Tag: ebooks

Ebook Review Central, Curiosity Quills and Red Sage, Leap Week Edition

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

Let’s all welcome the new additions to Ebook Review Central, Curiosity Quills and Red Sage Publishing.

When I first started Ebook Review Central, I searched high and low for ebook-only or ebook-mostly publishers whose primary genres were something other than romance. Don’t get me wrong, I do love romances, and I read a lot of them. But I also read a fair number of mysteries, and my personal romance with science fiction and fantasy goes way back.

Not to mention, there’s a certain irony to the fact that it’s hard to find a science fiction ebook-only publisher. Think about it for a minute.

Enter Curiosity Quills. They’re a relatively new ebook-only publisher, and they publish genre-benders on the slightly weird side of the house. Practically every title listed has two genres, and it’s usually two flavors that you don’t always think of together. So not peanut butter and chocolate like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, but Paranormal and Science Fiction. They also published the book with one of the most hilarious titles ever, The Last Condo Board of the Apocalypse.

But I never forget the romance. Red Sage Publishing is one that readers might recall from their long-standing Secrets erotica anthologies, but they have been branching out recently in their ebook titles. They do still publish Secrets in paperback, but in ebook-only they’re exploring some strange new worlds, like steampunk and science fiction romance.

And this seemed like a good time to add these new publishers to the line up in a “Leap Week”. Just like the calendar adds February 29 every four years, Ebook Review Central needs to add an extra week here and there to keep the cycle in sync with the calendar.

Curiosity Quills and Red Sage will be added to the four-in-one post. It will become a six-in-one monthly wrap up. To catch their review data up with the other publishers in that post, all the review data for CQ titles and Red Sage titles is now online at ERC.

And yes, we have featured titles. ERC just wouldn’t be the same without featured titles!

Featured title number three is The Forbidden Claim by Kelly Gendron and it’s from Red Sage Publishing. This tale of romantic suspense is about mistaken identities, misplaced identities, forgotten identities and reclaimed identities. A U.S. Marshall kidnaps a murderer who is about to be hidden inside the Witness Protection Program. The Marshall, a woman named Jinx Collins, believes that the murderer holds the key to the identity of a young woman who haunts her memories. The only problem is that the murderer she just kidnapped is an undercover agent who is trying to infiltrate a human trafficking ring. And there is a young boy in the present who needs their help. In addition to the deep suspense, the reviewers loved this one for the very hot romance.

The number one and two featured titles are both from Curiosity Quills, and it’s fitting that they are the top two featured titles because they are also books one and two in a series. People obviously loved book one, and were chomping at the bit for book two to come out. What am I talking about? Vicki Keire’s Chronicles of Nowhere; book one, Worlds Burn Through and book two, Shadowed Ground. This is one of those genre-bender series I referred to earlier, it’s paranormal science-fiction. There’s also a strong post-apocalyptic flavor. The world has ended in fire, and now one girl is being protected by some very powerful guardians, because she can hopefully keep it from happening again.

And that’s a wrap on the Leap Week Special Edition of Ebook Review Central. We’ll be back next week with the Carina Press April 2012 featured titles.

What’s On My (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand? 5-6-12 AKA The Sunday Post

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

As I looked for a replacement Mailbox meme, I looked long and hard at The Sunday Post. Why? Because I do a Sunday post, it’s this one, my mostly virtual nightstand.

Kimba the Caffeinated Book Lover (and I love that name, BTW) created her meme in part to fill the gap. But The Sunday Post is also intended as a

“chance to share News. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.”

I use Virtual Nightstand to do the forward looking parts of that. I’ve chosen Stacking the Shelves as a way of handling the Mailbox bits of the mandate. But Virtual Nightstand is my news and upcoming reviews post.

To make a long story short, I’m going to link Virtual Nightstand to The Sunday Post. Anyone who comes here from that link might wonder why they got here. Or hopefully they’ll just jump down to the cover pictures.

What’s up this week?

