I went in a slightly different direction for the “Vintage” prompt for this month’s TBR Challenge read. I usually go for an older historical (as in written in the 1960s or 70s), but this time, I decided to read an historical SET in the 1970s; I’ve often seen late-twentieth century historicals labelled as “vintage historicals”,…
Cat Sebastian has cornered the market in queer twentieth century historical romances, moving from the 1940s-set Page & Sommers mysteries to the Cabot stories of the sixties and seventies and then to late fifties for We Could be So Good and You Should Be So Lucky. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of them and am delighted…
When you’re as old as I am, a prompt like “back in my day” isn’t as easy to fulfil as it might seem. Yes, it offers a lot of scope, but that scope also makes it difficult to choose a book to fit, and for the same reason – too many “my day”s over too…
Like Cat Sebastian’s 2023 release, We Could Be So Good, her earlier Peter Cabot Gets Lost is very much a “vibes over plot” story that keeps its focus very much on the development of the opposites-attract romance between the two leads. It’s funny and charming and utterly captivating, and I loved every minute I spent…
Quinn by Sally Mandel was originally published in 1982, and it is set in 1964, so I guess that makes it, technically, an historical. I do know that I remember reading it in my teens, and it has remained a favorite of mine for decades. I decided to revisit it after an AAR discussion about…
Set in the same world as We Could Be So Good, Cat Sebastian’s You Should Be So Lucky is another gorgeously romantic and tender story that, while dealing with some heavy topics, manages to be warm, funny, honest and uplifting – and reminds us that although life might suck at times, it can also be…
Cat Sebastian’s recent Regency historicals were a bit hit and miss for me, but I’ve really enjoyed the twentieth century historical romances she’s written lately, and now, this new standalone, We Could Be So Good, which is, well, just So. Very. Good. It’s set in New York in 1959, and charts the development of the…
The winner of multiple awards, Malinda Lo’s Last Night at the Telegraph Club is the beautifully written narration of a young Chinese-American teen’s queer coming-of-age in 1954 California. The story is set in a richly depicted Chinese-American San Francisco of the 1930s through 1950s, including flashbacks to LIly’s parents and her aunt, whose career working…
I’ve been on a LaVyrle Spencer reading kick recently. I was in the mood for something quiet, emotional and deeply immersive, and Spencer’s books nearly always deliver in that regard. Her last published novel, Then Came Heaven, was an interesting read in many ways, but didn’t have the romantic depth of her previous work. In…
Fearne Hill’s Two Tribes is a funny, touching and heartrending romance set across three decades in which we follow two teenagers from the Midlands as they fall in love (think Heartstopper but with class differences and a lot more snark and swearing!), are separated by circumstance and reunite twenty-five years later. It’s beautifully written with…
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