Thursday, November 26, 2015
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Hot Off the Press: November 24th Releases
November 24th
TITLE | AUTHOR | SERIES | GENRE |
Feel the Burn | G.A. Aiken | Dragon Kin #8 | Paranormal Romance |
Cold in the Shadows | Toni Anderson | Cold Justice #5 | Romantic Suspense |
Beyond The Grave | C.J. Archer | The Ministry of Curiosities #3 | Sci-Fi/Steampunk |
Take Me All the Way | Toni Blake | Coral Cove #3 | Contemporary Romance |
Convergence Point | Liana Brooks | A Time and Shadows Mystery #2 | Mystery |
Queen | Aimee Carter | Blackcoat Rebellion #3 | Young Adult |
Child of Two Worlds | Greg Cox | Star Trek: The Original Series | Sci-Fi |
Texas Hustle | Cynthia D'Alba | Texas Montgomery Mavericks #6 | Contemporary Romance |
Lucky Shot | B.J. Daniels | The Montana Hamiltons #3 | Romantic Suspense |
Death By Tea | Alex Erickson | Bookstore Cafe Mystery #2 | Mystery/Cozy Mystery |
Wild Cat | Christine Feehan | Leopard People #7 | Paranormal Romance |
Jackson | Melissa Foster | Wild Boys After Dark #3 | Contemporary Romance |
Bound in Darkness | Jacquelyn Frank | Immortal Brothers #4 | Paranormal Romance |
Wrapped Up in a Beau | Angelita Gill | Contemporary Romance | |
Chimera | Mira Grant | Parasitology #3 | Horror |
(Dis)content | Melissa Haag | Judgement of the Six #5 | New Adult/Paranormal |
My Lady Gloriana | Sylvia Halliday | Historical Romance | |
Lies | C.A. Harms | Phoenix Undercover #1 | Romantic Suspense |
Dukes Are Forever | Anna Harrington | The Secret Life of Scoundrels #1 | Historical Romance |
Yarned and Dangerous | Sadie Hartwell | A Tangled Web Mystery #1 | Mystery/Cozy Mystery |
I Heard a Rumor | Cheris Hodges | Rumor #1 | Contemporary Romance |
Sweetest Scoundrel | Elizabeth Hoyt | Maiden Lane #9 | Historical Romance |
Waking Hearts | Elizabeth Hunter | Cambio Springs #3 | Paranormal Romance |
These Three Words | Holly Jacobs | Women's Fiction | |
Denial | Lisa Renee Jones | Careless Whispers #1 | Contemporary Romance |
Midnight Wrangler | Cat Johnson | Midnight Cowboys #2 | Contemporary Romance |
The Seventh Bride | T. Kingfisher | Fantasy | |
Stars in Your Eyes | Lynn Kurland | de Piaget #17 | Historical Romance/Time Travel |
A Billionaire Between the Sheets | Katie Lane | The Unexpected Billionaires #1 | Contemporary Romance |
Redeem My Heart | Kennedy Layne | CSA Case Files #7 | Romantic Suspense |
Steal Me | Lauren Layne | New York's Finest #2 | Contemporary Romance |
Fighting for Devlin | Jessica Lemmon | Lost Boys #1 | Contemporary Romance |
The Shards of Heaven | Michael Livingston | The Shards of Heaven #1 | Fantasy/Historical |
Death Comes to Kurland Hall | Catherine Lloyd | Kurland St. Mary Mystery #3 | Mystery/Historical |
Desert Wolf | Heather Long | Wolves of Willow Bend #8 | Paranormal Romance |
Legacies Reborn | Pittacus Lore | I Am Number Four: The Lost Files #13 | Young Adult |
Dragon Storm | Katie MacAlister | Black Dragons #2 | Paranormal Romance |
Match of the Century | Cathy Maxwell | Marrying the Duke #1 | Historical Romance |
The Striker | Monica McCarty | Highland Guard #10 | Historical Romance |
Giving Up the Ghost | Max McCoy | Ophelia Wylde Paranormal Mystery #3 | Mystery/Cozy Mystery |
Detonator | Andy McNab | Nick Stone #17 | Thriller |
The Spinster's Guide to Scandalous Behavior | Jennifer McQuiston | Seduction Diaries #2 | Historical Romance |
The Golem of Solomon's Way | Jon Messenger | Magic & Machinery #3 | Sci-Fi/Steampunk |
Promises | Fern Michaels | Romance | |
Once Touched | Laura Moore | Silver Creek #3 | Contemporary Romance |
The Truth About Him | Molly O'Keefe | Everything I Left Unsaid #2 | Contemporary Romance |
Reckless Hearts | Sean Olin | Wicked Games #2 | Young Adult |
Wyoming Rugged | Diana Palmer | Wyoming Men #5 | Contemporary Romance |
Sun Kissed | JoAnn Ross | Orchid Island #1 | Contemporary Romance |
Cast in Honor | Michelle Sagara | The Chronicles of Elantra #12 | Fantasy |
The Harder You Fall | Gena Showalter | The Original Heartbreakers #3 | Contemporary Romance |
