Eleni's Reading for June 2018

Here are my June reads.

Read: 9               (down 1)
Series: 6               (down 2)
TBR: 4                 (down 2)
Audio: 4                (up 3)
AWW: 4                (up 4)
Graphic novels: 0 (down 2)



Historical Romance

• Let Love Find You (Reid Family #4) by Johanna Lindsey (audio narrated by Anne Flosnik) | 4 stars
• A Person of No Consequence by Alison Stuart | Short story | 4 stars



Paranormal Romance /SciFi Romance

• Winter Born (Dark-Hunterverse # , Were-Hunter #1) by Sherrilyn Kenyon | short story | 4 stars.
• The Undead Next Door (Love at Stake #4) by Kerrelyn Sparks (audio narrated by Deanna Hurst) | 4.5 stars .
• Atrophy (Atrophy #1) by Jess Anastasi | 4.75 stars

Contemporary Romance / Romantic Elements

• Pretty Shore (Astonvale #2) by  Carla Caruso | 4.25 stars
• Action Man Meets Miss Adventure & other romantic short stories by Claire Baxter | 5 stars (short story collection)
• The Time of My Life by Cecelia Ahern (audio narrated by Amy Creighton) | 4.25 stars






Children's
• Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods (Underland Chronicles #3) by Suzanne Collins (audio narrated by Paul Boehmer) | childrens | 4.75 stars

~Until next time, Happy Reading!~

I'm still here and still reading!

Thanks to a dip in the health again, I haven't been online for a few months. The exception to the rule has been to pop into into Facebook on a rare occasion, and mark my reading on Goodreads from my devices, but I haven't really been able to sit at the desktop for more than five minutes. And I mostly blog from the desktop.


This past week or so, I've managed a couple of sessions so I thought I'd do a quick post about my reading. I have kept at it - you'll see half have been audio. For those who like numbers, I read 43 stories, 24 of which were audio.

Here are my reads from April to July...

YA (romantic elements)

• Dead Actually by Kaz Delaney | 5 stars 
• Insurgent (Divergent #2) by Veronica Roth (audio read by Emma Galvin) | 4.5 stars 
• The Vittra Attacks (Trylle #2.5) by Amanda Hocking (short story) | 4 stars
• Ascend (Trylle #3) includes short story Ever After (#3.5) by Amanda Hocking | YA | 4.5 stars

Historical Romance

• Any Duchess Will Do (Spindle Cove #4) by Tess Dare (audio read by Eva Kaminsky) | 5 stars 
• Romancing the Duke (Castles Ever After #1) by Tessa Dare (audio read by Carmen Rose) | 5 stars
• The Autumn Bride (The Chance Sisters #1) by Anne Gracie | 5 stars - wow, just wow!
• Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (audio play by BBC Drama) | 4 stars
• The Devil Who Tamed Her (Reid Family #2) by Johanna Lindsey (audio read by Laural Merlington) | 4 stars
• Say Yes to the Marquess (Castles Ever After #2) by Tessa Dare (audio read by Carmen Rose) | 5 stars
• A Night Like This (Smythe-Smith Quartert #2) by Julia Quinn | 5 stars
• Starling (South Landers #1) by Virginia Taylor | 4.5 stars - loved a story set in my home town
• When A Scot Ties the Knot (Castles Ever After #3) by Tessa Dare (audio read by Carmen Rose) | 5 stars
• Lord Dashwood Missed Out (Spindle Cove #4.5) by Tessa Dare (audio read by Eva Kaminsky) | novella | 5 stars
• Second Sight (Arcane Society #1) by Amanda Quick | 4 stars
• The Sum of All Kisses (Smythe-Smith Quartet #3) by Julia Quinn (audio read by Rosalyn Landor) | 5 stars

Urban fantasy/paranormal romance/fantasy

• The Taken (Celestial Blues #1) by Vicki Petersson (audio read by Kevin Fabian) | 4.25 stars
• Rubies and Black Velvet (Four Sided Pentacle #1.5) by Denise Rossetti | novella | 5 stars 
• Twilight Phantasies (Wings in the Night #1) by Maggie Shayne | 3.5 stars
• Magic Burns (Kate Daniels #2) by Ilona Andrews (audio read by Renée Raudman) | 5 stars
• Shattered Dance (White Magic #3) by Caitlin Brennan | 4.5 stars
• Swallowing Darkness (Meredith Gentry #7) by Laurell K. Hamilton (audio read by Claudia Black) | 4.25 stars
• The Summons (Shadowlands #0.5) by Shona Husk | Short story | 4 stars
• Alliance Forged (Light Blade #2) by Kylie Griffin | 5 stars 
• A Very Vampy Christmas (Love at Stake #2.5) by Kerrelyn Sparks | short story | 3.75 stars
• Power Unbound (Dream of Asarlai #2) by Nicole Murphy | 4.5 stars
• Deep Secret (Magids #1) by Diana Wynne Jones (audio read by Christopher Webster and Harriet Carmichael) | 4 stars

