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Saturday, January 28, 2012
THE THIRTEEN Susie Moloney
THE THIRTEEN
by Susie Moloney
Harper Collins
William Morrow Paperbacks
Trade Paperback: 336 pp.
Kindle: 5 KB
March 27, 2012
Published in Canada by Random House Canada
Amazon Link for The Thirteen Through my A-Store
Harper Collins
William Morrow Paperbacks
Trade Paperback: 336 pp.
Kindle: 5 KB
March 27, 2012
Published in Canada by Random House Canada
Amazon Link for The Thirteen Through my A-Store
SYNOPSIS
Haven Woods is suburban heaven, a great place to raise a family. It's close to the city, quiet, with great schools and its own hospital right up the road. Property values are climbing, and the crime rate is practically nonexistent.
Paula Wittmore hasn't been back to Haven Woods since she left as a disgraced teenager. Now she's returning to care for her suddenly ailing mother, and she's bringing her daughter and a pile of emotional baggage. She's also bringing, unknowingly, the last chance for her mother's closest frenemies . . . twelve women bound together by a powerful secret that requires the sacrifice of a thirteenth.www.harpercollins.com
Super Creepy Inter-Generational Horror
There is a lot of talk about The Thirteen being Updike's Witches of Eastwick meets this or that. And, they certainly have a point. I would pair it up plot wise with the most recent piece of literary fiction by Chris Bohjalian, The Night Strangers. Maybe a bit of Kelley Armstrong's Dimestore Magic. For horror maybe a little Amityville.
There is a lot of talk about The Thirteen being Updike's Witches of Eastwick meets this or that. And, they certainly have a point. I would pair it up plot wise with the most recent piece of literary fiction by Chris Bohjalian, The Night Strangers. Maybe a bit of Kelley Armstrong's Dimestore Magic. For horror maybe a little Amityville.
At first, in fact, I would have sworn it was in the same town in Massachusetts where Armstrong's book is set. But the dialect is distinctly Canadian, eh? However, I think what all three books share is a central, nasty female witchy character (although in Armstrong's book there is more than one). Here that is Izzy. The witches from Bohjalian's book must have called Moloney's about blood (animal and human) sacrifice. There is no doubt there are fashionable themes and plots in writing.
Slight romance. nothing but a couple of kisses. Scary action sequences. Evil cats, and good dogs. Mostly the book is about the power of covetousness, disappointment and envy to foster evil. Want a better life? Well, then you'll have to pay. Even if you default you will pay.
This is not about Wicca, this about freely consorting with evil for personal gain. That is the opposite of Wiccan tenets.
The writing is somewhere between genre and literary fiction. The characters are a bit thinly drawn—we are most familiar with the youngest character. But she is of the least import in the story's plot. What is occurring in the book is revealed in layers. I didn't enjoy it very much, but I also didn't enjoy The Witches of Eastwick—too much darkness for me.
E-Galley from Publisher through Edelweiss. No remuneration exchanged. All opinions are my own.
Friday, January 27, 2012
IMMORTAL HOPE by Claire Ashgrove Poor Communication Skills Are Dangerous
LAST DAY FOR SHAMELESSLY INTERNATIONAL
And WEEK THREE OF BLACK SUN'S DAUGHTER 4 BOOK GIVEAWAY from POCKET/SIMON & SCHUSTER
IMMORTAL HOPE
The Curse of the Templars
Tor Romance
January 3, 2012
Mass Market Paperback 368 pages
Kindle Format: 641 KB Sold by MacMillian
CENTURIES AGO,
Templar knights defied the archangels and unearthed the copper scroll, revealing the gates to hell. Cursed for their forbidden act, they forever roam the earth protecting mankind from evil. But darkness stalks them, and battles they fight bring them ever-closer to eternal damnation. One promise remains to give them salvation – the return of the seraphs.
Embittered by his purpose, Merrick du Loire must honor an ancient pact and bring peace to his cousin’s soul. When he stumbles upon history professor Anne MacPherson, he discovers she possesses a sacred artifact that marks her as a seraph. Duty demands he set aside his personal quest and locate the knight she’s fated to heal. As he struggles with conflicting oaths, Anne arouses buried hope and sparks forbidden desire that challenges everything he’s sworn to uphold.
