8-25-12 The Wolf Hunt by Gillian Bradshaw - Fiction

4 - Oops, forgot one!  This is a period book set in France in the days of lords and lieges.  It is a good combo of intrigue, romance, politics, and the supernatural, surprisingly so.  Marie Penthievre is the heir to her fathers estate and is kidnapped by the Bretons from her Norman priory.  Ironically, one of her kidnappers is a blood relation.  She is kept at court but is treated as one of the family.  At the beginning of her stay, there is some drama with one of the lord's knights rushing off to steal away with his lover before her wedding to another.  The story is full of twists and turns with one mystery leading into the next and the battle, legal and personal, for Marie's lands once her father has been killed in the crusades.  This was a much more interesting book than I initially expected and well written historically.

9-2-12 Gil's All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez - Fiction

5 - So a werewolf and a vampire walk into a diner.....that's how this fun book starts.  They meet a determined owner Loretta who, after serving them their food, proceeds to shoot up the zombies that start attacking her diner.  Again.  So begins a strange sort of partnership.  Earl, the vampire, and Duke, the werewolf, stay to help Loretta with her zombie problem and to install a gas line to the kitchen.  Who would have guessed that in such a small town in the middle of nowhere someone would be trying to raise the old gods and start the apocalypse?  And did you know the language of the old gods is pig latin?  I laughed a lot and really enjoyed this book and I know I'm going to read more of Martinez's work.  It's just the kind of quirky that I love.

8-29-12 Proof of the Pudding by Phoebe Atwood Taylor - Fiction

3 - I think if I had started this series closer to the beginning I would have enjoyed this a little more.  Asey Mayo is a self made detective in Cape Cod in the 40's and the book is full of the particular dialect of the time and area.  Not a bad mystery but I feel I may be missing some back story that would definitely have made it more fun.  Quirkiness abounds in the story with some distinctly odd characters, as there are in any small town, but a well put together murder mystery overall.

8-20-12 The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi - Fiction

3 - A much more "intellectual" book than I normally read, this is a look at an Indian teen living in 1960's England and trying to find his way in the world.  His father has an affair and leaves his wife for another woman.  His mother, an Englishwoman, fades into the background but slowly becomes independent.  His stepbrother becomes a rock star, travelling and then living in America in all the rock star, drug addled glory of the time.  He struggles with finding his place in the world and with trying to balance the traditional Indian values of family and obligation with the excesses and uprising occurring during the 60's.  It was ok.  There is a lot of sex of all kinds in the book and some odd characters.  Overall, it kept me interested enough to finish but I definitely won't be reading another of Kureishi's books.

8-12-12 Hounded by Kevin Hearne - Fiction

4 - This was a surprisingly good read!  I was doing the random walk down a library aisle, turn & grab something, and this caught my eye.  I figured it would be some of that mediocre fantasy that has been released lately but it actually was a well researched and fun book.  It's set in Tempe, AZ so I had a great time because I knew where everything was.  The story is about a Druid living in our time.  He's still living because he is smart and can blend in.  And he has great friends including his dog, Oberon, who he speaks with mentally, his lawyers, a werewolf and a vampire, and the blessings of the Morrigan, one of the Irish goddesses of death.  Hearne intertwines modern day with Irish mythology so well.  Very fun, so I will read the other two books in the set.

8-12-12 Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris - Fiction

5 - This is a great addition to the series and seems to pull a little more of Sookie's & Sam's relationship to the forefront.  Sookie is having a time trying to keep her vampire boyfriend from being married off to a queen as his maker's final wish and now the fae on this side of the door are starting to get antsy.  Then there are problems with the werewolf pack too.  And this whole time, Sookie is trying to hide that she has possession of a very powerful Fairy gift.  Really picked my interest back up in this series as Sookie is faced with a few life changing decisions.

8-12-12 Farm City by Novella Carpenter - Non-Fiction

5 - This book made me laugh.  Novella and her boyfriend start an urban farm.  Before you think of a pretty terraced backyard in the suburbs, this was in Oakland, California.  Yep.  "The Ghetto"  She converted a vacant lot and began growing there and kept bees, and chickens, and ducks in her yard.  She also did turkeys.  This book is the story of how that came about and how she helped advance a movement for people to know where there food is coming from and to have the opportunity for freshness.  She still has the farm and you can follow her blog, Ghost Town Farm.  A really great and, I hate to say it, inspiring read.

8-12-12 The Sacred Band by David Anthony Durham - Fiction

4 - Definitely interesting but this final book of the trilogy let me down a bit. Corinn just becomes such an annoying and blah character.  If you read it, you will understand what I'm saying.  Mena is still a great character and so is Dariel and their parts in this are still fabulous.  Overall, a bit disappointing as the end of a trilogy, but it does ties everything up.  You have no real questions.  Meh.

8-12-12 The Other Lands by David Anthony Durham - Fiction

5 - A fantastic follow up to the first book, Acacia.  Corinne is queen and the power is going a bit to her head.  She sends her brother, Dariel, across the ocean to the Other Lands as an envoy but is double crossed by the League and does not know the fate of her brother.  She sends Mena to hunt the twisted creatures created during the war.  But her sister is certainly not her pawn.  Still a lot of political finagling in this book and some new factions enter play.  I was enthralled.

8-12-12 Blind Sight by Terri Persons - Fiction

4 - I really like this series.  Agent Bernadette Saint Clare is a great character with her fair share of flaws and the cases are very unusual but well planned out.  There is a little bit of the paranormal in these but even if you avoid those kind of books, I think you could really enjoy these because they are more cop than paranormal.  In this one, there is a killer on the loose (of course) who is leaving bodies behind with a pentagram on their forehead. Is he a religious nut or not?  Very good book.  Really enjoyed the story.

