120:120 Wings of Fire: Talons of Power by Tui T. Sutherland

Book 9 of the Wings of Fire series.  Only a few dragons know that Turtle is an animus and thankfully, the big scary dragon, Darkstalker, that his friends just woke up is not one of them.  Darkstalker is definitely up to something but Turtle is having the hardest time figuring out what since every time someone meets Darkstalker, they take an instant liking to him.  Turtle finally figures out the magic Darkstalker is using but every time he uses his own magic, he risks Darkstalker figuring out there is another animus around so he must be careful, more careful and more brave than he has ever been before in his life.  He has never wanted this power, has really just always wanted to be part of the background scenery, but he no longer has that choice as Moon's prophecy points towards very dire things coming if they can't stop it.

This one was really repetitive with Turtle's thoughts and while the plot was ok, I still slogged through it for that reason.  Not the best installment.


Page count: 336p/22,618p ytd/293,021p lifetime

119:120 Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irma Carmon & Shana Knizhnick

I've always had a fascination with strong females in my history although I tended to hyperfocus on a few (*cough* Eleanor of Aquitaine *cough*) but again with my working to learn more and spread myself out, I've been picking up biographies of others and as I had been learning more about Justice Ginsburg through these memes, I saw the book and knew I needed to read it. 

It did not disappoint and neither does she.

Her tenacity and commitment are something amazing to behold as are the obstacles to equal rights  that she has helped break down.  The book is well written with lots of information, including excerpts from her briefs, opinions, and dissents, tons of pictures, and interviews with friends, family, co-workers, clerks, and the lady herself. The author does a phenomenal job of keeping it fast-paced and easy to read.  I think my only objection is the timeline where the author chooses to use a grouping method rather than a straight timeline so I'd be reading something and then realize that it took place before something I had read in a previous chapter but she did do a good job of trying to make sure relevant pieces were together.  Definitely recommended.

Page count: 240p/22,282p ytd/292,685p lifetime

118:120 Tiger Tails by Yasmine Galenorn

Sandy and Maddie have been friends for centuries but it's just her luck that when she really needs help, Maddie is out of town and in her own trouble. Sandy is looking after a friend's daughter who is at the local supe boarding school and they have gone on a hiking field trip when she gets the call that would stop any parent's heart, her ward is missing up in the woods, it's almost dark and a strong snowstorm is blowing in with possible supernatural forces in play.  Sandy is no slouch and she will do whatever it takes to get her ward back safely but she is not alone when she takes the call and when Max, the weretiger, hears that there is a child in trouble he is not about to sit on the sidelines.  It gives them both a much better look at what the other is made of and it is more than respect that grows out in the cold.

I was curious where Max had come from when I read Maudlin's Mayhem.  The list I had looked at said to read Blood Vengeance and this one after but really it makes a lot more sense if you read them before.  I still want to know so much more about Sandy and this was a nice way to see a bit of what she is like away from Maddie.  I hope we get more stories about her.


Page count: 52p/22,042p ytd/292,445p lifetime

117:120 Blood Vengeance by Yasmine Galenorn

Aegis and his band have been invited to play at a mountain chalet and Maddy comes along so they can have a mini-vacation after the craziness of opening the Bedlam B&B. However, it's not long before strange things start happening. First, a message arrives asking Aegis to meet someone downstairs. Then an avalanche buries much of the resort and Aegis is still missing. Once they can find him, maybe they can start figuring out who is behind all this but they definitely won't like the answers as both Maddy and Aegis have made many enemies in their long lives.

Some interesting back story to both of our main characters as well as setting things up for what seems like it is likely to be a long story arc. 


Page count: 51p/21,990p ytd/292,393p lifetime

116:120 A Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Proposed Trade-Offs for the Overhaul of the Barricade by John Chu

The Turbulence is always out there, trying to breach the walls to destroy minds and bodies and machines alike. There is a sentience to it as it probes first one spot and then another looking for weakness.  There are men with incredible minds who can see where the walls need to be fixed and can make it happen through sheer force of will until other men can come along and build their design into reality to keep the Turbulence out.  Ritter's father is one of the best Engineers there is, maybe The Best, and Ritter has only ever wanted to please his father so followed in his footsteps.  He has the talent but more so, he has the talent to actually be able to rebuild minds. But with that talent comes a lessening of focus for the walls and now he must choose to be a Librarian as his talent shows him he should be or follow in father's footsteps to become an Engineer and lose a part of himself forever.

