What I'm reading - April

With Easter & work travel, my month has started out quite pathetic!

Shakespeare's Champion by Charlaine Harris
I pulled this off the bookshelf to re-read. I love all the Harris books, but the Shakespeares hold a special place as the series I started with. Lily Bard's taciturn manner is hilarious! This is also the book that introduced Jack. Seriously, if you have not read these books do. Harris has a remarkable way of writing characters. You are interested in them, what is coming next, and they never get old - even if their clothes do.

Shakespeare's Christmas by Charlaine Harris
You can't read just one! This is my favorite of the Shakespeare's. The scene at the wedding rehearsal dinner is the most amazing, romantic 3-4 lines in a single book! I don't know how Harris could write a character like Lily so that we don't pity her, she doesn't annoy us, and she seems to do everything just as her character should.

Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews
Wow! I did not expect this book to be so good! Andrews has started a great new Fantasy series here. She is slowely creating this mysterious and unique world. I don't completely understand what's going on, but I understand the little elements she is introducing me to and can not wait to learn more! Great character development that does not 'jump the shark' on any issues. Best of all - a female lead who's tough, doesn't jump every guy she meets, and wants to do things on her own. I am SO hooked. Please let the second book come out this year... I can't wait 12 mos!

To Love and To Perish by Laura Durham
The 3rd in the series for wedding planner Annabelle. The story was pretty good. A hilarious scene at the end with Richard. As always, Richard & Ferm made the book. Thankfully, the crazy old lady was reduced in this book. However, there were still about 4 pages too many of Leatrice. She adds nothing to the story and she's not needed, hopefully she will completely fall by the wayside. The actual wedding planning elements were a little lighter than usual, but it was a good idea to explore the backstage of the profession. I'll pick up the next book and hope for continued improvements.

Slay it with Flowers by Kate Collins
I finally dug this series out of my too-read box (I have the next 3!). As I suspected, once I read one I got back into the charcter. Its a rather typical cozy with a short, busty heroine who meddles in things. Excluding cousin Jillian, there aren't any annoying characters - they all seem to support the story in some manner. The mystery is fine, though not surprising. Marco is, of course, the catalyst for continuing on. An ok series if you've read the others and need to fill your Saturday.

Dead Girl's Dance by Rachel Caine
Although her weather warden series gets all the attention, this YA series is really different & interesting.

What's a Ghoul to do? by Victoria Laurie
This will be our April pick to read.

Mystic and Rider, by Sharon Shinn

Mystic and Rider is the first book in what appears to be a trilogy. It centers around a woman named Senneth, an appointed leader of a small band of individuals sent out by the king of Gillinagaria to access the happenings in the southern provinces. Senneth is joined by two of the king's elite royal guards, a noblewoman friend and her bodyguard, and a young man they rescue from slavery in a tavern. Senneth you see, as well as a few of her companions, are mystics - a broad term used to cover those with a variety of magical abilities. Mysticism is becoming a hot button in the land, used to foster mistrust for the political machinations of power hungry nobles. Senneth and her crew have to get as much info on what's going on that they can and make it back to the king to report in one piece.

What I liked: The characters. I liked the mystical elements and the explanations for them. All the characters got some time. The main character wasn't overdone or annoying, their were lots of questions left unanswered - the perfect set up for a trilogy. I was very excited to find out what was going to happen. Unfortunately...
What could be better:
I'd have to add "the sequel" here. After reading this book and being both surprise and impressed by it, I was eager for more Shinn. Amazon showed me there was a sequel that came out in HD in March. I hoofed it over to Borders asap and started reading a bit of the book - to see if it was worth $25. Unfortunately it is centered around Kirra, a secondary character to Mystic and Rider, and one I found silly and annoying. Not only that, but this character has an affair with a married man and none of the big unanswered questions from Mystic and Rider are answered. The sequel is going unpurchased by me. Now I have to wait until the 3rd book to see if anything comes of the story. I'm suspecting we'll move on to yet another character and the promising beginning will go nowhere.

