Wednesday Reads and Will BigRed Turn On?

Hmmm… Last time my hard drive conked out on me the Wednesday after I installed the new hard drive. And I had forgotten to post my blog. Well I didn’t forget to post this (but I’ve backed up my data), so here’s hoping BigRed turns on in the morning. I’ll keep you posted in the comments. Meanwhile, here’s what I read last week:

Mar 24: “Wish in One Hand” by B.E. Sanderson, first book in the Once Upon a Djinn series, an urban fantasy at 282 pages. Blurb from Goodreads: ‘Be careful what you wish for.’ In hindsight, Jo Mayweather should’ve taken those words seriously back in 1926. Of course, spoiled brat, flapper-girl that she was, Jo probably would’ve made the not-so-clever wish that turned her into a genie anyway. Being endowed with phenomenal power may have its perks but, for the most part, life’s been a pain in her tiny hiney. After running into a ‘slash first, ask questions never’ genie, her problems only worsen. Some demented thing is making wishes that can’t be granted and djinn are dying. Now, instead of freeing her brethren from their bonds, Jo has a killer to neutralize. If she’d kept her mouth shut ninety years ago, she wouldn’t be in this mess. But she’s got a job to do despite some reject from a bad B-movie trying to ruin everything she’s worked so hard for. Too bad this time doing her job might get her killed. Or worse—enslaved again. Entertaining story, but not what I expected after reading the first chapter (because I don’t always read the blurb!). Now, if the first chapter said “Prologue,” I would have been okay (I know, picky me). This being the beginning of a series, not all the plot lines are finished, but the major one is wrapped up. If you’re looking for a different kind of paranormal without any romance, give this one a try.

Mar 29: “Time’s Best Friend” by Jennette Marie Powell, third book in the Saturn Society series, a romantic time-travel adventure at 343 pages. Blurb from book: In 1939, time-traveling, Appalachian farm woman Florie LaBeau fell in love with an 18th-century frontiersman, and vowed to cross time to be with him again. Then war broke out, forcing her to wait four years to travel back two hundred. But when she arrives in 1756, she finds her frontiersman doesn’t know her, Nazi soldiers occupy her historic home, and her only friend a mysterious dog who just might be their spy. Ousted from his home by strange Hessian soldiers, fur trapper Zeke Allen can’t believe his luck when his new hunting dog brings him a woman. Knowledgeable in the ways of pioneer life, the lovely Miss LeBeau could make the perfect wife, if not for her crazy tales of time travel, a club called the Saturn Society, and an impossible war in the twentieth century she insist she comes from—and to which she must return. Slowly, Zeke begins to believe Florie’s crazy stories as his fondness grows into a love she returns. But the men she calls Nazis tear her away from him, plunging her into a future where she must deliver information that could change the outcome of the war. Finding her way back to Zeke proves difficult. Harder still: convincing others of the truth—and saving her canine rescuer and herself from the Saturn Society, the very people she thought would protect her. Time travel stories sometimes really mess with my head. I guess that’s the fun in reading them and I enjoyed this story very much (kind of reminded me a little of Dean Koontz’s Lightning). I loved Damon. Heck, I love dogs in books. You don’t have to read the others in the series to enjoy (or understand) this one, since this one has different characters with different times. If you like time-travel books, I highly recommend this one. I think it's the best in the series.

So…  Are you looking forward to baseball starting up? Or are you still hot and heavy for hockey? Or do all sports just turn you off? I’m hot and heavy for the Penguins (since they’re hot right now), but I am looking forward to baseball, too. I love this time of year!

Happy Reading!

Stacy