Night of the Living Deed by E.J. Copperman

I liked the Night of the Living Deed, but I must admit that although Copperman is still writing these books, I lost interest. That being said, let me tell you about this first, great book.

When Alison Kirby returns to her hometown after a nasty divorce (a common theme in most cozy mysteries :) ) she buys a Victorian mansion to fix up as a fashionable Guest House. There is only one small problem, the house comes haunted with the ghosts of the previous owner Maxie and the private investigator, Paul, that she hired to find out who wanted to harm her in the first place. Now since they are bound to the house where they met their demise, they want Alison to find out who killed them and why (Paul hadn't gotten that far when he met his untimely end).  It is fun to see how the two resident ghosts give Alison advice and how she solves the mystery. I would at least give this first book a whirl!

Dealing With Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede

                This is the first book in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. Although my favorite books happen to be the second and fourth book, Dealing is also a very enjoyable read. The plot is as follows.

                Princess Cimorene is bored with being a princess. She can never learn anything interesting and is horrible at embroidery and other more "princessly" pursuits. When her parents engage her to a perfectly horrid prince, there is just one thing for our uncommon princess to do. She runs off to be princess to a dragon. The dragon Kazul to be more exact who is just as uncommon a dragon as Cimorene is a princess. Together these two new friends must defeat plotting wizards and a range of other dangers whilst also trying to convince all those princes and knights that she really doesn't want to be rescued!

The book is available through both Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

The Riddle Master of Hed by Patricia McKillip

The Riddle Master of Hed is by far one of my favorite book series. It is one that you have to read in order or the books don't make sense, although my favorite book is by far the last one, Harpist of the Wind. They're all great though.

                The main character of this series is Prince Morgan of Hed. Hed is a farming community and Morgan has never really fit in. He is a Riddle Master, or lore master of this world and he was born with three stars upon his forehead. The story begins when Morgan goes to claim his bride Raederle, but a ship wreak changes his plans. He realizes that those stars on his forehead has marked him for a mysterious destiny, and so he begins a search throughout the lands for the High One, the only one who may have the answers for the questions surrounding his fate. I highly recommend this book. It is available in a paper book and e-book omnibus of all three books from both Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

The Beauty in the Wood

The Beauty in the Wood

They call her Sleeping Beauty, that beauty in the wood

And all the princes dream of her and would awaken her if they could.

But only one Prince can break the old hag's spell

And only one Prince will live to tell.

For only one Prince can reach down his lips,

And awaken the Maiden with true love's first kiss.

A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

If you were to ask Edgar Rice Burroughs what genre  The Princess of Mars was, he would probably have answered science fiction. After all, it takes place on a real planet in our solar system and was written an era where fantasy was something you wrote for children. But compared to even other science fiction writers of his time such as Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, the John Carter series is far more fantastical than sci-fi.

This first book begins with John Carter, a civil war veteran, in the desert of Arizona. When he and a unit of Calvary are attacked by Apache he holds up in a cave with the captain. He goes out to stare at the stars and magically appears on Mars. We don't know how he ends up on Mars. He just does. There he meets two groups of the people the huge green Tharks, a warrior race that at first don't know what to make of this strange man who looks like the red men of Mars (or Barsoon as the characters call it). The other group is the "red men" who look a lot like people of Earth. John actually meets and falls in love with the beautiful Dejah Thoris, the titular Princess of Mars. The book is rather stilted in its writing, but it is still a great story.