Friday Memes: A Panicked Premonition by Victoria Laurie

Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is now hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:

Hovering over the counter, I tried to explain.

Friday 56 (from 56% of the eARC):

"Spill it," she said, her hand finding her hip.

"It's just ... this guy, he kinds of plays the field. I'm sensing he's got a bit of a wandering eye."

This week I am reading A Panicked Premonition by Victoria Laurie. I got this eARC from NetGalley. Here is the description from Amazon:

The New York Times bestselling Psychic Eye Mystery series continues with P.I. Abby Cooper facing the ultimate locked room murder...
Professional psychic and FBI consultant Abby Cooper has used her inner visions to get her out of many a scrape—and solve many a crime—but she’s about to face a murder scene that will put all her powers to the test. Abby’s husband Dutch has a side business providing security and building panic rooms for wealthy clients. One morning, one of Dutch’s partners, Dave, goes missing on his way to meet a client. Abby’s intuition tells her something terrible has happened to him.

Then two of Dutch’s clients are found brutally murdered...inside their brand new panic room, and most of the evidence points to Dave as the killer.  With the authorities racing to find and arrest him, Abby's got to use all her intuitive prowess to get to Dave first, discover the real killer, and save her husband's business. This is one case where Abby is positive there’s far more to this mystery than meets her inner eye…

ARC Review: The Reluctant Queen by Sarah Beth Durst

The Reluctant Queen
Author: Sarah Beth Durst
Series: Queens of Renthia (Book 2)
Publication: Harper Voyager (July 4, 2017)

Description: Filled with political intrigue, violent magic, and malevolent spirits, the mesmerizing second book in Sarah Beth Durst’s Queens of Renthia epic fantasy trilogy.

Everything has a spirit: the willow tree with leaves that kiss the pond, the stream that feeds the river, the wind that exhales fresh snow . . .
And those spirits want to kill you.
It’s the first lesson that every Renthian learns.

Not long ago, Daleina used her strength and skill to survive those spirits and assume the royal throne. Since then, the new queen has kept the peace and protected the humans of her land. But now for all her power, she is hiding a terrible secret: she is dying. And if she leaves the world before a new heir is ready, the spirits that inhabit her beloved realm will run wild, destroying her cities and slaughtering her people.

Naelin is one such person, and she couldn’t be further removed from the Queen—and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Her world is her two children, her husband, and the remote village tucked deep in the forest that is her home, and that’s all she needs. But when Ven, the Queens champion, passes through the village, Naelin’s ambitious husband proudly tells him of his wife’s ability to control spirits—magic that Naelin fervently denies. She knows that if the truth of her abilities is known, it will bring only death and separation from those she loves.

But Ven has a single task: to find the best possible candidate to protect the people of Aratay. He did it once when he discovered Daleina, and he’s certain he’s done it again. Yet for all his appeals to duty, Naelin is a mother, and she knows her duty is to her children first and foremost. Only as the Queen’s power begins to wane and the spirits become emboldened—even as ominous rumors trickle down from the north—does she realize that the best way to keep her son and daughter safe is to risk everything.

Sarah Beth Durst established a place of dark wonder in The Queen of Blood, and now the stakes are even higher as the threat to the Queen and her people grows both from within and beyond the borders of Aratay in this riveting second novel of the Queens of Renthia series.

My Thoughts: The book blurb gives a very good picture of the plot. This was an engaging epic fantasy novel. I love the world building. A world where spirits inhabit nature and want to kill all humans is intriguing.

This story begins with Daleina as queen and still grieving the loss of all her friends at the Coronation massacre which led to her being the only survivor and the new queen. She is trying to get used to that despite her fears that her powers are are not strong enough to keep control over the vengeful spirits when she is diagnosed with a fatal disease. If she dies before finding an heir, the spirits will run wild and kill everyone.

While Daleina's friend Hamon searches for a cure, Ven and the other Champions need to scour the land for candidates who might be able to be the heir. This is complicated by the fact the so many died in the massacre. Ven searches in remote areas and finds Naelin. Naelin has great power but she is used to hiding it. She doesn't want to be a queen. She is a mother of two and happy with her life. Protecting her children is her main goal.

Naelin is a wonderful character. She's a great mother. She's fiercely protective of her children. It takes a lot of convincing before Ven gets her to come to the capitol for testing.