The worlds that Mr. Chu manages to create in such short stories are truly incredible and this one was no exception. The characters and their struggle manage to touch and engage so easily because they speak to universal dilemmas. This story yet again demonstrates Mr. Chu's amazing talent for the short story.


Page count: 24p/20,939p ytd/292,342p lifetime

New Releases I'm Looking Forward To: 1st Quarter 2018

My usual disclaimer:

Let me state, this is really based on authors or series that I'm already reading since those are the things I follow.  I'm not paid to write this blog nor do I have any affiliations with any publishers so I don't receive free books or advance notice of things except what I glean off Facebook from people who do have those contacts or what I research on my own (which again, leads back to authors that I'm already reading).  Maybe someday I'll be one of those who has the contacts and gets ARCs but it's not today.

Considering how much my To Read pile has grown this year, I think I might be glad that the year starts off with just a couple of books so maybe, just maybe, I can start making a dent in said pile. Of course, with going back to work, I'm not actually sure that will happen but hey, a girl can dream.

So the first quarter starts off with the new Wayward Children book, Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire.   This is billed as another stand alone although I'm guessing it probably will help if you've read the other books.  Rini lands one day with a splash at Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children determined to save the world only to find out that she was born years after her mother, Sumi, died.  Now Rini has to figure out how to save not only the world but herself as well before Reality catches up to her.

Release Date: January 9

Nothing that I'm super excited about in February but then two come out on the same day and I will have to flip a coin to figure out which I'm going to read first. Burn Bright by Patricia Briggs is the first Alpha & Omega book in a few years and while I prefer Mercy's stories, I do like Charles and Anna and look forward to popping in on them again.  This time, the damaged werewolves who live near the Marrok's pack are in trouble and it will take both Charles's fighting skills and Anna's gift as a peacemaker to try and save them.

Release Date: March 6

Also coming out that day is Tricks for Free by Seanan McGuire, the latest in the Incryptid series.  When we last left Annie, she as on the run from the Covenant with no way to get back to her family without endangering them further. To fully escape, she can't even have her beloved Mice with her so if something happens to her, she has no way to get the word out. For a Price to be out there in the world without any backup at all, that is a truly scary thing and we can only hope Annie survives this.

Release Date: March 6

115:120 The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

The diary of a 14yr old Jewish girl who lived in Holland and went into hiding with her family, another family, and a friend of the family in order to try and escape the Holocaust after the Germans occupied the country. They lived together for 3 years before they were caught and sent to the concentration camps. This is not a novel but rather the thoughts and feelings of a teenage girl growing up under the shadow of death but yet her writing is powerful and raw and you can see the underlying steel and passion within her.

One interesting tidbit that I learned is that this version of the Diary is not what she actually wrote but a compilation of what she originally wrote combined with a version she had started working on for publication after the war with her father's edits (particularly of her relationship with her mother to tone that down and also apparently of her thoughts that were of a more *ahem* adult nature).  There has been another version released that contains more of this and I really want to find time to read that one to see how it differs.


Page count: 283p/20,915p ytd/292,318p lifetime

114:120 Shockaholic by Carrie Fiscer

Carrie Fiscer's 2nd memoir (apparently I'm reading these in reverse order) opens with her frank discussion of her mental illness and the history of and her views on electroshock therapy which she has used and has helped her tremendously.  She then goes into how that treatment can cause memory loss and why that is a reason for her to write down what she remembers while she still does. This leads into the rest of the book which has stories about her relationships with her father, Michael Jackson, Senator Edward Kennedy, Elizabeth Taylor, and many others through the years. The stories are told in her usual irreverent fashion and it's very easy to hear her voice in your head as you read.  They aren't dolled up or candy coated, they are just her stories as she remembers them which helps keep it real.  I truly enjoyed it.


