3:120 Portents by Kelley Armstrong

 A collection of several short stories and novellas set in the Cainsville universe. Most have been published before but are now gathered in one place.  I enjoyed dipping back into the universe even if I had read many of them before. 

"Scream of Dragons" was originally published in Subterranean Press Magazine. I hadn't read it before and it was seriously creepy. It takes place when Rose is a teen and Seanna is a toddler and shows what can go wrong when the fae blood mixes badly and the child is taken away from Cainsville.

I know I've read "Devil May Care" before but can't remember if it was an extra at the back of a book or something else. It is the story of how Patrick and Seanna got together just long enough to produce Gabriel. Shows just how broken Seanna always was and doesn't do Patrick any favors either.

"Gabriel's Gargoyles" shows Gabriel about 10 years old already having figured out how to navigate his mother and ready to con and pickpocket and it's heartbreaking to see how broken he is because of Seanna.

"The Black Cat" is Gabriel's take on Poe's "The Orange Cat" and "Bad Publicity" is a Patrick prequel that again doesn't show him in the best light. Both were originally preorders for Betrayals.

"Matagot" is a new story and reveals more about TC's true nature and what happened during his kidnapping in Visions. It was interesting as it also reveals more about the start of the Matilda, Gwyn, and Arwen legends.

"Lady of the Lake" was another Betrayals preorder bonus but I don't remember having read it before. It takes place during Olivia and Ricky's vacation when they find a haunted lake.

I do hope that Ms. Armstrong continues to play in this universe from time to time as I do enjoy getting to go back with new stories.

Page count: 320p/715p ytd/348,096p lifetime

2:100 The Diary of Anne Frank

From 2017:

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/395p ytd/347,776p lifetime

1:100 Ghost-Spider: Dog Days Are Over by Seanan McGuire

 Gwyn Stacy, the Spider-Woman of Universe 65, has been outed in her own universe which makes leading anything resembling a normal life impossible. She just wants to go to school and get an education without the hassle so decides to jump over to the regular Marvel universe, 616, and go to school at Empire State University with the help of Peter Parker. So during the day, Gwyn can be found in U-616's ESU doing the school thing but then she returns home to U-65 for homework, band practice, and crime fighting. Unfortunately, jumping between dimensions has the additional problem of having two versions of Miles Warren after her. The one from her home dimension wants to take her out and the one from U-616 seems to have the hots for the Gwyn Stacy of his universe who is no longer and is willing to transfer his affections to this new one.  Neither seems to be ideal for Gwyn's plans.

As stated before, I have only recently started reading Marvel comics and even then tend to limit to characters I'm interested in by authors I like. I just don't have the time or brain power to deal with the constant reboots and artwork/story lines that don't work for me so I tend to not know a lot of the backstories or previous information. This means that I'm kind of lost on what is up with either version of Miles Warren in this collection. There is enough filled in that I have an idea but not much more than that. Also not really sure what is up with Jameson and the Man-Wolf. Again, there was enough that I could figure out basic motivations but there is obviously a lot that I am missing. It made certain things less clear so this was less enjoyable than the last couple of volumes I read. I think a little less time spent on setting up the cross-dimensional stuff and a little more on understanding these villains motivations would have helped tremendously.

Page count: 112p/112p ytd/347,493p lifetime

2020 Recap and 2021 Goals

 So yeah, 2020.  Huge elections for both primary and general meant a lot of work for me along with trying to take my college classes and then add in global pandemic to get the stress going off the charts. We had to put our dog to sleep, had our grouchy old kitty die a few days later, and then lost my dad a few months after that. As much as I usually derive pleasure and stress-relief from reading, there was just too much going on for me to process reading on top of it much of the time. So I not only didn't make my goals, but I also managed to not write single review for all the books I did manage to read.  I do plan on going back and filling those in but it will be it's own project.

So my goals for 2020 were to read 100 books, 25 new authors, and 20,000 pages.  I managed 77 books, 23 new authors, and just over 15,000 pages.  Considering how messed up everything was, I'm still considering it a victory.

I have no idea what this year is going to bring. My work shouldn't be stupid crazy this year but to make up for that I'm taking a full 14 units in school for the Spring semester, I've signed up for cross-stitch challenges to help motivate me to make some progress on those projects, and I have a ton of other personal projects that I want to work on along with getting my house sorted. In light of all that, I'm still going to try for the same goals as last year of 100 books, 25 new authors, and 20,000 pages.  We'll see what I manage to do.

New Releases I'm Looking Forward To: 4th Quarter 2020

 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.

Well, I guess it had to happen sometime.  Between work going absolutely nuts, pandemic fatigue/stress, my college courses, homeschooling, and losing some beloved pets, my reading mojo has fizzled. I'm not sure I'm going to get anywhere near my reading goals this year and I'm seriously behind in all my series. I'm hoping that it will come back sometime in November but that is still so far away.  When it does though, there are so many good books coming out, I need a time turner to read them all.

