[News] January is the Hollows month

In honor of Kim Harrison's latest release in the Hollows series Ever After on 1/22, I am relistening or catching up on audio book versions of the series.  I will be listening from Jan 1 through Jan 31 when I am excited to say I will be attending the Dallas book signing on the Ever After book tour.  I am starting with book 5 For a Few Demons More.
For more information on the Ever After Book Tour and all the books in The Hollows series go to Kim Harrison Website.

[Review] Citadel by John Ringo

Citadel
Troy Rising #2
John Ringo
January 4th, 2011
Baen

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"Of all the hosts of Eurotas the Troias were the most fell. For they were born of Winter." Between the Solar Array Pumped Laser and "Troy," the two trillion ton nickel-iron battlestation created by eccentric billionaire Tyler Vernon, Earth has managed to recapture the Sol system from their Horvath conquerors and begin entering the galactic millieu.

But when the Rangora Empire rapidly crushes humanity's only ally it becomes clear the war is just beginning. At the heart of nickel iron and starlight are the people, Marines, Navy and civilians, who make "Troy" a living, breathing, engine of war. Survivors of apocalypse, they know the cost of failure.

If "this"Troy falls, no one will be left to write the epic.

"Citadel" continues the saga begun in "Live Free or Die," following the paths of several characters during the first years of The Spiral Arm Wars culminating in the First Battle of E Eridani.

 Hello again, it's Chris here to bring some more laser pistol to all this romance.

Citadel starts out strong, with some actions coinciding with actions in Live Free or Die but told from some totally new points of view. While Tyler Vernon is still a main character, we're introduced to a young engineer in the fledgling space navy, Dana Parker, and she's got a personal grudge to settle with some aliens. Another new character, James Allan, is a good old country boy and shade tree mechanic straight out of school and ready to try his hand at space construction. The story easily flows from these three points of view, and where they often overlap there is no stuttering or loss of coherency.

John Ringo again brings whimsical humor to what could be a serious and dire situation. He continues to show how humans can adapt to almost any situation. And while he does use scientific jargon, again he tends to explain things in ways that the average person can understand. After all, when you're trying to build a space force to protect the Earth, you don't have time for them all to be rocket scientists.

I love this book so much I had to read it twice. I give Citadel a solid 5 out of 5 laser pistols. This book is brighter than a supernova and I eagerly recommend this to any fellow sci-fi fans out there.

[Review] Last Kiss Goodnight by Gena Showalter

Last Kiss Goodnight
Otherworld Assassin #1
Gena Showalter
December 26th, 2012
Pocket Books

436 pages

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The breathtaking first novel in New York Times best selling author Gena Showalter’s new paranormal romance series, Otherworld Assassins, featuring a black ops agent who is captured and enslaved…and the beautiful deaf girl who holds the key to his salvation…

THE SWEETEST TEMPTATION…

Black ops agent Solomon Judah awakens caged and bound in a twisted zoo where otherworlders are the main attraction. Vika Lukas, the owner’s daughter, is tasked with Solo’s care and feeding. The monster inside him yearns to kill her on sight, even though she holds the key to his escape. But the human side of him realizes the beautiful deaf girl is more than she seems—she’s his.

THE ULTIMATE PRICE…

Vika endures the captives’ taunts and loathing, hoping to keep them alive even if she can’t free them. Only, Solo is different—he protects her. But as hostility turns to forbidden romance, his feelings for her will be used against him…and he’ll be put to a killer test.

 Hi it's Amy again and I am back to share my love for Gena Showalter's newest novel Last Kiss Goodnight.  This book takes place in the same realm as her Alien Huntress series.  I have never read any of the Alien Huntress series and I was not lost Ms. Showalter did a good job of introducing the world to a first time reader like me.  In this world, otherworlders have come to earth, and this book takes place after the war between the otherworlders and humans.

The book starts out with a bang with the reader getting a glimpse into the tragic past of the heroine Vika and how Solo comes to be in the zoo.  In my opinion this book reads like an alternate version of Beauty and the Beast and I really liked it.  Everyone describes Solo as a beast because he is big and huge.  He gets angry he turns red, grows fangs and claws, and he looks like a demon.  He two little men on his shoulders,like Tom and Jerry, who try steer him on the path to good or evil.  Most humans run from the Otherworlder but not Vika.  She is not afraid of him and thus starts the forbidden attraction.

