Susan Scribner
3.5 stars. Some of my favorite tropes on display here; friends to lovers plus road trip equals happy reader. I liked the way Wes and Sam slowly realize that five years of friendship has changed into something more, and their halting attempts to be honest with each other despite their fear of jeopardizing the most important relationship in their lives rings true. All of this takes place as they travel through New York, Philly (the cheesesteaks!), DC, Atlanta and New Orleans, learning more about themselves and each other as they go.
The book loses some steam when it starts getting into Very Special Episode territory with a secret that is resolved a little too easily, but overall the book passed my “need to finish the book in a quiet room without disturbances” test, so I'm giving it a qualified recommendation. I've read 3 books by this author now and they've all just missed 4-star ratings from me, but I enjoy her voice and will continue to seek her out.
Publication date 3/11/25
Jane and Dan have been married for 19 years, and although they are on their way to a super swanky restaurant for their anniversary dinner, they are pretty much going through the motions. In fact, Jane is planning to tell Dan that she wants a divorce. She has barely broached the subject in the middle of the appetizer course when a group of masked, assault-weapon-wielding activists invade the restaurant, confiscate everyone's cell phones, and demand complete compliance with their orders. That's scary enough, but then the surprise identity of one of their captors raises the stakes exponentially. But even in her terror, Jane starts to notice that the situation feels familiar - because it's almost identical to the plot of the one (failed) novel she published six years ago.
Jane and Dan is a weird mash up of marriage-in-peril drama, suspense thriller, and wacky satire. I know it's just a novel, but I'm on edge these days and easily offended. In particular, the POV chapters from a bumbling police deputy who is excited to experience his first real crime (including a gunshot wound and everything!) made me see red. Similarly, without spoiling anything, the ultimate fate of the activists demonstrates either the author's naivete or her privilege.
If I were feeling more charitable towards the world, I would note that Oakley does an decent job of showing how Jane and Dan gradually remember why they love each other as they work together to avert the worst-case scenario. There's a heartfelt message about learning to trust that your kids will be okay even if you can't protect them 24/7 anymore. And the final reveal of why life is imitating Jane's art is undeniably clever (if incredibly far-fetched).
Maybe I should stick to non-fiction for a while. I'm not able to put aside my anger and fear long enough to get lost in someone else's story.
ARC received from Net Galley and publisher in exchange for review.
WARNING: Cliffhanger ending. Also trigger warning for animal death.
After waiting 3 years for the final book in the MacBride trilogy, there's a cliffhanger ending and Lucy and Gus don't even meet in person! I have to admit that once I realized that sad fact, I couldn't fully engage myself in the story. Deborah Smith has already left me hanging since 2014 with the little snippet of Where the Foxgloves Bloom, supposedly the first story in a planned trilogy sequel to A Place to Call Home and I just can't have my heart broken again like that. So Lucy and Gus will just have to wait until I can read the next installment and the next - however many novellas and years it takes to get to their HEA.
I will say that the book has Smith's trademark offbeat Southern humor, heart-wrenching drama, appearances from Cathy and Delta from The Crossroads Cafe and lots of adorable farm animals. And it's absolutely 100% crystal clear how Smith feels about our current presidential administration and the racist, anti-feminist, anti-LBGTQ, anti-Semitic fervor that has come out of the shadows since January 2017. I was going to say that her villains are a little over the top. And then I remember Charlottesville and I decided nothing is over the top these days, sadly.
So the book, like this review, is open-ended and subject to revision.
