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

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

Jinn's Dominion The third "book" in the Desert Cursed series came out June 12th, and is free on KU. I'm not sure if this is a book, it is listed as having 82 pages. I really enjoyed the first 2 books in this series. Set in a different realm, it has some of the same characters as Mayer's Venom and Vanilla series.

DemetraP wrote: "I'm re-reading Magic Rises, where they go to Europe on the book and run into Hugh, to get ready for Iron and Magic.

I called Barnes and Noble and they don't even have the ability to order a print ..."

Demetra... This is straight from the Ilona Andrews email--

"Hi Everybody!

So, while we are excited for the upcoming release of Iron and Magic, next Tuesday, I do have a bit of potentially, possible bad news. We really wanted the print edition to come out the same day as the E book but our awesome narrator, who shall remain unnamed (we want it to be a surprise) has found a mistake, not a typo really but we put the wrong person’s name in a scene. Now, the amazing team at NYLA was able to scramble and get this fixed in time for the E release, did I mention it’s June 26? However, this MAY delay the release of the dead tree version. We don’t know yet." This was posted on Friday, by Gordon.

Wild Country (The Others by Anne Bishop) Will be out March 5th, 2019

Storm Cursed ( Mercy Thompson) Will be out March 5th, 2019

Circle of the Moon (Soulwood Series) Will be out February 26th 2019

Are all up for pre-order.

Lisa... Me too, I always wondered if IA could redeem Hugh. I can't wait, have you read the teaser chapters they had up on their web site. It sounds like Hugh's wife is going to be just as wise to his ways as he will be trying to sneak something by.

I finished the quick little novella in the Lady Hardcastle series, Christmas at The Grange.

I also finished Magenta Mine It was a short book but it had all of the necessary elements to give Magenta and Harry's story. Towards the end there is a "fight " scene that had me laughing so hard I was crying.
I think that I will continue this series with Calamity Jena.

Paula... I just read that about a month ago. I like the alternate steampunk world. Are you reading the second book, The Timeseer's Gambit? . What a shocker at the end of TDA? I was almost expecting that but hoping I was wrong. I will continue this series eventually. I went on to new shiny books and lighter fare, they are a bit heavy. What do you think about his weird "dream". I think that they will get together.

Is this group on vacation? Hello? Hello, Hello, Hello.... ***echo***

OK so I finished the third book in the Lady Hardcastle series, I liked it a lot too. This time Lady H and her trusty sidekick Flo, are asked to the estate of one of Lady H's brother's school chums for a weekend of car racing. Having newly acquired a car of their own, they are thrilled to attend with the possibility of driving one of the race cars themselves. Lord Riddlethorpe and a couple of friends have been actively pursuing a race car manufacturing business and have brought their cars in to race on his private track. Sadly all does not go well and they find themselves once again drawn in to investigate a crime. I like the ongoing jokes, the characters are developed, you really get their personalities. Death around the Bend

I will go on to listen to the Christmas Novella, Christmas at The Grange then I will anxiously await the 4th book, A Picture of Murder in October.

On kindle, I am reading Magenta Mine the third book in the Invertary (Scotland), series. This book is about Magenta (the sales clerk in Kirsty's Lingerie shop), and the H is an old pal, Harry who has grown out of his geeky looks but not his geeky ways. In fact he is brilliant and has sold software which has made him a very rich guy. He returns home to Invertary to pursue Magenta because she has always been "it" for him. She is avoiding him at all costs. (view spoiler)[ I believe that she thinks that she is stupid and unworthy of him because she is an undiagnosed dislexic, and has been repeatedly told by her abusive hypochondriac mother that she isn't the "smart" daughter in the family. (hide spoiler)] I haven't read but about 1/3 of the book, so far so good.

Liz... I hope that you find it as entertaining as I have. I listen to those books and the ridiculous accents really make the stories for me. It is free on KU audio too, you should try and download it to your phone and listen to these. I'm sure that reading them is just as enjoyable, but it is a good opportunity to listen for free. You do need to sign up for an Audible account to get it.

I finished the second book in the Lady Hardcastle Mystery series. In the Market for Murder was once again a quirky look at life in a small village in 1909 Britain. Lady Hardcastle and her ladies maid Flo, are once again called upon to help solve local crimes. These are fun books, with crazy crimes and they aren't anything too serious. There is lots of word play, witty banter, and running jokes. While it is the Lady Hardcastle series, these are written in her maid/companion's voice and she also reports the "downstairs" view. I will start the third book Death around the Bend and I suspect that it will be just as interesting and light entertainment as the others.

Sharon... Thanks for the info. I took a chance and got the audio anyway. She was once my go to author. I grabbed up every latest release in my younger days.

HBW... You know that I'm finding a lot more authors who have facebook pages that aren't "theirs" at all. I can't think of any examples off the top of my head, but I have seen it a few times lately.

I finished the second book in the Chance Sisters series, The Winter Bride. I liked the way that the author tackled mature subjects and that the h and H talked things over. The "aunt" Lady Davenham is such a great character.

