15 Wednesday Aug 2012
Posted in Announcements
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Want to see some beautiful book covers? Want a quick way to sort through our book reviews and find the books we liked, loved, or didn’t care for without having to guess from the alphabetic list? We’ve got all that and more pinned to boards on Pinterest.
09 Monday Jul 2012
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book reviews, books, business, chick-lit, Delivering Happiness, ebooks, fiction, Janet Evanovich, Lauren Clark, mystery, non-fiction, reviews, Stay Tuned, Stephanie Plum, Three to get Deadly, Tony Hsieh, Zappos
07 Monday May 2012
Posted in Announcements
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Angela of Troy, Barbara G. Tarn, book reviews, books, bram stoker, dracula, ebooks, fantasy, fiction, Jessamine, paranormal, reviews, SJB Gilmour
Blogging would not be the same without our readers, so we’re letting you pick the next review. The top pick will post tomorrow!
Angelina Troy was a woman of legend. Seasoned veterans feared her sword and gods themselves lusted after her body, just as demons in the pits of the darkest hells loathed her and her necromantic power. Nothing, it seemed, could bring her down.
Then she met the one man who neither feared her nor desired her – the fearsome and equally powerful Silver Shroud werewolf Benjamin McConnell. It was that encounter that sparked her ultimate downfall and terrible fall from grace…
The aristocratic vampire that haunts the Transylvanian countryside has captivated readers’ imaginations since it was first published in 1897. Hindle asserts that Dracula depicts an embattled man’s struggle to recover his “deepest sense of himself as a man”, making it the “ultimate terror myth”.
In the fantasy world of Silvery Earth, a young queen has to learn the hard way how to live and reign. This is the story of Queen Jessamine, from her Rite night at fourteen to war and exile, prisoner of a foreign king, to her comeback to her home country some thirteen years later. Not much magic, but not our planet anyway.
Adult readers for mild sex and violence.
30 Monday Apr 2012
Tags
book reviews, books, ebooks, fiction, M. H. Mead, mystery, reviews, science fiction, The Caline Conspiracy
Calines are genetically engineered “dogs” designed to purr, calm the senses, and feel baby smooth. They are genetically engineered and custom made to accommodate their master’s allergies and be the perfect companion. Smarter and better trained than dogs, they are incapable of hurting a human being… or is that just what they advertise? Madeline, the Caline companion of a top genetic scientist is accused of murdering her master and the evidence against her is open and shut. Everyone but the widow seems convinced she did it, even the detective hired to prove her innocent, but there’s alot of money and motherly instinct tied up in this case.
I don’t usually read sci-fi, that tends to be more Ermisenda’s department, but when it’s not weighed down with all of the futuristic hub-ub I really enjoy it. The Caline Conspiracy is set in the not too distant US. I had a brief moment where I wondered if the authors were from abroad because they used the metric system, but I guess they think that’s where the US is going. Other than that, and the gene manipulation mentioned in the synopsis, the setting is very close to reality. Some of the wording was a little odd (probably because I don’t usually read sci-fi). for example, the detective’s assistant would spit her files and she would grab them before they hit her inbox or something off like that. I felt it took away a little, but I may have sci-fi fans argue I’m being critical of the genre for that one rather than the book itself. Continue reading
01 Thursday Mar 2012
Posted in Announcements
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Blind Sight, book reviews, books, ebook, ebooks, fantasy, fiction, reading, reviews, urban fantasy
The Blind Sight blog tour started this morning with a guest post from Ermisenda on Rather Barefoot than Bookless and a review of Leocardo’s volume on By The Book Reviews. See all of the tour stops on the Blind Sight tour page and by leaving comments on the posts by our bloggers, you are entered into a drawing for a $5 Blind Sight Visa gift card.
27 Monday Feb 2012
Tags
book, book reviews, books, Discworld, Eric, fantasy, fiction, reviews, Terry Pratchett
Eric
Discworld #9*
by Terry Pratchett
genre: fantasy
Eric is a fourteen year old demonologist who wants three things out of life: endless riches, the most beautiful woman in the world, oh and yeah- to rule the world. What he gets is Rincewind, a wizard better at running away than granting wishes. I’m always up for “be careful what you wish for” cautionary tales and this one did not disappoint. It had me chuckling and turning pages wondering how they were going to get out of each new wish. As the King of Hell puts it, “the whole point of the wish business was to see to it that what the client got was exactly what he asked for and exactly what he didn’t really want.” (location 583)
Eric has a few drops of very interesting wisdom like laughing at the world to keep from losing your mind. Humans are more devious than demons as the demons take note from the humans on how to dethrone their leader and how best to torture people in Hell. Inspiration from literature includes Homer’s Iliad and Dante’s Inferno.
It’s a cute, possibly young adult story and very quick to read. I’ll read it again, but it didn’t blow me off my feet.
4 out of 5 stars
-Eliabeth Hawthorne
*The Discworld series are all about the same world, but do not need to be read in order.
Related Reviews
Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett
To see other book reviews by Ermilia or request a review, check our Book Reviews page.
