Month: May 2013

Darker Days by Jus Accardo Cover Reveal

 

So guys, here’s another awesome cover reveal. This one’s for Darker Days by Jus Accardo (author of the Tremble Series). Its a pretty good cover. Here’s it is along with the blurb:

Darker Days 900px cover-1Jessie Darker goes to high school during the day, but at night she helps with the family investigation business. Cheating husbands and stolen inheritances? They’re your girls—but their specialty is a bit darker. Zombie in your garage? Pesky Poltergeist living in your pool? They’ll have the problem solved in a magical minute. For a nominal fee, of course…

 When gorgeous new client, Lukas Scott, saunters into the office requesting their help to find a stolen box, it sounds like a simple case—until the truth comes out. The box is full of Sin.

 Seven deadly ones, in fact.

 They’ve got five days to recapture the Sins before they’re recalled by the box, taking seven hijacked human bodies with them. Easy peasy—except for one thing…

 There’s a spell that will allow the Sins to remain free, causing chaos forever. When the key ingredient threatens the life of someone she knows, Jessie must make the ultimate choice between love and family—or lose everything.

And there’s a little something extra. YUP, we also get an excerpt!! Here you go:

“So not your biggest fan at the moment,” I said, closing the office door behind me. The run off from my jeans had soaked my sneakers pretty good. With each step, I gave a slight squishing noise accompanied by an annoying squeak against the old tile floor.

 From across the room, Mom stared. “What happened to you?”

  “It attacked me.” Tossing my bag on the couch, I sank into her chair and made sure to grind my butt into the cushion. Got it nice and wet. I was all about sharing the love—and right now, the love was soggy.

 She laughed, waving a folder in my direction. “Surely you’re overreacting. It was one little zombie. They don’t attack people.”

            “I’m serious, Ma. It tried to drown me. And the client assaulted me with ugly footwear. As far as punishments go, I’d say we’re probably square. I’ve learned my lesson.”

            “You’re serious?” Amused expression now replaced by concern, she crossed the room and leaned over her desk to get a better look at me.

            “As a coronary.” Once I was sure the chair had sponged up all it could, I stood and huffed past her. Pulling at my favorite T-shirt—the word Fate inside a blood red heart, is a four letter word on the back—I said, “Child welfare would not be happy to hear you tried to feed your only child to a walking corpse…”

“But why would it attack? Did you provoke it?” Folding her arms, she frowned. “Insult it, perhaps?”

            I winked at her. “Provoke it? Sure. I went and wiggled my ass in front of it yelling lunch just to see what’d happen.” I’d called it Stinky, but that didn’t count as an insult. Something couldn’t be considered an insult if it was true, right?

            Right eyebrow twitching, she fought against a smile. “But you’re okay, right? No bites, broken bones, head injuries, possessions…?”

I smiled and did a little twirl. “All in one piece and still me.”

Mom had a checklist she went through at the end of each job. I was known for taking almost as much damage as I inflicted.

“Oh, and you’re probably going to get a call from the client. I sorta smashed her fence in the process.”

            Mom groaned. “I told you to be more careful.”

            “It’s not like I tried to break anything.”

            “Something tells me you didn’t try hard enough not to break anything, either.”

            “In my defense, it wasn’t a simple trap and slap…”

            “We can’t afford this.” She reached down and pulled a white envelope out from under a stack of papers. “This is the bill for that Mercedes you smashed.”

            “Oh! So not my fault. How was I supposed to know that Spring Heel was gonna land on the car? If it makes you feel any better, I think he was aiming for my head…”

            “If you keep this up, we won’t even be able to afford the rent.”

            She was right, of course, and it made me feel horrible. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m a wrecking ball wrapped in blue jeans. Take my cut of this job and put it toward the repairs. Keep my paycheck for the next month, too.” A good start, but it didn’t feel like enough. Sure, it would cover the damages—I hoped—but I felt guilty about upsetting her. The bills that were piling up kept her awake at night. This was only going to make things worse. We got a fair amount of business, but the overhead in our line of work was sky high.