The plot gets even more twisty when it is learned that Dalein was poisoned and is not naturally ill. Now the rush is on to find an antidote to an unknown poison. Complicating things even more is that a fellow student of Daleins is now the queen of a neighboring country and seems to be planning to invade Dalein's.

This was an excellent story. I loved the action which was non-stop. I loved the characters especially Hamon's unique mother and Naelin's children. I loved Naelin's budding romance with Ven.

Favorite Quote:

"Do these kinds of conversations happen often with you?" Ven asked Naelin.

Naelin smiled, feeling better. "When you have children, you find yourself uttering sentences you've never imagined anyone would need to say, such as 'You can't go to school naked' and 'Please don't put a chipmunk in your father's shoes.'"

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from Edelweiss. You can buy your copy here.

Book Review: Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine

Stillhouse Lake
Author: Rachel Caine
Publication: Thomas & Mercer (July 1, 2017)

Description: Gina Royal is the definition of average—a shy Midwestern housewife with a happy marriage and two adorable children. But when a car accident reveals her husband’s secret life as a serial killer, she must remake herself as Gwen Proctor—the ultimate warrior mom.

With her ex now in prison, Gwen has finally found refuge in a new home on remote Stillhouse Lake. Though still the target of stalkers and Internet trolls who think she had something to do with her husband’s crimes, Gwen dares to think her kids can finally grow up in peace.

But just when she’s starting to feel at ease in her new identity, a body turns up in the lake—and threatening letters start arriving from an all-too-familiar address. Gwen Proctor must keep friends close and enemies at bay to avoid being exposed—or watch her kids fall victim to a killer who takes pleasure in tormenting her. One thing is certain: she’s learned how to fight evil. And she’ll never stop.

My Thoughts: This very tense thriller tells the story of a woman who was married to a serial killer but had no idea of his crimes. After being acquitted of being an accomplice, Gina Royal who has now renamed herself Gwen Proctor has fled with her children to get away from the "good" people who are constantly harassing them because they feel she must have known what her husband was doing.

Gwen has uprooted her two kids a number of times when the harassers got too close but now has come to settle on remote Stillhouse Lake in Tennessee. She is ready to pick up her kids and run at any time but hopes, primarily for her kids' welfare, not to have to run again. She is tentatively making some contacts with the guy who runs the gun range and another guy who is renting a cabin for a few months to write a book. Otherwise her only contact is online with a man named Absalom who helps her when she needs to check out some new contact or start a new identity.

She is getting settled in when a body is found in the lake and she becomes a person of interest in a crime again. It becomes even worse when a second body is found. She is under suspicion from the police who bring her in for questioning and she doesn't know who she can trust. Her main focus is to protect her children. She will do anything to keep them safe.

This story gives a very chilling picture of what it would be like to be accused of a crime you didn't commit but to be convicted by the court of public opinion. The descriptions of the vitriolic messages she gets from people who don't know her but have condemned her anyway were chilling. The fear that those people wouldn't be satisfied with venting their spleen via social media would terrify any parent.

I couldn't put this one down and read it in one day.  I'll be looking forward to seeing what happens next because this one had a cliffhanger ending.

Favorite Quote:

It's ironic that there are protection programs for witnesses, but not for us. Never for us.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from Kindle First. You can buy your copy here.

Teaser Tuesday: The Reluctant Queen by Sarah Beth Durst

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Teaser (from 10% in the eARC):

At last, they reached their destination. With a powerful leap, Ven hurled his body toward the top of the school, where the bells hung to call the students to class. He caught himself on a limb.

This week I am reading The Reluctant Queen by Sarah Beth Durst. I got this DRC from Edelweiss. Here is the description from Amazon:

Filled with political intrigue, violent magic, and malevolent spirits, the mesmerizing second book in Sarah Beth Durst’s Queens of Renthia epic fantasy trilogy.

Everything has a spirit: the willow tree with leaves that kiss the pond, the stream that feeds the river, the wind that exhales fresh snow . . .
And those spirits want to kill you.
It’s the first lesson that every Renthian learns.

