Reading list is in

Just wanted to quickly post the list of books chosen for my book club's July reading list.  It was a tough choice, but we decided on three new books by authors none of us had read - which was a miracle in itself! - so we'll all be on even footing this time.

Can't wait to get The Woodcutter.  I love to read the way people adapt fairytales, and this sounds so interesting.  Demon Hunting in Dixie was on my list until it got cut (I had too many), so I'm glad it popped up.  Finally What's a Witch to Do? - this is another book that I've looked at periodically - but never bought.  I think this should be a good cross-section of reading.  It's been absolutely freezing here the last couple of days - and nights! - that having a couple of books to read while nesting on the couch in a blanket is a good excuse to stay inside.

 

New books for book club?

not shown is the hot water bottle keeping my fingers warm ;-D

Too cold to stay online for long.  I'm just typing out the list for my book club meeting tomorrow, and the new list of books that I'd like to read.  There are some fabulous books coming out soon - or have come out recently - that I've had a hard time narrowing my list down!

I do have a top 10, and at the moment it looks like this:

June Book Club

After and extended, yet unitentional, hiatus from the Book Club we met yesterday to discuss the books chosen from our March list, and decide on this months titles. There were some great titles to choose from but in the end we settled on three:

• Better Homes and Haunting by Molly Harper
• Night of the Living Deed by E.J. Copperman, and
• Fright Court by Mindy Klasky

We wanted something light and fun to read this month, and I'm hoping that these all live up to their hype ;-D.  Hopefully I can avoid all reviews until I've finished reading them as I don't want any spoilers or negatives to influence my own opinions.

In the meantime, Happy Reading my lovelies!

Computer problems finally sorted out!

After years of having reception problems, I finally had to admit defeat with my current provider's broadband wi-fi, and sign up with a different carrier for ADSL.  So, with this my 'maiden voyage' on cable I thought I'd download all the updates, etc., that I've been unable to download for a little while now.  Probably not my most fabulous idea - and my laptop is not too impressed with the extra data - but finger's crossed it's going well so far ;-D

On the Book Club front, I've finished reading my ebook copy of Murder of Crows and will be posting the review ASAP.  In the meantime I bid you goodnight, and ...

Happy reading to all

My reading list for March

Finally had a meeting of the book club I belong to, and the three books chosen for March are:

Murder of Crows - Anne Bishop || Bitter Spirits - Jenn Bennett || A Study in Silks - Emma Jane Holloway

Can't wait to read them.  It's always nice to discover new authors, and I'm really looking forward to reading Ms. Holloway's titles.  Her cover art looks so interesting, and seriously, who can resist a little Steampunk ;-D

Recently finished Concealed in Death (ePub) and Oolong Dead (pbk), and will post reviews asap.  But until then,

Happy Reading

Book Club Summer reading list

Hi All!  With the Christmas season well under way, I was lucky to finally meet with my book club friend and decide what we will be reading over the Chrissie period.

First on the list was Curtsies and Conspiracies, Book 2 in Gail Carriger's Finishing School series.  Then after knocking back a few more titles, we finally  chose the first book in Lilith St. Crows series, Iron Wyrm Affair, and Phillipa Bornikova's 2nd book, Box Office Poison.

I'm hoping that I can get my hands on them soon for some good Summer reading.  My copy of Curtsies and Conspiracies is already winging it's way to me from Book Depository (great deal for only $5.05!), but I might have trouble getting my hands on Box Office Poison as I'm sure it's not available in paperback yet.  Perhaps I'll leave that one till last!

Review: The Goddess Test

The Goddess Test
A Goddess Test Novel, Book 1
Aimee Carter

Published: May 2011
Harlequin TEEN, paperback, 
ISBN: 978-0-373-21026-8
eISBN: 978-1-459-20169-9

File size: 364 KB

From the back cover...

It's always been just Kate and her mom--and her mother is dying. Her last wish? To move back to her childhood home. So Kate's going to start at a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear her mother won't live past the fall.

Then she meets Henry. Dark. Tortured. And mesmerizing. He claims to be Hades, god of the Underworld--and if she accepts his bargain, he'll keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests.

Kate is sure he's crazy--until she sees him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems crazily possible. If she succeeds, she'll become Henry's future bride, and a goddess. 

I'll keep this short and sweet, but what can I say.  This is one YA book that I could have done without reading.  I'm not saying that it was a terrible book, but the story of Persephone and Hades has been done oh so many times that this version just didn't grab me.  I much preferred the P.C Cast 'Goddess Summoning' series version.   What do you know, I think I've finally outgrown YA books ;-P

So, unless you're a massive YA fan, or absolutely a slave to mythology in fiction, then I'd skip this particular series.

