Angelstone Release Day Blitz!

Title: AngelstoneSeries: Dark AngelAuthor: Hanna PeachAvailable: May 31, 2013Format: E-bookGenre: Urban Fantasy/ParanormalLength: ~87,000 wordsReview formats: .Mobi, .ePUB, .PDF
BLURB:"Fans of The Mortal Instruments [by Cassandra Clare] will love this!" After escaping from the Hollows and the Michaelea lightwarriors, Jordan takes Alyx and Israel to Aradale, a secret Rogue community, where they appear to be safe − for now. But did they bring the enemy with them? “Mini”, the strange and speechless young girl they rescued from the Hollows, is not as she seems. Why was Elder Michael keeping her locked up? What is she hiding? Alyx and Israel are driven further apart as Israel continues to obsess over making Adere human and Alyx hides two secrets from him: that he may be part-demon and that she may be carrying his child, a tri-blood keye that can be used to unlock Hell. Out in the mortal cities, pieces of Black Stone, the only material that can disrupt the angels’ healing abilities, continue to be stolen to make weapons for Samyara’s dark army. Alyx and her friends must stop them, but this means infiltrating holy and guarded places to steal the Black Stone − a monastery in remote China, a mosque in Saudi Arabia, an art gallery in Florence and a cathedral in Peru. Can they win this deadly race against the Darkened?

Purchase:

US URL: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3NIAEY

UK URL: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00D3NIAEY

Canada URL: http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00D3NIAEY

Release Day Blitz: Breathe Me by Alexia Purdy

Title: Breathe Me
Author: Alexia Purdy
Genre: New Adult/Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Lyrical Lit Press
Pub Date: May 31st, 2013
Blurb:

Sometimes the one who broke your heart, needs the most saving.

Piper Sandervale never thought she’d see Sasha Koval ever again. Not since he took her heart, ripped it out and obliterated it from existence. Now, six years have passed and she has run into him once more at the local fairgrounds in Las Vegas. He desperately wants another chance, and he’d do anything to get her back. She’s willing to give him a taste of his own medicine, if this is her chance for payback. But, will she find herself way in over her head?

Something has changed with Sasha and Piper struggles to justify the worth of past hurts to continue her quest for atonement.

Who needs saving now?

Review: Breathe Me by Alexia Purdy

Breathe Me
by Alexia Purdy
Expected publication: May 31st 2013 by Lyrical Lit. Publishing

Sometimes the one who broke your heart is the one who needs saving the most.

Piper Sandervale never thought she’d ever see Sasha Koval again, not since he'd taken her heart, ripped it out and obliterated it. Now six years have passed, and she has run into him once more at the local fairgrounds in Las Vegas. He desperately wants another chance, and he’s willing to do anything to get her back. She’s not willing to give him anything but a taste of his own medicine, and this may be her chance for payback. But is she only getting in way over her head?

Even as she plots her revenge, Piper discovers that something has changed with Sasha, and she finds herself struggling to justify holding on to past hurts as he continues his quest for atonement.

Who needs saving now?

Synopsis from Goodreads
 

It isn't always fair to review an ARC. I try to be fair, taking into account that another round of edits is still going to be made, but sometimes it's hard to keep that in mind. I'll admit straight out that I was distracted by the typos etc. so I will definitely be rereading the book. I already have the final draft in my hot little hands, and may very well give it a higher rating.

Review: Ghost Time

Ghost Time
by Courtney Eldridge
Expected publication: June 11th 2013 by Amazon Childrens Publishing

Thea Denny hates the tenth grade, and her home life isn't easy. But she's passionate about making art — and about her math-genius boyfriend, Cam, a recent transfer to her upstate New York high school from California. One day Cam mysteriously vanishes — and then things really get weird. The stars on the school flag go missing, eerily cut out. Intimate videos of Cam and Thea start going viral online — videos they never took. The FBI gets involved. And Thea can hear the voice of Melody, a beautiful, disabled girl her age, whose illness has left her mute since birth. Cam once claimed to be the world's foremost hacker. . . . Is he trying to reach her, send her a sign — or is Thea losing her mind?

