40 Books for 2012: Roundup

#12: Finding Magic by Stacia Kane

#13: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

#14: The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

#15: Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie

#16: Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

#17: Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris

#18: The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

#19: Tempest’s Fury by Nicole Peeler

#20: When You Were Mine by Rebecca Serle

#21: Ashes by Ilsa Bick

#22: Fourth Comings by Megan McCafferty

#23: Chasing Magic by Stacia Kane

#24: Shadows by Ilsa Bick

#25: My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher

#26: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

#27: New York to Dallas by J.D. Robb

So... yet again, I did not meet my goal. And um, I may have also stopped blogging my reads mid-year. Oops. So maybe, new goal for 2013? Stop re-reading old books, so I can try more new books? Sounds like a plan.

January Reads: 40 Books for 2012

#1: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart – Fifteen year-old Frankie is a sophomore at a prestigious prep school who went from ugly duckling to swan over the Summer. She’s acquired a hot senior boyfriend Matthew, and been accepted into his group of friends - except for the secret meetings that Matthew doesn’t tell her about. Frankie manages to infiltrate the secret club and lead them into their best pranks ever, without their knowledge. Everyone in my book club loved this book, so I expected to like it better. But I wanted Frankie to be more invested in her own life, instead of trying to find acceptance from a secret boys club. It was good, but it didn’t quite live up to the hype.


#2: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green – Sixteen year-old Hazel has been living with terminal cancer for three years. Her life is centered around her parents and her trashy reality shows, and the oxygen tank she has to lug everywhere she goes, until she meets amputee and cancer survivor Augustus Waters at her teen cancer group. I don’t want to give too much away, but the truth is, I have a hard time talking about this book. It’s an incredibly emotional experience, and it stays with you for a really long time. Two days after finishing it, I broke down in tears at a stoplight. It’s not just the best John Green book, it may be the best book ever. My favorite review, from Forever Young Adult: Augustus Waters is MAGIC.

#3: Something Wikkid This Way Comes: A Novella by Nicole Peeler – Capitola, Shar, and Moo, the #1 ladies detective agency from Nicole Peeler’s Tempest Legacy gets their own story. They’re hired to investigate cult-like disappearances at a girls’ Catholic school. This was a light mystery, that I read in one evening on my Kindle for iPhone app. I wasn’t especially attached to the characters. I think the thing that works best about the Jane True series for me is Jane True herself, who is sadly absent from this story.

August Reads: 50 Books for 2011

#22: Eye of the Tempest by Nicole Peeler – I was SO excited for this fourth installment in the Jane True series. I’ve been dying for Jane to get together with the big hulking barghest that she has a thing for, but epic forces of good and evil keep getting in the way. Jane basically gets sent on a quest for the holy grail (substitute: powerful relic) and has to decide whether she really wants to be a hero or not. I have to admit, I found this one to be a bit repetitive and not quite as good as the previous volumes in the series. I’m anxious to see where the author goes next.

#23: Treachery in Death by J.D. Robb - This is the eleventieth million in the In Death Series. Or, number 32. This series has been getting pretty stale and formulaic, which is probably what happens after you’ve written 30 books about the same characters. I was skeptical this one would be any better since it was also about corrupt cops within the force, which has been covered in this series before. But the approach felt fresher and the character’s reactions were much more emotional. I think kick-ass homicide detective Eve Dallas is finally allowing her soft side to show.

#24: Succubus Dreams by Richelle Mead – Demonic and yet essentially good-hearted succubus Georgina Kincaid is having a crappy Christmas. Some mysterious angels have stowed some random dude in her apartment for safe-keeping, and some mystical force is draining her succubus energy. There’s also more and more discord between her and the human boyfriend she keeps at arms-length out of concern for his mortal soul. This book was depressing.

#25: Succubus Heat by Richelle Mead – This fourth book in the Georgina Kincaid series sees Regina’s boss, the arch-demon of Seattle disappear from the city, which renders the lesser immortals under him temporarily mortal. This allows Georgina and Seth to give into their long denied desires, even though he’s now with someone else. But of course Georgina can’t leave anything alone and feels the need to rescue her boss, even if it means she goes back to being a succubus.