3.5 somewhat confused stars. Barbara O'Neal (aka [a:Barbara Samuel 175137 Barbara Samuel https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1296597110p2/175137.jpg] and [a:Ruth Wind 53017 Ruth Wind https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1619552320p2/53017.jpg]) is one of my favorite Women's Fiction authors. Once again she spins a compelling tale of women at a crossroads while negotiating complex family dynamics. I was especially thrilled that one of the narrators is a 70+ year old woman with a vibrant, full life. Gloria is a former stewardess who is now an Instagram influencer. When she learns that the great love of her life, who she hasn't seen in years, has been arrested for art forgery and theft, she realizes that her days of freedom may be numbered, as she was often his willing accomplice. She's tempted to flee, but she is reluctant to leave her two nieces who need her help and wisdom. Willow and Samantha are half-sisters whose mother Billie was a famous folk-rock star before her untimely death from a drug overdose. Willow has just arrived in New York after another failed relationship, determined to shed her “manic pixie dream girl” behavior and find success in the music world on her own terms. Sam's once profitable video game company is floundering after several poorly received releases and the loss of its best coder - Sam's best friend Asher, who she pushed away in a panic after they briefly became lovers.Like most of O'Neal's recent books, there is a lot of plot, and frankly not enough pages to fully flesh it all out. But the focus on the challenging dynamics between the sisters, and Gloria's unique role in their lives, is written beautifully, like one of Willow's compositions. It is so refreshing to find a septuagenarian character in Women's Fiction, especially one who still dreams and desires, albeit perhaps from a more realistic place than her nieces. As Gloria muses: The great tragedy of aging is not the loss of the supple body but the illusion we are forced to leave behind, one after the other, like a string of pearls from a necklace. That all will be well, that dreams can come true, that we can always do what we wish, that sacrifice and sorrow are not inevitable. The reason for my somewhat confused rating is my ambivalence towards the way the art theft is portrayed. Both Gloria and her former lover Isaac had mothers whose lives were destroyed by the Nazis in WWII, and it is briefly mentioned that the thefts were from a hidden cache of Nazi holdings. So does that make the thefts justifiable? Was any attempt made to return them to their original owners? What about the forgeries that were sold to collectors who thought they were the real thing? Gloria doesn't express much regret about her part in these crimes, other than considering them youthful indiscretions. Instead she focuses on not getting caught and protecting her nieces. I realize I'm a judgmental old fart, but even if I didn't want to see such a vibrant individual in prison, I wanted to see at least some attempt at restitutions or atonement for an illegal act. The more cynical part of me, however, thinks that in today's world where there is so little justice for political crimes (trying to steal a presidential election and so forth), decades-old thefts that didn't harm anyone shouldn't be considered such a big deal. There's very little black and white morality left in the world, so I should probably just chill out and enjoy the story. TL;dr - Barbara O'Neal has been writing consistently great stuff for 30 years, and she should include more MCs like Gloria for mature readers like me to appreciate. Uncorrected proofs received from Net Galley in exchange for honest review.
I read a lot of Judith Arnold's romance novels in the 1980s and 90s, but both of us have gotten older. These days, love stories with blissful HEAs are nice but not very relevant to our lives anymore. So Arnold has moved on to write about what she knows now, and I can definitely relate.
If Only portrays a 60+ year old, retired school music teacher who just wants to be left alone in peace. Unfortunately, her daughter and teenaged granddaughter live with Ruth and her husband Barry, and her son has just announced that he and his wife are separating because he is in love with a younger woman. Her other daughter is a therapist who has expert advice for everyone, despite the fact that her kids are running wild.
As Ruth tries to figure out the appropriate amount of involvement with her grown children's problems, she also looks back at the choices she has made in her life and imagines how her life could have been different. This isn't Sliding Doors; Ruth doesn't magically exist in two different timelines. The “if only” passages are brief fantasies about where the road not taken might have led - if Ruth and Barry had bought a different house, if she had learned to ski when her friend invited her on a family trip, if she had taken piano lessons from a better teacher...and in her fantasies, she is usually rich, famous, and/or trouble-free.
Many of the “what if's” relate to Ruth's high school years in the 1970s, when she briefly played keyboards in a garage rock band, and tried to control her crush on the cute lead singer. The flashback chapters are lively and fun to read; who can resist a nice Jewish girl wearing bell-bottomed jeans, playing gigs with four guys, and singing about getting wasted?
