These are all books that I have recently enjoyed and wanted to share here as they are worthy of summer binge reading. All of these books but one were personal copies or library loans.

December 2017, 419 pages St Martins Press

While I am not one who followed Nora Roberts specifically but perhaps have read one or two of her books in my lifetime, this book has prompted me to rethink that. This was so darn awesome.
The story-line follows a few threads of people as life as they knew it is over because "They returned the rental car, infecting the clerk and the businessman who rented it next. They infected the porter who took their bags when tips exchanged hands. By the time they reached and passed through security, the infection had passed to an easy two dozen people."
I have discovered that I love me some funky dystopian off the beaten path other type of world stuff and this one has magic(k) and apocalyptic goodness that I am definitely going to re-read before I buy the second book in the series. I have a love-hate relationship with series books because my brain is getting super old and I cannot remember stuff like who was who in the last book and so I cannot just pick right up a year or two later when starting another book in a series because my brain is zapping trying to remember what way was north.
It's a tough thing because when you love a book so much like Year One and you are shattered that the book has ended but then you're like Holy Cheese on A Cracker I Can't Wait For The Next Book Cuz I Am So Glad It's Not Really Over but Damn Just Gimme It Right Now.. you know what I mean. When I finished this one my official recorded thought on Goodreads was:

Mere words cannot express the fluidity of this novel. I am pretty certain but cannot recall if I have read a book by Roberts, but I shall never forget this one.

And so book two is of course on my eagerly awaited hurry up and publish that pie because I am going to devour you and not share the crumbs list. Kleenex worthy reading, too.

When I finished that one I moved on to another fantastic read, thank God, as it's so hard to follow when that one was epic...

February 2018, 512 pages Tyndale

The Masterpiece is the newest release by popular Christian Fiction author Francine Rivers. I have read one of her most popular novels and have been collecting many of her back-list for quite a few years now. This is a story of two people meant to be together but have to go through a lot of soul searching and misunderstandings before the happy ending. The characters were very well-drawn with a story that pulls you in no matter how simple the plot would sound of a he and she fall in love and live happily ever after. He is the famous painter is a recluse with a past that he prefers to stay there yet he has to fight his demons before he can be who he wants to be. She has to learn to trust again after her own train wreck of a life. What I loved about this story the most was how the message reveals itself - we are all His masterpiece created for One Life/One Purpose. Worldly pursuits and pleasures and forgiveness for our sins, the redemption offered, the promise of new life, the gift of love .. and kleenex worthy.

2015 released as 352 page paperback March 2018 edition

This is the one book that I received as a review copy several years ago, but I only got around to reading it when the paperback was chosen as a local book club read recently. I had actually read several other Ruth Ware novels and knew I would enjoy this one as it is the same genre of the psychological thriller suspense type books that she writes so well. I read it in a day. It was a twisty gothic adventure of a tale not meant to be one of those scary keep you up at night reads. Ruth Ware, Mary Kubica, Gillian Flynn all write in this fashion. Ware's newer titles are The Woman in Cabin 10 and The Lying Game which I enjoyed both. Great stories, good plots and intriguing endings.


These are older titles that I got caught up on:

2015 release of book three of All Souls Trilogy

I have a partner in crime for this one as we did a buddy read so it was super fun to explore the world of daemons, witches, vampires and wizards with a fellow nerd. Harkness has written a fantastic series that I really did not think I could enjoy as much as I have. I even used up Mothers Day Wish on the newest release not OF the series but ABOUT the series which is a compendium of sorts which just tells you how awesome the books are when you have people like me begging for a book about a book. I love that I know about familiars and blood-rage now but still a little freaked out about the origin of the Ashmole. I love how some Hist-fic gets thrown in too with this series such as Elizabethan England (Mary Sidney!). There will be yet another book (Time's Convert, September 2018) not technically of the series but a spin-off featuring characters of this series.. OK I see I have lost you, lol



I spotted this one when I was picking up books for my kid at the local library and I couldn't walk away from it. I had loved Code Name Verity back in 2012 and this one can be read as a stand alone. It is about a prisoner of war, an unlikely female pilot who shows amazing tenacity and grit while enduring the Holocaust that people to this day like to pretend did not happen. The story revolves mostly around Ravensbruck, the concentration camp known for housing primarily women.
While in reality there are certain things that happen to Rose that are a bit too unrealistic it does not distract from the overall tone of the story. It's another kleenex worthy read that will have you googling stuff about the sickness of those concentration camps, barrage balloons and doodlebug tipping.

