New Releases I'm Looking Forward To: 3rd 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.

So last quarter I was thinking that as I got more used to the job, I would find a better balance and have more time for reading.

Yeah, not so much.  What I have found is that this job cycles from crazy to insane when an election is drawing near.  I probably should have figured that out but apparently I'm either an optimist or deluded (probably the later LOL).  I'm really enjoying it but it has definitely proven to be a lot more than I originally bargained on and my reading has greatly suffered.  Add in two deaths in my immediate family in a two week span of time, end of school year craziness, and volunteer work craziness and well, I'm lucky to read a few pages a day.  I haven't finished a book club book since February and have had almost no personal reading time.  With the primary election cycle just about done, I'm hoping to get some things caught up and balanced a little bit better before school and the general election craziness starts up but I'm thinking that my goal of reading 100 books this year is looking like a pipe dream unless I find a whole lot more short stories and comics.  LOL

None of this means that I haven't been keeping an eye on books that I want to read (and in some cases adding them to my growing To Read pile) so here's what is currently on my radar:


Yasmine Galenorn has been very prolific since going independent with several new series going all at the same time and I have not been able to keep up with them but the second book in the Wild Hunt series, Oak and Thorns, is coming out.  I haven't had a chance to read the first book in the series yet but the series looks interesting with this one hitting political intrigue, shadow magic, a serial killer, and the King of Thorns.

Release date - July 2

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik is not part of an actual series except that it's another her reimagined fairy tales, this time Rumpelstiltskin.  I really enjoyed Uprooted which is her version of Beauty and the Beast and I can't wait to see what she does with this one.

Release date - July 10

Next up is the third book in the Custard Protocols by Gail Carriger.  Competence sees Miss Primrose going from Singapore to Peru to pursue some of life's most challenging questions such as "Can the perfect book club give a man back his soul?"  I have not yet read the other books in this series but I've loved the other series set in this universe and am looking forward to getting to these.

Release date - July 17

Also coming out this day is Seanan McGuire's second book in her Ghost Roads series, The Girl in the Green Silk Gown.  Rose Marshall has been dead for 60 years now and still looking for her killer.  She's been an avenging killer in her own right but still she wants the one that got away, the one that made a deal with the Crossroads that won't let him die...Bobby Cross.  But now Bobby is back in the picture and will it be one that Rose can continue to haunt?

Release date - July 17

Another double release for the end of July starts with Portents by Kelley Armstrong.  While the Cainsville series is technically over (although I still need to read the last two books), Ms. Armstrong is doing like she did with her Otherworld series and giving us other tales set in the world.  Some have been previously released and I've read before, others seem to have been previously released and I haven't heard of, and at least one is new for this collection.

Release date - July 31

We also get a new Dorina Basarab book in Shadow's Bane by Karen Chance.  I have enjoyed Dory's stories much more than the Cassie Palmer ones lately and it's been a long time since we got a new one and I'm really looking forward to it.  Dory is now the newest member of the Vampire Senate and as their war with the Fae is heating up, she is finding out that the slavers who may have her friend's relative may be up to something far worse than arranging death matches.

Release date - July 31

Only one book is on my radar for August but it's a huge one as Magic Triumphs by Ilona Andrews is said to be the conclusion to the Kate Daniels series.  The Witch Oracle's visions are becoming more intense and then Kate receives a delivery from an ancient enemy who has almost destroyed her family before.  To save Curran, her child, her friends, her city, Kate must team up with the most unlikely of allies even knowing she may not survive because otherwise everything she loves will die.

Release date - August 28

I get to go from one favorite series to another as we get the next installment for October Daye the next week.  Night and Silence by Seanan McGuire does not promise to be sweetness and light for October though since Jazz and Tybalt are still trying to recover from their ordeal at the hands of October's mother.  Toby is also hurt as she can't just snap her fingers and make things better for her family so the universe has given her a distraction in the form of kidnapping her human daughter, Gillian, but we know that nothing in Toby's life is simple or easy and this case will prove no exception.

Release date - September 4

Closing out this quarter's books is Time Convert by Deborah Harkness.  Set in the world of her All Soul's trilogy, this bounces us between Matthew's conversion of Marcus to a vampire during the American Revolution and then Marcus's conversion of Phoebe in modern times and how will some things change, some things will remain the same. 

Release date - September 25

1:120 Zombie's Bite by Karen Chance

Dory feels like she has finally lucked out with this contract for a Vampire Senate.  It's taken her awhile but she has finally tracked down her mark to New Orleans but before she can get a fix on him, he's in her room and killing himself.  Now she has to figure out why and what is going on before his master finds her and kills her.  Things just got a lot less easy...