Synopsis from Goodreads

This book blew me away. Plain and Simple. Any expectations I may have had could not be compared to what I experienced reading this. It's one of those books that you love so much that you feel the need to recommend it to absolutely everyone you know, and maybe even some people you don't. So, why am I not calling every one of my second cousins (twice removed) to tell them about it? This book is not going to be one that everyone will love.
Not like I did.

Review: Oathbreaker's Shadow

The Oathbreaker's Shadow (The Knots Sequence #1)
by Amy McCulloch
Expected publication: June 4th 2013 by Doubleday Canada

Fans of Philip Pullman, Jonathan Stroud, and George R.R. Martin are going to love this action-filled fantasy novel by an exciting debut voice in the genre.

In the world of fifteen-year-old Raim, you tie a knot for every promise you make. Break that promise and the knot will burst into flames, scarring your skin and forever marking you as an oathbreaker. Raim has worn a simple knot around his wrist for as long as he can remember. No one seems to know where it came from or which promise it symbolizes, and Raim barely thinks about it at all--especially not since he became the most promising young fighter ever to train for the elite Yun guard. But on the day that he binds his life to that of his best friend (and the future king), Khareh, the rope ignites and sears a dark mark into his skin. Scarred now as an oathbreaker, Raim has two options: run or be killed. He chooses to run, taking refuge in the vast desert among a colony of exiled oathbreakers. Will he be able to learn the skills he needs to clear his name? And even if he can, how can he keep a promise he never knew he made in the first place?

Synopsis from Goodreads

 

Tales of a Hotel Maid Episode 2 "Places Where Bodily Fluids Belong."

Welcome to the Hotel: I shall vomit and puke everywhere because the bathroom is so far away!

Last episode I alluded to the diarrhea in the bathtub incident. Bodily Fluids and excrements have places where they should be and places the should NEVER be. Now puking in the bathtub, yeah I get that. I've been there, both through the stomach flu, and the brown bottle flu, but pooping in the bathtub. Well, my daughter has done that, but I believe the last time I found a floater in her bath was when she was one. I can assure that these guests were not infants, or toddlers. They were in fact grown ass boys. Drunk- hungover- probably- ate- Taco Bell- boys. I mean, we would find everything from nasty giant loogies in the sink to vomit anywhere. On the floor, on the bed, in the towels, garbage cans, the shower, everywhere.

I will never forget the day when I walked into one of the most trashed rooms ever, it was a room that belonged to college students who were visiting to watch the game. The room stank, I couldn't figure it out, then I lifted up the cover on the bed, and there pooled on the edge of the box springs was a puddle of vomit, the color of the vomit can only be described as greenish black. Alcohol poisoning coloring for sure. I was legitimately worried that this person should have probably been in the hospital having their stomach pumped. 

Anyway, stuff like this is a hazard, as any bodily fluids are, so I called my boss to tell him we needed to replace the bed in this room, and it did get replaced. Doesn't mean I didn't have to sop up that vomit with rags, but at least no one else had to sleep on that bed. And yes the rags, my gloves and all bedding where disposed of in a hazardous waste bag. 

No worries it wasn't just out of town kids that were gross, oh no. We once hosted a frat and sorority thing. Actually, I think it was pledge week, and these were the higher ups. Once again, very trashed rooms, very rank smelling. Only this time it wasn't a pool of vomit to be discovered but a pair of poopy underpants in the ice bucket. It took me almost a whole hour to hunt down the source of that smell. The ice bucket was shoved under the bedside table in the back. I may have vomited in my mouth, just a little bit. 

