New Releases ~ week of 09/11/2017

A Column of Fire by Ken Follett (#3 Pillars of the Earth)

A Dangerous Engagement by Melanie Dickerson (#3 Regency Spies of London)
All the Secret Places by Anna Carlisle (#2 Gin Sullivan Mystery)
Arrogant Bastard by Zara Cox (#3 Dark Desires)
Asking for Truffle by Dorothy St James (#1 Southern Chocolate Shop Mystery)
Badder by Robert J. Crane (#16 Out of the Box)
Beach, Breeze, Bloodshed by John Keyse-Walker (#2 Teddy Creque Mystery)
Before She Ignites by Jodi Meadows (Fallen Isles Trilogy #1)
Body on Baker Street by Vicki Delany (#2 Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery)

Cat Got Your Secrets by Julie Chase (#3 Kitty Couture Mystery)
Cause to Save by Blake Pierce (#5 Avery Black)
Cold Malice by Toni Anderson (#8 Cold Justice)
Control Freak by Steve Moore (#2 King of the Bench)
Destiny Disgraced by Carrie Ann Ryan (#6 Talon Pack)
Doom With a View by Kate Kingsbury (#2 Merry Ghost Inn Mystery)
Enigma by Catherine Coulter (#21 The FBI Thriller Series)
Fireblood by Elly Blake (#2 Frostblood Saga)
Fly Guy's Big Family by Tedd Arnold (#17 Fly Guy)
Murder by Misunderstanding by Leighann Dobbs (#2 Hazel Martin Mystery)
New World Inferno by Jennifer Wilson (#3 New World)
No Other Love by Kathryn Shay (#4 To Serve and Protect)
Nyxia by Scott Reintgen (#1 The Nyxia Triad)

Promise to Defend by Diana Gardin (#2 Rescue Ops)
Raise Hell by Mallory Crowe (#5 The Bewitching Hour)
Rising Star by Terri Osburn (#1 Shooting Stars)
The Hangman's Sonnet by Reed Farrel Coleman (#16 Jesse Stone)
Scorch by Cali MacKay (#4 Blackthorn Brothers)
Shadowhouse Fall by Daniel José Older (#2 Shadowshaper)
Slider by Pete Hautman
Taste of Marrow by Sarah Gailey (#2 River of Teeth)
The Devouring by James R Benn (#12 Billy Boyle World War II Mystery)
The Empty Grave by Jonathan Stroud (#5 Lockwood & Co)
The Equals by Daniel Sweren-Becker (#2 The Ones)
The Final Score by Jaci Burton (#13 Play By Play)
The Names of Dead Girls by Eric Rickstad (#2 The Silent Girls)
The Romanov Ransom by Clive Cussler, Robin Burcell (#9 Fargo Adventure)
The Wolf's Dream Mate by Marianne Morea, Milly Taiden (#25 Howls Romance)
Threads of Blue by Suzanne LaFleur (#2 Beautiful Blue World)
Torment by Scarlett Dawn (#3 Origin)
Tripped Out by Lorelei James (#8.5 Blacktop Cowboys)
Warcross by Marie Lu (#1 Warcross)

New Releases ~ week of 09/12/2016

A Love Made New by Kathleen Fuller (#3 Amish of Birch Creek)

A Shattered Empire by Mitchell Hogan (#3 Sorcery Ascendant Sequence)
Act Two by Denise Grover Swank (#2 Magnolia Steele Mystery)
An Obvious Fact by Craig Johnson (#12 Walt Longmire Mysteries)
Blue Madonna by James R Benn (#11 Billy Boyle World War II Mystery)
Body on the Bayou by Ellen Byron (#2 A Cajun Country Mystery Series)
Class Election by Neil Swaab (#2 Secrets to Ruling School)
Cold-Forged Flame by Marie Brennan (Ree Varekai #1)
Entrapment by Aleatha Romig (#4 Infidelity)
Eternity's Mind by Kevin J Anderson (#4 Saga of Shadows)
Fall of Hades by Richard Paul Evans (#6 Michael Vey)
Gamescape: Overworld by Emma Trevayne (#1 The Nova Project)
Lament for Bonnie by Anne Emery (#9 Monty Collins)
Mad Lizard Mambo by Rhys Ford (#2 Kai Gracen)

Murder in G Major by Alexia Gordon (#1 Gethsemane Brown Mystery)
Navigators of Dune by Brian Herbert, Kevin J Anderson (#3 Schools of Dune)
On The Prowl by Cynthia Eden (#2 Bad Things)
Peculiar Night of the Blue Heart by Lauren DeStefano (#2 Pram)
Pirate by Clive Cussler (#8 Fargo Adventure)
Rebellious by Gillian Archer (#2 True Brothers MC)
Robert B Parker's Debt to Pay by Reed Farrel Coleman (#15 Jesse Stone)
Roman Crazy by Alice Clayton (#1 The Broads Abroad)
Somewhere With You by Debra Clopton (#2 Windswept Bay)
Stalking Ground by Margaret Mizushima (#2 Timber Creek K-9 Mystery)
The Burning Tide by Jonathan Auxier (#4 Spirit Animals: Fall of the Beasts)
The Creeping Shadow by Jonathan Stroud (#4 Lockwood & Co)
The Final Trade by Joe Hart (#2 The Dominion Trilogy)

