Vacation Time

Oh I almost forgot!

I'm going on vacation tomorrow (which is Friday 28th). I know I'm excited to. . .well except for the entire sitting in a car with a 4 and 6 year old for anywhere between 10-12 hours, not so excited about that. I'll be spending the Easter Holiday with my family in Jersey.

Your probably asking yourself why anyone would want to go to Jersey for vacation, family or not. If your not asking yourself that then you have clearly never been to Jersey. Its a state pretty much filled to bursting with assholes (and anyone from Jersey will agree).

I was born and raised there, and have a special little spot in my heart for that state. Now that I've moved out of it I know I'll never be able to afford to move back in, which is probably a really good thing. For those of you that might be wandering what part of Jersey I'm from, its right were hurricane Sandy trashed. I lived about 15 minutes away from Seaside Heights, which is were I got my first piercing, and also so lovingly called Sleazeside. Makes you wonder why I would get a piercing there, its a long story so let just settle for the fact that I can be really impulsive at times.

I've been to the Point Pleasant Aquarium when I was a kid, and have even bought my own kids there. The Popcorn Park Zoo is first zoo I've ever gone to. When I was a kid they used to let all the animal pretty much run loose. . .I got dared to kiss a three legged deer and after I did my awesome family told me my lips were going to fall off, I was about 5 years old at the time. It is also were I learned to fear geese,

This is the kind of goose I'm talking about.
They are mean as hell. 

especially the ones with that weird bump thing on their beaks. Those things would chase you down, tackle you and then rob you of your popcorn. Scary stuff for a kid and it is why I now carry an irrational fear of geese.

All of my bestest of friends, except for one, still live there as well as most of my family. So I have fun when I'm there and most of the time I manage to not turn back into a major bitch by the time I leave.

I got really off base as to why I was even making this post. So to get to the point, I'll be really inactive during that week. I only have plans for one book to review while I'm gone and other then that I won't be able to do much of anything else, you know with all the geese, deer and jerks making my life hard while I'm there.

Revenge of the Taken (Humble Walker Book 1)

Revenge of the Taken (Humble Walker Book 1)

by: Shane Scollins

Every year in America, thousands of women disappear never to be seen again, and one man has dedicated his life to finding them...

Humble Walker has an amazing gift rooted deep in an ancient Navajo legend. It's a power that may be as limitless as his imagination, if he could only learn how to control it. 

Waging a clandestine war in the shadows of the New York City underground, Humble has taken on an unassuming drug research facility, abducting women for nefarious mind control experiments. They're powerful, corrupt, and have perfected a brain-altering narcotic like the world has never seen. 

Beautiful and spunky Kat Carson is the latest victim. Taken from her comfortable suburban life, she represents a tipping point in the ongoing battle, but all she wants is her life back. With the help of Humble and a small band of refugees, she has a fighting chance. 

Even with the best plans, things can go horribly wrong. Unthinkable betrayal derails their efforts and backs them into a corner. But, that is the one place you don't want to put Humble Walker.

***

3 Stars

I didn't quite like this book but I really didn't hate it either. I was really into the entire read until about half way through. I started to lose real interest after Kat had this mind vision session with Humble and nothing really came from it at all. I was all excited about it, then had disappointment. I lost even more interest when Dax decided to not trust Kat because she was jealous. Mainly this is because we all knew Kat was innocent of everything Dax thought because we read from her point a view from time to time, and the author would have had to do a really crazy amazing twist that wouldn't have worked if she wasn't. So it was annoying to listen to the reasons why Dax didn't trust her.

I feel like if the author decided to not do the entire book from every major players point of view it would have kept my interest longer. If he wanted wanted to do the jealousy angle Kats point of view should have been much more limited or not there at all, so at least we could have maybe believed she was really planted to ruin everything. A lot of the time I rushed through certain point of views to get to the more interesting ones. I didn't want to hear about everything that was going on from every direction. Just seemed kinda pointless to me.

I did like Humbles vortex eye thing, even though it was never really explained. It was still pretty neat, and when he really started to get control of everything it made it pretty awesome. I would have really liked to learn more about them, but I understood that Humble only knew as much as we did.

I liked the ending to a point. The last little bit of the book felt like a poor set up for book number two. Everything got wrapped up really well, and I'm really not interested in knowing exactly why someone was kidnapped, especially when I was satisfied with the answer already given. I just can't see it making a good number two kind of book.

The subject matter of the book was disturbing, it was just on the side of believable. I can actually see something like this really happening. So had a real creep factor going with it.

I guess I got a little more into this then I thought I would. I mean it was an alright book, just a little annoying at times and it tended to get boring for me.

Would I recommend this book? Probably not. It just didn't keep my interest long enough, and sadly I'll probably forget most of this book within the next few hours.

Star Week Failure

This post has nothing to do with books or reviews. It is a little taste of what goes through my head almost all the time, and what life with me is like.

So my sister called me and I got to telling her about how my son is star of the week at school this week. Because of this I then started complaining about all that is wrong with what is going on with his "star" status. (I have been bitching about this since last Friday when he came home with the sheet of paper in his book bag all excited about it.)

First and most importantly. . .this week is a short week, no school on Friday because its a teacher work day or some other jazz. Why does my son have a short week to be this star? Why doesn't he have a full week?

Then I am told I have to send him in with pictures of his family, pets, food he likes to eat (because you know I take pictures of that), etc. . .Now who in the hell actually prints pictures anymore? I know I don't. I just upload them to my facebook and the people that would want to see them get to. Especially since I live about 12 hours away from majority of the people that would want to see them. I'm not about to print out pictures and mail them to people. So now I have to make a point of taking a picture of his favorite food, uploading all this stuff to my computer, sending it to the closest CVS and picking them up later. Pain in the butt is what that is.