The Lady Hardcastle mystery series is all free on KU including the audio. I love the irreverent humor in this series.

1)A Quiet Life in the Country

2) In the Market for Murder

3) Death around the Bend

The kindle single-

Christmas at The Grange

House Immortal is $.99.

House Immortal is only $.99.

Nora Roberts' Year One is an Audible Daily Deal today. Has anyone here read it? Is it good or just so so?

I just finished up Goody Two Shoes. and I think that I might just keep going and continue this series. They are light and easy reads.

I forgot to mention that the Lady Hardcastle mystery series is free on KU for both the kindle edition and the audio version.

Now I want to read the spindle cove books again.

I haven't been able to post for a few days. I finished A Fallen Lady This author is the one "presented" by Laura Kinsale, whom I love to listen to. This book however was a bit dragged out for me. The last "secret" that the H hid from the h wasn't that big a deal in my opinion and I felt that it was contrived and blown out of proportion. While I love the narrator, Nicholas Boulton, I felt that the story was great up until the big falling out. I would give it 3.5*'s, enjoyable. I looked for the next book in the series on audio, but sadly it isn't on Audible.

I did listen to a very enjoyable book, A Quiet Life in the Country Lady Hardcastle and her "maid" Flo retire to a quiet life in the country. On their first day, on their first walk, they find a young man hanging from a tree, but there are too many things wrong for it to be a suicide. Although there are a couple of mysteries to be solved in this book, it is written with a tremendous amount of irreverence and hilarity. I thought that it was a great book to listen to. I will look for more in this series.

I know that some here have read these books and I finally got around to listening to the first book, The Lost Night. I read a novella set in this world, and never got around to reading the books themselves. I will be continuing this series. I love the "dust bunnies".

I started the next book in a series that I probably first read a couple of years ago. The Winter Bride is the second book in a series about a group of young ladies who are "adopted" as the long lost nieces of an elderly Lady Beatrice Davenham. In the first book, they are actually trying to rob her home and find the lady in such deplorable condition that they stay and care for her. She was supposed to be cared for by her staff but they neglected her and spent her money on themselves until she nearly died. All of the young ladies have back stories and I'm sure that none of them are very nice. Despite their upbringing, they all are bright and caring young women.

On kindle, I finished For the Blood of a Crow. This is the second book in the Red Dead Mayhem series. What can I say, I'm addicted to these quick books and while this one wasn't as violent as some have been, the H, Rike, has some sort of a mental block and cannot remember anything of his earlier years as a teen or child. Therefore, he cannot remember the young woman, Bailey, (his h), who is a wolf. (He is a crow). I liked this book because all of the other crews show up to support the R.D. Mayhem crew, when they are needed most. The next book, "For The Pride Of A Crow" is supposed to be out in July, and I think that it will be about the brother of Rike, who is the former second who left to start another crew when he failed to overthrow, (read: kill), the current leader, Ramsey.

When the second book in this series was given such a great review here, I decided to start at the beginning and read, Lingerie Wars I liked it for it's crazy Scottish town and great H and h. Now that I finished that, I am reading Goody Two Shoes. I like the premise of this book, he, wants a wife, she, wants to restore the castle he currently owns, so they decide to get married. Everyone is happy right?

I have also been reading one story at a time from Chasing the Light: A Benefit Anthology of Speculative Fiction The first story is quite a twisted tale and is one of those stories with winding words and a kind of dialect that requires you to really pay attention. I loved it. This is a collective anthology which is to benefit the writer Melanie Griffin's lifelong partner after Griffin's untimely death in 2016 to defray medical and legal costs.

ETA... The story in Chasing the Light is "What's Your Year, Darlin'?"

Elizabeth wrote: "so i new it i new once i gave The Girl Who Knew Too Much a chance i would like it.

how i can go from ts joyce hot and heavy to krentz light and fluffy is beyond me but i did and re..."

Liz... When you borrow from a digital library and you are near to your return date, you can shut off your kindle wi-fi until you finish. Then once you connect it will return. I haven't ever done that but I am told that it works.

Has anyone read the Medieval era De Wolfe series? It has 4.5-5* reviews. Not that I need another series to get attached to. The first book is a sort of prequel, Warwolfe

Hey Liz.... I hate to tell you but the next T.S. Joyce book came out today, For the Blood of a Crow and it sounds good, and yes it is about the bartender, Rike!! Just letting you know!! LOL!! :-}

HappyBookWorm2020 wrote: "Vanessa, I loved Cake and have re-read it. I also liked book 2 as well, even though I normally shy away from reality TV show settings. When I checked, there is now a sequel to Cake when I intend to..."

HBW... Have you read the oldest sister's story? Fiercely Emma After reading the first book, I wonder what the big deal is, she is a residual character at best in Cake.

I am really liking Red Sister. I do have one little nit, (view spoiler)[ No matter what happens to her, she doesn't tell a soul. I get that she has a kind of social disorder, but she doen't mention anything unusual that she sees or that happens to her, never.(view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

Doug... That is probably a good idea to wait.