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 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)
If this were not a Sunday, in the U.S. today would be the day that the taxman cometh. Or perhaps goeth might be the better word.
April 15 is usually the deadline for filing U.S. Income Tax returns. Except when it falls on a Sunday–then we get a reprieve. Until April 17th this year.
All the procrastinators in the U.S. are waiting until tomorrow night. Or maybe even Tuesday night!
Does having more time make it better, or worse? You tell me!
In the trying not to put things off department, what books are on my nightstand, just waiting to be read and reviewed?
Two books for tours coming up. I’m doing more tours. I get some very interesting books, and some equally interesting commenters. Folks that I hope will like what they read, and come back for more.
About those books…
The Minefields by Steven C. Eisner was sent by Book Lovers Inc. It’s business fiction, which isn’t quite my usual, but the author’s family reminded me more than little of my own family. The story (I finished this afternoon) seems like fictionalized auto-biography. And if it is the author’s own life fictionalized, it’s definitely one I’d rather read about than have lived. But fascinating. The tour will be stopping at Reading Reality on April 20.
Completely 180° from there, Robyn Carr’s Sunrise Point tour will be stopping at Reading Reality the following week, on April 24. I’ll have an interview with Robyn and also a review of the book, the latest in her Virgin River series.
In addition to the tour books, there are three other books coming up next week that I’ve been really looking forward to.
Julie Kagawa’s The Immortal Rules comes out next week.I have a print ARC that I picked up at PLA, as well as a NetGalley egalley for next week. I adored her Iron Fey series, so I have high hopes for this. I’ve tried not to spoil myself by reading any of the advance reviews.
Last year, I found this terrific new urban fantasy, Hard Spell by Justin Gustainis. I really loved that book. Who would have thought that Scranton, PA would be crawling with the supernatural? The sequel is finally here. I can’t wait to find out just how dark the Evil Dark in Scranton really is.
Wicked Road to Hell by Juliana Stone is the first book in her League of Guardians series. Well, it’s the first whole book. I reviewed the prequel novella, Wrong Side of Hell a few weeks ago, and it was a fine introduction. It was also hellishly hot in all the right places!
Speaking of series, the next book in Amanda Stevens’ Graveyard Queen series, The Prophet, is on my list for next week. I still need to catch up with this series. I have a paper copy of The Restorer, and The Kingdom is still in my NetGalley queue.
And, back to things in my NetGalley queue, I’ve been trying to resist the impulse, but a couple of Carina Press titles caught my eye for this week: Desert Blade by Ella Drake and Darkest Caress by Kaylea Cross. Desert Blade is science fiction romance, which I can never pass up, and I just liked the sound of the paranormal romance in Darkest Caress.
And that’s my overburdened nightstand for this week. Hopefully I’ve tempted you into adding something to your nightstand.
If you remember the photos from last week’s In My Mailbox post you’ll understand why I tried to restrain myself this week.
I didn’t completely succeed. Hopefully someone will give me an “E for Effort”?
I subscribe to a few (several) newsletters about forthcoming books and the book trade. Shelf Awareness, Early Word and Publishers Weekly all cover books, bookselling, and publishing, but from different angles. Shelf Awareness is slanted a bit towards Indie Publishing, Early Word is aimed a bit a libraries, and Publishers Weekly, well, what they cover is pretty clear from their name!
Their email newsletters also offer contests for Advance Reading Copies in their sidebars. Every so often, I win one.
I won a print ARC of A Simple Murder by Eleanor Kuhns from one of the above. It’s a historical mystery set in a Shaker village in 1796. So neat setting, interesting premise. This book won an award from the Mystery Writers of America for the Best First Crime Novel. So it might be good. And the author is a librarian. Of course I’m interested!
Book Lovers Inc. sent me a request I couldn’t resist. I confess I didn’t read Kim Newman’s Anno Dracula when it came out. It’s just my kind of book, too. Alternate history with vampires! But it never quite made it to the top of the towering TBR pile. Kim Newman is re-issuing the sequel, The Bloody Red Baron, and asked BLI for a review. When the request was passed to me, I said I would, if I could get copies of both Red Baron and Anno Dracula. I got.
The only problem with alternate history is that doing it justice usually takes a lot of pages. Those two books are not short books. Either one. Oy!
