The Gathering Storm by Jim Butcher et al

(100)  The Dresden Files: Storm Front, Volume 1: The Gathering Storm

Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods by Suzanne Collins

(91) Underland Chronicles, book 3

Naamah’s Blessing by Jacqueline Carey

(88)  Kushiel’s Legacy #9

Not the strongest entry in the series. Overall, I’ve enjoyed Moirin’s trilogy more than I liked Imriel’s, though neither holds a candle to the original trilogy featuring Phedre.  This was the weakest of Moirin’s three books, IMO.  Partly because it was lots and lots of travelogue leading up to the confrontation that was supposedly the purpose of the story, then said confrontation was resolved far too quickly and easily, to my mind.   I think the story lacked some tension that was present in the other because of Moirin’s married state — the tense romances are a hallmark of the Kushiel books and the tension was noticeably lacking in this one.  A decent finish to the trilogy, but all in all very wordy and the words were used on the wrong parts of the story.

Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins

(87) Gregor the Overlander, book 1

I really enjoyed the Hunger Games trilogy by Collins, and my then-fourth grader loved the Gregor series. At the time, when she told me a little about the books, I thought,”4-foot cockroaches?! Oh no. Definitely not my thing!”

I’ve spent the last year buying a variety of books to encourage her to read — she’s very, very good at it, but bored and would rather play video games most of the time — and most of them were flops. I’ve given up trying things I enjoyed at her age. My daughter’s taste in reading material is so wildly different from my own that everything I loved has flopped. Time for drastic measures: If she doesn’t like what I loved, I need to learn more about what she ~does~ enjoy.

Well, that and I was desperate for something to listen to in the car while doing my holiday driving and I serendipitously passed this on the cart on my way out of the library a week and a half ago. 🙂

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. Some of the high tension moments were lost on me, since I knew who survived based on having bought the remainder of the series for the girl.  I still think cockroaches need to die loooong before they get in my house, but I appreciate the sentiment Collins invoked.

The reader on this was fantastic. I picked up the next 3 books in the series on audio from the library and I’m happy to report Paul Boehmer reads those, too.  Having a consistent narrator across the audio editions of a series makes a huge difference, IMHO. For someone listening to the whole series it enhances things to have a single consistent voice.

A fun, and exciting read for the 8-12 crowd, though the younger ones will enjoy it most.

Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris

(80) Sookie Stackhouse #11

I, like most people I know who were fans of Sookie and co. before True Blood, have been disappointed in the last few books in this series.  The last one I genuinely enjoyed was All Together Dead — yea, 4 books (and years) ago…

As a Sookie book this was another disappointing and forgettable one. I’m writing this review on the 23rd, 8 days after I finished the book, and I can’t remember anything worth remembering in this one, other than a minor character’s overly dramatic demise.

What I DID like/love/adore in this book was a glimpse of Lily Bard.  Before I read Sookie, I read Lily and I’ve been sad for years that the Lily Bard/Shakespeare series just stopped – no resolution, no denouement, nothing. They just sort of stopped.  This book implied that this was not the first time Sookie and Lily have met, and I may have to go back and re-read to find their first meeting since I didn’t catch it.  Nice to see Lily is well and happy.  Looking at the timeline courtesy of Wikipedia, Lily fell off the radar after Sookie was first published, so now I know what happened to the character and the series.

This was a library book. I haven’t bought a Sookie since book 5, and based on how they’ve been since, I doubt I ever will again. That makes me sad, since I like to support authors I enjoy — but I haven’t enjoyed this series enough to feel the need to own in a long, long time.

Sixkill by Robert B. Parker

(78) Spenser #40

Pirate King by Laurie R. King

(77) Mary Russell #11

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

(76)

The Inheritance by Robin Hobb

( 67 )

Ghost Story by Jim Butcher

(61)  The Dresden Files #13

Sad beyond measure that this is purportedly the last of the Dresden books 😦  However, it was a most excellent ending to a number of long running plot lines.

Smokin’ Seventeen by Janet Evanovich

( 59 ) Stephanie Plum #17

Painted Ladies by Robert B Parker

(50) a Spenser novel
3.5 / 5

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The book was, largely, on a par with other recent Spenser books, a little better than some, not as good as others. I *sorely* missed Hawk. I love that mental picture I get of Avery Brooks and that enormous gun he carried on the TV series every time Hawk is mentioned in the books.

What broke my heart, though, was the flap copy. I had no clue Parker died until I noticed the author box on the back flap had a date on both sides of the hyphen.

I am waiting for the final manuscript in hopes that Hawk will be in that one.

I agree with a lot of other reviewers that a lot of the Spenser & Susan stuff has gotten repetitive, but the dialogue changes, and the smart dialogue is one of the reasons I read Spenser. I love Spenser, but many of the characters are anything but three-dimensional(Belson!)But,oh, the words Parker put in their mouths! For me thsmart, fast, engaging dialogue made the sometimes flat characters or predictable plots worth it.

The Naming of the Beasts by Mike Carey

(43)  Felix Castor, book 5

Okay… There are rumors of a 6th book in this series, but I’m not sure where it’d come from. Everything wrapped up so tidily I’m afraid there may not be anymore Felix 😦

Great, great book — and nice to see Felix hanging out with a human girl for a change. LOVED the ghost escape, quite possibly my fave part of the whole book.

Aphrodite’s Kiss by Julie Kenner

(35) Protectors, book 1

I love Kenner’s Demon Hunting Soccer Mom series, so when I found this freebie on my Kindle app I decided to give it a shot.  It was sweet, and funny, and a bit tongue-in-cheek. By the latter I mean chock-full of highly unlikely coincidences that the reader knew about long before the characters. Sure, it was over the top, but by letting the reader see what was going on before the characters did Ms. Kenner made me, as a reader, her co-conspirator in the whole thing. A fun fluffy little read. I will probably continue reading the series, but it wasn’t deep enough for me to make reading the rest of Protectors books a priority. Fab beach read.

Dragon Haven by Robin Hobb

(17) Rain Wild Chronicles, book 2

I’ve seen this series called a ‘duo’ in a couple of places and I really, really hope the people who made the claim were wrong. The book ended, but the story was so obviously unfinished there HAS to be more.  Better than the first book in the series and we finally get to to find out what the ‘hull design’ of the Tarman is 🙂

4.5/5