Monday, November 16, 2015

Audiobook catch up

I haven't had as much time to read audiobooks over the last couple of years, especially since I moved to NY last year.  Here are some I've read though in reverse chronological order...

Currently listening to :
  Nora Roberts : Whisky Beach
    Not my favorite, story or narrator but I need to finish it after investing so much time!

Nora Roberts : Black Hills
   I found this one pretty interesting, I liked the characters and the story.

Nora Roberts : The Wintess
   I really enjoyed this one!

Nora Roberts : Cousins O'Dwyer Trilogy
 - Dark Witch
 - Shadow Spell
 - Blood Magick

I love Nora Robert's trilogies!  Set in ireland, using witchcraft - this was a favorite for sure!

Nora Roberts : Chesapeake Bay Saga
 - Sea Swept
 - Rising Tides
 - Inner Harbor
 - Chesapeake Blue

An interesting series of men who were adopted as young boys with troubled pasts.  I enjoyed the characters in these quite a bit.

Nora Roberts : Inn BoonsBoro Trilogy
 - The Next Always
 - The Last Boyfriend
 - The Perfect Hope

Set in a small town, a little mystery, 3 brothers and some fun romance.

Nora Roberts : Three Sisters Trilogy
 - Dance Upon the Air
 - Face the Fire
 - Heaven and Earth

This is one of the witchy trilogies so of course I loved it!

Diana Gabaldon
 - Outlander
 - Dragonfly in Amber
 - Voyager
 - Drums of Autumn

I loved the outlander series, I stopped after the 4th though, these are a real time commitment and I won't pick up more unless I start listening to books more often.

CE Murphy : Walker Papers
 - Mountain Echos book 8

Joanne has to face up to her past and the son she gave up - very interesting read!

Charlotte Featherstone
 - Pride & Passion
 - Temptation & Twilight
 - Seduction & Scandal
I don't remember these but gave them only 3 stars on audible so not my favorite.

Susanna Kearsley : The Winter Sea
I don't remember this one but it was historical, about the Jacobite rebellion and I gave it 5 stars, it was the second I read by this author and I really enjoyed it!

Kindle Catch up 3


Some old favorite authors books I've continued reading the last few years...

Deanna Raybourn
  Midsummer Night (Lady Julia Mystery - mini)
  Twelfth Night (Lady Julia Mystery- mini)

I enjoy these, a little taste of some favorite characters with some mystery.

Jayne Castle :
  Deception Cove (Rainshadow series book 2)
  The Hot Zone - book 3

JAK's futuristic series, I like to keep up with these, the characters are fun and the reading light.

Jayne Ann Krentz : River Road

I have a soft spot for JAK romance and love her style.  I always pick up new ones as they come!

Lisa Kleypas : Hathaways
  4. Married By Morning
  5. Love In the Afternoon

I don't actually remember these but I like Lisa Kleypas victorian romance and always read them when they come out, nice easy light reads.

Julie Kagawa
 The Iron Traitor (Book 6)

I love the Iron fey series and highly recommend it!

Julie Kagawa : Blood of Eden series
 1. The Immortal Rules
 2. The Eternity Cure
 3. The Forever Song
This is a very interesting vampire series, distopian young adult - loved it - Julie Kagawa's characters are tough and her stories are dark but captivating!

Julie Kagawa : Talon Saga
 1. Talon
 2. Rogue

A Dragon series!!!! Seriously they are dragons - disguised as humans.  Umm... couldn't turn that down!  Looking forward to the next book!

Kindle Book Catch Up Part 2

I have to break these up because I get too many labels which is how I organize them easily for searching (by author or series).  Here are some newer authors I've read in the past few years ... found some great ones!

Delle Jacobs
  Loki's Daughters
     Set in viking time
  Faerie
     Half human/half faerie female heroine
  Fire Dance
     Heroine disguises herself as a servant
  Lady Wicked

Delle Jacobs work is a bit different, all of them set in the past (from viking to victorian era) with some interesting twists.  I enjoyed these individual books quite a bit.

J.T. Geissinger (Night Prowler series)
 1. Shadow's Edge
 2. Edge of Oblivion
 3. Rapture's Edge
 4. Edge of Darkness
 5. Darkness Bound
 6. Into Darkness [Not read yet!]

This shape shifter series is about Ikati- they shift into panthers (or air) and it's a thrilling adventure in each book.  So far I've enjoyed them all.

J.T. Geissinger : The Last Vampire (short)
 I found this story very intriguing and highly recommend it.

