Book Review: Ransome’s Honor by Kay Dacas @kayedacus A fun period story that leaves you wanting more. August 27, 2011
Have you seen @mstiefvater’s animated book trailer for Scorpio Races? August 21, 2011
I can’t wait to read this!
Maggie’s giving away doodled ARCs on her site also, go check out Words on Words to see how you can grab one!
Book Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by @michellehodkin I came, I read, I cried, I laughed, I recommend. July 8, 2011
I love this book. Most of you who’ve followed me for a while know that I read this while I was betaing Mara for Michelle. I read this story so many times, I have parts of it memorized. One scene in particular, I won’t mention it, but it still makes me all swoony-giggly-blushy. Yeah… I know. You’ll know what I’m talkin’ about when you read it. 😉
It is truly an intriguing, emotional, heart-thumping, complicated tale.
Our main character Mara is distressed, but she’s no damsel looking for a white knight. Noah is gallant, but he’s not sporting any shining armour.
Mara is my love. She is tough, smart, feisty, and will put you in your place, in more ways than one.
Noah will make you swoon. He’s smart, snarky, sexy, and foreign.
Aren’t those the requirements for a heartthrob? Give him a brain, a body, and a British accent and he’s golden, yea?
I will brag about Michelle because she’s my friend and I love her… I will brag about Mara because it’s a damn fine story with suspense and pain, heart and humor.
This is a fantasy paranormal YA thriller and I hope you’ll put it on your list. It’s gonna freak you the hell out and you’ll love it. Go check out www.michellehodkin.com to find out more about my girl Michelle.
Book Review: Linger by @mstiefvater She made me cry! July 4, 2011
Oh, Maggie. The ending of this just killed me. I knew it was coming, but it didn’t make it hurt any less.
I was so wowed, I immediately started reading Forever as soon as the ARC showed up, but Linger is still stuck in my head!
The constantly changing points of view were difficult, I found myself craving Sam and Grace, but Isabel and Cole are interesting to add to the mix. I just love Sam so much. And Grace is such a fantastic female lead. I guess I’m just attached to them.
As always, Maggie has taken us into a world we could never comprehend and made it simple and ours. You sympathize with Grace’s need to be a part of something and her craving for Sam and his security and love. You can familiarize with Sam’s desires for loving and protecting Grace, but his need to remain loyal to Beck and his pack. Also with Sam’s reticence to be an alpha, to be the boss… when you’re young you might crave adulthood, but when you’re the one every one is turning to for guidance, it would be nice to shirk responsibility rather than be the one to blame when it all falls to pot. I just wanted to hug Sam and tell him everything was going to be okay, even if I knew it wouldn’t be. I wish I could keep Grace and Sam in my pocket and make everything better for them… make them a perfect world where they can have it all.
It’s a modern day Romeo and Juliet only instead of Montagues and Capulets we have naive human and wild wolf shifters. Both, just like in R+J, have their selfish desires and self preservation in their core, but both can be beautiful as well. This is what I love about Maggie’s writing… she shows us the good with the bad, the feral with the humanity, the pleasure wrapped in the pain, the kindness hidden beneath the fear. It’s beautiful.
I wanna be Maggie Stiefvater when I grow up.
Book Review: Sean Griswold’s Head by @lindseyleavitt Two thumbs up! Good thinkin’ too! July 3, 2011
This was a good story. Better than good… it was real. I’m not sure if that will make sense, but it’s a real, good, fun story.
I kept forgetting to write my review and I found several hours of sitting in ICU gave me some time to reflect on things I hadn’t taken care of like this.
Sean Griswold’s Head is a great story for many… it would be a great talking point for the young ones. A great way to bring up tough topics like diseases and mortality, things that younger folks don’t really contemplate at all until they’re faced with it.
Now that I’ve been sitting in an ICU hospital room with my mom, I think I appreciate Lindsey’s book even more.
When I first started reading I thought it had a good Sloppy Firsts kind of vibe, I loved the language and slang, the quick pace, all of it meshed well together. Now that it’s been a bit and I’m staring at tubes and talking to nurses and smelling that disgusting over-clean smell, it makes you really think and take stock.
