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Re-reads. HUH

* Season's Pass by Joanna Chambers (Historical M/M romance) - This is a short story that happens in between Books 1 and 2 of the Enlightment series. I'd read (and loved!) the first 3 books around 12 yrs ago. But hadn't paid much attention to it afterwards. Only to find out that the author had published additional novels. So I decided to refresh my memory a bit.

This one is a moderately angsty story from Murdo's POV as he considers his feelings for David. It also works as a prologue of sorts for Book 2. I gave it a 3 out of 5


* Unnatural by Joanna Chambers (Historical M/M romance) - OK, funny story abt this one: I borrowed it from my library since I hadn't read it before. Which turned out to be FALSE. According to my Goodreads, I'd already gone thru it a DECADE AGO (no, really, WTF IS TIME?!). And yet, my brain was all NEW PHONE, WHO DIS? when I started reading this book.

ANYWAYS

After the original trilogy (which focused on one couple only), the author began to publish spin-off novels with friends, acquaintances, etc of Murdo and David. THIS novel is abt James and Iain, two guys who have been BFFs since childhood. As they grow up, both men realize they're not (in the modern parlance) straight. What follows is a push-and-pull, slow-paced (but NOT slow burn) romance between the two guys. I liked the (eventual) lovey-dovey stuff fine and the sex scenes were cool as well.

That said, this book is a bit of a tricky read cuz it works 2 timelines (the present being 1824 and the starting point of James and Iain's bond back in 1808) AND 2 POVs. It was a little confusing at first, but I got the hang of it by Chapter 3.

My one (1) annoyance was Iain's indecision abt being in a relationship with James.

What annoyed me the most abt him was a SPOILER:

despite neither character is a virgin, James is the one with the least sexual experience. And, whenever he approached Iain with curiosity abt what sex with men was like OR where he could meet like-minded men, Iain would throw a HISSY FIT FOR THE AGES. Which was already shitty enough.

BUT THEN, HE WAS ALSO A BIG HYPOCRITE since he's scandalized abt James seeking out sexy times with others all the while Iain has been having sex with a lot of men. To the point that he joined an exclusive gentleman's club for men who like having sex with men.

FTR, it's not the fact that Iain had quite the robust sex life. Also there was no cheating happening since he and James didn't become a couple until much later. AND James had been intimate with a few dudes too. But I did find it RIDIC AF that Iain would be such a jackass because, in his mind, James was some kind of pure/virginal being (even though James was, again, NOT a virgin.) IJS.

I also got the sense that the author wasn't sure how to solve that mess and kinda took a shortcut that lessened a lot of the groveling. IDK. In the end, I gave this book a (new) rating of 3 out of 5 (or, 1.5 less that I gave it a decade ago. *Hands*)


I DNF'd

* One Night in Hartswood by Emma Denny (Historical M/M Romance) - Book 1 of The Barden trilogy--with each book focusing on one of the three siblings' romances.

In this novel, Lily has entered into an arranged marriage with a guy she's never met. Her brothers Raff and Ash escort her to the castle where the nuptials will happen . . . only to find out that the groom-to-be has run away. Pissed off abt the snub, Raff decides to go look for the guy and bring him back. Along the way, he meets Penn who, ofc, is the v. same guy Raff is searching for. At some point, love will blossom between the two. [NB: this is NOT a spoiler since it's presented as such in the blurb.]

I was v. OJO abt this premise. Sadly, this book turned out to be a dud. The story is set in 1360's Europe, but the worldbuilding is incredibly weak; there's NO sense of place. This is something I could've ignored had the writing not being so MID. Oh, and the writing is weirdly modern too?

Since both story and protag (Raff) were meh to me, I chose to stop reading 50 pages in rather than push myself in the hopes that something (anything!) would catch (and hold!) my interest for the next 200+ pages.

Ended up returning to the library, then read samples for the next two books. Opted to give the 2nd one (an F/F) a pass cuz I couldn't stand the protag. BUT I got verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry interested in the 3rd novel (an M/M/nonbinary person) to the point that I ended up buying a copy. 🤞🏾 and all.


Had an awesome time at first (but it all went downhill from there).

NONE for this batch! \o/!


It was . . . fine?

* What the Wife Knew by Darby Kane (Domestic Thriller) - 27-y.o. Addison has become a widow less than 6 months into her marriage to Richmond. She's v. upset. Not abt his death, mind you, but abt the fact that she'd been planning to kill him ONLY FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO MURDER HIM INSTEAD! Now she's got to find out who (amongst the many ppl with good motives) 86-ed Richmond and why . . .

