Reading roundup – July 22nd 2016
Reading Roundup / July 22, 2016

As you will see from my picture, I got my hands on a copy of Blood for Blood by Ryan Graudin!  This is the sequel to Wolf by Wolf which I adored.  You can read my review.  Those of you who follow my blog will know that I missed out on this one at BEA in Chicago, and that it was one of my most anticipated reads for 2016.  Hachette Canada was kind enough to send me an Advanced Reader Copy.  Thank you soooooo much.  Expect me to share my thoughts on it over the next week or two.  Blood for Blood will be released on November 1st 2016. More exciting news, this time from the world of audiobooks.  Brent Weeks announced this week that Simon Vance has recorded The Black Prism, the first book in Weeks’ Lightbringer series.  It was originally recorded by Cristofer Jean, and Vance took over narration duties from book two, The Blinding Knife.  Now, no disrespect to Mr. Jean, but this is Simon Vance we’re talking about.  Winner of multiple Audies and other awards and a damn good narrator.  I personally credit Brent Weeks and Simon Vance for my love of audiobooks.  When listening to…

Reading Roundup – February 6th 2015
Reading Roundup / February 5, 2015

Hello and welcome to this week’s reading roundup. In actual fact I don’t have a great deal to talk about this week.  I’ve been reading/listening to Samantha Shannon’s The Mime Order, the sequel to her Bone Season.  I very much enjoyed it and a full review will be coming soon.  I just finished it, and have not yet decided what book to pick up next.  I am rather tempted to listen to Sanderson’s Mistborn This week I found out that at work I’m almost certainly moving back to nightshifts in a month’s time, which really, really sucks.  I’m trying to remain positive, to think of all the audiobooks I will listen to during those shifts.   Added to my library this week I only added the one book to my Kindle library this week and it was a free book: Until Midnight by Melissa Landers.  This is a novella in her Alienated series which is about a girl who falls in love with an alien.  I read the first book and found it a lot of fun so I was happy to pick up this free snippet.  As it’s set after the events of Alienated, it’s probably not the best place…

Firefight by Brandon Sanderson – Review
Audiobook reviews , Book Reviews / January 28, 2015

Firefight by Brandon Sanderson is the second in his YA contemporary fantasy trilogy Reckoners about ordinary humans turned megalomanic villains when they received superpowers.  It continues the story – begun in Steelheart – of David and the Reckoners who aim to bring down the despotic Epics.  If you enjoyed Steelheart, you’ll likely have fun with Firefight – it’s more of the same.  It continues on the theme of power corrupting and strength of spirit perhaps overcoming this. What I liked Expanded world and character set.  In this instalment David and the Reckoners leave Newcago, the location of the first book, to go take on a new Epic, Regalia, in Babylar, in other words, New York.  It’s always fun when an author takes you new places, and Sanderson’s world building is excellent.  His take on New York is unique and adds to the whole scope of the novel.  As well as new locations we also meet new characters.  They are a lot of fun and and are reasonably fleshed out. New layers in the whole origin of the Epics plot.  In this book, David learns more about the cause of the Epics’ superpowers and their weaknesses.  I imagine we’ll learn even…

Reading roundup – January 16th 2015
Reading Roundup / January 16, 2015

Good morning, welcome to another reading roundup.  The biggest item of note this week is that I am now Bluetoothed up to my hearing aids so I can listen to my audiobooks directly throughly hearing aids.  Yay!! It’s lovely to have the audio directly in my ears without having to wear headphones which are painful with my hearing aid.  I tested it with Firefight, the Brandon Sanderson novel I had been enjoying – it works really well and I can enjoy my audiobooks again.  On the TBR list for this week is Jim Butcher’s Death Masks – the fourth in his Dresden Files series narrated by James Marsters.  Good stuff. In a previous entry I have mentioned the web series Green Gables Fables, a modern retelling in transmedia format of the classic Anne of Green Gables series.  Those of you familiar with the source material will know there is a truly heart wrenching moment towards the end of the first book.  The series reached that point this week, and I have to say I found the last video a real tearjerker to watch.  I’ve not been so emotionally engaged in a web series since Lydiagate broke in The Lizzie Bennet…

Half Bad by Sally Green – Review
Audiobook reviews , Book Reviews / June 18, 2014

