On the First Day of Christmas...

...My Favorite Book of 2012

Blood and Silver by James R. Tuck

He hasn't met a monster yet that could give him a scare. With ice in his veins, silver hollow-points in his chambers, and an innate ability to rise from the dead, what's to fear? The answer may be something he doesn't want to face...

Deacon Chalk normally has no trouble telling innocent victims from real monsters. So protecting an abused pregnant were-dog is a no-brainer...until a vicious lycanthrope leader and his brotherhood target Deacon, other shape-shifters, and any humans in their way. Suddenly Deacon is outnumbered, outgunned and unsure who--or what--to trust. The only edge he has left is a weapon hungry for his soul and his most savage impulses. And using it will exact a price even this hell-raising hunter fears to pay...

Tattoo by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Tattoo:
Bailey Morgan isn't the type of girl who shows a lot of skin, but somehow, she ends up in a dressing room at the mall with her friend Delia applying a temporary tattoo to her lower back. Never one to suffer fashion doubt, trendsetter Delia knows exactly where she wants her own tattoo: on her stomach, right where her shirt ends—can you say "midriff"? Annabelle, the quiet one, chooses the back of her neck, and tomboy Zo plasters hers on the top of her foot. The tattoos will last for three days, and Delia's sure that with them, the four friends will absolutely kill at the school dance.

Unfortunately, killing is just what someone has in mind, and Bailey, Delia, Annabelle, and Zo are in for the battle of their lives. Along with her tattoo, each girl receives a gift—a supernatural power to help them in their fight. As Bailey's increasingly frightening dreams reveal the nature of their enemy, it becomes clear to the girls that it's up to them to save the world. And if they can get Delia to stop using her newfound power to turn gum wrappers into Prada pumps, they might actually stand a chance.

Tattoo by Jennifer Lynn Barnes is the first of a two-part story and had a great premise, and some amazing mixtures of cultural references with strong ties to the fey. The book follows four average friends as they are thrust into the magical world of the Sidhe. A typical visit to the mall ends with the girls applying temporary tattoos and gaining ancient magical powers, changing their lives forever. The main character, Bailey didn’t leave much of an impression with me and through her voice the book seemed a little juvenile in tone, so I had a hard time connecting to the characters. But I did enjoy the story despite it’s slow pace. I would have liked to see a little more action and danger, the antagonist was surprisingly easy to defeat and the four friends manage to save the world. I have heard good things about the second book: Fate, so I am looking forward to starting that one soon.

Merry Christmas Eve!

I wish you all wonderful holiday gatherings with friends and family, filled with warmth and happiness.

This is a favorite Christmas image of mine; Star of Wonder by Trisha Romance.

Only Two More Days...

This Holiday Season I'm going to be celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas again! I'm doing things just a little differently this year.  Here is the schedule in which I will be posting for each day.

**The "first" day of Christmas is December 25th**

December 25th: My Book of the Year
December 26th: 2 Favorite Reviews of 2012
December 27th: 3 Debut Authors I Want To Read in 2013
December 28th: 4 Favorite Characters of 2012
December 29th: 5 Books to Film I Want to See in 2013
December 30th: 6 New Series I Want to Start in 2013
December 31st: 7 Authors I Read for the First Time in 2012
January 1st: 8 Books That Surprised Me (in a good way) in 2012
January 2nd: 9 Books I Can't Believe I STILL Haven't Read
January 3rd: 10 Sequels I Can't Wait For in 2013
January 4th: 11 Awesome Covers of 2012
January 5th: 12 Favorite Books of 2012
January 6th: Blogoversary Celebration and Giveaway!

Hope to see you all throughout the week!

My Bookish Wants & Gots (32)

My Bookish Wants & Gots is a weekly Saturday feature at The Book Vixen. I list the books I want - which can be old, new, or upcoming releases - and the books I recently got.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

goodreads

I have two weeks. You’ll shoot me at the end no matter what I do.

That’s what you do to enemy agents. It’s what we do to enemy agents. But I look at all the dark and twisted roads ahead and cooperation is the easy way out. Possibly the only way out for a girl caught red-handed doing dirty work like mine — and I will do anything, anything, to avoid SS-Hauptsturmführer von Linden interrogating me again.

He has said that I can have as much paper as I need. All I have to do is cough up everything I can remember about the British War Effort. And I’m going to. But the story of how I came to be here starts with my friend Maddie. She is the pilot who flew me into France — an Allied Invasion of Two.

We are a sensational team.

The Brown House by Christy Sloat

goodreads

Some secrets should never be revealed…

Brylee Branson begrudgingly made the excruciating move with her family from the warm sandy beaches of California to small town living in New Jersey. As if she wasn’t miserable enough, they’ve moved into a creepy old house that everyone in the area claims is haunted. Brylee dismisses the idea of ghosts and hauntings, until she begins to see and hear things that can’t be explained…

Brylee has no choice but to seek the help of new friends to unlock the secrets of this place she now calls home. But some secrets should never be revealed. Can the teens find a way to release the spirits imprisoned within the walls? Or will the curse claim them, too?

