Month: December 2013

Review: Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis

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20131129-123657.jpgReaders of post-apocalyptic and/or dystopian stories must suspend their disbelief for the duration of most of these stories. Plague-induced flesh-eating zombies, alien or cyborg invasion…these make great stories but are a little too far “out there” for the average reader to truly believe. Scarcity of clean drinking water, however, is something that is far too believable.

Not a Drop to Drink takes us into the lives of Lynn and her mother as they try to survive in a harsh, futuristic world where safe, clean drinking water is a commodity worth killing for. Their primary focus is to protect their pond at all costs. Cut off from the rest of the world, they rely on nobody but themselves. Lynn, in fact, cannot recall ever talking to anyone besides her mother. She’s a tough survivor who knows what has to be done when faced with danger. After all, her mother has raised her that way. But when tragedy strikes, Lynn is forced to let down her guard and allow others into her life. This comes in the form of their long-standing neighbor as well as strangers Eli and young Lucy. Of course Eli becomes the love interest. Isn’t that a requirement for a young adult novel? Still, the romance is more of a sideline and doesn’t distract from the inner toughness and maturity that Lynn exhibits throughout the story. It was also nice to see her transformation from a hard-as-nails, unemotional teenager into someone who truly cares for others and puts their well being before hers.

I enjoyed this book tremendously, and in large part because it felt more plausible to me than most of the other books of this genre that I’ve read. Clean water to drink is something that most of us take for granted. But how long would we be able to survive if our supply was limited? What measures would we take to protect what little we had? And what would we be willing to sacrifice for the benefit of others? While I won’t pretend that this was a particularly deep or thought-provoking story, it did make me think “what if” a bit more than others have recently. This book has great character development and the author provides a well-described environment that helps the reader understand why certain tough decisions had to be made. This one is a well-written, strong story!

~Thalia

Buy it Now: Not a Drop to Drink

Review: Married for Christmas by Noelle Adams

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20131211-235749.jpg Married for Christmas is Christmassy and sweet … The characters are young and quirky … I enjoyed it as a cute, unique novella. But the dialogue is uneven – natural in some places, out of place in others. And as sweet and charming as the story was, the whole time I was reading, I felt like I was watching an awkward, nerdy first date.

Jessica and Daniel marry out of convenience – or so they tell each other. They have quite a few misunderstandings and silent sulks because of their insecurities. Any feelings they have for each other are slowly and painfully revealed until they are finally honest with themselves and each other. A happily-ever-after on Christmas Day endeared me to the book, and yes I did sigh dreamily. 🙂

I enjoyed the Christmas aspect of the story, which was emotional and uplifting. I also thought the secret fears of a young couple were written very realistically. My favorite part of the book was the honesty Jessica persisted with, no matter the potential rejection or hurt. Her honesty was the catalyst for her marriage to move forward – what a gift!

This is a good read for someone in a new relationship.

-Calliope

Buy it now (99¢!!!) Married for Christmas

Review and Blog Tour: Elect(Eagle Elite #2), by Rachel Van Dyken

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18210033

Would you die for the one you love?

Nixon Abandonato made his choice. And now he has to pay the price. Tracey is the love of his life, but being with him has made her a target of his family’s enemies. The only way to keep Trace alive is convince the world she means nothing to him.

Trace Rooks has fallen irrevocably in love with the son of her family’s sworn rival, and she knows in her bones nothing can tear them apart. Until Nix suddenly pushes her away and into the arms of his best friend… But Trace isn’t ready to give up on a future with Nix–and if he won’t fight for them, she will.
In the end, a sacrifice must be made. A life for a life. For what better way to cover a multitude of sins than with the blood of a sinner . . .

“I feel lost”
“Let me find you.”
“I feel sick.”
“Let me heal you.” I kissed her head.
“I feel sad.”
“Let me be your happiness.”

