flu reading

I've been home sick this week with the flu. The most annoying thing about being sick (besides feeling sick, of course) is that I can't concentrate very well. Luckily I was able to dig up some books that sicky-Karen could read fairly well.

Touch of the Wolf by Susan Krinard

Historical paranormal romance. I won't go into the plot, just provide a starting point: werewolves in the English aristocracy in the late 1800s.

It wasn't too taxing a read, the story (and the romance) was interesting enough to keep me reading despite my flagging concentration, the main characters were multilayered, and the paranormal aspects of it not too over the top.

Touch of the Wolf is the first book in a trilogy and I'd definitely be interested in reading the other two books.

Fiona Buckley's Ursula Blanchard Books

Ursula Blanchard is the bastard daughter of one of Anne Boleyn's ladies-in-waiting. She manages to rise above her station and marry for love. Married bliss, however, is fleeting and Ursula loses her husband to small pox. She first becomes a loyal lady of the Queen Elizabeth I's Presence Chamber and then a spy for the English crown.

So far this week I've read To Ruin a Queen (#4). I'm reading Queen of Ambition (#5) now and I'm planning on reading A Pawn for the Queen (#6) next.

Ursula is a sympathetic even modern character and that's one of the things that makes these books such fun reads.