Finally the straw that broke my back. . .I have to send in a snack on Friday (which doesn't make sense because there is no school so I'm assuming I should do it on Thursday) for the entire class, which is 22 kids. My son is the star, these kids should be giving him their snacks not the other way around. They should be bowing down to his amazing star shining powers and sacrificing their snacks to him all week in order to keep him pleased.

Because of this snack issue I made myself look like a Little Debbie addicted freak this morning as well. We

This is what my ordered looked like, just a full box of coffee.
Yes I have had 3 cups already

all woke up late so I had to drive him into school. Because I won't live off of only one cup of coffee I stopped at the local Food Lion on my way home to pick up creamer and coffee. Now its like 7:30 am and yes I am still in my PJ's. . .and I'm wandering around Food Lion with my creamer in one hand and trying to remember what isle coffee is in when I see the end cap full of Little Debbie snacks, and I'm all like "Oh shit I have to get snacks for the class!!" So I'm looking to see what boxes have the most in them and I settle on cupcakes cause there is 8 in each box and hey what kid doesn't like cupcakes. In order to have enough for everyone I had to get 3 boxes.

Now I'm walking up to the register and I notice that I look like some sort of weirdo that is going to go home sit on the floor and surround myself with Little Debbie cupcakes and stuff my face with them. I really want to explain to the cashier why I have 3 boxes, but I know it will just look like an excuse to make her think I'm a normal person when she knows in her head that I'm going to do exactly what it looks like I will.

And now that my daughter has seen a bunch of cupcake boxes in the kitchen she keeps asking me if she can have some, and I have to keep telling her they are for school. It makes me wish I would have just got 4 boxes and just solidified my image of a cupcake addict.

So star of the week is a total fail in our house.

Looking at this post I'm about 99.9% positive it was coffee induced. I tend to get very jittery and more strange then normal when I ingest large amounts of that oh so tasty drink.

The Rising Books

Excitement!

That is what I am feeling right now, and you know for it being 8 in the morning excitement feels like a little to much for my tired brain. I need to get at least two more cups of coffee in me and soon. And I'll apologize now if this post doesn't make sense because of that.

So I was just contacted by Laura Josephsen, the author of Resistance (Rising: Book 1) and if you scroll down a little you will see the review I wrote for this book and notice that I really loved it and it was a lot of fun to read. So this excitement comes from the fact that she has just asked me to read her second book Rebellion: (Rising Book 2). I cannot wait to get my greedy little hands all over that book. This one will be told from different points of views and I'm looking forward to seeing everything from a different angle and learning more about certain characters that I liked in the first book.

As you can imagine the review for that book will show up somewhere on here soon. It has only been out for about a week and since I love reading and promoting all those amazing books out there that no one seems to notice I needed to let the world know (or at least the small world of my followers). So if you have already seen the review for Resistance (Rising: Book 1) and didn't immediately read it you should think about doing that now, or in the very least putting it on your to read list. It is good enough that it should be bumped up to the front of that list though. This way you can then also hurry up and read Rebellion (Rising: Book 2).

So now all of you can understand that excitement I'm feeling. Its that jittery feeling you get when you just finished a great book and realize that the second book is there and you can get right into it without much pause in between. I know you all know what this feels like.

(By the way, that picture is what I totally looked like when I got the message about reading the new book for her. . .I pretty much did that then happy dance everywhere. . .trust me it wasn't pretty)

Also I got that picture from this blog
Hyperbole and a Half
It is completely hilarious and I just wasted a huge amount of time reading everything I could on it.

Things That Angie Hates in Books

I've been having a hard time finding something that I actually want to read. So I'm not sure when I'll be getting another review up here. You should have seen me yesterday. . .I was stomping around my house all mad because apparently the book gods have taken their blessings away and made it impossible for me to find something that sounds even half way interesting to read. It was fun.

So I'm going to make this post about things I'm starting to find that literally kill a book for me.

Love triangles. I won't pick up a book if it hints in the littlest bit that there will be one of these. They do nothing but piss me off, because I have to read pages and pages and pages about how much Jody loves Tim and how he is so hot, but Oh My God! Jake is so hot too and I love him! Seriously just pick a guy and get it over with.

Ghosts as love interests. This is something I really don't understand at all. I can kind of understand vampire love interests even if they are dead. . .at least there is a body. But a ghost? Really? I don't get it. . .what is the guy going to do for you. . .show up in the middle of summer and cool the room down is just about the only thing I can think of. Ghosts are not hot. . .please please please stop with these books they make me want to scream.

Cliff hangers. There is a difference here for me. I can understand leaving your readers wanting to know more by adding something oh so interesting right at the end of a book. Doesn't mean I have to like it, but I understand it. What I don't understand is cliff hangers tha
That last sentence is a sample of what I hate. . .they literally leave you hanging. Someone is either hurt or something crazy like that and they just end the book. I actually won't read the next book. If it is out (which is not normally the case) I'll download the sample and read that just to finish the last book.

Over description. I really don't want to know what the stitching in the shirt looks like. I'm totally find with knowing the cut and color of it. I don't want to know the exact details of the leafs on the trees outside, I just want to know why we are outside.

And finally

The stupid heroine/hero. The one that does something they know for a solid fact they shouldn't do. Like when they are told if they go through that door horrible things will happen to them and the entire world and they do it anyway. Why would they go through the damn door? They know bad things will happen, but they feel like they need to woman/man up and do something brave, which in reality is just stupid.

Because of these reasons I find myself for the first time in my life not finishing books. I used to force myself to read something to the end. But after years and years of putting up with this crap I just can't do it anymore.

When I get a book like this I get scary. . .I bitch at everyone about it and I don't even care if they read or not. Its even worse when I feel like I got tricked. . .all those loving reviews on the book, and I'm the odd one out because how could anyone love a book with this crap in it.