As much as I hated the idea, I knew what would cheer her up. “I’ll even throw in pet possessions for the next month.”

Find Darker Days

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17370021-darker-days?ac=1

That’s what i love about doing a cover reveal for Jus Accardo, she gives an awesome sneak peak!! 🙂 Darker Days releases August 2013

About Jus Accardo

Copy of JusAccardoJUS ACCARDO spent her childhood reading and learning to cook. Determined to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps as a chef, she applied and was accepted to the Culinary Institute of America. At the last minute, she realized her path lay with fiction, not food, and passed on the spot to pursue writing. Jus is the bestselling author the popular Denazen series from Entangled publishing and is currently working on the first book in a new adult series due out summer 2013. A native New Yorker, she lives in the middle of nowhere with her husband, three dogs, and sometimes guard bear, Oswald.

 

Find Jus Accardo

Website: http://www.jusaccardo.com

Blog: http://www.jusaccardo.com/category/blog/

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/JusAccardo

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJusAccardo

 

Hopeless by Colleen Hoover Review

HopelessI was really looking forward to reading Hopeless and I had such high hopes for it. I thought it would be really good judging by all the glowing reviews I had read. I read it and I hated it so much that it took all my willpower to finish it. I don’t think I’ve ever been so disappointed by something I’ve read! This was a disappointment of epic proportions!

I usually don’t go through the trouble of trying to finish a book if I don’t like. I think it’s a waste of time and effort especially when I could be reading something really good as opposed to something that is an utter waste. But I thought maybe it would get better so I should give it a chance and I managed to finish it and it did not get any better. If there was anything positive in this otherwise dreary exercise, it was that it finally came to an end.

There are quite a few things I have a problem with and I’m not gonna waste anymore of my time outlining all of them, but I will point out a few. As far as characters go, I had a problem with the main protagonists: Sky and Holder. The secondary characters aren’t all that bad. As it is, they are hardly present. I liked Six, sadly she didn’t stay long. Breckin wasn’t bad either, too bad we saw very little of him too. The secondary characters had no depth whatsoever, they simply served as fluff.

There was hardly any characters building apart from Sky and Holder because as I mentioned earlier they were hardly present. We learn nothing about Karen, Jack, Six or even Breckin except the bare essentials (the kind that were covered in a sentence or two) I get that they’re secondary characters but more often than not these characters make the book more enjoyable. Even the writing was dull and boring. Hoover tried really to make the readers really root for the Sky and Holder and while it may have worked with a lot of other readers, it did not connect with me. Sorry I’ve read much better stuff and I have better stuff to read.

On to Sky. I liked her in the beginning and then as the story went on, I couldn’t stand her. Holder was even more annoying. I usually don’t like stories where the boy and girl fall madly in love with each other within less than a week of meeting. This is precisely what happened here. They’re strangers for crying out loud! (and for those of you thinking that they were not in love with each other that early in the book then they were most certainly hopelessly obsessed with each other which is even more disturbing) And what’s a “realistic” love story without the guy acting like a total jerk, right? And he did not once but twice and got away with it both times. Don’t get me wrong, Hoover says the right things but they seem hollow. There’s no way any reader would be okay with Holder’s behaviour, so Hoover gives him really corny and crappy lines something like (and I’ paraphrasing here), ‘oh, I’m not apologizing to you because I don’t want you to forgive me” well  bully for you! She makes him seem like god’s gift to women-kind so the reader and Sky forgive him (quickly) oh and there’s also this other thing where he asks if he can please kiss Sky after behaving like a huge Asswipe! And lo and behold, she lets him. I find this book especially disturbing because of Sky’s dependence on Holder. It’s not healthy! It’s exactly the same reason I had a major problem with Twilight as well (they were also one of the crappiest excuse for book ever written but that’s a rant for another post) Actually that unhealthy obsession goes both ways.

