It's Monday, and thanks for the Holiday

It's been only two full weeks of work and I'm exhausted.  Ugh.  By the end of each week so far, I'm feeling like I have a fever (I don't) and feeling so much pain and exhaustion - then again - it's kind of cool, because at least I have a job.  It's not the highest paying job, and the benefits aren't that great - but it's a job.  And because I'm working there, My grandkids get to attend if they have to.  Which is a nice perk.  We used it on Friday- my granddaughter went to Kinder care (one hour) and then to day care.  She had fun the entire time she was there.  She did art projects, played with other kids, and seemed to enjoy her self very much.  Then, when it was time to go - she saw her Papa (grandpa) pull up to pick us up.  She grabbed her backpack and cartwheeled to the door, yelling "papa!"  Her energy - we all need it. :)

So it's Sunday night - late, I'm still a little tired and very glad I don't have to work tomorrow - but still glad I have a job.

It is That Time again - It's Monday, What Are You Reading? Hosted  by Sheila of Book Journey - full guidelines are available on her website. (click on cute boy picture for link)

My reading wasn't especially inspired this week, though I did read a pretty fun short story.

Finished Reading Last Week;

The Moths of Miller Place

J.A. Campbell

e-book, short

fantasy

currently available

hell of a good short story - would love to see a full length novel sometime in the future featuring Doc - Vampire Hunting Dog.

What I'm Reading Now:

Another Kind of Dead

Kelly Meding

urban fantasy

available now

Good so far - not sure why I put off reading it so long.  I'm enjoying it, but it's going to be put aside again, because hey- Ann Aguirre just released her latest....

Endgame

Ann Aguirre

SciFi

available now

Soooo excited, and at the same time kinda of sad - because this is the final Sirantha Jax episode.  The last of a very cool SciFi series.  Well - glad is was written, glad I found it, and glad I went with the impulse to buy - cause I've enjoyed each of the novels.

No plans for next week's reading - If I happen to finish reading these current reads, I've got another SciFi book here waiting for me too open - if I'm in the mood for SciFi after Endgame.  We'll just have to see how it goes.  I do know, that the last month has been a very good month for book reading - seems most of the novels I pick are extremely enjoyable to read novels.  Only two have been bleh style for me, and I put them aside.  Not wasting time on things I don't enjoy. 

none of this week's lolcatz are my creations - All are available from ICanHasCheezburgers.com

As Lie the Dead by Kelly Meding - review

As Lie The Dead
****
Kelly Meding
Dreg City #2
Urban Fantasy
2010


Cover - I really like this cover.  There are elements in the novel that completely match this cover - which I like to see in a cover.


I bought As Lie The Dead the MOMENT it was released...then it sat on my shelf until February of 2012.  Not sure why I waited so long, since I thoroughly enjoyed the first novel in the series.  At any rate, I finally read it and I did enjoy it.  Which is good, since I bought the third book before even reading the second.


As Lie the Dead takes off within moments of the ending from Three Days to Dead.
Things are wrapping up, and Evy finally begins to think that she might be able to finally sleep and get to have some time with Wyatt when BAM! this totally muscular guy with huge wings lands on a car (destroying the car, by the way) because he wants to talk to Evy.  Some posturing ensues, then it turns out that he wants, requires Evy to protect a pregnant Owlkin and another Owlkin.  Even though because of her, the entire clan was annihilated....


On top of this, her donor body's - Chalice -  roommate's father shows up.  Can't quite believe the story about the roommate's death.  This isn't good because Evy still has feelings of guilt about that one.  The roommate had died trying to help her, he'd been attacked by vampires and then Evy had to kill him.  So of course, there's that whole guilt thing to deal with, and she has to keep it quiet by having another story about how he dies.  Turns out the guy and his father had been estranged for a long time - because of the son being gay, the dad not accepting, along with the alcoholism of said dad...not a good family situation. Anyway now he's in the picture.


Along with the two mentioned scenarios - suddenly, or still - Evy and Wyatt are having problems with the triads and the "brass".  Someone is trying to kill them and Evy is kept busy running all over town trying to figure out what's going on.  Many demands are made of her, she's threatened and still has to try to solve murders and a murder attempt, protect the owlkin while keeping them secret and keep the roommate's dad out of her hair.  This does not go smoothly, in fact Evy spends less time actively protecting the pregnant woman than being directed all over the place and almost killed a few more times, etc.


