Contest Changeless by G. Carriger Lara Adrian NEW Taken by Midnight Kindle Fantasty News Brief

CASTING CHANGELESS CONTEST 
I am currently running a "Cast Changeless by Gail Carriger" Contest for a $10 Amazon Gift Certificate code and my copy of Changeless.  I don't require follows or tweets. But following or tweeting will make me very happy! If I get to 500 followers before the contest ends on Monday, October 4  I will add a second winner of a $10 Amazon GC.  Easy to enter: http://tinyurl.com/22utv5u


 
Taken By Midnight
by Lara Adrian

Dell Books ~ 384 pages
Date of Publication - 9/28/2010
Mass Market Paperback
Kindle Edition; preordered
read 9/29 to 9/30

ABOUT THIS BOOK

AT THE CROSSROADS OF DEATH AND DESIRE, A WOMAN TASTES A PLEASURE NO MORTAL IS MEANT TO SURVIVE.

In the frozen Alaskan wilderness, former state trooper Jenna Darrow survives an unspeakable breach of body and soul. But with her narrow escape comes an even greater challenge. For strange changes are taking place within her, as she struggles to understand—and control—a new hunger. To do so, she will seek shelter in the Boston compound of the Order, an ancient race of vampire warriors whose very existence is shrouded in mystery. Perhaps the most mysterious of them all is Brock, a brooding, dark-eyed alpha male whose hands hold the power to comfort, heal . . . and arouse.

As she recovers under Brock’s care, Jenna finds herself drawn to the Order’s mission: to stop a ruthless enemy and its army of assassins from subjecting Earth to a reign of terror. Yet in spite of their resolve, a purely physical relationship without strings soon binds Brock and Jenna together with a desire fiercer than life and stronger than death itself—until a secret from Brock’s past and Jenna’s own mortality challenges their forbidden love to the ultimate trial by fire. (http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780440245278)

Filled with super sexy alien and vampire-human hybrids, called Breed warriors in a protective group called the Order, and gorgeous women (human with anomalous DNA), danger, evil beings who want to rule Vampire and Humanity both, and intimacy fueled by love, Adrian's books always take you to another world.

Usually, our Breed Warriors somehow meet up with a Breedmate, one of the women with genetic anomalies that make their DNA and the warriors compatible; but this new entry into the series throws a monkey wrench not once in this case but twice and takes us to a new place. Brock is 100 year old, African-American  Breed Warrior with the ability to absorb people's physical and emotional pain. He is shy of relationships. Jenna is a former Alaskan State trooper and widow who also lost a child.  The Order had rescued her a few weeks earlier in Alaska from one of the oldest Vampires on the planet; one of the original aliens.

While another warrior on that mission had met his breed mate, her best friend, a human is injured to the point of coma and wakes up at the Order's underground facility to learn that her life is Alaska is over and that she already knows too much for the Order to just let her go. Also, it seems her encounter with the old Vampire is changing her body in ways no one understands.  She is suddenly super strong, fast, understands other languages, etc. , Brock, the empathic Warrior has been keeping her pain at bay and, although she is just human falls in love with her and she with him.  But, is she still just human?  Fiercely independent, will she also fall in love with him and adapt to her new life? 

The couple's relationship develops as the Order enters into a new phase in a battle with an EVIL Vampire. Not only does Brock save her a couple times but she saves him.  They can't keep their hands off each other. But will the reemergence of someone from Brock's past get in the way?

Some times these series can be driven by  a bottom-line formula that has sold the book in the past. To some degree we want that consistency in a series.  But, Adrian is very skilled at both providing back-story and weaving it into the new story, and providing enough change so that each book feels different.  Just when you think a formula is starting to develop, she switches it up.  There are different implications to falling in love with a human than with a breed mate.  And, while this book mostly occurs in Boston many books in the series offer a change in place, and usually boast a unique plot. There is a lot of bloody violence but not enough to make you cower. This novel started off a bit slow, or felt slow because a lot of it was taken up by Janna's medical and then emotional conditions.

Adrian is also able to maintain the consistency within her Vampire universe, and in her characters. No small feat!

If I used a rating system, I would give this 4.75 out of five, deducting a fraction due to the slow start. Highly recommended - but for mature readers only.






 

Angry Robot Will Make Science Fiction Fans Happy. 

Angry Robot is a global imprint dedicated to the best in modern adult science fiction, fantasy and everything in-between. (Kindle Daily Post, 9/27/2010) The rest of the article can be found HERE http://bit.ly/brn0p9. Their offerings include at least one free book, with, it sounds like, more to follow.

Comic Relief on a True Blood Level

My True Blood Comics 1 and 3 have arrived.  Two is supposed to ship on Friday.  I don't normally buy comic books or graphic novels, but this seem like pretty good quality.  I admire the way comics artists are drawn.  The artists (drawing and color) have to make some big decisions about simplification of lines and shadow that work with in the context of our visual language; what we expect to see. Each issue is available in different covers -- I got these from HBO, and paid $4.99 each plus shipping of $3.99  but I had a coupon from registering for something so I used that. The cover price for these is $3.99 so HBO is doing an up-charge.


Here are some pictures:
These are the covers. one on the left and three on the right.

An interior photo from each:

This is from Number One —
The story is extremely short and although Miss Jessica appears on the cover she is not in the story.
There are as many pages of ads and "about the creators" as there are pages of story. The story is set on a dark and stormy night.  Of course something threatening has come in from the wet.

And this is from Number Three
I find the art here better resembles the actors playing the part and there are only a couple of pages of ads. It is a continuation from one, and I guess two This story has a very curvy woman in it, from Eric's past.

