Golem in My Glovebox by R.L. Naquin
In her role as Aegis, Zoey Donovan has rescued and cared for hundreds of monsters and mythical creatures. Now humans are the ones in need of her help. Someone with a personal vendetta against the Board of Hidden Affairs has kidnapped all the other Aegises in the country--including Zoey's mother.
With the Hidden government in shambles and a string of deadly clues to follow, Zoey and her reaper boyfriend set out on a cross-country chase to stop the kidnapper from killing the captured Aegises. Along the way, they pick up a miniature golem who's on a quest to find his humanity...and may be the key to solving the grisly clues.
If Zoey succeeds in defeating this new evil, she'll finally be reunited with the mother she lost over twenty years ago. But if she fails, she'll become the final victim.
Rate & take
I was so excited to find out this was not the last book in the series, I just can't let this wonderful cast of characters go yet, I want more!! The many people and creatures that inhabit this story (with often witty banter) keep me coming back for more. This addition I will say wasn't quite working up to its full colorful plot as I have seen from the first three books. However I think this book may be laying the ground work for the final book and that may explain some of the lack of spark. Still in all a good book to tuck into.
Hammered by Kevin Hearne
Thor, the Norse god of thunder, is worse than a blowhard and a bully—he’s ruined countless lives and killed scores of innocents. After centuries, Viking vampire Leif Helgarson is ready to get his vengeance, and he’s asked his friend Atticus O’Sullivan, the last of the Druids, to help take down this Norse nightmare.
One survival strategy has worked for Atticus for more than two thousand years: stay away from the guy with the lightning bolts. But things are heating up in Atticus’s home base of Tempe, Arizona. There’s a vampire turf war brewing, and Russian demon hunters who call themselves the Hammers of God are running rampant. Despite multiple warnings and portents of dire consequences, Atticus and Leif journey to the Norse plain of Asgard, where they team up with a werewolf, a sorcerer, and an army of frost giants for an epic showdown against vicious Valkyries, angry gods, and the hammer-wielding Thunder Thug himself.
Rate & take
*
I went for the cheap title and can't apologize, it was just too easy. But I think it is forgivable since said hammer belongs to Thor.
This is book three in the Iron Druid series and continues on a solid course. The beginning of the book threw me for a bit because it jumped right into a mission only talked about in book two as an, 'I really need to do this in the next few months'. Once passed this part of the book I felt I really settled in and began to enjoy myself again.
Hexed by Kevin Hearne
Atticus O’Sullivan, last of the Druids, doesn’t care much for witches. Still, he’s about to make nice with the local coven by signing a mutually beneficial nonaggression treaty--when suddenly the witch population in modern-day Tempe, Arizona, quadruples overnight. And the new girls are not just bad, they’re badasses with a dark history on the German side of World War II.
With a fallen angel feasting on local high school students, a horde of Bacchants blowing in from Vegas with their special brand of deadly decadence, and a dangerously sexy Celtic goddess of fire vying for his attention, Atticus is having trouble scheduling the witch hunt. But aided by his magical sword, his neighbor’s rocket-propelled grenade launcher, and his vampire attorney, Atticus is ready to sweep the town and show the witchy women they picked the wrong Druid to hex.
Rate & take
I'm still enjoying the series but I find (and maybe I'm alone in this oddity of mine)
myself wishing the main character could have some fun and R & R before the battle armor has to be donned. Or even time for a nice conversation over a cup of tea, which he makes in his bookstore so its not much of a stretch.
The precise reason I enjoyed book one a bit more was because there was less action and a lot more getting to know the everyday world of the character. This book has lots of strife and obstacles to stare down (which keeps a plot interesting) but keeps me a nervous Nelly. Putting all my reading peculiarities aside this is some solid, entertaining, writing. For fans in the know, I liken the readability of these books to Jim Butcher's series, The Dresden Files.
Hounded by Kevin Hearne
Atticus O’Sullivan, last of the Druids, lives peacefully in Arizona, running an occult bookshop and shape-shifting in his spare time to hunt with his Irish wolfhound. His neighbors and customers think that this handsome, tattooed Irish dude is about twenty-one years old--when in actuality, he’s twenty-one centuries old. Not to mention: He draws his power from the earth, possesses a sharp wit, and wields an even sharper magical sword known as Fragarach, the Answerer.
Unfortunately, a very angry Celtic god wants that sword, and he’s hounded Atticus for centuries. Now the determined deity has tracked him down, and Atticus will need all his power--plus the help of a seductive goddess of death, his vampire and werewolf team of attorneys, a sexy bartender possessed by a Hindu witch, and some good old-fashioned luck of the Irish--to kick some Celtic arse and deliver himself from evil.