Which of these have you read? And did I peak your interest of any? What's on your Summer Reading Pile? I am looking forward to Susanna Kearsley's newest title Bellewether!

You may need to re-subscribe by the way. No idea what is going on with the mailchimp thing when we had to do the GDPR compliance thing that was such an annoyance. No one won the giveaway since no one entered etc. but unsure if that was because of mailchimp's compliance or because giveaways are lame nowadays. No worries! I turned off commenting long ago on the blog but I welcome comments at the Facebook page here.

Book 1 fascinated me!

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Paperback, 579 pages
Published December 27th 2011 by Penguin Books (first published February 8th 2011)
ISBN 0143119680 (ISBN13: 9780143119685)
Burton Book Review Rating: 5 stars 

A richly inventive novel about a centuries-old vampire, a spellbound witch, and the mysterious manuscript that draws them together.

Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.

Debut novelist Deborah Harkness has crafted a mesmerizing and addictive read, equal parts history and magic, romance and suspense. Diana is a bold heroine who meets her equal in vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont, and gradually warms up to him as their alliance deepens into an intimacy that violates age-old taboos. This smart, sophisticated story harks back to the novels of Anne Rice, but it is as contemporary and sensual as the Twilight series-with an extra serving of historical realism.

I had gotten the All Souls boxed set over the summer and hoped to be able to find the time to read them asap, but I just managed to finish book one, A Discovery of Witches, recently. At almost 600 pages I would have thought it would take me a month to read given the busy time of the year, but the story had me hooked after page 15 or so and I could not wait to get a chance to sneak in a few pages and visit my fave paranormal characters.

I am not one who habitually sets out to read about witches, vampires or creatures, or any other worldly "fantasy" creatures yet there was something so creative and intriguing about the particular ingenious facets about these characters. Diana is a very likable person who was born a witch but doesn't really trust herself as a witch, and a vampire Matthew finds her and falls in love with her in spite of all the no-no's about no mixing of the creatures. And the demons -- spelled daemons -- are a very intellectual group wearing old-fashioned vests who could be diabolical were a nice touch.

The book has been out for a few years, so there's not much more to say on it review wise. It's a #1 Best Seller on Amazon in the Vampire Thriller Kindle category, which seems pretty cool. There is mystery and suspense,  sweet budding romance, violent vampire cravings, and fire tingling fingers on Diana the witch. So many things that I typically would be all like 'dude, that's so unintelligent and made-up fairy tale stuff for kids'. Whatever, I loved it and I can't wait to get to book two, especially as there is going to be some time travel going on to Elizabethan England. See, there's my historical fiction nerd getting its fix.

 I am kind of annoyed that I read a synopsis for book three because there was a big spoiler there (now that I care about the characters, I'm totally invested in the story). So beware there if you have not read these yet.

For readers who like a bit of adventure, I completely recommend the first book, A Discovery of Witches, the debut novel (whaaat???!!) by Deborah Harkness, she who is the spinner of tales full of awesome imagination and a wonderful sly wit during really tense moments.. and I just heard that she is set to release in 2017 another All Souls' piece, The Serpent of Mirrors, so the current release of three books won't be a trilogy for long.

Penguin has released a free, e-book only, richly illustrated real-time reading guide that brings to life the world created by Deborah Harkness in A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night, retracing the events of these two bestselling novels with illuminating behind-the-scenes details and real-life events that figure into the books. Get the scoop here.

THE BOOK OF LIFE is the long-awaited final chapter in the smart, sexy All Souls Trilogy, about historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont (Penguin Books; on sale May 26, 2015; $17.00).

In this finale, Diana and Matthew continue their hunt for the magical alchemical manuscript, Ashmole 782, and reunite with beloved characters from the first two All Souls books to save their world from the powerful enemies who want to destroy it.

