Hi again! I’m back with the winners of last week’s “Happy 2025/Treat Yourself” contest. The winner of any book from my backlist is:
Colleen C
And the winner of the $25 Amazon egift card is:
Karin H
Congrats to both of you, and check your emails! I have replied to your contest entries with instructions on how to get your prizes. Reminder: contest email replies plus announcing the names on my blog are the ONLY way I contact winners, and I NEVER ask for shipping money. So, if anyone claiming to be me tells you that you won a prize, but I need your credit card info for shipping, run! It’s a scammer, not me!
Next, I broke down and joined the Bluesky site. So, if you’re on there, too, give me a follow. I promise to post lots of cute dog pics in addition to chatting about books and such: https://bsky.app/profile/jfrostauthor.bsky.social
Lastly, reading! I recently realized that I don’t talk a lot about books I’m reading. Sometimes, it’s because I’m not sure if I’ll get through them. I DNF (do not finish) over fifty percent of books that I start, which is so frustrating! One dirty secret–at least for me–of becoming an author is the inability to turn off my internal editor, both when I’m writing my own books, and when reading other people’s novels. In both cases, it sucks. Mentally editing while writing REALLY slows down my progress, and reading with that same Inner Editor on full alert has ruined countless good books for me.
I’m also a “mood” reader. Like, suddenly, I’ll only want to read haunted house books, for example. Or werewolf novels. Or vampire books, or thrillers, or romantasy, etc. This means I also miss out on very good books that just happen to be outside whatever I’m craving at the moment. I can’t count the times I’ve had people say “You have to read X book! It’s amazing!” And it probably is. But, if I’m currently reading in whatever literary flavor I’m addicted to, I might not get to that recommended book for a year or so. Maybe more.
There can be an upside to this, however. I was late on the FOURTH WING train for that reason, but it meant that when I finally did read it, IRON FLAME was already out. So, I devoured that next. Then, I only had three months to wait until ONXY STORM, which is what I’m reading now.
ONYX STORM is the third book in The Empyrean fantasy series by Rebecca Yarros. This series is wildly popular, for good reason, but if you haven’t heard of it, the first book is FOURTH WING, and the series features (among other things) star-crossed lovers, a war college, telepathic dragons, deadly power struggles, epic battle scenes, and kingdom-leveling secrets. I’m trying to read this slow, so no spoilers if you’ve already finished it, but I love these characters and this world.
So, what about you? Reading anyone good right now? Or did you finish something recently that you loved?
Currently I’m in need of coziness and the calming effect of known and beloved favourites – today I started re-reading Patricia Briggs Mercedes Thompson world, and when I’m finished with all of them, I believe I will keep on going through the usual suspects in my urban Fantasy and paranormal collection *books cuddle*
I just finished Archangels Linage by Nalini Singh. Next I’ll start rereading the usual suspects (and not necessarily in this order) Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson & Alpha and Omega series, Ilona Andrew’s Kate Daniel’s and Hidden Legacy series and Then Of Course The Cat & Bones, Night Prince, and Ian’s series(in as close to chronological order as I can). All in preparation of the new books!