Viewing

The brilliant

The Nabateans***** Ch 4. Fascinating look at an ancient civilisation I was only peripherally aware of.

Last Night of the Proms***** BBC iPlayer. Highlights included a new arrangement of Bohemian Rhapsody with Brian May on guitar and Roger Taylor on ‘gong’. Plus a piece with Bill Bailey on typewriter.

Blue Lights***** Season 3 BBC Police drama set in Belfast. I love this.

Riot Women***** BBC.  Brilliant drama (not crime or romance). Written by Sally Wainwright who wrote Happy Valley.

Calan Gaeaf Cary’s Eleri ***** iPlayer till end Feb. Fascinating and beautifully filmed exploration of Welsh legends and ways of celebrating Halloween. All in Welsh so put subtitles on.

The good

Upstart Crow**** BBC A Shakespearean follow up to things like Blackadder.

The Thursday Murder Club**** Netflix. Clever plot, well acted (well, duh, the cast is stellar…) I enjoyed it but OH wandered off to do something else.

Untamed.**** Netflix. In Yosemite, people die or disappear. FBI agent Turner investigates with the help of park rangers. Interesting characters and plot. Magnificent scenery.

Protection**** itvx Good Brit cop drama. Not keen on the ending which was a bit wishy washy but maybe they’re looking for another season. 

Deep Ocean: Kingdom of the Coelacanth **** BBC Attenborough follows a team studying these fish – very slow because for long stretches of time they (the coelacanths) do very little, but fascinating!

Secrets of the Jurassic Dinosaurs. **** BBC Why did so many fossils end up in Wyoming?

The Tower**** itx. Police drama. Looking forward to the next season.

Borderline**** itx. Police drama set on the border between NI and Eire. Improves after a shaky start.

Poison Water**** BBC Chilling account of the water disaster in Cornwall in the 1980s and the aftereffects even now.

Stranger Things Season 5 First 4 eps**** Netflix – strangely distancing after such a long hiatus and just as I got invested again, it stopped, till Christmas.

Jeffrey Epstein:  Filthy Rich **** Netflix. In case you wondered what all the fuss was about. Chilling.

Reading

The excellent

Acts of Faith by Jackson Marsh***** Another Delamere Files mystery, this time featuring Baxter and policeman Charlie Inning. Better than the last few because it had UST and also concurrent mystery and romance stories. I would still like to see more of the original cast. Next up was Holywell Street.**** The mysteries are as compelling but the lack of relationship development makes these less appealing than the previous series. A dentist commits suicide and leaves Jack a mysterious set of clues. Snake Hill**** is a good mystery story but still leaves us without any real UST which is so good in the earlier series.

A Changeling’s Guide to Love and Prophecy by Theo Behr and Rowan Amaris.***** Another novel in the Fallen for a Fae series and just as good as the previous ones. Reviewed for Scott.

Song of Oestend and Saviours of Oestend by Marie Sexton***** ‘Western’ set in fictional world. Paranormal elements. Three intertwined mm romances which explore various gender issues over two volumes. Also by Marie: Trailer Trash **** Well written high school romance – if that’s your jam; it isn’t mine. Also Promises **** Well written romance between closeted cop and store owner. Again, not to my taste but recommended for those who like that kind of story. And Strawberries for dessert **** Contemporary romance between Cole and Jonathan. Involves discussion of rich people supporting their partners. Well written but ultimately lacks excitement.

Fixer by Kaje Harper***** a Hidden Wolves prequel novella. I love finding out more about this author’s werewolf world. Also by Kaje: Impurrfections **** Sweet mm romance involving setting up an animal shelter. Transparent is a colour**** – quite exciting but a little too frivolous in parts. And Avocado Protection**** Bodyguard and client mm romance made exciting by kidnap attempts.

Out of the Darkness by Kate Sherwood***** Interesting exploration of the joys and problems of a threesome. Follows Dark Horse.

The Sin Eater by Liv Rancourt***** ARC for Scott. Nice addition to the Carnival of Mysteries series. Ezra and Damon work at a hospital. Ezra has secrets, just not the ones he thought he had… 

Daggers, Needlers and Skites***** by Chloe Garner. Further adventures of the rat king and his crew. I don’t usually like stories based around lawbreakers but this series is great. It fills some gaps in the Queen’s Chair series and like that, it manages to insert quite complex philosophical questions into a fantasy action thriller, set, of course, in Verida. This time, some of the Black Docks boys are missing. Velvet on a black moon***** sees the culmination of the issue with Palora.

The Spell Shop***** by Sarah Beth Durst. An enchanting story about a librarian who flees a revolution-torn capital with magical books in crates, and a sentient plant assistant. Slow burn romance with a neighbour who herds merhorses and great excitement in the form of a special investigator who is not all she seems. Wonderful magic, wonderful world building, endearing characters and a happy ending.

