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CatherineReads

I Read Words Other People Write

UF, UF, UF. PNR, HR, Sci-Fi, finding a bit more YA that I enjoy. Mystery, crime, detective shit. Have recently figured out I'm not really a contemporary romance gal. I like smut but am not really into erotica. Oh, did I mention UF?

Currently reading

The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty
Anne Rice, A.N. Roquelaure
Fate's Edge
Ilona Andrews
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
J.K. Rowling
The Iron Queen
Julie Kagawa
Red Seas Under Red Skies
Scott Lynch

The Bone Season

The Bone Season  - Samantha Shannon 3.5 rating
Gonna half to think on this one for a bit

Tiger Lily

Tiger Lily - Jodi Lynn Anderson beautiful, sweet, heart breakingly sad.

Through the Ever Night

Through the Ever Night  - Veronica Rossi Took a while to get going but when it did, it was fantastic! Want the third one now!

Lover at Last (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #11)

Lover at Last (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #11) - J.R. Ward Not quite sure how I feel about this one. The ending was super cheese and super quick. I find I'm most interested in Assail than anyone else. Not bad, very JR Ward, but not great.

Consequences

Consequences  - Aleatha Romig I find the 5-star ratings very discomforting. This piece of writing is particularly bad. If this is what people are reading and finding a rush of feeling, well, I'm sad about what stories these readers are reaching for.

I'll try to write a review later but this book was shit. Let's not talk about the subject. No forgive that, we will talk about the subject.

Let's talk about the writing. Stilted. Talking. talking. talking. more talking.

Stone Guardian

Stone Guardian  - Danielle Monsch It picked up at the end and I liked Larissa more during the last 4 chapters or so. Unsure if I'll continue with this series, however. Nothing really new or surprising happening here and no real story behind how this world (these worlds) came to be. Not horrible, not great.

Magic on the Line

Magic on the Line  - Devon Monk OMG that book did not just end like that! NEED. NEXT. ONE. NOW.

The Bridgertons: Happily Ever After

The Bridgertons: Happily Ever After - Julia Quinn I laughed, I cried! It could be that I'm down with a cold right now and my defenses are weakened but I cried like a baby during several of these 'second' epilogues.

This was a wonderful send off to the Bridgertons and I miss them already.

Broken Harbor

Broken Harbor  - Tana French I just want to list some quotes from the book. Tana French is a fantastic writer, tense, subtle, dramatic. She worms under your skin and makes you feel gray and foggy.

Page 11 "Probably he was thinking what a boring bollix I was. Plenty of people think the same thing. All of them are teenagers, mentally if not physically. Only teenagers think boring is bad. Adults, grown men and women who've been around the block a few times, know that boring is a gift straight from God. Life has more than enough excitement up its sleeve, ready to hit you with as soon as you're not looking, without you adding to the drama. If Richie didn't know that already, he was about to find out."

Page 104 - "I looked out over the water, into the night that was coming in on the tide, and I felt nothing at all. The beach looked like something I had seen in an old film, once upon a time; that hotheaded boy felt like a character from some book I had read and given away in childhood. Only, somewhere far inside my spine and deep in the palms of my hands, something hummed; like a sound too low to hear, like a warning, like a cello string when a tuning fork strikes the perfect tone to call it awake."

Page 385 - "There have been so many of them. Run-down rooms in tiny mountain-country stations, smelling of mold and feet; sitting rooms crammed with flowered upholstery, simpering holy cards, all the shining medals of respectability; council-flat kitchens where the baby whined through a bottle of Cooke and the ashtray overflowed onto the cereal-crusted table; our own interview rooms, still as sanctuaries, so familiar that blindfolded I could have put my hand on that piece of graffiti, that crack in the wall. They are rooms where I have come eye to eye with a killer and said, You. You did this."

Married By Morning

Married By Morning - Lisa Kleypas I just love these sweet romances. They aren't relegated to the guilty pleasure shelf at all. I'm starting to read some books that are surely considered 'literary fiction,' but I'll never give up my romances.

Catherine's change throughout this book was a bit quick in my opinion. She went from full defenses, code red to quivering mass of skirts fairly quickly, BUT, in all honesty, she and Leo did have about 2-3 previous books full of scratchy, mean, 'poke the hive with a stick' banter before their friction started a fire.

And what a fire it was! Is it my imagination or is there far more sexy times in this Kleypas novel than the others? Not necessarily a spoiler, these are historical romances touched with contemporary sex. I don't know about you girls, but with the infrequency that these people wash, I don't think I want to be meetin' anyone's intimate curls or aroused manhood before a bath. Again, I thank the universe I was not born in 19th century anything. But I digress, back to the stays and pins and about 6 layers of clothes that every freakin' woman wears.

These novels are fun; they are sweet and sexy; the women are plucky, smart and sassy; the men are swarthy, strong and conniving; what else could one want in a 'modern' historical romance? Lisa Kleypas does it better than most.

On the Way to the Wedding

On the Way to the Wedding  - Julia Quinn Loved it!

The Shining Girls

The Shining Girls - Lauren Beukes Did you ever see the move Amityville Horror? Not the 2005 movie (suck it Hollywood), but the 1979 one. OK, maybe not the best analogy, but the house is just f'd up. It's just wrong. No explanations, no science or pseudo-science, it just is.

This house takes people and turns them into horrors. It shows one man the past, the present and the future, all blurred into one inescapable path. He must find these 'shining girls' in their past then chase them into their future. He must murder them. One girl escapes. Then the real chase is on.

This story got its hooks in me. At first, the switch-ups in the timeline took me a bit to get a handle on, but once I did, I could not put this book down. Time-travel, mystery, thriller, bunk reporter coming back for the story of a lifetime, and the girl. Not a victim but a survivor of a horrific attack, yeah, somewhat obsessed over her own case, but in a relentless pursuit of the truth!

I love Kirby. She is a real person. We are all dealt some great stuff (hopefully) and a whole lot of shit stuff that, if we are lucky, we learn how to shed and still love those who dealt it to us. She's not a horribly damaged person, prone to freezing fits of emotion or debilitating memories. She's a woman on a mission who was dealt a pretty f'd up circumstance that no one would want to go through. Evidenced by the cops, the reporters, and her family that never really want to talk about her tragedy. So she does the only thing she can, lives. Keeps on living.

That's all I can say. If you like crime novels or thrillers, I think you should give this one a go. It won't get wrapped up with a neat and tidy ribbon, but really, life never does.

Up From the Grave

Up From the Grave  - Jeaniene Frost Maybe I'm not in to PNR as much as I was when I read the last of these but I was very disappointed. Trope, tripe and trivial. Too bad.

Darkfever

Darkfever  - Karen Marie Moning Still as gripping, sexy, fun, edgy and wonderful as I remember. Still one of my favorite series. I'm so excited to re-read this series. It's not quite as urgent as the first time I read it so I'm able to take my time and soak up more, question more, highlight more and enjoy more.



RE-READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Barrons, I'm coming for you!

Clean Sweep

Clean Sweep -  Ilona Andrews This book has all the makings of utter silliness and stupidity. But it's amazing! Alien werewolves, alien vampires, mysterious, witch-like innkeepers. Ilona Andrews are the only authors who could make this nonsense work. And work it they did!

American Vampire

American Vampire - Jennifer Armintrout Big fat meh.

Unlikable characters. Dumb vampire. Equally dumb 'heroine.' Repetition. Silly dialogue. Insta-love with no chemistry.