Books!!!!! specifically, The Shifting Price of Prey

I have not been the best of bloggers lately - not even close.  a year ago, two years ago, I would have been on top of new book releases - especially from my favorite writers - and this time, I'm completely surprised when I find the book I've been waiting for already out on the shelves...

On of my favorite writers - Suzanne McLeod has recently released her fourth Genny Taylor novel - The Shifting Price of Prey.

From the first time I read her very first book (The Sweet Scent of Blood), long before it came out in the States, I was excited about this series, and the characters within.  My interest hasn't changed - just my energy.

I've always tried to announce her novels BEFORE they are released in the United States, but this time.... it snuck up on me.  I have to admit here, that I have already read this one - I was lucky enough to get an e-copy a while ago, and I can safely say, this one is just as interesting as the first three novels.  I've enjoyed all of the series.  

When The Sweet Scent of Blood first came out in the UK, there weren't many books that combined the fae with vampires and witches, but McLeod did an amazing job of pulling a new blend out of the morass of urban fantasy novels. Her main character is also a blend - vampire and fae (you find this out in the first novel, so it's not really a spoiler unless you haven't read ANY of her novels)

  

If you haven't read any of them yet....  why the hell not?

they've been out for a while, 

get crackin'!

Fun series, with just the right amount of heat, snark, mystery and suspense.

Well - it's Monday, again...

I am very happy to be able to say that things are getting a bit better - my newest job has a possibility of a promotion to field assistant and though things are still very weird at my other work, at least I can try to tune some of it out by thinking of other things.

My fingers are crossed on the newest job and promotion.

This weekend alone I ended up earning 290 dollars, and though that really isn't a whole lot - it's almost as much as I bring home in an entire month of working lunch duty.

It's all relative.

Here we are again - for me, it's I'm back (possibly temporarily again).  My posting has been very spotty lately which goes hand in hand with my reading.  My reading has suffered terribly with the mix of things going on in my life - some good, some horrible, and some wonderful.
Hosted by Sheila of Book Journey - we are sharing what we've been reading.  Mr Linky is at her site to link up to (of course)

Once again, I finished not ONE novel.  Not a one.  I did manage to finish an anthology magazine - 
Steampunk Trail's #1, edited by J.A. Campbell.

That is the only thing that I can honestly say I finished reading.  It's good - lots of good steampunk stories to fit any taste and some illustrations as a bonus.  

I have recently bought a few books, and I also received one from a publisher - and I'm working on reading it (my apologies for not reading it straight through, though I did receive it after the publishing date, so I don't feel like it was a rush read)

   

Man Made Boy by Jon Skovron 

YA monster romance (wink)

think of frankenstein and his bride MAKING a son.

and then he turns into a teen....

    

Perdition - the first of the Dred Chronicles set in the universe of Jax (oh....remember Jax?  I miss her stories).

This one is written in third person as opposed to the first person present tense of Jax's stories.  (I miss that voice!)

I'm pretty sure Dred is a character Jax met when she was in that huge prison awaiting trial....

By - of course - Ann Aguirre, an author that seems to nail one of the types of SciFi I enjoy reading.

Another book beginning a new series from a great writer is Hell Bent by Devon Monk.  Written as a continuation of the magic story of Seattle, in Allie Becktrom's Seattle, this new series features two characters from the first series - Shame and Terric.  Interesting combo of characters, and interesting situations...

I've managed to come across a book I've had around here for a few years.  Jaye Wells' The Mage In Black.  I decided to try to read this second in a series, though I wasn't super excited about the first.  Many times, the second book is better though...although there are times, the reverse is true... hmmmm..  nah - I'm pretty sure it'll be interesting.  :)

I would like to try her newest series - Dirty Magic.  Sounds interesting.

There's another book I bought, it's SciFi - but I can't find it (of course) and cannot remember the name...it starts with an E, and I think there's an N or S in it also....and an O.....and an I.....  (oh boy)  Can't even remember the author's name, but it's set in Scotland.  How's that for SciFi?  dont' come across many SciFi set in Scotland, at least not here in the states.  :)

Well - it's getting late.  I've worked 36 hours in the last 48 (is that right?  that's crazed!), and I'm actually tired before four a.m.  for once.    I get to work both jobs tomorrow, and we're going for a drive, my client and I.  He likes to ride in my car, which he calls his car...  "my car".  how cute.