Not long ago, Daleina used her strength and skill to survive those spirits and assume the royal throne. Since then, the new queen has kept the peace and protected the humans of her land. But now for all her power, she is hiding a terrible secret: she is dying. And if she leaves the world before a new heir is ready, the spirits that inhabit her beloved realm will run wild, destroying her cities and slaughtering her people.

Naelin is one such person, and she couldn’t be further removed from the Queen—and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Her world is her two children, her husband, and the remote village tucked deep in the forest that is her home, and that’s all she needs. But when Ven, the Queens champion, passes through the village, Naelin’s ambitious husband proudly tells him of his wife’s ability to control spirits—magic that Naelin fervently denies. She knows that if the truth of her abilities is known, it will bring only death and separation from those she loves.

But Ven has a single task: to find the best possible candidate to protect the people of Aratay. He did it once when he discovered Daleina, and he’s certain he’s done it again. Yet for all his appeals to duty, Naelin is a mother, and she knows her duty is to her children first and foremost. Only as the Queen’s power begins to wane and the spirits become emboldened—even as ominous rumors trickle down from the north—does she realize that the best way to keep her son and daughter safe is to risk everything.

Sarah Beth Durst established a place of dark wonder in The Queen of Blood, and now the stakes are even higher as the threat to the Queen and her people grows both from within and beyond the borders of Aratay in this riveting second novel of the Queens of Renthia series.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (June 26, 2017)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is now hosted by Kathryn at 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.

I will be combining my YA and adult reading and purchases on this one weekly roundup. YA and middle grade reviews will still be posted on  Ms. Martin Teaches Media - my other blog.

Other Than Reading... 

I have unpacked all of my boxes! Of course there are still lots of boxes around in my brother's man cave from the Locust Street house but all the ones I brought home have been emptied. Things are mostly finished on repairing and tidying the Locust Street house and it goes on the market this week. I have had only a couple of showings on my townhouse and am eager to get that one sold. There isn't much I can do about that one and will have to depend on the realtor to get it marketed and sold.

Now I can concentrate on reading and blogging. All the chaos around my moves have made me far behind where I want to be on my blogs. I have decided to try something new and read all of the review books that are scheduled on my July calendar first. If I have time I'll circle back and fill in some of the open dates with the books from my TBR stack that I want to read. It may mean, like this week, that I have a day when I wanted to do a book review but the book just didn't get read.

I went to the annual Rhubarb Festival today. It featured all things rhubarb and supports CHUM - a charity who goal is "providing basic necessities, fostering stable lives, and organizing with and on behalf of members of the Duluth community who are experiencing homelessness, hunger, and marginalization". In addition to coming home with a rhubarb custard pie, I got some information about becoming a literacy tutor. Everyone says that I'll be bored if I don't find something to do next school year. Tutoring could be an outlet. There are both full-time and part-time positions available and they will train me. It requires a commitment including four days of training in the Twin Cities for which all the expenses are paid. It also pays a living stipend. I'm thinking about it as something to do on a part-time basis, but am not sure that I want to make that sort of commitment in time to be trained to begin with this up-coming school year.

Read Last Week

Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine was an excellent thriller starring the wife of a convicted serial killer who has changed her name a few times and thinks she has finally found a place where she can raise her kids away from the scrutiny of the public who is sure that she had something to do with her husband's crimes. Only her husband is ready to let her go and murders start happening in her new home. My review will be posted on June 28.

The Waking Land by Callie Bates was an excellent fantasy debut that also marks the beginning of a new trilogy. This one stars a young woman who has been taught by her country's captors to deny and hide her magic but who needs that magic to help her country rebel. My review was posted on June 22.

The Reluctant Queen by Sarah Beth Durst is the second in an epic fantasy series set in a world filled with malicious spirits. Naelin has epic powers to control those spirits but hides them. Her only goal is to keep her young children safe. It takes a while to convince her that she needs to use her gifts to keep everyone's children safe. My review will be posted on June 29.

A Panicked Premonition by Victoria Laurie is the 15th in the Psychic Eye series but the first I've read. It was fun and engaging urban fantasy. While I'm sure it would have been a richer experience had I known more of the characters' back stories, it was not at all confusing and really entertaining. My review will be posted on July 1.

The Hypnotists by Gordon Korman was a middle grade story about a boy who learns to use his powers of hypnotism. Unfortunately, his teacher is not a noble benefactor he wants people to think he is, and is using the boy for his own selfish purposes. It was entertaining and will keep middle schoolers hooked on the adventure. My review was posted on June 24.

