Looking for a house is hard work. Also hot and hungry work. I don’t know how real estate agents do it, especially in the summer in the South. Or, come to think of it, the winter in the north. We think we found a place. We’ll see.

Of course, then the real work begins!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Splash into Summer Giveaway Hop
Echo Moon by Laura Spinella
The Cottages on Silver Beach by RaeAnne Thayne

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the $10 Amazon Gift Card in the Beach Reads Giveaway Hop is Patricia

Blog Recap:

B+ Review: Echo Moon by Laura Spinella + Giveaway
C+ Review: A Study in Treason by Leonard Goldberg
B+ Review: The Cottages on Silver Beach by RaeAnne Thayne + Giveaway
A-/B Review: Unidentified by Anna Hackett
Splash into Summer Giveaway Hop
Stacking the Shelves (292)

Coming Next Week:

The Privilege of Peace by Tanya Huff (review)
Island of the Mad by Laurie R. King (review)
Boardwalk Summer by Meredith Jaeger (blog tour review)
A Long Way from Home by Peter Carey (review)
Prisoner of the Crown by Jeffe Kennedy (review)

I read two absolutely terrific fantasies this week and they were glorious! The other books weren’t half bad either.

But seriously, Spinning Silver and The Magic of Recluce were both epically awesome. If you liked Uprooted, you’ll love Spinning Silver, and vice versa. They are not part of the same series, so you can read one without the other or in any order. But they are both wonderfully fractured fairy tales, so if you like that sort of thing (I certainly do!) get them both. You’ll thank me later.

I adore Modesitt’s Imager Portfolio, but I was able to get in on that on the ground floor, so to speak. When Imager came out in 2009, The Saga of Recluce was already on book 16, and none of the books in that series are exactly skinny. I just couldn’t get a round tuit. But now that I’ve read the first one and loved it, I’m going back. The Magic of Recluce was grand!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Beach Reads Giveaway Hop
Hardcover copy of Wilde in Love by Eloisa James and a peacock keychain
Signed print copy of The Girl Who Stepped Into the Past by Sophie Barnes + a $10 Amazon Gift Card

Winner Announcements:

The winner of I Am Justice by Diana Munoz Stewart is Judy C.

Blog Recap:

A+ Review: Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
B+ Review: Death by Water by Kerry Greenwood
A+ Review: The Magic of Recluce by L.E. Modesitt Jr.
B+ Review: Too Wilde to Wed by Eloisa James + Giveaway
B Review: The Girl Who Stepped into the Past by Sophie Barnes + Giveaway
Stacking the Shelves (291)

Coming Next Week:

Echo Moon by Laura Spinella (blog tour review)
High Season by Judy Blundell (review)
The Cottages on Silver Beach by RaeAnne Thayne (blog tour review)
A Study in Treason by Leonard Goldberg (review)
Splash into Summer Giveaway Hop

I’m writing this a couple of days ahead because we’ll be out of town for the weekend. Two phrases keep running through my mind. One is “the hurrieder I go, the behindeder I get” and the other one is “if it wasn’t for the last minute, nothing would ever get done.” The day before leaving on a trip, even a very short trip, always feel like both of those things at once!

Current Giveaways:

I Am Justice by Diana Munoz Stewart
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Beach Reads Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the $10 Gift Card in the Life’s a Beach Giveaway Hop is Zoey

Blog Recap:

Memorial Day 2018
B+ Review: I Am Justice by Diana Munoz Stewart + Giveaway
B+ Review: Ocean Light by Nalini Singh
B Review: The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Stephen Brusatte
Beach Reads Giveaway Hop
Stacking the Shelves (290)

Coming Next Week:

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik (review)
There There by Tommy Orange (review)
The Magic of Recluce by L.E. Modesitt Jr. (blog tour review)
Too Wilde to Wed by Eloisa James (blog tour review)
The Girl Who Stepped Into the Past by Sophie Barnes (blog tour review)

This is going to be a very busy week here at chez Reading Reality. In addition to the books you see scheduled for this week, I also have two reviews to write for Library Journal. Although I sometimes do review my LJ books here also, I can’t use the same words in the review. And the LJ reviews are usually prepublication, so even though I’m writing the review now I generally can’t publish it for a couple of months. One of this week’s “extra” books will show up here later, the other is “to be determined.”

I’m also going to finish up listening to Tricked, the fourth book in the Iron Druid Chronicles, sometime this week. And I may use that review instead, just to not drive myself too crazy. I learned something new listening to Tricked, the relative sizes of shitload, buttload and fuckton. You really do learn something new everyday!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Life’s a Beach Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the $10 Gift Card in the May I Suggest Giveaway Hop is Birdie

Blog Recap:

A Review: King of Ashes by Raymond Feist
Life’s a Beach Giveaway Hop
A- Review: By Fire Above by Robyn Bennis
B- Review: Fall of Angels by Barbara Cleverly
B- Review: The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer
Stacking the Shelves (288)

Coming Next Week:

Warlight by Michael Ondaatje (review)
I Met a Traveller in an Antique Land by Connie Willis (review)
Lowcountry Bonfire by Susan M. Boyer (review)
All the Ever Afters by Danielle Teller (blog tour review)
The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Stephen Brusatte (review)

After most of a week away, it’s good to be home. The cats certainly missed us. And have needed to tell us so – all night long. But we love them anyway – or perhaps because. And Freddie forgot to pull up the rest of the kitchen floor, so it’s all good.

