First, here’s a picture of George in his very serious pose. It’s been that kind of week.

Second, this week kind of threw itself into a blender at one point. During a workout I managed to hit myself in the face with an exercise ball, cut up the inside of my mouth, and gave myself a couple of days of a terrible headache. Thankfully I didn’t chip any teeth! It’s amazing how much of a pain it is to mess up your mouth that way even if you don’t do any permanent damage. The entire experience also makes me seriously wonder why anyone plumps their lips, because wow everything hurt for a while. It’s mostly healed at this point but it made for a weird kind of week. Lots of good reading though, at least once my head stopped hurting!

And see what’s coming this week! Giveaways are back after the long, hot summer!

Blog Recap:

A- Review: Over the Woodward Wall by A. Deborah Baker
B Review: Wait for It by Jenn McKinlay
B- Review: Dead with the Wind by Miranda James
A- Review: In the Watchful City by S. Qiouyi Lu
A- Review: The Bookseller’s Secret by Michelle Gable
Stacking the Shelves (457)

Coming This Week:

Old School Giveaway Hop
A Terrible Fall of Angels by Laurell K. Hamilton (blog tour review)
Star Eater by Kerstin Hall (review)
Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian (review)
Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (review)

At least this week I’m attempting to plan ahead. I’m reading a really long book that I really, really want to read, but it’s not due out for a couple of months so I can’t post the review for a while. So this is a week of mostly short books to make up for all the time I’m spending with this other book. If any of that makes sense. Sometimes books just call my name and I HAVE to read them to stop the little voice shouting “READ ME!!!) from driving me any more bananas than I already am.

Here’s George in his favorite place, the stairs! It’s the perfect position to keep his eye on the front door AND my office door. While he can’t SEE Galen’s office he can certainly hear if Galen leaves his office AND he forms a perfect kitty pediment to ensure that if Galen comes down the stairs he’ll have to acknowledge George’s presence – or trip over him as George takes up an entire stair tread when he wants to – as he usually does.

It is obviously very important to George that he keeps an eye or an ear or both on EVERYTHING!

Blog Recap:

A Review: Paper and Blood by Kevin Hearne
A- Review: What the Cat Dragged In by Miranda James
A- Review: The Godstone by Violette Malan
B Review: Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara
A Review: Mother of All by Jenna Glass
Stacking the Shelves (456)

Coming This Week:

Over the Woodward Wall by A. Deborah Baker (review)
The Bookseller’s Secret by Michelle Gable (blog tour review)
After Alice Fell by Kim Taylor Blakemore (review)
Wait For It by Jenn McKinlay (review)
In the Watchful City by S. Qiouyi Lu (review)

This seems to have been an A- kind of week, whatever that might mean, in spite of dealing with cars that were complaining that their tires just weren’t right. All fixed now but annoying while it’s going on. As car things often are.

Today’s cat picture is George, because he’s just so photogenic when he’s not being a clown. Like all cats, he likes to be in the sunshine getting his solar batteries recharged. Not that George’s batteries ever seem to lose their charge. After all, he’s just barely out of kittenhood! But there he is, in all of his orange striped tabby glory, being striped in the opposite direction by the sun shining through the blinds in Galen’s office.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Sip Sip Hooray Giveaway Hop

Blog Recap:

B Review: The Past is Red by Catherynne M. Valente
A- Review: The Knight’s Tale by M.J. Trow
B+ Review: Into the Thinnest of Air by Simon R. Green
A- Review: The Tangleroot Palace by Marjorie M. Liu
A- Review: One Day All This Will Be Yours by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Stacking the Shelves (454)

Coming This Week:

The House of Always by Jenn Lyons (audio review)
Radar Girls by Sara Ackerman (blog tour review)
Pirate’s Promise by Lisa Kessler (review)
Hacking Mr. CEO by Anna Hackett (review)
Hold Fast Through the Fire by K.B. Wagers (review)

I think I started five different books before I finally got stuck into Shadows Have Offended. I’ve been looking for comfort reads, and re-reading a LOT of fanfiction, so I finally just gave in and picked up some of the licensed variety – as that’s what media tie-in novels feel like to me. YMMV. Also, between playing Mass Effect: Andromeda and loving both Project Hail Mary and A Psalm for the Wild-Built last week, I’m still in an SFnal kind of mood.

This week’s cat picture looks like all the boy cats decided to have a convention in the front hallway – or at least a terribly serious meeting about something. And probably something that the humans in the house should worry about. A lot. (Sorry the picture is small. When I tried to get closer, the convention broke up. I guess they really didn’t want me to learn what they were plotting!)

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Sparkle Time Giveaway Hop

Blog Recap:

(Not Exactly the) Fourth of July
B Review: Books Promiscuously Read by Heather Cass White
A- Review: A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
A Review: M, King’s Bodyguard by Niall Leonard
A+ Review: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Stacking the Shelves (452)

Coming This Week:

Shadows Have Offended by Cassandra Rose Clarke (review)
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix (blog tour review)
While We Were Dating by Jasmine Guillory (review)
Band of Sisters by Lauren Willig (review)
Sip Sip Hooray Giveaway Hop

Please link your Virtual Nightstand post in the linky below:

It’s going to be a lazy Sunday here at Chez Reading Reality, because certain humans were up much too late last night playing Mass Effect Andromeda again. Here’s a picture of sleepy Hecate snoozing in the sun and a very sneaky George photobombing her close up. I’ve just realized that George looks an awful lot like the cover picture of the cat Eggs Benedict in the Alaskan Diner series, so he’s even appropriate for this coming week’s books!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or Book in the Dad-O-Mite Giveaway Hop (ENDS WEDNESDAY!!!)

Blog Recap:

A+ Review: The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison
B+ Review: The Abduction of Pretty Penny by Leonard Goldberg
A- Review: Blackmailing Mr. Bossman by Anna Hackett
A+ Review: White Top by M.L. Buchman
B Review: Someone to Cherish by Mary Balogh
Stacking the Shelves (450)

Coming This Week:

Murphy’s Slaw by Elizabeth Logan (review)
The Return of the Sorceress by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (review)
Lady Sunshine by Amy Mason Doan (blog tour review)
Sparkle Time Giveaway Hop
Cast in Conflict by Michelle Sagara (review)