I was looking forward to it so much that I even planned to read the sequel from Holder’s point of view. Obviously I’m now going to avoid that like the plague. But there is a lesson in this disaster, and that is to never add a sequel to your to-read list if you haven’t read the first book. The only exception to this lesson are authors you’ve already read and love. For now, I have to go and re-read something that I really loved to get over this sad excuse for a book!!

Oh and those lame ass lines, “I live you” I tried SO hard not to roll my eyes but sadly I failed. Seriously, who talks like that!? Trust me, that little nugget was not cute and adorable, it was lame and stupid.

Hopeless is the literary equivalent of the movie Precious. I don’t even bother writing reviews for books I don’t like but this one disappointed me on such an enormous scale I just had to get it out of my system.

Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet (Charley Davidson #04) by Darynda Jones Review

Charley DavidsonSo, guess who I discovered recently, Yup, that’s right. Darynda Jones and her Charley Davidson series. And it is so much fun. So different and one of the funniest things I’ve read recently. Very unexpected. I can’t believe I took so long to find her stuff.

Charley Davidson is fast becoming one of my favourite heroines in Adult Fiction and her attitude is a huge part of all the things that make her awesome. I just finished the fourth book, I planned to write a review after I finished the third book and take a bit of a breather from the series, but that plan didn’t work. I started reading the fourth book despite my best efforts to avoid doing that. If you haven’t read the series yet, get to it RIGHT NOW!! Darynda Jones’ writing is awesome; there are entire paragraphs I wanted to highlight. I’m so gonna start quoting her. I love her style of writing, just when all hell is breaking lose, Jones will throw in an unexpected one-liner which will make you laugh out loud and then immediately bring you back to the gloom and doom. And there is plenty of that here. Along with some truly amazing characters.

Now, on to Charley Davidson, she’s a private detective and Grim Reaper extraordinaire! And she does it with a flair that’ll leave you begging for more. Oh and she’s also a caffeine addict. And is one of the funniest PIs in the industry. Don’t get me wrong, she goes through more crises in a week than most countries in an entire year but what’s life without a generous helping of life threatening events to keep everyone on their toes? There is also a generous amount of ill-timed humour. And it is these ill-timed moments that’ll keep you hooked. What does being a Grim Reaper entail, well, mostly seeing the dead and leading them into the light (the afterlife) when they’re stuck here for some reason. There are also some other nifty abilities like being able to sense emotions and a bunch of other stuff that she still hasn’t figured out yet. But give the girl a break, its not like the whole Grim Reaper gig came with a manual (she’ll tell you the same thing if you asked her) Another thing that makes Charley awesome (other than rocking that name) is the lengths she is willing to go to protect her loved ones.

Next we come to Reyes, son of Satan. Now, don’t let that scare you too much. The guy has a temper problem and threatens people way too easily but that’s all part of his charm. Ok, maybe not always. I was a pretty big Reyes fan for the first 2 books and in book 3 he did something that pissed me off, he used Charley as bait to lure his loser not-father out of hiding. Yes the same one he was accused of killing. And in doing so he put her life on the line and those of Cookie and Amber. That was not cool. I get the guy has issues being abused by that loser but putting the lives of so many people on the line, and one of those people being the love of your life, stupid much? He could’ve warned her at least. And it stung even more after what her father did in the last book. And then again, what he did at the end of this book. Reyes tried to make amends (read threatened Charley some more) so he is not my favourite person right now but there is a side of him that is just so sweet that you can almost overlook all the control-freak tendencies (the operative word here being ‘almost’). I know that she’ll eventually end up with him, so I hope he redeems himself.

Cookie is definitely my second favourite character in the series. She’s smart and her loyalty to Charley made her indispensible. Of course, her interaction with Charley and their verbal exchange alone would make this series worth a read. Cookie has Charley’s back and in a lot of ways has pretty much more than made up for Charley’s family (or lack thereof) I love Cookie so much, I wanted to kidnap her and bring her home. Too bad she doesn’t exist.

