There are several books being released this month that are on my to buy list. Some are part of a series that I follow others just seam to good and deserve to go home with. I read several different genres so this list will be a mixed one.
The Selection (The Selection #1) by Kiera Cass The Calling (Darkness Rising #2) by Kelley Armstrong Pure (Covenant #2) by Jennifer Armentrout
Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris Taken at Dusk (Shadow Falls #3) by C. C. Hunter Storm (Elemental #1) by Brigid Kemmerer
NetGalley has provided me some great books that are releasing this month, so those will be on this list but as special.
The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1) by Julie Kagawa Obsidian (Obsidian #1) by Jennifer Armentrout Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin #1) by Robin LaFevers
So on the very first day of March I posted my top ten books that would be released and definily bought. Some I already read and reviewed, not many. Trust me those were amazing and so worth it.
These one are on my TBR and they sound amazing, can’t wait to read them:
Dying Wish (The Sentinel Wars #6) by Shannon K. Butcher The Goddess Hunt (Goddess Test #1.5) by Aimée Carter Taking a Shot (Play by Play #3) by Jaci Burton
Embrace (Embrace #1) by Jessica Shirvington Pretty Crooked by Elisa Ludwig Fair Game (Alpha & Omega #3) by Patricia Briggs
Lover Reborn (Black Dagger Brotherhood #10) by J.R. Ward Fever (Phoenix Rising #1) by Joan Swan Hot Under Pressure (Rising Star Chef #3) by Louisa Edwards
Demon Finn Evnissyen and fey princess Keira O’Brien go undercover to expose the person behind the rift device and put an end to whatever plans he or she may have. They are reluctant allies then lovers as the danger of the situation heightens the closer they get to the bad guy. If they survive, they must overcome their distrust and differences and find out if a fairy princess and a demon can have a happily-ever-after.
Chosen to be a charity student at a boarding school in World War I England, sixteen-year-old Lora discovers her long, latent magical powers just in time to battle an evil bent on decimating the school.
Velveteen Monroe is dead. At 16, she was kidnapped and murdered by a madman named Bonesaw. But that's not the problem.
The problem is she landed in purgatory. And while it's not a fiery inferno, it's certainly no heaven. It's gray, ashen, and crumbling more and more by the day, and everyone has a job to do. Which doesn't leave Velveteen much time to do anything about what's really on her mind.
Bonesaw.
Velveteen aches to deliver the bloody punishment her killer deserves. And she's figured out just how to do it. She'll haunt him for the rest of his days. It'll be brutal . . . and awesome.
But crossing the divide between the living and the dead has devastating consequences. Velveteen's obsessive haunting cracks the foundations of purgatory and jeopardizes her very soul. A risk she's willing to take—except fate has just given her reason to stick around: an unreasonably hot and completely off-limits coworker.
Velveteen can't help herself when it comes to breaking rules . . . or getting revenge. And she just might be angry enough to take everyone down with her.
For this past month I’ve read and reviewed all the books in Morganville Vampires series. This was my first time reading and I loved follow Claire as she fall in love and fighted the bad guys(not always vampires).
So I took I shot and decided to invite Mrs. Rachel Caine for a special guest post and amazingly she said yes.
I'm a very lucky lady. Lucky in many ways -- I have a great family, wonderful friends, amazing colleagues, and possibly the best job in the world ... writing full time.
Lately, I've been incredibly lucky in being able to do a lot of travel. Until 2008, my travel had been mostly limited to my "neighborhood" of the United States -- Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Louisiana. I still had a day job through 2009, which allowed me to do some fantastic international travel to Germany and Spain, but those were definitely for that business, not for my writing. And having a day job restricted the amount of time I could spend traveling or attending conventions, I thought I probably wouldn't get to do much more.
In 2008, my British publisher wanted me to go to England. So, greatly daring, I boarded a plane for a two-week tour. And it was the greatest time I'd ever had ... I loved England, loved the people, loved the experience and all the new and different sights and sounds. When I returned, I told my husband, and he was a bit crushed that he hadn't gone with me, but as he has a problem with flying I didn't see how he'd ever be able to make it.