I have been re-reading some of the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris to as research for a guest post and I just finished the first, Dead Until Dark. I was surprised by a lot, which is surprising by itself since I had read it before. You'll have to read my guest post at Scarrlet Reader for her  Dead Books Celebration  in OCtober.More info TBA.

Finally, Lafayette tweeted me to say that he was happy the HBO folks were re-broadcasting Season Three.  I picked some up last night. La La, thanks for letting me know!

Even Beautifully Written The Lovers by Eden Bradley Sizzles

The Lovers 
Eden Bradley  (http://edenbradley.com/)
Harlequin Spice
Publication Date: 11/01/2010

Spoilers but they won't spoil the story!


Description

It seemed ideal —two months at a charming writers' retreat, surrounded by kindred souls. But Bettina Boothe wasn't prepared for just how long eight weeks truly was. Or that in the process, she would have to open up and reveal the most secret places in her body and soul.
Fortunately, her fellow authors do not share Bettina's self-consciousness and begin to draw her out of her self-imposed shell. One in particular—Audrey LeClaire—seems to ooze confidence and self-assuredness. Dark and petite, Audrey's potent sensuality draws the men and women in the workshop to her like flies to honey. Bettina is just as vulnerable, finding herself overwhelmed by a very unexpected attraction to Audrey who makes Bettina her special project.

But when Jack Curran arrives at the retreat, everything changes. Jack is tall, beautiful, masculine. A writer of dark thrillers, he is as mysterious and alluring as his books. He and Audrey are obviously an item, but they eagerly welcome Bettina into their bed. Suddenly Bettina finds herself swept up in a maelstrom of lust, obsession and jealousy, torn between her need for two very different people in a love triangle where she will either be cherished…or consumed.

First, let me say that I went into reading this book thinking it would be the same old, same old. I was almost immediately surprised by the depth of the emotions written and the quality of the writing.  I really enjoyed this book. Really!

Beautifully written, The Lovers by Eden Bradley is a therapist’s dream of relationship and self-analysis interspersed with blisteringly hot sex and lovemaking. The characters herein distinguish between the casual sex of self-destructive personalities and that wrought by two or even three people developing a relationship through flawed personalities and baggage at a summer long writers’ retreat on the California coast. The main female character is Bettina, a woman seeking to heal from indifferent professorial parents and is pretty well drawn with associated fears and fragility. The male protagonist is Jack, another write with some success who is so afraid of repeating his father’s infidelities that he refuses to become committed to anyone: no commitment = no infidelity.

Bettina’s need for distance in relationships seems associated with some molestation by a friend of her parents, but her behavior is fairly dissociative, even has OCD.

The antagonist is Audrey, an ethereally charismatic bi-sexual who flits from one person and persons to another, leaving people who feel abandoned in the wake of her startling focus and even more startling lightning-fast change in focus. After seducing Bettina into her first female/female relationship she turns her light on Jack, and leaves a pathetic Bettina for a bit. Then she and Jack seduce Bettina into a ménage after which Audrey switches focus onto a gorgeous guy renting the next house on the beach.

Jack and Bettina console each other with Bettina wanting a relationship after and Jack claiming he doesn’t, that that is not his way. Perhaps the soul searching and chest beating goes on a bit long but Bradley inserts awesome sex in between bouts so the angst is forgiven because Bradley is a magician at writing sex.

Worth it, you bet. If you don’t want to get up close and personal with your partner after, or while you’re reading you have some issues to examine – or you just need another hot book by this super-scribe.

Creepy Clues from Nightshade's Shay Doran

Like Elliot Review I got a set of creepy clues today from Shay Doran. As Shay instructed, I posted them up on the facebook page Facebook.com/ShadowShay.  My package came from Orlando, Florida.   And I wish my glyphs were as clear as Elliot Review's.

At first I didn't know and I still don't know, not really, what was the clue.
The Address?
The Front Matter?
The Cover?
The bookmarks torn out of Crime and Punishment or these strange drawings with certain words revealed?

I think the top one words are

left side of page {}  right side of page

                                    ed

                                     illusion

                                      ,

                                      and

                                      re

                                      me

the development of

                                       di

practic-

swinging

fire                                 profession-

                                      al

                                      is   m

alert                    

then there is a long tube but I don't know 

if the --  her  her are to be included

   
       

The second one, right above here

left                                                right

E

a

r

t

H (on the same line as the "E") if they were in line order it would be EHatr

of considerable importance         trust

entities

the

                                                     family

are                                                group

                                                     co

and

                                                     m

                                                      b

                                                      a

                                                      t (really on same line as the "m")

I think the message is 
Earth, the entities of considerable importance - are  trust, family and group combat.          

Or, maybe the flow of the drawing is what is important?

The first one has "fire" is hanging around by itself. 

Fire  the development of alert swinging practiced illusion, and remedial professionalism.

 Shay says there are hundreds of these books filled with these "puzzles;" maybe some of them are red herrings?  Or, by the time they were written the person was bonkers?

Wait, wait,  wait the two things I have are Earth and Fire.  This either has to do with alchemy or elemental beings.

Then there are a lot of videos that Shay made.  He has led a weird life.  And, in video number 4 he got pretty paranoid.

In number 5 he talks about the books:
 

And then he has a blog at www.shaydoran.com -- you can find the videos there. 

I guess it is what it is a big mystery!  See Shay and the rest of the puzzles at Facebook/ShadowShay !!


Poor guy, I hope we can figure this out before he goes crazy or gets hurt.

Steamy Reading & True Blood Character Analysis

Wow! What a weekend: in the 80s one day and the 50s the next!

