Stylish Blogger Award

I have to thank Zakiya LadyWings from Butterfly Feet Walking on Life for awarding me the Stylish Blogger Award!


So, when you receive this award, you're supposed to do the following things:

1) Thank the person who gave you the award, and link back to them in your post.
2) Tell us seven (7) things about yourself.
3) Award 15 super-stylish bloggers this award :D
4) Contact those bloggers and let them know they have won.


Hmm...Seven things about me:

1. I have a terrible compulsion to bring a book home EVERYTIME I am at the bookstore (wouldn't be so bad if I didn't own around 1000 and have a HUGE TBR pile!)

2. I like Mini-Wheats Little Bites.

3. I am sooo ecstatic that Cadbury Creme Eggs are back (why can't they be here year round?)

4. I hate wearing socks, but refuse to wear shoes without them.

5. I prefer summer to winter.

6. I swear I am going deaf because my youngest son sounds like a velociraptor when he screams!

7. I don't know why, but when it comes to these things I have a really hard time thinking up things about me!






15 People I am passing this on to (in no particular order):

1. Jessica Rabbit's Corner
2. Girls Without A Bookshelf
3. All Things Urban Fantasy
4. Parajunkee's View
5. Cari's Book Blogs
6. Smexy Books
7. Good Choice Reading
8. Blkosiner's Book Blog
9. A Great Book is the Cheapest Vacation
10. The Bibliophilic Book Blog
11. Cem's Book Hideout
12. Housewife Blues and Chihuahua Stories
13. Writing From the Tub...
14. Book Chick City
15. Tynga's Reviews

Teaser Tuesdays (33)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly event hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.


Today's book: Street Game by Christine Feehan

"Black night. No moon, no stars. Just the way he liked it. Master Gunnery Sergeant Mack McKinley crouched in the alley, close to the tall, dirty building, allowing his senses to become attuned to the unfamiliar sounds. A cat raked through a garbage can, a drunk moaned an shivered in the cold. Waves pounded the beach and sloshed against the pier just behind the building. Three stories up, lights went out, leaving the long row of windows like giant, gaping black mouths. McKinley smiled at the image, smiled up at the windows. His smile was not pleasant." (Page 1)

Here is how it works:
- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two (2 or 3) “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!)
- Remember to show the title & author, too, so that others can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Confessions of a Vampire's Girlfriend by Katie MacAlister

Confessions of a Vampire's Girlfriend:
Two Katie MacAlister vampire novels—Got Fangs? and Circus of
the Darned—now back in print and together for the first time!

Meet Francesca. She’s in Europe, working in a traveling faire along with psychics, magicians, and other really bizarre people. Her life? Not-so-normal. Her boyfriend, Ben? Not-so-alive. And in these two novels, it’s up to Francesca to redeem his soul, find something to wear on their very first date, deal with her emerging psychic talent, and shake the warring Viking ghosts she accidentally conjured.









I had no idea that Katie MacAlister wrote young adult books under the name Katie Maxwell. And just like her adult books, this book is filled with humor and just the right amount of snark. Even the secondary and minor characters were fun and interesting, I wish I could have had a little bit more of their stories too. There were a few threads that weren't tied up as much as I'd like, besides that this was a fun and quick read. Fran feels like an outsider since her mom decided to drag her off to Europe to travel with the GothFaire, she has a few friends, Imogen and Soren, within the faire and is totally unprepared for Benedikt, Imogen's Dark One brother. Fran is Ben's Beloved, the key to saving his soul, and from the beginning she trusts him with the secret of her ability to sense people and feelings by touching with her bare hands. A trait she believes makes her a freak, but comes in handy when someone begins stealing money from the faire and later when something of hers is stolen. Danger has come to the GothFaire, but together the help of her friends she discovers the identity of the thief and how to conjure Valkryies in order to send the Viking ghosts to Valhalla. I'm excited to read the rest of their story in the new Ben and Fran book In the Company of Vampires, but just a warning; the new book is not appropriate for young adults.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (33)

This is a fun weekly meme hosted by One Persons Journey Through a World of Books.


Books I read last week:
Masked by Moonlight by Nancy Gideon
Forever Frost by Kailin Gow
Bitter Frost by Kailin Gow
Confessions of a Vampire's Girlfriend by Katie MacAlister



The book I’m reading now:
Evernight:
Bianca wants to escape.

She's been uprooted from her small hometown and enrolled at Evernight Academy, an eerie Gothic boarding school where the students are somehow too perfect: smart, sleek, and almost predatory. Bianca knows she doesn't fit in.

