I’m in love….

I started the day lusting over the new UK covers for Nalini Singh’s Psy/Changeling series. Seriously i can’t wait to get these two…i already have these books but there’s no way I'm not getting the new UK ones.  *drools* Huh….alright I'm getting distracted by the covers as I'm trying to type… See, now those are some smexy men…*sigh*

And just because….

Yummy! I can’t wait for March 4th, 2010  and  May 13th 2010

In My Mailbox & Waiting For:Hallowed Circle by Linda Robertson

It’s been a while since i had an In My Mailbox post so i thought why not? This week  I've received:

Nightlight  from The Harvard Lampoon ( i won this book at Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review blog) The cover is pretty funny with a Vampire Worm. So you might have guessed it, this is a Twilight Parody  Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase / Tempest Rising by Nicole Peeler / Bitten & Smitten by Michelle Rowen

The Heart of Christmas ,an Anthology with a story by Courtney Milan (Thank you @courtneymilan), Mary Baloch, Nicola Cornick /  Playing with Fire by Gena Showalter

 

See now i just need the time to read them *g* They look so delicious  all them! I’ve began reading Tempest Rising and i love it to pieces. I finish reading Skin Game by Ava Gray and that was some pretty intense book (loved it, i will write review when i’m finished with my school assignments…which might take a while arghh), i can’t wait to read Skin Tight, Foster is such an interesting character!

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This week the cover for book 2 of  Kim Harrison’s YA series has been uncovered at Dark Faerie Tales.  Early to Death, Early to Rise will be released on May 26, 2009. Why the mention? Because i love this cover, the model is gorgeous and looks exactly how I'd picture Madison. I pretty much loved everything Kim Harrison i have to admit. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are many books that i am waiting for and one of them is Hallowed Circle by Linda Robertson. It is book 2  in the Persephone Alcmedi series. It will be released on December 31st 2009.

(If you haven’t read Vicious Circle scroll down a bit)

And you think beauty pageants are scary?

Persephone Alcmedi has been persuaded to compete for the position of High Priestess of the Cleveland, Ohio, coven -- now that the former priestess, Vivian Diamond, has strangely gone missing. Unfortunately, there are a few small problems with the idea. Not only does Seph know rather more about Vivian's disappearance than the other witches realize, but the epic struggle she's just survived has left her with some highly unusual powers -- ones that could be dangerous to reveal. Despite her reluctance, she agrees to participate, if only to prevent snooty Hunter Hopewell, an obnoxious but talented witch, from ending up in the winner's circle. Can Seph hide her secrets -- including her connection to the master vampire-wizard Menessos -- from the terrifyingly wise judges? Plus, there's her rock 'n' roll werewolf boyfriend, Johnny, and some angry fairies to deal with....

Once the competition begins, a finalist turns up dead. It looks as if one of the contestants is willing to do anything -- including murder -- to win. Suddenly Seph has even more on her plate than she thought: from solving a murder to working out what her new powers really are...and exactly why they're creating so much havoc in her love life~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you haven’t read book 1, Viscious Circle here is the synopsis:

A girl's got to do what a girl's got to do....

Being a witch doesn't pay the bills, but Persephone Alcmedi gets by between reading Tarot cards, writing her syndicated newspaper column, and kenneling werewolves in the basement when the moon is full -- even if witches aren't supposed to mingle with wolves. She really reaches the end of her leash, though, when her grandmother gets kicked out of the nursing home and Seph finds herself in the doghouse about some things she's written. Then her werewolf friend Lorrie is murdered...and the high priestess of an important coven offers Seph big money to destroy the killer, a powerful vampire named Goliath Kline. Seph is a tough girl, but this time she bites off more than she can chew. She needs a little help from her friends -- werewolf friends. One of those friends, Johnny, the motorcycle-riding lead singer for the techno-metal-Goth band Lycanthropia, has a crush on her. And while Seph has always been on edge around this 6'2" leather-clad hunk, she's starting to realize that although their attraction may be dangerous, nothing could be as lethal as the showdown that awaits them.

