It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (Nov. 21, 2016)

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.

Other Than Reading... 

This was a mostly quiet week despite a few meetings. We are just on the edge of a major snowstorm but only expect a little rain and/or a dusting of snow. Right now the winds are really howling and the temperature has plunged. I'm glad I have no plans to leave the house the rest of the weekend. 

We have a short school week coming up. We only work Monday and Tuesday and then break for Thanksgiving. I plan to leave for Duluth around noon time on Tuesday even though the forecast has changed and Duluth is expecting 1 - 3 inches of snow Tuesday afternoon. We're expecting rain at this end of the trip. It should be an interesting drive! At least I'll be doing it in daylight hours.

I'm packing a few book and hope to have some reading time. My brother will be working a lot of the days I'm home. Strangely for someone working in retail, he has Black Friday off but works every other day of my break. I'll be continuing to clear items out of the old house and transporting them to the new. Hopefully, we'll soon have everything we want to keep out of the house and can turn it over to the estate sellers.

Read Last Week

When I started the book I said I was going to read last week, I realized that it wasn't the next book in the story arc. So I switched books and then got sucked into the world. I think I have only one more Pern book to read but decided to save it until I caught up on some of my December review commitments.

• Dragonheart by Todd McCaffrey
• Dragongirl by Todd McCaffrey
• Dragon's Time by Todd McCaffrey

The review are all written and scheduled for these but they may end up moving if I need to fit in reviews for some new arrival review books.

Currently

A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn won't be released until January but this book is an Adobe Digital Editions copy. They expire! I want to read it before it actually does.

Next Week

These two books will be released in mid-December and are the next ones on my reading calendar.

• At What Cost by James L'Etoile
• Time of Death by Lucy Kerr

Reviews Posted

• Arena by Holly Jennings
• Front Runner by Felix Francis
• Bay of Sighs by Nora Roberts

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

After reading all the Pern books recently, I decided to look for a used copy of The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern by Jody Lynn Nye. This faux nonfiction title has maps, character sketches, etc. about the series. Since it was written about 20 years ago, it doesn't have more information on the books I've been reading lately though.

I also bought a couple of Tanya Huff books for my Kindle when they went on sale this week.

• Gate of Darkness Circle of Light
• Swan's Braid and Other Tales of Terizan

I added two to my review stack too when I received invitations to view them at NetGalley.

• Gone Without a Trace by Mary Torjussen (April 11)
• Beauty and the Wiener by Casey Griffin (Feb. 7)

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

Book Review: Front Runner by Felix Francis

Front Runner
Author: Felix Francis
Publication: G.P. Putnam's Sons (October 13, 2015)

Description: Jefferson Hinkley is back in the newest Dick Francis thriller by the New York Times–bestselling author of Damage.

In his role as an undercover investigator for the British Horseracing Authority, Jeff Hinkley is approached by a multi-time champion jockey to discuss the delicate matter of losing races on purpose. Little does he know that the call will set off a lethal chain of events, including the apparent suicide of the jockey and an attempt on Hinkley’s own life. Never one to leave suspicious events alone, Hinkley begins investigating the jockey and the races he may have thrown. But there are others out there who intend to prevent his inquiry from probing further . . . at any cost.

My Thoughts: Jeff Hinkley is an investigator for the British Horseracing Authority. When the story begins he is dealing with some depression because his long-term girlfriend has moved out and taken up with a man who has a much less dangerous lifestyle. Jeff is also called be a friend who is also a jockey who has an interesting story to tell. He is being blackmailed to throw races. Jeff begins investigating and the next thing he knows someone attempts to kill him and succeeds in killing his jockey friend.

Meanwhile, he attends a luncheon at a racetrack upon the invitation of the man who owns the horse he saved from kidnapping in the previous book and also meets an interesting woman. Henri Shawcross is a British socialite who runs her own business. She is there with her uncle Sir Richard Reynard who is considering purchasing some race horses of his own. Before their relationship can really develop, Jeff is attacked again this time by two men with knives.

When Jeff gets out of the hospital, he continues to investigate the blackmailing scheme and furthers his romance with Henri. She invites him to spend Christmas with her and her family - her uncle and his wife, her cousin and his wife - in the Cayman Islands. This should get him away from further murder attempts but it does not.

This was an interesting story filled with lovely descriptions of the Cayman Islands, lots of information about diving, and great details about British horseracing. I enjoyed it very much and hope that Jeff Hinkley's adventures are not over.

Favorite Quote:

There would be plenty of time later to think about why I'd been attacked and who would have done such a thing to me.

Twice in eight days someone had tried to kill me.

I just hoped it would be third time's the charm.

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

Friday Memes: Front Runner by Felix Francis

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 display on the digital thermometer to my left read 105 degrees—105 degrees Celsius, that is, 221 degrees Fahrenheit.

Friday 56: 

Dave had been extremely fortunate not to have had half a ton of horse landing right on top of him.

This week I am reading Front Runner by Felix Francis. Here is the description of this mystery/thriller from Amazon:

Jefferson Hinkley is back in the newest Dick Francis thriller by the New York Times–bestselling author of Damage.

