Tag: book reviews

What’s On My (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand? AKA The Sunday Post 5-27-12

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand

It’s Memorial Day Weekend in the U.S. And Monday it is Whit Monday for some of my European friends at Book Lovers Inc., so it’s a three-day weekend for a lot of people.

So there will be lots of reading going on this weekend. At least at my house.

There will also be a lot of playing of Diablo III. Like last night until 2 in the morning. Galen and I both love a good dungeon crawl now and again, with serious hacking and slashing for flavor. And that pretty much describes every Diablo game. I play the barbarian, and he, as he so eloquently described it, plays the “squishy wizard”.

But this is the Sunday Post, so that I can describe what will happen at Reading Reality once the weekend is over. (Tuesday is Monday this week!) Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer is the host of the Sunday Post.

I use the Virtual Nightstand as a way of peeking into next week to see what I should be reading, so my next week’s schedule doesn’t pop up and shout, “Surprise!” this time next week. It also gives me a chance to talk about upcoming books that I thought were neat or cool enough to grab from NetGalley or Edelweiss.

Coming up this week…

Monday, May 28 is Memorial Day. Normally, there would be an Ebook Review Central on Monday, but ERC is taking Memorial Day off. It will return on June 4, with the Samhain April 2012 wrap-up.

On Tuesday, I’ll be hosting a guest post from author K. Reed about her post-apocalyptic Regency romance, Dark Inheritance, Fallen Empire, as well as a review of the book. I’m fascinated, because I never thought that those two tropes could manage to co-exist, the manners of the Regency and the chaos of a post-apocalypse. This should be awesome.

Thursday is another big day, with the cover reveal of Stacey Kennedy’s new Frostbite book,  Mystically Bound (after Supernaturally Kissed and Demonically Tempted) and an interview with Tiffany Allee about her latest book, Succubus Lost.

Then there’s the books I’ll be reading for next week. Also one that got itself moved to this week. A book blogger’s work is never done. But it’s so much fun!

My editor at Library Journal asked me to review the Carina Press Presents: Editor’s Choice Volume 1 with a May 30 deadline. She usually only gives me about a week to review a book. Lucky for me, the books she sends are generally very good, and are often books I’ve already picked up from NetGalley, like this one.

This Editor’s Choice volume is really three novellas in one, and the novellas are also available separately. So it’s Kilts & Kraken by Cindy Spencer Pape (finally something in her  Gaslight Chronicles), Slow Summer Kisses by Shannon Stacey (not Kowalski, but still contemporary) and Negotiating Point by Adrienne Giordano, the latest in her Private Protectors series. I forced myself to read some of the Giordano series to figure out what was going on there, and it was so hard (I’m joking, I’m really joking. They’re good.)

And the darn thing has a June 4 publication date, so I was going to be reading it anyway! Along with the Editor’s Choice Volume 2, which contains No Money Down by Julie Moffett, Dead Calm by Shirley Wells, Dance of Flames by Janni Nell and Pyro Canyon by Robert Appleton. I’m most interested in Robert Appleton’s Pyro Canyon, it’s space opera.

I have a tour book for Book Lovers Inc., Deadly Secrets, Loving Lies, by Cynthia Cooke. Reading Reality participated in the Cover Reveal on Mothers’ Day, so when the book came up for a tour at BLI, I was curious. It looks like an interesting and short romantic suspense story.

There will be a Goddess Fish tour at Reading Reality for Drowning Mermaids by Nadia Scrieva. This is paranormal romance, with, of course, mermaids. There aren’t a lot of stories using mermaids as the heroines, so my curiosity bump itched.

I’ll confess, I do have a problem picking more books than I have time for. I like having choices. And so I have too many choices.

Next week, the following books are being released, and I have review copies that I really want to get a chance to read.

The two highest on the hit parade are both science fiction. Worldsoul (see On My Wishlist #1 for description) by Liz Williams and The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett. These are two authors that I simply read everything.

