98. Resonance Surge by Nalini Singh (SFR/PNR WW/AM, Bear Changeling/ mentally scarred Psy) Mixed feelings…wasn’t enjoying the book…took a 3 week break & enjoyed the ending? Wrong mood? Hmmm. CWs: murder, child abuse, serial killer, non-conventual medical procedures, ableism

Mini-Synopsis:  The tortured and skittish sister of powerful Psy, Theo Marshall, has gaps in her memory and a deep conviction that she is a destructive and dangerous monster. Yakov Stepyrev of the StoneWater bears has been dreaming of a woman who looks just like Theo since his adolescence and while he is mistrustful of anyone from Marshall Group,  he is willing to help Theo figure out how her family was involved with a secret installation where non-compliant Psy were tortured and "rehabilitated" during the Silence era.

A Nalini Singh book is almost always one of my most anticipated books of the year, so anticipated that I am willing to read it in print with my eyes! (I am mostly an audiobook readers now).  As I struggled through reading Resonance Surge I wondered at myself why I was having a hard time. Was it my mood, the format or (gasp!) the text.  I struggled so much that I didn't hesitate to leave the book behind when our departure for vacation was unexpectedly accelerated and I was only a handful of chapters from the climatic conclusion.  The feeling I felt at the time was relief, I could stop trying to love it.

After weeks of ignoring it, yesterday I finally picked up the last few chapters and finished it, and found myself moved and gripped at the ending.  What had changed, I again wondered.  In discussing my mixed feeling with some fellow readers I realized what had changed when I returned and my discomfort reading the book clarified itself.  The secondary storylines had resolved and all I had left to read were the main storyline's resolution.  The book lacked cohesion much like the Psy-Net does.

While I had issues with the swiftness of Theo and Yakov's attachment, when she is so deeply traumatized by the abuse wrecked on her as a child, it is not a new relationship pattern for Singh.  My discomfort with the book was how fractured it was.  There were at least 4 or 5 different threads tangled in this book: the fracturing of Hien and Denu's sibling relationship at the dawn of the age of Silence, the fracturing of the PsyNet and  rising threat of Scarab Syndrome, the brutal serial killings of young women in Moscow,  Pavel and Arwen's deepening relationship and Theo and Yakov's quest to unearth the role of the Marshall family the abuse and experimentation of Psy on Pax's request.  That is a lot of threads for one book, and while some of these threads will I am sure will have payoff in later books, they dragged and distracted.

Nalini Singh is one of the foundational authors in my romance journey.  Reading Slave to Sensation, the first Psy-Changeling book back in 2010 or thereabouts opened up a world of paranormal speculative romance, where SF/Fantasy and romance combined into a deep and heady mix full of intrigue, expansive worldbuilding and swoony romances. Over the years though as my romance reading tastes changed and my self-identity broadened, I became dissatisfied with the erasure of LGBTQIA folks from Singh's future-set world. I welcomed when Singh over the last decade has  not 0nly started featuring visible minorities (not just white-presenting mixed peoples) as main characters has started peppering LGBTQIA characters in supporting roles.

In her second Psy-Changeling  Trinity series,  Pavel and Arwen have been slowly moving from flirtation to committed relationship in the background of several books.  Arwen is an empath and he often referred to as the heart of the Mercant family, a powerful and sometimes ruthless Psy family whose members have featured in nearly all the Trinity series books.  Pavel is key member of the StoneWater Bear clan, one of the central changeling packs in the series.    As I grew invested in Pavel and Arwen, I also grew dissatisfied with their secondary and in this case nearly superfluous role in this book. This is a far cry from how their story is billed in the official synopsis

"A point of irrevocable change. For Pavel . . . for Arwen . . . for Yakov . . . and for another pair of twins whose bond has a far darker history." 

In a series where the central relationships are often tested in dramatic fashion, theirs has been a quiet and placid romance.  I felt shortchanged.  While Pavel and Arwen's story would have made for a sweet novella, it felt disappointing in the midst of this book. I didn't believe the conflict that supposedly kept Arwen from accepting their mating bond.