WOW!! What a ride! This is like The Godfather for young adults. I highly recommend reading Elite first, otherwise you’re missing out on basically everything. It’s written from many different point of views. I liked seeing how Nixon and Chase, and even Phoenix handle the pressure and stress of living in a mob, and knowing that your days are numbered.

Nixon loves Tracey, and has for his entire life. But loving her has now put her in grave danger. The only way to keep her alive is to push her away. But what’s even harder, is that he pushed her towards his best friend, Chase.

Chase loves Tracey, but he knows he can’t really do anything about it. He is loyal to his friend. But he will do everything he can to protect her, even if it means convincing her to choose him.

Tracey loves Nixon and doesn’t want to be left behind. She wants Nixon, but understands that he needs to do his job and protect her the only way he can. She know’s it hurts him to let her go, but he has to hold onto hope, that it will all work out.

“I’m going to apologize in advance, though.” Tracey sniffed as a tear ran down her cheek.
“Why are you apologizing”
Her eyes met mine. “Because I’m going to break your heart.”

Watching Trace with Chase and seeing how hard it was for Nix, was painful to watch. He was no longer living his life for himself. He was living, and willing to die, for her. But he needed to make some very difficult choices and watch his family deal with those choices.

Seeing the background on Phoenix, made me like him a bit more. I didn’t fully trust him, but I understood him. His days were truly numbered. 😦 In the end, he was a friend to Nixon, when he needed one.

Phoenix slapped me on the back. “If it’s any consolation, she clearly loves you.”
“How would you know?” I snapped.
…”The way she looks at you. It’s different than how she looks at Chase.”
“And how does she look at Chase?”
“Like he’s her savior,” Phoenix said softly.
“And me?”
“Like you’re her oxygen.”

I was dying for the situation to be resolved, so that Nix and Trace could be together! I was starting to get a bad feeling about have way through. But I had faith it would all work out. Trace had no choice but to go towards Chase, even though her heart wanted another.

“You have my heart, but Nixon…he owns my soul.”

*heart breaking*

When it was all said and done, hearts were broken, lives were taken, but the truth came out. None of them will be the same after this, but they know if they have family, they can get through anything. There was a bit of a twist in the end, so I’m curious as to what will happen in the next book. I’ve got a feeling, but I’m gonna keep it to myself. 😉

Make sure you enter the Rafflecopter for a chance to win!

Also, here’s a little mafia game for you.
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~Melpomene

Buy it now Elect (Eagle Elite)

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Review – Will in the World: How Shakespeare became Shakespeare, by Stephen Greenblatt

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137717Stephen Greeblatt is touted as the preeminent authority on the study of Shakespeare, and for the longest time, I have been meaning to read some of his work. It’s taken me a while, but I finally got there! As someone who predominantly reads fiction, getting through this nonfiction book took a little bit longer than usual. However, it was well worth it.
Have you ever been interested in what influenced Shakespeare and his plays/sonnets? Of course, there are many theories out there that claim to have some insight into the motives behind the works, but so many of them are based upon urban legend and propaganda, that it is difficult to separate the truth (or as close to the truth you’ll get without actually interviewing The Bard himself) from hyperbole and outright lies. In his book, Greenblatt examines what little remain of historical records relating to Shakespeare, his family, and other figures of the time, and bases his theories upon historical and sociological context. Greenblatt quite clearly states that some of his theories are based both upon the scarce historical records available and some educated conjecture.
Whilst, Greenblatt admits that his theories cannot be taken as the ultimate indisputable truth, with over 45 years of professional experience devoted to Shakespeare studies, this is probably the closest to accuracy as we’ll get for a while.
As I said above, reading this piece of nonfiction took a while to get into. Once I got into it however, his style of writing began to read like fiction. Greenblatt does not assume that we’ve all taken graduate courses in Jacobean drama or 17th century history, but nor does he belittle his reader; Greenblatt’s narrative takes us chronologically through the known history and events of Shakespeare’s time, and presents us with an entertaining, but educated, glance into the influence behind many of the plays that we’ve all known and loved (or hated!) over the years.
~ Pegasus.
Buy it here: Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare

Review: Delicious by Adrianne Lee

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20131208-225450.jpg If I could live in a bakery and read books all day, I would. But since I can’t, I do enjoy reading books about food. And love. And loving food.