In his role as an undercover investigator for the British Horseracing Authority, Jeff Hinkley is approached by a multi-time champion jockey to discuss the delicate matter of losing races on purpose. Little does he know that the call will set off a lethal chain of events, including the apparent suicide of the jockey and an attempt on Hinkley’s own life. Never one to leave suspicious events alone, Hinkley begins investigating the jockey and the races he may have thrown. But there are others out there who intend to prevent his inquiry from probing further . . . at any cost.

Book Review: Bay of Sighs by Nora Roberts

Bay of Sighs
Author: Nora Roberts
Series: Guardians Trilogy, Book 2
Publication: Berkley (June 14, 2016)

Description: To celebrate the rise of their new queen, three goddesses of the moon created three stars, one of fire, one of ice, one of water. But then they fell from the sky, putting the fate of all worlds in danger. And now three women and three men join forces to pick up the pieces…

Mermaid Annika is from the sea, and it is there she must return after her quest to find the stars. New to this world, her purity and beauty are nothing less than breathtaking, along with her graceful athleticism, as her five new friends discovered when they retrieved the fire star.

Now, through space and time, traveler Sawyer King has brought the guardians to the island of Capri, where the water star is hidden. And as he watches Annika in her element, he finds himself drawn to her joyful spirit. But Sawyer knows that if he allows her into his heart, no compass could ever guide him back to solid ground...

And in the darkness, their enemy broods. She lost one star to the guardians, but there is still time for blood to be spilled—the mermaid’s in the water and the traveler’s on the land. For she has forged a dangerous new weapon. Something deadly and unpredictable. Something human.

My Thoughts: The second book in the Guardians trilogy finds our group of six in Capri searching for the second falling star. The one concentrates of the romance between Sawyer and Annika. This is a romance that seemingly has a built-in ending date. Annika is a mermaid who was given legs so that she could take part in the quest to find the stars but will return to the sea in three months without them. Sawyer has a device that lets him travel in space and time.

Sawyer is reluctant to begin a relationship with Annika for a number of reasons. The primary one for him is that Annika is new to life on land and dealing with humans. He sees her as an innocent in need of protection. Despite her lack of familiarity with humans, Annika is a woman who knows what she wants.

Our villain, the dark goddess Nerezza, has found herself a human partner in Andre Malmon who is a bored killer who has had previous run-ins with Sawyer and with Riley. If he weren't so irredeemably evil, I could feel sorry for him because his relationship with Nerezza changes him for the worse. But Malmon makes his bargain eagerly and ends up changed and enslaved to her.

Since one of the main viewpoint characters in this one isn't human, we get a lot of Annika's joy and curiosity. We also get a lot of opportunities to see her struggling with idioms and customs of humans. For example, she has a very different way of dealing with nakedness and talking about sex. Luckily, her new sisters Riley and Sasha are there to clear up some of her confusion.

Again, this story is trademark Roberts in the relationships she builds between the characters and their acceptance of each others strengths and weaknesses. Friendships matter in a Roberts book. I can't wait to read the next one both to see the end to their quest and to see the relationship that is coming next.

Favorite Quote:

"The man with the gun didn't have a red shirt. It was brown."

Now Sawyer smiled. "Star Trek. We have to catch you up."

"It means expendable," Riley explained. "The crewman in the red shirt going on a mission isn't going to make it back."

"Why doesn't he change his shirt?"

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

Book Review: Arena by Holly Jennings

Arena
Author: Holly Jennings
Series: Arena (Book 1)
Publication: Ace (April 5, 2016)

Description: A fast-paced and gripping near-future science fiction debut about the gritty world of competitive gaming...

Every week, Kali Ling fights to the death on national TV.
She’s died hundreds of times. And it never gets easier...

The RAGE tournaments—the Virtual Gaming League’s elite competition where the best gamers in the world compete in a no-holds-barred fight to the digital death. Every bloody kill is broadcast to millions. Every player is a modern gladiator—leading a life of ultimate fame, responsible only for entertaining the masses.

And though their weapons and armor are digital, the pain is real.

Chosen to be the first female captain in RAGE tournament history, Kali Ling is at the top of the world—until one of her teammates overdoses. Now, she must confront the truth about the tournament. Because it is much more than a game—and even in the real world, not everything is as it seems.

The VGL hides dark secrets. And the only way to change the rules is to fight from the inside...

My Thoughts: ARENA is a near-future science fiction story in which video gaming has gone virtual and players have the status of elite athletes or rock stars today. Kali Ling is twenty and deep into the gaming world. She is also deep in the lifestyle partying every night and using all sorts of drugs. But there are consequences.

Kali is beginning to feel that the virtual world is more real than real life. She makes any excuse to spend time in that virtual world. She and her team are taking part in a tournament. They are soundly defeated in the first round and now have to make their way to the championship through the loser's bracket.

