Tag Archives: urban fantasy

Nov 17 2014
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Top Ten Sequels on My Winter Horizon!

top ten tuesday

I know I’ve altered the topic this week a little bit (heck, I can even remember what it was originally supposed to be), but I did so with good reason – there’s another list coming up in a couple of weeks that would’ve been practically identical to this one had I not changed things up a bit. Anyway, I decided to only include second books in a series. I don’t know about you, but I rarely read books in series back to back, so I have dozens of book twos I’ve been needing to get around to – some of which I’m confident are going to be amazing!

Top Ten Sequels on My Winter Horizon!

 There’s a couple of sequels here that I’ve been sitting on for several years… I loved the first books to all of them, so I’m not really sure what my problem is. Perhaps the issue is that I was much further along in too many other series to focus on these. I do tends to want to read ALL THE BOOKS, which creates a delightful mess of reading ADD. I think I am most excited to read The Dagger’s Path coming out January 13th (my birthday!), but it looks like I have plenty of excellent sequels to keep me occupied until then. :-) 

 What sequels have you been meaning to read?

by Niki Hawkes

Oct 20 2014
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Top Ten Series I Want to Start!

top ten tuesday

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

 Hey, everyone! The Obsessive Bookseller has rejoined the world… Have you missed me? And it looks like I chose the right moment to make comeback because I love talking about the books I am most looking forward to reading.

Top Ten Series I Want to Start!

You may recognize couple of these titles from this month’s Escape Reality Book Club Nominations, and that’s no coincidence –  I nominated them because I am dying to read them! Especially The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong because I’ve since discovered it ties into her urban fantasy “Women of the Otherworld” series (which I am loving). I am also excited to start shifting my reading attentions away from YA and more towards fantasy and science fiction. I’ve found I’ve lost a little patience with angsty teen love stories (as much as I love them) and am craving slightly more robust epic adventures. Not to mention I’ve now read most of the teen books I was excited to get my hands on, with the exception of the five series listed above. Of all the books on the list, I am probably most excited to read Shaman’s Crossing by Robin Hobb. It’s the only series of hers I’ve yet to explore, and with the second Fool’s Assassin more than year away, I’m going to need something to keep me occupied! 

So, those are my top picks… What new series are you eager to discover? 

by Niki Hawkes

Oct 6 2014
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Book Review: Shifting Shadows by Patricia Briggs

shifting shadowsTitle: Shifting Shadows

Author: Patricia Briggs

Series: Mercy Thompson (Short Stories)

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Rating: 5/5 stars!

The Overview: Mercy Thompson’s world just got a whole lot bigger… A collection of all-new and previously published short stories featuring Mercy Thompson, “one of the best heroines in the urban fantasy genre today” (Fiction Vixen Book Reviews), and the characters she calls friends…

Includes the new stories… “Silver” / “Roses in Winter” / “Redemption” / “Hollow”

…and reader favorites “Fairy Gifts” / “Gray” / “Alpha and Omega” / “Seeing Eye” / “The Star of David” / “In Red, with Pearls”

shifting shadows 2

The Review:

Patricia Briggs is one of my favorite urban fantasy writers, and the fact that she usually only comes out with one novel per year has me feeling perpetually impatient. I completely devour her books as soon as they come out and am always left craving more. While that speaks volumes of Briggs’ talents, I’ll admit it hurts my heart a bit every time I realize I have a full year to wait before finding out what happens next. So, the release of Shifting Shadows – a compilation of short stories set in Mercy Thompson’s world – felt like the ultimate treat to this uber fan!

Every single story did one of two things (and in some cases both): 1) allowed us to delve a little deeper into the lives of some of my favorite secondary characters (we essentially got treated to their fascinating backstories while viewing the world from their perspectives) and/or 2) expanded on the world-building within this already brilliantly-conceived universe. It was amazing, and I now want to go totally fangirl and start blabbing about Bran and Samuel and how cool it was to see their origins, or perhaps Warren (my favorite member of the pack) and the chills I got while learning about his strength of character, or even Kara and Asil, the stars of my favorite short story of the collection, and the wolves I’m now most eager to read more about. And that’s just to name a few!