I want to read Hallowed Circle!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Totally random thought but am i the only one who loves to find the book title while reading a book? Alright that could have come out better. Hum you know, like i was reading Skin Game and nearing the end one of the characters said:

Welcome to the real world, babe. It’s not all skin games and winning bets

See what i mean? More that often you can find the title in the book and i always find it very amusing. I know I'm easily amused,am i not? *sigh*

 

I guess that’s all for today, Have a great week you guys.

Review: COMING UNDONE by Lauren Dane

*Squeeeee* This is the sound you get if you leave me near this book!

First of all i want to thank Lauren Dane for offering me a Digital Arc of  Coming Undone, i was super SUPER excited about this book (yes that much) and was actually bouncing on my bed when i received the email. I read it in 2 days, which is amazingly fast since i was supposed to work on my assignments this weekend ;) I have my priorities as you can see (and I'll be paying the price soon enough Muahahah, but definitely worth it).

I know I've already posted the book synopsis in my last post but it can’t hurt to post it again. ;)

KEEPING IT TOGETHER

Brody Brown has always been responsible for others. After his parents’ death, he gave up a promising artistic career to care for his younger brother and sister. Now, with his siblings grown, Brody owns his own business, has a nice house, makes a nice living, and for the first time in years he’s on his own.

Elise Sorenson has come to Seattle with her young daughter to find peace. After years as a world-famous ballerina—(and just as many years in a marriage-gone-bad)—she’s looking for neither love nor attention. But she finds both in the handsome, honest man who befriends her with no strings attached.

More than friends, Brody and Elise discover in each other what they need—wild, physical passion without commitment. But it’ll take a shadow from Elise’s past to make them look beyond what they need—to what they truly desire.

My two-cents:

Reasons to love this book:

• 
  
  Our Beloved Characters:  I read and loved Laid bare, and COMING UNDONE is focusing on Brody who is Erin’s brother from Laid Bare…that means that we get to meet again all the characters we came to love.  I’m always torn when there is to be another book with a different POV, when you’ve  loved a character and got your HEA you want it to stay that way. And reading a book where you know you’ll see them through someone else’s eyes is scary, it can ruin a character for you…well it can for me. This is not the case here, i was SO happy to see Erin, Ben, Todd and Adrian again it was a pleasure to see what happened to them after the end of Laid Bare. (And there was an ‘extra pleasure’ but it get its own point a bit later in my review ;) ) If you haven’t read Laid Bare get out of here!….errr no i mean it’s not a problem it can be read as a stand-alone (but who would want that?!)
  
  
  
• 
  
  Brody: That character alone would be reason enough to read this book. Sexy, sweet, funny, Big Tattooed Brody…Hot indeed, Brody is teh smex on a stick seriously…well It might help that i love tattoos and muscles lol (this is hardly ever a bad combination) . Brody is the neighbor every woman dreams to have. I just love how responsible he is and he’s always been there for his family and those he loves in general. And what a lover! Oh yes ladies that man knows what he’s doing…
  
  
  
• 
  
  A strong heroine: Elise is a very loveable character, i loved how dedicated she was to her daughter. She’s suffered a lot but she’s strong and doesn’t need someone to save her. Elise is haunted by the traumatic events from her past. I was a bit annoyed at the fact that she wanted to ‘survive’ by herself and did not want to burden the people around her, which made her very stubborn sometimes…but she cannot  bear to be controlled again, which i understand. (I know I'm contradicting myself  here, but you know sometimes you have to learn to lean on someone else).
  
  
  
• 
  
   Family: This book is filled with great characters and one of them is Rennie (aka Irene). Elise’s daughter is an amazing child. I was afraid when i read that the heroine already had a child…Children in romances, particularly when from a previous marriage, are often a baggage, a burden…not here…Rennie is as much the heroine as Elise. The relationship between Brody and the child was so sweet my cheeks ached from smiling.  Also family is important for all the characters, Brody’s relationship with his siblings is fantastic, I'm an only child and i would have loved to have this kind of relationship with siblings.
  
