Recent reading

I’ve been meaning to mention a couple of the books I’ve read lately. If you are a lover of fantasy, I’d like to draw your attention to A Brother’s Price by Wen Spencer.

I think the first paragraph prepares the reader well for the scenario: There were a few advantages to being a boy in a society dominated by women. One, Jerin Whistler thought, was that you could throttle your older sister, and everyone would say, “She was one of twenty-eight girls–a middle sister–and a troublemaker, too, and he–he’s a boy,” and that would be the end of it.

From here on in, you are thrust into a world where boys are rare and highly prized. But not like you think! A family of sisters will sell or trade their brother in order to obtain a husband for them. Yes, for all of them. And for the families who have no boys at all (and thus no one to trade), the future is very grim. This very twisted tale is a lot of fun. Wen Spencer is a master.

The second book I want to mention is Midnight Rain by Holly Lisle. I’ve been following Holly’s career closely for the last four years, as I’ve become involved in the writer’s community she began: Forward Motion. Until this novel, her stories were science fiction and fantasy, but Midnight Rain is a romantic suspense. While this isn’t generally a genre I read, I found that Holly’s skill in creating complex characters and plots is not genre-specific. If romantic suspense is your thing, you may want to try this novel and/or Last Girl Dancing, Holly’s newer book which I haven’t read.

I’m part way through another book now, and have several stacked up as well as waiting for my inter-library loans to come in. I’ve been doing a LOT of reading in the past few months.