I Heart SPRING!

I heart Spring! Sunday morning, and yes, no snow. I mean, there's still snow on the ground but it's not falling from the sky. That's a good thing. And better yet, the weatherman says by the end of the week we'll be in the high 50's. Woot! After having the coldest month in recorded history in CT this winter, I am more than ready for spring.

And we're still sharing the Love! And Giveaways! And information on where you can find some cool (or hot) books!

This is day #3 of Cynthia Gail's blog hop featuring great authors in hopes to spread the love on some fantastic reads. I hope you find something new to love through this one. Keep an eye out! There is information at the end on how to enter to win this book...and some others.

Today's Author: Dorlana Vann

Dorlana Vann is the author of contemporary novels for teens and adults. Her inspirations are classic romantic comedies, fairy tales, and the supernatural. She enjoys shopping, TX Hold ‘em, movies, shoes, the beach, restaurants, and festivals. She lives in Texas with her growing family. 

Dorlana loves spring because she gets to eat outside. Even though she lives in Texas, it is still too cold in the winter (most of the time) and, as much as she adores summer, it soon gets too unbearable to have a meal outdoors. But spring, ah, the mosquitos are still sleeping, and the birds are singing, and it’s the best time to sit on a patio to socialize, eat, and enjoy margaritas.

Dorlana's Book that you simply must check out: The Trouble with Snowmen

Genre: Contemporary

Blurb:
Snowmen drift into your life like they were sent from above. The relationship is great, rolls right along, and builds. Everything seems perfect … until a little heat is introduced. Then they melt, leaving only their hat, their scarf, something to remind their victims of what they’d lost.

Urban cowgirl Haley Monroe is told that the fabulously hot guy who just dumped her was a snowman. Her friend, Maximilian, convinces her that the only way she’ll ever stop being played by snowmen is to become one. It takes a lot of drinks to work up the nerve, but Haley gets her sexy on and goes on the prowl.

Famous horror author Larry White drops everything to attend a midnight séance at Maximilian’s apartment where he meets Haley. By the way she’s dressed—and just propositioned him—he assumes she’s a hooker. Larry can’t pass up the chance to get inside her head, especially since prostitution is the character’s occupation in his next book.

After spending the weekend together, unexpected sparks surprise both Haley and Larry. The trouble is Haley is dead-set on snowmanning the unkempt “starving artist” she met at the séance, and Larry doesn’t think he could have a real relationship with a woman with a past, so they go their separate ways.

The real fun begins when they meet again and find out neither one of them were who they thought they were. Can they reignite the flame? Or will they have a snowman’s chance in hell?

Can you find Dorlana? Why, yes you can! Here's how:

Website: www.dorlanavann.me
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dorlana
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DorlanaVann
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1329185.Dorlana_Vann
Amazon Author Central: amazon.com/author/dorlanavann
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/dorlanaVann/

Amazon buy link: Book coming August 2015

Rafflecopter:
Need books? Need Love? Do the rafflecopter thingy and enter for a chance to win a bunch of stuff.
Click Here to Enter

SPRING is Hopping!

Spring for Is for Hopping!

It's a spring Saturday and yes, it's snowing big fluffy flakes AGAIN. I thought I moved on yesterday when it was snowing...apparently I didn't move far, or fast, enough! I keep telling myself that spring has arrived, and in no time at all I'll be feeling it.

So, let's distract ourselves from the weather and share some Love! And Giveaways! And information on where you can find some cool (or hot) books!

This is day #2 of Cynthia Gail's blog hop featuring great authors in hopes to spread the love on some fantastic reads. I hope you find something new to love through this one. Keep an eye out! There is information at the end on how to enter to win this book...and some others.

Today's Author: Densie Webb

Densi Webb has spent a long career as a freelance non-fiction writer and editor, specializing in health and nutrition, and has published several books and tons of articles on the topic over the years. She grew up in Louisiana, spent thirteen years in New York, and settled in Austin, TX where it's summer nine months out of the year. She's an avid walker (not of the dead variety, though she loves anything to do with zombies, vampires, or post-apocalyptic worlds), drinks too much coffee and has a small 'devil dog'  that keeps her on her toes. She has arrested development in musical tastes and her two children provide her with musical recommendations on a regular basis.

Densi loves spring because that means it's almost summer!

Densie's Book that you simply must check out: You'll Be Thinking of Me

Genre: Contemporary

Blurb:

You'll be Thinking of Me is the story of Rachel Allen's serendipitous encounter with a celebrity, her brush with obsessive love, and the bitter-sweet gift left behind by the very person fixated on destroying her life.