Delicious deserves 4 big, yummy, juicy stars for those reasons and more. Adrianne Lee gives her readers mesmerizing descriptions of baking pies, wonderful characters, and a fresh take on love.

Nick and Jane run into each other in their 30s… years after having met and hated each other as teenagers. They realize they have to work together — and help each other sort out some personal problems along the way. The details around their past (read for yourself, no spoilers here) were a first for me – and I’m a romance junkie!

The plot is fun: advertising agent falls in love with head pastry chef…. who works at the bakery he’s doing a huge campaign for. Their friends and family are positive influences, their problems are real but can be overcome, and there’s quite a bit of flirting going on. Delicious made me happy!

I loved that Delicious showed a career-oriented female protagonist and a ready-to-settle-down-but-still-macho hero. I lapped up the excellent dialogue: Nick and his friends talked just like the guys I know. I thought that every character was developed precisely. I got the right amount of backstory for the main characters and secondary characters, enough so I felt like I knew them, but without extraneous details. Most importantly, I loved that Nick and Jane’s heartbreak touched me without being angsty, and their love warmed my heart without being smarmy.

The à la mode was a happy-ever-after that was simply perfect for Nick and Jane… and for me.

–Calliope

Buy it now Delicious

Delicious is Book 2 in Adrianne Lee’s Big Sky Pie series, but can be read as a standalone. Book 1, Delectable, was enjoyable as well, as you can see from the review here.

Reviews: Necroscope (Necroscope, #1) & Necroscope II: Vamphyri! (Necroscope, #2) by Brian Lumley

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Okay….so I’m gonna do something a little different…I read the first of this series last year at this time….I recently picked up the second in the series to read and loved it so much that I wanted to review it for everyone….but I wanted to go back and also include my review from book one…so today is your lucky day (or not)…two reviews for the price of one!!! Hope you enjoy….

BL1

Necroscope (book #1) read in November 2012:

How to rate this book. I loved parts of it, but also found myself waiting for the *real* action to begin. Knowing that there are over 30 books to follow this one, I guess I will have to be satisfied knowing this was only the beginning and as such, maybe, it was designed to set up the story line and ensure I lusted for more….
I read Dracula last month. I won’t bore you with explaining why I was utterly bored with it, actually finding myself yawning at parts. I only bring it up to say that when I read that book, I was looking for the type of feel this book gave me. A sense of evil that is timeless. Evil that has existed though out all the generations and still exists today. This book excited me in the way that I had hoped Dracula would. I could hear the ancient rasping voice of pure evil when the old Vampir spoke from his earthly tomb. I could actually feel the air grow chill. *This* is what I was seeking from the Count….Stoker did not deliver that feeling (for ME), but Lumley certainly did.

Here you have Boris Dragosani and his ability to tear apart the dead and learn their secrets…and then you throw in little Harry Keogh, who speaks for the dead, who the dead admire and, in fact, seek him out and what is there not to love! This same ability, two vastly different types of humans who can both speak to the dead, but displayed at two total different angles fascinated me.

It was also very interesting to have the KGB and other world intelligence agencies use all of these physic powers against one another. James Bond has entered an entirely new realm here. It’s all so very believable. So how much does physic ability play in attaining intelligence from other counties? We all have heard of mediums being used behind closed doors to help track down killers, but what if these mediums were used AS THE killers? How true is the “evil eye”? What if one talked to the dead, not to reassure the living, but to learn of the dead’s secrets…secrets that up until that point had been taken with them to the grave?