Anne has six weeks to complete her thesis on the Knights Templar. When Merrick takes her to the Templar stronghold, he presents her with all she needs—and awakens a soul-deep ache, he alone can soothe. Yet loving Merrick comes with a price. If she admits she's destined for him, her gift of foresight predicts his death.
ClaireAshgrove.com
Roused myself to finish the book and write this up. Thanks to everyone for your get well wishes.
The Templar knights or the Order of the Templar Knights is an historical entity but shrouded in mystery. They are the cloth of legend and Gnostic Christianity. At first they were beloved then the church and royalty turned in them and many were executed. Lately, in genre fiction, they have been all over the place appearing in books with angels and demons. I first thought this was a thinly veiled religious text. There is a lot of belief-based plot.
The Templar knights or the Order of the Templar Knights is an historical entity but shrouded in mystery. They are the cloth of legend and Gnostic Christianity. At first they were beloved then the church and royalty turned in them and many were executed. Lately, in genre fiction, they have been all over the place appearing in books with angels and demons. I first thought this was a thinly veiled religious text. There is a lot of belief-based plot.
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| Flag of the Knights Templar Image via Wikipedia |
A while ago I read something about things in romances that keep people apart. One was a force or circumstance that was externally imposed by a third party; like a giant hedge of thorns or being imprisoned in a tower. Another was a force or forces internal, like assumption, miscommunication, or poor communication skills, obstinancy, selfishness. In this story all of the internal forces come into play.
It is actually more Anne than Merrick keeping them apart. I felt she was selfish and unlikeable. Granted she was unwillingly brought to the big Templar house and all by the big, tired and rude Merrick duLoire. But, once Anne realizes the place is the answer to research into the Templars affecting her career she tries to learn all she can. I don't get why she is writing a thesis when she already has a Masters and Doctorate. Getting a promotion depends on this thesis. And she refuses to sacrifice her career to save men and the world.
The man is a big obstinate, old-fashioned immortal. Just your garden variety, pro-football player sized guy from the 12th century who is cursed because of something he dug up. She is a psychic history professor living in the home of a murdered reliquary keeper, but she is also a Seraph who is meant for just one Knight Templar to assoil his soul.
I didn't get that and I didn't understand the misheard communication that is the second block to the couple's happiness. Seems to me she could have asked someone about a hundred pages earlier. Or that the archangel who just figured she would already know everything necessary would maybe have checked. Duh.
The romance was intense although the sex was vanilla. But then again, she knows he is tortured by what he feels is dishonor in having her. But she lets him be all bummed out about it. She was a bit immature there.
As a series, it has promise. It looks like Anne's twin sister, Sophie (a former model) is the subject. It seems like there is a future for the story line and it could be pretty popular. While I enjoyed reading it, the religious stuff and the unlikeable Anne rubbed me the wrong way. That, however would not discommend it, even to me, since I finished it. I will annoint it with a shaky "recommend."
In Sickness and WIth Elves
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| Image via Wikipedia |
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
VICIOUS GRACE REVIEW AND
BLACK SUN's DAUGHTER GIVEAWAY EVENT WEEK THREE
Simon and Schuster/Pocket
Mass Market Paperback 384 pages
Kindle file size: 2251 KB
November 2010.
Amazon Purchase Link for Vicious Grace
Mass Market Paperback 384 pages
Kindle file size: 2251 KB
November 2010.
Amazon Purchase Link for Vicious Grace
When you’re staring evil in the eye, don’t forget to watch your back . . .
For the first time in forever, Jayné Heller’s life is making sense. Even if she routinely risks her life to destroy demonic parasites that prey on mortals, she now has friends, colleagues, a trusted lover, and newfound confidence in the mission she inherited from her wealthy, mysterious uncle. Her next job might just rob her of all of them. At Grace Memorial Hospital in Chicago, something is stirring. Patients are going AWOL and research subjects share the same sinister dreams. Half a century ago, something was buried under Grace in a terrible ritual, and it’s straining to be free. Jayné is primed to take on whatever’s about to be let loose. Yet the greatest danger now may not be the huge, unseen force lurking below, but the evil that has been hiding in plain sight all along—taking her ever closer to losing her body, her mind, and her soul. . . .
