We’re 7 days into March, and I’ve already read 7 books. Some of my favorite authors come out with books in March, and it feels like a treat for me, since March is my birth month. I always treat myself to a few books in March.
My first read this month was Darkfever (by Karen Marie Moning). I needed to read a paranormal romance for my reading challenge, and this seemed to be fairly highly rated. I love paranormal fantasy (or maybe urban fantasy?), so I really thought I might like this. I did not. The protagonist of this novel was fairly typical of a romance heroine, more concerned with her makeup, hair, nails and clothes than with the murder of her sister and her discovery of the fae world. Even though the author had her studying and training with the handsome hero, this main character (who’s name I can’t even remember even though I read this less than a week ago) never developed. I was annoyed with her through this whole book, and only finished it since it was for my reading challenge.
I really needed a palate cleanser after that one. I had Dead Things (by Stephen Blackmoore) on my TBR list for a while. I am not sure where I got the recommendation, but it seemed as though it would be a paranormal fantasy/mystery that was a bit more meaty. I checked Fantastic Fiction, my go-to site for book series info, and found that there might be a different #1 in the Eric Carter series. So I went first to City of the Lost. And I ended up reading all four of the Eric Carter books before the weekend was over. Blackmore has done some really good world-building here, and I look forward to future entries in this series.
Probably the book I was looking forward to the most this month was Magic for Nothing, by the prolific Seanan McGuire. This is the latest entry in her Incryptid series, this one following the adventures of Antimony Price, the youngest member of the Price family of cryptozoologists. And it was every bit as good as I expected. If you haven’t read Seanan McGuire, check out her website for some free short stories to sample her worlds.
Lois McMaster Bujold also came out with a new novella this month, in her Penric series. This was, Mira’s Last Dance, continued the tale of demon-rider Penric as he flees the troubles he encountered on his last mission. A solid entry in the series, and, as always, leaves me wanting more. I love Bujold, and while she is not as prolific as McGuire, she has a healthy backlist and I reread her stuff pretty regularly.
Here’s hoping I can get my other assigned reading (book club) done before I need it!