Bookish Notes - Jasper Fforde, Roxanne St. Claire, and J.R. Ward. Oh my!

I finished The Eyre Affair. Fun and intriguing story with book hopping and bad guys trying to rewrite stories or killing characters off which really affected the books. Had to keep reminding myself it was alternative  history fiction so stop trying to make sense of the historical aspects.  All the way through the book I was trying to figure out what she sees in Landen and if things will ever work out for them.  Made me want to read Jane Eyre again since that story took center stage for a while. 

Also finished Roxanne St Claire's latest in her Dogmother series with Faux Paws. Cute romance involving a runaway bride who is a animal communicator which is a fancy way of saying pet psychic and an nuclear engineer who is a linear factual thinker and sparks fly when they try to help a rescue dog. 

Silly love story cleared my palate for the next intense Black Dagger Brotherhood read, J.R. Wards Lover Unveiled 

"Sahvage has been living under the radar for centuries-and he has every intention of staying ‘dead and buried.’  But when a civilian female sucks him into her dangerous battle with an evil as ancient as time, his protective side overrides his common sense.

Mae has lost everything, and desperation sets her on a collision course with fate.  Determined to reverse a tragedy, she goes where mortals should fear to tread- and comes face to face with the Brotherhood’s new enemy.  She also discovers a love she never expected to find with Sahvage, but there can be no future for them.

Knowing they will part, the two band together to fight against what Mae unknowingly unleashed- as the Brotherhood closes in to reclaim one of their damned, and the evil vows to destroy them all…" 

2018 Reading Wrap Up

Courtesy of Josephine Wall 

2018 Reading Wrap Up 

Yikes, I only read 37 physical books versus ebooks this year and explains why my book stacks didn’t decrease much.  Plus it tells me I've been spending way too much time on my Ipad getting distracted by the internet. 

During your travels did you have time to stop and smell the flowers with our Blossom Bookology challenge or explore a plethora of mysteries with 52 Books Bingo? 

I finished the Blossom Bookology spelling challenge and squeaked by the last three months with flowers mentioned in the stories as colors or characters.  I forgot to keep track of all the reference mentioned in my reads, but pretty sure there were more than a few mentions of a variety of flowers so I'm calling this challenge completed. 

Did you stay on the detective bus, join the rebel bus or hang around with Bertram Wooster?  

I joined the rebel bus and bounced back and forth between London.  I did manage to make it to London Scotland Yard, York, Buckinghamshire, Herefordshire, Leicestershire, Somerset, Kent and back again to London.

·         London: Spymaster's Lady,  What Angels Fear, Midnight Riot as well as Last Chance Christmas Ball

·         York - Sunne in Splendour as well as I found You

·         Buckinghamshire - Flowers from the Storm

·         Herefordshire - Foxglove Summer

·         Leicestershire – Dinner Most Deadly

·         Somerset - For Deader or worse  and Cozy Tea Shop in the Castle

·         Kent – Midsummer Moon

Did you remain earthbound or take off for worlds unknown? I think I remained pretty much earthbound although I did visit quite a few alternate realities.  I also traveled through different centuries to England, Africa, Germany, France, Antarctic, Ireland, Canada, Amsterdam, and Ceylon.

Did you reach your reading goal or did you decide to just meander about and follow rabbit trails and end up getting lost in the enjoyment of reading?  I totally lost track two thirds of the way through the year but I did make my goal of 100 books.

Did you set any aside to read again at some point and savor the story all over again?   Oh yes. Rachel Caine’s Great Library series, Nalini Singh’s Psy/Changeling trinity with Silver Silence and Ocean Light, as well as Roxanne St. Claire’s Dogfather series are all well worth rereading.  

Which books intrigued or entertained, made you laugh, cry, dance or sing?  So many and it is hard to narrow it down.

• Anna Richard’s The Road Home and Laura Kinsale’s Midsummer’s Moon touched my heart.  Thank you to KarenI  for introducing me to these two authors.
• Lian Dolan’s Elizabeth the First Wife and  Laura Kinsale’s Flowers from the Storm made me laugh.
• Robyn Cadwaller’s The Anchoress and Julia Drosten’s The Elephant Keeper’s Daughter enthralled me while and Sharon Kay Penman’s The Sunne in Splendour pulled me into the history of the times.  
• Tahareh Mafi’s Shatter Me and Mindy McGinnis’  A Madness So Discreet and Dean Koontz Innocence gave me the chills.
• Mark Helprin’s Soldier of the Great War pulled me from the present into the past and back again and put my emotions through the ringer.
• Two WWII novels - Leon Leyson’s The Boy on the Wooden Box made me cry while John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pajamas irritated me with the child’s naivete.

