#evander mills books

[rubyredbonnetblue]

My queer book rec for the fall season!

I just reread Lavender House and The Bell in the Fog by Lev AC Rosen, and I need to talk about these books with more people!!

The setting is immersive and the characters are real and enjoyable. You've got time to read the first two before the third book comes out on Oct. 1st and is about books, so you know it's gonna be great.

[follyy]

Where my Lavender House fanbase at

[annafromuni]

Five Historical Fiction Murder Mystery Series To Investigate (And Sherlock Holmes Isn't One Of Them)

I’ve decided to try something new and make book recommendation posts for specific genres and sub-genres that I have read more than a few titles of, that way I can compare these books and/or series to each other without putting one above the rest. The books I recommend are books I genuinely would like you to read and I don’t want to rank them before you’ve had the chance to read them for yourself.…

[readingwithwrin]

Lavender House by Lev A.C. Rosen | Mystery and Historical Fiction Book Review

Title: Lavender House Author: Lev A.C. Rosen Publisher: Forge Books Published Date: October 18th, 2022 Genre: Mystery, Historical Fiction, LGTBQIA Source: Library Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Goodreads Summary: Lavender House, 1952: the family seat of recently deceased matriarch Irene Lamontaine, head of the famous Lamontaine soap empire. Irene’s recipes for her signature scents are a well guarded…

[queerliblib]

Hey there! You've probably gotten asks for reccomendations like this before, but I was wondering if you had any queer detective (or detective-like) book recommendations? Preferably with like, PI stuff and not actually police detectives? if thats possible. because acab. like Sherlock Holmes vibes but. gay(er)

you know, we actually haven’t gotten that one before. acab my friend! but shit I’ll be honest, I’m not a mystery or detective reader at all so this is not my strong suit. howmstever I have solicited other folks on the QLL team to weigh in for this one.

we do have a mysteries list in our Genre Fiction Guide! so I’d absolutely recommend checking that out. for specific titles though:

The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older. a "cozy holmsian murder mystery & sapphic romance set on jupiter"

The Undetectables by Courtney Smyth. “be gay, solve crime, take naps”

Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy. instead of a cop, the investigator is a chain-smoking, heavily tattooed, queer nun

The Adventures of Isabel Candas Jane Dorsey by features a queer, nameless, amateur detective

we also don’t have these two yet, but one member of our team recommends the Dave Brandstetter Series by Joseph Hanson, “old, cheesy, very fun”, and another the Evander Mills series by Lev A.C. Rosen

[lgbtqreads]

Hi! I would love to hear some of your all time favourties :)

Okay, but as long as we acknowledge it’s just some. I always accidentally leave out huge favorites! (All links are to Bookshop, except where they don’t carry said book, because may as well treat yourself and support LGBTQReads and independent bookstores at the same time, right?)

YA Thriller: 

Female protag: Sadie by Courtney Summers

Male protag: Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig

Contemporary YA Romance

m/m: Beating Heart Baby by Lio Min 

f/f: She Gets the Girl by Alyson Derrick and Rachael Lippincott

m/f: Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan

Heavier contemporary YA, all of which totally coincidentally have bi protags:

Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett

The Last True Poets of the Sea by Julia Drake

Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake 

Every Time You Hear That Song by Jenna Voris

History is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera 

It Goes Like This by Miel Moreland (Please read it if you’re a fan of stuff like Daisy Jones and the Six, pleeeease)

Paranormal YA:  Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

YA Sci-fi: The Disasters by MK England

YA Fantasy:

Standalone: Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust

Duology: The Midnight Lie by Marie Rutkoski

Trilogy: Black Wings Beating by Alex London

YA Horror: The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros

YA Magical Realism: Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie McLemore

YA Fabulism: This Rebel Heart by Katherine Locke

Historical YA: The above two titles and Self-Made Boys by Anna-Marie McLemore

YA Graphic Novels:

Male protag: Flamer by Mike Curato

Female protag: Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu (but truly, The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Deya Muniz is right behind it)

