These are the books that I read in different Octobers throughout my reading life and have left an impression on me.

 

2015

Minette Walters became an automatic buy for me right after I had read her for the first time. This novella wasn’t any different even though it was inspired by true events.

 

 

Set in London…good!

Steampunk…good!

Shades of UF…good!

Part of a series…good!

Need I say more?

Okay, so this series has me confused. While I love the Asian culture that is prolific in the books, I keep thinking there is something missing. It could be that it took the lead couple like 3–4 books to even admit their feelings to each other. I don’t want to stop reading this series but I do have to be in the mood for it.

I haven’t read many MM novels but I did read this one and loved it.

My Mini-Review for this book: Everybody loves a good apocalypse and I’m no exception! There was a female lead who, if not exactly capable of kicking ass, was a leading geneticist– brains over brawn any day! The freaky way the vaccine changed them all was amazing-no death causing viruses or flesh-eating zombies, yet horrific in its own way. Prison takeovers are the scariest things ever and the author combined it with a post-apocalyptic scenario! The ever-present threat of the convicts getting to our heroine was sufficient to keep me reading.

I loved the fact that the author didn’t even need to show much violence to keep the readers hooked– she just let us imagine what “could” happen if they got to her.

Irreverence is a personal favorite of mine, which you might have guessed from my binge read of the Preacher graphic novels! This novel was funny but dragged in some places.

“If manta rays are going to be harmless, they should look more harmless, Pardee thought. Fuckers look like aquatic Draculas.”

“He didn’t understand religion. It was like heroin or golf: He knew a lot of people did it, but he didn’t understand why.”

I can’t stop myself once I have read the word, Steampunk, being associated with a book. This was a fun romp of a book and I enjoyed reading it, even if it did get bogged down in certain places.

Read my review here. My favorite stories from this bunch:

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES by Jodi Picoult ★★★★
 How parents deal with the loss of their 7-year-old daughter.

A LIFE IN FICTIONS Kat Howard★★★★
 She was a part of his stories..literally!

THE THERAPIST by Jeffery Deaver★★★★
 Nemes are very real and you may be susceptible to them!

PARALLEL LINES by Tim Powers★★★★
 Twins-one sister dies and decides she wants to come back.

 

2008

The best part about anything written by Ilona & Gordon Andrews is probably that they manage to include important issues, such as rape, abuse, family, in it. But they do it in a way that makes you see why an issue’s important yet

In diplomacy, like in great many other things, the rules of engagement survive only until one remarkable person decides to break them.

 

Which books did you read in October that left their mark on you?

 

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Originally published at midureads.wordpress.com on October 12, 2017.

The Gravity Engine - Kylie Chan Probably would've got more out of this if I'd read the author's full-length novels first. But there are several of them, and they're at least 500 pages each, so that's a bit daunting ;-)

Beautiful descriptions of the silver-and-glass city in the European Heavens.

Two things:
at times, the story/flow stutters, for lack of a better word
the big battle was done in two pages? after all the build-up?! We didn't even get to see the action or what Emma looked like!
Oh, also Leo's reaction to Emma was just not meshing with the kind of person he is.


Much more interesting than the first one, though.

 

Demon Child: Celestial Battle Book Two by Kylie Chan

Genre: Science Fiction

Publisher: HarperCollins/Harper Voyager

Date of Publication: 2/24/2015

ISBN: 9780062329080

Number of pages: 544

 

Synopsis: Australian bestseller Kylie Chan returns with a new, fast-paced adventure of magic, martial arts, and romance. This trilogy follows the story of John Chen and Emma Donohoe. They have just found out that Emma has Demon blood. The Sidhe - or Shining folk, who defeated the Western Shen a thousand years ago - are prepared to do battle against the Western Shen to retain their dominance. Emma’s allegiance is torn: to fight for her kind, the Western demons she is descended from, or to stand alongside her beloved Xuan Wu.

 

Available at Harper Collins

 

 

 

Kylie Chan is the bestselling author of the Dark Heavens and Journey to Wudang trilogies. She married a Hong Kong national in a traditional Chinese wedding ceremony. Kylie has studied Kung Fu and Tai Chi and is a senior belt in both forms. She has also made an intensive study of Buddhist and Taoist philosophy and has brought all of these interests together into her storytelling. She lived in Hong Kong for many years and now lives in Brisbane, Australia.

 

Connect with Kylie: Website / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads

 

 

Kylie Chan is one of those authors that has burrowed right into my brain by writing books that I simply can’t get enough of.

Demon Child is book 2 in the Celestial Battle trilogy, which is the 3rd trilogy to continue the story of these characters. And it is just as brilliant as the 7 books preceeding it.

It’s very much a “middle series” book, everything is starting to ramp up, many plot lines are smack in the middle of their span, and not much is unexpected as far as the overall story goes. That doesn’t make it boring or predictable, however - the writing style and pacing keep everything nice and fresh.

There are a lot of battle scenes in this one, but that’s the nature of the story. There are plenty of things going on around the fighting, including the introduction of a new and precocious character - I don’t want to spoil anything, but she’s adorable. On top of that, I love any time the Tiger comes out to play.

If you haven’t read any of the previous books, I strongly recommend going back to the beginning and picking up White Tiger, although I take no responsibility for any addictions that may follow.