Wednesday, January 2, 2013

UnderCover...Wednesday?

Okay, I know - this is normally my Friday feature.  Let's change it up a bit!

What is it that I love about this? Honestly...I'm not sure.

Normally I'm a cute girl with cute hair and a cute dress on a cover sort of chick. Or eyes - give me some gorgeous eyes on a cover and I'm yours.  Obviously this is neither of those, but there's something about the colors and the complexity of the artwork that does it for me.  Maybe it's all the swirls.  Yep, that could be it. I love swirls (probably why my tattoos are all swirled).

Leave a comment below with your thoughts and/or your favorite cover art/artist(s) for a chance to win a copy of A TRAIN THROUGH TIME by Bess McBride, cover by Tamra Westberry.

College teacher Ellie Standish thinks she's on a sleek modern train heading to a conference on women's studies in Seattle, but she awakens from a night's doze to find herself on a bizarre historical train full of late Victorian era reenactors who refuse to come out of character. When the leader of the group—one handsome, green-eyed Robert Chamberlain—finally convinces her the date is indeed 1901, a skeptical Ellie rejects any eccentric theories of time travel and presumes she is smack dab in the middle of a very interesting historical dream. She turns the directorial reins of her dream over to one smitten and willing Robert, only to realize that dreams cannot last forever. Someday, she must wake up to reality, though Ellie no longer has any idea what reality is. She only knows that Robert must play an important part in her future. But how can he...if he's only a figment of her imagination or worse yet...a man who belongs to an era long past?



Tuesday, December 11, 2012

JENNY'S FIRST ADVENTURE - A Free Short Story!

Doesn't this just look cute?

From Goodreads:

Fairy tales do come true. Unfortunately.

Jenny the Adventurer is back, and this time she's off to the Land of Tales: the crazy place that all fairy tales come from. If she can defeat an evil witch and complete three impossible tasks--all without getting eaten by blood-thirsty monsters--Jenny might finally get some answers about what happened to her parents.

This is one adventure Jenny can't afford to fail.

My Epic Fairy Tale Fail is expected to be released March 2013 from Sourcebooks Jabberwocky.  Can't wait to experience the story?  Author Anna Staniszewski has a free short story up as a nice appetizer.  Check it out and let us know what you think!

Monday, December 10, 2012

Pocket Books Shindig - BLOOD WINTER by Diana Pharaoh

Pocket Books has an upcoming event!

On Wednesday, December 12th, 2012 at 6:00 pm ET, join fantasy novelist Diana Pharaoh Francis in an online video chat book event! Diana will deliver a live reading from her new book, Blood Winter, the latest in her Horngate Witches series releasing December 26, 2012. The reading will be followed by an interactive audience Q&A, so come armed with questions about any of her books, or writing, or how she wrangles kids and corgis in order to write.

To RSVP and attend, please visit http://shindig.com/event/blood-winter.

Anyone can join in this event individually. Attendees can talk with each other. You can text or type questions. No download necessary.

From Goodreads:

Set in apocalyptic America and featuring a magically enslaved heroine who is “a riveting mixture of guts, compassion, and furious anger as she struggles with a world coming apart at the seams” (Romantic Times), the fourth in a dynamic dark urban fantasy series unlike anything you’ve ever read before.

DRINK DEEP Review - Chloe Neill

DRINK DEEP by Chloe Neill
Publisher: NAL
Pages: 352
ISBN#: 0451234863
My Recommended Age Group: Adult
Released: November 1, 2011
Narrated by: Cynthia Holloway
Other work: Some Girls Bite (CV 1), Friday Night Bites (CV 2), Twice Bitten (CV 3), Hard Bitten (CV 4), Drink Deep (CV 5), Biting Cold (CV 6), House Rules (CV 7), Biting Bad (CV 8)
Our Rating:


From Goodreads:

Clouds are brewing over Cadogan House, and Merit the vampire can't tell if this is the darkness before the dawn, or the calm before the storm. With the city itself in turmoil over paranormals and the state threatening to pass a paranormal registration act, times have never been more precarious for the vampires. If only they could lay low for a bit...

Then magic rears its ugly head when Lake Michigan turns black. The mayor insists it's nothing to worry about, but Merit knows a panic is coming. She'll have to turn to friends old and new to find out who's behind this, and stop them before it's too late for both the vampires and humans.

My thoughts:

These books are going to get me a speeding ticket.

Some series I have in paperback (or hardback) and some I have solely in Audible form.  Chloe Neill's Chicagoland Vampires are ones that I have only experience via Audible.  That being said, it's hard for me to determine if the heart-stopping suspense or the adrenaline soaked action translates as well off the page as it does from Cynthia Holloway, the fabulous narrator of these books.  My guess is that Ms. Neill's words translate well in any media form, the "reader" of one of her books will just be less likely to get a speeding ticket than a "listener."

I can't help it!  One scene in particular involving four poles, and four vampires (not going into more detail than that) had me freaking out, leaning forward in my seat and putting the gas petal down before I realized what was happening.  Thank goodness for cruise control during this one, otherwise I'd be travelling at warp speed, leaving the State Troopers eating my dust.

Just when you thought you understood the world that Chloe Neill had built up for us in this series she tosses it all up in the air and we get to watch in fascination as the pieces fall in new and interesting ways.  I love the direction the series is headed.  The added suspense, increased action, and crazy romantic tension makes this series, and DRINK DEEP in particular a book that's practically impossible to put down (or turn off in my case) for fear that you'll miss something absolutely vital on the next page.

As with any later book in a series, it's difficult to get into plot specifics without providing spoilers for the early books, but let's just say that Merit definitely has her work cut out for her.  If it's even possible, I became more attached to Merit in DRINK DEEP and really felt for her at various points in the book.  Both tugging on your heart strings and making you want to turn homicidal toward some of the characters, Neill continues to keep us actually caring about the story and its characters - not always an easy thing to do in a longer series.

Overall - A+.  Instead of getting old and musty, Chloe Neill continues to inject new elements into this series that keeps us interested.  The addition of new world elements and the constant building of the world should keep Urban Fantasy readers entertained from the first page throughout the last.