A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel by Hope Larson was an excellent introduction to the story for those who like graphic novels. I felt the story was complete, though lacking in L'Engle's rich detail, and the illustrations done well. My review will be posted on June 29.

Bannerless by Carrie Vaughn is a dystopian mystery. Enid of Haven is an Investigator called to the town of Pasadan to investigate the suspicious death of one of its citizens. She and her partner Tomas uncover a number of secrets is the perfect town of Pasadan. This story had great world building that was seamlessly integrated into the story. My review will be posted on July 5.

Currently

Two review books:

• Some Kind of Hero by Suzanne Brockman (July 11)
• Ash and Quill by Rachel Caine (July 11)

Next Week

All are review books being released in July.

Murder in Mayfair by D. M. Quincy (July 11)

Shallow Grave by Brian Thiem (July 11)

Amid Stars and Darkness by Chani Lynn Feener (July 18)

What Goes Up by Katie Kennedy (July 18)

Reviews Posted

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

UNSUB by Meg Gardiner

The Waking Land by Callie Bates

City of Angels by Kristi Belcamin

The Hypnotists by Gordon Korman

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

I received a finished hardcover copy of The Reluctant Queen by Sarah Beth Durst from the author in exchange for a review. She even autographed it.

I bought a hardcover of The Queen of Blood by Sarah Beth Durst so that I would have both of them on my keeper shelves. I had read the eARC and purchased a Kindle copy of this book previously.

I added A Wedding Tail by Casey Griffin to my review stack. It is the third romance in the Rescue Dog Romance series. It will be released on August 1.

What was your week like?

Friday Memes: Sky Dragons by Anne McCaffrey

Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is now hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:

This was not how it happened.

Friday 56:

"Lead on, green rider!" J'keren said with a mock bow.

"Did you bring any klah bark?" K'dan asked. "I'm pretty certain we're almost out."

I just have a couple more of McCaffrey's Pern novels to read before I have finally finished a series I started reading in 1968. This week I'm reading Sky Dragons by Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey. Here is the description from Amazon:

Scores of dragons are dead after plague swept across the world of Pern, and now the Weyrs are struggling to rebuild before Threadfall destroys everything—and everyone—left alive. Their best hope lies with a group of new dragonriders who have volunteered to brave the dangers of an unexplored island populated by vicious wild felines and voracious tunnel-snakes to create a safe home for their young dragons, whose offspring will hopefully replenish Pern’s decimated population. But their leader, Xhinna, the first female rider of a blue dragon, faces an uphill battle to win the respect of her peers, especially after tragedy leaves the new colony reeling. The way forward seems to lie with the awesome ability of the dragons to travel through time. But that power comes with risks: By venturing into the past, Xhinna may jeopardize the very future she has sworn to save.

Book Review: The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

The Invisible Library
Author: Genevieve Cogman
Series: Invisible Library (Book 1)
Publication: Ace (June 14, 2016)

Description: Collecting books can be a dangerous prospect in this fun, time-traveling, fantasy adventure from a spectacular debut author.

One thing any Librarian will tell you: the truth is much stranger than fiction...

Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, a shadowy organization that collects important works of fiction from all of the different realities. Most recently, she and her enigmatic assistant Kai have been sent to an alternative London. Their mission: Retrieve a particularly dangerous book. The problem: By the time they arrive, it's already been stolen.

London's underground factions are prepared to fight to the death to find the tome before Irene and Kai do, a problem compounded by the fact that this world is chaos-infested—the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic to run rampant. To make matters worse, Kai is hiding something—secrets that could be just as volatile as the chaos-filled world itself.

Now Irene is caught in a puzzling web of deadly danger, conflicting clues, and sinister secret societies. And failure is not an option—because it isn’t just Irene’s reputation at stake, it’s the nature of reality itself...

My Thoughts: This was a fun, engaging fantasy that hit my heart because its main character is a librarian. Her career path is much more exciting than mine though. I've never been sent to an alternate Earth with a dragon as my assistant in order to retrieve a particular book. Irene is up for the challenge. Only, when she and Kai arrive, they find that the book has already been stolen and many, many people are looking for it.

