Thursday, July 7, 2011

THIRD SENTENCE THURSDAY
GET WITCHY WITH IT!


Third Sentence Thursday
Third Sentence Thursday is a weekly meme which drank a lot of milk when it was younger so is super strong now!

1) Take the book you are reading now and post the third sentence
2) Review this sentence anyway you want (funny and silly reviews encouraged)
3) Post a link to your sentence at sniffly's, click badge, above (in the comments) or if you don't have a blog, just post it in the comments! (Sniffly Kitty's Mostly Books)



http://www.pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Winter_Witch
My third sentence this week comes from Pathfinder Tales: Winter Witch by Elaine Cunningham:

Marit perfected her art while writing on her bed, the sheets already sodden with the sweat of her agony.

If I weren't reading this book and didn't know the sweat was from childbirth and the art was swearing (perfected by the women  in Marit's culture while in labor)—if I didn't know this, all sorts of gutter-worthy thoughts would be racing through a mind filled with PNR/UF sex from the erotica sub-category of the genre. Of course, being the fine, moral aand upstanding citizen I am, I would entertain nothing gutter worthy, but would think that Marit was having nightmares while having menopausal night sweats. Or, that she was in an over heated room and was being forced to practice the art of body painting where an artist spreads paint using his/her nude body as the brush and a large sheet of canvas or wood as the material on which she is painting.



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Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Expansion

The Glory of the GardenImage by ZedZAP via FlickrI could be talking about my waistline, but I am talking about my move to expand the genres I read and review on the blog. I don't think it will be more than once a week and since I see the world as a pretty magical place it is likely I will experience most literature the same way. 

The post below is my first official foray into the rest of the book store and I am thrilled to start off with the most anticipated release of the summer, a debut novel by Vanessa Diffenbaugh: The Language of Flowers. 

As always what you think is an important factor in my decision making process, so let me know, please, either way! 

The Language of Flowers



by


Random House


A mesmerizing, moving, and elegantly written debut novel, The Language of Flowers beautifully weaves past and present, creating a vivid portrait of an unforgettable woman whose gift for flowers helps her change the lives of others even as she struggles to overcome her own troubled past.


The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in communicating grief, mistrust, and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings.


Now eighteen and emancipated from the system, Victoria has nowhere to go and sleeps in a public park, where she plants a small garden of her own. Soon a local florist discovers her talents, and Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But a mysterious vendor at the flower market has her questioning what’s been missing in her life, and when she’s forced to confront a painful secret from her past, she must decide whether it’s worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness. Random House




Amazon Availability
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books (August 23, 2011)
Kindle Edition: 5 KB
Publisher: Ballantine Books (August 23, 2011)
Sold by: Random House Digital, Inc.
Audio CD from Random House Audio; Unabridged edition (August 23, 2011
Language: English
ARC provided by publisher without expectation. All opinions herein are my own unless otherwise cited. No financial remuneration was exchanged.

“What is it like to try to love if you’ve never been loved yourself?”* 



I received this ARC in a package of books presented to guests who attended a Tea at Random House during BEA 2011. I was excited because I had read it is the most anticipated release this summer. It has already been released in thirty countries due to publishing schedules, and I've read great things about it. I was pleased to find it is as good as the promotions claim. I feel honored to have an opportunity to tell you about The Language of Flowers.


The book is well written and edited. But the elegance of the writing takes a back seat to the immediacy of the heartbreaking story and the damaged young woman who communicates through flowers.


I have read books where the language of flowers figured as a way for lovers to send messages about intent and desires. But the use was usually incidental to the plot and characters—a prop.


Diffenbaugh uses the Language of Flowers as the fabric of her story about a young woman trapped in the foster care system, even after she is emancipated from it. The character, Victoria, uses the language of flowers to express emotions to a world that doesn’t understand the language, or her. For Victoria, the language of flowers is no less than her lifeline, a way she can express emotion when she cannot risk opening up herself verbally. Words give people power over you, as Victoria sadly learns throughout her life. If you tell someone you hate peas, then they can sadistically feed you nothing but. If you admit love you give someone the ultimate power over your emotional life.



But Victoria learns that you can tell people what you feel if you speak a language they don’t understand, or recognize as a form of communication. You can express hate, love, pain, or encouragement like a secret blessing or curse.