Enter 2009, and the sales of the Morganville novels had risen to the point where I couldn't handle the deadlines and my day job any more -- the frequent deadlines were causing me stress, and weren't doing my day job performance any good, either. So I took a leap of faith and left the day job after 10 years, and committed myself to writing full time. Almost immediately, I found myself being invited to travel more -- to conventions across the country, at first (California, Virginia, New York City, Colorado) and then something even more amazing happened: I got invited to San Diego Comic-Con, then New York Comic-Con. And my British publisher wanted me to come back for an even longer tour -- and this time, I was determined to bring my husband. So we discovered that there were still transatlantic passenger ships, and hopped aboard for the journey ... and my husband loved the month-long trip as much as I did. The whole experience was amazing and humbling.
Around the end of 2009, the Morganville Vampires series was sold in Australia, and my publisher there wanted me to come and do a tour, so in 2010 I headed Down Under for the first time ... and again, loved every minute of it. I adored Australia, and visited so many lovely places there ... truly a fantastic experience. My only regret? I wished I could have stayed longer (and that I could have found a cruise ship, so my husband could attend with me). I made a quick stop-over in New Zealand, too, which is gorgeous; I wish I could have stayed longer to explore!
Then I was invited by my Brazilian publisher, in 2010, to visit that lovely country for the Bienal do Livro, the Rio book festival ... I spent a week in Rio signing books and meeting people at the festival, and it was an amazing experience, again. I learned a little Portuguese, too! And discovered a great love of Brazilian steaks, and coffee.
In 2010 I also got to attend a wonderful literary festival in Calgary, in Canada, as well as traveling from coast to coast in the US on book tours and to attend conventions. Pretty fantastic year, in every way.
2011 Is turning out to be even more of a travel adventure ... because by the end of March, I'll be heading out on a very long road that leads across the US to New York, on a ship to England, a tour all over the UK, then a 10-day tour in France, then off to Spain, Italy, and Germany for events before sailing back home. Also doing San Diego Comic-Con, New York Comic-Con, and many other signing events throughout the year.
So, where would I like to go next? Well, I'm already getting lots of requests from Romania to visit, and maybe it's time to do that in 2013. Time will tell! I've discovered a huge love of travel, and I think what is most amazing about taking these trips is that no matter where I go, we all speak the same language: we love books. We love stories. We need those things.
Even translated, it's still a universal thing, the need to dream, the need to travel in our imaginations.
I'm just extremely lucky that I can do it for real, too.
I asked her about her writing progress and some special places you consider would be great settings on new books. These are her answers:
GREAT PLACES FOR SETTINGS:
Oh, so many places. I'd set a gritty drama in Rio, something with passion and fire and danger, that contrasts with the beautiful beaches and majestic mountains. It's a place of great contrasts, and I'd love to write that in. In the UK, I love the north of England and Scotland, those are really great, dramatic settings. London's always full of endless possibilities, too. Australia ... I could definitely do something there, especially in the less well-settled areas. I was fascinated by the "road trains" -- giant tractor trailers that drive through the Outback at tremendous speeds for days to move goods from one place another, through extremely harsh conditions. I would probably transfer that concept out of Australia and onto an alien planet!
MY WRITING PROCESS:
I literally write anywhere, all the time. Have laptop, headphones and power converter, will travel. I've written on planes, on ships, on trains, in hotel rooms, in coffee shops, in the waiting rooms at schools before lectures, in cars ... and I have to, because with so much of my life involving travel now, I really have no choice. There's no such thing as "office hours" when you're on the road ... it's a rough and ready approach, but it works for me. (Though it means I often have to pass up that extra cool tour of the area that I'd love to take ...)
I always go to the Bienal and is so fun to met the authors, I’m sure you don’t remember me Rachel but I was there in that huge line to meet you and to sigh my book. And you were so sweet. It was so packed and it’s kinda great that International authors are traveling more to distant countries. So thank you for visiting Brazil, hope you can came back.
