Zee Reads, more Richardmas and end of the year stuff

I know I know, it’s Mancandy Monday, but I’m in a state with a lot on my plate, including packing to leave tomorrow and getting things arranged. The last load of laundry is done, shirts and bras are hanging up and I’m praying I won’t need to go to the laundry mat for ANYTHING until February 1st. Hope to get out of here early enough to get home before the drunks get on the road.

I did a bit of shopping night before last. Spawn’s closet is sparse. He’s gained weight with the meds he was on and I got tired of seeing him in holey tees and jeans. I had the privilege of helping him fold his underwear last visit to the laundrymat and i’m telling, quite a few pairs went into the trash. So we’re on a mission: a pack each month when we do the store rounds and every time Crazy Boxers shows up at Zulily, he gets a pair. They’re his favorite brand. When he was in the hospital in the spring, I bought him a pair of Chucky boxers (as in Rug Rats). He loves Chucky, has since he was little, and I thought they would at least bring a smile to his face. He howled quite a bit and then informed me not only did he lobe them, they were comfortable to boot. So I try to restock for him.

I’m told buying clothes or underwear for my son does NOT count as clothes shopping!

I DID get 2 tops for me.

Well, a tunic and a cardigan. I would have liked to have had the cardigan in RED or eggplant. But the pricing was wonky, colors ranging from 14.99 to 34.99. I opted for cheaper. I have quite a bit in red or any sort of purple anyway. This pearl grey will go with a lot of dress tees or dress tanks.

So far, it isn’t looking like we’re going to have a lot of cold days down my way. Maybe in January or February. As I recall when we lived further down the coast, January and early February could be mighty nippy. Either way, if it’s not, the cardigans will serve me better than the heavy sweaters.

As it stands, I’m going to do my darndest NOT to buy anymore clothes for a few months and if I MUST, I have to purchase them the old fashioned way – WITH MY MONEY! I’m going to have to purchase another vehicle sooner than later and I’d like to get a 2nd credit card paid off by April 1st. And honestly, I have enough clothes. coughcough

December wasn’t a very fruitful month for reading. I don’t know why, it just wasn’t. I was falling asleep pretty dang early at night, so there ya go. Either way…

The Amber Isle picks up right where Never left off. I’m thinking as there are a total of 8 of them, I should just buy the rest of them and binge read. The action doesn’t stop – Never’s mouth doesn’t stop. Chased by the king’s army at the rear and pushing forward with questionable company with a stolen map to a set of islands no one returns from, Never’s got his hands full, trying to figure out who he is, what he is, and where he came from. The answers he gets from this venture, opens more doors and creates more questions. He can’t return to where he came from because there’s an army pushing from behind who want him dead.

This was not a long read and I suspect the others aren’t either. I’m in love with Never, as much as I’m in love with Crispin Guest. The prose at time is choppy and the action is non-stop.

After delivering a load of illicit and illegal butter to a Pleasure House, our trusty human captain is given several hours of happy time in a pleasure room with her favorite lover – one Elven Assassin who lives on her ship.

In the meantime, Ohm, her trusty rude-ass navigator dwarf and the Elven Assassin’s sister – a story teller – go to an art house for a movie, while captain and assassin are messing up the sheets.

And back on board, the Elven engineer – who happens to be married to the dwarf, the orc doctor and one invisible djinn are trying to figure out why the ship’s computer has shut down everything but life support…

and then the shit hits the fan, in the form of a pro-human militant hate group in ancient armor, with the goal of killing every single non-human on the planet.

Or human caught with her pants down, having swing from the chandelier monkey sex with an elf.

Body parts are a flyin’, my friends!

Lastly –

I’m not done with it. I’m about 40% of the way done and I will/should/better finish it tomorrow on the ride home. Not really liking it. I’ve heard his other stuff is better.

So, I’m in a quandary about next year’s challenge. I could do a variety of challenges – A-Z (author or title), an all Aussie challenge,… oh what the heckers!

The Master List of 2020 Reading Challenges

or

Booklist Queen’s 2020 Reading Challenge

But truth be told, I think I’d like to finish this –

As you can see, I’m missing quite a bit of Level 6 and 7. This was a massively challenging challenge right from the gitgo and I had things working against me pretty quick.

So I think I”ll FINISH this challenge and then finish the series I really want to finish, like last year. The Never Series, continue with Crispin Guest (I have his next book and the one after that is due out sometime I think next year. There are only 2 left and I know how I want it to end, but what I want never happens and I won’t go there) I want to finish Kitty the Werewolf, (13 more books) Roman and Grace, (3 more books) Teri Reeds (15 more) Trash and Treasure (I have 6 more but I believe there are a total of 14) Alex Archer (54 books and I think I’ve done 7) Ilona Andrews Iron and Magic, Gareth and Gwen has 2 news out on their series… Lexi Blake’s Masters and Mercenaries and Thieves series… Aiden James’ Judas Iscariot series…. Abigail Keam’s Death by series…

and if that’s not enough, there’s this.

I think I’m just going to challenge myself to read 50 books and then start knocking these off. That’s what I think I’m going to do. I have pretty much ALL of the books mentioned about and what few I don’t have, they are on my wish list at Amazon and i”ll just pick them up.

As I’m going to be on the road tomorrow, I’ll end Richardmas tonight. I need to clear out my archives next month and i think I”m pretty much going to delete it all and start all over. Thinking about it. Just thinking.