Happy New Year 2026 everyone – may this year bring good things to us all.
Every year, I look back at my reading and pick some favorite books to share (in no particular order.) I did a lot of re-reading this year – when I need comfort reads, I turn to familiar favorites. But there were some books that I read for the first time that stood out, and became new favorites.
Copper Script by KJ Charles.
KJ Charles once again gives me characters I empathize with in a fascinating historical mystery story. Both veterans of WWI, these two men meet when Aaron, the Detective Sargent, follows up a complaint by his cousin Paul against a graphologist, who promises to tell a person’s character from their handwriting. Joel told Paul’s fiancee he was unfaithful, based on his handwriting. She then broke the marriage off. Paul admits the man was right, but something has to be fishy – how could he know?
Aaron resolves to test Joel. He expects to get the kind of meaningless broad statements a horoscope or fortune teller might come out with. Instead, Aaron is stunned by how accurate Joel’s readings are. There must be a trick, but he can’t figure out what. And he’s driven to keep going back, not only to figure out this improbable skill, but because he wants Joel in every way a queer man of that era can possibly have him. Gay sex is a prison offense, so Aaron, with his strict moral code, has been doing without for years. With Joel, that resolve just isn’t strong enough.
I put this on my paranormal shelf, because the handwriting samples speak to Joel in ways that are really too accurate and too specific to be just self-taught. Joel’s ability is uncanny, but the rest of the story is grounded in a historical context.
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Fire Season by KD Casey
I enjoyed all of this author’s baseball books. They stand alone, but do share minor characters. This is slow burn, friends to lovers, with the big obstacle being the homophobia of professional sports, but a lot of rep for substance abuse (Reid is a recovering alcoholic) and Charlie’s anxiety. I also love a Jewish main character where his identity gives the story an added dimension. It’s clear the author knows baseball, and the team and player elements feel authentic. (This one is third person present, both POVs.)
Reid screwed up his life and his pitching career with his drinking. He has a chance with the Elephants, but he has to pitch well and not drink and not screw it up, to not end up traded or back in the minors. He’s not sure he can do that. Charlie is a star pitcher for the team. In public, he has it all- a great career, a lovely wife, lots of money. In private, he’s separated from his wife and about to divorce, anxious to the point of panic attacks, and revising everything he knows about himself.
I really liked both these characters. They had real challenges and reasons for self-doubts. They were warm and sweet together, and I was cheering for their HEA.
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Oyster by Fearne Hill
Nico is an oyster farmer, working with his father and younger brother to raise and harvest shellfish for fine French restaurants. One evening at work, they spot a drunk young woman in a white dress courting hypothermia, lying at the ocean’s edge. Nico is the one to go help her, while the other two finish their work. And to his shock, he recognizes her face. He knows her as Etienne, a top football (soccer) star in the mens’ league.
But having met her as her true self, he sees who she really is. Her personality when allowed to be Eti instead of Etienne is like a brilliant bird let out of a cage. Nico is smitten. But he’s also a young man whose mother is dying of breast cancer – the joy of a new relationship and the agony of that impending loss pull him back and forth.
I was charmed by Eti, and delighted by a book where the trans woman was the star around whom all the rest orbited. While I wanted to realistically see more ambivalence, at the same time I loved seeing a trans MC find love and family and support. This was beautiful and swoony and romantic, and sometimes I’m in the mood to read that, even if the real world is a more complicated and gritty place.
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Oak King, Holly King by Sebastian Nothwell
A tale of a man and a fae, who come together to solve a tangled web of both human and fae issues, and find love doing so. I have enjoyed the historical stories of Sebastian Nothwell. This historical fantasy, set in 1867, has the same attention to historical detail and authentic feel in the extensive parts set in the human realm. And adds a lushly described fantasy world that held my attention in every detail.
Shrike, known to all as Butcher to hide his true name, won a tournament but instead of a true reward he was named the next Oak King. That sets the span of his coming life at six months, for the Kings die true deaths and do not rise, however resilient the fae may be. When he sets out with a magic spell to find help to resist his fate, he is led to a simple human law clerk in a tiny office in London. Wren doesn’t seem like a man who could stand against a fae queen’s wishes, but Shrike trusts his magic.
The story runs the two lines, in London and in the fae Realm, weaving in and out as Wren meets and later travels with Shrike, but always returns to his job and the problems of humans. I was never confused or irritated by the juxtaposition, and was eager to see what happened in both those plot threads. Wren and Shrike fall for each other fairly quickly, and the conflict is all external to the relationship, which I enjoy — a theme of us against the world. Or in this case, worlds. The ending was satisfying and plausible, and I would happily read other forays into fantasy from this author.
