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

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

I checked out That Bear Ate My Pants and happily discovered that the audio is also free. I checked out a couple of his books & they all seem to be free on KU and free on audio.

I finished the first two books of Painter's A Mid-Life Fairy Tale series.
The Accidental Queen and The Summer Palace are both well written. There is a slow burn romance and a large cast of characters as you would expect a "court" would entail.
I listened to the most recent Lady Hardcastle Mystery novel, A Fire At The Exibition. These are fun and clever, set in the 1920's and take place in a small village.

I am now listening to another comedic mystery series, An Anty Boisjoly Mystery, Reckoning At The Riviera Royale. These are fast paced and almost a slapstick style of writing. The banter and side comments are hysterical. There is always a murder that occurs in a bizarre way. In this one, a man is supposed to have been trampled by an elephant. Anty is a fairly rich, supposed ne're do well who always seems to be on hand for a murder.

I find it amazing in this computer world that a publishing company can't come up with a reasonable total to accommodate customers of the independent book sellers.
Is their alternate reasoning that they create a reader "frenzy" to seek out the coveted next book?

I have been reading/listening to Kristen Painter's latest "mid-life" series which is based on the the Arthurian legend of the Sword in the Stone.

Sparrow, "Ro" Meadowcroft is the assistant curator at a NYC museum and when a donation of items from a long time patron arrives Ro thinks that they are replicas and gimmicky pieces. When she pulls the sword from the stone, she is instantly transported to the Fae realm. She is greeted and catered to, but he life is in the mortal world.
I like this because there are no TSTL moments or young person torments. Ro is 52 years old, has a 30 year old son, a small apartment with two cats, and is about to be made museum curator. Why leave a world she loves fir a world of unknowns.
Her thought processes are adult and methodical. I'm almost at the end of book one and I've already ordered book two.
"The Accidental Queen".
(Sorry the app still doesn't give access to the book title or cover links).

Happy... Flowers from the Storm is one of my favorite books, ever. It is intense, heartbreaking, and amazingly written.

I haven't been posting lately but I peek in nearly every day.

I read V.E. Schwab's Shades of Magic series. This is a dark series where there are 4 worlds with varying amounts of magic. There are very few able to walk between those worlds. They are called Antari and are considered magicians. The main character, Kell, came to the royal family in the most magic enhanced world, the "Red" London as a child. Considered a part of the ruling family, he serves as a messenger between two of the other worlds. Part of the "royal " family but never really a part of it. He was raised as a companion to their only son, the prince. Somewhat disillusioned with his life, Kell has a very illegal side business dealing in artifacts from the other worlds. It was because of this trade that he is caught up in a bad situation and is robbed by and consequently taken by our other main character, Delilah Bard. She eventually convinces him to try and take her back to his world in "Red" London. She is a very clever thief and wields a knife or three like no other. She has lived in this "Gray" nearly magicless world for most of her life and has survived disguised as a man. Eventually, Kell and Lila are teamed up to save the prince and the world so to speak. These books are dark and sarcastic with lots of banter, and minimal sexual content.

I read and enjoyed the latest "Badger" book. Born to Be Badger is a sort of first book in an on going storyline. Laurenston has been more story oriented rather than more explicit sex oriented in her latest few books.

I listened to the first book in the Last Finestra series, This Vicious Grace, and also have This Cursed Light as an ARC. While I'm not usually a YA reader, I also enjoyed the first book.
The thing that is saving the second book a tiny bit for me is that it is now more of an ensemble book. I'm not happy with the general storyline about Alessa and Dante, but I want to read the dramatic conclusion.

On audio I am listening to a favorite series, The Lady Hardcastle Mystery series, book 10, Fire at the Exhibition. These are fun, and have clever dialogs, and pretty good mysteries. They are great to listen to on audible.

I got the Emily Wilde book as an ARC some months back, and really like the main character, Emily. She goes from this really awkward person to a much stronger woman throughout the book. I have the 2nd book in my TBR to read & review for NetGalley.

I just finished listening to all of the C.J. Archer "Glass & Steele" series. The romance takes its time getting there which is indicative of her writing style. There is no graphic sex, (also her style), and the violence is somewhat tame. There is a long cast of characters, but they are uniquely well fleshed out. I do have to say that a couple of times I wanted to yell at the MC, India, for not keeping her watch on her. She isn't very strong physically and she isn't meant to be, but sometimes I wanted her to be more aggressive. I like the overall story and the villains are throughout all of the 13 books. but there is a revenge factor, which made me feel better.
I originally read the two books of the spin off series, and backtracked to read the original novels. I give the series a solid 4 *'s.

