Archive for Reading

There’s a sad truth in my pile of to-be-read books. Some of the books in my pile just aren’t the kinds of books I enjoy reading.

Even some of those that were good just couldn’t hold my interest long enough for me to make it to the end of the book. Some books stalled sooner than later, and some I consider only temporarily stalled.

I’ve been known to stop in the middle of a book and then go back to it later and enjoy the book more than ever. I’ve even recommended some of those books, because who knows why I stopped reading in the first place? When I went back, I really did enjoy the book.

When I pick up a book I’ve put down unfinished, I never start reading back at the beginning. I prefer to make my way through the book from where I stopped previously. And maybe that’s some of the problem. If a book is that easy to start reading from the middle why was all that stuff included at the beginning anyway?

Don’t you often find that many books start too early in the story? I enjoy the occasional slow build up in a book, but most often, I find that some authors don’t want to leave anything for me to assume or conclude on my own. They want to explain every aspect of the story and characters, to the point where there’s no mystery left in the book at all. But I enjoy just jumping in and figuring out some of this stuff for myself.

In fact, I enjoy mystery in my reading, and I’m not talking about whodoneit. I’m talking about the mystery of uncovering character motivations. I don’t want to know everything at the outset of the book. I enjoy coming up with my own thoughts about why the characters might be doing whatever it is they’re doing and to have those assumptions either confirmed or ripped apart later by a great author who’s willing to leave a few things up to my imagination. What about you?

I thought it might be interesting to list a few of the books I haven’t finished so far this year and give some of the reasons why I put them aside. I make no judgment of the books that haven’t held my interest, because I haven’t finished them and because someday, I still might make it to the end.

…but it sure was a great book!

Okay, so I spent some serious time reading over the past month, and I’m definitely not staying on top of writing reviews for those books. I thought I’d mention them here though, because I’ve read some fabulous books lately.

Hard and Fast by Erin McCarthy – It’s not available yet, but when it becomes available, you should run out and buy it right away. It was a wonderful book, full of all kinds of goodness. I absolutely loved Imogen and Ty, and usually the female characters are not my favorites. I’m all for the guys and I adore it when I find a female character I really love. I loved Imogen. This book is a (very, very) highly recommended read.

Kiss of Fate by Deborah Cooke – Okay, this one isn’t exactly erotic romance. But it was sexy. And exciting. And action-y. And FABULOUS. I hadn’t realized how much I might like reading about Dragon heroes until I read this book. Now I’m on the lookout for dragon stories…and buying the other books in the series I think I’m going to be addicted to.

Kiss of a Demon King by Kresley Cole – Finally! If you’ve been around this site very much, you’ll probably realize I love, love, love the Immortals After Dark series. This is a wonderful addition to the series and Rydstrom and Sabine are now two of my favorite Immortals.

Raine by Elizabeth Amber – Oh, this one is hard to explain, but it was a great book. I loved Jordan and Raine. The only thing about the Lords of Satyr series is the darkness. I don’t like to read too many dark stories in a row, so I wouldn’t want to sit down and read all the stories at once, but I will definitely be reading the rest of the series. Definitely.

Oh, and right at this moment, I’m reading White Star, Never Been Witched, Everlasting Bad Boys, and a few others. I should really learn to focus on one book at a time…but then again, I might not enjoy reading so much if I had to follow rules about how I did it!

Goodness, there are still so many other books I’ve read lately, but many of them don’t fit the site, and I’m out of time right now!

What good books have you read lately?

I started Would-Be Witch by Kimberly Frost the other night while in the bath, but for some odd reason, the book stayed behind when I left and I forgot to go back and get it until today. Which, thinking about it, is really odd, because I was really enjoying the story. I just made it to page 10 though so maybe the reason I didn’t go back for it was because I wasn’t that heavily invested in it yet.

That said, I loved the opening of this story.  Here’s an itty-bitty sampling of what I found so delicious about this beginning–it’s just a hint of the tone of the story, but it’s why I’m about to engage in a reading binge that’s sure to last me the rest of the evening.

“I’d never noticed before how small Jenna’s eyes were. If she were a shape-shifter, she’d be some kind of were-rodent. Not that I’d seen any shape-shifters except in books, but I knew they were out there. Aunt Mel’s favorite ex-husband had been eaten by one.”

I’m off to read…

I’m (still) reading Megan’s Mark. It’s about to drive me crazy that I haven’t been able to sit down with the book since last week, but that’s the truth. Tonight, I plan to read in bed (while I pretend to watch the Presidential Debate). As long as they stick to the usual political rhetoric, I’ll enjoy quite a bit of reading pleasure! Frankly, I’ve heard it all before in the other two debates (which I managed to watch without a book to keep me in a good mood).

Until then, I have site updates to do, so I’m ending this little note here.

Today, courtesy my two children (with my husband’s help), I received two books off my Amazon wishlist for my birthday. Today is my birthday so I’m probably not going to have a lot of time to read, but I have managed to zip along to Chapter 3 of Megan’s Mark by Lora Leigh. I’ve been wanting the chance to read these books, and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity finally!

Megan’s Mark starts off with action–and I love it when an author gets right to the good stuff. :-)

I’ll certainly put up a review when I’m done reading.

Here’s an interesting bit of information. If you enjoy reading the Harlequin Blaze books as ebooks, you can get them as a bundle by the month of publication. It’s a great way to save a few dollars (and trees). :-)

July 2008 Blaze ebook bundle

June 2008 Blaze ebook bundle

May 2008 Blaze ebook bundle

April 2008 Blaze ebook bundle

March 2008 Blaze ebook bundle

February 2008 Blaze ebook bundle

January 2008 Blaze ebook bundle

My copy of Sea Witch arrived the day before yesterday, but I’m holding off reading it because I am currently reading a book by a favorite author that I somehow, someway, missed reading. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about when I say that books by favorite authors always come first. In case you’re interested, the book is After Glow by Jayne Castle. Not an erotic romance, but a great read nonetheless. Emmet is very sexy.

My hope is that once I read Sea Witch I’ll have found another fav to add to my list. I’ve already slipped and read the first few chapters, because I couldn’t wait to get a taste of the book. This is my first reading of novel length fiction from Virginia Kantra. I enjoyed her story in Shifter, which was the very first Virginia Kantra fiction I’d read. This one, so far, has proven to be exceptionally intriguing and I want to read more!

Of course I’ll post a review the minute I finish reading it. :-)

Okay, I don’t usually do these kinds of posts. You know, the ones where we point our fingers and laugh at the horribleness of a book. (Pretend horribleness is a word…) However, I can’t seem to help myself today. Read the rest of this entry »

I ran across a good bargain at Amazon for a hardcover copy of Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Side of the Moon here. Here’s a direct link to Amazon for the book. You can get the hardcover cheaper than you can get the paperback. I’m sure they’ll run out of copies soon, but I thought I would put it up anyway. I’m a huge fan of hardbacks–but I usually skip unless I can get them cheap.

I’m waiting, not quite with bated breath but close, on the publication of Sea Witch, by Virginia Kantra. I preordered the book and look forward to receiving it quickly after it’s published. Amazon is good about that! I’ve never read a full-length novel written by her before, but I read her contribution to Shifter and thought I would enjoy this one. There was an excerpt in the back of that book for Sea Witch and it really caught my interest.

Another book I’m really interested in reading is Marie Donovan’s Sex By the Numbers. Her Book of Pleasure was a great book and although I wasn’t able to post a review at the time, I liked the book! I won’t claim it’s because by day I’m an accountant (only some days, luckily), although that’s a true statement!