Trip and a Challenge and the Paranormal!

I know I’ve missed a day, but it was good day spent relaxing, eating, and watching some Doctor Who.  That said, I’ve gotten quite a bit of reading done already.  While stuck in various airports (only two but it felt like much more) I read one and a half of the books on my list. Four hour layovers at O’Hare give you a lot of time to do nothing.  I decided to start with some fun holiday paranormal. Holidays are Hell contained four short paranormal themed, holiday centered stories.  I’ve not read anything by any of the authors included, so it was a nice change of pace.  Out of the four stories, I really like two of them, one not so much, and just couldn’t get into the fourth.

• “Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel” by Kim Harrison  included vampires, magic, and a ghost.  I loved this story and have put Harrison on my must read list.
• “Run, Run, Rudolph” by Lynsay Sands focused on a scientifically caused shape-shifter.  An entertaining fast paced adventure.  Another author to add to my list.
• “Six” by Marjorie M. Liu had a necromancer, a government agent, and vampires.  I enjoyed it but just couldn’t connect to the characters as much as the previous two stories.
• “The Harvest” by Vicki Pettersson involved Zodiac warriors and a fight against the Shadow.  I just couldn’t get into the story at all.  Interesting premise, but the writing was confusing with references to other characters not introduced and a pretty long back story.  I wonder if her other books are of the world.  Maybe if I read her other pieces first, I would have been able to connect to this one.

Oh well, three out of four isn’t bad.  I did like how the stories were short enough that my interruptions of changing planes and gates didn’t really distract me from the plots.  After fishing Holidays are Hell I moved on to the anthology of zombie stories.  I’m really into this one.  I’ll write a mini review when I’m done with it.

Here’s the updated list of book:

• Bespelling Jane — Mary Balogh, Colleen Cleason, Susan Krinard, and Janet Mullany
• Holidays are Hell —Kim Harrison, Lynsay Sands, Marjorie M. Liu, and Vicki Petersson
• The New Dead — edited by Christopher Golden (120 pages read out of 378)
• This Christmas —Jennifer Coburn and Liz Ireland
• Dashing Through the Mall — Sherryl Woods, Darlene Gardner, and Holly Jacobs
• The Geeks’ Guide to World Domination — Garth Sundem
• The Lightkeeper’s Daughter — Colleen Coble
• Rogue Angel: Destiny — Alex Archer
• ArchEnemy — Frank Beddor