One last tale of the bodily fluid that was not where it was supposed to be...one summer we were in the rooms doing a general once over, inspecting, changing out bedspreads and flipping mattresses, when whoa, what do we have here, but an issue of BUTTMAN. It was an adult magazine all about behinds. Now the pictures in the mag where pretty disgusting, but the fact that the pages where stuck together was what took that incident to over the top hilarious. So what did my fellow housekeepers and I do when we discovered this? Well we cut out the best photos and mailed them to a fellow housekeeper who had gone home for the summer. Because that's what friends do, send sticky porno to each other. :D

While I should note that I left the housekeeping industry years ago, I have worked one other place where we have found poop where it should not be. In our public restroom, in the tank of the toilet. It's called an upper decker or something like that. Google that. It's pretty sad, and disturbing that people think doing these things is funny. 

Book Blitz: Feeling Death

Feeling Death #1

Expected publication: May 27th 2013 by Dragonfairy Press 

 ***Genre - Adult Paranormal Romance. 

Samantha Bevans is having the best sex of her life—but it's not with her husband. Fortunately for her marriage, the affair is all in her mind. Isn't it? As an empath, she senses other people's emotions. But her connection to the man with the chiseled face and haunting eyes seems so real.

There's no time for fantasies with a serial killer loose in Pittsburgh. The killer is targeting dancers at a strip club where Samantha used to bartend, back when drugs were the only cure for the torment of her abilities. As a member of a special task force, Samantha uses her talents to sense the victims’ final thoughts. Just when she thought the case was complex enough, she discovers one of the victims was thinking about her fantasy man when she died.


Who can Samantha trust when she can’t trust her own mind? An empath feels the emotional environment around her…and Samantha is surrounded by death.

Buy Links

Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Feeling-Death-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00CNVOJ10/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1369283854&sr=8-3&keywords=d.t.+dyllin

Publisher

http://www.dragonfairypress.com/dtdyllin/feelingdeath

About the Author

Cynical-Optimist. Chocolate-holic. Sarcasm Addict. Paranormal Believer. Self-Imposed Insomniac. Sci-Fi Geek. Animal Lover. Writer…are just a few words to describe D.T. Dyllin. She was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and now lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband and two very spoiled GSDs.

Website / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads

Review: Dragonfly

Dragonfly (Dragonfly #1)
by Leigh T. Moore
Expected publication: June 6th 2013 by Leigh Talbert Moore

“Gossip Girl meets VC Andrews in this contemporary family saga. Love, lies, and betrayal become the new normal when Anna enters the world of Jack and Lucy Kyser.” –Magan Vernon, international bestselling author of The Only Exception

Anna Sanders expected an anonymous (and uneventful) senior year until she crossed paths with rich-and-sexy Jack Kyser and his twin sister Lucy.

Pulling Anna into their extravagant lifestyle on the Gulf Coast, Lucy pushed her outside her comfort zone and Jack showed her feelings she's never experienced... Until he mysteriously withdrew.

Anna turned to her internship at the city paper and to her old attraction for Julian, a handsome local artist and rising star, for distraction. But both led to her discovery of a decades-old secret closely guarded by the twins' distant, single father.

It's a secret that could cost her the boy she loves and permanently change all their lives.

Be watching UNDERTOW, Book #2 in the Dragonfly series, coming in July!

Synopsis from Goodreads
 

I'm a fairly new fan of Moore's, having just discovered her book Rouge. It was intriguing enough for me to snatch this book up when I saw it on Netgalley. I wanted to see if Moore was a one-hit wonder, or if she could repeat the heat. And she definitely delivered! Although it doesn't quite live up to Rouge, it definitely has its own appeal, and had my heart going pitter pitter pat.

Review: The Testing

The Testing (The Testing #1)
by Joelle Charbonneau
Expected publication: June 4th 2013 by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children 

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Isn’t that what they say? But how close is too close when they may be one in the same?

The Seven Stages War left much of the planet a charred wasteland. The future belongs to the next generation’s chosen few who must rebuild it. But to enter this elite group, candidates must first pass The Testing—their one chance at a college education and a rewarding career.

