What Are We Currently Reading?

[BlackberryJam]

@grommit2 I enjoyed The Women as well. 

@GHScorpiosRule I also loved the Malory books. Except James. James was a dick. Don’t rename women with male names because you think it’s cute, asshole. James can fuck right off. I was always team Anthony. And YES to a young Pierce Brosnan.

I recently finished The Briar Club which had an interesting twist. I can’t decide if the twist added to the book or didn’t. I enjoyed the multiple POVs.

Also just finished The Goddess of Warsaw and I’m struggling to describe why it left me cold. If it had just been a revenge story, I would have liked it better, or if it had just been about the main character’s time in the Warsaw Ghetto during WW2. But…

 

Spoiler

The love story with her husband’s brother was just…underdeveloped. Why did she like him? Why did he like her? Why did she marry the brother in the first place? Uggghhhh. 

Also, she was a bit too much of the perfect assassin.

The book also skipped pretty much from 1950s to the early 2000s where we got …nothing. Just nothing. I feel like an interesting story left me uninterested. Anyone else?

In other fun news, I thoroughly enjoyed Kills Well With Others the sequel to Killers of a Certain Age. Give me a team of female assassins in their 60s and I’m down.

I have the latest Finlay Donovan queued up and I’m hoping for a third in the Suburban Dicks series. 

But I really need some lightness, so the Malory books might be on tap. Except James. He’s a dick. ;)

[LBC Me]

On 3/18/2025 at 6:40 PM, Zella said:

I just started reading Murder of a Medici Princess, which is nonfiction about the real Lucrezia de Medici's sister, Isabella, who was also murdered by her husband. It's been interesting and well written so far.

On 3/18/2025 at 9:22 PM, andromeda331 said:

I read that book. It's really good.

Wow, Murder of a Medici Princess sounds so good, and I'm not one that's put off by nonfiction.  I'm fascinated with the Italian Renaissance in general, and the Medici rule of Florence specifically.

Confession:  I'm NOT reading The Count of Monte Cristo at this time.  I'm overwhelmed with all of my unread books, and I think I'll be more comfortable plowing through those instead.  I've finished One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and geez -- shivers.  I've forgotten how bleak Russian literature really is.  For a short book, this really packed a punch.  I'm starting Sipsworth next, I think.  I'm so much a mood reader that I can never really plan what's on deck.

[LBC Me]

On 3/16/2025 at 10:25 AM, JustHereForFood said:

Is it in one book? I've read it in two different editions and recently bought a third and all are separated into 3 books. That might make it easier, at least to hold the book. 

Other than that, one page at a time, maybe write down the names of the characters and the relationships they have, there's a lot of them and unlike some fantasy books, I don't think there is a family tree in the appendix (that would be helpful, IMO).

Forgive me, @JustHereForFood for not answering your questions.  Yes, it's all in one book.  Je ne regrette rien.  But seriously, I have used your technique of having a running cheat sheet of characters and their relationships before.  I need it for every Jo Nesbø book I've ever read.  Good grief, those are a mess to keep track of.

Edited March 21 by LBC Me

[Zella]

24 minutes ago, LBC Me said:

Wow, Murder of a Medici Princess sounds so good, and I'm not one that's put off by nonfiction.  I'm fascinated with the Italian Renaissance in general, and the Medici rule of Florence specifically.

Oh definitely give it a read if you get a chance! I suspect you'd really enjoy it. The Medicis are a recent interest of mine. I am up to the point they're getting ready to marry her off to her eventual murderer, I mean, husband.

[LBC Me]

1 minute ago, Zella said:

Oh definitely give it a read if you get a chance! I suspect you'd really enjoy it. The Medicis are a recent interest of mine. I am up to the point they're getting ready to marry her off to her eventual murderer, I mean, husband.

Well, I just checked and it's not at my library in physical form, which I vastly prefer to others (no shade intended and JMO).  They don't have it, which is quite irritating since I live in a city of ~500,000.  I'm off to check the used book websites now.

[Zella]

2 minutes ago, LBC Me said:

Well, I just checked and it's not at my library in physical form, which I vastly prefer to others (no shade intended and JMO).  They don't have it, which is quite irritating since I live in a city of ~500,000.  I'm off to check the used book websites now.

I ordered my own physical copy online, but you could also see if your library will ILL it for you. 

