Whatcha Reading? October 2015 Edition

Book with a field and a road on the pages against a blue cloudy skyIt’s time for the most expensively enjoyable open thread of the month: Whatcha Reading?

Sarah: You guys, I have a legitimate reason to be on Pinterest. I have justifiable research to be done on Pinterest.

It’s like the worst time slurp EVER. It’s not even a slurp. It’s a gobble. A Time Feast, if you will.

Plus, I feel guilty AND I’m enjoying it AND I have a reason to pin the crap out of everything, so yeah, I’m reading a lot of Pinterest.

But I’m also indulging in manga and comics, too, because my brain is still very tired and doesn’t want to do the words thing where there are lots of words to look at. Pictures, yes. Words, not too many, please. (I think my brain might have its own word limit, and I’ve used it up for the month writing too many lists).

Right now, I’m reading DENDO: One Year and One Half in Tokyo Vol. 1: Month 1: February. It’s a digital comic about a girl who goes on a mission to Japan as part of her 18 months of service in the LDS church. I found it browsing on Comixology, which is almost as tempting to me as Pinterest at this point. (NB: the above link to Comixology should include an option to get $5 off your first order of $10 or more if you’re a new account subscriber.)

Spell of Desire Vol. 4
A | K | AB
I like DENDO so far, particularly because it’s visually adorable, and because it explains the author’s love for her faith and the culture in which she lives as a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints.

I also bought myself Spell of Desire Vol 4 because I read volumes 1-3 and it’s not over and the heroine’s eyes are still getting bigger so I couldn’t stop after book 3. Kaoruko’s hair is becoming increasingly more intricate,  too Like, she doesn’t have a lot of time to learn all the magic she needs as a witch, but she has extended time with the flat iron, clearly. Or maybe the flat iron is magic?

Now I’m going to look for magic flat irons on Pinterest.

Bella and the Beast
A | BN | K | AB
 RedHeadedGirl: I’m reading Bella and the Beast, by Olivia Drake. It’s a Beauty and the Beast story where he’s an Egyptology-obsessed duke and she was raised by an archeologist adventurer.

I’m reading Bound by Bliss by Lavinia Kent (saw it in the sales post and couldn’t resist).

And I’m reading The Sport of Baronets by Theresa Romain. Because HORSIES.

 

A Colored Woman in a White World
A | BN
 Carrie:  I just finished A Colored Woman in a White World by Mary Church Terrell and I’m moving on to Newt’s Emerald by Garth Nix ( A | K | G | AB ).

 

Foreplay
A | K | AB
 Amanda:  Foreplay by Sophie Jordan. Shout out goes to Elyse for helping me tackle my indecisiveness on what to read next. This is a new adult book, but Elyse has enjoyed Jordan’s historicals, so we’ll see how it goes.

After that, Nuts by Alice Clayton ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). I loved her Cocktail series and think her writing is just hilarious. I also love foodie/chef characters in my romance and come on…that cover.

 

Deadly Strain
A | BN | K | AB
 Elyse:  I’m reading Deadly Strain and Lethal Game ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) by Julie Rowe based on Meka and Sassy Outwater’s recommendations on the podcast. It’s romantic suspense with a biological warfare component, totally my catnip

 

So, what about you? Tell us what you’re reading! What books are you currently enjoying, or about to start? We’d love to hear about them. 


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Comments are Closed

  1. Mikaela says:

    I just finished Delia’s shadow by Jaime Lee Moyer. I bought it when it was on sale for 2.99 awhile ago. It was good, the mystery was intriguing and the romance sweet. It wasn’t “Oh my god I have to buy the next book for 12.99” good. I’ll wait for the paperback.
    I also read Craving Flight by Tamsen Parker, which I adored. It was both very sweet and very sexy. More please!
    I also finished Silver on the road by Laura Anne Gilman. We are writing buddies and I have been waiting for so long for this book. Seriously. And it was well worth the wait. Go and buy it!

  2. Vasha says:

    I have mostly been reading short fiction, science fiction and fantasy. I could list some great online stories but will refrain unless requested. Three fine book-length works:

    “The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage”; reviewd on this site, turned out to be every bit as good as promised.

