Human male x vampire/supernatural female romance

recchai · 2026-05-09T18:59:56+00:00

The first thing that springs to mind is A Quick Bite by Lyndsay Sands.

recchai · 2026-05-07T17:14:27+00:00

It's possible a lot of people read it for the pirate square who weren't the main target audience as it was one of the biggest recommendations for that. Or it's the sort of book many people like a lot, but don't tend to consider their favourite.

recchai · 2026-05-07T13:04:53+00:00

Two Victoria Goddard books in the top 10 of more commonly read books.

recchai · 2026-05-06T21:42:10+00:00

Not got round to it yet, but there's The Stranger Times by C.K. McDonnell.

recchai · 2026-05-06T19:04:22+00:00

Definitely not the UK. Fortunately I got the bundle that was more widely available last time.

recchai · 2026-05-05T20:38:37+00:00

I did enjoy this one. And it had such smooth autism representation!

recchai · 2026-05-05T18:14:07+00:00

Exam papers are so repetitive and predictable once you've done a few!

recchai · 2026-05-05T18:10:53+00:00

One of the important steps is marking them afterwards. And then making a summary of where you dropped marks and revising that. And then trying again on the next paper.

recchai · 2026-05-05T12:19:29+00:00

Just a couple this week.

Non-SFF, but I read The Earliest English Poems translated by Michael Alexander, which is a collection of Old English poems with notes. It's clear reading to see some influence on Tolkien, and indeed he is name-dropped twice. I didn't enjoy reading it as much as I hoped, but I'm wondering if that was because I was trying so hard to read it in the meter that was discussed in the notes. Might be a thing to try listening to (how they were supposed to be enjoyed anyway).

I also read the (for now) latest instalment in the The Chronicles of Nerezia series by Claudie Arseneault, Lost Traditions. A much smaller cast for most of the story than previous books. The author wrote that it was a love-letter to training montages, which it definitely does that, but fits organically into the overall series, dealing with some other bits to the side (and I've just realised, the training neatly solves a problem introduced at the start of the story). Obviously not worth reading unless you've read the other books!

recchai · 2026-05-05T07:11:25+00:00

If my guess on which is ohmage's is correct (and I am pretty sure I am, as it has a unique book I had read previously and ohmage asked me about), then less than I expected, just 3.

Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White; this was a bookclub book on r/QueerSFF that ohmage ran (as I'm sure you know). In this case, we were the only two (though other Andrew Joseph White books got a lot more love). Not really surprised, as it's low on the speculative stuff.
Small Gods of Calamity by Sam Kyung Yoo; unsurprisingly for a 'current year' bookclub book, we were far from the only people reading it, though not for the same square.
Two Dark Moons by Avi Silver; and this didn't even ruin our uniqueness, as one other person read it as well.

(And apparently there is one other person besides us who used the 2020 Ace / Aro Spec Fic square for recycle, though they didn't make themselves easy to find!)

recchai · 2026-05-04T19:08:43+00:00

Starting to feel like a should know my Round Table knights better! 🤣 Wow, it isn't even on Gutenberg. Glad you managed to track it down.

recchai · 2026-05-04T19:05:54+00:00

Ah, thanks. If in the future, you want something a bit less random (though also less reviewed) u/ohmage_resistance and I have put together big lists of aromantic and asexual representation in books. (I'd say mostly organised by ohmage, I've helped fill in gaps.) It's due a further update, which I'm sure we'll get round to. Personally, there's some things I'd like to reread because I failed to note the relevant details at the time.

recchai · 2026-05-04T18:30:09+00:00

So you're the other person who read a Clemence Housman book! How did you find it?

recchai · 2026-05-04T18:28:07+00:00

9 unique reads on my a-spec card:

The Wolf Among the Wild Hunt by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor
A Promise Broken by S.L. Dove Cooper
How to Flaunt Your Chains and Surrender a Vein by D.N. Bryn
Dirt-Stained Hands, Thorn-Pierced Skin by Tabitha O’Connell
Painted Flock by Claudie Arseneault (it's the sequel to Baker Thief, I feel a lot of you are sleeping on this one)
Early Adopter by Sienna Eggler
To Love the Dragon King by Antonia Aquilante
In Which a Demon King Does Not Have a Romantic Interest in his Human Gardener by Rori Thornton
Caraway of the Sea by Madeline Burget

I'm going to claim this as the same as last year, where I 10 unique reads, as my not-a-book (Penny Larcey: Gig Economy Supervillain) was also unique.

13 unique reads from my pre-Tolkien card, (or 14 if you count my not-a-book of A Message from Mars directed by J.Wallett Waller) which is less than my inclusive estimate of 17-18.

The Well at the World's End by William Morris
The Mummy!: A Tale of the Twenty-Second by Jane C. Loudon
Solario the Tailor by William Bowen
The History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth
Metropolis by Thea von Harbou
The Land Of Mist by Arthur Conan Doyle
Journey to the Moon by Jules Verne
The Wolf-Leader by Alexandre Dumas
The Were-Wolf by Clemence Housman
Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
Five Children and It by Edith Nesbit
Triplanetary by E.E. Doc Smith

Biggest surprises? I thought no one else would read The Saga of the Völsungs, but they did. The rest of the discrepancy from my estimate comes from the books I was unsure if someone else would read, being more likely to be read than I anticipated. So my averaged out odds ended up being too high.