This is also a week for books in pairs. Lady Amelia’s Mess and a Half by Samantha Grace and The Most Improper Miss Sophie Valentine by Jayne Fresina have the same feel to them, at least by title. But Regency romps can be heaps of fun. Maybe not back-to-back.

I’m so glad it’s a long weekend! What about you? What’s you Sunday up to this week?

Stacking the Shelves #1

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Stacking the Shelves

This is my first Stacking the Shelves Post. Stacking the Shelves is a new meme at Tynga’s Reviews, one that has sprung up in the wake of mess over at The Story Siren. (We’ve beaten that horse enough. It’s dead.)

Tynga’s official launch post for Stacking the Shelves is here if you want the details on who/what/when/where/why she decided to start up a new place where we can post what books we’ve added to our towering TBR stacks each week.

This is also my first time playing with a new graphics program (Gimp). So instead of individual cover pictures, one giant cover picture. (I can’t photograph the actual stack o’books, mine are usually ebooks)

From Library Journal for review:
The Mongoliad, Book one by Erik Bear, Greg Bear, Joseph Brassey, E.D. deBirmingham, Cooper Moo, Mark Teppo, Neal Stephenson (print ARC)

From NetGalley:
Dragon Age Volume 1: The Silent Grove by David Gaider, Alexander Freed and Chad Hardin
Artemis Fowl 5&6: The Lost Colony and The Time Paradox by Eoin Coifer

From Edelweiss:
Fanpire by Tanya Erzen

From Samhain Publishing for review:
Degrees of Wrong by Anna Scarlett
Seven Sexy Sins by Serenity Woods
An Introduction to Pleasure by Jess Michaels

From the author (in response to On My Wishlist #7 Thank you Mr. Tuck!!!):
Blood and Bullets by James R. Tuck
That Thing at the Zoo by James R. Tuck

From Sizzling PR:
Reluctant Protector by Nana Malone

Purchased from Amazon:
Automaton by Cheryl Davies (Verity Linden at Curiosity Quills talked me into this one, and it isn’t even one of their books. But it’s SFR so it didn’t take much talking)

What’s stacking your shelves, virtual or otherwise, this week?

What’s On My (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand? 4-29-12

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Virtual Nightstand

Before I tackle the books in, on, and around my more or less virtual nightstand, I want to take just a minute to acknowledge the origins of this regular Sunday meme-o-mine.

By this time, those of you who are regularly follow book blogging have read about the drama regarding The Story Siren and her plagiarism of several posts on “How to Blog” from Beautifully Invisible and Grit And Glamour. The details are summarized by a number of bloggers, including my friend Has over at Book Lovers Inc.

I won’t be participating in In My Mailbox, and I’ve unsubscribed from anything I subscribed to at The Story Siren. That includes email, twitter, RSS, you name it. But that’s yesterday’s news.

I’ve seen a couple of new memes crop up to take the place of IMM. That’s terrific! Tynga’s Reviews has started Stacking My Shelves, and Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer‘s Sunday Post starts today, since it’s Sunday. There’s Mailbox Monday, which is fascinating because it’s nomadic. A different blog hosts it every month.

I usually tried to post my IMM on Saturday, so I’m leaning towards Tynga’s meme, but, as Mary Engelbreit so poignantly drew, Everybody Needs their own Spot. I’m just glad the community has created alternatives so fast!

Back to my Mostly Virtual Nightstand. We’re all inspired by somebody. And so was I.

In October, 2011, after six months of blogging, I realized that one of the things I did over the weekend was figure out what reviews I really, truly had to post that week. And sometimes I surprised myself, even with a to-do list.

In my hunt for a meme so that I could write about what I was reading, I found What’s on My Nightstand at 5 Minutes for Books. It’s a great meme but for my purposes, it had one flaw. It’s monthly. I need WAY more organization than that.

But it gave me an idea. What if I did the same thing, only weekly? Since what’s really on my nightstand is usually an iPad full of ebooks, my nightstand is mostly virtual. And that’s how What’s on My Mostly Virtual Nightstand was born.