I am not sure quite what the problem was - but something about this didn't quite fit.  I enjoyed the writing, the dialogue and most of the situations.  But.....But.....something didn't quite work for me.  There was some relationship angst - never a favorite of mine and I have to remind my self that the timeline - between the two books, only about a week has gone by.  But by the end of book two I'm tired of reading about emotional and relationship angst.  I want them to either split up or get over things.  I know that's not rational of me, but there it is.  I also realize that there's a lot of holes in Evy's memory between the two lives - hers and Chalices and the trauma of dying along with almost dying a few times.  So possibly, Meding is doing a great job handling this.  But it's not really my favorite thing to read about. I want to once in awhile read about a woman who can beat the hell out of people and does NOT have a traumatic teenlife, or childhood or relationship.  One who  - other than being a killing machine - is balanced.  But alas, UF seems to mean troubled angsty traumatic lives.


So in conclusion - I do enjoy this novel.  I did enjoy it.  Mostly.  Not everything made sense, but that could just be me, and I'm such a lazy brain I don't even stop to analyze why - Just read it and enjoy (or not enjoy).  Evy wasn't even around much to protect the Owlkin pregnant lady - and complications arise.  So much seems to go wrong and yet somehow Evy pulls through.  I am looking forward to reading the third book.  Kelly Meding does have a way with words and dialogue.  Her plots are good.  Even her angst makes sense (I admit this, even though I personally don't want to read so much about relationship troubles).  So on the whole, the book is entertaining with plenty of action and I'll be reading the third, most likely buying the fourth.

It's Monday and we're all getting sick....ugh

Being sick is not fun. It's worse when you feel sick, but you're not as sick as your husband and the husband is making all those moaning and groaning noises every time you come into the room - as if he feels the need to prove to you that he is in pain and doesn't feel good. Why is it that women are always accused of being Drama Queens when men are so very dramatic? especially when sick? At least being sick on a three day weekend means possibly missing less work.

Yesterday, before realizing that I was coming down with a cold the grandkids and I put on some music. I started dancing this weird super dramatic dance - you know (no offense meant if you're the type to dance like this for real...) the type of dancing that you see aging hippies do at music festivals? waving the hands around in mystical movements....Only I was doing with a Vogue-ish attitude, and even though I could feel this in my back and legs, I was going for it anyway because the kids were laughing and I was having a lot of fun.... Every move I made, the kids copied. Even the dog took part. Not willingly, but we made him dance too. We did this for 30 minutes. The dog only had to dance for three minutes.

Then my granddaughter and I slept on our couch because Granpa was sick...and we thought we would let him have the bed (he was coughing and making all that noise anyway, haha)

This morning when I woke up....oh..my..god!

So much pain! Dancing might have been a mistake
But it was fun while it lasted. ;)

And here we are coming up on another Monday. Time just flies by. Time now for It's Monday What Are You Reading? Hosted by Sheila of Book Journey, this is our time to discuss what we've been reading.
At the beginning of this year I decided to keep a list of books - not only a list of books that I finished reading, but the books I started reading also. Problem is, I start books faster than I can keep up....I've listed SOME of the books I've started and I actually a little bit embarrassed at the sheer amount that I've listed - especially when I compare them to the books I've finished reading. Factor in the few books that I can't remember, or the books where I've only read the first two pages, and it's even worse.
So far I've finished reading seven books for 2012. I've started more than 17. Not a good percentage. Can you tell that I've easily bored/frustrated/distracted?

And now I've gone and added two more books to my TBR pile/mound/MOUNTAIN.

I've been short of spending money - but even so, it's tough to stay completely away from the bookstore. I put in some extra hours at the library. After I was finished, I found myself in the parking lot of Barnes & Nobel. I have NO idea how I got there (coughdrovecough). Once there, however, I browsed the scifi section. I found a promising looking novel called The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi - thank goodness I actually bought something new that is the first in a series. Then I came across the first book from a series that I had mistakenly bought the second book. Crossover by Joel Shepherd has a main character who is a cyborg. hmmmm.
Now - Keeping in mind that I have 17 books that I've started (well, actually more than 17) I'm going to try like hell to concentrate on only two books this week. It's seriously very hard for me {remember I suffer from B.A.D.D., an apparently widely spread faux disorder} but I'm going to try.