  
  
• 
  
  The Smex: I left the best for the end, the smex! I have to say the smex is sizzling between Elise and Brody, Holy Cow i had to sit on ice to cool down a bit!  Don’t you forget that our heroine is a Ballerina….how flexible is she? lol well you’ll have to read it to know the answer ;)
  
  
  
• 
  
  The BONUS Smex: Lauren Dane is getting cookie points for chapter 16….Oh my, chapter 16! I won’t tell you what this one is about I'll just quote you the beginning of the scene:
  

  ‘She unlocked her front door and put her coat in the closet and
  her bag on the table. Moments later she heard the groan and she ran
  hot, knowing just exactly what that sound meant. She undressed
  quickly and quietly, then headed up to the master bedroom and
  stopped at the entrance.’
  

  That’s when things get real hot i tell you! I think I've read this chapter 4 times already. You can’t blame the girl! (Dirty minded much? oh yes!)  Warning you might burst into flames while reading this chapter. You might want to leave a fire-extinguisher near just in case.
  
  
  

What didn’t really work for me:

• 
  
  A sense of Déjà-vu: The story is a bit too similar to the one in Laid Bare, the heroine is going through nearly the same thing : her past haunting her and coming back to bite her in the ass/trial/resolution. Don’t get me wrong it works perfectly for the story and i enjoyed every moment of it but i did get a sense of déjà-vu sometimes. (well i had to find something negative to say, hadn’t i?)
  
  
  

Now that we got the story for Erin and Brody i can only hope we’ll get Adrian’s book?(last of the siblings)  Well a girl can hope, can’t she? Adrian is verra drool-worthy , and a Rock Star is bound to have lived a few smexy things of his own ;)  There are so many amazing characters is this ‘series’ that I'm sad to part with them. I felt a bit  sorry for Raven and i was hoping to see her get some kind of HEA too.

I’ll be pre-ordering COMING UNDONE soon because this book is definitely  going on my keeper-shelf as soon as it’s released. COMING UNDONE doesn’t disappoint, both Hot and Sweet you won’t be able to stop once started. I will be rereading it  that’s for sure. Thank you Lauren Dane for delivering once again an amazing book.

COMING UNDONE is coming out January 5th

When Books Help you Save on Heating bills

Friday Night, how i love thee! Another week has come and gone, and it will be Monday morning all too soon, so let’s make the most of it now ;)

Only a few months ago was i still a Romance Virgin but now i can see how Romance books took control of my TBR-list. I still love reading Urban fantasy, Fantasy and so on…but i think i needed a change. As i already mentioned before a lot of series i am reading are getting very dark and depressing…and right now I need a bit of hope, a bit of love…i want to feel good if it’s not asking too much, if i wanted depressing I'd only need to look around me. So i started reading Romance books a few months ago and now I’m trying every flavor of Romance available, even those i thought I'd never read (yes, yes the very naughty kinds lol). Oh my, I've been corrupted ;)  I’m blabbing again i know but it’s Friday night and i just come out from a 7 hours class of economics so bear with me please.

Now i found the best solution to save on your Winter Heating Bills, you just need to read Lauren Dane’s books! Seriously I've never felt this Hot while reading a book lol.  Not long ago i read a review from Susi at The Geeky Bookworm and i was convinced i had to read Laid Bare by Lauren Dane (Susi’s Review). This book just slapped me silly, i fell in love with the characters (all of them!) and i wanted to reread it as soon as i finished it. It did kill it for any other book that i read afterwards. In case you don’t already know Laid Bare is a Contemporary Erotic Romance (Warning: This book contains adult content:  BDSM, Menage, Hot Smex…)

 Unexpected Desire…

It’s been ten years since clean-cut, sexy-as-hell police officer Todd Keenan had a white-hot fling with Erin Brown, the provocative, wild rocker chick next door. Their power exchange in the bedroom got under his skin. But love wasn’t in the cards just yet…

Now, life has thrown the pair back together. But picking up where they left off is tough, in light of a painful event from Erin’s past. As Todd struggles to earn her trust, their relationship takes an unexpected and exciting turn when Todd’s best friend, Ben, ends up in their bed—and all three are quite satisfied in this relationship without a name. As the passion they share transforms Erin, will it be enough to help her face the evil she thought she had left behind?

So why i am talking about this book now? well first because if you haven’t read it yet, you’re missing something! And also because on January 5th, Coming Undone is being released.  YAY This book will have Brody, Erin’s Brother as main character. You can’t imagine how excited i am, seriously.

