I want to read some of the books I've been eager to get to so, I've decided that even if it means I end up not reading one of two of the obligated reads for the month, I'm going to prioritize those books.
This month's book that I've been really wanting to read but putting off is-
This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me (Maggie the Undying #1) by Ilona Andrews
When Maggie wakes up cold, filthy, and naked in a
gutter, it doesn't take her long to recognize Kair Toren, a city she
knows intimately from the pages of the famously unfinished dark fantasy
series she's been obsessively reading and re-reading while waiting years
for the final novel.
Her only tools for navigating this gritty
world of rival warlords, magic, and mayhem? Her encyclopedic knowledge
of the plot, the setting, and the characters' ambitions and fates. But
while she quickly discovers she cannot be killed (though many will
try!), the same cannot be said for the living, breathing characters
she's coming to love—a motley band that includes a former lady’s maid, a
deadly assassin, various outrageous magical creatures, and a
dangerously appealing soldier. Soon, instead of trying to get home, she
finds herself enmeshed in the schemes—and attentions—of dueling princes,
dukes, and villains, all while trying to save them and the kingdom of
Rellas from the way she knows their stories will end: in a cataclysmic
war.
Reading with The Mystery Book Club-
Backstitched and Stabbed (Grace Designs #2) by Tilly Wallace
The only thing worse than wet woollen togs, is a knife in the back…
As
the kiwi summer draws to a close, a family outing to the beach takes a
deadly turn when a lifeless body washes up on shore. Grace is devastated
to recognise the victim, Ricky, who worked in her friend’s bakery. But
when the supposed drowning victim is rolled over, a shocking truth is
revealed—he was murdered.
Drawn into finding the murderer of the
cheerful baker, Grace picks at the tangled web of secrets that
surrounded Ricky. The man lived a double, or even triple, life. But
which version of him had provoked the fatal encounter? Grace and her
friends must find the person responsible, before another life is lost to
the same tide of violence that claimed Ricky.
This is the second
instalment in the Grace Designs mystery series, about a seamstress
turned sleuth in Wellington, New Zealand at the dawn of the 1920s.
Imminent Harm (Cass Leary #6) by Robin James
Small-town lawyer Cass Leary's latest case could rock the Delphi justice system to its very core.
Cass’s last trial badly bruised her reputation with the local bar. Good thing Cass doesn’t care what people think. Nonetheless, her client list is drying up. When newly appointed District Court Judge Kent Tucker comes to her with a sensitive personal problem, Cass sees it as a way to get back into the judge’s and the town’s good graces.
Judge Tucker knows Cass isn’t afraid to take on tough cases. His sister is married to a monster and he’s hoping Cass can help her find a way out. When the case takes a tragic turn, Cass will face her toughest challenge yet. There’s more to this case than meets the eye and uncovering the truth leads to dangerous consequences for Cass and those around her.
Imminent Harm is the sixth book in this series of high-stakes legal thrillers. If you like blood-pumping action, compelling characters, and twisted crime conspiracies, then you’ll love Robin James’s dark tale.
Reading for NetGalley-
An Ordinary Sort of evil (A Rip Through Time #5) by Kelley Armstrong
Modern-day homicide detective Mallory Mitchell
has grown accustomed to life in Victorian Scotland after travelling 150
years into the past into the body of a housemaid. She’s built a new life
for herself. Even though she works as an assistant to forensic-science
pioneer Dr. Duncan Gray and Detective Hugh McCreadie, she considers them
true friends. And with Gray in particular, perhaps, someday, something
more.
Late one night, Gray and Mallory are summoned urgently to
the home of Lady Adler, a patron of Gray’s undertaking business, and
they assume there's been a death in the household. But instead, they
arrive in the midst of a seance with a ghost demanding Gray's presence.
The ghost is Lady Adler's former maid, who had gone missing but now
requests that Gray investigate her murder. Although Gray and Mallory are
skeptical, they agree to look into the matter, whether she's dead or
alive. But unsure if there's been a murder or not, unable to call out
the medium as a fraud, and concerned for the fate of the young maid,
Gray and Mallory are once again drawn into a mystery much more
puzzling--and more dangerous--than it first seems
Blindside (Planeside #5) by Michael Mammay
Colonel Carl Butler charges back into
the world of military crisis, corporate malfeasance, and intergalactic
mystery in the action-packed fifth Planetside novel from science fiction
master Michael Mammay.