Monday is Ebook Review Central, of course! This week is Leap Week, so I’ll be covering two new publishers, Red Sage Publishing and Curiosity Quills. They are permanent additions to ERC. For this first round, you’ll see a round up that takes them back to the beginning of ERC and catches them up to everyone else, so September 2011 through March 2012, if they have titles back that far.

Tuesday, May 8, I’m hosting an interview with Lisa Kessler, author of Night Walker, as part of a Bewitching Book Tour to celebrate the re-release of Night Walker in paperback! I’ll also have a review of Night Walker and an entry for several tour-wide giveaways.

Thursday, May 10 Reading Reality will be the host for a guest blog from Kay Dee Royal, promoting her book Staring into the Eyes of Chance. This is also part of a virtual book tour from Bewitching Book Tours. And I will also be posting a review of this shapeshifter/paranormal romance, the first book in Ms. Royal’s new Lycan International Investigation Agency Series.

On my nightstand, there are books I’m reading to prepare for next week. I always look a week ahead so I don’t get too surprised. Also, next week I’ll be traveling again, which does throw things off a bit!

There are only four, so maybe I’ll have a chance to catch up with myself. Probably not. But a girl can dream next to her nightstand, can’t she?

I asked for A Patch of Darkness by Yolanda Sfetsos from Samhain because it sounded like an interesting urban fantasy/paranormal romance. And because some of Ms. Sfetsos’ previous work has been well-reviewed. And because it’s book 1 in a series, so I don’t have to jump into the middle, or read a long backstory. All good things. I’ve averted my eyes from some early reviews.

Railsea by China Miéville is a book that I selected from NetGalley because my husband likes China Miéville’s work. And Galen is supposed to provide a guest review for this one for me.

On May 17 Reading Reality will be hosting a Virtual Book Tour of Bad Girl Lessons by Seraphina Donovan for Book and Trailer Showcase. So, I need to read and review the book before the tour.  This book just sounded like yummy fun. Good girl seeks bad boy to teach her how to have a good time after she gets dumped at the altar. Sex, love and romance ensue.

I have to remind myself that I also have a print ARC of The Mongoliad Book One by Greg and Erik Bear and a host of others on my nightstand. It’s not only a relatively big monster (450 pages), but I owe my editor at Library Journal a review on May 21. This one is sort of looming out there. Like an attacking horde.

So, are there any books on your nightstand that you’re looking forward to? How’s your Sunday treating you? And what do you have planned for your week?

Ebook Review Central, Amber Quill, Astraea Press, Liquid Silver Books, Riptide Publishing, March 2012

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

It’s time for the March four-in-one feature at Ebook Review Central. This is the point in the cycle where ERC covers Amber Quill Press, Astraea Press, Liquid Silver Books and Riptide Publishing, and usually wraps up whatever the month is that we’ve been covering.

Well, this is still the four-in-one, but it’s not wrapping the month. Next week ERC will be doing a “leap week” post and adding in some new publishers. It’s both a way of bringing some new titles into this wrap-up, and, pushing out the calendar a bit. I started ERC three weeks after the end of the covered months. Now I’ve caught up to it. I have to push back, and the best way is to add in some fresh material.

All the publishers in ERC are going to stay in.

Meanwhile, back to the March titles for our current four publishing contenders…March was not an all-Riptide month the way February was. Almost, but not quite.

In reverse order this time, just to keep you guessing until the end…

The third place finisher this month was Dark Soul Vol. 5 by Aleksandr Voinov, published, of course, by Riptide. I’ll admit I was expecting this one to make the list, the only question in my mind as I looked at the review sheets for this month was how it would stack up. The built-in audience for this final volume of Voinov’s tale of mafiosi, their enemies and their even more dangerous secret lovers had a lot of pent-up emotion just waiting for this. As one reviewer said, “just beautiful”. These are stories about dark characters who make all their choices in shades of grey, but the ending is very satisfying for those who love watching their heroes struggle with the darkness inside.