On a much brighter and slightly less destructive note, this is the first week, I think EVAR, where I had two A+ books. If you’re looking for a meaty and weighty fantasy to really sink your reading teeth into, I highly recommend both The Queens of Innis Lear AND The Poppy War. Choosing which book to highlight in this post was like picking a favorite child. I loved them both so, so much. So I’m featuring both of them!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the May I Suggest Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the $10 Amazon Gift Card in the Full Bloom Giveaway Hop is Michelle.

Blog Recap:

A+ Review: The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton
May I Suggest Giveaway Hop
A+ Review: The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
B Review: Lowcountry Book Club by Susan M. Boyer
B Review: Path of Love: Cinque Terre, Italy by M.L. Buchman
Stacking the Shelves (286)

Coming Next Week:

Obscura by Joe Hart (review)
Two Steps Forward by Graeme Simsion and Anne Buist (blog tour review)
Hell Squad: Manu by Anna Hackett (review)
The Other Lady Vanishes by Amanda Quick (review)
King of Ashes by Raymond Feist (review)

Looking at my Stacking the Shelves post yesterday, it feels as if a bookstore exploded in my house. Or at least within the confines of my iPad’s kindle app. However, we also took a trunkload of books to Half Price Books this weekend, so hopefully it all balanced out. Sorta/kinda.

As always, so many books, so little time. Or there’s the Groucho Marx version, “Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s (or anyone’s) best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read!”

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Rain Rain Go Away! Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Full Bloom Giveaway Hop
The Family Gathering by Robyn Carr (US only)
$25 Amazon Gift card from Shannon Stacey and Carina Press
The Ruin of a Rake by Cat Sebastian (US only)

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the $10 Book in the April Book of Choice Giveaway Hop is Marcia.

Blog Recap:

B+ Review: The Family Gathering by Robyn Carr + Giveaway
Full Bloom Giveaway Hop
B+ Review: Hot Response by Shannon Stacey + Giveaway
A Review: Unmasked by the Marquess by Cat Sebastian + Giveaway
A- Review: Cave of Bones by Anne Hillerman
Stacking the Shelves (284)

Coming Next Week:

Why Kill the Innocent by C.S. Harris (review)
Total Bravery by Piper J. Drake (blog tour review)
The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton (review)
A Scandalous Deal by Joanna Shupe (blog tour review)
Twenty-One Days by Anne Perry (review)

Now I know my Blogo-Birthday is really past – all the Rafflecopters have finished for the week of giveaways. But next year’s Blogo-Birthday is only 350-ish days away! LOL

I really wanted to include a review of Cave of Bones by Anne Hillerman this past week, but…My Dear Hamilton, which was absolutely marvelous, weighed in at 670 pages. By the time I finished, I was kind of out of reading juice and had a terrible book hangover. I finished Cave of Bones over the weekend and it is just as absorbing as every book in the series has been.

Don’t forget, the April Book of Choice Giveaway Hop ends TONIGHT!!!!!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the April Book of Choice Giveaway Hop (ENDS TONIGHT!)
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Rain Rain Go Away! Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winners of my Blogo-Birthday Giveaway are Shirley and Jen.
The winners of books in the Gateways to Alissia Trilogy by Dan Koboldt are Anne, Anita and L Lam.
The winner of the Anna Hackett Prize Pack is Rachelle.
The winner of their choice of any book by John Scalzi is Adik.

Blog Recap:

B Review: Claws for Concern by Miranda James
Rain Rain Go Away Giveaway Hop
B Review: Farewell My Cuckoo by Marty Wingate
A Review: My Dear Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
A Review: Hammered by Kevin Hearne
Stacking the Shelves (283)

Coming Next Week:

The Family Gathering by Robyn Carr (blog tour review)
Full Bloom Giveaway Hop
Hot Response by Shannon Stacey (blog tour review)
Unmasked by the Marquess by Cat Sebastian (blog tour review)
Cave of Bones by Anne Hillerman (review)

This week marked my first A+ Review for the year, for Blood of the Four by Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon. If you like epic fantasy at all, this one is not only awesome, but also complete in a single not-quite-a-doorstop volume. I picked this one because The Map of Moments by these same two gentlemen is one of my absolute favorite books about post-Katrina New Orleans. That one is urban fantasy rather than epic, but equally awesome.

I also have three blog hops going on, and these will last until the end of the month. When not only will the April Book of Choice Giveaway Hop begin, but my Seventh Annual Blogo-Birthday week will commence. I’ll be giving stuff away all week to commemorate the OMG seventh anniversary of the start of Reading Reality as well as my own birthday. There should be something to appeal to everyone!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the All About Diversity Blog Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Lucky Leprechaun Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the March into Madness Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the $10 Gift Card or $10 book in the March Book of Choice Giveaway Hop is Valentina.
The winner of the ebook copy of Surrender My Heart by L.G. O’Connor is Alli.
The winner of the print copy of Rainbirds by Clarissa Goenawan is Dianna.

Blog Recap:

B Review: A Dangerous Game by Heather Graham
A+ Review: Blood of the Four by Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon
B+ Review: Good Guys by Steven Brust
Lucky Leprechaun Giveaway Hop
March into Madness Giveaway Hop
Stacking the Shelves (279)

Coming Next Week:

Fast Burn by Lori Foster (blog tour review)
Fools and Mortals by Bernard Cornwell (review)
The Darkest Promise by Gena Showalter (blog tour review)
Court of Lions by Jane Johnson (review)
The River House by Carla Neggers (blog tour review)