This turned out to be a disappointing week on the review front. Two of the books I expected great things from fell flat – one just a bit flat and the other I only finished because I forced myself. Two I DNF’d altogether and went back to the drawing board. A frustrating week overall.

But my new committee appointment came through, so that means taller stacks in Stacking the Shelves, and more great books to look forward to once we get our annual act together. So things are looking up. Especially as I’ve already finished two of the coming week’s books and I KNOW they are excellent. That’s always a plus!

I had a bit of a time looking for an appropriate cat picture for this week’s post, but in the end, I found one. Here’s Lucifer, soaking up the sun in one of his favorite sunbeam spots, with a look on his face that says “DO NOT DISTURB!” no matter how much we might need to open the front door.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Heart 2 Heart Giveaway Hop (ENDS TUESDAY!!!)

Blog Recap:

A- Review: The Starless Crown by James Rollins
B- Review: Abandoned in Death by J.D. Robb
B+ Review: Love Code by Ann Aguirre
D+ Review: A Fine Madness by Alan Judd
B+ Review: In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire
Stacking the Shelves (483)

Coming This Week:

Mickey7 by Edward Ashton (review)
Fires of Edo by Susan Spann (review)
Wish Big Giveaway Hop
Ten Rules for Marrying a Duke by Michelle McLean (blog tour review)
Sword and Shadow by Michelle Sagara (review)

We had house company last week. This is George’s reaction for the entire visit:

He remained suspiciously watchful for the entire four days. Hecate thought it was great to have more humans to scritch her in the morning. Lucifer decided that she was an acceptable substitute human upon whom to tender his pre-meal gratitude. Freddie disappeared off the face of the Earth. George just watched. And watched. And WATCHED. He’s a very handsome boy but clearly VERY suspicious!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Heart 2 Heart Giveaway Hop

Blog Recap:

A Review: Strange Love by Ann Aguirre
Heart 2 Heart Giveaway Hop
A- Review: Marion Lane and the Deadly Rose by T.A. Willberg
B Review: A Lullaby for Witches by Hester Fox
A- Review: Four Thousand Days by M.J. Trow
Stacking the Shelves (482)

Coming This Week:

The Starless Crown by James Rollins (audio review)
Abandoned in Death by J.D. Robb (review)
Out of the Blue by Allison Bliss (review)
A Fine Madness by Alan Judd (review)
Asking for a Friend by Andi Osho (review)

Giveaway hops are back! YAY! Not that they actually went away, just that I didn’t have any in January. I tend not to do them on weekends, and the ones I normally participate in were all on weekends in January. So YAY for February. And March, too.

My last committee ended, I’ve volunteered for a new one but haven’t received my assignment yet, so I’m in that very brief window where I can read whatever I want – without guilt. Not that the guilt always stops me – even when it should. We’ll see what happens.

Today’s picture is George being especially winsome under the dining room table. He likes to rest his chin on the bottom chair rail, but as I walked towards him with my iPad outstretched, he looked up at me to see what on Earth I was doing. The perfect shot is always 2 seconds before you get in position, but any picture of George is adorable.

Blog Recap:

A+ Review: Obsidian by Sarah J. Daley
B Review: Mr. Donahue’s Total Surrender by Sophie Barnes
A- Review: The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf
B- Review: The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon
A Review: Light Years from Home by Mike Chen
Stacking the Shelves (481)

Coming This Week:

Strange Love by Ann Aguirre (review)
Heart 2 Heart Giveaway Hop
A Lullaby for Witches by Hester Fox (blog tour review)
Four Thousand Days by M.J. Trow (review)
Marion Lane and the Deadly Rose by T.A. Willberg (review)

So, I spent last weekend plus Monday and Tuesday in all day Zoom meetings. The meetings were great, and we’ll probably do it that way again next year because it works better from so many angles. Lucifer seemed to think the group was his fan club and popped in several times per day to get oohed and aahed over. (We saw everyone’s pets and children over the course of the meeting)

George, on the other paw, tried to excavate the top of my desk, then chewed the cord for my primary monitor, which dropped me out of the meeting and started shooting sparks out of the cord. It got a little too exciting there for a while. The picture below is, of course, George, looking very proud of himself for all the disruption he caused.

But speaking of the meeting, somewhat indirectly…I’m on a book judging committee for the American Library Association called The Reading List, which picks the best books in eight genres of adult fiction. The awards ceremony is tonight so I’ll finally be able to get all the books I picked up for the committee that I ended up not having to read out of my NetGalley and Edelweiss queues.