Purple lilac symbolizes Image via Wikipedia
Purple Lilac symbolizes 1st Emotions of Love
Diffenbaugh sheds light on the plight of foster and abused children and what happens to some emotionally and she is uniquely able to speak about the system with authority. In an interview on Amazon.com she discusses the story:  
I’ve always had a passion for working with young people. As my work began to focus on youth in foster care--and I eventually became a foster parent myself--I became aware of the incredible injustice of the foster care system in our country: children moving from home to home, being separated from siblings, and then being released into the world on their eighteenth birthday with little support or services. Moreover, I realized that this injustice was happening virtually unnoticed. The same sensationalized stories appear in the media over and over again: violent kids, greedy foster parents, the occasional horrific child death or romanticized adoption--but the true story of life inside the system is one that is much more complex and emotional--and it is a story that is rarely told. Foster children and foster parents, like children and adults everywhere, are trying to love and be loved, and to do the best they can with the emotional and physical resources they have. Victoria is a character that people can connect with on an emotional level--at her best and at her worst--which I hope gives readers a deeper understanding of the realities of foster care.



For Victoria, some of the hate she had expressed by acting out she can now express by giving someone a stalk of basil, which means hate. It is all the more powerful in that the recipient has no idea. It is a private joke that buttresses her fragile sense of self.
Of course, Elizabeth, the woman who teaches Victoria about flowers, knows what each gift means. This is the woman who comes closest to adopting Victoria but who allows her own demons to get in the way. These demons push Victoria into an act the magnitude of which she fails to foresee and for which she punishes herself for many years.



Elizabeth tells Victoria that the meaning of each flower is non-negotiable. Much later Victoria learns that there are multiple meanings for some flowers. But, Elizabeth sees constructs in black or white and it is her rigid understanding of the world that starts the downward spiral that destroys the spark of love and life she had begun to kindle within Victoria. Sometimes foster children “know” they are going to lose the love they value so they refuse it and push it away before if can be taken from them. When warming up to it they can be dispassionate, as Victoria is with her boyfriend.


I know that learning there is more than one meaning is vital to Victoria’s progress, possibly in that she has to immerse herself so fully into the language that it becomes art rather than just a rudimentary form of expression. Or it could be that she learns there can be more than one outcome for herself as well. When emancipated at 18 from the foster system, Victoria still lives as if it is what is holding her back. I am terrified for this eighteen year-old girl who is homeless. That she manages to get anywhere in the normal world is a miracle, and the miracle is wrought by flowers and how she communicates with them. Eventually her bouquets are not just like spells they become spells that act like powerful antidotes.


Victoria mistakenly believes that she is the only person in the world who is not whole, who is not perfect, who was not loved as she should have been. Her prodigious appetite for food must be both symbolic and a response to having been hungry for many years in many ways. She reminds me of the kitten I rescued last fall who ate ten cans of food in one day. Of course, we are all damaged in one way or another, as her boss Renata tells her. Elizabeth is very damaged due to a family history of mental illness.


Renata is damaged by being a somewhat straight arrow raised by a bohemian midwife. She is also a remarkably accepting and expansive person, also a product of that upbringing. I enjoyed Renata’s mother, Mother Ruby, and the expansiveness with which she is able to embrace Victoria. There is no need to doubt or reject her love because it is for everyone. It is amusing to me that the two names of Mother Ruby’s daughters we learn are Renata and Natalya. Both names contain the root word “Nata,” Latin for born.


But, Renata’s emotional disability doesn’t prevent her from getting out of bed for a week, or from knowing how to tell one’s lover something of importance. Victoria’s distress is much greater. While Renata’s upbringing is a blessing and, to her, a curse, it is hard to see anything positive in Victoria’s except the fact of her physical survival. The man who understands her floral messages, Grant, is remarkably tenacious, and as a rediscovered part of Victoria’s past gives her a way to come to grips with the secret she has hidden from so long, to come to the forgiveness she has so long denied herself and the world.


My only issue with the book is Victoria’s physical and emotional age when she has her epiphanies and starts her business. Although Victoria is self-reliant in many ways and has gone through horrors children should not have to experience, the degree of emotional damage is so great, that I find it hard to believe her mature enough to manage without any counseling. Everyone must assume she has had counseling through the system, the panacea for social ills.


Of course millions of severely damaged people are successful and even a neglected seedling can grow and become a beautiful flower with no help at all. This book will stun you in its naked portrayal of the life of this young woman. It is all honesty&mdashgood or bad.

I am thrilled to be able to agree with others who have praised this book and give it my MUST READ recommendation.

*This phrase is in the following video in which Vanessa Diffenbaugh tells us about the young woman who more than anyone else inspired the idea for her new book, The Language of Flowers.