I know understand my mixed feelings, this book had to many discordant notes smushed in, short-changing the secondary storylines and not hanging together cohesively.  I'll stick around to see where Singh is going next but with less anticipation.

I received a finished copy of this book from the publisher as part of the reviewer program.

73. Twisted by Laura Griffin (RS, WM/WW, cop/FBI agent, co-workers, age difference, past trauma: parental loss, child abuse)

Allison’s friends actually check on her!
Cw: serial killer, assault, guns, knives, grief, workaholism, mentions of rape, pedophilia, stalking.

74. Scorched by Laura Griffin (RS, WM/WW, SEAL/Bone expert, on-the-run & 2nd chance).

More girlfriends checking in…still weird little things getting dropped like her possessive assistant! Skimmed some of goose chase parts.
Cw: grief, abandonment, murder, terrorism.

75. Exposed by Laura Griffin ( RS, WM/WW, age difference, CSI photographer/FBI agent)

When she inadvertently photographs suspects in an abduction she gets caught up in much larger mystery.
CWs: torture, abduction, grief, workaholics, past trauma: death of child

76. Beyond Limits by Laura Griffin (RS, WM/WW, FBI agent/Navy SEAL)

Terrorist threats on US soil & long simmering attraction that can no longer be denied.
CWs: grief, guns, violence, references to torture, rape, beheading. Past trauma: loss of parent, assault.

77. Chick Magnet by Emma Barry ( WM/WW, contemporary, chicken influencer & vet).

I love the craft in Barry’s romances, the balance of lust, awkwardness, vulnerability & silliness. Just awesome sauce.
Cw: grief, depression, bullying, past trauma: gaslighting

78. Shadow Fall by Laura Griffin (RS, WM/WW, security consultant/ FBI agent, serial killer)

CWs: murder, racism, misogyny, references to child sexual abuse.

40. Wild Things by Chloe Neill (UF, 9, WM/WW)

Magical threat to shifters and hidden magical peoples. Shifters are so messy emotionally.

CWs: murder, violence, gore, magical coercion, kidnapping, prejudice

41. Blood Games by Chloe Neill (UF, 10, WM/WW)

Oof, past allegiances & choices are tested as big political changes occur here.

CWs: murder, violence, kidnapping, psychic torture

42. Dark Debt by Chloe Neill (UF, 11, WM/WW)

Loved the care Merit had taken to rebuild her relationship with Mallory and how it comes into play here.

CWs: murder, violence, SA, magical coercion, past trauma: emotional abuse, gaslighting

43. Midnight Marked by Chloe Neill (UF, 12, WM/WW)

Finally the much hinted at proposal. Also the RG gets a much needed kick in the pants.

CWs: murder, violence, threats to family, magical coercion, sex work.

44. Phantom Kiss by Chloe Neill (UF, 12.5, WM/WW)

Loved the return of a side character in this.

CWs: violence, serial killer, prejudice.

45. Blade Bound by Chloe Neill ( UF, WM/WW, 13)

Climatic end to Ethan & Merit’s saga. Big Wedding, honeymoon interrupted and fulfillment of prophecy.

CWs: murder, mental illness, magical coercion, pregnancy

46. Slaying it by Chloe Neill (UF, WM/WW, 13.5)

Jonah and Margot finally break through the heartbreaks to give each other a chance, after dealing with Margot’s abusive ex.

CWs: kidnapping attempt, pregnancy, childbirth, past trauma: intimate partner violence

47. High Stakes by Chloe Neill ( UF, WW/WM, 8.5)

Lindsey faces her past and her commitment phobia

CWs: guns, murder, threats to family.

48. Fortune Favors the Dead by Stephen Spotswood (mystery, Queer & disabled MCs, found family, 1940’s NYC)

Pentecost & Parker are both super fascinating and the voice is fun despite the dark topics.

