Nic Dempsey

I missed posting What I’ve Read for March and April so I’m catching up. I was trying to get though the Kindle TBR list and started ok, then went off the rails. Oh well…

Ysabel – Guy Gavriel Kay (Kindle TBR list)

I enjoyed this, it didn’t have the heft of the author’s usual work but I liked the sense of change and things undone and I loved that we got to see Kim and Dave after the events of the Fionavar books.

Those Autumn Nights – Theresa Romain (Kindle TBR list)

This felt really fluffy, even compared to my usual fluff and I wasn’t all that impressed.

Barely Breathing – Pamela Clare (Kindle TBR list)

I’ve had this on the list for ages and a Smart Bitches author rec, sent me back to it. It was good while I was reading it and there was compentence porn which I’m keen on but it went all a bit sideways and I’m on the shelf about reading the others.

Blurred Lines – Lauren Layne (Kindle TBR list)

Again, I really enjoyed it while I was reading  it but you knew how it was going.

Hail Mary – Nicola Rendell (Kindle TBR list)

I didn’t buy that the heroine could knock out the hero, I didn’t buy that the heroine, a physio could have spent lots of time boxing to overcome her fear of an abusive ex without working to get her head in the game. I liked them as a couple, I liked that they had issues about whether to have kids, and the difficultly of making a relationship work but the resolution was to quick, from all of those issues to love and babies and marriage.

Hunting Season (The Gathering) – Shelley Laurenston (bought)

I do have issues with the calling other woman sluts, whores etc but I still love Laurenston’s books and I love her take on the nordic gods and myths.

Tangled Up – Erin Nicholas (bought)

Erin Nicholas small town drama is sought of my catnip, which is hilarious because me and small towns/villages, not compatible. However, in my fiction reading they are fine because they are so made up. I liked this, I really liked that the heroine and hero had to overcome their assumptions of each other and of who they were. Fun

Mayhem: Mayhem Series 1  – Jamie Shaw (borrowed)

Riot: Mayhem Series 2 – Jamie Shaw (borrowed)

Chaos: Mayhem Series 3 – Jamie Shaw (borrowed)

Havoc: Mayhem Series 4 – Jamie Shaw (borrowed)

I read these because H was and although I’m horrified that my 16 year old god-daughter is reading stuff like this (I’m also horrified that she’s 16, how did that happen?) I know that I read the 1989 version of books like this so it’s gonna happen. It was all a bit unrealistic but fine..

Do You Want to Start a Scandal – Tessa Dare (Kindle TBR list)

Speaking of unrealistic, welcome to Tessa Dare. The first Tessa Dare book I read was ‘A Night to Surrender’ her first Spindle Cove book and it was not anything like the book a friend had promised me it was. Getting over that took a while and then I went back to it and I enjoy her books now I’m not expecting accuracy. Anyway, this one takes a supplementary character from Spindle Cove and one from a previous ‘Castles Ever After’ and puts them together and hi-jinks ensue. Fun.

What It Takes – Shannon Stacey (bought)

I love Shannon Stacey but this felt off. Like two smaller books that didn’t have enought plot smooshed together. I did enjoy it because see above about my small town catnip but it didn’t really sing.

The Hot Shot – Kristen Callihan (bought)

Another author that I love to read and I a world that I seriously can’t know about or understand. I liked it, because of it’s unreality but within that, I liked the characters and found their confusion believable.

Flight Behaviour – Barbara Kingsolver (Kindle TBR)

This has been languishing on my TBR list for years and I can’ t think why because I really enjoyed it. There has been a lot of discussion recently about the return of nationalism and rural identity and people voting against their own interest. In an American context, this book was looking at it in 2012 before that orange clown was elected but it’s worth reading for that. For looking at what it takes to change views and care and break out from where you are. I’ve been talking about it so much that Ma is reading it now.

The Giver – Lois Lowry (Kindle TBR)

This is a classic children’s book, I never got around to reading. Reading it as a grown up, I notice it’s craft, how you’re brought to an understanding of what’s happening, just like the narrator. The reader isn’t aware of what’s not being said or described right until they are. It’s great and I’d wish I’ll read it when I was 11.

Twist – Kylie Scott (bought)

I liked this better than Dirty but I recognise that this is about millenials so what I find unrealistic might be because of my age. It was fun.

The Demon Prince – Ann Aguirre (bought)

I’m really enjoying this series. Although I didn’t like the pairing as much as I liked the previous one, I’m enjoying the world of the books. I really want more detail about it. I’m going to end up reading these as they are released because I want to see what she’s going to come up with.

Heat Wave – Karina Halle (borrowed)

By the end of this book, I was hate reading it. I didn’t like anyone in the book and it was trying too hard to be tense and weighty and it didn’t work for me at all.

Cream of the Crop – Alice Clayton (bought)

While some of it was very chick-lit unreal, I really enjoyed this. I liked the city/countryside pull for the heroine and it was funny and fun.