Vanessa’s Comments (group member since Jun 15, 2017)

Vanessa’s comments from the Read, Reading, Planning to Read and More group.

I agree, it's fun to try & fill all of the categories. I probably won't but that's still ok w/me.

I just saw that Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series will be up on Netflix on Christmas Day! The pictures of the characters look pretty close. I loved this series and am so happy for her that it is being produced. Julie Andrews has been cast as the voice of Lady Whistledown.

Melindeeloo wrote: "Vanessa wrote: "DemetraP wrote: "@Vanessa: I am also excited for the next Wraith Kings book."

The Nomas King must be who came to visit Serovek in prison, Yes?"
Yes. Here's the rest...

The Nomas ..."

Thanks Melindeeloo!

LAB.. I hope that everything is going well for you and the family.
You must be on the Nice list. I think that all of my ARC's have been requested, you must be doing a great job!

Boy oh boy! I can't seem to fill in any blanks, except my Bookcovers, sadly I'm off by one of those and can't find it.
Happy Reading and Good Luck!

Doug... You are an hour behind me, (CST? right? ) so there is an hour. No need to thank me, I know exactly how you feel. LOL! :-)

DemetraP wrote: "@Vanessa: I am also excited for the next Wraith Kings book."

The Nomas King must be who came to visit Serovek in prison, Yes?

I finished The Ippos King and like almost all of Draven's novels I found it heart warming, witty, daring, and unique. Set in the Wraith Kings World, this is the romance between Serovek, (human), and Anhuset (Kai). Serovek is the Margrave (a governor/lord of sorts) of the Beladine country, and Anhuset is second in command to the regent of the Kai Nation.
Set on a journey to bring one of the Wraith Kings, Meggiddos' spelled and still living but soulless body back to the war monk order that he belonged to, this story is a perilous expedition from the beginning. Anhuset accompanies Serovek and a couple of his men as an ambassador of the Kai. They must cross into a territory of a vicious war lord. who is insane, and intent on gaining power, money, (and in his addled mind), the Kingship of Beladine. Betrayed by a trusted employee, Serovek is taken into custody by the Beladine King as a traitor. Revered by his countrymen, Serovek is a perceived risk to the crown which he does not want. Anhuset is a soldier and a loyal friend. She is witty, intelligent, and somewhat vulnerable. Her dedication to Serovek is epic.
I really liked the humor, flirting, and the actual discussions between them both. In Grace's books the H and h actually debate possibilities.
This made me want to read the first two Wraith King books again. I can't wait for the next King book, The Nomas King.

Melindeeloo... Thanks for the info about the Virgin River series. I thought that the TV series was OK, but they left you in an awkward spot. I didn't like that.

Lisa - (Aussie Girl) wrote: "Vanessa, sounds really good and we usually like the same books, so I've pre-ordered that. Thank You.

I can't believe that you've had The Jackal and haven't read it yet. I really liked it, it had the Old Brotherhood feel.

I am about half way through The Ippos King and I am loving it. I like her Wraith Kings series and appearances of Ildiko and Brishen are wonderful to see, but this is Anhuset and Serovek. They are very good at reading each other and protecting each other. I'm savoring every chapter.

Edited because I lost some of my post.

I didn't know about Roanhorse's Black Sun book. I tried for an ARC but I am on the "wish" list. I agree she is a remarkable writer. I loved her Sixth World books, and I received her Storm of Locusts as an ARC. She has a way of bringing a part of herself into her stories. I like how the Sixth World books had a lot of Dine, (Navaho) lore and language in them.

I finished Gentleman Jim This is the first time that I have read anything by Mimi Matthews and I found it well done. Set in the Georgian period, (early 1800's), I felt the angst palpable and the longing genuine. Margaret, (Maggie), Honeywell is tied into a no win situation. In order to take control of her dead Father's estate, he has written that she must marry the obnoxious son of the neighboring estate, or get his approval to marry someone else. Fredrick Burton-Smythe, (Fred), is a domineering oaf and will no way surrender her estate to another.
At the heart of the story is her love of a former groom on the estate. He is her soul-mate and accused of a crime he did not commit, he had to run away.
Years later in London, Maggie comes across a dead ringer for her beloved Nicholas Seaton, only he is Viscount St Clare, John Beresford, who has recently returned to London from the continent with his Grandfather. Various Beresford family members try to discredit St Clare so that a distant relative can step into the inheritance. All in all, it was a great read that I stayed up way too late reading. 4*'s

I was looking up a book and this popped up, Rafael Book # 28! Wow. I quit around book #16.

The Ippos King came out today!
I am looking forward to the Serovek/Anhuset romance. He gawks at her and she is so dismissive, It's got to be a good story.

I finished a few books from all over the place.