It Was My Birthday, Books Included

I have been gone way too long from the weekly meme posts, blogging etc.

No good excuses - a variety of reasons

Anyway, I'm going to try to get back in the swing o things.

A few books I've finished reading in the last few weeks...

        

           

                                                  

It certainly feels like I've read more than that, but at the moment, these are all I can come up with and that's just by going over this folder I have with copies of book covers that I keep in my OCD way of keeping track of the books I own and the books I would like to own - if only temporily

This brings me to the second part of my post.  I recently had a birthday.  Which I only mention because of the surprise that my siblings, Aunt and Uncle, Mom and Stepdad orchestrated.  My Sis and her spouse, bro and wife, other bro and bro-in-law, Aunt/Uncle and Mom/stepdad all chipped in to by me a Kindle Fire.  We were talking about gadgets, and I had mentioned that the regular kindles weren't as fun sounding as the Kindle Fires because the fire was one you could have aps on, cruise the internet and read your books, etc.  Then I laughed and said - hey my birthday was coming up - there was at least five months to work on this....I really was joking and thought we all had a good laugh about it.  We rarely give big presents to each other, if at all in our family, because we're all adults and have children to focus on.  

I was so surprised when my brother comes over with the box and the card was signed (some by proxy) by 10 people. What a fun gift.

The first e-book I'm reading on it is Naomi Clark's Painless - a book I've been wanting to read for a long time, but have been putting it off because it's an e-book - so I had a good start on it today.  BTW - it's a good story.

Part of my birthday celebration was a trip to the bookstore with my honorary daughter. (one of my boy's ex's)  She treated me to a birthday book, and since my husband had given me a few dollars to buy a book or two, I was able to couple more books.

Birthday Books:

      <<--- (four books in one - omnibus)  

            

If I had been paying attention - I would have searched high and low for Stacia Kane's Chasing Magic - the fourth in the Downside series - LOVE that series.  But .....huge sigh.....it'll have to wait until I have a few more dollars.  But it's something to look forward to.

In the meantime - as I was scrolling through my O.C.D. file of book cover images, I noticed that I have quite a few books that I've collected just in this past year and I haven't read - or I've read and I haven't finished;either because I've misplaced them or I've just been in the mood for something else, and forgot to go back.  I am horrible at getting through my TBR pileS.   

After the bookstore trip - It was back to the house where my kids showed up and cooked steaks and swordfish.  My oldest son bought a swordfish steak - says he knows I like fish.   Now to be perfectly honest, I don't really like a lot of fish.  I like Halibut, Tuna and Salmon.  That's about it.  But I thought - what the hell, just try it.  So my middle son whipped up a concoction of tangerine juice (no lemons), marjoram, garlic and balsalmic vinegar and threw that puppy on the grill.  They also grilled part of the beef steak just the way I like it - just a bit of salt and nothing else.  The rest of the beef steak was treated with salt and garlic cloves.  We had salad and grilled corn on the "bone" (kids say that) and began a new tradition of Birthday Brownies.  

Very Yummy

The swordfish was a hit - no leftovers, everyone tried a piece.  The steak was best ever.  Salad complete with homegrown tomatoes - superb! Bellissimo!

Charged up the Kindle Fire and played with it the next day.

:)

All Things combined - led to a very nice birthday celebration - Almost all the family was there - we were missing one grandchild and two girlfriends of the boys, but work intervenes in people's plans, and I'll get to see my grandson this weekend.  My granddaughter was there, so I wasn't completely grandchildless.

;)

new and used - they're all good

I shouldn't be doing this, but I added to my TBR pile in the last two days. by about 12 books. Six are used though, as if that somehow makes it better...heehee. Most of us bloggers - full or parttime bloggers - understand how hard it is to turn down a book though. And if you're anything like me, you'll know what it's like when you don't get into a bookstore often enough. There is a kind of withdrawal that we suffer from. It's not pretty folks ! This book thing can turn into quite an addiction! one that is easy to feed, even if you only have a few bucks. So, here are the new books I picked up yesterday....

