The White Road by Sarah Lotz. A horror novel set in modern-day England and Nepal. Simon is a mid-twenties slacker, working at a coffee shop and half-heartedly running a website of dumb videos - until he decides that the perfect click-bait would be footage of actual dead bodies. He chooses those of a group of young cavers who were trapped and died ( Read more... )

I'm still around! Just facing multiple deadlines. Hopefully to be around more soon! (...she says, for the millionth time.)

Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo. A murder mystery set in contemporary small-town Ohio, deep in Amish country. Our lead character is Kate Burkholder, the new chief of police, who's only recently returned to her hometown after ( Read more... )

Vienna by William S. Kirby. A murder mystery/retelling of the Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons", set in modern-day Europe with a Holmes and Watson who are both women and also in an explicit relationship. This book was sold to me as "lesbian Sherlock Holmes", and to be fair, it succeeds on that front - which is probably all ( Read more... )

Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeannette Ng. An absolutely fantastic, gorgeous novel of fantasy and horror and history. In Victorian England, fairy-land (now called Arcadia) is a real place, and Victorian England being Victorian England, missionaries are sent there. Catherine Helstone's brother, Laon, is the latest one, and he seems to have vanished - ( Read more... )

Hello everyone!

I aten't dead. Just extremely, extremely busy in these odd times. I hope you all are also well! And I hope that soon my life will calm down a bit and I can return to checking DW on the regular.

In the meantime, I have been doing a lot of reading, though alas, not so much with the typing up of my thoughts afterwards. Since I can't ( Read more... )

The Merchant’s Partner by Michael Jecks. The second in a series of murder mysteries set in medieval England, starring Sir Baldwin Furnshill, a knight with a deadly secret (he was once a Knight Templar; since that sect has been officially disbanded and accused of worshipping Satan, he could be executed if anyone suspects him of involvement), and his ( Read more... )

The Companion by Kim Taylor Blakemore. In 1855 rural New Hampshire, Lucy Blunt is a servant in a rich household that revolves around the beautiful, blind, capricious, and laudanum-addicted mistress, Eugenie. Lucy's attraction to Eugenie is quickly reciprocated, a circumstance that elevates Lucy from kitchen maid to formal companion - displacing ( Read more... )

Here are my final notes on my 2019 reading, in the form of a meme stolen from several people. And I'm only posting it three weeks after the New Year! That's almost an accomplishment, considering that last year I never did get around to doing a similar recap.

( A roundup of my 2019 books, in meme form )

1. A Series of Discoveries by genarti.
Sorcerer to the Crown, Rollo/Damerell, 5.7k, Teen.
The young man had listened to this with flatteringly evident interest. "Could it be -- and I beg your pardon, of course, if I am wrong -- but is your business, perhaps, to avoid your Aunt Georgiana?"Absolutely wonderful backstory for Rollo and Damerell's ( Read more... )

A Death in Harlem by Karla F.C. Holloway. In 1920s Harlem, in the middle of an awards ceremony for Black artists, one of the winners, a beautiful young woman (Black, but light-skinned enough that she could have passed for white, if she'd chosen to) falls out of a window to her death. Did she jump? Was it an accident? Or was she... murdered?!?! ( Read more... )