Vacation Reading (A Round Up)

Outlander photo found here.

I started off my vacation reading by finishing Countdown City, the second book in the Last Policeman trilogy by Ben H. Winters. I still loved the imaginative plot (Detective Henry Palace is the only person who cares about investigating crimes; since an asteroid is scheduled to strike earth in less than 3 months). The way Winters imagines society breaking down is fascinating; and I love the twist on all the usual post-apocalyptic books. But, I found Hank's righteous character a bit grating in this one. I'll still definitely finish out the trilogy though; I'm so curious to see how it will end.

Next, I devoured The Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla by Lauren Willig. There were a few titles in the Pink Carnation series that underwhelmed me; but the last two (Midnight Manzanilla and The Passion of the Purple Plumeria) were both fantastic, and have restored my love for this fun historical series.

I read The Forgotten Girl to review for Shelf Awareness; and honestly if I wasn't reading it for review I might've quit early. The writing style was a bit choppy; particularly at the beginning; but I plugged on, and ended up getting interested in the characters. It's a slow-paced thriller; where a woman named Hayden goes missing, and her brother and teenage daughter search for her. Hopefully the choppiness will be smoothed out in the final edition for publication. (Which comes out 10/7.)

Also for Shelf Awareness I read Sons of Sparta. I downloaded an e-galley, which had an annoying number of typos, but once I got over that, I rather enjoyed it. It's a mystery set in modern Greece; and its raunchy humor, plus distinctively Greek cultural elements, made it a lot of fun. (Comes out 10/7.)

Finally, I started listening to Outlander on audiobook, which has ruined me for anything else right now. All I want to do is sit and listen to it! I've got about 13 hours down... 21 to go. What's funny is that about 6 years ago I listened to a Lord John book, and thought Gabaldon's writing style too fussy, so I never tried Outlander. But now I'm loving it so much that I'm kicking myself for not trying these ones sooner. Because due to the popularity of the Outlander tv show, there are now long wait lists for the books at the library... and I don't think I can handle two 30+ hour audiobooks back to back!

What have YOU been reading?

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