New Adult Romance:

m/m: Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

f/f: Treasure by Rebekah Weatherspoon

m/f: Hold Me by Courtney Milan

Adult Contemporary Romance:

m/m: The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun

f/f:  Mistakes Were Made by Meryl Wilsner

m/f: The Intimacy Experiment by Rosie Danan

polyam: Triple Sec by TJ Alexander (f/f/gq)

Adult Historical Romance:

m/m: We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian

f/f: The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite

Adult Contemporary Fiction:

In at the Deep End by Kate Davies

The Guncle by Steven Rowley

Endpapers by Jennifer Savran Kelly

Body Grammar by Jules Ohman

Adult Mystery Series:

Contemporary: Roxane Weary by Kristen Lepionka

Historical: Evander Mills by Lev A.C. Rosen 

Adult Thriller: 

Male protag: Yes, Daddy by Jonathan Parks-Ramage

Female protag: Temper by Layne Fargo

Adult Horror: Tripping Arcadia by Kit Mayquist

Adult Science Fantasy: Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (adult science fantasy)

Adult Fantasy: 

Standalone: The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

Series: The Unspoken Name by AK Larkwood (please for the love of god at least try this if you’re a huge fan of Gideon already)

Adult Sci-Fi: This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

[bloody-wonder]

mid-year book tag

1. Best Book You’ve Read So Far in 2024? i have read so many good ones this year but no particular one stands out to me as The Best so i'll name top 5 instead (in the order i read them in): a thousand stitches, doctrine of labyrinths, in other lands, big swiss, my brilliant friend - so, quite a range of genres and tones, as usual :)

2. Best Sequel You’ve Read So Far in 2024? the virtu is definitely my favorite part of doctrine of labyrinths and the tropic of serpents, the second book in the memoirs of lady trent, was just a perfect historical fantasy adventure novel - it's like if jane austen wrote indiana jones except it's also a nature documentary about dragons. last but not least, empire of the damned which came out in march solidified jay kristoff's empire of the vampire as my favorite vampire book series. you might have heard me screaming about it from the rooftops. all three of these sequels, i find, are even better than the previous book in their respective series.

3. New Release You Haven’t Read Yet, But Want To? i'm saving kj charles' death in the spires for the fall since it's a spooky campus murder mystery (i think?) and i also want to read apostles of mercy and so finish lindsay ellis' sci fi series (which i have lost interest in somewhat tbh but i'm nothing if not a completionist lol). i was curious about the familiar but the reviews i've seen don't look too promising so i'm probably not going to prioritize it.

4. Most Anticipated Release For Second Half of 2024? i'm looking forward to kj charles' new romance book, the duke at hazard, as well as the new evander mills mystery, rough pages, but the piece of fiction i'm anticipating the most is actually the radioapple southern gothic au by my favorite fanfic author reminiscentbells. she's going to write the whole thing this summer and start posting in september - i'm so excitedddd😱

5. Biggest Disappointment? emily wilde's encyclopaedia of faeries is the book equivalent of a ghoul wearing the skin of your beloved. i wasn't a fan of a deadly education either😒 was very excited to read gaywyck but the expectations of "jane eyre but gay" which the cover of that book gave me were unfortunately not met🤷‍♀️

6. Biggest Surprise? i didn't think i might be into extreme horror and neither did i fancy myself a sally rooney girlie so i was quite surprised that i liked her conversations with friends as well as the sluts by dennis cooper. will definitely read more from both authors next year. an even bigger surprise however was solitaire which i picked up on a whim after tori came out as ace in the last heartstopper volume. i have a complicated relationship with alice oseman's books mostly due to the fact that i'm years past the target demographic age but still feel compelled to read them bc it seems they're the only mainstream books with prominent aro/ace rep out there. so i didn't expect much and was astonished to discover that tori spring is like looking at a mirror reflection of my 18yo self - uncanny in a fun way. ig i shouldn't be so surprised this turned out to be my favorite oseman book since it's the one with the most mixed reviews lol people like to hate a depressed teenage girl😬

