How’s everyone doing?
Hi guys!
How you doing? Anyone got any good news to share?
I organized a family Zoom meeting for my very global family and we managed to get my son in India, my brother’s family in Hong Kong, and a bunch of us on the East Coast on at the same time. It was pretty great! But everyone talked over everyone else–there were 15 people on. Anyone have any tips how to make Zoom meetings work well?
I am still very much enjoying The Expanse. It’s not quite as good as Battlestar Galactica–the pinnacle of sci-fi shows IMO–but it’s very very smart. Plus all the most powerful people on the show are women and one of the, the Iranian actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, has pretty much the best outfits I’ve seen on TV since the first season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Check this link out just to see a few.
I’ve just finished reading Caroline Linden’s upcoming June book in which I learned a tremendous amount about how pottery was made in England in the the late 1700s. It’s a Taming of the Shrew story which inspired me to watch (my husband had never seen it!) one of my all time favorite teen movies Ten Things I Hate About You. Allison Janney’s romance novel writing cracks me up to no end. This scene guys…
So that’s me. How about you?
Hello! Just checking in….
How is everyone? I am now living with my unemployed husband and three of our four kids (they’re all employed and able to work remotely) which is much better than when it was just me and Sophie.
That said, my oldest son is still in India which makes me nervous and I find the news routinely overwhelming.
To soothe my nerves, I’ve been watching The Expanse and reruns of Scrubs–still the most accurate show about hospitals ever–and reading romances. (I am currently reading The Ruin of Evangeline Jones by Julia Bennet which is SO. GOOD.
How about you? Staying sane? (We’re here for you.) And what are you reading and watching?
In case anybody’s interested, I recently learned that Harlequin has opened two limited edition series lines to approximately 55,000 word manuscript submissions. They are Inspirational Cold Case and Inspirational Mountain Rescue. For those of you using quarantine time to write a book, here are their guidelines and editor wish lists: https://www.soyouthinkyoucanwrite.com/inspirational-limited-series-a-manuscript-wishlist/.
For those of you looking for a submission market on the steamier side, Erato flash fiction erotica stories up to 2,000 words (The New Smut Project on Tumblr) can be submitted for 15 more days (deadline May 1st). They are especially interested in diverse, body positive, realistic stories. I also saw on one of their earlier posts that they had a shortage of m/f historical fic. Standalone sex scenes and simultaneous submissions are welcome, which is great for writers who have a unique romance manuscript kicking around that could use some love and publicity. Pay is $30 via PayPal for accepted work.
Happy reading and writing, everyone!
hi from Central Europe.
we are in lockdown since March 16th.
I am lucky, I have a nice home and garden, so some space to move.
I am by myself most of the time, which is sometimes hard, but a big network of friends via remote ways helps. I try to be connected a lot, to both listen and support, and vent, and just laugh and share – on all channels, from short messages on WhatsApp to video calls. many lovely thoughtful conversations happen, now that everyone has ears more open.
Financially, I am ok for now, I do international advisory freelance, worked very hard recently, so there is a bit of a “pillow to rest on”. I hope people will accept remote solutions – then, I should be ok beyond autumn.
we just let zoom be chaotic when it is private – only tell people where mute button is, so you can do that and know how, when it all gets too much. I read that video is tiring – makes sense, so maybe the stress of it is just a feature, not a bug?
I read a lot, on many topics, I enjoy thoughtful reading, not too long, such as aeon.co, the Economist, longer reads or features in NYT, The Guardian, 5-10 minutes on any topic is perfect – recently, I was fascinated by a small farming family who put warning vests on their free range chickens – such a great idea, motorists see them sooner :-) or an article about flamingoes having mates but also friends they hang out with for over 40 years – anything, really, the world is full of small wonders and distractions that enchant.
– but I choose how much media time I spend on current events – it tends to stress me, though some information I need. a careful balance.
in between either nonfiction, or light books are best, looking forward to Manhunting :-)
I’m a Spanish reader so…in my country we have been four weeks in isolation. I want to thank all you for your amazing work in this page and all of your reviews. The books you recommend have helped me during these days.
So, thank you from the bottom of my heart and keep up the good work, be strong and patient because we will get over it.
Kisses from Spain.
