A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin

(05) A Song of Ice and Fire #3

2/18/12 – Review Coming (today is update the booklist day — will add reviews as I finish them)

Specials by Scott Westerfeld

(03) Uglies #3

2/18/12 – Review Coming (today is update the booklist day — will add reviews as I finish them)

Pretties by Scott Westerfeld

(02) Uglies #2

2/18/12 – Review Coming (today is update the booklist day — will add reviews as I finish them)

Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane by Suzanne Collins

(89) Gregor the Overlander, book 2

Had this on audio from the library, but it is apparently well-loved. To the point that the cds all skipped. Badly. Got through 3.5 of 6 cds and got frustrated and loaded my daughter’s copy up onto my Kindle and finished the book that way. And I have to say…

WOW. I totally did not see that coming. The twist near the end of this book totally surprised me — something that doesn’t happen too often, and even less so in kids’ books. Adventure, excitement, and some sneakily wrapped in morality lessons — all in all a great, fun series especially good for reluctant readers — mostly boys, but great for adventure-loving girls, too.

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.

Pirate King by Laurie R. King

(77) Mary Russell #11

Gingerbread Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke

( 64)

2.5 out of 5

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Confession time: I only read the first of the 3 novellas in this book, I found myself pressed for time and the Hannah Swenson mystery was the only one I was interested in.

Saw the bad guy coming & bet I know who the corpse will be in Hannah’s next full length adventure, but I still enjoyed it.

Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs

(55) Mercy Thompson #5

Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs

(54) Mercy Thompson #4

Iron-Kissed by Patricia Briggs

(53) Mercy Thompson #3

Hit List by Laurell K Hamilton

(51) Anita Blake #20

Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs

(49) Mercy Thompson #2

Blow Fly by Patricia Cornwell

(41) Kay Scarpetta, book 12

When I started reading this last week, I thought it sounded familiar. Then I remembered that I attempted to read it, years ago, and never got past the first couple of chapters.

I picked up Blow Fly through The Scarpetta Factor from the library last week with an eye toward getting caught up with a series I used to love.

I’m going to keep on keeping on, in hopes that Black Notice – Blow Fly were just self-absorbed, overly introspective, multi-perspective mess aberrations in what used to be a fabulous series.  Started Trace and I’m losing hope, but will persevere.

This series has become way too tell, not enough show, and IMHO, the switches to the villains’ perspective in the last few books have weakened them, took away a lot of the mystery in the mystery…

Con and Conjure by Lisa Shearin

(39) Raine Benares, book 5

Yay! Serious plot advancement and some very unexpected twists!

5/5

Bewitched and Betrayed by Lisa Shearin

(38) Raine Benares, book 4

4.5/5 – I kinda liked the series w/ no sex — too many paranormals rely on it too heavily, and I was disappointed to see it finally rear its libidinous head in this one. Took off half a point, even though I know it’s my issue not the book’s. 🙂