The Saucy Wenches Book Club

Source : Neil Gaiman's Journal.

"This is the softest pillow I've ever had," Digger said. "That's my ass, man," Eli told him, voice muffled like he had his face in the mattress. "You sleep sideways." "I don't care, this is nice." Part & Parcel by Abigail Roux

“There is some good in this world, and it's worth fighting for.”

Of the Wenches who checked in this week, only two don't have a Fever book (or two!) on their reading lists. You can tell a new Fever release is just around the corner when we're all back in the Fever world. Just three weeks, to go, Saucy Readers, and we're revisiting all of our favorite moments and scouring the first six novels for clues and tidbits we may have missed the first time (or the first five times!) around. Click through to see what else we're reading. And we hope you have a wonderful New Year, chock full of great things to read!

There aren't many crimes in my book. Not many sins either. But top in both of those lists is killing time. Have fun with it, make something cool, play video games, work hard if you feel like it, but do something. Killed time is an abortion, life that never gets lived, gone, just gone. Iced ~~Karen Marie Moning 

"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful."  Norman Vincent Peale

Authors That Made 2015 A Better Reading Year For Us The past couple of months haven't been great for me in a lot of ways, and for the first time ever, I've gone a while without reading. But, 2015 has been GREAT for me discovering new authors! And wondering where they'd been all my life! So as this year comes to a close, I figured, why not share our favorite author discoveries of 2015 with our lovely readers!  Click through to read more!

I feel it in my fingers,  I feel it in my toes,  Christmas is all around me, and so the feeling grows It's written in the wind, It's everywhere I go, So if you really love Christmas, C'mon and let it snow You know I love Christmas I always will My mind's made up The way that I feel There's no beginning There'll be no end Cuz on Christmas, You can depend  You gave your presents to me And I gave mine to you I need Santa beside me In everything I do... Movie:Love Actually, Title: Christmas Is All Around (Billy Mack)

I've never seen such clear eyes as Ryodan's got. Most folks are crammed full of emotions, with lines around them like battle scars. I can tell by looking at grown-ups if they've spent their years laughing or crying or resenting the whole world. {snip} Looking at Ryodan is like staring the devil in the face. It's obvious what he's felt the most--nothing. Ruthless. Cold dude.  Iced ~~Karen Marie Moning

Welcome to the second part of our Best Of 2015! The books featured in this list were not only read in 2015, but actually published in 2015 as well. It was a very good year to be a book-loving Wench. From memoirs to historical dramas, from dark romance to steampunk, and from series beginnings to series ends authors gave us a whole lot of amazing reads to keep our lists full and our Wenchy minds occupied and satisfied.

I didn’t feel like buying him the jacket he asked for for Christmas, so I just got him a coat hanger with a sticky note attached that read, “Here’s something for you to hang your dreams on, pal.” ― Jarod Kintz,  There are Two Typos of People in This World: Those Who Can Edit and Those Who Can’t

Let's see, scrolling down our list we have Fever , Girl Who , Fever , Sidewinder , Fever , Sidewinder , Fever , and Fever . I see a dominant theme here. It's probably because we are within the one month countdown to Feverborn . Not that we're counting.  Happy Solstice and Merry Christmas, Saucy Readers! We hope you get a gift of reading for the Holidays! 

As soon as they’d both settled in, a waiter approached the table, and their first official date was in full swing. Kelly managed to take it seriously right up until the dessert menu was laid at his elbow.   He shook his head and grunted. “Okay, seriously. Let’s get the check and head back to my room.”   Nick quirked an eyebrow and shifted his shoulders, laying one hand on the table. “And skip dessert?”   “Nicko,” Kelly grunted. “You earned me on my knees just with the cut of that suit, okay.” Part & Parcel by Abigail Roux

The Wenches read so many wonderful books this year that we needed to break our list into two parts! This part one covers the outstanding books we read that weren't published in 2015, although we read them all this year for the first time. It's a lovely variety of books, from sci-fi to contemporary romance to psychological thriller to historical drama. We may be late to the party with some of our picks, but we come with enthusiasm. And snacks. Probably wine, too. Enjoy!

“Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him. He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowled...

Take a look. It's in a book. I read a lot this year. Not as much as some other Wenches and Wenchy friends, but more than a book a week. I flew through almost forty books just this summer! So it's no surprise to me that among my vast list of completed reads, are thirteen stellar books. Now, I believe that if I love a book, it's a five star read. Period. I don't have boxes that need to be checked in order for a book to get the highest rating, or issues that disqualify a book, or anything like that. If I love, if I reread it, if I recommend it, if it entertained me thoroughly, it's a five star read. Come with me through the jump as I tell you about the books that rocked my world in 2015, from the beginning of the year to the end. Hopefully you'll even add a few to your TBR!

"Some people fall apart when they get hurt," he says. "Puddle into apathy and despair and never recover. They wait all their lives for someone to come along and rescue them." {snip}  "But others...well, they don't go from hurt to pain. They flash from insult to fury. They raze everything in sight, which usually succeeds in obliterating the very thing that hurt them. However, it causes collateral damage." Iced ~~Karen Marie Moning

Kelly pulled Nick’s hand to his chest, clutching it as he laid his head on the mattress beside him. Ty sat in a chair on the other side of the bed, sliding his own abused fingers into Nick’s just to make sure Nick knew not to fucking let go. Digger and Owen drew closer, setting up around the bed. They had a lot of time. They could wait for him to wake. Crash & Burn by Abigail Roux Source

The holiday season is busy for everyone and it's no different for the Wenches! Some of us a knee-deep in rereading Fever, while others are heading that way, or at least wishing they were. Still others are wishing for the time and drive to read anything at all. Click through to see who's reading, and who is only wishing they could! What are you reading, Saucy Reader? 

“Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!”

Barrons and I are pros at ignoring anything and everything that passes between us that might smack of emotion of any kind, even so simple a feeling as embarrassment.  ~Faefever by Karen Marie Moning

It seems the older I get, the more value traditions seem to have - and now that I have a little of my own, it feels all the more important to have traditions around the holiday season, regardless of the holiday!

"We first crush people to the earth, and then claim the right of trampling on them forever, because they are prostrate." An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans by Lydia Maria Francis Child

It’s funny how such tiny, insignificant, dozen-times-a-day action can become a line of demarcation. The picking up of a phone. The pressing of an on button. Before I pressed it-as far as I knew-my sister Alina was alive. At the moment of pressing, my life split into two distinct epochs: Before the call and After. Darkfever, Karen Marie Moning

Sweep in Peace by Ilona Andrews The second installment in the Innkeeper Chronicles brings more adventures to Dina's door. I loved the first book in the series, Clean Sweep , and couldn't wait for the sequel. And I wasn't disappointed, Ilona started publishing the second books chapter by chapter as a free online series quite soon. However, I wasn't able to follow the story online, as I did with the first book. So I couldn't wait for it to come out as an eBook. Come with me to read the rest after the jump.

Life turns on a dime. Sometimes towards us, but more often it spins away, flirting and flashing as it goes: so long, honey, it was good while it lasted, wasn’t it?

“I love books, by the way, way more than movies. Movies tell you what to think. A good book lets you choose a few thoughts for yourself. Movies show you the pink house. A good book tells you there's a pink house and lets you paint some of the finishing touches, maybe choose the roof style,park your own car out front. My imagination has always topped anything a movie could come up with. Case in point, those darned Harry Potter movies. That was so not what that part-Veela-chick, Fleur Delacour, looked like.” Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning

"GEDDONWITHIT, YOU MISERABLE WHITE WORMS !" roared Gobber at the Saber-Toothed Dragons, cracking his whip above their heads. "I'VE HAD SNAILS THAT MOVED QUICKER THAN YOU LOT! MY GRANNY COULD SKIP FASTER THAN THIS AND SHE'S A HUNDRED AND FOUR! YEEEEEEHAAH!!" How To Train Your Dragon book 4: How To Cheat a Dragon's Curse by Cressida Cowell

So, not long ago, I was talking to Wench Barb and I thought, "you know, what about Wenches that are Toys'R'Us kids?"  You remember the jingle - I don't wanna grow up, I'm a Toys'R'Us kid...  You're welcome for the earworm.  Anyway, the thought went, what about wenches who, for whatever reason, love children's lit? They have kids at home and are looking for read-alouds, or the Next Great Book to try out themselves?  And so, here I am.  I fit both those categories, actually. And I need books that aren't Harry Potter, because my son and I have read those to death already!  And so off I went, in search of something, anything,  to read at bedtime that wouldn't bore me to death, but would also hold the munchkin's interest. Not exactly an easy task. Anyway, about a year and a half ago, How To Train Your Dragon 2 hit theaters. What's the big thing bookstores do when books are made into visual media? You betcha. BIG DISPLAY. So, I picke...

Warning: My Fangirl Friday is going to be completely and utterly frivolous...all hail...my nails!! Yep! I'm fangirling my nails. Why, you may ask? Because I haven't always had nails, and having beautiful nails is something I don't take for granted. (Yet, I wish I could!). I'm not alone in my adoration of pretty nails! Head wench Barbara is a nail polish enthusiast!  Join me after the jump for some cute ideas and pictures!

"We can't all be soldiers turned Master vampires, Ethan." And thank God for that. One of him was plenty enough. Ethan sat forward, linked his fingers on the table, and gazed at me. "My point, Sentinel, is this: Compared to this world, your new life, your human life would have been cloistered. It would have been a small life." "It would have been a life of my choosing." Hoping to end that particular line of conversation, I closed the book I'd pretended to stare at. I picked it up, along with a couple of its companions, and walked them back to their shelves. "It would have been a waste of you." Friday Night Bites ~~Chloe Neill

If a hiker gets lost in the mountains, people will coordinate a search. If a train crashes, people will line up to give blood. If an earthquake levels a city, people all over the world will send emergency supplies. This is so fundamentally human that it's found in every culture without exception. Yes, there are assholes who just don't care, but they're massively outnumbered by the people who do. The Martian by Andy Weir Source

“I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it's very difficult to find anyone.' I should think so — in these parts! We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!”

Hello Saucy readers! We hope you had a lovely long weekend and had plenty to be thankful for! Hopefully one of the things you are thankful for was quiet time to read!  The Wenches got some reading done despite everything else going on. A lot of us are revisiting Dublin because.. well, because it's amazing. There are a few new things we've been trying out too, so maybe you'll want to add those to your reading lists! Click through to see what we've been reading. And please share what you've been reading with us in the comments!