I loved your passion for Brazil, especially for my Rio, it is amazing and would be great to have one of you books taking place in the Cidade Maravilhosa.
Loved to have you here on the blog, and cant wait for Claire next adventure to be released on May. I've already pre-ordered.
Author:Rachel Caine Format Read: ebook Series: Morganville Vampires #11
Publisher: Signet
Genre: Paranormal Romance Release date: November 1st 2011 Formats Available: paperback, ebook, kindle Number of pages: 335 Rating:
Book Blurb:
With her boss preoccupied researching the Founder Houses in Morganville, student Claire Danvers is left to her own devices when she learns that three vampires have vanished without a trace. She soon discovers that the last person seen with one of the missing vampires is someone new to town-a mysterious individual named Magnus. After an uneasy encounter with Morganville's latest resident, Claire is certain Magnus isn't merely human. But is he a vampire-or something else entirely?
My Thoughts:
This was the book with the most action so far. Since the first page we knew things would be different. Mrs. Rachel changed the POV in several chapters and now we get to see what other people are thinking and doing along with Claire obvious.
Myrnin was a surprise for me because he’s attitudes are so not what I expected, especially towards Claire and Shane. Amelie showed her true face and demonstrated that vampires also have fear.
The mythology in this book was amazing and so unexpected, because after everything that happened the lest of all things that I was thinking for this book was a predator for vampires and that was a bit surprising.
Claire of course discover that something is wrong and bad thins happened to her, really bad things. Amelie becomes a heartless bitch and don’t give a damn, but Myrnin he’s special and changed a lot since he’s first appearance.
Michael fights since the begin for he’s marriage and in the end that’s the least of his problem.
The first book on this series that for me ended on a cliff and a very bad one because I can’t wait to read the next one.
Books in this Series:
Trailer:
Excerpt:
Shane’s lips felt like velvet against the nape of her neck, and Claire shivered in delight as his breath warmed the skin there. She leaned back against him with a sigh. Her boyfriend’s body felt solid and safe, and his arms went around her, wrapping her in comfort. He was taller than she was, so he had to bend to rest his chin on her shoulder and whisper, “You sure about this?”
Claire nodded. “You got the overdue notice, didn’t you? It’s this, or they come and collect. You don’t want that.”
“Well, you don’t have to be here,” he pointed out—not for the first time today. “Don’t you have classes?”
“Not today,” she said. “I had an oh-my-God a.m. lab, but now I’m all done.”
“Okay, then, you don’t have to do this because you’re tax-exempt.”
By tax-exempt, he meant that she didn’t have to pay . . . in blood. Taxes in Morganville were collected three ways: the polite way, via the collection center downtown, or the not-so-polite way when the Bloodmobile showed up like a sleek black shark at your front door, with Men in Black–style “technicians” to ensure you did your civic duty.
The third way was by force, in the dark, when you ventured out un-Protected and got bitten.
Vampires. A total pain in the neck . . . literally.
Shane was entirely right: Claire had a written, legal document that said she was free from the responsibility of donations. The popular wisdom—and it wasn’t wrong—was that she’d already given enough blood to Morganville.
Of course, so had Shane . . . but he hadn’t always been on the vampires’ side, at the time.
“I know I don’t have to do it,” she said. “I want to. I’ll go with.”
“In case you’re worried, I’m not girly-scared or anything.”
“Hey!” She smacked at his arm. “I’m a girl. What exactly are you saying, that I’m not brave or something?”
“Eeek,” Shane said. “Nothing. Right, Amazon princess, I got the point.”
Claire turned in his arms and kissed him, a sweet burst of heat as their lips met. The lovely joy of that released a burst of bubbles inside her, bubbles full of happiness. God, she loved this. Loved him. It had been a rough year, and he’d . . . stumbled, was the best way she could think of it. Shane had dark streaks, and he’d struggled with them. Was still struggling.