Edited by John Joseph Adams, Armored is a collection of SciFi short stories by writers Carrie Vaughn, Tanya Huff, Lauren Beukes {of Zoo City fame} and Simon R. Green. Those are the writers that I recognize - there are quite a few other writers, but I'm not very familiar with the many SciFi genre writers. Whether it makes sense or not, whether it's practical or not, I'm always willing to buy an anthology even if I don't know four-fifths of the writers as long as the other one-fifth of writers are writers that count among my faves.

I already own two novels by John Scalzi, yet I haven't cracked them open yet....or wait, one of them I have started {Zoe's Tale}, but like many other novels in my life, I started it and many others around the same time. I'm still planning on reading it. But when I saw Fuzzy Nation on the rack, I was drawn to the cover, then to the blurb on the back. Seems interesting. So I bought it.Though I meant to read another novel, I ended up starting this this one - so far, so good. :) See for yourself, click on the cover; you'll end up on the Tor site, reading a two chapter excerpt. By the way - I have a lot of respect in general for Scalzi, though I've never spoke with, interacted with or anything with - for example, take a look at this excellent essay.

I haven't read anything at all by Melissa Marr - her earlier books are Young Adult, and I read few young adult - but I saw Graveminders in the regular SciFi/Fantasy section. It's about a family of ....well.....graveminders! They mind graves, making sure that those who are buried stay buried....somthing happens, though, and the recent burials have become awry. Looks like this might be an entertaining read - a little dark, but entertaining. I like dark reads, though. :)


A long time ago, I read a book by Katherine Kerr - it was a historical fiction type of book. The books that I tried to read had a lot of flashbacks - flashbacks to previous lives, some of them hundreds of years previous. They were kind of hard for me to read - because of some of the content, not because there were flashbacks. I then avoided any books by Kathleen Kerr, mainly because they all seemed to focus on the particular couple that I didn't want to read about - so I was both happy and wary of seeing her name on a SciFi or UF novel. I'm hoping that the people in License to Ensorcell don't suddenly start having flashbacks to their ancient life of being a brother and sister that are married. I remember her style of writing was pretty good - I just didn't care for the characters - so I'm hoping that this series is very different. From the back of the book, it sounds very intriguing, so that's a plus for me. I'm also hoping that I do like this book, because there are already two other novels in the series, and they look like they might have some humor in them. And, before seeing this particular series, I didn't know that Kerr has been writing SciFi for the last 10 or so years. Interesting.
SIGH.....Devon Monk.....sigh.....I went into the store tonight just to see what was around, since I've completely lost track of who's releasing what when. What a feeling to see Magic Without Mercy on the rack - ready to to buy. Boy, that made the complete trip worth the delay in going home, even though I had worn sandals, and it had started to RAIN! {Must have been confused. I have no other reason for wearing sandals when April has just started} So of course, I bought this one, and I'm happy to see some of the magic marks on Allie's torso, even though there's supposed to be some on her face also. Planning to read this very soon! And if Magic Without Mercy is out now, then Tin Swift - Monk's other series - can't be very far behind....... {or can it?}

Now, for my semi-regular impulse buy, of an author previously unknown to me, and currently unheard of for me is Plague Town by Dana Fredsti. I skimmed a few pages and I think I can read this without being bored..... I really hope so. I haven't seen this one mentioned in any blogs {of course, I've been out of the country, and I've had my nose deep in Cityville and Castleville.....} but I usually see a few new releases being mentioned here and there....

So here goes- it looks good.

Now I'm feeling embarrassingly rich in books - or rather, I've added uncontrollably to my TBR mountain. I have quite a few books waiting for me to read, and yet I can't help buying more whenever I can. And to top it all off, today at school a bag of books was donated to a rummage sale. Of course, I couldn't keep my greedy little hands from delving into the bag...and I found six books that are interesting. {Don't worry - I paid for them, *g*} They're not even fantasy, SciFi or urban fantasy...these are regular old fiction - or rather the type of fiction that non-frivolous women are interested in (doesn't that sound snotty? not meant to be) But I don't feel like looking up and downloading/uploading all the covers tonight. I'll do it another day. I will list them though {I like lists :) } In no particular order, the used books I picked up

1. 
   
   Look Me In The Eye: My life with Asperger's by John Elder Robison


2. 
   
   While I Was Gone by Sue Miller


3. 
   
