The superb

Hidden Wolves by Kaje Harper (series)*****   Unacceptable Risk (volume one) introduces a really well developed werewolf world. Bought the sequel Unexpected demands as soon as I finished and found it  just as good. Thrilled to find there were a further four to go!!  Unwanted Appeal is a novella, Unjustified Claims, Unsafe Exposure, Undeniable Bonds are all full novels. All five star. There’s a coda due some time in October!!

The good

Fourth Point of Contact by AJ Sherwood**** A lovely mm romance with plenty of danger and excitement set in a fantasy world. But – there were some vocabulary choices that made me cringe (e.g. Clydesdales in another world when carthorses would have been fine) including the naming systems, and there could have been more rigorous editing. I might buy the sequel because I liked the main characters.

True (Tales of the Circle Bk 1) by Timothy Warren.**** Rural cabin trope but well told.

Harvest of the Cold Months by Elizabeth David**** Subtitle: A social history of ice and ices. Says it all. Fascinating but occasionally heavy going with all that detail.

May you be the mother of a hundred sons by Elisabeth Bulmiller.**** A journey among the women of India. Danish American journalist writing in 1990. Fresh and perceptive look at Indian society which still has a lot to tell the rest of us today.

Love in a Time of Coronavirus #17  by Dev Bentham (flashfic in her newletter)****

The readable.

The Weight of it all by NR Walker*** A nice mm romance and well written but I didn’t enjoy all the detail about diet and exercise. Although the point of the story was that we shouldn’t judge people by their appearance it still felt a bit like preaching! (Especially since I should follow the advice.)

The guilty man by Helen Durrant*** Police procedural set in a fictional West Yorkshire town. The back story of one of the detectives threatens to take over the plot but is never resolved. There is a sequel but I won’t be reading it because the case was boring and I didn’t get a cop story to read about the cop’s past even though I like well-developed detective characters.

Home again by Ana Ashley*** Sweet romance set in Portugal but it read a bit like a travelogue.

Some Kind of Magic by R Cooper*** (Beings in love series). Werewolves and fairies and more. Some poor world building and character development.

Under Color of Law by Aaron Philip Clark*** Can’t really rec this depressing though worthy.  account of a black cop in LA fighting racism and police brutality. I didn’t like the frequent changes of tense though I understood the literary intention. The book raises questions of whether the end justifies the means.

Angel Maker by Morgan Greene*** Supposed to be Scandi Noir but the heroine was boring (a possible Mary Sue??) and the plot moved slowly.

One Lost Soul by JM Dalgliesh*** Boring thriller set in Norfolk. Doctor’s daughter found dead in the woods. (I must post about boring thrillers…)

Buried by Jeffrey Deaver (novella)*** Quite an interesting premise but I didn’t really engage with any of the characters. I enjoy the Lincoln Rhyme/Amelia Sachs series but the author’s other writing is not so appealing. I couldn’t get really invested in the detective.

Gsbriel Baker’s Guide to Never Falling in Love by EM Lindsey (novella)*** The guide, which the protagonist ignores, is just, really, an excuse for sex. Boring.

Abandoned

Summer in Andalucia by Lucy Coleman. By p 36 I still had zero interest in any of the characters, plus it was in present tense for no apparent reason. A journalist follows a chef to Andalucia for a cookery retreat.

No fanfic  this month