Are you familiar with Casablanca Classics?  Casablanca is releasing some favorite classics that have gone out of print.  Their lates is Patricia Rice's THE TROUBLE WITH MAGIC, the third book in her Magic series.  Off the marked for over five years, this series is making a comeback in a big way!  Mixing historical fiction with a lovely taste of magic, the Magic series is full of romance, mystery, and of course - gorgeous outfits!

In a lovely cottage there lives a beautiful woman called Ninian who yearns for a family of her own—but whose magical gifts make her too "strange" to be loved by any local lad.

In a castle tower there lives a dark aristocrat called Drogo who studies the stars, seeking rational explanations for perplexing mysteries—unaware that his life is about to be turned upside down by a bewitching enchantress.

From the moment they meet by chance in a moonlit forest, they are drawn inevitably together, compelled to act upon an attraction that defies all explanation and breaks every rule. And over the course of one magical, storm-tossed night they forge a bond that will utterly change the direction of their lives, challenge them to see each other with new eyes—and force them to redefine the very meaning of love...

Come on - just try to tell me that doesn't sound intriguing!

THE TROUBLE WITH MAGIC, Book 2 - from Casablanca

Is Her Magic a Gift or a Curse...?

All the Malcolms have some magic, but Lady Felicity's ability to read people's emotions simply by touching them or their possessions overwhelms her. She's reached a marriageable age, but how can she ever wed when she can see so clearly a man's guilty secrets?

Only He Can Tell the Difference...

Ewen Ives, itinerant rake and adventurous inventor, knows better than to underestimate the mischief of the Malcolms. But sparks fly when he encounters Felicity, and Ewen can't seem to refuse her plea for assistance...

Want to win a copy?  Enter below!

As part of your entry, you need to tell us what your one magical power would be.  Mine would be the ability to generate a continuous magical field around myself that would repel any and all spiders.  Yep, it's the simple things in life.



Find Patricia Rice online

ON THE EDGE by Ilona Andrews
Publisher: Ace
Pages: 309
ISBN#: 0441017800
My Recommended Age Group: Adult
Released: September 29, 2009
Other work: Kate Daniels Series - Magic Bites (#1), Magic Burns (#2), Magic Strikes (#3), Magic Bleeds (#4), Magic Slays (#5). Gunmetal Magic (#6); The Edge Series - On the Edge (1), Bayou Moon (2), Fate's Edge (3)
Our Rating:

From Goodreads:

Rose Drayton lives on the Edge, between the world of the Broken (where people drive cars, shop at Wal-Mart, and magic is a fairy tale) and the Weird (where blueblood aristocrats rule, changelings roam, and the strength of your magic can change your destiny). Only Edgers like Rose can easily travel from one world to the next, but they never truly belong in either.

Rose thought if she practiced her magic, she could build a better life for herself. But things didn’t turn out how she planned, and now she works a minimum wage, off the books job in the Broken just to survive. Then Declan Camarine, a blueblood noble straight out of the deepest part of the Weird, comes into her life, determined to have her (and her power).

But when a terrible danger invades the Edge from the Weird, a flood of creatures hungry for magic, Declan and Rose must work together to destroy them—or they’ll devour the Edge and everyone in it.

My thoughts:

Having finished Magic Slays (Kate Daniels, 5) by Ilona Andrews while out on my walk - literally in the middle of my walk - I quickly found myself in panic mode as I pulled up the Audible website and began searching for another book to listen to, all the while continuing to hoof it down the street.  Imagine my pleasure when I discovered that Andrews had another series out - The Edge.

ON THE EDGE (The Edge, 1), took a little bit to get into after Magic Slays, especially given the fact that it is written from a third-person point-of-view (POV).  Up to this point, I was so used to reading first-person that the third-person admittedly threw me a bit.  However, as Andrews has proved, the writing style, world building, and plot development picked up quickly enough that I was soon too engrossed in the book to care what POV it was written in.

This new series is going to be an exciting one.  Between the world of the mundane (The Broken) and the world of magic (The Weird) is The Edge.  The edge is a hazy mix of the two worlds that makes it completely separate from either.  Odd creatures live in the edge and even odder still are the Edgers, the people that inhabit this oftentimes unfriendly place.

Rose Drayton is our heroine in ON THE EDGE.  Her mother died and her father abandoned the family, leaving Rose to raise her two brothers.  For a normal girl, this would be a nightmare.  For Rose, who has a dark past that makes her a target, and two brothers who are anything but normal, this existence means living day-by-day, barely scraping by.  But she does it, and she does it well, all up until the day she meets Declan Camarine.  Enter the mysterious (and hunky) hero.

I absolutely love the chemistry between Rose and Declan.  The way the two bicker and then fight side-by-side just makes for a very entertaining read.  Of course the mystery of the dark magic that begins to seep into the Edge doesn't hurt either.