But although Ruth eventually makes peace with the way her life turned out, the tone is resigned and not necessarily upbeat. Several plotlines about her daughter and granddaughter remain unresolved, and frankly Barry is a sexist jerk who lets Ruth do all of the housework and heavy emotional lifting. The ending suggests that everyone lands where they're supposed to be, so you might as well enjoy it. Nice for Ruth's peace of mind, but this reader wanted something better for her. I guess I'm still looking for that HEA fantasy, even if Arnold has learned that reality is not a romance novel.
ARC provided by Net Galley in exchange for objective review.
3.5 stars rounded up because I like J.L. Merrow's writing style. A little too much plot and not enough meaningful interaction between the two MCs. I could believe they were attracted to each other, but not that they had earned a HEA yet. Good use of secondary characters, including Adam's BFF Scratch, who is crying out for his own book.
I haven't read any of the In Death novellas, but I checked this one out because it introduces a key character who resurfaces in the February 2025 release [b:Bonded in Death 211004040 Bonded in Death (In Death, #60) J.D. Robb https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1715100468l/211004040.SY75.jpg 217233227]. Roarke was pretty heavy-handed in 2009; I'm glad he has chilled a bit since then.
Cute sequel to [b:Let's Connect 54898496 Let's Connect Kelly Jensen https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1597242943l/54898496.SY75.jpg 85666474], with an agoraphobic MC crushing on his next door neighbor. I had just finished a deeply emotional novel, and felt like I had been through the wringer, so I'm afraid this felt very much like a palate cleanser, no fault of the author. Robin's hard-fought battle to go outside, walk down the street and engage with the world was poignant and relatable (I can see myself becoming a bit agoraphobic after a year of quarantining), but the romance with Seth didn't quite resonate, perhaps because of the novella length. Bonus points for the Northeast Philadelphia setting, my old stomping grounds. Hoping that Kelly Jensen gets back to publishing longer novels soon. She's good at capturing emotions but she needs a little more room to let them develop more naturally and fully.
Morbidly interesting history of the white male definition of “sexy” as evidenced by the many iterations of Victoria's Secret starting with its origin as a lingerie mail-order catalog in 1977. Selling Sexy focuses on Les Wexner, the billionaire businessman who bought VS for a song, adding it to his empire of shopping mall staples such as The Limited, Bath & Body Works, and Abercrombie & Fitch. The authors profile the few women who had positions of power during Victoria Secret's reign, but it's obvious that Wexner really called the shots. In 2018, near the end of his long tenure as CEO, he dismissed customers over 35 as “old and fat” and therefore not worthy of VS attention. Sherman and Fernandez, experienced fashion and business reporters, mostly maintain a journalistic distance, but they gleefully end the book with Kim Kardashian's Skims shapewear more or less putting the nail in Victoria Secret's coffin.
ETA: Re-read updated version 11/17/24. I'm a little more uncomfortable with the “fall in love with your childhood bully” trope this time around; the past eight years have made me more wary of toxic masculinity. Alfie's disastrous DIY attempt will never not be funny though.
*****
I am in awe of Alexis Hall's command of the English language. It's as if each word were carefully chosen to have maximum emotional impact on the reader - whether that emotion is passion, humor, grief or anger. I rationed out this book over the course of a full week to savor it slowly, which is very unusual for a bookaholic like myself who usually inhales books in one greedy gulp.