    “The Sculptor” by Scott McCloud. Graphic novel. A depressed, frustrated artist makes a deal with death, for artitic powers in exchange for only living 200 days. In that time he finds love. Could easily have been maudlin, but wasn’t; done with such delicacy and control that it was genuinely inspiring.

    “The City & the City” by China Miéville. Gripping detective novel with a truly strange premise.

  3. Heather S says:

    Finished a manga, “Kiss Him, Not Me” vol 1, recently. It was cute, I was trying to fill the void left by Fujoshi Rumi’s “only 3 of 7 volumes were translated and published”. It’s about a fangirl, and while I enjoyed it, the character holing up from grief in her room for a week made her go from decidedly pudgy to skinny hot chick. I CALL B.S. ON THAT. Know what I get when I have done the same? I get five extra pounds!

    I am in a book rut at the moment, so I’ve been binge watching Arrow season 3 from the library. We finally got the Olicity kiss, but naturally that comes with Oliver making poor life choices and Felicity getting involved with someone else.

    I may get started on “Humans of New York Stories” this weekend. I got a signed copy. 🙂

  4. Lostshadows says:

    I’m currently listening to The Cuckoo’s Calling. Mysteries aren’t really my thing, but I’m enjoying it.

    I also finally got Ancillary Mercy from the library yesterday. (It usually takes ILLs three days to arrive, this took over a week.) I’m just about to brew a pot of tea, then start it.

  5. Flip says:

    ccurrently reading Newt’s Emerald by Gareth Nix. Just finished The Drafter by Kim Harrison

  6. Tiffany says:

    I woke up in the middle of the night/early this morning after a zombie dream and couldn’t settle back down so I read Courtney Milan’s The Suffragette Scandal. The whole thing. I am experiencing good book hangover and I think I’m just gonna soak in it for today. I have to take the cat to the vet later, so I might read some more of When the Marquess Met His Match by Laura Lee Guhrke, which I started the other night. I only have two more of my library books to finish so I’ll probably knock those out this weekend and get a fresh pile Monday.

  7. jimthered says:

    In interesting timing given that PLAYBOY just announced they’re going PG-13, I’m reading CENTERFOLDS by Charlotte Kemp (autographed copy! Woo!) which consists of interviews and stories from PLAYBOY centerfolds and photographers. And I ordered THE PLAYBOY BOOK: 50 YEARS for a reminder of what the magazine literally used to be.

  8. elianara says:

    I listened to Mary Robinette Kowal reading I am Princess X by Cherie Priest earlier this week, instead of concentrating on my studies. I just couldn’t put it down. Awesome YA with two strong female characters.

    Now I have several books going on, because studies and work means I have to fit in reading whenever I have a minute over.

    On my phone, as waiting time reading I have Paper Towns by John Green because I needed a book taking place in high school for a reading challenge.

    Same reading challenge had a book written by an author with the same initials as you, so I’m reading A Century of Roundels by Algernon Charles Swinburne in audio format. I like the poetry, but it makes me think and feel, so I find the progress slow, since I only listen to one or two roundels every time I turn to the book.

    Dörrarna berättar is a local history book that focuses on old awesome doors, and the buildings they are attached to, in my city. The pictures are beautiful and I’m learning some really interesting stuff. The chapters are short, so it’s my bathroom reading.

  9. L. says:

    Just finished The Witch of Blackbird Pond (somehow missed reading that one as a kid) and will now be starting Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart. I need to go to the library more often.

  10. Rij says:

    @Elianara Are you from Turku? Or is there another book about doors with the same name? I used to live there and still consider it my hometown.

    I just finished listening to HelenKay Dimon’s Facing Fire. I didn’t love it. I think I’m done with romantic suspense with questionable morals for a bit. Heroes shouldn’t be above the law, even if they fight for the right causes. I was also vaguely disappointed in the heroine.

    The last novel I finished was Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows which I enjoyed a lot until the very end when I found out that the story didn’t quite end. For some reason I expected it to be a stand-alone that would tie everything into a neat bow. Now I’m left waiting for a sequel.