I started on the Ann Charles "Deadwood Humerous History"
series again and I started off on book #7 "A Wild Fright in Deadwood". I was a tad bit lost at first, but it was easy to catch up with the characters once I got going again.

On kindle, I am still reading an ARC which is the 4th book in the series, "Stalking Around the Christmas Tree", by Jacqueline Frost. All of these books are set in an imaginary town in Maine (one of my favorite states), and all of the books are in some way affiliated with the main character, Holly White's family business. I would consider these a lighter form of murder mystery. a "cozy" mystery.

Carol... Sorry to hear about your Mom. I'm hoping that your hubby is doing well in retirement.

I'm sorry about your cat, I just had to put one down 2 weeks ago. His brother, (literally), has been touch and go. I start to think that he's doing better & then he starts hiding and not eating much, again.

Not retiring any time soon. Hubby is 7 years younger than me & I hold the insurance, (it's way too much money for a small business). Honestly I don't know what I was thinking marrying such a young guy. LOL!

I think that we should just meet in the city for dinner & a show if we can't find a book signing. I have been taking the train down to Baltimore, my sister lives in Maryland now, and then flying down to my Dad's in Georgia. That flight goes to Macon, GA which is about 20 minutes from his house. I'll have to plan a stopover for a relaxing, leisurely lunch w/you.
Congrats on the grandchild, do they live near you?

melindeeloo... I also received an ARC of the "Encyclopedia of Faeries"
maybe I'll ask about the next book. I like how the MC evolved from a really awkward, to a stronger person.

Hi Carol.. How have you been?

I've been listening to the Glass & Steele series. I listened to the off shoot series, The Glass Library series, which is about the son of India and Matt, first.

Next up I'm going to return to a long abandoned series by Ann Charles, the Deadwood novels. I was trying to remember her name when out of the blue a review that she wrote about another author's book popped up. It's been a long time since I have read any of those books. I once wrote in a review that I would invite her to a dinner party just to see if she was that witty all of the time and she liked my statement.

on kindle, I am reading an ARC that is a cozy murder mystery, the fourth in the series, Stalking Around the Christmas Tree, by Jacqueline Frost. This is set in the imaginary Maine town of Mistletoe. So far, it's a pretty easy read and I don't find myself lost even though I haven't read the previous books.

Sorry the book is titled "Hemlock Island".

Happy, I just finished that story too. It had a bit of a turn at the end. Generally, horror is not my thing, but this was a pretty good read, and it's by Kelley Armstrong. I generally try to read anything by her on NetGalley.

The Boy Who Cried Bear

I saw that Kim Harrison has a new series coming out early next year...
"Three Kinds of Lucky: The Shadow Age book 1"

Also, Haven's Rock book 2 is called "The Biy Who Cried Bear" and will be out February 20th. I love this series.

I absolutely adored Magic Claims. I love the new area and the realizations that Curran and Kate come too. This story gives you the feeling of anticipation for the next story, like in the old days of the Kate Daniel's series.

I listened to a funny and snarky book that I got during one of the Audible sales. "The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels" by India Holton.
This was a lot of fun, lady "pirates" steal everything that they get their hands on and pilot their homes through secret incantations all around the country. Set in the Victorian era, (in fact old Vic' herself makes an appearance), the lead character is trying to be a full fledged member of the society. She adheres to the social norms of the era, while stealing and fighting off a would be assassin with many different names. This is light goofy and funny read and I especially liked it on audio.
I'm catching up on the Miss Fortune series on audio and I'm currently listening to "Clue Krew". DeLeon's audiobooks seems to be catching up with her regular book series because "Fortune Teller" will be out in July and the book came out last month. That's a lot faster than in the recent past when the audio came out many months after the novel was published.

I work outside so I have to drive to various locations, and sometimes I don't have to communicate with anyone else do I listen to books when I can @ work. I nearly always listen at lunch that's my relaxation time.

I never listen to my longest series. I have their voices in my head, and lots of times the narration doesn't coincide. The Jane Yellowrock series had an audio only short and the voice in my head was not the southern drawl that the narrator. It totally knocked me out of the story at first, I eventually got used to it. The Soulwood and Kate Daniels series are the same for me. I have listened to some of the BDB series but I generally read those too. I started out listening to The Others series so the voices are the ones on my head.
Happy you are encouraging me to listen to those again. :-)

What is the name of the anthology? The links on the phone app don't work.
My library doesn't seem to get much in the way of UF/Fantasy. Everytime I look for a book, they don't have it in digital and I'm not available for the hours that the library is actually open, so I don't know if they have a DT copy.