Just like Payton, many of us, myself included, kind of just take stuff for granted… you assume it’s all well and good when no one tells you it is not well and good.
Naivete can be a good thing, but it can also be not at all good. Payton comes to this realization, but she kind of has to hit every branch as she falls out of the Real Life Sucks Tree.
I was completely head over heels for Sean.. he’s a good male protag. He reminds me of the perfect sitcom boyfriend. I also loved the sarcasm. Snark is hot people. Payton and Sean have a fun dynamic.
I wasn’t thrilled with Jac, the BFF, she was a little much for me. There were a few times I would’ve tied her by her braids to the Real Life Sucks Tree and whacked her with a wiffle bat or something, but that’s okay… we all have a friend like that right?
Some of the topics in SGH can be tough to get into, but it’s done so well. It can really make you think though. At least it did for me.
Lindsey did, yet again, a great job making real-life fiction fun and also a learning moment. It’s nice to be entertained and get a good message. Very after-school special minus the gross outfits and poor acting. 😀
I highly recommend and can’t wait for more from Lindsey.
Wildfire ARC Giveaway by fellow book blogger @CValdezMiller July 1, 2011
Go check out her beautiful blog and you can enter to win an ARC of Wildfire by Karsten Knight.
Yes, I am shamelessly plugging not only to get Carolina more traffic, but I kinda want this ARC 😀 Double dipping yea?
Carolina’s Book Blog
Tell her I sent you !
Here’s the summary of Wildfire:
Summary: Ashline Wilde is having a rough sophomore year. She’s struggling to find her place as the only Polynesian girl in school, her boyfriend just cheated on her, and now her runaway sister, Eve, has decided to barge back into her life. When Eve’s violent behavior escalates and she does the unthinkable, Ash transfers to a remote private school nestled in California’s redwoods, hoping to put the tragedy behind her. But her fresh start at Blackwood Academy doesn’t go as planned. Just as Ash is beginning to enjoy the perks of her new school—being captain of the tennis team, a steamy romance with a hot, local park ranger—Ash discovers that a group of gods and goddesses have mysteriously enrolled at Blackwood…and she’s one of them. To make matters worse, Eve has resurfaced to haunt Ash, and she’s got some strange abilities of her own. With a war between the gods looming over campus, Ash must master the new fire smoldering within before she clashes with her sister one more time… And when warm and cold fronts collide, there’s guaranteed to be a storm.
Sounds like a winner ❤ And you gotta love a hot park ranger yes? 🙂
Book Review: The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by A.N. Roquelaure aka @AnneRiceAuthor June 2, 2011
The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty was a lovely shock to the system for me. It was phenomenally written by a psuedonymed Anne Rice.
A beautiful languid, lovely prose all the while describing harsh, violent, erotic scenes. Sometimes I was reading, mouth agape. Other times I realized I was curled up in a ball, tucked all up as I read. All the while I was eager to read, eager to learn more of Beauty’s journey or if her prince would be redeemed. I was wanton to know how, or even if, Beauty and her counterparts would rebel or escape, but then again, her alternatives were nothing. It was exciting and heartbreaking all at the same time.
You feel sad for Beauty, but then again you want her to keep going and be strong and prevail. I found myself thinking of things for her to do, how to escape her enslavement to the prince who freed her.
It’s such a dichotomy. Freedom from sleep only to be bound in slavery. At what cost can you find true freedom?
Our Beauty is a spoiled, rich girl, idle and bored, although she loves her family and is always the epitome of well-bred princess. But then she’s awakened after a hundred years of sleep and taken from everything she’s ever known, enslaved by a prince and his mother, the queen, and kept in a violent atmosphere of debauchery and pain, pleasure and gluttony.
I was fascinated by the story beyond the obvious “erotic adventure” as the book touts on the cover.
Age old question… what is freedom? Am I to describe someone else’s freedom? Should it be my version of freedom or theirs? Who’s is right? If our Beauty and the other Prince and Princess slaves find freedom within their pain and captivity, through the actions and commands of others, is it still freedom?