The Bite of Winter | Lauren Smith | Love Bites #1 | Paranormal Romance |
Controlled Burn | Shannon Stacey | Boston Fire #2 | Contemporary Romance |
The Healing Power of Sugar | C.L. Stone | The Academy: The Ghost Bird #9 | Young Adult |
A Kind of Magic | Shanna Swendson | Fairy Tale #3 | Fantasy |
Coal River | Ellen Marie Wiseman | Historical Fiction | |
His All Night | Elle Wright | Edge of Scandal #2 | Contemporary Romance |
Promises I Made | Michelle Zink | Lies I Told #2 | Young Adult |
Contemporary Romance |
Fantasy |
Historical Fiction |
Historical Romance |
Horror |
Mystery |
Paranormal Romance |
Romance |
Romantic Suspense |
Science Fiction |
Thriller |
Women's Fiction |
Urban Fantasy |
Young Adult |
Monday, November 23, 2015
Early Review: Feel the Burn by G.A. Aiken
Title: Feel the Burn
Author: G.A. Aiken
Series: Dragon Kin, book 8
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Dragons
Publisher: Zebra (November 24th)
Source: Review copy from publisher
Format: E-book
War makes strange bedfellows.
I, Gaius Domitus, one-eyed rebel dragon king of the Provinces, know that better than most, since I have to fight off half my ungrateful family on a regular basis to keep law and order here in my lands. But I never expected to have to consort with a barbarian human woman.
Kachka is beautiful, if you like them fierce—and of course I do. But she keeps complaining about how spoiled and decadent I am, and how a feared Daughter of the Steppes has no time for foolish dragons. I think she likes my eye patch, though. It is quite dashing. With death always at our tails, we take our passion like we take our allies. As they say, love the barbarian you’re with…
Feel
the Burn
is the story of king Gaius Lucius Domitus,
Iron dragon and the one-eyed Rebel King from the west and Kachka Shestakova of
the Black Bear Riders of the Midnight Mountains of Despair in the Far Reaches
of the Steppes of the Outerplains. It’s also the story of how war is
approaching and having good allies is crucial in this difficult times, even if
those allies are led by the Mad Queen of Garbhán Isle, the bloodthirsty Annwyl.
I
know that even when I’m in the middle of a paranormal romance reading slump I
can enjoy one of Aiken’s books; luckily for me Feel the Burn was not the exception.
I
don’t know how Aiken does it, but she creates over the top characters that
although they crash at every scene they work perfectly together as a whole.
The
main couple is a pair we know from previous books. The Rebel King has been part
of couple of stories and Kachka was introduced in previous book, she is Elina’s
sister (Light My Fire, book 7th).
Gaius
and Kachka made a great couple because they are together for all the good
reasons. Gaius could have any woman/dragon he desires because of his rank, but
that’s the last thing he wants. He wants a woman to want him for how he is and
not for his title and that’s exactly what Kachka does. She couldn’t care less
that he was a king. For her he’s just a worthy mate and that’s all that is
important to her.
In
this installment Aiken brings all the characters we love from previous books
and introduced some new ones, as were Kachka’s band of fighters formed by a
misfit group of Daughter of the Steppes. I loved all of them, but Zoya was by
far my favorite from the group.
In
Feel
the Burn Aiken not only gives
us a new couple, she also moves forward the general arc. The war is soon
approaching and all the players need to be ready and in the perfect place.
Including their progeny, who have been preparing for this war from an early
age.
Feel
the Burn
has everything I expect from an Aiken’s
book. It has action, romance, adventure, suspense and humor galore. I found
myself laughing out loud many times while reading this book. My only complain
is that Gaius and Kackka spent a lot of time apart. I know it was necessary for
the plot, but in a paranormal romance story the couple should play a more
prominent part in the story when they are together.
