In My Mailbox (2)

Hosted by Kristy at The Story Siren,  inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie.

Where we post about books we have received 

during the week via mailbox, local library, or store bought, etc.

_______

 

 

Bought

One With the Darkness by Susan Squires

The Dare by Susan Kearney

E-book Galley

Delirum by Lauren Oliver

The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa

Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

Beyond the Highland Mist

Title: Beyond the Highland Mist

Series: Highlander Series #1

Author: Karen Marie Moning

Genre: Romance

Format: Paperback, 416pp

Author Website

Synopsis

He would sell his warrior soul to possess her. . . .
An alluring laird...
He was known throughout the kingdom as Hawk, legendary predator of the battlefield and the boudoir. No woman could refuse his touch, but no woman ever stirred his heart—until a vengeful fairy tumbled Adrienne de Simone out of modern-day Seattle and into medieval Scotland. Captive in a century not her own, entirely too bold, too outspoken, she was an irresistible challenge to the sixteenth-century rogue. Coerced into a marriage with Hawk, Adrienne vowed to keep him at arm's length—but his sweet seduction played havoc with her resolve.
A prisoner in time...
She had a perfect "no" on her perfect lips for the notorious laird, but Hawk swore she would whisper his name with desire, begging for the passion he longed to ignite within her. Not even the barriers of time and space would keep him from winning her love. Despite her uncertainty about following the promptings of her own passionate heart, Adrienne's reservations were no match for Hawk's determination to keep her by his side...

Review

I fell in love with the Fever Series. I loved the way Karen Marie Moning wrote, the way she described the surroundings, her characters, everything. So after I found out that series was written based off of events in the Highlander Series, I knew I had to get them. To be honest, I was kind of disappointed. This was a good book, but it didn’t suck me in like the Fever series did. It had some good parts, but I found it to be fairly boring in others. I felt like there were a lot of circles in this story. Adrianne was played a fool by her first husband and she vowed to never fall in love with another beautiful man. But she gets sucked into the past by a revenge seeking fey and her world is turned upside down. It's lust at first sight for her but she continually acts like she hates the Hawk. When he kisses her, she says she was thinking of Adam, he gets mad blah, blah, blah, he tries to woo her again she likes it, they get mad at each other, they like each other, they get ripped apart. All in all this story was just okay for me. I hope the next one is better.

Rate

The Insider by Reece Hirsch

Title: The Insider
Author: Reece Hirsch
Genre: Legal Thriller
Format: Paperback, 330pp
Author Website


Synopsis

First corporate attorney Will Connelly's colleague hurtles to his death outside his office window. Within days, Will is a prime suspect in a murder, the target of an S.E.C. insider trading investigation, and a pawn in a complex criminal scheme involving the Russian mafia and a ruthless terrorist plot. Now, to top things off, he must ensure a deadly enemy doesn't gain access to the nation's most sensitive and confidential information-that has the power to do incalculable, irrevocable harm.

 Review

The Insider is not one of my usual genres but Hirsch totally knocked my socks off. This was a fast pace read, the characters very likable. This book had so many twists and turns I couldn’t put it down. I would turn the pages faster and faster, I couldn’t get enough. Then it was over, and I regretted it. The story kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I hope Reece brings more books to the table; he could easily become one of my favorite authors!

Rating

 

Early Review: Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis

Title: Kat, Incorrigible
Series: Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson Series , #1
Author: Stephanie Burgis
Genre: Middle-Grade Fiction (10 up)
Format: ARC, 304pp

Release Date: 04/05/11

Author Website

Synopsis

Take one part magic, two parts adventure, and a dash of cross-dressing, add two unwed sisters, a bumbling father, and a stepmother with her petticoats in a twist, and you're in for an unlikely adventure through nineteenth-century England like Jane Austen never dreamed it. 

Katherine Ann Stephenson has just discovered that she's inherited her mother's magical talents, and despite Stepmama's stern objections, she's determined to learn how to use them. But with her eldest sister Elissa's intended fiance, the sinister Sir Neville, showing a dangerous interest in Kat's magical potential; her other sister, Angeline, wreaking romantic havoc with her own witchcraft; and a highwayman lurking in the forest, even Kat's reckless heroism will be tested to the utmost. If she can learn to control her new powers, will Kat be able to rescue her family and win her sisters their true love?