While this book might not have an orginal plot line it has an original world.  To quote Shakespere "There are more things in heaven and hell then are dreamed of in your philosophy." In Last Kiss Goodnight that was never more true because there are the Otherworlders in all their different alien glory but there is another realm where little men that are the personification of good and evil fight for the soul.  My favorite quote  in the Last Kiss Goodnight was "Love Protects. Love Cherishes. Love lifts you up rather than tears you down. Love makes you fly, and I love Solo."  I think this passage pretty much sums up this novel it is a story about redemption through love.  How evil never flourishes and eventually with love and trust can be overcome.  I found that the love story between Vika and Solo was beautiful and of course steamy.  Of course I am a sucker for a happy ending.  I give Last Kiss Goodnight a solid four laser pistols.  I will be reading the next book in the series and checking out more books from the Alien Huntress world.

[ARC Review] The Trouble With Fate by Leigh Evans

The Trouble With Fate
Mystwalker #1
Leigh Evans
December 24th, 2012
St. Martin's Press
344 pages

Arc courtesy of St. Martin's Press via Netgalley.

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Meet Hedi Peacock. She's half Fae. Half Were. And all trouble…

I Have Two Words For Werewolves:

My name is Hedi Peacock and I have a secret. I’m not human, and I have the pointy Fae ears and Were inner-bitch to prove it. As fairy tales go, my childhood was damn near perfect, all fur and magic until a werewolf killed my father and the Fae executed my mother. I’ve never forgiven either side. Especially Robson Trowbridge. He was a part-time werewolf, a full-time bastard, and the first and only boy I ever loved. That is, until he became the prime suspect in my father’s death…

Bite Me.

Today I’m a half-breed barista working at a fancy coffee house, living with my loopy Aunt Lou and a temperamental amulet named Merry, and wondering where in the world I’m going in life. A pretty normal existence, considering. But when a pack of Weres decides to kidnap my aunt and force me to steal another amulet, the only one who can help me is the last person I ever thought I’d turn to: Robson Trowbridge. And he’s as annoyingly beautiful as I remember. That’s the trouble with fate: Sometimes it barks. Other times it bites. And the rest of the time it just breaks your heart. Again…

 I have just finished The Trouble with Fate due out on 12/24/2012 by Leigh Evans. This book first grabbed my attention when I saw it recommended on Amazon and I knew I had to read and then I considered myself one lucky girl when I got an ARC from St. Martin's Press. This book has everything I look for: Romance, action, and elements of Paranormal. Now that I have read The Trouble Fate With Fate my honest opinion is that I am just giving this book three stars. I liked it but I wasn't in love with it. The book starts off with Heidi working as a Barista in a coffee shop when the man she has fancied herself in love with her whole life steps back into it. Then a strange Were comes to her apartment tells her they have kidnapped her Aunt and want something from Heidi to get her Aunt back. The action starts moving pretty quickly in the book but I just felt like there was something missing. It wasn't a bad book just not a great book. The romance between Trowbridge and Heidi felt a little forced at times and there were boring parts of this book that I had to force myself to pick it back up again. I liked the ending and will probably read the next book in the series just not right away. All in all to sum it up The Trouble With Fate is a decent read I didn't feel like I wasted my time but it didn't blow me away.

[Audiobook Review] Cinder by Marrissa Meyer

Cinder

Lunar Chronicals #1
Marissa Meyer
January 3rd, 2012

Feiwel & Friends

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Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

 

 Hi it's Amy again and I have just finished The Trouble with Fate due out on 12/24/2012 by Leigh Evans.  This book first grabbed my attention when I saw it recommended on Amazon and I knew I had to read and then I considered myself one lucky girl when I got an ARC from St. Martin's Press.  This book has everything I look for: Romance, action, and elements of Paranormal.   Now that I have read The Trouble Fate With Fate my honest opinion is that I am just giving this book three laser pistols.  I liked it but I wasn't in love with it.  The book starts off with Heidi working as a Barista in a coffee shop when the man she has fancied herself in love with her whole life steps back into it.  Then a strange Were comes to her apartment tells her they have kidnapped her Aunt and want something from Heidi to get her Aunt back.  The action starts moving pretty quickly in the book but I just felt like there was something missing.  It wasn't a bad book just not a great book.  The romance between Trowbridge and Heidi felt a little forced at times and there were boring parts of this book that I had to force myself to pick it back up again.  I liked the ending and will probably read the next book in the series just not right away.  All in all to sum it up The Trouble With Fate is a decent read I didn't feel like I wasted my time but it didn't blow me away.

