The series that made me—and the rest of the world—fall in love with Julia Quinn. If you haven’t read this series, start now! If you have, then this is the cherry on the cake.
Special note for fans: Julia Quinn will be a keynote speaker at the 2013 Romance Writers of Australia conference at Fremantle in August. Click here for more details.
Actual text message from the year 2000:
BFF: Wandergurl! Anthony Bridgerton is getting married. We have to get The Viscount Who Loved Me.
Me (Thinking, Who the fuck is… ohhhhhhhhhhh.): Yes! Of course! We have to get someone to bring it from America.
Back in the early 00s when I was growing up in the Philippines, you didn’t get books on time and the bigger independent bookstores didn’t really exist yet. It’s easier to get things now, but back then, your best chance for immediate access during a release date was to have someone vacationing in America to bring it back to you. After reading The Duke and I in a rental book club called ‘The Armchair Reader’ (and buying the book when the book club closed down) I was determined to get the rest of the series.
Aside from the actual stories of the books, obtaining them involved their own stories. I had one of our clients, a big, burly bearded Texan bring one back for me from Austin. My managing director brought back my Amazon order with a Bridgerton and The Lord of the Rings, extended edition. My giant elfish geek of a friend went to a bookstore and never let me hear the end of it after he had to ask for Romancing Mr. Bridgerton. (He also very nicely climbed a ladder and alphabetised my romance novels at my request. Thank you, dear.) Another was brought back by a Goth friend from San Francisco, who also happened to read romances and thought Sir Phillip with Love wasn’t bad—except the title sucked.
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Original, witty and fun—this is my new favourite series.
Probationary Constable Peter Grant works for the Metropolitan Police Force and is the kind of mediocre that we all are sometimes, but don’t really want to admit. He’s smart, he can handle himself, but he needs an extra little push to get somewhere sometimes. He also wants to do something significant with his life but can’t seem to figure out what, and his boss seems to think he’s destined for a life of paperwork.
That is, until one night when, after being called to the scene, he interviews a witness who happens to be dead. Suddenly, he’s a detective constable working for a special branch of the police that previously had only one member. He’s also the first trainee apprentice wizard in Britain in fifty years. Oh, and he has to find out who killed that guy.
Creative, funny and very real, Peter Grant could be your friend, the blokey jokester that you hang out and have a beer with. He’s the kind of person who sometimes fumbles and could use a good woman to keep his head on straight (there is one, kind of). He’s a good guy; it just so happens that weird things keep happening to him.
This book, the first of a thoroughly entertaining series, shows us how Peter stumbles into the use of magic and finally finds his feet, solving a mystery (and developing his skills at coming up with witticisms) in the process. I can’t say enough about how much I enjoyed this series, with its comedic interludes, rich characterisation and inventive world building.
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Although there are familiar elements, there is something quite distinct about this series. I really enjoyed this difference.
Kalder Mar grew up in the Mire, a swamp in just about the dodgiest part of the Edge, a land between the Broken (that would be our world) and the Weird (that would be a magic world, part-Faerie, part Renaissance-y steampunk fantasy). He’s a liar, thief and sometime spy who is really, really good with a sword and has an uncanny (magical) ability to make things happen if you bet him they can’t.
Audrey Callahan is the daughter of a con artist. Bitter and battered by the life her family taught her to live, she’s tried to keep on the straight and narrow, getting a real job in the Broken and taking care of herself. Her father persuades her to do one last con, and if she does, he’ll stay out of her life forever.
Tasked with retrieving the item that Audrey’s family stole, Kalder and Audrey cross paths and find themselves working together to make things right, with all the adventures that come with it.
Despite my rave review for book one in the series, book two languished on my TBR for two and a half years before I picked it up. I then promptly called Galaxy Books and made them ship me the rest of the series while I lay in bed languishing from illness. This is book three.
Fate’s Edge reminded me why I love Ilona Andrews. It’s filled with rich world building and engaging characters, and I devoured this book in one night despite drinking codeine-laced cough medication.
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The crack is back. This book will either allow you to exit the BDB world satisfied…or suck you right back in with a vengeance.
Click here for a round-up of all BDB-related posts on Book Thingo.
This is the book that most Black Dagger Brotherhood fans have been eagerly anticipating ever since the Butch/V bromance turned out to be strictly platonic (if you ignore the occasional voyeurism and ambiguous moments of male bonding). I’m going to try and do this with as few spoilers are possible, but I can’t guarantee not to let details slip, so consider yourself warned.