Review

Let me start out by saying that this is a very cute story. It’s about 3 sisters who have just discovered they have magical powers. It’s the typical fairy tale where the mother died when the kids were young so the father marries the wicked stepmother. They have an older brother who is in over his head with gambling debts, and Stepmama has convinced Elissa that she has to marry the wealthy Sir Neville so the family doesn’t go to debtor’s prison. Stepmama arranges for them to meet at a month long house party at the Grantham Abbey. But it seems Sir Neville is more interested in magic, than finding a wife. Kat has to learn to control her new found powers so she can rescue her family and win her sisters true loves. I found the first part of the book pretty slow. It didn’t really pick up for me until about chapter 15. I feel Kat is always defending her self. She doesn’t care if people talk about but she is scared of people thinking she’s weak or scared. Every other sentence she was second guessing herself, or asking what would mama do? What would Angeline do? She’s only 12 but I don’t every remember doing that. And it always seemed like she was running away from everything, when she first found the Golden Hall, after her fight with Lady Fotherington, she tried to get home as fast as she could, the second time in the Golden Hall when Mr. Gregson asked to be her tutor she ran away. It is a very cute story but it is definitely for a younger reader.

Rate:

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This teaser comes from  Kat,Incorrigible by Stephenie Burgis

     

"I was twelve years of age when I chopped off my hair, dressed as a boy, and set off to save my family from impending ruin. I made it almost to the end of my front garden."

What's your teaser?
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

              •Grab your current read 

              •Open to a random page 

              •Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page.

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your 2 ‘teasers’ in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!

In My Mailbox (1)

Hosted by Kristy at The Story Siren,  inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie.

Where we post about books we have received 

during the week via mailbox, local library, or store bought, etc.

_______

For Review

Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis

The Insider by Reese Hirsch

Bought

Highland Rebel by Tess Mallory

As Shadows Fade by Colleen Gleason

Early Review: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Title: Wither (The Garden Trilogy #1)
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Genre: Young Adult (14+)
Format: ARC, 358pp
Source: Simon & Schuster BFYR
Release Date: 3/22/2011
Author Website

Synopsis

What if you knew exactly when you would die?

Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, before it is too late.

 

Review (Spoilers)

I didn’t really get into this book until about chapter 6. After that I couldn’t stop. I read the whole book in 1 day! I love the Cover Art! I love how things are futuristic, but I also think they could have been described a little bit better. Sometimes I had a hard time imagining what the people looked like or what the house looked like. 

This is the first time this has ever happened to me, but I was kind of torn between the characters. I was mad that Rhine was stolen from her brother, and that Linden bought her. But I was glad she didn’t die in the van like the other girls. I was mad that Rhine was first wife, yet she never consummated the marriage, while a 13 year old had a baby. It confused me that Rhine was able to make so many decisions about what happens between her and Linden. I was mad at Linden a lot through the book, until he showed his emotions, and we realized that he was just as trapped as the wives were. I hated that Jenna died, and I think House Master Vaughn had something to do with it.

One part of me wanted Rhine and Gabriel to get free, but the other part wanted Rhine to stay with Linden. I think Linden did start to love Rhine but I think he had a hard time separating her from Rose.

I really want to read more about Rhine and Gabriel, but I also want to read more about Linden and Cecily (even though she is a whiny baby and I wanted to reach through the book and wring her neck sometimes). I find myself attached to these characters, and I want to know how they are, and what they’re doing.

 

Rate:

 

 

Good bye 2010 Contest

 

Bloody Bookaholic

Bloody Bookaholic is having an awesome giveaway! 

With more than 30 books that need to go to good homes!

check out her site to get all the details!

Are you excited about Shadowfever?

Only 5 more days until Shadowfever is released! I don't know if I can wait any longer. But I have some good news; Dark Faerie Tales is giving away ONE copy of Shadowfever! All you have to do I answer a couple of questions and you're entered to win! It's that easy! Good Luck! Click Here for the link.