There’s a also Garrett, a skip-tracer and a brilliant one at that (Charley’s opinion and Charley knows best) they have a bit of a complicated relationship. They weren’t best friends when they met and then when her uncle revealed her secret to him one drunken night, that non-relationship went steadily downhill from there. But things improved somewhat when he tried to understand what she does and started believing her. He was a really fun guy (or he was before he died and came back) and in a lot of ways, I prefer him to Reyes. At least with Garrett, we know that he cares about her and might even love her and also that he wont set her up as bait and threaten on a regular basis. Plus it’s way more fun to read their arguments. The nice guys always get the shorter end of the stick.

Then there’s Uncle Ubie. He’s Charley’s uncle (her father’s brother) and he’s a detective with the cops. He uses her unique ability regularly to solve crimes and they have a great relationship (for the most part.) He’s protective but doesn’t smother her and somehow has come to take Charley’s comments with a straight face. No small feat.

As the books progress, Charley’s family also starts playing a larger role. And we find out more about them. Charley’s sister Gemma knows quite a bit about what Charley can do and they are finally trying to patch up their relationship after years of being very strained with each other. It was nice to see more of her in the fourth book. Her stepmother is another story altogether. She is a firm believer in denial. If you don’t like what’s in front of you, pretend you don’t see it. And then there’s the father. What happened to the nice, supportive man we met in the first book? His was an almost Jekyll and Hyde-like transformation. First he put her life at risk by painting a big fat target on her back and then as if that wasn’t enough he wants her to give up her PI business because suddenly he decides it not safe, wow, get a life already. In the fourth book we find out what prompted the change in his attitude, but still. And finally how can I forget out resident friendly scuffy biker gang leader Donovan? I seriously like that guy. He’s cute and so sweet Not sure if he qualifies as potential competition for Reyes but he was a very pleasant change. I mean do you wanna stay with someone who threatens you whenever he decides that he doesn’t like what you’re saying or doing?  Saving you on a regular basis notwithstanding. Like I said before, the nice guys get short changed.

I’m not kidding when I say that these books absolutely blew me away. Its been a long time since I’ve been this surprised by something I’ve read and this series was a very pleasant surprise. I’ve enjoyed her writing so much; I’m going to check out her YA fiction series once I’m done with Charley. START READING NOW!!!! 😀

Archangel’s Storm (Guild Hunter #05) by Nalini Singh Review

9780425246580BI am a huge fan of Nalini Singh. I’ve read both the Guild Hunter and most of the Psy-Changeling Series and I am completely addicted to both, to the extent where I ration the books, not wanting to finish them too soon. Archangel’s Storm released sometime late last year and I put it off as long as I did because I wanted to read it as close to the release of Archangel’s Legion as possible. Granted that release is still fairly a long way off but I just couldn’t hold back anymore.

While the first 3 books focused on Elena and Raphael, they did introduce us to a host of other characters that were so well written that you did start rooting for them even though at that stage they were only secondary characters, But that’s how well Singh creates her characters that you come to love them. And yet they’re not perfect, they all have flaws and they are more human for those faults. There are no paragons of perfection (ok maybe there are but even they are easy to relate to)

Archangel’s Storm is about Jason, one of Raphael’s Seven and his Spymaster and Mahiya, a princess from Neha’s territory. Jason must go to Neha’s territory to investigate the murder of her consort, Eris. And while he is investigating the murder, he must tie himself to Mahiya through a Blood Vow. Having sworn one, he cannot betray any information to Raphael that might harm Neha and her bloodline. (in case you’re wondering, Mahiya is Neha’s niece) While initially the murder seems like a solitary incident, soon others start winding up dead in the most brutal of ways. Both Jason and Mahiya realise that these are no ordinary killings; they are a personal assault on the Archangel of India. We still see Raphael, Elena and some of the other angels but their appearances are fleeting since this story is about Jason and Mahiya. There is a healthy amount of steamy sex and what I really like about her books is that the sex scenes never hamper the narrative. Her characters don’t start going at it like frustrated little bunnies at the most inconvenient of times.

