Book Date Monday - #AmReading Aug 15

 

Book Date Monday #6

In today's blog post...

• What I've Read
• What I'm Reading
• Books on My TBR
• Stacking the Shelves
• What I'm Writing
• Participate in Today's Blog Hop

What I've Read: Just finished The Inside Job by J.D. Weston. I wasn't familiar with the author, but evidently he has a number of books in his Stone Cold Thriller series. This prequel novella, in which one of Weston's MCs is born (Harvey Stone) at the end of the story, was kind of hard to follow. It jumped from scene to scene without much transition; and there were a lot of POVs. 

Wasn't sure who I should be cheering for as all the characters seemed to be bad guys trying to pull one over on the other criminals mixed up in the caper. Also wasn't sure who Stone was until the end, so ultimately this story just didn't work for me. (I found it in a free bundle of 7 thrillers called, Into the Silence.)

Now one story I did enjoy recently was a novelet by Cliff Hamrick titled, Poison in the Dark: A Jarek the Scholar Adventure. It's a classic fantasy story; a clever, thieving adventure and quite enjoyable. It features Jarek (my first exposure to this character and first story I've read by Hamrick), a scholar, thief, and rogue. From the short story I read, he seems a likeable character.

Confession: This was free for a short time on Amazon and it was short. I really didn't look at the cover, lol, and when I started reading it I thought I'd stumbled upon sword and sorcery erotica the way the story opens (so reader beware!). But the tale quickly unfolds into a fun and plot-twisty romp. Very well done and a series I may want to get into.

What I'm Reading: Still reading Colin Dexter's first Inspector Morse mystery, Last Bus to Woodstock. Also, Rick Partlow's military SF adventure, Home Front (Drop Trooper #5). 

But one book I forgot to mention last week is an ARC I received from indie writer, J. W. Walker called Insubordinate. It's a sequel to his YA dystopian novel, Champion. He has his own publishing website called Time Space Publishing with a few freebies on his site.

So far, Insubordinate is okay. The series is basically "Hunger Games Meets Ancient Roman Gladiators Run by Skynet." (That's my take, so if I'm wrong, blame me, lol.) It's a bit on the juvenile side of things for my tastes, but given the setting and theme, it's relatively clean and might make for good reading for those into this YA genre.

Books on My TBR: Still trying to get to a sword and planet novel that's been on my virtual nightstand for a few weeks now. It's L. S. King's Laws and Prophecies. This novel is book three in the author's Sword's Edge Chronicles. I liked the prequel novel and books 1 and 2, so I know I'll enjoy this one when I finally get to it. 

I also want to get to the final novel in the free bundle of 7 thrillers I downloaded a long time ago (mentioned above, called Into the Silence.) This last one is by Sandra Woffington and is titled, Merlot and Murder. I believe this is a prequel story to her Wine Valley Mysteries Series that evidently runs 10 books. I've not heard of her before, so I'm looking forward to reading this.

Stacking the Shelves: Only got one extra freebie recently, one for my Nook App from B&N called No Mercy, a Valerie Law FBI Suspense Thriller (Book 1) by Blake Pierce. I've not read him before but man, this guy has tons of books in a whole bunch of different series. Check out his website. 

What I'm Writing: Finally, for today's wrap up, let me just share what I post at the end of my #amwriting updates. If you want to follow along as I write Secrets & Scents, here's my latest blog post with links to the earlier entries. I'm basically journaling each day I write, so it's sort of fun.

Thanks for reading! Drop a comment with a link to your Book Date Monday post or just tell me what you're reading currently. - Lyn

~*~

Here's a placeholder image for Secrets & Scents - A Kelli & Jo Candle Shop Mystery by yours truly. I'll be launching a Kickstarter Campaign in September, 2022, for cozy mystery fans to acquire their exclusive pre-release edition of my latest novel with a brand new, professionally designed cover. Watch for details. 

In the meantime, if you become a Patreon Subscriber, you'll be able to read Secrets & Scents as I write it! New chapters of my WIP every week, plus a backlist novel a month and bonus short stories exclusive to patrons.