25 Saturday Feb 2012
Posted in Announcements
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Blind Sight, blog, book, book reviews, books, ebook, reading, reviews
“Blind Sight is a worthy contribution to the genre of YA fantasy.” -Karin Rita Gastreich, author of Eolyn; Read the full review.
“Blind Sight is a unique and very engaging pair of books.” -Andrew D. Carlson, author of Sue’s Fingerprint; Read the full review.
Blind Sight releases March 1 and it’s coming up fast. We’ve been so thrilled with the praise we’ve gotten from beta readers and authors! To kick off the launch, we will be hosting a blog tour. The list of participants will go up tomorrow once we’ve gotten it up to date. There will be excerpts, interviews, guest posts, giveaways and cash prizes. Read the reviews, leave a comment about the review, and you could win a free copy of the book!
Check us out on Goodreads while you wait (Aniela/Leocardo) and like the Blind Sight fan page on Facebook to get links to the tour posts.
22 Wednesday Feb 2012
Tags
book, book reviews, books, fiction, Forbidden Mind, Kimberly Kinrade, paranormal YA, reviews, thriller, YA, young adult
Forbidden Mind
by Kimberly Kinrade
genre: paranormal thriller, sci-fi
Sam is a seventeen year old living at Rent-A-Kid, an establishment that rents out children with paranormal powers to clients willing to pay the big bucks. In return for reading minds, at eighteen Sam is promised a new identity and admission into the college of her choice, but right before she’s let lose into the real world, something goes wrong. Sam talks back to one of her clients and back at the Rent-A-Kid infirmary, she sees something she should not. Now the girl who reads minds and the boy who controls them have to figure out how to escape Rent-A-Kid alive.
review
First, thank you Kimberly Kinrade for producing a quality manuscript. The last two books I read (and did not review) had so many typos that it drove me nuts. It’s sad that it’s rare enough to find a quality manuscript that I feel the need to point this out, but it is. No typos!
Now… I’ve spoken to the author and here’s the thing… for me to recommend this book, I feel the need to attach a content warning, but this content warning requires explanation and in that explanation there is a spoiler. There are two red button topics that I cannot get past when reading a book or watching a movie. While Forbidden Mind did not have either, it did have content that I know can be one of those topics for other people. I will include a reminder warning before I launch into the explanation and spoiler, but if you chose to skip over the last paragraph(s) and warning, do not hold it against me if you don’t like the book.
08 Wednesday Feb 2012
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book, book reviews, books, In Leah's Wake, literary fiction, reading, reviews, Terri Giuliano Long
In Leah’s Wake
By Terri Giuliano Long
Genre: literary fiction
Even though Terri is a Novel Publicity customer, I was not given anything in return for this review (I even bought the book).
Normally, I don’t read the reviews of books before I buy them. I let the blurb on the back (and yes, the cover) influence my decision. It was the same for this book but because it took me so long to read it, I’ve read reviews for In Leah’s Wake as part of Novel Publicity. While I tried not to let them influence me, they were in the back of my mind while I read. I found myself either agreeing or disagreeing with them while I read, so I’ll address some of them. Another factor in this review that won’t come up often in others is that I’m the child of a child therapist so I’m exceptionally critical of Zoe’s behavior given that she is a child therapist in the novel.
Warning: this book includes underage sex, underage drinking, eating disorders, illegal substance and drug abuse.
Summary pulled from Goodreads
The Tyler family had the perfect life – until sixteen-year-old Leah decided she didn’t want to be perfect anymore.
While Leah’s parents fight to save their daughter from destroying her brilliant future, Leah’s younger sister, Justine, must cope with the damage her out-of-control sibling leaves in her wake.
Will this family survive? What happens when love just isn’t enough?
Jodi Picoult fans will love In Leah’s Wake – a heartbreaking, ultimately redemptive story about family, connection and our responsibility to those we love.
14 Saturday Jan 2012
Posted in Eliabeth
Tags
book, book reviews, books, David M. Brown, Ella Enchanted, fantasy, Fezariu's Epiphany, fiction, Gail Carson Levine, Janet Evanovich, mystery, One for the Money, review, reviews, Tale of Two Castles
I’m caught up on my Goodreads challenge list and promised reviews. Now I’m curious what you would like to see next on the schedule from me. I’ve narrowed it down to 4 books and included their GR blurbs. I’ll leave the poll up for a few days until I’m done with my final Blind Sight revision to keep myself from reading any more until that’s done.
Would you like to see…
Fezariu’s Epiphany by David M. Brown
12-year-old Fezariu thought his mother died when he was little, but when his beloved stepfather dies the boy discovers she is alive and well – and working at the most famous brothel in all of Elenchera. When she cruelly rejects him it’s more than he can bear, and he runs away to join a band of ruthless soldiers for hire. The Merelax Mercenaries will fight for anyone who can pay them, no matter the justice of the cause.
Fezariu grows up among the soldiers and becomes one of them. He thinks his time with the mercenaries has hardened him. But a campaign in his old home town pushes him too far, and he discovers what really happened to his mother. Maybe there are some things money shouldn’t buy… and maybe it’s time Fezariu took his revenge.
Ermilia 