Working for the Devil, by Lilith Saintcrow

I passed this book by quite a few times at the store b/c it didn't look quite worth buying. Well, as every good reader knows, there comes a time when you are desperate to read something and none of your authors have a book coming out for a couple weeks. So, I picked this book up. After a brief period of time I actually started reading it and eventually, I finished it.

Working for the Devil is about a necromance named Dante who on top of her raising the dead duties also does some bounty hunting and various other retrieval/investigative enterprises. A demon names Japhrimel shows up at her house one day to bring her to see Lucifer. He has a job that he wants to hire her for. It shouldn't be too difficult to understand that she doesn't turn him down. With Japhrimel's aid and that of a few of her friends she agrees to hunt down another demon and retrieve something he had stolen from Lucifer. Dante's glad to undertake the mission as this demon turns out to be a serial killer whom she had met a few years earlier when he killed her friend and attempted to kill her. What follows is a narrative introduction to this futuristic paranormal world and sympathetic adventure that brings us along on the grave changes that are taking place in the life of Dante Valentine.

What I liked: This new world. I enjoy fantasy books and reading about other peoples perceptions of alternative realities. The new understanding that is being presented about demons & hell is intriguing. Saintcrow seems to be setting up Demons as the new Vampires in terms of dark romantic leads.

What could be improved: This is tough to say. It needs a little something. A greater understanding of Dante's work and daily life? What exactly does she do, how does it benefit society, what position is she held in by her peers? Some of this is alluded to or may be inferred, but not clearly enough that the questions are answered. A little more plot to the fantasy adventure. Maybe more sympathy for many of the characters which just never came about. Many of these could be resolved in future books, we'll see.

Sunshine, by Robin McKinley

Sunshine is one of those books that takes place in an alternate, contemporary reality - much like the Charlaine Harris and Laurell Hamilton books. There are Vampires and shape shifters, demons and magicians. This book differs from those in that it doesn't take a fun, lighthearted approach. The main character is named Rae, or Sunshine to her friends. She works in her step-father's coffee shop as a baker and she is definitely lower-middle class. Her friends are all from this sphere being employed in various blue-collar jobs. Rae is a bit antisocial and one night when she can't take it any more she goes for a drive in her crappy car to the lake where she vacationed as a child. Alone, in the dark, she is abducted by vampires. Some plot is afoot she realizes b/c the vamps don't kill her, rather they take her to a house and chain her to a wall in a room with another vampire. For the next 2 days Rae gets to know this vampire and when she remembers long ago magical abilities that frees her she takes the vampire with her. This begins the major conflict in the story between the abductor vamps and Rae. It seems by remembering her forgotten abilities she has made herself very desirable by the bad guys. What follows is a small part mystery- in discovering her past, small part romance- in her developing relationship with this vampire, small part literature - with Mckinley's excellent writing style, adventure, fantasy, and horror - creepy vamps.

Mckinley does a good job of writing this atmosphere in a realistic manner - she's not making us feel sorry for the economic situations, nor is she idealizing it. It is what it is, and tells us about it. This approach makes the story come alive and is very easy to become involved in. There was a variety of characters - normal, ugly, old, fat, bald, plain. They all had their own personalities and relevance to the life of Rae and the developing story. Most importantly, the vampires aren't idealized hotties - they're living-dead things, they look alien to the rest of humanity, a marked difference to most paranormal type books out there.

What I liked: Everything. I'm not usually a fan of "literature" elements in my genre fiction (introspection, metaphor, much description), but I hope I got across above that this is really only marginally genre-ish. The description is evocative and relevant-in the sense that the author isn't going on and on about things the reader doesn't really give a flip about-the historical elements are parceled throughout the book as necessary to further the overall story. The characters were all realistic; no one was over the top or completely outside the realm of possibility. You felt you could know people like that. They all had the perfect ratio of reveal-mystery so that our imaginations had enough to see the character just as we might want them to be. The story developed at a good pace and while I could tell what the ultimate outcome would be I was happy just going along for the ride.

What could be improved: Author could write a sequel! :)