May Reads

on Paper/eBook

Let's Pretend this Never Happened by Jenny Lawson (aka The Bloggess) - B+.  If you've ever visited www.thebloggess.com you'll know what to expect here.  It's funny, with some poignant and moving bits too, but mostly it's just really funny.  You will probably need tissues - from laughing so hard - and people will look at you strangely if you read in public.  Also, very cool cover.

Lord of the Fading Lands (Tairen Soul #1) by CL Wilson - A-.  See my full review here.

Lady of Light and Shadows (Tairen Soul #2) by CL Wilson - A.  I don't want to say too much about the plots in the last books because I dont' want to spoil it for new readers.  But, if you read the first book and like/love it, you will love the rest I think.
The epic love story upon which the fate of the world hangs continues in this second book of the quintet.  Ellysetta has started to forge soul bonds with Rain and as their wedding draws closer, the Eld Mages step up their efforts to capture her.

Even better than the first book, I was forced into very late night reading because I just could not put this book down.  The last 100 or so pages are so packed full of drama and action that I just had to keep going until Rain and Ellysetta were safe. 

Lord of the Fading Lands by CL Wilson

Why I read it:  I picked this one up on special at Dymocks recently ($5!) and I'd heard a lot about it.  I actually started listening to this on audio but, as interesting as the story was and as good as the narrator was, the production values were so bad (strange editing cuts, abrupt scene changes and background noises like shuffling paper and coughing!) that I gave up on the audio and picked up the book instead.

What it's about: (from Goodreads)  Once he had scorched the world.

Once he had driven back overwhelming darkness.
Once he had loved with such passion, his name was legend...
TAIREN SOUL
Now a thousand years later, a new threat calls him from the Fading Lands, back into the world that had cost him so dearly. Now an ancient, familiar evil is regaining its strength, and a new voice beckons him--more compelling, more seductive, more maddening than any before.
As the power of his most bitter enemy grows and ancient alliances crumble, the wildness in his blood will not be denied. The tairen must claim his truemate and embrace the destiny woven for him in the mists of time.

What worked for me (and what didn't): Ellysetta Baristani is the adopted daughter of Celierian woodcarver. He and his wife found her abandoned in the woods as a baby and her origins are therefore mysterious and unknown.  She has been afflicted with violent seizures since childhood and has terrible nightmares.  Rain Tairen Soul is shown her face in the mystical Eye of the World when he begs for a way to save the dying Fey and Tairen races.  He travels to Celieria to find her and when he realises that she's his Truemate, he's stunned, to say the least.  No other Tairen Soul has ever been truemated.