My husband has been a huge Cory Doctorow fan for a long time. I've read some of his stuff and enjoyed it but admit that he's not one I typically follow to see what new stuff he has coming out.  This time is different.  Attack Surface is a standalone novel in the Little Brother universe and looks to be really good.

Release Date: October 13

I'm really far behind in the Alex Craft series by Kalayana Price but hoping at some point to get caught up and I'm really curious as to what has been happening that brought Alex into a truce with Faerie. Gonna have get caught up before reading Grave War.

Release Date: November 24

There are some other books I've got a passing interest in but nothing that's got me ready to call in a pre-order to my local bookstore.  Maybe that means I'll get a chance to actually get some of this reading caught up?  Hey, a person can dream.

New Releases I'm looking Forward To: 3rd Quarter 2020

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.

Work has slowed a bit but I've been crazy busy trying to catch up everything else that fell to the side when things were super nuts, including my breath. Spring semester is over but summer semester has now started so I'm still trying to get a feel for how busy that will be. In other words, I've stretched myself thin again and am still desperately trying to find time for reading with everything else I'm trying to do. I really need more hours in my days.

In A Peculiar Peril, Jeff Vandermeer has created new worlds attached to our own through doorways in the basement of newly orphaned Jonathan Lambshead which must not intrude upon our own. The first in a YA duology, I have no doubt that the worlds will be rich, the characters intriguing, and highly unusual things will be afoot.

Release date: July 7

Spells for the Dead by Faith Hunter is the 5th book in the Soulwood series, a spin-off from the Jane Yellowrock. I really enjoy the Jane Yellowrock series and I have the first few in the series but haven't yet had time to read them. Rick and Nell have a new team member, they are on a case in Tennessee where dead bodies are decaying at a rapid pace, and someone at the FBI doesn't like paranormals. All the shit seems to be going down with this one.

Release date: July 27

The second of Carrie Vaughn's Robin Hood duology, The Heirs of Locksley, looks to be a fun imagining with the children of the famous outlaw and his nemesis, Prince John. Still need to read the first one though.

Release date: August 4

I enjoyed Binti by Nnedi Okorafor and have been trying to find time to read more of her work as the story synopsis are generally intriguing.  Ikenga is her first foray into writing for a middle-school audience with the main character, 12-year old Nigerian boy Namdi, gaining superpowers after the death of his father.  

Release date: August 18

Honestly, I'm not sure why I'm behind in the Hidden Legacy series by Ilona Andrews. I think I've only read the first book which was delightful bubblegum and that is definitely about the speed my brain can handle right now so I think I need to get caught up so I can read Emerald Blaze. It looks like the series has moved away from the original power couple and I know it's on the paranormal romance side so I'm not sure if  it's going to be like their The Edge series where the main couple changes every book.  Either way, I'm sure it's going to be fun.

Release date: August 25

My oldest got into the Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne several years ago and I've recently read the first book in that series for my book club and enjoyed it. I'll definitely we working my way through all of them so I'm definitely interested in Ink & Sigil which is set in the same world with some cross-over characters while looking to be very much it's own thing.

Release date: August 25

For me, September with new releases has come to be synonymous with the newest October Day book coming out.  These books always have enough high stakes to make me bite my nails until I'm sure everything is going to be ok because sometimes they aren't and characters die or are wounded in ways that are not easily mended and I think my heart would break if something actually caused the break-up of Toby and Tybalt. In A Killing Frost, they are moving closer to their wedding when they are told that by Fae tradition, Toby's mother's husband is considered her legal father and must be invited to the wedding.  That same man would be the one who trapped Toby as a fish for 12 years and who just recently lost all the progress he made towards becoming less of an asshole to everyone. Yeah, that sounds like just the way to fuck with Toby and Tybalt's marriage that Seanan would come up with.

Release date: September 1

New Releases I'm Looking Forward To: 2nd Quarter 2020

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.

School and crazy work have definitely slowed all reading for pleasure to a crawl but work should hopefully start slowing down a bit for the next few months (I hope) so maybe I'll be able to actually get some reading for me in and since the second quarter is very light in terms of new releases I'll definitely be grabbing, maybe, just maybe, I'll get caught up in a few series.

Really, there is just one book that I can't wait to get my hand on and that is the return to The Hollows with American Demon by Kim Harrison.  Seriously, we all had to know that things would not just work out smoothly for Rachel after the thirteen previous books and when they fixed things, they sort of unleashed some unintended consequences, like zombies.  Can't wait to follow Rachel and the rest in this new installment.

Release date: June 16