The two books I'm going to try to focus on are Another Kind of Dead by Kelly Meding and SharpShooter by Marianne DeLacourt (aka Marianne DePierres of Nylon Angel fame)

Coming up? Any one of the books listed on my Books Read page - there's a section just for books I've started for this year...though I'm pretty sure there's a few that I haven't listed. ;)
There's plenty there to keep me busy for a while - I should make THAT one of my non-challenges that I'm challenging myself with. A read from your non-finished books list....except that I'm against wasting time on books that aren't working for you. Maybe a give a book a second chance before giving up on it challenge. Title too long though.

What are y'all up to?
Know what I'm missing though? A little bit of Stacia Kane's Downsider series. It's been a long time. Hope one is coming out soon

Tuesday Teaser

I'm not sure why, but this LOL Cat pic reminds me of this crazy craving I've had for Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls - I've been thinking about them for months...MONTHS. My oldest son brought a six of them to the house today. Thank God!I treated myself to a half of a roll, and now that my crazed craving is partially satisfied, temporarily abated, I can concentrate on Teaser Tuesday.

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B of Should Be Reading. Time to tease with snippets of our current reads. No spoilers should be used.


My first is from the third of Kelly Meding's Dreg City series. I just finished #2 and have started #3.
Another Kind of Dead
Kelly Meding
from page 1
'I wanted the comforting commiseration of rain as I followed Leo through the cemetery, but rain would have revealed me to the prying eyes of people who still thought me dead. We were all safer for the deception, Wyatt had insisted, and I agreed.'
Now, I enjoy this series, and Kelly Meding's writing in general. But right here, I have to say that these two sentences do not make a lot of sense to me, and it's not explained, at least not as far as I've read, WHY would rain reveal her to prying eyes? Why would prying eyes notice her in the rain more readily than the bright sun? I kind of want to write to Meding as ask her, but then I don't want to be one of those readers who bug writers about what they've read. Not a writer I don't know anyway. Keep in mind, though that I've just started the book, haven't gone past page one yet...maybe it'll be revealed to me later.

I was going to post a teaser from The Mortal Bone, but I can't find it. This frequently happens to me and is 60% of the reason why I sometimes don't finish a book for months on end. I just lose track of it. :)
So another time for The Mortal Bone (I KNOW I saw it around here recently....)

Tuesday! means Teaser Tuesday

Before you do anything else, if you haven't yet come across this, click here and read a great little spoof of Prince Charming

Today's lol cat pics have been captioned by me, though it's a dream of mine to come up with anything as funny as many I've seen

I love Tuesdays for the simple fact that Tuesday has brought me one day away from Monday and just a few more days til the weekend. ;) And this weekend my very first grandchild (I have a whopping two grandchildren) will turn FIVE years old. Time flies. sigh.

So! Back to the book stuff. Teaser Tuesday - we read, we tease, you want. full guidelines are at MizB's site Should Be Reading.

Remember, I try, whenever at all possible, to provide links to excerpts under the book covers. Just for you. I always appreciate links to excerpts, so I try to make sure I put links up (when I'm not being lazy)
I've been reading a slew of books - but I feel like posting teasers from a couple of my fav writers

The Bitter Seed of Magic by Suzanne McLeod has recently had its US release, having been out in the UK since Februrary of 2011 - I also have a page here with a longer teaser that Ms McLeod provided.
from page 175;

"Moving almost too fast for me to see, she was standing in front of me, the sharp end of a bronze knife hovering steadily under my chin. I held my ground, ignoring my hitching pulse, and flicked a finger against the blade. 'Nice toy,' I said."
See? good writing, fun dialogue, kick ass women...oh yeah!
from another one of my fav writers - up and coming writer who is continuously working on one writing project or another - seriously, this girl has lots of great stories in her head - is Doc, Vampire-Hunting Dog

J.A. Campbell

from page 24;

'I growled. He met my angry gaze with his own and growled back. I didn't care if he was a wolf shaped like a human. I wasn't going to let him hurt Kevin.'

