It's Monday! OMG - read it, even though it's long. There's a couple contest alerts. :)

Well - another week bites the dust. Seems like I just finished a Tuesday post yesterday. And then...I got a little sick and lost the rest of the week...But, I was able to read a little more than usual - so there's the silver lining in that cloud. :) One of my favorite things about Mondays...(the only good thing really, other than Monday night...) is the Monday Meme hosted by Sheila of Book Journey. Seriously ! (sort of seriously *g*) Mondays are just no good for me...... but back to some positives. Because I was so DEATHLY ILL the last five days...(deathly, guys - I almost dehydrated myself and CONTINUED to take my diuretic for b/p. not a good thing to do...) Really, I'm okay - I just almost screwed myself up until in a lightening stroke brain surge, I realized I was probably very low on potassium....but that has nothing to with books, except...

Because I was so DEATHLY ILL (yeah, I just repeated myself) I was able to actually read two whole books in almost four days. That is unheard of for me lately....I haven't been able to read this much in a while ..... hummmm, ever since..OMG ever since I learned how to cruise the internet....No - it was ever since I started blogging and reading other blogs....NO....WOW!!! lightbulb moment!!! it's ever since FACEbook and FARMVILLE!!! Oh My Goodness! those two things will suck the time from you...and your soul along with it.. and yet I just can't seem to stay away. Plowing fields, growing crops...forgetting I planted crops and having them all wither...leaving my cows and animals unharvested....My dog who is supposed to be learning tricks with every 7 days worth of biscuit feeding, keeps getting knocked back a trick because I don't get there in time... looking for the gifts your farmville neighbors send, accepting the gifts (takes more time)....I HATE FARMVILLE, but I keep playing....it's a stupid addiction. sheepish grin here... Anyway, back to some semi-serious book talk.

***for excerpts, click on book covers***

The first complete book that I've read since Tuesday was Jealousy, by Lili St.Crow. Probably anyone who has read the Jill Kismet series or the Dante Valentine series knows by now that Lilith Saintcrow writes Young Adult fiction under the name Lili St.Crow. If you didn't know before, now you do. This was an excellent addition to the first two books in the Strange Angels series, btw. (Strange Angels, Betrayal, and Jealousy). Of course, this one ended with a cliffhanger type ending - and now I have to wait until Spring of 2011 to find out if a certain someone is going to....well, Ms Saintcrow/St.Crow is not always kind to her characters, but she sure writes a hell of a story.

Well, after reading an excellent young adult book, I decided I needed to read some Ilona Andrews...I've had Bayou Moon sitting on my shelf ever since it came out. (remember my little addiction to buying books - even though I don't have time to read all of them?). I think I read this one in a 24 hour period. Started it late Friday night and finished it Saturday night...kind of late also. This book is written by Gordon and Ilona Andrews under the name Ilona Andrews. Great writing, great dialogue, great fighting...well, review is coming. (Just in case) The are also the authors of the Kate Daniels series, one of my favorite series. Check out their other website - both sites are extremely interesting.

Robin McKinley has a new release coming out very soon - Pegasus. I was so lucky, I found her website one day, saw a post about review copies and took a chance of asking for one. They actually sent me one! I'm always suprised when I get a book just to review. It feels so.....omg, they're TRUSTING ME! it's kind of scary, actually and at the same time kind of fun....At any rate - I started reading this today, and it looks like it's going to be a good one. Of course, I don't think I've ever read a Robin McKinley book that I didn't enjoy - I've been reading her since....over 13 years for sure. This one is a fantasy (most of her's are, except that one vampire book...which I think could be considered one of the earlier urban fantasy books - vampires, modern day, magic and mayhem....written in 2003, which, if I'm remembering right, is before the term Urban Fantasy was widely used. My, isn't this long for a parenthesized aside? yes it is; and. yet. I. can't. seem. to. stop.) Oh, thank god, I got out of that parenthesis thing. Bet you're glad too.

:)

In the midst of my deathly illness (you remember, where I almost offed myself because I was still taking my diuretic for blood pressure, and yet throwing up most of my ...ahem. sorry for the tmi ) one of the few bright spots, besides being able to read in between the numerous trips to the bathroom...was a little package that came in the mail. It was a surprise, because I had completely forgotten that I had won a book from Literary Escapism. I had been wanting to read Skin Game since I first heard about it a couple years ago (has it really been that long? ). I never saw it in the store, but I kept seeing mentions of it whenever I visited Ann Aguirre's website, and clicked on her lists of books...She wrote Skin Game under the pen name Ava Gray. This is actually just one of her pen names - she has many, many pen names.....Okay, really only two pen names. Ava Gray and Ellen Connor (co-writing with Carrie Lofty) AND she's also writing a young adult series, as well as the Sirantha Jax series (another of my favorites) and the Corinne Solomon series, and ....more. much more. the woman is a writing machine - it's amazing.

Speaking of some of my favorites...The Bitter Seed of Magic by Suzanne McLeod is coming soon, February of 2011 according to The Book Depository - alas in the UK, but again, The Book Depository is my friend and can be your friend too. If you haven't read it yet, The Sweet Scent of Blood is her first book, available now in the U.S., there is a second - The Cold Kiss of Death which is currently out in the UK. There is also a contest going on right now, until November 7th - UK time (which I can never remember - are they ahead of us or behind? I'm horrible at remembering that) where you can win The Cold Kiss of Death -which is set around Halloween. Visit Suzanne McLeod's website for excerpts and fun content.

and...J.A. Campbell has some new Doc (the vampire hunting dog) stories up at her website. One of them is a Halloween story. She's also trying to fundraise for writing purposes, so if at all possible show some love with some $$. It's worth it, also - Girl can write! Julie is also holding a contest to giveaway The Devil You Know by Mike Carey (it's a good book, I've read it).

This has definitely turned into one of my longest posts - but after being cooped up and recovering from near death (lol) I guess I had a lot to get out.