Cia Vale is honored to be chosen as a Testing candidate; eager to prove her worthiness as a University student and future leader of the United Commonwealth. But on the eve of her departure, her father’s advice hints at a darker side to her upcoming studies--trust no one.

But surely she can trust Tomas, her handsome childhood friend who offers an alliance? Tomas, who seems to care more about her with the passing of every grueling (and deadly) day of the Testing. To survive, Cia must choose: love without truth or life without trust.

Synopsis from Goodreads

Book Blitz + Giveaway: Inspire by Heather Buchine

Inspire 
by Heather Buchine
Publication date: March 31st 2013
Genre: NA Contemporary Romance

18-year old Paige Rice, an exquisite beauty from East Hampton, NY, has just celebrated her high school graduation and is expecting to spend her summer living it up with all her socialite friends. But her parents have a different idea – she is being hauled away-literally- to the mountains of Vermont for the entire summer- in an RV!
Assuming she will be an outcast amongst the other teens at the campground still does not prepare her for the treatment she receives, which is far worse than she imagined. She also isn’t prepared for Travis, the campground owner’s son and the “Sexiest” guy she has ever laid eyes on. Travis is the only one who shows any interest in getting to know Paige. The only problem is that they have to explore what lies between them in secret. But once all the secrets are stripped away, the truth may be crushing.

***Intended for mature audiences due to language and sexual content***

IDWMA Release Day Blitz + Giveaway!

In Darkness We Must Abide: The Complete First Season by Rhiannon Frater
Genre: NA Modern Gothic Horror
Publication date:  May 24th 2013

Synopsis:
In Darkness We Must Abide is the epic saga of one young woman caught in the dangerous world of the creatures of the night.

Already living in the shadows due to her albinism, Vanora is just a little girl when her older brother inadvertently unleashes a terrible evil from the family crypt that changes their lives forever.

As she grows up in a world where beautiful deadly beings hunt by night, one captures her eye and her heart. Yet, can she trust the mysterious Armando? For there is a powerful entity plotting to claim her when she reaches adulthood in order to fulfill an ancient prophecy, and her enemy has enveloped her in a web of deceit, casting doubt on all she believes to be true. Soon, she will have to fight not only to save those she loves, but also for her very soul.

Rhiannon Frater delivers a chilling adventure once again with this multi-part epic serial with a dynamic cast, old school vampires, bloody action, a smoldering forbidden love, and a terrifying villain set against the backdrop of a modern day vampire war.

This paperback includes all five episodes of the first season of the serial.
A note from Rhiannon Frater:

"On Friday, 5/24, I'll be doing two video Q & A's via the TinyChat application on Facebook. You'll just have to download the app and follow the link when I post it here. You'll be directed straight into the chat room.

The first chat is scheduled with Europe in mind. 1 PM Central Time will place this chat in the early evening. You'll have to check a time zone converter for the exact time in your country. This also can work for people who work in the evenings in North America.

The second one will be at 8 PM Central Time.

Basically, I'll be on live webcam and you guys and gals get to ask me questions about IN DARKNESS WE MUST ABIDE or anything else you'd like to discuss about my writing career, my books, or the horror genre."

Purchase links:
Amazon.com

Kindle: 
http://amzn.com/B00CXGD4SO

Paperback:
http://amzn.com/1484861841

Kobo
http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/In-Darkness-We-Must-Abide/book-ygg5nEHZhEiKr8Mu2P7Oow/page1.html?s=wuLA_nvnmUyIUXTZ6IqgbA&r=9

Nook
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/in-darkness-we-must-abide-rhiannon-frater/1115392404?ean=2940016588391

Autographed Copies at Author Store
http://rhiannonfrater.com/order-signed-books-2

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17856334-in-darkness-we-must-abide

Book Blitz: Broken Gates

 (P.J. Stone Gates Trilogy #2)

Paperback

Expected publication: May 24th 2013 by Dragonfairy Press 

 ***Genre - New Adult Paranormal Romance.

P.J. Stone is a Seer who saw too little, too late.

