Jane Litte's Blog, page 66

JOINT REVIEW (Part I, Spoiler-FREE): The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik

Jennie and I reviewed the first two books in Naomi Novik’s Scholomance series, A Deadly Education and The Last Graduate, together (the first with Sirius) and we both really, really liked them. After a breathless wait for The Golden Enclaves (the previous book had one hell of a cliffhanger) the book is here. Here, too, is our joint review of it.

The Golden Enclaves is extremely easy to spoil and extremely difficult to discuss without spoilers. Most of the twists and revelations (and there are a ...

REVIEW: The Art of the Cosmos: Visions from the Frontier of Deep Space Exploration by Jim Bell

Hundreds of deep space missions since the 1960s have captured stunning photographs of the cosmos. Many of these scientific images can also be classified as art. This book highlights more than 100 examples, revealing the splendor of our universe.

This book is a gallery of human accomplishment that celebrates the scientists and engineers who push civilization—including the ways that we produce and experience art—beyond the physical limits of our planet. The photographs, selected by Dr. Jim Bell,...

REVIEW: Bad Girl Reputation by Elle Kennedy

CWs: mildly spoilerish so click at your own risk

Spoiler: Show

parental death, sexual assault (groping), pet death (not Cooper & Mackenzie’s dog, Daisy).

Dear Elle Kennedy,

Bad Girl Reputation is the second book in your Avalon Bay series and the follow up to last year’s Good Girl Complex. Readers first met Evan Hartley in Good Girl Complex when his twin brother, Cooper, got his HEA with Mackenzie. We knew from that book that Evan had had an on again off again relationship with Genevieve (G...

Review: Regi’s Goddess (Gods of Misfortune #2) by Lyn Gala

Regi and Dante landed on one of the Empire’s border planets while the exalteds try to understand the involvement of the gods. Regi’s people are xenophobic, so he’s determined that his crew will make a good impression. The alternative is unthinkable, especially with so many Kowri suggesting that the gods would rather see the outsiders dead rather than show them respect.

Dante wants to avoid the brewing political fight. He has never enjoyed politics—not on Earth, much less around aliens he barely...

Open Thread for Readers for October 2022

Got a book you want to talk about? Frustrated with a book or series? In love with a new one? Found a buried treasure? An issue that keeps popping up in the books you are reading? Just want to chat about stuff in general?

REVIEW: Davo by N. R. Walker

When Fergus Galloway takes on a research trip to a tiny mining town in the far Western Australian outback, he’s as far from Sydney as he can get.

Which is entirely the point.

He arrives in Pannalego totally unprepared for the baking heat, unprepared for the people who call it home, unprepared for the craziness and the laughs. And absolutely unprepared for the man he meets there who steals his heart.

Davo is a mining man, as rugged as he is gorgeous. Loves his found family, loves where he lives...

REVIEW: On the Air by Mary Burchell

Bridget’s on camera for the first time ever … but is she heading for heartbreak?

When Bridget Monroe is offered her dream job as production secretary to TV producer Jerome “J.C.” Callender, little does she suspect that soon she’ll be on camera herself.

Tasked with booking the rising actor Norman Kleate — her old flame — for J.C.’s latest TV play, Bridget is struggling to keep her private and professional lives separate. But as she rekindles her romance with Norman, she’s taken aback by J.C.’s ...

Review: An Affair for Aumont (The Lords of Bucknall Club #5) by Lisa Henry and J. A. Rock

Four years ago, Louis-Charles Aumont, the Marquis de Montespan, chose duty over the man he loved. And then the man he loved chose death in service to England. Now, after finally cutting ties with his king, Aumont is living in a slum in Seven Dials–and intending to die there too. But when Bow Street Runner George Darling shows up at his door with a strange proposition, Aumont is intrigued by the prospect of something–anything–that might make him feel alive again. Or at least provide the funds...

REVIEW: The Heist by M.J. Rose and C.W. Gortner

To catch a leopard wear diamonds.

A year after THE BAIT, Ania Thorne is on the prowl. Gone into hiding, she’s planned her next move to perfection, intent on winning her dangerous game of cat-against-cat with the Leopard. But Ania doesn’t know that even the best-laid heists have hidden flaws.

Jerome Curtis has taken a job at a Hollywood movie studio to try and put his life back together. When a familiar face from the past shows up unexpectedly, Jerome realizes that much as he’s tried to forget ...

REVIEW: Sailor’s Delight by Rose Lerner

Dear Rose Lerner,

What a delight it was to get your email telling me you had a new book coming out and would I like a copy for review. Of course I said yes – I’m not silly! Sailor’s Delight is a queer (male/male) romance, a novella (on the longish side) set at Rosh Hashanah in 1813.

As a gentile myself, almost all of the tradition and religious observance of the main (and POV) character, Eleazar (Elie) Benezet, was unfamiliar to me. I’ve head of the names of the holidays but had little knowledge...