Halloween Pictures

Russian Barbie Princess Lady K

Lady K and friends

Making caramel apples

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Chance to Win a Little Sumpn' Sumpn'....

In keeping with my dreams this month, I found one of my fave sites is having a fun day of vampire luv.....Pay a visit over at Paranormality with guest blogger, Lynda Hilburn, author of THE VAMPIRE SHRINK and many more. The subject today is Why Do Women Love Vampires....why oh why indeed???

Must be Halloween...Dreaming of Spike....

Have had a mad crush on Spike since the first viewing of him on Buffy the Vampire Slayer's second season in the eipisode 'School Hard'. Last few Octobers have heralded my vampire dreams, most of them featuring Spike.....sigh....

CORALINE - Neil Gaiman

CORALINE is the one scary book I read this month. It really rather freaked me out, but it was that delicious freak out as only Neil Gaiman can deliver.

Coraline is a little girl in a new house for her family. The house has several flats. These flats have residents of the different nature. Rather quirky to say the least.

Coraline finds a door in her particular flat that is always locked. Her mother says that there's nothing there, it was bricked up on the other side to make the wall for the flat next door. Coraline unlocks the door and finds that her mother is correct. However, the next time she opens the door, after hearing unexplained noises, the door opens to another room. And Coraline being Coraline and being bored, walks through the doorway.

In there she finds a flat that looks a lot like her own home, but with some odd differences. But Coraline likes these differences. She only learns how scarily different after she meets her 'other mother' and 'other father'.....that's when it gets really freaky.

Coraline is a brave and smart little girl and works her way through the puzzles set before her to escape back to her own life.

What a wonderfully short, smartly freaky little book!

Four freaky beans....

DEMONS ARE A GHOUL'S BEST FRIEND - Victoria Laurie

I do believe I like this series better than the other by Victoria Laurie...and I really like that one, Abby Cooper - Psychic Eye. Both have great premises for the main characters and the 'sidekicks', along with superb stories to go with.

DEMONS ARE A GHOUL'S BEST FRIEND turned into more than a ghostbuster book. This one scared the bejeezus out of me at certain points of the story. The ghost that ghostbusters, MJ and her team, is to 'bust' is known as Hatchet Jack. He had been haunting and scaring the rich kids at the private school of Northelm on the shores of Lake Placid for over 30 years. The more the team learns and connects with the ghost/demon, the less they are liking the job. They also know that they really have to get this guy sent to where he belongs...and not the good place either.

This gets a resounding scary four beans....

Lady K-ism (Joke of the Day)

Why did the ghost cross the playground??

To get to the other slide!!

DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY - Terri Garey

Thank goodness for quiet shifts. I started this yesterday morning at Lady K's swim lessons and finished it last night on shift. I highly enjoyed myself all the while reading this. The book began in a way that had me rolling my eyes, since I thought it was going to be just like another series I've read in the past. Girl dies, comes back with the ability to see dead people.....but it is definitely more. It's witty, funny, good characters, has some good scare in it, too.

Nicki Styx has the feeling of a gut ache and thinks she's watching a medical show. What she's really watching is her body on the gurney being worked over to revive from what appears to be a heart attack. She just thought it was something she ate. She begins to walk into the Light, but is told that it's not her time. And so begins her life as someone who can see and talk to ghosts. Those who have unfinished business and it seems to be her job to help them resolve it and move on.

I really hope there's going to be more to this than one book. Please let this be a series!

Four spooky beans!!

WHERE MEMORIES LIE - Deborah Crombie

This book was a great companion on my daily commute. I really like this series, even without reading it in order. In WHERE MEMORIES LIE, the past and the present are tied together with a diamond brooch that was lost to two German Jewish immigrants on their escape to England just before WWII. It is brought to the attention of Inspector Duncan Kincaid and Detective Gemma James with murders somehow tied to the brooch after its appearance in an auction house's catalog for bid in an upcoming auction.

A classic English mystery with murder and deception.

Four classic beans...

WIDDERSHINS - Charles De Lint

It took me forever to get to this book simply because it is so freakin' BIG! Trade paperback size and 560 pages, it was a daunting book to look at. My sister sent it to me and highly recommended it, yet still I hesitated. Until October rolled in and I knew it was time for me to get to it. It's on three challenges for the year and I like to read only paranormal books for the month.

