Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Short & Sweet Reviews: Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison


Title: Dragon Bound
Author:Thea Harrison
Genre: Paranormal, Adult (age 17 & up, mature contents)
Series: The Elder Races #1

Format: Mass Market paperback, 336pages

Released on May 3, 2011


Summary( via Amazon) : Half-human and half-wyr, Pia Giovanni spent her life keeping a low profile among the wyrkind and avoiding the continuing conflict between them and their dark Fae enemies. But after being blackmailed into stealing a coin from the hoard of a dragon, Pia finds herself targeted by one of the most powerful-and passionate-of the Elder races.

My Thoughts: When I first saw this book on the new releases page on various sites, I dismissed it right away because of the cover. I know many of the books I read have cheesy cover, but a half naked male on a cover seem so cliché among paranormal romance novels. I decided to read this book because of all the wonderful reviews it has gotten since its release. I was a little skeptical at first because I never read a dragon book before. 

The book takes place in New York and follows two main characters Dragos, a dragon wyr one of the top Elder races (one of the strongest paranormal creature) and Pia a half-wyr who becomes entangles in a mess when her ex-boyfriend blackmails her into stealing from Dragos. The book had a good pacing and a lot of action through the entire book. Many people love the dynamic chemistry between the two leads, but I found it somewhat annoying. Pia, struggles to decide if she likes Dragos or not. Throughout the book she states that she likes him and can see goodness in him and other time she says he’s a monster. As for Dragos, he comes off really cold-hearted one minute and romantic the next. I also didn't find his whole "you're mine" attitude endearing. The book explains why he is the way he is, but just reading it was a turn off.

Overall it IS a good book, the world building is interesting. Although I may had some problems with the two main characters, I plan on reading the next book because it features two characters from this book who you'll meet; Tricks and Tiago. I think many paranormal romance readers will enjoy this more than me.

Warning: Mature content! 
3 Stars



Sunday, September 11, 2011

In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox (8)

First off, In My Mailbox is a feature that was started over at The Story Siren. Where we share what books we receive in the mail each week.
 
 Bought:
Dark Oracle by Alayna Williams
Spellcast by Barbara Ashford
Blood Bound by Rachel Vincent
Shadow Kin by M. J. Scott
One Salt Sea by Seanan McGuire

What did you get this week? Leave your IMM link in the comments :)

Friday, September 09, 2011

Cover Spotlight

Book covers I found on various blogs and site (6)

Summary: (Sequel to DEAD BEAUTIFUL)
Renée Winters has changed. When she looks in the mirror, a beautiful girl with an older, sadder face stares back. Her condition has doctors mystified, but Renée can never reveal the truth: she died last May, and was brought back to life by the kiss of her Undead soul mate, Dante Berlin.
Now, her separation from Dante becomes almost unbearable. His second life is close to an end, and each passing day means one less that she will spend with the boy who shares her soul.
Just when Renée has almost given up hope, she learns of the Nine Sisters—brilliant scholars who, according to legend, found a way to cheat death. She can’t shake the feeling that they are somehow connected to her dreams, strange visions that hint at a discovery so powerful, and so dangerous, that some will stop at nothing to protect it.
Renée thought she knew the truth about life and death. But there is a secret woven through history that holds the only hope for Dante and Renée. Unless they find answers soon, their time together is doomed to be cut short.
 [FEBRUARY 2012]



Summary: 
Fight Back

Fifteen-year-old Billy Ballard is the kid that everyone picks on, from the school bullies to the teachers. Things change drastically when Billy learns that years ago, he’d been tricked by Pestilence, the White Rider of the Apocalypse. Now it’s Billy’s turn to wield Pestilence’s Bow and spread sickness through the world. He uses his new power to lash out at his tormentors…and accidentally causes an outbreak of disease. Horrified by his actions, he wants nothing more than to be rid of the Bow. For that to happen, Billy must track down the previous White Rider, who is hiding in a place where even Death cannot go.

Billy’s search takes him across the centuries: from ancient Phrygia, where a man called King Mita agrees to wear the White Rider’s Crown, to a mighty forest, where Pestilence plans to cheat Death; from the docks of Alexandria, where plague is packed into cartons of grain, to the Children’s Crusade in France, where the White Rider learns a truth that will break him. By the time Billy finds the man who had tricked him so long ago, the White Rider is completely insane—and is poised to unleash a plague that would make the Black Death look like a summer cold. And only Billy can stop him.

Does one bullied teenager have the strength to stand his ground—and the courage to save the world?

 [MARCH 2012] 



Summary: Avery and Ben are just beginning to explore the depth of the bond that links them. Their ability to sense each others' feelings and Avery's mysterious connection to the forest mean that their love is unlike any other. But even such a perfect bond can be strained by jealousy, and when Hope, a gorgeous girl from Ben's old life, arrives in town, Avery can't help but feel threatened. And in more ways than one-because someone is trying to kill her, again.
Also new in town are a pair of Hunters-men who know about werewolves and who seek only to destroy what they can't understand. Hope is connected to the Hunters somehow, but by the time Avery figures out her secret, it's too late-and someone will pay with their life. With the glowing, emotional language that made Low Red Moon such an irresistible read, Moonrise ups the romantic stakes with a heart-tugging sacrifice that testifies to the power of love.