Can you find Densie? Why, yes you can! Here's how:

Website: densiewebb.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/densei.webb
Twitter: @dlwebb

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/book/show24546708-you'll-be-thinking-of-me
Amazon Author Central: http://amzn.to/1AJ

Amazon buy link: http://amzn.to/1ColetQ1FH

Rafflecopter:
Need books? Need Love? Do the rafflecopter thingy and enter for a chance to win a bunch of stuff.
Click Here to Enter

Spring for Is for LOVE!

It's Friday. It's Spring, well sort of, it's snowing big fluffy flakes where I live at the moment. But, let's ignore that and move on. It's time for some Love! And Giveaways! And information on where you can find some cool (or hot) books!

Hosted by Cynthia Gail, I'm participating in a blog hop this weekend with a bunch of great authors in hopes to spread the love on some fantastic reads. I'll be sharing a different author each day, beginning today , through to Sunday. I hope you find something new to love through this one. Keep an eye out! There is information at the end on how to enter to win this book...and some others.

Today's Author: Jo Richardson

Jo tells contemporary stories with romance, humor, the supernatural, the paranormal, suspense, mystery, action and anything else she can think up. In 2012, she wrote Cursed be the Wicked, a character driven, paranormal mystery romance that was picked up by Soul Mate Publishing and released in March of 2014. Since then, Jo has also written a couple of short stories and her recently contracted contemporary romantic comedy, entitled Cookie Cutter, is set to release on March 23, 2015 through Little Bird Publishing.

Jo loves Spring because the weather is perfect in Florida this time of year. It’s when her family starts making trips to the beach more often and some of her favorite TV shows are starting to come back. Win Win!

Jo's Book that you simply must check out: Cursed Be The Wicked

Genre: Fantasy/Paranormal

Blurb:

Cooper Shaw lives his life under a pen name and enjoys the anonymity it provides during his journeys across the globe as a seasoned writer for a travel magazine. When his job lands him in his hometown of Salem, Massachusetts to cover the famous Festival of the Dead, he soon realizes that he can’t stay invisible forever as he faces ghosts from a past he’s been trying to forget ever since he left.

The city holds nothing but bad memories for Coop until he meets a quirky young woman with an old soul and curious insights by the name of Finnley Pierce. While she acts as his tour guide through a town he thought he knew, Finn helps him unearth the truth of his childhood and might even begin to open up his heart.

By unraveling the mystery of his father’s murder, Coop may finally accept who he is, where he came from, and perhaps even realize what he wants for his future.


Can you find Jo? Yes, you can! Here's how:

Website:  http://jrrichardsonfics.weebly.com/

Website blog (if your home page isn’t your blog): http://jrrichardsonfics.weebly.com/the-blog

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/JRRichardsonAuthor

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/JoFictionFreak

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/JRRichardson

Amazon Author Central:  http://www.amazon.com/J.R.-Richardson/e/B00GIOCXSY

Pinterest:  https://www.pinterest.com/JoFictionFreak/

Amazon buy link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ISBVAJI/

But wait! There's more!
Jo has other neat books that you should check out!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GH2I458/                        

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24974934-cookie-cutter

Rafflecopter:

Need books? Need Love? Do the rafflecopter thingy and enter for a chance to win.

Click Here to Enter

Friday Fun!

OK, so I've been absent for a wee bit. I hadn't realized how long it was until I saw the date of my last post. Oops.

First I had the holidays, then a promotion that requires very long hours at work, then of course there's the reading and writing (I'm about 1/2 way through writing my next book). But I have been reading...I just need to find the time to write those reviews! I will get back on track. Soon. I promise.

In the meantime, we're getting ready for yet another round of snow. It's been a very snowy February. And cold. Snow I don't mind. The cold sucks ass.

So, what to do with all that snow? Here are some creative ideas! I hope you enjoy some of these as much as I did.

Book Review: Unknown, by Melissa Pearl

Unkown
Melissa Pearl

Initial Thoughts: Solid fantasy story

My Rating: 4 Stars!

Summary:
Darkness is covering the land. As the city of Mezrah grows with power and greed, the rest of the world can only stand by and wait for their inevitable destruction. The only hope against this growing power is an ancient prophecy that people have stopped believing in.

Then a star begins to fall.

Princess Kyla of Taramon stopped believing in the power of light the day her father died. Trapped in a city she does not care for, under the watchful glare of her mother, the queen, she struggles to accept her fate.

Then a star begins to fall.

Jethro has loved Kyla for as long as he can remember. Learning that she was to marry his cousin drove a wedge between him and the feisty princess. Watching her from a distance is a torture he is unable to free himself from.

Then a star begins to fall, sparking an ember of hope and sending two seekers on a treacherous journey into the unknown.