The Graphics Fairy

So, I am reading a couple of things right now.  One is a NetGalley ARC,  The Lovers by Eden Bradley, due for release on November 1.  It's not paranormal but it is hot!  I can let you know more about it tomorrow.

I am also rereading the First Southern Vampire Mystery, Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris.  Most of you know this is the Sookie Stackhouse series on which True Blood is based (loosely).  I am doing my first guest post for Scarrlet Reader's Dead Books series coming up from October 10 to the 31st.

We talk a lot about how Book-Sookie is different from TB-Sookie, so I thought I would write about that.  I do have to re-familiarize myself with the one, the only, the original Sookie Stackhouse as Ms. Harris pictured her. If you know or have noted any differences please let me know!

Speaking of TV, I reviewed Changeless over the weekend and I am offering a contest with it for "casting the movie."  If you didn't want to enter before you may change your mind now! Here is a link:

http://tinyurl.com/22utv5u

Bloggers' Tip (from my limited store that I have  learned mostly from other bloggers!)

Who wants to type the same phrases over and over again?    I have my blog link, email, twitter account information I use when I do a hop or comment. My signature code, my button code, My Tiny URLs.  I use them all the time,  so I saw a tip (from someone wonderful - during Bloggiesta! Thank You) to make a "Cheat Sheet." I did that in a word document that I keep in my tool bar most of the time.  I guess you could also put it on a page you don't put into navigation but I prefer being able to instantly edit it. 

I also put other things there, links I don't want to bookmark, whatever.   Comes in wicked handy, saves time! 

Who Could Play the Part in Changeless by Gail Carriger: MAJOR CHANGE IN CONTEST

I have completely changed the terms of the contest I announced yesterday.  I don't require following because the only time I did several withdrew right after so I figured, why make people do something they don't want to do?  It's all for fun.  If you want to follow I will be really really appreciative.  And, if I reach 500 followers by the end of the contest I will add a second winner of a $10 Amazon Gift Code. And, it's so complex to count up extra entries that while tweeting and sharing the contest is so appreciated, but I am not doing extra entries. I will, really appreciate mentions and will stay open to re-tweeting your contests and such. Comment on the previous post about Changeless  http://tinyurl.com/22utv5u.

If you want to tweet something you can use this - make a note that you tweeted and I will reciprocate in kind.

Who would you cast in a movie abt the Parasol Protectorate? Ends 10/3 8AM EastUS-DST Amazon GC & book! http://tinyurl.com/22utv5u pls rt
 

ONE ENTRY PER PERSON & EMAIL ADDRESS. See previous post for rules and to enter! http://tinyurl.com/22utv5u.

 

A Cuppa' Cures All? Who Could Play The Part?

 
Changeless
Gail Carriger
Orbit
Paperback Mass Market Ed.
Purchased July 25
Read September 24-26
Novel 375 pages,
with 'Extras' 388 pages


Alexia Tarabotti, the Lady Woolsey, awakens in the wee hours of the mid-afternoon to find her husband, who should be decently asleep like any normal werewolf, yelling at the top of his lungs. Then he disappears - leaving her to deal with a regiment of supernatural soldiers encamped on her doorstep, a plethora of exorcised ghosts, and an angry Queen Victoria.

But Alexia is armed with her trusty parasol, the latest fashions, and an arsenal of biting civility. Even when her investigations take her to Scotland, the backwater of ugly waistcoats, she is prepared: upending werewolf pack dynamics as only the soulless can.

She might even find time to track down her wayward husband, if she feels like it.


Changeless, the sequel to Soulless, and second in the The Parasol Protectorate, picks up after the Maccon's have been married a few months. We are presented with a mystery:  The cessation of all supernatural qualities on all the supes within a certain radius. This includes, Connal, Lord Maccon, Sundowner(director) of BUR (Bureau of Unnatural Registry) and somehow this is all relevant to him running off to (actually running in wolf form) to Scotland to track down the reason.  Alexia, his wife, with a retinue of relatives and others, tears off after him in a dirigible where a large part of the book occurs. To find out what happens there, and why she runs off after him, you will have to read the book.

Despite the fact that many of the characters in the world invented by Gail Carriger are not human, they serve as mirrors for humanity in many ways. They get angry, they are jealous, they are devious, fall in and out of love, and, in general when they are not wolves or biting one's neck they seem almost entirely the same as any other Victorian. One exception may be Alexia, Lady Maccon. Due to being half-Italian, a sin in the British Ton of the time, she is prone to not being as British as people think she should be. Whence comes her soulless, or preternatural state is a mystery, but because of it she possesses usually not found in British woman of that time — at least as depicted in literature, practical and intelligent.

In fact, the only other woman depicted as practical and intelligent in the book is a woman dressed as a man and who is, it is intimated, a lesbian. All the other women are depicted as either shrewish, stupid or a combination thereof.

The steam punk universe as created by Carriger, is as plausible as it can get, but may have been a major contributor to the slowing of the plot. Carriger's voice in these books is a bit Oscar Wilde with the tenacity of Christie and the droll humor of Wodehouse. While it was a refreshing change in Soulless, I found it made slow going for me in Changeless. In fact, I found the pace of Changeless too slow until the rousing, if somewhat sloppy finish. I was angered by attitudes of certain characters at the book's close as they were, sadl,y irrational and ridiculous.

Having said it was slow, Alexia's character  and her current travail, is compelling enough to make me rush to the next in the series, but I have a slew of books to read on my Fall Challenge list, so I think it will keep a few days. I am a sucker for most comedic writing where the characters have British accents.

http://teenangster.net/2010/06/girl-crush-anjelica-huston/

Who Could Pay the Part?


