S for Sunday and slow but sure wins the race ...

Not that it is a race. But I've read a couple of "S" books. So seven more letters to go. Just doesn't seem to be anything cropping up with those letters that's catching my eye, although KZ was kind enough to release Visible Friend so I have a V book now. I'll have to get to that soon.

Gorgeous weekend here. Spring seems to have finally arrived. Although my parents got 1.5 feet of snow and vehicles were getting stuck on the main street. Sigh. I definitely now why I left Manitoba now. LOL It will melt quickly but what a drag. I did remember to phone my Mom last night. Well, my kidlet did, so we're good. Hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday.

Shifting Sands by Ally Blue, JL Langley, Brenda Bryce, Kimberly Gardner, Jet Mykles, Willa Okati (340 pages)
MLR Press

This is an interesting way of writing a book, it's not an anthology but not a joint writing project in the traditional sense. Set on a ranch in Texas, the owner Ben married a Chinese woman (he's not entirely sure why he married her since he's gay, as is most of his staff) and after her failed attempts to seduce the other hands, she leaves with a young man cursing them all. What this means is that every full moon, for 24 hours or so, they turn into an animal. They've learned to live with it, and each ranch hands story is written by another author. It seems that when they fall in love, their lover also turns into an animal and it took me awhile to catch on, but they are the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac. Many of the stories have a humorous overtone. It's hard to take yourself too seriously when  you turn into a rat or a rooster. I was really impressed that all of the stories were so even in tone. You would not think "Oh, definitely a different author here." but each story had it's own feel as well, that each man was distinctive. So if you're looking for something a bit different with touches of angst, humor and hot smexin' cowboys, it's a great choice. And think of the Chinese zodiac, there are some different shifters in there you don't see too often.

My Heart is Within You (Triquetra 1) by Marguerite Labbe (375 pages)
Dreamspinner Press

Look at me reading long books. :-)  Kristair is a very old vampire who seems to be falling ill. His own creator just disappeared one day and she suffered the same symptoms. He hopes that by putting his heart in the body of another he can somehow stave off the end. He sees Jacob playing football and knows he's the one, but he doesn't want to just enthrall him to do it, so he basically starts stalking him. Jacob is freaked at first, but then adjusts and for several months they chat outside Jacob's window and eventually he invites Kristair in and they get freaky. He also agrees to the magical heart thingy to help him. The problem is some organization called the Syndicate want Kristair, and randomly send attack teams to kill/capture him. I wasn't really sure what was behind that all, and given this is a series I suppose that will come. The Syndicate finally realize Kristair has a lover and they kidnap him, manage to turn one of Jacob's roommates into their minion and the fight is on, with Kristair asking for aid from what I gather are gangster vamps. However when Jacob is shot, Kristair puts his soul in him to save him, the illness attacks and Kristair dies. WTF? How can he die at the end. *sniffle* Okay, it's a series and it's paranormal so you know it's not all that it could be. Anyway, I did enjoy it and kept reading for over 300 pages so I definitely want to know what happens next now that Jacob is alone and really really pissed. Because it's a long book there were a fair amount of secondary characters, Jacob's roommates, Kristair's foster-daughter, the vampire mobsters, they were all interesting and well done. I look forward to the next story in the series.