Parts of this book I felt were rich in detail and left me wanting even more…yet other parts I felt needed more detail and they, too, left me wanting more…..

I won’t be going into any ancient forests in Romania anytime soon….that is one thing I know for sure…..

BL2Necroscope II: Vamphyri! (book #2) read November 2013:

As I read this, I wondered why I had waited so long to continue on with this series. I really liked the first book. I remembered just how much as I read this one. The second book picks up right where book one ended. As I read this one, I was already wondering how I would rate it. Very different from the first book. Lots of the history of the past Wamphyris. There are parts of this book that felt very gothic. Other parts felt very spy vs. spy with all of the espionage…I really wasn’t sure how I would rate it….I loved the history and the espionage both….I loved the combining of world powers to fight for a common goal….I loved the feeling of being suspect of everyone…was he a good guy…or would he turn traitor….this whole concept of fighting world powers not with physical force, BUT with mental force is terrifying to me! Don’t we all have that 6th sense that kicks in from time to time….haven’t we all heard of the evil eye? Every feel like something bad is about to happen? Déjà vie? What if there ARE people out there that have powers such as these that we can’t even begin to imagine? What if world powers not only hide these people, but they also use them for the *better* of their cause? What happens if you put a mind reader in with one of the most powerful men in he world? What would he learn? What if someone can talk to anyone from the dead? Think of all the great minds of the past! Now…Think of all the evil minds of the past…go back in time…Genghis Khan…Hitler …now imagine being able to converse with them! Do you see where this can go? Think of the secrets that the dead take to their graves….now imagine that you can bring those secrets forth….how mind blowing is that!

So I was on the fence on how to rate this….4 stars for sure….but was it really worthy of 5? Lumley is a true writer of horror….I mean, there’s no way you can read the descriptions of his vampires and not be a little freaked out….he paints a very vivid mind’s image….you can almost hear the sounds of limbs being tore apart….he also, in a gothic sick twisted way throws in things meant to be erotic and sick and twisted and exciting all at once….you long to turn away, but can’t bear to miss a moment….

Then I hit the last 10% of this book…..all I can say is oh holy hell….I gasped out loud! I actually stood up and paced…I was hopping up and down on one leg to the other….I read it with my mouth hanging open…I had goosebumps running up and down my skin….and that wasn’t enough…I then started to shake…physically shake from the stuff going through my mind….he did this NOT ONCE BUT THREE TIMES IN THE LAST PART OF THE BOOK!! Three huge shocks to my system….never, ever, can I ever hope or dream to experience something like that from a book ever again…he flipping blew my mind!!! Lumley, is a fucking master….there is a reason this series has a cult following….brilliant….just brilliant…..ah.maze.ing…..

No, this isn’t a book for everyone….Lumley is not for everyone….but this series has now answered the question….if I could only read one series for the rest of my life….well, it’s gonna be this one….with dozens of books, I am excited to be breathless again…lost in horrific wonder….bring it….I am wanting to start book 3!!!!!

Until next time….

Urania xx

Buy Them Now Necroscope, Necroscope II: Vamphyri!

New Releases for Dec 10, 2013

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This is a great week for new releases. I’m grabbing quite a few of them myself.

18528454A Beautiful Wedding: A Novella (Beautiful Disaster) I am so excited for this one!!!!!! Since I’m obsessed with Beautiful Disaster and Walking Disaster, I am totally grabbing this one. In fact, I’m probably reading it right now, as you read this. And I’m sure it’s awesome. 🙂

17987085True: 11 (New Species) I must admit, I love love love this series!!! And it’s not just for the covers, although, those are pretty to look at. 🙂

17446757Avoiding Temptation
This actually released early last night. Super excited!!! It seems like I’ve been waiting forever for this book to come out! We left off at a bit of a crossroads, after the last one, and I’m dying to know what Lexi does now. Again, this will be read today as well. I hope nothing major happens in the world. I’m going to be busy.

