All right, so I think I shall update this post with every book I read this summer.It will include the date I finished reading it, as well as a link to it, the pic and what I thought. A tiny review, nothing major.
1. Lenobia's Vow -176 pg-
http://www.houseofnightseries.com/novellas/lenobias-vow/
It's a novella, but it goes along with the House of Night series and I really enjoyed learning about an interesting side character's past. If you like Lenobia it is a good book, although it will make you sad.
http://www.kimharrison.net/BookPages/WWBC/WWBC.html
This is a very good book that had refreshing characters and takes on mythological characters. The vampires on interesting. I randomly started on the sixth in the series because my boss had it. Don't do that. I followed the story just fine but there were huh? moments when it referred to previous things that had happened. I will now have to find the first five books, my boss sadly only has them on her Nook. I really need one of those, I think I have decided.
http://www.eheathergraham.com/
This was a great book, though there were moments when (even as a history major) I felt the history of Texas and its ranger's were being shoved down my throat at odd opportunities between characters in dialogue and in their heads in unnatural ways. Other than that, I honestly never predicted the murderer, which is unusual for me. I tend to have them picked out early on and I don't know if I was out of it or what. It's a great romance/murder mystery type book. I actually have it autographed as I met her at a bookfest.
4. Dead Witch Walking (5/26/2012) -416 pg-So, this book is amazing. I'm hooked on this series. This explained a lot that I was wondering about when I read the sixth book. Now I shall just have to pick up the second book... darn it. I'll do that this Friday. Anyways, back to the actual book, it is fun, quirky and the author does a great job of creating a character that isn't perfect. Rachel has many problems, and recognizes them, and she always little habits that are added, like that fact that she is always hiking her purse up higher on her shoulder, or rating guy's butts. It's a fun book, that has a crazy angle to it, and isn't like most of the other fantasy/sci-fi books I have read. It's nothing like Anita Blake either, which I have my boss hooked on and which I really need to reread.
This is the first ever full biography of Mary Boleyn. I have to say, Alison Weir is one of my absolute favorite historians and authors. She makes history as interesting as possible, and I think it helps that she writes historical fiction as well. Everything always flows and she knows how to write with important details. In this biography she has plainly made clear that the legend of Mary of being an "infamous whore" holds no ground when researched and that she was not perhaps the whore she is famous for being. Although she was certainly Henry VIII's mistress for a while, she may have only had a brief affair with Francois I, and did not sleep around as has been often presumed. I learned many things, as well as more information about the Boleyn family as a whole. I'm excited by this book, and it just once more proves my love of history. I think that it would be interesting to look into a life that is famously misrepresented, and you can tell the care that Weir puts into everything she researches and writes, basing everything upon fact. Perhaps Lady Rochford will be next.
6. The Good, The Bad and The Undead (6/9/12) -453 pg-
This is the second book in the Rachel Morgan series. It progresses further down Rachel Morgan's story and delves more into the past. It talks about her father, mother and relationships they had as well as explaining more of the storyline that I didn't understand when I accidentally read the seventh book first. I must say that Harrison continues to amaze me with her style and how she manages to convey the tiniest details and really make it feel like you are hearing the story from the character's head and Rachel's crazy trains of thought. Even her constant habit of hiking her purse up on her shoulder and how her fears play out in her brain. Rachel's loyalty to her friends is also refreshing.
7. Sacre Bleu (6/17/12) -403 pg-
8. Every Which Way But Dead (6/26/12) -501 pg-
Once again, I've read another Rachel Morgan series. So just really, go buy them!!! This is the third, and it is just as great as the last. I'm in love with Harrison's writing style and it make me want to start rewriting my novel in progress in first person. I love all the random thoughts that 'pop' into Morgan's head as well as just the way her train of thought leads her down another road. And she isn't perfect by any means. She manages to face obstacles, make mistakes, and by realizing those try to better herself. She is a character that is blurring the lines of good and evil, trying to decide that if you use a power for a good end, does it matter? The choices she faces are hard ones, and in the mix of all that she is trying to figure out how to have a love life and what her past holds in terms of her medical history and her father's story. So just really - go read them!!!!!
9. Heather's Story (6/20/12) -92 pg-
Okay, so I don't want to reveal anything about this as it is a project that Heather is working on like crazy. I have to say I'm incredibly jealous of her writing, along with the fact that she can bloody manage to write so very much. Hopefully it shall rub off on my since I'm around her so much. Wish me luck on that. I would like to say that I know it's a work in progress, the plot is great, and it's very in depth. Not something I would probably normally pick up and read but I enjoyed it very much and I am glad she is broadening my horizons.
