First installment in Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha Trilogy, Shadow and Bone introduces an alternate tsarist Russia, called Ravka, where people are called to serve their country either by displaying some affinity with magic (those are called Grisha) or by enrolling in the military.
Because not only does darkness threaten to envelope their world while creatures crawl out of it to snatch a bite, Ravka is at war with other countries, too. Magic and monsters. Makes for a good incipit, don’t you think? Continue Reading
Tongue Wagger: Miss Taken by Milly Taiden
Want a hot and sexy winter snuggle? Yeah, baby I know you do.
There is no one who does hot and sexy like Milly (pRon) Taiden. Her novels are the hot toddie of cliterature and little of what I’ve written in this introduction can put in an Amazon review.
Amazon: Where the prudes go to read reviews.
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Any Day That Ends In YA: The Boarding School Experiment by Emily Evans
It snuck up on me, I turned around and there was a great freakin’ YA novel.
I am not afraid to admit that I am a bit bored with the current genre excitement in YA. I needed something to shake me up and Emily Evans did an awesome job with The Boarding School Experiment. I have said it before and will say it again, the best books are the ones where two rivals or mean haters fall for one another.
Feeling Peckish: Ghosts of San Diego (The Haunted Locations of San Diego, California) by Jeffrey Fisher
I’m not holding back on this mess. This is why people need editors. This is why Self Publishers get a bad wrap.
Ghosts of San Diego reads like someone has put a pedantic visitor’s tour monologue and a historical plaque together with a lack of effort. There is almost no research done to substantiate credible accounts of ghostly encounters. The locations of the sites are poorly described and due to the format of the chapters/sites the addresses are at the end of the information which gives the reader no frame of reference for introduction. A map and key would only help aid those unfamiliar with San Diego put the historical region together with the ghostly lore.
Weekend Pick Me Up: Very Bad Things by Ilsa Madden-Mills
ANGST! Oh, the angst, the beautiful turmoil of the angry.
I’ve been asking myself, “What took you so long to read this book?”
I misunderstood the construction of the series when I read Very Wicked Beginnings. I thought since next novel wasn’t about Cuba or Dovey I’d put off reading it. I hadn’t realized that Very Wicked Things was about those two, and that really it would have been sensible to read the book blurbs before jumping in.
Library Lesson: Don’t believe the book with the word ‘beginnings’ is always the start.
Weekend Pick Me Up: Ecstasy Unbound by Setta Jay
I love these sorts of paranormal books; the destined mates thing is something I always love. You can rest assure that if there is some sort of fated love affair I will have the book on my To Be Read list. This was a thumbs up choice for me in that respect.
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Makin’ The Love Monday: Playing With Fire by Alison Bliss
Craptoid factoid: This book made my mind twist.
Hello, fans of Bliss Babe, this woman has come out swinging with her sophomore novel, and I dug it big-time.
How now sexy Cowboy; if a girl says no that many times she is hiding things. Continue Reading
Weekend Pick Me Up: External Forces by Deborah Rix
I got this book from NetGalley in exchange for my awesome opinion. That is what I’m supposed to say right, that my honesty can’t be bought? So take note pour favors, this book is being judged fairly based upon it’s fine qualities and my integrity as a book dork.
Imma rock this book booty!
Holy cow pies, Catgirl! Is it getting warm in here? This book is hot stuff . Shake your boom boom already. I just KNOW you will want to take your–well maybe it’s weird to say the book is so hot you want to take your clothes off. I can’t understand why it took me so long to pick it up and start reading it, hindsight is truly regrets’ bestfriend. MY bestfriend is grrlpowa phenom Jess Grant; she is the sort of friend that kicks names and takes tushies. If you are a bad guy she is going to spank you into the next millennium. This girl isn’t your girl next door, she is the girl who is building the house and making the future for the bodies within. A heroine for all heroines. And there is that thing where she is sorta boy stupid and judgmentally handicapable. Or maybe incapable.
Tongue Wagger – Heat by Lis Lucassen
Honestly?
I thought this would be yet another Summer Romance.
In front of my inner eye I was already seeing Olivia Newton-John’s performance of “Summer Nights” in Grease.
At the end of the book I myself was blearing “tell me more, tell me more!” but only because I really wanted Lis Lucassen to tell me more…about anything! Not only about Dan and Lynn. About whatever she wants, because she really has a strong, clear voice I feel drawn to.
Any Day That Ends In YA – Persephone by Kaitlin Bevis
I’ve had my eye on Kaitlin Bevis’s work for a while – I mean, a book with the title “Persephone”? you dangle that in front of me, I’m a goner.
So when Ms Ali Cat presented me with the opportunity to dive into it, I jumped as high as my little legs allowed me and screamed “yes, yes, yes” on repeat like a newly-proposed to woman in love (or not) would do.
Yes.
Yes.
A thousand times yes!
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