#20BooksOfSummer -- 1 Month Down!

I figured I'd do a little "the road so far" post to recap the first month of the #20BooksOfSummer challenge. It's been great fun revisiting my abandoned series ... but I do think that I'm going to add at least one "abandoned before started" to the list before all is said and done.

John Connolly's The Infernals - # 2 in the Samuel Johnson Trilogy

This series has the greatest chapter titles and the greatest footnotes and is just a whole freaking crapton of fun. A good continuation of the first book and I'm chomping at the bit to get to the third ... even though then I'll be sad and mopey over it being a trilogy and not (so far) in the Douglas Adams sense of the word.

Stephanie Bond's 7 Brides For 7 Bodies - # 7 in the Body Movers series

I waited for years for the Body Movers series to continue and when it finally did it felt like I was getting to spend the weekend with a long lost best friend. I actually gave it 7 out of 5 stars and even that seemed like it wasn't enough.

Charlotte MacLeod's Wrack & Rune - # 3 in the Peter Shandy series

The first "lit crush" I can ever recall having was on Gilbert Blythe from the Anne books. Many MANY years later I'm still developing lit crushes -- most recently on Peter Shandy AND on his boss, the President of Balaclava Agricultural College. It's a viking thing ... at least with the President.

Rhys Bowen's A Royal Pain - # 2 in the Royal Spyness series

I enjoyed the first book in this series when I read it but was hesitant about continuing the series. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised and actually loved this one (seldom the case with second books -- unless it's a trilogy .... or has vikings)! Because we didn't need as much time introducing everyone we were able to get to know the main characters better. I still have an issue with the main character's taste in men that has carried over from the first book, but in every aspect this was good enough that I've already picked up the next one in the series (and the one after that).

Charlaine Harris' Shakespeare's Trollop - # 4 in the Lily Bard series

I really had absolutely no intention of loving this series. I started to read them just before Christmas because I was determined to read only Christmas-themed books and the third would fit that. And then I got hooked. Totally unlike Harris' more-known Sookie Stackhouse and in such a wonderful way. (Sookie started to get on my nerves after a while.) Harris only wrote five Lily Bard books. I'm going to miss her.

Deanna Chase's Engaged Off Bourbon Street and Angels of Bourbon Street - #s 3.5 and 4 in the Jade Calhoun series

I'm honestly not sure if I'll ever continue with this series. The first book I enjoyed. The second book I was "ehh" about. The third book made me want to shake the main character. By the end of the fourth I was kind of hoping that she would stop getting saved when faced with some horrible life-or-death situation so I could just be done with her. I've been told that she changes quite a lot in the next few books but I really don't know if I can put myself through it.

Gail Carriger's Curtsies & Conspiracies - # 2 in the Finishing School series
Another delightful second-in-a-series where character development lifts off! So many changes happened over the course of the book that I'm excited to see what will happen next and may not put it off for so many months. The fourth (and, supposedly, last) in the series is set for a November release so I'll likely catch up in time for that. Luckily Carriger has two other series following this one chronologically (although one was written before this) that I'll have so I won't go through the dreaded series withdrawal as badly.

Carolyn G Hart's Mint Julep Murder - # 9 in the Death on Demand series
It's coming to the point where I don't know if I'll ever catch up with this series. Mint Julep Murder is the ninth of (so far) twenty-five and even if I was the type to marathon read series ... I don't think I could with these without pulling some hair out. Oh, don't get me wrong. I love Annie and Max and their regular supporting cast ... but Hart has a tendency to use the same few phrases in every. single. book. over. and. over. and after the first couple they started reading to me like nails on a chalk board. Yes. Yes. I KNOW she owns the best mystery bookstore this side of Atlanta. Yes. Yes. I KNOW her husband is like Joe Hardy all grown up and sexy as blah blah blah. It's a darn good thing that I enjoy the actual stories almost every time. This time? Eh. Made it to the 50% mark not missing a single word but feeling like it was dragging. So I jumped ahead to 62%ish and didn't feel like I had missed anything. Read a couple of screens and jumped ahead to 81% and still ... not much had been missed as far as I could tell. I'll read from here to the end ... then jump to the next book. Whatever that may be ....