Photo Credit

The Wrong Way to Feed a Unicorn

The Wrong Way to Feed a Unicorn

by: Christain Knoebel

Charles wants to keep his 13-year-old daughter Lexi happy even if it means taking care of a manipulative, potty mouthed unicorn that continually insults his hospitality, intelligence and manhood. But when it comes to food they have a problem, and Charles finds himself hunting down one of the world's most expensive ingredients in a crime-ridden neighborhood known for its grisly dealings with outsiders.

Along the way he meets a long lost high school friend with a fast-food job and unusual knowledge of high-end cuisine; a voodoo wielding faith healer and his side-arm carrying bodyguard, a nearsighted stripper with a taste for knives, and her jealous boyfriend who confronts Charles for stealing his girl. Only one of them will walk away.

(This story is not for children.)

*****

5 Stars

Holy cow this was awesome. I'm not one to read short stories, I like to really get into a book and read it forever if I can. But it was about a unicorn and I just couldn't pass it up. If this book was any longer it would have failed horribly, it is absolutely perfect.

The unicorn, Charles and everyone was awesome. I really want to know why Christina called him Chiggers though. The way things were explained is what really made this book something different. And I have to say this book made me hungry. 

I kinda feel bad for Charles, but understand his "do anything to make my kid happy" mentality. Everything that happens to him is pretty freaking off the wall. . .I can't even explain the awesome sauce of this book. I didn't see the ending coming at all, everything was so off the wall that I really thought it was all what happened, great twist.

Its not often that I pull out the fancy little highlight option on my kindle, and I whip it out quite a few times to make sure I could go back and get a little laugh later on. 

Would I recommend this book? Hell yeah I would, If you are looking for a short hilarious read look no farther then this book. You will not find anything half as crazy as this.

Midnight Squad: The Grim

Midnight Squad: The Grim

by: J.L.M Visada

She expected him to die. They expected to break him. Joseph has always been good at doing the unexpected. It's what has kept him alive so long. Even after being locked away in a mental institution where they expected him to quietly fade away into obscurity, Joseph did the unexpected and escaped. 

Now they've found him. He's expecting jail, or maybe a return to the nuthouse. Instead they're offering him a chance to rebuild his career, and maybe even his life. He's been offered a chance to resume his military career, and train a secret squad. It's his last chance.

Joseph expected a hardcore group of fighting men. Men that ate coal and crapped diamonds. He expected a well trained, highly experience group of soldiers. What he got were untrained, but freakishly powerful women. Joseph just simply isn't prepared to deal with a young but feisty goth witch (Don't call her cute!), a lonely lesbian werewolf, a lecherous ghost nun, and a beautiful vampire whose only creatures of the night are the people she goes raiding with on World of Warcraft at 2 a.m.

If that wasn't enough trouble, the last member of his squad is the very same woman that tortured him, and killed his men. Can Joseph come to grips with who he is, and find his own humanity among the monsters? Welcome to the Midnight Squad, they're not what you'd expect.

As promised here is the review I wrote for this amazing book. It is a really fun read, and I really do suggest that anyone and everyone (well anyone and everyone above the age of 18) pick this one up and give it a go.

****

4 Stars

This book wasn't really what I was expecting. But that is not said in a bad way, it was a great book, just really not what I thought it would be.

There is Grim, he had a horrible experience and was drowning himself in booze when the Army catches back up with him and assigns him to train a group of extremely different women. When everything starts hitting the fan they all come together to try and save the country. Its hard to summarize what was going on without giving a lot of the book away so I have to stop there.

There was seriously a little of everything in this book. Drama, love, lust, religion, guns, bombs, fighting, humor etc. . .You think of something and it was there. It was a very entertaining read, the only thing that bothered me was the way the dialogue was. Instead of it being separated so you could easily tell when a new person was talking it was all put together in one paragraph. It made it difficult to read in the beginning but I was able to adjust.

I was able to get a feeling for each of the characters, and everyone had their own backstories. I cared what happened to each one of them, and understood them better because of this. Grim had to be one of the happiest men in the world for all he was getting *wink wink*.

I'm still not sure how I feel about the ending, it all seemed a little rushed to me, and everything seemed to wrap up to nicely. I can only assume there is going to be another book written to explain more about all that happened. It in no way ended in a cliffhanger, but definitely left me curious as to what else is going to happen with the gang.

I really loved the dedications and copy right in the beginning, it really has nothing to do with the book at all, and normally I just skip over that stuff but it had me cracking up. It set the book up for me and the book didn't disappoint.

Would I recommend this book? Yes I would, like I said it had a little of everything in it and was very entertaining.

Rising (Book 1: Resistance)

Rising (Book 1: Resistance)

by: Laura Josephsen

All Alphonse wants is a quiet summer at home before his final months at university. What he gets is a half-dead stranger on his doorstep and the task of delivering a package to the leader of his home country. Not long after he boards a train toward the capital, he's attacked by knights, elite soldiers of the neighboring king. 

Alphonse is temporarily rescued by Mairwyn, a mechanic with a haunted past and a deep hatred of knights. Together, they attempt to carry out Alphonse's urgent errand, only to learn that if they fail, countless people will die. 

And even if they succeed, they may not be able to prevent the war that lurks on the horizon.

*****

5 Stars

This is one of those books that I have a hard time reviewing. I liked everything about it and its hard for me to pin point exactly what it was about the book that made me like it so much. The book is full of intrigue, pain, love and so much more.

Alphonse was by far my favorite character. He was just so nerdy, and they way he was so clueless to a lot of things was amusing. The banter between him and Mairwyn was a good way to lighten up an other wise serious story line. 

Mairwyn's story was, for lack of a better word, intense. It was given to you in increments and that work great, it made you start to slowly care for her and continue to read to see why she is so broken. And when you finally do find out its heart breaking.

