌶🌶

 

The Man Who Died Twice (The Thursday Murder Club #2) by Richard Osman

I adored the first book in this series, and was chuffed to borrow this and the next book via Libby. Someone from Elizabeth's past shows up and asks her for help: he is accused of having stolen diamonds from a dangerous man who was holding them for the American mafia, and they're both out for his blood. Ibrahim was attacked and mugged (he's ok!! considering), and the Thursday Murder Club (and everyone who knows them) is plotting revenge. The TMC's favorite police duo are having trouble closing in on a local drug kingpin (queenpin?). Bodies start piling up, and where could those diamonds be? The way all of these plots weave together is excellent, and I couldn't put this down.  ★★★★ 

 

The Bullet That Missed (The Thursday Murder Club #3) by Richard Osman

Shockingly, the third book in this series was available right away in Libby. The Thursday Murder Club are focusing on a decade-old cold case: the murder of a young journalist who was about to blow a big corruption case wide open. Elizabeth is kidnapped and blackmailed by an dangerous man: she must kill the former head of the KGB, or Joyce will be killed. The TMC meets television personalities, acquire an adorable dog, dig up clues (well, the police do; the TMC are septuagenarians), and make new, dangerous friends. I also couldn't put this down, although reading both TMC books back to back means I keep confusing which plot points belong to which book.  ★★★★

 

Common Goal  (Game Changer #4) by Rachel Reid

Recently divorced Eric is the oldest player on his and Scott's hockey team, and is contemplating both retiring and dating men for the first time (he's bi). 25 year old Kyle works and is friends with Kip (you'll recall Kip and Scott got together in the first book, Game Changers; now they're engaged!); they meet at the gay bar where K&K work and are instantly attracted to each other, and Kyle offers Eric gay lessons 👀 It's supposed to be temporary and no strings attached, as they both consider the age gap between them to disqualify them from dating... but the heart wants what it wants. I enjoyed this, although the big issue is just solved by them deciding they don't care about the age gap since they're in love with each other (they're still 16 years apart, lol). It's like, what was the point of all the angst and drama, then? Also I hate Reid's choice of short K names. Kip is bad enough, but what 25 year old is named Kyle?  ★★★★  🌶🌶🌶

Book review: A Chance at Love by Beverly Jenkins

Loreli Winters never imagined she'd end up a "mail-order bride" in middle-of-nowhere Kansas -- until the two adorable orphan nieces of a dusky dream named Jake Reed beg her to be their new "mama." And one look at the dark, devastatingly handsome man is enough to entice her to abandon her California plans and stay put for a while in this one-horse frontier town.

Strong, sensible Jake was hoping for a wife to help him raise his girls, but Loreli may be more than he can handle. He can't stop wondering what it would be like to hold the fiery enchantress close and kiss her deeply. Surely he could never compete with the sophisticated gents she has known, yet he intends to try. But will his honest passion be enough to take a chance on a long-shot called love?

This was another ebook downloaded during the shocking B&N free ebook dump of last year. I had read of Beverly Jenkins, an iconic Black historical romance novel author, in an article about the historical romance genre, so I was pleased to nab this book. I read it in late February for Black History Month. 

Loreli is your typical Headstrong Tempestuous Heroine™ who is independent and doesn't need a man. She's stunningly gorgeous and turns heads wherever she goes, all the men want her, etc. Jake is your typical Good Steady Man hero who is also kind of a stick in the mud and Disapproves of the heroine's behavior. Loreli ends up in this farming community (which sounds like it's mostly Black?) because the train she's on took mail-order brides there (she decidedly isn't one but is happy for the women she befriended, who've all made good matches). She plans to go on to California for the adventure but then meets two adorable 9 year old twin girls who ask her to be their mama. They're orphaned and being raised by their single uncle Jake, a hog farmer-slash-unofficial vet who is single and gorgeous. 

Loreli has no plans of being tied down, but the adorable girls win her heart. Jake doesn't think Loreli is wife material (she makes her living by gambling and wears flashy fashions, plus the headstrong thing), but the girls love her and they really do need a mama. Loreli and Jake agree to marry and mother for a year, until he finds a more suitable wife. What with divorce not being a thing, I don't know why they thought getting married would be a good idea if it was only supposed to be temporary, but whatever. L&J are super attracted to each other (Loreli is the experienced one, while Jake has never been with a woman). They learn about and start to respect each other, reluctantly falling in love as their arrangement is supposed to be temporary and love isn't supposed to come into it. Then disaster strikes on their wedding day...

The story and characters are tropey, but I liked this book. It's a very solid example of its genre and achieves what it sets out to do. I liked that Loreli is 35 and Jake is perhaps a little younger; it's a nice change from the "18 year old girl + mid-thirties man" pairing you get a lot in this genre (looking at you, Georgette Heyer). Both characters are settled into who they are, but they help each other grow. Jenkins is a skilled writer and I'd definitely read more by her. A friend who read a different BJ book told me she was a librarian, so that's probably why she's such a good writer. Her setting felt researched and rooted in history. Jake is a union man, and has to deal with both political parties giving African Americans the runaround despite promises made during/right after the Civil War (this book is set in 1884). Jenkins includes some of the history she mentions in the story in her author's note, as well as suggested sources for further reading on the topic of labor unions and African Americans. Love that! Hell yeah unions and librarians. 

Overall, this is a good, interesting and steamy historical romance novel about two people learning to parent and overcome their childhood wounds. I recommend it for anyone who likes this genre. 

Score: ★★★★ out of 5 stars
Spice score: 🌶🌶
Read in: February 25
From: B&N Nook

Genres/classification: historical romance

Representation: African American/Black, poor, Loreli is biracial (Black and white), rural Midwestern; Black female author

Tropes (spoiler-y): that thing I already mentioned where she's headstrong and tempestuous and he's like >:( about it, opposites attract, experienced heroine, virgin hero; one of them's uninhibited about sex and the other's repressed, good man who keeps his word (she finds that hot), marriage of convenience, "it's only a temporary arrangement", catching feelings during a practical arrangement, instant family (kinda), "I'm just here for the children", that Maria/Captain Von Trapp vibe. you know what I mean, "I can't fall in love with them because this is a temporary arrangement/he's going to find someone else", this house needs a woman's touch, that thing where a rich person solves everyone else's problems with money, someone from a character's past appears, someone objects during the wedding after "speak now or forever hold your peace", "I must leave in order to protect those I love, because while I'm with them, they're in danger", surprise pregnancy trope. This pairing has Taming of the Shrew vibes but luckily she's never tamed, he just gets over himself and goes along with her

Trigger warnings: racism, murder, kidnapping, sex shaming/whorephobia, a character was raped as a young teen (past, not described), extortion/ransom, past parent death, trauma, a character has a phobia of horses due to seeing someone be killed by a horse, an adult verbally abuses children and threatens them with corporal/physical punishment, sexism, terrible judgy pastor, religious abuse, past financial abuse if you squint, infidelity mentions, betrayal, corruption

January books

The first two books I read in January were picture books, which I decided to count in my reading log spreadsheet (adapted from BookRiot's; it is last year's so I had to change the dates etc.) but not in my StoryGraph (follow/friend me!). I bought both of them during Barnes & Noble's half-off books sale in late December. 

