This has been a slow reading week. I’m not even sure why either. Just an overall lack of energy. I did apply to do reviewing with the Portland Book Review, and the San Diego Book Review. Pretty sure I won’t have a problem being accepted either of those places. I have also applied to be a freelancer for Kirkus Reviews, and as part of editorial staff for the Midwest Book Review. We shall see, regarding these latter two. I’d like to think I’m good enough, but there’s always that pesky “you need experience” thing that can still get thrown at me, even though I’ve been doing professional reviewing for some time.
I’ve also applied to be a part of PEN International. They do good work. Check ’em out.
Sadly, I did not get any writing towards Language of the Trees done 🙁
I’ve added some more events to my roster as a tour host. Yay!
Book Blitz: Gate of Air by Resa Nelson, June 22-28
Blog Tour: Broken Little Melodies by Jennifer Ann, June 26- July 1st.
Blog Tour: Hold Me Captive by PG Van, June 26th- July 9
Blog Tour: The Funeral Flower by Michelle Jester, Aug 7-18
Blog Tour: Mr Prescott by Carlos Dash, Aug 7-18
Books read, reviewed and posted/scheduled:
*Barry’s Deal by Lawrence Schoen/ 5?
*The Phoenix Cycle by Bob Collopy/ 4?
*The Goddess You by Jeanne Street/ 4?
My best read of the week was a beta with no cover yet, that being Schoen’s novella Barry’s Deal. If you’ve never ventured into the Conroyverse, you so should! It’s a rollickin’good time. I want a buffalito now!
Current Read:
Venetian Blood by Christine Volker/ releasing Aug 8, 2017
“Struggling to forget a crumbling marriage, forty-year-old Anna Lucia Lottol comes to Venice to visit an old friend―but instead of finding solace, she is dragged into the police station and accused of murdering a money-laundering count with whom she had a brief affair. A US Treasury officer with brains and athleticism, Anna fights to clear her name in a seductive city full of watery illusions. As she works to pry information from a cast of recalcitrant characters sometimes denying what she sees and hears, she succeeds in unleashing a powerful foe bent on destroying her. Will she save herself and vanquish her enemies, including her darkest fears?
A mysterious tapestry of murder, betrayal, and family, Venetian Blood is a story of one woman’s brave quest for the truth ―before it’s too late.”
Only 1 hardcopy, but several exciting egalleys.
I am most interested in:
Scourge by Gail Z Martin
“Epic new fantasy from the bestselling author of The Summoner. In a city beset by monsters, three brothers must find out who is controlling the abominations.
The city-state of Ravenwood is wealthy, powerful, and corrupt. Merchant Princes and Guild Masters wager fortunes to outmaneuver League rivals for the king’s favor and advantageous trading terms. Lord Mayor Ellor Machison wields assassins, blood witches, and forbidden magic to assure that his powerful patrons get what they want, no matter the cost.
Corran, Rigan, and Kell Valmonde are Guild Undertakers, left to run their family’s business when guards murdered their father and monsters killed their mother. Their grave magic enables them to help souls pass to the After and banish vengeful spirits. Rigan’s magic is unusually strong and enables him to hear the confessions of the dead, the secrets that would otherwise be taken to the grave.
When the toll exacted by monsters and brutal guards hits close to home and ghosts expose the hidden sins of powerful men, Corran, Rigan and Kell become targets in a deadly game and face a choice: obey the Guild, or fight back and risk everything.”
Same Sex Love: 1700 to 1957 by Gill Rossini
“Family history is often seen as the stories of people who were part of a traditional family unit, married to someone of the opposite gender, had children and lived their lives as ‘normally’ as possible. But what of the relatives who could not accept that this was the life for them, and were attracted to same-sex partners? Was it possible for them to live their life as they wished to, with their chosen partner and without hindrance, ridicule or attack? Would they be breaking the law in doing so, and how would family and society react if they were found out?
Some of those concerned married and had children, like the majority, and buried their feelings in the bustle of everyday life; others stayed single but abstained from relationships altogether, as a way of keeping safe. A number managed to live openly and proudly as themselves, challenging the prejudices and misconceptions of the day.
This is the story of all those people, the brave, the discreet, the frightened, the loving and the loved, as well as love against all the odds; more than likely, it is a story that can be found in every family history.
Told in an empathetic and clear-sighted way, this is the first history of same-sex relationships aimed specifically at family historians and offers valuable insights into the lives of those who were often seen as outcasts. It includes research guidance for genealogists researching this often-neglected aspect of family history, and offers invaluable insights into the families, society and culture they lived in.”
Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew Sullivan
“When a bookshop patron commits suicide, it’s his favorite store clerk who must unravel the puzzle he left behind in this fiendishly clever debut novel.
Lydia Smith lives her life hiding in plain sight. A clerk at the Bright Ideas Bookstore, she keeps a meticulously crafted existence among her beloved books, eccentric colleagues, and the BookFrogs—the lost and lonely regulars who spend every day marauding the store’s overwhelmed shelves.
But when Joey Molina, a young, beguiling BookFrog, kills himself in the bookstore, Lydia’s life comes unglued. Always Joey’s favorite bookseller, Lydia has inherited his meager worldly possessions. Trinkets and books; the detritus of a lonely man. But when Lydia flips through his books she finds them defaced in ways both disturbing and inexplicable. They reveal the psyche of a young man on the verge of an emotional reckoning. And they seem to contain a hidden message. What did Joey know? And what does it have to do with Lydia?
As Lydia untangles the mystery of Joey’s suicide, she unearths a long-buried memory from her own violent childhood. Details from that one bloody night begin to circle back. Her distant father returns to the fold, along with an obsessive local cop, and the Hammerman, a murderer who came into Lydia’s life long ago and, as she soon discovers, never completely left. Bedazzling, addictive and wildly clever, Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore is a heart-pounding mystery that perfectly captures the intellect and eccentricity of the bookstore milieu.”
What did you read this past week? Got anything exciting you are looking for forward to reading over the upcoming week?