I laid out these gory details in the original Nightstand post, back on October 23, 2011. But in light of this week’s events, it seemed like a good time to repeat them, and give credit to my muse.

Now then, what’s actually ON that mostly virtual nightstand this week?

My editor at Library Journal sent me a book on Friday. Those are always out of the blue, but usually pretty good. So I have a review of An Heir of Deception by Beverley Kendall due on May 7. This looks yummy. Former rake forced to confront the woman who turned him seriously toward the bad side, and then ran away from him. And now that he’s back on the straight, narrow and responsible, she’s back. With secrets. Of course with secrets. Naughty Regencies can be so much fun. If you have an ereader, an earlier book in this series, All’s Fair in Love and Seduction, is currently free for both Kindle and Nook. (Yes, of course I did!)

On the Samhain Publishing list a month or so ago I picked up the entire Fringe series by Anitra Lynn McLeod to review. It’s science fiction romance, so of course I’m interested. Very interested. And I’ve seen some good reviews of the later books, but the earlier books just weren’t found. I’m always interested in doing my bit to promote SFR. Stripper, the 4th book in the series will be released May 8. I still need to read books 1, 2 and 3, Thief, Overlord and Runner.

But before I can get to my SFR, I have some more urgent commitments first.

Bronwen Evans, the author of Invitation to Scandal will be doing a guest post at Book Lovers Inc. on May 9. I have to get my review of her Regency ready to post before then. This looks like another darkly sensual Regency, with a Viscount chasing a smuggler to clear his father’s name. Smuggling and/or piracy usually make for delicious reads!

Meanwhile, back at Reading Reality, I have a couple of book tours scheduled next week that I also need to get reviews ready for!

I will be interviewing Lisa Kessler, author of Night Walker, here on Tuesday, May 7. Bewitching Book Tours is organizing this tour, and in addition to the interview, I’ll be reviewing Night Walker, the first book in her paranormal romance series, The Night.

Rounding out next week, on May 9, author Kay Dee Royal will be a guest at Reading Reality, also courtesy of Bewitching Book Tours. Kay Dee’s guest blog will be about her new shape-shifter/paranormal romance, Staring Into the Eyes of Chance, the first book in her Lycan International Investigation Agency Series. And of course, there will be a review of the book.

Well, that’s all this book blogger has time for in one week. I’ve never prayed for insomnia before, but I think I’d better start.

What’s on your nightstand this week?

 

Ebook Review Central, Samhain Publishing, March 2012

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | book reviews> Ebook Review Central> ebooks

Holy Moly but this list was positively ginormous!

I’m not even referring to the number of titles. Since they added the Retro and Horror lines, Samhain has always published about 25 titles, give or take, so Samhain’s March list isn’t exceptional. It just felt long.

Why?

The reviews, of course. There were a couple of books that didn’t find an audience. And a couple of the retro titles that didn’t get reviewed this time around.

Samhain has had some terrific success getting prequel and mid-series novellas from fairly big-name authors where the rest of the series is in print from a more, shall we say, traditional publisher. Those books rack up huge reviews, and I would suspect, big sales.

Natural Evil, by Thea Harrison, is book 4.5 in her very popular Elder Races series. Book 4, the recent Oracle’s Moon, was published by Berkley, a division of “Big 6” publisher Penguin. The ebook novellas, #3.5 True Colors and #4.5 Natural Evil, were published by Samhain. These always get double-digit review numbers in the first month, and more trickle in every month after release. Natural Evil was no exception.

What’s different this month is that there were a lot of titles that went into double-digit review numbers. And they weren’t even all series books. Well, some were the start of a series, but they weren’t books that had the built-in anticipation that book 2 or 3 or 6 in a series has.

Seven books had 10 or more reviews.  This is excellent! But it does make it a lot harder to pick three to feature.

The book that slides into the third feature place for Samhain this time around is The Runaway Countess by Leigh LaValle. Reviewers fell in love with this Regency romance by debut author LaValle. This is the story of a Robin Hood heroine (not hero) and the Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire (of course it’s in Nottingham) who saves her from the punishment she should suffer for being a thief. But she’s not as bad a thief as she’s accused of being. And he wants to do some really naughty things to our heroine, Mazie, who, like Robin Hood, is somewhat more than she appears to be on the surface. The reviewers didn’t just enjoy the story, they all expect great things from Ms. LaValle in the future.