This takes place before the Dorina books.  I've found that I like her stories better than the Cassandra Palmer ones and this was no exception.  I just generally like Dory better and I hope that Ms. Chance plays more with her moving forward.


Page count: 90p/90p ytd/275,565p lifetime

5:120 Fury's Kiss by Karen Chance

The 3rd book in the Midnight's Daughter series.  Dory has been continuing her work for the Senate, now as part of the task force looking into the portals that are bringing things in illegally from Faerie.  During her investigation however, her partner was killed and she blacked out.  Now the Senate needs to know what she saw and Mircea tells her the truth that he separated her vampire self to save her mind when she was young but the barrier is breaking down and her vampire half is very strong.  Now they must find a way to meld things together or Dory could be lost to Dorina forever. Add in the original mystery and the new zombie vampires that are attacking the Senate's offices and pretty much everything is going to hell in a handbasket for Dory.

There was so much going on in this book that it was absolutely insane and almost impossible to put down because I kept wanting to know where things were going from there.  I've seen many people say that they prefer the Dory books to the Cassie Palmer ones and now that I've read them I can see why.  Dory is just so freaking kicka$$.  Unfortunately it's been a few years since the last one and there is still no word as to when the next one will be coming out.


Page count: 536p/1,908p ytd/252,203p lifetime

1:120 Death's Mistress by Karen Chance

The 2nd book in the Dorina Basarab series.  Dory's roommate Claire has returned from Fairie due to threats against her son and the rune of power that should be his having been stolen. The Senate has Dory under contract and this time, she's to bring back the vampire's head but not kill him.  However, Louis-Cesare is not only after Ray as well but trying to get his progeny, Christine, back.  All trails lead back to the Senator who has Christine but when he turns up dead, things start getting a lot more complicated with Louis-Cesare's bid to leave the European Senate to compete for a spot in the North American Senate but there is so much more going on than anyone realizes.

This one goes all over the place and it's hard to put down because then it's a jigsaw puzzle trying to put it all back together again.  Everything does fit perfectly at the end but it's a wild ride getting there.


Page count: 422p/422p ytd/250,717p lifetime

134:120 Midnight's Daughter by Karen Chance

The first in the Dorina Basarab series set in the same world with Cassie Palmer but focusing on different characters.  Dorina is the daughter of Mircea and a human when he was first turned, so as such she is a dhampir, half human/half vampire.  Prone to uncontrollable rages and hated by both groups few damphirs have long lives.  In Dorina's case, her father has done what he can to protect her once he was able and for her own part, she has done her best to utilize her rages to take down demons and vampires who were not behaving. This has been her life but now her father has a task for her. Her uncle, Dracula (yes, that one), has escaped prison and needs to be stopped.  He thinks she can do it, she thinks he's nuts but doesn't see how she has a choice. With the help of another uncle's scion, Louis-Cesare, she is bound to give it her all.

I'd heard good things about this series with some people liking it more than the Cassie Palmer series which I find entertaining.  I admit to being unhappy with the latest Cassie Palmer so decided to give this one a try.  It was a bit harder to get into but well worth it.  I'm happy I have the next book in the series waiting for me on my bookcase.


Page count: 373p/34,209p ytd/249,125p lifetime

54:120 Masks by Karen Chance

Part of the Cassie Palmer/Dorina Basarab series.  Mircea has only been a vampire for 2 years after being cursed.  He never had a master so his understanding of his powers and the rules that govern vampire society are almost non-existent.  He has come to Venice because he has heard that it's a free port for his kind and he's tired of being chased from one area to the next by the jealous masters.  Unfortunately, he has now run afoul of the local vampire constabulary and is being sold to a vampire brothel who is preparing for the Council's coming to town when more "entertainment" will be needed.  Mircea is seen as being just the right thing for one of the Senators.  With patronage, it could be very good for him indeed but that whole 'not understanding the rules' thing he has going on is not just about vampires.  Maybe this will work for him and maybe it won't.

Originally supposed to be a free short story, it ballooned much bigger than Ms. Chance realized and ended up becoming an e-book instead so took a few more months to come out as contracts were being dealt with.  I had been looking forward to learning more about Mircea although I tend to be more of  Pritkin fan but I felt like this didn't really do much for that.  It only covered a few days in his life and really is how he met the Senator who is the Council in Cassie's time.  We get a few insights into his thought process but not much and frankly, it's so long because it is highly detailed in terms of the clothes and surroundings which don't add a lot to the overall plot which was definitely a short-story plot, not one to carry a novel.  Not a bad short-story, it plods a bit for a full-length novel but fans of the series will probably enjoy the read and at a reasonable e-book price it's almost worth it.

Page count: 406p/12,907p ytd/193,945p lifetime