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The Duke Who Didn't by Courtney Milan (book recommendation)

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 02:51:32 GMT

Just this month, I read The Duke Who Didn't by Courtney Milan. This is my current #1 recommendation!

In many ways it is a conventional romance (very tropey and delightfully indulgent) but it has some notable features! 1) the leads are of Chinese descent AND it's set in historical England! Do you know how many times I've gotten to read a period romance, set in the West, with Asian leads? Literally never. Until now! (The author herself is Asian-American and has mentioned how much she wanted to write the book bc she's never seen one like it either.) 2) There is REVENGE, a dish best served cold, which I always enjoy. 3) There is some really lovely, really heartfelt stuff with familial (non romantic) relationships. I teared up in a good way. 4) The author's note was also very dear, and you can really tell how much the story meant to the author. 5) there are content notes/warnings on the author's website (mostly depictions-of-racism-related), which I think is a nice touch, and also you can read the first chapter(?) for free there.

re: conventional tropes: lead #1 is Chloe who is a no-nonsense, busy woman who looooves checklists, and she is attempting to enact sauce-based revenge on a company. Lead #2 is Jeremy who is a semi-feckless jokester who is secretly the Duke who owns the whole town Chloe lives in. He "hires" Chloe to write a checklist of (her) qualities so he can use it to select the perfect wife. (Yes they're both stupid, but in a way that is just plain fun.) There is banter. There is kindness. There is a quirky town with a quirky annual fair. There is multiculturalism. There is Only One Bed.* Jeremy is stupid in love with Chloe, and I have a weakness for the thing where the guy basically worships the lady and wants to just hang out around her all the time while she Gets Stuff Done.

I consumed this book, and I have been recommending it to my friends & random acquaintances. Strongly recommended!

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Briar's Book - reread

Fri, 10 Dec 2021 03:29:20 GMT

12/9
Started rereading Briar's Book by Tamora Pierce.

I love this series, and I've lost count of how many times I've read it--heck, I own 3 copies, if you count paper, ebook, and audio book as separate copies.

It's been a while since I reread Briar's Book, and it's hitting differently. Briar and his friends are there for the early stages of an epidemic and assist personally in developing a magical treatment for it, and... It hits different. I was actually getting emotional, and we only just met patient 0. I can only wait and see how it goes when I actually hit the epidemic parts of it.
--
12/10 - in the book, they have a building ready and waiting in case there is a need to send people into quarantine when a new disease arises. They have supplies and protocols. They have masks and gloves waiting (although if I recall correctly, they run out as the disease spreads) ._.

also, I adore this series because of the found family & diversity
( Read more... )( Read more... )

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jingo (terry pratchett) thoughts - Vimes, the Dis-Organizer, and the 25th of May

Sun, 22 Aug 2021 23:08:09 GMT

rereading Terry Pratchett's 'Jingo.'
It's really good, it has lots of great Vetinari and Tacticus moments. It's... discouraging that it just feels more on-point the older I get but hey.
Love how every time I read a discworld book, I notice new things. Even books I've read many, many times. Very mild spoilers for a book that was published in '97.
Noticed this time around that, as Vimes is in the tent with Rust and the prince, there's a kind of eerie familiarity with the stuff the dis-organizer says is on his to-do list: building barricades and the deaths of his men. Reminds me of 'Night Watch' which was probably a coincidence? (I think 'Night Watch' was written later, and of course there are various inadvertent 'continuity errors' that arise from the Discworld books being written, well, in the order in which they are written. Not a criticism, of course, just acknowledging that in what 30+ books you're bound to step on your own toes now and again.) But the thought of Vimes living through the Glorious 25th of May as a young & impressionable cop, and then now here he is as Commander Sir Samuel and almost tripping into the same situation... it's bouncing around my mind.

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