I liked how part 1 was told from Alphonse's point a view and part 2 from Mairwyn's. It was a good way for you to get to know them both and to care about them. I really liked how everyone's story intersected with everyone else's. Laura had to put a lot of thought into each character to make this work. 

The plot of the story was great in itself. Traveling across the country to try and stop a horrible war. Filled with meeting new people along the way and the development of a sweet romance. Seriously there is nothing in this book not to love.

I'm looking forward to reading the second book. From what I can tell its told from different point of views, but that works great because it gives me a chance to learn more about other characters that I liked but didn't get a chance to really know.

Would I recommend this book? Yup, its going on my favorites lists. . .and I believe that everyone should have to read the books I have on that list.

Death of a Kindle

My beloved kindle has met its end today at the hands of a coffee spill. Though it tried to pull through and keep my reading desires going it gave one last hurrah before the touch screen stopped working all together. My heart breaks at the end of such a wonderful device that has given me hours upon hours of fun.

Oh kindle how I shall miss you.

Oh Walmart how I want to punch you for your stupid rules when it comes to protection plans that will make me have to wait forever before I can get my money back.

Oh Amazon how you disappoint me that you no longer sell kindles in Walmart and how it would have made my life so much easier.

Oh Best Buy how I hate the fact that I have to drive 20 minutes to get there so I can buy a new one while I wait forever for my refund from Walmart.

Oh new kindle cover if you only came in the mail yesterday none of this would have happened.

Woe is me.

I will forever remember you my beautiful kindle. May you rest in peace.

Okay I'm done with my dramatics now.

The coffee spilling culprit is on his way to get me a new one and he did try to save the kindle before anything else. So its not all bad, a new kindle is fine by me and as long as I get my money back in the end I'll be happy.

Happily Never After

Happily Never After

by: Missy Fleming

There's no such thing as happy endings.

Savannah, Georgia is rumored to be the most haunted place in America. Quinn Roberts knows it is. She's felt the presence of spirits her entire life, investigating and photographing them with her best friend. Only none of those encounters ever turned violent, until now. The menacing darkness feeding off her stepmother has promised she won't live to see her eighteenth birthday.

After a chance meeting Quinn reluctantly allows actor Jason Preston into her life, which has complications of its own. She's not used to letting people get close. Falling for him while fighting for her life, and her family's legacy, only complicates things more. Jason shows her exactly what she stands to lose, especially when she's being attacked by the mysterious entity. Each attack is more violent and terrifying than the last.

With Jason's help, she dives into the Roberts' family history, searching for a link between a woman who went missing a hundred and fifty years ago and what's happening now. What they find is a brutal murder and that the ghost doesn't just want to hurt Quinn, it wants revenge.

It wants her life.

*****

5 Stars

I went into this book knowing it was a sort of Cinderella story. I have a big weakness when it comes to books were an author takes a classic fairy tale and makes it into their own story while still keeping to the original plot. I love them and really never pass up a chance to read something like that.

It also didn't hurt that I love ghosts stories or anything that has to do with hauntings. These things appeal to me, I like being a little scared or creeped out when I read stuff sometimes. Missy Fleming's took some of my favorite things, put them together and made a really great book.

Quinn really did make me think of Cinderella. She was on the meek side, but was ready to fight for the things she loved when the time came. She had her own inner strength that would come out when it was needed. I didn't like how she let herself get pushed around, but at the same time I understood her predicament.

I liked the classic kind of haunting that went on. It was the kind of stuff that gives you the willies and makes you want to sleep with the light on just in case. It wasn't over scary with things, just enough to make you think twice about that creaking noise you just heard. But don't be fooled things don't stay that way the entire read, they get much worse the farther you get in. 

The way Savannah, Georgia was described made me want to go there. I don't know it was true to the real place, but I really hope it was. The conflict in the story was a nice touch. I liked how Quinn had to find pieces of the puzzle to put it all together before she really knew what was going on and we learned as she did. 

The ending blew me away. I did not see that coming at all. I can't say more then that because it would give it away, just know it was a big twist.

I would say the only thing I didn't really like was the relationship aspect. It felt a little forced to me, and maybe just seemed like a good way for us to learn a little more about Quinn when she would talk about her past to Jason. To me it didn't really feel like they cared about each other. But since I didn't read this book for the romance it didn't take away from the book to much for me.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, anyone that likes fairy tales with a twist will love this book.

Ember (Ember Series)

Ember (Ember Series)

by: Tess Williams

Evelyn is one girl amidst hundreds of sword wielding, demon fighting, magic casting… boys. 

Insecurity and logic have always kept the wild, adventurous spirit of seventeen year old Evelyn Avest stuck in her home town of Tiver. Now, with the Order, an all male fighting league, she finally feels like she’s found her place. If she wants to stay she’ll have to prove her worth as a magic Artisan. The problem is, the only one who can teach her to do that is one particularly infuriating, exasperating, cocky, self absorbed, gorgeous, powerful, hot, well… Jerk. A war is coming, and in the end, the girl who should not be there… will become the only answer.

***

3 Stars

I’m not sure how I really feel about this book. It’s one of those ones that you love to hate and hate to love. When I first went in I was iffy on everything. But then there was a conversation between Eve, Cornelius, and Ikovos that had me laughing and I started to fall in love.

Everything starts moving along, but a lot of things that happen just seem to be put there to make the book longer. Because of this things started to feel like they were dragging at certain points before everything would pick up and get moving again. I felt this the most when it came to Eve learning magic, it seemed like it would be a big part of the book, I mean it is freaking magic if I could learn it I would be up in everyone’s business all the time until I got taught, but she seemed to forget that she could for a while and then when she finally did learn magic it wasn’t as big a deal as I thought it would be. More like a “oh okay you can do magic now, good for you” feeling. . .I was disappointed. The weapons training part also seemed pointless; she never did anything with it.

