Good Morning,
It’s Monday! What are you Reading is hosted by Kathryn from Book Date, this is a weekly event to share what we’ve read in the past week and what we hope to read, plus whatever else comes to mind.
Books I have Finished Recently
An Heiress’s Guide to Deception and Desire by Manda Collins | (A Lady’s Guide #2) | Historical Romance, Mystery | Add to Goodreads
Former lovers become reluctant allies in this delightfully witty historical rom-com from the bestselling author of A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem—for fans of Evie Dunmore, Enola Holmes, and Netflix’s Bridgerton!
England, 1867 : As half of the writing duo behind England’s most infamous crime column, Miss Caroline Hardcastle has quite the scandalous reputation. It may have cost her a fiancé, but she would much rather bring attention to crimes against those ignored by society than worry about what the ton thinks of her.
After Caro’s dear friend is kidnapped, however, she has no choice but to work with Lord Valentine Thorn, the same man who broke her heart. Worse, when her actions put her father’s business at risk, a marriage of convenience may be her only solution . . . but can she trust Val to stand by her? Or will their past repeat itself?
Val–the new Viscount Wrackham–is in an untenable position: His father is demanding he find a respectable bride to secure the succession. Yet the only woman he’s ever loved, Miss Caroline Hardcastle, is notorious for behaving improperly. And she’s never forgiven him for his youthful transgressions, missteps made in the name of familial duty, but ones he still regrets to this day.
As they grow closer to unmasking the culprit, Val sees an opportunity to show Caro he’s a changed man. But can he convince her to give their love a second chance–before death does them part?
The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling | Gothic, Fantasy, History, Mystery | Add to Goodreads
Practical, unassuming Jane Shoringfield has done the calculations, and decided that the most secure path forward is this: a husband, in a marriage of convenience, who will allow her to remain independent and occupied with meaningful work. Her first choice, the dashing but reclusive doctor Augustine Lawrence, agrees to her proposal with only one condition: that she must never visit Lindridge Hall, his crumbling family manor outside of town. Yet on their wedding night, an accident strands her at his door in a pitch-black rainstorm, and she finds him changed. Gone is the bold, courageous surgeon, and in his place is a terrified, paranoid man—one who cannot tell reality from nightmare, and fears Jane is an apparition, come to haunt him.
By morning, Augustine is himself again, but Jane knows something is deeply wrong at Lindridge Hall, and with the man she has so hastily bound her safety to. Set in a dark-mirror version of post-war England, Starling crafts a new kind of gothic horror from the bones of the beloved canon. This Crimson Peak-inspired story assembles, then upends, every expectation set in place by Shirley Jackson and Rebecca, and will leave readers shaken, desperate to begin again as soon as they are finished.
Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl by David Barnett | (Gideon Smith #1) | Fantasy, Steampunk, Mystery | Add to Goodreads
Nineteenth century London is the centre of a vast British Empire. Airships ply the skies and Queen Victoria presides over three-quarters of the known world-including the East Coast of America, following the failed revolution of 1775. London might as well be a world away from Sandsend, a tiny village on the Yorkshire coast. Gideon Smith dreams of the adventure promised him by the lurid tales of Captain Lucian Trigger, the Hero of the Empire, told in Gideon’s favourite “penny dreadful.” When Gideon’s father is lost at sea in highly mysterious circumstances Gideon is convinced that supernatural forces are at work. Deciding only Captain Lucian Trigger himself can aid him, Gideon sets off for London. On the way he rescues the mysterious mechanical girl Maria from a tumbledown house of shadows and iniquities. Together they make for London, where Gideon finally meets Captain Trigger. But Trigger is little more than an ageing fraud, providing cover for the covert activities of his lover, Dr. John Reed, a privateer and sometime agent of the British Crown. Looking for heroes but finding only frauds and crooks, it falls to Gideon to step up to the plate and attempt to save the day…but can a humble fisherman really become the true Hero of the Empire?
The Legend of Eydis by C.S. Johnson | ( The Legend of Eydis #2) | Fantasy | Add to Goodreads
Not all legends are born of lies …
Bjorn Kyvansson was never supposed to outlive his brother.
After his older brother Sterlig dies on the mysterious island of Eydis, it falls to Bjorn to avenge his brother. But Bjorn, along with his abusive father and his anxious mother, is content to suffer with his lot in life.
That is, until Arja Freydottir, Sterlig’s beloved, decides to go to Eydis. Bjorn reluctantly agrees to accompany her, knowing he has no right to Arja, as Sterlig’s intended bride, no matter how much he loves her himself.
But as Bjorn and Arja spend time together preparing to face the dragon of Eydis, it becomes clear that it is not a matter of honor keeping them apart, but the truth.
The Dragon Knight’s Beloved (Manga) Vol. 1 by Asagi Orikawa and Ritsu Aozaki | (The Dragon Knight’s Favorite #1) | Manga, Fantasy, Romance | Add to Goodreads
A young woman begins a new life as a dragon master for a handsome earl in this tale of high fantasy romance.
Melissa is a young woman training to be an attendant in the royal castle, working alongside the heroic dragon knights and their magnificent dragon steeds. The dragons love Melissa, and she’s soon selected to join Hubert–former captain of the dragon knights and newly appointed earl–in the borderlands, where wild dragons roam freely in the skies. Might romance blossom between Melissa and this handsome young lord, whose new position brings with it a whole host of dilemmas?
Currently Reading
The Queen of Izmoroz by Jon Skovron | (The Goddess War #2) | Fantasy | Add to Goodreads
Sonya has brought a foreign army to free her country from imperial rule, but her allies may have other goals in the second book of this thrilling epic fantasy trilogy from Jon Skovron.
The first battle is over, but war yet looms on the horizon. Sonya and her allies–the foreign Uaine and their armies of the undead–have beaten back the imperial soldiers from the capital city. Now they have the rest of the country to free.
Meanwhile, her brother the famed wizard Sebastian has retreated with the imperial forces to regroup and lick his wounds. Betrayed by his sister and his wife, the beautiful noblewoman Galina, he will regain control of his life and his country at any cost.
The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan | (Empire of the Wolf #1) | Fantasy | Add to Goodreads
As an Emperor’s Justice, Sir Konrad Vonvalt always has the last word. His duty is to uphold the law of the empire using whatever tools he has at his disposal: whether it’s his blade, the arcane secrets passed down from Justice to Justice, or his wealth of knowledge of the laws of the empire. But usually his reputation as one of the most revered—and hated—Justices is enough to get most any job done.
When Vonvalt investigates the murder of a noblewoman, he finds his authority being challenged like never before. As the simple case becomes more complex and convoluted, he begins to pull at the threads that unravel a conspiracy that could see an end to all Justices, and a beginning to lawless chaos across the empire.
What are you hoping to get to read this week?
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