I have a problem.
I have too many books.
Now why many (including myself, to be honest) wouldn’t consider that a problem, it is a problem I’m wrestling with.
See, I’m unpacking my thousands (really.) of books and I’m trying to get a handle on my PC kindle – which updated again and after swearing it was fixing problems, actually didn’t and created more.
I think the biggest problem I’m having is last year, I started series during my challenge and now I want to finish them. Thing is, there are a BUNCH and I fear I’ll have to reread the previous books… and I really want to move FORWARD, not back. And I have a lot of books I want to read that are series. So not one book, but hundreds, because of what they are.
Sigh.
Hence, my problem. And I don’t know which one to start with. The Mary O’Reilly paranormal cozy mysteries, the San Francisco turn of the century cozy mysteries, see I can’t even remember the heroine’s name! There is a HUGE ASS fantasy series I want to start by Morgan Rice… however he’s written two or three and I need to figure them out. And the books look HUGE! There is a series by Joan Hess- well there are TWO of them, but the Maggody series look good. Some years back I read the first 5 installments of the Alex Archer’s Rogue Angel series and now there are 40- something of them.
Oliver Potszch’s Hangman’s Daughter…
Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty Norville series. Kitty is a Werewolf. I had the original 5 and then discovered there were a TON of them as well…
Sue Grafton
Janet Evanovich.
Lexi Blake has 2 or 3 series I’ve NOT read… okay, I started one, the Bliss series…and I”m seeing where Master’s and Mercenaries came from.
le sigh.
Either way – I’m trying to decide what to read first… and make sure they are on my kindle. A lot of these are things I started sometimes 7 years ago… But for now, we have this month’s Zee Reads.
Which was better than last month’s number wise. And with them, I’ve dug my hole deeper. You guessed it. I started a bunch of series.
I’ve acquired a goodly number of these – all of them I think. I understand the television series based on them is quite good. So I started with this one and then remembered there are a bunch of other SERIES I’ve started that I want to finish and now I can add this one too it.
I’ll be honest – Phryne drives me mad. Unfair someone should have that much money just handed to them. Yes, her heart is in a good place, but still…
The newest Masters and Mercenaries installment. I’m right sad that there was so little Taggert in it. She’s worn out the Taggert family – except the one the Taggert family thinks is dead, but isn’t. So with this installment, we are now seeing siblings of friends of Taggerts or people who work with Taggerts. And I suspect this trend will continue. She’s wrung out the Taggert story line. So now we start with the people who work with Little Sean Taggert and the people who interact with the Sanctum family. The Taggerts will continue to be my favorite series however.
That said, this was an awesome installment.
And yet ANOTHER beginning of a series I shouldn’t have started. Thing is, this is my appeasement for having to wait for the next Crispin Guest novel, which will come out in August, but it’s simply going to have to wait until the price comes down.
This little prequel is lovely. Set in Wales 1141, it centers around the castle bard, accused of murder and his daughter’s attempts to prove him innocent while finding the real killer before her father is put to death. Initially, it is thought he will just have to pay restitution to the victim’s family, which was the original Welsh sentencing. Granted it would break him and his family, but he would live and go on to sing elsewhere. However, they are starting to feel the weight of England’s move towards Christianity and the need to follow Christian law, which is hanging. Or beheading. Or whatever. The victim’s family seems just as shocked by the sentence as the bard and his family! I appreciated that there was a pronunciation guide at the beginning and that it was about a bard. The Welsh honored their historians and singers and singing for one’s supper and keep was a time-honored tradition. I’m looking forward to setting this series on the To Read list.
I’ve had both of this in my to read pile for ages. Both were quick reads and easily digestable.
I would call both of them Dark Fantasy. I have several of each of the series, but I’m uncertain when – or if – I’ll go back to either one.
Child of the Ghosts revolves around Caina Amalas, whose wealthy, influential parents are murdered and she is kidnapped by a mad wizard. Gruesome, horrific scientific experiments are performed on her for years before she escapes and joins a secretive society of assassins and spies. Personally, I have no idea how anyone can survive and live to tell the tale without any sort of psychiatric care. So in large, I found it unbelievable as well as stomach churning.
Demonsouled, on the other hand, had a tortured, but honest main character, who coming home after being exiled for 15 years, finds his home in disarray. Of course. The dead are walking, his sister is blind to the man she’s about to marry. Life just really can’t get any worse for Mazael Cravenlock. I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more of his exploits and fight against the evil over taking his lands.
It’s NOT all that well written, but the story is engaging. The author finds catch phrases and beats them to death. To be honest, I hope this doesn’t continue.
So at this time, I’m thinking that rather than continue… I’m going to finish the series I’ve started and go from there. The Roman-Britannica series by Jane Finnis, I’ve read 3 of the 4, so perhaps I’ll finish it up and then head on to Terri Read’s Mary O’Reilly’s paranormal mystery series. (She talks to the dead) Interesting concept. I wonder if there are more installments of Barbara Allen’s Trash n Treasure series. (Her mother is a hoot, her blind, diabetic dog, takes the cake and her personal story will break your heart.)
Too many decisions. The only decision I really want to worry about right now is what am I going to wear – and pack – for my trip down the coast next week and should I REALLY splurge on some seriously dark blue eyeshadow and eyeliner???
zee's muse 