Children's

• Gregor the Overlander (Underland Chronicles #1) by Suzanne Collins (audio read by Paul Boehmer) childrens | 5 stars
• Ever by Gail Carson Levine (children's) | 3.5 stars
• Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane (Underland Chronicles #2) by Suzanne Collins (audio read by Paul Boehmer) | 5 stars 
• The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman | children's | 4 stars 
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Oz #1) by L. Frank Baum (audio read by Tara Sands) | children's | 3.5 stars 
• Princess in the Spotlight (The Princess Diaries #2) by Meg Cabot (audio read by Anne Hathaway) | MG | 4 stars

Crime/Mystery

• Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet (Agatha Raisin #2) by M.C. Beaton (audio read by Diana Bishop) | 4 stars 
• Shakespeare's Christmas (Lily Bard Mystery #3) (audio read by Julia Gibson) | 4.25 stars
• Willy and Alvirah: Collection of #1 Bestselling Short Stories by Mary Higgins Clark (audio read by Carole Higgins Clark) | 4 stars (3 short stories taken from The Lottery Winner collection, plus bonus two short stories not related to Willy and Alvirah)
• Cat Under Fire (Joe Grey #2) by Shirley Rousseau Murphy (audio read by Susan Boyce) | 3.75 stars
• Huntress Moon (Huntress/FBI Thrillers #1) by Alexandra Sokoloff | 5 stars- very compelling 
• Princess Elizabeth's Spy (Maggie Hope Mysteries #2) by Susan Elia MacNeal (audio read by Susan Duerden) | 4.25 stars

Graphic Novels

• Mercy Thompson: Moon Called volume 1 by Patricia Briggs and David Lawrence (graphic novel) | 5 stars
• Mercy Thompson: Moon Called volume 2 by Patricia Briggs and David Lawrence (graphic novel) | 5 stars
• Soulless Volume 3 (The Parasol Protectorate Manga #3) by Gail Carrier, REM et al. | graphic novel | 5 stars
• Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: The Laughing Corpse, Volume 2: Necromancer (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: The Laughing Corpse #2 graphic novel) by Laurell K. Hamilton, Jessica Ruffner (text) and Ron Lim (Illustrations) 
• Mercy Thomspon: Homecoming graphic novel (Mercy Thompson #0.5) by Patricia Briggs | 4 stars

SciFi/Steampunk

• The Memory of Earth (Homecoming Saga #1) by Orson Scott Card (audio read by Stefan Rudnicki) | 3.5 stars
• Wild Cards (Wild Cards #1) edited by George R.R. Martin (mosaic novel) | 4.5 stars - really interesting
• Circus Escape (Circus #1) by Lilliana Rose | novella | 4 stars

Other

• The Inimitable Jeeves (Jeeves #2) by P.G. Wodehouse (audio read by Frederick Davidson) | 4 stars

Happy Reading!

~ E :)

Finally some reads...

While my reading hasn't been at high speed, I at least have achieved something in the last few months. And have started with unabridged audio books - this helps with the long ride to campus two nights a week. And helps me feel connected with reading.

I notice when I don't get time to read I get really bummed out and that's not good for the psyche. So I try to read something even if it's only a few pages a day. Slow going but it helps. I know there is no way I will reached my goals that I set at the beginning of the year. I didn't expect the study load to be so intense, but then again, I didn't expect that I would be doing 4 subjects.


A quick review of the books....


Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh
Two worlds collide in this book - the first in a series. The world is divided between the Psy, who are controlled and without emotion, and the Changelings, who are very emotional and not always in control. Sascha is hiding behind her psy facade and believes she is going mad as she does feel, but she can't let her leader mother know, and so she works with Lucas, a Changeling over a housing project. This is when she finds out about murders of Changelings. Intiguing read - thoroughly enjoyed - it just got better and better.


