After falling pretty far behind on my reading goal in June, I managed to get 5 books read in the month of July, so I’m almost back on track. I really enjoyed 4 out of the 5 books I read in July, so I’d say it was a good reading month!  (An *e at the end of a title indicates an e-book.)

July Reading List

25. The Gathering (Darkness Rising #1) by Kelley Armstrong (July 7)
Kelley Armstrong never fails to entertain me, and this first installment in The Darkness Rising trilogy was no exception! As with all of Armstrong’s books, The Gathering features great characters and a strong mythology.  And as a continuity nut, I love the ties to the Otherworld series.

26. Max (Maximum Ride #5) by James Patterson (July 10)
Despite its many flaws, I’ve always been a fan of the Maximum Ride series. One of the things I loved about Max’s story is that it’s an adventure with a purpose and no romance. Sadly, this book marks the introduction of teen angst to the story, and it’s definitely NOT what the series needed. I do still love the characters and their mission, but could do without all the “Ohh, Fang kissed me…” whining and moaning.

27. Deadlocked (Southern Vampire #12) by Charlaine Harris (July 14)
We’re almost at the end of Sookie’s story, and the books are suddenly trying to wrap everything up. Which is both good and bad… good because we’re getting some answers and Sookie’s life is FINALLY finding direction, but bad because it feels a little like the original roadmap got lost and we’re heading to a new destination that the author just decided upon at the last minute. Deadlocked was still an enjoyable read despite the fast-tracking.

28. The Enchantress (Secrets of the Nicholas Flamel #6) by Michael Scott (July 27) *e
A disappointing final installment in the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series. – See my series recap here

29. Fever (Chemical Garden #2) by Laren DeStafano (July 31)
This book was so different from the first installment in the Chemical Garden series it almost felt like part of a different series at times. Which was actually quite refreshing! No sophomore slump here. DeStafano manages to keep the story a fresh and unpredictable, and while I wasn’t always sure where Fever was taking the Chemical Garden story, now that I know I can’t wait to read Sever, the final book in the trilogy.

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel  (Books 1 – 6)
by Michael Scott

After finishing the final installment in The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series, I feel somewhat cheated. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the series and was enthralled with the way Scott had successfully woven so many wonderful historical characters into his well thought out world of magic and monsters. Unfortunately after the first 3 books in the series, the story lost its charm and the remaining books each left me more frustrated than the last.

Click here for reviews and thoughts on previous books in the Nicholas Flamel series.

Far too many characters and not enough plot momentum bogged this series down to the point where it was a chore to finish the later books. The entire series of SIX books spans only THREE days of time in the story. Even though there was plenty of action in the story, with only a single day (or less) being covered in each book, there was so much detail that the plot became lost. The characters were interesting and well written, but with such an abundance of them it became hard to keep track of them all and those that were favourites were lost in the crowd.  I continued to struggle through believing that all of this would eventually lead to a satisfying ending for Sophie and Josh, the Twins of Legend. Sadly, the satisfying ending never really came. The final book did wrap up many of the characters stories, but the looping and ambiguous nature of the ending didn’t make the struggle to get there feel worth it.  I think that if this series had been edited down to 3 or 4 books, it could have been amazing. Have you read the series? What did you think… am I judging too harshly or did you feel the same?

The Necromancer (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel #4)
by Michael Scott

Summary

Book four in the series brings twins Josh and Sophie Newman back to San Francisco for a very brief reunion with their aunt. But they barely have time to call their parents and let them know they’re OK before their adventure continues. Nicholas and Pernelle have also returned to San Francisco, and along with a few new players they band together in an effort to stop Machiavelli from releasing the creatures trapped in Alcatraz. Meanwhile, the rest of our heroes (Scatty, Joan, Shakespeare, Palmedes and Saint-Germain) are reunited in an alternate location with a great battle of their own to stop. How will either team succeed with their forces split?

Review

I’m sad to report that I was very disappointed in The Necromancer. I’ve really loved each of the first 3 books in this series, but found this one to be uneventful filler. The last 30 pages contained all the necessary portions of the story, and rather than bore us with 200 pages of filler, this could have (and should have) been the opening chapters to book # 5.  And then after wading through hundreds of pages of build-up, we’re left with a rather abrupt cliffhanger. I was honestly shocked when I turned the page to find out that the book had ended after only a few chapters of action.

Verdict

While I wasn’t impressed with The Necromancer, I will most definitely continue with this series. I very much want to know what happens in the end. Hopefully this one was a mis-step and the next book will actually have something in it.

Even though I’m far away, I wanted to make sure we still had a little Friday treat for everyone! This week’s Friday Freebie is one that I’m super excited about so I hope you’ll enjoy it too!

Those of you that have been following along know that I am head over heels for The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series by Michael Scott.  And those of you really paying attention will know that I’m anxiously awaiting the May 25 release of the 4^th book in this series, The Necromancer.

Well, being a Twitter stalker follower has its advantages! Michael Scott himself was nice enough to Tweet about a little preview of The Necromancer that Random House has made available. (Follow Michael Scott on Twitter @flamelauthor)

If you really cannot wait for The Necromancer (May 25th), here are the first five chapters. (Beware, some spoilers.) http://ow.ly/1y6Zy

Check out the first 5 chapters of The Necromancer here. And if you haven’t read this series yet, now is a great time to hop on board!

Since we’re all about the e-books this week, I thought this would be a great time to share some excellent e-book recs with fellow readers.  According to the Read an E-Book Week site, one of the best ways to promote e-books is to tell people about the last great e-book you’ve read. So, let’s have an all-digital book chat and talk about some of our favorite e-reads!