We met Jason earlier in the series. He was quiet and sharp and his most unique ability was to blend in with the shadows. I really liked his character (like most of Ms. Singh’s characters) he is very intense and brooding and as we progress through the story, it becomes clear why. I loved his character. He is a hardened warrior and yet he is also gentle and fiercely loyal to his friends.

I loved Mahiya as well. I don’t know how Nalini Singh does it, but she manages to make the readers really care about almost all the characters in her books. And she makes the readers root for the main protagonists. Mahiya was no exception. She also had a very tough childhood. Though she grew up a princess in Neha’s territory, her childhood was even more traumatic and brutal than Jason’s. And yet these two were so well suited for each other. I really wanted Mahiya to have her happy ending. She was strong, loving, caring and loyal despite everything that she had gone through growing up. It’s not always easy to relate to character like her’s and yet she is extremely relatable. She was very different from Elena and Honor in that she was not a warrior like them, she seemed very soft in comparison, but that didn’t make her weak. It was a testament to her inner strength that she did not let her abusers turn her into a bitter and hateful person. She was kind and loving and one of the sweetest people in the Guild Hunter universe.

We also learn more about Neha, the Archangel of India. It would’ve been very easy to make the readers hate her and yet as with most of Singh’s characters, at least I did not. She made mistakes and was most certainly cruel with those who earned her ire and yet she was very fair with her people and she genuinely cared about them. It was nice to see more of another Archangel other than Lijuan (who I most definitely do not like)

If you like reading paranormal romances, then you’ll love Nalini Singh. Believe me, you will not be disappointed. If anything, there’s a good chance you’ll end up addicted like me. J

I am dying to get my hands on the Archangel’s Legion. I was desperately hoping that we see more of Elena and Raphael (in their own books and not as secondary characters) and I was thrilled to learn that we’re getting another book about them. I love the other characters in the series but these two are my favourites. Besides I also want to see more of Caliane and Eve. I also want Elena to have some sort of closure where her family is concerned. And it’s always fun to see Sara and Ransom and what’s a Guild Hunter novel without Illium in it (I hope he gets his own book soon)

Cover Reveal: Obsession by Jennifer L. Armentrout

OBSESSION-final coverHey guys!!!

So, we have yet another awesome Cover Reveal, this one for Obsession. Yes the one about that hot Arum guy.. And I have to say, the cover is absolutely awesome!! Love it!! Here’s the blurb:

He’s arrogant, domineering, and… To. Die. For.

Hunter is a ruthless killer. And the Department of Defense has him firmly in their grasp, which usually doesn’t chafe too badly because he gets to kill bad guys. Most of the time he enjoys his job. That is, until he’s saddled with something he’s never had to do before: protect a human from his mortal enemy.

Serena Cross didn’t believe her best friend when she claimed to have seen the son of a powerful senator turn into something…unnatural. Who would? But then she witnesses her friend’s murder at the hands of what can only be an alien, thrusting her into a world that will kill to protect their secret.

Hunter stirs Serena’s temper and her lust despite their differences. Soon he’s doing the unthinkable—breaking the rules he’s lived by, going against the government to keep Serena safe. But are the aliens and the government the biggest threats to Serena’s life…or is it Hunter?

Sounds awesome!! Is it irrational for me to hope that there might be a mention of Katy and Daemon, maybe, but hey in this drought of teasers and to-die-for Daemon POV glimpses, a girl’s gotta hope.. Even if it irrational.. On the plus side, Obsession’s release isn’t far, it comes out on the 17th of May which is only 9 days away!!!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Author photo

# 1 NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY Bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell, Loki.

Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen.

She also writes adult and New Adult romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.

OBSESSION Link:

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14060046-obsession

Additional links to Jennifer’s pages:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jlarmentrout

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JenniferLArmentrout

Website:http://www.jenniferarmentrout.com/