K.J.
Charles has a skill of writing historical romances of ordinary people who are
interesting without fancy titles or high social status. She gives her characters
skills and occupations that are unique and meaningful for the plot instead of
being mere gimmicks. And her gay historical romances never solely revolve around
the fear of being found out but have their unique obstacles on the way to
happily ever after.
How to Fake It in Society is about two men who know they’re not worthy of being loved. One
because he’s been brought up to feel insignificant, and the other because he
knows his entire life is a lie. They come together at the cross-roads in both
of their lives, and each turns out to be exactly what the other needs in his
life. But the lies are there and they’re not easy to forgive, as they’re exactly
the kind that makes the other realise how unworthy of being loved he is. It
takes a drastic turn for the two to find their happily ever after.
Titus Pilcrow
has made a meagre living as a colourist, someone who makes oil and
watercolours. But now he’s about to lose his shop, because his vindictive ex is
his landlord. But his fate takes a drastic turn, when his elderly client
pressures him to marry her on her deathbed so that her unworthy nephew won’t
inherit a penny. And then she dies, leaving him a fortune.
Enter Nicolas-Marc,
Comte de Valois de La Motte, who had quite counted on that fortune. He has a
moneylender at his neck, and he needs funds fast. But instead of asking for money
from Titus, he ends up befriending him. And it’s an excellent friendship that
gives Titus much needed self-confidence and happiness, while making Nico feel
like he isn’t a complete scammer. And then it all goes wrong, with no easy way
out to happiness.
This was a delightful
romance. I loved both men, their unique stories and especially Titus’
enthusiasm for colours. The detailed stories about different colours never felt
stamped on just so the author could show her research. They had a role in the
story, up to the climax. Bad guys had their comeuppances and good guys got
everything lovely. The men came together in the end on their own terms, without
lies or compromises. The reader can be sure that their union will last.
I received
a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Platform Decay
is book 8 in the Murderbot Diaries. Like most books in the series, it’s more a
long novella that only took four hours to read, but it’s a complete and
satisfying story, with no cliffhanger ending.
Murderbot has
arrived on a humongous planet-circling torus to free Dr Mensah’s family members
Farai, Sofi and Naja, who have been captured by Barish-Estranza corporation in
retaliation to events in the previous book. They’re already in a safehouse. Murderbot
simply has to get there and take them safely back to their escape shuttle. But
things get immediately complicated, because the person who has been helping
them wants Murderbot to save other people too, and they’re in a completely
different part of the torus, to a wrong direction from the shuttle.
The rescue
mission takes them through different zones of the huge torus, some of which are
civilised and some that are more like the Wild West. Some zones belong to B-E,
others don’t, but that doesn’t stop the corporation from chasing them.
Transportation turns out to be the greatest problem though. Murderbot isn’t
happy with having clingy humans and their emotions to account for. It’s even
less thrilled with its own new emotion module that keeps interrupting at worst
possible moments.
This was an
exciting flight through imaginative environments. Murderbot was mostly its
sarcastic self again, with no imminent mental breakdowns anymore, as the
emotion module did its job. It was trying new things like direct communication,
which went about as well as one can imagine. And it realises that having some
emotions isn’t all that bad, and sometimes it’s nice to be thanked and praised.
Especially if it comes from small children.
The story
isn’t entirely satisfying emotionally though. The setting is new, and the characters
are again people the reader hasn’t really met before. They turn out to be nice
additions, but the emotional connection isn’t there, like with Mensah, Amena or
ART. Their interactions with Murderbot weren’t as funny or poignant either,
though an understanding formed between them in the end. But there was Three,
the SecUnit Murderbot freed, exercising its free will with unpredictable
results. It was nice to follow the bond between the two. And the ending was
satisfying, leaving everyone in a good place. I hope we’ll get more books soon.
Out Law is book
number 18.75 in Dresden Files series, an odd number considering there isn’t a
book n:o 18.5 and it’s a long novella of almost 200 pages. I hadn’t read book
18, Twelve Months, which came out this January (2026), or the novella The Law
(2022), which apparently set the stage for this one, and it’s been ages since I
read the previous full book, Battle Ground, which came out in 2020. There were
a lot I didn’t remember and a lot that had happened in Harry’s life since then,
but I was able to read this perfectly fine without knowing all the details.
Though now I’m spoiled for some of them, should I go and read the books I
skipped.
Harry owes
the crime boss Marcone a favour. Marcone decides to collect. A goon of his, Tripp
Gregory, wants to get out of the life of crime by starting a charity to help
children. But he’s gone about it in a very gangster way, which has landed him
in trouble with the IRS, and a bookie who won’t pay up his winnings. Marcone wants
Harry to help. Harry is reluctant, because he doesn’t like Tripp. But Marcone
appeals to his moral core: you don’t always only get to help the people you
like or who deserve your help.