A Piñata in a Pine Tree: A Latino Twelve Days of Christmas by Pat Mora, illustrated by Magaly Morales 

This is a cute latine take on the Twelve Days of Christmas song, with stuff like tamalitos and farolitos taking the place of the birds and people of various professions in the original song. Pat Mora has written tons of Hispanic books for children and is very influential in the field, while the artist's first name is the same as one of my relatives. Behind the little girl cavorting with her stuff, we see her parents prepare, greet the visiting abuelita, leave (abuelita is babysitting), and come back with the final Christmas gift: a new baby sibling. Very cute, although the Spanglish may bother some (i.e. my dad and by extension me). I do recommend this. ★★★★½

Jan Brett's The Nutcracker, written and illustrated by Jan Brett

Jan Brett has been known for decades for her beautifully illustrated, richly detailed children's books. I was given her The Twelve Days of Christmas mini picture book in kindergarten by my teacher as a Christmas gift and reread it every year. This one is similarly lovely; I love the details of animals playing musical instruments on each page. I also recommend this one. ★★★★½

 

It feels like everyone I follow/whose posts I'm forced to view despite not following them online is obsessed with the TV show Heated Rivalry. I am not immune to FOMO; I would have watched it, but my brother cancelled his HBO Max account. 😢 The next best thing? The books the show is based on. As a stickler for series book order, I read Game Changer, the first book in the series, then Heated Rivalry, the second, through my public library and Libby (both ebooks). 

 

Game Changer by Rachel Reid

This is a famous athlete x normal person romance, where the famous athlete is a professional hockey player named Scott and the normal person is a service worker named Kip. They meet-cute at the smoothie shop Kip works at; after drinking Kip's recommended blueberry smoothie, Scott breaks his losing streak, to everyone's delight. Obviously that means he has to keep coming back before every game to buy another blueberry smoothie--just to keep winning games, definitely not to see the cute smoothie barista... Kip and Scott fall in love, but being famous in a bro-y sport means Scott is closeted, and Kip isn't sure being back in the closet is worth it. I liked this book a lot and found it both sweet and spicy. The characters' issues with self-worth and being in the closet felt realistic, and I rooted for things to work out for them. ★★★★ 🌶🌶🌶🌶

 

Heated Rivalry (Game Changer #2) by Rachel Reid

Reid's mlm hockey series seems to be loosely interconnected, and you don't really have to read GC first or else you're lost (although it does provide nice background context for That One Scene that Scott & Kip show up in). Shane is a Canadian good boy and does everything by the book; Ilya is a Russian bad boy and is always up in everyone's faces being a jerk. As the two best players in the entire hockey league, they have been in a ~heated rivalry~ since their rookie seasons--and have been secretly hooking up since then. I want to say this book takes place over 10 years? They wish they could quit each other (Brokeback Mountain reference) but can't. Can they open their hearts to love and be themselves without sacrificing the sport they love? I also liked this book a lot and recommend it to fans of the "rivals to lovers" trope. ★★★★ 🌶🌶🌶🌶

Weirdly enough, I was on the waiting list for a couple of weeks for the first book (which I expected), was shockingly able to read Heated Rivalry immediately with no wait, and am now on the waiting list for the third book... which is over 10 weeks long. Why.

The final ebook in S.T. Lynn's Black trans fairytales series became free last month, and I happily snapped it up. I enjoyed Lynn's takes on The Little Mermaid and Cinderella and was really looking forward to this one, as Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite fairytales. Beauty's Beast is very similar to most BatB takes that I've read; like Mer Made, it's based on the Disney movie (the servants were enchanted into furniture/furnishings). The Beast has antlers and communicates using sign language, which I thought was interesting. This novella is quite short, and I wished for more character development (especially for the relationship between Beauty and the Beast), but I liked the world the writer created. Their relationship felt more like friendship than romance, which is not IMO a bad thing. There were some writing issues and errors (I swear STL made Gaston blond in their book, but in his last description he has black hair??), which took me out of the story. Ultimately I did enjoy this, but the errors made me glad I waited to get this when it was free. There is a little transphobia, and some violence and blood/wounds. ★★★½ 

I bought two books from my friends at Something Novel Books during their pop-up last month, and I shockingly (for me) read one of them within days of buying it! I had watched and enjoyed The Thursday Murder Club movie on Netflix (the cast is excellent, especially Helen Mirren), so I was excited to read the book. I enjoyed the book even more than the movie! Four senior citizens at an English retirement village that used to be a nunnery get together to solve cold case murders in the Thursday Murder Club. To their shock and excitement, they all of a sudden have 2 new (and 1 old) murders to solve! In the process of sleuthing, they uncover the secrets of some of their community members. There is a lot that happens in this book, and a lot to keep track of. We often spend a chapter in various characters' heads, but the story is mainly told from Joyce's diary entries and Elizabeth's perspective. This book is also deeply funny; I was chortling at the reference desk reading it. I loved all the main characters and can't wait to read the rest of the books! This book is a bit too sad and violent to truly count as cozy mystery, but it's pretty close. Trigger warnings for the usual things you expect in a murder mystery (murder, blood, violence, nice police characters, etc.) as well as suicide, grief, and slight xenophobia. ★★★★ 

Reading slump + reading update

I've been on a reading slump lately that lasted over a month. I think it started because I wanted to read one of my many unread books with latine protagonists for Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month, and I think just the concept of "having to" read a specific type of book triggered my brain's ADHD* mental block against reading in general.

