Fiction Friday - a catch up

So I totally failed at rounding up January's reads. My excuse is I was so focused on getting Theory Unproven back out and available for you to purchase that I just didn't get the time.

I finished the last post with Hazel Takes Over. From their I moved on to one of Dreamspinner's Dreamspun Desire titles. The few of these I've already read are pure 'fantasy' romance (as opposed to fantasy/romance, which I'll come to in a moment), full of romance tropes, instalove, and work out perfectly endings. They're akin to gay Mills and Boon (Harlequin for those of you across the pond) but that is their point; if you want realism and angst-ridden stories then move along, because these are books are unapologetically sappy. Enough with the summing up of the DS line, which title did I read:

The Duke in Hiding by MJ O'Shea - Fits the lines brief perfectly. And managed to make me cry. My only complaint (apart from a bit of miscommunication that annoyed me) was that we didn't get enough time with Theo at the end before the big moment. I'd have like the reactions of his friends, and a more public declaration.

Now on to some fantasy/romance (see, I told you it was coming). Pirates of Fathoms Deep by Megan Derr. The first book in this series, The High King's Golden Tongue, was one of my favourite reads last year. If anything this one is even better; a pirate and a one-eyed captain of the guard, second chances, a plot, and, of course, a King that nobody pays any heed to, despite his gruff and bluster. And this series has some glorious covers. I mean, look at this one.

Suffering from a serious book hangover after this one I decided to try something completely different. Deadpool's Art of War. Overall the story was meh, with Deadpool playing devils advocate to increase sales of his new book by starting a war between Thor and Loki that ended up including a whole host of Marvel characters. There were some excellent moments though and worth the read for those bright spots alone. And another title with Deadpool in (yes, he's everywhere at Marvel atm) Uncanny Avengers: Unity Vol 2. Better than volume one but I'm disappointed about the direction they are taking Hank Pym.

The Actor and the Earl by Rebecca Cohen. I've been sitting on this book for ages. Who knows why? It was excellent, with that constant low level worry that they might get found out and sentenced to the tower and execution. The rest of the series awaits (yay!) and I may even have a new book to beta *grins*

Have I only made it to reading day 23 Jan? *sigh* I read too much. Hah! No such thing... But I'll end this post here and bring you up to date next week. I'll leave you with a question.
The next book in Megan Derr's Tales of the High Court series, The Heart of the Lost Star, isn't due out until August. I don't know if I can wait that long. Is there any book that you just can't wait to read but have to because it's yet to be published?