2011 Books: 26-40

More book catchup (I bet you thought I forgot!).  These have been almost a year ago, so although I remember they were good & the gist of them, some I don't have anything to say about.  And a few I have things I'd LOVE to say, but it would be huge spoilers because they're part of a series, and so I'll refrain because I know I have a lot of followers who may be reading them & not as far in the series as I am.  But here they are

#26

Firestorm

Rachel Caine

Weather Warden Book 5

Paranormal Romance

#27

Thin Air

Rachel Caine

Weather Warden Book 6

Paranormal Romance

#28

Moon Burning

Lucy Monroe

Children of the Moon Book 3

Paranormal Romance

I thought for sure this would be the third sister (the first 2 books had the first 2 sisters), so I was caught off guard when it wasn't.  And now I'll probably waiting for that third sister to appear in the next book LOL.  But it's a good thing really, I don't like a series to be too predictable.

#29

Gale Force

Rachel Caine

Weather Warden Book 7

Paranormal Romance

#30

Cape Storm

Rachel Caine

Weather Warden Book 8

Paranormal Romance

Looking back, you can kind of see that things are going from bad to worse for Joanne just by looking at the coves LOL.  Dark, dangerous, stormy seas - for most if not all of this book if I remember correctly

#31
Three to Tango

Anthology

Romance

This anthology featured stories from:  Lauren Dane, Megan Hart, Emma Holly & Bethany Kane.

Usually if I'm going to read romance, it's got to have a paranormal aspect, but this is one of the exceptions - I mainly picked up because I'm a fan of Emma Holly.

#32
Total Eclipse

Rachel Caine

Weather Warden Book 9

Paranormal Romance

I didn't realize when I started reading this one that it was the last book in the series.  Things did wrap up pretty well, but I still want to know what happens next.

There is another series (that I have at this point completed) set in the same world - Outcast Season, a 4-book series - but it's set in the same time frame & ends at the same point, so while you get to see what else was going on, you don't get to see what happens after it all goes down.  But I hope the author will continue to write in the world because it's become one of my favorites.

#33

Skeleton Crew

Cameron Haley

The Underworld Cycle Book 2

Urban Fantasy/Paranormal

There are a few aspects of this series that remind me a bit of the Fever series - not necessarily in the writing style, and certainly not in the characters, but more in the way that the magical world is coming out from under wraps - I think in a few more books, if that, there'll be no hiding from "normal" people & it will all be out in the open.

#34
Undone

Rachel Caine

Outcast Season Book 1

Paranormal Romance

Set in the same world as the Weather Warden Series, the Outcast Season series follows the Djinn Cassiel as she is cast out by their leader & down into flesh  as a human - something she is in no way happy about.  But she was asked to do something she would not do, and I can't remember if you even learn what it is in the first book or the second book so I'm not going to spoil it by telling you what the request was

#35

Naked Heat

Richard Castle

Nikki Heat Book 2

Mystery

#36
Hit List

Laurell K. Hamilton

Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Book 20

Paranormal Romance

I know a series this long-running isn't to everyone's taste, but I love gigantic series.  Even when a story is wrapped up in satisfactory manner, I almost always still want to know what happens next.  And so series like this - that the author has flat out said she has no intention of ending anytime soon - are right up my alley.

#37

Unnatural Issue

Mercedes Lackey

The Elemental Masters Book 6

Historical Fantasy

Mercedes Lackey is one of the authors I've been reading the longest, and still one of my absolute favorites.  She's also one of the most prolific writers, and has a lot of active series going on - while a lot of authors only do one or maybe two books a year if you're lucky, I'd say Mercedes usually has at least 3 or 4 & usually at least one anthology with other authors set in her world of Valdemar.

#38

Magic Slays

Ilona Andrews

Kate Daniels Book 5

Paranormal Romance

#39

Unknown

Rachel Caine

Outcast Season Book 2

Paranormal Romance

#40

Hunt the Moon

Karen Chance

Cassie Palmer Book 5

Paranormal

It seems like I waited a very long time for this 5th book to come out - & looking back at my book list, it looks like #4 was in 2009 so it wasn't just my imagination.  But it was worth the wait, and almost understandable - although I always feel like writers need to hurry up & give me more good books, the key word is not hurry but good ... I'm not interested in reading some hastily-thrown together thing with plot holes the size of Texas.  And since this series deals with a crap load of time-travel, it's even more open for mistakes that most, so I'm glad that she took to time to make everything match up & make sense.

One more installment should finish up last year - then I can move on to this year =)  I've already read around a dozen books which isn't too shabby.  I always feel like I'm not reading enough LOL, but I know I still read a lot more than most people.

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

2010 Booklist: 1-5

For 2010, 1 change I'll be making is trying to include a genre for everything I read. Overall I'd say I lean towards fantasy, but even within that there is urban fantasy, paranormal romance, epic fantasy ... you get the drift.  I'm not exactly off to a blazing start LOL, but I don't think I'm doing too badly either.

#1

Catching Midnight

 Emma Holly

Fitz Patrick Chronicles Book 2

Historical Paranormal Romance

These vampires - well, upyr, to use the jargon of the world - are divided into warring factions:  those who disdain contact with humans & those who consider them legitimate prey.  The first book of this series was actually a short story from one of the anthologies that I read last year.

#2

Hot Spell

Anthology

Urban & Historical Fantasy

This anthology featured short stories by:  Emma Holly, Lora Leigh, Shiloh Walker & Meljean Brook

The story by Meljean Brook was the first "book" of her Guardians series, and actually the reason I picked up this anthology, although the rest of the stories were good too.  The Emma Holly short I particularly enjoyed, I think I'm going to have to look into the rest of the series (as it's not the one listed above).

