This is not a romance novel by the most common genre definition. I did not enjoy discovering this at 2 in the morning.
With that out of the way, there This is not a romance novel by the most common genre definition. I did not enjoy discovering this at 2 in the morning.
With that out of the way, there was a fair amount I enjoyed in this book. It makes perfect sense that when a curator of American decorative writes a vampire book, it would be *really* into how much lovely furniture the vampire has accumulated along his long life. I find that kind of adorable. It was really interesting to read a book that was first written when AIDS was still usually a death sentence and that takes account of that. The relationship between Desmond and Tony was quite sweet until it wasn't.
The two very long flashbacks into Desmond's long history were interesting in themselves, but did make the book feel a little unbalanced.
I read this straight through in a day, having trouble putting it down. I'm not going to give it a star rating, because I'm not sure how to -- it would be a 3 or a 4 for most of my reading experience, but I'm not sure how many to knock off for the wall I ran into at 2 in the morning....more
Many, many thanks to Travis Beaudoin for the opportunity to read an ARC of this delightful book. (Disclosure: Travis and I are social media mutuals andMany, many thanks to Travis Beaudoin for the opportunity to read an ARC of this delightful book. (Disclosure: Travis and I are social media mutuals and friendly over DMs)
This paranormal romance, told from the point of view of the demon, is something special, mostly because of the narrator. Gremory (a Duke of Hell when he's not meddling in the affairs of mortals) is so earnest in his desire to get us to understand what it is like to be a demon and how his existence is different from ours and also so amusing in the ways he tells us about it, often in intimate-feeling parenthetical asides. He falls in love with Scott without even noticing it, but his descriptions of the man who called him to earth are full of charming tells.
Gremory is not bound by human morality, but ends up acting well almost all of the time for other reasons. "(You’ll notice I wasn’t lying. I can if I want to. I’m a demon, after all. I just like seeing how close to the truth I can cut sometimes. Like a game.)" And he doesn't have to stay embodied, even when he's on the mortal plane, but he does, often for the sheer pleasure of standing next to Scotty, or for intimate little moments like drying the dishes while Scotty washes them. And you'll be bopping along, all tea and coziness and running Scotty's antique shop, and then Gremory thinks something that makes it so clear that he's just not like us and would gladly do terrible, terrible things to protect Scotty (and yet doesn't) (mostly).
There's an external plot as well, a Hallmark-movie-style struggle to save Scotty's antique shop and the rest of the quaint little town from rapacious developers. It moves the story along well and the inevitable triumph over the baddies is satisfying, but it's not the main attraction for me. Neither is Scotty; his character is well-thought-out and a good guy, with a sad backstory and powerful motivations and an arc of real growth, but while I cheered him on along that path I'm not in love with him like I seem to be with Gremory.
Beaudoin makes good use of the possibilities of the paranormal. The sex scenes take full and creative advantage of Gremory's magical abilities. I won't give the details away, but the first one especially is different from anything I've read, an excellent creative choice on the author's part and quite moving, as well as forming a crucial part of Scotty's character arc and the relationship arc. And the final sex scene is nearly over-the-top burlesque, in a good way. Gremory's magic powers are critical to the plot and well thought out, and have limitations that keep them from being so big that they can immediately and totally fix any problem. The ideas of Heaven and Hell and the nature of demons are not the conventional Christian ones and I found them charming and interesting. (Gremory, of course, makes Hell sound like by far the better place to be.) The various diabolic locations we visit or hear about are beguiling otherworldly imaginings.
This is quite different from Beaudoin's first book, Too Like the Lightning, which was super evocative of place with occasionally melancholy character exploration. Where TLTL was serious and emotional, CCTD is light and playful and sometimes poignant This book succeeds admirably on its own terms -- I had a gentle smile on my face almost the whole time I was reading it and laughed out loud more than once. Basically, it's a fucking delight. Highly recommended....more
It took me quite a while to get engaged with this but it ultimately held my interest. It's not one of my usual genres and hasn't made a convert of me.It took me quite a while to get engaged with this but it ultimately held my interest. It's not one of my usual genres and hasn't made a convert of me....more
This is a fun, weird little story about love between a woman and her door.
Yes, door.
He doesn't stay in door form the whole time.
I don't really want toThis is a fun, weird little story about love between a woman and her door.
Yes, door.
He doesn't stay in door form the whole time.
I don't really want to tell you more because spoilers. It's not that long, and it's not expensive. If you think you'd enjoy some soft femdom with a touch of myth and a touch of weird, go for it....more
This held my interest but I didn't love it the way so many people do. Maybe my lack of appreciation of coffee hampered things.This held my interest but I didn't love it the way so many people do. Maybe my lack of appreciation of coffee hampered things....more
(Disclaimer: the author and I are mutuals on Twitter and Bluesky)
I enjoyed this soft fantasy romance from Dan Fitzgerald. The fantasy style is not at (Disclaimer: the author and I are mutuals on Twitter and Bluesky)
I enjoyed this soft fantasy romance from Dan Fitzgerald. The fantasy style is not at all "swords and sorcery" -- there's mind magic and alchemists, but nothing that made me feel like I'd stumbled into an off-brand D&D campaign.
