Top 10 Most Read Books

I have (suprisingly) read 4 of these titles. And half of another 4 of them.

How many have you read?

7. The Trouble with Magic by Madelyne Alt

Pre & Post Holiday Procrastinations

Hi. I am a procrastinator. I admit it.
With working up to the 23rd, the Christmas break, family, decorations, exhaustion and a toppling pile of to-read books...I may have avoided writing a post or two...or more. And fine, the decorations didn't get up until the 24th either. And no, they won't likely be taken down before Jan 31st. After Christmas, my tree officially becomes a Holiday Tree - not out of any sense of political correctness but rather due to the fact that I just hauled all that crap up stairs and no I will not haul it all down again after only a few days. Amidst all the crumpled receipts, hot chocolate, turkey gorging and carols I did actually manage to read. I just didn't write about it. Yet.
So here is a quickie, just so I can check it off my ever growing, trip-me-it's-so-long to-do list. And the to-read list. And the list of lists.

The Trouble with Magic by Madelyn Alt
The Christmas season seemed the perfect time to add a little magic to my reading experience. That meant selecting the first in a series I have had on my to-read shelf for over a year: Bewitching mysteries #1: The Trouble with Magic by Madelyn Alt. The book begins with my favorite kind of character, a quirky, feisty, independent and not to conventional woman who hates her job, hates her man (if she has one), has issues with her crazy family and is prone to finding trouble in the unlikeliest of places. Of course, the book will see some of these, if not all, get worse and then better before the back cover closes.
Maggie takes a small detour on her way to work, not because of construction but because she is delaying going in to work for her unforgiving boss at a dull and thankless job. The stars seem to align for a moment causing Maggie to literally fall into a world of magic - a quaint little shoppe called Enchantments. And yes, they added the extra 'pe' to the word shop. Before she knows it she has a new job and a new friendship with the magical owner. On her first day, her boss Felicity gets a mysterious call from her estranged sister and leaves her to run the store herself. Within 24 hours Maggie finds herself running the shoppe, investigating a murder, fleeing her apartment which may or may not be haunted, defending her witchy boss who is being questioned for murder, followed by a total hotty into the country, attracted to a cop who alternately makes passes at her and questions her about a murder and a sister playing high society gal. And she has a date, sort of. She thinks.
Well, this was a fun to read volume with a great quippy character. Very light with a fairly run-of-the-mill mystery, it was the characters of Maggie, the enchanting Felicity, dark, sexy and possibly dangerous Marcus, Policeman Tom who doesn't know whether to ask Maggie about the murder or ask her out for a date, and all the others that kept me turning the pages. I both loved and hated that while the mystery was solved the personal dramas of Maggie were left wide open. Looks like I will have to read the next in the series..looking forward to more of Maggie's witty interior dialogue.
Book # 7 of my 50 book challenge

Book #2 Soulless by Gail Carriger

Soulless is set in an alternate history version of Victorian England where werewolves and vampires are accepted as functioning members of society. Alexia Tarabotti is a woman with several critical problems: at the scandalous age of 26 she is still searching for a husband, that her late father was Italian complicates her social standing in a rigid class system, and she has no soul. The fact that she is "soulless" leaves her unaffected by the powers of supernatural beings which only further complicates her life when she accidentally kills a vampire that had attacked her. Queen Victoria sends an investigator,the brash Lord Maccon, who is himself the alpha werewolf. As disappearances in the vampire population of London's high society increase, Alexia and Lord Maccon work to solve the mystery. Alexa detests him upon meeting and struggles to maintain proper decorum and a delicate social balance while attempting to understand some new and aggrivating stirrings that appear whenever a certain Lord is present.

Publishers Weekly called this debut novel brilliant “with a blend of Victorian romance, screwball comedy of manners and alternate history.” It was the combination of the words screwball and Victorian that captured my interest. This was my first steampunk novel, paranormal or otherwise.

Alexia Tarabotti is an independent, stubborn 26-year-old who is considered to be unmarriable, and socially hindered due her late father’s Italian heritage and her large nose and darker Italian complexion. While the Victorian era characters may not appreciate her, I thoroughly enjoyed Alexia’s ability and insistence at embracing her non-conformist status. She is different from her superficial social status-addicted sisters and while made to feel the outsider in most social situations, thrives in being a learned, inquisitive, strong-minded woman.

Carringer describes this version of Victorian England and its players quite well. I was able to easily fall into this world where fasionista vampires and werewolves who fight to be comfortable in their civilized personas co-exist with normals. The world of steampunk was well introduced to me in the pages of Soulless and the sheer delight of the verbal sparring between the main characters has me looking for the sequels.

BOOKS ALIVE!!!!

After an insanely log absence (really, were you that surprised) I have returned. Glancing at the books sitting too long on my to-read bookcases, I sigh. Ah my lovelies, I have missed you.

Such an absence cannot go unanswered. So it shan’t. And really, how often does one get to use the word shan’t? My punishment? Read 52 books in a single year. Minimum. And only 17 of those can be work-related preteen novels. Picture books don’t count at all, because let’s face it. I’d reach my goal by the end of the day!



So many books! So short the weekend is! Here is my list, ever being updated.



1. Love Overboard by Janet Evanovich
2. Soulless by Gail Carriger
3. Nikki Heat by Richard Castle
4. Circle 9 by Anne Heltzel
5. Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte
6. Fearless by Tim Lott