The Printed Page

** Non-series books only. Anything series related and that was the majority of my reading in February can be found at A Serial Reader.

Two months of 2011 have come and gone. It’s amazing to me how time seems to fly the older one gets yet it moves no differently than it ever has. I know as an adult I measure the passing of time differently than I did as a child. As a child I measured time passing by birthdays, school holidays and summer break. Now I view time passing by the ages of my nephews and coworkers children, daily as I rip another page off the cat naps calendar, our annual winter vacation and each monthly wrap up post I write here and at A Serial Reader. It seems like yesterday that I was writing the January posts and creating a companion blog. Now the end of February finds me pressing play and repeat again.

I read 14 books this month and DNF’d three. I think the monster cold I caught at the beginning of month has something to do with at least one of those DNFs. Of those 14 only 2 weren’t series books. A Serial Reader’s February books and write up posts.

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1. To Serve A King by Donna Russo Morin. DNF’d @ pg 60.
2. The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton. By far the most interesting book I’ve read this year. I had no idea that it would be a love story, of sorts. Traumatized, mute boy becomes a safe cracking (box man, lock artist) teenager leading a life of crime to save the girl he’s in love with. And his life of crime is facilitated by his girlfriend’s father when the young man is fulfilling his community service sentence for breaking into future girlfriend’s father’s house as part of a prank. Michael’s is a crazy world tilted sideways on its axis. Though the ending wasn’t as satisfying as I’d hoped for I enjoyed this first foray into Mr. Hamilton’s writing. I’m looking forward to reading his back list which you’ll find me writing about over at A Serial Reader because it is a series starring lead character former Detroit police officer Alex McKnight.

** Non-series books only. Anything series related and that was the majority of my reading in February can be found at A Serial Reader.

• Total books read: 13 (1 non-series / 12 series)
• Total pages read: 4,308
• Number of non-series books: 2 (1 eBook / 1 print edition)
• Number of non-series pages read: 575
• DNFs: 1

1. The Lock Artist

DNF – To Serve a King by Donna Russo Morin

My Library Loot this month isn’t much as I spent most of my time reading books that have accumulated on my Kindle. I foresee better library months coming as my wish lists are overflowing with lots of great titles.

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Marg and Claire that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

• Final Warning (Maximum Ride, #4) by James Patterson
• You Slay Me (Aisling Grey, Guardian, #1) by Katie MacAlister
• Shadowland (The Mediator, #1) by Meg Cabot

I’m thrilled to welcome author Sofie Kelly (love the website) to Prequels & Sequels at A Serial Reader. Ms. Kelly’s current release is Curiosity Thrilled the Cat. Her 1st entry in the Magical Cats mystery series. Prequels & Sequels features books past and present that have impacted an author’s life from childhood through today.

Loved it! Complete review can be found at A Serial Reader (my series books blog)

I’m thrilled to welcome author Steve Hockensmith to the very first edition of Prequels & Sequels at A Serial Reader. Mr. Hockensmith’s current release is World’s Greatest Sleuth! His 5th entry in the Holmes on the Range mystery series. Prequels & Sequels features books past and present that have impacted an author’s life from childhood through today.

Loved it! Complete review posted at A Serial Reader (my series books blog)

Loved it! Complete review posted at A Serial Reader (my series books blog)

From her earliest days, Genevieve Gravois has known one fact above all: Francis I, king of France, is her enemy. Raised by her embittered aunt after her parents’ deaths, Genevieve has been schooled in things no woman should know: how to decipher codes, how to use a dagger and a bow, and how to kill. For Henry VIII has a destiny in mind for the young girl–as his most powerful and dangerous spy. When the time is ripe, Genevieve enters the magnificent world of the French court. With grace to match her ambition, she becomes maid of honor to Anne de Pisseleau, King Francis’s mistress. Yet neither the court–which teems with artistry and enlightenment as well as intrigue–nor Francis himself are at all what Genevieve expected. And with her mission, her life, and the fate of two kingdoms at stake, she will be forced to make deadly decisions about where her heart and her ultimate loyalties lie

A rollicking, fast-paced historical novel set against the richness and squalor of sixteenth-century Venice and Malta.

Hannah ha-Levi, a midwife in the Jewish ghetto, is known throughout Venice for her skill in midwifery. When a Christian count appears at Hannah’s door imploring her to attend his labouring wife who is near death, Hannah’s compassion is tested. Not only is it illegal for Jews to render medical treatment to Christians, it’s also punishable by torture … and death. But Hannah cannot turn down the money. With such a handsome sum, she can save her own husband, Isaac, who was captured at sea and taken to Malta as a slave of the Knights of St. John. Aided by her “birthing spoons” — rudimentary forceps she invented to help with difficult births — will Hannah be able to save mother and child? And if she can, will she also be able to save herself?

Woven through Hannah’s travails is the story of Isaac’s life as a captive slave in Malta. Fearing that his wife has perished in the plague, he pins his hopes of returning home to Hannah on his talent for writing love letters that melt even the hardest of hearts.