Between trying to find the book, dodging the evil librarian who wants to pervert the purpose of the library, dealing with a jealous rival, working with this alternate world's great detective and dealing with steampunk gadgets loosed by another set of villains, Irene is kept busy and we readers are kept entertained.

Luckily, this book is the first of a series because I am eager to follow Irene on further adventures.

Favorite Quote:

Irene sighed. "So we have an incredibly glamorous female cat burglar who slinks around in a black leather cat suit, who kills vampires in her spare time?"

"I'll tackle her," Kai said enthusiastically.

Irene raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that I don't want to tackle her?"

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: UNSUB by Meg Gardiner

UNSUB
Author: Meg Gardiner
Series: UNSUB (Book 1)
Publication: Dutton (June 27, 2017)

Description: A riveting psychological thriller inspired by the never-caught Zodiac Killer, about a young detective determined to apprehend the serial murderer who destroyed her family and terrorized a city twenty years earlier.

Caitlin Hendrix has been a Narcotics detective for six months when the killer at the heart of all her childhood nightmares reemerges: the Prophet. An UNSUB—what the FBI calls an unknown subject—the Prophet terrorized the Bay Area in the 1990s and nearly destroyed her father, the lead investigator on the case.

The Prophet’s cryptic messages and mind games drove Detective Mack Hendrix to the brink of madness, and Mack’s failure to solve the series of ritualized murders—eleven seemingly unconnected victims left with the ancient sign for Mercury etched into their flesh—was the final nail in the coffin for a once promising career.

Twenty years later, two bodies are found bearing the haunting signature of the Prophet. Caitlin Hendrix has never escaped the shadow of her father’s failure to protect their city. But now the ruthless madman is killing again and has set his sights on her, threatening to undermine the fragile barrier she rigidly maintains for her own protection, between relentless pursuit and dangerous obsession.

Determined to decipher his twisted messages and stop the carnage, Caitlin ignores her father’s warnings as she draws closer to the killer with each new gruesome murder. Is it a copycat, or can this really be the same Prophet who haunted her childhood? Will Caitlin avoid repeating her father’s mistakes and redeem her family name, or will chasing the Prophet drag her and everyone she loves into the depths of the abyss?

My Thoughts: Caitlin Hendrix a a police detective as was her father. Her father's mind was broken and his career shattered for failing to catch a serial killer. Caitlin had her life changed too. She struggles to keep her work separate from her life so that she doesn't repeat her father's mistakes. But when the serial killer who eluded her father makes his return, Caitlin finds herself in the middle of the investigation.

The story is filled with danger and excitement. It is also filled with twists and turns as Caitlin and the other investigators try to figure our the killer and stop him before he can kill again. The book ramps up the tension as the story goes along and it starts with high tension. The killer has become more daring and more blatant in this series of killings. He also seems to be performing for Caitlin and making her his target.

I enjoyed Caitlin who was a well-drawn character with strengths and flaws. I liked the cast of characters who surrounded her. This was an engaging thriller that was hard to put down. I needed to know who the killer was and if our heroes could manage to stop him.

Favorite Quote:

That was Caitlin: urgent. Even when she stood bone still and guarded her thoughts and hopes -- which was far too much of the time -- she was racing inside, heart pumping, mind turning over like a high-revving engine, eyes gulping a scene.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from Dutton via NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Teaser Tuesday: The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Teaser (from 10% in the ebook):

"Or?"

Kai glanced at her icily. "The 'or' would have been bad news for me."

This week I am reading The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman. This one has been on my Kindle since Nov. 9, 2016. Here is the description from Amazon:

Collecting books can be a dangerous prospect in this fun, time-traveling, fantasy adventure from a spectacular debut author.

One thing any Librarian will tell you: the truth is much stranger than fiction...

Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, a shadowy organization that collects important works of fiction from all of the different realities. Most recently, she and her enigmatic assistant Kai have been sent to an alternative London. Their mission: Retrieve a particularly dangerous book. The problem: By the time they arrive, it's already been stolen.

London's underground factions are prepared to fight to the death to find the tome before Irene and Kai do, a problem compounded by the fact that this world is chaos-infested—the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic to run rampant. To make matters worse, Kai is hiding something—secrets that could be just as volatile as the chaos-filled world itself.

