Book 22: Enlightened by Joanna Chambers

The final book in the Enlightenment trilogy following Beguiled, it's a very satisfying conclusion to both the relationship and the world we get to live in during the first two books. One of the great narrative demands of historical gay romance novels is creating a resolution that feels both happy enough for our gay protagonists and also doesn't feel like it breaks our understanding of how hard it was for most queer people, and I think this story does a neat job of it while also not relying solely on 'well they're rich enough that it doesn't matter for them.' Their life together feels well earned and they're both finally able to acknowledge what the other means to them. A delight! 

Grade: A

Book 21: Beguiled by Joanna Chambers

The sequel to Provoked, which I enjoyed very much, and hey I liked this one just as much! The two leads have come back together after years of separation, and David gets to be very brave and then suffer and Murdo gets to be the good person he actually is, and it just continues to be a wonderful regency era m/m series that's also interested in unpacking how queer lives could function in that society. A nice time! 

Grade: A 

Book 20: Copper Script by KJ Charles

A book that beautifully straddles the line between a murder mystery and a romance! This author writes about damaged men finding each other in post-Great War Britain so well, and this one has just a touch of the paranormal to keep it interesting. Joel can essentially see who a person is at their core from their handwriting, and this skill makes him useful for both a socialite checking up on their fiancée and a cop trying to solve a murder. The cop in question is Aaron, a detective who's living a small, closeted life and has to open himself to work with Joel to save themselves and apprehend the crook. And you know what, it just works! It's a nice book with a lovely romance at the center of it, and if the mystery isn't the most complicated one I've ever read, I still really enjoyed my time reading this. It hit the spot.

Grade: A

Book 19: The Book Censor's Library by Burthaina Al Eissa

A book club book! This is one of those books where I get what it's doing, and it's interesting enough, but it didn't quite pull together in the end to be something new or bigger, for me? Part of my reaction to that is definitely related to a fatigue regarding dystopia narratives--I am not completely opposed to them, but it takes a lot more for me to emotionally engage with them at the moment, and I really need to them to go someplace new or profound for the story to stick. This was an interesting parable about censorship and the ways books change us and why that's so dangerous to authoritarians, but it didn't ultimately hit, for me. A perfectly fine read, but not what I was hoping for.

Grade: B

Book 18: The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar

A book club book! This is a sci-fi space allegory about castes and what we tell ourselves when we create processes to lift up those who have been restricted. It's basically got a Snowpiercer vibe but about academia. It read a bit more like an intellectual exercise than a story, but I did enjoy it, and it should be a good discussion starter.

Grade: B

Reread: Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay

This is, to the best of my recollection, the first book that I've reread that I read for the first time after I had started this blog. So here are my thoughts about it from 2016. 

I don't disagree with any of my thoughts or conclusions, although it took me longer this time around to vibe with the ensemble cast nature of the story. I have also actually been to some of the places that inspired this book now, namely Venice and Ravenna and Dubrovnik, as well as Greece, and that along with other books I've read about the region have deepened my appreciation of many of the themes of the book. I still cried, again mostly from relief, but also from recognition and the feeling of being home in this book. I don't think it will ever be my favorite GGK novel, but it's in conversation with so many of them that it exists within those books now, too. It enriches all that came before, and I expect it will do the same for those that come after. 

Grade: A

Book 17: Provoked by Joanna Chambers

Sometimes you just need a classic gay regency romance to get through the day, and boy did this do the trick. We've got an upstanding lawyer who desperately wants to resist his desires, and a lord who is desperate to convince him not to. Add in some early 1820s political radicalism and social tensions and you've got a great first book in a trilogy. It's closer in length to a novella than to a novel, and for me that was perfect for the amount of plot and tension and longing. Also, the sex is extremely good regency gay sex. Looking forward to reading the next two!

Grade: A