Good writing. Also, this is deffo a page-turner of a story. There's a mix of dread and paranoia permeating the entire novel with v. few moments to relax for a bit. One thing I appreciated is that the internal logic held regardless of what was revealed at the end.

Addison was an excellent protagonist (and her backstory was a meaty one.)

OTOH, I didn't enjoy the handful of Richmond POV chapters. Dude was a TERRIBLE PERSON and I hated being in his head. Thankfully, though, the bulk of the story is told from Addison's perspective.

Now, the ending was a good one. OTOH, though, something popped up that legit pissed me off to no end. But, in order to vent abt it for a bit, I gotta talk abt a

HUGE SPOILER

*takes a deep breath* At a point in one of the last three chapters, Addison found out that she'd married her own father. This information was given to her from Lizzy, Addison's mother, herself.

Prior to that reveal, both Addison and Richmond (via their respective POV chapters) made it v. v. clear that there was never any kind of sexual activity between them. Theirs was a marriage of convenience (and blackmail, but there we are). FTR, there were two moments in the novel, back when Addison and Richmond first met where Richmond tried to seduce Addison. She deflected his advances, tho.

So, it was a father-daughter marriage, but (per what I remember) they never even kissed.

When Addison (who was RIGHTFULLY as disgusted as I was abt the whole "oops, you married your father" thing) tried to chew her mother out for allowing this (despite knowing that Addison and Richmond were blood relatives), Lizzy shrugged it off.

NGL, I had to put the book down for a second and try to stop seeing red. It was SUCH AN UNNECESSARY thing to drop into the story! I don't like reading abt incest and ABSOLUTELY DETEST 'surprise!incest' even more. YMMV, you do you, etc.

Even now I'm not sure if the author wanted to remind readers that Lizzy was a Horrible Person AND Shitty Parent or what..

So yeah, I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaated that so much that I had to bring the rating down of what, up then had been a groovy read. Ended up giving this one a 3.5 out of 5.


* Hither, Page by Cat Sebastian (M/M Historical cozy mystery) - Book one of the Page & Sommers duology.

James returns to his job as a doctor at his childhood village after being a medic in the frontlines during WW I. Someone who was generally disliked dies in a mysterious way. James is trying to figure out what happened when Leo, a former ~acquaintance and current spy, shows up to help him. . .

I might be hot-and-cold with this author's bibliography (have enjoyed some of her books, DNF'd others), but one thing I can't deny is that she can most deffo write a good story. In addition, both James and Leo were fully-developed characters, so cheering for their (eventual) HEA (not in this book, btw, but I can see it going there) was easy. T

The mystery had layers, several Red Herrings, and (once the reveal happens) the murderer's motivations made a lot of sense.

OTOH, after one super interesting start, the story sort of meandered for a while. It could be interpreted as the author wanting readers to feel what James (more than Leo) was experiencing back in the small town. But that didn't make it into an entertaining read.

THANKFULLY, things began to kick off for realsies by the halfway point.

The romance took a while to get going too.

OTOH, James and Leo ARE attracted to each other from the second they meet. Tho, the book makes it v. clear why both of them gotta be extra careful abt whatever will eventually happen between them.

OTOH, things on the romance track went so slowly that my patience felt TRULY TESTED. And then, as the ending drew nearer, James/Leo's whole deal sped up. FWIW, this is an extremely low heat romance. I didn't mind that aspect because both characters (though, again, especially James) had extremely valid reasons for not giving into their feelings and attraction. I gave this one a 3.2 out of 5.


Good vibes all around

* The Bequest by Joanna Chambers (Historical M/M romance) - This is another short story from the series. It's set in between Books 4 and 5. Murdo receives some news that shake him up and then som.

IHNI why I hadn't read this before, but it turned out to be a real treat. Loved seeing Murdo and David; they remained as lovely as ever. Their love was v. palpable (and the sex scenes were hot tooo, heheh.)

It was also quite neat to find out additional connections between the two of them and other characters in the series. Another thing I appreciated was an expanded version (told from Murdo's POV) of that Easter Egg scene in Book 4.

Finally, the angsty notes toward the end (which had to do with Murdo's life and NOT his relationship with David) added exactly what was needed to keep the plot from becoming tooth-achingly sweet. I gave this one a 4 out of 5


* Restored by Joanna Chambers (M/M Historical romance) - Book 5 of the Enlightenment series. 23-y.o. Kit has a one-year contract with 29-y.o. Henry, Duke of Avesbury in which Kit will be taken care of in exchange for coin and some property at the end of the deal. things are going fine until, upon receiving some horrible news, Henry leaves London (and Kit) v. suddenly.