Shades Of Midnight

Title: Shades of Midnight (Midnight Breed Series #7)
Author: Lara Adrian
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Format: Paperback 400pp
Author Website

Synopsis

In a frozen wilderness steeped in darkness, the lines between good and evil, lover and enemy, are never black or white but drawn in Shades of Midnight.
Something inhuman is stalking the frigid Alaskan wilds, leaving unspeakable carnage in its wake. For bush pilot Alexandra Maguire, the killings stir memories of a horrific event she witnessed as a child and evoke in her the inexplicable sense of otherness she has long felt within herself but never fully understood . . . until a darkly seductive stranger with secrets of his own enters her world.
Sent from Boston on a mission to investigate the savage attacks and stop the slaughter, vampire warrior Kade has his own reasons for returning to the frigid, forbidding place of his birth. Haunted by a secret shame, Kade soon realizes the stunning truth of the threat he faces–a threat that will jeopardize the fragile bond he has formed with the courageous, determined young woman who arouses his deepest passions and most primal hungers. But in bringing Alex into his world of blood and darkness, Kade must confront both his own personal demons and the even greater evil that could destroy all he holds dear.

Review

Weird things have been happening in the small town of Harmony, Alaska. People are getting attacked and no one knows who or what is doing it. Alexandra Maguire know exactly whats happening. When she was a child her mother and little brother were murdered the same way. She starts to stand up and tell the whole town what she knows, then notices a dark shadow in the corner. There's something about this stranger that draws her attention. Every time she turns around there he is. She hardly knows this stranger but she feels like she can trust him with her deepest secrets. Little does she know, Kade has some secrets of hims own. The sparks fly between the two, which ends in a night of passion. Kade must come forth with his secrets before its to late.  This book keeps you on the edge of your seat. It has twists and turns, and you never know whats coming next. This is a very fun read. I would definitely  recommend this to vampire lovers.

Rate:

What I got for Christmas!

I got a BUNCH of new books! I'm so excited! I got:

And on top of that I got an ARC!

Wither (the Chemical Garden Trilogy)  by, Lauren DeStefano

 

(out 03.22.11)

So be on the look out for those reviews!

Did you have a good Christmas/Holiday? If you celebrate Christmas, what did you get? 

How did you celebrate New Years? Do you have  a New Years resolution? 

I usually don't set a New Years resolution because I never follow through.

But this year I am going to try to lose weight.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Congrats!

To Laurie from Bitten by Paranormal Romance, for reaching 800 followers!

She has a giveaway on her page right now, until Feb.1st. so go check out her site! 

She has a lot of great reviews!

Fantasy Lover

Title: Fantasy Lover (Dark Hunter Series #1)
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Format: Paperback , 352pp   
Author Website
  
Synopsis

Dear Reader,
Being trapped in a bedroom with a woman is a grand thing. Being trapped in hundreds of bedrooms over two thousand years isn't. And being cursed into a book as a love-slave for eternity can ruin even a Spartan warrior's day.
As a love-slave, I know everything about women. How to touch them, how to savor them, and most of all, how to pleasure them. But when I was summoned to fulfill Grace Alexander's sexual fantasies, I found the first woman in history who saw me as a man with a tormented past. She alone bothered to take me out of the bedroom and onto the world. She taught me to love again.
But I was not born to love. I was cursed to walk eternity alone. As a general, I had long ago accepted my sentence. Yet now I have found Grace--the one thing my wounded heart cannot survive without. Sure, love can heal all wounds, but can it break a two-thousand-year-old curse?
                                                                                                                                                                                     Julian of Macedon



Review

This book is amazing! It sucked me in from the very start. This book seemed more natural to me. Like Kenyon saw this happen in real life, and she wrote it down word for word. It made me feel for the characters, I cried when they cried, I was happy when they were happy. It seemed like a real life relationship to me. They made jokes, and they flirted, they cried, they shared secrets. They fall in love. And you see it all happen before your eyes. I am so happy I decided to pick this book up. And I think you would be too! I would recommend this book to anyone who loves love stories.