KEEPING IT TOGETHER

Brody Brown has always been responsible for others. After his parents’ death, he gave up a promising artistic career to care for his younger brother and sister. Now, with his siblings grown, Brody owns his own business, has a nice house, makes a nice living, and for the first time in years he’s on his own.

Elise Sorenson has come to Seattle with her young daughter to find peace. After years as a world-famous ballerina—(and just as many years in a marriage-gone-bad)—she’s looking for neither love nor attention. But she finds both in the handsome, honest man who befriends her with no strings attached.

More than friends, Brody and Elise discover in each other what they need—wild, physical passion without commitment. But it’ll take a shadow from Elise’s past to make them look beyond what they need—to what they truly desire.

I have to say that i love the covers for both books, the tattoos are really gorgeous. *sigh* I’m waiting for this book to come out impatiently. I haven’t read any other book from Lauren Dane yet but I don’t know which one to start with. I’ve set my eyes on Trinity but it doesn’t come out until August 2010 Why, oh why must Fate be so cruel?

If you want to know more about Lauren Dane check out her Website

Houston, We’ve got a Winner!

Thank you guys for all the Cheering-up book recommendations. I already have a few of these but there are a lot i need to check out. I’ve listed them all so that you can also pick from that list if you find yourself in need of cheering ;)

The Cheering-Up Recommendation List:

• Dakota Cassidy
• Gena Showalter : Playing With Fire
• Victoria Dahl: Start me up – Talk me Down
• Michelle Rowen: Bitten & Smitten
• Walter Moers
• Dr. Seuss: Green Eggs and Ham
• Erin McCarthy: Flat-Out Sexy
• Sophie Renwick: Hot in Here
• Bella Andre: Take Me
• Jasmine Haynes: The Fortune Hunter
• Christie Craig
• Josh Lanyon:  Adrien English novel: Fatal Shadow
• Julie James: Just The Sexist Man Alive
• Sophie Renwick: Hot In Here
• Carol Henry: Amazon Connection
• Richelle Mead: Vampire Academy series - The Georgina Kincaid series
• Gwyn Cready: Seducing Mr. Darcy
• Rachel Vincent: Shift series
• Julie Garwood: Highlanders - The Bride, The Secret, Ransom, and Shadow Music
• Kim Harrison: Hollow series
• Helen Fielding: Bridget Jones Diary
• Trudi Canavan: Any trilogy / Age of the Five trilogy
• Karen M. Moning: The Fever series – Highlander series
• Jane Austen: Emma
• Dorothy Cannell: Ellie Haskell series
• Sarah Rees Brennan: Short story in The Eternal Kiss anthology
• Julia Quinn: What Happens in London
• Katie MacAlister: Dark Ones Series
• Kandy Shepherd: Love is a Four-legged Word
• Julia Quinn: Bridgerton series
• Kelley Armstrong
• Nora Roberts: Montana Sky
• Stephanie Plum
• Jim Butcher: Dresden Files
• Patricia Briggs: Mercy Thompson series
• Casey Daniels: The Pepper Martin Dead books
• MaryJanice Davidson: Queen Betsy series
• Michelle Bardsley
• Josie Lloyd and Emlyn: Come together
• Christopher Moore:  Any / Lamb
• Dawna Markova: I Will Not Die An Unlived Life
• Sark
• Barbara Johnson
• Lois Lowry: The Giver
• Brandon Mull: Fablehaven series
• Lynsay Sands

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now the result of the contest:

There were 34 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. donnas
2. Smokinhotbooks
3. Janicu
4. gapyeargirl123
5. Wendy
6. Alicia0605
7. Rosie
8. Ladybug
9. Mel
10. Abigail
11. Cecile
12. Alexia561
13. Mandy (bratdownstairs)
14. Shawna LewisAmy1225
15. throuthehaze
16. E.J.Stevens
17. Sweet Vernal Zephyr
18. SusiSunshine
19. Mandi (Smexy)
20. Selene
21. elnice
22. booklover0226
23. Roxanne Rhoads
24. Heather
25. VampFanGirl
26. Blodeuedd
27. Josef13
28. cfisher1504
29. Marissa
30. Tynga
31. Alterlisa
32. Sara M
33. *ina*
34. Amy1225

