Weekly Reading Update 8/26 - 9/08/16!

Another week, another update… As always, click the title for more information!

So we’ve got a double whammy this week, since I was sick all last week and didn’t get a chance to do an update. I got a cold, and man, this thing sticks around! I am still exhausted and a little stuffy, and it’s been over a week and a half! I did manage to get some reading done, but just for-pleasure reads, not much in the way of reviews. Alas.

I went through a huge interlibrary loan read-fest - trying to get some stuff off my account. I’ve been holding on to them forever, so I figured it was about time I went through them all. And what better time than when I’m stuck in bed! I started off with The Raider by Jude Deveraux - this is apparently a famous one, and it was definitely interesting. But it was definitely typical of the 1980s historical romances. Next I moved on to Fueled by K. Bromberg - the second book in the Driven series. I really enjoyed the first one, and this one ended on a huge cliffhanger! Arg - thank goodness I was able to request the third through interlibrary loan right away.

Next I moved on to Finding Fraser by K.C. Dyer. Goodreads suggested this one to me - probably because I loved Outlander so much. It was an entertaining read, but I don’t think it was anything truly miraculous. After that, I went back into my Kristen Ashley reading binge. I’m bound and determined to figure out why this author is so well loved, considering I don’t really like her Unfinished Heroes series. So I read The Will - and it was good, there were quite a few things I liked but… still, no magic. And then I read Rock Chick, and I think I finally get it! I really enjoyed Rock Chick - enough that it is now on my wish-list! I can’t wait to read the second one.

I may have mentioned more than a few times that I’m a librarian - I also order books, specifically romance and graphic novels. Fitting, don’t you think? Well, anyways, when looking for books to purchase, I came across the best title ever - Must Love Wieners by Casey Griffin. And with a title like that? Of course I had to get it for the library! And request it for myself - it was adorable! I had to add this to my wish-list too. It just keeps getting longer and longer…

Next up were some short reads, because this is when I was getting really sick and tired - even having to call off work a few days. Sigh. So I read Spider-Gwen volume 0: Most Wanted? By Jason Latour. I’m not a fan of the spideys, but a friend has been desperate for me to read Spider-Gwen. It was okay… I requested the next volume, so we’ll see. Next was a short nonfiction title, Ireland: The Land of the Hundred Thousand Welcomes by Clare Gallagher. This was a random find, but so cute. I love Ireland, and this was filled with proverbs, translations, history, mythology, and modern facts. Next was Beauty by Laurell K. Hamilton, a very short story in the Anita Blake series. I’m mostly over Anita, but I do pick up any of the short stories from time to time, to see if I want to commit to reading the series again - so far, nope. And last of the shorties - Nightshades by Melissa F. Olson. This was one of the Tor.com novellas, and it was so good! An excellent take on vampires, or as they call them, Shades. It needs to be a series pronto!

I finished up by doing a lot of re-reads - something common for me when I get sick. Mostly because I can fall asleep while reading, pick it up at a random place, and still understand what’s going on. So I read Sex, Lies, and Vampires by Katie MacAlister, part of her Dark Ones series. Then I switched over to her Dragons series, and read You Slay Me and Fire Me Up. I do love Aisling and Drake, but there were quite a few times I wanted to smack Drake over the head. Bossy, grumpy dragon. Hmph!

That’s it for me this week!

Happy Reading!

~!~ Amanda, Novel Addiction ~!~

Review of "Skin Trade" by Laurell K. Hamilton!

"Skin Trade," by Laurell K. Hamilton, is book 17 in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series. The vampire named Vittorio is back, this time in Las Vegas, and he sends Anita a human head in the mail to get her to come play. It's up to Anita as well as some new and familiar friends - such as Edward, Olaf, Bernardo, Wicked and Truth, and Requiem - to stop Vittorio before he gains all his old power, and kills even more people. Among the interesting characters in this new book are a SWAT team comprised of mostly magic or psychic practitioners, and some new and intriguing weretigers.

I've always enjoyed the Anita Blake novels, but I will admit that the last few books have made it hard to keep going. Anita's life is hard, and interesting, but it seemed to be too much sex and too little plot. Which was why I was so overjoyed with "Skin Trade." This new book took me back to the good old days, when there was a real plot, and you wanted, no - NEEDED, to see these characters make it through alive. The characterization of the new arrivals was excellent, and I'll be sad if some of them don't show up in future novels, especially some of the SWAT members. But I was a little let down to see so few of the older characters in the story. Yes, Edward is there during the whole thing, and she talks to Jason and Jean-Claude, but what about all the other men I've grown to love? And I know this may be nitpicky, but if she loves some of them as much as she says she does, why is it that she doesn't talk to them to say goodbye when she leaves, or during the whole course of her stay in Las Vegas? Or maybe I just talk to my loved ones too much!

I highly recommend this book to those that have "divorced" the Anita Blake series, because LK Hamilton has taken Anita back to where she needs to be. Don't get me wrong, I love the steamy sex scenes Anita finds herself taking part in, but I loved the plot, the thrill of her life, and I missed that. "Skin Trade" had a better balance of sex and plot than the last several books, and I'm hoping this is just what LK Hamilton needed to do to get some of her older readers back, I know she definitely pulled me back in! I would have to give "Skin Trade" by Laurell K. Hamilton four out of five stars, because I really couldn't put it down. In fact, I'm on vacation, and skipped going to the pool just to stay home and finish it - it was worth it!