Blaylock and Qhuinn have been best of friends even before they transitioned (the BDB vampire equivalent of puberty), but between Qhuinn’s indiscriminate and rampant sexcapades, and Blaylock’s homosexuality and unrequited love for his best mate, it’s really all they can do to be in the same room without descending into the sort of delicious angst that has made this series so addictive. Bad timing and some ill-chosen words have led them to believe that their more-than-friends feelings will never be returned by the other.
Qhuinn and Layla are expecting a baby, and Blay is in a committed relationship with Saxton, but they’re all living in the Brotherhood mansion, and they keep running into each other. At the gym. Half naked. With bulging biceps. And rampant and spontaneous erections. (People prone to stiffies shouldn’t really be going commando.) As you do. In one of my favourite scenes—because, come on, how cracktastic is this?—Blay finds the Room of Requirement and indulges his wanksting in a spectacular way. (This is what happens when boys don’t go through puberty in the usual way.)
Blay is probably one of the most well-adjusted BDB characters, so it’s Qhuinn who has to undergo a big emotional journey in this book. In typical BDB fashion, he is filled with self-loathing, mostly over things over which he has no control. Qhuinn’s issues stem from his family’s rejection of him, to the point where his brother was involved in bashing him up almost to death. His desire for a traditional family, to be a father, and his inability to reconcile this dream with a possible relationship with Blay is the biggest hurdle in their relationship.
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An exciting, fast-paced and very, very sexy steampunk romance series.
I am now hooked on a new series, the Clockwork Agents by Kate Cross, and I’m cheating a bit and doing a two-in-one review, largely because what I liked in both books was the same. (I blame Mirna of Rendezvous books for another excellent recommendation.)
This steampunk series is set in Victorian England and is filled with interesting inventions, gadgets and robotics—Cross does a good job of integrating corsets, guns and gadgets. I especially liked the world building and the combination of steampunk and spy vs spy plot. I wouldn’t say it’s entirely historically accurate—they say fuck and shite!—but as this is a steampunk novel, I expected the authors to take some liberties.
Heart of Brass features Lady Arden Grey, whose husband Luke disappears on a mission for the Wardens of the Realm, a covert organisation created to protect the British Empire. Seven years later, an assassin is sent to kill her in retribution for her killing of a Company agent (their rival spy organisation) and she recognizes him as her husband, who has no memory of who she is or any of his past. Arden is a strong, very resourceful heroine, who never lost faith in her husband, Luke, who starts off being a bit of a prick before he gets his memory back.
There’s also a side plot with Arden helping out Scotland Yard in investigations using her special gadgets—she’s an inventor—and solving a mystery as to who is murdering young girls. I don’t think this side plot was necessary, though, and in some ways it detracted from the main story of Arden and Luke figuring out who brainwashed him and trying to help him get back his memories. That story was meaty enough to not need a distraction. There are also a few things I found a bit convenient—like how they have a master surgeon who has a magic elixir that can fix everything, but we don’t know what it is. I hope that’s explained when she gets her own novel.
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Mercy Thompson fans who have been eagerly anticipating this book will love the complicated twists of the plot, and romance readers will absolutely adore Adam.
I may have mentioned (a few hundred times) that Patricia Briggs is one of my most recent author finds. Yes, I’m late to the Mercy Thompson party, but believe me, I’ve made up for lost time! At book seven—not counting the Alpha and Omega spin-off books—this series is just as exciting and perhaps even more romantic as when it all began.
The story starts off deceptively gently, with Mercy having some bonding time with her new stepdaughter, Jesse. When they’re involved in a car accident, Mercy is puzzled and then increasingly alarmed when she can’t get in touch with Adam or anyone else in the pack.
It turns out that Adam and most of the pack have been ambushed. Ben, who managed to escape, tells Mercy what happened, and Mercy has no choice but to tap every resource and contact she can draw on for help. This includes using Marsilia’s shiny new Mercedes AMG to transport a bleeding werewolf—and that’s just for starters.
Readers who love Mercy’s narrative voice won’t be disappointed with Frost Burned. The first part of the story is dominated by Mercy trying to work out what’s going on around her and making the best of a bad situation. Her choices between bad and worse provide fodder for snark as well as tension.
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Because who wouldn’t want to wake up next to a hot-hunka-chunka-burning-love Highlander with a kilt (but not in one)?
Georgette Thorold, otherwise a lady and a widow besides, wakes up one morning to find herself:
a) in Scotland
b) with a ring on her finger
c) naked next to a really hot guy
So she does what any girl in her position would do—she runs away!
