Six Sexy Second Quarter Reads

So in the end of March, I made a post highlighting my favorite books for the first quarter of the year. Jump HERE to see it. Since I love recommending books to people, I figured I'd try it again. So here's a list of the books I think you should one-click right now! Because good stuff!

There's not an exact order to this list, although you'll notice there are two #1s. And that's because I loved both of them so much! Putting For Real at the top of the post does sort of imply it's my favorite-favorite, although my other favorite, Jackdaw, is so different it's almost impossible to compare the two. In the interest of expediency, I'm calling it a tie. So, without any more blathering, here are my six favorite books for April, May, and June...

1. For Real

This is one of the few books I've read that deals with the topic of BDSM as if real people might be involved in it, and not some class of weird sexual superheroes. For me, For Real is just about the perfect book. There are big ideas and small moments of tenderness, and an absolutely fantastic use of language. The way Alexis Hall weaves in bits of brilliance while keeping the story moving is astonishing. This is a book you could spend hours discussing with your friends - trust me, I have. It's about real people, about challenging expectations, and it's one of the most unique love stories I've ever read.

1. Jackdaw

My other #1 favorite story this quarter was Jackdaw by KJ Charles. It's the fourth book in her Charm of Magpies series, and the only one not to feature Stephen & Crane. They're there, but they're kind of the bad guys, which was fun. While the first three books in the series told a BIG story, with huge stakes and a romance for the ages, Jackdaw had a much narrower focus. This one's about two of the guys who got caught up in the BIG DRAMA from the previous book, how it tore them apart and how they eventually found their way back together.

And oh, you guys, the FEELS in this one. Jackdaw has so much heart, and so much sweetness. Jonah was one of the bad guys in the last book, but he redeems himself - and then some - here. The role-reversal (good to bad/bad to good) won't mean quite as much if you haven't read the other books (so jump HERE to get started with The Magpie Lord) but even without that background, this is an entertaining read.

3. Baked Fresh So this is the second of three books in Annabeth Albert's Portland Heat series, and while they're all good, this one was my favorite. (The other two are Served Hot and Delivered Fast.) I think the reason I liked this one the best was the chemistry between the heroes Vic & Robin, and the sensitive way the author dealt with the subject of homelessness and drug addiction among kids on the street. It's really easy to make an "issues" book feel like a school assignment - something that's good for you, but not all that fun to read - but this story flowed naturally. Vic and Robin are a little bit of an odd couple, but they totally work together, and I was so happy with the way their story unfolded. 

4. On A Lee Shore

I have recommended this book to all kinds of different people. Like YOU. Read it! On a Lee Shore is hands down the best historical I've read this quarter, maybe even this year. It's like they took the movie Master and Commander and made the Russell Crow and Paul Bettany characters gay. The details are gritty and real, and the voice is perfect for the time period. My friend Nan, who has read all the Patrick O'Brien "Master and Commander" novels, seconds my assessment of the voice. Elin Gregory nailed it, and she tells an entertaining story of pirates (and love!) on the high seas.




5. Clear Water

This one came highly recommended from on of the private Facebook pages I hang out on, and I'm SO happy I read it. Last year I read a different book by Amy Lane, and while it was entertaining, it didn't grip me the way Clear Water did. Both Patrick and Whiskey are tremendously sympathetic characters, and their journey to happiness felt real to me. There's a mystery-suspense subplot that worked fairly well, and the resolution ticked all my boxes. I love books that take me out of my regular old world, and this one had me spending lots of time on a houseboat on a hot summer's day. Too fun!





6. Jinn and Juice

Look! A Girl!!

Heh.

Jinn and Juice isn't the only m/f book I read this quarter, but it was absolutely the best! Nicole Peeler is a wizard at creating memorable characters and her dialogue rocks. This is the first in a new series set in Pittsburgh (of all places). Because of the 'first book' thing, there was a fair amount of world building, but it didn't bog the plot down at all, and I loved the way she integrated the setting into elements of the story. You'll have to read it to see what I mean, but this book could ONLY have been set in Pittsburgh. This one's all about the urban fantasy fun, with lots of hot teasing but no actual naughty bits. She's holding out on us for book 2, I guess.

There you have it! Six books that are well worth your reading time. I hope you one-click on at least a couple. Meanwhile, I've already started on next quarter with last nights read of Payback and Vertigo by Jordan Castillo Price. They're the first two books in her Channeling Morpheus series, and so far my only complaint is that I bought Payback as a single book. I didn't realize how short it is, and if you're interested in queer vampires having blazing hot sex, look for the whole five-book set. I guarantee you'll want to keep reading, but spending $2.99 for each book is fairly pricey when you can get all of them for $6.99.

Cheers!
Liv

If you've got a favorite recent read, leave a note in the comments...

I'm infatuated with this cover, ya'll...

