Open Thread for Readers for February 2021
Misc / Need A Rec!book-pimp / Open Thread / Promotion16 Comments
Got a book you want to talk about? Frustrated with a book or series? In love with a new one? Found a buried treasure? An issue that keeps popping up in the books you are reading? Just want to chat about stuff in general?
I am reading the Touchstone series by Andrea Höst which a little searching on the site shows that @Darlynne likes (per a 2015 comment) as do some others. It’s science fiction in diary format featuring a seventeen year old who walks from Australia into another world. I’ve now read through book five (which features the mother of the earlier books and is in third person) and enjoyed them all. The first book Stray is free on Kindle ~ https://www.amazon.com/Stray-Touchstone-Book-Andrea-Höst-ebook/dp/B004T3A518/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=touchstone+andrea&qid=1611536098&sr=8-2
@Kareni: We share so many book favorites and I really enjoy seeing your comments. One of your posts convinced me to finally read the first LINESMAN book, so thank you for that. I haven’t finished that or the Touchstone series for the same reason as all the others: remembering the books are in my TBR pile; it’s like a flaw in my character or something.
Scifi/fantasy seems to be what gets me through these strange days. I have stayed up late the last couple of nights to finish the audio version of THE SPACE SHIP NEXT DOOR by Gene Doucette. I can’t recall why I purchased it in the first place, but omigosh, I have a new favorite. Three years ago, a space ship landed in Annie Collins’ small hometown, the military set up a perimeter, and literally nothing happened in all that time, until something did. Annie at 16 is the whip-smart, wonderfully funny town muse who sees all and decides to help a government agent figure things out. And there’s a second book, which I discovered through a search of Doucette’s other work, at the same time I realized I bought another of his books in 2017. Be still my heart, but please get a grip on all the books.
What else are you recommending?
@Darlynne, you can bet I’ll be downloading a sample of THE SPACE SHIP NEXT DOOR as soon as I finish this post!
Favorites, eh?
Linesman and sequels by SK Dunstall
The Claimings series by Lyn Gala
Written in Red and sequels by Anne Bishop
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
Alpha and Omega books by Patricia Briggs
Murder in Thrall and sequels by Anne Cleeland
The Martian by Andy Weir
Other books I’ve enjoyed:
Dragon Bound and Oracle’s Moon by Thea Harrison
The first thirty-five of JD Robb’s …in Death series (I’m on hiatus!)
Joanna Bourne’s Spymaster books
Murderbot by Martha Wells
The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Class 5 series by Michelle Diener
I’m doubtless forgetting some….
If you are a fan of the original Star Trek series, @Darlynne, I’m happy to share my favorite novels
Amazon is doing one of their spend $s get $s free deals on ebooks. Hopefully this link will take you to the deal.
https://www.amazon.com/kr/d6e5aa28-fc2d-4f8e-916d-bf49f2a9e6e6
@Kareni: You know, I haven’t delved into Star Trek books and I’m not sure why. Recommendations are always welcome.
In your list of favorites, the only authors I haven’t read are Lyn Gala and Michelle Diener. Off to take a look. Thanks!
I’ve been reading and reviewing for a review site for the past 3 months. There are lots of books I had to slog through, some I forced myself to finish. But I’ve read a few that I was totally thrilled to get the chance to read! Funny that you should be talking about sci-fi–the two sci-fi romances that I loved were Race to Redemption and The Scent of Memory, both in the Green Rising series by Shari Elder. The kind of books that made me stay up until 2am because I couldn’t stop reading–then I had to contact the author and fan-girl all over her! She’s planning to write more in the series–I can’t wait! Another I just read last night was Perfect Duet by Aliyah Burke–not sci-fi. This is a romantic suspense with off-the-charts steaminess, even though there are only a few actual sex scenes. The whole book was foreplay! LOL. And I’ve read a couple of Steampunk books that rocked–The Pornographer’s Apprentice by Lisabet Sarai, and Of Tinkers and Technomages by Katheryn McIntyre.
@Fiona, thanks for sharing those titles. I’ve been busily downloading samples. May I ask where you are reviewing?
FYI: @Jayne, yesterday I checked the box below asking to be notified of follow-up comments. I received an email and gave my approval. However, I was not notified of today’s comments. This is not the first time this has happened. I wonder if others have had the same experience. If so, you may be paying for a service that has issues.
@Darlynne, some Star Trek favorites: Yesterday’s Son and Time for Yesterday both by A.C. Crispin; Uhura’s Song by Janet Kagan; Ishmael by Barbara Hambly; The Kobayashi Maru by Julia Ecklar; and Doctor’s Orders by Diane Duane. These last two are a bit gory: Dreams of the Raven by Carmen Carter and The Pandora Principle by Carolyn Clowes.
@Kareni: I let Jane know.
@Jayne, thank you.
@Kareni: Thanks, I’ll look at these. A couple sound familiar so maybe I have read them. Honestly, who knows any more?
@Darlynne: Seconding two of Kareni’s recommendations, The Goblin Emperor and the Alpha and Omega series.
Be sure to start the A&O series with the novella Alpha and Omega and not with book #1, Cry Wolf. You’ll be lost otherwise. Those first two are so good. Alpha and Omega is one of my all time favorite novellas.
The Goblin Emperor is one of my favorite books of the 2010s. So good. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of its sort-of-sequel….
A couple of stands outs: Odd Bird by Lee Farnsworth, and the Clandestine Magic trilogy by Colleen Cowley.
And then some other stuff I didn’t like that I don’t even want to mention……
@Persephone: Yay – you liked “Odd Bird.” ☺