Book 8: Jackdaw by KJ Charles

This is a standalone book that takes place in the Charm of Magpies universe, which is basically Victorian England but with magic! I confess that I haven't read the original trilogy that comes before this book in the universe, but I didn't have any trouble following what was happening in this book even lacking that background.

Jackdaw focuses on the romantic relationship between Ben Spenser, a former police constable, and Jonah Pastern, a thief with a secret. At the beginning of the book the two of them are no longer together, and through alternating flashbacks with scenes set in the present the reader discovers why. I loved the structure of the story; it drew out the tension and made it impossible for me to stop reading, and then when we finally got done with the flashbacks and the story focused fully on the present it was both heartbreaking and such a relief.

The first half wouldn't have been so satisfying if they weren't able to rebuild their trust and learn how to function again as a couple and find a place for themselves in the world, and the way they do that in the second half is basically everything I could have wanted. KJ Charles is so good at writing couples whose strengths and weaknesses balance each other out, and Ben and Jonah are no exception to that. They both have to grow and change to be with each other, and the process of how they each do that, both separately and together, is lovely. And a love story between two people on opposite sides of the law who are both just trying to do their best is basically everything I want in a pairing, and this one really delivers. What a great read.

Grade: A 

Book 7: Hawkeye, Volume 1: My Life as a Weapon by Matt Fraction

I am not a big comics reader, but I had heard very good things about Matt Fraction's Hawkeye, and so I gave it a shot. This book is a collection of the first five issues of Fraction's Hawkeye run, as well as a Young Avengers issue that focuses on Kate Bishop, who also appears in four of the Hawkeye issues included.

I enjoyed this collection! One of the things I found really interesting was comparing the art; the first three issues were drawn by David Aja, and the fourth and five issues were drawn by Javier Pulido. It definitely informed how I saw the characters and their world, and made me think more about the interplay between the story and the art in comics. I'm currently in the middle of reading a very dense (but good) novel, and reading this was a lovely break from it, bite-sized complete narratives that connected to each other and are clearly building something larger. I don't know if I'm going to read more of this run, but I'm glad I read this volume of it, at least.

Grade: B

Book 6: The Truth As He Knows It by A.M. Arthur

Okay, given that I didn't particularly like either of the other two books by this author, I probably should have just thrown in the towel and not read this one at all. But it involves some of my favorite romance novel tropes (sad stripper with low self esteem finds love and self-worth) and also I am very very stubborn, so I read it anyway. That was a mistake.

This book suffered from the same issue as Cost of Repairs where I have no idea why the main characters are interested in each other beyond the fact that they're both gay and they've both experienced huge amounts of trauma in their lives. I thought the writing itself was stronger in this book than in Cost of Repairs, but the backstory trauma was worse, which takes some doing, believe you me. I don't automatically avoid books that involve serious topics like child abuse or sexual assault or gay bashing, but I don't enjoy reading books that use them as plot devices like this one did.

Grade: D

Book 5: Acts of Faith by A.M. Arthur

This is a sequel to Cost of Repairs, which I was not a fan of. However, I had already purchased this book, and it was both a Christmas story and concluded the one plot arc of Cost of Repairs that I was engaged by, so I gave it a shot.

Overall, I liked it quite a bit more than Cost of Repairs. The story focused on Rey and Samuel gaining custody of Rey's daughter, who had been taken from him by his ex-wife's parents because drama. So it was about the three of them becoming a family and it was about them having their first Christmas together, and both of those plots are basically catnip for me. Plus, I found Rey and Samuel much more compelling once they were an established couple and I could just accept that they were made for each other rather than wonder why exactly that was the case.

There's a pretty heavy-handed jealousy subplot that felt forced to me, and Samuel's migraines and the conflicts between Rey and Samuel as they figured out being parents together were both handled oddly, but in the end the tropes carried the day for me.

Grade: C 

Book 4: Cost of Repairs by A.M. Arthur

I did not enjoy this book.

I thought this book was going to be a fun m/m romance about a cop who had moved to a new town looking for a fresh start falling for a local guy who was a bit down on his luck but working hard to change his life. Instead, it was about unending traumatic backstories and "but wait, there's more!" levels of melodrama. And listen, I am not against soap opera narratives! I don't need my romance novels to be super realistic, plot-wise. But what I do need is to believe the connection between the two leads, and that didn't happened for me in this book. Samuel and Rey have an instant chemistry, or so we're told, but I never really understood why either one of them would be interested in dealing with the other person's baggage, given that they each had a truckload of their own. So this book was not for me, I'm afraid.

Grade: D

Book 3: The Smell of Other People's Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock

I loved this book. I was not expecting to; it was a book I read for my book club and I knew nothing about it before I bought it, and I was very grumpy while reading the first 75 pages of it. But then it hit home.

This is a YA novel about four teenagers living in Alaska in the early 1970's. The book shifts POV chapter by chapter, and the first three chapters felt almost unbearably bleak and sad to me. I spent a lot of time in my twenties reading beautifully written books about miserable people living miserable lives, and I don't want to do that anymore. I was very concerned that this would be another one of those kinds of books.

Instead, the book slowly begins to reveal the connections between the four characters, and the entire story braids itself together, with a bit of magical realism to tie off the loose ends. There is still sadness and tragedy, but the hope that is woven through each of their stories feels both necessary and earned, in the end. And the writing is incredibly lovely all the way through; I know very little about Alaska, but the surety of the writing made me trust this depiction implicitly. Also, the title fits the novel perfectly in a way that not many titles do.

I went into this book expecting to slog through it for my book group and instead I ended up crying (from happiness) over the end. Who knew.    

Grade: A

Book 2: The Omega's Pack by Dessa Lux

Note: I know the author of this series socially.

This is the second book in a m/m romance series about werewolves. The first book (The Omega's Bodyguard) tells the story of how the alpha of the titular pack, Rusty, finds and then bonds with his omega mate, Sam, and should definitely be read before reading this one. This book, as you may have guessed from the title, focuses on how Rusty and Sam become a pack with Mike, another alpha, and Nick, a beta. Mike had already become a member of their pack at the end of The Omega's Bodyguard, but Nick is still on his own.

The main plot of The Omega's Pack centers on the new pack essentially staging an intervention for Nick, who suffers from PTSD as a result of injuries he sustained while in the Marines. Basically, the whole werewolf pack structure is a setup for lots of found family and hurt/comfort feelings, all of which I greatly enjoyed. The other thing the werewolf pack structure is a setup for is a whole lot of extremely explicit sex, including threesomes and a full moon orgy.

The first third of the book felt a little unfocused to me, but as soon as Rusty, Sam and Mike head out to help Nick, the entire book clicks into gear. And there's a lovely scene towards the end in which the new pack needs to defend its territory from other werewolves that really establishes the bond that the four of them have with each other, and sets up the next book in the series.

Grade: B