[scarynikki12]

1 hour ago, BlackberryJam said:

Except James. James was a dick

Sing it

1 hour ago, BlackberryJam said:

Don’t rename women with male names because you think it’s cute, asshole. James can fuck right off. I was always team Anthony.

If the opposite gender nickname thing was just his personality then no big deal but it was presented as him being intentionally combative and rebellious and ended up feeling more like a performance. It was most natural with Connie but then we didn’t see Connie that much. I can’t think of any feminine nicknames for Jason, Edward, or Anthony but I think a way to really sell it as a genuine part of who James was would have been to have one be named, say, Elliot and James always calling him Ellie. He did call Edward ‘Eddie’ so nicknames in general were a real part of his personality but the opposite gender thing was him just being a poser. Lindsay even says this whenever the explainer for Regina’s nicknames is brought up though she’s presenting it as James just being cutesy. It also wouldn’t be a big deal if Georgina hadn’t told him early in his book that she didn’t like him calling her ‘George’ but he ignored her and got his way. He could’ve called the twins ‘Addy’ and ‘Gilly’ but I guess it’s not cutesy when it’s his sons. 

James would’ve been way more tolerable if he (and Anthony to a lesser extent) weren’t shoved into every Malory story. Less is more! Jeremy, Judy, and Jack make sense being their children (though I only like Jeremy’s of the three) but James should never have played as big a role as he did in, for example, Derek’s or Amy’s when their own fathers were literally right there. Jason helping Derek find Kelsey and reveal himself to be a badass as well as the proper English aristocrat would have been nice and would’ve gone a long way towards the forgiveness when the Molly reveal came. Yes Amy’s love interest was James’ brother in law but, again, it would’ve been nice to see Edward have a moment to shine. You mean Edward didn’t want to rip apart the men who kidnapped Amy? Didn’t feel torn about wanting to follow societal norms by pressuring them to marry after sleeping together while also wanting to let her make her own choices? He was content just hanging around London while his brothers found her?

The final two reasons James sucks is he’s supposed to be oh so rebellious, a total Bad Boy, yet he never relinquishes his title and he was a plantation owner which would’ve included slaves. The real ways to rebel in this setting would have been to refuse all titles and be anti-slavery. Instead he was a rebel in name only. Oh no he has an illegitimate son! Bug fucking deal so did many of his peers including his older brother. Some Bad Boy. He’s the worst. 

[BlackberryJam]

@LBC Me I took Russian/Soviet Lit in college. It took me decades to shake off that gloom. Sofia Petrovna is a novella and sort of the female version of Ivan Denisovich. 

@scarynikki12Sing it. I mean, all those novels have problematic elements, but I could never like James. I also felt like Lindsay liked him far too much. Ugh. It's been a long time since I read those books, but it seems to be time to revisit.

 

[GHScorpiosRule]

2 hours ago, scarynikki12 said:

James would’ve been way more tolerable if he (and Anthony to a lesser extent) weren’t shoved into every Malory story. Less is more! Jeremy, Judy, and Jack make sense being their children (though I only like Jeremy’s of the three) but James should never have played as big a role as he did in, for example, Derek’s or Amy’s when their own fathers were literally right there.

THANK YOU! Aside from everything you stated about James being an ass, and he was, of the first Order*, the quoted part is the worst.

Eddie was only trotted out to be the "stodgy" or "true peer" with his disapproval over Jason's divorce and other things. Over and over, we read how they all had tempers-Jason having the worst, and being the eldest, had to keep it in check.

Then there was how they all were happy when they were arguing and when James took off with Regina, how they ALL "thrashed" James. Yet, we never, ever, ever saw Eddie's temper. It irked me. All brothers should have gotten equal time.

Then there's Jeremy's story. Lindsay had stated how she wanted to wait until Jeremy was older until she wrote his story, and I was fine with that. What irked me, and I suppose it's because when I re-read the entire series, all the information is fresh in me head-is how she changed when James found Jeremy. No, he wasn't 16 as he told Danny; he was 11. He was a kid working in that tavern.  He was 16 or thereabouts when James made up with his family. But he had been with James and Connie for about five years until then.

Aye, I'm an anal wench. What'syerpoint?

*Though the description of Georgianna's attraction to James as being nauseous will never NOT bring a giggle to my throat.

ETA: Do NOT get me started on the INSULTING AND OFFENSIVE RETCON of Tony in...Boyd's story.