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Goaltender Interference by Ari Baran
This story of two hockey players at the end of their careers once again displays, as an underpinning, the damage societal homophobia does to people, including pro athletes. It could stand alone, despite being in the same world as the previous books. Aiden and Matt were in love ten years ago. For five years, playing on opposing teams, they had hoarded brief moments together, spent their summers wrapped up in each other, and played the best hockey they could. But when Matt got serious, Aiden got scared and broke things off. Coming out in the major hockey league wasn’t something he could imagine doing.
That breakup damaged both of them, reverberating through their lives for the next decade as Matt got quickly married, then divorced. As Aiden retreated into a solitude wrapped entirely around hockey.
Then Aiden retired, and he’s lost, depressed, spiraling without hockey to give his life meaning. Until Matt comes back into his life. Aiden is pretty clearly autistic, with his fixations, his Routine, and his difficulties socially. Despite the pain of the breakup, Matt can’t help still loving him, but love doesn’t cure depression. I adored this story and liked that therapy was part of Aidan’s healing. These guys desperately needed to talk, but they were hockey players. A multiple reread already – I love this author’s hockey world and characters.
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Worth the Wait by CF White
This is the first book in a series I am very much enjoying about first responders in a small town in the UK. PC Freddie Webb has lived in his small town all his life. Once, in his teens, it was a place of wonder as he and Nathan Carter figured out what they might mean to each other. But then Nathan got a girl pregnant, pulled back, left for the military, and never got in touch again. Freddie joined the police force and he does good work; he likes his town, even though drugs and crime are encroaching on it, and he has dated. Men. He’s not hiding who he is. But none of them were ever Nathan, with his rough edges and his hurts and his magnetic pull. The schoolteacher Freddie is dating now is sweet and kind, and should be a great boyfriend, but doesn’t make Freddie excited about anything.
Then Nathan Carter comes back to his hometown with Alfie, the 14-year-old son he now has custody of, hoping for a fresh start. When Freddie arrests Alfie for fighting, and Nathan is called to the station, it’s the reunion the two men have been thinking about since they were eighteen. But it also puts them on opposite sides of the law, with the potential for worse to come.
This book is full of yearning, for Nathan to help his son, for Freddie to reconnect with the man he never forgot, for Nathan to be open to love he figured would never be his lot. The second-chances romance is powerful and the sex is hot. (These days I skim a lot of sex scenes, but I read these.) The HFN ending is solid, but I recommend the series.
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Mr. Collins in Love by Lee Welch
This is a sweet, slow, warm story that despite the nod to Pride & Prejudice reads just fine on its own. Mr. Collins is a rector whose patroness has given him a living, some property, a quiet and comfortable life with a couple of servants who don’t trouble his peace. Until the moment she decides he must wed, as befits his position.
William Collins has deep and unrelenting anxiety about doing or saying the wrong thing. His entire thought processes are caught up all day long on whether he is meeting the expectations of others, with the strong suspicion he is not, no matter how hard he tries. He’s only been able to relax and be himself once, in his boyhood, around the gardener’s boy Jem, who called him Willie, and showed him peace and kindness. Everyone else is a judge, a criticism, a person he must please despite his failings. So when a grown-up Jem shows up at the rectory, looking for work, William is overjoyed. But mustn’t show it, or be too familiar, or say the wrong thing around others. Gradually, as Jem works in his garden, they find that ease with each other again in stolen moments.
But Mr. Collins still must get married, to a woman, and bring her into his home. There appears to be no way out.
William is likely autistic, has crippling social anxiety, but a kind and honest heart. And big, sweet Jem is the man he needs and deserves. But this is 1811, and there is no way for two men to be together, and so the book is full of sweetness and poignancy and anxiety. The end is as HEA as one could hope, in this situation, and I was charmed, all the way through.
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Even Strength by Cari Z. & Ann Gallagher
Hockey player Marek and MMA fighter Carson have three things in common. They’re both recovering from a traumatic head injury, they are both athletes wondering when and how they’ll be able to resume climbing the ranks in their sports, and they’re both attracted to men. Those commonalities bring them together. The concussions and symptoms don’t make it easy, though.
Nor does Marek’s shaky relationship with his father or Carson’s issues with a fight organization reluctant to cover his medical bills.
I liked both these guys and the realistic challenges they faced. I appreciated that concussions made sex something they had to wait for, that their recoveries were a work in progress, that therapy was part of the package. The handling of significant head injuries and their impact felt very well balanced. And I liked the ending that didn’t wrap things into too perfect of a bow.
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Love It or List It by Ashlyn Kane & Morgan James
This is my favorite of this year’s Holiday-ish stories. The focus here is only tangentially on the holiday, as tree-care-specialist Joe, and mechanic Austin, are brought together when an eccentric old lady who liked them both leaves them each half ownership of her big house.