Filtering History

Yesterday KJ Charles did a guest post on Joyfully Jay's blog, wherein she warned against 'timewashing', or applying a contemporary mindset to characters in historical fiction. To a certain extent it's unavoidable, because modern readers don't really want to know the nitty gritty about sanitary, health, and hygiene practices from back in the day, but Ms. Charles argues that when it comes to sexism, racism, and gender/orientation issues, a writer needs to be a lot more careful.

I mean, if your hero is the only guy in his entire 19th century Southern American town who doesn't have a lick of racism in him, he might not be quite believable.

Right?

Timewashing. It's a cool word, and it got me thinking about another challenge for writers of historical fiction: The status quo rendering of history may not be accurate.

What do I mean by that?

Basically, if your understanding of history comes from a textbook, you might think every important thing was accomplished by a jowly white dude with a funky haircut and a badly fitting suit.

(Insert a mash-up of Winston Churchill and Walter Cronkite here.)

Or these guys. They fit the description.

Anyone who has read Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States knows what I'm talking about. There's what happened in the history books, and then there's what actually happened. You just have to dig a little to figure out what part women, people of color, and people with different orientations played.

Let's look at some examples. 

Have you ever heard of Edmonia Lewis? She's one of the 100 Greatest African Americans...

"Motto edmonia lewis original" by Henry Rocher - National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Motto_edmonia_lewis_original.jpg#/media/File:Motto_edmonia_lewis_original.jpg

Edmonia Lewis was a sculptor who studied at Oberlin College and in Rome. Among the highlights of her career, she sculpted a bust of Henry Longfellow, and her work was displayed at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. Once, long ago, I studied Longfellow in school. 

I never heard of Edmonia Lewis until I started making this post.

Another example is given by the women who fought in the Civil War - as soldiers. 

Frances ClaytonMissouri Artillery and Cavalry units.

Something like 400 women fought in the Civil War. Motivated by the same things as their male counterparts - patriotism, mobility, money - they disguised themselves and did battle. Some were discovered when they were wounded or killed. Some were simply never discovered. You could argue the reason their contribution is overlooked is that their numbers were small and they made an effort to remain invisible. 

But maybe we overlook them because they don't fit the expected narrative for how that war was fought.

Shared tombstone of Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake, a 19th century lesbian couple.

Here's another thing that might not fit the expected narrative: same-sex couples who lived together and were treated by their communities like they were married. Click on the tombstone picture or the link at the bottom of this post to read more about Miss Bryant and Miss Drake. Their story is a pretty compelling argument against the idea that same-sex marriage is a modern construct.

When I was doing research for my novel Aqua Follies, I read about MacIver Wells and John Chadwick, a gay couple who moved to Seattle from Canada in 1957 to open a gay bar. They had some trouble getting permission to stay, because "the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952 specified that "aliens afflicted with psychopathic personality" should be excluded from the United States." (Gay Seattle, GL Atkins, 2003) 

Because gay men were included in the definition for "psychopathic personality".

The Immigration agent who interviewed Mac and John pointed out that they'd  lived together for years, they owned a house together, and they held joint bank accounts, however when they challenged him to prove they'd had sexual relations, he couldn't, so they were allowed to stay in Seattle. 

To me, one of the most interesting things about their story was that two men owned a house together and shared a bank account. They were living - and sharing - their lives, and only when they immigrated to the US did they run into any trouble with authorities. They had to know people, to have friends and family and community. Maybe, as appears to have been the case with Miss Bryant and Miss Drake, their immediate circle knew about their relationship in an abstract way, but didn't want to know the specifics.

And maybe I'm optimistic, but I think on the microscopic, everyday level, people are more accepting of each other's differences that we give them credit for. I certainly don't have the academic background to make big broad statements, but I have to wonder if the trauma associated with World War II led to the pervasive conformity seen in the 1950s (Hello, Senator McCarthy), and if that conformity filtered a great deal of what we otherwise might know of as history.

So women and people of color were taking part in word affairs and LGBTQ people didn't magically spring into existence sometime after Stonewall in 1969. There are more stories than what you find in a standard history textbook, and if you're going to write those stories, you need to both pay attention to historic ideas and attitudes, but also look for real-life examples of people who didn't fit into stereotypes. Any story will be much stronger if it's grounded in the truth.

If you would like to do some more reading, jump HERE for more about Edmonia Lewis, HERE for more about women who fought in the Civil War, and HERE for more about Miss Bryant and Miss Drake. And if you actually do know about history, let me know what you think about my theory that '50s conformity played a role in whitewashing (timewashing?) history.

Cheers,
Liv

My Favorite Books in 2014

This year I did something new. I started a Pinterest board to keep track of all the books I've read. Last January, I didn't truly expect to be pinning to the board in December, but here I am, still at it. (Jump HERE to take a look at my board.) There are 117 pins, and while last summer I didn't think I'd ever be able to come up with a list of ten favorites, it seems that having a little time and distance from the stories made it possible.