Stats Wise

I read 114 Fiction books and 9 non fiction. I read quite a few series so have many repeat authors I enjoy which include Nora Roberts aka J.D. Robb, James Rollins, Keri Arthur, Nalini Singh, Jennifer Estep, Roxanne St. Claire, and Faith Hunter to name a few. 

Female authors -  47

Male authors – 11

New to me authors – 29

The majority of my reads were Fantasy and Mystery/Suspense/Thriller with quite a few contemporary romance, historical and a few nonfiction thrown in.

2017 Completed Reads

2017 Completed Reads 

Fiction

1.       Aimee & David Turlo -  Turquoise Girl - (Ella Clah series, mystery, e)

2.       Alexandra Ivy - Kill Without Mercy - (#1 Ares Security, TX, Romantic suspense, e)

3.       Alister McGrath - Aedyn Chronicles: Chosen One - (YA fantasy, 208)

4.       Anne Bishop - Etched in Bone - (#5 Others, Urban fantasy, 416)

5.       B N Toler -  Where One Goes - (paranormal, e)

6.       Ben Kane - Spartacus: The Gladiator -  (74bc Italy, historical, 480)

7.       Benedict Jacka-  Fated - (#1 Alex Verus, paranormal, e)

8.       Charlaine Harris -  Midnight Crossroad - (#1 Midnight series, Texas, paranormal, 384 pg)

9.       Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni - The Mistress of Spices - (India, magical realism, e)

10.   Daniel O'Malley - The Rook - (#1 Rook, paranormal, 504) 

11.   Daphne Kalotay -  Russian Winter - (historical U.S./Russia, 484 pg)

12.   Dean Koontz -  Ashley Bell - (Psychological thriller, 768)

13.   Dean Koontz -  From the Corner of His Eye - (thriller, 729)

14.   Della Jacobs -  Fire Dance - (historical romance,  e) 

15.   Devon Monk -   Dead Iron - (#1 Age of Steam, steampunk,  e)

16.   Devon Monk -  Gods and Ends - (#3 Ordinary Magic, paranormal, e)

17.   Dorothy Dunnett -   Niccolo Rising - (#1 House of Niccolo, historical fiction, 496)

18.   Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child -  Relics  (#1 Pendergast, thriller e)