Carl Butler has returned to his
home planet from the moon Taug and is looking forward to some rest and
relaxation. But following two mysterious deaths connected with the Taug
mission, he realizes that the intruders that recently set off his home’s
security system might be looking to add him to the death toll.
Having
been Butler’s muscle on numerous missions, Mac is no stranger to
getting involved with mysteries that should be none of his business. So
when the daughter of one of his gym members goes missing, he offers to
help. Mac assumes she’s a simple runaway, but the case turns out not to
be so clear-cut. Wondering if these strange occurrences are somehow
related, Butler—along with Mac, Ganos, and the rest of his small
crew—once again finds himself neck deep in intrigue.
As the clues
for the various cases begin to intertwine, Butler sees the hand of an
old enemy at work, and…well…he’s never been one to sit back and wait for
something to happen. Gathering the team, he heads off across the galaxy
to confront his suspects head-on.
But this time, they’re waiting for him.
Reading for book club-
Decision at Thunder Rift (BattleTech Legends: Saga of the Gray Death Legion #1) by William H. Keith Jr.
THE EPIC FIRST NOVEL OF THE LEGENDARY SCIENCE FICTION SERIES...
Thirty
meters tall, seventy tons of quick-striding death and destruction, the
armored war machines called BattleMechs are the front line forces of the
crumbling star empire locked in the horror of the endless Succession
Wars. Their pilots are MechWarriors, 31st-Century knights riding armored
machines powerful enough to take a city apart.
Grayson Death
Carlyle had been training to be a MechWarrior since he was 10 years old,
but his graduation came sooner than expected. With his friends and
family dead and his father's regiment destroyed, young Grayson finds
himself stranded on a world turned hostile. Now he must learn the
hardest lesson of it takes more than a BattleMech to make a
MechWarrior...
But to claim that title, all Grayson has to do is
go out and capture one of those giant killing machines...if it doesn't
kill him first.
Pick it for me book-
The Ether Witch: The Casting Call (The Ether Witch #1) by Delemhach
Tamlin Ashowan has troubled his family for
years. Between the fearfulness of his magic and his refusal to share
exactly what it does, his loving parents and sister don’t know how best
to guide him. Tam, on the other hand, insists he doesn’t need any
assistance. Despite ignoring his magic and possessing a preference for
remaining locked up in his room with a good book, Tam is determined to
play his role as the heir to his dukedom to the best of his ability. But
being the son of Finlay Ashowan, the famous hero of Daxaria, his life
is prone to chaos.
Will a new assistant, who has even more
secrets than Tam himself, be able to help navigate Tam's endless
responsibilities? Will all chaos break out thanks to the unstable
kingdom of Zinfera? And lastly, can Tam handle everything without having
to use his magical power, or will he be pushed to new limits as his
fate rushes to meet him?
Find the answer to these questions and more in the new trilogy set in the same universe as The House Witch series, The Princess of Potential, and The Burning Witch series. There's no need to read the previous books to enjoy the new, fun adventure. Feel free to jump right in!
ARC I'm looking forward to reading-
No Good Deed (The Scarsdale Fosters #6) by B.E. Baker
Her entire life, Ardath has wanted to do one
save people in a way no one managed to save her mother. After growing up
without any real family, she wants to spare others from the same fate.
She’s come up with a brilliant plan to save even more lives, if only she
can fund it.
Albert Devonshire the fourth—whose friends call him
Ace—founded a successful gaming company that he loved running. . .until
his dad got sick. When he takes over management of the family-owned
chain of hospitals, he discovers his Dad’s been struggling with dementia
for a while. The business is in shambles, and his mother’s spending
isn’t helping anything.
When a young, beautiful doctor asks for
funding to launch a program she’s clearly passionate about, he hates
turning her down, but he has no choice. They’re one do-gooder program
away from shutting down.
Ardath doesn’t take his refusal very
well, and the more time Ace spends around Ardath, the more he hates
being her enemy, but he can’t let the family empire collapse over yet
another crush. Can Ardath and Ace make peace, or will their duties to
their families set them irrevocably at odds. . .forever?