Does anyone else participate in the Kindle challenges? I've been doing them the last couple of years & they are a lot of fun. I've been reading a book that I chose that was part of the "escapist" badge, "The Librarian of Crooked Lane" It's set in the 1920's and I'm a little over half way through. In this world there are magic weilders and those with none at all. The lead character works as a librarian in a library filled with magical texts from all different eras and in many different languages. It is the life's work of a couple of collectors.
Sylvia Ashe has no clue about her family history. Raised by her single mother, along with her older brother, any questions about her past is met with discipline. After her brother dies in WWI. among his belongings is a diary with a reference to a very famous "Time Magician" who is the mother of Gabe a wartime hero who is trying to acclimated to life away from war. Gabe acts as a consultant to Scotland Yard and I'd investigating a theft of a magic imbued painting. Together they are tracking many people, some of prominent backgrounds, and Sylvia proves to have a keen eye and quick reflexes both literally and figuratively. This story rolls along at a quick but not frantic pace. I like the peripheral characters and a couple are quite unique. I'm probably not doing it justice, but I like it so far.

Good Luck Love... I voted as much as I could, not daily but almost.

I watched all of season 1 and the first 2 episodes of season 2 of the Joe Pickett series and it was excellent. I love the series on audio and listen to them sparingly, I want them to last.

Hi All! I've been reading a couple of ARC's lately. I was really happy to get the 14h installment of The Chronicles of St. Mary's series, "The Good The Bad and The History" by Jodi Taylor.
I love it and have enjoyed every single book. Taylor's ability to re-create historical events and eras is amazing. She has a gentle touch with her descriptions never overwhelming the reader with boring details.
This book has Max infiltrating the evil "Insight" organization and shows off her uncanny ability to "cock" it all up. She, teams up with Markham and the "recovery agents" (bounty hunters), Pennyroyal and Lady Amelia Smallhope. For the most part Max is on her own trying to thwart Insight's every devious move. I loved this book and series and I hope that this isn't our last adventure with Max and company.
On audio I'm up to date on all of the Anty Boisjoly Mysteries.
Book 2... "The Case of the Ghost of Christmas Morning" by P. J. Fitzsimmons.
Book 3... "The Tale of the Tenpenny Tontine"
Book 4... "The Case of the Carnaby Castle Curse"
These are a whole lot of fun. The side bars are laugh out loud funny, and the narrator, Tim Bruce, has such a cadence or rhythm to his narration that adds to your enjoyment. The Anty character is a proud n'er do well, with a quick wit and a clever mind. These are set in 1920's England and generally involve the aristocracy vs. the rest of the common folks.
I am currently listening to "The Fallen" by C.N. Crawford. I'm almost done with the first novel, but I'm not all that excited to continue the series. It's a fallen angel/common thief relationship where the angel has taken over her homeland and has quite a bloody way about him. It's narrated well and written okay, but it just doesn't grab me. Good thing it was on sale a while back. It's been hanging out in my Audio TBR for some time. I just don't think that it's worth pursuing after this first book in this trilogy.

Demetra... I've been watching the first season of the Joe Pickett series on Paramount and it seems to be melding the first 2 books in the series together. I haven't noticed very many deviations so they might be sticking close to the page so to speak. Or, I can't remember the first two books well enough to make a distinction. There are a lot of flashbacks to Joe's abusive father/childhood. I also like the depiction of his wife MaryBeth as a partner, fighter, and caring person. So far I would recommend it. I hope they don't screw it up.

Happy.... I was thinking about re-reading Bishop's Others series too. Maybe when I go on vacation in July.
I have been getting a fair amount ARC's from NetGalley and thanks to the folks here, I'm made aware of books that I wouldn't have either picked or that I wasn't aware of.

Rosalyn Landor that is. ;-)

I have been getting caught up on the Westcott family in Mary Balogh's series. I'm on book 8, Someone to Cherish.
I like that all of these women aren't going to settle for "a good ton match", they are looking for a love match. I read the first 5 books and drifted away from them while the rest of the series was being written. I've read books 6 and 7 which were excellent reads. No espionage but usually a secret to make it through. As the books go on, you have oodles of more people to both love and to stick their noses in. I love these for their pure historical tone.
(I "read"these on Audible and Rosalyn Landir narrates).