What you can do when it’s 80-90 degree outside? Read of course!
Read and re-read “Green riders” series by Kristen Britain. In “Green Rider”, Karigan who is suspended from school is running away to home when on the way meets a dieing Green rider with two black arrows in his back. The Green Riders are special force of messengers for the King and have special secret talents. The dieing rider asks Karigan to carry his urgent massage to King Zachary and Karigan story starts. She endures various adventures and hazards and delivers the massage, takes part in saving the king from his traitorous brother and kills a dark sorcerer. “First Rider’s Call” happens a couple of years later. Karigan has finished school and gone back to her merchant clan to run the business for her father but the ghost of the first rider keeps calling Karigan back to the King’s service. A dark spirit is awake behind the magical walls that protect the realm and the small crack the dark sorcerer made in the wall is growing. Also the descendants of imperial forces (a group of magical warriors who came to Karigan’s country a millennia ago with their dark leader Morhovan the Black and destroyed the land and people) are gathering and plotting. They call themselves the second empire. There is also the little matter of why every enemy Green Riders face somehow knows Karigan! Then in “High King’s Tomb” these Second Empire people have gathered and have a necromancer for a leader and making all sorts of trouble. Karigan has an apprentice, goes on a date, sword plays with a famous thief and rescues a kidnapped princess.
All great and everything, just one complain: Ms. Britain is such a slow writher. It will take years for the next book to come out!
Then the fourth book of Nightwalker series: “Damien” by Jacquelyn Frank. The story of shapeshifter princess Syreena and vampire prince Damien. the nightwalker races unite against Ruth but she is collecting powerfull allies too! It was much better than “Elijah” the last book, I tell ya!
Finally finished “Embrace the Night” (Cassandra Palmer Series, Book 3) by Karen Chance. Someone please tell me if this was the last book of the series. Cassandra finally breaks the geis and frees the vampire lord Mircea from going mad. She also learns that not all offers of help are sincere!
Another book of Dresden files: “Grave Peril” (The Dresden Files, Book 3) by Jim Butcher. I’m in love with Harry! he attendes a party and some one gives him his tombstone as a gift! His godmother wants to turn him to a hound and his frinds are facing a nightmare! Full of action!
What else? Oh yeah! How can I forget?! “The Courtesan's Secret” by Claudia Dain. It was great. I enjoyed it enormously! It was so delicious (wink!).
And three book of Elizabeth Adler: “Meet me in Venice”, “Summer in Tuscany”, and “The Hotel Riviera”. Her plots are uncomplicated and her characters simple but it is a joy to read about beautiful landscapes and romantic setting and great provincial food. Her books are like mini vacations, you get to relax and unwind. So refreshing!
Friday, June 27, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
In a fine summer afternoon
I have been reading nonstop this week. Oh, yes, I had a paper to finish and send to my professor and I was worrying about it. I wish I could learn to work harder instead of worrying … Anyway I took half day out of my precious readings and finished the darn thing. Then, what I read this week:
Two more books of Jim Butcher 's “Dresden Files”: “Storm Front” and “Small Favor”. My favorites this week! I’m so falling in love with Harry Dresden! Am thinking about buying the whole series!
“Queen of Dragons” by Shana Abe is the third book of Drakon series. Haven’t read the other books and this one was entertaining but not exceptional. I very much liked the character of Maricia but Kim’s character was lame. Contrary to what author wanted us to believe, he came out very weak minded and not a good leader.
“Friday’s Child” by Georgette Heyer was badly written. As I said about another book of her, Ms. Heyer writes like an eighteenth century author and a bad one in that! But the plot and cast of characters were great. Hero (Kitten) was crazy and delightful. Anthony was a model of 18-19 century noble Englishman, simple, honest, brave and honorable. Freddy was a fun coward and George was very Lord Byron (passionate, romantic, handsome). Miss Milborne reminded me of Miss Blanche in “Jane Eyre” and Gil… Oh, I wish he was real and I could travel back in time and meet him! Well, I also wish this story was written by a master of dialogues. It could have been so much better, but is a delight even now.
“The Last Twilight” (Dirk & Steele, Book 7) by Marjorie M. Liu: well, I can not say I didn’t like it, but… hmmmm, it could have been better. I have a problem with damaged scared heroes, so sue me! Anyway Amiri finds his love in a tortured and hunted doctor Rikki, Rictor makes an appearance and a new type of shapeshifter is introduced. I’m liking this series less and less, don’t know why!!!
“Legally Blonde” by Amanda Brown. OK, don’t laugh now! I loved the first movie. Elle Woods was fun and when I saw the book, I grabbed it. Actually I like the book much more and am planning to read the whole series. What? It is fun and lighthearted, kindda like chocolate mousse!
