My Goodreads Review for The Red River Slayer by Katie Mettner (Plus a few more notes!)

The Red River Slayer is the third book in the Secure One series, but could be read alone (although if you do, I’d recommend going back to read the previous two.) I couldn’t put this installment of the series down! This book focuses on the relationship of Charlotte and Mack, and their personal backgrounds. However, there is much more as there are mysteries to solve and lives to save! Who is the woman who washed up on Senator Dorian’s edge of the Mississippi? Who is the Red River Slayer? How are they connected? Secure One is on the job. It is quite an adventure.

I read this book as an ARC provided to me by the author. I discovered Mettner’s books at the beginning of 2023 when I searched for romances with disability representation. Most of her books include such representation well, The Red River Slayer included.

I am adding on to add that Katie Mettner sent me an autographed copy of this book, as it was very recently published and put out for sale. Her messages are that inclusive romance matters and that “Disabled romance IS romance.” The Secure One series is under the imprint of Harlequin Intrigue. Mack one of the main characters in this book has drop-foot, and wears braces. I think I liked this one in particular because part of the reason I wear AFOs is for drop-foot.

Going Rogue in Red Rye County by Katie Mettner

Going Rogue in Red Rye County is the first of a three book series for Harlequin’s Intrigue imprint. Katie Mettner, a Wisconsin writer who has been trying to get disability representation more in the mainstream in the romance genre, has accomplished this with this exciting story! Mina, an FBI agent, has been on the run for a while after an undercover mission went wrong. Now, her ex-partner has found her, her never healed foot/ankle injury is getting worse, and the other “side” of the under cover mission is coming close to finding her. Things are becoming even more mysterious.

It was a fun and quick read for me! I was most attracted to the cover to be honest, when I ordered the kindle version a few months before the release date. I’ve worn boots like Mina’s frequently over many years due to many emergent and chronic injuries, and found it easier to relate to her as a character. Again, disability representation and language is extremely important to me. It is also important that books like this make it into stores, as this one did, so that people who don’t know that such books exist learn differently! I plan to read the next two books in this series as they are released.

I linked to Katie Mettner’s site in my previous post. She recently send me a sticker for my half-birthday that I may put on my wheelchair! Will add a photo soon.

It is Disability Pride Month!

In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed, while more amendments were passed in 2008. (I was actually unknowingly a part of this community much earlier than I realized due to allergies and asthma, and undiagnosed Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, part of the collection of Connective Tissue Disorders.) The first Disability Pride parades were held in 1990.

I have seen posts encouraging people to read and celebrate works by disabled authors during the month of July. However, I try to read them when I find them, they are available to me, and keep my ADHD influenced interest. I will try to post about others I have read in the last few years, this month.

Earlier this year, on the first day of January, I wanted to read some light, fluffy romance. However, I am rather done with the Amish romance genre, and have been for some time. So I looked up “disabled romance” and found the works of Katie Mettner! She is an #ownvoices, disabled, Wisconsin author, and her books hit the right place for what I needed this winter. I have read approximately 18 of her titles now. They are generally not too long, but just long enough, especially if part of a series. Most, if not all, contains characters with disabilities/conditions of various descriptions. These disabilites/conditions are not plots in the books for the most part. I will discuss a few of my favorites.

Link To Katie Mettner’s website/list of books: https://www.katiemettner.com/series.html

I recently finished The Sugar Series, which I think was her first, but I didn’t read it first! I read the Snowberry series first, one a day or so. Then I read The Bell’s Pass series, which I enjoyed even more if I am honest. The first book features a character who is the town’s engineer, who is occasionally inconvenienced by severe Asthma. As some with nearly life-long asthma, I thrilled with the representation! (There will be one more book coming out in the Bell’s Pass series, later this year.)

I really enjoyed Butterflies and Hazel Eyes, the first of two books in the Butterfly Junction series. I had trouble putting it down. Charity has travelled the country as a computer security expert, and now she has a mystery to solve at Butterfly Junction, located on the shores of Lake Superior, where she meets Gulliver Winsome, one of the owners/researcher of Butterfly Junction. Between the mystery and the disability representation that I connected with (Gulliver uses forearm crutches and braces), this was a very memorable read, and one I am likely to recommend.

Mettner’s second most recent release is Going Rogue in Red Rye County, book one of the Secure One Series for Harlequin books. I really enjoyed this one, because it was a fast read, action, romance, and a disabled main character. She wears a boot so she can function in most of the book. Again, I related with that part, at least. I wear an aircast boot at least once yearly due to multiple sprains, subluxations, tendinitis, etc. (EDS is frustrating at the best of times.) I look forward to the next book in the series.

An Article on Disability Representation in Children’s Literature

The Current State of Disability Representation in Children’s Books

100 Days of Sunlight by Abbie Emmons

I actually liked this book enough to read it all the way through, and I borrowed it from the library because it appeared on a list for teens that include various disabilities. I have been trying to read more depictions of disability in literature.

In this book, Tessa is temporarily blind due to a special type of concussion, and it could take 100 days to resolve. The second main character is Weston, and he is a double leg amputee of three years who decided he wants to help Tessa. He lost his legs in doing a stunt he should not have done (13 year old kids aren’t always known for their good decision making skills.) This story is ultimately a romance, but both Tessa and Wes are still working through their feelings.

