Word Salad: Fun Vacation Reading

I just came back from a week of vacation. I did not go to a beach and get sand in my books. In fact I did not even get into a pool. But I had a wonderful time in Flagstaff, Arizona with my husband Steve. We stayed at a wonderful Embassey Suite with a great staff. It was cool and rainy...Flagstaff is at 7200 feet. And it is the monsoon season in Arizona. I was there for three days of quilt classes with Sharon Schamber. She taught her method of machine applique and two days of machine quilting. She is a wonderful quilter and an even better teacher. I really loved her classes. This year she won $100,000 prize for one of her quilts. She also won bet of show and a master quilt prize this year. Very few people ever get a masters quilt prize. This is a picture of here quilt that won Sharon the master's category prize.

Now on to the topic of my blog. I brought four books. Two I have read before and two I have not read. I started with one of the one's I have read before. A Mercedes Lackey book titled "Owlflight." The action begins during the recovery of Valdemar from the traumatic events of the Mage Storms trilogy completed by Storm Breaking (1996). The story is basically about the coming-of-age of Keisha, an untrained healer in a remote village who is trying to care for her people without going mad, and Darian, a young mage turned Hawkbrother who has figured in other Valdemar yarns. Together, Keisha and Darian take active part in the rebuilding of Valdemar.

After finishing this middle book in a trilogy, I tried starting each of my other books. One was even a Lackey book set in Valdemar....but none of them worked for me, so it was a half a block east of my hotel was the savior of all reader: Barnes and Noble. Now if I was from Flagstaff I would have gone to their wonderful beautiful public library, but I do not pay taxes in Flagstaff, so it was off to the bookstore. I ended up picking up first book in a trilogy by Lackey :

Oathbound. Bound by oath to each other and to the Goddess, the swordswoman Tarma and the wizard Kethry begin a joint career as mercenaries in the constant struggle for justice in a land where demons come in human and not-so-human forms. The author of the "Heroes of Valdemar" trilogy begins a new series involving a pair of likeable, savvy heroines. Sword and sorcery with warmth and humor make this a story that will appeal to most fantasy fans.