Current Project: Contest Entries
Status: Getting them done!
I am chomping at the bit because I have yet to read the slew of great books that came out last week: Suzanne Brockmann's latest, our own Eli's latest, Allison Brennan's latest, but I'm waiting for them to arrive (and for time to materialize), and I've been on a up and down streak with books right now. But there have been a few gems:
I just finished Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips. The 12 greek gods are alive and well in London, sharing a cramped townhouse. Who will love it: Eli and Lisa.
The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner isn't really a romance, but it is a gem of a book as the best thief in the land gets a chance to go on a royal quest. Who will love it: Karen, Becky, and anyone else who loves a good fantasy tale in the spirit of Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings.
Wed Him Before You Bed Him by Sabrina Jefferies. This is the culiminatation of the school of heiresses series, and Mrs. Harris finally gets her book. Absolutely delightful, but you will get the most pleasure out of it if you start with the earlier books in the series. Who will love it: Becky and others who love historicals.
Tell me what you're reading right now, and what is on your TBR pile that you are most excited about? What have you read recently that you give 5 Stars to? Also, any interest in bringing books for trading to the August Meeting?
14 comments:
Hmm...I've started so many books lately and just haven't been able to get into them. I think it's a combo of everything going on with me this summer and trying to get back into the creative mind-set.
Right now I'm reading Twilight - though I admit I'm not very far into it.
I have a stack of stuff that I wasn't able to get into as well, Eli. I always feel so bad when that happens, like "I SHOULD love this book. WHY don't I love this book? WHY can't I concentrate on this book?" My July was littered with unfinished books. :( Just back from a trip to to the library though, and I'm feeling more excited about my TBR pile.
I haven't been reading much lately, either. After sending off the last book, I just sort of crashed. Keeping reminding myself I need to plot like the wind and still find I'm unable to. I seldom read new material when I plot (or worry about it.)
The Thief sounds interesting and since I loved both of the collections to which you referenced it, I imagine I would like it.
It's funny, because I haven't read much this year, but in the last couple of weeks I've been on a bit of a reading binge. In that time, I've read four of Charlaine Harris's Aurora Teagarden mysteries (books 2-5), and an older Suzanne Brockmann (reprinted), titled Time Enough for Love.
I read the Aurora Teagarden books based on the strength of the first book in the series -- Real Murders. The subsequent books, frankly, weren't nearly as good. It's as if the author decided she wanted to write a different series, but since she was contracted to write this one, she was stuck with these characters. So instead, she made some drastic changes, but also left some things as they were. In a weird way, I was fascinated by what she did -- and that's what kept me reading. I didn't really care about the stories so much as I wanted to see what strange thing she'd do to the characters, and in that I wasn't disappointed. I may or may not read the rest of the books in the series (reading summaries for the rest of the books has convinced me that the author continued on this same path of changing things). I'm not sure I'm describing what I mean very well and I can't think of a way to do that without giving away spoilers for the plots.
I picked up the Suzanne Brockmann book awhile ago, but just got around to reading it. I bought it because I was intrigued by the idea that she'd written a time travel romance. It was an entertaining enough read, but I couldn't help but wonder if she got any flack from romance readers about the convoluted time travel theory stuff in the plot. Don't get me wrong, I loved that stuff (and I'm more of a SF/Fantasy/Mystery reader than I am a strict Romance reader), but it read closer to an SF-lite book (with sex!) than I'd expected it would. The only problem with that was that I had a harder time suspending the disbelief over the immediate and overwhelming attraction the H/H had for each other. I would've much preferred a longer book with more characters and more involved character and plot development -- the germ of the idea had that kind of potential and I think she has the writing skills to carry it off. It was still a fun read, just not as satisfying as it might have been.
I've got a bunch of books on order, including Eli's new book (can't wait to read it!).
Ooooh, The Thief sounds like it's right up my alley! Thanks for the tip, Wavy. And like Debbie, I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of Stolen Heat. I keep checking the mailbox, *sigh* but it's still not here. And since I read Eli's post on Emily Brian's blog, and of course perused Emily's website after, I ordered one of Emily's books the same day as Eli's.
I didn't want to drive all the way into town, so I called Waldenbooks to see how many copies they had of Stolen Heat and if they had Emily's Pleasuring The Pirate. They only had 4 copies of Eli's book, so I chastised them, lightly, and told them they better order more cause they were going to need them on the shelves. They didn't have any of Emily's books, so I just went ahead and ordered Elisabeth's Stolen Heat and Emily's Pleasuring The Pirate from them over the phone and I'm having them shipped to me. :)
Right now I'm (still trying to get through) reading Angels and Demons. It's good, but doesn't really hold my interest for very long.
