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Up for reviews...yes, I'm getting back into the swing of things after feeling absolutely no confidence in my writing, and not wanting to read anything for a LONG time.

Jim Hines: The Step-Sister Scheme and The Mermaid's Madness.  I've been meaning to review SSS for a while now (I bought it during the summer, I think), and I did read most of it in chunks, but again, that reading malaise that hit me. I'm reading through The MM now, and will go back and reread SSS. I like the books. There was some objection from another reader about how Hine's treated one of the princesses' sexuality issues (or orientation), but he explained he was tackling that in a later book. He sounds like a great guy on his LJ blog, very thoughtful, and very self-aware of what he's doing and *not* doing.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! I was mailed this book sometime during September, I think, before I quit Paperback Book Swap. The book itself is in unread, perfect condition. I have read portions of it, because, even though I found it funny, it wore me down after short bursts. I mean, it is difficult for me to read past the extra vomiting and crassness and modifications when I practically have the story memorized in my head. Yes, I've read the original that much! But it IS amusing. I'm curious at how Seth Grahame-Smith expands the female roles within the original story.
 
Mansfield Park and Mummies: Monster Mayhem, Matrimony, Ancient Curses, True Love, and Other Dire Delights by Vera Nazarian. Now, I'm looking forward to getting this baby in the mail mostly because, even though Fanny Price is not my favorite Austen heroine, she does what she can in her own passive aggressive way, without trying to piss off the peopleto  whom she feels she owes her life; reading the original as I get older makes me appreciate her character more. She never actually *simpers*, you know? And, like many people I know in LJ land, and elsewhere, she suffers from migraines and tension headaches, and who can't sympathize with that, eh?  Vera's iteration of MP promises to blow the water out from under Fanny and the rest of her family, and I'm fully prepared to enjoy this romp with mummies, werewolves (Aunt Norris gets hers, yay!) and the other fantastical happens.

And, lastly, The Dead-Tossed Waves (Forest of Hands and Teeth, Book 2), book two in the Forest of Hands and Teeth series. From what I've read on the Amazon description of the book,  it jumps ahead a few years to deal with Mary's daughter. Mary is the protagonist of the first book. I've preordered it, and I'm really hoping that the author, Carrie Ryan, answers questions and plot threads left hanging at the end of Forest of Hands and Teeth. Much as I like her smooth writing style, with lots of description, and hints of an elaborate safety system after the zombie apocolypse, it would be really nice if she answered the questions some of her readers (like me) would like the answers to, or at least some sort of wrap up to them. This is a March 2nd release. I'll have to wait until then, and reread the original book.

This past weekend I've been reading Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded: A Decade of Whatever, 1998-2008, which I stumbled upon at Borders. I've been alternating between that book and The Mermaid's Madness (PRINCESS NOVELS).