From characters who hold their secrets inside, we switch to a character who is forced by circumstance to display at least some of his difficulties where everyone can see them. Permanently Legless by J.L. Merrow (Amber Quill) easily rolled into second place in this week’s tally. Being “legless” usually means drunk, but in this case, it refers to the wounds Chris sustained fighting in Afghanistan. He’s adjusted to the loss of both legs, with his love of life and confidence intact, but when he meets Josh again, the guy he had a one-night stand with just before he left on that last tour of duty, he’s uncertain again. Josh isn’t. Readers loved this story of a wounded warrior finding his HEA with a guy who doesn’t care about his disability.

The number one book this week by an absolute landslide was Frat Boy and Toppy, written by Anne Tenino. From the reviews, it looks like everyone loved it because it made them laugh. The “frat boy” in the title is Brad, and he starts the story as a typical frat boy jock with a lot of frat boy friends. But there’s something different about Brad. In spite of appearances and outward behavior, Brad has a crush on the Teaching Assistant for his History Class. The male Teaching Assistant. Brad’s pretty sure he’s gay. The book is the story of Brad figuring out what to do about it. Especially since that TA doesn’t do relationships. Which is what Brad wants, once he starts figuring out what he wants in general. The one thing the reviews have in common is the phrase “laugh out loud”. Actually, there are two things, the other one seems to be “love Brad”. Romantic comedy fans, take note of this one.

So this week’s features can be summed up as light-hearted (Frat Boy and Toppy), heart-warming (Permanently Legless), and soul-searing (Dark Soul Vol. 5), but not all in the same book!

It’s also notable that, looking back, the last time the featured books in this four-in-one post were not all male/male romances was the December 2011 feature. Will this trend continue? We’ll see in the coming months!

That’s it for this issue. Come back next week to see which publishers will be added to Ebook Review Central in “Leap 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?

 

Guest Post: Schrödinger’s Ebook Box

Posted on by Galen Charlton | Author : | About> iPad> OverDrive

For Marlene’s birthday I got her a new iPad.  Since her work involves reading and reviewing ebooks, and since the iPad has become her primary ebook reader, transferring the books from her old iPad to the new one was critical.  Since she uses a number of ebook apps, this gave us an opportunity to answer the (not-so) age-old question: when you open the new box, are the ebooks still alive and meowing?

We set up the new iPad using one of the recommended approaches:

  1. Sync the old iPad with iTunes.
  2. Make a backup of the old iPad using iTunes.
  3. Hook up the new iPad to the computer and choose to restore from the backup.
  4. After the restoration, wait for iTunes to finish syncing apps and content to the new iPad.

How did the the various apps do?

  • iBooks — success.  All of the titles came over.
  • Amazon Kindle for iPad — success.  The list of titles came over.  It was necessary to re-download them, but that came as no surprise.
  • Barnes and Noble Nook — success.  The list of titles came over; as with the Kindle app, it was necessary to re-download the books.
  • Bluefire Reader — success.  Everything came over, although it was necessary to re-enter the Adobe DRM credentials.
  • Google Play Books — success.  Same story as the Kindle and Nook apps.
  • Kobo for iPad — success.  At least, apparently so.  The default titles came over, but this app is one that Marlene looked at but never actively used.

However, there was one failure: the OverDrive app for iPad.  When we opened it on the new iPad, the bookshelf was empty!

Of course, the primary purpose of this app is to display ebooks and audiobooks from OverDrive’s library service, but it will happily store and open EPUB files, and you don’t even need the OverDrive Media Console application on your PC.  You can just download an EPUB from Safari on the iPad and open it in OverDrive.  Because of apparent capacity issues with Bluefire reader, there was a period of Marlene had started using the OverDrive app to handle some of the overflow; in particular, she used it for non-DRM EPUBs.

But therein lies the rub… as near as I can tell, the OverDrive app turns out to be the Hotel California of iOS EPUB readers.  Since the restore and iTunes sync obviously hadn’t brought the ebooks over, I started looking for ways to manually transfer them.  The first place I looked was in the File Sharing feature in iTunes:

If OverDrive supported app file sharing, I could have used iTunes to copy the ebooks from the old iPad to the new one.  Unfortunately… it doesn’t.