Devo ancora uscire in tutto il monda
I still have to go all over the world
sono gia un fenomeno editorale
I am an editorial phenomenon
perche parlo un linguagio segreto
because I speak a secret language
sono contesa da tutti gli editori
I am fought over by all the editors
da maggio 2011 saro nella librerie di 30 paesi
After May 2011, I'll be in the book stores of 30 countries
vieni a trovarmi
Come find me.


 


 

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Tuesday, July 5, 2011

DEEPER THAN MIDNIGHT
Lara Adrian Changes the Game

SPOILERS

http://www.laraadrian.com/home.php#quiet
Why vampires? Two of the most powerful human emotions are fear and desire. They rule many of our actions when we're awake, and they inspire the most vivid dreams when we're asleep. The intrigue of the vampire through the ages has been the twining of these two emotions--we fear him, yet his darkness is the very thing that makes him so compelling, so incredibly desirable.
http://www.laraadrian.com/home.php#quiet
Review assumes knowledge of series. FMI a brief explanation see laraadrian.com and a video at the bottom of the page.

Product Description
DELIVERED FROM THE DARKNESS, A WOMAN FINDS HERSELF PLUNGED INTO A PASSION THAT IS DEEPER THAN MIDNIGHT.

At eighteen, Corinne Bishop was a beautiful, spirited young woman living a life of privilege as the adopted daughter of a wealthy family. Her world changed in an instant when she was stolen away and held prisoner by the malevolent vampire Dragos. After many years of captivity and torment, Corinne is rescued by the Order, a cadre of vampire warriors embroiled in a war against Dragos and his followers. Her innocence taken, Corinne has lost a piece of her heart as well—the one thing that gave her hope during her imprisonment, and the only thing that matters to her now that she is free.



Assigned to safeguard Corinne on her trip home is a formidable golden-eyed Breed male called Hunter. Once Dragos’s most deadly assassin, Hunter now works for the Order, and he’s hell-bent on making Dragos pay for his manifold sins. Bonded to Corinne by their mutual desire, Hunter will have to decide how far he’ll go to end Dragos’s reign of evil—even if carrying out his mission means shattering Corinne’s tender heart. http://www.laraadrian.com/home.php#quiet

Deeper than Midnight
Lara Adrian
Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Dell; Original edition (June 28, 2011)
Language: English
Kindle Edition: 725 KB
Print Length: 416 pages
Publisher: Dell; Original edition (June 28, 2011)
Sold by:
 Random House Digital, Inc.
Blogger Purchased.





Lara has said how much she was looking forward to telling Hunter's story. I had never really thought of Hunter as anything more than a mass-produced commodity, void of personality, emotionless. That was stupid and narrow-minded of me. Just because he was brought up not to act on his emotions, to subvert them, doesn't mean he did not experience them.


Corinne, well I wasn't all that fond of her. She seems weak, although having survived seven decades of confinement where the only stimuli was hellish abuse at the hands of a power hungry, vampire Hitler kind of belies that. Hey, I am zero for two in character assumptions. She is taken to safe places but doesn't get any PTSD counseling. Of course Hunter was the product of such experimentation, and may have experienced gruesomeness nearly equal to Corinne's. She had to be strong, but she is so at odds with the world when freed, with the technology, with the people who saved her, that I found myself thinking of her as whiny.


While Lara's books follow a structure, this one only follows the romantic course. The rest of the plot shakes up the entire structure explosively. It is obvious she is not just phoning these in. So, if you know the structure you know that Hunter and Corinne get together eventually. She doesn't catch a break until she and Hunter get together. Think evil-fairy -Godmother who wasn't invited to the christening? This girl has a raincloud  over just her head, on her side of the street and even under her umbrella. And, while Hunter is free from Dragos (aforementioned evil Hitlerish Vampire) he is still engaging in the only thing he does—he is still a fighting and killing machine. He is still in the emotional prison Dragos designed for him. He is like a  male, vampire seven of nine without the hardware.


Things are happening to other members of the Order as well, and to people in Dark Havens (Where Breed families live) all around. It's really exciting and empowering for Breedmates who since Tegan and Elise have become much stronger, and more vibrant and independent.


So you have two remarkably damaged individuals who we know will hook up and go through a series of difficult adventures. Hunter has been partnered with Chase Sterling a former agent of the super-corrupt vampire FBI. Over the past few books his behavior has become increasingly erratic. But what happens is off the charts. It is also a different kind of love story where a woman who has no reason to ever look at a man after 70 years of rape and torture and a man who has been so shut down emotionally find sanctuary with each other and the strength to go into what has been prophesied as a disaster.