7. Favorite New Author? i have devoured doctrine of labyrinths and the cemeteries of amalo in february so now i can safely say sarah monette aka katherine addison is one of my favorite authors. each of her series has a different tone but there are consistent themes of real or magical disability and non amatonormative relationships which are explored in creative ways throughout her stories. i also like her worldbuilding quite a bit, especially the naming systems and fantasy terminology. i read more books by celeste ng as well as by vale aida - both are likely to become favorite authors too. in the latter's case - provided she writes a sequel to hostis. if not, i shall never forgive her😅

8. Newest Favorite Character? okay this is just impossible to narrow down! first of all, liathe from empire of the damned bc i want her Gender: wearing a porcelain mask and a splendid crimson coat, formally bowing to her adversaries before she beats the shit out of them with her blood sword, referring to herself by the royal we and hissing every time she speaks - character of all time material right there. behold my beautiful girl who has done nothing wrong!🥰

(official illustrations by bon orthwick)

secondly, elliot schafer bc he's the most obnoxious prickly boy in other lands and yet everyone wants him carnally lol. i adore his internal monologue - probably the best i've read in ya. his dialogue too tbh - his cutting repartee game is off the charts. honestly, he's just my favorite type of character: a mean bisexual gremlin who scolds people so creatively that they fall in love with him on the spot. what more can you ask.

finally, i have to mention that to my great surprise i liked mildmay more than felix harrowgate🤯 idk felix is this cunty traumatized savant which is a character archetype i'm used to liking so it was a safe bet. the opposites attract sidekick or love interest of such a character is usually not my cup of tea but mildmay is the exception that proves the rule ig. mostly it's bc of his unusual manner of speaking with those funny slang turns of phrase and just generally the contrast between his expressive internal monologue and his reserved demeanor. as a result, he easily rivals felix as the most interesting guy in the book. such excellent character work! taking my hat off to monette🎩

9. Newest Fictional Crush? i reserve this question for that special kind of obsession only a very particular character can inspire and this year it's alastor from hazbin hotel. which, i know, is not a book but i have read so much alastor fanfic in the last few months that he's basically like a book character to me at this point lol

💕Best Ship💕 elliot schafer and luke sunborn are very cute. i don't usually go for cute but here we are. especially after reading that short story from luke's pov i realized i just need more of these two together😌 felix and mildmay with their unholy magic bdsm union - need i say more? forbidden ship that watered my crops. last but not least, i'm currently trudging through the realm of the elderings bc of fitz and the fool and as of assassin's quest it finally started paying off: i'm being queerbaited and asking for more🥲

10. Book That Made You Cry? a thousand stitches is such a wholesome cozy book and it made me cry multiple times the way that a nostalgic movie from childhood can make you cry sometimes. especially the pug scene😭 the scenes of thara celehar walking the corn maze in the cemeteries of amalo made me cry a lot too. the symbolic depths addison is able to achieve with the labyrinth motif, the exploration of grief and forgiveness and letting go - unparalleled����

11. Book That Made You Happy? a thousand stitches made me happy! especially the pug scene!!😅 honestly it was like watching a disney movie back when they were good except also more relatable bc atwater's characters read neurodivergent and aspec-coded to me. love how she maintains that the kiss of true love that breaks the faerie curse doesn't have to be romantic. re-reading the three musketeers made me very happy too - it's one of my top 10 favorite books of all time and i was kinda nervous i might not like it as much as an adult. well the joke's on me bc now i can confirm it's one of the best books ever written😊 reading in other lands and big swiss cheered me up a lot too bc they're just so damn funney😄

12. Favorite Book Adaptation You Saw This Year? haven't seen a lot of adaptations so ig dune part two wins by default. twas a fine movie. the wheel of time is also a nice show in my opinion but i didn't read the source material so idk how good it is adaptation-wise🤷‍♀️

13. Favorite Review You’ve Written This Year? my favorite ones are probably the ones i wrote about the three musketeers and in other lands but i think i also wrote some good critical/negative reviews of the mask of mirrors and of the vorkosigan books i read this year (1 2 3)

14. Most Beautiful Cover? behold the cover of the voyage of the basilisk!🤩 i want to frame it and hang it on my wall so that i can gaze at it adoringly and connect with my inner ishmael

(art by todd lockwood)

i also like this vintage romance cover of gaywyck and the uk covers of the farseer trilogy. it's a shame that the books are not as good as the covers led me to believe. especially in the case of gaywyck - this cover is Such A Vibe! but alas

