The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell

I don't ordinarily read historical fiction, but it was a slow day at the library for SF and Fantasy, so I thought I'd take a chance on The Last Kingdom. I was pleasantly surprised. Cornwell writes a gripping tales of swords sans sorcery, set in the time of King Alfred. Blood, guts, and glory aplenty.

The Emberverse Series by S. M. Stirling

 I saw the Emberverse series when it first came out, but just wasn't in the mood for post-apocalyptic fiction (I really overdosed on it back in the 70s and 80s) and ignored it for a while. The mood struck, however, the other day, and I got started reading them with Dies the Fire, followed by The Protector's War and A Meeting at Corvalis.

Pretty good stuff, though I seem to have stalled out with the 4th book in the series still sitting in my TBR list

Shadow Rider by Christine Feehan

 This was my first time to try reading Feehan's books - she seems to have published a ton. The concept of Shadow Riders, as introduced in the early going, seemed intriguing, so I pressed on, hoping to find out more about their mission, find out why the heroine was "fated" to be with the hero, and if she had any cool powers, and so forth. Halfway through the book, it descended completely into over-the-top porn, and I gave up on actually finding a plot or coherent story. Plot's evidently not why people buy Feehan's books.