 

I did actually read one book (very slowly) during this time: this cute little book about historical and designer purses, which was actually very interesting and informative. I've always loved purses and fashion history, so this was a fun and interesting book to read. It was originally published in 2001, so the book only has purses up to that point, and has kind of a gap for the 1990s (too soon ago at the time to be considered historical). The writing is very similar to fashion editorials like they have in Vogue; lots of glowing praise for the fashion designers' creativity. My only quibble is that I wish she'd put the prices for the designer handbags. I don't remember if she put a works referenced list in the back of the book (another usual quibble of mine when it comes to nonfiction books). I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes purses and fashion history. ★★★★

 

In desperation, I decided to actually bring a physical book with me (safe in its padded book sleeve) to work, where surely the boredom of working the Thursday night shift would force me to reach for the book and read it, thereby breaking my reading slump. It didn't, but it did make me start reading an ebook on my Nook app (my second, sneakier reason for bringing a physical book to read)!

That book was A Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel by K.J. Charles, a sequel to The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen (flash-reviewed here). This book is about brand new earl Rufus d'Aumnesty, whose hostile formerly-estranged family is fighting tooth and nail against this "interloper", taking any and every reason to question his legitimacy as earl, which brings us to the other lead, Luke Doomsday, whose mother may or may not have married Rufus' ho dad before he married Rufus' mom. Luke was a very young teenager during the events of TSLoCG (he's the smuggler chief's nephew), and he grew up to be a secretary (Gareth the baronet from the first book gave him an education). Rufus needs help sorting out the truth, his office, and the family books (which are all as fucked up as the estates and the family), so he hires Luke as his secretary. They're both super attracted to each other, fight it a bit due to the whole boss/employee thing, and fall in love. Luke helps Rufus with being an earl and dealing with his family, but he has secrets of his own, and his own agenda for being at the estate... This book was excellent, with a bit of a Gothic flair towards the end, and actually settled a mystery that began in the first book. ANG2SaS has the same themes of healing from childhood trauma as its predecessor. Luke has a facial disfigurement (scar from an attack), and Rufus is demisexual and dyslexic. ★★★★ 🌶🌶🌶  DM me for trigger warnings

As is usually the case, this broke me out of my reading slump and I started reading again like it was going out of style. As it was still Ace Week (my reason for picking the above book), I decided to finally start on the Murderbot Diaries, which I had bought (along with several other Martha Wells ebooks) during a charity bundle purchase thing. I'd been wanting to read the Murderbot Diaries ever since I first heard about them, and I'd really been looking forward to reading them ever since the trailer for the Murderbot Apple TV+ series came out (it looks so good. I need to get a free month of Apple TV+ code or get someone I know who has Apple TV+ to let me watch it). I love stories about sentient robots making friends. I was going to start reading them through Libby, but my public library doesn't have them on ebook :((( I started reading these books on Friday afternoon, and as of writing this (Sunday evening), I've read the first six books in the series plus a short story, and that's that I couldn't read for most of Saturday. I lied when I told you I was reading like it's going out of style; it's more than that: I've INHALED them. I am obsessed. They are so freaking good, and I love Murderbot (it/its pronouns). It's anxious and depressed and autistic (hates eye contact etc.) and aroace and nonbinary (duh, it's a robot) and deeply funny and sarcastic. Murderbot (Murderbot is its private name; to others it goes by SecUnit, which is somewhere between a human being going by "Human" and going by their occupation title instead of a name) dislikes humans but also can't stop caring about them. It'll be deeply annoyed by them then be like, "Is anyone else gonna protect these stupid humans and keep them alive?" and not wait for an answer. When its friends make it experience an emotion, it has to turn and face a wall. I love it so much. I need eleventy thousand more books in this series; I'm preemptively mourning running out of them. I recommend this series to anyone who likes sci fi action stories with a touch of mystery, and stories about robots gaining sentience and friends and dealing with what it means to be a person.  ★★★★ DM me for trigger warnings 

I'm writing this blog post instead of reading them because the epub ebooks are all on my computer, and Apple Books didn't transfer them over to my Apple Books app on my iPhone. Ugh. I'm counting down the minutes of this ref shift until I can go home and keep reading the series. This is basically me right now:

 Update: I made some Murderbot memes and posted them to my Instagram (I forgot to include the one above tho). My IG handle is in my Social Media note. 

*undiagnosed, but like let's be real

ARC Book Review: Cleaning Spells Before Courtship by Sarah Wallace and S.O. Callahan

The authors put out a call for ARC (advanced reader copy) readers for their upcoming book earlier this month, and I jumped at the chance. I was chosen to receive a digital ARC (the first 100 to sign up got accepted), which is so exciting and makes me feel like a real bookstagrammer/book blogger! 🤩

Official book summary:

To look at someone and to truly see them were entirely different.

Summer 1814: Moody fae Sage Ravenwing is on his way to the country estate of Wyndham and Roger Wrenwhistle - and very confused as to why he was even invited.

Still pining after Wyndham and nursing a grudge against Roger, Sage reluctantly joins the raucous house party, which soon adds a mysterious guest to their number.

Conrad Moore has come a long way from the docks of Bristol. Armed with a humble education, middling magical skill, and a great deal of audacity, he journeys to the Wrenwhistle estate to inquire about the open position on the Council.

Thrown together in the only remaining available room, the surly fae and cheerful human establish a tentative acquaintanceship. As they learn surprising lessons from each other - riding, swimming, and mending a broken heart - a tender friendship blooms and an explosive magical connection forms.

But just as Sage starts to yearn for a new future with Conrad, he discovers that the hardest lesson of all will lie in atoning for his mistakes and scrubbing his messy past clean.

The Fae & Human Relations series is one where you absolutely have to read every book in order, as each one builds on the one that came before. Cleaning Spells Before Courtship is the fourth and last book in the series (😭), but its establishing events took place in the first book. Sage and Wyn were fuck buddies, but Sage was in love with Wyn (without Wyn knowing) and took Wyn and Roger's whirlwind romance really badly (leading to the "light stalking by an ex" in my review's trigger warnings list for BSaBG). Sage said some really mean things to Roger and Wyn told Sage that unless he apologized to Roger, they wouldn't be in each other's lives anymore. I'm going off of what was recapped in the book, because it's been a while since I read the first one and I've kind of already forgotten  what went down between Sage and Roger. In the second and third books of the FaHR series, Sage is randomly mentioned in the Torquil Tribune gossip paper as having attended parties and events and sneaked off with various random men, which gives him a reputation. From these brief mentions, it was obvious that Sage was trying to make Wyn jealous and get over him, and I was sad for him and hoped that he would find happiness and love, so I was glad to see that this book is just that.

