paperback to hardcover

Posted on June 27, 2008 by janicu

Zeek from the blog The Way I See It posted that book 4 of the Mercy Thompson series, Bone Crossed, is going to be hardcover!

Uggg.

You know, I'm a big fan of this series, but I don't like hardcover. I think the last fiction book I bought new in hardcover was back in 1996. If an author I really like comes out in hardcover I will wait a whole year or more to get the paperback. I will choose trade paperback over hardcover. I am not a fan of waiting, but I'll wait. If the series started out hardcover, i feel ok, it's my choice to wait till paperback since I prefer paperback. But when the series started out paperback and then went hardcover – so now I have all these paperbacks, and you want me to buy a hardcover mid-series? I can see how this benefits the writer and the publisher, like it's a big deal to get a hardcover rather than a paperback, and I think the author makes more royalties on hardcover and so if the author can keep writing it helps the reader. All good in theory, but on a personal level it doesn't really make me happy. I don't like buying hardcover.

I might have bought it if it was trade paperback. I might have bought it if it was the first book in a new series. But hardcover mid-series when I already own all the books in paperback …I'm probably going to have to get it at the library and buy it when it comes out in paperback. But I feel disappointed I have to wait.

Other people complaining about this hardback issue.

The flip side of the coin. And a debate.

Sigh.

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Goodreads

Posted on June 24, 2008 by janicu

Ok, I had a goodreads account for a while but there was nothing in it. I just put all the books I had in my paperbackswap lists in there so now it has the books read in the past 2 and a half years and the up to date TBR. Vox lets me put a goodreads widget on my sidebar but LJ does not. Oh well.

http://a7.vox-data.com/6a00cd96f8411f4cd500fa9681f92f0003-html

Cut down my TBR by ten in the past couple of days – I just took out some books I didn't think I was ever going to read.

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Urban Shaman by C. E. Murphy

Posted on June 23, 2008 by janicu

Urban Shaman (The Walker Papers, Book 1)

C.E. Murphy

I started the second of C.E. Murphy's series (the Negotiator trilogy) earlier this year, but her first book, Urban Shaman was on my TBR as well. I just read it, and I think I may actually like this series even more.

Joanne Walker is a mechanic with with the police force with both a Cherokee and a Celtic background. She went through the police academy but never used her training as an officer, content to use just her mechanic skills. At the start of this book, she was on the plane coming back from her mother's funeral when she sees a woman in trouble. As soon as she's off the plane, she grabs a cab to help the woman and runs into the Wild Hunt. This sets off a series of events which reveal Joanne's shamanic powers and a whole supernatural world.

This was action packed – one thing follows another story and Joanne goes through a lot – battered from one side and another, and drawing on her new powers to heal herself. I liked how Joanne uses her mechanic background with her powers – imagining her body like a car and fixing things by using car analogies. It was engrossing to see what would happen next, but there was also some hints of Joanne's past and what Joanne is that was interesting as well. Another strong aspect was the secondary characters – they all had depth and interacted in believable ways with Joanne, from her sidekick cabbie, to her annoyed boss, to her coworkers. It will be nice to see how these relationships develop throughout the series. Looking forward to reading the next two books.

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Vampire High by Douglas Rees

Posted on June 22, 2008 by janicu

Vampire High

Douglas Rees

This is another book I picked up at Goodwill. Vampire High is a young adult novel, probably appropriate for ages 10 and up. While I was reading it I thought that this might be the kind of book to give to a kid who doesn't like to read. It reminded me of the Phantom Tollbooth in a way because there is a lesson in here about at least making an effort in life.

