I have been a MEGA slacker with this blog, but I still manage to post semi-regularly on Manga Report and contribute to some of the weekly features on Manga Bookshelf. Anyway, I hope to post a bit more here, even if it is a bit dusty. Maybe I will cover a bit of knitting progress, books I’ve been reading, and one of these days I want to finish out my posts on Amethyst Princess of Gemworld by outlining some of the references to her in Legion of Super-Heroes.
Along with lapsing in blogging, I stopped updating goodreads very often, so I lost my reliable metrics about what I’ve been reading. I’ve been trying to do a much better job though, so this is what I was reading in July. I actually had a vacation in July so I was able to breeze through many many books.
Rereads – Vast portions of the Dark Hunter Series. I bought this bundle when it was on sale for the low low price of $20:
I started wading through this in June, then my interest petered out in July after finishing Acheron.
I read books 1-6 of the Charley Davidson (haha) series:
This was a good, clever paranormal series, even if some of the mysteries explored in the books end up a bit obvious. Great and engaging cast of characters.
Historical Romances:
I read a couple of Eloisa James’ fairy tale series, The Ugly Duchess and The Duke is Mine. James is really up there with Loretta Chase and Courtney Milan as my favorite romance authors. These books were witty, with memorable characters. It is always interesting to see how James interprets the fairy tale inspiration of the plots, set in a non-magical historical setting.
I read the Suffragette Scandal, by Courtney Milan, a book that should be celebrated for many reasons, not the least is the phrase “puppy cannon”. I also read Proof By Seduction and Trial by Desire.
I also read the Lion’s Lady by Julie Garwood, Scotsmen Prefer Blonds by Sara Ramsey and a couple linked books by Lorraine Heath, In Bed by the Devil and Between the Devil and Desire. The Heath books were a bit different from the typical historical romance, since they were a bit inspired by Dickens’ Artful Dodger and his band of thieves.
For contemporary romance, I read Sarah Morgan’s Sleigh Bells in the Snow, which is really a great example of a contemporary Harlequin done well.
I also read Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire, which I had to force myself to finish. It was clever, but it was clever in exactly the same way to a degree that reading it became a bit grating. Also, the heroine interrupted the main flow of the story so many times to digress about thinks like her Great Aunt Myrtle’s adventures in dragon hunting, I realized the book was 85% asides and 15% actual plot and character development.
YA
My book group was reading Paul Zindel, so I read the classic The Pigman. It is very odd but nice going back and reading books that I had practically memorized when I was 14 years old (oh so very long ago)
That’s what I finished reading!
On the horizon for August:
Book club book Code of Silence
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
Book of Live by Deborah Harkness