Hall's most recent release, Looking for Group, frankly lost me with all of the gaming descriptions, but the only thing hard to understand in Pansies is a little bit of the rural English dialect. Alfie Bell has to be one of Hall's best MC's ever, newly out and proud but still not sure how to reconcile the gay lifestyle with the “man's man” he was raised to be by his father and brother. After a mind-blowing one night stand, he realizes he has just slept with Fen, the boy that he and his friends mercilessly bullied when they schoolmates. The journey from hatred to forgiveness and finally love isn't easy, and not just because Fen justifiably wants to put Alfie's head down the loo. Fen has other troubles that are not related to Alfie, and Alfie has a successful finance job back in London that is waiting for him. But the biggest challenge is figuring out how to become who he really wants to be: a decent bloke who belatedly realizes that his thoughtless bullying truly traumatized Fen, a gay man from conservative coastal South Shields who is terrible at DIY (the scene where Alfie tries to fix a hole in Fen's bathroom wall is hilariously disastrous), and ultimately a loyal, kind, generous guy who wants to take care of and come home to his lover every night for the rest of their lives.
Ever since Hall burst onto the M/M scene with Glitterland he has tried several different subgenres - D/s, gamers, steampunk - but I think when he just tells a simple love story he is at his best. Pansies is just lovely and possibly the best novel he has written to date.
When we last saw Nick and Dex at the end of Abroad: Book One they had a lovely (and steamy) HFN ending. In some ways it would have been easier to leave them there, but Liz Jacobs doesn't let them (or the readers) off the hook that easily in the second half of the duology, taking them through the agonies and ecstasies of a new relationship in which neither character is brave or self-assured enough to be totally honest. Add in Nick's cultural differences and utter panic at the thought of coming out to his Russian-Jewish mother and you have the stage set for a lot of missteps and misunderstandings. Not always an easy read, but the good parts are so tender and beautiful, and the sex (there's lots of it) is a necessary part of the relationship development.
Izzy's story takes a bit of a backseat in this installment, and after the cliffhanger ending with Natali her love life takes a surprising direction. Despite the limited page time, she remains for the most part the glue that holds all of the other characters together. Points awarded to Jacobs for letting Izzy explore the “bi” in bisexuality.
I don't usually read “New Adult” books because most of them feature characters who are so much more fabulous and confident than I ever recall being in my 20's (Christina Lauren's books are a prime example). But Abroad 2 was so spot on in its portrayal of the uncertainty and insecurities of young adulthood that at times it was painful to keep turning the pages. If you're looking for a fluffy M/M romance, this isn't for you, but if you don't mind going back to the age when the future was one big, giant question mark (equally horrifying and exciting), then you will appreciate the strong writing, dialogue and characterization.
In two novels and approximately 400 pages, Jacobs manages to include a broad spectrum of queer representation, but it never feels preachy or didactic, or like she is working off a QUILTBAG checklist. I hope she is just getting started on her promising career; might I suggest a spin-off novella about Jonny and Lance and their search for an anti-capitalist paradise?
Solid but unremarkable entry in this long-running series. Thought there might be more drama when the person who asks our intrepid duo to take on a new case turns out to be a fellow professor who figured briefly in Orlando's thoughts when he thought Jonty had been lost in the war, but jealousy barely rears its ugly head.
3.25 stars. Albert leaves behind her hunky Out of Uniform military MCs (start with [b:Off Base 31950854 Off Base (Out of Uniform, #1) Annabeth Albert https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1476543505s/31950854.jpg 52611374]) for a series set in the breathtaking wilds of Alaska. Loner Griffin meets former superstar model River, and the two men discover a surprising attraction as well as shared recovery issues (Griffin from alcohol and River from an eating disorder), but both have insecurities that keep them from believing that they can have a long-term relationship and from fully opening up to each other. I've been a big Annabeth Albert fan since the first Gaymers book, [b:Status Update 26162169 Status Update (#gaymers, #1) Annabeth Albert https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1444257447s/26162169.jpg 46121871], but something about Arctic Sun didn't fully grab me. I'll admit that neither wilderness men nor models are my cup of tea, and the descriptions of the Alaskan scenery were lost on someone who focuses on dialogue and action, so it was a hard sell to start with. I liked the way Griffin went from assuming River would be an empty-headed diva to reluctantly liking him and being attracted to him, and then taking himself out of his comfort zone to be with him. I also liked the way the sex scenes were very much illustrative of how the relationship was developing between the men and not just added in for titillation purposes. Several of the scenes were more sweet than sexy, which was fine with me.But for some reason it was too easy to put the book down and I didn't feel the urgency of the love story. I also missed the camaraderie of the Out of Uniform series; Griffin had acquaintances (one of whom will be the next book's MC) but no true friends, and River's friendships were admittedly toxic. I liked but didn't love Griffin and River together. Maybe [b:Arctic Wild 43263021 Arctic Wild (Frozen Hearts #2) Annabeth Albert https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1549648970s/43263021.jpg 67141842] will do a better job of selling me on this series.