CWs: murder, blackmail, queer phobia, beating, domestic violence, alcoholism

49. Murder Under her Skin by Stephen Spotswood (Mystery, queer MCs)

Double heartbreaking homecoming that unearth difficult secrets as Parker seeks rescue an old mentor from a murder charge

CWs: drugs, alcoholism, murder, violence, racism, mentions of SA, medical procedures.

50. Payback is a Witch by Lana Harper (Bi WW/WW, Magical PNR, small town, vengeance pact).

I wanted to like this more than I did but the world building was weak & occasionally problematic. MCs sometimes felt YA

CWs: violence, magical possession, past traumas: betrayal, gaslighting, bullying

51. Secrets Typed in Blood by Stephen Spotswood (BI WM MC, Mystery, 1940’s NYC).

Crime fiction, real murders & a suspicious client with deep secrets.

CWs: murder, child in peril, mentions of child death, kidnapping, serial killer, stalking, misogyny, past trauma: parental abuse

52. Alaskan Christmas Escape by Juno Rushdan (BW/WM, CIA fugitive/injured SEAL)

Zee is hiding after her team was framed & disavowed. But they’ve tracked her down & sent her evil ex after her. He won’t let her run alone.

CWs: gun violence, child in peril, past trauma: coercion, DV

53. Disavowed in Wyoming by Juno Rushdan (WW/LM, RS, second chance, CIA)

When Kate gets helps a pregnant woman she uncovers a lot more darkness in her home town.

CWs: murder, forced sex work, childbirth, maternal death, PT: DV, estrangement, grief, Cancer/Alzheimer’s

54. An Operative’s Last Stand by Juno Rushdan (Harlequin Intrigue, WM/WW)

Team Topaz’s last-ditch attempt to clear their name uncovers the true traitors.

CWs: guns, violence, murder, assassination, torture, sexual harassment.

55. The Verifiers by Jane Pek (Mystery, Taiwanese-American Lesbian MC)

Really engaging & engrossing. Loved Claudia and her wry geeky voice & how excited she is to be caught up a in mystery.

CWs: murder, references to suicide, gaslighting, toxic family dynamics.

Miles Brown is a second-generation rockstar who falls hard for the lead singer for their new opening band.  Harlow Martin's band is on the verge of breaking out and stepping out of her Metal-God Dad's shadow and the last thing she needs is to have people thinking she sleeping her way into the top.

BiWM/WW,  Nepo-baby Rockstars 

Cw: Toxic Parent, references to past drug use, Past Trauma: Child Abuse

While I deeply enjoyed seeing glimpses of all my favorite Brown Family and Hurley boys faves, seeing their kids all grown up, I liked the outline of this book a whole lot more than I enjoyed reading it.  While the Brown Family books that were formative in my erom reading days, were brimming with sexual tension, confrontations and conflicts, this book was just muted in comparison.  While there are fights, confrontations, and emotional moments...they just didn't back the same punch...distanced by well-reasoned and well-intentioned inner voices of the protagonists, who process their feelings in the best ways.  I still read any following books, but I'll wait for the library copy like I did with this one.

Bear with Me by Mae Marvel

My second book of the year was a #shopmyshelves choice. I got this free novella by Mae Marvel, the pen name for  the writing duo of Ruthie Knox and Anne Mare ( who used to write as Mary Ann Rivers) as newsletter freebie.

A small town on the edge of one of the remotest US National Parks a Park interpreter and resident Kodiak bear expert is inspired to create the Fat Bear Bracket after she develops a fascination for one bear in particular and want everyone to notice her awesome bear-ness.  While she can do countless interviews about the resident bears once her bracket goes viral, but at the same time she can't find the words to speak to Lauren, her next-door neighbor and longtime crush.

The story was wonderful exploration on being, intimacy and trust-building.