That's the great thing about this series. Yes, there is a thematic thread that ties the stories together. That is, of course, the romance and well-written, ick-free and incredibly hot lovemaking. And we know there will be a series of interwoven story lines. This is definitely not a standalone book. Well, it could be but to the best effect it is best read in series. Adrian manages to weave these story lines in new and refreshing ways that makes each book fresh and unpredictable. The last several in particular have really shaken up the Breed Snow Globe, and made me look forward to each new entry. I know Adrian is still excited by the series, it's obvious in the writing and the plotlines that she has a lot of ideas for the Breed Warriors and their Mates. 

Recommendation: For followers of the series it is a MUST READ. If you aren't a follower of this hot and thrilling series what are you waiting for? There are a few series I buy without question as soon as the book comes out and this is one of them. One thing I like about this series is what seems to me to be a plausible and logical explanation for the Vampires.

MUST READ is my highest level of approbation.















Uploaded by on Mar 6, 2007
Video for the Midnight Breed novels. For book info, excerpts, newsletter, etc., visit www.LaraAdrian.com. [video produced by StonecreekMedia.com]

 





Monday, July 4, 2011

CHANGELING DREAMS WINNER!!!!!!!

The western front of the United States Capitol...Image via WikipediaFriends here in the USA and everywhere: Happy Independence Day. I like to think of this day not as a celebration of a war, or of just this country, but of the spirit and evolution of humanity. I am proud to be a US Citizen, and that my grandparents emigrated here seeking freedom and prosperity but I am not a chauvinist about it.  In the case of my Ethnic Greek ancestors from Turkey who fled in the diaspora it was, in reality, freedom from persecution and ethnic cleansing. Then, for my Italian grandparents leaving was very much related to war and economic freedom.

So for all citizens of the world who value freedom and self-determination happy Independence day. Whether you have it or it is being sought it deserves some thought and recognition. 




TODAY coincidentally we also celebrate the winner of Dani Harper's Changeling Dream                                
THE WINNER IS:  BROOKE
An email has been sent to Brooke and she has 24 hours to get in touch!                                                       
 




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True Blood Season 4's Episode 2
YOU SMELL LIKE DINNER

SPOILERS, ADULT SITUATIONS AND LANGUAGE

Season 4, Season Episode Two
Series Episode 38
You Smell Like Dinner

Jason in Hotshot: (in the first episode they knocked Jason over the head and into a freezer)
Jason StackhouseImage via WikipediaJason waking up sees little girl, Aggie, he realizes he is tied up and asks her what is going on.

She tells him they aren’t supposed to talk to him.
Suddenly, Timbo, the boy he had sent to the freezer with the ice cream in the last episode is licking the blood off Jason’s  head to clean the gash.
Jason is grossed out by this and asks who put them up to this.
He convinces the kid to loosen a knot, but before Jason can free himself Felton storms in.  Kicks the kids out.  He’s the nut, ex-boyfriend who kidnapped Crystal after he shot her father at the end of last season. He threatens to shoot Jason.

Sookie’s House (this scene is transcribed pretty much verbatim):
Sookie and Eric, he has just revealed that he is the owner of the house.
No longer naked, Sookie, trotting down the stairs in her robe says, “Stay away from me.” Eric uses vamp speed to cut her off as he says, “This is no way to treat your new landlord.” She says, “I am not yours and I want you out of my house now.” He says, Funny about ownership isn’t it, a little piece of paper and the only power you had over me is gone.”
She says, “What do you want from me?”  Eric replies, in a rather suggestive voice, “Everything.” Sookie says, “You can’t have it.”
He replies, “I bought it.”
She says, “You bought my house, the house does not come with me inside it.”
He says, “Well then I seriously overpaid.” Sookie replies, “That’s your problem,” and exits to her right off camera.