 

Anyway, Roger invites Sage to his and Wyn's country estate, ostensibly for a weeks-long house party they're having with their friends, but mostly so Sage can help Roger plan Wyn's surprise 30th birthday party and hopefully reconcile with him. The reason Roger gives for this is because if Wyn saw/knew Roger was meeting one on one with one of their friends, Wyn would suspect Roger of planning a surprise party for his birthday. I understand Roger wanting his husband to reconcile with one of his oldest ex-friends, but asking the man who is still heartbroken and pining after Wyn to plan his birthday party is kind of callous. Sage reluctantly accepts. 

 

The house party consists mostly of Roger's friends that we met in book one and then kind of never spent time with again, apart from mentions in the gossip column (understandably, since the romantic leads in books two and three didn't know them). Speaking of, Torquil and Emrys and Silas and Keelan are part of the party too, and the friends are all having a great time... while Sage watches from the sidelines. Luckily he doesn't have to be the sole single person for long, because Conrad Moore arrives. 

 

Conrad is a dockworker who learned about the open position on the Council for Fae and Human Relations (which Wyn, Roger, Torquil, and I think Silas are all on), and decided to travel to meet with Roger and Wyn to hopefully be allowed to interview for the position. Like, he doesn't know anyone, doesn't write a letter of introduction, just shows up. Pretty ballsy. He's a friendly and eager to please person, and Roger and Wyn are nice, so they invite him to stay with them and join their house party, only, wouldn't you know it? All of their rooms are filled up, so he'll just have to room with Sage. What a surprising coinkidink. You'll be shocked, just shocked, to learn that there's only one bed!!! Sage is pissed at this turn of events, then pleasantly surprised to see that Conrad is hot and ripped, then pissed again as his hints to hook up just go winging over Conrad's smiling head. 

 

The couples (and one throuple) at the house party start to do the whole wink-wink, nudge-nudge, jokey-jokey thing at the two of them, so Conrad and Sage decide to fake-date to get them off their backs. I think you can gather what happens after this decision is made. 

 

Besides the couple machinations and Roger and Conrad doing magic, this book consists of the friends just hanging out, eating, and having fun together. It was a nice change from the last book, which was all "working on magic at & for the Council" and stressful due to Keelan's unwanted engagement. It was sweet to see how our two leads become close and fall in love, with Sage learning to trust and be vulnerable and Conrad enjoying taking care of and protecting Sage. Sage also slowly befriends everyone and apologizes to Roger (hopefully that's not a spoiler since "atoning for his mistakes" is in the summary). 

 

I'm sad the series is over, but I've really enjoyed visiting this world and cheering on its couples. I highly recommend this series to anyone who likes Regency romances and queer love stories. Cleaning Spells Before Courtship comes out on October 4.

 

Score: ★★★★.5 out of 5 stars
Spice score: 🌶🌶
Read in: September 12
From: digital ARC

aesthetics moodboard for CSBC

Genres/classification: romantasy, cozy fantasy, Regency romance

Representation: gay MMC who is a man of color, asexual MMC, 2 nonbinary side characters who use they/them pronouns, a side sapphic character who is masc/butch (wears men's clothes), 1 poly triad, queernorm and racially diverse society with lots of queer side and minor characters, Roger has anxiety

Spoilers past this point

Tropes: close proximity, and they were roommates, only one bed, waking up wrapped around each other, rich x poor, grumpy x sunshine, morning person x night person, height difference (smol & tol), fake dating, they already think we're dating/fucking so we may as well pretend, catching real feelings while fake dating, found family

Trigger warnings: a character had hookups to feel wanted/avoid negative emotions and was not treated with respect (past), a character struggles with low self-esteem and feeling unwanted, unrequited love, past sex-shaming, food instability mentions, poverty mentions, amatonormativity

Book Review: Shade Spells with Strangers by Sarah Wallace and S.O. Callahan

London, 1814: hopelessly romantic fae Keelan Cricket has grown listless since returning to town. He agrees to help the Council study fae-human magic, eager to erase the memory of his passionate encounter in the country.

But the man he can't forget is now in London and, even worse, joining the project too.

Silas Rook-Worth hates London. His magic won't behave and he's weary of the prejudice he faces against fae-humans like himself. He's counting down the days until he can return to his hard-working, close-knit family — but he can't ignore the pull he feels toward Keelan Cricket, the man he slept with, and unkindly dismissed, a month ago.

As the two men gradually reunite, their mutual attraction blossoms into romance. But even a powerful magical connection cannot change Keelan's duty to his family or Silas' impending departure — and falling in love on borrowed time will force both of them to decide what truly matters.

I bought the third book in this series because I was chosen to receive an ARC of the fourth!!! Like the previous book, you do have to read every book in this series in order or you won't get what's going on. 

At Emrys and Torquil's wedding (the couple from book #2), a buff handsome workman, Silas, catches the eye of Emrys' best friend Keelan (a gentleman), and they hook up during the reception party. They part ways but can't stop thinking about each other. Silas is one of the fae-humans who writes to Torquil about his magic, and Torquil invites him and several other fae-humans to London to have their magic tested by the rubric Torquil et al. drew up in book #2. Obviously Keelan (a fae) is asked by his friends to help do the testing, and they meet again. It's super awkward but they're just drawn to each other, feel each other's presence in the room like a magnet, etc.

However, Keelan's mother (who is on the Council) sets him up with one of the fae-humans doing the rubric testing, a selfish and controlling rich girl from a good family who just wants a stupid arm-candy husband. Neither Keelan's mom nor the awful girl care if Keelan wants the marriage to happen or not, and both ignore or are oblivious to how he's suffering and how mean the girl is to him even though it's obvious to literally everyone else who sees them interact. I  couldn't believe that Keelan wasn't willing to stand up for himself and tell his mom and the girl that he didn't want to marry her. He was just waiting for someone else to save him from the marriage! Like I get that Keelan has a gentle personality, but the man is in his thirties. Stand up for yourself!

Luckily all is resolved, even the stupid third-act breakup that happened for no reason. There is an interesting lack of meddling in this book; it's mostly just Emrys and Wyn's grandma and Torquil's grandma making pointed comments to Silas about his 'secret' relationship with Keelan. That's practically nothing, compared to the first two.

Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot even if I thought Keelan was a doormat. This is a fun world to live in for a bit. 

