The dust is starting to settle at the new house. It’s going to settling for a while, but it is starting, at least. One of the better side effects of the move is that Freddie and Lucifer seem to be banding together more. They slink down the stairs together at night to explore the brave new world, as well as seek out fresh kibble. As soon as we get a new door installed on the back porch, they’ll be able to boldly go where no cat has gone before – at least as far as we know.

The built in shelves in my office now contain my ALA committee books and our fiction collection up to the beginning of the letter G. More shelves are upstairs, just waiting to be loaded with the rest of our library.

It’s definitely an adventure!

Current Giveaways:

Hardcover set of The Wildes of Ludlow Castle series by Eloisa James
(1) $50 Amazon Gift card and (5) $10 Amazon Gift Cards from Suzanne Johnson

Winner Announcements:

The winner of Shattered Silence by Marta Perry is Becky
The winner of the $10 Amazon Gift Card in the Scoop of Luck Giveaway Hop is Lisa

Blog Recap:

B+ Review: Born to Be Wilde by Eloisa James + Giveaway
A Review: Frenchman Street by Suzanne Johnson + Giveaway
B+ Review: The Art of Inheriting Secrets by Barbara O’Neal
B Review: Hard in Hightown by Varric Tethras with Mary Kirby
A Review: The Locksmith’s Daughter by Karen Brooks
Stacking the Shelves (299)

Coming Next Week:

Entropy by Jess Anastasi (blog tour review)
Wedding from Hell: The Reception by J.R. Ward (blog tour review)
Gift of Griffins by V.M. Escalada (review)
Southernmost by Silas House (review)
Meet Me at the Museum by Ann Youngson (review)

This week’s schedule seems a bit more aspirational than realistic, but I’m going with it anyway. Last week’s certainly turned out to be that way. I had surgery on Monday, and although the procedure was minor, it is throwing me for more of a loop than I expected. And the move is scheduled for a week from tomorrow, with the packers showing up a week from today. So that is also proceeding apace. So much stuff happening and so little time.

Freddie and Lucifer have no idea just how much their world is about to get thrown into a blender. I think they’re going to love the “kitty television” in the new house, but the process of getting there is not going to be something they will enjoy.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the A Scoop of Luck Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of Trial on Mount Koya by Susan Spann is Danielle
The winner of the $10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Seas the Day Giveaway Hop is Ann S.

Blog Recap:

A Scoop of Luck Giveaway Hop
C+ Review: Kill the Farm Boy by Kevin Hearne and Delilah S. Dawson
B+ Review: The Wedding from Hell: The Rehearsal Dinner by J.R. Ward + Excerpt
B Review: Lowcountry Bookshop by Susan M. Boyer
B Review: The Seas of Distant Stars by Francesca G. Varela
Stacking the Shelves (297)

Coming Next Week:

Murder at the Flamingo by Rachel McMillan (blog tour review)
Shattered Silence by Marta Perry (blog tour review)
The Day of the Dead by Nicci French (blog tour review)
Clock Dance by Anne Tyler (review)
Hunting the Truth by Beate and Serge Klarsfeld (review)

We’re still basking in the glow of “it’s so good to be home” after spending last weekend at the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans. I saw way, way, way too many bright, shiny new books at the conference, and yesterday’s Stacking the Shelves post is proof. When they’re all eARCs, the weight doesn’t register. But looking at the size of the list, it’s clear that I need a reading equivalent for the phrase “my eyes were bigger than my stomach”. “So many books, so little time” doesn’t convey quite enough.

There’s also a certain amount of gibbering going on around here. We’re closing on our first house this Friday. YAY! But that means we have to move again. BOO! But we’ll be able to get Freddie and Lucifer a sister. YAY! But we have to pack again. BOO! In between the YAYs and BOOs there’s a certain amount of OMG, OMG, OMG.

But I can always escape into a good book – at least until something drags me out again – like a cat demanding attention.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Seas the Day Giveaway Hop
Taste of Seattle Gift Bag from Susan Mallery

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the $10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Splash into Summer Giveaway Hop is Ramona

Blog Recap:

Spotlight + Excerpt: When We found Home by Susan Mallery + Giveaway
B+ Review: The Secret of the Irish Castle by Santa Montefiore
B+ Review: Whiskey Sharp: Torn by Lauren Dane
A Review: The Lost Vintage by Ann Mah
A- Review: The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz
Stacking the Shelves (254)
Seas the Day Giveaway Hop

Coming Next Week:

Night Fall by Simon R. Green (review)
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang (review)
Circe by Madeline Miller (review)
A Touch of Flame by Jo Goodman (review)

As you read this, I’ll be sweltering in hot, sticky New Orleans at the American Library Association Annual Conference. We went to Denver in February for the Midwinter Conference and now we’re in NOLA for the summer conference. If that sounds backwards to you, you are far, far, far from alone. But it’s always good to see my friends and colleagues, all 15,000 or 20,000 of them. However, there is no thrill of victory, there is only the agony of the feet.

But speaking of the thrill of victory, our offer was accepted on a house. YAY! We’ll be moving again. Admittedly that’s a bit of a BOO! but it will great to put down roots and finally have a place of our own. We’re thinking of getting Freddie and Lucifer a sister, especially since the new house has a giant catio big enough for the cats to share with the humans and enclosed and screened in so that the humans can share with the cats!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Splash into Summer Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of Echo Moon by Laura Spinella is Elizabeth
The winner of The Cottages on Silver Beach by RaeAnne Thayne is Linda

Blog Recap:

B Review: The Privilege of Peace by Tanya Huff
A Review: The Island of the Mad by Laurie R. King
A- Review: Boardwalk Summer by Meredith Jaeger
B+ Review: Wicked and the Wallflower by Sarah MacLean
B+ Review: Prisoner of the Crown by Jeffe Kennedy
Stacking the Shelves (293)

Coming Next Week:

When We Found Home by Susan Mallery (blog tour excerpt)
The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz (review)
Whiskey Sharp: Torn by Lauren Dane (blog tour review)
The Lost Vintage by Ann Mah (blog tour review)
Circe by Madeline Miller (review)

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)