Secret Ones by Nicole Murphy
Love the invention of a new race on earth - the Gadda. Found what they could do with the power interesting. On to book 2, me thinks.

Moonlight Becomes You by Mary Higgins Clark
I reread this book having read it when i first got it in the 1990s. I remembered only one aspect of the book, but not who or why. So it was a pleasant read. As a teenager I read as many Mary Higgins Clark books as I could get my hands on, and it had been a long while.

The Liar by Stephen Fry
I heard this on audio book and I laughed, gasped, and enjoyed the reading by Stephen Fry. Excellent stuff. I was a little confused at the first jump - the story goes from the main character being at public school in the UK - to being at University in the UK. There was also an intriguing mystery happening where the characters are not named by name but by what they are wearing - eg The tweet suit. I didn't know what was going on half the time with these passages but by the end it's all clear.


You Had Me At Halo by Amanda Ashby
Loved it! Funny, quirky, witty and totally absorbing. You want to know the mystery of why Holly found herself in heaven with no memory of how she got there. Thoroughly enjoyed.


The Keepers by Heather Graham
This is book 1 of The Keeper trilogy. The supernatural world is set into sub-groups and each of these subgroups, there is a Keeper. In New Orleans, it's the MacDonald sisters. This book concentrates on Fiona, the Keeper of the vampires, who must work with vampire police detective, Jagger, to get the bottom of murders that appear to be done by a vampire. Some pretty nifty world-building and mystery.


The Shifters by Alexandra Sokoloff
The second book on The Keepers trilogy. Alexandra continues the great mystery, world-building, and tackles the most prickly of the three sisters - Caitlin. One thing I think was different was referring to the supernatural communities as Others. Great story.


Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
I heard this on audio and did enjoy the tale. I did think it moved slow and there was something about Tessa I couldn't connect with at the beginning. SI enjoyed the other characters more especially the Shadow Hunters. Set in Victorian England, American Tessa Gray comes into the unseen world of the Shadow Hunters.



Enchanted Realms by Eleni Konstantine
Yes, I'm putting my own work in there. I had to do the final edits and my editor helped me think about things and that was a good thing. Enjoyed working with her on it.

June reads

The Stone Mage and The Sea by Sean Williams
When I started this originally, while I enjoyed it, I couldn't get into it. A few months later, and reborrowing it from the library, and I was immersed of the world of The Strand, where the Sky Wardens rule. Sal and his father are on the run, and avoid these Sky Wardens, but Sal has no idea why. Until they come to a town, where an old man resides, and he finds out more about himself than he bargained for.


M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman
Gaiman is a real storyteller. In this collection of short stories aimed for children, he mixes genres and styles, but always there is a fascinating story there. Whether it be funny, more creepy, or just weird. I loved the NurseRhymeLand story in the detective noir style, the old lady who found the Holy Grail in her local Oxfam shop, and the story of the stray cat who has more power than it seems.

Her Dark Lord by Mel Teshco

A novella with Nocturne Bites. I enjoyed this story of a half vampire trying to find the Ancient One. Really good world-building, especially with the length. Also hawt. Well done to my DarkSider friend.

Immortal In Death by J.D. Robb

Book 3 of the In Death series featuring Eve Dallas and her beau, Roarke. I love the relationship between these two. Two people with bad pasts who have found eachother. In this book, Eve has a case close to home when her best friend is accused of murder. Eve is tenacious in proving her friend's innocence by being a good above the board cop. The case also brings up some startling memories too. I really enjoy the mystery and suspense in these books.

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Like The Stone Mage and The Sea, when I initially borrowed this book, I read it and liked it but it was slow going. Maybe because I wasn't used to the word usage imagery of the steampunk world. When I reborrowed it, I was able to get into it and the last half of the book flew by. I love the world-building in this - the Darwanist English vs. the Clanker Germans. An history with an alternative what if. It's the first in the series, so am looking forward to seeing where this goes.

Angel's Blood by Nalini Singh

I have already reviewed this book, here.

June reads

I had a great month of reading in June. I finished off my reward book of Shadowfae, read new authors - Helene Young and Lauren Kate, caught up on a Twilight installment, and started catching on my e-TBR pile with Anna Hackett's novella Wind Kiss, Fire Bound.

Each was different and I enjoyed that immensely- though 4 out of the 5 were speculative fiction, they were all different in tone, world building, length, and voice.

Happy reading!