Love it - the whole wolf shaped like a human. Doc also refers to vampires as dead-things. For her readers, Ms Campbell has written a new short Doc story,(Doc's Dream Girl) available at My Random Muse,

One of my current reads is Kelly Meding's second novel, As Lie The Dead. I'm enjoying this one so much, I almost forgot to get ready for work this afternoon. Made the mistake of starting to read it while I was waiting for the pain meds to work...next thing I knew it was almost time to go. It's that engrossing.

from page 72;

'A shadow flickered in the corner of my vision. My stomach clenched, senses on immediate alert.'

creepy! **
That's it for now - and below is the other captioned-by-me LOL cat. If you've never heard of these before, there's this website. You can join, and there are many many pics with funny and/or sarcastic captions. All the pics are available to be re-captioned by anyone. There are also pics that have no captions, just waiting for one; it's also possible to upload your own cute or funny cat pic for others to caption. So far, I've been inspired four times - made five captions. It's not easy (for me) to come up with them, but it's fun and I'm happy I came up with the few I did. :)

**speaking of creepy....have you ever been laying in bed (no not that kind of creepy) trying to sleep when you feel the mattress suddenly dip down. You know the dip down, like when a cat jumps up on the bed right next you, or the dog jumps up or when someone sits down on the mattress? It's a dip on a certain spot, a small dip. Well, this has happened to me a few times lately - everyone is asleep - I'm usually the last person up - and the dogs are all snoring and sleeping at the feet of our bed (under the covers, of course), when I've felt a definite dip movement on the bed, behind me right about shoulder level. Each time it felt like our cat (who is pretty hefty) jumped up. I would turn to pet him and NOTHING IS THERE. seriously. No cat, the dogs are still asleep and no one is about. Now I've heard sounds that make me think there are ghosts, and I've had people in our previous houses say they've seen people that don't exist in our house at night. We've all seen the a flash of our dead cat's ghost. But it's all been non physical things. Until we lived in this house. There was that time long ago when I couldn't move and a light was shining in the window, and I heard loud footsteps. Then there was another time when me and the two grandchildren were sleeping in the other room and suddenly the whole room became extremely dark, couldn't see anything - and I could swear it felt like something was in the room. It lasted for only a short while and suddenly the room was light enough to see as much as you can normally see on a night with no lights on - the moonlight shining in, etc. But I've never before felt the bed moving when NO ONE was around, and the cat was nowhere to be seen. Now that's creepy. LOL - just needed to get that off my chest.

Monday - It's Monday!

I totally should have looked for a superbowl or football related lol cat, but after a long day, I just wasn't into browsing for pics. So we have misunderstood black kitty instead.

Like most Sundays, all but my middle son had left the house for a day of football with "the guys". My middle son usually spends the day in and out of his room and on and off the computer, watching parts of the game while I relax on my bed with a book or my laptap. This is how most of our Sundays go, except that I usually also have my granddaughter with me. Only the last two weekends I've been granddaughter-free, which isn't as fun as it sounds. Today, I had plans to have a pajama day by myself in my room with the books...

then I heard my oldest son and his girlfriend. Turns out they had come to spend the day with me and middle son. Oldest son loves football, but he would rather watch the superbowl with a teeny group than go to a huge superbowl party. Which was fine with me, especially since they brought snacks, pepsi, cookies and premarinated tri-tip with them. Marinated overnight for a very tasty tender beef. They did all the cooking and preparing. They brought the girlfriends new little puppy - a very small long-haired chihuahua named Maleficent (yes, after the Disney villianess). So this very tiny, laziest puppy ever spent most of the day on a shoulder, or a lap or a cushion on the couch while my dog, Skippy suddenly decided he needed to mark different areas in the house! Then he spent the rest of the day alternating between sulks and trying to get to know Male. She wasn't impressed - at all.

all in all, it was a nice low key day. Good food, I ended up watching the game, rooting for the Giants and had fun listening to the boys rib each other.

Here we are again, at another Monday. We've survived Superbowl Weekend, the past work week, and now we're starting on another week. Hurray for living, hurray for reading and yeehaw for football! And now on to the book week in review. It's Monday, What Are You Reading is hosted by Sheila of Book Journey. This is the weekly meme where we discuss books we've read, what we're reading now, etc.

This week, I'm just putting pics up and info regarding the books as the pics come up - meaning I'm not organizing them by read, currently reading, etc. So here goes:

I started out the week reading Trance, by Kelly Meding. I bought Trance because I enjoyed Meding's first novel so much. The only thing is, is that this novel - while having an interesting plot and a great beginning started to lose my interest in the third or fourth chapter. After trying to read it a little longer, I ended up putting it aside. It's superhero supervillian type of characters and while I enjoy that once in a while, sometimes this type of story bores me. I think I'm just not in the right mood for it now, so I plan to try it again a little later. Meding remains a good writer, but this one just isn't for me at this time.

