It's Monday, What Are You Reading? June 18, 2012

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading, is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week.  It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

 It is time to sum up my first week of vacation's reading. I had a good week for whittling down the review stack. Of course, I would be doing better if I had the sense to stop adding to the stack. However, so many books sound so good and NetGalley is so convenient.

Here is what I read:

Spider's Lullaby by James R. Tuck is an enovella is his Deacon Chalk urban fantasy series. I reviewed and like the first book. This one was good too and would be a good introduction to the series, characters, and writing style of the books. My review will be posted on June 30 but the enovella will be available on June 26.

A publicist at Dutton gave me a chance to read The Hunter and the Hunted by Kelley Armstrong in advance of this eSpecial's public availability. It contains two stories featuring characters from the Women of the Otherworld series and the first five chapters of the final book in the series - Thirteen. My promo post is here. My review will be posted on June 27.

Dark Companion by Marta Acosta was a book I got from the Amazon Vine program. It was an interesting young adult story about an underprivileged girl getting a chance to attend an exclusive boarding school and learning the secrets hidden there. It was also a romance. I enjoyed it. You can see me review on June 28. The book will be released July 3.

Darkness All Around by Doug Magee was sent to me because I am part of the blog tour for this book. It is part mystery and part love story and was an engaging read and an adult version of a love triangle. Check back on June 28 for my review. The book will be released on June 19.

Can't Buy Me Love by Molly O'Keefe came to me as part of LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program. This was a much grittier romance than I was expecting. Both main characters are damaged people and not yet over the damage. They hurt each other constantly in this one out of fear of falling in love. You can see my review on June 23. The book will be released on June 26.

 Dead of Night by Lynn Viehl is a young adult take on Romeo and Juliet. She is from a vampire hunting family; he is almost a vampire. It is also a sequel to After Midnight. The events of this one follow that one closely but, even though I read After Midnight quite a while ago, it stood alone pretty well. My review for this July 8 release will be posted on June 30.

Secret Letters by Leah Scheier is a review book that I got from Disney-Hyperion via NetGalley. I chose this historicial mystery for the Sherlock Holmes connection and found the characters engaging. The story had a very Victorian feel. My review will be posted on June 23. The book will be released on June 26.

Winging It by Deborah Cooke was on my TBR stack. I was in the mood for a story about dragons and this one was closest. It is the second book in a series following Flying Blind. It was an entertaining story that dovetails nicely with Cooke's adult series about the Pyr. Luckily, after finishing it, I learned that the next one had been released just this week. Naturally, I had to add that one to my stack too.

I am currently reading another book that I got for review from a publicist at Dutton. Ransom River is a standalone thriller by Meg Gardiner. It starts out with an armored car robbery and then jumps ahead to the present when our heroine is acting as a juror and caught in a hostage situation when armed gunmen invade the courtroom. It is thrilling and I am really liking the heroine.

These are what I have planned for next week:

First from the review stack I have Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness which is the sequel to A Discovery of Witches which I really enjoyed despite the cliffhanger ending. I hope this answers some of the questions I had. I got my copy from NetGalley. The book will be released on July 10.

The Lost Code by Kevin Emerson is an Amazon Vine pick I recently received. This dystopia with links to lost Atlantis was released on May 22. I didn't receive it in time to review it before release but would really like to read it this week.

Deadly Pink by Vivian Vande Velde is also an Amazon Vine pick. This one is a futuristic about a girl who hides herself in a virtual reality game and will die for real unless her younger sister can find out why she hid and convince her to come out. This book will be released on July 10.

The next two that I really want to read this week are recent additions to my TBR mountain and are both sequels.

The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead is the sequel to Bloodlines which is the start of a spin-off series to her wildly popular Vampire Academy series. I think I almost like this series better and can't wait to read the second book.

Kiss the Dead by Laurell K. Hamilton is the latest book in her long-running Anita Blake series. I have been reading these since the beginning and really want to catch up on the latest one.

I am about two weeks ahead on my review schedule and hope to stay that way throughout the summer. I would really like to get further ahead and schedule posts for review books for the next couple of months. I have review books on my stack for all the way to next March already (which is sort of scary.)

This next week might be a challenge though because I am returning to my school year home for a few days to attend a book signing and a workshop. However, that starts next Saturday which leaves most of the week free for reading and relaxing. 

What are your plans for next week? Leave me a link and I will be glad to visit.