Indie Summer Tour - Snowed Under by Jen Greyson!

Hey guys! Welcome to my spot in the Indie Summer Tour! (Made possible by the folks 'round at Parajunkee.) I'm going to tell you a bit about Jen Greyson and her recently released novel called Snowed Under, before we get to the really great part: giveaways!!!

About the book:

Cassidy has life all figured out. She’s one semester away from finishing her degree and then she’s off to save Mother Earth. But first, she has to stop the planet-murdering Whetman Logging.

Teague Whetman brought MIT home to the family logging business in Alaska. They’re high-tech artesian. But even his advanced technology can’t handle Cassidy’s handcuffs when she chains herself to the main saw.

When a late-Spring storm hammers the little town of Bear Ridge with eighty inches of snow, Teague and Cassidy must put aside their animosity to battle a power outage, grizzly bear, and their own attraction.

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This book is just out and I'll be the first to say that it looks amazing! I love books that deal with the theme of the environment, because it's such a relevant topic nowadays. (Also, a little romance can't hurt.) I'm going to grab this book as soon as I can!

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About the Author:

From the moment she decided on a degree in Equestrian Studies, Jen Greyson’s life has been one unscripted adventure after another. Leaving the cowboy state of Wyoming to train show horses in France, Switzerland, and Germany, she’s lived life without much of a plan, but always a book in her suitcase. Now a wife and mom to two young boys, she relies on her adventurous, passionate characters to be the risk-takers.

You can find her at:

http://jengreyson.com

https://www.facebook.com/thesurvivalmama
@jengreyson

The fabulous Jen Greyson also took the time to answer the question that's been on my mind from the start: 

Me: What city inspired your writing? 

Jen:

The most random things inspire a new story. For SNOWED UNDER (formerly WOOD) I caught a news article about a tiny Alaskan town (Point Hope, I think) that got hit by a late Spring storm and hammered with ridiculous snow totals–like 108″ in a day–and their shipment of heating oil got delayed. I started thinking about what kind of characters would meet under those circumstances . . . and then the least likely combination of characters that would meet under the same circumstances. Talk about obstacles 

After a bit of drifty daydreaming I came up with the unlikely pair that you meet in the book, a logger and a hippie–two people at extreme opposite ends of the spectrum. Aaannnnd Teague’s already made the shift from college to the business world, where Cassidy’s still starry-eyed and taking on the world…so their views on a lot of things are shaded from their perspectives and knowledge pools.

My writing mentor once told me that if you start with setting your characters organically grow from that and the two weave together better than if you start with characters and try to stuff them into a certain place. Now that I’ve been able to try that a few times, I’ve found it’s much easier to see the conflicts from the very beginning.

Plus, it makes my bucket list a pretty interesting mix 

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GIVEAWAY!!!!!

Jen Grayson has been very good to us - there's a copy of Snowed Under up for grabs! Also, there's a KindleFire for some lucky person, so be sure to check that out as well!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

It's A Sad, Sad Day

So, anyone who reads this blog understands that I am a Night Huntress fan - seriously, those books are great. Well, the author of the series, Jeaniene Frost, put up a post the other day that the series will be ending...with the next book.

The series was originally contracted for nine books, which was great for us readers, but we were told in 2011 that it would be cut down to eight. Now, in her latest post, Frost explains that there will be no more Cat and Bones books after Up From The Grave, which is due out next January. You can check that post out here, but the main reason seems to be that she had the series' storyline nicely finished up, and didn't want to write a filler book. 
Which, after my last review, I can understand.

So, while I am sad to see the series go, (I wasn't emotionally prepared for this!) I hope that this means that Up From The Grave will be more action-packed and, well, generally awesome than it would have been otherwise. Plus, there is always the chance that Ian will get a book! ;)

Biting "Really" Bad by Chloe Neill

Merit has been a vampire for only a short while, but she’s already seen a lifetime’s worth of trouble. She and her Master, centuries-old Ethan Sullivan, have risked their lives time and again to save the city they love. But not all of Chicago is loving them back.

