Films and TV

Good Omens*** I confess to being disappointed. It stuck to the book but took too much time reaching some of the more exciting parts and skimmed over some aspects too quickly. Good acting, and I loved the introduction and final illustrations.

The Whaley Bridge dam disaster…. As I’ve already pointed out, in the post before this one, we spent the first half of the month glued to the local news.

The second half has been taken up with UK politics (ongoing…!!!)

Neither of these is something for which stars would be appropriate!

I have also watched quite a few natural history programmes but have forgotten their titles. An octopus in the home and the discovery of a frozen woolly mammoth were highlights.

Books

The excellent:

The Cracked Slipper by Stephanie Alexander*****
A delighful and intelligent exploration of the marriage of Cinderella and her Prince Charming, who turns out to have a lot of flaws. Well written (though better proof reading would have been good) and with echoes of Arthurian legend with Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot. I loved this book. It was one of the free novels I got either from the Smashwords sale or from Prolific Works, and was a really good find!

The Lodestar of Ys by Amy Rae Durreson***** Another freebie that was excellent. The mm romance in the royal arranged marriage between Celyn and Sjurd was intriguing but the major delight was the world building. The hanging islands became a character in their own right and I am hoping to read more stories set in them. I hadn’t realised, because the author name on the Smashwords blurb was not the same, that this was by an author I already liked. However, the cover showed the correct author name.

I would highly recommend the above two books.

Also very good:

Love in Every Season by Charlie Cochrane**** Four short stories. I liked the first – Horns and Halos – best. It centred on the work and training of people on school governing bodies and I appreciated the details since I’ve experienced that myself. I also enjoyed a further free short story by Charlie: Once we won matches****. This is set in the Cambridge Fellows series and was re-issued in honour of the cricket season.

One Night by RJ Scott**** A nicely written romance between a winery owner and a rich lawyer, set during a conference on the West Coast of America. What Lies Beneath**** is a mystery story with an nderlying mm romance by the same author. It was an enjoyable read but left a lot of loose ends. I’m assuming these will be addressed in the rest of the Lancaster Falls trilogy which I shall buy! I liked the world of the small town near the dam and reservoir, and was perhaps more intrigued than usual because of our Whaley Bridge connections.

Pluck and Play by Clare London**** A lovely story about an American rancher and a British courier set in the London ‘world’ of the author’s invented ice cream business With a Kick. I also enjoyed Freeman****, by the same writer, which was very well written. However, the mystery of the main character (Freeman of the title) was too drawn out and I never really managed to empathise with him.

Eagle Man and Mr Hawk by Dawn Sister****. A really enjoyable romance about an animal trainer; the animal crew was delightful. See you smile**** by the same writer was an exciting story featuring an author who meets a much younger guy who is deaf, and who is having problems with a possible stalker.

Perfect Love by A.M. Burns**** Ethan and Dusty are paranormal PIs. I loved the story though the book has poor editing and lacks tense control. The plot and the relationship were sufficiently amusing and exciting to keep my interest.

The mediocre

Critical Mass by Sara Paretsky*** Flashbacks to wartime Vienna again, and an unlikely plot. I was disappointed, since I usually enjoy this author.

Till Death do us Part by Addison Albright*** Sam thinks Henry is dead in an air crash and agrees to marry Nash. Meanwhile Henry survives on an island. The story had a strange structure and a lot of the focus was on the survival techniques. I found it quite interesting but then realised I was doing a lot of skimming.

Blue Fire by Z.A. Maxfield*** A pleasant novella about a firefighter who falls for the man he rescues.

Shifting Sands by Kiernan Kelly *** I realised this was a re-read and I liked the concept of the shifter ranch all over again, but the story has too much explicit sex and I won’t be reading any others in the series. Well written.

Making it by Christine D’Abo*** Devan’s husband Eli, a boxer, leaves him but comes back to find baby Matthew. I got bored and won’t be following the series but the writing was of a good standard.

Passing on Faith by A.M Leibowitz*** This was quite an exciting novel with a family mystery as well as romance. However, it was too religious for my tastes, perhaps because the churches concerned were very American and outside my real understanding.

Risky Behaviour by L.A Witt and Cari Z***. A competent thriller with a newly partnered pair set against what seems like the entire police force and local government. However, it was basically forgettable so the character development was clearly not stellar.

Synchronicity by Keira Andrews*** A nicely written short story about divers at the Olympics.

It happened in Vegas by various. An anthology *** Mixed – all the stories had happy endings but I was worried that some of the stories would turn out to be ‘dark’ which rather spoilt the experience.

And the rest…

Long Shadows by Kate Sherwood** A thriller with hints of romance between the (female) sheriff and a local criminal, with added ‘interest’ in the shape of a cop from LA. There were plotholes galore.

