Bookish Thursday - January Book Haul and Kindle Overload

The above is my book haul for January. Actually, not all of them I purchased this month. The Tempered Steel of Antiquity Steel by Shawn Speakman was a kickstarter product. Speakman is Terry Brook's webmaster and someone I was fortunate enough to meet in person. I have read his book, The Dark Thorn, several years ago. Too many years in fact. I want the continuation of it!

Three-Martini Afternoons At the Ritz by Gail Crowther is a 'win' from Goodreads. The others are based on YouTube recommendations over the past few months which were also on my 'to-read' list. 

Now the books above do not include the 4 books I 'won' for the Kindle. In fact, looking at the number of books I won in December through January I have a total of 21 books there. Which prompted me to look at my Kindle 'list'. Yikes!

A total of 1179 books on my Kindle. Now granted, that does include some books I've already read and some library books which haven't dropped off. But still, that's a whole lot of books!

So far in January I have read 11 books, which makes me really happy with the amount and quality of reading. Only 2 of those books were ones I DNF'ed, mainly because I just wasn't getting into them or could have cared less about the story and the main character. 

Two books that I won last year I did manage to check off the list, one of which was a very pleasant surprise.

I read books that I have 'won' with a grain of salt. I have very low expectations on the quality of the both the writing style and the story. But since I entered to win a copy, I feel I really need to at least give the book a try. And Mech - Heart & Soul by Ken Deeprose was a very, very pleasant surprise.

Set in another world, Mechs are robots. Sort of like Transformers, but without the transforming. Large and used to protect their world against an invading race. However, they have an intelligence which is very individual, allowing a lot of self-governing and more 'human-like' characteristics. Orin, is the teenage son of the professor who is in charge of them and is very smart himself. Juna, is the young princess who doesn't like the way things are being run by her father, the Emperor. 

The story was well written and enjoyable. However, the book was just under 200 pages! And I was left wanting more of their story. Luckily, there is more coming according to Mr. Deeprose. I am really looking forward to it.

Another book I 'won' is The Monarchs by Kiss Morgan and Danielle Paige. 

Since it is a sequel, I did go and buy book one, The Ravens, to read. Usually I can pick up a book in the middle of a series and be ok with it. However, in this case I am glad I did go back and read Book One before starting Book Two. I would have been a bit lost without doing so. 

I will probably be finished with it by the time this post is out, but I have a couple of really annoying things which started bothering me in Book One and are REALLY bothering me in Book Two.

One - alcohol! 

Ok, I am not stupid or naive enough to believe alcohol isn't on campus. But these girls are one step short of having mimosas for breakfast! Every chapter is about them consuming alcohol. Really! Doesn't ever mention how these 17-20 year olds get such huge amounts of it, but it is a drink a page. If you were to make this book into a drinking game and have a shot for every time a drink was mentioned, you would be on the floor at the end of Chapter One!

Second - where's the adults?

There is no mention of a house mother or any adult supervising this sorority house. I can't believe all these groups of young girls (and boys) do not have some sort of supervisor in the house. Ok, so this one group are a coven and have been for decades, but really! 

I am being pulled out of the story continually by being annoyed over the drinking and lack of supervision. There is no mention of sneaking around the house mother to do things or her being a witch also and giving them some coaching on their talents. Nothing. Nada. 

I'll finish the book, but it has made me want to throw it across the room. Even when I was in college and you could drink at 18 there wasn't this much alcohol around!

In January I have finished 11 books, five of the books have been 4 out of 5 stars and two have been 5 star books! Two are 3 stars - good, but not great. Two of the books I didn't finish. For February, I want to read more of my Kindle backlist.