It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a meme hosted by Book Journey
Each week we spotlight the books we are reading, planning on reading or just finished reading.

So, I finsihed Bellman & Black and didn't like it... I had so high hopes for this book as I loved The Thirtheenth Tale by the same author. I'm also reading a few pages now and then in Blacklands, but not much as I have been lost in the world of Vikings and Scots :)

I started On a Highland Shore last Tuesday and I've been reading into the late hours each night since. It's so exciting and when I read the last couple of chapters last night, I was kind a sad it was over... Hopefully the next book will be just as good!

On Scotland's western shore, the village of Somerstrath prepares for the joyous wedding celebration of Margaret MacDonald, the laird's daughter. But a dark storm of bloodshed and betrayal is closing in, as a merciless band of Vikings threatens the Highlands.
Margaret is determined to hold the MacDonald clan together and to locate her abducted younger brother. But can she trust the noblemen from King Alexander's court, who insist that only by adhering to a betrothal conceived for political gain will she find safety? Or should she put her trust in an imposing half-Irish, half-Norse warrior?
Gannon MacMagnus alone offers her hope of reuniting her family and vanquishing the barbarous Norsemen who would continue to rob her people of their God-given right to determine their own destinies. In whom should Margaret entrust the fate of the rugged, magnificent land she calls home?

I just gt to read a few pages in Rivals for the Crown last night, but I think this will be as good as the first book.

1290: The Scottish throne is for the taking after a child queen perishes ... and while bitter foes clamor to seize power, England's Edward I has his own designs on the embattled northern nation. Thrown into the maelstrom of politics, bloodshed, and ambition is Rachel Anjou, exiled to the border town of Berwick after Edward expels all Jews from his kingdom; and her beloved friend Isabel de Burke, immersed in a courtly world of privilege and peril as a lady-in-waiting. In Berwick, dangers abound Rachel, but the tall, dark Highlander Kieran MacDonald presents a risk of a different sort ... while Isabel attracts notice of two men --- an English knight and a Highlander outlaw. And as enmity between the lands reaches its violent peak, each woman must decide where her loyalty, and her destiny, lies ...

I love a good historical fiction. And I am reading the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. I'm thinking about reading Voyager (Outlander #3) after I'm finished with Rivales of the Crown.
I also have the Highlander series in my shelf and are eager to start reading that one too :)
But I'd love to hear if you have a book or a series similar to these on you would recommend!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a meme hosted by Book Journey.
Each week we spotlight the books we are reading, planning on reading or just finished reading.

Since last time I've finished Beautiful Creatures and I really liked it. I've also finished a book in a norwegian historical fiction series - Blodspill, #4 in Spinnesteinens løfte. After finishing the two books I'm reading I'm not quite sure what I'll pick up next. But I really want to read some historical fiction :)

I loved Diane Setterfield's first book, The Thirteenth Tale, and hoped this one would be just as good. Well, the beginning of it's was good, but then it got a little weird... I'm almost at the end and I have no idea how it's going to end. Hopefully it will have a good twist to lift the story at the end.

Bellman & Black is a heart-thumpingly perfect ghost story, beautifully and irresistibly written, its ratcheting tension exquisitely calibrated line by line. Its hero is William Bellman, who, as a boy of 11, killed a shiny black rook with a catapult, and who grew up to be someone, his neighbours think, who "could go to the good or the bad." And indeed, although William Bellman's life at first seems blessed—he has a happy marriage to a beautiful woman, becomes father to a brood of bright, strong children, and thrives in business—one by one, people around him die. And at each funeral, he is startled to see a strange man in black, smiling at him. At first, the dead are distant relatives, but eventually his own children die, and then his wife, leaving behind only one child, his favourite, Dora. Unhinged by grief, William gets drunk and stumbles to his wife's fresh grave—and who should be there waiting, but the smiling stranger in black. The stranger has a proposition for William—a mysterious business called "Bellman & Black" . . .

I picked Blacklands out of the bookshelf this afternoon and are just a few pages in, so I have no opinion of it yet... But I hope it's good.

Twelve-year-old Steven Lamb digs holes on Exmoor, hoping to find a body. Every day after school, while his classmates swap football stickers, Steven goes digging to lay to rest the ghost of the uncle he never knew, who disappeared aged eleven and is assumed to have fallen victim to the notorious serial killer Arnold Avery.

