The Ties that Bind by Jayne Ann Krentz was not very good. It was a library book and dated and while not horrific I’m not sure I would recommend reading it unless you’re feeling the need to be a completionist. It’s sort of on the edge of her moving from faux feminism to actual feminism (something she does 10 years earlier than most romance novelists, to be fair!)
Someone recommended Julie Garwood as an unproblematic romance novelist of the 80s and 90s, so I tried The Lion’s Lady. The prologue had Native Americans in it (skipped– 1980s portrayals are not ok) and then the first chapter had the hero’s wife dying of childbirth on screen so I was like no thanks. Not sure if I will try any of her more modern stuff. Apparently she passed on in 2023.
Skipped to the last chapter of Aracana Academy by Elise Kova after seeing how thick the book was. It ended on a depressing cliff-hanger and let’s just say that this is not a romantasy book. Maybe if Kamala Harris were president I’d give it a go, but I can’t right now.
Sort of skipped through The Magician of Tiger Castle by Louis Sachar. It was fine. Not really what I’m looking for these days.
Gave up on page 2 of A Fellowship of Bakers & Magic by J Penner. The first scene is the heroine running late because she’s always running late because she has time blindness. She gets to the market at 10am that she’s supposed to get to by 8am if she wants to get a spot. This wouldn’t be a problem, but it’s all written in a way that is very sympathetic towards her and not at all sympathetic towards either the guy running the market who should have realized she’s the HEROINE, and thus saved her a good spot, or anyone else in the market who got there on time. If it were written in a way where she didn’t think she deserved special treatment, I think I would have continued, but as it was it reminded me too much of old Captain Awkward threads where a subset of late people argued that they should never have to be on time no matter how much it inconvenienced anyone else because ADHD is a disability. And it is a disability, but also you have to make use of accommodations to help you get places on time or find a less time-sensitive job because the market is there to sell goods and services which it can’t do for you if you’re not there. Oh hey, also gave up on Just our luck by Denise Williams for exactly the same reason! She’s irritated at her mother because she’s making her mother late for work with her time blindness as she does every morning. Like I get time blindness is a thing, but it’s a thing you should not blame the people you are inconveniencing for. (And you should set up systems to not inconvenience people! Be early to things if you have excess time instead of getting distracted. Set up multiple alarms of varying intensity. Other people have worked on these problems and come up with structures!)
I enjoyed Earl Crush by Alexandra Vasti. I didn’t really feel much chemistry between the protagonists but that didn’t matter because there was an actual plot. Good romantic suspense and both the protagonists were very likeable. Stupid completely unnecessary and slightly out of character third act breakup but it didn’t last very long.
Started on a new old romance author– overdrive occasionally recommends one of these and I work through them. Joan Smith seems a bit higher quality than most of the previous authors– not just retreaded tropes. Aunt Sophie’s Diamonds was not perfect and unfortunately it referred to one of the side characters as “the Trump of Coal” which was jarring (and it was meaning he was rich as well!), but other than that it was a perfectly enjoyable read. I also appreciated that she made it clear that the actual age difference between the hero and heroine was much smaller than in most of these books (it’s a joke/plot point about how her mom pretends she’s a teenager when she’s actually 25). She published a lot so I’ll have to see how much variance there is in the quality.
Did not like So Sweet by Rebekah Weatherspoon. It felt extremely Mary Sue in a way that I did not enjoy and with all that male billionaires are doing these days the hero just wasn’t believable. Stop being a billionaire or use that money to fight the power. Also, I don’t actually daydream of going to parties with aging rock stars.
Speaking of spoiled rich people who need to get real jobs, Pomona Afton Can So Solve a Murder was a slog so I gave up. The protagonist is clueless but not very likable. I read some reviews to see if she got better and the answer seems to be no, things just fall in her lap like they have all her life. Not satisfying. I know I’m a member of the working elite, but I’m feeling class warfare against those who both don’t need to work and don’t make the world a better place with their privilege. I used to be more laissez faire about people who lived off inherited money and just wasted money, but in the current environment not really enough. They’re leeches on society and that money could feed a lot more people.
Wow, this all sounds terrible except Earl Crush– no wonder I hadn’t posted this yet. Since then I have read more! I really should have posted this before Christmas…
A Case of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith was extremely good. It’s a murder mystery and it’s not one where finding the murderer out makes you feel warm and fuzzy. There’s some social commentary in there. But the cast of characters is fascinating and all the mystery threads get tied up in a bow at the end. It’s a little easier to read and gentler than the Flavia de Luce books, but I there’s a little bit of that British unsettling darkness. I immediately put myself on library hold for the second book, which I should get in about 6 months…
Best Wishes from the Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki was a lovely update to the first book. And you get little glimpses of how things have worked out for characters from the first book. A very cozy read about people having small problems solved (or big decisions made) by eating delicious food served by a bunch of cat astrologers.
I love Drew Hayes so much– when I’m not reading his books there’s now a small part of me wishing I were. Sadly I’m catching up to him as an author and am getting close to the point where I will have to wait for him to finish writing. Not quite there yet. Amazon links are affiliate and I wish you could buy all his books elsewhere too, but Amazon has a monopoly on smaller authors’ kindle unlimited books. He’s a must-buy for me, even for the series the library has.
It took me a little while to get into Siege Tactics, the fourth in the NPC’s or Spells Swords and Stealth series, but there’s nothing like a 13 hour plane ride to get you settled into a new epic. It was really good and I immediately bought the fifth book, Noble Roots. It was also fantastic. Fortunately/supposedly the last book in the series is supposed to be coming out in 2026. I hope that’s true! I don’t normally like really long books, but I do love Drew Hayes’ epic novels and am happy with them the longer the better, which is really unusual for me. I think it’s probably because they’re ensemble casts and he follows different groups across time and place. There’s a full story thread that they’re all hanging on, but they also have their own episodic journeys. And they’re just comforting in a way that makes you feel like if we work hard, right will prevail. Hopefully.
If you prefer a little lighter and shorter fare, Drew Hayes finished his Fred the Vampire series recently, with Posthumous Education. It was a good and fitting end to the series. Very similar in tone to the previous books. If you liked the earlier books you’ll like this one too. And it wraps up every loose end I could remember. Even what gift the house was given! This series is also available outside of Amazon.
I also read some what I can best describe as goosebumps for grownups, the “Shingles” series, to which Drew Hayes was a contributor. These are not really for children. They came from Studio 13 was ok. Slaughter on Giggletime Mountain was quite good though definitely horror. I think I probably most enjoyed Aliens Wrecked Our Kegger of his three contributions — it had a strong Gordon Korman + Bruce Coville feel, but with like drunk college kids instead of middle schoolers or high schoolers.
The newest Roverpowered was also good! These are child-friendly. It started out with the first book being like a JV book, but Drew Hayes cannot leave things to be simple so of course the world building is getting more complex. I’m glad that he can push these out faster than say the Spells, Swords, and Stealth series!
An early Drew Hayess work, Pearls and Peril wasn’t great — readable, but very jv and very (totes) of its time.
I thought two of the short stories in The Time Traveler’s Passport were worth reading. Scalzi’s 3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years was decent standard Scalzi stuff. Less frenetic and a little more Connie Willis than many of his short stories. The really big standout was Cronus by P Djeli Clark. It’s just correct in ways that I’m not sure time travel has addressed before. Like of course that’s what would happen.
ADD friendly ways to organize your life by Judith Kolberg and Kathleen Nadeau was quite good. I wish copies weren’t so expensive! I ended up checking it out of the library as an e-book twice.
Have you had any good winter break reads?
Grumpy Rumblings (of the formerly untenured) 