15. What Books Do You Need To Read By The End of The Year? in terms of series i want to finish the memoirs of lady trent, read one more witcher book, at least a couple vampire chronicles and then reread swordspoint and hopefully complete that series too. other fantasy i want to get to at last is fire & blood and the hands of the emperor - both are big and intimidating tho. for my classics challenge i need to finish a couple of tomes i'm reading slowly throughout the year and then also read the name of the rose. american psycho and mona awad's bunny have been on my tbr for ages - maybe i'll finally read them this fall. and i also want to finish reading kj charles' backlist bc the completionism drive is stronger than the fear of having no kj charles to read lol

i never do things a normal amount - every time i take up new media i go all in. so i had a musicals phase, a movies phase, a tv show phase - each lasting a few years and then i barely watched any of these once the phase ended. which is why i've been wondering if my current Book Phase is about to wrap up soon but, given how many books i managed to read since january, it sure doesn't seem that way. instead, it feels like the more i read the better i am at finding books that i'm likely to enjoy - which leads to more reading. and i cannot complain about that tbh😁📚

tagging @magpiefngrl @doh-rae-me @oliviermiraarmstrongs @fugitoidkry @pinkasrenzo @counterwiddershins @figuringthengsout @sugarbabywenkexing @fandomreferencepending @venndaai @weirdsociology @sixappleseeds @theodoradove

please tell me what you've been reading this year (if you want)! one can't have too many book recs👀

goodreads │ old mid year tags 2020 2021 2022 2023

[bookishpixiereads]

“Rough Pages” by Lev C. Rosen

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/5 Stars

Thanks to Tor Publishing Group/Forge Books for the eARC of this book. It dropped last week! All opinions are my own.

“Rough Pages” is the third book in the Evander Mills noir-ish, queer, historical fiction detective series set in 1950s San Francisco. Outside of the murderous plots, the series provides a well-researched look into how queer people lived during that time period. I adore this series. I already had pre-ordered this book before I even read the ARC and I never do that.  

Evander “Andy” Mills is a gay private detective for queer people who can’t go to the police because the police are not friendly to the LGBTQ community. He was a cop for the San Francisco Police Department before he was fired after they found out he was gay. 

A friend of Andy comes to him with a case. The two owners of a queer-friendly bookstore have gone missing. Along with selling queer books from a store front, they have a mail-order service where they mail queer books to subscribers. And the fear, along with the safety of the owners, is that the list of subscribers could fall into the wrong hands and at the worst, those people’s lives could be in danger and at best, they could become the object of blackmail. Also, at this point in history, mailing queer books is a federal crime.

And this list potentially puts people that Andy’s holds dear at great risk. And he wants to do everything he can to keep them and their newly adopted baby safe.

Were the bookstore owners arrested by the Feds? Was this a Mafia hit done out of fear of the possible outing of one of their own? Was there a crime at all and are they just on vacation?

Andy also has to deal with a reporter who is getting a little too close for comfort and his former boss, who is making implicit and explicit threats to Andy’s safety. And is his own romantic life falling apart?

“Rough Pages” comes during the current political climate of banning books. And it has beautiful things to say about representation in books, why books are dangerous (in a good way), and books as a whole.

What’s more important truth or secrets? Especially if the truth puts peoples’ lives in danger. 

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Character, book, and author names under the cut

Evander (Andy) Mills- Lavender House by Lev Ac Rosen

Catherine St. Day- The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite

Sideways Pike- The Spacegracers by HA Clarke

Malini- The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

[rubyredbonnetblue]

you—soft and only, lost and lonely

Hiiiiii I just posted a fic for like the second time ever and the first time in like 7 years asjdgljkl. It's Gene/Andy from Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen. I hope you'll give it a read even if you haven't read the book! Only the most minor spoilers~

Review from @shelbychild: "absolutely embarrassing gays"

Here's the first scene:

When Gene sees the man Elsie is carrying into the bar, he springs immediately into action mode, his adrenaline pumping the second he sets eyes on the man’s beat-up face. He rushes over and hands Elsie a towel filled with ice. He’s used to helping patch people up around here, but this guy he’s never seen before.