[JANUARY 2012]





Summary: Emma Townsend has always believed in stories—the ones she reads voraciously, and the ones she creates in her head. Perhaps it’s because she feels like an outsider at her exclusive prep school, or because her stepmother doesn’t come close to filling the void left by her mother’s death. And her only romantic prospect—apart from a crush on her English teacher—is Gray Newman, a long-time friend who just adds to Emma’s confusion. But escape soon arrives in an old leather-bound copy of Jane Eyre…

Reading of Jane’s isolation sparks a deep sense of kinship. Then fate takes things a leap further when a lightning storm catapults Emma right into Jane’s body and her nineteenth-century world. As governess at Thornfield, Emma has a sense of belonging she’s never known—and an attraction to the brooding Mr. Rochester. Now, moving between her two realities and uncovering secrets in both, Emma must decide whether her destiny lies in the pages of Jane’s story, or in the unwritten chapters of her own…


[APRIL 2012]

Thursday, September 08, 2011

Back to Books Giveaway Hop Winner!



Marci Clark

Congratulations! I will be sending you an email shortly for your snail mail. For everyone else, thank you so much for supporting the blog. I will have another giveaway coming in the next week, so check back!

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Back to Books Giveaway Hop

Today is the last day to enter the Back to Books Giveaway Hop! Giveaway will close exactly at 11:59pm (pst) tonight.

[update: giveaway now closed]

Winner will be announced here and notified by email tomorrow September 8th!!

Good luck everyone :)

WoW: Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly post started by Breaking the Spine, to show books that we are patiently waiting for.  
 
 BLURB: Shaman-for-hire Eugenie Markham strives to keep the mortal realm safe from trespassing entities. But as the Thorn Land's prophecy-haunted queen, there's no refuge for her and her soon-to-be-born-children when a mysterious blight begins to devastate the Otherworld...

The spell-driven source of the blight isn't the only challenge to Eugenie's instincts. Fairy king Dorian is sacrificing everything to help, but Eugenie can't trust the synergy drawing them back together. The uneasy truce between her and her shape shifter ex-lover Kiyo is endangered by secrets he can't--or won't--reveal. And as a formidable force rises to also threaten the human world, Eugenie must use her own cursed fate as a weapon--and risk the ultimate sacrifice..
 
RELEASES ON FEBRUARY 2, 2012

Monday, September 05, 2011

Review: A need so Beautiful by Suzanne Young

Title: A Need so Beautiful
Author: Suzanne Young
Genre: Paranormal Young Adult (ages 14 and up)
Series: A Need so Beautiful #1

Format: Hardcover, 272 pages

Released on June 21, 2011

I received this book for review from HarperCollins.

Summary:We all want to be remembered. Charlotte's destiny is to be forgotten.

Charlotte's best friend thinks Charlotte might be psychic. Her boyfriend thinks she's cheating on him. But Charlotte knows what's really wrong: She is one of the Forgotten, a kind of angel on earth who feels the Need—a powerful, uncontrollable draw to help someone, usually a stranger.

But Charlotte never wanted this responsibility. What she wants is to help her best friend, whose life is spiraling out of control. She wants to lie in her boyfriend's arms forever. But as the Need grows stronger, it begins to take a dangerous toll on Charlotte. And who she was, is, and will become—her mark on this earth, her very existence—is in jeopardy of disappearing completely.

Charlotte will be forced to choose: Should she embrace her fate as a Forgotten, a fate that promises to rip her from the lives of those she loves forever? Or is she willing to fight against her destiny—no matter how dark the consequences?

My thoughts: 
This is my first Young Adult that is centered around angels, and my second series that involved angels...so it was a nice change from all the other books I've been reading that had vampires and witches. The main narrator, Charlotte (First person POV) has been dealing with these so called "needs" to help people. Every time she gets these urges, her body goes through different symptoms to guide her to the person in which she need to help. Charlotte ends up finding out that she's a forgotten, an angel on earth whose purpose is to help people. It's great being able to help someone out, but in Charlotte's case she slowly gets erased from the memory of the people she love...like she never existed. Throughout the book we face every "need" that she encounters and see her fight against being 'forgotten'.

The entire premise of the book was intriguing and I think it is somewhat a new take/ outlook on angels. The pacing of the story was good, it seems like in every chapter Charlotte was helping someone new. The only cons that come to mine is that I wish we had more background information of how the 'Forgottens' came to earth and how the seers became their guide, and more on the shadow people. Also how the only thing that Charlotte cared about was her boyfriend, and doing everything to be with him...but than again this is a young adult, so it gotta have some teen angst! Overall a good book, interested in seeing what the author has in store for book #2, A Want so Wicked which comes out July 2012.

3 stars