Score: ★★★★ out of 5 stars
Spice score: 🌶🌶/🌶
Read in: September 4
From: B&N Nook

Genres/classification: romantasy, cozy fantasy, Regency romance

Representation: bi MMC, gay Black MMC, 2 nonbinary side characters who use they/them pronouns, queernorm and racially diverse society with lots of queer side and minor characters, I'm pretty sure Keelan's dad is autistic

Spoilers past this point

Tropes: initially rude love interest, that hookup you can't forget, they keep staring/trying not to stare at each other from across the room, I'm engaged to another but in love with you, let's make the most of it (sexually) until I have to get married, arranged engagement to horrible controlling person, we can never be together because we're from different social classes/standings, forbidden romance, rich x poor, secret couple think they're hiding their secret relationship/feelings successfully but their loved ones suspect something/become aware/totally know

Trigger warnings: controlling and emotionally neglectful parent, verbally abusive and controlling girlfriend/fiancee, a character is forced into an arranged marriage engagement without his consent, racism/speciesism against fae-humans, classism, mentions of working-class family struggling financially

Flash book reviews for the last three months

 I am soooo behind on book reviews ugh. Comment or DM me for trigger warnings and more info.

 

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen - K.J. Charles is an insta-buy author for me, so I snapped up this ebook when it went on sale. This is a Regency historical romance with plenty of action and suspense, and I couldn't put it down. A baron who recently inherited his title and estate in Kent learns that the local smuggler chief was his anonymous hookup back in London. There's a lot of friction between them as they parted on bad terms, and the baron almost testifies that he saw the smuggler chief's sister smuggling, but they can't stay away from each other. They go on cute bug-finding dates in the marsh and have to team up to save each other's families from bad men. While not related to KJC's other regency romance series, the theme of healing from childhood trauma is also present. I thought it was interesting that the smuggler chief's grandpa was a formerly enslaved man from the US.  ★★★★  🌶🌶🌶

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibberts - I've had this author's books on my mental to-read list for a while since a lot of bookstagrammers said they were really good. Despite my initial surprise that the book is set in England and consequently all of the characters are English, I was sucked in and devoured this book.  Chloe goes through a near-death experience (a car almost hits her on her hot girl walk) and she consequently decides to change up her whole life, since when it flashed before her eyes, it was really boring. She makes a list of things to do, like camping and 'meaningless but thoroughly enjoyable sex'. After her apartment building's hot super, Red, helps her get out of a tree while rescuing a cat, she enlists him to help her go through her list 👀 He's down bad for her so he agrees. Chloe is chronically ill, hence not having done many things in her life, and Red has trauma from his last rich upper-class girlfriend (which Chloe is, uh-oh) being horrible and classist to him. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a romance novel this much! This is definitely a kicking-your-feet-and-giggling book, but with a good amount of depth. I need to read the rest of the books in this series, which are about Chloe's sisters. ★★★★.5  🌶🌶🌶

 

I reread How to Keep House While Drowning since, well, guess. It's just as good and helpful as ever. I last flash-reviewed it here. 

I also reread The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet by Bernie Su and Kate Rorick since I rewatched the webseries for the first time in a decade. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it! The webseries (really a transmedia series, as the characters also tweeted and used various social media to add to the story) is a really fun modern retelling of Pride & Prejudice. This book is the book version of that webseries, as Lizzie's actual diary, and it goes through the same stories as the webseries, with more behind-the-scenes stuff that didn't make it into the YouTube videos. For instance, Lizzie's tour of San Francisco with William and Gigi Darcy is described. It's such a great retelling that left me with a warm and fuzzy feeling, but I suspect someone who's never seen the TSDoLB webseries wouldn't be getting the same story out of it. I still recommend it, though. ★★★★

Queerly Beloved by Susie Dumond - I got this book from the thrift store. It's set in Oklahoma in 2013 (aka before gay marriage equality). Amy is a lesbian and a baker who is in the closet at her Christian bakery job. Somebody outs her and she gets fired, so she starts working as a bridesmaid-for-hire since she loves wedding romcoms and is great at problem-solving. She also meets this cute lesbian engineer, Charley, but their dates are really sporadic due to Charley's demanding job, and Amy isn't sure where they stand. There's also friend drama and ex drama, and Amy struggles with her people-pleasing tendencies, being closeted at one job while bartending at the queer bar as her second job, and being true to herself. This book was not as fluffy as it looked, and there is tension with Amy having to go through lots of straight wedding drama while being unable to marry herself (hang in there Amy! 2015 is so close!). I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it. ★★★★  🌶🌶

Women's Hotel by Daniel M. Lavery

I bought this during Barnes & Noble's half-off sale since I had a giftcard. Here's the summary; this book is about the residents of a women's hotel, the Biedermeier, in New York in the 1960s. There's not much plot, and the chapters are loosely connected. Lavery has that retro chatty informative tone down perfectly, and he's an excellent writer. While I enjoyed this, a lot of the women's stories were anywhere from a little to very sad, and the last story is rather horrible (the epilogue softens it). I'd recommend this to anyone who likes reading slice of life stories, mid-twentieth-century books, and how New York was in the past. I'll give this away due to lack of shelf space. ★★★★

Book Reviews: the Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune series by K.J. Charles

I loved K.J. Charles' Will Darling trilogy and A Charm of Magpies series, and my love for Regency romances is well-documented on this blog, so when I saw that KJC had written gay Regency romance novels, I snapped up the ebooks when they were on sale.  I read the two books in the Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune series by K.J. Charles back to back in one day. They're set in the same world (well obviously all Regency romance novels are set in Regency-era England, but, you know, the characters have mutual friends and eventually interact etc.) but you don't really have to read them in order. Both ebooks are from B&N/Nook.

 

The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting

Robin Loxleigh and his sister Marianne are the hit of the Season, so attractive and delightful that nobody looks behind their pretty faces.

Until Robin sets his sights on Sir John Hartlebury's heiress niece. The notoriously graceless baronet isn't impressed by good looks or fooled by false charm. He's sure Robin is a liar, a fortune hunter, and a heartless, greedy fraud -- and he'll protect his niece, whatever it takes.

Then, just when Hart thinks he has Robin at his mercy, things take a sharp left turn. And as the grumpy baronet and the glib fortune hunter start to understand each other, they also find themselves starting to care -- more than either of them thought possible.

But Robin's cheated and lied and let people down for money. Can a professional rogue earn an honest happy ever after?