I'm waiting for Suzanne Collins 'Catching Fire' to come out on Sept 1st; it's the second book in the 'Hunger Games' series. Have you read 'Hunger Games', Wavy? If not, you'd probably love it. It's a YA and it's amazing.
What I'd give 5 stars to that I've read this summer would be...
Skin Hunger- Kathleen Duey
Hunger Games- Suzanne Collins
Crown Duel-- Sherwood Smith
My Wicked Marquess-- Galen Foley (anything by Galen is 5 stars and she's got an incredible back list)
Books I'd like to read are books about...
Pirates and Vikings, anything Medieval. But they have to be by authors who know how to do Pirates and/or Vikings correctly. :) I'm thinking Johanna Lindsey's back list or Shannon Drake, authors like those.
As far as bringing books for trading in August, what sort of books are you thinking of trading in and what sort of books to you want to take home? Let me know and I'll look through to see what I've got in my pile. I have a butt-load of John Grisham's books. Thirteen of them! I bought them for my DH, but he's more interested in video games. *rolling eyes*
Eli-- I hope you can get into the Twilight series. It's fun. Also, Stephenie's 'The Host' is soooo good, but it takes a while to get to the meat. It's very worth sticking through it. It's now one of my favorite stories and I can't wait for whatever she comes up with next.
Alice-- It sounds like your brain needs a little break. :) But your record shows you'll be back on top of your game soon. No worries, mate!
Debbie-- I love SF, Fantasy too. One of my favorite authors, Johanna Lindsey, wrote a few SF books a few years back; they were good, but not great; however, they must have made an impression because I still remember them very well and think about them from time to time, and I NEVER remember books or movies. LOL It's very freaky to me that such an impression was made on my mind with that short series. *insert Twilight Zone music here* LOL
Jim and I enjoyed "Gods Behaving Badly" and passed it on to our son who enjoyed reading it on a plane trip. I haven't read much fiction lately but I'm looking forward to reading Eli's "Stolen Heat" and Genene's "Feathers on the Floor". I've also added "My Sisters" by Ann Roth to my TBR pile--Ann was one of our guest bloggers a while back and her writing sounded like a good fit for me.
Piper--Thanks for the list. Would I like Galen Foley do you think? I like my historicals on the spicier side (Ala Liz Carlyle and Sabrina Jefferies, but I adore Julia Quinn as well).
Pirates and Vikings, Oh MY! I love both, and I'll have to think what I could recommend for you.
Oh, and I got one entry OUT and I wrote 2 new pages yesterday for the other one. Go me. Go me slowly, but still, go me.
For the meeting, assuming I am in town (my dad is in the hospital, so there is a small chance I might be heading back to St. Louis), I have a hodge podge of books to bring for others to look through. I'm looking for tasty tidbits left over from nationals, fabulous historicals that won't leave me swooning, more Karen Marie Moning, more Kresley Cole, but you know me, I read many things.
Okay, I'm back home. I'm reading nonfiction books on gambling, stern wheelers, and books about Silver City, ID. I have Jane Kirkpatrick's A Flickering Light to read and a slew of other romance books. I'm thinking I'll be doing most of my summer reading in September on my cruise.
Ack! I meant to say that the books I shipped from the conference arrived and I'll be bringing them to the next meeting. There are a couple of Eloisa James (her two latest), a Sabrina Jeffries and some others.
You girls are so sweet! I hope you all enjoy STOLEN HEAT. And I'm curious to see if any of you catch the error in the book. I flipped through it the other day (I shouldn't do that!!!!) and found it. Oh, it made me ill, because SO many people read it and I can't believe it wasn't caught. Though it was most likely changed in copy edits after it was out of my hands (that's my story and I'm sticking to it.)
And Wavy...I don't read many historicals but I LOVE Galen Foley's books. Start with Lord of Fire or Lord of Ice...I can't remember which one comes first! I just know of the two, it's the red one you want to read first (the other is blue). Trust me...it'll be steamy enough for you. You'll love it. ;)
I am sooooo checking out that Gods Behaving Badly book!!! :D Thanks, Wavy! I read a paranormal with archaeology and vampires by a famous author. Thinking it would be perfect for me! Archaeology and vampires? Hello! And it took me about three weeks to finish it. I read another one that took me about two weeks, and I think I'll have this one finished in a week. But they just aren't grabbing my attention and it's frustrating.
Wavy-- YES!! You would love Galen's books. Very spicy!
Take a look at her website and her backlist. And Eli's suggestion of reading Lord of Fire and Lord of Ice are spot on. Fire is first, then Ice. Very hot!!
Yeah, if you can think of any good Medieval or Viking or Pirate books, I'm open. What I should do is get off my arse and write my own. LOL
And yeah, GO YOU! Even if it's slowly, still-- GO YOU!! LOL
Eli-- I would have caught the error for you, but you never, EVER send me anything to beta read anymore. *sniff* (lol)
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