My main issue with this book is the language used. Weston persistently uses the word “handicap.” I am going to to be honest. As a disabled person, I cannot tolerate the use of this word due to its implications (beggar’s hat in hand.) How did the author come to use this word? There is a section where Weston gets up the courage to explain that he wasn’t a handicap, but that he had a handicap. I thing this was supposed to be very powerful, but the use of this word, this term, irked me so much, and rather dimmed the specialness of the story for me.

It was interesting that Weston’s best friend Rudy used the word disability later on in the story. This gave me to hope to keep on reading. I wanted to see Weston adopt this term, too. I was sorely disappointed.

This all said, I do understand that each individual is unique, and maybe Wes feels handicapped as opposed to disabled. It just ground on my nerves.

I liked Tessa, but didn’t feel like I, the reader, really got to know her very well. She is homeschooled and blogs her poetry. She goes to church with her grandparents. She chats with online friends.

The sequel isn’t available in my library system. I think we learn more about Tessa in it. I would also like to see Weston change his self-language. (Again, “handicap” feel like ableism.)

Overall, I recommend this book. The switches in perspective were well done, and very clear so no confusion. It was engaging enough that I didn’t have to desire to just jump to the end. I would like to my 12 year old to read it, but of course, since I suggested it, he automatically turned down!

Still Here!

I am still around. I haven’t updated, honestly, because shortly after my last post in 2017, I found out I was pregnant! Surprise! Truly surprised as we didn’t think it could happen for us anymore the ‘old-fashioned way.’

I have read some good books lately such as: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. Finding Balance by Kati Gardner. Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling. Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram. And more that I am having trouble recalling the titles at the moment.

Also, in 2019, I started reading fanfiction. Yes, I have read various fanfiction off and on for 20 years, but I started reading it much more often in the fall of 2019. I then said, “Hey, if other people can write fanfic, so can I!” So I did!

For years I liked Anne of Green Gables fanfic, which I felt comfortable with because L.M. Montgomery was/is dead. I tended to stay with dead writers and tv show fanfiction. Until one night, I was bored and had insomnia. I was sucked into Harry Potter (I was already a fan of the original works), and have never entirely gotten back out! There is always new stuff, and good stuff. My next post will contain some of my favorite HP fanfic, as I need a way to keep track of it myself!

World Pizza by Cece Meng

The book opens with a family having a picnic, and the mother sees a wishing star.  She says, “I wish for world peace-ah, ah, ahchoo!”  A sneeze is sparked by a nearby tree. Her children think she’s said “world pizza” and apparently the wishing star does, too.  Peace is brought about, for at least a day, when people all over the world experience pizza dropping out of the sky.  It is enough to bring about momentary peace.

This is a great picture book not only for preschoolers, but also for school-aged children.

Big Girl by Kelsey Miller

This memoir is written by a young woman, a millenial born in the 1980s. Ms. Miller chronicles her relationship with food and the many diets she has tried over the years.  She has been all different sizes over the years. . . her closet is full of clothes, most of which don’t fit in the opening of this book.  She either exercises and diets like crazy, or has no urge to do anything and overeats.  It seems to be all one or the other.   Ultimately, the author decides not to follow any given diet at all anymore, and see how things go.

I enjoyed this book.  Miller is good and engaging writer.  It drew me in.  I wanted to keep reading.   As someone who is actually been all over the place weight-wise (in the last 15 years I have been between 139 and 208 lbs . . . and that’s not counting my two full-terms pregnancies – the highest I got was around 200 lbs with my first pregnancy, which means I gained just over 50 lbs during that pregnancy – a little much),  this book was definitely of personal interest.

A Heart Like Ringo Starr by Linda Oatman High

A Heart Like Ringo Starr by Linda Oatman High (2015)

Faith’s family runs a funeral home, which is kind of ironic because Faith is dying at age 16.  She does not want to die, and she is angry about this. She needs a heart transplant to live.   While she is waiting, a teen boy dies in a car wreck and her family’s funeral home handles the body, etc.   At about the same time, she gets the call:  there is a heart for her.  Come in immediately.

This novel is a quick read.  It is told in verse, and is very effective.  I highly recommend it to nearly everyone.

Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt (2015)  – Juvenile/Middle Grade Fiction

Ally is really very smart.  She’s made it through several years of school without anyone finding out that she cannot read.  She fakes, she jokes, and she disrupts her class to avoid being found out that she find reading extremely difficult.  Her new teacher is Mr. Daniels. He is perhaps more perceptive than her previous teachers.  He realizes that she has dyslexia, and starts working with her one on one.  He also shows her and the entire class that dyslexia is nothing to be ashamed of.  Ally also makes new friends and develops some of the closest friendships she has ever had in her life, so far.

This was a quite read for me (I am also not dyslexic.)  I would highly recommend it for students who feel different, and for those who would like to better understand dyslexia.  I did find myself frustrated with Ally in the beginning of the book, however.  Why didn’t she tell someone years earlier about all of the problems she was having?

Rating: Five of Five Stars
Summer Reading Online – Book 26 of 30