What are you reading now?: March 14, 2026

Finishing up Snake-Eater. Just starting Inventing the Renaissance.

In as much as time is running out on the loan, Of Monsters and Mainframes just went to the head of the line. The Windfall Battleships will be read in parallel.

I didn't do much reading this week, but I have started The Kalevala. I'm enjoying it, but the plodding rhythm of trochaic tetrameter gets a little tiresome. (That's the same meter as The Song of Hiawatha.) I have to take it in small doses.

I seem to be having a slow start with Mother's Day, Muffins, and Murder by Sara Rosett

I took a break from The Heike Story, a long modern retelling of an ancient Japanese epic, to read The Rare Coin Score, the 9th entry in Richard Stark's (a.k.a. Donald Westlake) guiltily entertaining crime series, Parker. Now I'm back to ancient Japan.

The Belle of Chatham by Laura Frantz
The author's new novel set in New Jersey during the American Revolution. An author's note follows the end of the story and a map of the area is included.

Well I promised myself I wasn't ever going to post, "I'm still reading Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr." again but here I am. I'm so close to the end though!

Red, White & Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston
Digital audiobook performed by Ramon de Ocampo
3***

From the book jacket: When his mother became President of the United States, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. His image is millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There’s only one problem: Alex has a beef with an actual prince, Henry. And when tabloids get hold of an Alex/Henry altercation, US/British relations take a turn for the worse. Heads of family and state devise a plan: stage a truce between the two rivals.

My reactions
Just a lovely MM romance! Follows the typical trope of enemies-to-lovers, but with a political twist. Because an outed romance between these two scions of important families could derail their respective family’s plans, and cause an international scandal.

I really liked both these characters. Henry was, as he was trained, much more reserved and cautious. Alex is reluctant at first but embraces the ruse to help his mother and his own political ambitions. Their initial emails and texts are typical of a budding friendship … beginning with basics as they play along with the ruse, but then getting more personal as they learn more about each other.

Of course the path to true love is not always easy, especially when wrapped in the political and international-relations hoopla these two must endure. But that all adds to the tension. Still these two face the world with the confidence that comes from truly loving one another.

Ramon de Ocampo does a fine job of narrating the audiobook. He sets a good pace and has clear diction, and he’s able to give each character a sufficiently unique voice so there’s no confusion about who is speaking.

Two Truths and a Murder
Colleen Cambridge
4/5 stars
I picked this up at the library not knowing it was a series. However, I found it enjoyable. Phyllida Bright is the housekeeper for Agatha Christie and she becomes involved in the murder of Ethel, one of the party members. Mystery

The new thread is up over here.