A New Bunch of Books to Read

I agreed to get ahold of a copy of a book written by a fellow-author, and the only place I could get one was from Amazon. That left me with a bunch of dollars left over to spend in order to get free shipping. So I used the excuse to load up on Holly Lisle books I don’t have, including some from her older books now out of print.

You wouldn’t think that I would need more books, judging from the size of my Goodreads “to-read” list, all of which I have on the premises or readily available to borrow. But the fact is that I’ve been looking for some engrossing, character-driven fiction to read, and on that score Holly has always delivered. Besides which, the Little One has wanted to read Fire in the Mist ever since I told her about it months ago. (I had read part of it online at the Baen Free Library, but that was before ebooks were convenient to read, and I’ve been longing to finish it myself.)

But that wasn’t the end of my book acquisition. I’ve also set up an account on BookMooch, have already given away 5 books from my “to get rid of” pile, and have already requested 2 more Holly Lisle books.

All told, here are the books I’m expecting (some of which I’ve already received):

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  Taxed to death by Debra Purdy Kong – Revenue Canada auditor, Alex Bellamy, discovers evidence of fraud during a field audit. But when someone murders a colleague he persuaded to help investigate, Alex is forced to turn to a lady he’s never met and who has her own frightening reasons for refusing to cooperate. Soon, her fears and his search embroil them in a bizarre and disturbing nightmare.

• 

  Last Girl Dancing by Holly Lisle – Obsessed with discovering what happened to her missing sister, Atlanta detective Jess Brubraker is willing to disappear into a sordid nightworld to find the answer. But that means leading both herself and her lover into the most intimate and terrifying trap of all.

• 

  Fire in the Mist by Holly Lisle – A simple shepherd girl discovers her wild mage powers after a murderous magician destroys her family. Now every mage in the world wants to train her. But Faia wants only to confront the madman who killed her loved ones.

• 

  I See You by Holly Lisle – For paramedic Dia Courvant, each day brings the possibility of facing blood and death. But nothing matched the horror of the day she was dispatched to the scene of a terrible car accident and rescued the sole survivor-only to find her own husband dead in the wreckage. Now, four years later, a series of deadly car crashes has brought handsome detective Brig Hafferty into Dia’s life. She’s drawn to Brig, but can she trust him enough to tell him of the terror that stalks her? For Dia has received a message warning her of danger and death-a message that seems to have been sent to her from beyond the grave.

• 

  Talyn by Holly Lisle – A conscripted warrior-mage, lover of the outlander who ended her country’s 300-year war, rescues her nation’s worst enemy from death to battle her lover and end imposed peace.

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  Midnight Rain by Holly Lisle – Phoebe Rain’s sadistic ex-husband lies in a coma a thousand miles away-a coma she put him the last time he tried to kill her. Yet Phoebe knows the voice on the other end of the line belongs to the twisted man who vowed he’d never let her get away. Panicked, she turns to her neighbor, Dr. Alan MacKerrie. Alan finds the story hard to believe himself, but now he, too, is receiving chilling, ghostly warnings of danger. Caught between icy terror and mounting passion for Alan, Phoebe knows there’s no escape.

• 

  Glenraven by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Holly Lisle – Glenraven seems to be an Alpine principality somewhere in the neighborhood of northern Italy–according to the unique guidebook advertising Glenraven’s charms, and obscure, almost non-traverse Alpine passages that constitute the only way in. But in reality it is a magic kingdom. And what the people of Glenraven want are a few heroes to free them from a ruler who is literally a monster in human guise. What the people get is JayJay and Sophie. They could have done worse.

-TimK

UPDATE: I’ve also managed to get a copy of Truffles by the Sea, which is Julie Carobini’s second book, which I’m also looking forward to. And I got Confessions of a Shopaholic, by chick-lit author Sophie Kinsella. I will also beg, borrow, or steal a copy of Twenties Girl as soon as I can. (I read the first chapter or so, and I do like her style.)