One of the author's few stand-alone books, and maybe stronger for that, as there is no attempt to shoehorn in multiple characters from previous or future books. The focus is on two nice but hurt guys and their rapidly developing relationship. Danny is wealthy but lost, coming back to his hometown to be close to his sister and infant niece while he figures out what comes next. Jamie is a fellow volunteer at the fire station, a Deaf man who is mostly estranged from his hearing family. The relationship develops with little to no drama, although there is personal angst from Danny's brother-in-law, who is wounded in action, and Jamie's family, most of whom have not bothered to learn ASL.
Another change of pace for Lindsey is that the story is told only from Danny's point of view, so we don't get to know Jamie quite as well. But for a short novel that decision feels appropriate because it avoids any head hopping between scenes or chapters.
Lindsey's books have become comfort reads for me in 2020. Their MCs are always good guys facing tough situations and there are few Big Misunderstandings or lack of communication. They help me remember the basic decency of humanity, which I frequently despair of in these troubled times.
The perfect ending to a completely bonkers, highly entertaining dino-shifter series. We finally get a romance for RELIC leader Montana, and it's hilarious and surprisingly moving. The usual “let's liberate a priceless fossil from the bad guys” heist has deep personal relevance this time, especially for the two mortal humans in the crew and my favorite shifter/goofball Dalton. I read the series' first book, [b:Smash & Grab 54500501 Smash & Grab (RELIC #1) Maz Maddox https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1594672581l/54500501.SY75.jpg 85020410], on U.S. Election Night 2020 and it saved my sanity. Three years later, I'm in the midst of house hunting/selling stress, and this finale afforded me a few hours of blessed respite. Bless you Maz Maddox, for creating the perfect escape from reality.
This book is very funny in the best British way, but the romance aspect falls short. The two MCs barely exchange a word until almost halfway through the book (although they have several awkward meet-cutes and do a lot of pining), then they have a few days together, but are quickly separated when lying and misunderstanding come between them. Both MCs are likeable, and Archie's involvement in the steampunk culture is fascinating, but I'm here for books that explore two people building a relationship over time and that aspect was sadly lacking. I felt very anxious as I read, waiting for the lies to catch up to them, and frankly I don't need any more anxiety in my life these days. YMMV if you can just sit back, enjoy Merrow's humor, and have more faith than I did that it will all work out in the end.
Talk about doomscrolling! Dorian Lynskey's book catalogs the numerous ways that the world might end, as portrayed in fictional media from Lord Byron's 1811 poem “Darkness” and H.G. Wells' [b:The Time Machine 2493 The Time Machine H.G. Wells https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327942880l/2493.SY75.jpg 3234863] and Emily St. John Mandel's amazing [b:Station Eleven 20170404 Station Eleven Emily St. John Mandel https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1680459872l/20170404.SX50.jpg 28098716]. The book is thematic rather than historic, but Lynskey asserts that the predominant cause of the apocalypses reflects the general anxieties of the era. Robots were first popular between the world wars, when the threats of fascism and communism invoked the fear of all-powerful machines without hearts. In the wake of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and again in the 1980s at the height of the nuclear arms race, nuclear armageddon was ascendent. Once we understood how viruses are transmitted, mad scientists unleashing contagious diseases proliferated. Lynskey is an engaging writer, but he gets a little too much into the weeds on some topics. I didn't need a refresher on the Manhattan Project to appreciate nuclear war themed apocalypses, and knowing who first coined the term “survivalist” didn't deepen my appreciation for [b:The Road 6288 The Road Cormac McCarthy https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1600241424l/6288.SY75.jpg 3355573]. But the longer it took me to read, the more I was able to avoid doomscrolling the current US descent into chaos.