I picked it to be my bedside book since it's too big to be a purse book. This left not much reading time with it, so it went more slowly. Once I started reading it, I really wished I could just stay in bed and only read. It is an AMAZING book and it is going on the keeper shelf.

The chapters are named for the person telling that particular part of the story and it works wonderfully. Jilly, Geordie, Grey, Walker, Lizzie, bogans, all take a turn telling their tale. Each one moving the story to a very satisfactory end.

There are two worlds, the one we live in and the Otherworld. Both are populated by humans, the magical folk of Native American lore known as the Cousins, who appear as both human and their animal form. There's also the Celtic faery folk who came over on the ships way back when. There's animosity between the two magical sides and it begins to explode when evil bogans, of the Celtic faery folk, kill one of the Cousins, the daughter of one of the main players, Walker, the Deer. The humans become involved when Lizzie Mahone, a Celtic fiddle musician comes upon the bogans and their kill, in the form of a doe. Lizzie has been raised with the stories of faery and is fairly certain they exist. Now here is proof before her.

There is an altercation, the bogans depart after getting their asses handed to them. Lizzie doesn't feel right about leaving the body behind and buries the body and plays a dirge for the fallen. Walker appears and, in thanks, tells her she can call upon him at any time of need.

The rest of the story continues with Lizzie's Celtic band being called upon to help, along with fairy folk and Cousins.

It is really hard to this justice and I won't try to.

This is a wonderfully magical book and I look forward to a time to read it again.

Five magical beans.....

BECAUSE YOUR VAMPIRE SAID SO - Michele Bardsley

I do like this fun series. It took me a little while to get into this particular entry. Once I did (about halfway in) I enjoyed my time with it. It's a very quick read, done in one day of a shift. If I hadn't been interrupted by meetings and actual work, I'd have finished faster. Quick and light dialogue. And O..M..G! HAW-AWT sex scenes. Yummeh! Michele can write the sizzle, fer shure.

Single mom, Patsy, is Broken Heart's beautician. Most of her clientele has been moved out of town since really no humans allowed except the children of the newly turned vampires. So she starts thinking grooming the werewolf population might be an alternative. She meets a silver wolf and he turns out to be Gabriel, her soulmate. She's also told that she's supposed to fulfill a prophecy...be the queen....Queen Patsy...okie doke....

My favorite of the series remains the first one I read, I'M THE VAMPIRE THAT'S WHY. Michele had me with that title. This one is a close second.

Three sharp beans....

Be The BEAR - Lady K's School's Motto

Bears Care

Everybody Does Their Best

All Students Achieve

Respect Yourself and Others

Lady K-ism of the Day

"Respect means you don't burst someone's bubble they have. I can go inside your bubble, because you're my mom. And I can go inside Daddy's bubble, because he's my dad. But I have to respect other kids' bubbles. And you and Daddy aren't kids. If someone bursts my bubble, I just blow up another bubble and tell the teacher that someone got my other bubble."

LIGHT MY FIRE: Aisling Grey, Guardian Novel - Katie MacAlister

I don't do this very often, read an author back to back books, but I made an exception here due to necessity or lack of option or however you want to think of it. I finished EVEN VAMPIRES GET THE BLUES the other evening and I wasn't sure I wanted to read a cozy from my desk stash, but found LIGHT MY FIRE in my backpack....well what was I supposed to do? I gave in. It really didn't take too much self-convincing, I love Katie Mac's work, especially this series.
Aisling (pronounced Ashling) Grey has found herself in a heap of trouble...again. In this third book of the series, Ash is in London trying to just get into her Guardian training and forget about Drake. He doesn't understand her, wants her to stay home and be his good little dragon wyvern mate. She wants him to understand how she wants to be a good Guardian and demon lord. Her demon, Effrijim (Jim for short) in the shape of a Newfoundland breed dog, is as smartass helpful as he can be (likely my favorite character in the series).
Now Aisling has been asked to be the leader of the Otherworld in Paris, finds herself a pawn in the dragon wars, and is trying to firm up her control of her own dragon fire. This last is necessary so that she doesn't burn the ones she loves each time she gets agitated, which is a lot lately.
I know this sounds super funky weird and, well, IT IS! But really in only the funniest, smartass, fast moving way.
Love this series and look forward to the #4 HOLY SMOKES.