And the postie delivers

Just a quick post today.  First time I've touched the laptop in nearly 2 weeks - I'm so bored - but my postie made my day by delivering the last of the books that I ordered.  Twice this week he's actually knocked on my door with the parcels!  Great service this week apparently...

So, tonight I will be diving into Fated by Benedict Jacka, followed by This Case is Gonna Kill Me by Phillipa Bornikova.  There is something about starting a journey with an author whose style you are unfamiliar with that is quite exciting.  However, I do have one reservation.  I hope that Fated isn't too much like the Dresden books.  That would be such a let down.

In the mean time, I'll finish watching MirrorMask - so delightfully twisted ;-D - and snuggle up with a hot water bottle (it's a miserable grey old day) and a hot cup of tea.

Happy reading this week!

June in Review

I hope your June was better than mine.  My right wrist has been aching for about 4 weeks now, so after one particularly painful episode, I made an appointment with the doctor.  It turns out that I have tendinitis in said wrist/forearm and to keep it strapped up and immobile for God knows how long.   As you could guess, this has severely limited my daily life, and has made typing on the laptop painful.  Therefore, I'll keep this short.

The last meeting of the book club went well.  Turns out we loved Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger - yeah! - however, The Goddess Test didn't get quite the same reaction (reviews to be posted later).  Then came the hard task of trying to select next month's reading material.  Turns out that there was one item on everyone's list...

So in the end, the reading list for July is:

Fated - Benedict Jacka

Tempest Rising - Nicole Peeler, and

The Reluctant Reaper - Gina X. Grant

In the mean time, I have to figure out how to keep myself sane now that the laptop is out of bounds, and holding onto a book for hours is painful.  This dilemma has given me the kick in the butt to delve into my stash of material kept hidden in the linen cupboard.  Now, surrounded by piles of beautiful fabric, I find myself mentally sorting through it all, designing quilts to make for family and friends.  I don't think I'm up for the sewing yet - I'm right handed! - but that hasn't stopped me from buying more material lately, so I think this winter I might ditch the knitting and crochet (too hard on the wrist), and think about some sewing instead...?

Happy reading!

New Titles for Book Club

It's taken me two days to get enough oomph in my WI-FI coverage just to blog without constant issues.  However, I'm excited to say that the second meeting of the Fangtastic Fiction Book Club met at my local library last Friday, and we spent a fabulous morning just chatting about books - it was great!

We then had the enormous task of trying to decide what to read in June.  It took us a while, but in the end it was decided that we shall be reading... {drum roll if you please}

The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger

I am looking forward to E&E - I loved the Parasol Protectorate series! - but I am not too sure about The Goddess Test.  For some reason we ended up with two books that are firmly in the YA section, but apart from the odd fabulous book, I've pretty much outgrown YA.  Who knows?  Perhaps The Goddess Test will be one of those stunning reads?   The other odd coincidence is that both books are the first in a series - a hint for later reading materials, perhaps?

Wish me luck, and happy reading!

Review - Dead on the Delta

Dead on the Delta 
Stacey Jay

Released: 31 May, 2011

Pocket Books, Mass Market, 400p.
ISBN: 9781439189863

From the author's website:

Once upon a time, fairies were the stuff of bedtime stories and sweet dreams. Then came the mutations, and the dreams became nightmares. Mosquito-size fairies now indulge their taste for human blood—and for most humans, a fairy bite means insanity or death.

Luckily, Annabelle Lee isn’t most humans. The hard-drinking, smart-mouthed, bicycle-riding redhead is immune to fairy venom, and able to do the dirty work most humans can’t. Including helping law enforcement— and Cane Cooper, the bayou’s sexiest detective—collect evidence when a body is discovered outside the fairy-proof barricades of her Louisiana town.

But Annabelle isn’t equipped to deal with the murder of a six-year-old girl or a former lover-turned-FBI snob taking an interest in the case. Suddenly her already bumpy relationship with Cane turns even rockier, and even the most trust-worthy friends become suspects. Annabelle’s life is imploding: between relationship drama, a heartbreaking murder investigation, Breeze-crazed drug runners, and a few too many rum and Cokes, Annabelle is a woman on the run—from her past, toward her future, and into the arms of a darkness waiting just for her. . . .