Now Eve is probably why I’m waffling back and forth so much about this book. One minute she is amazing and I want to stand behind her and cheer, then the next she can barely get a sentence out and I want to start shaking her, hard. I understand that is just how she is, socially awkward and all that jazz. . .I’m socially awkward but I can still get full sentences out when the need arises, and if I’m with friends forget about it, it’s like all my pent up awkwardness gets thrown at them and I don’t shut up.

The relationship aspect of this book was alright. I liked how it developed over time and there was no intsa-love. I thought a couple of times that there was going to be a love triangle but thank God that didn’t really happen. What I don’t understand is how she could fall in love with the person she did, he was mean, treated her bad and always made it seem like she wasn’t wanted. When the possible other love interest was always there for her, helped her out, and was just an all around nice guy. When love was finally declared it felt forced. . .like really forced, like “we are almost at the end of the book and need some emotional crap thrown in real quick” forced.

So here I sit on the fence because even though I didn’t like a lot about this book I still did really like it, especially in the beginning. When my husband asked if I was reading a good book I practically knocked him over telling him yes. The entire first half of this book is amazing. . .the entire last half no so much. It was still really interesting, just a lot of things made me mad.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, because it was still pretty awesome, and I know the things I didn’t like wouldn’t really bother a lot of other people. I’m just picky.

Books Everyone Should Read

I've had this post hanging around for like a week. I made it when I was sick because I was slacking on writing reviews. But now I'm all better and it has ended up getting pushed around and moved around to make room for either new reviews or other posts that I feel are more important than this one. But I'm tired of looking at it just sitting there. It has some good books that I've written reviews on before, though not on here. I'll be posting links to each book at the end so that you can hurry up and read them without the hassle of having to do more then click a button. . .and if your feeling super great today you can even look up those reviews I wrote that I was telling you about.

• Nefertiti's Heart by: A.W. Exley

London, 1861. Impoverished noble Cara has a simple mission after the strange death of her father - sell off his damned collection of priceless artifacts. Her plan goes awry when aristocratic beauties start dying of broken hearts, an eight inch long brass key hammered through their chests. A killer hunts amongst the nobility, searching for a regal beauty and an ancient Egyptian relic rumored to hold the key to immortality.

Her Majesty's Enforcers are in pursuit of the murderer and they see a connection between the gruesome deaths and Cara. So does she, somewhere in London her father hid Nefertiti's Heart, a
fist sized diamond with strange mechanical workings. Adding further complication to her life, notorious crime lord, Viscount Nathaniel Lyons is relentless in his desire to lay his hands on Cara and the priceless artifact. If only she could figure out his motive. 

Self-preservation fuels Cara's search for the gem. In a society where everyone wears a mask to hide their true intent, she needs to figure out who to trust, before she makes a fatal mistake.


-Steampunk, I don't think many people know what it is. I've been asked to explain it before and I had a really hard time doing just that. I haven't been able to find many books that are worth reading in this genre, but Nefertiti's Heart is one of them. 

• Isle of Wysteria: Make Like a Tree and Leaf by: Aaron Lee Yeager

Ever since she was little, Athel has dreamed about finally escaping her home island of Treesingers and joining the Federal Navy to see the world. When her nose wasn't buried in adventure novels, she was bribing the palace guards to teach her swordplay in her spare time.

Now that the day has finally arrived, her mother arrives with a condition: Athel can leave so long as she takes her new fiancé with her. Alder is the complete opposite of everything Athel ever imagined in a house-husband. She is free-spirited and crude, while he is formal and polite. What's worse, he is like a head shorter than she is. I know, right? He ruins every chance she gets to wallow in her new-found freedom, and she gives him every embarrassing chore she can think of to get back at him.
The worst part of all is that they really are perfect for each other, but how can you admit to your mother that she picked a good match for you? You just can't.

Together they traverse the vast twelve seas of their island world. Each island is home to a unique race of people that each specialize in a different kind of magic. The seas that separate them are wild and acidic, reaching out to snap up any who venture too close, so the world is traveled by massive airships. Wooden vessels that rely on the power of The Federal Navy to protect them from pirates, privateers, and mercenaries.

When war is declared between her island and the rest of the league, Athel becomes the target of kidnappers, pirates and shape-shifting assassins. Even the crew of her own ship is tempted by the price on her head. It is going to take a lot more then luck to get her and her twiggy fiancé out of this one.

-This book was awesome. I remember thinking it wasn't going to be anything special when I first starting reading it. I couldn't have been more wrong, I think it was one of the only times I was okay with being wrong.

• Indigo & Iris by: C.M. Stunich

Rule One: Gold protects but doesn't prevent.

Rule Number One Hundred and Eighteen: Do not discredit any information for all things are, in time, inherently useful.

Rule One Hundred and Eighty Seven: Remember the Rules.

They sound more like fortune cookies than bits of advice, but Indigo Lewis is going to have to get real used to 'em if she wants to survive. After eight years on the lam, her maniacal twin sister has finally caught up with Indigo and taken away everything she's finally built for herself. On the coattails of that tragedy comes Lynx, the man with the goofy grin and the gold epaulettes, who brings with him a train that travels without tracks and an arsenal of weapons that shouldn't reasonably exist. And all of it for a broken spyglass. Indigo thought she'd seen it all. She was wrong.

-This one is steampunk as well. But where the Nefertiti's Heart takes place in the Victorian Era, this one is more modern. It has a whole lot of "what the heck!" moments going on in it, and is one super crazy ride.