    My next audiobook will be Tamora Pierce’s Trickster’s Choice and I’m working through an autobiography of a famous crime journalist (Likainen Harri for any Finns reading this). But I haven’t picked a new novel to settle in with.

  11. CeeBeeMcGee says:

    Just finished A Whisper of Desire by Bronwen Evans, which I found to be a bit too loosely written with questionable historical accuracy, but packed with jerky emotional shocks.

    Currently in the middle of Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, and am completely loving it.

    Just started Hard Beat by K. Bromberg, which looks promising.

    Next to start is The Quiet Gentleman by Georgette Heyer.

  12. kkw says:

    I’m in a bit of a slump. Nothing holds my interest after a few chapters. I blame that Harper Lee book, which I finally got around to reading. Now reading feels unsafe. You can’t not know, at this point, about Atticus, but no one warned me that – trying to avoid spoilers – everyone is either absent from the story or just flat out sucks now, and my faith in…everything feels severely tested. I want to unread it, but still somehow know the good parts (it is extremely funny)(inbetween undermining everything I hold dear).
    I’ve been turning to comfort rereads of things like Wodehouse and detective novels (note to self, Galbraith!) because even romances by reliable favorites are irritating me. When I can’t enjoy, say, Brockmann or Quick or Roberts, it’s clearly me.
    But seriously, was anyone else disturbed by the portrayal of domestic violence in The Witness?

  13. Frida says:

    Oh HI! *waves to fellow Finns*

    I just started All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. I also have two anthologies that I pick short stories from whenever I have a moment to spare: The Mammoth Book of Gaslit Romance (editor Ekaterina Sedia) and 90s Playlist (Brighton Walsh, Amy Jo Cousins etc). Victorian romance and 90s nostalgia, those are like my two favorite things it’s lovely!

  14. Lady T says:

    I’m in the midst of several books but making serious progress with Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart-that one is such a kick! Also reading Frog Music by Emma Donaghue and Home Fires(aka Jambusters) by Julie Summers, a nonfiction account of the Women’s Institute in England during WWII that’s the basis for the PBS series currently running.

  15. elianara says:

    @Rij Yes, I’m from Turku, I’ve lived here for 15 years so you could consider it my hometown now. The original titel of the book is Ovet kertovat so I think you are thinking about the right one.

    Hi Frida and all other fellow Finns too 🙂

  16. Beth Not Elizabeth says:

    Silver on the Road by Laura Anne Gilman. This book just got me out of a huge book slump. It is not a romance, kind of think of it as True Grit in a world of magical realism. I guess it would be in the “weird west” genre. Fantastic world building, slow burn of a plot, amazing character development. Very much a hero’s journey for our young heroine.

    I have read other Gilman books, but they never held my interest. This one I could not set down and am looking forward to reading the others in the series.

    Need a break from the historicals. Was looking for some PNRs tried a few but they all were just kind of meh. A Hidden Fire by Elizabeth Hunter was a DNF. I thought it was going to be more of a caper. Not so much. Roaring Midnight by Colleen Gleason sounded like Buffy in 1920s Chicago. It was ok.

  17. DonnaMarie says:

    Do you hear that noise? That low rumbling purring noise? That would be my Good Book Noise. I just surfaced from “Everything I Left Unsaid” my M. (aka Molly) O’Keefe. I started it around 7am and just closed the cover and realized the sun was up, I was thirsty and needed to pee. Having taken care of the latter two items, I come here and find you asking what I’m reading. Serendipity. It was fabulous, although it ends in a cliff hanger. I know people hate that, but about 2/3 through I realized there was no way this was resolving in a hundred pages. Maybe in the hands of a lesser writer, but not Molly O’Keefe. Also, not a lighthearted read. Lots of dark issues and bad behavior.

    The only part I raised my eyebrow about was Annie’s reading “Fifty Shades of Grey” and enjoying it rather than yelling “OH, HELL NO!” because of the situation she was coming from. I would have thought that would be the last thing she’d find sexy. But that is a small quibble in an otherwise great start to a new reading adventure.

  18. carolinareader says:

    I have been reading a lot by Grace Draven lately. I read her duology with Elizabeth Hunter Beneath a Waning Moon. I really enjoyed both stories. I then reread Draven’s Master of Crows and read its sequel The Brush of Black Wings. The sequel did not disappoint it just made me want more.
    Now that that has got me in a fantasy romance book I have to figure out what to read next. I have heard great things about Song of Blood & Stone by L. Penelope so I might read that one.