Cody is an underachiever because he's unhappy that his parents moved to New England, and after he fails all his classes, his dad transfers him to Vlad Dracul. This school is amazing but mysterious – there huge buildings, high ceilings, marble, chandeliers and oil paintings and silent, tall, super-smart and super-strong students. Cody is amazed he get in right away just for agreeing to try out for the water polo team. It isn't long before he learns the reason why – his classmates are vampires, and they don't like water. Cody is one of a handfull of human students in the school, and he'll be guaranteed As and cruise through life, but it also means he's mostly ignored and nothing he does matters. This doesn't sit well for Cody, but when he actually wants to earn his grades he meets resistence from the vampires and the other lazy human students. I thought this was a fun, engrossing book and a pretty fast read. This felt like it could be the beginning of a series but I didn't see any other books out.

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Thunder Moon by Lori Handeland

Posted on June 22, 2008 by janicu

Thunder Moon (A Nightcreature Novel, Book 8)

Lori Handeland

To be honest I didn't expect to like this book. I picked it up at Goodwill because I recognized the author as a popular one and I noticed that the published date was January 2008, so I thought I would swap it on paperbackswap. The only thing I had read by Lori Handeland was in the Dates from Hell anthology and the story in there didn't do it for me (my review of that is here).

So I was pleasantly surprised that I ended up sucked into this book. The heroine is a small town sheriff, with Cherokee blood. Grace McDaniel is capable and independent, and I liked her. She's tired and overworked but also irreverent and snappy. This is a supernatural romance, but instead of werewolves which I was expecting because of the world "Moon" in the title, the night-creature in this instance was one I'd never heard of before, so there were elements of Cherokee folklore that was new to me. The book looks to be part of a series, with references to Claire, who is the mayor, Grace's best friend, and probably the heroine of her own book, but I had no problems following it. A pretty decent read and while I sort of guessed the identity of the creature terrorizing the town, I wasn't completely sure about it till the end, which I liked. The only thing I found jarring was the sudden sex scenes in this book, which seemed to be incongruent with Grace's wary nature regarding men. I found myself saying out loud: what the hell, you're the sheriff, what are you doing?!! which brought down things a notch for me. Still, couldn't really stop reading.

Here's a review at Dear Author which meshes well with my opinion.

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Once Upon Stilettos by Shanna Swendson

Posted on June 20, 2008 by janicu

Once Upon Stilettos (Katie Chandler, Book 2)

Shanna Swendson

Once Upon Stilettos is the second book in the Katie Chandler series by Shanna Swendson. Katie is a nice Texas girl in New York City who discovers that she has a very rare ability – an immunity to magic. This means she can see through enchantment and illusions and she's offered a job at Magic, Spells, and Illusions.

Book 2 continues where book 1 left off – the company is still dealing with the same villian – an underhanded ex-employee bent on sabotage. Katie is tasked to discover the identity of a suspected spy in MDI's midst, while dealing with her own relationship issues.

As with book 1 I found the series charming and light, but I'm beginning to want some more depth to some of the periphery characters other than Katie and a few main players. The villains are cartoonish, and while there are some darker parts to this book, for the most part things are kept fun and light. Which is fine if that's what you are in the mood for. Probably the best part of this book was the developing romance. I think that it was more fully featured here than in the first book. I found the ending satisfying and a good stopping point. While there is a wide opening for the series to continue, we aren't left with a cliffhanger.

(my review of book 1)

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Wicked Game by Jeri Smith-Ready

Posted on June 11, 2008 by janicu

Wicked Game

Jeri Smith-Ready

I snagged the last copy of this book at my Borders a couple of weeks ago. Wicked Game was released recently in trade paperback format. It centers on the life of Ciara Griffin, an older (26) college student who is majoring in marketing and has just found herself a job at a local radio station.

Excerpt of Wicked Game

Being an urban fantasy, nothing is as it first seems – the DJs at the radio station are all vampires, and Ciara is a reformed (sort of) grifter. The author puts a nice spin on the conventional vampire myth - each of the vampires is stuck in the timeperiod they were turned, unable to move forward with the rest of the world into the present time. this means they all play music from their era only and develop a half-amusing, half-tragic case of OCD. This is the least of their problems. The radio station is threatened to be swallowed up by a huge media conglomerate, which would mean all the DJs would have to play what the Man tell them to, which is just not possible because of their natures. Ciara decides to help out by marketing the radio station as it is: run by vampires. This doesn't sit well with everyone, including other vampires in the area.