• Lucky Stiff: Memoirs of an Undead Lover by: Tonia Brown 

Meet Peter Lyles, a young man unremarkable in life but unforgettable in un-death. After he accidentally overdoses while on spring break, Peter's friends do him the dubious favor of bringing him back to life. Or rather, they turn him into a zombie with the help of a little old fashioned Voodoo. Peter's journey through the unlife takes him from the homebrewed sex magic of a mysterious swamp-dwelling Madam, to bouncing from bedroom to bedroom all across the globe, and finally leaving him with a career as the hottest gigolo not alive. All the while, he must deny his hunger for human flesh while sating his passion for, well, human flesh. At turns humorous, at times touching, but always sexy, sexy, sexy. "Lucky Stiff" will leave you wanting more Peter. He's just that good. 









-I know what you are thinking already. Zombie that has sex, no thank you! I thought the same thing. But this book is so much more then that. I'm someone that loves zombies, but I'm really picky about them. I like classic zombies, none that this running and talking crap you see now a days. So usually when I come across a zombie book like that I pass it up. I'm so happy I gave this book a chance, it was a really good read.

• Eville by: Holand Peterson

Serene Necrosia is a brilliant scientist, on the brink of creating something that will change the lives of every living thing on the planet. The only problem is that she has been vaporizing, incinerating, and generally decimating her staff at an alarming rate- all in the name of progress, naturally. But now the Hunchback Union has had enough, and is refusing to supply the woman additional labor. What’s a mad scientist to do? Search for a desperate, poor sap who doesn’t know any better to fill in the vacancy.

Alex Hobbs is down on his luck. He’s lost his job, is dead broke, his girlfriend just dumped him, his car died, and the turkey baking in his neighbor’s oven detonated and burned down his apartment. It’s been one of those weeks. Desperate, he turns to the local employment agency for a job- any job to keep him from starving on the street. When a rather odd fellow working at the agency tells Alex about an exciting entry level position, vaguely described as being in the scientific/medical field, he jumps at the opportunity. Sure, it sounds too good to be true, but a guy’s luck has to turn around sometime, right?

Alex now finds himself stuck in an insane mansion deep in the countryside, bordering the mysterious community of Eville, populated by a colorful cast of volatile inventors, the worlds’ surliest hunchback, stately werewolves, goblin barbers, and the lonely, disembodied brains of ex-husbands whose only form of communication is a worn out Etch-A-Sketch. With free room and board and an exceptionally generous salary, Alex figures he can stick through the madness long enough to get back on his feet. That is, of course, if Serene doesn’t inadvertently kill him off with one of her crackpot inventions before payday.

-I don't even know where to start with this one. It is awesomely hilarious. Everything from Alex right down to Moody is amazing. I know as soon as I finished this book I went and got the second one right away. 

I need to add that while trying to clean this post up I had a kitten climbing all over me purring as loud as she can. She managed to walk on the keyboard, click random spots, and just in general be a pain in the booty the entire time. But dang if she isn't super freaking cute at the same time.

All these links will take you to Amazon:

• Nefertiti's Heart
• Isle of Wysteria: Make Like a Tree and Leaf
• Indigo & Iris (An Indigo Lewis Novel)
• Lucky Stiff: Memoirs of an Undead Lover
• Eville

Author Interview With J.L.M. Visada

So I have had the immense pleasure of interviewing author J.L.M. Visada. I knew going in I was going to have fun doing this. I've followed him pretty closely since I stumbled across his book Midnight Squad: The Grim when it was on special on Amazon. I couldn't have been happier to take that misstep. 

There is no safe way to explain this book. To me it felt like a little bit of everything tossed together to make something truly entertaining. I laughed, bit my nails in suspense (I know terrible habit), swooned, and just had an all around great time reading this book.

I think some people would like to say this book is erotica. It definitely has some steamy sex scenes, but to me that was more of an added bonus to everything else. I laughed more then anything reading this book.

I feel a special sort of bond for J.L.M. Visada, I had the pleasure of being one of the first people to review his book for him. As well has having the same kind of crazy, amazing, off the wall, loving relationship with my husband that he has with his wife. This man truly loves his wife, which I'm sure all of you will be able to figure out for yourself after the interview. Also anyone that makes me laugh is right away someone I want to be around and know better. To steal a line from the movie Zombieland "This guy has a direct line to my funny bone." 

I was inspired to ask J.L.M. Visade for this interview because he has just finished the writing part of the second book in the Midnight Squad series called Midnight Squad: The Ties That Bind and I really wanted to help promote his current book as well as the new one as well. 

-What made you decide to start writing?

"Honestly I was trying to get into my wife's pants. She loves Urban Fantasy, and Paranormal Romances. So I started reading them so I'd have more stuff to chat with her about. Then I thought I'd try writing her something, and fell in love with the whole thing. It's pretty addictive once you get started, and I really recommend trying it for anybody. After I finished, my wife loved it. So I ended up putting it on kindle. I thought, "Hey maybe someone else might like it. I might actually sell a book or two." I would have been writing for free anyway, but getting paid is a great added bonus. So that's how the first Midnight Squad was written. It was a horny guys attempt to get into his wife's pants."

-Do you have a writing process, or something that helps you to write everything out?

"My process is that I have a general idea of where I want the story to go, and I do my best to visualize the scenes I'm writing in my head. If I can't visualize it then it doesn't go in. I don't plan it out any farther than that. I've been really fortunate that people have enjoyed my writing, and I really appreciate it. That being said I make it a point to have fun with what I'm doing. If I'm not having fun writing it then it shouldn't be in there. I figure that there are going to be people that love it, and there will be people that hate it. So if I'm going to have people that hate what I do then I should at least have had fun doing it. I mean at least one of us should have enjoyed it, and since I have the pen (well typewriter...er computer) I'd feel pretty stupid if I wrote something I didn't like and still had to deal with an unhappy reader. Although most of the people that talk to me about this are very positive which was really a wonderful surprise."