I hesitate to label this a PNR because although it features a love interest that can turn into a bear, Marvel choose to intentionally not focus on the mechanics of that.  She changes into a bear and the author encourages you to just go with it, and not overthink, much like Mira is challenged to do.

PNR, Lesbian, White Cis Women. Arborist and National Park Service Interpreter.

Fat Bear Week, mutual pining, big secret, meddling small town, obnoxious friend

No Lore.  (as acknowledged in the content notes)

Story about trust, intimacy, feelings to big to name, and relationships that are worth the risk of pain and complications.

Cw: violence, dangerous interaction with Animals.

As we begin this 2nd Pandemic #RomBkLove, we've all had to grapple how life-changing this experience have been. Some have left jobs, relationships, communities in order to do what they need to survive.  Even from positions of comfort and privilege (able to work remotely, access to vaccines, etc.)  I have witnessed the gaps communal safety net, how social isolation can leave people unprotected and how so many live on a razor's edge.  In times like these romances that grapple these issues, which stark stakes, remind me of our human resilience and the power we have to help those arounds us, strangers or friends when they are in need.  I find comfort in these exercises of hope that are happily ever afters even after trauma and disaster.

Beverly Jenkins writes survivors.  So many of her MCs have survived traumatic pasts, including enslavement, abandonment & abuse, defiantly flourishing despite the many obstacles racism and bigotry place in their ways.  Be it Hester & Galen in Indigo, Maggie & Preacher in Night Hawk, Rhine & Eddy in Forbidden or Spring & Garrett in Wild Rain  her MCs, stand their ground, face down bullies and oppressors and do more than simply survive, they thrive, building families and communities.  US Based Historical Romance, (CW: Racism, abductions, guns, violence, threats of bodily harm, grief, Past trauma: Enslavement, sexual assault, emotional & physical abuse) (Rep:  cis BM/BW, Black author) 

Rebekah Weatherspoon is another author I turn to when I want to read survivors in a contemporary setting. Her MCs face everything from financial insecurity (Sugar Baby Series), family rejection (Xeni's Angus) to attempted murder (Beards and Bondage series)!   Her MC's creative solutions, devotion to found family and persistence in the midst of traumatic events are inspiring and comforting to me as a reader.  I love how the rejected and abandoned find home in others, how trauma is overcome and fails to define them. IR Contemporary romances  (CWs: attempted murder, betrayal, familial abandonment, secrets, kink, grief past trauma: biphobia.)( Rep: cis BW/WM, Queer Black author)

I started out 2020 by reading Anna Zabo's Reverb, little knowing how much it themes of authenticity and survival would come to mean to me. In Reverb, a when Mish, a certifiable Rock Goddess is being stalked and despite her desires to ignore it, she finds her life, band, and voice threatened,  she must come to trust David not just with her safety but with her heart and David must figure out how protect and love Mish.

David and Mish are both survivors. Both have made many sacrifices and endured much to live authentically and are able to navigate power imbalances, career demands to find love in each other.  Contemporary romance with RS tinge, bodyguard / rock queen, (CWs: stalking, grief, loss) (Rep: trans WM /WW bi, White Trans author)

In Olivia Waite's The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics,  Lucy and Catherine have survived different kinds of intellectual stifling due to sexism and abuse at the hand of the men in their lives.  In each other they find enthusiastic support, and unexpected attraction.  They are able to reclaim their intellectual and social agency, and strike blows against sexism in science, reclaiming their confidence, art and work.  Sexy and full of longing and pining.  They are stronger for what they have endured and will strive to make room for others. UK-Based Queer Historical (CWs: betrayal, intellectual theft Past trauma: domestic abuse) (Rep: bi WW/WW, Queer White Author).

What kinds of survival stories draw you?  What do you find compelling? Do these high stakes stories comfort you?

Archive: Day 1's Tweets

For a full list of prompts visit: https://www.anacoqui.com/2021/04/rombklove-2021.html

RomBkLove  2020 Day 2: Space Rom/Romance espacial

#Rombklove 2020 Day2: Space romances are out of this world! What are some of your favorites? What makes this setting unique?

