#The Devil to Pay

[emmieexplores2]

Myrna Loy with blonde hair. The Devil to Pay, 1930

[aurorawest]

Reading update

Light Up the Lamp by Kit Oliver - 5/5 stars

Kit Oliver can do no wrong, I guess. I figured I'd like this one a lot given that I loved her other two novels, but hockey books usually aren't five star reads for me. Along comes this book! Unrelentingly lovely, and even though I knew it was going to have an HEA, I still found myself worried that Gil wasn't going to figure shit out.

The Faerie Hounds of York by Arden Powell - 5/5 stars

Gorgeous book that read like a dreamy, dark fairy tale. The first book by Arden Powell I read was really funny, and this was like the complete opposite. Powell has range! This one is sad, but still has a happy ending. If you like Emily Tesh's Greenhollow Duology, I highly recommend this one. They're definitely in the same vein.

Deosil by Jordan L Hawk - 4.75/5 stars

I was SO SAD to get to the end of this series. Whyborne, Griffin, Christine, Iskander, Persephone, Maggie, Niles...I could go on, I love them all. It's hard to say good-bye but they all got a wonderful ending.

The Inside Edge by Ashlyn Kane - 3/5 stars

The Taste of Desert Green by Kim Fielding - 4.25/5 stars

Your Lonely Nights Are Over by Adam Sass - 1/5 stars

Crushed Ice by Ashlyn Kane and Morgan James - 4/5 stars

Roustabout by Morgan Brice - 3/5 stars

Prince in Disguise by Tavia Lark - 5/5 stars

Loved this one just as much as the first in the series. I expected the Draskorans to be...idk, like stereotype fantasy barbarians, so it was extremely refreshing that they weren't.

Old Time Religion by EH Lupton - 5/5 stars

Ahhhhhhhh I love this series!! I really really enjoyed the first book, and I loved this one even more. Really good, really original. I can't recommend this one and Dionysus in Wisconsin enough!

A Thief and a Gentleman by Arden Powell - 3.5/5 stars

The Devil to Pay by Katie Daysh - 4.75/5 stars

If you like Patrick O'Brian but find yourself thinking, surely this could be more gay? Then Katie Daysh's books are for you. This is the second in the series and I was delighted to learn yesterday from her newsletter that she's working on the third, because I definitely am not ready for the series to end! The first book was from Nightingale's POV (there might have been some bits from Courtney's POV? But not many), and this one is entirely from Courtney's. Courtney and Nightingale didn't actually get to spend much time together in this one so I hope they catch more of a break in book 3.

Lord of Eternal Night by Ben Alderson - DNF at pg 6

The Engineer by CS Poe - 4/5 stars

The Larks Still Bravely Singing by Aster Glenn Gray - 5/5 stars

If you're not reading Aster Glenn Gray yet, why not? Why not??? Seriously, if you like Cat Sebastian, PLEASE give Aster Glenn Gray a try. I have yet to read a book by the woman that isn't gorgeous. This book is set right at the tail end of WWI and into the interwar period and is about two young English men who were injured and invalided out of the army. They're both disabled (Robert, the POV character, is missing a leg, and David is missing a hand) and have PTSD.

Also recommended if you like KJ Charles's Will Darling Adventures trilogy. The Larks Still Bravely Singing is just straight historical romance, not romantic suspense, but it deals with similar themes.

Guardians of Dawn: Zhara by S Jae-Jones - DNF at pg 24

Mr Warren's Profession by Sebastian Nothwell - 4.75/5 stars

LOVED this book. I think it's the only historical romance I've read that uses the Industrial Revolution so heavily in the plot, which I really enjoyed. Plus, gorgeous cover.

Honey Mead Murder by Dahlia Donovan - DNF at pg 5

A Market of Dreams and Destiny by Trip Galey - 3.25/5 stars

String Theory by Ashlyn Kane and Morgan James - 3.75/5 stars

One Night in Hartswood by Emma Denny - 5/5 stars

I honestly don't know why, when I received this book in like, November, I didn't immediately put it on the top of my TBR pile. I knew I was going to love it; I was super excited to get my copy. Every time I've shuffled my TBR (like, my actual physical TBR...it's a whole thing...it's actually been mistaken for my full book collection but haha no that's just 200 books I haven't read yet sitting on my stairs...), I've lamented that it's not closer to the top. And then I realized, this is literally my TBR and my own weird fake rules that I've made up about it, so I can actually just pull it from the stack and read it now. So I did!

And yeah, I loved it. So much. Raff and Penn will probably live rent free in my mind forever, not to mention Ash and Lily. I loved the medieval setting (another setting you don't see much in queer historical romance!) and how it really felt like a different world than ours. Plus I'm a sucker for road trip romances. And daddy issues. And horrific scars.

And ugh, the training scenes. The sexual tension. The PINING. Masterfully done. Chef's kiss.

Also we're going to find out who Oliver was, right? RIGHT??? And what happened to Penn's brother?

Out of Touch by Michael Sarais - DNF at pg 7

The Long Call by Ann Cleeves - 4.25/5 stars

Always enjoy a mystery that's well-paced and well-written. I've never actually read anything by Ann Cleeves but I'm going to pick up the rest of this series.

The Death I Gave Him by Em X Liu - DNF at pg 284

[friendlessghoul]

Buster Keaton & Ralph Dunn The Devil to Pay - 1960

[sanguinarysanguinity]

I'm halfway through The Devil to Pay, the sequel to Katie Daysh's Leeward, and YOU GUYS, it's a mash-up of Lieutenant Hornblower and my own Hornblower's Lost Honour.

