It's Monday......and boy have I missed a few

From one thing or another...I don't know - the temporary blues, laziness, mental exhaustion...who knows?  I don't.  I haven't been posting much about anything.  I used to regularly post the monday memes, AND the tuesday teaser posts, and then try to write one or two reviews a week.  Then I started slacking on the Tuesday Teasers, which actually are pretty fun.  I miss participating and I should really get back into it.  Then I really slowed down on the reviewing and now I find myself going three weeks without a monday post - I think it's been three weeks, anyway.  At least, I've posted a few reviews lately, though not nearly as many as I should.  Not for the reading I've been doing.  :)

I'm not going to promise, even to myself that I'll do better.  I don't know.  But we'll see.

But for now - it's another Monday coming up.  School has started for our district, which means I'm back to work, and both my grandchildren are attending the school I work at, which is great for me.  I love seeing them everyday.  Makes work just a little more fun.

hosted by Sheila of Book Journey - this is the weekly meme (that I've been missing) where we gather together to see what we've been reading and what others have been reading.  it's a good meme.

Let's see now- just what HAVE I read in the last few weeks...

finished reading:

Omens (Cainesville #1)

Kelley Armstrong

coming out August 20th (Tuesday!)

fantasy

H/B

(Very good book - loved it)

Magic Rises (Kate Daniels #6)

Ilona Andrews

Urban Fantasy

(The series, staying strong)

Frozen: Heart of Dread #1

Melissa De La Cruz & Michael Johnston

Y/A dystopian and SciFi/fantasy mix

coming out September 17, 2013

(pretty good read)

Priceless (Rylee Adamson #1)

Shannon Mayer

Urban Fantasy

(interesting concept)

Recently started/current reads

Velva Jean Learns to Drive by Jennifer Niven

Hammered by Kevin Hearne

In Fury Born by David Weber

The Honor of the Queen by David Weber

I'm focusing right now on Velva Jean Learns to Drive.  It's not my normal genre, but it's a good book.  Once in a while I have to read something totally different - especially after I've read a few kick ass novels in my favorite genres, which I've been able to do this summer.... and speaking of kick ass novels...

Sabaska's Tale is now out in print.  I enjoy the e-books, but there's nothing like holding a novel in your hand, so I am very happy that this one is now in print, because J.A. Campbell is one of my favorite authors - so of course, I want to hold those books!  :)

It's a fun fantasy read, about a girl, a horse and an adventure in which she teams up with Sabaska.  Sabaska is a horse that is more than a horse.  She can travel, as in Travel, between worlds, or dimensions.  There is going to be more books in this series, which is exciting because Campbell has set things up with room for plenty of stories, in plenty of worlds.....Looking forward to seeing what comes next for Sabaska and/or Anna.

Omens by Kelley Armstrong - review

Omens
Cainsville #1
Kelley Armstrong
mix of supernatural and mystery
August 20, 2013 (pub date)
******  six out of six

cover -   If I knew a little more about superstitions, or omens, I get the feeling that I must might notice some portentous  signs pictured on the cover....but since I don't, all I can say is that the full moon, the quiet streets, and the cloud formations in the sky make for a subtly spooky cover.  Which is good.


As Kelley Armstrong fans know, she has written her last Women of the Otherworld novel, which has no doubt left some bereft, but never fear - she hasn't stopped writing, she's turned her attention elsewhere.  As we've seen with a few of the long running series floating around out there, sometimes it's good to end a series, and it's even better to end a series when your fans - especially the ones who have been fans from the beginning - STILL enjoy your work. Kelley Armstrong has written a very strong first of a series with Omens.

Whenever I'm given the chance to read a novel before publication, I feel fortunate.  When I end up loving the novel I'm always happy about that (of course).  I REALLY enjoyed Omens.  You can read the synopsis on Amazon, Goodreads, and Armstrong's website - but basically, a very rich young woman, Olivia (Liv) Taylor Jones is hit out of nowhere with the knowledge that she isn't who she thought she was.  Her story is told in the first person; she finds out in one moment that she's been adopted and that her birth parents are currently in prisons, serving life sentences for the murders of eight people - they're the notorious Larsons - the serial killer couple.  Her mom is suddenly cold, her fiance doesn't handle things quite right after this, and Liv ends up running off, with hardly any cash, trying to find a job and stay under the radar, away from the paparazzi.  Things don't go so well, and she ends up steered to a small town outside of Chicago where she thinks the inhabitants aren't aware of who she really is....turns out she's wrong about this.

The town she ends up in is Cainsville, and has its own quirks, with some very strange inhabitants.  During the novel, you're given a peek of the characters, with a short chapter told in their pov (third person) with just a tease of their motivations, or thoughts about Liv/Eden.  Throughout the story, even by the end, there's a few of the characters where I wasn't quite sure if they're the "good"guys or the "bad"guys, or even if there is a distinction.   What I enjoyed about Omens, is that not one character could be considered completely without fault.  Even the lead character found herself doing some things she wasn't quite comfortable with - and best of all, didn't angst about it for pages after, but she did acknowledge her discomfort and then deal with it quickly.  

After a series of events, she ends up working with Gabriel Walsh, a lawyer unashamedly money motivated.  She's completely aware of his motivations, and seems to find that almost comforting - the fact that he doesn't hide behind altruistic reasoning, but just puts it out there.  She ends up working part time in a diner, and helping Gabriel investigate some leads regarding her birth-mother's case, after meeting her mother in prison.

The town of Cainsville is almost a character in its own right - there are gargoyles all over, and seem to be very important to the town and its inhabitants.  The townies are an interesting mix of people - most of them are people who have lived there for generations, some moving away, then coming back  -  some never leaving.  One of them seems to be very old, indeed.  There is Gabriel's aunt, who works as a psychic- something she admits is part con and part for real. Liv's landlady - Grace is a rather grumpy woman who is most likely a mix of some fae and human.  A regular of the diner - seems to be a young man, but even the town elders defer to him;  In fact, the town elders also seem to be extremely powerful, especially for a town in the 21st century.

Omens is a blend of supernatural and mystery/suspense.  However, the supernatural elements begin very subtly - with Liv suddenly knowing superstitions, such as a black cat really being lucky.  The supernatural elements slowly gain importance, and even by the end of the book is still low key.  I'm looking forward to reading more of this series to see if this aspect is developed further.  I enjoyed the gargoyles, the odd feel of the town and the townies, the hints of their true selves.

If you're an Armstrong fan, I've pretty sure you're going to enjoy this - even though it isn't as strongly UF or fantasy as her other novels.  If you've never read a Kelley Armstrong book because you're not really into fantasy or Urban Fantasy, then I suggest you give it a try anyway, because there is a good strong mystery being investigated here, and an overall story arc that will probably involve more investigations with Gabriel and Liv teaming up together.  Afterall, they figure out a small part of birth-mom's mystery, but not all.