Review: Fires of Invention by J. Scott Savage

Fires of Invention by J. Scott Savage
Published September 2015 by Shadow Mountain Press
Source: eGalley ARC from NetGalley

Trenton Colman is a creative thirteen-year-old boy with a knack for all things mechanical. But his talents are viewed with suspicion in Cove, a steam-powered city built inside a mountain. In Cove, creativity is a crime and “invention” is a curse word.

Kallista Babbage is a repair technician and daughter of the notorious Leo Babbage, whose father died in an explosion—an event the leaders of Cove point to as an example of the danger of creativity.

Working together, Trenton and Kallista learn that Leo Babbage was developing a secret project before he perished. Following clues he left behind, they begin to assemble a strange machine that is unlike anything they’ve ever seen before. They soon discover that what they are building may threaten every truth their city is founded on—and quite possibly their very lives.

Review: Fated by Sarah Fine

Fated by Sarah Fine
Published September 2015 by 47 North
Source: eGalley ARC from NetGalley

Aislin Ferry and Jason Moros have only days until they will be called to account before the Keepers of the Afterlife. Yet as they race to restore order and make their case, their worlds fall into total disarray.

Mutiny within the fractured Ferry family threatens Aislin’s hold on power and role as Charon. Meanwhile, the fearsome Lord of the Kere has family trouble of his own. Someone is unraveling the fabric of fate, and Moros suspects one of his supernatural siblings is behind the terrible bid to unleash Chaos.

Now unlikely allies, Aislin and Moros each need the other to escape the wrath of the Keepers. As the stakes rise, it becomes clear that protecting their respective empires is not the endgame. With the fate of all humanity dangling by a thread, Aislin and Moros must surrender completely to one another if they are to fight their common enemy. And as time runs out, someone must make the ultimate sacrifice.

October Blog Ahead Challenge

It's almost October and I'm signing up for the Blog Ahead Challenge. The purpose of Blog Ahead is just like it sounds: During the month of October, increase the number of scheduled blog posts ready to publish. The suggested number of posts to schedule is 31, but since I've been having trouble getting more than one or two posts written each week, I can't possibly write 31 extra posts. So my goal is going to be more modest. I plan to end October with 10 scheduled posts: one or two per week starting in November.

I'll update this post with my status throughout October and also report how I'm doing in the weekly Sunday Summary posts.

My Progress

 

Sunday Summary: 27 September 2015

I started this past week having lunch with hubby's parents. They're both in their early nineties, and I hope I'm as “with it” when I reach that age. They live in the house they've occupied for over 20 years and Dad still drives, so that makes them totally independent. Mom is an avid reader and we've shared many books over the years. She's not reading as much right now because it's baseball season! Once the World Series is over, her reading pace will pick up. I'll be researching books from her favorite authors and seeking out new authors who write in a similar style.

Where I've been reading

This week's travel was a leisurely trip to San Antonio. It's only a one-hour flight away and I flew down on Monday morning and home on Thursday afternoon. I was very busy all week long and didn't have time for a lot of reading. (That's the down-side of those short flights!) I did, however, have time to relax and rest up for the frenzied travel that is scheduled for next week.

 

Stacking the Shelves(50)

Again, the only new books in our Texas home came from the library. Although I have hundreds of unread books on hand, I keep selecting books from the library. And that's fine—I'm still not spending any money for books and I'm satisfying my drive to read whatever I happen to be interested in. I picked up two very different books, each a volume in a well-liked series. A week from now you should see both of them listed as books completed in the Sunday Summary.

From the library:

In order to complete all of the Brother Cadfael mysteries by the end of the year, I need to read two books per month for the rest of the year. The Confession of Brother Haluin is the 15^th of 20 novels in the series and will be the third I've started in September. Don't know if I'll finish it by the end of the month, but I hope so because that will help put me a little bit ahead.

Brother Haluin is seriously injured in a fall from the roof and with death highly likely, he makes a full confession to the Abbot. When he recovers, he sets out on a journey with only Brother Cadfael as his companion, traveling to make amends to those he had hurt.

Sunday Summary: 20 September 2015

Where I've been reading

This week was marked by a business trip to Raleigh. All-in-all it was an easy excursion with non-stop flights on Monday and Wednesday. I used my in-flight time well, reading for most of the trip. Unfortunately, I found very little time to read the rest of the week. I listened to another couple of hours of Fire with Fire while I was in the car, but otherwise, I made little progress reading until I returned home.

 

Stacking the Shelves (49)

I only have a couple of new books this week. I borrowed two books and then at the end of the week, received a new book for review. I'm still on a self-imposed book-buying ban. My daughter has been fussing at me about getting books from the library—pointing out the large number of unread books in my house. Yes, I probably have close to 1000 books that I haven't read, and yet I keep getting new books from the library instead of reading the books that are on hand. But, if I didn't get new books, I wouldn't have anything to share in the weekly Stacking the Shelves posts.

From the library:

There are some books that stick with you for a very long time. Miriam's Well is one of those. Lois Ruby's YA novel was originally published in 1993, and I don't know when I read it, but it was a long time ago. In fact, several years ago when I was looking for the book, I found that it was out of print. To me, that was very sad since I was recommending it to teachers, librarians, and others who work with teenagers. I was thrilled to find that it has just now been released in e-book format. I'm counting on that to ensure that it will be available forever!