It took a while, but we’re finally catching up. 

Waterstones will start selling the Sony Reader in September (for £199), while Borders / Books Etc here have the iLiad Book Edition in stores.

I’ve had a peek at the iLiad, and while I love the fact the screen size is so much larger than the Sony Reader, I can’t justify spending £399 on another ebook device (plus I have all my ebooks in LRF format, and I’m not prepared to spend hours converting them to the Mobipocket format!)

I’m happy that Sony is releasing their Reader here in the UK, mainly because now I don’t have to live in fear that I’ll break mine with no easy way to get it repaired.  I’m wondering about UK ebook pricing though, I’m hoping that they will be cheaper than paper books.

No matter how convenient and cheap buying books online is, it’s just not the same as browsing in a bookstore.

However, I came across this site the other day that appears to be trying to recreate the bookstore experience.  Zoomii pulls data from Amazon.com, and displays them as books on shelves.  You can use the Categories link on the left menu bar to quickly go to the section you want. 

It’s a bit slow, even over a broadband connection, and I think there is potential for additional features (I would love to have New Releases by genre, for instance).  And it’s obviously only available for Amazon US (and Canada).

Despite all this though, I definitely think there is something there worth pursuing – I can see myself spending quite some time browsing these shelves online!

So who else yelped when they opened their email and saw this photo?

I really hope that’s not meant to be Acheron.

This is posted as part of Keishon’s TBR Day challenge, which is aimed at encouraging us readers with the towering TBR piles (you know who you are) to start tackling the books that have been languishing in there for eons.

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Book: Night of the Phantom (contemporary romance)

Author: Anne Stuart

Copyright Date: 1991

Why did I buy this book?  I read a couple of Anne Stuart’s older books last year and really liked them, so have been keeping my eye out for more of the same.

Why did it sit in my TBR pile for so long?  I need to be in the right mood for reading contemporaries, because it’s not one of my favourite genres.

What is it about?  Ms Stuart describes this one as “…a dreamy, erotic take on Phantom of the Opera crossed with Beauty and the Beast, with ghosts and crazed fundamentalists thrown in for good measure.”  And that’s a pretty spot-on description!

Megan Carey discovers her father, a construction business owner, has been cutting corners and using substandard materials using designs by a famed but reclusive architect.  Somehow, the architect, Ethan Winslowe, has discovered this, and is threatening to turn her father in unless he turns up in person at his house.  Megan lets her father persuade her to go in his place and plead his case.  What she hasn’t counted on is the fact Ethan lives in the middle of nowhere, the nearest town is populated with hostile people, and oh, he lives in complete darkness due to some sort of unspecified disability… or is it deformity?

So what did I think about it?  I loved the gothic-ness of the storyline.  How Ethan lives in complete isolation with only his faithful manservant for company, and how he hides himself away in darkness.  And the build-up to Megan wearing Ethan down and him finally revealing himself – I was dying of curiosity to find out exactly how he looked!

Ms Stuart said in the foreword that she just let herself go OTT with this one, and the story did have some pretty fantastical elements.  For instance, Megan is constantly moved between different rooms, each with a different theme – she starts off in a medieval dungeon-like room, is then moved to a castle room, a Southwestern-styled room, a Park Avenue penthouse, etc, etc.  And the townspeople were just plain creepy.

What didn’t work for me though was the mystical connection between Ethan and Megan, and how they could hear the other “calling” them.  It was working very well as a straight contemporary (obviously suspending your disbelief to some extent!), but once the paranormal elements came in, it changed the story somehow, and I just found myself flipping through the pages to get to the end.

Finally, as a side-note, although this is a contemporary, it was written in the early 1990s, so some elements felt slightly dated.  For instance, there was mention of items not really used nowadays, such as traveller’s cheques, and lack of reference to everyday items, for instance, no mobile phones!  This didn’t bother me, but it made me realise how many changes there have been to everyday life in the past decade or so.

My conclusion?  I loved the atmospheric set-up, but the mystical parts didn’t work.  I’ll still look out for more of Ms Stuart’s backlist, but this one wasn’t a keeper for me.  C+.

For some reason, it feels like ages since I actually went out and bought books.  Even though I seriously doubt that.  Anyway, I hit some of my favourite bookstores today and got:

Kelley Armstrong’s “The Summoning” (YA urban fantasy): Yes!  Finally.  It wasn’t easy to find - it was hidden away in the “Teenage Fiction” section in Borders, and not even facing out.  But I’m good at finding books I really really want.  Even better, it’s in mass market paperback here in the UK.  Which is good because I splashed out on…

Naomi Novik’s “Victory of Eagles” (historical fantasy):  I caved and bought the US hardback version.  Is it just me, or does it look relatively slim?  And my copy has really jagged page edges.  Not that I’m complaining (much).  I can’t decide whether to read this or “The Summoning” first - if only all dilemmas were like this.

I also picked up a couple of other paperbacks I’ve been meaning to for ages:

Sherwood Smith’s “The Fox” (fantasy) - This is the second in her Inda trilogy.  I have the first in hardcover, but decided to be sensible and wait for the second to be released in paperback before buying.

Tanya Huff’s “The Heart of Valor” (military SF) - I’ve ummed and ahhhed over this for ages, but I do want to read it. 

Oh, and I saw Diana Wynne Jones‘ “The House of Many Ways” as well, which I did want, but couldn’t convince myself to pay £10.99 (£2 off in Borders and Blackwells if anyone’s interested) for it.  And yay, I’ve just checked and the reward for my restraint seeing it with 50% off at Amazon.  Excellent.

