The Women of Fantasy

Mercedes Lackey is well known for her Heralds of Valdemar series - and her feminist fantasy. I just finished book 3 of her Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms series.

Book 1, The Fairy Godmother (Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, Book 1), is a funky twist on Cinderella.
Book 2, One Good Knight (Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, Book 2) is a cute tale of a princess and a dragon.
Book 3, Fortune's Fool (Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, Book 3), is about the daughter of the Sea King who uses her magical abilities of being able to walk on dry land to spy for her father, and the "Fortunate Fool" she meets and falls in love with. Very reminiscent of Piers Anthony style writing.
The next book, The Snow Queen (Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, Book 4), I haven't read yet but am looking forward to.

All in all, this is a nice collection of light reads with clever twists on classic fairy tales. It's not the most shining example of works by Mercedes Lackey, but they are cute fun time diversions. Each book I've read has some sort of tie-in to the previous books and I imagine The Snow Queen won't be any different.

Snow Queen is on the shelves at Barnes and Noble and the other books were all available at amazon.com (see links above) and my local library.

Happy reading!

P.S. I am currently beginning 2 books - alternating as the mood strikes - Wrapt in Crystal by Sharon Shinn & Wolfskin by Juliet Marillier. :)

I'm almost ready to read the next book in the 3 sisters Island trilogy - I'm on book 2 - by Nora Roberts. These books take place on an island - fish is the dominant food. The mc in the first book is a cook and makes seafood chowder.

Last week we went to Silver Lake up big Cottonwood Canyon. It was gorgeous. My 2 year old had great fun running around and we saw several people - including many children - fishing. Some little girls caught some trout and my daughter loved it. My Mom loves trout it is her favorite fish to eat. Hubby loves Alaskan salmon - he lived there for several years and always went fishing. His aunt gave us some salmon from their recent fishing trip in Alaska. Here is how he cooked it:

1 big hunk of Alaskan salmon - skin off, deboned, etc (ready to go)
salt and lemon pepper
water

simmer in skillet until done - (he cooked it about 25 minutes) - add more water to keep from burning. Season with salt and lemon pepper.

This is a simple dish - and very healthy. I'm always trying to get my daughter to eat better foods. With a little more practice it would be a fun cook off recipe.

My daughter loved it - I was shocked she is such a picky eater I thought no way would she eat fish. I think some fresh lemon and rosemary would of made it even better.

My mom cooked trout two different ways if I remember correctly - boiled in water and wrapped in aluminum foil. If I do go fishing one of these days at Silver Lake and catch some trout I'll give a few to her.

The Great American Seafood Cook off is taking place this Saturday and Sunday in New Orleans. It supports domestic sustainable seafood. With so many things being imported it's exciting to see support of local products and resources. Even though Utah is landlocked it has some excellent fresh water fish - I'm going to see if my 2 year old likes trout - another dish to add to her rare favorites.

Got any favorite seafood recipes?

Disclaimer: This post sponsored by payperpost.com

I have way too much stuff to read - see my post Fantasy Gems - I found most of the books on the list at my library and placed holds - needless to say the holds are in and I'm swamped. I'll probably be renewing some of my checkouts.

I pre-ordered Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4) by Stephenie Meyer off amazon.com - yesterday they sent me an email I was very happy to read saying my book will arrive on it's release date. It's called "release-date delivery" - the email says: "We realize that many of our customers are huge Stephenie Meyer fans, and we're happy to offer Release-Date Delivery to get this title to you even faster." Way to go amazon - my favorite book retailer!!

My local Barnes and Noble is selling Breaking Dawn at 12:01 AM August 2nd - beforehand there will be a "Twilight" party. The book is also coming out on compact disk and a Spanish version.

Check out the official Stephenie Meyer site for a fun countdown until the book releases and cool quotes from the book.

Happy reading!

I finished The Fire Opal and Raelynx and Rider - both were very good, better than I expected. Now I'm taking a break. Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer comes out this Saturday and I can't wait. It's one of the few books I'm actually buying since I know hubby will want to read it and my sister's and who knows who else will end up borrowing it?


Check out the tactical pants from LA Police gear, they have a huge assortment at competitive prices. What are tactical pants? They are special clothing designed for those who must move very quickly - such as law enforcement. They are treated with teflon and come in rip stop fabric and are designed in such a way to allow full range of movement - while still looking like a khaki pant.

Disclosure: This post sponsored by payperpost.com

These are books I've overlooked-mostly found by looking them up at the author's respective websites. I haven't read any of these yet.

Sunshine – a vampire/armageddon type of book by one of my favorite authors – Robin McKinley. This book sounds very different than her usually feminist fantasy/fairy retelling offerings but I’m more than willing to give it a try.

The Dark Mirror: Book One of the Bridei Chronicles - by another favorite author, Juliet Marillier, who wrote Daughter of the Forest, one of my all time favorite books ever. Marillier specializes in historical fantasy and doesn’t disappoint.

Wolfskin (Tor Fantasy) - another offering from Juliet Marillier

Wrapt in Crystal, a standalone by Sharon Shinn. Her other stand alone books have been very good and though I usually prefer series, I’m looking forward to reading this one.

Fortune's Fool (Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, Book 3) by Mercedes Lackey. The sequel is on the shelves now but I want to read this one first (this is the third book in the Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms series).