Rate & take
*
I'm no good with the jokes but I could not resist this line and also to highlight a plot point that I found especially amusing. As you might guess, the Vampire handles the evening legal business and the Werewolf handles the day business. A great business model and very valuable to a druid who could and does find need of such twenty-four hour services. The suits are not a large part of this story but certainly add more color to an already colorful cast of god's, monster's, demon's, and witches who rarely peacefully coexist under the Arizona skies. Oh, and did I mention our main character owns a bookshop??? That sells tea and other fun things? The cool factor abounds in this read, as does the entertainment. That is why I just started reading book two in the series. This time I was lucky enough to find a series that is already well established in number published. Happy reading to me!!
Stone Cold by Devon Monk
Marked by Life and Death magic, Shame Flynn and Terric Conley are “breakers”—those who can use magic to its full extent. Most of the time, they can barely stand each other, but they know they have to work together to defeat a common enemy—rogue magic user Eli Collins.
Backed by the government, Eli is trying to use magic as a weapon by carving spells into the flesh of innocents and turning them into brainless walking bombs. To stop him, Shame and Terric will need to call on their magic, even as it threatens to consume them—because the price they must pay to wield Life and Death could change the very fate of the world...and magic itself.
Rate & take
This is a spin off book from the Allie Beckstrom series, that I was sad to see come to an end last year. I adore the wise cracking Shame and knew I had to read this and bonus I got a chance to visit with the whole gang once again. Somehow I missed book one as this title is listed as book two (and final book in this story line) but let's keep that between us, I would not want to loose my Epic Reader street cred over my faux pas. This book read very well as a stand alone so I don't feel inclined to back track to book one.
Now the review. For the first 10% of the book I thought it was either that I'd lost the thread of the characters or the author had written a very one dimensional story. Now that I have finished the book I think it was a deliberate writing tool used to highlight how rough things really were at the opening of our story. Once I got over this first bit I'm sure I did a big internal WHEW! when I realized my lovely friends were as great as I remembered them and the author hadn't lost her s#*! after all. Great reading fun all the way round.
The Thousand Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas & Jennifer Graham
Ten years after graduating from high school in Neptune, California, Veronica Mars is back in the land of sun, sand, crime, and corruption. She’s traded in her law degree for her old private investigating license, struggling to keep Mars Investigations afloat on the scant cash earned by catching cheating spouses until she can score her first big case.
Now it’s spring break, and college students descend on Neptune, transforming the beaches and boardwalks into a frenzied, week-long rave. When a girl disappears from a party, Veronica is called in to investigate. But this is no simple missing person’s case; the house the girl vanished from belongs to a man with serious criminal ties, and soon Veronica is plunged into a dangerous underworld of drugs and organized crime. And when a major break in the investigation has a shocking connection to Veronica’s past, the case hits closer to home than she ever imagined.
Rate & take
Confession: My love of Veronica Mars touches the border lands of fangirldom. I loved the show when it was on (way too briefly I might add) and the recent movie was a great fix indeed.
In case you didn't hear about it, Marshmallow's, the term for all VM fans, broke a few records on kickstarter.com in March of 2013 by donating over $5 million dollars in 30 days for the Veronica Mars movie. Everything was ready, script, actors, distribution, the only thing absent was the funding, so the call was put out for a hoped for $1 million dollars and the fans more than answered, and yes, this girl gladly put her few bucks down too.
This book starts just a few minutes after the movie ends, I love that tie-in! I hope Rob keeps the books coming until the next movie can be made. My only whine was somehow I had it in my head this would be a first person told from Veronica's point of view, she has just that right amount of sass and swagger that I would love to eavesdrop in on. Who knows, maybe I will get my wish in the next book.
Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
A young boy in New York City, Theo Decker, miraculously survives an accident that takes the life of his mother. Alone and determined to avoid being taken in by the city as an orphan, Theo scrambles between nights in friends’ apartments and on the city streets. He becomes entranced by the one thing that reminds him of his mother, a small, mysteriously captivating painting that soon draws Theo into the art underworld.
I call this reading dynamite because this book took me to some pretty dark places that I normally fear to go (thus my usual fare of lighthearted reads) and did it so well that it was mind blowing. The writing was masterful and near the end I was rewarded with some beautifully composed metaphysical discussions and internal dialog.
Readers Note: This book came highly recommended from a co-worker and admittedly it was a far left turn from my usual reading picks. But as I mentioned in a past post my usual just wasn't scratching the reading itch. Not to worry kids, it's nice to stop off and visit serious reading land every now and then, but I won't be dwelling here.