The other night I was looking for something light and fun to read. So instead of wading through my TBR piles, I bought myself a treat-a copy of Stacey Kennedy’s Supernaturally Kissed. All the reviews I’ve read said it would be just the ticket. The next day I joined Stacey Kennedy’s Street Team and because I couldn’t resist the temptation to get a review copy of the next book in the series, Demonically Tempted.
I’m a tour host for Goddess Fish Tours, and I asked for review copies of books for two tours I’m hosting in May and June. Seized, an urban fantasy by Lynne Cantwell, and Dark Inheritance: Fallen Empire, a Regency romance/alternate history by K. Reed
Finally, I admit it, I gave in and bought Fifty Shades of Grey. I listened to myself dissing a book I’d never read and realized that I wasn’t being fair. I needed to either shut up, or read the book. I read the book. Now I have dissing rights. Which doesn’t mean I’m going to totally use them. You’ll see.
Happy WEST OF WANT Preview & Prizes Event, everyone! Today, April 10, was the original release date for Book 2 in my Hearts of the Anemoi series, West of Want. And then some really cool things happened: my publisher, Entangled Publishing, signed a huge deal with the nation’s biggest book distributor, which means for the first time ever, my books will be shelved in brick-and-mortar bookstores. And then, West of Want received a very nice pre-sales estimate by the booksellers and Barnes and Nobles bought it for all their stores nationwide (and it got bought for airports, too—squee!). The only bad news in this whole scenario was this: the release date got pushed back, by three LONG months! LOL So, I thought I’d celebrate the original release date with a preview of the book and a big contest, and give you a small taste to whet your appetite until the actual release date arrives.
“Laura Kaye’s captivating writing and vibrant world-building will have readers hooked on the gods of the Anemoi. WEST OF WANT is steamy, spellbinding, and a must-read for all romance fantasy fans.”
~Elisabeth Naughton, author of the Eternal Guardians series
Forty sites are celebrating with me today, and there are different posts at those different sites. To see the whole list of participants, click here. Now, without further ado, here’s the book blurb and one of four different never-before-seen excerpts from the book available for you to enjoy:
WEST OF WANT BLURB:
Betrayal is all he’s ever known, but in her, he’ll find a love strong enough to be trusted…
When Marcella Raines’ twin brother dies, she honors his request to be buried at sea, never expecting the violent storm that swamps her boat. Though she’s gravely injured–and still emotionally damaged from her recent divorce–Ella fights to survive.
Zephyros Martius is the Supreme God of the West Wind and Spring, but being the strongest Anemoi hasn’t protected him from betrayal and loss. Worse, he’s sure his brother Eurus is behind it. When Zeph’s heartbreak whips up a storm that shipwrecks a human, his guilt forces him to save her.
Ella is drawn to the vulnerability Zeph hides beneath his otherworldly masculinity and ancient blue eyes. And her honesty, empathy, and unique, calming influence leave Zeph wanting…everything. When Eurus threatens Ella, she and Zeph struggle to let go of the past, defend their future, and embrace what they most want–a love that can be trusted.
WEST OF WANT EXCERPT:
Zeph concentrated and allowed his mind to travel in search of his brother’s unique energy signature. As polar opposites, their energies were connected. Yin and yang. Life and death. West and East. So he found Eurus, easily. Within blocks of Ella’s house. Thunder rumbled around him as he flowed through the air in pursuit.
Corporeality returned in a blaze of light, his seething rage crackling around him.
“Ah, brother. I’ve been expecting you,” Eurus said. In the gloom of twilight, he lay prone on the dock in the middle of the marina where Ella’s boat had been taken that first day. Ankles crossed.
Fingers making lazy designs in the air as if he were conducting a symphony. Cold wind whipped up around them, turning the calm waters of the inlet choppy, jostling the sailboats in their slips.
His brother’s calm, casual repose was more disturbing than if Zeph had found him petulant and ranting. Because it meant he was planning. “What the fuck are you playing at, Eurus?”
He sprung to his feet and tugged the lapels of his leather coat. “You see? I offer civility, and what do I get in return?”
Zeph squared off and braced, ready for anything. “You don’t have a civil bone in your body.”
Eurus pinched the bridge of his nose, shifting the wraparounds up the smallest bit. Though not enough, Zeph was relieved to see, to reveal his dead black irises. “If what you say is true, brother, whose fault exactly would that be?”
“Not. Mine.” It was a fruitless conversation, but it was their little dance, and Zeph’s own special corner of hell.
“Of course not yours. Not perfect Zephyros. Not the god of life and renewal. Gods forbid.”