The one thing that I loved most about ON THE EDGE was the way that Andrews incorporated the action elements with the slower ones, hooking the reader and then keeping them there.  The characters felt real, and the situations believable.  The overall story felt sincere - if that makes any sense.  There weren't any moments where I sat back hating the characters or saying, "Ha - yeah right."

If you're looking for a good Urban Fantasy?  Rustic Fantasy?  Umm...really good book? - I highly suggest ON THE EDGE.  There were enough twists and turns combined with a multitude of plot developments to keep even a tired mommy (who should be sleeping) listening into the wee hours of the morning (very similar to the whole - just one more page business).

Alrighty folks - I need your help.  I recently suggested some books to a friend and she loved them.  Now, she needs more and I'm wondering if my suggestions will be similar to yours.  She seems to be a fan of dystopians and YA dystopians in particular (I have corrupted another one - yes!) as well as a good post-apocalyptic.

What she has read recently:

The Host by Stephenie Meyer
Divergent by Veronica Roth
Insurgent by Veronica Roth
Matched by Ally Condie
Crossed by Ally Condie

Your suggestions?

DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth
Publisher: Katherine Tegen
Pages: 487
ISBN#: 0062024027
My Recommended Age Group: Young Adult to Adult
Released: May 3, 2011
Audiobook read by: Emma Galvin (awesome!)
In series: Divergent (Divergent 1), Insurgent (Divergent 2), Untitled (Divergent 3)
Our Rating:

From Goodreads:

In a future Chicago, 16-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.

My thoughts:

My to-read pile is astronomically high.  In fact, it takes up a whole bookshelf at home.  Funny thing about accepting books for review, oftentimes your own books tend to get less priority.  Now that I've taken to listen to audiobooks in my driving and walking time, however, I find that I'm actually able to get to some of the books I've heard so much about and experience them for myself.  DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth was such a book.

DIVERGENT popped to the top of my list after a friend finished reading The Host by Stephenie Meyer and was looking for another post-apocalyptic type dystopian.  Everything we could find suggested trying DIVERGENT next.  I thought the cover looked pretty (you know me) so I suggested it to my friend.  A few days later she had finished DIVERGENT and the second in the trilogy Insurgent and just wouldn't stop raving about it.  I sighed and traded an Audible credit in for the book mainly to get my friend off my case.

Holy buckets!  DIVERGENT is an excellent read/listen!

Beatrice Prior has just turned 16 and as such will get to take part in the Choosing Day - the day that she chooses a faction to spend the rest of her life in.  There are five factions (learning about them is half the fun of the first part of the book), each with their own guiding principles.  Beatrice starts as Abnegation - a selfless faction who believe in viewing and doing for others before themselves.  But, is Beatrice really Abnegation?  Can she spend the rest of her life living selflessly, never thinking about herself, and always putting the needs of others first?

DIVERGENT follows Beatrice as she struggles to make a decision, makes that decision, and then struggles through the consequences that her decision entails.  While this is all happening, Beatrice learns that her perfect society may not be as perfect as it claims.  Something dangerous is approaching and it seems to be tied to the Divergent.

I'll have to admit, I came into DIVERGENT expecting a light read with some neat dystopian elements.  I was surprised by how real Roth made the story.  Beatrice's emotions are the real emotions I would expect from a girl in her situation, with her actions staying fairly true to the actions I would expect her to take.  Just because this is a young adult novel doesn't mean that Roth spares us the pain and difficulties that come from living in parts of this society.  She doesn't glaze over the terrors that some of the characters have to live through, instead putting them out in the open and letting us experience the world right along side Beatrice.  This is probably the one thing I loved most about DIVERGENT.

With some great action sequences, a fantastic storyline, and really good drama and tension, DIVERGENT is an excellent read for anyone looking to escape for a while.  This won't be a walk in the park, but I can pretty much guarantee that once you've finished it, you'll be clamoring for the next book in the series.

BlogFest 2012 is right around the corner! Okay, well, it's a little under two months away, but that's relatively right around the corner!

Get ready to have a blast September 28-30! (And if you're curious, the 30th is Cinnamon's birthday)

Looking for increased traffic to your blog? Want to get out and meet some fellow bloggers? Come join us for this annual event as we celebrate each other!

What is it?
BlogFest is a blog run of sorts. A list of participating blogs will be provided on September 28, each offering a fantastic giveaway for readers to enter. Each blog will link to another, pulling readers through the fantastic party we'll have set up for them!


Grand giveaway:
Would you like to donate an item for the grand giveaway?  Email us at ajourneyofbooks-at-gmail.com to learn how.

For the past two years, we have picked one blog visitor that won a great big box of fun prizes.  This year, every blog that you mark on the tracking site earns you one entry.  Each participating blog also gets to choose one visitor and that person earns 10 entries.  One winner is chosen to win the box of awesomeness.


How do I participate?
Want to sign up as a blogger? Fill out the following form.