-Can you tell me what the hardest part of writing is for you?

"Probably the editing. The first book I edited the thing many times over, but anyone reading it could tell you that I certainly have no future in editing. Thank God for my wife, and some of my friends that have taken over the editing for this second book. They're taking the burden off me, and so now all I have to do is write it, edit it once before I turn it over to those wonderful people, and then when they are done make the corrections, and of course clean up some parts as necessary. So now that they've all made my life easier, the new hardest thing is probably trying to remember to take some downtime away from the writing. I love it, but I can turn anything into a job if given half a chance. So I have to be reminded to take some breaks. Go play xbox, read my kindle, or watch cartoons."

-From what I understand you work full time, how do you manage to find the time to write?

"I write when I get off work. Sometimes I'm typing away 0430. Thank God I usually go in to work at 1430 hours. So I still get plenty of sleep. I write when I get home, and I write after I wake up, and I also spend a lot of time writing on my weekends. I just have to remind myself to take breaks, and make sure I have down time. My wife really keeps tabs on that for me, and I'm thankful for that. She keeps me from burning myself out."

-How did you come up with the idea for Midnight Squad: The Grim?

"Well it was my sneaky attempt to get into my wife's pants. Now as to the specifics. I am a huge Scooby Doo fan, and I would be a happy man if my television was permanently affixed to Cartoon Network. I love how they tell stories, and get their points across, but they never take themselves too seriously. So I wanted to do the same thing with Midnight Squad. I want you to have as much fun reading it as I had writing it, and if I sneak up and drop a little food for thought along the way that's just icing on the cake. I wanted something that will make you laugh, maybe make you angry, sometimes get you horny, and the whole time you know that I was writing it laughing, grumbling, and suddenly feeling really awkward right along with you. I like to think of the people reading as potential friends. I'm just trying to tell you a funny little dirty story, and hopefully we all walk away happy and a little closer to one another."

-When you first came up with the idea for Midnight Squad: The Grim did you imagine it would all play out the way it did?

"I knew the good guys would win, but I wasn't completely sure who'd be left over at the end of the book. Originally I thought Grim's stepfather and family would die, and Alhambra would turn out to be a good guy in the end, but none of that happened. They staged a coup and overthrew me. Sometimes you just can't make imaginary characters do what you want. I didn't really expect the situation with Danika and Grim to end up like it did in the first book. It just sort of grew on its own. No as for the business part of it. I really didn't expect that. I thought if I was lucky I might sell four or five books, and one of those would be a copy I bought. I kept telling hoping and praying that if I was really lucky after saving up a few months of royalties I might be able to buy a pizza or maybe raid Taco Bell once. So you can imagine my surprise when I found myself on the top 100 a couple times in two categories. A happy dance was had, and yes I did drop it like it was hot. Even right now as the book has finally slowed down a little in sales after almost four months I have to say that I'm still selling more in a day than I expected to sell in a month. I still keep thinking that Amazon must have made a terrible mistake and somehow people are buying my book accidently. Don't even get me started on how I act when I see someone asks to be my friend on facebook because of the book. I've met some really awesome people on facebook because of this. I have friends now, which is weird for me because before this book the only people I was friends with were my wife (who is contractually obligated to like me...we signed a contract), and our pets. My wife is still my best friend, and I couldn't (and wouldn't) have done any of this without her. In a roundabout way my book is a goofy I love you to my wife. Even the pen name. J.L.M. Visada. (J)ohn (L)oves (M)elissa and Visada is Lithuanian for Always. I owe Google translate thanks for helping me find a last name that actually sounds halfway decent."

-You have so many characters in your book, ranging from a vampire to a ghost. Was it hard for you to come up with each distinct personality and back story?

"It wasn't hard to think them up, but it was hard to try and keep them distinct. Thank God for the internet, and for people willing to answer my sometimes bizarre questions. I'm a 35 year old white dude that's been happily married for over ten years now. So I have no clue what it's like to be a young single African American lesbian, but if I ask around on the internet then someone will tell me. So I end up having some strange conversations in order to better flesh out characters. The first book is written from a horny occasionally immature guy's perspective, and as a horny often immature guy I have very few questions about what that is like, but this second book is from DD's perspective, and so I'm really having to do a lot of homework to try and understand the perspective of a young woman in her twenties. Luckily I've found a lot of people willing to explain things to me, and not run away screaming."

-Because I follow your process pretty closely I know you just finished the second book. Is there a reason why you decided to do it from a different point of view this time instead of Grim’s?

"I thought the idea would be a real challenge. Grim is so proactive that he really drives the first story, but I knew writing DD would require a much more passive and reactionary tone. I love a challenge, and that's just one of the many reasons I married my wife. Also I really liked the idea that with it being a different character I could really flesh characters out more. If you read the first book then you know how Grim thinks about everyone else. Now with the new book you get to see how someone sees Grim, and how they view the others. I like how even though they are the same characters that you met in the first book, now they are seen in a new light. So they get to be familiar without being stale."

-Can we hope to expect the same off the wall fun this time around?

"Oh yeah, definitely. With DD being the main character this time around I was able to play with the story a lot more. There is so much going on in this book. I think that if you loved the goofiness and irreverence of the first then you'll get plenty of that, but at the same time you'll get so much more. It's hard to answer this without dumping a bunch of spoilers on you. So I'll just say this. As long as Grim is in this book there will be some definite off the wall stuff, but now there is so much more happening, and as I'm writing this my wife is editing it beside me. She had to put the book down a few times because she was laughing so hard that she was crying. So hopefully that is a good sign. Although she is editing it so it could just be that my grammar and spelling is just that bad."

-When can we expect to see the new book on the market?