Timestamp: 2009-11-01 09:51:07 UTC

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Research Randomizer Results

1 Set of 1 Unique Numbers Per Set
Range: From 1 to 34 -- Unsorted

Job Status:

Set #1:

19

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#19…is Mandy from Smexy Books

Congratulations Mandy, I'll get in touch with you =)

Have a Great Weekend *waves*

Happy Halloween! Alert Giveaway BONANZA

 

Happy Halloween you guys! We don’t really celebrate in France as i already mentioned but i feel like i did celebrate with you all.  Thank you for that =)

My Cheering-up Contest is ending tonight don’t forget to enter for a chance to win Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs or Nice Girls Don’t Date Dead Men by Molly Harper

There is ONE contest you don’t want to miss and it’s taking place at Book Chick City … All Hallow’s Eve: Giveaway BONANZA & Extra Secret Prize!

You can choose 1 of the 3 bundles to win:

Bundle 1

• Laurell K. Hamilton The Laughing Corpse
• Kelley Armstrong The Summoning
• J.R. Ward Lover Enshrined
• Alexandra Sokoloff The Harrowing
• Christine Feehan Murder Game
• Mike Carey The Devil You Know
• Keri Arthur Penumbra

Bundle 2

• Catherine Jinks The Reformed Vampire support group
• Conrad Williams The Scalding rooms
• Christine Feehan Fever
• Patricia Briggs Cry Wolf
• Anthology Blood Lite
• Jeaniene Frost Destined for an early Grave
• Christopher Pike Thirst

Bundle 3

• Kelley Armstrong Frosbitten
• Lili St Crow Strange Angels
• Alexandra Sokoloff The Harrowing
• Shaun Hutson Body Count
• J.R. Ward Loer Enshrined
• Patricia Briggs Hunting Ground
• Jenna Black Speak of the Devil

PLUS there’s a secret giveaway! This is open WORLDWIDE and ends at 12pm GMT tomorrow

So what are you waiting for ?   Book Chick City

Dear Santa, I’ve been a Naughty Girl…can i have a Naughty Boy?

My mom (Aka my  Personal Santa Clause) asked me what i wanted for Christmas and for my Birthday (both in December *wink* *wink*) ...actually she asked me to write her a list of things I'd like.  Yes that is tradition, every year in December i turn into a 3 years old high on Candy…She even gives me hints about my presents lol. I already wrote my letter to the Real Santa but i haven’t received an answer yet, hope there wasn’t a Postal Strike in the North Pole…

Dear Santa,

As you know i have been a very naughty girl this year,  i think i deserve to be punished… I’ve come up with the best present you could leave under my Christmas Tree so that i learn my lesson :

-  A Hot Half-Naked Male Maid (just try to say that fast i dare you)…the punishment being the HALF-naked part. (Too late Susi this one’s for me!) No matter how much i ask i never get that on Christmas, What is wrong with you Santa? Can’t you just please the girl for once?

PS: Would you fail to deliver I'll kill your reindeers eat your cookies and drink your milk!

Anyway, I've been trying to come up with ideas but i always come back to ‘books or Amazon Gift cards’ but i have to find ‘REAL PRESENTS’  (note the use of air quotes on this one). Failing to get books my natural choice would be DVDs (yes i praise myself for being original).

I love Jane Austen’s books, and the TV/movie adaptations and i love Period Drama, period. The BBC is making the best mini-series ever…Have you seen the latest Emma adaptation? You’re missing something i tell you. This is a 4 parts mini-series, and i finished watching the last part yesterday and I'm already adding the DVDs to my Xmas-list. I’ve see the two 1995 adaptations of Emma with Kate Beckinsale and Gwyneth Palthrow…and while i enjoyed them both this new version of Emma brings something different to the novel.  Look at the cast, that is all I'm saying:

 

(In order : Emma, Mr Knightley, Mr. Elton, Emma’s Father and Frank Churchill)

I’m also missing North And South (i know shame on me) so this is also going on my Xmas-list. Because let’s admit it, this mini-series is amazing! So you guys i need a little help here…What are the MUST-HAVE in Period Drama?  Maybe the 2007 Jane Eyre?