Nati
I zoom everyday with my grade level teams & once weekly with our entire school staff. Our teachers host grade level morning meetings, too. One thing the host usually does is mute the group. If you want to talk you can raise your hand (class meetings) or, press your space bar (adults). It helps with the talking over part – although in my own calls with extended family, we didn’t do either & everyone constantly talked over each other. Everyone is so excited! I don’t know that the ‘mute,’ techniques lend themselves well to family gathering.
I think Easter was one of our hardest at home days in recent memory. That drip drip drip of minor irritations spilled over and resulted in some pretty constant arguing/bickering. I hadn’t planned to run, but was so glad I decided to get a long one in. It helped my mood and attitude and was just what I needed to improve my mindset. Physical activity can be such a mood lifter & even if you have limited mobility, small goals and reachable personal targets can be major victories. I’ve decided to train for a personal half marathon and have a new schedule for myself – it’s given new life to my running.
I’m super over all this isolation, and my feelings of guilt for enjoying all this forced family time. I so rarely get all this time with my kids and my husband…honestly, I’ll be sad when it’s over AND so grateful we can get out.
I’m imagining the “new normal” will be a very slow and very gradual process as we start to acclimate to living with the virus until a vaccine is developed. I’m also expecting a return of the virus in the fall. I hope that doesn’t happen but I’m planning for it. That means as an educator, we are now working with admin on a fully online curriculum for the fall semester, as are many colleges around the country.
My 16-year niece is unhappy with Zoom and learning online, but I’m working with her this week to get her over her anxiety. She’s grieving the loss of her high school life, and I totally understand that, but I also am of the mindset that we need to adjust to where we are at and succeed until things change. I am a little worried for all the students who could potentially get lost in this tremendous shuffle to online. I’m working overtime to help my own students who are coping with lots of personal changes and demands on their time.
And living on the west coast, I was happy to see this morning that our west coast governors have joined together to create the western states pact, a cohesive pandemic approach for our region going forward. We also here in Oregon have been voting fully by mail in ballot since the 1980s and that’s an additional relief given the concerns of the virus in the fall.
Your comment about how time is suspended is so true. As Kate McKinnon said on Saturday Night Live, the show was live from Zoom, “sometime between March and August” — that’s exactly how it feels. Without specific events to mark the passage of time (weddings, classes, book club meetings, whatever), all of the days run together. It’s hard to know what month it is, and knowing the day of the week is even more hopeless.
I feel as if I’m living in an alternate universe and will wake up one morning to find everything is the way that it was. Dabney we try to keep our Zooms to a smaller group but then again we have a smaller family. Tomorrow is my granddaughter‘s 13th birthday and Wednesday is my daughters (not herMother) 50th. One is in Connecticut and one is in Brooklyn. So my grandson is organizing a Google meet which he says is better than Zoom so that we can all connect for a family birthday party. I joked that if we all sing happy birthday we will feel that we have to wash our hands.
In between reading C.S. Harris and Anna Lee Hubers new books, I am doing a re-read of Marianna Zapata. Other than some iffy grammer she is fun to read.
Stay safe and healthy everyone.
Does anyone else have the sense that time is somehow suspended? I keep thinking, “When the quarantine is over…,” but I’m really not sure I can visualize what that new normal will be like. I noticed a few days ago that my feet have developed “flip-flop tan lines” because I have worn the same pair of flip-flops every day for the past four weeks when I take my 1.5 mile walk around the neighborhood (always observing appropriate social distancing). I can’t offer any Zoom suggestions although both of my college student daughters are using it for their classes—one of them is getting ready to defend her thesis via Zoom in about an hour.
I joined this one subreddit for randomly gifting people stuff off their wishlist.
And I tried to help this one lady get crochet hooks, but she’ll all the way in the UK so I couldn’t shop there.
Alas.
Otherwise my cat loves sleeping between my arms. It’s cute but when she wants cuddles, it’s a bit awkward during online class to see cat buns.
Also, I need to dive into my backlog and document my reading a little bit more.
I think we should start a fun romance book club.
Suggestions?
Sign me up!
There’s a poll and I’ll put up a blog post later today!
As I’m just in a rereading binge of old Balogh regencies: An Unlikely Duches. I had a bad day but this comedy braught me several times to laugh out loud.