“Secrets of a Proper Lady” by Victoria Alexander is the third book of “The Last Man Standing” series. I loved it! The dialogues where great, all those oral sword plays between Daniel Sinclair and Lady Cordelia. Well it had a funny plot too, but I couldn’t feel a little cheated at the end. The finale let me down! I guess you can’t have everything, right?! So now, the last man is Oliver and the question remains: Is he going to have his book or not?
Then “The Accidental Mother” by Rowan Coleman which was a disappointment. Old plot, a friend dies and leaves the custody of her two small girls to her single career-oriented best friend. The father is missing. The career girl has lots of challenges, finds the father, make peace between father and girls and falls in love with the man! It was awful! Should she really leave everything and go to her dead best friend’s husband? Doesn’t it remind you of that little problem some women have? The problem of falling for their friends’ boyfriends and husbands and fiancés? The one which has its roots in jealousy? Yeah, that one! How convenient it was in this story! It just makes me mad! Ms. Coleman could have Sophie happily married to Jake but nooo!!! She should go for Louis, how totally stupid! The only lovely character was Artemis the cat, let me tell you!
I need some good books! Help!
Two more books of Jim Butcher 's “Dresden Files”: “Storm Front” and “Small Favor”. My favorites this week! I’m so falling in love with Harry Dresden! Am thinking about buying the whole series!
“Queen of Dragons” by Shana Abe is the third book of Drakon series. Haven’t read the other books and this one was entertaining but not exceptional. I very much liked the character of Maricia but Kim’s character was lame. Contrary to what author wanted us to believe, he came out very weak minded and not a good leader.
“Friday’s Child” by Georgette Heyer was badly written. As I said about another book of her, Ms. Heyer writes like an eighteenth century author and a bad one in that! But the plot and cast of characters were great. Hero (Kitten) was crazy and delightful. Anthony was a model of 18-19 century noble Englishman, simple, honest, brave and honorable. Freddy was a fun coward and George was very Lord Byron (passionate, romantic, handsome). Miss Milborne reminded me of Miss Blanche in “Jane Eyre” and Gil… Oh, I wish he was real and I could travel back in time and meet him! Well, I also wish this story was written by a master of dialogues. It could have been so much better, but is a delight even now.
“The Last Twilight” (Dirk & Steele, Book 7) by Marjorie M. Liu: well, I can not say I didn’t like it, but… hmmmm, it could have been better. I have a problem with damaged scared heroes, so sue me! Anyway Amiri finds his love in a tortured and hunted doctor Rikki, Rictor makes an appearance and a new type of shapeshifter is introduced. I’m liking this series less and less, don’t know why!!!
“Legally Blonde” by Amanda Brown. OK, don’t laugh now! I loved the first movie. Elle Woods was fun and when I saw the book, I grabbed it. Actually I like the book much more and am planning to read the whole series. What? It is fun and lighthearted, kindda like chocolate mousse!
“Secrets of a Proper Lady” by Victoria Alexander is the third book of “The Last Man Standing” series. I loved it! The dialogues where great, all those oral sword plays between Daniel Sinclair and Lady Cordelia. Well it had a funny plot too, but I couldn’t feel a little cheated at the end. The finale let me down! I guess you can’t have everything, right?! So now, the last man is Oliver and the question remains: Is he going to have his book or not?
Then “The Accidental Mother” by Rowan Coleman which was a disappointment. Old plot, a friend dies and leaves the custody of her two small girls to her single career-oriented best friend. The father is missing. The career girl has lots of challenges, finds the father, make peace between father and girls and falls in love with the man! It was awful! Should she really leave everything and go to her dead best friend’s husband? Doesn’t it remind you of that little problem some women have? The problem of falling for their friends’ boyfriends and husbands and fiancés? The one which has its roots in jealousy? Yeah, that one! How convenient it was in this story! It just makes me mad! Ms. Coleman could have Sophie happily married to Jake but nooo!!! She should go for Louis, how totally stupid! The only lovely character was Artemis the cat, let me tell you!
I need some good books! Help!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Miss Me?
Ah, it’s not easy typing one handed! I have a fractured wrist and I’m trying to live my life normally! Huh, fat chance! It happened last Friday, before that I was busy with exams and visitors from out of town. And I’ve been reading a lot:
“Weekend in Paris” by Robyn Sisman. A shy and timid English marketing assistance finds out her promised weekend conference in Paris is her boss’s attempt to get her into bed and she quits her job. But she takes the train to Paris and meets new friends, a gorgeous French artist, and an older doctor who is very interested in her family name. Some revelations about her childhood and problems later, she is back to London with a brand new job!
Wish real life was that easy!
