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!

Mini Book Review: Plum Spooky

Janet Evanovich's Plum Spooky is another cute "between-the-numbers" Stephanie Plum novel. I borrowed this from the library and while I have no desire to add this to my shelf to keep I did have fun reading it. It was laugh out loud funny and I really enjoyed it. It is one of those comfortable reads where the characters are familiar and you know it is highly unlikely that any of the usual crew will come to a permanent end.

Sometimes that is just the kind of thing I need :)

Book Review: Second Skin

Second Skin by Caitlin Kitteredge is the third book in the Nocturne City series.

The series itself has a dark urban fantasy kind of feel to it.

The main character, Luna Wilder is a cop and a werewolf. She’s also stubborn, funny and kind of a bitch (I mean that in a good way though).

I really enjoyed this book. It is fast-paced and full of action. This is probably my favorite book in the series, it just keeps getting better.

I highly recommend it.

Today the mail brought...

I'm looking forward to reading this!

Book Review: Wicked Game by Jeri Smith-Ready

Wicked Game by Jeri Smith-Ready

Wicked Game is a fun and often funny vampire adventure with a side of romance. I really enjoyed this book a lot.

The main character Ciara Griffin is a con artist and college student trying to do the legit job thing when she gets and internship at WVMP.

WVMP is a radio station where the DJs are all vampires.

The vampires in this world are of the mostly traditional variety. Sunlight does kill them, holy water can hurt them and they of course drink blood.

The twist here is that he vampires are all forever stuck in the eras they were embraced in and have the tendency to fade or go crazy eventually.

Ciara needs to save the radio station from being bought out by a huge conglomerate called Skywave. Unfortunately money isn’t the only thing standing in the way of the safety of WVMP.

I really loved the characters in this book (which is pretty much the most important thing for me as a reader); the vamps and non-vamps.

I highly recommend this book and I’m really looking forward to reading the next in the series; Bad to the Bone which comes out in May 2009. I was also thrilled to find out that there are two more books contracted after that!

Kitty Raises Hell

Kitty Raises Hell by Carrie Vaughn

I love the Kitty Norville series so much. I want to sit down and read all the books again soon (my mom is borrowing the earlier ones at the moment though); this is how much I love this series. This is book 6 in the series by the way.

Kitty Raises Hell continues where Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand left off (which was released only a month earlier). Kitty and Ben are back from Vegas and the consequences of that visit not only continue but escalate.

I’ve loved Kitty from the beginning and I’ve loved seeing her grow stronger and more confident with every book. I really love Ben and I love the two of them together as a couple. I like seeing how their relation ship is evolving.

I enjoyed learning a bit more about Rick the Vampire and I’m really getting to like him a lot, even though his appearances tend to be brief.

The loose ends that were left dangling after Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand are tied up here which in turn leads to the open ended doom of the big picture.

I really loved this book, but then I’ve felt that way about the whole series. I’m looking forward to more Kitty books in the future.

Oh and if you are unfamiliar with this series Kitty is a werewolf and a late night radio talk show host…the show is basically a call-in advice show for the supernatural wacky.

The series in order...

Kitty and the Midnight Hour
Kitty Goes to Washington
Kitty Takes a Holiday
Kitty and the Silver Bullet
Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand
Kitty Raises Hell

My personal tastes tend to lean toward vampires not werewolves but I really love this series and highly recommend it.
The whole series gets an A+ from me :)

Books, Photos and Photos of Books

Books that I pre-ordered that came Wednesday...



(I'm reading Kitty Raises Hell now. I really love this series. This one is book #6 of the Kitty Norville series)

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Book that came Thursday that I'm really looking forward to reading...



White Witch, Black Curse is #7 of The Hollows books.

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Another photo for Project 365 (day #56)



That is a weird butterfly that seems to be made of some sort of netting and wire that belongs to my daughter. It is hanging out in the window. I thought it looked kind of neat and I wasn't leaving the cave the other day so it was inside pics all around.

Palimpsest

Palimpsest by Catherynne Valente came out Tuesday.

UPS delivered my pre-order on Wednesday!

I'm really looking forward to reading it soon. It really looks good!


There is even a cool trailer...