March 2019 Book (and fic) Roundup
Apr. 1st, 2019 09:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhysianaI was right to distrust my 10-books-a-month pattern there, because indeed, it did not hold. This month I only read 4 books, in large part because I got hugely distracted by fic from fandoms I'm not even in.
First, the books:
Unmasked by the Marquess, by Cat Sebastian. This was the tail end of the Cat Sebastian spree I went on in February, and this one honestly took me a lot longer to get through. I'm not sure if it was because the pacing was truly just slower, or if the author was trying to do a lot more gender/sexuality scaffolding for the reader b/c the publisher was trying to bill this as Sebastian's first foray into "mainstream" m/f, but either way, it didn't suck me in nearly as fast as all the m/m ones did. This one features a nonbinary AFAB protag who has been living as a man for the past several years in order to get her deceased husband's younger sister married off before the entailed estate is handed off to a cousin, and accidentally manages to catch the affections of the local grumpy bisexual marquess. Most of the drama that ensues is actually caused by miscommunication between the main couple and the secondary couple (the sister and the marquess's younger brother), mostly because people aren't sure who's in on the crossdressing secret and who isn't. Fortunately it never got quite contrived enough to make me want to start shaking everyone involved. The main thing I found amusing about this book was how much the secondary couple are clearly living out a true mainstream m/f romance and are acting as if the plot revolves around them, when they are in fact in the background.
That Ain't Witchcraft (InCryptid series), by Seanan McGuire. Once again, McGuire manages to keep adding to an ongoing series with an even better installment. There are no Aeslin mice in this one, but there is an abundance of crossroads ghost lore and worldbuilding and amazing plot advancement I never saw coming. I like how well this ties in with the Rose Marshall books, too, while also being entirely understandable without having read them. Though I often feel rather bittersweet about knowing there's a narrator change coming in the next book, I actually feel like this one wrapped up Annie & co.'s journey (for now) quite nicely, and the short story at the end got me even more excited about the prospect of the next book being from Sarah's POV. I've missed Sarah!
Mrs. Martin's Incomparable Adventure, by Courtney Milan. I really hope this book kicks off some sort of fad for older characters in romance, and particularly older lesbians. Read and cheer along as the Terrible Nephew gets everything he deserves, while his aunt and his former landlady fall in love and get all that they deserve (and desire) as well. (At some point I need to actually read all of the Worth saga in order, because I think right now I remember the novellas/short stories from it far better than the books, and I should really try to figure out how they all fit together.)
The Fixer (Games People Play 1), by HelenKay Dimon. This one I read mostly because the books showed up as on sale via someone I follow on Twitter just at the moment I was thinking, "You know, I think I'm in the mood for something modern day rather than historical," and the premise looked interesting. Shadowy and secretive fixer meets determined young woman trying to solve her cousin's disappearance. Good enough that it held my attention long enough to finish, but a lot of the conversations at the beginning where they're supposed to still find each other "infuriating" got a little frustratingly circular for my tastes. I'm all for an enemies (or at least irritants) to lovers plot, but the snarky banter has to be on point if it's gonna be included. I have the next two in this series, too, because they were cheap, and the beginning of the next one starts more promisingly, so possibly they get better as the author settles in? (Each one appears to focus on one of the five men all trained by the same mentor mentioned in the first book, so there's a fixer, a bodyguard, an art thief... and some other people, idk, the rest of them weren't on sale.)
Now for the fic. Funny story: Back when Inception first came out, we managed to catch the trailer for it at every single movie we saw for months. Plus it was on TV constantly. And it pissed. me. off. I refused to see it. Two years later, M came home with the DVD, borrowed from a coworker, and I still wasn't interested. He ended up watching it while I was out of the house doing something else. It'd been a good 8-9 years without seeing the movie, and I'd never felt the loss. I understood as much as I needed to about it to get pop culture references, and that was fine.
