Have only just discovered that there is a new (came out in November) biography of Decca Mitford: Carla Kaplan, Troublemaker: The Fierce, Unruly Life of Jessica Mitford.
Via a review in the latest Literary Review which is, alas, not fully online, sounds less than whelmed, and gives the impression that it may be a tad po-faced.
Yes, about Jessica Mitford, that great tease.
Can't find any other unpaywalled online reviews of any great credibility - there are some on GoodReads but they all sound to be from people who Nevererdofer previously.
So before I, that already have several of her own biographical works and essays, collections of letters etc upon my shelves, also the previous biography, spend moolah and time on this, I wonder if anyone has already read it and has opinions?
(Have just had thought that as far as I recall, Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd did on at least one occasion encounter Unity Mitford, while undercover in Germany: but not, I think, Decca &/or Esmond, anywhere in his exploits.)
A sex toy engineer with one big secret finally meets her match, and together they’ll put their own products to the test in this steamy romantic comedy.
Scout Porter is screwed. Not literally, of course. Literally, she’s a twenty-six-year-old virgin, thanks to a relationship so disastrous she swore off love and sex for good. Metaphorically, she’s screwed because the entire office of BuzzCorp, the sex toy start-up where she’s head engineer, just found out. Scout needs her team to stay focused on their upcoming launch, not her lack of a sex life, so she finds the simplest solution: lose her V-card—and fast—then get back to business as usual.
Enter Hudson Bailey, the nerdy and charming software developer hired to build the app for Scout’s latest creation. The only problem is, he’s as inexperienced with sex toys as she is with sex. Fortunately, he’s all too eager to learn, and they agree that one very educational, totally professional hook-up will solve both of their problems. All for research, obviously.
But their little experiment yields unexpected results—chemistry so off the charts Scout starts to think she might actually want more than just a one-time fling. When their budding relationship is threatened by the return of Scout’s notorious ex, both Scout and Hudson will have to decide if they’ve reached their climax as a couple, or if they’re willing to risk everything for a chance at true love.
Agnes Aubert leads a meticulously organized life, and she likes it that way. As the proudly type-A manager of a cat rescue charity, she has devoted her life to finding forever homes for stray cats.
Now it’s the shelter that needs a new home. And the only landlord who will rent a space to a cat rescue is a mysterious man called Havelock—who also happens to be the world’s most infamous magician, running an illegal magic shop out of his basement. Havelock is cantankerous and eccentric, but not not handsome, and no, Agnes absolutely does not feel anything but disdain for him. After all, rumors swirl about his shadowy past—including whispers that his dark magic once almost brought about the apocalypse.
Then one day a glamorous magician comes looking for Havelock, putting the magic shop—and the cat shelter—in jeopardy. To save the shelter, Agnes will have to team up with the magician who nearly ended the world . . . and may now be trying to steal her heart.
Havelock is everything Agnes thinks she doesn’t need in her life: chaos, mischief, and a little too much adventure. But as she gets to know him, she discovers that he’s more than the dark magician of legend, and that she may be ready for a little intrigue—and romance—in her life. After all, second chances aren’t just for rescue cats. . . .
Amanda: Does Fawcett ever sleep? She’s long overdue for a vacation!
Sarah: The cover, the description, the fact that it’s Heather Fawcett. Could have been made in a lab for me.
From New York Times bestselling author Kate Quinn comes a gorgeously written fantastical adventure which poses the question: Have you ever wished you could live inside a book? Welcome to the Astral Library, where books are not just objects, but doors to new worlds, new lives, and new futures.
Alexandria “Alix” Watson has learned one lesson from her barren childhood in the foster-care system: unlike people, books will never let you down. Working three dead-end jobs to make ends meet and knowing college is a pipe dream, Alix takes nightly refuge in the high-vaulted reading room at the Boston Public Library, escaping into her favorite fantasy novels and dreaming of far-off lands. Until the day she stumbles through a hidden door and meets the Librarian: the ageless, acerbic guardian of a hidden library where the desperate and the lost escape to new lives…inside their favorite books.
The Librarian takes a dazzled Alix under her wing, but before she can escape into the pages of her new life, a shadowy enemy emerges to threaten everyone the Astral Library has ever helped protect. Aided by a dashing costume-shop owner, Alix and the Librarian flee through the Regency drawing rooms of Jane Austen to the back alleys of Sherlock Holmes and the champagne-soaked parties of The Great Gatsby as danger draws inexorably closer. But who does their enemy really wish to destroy—Alix, the Librarian, or the Library itself?
Amanda: I’ve been a fan of Quinn’s historical fiction for awhile, so I’m eager to see what she does with a dash of magical realism thrown in.
Sarah: Spoiler: I’ve already read this to prep for the interview I did with Kate Quinn, and it’s delightful
Welcome to Harker Academy for Deviant Defense. Keep your daggers sharp, and your wits even sharper.
Viv Abbot is an average twenty-one-year-old girl. She lives in an expensive city where the rent is too high, works long hours at a thankless job, and is dating a guy she doesn’t even like in the hopes of winning her prickly mother’s approval.
She also happens to be a demon hunter.
Ever since her father’s murder, she’s been forced to hunt deviants alone, meaning everyone, including her family, sees her as an outsider . . . until the day she crosses paths with a dangerously alluring demon, Reid Graveheart. The reformed deviant tells her of a school for people just like Harker Academy for Deviant Defense. If she enrolls, she’ll learn to hone her craft, work with other hunters, and never be alone again.
But Viv has a deadly secret. One that not even her new friends at Harker can know about, not if the school might hold the answers to untangling the mystery surrounding Viv’s father’s death. When strange occurrences begin to plague the students, Viv will have to figure out who she can trust, fast, all while trying to ace her classes, avoid falling for a demon, and make it through her first year at Harker in one piece. How hard could that be?
Amanda: This reminds me of early 2000s urban fantasy and I mean that in the best way.
Author: Fergus Craig Released: February 17, 2026 by Berkley Genre:Mystery/Thriller
After a decades-long stint in prison, former serial killer Carol is looking to kick back and relax in her new retirement home…until a fellow resident drops dead and Carol has to prove she actually didn’t do it this time….
Carol is delighted to be leaving her tiny prison cell behind to take her place in a luxury retirement home. She’s hoping her past as a serial killer won’t come to light so she can make a few friends and find some murder-free hobbies. But it’s not long before a fellow resident—who happens to be a former police commissioner—drops dead, and Carol’s true identity is leaked—making catching up over daily activities of bingo and baking rather awkward.
Just her luck, Carol soon realizes that the victim wasn’t the only former law enforcement officer at Sheldon Oaks—it’s filled to the brim with former cops, barristers, and government representatives, her newfound friends included. And everyone thinks Carol’s guilt is a no-brainer, but she is ready to prove them dead wrong…without killing anyone, for once.
A new cozy mystery with a older woman main character.
