I forgot to post a wrap-up last week and I didn't finish anything this week, so here goes my two week wrap-up.
I picked up a couple new ebooks. Both of them duds. And I got a new cozy mystery paperback, which I loved.
Books Read:
8) The Road to Paradise Island by Victoria Holt (2/6/23) - Historical Romantic Suspense - 4 stars. Neither new to me nor underappreciated. I picked this one up for $1 at St. Vinny's.
Review: "All in all, an enjoyable read. Not my favorite Holt novel, though. I would've preferred a whole lot less build up to the actual suspense, even if it did all weave together in the end."
7) Delicious and Suspicious by Riley Adams (1/31/23) - Cozy Mystery - 5 stars. I'd actually read this one before and I've read others by this author, so not new to me and it has plenty of reviews. I bought this full price from Amazon - $7.99
Review: "Fun little mystery full of lively characters and plenty of twists."
DNFs:
Let me start out by saying that when I was looking for new ebooks, I made the unfortunate mistake of picking two suspenses that both dealt with crimes against children - although they were DNF'd for different reasons. I don't necessarily appreciate books where crimes against kids are the focal point, but I thought I'd give them a try anyway. I hoped that maybe they would be well written and have satisfying endings. Unfortunately, the writing was bad enough I didn't get a chance to see a satisfying end. I DNF'd them both inside of ten minutes.
2/9/23 - free - suspense. This one started out in the child victim's head, but the writing didn't reflect the mind of a child. Blerg. Little girls do not think like adults. If you can't portray a child's mind, don't do the POV from inside their heads.
2/9/23 - free - suspense. This one was in the POV of the criminal, but he was a walking stereotype. And not even in an interesting way. Yawn.
Currently reading... a non-fiction book about submarines and the Cold War.
What's been on your reading list? I don't expect you to go back two weeks, but it you want to, have at it. =o)
Two slow weeks for me. For...reasons. Let's see. I've read 20 books of my 150 goal. I'm still 4 books ahead of schedule but will likely be behind two weeks from now for...reasons. I've finished 4 books in the last two weeks.
ReplyDelete20 - Tempting Danger (World of the Lupi, #1) - Eileen Wilks, UF/ParaRom/Susense, 5 stars. Read this book waaay back when close to first release. This version is what they call a "graphic audio book." There's a full cast of characters voicing the narration which I wasn't sure about at first (see book below) but it's kinda cool. What I thought I remembered from like over 10 years ago and what this book is? Yeah, doesn't quite match but that's okay. MC, Lily Yu, is a Chinese American San Diego Homicide cop. She's also a Sensitive, a rare magial gift (she can sense magic but it doesn't affect her.) He's the scion of a local Lupi clan. There's all sorts of politics--are the Lupi actually "people?" Oh, and magic is a bad thing but there are users. Anyway, it's interesting. In the next book she's recruited by an FBI special unit that deals with magical crime. Hrmm...Sounds familiar, yeah? LOL FYI, my early Penumbra books were written before I read this series.
19 - Revealing the Dragons (Stonefire Dragons, #2.5) - Jessie Donovan, ParaRom, 2.5 stars bumped to 3. I had hopes for this series but it became pretty much the same story with only the names changed. This one goes back to the couple in the first book. She's written a "definitive" book on dragons and embarks on a book tour. SS/DD (same stuff-different day)
18 - Seducing the Dragon (Stonefire Dragons, #2) - Jessie Donovan, 2.5/3, ParaRom. Government bureaucrat seeks asylum with the dragons, which can only be granted if she mates with the clan leader. He thought he'd never have a mate. Bad guys who are poaching dragons want her out of the picture. Turns into a search-and-rescue. At least she isn't TSTL. Started to get bored but decided to give the next book in the series a try. See above.
17 - Sacrificed to the Dragon (Stonefire Dragons, #1) - Jessie Donovan, ParaRom, 3 stars. So, dragon blood can cure most of what ails humans, even though the dragon shifters have been hunted almost to extinction and are considered second-class citizens. Female dragons are few and far between but male dragon can mate with human women and successfully procreate. "Sacrifices" - human woman "volunteers" get a vial of dragon blood upon signature and sometimes monetary perks. They sign a contract for 3 months. They are assigned a male dragon and if she gets pregnant in that period, she stays until the child is born--all expenses paid--and once the baby is there, she can take off with the $$. Which most do, evidently. Heroine signs up to save her younger brother but turns out she's the true mate of her assigned male. She's also a social anthropoligist working on her Ph.D in dragon stuff. It was intersting enough to cause me to borrow the next book.
Currently listening to MORTAL DANGER, the 2nd Lupi book. I'm at 80% so will likely finish today or tomorrow. Not sure if I'll move on to the 3rd book in the series or switch to the new JD Robb In Death book that dropped this week. We'll see where my head is. LOL
Happy reading, all!