Edited March 21 by GHScorpiosRule

[DearEvette]

2 hours ago, BlackberryJam said:

 

@scarynikki12Sing it. I mean, all those novels have problematic elements, but I could never like James. I also felt like Lindsay liked him far too much. Ugh. It's been a long time since I read those books, but it seems to be time to revisit.

I would be up for a revisit of these as well.  It has been such a long time, but I do remember James being shoe-horned in every book.  I think he was fine in -- I think it was Regina and Nicholas'  book -- (which is still my favorite of all of them) but yeah you could tell he was a bit of a writers' pet.

I am on the struggle bus with newer romances that I might just hunt up my old paperbacks of these and give them a re-read.

[GHScorpiosRule]

34 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

I would be up for a revisit of these as well.  It has been such a long time, but I do remember James being shoe-horned in every book.  I think he was fine in -- I think it was Regina and Nicholas'  book -- (which is still my favorite of all of them) but yeah you could tell he was a bit of a writers' pet.

Well Love Only Once was the first of the series, so we needed to see all the players, if you will.

I also love Regina and Nick’s story. And for all her getting pregnant after their first time, they only ever had the one child. I would have thought she’d be as fertile as her Mum, but Georgina was the one to pop out the babies to rival Eddie boy’s brood.😂

I will always be disappointed that Percy never got his own story! A novella-with someone as ditzy as he is! I think we talked about that on either TWoP or maybe it was Nora Roberts’ now defunct message board.

 

[scarynikki12]

4 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

And for all her getting pregnant after their first time, they only ever had the one child. I would have thought she’d be as fertile as her Mum, but Georgina was the one to pop out the babies to rival Eddie boy’s brood.😂

I'm also surprised Regina only had the one child. She named their son after her father so I assume she'd have named a daughter after her mother. And Nicholas mentions in one of the later books that Regina wants more yet was never written to have them. It's not like we needed to see her pregnant or anything. She could have been written to have more after the time jumps leading into the Christmas story or Jeremy's. That's how she did it for Amy, James, Anthony, and Derek yet not Regina?

I've mentioned before my theory about Lindsay getting Author's Remorse (my name) after the first few books, changed her mind about Roslynn, and that's why we rarely saw Roslynn/Anthony in the same positive light as their book. I think the same happened with Nicholas. At the end of the first book James and Anthony had come around on him yet starting with the next one they still hate him and Regina, who once got in their faces about how they treated her husband, regularly punishes only him for their arguments. Yes, they acknowledge they do enjoy arguing with him but it's because they know he'll be punished. Also Nicholas was another character who should have had major presence in Derek's story, as they were best friends, yet all the friendship moments are with Percy and Jeremy while Regina shows up to save the day with her gossiping. 

James definitely became her pet character after his book and I think she regretted him not being the introductory character. If he had she probably would have given entirely different stories and/or love interests for Regina and Anthony. Maybe Anthony would have still been single at the time of the stupid "Katey's his surprise daughter from a woman he loved and would have married in spite of being horrified at the idea before he met Roslynn" plot. Maybe Katey's mother would have still been alive and that story would have culminated with her and Anthony getting their happy ending. Who knows but James was definitely her pet and I am confident she wished she'd done Regina's and Anthony's stories differently.

Smaller things that annoy me about him being the pet character are how it diminished Regina's relationships with Jason and Anthony. In her first book it's explicitly stated Anthony is her favorite uncle. She was also raised by Jason and, in her book, it was clear he was the uncle who actually was a father figure to her and Derek was her brother. Yet anyone coming into the series after her book would be forgiven if they thought James was her favorite uncle and the closest thing she had to a father. 

Shame Lindsay passed and we can't find a way to get any confirmation of these theories.

[GHScorpiosRule]

15 hours ago, scarynikki12 said:

I've mentioned before my theory about Lindsay getting Author's Remorse (my name) after the first few books, changed her mind about Roslynn, and that's why we rarely saw Roslynn/Anthony in the same positive light as their book. I think the same happened with Nicholas. At the end of the first book James and Anthony had come around on him yet starting with the next one they still hate him and Regina, who once got in their faces about how they treated her husband, regularly punishes only him for their arguments. Yes, they acknowledge they do enjoy arguing with him but it's because they know he'll be punished. Also Nicholas was another character who should have had major presence in Derek's story, as they were best friends, yet all the friendship moments are with Percy and Jeremy while Regina shows up to save the day with her gossiping. 