In the past, her biggest worries were boys and school—but war has a way of changing things. Now, the alien Riders are trying to overrun the world. As the last of their kind, P.J. and her friends must find a way to save humanity before there’s nothing left to save.

After choosing a mate, P.J. hoped she'd have time to enjoy her love life. But with everything changing so quickly and major secrets revealed, who knows what the future will bring?

Buy Links
Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Gates-Stone-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00CNVOJ0Q/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1369277255&sr=8-4&keywords=broken+gates
Publisher
http://www.dragonfairypress.com/dtdyllin/brokengates

About the Author

Cynical-Optimist. Chocolate-holic. Sarcasm Addict. Paranormal Believer. Romance Junkie. Self Imposed Insomniac. Animal Lover. Writer.
Website  /  Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads

Tales of a Hotel Maid Episode One: "How Clean is Your Room?"

Back in the day when I was in college I was a housekeeper at a hotel. It paid the bills, it was fun, and I got to work with my friends. Sure cleaning up after people isn't the most glamorous of jobs, in fact sometimes it was down right disgusting, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
How Clean is Your Room?

Review: Gameboard of the Gods

Gameboard of the Gods (Age of X #1)
by Richelle Mead
Expected publication: June 4th 2013 by Dutton Adult

In a futuristic world nearly destroyed by religious extremists, Justin March lives in exile after failing in his job as an investigator of religious groups and supernatural claims. But Justin is given a second chance when Mae Koskinen comes to bring him back to the Republic of United North America (RUNA). Raised in an aristocratic caste, Mae is now a member of the military’s most elite and terrifying tier, a soldier with enhanced reflexes and skills.

When Justin and Mae are assigned to work together to solve a string of ritualistic murders, they soon realize that their discoveries have exposed them to terrible danger. As their investigation races forward, unknown enemies and powers greater than they can imagine are gathering in the shadows, ready to reclaim the world in which humans are merely game pieces on their board.

Gameboard of the Gods, the first installment of Richelle Mead’s Age of X series, will have all the elements that have made her YA Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series such megasuccesses: sexy, irresistible characters; romantic and mythological intrigue; and relentless action and suspense.

Synopsis from Goodreads

It's really complex, and kinda sexy.

Tag-team Review: Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

Clockwork Princess (Infernal Devices #3)
by Cassandra Clare
Published March 19th 2013 by Margaret K. McElderry Books

Danger and betrayal, secrets and enchantment in the breathtaking conclusion to the Infernal Devices trilogy.

Tessa Gray should be happy - aren't all brides happy?
Yet as she prepares for her wedding, a net of shadows begins to tighten around the Shadowhunters of the London Institute.
A new demon appears, one linked by blood and secrecy to Mortmain, the man who plans to use his army of pitiless automatons, the Infernal Devices, to destroy the Shadowhunters. Mortmain needs only one last item to complete his plan. He needs Tessa. And Jem and Will, the boys who lay equal claim to Tessa's heart, will do anything to save her.

Synopsis from Goodreads

Welcome to yet another tag-team review, where Lori and Lindsay discuss their thoughts on a book they both read.

Overall
Lindsay:
*Le sigh*
I can't think of the words to express how I feel about this book at the moment. It is sweet, and beautiful. I don't know whether to hope for more books in the series, or be content with it ending on a high note. I can easily see how the characters could overlap into the Mortal Instruments series, more than they already have. 

Lori: Meh. I saw that coming. It took me forever, FOREVER to get into the book. Will was such a pansy in this one. I think I am over Cassie Clare. 