I'm not going to write full-on reviews here - just record a couple thoughts about why I liked the books. As you read through my choices, you'll likely notice a couple things. I'm not much into the literary fiction, and none of my favorites fell very far from the romance tree. Most of them are from the m/m (queer/lgbt) romance subgenre, and while the interwebs are full of opinions about middle aged straight women who read and write about gay men, it's what's working for me right now.

So here's my top ten list for 2014 - all books I loved, most of them I read at least a couple times, and all books I'd recommend in a heartbeat.



10. The Great Sex Olympics of 221B by Eli Easton.
This was a bit of a departure for me - first time reading Eli Easton and first time reading fanfic. It's about Sherlock & Watson, specifically the version of the characters created by the BBC, and lordy was it entertaining. This one was a free download, but I've got a couple other things by Ms. Easton on the kindle now.









9. This Rough Magic by Josh Lanyon
I love a good historical, and this one pretty much nailed it. It's a mystery with a sidecar of romance, and Mr. Lanyon totally sold me on the early 20th century San Francisco setting.












8. Glitterland by Alexis Hall
I think Alexis Hall is doing some of the most imaginative work of any writer, any genre, anywhere. He made me like Ash, who's really kind of a jerk. ;) Here's a link to my review from last February.










7. Love Hacked by Penny Reid
So...mea culpa...when I reviewed this book last April (HERE), I said I liked it, but it wouldn't make my top ten list.
Yeah.
Wrong about that.
Smart and funny and sexy, this one stayed with me. It's hard to do contemporary romance well - I mean, come on, how many reasons can you come up with that a couple of healthy heterosexuals WOULDN'T get together? - but the conflict felt real and the characters rang true.






6. The Magpie Lord by KJ Charles
I don't even know where to begin with this one. It's the first in a trilogy. It's romantic fantasy, the kind of re-imagined history I eat up with a spoon. It's a heckuva lot of fun, and I hope you skip on over to the ebook retailer of your choice and grab a copy!

5. Hold on Tight by Serena Bell
I'm not one for the angst, but a friend (ahem, Amanda) INSISTED I read this one, and I'm so glad she did. The raw honesty in this story of what happens when life tears a couple apart, then throws them back together made for a "stay up way late after a night shift because I can't put the book down" kind of read.










4. Hainted by Jordan L. Hawk
Ms. Hawk has a couple other very popular series, and while I've read parts of them (and liked them a lot), this is the book that grabbed me. I love the combination of mythology and setting and characters (Dan! and Leif!). I can't even tell you how many times I've re-read this one, and every time, I like it even more.









3. Enlightenment (trilogy) by Joanna Chambers
I'm counting these three (Provoked, Beguiled, and Enlightened) as a single entry because the endings of the first two are sort of cliffhangerish, or at least unresolved, so they really can be read as one. The sample of the first book absolutely gutted me, and I knew I had to read the rest. When I think of Ms. Chambers' writing, words like elegant and restrained come to mind (although her naughty bits are fun, too), and I'm absolutely in love with the way she handled the historical setting. Brilliant!






2. Prosperity by Alexis Hall
Yeah, Mr. Hall made my list twice, because he's really that good. HERE's my review of Prosperity, but just to recap, this is one of the boldest, most imaginative books I've read all year. It's a demanding book - all in dialect - but SO worth the effort. Even better, there are a bunch of stories set in the same world that'll be coming out soon!






1. Think of England by KJ Charles
The thing that set this book apart for me was the subtle, unapologetic understanding of it's period, as well as the connection to it's heritage. And yeah, since that heritage is Victorian pulp fiction, specifically King Solomon's Mines, you know you're in for a good time. In the interest of saving us both from embarrassment, I'm going to spare you the fangirl squeeing. Just read it. It's really, really good.
(Here's a link to my Goodreads review.)





Best Anthology - I read a number of anthologies this year - a couple of great holiday sets from Carina, another rather unfortunately called Butt Ninjas from Hell that was way better than it's title, but it was Another Place In Time that resonated most with me. The stories are consistently good, and confirmed my love of historical fiction, especially the m/m variety.









Apparently the only way I could come up with a top-ten list was to let myself go wild with the honorable mentions. Here they are (in no discernible order)...
Hot Head, The Quick, Special Delivery, Liesmith, Circus of the Damned, The Theory of Attraction, Dangerously Happy, Catch A Ghost/ Long Time Gone/ Daylight Again, Snowball in Hell, The Haunting of Maddie Clare, Bad Boys Do, A Companion to Wolves, Cold Copper

Thanks so much for hanging out with me this year, whether on Facebook or twitter, over here on blogspot or on my website blog. It's been an adventure, one I'm happy to have shared with you. Happy New Year!
Liv