Owen Elliot-Kugell was 7 years old when her mother, Cass Elliot, passed away in 1974. So she has few personal memories of (arguably) the strongest singer in The Mamas & the Papas, and instead heavily relies on interviews and secondary sources to piece together Mama Cass's brief life. There are no shocking revelations in the book, unless you count discovering who started the “cause of death: choked on ham sandwich” rumor. The last third of the book covers Elliot-Kugell's life post-1974, and frankly, it isn't that interesting, other than the fact that she was almost the fourth member of Wilson Phillips (1990s nepo babies known for their song “Hold On”).
How could I not give 4 stars to a book that features MCs in their 50s and shows how sexy men of this age can still be? And yet how can I give 4 stars to a book that uses one of my least favorite tropes, sex worker who falls in love with his client? Ah, the genius of Harper Fox...The Insta!Love between mundane civil servant George and his 50th birthday present Aaron Silver strains belief, and Fox doesn't show the two of them spending enough time together before the rest of the story takes place so that the reader truly feels their love is earned. Plus Silver continues seeing clients after his encounter with George, including a very sweet scene with George's colleague Jamie who is escaping a bad marriage. I hate it when the MCs have sex with anyone but each other, even if Silver spends most of the time thinking about George. And finally, Silver turns out to have a lot of secrets that make the plot even more ridiculous. So all in all, this book shouldn't work at all.And yet it does because Harper Fox writes with such generosity about her characters, even the troubled ones. The perfectly British but obviously close relationship George has with his brother Andrew is perfectly rendered, and even George's ex, Melchior, gets a moment to shine despite being a selfish spoiled git who left the very nice George for a younger hot female model. Even the story's real bad guy has some hidden depths that help explain (although not excuse) his actions. Although I still wanted to see more of George and Silver falling in love, their scenes together are just lovely and reminded me of Tyack and Frayne) from [b:Once Upon A Haunted Moor 18744000 Once Upon A Haunted Moor (Tyack & Frayne, #1) Harper Fox https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1383229264s/18744000.jpg 26624966] et al). While it may be difficult initially to believe that a dashing escort whose car glove box contains “a pair of deluxe padded handcuffs, a copy of Madame Bovary and a box of tissues” could immediately fall for a mild-mannered slightly overweight city planner (and utter such lines as “I normally don't get into it that much with anyone” after they sleep together the first time), if anyone can pull it off with sincerity it would be this author. Fox was open about experiencing a bad case of writer's block recently, and at one point she apparently thought she wouldn't publish again. That would be a horrible shame, because she is one of the strongest writers in the M/M genre. Even if Escort wasn't my favorite book of hers, I'm thankful she wrote it and hope there are still many more to come.
Ugh, this was such a frustrating book. The MCs were likeable and had good chemistry, but there was too much Info Dumping at the beginning that could have been woven into the story more naturally. Also, the civilian working with the cop trope has two hazards, both of which are on display here: civilian keeps too many secrets from cop because Reasons, and civilian unnecessarily puts himself into danger because Other Reasons. Finally, the pacing was odd and it felt like a scene was missing at the end You know, the one where the two MCs actually say I love you to each other, and the misgivings and mistrust that have threatened their relationship are directly addressed? Completely missing here. Civilian leaves cop a note telling him he loves him, cop tells unconscious civilian lying in a hospital bed that he loves him too, and then we cut to epilogue of happy couple hosting a BBQ. I liked the paranormal aspect of the book, and perhaps if the relationship drama is held to a minimum in the sequel, [b:The Rising 44012425 The Rising (Badlands, #2) Morgan Brice https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1550182143s/44012425.jpg 68427256], it could be worth the time and money. But there were too many problems with this book to make me want to rush out and read it. NB: I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley.