19.   Emily Gee - Thief with No Shadow - (Paranormal, e)

20.   Emily Larkin -  Unmasking Miss Appleby - (#1 Baleful Godmother,  historical romance, e)

21.   Emily Larkin -  Resisting Miss Merryweather - (#2 Baleful Godmother, e)

22.   Faith Hunter -  Cold Reign - (#11 Jane Yellowrock, paranormal, 371)

23.   Faith Hunter – Jane Yellowrock reread  #1 – 10)

24.   Faith Hunter -  Blood of the Earth (#1 Soulwood,  Paranormal, 384)

25.   Faith Hunter - Curse on the Land - (#2 Soulwood, 341)

26.   Genevieve Cogman-  The Invisible Library - (#1 Invisible library, fantasy, 352)

27.   Halldor Laxness - Great Weaver of Kashmir - (1920's, Iceland, translated literary, 450)

28.   Hannah and Barb Taub - One Way Fare - (#1 Null, fantasy, 279)

29.   Ilona Andrews -  Clean Sweep (# 1 Innkeeper Chronicles, e)

30.   Ilona Andrews -  Sweep in Peace - (#2 Innkeeper Chronicles, e)

31.   Ilona Andrews - One Fell Sweep (#3 Innkeeper Chronicles, e)

32.   Ilona Andrews - Burn for Me - (#1 Hidden Legacy, urban fantasy, e)

33.   Ilona Andrews - White Hot - (#2 Hidden Legacy,  e)

34.   Ilona Andrews - Wild Fire - (#3 Hidden Legacy, e)

35.   Iris Johansen - Body of Lies - (#4 Eve Duncan, mystery,  400)

36.   J.D. Robb-   Reunion in Death - (#14 In Death, futuristic police procedural, 371)

37.   J.D. Robb -  Purity in Death (# 15 In Death, 355)

38.   J.D. Robb -  Portrait in Death - (#16 In Death, 347)

39.   J.D. Robb -  Imitation in Death - (#17 In Death, 342)

40.   J.D. Robb -  Origin in Death - (#21 In Death 384

41.   J.D. Robb -  Echoes in Death - (#44 In Death  341 pg)

42.   J.D. Robb -  Secrets in Death  - (#45 In Death, 384)

43.   J.R. Rain - Winter Wind - (paranormal, e)

44.   James Rollins  -  6th Extinction - (#10 Sigma Force, Suspense, Antarctica/Brazil, e)

45.   James Rollins -  Seventh Plague - (Sigma Force, Middle East and Arctic, 444)

46.   Jamie Beck - Worth the Wait - (#1 St James, NY, Romance, e)

47.   Jayne Ann Krentz - Light in Shadow (psychological mystery, e)

48.   Jeff VanderMeer -  Area X: Southern Reach Trilogy -  (dystopian/horror, 593)

49.   Jim Butcher  - Summer Knight - (#4 Dresden files, paranormal, 371)

50.   Jodi Taylor-Just One Damned Thing After Another (#1 Chronicles of St. Mary, time travel, 348)

51.   John Crowley -  The Translator - - (U.S. 60's, 295)

52.   John DeChancie - Starrigger - (Sci fi,  e)

53.   Karen Marie Moning -  Feversong- (#9 Fever Series, Paranormal, e)

54.   Kathrine Kurtz/Deborah Harris -  The Adept - (#1 Adept, Scotland, 323)

55.   Katie Meyer -   Do You Take This Daddy - (#3 Paradise Animal Clinic, Romance, e)

56.   Keri Arthur - Blood Kissed - (#1 Lizzie Grace, Paranormal, e)

57.   Keri Arthur - The Black Tide - (#3 Outcast, paranormal   e)

58.   Keri Arthur – Circle of Fire – (#1 Damask Circle, paranormal romance)

59.   Kij Johnson -  Dream Quest of Vellit Boe - (Paranormal, e)

60.   Kristin Hannah -  The Nightingale - (historical France, 1940's, e)

61.   Lilith Saintcrow -  Dark Watcher (#1 Watchers, Urban Fantasy, e)

62.   Lilith St. Crow - Storm Watcher (#2 Watchers, Urban Fantasy,  e)

63.   Louise Penny -  A Fatal Grace - (#2 Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, e)

64.   Louise Penny -  Bury Your Dead - (#6, e)

65.   Louise Penny -  A Trick of the Light (#7, e)

66.   Louise Penny - The Beautiful Mystery - (#8 e)

67.   Louise Penny - How the Light Gets In (#9 e)

68.   Louise Penny - The Long Way Home (#10)

69.   Louise Penny -  The Nature of the Beast - (#11  e)

70.   Louise Penny -  A Great Reckoning - (#12 e)

71.   Maria Alexander - Snowed - (Ya paranormal, e)

72.   Marie Brennan -  Natural History of Dragons - (#1 Lady Trent, fantasy, 359)

73.   Michael Ridpath -  Where the Shadows Lie - (#1 Fire and Ice, Iceland,  police procedural, e)

74.   Michael Scott -  The Necromancer - (#4 Nicholas Flamel, YA fantasy, 418)

75.   Michelle Gagnon -  Don't Turn Around - (#1 Don't Turn Around, YA thriller,  e)

76.   Nalini Singh -  Archangels Viper - (#10 Guild Hunter, paranormal, e)

77.   Nalini Singh - Silver Silence - (#1 Psy Changling Trinity, e)

78.   Nevada Barr - Ill Wind - (#3 Anna Pidgeon, mystery, 309)

