Books Read in June 2010

Here is June's list - 14 books total - along with my thoughts...

Early to Death, Early to Rise by Kim Harrison ***
Stormwalker by Allyson James ****
Glimmerglass by Jenna Black ***
Bite Me by Parker Blue ***
Try Me by Parker Blue ***
Dead, Undead and Somewhere In Between by J.A. Saare ***
Blood Song by Cat Adams ***
Night Runner by Max Turner ****
Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey *****
Tempted: House of Night by P.C. & Kristen Cast ***
Burned: House of Night by P.C. & Kristen Cast ***
Tainted: Blood Lily Chronicles by Julie Kenner ****
Torn: Blood Lily Chronicles by Julie Kenner ****
Turned: Blood Lily Chronicles by Julie Kenner ****

Only one book gets 5 stars. I'd actually give it ten stars if I could. That would be Sandman Slim. I can only say - get out there & buy this book!

Four stars go to Julie Kenner's Blood Lily Chronicles. I thought these would be light fluff - I don't know why. They turned out to be excellent dark urban fantasy and I can only hope that there will be more about Lily coming. Also 4 stars is Night Runner, a YA urban fantasy about a teen in a mental institute who believes he's ill only to find out he's a vampire. This was phenomenally creative & well written. The sequel End of Days comes out in Sept. & is on my must-get list. The final 4 star is Stormwalker. I liked the creative story which mixes native american mythology with dragons, shifters, and other elements. Its sequel Firewalker comes out in Nov. & is also on my must-read list.

Finally, the 3 star books are all good reads & yes, I'll be reading their sequels, too. I thought Kim Harrison's Early to Death, Early to Rise (2nd in a series) was better than the first. Glimmerglass I liked, but it was missing backstory on the fae which would have made it much more enjoyable (I'm hopeful that will be addressed in future books). Bite Me & Try Me were both good reads (and I hope there are more in this series) with a unique take on the vampire integration into society. Dead, Undead & Somewhere In Between was a great story & I wanted more - it was left on a devastating cliffhanger which bummed me out (on the off chance there isn't a sequel, I don't like being left hanging like that). Blood Song was an entertaining story but could have been better developed. My biggest problem with it was that I couldn't reconcile the character (who is late twenties) with the cover picture (looks like a teenager to me). And finally, the House of Night series are always entertaining. The mix of vampires with magic is a unique story line & the characters feel like what they are - teens. (Some books don't manage that.)

I'll be posting my July reads at the end of this week. I tackled a lot of extraneous books this month - books that have been sitting in my TBR pile for a while & some new books. I also went back and reread two series because their latest sequels came out. All this was done while running my dog back & forth to the vet for a dental cleaning that turned into a tooth extraction, popped stitches, and more. Can I say my poor baby is miserable? :( And then there was my MOL who felt sick & ended up in the ER with a pacemaker & appts. for the next month to figure out why her pulse is wavering somewhere around 32!! Egads. Still, I'm at 13 books so far (the latest is dragging for me -- sigh -- I think I'm going to have to start skimming to get thru it.)