Prowling into the second place in this week’s list is Hunter’s Prey by Moira Rogers. Fittingly enough, this is also book 2 in Rogers’ Bloodhounds series, after Wilder’s Mate and the mid-series teaser novella  Merrick’s Destiny (officially #1.5). The world of the Bloodhounds is an alternate history, steampunk post-Civil War U.S. in which vampires roam the Western night and their ghouls fulfill their orders during the day. The only creatures capable of fighting the vamps on their own terms are the Bloodhounds, formerly broken men turned into were-hellhounds by the mysterious Guild. Hunter’s Prey is the story of one such Bloodhound, and the woman brave enough to become his mate. With each book a little more of the overall tale of the Guild and everything else that is happening is being teased out as well. This series is awesome if you like steampunk, cowpunk (U.S. Western steampunk) vampires, shapeshifters or historic paranormal erotic romance.

The big book of the month for Samhain was Rocky Mountain Desire by Vivian Arend. This is number 3 in her Six Pack Ranch series, and whatever it is she did when she revised and expanded the Six Pack Ranch books from their original publication, it definitely works for readers and reviewers. The first two books in this series, Rocky Mountain Heat and Rocky Mountain Haven, were both featured titles on ERC, and there’s no reason to break the streak for book 3. Guilty Pleasures put Rocky Mountain Desire on their Crème de la Crème list because it’s good! The entire series is about a family of very handsome brothers in a small mountain town who, one after another, each find their perfect match. By book three, you have not just the romance, but family meddling and the fun of seeing how the couples from the first two stories are getting along. Done well, it’s a recipe for a terrific story. And Ms. Arend does it very well indeed.

Are you curious about which other titles had double-digit review numbers? Check out the complete Samhain list for March to see the answer. Wondering why the same book got a 5/5 from one reviewer and 3/5 from another? Read their reviews and see for yourself.

Ebook Review Central will be back next week with the four-in-one issue covering Amber Quill, Astraea Press, Liquid Silver and Riptide.

 

In My Mailbox #6

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | blog tours> book reviews> In My Mailbox

Books keep appearing in my mailbox. It’s magic!

Sometimes it’s really magic. One of my wishlist books was granted. Edelweiss presented me with a ebook ARC of Garment of Shadows by Laurie R. King. This is the next book in the Sherlock Holmes/Mary Russell series. I am ecstatic about this one. Now if only the magic would repeat and John Scalzi’s Redshirts would transport in…

 

My other arrivals this week:

From Sizzling PR for review:
The Risque Target by Kelly Gendron (ebook)

Book and Trailer Showcase for review and book tour:
Bad Girl Lessons by Seraphina Donavan (ebook)

From Bewitching Book Tours (you guessed it for review and book tour):
Night Walker by Lisa Kessler (ebook)

From the author:
The Whip by Karen Kondazian (print)
Under His Protection by Karen Erickson (ebook)

For Book Lovers Inc. for review:
Of Thieves and Elves by AP Stephens (ebook)

 

From NetGalley:
The Bewitching Tale of Stormy Gale by Christine Bell (ebook)
Untouched by Sara Humphreys (ebook)

From Edelweiss:
Garment of Shadows by Laurie R. King (ebook)
The Vampire Shrink by Lynda Hilburn (ebook)

Purchased from Amazon (what can I say, I couldn’t resist reading the rest!):
Fifty Shades Darker by E.L. James (ebook)
Fifty Shades Freed by E.L. James (ebook)

Help Wanted at Reading Reality

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | About> Associate Reviewers> Reading Reality

Reading Reality wants YOU!

To become an associate reviewer at Reading Reality.

It’s time! I need help. I’m looking for at least one, and maybe two or three people to become Associate Reviewers.