  19. Coco says:

    I’m not Finnish but I do pronounce sauna correctly! Does that count? (Funnily enough my google voice recognition apparently doesn’t recognize sauna as a word when it’s pronounced correctly. I’m not surprised.)

    I had my pilonidal cyst removed mid September and I’m still having a hard time with the butt hurt. It’s uncomfortable to sit and not much more comfortable to lay down. I find that reading while standing is not my thing.

    I did read some this month, but I think I didn’t enjoy it as much because I was in such pain.

    I read two by Sharon Sala – Wild Hearts and A Place to Call Home. I’m such a huge fan of hers, but neither one of these books really did anything for me.

    I also read Archer’s Voice by Mia Sheridan. I enjoyed it, I would have enjoyed it more if it weren’t so NA.

    On the other hand, I’ve been crocheting like a mad person (and catching up on rather a lot of television that I missed). I’ve made two sweaters this month, a blanket, a shawl, and more that I can’t specifically remember right now. So I’ve been very productive.

    I suppose it’s easier to do crochet with a sore butt than to read with a sore butt because being in this sort of pain while reading takes me right out of the story. Also, because I don’t follow patterns in my crochet, every project is a puzzle for me. I think I had to concentrate harder on my crochet than on my reading. It really takes more of my brain power so I can’t concentrate on the pain.

    Maybe? Or it’s entirely possible that I just haven’t found anything that I really really really want to read.

    I have started the Girls Night Out series by Victoria Dahl. I am so enjoying that. Also, my butt hurt is getting better. Yay!

  20. Taffygrrl says:

    I finished Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy last week – I believe on the recommendations in a previous thread! It is as good as other people say. It resonated for me even more as 70% of the book takes place in the DC/Virginia area, an area where I lived for years. I’m a history nerd and yet I never understood just how many people in the South did not believe in the Confederacy and how many people in the North were cheering the Confederacy on. It gave me a new perspective on the Civil War.

    I just finished A Bollywood Affair yesterday. I teared up on the bus, and I don’t generally tear up in public places! That book deserves every single rave everyone has ever given it. I loved the couple, the romance, the introduction to a culture that I wasn’t entirely familiar with. Samir and Milli were both truly individual characters and surrounded by other characters that felt real and three-dimensional. A+++ would read again!

    I’m now reading Kat Latham’s Knowing the Score. I’ve already read and loved Unwrapping Her Perfect Match and Playing it Close, and it’s no surprise that I’m loving this too. Latham always gives her characters deep emotional challenges to sort through, in a way that really works for me. I have the feeling I’m going to wind up reading my way through the whole series once I’m done with this one, including the re-reads.

  21. CelineB says:

    I seem to be in a major reading slump. Actually, I used to watch way more movies than I read books and I just seem to be back in a movie watching cycle. I’m doing a challenge for Letterboxd and it’s gotten me into watching classics again, not just the new stuff.

    I would say that Him by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy and Sacked by Jen Frederick were my highlights this past month. I also liked A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn quite a lot.

    I was disappointed in The Lure of the Moonflower. I wanted to love Jack and Jane so much, I thought they were okay. I thought the adventure was just okay. I thought the present day story was just okay. Maybe my expectations were just too high since this was the end of the series.

    Armada by Ernest Cline was fine but I was a little annoyed by the basic premise of video game geeks actually having been trained their whole lives to save the world.

    Right now, I’m reading All Wrapped Up by Kimberley Kincaid and it’s okay so far (sensing a theme yet?). Up next is Walk on Earth with a Stranger by Rae Carson. I loved her first series so hopefully this one could break the slump. After that, I still have a slew of library books to read, Scribd books to finish before they expire, and Oyster books to read before they sunset. I may ignore those for a while and read the last two Julie Anne Long books, Luck be a Lady by Meredith Duran, Forever Your Earl by Eva Leigh, and several others that have been sitting on my kindle for a while.

