Happy 2011!

I'm back! I know, stating the obvious.

After being in Melbourne for just a month we went back to New Zealand for Xmas and New Years with the families. I had an amazing time. Overate every day. Went bike riding and swimming and jetskiing and biscuiting. Got burnt a couple of times (and got told off by Ollie for it).

No writing. Admittedly I had very little computer access but I am still feeling the guilt..

I now also have a new computer so no more blue screens of death for a while (we hope).

My Christmas reads were:

• Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead. The last book in the Vampire Academy series. I loved it, but wished there were a few more loose ends tied up at the end. Although I guess some of that will happen in the spin off series.
• City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. First in The Mortal Instruments trilogy. In a nutshell, Clary's mother disappears just as she learns demons exist and that the secretive Shadowhunters hunt them. I liked the premise, and it had some good moments, but mostly it wasn't my cup of tea. The characters didn't feel as developed as they could be, there was too much foreshadowing for major plot points, and I felt like it could have gone through another round or two of editing before being published - overabundance of adjectives and way too out there metaphors. I'm unlikely to buy the next two books in the series. This is just me though and there are plenty of good reviews on Amazon so if you've been thinking about reading it don't be put off by this.
• The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes which I also loved. A bit different from her usual stuff but it was amazing. Her characters are all so well developed and individual. Loved the ending.
• And the Exodus Quest by Will Adams. This one I'm still reading and it's taking me ages. I'm finding it difficult to get into. It's kind of an Egyptian/Archaeologist version of a Dan Brown book, and I have the same difficulty in getting into those. I love learning about Ancient Egypt and the book has a lot of that, but at times it feels more like fiction than nonfiction with the long sections of exposition in dialogue that all the characters seem to take turns doing. I will keep trucking on though because I don't like stopping a book part way through.

How has everyone else's Christmas and New Years treated them? What have you been reading?