But he’d worked so hard to make it up, not just to her, but to everyone he felt he’d let down. Michael, his (vampire) best friend. Eve, his other (nonvampire) best friend, and hers, too. Even Claire’s parents had gotten genuine attention; he’d gone with her to see them, twice, with exit permission from the vampires, and he’d been earnest and steady even under her father’s stern cross-examination.
He wanted to be different. She knew that.
When the kiss finally ended, Shane had a drugged, vague look in his eyes, and he seemed to have trouble letting go of her. “You know,” he said, moving her hair back from her cheek with one big, warm hand, “we could just blow this off and go home instead of letting them suck our blood. Try it tomorrow.”
“Bloodmobile,” she reminded him. “People holding you down. You really want that?”
He shuddered. “Hell no. Okay, right, after you.” They were standing on the sidewalk of Morganville’s blood bank, with its big cheerful blood-drop character sign and scrupulously clean public entrance. Claire pecked him lightly on the cheek, escaped before he could pull her close again, and pushed the door open.
Inside, the place looked like they’d given it a makeover—more cheerfully lit than the last time she’d been in, and the new furniture looked comfortable and homey. They’d even installed a fish tank full of brightly colored tropicals flitting around living coral. Nice. Clearly, the vampires were trying to put their best efforts to reassure the human community, for a change.
The lady sitting behind the counter looked up and smiled. She was human, and sort of motherly, and she pulled Claire’s records and raised her thin, graying eyebrows. “Oh,” she said. “You know, you’re entirely paid up for the year. There’s no need—”
“It’s voluntary,” Claire said. “Is that okay?”
“Voluntary?” The woman repeated the word as if it was something from a foreign language. “Well, I suppose . . .” She shook her head, clearly thinking Claire was mental, and turned her smile on Shane. “And you, honey?”
“Collins,” he said. “Shane Collins.”
She pulled out his card, and up went the eyebrows, again. “You are definitely not paid up, Mr. Collins. In fact, you’re sixty days behind. Again.”
“I’ve been busy.” He didn’t crack a smile. Neither did she.
She stamped his card, wrote something on it, and returned it to the file, then handed them both slips of paper. “Through the door,” she said. “Do you want to be in the room together, or separately?”
“Together,” they both chorused, and looked at each other. Claire couldn’t help a bit of a smirk, and Shane rolled his eyes. “She’s kind of a coward,” he said. “Faints at the sight of blood.”
“Oh, please,” Claire sighed. “That does describe one of us, though.”
The receptionist, for all her motherly looks, clearly wasn’t sympathetic. “Fine,” she said briskly. “Second door on the right, there are two chairs in there. I’ll get an attendant for you.”
“Yeah, about that . . . could you get us a human?” Shane asked. “It creeps me out when a guy’s draining my blood and I hear his stomach rumble.”
Claire punched him in the arm this time, an unmistakable shut up, and gave the receptionist a sunny smile as she dragged him toward the door she’d indicated. “Really,” she said to him, “would it be that hard just to not say anything?”
“Kinda,” he shrugged, and held the door open for her. “Ladies first.”
“I’m really starting to think you are a scaredy-cat.”
“No, I’m just flawlessly polite.” He gave her a sideways glance, and said, with a curious seriousness, “I’d go first in any fight, for you.”
Shane had always been someone who best expressed love by being protective, but now it was deliberate, a way for him to make up for how far he’d let his anger and aggression get the best of him. Even at his worst he hadn’t hurt her, but he’d come close, frighteningly close, and that lingered between them like a shadow.
“Shane,” she said, and paused to look him full in the face. “If it comes to that, I’d fight beside you. Not behind you.”
He smiled a little, and nodded as they started moving again. “I’d still jump on the first bullet. Hope you’re okay with that.”
She shouldn’t have been, really, but the thought, and the emotion behind it, gave her another little flush of warmth as she walked down the carpeted hallway and into the second room on the right. Like the rest of the human side of the collection center, the space felt warm and comfortable; the reclining chairs were leather, or some vinyl approximation. The speakers overhead were playing something acoustic and soft, and Claire relaxed in the chair as Shane wriggled around in his.