   Big Love by Sarah Dunn


4. 
   
   She, Myself & I by Whitney Gaskell


5. 
   
   Night Swimming by Robin Schwarz


6. 
   
   A Cooler Climate by Zena Collier {this has been made into a Showtime movie that I've never heard of, with Sally Field and Geena Davis}

That's all for now - no LOL Catz, no more links, no popcorn, no dessert!

haha - later!

this and that...

**This is the post that I kept having problems with - in fact I am still having problems with blogger - is anyone else experiencing sudden windows closing, loss of typed data, can't switch from compose to edit html?



Now, as for the Black Eyed Peas - I've always enjoyed them as a group - not every single song, but love their faster stuff. However, I can't say that I like eating black eyed peas (hahaha- sorry, couldn't help it.....I grew up listening to bad puns)

Any way, it's a long video, and the acting isn't that great....but I love the mix of music and video subject...think of transformers meet rap/R&B meet future/sci-fi.

music begins about 2 minutes in...

It's a fun video. :)

That's it for the music - I can only handle downloading two videos tonight. Everytime I put downloaded the video and then tried to write something, the internet would stop working and I would lose the video and the previously written paragraph. Hell, I must have written and re-written the Katy Perry blurb about five times, the Black Eyed Peas at least two! yep - and I STILL left in that horrible pun. Mwhahaha

And Now - Back to bookish subjects...

Even though I've tried very hard to slow down my book buying - I have so many books that I just can't get through with my reading slow-down - I ended up with $5.00 in Border's Bucks to spend. Now I just can't waste $5.00 I had until store closing to use them up today - or they would have expired, and it would have bothered me for months to come.....Seriously, it would have. :(

So I tried to get my middle son to go with me, thought it would be fun to take his son and my other grandchild. He wasn't into it...and ended up leaving to get ready for work. Then after a stressful hour of peeing right outside the toilet instead of into the toilet (just learning) and then having a teeny accident in his "bigboy" underwear....my grandson climbed into my bed, covered himeself up and fell asleep. (he's been asleep ever since, by the way)<---This was written last night;Last night was when blogger was trippin and I couldn't post - everytime I tried to upload a pic or video it would shutdown the internet and even when I saved after every sentence I typed, it would re-format, add extra spaces between sentences, some words would come out HUGE, and it would also delete blocks of text. Very strange....Anyway, the boy slept from 7:30 p.m. til 7 a.m. this morning...almost 12 straight hours. He woke up once, sat up and asked for his uncle.

My granddaughter was hanging out with her other uncle's girlfriend, so I went off to the store...by myself...

I found Phoenix Rising, the new release by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris. I couldn't find an excerpt anywhere, but I did find the book series website. There will be more novels - Ministry of Peculiar Occurences. This is Steampunk. I like the cover, but I don't like the look of the cover model, or her clothes. It comes across as almost....crude and harsh at the same time. And I don't like that I also sound like an old prude, but that's how the cover comes across to me. It's the pose with the clothes....and the cover model looks... (shudders)
At least she has cool gadgets and weapons on her...maybe that's the idea of the pose...no. The rest of the cover was cool. I like the portrayal of the weapons, the steampund aura and the little curlycues at the corners...


Happily, I also found a trade ppb copy of Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves, a book I've been coveting for a long time. I thought I would never find it in ppb - and couldn't really bring myself to buy it in hardback without knowing the writer's style...with hardback prices, I want to know that I'm going to love a book before shelling out h/b prices for a novel. This cover is pretty cool = the color, the fabric (even though it's been done quite a bit in YA covers) Looking forward to reading this, though I'm not sure when. I've been putting off reading a lot of my favorite writers' books and I have a bad feeling that I've actually LOST some books. How's that for feeling bookishly out of control? Update - I started reading this - couldn't help it, it jumped in my hands in the morning and opened up to page one...I've been reading it ever since. This character is weird and fascinating.

and Finally - be on the lookout for Library Cat!

I hear he's been lurking around libraries and bookstores...

