5 Books That Blew My Mind

Thought I’d talk about books. I am a voracious reader. I’ve been known to read 3-4 books at one time, and devour 700+ page books in a few days. I read fast. (And, yes, I retain it all). I figure it this way: I don’t think I’ll ever be able to read my entire TBR pile in a lifetime, so I will read as many as I can as often as I can and see what happens. (Yeah, we’ll see how that goes. I’ve got bookcases and shelves filled with actual paperbacks and hardcovers, at least half that I haven’t read yet, and at least 2,000 ebooks on my Kindle. And that is growing daily).

I buy books. I don’t buy myself much of anything else, including clothes. But books are my thing. I’ll try any new author if it’s free or cheap or highly recommended. I have some who are auto-buys, no matter what the cost. I try to finish every book I start. And I’ve found good ones. Here are five of my most recent mind-blowers:

1) The Translucent books by Dan Rix (Translucent, Of Starlight, and Ash and Darkness currently — more to come!) Dan Rix is the bomb. Seriously. He writes mind-bending sci-fi which is right up my alley, exploring things like time travel, quantum mechanics, walking through mirrors (Broken Symmetry was the first book I ever read of his and I read it TWICE), soul mates, and now, invisibility. Two high school girls are camping and a meteorite lands near them. They’re curious, so they go investigate. The main character, Leona, finds a piece of it and keeps it. There’s this substance that it secretes that can make someone invisible if he or she wears it like a second skin. Leona and her friend both try it, and…they like it. Chaos ensues. People are after it. They become vigilantes. Leona is keeping a horrible secret and she visits a boy while invisible to try to soothe her conscience. And then the inevitable happens. She can’t get it off. And…it blew my freaking mind. What this stuff really is and what it does is the stuff of nightmares. Seriously. And it’s sentient! And…there’s a horrifying parallel universe and…just go buy it already! Translucent is free through the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library if you want to try it. I guarantee you, you will not be able to wait a month to continue the story. I bought both books 2 and 3 immediately. After thinking I’d check them out of the KOLL for the next two months. Couldn’t wait.

2) Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater. Book #3 in her Raven Cycle. I admit, it took a bit to warm up to this one, but once I did…mama mia. There are ley lines, a missing mother, impending death, sleeping kings and a crazy king’s daughter and a romance and…the way Stiefvater combines all of these elements and weaves an intriguing narrative just blows my mind. My main interest is the ley line and the (possible) character who may die, but I’m sure she’ll find a way around that and I can’t wait to see how. Her books are all mind-blowers, actually. Her Shiver trilogy had me in tears multiple times and it brought out so many feels. I remember I was in the middle of moving and I’m reading Forever (book #3 of the trilogy) and not even forty pages in, I’m a weeping mess, up way past my bedtime, with a horrible migraine, and I kept on going. So I expect similar amounts of crying and feels from book #4 of the Raven Cycle, The Raven King (and may God have mercy on all of our souls).

3) Travelers by Meradeth Houston. This one was really cool because it explored time travel, and undoing an event by time traveling and changing the future. A girl whose twin brother dies decides to break all kinds of rules (there is a ruling body and rules in this book, very cool) and prevent her brother’s death, thus dramatically changing the future. Except…she changes too much, and her best friend, who was in love with her brother, wants to change everything back…even though it will mean the death of her boyfriend. So a lot of stuff happens, and a lot of craziness, and…wow. It’s just amazing how it all ties together and makes sense. Some time travel novels break their own rules and/or are inconsistent, but this one worked. 

4) Shards of Hope by Nalini Singh. Big Nalini Singh fan here, since way back to her novel Slave to Sensation, book #1 of her Psy/Changeling series. If you’re not familiar, these books are about the Psy race (powerful psychics who erased all emotion so they wouldn’t go crazy and kill each other) and the Changelings, basically shapeshifters of all different kinds. So, Shards of Hope is about a woman who was tortured as a child in an attempt to contain her power, and her only ally and best friend from childhood, who’s a telepath and leader of a squad of Psy assassins. She’s a broken woman, and she feels she’s too broken for him, but he’s loved her since they first met. There is so much more to it than that, and Singh’s novels follow sequentially so you’d need the necessary backstory to understand a lot of it, but it is a beautiful, powerful love story. I was amazed.

5) Burning Bright by KD Sarge. This one is a Turtleduck Press novel, and will be out in November. Full disclosure: I am copyediting this right now as we speak, and I love KD’s stories. BUT. I still think anyone who loves good fantasy should check this out. It centers about a young man about to become what is called a Keeper (a mage who can fight demons) and he is given a message from his master to flee, which he does, taking a friend with him. (He’s also in love with his master, and his master has disappeared, and he’s heartbroken) and there’s a landsquid, which is just plain awesome, and I love it. I’m not even done with it yet, and it continues to blow my mind. See, there are circumstances going on that directly threaten our boy’s life and well…hell, just get it when it comes out. You will thank me later.

So that concludes my list. Have you read any mind-blowing books lately? Share them in comments. I’m always looking for more books to devour!