Monday's Beginnings (54)

So, here we are again... another Monday.

How are you faring in reading at the beginning of this week?  Are you starting a new book or finishing one up?

Well, things have been crazy around here.  We are in the process of cleaning everything out and trying to box it all up.  Yep, we are trying to get our house in some sort of order to put it on the market to sell.  That is a lot of work when you are still living there. Ha! We shall see how it works out for us.  But, at the same time we have been running around to visit a few parties for Labor day weekend.  So time has been crunched here and I have not got much of a chance to get much reading done.

I did get some reviews done late Friday night to try and leave the weekend open.  (This is the first in 3-4 days in which I have been on the computer.)  The reviews I got done are... Antiphon by Ken Scholes HERE and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins HERE.   I did get done with my current read, From a Far Land by G. David Walker.  I hope to get the review up here this week.

I'm working on reading Blue Diablo by Ann Aguirre for the Urban Fantasy Blog Book Chat host by Robyn at The Bookoholic Zone and I.  The first discussion was posted on Thursday last week, CLICK HERE to hop over there to chat.  Then, the second section will be posted on Thursday, September 9th.  Please feel free to join in with us at any time.

My next read I'm going to dive into is People of the Sword by Neil O'Donnell.  This read is for a book challenge I am working on with friends over at Speculative Book Review.  I am looking forward to it.

Now to the Wishlist... Thanks to all of you I have added 9 more books to the list!  And these all sound like amazing reads.  This list is one in which I try to keep as only the books I REALLY want to and plan to read.  All these amazing authors should be so proud and happy of all these amazing books.

Books Received Last Week:

Thanks to Friends:

Thanks to Jessica at The Spinecracker sent me her copy of the book for me to try out.  I am looking forward to getting into this one.  Thank you Jessica!  And all you should stop by to say hi to Jessica, here.

Goodreads Synopsis:
Hell hath nothing worse than a Fury scorned...


As a Fury, Marissa Holloway belongs to an Arcane race that has avenged wrongdoing since time immemorial. As Boston’s Chief Magical Investigator for the past five years, she’s doing what she was born to: solving supernatural crimes.

It’s far from business as usual when the body of one of Riss’s sister Furies washes up in Boston harbor. Riss discovers that the corpse’s identity has been magically altered, but as soon as she reports her findings, she’s immediately—and inexplicably—suspended from the her job. Then a human assassin makes an attempt on her life, and Riss starts to realize that someone may be trying to stir up strife between mortals and Arcanes.

When a Fury gets mad, she gets even, and Riss is determined to untangle this case. Without the support of the mortal PD, Riss turns to the one man she can trust to watch her back—shapeshifting Warhound Scott Murphy. But since Scott is also Riss’s ex, she’ll have to keep a tight leash on more than just the supernatural rage that feeds her power as they try to solve a murder—and stop a war…

Winnings:
I won these books over at Ryan's blog, Wordsmithonia.  They do sound like fun reads.

Goodreads Synopsis:
Shamira is considered an outcast by most, but little do they know that Shamira is on a mission. Kids on Mars are disappearing, but Shamira decides to use the criminals most unlikely weapons against them, the very kids of which they have captured. In order to succeed, she is forced to trust another, something she is afraid to do. However, Valens her connection to the underworld of her enemy, proves to be a useful ally. Time is slipping, and so is her control on the power that resides within her. Yet, in order to save her brother's life she is willing to risk it all.

Goodreads Synopsis:
For most kids, a trip to space camp is the trip of a lifetime for Aadi it was life altering. After receiving a camp immunization needed for travel to Mars, Aadi finds that the immunization is the catalyst of an insidious experiment. He realizes what is happening too late for a change of fate. The full experiment is set in motion when he and his co-pilot, Eirena, crash in a distant galaxy called Shrenas, where they change and realize the full extent of their power. This turn of events forces him to grow up quickly, accept his change, and to decide to save a world, or to do what he was trained to do dominate it. His power is coveted by the warring leaders of Shrenas, and he is forced to choose sides a decision that may prove just how much humanity he has left.

I won this one on Twitter from the publisher.  I am soooo looking forward to getting into this series.

Goodreads Synopsis:
It takes a strong woman to keep the peace in a city of endless night. . . .



Deep beneath Underground, a cunning bid for power and revenge has begun—one that threatens to make Atlanta the new battleground in the ultimate confrontation between good and evil. The powers of hellish Charbydon have the upper hand after plunging the city into primordial night. And under the cover of darkness, a serial killer targets the most powerful Elysians in the city, the angelic Adonai. For Detective Charlie Madigan and her siren partner Hank, tracking deadly predators is all in a day’s work . . . but this case will test the limits of their strength and friendship as it draws them into a deadly world of power plays, ancient myths, explosive secrets, and a race against time that risks all that Charlie holds dear.

Purchases:

I of course had to go get this book.  As I love my fantasy reads and Brandon Sanderson's books.

Goodreads Synopsis:
Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.

It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.

Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.

Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar’s niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan’s motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.

The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.

Speak again the ancient oaths,

Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination.

and return to men the Shards they once bore.

The Knights Radiant must stand again.
 
Well, I am looking forward to another busy week.
So, how are you faring this week?  Does it look like a good reading week?
 
Here's to you having a great week in words and pages.