Please keep in mind, being a book reviewer is a labor of love. You’ll get a lot of interesting books to read, often before they’re available anywhere else and all you’ll spend is your time. Probably a lot of it. But you’ll only be paid in free books and sincere thanks, not in money.

Would you make a good Associate Reviewer? Do you:

  • love to read and talk about books
  • have an ereader or an ereader app
  • enjoy trying new authors and new genres
  • preferably not have a book review blog of your own
  • post your reviews on Amazon and Goodreads (or are you willing to)
  • have (or can you get) access to NetGalley and/or Edelweiss

If you’re interested, there are a few things to keep in mind before you apply

  1. You will have some responsibility for obtaining books to read and review. It is much easier to get eARCs than print ARCs.  You will also get books directly from authors and publicists, and I will refer some of the ones that come to me to my associate reviewer(s).
  2. The ability to meet deadlines is a must. We will need a lot of coordination to make sure we don’t review the same book and that there is something on the blog every day.
  3. You must be 18+. Reading Reality reviews everything from YA to erotica.

Anyone who is interested in helping with the compilation of Ebook Review Central, please let me know in your application. That thing is a bear.

If you would like to be an associate reviewer at Reading Reality, please fill out this form. I’d love to hear from you!

 

 

 

NetGalley April Read-A-Thon

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | NetGalley Month> NetGalley Review-a-Thon

It’s April, which means it’s time for the quarterly NetGalley catch-up month at Red House Books.

Emily has declared this month to be a Read-A-Thon, a chance to clear some of the backlog of NetGalley books and just plain maintenance tasks associated with reviewing.

Mmm. Well. Mmm. Marlene sticks her toe in the ground and looks down shame-facedly.

On the maintenance, I’m good. On the backlog, not so much.

I did finally take advantage of the “Kindle books don’t expire” option and mailed every possible NetGalley title to my Kindle app. Whether that will help or not, we’ll see. One thing I don’t see with that option is book covers. They are all “docs” and documents don’t have book covers. There is one word for them, and that word is “UGLY”.

Also very hard to tell apart.

I had a second reason for doing this. The Kindle app probably doesn’t get full. Bluefire, much as I love the app, does seem to have a limit. And I found it. Every time I need to add a book to it, I have to delete one.

Guess what? You can fill up an ebook reader, if you try really, really hard. Or at least, you can fill up an ebook app. (I’ve emailed Bluefire support and we’re in the middle of figuring this one out. It seems to have to do with expired books. Update: It turns out it definitely has to do with expired books. I have too many and there’s no easy way to get rid of them. Only very boring ways.)

In the meantime, I’ve got to take a look at my NetGalley queue. There’s plenty in there (shudder). I absolutely must post a couple of reviews this month for the Read-A-Thon.

After all, I can’t let the side down. I’m one of NetGalley’s Librarian Voices.

Ebook Review Central, Carina Press, March 2012

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Ebook Review Central> ebooks

Carina Press published a very interesting line-up of titles in March of 2012, and Ebook Review Central is here to take a look at the hits for the month.

Every four weeks, as the Carina Press issue rolls around, I continue to be amazed at the range of fiction that Carina publishes, and at how quickly the blogosophere produces reviews for their fiction. When ERC first began, October 24, 2011, with the Carina Press September 2011 titles, the one-month delay was built in to allow for titles published at the end of the month to get read and reviewed.

Even the titles Carina published March 26, barely two weeks ago, Alien Velocity by Robert Appleton, Gate to Kandrith by Nicole Luiken, Her Dark Protector by Carol Stephenson and A Kiss in the Wind by Jennifer Bray-Weber, all have reviews.  (I’m in the middle of Alien Velocity right now!)

Carina Press does an amazing job, month after month, of making sure their books get in the hands of reviewers. They also publish just plain good stories. Clearly a lot of readers think so.

About those stories…what were the highlights this month?

