Sweep with Me by Ilona Andrews

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy, Space Fantasy
Content: Strong language



Thank you for joining us at Gertrude Hunt, the nicest Bed and Breakfast in Red Deer, Texas, during the Treaty Stay. As you know, we are honor-bound to accept all guests during this oldest of innkeeper holidays and we are expecting a dangerous guest. Or several. But have no fear. Your safety and comfort is our first priority. The inn and your hosts, Dina Demille and Sean Evans, will defend you at all costs. [But we hope we don’t have to.]

After finishing Sweep of the Blade, it was a real treat to get to go straight into this book. Being back with Dina at the Gertrude Hunt felt like coming home. This one was only novella length, but it was packed with so much goodness. Dina has quite the menagerie of guests this time, and they are all very delicate situations. Add to that, Orros's quest to make a crappy fast food burger, the cooking show, the ninjas, and the chickens! Oh my gosh, the chickens!



It was all so funny! I won't say any more than that, but if you've been reading this series, you have to read this book.

This is such a warm and fuzzy feeling series. Sure, there is plenty of conflict, but at the end of the day, you just know Dina will make things right, and your stay will be a pleasant one overall. I wonder what kind of room she would create for me...I have a feeling she would get it just right.

Sweep of the Blade by Ilona Andrews

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy, Space Opera
Content: Strong language, A mostly off page sex scene



Maud Demille is a daughter of Innkeepers—a special group who provide ‘lodging’ to other-planetary visitors—so she knows that a simple life isn't in the cards. But even Maud could never have anticipated what Fate would throw at her.

Once a wife to a powerful vampire knight, Maud and her young daughter, Helen, were exiled with him for his treachery to the desolate, savage planet of Karhari. Karhari killed her husband, and Maud—completely abandoned by his family—has spent over a year avenging his debts. Rescued by her sister Dina, she's sworn off all things vampire.

Except... In helping Dina save the world, she met Arland, the Marshal of House Krahr, one of the most powerful vampire houses.

I thoroughly enjoyed this installment to the Innkeeper series. It was a refreshing change to have a book from Maud's perspective instead of Dina's (who I love, by the way). I ended up loving this one as much as the other books in the series. If you haven't read any of the books in this series, it's a urban fantasy/space fantasy kind of mix set mostly in an Inn. The world encompasses several different alien species, that include werewolves and vampires. The werewolves and vampires are different here from the usual ones. I like the space vampires in this book a lot. They are a warrior like race that also practice court type etiquette and intrigue reminiscent of 1800s aristocracy, where they use a lot of word games and subtle insults (well, some not so subtle), but it never got stuffy or boring. There was always a fight just waiting around the corner.

I did feel like Maud was too much of a Mary Sue. She was good at everything she did, and knew about all sorts of things that no one else seemed to know. That got a little old at times, but I still loved this book and her character. Arland was great in this book. I loved him in the other Innkeeper books and it was nice to have him as the main love interest here. Helen was the best, she was so cute, and my favorite of all the characters in the book. I would love to read more about all these characters.

January 2020 Book Club: The Goblin Emperor

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Clean up to the point I read.


The youngest, half-goblin son of the Emperor has lived his entire life in exile, distant from the Imperial Court and the deadly intrigue that suffuses it. But when his father and three sons in line for the throne are killed in an "accident," he has no choice but to take his place as the only surviving rightful heir.

I really tried to like this one, and I think I gave it a fair chance. I read ten chapters and over 100 pages, but it just did nothing for me. The court "intrigue" was completely boring, the characters were, for the most part, uninteresting. The book was filled with boring details of court etiquette. It was one of the slowest moving books I've ever read. The elves referring to themselves in the plural was odd, and at times annoying.

There are a whole heck of a lot of people who gave this book 4 and 5 stars, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why. I'll give the author props for creating a world where elves and goblins mingle and even interbreed. This was the first book I've ever read like that, but unfortunately that was the most interesting thing I found about the book.

This was our book club book for January, and unfortunately I was so uninspired by it I can't even think of a single thing for our themed refreshments on Saturday night.