This should count as my first contribution to a fun romance book club!
I am strictly reading and watching happy books and movies. Now is not the time for angst for me.
I recommend these romances: “Music and Lyrics” if you like Hugh Grant. The parody of the immature–but sexy–rock star who thinks she is so evolved in her respect of Eastern religion as she uses it to sell songs is, to me, hilarious. I also adore, “Four Weddings and a Funeral.” I love older movies and if you look at them as fairy tales and don’t get bogged down into “This would never happen,” you can enjoy them. If you’ve never seen “The African Queen” or “The Rainmaker” with Katherine Hepburn or “The Lady Eve,” “Now, Voyager,” “Shall We Dance” with Ginger Rogers and Astaire, you have a treat in store. If you want color, modern movies, have you seen ‘The American President” (a romance), Kenneth Branagh’s “As You Like It,” “Shakespeare in Love,” and “Working Girl”?
If you want feel-good movies that are not romances that you can watch with a man, you might like “The Big Country,’ “Almost Famous,” “Captains Courageous,” (the beginning is dated–but interesting–of a bratty kid, but when he gets on a fishing boat, it is wonderful), Hitchock’s “North by Northwest,” “On the Waterfront,” “A Face in the Crowd,” and “The Great Train Robbery” with Sean Connery.
Almost Famous is my favorite movie of all time. Working Girl is so much fun and holds up beautifully.
We just made our 20-something kids watch Body Heat. It’s so deliciously sleazy.
Ooh! I love “The Great Train Robbery” with Sean Connery. It is a sorely underappreciated film. Thanks for bringing it up. I’m also partial to the 1970s version of “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3,” but that’s definitely more in the dark comedy territory.
Other fun movies I highly recommend are “Life with Father” (1947), “My Cousin Vinny,” “Tootsie” and the Globe Theatre’s production of “Twelfth Night” with Mark Rylance and Stephen Fry. Incidentally, this is the only well done, period accurate version of “Twelfth Night” that I have ever had the joy of finding. Costumes from the wrong century combined with Elizabethan English are a huge turn-off for me, which makes me have to skip most adaptations of any Shakespeare play.
Swashbuckling fans should also check out “The Court Jester” with Danny Kaye (great parody of Robin Hood type stories with some nods to Zorro), “The Mark of Zorro” with Tyrone Power, and “The Adventures of Robin Hood” with Errol Flynn. It’s hard to beat the classics!
For those into comedies that are just plain silly, I recommend the little known Gene Wilder film “Start the Revolution without Me” (parody of Alexandre Dumas’s work). It’s not a perfect film by any means, but most of it is a lot of fun provided you like Gene Wilder. See also “Zorro: The Gay Blade,” “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” and a number of Mel Brooks’s films for your daily dose of comedy.
If you’re looking for something steamy, “Sea of Love” with Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin is a surprisingly good erotic mystery thriller.
Sci-Fi fans: “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” is a lot of fun, as is the 2009 film “Star Trek.”
Let me know if anyone is looking for movie recs in other genres.
Such a great list of movies! Music and Lyrics is so much fun. I’m convinced Hugh Grant’s character was based on Andrew Ridgely from Wham! And the young singer was based on Britney Spears in a lot of ways.
I can watch Now Voyager every time it comes on TV. I just love it and it’s probably my favorite movie makeover of all time.
I forgot about Immortals After Dark. I checked my cloud and found that I read a couple a few years back. I am definitely going to give it another try.
My husband and I are doing fine. We have decided to take up backgammon after many many years. We are definitely self quarantined and are lucky to have an elliptical machine in the apartment so we are getting in our exercise. We have Friday night cocktails on zoom with friends and keep in daily contact with her two children and their families. I just sent my grandchildren a YouTube video of Adam Sandler and Jimmy Kimmel singing ‘Don’t Touch Grandma’. We all thought it was hilarious. I seriously miss family hugs.
Thank you Dabney for giving us all a place to check in and connect and trade book recommendations. Stay safe everybody and a happy Passover to those who celebrate.
We had our next door neighbors over last night for cocktails. I opened the door for them, they brought their own glasses and wine, we sat on our porch six feet away and all used hand sanitizer at the end. It was THE BEST!
