Laura
I always include major spoilers (hidden), to help with my memory issues. Read them at your peril!
Vikram & Gil we're best friends & lovers at school until Gil's father died and his white relatives threw him out, and he disappeared In the present day, Vikram is a successful, kindhearted lawyer, and Gil runs a bookshop. They meet by chance when Vikram is Trying to find a missing boy . It passed the time, but wasn't engaging.
I always include major spoilers (hidden), to help with my memory issues. Read them at your peril!
A necromancer and Katy, his 10 year old feisty apprentice, are offered a pardon by a government bureaucrat if they carry out a few dangerous jobs for their country, which is under threat. They set out with the bureaucrat, and Katy's ninja rats. They meet a devious elf who can produce huge amounts of heat and fire, defeat her, and she joins them on probation. They defeat the titular army of golems and then move on to an even greater challenge, meeting the so-called “old man” on the way
Entertaining, and a different kind of fantasy novel. Less slick, with darker, more snarky humour, and absolutely no heroes.
Difficult one to rate because the writing standard is so poor in places. An editor should have fixed that of course. Jumbled sentences, 2D characters, amateurish. But the romance hooked me enough to keep me reading, after I had struggled past the first part. Very angsty. Hero suffering almost from the get-go, heroine unaware of this and hating him. Thrown together by a crazy bargain, falling in love, crisis caused by past problems. All standard stuff, but entertaining enough.
Itinerant household goods seller has been trundling slowly around the American countryside in his waggon. He meets an old flame many years after their romance was stopped by the interference of the woman's older sister. Enjoyable, beautifully written.
I always include major spoilers (hidden), to help with my memory issues. Read them at your peril!
Relentlessly chirpy, poor young women works for Dreamland, an American theme park. One day she submits a drunken proposal and unexpectedly gets the job. The boss is a cold-hearted handsome swine, which turns out to be because his dad, devastated after his mum died, was bitter and cruel for the second half of his childhood . Major crisis when after playing in the snow, she almost dies, and he can't handle it Lots of vanilla sex. Story is quite enjoyable, but not memorable.
I always include major spoilers (hidden), to help with my memory issues. Read them at your peril!
MB travels to another station to obtain evidence for Dr Mensah that Gray Cris were concealing illegal mining activities under a pretence of terraforming. On arrival he is contacted by Miki, a simpler-minded pet bot who is eager to be friends, belonging to some humans on another mission. As usual, things go badly awry and MB has to save the day with ingenuity and bravery . Some combat bots and drones are on the station, with a mission to destroy it, along with evidence of Gray Cris' wrong doing. Also, the human so-called security duo, are baddies. In the end Miki dies heroically trying to help MB save the shuttle
Gordo & Mark's story. A magical werewolf infection, created by Gordo's evil father, is spreading towards Green Creek. Also, the hunters are back.
It's a personal thing. This was sounding like it was developing into what I call a “bitchy teen” story.
I always include major spoilers (hidden), to help with my memory issues. Read them at your peril!
A bail-skipper with a high tariff has vanished from a hospital ward, and Stephanie needs to get him back, dead or alive. Ranger asks her to be his “date” at a security job, and it turns out that an ex-team member of his in the special forces is crazy and now determined to kill both Ranger and Stephanie. A second bail-skipper pledged an Hawaiian tiki as bail security and Stephanie ends up toting it around with her.
Another fun instalment, much the same as all the rest.
I always include major spoilers (hidden), to help with my memory issues. Read them at your peril!
The royal family are at Sandringham for the queen's winter break, when a severed hand is found washed up in a local beach. The queen recognises it, and despite trying to avoid involvement, she becomes involved again, more directly than in the previous two stories. The owner of the severed hand is a member of a local aristocratic family, well known to the queen, the St Cyrs (pronounced sincere). It turns out that the motive for the murder was revenge for the rape of the murderer's fiancée several decades before
Just as good as the others. Funny, inventive, all members of staff having adventures.
I always include major spoilers (hidden), to help with my memory issues. Read them at your peril!
