It’s our second-ever group podcast, and we are punchy, and also we’re using a brand new microphone and we, meaning I, meaning Gin Jenny, did not calibrate it altogether correctly perhaps. Slash, there was a loud train in the background. So. We are talking at length about A Hope Divided, which is Robert Repino’s first romance novel and Whiskey Jenny’s first Alyssa Cole novel, and we had a grand old time. We hope you will forgive the imperfections in the sound quality. You can listen to the podcast in the embedded player below, or download it directly to take with…
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Cat Sebastian has become one of my go-to romance authors for just consistently tender romance content. (My favorite and most tenderest is The Ruin of a Rake, but they’re all terrific.) Her latest, Hither Page, is set between the wars in England and features a shell-shocked doctor who has retreated to a small English town to escape his memories of the war. Meanwhile the titular Leo Page has been sent to the small English town to investigate a suspicious murder and discover whether there’s any Spy Stuff afoot. Although I don’t tend to like romances that follow a single couple…
Leave a CommentThere are haunted dolls in this links round-up. Happy Friday; you deserve it. “Perhaps you had better stay in the womb, I think, just to be safe.” Alexandra Petri on The News. Bret Stephens continues to be a dingbat. Jay Fernandez identifies a few common mistakes that book reviewers make. (Some of this is nonsense! But it’s still interesting.) The final book in Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy is coming out in 2020! AT LAST I can read Bring Up the Bodies! Here’s Mikki Kendall talking about how not all harassment is sexual (though it is also sexual!) On not…
Leave a CommentIt’s podcast time! We wrap up our read of Lord of the Rings, chat about our most anticipated books for summer, and review Walter Mosley’s Devil in a Blue Dress. (Trigger warning for brief, non-graphic discussion of child sex abuse.) You can listen to the podcast in the embedded player below, or download it directly to take with you on the go! Episode 119 Here are the time signatures if you want to skip around. 1:26 – What we’re reading 3:09 – What we’re listening to 5:30 – Lord of the Rings Readalong – Return of the King (conclusion!) 24:32…
Leave a CommentConsensus around the new Amazon Prime Good Omens series is that it’s a rather static adaptation of its source material, and that David Tennant and Michael Sheen absolutely sparkle in the lead roles. I think this is correct! I’m not going to get into my broader thoughts on the show, which have been covered adequately by reviewers elsewhere, but I do want to talk a leetle bit about queerbaiting and the central relationship between Crowley and Aziraphale. Here’s what the lead actors and the writer have to say about that relationship: Michael Sheen: They’re both very bonded and connected anyway,…
Leave a CommentIt’s June and I have been reading some YA and I will be so honest with you: A lot of it has let me down a little bit. I’m going to start with the one that I thought unequivocally was terrific, and then I’ll work forward and we will get through this together. Genesis Begins Again was an impulse grab at the library, and I’m so glad I picked it up. It’s a YA book that feels written for young teenagers, and specifically for black girls. Debut author Alicia D. Williams is dealing with difficult topics, and she never talks down…
Leave a CommentFriends, it has been another Week, and we have gotten through it. Buy yourself some ice cream this weekend; you deserve it. (Or whatever dessert treat is special for you.) And then eat it while you’re enjoying this superb collection of links. “Just as more women earned degrees, the jobs that require those degrees started paying disproportionately more to people with round-the-clock availability.” Oh shit. The problem with Black Widow. Also, how the straight agenda ruined Avengers: Endgame. Spoilers at both of these links. Why are we so addicted to conspiracy theories? Here’s what happened to Heather Armstrong of Dooce.com.…
Leave a CommentLet me subtweet Game of Thrones for a moment here by talking about the version of it that’s better and more subversive and takes place at sea and the theme song has a hurdy-gurdy. For all its faults,1 Black Sails is a master class in depicting shifting allegiances in a way that actually makes some goddamn sense. The reason is that Black Sails, unlike some, has a very clear idea of what its characters want, and is (mostly) very good at aligning their actions and choices with those wants. I’m going to take Max as an example, partly because I…
Leave a CommentI hope all you Game of Thrones fans are doing okay! Based on brief glances at Twitter last night, things were not looking too good vis-a-vis y’all enjoying the end of y’all’s show. I peaced out of a while ago and have just been consuming it via recaps to check that the Stark women were hanging in there. Let’s distract ourselves by talking about what we’ve been reading! “It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?” is hosted by Kathryn from Book Date. What I Read Last Week: A bunch of stuff! Several of my books were threatening to fall due at…
Leave a CommentHi friends! If you’ve been worrying about what you’re going to watch when Game of Thrones comes to an end, I hope that I have already told you to watch Black Sails. But in case you’re on the fence, I am recapping it with Jodie of Lady Business, and our latest post is live now! Come sail the high squees with us! I’m also at Lady Business to share (belatedly) some YA unreliable narrators for the April edition of the YA Agenda. In podcast crossovering, me and Whiskey Jenny are over at the Spectology podcast to talk about Ann Leckie,…
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