#26: Succubus Shadows by Richelle Mead – As a result of what happened in Succubus Dreams, succubus Georgina has been kidnapped by some kind of evil dream-sucking thing. She’s left in an in-between state where she’s constantly dreaming. Some of the dreams are real events from her life and some are fake – just to mess with her. This is all really just a device for the character to relive all the things she’s done in her centuries long life, including all the men she’s hurt. Her friends work to save her, and I have to say, I was surprised at who ended up being the key to ending her torture.

July Reads: 50 Books for 2011

I was an urban fantasy devouring fiend in July.

#15: Tracking the Tempest by Nicole Peeler – The second book in the Jane True series takes adorable Jane out of her small coastal Maine town and into the big city to visit her vampire boyfriend and fight big bad evil. (While cracking jokes and sporting Converse of course.)









#16: Tempest’s Legacy by Nicole Peeler – The third book in the Jane True series and my favorite one so far. Jane’s world is turned upside-down when she finds out the fate of her long-lost mother. She makes some big decisions about her relationships and also starts really coming into her own power. I adore Jane, but also really love all of the secondary characters in this series.








#17: Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells – The first in the Sabina Kane series. Sabina is a vampire half-breed assassin in L.A. with a ginormous chip on her shoulder. She’s pretty rough around the edges but has fascinating adventures and a joins forces with a hot wizard.









#18: The Mage in Black by Jaye Wells – The second book in the Sabina Kane series sees Sabina relocating to New York to meet the magical half of her family. Things turn violent pretty quickly, which is pretty much just how Sabina rolls. I want to like Sabina, but she makes such dumb decisions sometimes that I kind of want to thump her on the head.








#19: Succubus Blues by Richelle Mead – The first book in the Georgina Kincaid series introduces the succubus with the heart of gold, who works in a bookstore in Seattle, when she’s not stealing the life force from people. Georgina is full of all kinds of idiosyncrasies for a demon from hell. She also finds herself torn between two men that she really can’t have.








#20: Succubus on Top by Richelle Mead – In the second book from this series, Georgina is trying to make a go of it with her human boyfriend Seth, while also trying please her bosses in hell. There are going to be a LOT of obstacles in between Georgina and her happily ever after.









#21: Green-Eyed Demon by Jaye Wells – The third book in the Sabina Kane series sees Sabina and her motley crue (hot mage Adam and her demon familiar Giguhl) heading to New Orleans to rescue her sister and go to war with her evil grandmother once and for all. The New Orleans setting is the perfect background for a paranormal adventure.

June Reads: 50 Books for 2011

For some reason my reading picks up in the Summer. So I managed three new books in June (and some re-reads of course) and July is looking even better. Yay! My credit card bill? Not looking so good.

#12: Spoiled by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan - The fug girls wrote a book! The best celebrity fashion bloggers on the internet wrote a young adult novel, and it's fantastic. Brooke and Molly, who never knew they were sisters, have been thrown together as teenagers by their movie star father. It's Sweet Valley High meets Dynasty meets Beverly Hills 90210 meets every guilty pleasure you've ever loved. It's sweet and fluffy, and funny and poignant. If you love YA, and/or the fug girls, you should read this already.

#13: Tempest Rising by Nicole Peeler - The first book in the Jane True urban fantasy series. Jane is bookish and yet scrappy and does a helluva job adjusting to her new paranomal heritage. Oh, and she meets a hot vampire. Which, of course, is like the beginning of every awesome book. Loving this series.

#14: I'm Not the New Me by Wendy McClure - Amazon has recommended this book to me for years, and the cover art has always appealed to me. But this isn't your average chick-lit novel. It reads more like a blog (which is what it's based on) so I kind of felt like it lacked a clear plot and ending. But I LOVED the retro Weight Watchers recipe cards and witty commentary that were included, and that's where the author's humor really shines.