Horrifying.
It must be horrifying to see what you have become. To think it may not be a good thing that you think is fighting the good fight; that it may be a lie.
Jayné is a very introspective young woman. It struck me while reading the book that Jayné comes from a punishingly religious family. She escaped but now without the introspective ability needed to examine what her thoughts and beliefs are. She peels her emotional scabs off. This leads us to a woman who was, at the beginning of the series, of the depressed opinion that she was a loser with nowhere to go.
I wonder if would she have called her uncle for help? Was he benevolent?
There isn’t much sexy or romantic in this novel. It is enough Urban Fantasy/Thriller/Light Horror to pull it right out of the Paranormal Romance category. It is shocking, sad, regretful and well-crafted. It starts out as a paintball/hand-to-hand fighting training. But from there it goes to some scary places.
It is a good book. A page turner. But it lacks the lighter tone Jayné could conjure in the first two books. It is the darkness that comes with the deep knowledge of mortality and that we have left our childhood behind. And with her introspective bent she can’t leave that scab unpicked.
I really like the series. “Hanover’s” style in developing Jayné’s voice is better with each story. His tone as a word smith is modern, incisive, ironic, and often witty in those situations where without a bright spot all would be lost. Like Stacia Kane's Chess Putnam, Jayné and her friends are imperfect heroes, which makes them more approachable.
Highly recommended.
AND I STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU ENTER THE GIVEAWAY MADE POSSIBLE BY POCKET/SIMON AND SCHUSTER BELOW.
It must be horrifying to see what you have become. To think it may not be a good thing that you think is fighting the good fight; that it may be a lie.
Jayné is a very introspective young woman. It struck me while reading the book that Jayné comes from a punishingly religious family. She escaped but now without the introspective ability needed to examine what her thoughts and beliefs are. She peels her emotional scabs off. This leads us to a woman who was, at the beginning of the series, of the depressed opinion that she was a loser with nowhere to go.
I wonder if would she have called her uncle for help? Was he benevolent?
There isn’t much sexy or romantic in this novel. It is enough Urban Fantasy/Thriller/Light Horror to pull it right out of the Paranormal Romance category. It is shocking, sad, regretful and well-crafted. It starts out as a paintball/hand-to-hand fighting training. But from there it goes to some scary places.
It is a good book. A page turner. But it lacks the lighter tone Jayné could conjure in the first two books. It is the darkness that comes with the deep knowledge of mortality and that we have left our childhood behind. And with her introspective bent she can’t leave that scab unpicked.
I really like the series. “Hanover’s” style in developing Jayné’s voice is better with each story. His tone as a word smith is modern, incisive, ironic, and often witty in those situations where without a bright spot all would be lost. Like Stacia Kane's Chess Putnam, Jayné and her friends are imperfect heroes, which makes them more approachable.
Highly recommended.
AND I STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU ENTER THE GIVEAWAY MADE POSSIBLE BY POCKET/SIMON AND SCHUSTER BELOW.
The rules seem long because they cover four weeks of contest and additional entries information. You do not have to follow nor tweet, nor have entered last week to enter. It is not hard to get through them — I promise.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
DARKER AFTER MIDNIGHT HITS THE SHELVES
Darker After Midnight
Midnight Breed Series Book Ten
Delacorte Press
January 24, 2012
Synopsis (www.LaraAdrian.com)
The climactic novel in Lara Adrian’s New York Times bestselling Midnight Breed series--and her hardcover debut--Darker After Midnight invites readers to enter a thrillingly sensual world where danger meets desire.
In the dark of night, a blood war escalates within the hidden world of the Breed. After existing in secret for many long centuries, maintaining a fragile peace with the humans who walk beside them unaware, a single act of retaliation has put the entire vampire nation at risk of discovery. It falls to the Order--a cadre of Breed warriors pledged to protect their own and humankind alike--to stop Dragos, the power-mad vampire at the center of the conflict, before his push for domination can explode into catastrophe.
