It's Monday! What are you reading? 8/6/2018

Hosted by: Book Date

My birthday is coming in a little under a month.  Since I am now becoming more regular in my blogging, I want to celebrate it on here.  I have been focused on library and digital books lately, but I have some print books that need attention.  I've decided to have a giveaway once a week up through my birthday.  I will discuss this further at the end of this post.

This week I finished reading:

The Door to the Lost by Jaleigh Johnson  - [My post] 

Tricks for Free (InCryptid, Bk 7) by Seanan McGuire - [My post] 

The Lost Books: The Scroll of Kings by Sarah Prineas - [My post] 

Bird, Bath, and Beyond (Agent to the Paws Mystery, Bk 2) by E. J. Copperman - [My post] 

I'm currently reading:

The lighting is horrible in this image - I took this without flash to better show the screens.  The one in the back is the audio of Moby Dick.

In audio (on CD), I've been listening to Moby Dick by Herman Melville (read by Paul Boehmer).  Captain Ahab has told his crew about the great white whale they seek.  The top harpooners have identified his whale as Moby Dick.  I think I may need to switch to the print for a bit to get through this next part.

A Hard Day's Knight (Nightside, Bk 11) by Simon R. Green (library OverDrive ebook) - I'm enjoying this so far.  John has fought off a great many, but there is an upcoming elf civil war to concern himself with.

Eye of the Shoal : a Fish-watcher's Guide to Life, the Ocean and Everything by Helen Scales (library hardcover) - I didn't get any further with this title this week.

The Story Chapter 3 "Joseph: From Slave to Deputy Pharaoh" read by Michael Blain-Rozgay and Allison Moffett - These are eAudio through the library's Hoopla subscription.  I've barely started thsi chapter.

Up next:

The Saturday Morning Murder (Michael Ohayon, Bk 1) by Batya Gur
The Silk Train Murder (Kondike Era Mystery, Bk 1) by Sharon Rowse
Bannerless (Bannerless, Bk 1) by Carrie Vaughn
Cat About Town (Cat Cafe Mystery, Bk 1) by Cate Conte
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker (book discussion book)
Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi; Translated by Jonathan Wright
Lady Elect by Likita Lynnette Nichols
The Grey Bastards (The Lot Lands, #1) by Jonathan French
Illegal by Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin; illustrated by Giovanni Rigano
The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and our Health—and a Vision for Change by Annie Leonard
Happy Starts at Home by Rebecca West
The Locksmith's Daughter by Karen Brooks
Venom in the Veins (Elemental, Bk 17) by Jennifer Estep
Nightbooks by J. A. White
The Lost Chapters: Finding Recovery and Renewal One Book at a Time by Leslie Schwartz
Bringing back Our Freshwater Lakes by Lisa J. Amstutz

Giveaway

For this first birthday celebration giveaway, I will be offering Hot Mess by Emily Belden.  I heard Emily speak at a romance panel in June.  According to Emily, the book has a foodie touch and addresses addiction issues and healthy/unhealthy relationships.  The book was purchased new and signed by the author.  It is unread (though it should be once read by the time I ship it).  Enter below.  Winner must respond to my contact email within 24 hours.  This is an international giveaway.  All entrants welcome!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tricks for Free

Title: Tricks for Free

Author: Seanan McGuire

Publisher: DAW

Series: InCryptid, Bk 7

ISBN: 9780756410407

Length: 346 + "The Recitation of the Most Holy and Harrowing Pilgrimage of Mindy and Also Mork" + "Price family Field Guide to the Cryptids of North America Updated and Expanded Edition"

Obtained: Library paperback copy

Comments: I do like this series.  I know it isn't for everyone, but I enjoy it.  Of the siblings, Verity remains my favorite, but they have all grown on me including Antimony.  She is on the run in this book, which means no Aeslin mice, so I was glad to have the short story at the end from the perspective of Mindy (and Sam, Antimony's... potential boyfriend).

Anyway, Antimony finds a hiding place from the Covenant (evil or misinformed or both group of "Van Helsing" types, who hunt all "monsters", not vampires) while also keeping away from her family (in order to protect them from unwanted discovery and attention).  She has secured a position at a theme park that is apparently runner up to Disney in both Florida and California - in this case Florida.  Coming from her recent Carnie type experiences, this seems an ideal fit.  But she is having issues with a burgeoning magical side.  Plus, she's seen an uptick in strange and unlucky events that may draw the Covenant's attention no matter how cautious she is - not to mention people are dying.

This series is really one that should be read in order, even though the books switch perspectives between siblings (this is the second Antimony book); they tend to build on each other, especiall these last few.  I look forward to the next book, That Ain’t Witchcraft, which will be another Antimony book.

