These books are definitely flawed, but they blew me away in their messy, action-filled, kickass glory. Nona is an incredible character and what an arcThese books are definitely flawed, but they blew me away in their messy, action-filled, kickass glory. Nona is an incredible character and what an arc she has....more
This book begins with an attempted kidnapping. Max, Rune and Brand’s ward, is almost snatched off the street by minions of the Hanged Man, an a5 stars
This book begins with an attempted kidnapping. Max, Rune and Brand’s ward, is almost snatched off the street by minions of the Hanged Man, an arcana. Max’s grandmother, the deposed leader of the Lovers Court, promised Max to the Hanged Man in marriage despite the fact that Max is only seventeen (and remember, that’s younger in Atlantean terms than it is in human terms) and the Hanged Man is a known pedophile.
Rune and Brand rescue Max in time but all three are freaked out. They know they need a way to look into the Hanged Man’s dealings but they also need cover, so they agree to take a case that has been petitioned to them.
Another teenager is missing, named Layne (Layne is described as a boy in The Hanged Man but by the next book, Layne has realized they are nonbinary so I’ll try to remember to use the pronoun “they” here). Layne’s guardian Corinne was their father’s companion (not romantically, but rather an empathically linked bodyguard much like Brand is to Rune).
Layne’s parents were affiliated with the Sun Court which is why Corinne petitioned for Rune’s help. They had two other children, Anna and Corbie. Corbie is four and Anna is twelve (probably three and nine in human terms—this age thing really trips me up). While poking their heads into the Hanged Man’s business in order to find and rescue Layne, Rune and Brand get closer to this family and develop protective feelings toward all of them.
The Hanged Man is up to his neck in some creepy stuff. In addition to kidnapping teens he also hijacked a naval ship that disappeared during World War II. Rune, Brand and Addam find and explore it and there are nasty surprises inside. They also discover that the Hanged Man is a dangerous enemy to cross.
There was so much I loved about this book that it’s hard to keep track of it all. As I said to friends, it fires on all cylinders. It had spot-on pacing, a great and satisfyingly twisty plot, action, humor, emotion, and bonding (both familial and romantic). I loved the introduction of Anna and the way Rune got closer to Max and Quinn. The kids (all but Corbie, who annoys me) added so much.
Since I had a problem with the almost all-male cast of The Last Sun, I was glad that significant female characters—Anna, Corinne, and an arcana named Lady Death—joined the cast in this installment. I loved the further development of Rune and Addam’s relationship. Addam is so honorable and willing to put himself on the line for Rune that he won me over and I’m no longer grumbling about how I’d rather Rune was with Brand. Addam’s relationship with Quinn (his younger brother/surrogate son) and Quinn’s relationships with just about everyone in the story are touching.
There was almost nothing that didn’t work for me—other than some simplistic humor with Corbie, just a scene at the Arcanum when so many Arcana characters were introduced all at once. I often find it awkward to try to get to know several important characters in one scene. Other than that, this was pretty much a perfect book. It’s an 5-star read for me, and I don’t give 5 stars lightly....more
Reread in January of 2022. Even better the second time. I'm raising my grade to 4.75 stars.
Earlier review from September of 2021:
4.5 stars
Shane an4.75
Reread in January of 2022. Even better the second time. I'm raising my grade to 4.75 stars.
Earlier review from September of 2021:
4.5 stars
Shane and Ilya are two young hockey rising stars with NHL aspirations when they meet. Ilya is a snarky transplant from Russia. Shane is as Canadian as maple candy and almost as sweet. When a young Shane tries to shake hands with a young Ilya, Ilya is chilly and slightly contemptuous. Right before they get recruited by teams with a legendary rivalry, the press begins to play up an enmity between them where there is, admittedly, the beginnings of one.
During a photoshoot when they are barely eighteen, they realize there is a spark there, an attraction so hot that it bewilders them. Soon they’re having hot sex that can be angry or irritated, or a competition to prove to the other that he is as hot for them as they are hot for him. Their enemies-with-benefits relationship lasts several years. All the while the media and their teams make hay out of their rivalry. When Ilya and Shane realize that they have fallen for each other, it seems like a disaster. Bad enough to be queer and in the NHL, but to love your greatest rival, too?
This was the rare enemies-to-lovers contemporary that worked for me. I like the trope a lot in fantasy, PNR, and historical settings, where there can be warring countries, packs, or clans, but in a contemporary context, it often relies on childish grudge-keeping. Here it worked partly because they were competitive people and enjoyed competing out of bed as well as in it and partly because they were so young when their rivalry started.
I liked Shane in all his uncertain sweetness but loved Ilya in all his sarcastic swagger. I liked that for many years this was an open relationship, with both of them seeing other people—it made sense given their initial enmity and the anti-gay vibe of professional sports. Shane was trying to figure out his sexuality, too (Ilya was bisexual and it was sexy and romantic that even though there were gorgeous women in his life, it was Shane he lusted for most).
The structure here is really creative. There are no flashbacks but the book follows Shane and Ilya over seven years (from ages eighteen to twenty-five), with a chapter or so for each time they meet and hook up when their teams compete. The book had a little too much sex. I loved much of that (it showed the changes in how they felt about each other through the years) but by the last couple of sex scenes I was ready to cry uncle. Heated Rivalry was also kind of fluffy but I still had a great time reading it, and I even reread parts of it a couple more times.