The Bard's Blade by Brian D. Anderson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: As far as I remember, it was clean


 
Mariyah enjoys a simple life in Vylari, a land magically sealed off from the outside world, where fear and hatred are all but unknown. She helps her family make wine and spends time with her betrothed, Lem, a musician of rare talent. Their destiny has never been in question. Whatever life brings, they will face it together.

But destiny has a way of choosing its own path, and when a stranger crosses the wards into Vylari for the first time in centuries, the two are faced with a terrible prophecy. Beyond the borders, an ancient evil is returning, its age-old prison shattered. Not even the Thaumas, keepers of knowledge and wielders of magic from the outside world, know how to defeat it.

This is a slow moving fantasy, but don't let the slow moving part put you off. It kept my interest from start to finish. I'm always excited to find a new fantasy series that isn't too dark. I'm not into grimdark and that does seem to be the trend nowadays, so I was very pleased that this one was in the traditional vein of fantasy.

I immediately liked both of the main characters. They were easy to like and ended up getting into some sticky situations that caused some nail biting on my part. There were a couple of times I was practically yelling at Lem to not do something. The poor guy just went from one bad situation to another. What I liked most was that the characters went from naive and sheltered to experiencing a lot of awful things that changed their world view drastically. You could see that wide eyed wonder change to wariness of the world. It was sad, but of course necessary for the plot.

Another thing I really loved about this book is that it included a Bard. I've said before that there aren't enough books that include Bards, and that's what drew me to this book in the first place. The author did a really good job of describing Lem's musical ability. It was easy to imagine what the music sounded like as Lem played his beloved balisari. I would definitely recommend this book and I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor books for providing me with a copy of this book.

Honor Among Thieves by Rachel Caine

My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Space Opera, Sci-fi
Content: Strong language, Drug use by a secondary character

 
Petty criminal Zara Cole has a painful past that’s made her stronger than most, which is why she chose life in New Detroit instead of moving with her family to Mars. In her eyes, living inside a dome isn’t much better than a prison cell.

Still, when Zara commits a crime that has her running scared, jail might be exactly where she’s headed. Instead Zara is recruited into the Honors, an elite team of humans selected by the Leviathan—a race of sentient alien ships—to explore the outer reaches of the universe as their passengers.

Zara seizes the chance to flee Earth’s dangers, but when she meets Nadim, the alien ship she’s assigned, Zara starts to feel at home for the first time. But nothing could have prepared her for the dark, ominous truths that lurk behind the alluring glitter of starlight.

In the beginning I had a hard time getting into this book. Things picked up after Zara was chosen for the Honors, but I never was able to love this book the way I wanted to. As I was reading it reminded me of several other things I've seen and read. Sentient ships isn't a new idea by any means. That being said, it was one of the most interesting aspects of the book.

For me, Zara, as a character was just ok. I never grew to like her as much as I wanted to, and the fact that she acquired all this tech knowledge out of nowhere was not very believable. Plus, I think I'm over reading about rebellious teens. I understand why she was that way, and I felt bad for her, but I just didn't really enjoy her personality or the way she thought about the world in general. The most likable character was the ship Nadim, but the interactions between Nadim and Zara, while interesting, also felt a bit weird. To top it all off the big reveal about the mysterious long journey at the end was underwhelming and predictable.

There were also a couple of message heavy, preachy moments in the book, and it annoys the heck out of me when authors do that. Give me a story that encourages me to think instead of pounding the message into my head. That would have made a much better written book. This is a trilogy, but I think I'm good with stopping here.

Disillusioned by Bridget E. Baker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Clean
  

Chancery has a lot to do: find her mother's killer, get Alamecha in order, consolidate the six families, gain control over the other five rings.

No biggie.

But her twin is missing, and her older sister Alora betrayed her. Her list of allies is running thin. Can she do what needs to be done before it's too late?

In my review of book one I boldly stated that we all knew who Chancery would end up with. Well, after reading this book I'm no longer sure! My reasons for thinking one of the love interests could never work, which made him a mere distraction, are now gone. That's all I'm going to say, other than I did not see that twist coming! I think that's what Bridget does the best as a writer. She continuously blindsides me with things I do not see coming in every one of her books.

