Book log catchup, #1

Have I really not done a recent reads post since mid-May? Unfortunately, this is all too likely. So, will punt on book summaries and mini-reviews (neither of which I do well, anyway) in favor of a list with notes.

May:
Tanya Huff, Smoke and Shadows - Not as enjoyable as the Henry books, felt very repetitious (back to the warehouse at gate-time again?)
David Weber, Wind Rider's Oath - Quite good, though not as well-paced as the first two in the series. The famous Weber info-dumps strike again, plus various digressions and POV changes to slow things down.
Georgette Heyer, The Nonesuch - re-read for the Heyer list
Jasper Fforde, Lost in a Good Book - Not quite as much fun as the first one, perhaps just due to the fact that it's the second one.

June:
early June was a spate of Sayers re-reads, which led to Bujold re-reads, and then for some reason to selected Balogh re-reads. Call it an extended confort-read session.
Ellen Rankin, The Westing Game - strongly recommended by my 10-year-old niece. Pretty good, though I solved most of the mystery very early on. Didn't get the last twist though. Niece, on the other hand, missed the part I got and solved the one I missed...
Mecedes Lackey, The Fairy Godmother - Not bad. Rather better than I expected, in fact, based on her short-story in the kick-off anthology for this line. (I have read most of what Lackey has written, but some of it is..definitely worse than others.)
Anthology: Once Upon a Midnight, stories by Nora Roberts, Jill Gregory, Ruth Ryan Langan were all fair. The Langan was the best of the lot.

Book log catchup, #2

July:
Mary Balogh, Slightly Sinful
Mary Balogh, Slightly Dangerous - Liked this one the best of the series (which also got re-read before starting these last 2). Balogh has some writing quirks that annoy, but she manages to drag me into the stories enough that I can get past them.
Terry Pratchett, The Wee Free Men - Lovely, lovely book. I like Pratchett, but I read them slowly (I may never catch up to his output..) with lots of space between books. These juveniles are an exception.
Robin McKinley, Sunshine - I'm hit or miss on McKinley's books, but this one is a hit. Not sure I'll re-read it much, but it's a good read, and not as dark as I'd expected based on various reviews. I don't generally do dark.
Mary Jo Putney, Kiss of Fate - in the world of her novella in Irresistible Forces, but a much stronger story than the novella, IMHO
Laura J. Underwood, Magic's Song: Tales of the Harp - a collection of short stories about the same character which I've been reading on my PDA for months. Suffers from heavy repetition of the basic character info--the stories were published separately and not edited for this collection. Fair-to-middling.
Georgette Heyer, Faro's Daughter - annoying early because of the extreme fiscal irresponsibility of several characters , then develops into a sweet romance
Julia Quinn, When He Was Wicked - Why do I keep trying her Regencies? Way too many out-of-period actions and language usages that jerk me out of the story every time. Must stop buying these.
Laura Resnick, In Legend Born - I rated this a B+, but now can't recall the story at all. Ah, well...
Rebecca Caudill, Somebody Go and Bang a Drum - I'd had this on a recommended list from some Internet forum, with no note on who or why. It turned out to be a simplistic story on adopting kids from a variety of backgrounds, written at a YA or even J level. My strong practical streak kept trying to figure out how in the world this family could exist on the father's income. Maybe a 7 year old reader would be able to just read a sweet story on adoptions.

August:
Jasper Fforde, Well of Lost Plots - Good, perhaps a little less gripping than the second one, which wasn't quite as good as the first.
Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky - I really liked The Wee Free Men. AHFOS was better. The "find your true self" story really made the book for me.
Wrede and Stevermer, The Grand Tour - Enjoyable, though not as much so as Sorcery and Cecelia.

September:
Julia Spencer-Fleming, In the Bleak Midwinter - Good mystery, marred in a couple of places by the TSTL (Too Stupid To Live--a standard of bad romance and gothic novels) actions of the heroine. Thinking back, I can see why the author wanted me to not find those actions TSTL, but on the first read, they were TSTL. I think even with possible excuses for those actions they were TSTL. I'll be reading the second in the series, but hoping that the heroine displays a little more common sense.
Steve MIller and Sharon Lee, various Liaden books - deserves a separate post.