Fire Study (Study, Book 3), by Maria V. Snyder, after Poison Study and Magic Study. Looking forward to this one.

Every now and then I make a list of books to read and check them off as I go. Right now I am reading 2 from my list - The Fire Opal, by Catherine Asaro, and Reader and Raelynx, by Sharon Shinn. The Fire Opal started off a bit weak but is starting to really pull me in. This is a sort of separate little storyline from her previous 3 books set in the same world (see my post about the Misted Cliff Trilogy). The second is called The Night Bird and I'm sure there will be a third. Fire Opal is about Ginger, priestess of the Dragon Sun in a small village. Ginger has mage abilities she is trying to keep a secret, and the romance in this book is between her and an injured soldier.

Reader and Raelynx is another book in the 12 houses series, which I have really enjoyed so I can't wait to dig in. Each of the book in this series have featured a different main character with differing magical abilities - the mc in this book is a sort of "sensitive" - one of the most powerful of all.

I finished The Host a few nights ago. The book left me with tons of questions and I sure wouldn't mind seeing a sequel. That's not to say the ending left too many ends loose - just enough that a sequel would work, not so many it felt unfinished. The main character, Wanderer, is a real heroine in the story. Although she is supposed to of lived many lives on other worlds, she comes across as being very new, very young. She is very reminiscent of Bella from the Twilight series - the self sacrificing nature, the voice itself of the character is similar. There were some disturbing scenarios in this book - which since it's a "body snatcher" story make sense. But Meyer pulls it off, infusing darkness with enough light so the book doesn't ever become depressing - the overall message is one of hope.
Although I guess The Host would be classified as sci-fi it also strikes me as fantasy-ish, just like the Twilight series. The thing that makes the Host work is that Meyer doesn't push for the science fiction aspect - it just sort of unfolds. It all makes sense - the Armageddon/body snatching/aliens/dying humanity theme. Why? I think because of the love story. As in the Twilight books, the love story really makes the book something amazing.

Good reading.

Check out these sexy glasses at zennioptical.com - they have super affordable glasses (as low as $8!!) - I think pregnancy has made my eyesight deteriorate so will be needing driving glasses soon (and probably reading ones too) - will be checking these guys out. The ordering process looks very straightforward - see an optometrist to get your prescription and enter it at the sight. They also have low shipping. These glasses remind me of that new spy-girl TV series out - I seriously want some!!

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by payperpost.com

Been a while since I last posted - am happy to announce that I gave birth to a beautiful 8 lb 6 oz baby girl. She is gorgeous with tons of dark hair!! Now that I am up all night I have been hooked on The Host, by Stephanie Meyer. So far, am loving this book (halfway through). The Host is about a parasitic alien race that has taken over Earth - and inhabited the bodies of almost all the humans. Melanie Stryder, a "wild" human, has finally been taken - by the "soul" Wanderer. The relationship between Melanie and Wanderer is deep and complex as Wanderer falls in love for the man Melanie loves. An amazing story that is different from anything else I've ever read.

Will let you know how I like the ending - and if my opinion stays the same.

I finished Dance upon the Air (Three Sisters Island Trilogy) by Nora Roberts two days ago and am almost ready to pick up the next book in the trilogy, Heaven and Earth (Three Sisters Island Trilogy). Dance upon the Air doesn't really come across as paranormal fantasy really, it is more of a normal "real life" novel - where magical powers just happen to exist somehow.

That said, the low-keyness of the magic doesn't detract, it gives more focus to the characters. The characters are what the story is really about - strong, powerful women finding their way in the world. Nell, a victim of abuse, finds good role models and strong friend's on the island in Ripley and Mia, the other resident "witches" (though Ripley has renounced her powers). She also finds love with the local sheriff and the romance gives the book just what it needs to be a great story - though it would of been great also if Roberts could of focused more on Nell's empowerment and healing - before getting romantically involved again.

Although the relationship is made out to heal her it comes across as something to "fix" her sometimes - but the romance is needed in this book to make it work - maybe because the focus isn't on the fantasy aspects? Nell isn't a character I absolutely loved - but the story is great. I'm interested to read the next one.

What is it about a cop in a good book that makes us tingle? Usually it's a man - but not in the case of Urban Shaman, by C.E. Murphey. The main character, Joanne Walker is a 6 foot + sexy female cop who just happens to have shaman abilities and has to save the world. Joanne, half Native American and half Irish, must battle or enlist the aid of so-called "mythological" beings on both sides to save the world. A bit of a disjointed novel, it still enthralls.

The book I'm reading right now - Dance Upon the Air, by Nora Roberts (see my previous posts about the 3 Sisters Island Trilogy) - also features members of law enforcement, namely the hunky local sheriff who falls in love with main character Nell, and his sister Ripley - one of the three women to hold power on the island (though she won't admit it). Painted as "small town" (really small island) cops, they are in charge of keeping the peace and do it very well.

Today is Memorial Day - my brother, who joined the army six months ago, is visiting for a few days and it has made me think about the importance of Memorial Day - to honor those who have died for our freedom, present day military members, as well as local law enforcement.

Looking for something to give someone you know in the military or local law enforcement? Check out tactical gloves from L.A. Police Gear. They carry lots of other great stuff like Under Armour clothing - great for maintaining comfort in heat or cold.

Know of any other great fantasy reads with members of military or police? Comments are welcome!

***This post is sponsored by payperpost***