(in case you can't read the script on the pic) this reads

I am the Library Cat This is my beanbag chair. You will be quiet and orderly.
You will not throw books. If you prove yourself worthy I will let you pet me, and I may even come sit on your lap. In the meantime I am watching you.

finis

It's Monday,My 2cents on Book Censorship, and reading challenges (I fail)

I think this poster art says it all. One thing I've always hated was other people telling me what to do...so of course it follows that I wouldn't want anyone telling me, or dictating to my children (or grandchildren now) what they (or I) should read, be allowed to read or even be able to borrow or buy from a store. My parents were never the type to censor our reading. My father was always about learning and researching for your own opinions, and my mother just might not have been aware, or had any idea of what we were reading. I do know that her parents were very strict in Panama (central america) and that she was a bit rebellious herself, so it could also be that she just wasn't going to go there with us. We did benefit though, since we were able to read whatever we could get our hands on. As my own children came of reading age, I followed the tradition of not making a big deal of whatever they were reading. I have to admit that I did make a big deal out of Marilyn Manson's first couple of record albums, and mainly because they seemed so full of hate and diseased thinking. It never stopped my kids though. I did tell them not to bring the cd's in the house, but I never actually told them they couldn't listen to them. (fine lines there).

I don't want my grandchildren's choice of reading to be affected by anyone else by their mom and dad. It's no body else's business. Certainly not some other parents, or well-meaning but totally misguided people who try to ban books.

Don't Ban Books. Leave Them Be

Think For Yourself - make up your own mind

For my Monday "what's up" post. This is hosted by Sheila of Book Journey.


Saturday, I finished reading a great young adult fantasy novel - The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff. My review is here. I think it's a great book with wonderfully creepy characters. I believe it's a debut novel also. You know, debut novels nowadays are much better than some debut novels that I've read in my ...ahem... younger years. (I'M GETTING OLD! PEOPLE! OLD!!!)


I was paid my monthly little piddly paycheck (read with extreme bitterness - then move on) and even though it wasn't as much as I had hoped, even though I didn't get to buy as many books as I WANTED to, I was able to get a few...



I bought the latest young adult novel by Terry Pratchett - I Shall Wear Midnight. This is the book that I'm currently reading - in fact, I started it on Saturday and since I haven't been able to mess around on the computer (virus problems) I was able to concentrate on it and am almost finished. (See how much the computer and internet interfere with our lives? and yet I can't imagine being without if for even one day! I have to adjust though, since my computer is going on a little trip to be fixed by a computer genious...I hope) Anyway, if you've been reading any of his Tiffany Aching (young witch) disc-world novels, you'll love this one. It also features the little crazed blue men you see on the cover, the Nac Mac Feegles - they are six inches or less, kilt-wearing, fighting, drinking, clan-like little Wee Men. And they're blue. This is, sadly, the final Tiffany Aching Novel.


Another book I bought is Grave Witch by Kalayna Price. Even though this is the first book of hers that you'll see in the bookstores, on a physical shelf, this is her third published book. She's also written Once Bitten, and Twice Dead - a series about a shapeshifter who has been turned into a vampire. Imagine that. (Talk about double jeapordy!)

I also found Pathfinder by Laura E. Reeve. Now this is the third book in a sci-fi spaceship odyssey type series, but it looked interesting and the store didn't have the first two books available, so I though I would give it a try anyway. Maybe it'll be one of those books that are enjoyable even if you haven't read the first two books. Who know? I know I have tried out the first chapter, and ....I'm not sure yet. There are references to past tragedy's (of a profound and extreme nature), but this book also seems to have a standalone plot. We'll see. Sometimes I just want to read sci-fi with space travel, enhanced humans, different species, etc. The first two books are Peacekeeper and Vigilante.

Then...last but certainly not least is Bayou Moon by Ilona Andrews. So far, I have loved reading everything that I can get my hands on by this couple. Everyone has heard of the Kate Daniels series, right? Same authors. In fact, as soon as I finish reading I shall Wear Midnight, if a book that I'm supposed to review by October 10th hasn't shown up yet, I will be reading this one next. This is the second in their Edge series. "rustic fantasy"...or something like that. Whatever they call it, and their other book On the Edge, it'll be good. If you haven't seen the websites of Ilona Andrews yet, go over and take a look. They (Ilona and Gordon) have a page for each of their series, with all kinds of extras. little bits about characters, species, pictures, and extra writings. It's all entertaining and it's wonderful that they've gone that extra mile for their readers. Think of the talent, the ability to get along and produce not just one series, but TWO as well as other online or e-fiction. I mention get along, because anyone who's been married for long knows, it's not all a bed of roses - so the fact that these two can work and live together, blog together and continue to do so while raising a family, and dogs...I'm impressed.



