Books read YTD: 181
Fiction Titles:
- 24 (11 historical romance, 7 contemporary romance, 5 speculative fiction romance)
Non-Fiction Titles:
- 1 (History)
Noteworthy Novels
- Beauiful Wreck by Larrisa Brown
- A Taste of Honey by Rose Lerner
- Heart of the Steal by Avon Gale and Roan Parrish
- A Queen from the North by Erin McRae and Racheline Maltese
- Snowspelled by Stephanie Burgis
Noteworthy Settings
- Beauiful Wreck by Larrisa Brown - this does double duty with cool settings. First is an futuristic Earth, where people are grouped by which era of the past they choose to emulate. Then the heroine is accidently sent back in time to 10th century Iceland, where the weather and isolation make for hard living. The whole thing feels wonderfully Gothic.
- Deep Diving by Cate Ellink - short, cute story about two professional athletes who meet while on holiday on Australia's Lord Howe Island.
- A Queen from the North by Erin McRae and Racheline Maltese - Set in a alternate England where the Yorkist/Lancastrian enmity of the War of the Roses continues into the present day. A young woman of the Yorkist nobility is given the opportunity to marry the Prince of Wales (although I'm not sure that title still holds) and thus improve the lives of Northerners. There were some elements of worldbuilding that I questioned, or that didn't quite work for me, but it was fun and inventive nonetheless.
- Snowspelled by Stephanie Burgis - Another alternate England this time based on the premise that Boudicea fought off the Romans and established a world in which women deal with politics, and men with magic.
Kick-ass Characters
- A Taste of Honey by Rose Lerner - I've consistently loved the way this series shines a spotlight on the lives of Regency-era middle and lower classes, but Betsy and Robert struck a particular chord. They had very different ways of approaching everyday business concerns, and watching them figure this - and each other - out both charming and poignant.
- Snowspelled by Stephanie Burgis - After losing her magic in an attempt to prove herself worthy, Cassandra is adrift, but by no means powerless.
From the Internet this Month
Romance
- The New York Times Book Review Looks at Romance by Sarah at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books
- Welcome to the Romance Resistance by Rachel Kramer Bussel at Salon
- The Lack of Black Characters in Time-Travel Romance by Jessica Pryde at BookRiot
- All the Dumb Things You Can Say About Romance Novels, In One Convenient Place by Ron Hogan
Other Literature, Craft and the Publishing Industry
- My Absolute Misogyny: Male Authors Are Still Profiting From Women's Pain by S. E. Smith at Bitch Media
- 25 Aussie YA Books That Influenced Every '00s Teen by Isha Bassi at Buzzfeed Australia
Other Media
- What To Do When Nazis Are Obsessed With Your Field by David M. Perry at Pacific Standard - on Neo-Nazi fetishism of the medieval era, and how scholars must contrdict the narrative of the white, utopian Middle Ages
Women & Feminism
- Women Aren't Nags - We're Just Fed Up by Gemma Hartley at Harper's Bazaar - on household chores and emotional labour
- Inside the Death Positive Movement by Christine Colby at Bust Magazine - looks at dying and mortality through a feminist lens, and the movement that has developed around this.
Weird, Wacky and Wonderful
- The Mystery of the Lost Roman Herb by Zaria Gorvett at BBC
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