Lunch break!

Before I was a writer, I was a reader. And I still am. Here are some of my favorite recent reads:

 1. Evie Dunmore’s Bringing Down the Duke & Rogue of One’s Own. A series about the suffragist movement in Oxford during the late 19th century, it is sexy and heartwarming, and is politically charged. Since we American women are celebrating our 100 years of voting, this series is a lovely way of showing how women can have their cake and eat it too. I loved this series, especially a Rogue of One’s Own, as I identify with independent, prickly women who don’t need a lot to get by.  http://eviedunmore.com/books/

2. The Familiars by Stacey Halls. This is a story of two women during the witch-hunt of 1612 in Pendle Hill, England. Birth stories, pregnancies, infidelities, and love are woven together to show how those topics are not just women’s lives–but become the very fabric of the society and economy in which we live. Prepare to be incensed. http://www.staceyhalls.com/thefamiliars/

3. An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole. During the American Civil War, it wasn’t just white men who were spies that went South. In this story, a young black woman with a photographic memory is sent into the Confederacy to pose as a slave in an important house. I don’t need to say more. https://alyssacole.com/the-loyal-league/

4. The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller. If chills and thrills are not for you, then forgo this romantic suspense ghost story set in 1870s New York City. Content warning: domestic violence. https://www.dianabiller.com/

5. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. This is an aromantic, asexual lesbian necromancer romance in space. It is unlike anything I’ve ever read before, and I mean that as a sincere compliment. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42036538-gideon-the-ninth