I really enjoyed this one and I read it everywhere I went. My week has been full with work followed by one appointment after another and I was seriously irritated that I didn't have much time to read it and irritated every time someone talked to me and made me put it down. I think that it's been a long time where I've had that problem. Usually even when I'm enjoying a book I can put it down, but this book made me want to just immerse and enjoy and I didn't feel like there were any places where I wanted to put it down or check how many pages there were till the end – it just flowed well. I was always curious what was going to happen next.

Haven't done this in a while. Bullet time:

I liked that the vampires were scary sometimes and yet approachable at other times. There were personalities that came out with each of them along with feeling of "other", not human being, that came across in this book better than some other vamp books I've read.
What happens after you stick a stake in a vampire is explained in disturbing detail. New one for me.
Ciara has a budding relationship with a younger vampire in this book. THANK GOD there is only a 10 year age difference because I swear, I do sometimes have a hard time with the – "he's 50+ years her senior, what do they have in common?" suspension of disbelief thing.
Sometimes the radio station was WMMP, sometimes WVMP. I guess I missed the part where they decide to change the name? and then call it by it's old name again? I was a bit confused.
The book has a definite ending and I felt pleased with it, but there are some loose ties. I think there is the opening for a continuation and a series if they are explored. I'm happy with it as a standalone though.
I like that this is not just about vampires. There is also a lot of music, Ciara's personal problems and her past, and a sweet romance. It reminded me of that time period between college and "the real world" quite a bit. And Ciara seems real. She really has gone through some tough patches in life and it shows. Plus she reacts more like a real person when a vampire tries to bite her: I won't ruin it for you except to say she did NOT swoon. Also I liked that that Ciara uses her experience grifting to get her through tough situations. Her run ins with her nemisis from school were highly amusing.
Oh! Almost forgot – the book is in first person present. Don't see that often. Sometimes it was strange, but often I managed to get too into the book to notice.

If you liked the references to music in War for the Oaks by Emma Bull, I think you would like this one too.

My past Jeri Smith-Ready posts

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Accidental Goddess by Linnea Sinclair

Posted on June 8, 2008 by janicu

An Accidental Goddess (Bantam Spectra)

Linnea Sinclair

Quick review cause I'm feeling quite lazy:

I had a giftcard burning in my pocket so even though I have a 129 book TBR pile, I went out and bought yet another Linnea Sinclair book.

This is my 5th Linnea Sinclar book and I think I'm beginning to see trends besides the spaceships and action. Not sure how I missed it, but often the couple has to prevent an intergalactic war, and one person is hiding some secret about their true nature or identity from the other. Hmm. Doesn't seem to get old though.

In this case Gillaine Davré is hiding the fact that she's a Raheiran from her love interest Admiral Rynan Makarian, a Khalaran. The Raheiran's are a more technologically advanced race with psychic abilities try not to interfere much with the development of other races. About 342 years ago Gilliane fought against her ancient enemies the Melandans, and was thrown into a time-warp which made her appear in the present where she learns the Khalarans have turned her into a goddess. She is horrified to learn that she is worshipped and that even Ryan is a follower. Things get even more complicated when she learns that not all the Melandans were vanquished and she may have to fight against them again.

There were a few amusing moments throughout the book which kept it pretty light, and a lot of other characters in the space station where the book takes place, which kept things interesting. I'm beginning to see these books as a guaranteed good time. Totally fun to get into. I think I'm a space opera addict. Seriously. I also like how most of them are readable as stand alones, because I seem to be going through a lot of series books.