It's the story of Tera and Aven, two "painted faces", members of a high social class who are never seen by another person without a covering of artfully applied paint...except their spouse. This piece of world-building was new to me and handled deftly -- woven into all the social interactions in the book. Like all the worldbuilding, it's present throughout without ever being presented in a clunky infodump.
The book is divided into two parts of equal length: the couple's honeymoon, and their return to society, complete with some dramatic derring-do.
The part I loved most is the honeymoon section. Tera and Aven are in an arranged marriage and have barely met before the ceremony. Over the honeymoon, we find them getting to know each other and building a relationship embracing both friendship and physical intimacy. Their culture gives them some framework for structuring their early interactions, and within that structure they both act with such kindness and honesty that it's just beautiful to watch. It's not unusual in romance novels for the reader (this reader anyway) to want to scream "Would you two just talk TO EACH OTHER!?" That doesn't happen in this book even once. And the relationship they build grows naturally into one of gentle femdom and adoring submissive, which really works for me.
I wasn't *as* into the part where they've left their tropical paradise honeymoon and are reintegrating into society (and have to figure out some mysterious stuff and negotiate some adventures). I still enjoyed it, though. Highly recommended for people who want to see gentle, squishy love with a bit of D/s. ...more
An engaging fantasy full of magic doors to other places, featuring an Edwardian collector or exotic artifacts and fully aware of the racism and coloniAn engaging fantasy full of magic doors to other places, featuring an Edwardian collector or exotic artifacts and fully aware of the racism and colonialism inherent in such collecting....more
I found this really enjoyable and engaging. I'm quite impressed that Guerre wrote an incubus story with impeccable sexual consent. (Autumn does make sI found this really enjoyable and engaging. I'm quite impressed that Guerre wrote an incubus story with impeccable sexual consent. (Autumn does make some questionable choices where she withholds information from Irdu, but it's not quite directly a sexual consent issue). I liked both characters a lot, and as always, she centers the woman's pleasure -- without neglecting the man's -- and writes the sex in a way that doesn't squick me, which is rare in mf romance. I felt like there were some plot holes and improbable leaps of logic in some of the supernatural aspects of the plot when Autumn starts trying to rescue Irdu, but as a romance I found this pleasant and successful....more
This is quite a sweet vampire love story with lots of primal play as well -- he loves the hunt and she loves giving up power, so they play w3.5 stars.
This is quite a sweet vampire love story with lots of primal play as well -- he loves the hunt and she loves giving up power, so they play with it. I feel like part of what it's doing is setting up the vampire lore for later entries in the series....more
Okay, this is just the most adorable thing. On the run from a bad relationship, Grace starts teaching in a small city in Alaska. She can't s4.5 stars.
Okay, this is just the most adorable thing. On the run from a bad relationship, Grace starts teaching in a small city in Alaska. She can't seem to get away from the irascible and unfairly good-looking pilot who flew her in and she keeps having disturbing dreams about her ex. The town both welcomes her in and is witholding some secrets (and some of the moments where she hasn't figured it out yet are delightfully funny).
I love the warmth of the pack. I love the way that even though she's surrounded by immensely powerful supernatural people, Grace does not become a hapless damsel in distress. And -- it's a small thing, but I love how when she's gained some weight after being too skinny when she arrives in town, she's glad to have gained it and looks forward to gaining more. ...more
This was interesting but not really my thing. I'm clearly going to end up reading all of Tal's books and as part of that mission, this was successful.This was interesting but not really my thing. I'm clearly going to end up reading all of Tal's books and as part of that mission, this was successful. But paranormal psychothriller with a heavy side of Catholicism is clearly not my genre. I also found the conclusion pretty unsatisfying -- it didn't neatly tie up all the intriguing possibilities that had been raised but it also didn't leave them intriguingly open -- it just kind of dropped them on the floor and said "and then everything was okay"....more
This had some interesting ideas with uneven execution. Putting some of the reveals in different places would have let Bauer work the implications out This had some interesting ideas with uneven execution. Putting some of the reveals in different places would have let Bauer work the implications out more fully. Still, I was engaged and wanted to know what happened. I may not reread it — unusual for a Tal book — but I’m not sorry I read it. ...more
This is a wonderful, fitting end to the series, full of reveals that make you want to go back and reread the previous volumes to see where/whether theThis is a wonderful, fitting end to the series, full of reveals that make you want to go back and reread the previous volumes to see where/whether the groundwork was laid. I've started re-listening to volume 1 and I am certain that Novik had this all planned out meticulously from the get-go. There was one half-chapter in here that I found irritatingly wandery and vague, but I loved everything else about it. ...more