It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (July 24, 2017) ~ CookingFood.Org

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

I will be combining my YA and adult reading and purchases on this one weekly roundup. YA and middle grade reviews will still be posted on Ms. Martin Teaches Media - my other blog.

Other Than Reading...

This week was still filled with details about selling houses. We have accepted an offer on the Locust Street house and are now waiting for the assessor and the home inspection. The tentative closing date is August 28.

I have had an offer for my townhouse and we are in the counter offer stage. I made one counter offer, they countered back verbally, and I countered again verbally. I hope to get that settled this coming week once the buyer's realtor gets back from a wedding. My realtor and I had a lot of conversations and emails flew because she was supposed to send me the offer so that I could sign it electronically. However, it didn't arrive and didn't arrive. She finally figured out that they had left one letter out of my email address. Once that was solved, I quickly signed and got it back to her.

I still have to make a trip back to my townhouse because I forgot to pack the boxes in one closet. All my DVDs and some other assorted stuff from my living room are in those boxes. Tentatively my brother and I will make a long one day trip down and back sometime the first week of August. Eight hours of driving is more than I want to drive in one day. It's doable with two of us taking turns driving.

Otherwise, things have been quiet. We have had a few hot days which were capped off by severe thunderstorms on Friday night. Luckily, we didn't have any damage. Coincidentally, these storms happened on the one year anniversary of another set of severe storms. That one took down a tree or two in our yard and ripped enough shingles off the roof that we had to get the roof replaced. The new owner of Locust Street will have one-year old shingles while our new house is sitting with the original 1999 shingles. Would it be tempting fate to ask for hail on the new house's roof?

Read Last Week

Due Diligence by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller is a new novella set in the Liaden Universe. This one tells the story of Daav yos'Phelium's biological father and how he happened to find himself under Korval's eye. I won't be reviewing this one on my blog but you can see my reviews at Amazon, GoodReads, and LibraryThing.

Come Sundown by Nora Roberts was an engaging story but not, I think, one of Roberts's best. My review will be posted here on August 12.

White Hot by Ilona Andrews has been sitting on my Kindle since May. I loved it and can't wait until Tuesday for the third book set in this world. My review will be posted here on August 19.

Heart of the Storm by Michael Buckley is the 3rd book in the Undertow YA trilogy. This science fiction dystopia was action-packed and had great characters. My review will be posted on Ms. Martin Teaches Media August 11.

Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger had been on my Kindle and my radar for a while. It was written in 1998. It is the first of 16 books starring Cork O'Connor and is a mystery set in northern Minnesota. With all those things going for it, I should have started this series years ago. My review will be posted on August 17.

The Pearl Wars (Skyship Academy) by Nick James had been lingering on TBR mountain since 2011. When I was browsing my YA TBR mountain, it caught my eye. This is also a science fiction dystopia told from two points of view. I enjoyed one character much more than the other but intend to carry on reading what is now a series someday. My review will be posted on Ms. Martin Teaches Media August 23.

Hungry for a YA mystery, I discovered the Enola Homes books by Nancy Springer on my TBR mountain. I had read the first one years ago and greatly enjoyed the second and the third this week. I mean, Sherlock Holmes's fourteen-year-old sister solves mysteries in Victorian England! I'll be reviewing these on Ms. Martin Teaches Media.

The Case of the Left-Handed Lady by Nancy Springer (August 16)
The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets by Nancy Springer (August 18)

Currently

Snowspelled by Stephanie Burgis is my current book. It is an adult fantasy. Think Jane Austen with magic. The author offered it to me and, since I've never not loved her books, I didn't hesitate to say yes.

Next Week

It's back to review books for my adult side. Publication dates are in parentheses.