#3

The Battle of the Labyrinth

Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson & the Olympians Book 4

Teen Fiction/Urban Fantasy

I said to my friend Sam when I finished reading it, that it reminded me of The Empire Strikes back, it's like the part where all the bad guys are getting the advantage, and things look so hopeless, and the final battle is yet to come & will have to be fought even if the odds are stacked so far out of balance the outcome seems a foregone conclusion.  Of course I don't really expect the bad guys to win LOL.  But I'll soon see what kind of a price the good guys have to pay for their victory, as I have the 5th book in my pile out from the library right now.

#4

Divine Misdemeanors

Laurell K. Hamilton

Meredith Gentry Book 8

Paranormal Romance

This was a book I wasn't sure the author would write, because things were wrapped up so neatly at the end of book 7, but as it turns out that was only temporary.

(Couple of spoilers coming up if you have not read the first 7 books)

After killing her murderous, insane cousin, giving up the throne, & leaving faerie altogether, this whole book is set in the human realm, but there's still plenty going on, with Princess Meredith called in to help investigate a killer who is targeting the demi-fey of Los Angeles.  She's also got to keep what amounts to a court in exile of former gods in line, many of whom are regaining their old powers, and the attitudes to go along with them.

#5

Death's Mistress

Midnight's Daughter Book 2

Karen Chance

Urban Fantasy

Dorina Basarab is a dhampir (if you're not familiar with the term, think a daywalker like Blade, although that term has a different meaning in this particular world), and she kicks ass.  This is set in the same world as Karen Chance's Cassie Palmer series, and the timelines of the 2 cross occassionally, which can be a little confusing, but overall is very well done.  I can't wait for a 3rd book in this series.  Karen Chance is also one of the author's in the current anthology I'm reading (Inked).

So, 5 books for January ... could have been worse I guess LOL?  But could have been much better also.  I'll try to improve going forward.  Thanks for reading about what I'm reading =)

~Colette

Books 29 thru 38

Catchup time! I didn't realize quite how far behind I was, hehe... So here's a very VERY long book post. I think I'll try to keep myself from dropping the ball quite this badly in the future LOL. I tried to write a little something about each book, but a couple of them there just wasn't anything that still stood out as worth mentioning after this long. Kind of filler in between other books I looked more forward too I guess. Of course, a couple are just so far down the timeline of the series it's hard to not give huge spoilers to earlier books.

#29

Curse the Dawn

Cassie Palmer Book 4

Karen Chance

You know, time travel can be tricky. There are so many ways to come at it, and of course you have to be careful with the space-time continuum. But, even though the main character does have the gift to shift herself through time & space, this book almost all took place in the present, which was kind of a nice change from the jumping around that went on in the previous 3 books.

#30
Dead And Gone
Southern Vampires Book 9
Charlaine Harris

Some of you may be familiar with the TV series based on this series of books, HBO's True Blood. The second season actually starts this Sunday, 6/14 & I am super excited to see what happens. Even though I've read the books, the TV show has already made some changes to the storyline, so I don't feel confident in what I think is going to happen next. The good thing is that so far all of the changes have been good ones - best example may be Sookie's friend Tara, who has been in the TV series since the first episode, but who didn't actually make an appearance in the books until the end of book 2.

#31
Fire Raiser
Melanie Rawn

This book was hard to enjoy because I felt like the author was kind of preaching at me. I mean, most fantasy is on the more liberal-minded side of things, but there's a difference between including it & shoving it down your throat. And this was perilously close to shoving.

#32
Dead If I Do
Garnet Lacey Book 4
Tate Halloway

I always get an added kick out of this series because it's set right over the border in Wisconsin. Lots of little midwestern jokes that probably aren't as funny to people from other areas LOL.

#33
Under Cover
Anthology
MaryJanice Davidson

An even more local author - MaryJanice Davidson lives right here in Minneapolis and many of her stories are set here. It's endlessly entertaining for me to see artistic license taken with my own area.

#34
Guardian
Time Hunters Book 3
Angela Knight

Time travel again, which as I've already said can be tricky. This series however the "present" is really in the future, and the time travel is more of the sci-fi variety (mechanical) than the fantasy variety (psychic power).

#35
Magic Strikes
Kate Daniels Book 3
Ilona Andrews

After I finished this, I looked to find out when book 4 is coming & had the disappointing discovery that while Ilona has a book set to drop in the fall, it's from an all new series & I don't see a release date for the next in this series. =(

#36
Santa Olivia
Jacqueline Carey

After I read this, I saw on the authors own website describes the genre of this book as "postmodern fable". It's a whole different kind of feel than her other 2 series, focusing around a heroine who doesn't feel fear. Even open-minded as I went into it - I was trying not to expect anything - the storyline still wasn't anything I could have expected.

#37
Backup
Dresden Files Book "0"
Jim Butcher

This little novella is actually told from Harry's brother's point of view. Most websites I've seen classify it as part of the Dresden Files (which are otherwise all told from Harry's perspective), but I really wouldn't mind a full-length novel from this angle.

#38
Skin Trade
Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Book 17
Laurell K. Hamilton

Yeah, that's right, number 17 and yeah, that's a crapload of books to have in a series. Which is absolutely wonderful as far as I'm concerned. This one was quite long (almost 500 pages) but I had been looking forward to it so much I finished it in 2 days last weekend.

So, I'm caught up with books for the moment =) Now if I can just get caught up with everything else...

Thanks for reading.

~Colette