The Kowalskis pull the hat-trick for first place! Shannon Stacey’s Yours to Keep, the third book in her Kowalski Family series was the number one title this month. The completes the series, and makes the third month in a row Ms. Stacey’s Kowalski family member of the month has had the most and best reviews. This is the one I read first, and I enjoyed both the story and the family so much I had to read the first two books. It’s the story of a young woman who pretends she has a fake fiancé to keep her grandmother from worrying about her. But when her grandmother plans a visit, she needs a real-pretend fiancé to keep up that pretense. Then the fake turns real, and suddenly Emma Shaw and Sean Kowalski are playing for keeps.

Beauty in the Beast by Christine Danse is described as a dark fairy tale, or as a collection of dark fairy tales. The description reads like a cross between Beauty and the Beast and 1,001 Arabian Nights, with a little bit of steampunk and the alchemy of the Brothers Grimm thrown in for good measure. Because this version of the Beauty and the Beast story involves a group of travelling players who are lost at the “Beast’s” castle, and not just the titular “Beauty”, the reader gets several stories told by the players in addition to the romance. More than enough reviewers found this mix of shape-shifting with fairytale haunting enough to push this book into the number two slot.

Carina dedicated the week of March 19 to publishing male/male romance titles. All of the books published that week caught the attention of reviewers. and readers. Brook Street: Thief by Ava March is the start of a historical romance trilogy that did well with reviewers. But not quite as well as Moving in Rhythm by new author Dev Bentham. Lucky 13 reviews and all of them really terrific! Everyone loved this book. There was something about the idea of a gorgeously handsome but painfully shy hero that grabbed all the readers and wouldn’t let go of their heartstrings.

Moving in Rhythm may be a book about dancing lessons, but from the sound of it, the love story sings to every reader.

That’s our three hits for this week from Carina. Ebook Review Central will be back next week to feature the March titles from Dreamspinner Press.

 

 

What’s on my (mostly virtual) nightstand? 4-8-12

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Virtual Nightstand

Before I say anything about any books on the nightstand, virtual or otherwise, there’s something else sitting there that needs to be acknowledged.

I have a great big pile of virtual thank you notes. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who came to my Blogo-Birthday Giveaway April 4-5! It was great to see all of you at my party. I’m so happy that you came. Every single one of your comments and follows was a present. Thanks a bunch!

Since this was a hobbit birthday, I’m giving presents. The lucky winners of the ebook giveaways and the Amazon gift cards will get emails and be announced tomorrow, April 9.

Back to our regularly scheduled Mostly Virtual Nightstand…

Last winter (okay, it was winter everywhere else, the U.S. South doesn’t get much real winter) it seemed like everyone else was reading and raving about North of Need by Laura Kaye. I missed picking it up on NetGalley. I should have and just didn’t.

When Ms. Kaye was asking for bloggers to participate in her West of Want cover reveal and contest announcement, I jumped at the chance. It was my opportunity (read excuse) to finally read and review North of Need, and participate in a terrific event. April 10, Reading Reality will be one of the hosts for Laura’s contest announcement and excerpts of West of Want and I’ll post my review of North of Need.

This week is also the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster. Why is this relevant? I have a copy of Wreck of the Nebula Dream by Veronica Scott to review. Nebula Dream is a science fiction romance based on the Titanic disaster, so it is fitting that the review be posted close to the April 15 anniversary.

I have two books I received from Samhain. One, The Lawman’s Surrender by Debra Mullins, I almost can’t believe I asked for, because it’s part of their Retro Historical line. I reviewed the first book in the Calhoun Sisters series, Donovan’s Bed, for Library Journal and here. It was an absolutely terrific guilty pleasure, one of those books that reminded me how much fun western romances can be when they’re done right. (Also, this retro isn’t very retro, it was originally published in 2001) I just have to find out what happens to sister number 2!

My second Samhain title is Lexxie Couper’s Love’s Rhythm. Her books have done pretty well in the Ebook Review Central tallies, and I wanted to see for myself.

How many of you have mostly virtual nightstands? Would you like to share them? The magic of Mister Linky makes that possible. Just add the link to your Virtual Nightstand post below, and we can all share the books we’re reading and reviewing this week.