The charity’s approach will include introducing hardy cattle and Welsh mountain ponies to the land, with ancient breeds of pigs to follow. Their grazing and roaming will support habitat restoration. Peatland rewetting and natural water retention across the site over the next five to ten years means the project will contribute to increased biodiversity, cleaner water, healthier soils, improved carbon storage and reduced flood risk for downstream farmland. It is hoped these actions will create conditions to boost various species, with the potential for red squirrels, pine martens, polecats, curlews and hen harriers to return. The charity also aims for much of the work to be carried out by local tradespeople. Community participation will also help uncover and share stories of those who lived and worked across the site’s 55 historic stone landmarks, from Bronze Age cairns to traditional upland buildings.
The house was built in 1745 for Peter Legh after he married heiress, Anne Wade. The building was extended in 1845 by his grandson, Peter and remodelled in 1858 into an Italianate style by Edward Habershon for John Legh, a nephew of Mr Legh. In 1917, the Legh family auctioned the hall and estate. .... Historic England says it was listed for ‘demonstrating fine craftsmanship in the brickwork and stone detailing’ of each phase. Special features include the unusual and well-preserved first floor conservatory with a curved glass roof. The good survival of interior features and decoration from all three building phases using high quality materials and a high degree of craftsmanship.
Smutwalk: Mapping Nineteenth-Century Obscenity - though actually, not all of the physical places are still there. Still. I think one might manage a tribute to Pornographers of Ye Olde Tymes stroll.
In 1927, Bobby and his queer working-class friends gathered in his Fitzroy Square flat. Though surveillance documents, we can learn about these vibrant gatherings, the people involved and the passionate, intimate letters that survive. These records offer a rare insight into queer lives of the time.
***
How Not To Do Heritage, we feel (guy has quite rightly been getting crapped on on social media): History professor finds huge Iron Age hoard: 'The collection will be auctioned at Noonans in Mayfair on 4 March as part of a coins and historical medals, external sale.'. Observe the guy's creepy smirk in the photo.
Not the Duke’s Darling by Elizabeth Hoyt is $2.99! We ran a guest review from Ellen before they became a regular reviewer. Ellen gave it a B-:
Overall, I think if you are sufficiently intrigued by the premise of a secret order of Wise Women, you’ll enjoy the book. And if you don’t typically crave a lot of angst and emotional torment in your romance you might enjoy it more than I did!
New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Hoyt brings us the first book in her sexy and sensual Greycourt Series!
Freya de Moray is many things: a member of the secret order of Wise Women, the daughter of disgraced nobility, and a chaperone living under an assumed name. What she is not is forgiving. So when the Duke of Harlowe–the man who destroyed her brother and led to the downfall of her family–appears at the country house party she’s attending, she does what any Wise Woman would do: she starts planning her revenge.
Christopher Renshaw, the Duke of Harlowe, is being blackmailed. Intent on keeping his secrets safe, he agrees to attend a house party where he will put an end to this coercion once and for all. Until he recognizes Freya, masquerading amongst the party revelers, and realizes his troubles have just begun. Freya knows all about his sins. Sins he’d much rather forget. But she’s also fiery, bold, and sensuous-a temptation he can’t resist. When it becomes clear Freya is in grave danger, he’ll risk everything to keep her safe. But first, Harlowe will have to earn Freya’s trust-by whatever means necessary.
Features a bonus novella from New York Times bestselling author Grace Burrowes!
The Hookup Plan by Farrah Rochon is $1.99! This is part of Rochon’s The Boyfriend Project series, and was also mentioned on a previous Hide Your Wallet. Sarah previously mentioned that she loves this illustrated cover because of her shoes. Have you read this one?
Strong female friendships and a snappy enemies-to-lovers theme take center stage in this highly anticipated romantic comedy from the USA Today bestselling author of The Dating Playbook.
Successful pediatric surgeon London Kelley just needs to find some balance and de-stress. According to her friends Samiah and Taylor, what London really needs is a casual hookup. A night of fun with no strings. But no one—least of all London—expected it to go down at her high school reunion with Drew Sullivan, millionaire, owner of delicious abs, and oh yes, her archnemesis.
Now London is certain the road to hell is paved with good sex. Because she’s found out the real reason Drew’s back in Austin: to decide whether her beloved hospital remains open. Worse, Drew is doing everything he can to show her that he’s a decent guy who actually cares. But London’s not falling for it. Because while sleeping with the enemy is one thing, falling for him is definitely not part of the plan.
For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten is $2.99 and a Kindle Daily Deal! This is a dark romantic fantasy that was featured in Hide Your Wallet and was highly anticipated by me and Aarya. I remember starting it but finding it a little slow.
The first daughter is for the Throne.
The second daughter is for the Wolf.
For fans of Uprooted and The Bear and the Nightingale comes a dark fantasy novel about a young woman who must be sacrificed to the legendary Wolf of the Wood to save her kingdom. But not all legends are true, and the Wolf isn’t the only danger lurking in the Wilderwood.
As the only Second Daughter born in centuries, Red has one purpose-to be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wood in the hope he’ll return the world’s captured gods.
Red is almost relieved to go. Plagued by a dangerous power she can’t control, at least she knows that in the Wilderwood, she can’t hurt those she loves. Again.
But the legends lie. The Wolf is a man, not a monster. Her magic is a calling, not a curse. And if she doesn’t learn how to use it, the monsters the gods have become will swallow the Wilderwood-and her world-whole.
A Rare Interest in Corpses by Ann Granger is $1.99 at a KDD! This is book one in a historical mystery series and it appears others in the series are also on sale. This is book on in the Inspector Ben Ross series.
A classic mystery from “an accomplished veteran . . . [ who] knows her history and relates it with charm in this peek at Victorian morals and foibles” (Kirkus Reviews).
It is 1864 when Lizzie Martin takes up the post of lady’s companion to a wealthy widow who is also a slum landlord. Lizzie is intrigued to learn that her predecessor as companion had disappeared, supposedly having run off with an unknown man. But when the girl’s body is found in the rubble of one of the recently demolished slums around the prestigious new railway station at St Pancras, Lizzie begins to wonder exactly what has been going on. With the help of her childhood friend, Inspector Benjamin Ross, Lizzie begins to investigate, risking her life to unearth the truth about the death of a girl whose fate seems interlinked with her own.
“Historical mystery fans will appreciate the great attention Granger pays to period detail as she evokes a suitably gritty nineteenth-century London.” —Booklist
So remember when I was trying to identify the color of the year for contemporary romance? That began because I was constantly noticing the repeated color schemes on book covers in NetGalley. My brain loves a pattern, and it loves to collect things.
I’ve got another collection for you. It’s from my folder named Hanging Off a Horse.
Have you noticed how many old skool romance covers there are with one or more people just hanging off the side of a bewildered or belligerent horse?
There are SO MANY.
First, my apologies for the size of some of the images.
Second: WHAT. Setting aside the ruffles and the puffy sleeves and the vest and whatever is happening in his crotchular area, there is NO WAY they aren’t about to fall off that horse, right? What kind of bicep strength does this guy have?
Third: the tagline is exquisite: On the Wings of Burning Desire, They Soared Beyond Love’s Ecstasy.
What does that mean?