Four dragonfire beans...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to MY SOULMATE!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN, MY SOULMATE!! PARTY ON!

EVEN VAMPIRES GET THE BLUES - Katie MacAlister

Though not overly fond of the cheesy cover, I really enjoyed this entry to THE DARK ONES series by one of my favorite authors, Katie MacAlister.
Samantha Cosse is a strong and funny main character. She is a private investigator and is also half-elf. Her cousin, Clare, is in denial about being a faery. They form a team of investigators in Scotland. Their first clients are after artifacts to learn the secrets of life and souls. One client is the Dark One, Paen Scott. Samantha is drawn to Paen against her will, but succumbs....
Copious bunny sex, death, soul searching (real soul searching), ghosts, vampires, faeries, elves, all mixed together in a snort laugh funny paranormal romp.
Four tingling beans...

DRAGON'S KEEP - Janet Lee Carey, narr Bianca Amato

I put this audiobook on my wishlist with Recorded Books because I wasn't doing very much reading for the Aurthurian Challenge I joined earlier this year. I ended up liking it for more than a challenge checkmark.
The Princess Rosalind was born with a dragon's claw instead of a finger on one hand. It is a mark left because her mother, the Queen, drank a dragon's egg to make her fertile. The dragon, Lord Faul, from whom the egg was stolen takes his payment by stealing Rosalind to care for his brood.
Rosalind is to fulfill a prophecy, "She shall redeem the name Pendragon. End war with the wave of her hand. And restore the glory of Wilde Island." to bring the people of her kingdom back to the Pendragon fold, but she has always thought it a fairytale. She is learning that it could possibly be true indeed.
Rosalind finds her inner fire to stand up to all who would keep her down. She is a truly strong character to admire
Four fiery beans.

My Prizes from Jeanne C Stein and Thank You Mark Henry

Magnets for the fridge of each of Jeanne's books...

A signed copy of LEGACY, her latest book, a signed postcard and an Anna Strong pen! I wonder how Jeanne knew I collect postcards and use them as bookmarks? And that I am a huge freak...er...collector of pens and magnets? Way cool and THANK YOU JEANNE! And thank you Mark for having the interview and chance to win...

Lady K-ism of the Day

"Do you think Daddy will shoot a cantelope?"....yesterday when we up to almost Wyoming so DH could get in on the last day of antelope season....

Halloween Decorations Are Up.....

A friendly farmer guy...He'll hold the candy bin while we are out walking the streets with Lady K on Halloween
Lady K's boyfriend.....

THE MEDIATOR: SHADOWLAND - Meg Cabot

What a banner reading day I had yesterday. I went antelope hunting with DH and Lady K and I knew I wouldn't be doing much of (read NONE OF) the actual hunting, so I finished the very enjoyable BLOOD DRIVE - Jeanne C. Stein and (because I have the bookaholic's foresight) I brought, read, and finished THE MEDIATOR: SHADOWLAND.
Meg Cabot has to be one of the most talented writers of books for such diverse ages and genres. She's written The Princess Diaries series, Heather Wells series, Queen of Babble series, and all sorts of stand alones of YA and paranormal and regular mystery genres. And each and every one of her books I have read have been FAB! This said with the understanding that I haven't read all of the series or many of the stand alones, but to have read the five or six I have read and all to be good? That's a fair decent given that the rest should be as well.
Susannah 'Suze' Simon is not your typical teenager. She is a mediator, which means she sees ghosts and helps them (whether they want the help or not) to get where they need to go and not keep roaming the earthly plane.
She's bummin' because her mother has married and Suze has to move from funky New York to Omigod California! What is she going to in California? AGH! All that sunshine and those beaches! Ohhhh...those beaches..well, thinks Suze, beaches are nice. She now has a stepfather and three stepbrothers and lives in a honkin' hewgah house. A house that happens to be 300 years old, which means ghosts will be hangin' around. One, a particularly hottie named Jesse, is in her room.
And there's a ghost , Heather, at her new school who isn't happy about Suze. Suze has her school locker and it looks like Suze is getting her friends and maybe her boyfriend. Suze isn't doing any of this on purpose, she just wants to go to school and do her job as mediator. Heather just isn't willing to move on to wherever she's supposed to go. She wants her old life back and she thinks Suze is keeping her from it. So Heather is bent on getting her way and will do whatever it takes to get it. Suze is bent on not letting her, especially since it seems that Heather doesn't care who she hurts to get her way.
I really cannot wait to read the rest of this series.
Four ghostly beans!