Throughout the course of the day she discovers that she may have imbibed a wee bit much the night before, can’t remember a thing, and may have encountered all manner of whatevers and done all manner of things in this tiny Scottish town. Also, is she really married?
I will admit to asking for this ARC largely based on the pretty cover. It did not disappoint. Jennifer Mc Quiston’s debut novel is fresh and funny and kept me largely guessing. The first half of the book is devoted to Georgette and her Scotsman trying to figure out WTF happened the night before, like a romance version of The Hangover sans tigers. (Watch the movie!)
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You don’t have to be a fashionista to appreciate this book. Grace Coddington is a woman who loves life and what’s she’s made of it, and that comes through very clearly on the pages.
I first started reading Vogue when I was a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed ten-year-old in love with River Phoenix. (I have now dated myself.) My mother worked for a marketing distributor, and aside from being sent to Paris for work on occasion, she had to read Vogue, Elle and other fashion magazines on a regular basis to keep up with the trends and check out the ads. Naturally, I read them too, and while I am the most tomboy-dressing person I know and will spend my days in thongs (flip flops) if I can, I have a slight fashionista side, more related to knowing about stuff than actually wearing anything. I know my designers, the classics, and have a list of handbags I will someday own before I die, but I am not concerned enough to give up wearing my flip-flops everyday. (Kat can also tell you that my penchant for celebrity gossip possibly will indirectly contribute to my random fashion know-how.)
Grace Coddington first became (in)famous outside the fashion world in the movie The September Issue, a documentary on Vogue and its editor, Anna Wintour. Wintour, (in)famously known for the movie the The Devil Wears Prada, was portrayed as Coddington’s adversary throughout much of the movie. As the creative director of Vogue, Coddington is responsible for the fashion shoots and styling for many of the pages in the magazine. In the movie, she and Wintour butt heads as to what should go in to ‘The September Issue’, Vogue’s biggest and most important issue every year. In real life, they are dear friends, but in the movie, it really looked like they would kill each other. At least part of the reason this memoir came to be may be because of her popularity after The September Issue.
Coddington has been in the fashion industry for 50 years. Her memoir is full of insights into the industry, and into relationships and life as a whole. The book comes to life with her words, imagination, and the charming little drawings that she has made herself, peppered throughout the book.
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The pacing and plotting are not as balanced as in the first book. Mostly we’re just along for the ride—but it’s still a fabulous trip.
Blood Bound is the second book of Patricia Briggs’s hugely popular urban fantasy series featuring Mercy Thompson, a coyote shapeshifter nominally mated to a werewolf and formerly employed by a fae mechanic. (As I mentioned in my review of Moon Called, this series is book crack.) After Mercy’s adventures in the first book, she’s asked to return a favour by accompanying her vampire buddy, Stefan, on a mysterious errand that ends in gruesome violence when they discover a demon-possessed sorcerer turned vampire on a killing rampage.
This new vampire is deadly, and Mercy reluctantly agrees to leave the hunting to stronger creatures. After one of the werewolves turns up barely alive, Adam, the pack alpha, and Samuel, Mercy’s werewolf housemate, go hunting themselves. Unfortunately, werewolves turn out to be highly susceptible to demon magic, which causes them to lose control. When Mercy gets a late-night visit from the demon vampire, she realises that her friends are in the vampire’s hands and she has until sunset to save them.
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A book to hand someone with the words, ‘Please enjoy’—something you can have fun with without having to think too much.
Ethan Wate was born and raised in the southern USA town of Gatlin, where people are very proud of their confederate history and nothing every changes. He longs to escape Gatlin and start a new life—until he meets Lena Duchannes. Lena has just moved back into town after living with her grandmother for many years. She is mysterious, beautiful and there’s something about her he can’t quite pinpoint. She’s also not like the rest of the bubble gum cheerleader crowd, which makes her an automatic candidate for outcast-dom. Ethan is drawn to Lena for reasons he can’t explain, and they fall in love—against strange supernatural odds.
I originally picked up this book because I found out it will be made into a movie with Jeremy Irons and Emma Thompson. I then proceeded to read the entire series in about five days—I was so sucked in and captivated by the story I just had to know what happened next. The plot is fast paced, full of twists and way more interesting than Twilight. (There. I said it.) Lena is not a wimp, and although, in the second book ,she goes into a bit of a sad bitch mode reminiscent of New Moon—I stopped after that book, just so you know—she gets over it, moves on, and gets her shit back together. (Take that, Bella.)
But let’s get back to this book.
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