Eric calls to her, she turns as he says, “Your blood tastes like freedom Sookie; like sunshine in a pretty blond bottle. And, while they may not know it, yet, that is what vampires smell when they smell you.”
Sookie asks, “Is that a threat?” Eric replies to her,  “Absolutely not, but others will find out and when they do, you’ll need protection. I can provide that for you. “  Sookie replies, “I’m willing to take my chances.” She continues walking towards the kitchen, and he uses his speed again to get in front of her,  and then Eric says, “I bought this house, because I care about you. If all I wanted was to taste your blood again, I could do it right now and there wouldn’t be a thing you could do to stop me. But instead I am asking you to be mine.”
She turns away and says, “ I could never be with you the way I was with Bill.” She turns and walks into kitchen.
Eric follows, “The first time Bill  declared you his, how did that make you feel.”
Sookie replies that it made her angry, and Eric says, “But safe?”
Sookie considers and casts her eyes downward, He says, “You’ll come around.”
She says, “You’re not listening to a word I‘m saying.”
Eric immediately says, "I know you. There are two Sookie Stackhouses, one who still clings to the idea that she is merely human, and the other who is coming to grips with the fact that you are better than that." 
Sookie replies with snark, "And, what do you think is gonna happen when I do come to grips with it, do you think my legs will just magically open for you?”
“Well,” he smiles. That was saucy—must have been fairy-Sookie talking. I like it when she comes out.”
Sookie grimaces, "And I‘m already sorry I said it.”
“Don’t be,” he says, “The more you let her speak for you the more likely you are to go on living. And, you want to live don’t you?”
Sookie, glances up and down, he made her think.
“All done?” he continues, “I hope to hear from you real soon.” He does that European,  rise-up-a-bit-in-height, nod-the-head-mini-bow, sort of like a diplomat—I expected him to click his heels. He leaves the house through a squeaky screen door, saying back to her, I’ll see to it that gets repaired.” In the background you hear him fly off.

Bill’s House:
One of the witches to whom Jesus introduced Lafayette, at the first coven meeting he attended, Katie , is in more relaxed attire than when she arrived at “The King’s house.”  Katie is Katerina Pelham. Her hair is down and Is unbuttoning her blouse. She has been telling Bill about the bird.
He says her work in that circle is done it’s not safe for her there. She asks what his plans are and he says what she already knows will have to suffice; if he tells her anymore he would have to glamour it out of her.  She replies, walking towards him seductively, "well we wouldn’t want that would we?" Katie asks if she should send the procurer out for him. Bill grabs her by the throat and she makes a startled cry as he flashes fangs the cry changes to a sultry look. Bill says he is giving the procurer the night off.  He picks her up and carries her off.

Pam, Jess and  Hoyt—leaving Fantasia: (Vampire Nightlife post-Russell Edginton)
They run into a group of religious people shouting “Steve Newlin’s right, you’re devils of the night.” They have words; one calls Hoyt a fang banger another, filming with his phone, calls Jessica a whore. Jessica vamp speeds to him and flashes fang; says Do you want to call me that again? Holding them both back Pam says, You two Lovebirds go home and let these good people practice their constitutional right to be fucking idiots.” Someone swings a punch and Hoyt gets beaten up as Pam holds Jessica back. .

Sam running naked with Luna:
They are both human and naked He says he was watching her. She  says she knows, yea, she knows,, from behind. He says he didn’t know it was a race. He says he doesn’t mind being behind her and watching. Sam is trying to sweet talk her. He says he wants to know more about her. 
She says there isn’t much to know.
Sam says that no one gets to be as beautiful as she is without one heck of a story. She says that’s a good line. They start to lean towards each other and then Luna takes off, becoming a horse again.

Sookie  Bills:
Sookie is in a dress and a cardigan walking to Bill's. He is having sex with Katie, she sounds like a wounded cow in pain. Bill’s security stops Sookie, as inside, Bill hears Sookie approaching and stops his pounding of poor Katie.
Sookie says she is there to see Bill. The guard says that noone gets to see the King who isn’t on the manifest. The King? Sookie says, King Bill? Another guard, asks if she is Sookie Stackhouse? She says, Yeah. He speaks into his walkie-talkie and lets her pass. She walks in and calls for Bill. Goes into the room and finds Bill and Kate re-dressing. Introduces “Katarina” to Sookie as security.  Kate looks at Sookie and it is obvious she is pissed off at the interruption.

Jesus and Lafayette getting ready for bed
Jesus psyched about bird Lafayette not so much. Thinks it may be  black magic.
Jesus doesn’t believe in black magic it’s the practitioner’s soul that counts. Someone like Lafayette with a light soul would not be practicing black magic.  They kiss.

Back to Sookie and Bill:
She says she did not want to come to him but does not want to be Eric’s. Bill cannot make Eric give up his property. Eric has friends in High places, higher than him apparently. Maybe he can come up with a work around. He urges her to live at another human’s home. Asks how he became king  but then says she would rather not know. Sookie leaves.