Patricia Briggs is such an amazing writer. This is something I already knew, but Shifting Shadows made me appreciate her even more. She is just so great at characterization that you always feel like you’re reading about real people. It probably helps matters that Briggs considers the characters her imaginary friends, to the point where these fully-formed people in her head are mostly responsible for driving their own stories. She gives them a problem and then sits back and watches how they all deal with it. At least, that’s what she said during the Q&A of one of her book signings, and I’m inclined to believe her. 

It’s one thing to fall in love with characters and get to know them over the course of a multi-book series, it’s a whole other ballgame to get to know them within the confines of a short story. I’m seriously going to go back and study these stories for tips on how to make my own characters stronger – it was that good. Writing aside, there wasn’t a single point in this entire book that I wasn’t highly entertained, which is saying something because I don’t usually have the patience to pick up short stories (yes, I realize how ironic that sounds). As I said before (but it warrants repeating) every story either gave me insights to characters I’d been curious about or made Mercy’s world more vibrant… in fact, many of them did both.

All I have to say is, if you’re a fan of Mercy Thompson, these short stories will knock your socks off! If you’re not yet a fan, you’ll probably enjoy them because the writing is that good, but I think already having a deep connection with most of these characters is what took the book from great to amazing. Along those lines, if you haven’t read them, I highly recommend picking up the book that started it all, Moon Called.

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes

Sep 28 2014
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September 2014: Review Recap!

Review Recap

 As usual, I read a lot more books this month than I actually posted about… This made me think that maybe I should include a separate category for “read” books to go alongside my “reviewed” books. I’ve seen a lot of other bloggers do this, and I actually kind of like it, but have been hesitating to do it myself because of an irrational fear that no one will want to read the reviews if they already know what’s coming. The key word is “irrational” because I’m so far behind in reviewing the books that it really doesn’t matter. Although, there are a few books that I reviewed immediately, so then there’s the problem of “double dipping.”

 I think I’m putting far too much thought into this.

 Anyway, here’s a look at this fantastic month of reading and reviewing:

 Books Read:

 While I didn’t get a lot of reviewing done, I certainly got a lot of reading done. The two week vacation certainly didn’t hurt me on that front. I LOVED all of these books, so it’s really difficult to pick a favorite, but I think I’d have to go with Silver Shadows. Interestingly enough, my least favorite read this month was Heir of Fire (Gasp! Blasphemy!). It just goes to show the caliber of books I’ve been picking up lately.

 Books Reviewed:

Dualed by Elsie Chapman – 2.5/5 stars

Feast of Fools by Rachel Caine – 4/5 stars

Defy by Sara B. Larson – 4/5 stars

Spirit’s End by Rachel Aaron – 4/5 stars

Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey – 4.5/5 stars

Sadly, I didn’t review nearly as many books as I plan to, but with the release of the first issue of our magazine (The Creative), the amazing cruise to Alaska, and my commitment to my new office job, I’m cutting myself a little slack. As much as I love Rachel Aaron, my favorite book reviewed this month was Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey.

 Waiting on Wednesday Features:

October 21, 2014
The Dagger’s Path by Glenda Larke
The Ruby Circle by Richelle Mead

 This is a no-brainer – I’m most excited for the conclusion to the Bloodline series! Although, Glenda Larke is easily a close second!

 Top Ten Tuesday Features:

Top Ten Underrated Fantasy Authors!

Top Ten Books I’m Taking on My Cruise!

Top Ten Fantastic Authors I Need to Read More From!

Top Ten Books on My Fall 2014 TBR!