I’m confused about the first part-are you saying you think Lindsay regretted writing Tony’s book as the second story?  Even though Ros was horrible to him for most of it because she thought he lied about cheating.

I’ll have to pull my hard copy, but I could have sworn in her dedication she said that Tony’s story was for all those fans who wrote in, asking for his story because he was so wonderful in Regina’s. Or maybe it was one of the message boards or something. Because I do remember reading that. The other one I’m sure of is Selig-from the Viking series. He made an impact in Kristin’s story, Hearts Aflame, that she said “for all who wanted Selig’s story, this one’s for you” or something similar.

I don’t think she thought so far ahead to basically undo that Rosalyn was Tony’s true love. And it’s ridiculous to me, that he should also have a bastard because Jason and James did!

And I SO agree about Nicholas! Especially with Regina warning BOTH James and Tony at the end to be nice to him or she would be very upset with them. And then Lindsay undoes that as well! Aggravating as HELL. 

She should have just ended it with Jeremy’s story.

[BlackberryJam]

She definitely milked the family for more books than they were worth. However, I miss the days of curling up with a good romance novel and losing myself. 

I feel like the book market, at least what gets advertised to me, is over saturated with women-in-peril and domestic thrillers. I am sick of women-in-peril stories.

[DearEvette]

26 minutes ago, BlackberryJam said:

I miss the days of curling up with a good romance novel and losing myself. 

I feel like the book market, at least what gets advertised to me, is over saturated with women-in-peril and domestic thrillers. I am sick of women-in-peril stories.

This!  For me it feels like every book  that comes across my feed feels like it is written explicitly just to include a trope (Fake dating! Grumpy vs. Sunshine! Only One Bed!)so the plot and characters are secondary.  I recently read a book Text Appeal that was a fake dating book.  There was NO REASON for these two to pretend to be dating.  But the book wanted to be a fake-dating book. Dude if you don't want your ex-girlfriend to bother you, grow a pair and tell her to leave you the hell alone.  Gah.

[BlackberryJam]

2 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

This!  For me it feels like every book  that comes across my feed feels like it is written explicitly just to include a trope (Fake dating! Grumpy vs. Sunshine! Only One Bed!)so the plot and characters are secondary. 

Tropes are for the fanfiction I read. Take two characters I already love and put them in a faking dating, single bed situation and I AM DOWN for that. The tropes aren’t fun unless I care about the characters first. 

I particularly like book series because the characters do get developed. Or should get developed. Not gonna lie, I read some books just to have something to read that doesn’t require much mental effort. And allows me to escape reality for a while.

Right now, I’m reading the latest Tessa Wegert book in the Shana Merchant series. They are…fine. I guess. Too much serial killer nonsense, but they don’t require me to think or care too much. I can read the book, let it take up my time and then forget it later. 

[scarynikki12]

6 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I’m confused about the first part-are you saying you think Lindsay regretted writing Tony’s book as the second story?

I think she regretted not having James be the first Malory hero and series introductory character. Once his story was published he became the star of her series even in books where he shouldn't have been more than a minor supporting character at best. I think she also regretted Nicholas and Roslynn being the love interests given how they were treated as the series went on.

If James had been the introductory Malory character then she may have written Tony to still be the hero of Book 2 but I think his story would have been VERY different. Not necessarily the Katey nonsense but definitely not Roslynn. Same with Regina. I think she'd always have gotten married but her love interest wouldn't have been Nicholas. In a lot of ways Amy and Warren feel kind of like her re-do of Regina's story. The cousins look alike and their love interests share animosity with their uncle but the resolution to Amy's story is far more positive with regard to the uncles and Warren is presented in a positive light in subsequent books. Amy was also allowed to have more than one child. I love the moment in the Christmas book where James or Tony tries to needle Warren but he doesn't hear due to helping his twins open presents. That moment would never happen with Nicholas as he'd hear, respond in kind, and then be punished by Regina. Amy's not a gossip like Regina but she helps out with those "feelings" like Regina helps out with her gossip.

I didn't know about the dedication to readers who loved Tony. That actually explains a lot. She no doubt felt pressure from the publisher to continue (Regina's story actually works better as a stand alone and was clearly written as such) and wrote accordingly. It explains why so much of the book is Roslynn being angry with Tony and James-the least likely man to ever get married-describing himself as being in love with her. That book, more than any other, also spends a lot of time on James and sets up his own story and is probably when she made him her pet. 

