Since I turned in a book last week, and even though I need to turn back to my current work-in-progress (California Demon, the sequel to Carpe), I decided to take a week off (okay, a week and a half, but really, who's counting?). Refresh the soul. Clean the car. That kinda thing.

Can I just say: it's been great. And I've been extremely productive in an unproductive sort of way (which is the nice way of saying if you're one of the people I owe an answering email to ... sorry!!! Mental health week!!!). So far this week, I've gotten stuff ready for a garage sale on Saturday. (Wrote another blog entry about that -- check it out at http://www.outoftheblogosphere.blogspot.com/), had my mom over to help me with an embarrassing amount of past-due personal filing, re-organized my office, found the pair of sandals I thought I'd lost, set up a backyard pool, saw Madagasgar (okay, but not destined to be a classic, imho), had fabulous furniture delivered for my kid (the princess now has a castle bed), shipped my dead-as-a-doornail laptop back to IBM for them to revive, and read lots of books!

The reading's been the best part.

The interesting thing about being a working writer is that suddenly I don't have as much time to read. And if I do have a chunk of time, curling up on the couch to read a book seems like such a luxury. I should be working on my own book! I should be writing! (Don't get me wrong, I do read. Just not as much as I used to, what with my writing job and my 3 year old distraction! Mostly, I listen to audiobooks. Currently listening to Brimstone. Thoroughly enjoying it. Any Agent Pendergast fans out there?)

At any rate, I thought I'd blog a bit about what I've read recently and what's coming up:

In Death Series: I'd mentioned a while back that I'd started this series at Christmas. Now, 6 months later, I can proudly say that I FINISHED IT! Read the last three books (that is, read through Survivor in Death) within the last week. I didn't count how many there are in this series, but I think it's safe to say "a lot." And the thing is, I am so impressed with the way Robb/Roberts has kept the series fresh. Some of the mysteries are better than others, but the relationships b/w Roarke and Eve (as well as b/w the other characters -- am I the only one who wants more of Peabody's romance??) always keep the reader engaged. This is a big relief to me as I've been disappointed in a lot of series that I use to be a rabid fan of (I won't say which series, though, so don't even ask ). And since I really would like for the Demon series to continue, oh, forever, I have to confess that I hope to be able to deliver the same freshness that I crave in a continuing series. (For the record, my favorite books all seem to be part of a series. Once I fall in love with a character, I like to hang with them for a while!). All of which is the long way to say kudos to J.D. Robb, and if you're a mystery fan or a romance fan and you haven't picked up these books, then by all means do! And while you don't have to read them in order, it's more fun if you do. (Now I have to wait until August until the next one. Would it be horribly out of line to call my editor at Berkley and beg an advance copy??? Somehow, I don't think Robb/Roberts needs my cover quote ...)

But speaking of cover quotes, I did have the pleasure of reading GOOD GIRLS DON'T, the debut from Kelley St. John, which will be released in December. What a fun book! Sexy and heartwarming all at the same time (and I'm talking very sexy and very heartwarming). Make a note, folks. Snap this one up when it hits the shelves!

After GGD, I turned to CLUB DEAD from Charlaine Harris, which is the third (I think) in the Sookie Stackhouse series. I discovered this series after Ms. Harris gave a wonderful cover quote to CARPE DEMON, and I truly can't believe I hadn't picked her books up before, because I am so hooked. Talk about world-building! Harris has created such a wonderfully rich alternate world where vamps live among us, and Sookie's right in the center of it b/c of her unique abilities. And the thing I really love is Sookie's normalcy. Fabulous books, and I'm chomping at the bit to start Dead to the World and Dead as a Doornail. But other books call first (including my own, ack! My reading a book-a-day time is running short!)

Also, although I read it a while back for a quote, I thought I'd mention Shanna Swendson's Enchanted, Inc., because this book is So Much Fun! I really, really, really loved it, but I'm also going to be blogging about it more next week as part of Shanna's blog tour, so I’m only going to tease you a bit now and say that if you haven't already bought the book, head over to Shanna's website now and check out the info she's got there. (And it's a really fun website!) She'll hook you! Don't say I didn't warn you....

Moving on, as I think I mentioned, I'm going on a Dallas/Ft. Worth area booktour next weekend with the other Naughty Girls of Downtown Press (www.readnaughtygirls.com for details) and I wanted to read their books first. I'm reading in the order that I got them (for lack of any other reasonable system ) and that means I'm starting with Shari Shattuck. But Shari's Lethal is a sequel to Loaded, which I picked up months ago, but I hadn't had the opportunity read (refer, please, to the whine above ...). At any rate, I've started it now, and ... WOW. Believe me when I say that I'm sacrificing a lot to sit here and type this out!!! I can't wait to finish the book and move on to Lethal. After that, I'm going to read Marianne Mancusi's A Connecticut Fashionista In King Arthur's Court, which I pre-ordered from Amazon months ago, and who's appearing here soon as part of her blog tour. I have heard SUCH fabulous things about this book, and I'm bummed that it had to sit on my desk while my deadline came and went. Ahem. Anyway, details soon!!

And then I’m going to turn back to the naughty girls with Julie Leto's Dirty Little Secrets, to be followed by Gena Showalter's Awaken Me Darkly. Stay tuned. From the looks of things, I'm going to be dragging myself away from the recliner and to the computer to get my own work done. (And I must work. The mortgage company is so finicky about getting paid ...)

// posted by Julie Kenner @ 11:25 PM