I am trying to get in the groove of working from home most days and not mindlessly eating! I worry about my daughter, who is an RD in a large hospital, her husband and my son are veterinarians, my SIL is equine, so his patients are outside, and my son is a small animal mobile vet, both are still workings called back & trying to safe as possible while still caring for their patients. Jigsaw puzzles are my go to and & have recently started listening to audio books – starting with SEP, & Julie James and some Lisa Jewel mysteries recommended here on AAR – it has taken me a while to get used to listening to the books, But I am getting there….Everyone stay safe!
What does RD stand for? Whatever kind of doctor it is, I send good wishes to all your family that they stay safe and healthy.
Registered Dietician?
Yes. Registered dietitian. Not on the front lines but in the hospital
Sending good thoughts to all
I’m an ED doc, and times are tough
Kind thoughts and prayers sent our way are gratefully received
You are my hero. ER docs are the literal front line. We couldn’t do it without you. Thank you SO much for the work you do.
Thank you so much for the wonderful work you do. I am always in awe of doctors and nurses as medicine is truly a calling. Very few people can do what you do- and what you do benefits all of us.
Like you, I am concerned and worried about the uncertainty and hardships we continue to face due to this pandemic. My husband and I are greatful to have our children home from university and they adjusted seamlessly to their studies online. I continue to go to my office and labs at the university so that I can prepare video demonstrations and online resources for my students. The university has been very good at keeping up with the cleaning protocols and I have been diligent in maintaining my safety. My parents live about 750 Km away and they have been in isolation since mid-March and they remain healthy. Reading wise – I just finished Holly Black’s Folk of the Air series; Abbi Waxman’s Bookish Life of Nina Hill; and currently reading Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert. I am recording “Better Call Saul,” which I hope to watch after I finish my teaching responsibilities. My other crutch is fresh white bread and the occasional gin and tonic.
Please stay safe and well.
Did you enjoy the Holly Black?
Immensely! My favourite of three was The Wicked King. After, I wanted to re-read the The Art of War by Sun Tzu.
I loved how the story resolved itself but, yes, The Wicked King was my fave.
My husband died 2 years ago and since then I’d lived by myself, filling my days with museum visits (lots of those in Washington, DC, and most of them are free – yay!), movies, plays, lectures, and frequent get-togethers with friends. The corona virus put an end to all that, and my calendar when from full to full of white space. I’m lucky that one of my sons and his wife moved from Vladivostok to DC in February and moved in with me, as otherwise I’d have been truly socially isolated. It’s wonderful to have them here to talk to, take walks with (DC not only has museums it has Rock Creek Park and other excellent places to walk while easily maintaining physical distance), share meals, and watch Netflix or shows like John Krasinski’s “Some Good News”. Like Blackjack, we try to support local restaurants by ordering out once a week.
My mood goes from good to fearful many times a day, so I’ve found I can’t read or watch anything too dark, although I have started “World on Fire” on PBS despite the fact that it’s about another dark, dark time. “The Two Popes”, “Grace & Frankie” are good counter programming for a pandemic, and Mary Balogh or Anne Youngson’s “Meet Me at the Museum” may be a little angsty but are nonetheless comfort reads. May be a good time to pull out some Jennifer Crusie as her sense of humor may also be just what is needed right now.
Walking is the thing I’ve found that best soothes my soul. Hugs to you!
I’m an essential worker. I appreciate that I have a structure that keeps me going into work every day, It makes my life feel normal.
However, that doesn’t mean I”m not worried or fearful. I have had a difficult time getting into movies, tv, or books. Everyone has made great suggestions, I have read many of those books and agree they are great pandemic reading.
I haven’t found anything that distracts me. I’ve tried historical (my favs), contemp, sci fi, dystopian, etc. I’m too easily distracted from tv.
I think I may try computer gaming next. Still searching
Crossword puzzles? Jigsaw puzzles?
I find I can fall into both of those when I’m lucky.
I can say from experience that silly computer games are a great way to lose hours of your life without having to think about anything outside the game for a while. Everyone’s brain needs a break sometime.