What starts
as a straightforward case gets a supernatural twist when someone sends a
demonic entity to try and kill Tripp. It turns out, Harry has battled the
entity before, and it’s kind of his fault that it’s on the loose. So, now it’s
personal.
This was a
good and compact, but full story with proper three acts and a good story arc.
The old Harry was back, a bit grumpy but one that isn’t crushed with grief,
guilt and PTSD. There were funny moments, and good banter. There were many life
lessons delivered to Tripp who took them like a five-year-old who has never
considered moral questions before. The enemy was powerful, but not overly so;
Harry was powerful, but not overly so. I liked this. It returned my love for
the series and I might continue with it again.
I received
a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I went into
this book hoping for pleasant cozy fantasy with some adventure in the mix. I definitely
got that. Just not the way I thought based on the book description, which is a
bit misleading. But then again, so is Teddy, the book’s narrator. It’s not
entirely cozy in its details either (some gory stuff in the mix), but I’m not a
purist when it comes to genre conventions. I just allowed the story to take me
where it wanted to go, and I suggest other readers do the same, as it’s
definitely not where they expect it to lead.
An Accident of Dragons takes place in Summer. It’s an island where everything has its place
and nothing ever changes. The state of things is maintained by Summer, a huge
ancient dragon that lives in the caves beneath the island. And the island is
ruled by Summer, the dragon’s caretaker who is bonded with her. Much is made about confusing the three throughout the story.
The position
of the caretaker is hereditary, the next ruler inheriting some attributes
already at birth that allows them to connect with the dragon. But Jack, the
previous Lord Summer, had rebelled against becoming Summer and had died without
an heir. To everyone’s surprise, the dragon has chosen Teddy, Jack’s kept man,
as the next caretaker.
The book
starts six years after that. Teddy has mostly settled into his new position as a
ruler that he never thought to become. He’s an outsider to Summer, and has
never had a place there, because everyone’s place is set by the dragon and
nothing ever changes. Unlike Jack, he’s dutifully married a nice widow and
managed to produce an heir despite definitely preferring men, and now maintains
cordial if distant relationship with his wife and stepson while doting on his
daughter Zinnia, who is five.
And then
Zinnia is abducted by people from the mainland, where the people of Summer
seldom go, because Summer the dragon doesn’t want them to leave. Unlike on
Summer, things change on the continent. A cult is rising there that is
utilising dragons’ powers to subjugate everyone. And now they want a dragon’s
egg. Summer’s egg.
Teddy is
almost forty, not very strong despite the dragon altering his physique a
little, and a dandy who prefers fancy clothing and parties to heroics. But he
doesn’t hesitate to go after his daughter. With him is the entire navy of
Summer (three ships) and his stepson Brook who dreams of seeing the world. Turns
out, rescuing Zinnia is the easy part. Defeating a cult that wants Summer—the
dragon and island both—is another matter.
This was a
delightful read. It’s a book that firmly stands with the voice of its narrator,
Teddy, and it does it with great flair. He addresses the reader very directly
and with familiarity, but it isn’t until the very end that we learn he’s
talking to his children. He has a delightful voice, a rather straightforward
outlook on life, and no misconceptions about his importance, even though he’s
the ruler of the island. Slowly, we learn why that is the case. But he’s a bit
unreliable narrator. Or rather, he alludes to events of the past that give the
reader one notion, only to tell the full story later that reveals a different
picture.
Teddy is an
outsider, made evident because he looks different. It’s never stated outright,
but everyone on the island is white and he’s Black, or their world’s equivalent,
as skin colour isn’t mentioned, only shown on the book’s cover. But it’s not an issue to anyone; this isn’t a
book about race or racism. That Teddy is gay isn’t an issue either, or that he
maintains relationships even though he’s married. Everyone does the same, his
wife included. Teddy has an odd romance with a married father of two throughout
the book—odd because Teddy doesn’t really like him (although it turns out to be
a very good relationship.) But this isn’t a gay romance either—though there’s
room for it.
This is
mostly a book about becoming, and accepting oneself. Teddy realises that he’s
never really accepted that he’s Lord Summer, and has only waited for his
daughter to take over. He’s never really accepted that he’s a father to Brook
too, and that he has a wife who has her own needs. It’s about finding the
family he already has. Teddy who returns to Summer is different than Teddy who
left. The ending is satisfying, but there’s room for more adventures. I’d definitely
read them.
I received
a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Alchemised is one of those massive (1000+ pages) fantasy novels I loved to read back before
social media killed my attention span. Nowadays, I tend to give these a pass,
and I almost didn’t pick this one either. But I ended up buying a physical copy
on a whim, and instead of letting it gather dust on my shelf, I started
reading. And I’m glad I did, even if it took me two weeks to finish—and that’s
without constantly skipping to check my socials. I try to keep this review spoiler free, but if you want to be certain, read my short review here.
