I had this review all written - and lost it. I hate when that happens.
At the beginning of the month, I had finished the audiobook I was listening to, had listened to a couple of short stories, and couldn't decide what to listen to next. Happily, I noticed that Night Shift was out. I was glad I hadn't spent the Audible credit on something else first, since I do love this series.
Night Shift is third, and last, of the Midnight, Texas books, and I've listened to the three in order. I do think it's a bit better to start this series at the beginning. The characters are an odd lot, and there are a few things from previous books that impact this one. I guess it also has some cross-overs from Harris' other series. I've read a couple of those books, but it was a while ago and I don't remember much about them. I don't feel like that lack made me...
First a bit of advice, read City of Stairs first. Yes, City of Blades may be almost able to stand on its own, but Stairs is so good and will give you such a better feeling for the main characters in this book and the world they live in.
Although City of Blades is the second in the trilogy, it feels different from Stairs. Stairs was action and magic and politics. Blades is a little darker, sadder, tougher, but just as good, if not better. Our main character this time around is retired General Turyin Mulagesh. she may be one of my favorite heroines. She's over-50, an alcoholic, one-armed (due to an incident in Stairs), a bit lonely, and full of regrets. But, man, she is tough and smart and caring and tenacious and totally capable of killing you in multiple ways. She is awesome, period. I may still have a bit of a crush on Sigrud, but Turyin even outshines him.
She...
The world in City of Stairs is awesome! Deities used to be involved in a close, daily basis with their followers, building and changing the world, allowing one country to rule. The gods have been killed or have disappeared, their people now at the mercy of others, the city itself transformed, the weather changing. It is not surprising that there are some in Bulikov who are not happy living under the thumb of their conquerors, some who are wiling to do whatever they can to make Bulikov thrive again.
Into this arena arrives Shara, a woman whose job as an intelligence agent is to maintain the status quo but whose interests lie in the past, in the history of the gods and the miracles they allowed. She has chosen this assignment to investigate the murder of a man she truly admired, but when we're talking about governments and politics and gods, dead or not, it gets complicated. Shara begins to suspect that those closest to...
I read a lot of mysteries, and one detective whose name popped up several times in other folks lists was Arkady Renko. I had no idea who he was, but being a sucker for mysteries set in interesting places, I finally decided to pick up Gorky Park, the first in the series. I am definitely glad I did.
Renko is reminiscent of other detectives I've read. the story takes place in Russia in the early 80s. The system is corrupt and while Renko is not a good Communist Party, he's also not forcibly against it. He kind of accepts it all, recognizes it exists and throws away the occasional murder file to keep the crime rate down. but the murders in Gorky Park pull him in. He needs to solve it, whether it be because of the crime itself or due to "the woman" who's attached to the case. You know here, the girl our hero irrationally falls for too quickly and...
I kinda wished I hadn't wasted an Audible credit on Simply Irresistable. It was okay, but I could have just put a hold on it at the library and waited. It wasn't worth "I need it"-ness of a credit.
I was in the mood for a Christmas romance and it did fit the bill. I haven't read anything by Shalvis before, but her name comes up often enough that I felt pretty safe.
Really the book had a lot of things I like, besides the nice coastal town setting and the Christmas season. Maddie and Jax are both good, nice people. Yes, she has trouble trusting, which is understandable, but she' trying to reinvent herself. Yes, Jax keeps some crucial information from her, but he doesn't have a choice, really. Maddie's sisters are great characters, both of whom I'm assuming will get their own love stories later in the series. I enjoyed the dynamics between the three of them. I like how everyone in the...