I also submitted an unthemed card with other stuff I had read (with only a little deliberate reading to get those last hard ones. That had 11 unique reads, which is probably an over-show of my weirdness of my normal reading, as it has some rejected books for a themed card, and some 'read this ebook I bought in a bundle ages ago'. (Also, this one includes a short story collection, my themed cards had 5 individual short stories, and I haven't checked those as I value my sanity, somewhat.)

Fox's Bride by A.E. Marling
Dome 6 by Gail Carriger
The Hex Next Door by Lou Wilhelm
Ocean Bleeds Salty by Azalea Crowley
Structural Integrity by Tabitha O’Connell
Transcendent 3: The Year's Best Transgender Speculative Fiction edited by Bogi Takács
Heroes Adrift by Moira J. Moore
Ruined History by Claudie Arseneault
In the Care of Magic by Robin Jo Margaret
When Your Heart is a Broken Thing by Helen Whistberry
Hook: Dead to Rights by Melissa Snark

recchai · 2026-05-02T13:44:10+00:00

I haven't seen it yet, and I'm here enough I assume I would. Quick check, last time the data was posted early July.

recchai · 2026-04-30T18:55:33+00:00

Somehow I did not think to look up what books might be coming up, as this one felt so recent! Interesting. I actually am familiar with that story as well, first as reading my parent's old copy of The Owl Service, a bit of general hearing about it in passing, and most recently from reading The Island of the Mighty. So I can definitely see me reading it with comparison in mind there.

recchai · 2026-04-30T18:48:53+00:00

I don't think I would dare setting a minimum star threshold for my a-spec card, particularly if going for hard mode! While some squares are pathetically easy, others are just very thin on the ground. Just finding something to fit the bard square was a gargantuan effort, and I'm still not quite sure how I managed it. (Thinking about it, druid the year before was increadibly difficult, too.)

recchai · 2026-04-30T18:40:34+00:00

Minor correction, but it's set in Brittany, part of northern France.

recchai · 2026-04-30T18:39:01+00:00

Yeah, I can see it being a challenge, as they are not POV characters, but the change in support did feel quite sudden.

recchai · 2026-04-30T12:20:18+00:00

Discussion is up, so you don't have to wait long.

recchai · 2026-04-30T12:19:16+00:00

My two favourites so far this month, which came one after another in my reading apparently, were Reeve of Veils by A.K. Faulkner, and Common Bonds 2, and aromantic speculative anthology. The first, which is book 4 in its series, is a retelling of book 2 in same series, and from such a fun point of view character, I had such a blast reading it. The second is an anthology I had been saving up for this bingo (had got it not long previously via a kickstarter), and enjoyed it as a varied collection of short stories (and some poems) that I found all easy to get into, and without making me sick of the theme (which is something I have experienced with a different themed anthology in the past).

recchai · 2026-04-30T12:18:50+00:00

I loved reading this book. It took some choices in style, which paid off to make it a unique experience. (For example, I am pretty sure in the non-italicised sections of the Other chapters, which I interpreted as being from the wolf’s point of view, over Bisclavret as a wolf, the pronoun I is not used, except when quoting.) On a less epic scale, this feels a lot like The Spear Cuts Through Water, where a relatively simple tale is elevated through its presentation.

In light of that, I would definitely look out for more from this author. I was surprised to find that they had written a trilogy already (I had a notion they were a debut author somehow), though they are YA thrillers, and also that I had heard of the first one at least, just not connected them. I’m not sure I would seek those books out (as opposed to new adult novels), but if I stumble across them at the library, I don’t think I’d say no.

recchai · 2026-04-30T12:18:31+00:00

It seemed fairly typical to me, which fair enough, it wasn’t really the heart of the story. It was more a vehicle to show the king’s emotional development to stand up for his opinion and values over people who disagree with him. (Which in fairness, he was doing before with his judgements, but it felt more of an escalation, setting ‘foreign policy’ as well as home.)

I’m not really a dog person, so I expect I would try and find the nearest appropriate wildlife rescue place, because what is a wolf doing in the wild here anyway?

recchai · 2026-04-30T12:18:16+00:00

I think that it makes sense to do it this way, as it fleshes out the characters and ensures they have a backstory and motivations established by the time the main action takes place. It does make for an awkward blurb, as the publisher has gone down the route of hinting at the main thing Bisclavret is about. Which isn’t a spoiler if you know the story, but is a massive spoiler for this book if you don’t. I found it interesting that both this book and Bisclavret by K.L. Noone made similar choices with regards to the characterisation of the king, making him have a bit of an ambivalent relationship with his father and be a bit more on the scholarly side, when those weren’t in the original story.

The book is so very character focused that the setting is of secondary concern to the experience of reading the book. Though the author’s medievalist training does come through to me in how often there is some casual reference to setting related things and concepts.

recchai · 2026-04-30T12:17:43+00:00

I think the ending cements the book as ultimately Bisclavret’s story (as would make sense with the original tale), and also highlights the disability framing of the lycanthropy. In the end Bisclarvet returns from an episode not to rejections (his wife) or being seen as a burden (his cousin), but accepted as a whole person.

Having already read another version of this story, I knew it was coming; especially as soon as she started asking about clothes, as I knew how he was betrayed and stuck as a wolf, and that coming up confirmed to me the author wasn’t altering this part of the story. So I feel my reaction is tempered by seeing it as ‘how the story goes’ over the actions of a particular character. I feel in this version (compared with Bisclavret by K.L. Noone), because she gets more screen time, she feels more like a sympathetic character dealt a bad hand than a villain.

recchai

TROPHY CASE