What I'm Reading

Short list this week because . . . well, it is what it is. I really have to find some way of making more time to read. Or maybe I just need to start finding shorter books. LOL


Electronic

I finally started reading The Cobweb Bride by Vera Nazarian. It's still free on Amazon right now if you want to get your own copy, and even though I haven't delved very far into it, it looks like it's going to be really good.

It's a fantasy set in an alternate Renaissance based world. It begins with Death seeking the bride he was promised - the Cobweb Bride, and he vows to take no other soul until has his bride. So far his presence has been felt in four places in the kingdom - one is at the deathbed of a dying queen; one on the battlefield during a fierce conflict; one in a peasant's house as the grandmother lies dying; and one in the Imperial seat of power during the birthday celebration of the sickly, Imperial daughter. I can't wait to find out what happens next.

Tree Books

Sitting beside my chair in the living room is the Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance - Twenty Stories of Timeless True Love. This is more of a to-be-read than a currently reading, but it's on top of the pile now, so I thought I'd mention it. :-)

Re-reads

I'm almost finished reading the Sword and Sorceress anthology. I've only got one story to go and it's by Vera Nazarian. ;-)

Marion Zimmer Bradley, creator and editor of the series, set the word limit of the stories included to 10,000 words (more or less). Which make them the perfect length for fitting into a busy reading schedule. These stories take me back to a time when I dreamed of being a fantasy writer. I still have a folder full of ideas I came up with during this time period, but the stories tended to be too long to be consider short stories and I wasn't ready to dip my toe in the novel writing pond yet. :-)

I also re-read Imminent Thunder by Rachel Lee. It's a wonderfully suspenseful tale of a woman who buys a secluded house where she can make a fresh start. But the house, or something in it, doesn't want her there and drives her out and into the arms of her enigmatic neighbor. Or is he, perhaps behind it all? That's the beauty of the Silhouette Shadows series.

Now there's a bit of a story to this series. Early in the 90's, Silhouette Books had a line of paranormal romances called Silhouette Shadows. I discovered this series about 20 or 30 books into it, and it was the only series I've ever subscribed to because I loved these books that much and I didn't want to miss one. I even scoured the used book stores to find copies I missed.

Then, when we at book #66 or so, Harlequin bought out Silhouette and squashed the line. I guess I wasn't the only one upset by this, because a couple of years later they started their own line called Dreamscapes. I bought a couple, thinking I was getting a brand new series, but no. What they'd done was changed covers from the old Silhouette line and re-branded it. Not cool Harlequin!

Anyway, it's been so long since I've read any of the Shadows books that it's almost like reading new books. And I have about 60 of the 66 titles in my collection. :-)