 

 

[Review] Live Free or Die by John Ringo

Live Free or Die
Troy Rising #1
John Ringo
February 2nd, 2010
404 Pages

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First Contact Was Friendly
When aliens trundled a gate to other worlds into the solar system, the world reacted with awe, hope and fear. But the first aliens to come through, the Glatun, were peaceful traders and the world breathed a sigh of relief.

Who Controls the Orbitals, Controls the World
When the Horvath came through, they announced their ownership by dropping rocks on three cities and gutting them. Since then, they've held Terra as their own personal fiefdom. With their control of the orbitals, there's no way to win and earth's governments have accepted the status quo.

Live Free or Die.
To free the world from the grip of the Horvath is going to take an unlikely hero. A hero unwilling to back down to alien or human governments, unwilling to live in slavery and with enough hubris, if not stature, to think he can win. Fortunately, there's Tyler Vernon. And he has bigger plans than just getting rid of the Horvath.

Chris here for a little more laser pistol and a little less romance.

Live Free or Die starts off a little slow with the human race falling under the control of a hostile alien species who wants to strip the earth of its precious metals. However, it thankfully picks up quickly when the main character, Tyler Vernon, finds a commodity which a friendly race is willing to help the humans to ensure a continued supply. And by doing so manages to bring this young race on the galactic stage to the attention of some big players. With the combination of human ingenuity and alien tech he dreams of and builds Troy, and multi-trillion ton battle station.

In my opinion, John Ringo does a great job of pointing out the biggest asset humans have, the ability to adapt simple things to get great results. He explains enough of the science to satisfy my inner science nerd without bogging things down with too much detail. You can tell the author has done his homework in his use of astronomical jargon, but still explains things simply. You won't find yourself getting lost in the complex words of astronomers as Tyler Vernon, being a simple man himself, insists on using simple terms such as rocky thing to describe asteroids.

The author brings a great deal of humor to the book. Whether it's Tyler's insistence that people think outside the box or the naming of the AI in charge of the Troy after the historical figure, Paris. I found myself laughing as I immersed myself in this novel.

Overall, I give this book a solid 4 out of 5 laser pistols and recommend it to any fellow sci-fi readers. This is a good start to what promises to be a solid series.

[ARC Review] Grave Intentions by Lori Sjoberg

Grave Intentions
Lori Sjoberg
January 3rd, 2013
Kensington Books
294 pages

Arc courtesy of Kensington Books via Netgalley.


Amazon/B&N

He’s handsome, reliable, and punctual—the perfect gentleman when you want him to be. But this dream man is Death’s best agent—and now he’s got more than his soul to lose…

One act of mercy before dying was all it took to turn soldier David Anderson into a reaper—an immortal who guides souls-of-untimely-death into the afterlife. But the closer he gets to atoning for his mortal sin and finally escaping merciless Fate, the more he feels his own humanity slipping away for good. Until he encounters Sarah Griffith. This skeptical scientist can’t be influenced by his powers—even though she has an unsuspected talent for sensing the dead. And her honesty and irreverent sense of humor reignite his reason for living—and a passion he can’t afford to feel. Now Fate has summoned David to make a devastating last harvest. And he’ll break every hellishly-strict netherworld rule to save Sarah...and gamble on a choice even an immortal can’t win.

 Grave Intentions by Lori Sjoberg was a cute if somewhat predictable read. Its about David a Reaper and the mortal woman, Sarah, he falls in love with. The beginning of the book was a little slow for me but once the couple meet things get moving and I liked the way the story picked up from there.
Then David gets a notice for a reaping job and its Sarah on the list and all the rules are broken then. Like I said the plot is predictable and I had the ending figured out once I got the plot twist. Grave Intentions is an enjoyable read and I liked the way the chemistry sizzled right off the page for David and Sarah.

I will definitely check out more book in the Grave Intentions world because I am intrigued by the supporting cast like Adam and Ruby. I look forward to their stories.

All in all Grave Intentions is cute, predictable, and I didn't feel like I wasted my time reading it.

