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Do You Want to Start a Sandal - Tessa Dare
The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu - Joshua Hammer
Think of England - KJ Charles
The Abyss Surrounds Us - Emily Skrutskie
The Girl Before - Rena Olsen
City of Blades - Robert Jackson Bennett
Do You Want to Start a Scandal sits squarely in the middle of the pack when it comes to historical romances. The heroine was a little too wilfully innocent for my tastes, and the marquess/spy with the tragic backstory that is our hero a little too controlling. I liked it fine, more than it sounds like, but it's still just...fine.
The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu is one I picked up largely because of the title. From it, the summary, and everything I'd heard about it I assumed I'd be getting a heist story about kick-ass african librarians keeping historical documents out of the hands of Al Qaeda. What I got was a history of Islamic extremism in Mali, and judged on those grounds it was good - well researched, well written, and interesting. But I'm docking it major points for not really being about what it purported to be about.
Think of England is a m/m historical romance set early in the twentieth century. It did occur that it was perhaps not unlike some Any Two Guys fic you might read in a megafandom, and from which I would have promptly back-buttoned because holy characterisation! But as original fiction I found it exceedingly charming.
Not related, but not, you know, unrelated: where are the f/f historical romances?
YA fantasy has become a hard sell for me in recent times, and The Abyss Surrounds Us is pretty typical of the genre, it has a hard to believe dystopian setup, a seventeen year old being sent on a life altering mission, that surely a better trained adult would be more suited for, and a formulaic romance, but. BUT. It has lesbians and sea monsters, and I am weak for lesbians and sea monsters. It really is good fun, although a word of warning - it's the first instalment of, I think, a duology so it doesn't have a neat ending.
The Girl Before is about a stockholm syndrome suffering woman who's both the victim and perpetrator of human trafficking. It's really, really good. It's also a hard fucking read.
I had the usual reaction to City of Blades, which I understand is: When is City of Miracles coming out!? I don't know how many fantasy novels there are where the protagonist is a one-armed woman general at the upper end of middle-age, but if you only read one this year then it should be this one. Highly, highly recommended.
The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu - Joshua Hammer
Think of England - KJ Charles
The Abyss Surrounds Us - Emily Skrutskie
The Girl Before - Rena Olsen
City of Blades - Robert Jackson Bennett
Do You Want to Start a Scandal sits squarely in the middle of the pack when it comes to historical romances. The heroine was a little too wilfully innocent for my tastes, and the marquess/spy with the tragic backstory that is our hero a little too controlling. I liked it fine, more than it sounds like, but it's still just...fine.
The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu is one I picked up largely because of the title. From it, the summary, and everything I'd heard about it I assumed I'd be getting a heist story about kick-ass african librarians keeping historical documents out of the hands of Al Qaeda. What I got was a history of Islamic extremism in Mali, and judged on those grounds it was good - well researched, well written, and interesting. But I'm docking it major points for not really being about what it purported to be about.
Think of England is a m/m historical romance set early in the twentieth century. It did occur that it was perhaps not unlike some Any Two Guys fic you might read in a megafandom, and from which I would have promptly back-buttoned because holy characterisation! But as original fiction I found it exceedingly charming.
Not related, but not, you know, unrelated: where are the f/f historical romances?
YA fantasy has become a hard sell for me in recent times, and The Abyss Surrounds Us is pretty typical of the genre, it has a hard to believe dystopian setup, a seventeen year old being sent on a life altering mission, that surely a better trained adult would be more suited for, and a formulaic romance, but. BUT. It has lesbians and sea monsters, and I am weak for lesbians and sea monsters. It really is good fun, although a word of warning - it's the first instalment of, I think, a duology so it doesn't have a neat ending.
The Girl Before is about a stockholm syndrome suffering woman who's both the victim and perpetrator of human trafficking. It's really, really good. It's also a hard fucking read.
I had the usual reaction to City of Blades, which I understand is: When is City of Miracles coming out!? I don't know how many fantasy novels there are where the protagonist is a one-armed woman general at the upper end of middle-age, but if you only read one this year then it should be this one. Highly, highly recommended.