Oct
09
2008
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Tagged: About-Us, Barb Hendee, book recommendations, Dierdre Martin
Filed under: Book Reviews, Features
Filed under: Book Reviews, Features
You may have noticed that we have been delinquent in putting this up. The sad truth of the matter is that we have few books to recommend this month. Jia liked, but did not love, Barb Hendee’s Blood Memories. I liked Deirdre Martin’s Power Play and the upcoming Samhain release by Maya Banks, Into the Lair (reviewing coming next week).
Given that we don’t have many books to recommend, please feel free to use this thread as an open one for your reader recommendations.
I liked Claire Delacroix’s Fallen. I didn’t love it because I found the world and villain a bit predictable, but I don’t see much post-apocalyptic romance fantasy, so it was a fun read. The writing is solid and it moves quickly.
I haven’t read it yet (so perhaps I should not be mentioning it :) but what about King of Sword and Sky (CL Wilson)?
I liked Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner. Typically anthologies are unsatisfying to me but this was more like a collection of very good short stories. The exception to that was the Sookie story contributed by Harris which was kind of a throw away.
This might be kind of a cheat since it was technically a September release, but it didn’t go live on Amazon until the end of the month and by the time a regular reader actually received it…
Death of a Pirate King by Josh Lanyon, the fourth in the Adrien English mystery series. A gay mystery series, it has strong romantic elements as we follow amateur sleuth Adrien English on his quest–peppered with dead bodies, of course–for love. Lanyon’s usual spare, witty prose and the poignancy of this tale make it a superb addition to the series. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
I really wanted to like Fallen because it had the post-apocalyptic setting but the predictability turned me off and I didn’t finish it.
I also read a few stories in the Mistletoe and Wolfsbane anthology but I found the theme (Christmas and werewolves) a little too narrow. Even though I generally like anthologies, I guess I prefer more variety in themes and supernatural beasties, especially when there are so many included stories.
What Dakota said. I liked Lanyon’s Death of a Pirate King.
OK *rolls sleeves*
I really liked Night Falls Darkly by Kim Lenox – Paranormal Romance set in Victorian times, very atmospheric. Great pair of protagonists (out Oct 7th). It is a debut novel (with a few problems but a lot of potential;)
A Wallflower Christmas by Lisa Kleypas – one of those heart-warming books with a GREAT hero (Rafe Bowman ) and some great scenes with the original Wallflowers (out Oct 14th)
Succubus Dreams by Richelle Mead. I haven’t read this but my blog partner Thea, did and she loved it. It is book 3 on an ongoing series.
I just finished Mercury’s War by Lora Leigh and loved it. There were a few big typos (wrong character name in one place grrrr) but loved the story!
I am so far enjoying _Mr. Cavendish, I Presume_ by Julia Quinn. And I really liked Nora Roberts’ _Tribute_, which I read a bit late. Other than that, this month has so far been backlist reading and baseball.
Yes to the Mercury’s War book being another great addition to the series …. and I agree: the editing/typo errors… Very annoying.
The Magical Christmas Cat anthology by Lora Leigh and others, her Breed novella was the only story I read in it so far.. and it doesn’t really count but I really think the cover is wonderful.
Promises Reveal by Sarah McCarty, with a heroine/hero and storyline that were different, from other Western Historical books… in a good way. But if you haven’t read the other books in the series you’ll be a little lost with all the characters mentioned from the previous books. Reviewers are saying it’s not as erotic as the previous Promise books that were released by Ellora’s Cave …… but you couldn’t prove that by me.
Seduce Me At Sunrise by Stephaine Laurens… I like her writing so she’s an auto-buy for me and I thought this was another well-written Historical romance with a hero who is NOT A member of the nobility. Love that.
I’ll just start reading it now, but I’d like to point out that the newest Elantra book Cast in Fury by Michelle Sagara West is just out and doing fine.
The commentators on her LJ who’ve already read it quite like it. The series has a bit of careful romantic byplay with – so far – two possible suitors (and is being published by Luna Books), but I read it more for characters, dialogue and worldbuilding – so I would classify it as fantasy mostly (urban fantasy, even, since it always takes place in the capital of an ancient empire and concerns the various people, races, etc. living there – Kaylin works for what counts as their police there, but that’s just the beginning of her reluctant influence on city affairs, so it’s also epic fantasy). The plots are exiting, too, but I don’t really read for plot, heh. This is the fifth book, and they do depend on each other, so if you haven’t read them yet, you should start with Cast in Shadow.
I just finished “Mr. Cavendish, I Presume” by Julia Quinn. It was pretty good as was “Seduce Me At Sunrise” by Lisa Kleypas. I also just finished “The Graveyard Book” by Neil Gaiman (not a romance).
“Tis the Season” by Lorna Landvik is coming soon. Her books are nearly always good.
I have “The Edge of Desire” by Stephanie Laurens, “Power Play” by Deirdre Martin, and “A Wallflower Christmas” by Lisa Kleypas on hold. Hope to get them read by the end of the month.