Half Bad by Sally Green tells the story of Nathan who is the son of a white witch mother and a black witch father.  In Nathan’s world, black witches are hated and feared and Nathan’s parentage makes him a pariah, someone to be caged and studied.  To make matters worse, Nathan’s 17th birthday is approaching by which time he must receive three gifts and the blood of a family member – or die. The story starts off with Nathan in a cage and trying to escape before flashing back to recount his earlier life.  The story is told primarily in the first person present, almost stream-of-consciousness – with some diversions off to the second person when Nathan is trying to distance himself from what is going on, such as during torture.  The narrative style is deliberately simplistic to reflect Nathan’s lack of book learning. What I liked The narration.  I LOVED the audio narration of Half Bad, which was done by Carl Prekopp.  Written as it is in the first person present, the narrator IS Nathan, and it’s as if the protagonist himself is speaking.  This is emphasised by the simple, informal language. My heart rate did shoot up during…

Separating audiobook reviews from ebook reviews
Miscellaneous / May 17, 2014

As my regular readers may have noticed, I review books in both ebook and audiobook format.  I thought it might be interesting to split these off for those of you who have a preferred format. eBook reviews can be found here.  Audiobooks reviews are here.  The full review listing is available on the homepage. Enjoy.

Reading Roundup and Giveaway Winner!
Book Reviews , eBook reviews / February 7, 2014

First of all, my apologies for the hiatus in posting this week.  I’ve been suffering a miserable cold and eye infection so I’ve not really been feeling much like blogging.  On the other hand, audiobooks meant I was still able to enjoy my reading without hurting my eyes.  I was able to get through both The School for Good and Evil, a good vs evil fairytale by Soman Chainani and Cress, book three in the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer.  Both of these are excellent books narrated by fantastic narrators and I will do full reviews once I get rid of this cold. Added to my library this week I had been hearing good things about The Maze Runner by James Dashner, but it was not one that grabbed me so much that I wanted to buy it.  I waited patiently to come to the head of my library’s ebook queue and downloaded it to my Kobo today.   Cress, in both Kindle and Audible formats.  This is the week of release of the third book in the Lunar Chronicles and as I adored the earlier books in the series I had this on preorder.  I listened to it straight through and…

Reading Roundup and Audiobook Giveaway!
Giveaways , Reading Roundup / January 24, 2014

First of all in honour of the new site name, Scottish eReader, and also in honour of my current obsession with Vampire Academy, I have decided to host a giveaway of the first three books in Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series.  They are:  Vampire Academy.  In which we first meet dhampir bodyguard-in-training Rose Hathaway and her best friend, good vampire Lissa Dragomir.  This is narrated by Stephanie Wolf. Go ahead and read my review of Vampire Academy.  Check out a sample.  Frostbite.  This is the second book in the series and Rose’s relationship with Dimitri deepens as does her and Lissa’s knowledge of spirit magic.  This is narrated by one of my favourite narrators, Khristine Hvam.  Check out my thoughts on the book.  Check out a sample.  Shadow Kiss.  Things start to get more serious between Rose and Dimitri and St Vladimir’s faces an unexpected threat and tragedy is ahead.  This is also narrated by Khristine Hvam.  Review coming soon.  Check out a sample. The prize will be gift codes to pick up the first three books from Audible.com.  In order to enter the giveaway, please check out the books on Audible.com, OR share the giveaway on your favourite social…

Reading Roundup – 20th December 2014
Reading Roundup / December 20, 2013

As I may have mentioned before, my job requires me to work regular nightshifts.  Now, it’s a very reactive job, so some of the time you are waiting around for something to go wrong.  That is the point at which I rely on my audiobooks to get me through the nights.  I need to keep my eye on the computer screen at all times to watch for alerts, so I can’t really focus on a Kindle or other reading matter.  However, in those circumstances, audiobooks are a real lifesaver.  I can keep my eye on the screen while still enjoying my story.  Having my mind on the book also helps me stay awake.  As well as nightshifts, I also enjoy listening to a few chapters of a book before going to bed.   With Whispersync for Voice it’s even awesomer.  During my breaks I can pick up the Kindle book for a bit of variety and it keeps my place.  I’m certain I wouldn’t get through as many books as I do if it weren’t for these nightshifts.  From January I’m moving to regular dayshifts so I fear my book consumption may drop, unfortunately.  One production I listened to during…