The Red Pyramid (Kane Chronicles, #1) by Rick Riordan

I first read this book back in 2011 as I was impatiently waiting for the next Percy Jackson book to be released.  I have this thing about starting book series and not finishing them.  Alright, it's a little OCD and this series has been nagging at me for the last 3 years.  I started reading the second book in this series, but found that I hadn't retained much in 3 years, so I started over from the beginning.

The Red Pyramid (Kane Chronicles, #1) by Rick Riordan
Rating: Originally 3, upgraded to a 3 1/2 wine glasses

Carter and Sadie Kane, are brother and sister who have been separated since the death of their mother.  Carter has been traveling the world with his Egyptologist father, Julius Kane, while Sadie has been raised by her grandparents in London.  It's Christmas Eve and Julius and Carter have arrived in London for their scheduled visitation with Sadie.  Julius has made arrangements to visit the museum where some very powerful Egyptian artifacts are on display.  While at the museum, Carter and Sadie witness their father unleash the Egyptian gods.  What Julius Kane has done was against the magician's law, unleashed some of the most powerful gods in history, and tossed his children right in the middle of everything.  Carter and Sadie, have been hidden from this life of gods and magic and discover how special they really are.

I am a huge Rick Riordan fan.  I love how I can learn about history of the gods in a modern way.  This book is being narrated by both Carter and Sadie.  I've discovered a secret locker and am listening to a recorded message from Carter and Sadie Kane.  Rick Riordan sure knows how to put you right in the middle of the book.  The characters are wonderful, the story is unique and full of magic and plot twists.  Most of all, I love that even though I'm reading a young adult novel, I'm having just as much fun as when I read adult novels.  The reason that I upgraded the rating from my original rating was because I read this book right after finishing one of the other Percy Jackson books.  Riding the high that I got from that book into this book skewed my perception.  Percy Jackson is hard to beat.  This time, I read this book and enjoyed it even more.

Review: Lichgates by S.M. Boyce

Are you ready for another review?  I sure hope so!  I found this book while I was searching for free books on my nook.  I spend hours searching the thousands of free books.  I will admit it, I'm a freebie junkie. This one caught my attention.  The cover is compelling, the synopsis sounded interesting and let's face it, the price was right.  FREE!  You can't beat that.  I love it when I find free books that are pretty amazing.  I feel like I've discovered some buried secret treasure, which is what the Author is trying to do, but frankly I really don't care.  I'm an addict remember!


Lichgates (The Grimoire Saga, #1) by S.M. Boyce
Rating: 4 Wine Glasses

Kara is a college student, who is on vacation with her father in one of their favorite places.  Kara is an adventurer by heart and loves to hike and discover new places among the mountains.  Since her mother passed, Kara uses hiking as a retreat to run from her guilt.  During a daily hike through the familiar mountains a storm immediately strikes and Kara seeks shelter in an old abandoned library of some sort.  The next series of event leads Kara to discover the Grimoire which unlocks a world that is unimaginable.  A world filled with war and everywhere she turns she is being hunted.  Kara has been named the new Vagabond, whose purpose is to bring peace to this world, Ourea.  Can Kara follow in her successor's dreams and fulfill her destiny?  Along the way Kara meets Braeden, a young man who has been searching for the Grimoire in hopes of becoming the next Vagabond so he can escape the world of Ourea forever. Which desire will Braeden overcome, his desire for Kara or for the Grimoire?

I enjoyed this book immensely.  I found the story intriguing, full of magic and mystery, tragedy and turmoil.  The characters are likeable and relatable.  This book was easy to get lost in.

Here are the other books in the series:

Treason (The Grimoire Saga, #2)
Heritage (The Grimoire Saga, #3) To be released Fall of 2013.  Want to get an advance review copy (ARC) of Heritage? Sign up here.
Illusion (The Grimoire Saga, #4) To be released Fall of 2014.

Review: Side Jobs by Jim Butcher

Do I have any Harry Dresden fans out there?  If you are, you are my new best friend.  If you have never heard of Harry Dresden, keep reading and maybe I can convince you why.  Three years ago or so, I was just getting back into reading after sometime taking a break.  You have kids and they consume your life.  I had forgotten how much I loved to read and I was lucky enough to have a young man on my team at work, Matt Davenport, who worked at B&N part time and who is also an indie author. We will talk more about Matt another time.  Anyways, Matt has a very contagious excitement when he talks about books.  He starting telling me about this character Harry Dresden.  Harry Dresden is a Wizard who lives in Chicago.  If you are in the Chicago area, look him up in the phone book. 

Anyone who is cool enough to have an ad in the phone book as a wizard is worth checking out. So, I read the first book in the Dresden File series and was hooked.  About this time every year, I start to get a craving for a little Harry Dresden.  Normally I can hold off until the release of the next book in the series which usually is around Thanksgiving.  However, the next book, Skin Game, has no release date.  NO RELEASE DATE!!!!!  Now, I did find a possible December 3rd release date, however, that has not be confirmed yet.  Now what is a girl supposed to do?  So, in order to sate my appetite I watched the entire TV series that came out about 5 years too early since it was cancelled after the first season.  I recommend you check it out on Netflix if you have it, it's amazing nothing like the book but amazing in it's own way.  This was just the appetizer.  I needed more, so I picked up Side Jobs, which are short stories that occur at various times throughout the series.  My favorites were Backup, The Warrior, and Aftermath.  Here is a list of all of the short stories you will find.

Side Jobs by Jim Butcher

Rating: 3 wine glasses, very, very, very full

“Restoration of Faith”- Takes place before Storm Front
“Vignette”- Takes place between Death Masks and Blood Rites
“Something Borrowed” - Takes place between Dead Beat and Proven Guilty
“It’s My Birthday Too”- Takes place between White Night and Small Favor
“Heorot”-Takes place between White Night and Small Favor
“Day Off”- Takes place between Small Favor and Turn Coat.
Backup - A novelette, takes place between Small Favor and Turn Coat      
The Warrior- A novelette, takes place between Small Favor and Turn Coat  
“Last Call”- Takes place between Small Favor and Turn Coat
“Love Hurts” - Takes place between Turn Coat and Changes 
 Aftermath- A novelette, takes place after Changes

What can I tell you about Harry Dresden.  He is a kick butt wizard and ends of having a lot of issues with vampires, werewolves, Chicago PD, archangels, fae and a whole bunch of bad guys.  He is goofy and clumsy, but somehow he manages to save the day.  Jim Butcher has done an amazing job developing all of the characters in the books and you can't help but fall right into the series.  I will admit that this was the series that started my book binges, yes I have a problem, no I don't care.