It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (Oct. 19, 2015)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? was a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. She has decided to pass it on to The Book Date. 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.

Other Than Reading...

After regular school on Monday and Tuesday and parent-teacher conferences on Monday and Tuesday evenings, I had the rest of the week off. I spent my time off doing some more purging at my house and hauling the things I no longer need to the Salvation Army.

I also did some extra reading but mostly stories and novellas from anthologies that have been sitting on my TBR mountain for quite a while. Now I've gotten eight more books off the TBR mountain.

I spent all day Saturday at the Twin Cities Book Festival hanging out in the Middle Grade and Teen Tents. I had a chance to hear so many authors speak, have them sign my autograph books, and buy books for them to autograph too. It was the first time I had a chance to meet John Flanagan and Julie Kagawa. I also saw again some authors I had met before. I thought I exercised remarkable restraint because I managed to buy only 5 books. I also bought a copy of A Thousand Nights by E. K. Johnston that I didn't picture below. I bought this one to donate since I've already read the ARC.

Please visit this link and sign up for a chance to win a box of mysteries both finished and ARCs. The contest ends on Halloween and I have not gotten very many entries. US only, I'm afraid. It is a large box and shipping is too expensive to send it outside the US.

Read Last Week

I read The Producer's Daughter by Lindsay Marcott. It was a interesting mystery that got off to a slow start for me but picked up the pace as it went along. It also felt a little dated because of the many references to movie stars who aren't still big news. My review will be posted on November 14.

The Trouble with Fate by Leigh Evans was from my TBR mountain. This is the first book in an urban fantasy series. While it was an okay read, I don't feel the need to add the rest of the books to my stack. My review will be posted on December 12.

With a goal of reducing the number of books on TBR mountain firmly in mind, I decided to cherry pick some of the many anthologies on the mountain to read the stories I bought the books for.

I read the stories by Charlaine Harris and Ilona Andrews from An Apple for the Creature which arrived on TBR mountain on Dec. 14, 2012.

Hex Appeal arrived on my stack on September 18, 2012 and I read the stories by Ilona Andrews, Jim Butcher, Rachel Caine and Carrie Vaughn.

Evolve:Vampire Stories of the New Undead arrived on September 8, 2010. I only read the story by Kelley Armstrong from that collection.

Running with the Pack arrived on May 12, 2010. I read stories by Carrie Vaughn, C. E. Murphy, Stephanie Burgis, Laura Anne Gilman, and Maria V. Snyder.

All of these stories will be summarized in a post on January 6, 2016. I kept reading stories from various anthologies.

I only read Kim Harrison's and Jeaniene Frost's novellas from the Unbound anthology. Both starred other characters from their series and were entertaining

I read Ilona Andrews' story and Jeanne C. Stein's story from the Hexed anthology. The Andrews story tells about the romance of two of the side characters in the Kate Daniels world. The Stein story opened a new world to me as it told me about an adventure Anna Strong had. I haven't read any of that series.

I only read the In Death story from each of these anthologies - The Unquiet and Mirror, Mirror. Both were good stories that gave me more details about the characters in that world. It is always nice to visit with Eve and Roarke even when the visits are brief.

These four books will be blogged about on Feb. 3, 2016.

Currently

I got a new review book this week that will be released on Nov. 3. I moved things around on my calendar and am reading Tenacity by J. S. Law next.

Next Week

I am back to my TBR mountain later in the week. I have Don of the Dead by Casey Daniels and The Secrets of the Heart by Kasey Michaels on my reading stack.

Reviews Posted

• Summoning the Night by Jenn Bennett
• Dead Ice by Laurell K. Hamilton
• Binding the Shadows by Jenn Bennett

Want to See What I Added to My Stack Last Week?

Tenacity by J. S. Law is a thriller that I received from Henry Holt. It will be released on November 3.

To see what Young Adult books I have been reading and plan to read, check out Ms. Martin Teaches Media - my other blog.