My next step was scanning through the OverDrive app to see if it offered a way to download or email the files.  I came up with nothing.

Finally, I turned to my favorite reference librarian Google… and came up with a lot of folks complaining about how iOS5 and the recent update of the app apparently don’t play well together for audiobooks, but nothing relevant to my efforts.  So, if you’ve made this far into the post and have ideas about how to transfer the books… I’m all ears.

Ultimately, if we don’t find a way to make the transfer, the effective loss will be small, as Marlene has current files for all of the titles in the OverDrive app with the exception of three titles she had downloaded via iOS Safari from NetGalley that have since been removed from the active download list.  One irony is that those three ebooks are in open EPUB format; if only we could get to the files, any EPUB reader app could display them.

This is all a perfect storm of circumstances that could drive somebody who is unlike me (by expecting that software will actually work all the time) back into the comfortable but heavy arms of physical books:

  • Ebook DRM can punish the reader.  Marlene and I are perfectly willing to pay for ebooks (though of course, most of the time she doesn’t have to because of the number of egalleys and ARCs she reviews), but in the case of the OverDrive app, were I to make a charitable guess, DRM inspired a design compromise for the OverDrive app that lead to app file sharing not being enabled, even for non-DRM ebooks.
  • Apple’s iOS backup and syncing model has pitfalls for the unwary.  In particular, backing up to iTunes does not back up everything, and syncing with iTunes does not necessary cover content that wasn’t purchased via iTunes.  Want a real full backup of your iOS device?  It seems like you can get one only if you jailbreak it.  By the way, I really hope to be proven wrong on this.
  • It’s a truism that preserving ebooks require the reader to work harder.  You can leave a physical book sitting around and expect it to stay put (and even a very industrious cat isn’t going to push a book very far); one has to actually think in order to keep one’s ebooks available as time, hardware upgrades, and fashions in digital format pass.  But it’s even harder if one has to work to get one’s hands on the ebook file.
  • Using apps for anything other than their exact intended purpose can have unexpected pitfalls.  As an EPUB reader, the OverDrive app is arguably decent, but at the moment I can no longer recommend it for any purpose other than using OverDrive’s service.  I hope future updates of the app will make it easier to transfer titles to new iOS devices and to back up any non-library ebooks that a user chooses to read in OverDrive.

In conclusion (and to further inflict quantum mechanics metaphors on the reader), despite all of the advantages of ebooks, ebook users must still keep the Ebook Uncertainty Principle in mind: without care (and ideally access to discrete, non-DRM ebook files that you can back up), the long-term availability of ebooks that you purchase is at best a little uncertain.

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.

 

What’s on my (mostly virtual) nightstand? 4-22-12

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Virtual Nightstand

Before I start on this week’s Nightstand, which is going to be a traveling nightstand, two newsworthy items.

We’re famous! Or maybe infamous. Your mileage may vary. Very much. Reading Reality is the featured blog this week over at Curiosity Quills Book Blog Spotlight. Go check out all the blogger interviews. They are awesome. And don’t forget, there’s still time to review one of their books and enter their contest for a chance at an iPad3.

Speaking of giveaways, tonight at midnight, the Spring Fling Blog Hop will begin at Reading Reality over 80 other blogs. So come back tomorrow and fill out the Mr. Rafflecopter for your chance at a $10 Amazon Gift Card at Reading Reality, plus more fabulous prizes at all the other participating blogs.

About that nightstand of mine. As I said, it will be a traveling nightstand this week. We’re going to a conference. Well, my husband has a conference, and I’m going along as his “plus one”.

So I’ll be taking one or two print books as my “airplane” books. Probably either Julie Kagawa’s The Immortal Rules, or Karen Kondazian’s The Whip.

But what’s up on the reviewing calendar between now and May 1, next Tuesday? And is anyone else out there having a difficult time wrapping their heads around the idea that next Tuesday is the first of May?