Things become even more difficult for Kali when one of her teammates with whom she had a sexual relationship overdoses and dies in her bed. More chilling is that the owner and sponsors cover up his death by saying it was a heart problem and try to do their best to erase him from the public's memory. Kali thinks this is wrong and her guilt at not saving her friend also sends her deeper into her self-destructive spin.

A new guy - James Rooke - is brought in to fill the empty place on the team. He and Kali don't click at first. He seems to be standoffish despite being an excellent game player. It isn't until Kali bottoms out and decides to fight her addiction to gaming that she begins to see Rooke's strengths. He has fought the fight she is fighting.

This seems like a very realistic possible future. You could slot in any professional sport today with the public adulation, potential exploitation by owners and sponsors, and the careless lifestyle of the newly rich and famous as a model for Kali's life.

While I thought her transformation was too abrupt, I enjoyed watching Kali grow up and choose her life's path and goals.

Favorite Quote:

"We don't die, you idiot. We never die. We just wake up. You know why the rest of us do this? Why we drink and party and get so high we can't remember our own names: It's just to pass the time until we can go back to what's real."

I got this one for review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Teaser Tuesday: Bay of Sighs by Nora Roberts

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books and a Beat. 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:

"Ten out of ten for the face plant," Riley decided.

Sasha rolled over, gave Riley the beady eye.

This week my teaser comes from Bay of Sighs by Nora Roberts. This is the second book in her Guardians trilogy. Here is the description from Amazon:

To celebrate the rise of their new queen, three goddesses of the moon created three stars, one of fire, one of ice, one of water. But then they fell from the sky, putting the fate of all worlds in danger. And now three women and three men join forces to pick up the pieces…

Mermaid Annika is from the sea, and it is there she must return after her quest to find the stars. New to this world, her purity and beauty are nothing less than breathtaking, along with her graceful athleticism, as her five new friends discovered when they retrieved the fire star.

Now, through space and time, traveler Sawyer King has brought the guardians to the island of Capri, where the water star is hidden. And as he watches Annika in her element, he finds himself drawn to her joyful spirit. But Sawyer knows that if he allows her into his heart, no compass could ever guide him back to solid ground...

And in the darkness, their enemy broods. She lost one star to the guardians, but there is still time for blood to be spilled—the mermaid’s in the water and the traveler’s on the land. For she has forged a dangerous new weapon. Something deadly and unpredictable. Something human.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (Nov. 14, 2016)

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.

Other Than Reading...

Grades are done and the second quarter has begun. We are still basking in unusually warm weather for November in Minnesota. There are some long range predictions that this could all change for Thanksgiving Break, of course. It's still a week and an half away and I'm hoping the predictions are wrong.

It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without some difficult driving conditions though. I am planning to go home to Duluth for the long weekend which actually begins for me at noon on Tuesday of Thanksgiving week. It will be nice to see how my brother has settled into our new home and what we still have to do to sell our old house.

This will be the first Thanksgiving in a few years that I have actually traveled. I'll have a stack of books going home with me for some reading time since I don't plan to do any shopping. Black Friday crowds will get along without me again this year. This should be the last year I'll have to worry about traveling for Thanksgiving since I should be all retired and settled by this time next year.

Read Last Week

The Elizabeth Papers by Jenetta James was an engaging story that defies categorization. It is a romance, mystery, historical fiction story. I was totally engaged despite never having read PRIDE AND PREJUDICE which was the source of the historical characters. My review will be posted on Nov. 25.

Lone Wolf by Sara Driscoll was a romantic suspense title I got from NetGalley for review. It had both engaging characters and a really suspenseful plot. My review will be posted on Nov. 23.

Penric's Mission by Lois McMaster Bujold was the latest novella in the World of the Five Gods. I grabbed this one because I wanted something short to read on my Kindle while I was waiting to vote and running errands. As usual, Bujold's prose is masterful. I was less enamored of the cliffhanger ending. I reviewed this one at LibraryThing.

Currently

I am reading Dragonheart by Todd McCaffrey. It is my goal to finally finish all the Pern novels. I think I read the first one somewhere around 1970. I just have a couple more to go.

Next Week

Then it is back to review books. These two will be released in December.

• Time of Death by Lucy Kerr (Dec. 13)
• At What Cost by James L'Etoile (Dec. 13)

Reviews Posted

• Shadow of Victory by David Weber
• Cat Got Your Diamonds by Julie Chase
• Belle Chasse by Suzanne Johnson

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

I got a little carried away again this week. I bought:

• Immortal Writers by Jill Bowers
• Followed by Frost by Charlie N. Holmberg

I added these to my review stack:

• Legacy by Hannah Fielding (July 28, 2016)
• A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn (Jan. 10) - I was turned down for this one at NetGalley by was able to get it through Penguin's First to Read Program.

These all were added when publicists asked if I'd like to read them.

• Southern Gothic by Dale Wiley (Jan. 24)
• Killing Jane by Stacy Green (Jan. 31)

I may have done a little happy dance when I got these two.

• A Darkness Absolute by Kelley Armstrong (Feb. 7)
• Etched in Bone by Anne Bishop (March 7)

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