Anti-vampire riots are erupting all over town, striking vampires where it hurts the most. A splinter group armed with Molotov cocktails and deep-seated hate is intent on clearing the fanged from the Windy City come hell or high water.

Merit and her allies rush to figure out who’s behind the attacks, who will be targeted next, and whether there’s any way to stop the wanton destruction. The battle for Chicago is just beginning, and Merit is running out of time...

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Guys, I'm really sorry. This book didn't really make me angry, it just made me sad (okay, it made me a little angry). I love Merit, you know I do. This is one of my all-time favourite series and I guess up until now I had this misguided notion that Chloe Neill could do no wrong. 

Well, I was wrong.

It started off okay, with all the usual snark and humour.  However, it took me forever to get into. There was just no action! Even when something was supposedly happening, no one did anything! There were these riots going on, and they were meant to be the main drama source for the book, but here's the thing: nobody cared. Everyone just sat around making jokes that weren't that funny and having endless meetings that yielded no results.

The lack of action was something that lasted throughout the entire thing. I don't even think there was a climax to this book. And while, yeah, there was a sex scene thrown in there for the hell of things, there was no overall breaking point where I went "Whoa, what's going to happen?". It was like a whole book made out of filler chapters. It was a filler book in the series.

Surprisingly though, that wasn't even the worst thing. Merit seriously let me down in this book. Despite being the heroine of the story, she wasn't very heroic. Remember guys, that she was named Sentinel in the very first book, because even though she was only a two-day old baby vamp, she nearly managed to catch Ethan, Master of the House. Well, in this book she manages to get taken down by a human (one lone human!) at least three times!!! I swear, every time I flip a page, Ethan is saving her from something. And you know, I wouldn't be so put out if this was consistent with her character, but up until now she's been taking down vampires, werewolves and - wait for it - freaking angels! 

Wait, there's more. I think Neill was trying to show everyone how bad-ass Ethan has gotten, ever since he came back to life. However, she's showing it by making him do stupid things. Now, Ethan prides himself on not being stupid, but he is constantly rushing off into battle when they have not one, but two teams of guards there (Grey House joined the fun), and his House is on two separate hit lists! Both the GP and the city want to annihilate the House, and he's leaving it practically every second page to go put himself in danger and save Merit's ass. Not cool, Ethan.

I could go on for a while, listing all the things that made this book "Bad", (OH, the puns, the puns) but I think that what I have here is enough to make my point: filler book. To be fair, there were some good things: the banter was great; Ethan and Merit were all lovey-dovey; and we got a great scene with Scott (Master of Grey House) and his human girlfriend Ava. (She had kids and they were adorable!) 

Having said all I needed to say, I know this: I still love the overall series, I still think Chloe Neill is a talented author, and though I wouldn't recommend Biting Bad, I will read the next book in this series (and hope that it's better than this.) For me, Biting Bad was:

 Two hats. It just didn't cut it for me.

Biting Bad Release Day!!!!

Okay, you guys are probably all aware by now that Chicagoland Vampires is one of my all-time favourite series. That's why I am so excited about this release! Chloe Neill is a machine - a book every six months! I am such a lucky reader, and I'm going to start reading right now! Here's the synopsis:

Merit has been a vampire for only a short while, but she’s already seen a lifetime’s worth of trouble. She and her Master, centuries-old Ethan Sullivan, have risked their lives time and again to save the city they love. But not all of Chicago is loving them back.

Anti-vampire riots are erupting all over town, striking vampires where it hurts the most. A splinter group armed with Molotov cocktails and deep-seated hate is intent on clearing the fanged from the Windy City come hell or high water.

Merit and her allies rush to figure out who’s behind the attacks, who will be targeted next, and whether there’s any way to stop the wanton destruction. The battle for Chicago is just beginning, and Merit is running out of time.

This actually looks amazing, so I'm going to go now and, well, read. 

Magic Rises - It's Out!