Alright I'm going back to hunting presents for my list (i know such a hardship ;) )

It’s Cheering-up Time: Let’s say no to Winter…CONTEST

It’s time to pimp out some cheering-up books! ‘Winter is Coming’ (as G.R.R.Martin keeps telling us) well at least in the North Hemisphere it is and as always this means people are getting depressed. I see it every day around me, i feel it too…it’s this time of the year where you realize that Summer is really gone (It’s freaking freezing in France) and it’s still not time to put Christmas decorations on…so what’s in between? well people in the US have Halloween, at least that’s something to look forward to, but here in France we don’t celebrate Halloween so it’s pretty much the most depressing time of the year (that and January! Come on…January sucks you know it’s true).  I can’t believe i have to wear 4 layers of clothing to stay warm in the classroom…(at least it’s a good excuse ‘oh no, no i haven’t put on weight…it’s all the clothing you know! lol right)

So the idea is to talk about books that really cheered you up when you were down, or books that made you laugh so much people thought you were a complete nut-job.

My Cheering-up Series (yes series work too) is the Jane Jameson series or as i call it the ‘Nice Girls Don’t…’ series by Molly Harper.  I read the first book at a time when i was feeling down and it helped me put a smile back on my face, more than that it made me laugh where nothing else seemed to work.

Cover blurb: (book #1)

Maybe it was the Shenanigans gift certificate that put her over the edge. When children’s librarian and self-professed nice girl Jane Jameson is fired by her beastly boss and handed $25 in potato skins instead of a severance check, she goes on a bender that’s sure to become Half-Moon Hollow legend.  On her way home, she’s mistaken for a deer, shot and left for dead.  And thanks to the mysterious stranger she met while chugging neon-colored cocktails, she wakes up with a decidedly unladylike thirst for blood. 
Jane is now the latest recipient of a gift basket from the Newly Undead Welcoming Committee, and her life-after-lifestyle is taking some getting used to. Her recently deceased favorite aunt is now her ghostly roommate.  She has to fake breathing and daytime hours to avoid coming out of the coffin to her family.  She’s forced to forego her favorite down-home Southern cooking for bags of O negative.  Her relationship with her sexy, mercurial vampire sire keeps running hot and cold.  And if all that wasn’t enough, it looks like someone in Half Moon Hollow is trying to frame her for a series of vampire murders. What’s a nice undead girl to do?

You can read a review there:

• 
  
  Royal Reviews
  
  
  

 Cover Blurb :( book #2)

Life as the undead is finally settling down for Jane Jameson. Her somewhat unhealthy relationship with her sire, Gabriel Nightengale, is slowly coming into focus.  She loves her new job at Specialty Books. Her family, well, her father, is adjusting well to her condition. Her mother believes that if Jane would just try hard enough, she wouldn’t have to be a vampire anymore.
With Zeb's Titanic-themed nuptials looming on the horizon, Jane is forced to wear a bridesmaid’s dress her body may reject like a faulty organ. And Zeb’s mother seems hell-bent on stopping the wedding if she can’t have Jane for a daughter-in-law. In other matrimonial shenanigans, the passing of Grandma Ruthie’s fiancé, Bob, puts her back on the market. Ruthie’s new fiancé, Wilbur, smells like old cheese, has his own sordid history of suspiciously dead spouses, and died more than 20 years ago. With daytime funerals, mother-of-the-groom hijinks, and Styrofoam icebergs to contend with, will Jane survive her best friend’s wedding?  Will she have to make nice with her possibly murderous, definitely creepy, future step-grandpa? What’s a nice undead girl to do?

And i’m going to add Book 3 in this post too because it’s coming up on December 31st 2009 and i just can’t wait to read it

Cover blurb :(book #3)

Nothing sucks the romance out of world travel like a boyfriend who may or may not have broken up with you in a hotel room in Brussels. Jane Jameson’s sexy sire Gabriel has always been unpredictable, but the seductive, anonymous notes that await him at each stop of their international vacation, coupled with his evasive behavior over the past few months, finally push Jane onto the next flight home to Half Moon Hollow—alone, upset, and unsure whether Gabriel just ended their relationship without actually telling her.
Now the children’s-librarian-turned-vampire is reviving with plenty of Faux Type O, some TLC from her colorful friends and family, and her plans for a Brave New Jane. Step One: Get her newly-renovated occult bookstore off the ground. Step Two: Support her best friend, Zeb, and his werewolf bride as they prepare for the impending birth of their baby . . . or litter. Step Three: Figure out who’s been sending her threatening letters, and how her hostile pen pal is tied to Gabriel. Because for this nice girl, surviving a broken heart is suddenly becoming a matter of life and undeath….

