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…Yeah, it’s been a while. You knew that would happen though: it does every year, when the snow melts and the trees bud and the air starts to have that fabulous green smell in it again. I’ll get over it –I’d have to, or be useless pretty much from April to October– but for the nonce I am the World’s Most Distracted Writer, hieing off from scene to backyard the second a warm breeze blows in from the open window.

Also, we have kind of a lot to do around the house this year. I am working too. Really.

Anyway, since writing is something I do in 10-minute increments these days, I thought I’d probably better post about something else, and what better than some amazing new books? Or, well, new to me, anyway. I joined
Goodreads some time ago, but only started really using it in the last few months, and I have to say, if you’re not on it? Go join. I’m not sure yet how I feel about it as a promotion tool for authors –if you’re involved in the reviewer community or just ever on twitter, you’ve probably seen the kerfluffles that pop up now and then when an author responds to a bad review of their book (and by the way, for the love of dog, Don’t. Do. That, people, good gods)– but as a tool for readers, it’s amazing. I’ve discovered more amazing books on there than I could ever have hoped to do on my own.

Anyway. Plug over. Onto the books!

Book the first: GRAVE MERCY, by Robin LaFevers.

Assassin nuns. I could leave it there, because really, you know you want to read it now, but I won’t. The main character, a 17 year old farmer’s daughter in medieval Brittany, escapes a bad marriage at the last minute to become a nun in a convent dedicated to the God of Death, whose daughter, it turns out, she is. From there it’s all court intrigue and international politics and a tense whodunnit mixed with romance and history, all woven around the story of one girl’s growth into a woman who makes her own choices regardless of her loyalties. Just read it. You can thank me later.

Book the second: I HUNT KILLERS, by Barry Lyga

Pro tip: don’t read this one when you’re alone in the house. For some reason I didn’t expect it to creep me out, and I was very, very wrong about that. Which makes sense, as it’s about serial killers — and I mean, all about them. Jasper Dent is the son of the country’s most famous serial killer: he was raised in the midst of one long crime scene, and spent most of his free time taking care of his dad’s trophies. While other kids were learning to catch a ball, Jasper was learning to separate a knee in less than 5 minutes, or to identify a good victim. Since his dad’s arrest he’s been trying to put his life back together, but being raised by a man who murders people for fun –and who is training you to do the same– is a whole new kind of baggage. And when a new serial killer comes into town and the police can’t put together the clues that seem so obvious to him, Jasper has to decide if he’s destined to hunt down men like his dad… or to follow in his father’s footsteps.

It’s a gorgeous, dark, twisted story. I highly recommend it — but fair warning: this one’s definitely not for the weak-stomached.

So there you are. Go forth and buy, and all that.