When he comes back with the bandages and starts tending to the man’s—Andy’s—wounds, he puts on a smile that he hopes is comforting. People often try to play it cool, but he knows how terrifying it is to get attacked, how it shakes someone to their core. He’s seen it enough times, and lived it himself a few. But Gene has learned that it’s good to stay nonchalant, to try to settle the fear, so he holds out his hand and introduces himself. Andy responds affably. The guy seems okay, not too shaken up. Just very hurt.

Gene doesn’t know why his mind goes there when Andy starts unbuttoning his shirt. He’s seen enough people roughed up that he should have known what was happening, and yet—

“Maybe not the time for that,” Gene says, and he winks.

“They cracked a rib, I think,” Andy says.

Gene realizes his error, mortified.

“Oh!” Gene does his best to smile through the blush quickly rising on his face. He immediately helps Andy get his shirt off and starts inspecting his bruises—back on task.

He must have been thrown off by Andy so boldly calling him good-looking. He’s not unaccustomed to being flirted with, but he’s not the flirting type himself. He’s friendly, sure, likes to smile at everyone. But Gene has never been good at flirting and doesn’t care to be. He might—might throw out a friendly wink from time to time. Friendly. But he can’t believe he just so blatantly flirted with the severely injured man in front of him.

And yet, the man keeps making conversation with Gene, smiling and laughing despite the pain he must be feeling. At one point, Andy takes him by the wrist to readjust the ice Gene is still holding to his face, and Gene tries to ignore the way he swoons a bit at the touch. Their conversation turns serious and Gene feels like he sees Andy. His loneliness, his regret, the feeling of being lost. Gene has been there. He wraps Andy up in a hug— because he can’t help it, because he thinks this man needs it, and because, for some reason, he wants to.

Read the rest on ao3

[unfortunatetheorist]

The Complete Works of Contradictory Logic in ASOUE: Volume I (Quote Debunk 10)

Part 7 - The Miserable Mill S1 E7

Quick Intro: Surprise! I'm back after what I know has been quite a long while - life's been keeping me busy! As Voltaire once said: "Life is thickly sown with thorns and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them."

Time to carry on where we left off...

And of course we're jumping straight in with Mr Poe-ntless:

01:49 - "We must act now! We must act without delay! We... (sniffs)... need... (sniffs again)... We need... (sniffs some chowder because why not?) Oh! Oh, my! Oh, my, this is excellent chowder. Mmm, mmm, good. Oh, God... [chugs the entire thing - again, why not?]"

How did we ever believe this guy cared about the Baudelaires?

05:06 - "Pink Floyd's "The Wall"... Although Mother wouldn't let me watch that one."

Not contradictory per se, but a beautifully subtle reference to the lyrics of the song 'Another Brick in The Wall, Pt 2.' particularly the chorus:

We don't need no education

We don't need no thought control

No dark sarcasm in the classroom

Teacher, leave them kids alone!

So I guess it's contradictory, in a way, to the underlying principles of V.F.D.

07:06 - "They have to do what I say, even my partner here." ~ Sir

Luckily Klaus responds quickly and correctly to this one.

10:06 - "...who joined you for years on a sequence of heists and schemes until the two of you were forced apart by circumstance, and also because you ran off in the middle of the night with a bunch of her valuables?" ~ Olaf. to Evander the Truck Driver

What a way to lose a lady. Something tells me only Olaf would do something like this!

The chocolate bar scene at 10:26 is funny, but not really the kind of contradiction we're looking for.

14:45 - "I'm just an old friend" *sniffs flowers and writhes in disgust* ~Olaf to Georgina

"Um, Dr Orwell's not here right now." ~ Dr Orwell (Georgina) to Olaf.

Sheer genius. Neatly covered with the hilarity of Olaf's facial expression after smelling the flowers.

15:06 - "So he isn't just knocking on Dr Orwell's door because he needs something - for himself?" ~ Georgina

Olaf: *chuckles*, *pulls angry face*, *chuckles*

It's brilliantly timed and brilliantly filmed. Also better/easier to understand when viewed.

