110:27 Kate Daniels Novellas & Shorts by Ilona Andrews

Curran  POV 1 - Interesting.  Not a short story but more a collection of scenes from the first book or two but seen through Curran's eyes and thoughts.

Fathers & Sons (POV 2) - Takes place right after Curran and the others get out of the death match ring.  He's not happy with how Kate has been treated and goes against Mahon to assert his right to choose his mate.

Curran POV 3 - A short scene between Jim and Curran where Jim fills Curran in on Kate's heritage.  Nice little backstory.

Magic Mourns - Finally get to see Andrea and Rafael hook up and get some more backstory on Andrea's character.  Really nice addition to the universe.

Magic Gifts - Beware gifts you don't know anything about.  Curran and Kate finally get to go on a date when a gentleman gives his lady friend a necklace which rips her head off.  In the aftermath, the girls mother ends up protecting the father by placing the necklace on her son instead and Kate only has a few days to get it off before it kills him too.  Love these fast-paced stories but more than that, I want to know what the heck is going on between Andrea & Raphael as they are on the outs big time at the end of this.  Have to wait for summer for her story and I just can't wait!!!

A Questionable Client - The story of how Saiman and Kate first met.  Love how she kicks butt in this one and seeing their relationship get started.

Page count: 305p/8,711p ytd

110:27 By a Thread by Jennifer Estep

The 6th in the Elemental Assassin book.  Mab is dead and every low-life scum wants to make a name for themselves by taking out the assassin who took out Mab.  Gin is killing yet another would-be assassin (or group of would-be's) daily and the line doesn't seem to be getting any shorter.  So when Finn suggests they go for a vacation for a bit to give things time to blow over some, Gin reluctantly agrees.

Of course, there's no way that Gin's vacation could be just a normal vacation.  Instead, they travel to Bria's old stomping grounds and find out that her best friend is being harassed to sell her restaurant to the local kingpin and he's getting tired of waiting.  To make matters more fun, said best friend is recently engaged to Detective Donovan Caine, ex-lover of Gin's.

Things go completely sideways on the vacation from there.  Completely fast-paced and impossible to put down and I absolutely love this author's style.  I was also happy to see Gin get some resolution on her relationship with Donovan...her way.

Page count: 366p/8,406p ytd

110:26 The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch

A friend loaned this one to me a while ago and since it wasn't in my usual genres, it sort of sat on my shelf until now.  It's an interesting take on a coming of age story.  There's no real plot, no beginning or end, just a snapshot of the life of a 13yr old boy taking one summer out of his life to look at.  It was a remarkable summer for him in which he found incredible things washed up on the shore where he lived but more than that, it was a summer when he learned more about himself than the sea.

Again, not really my type of book in a lot of ways.  I found it a little disjointed and I just couldn't really connect with the main character.  Not a bad book and I can see why it was recommended, but not really my kind of thing.

Page count: 246p/8,040p ytd

110:25 A Perfect Blood by Kim Harrison

The 10th book in the Hollows series.  Rachel has been officially labeled a demon and has been bound to prevent her from tapping into the ley lines.  Since her demonblood keeps her from activating the higher level witch spells, this is leaving her without much in the way of defenses.  So when the IS comes to her because witches with high Rosewood counts are being abducted and mutated towards demon it's at first because they fear she may be doing it and once they are sure she isn't, then her choices are help them and get some semblance of a life back or walk away and have them blame her for the whole mess.  The problem is, it's an Interlander hate group that is just itching to get it's hands on some demon blood...

It's another romp with Rachel and the crew and I realized how much I've missed the series.  I think next time tho, I may reread at least this book before starting the new book as there were some subtle things being referred to that took me forever to remember. 

Page count: 438p/7,794p ytd

110:24 Thread of Death & Other Stories by Jennifer Estep

Thread of Death takes place after Spider's Revenge and before By a Thread.  Gin is finally healed enough to leave the house but all her friends are concerned since she's leaving to attend Mab's funeral.  Her reasoning is that Mab has been such a big part of her life since she was 13 that she wants to say good-bye in her own way. Of course, the funeral is attended by all the up-and-coming scum of Ashland who are trying to figure out who's going to be the next big boss of the underworld there, many of whom are enemies of the Spider.  Then the shots start ringing....

A nice bridge novel.  Sets up a few things that will hopefully get played out in the next book or two.

I also read all the other bridge and background stories she has on her website.  I really liked getting more background on the Deveraux sisters and getting Mab's story from her perspective and what her issue was with Gin's mother.  I love when author's put those kinds of things out for the readers.  They are stories that make the world that much richer but are generally hard to weave into the main books, especially if they are written in a first-person format so nice move Ms. Estep.

Page count: 90p/7,356p ytd

110:23 Shaded Vision by Yasmine Galenorn

The 11th in the Sisters of the Otherworld series.  This one is told from Delilah's point of view.  Camille is still trying to heal from her ordeal with Hyto, Iris is pregnant and getting married, there is a new Daemon general in town, the Kyonni are back and their new leader has a spirit seal, and just for fun they are also in cahoots with Van and Jaycee the sorcerers who escaped in a previous book.

Yeah, it's kind of crazy how much is packed into this book but Galenorn weaves it well infusing enough humor and real-life issues to counterbalance the supernatural stuff they deal with.  It's nice to see Delilah starting to grow-up more and really come into her own.  She's always been the more innocent one of the bunch (and that is the one part I dislike is being reminded of that what feels like every few pages) and it's good to see her more cautiously optimistic rather than being the bubbly ditsy blonde.

In all, another wonderful installment in the series.

Page count: 337p/7,266p ytd

110:22 Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

A quick tale that speaks volumes on the duality of nature within the human psyche and how often the side that you feed is the side that will come out on top.

Page count: 90p/6,225p ytd