March 2021 Reading Discussion Thread - What are you Reading?

Thought I'd throw this up here and see if anyone wants to share what they have been reading.

My next book will be for my local book club, it is This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger. I have read one other book by him called Ordinary Grace which I really liked so I'm hoping this one will be as good. I have it as an ebook and an audiobook.

Romance I'm finishing up is Scarred: Trey and Autumn by Tess Thompson. I met her at a book conference a few years ago and have been waiting to read from this series. This isn't the first book but I needed a book with red on the cover for a challenge I'm doing so I'm reading it first. They are all stand alones in the series so I'll go back and pick up the others later.

Happy March Reading Everyone!

Melanie

I finished this last night:
When the Astors Owned New York: Blue Bloods and Grand Hotels in a Gilded Age by Justin Kaplan
181 p. - ★ ★ ★

I'm not sure what I expected when I saw this and picked it up (free in the teachers' lounge one day) but I don't think it met the vague expectation.

Starting with John Jacob Astor, it traces the properties owned by the Astor men, and particularly the hotels owned by the Astor men. The book wasn't nearly as fascinating as that should sound.

Astor women were rarely mentioned; Caroline probably gets the most coverage, since she was the force behind society's "Four Hundred." Astor daughters may get a mention - or they may not.

Familiarity with New York City would be helpful. The addresses given were supposed to mean something - implied snobbery, but meant little to me.

The other problem - the Astors used only a few names, so careful attention to the numbers after the name - and the family tree on page I - was necessary.

I finished this today: More Than Anything by Natasha Anders - 359 p.
★ ★ ★ 1/2

Ten years ago, at age 18, Tina goes all the way with her crush Harris Chapman. She comes to believe that this was a set up, done only to win a bet. She is crushed, and she wants nothing more to do with him, in spite of the friendship between their two families. Now, to help her best friend, she must confront her feelings about that night and the subsequent events.

Not a bad story - the big secret isn't really a secret. I like Anders' work. Nice to see a few old friends dropping by in this story.

>2 Hope_H: What a shame about the Astors book - it sounds like it could have been full of old school luxury and glamour and instead stuck with snobbery.

I've just finished Loathe at First Sight, which has been billed as a romcom, but is much more about a young woman in the gaming industry making her way against the gatekeeping and downright racism & sexism of the "gaming community". In a lot of ways, it was great to watch her take these things on and succeed - but it was tough to read about all the bad things piling up. The secondary love story is lovely, but it isn't central, so I hesitate to call this a romance.

>2 Hope_H: I have read several Natasha Anders books recently. I read the Alpha Men series, and the Unwanted series. I haven't read this one. I liked the Alpha Men a little more and the second book was my probably my favorite.

>3 Caramellunacy: Sounds interesting. I may look into that book.