This is a
secondary world fantasy, a world with three moons and people with resonance, an
inner ability to transmute things like metal or fire, called alchemists. Resonance
doesn’t appear evenly in the world and it’s concentrated in Paladia, where the
Alchemy Tower gathers the most talented alchemists. Paladia is led by Holdfast
family who claim a divine right to rule and have the ability to transmute gold.
Not all
forms of resonance are allowed in the religion-led Paladia. Necromancy, the
ability to animate the dead is forbidden, as is its more benign counterpart, vivimancy,
the ability to heal. But a necromancer has risen who can create Undying, people
who have an incredible ability to heal but who aren’t entirely alive.
A
devastating civil war has been fought between the supporters of the rightful
rule and the Necromancer with his supporters. The book begins a year and a half
after the war has ended. The good guys have lost and the Necromancer is in
charge. It’s a harsh rule with human experiments and violent punishments meted
out by the High Reeve, the Necromancer’s closest man.
Helena Marino
has been confided in a stasis pod of the Necromancer’s people since the war
ended. She should’ve been sedated, but she’s been conscious the whole time. As
a result, she’s lost much of her memory. When she’s finally released, much to
the surprise of her captors who didn’t know she was there or who she is, she’s
sent to the High Reeve so that he can unravel her memory in case she knows
important Resistance secrets.
The first
part of the book is about Helena’s captivity in the High Reeve’s manor. His
name is Kaine Ferron and he used to be her classmate and rival at the Alchemy
Tower, not that she—an outsider to his legacy family—really recognised the
rivalry. All she remembers of him now is that he killed the previous leader and
caused the war in the first place. She’s deadly afraid of him and for a reason.
He’s an animancer who can invade her mind and extract her memories.
It’s not
easy or safe captivity. Ferron’s attempts to break her mind cause her almost
die several times, the medical leaders of the new regime want to experiment on
her, and Ferron’s wife he neglects wants to kill her. And all the while she is
a captive of her own mind, unable to remember what happened. Until she does.
The second
part takes place in the past, starting five years after the war began. It’s
already devastated Paladia, and while the leadership won’t recognise that they’re
fighting a losing war, some people know more drastic measures are needed.
Helena has spent
the war as a healer. It’s hard, unthankful work, because it requires vivimancy
that she’s found the ability for, much to the horror of her friends, the
current leader of the country and his paladins. She’s desperate for acceptance
and so, when she’s asked to act as a liaison with an enemy who has agreed to
spy on their side, she agrees. The spy turns out to be Ferron, already an
Undying as a reward for killing the previous ruler, and high up in the Necromancer’s army.
For two
years, to the inevitable end of the war, the two meet in secret, both using
each other for information and being used by their own people in return. They
don’t trust each other—Ferron doesn’t trust anyone—but eventually they realise
that they only have one another to rely on. A friendship of sorts forms, a bit
unhealthy and codependent, and then, inevitably, a love story. They make plans
to disappear together, but he can’t really leave, as the Undying are bound to
the Necromancer. And then the war ends, and Helena disappears.
Third part
of the book returns to the present where Helena has to reconcile her memories
of Kaine of the past and the High Reeve of the present, the love story with her
trauma of the captivity. He wants to get her to safety; she won’t leave without
him. There are no allies, only enemies on all sides, and a hunt for the last
remaining Resistance fighter. And the noose is tightening.
This was an
excellent novel: structure, pace, plot, the world, and characters were all perfect. Even though it’s long, there’s nothing unnecessary. The chapters are short and every
scene has a meaning. It’s dark and atmospheric, the war with its horrors come
close even though they’re mostly seen through the aftermath at the hospital—it’s like
watching China Beach or M*A*S*H. Bad things happen to good people, and good people
do really bad things. I’m not triggered by much as a reader, and nothing here
caused me distress, but some readers might find the reality of war and
characters that are both black and important difficult to handle. Pain and
suffering, physical or mental, aren’t dwelled on, or described in nauseating detail
in order to horrify or titillate the reader. They’re simply the realities of
war.
The
narrative is from Helena’s point of view in third person, which distances it a
little—sometimes a good thing when she’s suffering from all sorts of trauma.
She’s an unreliable narrator, especially at the beginning, so the second part
is a discovery into her mind and memories. She does paint a good picture of
Kaine, so we learn a lot about him and what drives him even though there is
nothing from his point of view. The enemies-to-lovers storyline unfolds
organically from the needs and deeds of the characters and not from an overwhelming
attraction the characters can’t help feeling. I really rooted for them, even as
I feared the inevitable, as this isn’t the kind of book where you take the
happy ending for granted.
The only weak
part is the third, though not by much. The enemy remains mostly hidden and is
only seen by proxy, the tension comes from people and deeds the reader isn’t
privy to, and Helena’s traumas reconcile with her memories fairly fast. The
ending is unnecessarily long, and a bit too easy and convenient.
For such a
dark book, this was a surprisingly pleasant read and difficult to put down. I
loved the characters and the ending they earned for themselves. I’m glad I gave
the book a chance. It’ll stay with me for a long time.
