Nikki’s Top Five Favorite Books in Paperback May 24, 2015

I like a mix of both paperback, ebooks, and audiobooks. While each have their own purpose, paperback is my personal favorite. There are some books that I bought on ebook first (faster and cheaper to get when I just HAVE to read it now) then there are some books that I just had to go buy the paperback to show it on my beautiful bookshelf.

This is my bookshelf.

See, isn’t it pretty?!

These are all my books in beautiful alphabetical order.

Now on that shelf, I have or am getting a few books that I have to have in paperback.

1. Lord of the Rings

Of course, I have to have this on my shelf. This lovely leather bound box set was a gift from my best friend for my birthday. The font is small, but it is gorgous. I started reading this book when I was in high school but had never finished it, because I had the largest version in the history of books and it kind of terrified me. I watched the movies later and I fell in love, but never got around to finishing the series. My friend bought me these copies when she found out I hadn’t read it. I am going to read them while listening to the audiobooks and immerse myself into Middle Earth.

2. The Dresden Files

I absolutly adore this series, so much. It is my favorite series of all time. I bought the ebooks, the audiobooks, and now I am slowly buying the paperbacks. I say slowly because buying all of them would be almost two-hundred dollars in one go. These books are amazing though, there is a wide range of characters, a story arch that lasts through the entire series while each book has it’s own goals and ending, plus each book always ends in a damn cliffhanger which leaves you wanting to practically beg Jim Butcher for another book. This is honestly one of the only series I have read more than once, all of them, which with fifteen in the series that’s a lot of reading.

3. Shel Silverstein Books (Falling Up and Where the Sidewalk Ends)

These two books were gifts from my grandparents for christmas in 1999. I  have read them so many times that I lost the covers, but I adore them. I love Shel Silverstein, his poetry is amazing, and while some are silly others can be pretty deep if you think about them. I’m pretty sure that everyone has read a little bit of Shel Silverstein, and if not you should, you honestly should. It’s pretty hard to explain how awesome his poetry has been.

4. The Dragon’s Rocketship Anthologies (The Scribe’s Journal, The Ship’s Log, and Winter Wishes)

In my group The Dragon’s Rocketship we have created three anthologies, and I am a part of two of them. The stories are all by extremely talented authors that are all members of the group. The Scribe’s Journal is our fantasy anthology, The Ship’s Log is our science fiction anthology, and Winter Wishes was put together by Bob Franks who donates the earnings to Make-A-Wish. I am so proud of all the authors who donated stories and helped create these, it makes me happy every time I see my own name in print, and I love helping others have that feeling as well. That’s why we’re working on our fourth anthology now.

5. Indie Authors from The Dragon’s Rocketship

Now, this is more than one book, and I know that, but…I can’t choose. One of my favorite types of books to own are those of my friends and members of The Dragon’s Rocketship. I love to support my friends who poured their hearts and imagination onto these pages. A lot of these I read in eBook forum and I’m slowly adding to my paper back shelf. All these books are written by friends, and I cannot wait until I have more to list. So far I love all of the ones on my shelf and highly recommend you check them out.

From left to right:

1. Emo Boy by Courtney Beaudry
2. Unjudged by Courtney Beaudry
3. Elemental Reality by Cesya Marae Cuono
4. Controlled Descent by K.M. Herkes
5. Flight Plan by K.M. Herkes
6. Love Me Do by by H.A. Kay (Humeira Kazmi)
7. Early One Morning by Aubree Lane
8. The Bazaar by Jennifer Ponce
9. Slip Song by Jennifer Ponce
10. Demon’s Cradle by Jennifer Ponce
11. Bug Queen by Jennifer Ponce
12. A Time to Build by Rick Rossing
13. A Time to Mourn by Rick Rossing
14. Embers at Galdrilene by A.D Trosper
15. The Raging One by Lexy Wolfe
16. The Knowing One by Lexy Wolfe
17. Retribution by S.J. Wolff (Wolff’s Realm)

Book #9: Love Me Do March 24, 2015

The ninth book I read for my 50 book challenge was Love Me Do by H.A. Kay, a friend and fellow member of The Dragon’s Rocketship. It covers my “A book with a love triangle”, and I finished reading it on 03/14/2015.

This was a well written and intriguing jump into the Pakistan life style. I give it:

Usually, I don’t read romance novels. I always have a problem with the obvious plot lines and the sickening mushy bits. Don’t get me wrong, I adore romance IN another genre, when it fits, but when it’s the main plot it bores me. While this book was a romance it jumped into an interesting twist of what is morally right in a different culture. I like that it showed how things are handled, how people act, how weddings are done from both a more traditional side of Pakistan as well as the other side of it. It was very cool to see that in some parts they are very similiar to the lifestyle here, and some Pakistani’s also don’t like the traditional style that confuses me personally.

H.A. Kay did a wonderful job weaving this tale. While I originally did buy the book because she is a friend and because I adore her other work Aoife and Demon: Curse be the Syhlain by Humeira Kazmi and Shamila Ghyas, I finished the story becasue it was very well done. I would be interested to see how the life of Sophie pans out in the future, perhaps a sequel to show that would be awesome 🙂