Escape Reality Book Club:

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

 My Review

 Adventures Beyond the Book Blog:

 I went to Alaska, and it was amazing! I’m going to do a full post for this as soon as I can get through my 4000+ pictures, but here are a few teasers:

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Looks amazing, eh?

 Did you have a good month in reading? Did you like seeing the books I’ve read alongside with the ones I reviewed?

by Niki Hawkes

Sep 27 2014
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Stacking the Shelves – September 2014 Edition!

Stacking the shelves

Hosted by Tinga’s Reviews

I have to admit, of all of the memes my fellow bloggers participate in, Stacking the Shelves is my favorite. I love seeing the books other readers are bringing home and especially love getting peeks at all of the ARCs floating around out there (I don’t get physical copies often, so it’s nice to live vicariously through those that do). Because I’m doing a self-imposed Read 4, Buy 1 challenge, I only participate in STS once a month – let’s face it, no one needs a play-by-play of the single titles I’m getting every couple of weeks. This month, however, could of been a different story because I broke my rule (*sort of) and I broke it in style!

New Hardcopies:

 Considering I only purchased a couple “new” books this month, I can think of many other authors I’d be THIS excited to add to my collection! And two of them are SIGNED!!!! The Kim Harrison one will have to wait until I’m caught up in the series (I’ve been savoring them), but I am ready and eager to devour this short story collection by Patricia Briggs! And, of course, I’ve already read and loved the Rothfuss. :)

“Used” Hardcopies:

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 *You see, there is an addendum in my R4B1 challenge (which I added, of course) which states that I may break the rules and buy books if 1) I find them at a screaming deal or 2) they are among the half-dozen titles I’ve been searching for to complete certain series within my hardcover collection. Thank goodness for this amazing bookstore in Seattle, because I found almost ALL THE THINGS I have been looking for, and at a bargain to boot!! So, technically I cheated (from a financial standpoint), but technically all of these titles fall into that “addendum” category so I’m letting it slide…

It amazes me how us book-lovers can rationalize away potentially destructive behaviors… Books are definitely my drug of choice.

The Used Bookstore of All Things AWESOME:

And this is where I sold my soul. Seriously, this bookstore went on for miles! The photo on the right is ALL Science Fiction/ Fantasy, and there was even more behind me! I was in heaven. :-)

Library Books:

library

Four books really isn’t that many to have checked out at a time, so why have I been so stressed? Oh, yeah! It’s because I went to request-crazy and put another 10+ books on hold (which will be trickling in within the next month). Reading new books before I buy them is a part of my strategy to cut back on book buying (and it’s working), but I still occasionally feel like library books fall into that deadly “obligation” category, regardless of how awesome they are. In any case, I’m stoked to read anything by Ann Aguirre, and Shaheen over at Speculating on SpecFic has me all pumped about The Falcon Throne (read her review and you’ll see why), so I’m still excited about this month’s haul.

ARCs:

 Seriously, what would I do without Netgalley and Edelweiss? While these books may not be at the top of my priority list, I’m definitely excited that I have the opportunity to read them!

 Well, that just about does it for my adventures in book buying this month – I hope you enjoyed going on that mini journey with me. I just have one more question: what books stacked YOUR shelves this month? :-)

by Niki Hawkes

Sep 22 2014
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Top Ten Books on My Fall 2014 TBR!

top ten tuesday

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

These TBR posts are my favorites to compose because I get to go sit in front of my collection of books and decide which ones I’m looking forward to reading the most. Any time I have an excuse to go stare at my shelves is a good time. Since I got so much good reading done on my Alaskan cruise, I decided to designate a few spots to releases that haven’t quite hit the shelves yet (but ones I plan to pick up immediately). Here’s a look at my:

Top Ten Books on My Fall 2014 TBR!


 The one I’m probably most excited to read at the moment is Fortune’s Pawn, as it’s written by the same author who created the awesome Eli Monpress series (Rachel Aaron writing as Rachel Bach).

What books make the top of your TBR?

by Niki Hawkes