When I read I transform the descriptions of the person into the description of an actual person — usually a celebrity. Here my imagination has run wild (if not Wilde). What about you who do you have in mind?


Alexia immediately brings to mind the strong, exotic and beautiful features of Anjelica Huston.  Even though Alexia is a bit older, old enough before her marriage to have been considered a spinster, I think that Ms. Huston is perhaps past the age where she could play the part convincingly.  Sadly, most female actors today are cast in the same mold.  Their features are either naturally consistent with the "societal ideal," or they are made that way with some surgical intervention. I can't think of anyone else with Alexia's features and gravitas.

Image via Wikipedia

http://teenangster.net/2010/06/girl-crush-anjelica-huston/

Anna Farris, IMDB.com

Ivy Hisslepenny, is the opposite of Alexia in appearance, taste and in intelligence. Whether in her case the stupidity is a willful acknowledgment of the demands of the Victorian period or just how she is, it is a distinguishing feature. But, at least she has a good heart.  For this part I could see either Anna Farris or Kathering Heigl.

Katherine Heigl, IMDB.com

Connal: Described as large and muscular out of his wolf form.  I had thought of an actor but couldn't recollect his name and suggested a contest to id him.  I have changed these terms; noone had entered.  I remembered the show and the actor -- it was Stottlemeyer from Monk played by Ted Levine. He might be good — now that he's shaved he might look young enough.  And, he's used to playing that kind of comedic/ dramatic role.

So, if you've read the book or perused it,  comment below with your display name and email and  suggest who you think should play the role of ONE or ALL of the characters from the Parasol Protectorate (required):

Alexia, Lady Maccon
Ivy Hisselpenny (Alexia's Best Friend)
Connal, Lord Maccon
Lord Akeldama (very affected vampire friend of Alexia)
Madame LeFou (a hat maker — French)
Angelique (Alexia's French maid)
Tunstall (actor and Connal's Valet)

Additional Terms:  
 Contest will end on Monday Oct. 3 at 8 AM DST Eastern United States.
You must be 18 years of age to enter.
Item will only be sent to US residences.  List address as US and include in care of if necessary. You will be responsible for knowing whether Amazon sends items to where you actually live.
I remain the sole arbiter of the contest and reserve the right to change any and all terms.
Book will be sent as printed matter.
Amazon certificate is an e-code.

You must make a reasonable casting suggestion to enter.  I decide what counts as reasonable. Cartoon, Comic book, Anime, Manga and characters do not count as a legitimate suggestion.  It has to be a living person, known actor or actress.
I will use an online random number generator to select winner
ONE ENTRY PER PERSON & EMAIL ADDRESS. 
You don't have to follow or spread the word.  But it will be much appreciated if you do. I reciprocate things like that.  

If you want to tweet here 's a way to make it super easy — Use this copy:   
Who would you cast in a movie abt the Parasol Protectorate? Ends 10/48AM EastUS-DST Amazon GC & book! http://tinyurl.com/22utv5u pls rt

I don't require following because the only time I did several withdrew right after so I figured, why make people do something they don't want to do?  It's all for fun.  If you want to follow I will be really really appreciative.  And, if I reach 500 followers by the end of the contest I will add a second winner of a $10 Amazon Gift Code. And, it's so complex to count up extra entries that while tweeting and sharing the contest is so appreciated, but I am not doing extra entries.

I will, really appreciate mentions and will continue re-tweeting your contests and such.  http://tinyurl.com/22utv5u.




  

Saturday Sum-Up Book Bundlz

What happened this week? 

The blog is at 456 members and it is itching to get to 500. When I do, I will have a contest. If you like the site, please recommend me to your friends.

I read several books this week, but the one I planned to have finished for a review today I have really had a hard time getting into so no review yet for Blameless by Gail Carriger.  I think it has such a different tone from what I have been reading lately, that it is like catching up with someone you haven't seen for a while! But I will get there and hope to have it for you tomorrow.  I am also reading it in print so it is a bit slower for that too (weird).

It is actually a warmish, sunny day here in the North-north-eastern US. So, knowing there won't be too many more days like this until April of next year (ugh), Hubby and I are going to do a beach walk. Some folks do walk the beach year-round, but you have to bundle up so much and the wind is so biting that I can usually think of something I would rather do, like wash the inside windows or clean a litter box.

Still doing the Friday Follow through Parajunkee's View. There are so many great blogs out there! Thanks to everyone who has come by to visit. I am also doing the Eighteen and Over Tag Along hosted by the lovely Bitten By Paranormal Romance!

 
Book Club Helper

http://www.bookbundlz.com/default.aspx

One interesting thing I have come across on the "NEW" Twitter is this fun new site (well, new to me) BookBundlz to help manage your book club and keep track of your books.  And, if you don't have a club, they will help you start one or your can join theirs.  They also offer a wine or cocktail/book pairings.  For example this month they are reading the Thieves of Manhattan and the drink is a Gin Rickey.  I think this is a great idea to help break the ice on a new book.

The easy to navigate, colorful site offers author information, book club suggestions, discussion questions and even more.  I don't belong to a book club; well, this blog is my new book club, but I signed up for the great information on the site.   I had to stop going to my other book club because I read so much now, I didn't have time to read the books that were chosen.

There is a free membership or a one time fee of $20 for a BB/VIP membership. Part of their profits go to the Campaign for Literacy.

Have a great Saturday!  See you tomorrow!

I have decided to try alternating between hops each week.  THis week the Follow and next week Crazy-for-Books Book Bloggers' Hop.