The Fourth Figure by Pieter Aspe (#4 Pieter Van in Mystery)
The Haunted Howl by Eric Luper (#3 Key Hunters)
The Mighty Odds by Amy Ignatow (#1 Mighty Odds)
The Reader by Traci Chee (#1 Sea of Ink and Gold)
The Secrets of Wishtide by Kate Saunders (#1 Laetitia Rodd Mystery)
The Shadow Guard by J D Vaughn (#2 Second Guard)
The Sound of Seas by Jeff Rovin, Gillian Anderson (#3 Earthend Saga)
The Talented Mr. Rivers by HelenKay Dimon (#2 End Of The Line)
The World Series Curse by David A Kelly (#1 Ballpark Mysteries Super Special)
Travis Justice by Colleen Shannon (#3 Texas Rangers)
Wake the Devil by Robert Daniels (#2 Jack Kale and Beth Sturgis Thriller)

Book Review ~ The Whispering Skull

The Whispering Skull (Lockwood & Co. # 2)

by Jonathon Stroud
published by Hyperion
genre: MG/YA, Supernatural, Fantasy, Paranormal

Summary (Goodread): In the six months since Anthony, Lucy, and George survived a night in the most haunted house in England, Lockwood & Co. hasn't made much progress. Quill Kipps and his team of Fittes agents keep swooping in on Lockwood's investigations. Finally, in a fit of anger, Anthony challenges his rival to a contest: the next time the two agencies compete on a job, the losing side will have to admit defeat in the Times newspaper.

Things look up when a new client, Mr. Saunders, hires Lockwood & Co. to be present at the excavation of Edmund Bickerstaff, a Victorian doctor who reportedly tried to communicate with the dead. Saunders needs the coffin sealed with silver to prevent any supernatural trouble. All goes well-until George's curiosity attracts a horrible phantom.

Back home at Portland Row, Lockwood accuses George of making too many careless mistakes. Lucy is distracted by urgent whispers coming from the skull in the ghost jar. Then the team is summoned to DEPRAC headquarters. Kipps is there too, much to Lockwood's annoyance. Bickerstaff's coffin was raided and a strange glass object buried with the corpse has vanished. Inspector Barnes believes the relic to be highly dangerous, and he wants it found.

My Thoughts: This is a book where I really like the world the author has built. Ghosts of every type have taken over the night time and the only ones that can see and stop them are the young. The only down side is the POV. For some reason I do not like Lucy's voice. She seems very snobby and at times seems to be trying to hard to be the "mean girl". My annoyance with her made me put the book down several times.
It's unfortunate because when I forced myself to look past her and focus solely on the story it was really good. We had talking skulls in a jar, a source that kills with a look, and a "friendly" competition between Lockwood agency and one of the large official agencies. Throw in deaths, black market auctions, and an interesting mystery and you have a good read.
Overall, I had a hard time rating this one. The story was good, with lots of interesting elements that kept the story moving. On the other hand I wish it had either been told by someone else or mixed in at least one other voice. The ending makes me want to find out what happens next but it's really going to depend on mood and who's POV it's told in.

Rating: 3.5

New Releases ~ week of 9/15/2014

Ancestral Machines by Michael Cobley (#4 Humanity's Fire)

Andi Under Pressure by Amanda Flower (#2 Andi Boggs)
Ashes to Ashes by Jenny Han, Siobhan (Vivian #3 Burn for Burn)
Blackbird by Anna Carey (#1 Blackbird Duology)
Day 21 by Kass Morgan (#2 The Hundred)
Echoes of Us by Kat Zhang (#3 The Hybrid Chronicles)
Edge of Eternity by Ken Follett (#3 Century)
Home by Sarah Prineas (#4 Magic Thief)
Hunt for Jade Dragon by Richard Paul Evans (#4 Michael Vey)
Mountains of the Misbegotten by Joseph Heywood (#2 Lute Bapcat)
Once Haunted, Twice Shy by H P Mallory (#2 Peyton Clark)
Outfoxed by Love by Eve Langlais (#2 Kodiak Point)
Raging Heat by Richard Castle (#6 Nikki Heat)
Scandal and the Duchess by Jennifer Ashley (#6.5 Highland Pleasures)

Served Cold by Marie Harte (#1 Best Revenge)
Space Case by Stuart Gibbs (#1 Space Case)
Texas Born by Diana Palmer (#51 Long Tall Texans)
The Blood of an Englishman by M. C. Beaton (#25 Agatha Raisin)
The Certainty of Violet & Luke by Jessica Sorensen (#6 The Coincidence)
The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey (#2 Fifth Wave)
The Last-Chance Maverick by Christyne Butler (#4 Montana Mavericks: 20 Years in the Saddle)
The Perilous Sea by Sherry Thomas (#2 Elemental Trilogy)
The Stone Wife by Peter Lovesey (#14 Peter Diamond)
The Whispering Skull by Jonathan Stroud (#2 Lockwood & Co)
Trapped by Beverly Long (#3 Crow Hollow)