Renee's Book Addiction

And, so it begins…

November 29, 2010 at 6:00 am 6 comments

The holidays are here, can you believe it?

And, I’ve had plenty of time traveling to our various Thanksgiving celebrations to read this weekend. First, we traveled to my aunt’s house for a very large family reunion type of celebration. I saw cousins I hadn’t seen in years. I was sort of ambivalent about breaking with our usual Thanksgiving closer to home, but I’m really glad we went. My son got a chance to meet cousins he didn’t know he had (boys! his age!) and my mom, who is in the depths of dementia, got to see her sister, and remember her for a time.

Then, it was up to the High Desert on Friday for my guy’s family celebration. It was great to have all of our favorite dishes his mom makes, especially after missing out on home cooked food on Thursday. (My aunt’s was catered.) We even got to make our corn pudding on Friday, which is our “command” dish.

The rest of the weekend was spent alternately relaxing and catching up on stuff around the house. We’re STILL not completely unpacked. I’d hoped we would be by Thanksgiving, but now I’m hoping Christmas will at least see all but the office completed.

Currently, I’ve been reading a lot of urban fantasy. I usually try to vary my genres, but when I picked up the slim volume (177 pp) of Jackie Morse Kessler’s Hunger, as an alternative to lugging around the large hardcover of Kat Richardson’s Labyrinth, I didn’t think about the fact that I was also listening to Richelle Mead’s Succubus Shadows. That’s a lot of uf! I’m enjoying them all, but I will definitely be reading a romance: historical, contemporary, or m/m, next.

As for Hunger, I’ve really been — I don’t know if enjoying is the right word for such a dark story— but I appreciate what a good story it is. It’s unflinching in its portrayal of an anorexic teenage girl who is selected to be the Horseman of the Apocalypse, Famine.

The story is wholly original, and I’m really curious about how the rest of the series is going to play out.

Labyrinth, too, is really good. Sometimes I find that the Harper Blaine series takes a while for the action to get up and running, but with this one, I was caught from the get-go. I’m also really enjoying how Harper and Quinton’s relationship is developing. The story is definitely not a romance. Harper is the main character, with their romance somewhat peripheral. However, there’s a lot of character growth that Harper is going through because of her relationship with Quinton.

Succubus Shadows will catch me up on the Georgina Kincaid series. I’ve prioritized finishing series that I’ve fallen behind on, and over the last month I’ve listened to the series’ previous 2 books. When I finish Succubus Shadows, I will then be ready for the last in the series, Succubus Revealed, to be released September 2011.

I’ve been feeling really ambivalent about some of the directions the series storyline has gone, with regards to Georgina and Ben’s relationship. (I’m trying to be very careful to avoid spoilers.) At this point, I’m not even sure where I want things to go with them. I guess I’ll have a better idea after I finish Succubus Shadows.

As for what’s coming up, I’m looking forward to a change of pace with books 2 and 3 of the St Nacho’s series by ZA Maxfield. I really enjoyed book 1, St Nacho’s. It was deliciously angsty, without being too over the top. Physical Therapy, which has a character from book 1 as the main character, is calling to me. Jordan is nothing if not a conflicted character, and I’m interested in what ZAM will do to make him a sympathetic hero.

I also plan on getting back to Marta Acosta’s Haunted Honeymoon. I’d had to put it aside when I realized that Labyrinth was due at the library soon, and then got distracted. I’ve really been neglecting Milagro for far too long, and this is another book in my finish the series reading drive.

Lastly, I’ll definitely need to be reading me some romance. Maybe Brenda Novak’s romantic suspense, White Heat. Or, Samantha Kane’s Brothers in Arms #5, Retreat from Love (I started the first few pgs after I finished #4, but had to get back to Labyrinth.) Or, Seven Nights to Forever by Evangeline Collins.

Decisions, decisions…

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