Flashback  London 1982 punk club:
Bill as punk.
Gets a pint asks bartender to have a pint with him and then takes him for a drink in the alley.  Glamours him;  tells him to take iron and vitamin b.
Looks really different. Let’s bartender go.
Nan and Bill meet, She sneaks up and says, you don’t kill them. He hisses and flashes fang.  She flashes fang back, probably the international way of vampires greeting each other with a fang flash and a hiss.
She’s been watching him for weeks. Why doesn’t he kill for dinner?
What if she could introduce him  to power vamps who also don’t want to kill, Scientists Louis Pasteur is a vampire and close to synthesizing human blood.
Monarchs will crush them but this power group need him too plant the seeds of discord from within. Offers Bill a job as a vampire spy.

Sookie at Merlotte's:
She is asking Sam to talk. 
Apologizes for not telling him and tells him she will let him know what she was doing. He looks forward to it he says.
Terry and Arlene  come in with Mikey, he says how cute he is, Arlene freaks out when she says MIkey is an old soul.

Andy up at Hotshot:
He is looking to score V
Felton tells Timbo to make him go away.

Andy says  he has a V warrant. Jason calls out. Crystal comes after Jason with a knife
Felton tells old guy to give Andy a vial of V which Andy takes as “evidence”
Felton has Crystal on V She starts rubbing on Jason like a cat and is stripping. She has a way for them to be together but if Andy finds him it will ruin everything.  Crystal is kissing Jason now saying he is really good.

Merlottes:
Sam walks in to his office and finds Luna she is between classes; she is there to seduce him.
Some thing in past she doesn’t want to tell him
She promises to try to let him in. Could have called but then couldn’t kiss him.
Is he going out to meeting tonight?
Sam follows her out she teaches in Turtlenecks, even in summer, “boys these days are disgusting.’ Tommy asks who she is, says she smells and looks pretty. Sam says it is not his business.

Merlotte's:
Arlene and Terry are talking in the kitchen of the bar. Arlene stares into the baby’s eyes as if she is being mesmerized.  She pops a vessel in her eye. She thinks the baby did it. Rotten like his father, she tells baby. Terry tells the baby that HE is his father.

Sookie's House:  Sookie arrives home with groceries, she hears someone approaching and sees ugly fae but realizes it is Tara.
Lafayette texted her so she knew that Sookie was back.  
Sookie and she exchange news. They go inside. She says she was working for Bill.
Note on door: "Out with the old in with the new." There’s a microwave in the kitchen, from Eric.  Carafe of blood in fridge. She tells Tara about him buying her house. Sees beautiful armoire; it hides a cubby that Eric built in  her house.

Hoyt at Home: Jessica walks in after her day sleep. He is  on the couch nursing a black eye with a cold pack. She asks if she can get him anything? Offers to heal him with her blood. He says he does not need the shit. She takes exception to him calling her blood shit.
He doesn’t want to end up like people who get too much vampire blood
She goes to drugstore to get Advil but turns toward Shreveport and Fangtasia.

Tara at Lafayette’s: The cousins meet each other at their cars. He and Jesus are on their way to a coven meeting which they call a Wiccan thing. She goes with them .

Eric and Bill:
Bill asks Eric to sell Sookie’s house back to her or to him. Eric says no.
Bill tells Eric about the new coven in town. Bill tells Eric to go shut them down. Eric says he will put Pam on it.  They are necromancers. If they can control the dead they can control them. Tells Eric to deal with it himself.
Eric asks if AVL signed off and Bill says he is King and doesn’t need permission.

Flash back to Season 3 last episode continuation of Bill's challenge of Queen Sophie Ann: He had her shot by a human, AVL swat team. He did not win the challenge by strength but by stealth. Nan from American Vampire League is behind it. She says that it was personal and what was so special about Sookie.
Nan asks what was so special about her – Bill said nothing, but that the Queen was obsessed that something was. She warns him that he had better not be lying to her.
Nan pronounces King William Compton, he pledges fealty  to AVL.
She tells him to get cleaned up he is "covered in queen."

Pam and Sookie in Fangtasia  office
Sookie is begging Pam to help her with Eric. Pam decries any friendship. Says Eric is her maker why wouldn’t she agree with him?
Sookie decides to wait for him.
Pam says she should reconsider, basically repeating Eric’s argument.
She needs to be somebody’s or she won’t be, at all.
She will never be his puppet
Pam says that It’s a shame, he pulls good string

Jess at Fangtasia:
Walks through protesters and goes in to the bar in slow motion. Jessica  unpins hair and has taken off flannel shirt.
Room is shaking behind her, she sees Matt  the guy she met the other night when she was at the bar with Hoyt. They go off.

