Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance

January

A Hard Day’s Knight (Nightside) by Simon R. Green (Ace Books)
Kitty goes to War (Kitty Norville) by Carrie Vaughn (Gollancz)

March

River Marked (Mercy Thompson) by Patricia Briggs (Orbit)
Invincible (Chronicles of Nick 2) by Sherrilyn Kenyon (ATOM)
Lover Unleashed (Black Dagger Brotherhood) by J. R. Ward (Piatkus Books)

April

Ghost Story (Dresden Files 13) by Jim Butcher (Orbit)
Side Jobs: Stories from the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (Orbit)
Born of Shadows (League 4) by Sherrilyn Kenyon (Piatkus Books)

June

Hunt the Moon (Cassie Palmer) by Karen Chance (Signet Books)
Deadline (Newsflesh Trilogy) by Mira Grant (Orbit)

July

Kitty’s Big Trouble (Kitty Norville) by Carrie Vaughn (Gollancz)

August

Pale Demon by (The Hollows) Kim Harrison (Harper Voyager)
Retribution (Dark-Hunter) by Sherrilyn Kenyon (Piatkus Books)
Downpour (Greywalker) by Kat Richardson (Piatkus Books)

October

Envy (Fallen Angels) by J. R. Ward (Piatkus Books)

Fantasy

March

Land of Painted Caves (Earth’s Children Book 6) by Jean M. Auel (Hodder & Stoughton)
Twilight’s Dawn (Black Jewels) by Anne Bishop (Roc)

April

Shadow Chaser (Chronicles of Siala) by Alexey Pehov (Simon & Schuster)

Chick Lit

February

To the Moon and Back by Jill Mansell (Headline)

March

Summer of Love by Katie Fforde (Century)
Kiss and Tell by Fiona Walker (Sphere)

May

Any Man of Mine by Rachel Gibson (Corgi)

Crime

January

You Belong to Me by Karen Rose (Headline)

May

Virals by Kathy Reichs (Arrow (Young))

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It’s always a pleasure starting a new book about Temperence Brennan.  The only downside is, once you start, you can’t put it down until you’ve finished.  Mortal Remains is the latest installment in the series and it’s very good.  I always admire the character’s tenacity, intelligence and compassion along with her professionalism and need to find answers, especially for those who can no longer answer for themselves.

The pace of the story was spot on, tense and emotional and my only complaint would be the number of acronyms it contained but I do have to say they were always well explained, especially for people like me, who aren’t American or familiar with the agencies involved.

I can only imagine how much of Kathy Reich’s own history as a forensic anthropologist finds its way into her books but it must be considerable as the procedures and methods are explained in clear, rich detail.

It was good to see some familiar ‘faces’ from previous books and of course, how could the book be complete without Andrew Ryan.  His attempts at trying to reconnect with Tempe did make me laugh and I do feel a bit sorry for him but he did bring it on himself.  He really is going to have to try harder, our dear Tempe isn’t a pushover!

Having Tempe’s daughter along for the Hawaii trip was good even though she was grieving, she is a character I like a lot and enjoyed seeing more of her.  Adding Andrew’s daughter to the mix did get a little irritating at times but I guess was necessary for how some of the story played out.  I did want to smack her at times though!

A great read, full of the things we have come to know and love from Kathy Reichs.

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

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I’ve enjoyed Kathy Reichs’ work for a long time, even before the Bones TV series started (which I also love).  I like that while the character of Temperance Brennan is present and she is also a leading forensic anthropologist, that’s where the similarity ends.  You can enjoy them both as separate entities with no confusion as to why Tempe would do something in the series, yet behave completely differently in the books.  They are entirely separate.

206 Bones draws you straight in with Temperance in a situation that is quite shocking.  Then it returns to normal day to day life and you assume it was either in the past or yet to come.  As the plot progresses, you get more glimpses of that situation and as they start getting closer to the current timeline, it has you on the edge of your seat, waiting to see what the next glimpse will be.  It was cleverly written and keeps you reading (and for me way up past my bedtime as I couldn’t put it down).

The character of Temperance is always well written and you get a good sense of who she is as a woman and a forensic anthropologist.  The technical information is always impeccable and you can only put that down to Kathy Reichs’ own career and knowledge giving her the ability to explain the jargon and procedures in easily understood terms.  The one thing I do find difficult and it’s not really a bad thing but the amount of French/Quebecois throws me a little but I can’t actually see any way round that since it is set in Quebec a large amount of time.  She does take time to translate as part of the story which helps, but it still jerks me out of the story sometimes.  Since that is my only mild complaint, I think 206 Bones is a great addition to the series and was a really good read.

One thing to note and something I liked, is that you could pick this up as your first Kathy Reichs book and still be entertained, as the little snippets of the major characters histories that are in the story are also explained easily and without having to resort to long recaps.

Rating: ★★★★★ 

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Reviews in process :

Red-Headed Stepchild – Jaye Wells
Midnight Alley (Morganville Vampires book 3) – Rachel Caine

Waiting to be read and reviewed :

A Princess of Landover – Terry Brooks
Heat Stroke (Weather Warden book 2) – Rachel Caine
Feast of Fools (Morganville Vampires book 4) – Rachel Caine
Dark Curse (Carpathian) – Christine Feehan
Blood Noir (Anita Blake 15) – Laurell K. Hamilton
Born of Night (The League book 1) – Sherrilyn Kenyon
206 Bones – Kathy Reichs
Covet – J.R. Ward

And now to lose myself in fantastical worlds, more soon

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