Wanted, A Gentleman

Wanted, A Gentleman, KJ Charles, romance. (Not actually sure if it was a novel or novella.) I'm behind on writing up books so I'm doing them easiest-post-first instead of chronologically. The publisher of a personal-ads newspaper teams up with a formerly enslaved businessman to find the eloping daughter of the latter's former enslavers, with a lot of attention to what it might have felt like to be trying to make long rapid journeys by stagecoach. Charles is so good at making her characters people (and people who I feel like I haven't met before, even if they are also tropey or types).

Among Ghosts

Among Ghosts, Rachel Hartman, 2025 YA fantasy (or possibly middle-grade? really heavy/graphically violent middle-grade??). Set in Goredd some years/decades/(centuries??) prior to Amy or Seraphina/Tess, but was written to stand alone and imo would read just fine if you've never read any of her other work. There is a *lot* going on here in terms of plot elements/characters/things needing resolution but I felt like it all fit together and hung together. More emotionally resonant for me than the second Tess book. Some really heavy/bleak events and backstory but I thought Hartman handled it well (matter-of-factly without downplaying); she also did a really nice job with the lighter and happier stuff. A sequence involving a bird was just gorgeous (as well as doing a neat job of letting her fill in some of the stuff happening outside the protagonist's POV). I do recommend this but I wouldn't give it to a younger reader without getting a rundown on some of the content, which I suppose I will put behind this cut.

( Read more... )

Second cut for more specific spoilers ( Read more... )