Out of the rest of the Linnea Sinclair books I've read so far, this was in the top 3, I liked Gillie's spunkiness and irreverance compared to Rynan's seriousness. Their interaction was good. noticed that Rynan has the same problem that Theo from The Down Home Zombie Blues had – trying to protect his woman when she can probably handle things better herself, and this caused some problems.

According to a review in Amazon, this is the far future sequel to Wintertide, a fantasy novel which I haven't read yet.

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Abandoned Russian Library

Posted on May 28, 2008 by janicu

Abandoned library – 6

Abandoned library – 1

Quick post. I saw this online and thought it was cool, though a bit sad. Makes me want to dive in! More pictures here and in my vox pictures. According to a comment on that site this is "some kind of technical library situated near old abandoned factory. Those are mostly technical reference books and some communism theory."

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The Touch of Twilight by Vicki Pettersson

Posted on May 26, 2008 by janicu

The Touch of Twilight (Sign of the Zodiac, Book 3)

Vicki Pettersson

I barely made it in time for this book to come out! The Touch of Twilight should be in bookstores tomorrow – May 27th. This is the third book in the Sign of the Zodiac series and I got an ARC from Eos books for promising to review it.

My Vicki Petterson reviews:

Book 1 – The Scent of Shadows

Book 2 – The Taste of Night

Short Story in this world - The Harvest

The signs of the Zodiac series is a dark series with a comic book, Frank Miller feel. The rules of the world are many, and there is a lot for the reader to accept, but I think that once you do, you have a gritty and compelling story that's enjoyable to read, if you can handle an angsty tale.

I would not recommend reading any of the books in this series out of order because the world and plot is quite complex. Actions that happen in earlier books have consequences two books down, so someone reading the series in the middle will find themselves lost.

The Touch of Twilight continues the story of Joanna Archer, new member of the Las Vegas Zodiac Troop on the side of Light. She's found out that she's a superhero but she's come into the knowledge much later than her peers. This means she's constantly learning about the supernatural world and making a lot of mistakes. And with a bloodline of both the Light and Shadow, Joanna is being courted by the Shadow troop who believe that the third sign of the Zodiac is the rise of her Shadow side. Meanwhile, Joanna is still dealing with the manipulations of Shadow member Regan, and the reprecussions of her decisions in book 2. Thrown into all of this is the sudden appearance of an otherworldly entity that is after Joanna and who scares even the Tulpa, leader of the Shadows.

As I've said before this is a dark urban fantasy series – it often pulls me emotionally when I read these books, because there is a lot of death and loss involved. I think it speaks volumes about the writer that these books can affect me emotionally it is as much the development as Joanna's character as the writing.

Joanna Archer is an imperfect heroine who does a lot of unlikeable things and makes decisions that I felt were wrong. It's the fact that she keeps trying to make up for her mistakes and her ultimate goal is to do good that keeps me reading. I want there to be a good resolution to her story, but it's a dark story, so I'm not sure if that's going to happen, but in book 3, I felt like Joanna is slowly making progress. She's more comfortable with the world of the Zodiac and all the rules involved with her new powers and she's learned from some of her earlier mistakes. For instance this time she stops trying to hide things from her troop, which was the cause of a lot of distrust and problems before. As with earlier books Joanna's past is also a huge part of her life – a traumatic event when she was a teenager makes it understandable why she can't let go of certain people in her past. Her childhood sweetheart, her sister's memory, her missing mother, her emotionally distant "father" are all people who have an influence on Joanna even during their absence. So I think that because I felt Joanna start to move forward from this past in book 3 (even though it is slow), that I found The Touch of Twilight to be my favorite Zodiac book so far. Not to say that everything is resolved and to my satisfaction – but some things do start to fall in place. I'd like to see Joanna at a point where she can move on from her past and I think it's happening. There is also some interesting developments on the ongoing love triangle (I know who I'm rooting for, but I don't expect Joanna to make a decision soon). I can't wait to read book four, but I'm not sure when it will be out! Next year I suspect.

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