Casee: Casee is out camping this week. Let’s hope she’s also reading all the books. 🙂
Holly: This was a much slower reading week for me than the last. I didn’t have much time to read over the weekend and I chose to watch movies on Monday rather than read. I finished Dragon Unleashed by Grace Draven, which I ended up really loving. The ending of that book was great. It was a slow moving story, but it worked well in context. I only wish the next book was available already. I started a new series, King Arthur and Her Knights by K.M. Shea. I’ve been craving Arthurian romances and I love the premise of this – a woman gets taken back in time to become the one true King of Britain – I read Enthroned and Enchanted. The first half of Enthroned was pretty bad and I almost quit reading. The second half picked up enough for me to want to read the next book. Enchanted was better than Enthroned, but not great. They’re pretty light reads without a lot of depth, but I am enjoying the gender swap and I’m hoping they get better as the series progresses.
I’m currently listening to a book called She Walks in Power by MaryLu Tyndall, a new to me author. It’s another gender swap where the heroine is the Robin Hood character. I’m early into it, but I’m enjoying it so far.
Rowena: My reading slowed down this week and because of that, I quit the book that I was reading because I wasn’t in the mood for a historical romance. That book was The Perfect Rake by Anne Gracie. I’ve heard nothing but good things about it but I’ve been itching to start Emerald Blaze by Ilona Andrews so I did. So far, so good so I’m hyped to finish it. Bring on Catalina and Alessandro, please!
What are you reading this week? Any new favorites or books that drove you crazy? Share!
Since last time ~
I’m participating in a reading challenge on another site. This week’s challenge is to read a self-published book.
Boy Shattered by Eli Easton — this was a poignant story that dealt primarily with the relationship that develops between two highschoolers in the aftermath of a school shooting. Landon, out and proud senior, saves the life of Brian (hmmm, inadvertent Monty Python humor!), popular quarterback/jock. I appreciated the tenderness that is shown in the boys’ relationship as well as the fact that individuals are shown to process trauma in different ways. The identity of the shooters is also a mystery through much of the book; my solution was only 50% correct. I recommend this book.
The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic — many trigger warnings for this book (past abuse/torture by a parent; drugging). This is the first of a trilogy; the series might prove to contain a romance but this book did not. I was admittedly confused much of the time I was reading, but the story kept my interest. Neil has spent years on the run from his criminal father. His senior year he joins the Exy team (a sport created by the author) at his high school and ends up being enlisted to play with the Foxes as a college freshman. The story covers about four months of training (with many dysfunctional teammates) and the start of the school year. This book is FREE for Kindle readers and the sequels are each 99 cents. I don’t believe I’ll continue as reviews indicate that the follow on books are very dark; the series as a whole has an average rating of 4+ on Amazon and has many fans.
Plumbess Seg by Jude Fawley — is one of the most unique fantasies I’ve read. Select female orphans are raised together and trained to become plumbesses. They learn about toilets, sewers, and pipes of all kinds; they deliver babies, too (you know, from human pipes!). At a certain point in their training, they begin carrying a plunger (it’s akin to a wand). The novel focuses on Seg and Eck as they grow and train and go out into the world (with pipelords and peasants) where a plumbess is a woman of high status. I will likely reread this story and would like to read on in the series.
— For inspiration for my next art gathering, I enjoyed reading
Making an Impression: Designing & Creating Artful Stamps by Genuine D. Zlatkis.
— the most recent book in an enjoyable series, Death at Brighton Pavilion (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries Book 14) by Ashley Gardner.
— White Chrysanthemum by Mary Lynn Bracht which my book group will be discussing next week. It was a sad read dealing as it did, in alternating chapters, with the life of a Korean comfort woman during World War II and with the life of her sister in 2011. It was a quick and gripping story that I read in two days.