The cover copy has proven difficult to find but I did locate this summary: Traveling from Paris during the French Revolution to New Orleans, from lush Virginia plantations to a new nation’s capital, Aimee de Chartres and master spy Lucian Napier, fueled by their passionate love, lead a life of intrigue and danger.
I’m sure it’s not problematic at all. No, totally fine.
The shirt is unbuttoned but STILL TUCKED IN. AND there’s a cape!
But again, how strong are this guy’s biceps? Is this like when you have young kids around and they get picked up or carried in a handled carrier, and one bicep ends up WAY bigger than the other (I speak from experience here)?
What are the workout benefits of holding up an entire person who is hanging off the side of a horse?
And also, is she even ON the horse? Where is her other leg?
There are going to be a lot of “where is the other body part” questions, I predict.
Also, GUESS WHAT THE HEROINE’S NAME IS.
He rode out of the darkness astride a coal-black stallion, appearing from nowhere like a phantom in the night. To the lords and ladies he robbed, he was an unprincipled highwayman, a common thief who deserved to swing from the gallows on Tyburn Hill. But to Lady Bliss Paynter, he was a thrilling enigma, an uncommonly skilled lover who had stolen nothing from her but a breathless kiss.
Promised to an influential nobleman, Bliss knew she could have no future with the man who haunted her daydreams. But before she resigned herself to a loveless marriage, she would know one night of ecstasy in those forbidden arms…one night of wild passion in her lonely bed…one night of throbbing intimacy that would change all nights to come.
Bliss Paynter. Also, points for an “uncommonly skilled lover” identified by one kiss, and also “throbbing intimacy.”
Where is her other leg?
What is she standing on? Is she emerging from a sea of…pink slime? Wait, is this the same pink slime as the other cover for Meet Poop? When was the art direction meeting that said pink slime was THE cover treatment?
Also, her arm is bent up and back toward him, so she’s…what lunging up at him on that horse? No wonder the horse looks so bewildered. Even the geese are like, Nope.
Also, if you’re wondering whether the cover copy is thoroughly offensive, why, yes, yes it is.
It’s so bad I’m putting it behind a spoiler tag with TWs.
TW/CW: racism like whoa, assault
VULNERABLE GIRL
Even though seventeen-year-old Luci hadn’t a friend in the world, the slender, willowy half-breed knew she could handle herself with anyone—anyone except Johnny Ace. The full-blooded Pawnee scout’s heated glance made her shiver with fear and a tingling sense of anticipation. When he appeared in her quarters, she tried to run away, but she couldn’t escape his demanding embrace. She shrieked that she detested him. . . but Luci’s body spoke much more eloquently of her desire!
VENGEFUL SCOUT
Because they had killed his father, Johnny Ace had sworn to forever call the Cheyenne his enemy. Even though that part-Cheyenne laundress at For MacPherson was sexy and alluring, the Indian tracker knew he could never harbor tender thoughts about the chit. Then he came upon her all alone, and instantly lust raced in Johnny’s veins. Before he could reconsider, the virile male was clasping his beautiful prey. Damning the consequences, he ravaged her mouth with kisses, eager for the moment when he would enjoy her fiery, tempestuous CHEYENNE CARESS.
Johnny. Ace. I hope his horse kicked him.
And while we’re here in the depths of embarrassment:
What is she standing on? Or does this guy also have the Bicep of She’s Hanging Off My Horse?
And is he wearing a puffer jacket? A fur? What is that? It’s hard to tell at this size, but this eBay listing has a slightly larger image:
First, I’m naming that hair color “Romance Heroine Red.”
Second, he’s got…something in his hair. And looks like Joey Tribbiani. And maybe that’s an iridescent Starter jacket?
Ok, I need you to brace yourself for this next one because it’s hilarious. No beverages nearby, no cats to startle?
Good.
He’s half horse, right? Like before we even get to the whole composition, that guy is 1/2 horse form this angle, right?
From midnight until dawn, she tasted rapture in his arms. Well, presuming he’s likely hung like one…?
Wait, if it’s just the back half of a horse, is he a Centaur? Or a Minotaur? I think the latter.
She’s clearly straddling his leg while hanging off the horse, and wow, there’s a lot of strain on the seams here: her bodice, his jacket, the horse’s patience.
Seriously, I feel badly for these horses.
Also, given the number of dogs named Bandit I’ve met in my life, “Bandit’s Brazen Kiss” is in my experience damp, slobbery, and usually scented with eau du Kibble.
This is one of my all-time favorite romance covers:
I don’t think either of them are on the horse. The horse looks very upset or insulted, either way, but I can’t see how nary a buttock betwixt them is on the horse or near a saddle. So they’re BOTH hanging off the horse?
No wonder that horse looks appalled.
Now, my last three, in a subfolder I named, “Hwut?”
Y’all, things can get weird even if everyone’s on the horse and not hanging off the side by one bicep and a prayer.
She’s not hanging OFF the horse. Not yet, anyway.
Horse people, fill me in: is she going to stay on the horse’s back? He clearly has a saddle, but I’m a little worried she’s going to slide off and take a hoof for the face.
Also, if her hair is anything like mine, after all that wind, she’s going to have hours and hours of tangles to deal with.
First, John De Salvo’s pecs are certainly a-poppin’, and I kinda like that blue…doublet? he’s “wearing.”
But if he’s on a saddle, what is she sitting on? And if he’s not in a saddle, and she isn’t either, are they about to go flying into those flowers? She seems precariously perched.
Also, y’all. I am this horse.
Looking straight at the reader like, ‘Do you see what nonsense I have to put up with? Look at these two.’
And then, this is not a historical romance, but it fits the theme and also I just need everyone to see it.
WHAT is that saddle?
Is this a real saddle?
Is this like the tandem bike of horse saddles except you face each other like on the Amtrak?
IS THERE A POMMEL. IF SO WHERE IS IT.
No, wait, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know.
I love the detail of the sparkle in her boots (So cute) and how they’re holding hands but…seriously, horse-wise, what is happening here?
And that’s all from my latest weird collection. Who knows what strange cover art I’ll start grabbing next. If you see any fun “hanging off the side of the horse” covers, please send them my way?
I am so tired of waiting. Aren’t you, For the world to become good And beautiful and kind? Let us take a knife And cut the world in two— And see what worms are eating At the rind.
Today's lunch: tempeh marinated in oil, tamari, maple syrup, pomegranate vinegar with some crushed garlic and ginger paste for a couple of hours (?overnight might have been better?), stirfried with chillies, mangetout peas and choi sum, and the marinade added at the end, served with sticky rice with limeleaves.
I was recently blessed to get an hour of KJ Charles time for an interview. Throughout our discussion, she dropped several book recommendations, especially titles that she’s loving right now. I am now imparting those onto you!
Get any good book recommendations lately? Let us know in the comments!
The Last Woman on Earth
I was lamenting the lack of morally gray heroines in romance and Charles immediately put this on my radar. I’m thinking of maybe doing a Rec League in the future.