Austin was a foster kid and he’s built a car-repair business that manages to stay solvent, while he lives above it. He’s proud of what he’s accomplished, but has been very alone. Joe comes from a big, well-off Italian family, but he’s also proud of the tree-trimming and landscaping business he’s created. But neither one is well off, so this gift landing in their laps is a bit awkward.
Except Joe is a big-brother-dad to a quartet of local teens whom he’s supported as additional (and in some cases only supporting) family since he was their swim instructor. Austin’s soft heart can’t help adopting an injured dog and a trio of kittens. As they cram all this found family into the house at times, working together and teasing and sharing difficult times, they are creating something they’ll find hard to walk away from.
The real strength of this book (whose “just talk to each other goddammit” vibe normally is not my jam) lies in the wonderful interactions of characters, the teens who are sometimes helpful and sometimes trouble, the little and big life stresses that come along, and the two MCs – men who, under their insecurities, love without asking for return. These two are such good guys, you have to cheer for them, (while occasionally agreeing with the gaggle of teens.)
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A shout out here to Hudson River Homicides – Momento Mori #4 by CS Poe.
Do not start with this book. This series absolutely must be read in order. But if you like unusual characters, slow burn, the gradual uncovering of past trauma and inner strength, wrapped up in fascinating mysteries, do check out book 1 – Madison Square Murders. Meet Detective Everett Larkin, a fascinating man who is neurodivergent, post-head-trauma, and has a lot of quirks to go with his brilliance. And Ira Doyle, a forensic artist whose warmth and patience are a good match for Larkin. A series of murders with underlying threads run through these stories.
Here, for those reading the series, in book 4, we get Larkin finally moving beyond the oppression of his memories and looking forward, at least now and then. And we get to see under the veil of Doyle’s sweet open heart to the pain of his past. And we are tagged at the end to know that our bad guy is still at large, so the series will continue. I will preorder the next one sight unseen. So well done.
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I read a lot of other good books, including some 5-star reads, but these stood out the most for me. I hope some of you enjoy them too.
And I have to give a shout out to the Crave TV series for Heated Rivalry – that hockey romance series by Rachel Reid is a longtime favorite reread. (I’m a big fan of hockey romances in general, and Reid’s in particular.)
When I love a book, I’m always leery of how it will be translated to the screen. But this adaptation by Jacob Tierney is masterful. So true to the books (with minor exceptions) and all my favorite moments and lines are there, some of them polished to an even brighter, sharper shine. Awesome casting – both leads blew me away, particularly Connor Storrie as Ilya (his Russian is impeccable, his acting gives us all Ilya’s layers of arrogance and playfulness and confidence and pain and vulnerability and love in entirely believable ways) but also Hudson Williams as Shane (with facial acting that somehow conveys Shane’s thoughts and inner turmoil while being true to his autistic identity.) I also want to call out the cinematography, and the music, that deeply enhance the story.
I got HBO Max just to watch this series and it was more than worth it – the best kind of comfort viewing of a top favorite given new life.
If you’ve been debating this one, worried about how a favorite book might be mangled, let me reassure you. So well done, so true and respectful to the written material. I’m thrilled to see it move into the wider world (including on the jumbotrons at hockey games, and in the music played in arenas) and cannot wait for season 2, whenever we get it (2027, probably.)
And for those looking for more hockey books while you wait, may I suggest:
All the books by Taylor Fitzpatrick (low spice, awesome relationships – try “You Could Make a Life.“)
“Breakaway” by Avon Gale and the rest of the Scoring Chances series (first book is lighter, the series gets more angsty)
“Winging It” by Ashlyn Kane and Morgan James
“Point Shot” trilogy by VL Locey – the biggest asshole character with a dark past
“Love and Other Inconveniences” by Katherine Cloud (fade to black)
“Penalty Box” series by Ari Baran – angsty sexy goodness
“Harrisburg Railers” series by RJ Scott and VL Locey
“Hockey Bois” by AL Heard (rec league hockey)
“Rebound” “Brick Walls”and others by LA Witt
“Like Real People Do” by EL Massey (New adult, sweet no sex)
Brigham Vaughn’s “Relationship Goals” series – fake to real relationships (And “Rules of the Game” series)
“Breakaway” Taylor McNiff
If you haven’t also read “Time to Shine” by Rachel Reid I love that one (lower sex)
“Him” and “Us” by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy
“The Understatement of the Year” by Sarina Bowen
“CU Hockey” series by Eden Finley and Saxon James (College hockey)
“Poetry in Motion” or “Home and Away” by Samantha Wayland
“Keeping Casey” and others by Amy Aislin
“Hearts on Ice” Denver Shaw