Now Irene is caught in a puzzling web of deadly danger, conflicting clues, and sinister secret societies. And failure is not an option—because it isn’t just Irene’s reputation at stake, it’s the nature of reality itself...

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (June 19, 2017)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is now hosted by Kathryn at 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.

I will be combining my YA and adult reading and purchases on this one weekly roundup. YA and middle grade reviews will still be posted on  Ms. Martin Teaches Media - my other blog.

Other Than Reading... 

I've been in my new home for one week now and am not surrounded by quite as many boxes. The shelves in my library are full and books from Nora Roberts to Mark Richard Zubro are still to be unpacked onto the shelves in my guest bedroom.

My brother and I also spent a day changing things at the bank and getting new driver's licenses with our correct address. The bank was rather complicated because we wanted to remove my mother's name from our joint account. She passed away in 2006 and we had never gotten around to changing it. We needed to find her death certificate which we thought was in the safe deposit box but were mistaken. We also had to change the safe deposit box because it was still in our parents' names on their electronic records despite the fact the my brother and on were on the access agreement. That took a surprisingly long time and was something new for our young personal banker who had to call for help.

Once the safe deposit box issue was solved, we accessed it and took everything home except for our parents' death certificates which we had found at home. We are going to sort through and see what we really need to keep. I doubt we still need to save our dad's discharge papers from the army from 1946. I haven't been able to locate my birth certificate anywhere which I was hoping was in the safe deposit box. We did find three of them for my brother though.

I've had two showings of my house so far. One decided it wasn't for them but the other is interested. This week we will see workman at our other house to make the basement repairs. We want to list that one for sale by July 1.

This retirement thing is busier than I expected or hoped but it should all settle down once we manage to sell our two extra houses. Having the boxes unpacked will help too.

Read Last Week
Links go to Amazon:

Battle Magic by Tamora Pierce (YA)

UNSUB by Meg Gardiner (June 27)

City of Angels by Kristi Belcamino (YA)

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

Currently

From my TBR mountain: Sky Dragons by Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey
From my review pile: The Waking Land by Callie Bates (June 27)

Next Week

From TBR Mountain:

• A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel by Madeleine L'Engle and Hope Larson
• The Hypnotists by Gordon Korman

From my review stack:

• Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine (July 1)
• The Reluctant Queen by Sarah Beth Durst (July 4)

Reviews Posted

Links go to my reviews.

Delia's Shadow by Jaime Lynn Moyer

Indigo by Charlaine Harris et al.

The Last Place You Look by Kristen Lepionka

Battle Magic by Tamora Pierce

Ticker by Lisa Mantchev

More of Me by Kathryn Evans

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

Two free Kindle books:

• Unmasking Miss Appleby by Emily Larkin
• Just the Way You Are by Christina Dodd

Two for review from NetGalley:

• Her Dark Half by Paige Tyler (Sept. 5)
• On the Chase by Katie Ruggle (Sept. 5)

What was your week like?

Book Review: Delia's Shadow by Jamie Lynn Moyer

Delia's Shadow
Author: Jamie Lynn Moyer
Publication: Tor Books; 1 edition (September 17, 2013)

Description: It is the dawn of a new century in San Francisco and Delia Martin is a wealthy young woman whose life appears ideal. But a dark secret colors her life, for Delia's most loyal companions are ghosts, as she has been gifted (or some would say cursed) with an ability to peer across to the other side.

Since the great quake rocked her city in 1906, Delia has been haunted by an avalanche of the dead clamoring for her help. Delia flees to the other side of the continent, hoping to gain some peace. After several years in New York, Delia believes she is free…until one determined specter appears and she realizes that she must return to the City by the Bay in order to put this tortured soul to rest.

It will not be easy, as the ghost is only one of the many victims of a serial killer who was never caught. A killer who after thirty years is killing again.

And who is now aware of Delia's existence.

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this historical mystery with ghosts. Delia Martin is being haunted by one very persistent ghost. Delia returns to San Francisco and finds herself linked to a serial killer who has returned after a 30 year absence. The ghost is a link to the killing spree but Delia can't communicate with her until she visits Dora Bobet who is a medium.

Also pursuing the case of the serial killer is Police Lieutenant Gabe Ryan who is trying to solve the case his father couldn't solve 30 years earlier. Gabe and Delia meet because his Sargent Jack is engaged to her best friend and foster sister Sadie.

