NOT YOUR USUAL SUSPECTS

A group blog featuring an international array of killer mystery, suspense, and romantic suspense writers. With premises and story lines different from your run-of-the-mill whodunits, we tend to write outside the box. We blog several times a week on all topics relating to romantic suspense and mystery, our writing, and our readers. We welcome all comments and often have guest bloggers. All our authors can be contacted separately, too, using their own social media links.

We find our genre delightfully, dangerously, and deliciously exciting - join us here, if you do too!

NOTE: the blog is currently dormant but please enjoy the posts we're keeping online.


Julie Moffet . Cathy Perkins . Jean Harrington . Daryl Anderson . Nico Rosso . Maureen A Miller . Sandy Parks . Lisa Q Mathews . Sharon Calvin . Lynne Connolly . Janis Patterson . Vanessa Keir . Tonya Kappes . Julie Rowe . Joni M Fisher . Leslie Langtry

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

MY SECRET READING STASH by Kathy Ivan


Pssst! I'm going to let you in on a little secret.

Are you ready? It's a big one.

Writers—are also—readers!

Long before we put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, we read. And read. And read. At some point along the way, I'm sure most of us said . . . It can't be that hard, I think I'll write a book. (Or we read a book that didn't end the way we felt it should and decided we could do it better!)

No, this blog post isn't about writing. Today it's all about reading.

I've been trying to do more reading recently. For one thing, it stimulates the creative process. Plus there are just so many doggone good books out there right now; it's like a smorgasbord of reader goodness. Nirvana of the written word. Now some on this list aren't new releases. They were when I got them, but I'm just now getting them read. My to-be-read list is gargantuan and I just keep adding more and more. 

So I thought I'd tell you, my Not Your Usual Suspect blog aficionados what I've been reading recently. I've tried to provide an eclectic blend of all genres, not just mysteries. I have very diverse tastes.

GHOST STORY by JIM BUTCHER. I've had this one on the Kindle for a long time (obviously) and finally got a chance to read it. I've read every single book in the Dresden Files series, including those in the anthologies. The stories center about a wizard in Chicago who helps solve crimes. They are urban fantasy at its best and these stories just keep getting better and better. If you haven't tried reading about Harry Dresden yet, I highly recommend this series.

TEMPT ME IF YOU CAN by JANET CHAPMAN. I love all Janet Chapman's Highlander time travel books so I thought I'd give this one a try. This is a contemporary romance by this well-known author, the second in a trilogy (although I didn’t realize that at the time). The story centers about a man who gets an anonymous letter informing him he has a teenage son he never knew about. He tracks down the woman who raised him and all sorts of complications ensue. Delightful and filled with just the right amount of laughter and tears. I went back and got the first in the series to read, too.

OUT OF THE SHADOWS by Geri Foster. This was an action packed adventure that has it all, thrills, suspense, and a sexy-as-all hero (not to mention the kick-ass heroine). From the beginning you're drawn into the story. I liked book one a lot, but this (book 2) I think was even better. I hated to see it end, and can't wait for book three to come out.

FORGED IN STEEL by Maya Banks. I love the KGI series by this author. They're a group of ex-military brothers who run an elite security agency. They are all action packed thrillers with lots of suspense thrown into the mix. Plus the romance is smokin' hot (by you can't expect anything less than hot, hot, hot from this author).

These are just a few of the books I've been reading recently. So tell me, what have YOU been reading?

NOTE: This blog is not intended as reviews of the above-titled books. I just want to know what you've read recently that you liked. (I'm always on the lookout for new and exciting authors I may not have heard about and I'm sure my fellow blog followers want to know, too.)

6 comments:

Rita said...

I’ve made a huge effort to read outside my genre and new to me authors this summer. I say read but I generally listen to audio books. Ghost Story is one of them. Love Butcher’s style. I realized a couple of days ago I’d downloaded the Rawlings/not Rawlings book in a buying frenzy a few weeks ago. Haven’t gotten to it yet. A Stephen King The Black House. Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy that I could not get into. Maybe again later. John Grisham’s The Racketeer. Call The Midwife by Jennifer Worth. A Case of Redemption and A conflict of Interest by Adam Mitzner. I began a trilogy of an author who shall remain nameless yesterday. It was a housework day and listening to books helps me get through. The books were published by a big house but apparently the first book wasn’t edited. Have mercy the man is in love with the word suddenly and quickly. It would be easier to count the sentences they aren’t in. Continuity is a flipping mess. I bet I’ve skipped 20 chapters. On the bright side the other books have been good.

Anne Marie Becker said...

Oh, I've been wanting to try out that Maya Banks book! Unfortunately, I'm on a tight deadline, but am going to reward myself with a reading day (or two) when I'm done. Something to keep me motivated!! I'm all over the place with genre, but I have Darynda Jones' Third Grave Dead Ahead, Lena Diaz's Simon Says Die, and a few on my Kindle I can't remember right now because I don't want to torture myself until I have time to read. LOL

Elise Warner said...

A friend gave me Honeymoon in Tehran by Azadeh Moaveni. Non-fiction and I find it fascinating.Read Dennis Lehane's Any Given Day and Live by Night. Now want to read all his books.On my TBR The Cuckoo's Calling written by J.K. Rowling under the name of Robert Galbrath--recieved raves.

Kathy Ivan said...

Thanks everybody for the great additions to my reading list. This TBR pile just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Keep 'em coming. I love a good recommendation by a reader. They have the best choices.

Jean Harrington said...

Summer reading list? Well, I'm currently reading a book by one of my all-time favorites,Larry McMurtry, Boone's Lick. My copy says it was pubbed in 2000, so it was released--if not written--after Lonesome Dove and Streets of Laredo. I'm loving it--first person 15 year old boy POV. It's one of those sounds-casual-but isn't novels that takes a lot os skill to pull off.

Shelley Munro said...

Recently I've read Beth Kery's serial Because You Are Mine and Sylvia Day's Reflected in You. I am going through an erotic phaze!

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