  22. LML says:

    I paid in advance for a one year Scribd subscription and 60 days later they began their decimation of the romance section. So I decided to sample Oyster for a month and subscribed the month following…and Oyster announced that they are folding. I’m trying not to take this personally.

    After reading and enjoying Liz Carlyle’s Rutlidge Family, MacLachlan Family and Fraternitas Aureae Crucis series I decided it was time to leave Almackistan. I’ve lived the small town life, and am not ready for outer space, so… I read Helen Thomas’ Front Row At the White House because when I was younger I admired her standing *ahem* tall and quizzing the president. Next, The Girls of Atomic City which was interesting but…oh, I prefer fiction. There’s enough real life in real life for me. Reading about the high-handed actions of the U.S. government in appropriating people’s farm land made me sad.

    I read Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore and it was a delight! Cleverly put together and a great story about books. Oyster has an attractive browsing function which featured Girl Waits With Gun. I stayed up late reading it and had good book/insufficient sleep hangover and didn’t read for a day.

    Following a review at Dear Author I decided to try Craving Flight because I’ve not read BDSM. So I read it, cringing through the first sex scene, barely skimming the second. After that, when the bedroom door shut, I moved pages until the story started again. The next day I reread a Betty Neels novel to ground myself.

    For my next new reading experience, I chose New Adult. Losing It had a review here and I read it and found it pleasant but not pleasant enough to continue the series. Sarina Bowen’s The Year We Fell Down was on sale and I selected it because I remember being interested in reading it when it was reviewed here earlier. It was so good, the characters seemed real. After reading The Year We Fell Down I thought some more about Losing It and decided that perhaps Losing It was written with a smaller vocabulary as it just didn’t seem as lush as The Year We Fell Down. I read and enjoyed the following three novels in Bowen’s Ivy League series, even clocking in an m/m for another new reading experience. It’s been quite a month!

  23. Liz says:

    I started Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel last night. Liking it so far!

    This past month I started a few books and set them aside, and finally settled back on some Sarah MacLean and Nalini Singh rereads, as always very satisfying.

    I just got the Legend of Lyon Redmond (Julie Anne Long) and so that will be next!

  24. roserita says:

    Well, I took a brief vacation (Mutter Medical Museum and Longwood Gardens), and for some reason when I’m on vacation I read old mysteries. I even stockpile them for that very purpose. I had found a copy of “A bullet in the ballet” by Caryl Brahms & S.J. Simon (which I had read 45(?) years ago but didn’t remember anything about except the title) and its sequel “Murder a la Stroganoff” (written 1937-38) and they were delightful. (And there also seems to be a collection of short stories, so I have to go find them.) I’m in the middle of a slightly newer book (c1944) “Corpse de ballet” by Lucy Cores, so there is a theme here. (Note to self: look for more ballet-themed mysteries.) Problem is, now that I’m back from vacation, what am I going to read? None of my authors have anything new for another month.

  25. Katie Lynn says:

    I just finished Sarina Bowen’s the Fifteenth Minute, which was not my favorite from the Ivy series, but was good (it unfortunately suffers from being compared to previous books). I also just finished Once Perfect by Cecy Robinson that was in an on sale post earlier this week. I enjoyed it and I’m working on the second book now, which I think will be very good.

    In audio I just finished J Lynn/Jennifer Armentrout’s Wait For You series, which is really well done as an audio. I’m currently working on the first Rock Chick book (thanks, whipsersync!) and queued up next is Elizabeth Peter’s Crocodile on the Sandbank.

  26. Mara says:

    After my crazy Psy-Changeling series binge last month, I decided to give Nalini Singh’s Archangel series a go. I’m not in love with it in the same way as the Psy-Changeline books, but they are nevertheless very enjoyable and I’m having a good time making my way through them.

    I also just finished up “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates, and I can’t say enough good things about it. It’s a polemic but also a memoir, and it manages to be really specific to Coates’ own POV/thoughts/experience while having a lot to say about race, violence, and class in America. Highly recommended– not something that’s comfortable to read, but a really rich read, IMO

  27. Jennifer says:

    I have had a decent reading month so far. I read The Shattered Court by M.J. Scott after hearing a couple people recommend it on the podcast. It started a little slow for me, but I was engrossed by the end. I am looking forward to the sequel next year. I just finished listening to The Martian by Andy Weir and am now chomping at the bit to see the movie. I also read and enjoyed Sweet Disorder by Rose Lerner (class differences), Highlander Undone by Connie Brockway (hero in disguise), Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh (Psy-Changeling re-read).