At the center of the Order’s quest is Sterling Chase, once a morally rigid enforcer of Breed law, now a warrior fallen from grace, whose biggest battle is the one he wages against his own savage nature. With addiction beckoning him toward eternal darkness, Chase’s path to redemption has never seemed more out of reach--until he finds himself drawn to a beautiful young woman who may be something much more than she seems ...
You know how the TV series LOST strung you out every week for years, never giving a real answer and never letting you believe that anything you learned was true? Darker After Midnight, the tenth book in Lara Adrian's newest Midnight Breed Series (released yesterday) does NOT do that. It gives you satisfying truths, conclusions and still leaves room for the series to grow.
That has been the strength of the series as a whole. Lara keeps it fresh. There is a format of a sort, a member of the Order or a high ranking "good" Breed falls in love, almost always with a breedmate. Some kind of conflict ensues that causes danger. The story doesn't always happen in Boston, We've been to Alaska, Germany, New York, and other locations. New things that add a nuanced layer to the series world are brought in: Things the Order members never believed they would see come to pass in each new entry in the series. This is Sterling Chase's, AKA "Harvard's" story and it's a very sexy story. The rest is shocking!
When Chase's future looks like he has thrown it away in a belated attempt to save the Order in the last book it may open up again. What won't open again, as we have seen in the many previews that Lara has afforded us, is the Boston complex which Dragos purposefully and Chase unwittingly compromised.
So, if I saw a bunch of fast SUVs screaming down the Maine Turnpike, or Route 295 recently I would have known the Order was on the way to its newest safe house borrowed from a Gen Two-ish Breed male Lazlo Archer. I actually invited Lara to let them stop here if necessary on the way to the great forests of Northern Maine.
So, if I saw a bunch of fast SUVs screaming down the Maine Turnpike, or Route 295 recently I would have known the Order was on the way to its newest safe house borrowed from a Gen Two-ish Breed male Lazlo Archer. I actually invited Lara to let them stop here if necessary on the way to the great forests of Northern Maine.
This book is about forgiving, hope, betrayal, truth, and the power of love to save the world. All powerful tropes. Lara makes you believe it. We have a new character come up, Tavia Fairchild. She is the PA to a Senator. It was the Senator's party that Chase infiltrated in an attempt to assasinate Dragos, one of the senator's biggest campaign contributors, masquerading as businessman, Drake Masters.
If you like this series, this new addition is worth the price. The series was not getting stale, but all the same this book breathes new life into it. I am trying to think of an analogy but I am fresh out. Maybe its like another layer on an already delish cake, more pixels added to your digital camera, the Red Sox win the World Series, the Bruins win the Stanley Cup and the Pats win the Superbowl all in one year and they cure a horrible disease too? Whatever! You get the idea, right? It's something good!
It's about half and half UF and PNR with a bunch of action and violence. You will be really, really surprised by what happens. THIS IS A MUST READ!
Disclosure: Purchased.
Available through my Amazon e-store or, please,
use my Powell's Button in my Sidebar.
Firelight Is A Hot Romance With Cool Surprises!
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| www.kristencallihan.com |
Firelight
February 1, 2012
Synopsis
Once the flames are ignited . . .
Miranda Ellis is a woman tormented. Plagued since birth by a strange and powerful gift, she has spent her entire life struggling to control her exceptional abilities. Yet one innocent but irreversible mistake has left her family’s fortune decimated and forced her to wed London’s most nefarious nobleman.
They will burn for eternity . . .
Lord Benjamin Archer is no ordinary man. Doomed to hide his disfigured face behind masks, Archer knows it’s selfish to take Miranda as his bride. Yet he can’t help being drawn to the flame-haired beauty whose touch sparks a passion he hasn’t felt in a lifetime. When Archer is accused of a series of gruesome murders, he gives in to the beastly nature he has fought so hard to hide from the world. But the curse that haunts him cannot be denied. Now, to save his soul, Miranda will enter a world of dark magic and darker intrigue. For only she can see the man hiding behind the mask.
www.kristencallihan.com--firelight
Mystery, Danger and Passion will keep you reading this book when you need to be doing something else, like sleeping!
