OCTOBER 2017 - READING LIST AND PICK OF THE MONTH

Another decent month's reading, both number-wise and quality. Only one read which didn't hit the mark and seeing as that was a shorty short, not really a problem.

One 5 STAR READ and an obvious choice for Pick of the Month - Robin Yocum's A Welcome Murder!

The full month's reading list was .......

Heleyne Hammersley - Closer to Home (2017) (4.5)

Steve Goble - The Bloody Black Flag (2017) (4)

Rebecca Bradley - Three Weeks Dead (2016) (4)

David DeLee - Whose Greater Good (2012) (3.5)

Joel Hames - Victims (2017) (4)

Robin Yocum - A Welcome Murder (2017) (5)

Sean Costello - Last Call (2015) (4)

Thomas Waugh - Nothing to Lose (2016) (4.5)

Allen Eskens - The Heavens May Fall (2016) (4.5)

Joel Hames - Caged (2017) (4)

Terry Shames - An Unsettling Crime for Samuel Craddock (2016) (4)

Solomon Carter - Rack and Ruin (2016) (2.5)

Larry D. Sweazy - A Thousand Falling Crows (2016) (4.5)

Eric Beetner  - The Year I Died Seven Times: Book 6 (2014) (4)

Eric Beetner  - The Year I Died Seven Times: Book 7 (2014) (4)

Eric Beetner - The Year I Died Seven Times (2015) (4) (Round-up)

4 very good books at  4.5 STARS - Closer to Home from Heleyne Hammersley, Larry D. Sweazy's A Thousand Falling Crows, Nothing to Lose by Thomas Waugh and The Heavens May Fall by Allen Eskens.


4 STAR READS - Eric Beetner's episodic The Year I Died Seven Times, Terry Shames, a couple from Joel Hames, Sean Costello, Steve Goble and Rebecca Bradley

David DeLee's shortish story merited 3.5 STARS, with Solomon Carter's Rack and Ruin, a disappointing  2.5 STARS

More awaits me on the TBR pile from Heleyne Hammersley, David DeLee, Sean Costello, Thomas Waugh, Allen Eskens, Terry Shames, Eric Beetner and Solomon Carter.

More useless trivia......

15 reads from 13 different authors,

6 of the 13 were new-to-me authors....... Heleyne Hammersley, Joel Hames, Rebecca Bradley, Steve Goble, Solomon Carter and Thomas Waugh

Eric Beetner, Terry Shames, Larry D. Sweazy, Allen Eskens, Sean Costello, Robin Yocum and David DeLee have been read and enjoyed before.

Gender analysis - 10 male authors, 3 female....... a bit better than before, but still unbalanced

I believe of the 13 authors I read, 1 is Canadian, 5 are English, and 7 hail from the US.

All 15 of the reads were fiction - 8 novels and 7 depending on your definition were short novels, novellas, long short stories, cliff-hanging episode-cum-installment jobbies or just short stories.

No old stuff enjoyed - all 15 were published this decade -  5 from this year, 6 from 2016 and 1 from 2015, 2 from 2014 and 1 from 2012. I still love older books, I just seemed to have temporarily stopped reading them

4 of the 15 books were pre-owned/purchased

6 of the 15 came via the publisher, 1 from Bloodhound Books, 5 from Seventh Street Books.

5 of them came from the authors, all courtesy of signing up to author’s newsletters on their websites, via Insta-Freebie in a couple of cases.




Favourite cover? Thomas Waugh’s Nothing to Lose

Second favourite – Rebecca Bradley’s Three Weeks Dead

My reads were this long – 262 – 240 – 144 – 40 – 77 – 272 – 266 – 94 – 304 – 45 – 270 – 20 – 256 – 40 - 42

Total page count =  2372 (2379 in September).......more or less the same as last month

10 were Kindle reads, 5 were paperbacks,

5 < 50,
2 between 51 < 100,
1 between 101 < 200,
6 between 201 < 300,
1 between 301 < 400,
0 > 400 pages

The Heavens May Fall from Allen Eskens was the longest read at 304 pages.

 Solomon Carter’s Rack and Ruin - the shortest at just 20 pages.