Intriguing premise, fair-to-good execution. Didn't care very much for the hot and cold Hudson (even though he had some valid Reasons for his behavior), and the plot dragged at first. Last 25% of the book was the strongest, with lots of action and some lovely “found family” moments. I'm on the fence about reading the sequel, due out later this year, but I'll probably pick it up to see if Jenn Burke can keep up the momentum from this book's conclusion.
Sweet New Adult m/m romance that starts out as a standard opposites attract story - outgoing frat guy meets grouchy loner artist - and then morphs into something more interesting. As usual with this author, there's a little too much preaching and some over the top gestures, but the story did help me understand various points along the sexuality spectrum and made me think twice about how we define intimacy. All that plus a crash course in anime, manga and Japanese culture. Good job.
ARC provided by Net Galley in exchange for honest (squee-free zone) review.
Not as good as [b:Bart Goes to Brentwood 36236924 Bart Goes to Brentwood (The Robbie Day Duology, #1) I.M. Flippy https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1505363158s/36236924.jpg 57879664], primarily because Robbie's first person voice isn't as engaging as Bart's, and also because this second part of the duology features an annoying breakup (fortunately not one that lasts very long). Still very cute to see the two MCs together, and to get some needed closure for Bart's sister Jen.
I love everything I've read by these authors, but they take a real chance by making one of the MCs so wounded, flamboyant and occasionally downright mean that he's borderline unsympathetic. Fortunately he is such a strong character and Davis/Stewart always keep you aware of the pain underneath the surface, so you root for him and the good-natured, shy Bear. Anyway, who couldn't love a book with an 80s music loving high-heel wearing MC who tells everyone that Simon LeBon is his father. One of those books that breaks your heart and then puts it back together again. The first two-thirds are the strongest, but the entire book is another triumph by this talented duo.
To my fellow KJ Charles fans: you already know how awesome she is, this is one of her best, aren't we lucky to live in her world?
To anyone who isn't familiar with her work and is wondering whether you should read this book: YES OMG what are you waiting for hit that one-click purchase button RIGHT NOW.
I'm not sure what else there is to say but I will mention a few of my favorite aspects of this near-perfect novel. It's funny. It's smart (next time someone tells you romance novels are trash, ask them to use the words “farrago” and “propitiate” in a sentence). It is diverse. It deals with consent in a way that feels true to both its time and our own.
Of course none of this would matter if the romance didn't work, and KJC doesn't let us down. Guy Frisby may start the book as a prudish “plank” but he comes out of his shell and becomes a passionate, thoughtful and brave man. Helping him along his journey is the “fair-haired, scientifically minded libertine” Philip Rookwood, whose hard-hearted cynicism melts pretty much the first time he realizes how much Guy loves and takes care of his sister Amanda. His seduction of the virginal Guy is eye opening for both parties, and features a unique lesson in Latin verb conjugation.
Frankly, the secondary characters almost run away with the book, most notably the other hellfire club members: the notorious rake Lord Corvin and the talented, bitter John Raven (it's probably not a coincidence that the book is called Band Sinister and not “Philip and the Plank”). The scenes with the three of them together fairly crackle with energy, and it's almost a disappointment when Charles returns to the main love story. Fortunately she knows what a treasure she has created, and leaves open the possibility that Philip and Guy's HEA might not necessarily be a completely monogamous one.
I can tell a book should be awarded 5 stars from me, because as I approach the end I read more slowly, not wanting the experience to be over; and then I immediately start a re-read. No question that Band Sinister deserves every one of its stars.