Colleen Simpson
The Genesis Plague by Michael Byrnes.
Reminiscent of Matthew Reilly's novels, this fast-paced action adventure combines elements of international conspiracy, ancient history, espionage, and a touch of romance for a very satisfying read. Set both in Afghanistan and the U.S., it romps through events that occur after an unusual weapons cache is accidentally discovered in the war zone, and has an underlying theme comparing fanaticism from both sides of the trench. Its pace doesn't slow, and I'll be looking for more of Mr. Byrnes's work, starting with The Sacred Bones, which was excerpted at the end of the book.
Maggie Mundy
The Duke and I by Julia Quinn.
As Julia is coming to the conference this year I thought I would read one of her books and this was recommended by people who adore her work. I will start this by saying I don’t normally read this type of book and a close friend thought it was great so there you go. The sort of regency I like to read is Austin. Love the language and detail. I found the story light and the characters quite clichéd and I didn’t believe the motivation for their actions was strong enough. Also I felt uncomfortable with a scene where the heroine gets the hero drunk so he will have sex with her so she can conceive. Non consensual sex is rape and this didn’t sit well with me and did not endear the character to me. I also felt his reasons for not wanting a child to be too shallow for me. I was given a more recent book of hers and will be interested to see if her writing has changed. I think it just wasn’t my cup of tea as she is extremely popular.
The Unseen by Alexandra Solokoff
Again this is another author who has presented at the RWA conference. This book is a supernatural thriller about university professors who are studying the phenomena of poltergeists. I am about two thirds of the way through and it is good but slow. The characters are believable and the plot is strong, it is just the pacing needs to pick up a bit. Sometimes the descriptions of the countryside take over and you get drawn out of the plot but I can see she is trying to create an atmosphere but it gets too much at times.
Kylie Scott
Hyde, an urban fantasy by Lauren Stewart
It's a really fun and clever re-telling of the classic Dr Jekyll, Mr Hyde story featuring one hot surly alpha male and a young woman also trying to deal with the curse, or whatever the heck it is making them turn. The world building is great and the writing lovely. Thoroughly recommend it.
Oh, some more goodies. Thanks for sharing ladies.
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