    I’m currently reading Hunger Untamed by Pamela Palmer for the TBR Reading Challenge, an eARC of Falling into Bed with a Duke by Lorraine Heath, and Kindred in Death by JD Robb.

  28. Julia says:

    Seems this past month it was either love or hate. Hate’s a strong word. “Meh”? But I was Mehing things pretty hard.

    I read About a Dragon the second book in the Dragon Kin series and was so seriously disappointed. I loved the first in the series, but this one just seemed to go on and on. It made me kind of angry.

    I read or tried to read a bunch of novellas. I Radio Silence was disappointing, but I actually finished it. Started but did not finish: How to Tell a Lie; Purely Professional; and Principle of Desire. Not sure what was going on there, but I couldn’t get into any of them.

    The Leopard Prince was so good. God Elizabeth Hoyt knows how to write. Duke of Shadows was amazing and now I want to read all the Meredith Duran. Damn it!

    Beautiful Player is the first in Christina Lauren’s Beautiful Bastard series that I’ve actually enjoyed. The first in the series was meh. I actively hated the second.

    I love Wild Seasons series, and am currently reading Dark Wild Night. If it sticks the landing it’ll be three for three for that series. ::crossing fingers::

  29. DonnaMarie says:

    @Julia, I just finished Dark Wild Night the other day. It was my post Dad’s service reunion trip reward. Loved the way they inserted little descriptions of how Lola’s emotion would look if she drew it for a graphic novel.

    The panel shows the girl, staring at the boy, her skin covered in licking, blue flames.

  30. Judy W. says:

    So…I recently read “Something Wonderful” by Kate Rothwell and I really enjoyed the story of working class Irish cop and resourceful heroine (historical. Also “Fair Game” by Monica Murphy was meh. I DID like True Devotion by Liora Blake (True North author). They fought like middle schoolers but in a cute way. I adored the Legend of Lyon Redmond, thought The Earl’s Mistress by Liz Carlyle was average and Reapers and Bastards by Joanna Wilde was totally unnecessary (grade C-). Hush by Karen Robards was like her older works and I liked this better than I thought I would. Well Paced. I also re-read Sunshine by Robin McKinley and I still love that book and still wish there would be a sequel (no chance!). I also re read Last Hour of Gann, a masterpiece by R.Lee Smith because I thought she was putting out another one sometime this year but that deadline may not have been met. Sad face.

  31. Dotty says:

    Notable reads: I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest (great story), Little Robot by Ben Hatke (graphic novel about a little girl who finds a robot – delightful story), and Flat Out Love by Jessica Park (will definitely read more in this series). I also loved A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (caution: tearjerker ending).

  32. bookworm1990 says:

    I’m actually reading Beyond Heaving Bosoms right now and am loving it! I’m awaiting my preorder of Cold Hearted Rake by Kleypas with baited breath

  33. Crystal says:

    I finished Crown of Midnight by Sarah Maas this morning. The first book in the series was good enough to keep me interested, and I will say that the second improves considerably on the first. I then turned around and started A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay, which is the book club pick this month (I put it to a vote and this won over Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children) and feels like it will be keeping me awake in the night. I wish I could say that I think a reality show based around a possessed child is out of the realm of possibility but if I have learned anything from The Learning Channel, it’s that I’m probably wrong about that (you saw what I did there). I also had to travel to and from Boston last week to watch my sister get married (spoiler alert, she was beautiful) and got to read quite a bit on that trip (hello, lodging with no wi-fi). I finished An Ember In the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir (SO GOOD) and Blood Magick by Nora Roberts (she’s done better).

  34. K.N.O'Rear says:

    I haven’t read much this month, although I did start HapiMari a Josei manga recommended in the romance comics thread. I like it okay and may still finish it, but the hero is a little sexually aggressive for my liking.

