Category Archives: contemporary

My January Reading Log

Posted on February 16, 2024 by Victoria Janssen

Fiction: Roux for Two by Aurora Rey was a cute, lowkey contemporary romance between a fat queer femme and a trans man. Chef Chelsea Boudreaux has just gotten her own show, which will be filmed in the small south Louisiana … Continue reading →

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My June Reading Log

Posted on July 14, 2023 by Victoria Janssen

Fiction: Witch King by Martha Wells only just came out, so I will avoid major spoilers, but it’s great. The worldbuilding is similar to the Raksura books in that there are different sentient species who interact, but except for the … Continue reading →

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My June 2022 Reading Log

Posted on July 11, 2022 by Victoria Janssen

Fiction: Aunty Lee’s Deadly Specials is second in this mystery series set in contemporary Singapore. Aunty Lee provides catering, including a dish that can be deadly if prepared improperly, and two people die after eating it. As you might imagine, … Continue reading →

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My April Reading Log

Posted on May 4, 2022 by Victoria Janssen

Fiction: Can’t Find My Way Home by Gwynne Garfinkle is a ghost story that’s also a period piece. Vividly set in mid-1970s New York City, it features Joanna Bergman, a young actress in a soap opera who’s developing an intense … Continue reading →

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My January Reading Log

Posted on February 11, 2022 by Victoria Janssen

Fiction: The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton is a bitingly satirical alternate Victorian England in which women have learned to make their houses fly, and of course have used this ability to become pirates, and also spend … Continue reading →

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Janet Mullany on Time Travel

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Victoria Janssen

Please welcome my guest, Janet Mullany! # Time Travel A woman wiser than myself—my agent—told me I had a contemporary voice and although I didn’t believe her, I gave it a shot and ended up with a two-book contract for … Continue reading →

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Academic Heroines

Posted on March 25, 2011 by Victoria Janssen

I wrote a post, “Undressing the Hero: Judith Ivory’s Untie My Heart” for Heroes and Heartbreakers that went live today. Now on to today’s topic. I don’t intend to make “unusual heroines” a weekly thing, but I do want to … Continue reading →

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Betty Neels, Outside of Time

Posted on January 5, 2011 by Victoria Janssen

I am not nearly the connoisseur of Betty Neels’ 134 novels as the gracious hostesses of specialist blog The Uncrushable Jersey Dress. But, having read about a half-dozen of her novels, I now venture to have some general thoughts on … Continue reading →

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Not a Marriage of Convenience

Posted on November 3, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

Why, yes, I’m still thinking about marriage of convenience plots. I like them. I’m finding this pondering of sub-genre to be extremely intellectually pleasing. Also, it’s helping me whittle down my to-be-read pile. I recently read Come Fly With Me … Continue reading →

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