On the other hand, I also have the second two Meding books in the Dreg City series. I enjoyed very much Three Days to Dead. I started reading a few days ago As Lie The Dead, and so far, it's just as interesting as the first book in the series. So this is one of my current reads, one that I plan to continue reading - even if it share currently reading status with a couple of other books.

I was happy to see The Mortal Bone by Marjorie M. Liu in the bookstore the other day. I went back (couldn't get it at the time) and bought it - and I am saving it for next weekend or possibly the weekend after. That's if I can stick with reading the other few current reads without adding this one to them. Any of the Hunter Kiss novels deserve to be the only novel being read at any current time. They're always a good read. Apparently The Mortal Bone has been out since December 27, 2011. Funny that I couldn't see it in Barnes & Nobles until February, 2012! I wonder what's up with these bookstores, lately. The last five or so books that I've tried to get on the release day from Barnes & Nobel, I've had to wait for two weeks at least, and in this case it's been over a month since the release date. I know I didn't see it until last week, and I've been cruising the shelves at least five times since December.

I've never ever read anything by Cherie Priest other than excerpts and raving reviews about her books. Based on the excerpts of some of her work and the reviews by readers who really seem to enjoy her fiction, I bought Bloodshot. I just started reading it last week. I don't know if it's because of my recent Saintcrow reading marathon or something else, but it's not keeping me interested either. Right at the moment it feels like one of those books I could read, and then forget about right away. Kind of "Ehhhhhhh". I want to be wowed when I'm reading a book. So I also put this one aside for now. Maybe I'll be more interested later. It's been known to happen.
One of my other current reads is a book by E.S. Moore. To Walk the Night just came out recently. Happily, you can read an excerpt on Amazon.com. Starts out strong with a ending of a fight, or slaughter rather. I'm about two chapters in and so far the only thing that's bothering me is the internal angst about the main character being a monster, though she's apparently one monster who is cleansing the streets of her own kind. But then I'm always a bit annoyed with inner angst and when a character hates a part of themselves - I just lose patience with it. doesn't mean the writing is bad, I just don't have a lot of patience - especially during certain times of the month (which, by the way I should be through with, C-'MON already, I'm not planning on birthin' any more babies, can I just be done with the ovulation part?) So, I'm still enjoying To Walk the Night, and it's currently one of my current reads. LOL

The only book that I finished reading last week was a book leftover from my 2011 reading list. In fact, it's a book that I've had for over three years, I started it last year and misplaced it, then went on to other books. For the Just For Fun reading group (on Goodreads) I read this for my February book. Just for Fun is a group where we read one book a month from our shelves just for fun. You have to pick from your own TBR bookshelf - a book that's been sitting around waiting for you to notice it again after putting it there....... I don't know why I took so long to read this one. Man, there's funny dialogue and situations along with danger and a whole different take on Goblins. This is not your average goblin character... So since I've enjoyed Magic Lost Trouble Found I also decided to start the second one of the series by Lisa Shearin that I just happen to have on my TBR shelf. Armed and Magical is another of my currently reading novels (this makes three so far, that I'm currently reading). I like the character in this novel, as well has her cousin - dark, dangerous and happily amoral - Phelan is a fun character to read. The main character - Raine is a strong elf, female and not a helpless being- nope, her cousins and relatives have made sure she knows how to fight. Good series, with great dialogue and interesting plots. Call me shallow (only as far as book covers go, though) but I definitely like the later book covers way better than the earlier books. The face and the way her head is being held just looks weird. See? That's definitely a shallow statement. But I'm being honest, the later covers look a lot better.
This brings me to the end of my Monday reading list - I've given up reading a few, and I'm currently reading at least three books - three interesting novels.

I leave you now with this last LOL Cat pic - one that all single women who are obsessed with cats should take a warning from.

A bit late, Teaser Tuesday

It's one of my boys' birthday (on Wednesday), but since he has to work that night, we celebrated his b-day on Tuesday....which meant the sis, the mom and dad (that would be me and the hubby) and two of the girlfriends and niece had dinner together while b-day boy and big brother were out getting a tattoo that was supposed to take just a couple hours; yet it ended up taking four hours long. Whatever - my granddaughter and I didn't wait to get into the cake...It was red velvet cake and it was getting later and later. So we ate some! :) B-day-Boy should have been here. LOL - they finally got here, ate their dinner and we served up the remaining cake. heehee I have to admit, I'm a little jealous about the tattoo though...