Coven:
Holly, speaking for Marnie, says that what they accomplished last night was remarkable and Marnie appreciates each for doing their part.

Tara asks why Marnie does talk another asks what there are going to bring back
Marnie says a person they are going to raise a human body. Tara waits out front.

Anger management shifters group:
Whats the most effed up thing she ever shifted  the blond girl says she was a hen.
Luna says she shifted into her mother, she says she is ½ Mexican and Navajo

She grew up on a reservation;  mother died giving birth  to her. Instead of fairy tales she heard about skinwalkers. They were bad witches but to be able to shift, had to kill another member of family, a shifter. In a sense she killed her mother as she had died giving birth to Luna.   So she could shift into her mother because skin walkers could become anyone.
Crazy and scary at first then realized she got to meet mom
They smell Tommy, Sam runs after him
Both turn into birds.

Tara outside Wicca shop:
She is calling girlfriend, Naomi.
Vamp speeds by  in the background.
Lafayette asking Coven, “Where y’all gonna get a dead body? Eric says “Excuse me you were looking for a dead body.” Lafayette swears and Eric looks over and says, "Lafayette, I didn’t know you were a witch."

Fangtasia: 
Sookie goes into Ladies’ room at Fangtasia. Hears Jessica in other stall biting on Matt.  Sookie tries to counsel Jess and they argue. Jess tells Sookie that  she can eat who she wants.
Sookie leaves Fangtasia, yells at protesters to get another slogan.


Sam catches Tommy:
Argue Sams group is not anger management and that they are all shifters.  Sam says it hlps calm him, helps stop him doing stupid things like shooting people.
Tommy’s leg is fine, Sam says, so Tommy lied too.
Tommy is lucky because he got shot and so all his sins are washed away.
Brothers are both liars. Sam asks why did Tommy follow Sam. Tommy says because he wants to be brothers, Sam says can’t because of not trusting each other.
Chip away at it.  Others in group come by.
Tommy says he better go. Sam says he would appreciate it. Tommy leaves.


Eric at Coven offers a deal:
Last time coven convenes and they better not think of meeting; he’ll know.
Marnie wants to know what ‘s in it for her. Eric says not a negotiation and end up biting Marnie some how she becomes Tara. Coven chants Elements f the night elements of the dead come this way we summon ye
Marnie Curses Eric in Latin, she is shifting faces.  Eric leaves. Marnie comes to. Eric held hypnotized, looks around ay end and leaves.

Jason, Crystal and Felton:
They want to get Crystal pregnant but Felton is sterile.  They are going to turn Jason into a panther
They shift and bite Jason, he screams.

Sookie driving home from Fangtasia:  She sees Eric with no jacket or shirt and stops.
He ignores her, finally asking who are you? “It’s me, Sookie,” she says, “You know me.”
Eric doesn’t know her, he says no no I don’t
Sniffs the air, and walks toward her and asks, “Why do you smell so good?”


This is as close to the chant as I can get, I would love to know what it means:
Iam  tibi impero empri  incipio maligne spiritus
Ut confestid  alata e circolo decedes obesqui
omni strepito clamore   asque sine


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Sunday, July 3, 2011

Review & Giveaway!! Changeling Dream
by Dani Harper


daniharper.com






Paperback: 368 pages

Publisher: Kensington Brava; Original edition (June 28, 2011)

Kindle Edition: 597 KB
Publisher: Kensington Books; Original edition (July 1, 2011)
Kindle Ed. Sold by: Amazon Digital Services

Provided by author through publicist. No remuneration exchanged. All opinions
expressed are my own unless otherwised noted.
Age level: Adult

Some cliché in the romance tropes, but interesting and exciting.
Well written intimacy.

In times of stress Jillian Descharme has always found calm in her dream of a great white wolf with haunting blue eyes.But she is startled when the visions return and this time seem so real. Late atnight he comes to her, speaks to her, touches her. It's almost as if he's
alive...

Thirty years ago James Macleod lost his wife and unborn child to a killer bent
on destroying the Changelings. Though he longed for death, his animal instinct
fought for survival and James has been a wolf ever since. Yet now a woman has
reawakened the man in him, taming wild instincts but arousing still wilder
needs.  With his ancient enemy hunting the legendary white wolf, James
must fight for new life, new hope, new love. (Amazon.com)

Wolves in Kolmarden. Daniel Mott from Stockholm, Sweden
Dani hits her stride in the second book of what promises to be a long-running series about
Changelings in Western Canada.  You know all the Highlanders that other series have? I think they have all moved to Dani’s story, which may be why Connor MacLeod, the veterinarian Changeling in
the first book shares his name with the character in The Highlander series.

