Fiction Friday

Not much to report this week. I had one DNF, but I only read it for half an hour before deciding the book wasn't for me. Which reminds me, a comment from anon asked why I don't reveal the books I didn't like. I'm going to pretty much steal my own response and stick it here.

The reason I only list my favourite reads is multilayered. I want to spread the love for books I enjoyed. If you buy just one of the books I've mentioned then I'll be happy for that author. Writing is a joy but selling books is hard and for some authors it is their only means of support. Stories I don't necessarily enjoy or rate highly are quite often loved by others. People's mileage on writing quality and plots vary, so who am I to say you shouldn't read it. I have a two star review at Goodreads that claims Lovers Entwined is 'boring', there's not much else to the review but that. The fact that you follow this blog probably means that you disagree, afterall Lovers Entwined is one of my most popular books.

I've taken to marking my DNFs as dnf on my Goodreads shelf so you can see the books I really couldn't finish. If I've read something and not rated or reviewed it then it's probably somewhere between a one and a three. I do have notes on some reads, so if you're wondering whether to buy something and you really want to know what I thought of a particular book that I haven't reviewed, PM me and I'll see if I have anything in my notes to help you make an informed decision.

Anyway, back to the stuff I enjoyed. As you may recall I had interrupted my reading plan to read a few books because the sequels were on sale. One of those books was Him by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy. It's classed as new adult, I have no idea what that signifies; the MC's are under 25 and there is a lot of sex, maybe those are the over-riding factors. The story centres around ice hockey, a sport I know nothing about despite RJ Scott's posts appearing on my FB page. It's dual first person POV and written in the present tense. I should have hated this book. But I couldn't. It was so good. The sport didn't matter to me because this book was all about the characters and the pair of them carried the story on their broad muscular shoulders with ease. My first hockey book and all the others in my TBR pile now have an impressive marker to reach. All the stars!

Then I took a comic break, continuing with the next collection in the All New X-Men series that I'm reading, Battle of the Atom. Not my favourite collection by a long shot, way too Jean Grey focused, and WTF did they do to Deadpool! But you guys aren't here for the comics, so onward :)

The other book I interrupted my schedule for is Jack of Thorns by Amelia Faulkner and I'm still reading it. It's slow going, not because I not enjoying it (I am) but because I know there is no magical HEA (both characters have 'issues' that are not going to be solved over night) at the end of this book. This is an ongoing series and the HEA is going to have to be worked for, by both the characters and the readers, and while other books in the series are available, the relationship isn't finished as the releases stand at the moment. So I'm not rushing. I'm taking a few chapters at a time and savouring the story and breaking it up with other books.

I finished off the week with Hazel Takes Over by Sue Brown. I mean, how can you resist that face. This story is the third book in the Lyon Road Vet series and it features Peter and Evan from book 1. They are settling down together, getting to grips with being a family with all that entails when one partner already has children, and Peter is still finding his feet with other people's perception of his attraction to Evan. Throw a new puppy into the mix, friends old and new, and an ex-wife with a secret and you have an enjoyable read that starts off light and fun and then whips you in a frenzy by the end. These books have been getting more emotionally charged as the series progresses (saying something since it started with the death of a dog) and I know the final book, Stormin' Norman, is gonna be a kick in the guts story. I can't wait to read it.