[Audiobook Review] Warm Bodies by Issac Marion

Warm Bodies

Warm Bodies #1

Isaac Marion

October 28th, 2010

Vintage

240 pages

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'R' is a zombie. He has no name, no memories and no pulse, but he has dreams. He is a little different from his fellow Dead.

Amongst the ruins of an abandoned city, R meets a girl. Her name is Julie and she is the opposite of everything he knows - warm and bright and very much alive, she is a blast of colour in a dreary grey landscape. For reasons he can't understand, R chooses to save Julie instead of eating her, and a tense yet strangely tender relationship begins.

This has never happened before. It breaks the rules and defies logic, but R is no longer content with life in the grave. He wants to breathe again, he wants to live, and Julie wants to help him. But their grim, rotting world won't be changed without a fight...

 

 

 I give this book a 3.5 and round up. This book is about R a Zomibie who falls in love with Julie a human. I love zombie books but this book isn't really about zombies. It is about death and finding something worth living for. In that, as I saw someone write, you could take out zombies out of the book and insert another undead creature such as vampires or ghost and the heart of the story would still hold true. I wasn't in love with this book and after I finished the audiobook I didn't want to sing its praises from the roof tops. Warm Bodies was a good story about what it means to live and love and make yourself feel mattered. I think the reason people like zombie culture so much these days is that we all feel like a zombie sometimes where nothing matters and we are all cogs on a wheel just going through the motions. The things I didn't like about the book is that I thought R waxed on a little too much and sometimes it felt like I was listening to a hippster Existentionlism crisis. Still I liked this book and all it's poetic glory. The narrator's voice was good and reminded me of A Christmas Story.

 

 

[Audiobook Review] Poison Princess by Kresley Cole

Poison Princess
Arcana Chronicals #1
Kresley Cole
October 2nd, 2012
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
369 pages

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#1 New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole introduces The Arcana Chronicles, post-apocalyptic tales filled with riveting action, the dark mysticism of Tarot cards, and breathtaking romance.

She could save the world—or destroy it.

Sixteen year old Evangeline “Evie” Greene leads a charmed life, until she begins experiencing horrifying hallucinations. When an apocalyptic event decimates her Louisiana hometown, Evie realizes her hallucinations were actually visions of the future—and they’re still happening. Fighting for her life and desperate for answers, she must turn to her wrong-side-of-the-bayou classmate: Jack Deveaux.

But she can’t do either alone.

With his mile-long rap sheet, wicked grin, and bad attitude, Jack is like no boy Evie has ever known. Even though he once scorned her and everything she represented, he agrees to protect Evie on her quest. She knows she can’t totally depend on Jack. If he ever cast that wicked grin her way, could she possibly resist him?

Who can Evie trust?

As Jack and Evie race to find the source of her visions, they meet others who have gotten the same call. An ancient prophesy is being played out, and Evie is not the only one with special powers. A group of twenty-two teens has been chosen to reenact the ultimate battle between good and evil. But it’s not always clear who is on which side…

 Shut the Front Door because this book was awesome.  I just finished listening to Poison Princess by Kresley today and I really liked it.  This book gets four Laser Pistols.  In my opinion it started off kind of slow, where you first meet Arthur who is a bad guy in a Post Apocalyptic world.  He kidnaps girls for his nefarious experiments and Evie is just one in a long line of many he is trying to trick.  She tells him her story of before and after the flash.  The before the flash part of the book was kind of boring and I thought Evie was weak.  After the flash the novel takes off like a flash so to speak and really kicks it into high gear.  Evie pairs up with Jack, the Cajun, and the adventures start as Evie races to find her grandmother for answers.

I liked the action and adventure Poison Princess had to offer, and the scrapes Evie got herself into had me on the edge of my seat wondering how she was going to survive.  I loved the ending when Evie comes into her powers and becomes a force to reckon with.  She is no longer weak but a strong female heroine.  I love the kind of Highlander twist the book takes in the end as in "There can only be One," arcana that is.

What I didn't like about the book is there is not that much romance in this book.  I can tell the author is setting it up for more books to come, but sometimes I just wanted to shake Evie and Jack and tell them to grow up and tell each other the truth.  I wasn't always feeling Jack as a love interest for Evie because I felt their relationship was immature and volatile.

I recommend reading or listening to Poison Princess because it has on the edge of your seat adventure and intrigue set in a post apocalyptic world, what's not to love.  Emma Galvin does an excellent job narrating especially the Cajun accents.