Followers of the Stacking the Shelves post regularly comment on the number of books I get and wonder how I manage to read them all. Whatever committee I am on in any given year is generally the cause of a lot of the books I get. This year there were 14 of us all throwing books into the committee hopper. We have to read the books we ourselves suggest, and then we have an upvoting and winnowing process. We have to read anything that gets upvoted, no matter who suggested it. By the time something reaches the upvoting process it’s usually well past its pub date and no longer available on NetGalley or Edelweiss. As I much prefer to read ebooks, I request books from NG and EDW as they are put on the suggestion list so I’ll have them if they get upvoted. It’s quite the process.

So we had 96 books to discuss over those four days. Someone referred to it as the “Overachiever’s Book Club” and that’s about right.

Blog Recap:

Martin Luther King. Jr. Versus the Insurance Companies (guest post by Galen)
B Review: Servant Mage by Kate Elliott
A- Review: Emperor by Anna Hackett
A- Review: Lightning in a Mirror by Jayne Ann Krentz
B Review: Shady Hollow by Juneau Black
Stacking the Shelves (480)

Coming This Week:

Obsidian by Sarah J. Daley (review)
Mr. Donahue’s Total Surrender by Sophie Barnes (blog tour review)
The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf (blog tour review)
Light Years from Home by Mike Chen (blog tour review)
The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon (review)

The cat picture below is the state of the Lucifer this weekend. And continuing through Tuesday. He’s not happy. I’ve put myself in ‘kitten jail’, otherwise known as my office, because I’m tied up in a four day zoom meeting. Galen said he’s planning on me being, and I most definitely quote, “a delicate zombie” for the entire thing.

It’s a committee meeting to discuss the books we’ve all been reading and make determinations. It’s great fun, and wonderful to discuss books with a bunch of passionate book people. But…four days on zoom is a lot of zoom. I do let the cats in at least some of the time because we all need the break, but they can be distracting as well. During last year’s meeting, there was a point where Hecate decided no one was paying enough attention to her so she stood on my desk and waved her ass in front of the camera.

This is why I have cats.

Don’t feel too sorry for Lucifer. The door pushes inwards and it doesn’t latch. He could stand and push it open if he wanted. He just likes to sit out there and pout. He makes sure I can see him through the glass so I know he’s pouting at me.

Blog Recap:

A- Review: The Silver Bullets of Annie Oakley by Mercedes Lackey
A- Review: Garden of Lies by Amanda Quick
A+ Review: Under Color of Law by Aaron Philip Clark
B Review: The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher
A- Review: The Wedding Setup by Sonali Dev + Spotlight + Giveaway
Stacking the Shelves (479)

Coming This Week:

Servant Mage by Kate Elliott (review)
Emperor by Anna Hackett (review)
Lightning in a Mirror by Jayne Ann Krentz (review)
Shady Hollow by Juneau Black (review)

I’m running behind getting this posted because I was having a hard time figuring out what the hell I’d be reading this week. So consider this post more about probabilities than certainties. Some weeks are just like that.

I was also having a difficult time getting my hands on the keyboard and mouse. Lucifer wanted LOTS of attention this morning and kept incapussitating me. He’s not demanding all the time the way Freddie is – Freddie is a VERY needy cat – but when Lucifer wants, he WANTS.

Speaking of incapussitation, this week’s picture is one of extreme incapussitation. George and Freddie decided to have a rare snuggle on top of Galen’s legs. He really can’t move, or couldn’t until I snapped the picture. Freddie gets weird when he’s approached in “camera position” with a phone obviously extended to take a picture. He’s such a handsome boy, so it’s a pity that he doesn’t appreciate getting his picture taken. George, on the other hand, is more than a bit of a ham.

Blog Recap:

A- Review: Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire
A- Review: Fated Blades by Ilona Andrews
B Review: The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian
B+ Review: The Sorority Murder by Allison Brennan
B Review: Black Water Sister by Zen Cho
Stacking the Shelves (478)

Coming This Week:

The Silver Bullets of Annie Oakley by Mercedes Lackey (review)
Garden of Lies by Amanda Quick (review)
Under Color of Law by Aaron Philip Clark (review)
The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher (review)
The Wedding Setup by Sonali Dev (blog tour review)