I
recommend Feel the Burn to
paranormal romance and dragons fans. If you are a fan of the genre and haven’t
read the Dragon Kin series you are
missing one of the best PNR series in the market. Although Feel the Burn could be read as a stand alone I don’t
recommend doing it. There is a lot of backstory relevant to this story and its characters
necessary
to understand all that is going on.
My Verdict: 4 ½ Paws
Other books in the series
Everlasting
Bad Boys (Prequel novella)
A
Tale of Two Dragons (Prequel novella)
Dragon on Top (Prequel novella)
Dragon
Actually
About
a Dragon
What
a Dragon Should Know
Last
Dragon Standing
The
Dragon Who Loved Me
How
to Drive a Dragon Crazy
Feel
the Burn (November 24th)
Other reviews
Goodreads
Saturday, November 21, 2015
Movie Trailer: Central Intelligence
"Central Intelligence" follows a one-time bullied geek who grew up to be a lethal CIA agent (Johnson), coming home for his high school reunion. Claiming to be on a top-secret case, he enlists the help of the former “big man on campus” (Hart), now an accountant who misses his glory days. But before the staid numbers-cruncher realizes what he’s getting into it’s too late to get out, as his increasingly unpredictable new friend drags him through a world of shoot-outs, double-crosses and espionage that could get them both killed in more ways than he can count.
Trailer
Friday, November 20, 2015
Review: A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston
Title: A Thousand Nights
Author: E.K. Johnston
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Source: Review copy from publisher
Format: E-book
Lo-Melkhiin killed three hundred girls before he came to her village, looking for a wife. When she sees the dust cloud on the horizon, she knows he has arrived. She knows he will want the loveliest girl: her sister. She vows she will not let her be next.
And so she is taken in her sister's place, and she believes death will soon follow. Lo-Melkhiin's court is a dangerous palace filled with pretty things: intricate statues with wretched eyes, exquisite threads to weave the most beautiful garments. She sees everything as if for the last time. But the first sun rises and sets, and she is not dead. Night after night, Lo-Melkhiin comes to her and listens to the stories she tells, and day after day she is awoken by the sunrise. Exploring the palace, she begins to unlock years of fear that have tormented and silenced a kingdom. Lo-Melkhiin was not always a cruel ruler. Something went wrong.
Far away, in their village, her sister is mourning. Through her pain, she calls upon the desert winds, conjuring a subtle unseen magic, and something besides death stirs the air.
Back at the palace, the words she speaks to Lo-Melkhiin every night are given a strange life of their own. Little things, at first: a dress from home, a vision of her sister. With each tale she spins, her power grows. Soon she dreams of bigger, more terrible magic: power enough to save a king, if she can put an end to the rule of a monster.
I
have to be honest, I had A Thousand
Nights by E.K. Johnston for months, but wasn’t sure about reading it
because I haven’t been in the mood for YA. I also read some reviews and people
kind of liked it, but I didn’t read any reviews of people who loved. So I kept
postponing and postponing reading it, until one-day couple of days ago when I
didn’t know what to read due to my mood.
I thought, okay, let’s give this one a go, if I don’t like it by the 30%
I will DNF it and that will be it. A
Thousand Nights is the first ever book I start thinking I will end up
DNF-ing and Oh boy, was I wrong! E.K. Johnston’s writing sucked me in from the
very first pages and didn’t let me go until the very end and I loved every
minute of it.
Thousand Nights
is Johnston’s take on the story of The Arabian Nights: One Thousand and One
Nights and let me tell you, she owns and nails her retelling.
I
loved everything about Thousand Nights.
I loved the characters, I loved the setting, I loved the story, I loved the
-although slow- perfect pace, I loved the writing, I simply loved everything
about A Thousand Nights.
Johnston’s
writing has a magic quality that not only immersed me in the story, it also
made me feel as if I was seeing what was happening with my own eyes. With her
evocative words Johnston gave life to a beautiful world and to very strong
characters. I loved the power she gave to the women and how she was able to
clearly show their strength, their love and what they were willing to sacrifice
to protect one another. Another thing I loved about A Thousand Nights was that the only name we know is Lo-Melkhiin's.
The rest of the characters are referred as Wife, Sister, Mother, Lady-Bless, Father
or similar. In my opinion, leaving the names out only added to the magic of the
story.
A Thousand Nights
is not a book for everybody, but it was the perfect book for me. I recommend it
to YA and fantasy fans who are able to enjoy a slow pace, beautiful, and
powerful subtle story.
A Thousand Nights
was my first book by E.K. Johnston, but I can guarantee you, it won’t be my
last.
My Verdict: 4 ½ Paws
Other reviews
Goodreads
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