Nicky believes three things that aren’t true. She thinks the apocalypse was a horrible accident. She assumes her dream of being a journalist died with most of humanity. And she’s sure that she’s straight. She’s about to meet someone who’ll make her question all three – it’s a shame she’s the worst woman in what’s left of the world.
Three years ago, life as Nicky knew it ended when a mystery virus turned a tenth of humans into nocturnal, feral monsters, and everyone else into their prey. Now she’s found a new normal in a survivor community near York. That is until Meredith Hind appears, with her own private army, thinly veiled threats and a challenge for investigate the real origin of the apocalypse.
Meredith’s ruthless, manipulative and infuriatingly sure of herself. Nicky knows that getting involved with her is a terrible mistake, she just can’t seem to stop making it. But Meredith’s a woman with secrets, and if Nicky can’t learn them in time, she may not live to regret it.
The Last Woman on Earth begins a new trilogy about post-apocalyptic monsters, deep platonic friendships and a very complicated romantic one.
This is what Charles called a “grown up” romance. The characters are in their 40s and the heroine doesn’t let others dictate on what she should or shouldn’t do in her life in terms of relationships, career, etc.
What should Erika San Ignacio be doing at her age of 41? The answer has always whatever she wants, actually. No matter what anyone else says. She’s the only non-lawyer in her family’s three generations of lawyers. She has a dating life of flings and non-exclusivity—happy and ready to be single and the favorite tita, for life. And she quit her senior-level corporate job in the middle of a national lockdown to help her best friend fulfill a dream to open a small cafe.
Turns out, the drastic career change might be a good idea after all. The cafe is thriving, she’s enjoying being a cashier and business partner, and the handsome customer who works nearby is a daily highlight, a harmless crush she never speaks to. Life is steady all of a sudden, not demanding and complicated. She’s into it.
What could disturb this peace? Just the favorite customer asking her out on a date, and wanting more. Just the corporate world trying to lure her away from the dream she helped build, with reminders of career goals from the past. When thinking about the life she wants for herself at this age, are these distractions she should say no to—or new challenges to take on?
Cozy folk horror that Charles said had her laughing for several minutes.
From New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award–winning author T. Kingfisher comes an enthralling contemporary fantasy seeped in horror about a woman trying to escape her past by moving to the remote US desert—only to find herself beholden to the wrath of a vengeful god.
With only a few dollars to her name and her beloved dog Copper by her side, Selena flees her past in the city to claim her late aunt’s house in the desert town of Quartz Creek. The scorpions and spiders are better than what she left behind.
Because in Quartz Creek, there’s a strange beauty to everything, from the landscape to new friends, and more blue sky than Selena’s ever seen. But something lurks beneath the surface. Like the desert gods and spirits lingering outside Selena’s house at night, keeping watch. Mostly benevolent, says her neighbor Grandma Billy. That doesn’t ease the prickly sense that one of them watches too closely and wants something from Selena she can’t begin to imagine. And when Selena’s search for answers leads her to journal entries that her aunt left behind, she discovers a sinister truth about her new home: It’s the haunting grounds of an ancient god known simply as “Snake-Eater,” who her late aunt made a promise to that remains unfulfilled.
Snake-Eater has taken a liking to Selena, an obsession of sorts that turns sinister. And now that Selena is the new owner of his home, he’s hell-bent on collecting everything he’s owed.
Charles mentioned this one is really trippy. It reminds me of one of my favorite games, Control.
Humanity is under assault by malevolent “antimemes”—ideas that attack memory, identity, and the fabric of reality itself—in this wickedly brainbending tale of science-fiction horror, an entirely reimagined and expanded version of the beloved online novel.
They’re all around us, hiding in plain sight.
One could be in the room with you, now, just to your left. You could be seeing it right now—but from this second to the next, you’ll forget that you did. If you managed to jot down a note, the paper would look blank to you afterwards.
These entities can feed on your most cherished memories, the things that make you you—and you’ll never even know anything changed.
They can turn you into a living ghost—make it so that you’re standing next to your spouse, screaming in their ear, and they won’t know you’re there.
They are the perfect predators, equipped with the ultimate camouflage—the ability to wipe out memories of their own existence.
And they aren’t just feeding on us. They’re invading.
But how do you fight an enemy when you can never even know that you’re at war? How do you contain something you can’t record or remember?
Welcome to the Antimemetics Division. No, this is not your first day.
If you want to have a little extra fun, be a little more yourself, and be part of keeping the site open for everyone in the future, we can’t wait to see you in our new subscription-based section with exclusive content and events.
Everything you’re used to seeing at the Hot Pink Palace that is Smart Bitches Trashy Books will remain free as always, because we remain committed to fostering community among brilliant readers who love romance.
Now through February 20th, Steam is showcasing games “about romance, heartbreak, or even a desire to remain single.” They also mention it’s their first Valentine’s Day themed game festival, and I hope it’s successful because I’d love to see it replicated in the future.
Some of these games may be available on other platforms, but I did not check to see if the sale prices were valid elsewhere.
Here are games on sale that I own and would recommend (in no particular order):
Lakeburg Legacies (65% off – $8.04): A matchmaking and management sim where you partner up your townspeople. I would say this one can be tough at times.
If new games aren’t in your budget right now, there are also a gazillion demos you can try. Here are the ones I downloaded, organized by type according to Steam tags:
You know, I'm a lot happier about engaging with the work of someone who's aware of the tropes they're playing with and maybe riffing around with them, and that there is maybe a tradition? - rather than somebody who thinks they're doing something Rad and New and boy, is it Same Old Same Old.
(And just let's not go to Male Midlife Crisis novel....)
Maybe not so much in romance genre, but have I not whinged on mightily about crime fiction and the trope of the hawkshaw with complicated emotional backstory, substance abuse issues, difficulties with The Hierarchy, etc etc?
And honestly, while we are on crime fiction, can anyone tell me, with any plausible accuracy, how many works there are in which, literally, The Butler Actually Did It? Because whoah, massive cliche that I find it hard to match with my own reading. Though admittedly, over the years I have been reading, and some of that was very forgettable mysteries, maybe I have just elided from memory a whole swathe of murderous butlers.
TW: racism, sexism, classism, animal abuse, child abuse, bullying, gaslighting, domestic violence, rape (implied), kidnapping, alcoholism, gambling, death in childbirth, possible brother-sister incest, a LOT of cousins getting married
Unless you live under a rock, and if you do, for the love of God, please invite me to live there with you, you know all about Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” which is referred to in the trailer as “The Greatest Love Story of All Time.”
I haven’t seen the movie yet so I’m not going to comment on it. What I do want to do is give you a teensy heads up in case you run off to read “The Greatest Love Story of All Time,” and also to talk about some of the things that matter in the novel that are frequently lost in adaptations of the novel. As I tried to sum up my points, I realized that none of them make any sense unless you know the full plot of the novel – so this is a long post. But if you want to cut to the chase, look for any time I write some version of “AND THIS MATTERS” for the highlights.