Now that we're into October, and I'm pretty sure that I've failed at the 2010 Countdown Challenge, the pressure for me to read books written in other years is off. I had been buying a lot of books printed in 2010, but putting off reading them (unless I had promised a review - I'm so much in demand as a reviewer...snicker, snicker...LOL) and trying to read books published in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008. Folks, I didn't make it. I was able to read all of the required 2010 books (10) and all of the required 2009 books (9) and all of the 2001 books (1), but only had a few read for 2005, 2006, 2008, etc.

Well, I tried. I seriously tried. But it didn't happen. One thing I decided to do though...

I'm pretty sure that there will be a 2011 countdown challenge (the 2010 was the second of third or whatever). Instead of reading all of the current years books right away (very easy to do) I will try to alternate. One older book, one newer, two older, one newer. Maybe that will help.

The other thing that would have helped is if the host had put up a challenge page. There was the original post, but that's all I could ever find. I like the way Book Chick City, Color Online, and J.Kaye (challenges taken over by HomeGirls book blog) had set up the review pages for their challenges. There was the original post, then each of them put up a page with places to post your review links every month. I know there's more hosts of challenges who've done this, but those are the ones that I signed up for. It really makes a difference when you can keep track of challenge progress not only on your own, but on another site.

If I join the 2011 countdown challenge, then I will put up a separate page for myself, my own reviews. I did keep track on my sidebar, but it makes for a verrrrryyyyy looooonnnnnggggg sidebar. :)

Well, we'll just have to see how the many other challenges that I signed up for finish (not looking to good, but as one reader put it, it's a challenge, and if it were easy it wouldn't have been a challenge- by the way, thanks for those words, it did make me feel better.)

Silver Phoenix and.....

I got it!

Original cover on the hardback version of Silver Phoenix.

This was a book that I was waiting for paperback to come out.

I was sad when I saw the posts about the new paperback cover (not only whitewashed, but generic)

But, through a strange and eerie combination of events (not so strange, but I turned 50-and that feels awkward...FIFTY!)...

I received a gift card for a small independant bookstore (Copperfield's) for my birthday, that almost wasn't given to me, because my other family members thought they had closed down all their stores in my city (a result of B&N moving in right next door to their downtown location)...

No! I said - they have an online option anyway!!!!!

So the giftcard was given to me.

When I thought about this cover being changed, I thought well, might as well order it now, and happily and conveniently this giftcard would pay for most of the hardback price!

So I ordered it online through Copperfield's.

But, they were out of stock,yet they ordered it for me; of course then I started worrying that they wouldn't be able to get it, because someone had heard the publisher wasn't going to release anymore of the hardback versions...

But the book came in, I received an e-mail and even though I was - AM - still suffering from this obnoxious summer cold that just won't let go of me....

I packed up the granddaughter (who spends a couple nights with us every week) and got my self together long enough to drive downtown (because - thankfully there still was ONE store open in my city) and found the bookstore (after asking a woman who was walking around this huge outside mall called Montgomery Village).

Where I proceeded to spend an EXTRA $15.00 on two childrens books because my granddaughter was with me and she's so cute when we go to the bookstore.

She walks around, saying stuff like, "Grandma - lets go find you a book" and actually tries to find a book for me - looking at covers that resemble the books she sees at my house (she's smart)

Then, it's "grandma, now let's go see the kid section. Let's look around a little bit", & "ooh, this is so cute..."

See how she works me? What's so cute about it is she's three and still looks like she's two, but talks like she's FIVE.

AND......

There, in Copperfields, is four or five tables of hardback books that are prices from $4.99 to $7.99.

That's amazing, since children's hardback books can go for as much as $20.00 or more.

So we buy two - one of them is a POC book called "the little red fish" by Taeeun Yoo.

The other is a little old for her, but we can skim most of the text and just read the descriptions of the pictures..."The Secret World of Magic" by Rosalind Kerven & Wayne Anderson.

We have, of course, already read both the children's books.