My Thoughts:

This was a solid story with solid characters and motivations. Kyla is definitely scarred, and Jethro is the poor sod who pines after her from a distance, since Kyla has been engaged to his cousin.

So in this story the players have to fulfill the prophecy to save world from utter darkness, and in this prophecy they have to find the 4 elements. The interesting twist is *how* those elements are portrayed, but I won't give that secret away until you read it.

Kyla is strong and feisty, while her mother is suffocating, which makes her blind to what's going on in the kingdom. The bad guys are deliciously bad, and a character I thought for sure was good turned out to be naughty indeed. It's a great twist and setting up the characters for a huge betrayal.

The plot unwound like a chess game, with the players moving across the board like pawns. It was very well done.

I'm not sure of Kyla's feelings toward her fiance, whether she really loves him or just thinks she loves him because he's going to be her husband. For a such a strong character, this aspect seemed a little weak to me. I would think Kyla would know her own mind alot better. And as for Jethro? The girl has to be utterly blind to not see how he feels. But then again, she's only 16 so she could just be naive. Or maybe she's so comfortable in her role as 'friend' it would never occur to her that he feels anything differently.

Overall, really enjoyed this one. A great fantasy read.

Book Review: Onyx, by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Onyx
Jennifer L. Armentrout

 Initial Thoughts: Hot chemistry and a riveting ending!

My Rating: 5 Stars

Summary:
Being connected to Daemon Black sucks…

Thanks to his alien mojo, Daemon’s determined to prove what he feels for me is more than a product of our bizarro connection. So I’ve sworn him off, even though he’s running more hot than cold these days. But we’ve got bigger problems.

Something worse than the Arum has come to town…

The Department of Defense are here. If they ever find out what Daemon can do and that we're linked, I’m a goner. So is he. And there's this new boy in school who’s got a secret of his own. He knows what’s happened to me and he can help, but to do so, I have to lie to Daemon and stay away from him. Like that's possible. Against all common sense, I'm falling for Daemon. Hard.

But then everything changes…

I’ve seen someone who shouldn’t be alive. And I have to tell Daemon, even though I know he’s never going to stop searching until he gets the truth. What happened to his brother? Who betrayed him? And what does the DOD want from them—from me?

No one is who they seem. And not everyone will survive the lies…

My Thoughts:

Okay, even though Katy was dumber than dirt in this novel, I still had to love it. My frustration level with the girl knew no bounds, but rather making me want to throw the book across the room, it made me want to read on to see what Daemon would do.

I will say one thing about Ms. Armentrout: the girl can write chemistry. Holy palapalooza! Katy and Daemon are smokin'! I felt a range of emotions when reading this book: anger, frustration, sadness, heat (yeah, that's code for lust). The book made me feel, and care about the characters.

Did I peg all the villains? Yeah, kind of. I wasn't exactly sure until the end, but everyone who I thought was twisted was. And there is some gray area in there, one of those good people can do bad things. I love good people who do bad things...but not nearly as much as I love bad people who do good things. (wink)

I wondered if the 2nd book in the Lux series would keep the momentum, and it did. It introduced new characters and new plot twists that kept things interesting without getting all weird. And the ending has me jonesing hard for book 3.

E, by Kate Wrath

E
Kate Wrath

Initial Thoughts: Captivating

My Rating: 4 stars!

Summary:
A poignant tale of love and friendship in a world beyond hope…

Outpost Three: a huddle of crumbling buildings choked by a concrete wall. Cracked pavement, rusted metal, splintering boards. Huge robotic Sentries police the streets, but the Ten Laws are broken every time one turns its back.

Eden is determined, smart, and a born survivor. Stripped of her memories and dumped on the streets of the Outpost, slavers and starvation are only the beginning of her problems. A devastating conflict is coming that threatens to consume her world and tear her newfound family apart.

Life is harsh. It makes no exceptions. Not even for the innocent.

My Thoughts:

This is a gritty look at a dystopian future. A story full of strife, grief, poverty, politics, and a glimmer of underlying hope. I guess the message here is no matter what happens to you, true love can't be erased.

The author portrays a world that is specific and detailed. She writes with a flair that has you believing the story and rooting/caring for the characters.

I loved every character in this book. From Kate to her newfound family, the bad guys, the good guys, the innocents...it's a page-turner that has you guessing how things will end, what paths the characters will take, and who will be caught in the cross-fire. The plot weaves and bobs through these people's lives with ease, and just when you think things can't get worse...it does.

So why is this only a 4 rating? I had so many questions that weren't fulfilled. What made the world this way? Why can't people travel off the roads? Where do the sentries come from? Who is controlling them? I think if I had more of a sense of the world and what created this environment, this book would have been perfect.

Definite must-read for dystopian lovers!