Here on the west coast, we’ve been under stay at home orders since early March and thus far in Oregon, our cases have been minimal compared to what was initially proposed. Oregonians, because of all the rain, are probably accustomed to being inside a lot and that may be party why we’ve been successful. Our governor got on this early and shut the state down, thankfully. But above me in Washington and below me in California, the west coast has for reasons managed to avoid worst case scenarios.
I’ve taught online college courses for years and so transitioning to full time online has not been difficult for me or students. I’m an introvert and happy to work from home. However, what makes me anxious and sad nearly every day is how much other people’s lives are affected. I’m trying to avoid talking about how easy things are going for me because so many do not have a choice and have to work outside the home, and they will pay a potentially deadly price for it. And, so many are unemployed now and the economic uncertainty is dreadful I have good friends who are close to losing their dearly beloved cafe in Portland that they have spent years perfecting. My heart breaks for them and for all the small business owners. My family is trying to support local restaurants and take turns choosing at least once a week where to order dinner. It’s not going to be nearly enough, I”m afraid. I keep reading and watching TV, hoping to hear plans from politicians and economists for the future and they just aren’t there. Are we heading into a great depression, a recession, or a bounce back in months? Who knows. I travel out in the evening to visit my horses and as I drive home after dark, I’m terribly saddened by the emptiness everywhere. So, I’m feeling more optimistic where I live that we are getting a bit of a handle on the health crisis, but I’m feeling more pessimistic about our economy and the well being of so many people without paychecks or health insurance.
I worry about what happens “after” as well and then I feel guilty because we aren’t even through the worst yet. (although the numbers today while sad, are better than projected so I am trying to be hopeful). We deal with a lot of people who are less privileged at my work and while there are a lot of agencies and non-profits as well as governmental subsidies in play right now a lot of people don’t know how to get the help they need.
I feel very lucky to be employed right now and to be able to work from home and get the things we need delivered. Having internet, being able to work and keep your family safely fed and sequestered is such a privilege right now.
I’ve started week three of being home. My two oldest children are not home with me, but I talk to them every day. I have a senior in college and a senior in high school who are missing all their senior activities. That’s a small inconvenience In the grand scheme of things, but they are both feeling the loss sincerely. I live in a small village, I have my yard and the weather has been good to start my gardens and walk the neighborhood. My husband is an essential worker, making face shields for medical workers. Ironically, my son is an essential worker too as he works at McDonalds. (Insert shoulder shrug here). I’ve been catching up on Outlander on STARZ. I’m rereading my comfort reads. I think I am going to start the St. Cyr series by C.S. Harris. Keep well.
I’m just rereading old regancy romances. Mary Balogh has released her older and shorter titles as ebooks. Most of them are rereads but as I’ve read them decades ago they seem like new. I really enjoyed Dinah Deans A Country Gentleman. She has such a soothing kind of writing but not at all dull. You go into the flow of the language. I love it.
Today is is three weeks I haven’t left our condo. My husband had some appointments because of his cancer treatment but otherwise he stays at home too. Our son goes shopping for us, mostly for a whole week. Now we have bread from the freezer but it could be worse if one of us should pick up the virus.
I’m very glad we have many trees and shrubs around the house that are starting to blossom. And I can sit on the balcony and read as the weather has become warmer and warmer during the last days. Two of my beloved hydrangeas suffered under the recent nightly frosts – after they survived the wintermonths that were unusually warm here in Munich.
Wish you all well!
I saw online that Germany is handling Covid-19 remarkably well for a number of reasons compared to many other countries. Good luck and stay safe!
Glad you and yours are staying safe!
Still working. Covid cases are climbing . Our peak will supposedly be starting in a week. It’s a crazy virus and not something I’ve ever seen before. One person has mild symptoms and the next person is intubated and horribly ill.
My daughter is home from south korea and in isolation for another week. Luckily she’s healthy. Isolating in a smallish house is challenging but doable..
Im going to start the first book of the Lady Sherlock series by sherry Thomas. Ive only heard terrific things about it.
I just binge watched Unorthodox on Netflix based on a friend’s rec. loved it!
Stay safe everyone. This madness will end eventually.
Oh! Stay safe! Lady Sherlock is such a treat. :-)
I’ve been listening to Sara Donati’s Into the Wilderness series, which I’m enjoying a lot. The women in this series are all so strong, and the men were raised in a matrilineal society (Mohawk), so they are accustomed to listening to their women. That does not mean everyone always agrees, but the women have a lot of agency in a time and place (around 1800 NY frontier) where women mostly did not. And, the books are narrated by the incomparable Kate Reading, which makes them even better.
