Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 16

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This is the official website of writer Victoria Janssen.

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#TBRChallenge 2021

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This year, I’ll be participating in SuperWendy’s TBR Challenge. My goal is to post reviews of a themed book on the third Wednesday of every month. Feel free to join me! Tag your social media posts with #TBRChallenge. The monthly themes, and my choices to fit those themes, are listed below. All of the books are from my To Be Read shelves as of December, 2020.

January 20 – Comfort Read

Tree of Cats by Ellis Avery.

February 17 – New-To-You Author

Pembroke Park by Michelle Martin.

March 17 – Bo...

My December Reading Log

Fiction:

I chose The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab at random from a pile of recent books; I was reading the first few pages to see what I wanted to read next, and with this book, I never stopped until the end. I usually don’t like stories that jump back and forth in time, but this story was an exception; each jump forwards or backwards illuminated some aspect of what I had just read, and somehow propelled the narrative forward. I would call it a literary fantasy, by “literary” mea...

My September, October, and November Reading Log

Fiction:

Golden in Death by J.D. Robb is fiftieth in the Eve Dallas series, and yes I read it, and yes it checked in with many recurring characters including a couple we hadn’t seen in a while, and yes it followed, almost exactly, the pattern these books have been following for a really long time. It was comforting in its familiarity.

Taking the Heat (Girls’ Night Out Book 3) by Victoria Dahl had been in my TBR since it came out. It’s a contemporary set in Wyoming, with some scenes in NYC. Heroi...

My July and August Reading Log

Fiction:

I reread Wild Horses and then The Danger by Dick Francis. A friend recommended the author to me in high school; I’d read and re-read all of them over the years, but boxed them up about five years ago, only unpacking them in June. I love reading about horses, and I love neepery of all kinds, so as bestsellers go, they are a good fit for me. Francis, a former jockey, started out writing jockeys and other characters related to horse racing such as trainers, a bloodstock agent, etc., but...

My May and June Reading Log

Fiction:

Torches: Acquaintance Old and New (Clorinda Cathcarts Circle Book 8) by L. A. Hall went down like a series of bonbons; as usual, the Circle installments are intended for those whove already read the main Comfortable Courtesan series.

Unjust Cause (Alex Connor Series Book 2) by Tate Hallaway, while raising some intriguing moral questions about having an intelligent creature as a familiar, was easily digestible as well, and suited to my present somewhat scattered state of mind. The...

Return of the Reading Log: March and April, 2020

Fiction:
The Rat-Catchers Daughter by K.J. Charles is a short romance between an ace trans music hall singer and an ace man who works as a fence for the notorious Lilywhite Boys. Both are in danger from an upstart criminal, but it ends happily, before you have time to get really worried. I also didnt have enough time to get really invested in the characters, but I think they are side characters in a series, so presumably there is more of them there.

Dont Read The Comments by copperbadge is...

My February Reading Log

Fiction:
The Jade Temptress by Jeannie Lin is the second of her historical romance mysteries set in Tang Dynasty China. The heroine Mingyu, a highly trained courtesan, discovers one of her highest-ranking clients spectacularly dead and must work with big, rough-hewn Constable Kaifeng to solve the mystery and maintain her reputation. She always has to walk a very narrow path socially, and in addition was accused of murder by him in the previous novel, so their relationship is somewhat fraught...

My January Reading Log

Fiction:
Somewhere in France by Jennifer Robson is a lowkey romance that takes place just before and during World War One. The hero is a surgeon of working-class Scottish origins, the heroine is an aristocratic-class woman who becomes an ambulance driver against her parents’ wishes. Spoiler: her brother is not killed, he is the hero of a sequel. This author knows her stuff up down and sideways, and if you want to see how to write about World War One, read it, OMG. There are details of a...

My December Reading Log

Fiction:
Favours Exchanged (Clorinda Cathcart’s Circle Book 5) by L.A. Hall continues to add to the original series, but in a way that is more for continuing readers than for new ones. I loved getting more about Maurice, and more Clorinda.

An Unacceptable Offer by Mary Balogh is an early Regency by one of my favorite romance authors. What I found interesting was the initial scene, which involved two men discussing the Season and the Marriage Mart in a way that was clearly an infodump for...