"I'm trying to get it out as soon as possible, but I'm at the mercy of the three wonderful women that are editing my book, and one of those women is my beautiful wife. So my efforts to seduce her might slow her editing down some (I hope). Once they all finish editing my book, then I have to go back and make all the magical mystical corrections. Then go back over it one last time to see if there is anywhere that needs spit and polish. Then it I need to go by a photo to use for the cover. Once that's done then I'll send it out. I'm hoping to have it all done and out sometimes in April, but it all depends on the editors right now. If they finish early then I can get it out earlier, but they do have a daunting task of cleaning up my mess. So it might take them a little longer to get all the editing done. Basically count on it being about two to three weeks after I get all the edits back form the three amazing women that handling this. I can't thank them enough."

So now you can see for yourself just how amusing J.L.M. Visada can be, and that I wasn't lying about his love for his wife, all it really takes to see this is the meaning of his pen name.

I'll be keeping tabs of when exactly his new book Midnight Squad: The Ties That Bind will be released and I'll fill all of you wonderful people in just as soon as I know. If you are interested in checking out Midnight Squad: The Grim just follow this handy little link I'm about to post:

Midnight Squad: The Grim

If your interested in wanting to get to know the author behind the book you can find him at his facebook page (yes another handy little link coming up for ya'll, geez I still make myself laugh when I southern it up. . .being as I was born and raised in Jersey.)

J.L.M. Visada Facebook

This will not be the last you will hear me talking about J.L.M. Visada so perk up. I'll be posting my review here for Midnight Squad: The Grim as well as fan girling it out when the new book is released. I also hope to be able to have a cover release for it on here (crosses fingers).

Hopefully ya'll love Midnight Squad: The Grim as much as I did. I went a little southern there again, but anyway hurry up and read this amazing book.

Altered - Revelations of the Evolved

Altered - Revelations of the Evolved

By: Shawnda Currie

**

2 Stars

I went into this book pretty excited. I mean time travelers coming to the past to stop a future war that going to ruin the world. Anyone should be excited about that.

Lacey has made some bad choices in life and her father sends her to a detention center called Clear Waters. While there she meets Taylor and he introduces her to time travel and her own special powers. Together they break out to try and stop certain events before they can cause a war that will destroy everything.

So I told you I was excited, I went in with my hopes high. . .like real high. I got crushed. The concept of the book is great. Everything else not so much. Everything just seemed so forced to me or to easy. I imagined a hard struggle to accomplish their goals when in reality they pretty much just hung around until D-day and kinda took everything on the fly. The filler just wasn't exciting at all, they robbed a bank. . .a freaking bank! And I still wanted to yawn the entire time.

Lacey, I did not like her at all. She reacted wrong to everything. She gets attacked in what I imagine would have turned into rape if it didn't get stopped and there is one sentence were she gets a little teary eyed over it. It has no affect on her at all. Taylor leaves her in the woods by herself and she spends an entire night stuck out there in the rain and he says "I'm sorry" twice and suddenly its okay. I wanted to jump in the book smack her around a little and tell her to grow a pair and stick up for herself. 

I didn't really like Taylor either, mainly because I never got a chance to know him. It was like he was just there for the romantic interest and to give Lacey a few training sessions to unlock her mind. Other then that I didn't get the feeling he ever cared for her at all. Honestly I thought there was going to be some major plot twist where he turned out to really be the bad guy (which would have made this book much more enjoyable).

Everyone else in the book is the same way. I can't even remember their names, all very forgettable characters. 

The ending didn't work for me at all. I can admit I was a little shocked, but not enough to get excited over everything. The fact the everything just works itself out so nicely was disappointing, I wanted to see Lacey struggle a little more.

Even though I didn't like a lot about this book I really really liked the concept. It was just so awesome, and it was explained well. I didn't just have to accept that these people could travel through time, I learned how it was done and it was easy to understand. I would have liked to learn a little more about future Earth. 

Would I recommend this book? No, it just didn't work for me. I found myself more disappointed then happy at the end.

Dark Triumph (His Fair Assassin Trilogy) Release Date

Where to start. . .well I guess the best way is to gush like a fan girl.

I loved Grave Mercy! Loved it!!

Okay now that is out of the way. I have this thing where every now and again I want to read a book about assassins. You wouldn't think it would be hard to get your hands on a book like that, and it isn't. They are all over the place, but to get a good book about assassins, now that is rare. I remember picking up Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers a while back and hoping it would be worth reading. Oh and it was.

So because I have a horrible memory, and tend to not be a great stalker it just came to my attention that the second book in the trilogy is about to be released. Not only that but I don't have to wait months for it. Yay! Sometimes its a good thing when your memory sucks and you forget to stalk author pages.

As far as I can tell from the synopsis Dark Triumph will be taking the point of view of Sybella instead of Ismae. Which I'm okay with, I wanted to know more about Sybella and now I'm getting that.

Sybella arrives at the convent’s doorstep half mad with grief and despair. Those that serve Death are only too happy to offer her refuge—but at a price. The convent views Sybella, naturally skilled in the arts of both death and seduction, as one of their most dangerous weapons. But those assassin's skills are little comfort when the convent returns her to a life that nearly drove her mad. And while Sybella is a weapon of justice wrought by the god of Death himself, He must give her a reason to live. When she discovers an unexpected ally imprisoned in the dungeons, will a daughter of Death find something other than vengeance to live for?











I cannot wait to get my greedy little hands on this book. So I have upped my stalking skills (which wasn't much, I really am horrible at finding information on things) and found my way to Robin LaFevers website and found this fun little widget with a count down until Dark Triumph is released. You can find it floating around somewhere on the right side of my blog.

But in case you don't feel like looking for it the release date is April 2, 2013. That still gives you some time to read Grave Mercy if you haven't already. Which I suggest you do, that book was the cats meow. I can only imagine that this one will be just as amazing.