    I also started Darkfever a new adult novel involving fae and a murder mystery in Ireland, so it’s really good so far.

  35. Vicki says:

    I recently finished The Specialist’s Secret by Gill Sanderson. It is a category romance with my catnip – medicine. I loved it!. The story was simple, occasionally a little more melodramatic than necessary. But the heroine! She is a very competent emergency nurse who is proactive in her life choices. The hero, while definitely an alpha, has a vulnerable side and a Big Angsty Secret. I love that the heroine is very forthright on this. We are lovers, she says, and lovers help each other. The hero has to learn to open up and accept that help. Very competent woman – I want to be her in my next life.

    I re-read City of Bones because my 13 yo grandson wanted to read it – I lent him my Nook to read it on with the understanding that he stay out of my other books. Naturally, when I recovered my Nook, I found that he was two chapters into Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop – think we are going to have to have “a talk.”

    Read the Inn Boonsboro trilogy, liked the first one a lot and by the last was convinced I had wandered into a commercial for the Inn.

    Re-reading Cold River Rising by Enes Smith, an action adventure with a little romance thrown in. For as much blood and guts as it has, it is still a comfort read and entertaining. In the middle of moving so I need all the comfort I can get.

  36. Lora says:

    I’m reading The Doctor’s Damsel by Cara Nelson (funny and sweet so far) and Looking For Alaska which is my first John Green….I know the guy’s brilliant but I didn’t want to read a weeper so I skipped Fault in Our Stars.

  37. Susan says:

    I just tore through Rainbow Rowell’s Carry On, which was so much fun to read. The love story was adorable, and I’m still amused by the idea of someone publishing what is essentially fanfiction of her own book (Fangirl).

  38. Heather T says:

    I just got back from a long vacation, so I did a lot of reading. I finished both the Tawny Man and the Rain Wild series by Robin Hobb — seven books in total. They are sequels to earlier series (Farseer Trilogy and Liveship Traders) set in the same world, so altogether that is 13 books of excellent, excellent reading pleasure.

    I also read “Our Mutual Friend” by Charles Dickens — that guy is a hoot, I predict his books will become classics 😉 Laughed so much that I snorted cider out of my nose, which hurts, by the way.

    Also on the trip I finished The Brothers Sinister by Courtney Milan. She is my absolute favorite for good writing, great characters who I am really rooting for, funny banter (she is also responsible for some cider snorting).

    After I got back I tried to pick up Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series, which I have previously enjoyed, but after the complexity of the books above, I found the stories and characters flat. So I just started Iain Pear’s Stone’s Fall and am enjoying it so far.

  39. Ashley says:

    The start of the tv season has sadly cut into my reading time, but I have managed to read some good books lately. I just finished A Lover’s Lament by K.L. Grayson and B.T. Urruela, which I absolutely loved. It was one of the books where the emotion just jumped off the page for me. I also read Shine Not Burn by Elle Casey, which was so cute and had me laughing out loud. Sacked by Jen Frederick was also one really good.

    I also listen to a lot of audiobooks while I am working recently I have listened to-
    Kyland – Mia Sheridan
    Burying Water – K.A. Tucker
    Hell or High Water – Julie Ann Walker
    The Way We Fall – Cassia Leo
    Kaleidoscope Hearts – Claire Contreras
    My Skylar – Penelope Ward

    Up next for reading will be Grayson’s Vow by Mia Sheridan and Chaser by Emma Hart. And for audiobooks I have a couple of books by R.L. Mathewson in the Neighbor From Hell series, which always make me laugh. Also, I preordered The Deal by Elle Kennedy, the book was really funny so I am looking forward to the audiobook.

  40. This morning I finished Just One Night by Lauren Layne. I enjoyed it, but I liked the first two books in the series better.

    I also recently read Last Chance Llama Ranch, which I bought because of the title, and it was awesome. The MC, Merry–for Meriadoc–is a former champion skier who is adjusting to her new life after an accident ended her career. She is now a travel writer and ends up spending a month on a ranch. It’s about her journey of self-discovery…with alpacas, llamas, lots of quirky characters, and humour. It’s on sale for $1.99 now

    Next I think I’ll read Scandal in Spring and finish the Wallflowers series.

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