I talk a lot about this series because i loved it to pieces!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So now it’s time for a Cheering-up Contest:

The Prize: A copy of  Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs or Nice Girls Don’t Date Dead Men, your choice.

All you have to do is leave a comment telling me what is your favorite Cheering-up Book…what book would you recommend? Give me your best!

If you could leave me a way to contact you that would be perfect (or at least come claim your prize! You’ll have 5 days to come and claim it then i’ll draw another winner)

I will use a randomizer to choose the winner

The contest will end on Saturday October 31st 2009 at 11:59pm (anywhere)

I'll (probably) post the winners on Sunday.

The contest is open Worldwide if The Book Depository or Amazon can ship to your country you're eligible (that should cover about 99% of the population i guess)

Have a great week!

When books Secretly Make out Behind your Back

Today I think it’s time we talk about a serious topic: Are your books cheating on you? Yeah i thought so, you think I'm crazy… it’s ok i have proof (that I'm crazy). I have a passionate relationship with my book…an EXCLUSIVE relationship as far as they’re concerned lol. They are MINE and I'm not sharing them. But I'm pretty sure they’re waiting until i turn my back to cheat on me and yesterday i got proof of that :

I  went to check if i had mail in my Mailbox (so far nothing strange, expect the fact that i was still wearing my ugly PJs and crazy-sleep head to check on my mail…) and what did i find? An Orgy…you heard that right! Would you look at that and tell me there’s nothing suspect with these  4 half naked people  i caught red-handed in my mailbox  (hum that does sound weird said like that lol)

(Orgy) In My Mailbox

Look at the Hotties !

• Flat out Sexy by Erin McCarthy
• Hard ad Fast by Erin McCarthy
• Shadowfae by Erica Hayes
• Sweet Surrender by Maya Banks (Thank you Breia! )

I already started reading Shadowfae and it reminds me  of Richelle Mead’s Succubus series…which is good since i loved that series. It reminds me of  it but it’s still different enough that i don’t feel like i’m reading the same thing again. So far I'm enjoying what I'm reading.

I finished reading On the Edge and i have to say….WOW….why am i not surprised Ilona Andrews is once again delivering!  I am really looking forward William’s story =) You can read some great reviews of On The Edge  in here:

• Mandy’s Smexy Books blog
• Janicu’s Book Blog
• Book Love Affair
• Literary Escapism

That’s it for today, did you get any Book Orgy this week?

The Hollow by Jessica Verday

Book Blurb:

“When Abbey's best friend, Kristen, vanishes at the bridge near Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, everyone else is all too quick to accept that Kristen is dead and rumors fly that her death was no accident. Abbey goes through the motions of mourning her best friend, but privately, she refuses to believe that Kristen is really gone. Then she meets Caspian, the gorgeous and mysterious boy who shows up out of nowhere at Kristen's funeral, and keeps reappearing in Abbey's life. Caspian clearly has secrets of his own, but he's the only person who makes Abbey feel normal again...but also special.

Just when Abbey starts to feel that she might survive all this, she learns a secret that makes her question everything she thought she knew about her best friend. How could Kristen have kept silent about so much? And could this secret have led to her death? As Abbey struggles to understand Kristen's betrayal, she uncovers a frightening truth that nearly unravels her -- one that will challenge her emerging love for Caspian, as well as her own sanity.”

Book Info:
Title: The Hollow
Author: Jessica Verday
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release date: September 1st 2009
513 pages

This is the 1st book in a  Young Adult Trilogy.

My Thoughts: 

It took me a month to read this book. Don’t get me wrong it was not because i didn’t like reading it (on the contrary), but because it took me a while to stop crying while reading it. Remember that I always avoid reading books that would make me cry. People who read or will read this book will see this and go ‘huh? Did she read the same book as i did?’. You probably wouldn’t have cried.

