Sunday Post – 26th June

This is part of the weekly meme over at the Caffeinated Book Reviewer, where book bloggers can share the books and blogs they have written.

It’s my birthday, so I shall be conspicuous by my absence today as I’m hosting a family birthday get-together, complete with four generations of the family. Yesterday, we went out for a meal together in Brighton at a vegetarian restaurant, which was lovely. This week has been very busy with all sorts of non-editing activities.

I can’t quite believe it – but I’ve now finished this year’s Creative Writing courses, other than a one-day Summer Surgery course in July. So there has been a tranche of paperwork and admin to wrap it all up that needs to be dealt with. Wednesday night was Northbrook College’s Information Evening, where I met up with my other Adult Learning teaching colleagues as we start looking forward to September’s new courses.

I’m also in the process of changing computers – my desktop was bought in 2010 and works very hard. So as a birthday pressie, I’ve got a spiffy new model with a solid state hard drive which, hopefully will mean I won’t be spending vast acres of my life staring at the screen as it leisurely takes minutes at a time to consider opening up. My marvellous son, who helped me choose it in the first place, has helped me set it up.

I’ve managed to catch up a bit on my reading this week, completing:

City of the Lost – Book 1 of the Casey Duncan series by Kelley Armstrong
Casey Duncan once killed a man and got away with it. Since then she’s become a talented police detective, tethered only to her job, her best friend, Diana, and the occasional evening with her sexy, no-strings-attached ex-con lover, Kurt. But then Casey’s own dark past begins to catch up with her. The two women need to run—and Diana’s heard of a place where they won’t be found, a town especially for people like them…

I thoroughly enjoyed this contemporary murder mystery set in a confined, isolated community under a fair amount of stress – an ideal backdrop for all sorts of high jinks.

 

Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet by Charlie N. Holmberg
Maire is a baker with an extraordinary gift: she can infuse her treats with emotions and abilities, which are then passed on to those who eat them. She doesn’t know why she can do this and remembers nothing of who she is or where she came from. When she is visited by Fyel, a ghostly being, she begins to piece together who and what she really is—as well as past mistakes that yield cosmic consequences.
This is a struggle for finding lost identity, with a number of fairy tales stitched into the storyline. I found this an unexpectedly moving and enjoyable read and will certainly be hunting down more books by this interesting author.

 

Demon Road – Book 1 of Demon Road series by Derek Landy
Demon Road kicks off with a shocking opener and never lets up the pace in an epic road-trip across the supernatural landscape of America. Killer cars, vampires, undead serial killers: they’re all here. And the demons? Well, that’s where Amber comes in…Sixteen years old, smart and spirited, she’s just a normal American teenager until the lies are torn away and the demons reveal themselves.

This YA offering isn’t for the faint of heart – full-on, bloody adventure features right from the start. That said, I really enjoyed the protagonist, Amber, and the cast of characters both good and bad who whisk the narrative along at a good clip. But I wouldn’t be happy for a young teen to read it, given the level of violence.

 

My posts last week:
Sunday Post – 19th June

*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of Titanborn by Rhett C. Bruno

Teaser Tuesday – Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet by Charlie N. Holmberg

Eve of War is Unleashed…

Review of The Obsession by Norah Roberts

Review of The Passage – Book 1of the The Passage series by Justin Cronin

Friday Faceoff – Armed to the Teeth featuring The Thousand Names – Book 1 of The Shadow Campaigns series by Django Wexler

Review of City of the Lost – Book 1 of the Casey Duncan series by Kelley Armstrong

Other interesting/outstanding blogs and articles that have caught my attention during the last week, in no particular order:

This made me laugh on a rainy Thursday afternoon. Five of the worst ways to ask for print ARCs http://cuddlebuggery.com/blog/2012/06/06/five-of-the-worst-ways-to-ask-for-print-arcs/

I enjoyed reading these nuggets of information about one of my favourite Shakespeare plays. Five Fascinating Facts about A Midsummer Night’s Dream https://interestingliterature.com/2016/06/22/five-fascinating-facts-about-a-midsummer-nights-dream/ …

This is a great article about how the age of the internet can allow us to share those hefty, or tricky reads with someone else. Five Benefits of Buddy-Reading https://saraletourneauwriter.com/2016/06/23/five-benefits-of-buddy-reading/ …

Steph Bianchini gives us yet another lovely slice of science with this fascinating article.
Skies from other planets – The peaks of eternal light http://earthianhivemind.net/2016/06/21/skies-from-other-planets-the-peaks-of-eternal-light/ …

I loved this pictorial journal of a day trip from another part of the world where I’ve never been. A one day escape… https://indigodrift.wordpress.com/2016/06/18/a-one-day-escape/ …

Another slice of excitement is that Fox Spirit Books has published Eve of War, a short story anthology of science fiction, fantasy and horror tales of women battling their foes, which includes my own story ‘Miranda’s Tempest’ imagining what happens to Prospero and Miranda after they leave their enchanted island at the end of Shakespeare’s play The Tempest.

 

For a change, I’m not the only one moaning about the atrocious weather – we have endured some torrential downpours and my heart goes out to the poor souls who have endured flash flooding and damage with lightning strikes. Flaming June for all the wrong reasons…

Many thanks for visiting and taking the time and trouble to comment – and may you have a wonderful reading and blogging week.