This is a fun blog hop from Parajunkee's View.  She is an awesome blog resource on her own but really rocks the blogosphere with this!
Each week she has a featured blog and this week is Book Couture

Tina [tee-nuh]: - proper noun

1. an Aussie teen blogger with an unnatural amount of passion for reading.
2. the overenthusiastic blogger behind Book Couture andthe Book Contest Directory

This week Parajunkee asks:

what is your high fashion book? --- translation --- best book cover ever.

 I can say I honestly don't know. I just listed several. Silver Born, Insatiable, Some of the Rachel Morgan Books.  Shiver and Linger have really beautiful and original covers and book design.  I also made note of a trend to have one of a few themes in the cover: Something that looks like a wisp of smoke, Something that looks like the red ribbon on Eclipse, and a girl in a fancy, twirly dress twirling or falling. Sometimes the same piece of click art keeps showing up.

Bloggers, come on along and Readers check out some of these great blogs.

Eighteen Plus Meme

Bitten by Paranormal Romance began this meme in the past few months. Some of the blogs, like mine, look at Adult and YA. But they all read Adult and not just YA.
I really haven't had time of late to participate. But this weekend looks a little bit more sane.

To learn more or participate by, joining, surfing or both click on the button above. More later!

Fall Challenge

The Fall into Reading 2010 Challenge is Hosted by Callapidder Days 

My goal is to work through the TBR pile in print and in e formats.  Unfortunately the list below doesn't truly encompass it. I hope to read more than this. Blogging is the best excuse for reading I have ever found.

Visions Awake, ARC Dawn Hullender
Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble ,HP Mallory (E)
To Kill a Warlock, HP Mallory (E)
Daughter's of Persephone, Julia Rachel Barrett(E)
Changeless, Gail Carriger
Masked By Moonlight,  Nancy Gideon

Burning Up,  Anthology
Deadly Fear, Cynthia Eden
The Countesses New Machine,  Carey Wallace
My Soul to Take, Rachel Vincent
Shadowfae, Erica Hayes (E)
Taken By Midnight, Lara Adrian (E)
Clockwork Angel, Cassandra Clare (E)
Nightshade, Andrea Cremer (E)
Red Headed Stepchild,  Jaye Wells (waiting for delivery)
Succubus Blues  Richelle Mead

Marked by Elizabeth Naughton H Potter & TB News

MARKED 
(Book 1 of the Eternal Guardians series)
Elizabeth Naughton
Pub. Love Spell; 
Original Edition 4/24/2010
Amazon Kindle Free (until 9/30)
Paperback $7.99 (Amazon)
Read September 22

As unrest in the Underworld threatens, seven immortal warriors descended from the greatest heroes in all of Ancient Greece may just be mankind’s last hope. http://www.elisabethnaughton.com/books/

When Cassie meets Theron, she is immediately attracted to him and when she saves him and takes him home things get steamy.  But things don’t always happen as we would wish and destiny has other plans for the pair, if the can stay alive and if  Theron doesn’t marry Princess Isadora.

Isadora was a supporting yet major character in this book but she is the only major character who was a little different from the typical characters.  The Heroine, Casey (Acacia) and Hero, Theron are a typical set. He is gorgeous, well endowed, smart, the leader of the Argonauts. Her single mother dies, as did the grandmother who raised her.  Casey had been a bit of a rolling stone until she inherits her grandmother’s house and bookshop. The two meet, there are obstacles; everyone is trying to kill them. 

The plot is storybook like and also typical.   The pacing is good and the story doesn’t feel rushed or slow.

http://www.elisabethnaughton.com/books/

These iconoclastically drawn characters throw the one really interesting twist into the story.  

The only remarkable aspect of the story is the role and personalities of assorted Greek legends. Atalanta, Hades, and Persephone are depicted as very different than the gods we know of legend. The Argonauts are not chasing a golden fleece.

Entwined, the next book in the Eternal Guardians series,
was released at the end of July.   Overall, this will entertain but not deeply occupy your mind. If I were grading it like a teacher I would give it a B.





 News

Harry Potter Trailer — I love Bill Nighe, who is giving a speech here.  This looks very dark.  I don't think I would take a young kid to this. I think I will be scared.

 






TRUE BLOOD,  Going through V Withdrawl yet? I just ordered some HBO True Blood Comics: issues one, two and three. Issues four through six will be released between October and late December. At only $4.99 they will make a  great stocking stuffer or Giveaway prize!!

The Most Eloquent Post by Laura Manivong - Make it go Viral in a Good Way

I was actually filled with awe at the eloquence in this post. It is on the Page Turners Blog by Lara Manivong author of Escaping the Tiger. She should win a Pulitzer for this. you have got to read this - Imagine it left me speechless. Let's make it go viral on the net my dear friends. It will say more against censorship than Professor Scroggins could ever say for it.

And, the book is certainly as vital. Shout it out. 

Tiny URL http://tinyurl.com/29a44t4

FULL URL 

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On Wednesday, What am I Reading?

                

WHAT AM I
 READING ?
WEDNESDAY

UGH! It is the first day of Fall, which is pretty in New England if you manage to stay in the moment and don't think ahead to the long, dark, and cold winter or lament the end of summer. So far this week, I am on my third or fourth book, I lose track of time and am not particularly well organized. 

I finished and reviewed Linger, by Maggie Stiefvater, and the fourth book in the Anita Blake series, Circus of the Damned by Laurell K. Hamilton. I also read the next in the Anita Blake Series, The Lunatic Cafe but didn't want you all to OD on Anita Blake. So, right now I am reading Marked (Eternal Guardians) by Elizabeth Naughton (Format: Kindle Edition  Publisher: Love Spell; Original edition (April 24, 2010)). This is a Kindle Freebie on Amazon and the next in the Eternal Guardian Series, Entwined released at the end of July.

