Mini Reviews of New Books! and Books Read Part 6

ew books!

I'm still struggling to keep up with Books Read list. This is the latest post with photos; let me at least try to separate the ones I've read from the ones the kiddos have read, and the overlaps...

Read by Miss E

Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones

Read by Master D

Kidnapped by Jeremy Strong

Read by Master D and me

Montgomery Schnauzer P.I. and The Case of the Stealthy Cat Burglar by Timothy Forner

Montgomery P. Schnauzer uses the wisdom of his favorite storybook detectives to find his place in a strange new world.

In his first children’s book ‘The Case of the Stealthy Cat Burglar’, Monty’s antics uncover a mystery and draw the attention of a Bulldog femme fatale. Suddenly he has a real client and a case to solve. Read the book to follow Monty’s journey as he moves from the animal shelter to life in the big city, with his new human – who knows nothing at all about dogs!
Phew! That’s a lot for one little Schnauzer, even one that believes he’s a private investigator.

I love Monty's pov! This is a fast-moving detective story with humour and with moving scenes between Monty and some of his dog friends -- and a couple of the humans, too!

Highly recommended for young and older readers alike.

Find out more about Monty's adventures!


 

Read by all of us!

The Ship of Shadows by Maria Kuzniar

Aleja whiles away her days in her family's dusty tavern in Seville, dreaming of distant lands and believing in the kind of magic that she's only ever read about in books. After all, she's always being told that girls can't be explorers.
But her life is changed forever when adventure comes for her in the form of a fabled vessel called the Ship of Shadows. Crewed by a band of ruthless women, with cabin walls dripping with secrets, the ship has sailed right out of a legend. And it wants Aleja.
Once on board its shadowy deck, she begins to realize that the sea holds more secrets than she ever could have imagined. The crew are desperately seeking something, and their path will take them through treacherous waters and force them to confront nightmare creatures and pitch-dark magic. It will take all of Aleja's strength and courage to gain the trust of her fellow pirates - and discover what they are risking everything to find.

Read by me!

Coach's Challenge by TL Matson

Harper's life is her career, and most guys don't vibe with it. No problem. One and done satisfies the score. Besides, after a disastrous fling with her brother's linemate she vowed it would never happen again.

Gavin sacrificed having a life for a goal he never quite netted. He's skating toward middle age and loneliness is hitting hard. But the constant travel and demands of his job don't exactly make women swoon.

A single blazing hot hookup shakes them both off their game. Harper is convinced one isn't anywhere close to done with him. And Gavin might finally have met someone worth a work-life-balance. Too bad they don't even know each other's real names.

Until they come face to face at the last place either ever expected. And Harper's forced to hide behind secretive fiery nights or risk shattering the most important promise she ever made.

Are you looking for a hot read with a molten heart? Look no further!

 

I love stories where the two romantic leads are instantly down bad for each other, but something forces them to try to keep apart. I adore the way Harper and Gavin work past the obstacles in this story, and the way they can't give up on each other, or their love, no matter how hard they might try.

The Murderbot series by Martha Wells

All Systems Red: In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company.
On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid — a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself as “Murderbot.”
Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is. But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.

That's the blurb for the first book, and wow! it does not do the story justice at all!

 

I mean, sure, that's the basic setup, that a formerly human-controlled "construct" (the term used in the series) is figuring out self-determination. But the blurb doesn't even begin to hint at Murderbot's intriguing and compelling narrative voice, nor the fun and exciting group of humans around it (the friendly ones, anyway, not the corporates).

I started reading the series on a whim last week, in between other books, and was instantly hooked. Just in time to discover that the next book in the series comes out in two weeks, yay me!


And now, some pretty flowers!

Which books have you enjoyed lately?