Once Broken Faith

Title: Once Broken Faith

Author: Seanan McGuire [Website Bio 1][Website Bio 2][Website Bio 3][Facebook][Twitter]

Publisher: DAW Books

Series: October Daye, Bk 10

ISBN: 9780756408107

Length: 350 pages + "Dreams and Slumbers" short story (67 pages)

Obtained: Library copy

Why this book?:

It's part of a series I'm caught up in.

Comments:

Toby is required to be at a gathering of all the North American reigning figures of the Faerie beings as they debate whether an antidote to a poison that send fairies to sleep for 100 years and kills humans and those of mixed blood should be used.  She's not fond of politics, but it's necessary.  Along the way, though, some powerful people have been killed or poisoned, and Toby is left trying to figure out who is going around killing people - all while staying alive herself and keeping all-out war among the Fey kind from breaking out.

Toby has grown throughout this series, and while it hasn't been without hardship and loss, she is getting better and better and maneuvering and coming out on top.  The only problem is, she's also getting in pretty deep with a powerful figure and you can't help but feel that it's all going to catch up with her rather soon.  I look forward to more in this series...

Chaos Choreography

Title: Chaos Choreography

Author: Seanan McGuire [Website Bio 1][Website Bio 2][Website Bio 3][Facebook][Twitter]

Publisher: DAW

Series: InCryptid, Bk 5

ISBN: 9781101602423

Obtained: Library ebook copy

Why this book?:

I've enjoyed this series, needed an ebook to read, and the timing finally worked out.

Comments:

Verity has a second chance at dance, although she had already decided her cryptology and helping people - humans and cryptids alike - was more important.  But she can't always wonder what if, so she pulls her cover identity 'Valerie' on and heads down with husband (under an alias of his own).  But things are off from the beginning, and Verity finds a mess (murder does tend to be) larger than just she and Dominic can handle.  So her dad sends unexpected backup.

With new characters and repeats as well as interactions with new cryptids and the more familiar, this was another fun read in the series.  The ending that was startlingly chaotic (to match the title) and, while settled generally, sets up for future books; it appears the next book will be Magic for Nothing.  I look forward to reading it.

A compilation of SOME of the randomness I've recorded about my reading over the past several months

Title: A Silent Voice aka Koe no Katachi

Author: Yoshitoki Oima [MyAnimeList]

Publisher: Kodansha Comics

Series: A Silent Voice, Vol. 1

ISBN: 9781632360564

Obtained: Library copy

Why this book?:

I saw it on Wowbrary.  The description sounded intriguing.

Comments:

So this first volume is primarily back story as to what happened in 6 years earlier between Shoya and Shoko, prior to Shoko transferring to another school.  I was a little too interested in what comes next, so in addition to requesting the library purchase the next several volumes, I also looked up the overall story arc.  I now know what is supposed to happen in general terms.  Hopefully that doesn't ruin the rest for me.

Update: I haven't read any more yet, but they won't be ruined when I do, because I've already forgotten what I looked up.

Title: Indexing

Author: Seanan McGuire [Website Bio 1][Website Bio 2][Website Bio 3][Facebook][Twitter]

Publisher: 47North

Series: Indexing, Bk 1

ISBN: 9781477809600

Length: 404 pages

Obtained: Library copy

Why this book?:

I've been reading a bit by this author.  While I was waiting on more from the October Daye and InCryptid series, I decided to read this.

Comments:

Took me 1 or 2 "chapters" (it was originally a Kindle serial) to really get into it, but it's a pretty fascinating concept that fairy tales are these negative types that you can be stuck in if your life has certain similarities or like characteristics or events.  I look forward to reading the next one, Indexing: Reflections.

Update: Thoughts on  Indexing: Reflections have already been posted because I wasn't paying attention...

Title: Roadside Magic

Author: Lilith Saintcrow [Website][Facebook][Twitter] aka Lili St. Crow

Publisher: Orbit

Series: Gallow and Ragged, Bk 2

ISBN: 9780316277877

Length: 315 pages

Obtained: Library copy

Why this book?:

I've enjoyed this author's work in the past, and read the first book in this series.

Comments:

I'm not always good with Faerie stories.  I've been reading more lately, but they can be difficult for me.  This is one whose world is especially troublesome for me, because I start to feel "trapped" if you will in all the bad events and "surrounded" by all these characters who are horrible and don't allow the primary characters, Gallow and Ragged, to escape.

 I found myself especially frustrated, because I was not even given the relief of the story ending.  Rather than individual stories that are resolved by the end (even if their is still a larger arcing story in progress), as I have come to expect of series, this ser ...

Update: I literally left that mid-word.   I think I was about to say more about it being cliffhanger, or no real ending.  But I'm not sure.

Title: Say I Love You. aka Suki tte Ii na yo.


