What's on the Nightstand? #30-#42

    The word of the month here is BUSY folks. Honestly, I have no idea how I’ve survived April with my brains intact! On the other hand, busy can be another word for productive and there’s plenty of that going on too.  Speaking of productive, a huge thank you to all who have visited the blog for pushing our numbers past the 5,000 mark! Additionally, a big hello goes to new friends from Jordan, they make the 55^th country collected on the blog. Hmm, that’s a lot of five’s isn’t it? LOL!   
    All this travel, writing and activities also means I’m not as far along on my reading goals for 2012. I do have a few really great ones to share though plus a few of my old favorites I re-read. Here’s the latest Nightstand titles #30-#42.

Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs

Tera Lynn Childs is the award-winning author of the mythology-based Oh. My. Gods. and Goddess Boot Camp, the mermaid tales Forgive My Fins, Fins Are Forever and Just For Fins (July 3, 2012), and a new trilogy about monster-hunting descendants of Medusa

  

The Dark Divine, The Lost Saint and The Savage Grace

                                             by Bree Despain

Bree rediscovered her childhood love for creating stories when she took a semester off college to write and direct plays for at-risk, inner-city teens from Philadelphia and New York. She currently lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with her husband, two young sons, and her beloved TiVo. THE DARK DIVINE is Bree's debut novel.

  Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Dragon Bound, Storms Heart, Serpents Kiss by Thea Harrison

Thea Harrison wrote her first book, a romance, when she was nineteen and had sixteen romances published under the name Amanda Carpenter.
She took a break from writing to collect a couple of graduate degrees and a grown child. Her graduate degrees are in Philanthropic Studies and Library Information Science, but her first love has always been writing fiction. She's back with her paranormal Elder Races series. You can check out her website at: www.theaharrison.com, and also follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

   Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Laini Taylor is the author of the National Book Award Finalist Lips Touch: Three Times, as well as the novels Blackbringer and Silksinger. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, illustrator Jim Di Bartolo, and their daughter.

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Tahereh Mafi is a girl.
She’s 24. She was born in a small city somewhere in Connecticut and currently resides in Orange County, California, where she drinks too much caffeine and finds the weather to be just a little too perfect for her taste. When unable to find a book, she can be found reading candy wrappers, coupons, and old receipts. 
SHATTER ME is her first novel.
Foreign rights have sold in 20 territories
to-date and film rights have been optioned by 20th Century Fox.

The Edumacation of Jay Baker by Jay Clark

The Edumacation of Jay Baker is the debut young adult novel of ... none other than Jay Clark. A tennis enthusiast and former teaching pro, Jay's essays and articles have appeared in The Washington Post and Tennis Magazine.
Until recently, Jay resided in Columbus, Ohio, in a condo owned by his sister, paying his post-grad dues at various lame jobs for zero financial gain. He did hold a gym membership during this dead-end tenure, albeit by masquerading as his sister's "husband" on her corporate account. Jay now lives in Virginia with his girlfriend, Caroline Baker, whom he met through a tennis blog (long story). Things are looking up.

    I hope you guys see something here you want to check out. It’s my standing rule to only talk about books I enjoy and I stand by all these as great reads. Writing is a tough, lonely business sometimes. So if you fall in love with a book, drop the author a note and tell them you love it! Trust me, they will appreciate it.

Till Then,

KD