I did get a new iPad3 for my birthday earlier this month. There were a certain number of trials and tribulations involved in transferring the contents of my old iPad to my new one. Enough that Galen was moved to write a guest post that will appear later this week.

But I do love my iPad enough that I requested Insanely Simple by Ken Segall from NetGalley. It’s a non-fiction business book, which is not the sort of thing I usually get. But it’s about Apple Corp. There are a couple of companies whose inner workings do interest me. Apple is one. (For anyone wondering, no, I don’t have a Mac. Galen has a Mac)

From a business that makes gadgets we go to gadgetry that makes a genre. I have Cruel Numbers by Christopher Beats, which is subtitled “A Steampunk Noir Mystery”. I hope it’s half as cool as it sounds.

I also have Zero Gravity Outcasts by Kay Keppler. As you might guess from the title, Zero Gravity Outcasts is science fiction romance. These are my two Carina indulgences from NetGalley for the week.

Because I loved Shona Husk’s Dark Vow, I snapped up her Kiss of the Goblin Prince when is appeared on NetGalley. The difference is that Dark Vow was stand alone, and Goblin Prince is book 2 in a series. So I have the prequel (The Summons) and book 1 (The Goblin King) to get through first.

Sadie Jones’ The Uninvited Guests is a book that looks like it’s going to get a lot of buzz. I picked up a paper ARC at PLA and I requested in from Edelweiss. It’s due out on May 1. At least when the Edelweiss egalley timebombs, the paper ARC will still be good! It’s about an Edwardian house party that goes sadly astray, it reminds me of the movie Gosford Park, and, of course, Downton Abbey.

I went through a period of picking up mysteries at NetGalley. Fatal Induction by Bernadette Pajer is the second in the Professor Bradshaw series, after A Spark of Death. These are historic mysteries, and they look interesting, taking place at the beginning of the 1900s and having to do with electrical engineering and academics, and, of course, murder.

My last book for next week is also a bit unusual for me. I will be participating in the BlogHer Book Club in May, and the book chosen for the Book Club next month is You Have No Idea by Vanessa and Helen Williams. So it’s an autobiography written by a famous daughter and her mother.

I’ll be visiting my mom in the middle of May. Maybe I’ll get some insights from the rich and famous…

So, what’s on your nightstand this week? What are you planning to read?

 

On My Wishlist #6

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | On My Wishlist

What’s On My Wishlist this week?

I just started seeing the cover love for Jacqueline Carey’s upcoming book, Dark Currents, even though the book isn’t due out until October. And I must say, it looks absolutely yummy. Based on the summary in Goodreads and elsewhere, this looks like urban fantasy. Howsomever, the main character is an incubus’ daughter who managed to get named “Daisy”. Daisy? Daisy!

Carey is the author of two of my favorite series of all time, Kushiel and the Banewrecker/Godslayer duology. Kushiel is the one she’s famous for, but if you haven’t read Banewrecker and you have an interest in subverted high fantasy, it is definitely worth your time. It’s a Lord of the Rings-type fantasy told from the supposedly evil side, and it’s a chillingly well-written reminder that the victors always write the histories, and that if you’ve won, your ends always justified your means, no matter who you crushed along your path.

Speaking of cover love, the cover pictures for the sequel to The Seduction of Phaeton Black are starting to appear. I’ve seen the cover and blurb for The Moonstone and Miss Jones, also by Jillian Stone, of course, and also due out in October, and the cover looks just as scintillating as the first book in the series. (I wonder if the moonstone in the title has anything to do with Wilkie Collins’ famous Moonstone? I digress…) I still haven’t managed to score a review copy of Phaeton Black, either.

Maybe next year I’ll go to RT. I’ve heard there were lots of copies there.

And I think I’m just wishing for interestingly odd steampunky, urban fantasy-type books this week. The reviews for Wicked as They Come by Delilah S. Dawson aren’t universally over the moon, but they are absolutely fascinating, every single one. It just sounds different. I’m intrigued. I want to read and it and see if it’s as different as it sounds.

So…what’s on your wishlist? Do tell! What type of stories are you in the mood for this week?

 

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.