Author: Kanae Hazuki [MyAnimeList]

Publisher: Kodansha Comics

Series: Say I Love You. Volumes 1 - 5

ISBN:
9781612626024
9781612626031
9781612626048
9781612626055
9781612626062

Obtained: Library Copy

Why these books?:

Comments:

I never recorded comments at the time of reading this.  So by memory: This series almost crosses into too much for me (content-wise), but I found myself curious about the "what next"?  Unfortunately, by the time the rest of the series came in for me (I had to put them on hold), I was out of the country.  I lost that push, but I'll still follow up eventually.

Title: Grave Visions

Author: Kalayna Price [Website][Facebook][Twitter]

Publisher: ROC Fantasy

Series: Alex Craft, Bk 4

ISBN: 9780451416575

Length: 331 pages

Obtained: Library copy

Why this book?:

Have enjoyed the rest of the series.

Comments:

It's about time!  I read it within a day of it finally coming in, and was eagerly awaiting the latest release date before that.  Hope the next one is a bit more timely.

Update: Short but sweet, right?

Title: The Obsession

Author: Nora Roberts [Website] [Facebook] aka Eleanor Marie Robertson Aufem-Brinke Wilder aka J. D. Robb aka Sarah Hardesty aka Jill March

Publisher: Berkley Books

ISBN: 9780399175169

Length: 453 pages

Obtained: Library copy

Why this book?:

New NR, need I say more?

Comments:

Great, intense intro.  Good characters... they fall within NR template.  I guessed the bad guy with the first murder.

Update: Again with the short clip.  But better than nothing.

Title: Bitter Bite

Author: Jennifer Estep [Website][Facebook][Twitter]

Publisher: Pocket Books Urban Fantasy

Series: Elemental Assassin, Bk 14

ISBN: 9781501111273

Length: 374 pages

Obtained: Library copy

Why this book?:

Love this series.

Comments:

Oh, Finn!!!! This one had me very grumbly.  Poor Gin.


Update: This one is brief because otherwise I'd be rambling nonstop spoilers.

Indexing: Reflections

Title: Indexing: Reflections

Author: Seanan McGuire [Website Bio 1][Website Bio 2][Website Bio 3][Facebook][Twitter]

Publisher: 47North

Series: Indexing, Bk 2

ISBN: 9781503947740

Length: 325 pages

Obtained: Library copy

Why this book?:

Enjoyed the first one, Indexing.

Comments:

Set aside the preaching, and this was another gripping fairy-tale story.  I really like Henry and her team.  And something happens to Henry relatively early in this story that had me tense (thoughts of "How can she [the author] do that?" echoing in my mind).  It is my understanding she wrote this after readers wanted more from the first book, so I hope the same happens and that there is a book 3.  I'd like to read more, and the ending certainly allowed for a continuation.

Catching Up (Kinda/Sorta?)

I've been reading like crazy, and I can't keep up with myself.

Re-reading Tessa Dare's Any Duchess Will Do prompted me to re-read the other book I obtained by her at the 2014 ALA Annual Convention (that I had read but not posted about), Romancing the Duke (1st in the Castles Ever After series).

Then I went back to catch up some with the earlier Spindle Cove books that I had never read.  So I got on OverDrive and read A Night to Surrender. But the library didn't already have the rest on ebook yet, so while I was waiting for my request to go through, I read the Stud Club books...
     1. One Dance with a Duke
     2. Twice Tempted by a Rogue
     3. Three Nights with a Scoundrel

     Then I read Once Upon a Winter's Eve, A Week to Be Wicked, and A Lady By Midnight in ebook format.

Mix in some ILL print books by Annie Bellet that I intend to go over in a different post (Pack of Lies and Hunting Season)

And a slew of Seanan McGuire books...

     From the InCryptid series (all in ebook format):
     1. Discount Armageddon 
     2. Midnight Blue-Light Special 
     3. Half-Off Ragnarok 
     4. Pocket Apocalypse

     And a print copy of Indexing that the library already owned.

     (Note: I've read all titles currently available in the October Daye series in 2015.  Apparently I never posted them, because "Seanan McGuire" is a new tag.)

I'm waiting for the library to get in The Twenty-Sided Sorceress:  Justice Calling; Murder of Crows; Pack of Lies; Hunting Season; Heartache; Thicker Than Blood; Magic to the Bone which I guess is supposed to come out in June and to purchase Reflections (next in the Indexing series and released this month) so I went on to read (and just finished) Jennifer Estep's Cold Burn of Magic (ebook).

While I wait for my request for the ebook Dark Heart of Magic to be approved and become available, I'll be catching up with Estep's Mythos books, beginning with where I left off, Crimson Frost.  I don't remember all the story line, but I'm sure I'll recall over the 4 books remaining in the series.