It’s WWW Wednesday time.

The WWW Wednesdays meme is currently hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words and is a great way to do a weekly update on what you’ve been reading and what you have planned.

To take part all you have to do is answer the following three questions:

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

Here’s this weeks WWW.

Currently Reading

I have a new team challenge starting on GoodReads on Friday so I’m trying to calm my reading for a few days so I can get everything finished and hopefully post some reviews. I somehow seem to have gotten very behind on my reviews.

I therefore only have one book on the go at the moment, Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton. This is actually a book of the month for the same GoodReads group but is a story I have been wanting to read for a while. It’s a YA fantasy set in the desert with magic, Djinni and horses. In other words it’s perfect for me and while I’m only around halfway through I really enjoying it.

Recently Finished

 It’s been a bit of a quieter reading week as I’m between challenges (I’m a challenge addict) so only three books finished.

The first is The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness which I picked up at the library. Patrick Ness books are always good and this one is no exception. It’s about a group of friends who are just trying to get by while someone else saves the world from whatever threat it’s under. There are some odd events but it’s more about friendship and dealing with the fear of graduating school and growing up. It’s not as exciting as some of Ness’s other stories but I’d still definitely recommend it. I thought there were a lot of feels and I found myself laughing, smiling and crying at points which I always think is a good thing.

The second book finished was Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan which I received as an ARC from NetGalley. It’s a mystery/thriller about the local newspaper’s agony aunt (and school teacher) who gets a letter from someone claiming to be a girl who was kidnapped a number of years ago. Unsurprisingly the police don’t take her seriously so she starts to investigate on her own.

I very much enjoyed this book although I have to say that I thought the first half was the better than the second. I think I really liked the mystery and uncertainty in the first half and once the secret was out I wasn’t quite as gripped. It is very well written and there is something just very likeable about it. For a debut novel it definitely shows a lot of promise.

The third and final book read was Princess Ahira by K.M. Shea which was actually a re read. The story is about a princess who is kidnapped by a dragon on her sixteenth birthday. She ends up living with the dragon, Azmaveth, and they form a sort of friendship. It’s a very cute and funny story as Ahira hates being a Princess and knocks back all of the Princes who come to rescue her. There are dwarves, griffins, unicorns and many other magical creatures as well as references to different fairytales. I think it may actually be my favourite K.M. Shea story.

Reading Next

I’m not too sure what I will be reading next as a lot will depend on the challenge. I do however still have some ARCs due to be finished soon and a giant pile of library books to read. If possible I’m hoping to pick up The Girl with All The Gifts by M.R. Carey and The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin both of which I got from the library. These have been on my TBR pile for ages so I really, really hope I can get to them. I also have an ARC approaching it’s archive date, Every Exquisite Thing by Matthew Quick, so should also be trying to squeeze it in too.

Have you read any of the books above or have any other book you’d recommend? Leave comments and links below.

Happy Wednesday everyone.

It’s WWW Wednesday time.

The WWW Wednesdays meme is currently hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words and is a great way to do a weekly update on what you’ve been reading and what you have planned.

To take part all you have to do is answer the following three questions:

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

Here’s this weeks WWW.

Currently Reading

I’m trying to work my way through some of the library books I have lurking around the house at the moment so I’m juggling two books at the moment, a physical and an ebook. I’m never very good at reading more than one book but they’re very different so it’s easier to keep them separate (although I will no doubt still become addicted to one and neglect the other).

The library book I’m reading is The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness. I always love getting the physical Patrick Ness books as they are sooo pretty. This one has blue edged pages and pictures of animals in the inside covers. Anyway, I should probably be talking about the story rather than the cover. The story is very, very good. It’s about a boy, Michael, who’s not the hero or the chosen one. He’s just trying to live his life while other people go off and save the world. Weird stuff does happen around him but he’s more focused on asking out the girl he likes, dealing with family issues and his own problems. I don’t know how Ness comes up with such fantastic stories. He has an incredible imagination.

The ebook that’s keeping me company on my commute at the moment is Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan. It’s a mystery/thriller about an agony aunt (and school teacher) who gets a letter from someone claiming to be a girl who was kidnapped a number of years ago. Unsurprisingly the police don’t take her seriously so she starts to investigate on her own. I’m starting to get the feeling that this summer is going to be all about great crime books as so far this is very good. Here’s hoping it keeps it up till the end.

On audio, I do still have Grave Peril by Jim Butcher from the library although I haven’t listened to any of it in the last week. I will no doubt resume it at some point but I have to admit I’m enjoying listening to music in the car at the moment.

Recently Finished

The first book finished was Amber Smoke by Kristin Cast which I’d just started last Wednesday and was having my doubts about. As it turned out those doubts were justified as it wasn’t good. I’d considered giving up around the 30% mark but decided to push on which probably wasn’t the best idea. The plot was confused, the dialogue was bad and I didn’t like any of the characters. I did get it from NetGalley so maybe the final published version will be better but I doubt I’ll be reading any more from this author.