79.   Nora Roberts -  Year One - (# 1 Chronicles of the One, apocalyptic,  419)

80.   Nora Roberts - Come Sundown - (Suspense, Montana, 474)

81.   Octavia Butler - Dawn - (#1 Xenogenesis, paranormal,  e)

82.   Patricia Briggs -  Silence Fallen - (#10 Mercedes Thompson, Europe, Paranormal, 379)

83.   Rachel Grant -  Tinderbox - (#1 Flashpoint, Africa, Military suspense, e)

84.   Rick Yancey - The 5th Wave - (#1 5th wave series YA dystopian, 480)

85.   Robert Charles Wilson   -  Axis  - (Space, e)

86.   Robert Jordan -  Spring - (Prequel to WOT, fantasy,  e)

87.   Robert Jordan- Lord of Chaos - (#6 WOT, e)

88.   Robert Jordan-  A Crown of Swords - (#7 WOT, e)

89.   Robert Jordan -  The Path of Daggers - (#8 WOT  e)

90.   Robert Jordan -  Winter's Heart - (#9 WOT e)

91.   Roberta Rich - Midwife of Venice - (16th Century Italy, historical, 335)

92.   Robyn Carr - What We Find - (#1 Sullivan's Crossing, contemporary romance, 347)

93.   Ronlyn Dominguez -  Mapmakers War - (Utopian, 226)

94.   Roxanne St. Claire-  New Leash on Life - (#2 Dogfather, romance,  e)

95.   Roxanne St. Claire - Sit, Stay, Beg - (#1 Dogfather, romance, e)

96.   Scarlett Braden  -  Harvesting the Hummingbird (Ecuador, mystery, e)

97.   Seanan Mcquire – Rosemary and Rue (#1 October Daye, urban fantasy, e)

98.   Seanan Mcguire -  A Local Habitation- (#2 e)

99.   Seanan McGuire -  An Artificial Night - (#3 e)

100.  Seanan McGuire -  Late Eclipses - (#4  e) 

101. Seanan McGuire -   One Salt Sea - (#5 e)

102. Seanan McGuire - Ashes of Honor - (#6 e)

103. Seanan McGuire - Chimes at Midnight - (#7 e)

104. Seanan McGuire -  The Winter Long - (#8 e)

105. Seanan McGuire -  A Red Rose Chained - (#9 e)

106. Seanan McGuire -  Once Broken Faith - (#10 e)

107.  Seanan Mcguire - Discount Armageddon - (#1 Incryptid, urban fantasy,  e)

108.  Steve Berry -  Alexandria Link - (present Copenhagen/Middle East, 494)

109.  Stieg Larson  -  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - (#1 Millennium, Scotland, Mystery,590)

110. Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Played with Fire - (#2 Millenium, Sweden, 724)

111.  Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - (#3 Millenium, Sweden, 672)

112. Susan Wiggs -  Apple Orchard - (contemporary,  e)

113. Tracie Peterson -  Ice Cutters Daughter - (1900,  #1 Land of shining water, historical,  e)

114.Vicki Pettersson -  Signs of the Zodiac: The Scent of Shadows - (#1 zodiac, UF, e) 

115.  Vicki Pettersson -  The Taste of Night - (#2 Zodiac, UF,  e )

116.  Will Hill - Department 19 - (#1 Dept 19, YA Paranormal, e)

117.  Zoe Fishman -  Inheriting Edith - (NY, literary, 290)

Non Fiction

1.                   Benjamin Hoff -  The Tao of Pooh - (nf, 158)

2.                   Joe Bunting - Let's Write a Short Story - (nonfiction,  e)

3.                   Molly Totoro -  Journaling Towards Wholeness - (nonfiction, e)

4.                   Sage Cohen - Fierce on the Page - (nf writing, 229)

5.                   Shonda Rimes -  The Year of Yes - (nonfiction, 336)

6.                   Susan Reynolds -  Fire Up Your Writing Brain - (nf writing, 266)

7.                   Temple Grandin -   Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum  - (NF e) 

8.                   Tyler Henry - Between Two Worlds - (nf, e)

Sunday Salon Chit Chat

We met with our building team consisting of our architect, contractor, and electrician. Now the real works begins and since it took so long for the plans to be approved, it looks like things will be progressing a bit more slowly than planned and it will be about four to five months.  Everybody's busy since it is high summer so we just have to be patient. Grrr!  Never fear, I will be cracking that whip to make sure the renovations are done by the end of the year.  Fingers crossed, knock on wood, and where did my dang rabbits foot disappear too.  *grin* 

I finished my birthstone bookology challenge for this month which should have been relatively easy since spelling out RUBY.   However a few other books yelled for my attention in the midst of the challenge.    