Darker After Midnight by Lara Adrian
goodreads
In the dark of night, a blood war escalates within the hidden world of the Breed. After existing in secret for many long centuries, maintaining a fragile peace with the humans who walk beside them unaware, a single act of retaliation has put the entire vampire nation at risk of discovery. It falls to the Order--a cadre of Breed warriors pledged to protect their own and humankind alike--to stop Dragos, the power-mad vampire at the center of the conflict, before his push for domination can explode into catastrophe.

At the center of the Order's quest is Sterling Chase, once a morally rigid enforcer of Breed law, now a warrior fallen from grace, whose biggest battle is the one he wages against his own savage nature. With addiction beckoning him toward eternal darkness, Chase's path to redemption has never seemed more out of reach. But when his eyes meet those of Tavia Fairchild, a beautiful witness who identifies him at the scene of a mission gone terribly wrong, Chase finds himself drawn to the woman--and convinced she is something much more than she seems.

Pulled into a vortex of intrigue and danger she can neither resist nor understand, Tavia is uncertain whom to trust. And while everything sane and logical warns her against getting close to Chase, she cannot deny that the handsome, deeply haunted male stirs something primal and ravenous within her. But even as she surrenders to her cravings, nothing can prepare her for the shattering truth of who--and what--she truly is.

As the Order's enemy mobilizes for the battle of the ages, Dragos and his Minions unleashing a hell on Earth like nothing ever seen before, Chase and Tavia are thrust into the heart of the violence. With time running out and the streets running red with the blood of innocent lives, both Breed and human, together Chase and Tavia must find a way to defeat Dragos once and for all--or die trying.

Dark Nights by Christine Feehan
goodreads
#1 New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan revisits and expands her classic novella Dark Descent, bringing to breathtaking new life her story of an immortal Carpathian hunter, a beautiful adventurer, and their dangerous journey toward an unforeseen destiny and an undying love.

In a cave of mystery and wonder deep in the Carpathian Mountains, bodyguard Joie Sanders encounters a most remarkable being. Proud, strong, immortal, he is called Traian--an ageless hunter locked in a life-and-death battle with enemy vampires--and he will be her salvation in a labyrinth protected by the ingenious traps of a mysterious ancient race. What awaits them in the darkness is not known, and each step could be their last--as their destined path leads them toward a fiery passion that will illuminate the perilous dark night.

Also includes the previously published Carpathian short story Dark Dream.

Forgotten Fridays (41)

I invite and welcome anyone interested to post their own Forgotten Friday and join in the fun! I feature a book that I have read and have forgotten how much I enjoyed it. Some books might recent reads and some might be older reads, but I hope this helps these (sometimes forgotten) books earn a spot on your own TBR pile!

The Red Heart of Jade by Marjorie M Liu
First Published: July 2006
Series: Dirk & Steele
goodreads

Dean Campbell can see and sense things that others cannot, an extraordinary ability that drew the ex-cop to the Dirk & Steele Detective Agency, a global association of more-than-human men and women. Dean and his peers: shapeshifters, psychics, and other paranormals, are dedicated to protecting life. But there are those who live for destruction.

Now Dean's investigation into a series of unthinkable killings is calling him to Taipei, where a pattern is emerging that is more deadly than anything he could have foreseen. At the center is a power that could change the world . . . and the woman who can truly complete him: Mirabelle Lee, the girl Dean loved in his youth, the childhood sweetheart he once believed dead. Now that his heart has been reawakened, he will not lose her again. Even as the forces of an immortal evil gather to destroy them and everything they love.

Theme Thursday (80)

Theme Thursdays is a fun weekly event hosted by Reading Between Pages that will be open from one Thursday to the next. Anyone can participate in it. The rules are simple:

• A theme will be posted each week (on Thursdays)
• Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading
• Mention the author and the title of the book along with your post
• It is important that the theme is conveyed in the sentence (you don’t necessarily need to have the word)
  Ex: If the theme is KISS; your sentence can have “They kissed so gently” or “Their lips touched each other” or “The smooch was so passionate”

This will give us a wonderful opportunity to explore and understand different writing styles and descriptive approaches adopted by authors.

**Unfortunately Kavyen has not been online recently, I can only hope that she is well and that everything is ok.  I am going to continue to post my own "themes" in order to keep the meme going.  Feel free to join me.**

This week’s theme is – EXPECTATION (anticipation, foresight, high hopes, etc)

The slightest contact with him sent a shiver of anticipation down her spine, turned her insides to mush.

