Blizzard!

We've had a seriously mild winter this year, and now we know why! Mother Nature was storing it all it for a March blizzard! And me with only one unread library book, oops. Lucky for me, I've got my own personal library to dig through if needed and a knitting project on the go as well.

But anyhoo, here's what I have read in the last few days:

58. Foundation / Mercedes Lackey.
    The first new Valdemar novel in 5 years! And I found it just as engrossing as any of the previous books. This one is set after Vanyel's time, but well before any of the others, at the very foundation of the Heraldic Collegium. I would say that this is more of a young adult book than previous books in the series, it is a bit simplistic. But I enjoyed it and didn't want to put it down and now I am anxiously awaiting the next book in the series, because I need to know what happened, lol.
    
    If you've read other reviews of this book (say on Amazon) I suggest getting the book from your local library and reading for yourself. A lot of the reviews I read were nit-picky and annoying. Yes, they played children's games. Yes they eat fondue (no fondue is not a modern day food, it's been around a long time). Yes they have machines that split logs (but Valdemar has always had artificers and you have to remember they also had magic until fairly recently, why wouldn't artificers come up with ways to replace magic now that it's gone?). Yes, the people no longer remember Vrondi. But hello, if you've read the entire Valdemar series, you'll know that in first the Mage Winds trilogy and more in the Mage Storms trilogy it's explained that knowledge of magic was magically suppressed by Vanyel to keep people from panicking at no longer having Herald-Mages, hence the pained look on Herald Nikolas' face when talking about them. Sheesh.

I've read a few more books lately as well, but this post is long enough for the moment, lol.

Knitting more, reading less. And this last week we were on vacation, so I didn't really read as much as usual, since there was so much to do :)

50. Ghouls Just Haunt to Have Fun / Victoria Laurie
    I love this series. Laurie has me absolutely hooked with her quirky ghost busting characters.


51. Deadly Housewives / Nevada Barr, et al.


52. Carrot Cake Murder / Joanne Fluke.


53. You're The One That I Haunt / Terri Garey
    Not my favorite in this series. I enjoyed the first two books a lot more. In fact, I will admit to skimming this book more than reading it, because I just didn't care for it.


54. Moving Targets and Other Tales of Valdemar / Mercedes Lackey et al.
    Love the Valdemar stories and it's interesting seeing other author's take on the world. I've two more Mercedes Lackey books for this next week, including the new Valdemar novel.


55. Baby, Don't Go / Susan Andersen.


56. The First Death / Laurell K. Hamilton
    This is the first of the newish graphic novels based on Anita Blake. I picked it up out of curiosity at the library. good to see the old Anita again, but not my thing.


57. Six Geese A-Slaying / Donna Andrews.

Needless to say, that more than fulfills my 52 books in 52 weeks quota. And I read every last one of them, not a single audible book in the bunch! (Sorry, audible books just seem like a cheat somehow, and besides, I prefer the way the characters sound in my head, lol).

I'll still continue to read (DUH!) and post them here. Now it's all about just how many books can I read in a year. ;)

Several books to add...

...No time to add them! We are leaving on vacation in just a bit, so you all will just have to wait until I have more time. My mother has internet, so I may catch up with y'all then ;)

46 - 49

46. Dead and Berried / Karen MacInerney.
    Second in a series.


47. Murder With All the Trimmings / Elaine Viets.
    This wasn't my favorite of the series. I really didn't like many of the characters, including the main character's wishy washy but hunky boyfriend.


48. Witch Hunt / Shirley Damsgaard.
    Another good story in the Abby and Ophelia series.


49. Murder is Binding / Lorna Barrett.
    I was disappointed, not because it was a bad book but because I'm an idiot! I saw the title at the bookstore but didn't pick it up to read the back. When it came in at my library I checked it out and started to read it as soon as I got home. Umm. Oops. I've already read this one. Lol. Maybe I can try the second book in this series next time.