R: The Rook - Daniel O'Malley (#1 Rook, paranormal, 504) 

U: Fire Up Your Writing Brain - Susan Reynolds (nonfiction writing, 266) 

B:  The Beautiful Mystery - Louise Penny (#8 Inspector Gamache, 384, e)

Y:  The Year of Yes - Shonda Rimes (nonfiction, 336)

I just finished reading Ill Wind by Nevada Barr which is the third book in her Anna Pidgeon series.  I was annoyed by Anna in this particular book and feel like the author provided too much information and then not enough in some areas including Anna's issues with alcohol.  She had one major blackout and then declared at the end of the book - I'm an alcoholic. Or maybe I missed something in the reading.   I'm just glad I didn't start out with this one or I'd never had read any more of her stories.   The first book I read in the series was Blind Descent which was excellent, so I guess the stories are hit and miss depending on the story line, just like other series. 

Plus Roxanne St. Claire's latest in her Dogfather contemporary romance series came out a couple days ago,  Leader of the Pack, which is a quick, delightful, palate clearing read.   

For the past few years I have been listening to J.D.Robb's In Death Series in the car and finished with her latest # 44,  Echoes in Death.  It's always a pleasure to listen to her stories because she writes so well,  although the subject matter is a bit tough at times. As a writer, I've learned quite a bit between both reading and listening to the stories. I have to give props to Susan Erickson who does a magnificent job with all the voices.    Knowing myself, I'll probably start missing the characters in a few days and start listening all over again.  Can't get enough.    I started listening to Louise Penny's Beautiful Mystery today and am enjoying the narrator so far, however I did find my mind wondering a little bit since its a change.  We'll see how it pans out.  

It's week 30 in our 52 Books challenge and the last week in our Science Fiction and Fantasy reading months and highlighting author birthdays and bookish news.  

I have no idea what I'm going to read next.  Off to peruse my shelves.   

May Reading Wrap up

Right down to the wire.  I just finished the last book in my may birthstone bookology challenge and  managed to clear some dusty books of my shelves this month as well. I discovered 4 new to me authors, read an even amount of physical versus ebooks and continued to delve into my comfort genres  - paranormal and fantasy.  I traveled from 11th Century England to the 21st century imaginary town of  Bitter Bark, North Carolina and into 4 different fantasy worlds.  


E: Blood of the Earth - Faith Hunter (#1 Soulwood,  Paranormal, 384 e)  Nell is an earth mage, but has had to hid it so she wouldn't be accused of being a witch by the cult she escaped from.  Rick from Jane Yellowrock's world, brings PsyLed to her doorstep to help her discover her powers as well as save her from the cult that's hiding a secret. 

M: Mapmakers War - Ronlyn Dominguez (Utopian, 226) Intriguing utopian story written in the 2nd person point of view, written mainly in summary narrative and without quote marks around the dialogue which tends to make difficult to distinguish the character's conversation from the rest of the story. 

E: From the Corner of His Eye - Dean Koontz (paranormal suspense/thriller, 729)  A complex story that managed to weave a disparate group of people together from a blind boy named Bartholomew to a sociopath who is bound and determine to destroy him. Scary good!

R: Cold Reign - Faith Hunter (#11 Jane Yellowrock, paranormal 371) Non stop action in Jane Yellowrock's world as she fights to protect the vampires against revenant vamps.  

A: Aedyn Chronicles: Chosen One - Alister McGrath (YA fantasy, 208) A young adult fantasy story about two kids who fall through a garden pond into a dystopian world where they are expected to free slaves from evil lords.  

L: Lord of Chaos - Robert Jordan (#6 wheel of time, Fantasy, 1011)Continuing saga of Rand and company!

D: Fire Dance - Della Jacobs (historical romance, 344 e)  New to me author and set in England's middle ages.  Involves a wicked lord, a deadly purple cloak, a knight ordered by the king to kill the lord, seize the castle and marry the lord's daughter who seems to have disappeared.  


Blood Kissed - Keri Arthur (#1 Lizzie Grace, Paranormal, 310 e)

Sit, Stay, Beg - Roxanne St. Claire (#1 Dogfather, contemporary romance, 300 e)

New Leash on Life - Roxanne St. Claire (#2 Dogfather, contemporary romance, 316 e)

Storm Watcher - Lilith St. Crow (#2 Watchers, Urban Fantasy,184 e)

Fierce on the Page - Sage Cohen (nonfiction, writing, 229)