Dark Melody by Christine Feehan

My Book Boyfriend (96)

My Book Boyfriend is a weekly meme hosted by Missie of The Unread Reader and co-hosted by Lesley of My Keeper Shelf, in which we swoon over boys in books!

Calhoun Ballenger

Book: Calhoun by Diana Palmer

Series: Long, Tall Texans

He’s a powerful Texas rancher with blonde-streaked brown hair and a deep, gravelly voice. He has dark, deep-set eyes, high cheekbones and a dimpled chin. His mouth is even sexy: a thin but sensuous upper lip and a faintly square, chiseled lower lip. There is a little wave in his thick, blond hair, not much, but enough that it is unruly around his ears. He’s a tall, well muscled man with a broad chest and narrow hips, and thick brown hair covers his hard, tanned chest. 

Quotes:

“Abby, I can’t believe you really wanted to pay money to watch a bunch of boys take their clothes off,” he muttered. “It beats having boys try to take mine off,” she returned humorously. “You must think so, too, because you go nuts if I try to date anybody with any experience.” He frowned. That was true. It upset him to think of any man taking advantage of Abby. He didn’t want other men touching her.

He touched her mouth with a lean forefinger and she actually jumped. Her eyes flashing open, all her hidden hungers and fears lying there. And that was when his self control fell away. She was hungry for him. Just as hungry as he was for her. Was that why she’d been so restless, because she’d become attracted to him and was trying to hide it? He had to know. She couldn’t answer him. She felt as if he was trying to see inside her mind. “I’m not afraid of you. Can’t we go?” “What are you trying to do?” he whispered, leaning closer, threatening her lips with his. “Block it out? Pretend you aren’t hungry for my mouth?”

“I’ll take you home now,” he said gently. “And you can have until your birthday to think about me and miss me and want me. And then, if you can’t stand it anymore, I’ll give you a birthday present you’ll never forget.” “What?” she asked breathlessly. He covered her open moth with his own. “Me,” he breathed into it.

That Old Black Magic by Michelle Rowen

That Old Black Magic:
Reluctant witch Eden Riley knows that codependent relationships aren’t good, but it’s hard to be independent when you’re possessed by a sexy but troublemaking demon. Darrak’s physical form makes good girl Eden want to go bad, but the constant itch to use the soul-destroying black magic she’s recently acquired might force Eden to explore her dark side in an entirely different way.

When her dangerous magic starts manifesting itself without conscious effort, Darrak insists she seek outside help—which also leads them to the potential answer to ending the demon’s curse. Suddenly everything starts spiraling completely out of control, threatening both her life and the possibility of a future with Darrak—since only one of them might be able to survive this…

This was a sensational conclusion to the Living in Eden series by Michelle Rowen. It was definitely the most action-packed out of all three books and so much tension you are on the edge-of-your-seat with anticipation. There were also many new surprises and old questions answered, life changing events nearly separated Eden and Darrak but in the end, Michelle wrote the perfect ending to this book with a slightly  unconventional but sweet happily-ever-after.

Throughout the trilogy I watched as each character changed and developed into something different. What I loved was watching Eden transition from a closed-off, almost stoic individual into a more open and trusting person. Lucifer, although a secondary character, was another one I enjoyed reading, Michelle brought him to life on the page for me and he's one of those characters that you hate, but can't help liking at the same time. 

That Old Black Magic was brimming with twists and turns. Again, Michelle took more than one storyline thread and expertly brought them together.  The constant battle between good and evil caused the lines of truth to become blurred often leading Eden on a precarious path, and sometimes knowing who to trust and who not to trust was the most difficult for her to figure out.  Someone from Eden’s past makes an unforeseen appearance and nearly causes a one-way trip for Darrak to the void. Given only one chance and at a heavy cost, Eden will travel into Hell itself in order to save him.

Future Favorites (111)

Future Favorites is an awesome blog feature created by Alex over at Electrifying Reviews. I post about a book that is yet-to-be-released that I can't wait to read!

Shadowlands by Kate Brian

Release Date: January 8, 2013 by Hyperion

Rory Miller had one chance to fight back and she took it. Rory survived… and the serial killer who attacked her escaped. Now that the infamous Steven Nell is on the loose, Rory must enter the witness protection with her father and sister, Darcy, leaving their friends and family without so much as a goodbye.

Starting over in a new town with only each other is unimaginable for Rory and Darcy. They were inseparable as children, but now they can barely stand each other. As the sisters settle in to Juniper Landing, a picturesque vacation island, it seems like their new home may be just the fresh start they need. They fall in with a group of beautiful, carefree teens and spend their days surfing, partying on the beach, and hiking into endless sunsets. But just as they’re starting to feel safe again, one of their new friends goes missing. Is it a coincidence? Or is the nightmare beginning all over again?