I think I am about halfway through and it is not so gripping that I can't stop reading it.  I am not getting much of a sense of characters except for an supporting character, the Princess Isadora, who is actually  throwing me a bit of a curve right now.   And, it is certainly an interesting take on Greek Mythology.   Not everyone is as we are accustomed to perceiving him or her. I may be done and able to give you a better idea. Will it continue thus? Will I get bored? Will Isadora continue in the vein she is mining right now?   Will Theron and Acacia/Cassie ever hook up?
Tune in tomorrow for Am I Through Thursday (lol!).

Blog tip:

When I started blogging I was told to avoid things that move or make noise.  Now I have seen some moving things I like, although too many can be a distraction.  But, I have a hard time when there is a music player way, way down. Some times the thing not only comes automatically, which can scare me half to death, but won't stay turned off. Now, imagine I am surfing with my laptop and my kid is napping and all of a sudden there is music.  You hurriedly scroll down hoping it doesn't wake up the kid. You turn it off, phew! and then 30 seconds later it is back on.

1.  If you want music, which can be great, keep the payer up high on the page and make it instantly and permanently mutable or off (for that visit). Seriously, when that happens I just leave. That with movement and blinking is distracting, and confusing. And, it could wake up the baby,or the boss!

2. I prefer the music is not automatic and if it is that I can turn it off for the duration of my visit immediately.

3. Keep the volume down.

With movement and sound on the blog think:  less is more! 

Lara Adrian and the 411 on Her "Ultimate Bad Boys" Blog Boost —The Literary Soundtrack

Cover via Amazon

Next Tuesday, September 28 the new Lara  Adrian Midnight Breed Novel  Taken By Midnight comes out!   In case you don't know about the series let me give you a quick rundown.

Milennia ago a group of 8 violent aliens landed on earth and were stranded. They raped and killed their way around the planet, eating the only available food that supported their life forms, human blood. They all  had strange tattoo-like dermaglyphs which could change color according to mood. Eventually they located some women who didn't die when they impregnated them.  Each of these women had a birthmark shaped like a crescent moon with a teardrop above it. The first children were called Gen One. Unless killed by overwhelming injury, the Breed are immortal and their mates, with whom they bond through the sharing of blood stop aging.  They have a human face, but when aroused sport fangs and strange cat like eyes.

Many breed and their mates  live in special communities.  Some are integrated into the outside world.  A special group are Breed Warriors. They began under the banner of Lucan Thorne a Gen One during the Middle Ages and protect humanity and their own people from another facet of the Breed-human hybrid Species, the Rogue. The Rogue are not all that interested in preserving human life or humanity. They are involved in some terrible plans to find the one original Breed warrior who was not killed and  create a whole new Gen One race. Gen One have a tendency to fall prey more easily than later generations to Bloodlust.

The series revolves around this conflict and around warriors locating a breed mate.  They are very gripping and very, very hot.  Of courser the breed mates are all gorgeous and all have a paranormal ability. In each book, it is usually the breed mate almost being killed by the bad Gen One side. But who cares; the Breed are hotter than the breed mates and together they will scorch the pages of a book or fry your e-reader. And, each book has a different plot of danger. The breed mate are all really diverse too.

I did not get an ARC of this book, Dangnabbit! I must be really interested! But, I am signed up for emails at laraadrian.com and there are excerpts that show that this book is going to be quite different and very exciting with some really emotional issues for the characters. Not so different that you wouldn't recognize it but Lara does throw twists into most of the books. So for it to be sexy the Warrior has to find a chick and they have a common enemy to battle each time.  That gives of the structure of Adrian's world.  I found that once I read one I had to get the rest and plowed through them.






BLOG BOOST
The Literary Soundtrack

http://literarysoundtrack.blogspot.com

Canwin and Jennifer are two friends who share an interesting way of looking at books and associating them with music.  So, like other people compelled to share what interests them they came up with a neat idea to blog about books and music. They seem to be on the same page, playing the same tune.

After blogging for seven months. They each describe the blog:
Cannwin: I have the hardest time describing the blog to my friends. I want to say it's the connection between literature and music but that is far more broad than what we have done so far. I would like to expand more upon this avenue, but time hasn't given me much chance as of yet. So how do I describe it? .... I say 'do you ever find a song that reminds you of a book? That's what we talk about.'
Jennifer: I have to agree with Cannwin. It's about the songs that remind us of books, and sometimes books that remind us of songs.

What are they hoping for the blog?
Cannwin: I love to blog and all I ever want from them is a good discussion. Making money,..., is not THE goal for me. The discussion, the amount of people who read and enjoy what I have to say, that's what I want and care about.
Jennifer: I want to have fun with it. Sometimes when you get a great idea you want to be able to share it with someone else. This is where I get to share those ideas.

Do you have a favorite post?
Cannwin: I really enjoy the Friday Wish-List Posts. As for song-book combo I don't know if I have a favorite. I have to work really hard to find songs to go to books, for me it just doesn't connect that way so when I do hear a song that triggers a book I am amazed and excited and want to go read.
Jennifer: I like the posts that are easiest to write. It sometimes seems like the harder it is to write, the worse the resulting post turns out! I do like the post I wrote about Patricia Brigg's Marrok. That one came together so easily, and I thought I was able to make my point about Bran's personality really well.

Do you have a favorite type of music? band, song?
Cannwin: I'm very fond of piano music---Jim Brickman, Jon Schmidt, Yiruma. I really love piano--- I'd actually say that more piano music reminds me of books than anything, but how do you blog about that?
Jennifer: My favorite kind of music is whatever makes me want to sing along with it - even through I can't sing! I do my best to do all my singing when I'm alone - in the car is a great place for it. My favorite group is Fisher, but I'm always looking for new music that I might like. Finding a new song to love is as exciting as finding a great new book.

