July And August Books Read!

Cover of A Kiss at Midnight

I have meant to do this since last month. It looks like I have read another 49 books since 6/26.  Not all reviews have gone up yet, nor will they all be reviewed. Today is the 240th day of the year, and I have only read 184 books.  It feels like it should somehow be more since I post every day.

The Nightwalker	Lisa Kessler
THE IRON WYRM AFFAIR	Lilith Saintcrow
Charmfall	Chloe Neill
Artistic Vision	Dana Marie Bell
THE BETTER TO EAT YOU WITH	Lena Matthews
When Beauty Tamed the Beast	Eloisa James
Something Witchy This Way Comes	HP Mallory
Beneath a Rising Moon	Keri Arthur
Lifestyles of the Rich and Undead	Katie MacAlister	Short Story
Boyfriend from Hell	Jaime Quaid
DARK NIGHTS	Christine Feehan
Mark of the Witch	Maggie Shayne
THE SIREN	Tiffany Reisz
THE STRIX	KATALINA LEON
Hidden Paradise	Janet Mullaney
The Demoness of Waking Dreams	Stephanie Chong
Immortally Yours Angie Fox	Angie Fox
The Mating Season	Alice Gaines	Novellas
Storm Bound	Alice Gaines	Novellas
DEMON HUNTING IN THE Deep South	Lexi George
THIRTEEN	Kelley Armstrong
SEVEN DAY LOAN	Tiffany Reisz
THE POWER OF HABIT	Charles Duhigg
Alice's Sexual Discovery in a Wonderful Land	Liz Adams	novella
BITING COLD	Chloe Neill
BIND ME	Stacey Kennedy
BEG FOR IT	Stacey Kennedy
Backstage Pass	Olivia Cunning
NO PEACE FOR THE DAMNED	Megan Powell
KITTY STEALS THE SHOW	Carrie Vaughn
THE CARE AND FEEDING OF STRAY VAMPIRES	Molly Harper
THE SPACE BETWEEN US	Megan Hart
MOONGLOW	Kristen Callihan
MAGIC GONE WILD	Judi Fennell
CALL OF THE SEA	Rebecca Hart
SHARING HAILEY	Samantha Ann King	Novellas
A Kiss at Midnight	Eloisa James
Storming the Castle	Eloisa James	Novella
EMBRACE ME AT TWILIGHT	Shayla Black
WEST OF WANT BLOG	Laura Kaye
GODDESS IN THE MIDDLE	Stephanie Julian
The Theory of Attraction	Delphine Dryden
THE HUNTER AND THE FOX	Philippa Ballantine
Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling Michael Boccacino
HEAT RISES	Alice Gaines
THE UGLY DUCHESS	Eloisa James
ONCE BURNED	Jeaniene Frost
Creating Merry Hell	Emma Wallace	Novellas

Related articles

• A Pair of Related Tales from Eloisa James Fairy Tale Series
• Not Carroll's Alice, But You Won't Mind
• HEAT RISES as the Snow Falls in this Passionate Novella
• DARK NIGHTS: Author's Cut Early Review
• THE SIREN: You Always Hurt the One You Love
• Open the Door to Maggie Shayne's New Portal Series
• CABIN FEVER Twofer with, Not Surprisingly, a Twofer!

What Are You Reading? What Have You Read?

What have you read and enjoyed so far this year? What did you dislike? Reading anything Fantastic at the moment? 

Counting backward from Feb 16 these are the 41 books I have read in the first 47 days of 2012:

1.  The Department of Magic, R. Kierkegaard, Jr. 

2.  Gideon, Jacquelyn Frank

3.  Cinder, Melissa Meyers 

4.  Lover Eternal, JR Ward 

5.  Lover Awakened, JR Ward 

Cover via Amazon

6.  Planesrunner , Ian MacDonald 

7.  Jacob, Jacquelyn Frank 

8.  Honor Bound, CJ Archer 

9.  In the Service of the King, Laura Kaye 

10. Dark Lover, JR Ward 

11. Dreaming of the Wolf , Terry Spear 

12. Killing Rites, MLN Hanover 

13. Deadly is the Kiss, Rhyannon Byrd 

14. Driving Mr. Dead, Molly Harper 

15. Hearts of Smoke and Steam, Andrew P. Mayer 

16. How Miss Rutherford Got Her Groove Back, Sophie Barnes 

17. Pack and Coven, Jody Wallace 

18. The Thirteen, Susie Moloney

19. Immortal Hope, Claire Ashgrove

20. Vicious Grace, MLN Hanover 

21. Darker After Midnight, Laura Adrian 

22. Firelight, Kristen Callihan 

23. If Walls Could Talk, Lucy Worsely 

24. Summer Solstice Celestial Seductions Book 3, Eden Bradley 

25. Pride and Prejudice Hidden Lusts, Mitzi Szereto 

26. Darker Angels, MLN Hanover 

27. The Kingdom, Amanda Stevens 

28. Ali in Wonderland, Ali Wentworth 

29. Demon Crossing, Eleri Stone 

30. Spell Caster, Cara Lynn Schultz 

31. Unclean Spirits. MLN Hanover 

32. Marked by Passion, Kate Perry 

33. The King's Druidess, Sky Purington 

34. The Duke is Mine, Eloisa James 

35. Winning the Wallflower, Eloisa James 

36. Under his Influence, Justine Elyot 

37. Kitty Goes to Washington, Carrie Vaughn 

38. Kiss of the Vampire, Cynthia Garner 

39. Shadow Heir, Richelle Mead 

40. The Stubborn Dead, Natasha Hoar
41. The Canvas Thief, P. Kirby

If it weren't for the blogging activity I'd never have any idea what I had read; I've even bought the same book more than once. I bolded the text for the stories I liked best! Some were shorter novellas which I don't usually enjoy; of those I really enjoyed Winning the Wallflower and Driving Mr. Dead.

One thing I know is that if I like something I will read as much of that series or author as possible within my time constraints. So you might see patterns. For example after I read the book If Walls Could Talk  I read a few Historical Romances and loved Firelight and Eloisa James' stories.

Related articles

• THE THIRTEEN Susie Moloney (fangswandsandfairydust.blogspot.com)
• Black Dagger Virgin (fangswandsandfairydust.blogspot.com)
• Pack and Coven is Light and Entertaining (fangswandsandfairydust.blogspot.com)
• Jacob by Jacquelyn Frank Covers A Lot of Bases (fangswandsandfairydust.blogspot.com)
• Primal Instincts Spin-Off, Deadly Is the Kiss Before "Purple Rain" We Had Purple Prose (fangswandsandfairydust.blogspot.com)
• Terry Spear's Dreaming of the Wolf Two's Company but The Mob's a Crowd (fangswandsandfairydust.blogspot.com)

Equal Opportunity?

Image via Wikipedia

I am currently reading Kitty Goes to Washington by Carrie Vaughn (Grand Central Publishing, 2006).  It is the second book in the series. Here's a quote that seems very incisive in regards to biases of many types.

That's the thing with all the "special" methods used to kill supernatural beings: A stake through the heart or a silver bullet will kill anyone.
pp. 115-116

Why I am into the speculative fiction genre?  Seems to me the supernatural beings in the genre stand in for a lot of issues: how we identify and look at minorities; how we feel about people with special abilities.  There was a lot of talk about True Blood being about the gay rights movement.

Also, I think a lot about how we label groups.  We call vampires the undead.  That somehow makes it okay to kill them.  They walk, talk, and eat (after a fashion). Why aren't they just a different sort of alive?

I think it bears examination.  After all, in literature even if something is a trend, it is rarely an accident or without meaning.  Look at the book's title even.  It is titled after an old Jimmy Stewart film, "Mr. Smith goes to Washington."  That film is about a nice guy being set up in Washington by corrupt businesspeople and politicians.  But, he prevails against them.  I am looking forward to seeing if Kitty has the same outcome.