This is a slow-paced book, i liked the fact that i could read only 1 chapter a day (i often cheated and read more but Shhhh!) I’m used to page-turners that never let you catch your breath, and sometimes i don’t start reading those because i know it’ll be hard to stop and go to bed. But The Hollow is a Beautiful Tale and you can take your time to enjoy it. It felt  like i was reading Abbey’s Diary, even with the 3rd person narration. We follow Abbey during something like a 8 to 10 months period and sometimes a month would have come by between 2 chapters.

This is the story of Abbey, at the beginning of the book she has to deal with the funerals of her best friend, Kristen who disappeared a few months ago and who is now believed dead, drawn in the river. It was sad but that’s not what made me cry. She doesn’t want to believe her friend is dead because there is no body to bury. Abbey meet Caspian at the funeral and she’s drawn to him, they become friends and he helps her through her mourning. The friendship will soon develop into love, but we’re not there yet.

Here is why i cried like a little girl for hours…Throughout the book Abbey has to go through the mourning of her best friend and it’s the small things that touched me the most. Abbey tries to go on with her life but sometimes she recalls what she used to do with her best friend and that she is now doing alone…like going to Prom, choosing a dress. Reading the Prom Night scene i thought I'd never be able to finish reading it without crying and getting panic attacks. I have been moved by this book and since it’s no small task, i can say that i can’t wait to read the next books in this trilogy.

This is where I'm going to go all ‘pity party’ on my life…you’ve been warned : I cried because i went through the same thing with my Best Friend (Who’s NOT dead *knocks on wood*), i had the same relationship Abbey had with her BF, we were 24/7 together or on the phone together, planning our future vacations,sharing the same interests, i could really identify with Abbey…well you get the idea.  An then my BF moved to live in the US for a year…then a year and a half…then she found the perfect man and married him and is now living with him in the US (and I’m very happy for her!! ‘Love ya’ Chicken’). See, this is where i went a little crazy, i went from having ONE best friend sharing everything with me, to being completely alone (not completely true, i had other good friends but couldn’t relate anymore with them), she’s still my best friend but distance and time zone difference is not helping. I went through the same mourning phase where i would cry over all the things i did with her and now had to do by myself and all the things I'd never do without her (and I'm not even talking about the week i spent crying when i learned she was getting married and would not come back…Ugh I've been such a crappy friend). It took me nearly 2 years (and lots of tears) but now i think i accepted the fact that i would have to get a life of my own. lol

Crying time over…: So now that you got why i had a hard time reading it i can resume telling you about more about the book (and Don’t You digress again Young Lady!!)  So when i got my courage back i resume reading and soon the story began to shift to something else. Abbey learns some distressing secret Kristen was keeping from her and she decides that she want to know what really happened to her bf and why she had gone to the river alone at night the night she died. I soon had a hard time keeping up with my 1 chapter a day policy, i wanted to know more NOW!  Some strange things happens and the mysterious Caspian began acting very well…strangely (lol sorry i lack vocabulary today…*cough*as always*cough*). I’m not going to reveal anything spoilery but i can say that the story took a ‘paranormal turn’ during the last 10 chapters, and i realize that the whole book had been preparing us for that, i didn’t even think it strange lol. I knew that since this book was part of  trilogy i wouldn’t get all the answer at the end of the book…and i was right. The last chapter leaves us on a cliffhanger,alright not a ‘i-want-to-kill-the-author-for-doing-that-to-us’  kind of cliffhanger (those who’ve read Rachel Caine’s Morganville Vampires series will understand), but a cliffhanger none the less. The Hollow has some kind of ending though, and we finish the book on the  same memory we started the book with. I can’t wait to read book 2 (coming out Fall 2010)

This is what YA books should look like! It’s a beautiful story, and it really is Haunting. I got to love the characters. Abbey is very mature for her age (she’s 16)  but she does think like a teenage girl when it come to boys ;) The characters where realistic and that makes it easier to get into the story…I'm not a teenager anymore but i could still relate with Abbey. Alright that was my Two-cents on The Hollow

Book Two: Fall 2010
Book Three: Fall 2011
Jessica Verday’s Website