Then she meets Lucas. He's not the "Evernight type" either, and he likes it that way. Lucas ignores the rules, stands up to the snobs, and warns Bianca to be careful—even when it comes to caring about him.

"I couldn't stand it if they took it out on you," he tells Bianca, "and eventually they would."

But the connection between Bianca and Lucas can't be denied. Bianca will risk anything to be with Lucas, but dark secrets are fated to tear them apart . . . and to make Bianca question everything she's ever believed.


Books that spark my interest this week:
Awakened by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
Fall for Anything by Courtney Summers
Gentlemen Prefer Succubi by Jill Myles

In My Mailbox (38)

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren.



Purpose by Kristie Cook
Crossroads by Moira Rogers
Fall for Anything by Courtney Summers
In the Path of Falling Objects by Andrew Smith
Unearthly by Cynthia Hand









Frostfire by Lynn Viehl
Secrets of the Demon by Diana Rowland
Arcane Circle by Linda Robertson
My Fair Succubi by Jill Myles









I won my copy of Purpose from @tristan_knight (a character is Kristie Cook's Soul Savers series)!

On My Wishlist (33)

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where we list all the books we desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in with too - Mr Linky is always at the ready for you to link your own 'On My Wishlist' post. If you want to know more click here.



Chased by Moonlight by Nancy Gideon:
IN NANCY GIDEON’S SEDUCTIVE NEW NOVEL, A TOUGH-AS-NAILS NEW ORLEANS COP MUST CHOOSE BETWEEN THE CAREER SHE’S DEDICATED TO AND THE DANGEROUS SHAPE-SHIFTING LOVER SHE CAN’T RESIST.

SHE’S SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY.

Mixing business with pleasure gets more complicated for Detective Charlotte Caissie when her sexy preternatural lover, Max Savoie, is accused of a high-profile murder. To prove him innocent she must distance herself, but her tangled emotions don’t make it easy for her to stay away from him. And neither does Max.

HE’S DESPERATE TO UNCOVER HIS PAST.

Left in charge of a criminal empire and protector of a clan of shadowy shape-shifters, Max walks a precarious line. Can he believe the cunning stranger who claims he can teach Max the things he needs to know to stay alive? A con man who would betray anyone to make a profit, who may be a ruthless killer?

TOGETHER, THEY’RE TEMPTING FATE.

he harder Cee Cee fights to clear Max’s name, the more he pushes her away. He’s protecting a dark truth that could blow the top off her investigation. And that means hiding his motives and lying to a woman who values truth above all. The woman who can save him . . . if he’ll let her.




Crux by Moira Rogers:
To find her destiny, she must trust him with her life...and her heart.

Jackson Holt makes a decent living as a private investigator in New Orleans, home of one of the largest underground supernatural populations in the United States. He and his partners have never met a case they couldn't crack...until a local bar owner asks him to do a little digging on her newest hire.

New Orleans is the fourth destination in as many months for Mackenzie Brooks, a woman on the run from a deranged stalker. After all, any man who shows up on her doorstep claiming to be her destined lover has more than a few screws loose. But crazy doesn't explain why he always finds her no matter how far she runs.

When her well-meaning boss puts a PI on her case, Mackenzie comes face to face with the incredible truth: magic is real, and whatever spell has kept her hidden and separate from the paranormal world is rapidly deteriorating.

With time running out, she has no choice but to trust Jackson as he struggles to uncover the truth of her past-and her destiny.




Intrinsical by Lani Woodland:
Sixteen-year-old Yara Silva has always known that ghosts walk alongside the living. Her grandma, like the other females in her family, is a Waker, someone who can see and communicate with ghosts. Yara grew up watching her grandmother taunted and scorned for this unusual ability and doesn't want that to be her future. She has been dreading the day when she too would see ghosts, and is relieved that the usually dominant Waker gene seems to have skipped her, letting her live a normal teenage life. However, all that changes for Yara on her first day at her elite boarding school when she discovers the gene was only lying dormant. She witnesses a dark mist attack Brent, a handsome fellow student, and rushes to his rescue. Her act of heroism draws the mist's attention, and the dark spirit begins stalking her. Yara finds herself entrenched in a sixty-year-old curse that haunts the school, threatening not only her life, but the lives of her closest friends as well. Yara soon realizes that the past she was trying to put behind her isn't going to go quietly.