(view spoiler)[A scene where one of the guys comes out to family members was amazing.
In addition, I really liked the way the conflict was resolved because it was believable–there weren’t any rainbows and unicorns. That was necessary; after the build-up of the star-crossed lovers conflict the solution needed to be grounded in reality. There’s a sequel coming out in April and I’m slightly dreading the rainbows and unicorns that may be in that. (hide spoiler)]
I’ll read The Long Game for sure, though. 4.5 stars.
A good in-depth discussion of the first three books in the series, this one included, can be found in the comments section on my blog post on all three:
This book is bleak in many places and filled with a lot of suffering, as it needs to be. I wouldn’t want to read a book set partly during the A4 stars
This book is bleak in many places and filled with a lot of suffering, as it needs to be. I wouldn’t want to read a book set partly during the AIDS pandemic and have it be too happy, otherwise we’re getting into an area of misrepresentation. But it was tough going for me at times, a devastating book. The ending did offer a grace note, a moment that offered hope for a few of the survivors. The book would have been unbearably heavy without it so I am glad it was there. But anyone who has lived through that, even on the periphery, has more than earned the right to write as heavy a novel on this subject as they’d like to, as far as I am concerned....more
I would never have chosen to read Moyes after everything I’ve heard about Me Before You but one of the book club members selected this as our A4 stars
I would never have chosen to read Moyes after everything I’ve heard about Me Before You but one of the book club members selected this as our April book and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. There’s a controversy about similarities between The Giver of Stars and Kim Michele Richardson’s The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek.
The Giver of Stars is about four women who start a traveling library in Appalachian Kentucky mining territory in 1937. They ride on horseback (one on muleback) to deliver donated books to poor families who live in the mountains.
The main character is Alice, a young Englishwoman trapped in an unhappy marriage and in a household ruled by her iron-fisted father-in-law. Alice joins the library when a call for librarians is put out and the work helps her some sense of freedom and agency as well as allowing her to forge connections with her fellow librarians and the library’s patrons.
Margery, the woman who organizes the library, is the other major character. She is in her upper thirties, the book-loving daughter of an abusive (now dead) moonshiner, independent and independent-minded. In fact, she so values her independence that she has refused multiple marriage proposals from Sven, the man she loves.
Alice’s love life also gets attention, as do side characters comprised of four more librarians and the men in Alice and Margery’s lives.
This book made it easy to turn the pages. I enjoyed the unusual setting, learning about Eleanor Roosevelt’s traveling library program, and the theme of women coming together to support each other. There were some wonderful dramatic events including one that felt cinematic in both scope and visuals.
Moyes piled on a few too many dramatic events one after the other, and there was one spoilery development that bothered me.
(view spoiler)[Margery undergoes a difficult experience later on in the book and I hated it. All turned out well in the end, I suppose, but it felt like the author put her through the wringer to soften her and show her learn to value the support of those who love her over freedom. I hated this because I’d liked her just as she was, with her love of autonomy and the value she placed on thinking for herself and on empowering others to do the same.
I couldn’t picture her ever being as independent again as she’d been in the past; instead, I saw her future self as a more maternal, soft, and tender woman. Characters like that are a dime a dozen in genre fiction, whereas an indomitable woman is much rarer. I wasn’t happy to see that taken away.
There was also too much stars-and-rainbows stuff at the end with regard to two side characters. This felt like it was there to balance out the through-the-wringer patch that came before it. Since I resented the latter, I thought the former was dissatisfying. (hide spoiler)]
To summarize all that, the novel felt manipulative.
Still, this is a quick, entertaining read. All the librarians are sympathetic, most of the secondary characters are distinctive and likable, and I loved learning more about Appalachia. ...more
The following review contains spoilers for some of the books in Gregory Ashe’s Hazard and Somerset gay mysteries. If you are interested in r3.75 stars
The following review contains spoilers for some of the books in Gregory Ashe’s Hazard and Somerset gay mysteries. If you are interested in reading the books and want to avoid spoilers, avoid this page and visit my review of book one, Pretty Pretty Boys.
Hazard and Somerset: Off-Duty is a 131-page collection of three novellas and a handful of vignettes that take place between books in the Hazard and Somerset mystery series. Although the books in the series are of varying quality, I got obsessed with the romantic relationship the series centers around so I wanted to read this anthology.
Tickets to the Gun Show
This short story, about 25 kindle pages in length, takes place between Paternity Case (book #3) and Guilt by Association (book #4).
There are a few threads here. Hazard is at the Pretty Pretty (Wahredua’s only gay bar) when he observes three men spray painting the gay club’s exterior with homophobic slurs. Hazard and his boyfriend, Nico, are on the outs and Somers is trying to help Hazard get Nico back. Somers left concert tickets in his desk for a concert he and his somewhat estranged wife Cora plan to attend, and he asks Hazard to pick them up for him, but it turns out the tickets are missing and Hazard has to figure out who took them and then get them back.
This story was just not bad. There was not much mystery here; it only takes Hazard a few pages to work out the identity of the thief. The rest of it is about the lengths Hazard will go to get the tickets to Somers and there’s some action involved in that and a bit that shows how Somers tries to get Nico and Hazard back in each other’s good graces.
This review is partial. You can read it in its entirety at Dear Author, here:
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