Yeah, Yeah, I Know. Let's Talk Books Instead

I can't talk about the election results yet. I don't know when I'll be able to. We fight on, but for today at least, for my mental health (and my blood pressure), I'm pretending it didn't happen. 

I've read some good books recently, so I thought it was time to share them here! 

First up is a fantasy book I got an advance copy* of, Miss Amelia's List, by Mercedes Lackey. This is in her Elemental Masters series, which is the kind of series where the books are related but don't have to be read in sequence; I haven't read them all**, and this is book 17, but all you have to know is the basic principles. As her website describes them, the books "are a mix of historical fiction and fantasy, with a big scoop of fairy tales stirred in. Most of them are set in the late 1800s-early 1900s."
*Thank you to DAW for the ARC! #MissAmeliasList #NetGalley
**My favorite of those I have read is Reserved for the Cat

I really enjoyed this book; Amelia is a believable and realistic character, comfortable with her power while coping with her anxiety, and her cousin Serena, though less fully developed, is often unexpectedly competent. It was interesting to look at Regency England from the perspective of American characters, which I haven’t seen a lot of.

Looking back at the ending, it felt a bit rushed: reading an ebook, I’m not always aware of how close to the end I am, and it came as something of a surprise to realize we were there, at the climactic events and then the end. There is some implausibility to how things wrapped up, but I actually can see how it could have been even more so and wasn’t, so although that’s a backhand compliment, I do mean it well. A book I’m glad to have read, though not the one I would recommend for jumping into this series.

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Next up is a different kind of fantasy book, basically a romantic comedy book with shapeshifters! I know, sounds implausible given how dark a lot of shifter stories are, but when you have a bunny shifter, it's hard not to make it cute, and that's Emmy! Somebunny to Love, by Zoe Chant, is in the Virtue Shifters series, which I will definitely be checking out more of. Light, fluffy, intelligent, happily-ever-after: what's not to love? I don't need dark and gloomy right now. Good silliness is called for.

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Lost & Found by Jane Glatt is something that I find refreshing: a book with an older woman protagonist! While I do read books from younger perspectives (see my recent adoration for Prince of Fortune), there's something about putting an older woman front and center that pleases me. This book is mostly not a fantasy (rare for me these days, right?), with one twist. As the description starts out:

"Homeless. Broke. Shunned by friends and neighbours. This was not what sixty-two was supposed to look like for Barbara Baker.

As a member of Toronto's exclusive Rosedale society, Barb was a fixture on charity committees and an accomplished hostess whose dinner invitations were coveted by Toronto's elite. Her comfortable life ended when her husband's criminal activity was discovered—he'd been stealing from everyone for decades, using her exceptional hostess skills to reel in new victims."

As Barb starts to figure out where her life will go from here, with help from her best friend, something unexpected happens, which I won't spoil except to say that's where the fantastical element comes in. It may not be 100% plausible, but I found it very entertaining, on a night when that was just what I needed.

Note that while I didn't think of this as an advance read, according to Amazon, it's not out yet. I bought it as part of something called The Never Too Old to Save the World Bundle, which runs for another 15 days, according to the website. It includes 10 books, if you're willing to pay at least $20, which I was.

Read any good books lately?