So Sorry!

Sorry guys!  I got a little bit hooked on an online game & spent all my time on there instead of updating my blog.  So I'm going to play catchup.  I have read a few things in this time, but don't have dates so I'm just going to make all of them today's date.  Promise to keep up better in the future!

4-27-12 A Perfect Blood by Kim Harrison - Fiction

4 - Harrison delves more into Trent and Rachel in this book.  Rachel is still wearing the charmed silver band and is trying to live as just a witch.  Unfortunately, there is a militant human faction that wants her blood to create their own demon and engineer a curse to destroy all Inderlanders.  Rachel's life is at stake, as usual, and Trent offers her his own brand of elven magic as help.  There's not too much interaction with Jenks and Ivy in this one but it is still a great adventure as Trent starts trying to master and use his elven magic and Rachel has to decide if she wants to live as half a witch or as a full fledged demon.  Too bad this just came out because I'm all ready for the next book!

4-22-12 Acacia by David Anthony Durham - Fiction

5 - I had totally forgotten about this trilogy since I read the first one 5 years ago.  Then, when I was looking at my stats for the blog, I noticed the title again.  So I looked it up and now all three books have been released.  So I re-read this one and will read the other two shortly.  I still loved this book.  A great work of fantasy with lots of intrigue and military action.  Acacia is the story of four royal siblings who are whisked away to the four corners of the kingdom when their father, King Leodan, is assassinated and war begins.  Nine years later, the kingdom is under the conquerors rule, Leodan's eldest daughter is the conqueror's mistress, his oldest son is a desert warrior, his youngest daughter is a priestess, and the youngest son is a pirate.  The four children are united in their desire to avenge their father and take back the kingdom but none of them are aware that any of the others survived.  Truly a great story with so many factions and twists that it will hold your interest.  I can't wait to read the next book.

E-Readers

OK, so I'm considering buying an e-reader.  I'm leaning toward the NOOK Simple Touch because it has a very long reading life and I don't really need the extra bells and whistles.  Can anyone give me feedback on their e-readers and what they love/hate about them?

3-29-12 Pale Demon by Kim Harrison - Fiction

5 - One of the best adventure books in the series.  Rachel, Trent, Jenks, and Ivy are on a road trip to get to the west coast and, of course, it does not go smoothly.  Trent's on an elf quest so there are elf assassins on their trail and Rachel's still in trouble with the coven so they have a tail on them too.  Throw in a psychotic day walking demon and Rachel's uncertain status in the ever after and this is a true adventure.  Can't wait for the new book!

3-24-12 Bar Flower by Lea Jacobson - Non-Fiction

4 - Lea Jacobson gives the reader a look inside ukiyo, "the floating world" of Japan. Ukiyo is the entertainment industry mainly focused around sex and Jacobson was part of the highest rungs of that society, a bar hostess. Ironically, a bar hostess, even though the occupation is considered part of the sex trade, involves no sex and barely even any touching. The modern equivalent of a geisha, a hostess is meant to fawn over men. make them feel important, and convince them to part with the better part of their bank account to purchase drinks from the establishment they are patronizing. In Japan, many of the hostesses are foreign born and don't necessarily even have to speak Japanese. In this, the reader is lucky because Jacobson speaks Japanese fluently and studied Japanese culture before travelling to Japan to begin her work as an English teacher. This book is her memoir of her time in Japan and introduces the reader to how an American English teacher becomes a bar hostess and explains many of the cultural differences and beliefs of the Japanese people. A really good read and very entertaining.

3-18-12 Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison - Fiction

4 - Well, Rachel has been shunned, the Coven of Moral and Ethical Standards is after her, Al keeps trying to snatch people she knows, and then there's Trent. A fun adventure that keeps the world of the Hallows alive and kicking. Rachel keeps learning more about what she, as a survivor of the Rosewood syndrome, can do and keeps being surprised by the expanse of her abilities. Aaand, a main and loved character dies in this book. Yes, I cried. Only one more book in this series until the brand new book. I can't wait!

3-14-12 Lost in Shangra-La by Mitchell Zuckoff - Non-Fiction

4 - This is a little known adventure that occurred toward the end of WWII after the European surrender but while the Pacific theater was still in full swing. A sightseeing plane full of army personnel went down in New Guinea in a hidden valley nicknamed Shangra-La by the local soldiers. The survivors had to deal with very limited supplies, potentially fatal injuries, and unknown local tribes rumored to be headhunters and cannibals. Zuckoff gives the background of each of the players and gathered his information from this book from army records, interviews with the tribes, and interviews with some of the people involved and their families. It was a nice little history lesson about some of the people and places that tend to be overlooked in the movies and books about WWII, including the WAC's, the Women's Army Corps. Interested in history or WWII? Check this book out.

3-8-12 White Witch, Black Curse - Fiction

4 - Another fabulous entry in the Rachel Morgan series. Rachel is still struggling to remember the events from her last night with Kisten and discovers that she has a ghost in the church. Not just any ghost but Pierce, a ghost she summoned accidentally when she was 18. Unfortunately, Al grabs Pierce before she can really speak with him. So while she helps the FIB catch a banshee, Rachel tries to get Al to pay attention to her and agree to some ground rules. It's always fun visiting the Hallows.

3-4-12 Blind Rage by Terri Persons - Fiction

4 - This is the second book with agent Bernadette Saint Clare and Persons is really opening up the character. She not only can see killers in action with her sort of psychic ability, but she also has a new partner: agent Creed who died on vacation but used to share office. Even if you're not into the supernatural, if you like a good crime thriller I highly recommend these books. The plot moves on normal investigation techniques and the supernatural blends in when needed. Seriously, give these a try.