Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 6

My March Reading Log

Fiction:
The Frame-Up by Gwenda Bond is a paranormal heist novel set in contemporary Kentucky. Danielle Poissant is the daughter of a renowned art thief whom she helped send to prison, which led to her being shut out of the world of criminals with magic in which she’d grown up. Wracked by guilt at betraying her family (it’s complicated), ever since then she’s been working as a sort of one-person-and one-dog “Leverage” team, retrieving funds from scummy people and splitting them with the original...

#TBR Challenge – Not in Kansas Anymore: Was by Geoff Ryman

My choice for the Not in Kansas Anymore theme is Was by Geoff Ryman (1992), which I feel is perfect because it plays directly with The Wizard of Oz, both book and movie, and the making of the movie as well. There’s no actual fantasy, only historical realism. The fantasy element is what the characters wish they had, or once had and lost long ago.

This book sat on my TBR shelf for so long mostly because I feared it would be depressing. I did, in fact, find this book depressing, and difficult to re...

My February Reading Log

Fiction:
I have belatedly read The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett, and wow did it have a lot more going on than I was expecting even though, this being Pratchett, I should have expected themes such as the What Is the Meaning of Life, What Happens to Us When We Die, and Nothing Can Be Solved Unless People Talk to Each Other. And on top of all that, The Importance of Stories is a major theme. Basically, some rats near Unseen University gain speech and intelligence afte...

#TBR Challenge – Furry Friends: The Wider Worlds of Jim Henson, edited by Jennifer C. Garlen and Anissa M. Graham

The Wider Worlds of Jim Henson, edited by Jennifer C. Garlen and Anissa M. Graham is a collection of essays about various Jim Henson productions. I am huge fan of Henson’s work, but managed never to see Fraggle Rock because I didn’t have HBO; I learned a lot about the show from this book!

Some of the essays, I was surprised to note, treated the worldbuilding in a meta fashion, for instance comparing ways to “read” Fraggle Rock and The Dark Crystal through various lenses, including ecological, po...

My January Reading Log

Fiction:
Roux for Two by Aurora Rey was a cute, lowkey contemporary romance between a fat queer femme and a trans man. Chef Chelsea Boudreaux has just gotten her own show, which will be filmed in the small south Louisiana town she left behind; her career is about to take off and take her places. College academic advisor Bryce Cormier has lived in the same town with his loving family for his whole life and never plans to move anywhere else; he longs for a partner and, eventually, children. Their ...

#TBR Challenge – Once More With Feeling: Territory by Emma Bull

Territory by Emma Bull, in the fantasy sub-genre now called Weird West, was published in 2007. I bought it immediately in hardcover because I loved previous books by Bull…but then it sat in the TBR because I wasn’t very interested in the town of Tombstone and the OK Corral, which it seemed the story was about. I am pleased to report that the book is not actually about the OK Corral. Various Earps are everywhere (Wyatt, Virgil, Morgan, Jim, etc.) as well as subsidiary pov character Doc Holliday, ...

HEA Quest!

Calling all fantasy and science-fiction romance writers! Join the SFWA-sponsored HEA Quest on Saturday, January 20th, 2024, 9AM – 12PM PT, for a virtual meet-up featuring three panels of writers, editors, and experts in the industry. This is a great place for traditional, hybrid, and indie romance writers to hear from experts in the industry, get inspired, ask questions, and get to know other authors.

Click this link to view the meet-up schedule, featured speakers, and to register. Just $10 will...

My December Reading Log

Fiction:
Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree is a prequel to Legends and Lattes, set early in orc narrator Viv’s career as a mercenary. When she’s sidelined in a small town by a leg wound, boredom leads her to make new friends and try new experiences in a way that will influence her later in life, after she retires and opens a coffee shop. So, basically, it’s very similar to Legends and Lattes, and if you liked that one, you will very likely enjoy this one as well. I actually liked it a bit...

#TBR Challenge 2024

I’ll be participating in the #TBRChallenge from Wendy the Super Librarian once again!

Themes for this year are:
January 17, Once More With Feeling: Territory by Emma Bull.
February 21, Furry Friends: The Wider Worlds of Jim Henson, edited by Jennifer C. Garlen and Anissa M. Graham.
March 20, Not in Kansas Anymore: Was by Geoff Ryman.
April 17, No Place Like Home: The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin.
May 15, With a Little Help From My Friends: My Dear Watson by L.A. Fields.
June 19, Bananapants!: ...

#TBR Challenge – Festive: Coming Home for Christmas by Carla Kelly

Coming Home for Christmas by Carla Kelly is slightly different from the other TBR books I’ve read this year; I actually started it at some point, in either 2020 or 2021, and then just…didn’t finish it, possibly because it’s a print book and I tend to read mostly e-books these days. Anyway! My original choice for this month was not interesting me, so I decided to get myself together and finish this one.

This review contains spoilers.

Warning for a secondary character’s death in childbirth, in the...