Wuthering Heights tells the story of a boy (Heathcliff) and girl (Cathy) who grow up poor, abused, and neglected, in a home in which alcoholism is rampant and women, children, and animals are routinely abused. It tells of how these two children are affected by the limitations placed on them regarding their race, their class, and their gender as they grow up, and how they embody and perpetuate the cycle of abuse. It also contains a love story – but not the one you are thinking about.
I’m going to attempt to summarize the events of the book. Bear with me since there are two Cathys, a family with the last name Linton, a character named Heathcliff, and a character named Linton Heathcliff.
Just roll with it – and prepare for child abuse, abuse of animals, and domestic violence.
For a more accurate timeline of events, look at The Reader’s Guide to Wuthering Heights. Seriously, my retelling gets pretty messy because so many storylines overlap. I’m also oversimplifying or outright eliding some stuff, like the role of religion, the role of nature, and the characters of Nelly and Jacob and the unreliable narrator/nested flashbacks writing device.
The very first thing that happens in Wuthering Heights is that a lost traveller is attacked by dogs. He is brought into a house (Wuthering Heights) where the inhabitants of the house proceed to abuse animals and spit verbal abuse at each other. There is no beauty or softness in sight. This is a world in which cruelty is baked in, people, AND THAT MATTERS because all that Cathy and Heathcliff know how to do is endure cruelty and deal out cruelty to others.
This one is the STRANGEST love story ever told and I’ll accept that tagline
We learn in an extended flashback that when Cathy Earnshaw was six and her brother Hindley was fourteen, their father, Mr. Earnshaw, came home from a business trip with a child in tow whom their father names Heathcliff – one name only.He does not give the child his last name AND THAT MATTERS because Heathcliff’s very existence as someone without a surname immediately marks him as placeless in society.
Heathcliff’s parentage is a mystery although many readers have assumed that Heathcliff is Mr. Earnshaw’s illegitimate son which makes much more sense then him collecting a random child off the street and also adds ‘incest’ to the list of trigger warnings. Mr. Earnshaw dotes upon Heathcliff and neglects Hindley, who beats Heathcliff, because hurt people hurt people. Heathcliff and Cathy are inseparable as children, even after Mr. Earnshaw dies and Hindley forces Heathcliff to work as a servant.
DIGRESSIVE RANT AHEAD: RACE MATTERS!
Allow me to digress – a lot. Heathcliff is referred to frequently and from the onset as having dark hair, skin, and eyes. He is from a port town which caters to the slave trade, so he might be African. He may also be, and is suspected to be by various characters in the novel, Spanish, Indian, Irish, Chinese, or Romani. Of course if he is Mr. Earnshaw’s biological son, then we add that into the genetic mix.
Heathcliff’s ethnicity is deliberately ambiguous. However, the one thing Heathcliff is not, is ‘White.’ His appearance visibly, immediately, and inescapably marks him as ‘other’. He can change his clothes and his income but he cannot change his skin, AND THIS MATTERS because Heathcliff is driven by a desire to prove his superiority over the people who have told him that he is not good enough. And by ‘people’ I mean every single person in his life, including Cathy. He can’t be seen as a respected member of society and he certainly isn’t seen as a suitable match for Cathy, not even by Cathy herself. Race is not the only factor here, but it is a factor, and one that Heathcliff can’t change.
A note about systemic racism: When I read Wuthering Heights as a young teenager, I pictured Heathcliff as White, as, apparently, did Emerald Fennell when she read the book as a fourteen-year-old. This misreading, born of a culture that constantly seeks to erase Blackness by insisting on the White default, was reinforced by film adaptations in which Heathcliff has consistently been played by White actors, with the exception of the 2011 version in which he is played by James Howson, a Black actor.
This string of White Heathcliffs isn’t an accident, any more than it isn’t an accident that I read Heathcliff as looking, well, a lot like Jacob Eloridi, or Tom Hardy, or Laurence Olivier, or Ralph Fiennes, despite countless comments in the text to the contrary. The fact is, neither the Hays Code nor the culture of Britain or America would stand for an interracial couple in film.* AND THAT MATTERS because our culture’s insistence on a White Heathcliff is based in racism, just as the book version Heathcliff’s mistreatment is based (in part), on racism.
Emily Bronte deconstructs a great many damaging elements of Victorian culture in Wuthering Heights, including the racism. Surely a book that interrogates so many toxic elements of Victorian culture deserves a better reading than the one I gave it when I was twelve.
(*Trivia alert: Actually, we did get an interracial couple in the 1939 version of Wuthering Heights, because Merle Oberon, who played Cathy, had a White father and a Sri Lankan mother, but spent her career concealing her mixed-race heritage.)
When Cathy is around twelve years old and Heathcliff is maybe thirteen, Cathy and Heathcliff spy on the home of the wealthy Linton family. They don’t have cable; they have to make their own fun, harr harr. The Linton’s guard dogs attack Cathy and she is brought into the house to recover while Heathcliff is forced to leave.
Years pass, and Heathcliff overhears Cathy saying that she could never marry Heathcliff due to his lower class status: cue Big Misunderstanding. He nopes off to make his fortune and Cathy, thinking that Heathcliff is gone forever and that marriage to Edgar Linton is her only chance at escaping her horrible home, gets married to Edgar Linton at the age of seventeen and suffers the fate of one who was born to be a pirate queen but instead is forced to do embroidery while smiling sweetly.
But wait! Heathcliff is back! And he has vowed revenge upon everybody! First he goes for Hindley. Hindley took time off from his busy schedule of torturing Heathcliff to get married, after which he returned to Wuthering Heights. His wife died in childbirth, leaving poor baby Hareton to the tender care of Hindley and Heathcliff, the world’s worst two dads.
TW/CW child peril
In one moment that is not only horrifying but also kind of awfully funny, a drunken Hindley drops the baby off a bannister and Heathcliff catches the baby by pure instinct and then rages at himself for having done so.
Heathcliff basically turns Hindley into a gambling addict and an alcoholic and wins ownership of Wuthering Heights in a game of cards, and Hindley dies a drunk, possibly by accident, probably by murder. Got all that?
Next up: revenge on Edgar by destroying the life of Edgar’s sister, Isabella. Heathcliff convinces Isabella that he is a bad boy with a heart of gold who just needs the love of a good woman, and he then convinces her to elope with him, just to make Edgar furious and Cathy jealous. Heathcliff then proceeds to…
TW/CW this guy is just shite.
…beat Isabella, it’s implied that he rapes her, and then imprisons her while forcing her to labor as a servant until she escapes while heavily pregnant and hides with Edgar’s help.
She has a baby whom she names Linton Heathcliff.
Meanwhile Cathy gets pregnant with Edgar Linton’s child, has a fraught meet-up with Heathcliff, has the baby and dies of childbirth and that Victorian classic – brain fever.
Here’s where I remind our readers that at the time of her death, Cathy is eighteen, AND THIS MATTERS.
Do you know why, during her short “adult” life, Cathy acts like a teenage nightmare brat from hell? BECAUSE SHE IS ONE. Her home is as hellish as possible and she is literally a teenager! As is Heathcliff, who has lived some secret life that evidentially involved a lot of suffering and maybe some crime and loses the love of his life while he is nineteen or twenty years old! And Isabella, who does a romantic and foolish thing in falling for Heathcliff, is also eighteen! Their ages matter because they are never given time to mature, to have other experiences, to grow.
