From timeslips, Viking warriors and fantasy worlds to contemporary romance and historical mysteries, the Wenches have been reading up a storm this month. Check it out! (And don't forget to share your reading list with us!)
Pat: Now, for a completely different twist. . . A Murder In Time by Julie McElwain This is essentially an historical timeslip novel, with a murder mystery, a contemporary story arc, and a hint of romance. Who could ask for anything more?
Kendra Donovan’s parents were part of a DNA experiment that brought brilliant genes together, so yeah, she’s that kind of genius. Against their wishes, she became an FBI agent who specializes in serial killers. Then one day, in pursuit of an international criminal who killed her squad, she dresses up for a historical production in a castle and mysteriously disappears through what she calls a wormhole before she can kill her target. She ends up in the Regency era in time to help catch a serial killer there. As with all time travels, there are a few nice conveniences like ending up in a scientific duke’s castle—but possibly, the duke caused the wormhole? Really, the details make everything entertaining and now I’m rooting for Kendra to stay in that time period where she has friends and a man who might love her. Because, of course, this is the first in a series. If you can’t stomach the bookstore prices, check your local library and give it a try first. I’ll be buying the second book shortly.
Andrea: I'm a big fan of all of Deanna Raybourn's books, and her current Veronica Speedwell series is an absolute delight. The latest book, An Unexpected Peril, features her usual cast of quirky and interesting characters, as well a twisty mystery that has Veronica impersonating a missing foreign princess who visiting London in order to sign an important treaty with the British government. Is it foul play? Or is there some hidden connection with the recent death of famous women adventurer in the princess's home country. Leave it to Veronica and Stoker, her alluring but complicated love interest, to unravel the truth. What I love about her writing is that beneath the clever banter and sly humor, she also writes about more complex issues, like vulnerability, loneliness and what it means to be part of a family
Nicola: I’ve been on a glom of Tessa Dare’s Spindle Cove series this month. Although I’ve read and enjoyed some of her books before, I’d never read this series and it all came about in a rather odd way. I was doing some family tree research and came across two relatives who were blacksmiths in the late 18th and early 19th century. This set me off on a train of thought about blacksmith heroes in Regencies, I googled it and came up with Beauty And The Blacksmith. Well, I loved it so much I read the entire series including all the novellas. The concept of Spindle Cove itself as a place of sanctuary for ladies who don’t want to or can’t fit in with society is fun, and the disparate group of heroines were a wonderful and varied bunch but all strong and spirited in their own ways of course. Most of the romance stems from what happens when a platoon of soldiers is stationed in the village to build up the Napoleonic War defences. The ensuing skirmishes are highly entertaining.
What I particularly liked about the series was the exceptionally skilled dialogue as well as the way in which Tessa Dare really brings out the emotional heart of a story. The happy ever after is always hard won but so satisfying and all the stories are outrageously romantic, which was just what I needed to read. I’ve now moved on to When A Scot Ties The Knot, which I’m also loving. I’m open to recommendations of any other books with blacksmith heroes!
Christina: A couple of books stood out for me this month—Home on Folly Farm, Jane Lovering’s new novel, was an auto buy for me and I devoured it in one sitting. I was pulled into the story from the very first sentence and she had me chuckling at the heroine’s pithy comments and subtle humour. But there is an underlying darkness that is slowly revealed as the story progresses, and although the witty repartee continues throughout, things start to get more serious. It turns out there are some quite large skeletons in just about everyone’s closet and it takes a bunch of scumbag sheep rustlers to shake things loose. Jane is brilliant at writing real characters, the kind we really empathise with and I was rooting for the heroine from the word go. I didn’t want all her struggles to be for nothing – she deserved happiness. Ultimately this book shows us that making mistakes when you’re young is not the end of the world. We still all deserve a second chance. Loved it!
I’m always on the lookout for new factual books about the Vikings and River Kings by Dr Cat Jarman is a fascinating take on their history. It is told from a very unusual perspective and incorporates all the latest finds and information available. Dr Jarman is a bioarchaeologist who specialises in isotope analysis. She writes engagingly and makes the narrative exciting throughout. We get to follow one tiny bead made of carnelian, which was found in a Viking grave at Repton in Derbyshire, on a reverse journey back to where it was made – in Gujarat in India. Along the way, we see the Vikings as they really were and realise what an amazing and diverse group of people they were - not all from one country, but sharing a cultural heritage, customs and beliefs. Their utter fearlessness and thirst for adventure (and silver!) shines through, but most of all, they are shown here as an awful lot more than just the feared raiders and marauders history has portrayed them as.