He went very still as the door opened, and their attendant stepped inside.
“No way,” Claire said. First, their attendant was a vampire. Second, it was Oliver. Oh, he was wearing a white lab coat and carrying a clipboard and looked vaguely official, but it was Oliver. “What exactly is the second-in-command of vampire affairs doing drawing blood?”
I love a read- a-thon and this sounds different and fun. Never really counted the numbers of pages that I read in a month let alone in the year, so I’ll definily try and see how it goes. Now the rules from Reading Angel:
Here's how it will work-
Each week this month I will post a Google doc where you submit each book you read as you finish it, including your name, email, book title, author, page count, and a brief sentence telling me whether or not you recommend the book.
At the end of each week I will post a Top 10 or Top 20 for THAT week (depending on how many people sign up) with the new Google doc.
At the end of the month I will post the Top 10 or Top 20 OVERALL.
THE GIVEAWAYS-
3 Winners will get either a $15 dollar Amazon GC, or a $15 book of your choice from book depository
The OVERALL top page count reader will receive one prize
One RANDOM winner from the OVERALL Top 20 readers will win one prize
One RANDOM winner from ALL 4 WEEKS lists of Top 20 readers will win one prize (that means you only have to be on the list for one week to be entered in the giveaway!)
The Nuts and Bolts
I know that some books have larger font and less words on pages, but there's nothing to be done about that. It all just kinda works out in the end. Just read what you normally read.
There is nothing I can do to PROVE that people are reading what they say they are reading. We are working on the honor system here people.
What books count? Any adult, or YA book - fiction or non-fiction. NO children's books, NO picture books.
Must be 13 or older to enter
Must be able to receive books from book depository or amazon GCs to enter giveaway
After dying and being revived with the experimental drug Returne, Bryn Davis is theoretically free to live her unlife— with regular doses to keep her going. But Bryn knows that the government has every intention of keeping a tight lid on Pharmadene’s life-altering discovery, no matter the cost. And when some of the members of a support group for Returne addicts suddenly disappear, Bryn begins to wonder if the government is methodically removing a threat to their security, or if some unknown enemy has decided to run the zombies into the ground…
Hurricane Katrina is long gone, but the preternatural storm rages on in New Orleans. New species from the Beyond moved into Louisiana after the hurricane destroyed the borders between worlds, and it falls to wizard sentinel Drusilla Jaco and her partner, Alex Warin, to keep the preternaturals peaceful and the humans unaware. But a war is brewing between two clans of Cajun merpeople in Plaquemines Parish, and down in the swamp, DJ learns, there’s more stirring than angry mermen and the threat of a were-gator.
Wizards are dying, and something—or someone—from the Beyond is poisoning the waters of the mighty Mississippi, threatening the humans who live and work along the river. DJ and Alex must figure out what unearthly source is contaminating the water and who—or what—is killing the wizards. Is it a malcontented merman, the naughty nymph, or some other critter altogether? After all, DJ’s undead suitor, the pirate Jean Lafitte, knows his way around a body or two.
It’s anything but smooth sailing on the bayou as the Sentinels of New Orleans series continues.
This is the Harrison anthology that will contain all the shorts and novellas previously published in various formats. It will also contain a lot of new stuff–stuff that I pulled together as possible series material for after the Hollows. (More on that later.)
The novella of Jenks and Trent’s elf quest to steal Lucy is in here in its Trent POV glory. I’ve also got a novella revolving around Grace. Long-time haunters of the drama box may remember me talking about her before. This is not the Grace I would be writing about, but a younger, less jaded Grace. There’s a third novel-length piece concerning Meg, another possible series. And again, Meg is much younger than she would be if I pursue her story. It’s her mom and grandmother who this story revolves around, but we do get to see her.
Note: this description is from a blog by the author. Feel free to replace it when something more blurb-like is available.