Midlife Fairy Hunter I think that i liked the second book better than the first. I then went on to read the third book in the series,
Midlife Demon Hunter I liked it well enough and I feel that the main character, Breena is becoming who she was meant to be even at this late stage of her life, (40's heaven forbid! LOL). I did not like the ending, it felt a bit off and rushed. Set in Savannah, the group is now going to relocate to New Orleans. There are two love interests, but one is as bad for her as the other one is. This is from the paranormal women's fiction series. I found that I really liked the more humorous ones like this series by Shannon Mayer than the serious ones. These are free on KU.

Moving on...

I started on Bec McMaster's new Dark Court series, Promise of Darkness It is supposed to be a retelling of the Hades and Persephone tale, and it is. People keep comparing it to Sarah J Maas' Court series. As in any tale of a collective group with "an evil enemy" you will undoubtedly find comparisons, but I don't feel that this is true of McMaster's series. I was going to read the next book in the series, Crown of Darkness but in reading the reviews I see that it ends on a cliff hanger and I will wait until the next one comes out. Also, amazon lists book 1.2, and 4 in the series, It might be possible that this is a typo?

I have been reading an ARC by Mimi Mathews, Gentleman Jim which someone here recommended. I'm glad that they did. I looked at the book previously and wondered if it was going to be like all of the other "new identity" books, but so far it isn't.

And speaking of ARC's. I also finished The Princess Knight and I think that I liked it as well as The Blacksmith Queen . Per usual, the sisters fight, go off the wall and generally keep everyone hopping. It was a good read and I hope that you folks will think so too.

I am actually amazed or is flabbergasted a better word? I just read some old "younger" Julie stories and Ryder definitely is a marked change in her, but I thought that the same core Julie was there. She is logical, methodical, and still cares about the street kids. I hate that they think that she is whiny. She is a young woman returning home, who cannot see her Mother or family, and who see's her teenage crush/good friend who has changed tremendously and he doesn't recognize her.
He is darker, she is darker, their world has changed and together they have to face an otherworldly menace. *
There's Nothing fluffy, pleasing, or nice about that. Sometimes I think that Ilona gets too much up into her head and doesn't allow herself to relax, especially with all of this covid stuff. When she doesn't relax she pokes at stuff.

*(view spoiler)[Ryder and "Derek" even have an actual fight! (hide spoiler)]

if I remember correctly you go to the website & they send you a passcode to enter

Melindeeloo wrote: "Many of you mentioned Spiked, so I gave it a shot and ended up reading all three books and the novella back to back. So thanks for the rec - even though I stayed up too late finishi..."

Don't forget the newsletter link to Lucas' POV's!

With all of the Ryder posts I thought it would be nice to look back at the younger Julie. I finished Small Magics It was nice to see a less jaded Julie but who also was showing signs of her potential.
I then went on to read Night Shift This book has stories from Ilona Andrews, Nalini Singh, Lisa Shearin, and Milla Vane. I enjoyed all of them a couple of years ago when this anthology came out and I found that I liked them even better the second time around. (I even upped my rating a star).
I'm having a hard time settling on a read. I went back to Galactic Stew which has a collection of short stories by various authors most of which I have never heard of. Some stories are just bizarre and some turned out better than I thought they would. All of them are based loosely on food, some very loosely.
I only purchased it for the David B Coe story (who writes as D B Jackson and writes the Thieftaker series). It is set in the Thieftaker universe. Also, Coe has a snippet from his next Thieftaker book in his newsletter this month.
After that I think that I will read one of my NetGalley ARC's. The earliest one I have is due out the end of November.

Ilona Andrews posted a very nice message about Rachel Caine. She has cancer and is being moved into hospice care. Per Ilona, the best that we can do as fans is purchase her books from her back catalog. Here is the link to their post....

https://www.ilona-andrews.com/2020/ra...

We come to know these writers as authors and as someone who touches our lives if only for a moment. It is sad to think about her pending demise. Peace to her and her family and friends.

Lulu... Great description of Ben. He's always willing to help the shifters, sometimes to his detriment. I hope that he has a great HEA. In the last few books he seems to have been a bit sadder. Of course all of us would be too if we had to spend a very long lifetime seeing your friends die and missing your "kind".

Melindeeloo... I couldn't find where Crown of Darkness was free but I did see that the first book, Promise of Darkness was free on kindle. Also, McMasters said in her announcement of the latest book that it is a cliffhanger. Print books will be out in the near future, and audio won't go to narration until November.

Monadh... I'm glad that you like the series, I really like it too!

For those who read Jennifer Ashley's Shifters Unbound series, book 13 The Last Warrior, will be out next February and it is Ben's story, finally! :-)

Waverly... I haven't read any Helen Harper in a long time. How was the new series' first book? I looked at the first Xest book, how was it?