Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Still a couple of hours to go in my little corner of the world. But in some places it's been 2010 for a while now.

I wish everyone the best for the coming year and hope it will include lots of reading and good books.

Reading Challenges for 2010

So after failing at the TBR challenge in 2009. In 2010 I'm going to take part in the DIK reading challenge. Details on DIK here. Basically you have the choice of the 188 books on the DIK island. There is an incredibly wide range from the classics, to romance, to sci-fi, so should definitely be something there to interest me every month.

Also as Nicole suggested I'm going to try and read 52 books in 52 weeks. Which should make a little dent (at least) in my TBR pile.

Edited to Add - I've also joined the m/m reading challenge for 2010. Aiming to read 20+ stories. (If anyone knows how to make the button in my sidebar completely viewable please let me know. I suck at the tech stuff.)

Book of the Year, Breakout Author, Series of the Year

It's only when I came to look back through the books I'd read that I was able to pick out my top choice. And an author I am definitely looking forward to following in the future. My favourite book of 2009 and break out author - Zero at the Bone by Jane Seville. She brought two distinctly different characters to life in Jack and D, and I hope to read more of their adventures soon.

In December I started to read manga for the first time. And my series of the year and books I haven't been able to put down since I got them are the Loveless volumes by Yun Kouga. Look for my reviews of the remaining volumes in 2010.

All that remains to say is Happy Christmas. May Santa bring you lots of books. :)

Favourite Books of 2009

When I look back on my reading of 2009 I realise a couple of things. 1) Most of my favourite books have been m/m. 2) I think this may be the year that I became disenchanted with the UF genre. Something I didn't think I'd ever say. Maybe I've overglommed and just need a break. (At the moment I feel very drawn to steampunk)

So Favourite books of the year:-

M/M

Fatal Shadows by Josh Lanyon
A Dangerous Thing by Josh Lanyon
Hero by Perry Moore
Zero at the Bone by Jane Seville
Mind Fuck by Manna Francis
Hemovore by Jordan Castillo Price


Of Urban Fantasy I have most enjoyed:-
Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews
In the Blood by Adrian Phoenix
Stay the Night by Lynn Viehl


Crime/Thriller
Made to be Broken by Kelley Armstrong - And if I could have one reading wish it would be that there is going to be another Nadia Stafford book

Comfort Read of 2009
I have just noticed that I never wrote a review of this book - how remiss of me - but my comfort read of 2009 is The Shadow Queen by Anne Bishop. I wish we could have left the older characters behind to concentrate on the new, but it's a book I love to dip into. It's the one that I keep next to my computer so when I'm waiting for things to load or the internet to come back up, I fetch it off the shelf and have a little read.

Looking back at 2009 I definitely didn't read as many books as I have in previous years. It been a busy year what with one thing and another. Hopefully 2010 will have better things (and more reading) in store.

So, were there any breakout authors for me this year? Tune in tomorrow to find out.

Make a Snowflake

I was just going through my e-mail deleting stuff and I found this link from a couple of years ago.Make a Snowflake.

Be warned it's quite addictive.

Hemovore by Jordan Castillo Price

This is a story I probably wouldn't have picked up if it hadn't been chosen as a pick for the m/m book group. And I am so glad it was chosen otherwise I would have missed out on a real treat.

Blurb.

Ten years ago, the Human Hemovore Virus blazed through the world, and left the few victims who survived unable to eat, allergic to sunlight and craving the taste of blood.

Mark Jensen used to think V-positives were incredibly sexy with their pale, flawless skin and taut, lean bodies. Not anymore. Not since he’s been stuck procuring under-the-counter feline blood for his control-freak boss, Jonathan Varga. Why cat blood? Mark has never dared to ask.

It’s not as if he’s usually at a loss for words. He can dish an insult and follow it with a snap as quick as you can say “Miss Thang”. But one look at Jonathan’s black-as-sin gypsy eyes, and Mark’s objections drain away.

So he endures their strange, endless routine: Jonathan hiding in his studio, painting solid black canvases. Mark hurling insults as he buffs the office to a shine with antiviral wipes and maps out the mysterious “routes” he’s required to drive.

Then a blurb in Art in America unleashes a chain of events neither of them saw coming. As secrets of Jonathan’s past come to light, it becomes clear all his precautions weren’t nearly enough.

This story is set in an alternate universe where sufferers of the HHV virus (yes I know that's virus virus) who survive the four stages of the disease become technically what we'd call vampires. They live a very long time and have to drink blood (and lots of oil) to survive.

The story is told from Mark's point of view and I loved him. As a character he reminded me somewhat of Adrien English though more solid (I always imagine Adrien as being quite slight physically). He has a very snarky inner voice and a self-deprecating sense of a humour, a combination which I am a complete sucker for.

Damn it. Where had I been while my body was hurtling towards forty?

Possibly my favourite line in the book. :)

Jonathan remains something of an enigma, which for me worked very well. We only know as much as Mark knows, and Jonathan especially for the first part of the book keeps part of himself back from Mark.

I thought the world-building was incredibly well-realized. You got a real sense that HHV was a terrible disease, that only a lucky few were able to 'survive', and once they became vampires they carried the continual possibility of infecting someone else. Someone else who may not be as 'lucky' to turn into a vampire. The day-to-day practicalities of caring for and being a vampire were an integral part of the story - getting blood, being careful not to pass the disease on, staying out of the sunlight. And not in a cheesy vampire movie way, but a mundane 'this is something I'd have to do for the rest of my immortal life way'. Immortality may sound like an attractive option but when your bagged blood supply fills with clots are you still going to think it's romantic?

If I had any quibbles it would be that I wished we'd had a strong sexual scene between Mark and Jonathan, something more than what happens at the end. All the way through I felt like we were building to a climax but that we never quite reached a peak. (Thanks must go here to Diane who pointed me in the direction of.Jordan Castillo Price's website where there is an alternate sexy ending. Please read Hemovore first as the alt-ending has spoilers).

I am so glad I picked this story up. And I will definitely be checking out Jordan Castillo Price's backlist. I hope at some point in the future there might be another visit to the Hemovore universe.

Present Tense Problems

I was over at the Rain on the Roof blog checking out Sarah's latest m/m recommendations and was intrigued by The Strongest Shape, so decided to go check out the excerpt. (Something I always try to do when it's a new author to me unless I've agreed to read a book for the bookclub).

The excerpt begins

Caleb doesn't actually remember how he ended up coming home with Jason. He remembers going to Jason's concert alone after Damian broke up with him.

I continue reading, I don't know what the problem is, but for some reason it's the reading equivalent of trying to swim through treacle. Then I realize - this is written in the present tense.

I don't know why but I struggle to read present tense. I find it hard going.

Maybe, it's because growing up all the stories you hear as a child are past tense - "Once upon a time there was a..." Maybe it's the difficulty of getting your brain to assimilate a story that is happening THIS INSTANT.

I've found I can take it in very small doses where it's used mainly for effect, for example in the prologue of Bitten by Kelley Armstrong. For me as far as present tense is concerned it's a question of less is more.