Books n Teeth (the world's least successful small business)

[netgirl_y2k]

The thing I hate most about how hard it is to get an NHS dentist is that I'm stuck with the dude who, every time I go in, grabs the front tooth that was knocked skew whiff by an overly affectionate labrador retriever (totally worth it) and attempts to waggle it, with a gleam in his eyes like, Do you want a quote for your inevitable bridgework now or later?

Anyway, books.

Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage - Jennifer Ashley
Mr Cavendish, I Presume - Julia Quinn
The War on Women - Sue Lloyd Roberts
The Tiger's Daughter - K Arsenault Rivera
The Dime - Kathleen Kent

It's been a while since I've read any regencies, so I decided to jump back into two series I'd started a while back. I'd liked the first book in the Mackenzies series, but Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage was meh in the extreme. Mr Cavendish, I presume was better written, unfortunately it was the second part of a duology and all it did was retell the events of the first book from the pov of a different character. It was like Julia Quinn had decided to remix her own novel, and done it in the least interesting way possible.

The War on Women is a series of essays on FGM, sex trafficking, the magdalene laundries, and all those other things that you know about but can't think too hard about in order to get through your day. Sadly the author passed away before she could finish the chapter on the pay gap in the UK, with specific references to care assistants versus male dominated jobs like dustmen. Hey, I know somebody who would have been interested in that!

Ugh, The Tiger's Daughter vexes me. On the one had it is high fantasy with two lesbian leads set in fantasy Mongolia. On the other hand it has an insurmountable structural problem that the entire narrative is told in a letter one character sends to another, recapping their shared history, and detailing events that the recipient of the letter was both present and awake for; I was not surprised when I read in the postscript that the author had got the idea while playing D&D because obviously; and there is not nearly enough attention paid to the fact that one of the characters is slowly turning into an orc. On a surprise third hand, it had fantasy Mongolia and lesbians and reading it so delighted me that I don't really care about its many and glaring flaws.

The Dime is a fish out of water story about a lesbian detective (I have a shelf on my goodreads account just called harold-they're-lesbians) from New York who moves to Dallas, Texas. It was a perfectly serviceable thriller until the last third where it took a disturbing turn into torture porn.

Comments

[fyrdrakken]

Every now and then (especially when I'm on my days off and deciding to self-indulgently read all day instead of tackling my "to do" list) I get on a minor Regency romance kick. I bought like dozens of Georgette Heyer years ago when Amazon had them on sale (possibly a promotion for the author's birthday or some such) and now I slowly dole them out because there are no more once they're gone, but also if I read two or three in a row they get repetitive and I have to try another author. But gah, some of those read as "how to mistake being groomed for an abusive relationship as a courtship" and the recommendation algorithms don't seem to be taking that into account when suggesting I try certain authors.

As for the War on Women book, I've added it to my wishlist, but unless it hits Kindle I doubt I'll get around to buying it. Sounds depressing and indeed like stuff I already read plenty about on new sites.

[netgirl_y2k]

Yeah, I only bothered buying The War on Women because it was in the UK kindle store for ninety-nine pence. I liked it well enough, but it was depressing, and not new if you are any kind of engaged feminist type person.