Woo! Magic Rises has hit the shelves! Are you ready for more Kate and Curran mayham? I know I am! Here's the blurb:

Atlanta is a city plagued by magical problems. Kate Daniels will fight to solve them—no matter the cost.
 
Mercenary Kate Daniels and her mate, Curran, the Beast Lord, are struggling to solve a heartbreaking crisis. Unable to control their beasts, many of the Pack’s shapeshifting children fail to survive to adulthood. While there is a medicine that can help, the secret to its making is closely guarded by the European packs, and there’s little available in Atlanta.
 
Kate can’t bear to watch innocents suffer, but the solution she and Curran have found threatens to be even more painful. The European shapeshifters who once outmaneuvered the Beast Lord have asked him to arbitrate a dispute—and they’ll pay him in medicine. With the young people’s survival and the Pack’s future at stake, Kate and Curran know they must accept the offer—but they have little doubt that they’re heading straight into a trap…

 Oooh, sounds promising. Well, I've got a plane to catch and a book to read! Yep - I'm coming home guys! XD

Sweet Peril by Wendy Higgins - Review

Anna Whitt, the daughter of a guardian angel and a demon, promised herself she’d never do the work of her father—polluting souls. She’d been naive to make such a vow. She’d been naive about a lot of things. 
Haunted by demon whisperers, Anna does whatever she can to survive, even if it means embracing her dark side and earning an unwanted reputation as her school’s party girl. Her life has never looked more bleak. And all the while there’s Kaidan Rowe, son of the Duke of Lust, plaguing her heart and mind.

When an unexpected lost message from the angels surfaces, Anna finds herself traveling the globe with Kopano, son of Wrath, in an attempt to gain support of fellow Nephilim and give them hope for the first time. It soon becomes clear that whatever freedoms Anna and the rest of the Neph are hoping to win will not be gained without a fight. Until then, Anna and Kaidan must put aside the issues between them, overcome the steamiest of temptations yet, and face the ultimate question: is loving someone worth risking their life?

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I'm just going to dive straight in with this one!

It picks up about six months after Sweet Evil ended. Kai is still AWOL, but now Anna has a reputation as the party girl of the school - meaning she's working. She tries to be good about it, she really does, but in the end all of her pretending kind of becomes the truth. And she hates herself for it. Add to that her missing Kaidan and you get a pretty depressed Anna.

So, when Kaidan comes blowing into town (or near enough) with his band, you can imagine Anna's determination to see him. Kai, of course, acts equal parts hot and infuriating, something we've all come to expect by now! ;)

This is all slowly building up to the moment when we get our first real taste of PLOT! Anna gets visited by the spirit/soul/angel/consciousness-thingy of a certain someone and all gets revealed. (And by all I mean the prophecy that only Anna can fulfill.) 

So then, Anna spends the rest of the book gearing up for the big showdown that's going to happen in book three. PLOT kind of takes over here, a symptom of classic Sequel Syndrome (which means no, erm, distracting Kai for about two-hundred pages!). This, however, was not a particularly bad thing, because a lot of development took place over the course of these pages that is essential to the storyline.

We see way more of Kaidan towards the end. I'm going to call this section of the novel the Relationship Progression Stage. Then you have a super tense ending that will lead in perfectly to the third book. 

WHAT I LIKED:

• Anna is no longer that "sweet little Southern girl", yet she still manages to retain her essence, her sense of self. I liked that character development and it was necessary to strengthen her character.
• Kaiden. Seriously, how can you not love Kaidan? He is the bad boy with a heart - and he's in a band.
• Okay, just characters in general then. Some surprised me, others (surprisingly) held true to their nature. But they were all relatable and you could understand why they did the things they did.
• The Relationship Progression Stage. I liked this part!
• I liked the book in general.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE SO MUCH:

• As I said before, this book had a case of Sequel Syndrome. That's when the author pulls out the cliches of sequels in general: prophecies, super-plot, lets-skim-over-that tactics, more focus on politics than action, the heroine going off to "find herself" or hone her new-found powers, you get the idea. The thing about cliches though, the reason people use them, is this: They work. And they worked for this novel, just like they worked for the last three-hundred, and just like they will work for the next.  These cliches were used sparingly and well applied (Go Wendy!) For that, I can ignore the little things.
• It didn't hold my attention. I know, I know, there is a 94.281% chance that it was just me, but I got stuck about halfway through for awhile and just wasn't pushed to continue. I made myself though, and once I got past the "lull" in the middle, I found myself fully immersed in Anna's story once more.