18210033Elect (Eagle Elite)
I read this book, and WOW!!! What a ride this was! My review will be on Friday, but I will say that my emotions were in Heaven over this one. This books was made for me. 🙂

17797381Innocence: A Novel This book has it all, mystery, suspense, and love. Sounds like a fantastic book!! I know a few of the muses will be sitting and chatting about this one. 🙂

18105102Reviving Izabel (In the Company of Killers)
I totally forgot this one was out!! This is the second book in the In the Company of Killers series. I read Killing Sarai and was shocked at how much I liked it. Not my usual read, but I’m happy to be able to snag the second book. I really wanna know what’s going to happen with Victor and Sarai/Izabel. 🙂Killing Sarai (In the Company of Killers)is on sale for only 99 cents, til Dec 15. So I’d grab it now, if I were you. 🙂

Well I hope you found one or two, or possibly five books that caught your eye.

Happy New Release Day!!!!

~Melpomene

Review: Holiday for Two by Maggie Robinson and Elyssa Patrick

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18629390 I’m starting to think I have a thing for Holiday novellas as this is the second one I fell in love with. Always fun to find a new “thing” that I love! This is a duet of two novellas. The first one up is All Through the Night by Maggie Robinson. I’ve never read anything by this author and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked the story.

Carrie is trying to get to her employer’s house on Christmas Eve with groceries and various supplies her eccentric author sent her out to get. When she misses the last ferry for the day and is stranded in a blizzard she doesn’t panic, just goes into girl scout mode. Lord Griffin Archer who is the author employer’s nephew is stranded with her as well and is pretty horrified at the girl scout mode that includes breaking and entering to save them from the elements.

While they slowly thaw out, they get to know each other and realize while they may come from totally different worlds, *ahem* he is a Lord, that do have some things in common. I found this short story overall cute and funny. The hero is very British and I love that the heroine repeatedly points out the differences in the language. The romance was sweet and the HEA was perfect.

ELyssa Patrick’s novella, While it was Snowing, is up next. I’m a fan of this author’s other work and this is the main reason I was excited to read this in the first place and I was completely not disappointed. I loved her book Stay With Me from earlier in the year which is a low angst New Adult book. This novella is completely different – zero angst and more adult. So I was super happy to see that I still loved her voice in a different area.

The scene opens with Felicity, naked, whip creaming herself into a bikini for her best friend Harry, who has no idea this is going on. The opening scene had me laughing at the vivid description of Felicity trying to figure this out and then realizing how freaking cold the whip cream actually was. Immediately I love Felicity. She comes across as extremely confident, plus size, cursing and hilarious. I adore her. She owns a company called Fat Lady Sweets. Love. Her.

When Harry gets there I’m even more in love. He’s an adorable beta nerd who has no idea how cute he is, wears a bow tie and ruffles his hair. Oh, and he’s a virgin. Let me remind you that Felicity is naked, well – in a whip cream bikini of sorts. Chaos ensues. Harry produces a contract, which is my second favorite moment. We don’t see the entire thing (which is almost 17 pages) but I wish we could have because I was laughing at every single point.

My favorite moment is the spider of death moment because I was truly laughing out loud here.

A big, nasty, black spider. Waiting for her. Planning to kill her.
And then it started to move.
She screamed.
And screamed.
And screamed some more.
She scrambled out of the shower, keeping her eye on the Spider of Death and took the shower curtain with her. Her legs tangled with the fabric and oh my God, what if there were more spiders on the shower curtain? What if they were climbing on her body right now and laying spider eggs everywhere?

Okay, obviously there is way more to this than this snippet but seriously I was laughing so hard at certain parts. I thoroughly enjoyed this and thought it was a great read. Not everyone can write good novellas- and I thought this one was just about perfect.

Overall I give this duet 4.5 stars. It releases today and is only 99 cents! For this price I highly recommend it, they’re both great reads for the Holidays.

