It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (July 16, 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.


I had another great reading week. But the most exciting part was that I got myself an early birthday present. I bought a Kindle Touch to replace my old Generation 2 Kindle Keyboard. It arrived on Friday and I spent a good amount of time getting used to it and transferring some books onto it. Did you know that you can't just transfer books from NetGalley? You have to re-send them to the new Kindle. Unfortunately, the next couple of books on my TBR mountain are print books. I won't get a chance to use my new toy for a while.


Here are the young adult books I read:

I finally got to Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas on my review stack. I almost gave up on it because the formatting on the Kindle was really weird with lots of pages with odd black squares. But I am glad I persisted. I really liked the story and fell in love with Celaena. My review will be posted on August 2 for this August 7 release. I added this one to my next high school media center book order and pre-ordered myself a keeper copy too.

I pulled Storm by Brigid Kemmerer off my TBR mountain. This is a paranormal featuring not one but five hot guys and a girl who accidentally gets involved with them. It was pretty good. I do have the next book in the series on pre-order. My review will be posted on July 26.

The Magician's Apprentice by Kate Banks and illustrated by Peter Sis has been sitting on my review stack since last December. It will be published on August 7. This was a really odd story. It looked like a middle grade book but read more like Eastern mysticism. The writing was very lyrical but not a lot happens in the story. I found it baffling and am having trouble deciding who the audience for this title would be. My review will be posted on August 4.

Thanks to Tynga from Tynga's Reviews for pointing my way to these novellas in the Throne of Glass world - The Assassin and the Pirate Lord, The Assassin and the Desert, and The Assassin and the Underworld. Sarah J. Maas began releasing them in January to build excitement for the upcoming release of Throne of Glass. They were all entertaining and enriched the world and the characters I met in the novel. One more - The Assassin and the Empire - is being released on July 20 and I have already pre-ordered it. I am going to do one mass post about all four novellas on July 25.

Here are the adult books that I read this week:

I received Sweet Talk by Julie Garwood for review from a publicist at Dutton Adult. I really liked this new romantic suspense title. Olivia works for the IRS and Grayson works for the FBI but they come together when she gets in the way of an FBI sting. I liked the romance between the two of them and I liked that Olivia had such a complex back story that explained her reluctance to fall in love. My review will be posted on August 2.

Big Sky Mountain by Linda Lael Miller is a western romance. I am on the blog tour for this one. This was a sweet romance about two people who hurt each other getting back together to give love a second try. I really like the setting and characters in these romances. They are great for people who want down home sorts of romances but with some of Miller's usual sexiness. My review will be posted on August 8.

Grave of Angels by Michael Prescott is a thriller I got from Amazon Vine. This was an exciting and well-plotted story with lots of twists and turns. All of the characters were realistic and drawn in shades of grey. No black and white heroes and villains in this one! My review will be posted on August 4.

Royal Street by Suzanne Johnson was an urban fantasy that I grabbed from my TBR basket. I really liked this debut urban fantasy set in post-Katrina New Orleans. DJ is a wizard who has to search for her missing mentor, keep paranormals out of New Orleans, and deal with her sexy and irritating new partner Alex who has some secrets of his own. This was a quick read and very entertaining. My review will be posted on August 9.

I just finished re-reading Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold and found this reading as satisfying and entertaining as my first reading. Bujold is an author that I can read over and over again with the same delight as the first time I read the stories. I love the characters. I was so glad to see Ivan find a bride and start on the way to a future that he wants.

The only hazard that I face when re-reading Bujold is finding myself consumed with the desire to read all the books again. There are 16 books in the Vorkosigan series, 4 in the Sharing Knife series, 3 in the Curse of Chalion series, and one stand alone title.

Next week, these are the ones on the top of the stack. All four of the young adult books are titles for review in August. Only 1 of the five adult books is a review book. The others were those that looked good when I went through the basket of adult books I brought home for the summer.

The Blood Keeper by Tessa Gratton is August 28 release I got from NetGalley. It is supposed to have horror, fantasy and romance. 

Glitch by Heather Anastasiu was an Amazon Vine pick. It will be released on August 7. It is science fiction/dystopia.

Innocent Darkness by Suzanne Lazear is an August 8 release that I got from NetGalley. This is a fantasy with faeries that also has some steampunk elements.

Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama is a September 4 release I got from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. This one has mermaids and ancient curses. 

Alpha Instinct by Katie Reus was a blogger recommended title about shifters.

A Rogue by Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean is historical fiction.

Angel's Flight by Nalini Singh is a collection of novellas.

Hexed by Ilona Andrews, Yasmine Galenorn, Allyson James and Jeanne C. Stein is a collection of four stories.

Immortally Yours by Angie Fox is the only review book in this bunch. It will be released on August 28 and is urban fantasy.

Those are my somewhat ambitious plans for the coming week. What did you read and what do you have planned?