Delilah Green Doesn’t Care
Delilah is a cool tattooed art photographer struggling to make ends meet. So when her estranged stepsister Astrid offers her a lot of money to photograph her wedding she finds herself back in her hometown for two weeks. While there she will fall for someone unexpected.
A fun queer romance between a lesbian and a bisexual woman with some nice family stuff in the background. Really quite enjoyable
Harrow the Ninth
The second book in the Locked Tomb series finds Harrowhark struggling to adjust to her new station in life.
An old story is retold through flashbacks and in the present we the highest echelons of the Emperor’s court play their games.
Deliberately much harder to follow than Gideon the Ninth this book is so very rewarding once you understand what all the pieces mean.
I also straight up loved this book.
Gideon the Ninth
The first book of the Locked Tomb series finds Gideon Nav posing as the Cavalier Primary to Reverend Daughter Harrowhark Nonagesimus as they face trials to serve the Emperor Undying.
This series is wonderful and nuts. A space fantasy with lesbian romance, gothic swordfighting and horrific undead monsters.
Filled with beautifully seeded worldbuilding and a wicked terminally online sense of humour.
I straight up loved this book.
Gimme Some Sugar
Lucy returns to her hometown to open a bakery after the early death of her husband, Wayne. Wayne’s family and new feelings for her best friend threaten to spoil her plans.
A generic but still enjoyable romance.
Book Lovers
Nora is an uptight career-focused NYC literary agent.
She’s persuaded by her little sister Libby to spend time with her in a quaint small town in North Carolina.
Once in town she keeps bumping into Charlie – a book editor who has been dismissive of work by her clients in the past.
Whatever will happen next?
This is a very enjoyable romance novel with enough of a twist on old tropes to never become tiresome. In fact I really enjoyed it. If Nora Ephron were still alive I reckon she could make a really good film of it.
The Rhesus Chart
Bob Howard discovers that Vampires are a real thing through data analysis. Identifying an active cell he infiltrates a bank only to discover that leader of the cell is his former girlfriend.
Forced to bring her and her colleagues into the Laundry fold he gets caught in the middle of a tactical battle between two old and powerful vampires.
I was working my way through the Laundry Files as audiobooks and reached this one and had to switch to read the ebook instead. The banking vampires were just too annoying to listen to!
This is a pretty good Laundry book and probably the last before the Stross’ taste for bleak shit gets too much for me.
Accidentally Engaged
Reena is a great baker with a loving but interfering family.
Desperate to enter a couples’ cooking competition she persuades her next door neighbour to pretend to be engaged.
This a sweet little ‘fake engaged’ story with some interesting insight into a particular segment of American Muslim society.
It’s an engaging read but it’s not much more than that.
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill
Nina Hill is happily working in bookshop when event arounds her conspire to change her life forever.
This is a pleasant read with enjoyable turns in the plot.
Battle of the Linguist Mages
This is a fun book full of invention written by an author that shows real promise.
Her work as a PR consultant brings her into contact with the firm that produces the game and she finds herself brought into the inner circle where she learns that he vocal commands can have actual real world effects.
As I say it’s a lot of fun and I really enjoyed a lot of the invention on display here.
Unfortunately where the book falls down is in the area of plot because as the story draws to a conclusion it becomes messy and confusing.
I’m looking forward to future books where hopefully all the promise shown in this one bears fruit.
Fast Forward
This book covers the career of New Order, the Hacienda nightclub, the music of The Other Two and the relationship between himself and Gillian Gilbert (also a member of New Order).
This book is just as good a read as the previous volume but it is a little more vague about the various ructions that happened in New Order particularly as it gets to the point where Peter Hook leaves.
There does seem to be a promise to one day cover the court case where Hook sued to wind up the band and the period where Gilbert rejoined after taking leave to care for their kids.