But then. Then. I saw a piece of adorable Sterek fanart, and the artist said the slogan on Stiles' t-shirt was from a fic by an author whose name I vaguely recognized (gyzym), so I clicked the link... and it was not to a Teen Wolf fic like I expected, but instead to an Arthur/Eames straight up coffeeshop AU, and it was adorable. Just perfect. The dialogue! I've Got Nothing to Do Today But Smile (The Only Living Boy in New York)
So then I had to watch the movie. (Which I did while M was leading his GURPS campaign, so he wouldn't know I'd finally broken.) And then I was prepared to read the whole glorious canon-compliant domestic series. The backstory building here! The way they both end up meeting the other's family! (The way they both fell for a person who looks on the outside like all the things they were trying to get away from!) Wherever You Will Be (That's Where I'll Call Home)
And then, just for kicks, the Hollywood film industry AU. we were once cinema gods in the night
Also, as a final bonus, this same author has written a Hawaii Five-0 McDanno fic so perfect I don't feel the need to read any others. Curving Like the Ocean Toward You
First, the books:
Unmasked by the Marquess, by Cat Sebastian. This was the tail end of the Cat Sebastian spree I went on in February, and this one honestly took me a lot longer to get through. I'm not sure if it was because the pacing was truly just slower, or if the author was trying to do a lot more gender/sexuality scaffolding for the reader b/c the publisher was trying to bill this as Sebastian's first foray into "mainstream" m/f, but either way, it didn't suck me in nearly as fast as all the m/m ones did. This one features a nonbinary AFAB protag who has been living as a man for the past several years in order to get her deceased husband's younger sister married off before the entailed estate is handed off to a cousin, and accidentally manages to catch the affections of the local grumpy bisexual marquess. Most of the drama that ensues is actually caused by miscommunication between the main couple and the secondary couple (the sister and the marquess's younger brother), mostly because people aren't sure who's in on the crossdressing secret and who isn't. Fortunately it never got quite contrived enough to make me want to start shaking everyone involved. The main thing I found amusing about this book was how much the secondary couple are clearly living out a true mainstream m/f romance and are acting as if the plot revolves around them, when they are in fact in the background.
That Ain't Witchcraft (InCryptid series), by Seanan McGuire. Once again, McGuire manages to keep adding to an ongoing series with an even better installment. There are no Aeslin mice in this one, but there is an abundance of crossroads ghost lore and worldbuilding and amazing plot advancement I never saw coming. I like how well this ties in with the Rose Marshall books, too, while also being entirely understandable without having read them. Though I often feel rather bittersweet about knowing there's a narrator change coming in the next book, I actually feel like this one wrapped up Annie & co.'s journey (for now) quite nicely, and the short story at the end got me even more excited about the prospect of the next book being from Sarah's POV. I've missed Sarah!
Mrs. Martin's Incomparable Adventure, by Courtney Milan. I really hope this book kicks off some sort of fad for older characters in romance, and particularly older lesbians. Read and cheer along as the Terrible Nephew gets everything he deserves, while his aunt and his former landlady fall in love and get all that they deserve (and desire) as well. (At some point I need to actually read all of the Worth saga in order, because I think right now I remember the novellas/short stories from it far better than the books, and I should really try to figure out how they all fit together.)
The Fixer (Games People Play 1), by HelenKay Dimon. This one I read mostly because the books showed up as on sale via someone I follow on Twitter just at the moment I was thinking, "You know, I think I'm in the mood for something modern day rather than historical," and the premise looked interesting. Shadowy and secretive fixer meets determined young woman trying to solve her cousin's disappearance. Good enough that it held my attention long enough to finish, but a lot of the conversations at the beginning where they're supposed to still find each other "infuriating" got a little frustratingly circular for my tastes. I'm all for an enemies (or at least irritants) to lovers plot, but the snarky banter has to be on point if it's gonna be included. I have the next two in this series, too, because they were cheap, and the beginning of the next one starts more promisingly, so possibly they get better as the author settles in? (Each one appears to focus on one of the five men all trained by the same mentor mentioned in the first book, so there's a fixer, a bodyguard, an art thief... and some other people, idk, the rest of them weren't on sale.)
Now for the fic. Funny story: Back when Inception first came out, we managed to catch the trailer for it at every single movie we saw for months. Plus it was on TV constantly. And it pissed. me. off. I refused to see it. Two years later, M came home with the DVD, borrowed from a coworker, and I still wasn't interested. He ended up watching it while I was out of the house doing something else. It'd been a good 8-9 years without seeing the movie, and I'd never felt the loss. I understood as much as I needed to about it to get pop culture references, and that was fine.
But then. Then. I saw a piece of adorable Sterek fanart, and the artist said the slogan on Stiles' t-shirt was from a fic by an author whose name I vaguely recognized (gyzym), so I clicked the link... and it was not to a Teen Wolf fic like I expected, but instead to an Arthur/Eames straight up coffeeshop AU, and it was adorable. Just perfect. The dialogue! I've Got Nothing to Do Today But Smile (The Only Living Boy in New York)
So then I had to watch the movie. (Which I did while M was leading his GURPS campaign, so he wouldn't know I'd finally broken.) And then I was prepared to read the whole glorious canon-compliant domestic series. The backstory building here! The way they both end up meeting the other's family! (The way they both fell for a person who looks on the outside like all the things they were trying to get away from!) Wherever You Will Be (That's Where I'll Call Home)
And then, just for kicks, the Hollywood film industry AU. we were once cinema gods in the night
Also, as a final bonus, this same author has written a Hawaii Five-0 McDanno fic so perfect I don't feel the need to read any others. Curving Like the Ocean Toward You