Most adaptations cast older actors and lose this entire layer, and I think it sucks a lot of tragedy out of the story even when the actors are extraordinary. Heathcliff’s emotional growth is frozen at the age at which he loses Cathy, and of course Cathy’s growth is frozen by death. The very most mature of teens struggle with things like communication, emotional regulation, and impulse control. Is it any wonder that these two teenagers can’t just marry each other and grow the fuck up, given not just their ages but also the mercurial and violent upbringing that they share?
Heathcliff responds to Cathy’s death in a very healthy and normal manner.
HA HA HA No, he doesn’t.
Heathcliff digs up Cathy’s corpse and makes out with it, he begs Cathy to haunt him, he dies, their ghosts haunt the moors.
This wraps up most adaptations. As in, they end here.
It has been so far a story about codependency and enmeshment and lust. But has it been a story about love? The Greatest Love Story Ever?
Hardly. Cathy and Heathcliff do not wish for the other to be happy, even at the cost of their own happiness. They do not bring out the best in each other. They do not sacrifice for each other’s good. They are obsessive, they are clueless (in the sense that they have no models of healthy interaction or coherent communication to draw from in their lives), and they are deeply, deeply selfish.
So while I would call it a powerful story, I personally wouldn’t call it a love story. I would call it a story about the generational trauma of abuse and alcoholism. I would call it a story about how being abused as children creates abusive adults. I would call it a story about how people who feel trapped – by race, by class, by gender, by geography, by untreated mental and physical illness – do self-destructive things in attempts to escape those traps. But I wouldn’t call it a love story.
But it isn’t over my friends! Adaptations may stop here, but the novel is only half over AND THAT MATTERS because it is in this half that the themes of the book really play out.
In the novel, Heathcliff does not die soon after Cathy does, because he has revenges to plot. He figures that the best way to continue to get back at Hindley, Edgar, and Cathy is to degrade and abuse their children as much as possible. It is Heathcliff’s deepest wish to turn all the children of his tormentors into the worst people they can possibly grow up to be.
I wasn’t crazy about the actual performances, but I did appreciate that Heathcliff and Cathy were cast with racially and age-appropriate actors in the 2011 production, which also features wonderful cinematography.
Behold:
Heathcliff is now the head of Wuthering Heights where he terrorizes everybody. He’s still mad at himself for his failure to murder a baby, and the baby, Hareton Earnshaw (remember, the son of Hindley, Cathy 1.0’s brother?) is now a young man living like a servant under Heathcliff’s thrall. Hareton is taught to dress, work, and speak like a farmhand. He is not allowed to leave the estate or to learn to read.
Also sharing this happy home is Heathcliff’s son, Linton (Edgar’s nephew), who Heathcliff forced to live at Wuthering Heights when Linton was about twelve. He is always described as ‘sickly’ and under Heathcliff’s dubious care he becomes a petty, cruel whiner – in short, the worst version of himself.
When Linton and Cathy 2.0 (Edgar and Cathy’s daughter, who is also named Cathy) are fifteen and sixteen, respectively, Heathcliff convinces Cathy 2.0 to run away from home and marry Linton. Poor sickly Linton dies at the age of seventeen, with no doctor (forbidden by Heathcliff of course) and no company except for Cathy 2.0. Also please note that by withholding medical treatment Heathcliff essentially kills his own son just to spite his son’s mother, who is already dead.
Meanwhile Cathy 2.0 is effectively Heathcliff’s prisoner. Her imprisonment makes the formerly cheerful and kind girl bitter and furious, almost deranged with despair – the worst version of herself, as Heathcliff hoped.
When Cathy 2.0 first arrives at Wuthering Heights, she despises Hareton, and with good reason. Despite the abuse he receives, he is devoted to Heathcliff. Cathy 2.0 is essentially imprisoned at Wuthering Heights and Hareton does not offer to help her. He strikes her as dirty, illiterate, and complicit in her hellish life as a widow under Heathcliff’s control, and her assessment is initially correct.
However, over time, Hareton keeps extending small kindnesses towards Cathy 2.0, and over time, she begins to reciprocate. After she makes fun of Hareton for not being able to read, she realizes that she has hurt his feelings, repents, and offers to teach him. The next thing you know, they are wandering the moors and becoming real friends and falling in real love – they care about each other, they are kind to each other, they support one another in becoming better people. They are capable of change and healing.
Heathcliff is now, because of various deaths and marriages that he has orchestrated, the owner of both Wuthering Heights and the Linton estate, Thrushcross Grange. However, he finds himself increasingly tormented by Cathy 1.0’s ghost – so much so that he can’t even muster the energy to break up the happy couple.
Every time he tries to hit Cathy 2.0 or yell at her, he finds himself unable to move, or distracted. He feels the presence of Cathy 1.0 protecting her daughter from him. Finally he goes into Cathy 1.0’s room and starves himself to death. Cathy 2.0 and Hareton give up Wuthering Heights and get the heck outta there. The End.
For Heathcliff and Cathy 1.0, ‘love’ is selfish and ‘love’ is death.
For Hareton and Cathy 2.0, love is selfless and love is freedom and life.
So yes, there is a great love story in Wuthering Heights. AND THAT MATTERS because, if Emily Bronte wanted us to see Heathcliff and Cathy 1.0 as a great love story, why include its contrast? Cathy 2.0 and Hareton are a rebuttal to the claim that Cathy and Heathcliff are the greatest love story of all time – not just because they do horrible things but because they act without empathy, they are deeply selfish, and they cannot or will not change.
But even though Cathy 2.0 and Hareton have been abused, they are capable of growth, and they do act out of empathy, and they do want their lover to be happy. And that’s real love. It may not be “The Greatest Love Story Ever Told,” but it’s much better than Heathcliff and Cathy 1.0, no matter what the trailer says.
Welcome back and happy weekend! Here’s what we’re reading right now:
Lara: I am reading a book that I have tried to get my greedy little paws on for MONTHS and finally I HAVE IT! How to Lose a Lord in Ten Days by Sophie Irwin. ( A | BN | K | G ) It’s possible the anticipation of this release has raised my expectations unreasonably high, but I am cautiously optimistic that it’ll be great. I’m only a chapter in so far!
Elyse: I’m on a new anti seizure medication for my fibro so I’ve got some couch/acclimation time.
I watched A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms which prompted me to do a Game of Thrones ( A | BN | K | AB ) re-read.
Shana: I just finished Time Loops and Meet Cutes by Jackie Lau. ( A | BN | K | AB ) It’s always a good day to read a Jackie Lau book. Now I’m getting sucked into a non-romance, The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan. ( A | BN | K | AB )
Tara: I just finished When She Flies by Lee Winter. ( A | BN | K | G ) It’s an interesting time to read a book where one of the leads is the CEO for a company that makes luxury goods for the uber wealthy, but I enjoyed it overall, including where she ends up.