I’m avoiding news and and am not a tv watcher for the most part, and I’ve been having grocery delivery for years, so life is much the same otherwise.
I love that series by Donati! Not traditional romances . . . more historical fiction (think Outlander) but, like you said KesterGayle, such great characters. And I love the North American settings.
I’m on the last one now, and really loving this unusual family and the frontier setting. It’s not of Outlander caliber imo, but it’s still really good. Long, but not too long, books that are filled with adventure, American history, Native American culture, the fight against slavery in the Northeast, and luscious descriptions of a wilderness that is all but lost to us now. And those amazing characters!!
Not much change since my last check-in. My husband still has a job (thank God) and is working from home. Our two youngest are taking their college classes remotely (lots of Zoom), and our oldest is still an essential worker and continues her work with mentally-disabled adults. I’m cooking a lot—which really isn’t much of a change, although I’m making larger amounts. For the first time since our children were much younger, we made a meal plan for the week with all of the groceries we’re going to need. Because of my co-morbidity factors, my husband and daughters are running errands and getting groceries. I walk the neighborhood every morning, being careful to practice social distancing.
As for reading, I’ve been consuming mass quantities of Cora Reilly’s mafia romances. They’re very dark and violent and the women have practically no agency whatsoever, but I find them comforting in their reliably “written to template” way. They’re like dark mafia romances filtered through the most retrogressive of Harlequin Presents plots.
“I find them comforting in their reliably ‘written to template’ way.” I agree there can be something incredibly comforting about a formula, especially when you know there’s going to be a guaranteed HEA. A lot of the old TV series were nice like this because you knew no matter how bad things got, the main characters weren’t going to die at the end of it. Unrealistic? Sure, but who cares? Sometimes, I think there is such a thing as too much realism, especially in unsure times.
Yup, I’m convinced that’s why I keep going back to Jayne Ann Krentz in her many forms. While she’s got some great books -there are a lot in the past few years that are just “meh” but I end up reading them anyway (even though I don’t purchase them much anymore), I know what I’m getting and at certain times (or uncertain times as the case may be) that’s just what I want.
I’ve never read her–shocking! If you were to recommend just one, what would you pick?
If you want one of her contemporary romances then I’ve always been partial to Perfect Partners by Jayne Ann Krentz. If you are in the mood for a historical then Ravished by Amanda Quick is very charming. She brings a quirky humor to her works and these two are from her best period of writing IMHO. Hope you enjoy!
The Krentz book I’ve reread the most times is a short work: A Woman’s Touch. I’m pretty sure it was originally a Harlequin Temptation release.
Of her longer single titles, the two I’ve reread the most times are Family Man and Hidden Talents.
Any of these are good representatives of her work.
Mark do you mind if I ask you a question? I don’t know any other men who have read a Jayne Ann Krentz and a I wanted to know if you thought she writes men well or realistically? All of the reviews of her books have been from women that I have seen and I know she is a favorite of yours.
Linda Howard has a reputation for getting the male point of view “right” in her books- what do you think of JAK?
I’ve never been bothered by the depiction of men in any Krentz/Quick/Castle books, so she definitely doesn’t do anything egregious. Keep in mind that a large percentage of JAK works include paranormal elements and that most romances have larger than life characters and the romantic suspense JAK writes has characters acting in abnormal situations, so I don’t expect behavior much like I see in anyone I know, but the personalities ring true. Since I read all fiction as an outside observer rather than identifying with any characters, it isn’t a question of being able to identify or not.
I can notice bad depictions of men: Tangled by Emma Chase has a “hero” who is a caricature male. I don’t personally know ANY men at all resembling the hero, and he kept making pronouncements about how all men are things that just aren’t so (frequent assertions that his jerkishness is the norm for human males). I now wonder if the total jerk narrator of Tangled was loosely based on 45.
If there is anything about the depiction of men in the romance genre in general that I think is unrealistic, it is probably a higher percentage of emotional awareness and ability to communicate. (Yes, even with the popularity of the Big Mis. and stoical and terse heroes.)