This took a lot of consideration, but I'm going to give this book:

Three hats! This is a series worth reading.

Of Poseidon by Anna Banks - Review

PREMISE

Galen is the prince of the Syrena, sent to land to find a girl he's heard can communicate with fish. Emma is on vacation at the beach. When she runs into Galen — literally, ouch! — both teens sense a connection. But it will take several encounters, including a deadly one with a shark, for Galen to be convinced of Emma's gifts. Now, if he can only convince Emma that she holds the key to his kingdom . . . 

Told from both Emma and Galen's points of view, here is a fish-out-of-water story that sparkles with intrigue, humor, and waves of romance.

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This book was actually pretty good. It starts when Emma runs (literally) into this handsome guy on the beach and they are both all "Ooh, damn you is hot!". As things turn out, he's the prince of the Syrena (mer-people) and thinks that she is one of his subjects on the run. Of course, she doesn't have a clue about any of this, and it doesn't help matters when said prince keeps getting distracted by her pretty face and the shocking heat they feel when they touch...

In addition to believing she is a secret mermaid, he thinks she has the long lost "Gift of Poseidon". (It let's her talk to the fishies, basically.) This would make her a mermaid princess of his arch enemy and....political scheming ensues. He takes on the responsibility to keep an eye on her (which is no hardship, really. He does think she's hot.) Then PLOT happens and everything goes BAM!

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It was good and well paced, with some romance thrown in for good measure. There was also a surprising amount of plot (in a good way!) and some twists that I, for once, did not see coming. However, it was chock full of grammatical mistakes and it kept alternating points of view. One chapter would be written in Emma's POV and the next in Galen's, but Emma's would be written in the first person and Galen's would be written in the third. After awhile it gave me a headache.

It was, in many ways, a typical YA read: light, romantic, mysterious and fun. It would be a great book to bring to the beach and I enjoyed it enough to read a sequel. I give it:
 Three hats. The mermaid's made it magical.

Sweet Peril Release Day!

Today is the day! My Kindle is so happy with me because at 12:01, my pre-ordered copy of Sweet Peril arrived!

Sweet Peril (by Wendy Higgins) is the second book the the Sweet Trilogy. After the gut-wrenching ending in the first book - Sweet Evil - I couldn't wait to get my hands on it! I am about halfway through it, but I am tearing myself away from Kai (the sexiest drummer ever) to update you guys on the sitch.

Here's the synopsis. I'll post a review as soon as I finish it, but for now: Go get yourselves a copy!

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Anna Whitt, the daughter of a guardian angel and a demon, promised herself she’d never do the work of her father—polluting souls. She’d been naive to make such a vow. She’d been naive about a lot of things. 

Haunted by demon whisperers, Anna does whatever she can to survive, even if it means embracing her dark side and earning an unwanted reputation as her school’s party girl. Her life has never looked more bleak. And all the while there’s Kaidan Rowe, son of the Duke of Lust, plaguing her heart and mind.

When an unexpected lost message from the angels surfaces, Anna finds herself traveling the globe with Kopano, son of Wrath, in an attempt to gain support of fellow Nephilim and give them hope for the first time. It soon becomes clear that whatever freedoms Anna and the rest of the Neph are hoping to win will not be gained without a fight. Until then, Anna and Kaidan must put aside the issues between them, overcome the steamiest of temptations yet, and face the ultimate question: is loving someone worth risking their life?

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Sound's good, right? Clicking the picture brings you to Amazon. *hint hint*