The Cover
Lindsay:
We have to discuss the cover. Seriously. I LOVE IT! It's not at all how I pictured Tessa, and there is no way that that woman is 17. But it's still gorgeous! I've heard people complaining that her covers are starting to look too "romance", more like something they would see for sale at a drug store check out. Okay, I'll admit, maybe City of Lost Souls was a little hokey, but this one tantalizes my senses! 

Lori: Meh. I've seen better. LOL. Kidding the cover is eye catching, except that lady looks at least 30. 

The Plot
Lindsay: 
I started out being a little lukewarm about this book. The writing was good, and I was enjoying it, but it wasn't exactly keeping me up at night. And then, suddenly, I hit page 400. Everything before this page became inconsequential. It had all been building to this chapter. From that page on, I couldn't put it down. I read late into the night, and picked it up again first thing the next morning. I know, 400 pages seems like a lot to read to get to the good part, but there is plenty going on to keep you entertained until then. My only complaint about Clockwork Prince had been a lack of plot movement. It was almost entirely character development, and the budding romance between the trio, Tessa, Will and Jem. In this book? Stuff happens. A lot of stuff.

Lori: Ehh. Clare writes the same book over and over again. She's like the Nickleback of literature, it's the same stuff, so if you like one you're bound like them all. At least that is the theory. The only thing that Clare gets right is the romance, and she manages to flub that up for the first half of the book.

The Characters
Lindsay:
The debate has been going on for years now. Jem or Will, who will it be? I always felt that it was an entirely unfair choice. They are both amazing men, in their own ways. Can't one of them just be a jerk? But no. Who said life would be fair?! In this book, being the "finale"(or so we are told) of the series, Clare finally deals with Tessa's choice. Personally, I think the way she worked it is complete perfection. There will not be riots in the streets between Team Will and Team Jem. Although, there will be an epidemic of swoons and sighs.

Lori: Meh. WILL. The ending was pft whatever, I don't believe in making fans happy. I'd rather be mad that Tessa picked the wrong guy than have that wimpy ending.

The Series
Lindsay:
Overall, I think this series was stronger than the Mortal Instruments. It had a solid base of characters and had a distinct plot arch that carried through the three books. The MI, which has now been extended to six books (and possibly more), does carry over a handful of characters, and historical references. I can't help but feel that there will be a major carryover for book six, though. Grrr! You guys have no idea how much I want to tell you the ending, and get your opinions on it.
But I refuse to be that jerk...

Lori: I get the series mixed up in my brain for the most part, but yeah. This one is better. Especially if she stops here. Seriously. Stop.

Read Along: In Darkness We Must Abide

In Darkness We Must Abide
Episode #5: The Vampires
by Rhiannon Frater
published May 17th 2013

All is not well in the Socoli world. Vanora is on the cusp of adulthood and preparing to move way to attend college. Used to their sibling being their anchor to the mortal world, Roman and Alisha are already feeling adrift in their dark world. Meanwhile, the mysterious Armando, shrouded in all his secrets, draws ever closer to Vanora as her feelings for him deepen. Soon their small world will explode into chaos, leaving Vanora to wonder if all she believed to be true were lies.

Synopsis from Goodreads

I don't usually buy into the whole "text speak" but in this case I might be willing to make an exception.  
OMG!!! OMFG!! And with that, Rhiannon tears is all down, and leaves us with a puddle of grief and suspense.

#MMM May Monster Mayhem MEG!!!

So this week I have covered everything from actual monsters, to just scary things. It's amazing how many things we can draw from in real life for fear. 

So today I am leaving you with my favorite extinct monster. 

The Megalodon.

It's basically a massive great white shark! 

My obsession with these beautiful monsters stemmed from reading the the Steve Alten book MEG.

The big tooth is a Meg tooth, and the others are great white teeth!

source: http://goodheartextremescience.wordpress.com/2010/07/02/megalodon-shark-demands-rematch-with-predator-x-and-moby-dick-sperm-whale/

Needless to say it's easy to see how an artist could draw inspiration from this amazing predator.