What is your favorite TV Show?
Cannwin: The West Wing, hands down.
Jennifer: I don't watch much TV. The only show I make a point of watching when it airs is Eureka.

Super Quick Questions!

Chocolate or Vanilla
Cannwin: Chocolate to eat, Vanilla to smell
Jennifer: Chocolate, although there's a lot to be said for French Vanilla ice cream.

Coffee or Tea
Cannwin: Neither
Jennifer: Hot chocolate

Toast or Bagel
Cannwin: Bagel with Strawberry Cream Cheese
Jennifer: Bagel

So, these two friends have managed to work together on their project and come up with something they enjoy.  I know it has expanded how I think about books. I am not too musical so I never put the two things together in my head before. Check it out and say "hi" while you're there.

How to Make True Blood Fan Fiction!

I got this Tweet from my dear, dear friend Sookie (maybe I should say, "Ah, got this heh-ah twee-it frahm, Mah de-ah, de-ah fren Sookie.") If the previous post is hosed this will make up for it.

Heh-ah is the lee-ink. True Blood Paper Dolls 

Now if Sookie recommends it it has the Merlotte's Bar Maid Seal of Approval!

Circus of The Damned, Laurell K. Hamilton Tips and Tricks I Have Learned

Circus of the Damned

Amazon.com

Laurell K. Hamilton 

Kindle Edition

File Size: 604 KB

Print Length:336 pages

Publisher: Jove (September 24, 2002)

Berkley-Penguin USA (Paperback) January 2, 2007

Purchased Sept. 4, read Sept. 18 and 19

The third novel of Hamilton's Anita Blake series has the petite necromancer fighting a giant cobra and a rogue vampire, Alejandro, who wants her for his human servant. Anita is still resisting the advances of Jean-Claude, St. Louis's master vampire, but she does need him on her side, if not in her bed. Anita's reluctant involvement in the odd goings-on at the supernatural Circus of the Damned introduces her to Richard, the werewolf of her dreams, and Larry, her powerful but nervous partner in zombie-raising.Mystery fans will love the tightly plotted, Paretsky-esque action, and horror fans will love just about everything in this unusual series. (Amazon.com)  (BTW, Paretsky writes the V.I. Warshaski series)

In Circus of the Damned-now in trade paperback for the first time-a rogue master vampire hits town, and Anita gets caught in the middle of an undead turf war. Jean-Claude, the Master Vamp of the city, wants her for his own-but his enemies have other plans. And to make matters worse, Anita takes a hit to the heart when she meets a stunningly handsome junior high science teacher named Richard Zeeman. They're two humans caught in the crossfire-or so Anita thinks.  (Penguin.com)

 Here are a couple of alternate covers 

Amazon.com, L Landy Virginia

Penguin.com

I have a hard time, having read a few books in this series that we would find a conscious Anita in Jean Louis arms. Maybe we did in some scenes of danger but it is so not Anita! Other than that what a pulpy, b-movie cover -- it should say VampireInvaders from Mars!

Anita is a complex character.  She reanimates the dead for a living, a zombies. She is tough because of her job and her past makes her guarded. If she were any more emotionally on edge she would fall into the abyss; an image used in this story.

This is the first book where I felt that Anita was knowable, likable, more than two-dimensional. She lives in a paradox.  She is learning that  someone with her powers over the dead is a necromancer, and that she herself may not be quite human.  Yet, she executes vampires without feeling remorse and makes judgments about other vampires based on the based on the baddies. But. there are plenty of bad humans and I don't believe she would so freely execute them.  She sees them as dead but then dicusses heartbeat and pulse.

I see in the book that she is struggling with these ideas as she grows.  She also meets a guy in this book who is actually interested in her as a woman and in a normal way. What's more she is interested in him, but first she has to save herself and some others including a new colleague, from a  variety of supernatural menaces.

I do struggle with her religious nature.  But that is my baggage and not necessarily that of the writer.  I have a tendency to see all references to Christianity as recruitment propaganda.  Much of the time it is my own hang-up.  And, as the Meredith Gentry books by Ms. Hamilton are not Christian I imagine it is safe for me to say that Ms. Hamilton isn't trying to change my philosophy with subliminal messaging. That, and after several books I have had no desire to attend a church.

I also believe this is the tightest book action wise. So, discussing plot would be a spoiler fest! The atmosphere is at times weird, the characters seem languid as if the were being fed opium. I think it is part of the event then.

I was impressed enough, reading this in the middle of the night pull up Amazon and buy Lunatic Cafe.
The real story in these books isn't the big mystery.  Although.  I usually find mysteries predictable and she constantly throws me off-track.  The real story is in the struggle to reconcile her "gift," her past, her issues with other species and just basically herself. While this is not suitable for kids because of the violence, it also not overtly sexual.

My recommendation is that it is a gripping read so grip one and read it!

Tips and Tricks I have been picking up along the way.

Make a button:

I am the web site administrator for my Junior League so I have had to learn just enough HTML to make me dangerous to the new league website. So when I began doing this I wanted all the buttons and such.
I looked at he code of buttons and found them to operate on a principal.

What a button does is link a graphic element to a url.  Therefore what you need is a graphic element, ex. a logo, a picture whatever,  a place on the web to store the picture, a bit of code for linking them and a web address to link to. The code makes the graphic become a way to actuate going to the address. Other people are going to take the button code to allow their readers to go to your site.