15:27 - "...who shares one's brilliance, one's charm, one's dubious moral code in a world gone gloriously wrong." ~ Olaf

Olaf was just trying to find alphabetical words; 'brilliance' and 'charm' have quite different meaning and connotation to 'dubious'.

Also, a world gone 'gloriously wrong', eh, Olaf? I wonder how it got that way...

15:48 - This gem:

Georgina: "I took a solemn oath that my office would be closed to you forever even during regular business hours."

Also Georgina: "How big a fortune are we talking?"

22:22 - "I took a chance on treating you like grown-ups, don't make me regret it." ~ Sir to the Baudelaires

A classic phrase often said to children to enforce good behaviour now twisted to benefit Sir's bank balance. Respect, Handler! This kind of thing goes unnoticed very easily.

25:25 - "You, me, an evil scheme, a little death." ~ Olaf

"La petit mort" ~ Georgina

"You know I love it when you speak Spanish." ~ Olaf

Ok. First off, 'la petit mort' is, in fact, French not Spanish. Secondly, 'la petit mort' literally means 'the little death' but in French slang, it means something else entirely... [Hint: not child-friendly...]

26:10 - "It represents the eyes of God staring down and judging society as a moral wasteland." ~ Klaus

"Oh, that sounds like a fun book." ~ Phil

Not really sure how fun this is... but the same could be said about ASOUE to be fair. Each to his own, I suppose.

37:24 - "We've fought a host of unsavoury characters, including a most unfriendly refrigerator repair person. We've flown a plane into a hurricane. We've been to Peru and back to get home to our children. And today, finally, we'll all be together. What could be wrong?"

Gotta love the sarcasm when it's there.

There's also the piece related to the final scene about Sir mentioning the 'probable' (yeah right) conditions of the Baudelaires, which are actually his own... this isn't as contradictory as it perhaps could've been so not worth writing in full.

~ Th3r3534rch1ngr4ph, Unfortunate Theorist/Snicketologist

[skepwith]

Queer mid-century San Francisco is the setting for this noir mystery series featuring detective Evander "Andy" Mills. Author Rosen nails it on multiple levels: the noir-style narrative voice, the satisfying mystery plots, and the historical details of being queer in SF in 1952. But it's the evolution of the main character that gives these books an emotional depth beyond standard whodunnits.

Lavender House opens with Andy having just been kicked out of the police force after being caught in a raid on a gay bar. Closeted for years, he thinks his life is over. Then he's hired by a woman to look into the murder of her wife—discreetly.

Along with all the pleasures of a good mystery, we get the pleasure of watching Andy become able to reimagine his life, this time as part of a community he'd previously kept at arm's length. In The Bell in the Fog this includes atonement for having been a cop; the police in these books are absolute bastards to queers (as they were in reality). Rosen has clearly done his historical research, and sometimes it's pretty damn grim, but the books are never hopeless. They show all kinds of queer people grabbing their joy with both hands and making the most of it, creating their own spaces and families in a hostile world. Andy's growth demonstrates that finding happiness is possible, with a little self-acceptance and a lot of solidarity.

Recommended for fans of noir mystery and queer history.

[annafromuni]

A Queer Bookish Mystery in Rough Pages by Lev AC Rosen

Lev AC Rosen is back with Rough Pages, another brilliant instalment in the Evander Mills historical fiction mystery series. This time, books are at the heart of the story and a little of the history behind queer literature in the 1950s is dabbled throughout the plot. With wonderful prose, extremely relevant themes and messages, and a fabulous cast of characters, Rough Pages is a must-read for…

[accidentalspaceexplorer]

May Reading Recap:

May was a complicated and busy month for me! It also led to me reading a bunch while I was traveling (7 books in 2 days) and then sporadically for the rest of the month. I ultimately read 18 books in May, and my favorites this month were the Evander Mills mysteries, Lavender House & The Bell in the Fog.

