More reading
Since I don't want to build up yet another backlog as the one in the previous reading post, I decided to write these books up as well:
(99.) James A. Hetley's The Winter Oak is a continuation of the story started in The Summer Country. In it, the main characters from the previous book have to adapt to the changes in their life (finding out you one of the Old Blood isn't exactly an easy thing to find out) and to find a new balance in their lives. Their enemies haven't forgotten them, however, and are still scheming against them. Still, by the end things are better and there is even some peace and healing of past hurts.
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I really like (100.-101.) Mick Takeuchi's manga Her Majesty's Dog, of which I read books 3 & 4. It has some humour and some romance (and book 4 even made me sniffle a bit...). I like it clueless and socially inept Amane is, but she is trying hard to fit in at the school. She is also completely unaware of how Hyoue, her Koma-oni, feels about her.
The parts that got me sniffling in Book 4 were when Hyoue was trying to gather up his courage to confess to Amane that he loved her, and when he wondered if he was ever going to be good enough for her. He is a "beast" after all, not a human.
All of this was, of course, made even more poignant by the fact that they were rehearsing the play "Beauty and the Beast" with Amane and Hyoue in the lead roles... The magical transformation of the Beast into a human when his curse was broken really upset Hyoue, because it signified that the Beast wasn't good enough as he was, he had to transform first before he could be acceptable.
And in the end, whil Hyoue is hugging Amane in the Christmas chapter, he utters the fateful words, "I want to be human", and nothing is the same, since he can't change back into a human from his demon form. I want the next book in my hands now!!! I think it should be out sometime this month, at least according to Amazon...
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(102.) C. E. Murphy's Coyote Dreams is the third book in her urban fantasy series about the reluctant shaman Joanne Walker. I was a bit disappointed in the second book, but this one kept me in it's grip late into the night and I enjoyed it very much.
This time there is something strange happening, that is making people all over the city fall into sleep from which they can't be awakened. Several of Joanne's closest friends are afflicted as well, and she is determined to find who or what is causing it.
It has taken her long enough, but she has finally come to accept that she can't just ignore the power she has been given. She must learn to use it, and in a way that doesn't harm others, which I guess was the point made in the previous book.
Still, this time there are some personal complications as well, and Joanne must confront her own feelings and her past before she can go on with her life. There are some surprises along the way that reveal some of the reasons behind the hurts she suffered in the past, but also bring her healing over the choices she had to make.
I really like this series and I hope there will be more books in it in the future, though it seems Murphy's next book is going to be the beginning of a new series apparently involving vampires.
(99.) James A. Hetley's The Winter Oak is a continuation of the story started in The Summer Country. In it, the main characters from the previous book have to adapt to the changes in their life (finding out you one of the Old Blood isn't exactly an easy thing to find out) and to find a new balance in their lives. Their enemies haven't forgotten them, however, and are still scheming against them. Still, by the end things are better and there is even some peace and healing of past hurts.
* * *
I really like (100.-101.) Mick Takeuchi's manga Her Majesty's Dog, of which I read books 3 & 4. It has some humour and some romance (and book 4 even made me sniffle a bit...). I like it clueless and socially inept Amane is, but she is trying hard to fit in at the school. She is also completely unaware of how Hyoue, her Koma-oni, feels about her.
The parts that got me sniffling in Book 4 were when Hyoue was trying to gather up his courage to confess to Amane that he loved her, and when he wondered if he was ever going to be good enough for her. He is a "beast" after all, not a human.
All of this was, of course, made even more poignant by the fact that they were rehearsing the play "Beauty and the Beast" with Amane and Hyoue in the lead roles... The magical transformation of the Beast into a human when his curse was broken really upset Hyoue, because it signified that the Beast wasn't good enough as he was, he had to transform first before he could be acceptable.
And in the end, whil Hyoue is hugging Amane in the Christmas chapter, he utters the fateful words, "I want to be human", and nothing is the same, since he can't change back into a human from his demon form. I want the next book in my hands now!!! I think it should be out sometime this month, at least according to Amazon...
* * *
(102.) C. E. Murphy's Coyote Dreams is the third book in her urban fantasy series about the reluctant shaman Joanne Walker. I was a bit disappointed in the second book, but this one kept me in it's grip late into the night and I enjoyed it very much.
This time there is something strange happening, that is making people all over the city fall into sleep from which they can't be awakened. Several of Joanne's closest friends are afflicted as well, and she is determined to find who or what is causing it.
It has taken her long enough, but she has finally come to accept that she can't just ignore the power she has been given. She must learn to use it, and in a way that doesn't harm others, which I guess was the point made in the previous book.
Still, this time there are some personal complications as well, and Joanne must confront her own feelings and her past before she can go on with her life. There are some surprises along the way that reveal some of the reasons behind the hurts she suffered in the past, but also bring her healing over the choices she had to make.
I really like this series and I hope there will be more books in it in the future, though it seems Murphy's next book is going to be the beginning of a new series apparently involving vampires.