This Months Waiting List

Those of you with sharp eyes may have noticed that the title of this T.T.P. segment has changed. What once was the Weekly Waiting List is now the new and improved Monthly Waiting List! Not only will you find out what's currently in my Kindle hopper, but I'll try and shed some light into what else you'll be seeing reviews for (i.e. things I've already read but have been too busy/tired/lazy to get a review up for yet) and why I might not have gotten through everything in my last queue.

So, let's start from the bottom of that list and work our way backwards, shall we? Bottom line is I didn't get to all the weekly reads because the goal of four books in a week was just a slight bit of an overreach. Turns out that in a normal week I can easily get through two titles, three in a stretch, four or more if, and only if, it co-stars my favorite blonde viking vampire*. That and two other titles (Blood of Anteros, (still feel absolutely gypped by that one) and the finale of Forest of Hands and Teeth), in conjunction with an entire five book series by Karen Moning did a fantastic job of preventing me from hitting my lofty, entirely unattainable, goal. So even though an entire month has practically flown by the Hangman's Daughter is only 50% completed - as an aside its absolutely one of the best books I've read all year and I'm embarrassed to admit that it's been shoved out of the way twice now so that I could get through other titles.

And that's the long and the short of it! Finger's crossed you'll see reviews up in the next week or so for the only outstanding title from last month, Hangman's Daughter and another for The Fever Series by Karen Moning (don't think I'll split this one into multiple reviews... nope... no I won't do it).

Enough of the excuses though. Here are the four titles I know I'm going to be churning through over the next thirty days:

1. 'Daughter of Smoke and Bone' by Laini Taylor
2. 'The Casual Vacancy' by J.K. Rowling
3. 'Red Rain' by R.L. Stine
4. 'Something from the Nightside' by Simon R. Green

A bit of a departure from the Y.A. that's been hogging up my time for the last... oh... three months now and I'm excited to take a bit of a break from it to be honest.

*Fun fact: The first time I picked up a Southern Vampire Mystery I literally got through all ten books over the course of seven days. No - I don't just sit at home all day and read thank-you-very-much. I've got bills to pay and a full time job to do it. But thinking about it now... I'm not sure that I slept much that week.

'Madly' (Madly #1) by M. Leighton

Before sitting down to 'Madly' book #1 in the aptly named Madly series by M. Leighton I'd absolutely no idea what it was about but a friend recommended it, and, if you've been around these parts for any length of time, I'll read just about anything that someone throws in my general direction. This title about Madly James and her world steeped in fairy tale lore is no exception.

At first, two things struck me. The cover being the first. Now I know what you're thinking - this is a book review, not a cover review. Don't worry, I'm not an artist or outragouesly talented marketer so I won't spend too long on it - but the cover turned me off.  Too me it looked cheap, more like a manga cover than any serious fiction I'd ever picked up. The second was how short it was. Only one hundred pages? I thought - well, if I didn't like it than at least it would be an extremely short term commitment.

While I still pretty much hate the cover art, this is a good lesson in putting covers aside and reading the material before passing judgement. Even more impressive was that I got to the last page of this fast paced introductory novella in just under an hour and was disappointed that I'd need to get my hands on the next volume to keep going.

Will I pick up Madly & Wolfhardt (Madly, #2)? Most likely, equally terrible cover and all.

Should you pick up 'Madly'? Well - if you've burned yourself out on young adult fantasy romance then I'd probably steer clear for now. But if you can get past the cover and want to read something in this genre that isn't about vampires or werewolves you've got the green light - just do yourself a favor and make sure to have book two queued up and ready to go!