Only Steven's Nan is not convinced her son is dead. She still waits for him to come home, standing bitter guard at the front window while her family fragments around her. Steven is determined to heal the widening cracks between them before it's too late. And if that means presenting his grandmother with the bones of her murdered son, he'll do it.

So the boy takes the next logical step, carefully crafting a letter to Arnold Avery in prison. And there begins a dangerous cat-and-mouse game between a desperate child and a bored serial killer . . .

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a meme hosted by Book Journey.
Each week we spotlight the books we are reading, planning on reading or just finished reading.

Since last time I've finished  Bloodfever - the second book in the Fever series. I'm eager to pick up the third book as the story got better in this one. But first I have to finish these two.

I started to read Evermore (The Immortals #1) last night and I almost finished it. Not because it was so good, but because I couldn't sleep ;) But it is quite good and I am looking forward to see how it ends.

After a horrible accident claims the lives of her family, sixteen-year-old Ever Bloom can see people's auras, hear their thoughts, and know someone's entire life story by touching them. Going out of her way to avoid human contact to suppress her abilities, she has been branded a freak at her new high school — but everything changes when she meets Damen Auguste.

Damen is gorgeous, exotic and wealthy. He's the only one who can silence the noise and random energy in her head - wielding a magic so intense, it's as though he can peer straight into her soul. As Ever is drawn deeper into his enticing world of secrets and mystery, she's left with more questions than answers. And she has no idea just who he really is - or what he is. The only thing she knows to be true is that she's falling deeply and helplessly in love with him.

Seems like I stuck in the world of Urban Fantasy at the moment... But I like that genre and I hope Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles #1) are as good as I hope it is as I am going to start it after I've finished Evermore.

There were no surprises in Gatlin County.
We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.
At least, that's what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.
There was a curse.
There was a girl.
And in the end, there was a grave.

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.
Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a meme hosted by Book Journey.
Each week we spotlight the books we are reading, planning on reading or just finished reading.

I just finished Darkfever (Fever #1) by Karen Marie Moning. It was not quite what I had expected, but I hope it will get more exciting throughout the series. Darkfever is also by first completed book for January in the Birthstones color reading challenge.

So, what am I reading now..?
Well, I'm enjoying two detective books ;)

I'm reading The Big Four (hercule Poirot #5) by Agatha Christie as a part of a read along. I love watching Poirot, but have never read any of the books... This one is a bit slow, but I'll see if I can find it and watch the film when I'm done reading :)

An American millionaire suspects fraud. A brilliant scientist disappears in Paris. A famous collector of jade is poisoned in London. Who is behind these sinister events? Hercule Poirot faces his most fearsome challenge as he matches wits with four of the world's most cunning villains. Aligned against him are the forces of a global empire with limitless wealth and power. Ahead of him lies a trail of death and terror. And always with him is the knowledge that his first false step will be his last...

 The second one is The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency (The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency #1) by Alexander McCall Smith. I really like this and read about halfway through it in one sitting :)
I might have to see the movie too someday, but I'm afraid it won't be as good as the book...

Precious Ramotswe in Botswana sits in the shade and ponders the wisdom of her cattle farmer father, observes her neighbors, and cares for employers and subjects with humor. A clinic doctor has two different personalities depending on the day of the week. A Christian sect member vanishes. A witch doctor may have the bones of a kidnapped boy in his magic kit.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #4

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a meme hosted by Book Journey.
Each week we spotlight the books we are reading, planning on reading or just finished reading.

I finished The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie - (Flavia de Luce #1) by Alan Bradley today. And what a book! I totally loved it and need to buy the others in the series!!
The House At Riverton by Kate Morton didn't live up to my expectations... Hopefully her other books are better as I have them in my shelf and plan to read them this year.

I felt the need for some vampires, so I picked up the 6th bok in the Night Huntress series - One Grave at a Time by Jeaniene Frost. It's not my favourite Vampire series, but it's good.

"How do you send a killer to the grave when he's already dead?

Having narrowly averted an (under)World War, Cat Crawfield wants nothing more than a little downtime with her vampire husband, Bones. Unfortunately, her gift from New Orleans's voodoo queen just keeps on giving--leading to a personal favor that sends them into battle once again, this time against a villainous spirit.

Centuries ago, Heinrich Kramer was a witch hunter. Now, every All Hallows Eve, he takes physical form to torture innocent women before burning them alive. This year, however, a determined Cat and Bones must risk all to send him back to the other side of eternity--forever. But one wrong step and they'll be digging their own graves."