Delia has also returned home because Sadie's mother - the woman who became her guardian when her parents died in the San Francisco earthquake and fire - is dying and she wants to support her friend.

I loved the San Francisco setting. I thought the way the relationship grew between Delia and Gabe was nicely done. I thought the mystery was nicely intriguing. I found both the serial killer and the various ghosts nicely creepy.

This is the first book of a trilogy and I intend to read the rest.

Favorite Quote:

"Damn, I need a drink. Where did this come from?" Isadora bent to pick something off the carpet. She held out her hand, a small gold cross on a broken chain dangling from her fingers.

Then Madame Isadora Bobet fainted dead away. I didn't blame her in the slightest.

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

Friday Memes: Delia's Shadow by Jaime Lynn Moyer

Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is now hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:

The locomotive engine belched billowing clouds of steam, a black-iron dragon chained to the tracks.

Friday 56:

She chose that moment to reappear, hovering in the space between seats in the cab. Shadow's green eyes bored into mine, relentless in demanding my attention. 

This week I am reading Delia's Shadow by Jamie Lynn Moyer. This one has been on my TBR mountain since the end of 2013. Here is the description from Amazon:

It is the dawn of a new century in San Francisco and Delia Martin is a wealthy young woman whose life appears ideal. But a dark secret colors her life, for Delia's most loyal companions are ghosts, as she has been gifted (or some would say cursed) with an ability to peer across to the other side.

Since the great quake rocked her city in 1906, Delia has been haunted by an avalanche of the dead clamoring for her help. Delia flees to the other side of the continent, hoping to gain some peace. After several years in New York, Delia believes she is free…until one determined specter appears and she realizes that she must return to the City by the Bay in order to put this tortured soul to rest.

It will not be easy, as the ghost is only one of the many victims of a serial killer who was never caught. A killer who after thirty years is killing again.

And who is now aware of Delia's existence.

ARC Review: Indigo by Charlaine Harris et al.

Indigo
Author: Charlaine Harris, Christopher Golden, Jonathan Maberry, & 8 others
Publication: St. Martin's Press (June 20, 2017)

Description: Investigative reporter Nora Hesper spends her nights cloaked in shadows. As Indigo, she’s become an urban myth, a brutal vigilante who can forge darkness into weapons and travel across the city by slipping from one patch of shadow to another. Her primary focus both as Nora and as Indigo has become a murderous criminal cult called the Children of Phonos. Children are being murdered in New York, and Nora is determined to make it stop, even if that means Indigo must eliminate every member. But in the aftermath of a bloody battle, a dying cultist makes claims that cause Indigo to question her own origin and memories.

Nora’s parents were killed when she was nineteen years old. She took the life insurance money and went off to explore the world, leading to her becoming a student of meditation and strange magic in a mountaintop monastery in Nepal…a history that many would realize sounds suspiciously like the origins of several comic book characters. As Nora starts to pick apart her memory, it begins to unravel. Her parents are dead, but the rest is a series of lies. Where did she get the power inside her?

In a brilliant collaboration by New York Times and critically acclaimed coauthors Charlaine Harris, Christopher Golden, Kelley Armstrong, Jonathan Maberry, Kat Richardson, Seanan McGuire, Tim Lebbon, Cherie Priest, James Moore, and Mark Morris join forces to bring you a crime-solving novel like you’ve never read before.

My Thoughts: Nora Hesper is an investigative reporter with a secret life. At night she turns into Indigo who can use shadows to disappear and to travel from place to place. She uses her talents to track down the Children of Phonos who are sacrificing children to bring back an ancient murder god.

Nora is an interesting character whose past sounds like it came right out of the stories in superhero comic books. As events unfold, it becomes more an more apparent to Nora that the past she remembers isn't the past she actually lived.

The story was an exciting urban fantasy mystery. I couldn't tell that it was written by a bunch of authors because the story seemed to me to flow seamlessly from one exciting bit to another. I liked Nora's struggles to understand her past and her relationship with Indigo.

Favorite Quote:

Unsteady on her feet, Nora Hesper shed the cloak of shadows and started back to her apartment, knowing she could never again hesitate. She had drawn the line, but now all the lines had been erased. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.