Hidden Talents by Claire Cray – abandoned. This set out to be a trilogy about psychics. It was very dark, which is not to my personal taste, but the main criticism was poor characterisation.

I also started and abandoned a number of ‘freebies’ because they turned out to be things I didn’t really want to read. I won’t bother listing them but can say I am relieved to have made inroads into my to-be-read list!

Fanfic

Nothing to recommend this month. What I read was mixed, but all needed a knowledge of canon.

Another month gone and I haven’t posted since my last reviews… Must do better! Anyway, here are July’s offerings.

Films and TV
Either I didn’t watch much this month or I forgot to record my viewing which means it was forgettable anyway. I think most of my TV time was taken up with politics… UK politics in July veered between horror and farce and was definitely the only thing to watch! I did apparently see:

The Lawyer.*** I’m giving this three stars. I can’t remember a single thing about it but I evidently found it worth noting.

Books

The very good and the good:

I binged on the Mad Creek series by Eli Easton. Dog shifters and humans in a remote town. Lots of humour and lots of thrills. Highly recommended and I hope she writes more!
Mad Creek*****
How to Howl at the Moon / How to Walk like a Man / How to Wish upon a Star / How to save a life and How to run with the wolves.

All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Herriot***** I used to live in the Yorkshire Dales so there was a nostalgia element, but another pleasure was the information about pre-WW2 veterinary methods. You don’t need to have seen the TV series to enjoy the book.

Hot Summer Nights **** This was a charity anthology of mm stories by various authors including JL Merrow. As usual with any anthology the standard varied but I enjoyed the book, and her contribution in particular.

Love, Jamie by AKM Miles**** A pleasant mm romance involving thriller elements with a stalker.

Frank at Heart by Pat Henshaw **** Another pleasant mm story in the Foothills Pride series. Well written and I might read more if I ever get far down my tbr list.

Cutie and the Beast by EJ Russell**** A nice urban magic mm twist on Beauty and the Beast – I may well try more of this Fae Out of Water series if only because urban magic appeals to me (it’s the genre I mostly write in).

Total Recall by Sara Paretsky**** VI Warshawski, the Chicago PI, investigates a case that necessitates long flashbacks to WW2 Germany and England by one of the principal (present-day) characters. I could see the point of them but for me they detracted from the pleasure of the novel.

The acceptable. All well written but not particularly recommended.

Burning Fall by EJ Smyth*** Short mm story set in Frankfurt, seen through the eyes of an American who is one of the main characters. Ultimately unmemorable. I won’t be reading any more of the series (Volume 1 of Frankfurt Hot Seasons)

Fire Thief by Jordan Castillo Price*** An unusual short story but I was left vaguely dissatisfied. Clever but perhaps too much focus on the ‘twist’ and not enough on the characters. It was a ‘freebie’ and as I read most of what she writes, I read this. If you do, go ahead and read it. If not, it isn’t the best introduction to her work.

Loathing Leo by Ash Penn *** An mm ‘romance’ centred on an abduction supposed to be for the good of the relationship. I got very irritated with all the main characters and frankly disliked the story.

Imperfect by Cassidy Ryan*** Another short with the main focus on trying to please parents who held erroneous beliefs.

Fleeting Moments by Nic Starr*** A sweet short story about a couple and the mother of one of them. The mother has dementia.

A Blind Eye by Jane Gorman*** An ultimately boring thriller (yes, honestly) set in Poland where a Polish-American police officer is on some kind of diplomatic mission which seemed unlikely, and gets involved with old family problems. (Volume 1 of the Kaminski mysteries which I shall not be following.)

And the abandoned. None of these were well enough written to hook my interest.

Child of the Theatre by Caleb. Some sort of Regency mm – boring because it was too erotic even before we had any idea of the characters.

Castro Jack by Mark Cartwright. Experiences of a gay Brit in 70s San Francisco. Simply boring.

Tear Down and Die by Joanna Campbell Slan. A boring cozy mystery. The author claims to write ‘clean’ books with no explicit sex or bad language. Pity they also lack character and plot.

Off Broadway by Sarah Kay Moll. This was written in a strange style and I couldn’t get into it at all.

Hero in a Halfling by William Tyler Davis. A derivative and boring lotr style epic.

Crude Magic by Michael D Young. Magical, maybe, but it didn’t grab me and was too hard to get into.

Fanfic

As so often, the fanfic I read depended on a reasonably knowledge of the canon (the original shows or books). In fact I abandoned a long fic by astolat, whose work I would normally adore, for this very reason. I enjoyed some of what I read and left kudos on AO3 but would not review the works here for general readers. The only one I would like to mention is
Written by the Victors by Speranza***** https://archiveofourown.org/works/15 It’s an SGA fic and does require knowledge of the show but if you have seen that, then this is worth reading. It is clever and interesting, purportedly written many years later with all kinds of references. It consists of various articles etc. which pinpoint the way history can be skewed by the perceptions of writers. The articles are interspersed with apparent slices of ‘what really happened’. Whilst the idea and execution are brilliant, it won’t be accessible to anyone who doesn’t know the original story.