Finally, promote this event and have fun with it! Last year's event brought 100s of new visitors to participating blogs. What better way to get the word out about your blog and the interesting thoughts you have to share?

Rules:
The rules are quite simple.

• Each blog must host a giveaway between 12:00 am EST on the 28th through 11:59 pm EST on the 30th. 
• There are no stipulations as to the monetary value of this giveaway.
• Each blog must post the links provided to them on the days of the event.
• Your BlogFest post can remain as a single post over the multiple days, but make sure there is an easily visible link to it from the top of your blog. If people can't find your giveaway, they certainly can't enter it.
• Giveaway rules are up to you.
• We will have the famous tracking site available for visitors to use to help track their blog visits. While it is not mandatory that you direct your visitors there, it is a tool available to you.

I want to help!
I knew you would! Email us at ajourneyofbooks-at-gmail.com if you could like to help create some lovely badges, or help in any other way.

Once we have a list of participants, we will link to it from here.

Find your BlogFest 2012 Badges here

Ready? Set? Go!

MAGIC SLAYS by Ilona Andrews
Publisher: Ace
Pages: 308
ISBN#: 0441020429
My Recommended Age Group: Adult
Released: May 31, 2011
Audiobook read by: Renée Raudman (Love!)
In series: Magic Bites (#1), Magic Burns (#2), Magic Strikes (#3), Magic Bleeds (#4), Magic Slays (#5)

Our Rating:

From Goodreads (spoiler sections are grayed out - hover over them to read the whole thing):

Plagued by a war between magic and technology, Atlanta has never been so deadly. Good thing Kate Daniels is on the job.

Kate Daniels may have quit the Order of Merciful Aid, but she’s still knee-deep in paranormal problems. Or she would be if she could get someone to hire her. Starting her own business has been more challenging than she thought it would be—now that the Order is disparaging her good name, and many potential clients are afraid of getting on the bad side of the Beast Lord, who just happens to be Kate’s mate.

So when Atlanta’s premier Master of the Dead calls to ask for help with a vampire on the loose, Kate leaps at the chance of some paying work. Turns out this is not an isolated incident, and Kate needs to get to the bottom of it—fast, or the city and everyone dear to her might pay the ultimate price . . .

My thoughts:

Hmmm...what exactly should I say about this book?  We'll go with - awesome!

MAGIC SLAYS took a bit of a different turn from the other books in the series in terms of plot development.  Some things I had been waiting to see happened, and others that I was hoping I wouldn't see happened as well.  Just as I felt triumph in some parts of the book, others left me depressed and borderline teary-eyed (notice I say borderline).

One of my favorite aspects of the books I have experienced from Ilona Andrews is the attention to detail and world building that occurs within each book.  Building from one to the next, the complex world of Kate Daniels always incorporates some new element and continually captivates the reader.  In my opinion, that's an important part of an extended series.  You can take a great plot and world, but after three books it can easily become stale unless one does as Andrews has and constantly put a new and refreshing spin on things.

It's difficult to go too into detail about MAGIC SLAYS without giving away spoilers from the first four books, but I can say this.  The action is superb, the romance is fantastic, and the gut-wrenching, heart-stopping periods of anxiety-inducing drama is out of this world.  From one fight scene to the next, I honestly couldn't tell where Andrews was going to take us.  At one point in the middle of the book, I couldn't even say for sure that she would refrain from killing off a main character - talk about keeping me guessing!

If you're looking for an action-packed story with a fantastic world of post-shift Atlanta, I highly suggest MAGIC SLAYS.  Both building on the current series and injecting new elements of its own, this book is a terrific installation and one not to be missed.

As a sidenote - let me just mention that half of the books I've been reading lately are paper copies, and the other half are audiobooks purchased through Audible.  I'm developing a new love of audiobooks as it makes my walks and car rides that much more enjoyable.  Whether you're experienced with audiobooks or thinking about trying them out, let me just say that narrator Renée Raudman is utterly fantastic.  I love her narration and really feel that she adds that little bit of icing on top of an already pretty cool book.

Ready?  Set.  Read!

Someone asked the other day what reviews I have coming up.  Below you will find a list of reviews that should be up shortly, as long as a pathetic excuse for why they're not up.  Also, you will find a poll to pick a weekend for BlogFest 2012.

Magic Slays (Kate Daniels 5) by Ilona Andrews
On the Edge (The Edge 1) by Ilona Andrews
Bayou Moon (The Edge 2) by Ilona Andrews
Fate's Edge (The Edge 3) by Ilona Andrews
River Marked (Mercy Thompson 6) by Patricia Briggs
Divergent (Divergent 1) by Veronia Roth

Excuse time: I have an almost five-year-old, and a 10-month-old.  The 10-month-old is crib training and currently waking up ever 30 minutes.  Someday she will sleep and someday I will type.  Someday...