Anne: My reading this month has been mostly fantasy and a little bit of mystery, both of which also contain a good dose of romance. I've been working my way through the Gillian Roberts mystery series that I mentioned last month in WWR.(link below) So far I've read bundle 2, 3 & 4, with more to come.
In earlier WWR posts I have talked about T. Kingfisher's books. This month's reading started with the second in her "Paladin" series — Paladin's Strength. I love this series. It's a great combination of fantasy and romance. The paladins are the last surviving paladins (knights) of a dead god. They're deeply honorable, strong, protective and a little bit lost (because their reason for living has died). In Paladin's Strength Istvhan is posing as a mercenary soldier, but really he's on the trail of a supernatural killer. Clara is a lay-nun from an obscure and secretive order, and she's tracking the raiders who burned her convent and kidnapped her sisters.
Neither of them have taken vows of celibacy, and the sexual tension between these two is delightful — and also funny. Istvhan fancies Clara rotten, but he keeps reminding himself that she's a nun and he's an honorable man. Clara is powerfully attracted to him, too but is reluctant to jump his bones because she knows her secret will put him right off. The humor in these books is wonderful, with some laugh-out-loud moments. But it's not "just" a romance — the fantasy/mystery is also brilliant with action and adventure, a rich cast of minor characters, and a breathtaking climax. I love these books and am already mourning the fact that only seven paladins of the Saint of Steel survived the death of their god. Previous books in the same world are Swordheart and Paladin's Grace.
Patricia Briggs is an auto-buy author for me and when her latest book dropped into my kindle I started on it straight away. Wild Sign is book #6 in the "Alpha and Omega" series about Charles an alpha were-wolf and his mate, Anna, an "omega" wolf. An entire community of peace-loving people has disappeared in the mountains, and Charles and Anna are sent to investigate.
This series also connects with the Mercy Thompson series which I love. And in fact reading Wild Sign started me back on the earliest books in the series, starting with the novella that kicked off the "Alpha and Omega" series. I first read it in an anthology called On the Prowl but it's now available on its own as an e-book called simply Alpha & Omega. Then I went on to reread Moon Called, the first in the Mercy Thompson series, which is still my favorite series. I've reread these books so often and enjoy them every time.
Mary Jo: This last lockdown year has been a good time for rereading books I've enjoyed in the past. I like Jayne Ann Krentz in all her incarnations. Her stories are sleek and fast-moving and always include romance and suspense, and they frequently have characters with powerful psychic talents.
She's Jayne Ann Krentz for her contemporaries and Amanda Quick for her historicals. (The Castle books have moved from Regency to Victorian and are now set in California in the roaring '20s.) Her least well known name is Jayne Castle, which she uses for science fiction and fantasy, and these are the ones I've been chomping through.
Her Jayne Castle Harmony books are set on the planet Harmony, which was settled by humans who lost contact with Earth when astronomical conditions changed. A vanished Alien culture had built cities and catacombs of indestructible green amber that is infused with psi energy. Amber is key to the human civilization, and people with strong psi talents can do all sorts of things. Naturally all of Castle's characters have powerful and dangerous psi abilities. <G>
The first Harmony Ghost Hunter books is After Dark. There are eight Ghost Hunter books, then she moved into four Rainshadow Island books, the first of which is The Lost Night. Rest assured that all her heroes are dark and dangerous men who fall madly in love with the smart and also dangerous heroines. <G> The stories are fast and fun and I'm enjoying rereading them.
Because most of all I love Jayne Castle dust bunnies! They are small local critters that look like a tangle of gray dryer lint, have six legs, a pair of adorable baby blue eyes, and also second pair of eyes that only show when they are in hunting mode. They are funny, mischievous, always hungry, and at least once in each book, they save the life of one of protagonists. By the time you've read one or two of the books, you may well want a dust bunny of your own!
The Wenches love sharing what books have been tickling our fancy—and hope you'll share your recent favorite books! So grab up you cyber pen and let everyone know what you've been reading!