Night after Night by Phil Rickman.***** Excellent Halloween read. A TV reality show is investigating a haunted mansion. Standalone but revisits characters from The Cold Calling. Then The Echo of Crows***** The final novel in the Merrily Watkins series, edited by Rickman’s wife after his death. Bittersweet but tied up quite a few loose ends and left a feeling of satisfaction.

The Book Keeper by Sarah Painter***** Worthy sequel to The Ward Witch. Luke and his shop are at risk on Unholy Island.

Broken Light by Joanne Harris. ***** As good as all her novels. Exploration of menopausal women. Goes well with watching Riot Women!

The good

You can save me by RL Merill**** Exciting story in the Carnival of Mysteries series. I have already downloaded the prequel from the previous year, to learn more about Kal and Ryan, but this tale’s main characters, Dane and Walter, are enchanting. You can do magic tells the story of Kal and Ryan.****

Hudson River Homicides by CS Poe**** Great detection by Larkin and Doyle as usual. A body is found in a fridge in the Hudson. I must remember her other series too.

The Crooked Tome by Claire Robyns**** Nice start to a series about witches and curses in modern Stratford on Avon. The sequel is The Avon Mirror****. Good contrast to the Spellcaster Creek series…

Reflections in a dark pool by Fiona Glass**** Nice eerie short mm romance story set in a real location near Grange over Sands. I tend not to give five stars to short stories, but this was very good.

Paralyzed by JR Loveless**** Good paranormal mm mystery. Reviewed for Scott.  

The Shattered King by Charlie Holmberg**** Interesting fantasy exploration of a type of healing magic, with a slow burn mf romance too. I’m hoping there’s a sequel.

The Devil Himself by Julia Talbot **** An mm Regency romance with a family drama and crime to add excitement.

Nick Drake, the biography by Patrick Humphries**** For fans, like me, of Phil Rickman’s Merrily series, this adds immeasurably to the back story for Lol Robinson. For Nick Drake fans, there is plenty of information including a discography – most of which is available on Spotify.

Bleeding for the Prince by Rebecca Cohen****. Third in the vampire/fae detective/romantic pair series. Gwil is the link that lets them find out why a department store in London is at risk.

At the river by Kendra Elliot**** Good crime novel in the Columbia River series. A current case merges with the disappearance of five teenagers twenty years ago. The next grave**** This is a good solid crime novel in the same series. Evan and Rowan take centre stage with Thor, the search dog, of course.

Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater**** Nice slow burn mf romance in Victorian setting with added fae. Slightly spoilt by an epilogue which was unnecessary and odd.

Murder in Shades of Red**** by Ripley Hayes. Charlie Rees 3 – this time in NY. Then Doggone**** which shows what happens in Wales while they’re away. And Murder in Shades of Fire and Ash**** Fires, graffiti and bodies. Including a police officer. Murder in Shades of Pink and Yellow ****Girls are dying due to diet pills. Too much head hopping tends to distance the reader from the action but it’s still good.

Dragon School 16-20**** by Sarah KL Wilson. I was almost relieved the saga was over though I found the main characters fascinating and liked the philosophical discussions. I skimmed the battle scenes.

Secrets of the Forgotten Heir by Heather G Harris and Ella Stone**** Excellent first volume in a magical crime series set in Cornwall. Secrets of the Deadly Nightshades **** is the intriguing sequel, with a vampire assassin on the loose. 

Out of Sight by KC Wells**** Another cold case for the cop/psychic duo ends up as an international thriller. Line of Sight **** concludes the search for Brad’s killer. Clever but I didn’t like it as much because although I could see why the author chose to alternate the killer’s pov and the flashbacks both these tend to distance me from the story.

A Simple Mistake by Jackie Keswick**** Nicely convoluted story in the Power of Zero series. Crime and action alternate with family drama.

To beguile a banished lord by Fearne Hill**** nice Regency mm rom com. I didn’t like Lyndon at first having met him earlier as a villain. Possible echo of Beauty and the Beast. Reviewed for Scott. 

The Black Bird Oracle**** by Deborah Harkness. Too much magic theory and too little family action – and have I missed a book in the series?

 And finally

 Manacled by senlinyu. Already reviewed in detail in a recent previous post. I don’t think I can give this any stars. Pain and suffering with very little else for over 300,000 words. HP fanfic which has now been turned into a novel, Alchemised, which is apparently very popular. I am clearly not the target audience. The only reason I am mentioning it here is that Alchemised was the only book I recognised in the Good Reads Choice Awards… Given the number of books I read I found this odd and almost disturbing!