Recommendations from Karin for March 2015.

In order to bring some more variety to my blog, I have asked some of my bookish friends to tell about the books they have in the past month, and to give us a recommendation. Today’s post is made by Karin from Austria.

Karin:

I have read 12 new books and 4 novellas this month – actually I bought more but I wasn’t very lucky with those book collections that you get for a steal, so I won’t count them. I skimmed most of them anyway.
But as for the rest I’d really have a hard time to say which I liked best. So I will start by recommending the one I actually liked almost best:

Vision in Silver by Anne Bishop



The New York Times best-selling author of The Black Jewels Trilogy transports readers to a world of magic and political unrest - where the only chance at peace requires a deadly price....
The Others freed the cassandra sangue to protect the blood prophets from exploitation, not realizing their actions would have dire consequences. Now the fragile seers are in greater danger than ever before - both from their own weaknesses and from those who seek to control their divinations for wicked purposes. In desperate need of answers, Simon Wolfgard, a shape-shifter leader among the Others, has no choice but to enlist blood prophet Meg Corbyn's help, regardless of the risks she faces by aiding him.
Meg is still deep in the throes of her addiction to the euphoria she feels when she cuts and speaks prophecy. She knows each slice of her blade tempts death. But Others and humans alike need answers, and her visions may be Simon's only hope of ending the conflict.
For the shadows of war are deepening across the Atlantik, and the prejudice of a fanatic faction is threatening to bring the battle right to Meg and Simon's doorstep....


I don’t know if I have mentioned it before but “Written in Red”, the first book of the Others is one of my all time favourite books. I did like the second book in the series, I really did, but I think the surprise about this new world had gone a bit.
And now to the third book in this series: this time I was ensnared again by the time I read page10 or so. This book is written from multiple points of view, it’s not only concentrated on Meg; of course she takes the center stage, but we learn so much more about Blood Prophets in general; the villains in this book – the Human First League – reminded me of zealots of the past and unfortunately of the present.
In fact the whole book so intense that I didn’t mind to put it down at two o’clock in the morning to get some much needed sleep and finish it the next night. I finished it and started all over again, which I sometimes do when I’ve read as quickly as possible. Then I can appreciate the finer points on second reading.

The other book I’d like to recommend almost as much as I did Bishop’s is

Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs



Praised as "the perfect blend of action, romance, suspense and paranormal" (Rex Robot Reviews), the Alpha and Omega novels transport listeners into the realm of the werewolf, where Charles Cornick and Anna Latham embody opposite sides of the shifter personality. Now a pleasure trip drops the couple into the middle of some bad supernatural business....
For once, mated werewolves Charles and Anna are not travelling because of Charles' role as his father's enforcer. This time their trip to Arizona is purely personal, as Charles plans to buy Anna a horse for her birthday. Or at least it starts out that way....
Charles and Anna soon discover that a dangerous Fae being is on the loose, replacing human children with simulacrums. The Fae's cold war with humanity is about to heat up - and Charles and Anna are in the cross fire.


I stumbled upon Charles and Anna way back when their short story was published in “On the Prowl”. I knew about Patricia Briggs at that time but hadn’t tried her Mercy Thompson. But I was fascinated by that short story and thus I bought the first three books of Mercy. Unfortunately I couldn’t get into them; I really tried two or three times but they are not for me. But when I found “Cry Wolf” I knew I had to have that; and I have been reading this series ever since.
What can I say: I love these two, I love seeing Anna’s development, how she started to get more confidence and how she knew how to treat her husband.
Some people complained there are too many details about horses in this book. I don’t agree. Even though I did not understand each and every detail, I didn’t mind. I thought it was all quite interesting.
I also loved the underlying theme and the final page of this book. I can hardly wait to see how this story continues, but with my luck I’ll have to wait another two long years!

As for the rest – there were some lovely books I’d like to mention: “Because I Can” by Tamara Morgan (one of the most original contemporary romances I have read). Once again this is the third book in a series but the topics of the others did not appeal to me, so I tried this one and it was such a lovely surprise.
I took Aurian’s recommendations seriously and purchased a few books by Carole Brown. Her stories about cowboys and their significant others are highly recommendable. I liked “How to Marry a Cowboy” a lot.

Then I turned to Thea Harrison. You might remember that she is going to attend the LLC in Berlin this year and I’m really looking forward to meeting her.
I read quite a few of her novellas about the Elder Races and once again I found myself liking one that didn’t get all those stellar reviews. I’m talking about “Natural Evil”. I, too, would have loved a clearer HEA but this story just got to me.

Now I think this is it. I wish you all a good time with lots of good books to read!



Aurian: Thanks for the recommendation Karin! I have read those books myself last week, and still have to write the reviews about them, but I could not agree more with you. And I love Thea Harrison’s novella’s as well. They are really good.

How about you reader, have you read any of those recommendations yet, or are you planning to?

© 2015 Reviews by Aurian