Wednesday, September 1, 2010

August 2010 Reads

August was an average reading month for me -- although I couple of great books there were no big surprises and no deep disappointments. That's good, right?

But wait, that's not quite right! I would like to highlight one short story I thought was excellent -- Here There Be Monsters by Meljean Brook included in the Burning Up Anthology: Grade A-.  That story certainly stands out and now I'm really looking forward to reading The Iron Duke and the whole series. :)

As for the rest of my reads, here's the summary for August:

Total books read: 16
New Reads: 14
Re-reads: 2

Favorite new reads this month:
I loved Cardamone's story "River Boy" in Labonte's Country Boys: Wild Gay Erotica Anthology when I first read it last year, and both the story and characters  (River Boy and Skink) stayed with me. I've been looking for something by this author and was happy when I found Pumpkin Teeth, a collection of his short stories. I was not disappointed.  
Cardamone's writing style is creative and the stories and characters are quite unusual. There's horror and fantasy with the exploration of sexuality as its core, "Tank" & "Suitcase Sam" are already favorites. He finishes some stories and leaves others with ambiguous endings that left this reader thinking and wondering more than once -- I'll definitely be re-reading some of them. Other stories stayed with me for their shocking and nightmarish qualities. I'm not into horror and this collection kept me riveted, that says a lot in my book. Category: LGBTQI Horror Released: October 23, 2009 by Lethe Press Books 

Burning Up by Susan Andersen (Upcoming Review)
One Season of Sunshine by Julia London: B
Not Without Her Family by Beth Andrews: C+
His Secret Agenda by Beth Andrews: C
The Down Home Zombie Blues by Linnea Sinclair: B
The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan (Upcoming Buddy Review)
Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage by Jennifer Ashley: C
New Normal by Jeffrey Ricker: B
Burning Up Angela Knight, Nalini Singh, Virginia Kantra, Meljean Brook: B
Love Me If You Dare by Carly Phillips (Upcoming Review)
Corralled by Lorelei James: B-
Demon from the Dark by Kresley Cole: B-
Rising Tides (Quinn Brothers Trilogy, #2) by Nora Roberts (Re-read): B+
Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas (Re-read): A

What about you? Did you have a favorite book, a big surprise or disappointment in August?

10 comments:

  1. How I envy your reading productivity! Looks like a lot of B's this month... which is decent.

    Are you doing the buddy review of The Red Pyramid with nath?

    My favorite books in August were The Iron King by Julie Kagawa (YA), One Dance with a Duke by Tessa Dare, and of course, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

    One Dance with a Duke is the fourth Tessa Dare novel that I've read and the third one that I've ADORED. Only one was just okay. Yet, I've found that even when the romance wasn't compelling... I always find such pleasure in reading her work. Have you tried her yet, Hilcia? I forgot if I asked you that already.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice list! Love Rising Tides... I think Ethan is one of my favorite heroes.

    I may pick up Lorelei's Corralled. I always enjoy her stuff.

    My favorite for the month would have to be At Piper's Point by Ethan Day. He's a fantastic writer and his characters are fun to read. Chris Owen is quickly becoming a favorite author... read Rough Draft and loved it.

    Hot Finish by Erin McCarthy was pretty forgettable, left me sort of blah.

    @Christine - I bought The Iron King for Lili... I'll see what she says. It sounds like fun. I'll need to add Tessa Dare to the list of books to buy :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ooh, I've been meaning to get Corralled! Gotta pick it up!

    My biggest surprise was how much I enjoyed Nora Roberts this month. I've always been sort of lukewarm about her, but The Search and bks 2 & 3 of the Bride quartet were just what I needed to get me thru my move.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Christine yes, Nath and I are doing a Buddy Review for The Red Pyramid at Breezing Through. :)

    Oh and The Iron King by Kagawa is a book I have on my sights to share as a read with my daughter. Glad you loved it. :) I have the first three books by Tessa Dare in my TBR, but haven't begun reading her work yet. I promised myself I would do that this year... great to hear the fourth one is great too.

    Mariana, I adore Ethan too! He's one of my favorites. :) If you like Lorelei James, you'll like Corralled. This is a good start to a new series. I have to check out Rough Draft, you know how much I love Chris Owen... I saw your 5.0!

    Renee, I hope you enjoy Corralled -- it's classic James and a good beginning to her new series.

    You enjoyed Nora! Her books are comfort reads for me, so I can understand. I really enjoyed The Search too Renee -- Fee, Simon, Jaws and the story as a whole. I'm glad NR brought some enjoyment to your crazy days. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Very nice recap, Hils :) Sounds like an okay month.

    I was sure you've already reviewed Burning Up LOL. But I guess not. I need to review it as well :P

    Hmmm, on the top of my head, I can't remember what I enjoyed and not LOL. I've been reviewing all over the place and so, it's hard to keep straight which books I've read when ^_^; Looking back though, I would say Deeply, Desperately by Heather Webber was the best book :) A Matter of Class was sweet, but not long enough...

    ReplyDelete
  6. It was a good month overall Nath. LOL! I reviewed the Anthology Burning Up but not the Andersen book -- the titles just get mixed up, right? Although I think I discussed the book with you. ;P

    I'm glad you enjoyed A Matter of Class by Balogh and I'll definitely check out the Heather Webber book. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. nath! I'm so happy to see you liked the second Heather Webber book! I have to go pick it up... that second book in a series sometimes has a tough time holding up to the first one, you know?

    p.s. Good morning, Hils! ; )

    ReplyDelete
  8. The first one that comes to mind as favorite is Elizabeth Hoyt's Wicked Intentions. Loved it! I was surprised since I haven't been reading many historicals lately, just haven't felt the pull.

    Biggest disappointment? Hmmm... I DNF Chelsea Cain's Sweetheart. Archie totally pissed me off & I just didn't care what happened to him or Gretchen. :(

    ReplyDelete
  9. I can't wait for your take on the Andersen and Phillips books. I already bought Burning Up but I'm on the fence about Love Me If You Dare.

    My August reads is horrible. I haven't been interested in reading new books. I've been doing a lot of re-reads. SIGH. Glad your August was better than mine!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Christine! ;P

    Leslie, Wicked Intentions is high on my priorities of reads. I'm so happy to hear you loved it!

    Tabitha, I'm sorry to hear that! My month was okay. I'm having a few problems ATM, and just need to pick the right book, maybe Wicked Intentions? :D I'm also re-reading. :(

    ReplyDelete

Anonymous Users disallowed due to large influx of spam.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.