Zeph ignored the barb. Perfection was the last thing he believed of himself. Eurus was jealous of a figment of his imagination. “What do you want?” he finally bit out, hoping to defuse the other man, to delay the confrontation long brewing between them.
Eurus whipped off his glasses and drilled his disturbing, blank gaze into Zeph’s very soul. “Leave the woman alone.”
So, what d’ya think? Want more Zephyros and Ella? Visit more participating sites to read all the excerpts, meet the characters, see the the West of Want romance trading cards, and enter to win! Thanks for reading! July 10 can’t get here soon enough for me! *grins*
~Laura Kaye
“Using ancient winter mythology as an allegory for grief, Kaye has written a sexy story that packs a powerful emotional punch. NORTH OF NEED is pure winter magic and Kaye’s sparkling talent warms the heart.”
~Stephanie Draven, author of the Mythica series about
multi-award-winning Book 1 in the Anemoi series, North of Need
WEST OF WANT PREVIEW CONTEST!
Event-Wide:
Seven participants who enter through the Rafflecopter form will win gift cards from winners’ choice of Amazon or B&N valued between $15 and $100! Those prize winners will be announced on West of Want’s release day, July 10, 2012. As a special thank you to those who have pre-ordered the print West of Want through Amazon or B&N, you’ll receive extra entries – just enter your order confirmation number on the appropriate Rafflecopter line. Pre-orders are hugely important for an author because they determine how many books bookstores will actually stock and they count toward an author’s first-week sales which is when most authors have their best chance to hit the big bestseller lists. However, pre-orders/purchases are not required to enter. Commenting is the only required entry. Open to international.
One commenter from each participating blog site will win a West of Want bookmark and the romance trading cards for North of Need and West of Want. Simply comment to enter to win and be sure to leave your email address. These prizes will be announced soon after May 10. Open to international.
About Laura Kaye:
Voted Breakout Author of the Year in the 2011 GraveTells Readers’ Choice Awards, Laura is a bestselling and award-winning author paranormal and contemporary romance. Hearts in Darkness is the EPIC eBook Award Winner for Best Novella, Forever Freed won the NJRW Golden Leaf Award for Best Paranormal of 2011, and North of Need, the first book in the Hearts of the Anemoi series, was named GraveTells’ Best Book of 2011 and won their 5-STAR Gold Heart Award, and won Sizzling Hot Read of the Year at Sizzling Hot Books. Laura lives inMaryland with her husband, two daughters, and cute-but-bad dog, and appreciates her view of theChesapeake Bay every day.
Humans have personified the great forces of nature since mankind (and womankind) first created fire. The winds howling outside of those early cave-dwellings must have seemed like gods…and so some of the world’s most fascinating and enduring myths were born.
Zephyrus, the west wind, Eurus the East Wind and Notus, the South Wind are three of these, but the greatest and most feared is Boreas, the North Wind. Boreas is feared because the North Wind brings Winter.
In North of Need, the first of Laura Kaye’s Hearts of the Anemoi series, Megan Snow has gone north to face the heart of winter alone. Megan believes that she needs to face Christmas, and the second anniversary of her young husband’s death, alone. Alone in the isolated cabin where they shared their love, and their all too few Christmases.
Out of a need to escape the confines of the cabin, the walls that are closing in, Megan goes out into the snow and builds a snow man, and a snow woman, and last, a snow child. Finished, she stares at her handiwork, and realizes what she has unconsciously done. She’s built a vision in snow of what she can never have in real life–the Snow Family. Her husband is dead and she is alone.
Megan breaks down and sobs, wrapping her arms around the snowman, her tears fusing her to its solid snow body. Tearing herself away leaves a snow burn on her cheek.
Stumbling into the cabin after her emotional storm, Megan crashes into sleep as a blizzard descends on the isolated area. She wakes to find a man on her doorstep. She doesn’t want to give up her grief-stricken isolation, but the man will freeze to death before he reaches the next cabin, if he can even find another shelter in the white-out. She must take the stranger in, and hope for the best.
What she finds even more strange is that the man on her doorstep has no shoes, but is wearing the clothes that she used to “dress” the snowman.
Owen Winters is the snowman. And he will be again, if Megan doesn’t grab this chance at love. Owen is one of the Anemoi, one of those primal forces, an agent of the North Wind. And he has one precious chance, a few brief days, to convince Megan to fall in love with him.