Veronica Roth (Divergent Trilogy)
 1. Divergent
 2. Insurgent
 3. Allegient
 I picked up this trilogy after seeing it would be a movie - and I loved it.  Distopian young adult is one of my favorite genres and I really liked this.  The endings were tough but real and I enjoyed them!

Susan Ee
 1. Angelfall : Penryn & End of Days
 2 World After : Penryn & End of Days
Dark - this series is dark and intriguing.  Angels and monsters and an awesome heroine.  Young adult distopian - yup that's pretty much all I read :)

Ally Condie
  1. Matched
  2. Crossed
  3. Reached

Another young adult distopian novel - humans are paired/matched at a certain age and Cassie starts with a glitch- 2 matches.  Adventure starts and humans are fighting back.  I love it and loved this!

Jodi Meadows : Incarnate Series
 1. Incarnate
 2. Asunder
 3. Infinite
This trilogy was very unique - what if souls were continuously reincarnated... and then one time a new soul is born - and one is lost - because the same number of souls always exists at once.  Was it a blip, a mistake or something more.  This is the story of that new soul and her adventures.  I really loved this series!

Lauren Oliver : Delirium Series
 1. Delierium
 2. Pandemonium [Started not finished]

This 4 book series is right up my alley (young adult distopian) but for some reason after starting the second I couldn't continue.  I really liked the first and maybe I'll pick it up sometime in the future.


Other Kindle Books Catch up part 1

I'm going through my Kindle Library history and writing down any that I've read in the last almost 2 years since I last posted!  I'll put any details I remember (favorites for example):

Madeline Hunter : Fairbourne Quartet
  The Surrender of Miss Fairbourne
  The Conquest of Lady Cassandra
  The Counterfeit Mistress
  The Accidental Duchess

Madeline Hunter is always a nice light victorian era romance read for me so I always scoop them up as they come out!

Madeline Hunter:   Dangerous in Diamonds

Madeline Hunter : Wicked Trilogy
  1. His Wicked Reputation
  2. Tall, Dark and Wicked
 Waiting on third.  This is 3 brothers finding love, the third I assume will be the Duke, the first was the illegitimate brother, this was the second brother (lawyer). Always fun to read victorian era romance :)

Kiera Cass
  The Selection , The Elite, The One, The Prince (novella), The Guard (novella)

A young adult series, distopian future where people are forced into castes ruled by a king/queen (mostly king) and the prince chooses his future queen using a 'game' called the Selection.  I enjoyed this series, I don't love the love triangle that a lot of books (young adult romance anyway) have but there was a lot to this series and I enjoyed it thoroughly!

Kiera Cass :   The Siren
 A separate book, standalone about a siren and the challenges of being one.  A young adult book I did enjoy this one quite a bit!

Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl : Beautiful Creatures series
  Beautiful Creatures, Beautiful Darkness, Beautiful Chaos, Beautiful Redemption, Dream Dark

A young adult series with magic and intrigue and some very interesting characters.  This was a bit dark but I enjoyed it  and it got me looking for others similar.  I know they made a movie out of the first (or inspired) but I have not seen it.

Maria V Snyder
  Inside Out\Outside In : A standalone/2 part book that I really enjoyed - takes place in another world and I loved the characters and adventure!

  Shadow Study - Some more of the characters we love from the study series but not my favorite because the characters are separated AGAIN.  It does give some good information and Yelena stripped of her powers has some mystery to solve and has to rely on others and her other strengths which have dwindled quite a bit since she learned her magic!

  1. Touch of Power (Healer Series)
  2. Scent of Magic
  3. Taste of Darkness

I loved her Healer series - it reminded me a lot of poison study (study series), the characters I just fell in love with.   It was a bit of a heart wrencher, I wasn't sure where she was going to go with it all but I really did enjoy it.  It doesn't surpass my love for the study series which I have now read I think 4 times but I did enjoy it and I may read it again some time!
 
Debora Geary
   To Love a Witch (nibble)
   Matchmakers 2.0 (nibble)
   Feathers (morsel)
Fun light reads!

Jeaniene Frost
  Once Burned : A Night Prince Novel (1)
  Twice Tempted : A Night Prince Novel (2)
  Bound By Flames : A Night Prince Novel (3)
These are a trilogy about the night prince (dracula) set in the same time with the same characters as her night huntress series so of course I loved these!

  Night's Dark Embrace : A novella set completely in a different world and I'll have to re-read this as I don't think I remember it truly!

CE Murphy
  No Dominion (Walker Papers)
     This is part of the same series but from Gary's point of view, I don't remember this unfortunately but love her books in general!