Gold-digging scammer siblings + an autistic-coded baronet who is not taken in by their charm + paying off a gambling debt by ~creative means~ 👀 They start catching feelings during what is supposed to be strictly a ~physical~ arrangement!! 😱 Both Robin and Hart are forced to come face to face with their parent wounds/childhood trauma, and decide whether they can let themselves be loved as they truly are. Marianne is dead-set on marrying a titled noble so she'll be rich for the rest of her life, but Hart's non-rich, non-titled friend is in love with her, and she might be falling for him... Also there's the math genius niece and card games. I liked this a lot and found it interesting to read about all the ways the Loxleigh siblings acted to achieve their desired results and manipulations. Hart and Robin gave me Roy x Jamie from Ted Lasso vibes. There's also a little KJC name punning going on.  ★★★★, 🌶🌶🌶

 

The Duke at Hazard 

The Duke of Severn is one of the greatest men in Britain.

He's also short, quiet, and unimpressive. And now he's been robbed, after indulging in one rash night with a strange man who stole the heirloom Severn ring from his finger. The Duke has to get it back, and he can't let anyone know how he lost it. So when his cousin bets that he couldn't survive without his privilege and title, the Duke grasps the opportunity to hunt down his ring--incognito.

Life as an ordinary person is terrifying... until the anonymous Duke meets Daizell Charnage, a disgraced gentleman, and hires him to help. Racing across the country in search of the thief, the Duke and Daizell fall into scrapes, into trouble--and in love.

Daizell has been excluded from polite society, his name tainted by his father's crimes and his own misbehaviour. Now he dares to dream of a life somewhere out of sight with the quiet gentleman who's stolen his heart. He doesn't know that his lover is a hugely rich public figure with half a dozen titles. And when he finds out, it will risk everything they have...

Poor sheltered Sev (the Duke of Severn) just wanted to have one anonymous hookup, but gets plied with alcohol and robbed while unconscious. His well-meaning relations basically run his life and are always impressing the Grandeur and Importance of his title, so they can't know his ring was stolen; no one can know, as gay hookups are illegal. It was actually stressful reading about Sev (going by Cassian, one of his many names) trying to get around by himself when he has no idea what he's doing. Luckily he stumbles on Charnage, who was a few years above him at Eton, and hires him to help him look for the guy who robbed him. Their adventures have both highs (sightseeing, There Was Only One Bed) and lows (having to ride in a public coach that packs in smelly people like sardines, being in a horrible coach crash with casualties, getting kidnapped), but overall Sev/Cassian finds the freedom exhilarating. He and Charnage also keep running into a young lady hell-bent on eloping and evading her awful guardian, and try to help her. Charnage's deal was sad; I hated how he was cast out from society because his dad committed a crime he had nothing to do with. The fact that Sev/Cassian has been lying to him this whole time doesn't help. Overall this was a wild ride, and I loved reading how Sev came into his own as a Duke and how he used his position to make things right with Charnage and his friends and fix their issues.  ★★★★, 🌶🌶🌶  DM me for TWs (I believe both books have them listed at the beginning)

unorganized moodboard for the Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune series

Book Review: The Flowered Blade by Taylor Hubbard

Crown Prince Silvyr Quilen is the family disappointment. His father, High King Keryth Quilen of Athowen, wanted a son to follow in his image of an elven warlord who rules with no regard for those around him and will do anything to maintain his power. However, the king finds Silvyr's desire to spend his days in the flowers and libraries to be pathetic and useless.

Despite that, Silvyr strives to receive his father's approval. On a diplomatic journey to Xeatia, where he was meant to collect taxes and return with a report on their financial situation, Silvyr is suddenly forced to confront the consequences of his father's actions when the Orcs of Ghizol attack his caravan.

Chief Brokil of Ghizol has been tasked with leading and protecting his people. For years he sacrificed and waged war to ensure the people who voted for him to lead could live in peace. For that reason, the risk was worth the reward. With the approval of the Ghizol council of elders, Brokil executes his plan: kidnap the Prince of Athowen, Silvyr Quilen, and send their ultimatum to the King. Leave Ghizol alone, or have his heir be killed.

Keeping Silvyr as his ward, Brokil finds that while the prince is the most annoying person he's ever met, he is also nothing like his father who carries the name Tyrant King. Absolutely bewildered and exhilarated, Silvyr and Brokil are forced to confront themselves and each other while the looming threat of Ghizol's demands hang over them.

I had seen this book be shared around a lot on bookstagram, so when it was available for free on Amazon, I downloaded it. The vibe I've seen is "this is spicy! 👀" but this book actually turned out to have lots of plot that was interesting to read about. 

Silvyr tries so hard to be the kind of son his father wants, but his father always sees him as too soft and cowardly regardless of what he does, and blames him for things he has no control over. His home life is so intolerable that getting kidnapped is a respite; even though hunky Chief Brokil yells at and insults Silvyr, at least he isn't also physically abused like he is at home, and he can look at flowers as much as he wants. 

Brokil, whose father the previous chief died at the hands of the elves, strives to live up to his role and feels the weight of his clan's existence on his shoulders. Certain that the Tyrant King's son is just as monstrous as his father, Brokil is surprised to learn that attractive Silvyr would rather learn about flowers than wage war, is soft-spoken when not in a yelling match, and is actually sort of nice?

Both men fight, and eventually give in to, their attraction to one another, but the political issues between their peoples create tension. Silvyr knows his captor could--and will, if the clan's demands aren't met--kill him, and he knows he should be doing everything in his power to escape and go home, including using Brokil's attraction as a possible manipulation tactic, but Ghizol feels more like home than his father's palace ever did. Brokil knows Silvyr could be manipulating him with his wiles, and knows the time may very well come when he needs to kill Silvyr, but he doesn't know if he can bring himself to do something that feels so wrong. 

I enjoyed this book and found it very interesting. My criticisms are really more quibbles: it sort of felt like the two leads slotted too neatly into M/F romance lead dynamics (Silvyr being kind of a damsel in distress* while Brokil is so much bigger and manlier than him etc. To be fair this is a common thing I've seen in M/M romances), and I was confused about their size differences (I swear the book initially said that Silvyr only came up to Brokil's chest, but the rest of the book sounded like they were closer in height than that, like the cover shows? This may just be that I'm stupid). I also felt that Silvyr and the other characters took way too long to figure out the solution at the end. Overall I recommend this to anyone who likes romantasy with spice but also plenty of plot. 

