June Reading

I'll start with my favorite book of June: Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews, the latest in the Kate Daniels series. I love this series and I love this book. Andrews weaves a compelling story in an alternate reality. I absolutely recommend this whole series to everyone. I also read the two Curran POV releases. Interesting supplemental material to the series, but not must-reads.

I re-read Ilona Andrews' On the Edge, the first in The Edge series for my book club. Another home run for Andrews. There's our normal non-magic world called The Broken; there's a parallel magic world called The Weird; in between those two worlds is a thin band called The Edge that has it's own magic, laws and rules. Rose works for minimum wage in The Broken to keep food on the table for her two young brothers when a couple mysterious men show up in life as several evil predatory monsters. Great writing and great storytelling. I definitely recommend this series, too.

Hit List, the latest Anita Blake novel by Laurell K. Hamilton, was a pleasant surprise. I'm not a fan of Anita or LKH, but I do like the characters Edward and Olaf and, thankfully, these were the featured characters. Edward is a sociopath with two distinct personalities, one he shows the rest of the world (his Ted Forrester persona) and one only a select few know about (Edward, the killing machine). Olaf has two personas as well, but we mostly see him in his full psychopath mode with his fixation on Anita. I wish LKH would drop the rest of the nonsensical characters from this world and focus on Edward and Olaf. If you've toughed this series out so far, you may as well read this one, too.

I tried to get into A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. It won a Pulitzer and it's very well written, but I disliked it. There was no real plot and the entire book was depressing. I'm glad I tried it, though. Makes me appreciate my Urban Fantasy books with their HEAs.

Eternal Hearts by Jennifer Turner, the follow up to Eternal Seduction, was disappointing. With the first book she had her own unique twist on the vampire genre. This second outing was good, but it was just like every other vampire book out there. I'm hoping in future books we get back to the more unique aspects of her world.

Hounded by Kevin Hearne was a fun book. Atticus O'Sullivan is a Druid who's thousands of years old living in our modern times. There's lots of humor to go along with the action. I definitely recommend this one.

I re-read Twice as Hot by Gena Showalter for my book club. It was just as fun this second time around. It's slightly on the silly side, but it has to be because it's a world where people gain super powers. Lots of action and humor. If you like Urban Fantasy, this series is fun.

I plowed through a bunch of Kindle freebies that I've been collecting for a few years. I figured it was time to blast through some of them. The best was Operation Sheba by Misty Evans. It's a spy thriller involving double crossing CIA agents. Kept me on the edge of my seat the whole book. I got it for free, but I'd even recommend that you buy it. It makes for great summer reading.

I can't say the same for the rest of the freebies I read. As I look back at my reading list I can't even remember what some of these were about. They were good enough to read because they were free, but I wouldn't recommend spending money on any of these: Reunion by FE Heaton, The Abandoned by Amanda Stevens, Samson's Lovely Mortal by Tina Folsom, Hunter's Choice by Shiloh Walker, Out of the Box by Kallysten, Demon Girl by Penelope Fletcher, Enchanting the Lady by Katherine Kennedy, The Marquis by Denise Patrick, Tyger Tyger Burning Bryght by Cathryn Cade, Duality by Renee Wildes, and Claimed by KR Smith.