Hannah seems to have left the Stranger Times, but is actually on a mission to a sinister therapy clinic, employed and aided by Mrs Harnforth, Stanley and Cathy, an ace hacker. Patients leave the clinic inexplicably delighted by their experience and transformed into what they wanted to be. Betty is sent to replace Hannah at the newspaper. She turns out to be a friend of Mrs Harnforth. Vincent is losing his grip as he continues to try to find and help his dead wife. It turns out that below the clinic, is a cavern with many mirrors, each containing an unhappy remnant of the souls of the patients that have left. This was also done to Vincent's wife. Dominic, a baddy from a previous book, has bought her from the baddy in this book and is using her to torture Vincent and get him to bring Stella to him so that he can take her power.
Very impressive. The characters are all flawed, believable, complex. The story is tragic and compelling. I found it hard to get into it for quite a while. I suppose I've read too many missing woman/girl stories, I wish they'd change the record. But this was recommended and I'm glad I read it. It was very well written.
Downtrodden, but feisty, female vampire is recognised as special and moves to live and work in the virtually all-male vampire centre of power, where she immediately becomes a commander, training resentful sexist males. She falls for the biggest sexist of the lot.
It passed the time, but was not great. The characters were 2D, not believable. the development of the romance was boring, and not convincing. The hero was meant to be arrogant in a good way, but he wasn't. There were few other women in it, and they were all shallow and unpleasant.
entirely graphic story about a man who leaves his family behind to emigrate, looking for a better life for them all. Drawn in shades of brown, very beautiful.
I always include major spoilers (hidden), to help with my memory issues. Read them at your peril!
MurderBot finds out that Dr Mensah has been blamed for its activities , and is being held to ransom MurderBot to the rescue again. It meets Mensah's team again. It is almost deleted/ destroyed in defending their ship
I always include major spoilers (hidden), to help with my memory issues. Read them at your peril!
Murderbot gets himself into an another fine mess. Same funny, charming, sometimes violent, interactions between the narrating cyborg and everyone /everything else it meets. It's a space thriller, with both naive and bad humans causing trouble for MurderBot again. He's trying to get back to the planet where he apparently went rogue and murdered 57 humans. On the way he hitches a lift with a very powerful transporter bot whose motives are unclear.
I loved this story. As it's a novella, there's no baggy world building or side plots. Murderbot gets into trouble and out of it pretty quickly.
Decent latest instalment. I think I'm getting tired of this series, or maybe the author is bored. Doesn't have the spark of the earlier books.
I always include major spoilers (hidden), to help with my memory issues. Read them at your peril!
Aodhan is in China as Suyin's acting second. Raphael sends Illium out to assist, in the hope that Aodhan will want to come back with him. Something sinister lurks in the forest - Lijuan's son, stunted and mentally broken, has been killing and skinning everyone in the village designed to care for him. The past story of Aodhan and Illium is interspersed with current events. No sex.
I always include major spoilers (hidden), to help with my memory issues. Read them at your peril!
Much like the others in the series: fun mystery, set in pre WW1 England. Lively widow, Lady Hardcastle, and her maid Florence Armstrong solve another mystery for the police, who are all either bumbling or conveniently unavailable . Plenty of repeat characters, light hearted, good mystery - I guessed part of what was going on, but not all of it.
A group of film actors are unexpectedly staying with Lady Hardcastle. They have a new film to show and narrate, but several parties are not happy about the plan. Bodies start turning up, and are whisked away by the mortuary van before either the police or Lady Hardcastle have a chance to examine them. Then the mortuary is burnt down.
Sci Fi thriller novella narrated by a cyborg security guard, or SecUnit, which is not like other SecUnits. “MurderBot” has some characteristics of a human who is on the spectrum. Good story, quite funny at times.
I always include major spoilers (hidden), to help with my memory issues. Read them at your peril!
MurderBot is guarding a small group of unusually friendly and pleasant scientists who are collecting samples for their work on a seemingly quiet and boring planet. It spends all of its spare time watching the entertainment feed, having disabled its governor module, unbeknownst to the humans . Odd things start happening and after the other known research station on the planet is attacked , they realise that a 3rd research team are on the planet, and that they are intent on removing witnesses to what they are doing there.