The Abyss Beyond Dreams by Peter F. Hamilton (Release date is October 21st)

I'm not a huge Sci-Fi fan, I'm more of a fantasy and historical fiction person but I was intrigued by the synopsis and decided to give it a try. At first I was bored by the Sci-Fi techno-terminology in the beginning but I felt a good book lied just around the bend so I kept at it. I'm glad I did. It was a creepy, keep-you-up at night roller coaster.
  In the far-reaching future we will live for hundreds of years thanks to all kinds of enhancements we can receive. Our bodies can stay permanently at whatever age we choose, we can block pain when injured, etc. Unfortunately, its a little trickier keeping ourselves from being eggsumed.
 This novel is like The Walking Dead meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets Star Trek. The void is a place where spaceships are lost and people do not return but a planet exists within it that holds a secret. It can sustain human life AND it can take it. The people who become stranded there can build a society but they must first defend themselves from the being that wish to destroy them.
  There are strange eggs on the planet. Eggs that lure you in and then consume you only to spit you out later as a flesh-eating, human-looking, monster. The military patrols must search out and destroy each new egg that is dropped from the mysteries "trees" that produce them before the others discover and save them. Their only goal is to destroy all of the humans and reach fulfillment once again and please the Skylords. Where did these being come from and can they be completely eradicated before its too late?
 I'll be looking for more from Peter Hamilton in the future.

Private Down Under by James Patterson

I love a thriller that keeps me guessing and Private Down Under is just such a novel! When Private is celebrating their opening in Sydney a young man wanders into the proceedings and promptly dies. He's been tortured and it looks like the Triads are responsible but why? Also a string of grisly tortures is taking place of young, wealthy women. What's the motive? Is a serial killer one the loose?
I love the character of Darlene, she kind of reminds me of Abby on NCIS. The man with the plan, Craig is a complex and engaging character that always gets his man, if I may be so cliche, but will he solve the link between the victims in time to save another woman's life or will his meddling cousin, a police officer with a vendetta against him, ruin his chances?

The Reluctant Queen by Geraldine Evans

I really enjoyed this book. I think the writing style could use a little polish but that's just nit-picking really. This was an exciting telling of Mary Tudor and her struggle to just have a happy life away from courtly intrigued. First she is shipped off to France to marry the elderly King Louis who is kind to her but soon dies. She has to fend off the unwanted attention of his step-son because she loves another. When she gets wind that her brother, King Henry, might be plotting another royal match she convinces her love to marry her. Eventually she wins Henry's forgiveness for defying him but her life is far from peaceful. She just wants to have a family and be happy without court politics but her husband and her brother seem determined to drag her into it.
Mary is a remarkably resilient and free-spirited character who loves her family madly but keeps her principals even in the face of her brothers infidelities and betrayals, her husbands ambitions and her willful daughter. One of the best Mary Tudor books that I have read.

Snuggle giveaway

You can win a snuggle bear and a coupon for a free product. Who doesn't love Snuggle?

http://h3.sml360.com/-/3ag

List of best selling books of 2014 so far.

Got this from Book Riot's Facebook page.


bestselling books of 2014 thus far. Today in Critical Linking: http://bookriot.com/2014/07/08/critical-linking-july-8th-2014/



Personally I like the Divergent trilogy and just because a novel is YA doesn't mean that it doesn't deserve accolades. A well written book is a well written book regardless of genre.

Chance to win an ebook bundle.

Got this from Brandon Sanderson's Facebook page. Find this post on his Facebook page in the next 24 hours and share it for your chance to win.

Share this photo in the next 24 hours for a chance to win this ebook bundle! Contest details below.

The Cosmic SciFi Bundle at http://StoryBundle.com/SciFi is available only until Wednesday night. It includes works by Anne McCaffrey and Jody Lynn Nye, Frank Herbert, Jay Lake and Ken Scholes, Michael A. Stackpole, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Mike Resnick, Kevin J. Anderson and Doug Beason, and Peter J. Wacks, along with me, Brandon Sanderson. This is a great lineup, and in the tra...

Continue Reading

LikeLike ·  · Share

The Boleyn Reckoning by Laura Anderson

If you are a fan of Philippa Gregory you will love The Boleyn Reckoning by Laura Anderson. Anderson takes a fascinating look at the lives of young Elizabeth, her brother King William and their friends Minuette and Dominic. It is a story of love, betrayal, honor, treason and redemption.
Minuette is an endearing character who is torn between the man she loves, Dominic, and their dear friend since childhood King William.. Unknown to the rest of the kingdom in the fact that Dominic and Minuette have secretly wed and their plans to tell William are curtailed when he falls deathly ill.Upon his recovery he has sworn his undying love for Minuette even though he must defy the French by calling off a previous betrothal. \
When their secret is revealed they must flee for their lives with help of their friends such as young Elizabeth who is patiently awaiting her turn at the thrown. The country is in an upheaval over the impending invasion of France and possibly Spain and yet William is consumed by the betrayal of his friends.
Can everyone finally make peace? Can William redeem himself from the monster he has become?
This is an excellent book that I finished at precisely midnight on the second day.