BLOOD DRIVE: AN ANNA STRONG VAMPIRE NOVEL - Jeanne C. Stein

I was a little disappointed when I started reading BLOOD DRIVE, but only because I found out I'd picked up the second in the series instead of the first, THE BECOMING. I have become a little weird about starting a new series with the first book. Ya know what? Once I got into the first few pages, it really didn't matter. The story stands on its own and it made me definitely want to go back and read the first one! And I will soon since I won the prize from Jeanne, but that's another blog....
Anna Strong is a private investigator who was turned into a vampire. She is still working on getting used to being someone who can only drink fluids now and must take steps to move out of the sphere of her living family and friends. She's reluctant, but knows it's necessary since she'll be staying the same age as they continue to age. No one knows she's what she's been turned into, so you can see where it would cause some issues in the future.
She gets involved in a case to find a missing teen who may be her niece. There are some very unsavory folks in the mix as well as one savory folk...Frey. But is he who he says he is, a teacher who only wants the best for his students? Or is he involved with a child pornography ring? Anna isn't sure and is ready to tear him a new one if he is.
This is a definite keeper shelf book, along with my Charlaine Harris collection and soon to be Kat Richardson collection.
Four savory beans!

I WON A BOOK!!

Thank you, Mark Henry and Jeanne C. Stein (and Sugar), for last week's interview on League of Reluctant Adults and chance to meet you and chat and then to win this book! I like winning and I like good paranormal books...okay I love books, but I especially dig reading well written paranormal mysteries and LEGACY fits the ticket. I think I win a signed copy of the book and a gift card to Amazon so I can pick up the ones of the series I am missing and maybe I'll get Mark's HAPPY HOUR OF THE DAMNED and a Richelle Mead or start my own collection of Kat Richardson.

Lady K-ism of the Day

Mommie, did you know that when you sing, your heart happy hums?

ANGEL AT TROUBLESOME CREEK - Mignon F Ballard

This was a cute cozy read, may look for more of the series. The main focus point of the series appears to be a guardian angel, Augusta Goodnight. I think the idea is for her to go from troubled soul to troubled soul and takes care of them until they are no longer troubled.
This troubled soul in the first book is Mary George Murphy who is home to take care of the effects of her Aunt Caroline. Mary George thinks Aunt Caroline was pushed to her death rather than fell to it, but why and by whom? This is where Augusta comes in. She is a guardian angel and last was helpful during WWII. She has some enthusiastic catching up to do as well as help Mary George.
A little bit of murder, mystery, and some kissin'. All's well at the end as a good cozy should do.
Three gentle beans.

Time for Another Book Winning!

Go on over to Bitten By Books and see the cool interview with Michele Bardsley, author of the Broken Heart Vampire Series. I love the titles, BECAUSE YOUR VAMPIRE SAID SO and I'M THE VAMPIRE THAT'S WHY among a few other delightful entries. You can win an autographed copy of her latest.

THE GLASS HARMONICA - Louise Marley

Another fine sci-fi, fantasy read for me. I seem to be on a roll lately. THE GLASS HARMONICA is a gentle version of the genres.

One half takes place in 1760 England. This is the time of Benjamin Franklin spending time in both England and the colonies. He finds a young Irish girl, Eilish Eam, playing her water glasses on the street for money. He takes her in to help him with a new invention of his, the glass armonica. She plays for Franklin and his cronies and then for royalty.

Half of the story takes place in the near future of 2018 Seattle. This half of the story has the main character of Erin Rushton. She is a classical musician, playing the modern version of the glass armonica, for audiences all over the world.