The mystery of who Archer is—what he is, goes almost a little too long. But, just when you might chuck it in, Callihan gives you just enough to keep you turning the pages. Great pace and a good length. Each chapter is punctuated by an occurrence; something necessary.
Which of the characters is the villain is almost obvious, but until the crisis I wasn't sure which of the assortment would be the one.
The main characters are, obviously going to be crazy for each other. They are soul mates and will sacrifice anything and everything for each other. They are both headstrong and she is before her time, certainly. She has a power she would give anything to conceal. He is so afraid of "his deformity" being seen that he hides everything about himself away. You will desperately want them to be together.
There was something about the sun and the moon that I didn't understand. But, at the end, the whole thing is paranormally logical. No mysterious, outside force comes in to get the characters out of their pickle. That is satisfying all on its own and tells me the writer had a plan.
There was a bit of backstory that would have been helpful. Ember, a series prequel is on on the first as an E-book for $.99. A third book, Moonglow, will be out in August.
I say this is a good Historical Paranormal Romance - Hearty Recommendation.
The mystery of who Archer is—what he is, goes almost a little too long. But, just when you might chuck it in, Callihan gives you just enough to keep you turning the pages. Great pace and a good length. Each chapter is punctuated by an occurrence; something necessary.
Which of the characters is the villain is almost obvious, but until the crisis I wasn't sure which of the assortment would be the one.
The main characters are, obviously going to be crazy for each other. They are soul mates and will sacrifice anything and everything for each other. They are both headstrong and she is before her time, certainly. She has a power she would give anything to conceal. He is so afraid of "his deformity" being seen that he hides everything about himself away. You will desperately want them to be together.
There was something about the sun and the moon that I didn't understand. But, at the end, the whole thing is paranormally logical. No mysterious, outside force comes in to get the characters out of their pickle. That is satisfying all on its own and tells me the writer had a plan.
There was a bit of backstory that would have been helpful. Ember, a series prequel is on on the first as an E-book for $.99. A third book, Moonglow, will be out in August.
I say this is a good Historical Paranormal Romance - Hearty Recommendation.
covers all www.kristencallihan.com
EMBER
A prequel to the darkest London series
After a fire consumes the Ellis family fortune, the beautiful and resourceful Miranda finds herself faced with an impossible dilemma: enter a life of petty crime or watch her family succumb to poverty. But once her fiancée learns of her descent into danger--and of the strange, new powers she’s discovered --saving her family may come at the high price of her heart.
When his one chance for redemption is destroyed by corrupt London antiquarian Hector Ellis, Lord Benjamin Archer vows to take what Ellis values most—his daughter Miranda.
Forced to hide his face behind masks, Archer travels the world hoping to escape the curse that plagues him so that he can finally claim his prize.
But once Archer returns home to London, will it be revenge he seeks? Or will the flame-haired beauty ignite new, undeniable desires?
www.kristencallihan.com--ember
Moonglow
Once the seeds of desire are sown...
Finally free of her suffocating marriage, widow Daisy Ellis Craigmore is ready to embrace the pleasures of life that have long been denied her. Yet her new-found freedom is short lived. A string of unexplained murders has brought danger to Daisy’s door, forcing her to turn to the most unlikely of saviors...
Their growing passion knows no bounds...
Ian Ranulf, the Marquis of Northrup, has spent lifetimes hiding his primal nature from London society. But now a vicious killer threatens to expose his secrets. Ian must step out of the shadows and protect the beautiful, fearless Daisy, who awakens in him desires he thought long dead. As their quest to unmask the villain draws them closer together, Daisy has no choice but to reveal her own startling secret and Ian must face the undeniable truth: Losing his heart to Daisy may be the only way to save his soul.
www.kristencallihan.com--moonglow
Disclosure: Book loaned by publisher via NetGalley.com for purpose of review. No remuneration was exchanged and unless otherwise noted, all opinions are my own.
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Monday, January 23, 2012
If Walls Could Talk, My, Oh My!
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| www.lucyworsley.com |
If Walls Could Talk
An Intimate History of the Home
by Lucy Worsley
Bloomsbury Publishing, Imprint: Walker and Company
March 7, 2012
A fascinating chronicle of how people really lived, loved and died through England's history.
