OMG - already Monday! (and another lol cat!)

If possible, this Monday came around even faster than the other Mondays this year. sigh. SIGH!

Only one more week of Winter Break.

Oh well.

At least I was able to visit with family that I don't see often.

My brother and his partner came up from L.A.

My Dad and his lady came down from Sacramento and is staying with us for a few nights.

A friend of my boys came up from Fresno and stayed with us a few nights.

At one point we had the extra bedroom used, AND the couch in the living room as a bed. A full house.

Here is what's going on in my reading life....a whole lotta nothing....lol. Well, we've had company. I've been babysitting, so the parents - aka my children- could have a few hours of children free shopping. And I spent two days wrapping gifts. I didn't have two days worth of wrapping to do, rather it took me two days. It was wrap a bit. sit down. wrap some more. lay down. wrap some more....play farmville. wrap some more...go shopping. It all worked out in the end. The gifts were wrapped, people visited. My kids and grandkids made it all over for Christmas midmorning. Then we all converged on my sister and her family for X-mas fun and food. It was a nice day. Full, Loud and Busy.

Sheila at Book Journey hosts this meme, where we share what we've been reading and what we hope to read....

I finished reading Grave Witch Christmas Eve, in between wrapping presents (and playing farmville). It's a good book, interesting with some good characters. The world building reminded me a bit of early Kim Harrison novels, like Dead Witch Walking. I hope to read more and see how the series develops.


Kalayna Price, the author - has a sequel due in July 2011 (Grave Dance) and also has written another series about a shapeshifter who has been infected with vampirism. I'd like to read those, I've never read any about a shapeshifter who is also a vampire. Should be interesting. The two books are Once Bitten and Twice Dead. I hear they are only available online, so far. If you go to her website, you will also find samples of her art.






One of the many books that I've started reading is Sharp Shooter by Marianne Delacourt. I had to order this book from a British used bookstore. It's available to buy from Australia, but the price is unbelievable, so I tried a used bookstore from England called Abe Books. From there I ended up at a site called Ming Books. Because of the crazy weather England has been having, and the December mailing season, it took over three weeks to get to me, but it did finally get here. I've read into the third chapter, and the character's voice is pretty good. It's humorous. Interestingly, the author is also known as Marianne De Pierres, author of Nylon Angel (futuristic cyber punk) and Dark Space (Sci-Fi) which is another book I'm reading, but I left it at work, so I haven't been able to read it on my down time from work. I see that there is already a sequel to Sharp Shooter, called Sharp Turn. I'm going to try to get that one also. Basic blurb - Tara Sharp sees people's auras and ends up working with a shady lawyer, getting introduced to the underworld of town - the setting is Australia. If you click on the author link, look at all the other links on her page - this woman writes quite a variety of novels, cyber punk, young adult fantasy, sci-fi, and mystery. Amazing.

Last week I received Nocturne, a novel by Syrie James. The book is about a woman who is caught in an accident, during a snowstorm and is consequently snow bound with a stranger for days....the stranger has amazing strength, hidden powers....is dangerous.....recipe for an intense novel. It's going to be in bookstores January 4, 2011 (hardback) but you can read an excerpt now - just click on the cover image.
I've been reading this the past few days - in between visits and sleep, and babysitting...and so far it has kept me interested. It's not an urban fantasy, but more fiction about unusual circumstances and people... Syrie James is the author of Dracula, My Love and The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen.

Going back to Christmas - I received gift cards from a few different people, for Borders, my favorite walk-in bookstore. I foresee a shopping trip soon! although I really should catch of on some of the books I still haven't read that I bought over the summer. Time goes by so very fast - one day I'm looking for books that have been released in September, the next day I'm realizing I haven't read them yet and it's been three months. I need to stay off the farmville! LOL

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