For once I had them ready on 1st, but had too much else to post!

Films and TV

Johnny English Reborn***** Hilarious spoof spy story – provided you like Rowan Atkinson.

War on Plastic**** Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall doing his bit for, or rather, against pollution. Some interesting information emerged, especially on how local authorities deal with waste, and how changes in packaging affect supermarket prices. I ended up feeling the ordinary person couldn’t do much, if they were already aware of pollution, recycling, etc. And if they weren’t, I doubt if they’d watch the three programmes.

Years and Years*** Russell T Davies looks at the near future. Well produced and acted, but I found it very depressing as it just confirmed all my fears about the way the world (and UK in particular) is going. Also, whilst it was interesting to have the drama focus on a single extended family, it was rather surprising and unlikely to find one with so many pertinent ‘problems’.

Montalbano*** I used to love this series but I was disappointed. There wasn’t nearly enough Sicilian countryside, and the detectives seemed determined to sit in their office waiting for witnesses to come and report to them. I watched the first two part story then gave up.

My Gay Dog and Other Animals*** I agreed with one reviewer of this who said that even though it was animals the watcher could end up feeling like a voyeur. And although there was some discussion of the reasons for the observed behaviour there was very little science.

Books

Recommended:

The Heights by Amy Aislin F***** This was a free e-book and I was surprised and impressed. A child is abducted and then found as an adult. The writer makes the various reactions of family members extremely interesting and of course the mm romance has the ‘found’ adult as one of the protagonists and it is rewarding to see how he copes.

Fallout and Body Work by Sara Paretsky***** I bought Fallout from the sale trolley at my local library, and remembered enjoying the V.I.Warshawski series so bought more for my Kindle. The female detective was one of the ones that inspired my own writing and the stories are still fresh and gripping. Vic is a fascinating heroine.

Seeing Red by Alex Beecroft***** I gave a whole post to advertising this latest novel in the Trowchester series, and the book itself was just as good as I expected. The ‘bad’ boy’s motives are interesting and well-explained, and the owner of the threatened tea shop is a delightful character. I love these series where we gradually get to know a whole community and meet major characters from other books as minor ones in the current story. The same applies to the next two recommendations here.

Resonance, Resistance and Renaissance by Lilian Francis***** Another mm series with a well developed village community in Slopy Bottom. I enjoyed the third book even more than the first two, since getting to know so many of the minor characters.

Choosing Home, Returning Home, and Staying Home by Alexa Milne***** Again, an entire community is brought to life on the north east coast of Scotland. The first book deals with the ex-footballer owner of a local hotel where people from the next volumes stay, eat and marry. The second book introduces a local policeman and his love for a man badly injured by a city gang, and in a wheelchair. The gang kill the husband of one of the minor characters, who becomes the ‘lead’ in the third story, which also features a Church of Scotland minister and his inevitable angst over coming out as gay. The author tackles each theme with great sensitivity and gives an illuminating look at current problems faced by gay men as well as developing the location in loving detail.

Single by RJ Scott*****After a breakup, Asher decided to keep the baby born to a surrogate mother. So as a single dad, his social life seems restricted but a trio of guys, policeman, firefighter and doctor, move in next door and his life changes for the better. Heartwarming and romantic.

Heat by RJ Scott and Chris Quinton***** Interesting romance with a touch of mystery set in a restaurant in Salisbury. I’m hoping to hear more about Lewis and Devon and their families and friends. This is a collaborative work and both authors are good – it’s impossible to tell who wrote what, though I suspect Quinton was at least responsible for the locations.

And the rest:

Creative Interior Design (Ward Lock)***Worth keeping as a work of reference. I must have skimmed through it when I first bought it years ago but to be honest it seems a little dated now. Some interesting information about various periods and styles. As is often the case in this type of glossy ‘coffee table’ book I wonder whether the photographer always reads the text. I’m also not sure about the title: Interior Design, yes, but Creative?

Broken Guns by teromain*** An original novel published on AO3 (which accepts original works with some connection to fanworks e.g. common fanfic tropes). Competent writing and I found the story, set in a steampunk au, fairly gripping but I’m not usually a fan of romance between minor criminals, however much the author differentiates between those who choose a life of crime and those who are catapulted into it, so won’t be seeking any more of their work.

Fanfic

I read some long (novel length) and excellent fics this month, in Sherlock, SGA and H5O, including one where Steve from H5O is a vampire who wants to become human, but basically, everything required too much prior knowledge of canon to recommend to the casual reader.