Monday's Beginnings (109)

It's Monday.

No feeling one way or the other about it just yet.  I need more tea or coffee or something.  I really didn't do much over the weekend or last week.  I always hope for more reading, but I do have to do family things and stuff around the house. *sigh*  I did spend several hours Saturday helping the kid with homework. Ha!

But I did get some reading done...

Currently Reading:
Devil's Business by Caitlin Kittredge - this is for the book chat this Thursday and next Thursday
Enclave by Ann Aguirre - yep. I told ya, this one will take a while reading with my kid.

To Come This Week:
Reviews:
Summer's Crossing by Julie Kagawa
Fate of the Fallen by Sharron Riddle

Last Week:
Books I Finished:
Summer's Crossing by Julie Kagawa
Fate of the Fallen by Sharron Riddle

Reviews Posted Last Week: (do click the title to go to review)
Armageddon Bound by Tim Marquitz
Aftermath by Ann Aguirre

Podcast Review: (click title to go to review)
Tales from the Archives - Ten

Special Posts:
Starting today!!! Falling into Books Giveaway Hop!  Runs through Sept 30th, and My giveaway is International.  Do go back to the parent blog to check out all the other giveaways as well.

I did write a Flash Fiction Friday post last week! :) Yes.  This picture was just beautiful.  Well, all of them are.   But if you would like to read it I do hope you enjoy it. :)

My WANT list...I've added 8 books this past week.  And I'm still looking through that Recommendation page on Goodreads.  Goodness!  So many books I thought I had on the WANT list and they aren't.  So, they are being added slowly.

Books Received:
Won:
You remember I won the gift pack from Skyla Dawn Cameron on her site for the Hunter giveaway.  One of the items was a knitted selected item from Dina James.  Well, this was the lovely item I choose to be made....

A pencil pouch!  I got to pick the colors, and since I'm one to wear more earthy tones, we agreed on brown. I love it!  It's nice and big.  And she even stuffed it full of tea (she's the Tea Mistress), sneaks, and vampire teeth.

Gifts:

I have to thank @rissatoo on Twitter for sending me a copy of this one.  :) She is to kind!

Goodreads Synopsis:
Teenage delinquent Angel Crawford lives with her redneck father in the swamps of southern Louisiana. She's a high school dropout, addicted to drugs and alcohol, and has a police record a mile long. But when she's made into a zombie after a car crash, her addictions disappear, except for her all-consuming need to stay "alive"...




Purchased:
All these where purchased with the gift card for Powell's Books I won.

These first 2 books, I've been wanting for some time.  I love the sounds of this series and want to give it a go.

Goodreads Synopsis:
Nobody is safe in the secret hour.

Strange things happen at midnight in the town of Bixby, Oklahoma.

Time freezes.

Nobody moves.

For one secret hour each night, the town belongs to the dark creatures that haunt the shadows. Only a small group of people know about the secret hour -- only they are free to move about the midnight time.

These people call themselves Midnighters. Each one has a different power that is strongest at midnight: Seer, Mindcaster, Acrobat, Polymath. For years the Midnighters and the dark creatures have shared the secret hour, uneasily avoiding one another. All that changes when the new girl with an unmistakable midnight aura appears at Bixby High School.

Jessica Day is not an outsider like the other Midnighters. She acts perfectly normal in every way. But it soon becomes clear that the dark creatures sense a hidden power in Jessica . . . and they're determined to stop her before she can use it.

A story of courage, shadowy perils, and unexpected destiny, the secret hour is the first volume of the mesmerizing Midnighters trilogy by acclaimed author Scott Westerfeld.

Goodreads Synopsis:
The Midnighters of Bixby, Oklahoma, know that their town is full of secrets. These five teenagers are the only ones who know about the mysterious hour at midnight when the world freezes, except for them and the creatures that inhabit the darkness.

But they do not know why earlier generations of Midnighters all disappeared, or why they are now the only Midnighters in town. As they learn more about the secret hour's twists and turns, they uncover terrifying mysteries woven into the very fabric of Bixby's history, and a conspiracy that touches both the midnight hour and the world of daylight.

At the same time, the Midnighters' own secrets start to emerge, including some that were never meant to come to light, changing the fragile dynamics among the five.

This time Jessica Day is not the only Midnighter in mortal danger, and if the group can't find a way to come together, they could lose one of their own — forever.

A tale of betrayal, horrifying revelations, and powerful alliances, touching darkness is the second volume of the riveting Midnighters trilogy by acclaimed author Scott Westerfeld.

Goodreads Synopsis:
Thor, the Norse god of thunder, is worse than a blowhard and a bully—he’s ruined countless lives and killed scores of innocents. After centuries, Viking vampire Leif Helgarson is ready to get his vengeance, and he’s asked his friend Atticus O’Sullivan, the last of the Druids, to help take down this Norse nightmare.

One survival strategy has worked for Atticus for more than two thousand years: stay away from the guy with the lightning bolts. But things are heating up in Atticus’s home base of Tempe, Arizona. There’s a vampire turf war brewing, and Russian demon hunters who call themselves the Hammers of God are running rampant. Despite multiple warnings and portents of dire consequences, Atticus and Leif journey to the Norse plain of Asgard, where they team up with a werewolf, a sorcerer, and an army of frost giants for an epic showdown against vicious Valkyries, angry gods, and the hammer-wielding Thunder Thug himself.

Goodreads Synopsis:
Sixteen-year-old Kaye is a modern nomad. Fierce and independent, she travels from city to city with her mother's rock band until an ominous attack forces the sixteen-year-old back to her childhood home. There, amid the industrial, blue-collar New Jersey backdrop, Kaye soon finds herself an unwilling pawn in an ancient power struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms -- a struggle that could very well mean her death.


So, it's another week.  And always high hopes.  We shall see what the week brings for us.

How are you faring at the beginning of this week?  Does it look like a good reading week?

Here's wishing you all the best in words and pages.

And a song to leave you through the week...  I'm going to leave you with a song I loved, and still love.  Yes, I was a metal fan when younger, and still love the old metal music.  But this is a mellow song, slow song for you.  I love his voice!  And when he's voice is deep.... Here's Queensryche for you: