Books by familiar authors:

The recommended:

Breaking Cover by Kaje Harper**** Sequel to Life Lessons. Plenty of police procedural in the mystery part and plenty of drama in the personal lives. I really like this pair and will be following their story.

Judgement Dave by Si Clarke**** Second in the Starship Teapot series. Just as slightly weird and absolutely wonderful as The Left Hand of Dog. Sci fi with some humour, some gripping angst and a healthy dose of social commentary. The multi-species crew of the Teapot help to rescue two species from a planet threatened by an asteroid. Lots of aliens, alien points of view, and different communication methods.

The Raven Spell by Luanne G Smith**** Excellent ripper-style mystery set in a steampunk alternative London with magic user investigators. I thought this was an author new to me but find she wrote The Vine Witch which I also loved. The Vine Witch was a complete story with little or no possibility of a sequel but The Raven Spell, although it had a satisfactory ending, left lots of room for Edwina and Ian to explore both their abilities and their relationship. I hope to read more; the sequel is due out in October. And meanwhile, I’ve found a sort of sequel to The Vine Witch on KU!

Darkest by Paul L Arvidson **** Exciting sequel to Dark and Darker but I do think the blurb could have had less focus on the arrival of the marines on the Dark planet. (They arrive on the last page.) I am definitely going to read the next book in the series. The inhabitants of the Dark planet with their civil wars are intriguing, and the people from earth travelling towards them are well developed characters with a wonderful alien and sentient spaceship.

People like us by Ruby Moone**** Beautifully written historical romance in the Crofton Hall series – the blacksmith and the valet.

The readable:

Trapped by Ruby Moone***This is a lovely and exciting story set in Regency England with rescues of young men, women and children from an evil brothel. Sadly, for me, it was thoroughly spoilt by very slapdash proof reading which gave so many errors I got tired of reading. If you can cope with a lot of typos, you’d enjoy the tale and the mm romance.

Poles Apart by Alex J Adams*** Competent sequel to Dance With Me but there was too much explicit sex and too little real drama for my tastes. It’s a companion volume rather than a sequel because it covers the romance of two minor characters during the same time period.

The Less than Spectacular Times of Henry Milch by Marshall Thornton*** A ‘cosy’ small town mystery with a gay protagonist and a gay victim. I didn’t care for any of the characters so found it hard to care about outcomes.

The Wishing Tree by RJ Scott *** Sweet Christmas story. Nicely written but merely sweet!

Bigger than us by Jodi Payne and BA Tortuga***. Over-sweet story about two guys who end up joint guardians to two kids and get married. Too much over-cute kid stuff and too much sex. Also, why do these authors head hop without warning???

The Soldati Prince by Charlie Cochet*** I loved Charlie’s Thirds series but this was a very ordinary soulmate mark story which wasn’t particularly improved by being set between our world and another. I won’t bother with the sequel.

Fanfiction

More from ‘From the pen of Inky Quill’ by okapi **** – a porcupine writes in the Sherlock Holmes universe… This was chapter 72 and it’s worth following – I subscribe and new chapters appear occasionally in my inbox which always improves my day. https://archiveofourown.org/works/6848800/chapters/93756946

Fanfic writers new to me:

Without Breaking Anything by Shinybug**** Teen Wolf. Short but interesting first time Stiles/Derek. Explicit sex that was actually a pleasure to read. Recommended but you probably need some familiarity with the canon. https://archiveofourown.org/works/26222557

Milk Run by escriveine*** SGA (au) John is Rodney’s new milkman. Sweet but unmemorable

Milk Run – escriveine – Stargate Atlantis [Archive of Our Own]

My Words to Catch (like I’m trying) by secondstar*** Teen Wolf. A sex pollen story. Not terribly well written or memorable. My Words to Catch (like I’m trying) – secondstar – Teen Wolf (TV) [Archive of Our Own]

And I am mystified as to why the URLs for AO3 works are behaving oddly.