May Book Review Mash-Up

Okay, so I'm still catching up on blogging. Sorry for such a hiatus!

Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison.  This is the newest of the Rachel Morgan series where Rachel is targeted by several groups who have determined her unique background is a threat to the status quo.  Really, Jenks is the star of this book.  He's my favorite in the series, though I identify a lot with Rachel.  I think this is starting so solidify my favorite genre to read as paranormal romance.   Again, Harrison kept me riveted until the end and I'm looking forward to the next iteration of the series.

Guilty Pleasures by Laurell Hamilton. The Anita Blake series has been pretty popular over the last few years, so I decided to try it.  I gave it a good shot, but I'm still really tired of vampires.  Anita Blake is reanimator by trade, meaning she raises people from the dead as zombies, to let them complete the unfinished business left when they died.  But when a bachelorette party forces her to work for vampires she has to investigate a series of vampire murders in order to save her friend.  Hamilton focuses on the fear aspect of the vampire phenomenon, preferring disassociation from them rather than joining them.  Hamilton did a good job with the mystery and investigation, something that I'm never good at.  I never figure it out until all the cards are shown at the end. I enjoyed this particular book, but I probably won't read the rest of the series.

The Scent of Shadows by Vicki Pettersson. I found Pettersson in the Unbound anthology I reviewed a couple posts ago. It is so unique that the characters are zodiac based comic book heroes.  This was the first book of the series that follows Joanna Archer as she discovers her part in this world.  Pettersson creates a very strong female main character who I totally identified with.  She also delves into the strength in beauty itself, particularly in Barbie-type women that hit on some prejudices I know I have had in the past.  It was a very well done book and I plan on reading more in the series.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins.  This is the sequel to Hunger Games where Katniss has to deal with the political and emotional fallout from her victory in the Hunger Games.  I didn't get into this book as much as I did the first one. It was much slower, spanning a lot more time than the original.  It really felt like it was a lot of prep work and drama to set up the next book where the revolution really will take place.  I didn't really care as much about the characters or the drama.  I might read the next one just to find out what happens but I'm not on the edge of my seat for it like I was after the Hunger Games.

Female Body Breakthrough by Rachel Cosgrove.  This I actually picked up at my sister's suggestion.  It's actually by the wife of the guy who wrote the workouts for New Rules of Lifting for Women.  There were two unique things about Cosgrove's plan.  The first was actually planning your workouts around your menstruation cycle so that you don't attempt to do your hardest workouts during the week you feel the worst.  She recommended to use a PMS week as the week to change your routine, but not expect to peak at all that week.  The other was the most vague nutrition plan I've ever seen in a fitness/health book.  It only really offered the now-standard advice: lots of water, no processed food, and a lot of fruits and vegetables.  It has no numbers based planning of metabolic rates, how much you burn in a workout, etc.  I've done three workouts on this plan so far, lining it up with when my company kicks off its internal weight loss challenge.  Here's wishing me luck!