“The Haunting of the Desks” by Allison Montclair

I got this novella last summer, shortly after reading The Right Sort of Man, the first title in the series, basically because it was not-expensive (unlike the rest of the titles–yikes!). Despite having the second title in the digital TBR of doom, I gulped this down and then…got distracted, and didn’t get back to the series until this week.

Today, riding the high of reading A Royal Affair, I’m indulging in a re-read–and of course, a review, because blog fodder!

The House is on Fire, by Rachel Beanland

I requested this ARC, with little hope of receiving it, because it’s about a historical event: the 1811 Richmond Theater fire that cost the lives of over 70 people.

Reader beware: graphic descriptions of rape and other physical abuse of a Black enslaved girl by a white man; forced and violent incest; exploration of the physical and mental torture of enslavement; racism, both ‘casual’/quotidian, and the rabid, seething kind; ditto for antisemitism and misogyny.

Also, it’s narrated in third person present tense; the writing worked exceedingly well for me, but I absolutely recommend reading the sample first.

Built to Last, by Erin Hahn

I asked for an ARC of this back in May, because I saw the cover on twitter, and the blurb said it has the kind of second chance at love I can enjoy: they were friends and more as kids and teens, now they’re in their late 20s. There’s enough time and distance for them to have grown from the people who screwed up their chances to grown adults who can make a relationship work.

Reader beware: there’s graphic sex on the page, and some cursing; there’s the tropetastic narcissistic stage mom, and a bastard ex whose motivations are…he’s an asshole? Also, all white, all the time.

Nowhere Else, by Felicia Davin

After struggling to read past the oh, 60% mark on Out of Nowhere for a few weeks (not the book, it was ::gestures at the world:: me; I couldn’t read anything for weeks!), I finally got back to it, finished it in one sprint, then immediately started Nowhere Else, which I inhaled in one greedy gulp. It may well be my favorite of the trilogy, to be honest.

Reader beware: some swearing, sex on page between two adult men, one of whom is dealing with PTSD from recent trauma; both characters had difficult childhoods, for different reasons.