[Zella]

3 hours ago, DearEvette said:

There was NO REASON for these two to pretend to be dating.  But the book wanted to be a fake-dating book. Dude if you don't want your ex-girlfriend to bother you, grow a pair and tell her to leave you the hell alone.  Gah.

I don't usually read romances, but this was something I could not let go of with Curtis Sittenfield's Eligible. It's a modern-day Pride and Prejudice. But the inability for the protagonists to communicate with each other that made sense in the original due to the social customs of the time was just so forced in a modern world where people have cell phones and, honestly, made me hate the main characters for being so dumb. 😂

Edited Sunday at 12:11 AM by Zella

[LBC Me]

On another note, I've yet again changed my mind about what I'm going to read.  I've started A Death In White Bear Lake, by Barry Siegel. This is a re-read for me, as I read it shortly after publication in 1990 and it's still in print.  This book has a very special connection to me as I was born and raised not far from White Bear.  I checked on Goodreads and was stunned to learn that 645 other people are currently reading this 35 year old book!

Gosh, my reading is so all over the place.  For that I can only say, "Leave me alone. I'm old!" 🙃

[proserpina65]

22 hours ago, LBC Me said:

On another note, I've yet again changed my mind about what I'm going to read.  I've started A Death In White Bear Lake, by Barry Siegel. This is a re-read for me, as I read it shortly after publication in 1990 and it's still in print.  This book has a very special connection to me as I was born and raised not far from White Bear.  I checked on Goodreads and was stunned to learn that 645 other people are currently reading this 35 year old book!

Gosh, my reading is so all over the place.  For that I can only say, "Leave me alone. I'm old!" 🙃

I read that one probably around the same time.  It really stuck with me for a long time.

[GHScorpiosRule]

On 3/22/2025 at 6:20 PM, scarynikki12 said:

I think she regretted not having James be the first Malory hero and series introductory character. Once his story was published he became the star of her series even in books where he shouldn't have been more than a minor supporting character at best. I think she also regretted Nicholas and Roslynn being the love interests given how they were treated as the series went on.

Wow. You have given this more thought than I ever have!

I can't imagine anyone else for Regina except for Nicholas; same for Tony. And it was the fans who wanted TONY to have his own story instead of James, so that tells me a lot right there. The fact that she inserted him and Georgina, to a lesser extent, I can just carp about.

I just think she kept scraping the Malorys' barrel and decided to change Tony's back story just so she could cob together another horrible story as part of the series. No one will convince me otherwise.

And not for nothing, but Amy just annoyed me to no end in her story.

Even if Warren, by the end, learned to just ignore James and Tony's baiting him.

If she had just ended it as a trilogy, as she did for the others, with Gentle Rogue being the last, I would have been content. Along with a novella for Percy, of course! What can I say? I have a soft spot for him and his ditzy ways!

[scarynikki12]

9 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Wow. You have given this more thought than I ever have!

You'd be amazed. I've done it with books I've loved entirely, books I've loved and were mildly dissatisfied with one tiny area, and with books I've hated. There have been many books that fall under these categories that don't inspired me to wonder and speculate so I can't predict when it will occur.

I agree with you at liking Nicholas and Roslynn and their relationships with Regina and Tony in their respective books. I started theorizing Lindsay feeling Author's Remorse as the series went on as I couldn't understand why each character would regularly get excluded from stories where they were natural supporting characters (Derek for Nicholas and Judy for Roslynn) and why they were always presented in a negative light (especially Roslynn in that stupid Katey story). Even James being her pet isn't a full explanation. Tony tagged along when James was being shoehorned in so there's no reason to not include Nicholas or Roslynn where they made sense. 

[LBC Me]

8 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

I read that one probably around the same time.  It really stuck with me for a long time.

Agreed.  It's one thing to say that "these things were hushed up back then," but really?  Evidence was also hushed up?

[Ceindreadh]

Just finished reading 'Geneva' by Richard Armitage (yes, the actor guy)
It was quite good actually.  Some nice twists and turns and at one point I did shout out "You devious bastard!" as one chapter revealed the reason for an earlier incident in the book.

I did of course end up 'hearing' half of it in his voice (alternate chapters are first person from different characters POV), so I probably should have just sprung for the audio book instead.  (read by Richard Armitage and Nicola Walker)