M.J. Scott's Blog, page 9

New year, new book, new blog schedule!

Time for the first Sunday snippet of the year. Happy 2016, everyone! May it be full of happiness, adventures, health, good books and the time to read them!

But first, the blog plan for 2016. Last year, I wanted to try posting three times a week. Then I threw in the Sunday snippets as well so it became four. I did pretty well most of the year but fell off the schedule a few times. So as part of my 2016 planning, I’ve had another think and looked at the writing schedule and I decided I’m going to go back to three times a week. I’m keeping the snippets and will be blogging Tuesdays and Thursdays as well. There may be weeks where I do extra posts but I’m going to try keeping it simple to start with.

And to kick off this year’s snippets….a sneak peek from Playing Hard. Because February 2 is exactly one month from today and that’s when this book comes out….exciting!

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A year in books #10

10 years of blogging about the books I most enjoyed in my year. That hardly seems possible. But decade or not, this has been a good reading year. I think I’ve read around 150 books this year and listened to a few more. More crime than usual, I think but that’s because I found a few new writers with backlists. Otherwise a fair smattering of genres. There’s been lots of good ones in all of those and here’s a selection of my faves.

A Court of Thorn and Roses – Sarah J Maas – Lovely fantasy. I would like the next one to be out already. Feyre is a great heroine.

Every Move – Ellie Marney – Great aussie YA with a take on Holmes/Watson that sucked me right in.

In The Woods – Tana French – A crime glom. These books are very intriguing and beautifully written, each one from a different protagonist’s POV, which is unusual for a crime series.

Career of Evil – Robert Galbraith – I resisted these books for some time but after hearing several people rave at once about J.K.’s alter ego, I decided to give them a go. Then glommed all three in about five days. Cormoran Strike is a fab character.

The Martian – Andy Weir – A ripping yarn. Have read, listed to the audiobook several times (in fact I started with the audiobook and had to swap to the book as I was too impatient to know what happened) and seen the movie. My fave SF this year.

Carry On – Rainbow Rowell – A book of the fictional characters created by a fan fic writer in another book. Very meta. But lots of fun.

The Legend of Lyon Redmond – Julie Anne Long – This book had a LOT of weight on it, given the build up of this particular romance over the entire series. But it all paid off. Happy sigh.

The Shepherd’s Crown – Terry Pratchett – Many tears. I want to read again but not sure I can yet. I hate that there will be no more new Pratchetts next year. Vale, Sir Pterry, vale.

Uprooted – Naomi Novik – When I first read the blurb for this, I wasn’t sure as it sounded so completely different to the Temeraire books but I was hooked after about two pages. This might be my fave book of the year. If you love female type fantasy in the Robin Mckinley school of fantasy, run and read this.

Deep – Kylie Scott – A great end to the Stage Dive series. Looking forward to the new series a LOT.

The Spy Who Tamed Me – Kelly Hunter – I would read many more books about these two characters (hint hint, Ms. Hunter)

Anticipation – Sarah Mayberry – Hot. Tattoos. Mayberry. Say no more.

Non-stop Till Tokyo – K.J. Charles – Yakuza, Sumo wrestlers, intrigue and romance. What’s not to like?

A Room Full of Bones – Elly Griffiths – Crime. Third person present which is unusual but I really enjoyed the main character, Ruth. This series was my first big crime glom this year.

Big Magic – Elizabeth Gilbert – Great non fiction for creative types.

Magic Shifts – Ilona Andrews – The Kate Daniels series remains my fave urban fantasy series.

Photo by Abhi Sharma. Licensed under a Creative Commons 2.0 License.

 

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Best of 2015 – non book edition

So, it’s New Year’s Eve Eve (is that a thing?). Tomorrow will be my annual book/reading wrap up but I thought I’d give a shout out to some of the other things that have kept me entertained during the year. These are in no particular order, just stuff I really enjoyed.

Movies

Spy

The Martian

The Force Awakens

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Avengers: Age of Ultron

Love, Rosie

Spectre

What We Do In The Shadows

Big Hero 6

Into The Woods

TV

Supernatural (caught up on this thanks to Netflix. Let’s add Netflix to the list of stuff that is good)

Downton Abbey

Suits (though I’m still not caught up)

Arrow (Am about to start series 3 so I’m behind)

Nashville (oh crackiest of cracky TV shows)

Grey’s Anatomy (even though they did what they did, turns out I just can’t quit Meredith Grey)

QI

Agents of Shield

Agent Carter

Game of Thrones (I resisted series 5 for a long time but then still really enjoyed it when I caved)

Jessica Jones

Sense8

Elementary

Castle (am behind on current season but otherwise much Nathan Fillion love and am reminded I really need to catch up on Bones)

Longmire

Doctor Who (don’t know if Capaldi will ever be MY doctor but he’s pretty good)

Music

This year it was all about the Taylor with 1989 on high rotation.

Adele (25)

Hamilton

The Nashville soundtracks

So that’s enough about my favourite sources of procrastination, I mean, inspiration. What have you been loving this year?

Photo by F_A on Flickr. Licensed under a Creative Commons 2.0 License.

 

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Books I’m looking forward to – Summer 2015 edition

My New Year’s Eve post is usually about the books I have enjoyed most for the year but given that it’s not quite New Year’s yet, let’s talk about a few of the books I want to read next year.

My American Duchess – Eloisa James

King’s Rising – C.S. Pacat (Not long now)

Gentleman Jole and The Red Queen – Lois McMaster Bujold (New Vorkosigan book. New Vorkosigan book! But out the same day as King’s Rising…so I’m going to need a clone.)

Wicked Sexy Liar – Christina Lauren

Dukes Prefer Blondes – Loretta Chase

Dirty – Kylie Scott (new series, can’t wait)

A Court of Mist and Fury – Sarah J. Maas

Alliance of Equals – Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (Yay, new Korval book!)

What should I be adding to the list?

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Sunday snippet

Snippet time. A little bit of Fire Kin…Book 4 of the Half-Light City series.

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Merry Christmas

Wherever you are and whatever holidays you celebrate at this time of year, wishing you a safe and happy day and a wonderful 2016!

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Droid love

So on Saturday I took myself off to see The Force Awakens, feeling, like most people who were fans of the original three and were burned by the second three, somewhat worried about whether it would be good. I’m not going to give anything away other than to say I really enjoyed. So much so I went to see it again last night. I’ve always had a very soft spot for R2D2 and C3PO and am happy to report that BB-8 is just as endearing. It was super hot in Melbourne on Saturday and didn’t really cool down much, so here’s what I did while waiting to feel sleepy.

 

When in doubt, draw a droid Now, I’ll have to try R2.

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Monday music fix: An aussie Christmas song

I like Tim Minchin. I like this song. And if you do too, buying it right now means the proceeds go to The National Austistic Society.

 

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Sunday snippet

Snippet time. One from The Shattered Court (Book 1 in the Four Arts series).

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Sunday snippet

A taste of Lawless in Leather (Book 3 in the New York Saints series).

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