:)

new books, giveaways....etc.

Between All Things Urban Fantasy, and Tynga's Reviews there are quite a few

very good books being offered for giveaways through the

month of June - until July 4th. Most of

giveaways are open to all, although there are a few open to Canada only, etc. Go to this page to see a complete list of giveaways. Both blogs are interesting blogs to read, with lots of author interviews and fun content. And I like Tynga's name. Tynga!

Some of the books that I'm looking forward to are Kitty Goes To War (of course! love Carrie Vaughn) and Black Dust Mambo by Adrian Phoenix. Ms Phoenix wrote the trilogy with A Rush of Wings . Black Dust Mambo is the start of a new series by her. I read an excerpt, and OH BOY! Two new-to-me authors are Marcia Colette, who has actually had a few e-books published and Kasey McKenzie, who is writing about Furies, as in the legendary Furies.

Unrelated to the givaways, is a new cover for Karen Mahoney's upcoming novel The Iron Witch. Karen Mahoney has had a short story (Falling To Ash) featured in the anthology Eternal Kiss (YA). I read it and it's a very good short story. So good, that I'm waiting kind of impatiently for her first novel to be released (February 2011 for U.S. shoppers). According to a blurb in All Things Urban Fantasy, the bottle in the girl's hand has something to do with the story.... More info on Karen Mahoney's books and short stories are on her bookpage.

This is a taste of what we have to look forward to in the coming months.

The Replacement

I've been patiently waiting for the mail for a book I won in a contest - (Host by Stephanie Meyers). Yesterday I received a package and thought that might be it, but it seemed to be a trade sized book rather than paperback (which is what I think I won). I've also recently won from the Library Thing a book titled Girls From The Revolutionary Cantina by M. Padilla, which I've been waiting for. So I tried to open it (it being the package). Couldn't open it, because the fingers weren't working very well. I was in for a nice surprise. The package was addressed to my name (first name) and underneath - "Reviewer". Wow. For a moment there I felt kind of important. :) Don't worry, it was fleeting.

What I received was an ARC for a young adult (ages 12 and up) titled The Replacement written by Brenna Yovanoff. Scheduled release is September 21st, 2010 by Razorbill.

"Edward Scissorhands meets Catcher In The Rye" That's an interesting statement. I never did read Catcher In The Rye, so I'm not sure what this means. I did watch Edward Scissorhands though, with my kids, and I liked it.

The Blurb from the introductory letter:

In her darkly imaginative and completely riveting debut novel, The Replacement, author Brenna Yovanoff introduces us to broodingly handsome, bass-strumming Mackie Doyle. Mackie isn't your average angst-filled teen. Though he lives in the small town of Gentry, Mackie comes from a world of tunnels and black murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a little tattooed princess. He is a Replacement. Left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago, Mackie wasn't supposed to live long in the human world. Replacements have a fatal allergy to iron, blood, and consecrated ground, and Mackie is slowly dying. When his sister brings him magical herbs from a "friend" which help restore his health, Mackie becomes drawn irrevocably into the underworld of Gentry, known as Mayhem. He realizes he must face the dark creatures of Mayhem and find his rightful place, in our world, or theirs. (sic - shouldn't this read their's?)

I've also promised to read The Pack, by L.M. Preston (picture to be inserted later - it's way late and I haven't even slept yet). Which will come out in August, I believe. The Pack is about a young girl, brought up on Mars who tries to solve a case of missing children. She's a fighter, and she works blind. I've started reading bits and pieces so far, but will settle down to do it justice soon.

I have three books, therefore, that I have am going to read solely for the purpose of reviewing. Feels weird, because I mainly read for fun, and happen to write about books that I've read. This will be different. Oh, God, Now I feel Pressure! Well, I'll just go with the flow...of the book.

New Books - Hurray! Hurray!