Also, what is too much? My limits may be different from your limits? How do you know until you push past them and realize you’ve gone too far? This is what Beauty begins to learn.
At the end of the first book, you are left asking, “But what happens next?” and I eagerly picked up the second “Beauty’s Punishment.”
Now we find out what Beauty is really made of now that she’s been ripped away from her captor prince and thrust into the village.
If you want to push your limits and really read a gorgeously written tale, I highly recommend The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty.
Not for the faint of heart.
Book Review: ARC of Tangled Past by Leah Braemel @LeahBraemel May 28, 2011
I was interested in this story mainly due to it’s poly relationship premise. I enjoy historical romances, but I don’t always get into Westerns, this was a different kind of Western though. Although there were the fun cattle rustling, horse riding, dirty varment kind of stuff within the pages that you’d hope for within a Western Romance novel, Tangled Past also has an intricately woven romance story line that you normally don’t see. It is unique and very well thought out.
Yes, it is a romance. There are flowery prose and professings of love, but there are two male main characters and they are vying for the love of our female lead, Sarah. They are also vying for each other as well as Sarah.
Jackson is rough edged and abrupt, but he’s honest and loyal.
Nate is kind and sweet, but earnest and passionate.
I couldn’t help but fall in love with both of them right along with our tough Sarah.
Sarah’s life hasn’t been easy and even though her tale is very realistic for this time period and sometimes hard to read about, you come to find her strength and drive very enduring and attractive. Nothing ruins a romance more in my opinion than a “wilting flower” as Miss Martha calls them, the wise sage in Tangled Past.
Leah does a lovely job of creating three distinct characters that bring three distinct pieces together into a beautiful relationship. Their connection reminded me of a symbol I have tattooed on my back, the Trinity Heart Celtic Knot. Where one piece ends, another begins so there is truly no end. I would have loved to have been able to read more, especially later in the story.
I did find several type errors that brought me out of the story a few times, but that’s the beta in me. I’d love to give this story a once over before it’s published to make sure it is grammatically correct and reads smoothly. This story is quite enjoyable and deserves to sparkle.
I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical romances, especially of the Western variety. I’m sure it’s not easy setting this balance that you find in Tangled Past. Leah handles polygamy with care and it’s not only emotional but beautiful and erotic. I would definitely like to read something from Leah again.
Thank you again to Carina Press for allowing me to preread their ARCs. I very much appreciate being given these opportunities!
Book Review: Notturno by @ZAMaxfield Awesome paranormal read! May 21, 2011
What an emotional story!
I picked this out because it looked like a naughty romp, but it turned out to be more so. Adin’s story made my heart hurt over and over!
I was reading over the last day and my stomach kept dropping. It seemed like every chapter I had to tweet ZA about how much my heart hurt for Adin!
Donte is a lovely vampire character and the entire story just makes you swoon and smile and gasp. ZA has a wonderful way about her fluency and word choice, the way Donte and Adin coin a phrase was just adorable and fun. You could feel the attraction as you’re reading. It starts passionately and ends passionately. It’s a lovely mix of intrigue and action, mystery and conversation. It’s wonderful!
It was a fantastic story. If you’re looking for something that combines paranormal romance with intrigue and fun for a really great read, I highly recommend!
Book Cover Reveal: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater! @mstiefvater May 15, 2011
Maggie says there will be “blood, beaches, and kissing.” Sounds like a good time!
Her’s the snippet to wet your whistle straight from Maggie’s people: “With her trademark lyricism, Maggie Stiefvater turns to a new world, where a pair are swept up in a daring, dangerous race across a cliff–with more than just their lives at stake should they lose.”
There may be horses… at least that’s what I’m pickin’ up. Riding horses on a beach = good. Riding horses with someone else = good. Riding horses on a beach with someone else in a race to save you life and theirs= gooooood book! 😀
If you’d like more information, check out Maggie’s personal site: http://maggiestiefvater.blogspot.com/2011/05/ta-da-scorpio-races-us-cover.html
booknerdbecca 