More for the TBR piles!

Blue Diablo

Blue Diablo
by Ann Aguirre

I have the tendency to stick to writers that I already know that I like. It sometimes takes me a bit to warm up to a new writer (new to me, not necessarily new to writing).

Sometimes I find myself wanting to give up on a new book if I’m not in love with it within the first few pages. I tell myself I don’t have to read it, no one is making me…I could just put it down and read something that I know that I will like.

Usually I do push through though. It isn’t often that I give up on a book. Sometimes I might set a book aside for when I’m in the mood for it, but I rarely give up entirely.

When I started Blue Diablo I was tempted to give up. Not because it was bad, it wasn’t. I just wasn’t sure how I felt about the characters right away. It wasn’t love at first sight for me.

It would have been a shame had I given up though because within a few chapters I ended up loving it. Really. The main character Corine Solomon is a “handler” she can touch things and know its history and sometimes even a bit of its future. She’s living (and hiding out) in Mexico when her ex. Chance shows up asking for her help.

Corine doesn’t really want to help him considering that things weren’t all wine and roses when they were together but his mother has gone missing and Corine liked his mom and Chance agrees to help Corine later after they’ve resolved the issue with his mom.

It’s a wild ride back and forth between Mexico and Texas. It’s a dark world here with black magic, demons, evil sorcerers and danger at every corner. This is urban fantasy with a good side helping of romance.

It’s a good story and I really enjoyed the side characters as well as the main ones. I’m really interested in seeing more from them. Luckily it seems there will be more to this series!

Another recent read

Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews
Book 3 of the Kate Daniels Novels.

The funny thing is, I bought the first book of this series (Magic Bites) Back in July of 2007 and it stayed in my TBR pile until this past June and now I just finished the third in the series. Why did I wait so long?

I loved this book. I am so loving this series. The characters are awesome, even the minor characters are well developed and I love so many of them.

In this book the danger heats up for Kate, and it looks like it will continue to heat up as her secret becomes less and less secret.

I love the chemistry and banter between Curran and Kate. So very awesome!

I really like the world setting and how magic plays in this world.

I love all the different shifters and the unconventional way the vampires are portrayed (no romance happening with these vamps!)

Each book in the series has left me wanting more!

I really liked Raphael in this book, and I'm worried for Kate, and I'm in so deep with this series! I really care about the characters.

Hmm...I'm gushing aren't I?

Let me just say that I highly recommend this series :)

The Eternal Kiss...A Book Review!

Eternal Kiss: 13 Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire
edited by Trisha Telep
Young Adult

It often takes a while for me to get through short story anthologies. Short stories aren’t my favorite, but I do enjoy them when they are done well.

The thirteen stories in Eternal Kiss: 13 Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire are all done well. Sure some of them pleased me more than others but I thoroughly enjoyed each one.

I liked seeing the different takes on the whole vampire thing. Some had a very negative view on the vampire condition and others did not. Some vampires could come out in the day and others were burdened by the curse of not being able to withstand the sun.

There is a lot of variety here despite the common theme.
Some of the stories were heavy with the horror theme while others were a bit lighter.

It is hard to pick favorites here because I really did enjoy all of them.

The stories that had stayed in my head the most after finishing the book several days ago are: Falling to Ash by Karen Mahoney, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black, Undead is Very Hot Right Now by Sarah Rees Brennan, Other Boys by Cassandra Clare and Ambition by Lili St. Crow.

I consider this money well spent :)

The stories included in this anthology are:

Falling to Ash by Karen Mahoney
Shelter Island by Melissa de la Cruz
Sword Point by Maria V. Snyder
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
Undead is Very Hot Right Now by Sarah Rees Brennan
Kat by Kelley Armstrong
The Thirteenth Step by Libba Bray
All Hallows by Rachel Caine
Wet Teeth by Cecil Castellucci
Other Boys by Cassandra Clare
Passing by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie
Ambition by Lili St. Crow
All Wounds by Dina James

Prey (a mini review)

Prey (Book 4 in the Shifters Series) by Rachel Vincent.



Oh wow, I started and finished this yesterday.
It was really good. I think it is the best one yet in the shifter series. So much happens in such a short time frame, much of it surprising (which I like, even when it isn't happy stuff). It was really a wild and fast paced ride.
It made me cry more than once too.
I really didn't mean to read it all in one day. I had wanted it to last longer, but I just couldn't put it down.

I really can't wait for the next book!!!

The official release date in July 1st but it's already shipping from Amazon.

another book for the TBR pile

This came yesterday via UPS. I'm really looking forward to reading it. I've enjoyed the previous books in the series and this is the last one.

My TBR piles are getting mighty big!

I've been waiting for this to come out since I finished the one before it!



I've been meaning to pick this up for a while and now finally did!



I was feeling stressed the other day and took a trip to the book store and came home with these two books...


These two I pre-ordered and UPS brought them today!