Sarah: I’m deep in early-2000s paranormal romance. I gulped down Alpha & Omega by Patricia Briggs in a frantic re-read and dove straight into Cry Wolf. ( A | BN | K | AB ) I’ve never read past that book and maybe now I’ll try book 2.
Last year I started a list of book conventions and fan gatherings that went completely sideways or didn’t happen because they fell apart during the planning. The title: WTF Cons? I realized in about mid-May that keeping track would be a full time job and I couldn’t keep up with it. There were that many.
Sometimes it’s lack of organization. Sometimes the follow through is so bad the City of Baltimore files civil contract claims against you, as is the situation with Grace Marsceau, the organizer behind A Million Lives Book Festival. You know, the one that made headlines about how much money people lost. There was Sinners & Stardust which came with a side order of Sexual Harassment. There were weekend cons that promised attendees for registered authors and didn’t deliver any; there were gatherings that promised reader events that didn’t materialize. I could keep going but I’d be here for days.
The latest breakdown per Threads seems to be Getting Witchy With It in Salem, MA, scheduled in both 2026 and 2027. The CEO of Anytime Author Promotions, Virginia Johnson, posted a video about Minneapolis, and to say it didn’t go over well is an understatement.
“You’re seeing the extremism of what Minneapolis, of what the news wants to show you.”
Which part is “the extremism,” I wonder?
The part where ICE executed Renee Good? Or the part where ICE executed Alex Pretti? The tear gas canisters lobbed at pre schoolers or the ones tossed at high school students?
The level of privileged, ignorant bullshit this person seems to be fertilizing her professional reputation with is truly breathtaking.
(Also, is she driving while recording this? I can’t tell from the windows but it appears that the car is in motion and she’s driving it. If so, then I ask most sincerely, WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH THAT. And I once saw someone tuning a violin while slowly moving toward the George Washington Bridge at 7am. Pardon my fuddy duddy question but is this a thing? That people do? Record videos while driving?)
I haven’t been able to find any active social media accounts for Anytime Author Promotions, and I haven’t seen a statement. I have reached out to them directly – though I tried to use the comment form on their site to reach out, but I received an error message that my message was unable to be sent.
But when I looked into the company, I was shocked. This isn’t one event: it’s many.
Flirty in Kansas City, MO, Tampa, FL, and Des Moines, Iowa.
Dreaming Dirty in Ann Arbor, MI, Baltimore MD, and Las Vegas, NV.
Getting Witchy with It in Salem, and New Orleans and Charleston.
RAGE in Atlantic City, NJ, and Versailles, Ohio.
Books and Chocolate in Hershey, PA.
Glass City in Toledo, OH.
Book Blast in Dallas, TX and Seattle, WA.
That is a lot of events – fifteen by my counting which is not my greatest skill – many of which are scheduled into 2028.
And sure enough, authors are posting about dropping out and forfeiting their deposits – that’s a song many know all the words to.
So many authors, in fact, that it’s a trending topic on Threads right now – twice. (I have a screengrab but I don’t want to post it because one of the other trending topics is a spoiler for a tv show.)
Revelations about the alleged political alignment of the CEO of Anytime Author Promotions do not appear to be new – only the video is.
Author Maddox Grey reported in November 2024 in another thread that the Anytime Author Promotions Facebook group seems to have a history of using right-coded language and fostering a community that does so as well:
I cannot find this Facebook group, only pages that are sporadically updated, so I can’t fact check this claim.
What a shitty position for folks trying to grow a career to be in. The two largest cons are long gone, along with all the support and reader connections they fostered. There are many other gatherings, but as I mentioned at the start, it’s a risky prospect. They can be replete with inexperienced conference organizers, insufficient budget for events and security, and low turnout among authors, readers, or both. It’s a real crap shoot with time, money, and energy – all of which are in limited supply.
To create a successful event, in my experience, you need buy-in from several key groups. In this case:
Authors, but especially some with established audiences and name recognition. That said, hosting an author with a massive fanbase requires additional security, space, and logistical organization for crowd control and safety for everyone.
Readers who might want to meet those authors and potentially be introduced to new ones, which requires outreach and engagement and, you know, marketing and publicity. Readers also might want or expect a reader-focused event like a party or similar, and not just a book signing and panels. So that means budget allotments for decoration, entertainment, etc.
Host Location, i.e. where will this event be held? Is there an airport with direct flights or easy driving access and parking? Does the space have enough room should items A and B yield a high turnout? What about food – because food costs inside hotels will send your eyebrows right into your hairline.
Then, considering the above, how much will attending cost? How much are table fees? Will those fees cover the cost of the above items? Those margins might thinner than the profit on a mass market paperback.
(I also want to say a word about conference organizing: I used to do this, so I’m not just talking out of my ass here. I have always followed what I call “the mafia rule” when blogging: “Youdon’t talk about the work, don’t talk about the family,” so the most I want to say is that many years ago, I worked a nonprofit which hosted meetings between their membership and US and international officials. Organizing these gatherings both in the US and abroad was my job. So while I’m a little rusty, I’m pretty familiar with the large and small scale logistical coordination of stakeholders and invested parties.)
Lam then went on to share the eleven other events they will be appearing at in 2026. So there are other options – many other options.
I think we are accelerating past the point where embracing right wing rhetoric and supporting the actions of the current administration yields ferocious backlash, especially within romance, and especially within communities of marginalized people within romance.
With one video and the resulting social media response, Johnson appears to have damaged the brand of the company and reduced author and reader attendance at most of the scheduled events, if reports on Threads are accurate. That is a big, big mess.
As this seems to be an evolving situation, I’ll update this post if more information becomes available.
Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite is $2.99! This is book one in the Dorothy Gentleman series, which I know was highly anticipated. Book two is out in March! Did any of you pick this one up?
A Memory Called Empire meets Miss Marple in this cozy, spaceborne mystery, helmed by a no-nonsense formidable auntie of a detective.
Welcome to the HMS Fairweather, Her Majesty’s most luxurious interstellar passenger liner! Room and board are included, new bodies are graciously provided upon request, and should you desire a rest between lifetimes, your mind shall be most carefully preserved in glass in the Library, shielded from every danger.
Near the topmost deck of an interstellar generation ship, Dorothy Gentleman wakes up in a body that isn’t hers—just as someone else is found murdered. As one of the ship’s detectives, Dorothy usually delights in unraveling the schemes on board the Fairweather, but when she finds that someone is not only killing bodies but purposefully deleting minds from the Library, she realizes something even more sinister is afoot.
Dorothy suspects her misfortune is partly the fault of her feckless nephew Ruthie who, despite his brilliance as a programmer, leaves chaos in his cheerful wake. Or perhaps the sultry yarn store proprietor—and ex-girlfriend of the body Dorothy is currently inhabiting—knows more than she’s letting on. Whatever it is, Dorothy intends to solve this case. Because someone has done the impossible and found a way to make murder on the Fairweather a very permanent state indeed. A mastermind may be at work—and if so, they’ve had three hundred years to perfect their schemes…
Told through Dorothy’s delightfully shrewd POV, Murder by Memory is an ode to the cozy mystery taken to the stars with a fresh new sci-fi take. Perfect for fans of the plot-twisty narratives of Dorothy Sayers and Ann Leckie, this well-paced story will leave readers captivated and hungry for the series’ next installment.
