I checked out a book of old British mystery stories from the library and some of them were pretty good. I enjoyed one by Anthony Berkeley particularly and then checked out The Layton Court Mystery which was pretty entertaining... until I got to a throwaway anti-Semitic line. (The narrator compared the protagonist's hatred of various desserts to his hatred of Jewish people.) Just... why? Completely unnecessary, except to hurt Jewish people. Did not at all add to anything, and made it so this book is not going to live as long as it could, despite being otherwise entertaining even to a modern audience.
The Frangipani Tree mystery by Ovidia Yu was pretty interesting.
The City library added some more Barbara Metzger mysteries to their kindle offerings. I had read the Hourglass before but reread it and when I got near the end remembered why I hadn't sought it out again. Don't recommend it (cw: pregnancy loss). Truly Yours was pretty fun-- an Inspector Dimm mystery I hadn't seen before. Wedded Bliss was nice but forgettable. Lady in Green had some funny bits. Rake's Ransom also had funny bits, but is one of those irritating December-May romances-- he's a hardened ancient rake, she's an idiot 17 year old (actually I think she's 22 or so, but she acts like she's 17), he reforms because he has compromised her and is charmed by her manic pixie ways. I enjoyed The Scandalous Life of a True Lady probably more than I should have (this is the second in the Truly Yours trilogy) -- it definitely veers into farce territory, but also I like the way it treats all the different courtesans as if they are people... some of the side characters end up more well-developed than a lot of heroines in other books. I think I thought the wicked ways of a true hero was ok, but not as good as the previous two in the series. The hero is much less likable, but also maybe a bit more amusing. Some of the short stories in Greetings of the Season and other stories were good, but some where meh. Autumn Glory and Other Stories was interesting because she reused a lot of the elements from these stories in full-length novels. An Enchanted Christmas was lovely and soothing-- several novellas were just feel-good people's luck changing for the better without unnecessary angst...I think I will get myself a copy. Minor Indiscretions was fun. Father Christmas surprisingly fun, though not so much for the love story (the hero and heroine spent very little time together).
The Further Observations of Lady Whistledown was a group of short stories by different authors. Some were entertaining and some were awful.
The Duke Who Loved Me by Jane Ashford was ok. I didn't rush out to get more Jane Ashford books though. It could have been better.
The Siren of Sussex by Mimi Matthews was pretty good. I was a little worried at first, but I don't think it ended up at all being accidentally racist. It could have used more relationship development though. There's a trend with some newer books that seem to get all their "what is falling in love" tropes from The Bachelor. That is, people are physically attracted to each other and then they exchange sad stories about their past and have exciting/scary experiences together. But there's no, like, additional development for compatibility. Most Bachelor relationships don't last long after the cameras stop, because that's not really how strong relationships develop.
Earl on the Run by Jane Ashford had a really promising start and the two main characters were interesting on their own. But then somewhere around the 40% mark it became clear that the author couldn't come up with any plot other than the heroine being upset that he hadn't told her he was an earl before she found out on her own, which then made it very clear that the two main characters didn't actually know each other very well, which made it clear that they weren't ready to get married yet. And... like, they didn't really get to know each other through chapters of interminable repetitious introspection alone and they got married without even an epilogue. There was also a lot of repetition of telling-not-showing about the relationship of the main characters from the previous book. We get it, they have a connection because they love each other. I skimmed a lot from like 40%-80% of the book.
Her Favorite Rebound by Jackie Lau was kind of disappointing. I mean, I'm not deleting it and I don't regret that I bought it-- it was very readable. But the hero is very one-dimensional and comes across as a crazy 1980s hero/stalker, which the heroine notes, but she's attracted to him anyway. Lots of outdated icky tropes, which the heroine acknowledges are creepy, but reacts like a 1980s movie heroine instead of a 2020s more real person. Also for no reason he's into mild domination and she's into being mildly dominated by him, which worked in the Professor Next Door but seems out of place in this one (plus... repetitious! it was just like 2 books ago in the same series, if that).
DNF Shadows of Swanford Abbey. I thought I'd already talked about it, but now I think maybe it was in a comment on another blog. Basically I no longer read Gigi-trope books. Like, it's gross when the much older hero comes back and realizes the little girl who used to follow him around when he was a young adult is sexy now. Yuck. (Completely different if they were both kids at the time.)
The Matzah Ball: A Novel was bad in the way that bad Christmas Hallmark movies are bad. And that's, like, intentional-- the heroine has authored several bad Christmas Hallmark movies (this is not a spoiler-- it's in the book blurb). But... also... so much dumb. And no real relationship building between the hero and heroine. On the other hand, it did a great job illustrating what it's like to have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
Meet Me in the Margins was a nice contrast to The Matzah Ball because anytime the writer tried to veer towards bad Christmas Hallmark Movie, the hero called her out on it. However, I'm not crazy about the dating your boss trope. And technically they didn't start dating until he was no longer her boss, but also he was definitely courting her and giving her privileges while he was. And that was never addressed, which is sketchy.
You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria was good and fun except that the unnecessary 3rd act breakup DRAGGED. Plus, as per usual with these unnecessary 3rd act breakups, it seemed pretty out of character for the heroine. (The heroine is generally a doormat, but suddenly decides to take offense without listening to the hero or even thinking about things from his viewpoint? And is willing to destroy her career, the driving force behind her actions from the start of the book? Totally out of character.) In her defense, her obnoxiousness is pointed out by her friends and she's like, yeah, I getcha, whoopsie. But that should have happened WAY SOONER, and probably before she took it out on the hero or tried to sabotage her career. Some reviews complain about the lack of the two characters getting to know each other, but they're both such nice people, that it's going to work out (with the exception of the bizarre third act bit).
Any good summer reads to recommend?
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