Both girls in both times find themselves 'haunted' by the other's presence from time to time, especially in times of stress. Erin goes in search of her 'wraith' and discovers more about her own sense of self in the search.

Warm and wonderfully written. Four fascinating beans.

HOMINIDS (First in Neanderthal Parallax Series) - Robert J Sawyer

HOMINIDS is a wonderfully written sci-fi book! My dad suggested it to me and gave me this first in the trilogy when I was out for a visit this summer. I hesitated until his visit this past weekend as I am a sort of fan of science fiction, but really only the TV channel these days. I used to read quite a bit of sci-fi, but wandered away into more mysteries and paranormal reading. I do have a few authors I look for from time to time, but Sawyer was not one of them.
Anyway, all that said, I am very glad I got over myself and my hestitation and read this book! It moves swiftly and the only downfall is when the book gets into the weeds with physics and genetics. I don't understand, therefore I skim. But the basic premise of the story is pure wonder. Parallel universes exist, one is ours and the other explained is where Neanderthals are the advanced species. Both sides are working in the same cavern in Canada on different projects, but one makes inadvertant contact with the other side. This sets off a chain of events on both Earths. One is 'first contact' and the other is a murder trial.
I love the relationships between the characters, the smooth writing, and how happy I became when I had time to read the story.
Four beans (more if I could have understood the math schtuff)

BONES TO ASHES - Kathy Reichs, narr Barbara Rosenblatt

I have read or listened to all of Kathy Reichs' books and have both enjoyed and been dismayed alternately. The early ones were heavy on getting into 'the weeds' of forensic medicine, more than I cared to know. I was more interested in the story. Then she eased up on the details and the story became more important and I was happy. Now it seems that coincidence plays a huge part in the storyline and I am becoming a wee bit dismayed again. Temperance Brennan has these HUGE leaps of brain synapse and things just fall together a little too neatly.
This storyline begins in Tempe's childhood and her friendship with a Canadian French girl and her little sister. They meet up each summer and one summer the two girls just disappear (mysteriously of course). Fast forward to current times and a set of cold cases falls to Temperance and her used to be beau, Ryan (the cop) dealing with missing or dead young girls. Memories of her childhood friend drive Tempe to try to solve the case.
I continued to listen to the book mostly because of Barbara Rosenblatt. She has yet to read a bad story to me. I do like Kathy Reichs' books for the most part and will continue to listen to or read them. I may be getting biased because of my admiration of the television show loosely based on the series of books. I find myself liking the show more than the books.
Three beans.

Bitten By Books is at it again....this time it's Rachel With Mark Henry

Off ya go to Bitten By Books! It's time to read about Mark Henry's Halloween traditions. Ask some questions, post some blog, win a prize package (chance to anyway).....

Rachel Interviews Anya Bast Over At Bitten By Books

HEY! Get thee over to Bitten By Books and see the fab interview with paranormal author, Anya Bast. Chance to win a prize if you do.....just sayin'....

SEPTEMBER BOOK JOURNAL

KILLING FLOOR (#1 Jack Reacher series) - Lee Child, MPB, superb!

FOOL MOON (#2 Dresden Files) - Jim Butcher, MPB, excellent

BRUSH WITH DEATH (#3 Art Lovers Mystery) - Hailey Lind, MPB, fun read

TUNNELS - Roderick Gordon, Brian Williams, narr Steven Crossley, BOCD,decent story, maybe too YA for me

MURDER TAKES THE CAKE - Gayle Trent, ARC, author asked me to review and I was happy to say that it was a very enjoyable cozy, looking forward to more of the series

THE TALE OF HILLTOP FARM (#1 The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter) - Susan Wittig Albert, MPB, SWA does it again!! This is GOOD!

RUNNING FROM THE LAW - Lisa Scottoline, narr Barbara Rosenblatt, BOCD, superbly funny and intriguing

ANY GIVEN DOOMSDAY - Lori Handeland, MPB, ARC. Tasty, can't wait for more of this series and the author

A KISS GONE BAD (#1 Whit Mosley series) - Jeff Abbott, MPB, humdingah!!

MILK GLASS MOON (#3 Big Stone Gap series) - Adriana Trigiani, TPB, excellent!

Books: 8
Audiobook: 2