This is book one in a series, and although I found the overall ideas to be great - feral faeries that kill... ha! - there was just no getting around the fact that I didn't quite like our inept, inebriated, and mostly zonked on whatever-meds-she-can-find heroine.  Seriously, I really want to connect with, or at least care about, the characters I'm following.  However, with Annabelle, I just wanted to give her a good scrubbing down, dose her up with some strong black coffee - and then kick her butt!

Okay, so she has a screwed up past.  So what?  So do a lot of other really great characters - and those books are great!  But I digress.  Annabelle's life is stagnant, until the murder of a local girl draws ex-boyfriend to town as part of an FBI investigation.  Hitch is an hot, arrogant, potentially-cheating, so and so, who blows into town with his partner (in every sense of the word), Stephanie, who is the current lover looking to get revenge on the ex.  Add to the mix rabid faeries, Breeze-heads (drug addicts), weird supporting characters and a current sort-of boyfriend who also happens to be one of the cops investigating the murder and you have a whole lot of crazy packed into a book.

The one saving grace in my mind, apart from Gimpy the Cat, was the Invisible Man and Tucker.  They have added a dash of mystery to the story and I will be checking out book 2 just to see what their deal is.  I know I have dumped on Dead on the Delta, but there is so much potential in this series.  I hope that Annabelle starts to figure out her life in book 2 so I can give it the review I would so love to.  So, having given this book low rating, I will try this book again at a later date - just to see if it's as bad as I think is was, or if I'm just having an off day?  But for how it's going on the bottom of the bookshelf.  If you like you're gals pretty messed up, then Annabelle is for you.

New books on the way

Last Friday night I couldn't sleep, so I decided to do a little online retail therapy.   While online I lost track of time, too busy scrolling through the pages of books on Book Depository.  Before I knew it, it was nearly 3:20am and I still hadn't been through the checkout!  So, it was nearly 4am before the lights went out - and I'm paying for the lack of sleep tonight - but I did find some more books to add to my already overflowing bookshelves.

In preparation for future book club selections, I hunted around to find a few series that sounded good  - and that I'll be OK putting aside for a little while - and, most importantly, that I hadn't read before.

* Discount Armageddon - Seanan McGuire

* Under Wraps - Hannah Jayne, and

* Darkness Unbound - Keri Arthur

As well as these, I also bought the second book in the Esther Diamond series by Laura Resnick, 'Unsympathetic Magic'.  Perhaps I'm being overly optimistic, since I still haven't read book one yet for book club, but it never hurts to be positive ;-D

Then there were 3 titles that are part of series that I've already started to read. Who could resist revisiting the very cool alternate world of Blud with 'Wicked as She Wants' by Delilah S. Dawson.  Then there was 'Dead on Delivery', and 'Dead Letter Day' by Eileen Rendahl, the next two books in her A Messenger Novel series.  And last, but certainly by no means least, is a replacement copy for LKH's 'A Kiss of Shadows'.  My original copy is falling apart (see below pics) due to very frequent re-reading (and what I'm sure was a poor gluing of the pages to the spine).  I have to be very careful when I open it these days as the pages are just sitting there :-)

My poor book!

It's finally beyond repair.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the same UK cover - and I really liked that cover, too.  I've had to settle for the US cover.  I just hope that the spine doesn't crack on this copy when you try to read the book!   Hopefully, this should keep me going for the next couple of weeks.  I'm back off to restock my wishlist!  Hope you've found a great book, or three, to read this week too.  Happy reading ;-D

Joined a Book Club!

Yes, I finally got involved with a book club at my local library.  Okay, it was my idea and I've had the notice up on displayed for a while - but someone has finally called me!

I wanted to do a genre based book club, and paranormal romance/suspense/mystery, etc., just seemed the way to go as I own so many of those books.  I just find it a very interesting genre, and there is no right or wrong way to do things.  

So, today I finally met my fellow bibliophile, and found that I was with a kindred spirit.  Phew, that was definitely  a load off my mind.  We sat and chatted about what we've been reading, and it took us over an hour to finally decide on our first official book (as I've read, and own, so very many of these books).  Finally we selected Disappearing Nightly by Laura Resnick (book 1 in the Esther Diamond series). 

It was great to be able to talk to someone who loves to read the same type of books I do, and although we have to make a time for our first 'review', I'm looking forward to it.  Now I must leave you.  I'm off to order my book, and then get together some guidelines, question ideas, and other book club necessities.  Hmmmm... will use Fangtastic Fiction for the book club name?  Will let you know how it all goes ;-D

Happy Reading!