Friday 56...Kiss of Fire (40)

The book today: Kiss of Fire by Deborah Cooke

Quinn nodded and held his ground, letting her set the pace of their discussion.

The Rules:

* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
* Post a link along with your post back to this blog.
* Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Masked by Moonlight by Nancy Gideon

Masked by Moonlight:
ALL SHE WANTS IS REVENGE.

New Orleans homicide detective Charlotte Caissie is dedicated to bringing down the crime boss responsible for her father’s murder. Using Jimmy Legere’s mysterious and irresistible right-hand man is a dangerous gamble, and not only due to his reputation as more monster than man. Because her feelings for Max Savoie are . . . complicated.

THEN HE RISKS HIS LIFE TO SAVE HERS.

Rescued from the swamps as a child, Max exists silently in Legere’s shadow, heeding only his voice—until Charlotte Caissie awakens his emotions and tests his loyalties. Stepping outside his cautious rules threatens more than just his heart. He could expose his darkest secret.

NOW THEY’RE BOTH IN OVER THEIR HEADS.

Testing boundaries they weren’t meant to cross means facing the truth about who and what they are—and what they need from each other. If Max is the murderer she seeks, Charlotte could be his next victim. She can’t afford to trust any man. Good thing Max isn’t one.

Nancy Gideon has created an awesome new series, I loved her new ideas about shifters and this book is filled with twists and turns keeping you on the edge of your seat. This book drew me in almost immediately and once I began I couldn't put the book down, her characters were a pleasure to read; both wounded by their pasts, yet with an inner strength to overcome the trials ahead. From different sides of the law, Max and Charlotte have been circling around each other for years, and little does Charlotte know that it was Max that saved her and her friend, Mary Kate, from the brutal hands of New Orleans mobsters. Charlotte feels a connection to Max that she was unable to with any man, but Max is more than just a man. And when he reveals himself to her, she shows no fear and wholly accepts the wolf within him. Things become more complicated as their passions heat up, putting Max in a difficult situation with the man, Jimmy, who rescued him as a child and then raised him as a son. Danger surrounds them both as the people Max believed he could trust want to see him dead. And when Jimmy is murdered, Max is thrust into the role of leader on the opposing side of the law. Charlotte is afraid of the feelings she has for Max and is constantly pushing him away until she realizes that Max loves her unconditionally, and somehow they will work out the fact that she is a cop and he is the leader of men on the wrong side of the law.

Future Favorites (23)

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

Soulless by Gail Carriger:
Release Date: October 1, 2009 by Orbit

Carriger debuts brilliantly with a blend of Victorian romance, screwball comedy of manners and alternate history. Prickly, stubborn 25-year-old bluestocking Alexia Tarabotti is patently unmarriageable, and not just because she's large-nosed and swarthy. She's also soulless, an oddity and a secret even in a 19th-century London that mostly accepts and integrates werewolf packs, vampire hives and ghosts. The only man who notices her is brash Lord Conall Maccon, a Scottish Alpha werewolf and government official, and (of course) they dislike each other intensely. After Alexia kills a vampire with her parasol at a party—how vulgar!—she and Conall must work together to solve a supernatural mystery that grows quite steampunkishly gruesome. Well-drawn secondary characters round out the story, most notably Lord Akeldama, Alexia's outrageous, italic-wielding gay best vampire friend. This intoxicatingly witty parody will appeal to a wide cross-section of romance, fantasy and steampunk fans.

Forever Frost by Kailin Gow

Forever Frost:
Breena's entry into Feyland is marred by danger and beauty. A prisoner in her own palace, she longs to see and touch her forbidden prince Kian. Yet her heart is also still with her friend Logan. The discovery of a long-lost figure in Breena's life propels Breena into the heart of fae politics. In a stunning turn of events, Breena suddenly finds herself faced with the most heartbreaking decision in her entire life.














Forever Frost was a quick, easy read and picks up right where Bitter Frost left off. The action starts right away and I found that the plot flowed a lot more smoothly in this second book of Kailin Gow’s Frost series. A nice follow-up to the first book, the cliffhanger was great and I’m intrigued about what happens next but I’m honestly not sure if I really want to read any more in this series. The conflict felt a little rushed, but I did truly enjoy the twist about the Queens. Breena has become a much stronger character and that really enjoyable, and the conflict of her emotions between the two men in her life is resolved and I was glad to see it not drag on. Breena is finally given the opportunity to take her rightful place in Feyland, but quickly things take a turn for the worse when the Summer Court is attacked and the wrong person is being held accountable.