I guess the other day my son was feeling rich - or feeling guilty that I ended up watching his son for a long time (evil laugh here) because he gave me $20. Recently a co-worker that I shuffle to work (we both work at the same places) gave me $8.00 for gas on the last day of school. Today, out of the blue, my husband handed me $30.00. I thought it was for groceries, and he said Nope - for books. Wow (figures, right when I'm starting to feel ultra irritated with him, he does something thoughtful.) I ended up with $58 cash and so when I drove my granddaughter home, I made a detour to Borders. There I found FIVE books that I was interested in and I also found three nice floor puzzles that were on clearance at $5.99 each. Good deal. My granddaughter loves to put together puzzles and lately I've been buying the big floor puzzle for my grandson instead of her. Well today I found two fairy floor puzzles that my granddaughter will love. She doesn't know that I bought then yet. All total $57.72 - three floor puzzles and five books.

Here is a book I bought on a whim, after skimming a few pages. Spin State by Chris Moriarty. Suddenly I feel like reading Science Fiction - space ship stuff, all that jazz. This book seems like it will be interesting. Except.....For an excerpt click on the cover-pic; It should take you to the Barnes & Noble page with Spin State, and directly to the review section, but if it doesn't, click on the features tab - but note that to actually read the excerpt you have to scroll down, waaaaayyyy down past a very long essay on how this man birthed his book. I started to read that part, and it almost made me regret buying the book. I don't like to be snotty or snarky (usually, I don't like to be) but .....well......um.......Okay, my eyes started to glaze over. I just want to read a good book. That's all. Sure, sometimes I like to know a bit about the author. But most of the authors that I read don't write an essay, or thesis on how they wrote a book.

Kind of reminded me of LKH in a strange way. They're most likely totally different in personality, but her latest post is full of how much her books have helped lots and lots of people function in their daily lives, or live through hardships. I don't know......Having good books is very important to me. Being able to read and live in another world temporarily is very important. But I've never felt that one particular character is THAT important to me, important enough to help me make decisions, or color my way of thinking, or make me feel like "What would Anita do?" Nope. Never. Be your own people, people!

BTW - almost bought her latest paperback. LKH. It's a nice thick paperback. Then I thought, well I hate the cover. I know there's a British version with way prettier covers, and Do I Really Want To Read A Thick Book Possibly Full Of Lots Of Discussions, And Angst, And Anger (over the same ol' same ol'), And Spillage, And Bad Sex Scenes, (as in boring), Posturing For No Reasons, ETC. or would I rather wait and maybe when I feel flush with money buy it online with at least a nice cover? So I waited. There was a time, before the odd turn of the mind that I used just buy her books because she wrote it. No More.

Okay, back to books -good books - or rather back to books I bought today. Elfland by Freda Warrington is a fantasy, a good old fashiond fantasy book. The cover reminds me of covers of Patricia McKillip's books. Beautiful artwork. Unfortunately, the cover on my copy of this book has a huge imprint on it, in bright orangy red stating "Winner of the RT Book Reviews Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Fantasy Novel of 2009". This is nice to know, and the author can be proud of this, but it ruined the cover. It's placed right over the little sparkles you see to the left of the woman. Just covers them right up. Non-removable. Oh Well. I'm happy because I heard about this book from another blog, and I remember thinking I LOVE this cover. The blogger noted that this was from England, and in fact this is the first time this author has been published in the United States. This thing, with thinking outside the box as far as reading other writers (from Australia, England, New Zealand) is so fun for me. I wish I knew of more books to get from over seas. So far it's been Marianne De Pierres (purely by accident) from Australia, Suzanne McLeod (Purely on Purpose after stumbling onto her blog, and reading an excellent excerpt) from England and Susan Healy from New Zealand - I think. I know there's more. :)

Necking by Chris Salvatore is a book about vampires and a book publicist (ironic, no?) I almost bought it the last few times I've been to the store, and since this was gift money - oh yeah! Click on book cover for excerpt. Don't you love the long sharp red nails? There are also weres, witches and aliens in this novel. Clicking on the author name will take you to a page at her website that features (spoilerish) scene told by the point of view of another character. It's Johnny's side of the story - apparently.

And finally - the last two are books that many of us have been waiting for -

Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews and Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane. These two books are books I know I'll love. I've been reading Ilona Andrews since their first book came out. I've read only one of Stacia Kane's books (loved it) and an excerpt of Unholy Ghosts - it's gon' be good!

And now, back to reading Song of Scarabaeus.

Edited to add - the link for the excerpt of Unholy Ghost really led to the excerpt of the next in the series, Unholy Magic. It's now been corrected - and I left the excerpt for Unholy Magic on the the title.