Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 7

My August Reading Log

Fiction:
The School at the Chalet by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer is first in a long series of British girls’ school stories set in the Tyrol in Austria; the Chalet School is explicitly British, in that the Austrian students strive to follow the traditions of English school stories such as playing pranks, celebrating the headmistress’ birthday, and playing cricket. Originally published in 1925, there’s not really any mention of World War One, but a fair amount of colonialism in India plays into the stor...

#TBRChallenge – Tropetastic!: Ocean’s Echo by Everina Maxwell

Ocean’s Echo by Everina Maxwell is the second book by this author, a standalone set in the same universe of The Resolution, but in a different star system with different characters. The paperback edition is to be released under Tor Books’ new romantic line, Bramble. The balance of romance/science fiction is more towards the science fiction side than Maxwell’s first book, Winter’s Orbit.

This review includes some general plot spoilers.

Ocean’s Echo features telepaths, one of my favorite science f...

My July Reading Log

Fiction:
These Prisoning Hills by Christopher Rowe is an atmospheric novella set in a post-apocalyptic Kentucky. The United States, or at least some of the Southern states, have been devastated by a war with an AI, who created the Voluntary State of Tennessee and destroyed swathes of the environment with weird composite creatures and colossal weapons with human cores. The humans fought back with their own cyborgian soldiers. Meanwhile, the Appalachians were stripped of their natural resources an...

#TBRChallenge – Opposites Attract: A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys

A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys has solarpunk, hopepunk, and friendly aliens who nevertheless have a different perspective on saving your planet versus leaving it behind. As I’ve loved all of Emrys’ previous novels, I snapped this one up and was so impatient to read it that I went out of order on this challenge and read it back in April. I was extremely pleased to find the book is in conversation with Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis trilogy. There are references to Star Trek as a human refere...

My June Reading Log

Fiction:
Fete For A King by Sam Starbuck is an extremely charming male/male romance between the elected king of a small imaginary European country and a celebrity chef who is also a Maxtagram influencer. Gregory is nervous about his impending coronation and determined not to rely too heavily on his father Michaelis, who is retiring from the role; he’s also worried that he’ll need to find a husband soon. Gregory’s cousin Alanna, his chief of staff, hires American Eddie Rambler to cater the corona...

New Release! Dissenter Rebellion: The Rattri Extraction

Dissenter Rebellion: The Rattri Extraction is on sale now!

A Place of Refuge series.

#TBRChallenge – Love Is Love: The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune was a gift from a friend who is a bookseller.

I’m glad I made the time to read it; it’s a very soft, hopeful novel set in an alternate world, roughly contemporary with ours, which includes many different magical populations and a 1984-like government that requires them to be registered and controlled (“See Something, Say Something” signs are everywhere.) The Protagonist Linus Baker is a meticulous career bureaucrat whose job is to inspect magical orphana...

My May Reading Log

Fiction:
The Unraveling by Benjamin Rosenbaum is set in a far future in a semi-utopian habitat where people (I assume humans) have two genders, Vail (ve, vir) and Staid (ze, zir); they still use the terms “Mother” and “Father” but either gender can bear children after suitable body modification. Also, most people have multiple bodies, usually three, which can all operate independently but know what the other bodies are doing and sensing. Everyone is linked into The Feed, in which all people can ...

#TBRChallenge – Freebie: The Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar

This review is in advance of publication. The Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar will be out June 6, 2023. I received this ARC from Netgalley, so it fits the “freebie” theme.

This book was a lot of fun!

Teenaged Shireen Malik, daughter of Bangladeshi immigrants to Ireland, is depressed from a recent breakup and because her best friend, Fatima, is spending the summer in Bangladesh with her family. Shireen is propelled out of her doldrums when she’s chosen for a junior baking show, but less...

My April Reading Log

Fiction:
The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles is a male/male historical romance set in Regency England in Romney Marsh in Kent, an area known for its culture of smuggling. Gareth Inglis, raised by his distant uncle and saddled with a bullying cousin, inherits a baronetcy and a house in the small town of Dymchurch from his estranged and selfish father. Unexpectedly, after his arrival he encounters a lover from a few anonymous but intense encounters in London. Joss Doomsday, along w...