New Posts

Books, TBR Challenge

Cora’s TBR Challenge Check-In

Cora Lee

Happy first day of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere! And happy first day of spring in deadly-proofthe Southern Hemisphere! The weather hasn’t changed much here in Southeast Michigan (yet), but my reading habits have. How’s your TBR Challenge going?

After all the reading time I found during my trip to the UK last month, September has been rather disappointing. I haven’t finished a single book this month, though I am in the middle of three: a novel (Deadly Proof, the fourth book in M. Louisa Locke’s Victorian San Francisco Mystery series), and two research books (Regency Spies [which isn’t actually helping me, but it’s quite interesting] and To Hell Or Monto [which has been very useful]).

I’ve been writing a lot lately, though, which is why my reading time has been so abysmal. Characters are talking to me for books I haven’t even outlined yet, and that’s not a bad thing (especially with three–yes three!–releases scheduled for next year). It just means that I’ll have to make adjustments to my daily schedule yet again 🙂

 

Books, TBR Challenge

Cora’s TBR Challenge Check-In

Cora Lee

Eight months down, fellow readers–what does your TBR pile look like? Mine got significantly smaller…for a minute 🙂

Giuseppe_Maria_Crespi_-_Bookshelves_-_WGA05755I spent a fantastic two weeks in the United Kingdom this month, and with travel comes reading time (what else was I supposed to do on those long plane rides?). Not only did I get to see London and some of the countryside, but I paid an extended visit to Spindle Cove (and finished the series!) and Victorian San Francisco (in the form of M. Louisa Locke’s historical mystery series). Six books in total released from TBR backwater 🙂

Then I bought some more books 😛  Tessa Dare is releasing a new Spindle Cove novel on September 27 (despite Amazon’s insistence that it’s a Castles Ever After book). I discovered that there were several parts of Louisa’s mystery series that I didn’t know about, too. And I went back to the steampunk series I started (The Fall of the Gas Lit Empire) to pick up the two books I didn’t have. *sigh* I just hope I get them all read before they become TBR casualties…

Books, TBR Challenge

Cora’s TBR Challenge Check-In

Cora Lee

July has almost gone, and we have five months left in 2016. How goes the TBR reading? I finished my spring classes just after last month’s Check In and have been trying to make up for lost time ever since. Summer hours at the day job mean that I’m up too early in the morning for my taste, but I’ve been getting some pages read before bed.

Photo Credit: Herzi Pinki
Photo Credit: Herzi Pinki

Helps me sleep, too 😉

In audiobooks, I finally finished listening to Dragonfly in Amber (which I started last year–thanks goodness I’d already read it, or I wouldn’t remember what was going on between listens!). I have about thirty books on to To Be Listened To list, and I’m not sure what to start next…but I bet it’ll be shorter than Dragonfly!

In e- and print books, I’ve made it through three of the eight entries in Tessa Dare’s Spindle Cove series and am working on a fourth (A Week To Be Wicked–Minerva and Lord Payne are so much fun together!). This whole series is amazingly well done, and I suspect I’ll be working my way through the rest of Tessa’s back list when I get a chance. I also started M. Louisa Locke’s Victorian San Francisco Mystery series. I bought the first three a couple of years ago and am wondering why I waited so long to get to them. That’s one of the things I love most about the TBR Challenge–finding gems in my bins and collections that I didn’t even know I had 😀

Books, TBR Challenge

Cora’s TBR Challenge Check-In

Cora Lee

The Bullet Catcher's DaughterHappy summer, Northern Hemisphere! And happy winter, Southern Hemisphere! Can you believe we’re halfway through the year already? Are you halfway through your TBR Challenge books?

I am not halfway through, but I am (finally) making progress. The Day Job has been quiet–literally–so I’ve been listening to Dragonfly in Amber once again, and am about 3/4 of the way through it. It’s been a few years since I read the book and Davina Porter does such a wonderful job as narrator, so listening is a pleasant way to pass the time at my desk.

I’ve also been taking breaks from coursework (one more paper left to write!) with books to refresh my ANightToSurrender-400x646brain and sped through The Bullet Catcher’s Daughter (my first foray into Steampunk), which was fun and mysterious and intriguing…and that’s just the series title: The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire. I’ve already put the other two books in the series on my list and can’t wait to read them! I’m in the last few chapters of A Night To Surrender, too, which as been such a wonderful diversion from reading disabilities and classroom assessments. I have yet to read a Tessa Dare book that isn’t fabulous, and the rest of the Spindle Cove series is in my TBR collection, so you can bet I’ll be visiting there again 🙂

 

Books, TBR Challenge

Cora’s TBR Challenge Check-In

Cora Lee

Happy May fellow readers! The weather is heating up here in Southeast Michigan (the forecast is calling for near 90F this weekend!). Has your reading been hot?

Mine has been mostly of the textbook variety, so not so hot. On the bright side, I’m halfway through my classes and doing well in both of them. I also have a four-day weekend coming up, and while I have a lot of schoolwork to do, I am also pledging to read for pleasure at least one hour a day during my little holiday. Wish me luck!

I did get a little audiobook action at the day job this week, so my world has not been entirely fiction-less. I’m listening to Diana Gabaldon’s Dragonfly in Amber, though Goodreads informed me that it’s been about ten months since I last listened. Thank goodness I’ve already read the book, or I wouldn’t have the slightest idea what was happening in it 😀

Dragonfly audio

Books, Writing Life

Maitland Maidens Update and Cover Reveal

Cora Lee

Hello my wonderful readers! How are you this fine spring (or autumn, in the Southern Hemisphere) day? I come bearing news today, both good and not good.

Let’s get the not good out of the way first. I was hoping to have Back In My Arms Again (Maitland Maidens Book 2) ready to release this month, but the bad old Chronic Fatigue Monster caught me (more than once) and I didn’t get to do much writing these past few months. I’m taking a couple of classes, too, this spring in order to keep my teaching certificate valid (my day job boss thinks it might be useful to have an employee who is a certified teacher, though I’m not sure why just yet). So I’m up to my eyeballs in Diagnosis and Remediation of Reading Disabilities and Classroom Assessment instead of spending time with Lady Cecilia and her hero James Fitzsimmons. 😦

The good news is that–barring any unforeseen circumstances–Cecilia and James should be ready to hit your e-readers some time this summer (if you subscribe to my newsletter you’ll get an e-mail when the book becomes available). And today you get to see their cover! Plus, the Maitlands have informed me that there will actually be four novellas in the series instead of the original three: Cecilia’s cousin Margaret has been whispering in my ear lately that she has a story to tell (which makes it hard to concentrate on my schoolwork, lol). You’ll meet Margaret and her hero Stephen in Back In My Arms Again, and should be able to read all about them this fall.

cover

Books, TBR Challenge

Cora’s TBR Challenge Check-In

Cora Lee

Four months down, readers! How many TBR books have you read so far?

In my case, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that I’m reading again. The bad news is that I’m reading a textbook rather than anything from my personal collection. Classroom Assessment is nowhere near as much fun as Tessa Dare’s Spindle Cove series (or any of my other long-suffering books, for that matter), but it must be read. I do have some slow days coming up at the day job, so I’m hoping to either get ahead in my required reading or steal a day with the Kindle. Then again, I’ve said that before and my Kindle slumbered peacefully on without me 🙂

Giuseppe_Maria_Crespi_-_Bookshelves_-_WGA05755