Chancery is finally gaining the confidence she needs in this book and I'm glad! She has so much self doubt, and blames herself for everything. These are traits that can get annoying at times, but they also make her seem more real. I'm excited to see what she will do in future books, especially with that ring. This ends on a cliffhanger and I dying to find out what happens next.

Thanks to Bridget Baker for giving me a copy of this book to review.

When I Was You by Minka Kent

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery, Suspense
Content: Mostly clean, I can't even remember any cursing. 


After barely surviving a brutal attack, Brienne Dougray rarely leaves her house. Suffering from debilitating headaches and memory loss, she can rely only on her compassionate new tenant, Dr. Niall Emberlin, a welcome distraction from the discomfiting bubble that has become her existence.

But Brienne’s growing confidence in her new routine is shaken when she stumbles across unsettling evidence that someone else is living as…her. Same name. Same car. Same hair. Same clothes. She’s even friended her family on social media. To find out why, Brienne must leave the safety of her home to hunt a familiar stranger.

I was in the mood for a good mystery or suspense thriller and this book ended up being a good choice. I'm giving it 4 stars for two reasons; because it kept me glued to it all day and because I found it refreshing that it wasn't full of unsavory characters and expletives. Nowadays it seems rare to find a book like this that doesn't include those. I've had a hard time finding suspense thrillers that even have a main character that I can like.

I would probably give everything else about the book 3 stars. It was easy to figure out what was going on from the beginning, and the author lets you in on it as soon as the point of view switches. I was a little disappointed in that. There were also some holes and implausibilities that bothered me. There were two things in particular that were never explained. One was the facebook page. Why was it created in the first place if Brienne never used social media anyway and who created it? [ I'm assuming Shane created it since Sam didn't know what was going on, but why friend her distant relatives? And how did he know who they were in the first place? And it seemed like Sam was the one posting on it, so it really didn't make sense.  (hide spoiler)] The other was how Niall knew where Brienne was when she was at the office about to face her imposter. No explanation was ever given for that.

I ended up liking the main character even though she was very gullible. I just don't think anyone would have believed the story she was given that easily, but I was able to let it slide a little, considering the trauma she was already dealing with. I also, unexpectedly ended up really liking one of the other characters a lot. [ Sam. I found it refreshing that the "accomplice" was in the dark about things as well, and not in on it.  (hide spoiler)] Overall I enjoyed reading this and that's what really counts for me. I've already looked up other books by this author to read and plan on giving them a try.

Top Reads of 2019

I'm trying to make it a tradition that I list my favorite books that I read each year. I'm a little late doing this as I meant to do it at the end of the year, but here are my top reads from 2019.

I feel like I read some really good books in 2019, but none of them were super amazing 5 star reads for me. That being said, I'm very stingy with 5 stars. Two came close, they are:

 Already Gone by Bridget E. Baker

When I said close to 5 stars I meant very close for this one. I don't typically read contemporary YA, but Bridget is a friend and I agreed to read this one for her. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I loved this book. It packed a real emotional punch as well as a twist I did not see coming! The touch of mystery added to the book made it even better.

Silence Fallen by Patricia Briggs

I love the Mercy Thompson series. They are always solid 4 star reads for me, but this one I gave 4.5 stars to. I think the change in setting was wonderful, even though sometimes those can be iffy.



The third book I'm adding to my list was a solid 4 star read from an author I've come to adore.

The First Girl Child by Amy Harmon


I love the fairy tale like feel to Amy Harmon's fantasy books, plus she always adds the perfect touch of romance. Each one of the books I've read by Amy, I've ended up developing an emotional connection with. She has a distinct talent for conveying how her characters feel and that really resonates with me.


Next is a book from an author that was new to me.

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kremmerer

For the last couple of years I've really reduced the number of YA books I read, but this was the best YA fantasy I read in 2019. One thing I really love about this book is the disabled main character. I actually fell in love with all the characters in this book.