It's Monday, What Are You Reading? October 23rd

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at the Book Date and is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are, and are about to be reading over the week. It's also a great opportunity to visit, comment on other blog posts, and add to that ever growing TBR pile!

What I read last week:

I actually just finished Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas.  It was fantastic! I have not been disappointed with any book in this series and am only sorry that I have to wait until 2018 for the next installment to see what happens next.  Loved it!

What I am reading this week:
This week, I am starting two books and hope to finish them both.  The Magician's Diary is the next book in the Glass and Steele steampunk mystery series that I have been enjoying and Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance is one I got from Netgalley a while back and just didn't get to right away.

What's coming up next?  
Not really sure.  Long Isle Iced Tea is coming out and I love this series.  Novella November is also coming up so I want to grab a few short novels to participate with.  I also have the final Jackaby novel, The Dire King waiting in the wings.  I guess it will depend on my mood once I finish the books above.  :)

What are you reading?

Review: Tower of Dawn

I have to say that when I originally found out that Tower of Dawn was going to focus on Chaol, I was not thrilled. I came to not like him much over the last couple of books and although he redeemed himself a bit, I still didn't think I would enjoy this book as much.

Wow, was I wrong.

Not only has my opinion of Chaol changed completely, but the story of his healing and the attempt to rally the Khogan's army for the war against the Vog was so engaging that I often didn't even get out of the car when I arrived home from work, instead, just listening until the end of the chapter or section.

This installment does not have as much action in it but what it does have, Chaol's journey to heal his spine, the royal family and the Torre and its history, the developing relationships between Chaol and Irene and Nesryn and Sartaq, are all so well written that they kept the pages turning as well as any fast-paced action scene. The drama that did unfold with the mystery of the Vog hiding within the palace and the spiders kept me on the edge of my seat wondering who was going to make it out alive to continue the journey to war. I also loved the ending where we were given a brief glimpse into what was happening to our other beloved characters who were not the focus of this story. It gave me just enough of a peek to make multiple theories about the path of the next book. I certainly hope I am wrong in what I think might be about to occur.

I am only sorry that this amazing story is over and that I now have to wait for the next installment which is at least six months away. What an incredible ride. :)

Review: The Dark Days Club/The Dark Days Pact

I just love starting a new book knowing it will be good, finding out that it is actually fantastic and immediately grabbing the next book in the series, forgetting completely about the very large TBR list of books waiting to be read. This doesn't happen often but it feels so good when it does. The Dark Days Club is definitely going into my top ten for the year along with its sequel, The Dark Days Pact. My only regret is that I now have to wait for the third book since it is not yet published. So sad...

Synopsis from Goodreads:

London, April 1812. On the eve of eighteen-year-old Lady Helen Wrexhall’s presentation to the queen, one of her family’s housemaids disappears-and Helen is drawn into the shadows of Regency London. There, she meets Lord Carlston, one of the few who can stop the perpetrators: a cabal of demons infiltrating every level of society. Dare she ask for his help, when his reputation is almost as black as his lingering eyes? And will her intelligence and headstrong curiosity wind up leading them into a death trap?

I couldn't ask for more in this story. It has the 1800s British setting that I adore plus magic, mayhem, romance (just a bit), and of course, the battle of good against evil. The plot is original and creative and the characters are so well written and intriguing that I really care what happens to them in the story. The historical aspect of the story has me looking up little tidbits of information online to find out more. I never knew there was a such thing as horse drawn bathing carts for the ocean!

This was a wonderful read and I can't wait for the next book to come out to find out what happens next!