After traveling through time in Shadow of Night, the second book in Deborah Harkness’s enchanting series, historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont return to the present to face new crises and old enemies. At Matthew’s ancestral home at Sept-Tours, they reunite with the cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches—with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency. In the trilogy’s final volume, Harkness deepens her themes of power and passion, family and caring, past deeds and their present consequences. In ancestral homes and university laboratories, using ancient knowledge and modern science, from the hills of the Auvergne to the palaces of Venice and beyond, the couple at last learn what the witches discovered so many centuries ago.

With more than one million copies sold in the United States and appearing in thirty-eight foreign editions, A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night have landed on all of the major bestseller lists and garnered rave reviews from countless publications. Eagerly awaited by Harkness’s legion of fans, The Book of Life brings this superbly written series to a deeply satisfying close.

A paperback copy of THE BOOK OF LIFE for giveaway, set of buttons and a small BOOK OF LIFE mirror with the ouroboros design for giveaway!

On sale May 26, 2015

A Q&A with the author was offered as part of a giveaway post for the celebration of book three of the trilogy, and I wanted to share just a few of those questions here.

Q: From the moment Matthew and a pregnant Diana arrive back at Sept-Tours and reinstate themselves back into a sprawling family of witches and vampires, it becomes clear that the meaning of family will be an important idea for THE BOOK OF LIFE. How does this unify the whole series? Did you draw on your own life?

A. Since time immemorial the family has been an important way for people to organize themselves in the world. In the past, the “traditional” family was a sprawling and blended unit that embraced immediate relatives, in-laws and their immediate families, servants, orphaned children, the children your partner might bring into a family from a previous relationship, and other dependents. Marriage was an equally flexible and elastic concept in many places and times. Given how old my vampires are, and the fact that witches are the keepers of tradition, I wanted to explore from the very first page of the series the truly traditional basis of family: unqualified love and mutual responsibility. That is certainly the meaning of family that my parents taught me.

Q: While there are entire genres devoted to stories of witches, vampires, and ghosts, the idea of a weaver – a witch who weaves original spells – feels very unique to THE BOOK OF LIFE. What resources helped you gain inspiration for Diana’s uniqueness?

A. Believe it or not, my inspiration for weaving came from a branch of mathematics called topology. I became intrigued by mathematical theories of mutability to go along with my alchemical theories of mutability and change. Topology is a mathematical study of shapes and spaces that theorizes how far something can be stretched or twisted without breaking. You could say it’s a mathematical theory of connectivity and continuity (two familiar themes to any reader of the All Souls Trilogy). I wondered if I could come up with a theory of magic that could be comfortably contained within mathematics, one in which magic could be seen to shape and twist reality without breaking it. I used fabric as a metaphor for this worldview with threads and colors shaping human perceptions. Weavers became the witches who were talented at seeing and manipulating the underlying fabric. In topology, mathematicians study knots—unbreakable knots with their ends fused together that can be twisted and shaped. Soon the mathematics and mechanics of Diana’s magic came into focus.

Q: A Discovery of Witches debuted at # 2 on the New York Times bestseller list and Shadow of Night debuted at #1. What has been your reaction to the outpouring of love for the All Souls Trilogy? Was it surprising how taken fans were with Diana and Matthew’s story?

A. It has been amazing—and a bit overwhelming. I was surprised by how quickly readers embraced two central characters who have a considerable number of quirks and challenge our typical notion of what a heroine or hero should be. And I continue to be amazed whenever a new reader pops up, whether one in the US or somewhere like Finland or Japan—to tell me how much they enjoyed being caught up in the world of the Bishops and de Clemonts. Sometimes when I meet readers they ask me how their friends are doing—meaning Diana, or Matthew, or Miriam. That’s an extraordinary experience for a writer.


Also available for the paperback release party are clips from the trilogy audiobooks, read by Jennifer Ikeda which you can listen to by clicking these links:



I haven't read any of these books, but I plan on making them all part of my Summer Reading Fun! Have you read these? How did you like them? 

If you would like to enter the giveaway for the paperback, set of six buttons and mirror, please leave me a comment below with your email address so that I may contact the winner. 

I wanted to make it as easy as possible to enter the giveaway, but it would be very nice of you if you would share this giveaway post as well!

Giveaway open to USA residents and ends May 24th, there will be one grand prize winner. Good luck!