Score: ★★★★ out of 5 stars
Spice score: 🌶🌶🌶🌶
Read in: March 24-27
From: Amazon

Genres/classification: fantasy, romance, romantasy, monster romance if you squint, some political intrigue

Tropes: enemies to lovers, kidnapped by a rogue you fall in love with, falling in love with one's kidnapper, forced proximity, there's only one horse, there's only one tent, there's only one bed, "they're only sleeping with me to manipulate me for political reasons" etc., healer x warrior, everybody can tell they're into each other/in love but them, that thing when a presumed bad guy saves/rescues a child, showing that he's actually a good person

Representation: trans man MC, gay relationship, Silvyr gives off neurodivergent vibes (I saw a review that said he's autistic), sapphic couple mention (blink and you miss it), inter-species relationship. There is no transphobia or homophobia in this book

Trigger warnings: torture, murder, blood, gore, a character is beat unconscious, a character is whipped, verbal, emotional, and physical abuse; battles/fighting, kidnapping, threats of death/execution, inferred threat of sexual assault (doesn't happen), characters are kidnapped into slavery (they are freed and the slavers get what they deserve), Silvyr experiences dysphoria, dubious/non-explicit consent for some of B&S's ~encounters~

*sorryyyyy that felt shitty to write about a trans man character! That is how he and their dynamic were written tho

Book Reviews (ish): The Meddle & Mend series by Sarah Wallace redux

I heard about the Meddle & Mend series by Sarah Wallace from a bookstagrammer I follow who loves and promotes the books almost more than the author does. The first one was free, and as it was billed as a Regency cozy queer romance, I obviously downloaded it. I read them during my big summer East coast trip where I went from my annual conference to visit my aunt in Maryland and then stay with my sister and her family for a week during their trip to New York. Reader, I loved the book so much I immediately downloaded the next ebook, and repeated this (read & downloaded the next) for each book in the series. I almost never do that! The rapidity with which this became one of my favorite series is remarkable, as is them becoming one of my comfort series despite only having read them once. Since last July I've been fighting the urge to reread the series at least once a month, which also never happens. Here's a meme I made depicting my monthly struggle: 

I finally gave in to the urge last month because the sixth book in the series was released! I reread all five M&M books over the weekend, and then (after a struggle with stupid B&N who had put a hold on my account for no reason) downloaded and read the sixth book. I thought I'd do a mini rundown review (such as it is) of each book since I didn't have time or space to do so last time I reviewed them. All of the books take place in the same world: a sort of alternate Regency England that has magic and is queernorm, racism-free (and consequently racially diverse), and mostly free of sexism. Classism and poverty still exist, and birth order has replaced patriarchy: firstborns take the place of eldest brothers in terms of inheritance and heading the family after the parents die, plus having more freedom re: reputation. I appreciate the lack of sexism and homophobia etc. as a socially conscious reader, but at some point the genre (Regency historical romance) stops being what it is, plus it raises questions* about the world-building.

Mild spoilers throughout because that's who I am as a person

Letters to Half Moon Street - (synopsis) The first book in the series is an epistolary novel, consisting mainly of letters between Gavin Hartford, who is lonely and bored in London, and his sister Gerry, who is visiting family in Tutting-on-Cress (a country village), plus a few between Gavin and his new friend Charles Kentworthy, who Gerry thinks may be interested in her brother... Gavin is very introverted, shy, antisocial, and terrified of other people (mood), so it is up to charming extrovert Charles to make the friendship happen and make Gavin leave the house and do stuff around London. I enjoyed watching their relationship develop, but I didn't see why Charles needed to be so pushy (why make Gavin take up boxing when he hates it? Why didn't Gavin stand up for himself and say no?). Charles basically made the entire relationship happen himself, and he had to force Gavin every step of the way. Despite my frustrations with the characters, I really liked this book. The story is a bit slow-moving, but in a nice calm way; it's an enjoyable world to live in for a bit. Gay and pan rep, I believe. ★★★★, 0 chili peppers as there's no spice, just kissing and sex work mentions

 

One Good Turn - (synopsis) The second book is written in third person limited (I think), as is most of the rest of the series. Poor, barely-working-class Nell protects a rich man (Charles) from being robbed, kicking off a series of events that change her life. The crimelord, not happy that Nell's sympathy cost him money, sends her and her best friend Pip (who is the crimelord's lover) to steal a magical artifact from a viscount who happens to be Charles's best friend Bertie (we meet him in book 1 but he's not a big part of it). Bertie recognizes Nell's and Pip's magic abilities and offers them a chance to live and study magic with him. Nell jumps at the chance, and begins the life she always dreamed of. She also has to figure out her relationship with her friend with benefits (whose name I of course forgot), a single mother who has no time to go out with her (Nell is ridiculously slow at understanding this). Nell is, as far as I can tell, an aromantic lesbian who is allosexual; the representation is on-page but of course those terms are not used. She's also fat but I didn't pick up on this while reading the book; it may just be a throwaway mention. This book talks about sex much more frankly and frequently since it's from Nell's POV and poor people are not protected from reality the way upper-class people are (there are sex worker characters). This book is sadder and more angry-making than book 1 (it's implied that Pip was groomed into being the crimelord's lover; he basically raised Nell and Pip so that skeeved me out). There is a list of trigger topics in the beginning of the book, plus you can ask me for specifics. ★★★.5 (affectionate), 🌶🌶

The Education of Pip - (synopsis) Don't worry, Pip is rescued from the awful crimelord who groomed him into a sexual relationship after having basically raised him and, it turns out, forced him into sex work. Pip is thrown in jail, which gives Bertie an opportunity to whisk him away from London and his abuser, and takes Pip to live with Charles, Gavin, & Gerry in Tutting-on-Cress (Bertie has a house there too). Like Nell, Pip is taught to read and write and about magic, but he has a lot of healing to do. The T-O-C gang and their staff are so gentle, patient, and understanding with Pip; for him to finally be treated with care and love after everything he went through is so important to me! Part of the reason for Pip being in T-O-C is for him to be Gerry's assistant at her spell shop, which was very interesting to read about. Pip's relationship with Bertie slowly begins to develop as well. This book is pretty heartrending but it does have a happy ending. Gay rep as well as PTSD from everything Pip went through. There is a list of trigger topics in the beginning of the book, plus you can ask me for specifics. ★★★.5 (affectionate), 🌶🌶

