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August was a great reading month for me, with nearly every book coming with 3.5 stars or more and – excitingly – including several completely new authors for me!
Also, as a follow-up to my post, “Review : Is Kindle Unlimited Worth It?”, I’m now indicating whether the books I read are in the kindle unlimited program or not. This month 5 of the books I read were in kindleunlimited, totaling $19.95 in purchase price. So, for August 2014, kindleunlimited
would have saved me $10 had I been a subscriber. You can see which books below are or are not part of the program at the time of this post.
Best regards, Jeff
You may also want to look at my July 2014 Sci-fi & Fantasy reading list.
Nice Dragons Finish Last (Heartstrikers #1)
Loved this book and am happy that it is a new series. I had read Rachel's Eli Monpress series and was recently reminded of her when I read through 2k to 10k: Writing Faster, Better, and Writing More of What You Love, so I looked to see what else she had written. Fortuitously, Nice Dragons Finish Last had just published in July.
Basically, this is the story of Julius, a dragon-in-human-form that is completely un-dragon-like. A contemporary setting, so it looks to be a good new Urban Fantasy series.
Poor Man's Fight
Story set in a future space empire where corporations have rigged everything in their favor so that the costs of compulsory education effectively makes everyone a debt slave. Faced with overwhelming debt, Tanner Malone enlists in his home planet's military just as the planet decides to start pushing back on corporations a bit.
Rich Man’s War
In this sequel to Poor Man's Fight, Tanner is right on the front lines of a cold war between his home system of Archangel and the Big Three corporations that have so much influence across the Union of Humanity.
The Thin Blue Line (Empire’s Corps #9)
As I mentioned in my June reading list when I reviewed Lessons in Etiquette, Christopher Nuttall is one of my favorite and prolific authors. I honestly think he has a bunch of elves helping him write because he seems to publish new books so frequently. This book is the 9th in the Empire's Corps series, and continues the story of Belinda Lawton, the main character from book #3 in the series. If you are going to read this book, I recommend going back and starting with book #1.
Study in Slaughter (Schooled in Magic #3)
Case in point – two new Nuttall books in my reading list this month, with the second one taking place in the fantasy world, where a teenage girl from Earth has been pulled by an evil sorcerer. This book continues the story of Emily as she returns to Whitehall School for her Second Year.
Tarah Woodblade (Bowl of Souls #6)
This is the first book of a series within a series called 'The Jarro Grove Saga.' It had been a while since I read the previous books (Eye of the Moonrat series), but it quickly came back to me and I definitely enjoyed this new story. Tarah is a nicely conflicted character who *thinks* she's pretending to be our hero, while really doing heroic stuff to support her 'pretending.'
Protector of the Grove (The Bowl of Souls #7)
Second book of a series within a series called 'The Jarro Grove Saga.' This book splits time between Tarah as she tries to rescue Esmine and our old friends Justan (Sir Edge) & Jhonate, who face troubles of their own when they have to go meet the in-laws, who happen to be fierce warriors who hate Justan for 'stealing' Jhonate from them.
Dreamer’s Curse (Artifactor #2)
This book is a sequel to The Child Prince and is a light hearted fantasy about Sevana, a super powerful Artifactor, who simply wants to be left alone - and is very definitely not "huggable", in her opinion - in spite of the fact that people keep hugging her.
Defender of the Empire (Cadet #1)
Welcome to the Spectral Empire - which is a little different for a space empire. This book just published in April and I can't wait for the next in the series. Our hero is from a under privileged background, but just might turn out to be a princess in disguise - a pretty classic hero plot, but done in an interesting way.
Not a Drill: A Jack Reacher Short Story
Hey, it's Jack Reacher, what more do you need to know? A 44-page novella, fyi, but it's good to visit with Reacher a bit before Personal comes out.
The Shaman’s Curse (Dual Magics #1)
Coming of age (magician) story about a boy with one foot in each of two worlds - the plains and the city. An accident causes him to lose a best friend and gain an implacable enemy, setting him on a path that could set both communities against him. Looking forward to the sequel
Telekinetic (Hyllis family #1)
Relatively short novel (217 pages) about a (post-apocalyptic) frontier family that inherits some small telekinetic powers. Got this because of how much I enjoy the Ell Donsaii series by the same author. I enjoyed this new series as well and look forward to the next one.
Inception (Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles #1)
Because I liked Defender of the Empire above, I looked to see what else the author writes and it turned out she’s been a co-author on a few books with her dad (not this one, but later in the series). Good book, though I didn’t like it quite as much as the first book in the Cadet series.
Super Villain Dad (Cape High #1)
Really a Young Adult novel and only 152 pages, but it was okay. Will probably check out the next in the series whenever I need another change of pace.
You may also want to look at my July 2014 Sci-fi & Fantasy reading list.