Werewolves in this series are called Changelings. One character, Zoey, Connor’s wife, can become almost any animal.  Changelings are born or bitten and live a very long time.  Dunvegan, the town in or around which much of the family Macleod live, is loaded to the gills with
werewolves.

When Jillian arrives she finds a mostly friendly town and surrounding farms. She and MacLeod
do a lot of large animal work on site and back at the very well appointed clinic.

The details of the story,  go back thirty years to James' first wife who was murdered by a less than sane man who nearly killed James as well. But the wolf in him gave him protection.  Jillian was almost killed as well; a large white wolf scared off her attackers. Her counselor doesn’t believe the wolf was really there but thinks Jillian’s mind created him as a protector.


However, she had been in love with wolves since and became a veterinarian to eventually rehab
wild animals. In fact she sacrifices a lot to become a vet—it is her true vocation.

The story is about two people who have come through the worst life can offer and survived. Jillian
is surviving a little better than James is since he hasn’t gone into human form in 30 years. In the romance world, even the paranormal sub-genre, you know the two characters will get together, come apart, until finally they are able to work through a variety of issues. The otherness of the
Changelings also comes into play—it is more than a backdrop for the romance.

We come to know both characters well. Jillian’s character is one with whom most women could sympathize.  Instead of a Knight in Shining Armor, her prince is a White Wolf. It takes a while for her to realize that. Jillian is smart, sensitive, when she is upset she distracts herself by doing something. Now, in Dunvegan she has friends so she hangs out with them.

It takes James longer, but his wolf knows before he does that Jillian will play an important part in his life.  He doesn’t even know why he is drawn to her and then why he is propelled out of his wolf form after so long.  I felt badly for him about his loss, but did not find him as sympathetic as Jillian.  I wanted to hit him, shake him into not being an ass who thinks he's protecting someone by not being with them. He wasn’t there in time to save his wife, but one would think that being a changeling would give him some wisdom, like Birkie, the resident witchy character and vet clinic receptionist.

The crux of the story is that James has to learn that he can love Jillian without taking away from how he felt for his late wife, and that you cannot blame yourself for theinsane actions of another person.

Dani’s werewolves are hot; more so than  Jacob and friends from Twilight. When Dani’s changelings aren’t in wolf form they are Men.

I like the equality Dani gives the females of all species in this series. One gender isn’t always the savior or the leader

It takes Jillian a while to believe the whole wolf thing. In some books people get a paranormal shocker and they are instantly accepting. But Dani’s characters want to see proof, and then they want a little more proof.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and look forward to Changeling Dawn due out in January. The writing is quite sophisticated with nothing amateurish about it. The dialogue is great, not just expletives. Men relate to each other with more intelligence and emotion than is often the case in novels.  The women also sound real. And, the dialogue between James and Jillian has some really nice episodes.  I highly recommend Changeling Dream.







AUTHOR GIVEAWAY









Prize will be one copy of Changeling Dream -


  • You must be EIGHTEEN or older.
  • YOU MUST HAVE A US SHIPPING ADDRESS
  • DO NOT need to be a follower or comment although both are appreciated  so much more than you can imagine. Being a follower or commenting will  not improve your chances of winning.
  • You must complete the correct form below to participate.
  • An  invalid email address will immediately void entry if that entry is  drawn. If an email address for a winner does not work a new winner will  be drawn immediately.
  • East  Coast US is the Time zone for all contest entries, Contest will begin  at 12:00 AM on Saturday, July 2, 2011 and end at 11:59 PM on Sunday,  July 3, 2011
  • WINNER  HAS 24 hours from my sending the email to them to respond. If the  e-mail address is invalid or non-functioning, the entry will be null and  void, and I will immediately choose a new winner. Winner will also be  posted on the website but such posting is voided if the winner's email  address is invalid or non-functioning.
  • While  unlikely I reserve the right to change or alter the contest rules,  prize or form if necessary. All changes will be with the intent to  correct an error or maintain fairness.
  • Prize  will be shipped by author's publicist, Blogger cannot be held  responsible for delivery of product although will serve as liaison  between winner and publicist as needed. 

THIS IS THE FORM!!!!!
















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