Now the night is over, everyone is out partying except the elders (us again) and the grandchild who ended up spending the night with us. This is nice because I didn't get her this weekend and I missed her. Although one of the side effects of not having her over the weekend, was that I had a lot more attention from my grandson. Usually they play together, and he doesn't want much to do with me, because I'm always making him blow his nose, wash his mouth and face, put his socks on, etc...but this last weekend I got so many spontaneous hugs from him that I was wondering if it was a doppelganger. :)

It is now time for my late Teaser Tuesday. I almost wasn't going to do it, but then ....well - here we are! Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB of ShouldBeReading and full guidelines are at her site.

This week, I'm posting two teasers

I'm reading three books - haven't yet focused on one of them yet - it's a side effect from my reading marathon of last week - I was so very focused on the last four Jill Kismet books that it's kind of hard to focus on anything else right now.

Trance by Kelly Meding (1st in new series)

page 15:

'Having superpowers rudely restored after a fifteen year disruption is a lot like childbirth; painful, beautiful, messy, and with lots of screaming. Unlike childbirth, superpower restoration was an event I just didn't see coming. I thought it was heartburn.'

Deadworld by J.N. Duncan

page 36:

'Jackie stared at the picture. It was the spitting image of Nick Anderson. "Wait a sec, that can't be right. That the same guy?" '

That's all I have tonight.....more later (more of what, I'm not sure, but more of something!)

I leave you with.....VAMPIRE CAT!

books read for reading challenges - WOOHOO!

Well, in the last three days, I've finally managed to finish reading two more books.

Counting toward the 2010 Countdown Challenge, the MiniChallege for League of Reluctant Adults and the 2010 Speculative Fiction Challenge I finished reading:

Personal Demons by Stacia Kane (<---click for excerpt)

Three Days to Dead by Kelly Meding.

Both were pretty kick-ass in slightly different ways. I'm writing a quick bit about each book, since I still don't feel much like sitting up at the computer.

Personal Demons - Written in the third person, at first I felt like I was going to be reading a slightly light-horror book. You know, not too heavy duty. As you on though, there is definitely some horrific moments. It's all tempered with a bit of romance and some humor. The main character, Megan is a psychologist who can see demons. She tries to keep this part of her talent quiet, but things are coming to a head for her. Her boss talks her into a radio show and after the publicity of that, things come after her, small demons, zombies, a man-sized demon (a handsome devil who's quite attractive to her) as well as a nosy reporter. Seems there is also something from her past that is catching up with her. Without getting into spoiler terrirtory (though I'm probably the last one to read this book) things get more and more intense for Megan, more horrific for her and her friends. Great book, interesting ending and some sex action. My favorite side characters are "the boys", three brother demons sent to help protect Megan. They are cockney with wonderful fashion sense. I enjoyed this book a lot, and when I was finished wondered why I waited so long to read this. I've had it for over a year, but then I do have a large TBR pile. Stacia Kane has sequel to this book out, called Demon Inside, and is also releasing a second series. The first book of the second series is called Unholy Ghosts and I'm looking forward to reading this one quite a bit.

Three Days to Dead - This book is amazing. Per the blurb for the book, Evy Stone has woken up in a dead person's body, she's been resurrected and everyone wants her dead. Written in the first person, with an interesting countdown of hours left to her at different sections, you have a sense of the passing of time and opportunity. Evy has three days to figure out what is going on, and then her time is up - again. There are quite a few twists in this story. I'm amazed at everything the Kelly Meding has come up with. There is a fresh take on Vampires and "halfies", bitten by vampires; the fey; trolls; etc. Lots of dangerous situations for Evy and anyone allied with her. Lots of action. My only complaint would be the amount of time Evy and her handler spend on arguing and feeling sorry about what happens, but then I think that's just me. It does fit with the plot and all that is going on, I'm just very impatient at times reading about emotions and feelings (Thank you very much LKH and your incessant discussions between characters). I really shouldn't let my impatience get in the way of reading a book, so as soon as I figured out where the frustration came from, I relaxed and just let the book flow. So - to recap - there are lots of action scenes, dangerous situations, heartbreak of different natures, and quite a mystery for Evy and her handler, Wyatt to solve while they are running from goblins, triads (who they used to work with) and others. If you haven't picked this book up, by all means get it and settle down for a hell of a read. There will be a sequel released, named As Lie the Dead (summer 2010)