What I'm Reading

It's been a couple of weeks so it's only to be expected that I got a bunch of reading in, but I think I went above and beyond the call of duty. ;-)

Electronic Books

I finished reading The Cobweb Bride by Vera Nazarian. The sad part about finishing this book is that it's the first of a trilogy and I don't have the other two. Yet.

This was fantasy at its finest. There were several story lines skillfully woven together but the basis was a quest adventure as a group of women/girls made their way north to Death's Keep to present themselves to Death as his bride. At the forefront is Percy, who becomes their de facto leader and who discovers she's able to see the souls of those who've died.

Over the last few weeks I've talked about what's been happening in this book, so I'll just finish by saying that the girls do finally meet Death himself, who rejects the whole lot of them as brides. But because of her unique ability, he drafts Percy into continuing the search on his behalf, which I assume will take place over books two and three. The Cobweb Bride is rich in adventure and detail and fascinating characters. Well worth following the link to download your own copy.

I also read Bone White by Tim McWhorter. It's classified as a mystery, but could just as easily be called suspense or horror. It begins with a deputy discovering something horrific in a church basement, although we never quite find out what it is. Then it jumps to a first person point of view through the eyes of teen-aged Luke. Luke and his friend Garrett take off for a weekend of fishing, but their boat breaks down and leaves them stranded on a desolate stretch of the lake. After fighting their way through dense woods during a storm, they happen across an abandoned church where they hope to take refuge. Unfortunately, it's not as abandoned as it appeared. The writing style made it a tad hard to follow at times but overall I found it hard to put down.

Tree Books

Be still my heart, I actually opened up Hunting the Corrigan's Blood by Holly Lisle. The bad news is I only managed a couple of chapters while I was waiting for my son-in-law, but it was enough to rekindle my interest.

A friend leant me a copy of The Dark Witch, by Nora Roberts, which I read pretty much steadily while waiting for my husband's surgery to finish. I finished it off when I got home that night. :-)

This is the first in a trilogy set in Ireland, rich in legends and curses and magic. And of course a little romance thrown in as well. This first book follows Iona as she journeys to Ireland to find her roots and is welcomed by her magical family. Together they must face the spirit of an evil sorcerer who once tried to steal the powers of the original Dark Witch.

As a reader, I loved this book, as I have loved every Nora Roberts book I've ever read. But as a writer I couldn't help but notice the blatant head-hopping - you know, where the point of view switches from one character to another within the same scene. How many times have I had to rewrite a scene to avoid such a writing faux pas? I guess when your name is Nora Roberts you can get away with anything.

Re-Reads

I also finished Sword and Sorceress V, not that it took a great deal of effort - I only had a couple of stories left in it.

I didn't get back to the cataloguing of my book collection yet, so I haven't added any new books to re-read yet. But the week is young yet. ;-)