Ocean's Godori by Elaine U. Cho: 4.5/5

Lavender House by Lev A. C. Rosen: 5/5

Kushiel's Mercy by Jacqueline Carey: 5/5

Marriage of Unconvenience by Chelsea M. Cameron: 1.5/5, dnf

Summers at Castle Auburn by Sharon Shinn: 4/5

The Better to Kiss You With by Michelle Osgood: 3/5

Point of Hopes by Lisa A. Barnett & Melissa Scott: 3.75/5

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall: 4.5/5

Nigerians in Space by Deji Bryce Olukotun: 2/5, dnf

Thirsty by Mia Hopkins: 4/5

The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King: 4.25/5

Sunstone, Vol. 1 by Stjepan Šejić: 3/5

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells: 4.75/5, re-read

The Body in the Back Garden by Mark Waddell: 4/5

The Bell in the Fog by Lev A. C. Rosen: 4.75/5

A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie R. King: 2.5/5

Starter Villain by John Scalzi: 4.5/5

The Keeper's Six by Kate Elliott: 4/5

Goals under the cut:

Complete series: -2 for the year (sadness. I started 6, caught up on 1, finished 1, quit 1)

Catch up on backlists: 24 (+2)

Read FIYAH/Nebula/Hugo finalists & awards: 4 books (+1)

Read down TBR: (hard to tell what it was at the beginning of the year, but in August it was 1332) at end of May it’s 1484 (still getting bigger…)

Read old top-of-TBR list: 2 (+1)

[ofliterarynature]

6, 10, 20 for the end of year book asks?

Thank you!!

6. Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to?

oh so so many, I'm definitely making backlist tbr reads a priority next year! The big three are the Broken Earth trilogy by NK Jemisin (on hold on Libby to read in January, I promise!), Machineries of Empire by Yoon Ha Lee, and the White Rat/Paladin/whatever series by T Kingfisher

10. What was your favorite new release of the year?

There's a couple but the one I haven't seen anyone else talk about is The Witchstone by Henry H Neff. It's fantastic! More people need to read it!

20. What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?

tbh I'm not sure I've actually managed to read my most anticipated books yet? lol oops. Everything I was sure enough about to preorder/buy I haven't touched - Bunt!, the First Test graphic novel, Lake of Souls, Bitter Waters, The Bone Harp, Bad Houses... I was also looking forward to the NeoG and Evander Mills sequels, but I'm still waiting on my library to get the audiobooks!

Things I actually finished though- The Other Significant Others was very good, quite comforting, everyone should read it, but not as revolutionary to me personally as I'd hoped. The Village Library Demon Hunting Society unfortunately fulfilled my lowest expectations, which was that it had cozy vibes and I wouldn't love it, though it was certainly ok.

[lgbtqreads]

ive been really enjoying historical fiction, especially 1910s-1960s (though im also interested in reading books with more recent but not current settings, like 70s-90s) and i'm looking for more books! ones ive read recently that i liked are KJ Charles' Will Darling Adventures, Cat Sebastian's We Could Be So Good/You Should Be So Lucky, Allie Therin's Magic in Manhattan and Roaring 20s Magic series... it doesn't have to be m/m, those are just the ones that i happened to have read lol. thank you!

If they don’t have to be Romance, Lev A.C. Rosen’s Evander Mills series (starting with Lavender House) is a really fantastic mystery series set in that first era. The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott is great for Cold War era, and for WWI, definitely check out In Memoriam by Alice Winn. For Harlem Renaissance, Nekesa Afia has a mystery series starting with Dead Dead Girls, and

If you do specifically prefer Romance, Charlotte Anne Hamilton has a few in that time - The Breath Between Waves and Of Trust & Heart. In m/m, go a tiny bit earlier for Behind These Doors by Jude Lucens, and then right in the middle, check out Dublin Bay by John Patrick. For Romances involving three parties, check out The Bootlegger’s Bounty by Adriana Herrera and the t4t4t The Companion by EE Ottoman.

For more options, just FYI, there are pages on the site that break down Historicals into time periods:

Historical Fiction by Era: https://lgbtqreads.com/general-fiction/realistic-historical-by-era/

Historical Romance by Era: https://lgbtqreads.com/romance/historical-romance-by-era/

Historical YA by Era: https://lgbtqreads.com/young-adult/historical-ya-by-century-decade-era/