Finally the 3rd seaon of Game of Thrones is here!
Hubby and I have watched the first two episode, so I better start reading the books so I can be ahead ;)
When I bought the books in the series a while back, I didn't know I had only bought the first part of the 3rd book - A Storm of Swords 1: Steel and Snow... I just noticed when I picked it out from my shelf. So now I have to order the 2nd part of the book too.

"The Seven Kingdoms are divided by revolt and blood feud. In the northern wastes, a horde of hungry, savage people steeped in the dark magic of the wilderness is poised to invade the Kingdom of the North where Robb Stark wears his new-forged crown. And Robb's defences are ranged against the South, the land of the cunning and cruel Lannisters, who have his young sisters in their power.

Throughout Westeros, the war for the Iron Throne rages more fiercely than ever, but if the Wall is breached, no king will live to claim it."

What are you reading this week?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #3

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a meme hosted by Book Journey.
Each week we spotlight the books we are reading, planning on reading or just finished reading.

I've put aside the books I was reading last week and picked up a couple of mystery/crime books to read this week. A quite peculiar national trait in Norway is solving crimes during Easter. Publishers churn out series of books known as "Easter-Thrillers" or Påskekrimmen. Even the milk cartons change to have murder stories on their sides ;)

This is the first adult novel Lene Kaaberbøl has written alone, and I am looking forward to it as I really liked here young adult fantasy series The Shamer Chronicles. She has also written a series of mystery/crime books together with Agnete Friis which I have to check out someday.

"A priest watches over the body of a young woman, without noticing that tiny mites crawl out of her nostrils. The year is 1894, the place a large provincial town in France, and Albert Karno, better known as carrion doctor, to determine the cause of death. But the woman's family refuses to autopsy the body.

Aided by his 20-year-old daughter Madeleine, and his close friend and collaborator Clerk, Albert Karno trying to understand death to help the living. Together the three follow a deadly tracks through a disturbing and dramatic history, future scientific advances set up against forces that are as old as man - or even older. For where is the human ends and the animal begins?"

I have so high  expectations for The Sweetnes at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce #1) by Alan Bradley,  that I hope I won't be dissapointed...

" Flavia de Luce 11 is an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison. In the summer of 1950, a series of inexplicable events strikes her home, Buckshaw, a decaying English mansion. A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he takes his dying breath. For Flavia, both appalled and delighted, life begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw.

I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn't. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life.

To Flavia the investigation is the stuff of science: full of possibilities, contradictions, and connections. Soon her father, a man raising his three daughters alone, is jailed for murder. He tells Flavia an astounding story of a schoolboy friendship turned ugly, a stolen priceless object, and a Latin teacher who flung himself to his death from the school tower thirty years before. Flavia ties tie two distant deaths together, examines new suspects, and follows the search to the King of England himself."

It's Monday! What are you reading? #2

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a meme hosted by Book Journey.

Each week we spotlight the books we are reading, planning on reading or just finished reading.

I forgot to post last Monday, but that's ok as the books would have been the same as the first post...
I have finished both A Clash of Kings and Dissolution. And I loved both!

I've had The House At Riverton  by Kate Morton in my shelf for years. I have set a goal of reading 13 books with 500 or more pages this year, so this just had to be one of them :)
I have just read a few pages so I can't tell you how I like it yet. But as it is a mystery and part historical it just has to be good, right?!

"Summer 1924
On the eve of a glittering society party, by the lake of a grand English country house, a young poet takes his life. The only witnesses, sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford, will never speak to each other again.

Winter 1999
Grace Bradley, ninety-eight, one-time housemaid of Riverton Manor, is visited by a young director making a film about the poet's suicide. Ghosts awaken and old memories - long consigned to the dark reaches of Grace's mind - begin to sneak back through the cracks. A shocking secret threatens to emerge, something history has forgotten but Grace never could.
Set as the war-shattered Edwardian summer surrenders to the decadent twenties, The House at Riverton is a thrilling mystery and a compelling love story."

 I found the first book The Siren in The Original Sinners series by Tiffany Reisz at the local grocery store earlier this year (yes, they sell a lot of pocket books in norwegian grocery stores ;)) and since it is not Fifty shades of grey, (which everyone seems to be reading), I found out I should give it a try.
I've read a third of the book and so far it's ok.