You need a place like flicker, photobucket or wherever to store the picture.   You sign up to these pages, very often for free and store your graphic. Getting a graphic is another topic it should be something like a .png, .jpg, etc. And your blog name should be on it.. This new place, say photo bucket, gives your picture its own URL. The first section just makes the picture appear in your side bar the part in red is where you put the URL from the phto storage site, the second allows you to say whatever you want like "grab Me" and the third part is what ends up inside a scroll box that the person copies.  The photo site may offer you several choices, pick the complete URL.

To use this, first store your picture at photobucket (or wherever) then cut and paste this into an html box substituting the parts in red for your information, It is not complex just get your information together and then plug it in. That is all I did. Some of this code is probably redundant. Let me know how it goes if you do it tonight and it fails. If one person reports an issue, I will edit it out fix and replace it. Then I won't feel like a total idiot. Just a partial one. I did test it but you never know...


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<center><span style="font-weight:bold;">grab the following code for your blog</span></center>



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Coming Up Later Today

Later today (Monday, 9/20), I will be looking at Anita Blake, Number 3, Circus of the Damned by Laurell K. Hamilton and also putting in a few tricks I have learned for Bloggers!

Shiver and Linger: And They Called it Puppy Love

http://www.maggiestiefvater.com/shiver/

Shiver

Maggie Stiefvater

Scholastic Paperbacks, June 1, 2010

400 Pages

Shiver-Mini_site

Linger

Maggie Stiefvater

Scholastic Press

1 edition, July 13, 2010

368 Pages (I read the Kindle edition)

Both books were purchased by me and read September 15 through 18, with a few false starts on Shiver. 

When I was seventeen I was in the throes of losing my first love. Of course, we always wonder about that first but thank goodness we parted ways and I met my very wonderful husband who is my last love and the love of my life.

But, I can sympathize with Grace and Sam. And, in one way the manner in which Grace conducts her relationship with Sam is a slap in the face to her folks whose laissez faire child raising was just irresponsible. And, when we see Grace we look into the mind of a quiet and angry young adult whose level of responsibility gives the illusion that she is emancipated from parental control. Of course, when push comes to shove (what the heck does that really mean?) her parents can exact a measure of control.  I really feel for her; and think she should have a level of decision making above that usually associated with 17 year-olds and parents.  I think they left her a long time ago, and I have no sympathy for them at all.  Never mind that their daughter has a boy in her room, what matters is that that their behavior has allowed them to miss here is a boy sleeping in her room for months.

Sam has some emotions stuck at seven, when he was bitten, but in other ways he is very mature. He knows he has a responsibility to new wolves and even when unpleasant because of personality clashes he does what is needed. He is a bit too sensitive for my taste with all his poetry and earnestness. He is particularly devoted to Rilke, and I think Stiefvater presents that poetry in a way that made it more accessible for me.  I like poetry in theory but in reality it doesn't captivate me.

I have a hard time imagining what either Grace or Sam look like other than her brown eyes and his yellow eyes and his floppy shock of black hair Grace finds so attractive. As we have seen in other novels of a similar type the girl is described as attractive but more or less average.  When I try to imagine who would play her in a movie, it is hard to come up with someone, because most young female actors are prettier than she is described.  The only person I can come up with is Kristen Stewart aka Bella Swan!

Some of Grace's friends are described enough and their characters shown substantially.  Rachel is loud, effusive, maybe a bit self absorbed, quirky.  Olivia is artistic, short-tempered, scared, just becoming interested in boys. Isabel, arguably, Sam and Grace's most important friend is somewhat emotionally precarious, no nonsense, smart, more sophisticated than the rest of the kids in Mercy Falls. She is also the product of parents who adored their golden boy, Jack but whose careers and social status made them a bit more interested in themselves and the bottle than in their children. When Jack passes away at the start of Shiver, she is the one who strives to comprehend the circumstances.  Her character is ascerbic, and fierce, even bitchy. She would be voted least likely to become hysterical in a crisis. She starts off bitchy and hostile towards Sam and Grace and ends up using her bitchiness to help them. She is the girl who would bring you around by slapping you into action.

Cole is a character who begins as a jerk and is determined to screw-up, determined to self-destruct. How he ends up remains to be seen, but he is forced to to use his intelligence to help and is perhaps growing out of being a jerk. I can see a relationship between Cole and Isabel developing in a third book.

Stiefvater has a tendency to force her characters to dance around, and avoid important truths. Action is only taken at the last minute. There are some communication issues between Sam and Grace.  In many ways their strange history and life experiences have made this relationship more serious than a typical teen-aged affair; like Edward and Bella they know this is it for them. But, I imagine many teens feel this way. This is the intersection where Grace and Sam, and Grace's parents finally collide and where her parents'

lack of parenting is thrown into relief.

After a while I stopped enjoying Sam's extemporaneous lyricizing, and found it a bit of an affectation. But, I found the story, particularly in Shiver, very moving and shed a few tears reading it. I immediately downloaded Linger and began to read.  There are allusions of sexuality in the book and Sam and Grace sleeping together is presented in such a way that even I sympathized with them and against the parent. Therefore,  I don't think a teen should read this unless a parent or other responsible person is going to discuss it with them.  It is not that it is risque, or that teens are not sophisticated enough to know exactly what happens in the bedroom, or that they are too innocent to be thus exposed; I think we all know that today's have seen and heard about more sex than they will read in these books. Rather, I think it is that the consequences are not those we would normally suspect they would be; the consequences are parental-filial estrangement. That is a rich topic, and this story is wealthy enough in romance, character and plot for me to recommend it.  And, as I discussed yesterday its wolves are really interesting too. 

By the way, the books are both beautifully designed , and the type is color coordinated to the cover art. In today's e-pub world, that is a truly unique feature.