So. Many. Books

So, I haven't updated in ages.  Two months.  I am still on track tfo complete 60 books this year.  Here are the titles since I last blogged and a brief blurblette:

Book 15: Dark Debt by Chloe Neill:  This was a solid installment in the series.

Book 16:  The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart by Lawrence Block:  In this mystery, Bernie is attending a Bogey film festival with a mystery lady, and also trying to unravel the secrets of a lost kingdom.  I found it a little convoluted, but dammit, Bernie is so likeable.

Book 17:  A Good Debutante's Guide to Ruin by Sophie Jordan:  I rated this one pretty low on goodreads.  I just didn't care for the step-siblings getting toget her, the past abuse against the hero as a child by the mother of the heroine, or the villain at the end.  It was a free Friday selection at BN, but I don't know that I will be exploring more by this author.

Book 18:  Yesterday's Gone: Episode 1 by Sean Platt:  I am lukewarm on whether or not I will read more of this series.  There is a character that is a young child and his voice is annoying.  I really am not getting into the way this particular post apocalyptic world is built, where nearly everyone has disappeared and there are weird animals left behind that are like pod-people versions of the pets they've replaced.

Book 19:  Along Came a Duke by Elizabeth Boyle:  I did not care for this one.  The villains were cartoonish and the heroine made her situation worse with a stubborn refusal to communicate honestly with the hero.  I wanted to read this because one of the sequels was so well rated, but the first installment in this series was weak,

Book 20:  Otherwise Engaged by Amanda Quick:  No one is gladder than I am that Amanda Quick has left of paranormals and returned to the straight up, no bullshit Historical Romance.  Quick wrote the first historical that I ever read, so I owe her a great debt.  Many happy hours of reading due to her novel Scandal. Amity, the heroine, narrowly escapes the clutches of a serial killer.  It is due entirely to her strength and resolve.  She rescues herself!  The hero, Benedict, is greatly in her debt as she has saved his life and preserved a great state secret for him.  When they are linked by scandal, he steps in to return the favor she did him with a little reputation protecting.  And of course, they have to fend off one of Amity's former suitors who is No Damn Good and catch the killer.

Book 21:  The Viscount Who Lived Down the Lane by Elizabeth Boyle:  This was much better than Along Came a Duke.  I haven't decided if I will read the installments between these novels.

Book 22:  Dying In the Wool by Frances Brody: I am a big fan of historicals that take place in the first half of the 20th Century. Of particular interest to me are post WW1 English stories. During WW1, Kate Shakelton's husband was declared Missing, Presumed Dead.  Since the war, she works on behalf of others in her situation to find the fates of their missing loved ones.  In this first installment, she looks for her friend's father, who went missing at home.

Book 23:  The Game and the Governess by Kate Noble:  The nobleman actually thinks people like him for himself and that he is lucky.  He is completely ignorant of the privilege he enjoys.  So his secretary makes him a large bet that if they switch places, he won't be nearly as well loved and nor as lucky.  Oh, if only someone would do this for all the 1%'ers.  The poor heroine was a pawn in all of this, and I was a little nervous that she was going to get run all over.

Book 24:  A Medal for Murder by Frances Brody:  The second Kate Shakelton focuses on a murder after a community play production, a missing girl, and mystery left after the Boer Wars.  I didn't care for the Boer War flashbacks because the characters were such assholes, but also because I prefer a more solid point of view in my third person narrative mysteries.  The ending was a little unsatisfying to me because I felt some of the non-murderous shenanigans deserved a little more comeuppance.

Book 25:  The Duke's Disaster by Grace Burrows:  I am a sucker for ladies with a past.  The Duke is a bit of a dick to his Disaster Duchess.  He is pretty much in a tailspin for most of the book until he finally gets his head pulled out of his ass.  The lady's big scandal was really a mess and the resolution of it was equally complicated.  I did like it a great deal, though in general, I would prefer not to read any more books where the ruined heroine was not ruined by consent.

Book 26:  Douglas by Grace Burrows:  And despite my desire to no longer read about women who were raped and lost their reputations, I went right into this book!  What the everloving fuck is wrong with me?  The heroine is an unmarried mother who rusticates in the country, managing her cousin's estate.  The hero is meeting with her for assistance in appraising a property he wants to buy.  As it happens, the heroine was tricked into eloping, the father of the child doesn't know of her existance and the heroine doesn't know what the father's motives and intentions were until the very very end of the book,  There is a significant part of the plot driven along merely by secrecy, which is lame, but I did like this book.  It's the 8th in a series of TWELVE.  That is too damn many installments.