I received an ARC in return for an honest review.

~Clio

Buy it Now Holiday for Two (a duet of Christmas novellas)

Review: The Circle by Dave Eggers

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20131206-185330.jpgIt’s hard to imagine a society with more transparency and less privacy than the one we currently live in. Thanks to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and countless numbers of professional and personal blogs, there’s very little information that’s truly kept private these days. Sonogram pictures, marital discord, gastrointestinal distress, vacation brags, shopping preferences…you name it and surely it’s been made public by someone. Of course, individuals have some control over what information is shared with their adoring public. Only the neediest, most narcissistic of us over share every part of our lives. But what if the choice was taken away from us? What if complete and total participation in all manners of social networking was not optional but entirely mandatory? What if every facet of your life was filtered through and controlled by one monopolistic Internet company? This frighteningly foreseeable book by Dave Eggers proposes just that.

Mae can’t believe her luck when she lands her dream job at The Circle, a tech company best described as Google on steroids. Its reach is all-encompassing, and Mae quickly finds herself brainwashed by the Utopian atmosphere all around her. The company embeds itself in users’ lives by linking and making public every aspect of their online existence: social networks, medical history, banking and financial history, and social life. Their ultimate goal is total transparency consisting of people always being tracked and monitored and public access cameras placed everywhere. While there are clearly many benefits to this type of tracking, specifically safety issues, Mae is too enamored with her fame and status within the company to see the negative implications. She becomes increasingly distanced from her family and friends outside of the company even as they try to warn her of the dangers of such total dominance proposed by The Circle.

I was very intrigued by the concept of this book. It seems like something that’s not too far off the mark from where some of us are at right now with our reliance on technology, social media in particular. There’s an inherent danger in relying on others to validate your sense of self-worth, especially in an online world. And we’ve all read about and seen the negative effects of too much screen time at the expense of spending time in the real world. Don’t get me wrong, I’m as guilty as the next person of wasting too much time on Facebook on occasion. And I’ve met many wonderful people online who I now consider to be dear friends. But the real danger comes when we look to a non-living entity such as a computer, tablet, or smartphone to make us feel good about ourselves. There’s no piece of technology that can truly do that. This is an excellent book, if for nothing else to act as a warning of the direction we may be headed.

~Thalia

Buy it Now: The Circle

Review: Secondhand Stiff by Sue Ann Jaffarian

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20131204-095936.jpg Just released December 1!

This cozy mystery is the most recent in Sue Ann Jaffarian’s Odelia Grey Mysteries series, and I’ve read them all. Yes, I love a good cozy mystery with a female protagonist who pals around with cops, but there’s something about the characters that makes this series stand out. Odelia isn’t too perfect or too quirky… She seems real. She and her husband Greg clearly love each other but have regular arguments, too. Their extended family annoys them – hey, just like real life! Odelia’s nosiness gets her mixed up with the wrong crowd more than occasionally, but she manages to solve mysteries and save herself – from death, but not always from harm – with the help of Greg and their friends.

This particular book explores the world of storage unit auctions, secondhand stores, and illusions of grandeur. Odelia and Greg’s commitment to their family means this mystery is personal – and they’ll stop at nothing to prove their relative’s innocence.

When I read this book, I felt like I was watching it happen in real life. Jaffarian describes places and events so well that reading it became a movie in my mind. She controls her writing so tightly: a grilled cheese sandwich is written in with precision – just enough mention to picture yourself at the table with the characters, hearing the crunch and licking buttery fingers (she doesn’t say that, but I imagined it!), but not so much that it interrupts the flow of the story. That’s good writing.

Secondhand Stiff is a solid, funny, caper-ridden novel with well-developed characters and awesome writing. Sue Ann Jaffarian is one of the few writers I regularly seek out for new releases, which I’ll pay top dollar for. I recommend the whole series, but they can be read as standalone books or out of order.

-Calliope

Buy it now Secondhand Stiff