Thursday, November 24, 2016

Fifth Quarter by Tanya Huff

3.5 STARS

Quarters - Book 2

I really enjoyed Fifth Quarter and I'm not sure why it seemed to take so long to finish it. :) Be that as it may...

This second book in the Quarters series takes on the tale of a pair of assassins, a body-jumper, a family of zombies and a very sad old man. In the story, there are a couple of peripheral characters from the first book (I think that's right - my memory is for shit. *LOL*).

There are adventures to be had, emotions to be uncovered, dangers to be faced as well as a few home truths and I really liked the way it all played out. The main character of Vree was really quite fascinating, I thought, and it was an interesting journey to take with her as her world opens up beyond the army and her assassin role. I'm glad we're going to continue her story in the next book.

I really enjoy Tanya Huff's writing, no matter what genre she's writing in. She has a comfortable, easy way of telling a story that never gets bogged down with extraneous details or literary navel-gazing. I'm glad I have No Quarter in my TBR pile!

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Glass Tidings by Amy Jo Cousins

3.5 STARS

Glass Tidings is my first Christmas read this year (an advance read from Riptide) and it wasn't bad at all.

I would have liked to give it a higher rating, but I found I had a hard time really warming up to the two main characters. For me they were just missing that 'something something'. YMMV of course! I think I just wanted more from them, y'know?

One HUGE positive for me was the mature age of the characters. Gray is in his 40s and Eddie is 28. I am SO over NA romances, so this was a big deal for me.

So, yeah, good way to start off the Christmas reading season. :)

Glass Tidings is also available as part of the 2016 Holiday Charity Bundle from Riptide.

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Stars of Fortune by Nora Roberts

3.5 STARS

The Guardians Trilogy - Book 1

This is the first book of Nora Roberts' latest paranormal trilogy, The Guardians Trilogy, and it has all the tropes. There are six characters, 3 women, 3 men, to fight for the light against the darkness. They all have powers. Some of them are not quite of this world.

It's a Nora Paranormal Trilogy. An NPT.

It's my favourite trope, I think. *LOL* I love them!

So yes, I quite enjoyed it.


Thursday, November 10, 2016

The Long Way Home by Louise Penny

5 STARS

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache - Book 10

Another winner! Big surprise, eh? :) 

In this, the 10th Gamache book, things are a little more quiet, a little more personal, a little less grand - as they needed to be after the culmination of major series arcs in the previous novel. This felt like a chance to catch our breath as well as see where all our old friends have ended up.

Again, not only do we have the mystery of the missing artist, but we have the mystery of what's going on inside our characters. I love how Louise manages to parallel both threads of plot.

This series really makes me wish I could write in depth essays on books the way some people do, but I can just tell you that I loved the book, loved where the author has taken some of her cast of characters this time, loved the settings and just loved her story-telling voice, period.

I have one more Gamache book in my Kobo and then hopefully the 12th book will have come down a bit in price and then I'm going to be stuck waiting like everyone else for the 13th Gamache tale!

Oh, and if you were wondering, the picture on the cover is supposed to be upside down.  :)
 

Monday, November 7, 2016

Prince's Gambit by C. S. Pacat

4 STARS

The Captive Prince - Book 2

It was good. Good enough that I kept picking it up in those times where I had 10 minutes to read or when I should have been doing some sort of household chore. *LOL*

So, in this second volume of the Captive Prince trilogy, Damen and Laurent continue to learn more about each other as their relationship becomes more friendly and less adversarial. As I got deeper and deeper into the book, I began to marvel at the plotting and planning that the author had done. Just when you think you have a handle on how the story is going to go - BAM! - there's a sharp turn and you're left gasping for reading air! *LOL* I love it!

As far as the romance goes, well, it's a really slow burn. Really slow. And that's good! It works and makes it all that much more believable.

The only real problem I have with this tale is that Laurent is so damned young! 20 years old. I have a hard time attributing all his talents and experience to him as he's so young, but near the end of the book things start to feel more reasonable - to me! This is entirely me. *LOL* I have my own ideas about how certain things have come about and will have to read the last of the trilogy in order to find out if I'm anywhere near correct about them. Won't be a hardship. :)

So yes. good book - good series. Enjoying it very very much.


Friday, November 4, 2016

The Serpent by Claire North

4.5 STARS

The Gameshouse - Book 1

This was one of the oddest things I've read in a long time. Deliciously odd. Fantastically odd. Gorgeously odd.

I'm sure there's a term for the way in which this novella was written. Second person POV? Not really. Actually, what it felt like was a storyteller escorting me, the reader, around the story chatting with me while telling the story. It was so very different and a little off-putting for the first ten or twenty pages. The chapters too - the shortest one was a single line, I think and the longest 25+ pages. But it all worked!

And the prose was so beautiful!

I'll tell you what. I am not into audiobooks at all. I lose concentration and just don't enjoy the process, but this book... OMG, THIS BOOK, in the hands of a voice like, ohh....Patrick Stewart? Ooh... Eoin Macken (you remember him, he played Gwaine in the TV show Merlin), he has a lovely storytelling voice. Anyway, in the hands of someone like them, this book would SHINE! Absolutely shine! I don't know who actually DID the audiobook, but it is out there.

It's a fantasy novella? Author KJ Charles called it spec fic. It's set in Venice during the 17th century and while there is no actual magic, there's a very mysterious place called The Gameshouse.

In the end, this was a beautiful, delicious, couldn't-put-it-down read that I enjoyed a whole helluva lot and I will be reading the other two, for sure!





Tuesday, November 1, 2016

The Two Gentlemen of Altona by Lisa Henry and J.A. Rock

3.5 STARS

Playing the Fool - Book 1

This first book of the Playing the Fool series/trilogy was a fun read. Somewhat light-hearted, this tale of the meeting of the FBI Agent and the con-man read more like White Collar than Blindspot.

I liked both main characters. They each had their set of quirks and flaws that made them more human and it was easy to see what was piquing the interest of one in the other. They had good chemistry, I thought.

The suspenseful aspect of the book wasn't intricate or deep or anything. And that was okay, this was ore of a get-to-know-ya type of story for the characters. I will admit that the part of the FBI plot that had to do with the insider kept me guessing until the end.

The one problem I had was the cliff-hangery ending. I had already bought the other two books of the series when I was halfway through this one, but had no idea that the ending would be so abrupt. I find myself resentful when the endings are so, open-ended for want of a better word. I get that Mac and Henry's tale is far from over, but jeez!!!

Anyway, I have the next two ready to go whenever I'm ready to get to them. :) Frequent readers of My Thoughts know I hate to binge read a series. :)

So, yeah, good book. :)