Dear Bartleby - (synopsis) Gavin and Gerry have a younger brother, Sebastian; we meet him in the first book when he writes to Gavin to ask him for a loan for his gambling debts. Unsurprisingly, Seb's wildness and pranks cause him to be pulled from Oxford and sent to live with his older siblings and brother-in-law in Tutting-on-Cress. His father gives him a journal to encourage reflection; Seb christens it Bartleby so he can pretend he's writing to a friend so journaling will feel less boring. These journal entries make up the book, which I guess makes this book an epistolary novel despite epistle meaning letter and not diary entry, but whatever. Seb writes about his day, being bored, his pranks, and his attempted seductions. He's kind of annoying at first, but his older siblings and brother-in-law learn how to best love and support him, and he matures, even getting a love interest of his own (a wonderful trans man named Laurence). Also in this story is Bertie's search for a new Royal Magician; he hires Seb as his assistant, so he's very involved in the process. Some of Pip's past comes up as well, so trigger warnings for that. I also really enjoyed this book despite the sad parts. Gay and trans rep. ★★★★, 🌶🌶

The Spellmaster of Tutting-on-Cress - (synopsis) It's Gerry's turn to have a book, a love interest, and her family and friends' meddling. Gerry took over the Tutting-on-Cress spell shop when the previous spellmaster retired, and she's very happy despite it being a step down in society. Everyone in her life thinks it's high time she met someone and settled down, so they all force her to endure blind date teas and, you guessed it, meddling. Basil Thorne has just moved to T-O-C after losing his father to step in as the new head of the family to his much-younger half-siblings (who are just delightful) and stepmother. He's never been part of a big, loud family before, and, on a sibling-demanded trip to the village, has his head turned by the kind, pretty spellmaster...

Skip this part if you don't want to read spoilers or my rants. I ranted about the lack of consent and amatonormativity from the meddling in this other blog post:

everyone kept trying to set up the heroine with this guy she obviously liked even though she explicitly asked them all to not do that and respect her wishes re: not being set up because it's cringey and embarrassing. The whole "it's for your own good! otherwise you'd be single forever!" excuses being used to ignore said wishes just felt gross. It's the lack of respect and ignoring of consent for me. 😠 The lack of apology and/or realization that the setting-up was being pushed on people without their consent is very annoying to me. And the whole smug "see? I was right!" thing when the couples invariably ended up together used to justify it! Ugh. It's not cute or funny, and it smacks of amatonormativity. Not everyone needs to be paired up, and single people aren't tragic! 

The reason it bothers me to read about this amatonormativity and lack of consent is because this series is so otherwise respectful, queer- and trans-friendly; it throws me for a loop. You expect this sort of thing from regular cishet romance novels, you know? In book 2 Nell's aromanticism is respected, although they kind of have her "end up" with someone too. Gerry is basically the sole straight in the series, but she discusses maybe being demi-romantic with her friends and family since she likes Basil (who is pan and in love with her) but doesn't feel a romantic spark and isn't swept off her feet like she expected. They kind of lost me there, since the chemistry between her and Basil was swoony, and reading about how she interacted with him and felt about it didn't feel that different than the way reading about other romantic pairings have felt. Shit, Gerry and Basil have more romantic chemistry and cute interactions than Gavin & Charles and Bertie & Pip combined! Am I on the aromantic spectrum? Who even knows. 

Another sublot is that the Kentworthys host the eldest Hartford brother John and his wife Veronica (and their child who we never see because Veronica believes children should be unseen and unheard???). They are the worst and I hate them. Charles starts his signature loving psychology on John and he starts to improve. Literally how did the Hartford parents fuck up their kids so much that Gerry is the only one who doesn't hate herself and/or is a jerk in the beginning??? Shoutout to Basil's transfem bestie Modesty who is one of my favorite characters in the entire series; she's so awesome and I hope SW writes a book about her or at least that she shows up in all future books. I loved all the kids, even if some of them were written a bit too old and a bit too young sometimes; maybe we'll get a spinoff series about them finding love after they grow up?  This review has gotten way too long so I'll end it here. ★★★.5 (affectionate), 0 chili peppers (just kissing)

The Viscount Says Yes - (synopsis) This book wraps up Pip and Bertie's love story, which started in book 2 (1GT) when Pip flirted with Bertie after being caught trying to steal from him, and Bertie fell in love with him immediately. Their relationship developed very slowly over the next few books, each one giving us a little glimpse into how they felt about one another (how is them just looking at each other without touching in the garden at dusk so gd romantic??). The slow pace was necessary due to Pip's sad history that he needed to heal from (this book takes place about 2 years after TEoP). Bertie and everyone else had always taken great care to avoid touching Pip and asking for consent before doing so etc., and Pip decides he's ready to start initiating physical acts of affection with Bertie as he (B) never would initiate out of respect, and starts thinking about proposing to Bertie for the same reason... Charles, now that he has seen all his other friends and relations settled or about to be, sets his sights on Pip and Bertie, but at least his meddling is proportionally gentler due to Pip's history. I like Charles a lot but with all the meddling, he's basically as controlling as Veronica. Like just let your friends find love their own way and on their own timelines, dude! Anyway, with that title you can guess what happens in the book. Wallace wrote a little note at the end saying they've burned themself out writing the M&M series so they're wrapping up the series with this book. I hope it's a pause and not a full ending, and that she heals from the burnout soon because I need like 1000 more books in this series! ★★★★, maybe half a chili pepper due to sex mentions? dealer's choice

I know I've complained a bunch about the characters and their decisions, but I really do love this series. The magic is very interesting to read about. All the books are kind of slow, but in a nice cozy way; I enjoyed all the time we spent with the characters. If you like cozy fantasy and Regency romance books, especially ones with lots of LGBTQ+ rep, give this series a try!

*If it's a mostly non-sexist and queernorm society, then why do they still care about reputations (basically a code word for virginity)? What does reputation even mean/matter for people/couples who can't get pregnant? Why the heavy emphasis on birth order when being the oldest sibling doesn't automatically mean you're the most responsible and reliable? (I'm the oldest and my siblings are all more responsible and reliable than me. I should NOT be the head of my family.) Why should the laterborn spouse in a firstborn-laterborn marriage take on the 'wife' role (running the household, raising children, etc.) just because they're a laterborn, while the firstborn spouse takes on the 'husband' role (being in charge of the family and finances etc.)? Shouldn't it be based on personality and interests, and/or shouldn't the roles be shared? Why are there still social classes and poverty? How does capitalism still exist without white supremacy and the patriarchy there to support it?