Just Off the Key of Reason

I just realized I havn't made one of these posts in two months. I didn't do a lot of pro fiction reading in November, and then I spent a lot of December taken over by Yuletide,
so my reading this month has been slower as well.

I have a couple brand-new books I preordered but haven't had a chance to read yet including the newest Anna Zabo and the second half of Liz Jacobs's Abroad duology. I expect to read both of those in the next week, but after that'll be Yuletide reveals which will eat all my reading energy for the rest of the year.

Also, there are a couple books I read for Yuletide purposes that I can't talk about until after reveals. So, I'll probably make one more short reading post in early January with those books just to close off the year and start fresh with new posts in January.

Takeover: A Private Merger - Anna Zabo ★ ★ ★

A satisfying coda to the book. Maybe a little more wish-fulfillmenty then necessary.

As soon as I'm off my book-buying hiatus I'm buying the rest of this series.

The Prisoner of Limnos (Penric and Desdemona, #6) - Lois McMaster Bujold ★ ★ ★

I love Penric and I was delighted to see the further development of his relationship with Nikys, but found this story to be a little too cozy and low-conflict.

This would probably be a four-star rating if anyone else had written it, but my standards for Bujold are set rather higher than for most authors. ( read more )

Close Quarter (Close Quarter, #1) - Anna Zabo ★ ★ ★

Erotic paranormal romance, heavy on the erotica.

Tropey, sexy, h/c goodness.( read more )

The Magpie Lord (A Charm of Magpies, #1) - K. J. Charles ★ ★ ★ ★

Supernatural romance between an Earl newly returned from twenty years exile in China upon the death of his father and brother and an impoverished magician with a quite-reasonable grudge against the Earl's family.

As a comfort reread for a bad brain day, this was an excellent choice.( read more )

Misfits (Urban Soul #1) - Garrett Leigh ★ ★ ★

Contemporary poly romance with rather a lot going on.

I’m not quite sure what I think of this book. I loved parts of it, particularly the way it portrayed the messy interconnectedness of poly relationships. This is a book that gets the fact that a three-person relationship isn’t one relationship but rather four overlapping relationships. And those relationships change and grow independent of each other. ( read more )

The Remaking of Corbin Wale - Roan Parrish ★ ★ ★ ★

I can’t really describe this book. It’s not fantasy, but it’s not not fantasy, it lives in that liminal space in between. I think some readers will find that frustrating, the way the narrative refuses to commit, but I found it weirdly freeing. ( read more )

River of Teeth (River of Teeth #1) - Sarah Gailey ★ ★ ★

Alt-history featuring hippo-ranchers in the Louisiana bayou in the 1890s. No, really. Features a great, incredibly diverse, predominately-queer cast.

The premise here is brilliant and the worldbuilding is top notch. As spec-fic it’s fantastic.

As a heist story it’s rather less so. ( read more )

Gonna Listen To My Body Tonight - Hanna Dare ★ ★ ★

A holiday freebie for signing up for the author’s newsletter.

Cute, light story about a record store clerk and a shoplifter trapped in the store on New Year’s Eve 1999. Nothing earth shattering, but the characters are sweet and have nice chemistry and as someone approximately the same age as the characters I found the period details to be great nostalgic fun.

Threshold Of The Year (Scientific Method Universe) - Kris Ripper ★ ★ ★

I fell hard for the Scientific Method universe and devoured the main series in less than two weeks.

And then I read the first of the New Years stories and I hated it. Enough so that, despite having already purchased the rest of them, I didn’t go back to the series for 3 1/2 months.

I’m pleased to say that I didn’t hate this one. Although the New Years books continue to be less to my tastes than the main series, it’s nice to look in on all the familiar characters and see how their lives have changed in the course of a year. ( read more )

Avi Cantor Has Six Months to Live - Sacha Lamb ★ ★ ★ ★

Sweet trans coming of age fairytale with an understated romance.

This is a gentle, hopeful story but there’s a thread of darkness through it as well, as the main character spends much of the story quietly suicidal.

Slow Waltz: Close Quarter 1.5 - Anna Zabo ★ ★ ★

A pleasant and smutty epilogue to the book. Does a good job of acknowledging Rhys’s justified nervousness about the whole new life waiting for him in New York.

Suradanna and the Sea - Rebecca Fraimow ★ ★ ★ ★

Completely delightful short story about with a compelling but not always likeable main character and a great, complicated central relationship. ( read more )

It Takes Two to Tumble (Seducing the Sedgwicks #1) - Cat Sebastian ★ ★ ★ ★

Regency romance between a charming country vicar and a broody naval captain with three kids.

If kidfic is your thing this is first-class kidfic. And if, like me, you're kind of agnostic on kidfic it's still really great. ( read more )

As promised, some books I've read:

Point of Hopes (Astreiant, #1) - Melissa Scott & Lisa A. Barnett -
★★★★

Complicated mystery plot in a fascinating, intricately-crafted fantasy universe.

I really appreciated the casually mainstreamed queerness in the worldbuilding. ( read more )

The Ruin of a Rake - Cat Sebastian - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

This book has everything I loved about Sebastian's previous books. Complicated, flawed and messily human characters, a clear-eyed and intelligent class analysis and a refreshingly unapologetic queerness. ( read more )

Point of Knives (Astreiant #1.5) - Melissa Scott - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

A satisfying mystery with an even-more-satisfying beginning of a romance between the main characters as they transition from people who sleep with each other occasionally to people who'd like to have a romantic relationship with each other. ( read more )

Peter Darling - Austin Chant ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

An amazing queer, trans reimagining of the Peter Pan story. ( read more )

The Horse Mistress: Book 1 - R.A Steffan - ★ ★ ★

Enjoyable poly fantasy with a genderqueer protagonist. ( read more )

A Boy Called Cin - Cecil Wilde - ★ ★ ★ ★

I'd describe this book as an aspirational romance. It's a delightful, cozy fairytale of an idealized relationship. And that's not a bad thing. I think there's value particularly in queer aspirational romances. ( read more )

There Will Be Phlogiston (Prosperity, #5) - Alexis Hall ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I picked this up because it was free and I'd heard good things about the author, but honestly I was mostly expecting a smutty, poly diversion.

What I got was so much more. ( read more )

Chasing Cameron: the complete series - Hanna Dare - ★ ★ ★ ★

A series of m/m novellas with a lot of sex, not all of it between, or only between, the two protagonists.

I was really pleasingly surprised by how non-mononormative this series is. ( read more )