"Notorious Nora Sutherlin is famous for her delicious works of erotica, each one more popular with readers than the last. But her latest manuscript is different—more serious, more personal—and she's sure it'll be her breakout book...if it ever sees the light of day.
Zachary Easton holds Nora's fate in his well-manicured hands. The demanding British editor agrees to handle the book on one condition: he wants complete control. Nora must rewrite the entire novel to his exacting standards—in six weeks—or it's no deal.
Nora's grueling writing sessions with Zach are draining…and shockingly arousing. And a dangerous former lover has her wondering which is more torturous—staying away from him...or returning to his bed?
Nora thought she knew everything about being pushed to your limits. But in a world where passion is pain, nothing is ever that simple."

And as Endre still likes me to read him a bedtime story, we have started this. We are reading the norwegian book though ;) It's the second time I read it for him and we both like these small animal stories and the illustrations are great as well :)

Containing stories from well-known authors such as Rudyard Kipling and Aesop as well as traditional tales from around the world including fighting crabs, gigantic frogs and a polar bear's search for home, all kinds of children are sure to find a story that they will enjoy.

It's Monday - What Are You Reading #1

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a meme hosted by Book Journey.

Each week we spotlight the books we are reading, planning on reading or just finished reading.

The second series of Game of Thrones has been on tv here in Norway in the latest weeks. But I have told Hubby to change channel when he stops to watch. I have to read the book first, I keep telling him. And then we can stream it and watch as many episodes as we want.
So this weekend I went and grabbed it from the shelf and started reading it.
And George R.R. Martin does not dissapoint!
So now I just need to hurry through over 900 pages so we can start watching :) And then I'll start the 3rd book - A Storm of Swords,  so I'm ready to start watching the 3rd season as well ;)

 "A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. And from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel . . . and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles."

 I am also reading a few chapters now and then in Dissolution (Matthew Shardlake #1) by C.J. Sansom.  Love this kind of historical mystery!

 "It is the winter of 1537, and England is divided into those faithful to the Catholic Church and those loyal to the king and the newly established Church of England. Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's feared vicar general, crusades against the old Church with savage new laws, rigged trials, and a vast network of informers. Queen Anne Boleyn has been beheaded and the monasteries are being dissolved - their treasures pillaged and their lands eyed greedily by courtiers and country gentry. But having put down one people's rebellion, Cromwell is afraid another might topple the realm. So when one of his commissioners is murdered in the monastery at Scarnsea on the south coast of England, he enlists his fellow reformer, Matthew Shardlake, a lawyer renowned as "the sharpest hunchback in the courts of England," to head the inquiry." When Shardlake and his young clerk and protege, Mark Poer, arrive at Scarnsea, the two uncover evidence of sexual misconduct, embezzlement, and treason. And when two other murders are revealed, Shardlake must act quickly to prevent the killer from murdering again."

This is a norwegian series - Nattmannens datter (The Nightman's daughter) set in Bergen in 1701. I am reading book #2 and so far there are 9 books and more is coming.
Lucie is an orphan and lives on Children and Discipline House in Bergen. One night she and her friend Karen Malene sneaks out. Their goal is a landfill at little Lungegårdsvann, where they will look for a gift for little Tilly who has a birthday. Instead they make a gruesome discovery, which follows them for a long time.

The Night Man is the one who keeps the streets clean and empty the kegs. He buries killers, suicides and unbaptized children, and he assists the executioner with executions. He is unclean and dishonorable, an outcast that no one will have anything to do with. When he shows up at the Manufactory, Lucie recalls his father, who abandoned her when she was little.

"Ikke alle unner Lucie vennligheten hun blir vist av forstanderfruen og dragonen. Neste natt ser Lucie noen mørke skikkelser snike seg bort fra Manufakturhuset, og hun følger etter. I skyggen av trekorsene på fattigkirkegården, føler hun seg iakttatt. Før timen er omme får Lucie en visshet som snur om på hele livet hennes.Det var vindstille, og månen var ikke å se. Nattetåken hadde ikke lettet og lå lavt over det store vannet nedenfor. Lucies øyne hadde for lengst vennet seg til mørket. Skyggen hun trodde hun hadde sett nede i skråningen, måtte bare ha vært innbilning. Kanskje en trestubbe. Det var ikke en bevegelse å se der nå. Med ett hørtes et dunk. Det gikk kaldt gjennom Lucie da hun skjønte at det var kisten."

Joining Book Journey's link up :)