The first e-book to capture my heart was oddly enough also the first one that I read. I was lucky to get The Alchemyst – The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel #1 as a free download during a promotion for the release of third book in the series, and I really didn’t know much about the book at the time.  It turns out that The Alchemyst was just what I’d been looking for – an epic type of series where good battles evil for the fate of the world. It’s an action packed adventure with magic, intrigue and tons of history! I could go on and on, but instead I’ll just direct you to my review where you can read all about how much I loved it for yourself! Not only is The Alchemyst one of the top e-books I’ve read, it’s one of my favorites of all books I read last year!  I loved it so much that I quickly bought the next two books in the series (proving that these promotions clearly work), and am MOST anxiously awaiting the release of book #4 on May 25.

I also fell in love with the Uglies series in much the same way.  I got the first book for free during a promotion, and then I was downloading the subsequent books in the middle of the night as I raced through the trilogy.  As for stand-alone e-books, Dewey the Small Town Library Cat Who Saved the World was great.

What about you? What are some of your favorite e-books? What e-book are you most looking forward to? If you’ve never read an e-book, would you like to?

The Sorceress
by Michael Scott

The Sorceress is the 3^rd book in The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series, (Could they have found a longer name?) and I’d have to say it’s my favourite so far. Meaning, that I really loved it!

The Sorceress begins right where we left off in The Magician, with Nicholas and the twins fleeing Paris in search of Gilgamesh the mad King who they’re hoping will train the twins in the magic of water.  After arriving in London, they soon realize they’re being followed and from there, it’s an action packed adventure as they are forced to flee the relentless dark forces.

*Caution: this review contains spoilers beyond this point!

Click to continue reading my review of The Sorceress

Good Monday morning fellow book lovers! Welcome to the first With A Good Book Chat! We originally started this blog as way for friends who share a love of books and reading but live far apart to be able to talk about books.  We’ve done some reviews, and discussed a few books in the Book Club, but we haven’t really just chatted about books and reading… and I think it’s time to change that!  Ideally you’ll all be chatting back to me and I won’t just be here talking about books, reading and the general life of a book lover all by myself… but I will if I have to, so you’ve been forewarned!

Now… let’s chat!

It’s a chilly Monday morning here in Ottawa, but thankfully the sun is out, making it a bit easier to drag myself out of bed and into the office.  What’s it like where you are?

Sun or no sun, I’d still much rather be at home working my way through the last 200(ish) pages of The Sorceress by Michael Scott. Unfortunately, my goal to finish reading it over the weekend was thwarted by the combination of owning a house and living with a non-reader. The lack of a new Dollhouse episode on Friday night did allow me to spend the evening reading when I’d normally be watching TV, but most of Saturday and Sunday were spent doing yard work and other outdoor winter preparations so there wasn’t much time for reading after Friday night.  How was your weekend? Did you manage to get any reading done? Did you read anything good? (or bad?) What are you reading now?

Since it doesn’t seem to be available in digital format, I’ll be stopping at Coles on my way home from work tonight to pick up my copy of our October Book Club selection, The Book Thief.  (Don’t forget… join the book club in October and be entered to win a copy of our November selection Fablehaven!)  I’ve been trying to go digital with most of my new books, but sometimes the option still isn’t available.  How will you get your copy? Have you started it yet?

And speaking of new books, I totally broke my “No new books until the TBR (To Be Read) pile is significantly reduced!” rule last week by ordering not one, but THREE new books. Seriously folks, I have a sickness. I need to be banned from my Chapters and Amazon accounts. I did manage to wait long enough so that I had enough books on my list to qualify for free shipping, but still. Anyway, I am now the proud owner of Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich, Rise of the Evening Star by Brandon Mull, and Heat Wave by “Richard Castle”.  Now my goal is to have Fillion sign it!!

I’ve had Fearless Fifteen by Janet Evanovich for some time now, but have been waiting to read Plum Spooky before getting into it. Yes – I have an OCD need to only ever read a series in order.  As you’ll learn (if you didn’t already know), I am a continuity nut, so reading a series out of order drives me batty, but that’s a chat for another time.  Have you gotten any new books recently? What’s on your book wish list?

The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel – Book 1
by Michael Scott

I think I’ve found a new book love folks. Seriously, I haven’t been this excited by a book series since… well, I hate to compare things to Harry Potter, but possibly since then. Aside from being a very exciting beginning to a new (or new to me) series, The Alchemyst is also the first book I’ve read on my new Sony e-reader… but that’s a whole other post. The Alchemyst tells the story of the legendary Nicholas Flamel who – along with two teenage siblings that happen to stumble into his world – is forced to flee from the evil beings that have taken his love and the precious secrets of history that he guards.

One of the first things you’ll notice when reading The Alchemyst is the incredible amount of research that went into creating this series. It’s extremely impressive – every character in the book (with the exception of the two teens) is an actual character from history/mythology. This lends an incredible aura of believability to the story because it’s so easy to imagine that all these great characters exist as we’ve heard of them all before. Along with the vast amounts research, it’s also clear that an incredible amount of planning went into this book and the series that follows. And there’s almost nothing I love more than a well-planned and thought-out series! Especially when everything comes together so brilliantly. The imagery in The Alchemyst is beautifully written in such a manner that you can clearly picture the surroundings, but are never bored with long descriptive passages that don’t add to the overall story.

Filled with wonderful characters, completely natural dialogue, and a gripping plot, this first book in The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series does a wonderful job of laying out a complex and intricate world, while drawing the reader into a fascinating adventure. While directed at the YA audience, The Alchemyst will appeal to adults as well, and I for one am absolutely loving it. So much so, that I’m already onto The Magician – the 2nd book in the series.