“Cupidity” by Caroline Goode is a YA. A brainy highschooler girl wants to fall in love and have a boyfriend so she writes to Jupiter the lord of gods and because the gods haven’t got a help request in a thousand years they take it way too seriously. It was simplistic and honestly bad written. Such a waste of topic!
Two books from Victoria Alexander “The last man standing” series: Four bachelors in Victorian England make wager to see who is going to marry last.
In “A Little Bit Wicked” Gideon and Judith meet and fall in love. He is a lord with land and title and a wicked way with women. She is a widowed lady with money of her own who values her independence. A selfish manipulative ex-wife, an opinionated aunt, four silly friends, a bitter sister-in-law and an abusive late husband later they are happily married and honeymooning in south of Spain.
“What a Lady Wants” starts when Lady Felicity is wishing upon a star for an adventurous man to fall in love with. Well, at that exact same time Nigel falls into her garden. The rest is up to Felicity to tame a man with Peter Pan syndrome.
Well four months after the wager two out of four are married, happily and in love. I usually don’t read romances and if I do it is often a disappointment. But I liked these books, the sharp dialogs and the crazy idealistic heroes. Am going to look forward to the last two books of the series, although I still think Ms. Alexander could do a better job with her heroes and plots.
“The Darcy Connection” by Elizabeth Aston was a disappointment. I was in mood for stuffy English writing but Ms. Aston’s plots and writing style left a lot to be desired. She had a bunch of interesting characters and she did nothing with them, just a luck warm copy of Jane Austen’s novels.
“Death of a Darklord” by Laurell K. Hamilton was dark, bitter and unhappy. Didn’t like it and I think the finale was disappointing and rushed.
“The little lady agency and the Prince” by Hester Browne was funny although the story was cliché. Maybe because I haven’t read the previous two books. Anyway out of 5, it makes a 2.
And finally my favorite this week was “Waking Brigid” by Francis Clark. In Savannah after the Civil war, strange murders are happening and the Catholic Church gets involved. Brigid, a nun now; was raised in Ireland and based on the Old ways. She knows to stop these crimes she needs a power stronger than church. She learns about “Walkers” and …
What a pity the author passed away and can not continue the story of “Walkers”.
“Weekend in Paris” by Robyn Sisman. A shy and timid English marketing assistance finds out her promised weekend conference in Paris is her boss’s attempt to get her into bed and she quits her job. But she takes the train to Paris and meets new friends, a gorgeous French artist, and an older doctor who is very interested in her family name. Some revelations about her childhood and problems later, she is back to London with a brand new job!
Wish real life was that easy!
“Cupidity” by Caroline Goode is a YA. A brainy highschooler girl wants to fall in love and have a boyfriend so she writes to Jupiter the lord of gods and because the gods haven’t got a help request in a thousand years they take it way too seriously. It was simplistic and honestly bad written. Such a waste of topic!
Two books from Victoria Alexander “The last man standing” series: Four bachelors in Victorian England make wager to see who is going to marry last.
In “A Little Bit Wicked” Gideon and Judith meet and fall in love. He is a lord with land and title and a wicked way with women. She is a widowed lady with money of her own who values her independence. A selfish manipulative ex-wife, an opinionated aunt, four silly friends, a bitter sister-in-law and an abusive late husband later they are happily married and honeymooning in south of Spain.
“What a Lady Wants” starts when Lady Felicity is wishing upon a star for an adventurous man to fall in love with. Well, at that exact same time Nigel falls into her garden. The rest is up to Felicity to tame a man with Peter Pan syndrome.
Well four months after the wager two out of four are married, happily and in love. I usually don’t read romances and if I do it is often a disappointment. But I liked these books, the sharp dialogs and the crazy idealistic heroes. Am going to look forward to the last two books of the series, although I still think Ms. Alexander could do a better job with her heroes and plots.
“The Darcy Connection” by Elizabeth Aston was a disappointment. I was in mood for stuffy English writing but Ms. Aston’s plots and writing style left a lot to be desired. She had a bunch of interesting characters and she did nothing with them, just a luck warm copy of Jane Austen’s novels.
“Death of a Darklord” by Laurell K. Hamilton was dark, bitter and unhappy. Didn’t like it and I think the finale was disappointing and rushed.
“The little lady agency and the Prince” by Hester Browne was funny although the story was cliché. Maybe because I haven’t read the previous two books. Anyway out of 5, it makes a 2.
And finally my favorite this week was “Waking Brigid” by Francis Clark. In Savannah after the Civil war, strange murders are happening and the Catholic Church gets involved. Brigid, a nun now; was raised in Ireland and based on the Old ways. She knows to stop these crimes she needs a power stronger than church. She learns about “Walkers” and …
What a pity the author passed away and can not continue the story of “Walkers”.
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