18 years later, Kit now owns a club for gentlemen who enjoy the ~company of gentlemen. Henry returns to London only to discover he left Kit pretty much destitute. He's now desperate to meet and talk to Kit, but will Kit give him a second chance???

NGL, I was a bit wary when I started this one due to Book 4 not quite achieving the YAYS I'd felt the first time I'd read it. BUT this was a brand new (to me) novel, so I dove right back into the Enlightenment 'verse.

Joanna Chambers' fantastic writing style kept me GLUED to the story. Everything from the settings to the characters felt real. Also, the pacing was SUPERB! the plot didn't move too fast OR way too slow; things happened at a normal pace--which I loved. The obstacles to the HEA were solved in ways that made sense.

Even though I really liked both MCs, my heart gravitated to Kit a lot more often over Henry. Mostly because it was neat to see him assess situations from a practical point of view AND STILL show vulnerability when the plot required it.

As for Henry, he felt (to me) like a more typical historical romance character? Which I was fine with.

One of the best things abt the story was seeing their interactions and side plotlines with other characters. Again, especially Kit. I was fascinated as I saw him navigate a meeting with a frenemy of sorts AND also his close friendships too. There was only one (1) character I 🙄 at.

ANOTHER THING I liked was that they're both in their 40s. (Kit's 41 while Henry's 47 for the majority of the story). They're not a Power Couple, but they're still Awesome Together. I legit ate up all of their convos (from the snarky/banter-heavy ones to the softer and more intimate ones). They've got HIGH LEVELS of chemistry AND brought out all of the gooey soft, romantic feelings I often look for (but don't always find) in romance novels.

The kink aspects were brought up in super interessssssssssssting (and hot) ways too. >:)


As for the things that didn't work for me...


Caroline (Henry's wife) appears in a single scene in Chapter 2. And yet, her name does pop up several times in the book. OTOH, it was neat to learn that she and Henry had come to an understanding that included her being OK with him seeking pleasure elsewhere. Theirs was a happy marriage for the most part.

HOWEVAH, the one (1) scene in which Caroline appears she gives Henry really bad news.

MEGA SPOILER

After revealing her terminal diagnosis to Henry, she pressures him to leave London for the countryside (and break things off with Kit) THE V. NEXT DAY. After mustering as much compassion for her situation as I could, I sort of get why Caroline felt overwhelmed and (IMO) a bit chaotic abt moving away. Which, realistically, would take a bit, I'd think.

Henry, who was v. devoted to her, gets swept away by Caroline's OTT sense of urgency* and disappears from Kit's life for EIGHTEEN YEARS.

* This might sound cold, but Caroline was quite stable when she's urging Henry to leave and wouldn't pass on for abt another 6 months or so. This leads me to wonder WHY THE HURRY? IDK, it all made me kinda side-eye her perhaps unfairly, but there we are.

Then there was this whole thing in which the book asks its readers to go along with the idea that Henry had ended things v. abruptly with Kit, left for the countryside, traveled to London a few times, but it wasn't until EIGHTEEN YEARS LATER that it occurred to him to go see what had happened with Kit (after crossing paths with a mutual friend of both.)

The one good thing is that Kit did confront Henry abt disappearing for almost 2 decades. Though, ultimately, he did forgive Henry given the huge (and logical) misunderstanding due to a third party who had since died.

But, when I sat down and thought abt this aspect of the story, I was annoyed enough to lower the overall rating a bit. YMMV, etc. I mean, in the end, I still gave this one a 4.7 out of 5, so it's not like I had a bad time.


Current fic tally

Have picked up 82, DNF'd 37. I've read a few more new-to-me authors and, surprisingly, not everything I've read has been BTS fics. BUT there have some hella bad/unreadable fics too.


Some thoughts

I'm happy that, DNF aside, the majority of my reading has turned a corner so to speak. BUT then, BTS' comeback REALLY slowed me down (the guys are everywhere, there's a new album, and now the tour is underway!). Have opted to be a little more disciplined cuz I had to return 7 (it's always the freaking 7, haahah) books to the library that I couldn't renew cuz there were others rarin' to check them out. All in all, I"m hopeful that things will stabilize a bit.


Last time

An F/F Second Chances romance, an M/M mystery, a historical M/F romance, and the first (?) book in a sci-fi series. 🤞🏾🤞🏾🤞🏾

Had to renew that F/F Second Chance romance. The M/M mystery was the Cat Sebastian one. I . . . legit have ZERO IDEA as to what the other two books are. 😅

In any case, I have a nonfiction, an M/M fantasy romance, the F/F Second Chance romance, another M/M mystery fantasy one, and a memoir of a queer actor. So a bit of everything! Me at books: 😍😍😍


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