Speaking of men based on 45: I just finished Julianna Keyes’s very good BENCH PLAYER and the heroine’s awful boss is very much the bullying, capricious, irresponsible, and whiny nincompoop that passes for a leader in some quarters these days. Keyes makes no political commentary in her book and it’s possible I’m just projecting, but the boss character was just horrible in all the ways that (imho) make 45 horrible too.
Mark, thanks so much for answering my question. I really appreciate it. I know I definitely have a bias for female authors as I feel a lot of them write women characters that I identify with more than a lot of male writers do. (Which isn’t to say all male authors as I have some favorite male authors as well- but I do admit to a bias. ) I had noticed you’ve read a lot of JAK on your lists and I enjoyed getting the male point of view on her. My personal opinion is she writes both sexes pretty well and treats them equally which many female authors don’t always do.
My own personal theory: a lot of the guys in her books have traits her husband Frank likely has-as she dedicates every single book to him. Which I personally find incredibly sweet.
So glad to hear your husband and most of the kids are back home with you! That must be such a relief!
I am like a crazy woman working remotely and disinfecting everything that gets delivered as I am very concerned about older family members.
Thanks to your recommendation, I have gone down the “Kresley Cole Immortals” rabbit hole and have been burning through all of them as fast as I can source them. Some have been great, some more annoying but all of them have kept me entertained in my (surprisingly small) amount of free time.
I hope everyone is hunkered down they best they can be and is staying safe and sane as we face some more tough weeks ahead!
What’s your favorite thus far?
I so need a new series I could glom. The last big one was Bec McMaster’s fabulous London Steampunk and, if a trilogy counts, Holly Black’s The Folk of the Air books. I’m jealous you’ve got Immortals After Dark!
So far the one with Sebastian Wroth the scholar vampire and Kadarin (the Valkyrie who couldn’t feel anything for a thousand years).( No Rest For The Wicked) He was the most “beta” of the alphas- which is still pretty alpha and I loved him. I thought he was just a doll. Some of the other heroes were outright jerks at times. In fact the one that made the top 100 A Hunger Like No Other) had the jerkiest hero so far (but of course I still enjoyed it!) I fear one of these vampire guys coming up is going to make Lachlain seem like a bunny rabbit in comparison.
I also really enjoyed Gareth and Lucia- their plot line going through the jungle with the other people on the boat was more interesting than the average ones.
Have you tried any of Bec McMaster’s other series? I really enjoyed the Soulbound/Hexbound series about witches/magic a lot as well.
Have you gotten to Cadeon and Holly? I enjoyed that one a lot!
I’ve read McMaster’s Dark Arts series which I enjoyed. The Legends of the Storm ones just didn’t ring my bell. I see she has one called The Burned Lands. Has anyone read that?
Yes, I’ve read all of her books. I enjoyed The Burned Lands trilogy. It’s a dystopian series set in Australia after a horrible world changing event. It’s modern and grittier with people trying to survive in outposts so there is not a lot of “glamour” as there are in her Victorian London set books. The first and third books are my favorite. I thought the second one wasn’t as interesting. Possibly because I didn’t like the hero when he appeared in the first book and those feelings carried over into his book. The hero of the third was my favorite. They have a very different feel than the London ones but they also deal with people trying to contain an overwhelming animalistic power.
McMaster is also supposed to revisit the Dark Arts series. She’s teased she will write about the girl in the glass coffin and Malachai Grey as well as the backstory on Remington Cross.
I haven’t made it to the Woedes yet, I tried to go in order but I’m bouncing around a bit. I’m on Regin and her crazy berserker right now. I made a list of the titles and the main couples names because I cannot remember which title is which.
I’m doing fine. I agree with that Tumblr commenter who said as a freelance writer, you come to the shocking realization that your life hasn’t changed that much…
As for what I’m watching, the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam has been of interest to me for the last couple of years. Watching the same couple of eagles hatch eaglets each year is like a mini nature soap opera. They lost an egg and a chick earlier this season, but have recently hatched two healthy chicks that are adorable. You can watch the live feed here: https://dickpritchettrealestate.com/eagle-feed.html. There are also videos of highlights of the day, because most of the time, the birds are just sitting.