I missed Suzanne Brockmann’s July release off my list of July books that I want!  “Into the Fire” (romantic suspense) is out July 22 and is the latest in her Troubleshooters series.  I’ve loved the last two books (“Force of Nature” and “All Through the Night”) but mainly because of Jules.  Now that his HEA has been (hopefully) resolved, I’m wondering which lucky couple she’s now going to focus on for the next few books…

A bonus sampler PDF (large file) is available from her site to download – I haven’t read it yet, but the cover says it has an excerpt from ItF and a never-seen-before Troubleshooters short story, which is good enough for me.

I don’t normally win free books (okay, I don’t normally enter giveaways either, which probably accounts for it) but recently, I’ve won two:

• Keishon from avidbookreader.com loves Julia Spencer-Fleming’s crime/mystery series featuring Rev Claire Fergusson and police chief Russ Van Alystyne.  I won a copy of the latest book “I Shall Not Want”, which has been getting pretty good reviews around the blogosphere - am looking forward to reading it!
   
• Marg, Ana T and Kailana from Historical Tapestry held a Georgette Heyer season recently, with some associated contests.  I contributed a guest post and won a Heyer of my choice.  I asked for “Powder and Patch” as my own copy is falling to pieces as a result of being read so often (and poor binding, let me hasten to add - I treat my books well!). 

So thank you very much to both sites for hosting the giveaways!

… which, at this time of year, means tennis of course!

Anyone else watch the Murray-Gasquet match?  I left work and Murray was two sets down… thought damn, it’ll be over by the time I get home… turned on the telly when I got home, and what a comeback!  I was on the edge of my seat during the last few games, and I don’t even think of myself as a Murray fan  :-)  All credit to Gasquet though, I thought he was an incredibly gracious loser, and both of them just played fantastic tennis. 

Anyway, I’m gutted because I’ve to go on a team-building / training course for the rest of the week which means I miss the quarters and semis! Arrgghhh.  I can’t believe I’m going to miss the Murray-Nadal match!  I’ve a sneaking suspicion that it’s one of those places with no internet access and strictly limited TV.  Obviously brilliant scheduling by a non-tennis fan.

Time flies!  I can’t believe half the year has already gone past.

Anyway, new month, new books… here are the July releases that I’m looking forward to (although most of these are August or later releases in UK, I just may have to haunt bookstores that do US imports!):

Linda Howard’s “Death Angel” (at a guess - romantic suspense):  Ms Howard is one of my auto-buy authors.  Having said that, I haven’t been too crazy over her last two books (too heavy on the survivalist stuff and too light on the romance), so I’m hoping this one is better. 

Excerpt here (out July 1)

Naomi Novik’s “Victory of Eagles”  (historical fantasy) – Fifth book in the Temeraire series (think Napoleonic Wars with dragons if you’re not familiar with this series already).  Temeraire is the most adorable dragon ever (yes, I’m aware how absurd that sentence sounds, but it’s true – hmm… precociousness in dragons obviously comes across better than in children).   The previous book left Laurence is a rather precarious situation so I can’t wait to get this. 

UK cover on the left, and US one on the right, btw.  I prefer the US cover (more colour!), but the UK version is very similar in style to the previous editions – very striking if you have all five in a row.

Excerpt here (out July 8 )

Eoin Colfer’s “The Time Paradox” (children’s fantasy) – Sixth book in the Artemis Fowl series.  Speaking of precocious children, here’s the poster child.  I can’t remember how I first stumbled upon this series, but it’s brilliant.  Artemis is a teenage boy who could probably take over the world (in his spare time) if he wanted to.  In this one, apparently he has to go back in time and outsmart his ten-year-old self – excellent premise!  Oh, and I love the cover.

Excerpt here (out July 15)

Diana Wynne Jones’ “The House of Many Ways” (children’s fantasy) – I wouldn’t describe myself as a massive fan of Ms Wynne Jones (or is that Ms Jones?), but “House of Many Ways” is a follow-up to… “Howl’s Moving Castle”!  And I love Howl.  And Sophie.  And Calcifer!  Unusually, I liked both the book and the animated movie, although the movie did take a lot of liberties with the story.  Definitely going to get this book. 

Excerpt here (out July 1 – think it’s already out in the States)

Kelley Armstrong’s “The Summoning” (YA urban fantasy) – This is a YA spin-off  from her Otherworld series and apparently, the book’s written from the POV of a 15-year-old who’s just coming into her powers.  I can’t wait to see the Otherworld from such a different perspective, and I do like Ms Armstrong’s writing.  Again, UK cover on the left and US on the right – I think the US lucked out this time around.  The UK version is a bit blah, hopefully it looks better in real life!

Excerpt here or you can read the Flash version somewhere here, okay, go to Story > Excerpt (out July 1)

Patricia Briggs’ “Cry Wolf” (urban fantasy) – Is there anyone out there *not* waiting for this one?  After giving us a taster in the “On the Prowl” anthology, here’s Anna and Charles’ story.  And the cover’s amazing.

Excerpt here (out July 29)

Maybes for July include John Scalzi’s “The Last Colony” (SF – will probably get if it comes out in ebook format), Nathalie Mallet’s “The King’s Daughters”  (fantasy – second in the Prince Amir series) and Sherwood Smith’s “The Fox” (fantasy – this is the mmp version, so I will most likely get).

Oh, and finally, there’s this anthology titled “The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance” which sounds interesting – contributors include Karen Chance (which probably makes it a “Buy!”), Lilith Saintcrow, Keri Arthur, and Vicki Pettersson.