After the disaster of Amber Smoke I switched to one of the e books I’d gotten from the library, Glass Houses by Rachel Caine. It’s the first in the Morganville Vampire series and was first published in 2006 so it’s definitely an oldie. I read Caine’s most recent book Ink and Bone not too long ago and really enjoyed it so was looking for other books by her. This is the usual teenage vampire type story but it was enjoyable enough if you can ignore a slightly idiotic main character who’s willing to risk their life to go to school. It obviously didn’t bother me too much as I went on and read the next book in the series The Dead Girl’s Dance. There seem to be about 15 books in the series so it should keep me busy for a while 🙂

Reading Next

I only have a few days left before it will be returning itself to the library so my next read will very probably be Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare. I keep hearing a lot of great things about it so I do definitely want to read it this time.

I also have a couple of book club books that I must read over the next week or so. The first is Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O’Farrell which is for my real life book club. I have to admit it’s not a book I would have picked up otherwise and I’m not convinced I want to read it but I’ll give it a go. I’m not entirely sure I’ll last in book club if they keep picking books I don’t want to read (sorry, having a grump).

The second book is Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton which is book of the month for one of my GoodReads groups. It’s one I’ve been wanting to read for a while so I’m looking forward to doing a group read.

Have you read any of the books above or have any other book you’d recommend? Leave comments and links below.

Happy Wednesday everyone.

It’s WWW Wednesday time.

The WWW Wednesdays meme is currently hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words and is a great way to do a weekly update on what you’ve been reading and what you have planned.

To take part all you have to do is answer the following three questions:

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

Here’s this weeks WWW.

Currently Reading

I can’t believe it’s the 1st June already. The good thing about that is we’re finally getting our week of Summer here in Scotland so the weather has been perfect for lying out in the garden with a book.

I’m still trying to make some progress through my ARC’s from NetGalley so I’m currently reading Amber Smoke by Kristin Cast. I have to admit I ordered this because the name of the author sounded vaguely familiar which is possibly not the best strategy for choosing books but never mind. I’ve only read a couple of chapters so far and it seems to be about the son of the Furies who is sent to catch some souls that have escaped from Tartarus. I’ve always been fascinated by mythology but at the moment I’m not overly optimistic about this book. It doesn’t seem to get the best reviews.

On audio, I’ve managed to get Grave Peril by Jim Butcher back out from the library. It’s the third in the Dresden Files series which is about a magician/private investigator. I was around a third through when it returned itself a month or so ago so I’m struggling to remember what had been happening. I may have to start from the beginning again.

Recently Finished

As the weather has been so good over the last week and it was a holiday weekend I managed to get quite a bit of reading done and finished a few books.

The first book finished was Summer Days and Summer Nights which is a collection of YA short stories edited by  Stephanie Perkins all with a summer love theme. I had this on my Amazon wish list as I’d enjoyed Stephanie Perkins previous collection My True Love Gave To Me so I was very happy when it popped up on NetGalley and I was approved. Like the previous collection this one is very good and includes a mix of stories from some of my favourite authors and some new ones. You can read my full review and a quick rundown of each story here.

The second book finished, Sweet Resolve by Jill Sanders, was also an ARC from NetGalley. Unfortunately it was not a book that worked for me as I did not like the main character and there were a few things I really disagreed with. I don’t think I’m going to post a review here as I’m struggling not to go off on a mad rant so I’ll stick with just a GoodReads review.

After Sweet Resolve I was in the mood for something considerably darker so picked up The Girl in the Ice by Robert Bryndza. This had been on my reading next list for a while and I’m so glad I finally managed to read it. It’s a police procedural and the first in the DCI Erika Foster series. I liked it a lot and would definitely recommend to anyone who likes story about the hunt for a serial killer. There is the odd detective story cliché but in a good way. What I loved most however was the diverse cast of characters. Hopefully I’ll get a review up soon.

When I finished, I couldn’t resist moving straight on to the next book in the series, The Night Stalker which is another hunt for a serial killer story but is less of a whodunit. I actually liked this one more than The Girl in the Ice partly I think because I already knew and liked the characters. It was good to get a bit more information on some of the secondary characters and see a bit more development. The ending did make me exceptionally angry so I do want to read the next one now.

I was finishing off a team challenge this week so I also managed to sneak in a couple of re reads during the weekend. I was looking for something light and enjoyable so went for Beauty and the Beast and Rumpelstiltskin by K.M. Shea. As you can probably guess from the titles they are re tellings of fairy tales. I’m a big fan of K.M. Shea books. They could do with a bit of a proof read but I like the take no nonsense heroines and the humour.

The final book finished this week was my audio, At Graves End by Jeaniene Frost. This was the third in the Night Huntress series about a half vampire who hunts evil vampires and other creatures. I lost concentration a little part way through this so didn’t enjoy quite as much as previous ones.

Reading Next

I have the most ridiculous to read pile at the moment as I went a bit nuts on both NetGalley and at the library. I think I have about 20 books I’m supposed to read over the next three weeks which is unlikely to be achievable even with the best of intentions. I think the most likely upcoming reads will be ARC’s The Paris Secret by Karen Swan and Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan. I am however still keen to read The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness and Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare which I have from the library. Decisions, decisions 🙂

Have you read any of the books above or have any other book you’d recommend? Leave comments and links below.

Happy Wednesday everyone.