Rombklove 2020, día 2: ¡Los romances espaciales son algo de otro mundo! ¿Cuáles son tus favoritos? ¿Qué hace que sean únicos?

Day 2: Archive

GR BookLists:

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/147762.RomBkLove_2020_Space_Romance_1

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/147762.RomBkLove_2020_Space_Romance_1

How to participate?

Readers: Respond to the prompts! Share your favorite books, characters, scenes, or thoughts on tropes.  Make sure to include the #RomBkLove hashtag with your tweet! If you have read and loved a book by LGBTQIA+, Disabled, and/or  Authors of Color that fits the prompt please, please mention it.  You might think everyone has heard of the book but I can guarantee you there are lots of people who still need to hear about it.  

Authors: You are welcome to participate too, as fellow readers. The tag is not meant for self-promotion. Boost fellow authors, celebrate the community but do so in a way that respect reader spaces. Respect the conversation.   Join in to rec the books you love that fit the theme/trope/prompt. Yes, you can say “I wrote a book with this trope” but please don’t spam the hashtag with generic promo. 

For a list of all of these month's prompts and archives go to: https://www.anacoqui.com/2020/04/rombklove-2020-celebrating-inclusive-romance-during-a-pandemic.html

I reviewed the 4th book in the Big Bad Wolf Series by Charlie Adhara for Love in Panels

Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing has all the hallmarks of a classic house-party mystery: isolated location, communications cut-off due to unexpectedly bad weather and a full cast of shady characters with hidden motivations. Full of tension and secrets, Adhara continues to craft fascinating mysteries while complicating and deepening the relationship between the cross-species crime-solving & romantic partners, Dayton and Park, who in this installment go undercover at a relationship retreat while tracking a missing person.

Adhara continues to tackle traumatic topics, like PTSD and bigotry with care, and it makes each realization by Oliver and Cooper more meaningful and hopeful despite the darkness of Adhara’s world of secretive werewolf packs.

Fans of Oliver and Cooper will love this mystery and be further drawn into this world, while cursing having to wait another year before Cry Wolf comes out. Readers who have not yet jumped on the Big Bad Wolf bandwagon should not hesitate to run off and catch up as Adhara’s rich storytelling and engaging mysteries are worth the investment of reading the prior three.

[Editor's Note: This is Book 4 in an ongoing series following the same couple. If you want to read about the first three, Ana put together a series primer/review.]

Content Warnings: murder, non-consensual medical procedures, mental illness, past trauma: child abuse, torture, guns

Ana received a copy of this book from the publisher for review.

I reviewed A Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole for Love in Panels

In A Prince on Paper, a made-for-the-tabloids relationship provides a much needed distraction from a kingdom-shaking referendum for Johan and an opportunity to escape for Nya. Nya and Johan at first glance seem an unlikely match, a smothered and cloistered teacher and a globe-trotting serial heart-breaker, yet Cole develops a sweet and believable intimacy rooted in the secrets they share only with each other.

Like the previous installments of Cole’s Reluctant Royals, there are lots of delightfully funny text exchanges, strong friendships, and scene stealing secondary characters. But in this one, Cole also inter-cuts the romance with snippets of a very engaging trickster folktale that Nya is telling Johan and the intrusive notifications for the dating-sim game Nya used to play obsessively. Both narratives allow Nya to explore and make sense of her relationship with Johan, inspiring her to trust and challenge.

I loved the resolution of this romance even if I was initially put off by Johan’s oddly infantilizing nickname “Jo-Jo '' and his frequently over-the-top interjections in Lichenbourgian. However, Cole won me over with his grief-fueled secret agenda to protect his sibling and continue his mother’s philanthropic activities.

A Prince on Paper is tender and funny and highly enjoyable, and make sure you don’t miss Cole’s introduction of the first couple in her new series, Runaway Royals.