[roosterarts]

"In July 1863

A nation torn in tragedy

A trick of fate, two great armies merge

Gods of war at Gettysburg

Devastation lies ahead

50, 000 bodies litter the land

Hell rages three full days

The reaper sows, there's the devil to pay"

- The Devil to Pay, Iced Earth

[petals-or-thorns]

The Devil To Pay -- “Free Will”, Part 4

[mydarkapron]

THE DEVIL TO PAY, 2019

Ruckus Skye

[fascinationstreetmp3]

annoying4annoying (insp)

[aubreysmaturin]

Reading the sequel right now, off to a great start. I love how it's in Courtney's POV and dare I say I prefer it

God I am so obsessed with this book already, its what I've been craving since reading all of hornblower and aubreyad. I'm like 80 pages in and so invested! Gay naval captain chasing a mutineers ship, who has PTSD after the battle of the nile (watched his lieutenant/possible lover die in front of him) and now battling with a new enigmatic first lieutenant who is alluring...but can he trust him??

It's so good!

Btw it's called Leeward by Katie Daysh

[st-hedge]

*clapping* fight fight fight

[ohmypuckingod]

On Top of the World | Devils Now

[pockethep]

Of courrrrssssseeee Asa is ending up fighting literal embodiment of the fear of falling when almost all of her traumatic experiences so far have been related to her tripping and falling including falling into despair (Ch.122), falling for Denji, and falling for Yoshida’s ruse…

[sonofcelluloid]

Assad is fighting for his life aldjajhdh he is begging that man to shut his mouth

[foldingfittedsheets]

One of my earlier jobs in life was at a little pizza place. I worked there when it was first starting up. It’s the only job I’ve ever been fired from.

Anyway! For this story to make sense I’ve first got to set the stage. This pizza place started out as the Wild West of management but one of the original investors was super committed to work programs through the prison. We hired a ton of ex convicts and they were all, to a one, super hyped on Christianity. Like born again for the sole purpose of lauding Christ with their every breath.

I was raised without any religion which I liked very well. Throughout my life people have tried to inform me about their religion and I end up deeply resenting it. I’m good. I’m vibing. I’m staying in my lane. I’ve also had more than enough microaggressions for being queer that I get skittish around people who are especially devout.

I hadn’t been working there long but I’d definitely noticed the Jesus bug had gone around, I tried to steer clear of the topic for my own safety as much as possible.

The day our story takes place, I was folding boxes. Anyone whose ever worked pizza can attest, there’s so much box folding. It’s something that happens at every lull, the pizza machine demands box folding on a grand and epic scale.

On my right folding his stack of boxes was a guy wider than he was tall, made of pure muscle, Corey. He was newer on staff, and due to a stutter he didn’t talk much. All I knew about him was that he got hired through the rehabilitation program and had done time.

On my left folding was a tall middle-aged woman who loved to yell at me, Cindy. She and I rubbed each other the wrong way and had nothing in common, leading to a tense working relationship.

We folded boxes in silence. This was really my best case scenario as a quiet Cindy was a Cindy not riding my ass, and Corey intimidated me.

But the weight of the silence grew too much for Cindy, who finally said, “I really want to go to bible school.”

I folded a box. I had less than no idea what bible school even was and I didn’t want to get sucked into a religious topic.

On my right Corey said, “W-why, Cindy?”

“Well, cause I believe what’s in the Bible, but I just don’t know it all.”

He nodded sagely to this.

Cindy continued, “And every time I sit down to read the Bible I get real sleepy. And I know it’s the devil.”

It’s so hard to convey her tone in written format. It was delivered with the emphasis and exasperation of an inevitable inconvenience. Like, I just know it’s the squirrels eating the bird seed.

I froze in place at this pronouncement. My only exposure to Lucifer was Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comics and I was trying to mentally twist into a frame of mind where The Morningstar cared enough about this one middle aged lady expanding her knowledge of the Bible that he followed her around cursing her with sleepiness when she picked it up.

I think I expected Corey to say, “Well that’s silly,” or something to acknowledge what a bizarre thing Cindy had just said.

Instead he said, “Yeah!” In a tone of complete agreement.

I didn’t look up. I tried to keep my face neutral at this development.

But something must have shown. Corey said, “You don’t believe in God?”

I shrugged casually and said, “If I did I wouldn’t talk about it at work.”

“C-cause it’s t-true. If y-you t-ry to r-read the B-bible on unsanctif-fied gr-round the d-devil m-makes you s-sleepy!”

I made a noncommittal sound and fled into the back room.

Over the next week it drove me crazy though. The logic of it wouldn’t leave me alone so finally one day when it was just Corey and I in front, and the restaurant was empty, I said, “Hey man, I have a question.”

He shrugged and listened.

“I really don’t mean this with any disrespect, I just genuinely want to know about the logistics-“

“J-ust ask.”

“Okay, so if Cindy gets tired when she reads any book, is it only the devil making her tired when it’s the Bible?”

His face went purple with fury and he yelled, “F-fuck you!” at my retreating back as I fled once more into the back room.

It will forever remain a mystery.

[jonasiegenthaler]

nyr@njd | 23.12.24

[reality-detective]

I'll leave this 👆 here... You Decide 🤔