Cleaning Up My List (a little)

So right now I have a list of books on my kindle that have all been read but I haven’t written about them.  This list is an annoyance because it’s not a folder, it’s on the main page, mocking me at how far behind I am.  So rather than let it keep mocking I’m going to knock them all out in one fell swoop and move on.  Hold on to your seats:

Burnt Devotion

I occasionally get the book hangovers described above… but more often I suffer from the inability to start a new book because I haven’t had time to blog about the one I just finished.  See if I start a new book I might lose the urgency and exact words that I want to say about the one I just finished.  This is the case with Burnt Devotion and why I have put off starting a new book because there is much to say and it is urgently burning at my heart to convey how I feel.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is a modern book, published in 2004, but masterfully written in the style of Jane Austen.  As anyone who has read this blog for long knows, I absolutely LOVE to read Austen.  She is one of my favorite authors.  So how is this book different?  It may have been set in Regency England and written with the same style as Austen, but it still falls into the category I typically read… Paranormal. 

"How Are Things Going?" ... oops, what's my line?

A little while back I posted about a book that was a little deviation from my paranormal...umm… normal.  This one goes WAY beyond that!  It is almost as far off that path as it could possibly be.  This is a book that isn’t even fiction, but I have to say… it may be one of the best books I’ve ever reviewed!!!

More Stories About Angels

Writing has taken a backseat to a lot of things in my life lately, but reading… well, I’m not sure I could get through life without that.  So what have I been reading?  One of the best series I’ve read has been The Hidden Wings Series.  Yep, back to Angels and Nephilim.  The thing about stories like this isn’t at all whether I believe in things like them… of course I believe in Angels (and Nephilim are mentioned in the Bible but I don’t really think they’re around anymore) but I don’t think any of the stuff in these books is true.

Love and Skates

I have to start by saying, I really liked these books.  They had me hooked and I read both of the first 2 in the same number of days.  Then I started the 3^rd… and to be honest I just don’t know if I’m going to finish (see #1 below for the reason).  I really liked the characters and the way it was written to develop those characters was fun to read, BUT - There are just some things I can’t let slide by…

Rebirth

I’ve been reading so much lately, just not much I haven’t read before.  I always love to visit old friends.  But a couple weeks ago I was ready to move on to something new.  That’s when I found Rebirth.  

This is not one of those books I’m going to gush about (if it were I’d have read the whole series by now), but it was definitely a page-turner.  I really enjoyed the characters.  The plot was ok, not terribly original, but enough to keep me interested.  It was Jackie’s feisty nature and Garrett’s unpredictability that I really liked.  I also loved the comradery in the interactions between Jackie and her team of Shifters. 

As far as the story goes… obviously about Shifters (duh… it’s in the title) but also Vampires, Fae, and Witches (though none of the witches are main characters there is one who does some serious damage).  I found the interaction of creatures in this story interesting simply because it wasn’t quite the norm for a book that mixes paranormals. 

In this story, the Vampires are feared and disliked by the Shifters.  Even though a good vamp can get all he needs to survive without harming anyone (he can feed off their energy and doesn’t HAVE to take blood) there is still a deep distrust of them.  Maybe because, as we find out, they aren’t all good… in fact, Garrett may be the anomaly. 

I think this is a story that I will eventually revisit.  There is clearly much more to the story than what was in the first book.  Honestly, part of what turned me off to reading book 2 right away is the very obvious fact that the Fae will be more heavily involved in the coming book (Rebirth ends with the invitation to visit the two opposing Fae Kings… something you don’t refuse if asked) and if you’ve read previous posts you might remember that Fae are not among my favorite creatures.  Too tricky!  Not to mention the pet peeve I have about even calling them Fae instead of Fairies just to make it seem more “real.”

So, I guess if I continue to read the series I’ll re-post…. But don’t look for it TOO soon.

If you like Shifters and their interactions with other paranormals (and you don't mind Fae) as with all my posts, you can click on the picture above to be taken to the Rebirth page at Amazon.com.

Different Can Be Good

First off I should start out with an apology for my 2 month hiatus.  I was first suffering from writer's block (yeah, we’ll call it that) and then when I did look at my blog again I realized that there was a serious problem.  All the pictures had disappeared.  Long story.  I did figure it out, but then it took hours of work to repair it all.  But now I’m back!