New adult is not my genre. I mostly prefer historicals when I read romance. But occasionally, a book catches my eye and gets such good reviews that the curiosity monster who lives in my head and makes all my decisions just can’t be denied. This was one of those books. I’ve also read m/m romances before, but they are by no means something I’ve read a lot of. This seems to be a very well done one. There’s no doubt it’s new adult, because holy […]
A Regency romance with unexpected diversity
Lady Serena Ravenshaw fell for one of her father’s footmen and was told in no uncertain terms that they had no future together. Rather than be forced to marry some crony of her father’s, she ran away and chose to to become a prostitute. One evening, a drunken young gentleman felt pity for her and gave her his entire quarterly allowance, making it possible for her to buy her freedom and set herself up as one of the most famed courtesans in London. With the […]
There really are a LOT of magpies in this book
Lucien Vaudry, Lord Crane, has returned to England after a twenty year exile in China because he’s inherited an earldom he never wanted. He’s not at all sorry his father and brother are dead, his brother Hector was a particularly nasty character, and their father covered up all his grievous misdeeds. There appears to be a curse on the Crane family, however, and having claimed the lives of his father and brother, it’s Lucien’s turn next. He needs magical assistance, and fast, before he commits […]
The War Was In Color
My Queer War is the WWII memoir of James Lord, who I knew nothing about prior to picking up this book. The title is an intentional double entendre–James Lord is gay and his war was weird. He never saw combat and the vast majority of his service involved copious amounts of free time during which he was free to explore his sexuality in a way that he had never before considered possible. Bouncing from POW camps to Picasso’s social scene to underground bars where […]
The Great Awakening
James Baldwin has long been on my list of authors to read. And Go Tell It on the Mountain is on TIME’s 100 novels list. I thought I’d start there. I also want to read Giovanni’s Room, which is considered prominent in LGBT fiction, but first I need to get through the books in my library stack and on my shelf. But I’ll say this: Go Tell It on the Mountain is a terrific place to start. You can find the full review on my […]
Rainbow Rowell + YA fantasy = Perfection
Oh, Carry On, how do I even begin to do you justice? I’ll just have to muddle through and hope for the best. Simon Snow is an orphan, forced to spend his summers in various group homes around Britain. The rest of the school year he spends at the Watford School of Magicks, where he’s just returned for his very final year (but not before having to behead a goblin trying to kill him on the way there). Simon Snow is the Chosen One of […]