For whatever reason the photo option is not working right today so I can’t include book covers. It SAYS the pictures are loading, but they’re not. So anyhow, here we go with the real post. You’ll have to imagine your own book covers. LOL Let’s see, what have I read in the past week or so? In paper, I finished The Grail King by Joy Nash, due out in August. Very good book, sequel to Celtic Fire. I also finished Baby Oh Baby by Teresa Southwick last week. Cute story, but typical “Baby brings couple together” storyline, though with a faint touch of paranormal in the form of a wish made on an old lamp. In audio I finished Once a Thief by Michele Hauf (had to listen twice since I missed a lot). Thrilling action/adventure from the Silhouette Bombshell line. I think I finished Dragon Drums by Anne McCaffrey this past week also, though that may have been the week before. LOL In eBook format I finished Zodiac Series: Pisces, a duet of stories by Rae Morgan and Sherill Quinn. I love Rae Morgan’s Coven of the Wolf series, with the twin wolf hounds Igor and Boris being beloved…

I’ve not been doing very good about keeping up on this. LOL Currently I am reading Here with Me by Holly Jacobs (due out in July) in print and A Mistress for Marcos by Ellen Ashe (due out June 23) in eBook format. So far both are very good, but I have yet to go wrong with anything by either of these two authors. In audio format I am listening to Once a Thief by Michelle Hauf and Dragondrums by Anne McCaffrey. Both of these are very good so far though I keep getting distracted from OaT since I’ve been listening primarily at work. Other recent reads or listened I’ve finished this week are Beguiled by Alice Borchardt (audio abridged), Lion in the Valley by Elizabeth Peters (audio unabridged), Captive Moon by C T Adams and Cathy Clamp (due out in August and the latest Sazi series book), The Sorcerer’s Mark by Ellen Ashe and Midnight Tryst by Ellen Ashe. Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

I’ve not posted in here in ages. Too busy. So reading is somewhat slow going. My current reads are The Sorcerer’s Mark by Elen Ashe in eBook format, Captive Moon by CT Adams and Cathy Clamp (due out in August of this year and is the third book in their Sazi series) in print ARC format, Amelia Peabody 4 – Lion in the Valley in audio in the car, and Babylon Rising by Tim LaHaye and Greg Dinallo in audio at work. Other recent reads (in the past month or two) – Waiting for Odysseus by Janell Ramos, Lady of Sin by Madeline Hunter, Confessions of a Party Crasher by Holly Jacobs (due out in June), Touch the Dark by Karen Chance (due out in June), Dragonsong and Dragon Singers, books 1 and 2 in Anne McCaffrey’s Harper Hall trilogy, in audio. There were a few others in there too. I get through a LOT more audio than anything anymore, since I can listen a lot more often than I can read. Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

I had to go back through my review binder to get the total but here it is. And no I did not break it down by ratings or anything yet. I’ll do that later this week when I write my column for Fresh Fiction. I read a total of 76 books this year and that’s just ones I actually read. I also listened to a total of 41 books, since May 2005, which was when I first started keeping track. I seem to average 1 audio a week at least so I can tack on 16 more audio books, as a guesstimate. Not nearly as many books read as I would have thought my count would be, but it still is more than one book a week so that’s not too shabby! LOL How did everyone else do? Did you read as many as you expected, or less? For people who track every year, how does that compare to 2004? Any goals to meet or beat your 2005 totals? Kelley Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

So did everyone have a wonderful holiday? Mine was great… Got lots of time in with my niece and nephews. 🙂 I finished four books on vacation. (I went home to PA for the holidays and have been here a week. Back to TX tomorrow.) Granted two of those I started before I left for vacation but… I finished In Stone’s Clasp by Christie Golden this week, on the plane trip here. This was the second in her Final Dance series for Luna. Last night I finished Battle for Barnstable by Alan M Brooker, a horror novel from Amber Quill Press. I also started and completed reading both the first and second books in Elizabeth White‘s Texas Gatekeepers series for Love Inspired Suspense. These were Under Cover of Darkness and Sounds of Silence. These were the first books from this line I’ve read and I enjoyed them quite a bit. Now I’m reading Cupid Inc by Michele Bardsley, due out in February. It’s a one author anthology and is quite steamy! And very funny too. I’m about 20 pages from finishing the second story. I also picked the 9th book in Angela Verdenius‘ Heart and Soul series last night, Heart…