The West Wind is coming, bringing the thaw. When the snow thaws, Owen will be gone, unless Megan can commit to him first. But love in the face of death is the one thing that Megan fears above all. She’s loved and lost before, and she’s not in the least bit sure it’s better than never having loved at all.
Will Megan’s heart thaw first, or will the snow?
Escape Rating A: Now I understand what all the fuss was about! Besides the fact that the use of Greek mythology was awesome (Boreas hasn’t been this much fun since he was used as Bigby Wolf’s father in Fables) the metaphor of winter for grief was done just right. It’s a trope that can easily be overplayed, but Kaye went just far enough, and then turned it on its head by having Owen and Megan have so much fun in their winter sports. For Owen, wintertime equals playtime, and he makes Megan see it too.
Owen has a much harder time getting Megan to trust him, especially when he starts by understandably not revealing his true nature. But his courtship, and the building of their frienship, is what makes the story so incredibly good. It helps that the romance part of this paranormal romance is both sweet and hot.
West of Want, book 2 of Hearts of the Anemoi, is coming on July 10, 2012 (excerpts and swag giveaway post here). Book 3, South of Surrender, not until December, 2012. For the grand finale, East of Ecstasy, I’m going to have to wait until April 2013. Just in time for my next birthday.
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.
Blurb:
When she’s sent to a crime scene and finds her second dead woman in as many weeks, half-banshee detective Kiera “Mac” McLoughlin is convinced a serial killer is on the loose. Incubi are extinct, her boss insists. But what else can kill a woman in the throes of pleasure? When her partner is murdered after using witchcraft to locate the killer and Mac is thrown off the case, her frustration turns to desperation.
Certain the killer is an incubus, Mac works behind her department’s back to chase down slim, sometimes perilous leads. While the killer eludes her, she does discover handsome Aidan Byrne, an investigative counterpart from the enigmatic Otherworlder Enforcement Agency. Mac typically runs her investigations fast and hard, but with Aidan at her side, she’s running this one “hot” as well. But Aidan knows more than he’s letting on—something that could shatter their blazing romance and add Mac to the killer’s growing body count…
My Thoughts:
This was originally posted at Book Lovers Inc.
It was the cop banter that sucked me in. Not just because it was good cop banter, although the author got it just right, the exact kind of dry humor that is chuckle under your breath funny, but because it hit the right tone. One of the cops was a “normal” and the other is a half-banshee, and it didn’t matter. They were both cops, and they sounded like cops. I was a goner. And so was the stiff in their crime scene.
I love urban fantasy, and the closer it is to our world, the better I like it. The worldbuilding in Banshee Charmer was so close to the “real” world, there was just this slight difference, all the paranormal is real, and everyone seems to know about it. There are laws about what paranormals can and can’t do, just like everyone else. I love that kind of stuff. Treating the paranormal as just different types of evidence it just plain cool. Done as well as it is here, it gets me every time.
But series like these live or die (no pun intended) based on whether we like the characters. If it’s a cop shop book, we need to like the cops in the shop.
It’s all down to Mac. Being only a half-banshee means her scream only stuns, it doesn’t kill. And she’s got some baggage about not being as dangerous as she might be. But she’s much more interesting because she’s not invincible. And because she’s half-banshee, men who might otherwise be attracted stay far, far away.
Mac is on the trail of a serial killer who appears to murder his victims while they are in the throes of ecstatic pleasure. The killer’s last victim was her partner Amanda. And Mac is supposed to be off the case. But in the tradition of all good cops everywhere, Mac is investigating on her own time, with the help of the extremely handsome Otherworld Enforcement Agent who just happened to show up in her kitchen the evening before her partner became the serial killer’s victim.
Aiden Byrne is another reason this story is so good. On the one hand, it’s obvious that he isn’t who he says he is. And that there is a reason he keeps disappearing at what could best be described as “opportune” moments. But his conflict between what he feels for Mac that he knows he shouldn’t, and whatever it is he has to do with the killer, is utterly delicious.
I enjoyed Mac’s personality and perspective. She was someone I wanted to spend time with, so it was fun. And this world is cool. The paranormal has been integrated into society. What a great place for more stories. Which means that even though there is a happily ever after, there is plenty of room for more stories. I want to see more of how this place ticks. ***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.
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…
From Sizzling PR for review:
From the author:
From NetGalley:
Format read: ebook provided courtesy of the publisher
***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.