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher is $2.99! I know T. Kingfisher is an autobuy author around here. If you’ve read this one, what did you think?
A dark retelling of the Brothers Grimm’s Goose Girl, rife with secrets, murder, and forbidden magic
Cordelia knows her mother is unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms, and her mother doesn’t allow Cordelia to have a single friend—unless you count Falada, her mother’s beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him. But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren’t sorcerers.
After a suspicious death in their small town, Cordelia’s mother insists they leave in the middle of the night, riding away on Falada’s sturdy back, leaving behind all Cordelia has ever known. They arrive at the remote country manor of a wealthy older man, the Squire, and his unwed sister, Hester. Cordelia’s mother intends to lure the Squire into marriage, and Cordelia knows this can only be bad news for the bumbling gentleman and his kind, intelligent sister.
Hester sees the way Cordelia shrinks away from her mother, how the young girl sits eerily still at dinner every night. Hester knows that to save her brother from bewitchment and to rescue the terrified Cordelia, she will have to face down a wicked witch of the worst kind.
The Second Death of Locke by V.L. Bovalino is $3.99! This came out last September and was mentioned on Hide Your Wallet. I remember being pretty excited for this one and I’ve heard good things from those who’ve read it.
Love. Loyalty. Sacrifice.
Grey Flynn has dedicated her life to her mage, Kier. She will be his blade on the battlefield, his healer and protector. The deep well of raw power inside her is Kier’s to wield. They are bound together by blood and magic, but there is one truth Grey dare not reveal . . . not even to Kier.
When a quest to protect the child of an enemy kingdom pulls them into a dangerous mission, Grey will need to decide what she’s willing to sacrifice to protect her secret.
For Grey is no ordinary magical well, and if she dies, all magic dies with her.
The Second Death of Lockeis a devastatingly romantic epic fantasy about the undying bond between a knight and their mage, perfect for fans of Rachel Gillig and Alix E. Harrow.
The Bone Raiders by Jackson Ford is $2.99! This released late last year and I remember thinking it sounded pretty fun. Book two in the series is out this May.
The start of an edge-of-your-seat, action‑packed epic fantasy series from the irreverent Jackson Ford, where a wild band known as the Bone Raiders harness the power of gigantic, fire-breathing lizards to defend their homeland.
“Awesome. Masterfully executed. Frequently hilarious.” — Nicholas Eames, author of Kings of the Wyld
WE DIDN’T START THE FIRE . . . BUT OUR GIANT FIRE-BREATHING LIZARDS DID.
You don’t f*ck with the Rakada. The people living in the grasslands of the Tapestry call them the Bone Raiders, from their charming habit of displaying the bones of those they kill on their armour. But being a raider is tough these days. There’s a new Great Khan in the Tapestry. He plans to use his sizeable military to get rid of the raider clans. And then there are the huge fire-breathing lizards that are straying into the grasslands a little too often these days.
Sayana is a raider scout. She knows that to protect their way of life, she needs do something drastic. Like convincing her clan to ride those huge lizards, instead of horses. Sayana doesn’t know how to do it without being eaten and/or cooked alive, but she’d better figure it out fast – or she and her clan, along with every other raider in the Tapestry, will be wiped out.
Mr Goodwin – who is standing for Reform UK in the upcoming Gorton and Denton by-election – argued: “We need to explain and educate to young children, the next generation, the severity of this crisis. “We need to also explain to young girls and women the biological reality of this crisis. Many women in Britain are having children much too late in life, and they would prefer to have children much earlier on.”
And I was thinking, you know who would be spitting tacks and riding in with all her guns blazing on this -
- no other than Dr Marie Stopes, who was so not about woman as mere breeding vessels. And was a) the daughter of an older mother and b) an older mother herself by the time she actually progenated.
Okay, she had views of the day (particularly when it came to daughter-in-laws, sigh), but she was also very much about women's choice, women pursuing careers, women not spending their entire lives in child-bearing, fewer but healthier babies through contraception and spacing, etc etc etc.
In many ways, yes, she was a monster, but a monster I would happily reanimate from the waves off Portland Bill where her ashes were scattered and send after these guys.
I really, really love spelunking in the depths of vintage YouTube, and this clip dates back to somewhere between 1999 and 2003, from a sketch comedy show called Smack the Pony.
You can tell because it says “Smack the Pony” at the top, but mostly because of the exceptionally good resolution on screen here. Woof.
It’s Valentine’s Day weekend, and I hope your pink Halloween candy is delicious, and that you are treating yourselves and the people you love.
The greatest part about Valentine’s Day: the headdesk-y thinkpieces about romance fiction will take a breather. THANK GOODNESS. Until then, the virtual bunker is open with snacks, beverages, cozy and supportive places to sit, and quietude so you can avoid the nonsense for a bit.
Amanda and I are back, deep diving into romance and pop culture history with issue 1997 of Romantic Times Magazine. The cover reads Love, Lust, Laugh, and we’ve got some vintage books to talk about. Then we talk about what books we’re most looking forward to right now, and what we’re currently reading.
In two weeks we will be back with the ads & features, and you know a magazine from the 90s has the most excellent collection of cover art.
Major Trigger Warning in this episode: At 20:24 we have a brief conversation about an author featured in the magazine who was the victim of a family annihilation. Immediately following, the book I discuss contains mentions of child loss, infertility, and infidelity. Skip ahead 2 and a half minutes.
Romance History with Steve Ammidown: “Lest We Forget” (trigger warning: family annihilation)
If you or someone you know is in danger from domestic or intimate partner violence, The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1.800.799.7233, or you can text START to 88788.
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With the monthly option, that’s 10% off your first month. With the yearly option, that’s 10% off the full year, which is already discounted so you’ll be getting three months free instead of two!
If you aren’t a member and you gift one, you’ll automatically create an account with us, and you’ll have a page from which you can copy the gift link, resend the gift email, or find out if the gift has been redeemed (useful for hungry email filters). And if you’re already a member and you’re signed in, you can gift memberships – as many as you want!
There’s a lot to enjoy inside After Dark. In addition to additional sales post and monthly tarot readings, we offer quarterly personalized recommendations from Amanda, tailored to your likes, dislikes, and current reading needs! If you miss vintage internet, that’s what we’re recreating inside Smart Bitches After Dark.
Our site is still open to everyone and free of external ads because of our After Dark community – and it would be lovely for you to invite more people in!
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Welcome back and happy weekend! Here’s what we’re reading right now:
Amanda and I are back, deep diving into romance and pop culture history with issue 1997 of Romantic Times Magazine. The cover reads Love, Lust, Laugh, and we’ve got some vintage books to talk about. Then we talk about what books we’re most looking forward to right now, and what we’re currently reading.
Hey, real quick – 