Page count: 162p/20,632p ytd/292,035p lifetime

113:120 Maudlin's Mayhem by Yasmine Galenorn

The 2nd book in the Bewitching Bedlam series.

Strange things keep happening around Maddy lately. First, she has been clumsy and getting hurt in ways that are just not normal for her including bumping into a strange woman who ends up needing a place to stay for herself and her friends. It's not until Snow White and her 7 Dwarfs show up at the B&B that Maddy realizes who she has opened her Inn to. Then Bubba, her cjinn, turns up in a human form and Aegis is turned into his bat form and unable to change back. Maddy is now convinced that this is more than just strange occurrences and something really is up and it comes as no surprise to find out that she has been hexed.  Now she must figure out who has put the hex on her and how to get it off before anything worse happens.

I'm enjoying this series and I like the fact that there are generally red herrings and lots of twists and turns in the stories but that the real solution was visible and not just something thrown in at the last second that was never shown before (hate that!). Now to read the two tie-in short stories which I'm hoping will answer some of the questions I had reading this about what happened during their vacation. I read the order guide and it said to read them after this one but I definitely felt like I was missing some crucial information so maybe reading Blood Vengeance before this would have been better.


Page count: 307p/20,470p ytd/291,873p lifetime

112:120 Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis

So here's the review I wrote back in 2008 (which I admitted to being in a crappy mood when I wrote it):

So my impressions of Prince Caspain (made before getting in such a horrid mood). Decent book but way too much emphasis on descriptive scenery with a decent nod to a plot and almost no character development. In all honesty, this would have been much better cut down and used to start an adventure book rather then being the entire thing. Just not enough meat on the bones of this one. On to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

And from 2013:
After re-reading it again and in a better mood, well, I can't say I was far off the mark.  It was a cute little story but yeah, not really much in the way of any kind of character development or much point other than crowning Caspian king.  It still feels like it could have been a few chapters in the start of a bigger adventure and just not enough happened to have it be its own story.

And from 2017:
Yeah, still think this could have easily been condensed and put into a different story. I'm glad that now that I've done this one with the youngest child, I don't actually ever have to read this again.


Page count: 223p/20,163p ytd/291,566p lifetime

111:120 Under the Mistletoe by Faye Larson

The only thing Brice really misses about having given up his office job to become a stay-at-home webcomic writer are the holiday parties. He loves everything about them so when his friend, Nathen, invites him to be his +1, Brice jumps at the opportunity. When he overhears some of Nathen's coworkers thinking that they are actually a couple, he laughs about it and shares the joke with Nathen when he looks up and realizes they are under the mistletoe and the joke is suddenly a lot less funny and much more wishful.

Fairly typical short story romance. I'm grateful that at least Ms. Larson's stories generally start with the people already being friends.  I really hate the whole "I just saw you and now we are meant to be together forever because it's Love at First Sight!".  I think having people who were already friends figure out that they might just be attracted to each other is so much sweeter.  My usual disclaimer, I know the author and was given a copy of this story with no expectations.


Page count: 26p/19,940p ytd/291,343p lifetime

110:120 Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day by Seanan McGuire

Jenna died too soon and every soul, living or dead is promised a certain amount of time. Jenna is unwilling to just steal time from the living so she can move on so she lives the half-life of a ghost and works at a suicide crisis hotline. For every minute she helps someone to hang on, she allows herself to take a few minutes from someone.  Now though, ghosts are disappearing all over NY, being caught and bound in mirrors to serve someone. Jenna is one of the few ghosts left and if she doesn't find out who is doing this, she may end up in a mirror herself, never able to move on and see her sister Patty in whatever afterlife there is.  Now Jenna must team up with a corn witch and see just what a ghost can do to save herself and her friends.

A stand-alone take on a ghost story where ghosts are not evil but just trying to get by like the rest of us. Ms. McGuire does a fabulous job putting her own unique spin on ghosts in yet a different way from her other ghost stories and creates something hauntingly beautiful.


Page count: 192p/19,914p ytd/291,317p lifetime