the rest of my January reads
Would I Lie To You (Gossip Girl #10) by Cecily von Ziegesar
By the time I got to book 10 I was more than ready for the series to be over. I'm not sure if I got bored or if it just started dragging, but I stopped caring what happened. All I wanted to know was the identity of the Gossip Girl, so I kept reading.
Don't You Forget About Me (Gossip Girl #11) by Cecily von Ziegesar
After being slightly bored with the previous book in the series, I was pleasantly surprised with this final installment. I liked the way things ended with Nathan and I THINK we were told the identity of the Gossip Girl. Now, because I feel the need, I am going to read the prequel novel. And then I will try to get caught up on the tv series. I watched the first few episodes but then it started conflicting with other things and I stopped remembering to watch it online. I'm sure it will be on DVD soon and I can get my fill.
As much as I enjoy Julie Garwood's writing, I was apprehensive about reading this one. I went through a phase in Junior High where I read romance novel I could get my hands on, and I preferred the historicals. At some point I stopped reading the genre with the exception of a few authors that I really like. Most of these authors write contemporary romance or romantic suspense, which today I much prefer to the historicals. I mostly object to how stupid the women are in the historical novels and a lot of them are painful for me to read. So when I realized this one was a historical, I was not exactly looking forward to it. I did enjoy it, and the woman was not a total twit, but I still think I'll stick mostly to the contemporary stuff. This was also fun as these are the distant ancestors of the family that has been the subject of her recent contemporary novels.
Extras (Uglies book 4) by Scott Westerfeld
I've read mixed reviews of this by friends who were fans of the original trilogy so I tried to go in with an open mind. I was prepared for it to be a bit slow and while it did start slow, it picked up quickly and never slowed down. My one criticism is that the ending seemed rushed. But it was awesome to read about the consequences of the events in the original novels and to see what happened in other parts of the world. Now I want him to write more books about other parts of this most intriguing world.
Seeing Redd (The Looking Glass Wars book 2) by Frank Beddor
I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in this series and I wanted to like this one just as much. While I did enjoy it, it wasn't nearly as good. Though I knew everything wouldn't be wrapped up here, I wanted more resolution than I got. I also wanted to know more of the properties of the world, I wanted certain things explained that were not, and I wanted more action and less planning. I'll still read the next book, but I won't get my hopes up quite as high.
This was a sweet story of regret and what might have been, set again the closing night at the local Red Lobster. It was obvious that the author did a lot of research about the inner workings of this chain, but it didn't overwhelm the story like lots of research and detail can sometimes do. This was a debut novel and I would love to see what the author puts out next.
Second Sight (Arcane Society Book 1) by Amanda Quick
The only reason that I read this historical romance is that it's part of a series that includes both historical and contemporary novels. I've never read anything published under Amanda Quick's name before, though I enjoy the novels this author publishes as Jayne Ann Krentz and also as Jayne Castle. I enjoyed this novel, the woman was not a twit, thank goodness, and it was much more mystery and suspense than most historical romances tend to be. I'm very much looking forward to reading this series as it progresses. I also love the supernatural bent to this series.
This was just odd. I'm not sure if I liked it actually. The story of Atlas has always intrigued me, so I picked this up. It was a strange mix of sexual images juxtaposed with the classical myth. I realize that the gods were horny and always having sex, so it's not the sex itself I objected to here, but rather the way it was presented. It was very graphic and didn't really fit the tone of the rest of the story. I'm not even sure that makes sense or if that's really my objection here. Anyway, I don't think I'd recommend this.
What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones
I wish I'd read this before What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know, but I didn't realize they were related. Sones does an excellent job telling vivid stories in verse, leaving her few words to create her universe and her stories. I highly recommend all of her books, just make sure you read them in order :) Thank you redheadedali for turning me onto this wonderful author.
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I'm sure you will like Shadow Music.