Amanda Quick :
  The Mystery Woman : Ladies of Lantern Street Series (2)
     This is one of her series where she does one in the past (Amanda Quick, one present and one future - so by her other pen names).  I am faithful and read them all !

  Otherwise Engaged : I don't remember this one but I always enjoy a good Amanda Quick :)

Mary Balogh : Survivors Club Series
 1. The Proposal
 2. The Suitor
 3. The Arrangement
 4. The Escape
 5. Only Enchanting
 6. Only a Promise
 7. Only a Kiss

I enjoy this series a lot, the characters are all tied together (survivors) and finding love as well as becoming whole again.  A victorian era romance, this is always a nice light read for me!

Mary Balogh : A Counterfeit Betrothal/ The Notorious Rake
 Victoria era romance, i don't remember much about these specifically but I always enjoy her writing.

Julie Klassen :
 The Tutor's Daughter :
        A classic Julie Klassen in my mind, mystery and intrigue with some romance.

 The Dancing Master :
      Not my favorite of hers but enjoyable.  The big mystery just wasn't that 'big' and the scandal I felt was a bit over stated.  I will continue to read hers but this one didn't stand out as my favorite of hers.

  The Secret of Pembrooke Park :
       A bit more mystery to this one and closer to what I'm used to by her I enjoyed this one quite a bit!




Kindle Unlimited Reads

It's been years since I posted but I'd like to get back into recording what I've read.  I'll start with some catch up posts.

This first post is going to list out books I've read through Kindle Unlimited (amazon) - as I've found a couple of good series through that!

Sept, Oct, Nov 2014
Kathryn Le Veque : (Medieval romances)
   Netherworld : Ancient Kings of Anglecynn : A knight is 'given' a property along with a 'wife' who has an abusive brother
   Archangel : The de Lohr Dynasty : Interesting twist with a mother who is married to a horrible man
   Dragonblad : Book two of dragonblade series : Illegitimate son, protecting his half brother and finding romance

Dec 2014 - Feb 2015
Bella Forrest : A Shade of Vampire Series:
   1. A Shade of Vampire
   2. A Shade of Blood
   3. A Castle of Sand
   4. A Shadow of Light
   5. A Blaze of Sun
   6. A Gate of Night
   7. A Break of Day
   8. A Shade of Novak
   9. A Bond of Blood
   A Shade of Kiev
   A Shade of Kiev 2
   A Shade of Kiev 3

I really enjoyed this series - it's a bit of a different take on vampires, young adult and lots of darkness.  A strong female heroine and lots of different relationships that develop (friendships as well as romantic).   Evidently there are 18 books total so I guess I have some new ones to catch up on!!!

Debora Geary books are on Kindle Unlimited, some I had read previously (purchased them) but I finished up some on Unlimited so I'll list the newer ones here - I LOVE these books/characters!
6. A Celtic Witch
7. A Lost Witch
A Witch Central Wedding (novella)
Swordfights & Lullabies (novella)An Imperfect Witch (book 1 of witch central)
An Unlikely Witch (book 2)
A Dangerous Witch (book 3)

Aug 2015
Sarah Fine : Guards of the Shadowlands Series
  1. Sanctum
  2. Fractured
  3. Chaos
  Captive : A Guards Tale
  Vigilante : A Guards Tale
  Stories from the Shadowlands

This series is awesome - it's a new take on death/afterlife.  Another young adult, I loved the main character and the character relationships that develop.  It was extremely well done and thought provoking! Another one that's a bit on the dark side.

Sarah Fine : Servants of Fate Series
  1. Marked
  2. Claimed
  3. Fated [NOTE : Just came out - haven't read this one yet!]

A different series (same author) with another look at the afterlife, the servants of fate help people cross over to their final destination.  Set in a futuristic Boston, Sarah Fine is great at developing relationships between characters and keeping you intrigued.

Jaymin Eve : Supernatural Prison Series
   1. Dragon Marked
   2. Dragon Mystics

A short series so far but it's intriguing and I found another young adult author that can write a good supernatural book with character development.  This one focuses on shape shifters and of course saving the world :)  Added bonus- there are dragons!

Jaymin Eve : A Walker Saga
  1.  First World
  2. Spurn
  3. Crais
  4. Regali
  5. Nephilius (this is the book I'm on - there are 2 more next)

This is her first series, another young adult - amazing character development and very intriguing plot line.  This is a sci-fi/supernatural/distopian (kind of).  So far I'm only mid way through but I've loved each book so far!

So I've loved Kindle Unlimited and mostly only break from it when a book by one of my favorite authors comes out, I take a break and read that and get back to these - mostly young adult series!