10. A Fistful of Charms (6/28/12) -510 pg-
11. For A Few Demons More (7/7/12) -546-(Including Short Story: The Bridges of Eden Park)
So, as always I loved this book. I will warn you, one of my more shockingly favorite characters died. I didn't bawl like a baby however, because the seventh book that I read first details and investigates his murder... so yeah I knew it was coming the whole time, which for future reference is just pure torture. This book became very involved with the demons, explaining their world and also giving a glimpse of their culture. It was really interesting to see that side, and I look forward to more of it. The writing was fantabulous as always, and I can never get over the details that she works in in minute detail that make you feel like you are actually hearing and seeing the entire story play out from Rachel's thoughts. I also lover her randomness, which reminds me a little bit too much of myself. Sure, when facing death and danger, I can totally see me admiring an outfit or even a cute guy, but hey, why not?
12. The Outlaw Demon Wails (7/30/12) -528-I finally got my book! After finishing my scarf, I managed to read this quite quickly. I'm excited to be reading again, the wait for this book to come back was driving me crazy. So, it explained quite a few things after having read the book after this. This book also finally explains in a way, what happened to Rachel when she was little, why she can twist demon curses and exactly what happened in the demon world thousands of years ago. The view that Kim Harrison has on all this magic and the world she has created is very interesting. Overall, just as always, I love the little quirks that Rachel has and her inner turmoil over whether or not she is a good or bad person. I think many people have trouble finding themselves, and this series goes over all of that. As I was once told, the best characters are not perfect.
13. Black Magic Sanction (8/2/12) -546-
So, I finished the 8th book, and crazy enough in just a few days. The next one is Pale Demon and I'm starting on it today. This book was great, because Rachel finally answers a question that has been bothering her: whether or not using black magic was bad if it was to save others. She has to come to terms with who she is, what she is and what her future may hold. I was however greatly depressed because a character dies who I really liked, and I should have known if I had remembered all the hints from book seven but I read that quite a while ago. It was utterly depressing, I cried, and then texted my boss that she was terrible for not warning me. So I warn you now. I'm also beginning to like Al more and more, and it left with an unanswered question that I am interesting to explore. On to the next!!!
I am a terrible person for not adding this when I finished it a couple of weeks ago, so Heather please forgive me!! Heather's book came to quite an end, and really she could just keep going with it, write a trilogy or just slam it all into a quick end. Whatever she feels like. I think that she did a great job bringing her characters together, playing on real fears, and incorporating a bunch of biblical knowledge that I have no clue of. (Go me!) I'm interested to see where this goes, and cannot wait to read her edited version. It was is wonderful to see someone who can finish something, and maybe she will rub off on me a little, lol.
15. Pale Demon (8/3/12) -432-
16. A Perfect Blood (8/6/12) -412-So, I have finished the last Rachel Morgan book that is currently out. All I can is that dadgum I wish her and Trent would get together. I'm sad about a few things that are happening in this book, such as Ivy and Jenks slowly moving on with their own lives. Still, Rachel finally accepts fully who she is and what she is and that is empowering for anyone. She also finally gets a pack tattoo and I thought that was a very interesting moment in the book. It made me wonder what on Earth I would ever get to so define me, as hers defines her. This book had me on the edge of my seat why more than normal, and had even crazier action. It was a change from the previous books, and I thought it interesting to see the author grow.
17. The Hobbit (8/9/12) -305-So I reread the Hobbit today. I had to, since the movie is coming out this December (and I will be there at Midnight!!), so I'm excited. I love JRR Tolkien. He's the coolest man ever. The thing I love about the hobbit is that no matter what, it always sounds like a story my Grandfather could be sitting there telling me. I've always loved the little side notes that tell you little things like "That wouldn't be the last time" or random stuff like that. It sounds like an old folk tale someone is telling you. It feels like a legend. So, it has always been one of my favorites. I'm going to try to read the LOTR trilogy again in the next two weeks. We shall see if that happens or not.
18. Abraham Lincoln: The Vampire Hunter (8/12/12) -336-All right, so I know, I know. I'm a history major. I thought this was as low as things could go when I saw the movie preview. My sister however, really needed something to read the other day and bought it at Kroger. She then begged me to read it, since I made her read Woman in Black. So, I read it. I have to say, the first when it's the guy talking about how he got the journals is really awesome. Then book starts in on Lincoln and I was disappointed. Instead of being first person, or journal entries, or something awesome... it was a biography with entries from his journal as they fit. It meshed with history yes. It had interesting explanations yes. But it was disappointing. It was. It grew on my by the middle of it, and I do have to say that I liked the ending. My favorite character is Henry. So anyways, it is worth one read.
19. Ghost Stories in Late Renaissance France (In Progress) -99- (out of 253)Okay, so I tried to read this. I'm still not sure what I think about it. I've been working on it and I finished the first part. The first part really is just several close readings of a few books that dealt with ghosts in the abstract, terms in relation to ghosts, and the author's invention of a new term: Pastoral Demonology. It is interesting and boring at the same time, which is a new twist. Demonology does sound like something that would be awesome to study, but then this books twists back and forth discussing what the pastors, preachers and the like would have meant by certain terms, and how they would have viewed encounters. I really wanted to see/read real encounters and so far I have not got to do that.
20. Fellowship of the Ring (In Progress) -458-Total page count: 7,021 pgs
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