Wow! Where is everybody? I guess everyone’s out doing the holiday thing. I always do mine early so while everyone else is stressing over it, I can relax a bit. 🙂Well I finished my advance copy of Touch of Evil, the new book by CT Adams and Cathy Clamp due out in March. Excellent book! Gritty and well done, with a take charge kind of gal for the heroine and her sexy werewolf beau, Tom. Totally different world then their Sazi books, but just as good. Next up in paper is In Stone’s Clasp by Christie Golden. In audio I finished Brenda Joyce‘s House of Dreams. Good gothic romance with some creepy moments, as well as some over the top moments. In electronic, I’m still working on Some Enchanted Autumn by Linda Andrews (?) – I am blanking on the author but I think this is who it is. In audio I’m working on House of Echoes by Barbara Erskine in the car. This is another good gothic story. I’m loving it and want to rive longer than necessary to see what’s next. At the office I’m working on Dean Koontz’s Fear Nothing. I’m not enjoying this one as much,…

Christine Feehan’s first audio book was released today!! Can you tell I’m excited? LOL Dark Guardian is the first book by Dorchester to be made in to audio. Next month… Dark Prince and January 2006, Dark Desire. I’ve been waiting for her books to come out in audio ever since I got hooked on this format a couple years ago. And the best part is that it’s UNabridged! I’ll be ordering my copy from Dorchester this weekend, on CD. Here’s the link to the announcement at Dorchester’s Website in case you are interested:http://www.dorchesterpub.com/Dorch/SpecialFeatures.cfm?ID=2028 Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

In eBook, I finished The Flyers by Jennifer Cloud a few days ago, and immediately moved on to Treading the Labyrinth by Rae Morgan. In audio I finished The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub in the car. Now in the car I’m listening to Ghost Moon by Karen Robards. At work I finished Left Behind 9: Desecration – Antichrist Takes the Throne by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins and moved on to Left Behind 10: The Remnant – On the Brink of Armageddon by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins. I also finished White Oleander by Janet Fitch at work this past week.I finally reached the top of the waiting list at the library for Black Rose by Nora Roberts so I picked it up today and started listening to it at home today while I did housework. In paper, I’m still working on Time of the Wolf by Julie D’Arcy which is quite good. Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

I didn’t realize it’s been almost two months since I posted in here. So let me go back through my memory banks and see if I can remember everything I read in the past couple months or so. I’m not even going to try to post cover pics of everything because it would take FORever, though I’ll do a couple of them. In audio, I got through a huge load of books. I’m not even going to try to post cover pics as there are too many and it would take forever. LOL I listened to:To Trust a Stranger by Karen Robards (abridged) – This one wasn’t too bad, but it’s not something I’d rush out to buy either. Good quick listen at only 4 CDs. I was able to do the whole thing in one day at work. I did like how the hero and heroine met… He was on an investigative job and dressed up like a drag queen which provided several pages of the heroine thinking he was gay.Now Face to Face by Karleen Koen (unabridged) – This has been on my bookshelf ever since the book was published however many years ago (my copy had started…

Well I finally finished Gabriel’s Ghost by Linnea Sinclair last night. I had a hard time with this one due to not a whole lot of reading time and getting confused over some of the technical aspects of her world. That’s why I usually stick to fantasy more then straight sci-fi. But I stuck it out, even only squeezing in one chapter at a time here and there and finally finished it last night before bedtime. It got really good the more I got into it and there were some big surprises in the final third of the book. After that I started Dark Desires by Eve Silver, and advance copy for I got for a book being released in November. In audio I have Fiery Cross Part 2 going t work, Left Behind 6 in the car and I’m trying to do Luanne Rice‘s Follow the Stars Home at home. But it’s from the library and I’m on tape 2 and so far both tapes have been really messed up and can barely hear them. I’ll have to report that when I take them to the library so they can try to fix them. I’ve also got Left Behind…