Why did the flushing toilet take two centuries to catch on? Why did Samuel Pepys never give his mistresses an orgasm? Why did medieval people sleep sitting up? When were the two "dirty centuries"? Why did gas lighting cause Victorian ladies to faint? Why, for centuries, did people fear fruit? All these questions will be answered in this juicy, smelly, and truly intimate history of home life. Lucy Worsley takes us through the bedroom, bathroom, living room, and kitchen, covering the architectural history of each room, but concentrating on what people actually did in bed, in the bath, at the table, and at the stove. From sauce-stirring to breast-feeding, teeth-cleaning to masturbation, getting dressed to getting married, this book will make you see your home with new eyes.
Lucy Worsley is, by day, Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces, the independent charity that looks after The Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace State Apartments, the Banqueting House in Whitehall, and Kew Palace in Kew Gardens. By night, she is a writer and presenter, most recently author of Cavalier: a Tale of Passion, Chivalry and Great Houses, described by the Mail on Sunday as "a remarkable achievement by an immensely talented and innovative historian."Marketing Copy, NetGalley.com
Lucy Worsley, chief curator of the historic royal palaces, takes us through 800 years of domestic history by exploring the British home through four rooms, meeting experts and historians on the way. www.bbc.co.uk
www.bbc.co.uk
There is a BBC series as well as the book. Not yet available on this side of the pond. Read excerpts from the BBC here.
"To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition," says Samuel Johnson, (as quoted) on the last page of Lucy Worsley's excellent treatise on the home. As true as the adage that on their deathbed no one wishes they had spent more time at the office, the home is the place we value more than any other. Would you wish to be in the richest palace if your family could not be with you?
I was really excited when Bloomsbury permitted me an advanced E-Galley of this book. A lot of speculative fiction and romantic fiction is built on an historical model, and the tease "Why did Samuel Pepys never give his mistresses an orgasm?" was way too alluring not to find out the answer.
What I found was an in-depth treatment of the history of the home through its rooms from before rooms were labeled bedroom, living room, kitchen through the twentieth century and from the poorest homes to the riches manors. Much time is spent on Tudor houses; it seems to be a turning point for the home and is also filled with some surprises. How people treated King Henry VIII's bathroom was very different from the treatment after absolute monarchy had it's head chopped off. Also, the King was never alone, not even at his stool.
Who cooked? Where, and with whom did you eat? How many windows did you have? How many servants did you have? How many candles did you burn? How was your bed made? When did we become the private people we are today; expecting to sleep with just our partners? How did the flush toilet develop and why did it take so long? All these are questions Worsely addresses and it is fascinating, if highly detailed reading. A list of monarchs and their years of reign would be a useful reference to keep at hand. It is perhaps likely that an educated English person would know the dates of every monarch but, we in the States are lucky if we know all the Presidents, never mind when they were in office.
However, the American home is also addressed and compared to the British and European houses. Worsley is able to tie climate, religion, politics and everything thing else, including the kitchen sink together and wrote it all down in an interesting, conversational and, sometimes saucy, tone to create this very valuable book. Humanity's history is the history of human habitation. And, she is incredibly well qualified to put this all together.
Usually I don't mind that an E-galley is only on my list for a period of time before the permissions on it expire. But, this is a reference book and a good read I think I would like to return to again and again. I may even buy a copy myself!
Like Daniel Poole's book What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist-the Facts of Daily Life in Nineteenth-Century England (Touchstone 1994) If Walls Could Talk offers a view into a world lost to us. Why should people take note of the situation of a particular room and the size of one's park? And why couldn't Pepys give the poor woman an orgasm? Walls can answer many questions one has when reading an historically accurate story. And, if you just like to visit old houses, or even live in one you probably have lots and lots of questions.
This book is full of answers to those questions. It's fun, humorous, quirky and an easy read. You will, as is said in Jane Austen, be all astonishment!
My Recommendation: Highly recommended to most, must read for lovers of history or historical fiction, and an absolutely must read for anyone writing it!
DISCLOSURE: E-Galley loaned by publisher via NetGalley. No remuneration was exchanged and unless otherwise noted, all opinions are my own.
Available from pre-order through my Amazon affiliation:
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