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Review: Bizarre Tales From World War II by William B. Breuer
This is an easy-to-read collection of short snippets organized by time period before, during, and after World War II. I’d hesitate to call them bizarre tales, however. Curious coincidences and interesting anecdotes is probably more appropriate. I would not recommend this as a reference book for those writing about WWII. It is, though, probably a…
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Review: Pathways (Tales of Valdemar #11) edited by Mercedes Lackey
While I usually call out two specific stories in anthologies, my favorite and the one I’d most like to see expanded into a novel, I’m unable to do that with this Valdemar collection. I enjoyed most of the stories, but none of them jumped out to me as amazing. A few of the stories also…
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Review: Closer to the Chest (Herald Spy #3) by Mercedes Lackey
It’s taken quite a few books, but I think Lackey is back on her stride with her long-running Valdemar series. While I still noticed a few editorial discrepancies, I enjoyed this novel a lot more than any of the previous books that featured Mags and Amily. This particular story acts as a culmination to what…
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Review: Valhalla (Stargate SG-1 #14) by Tim Waggoner
I enjoyed this book more than I otherwise might have, reading it so soon on the heels of watching Thor: Ragnarok in theaters. Any Stargate reading for me is a visit to a world I love, and this was a solid, though not necessarily memorable, entry into the media tie-in offerings for this world. One…
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Review: A Scandal in Battersea (Elemental Masters #12) by Mercedes Lackey
The novels of Mercedes Lackey’s Elemental Masters series take two forms. The first is re-imagined fairy tales set in Edwardian England (and Europe beyond). The second is a more of a traditional (historical) urban fantasy series that centers around a group of magicians, psychics, and mediums in London, starring two plucky young women and their…
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Review: Artemis by Andy Weir
When the credits rolled on Ant-Man, I turned to my husband and exclaimed, “Marvel made me a heist movie!” When I read the first blurb about Artemis ages ago, I turned to my husband and exclaimed, “Andy Weir is writing me a heist novel!” Considering I read the book in the space of a solid 4 hours…
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Review: Canyon Shadows (Dark Tyrant #2) by C.R. Langille
Disclaimer: I consider myself friends with the author, via the graduate writing program we both attended. However, I purchased the hardcopy version of this novel for full price. Though this book is the second in a shared world of stories, you do not have to read the first in order to get full enjoyment from…
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Review: The Ruin of a Rake (Turner Series #3) by Cat Sebastian
This was a satisfying conclusion to the romantic tales of the extended Turner family. While I was concerned that Lord Courtenay wouldn’t appeal to me as a romantic lead after his introduction in The Lawrence Browne Affair, author Cat Sebastian proves a deft hand at hidden depths that do not negate any of the character…
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Review: “A Case of Spirits” (A Charm of Magpies short) by K.J. Charles
This short story was included in my Kindle edition of A Case of Possession (A Charm of Magpies #2). This delightful short story doesn’t add much to the interpersonal relationship between Lord Crane and Stephen Day, but it does show how Crane and his manservant Merrick have become intricately linked with Day’s world of magician justiciars.…
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Review: A Case of Possession (A Charm of Magpies #2) by K.J. Charles
This was not a long novel, but I think I would have devoured it just as quickly had it been twice the length. I’ve decided that I adore Lord Crane. Like any true romantic hero, he has looks, brains, and money. But his personality, lack of regard for polite society, and familiarity with the world…
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Review: The Soldier’s Scoundrel (Turner Series #1) by Cat Sebastian
I’m starting to see the appeal of romances, especially the ones where a happily ever is guaranteed. I don’t always like the emotional angst characters have to go through to get there, and I’ve discovered that I’m not a huge fan of the “you’re better off without me” trope (it hits a bit close to…
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Review: Bookburners (Season 1) created by Max Gladstone
Also written by Margaret Dunlap, Mur Lafferty, and Brian Francis Slattery I first learned about Bookburners and the modern concept of the serial novel through a blog post at Speculative Chic. I was intrigued by both the format and the story premise, so downloaded the first season on my Kindle. It languished for a while,…
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Review: The Magpie Lord (A Charm of Magpies #1) by K.J. Charles
Now that I’ve discovered a newfound love for queer historical romance, it was really only a matter of time before I made the jump to the urban fantasy variety. This novel was an excellent introductory choice that I devoured in the space of one airport wait + flight to Florida, and I had to resist…
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Review: Night Shift (Midnight, Texas #3) by Charlaine Harris
I quickly sped through the finale of this trilogy once it arrived in the mail. However, this was mostly to get to the end of the story rather than through any great love for the world or the characters. On the one hand, I am very satisfied with how some story lines concluded, such as…
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Review: Day Shift (Midnight, Texas #2) by Charlaine Harris
Now that I knew what I was getting into, I tore through the second book that inspired my favorite television show of the summer. If anything, this novel made me want to go back and re-watch episodes of the show to appreciate the characters more. The main plot of this book (or at least one…
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Review: Midnight Crossroad (Midnight, Texas #1) by Charlaine Harris
Like The Magicians, I’m glad that I watched the television series version of this story before picking up the books. However, unlike The Magicians, it wasn’t because the screen version fixed things that I hated about the books. In this case, it was purely because writing for screen is different than writing for the page.
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Review: The Lawrence Browne Affair (Turner Series #2) by Cat Sebastian
A break from the daily routine in the form of a business trip to Seattle for the day job meant a break in my regular reading habits. Ages ago, my favorite contemporary romance author (okay, Anna Zabo is really the only contemporary romance author I really read) noted that a novel by one of their…
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Review: Patterns of Interference (Star Trek Enterprise: Rise of the Federation #5) by Christopher L. Bennett
Obvious benefits of a media tie-in novel are the lack of production value constraints. This means authors are free to make use of a vast array of characters and create new planets beyond the typical constrictions of special effects. Bennett has capitalized on these abilities to great extent, especially writing a familiar cast of characters…
