Drink Deep AWESOME EVENTS to celebrate its release!

Drink Deep

Chloe Neill

Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: New American Library (November 1, 2011)
Kindle Edition: 5 KB
Publisher: NAL (November 1, 2011)
Sold by: Penguin Publishing

Drink Deep,  Chloe Neill's soon-to-be-released Drink Deep, continues the story of Merit and the House of Cadogan. Much of the novel you will want to punch the lights out of the Greenwich Presidiums "Auditor," the new mayor of Chicago and her para-military friends led by McKettrick.

After the shock of the last book, every fan of the series I know is hoping for something upbeat. So here is some great news:

From Penguin's Imprint: New American Library some fantastic events to promote DRINK DEEP, Last Breath and Wolfsbane (so you can meet Rachel Caine and Andrea Cremer too)!

Thursday, November 3^rd    

BARNES & NOBLE

Oakview Mall

3333 Oakview Drive

Omaha, NE  68144

402-691-4557 (phone)    

7 PM

Meet Rachel Caine & Chloe Neill!

Sunday, November 6^th

BARNES & NOBLE

2100 North Snelling Ave

Roseville, MN  55113

(651)-639-9256 phone

2 PM

Meet Rachel Caine, Chloe Neill, and Andrea Cremer (author of the Nightshade series)!

Come to the bookstore, meet the authors, have your books signed, and participate in a raffle drawing to receive cool prizes!

I really wish I lived anywhere near either location.

Clouds are brewing over Cadogan House, and Merit the vampire can't tell if this is the darkness before the dawn, or the calm before the storm. With the city itself in turmoil over paranormals and the state threatening to pass a paranormal registration act, times have never been more precarious for the vampires. If only they could lay low for a bit...Lake Michigan, Image via Wikipedia


Then magic rears its ugly head when Lake Michigan turns black. The mayor insists it's nothing to worry about, but Merit knows a panic is coming. She'll have to turn to friends old and new to find out who's behind this, and stop them before it's too late for both the vampires and humans. AMAZON.COM

So exciting! Merit finding her way on her own in a city turned against Vampires is pretty squee-worthy. I agree with Chloe's Fiancé that this is the best in the series so far. With a bumbing investigator out to crucify Cadogan house for some weird reason, her best friend studying her self into a state, and filled with grief from the last installment in the series, Merit has a bit going on. Oh, and the elements are going crazy for which the world blames vampires.

It is rare anything will have me walking around the house reading the book as I do chores these days. But Chloe is fantastic at sucking me in!  She is masterful at putting in enough fast paced action  that the pages fly by. I am immediately drawn in or repelled by the characters. Some people can't pull off first-person but Chloe can. I especially love that even though Merit is an academic she is as down to earth as she can be.

Unfortunately, all that fast paced action makes it hard to talk about the books(s) without spoilers. On the other hand, it makes me speak briefly. THIS IS A MUST READ FOR ALL FANS OF URBAN FANTASY!!!! There's enough back story that it can stand on its own but reading the previous books in the series would give you a richer experience!  PREORDER this book. 

I love the covers in the international cover gallery at Chloe's site!

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RIFT WALKER Vampire Empire Book TWO THIRD SENTENCE THURSDAY

THIRD SENTENCE THURSDAY

Third Sentence Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Sniffly Kitty's Mostly Books which likes to sculpts castles out of clouds!

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 Kitty's  or if you don't have a blog, just post the sentence and your take on it in in the comments!

    Vampire Empire
   Clay Griffith & Susan Griffith
 
   Format: Kindle Edition
   File Size: 950 KB
   Print Length: 300 pages
   Publisher: Pyr (September 6, 2011)
   Sold by: Amazon Digital Services 
   Paperback: 300 pages
   Publisher: Pyr (September 6, 2011)

   Publisher provided review copy
   with expectation of a fair review if written.
   No remuneration was received.

The man beside her, holding her arm, was stonefaced, but fear also filled his eyes.

Well, this doesn't sound good does it?   He is holding the arm of someone who is afraid as his eyes are also filled with fear. But really, the sentence itself doesn't tell us much.

Synopsis:

Princess Adele struggles with a life of marriage and obligation as her Equatorian Empire and their American Republic allies stand on the brink of war against the vampire clans of the north. However, the alliance’s horrific strategy for victory drives Adele to abandon duty and embark on a desperate quest to keep her nation from staining its hands with genocide. Reunited with her great love, the mysterious adventurer known to the world as the Greyfriar, Adele is pursued by her own people as well as her vengeful husband, Senator Clark. With the human alliance in disarray, Prince Cesare, lord of the British vampire clan, seizes the initiative and strikes at the very heart of Equatoria.

As Adele labors to bring order to her world, she learns more about the strange powers she exhibited in the north. Her teacher, Mamoru, leads a secret cabal of geomancers who believe Adele is the one who can touch the vast power of the Earth that surges through ley lines and wells up at the rifts where the lines meet. These energies are the key to defeating the enemy of mankind, and if Princess Adele could ever bring this power under her command, she could be death to vampires. But such a victory will also cost the life of Adele’s beloved Greyfriar. The second book in a trilogy of high adventure and alternate history, The Rift Walker combines rousing pulp action with steampunk style, and brings epic political themes to life within a story of heartbreaking romance, sacrifice, and heroism. (Press Release)

To Order:

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BLUE MOON Laurell K. Hamilton: Lions and Tigers and Trolls, Oh My!

Image via Wikipedia

“Richard was an alpha werewolf. It was his only serious flaw. We’d broken up after I’d seen him eat somebody.”
Still, you never forget your ex-fiancé. And when [Richard's brother, Daniel], calls Anita Blake at three in the morning, she knows it won’t be good news. It seems Richard had gotten himself thrown in jail on a rape charge. But Anita knows that though he is a monster, Richard’s no rapist. And it’s up to her to prove his innocence—before the blue moon creates even bigger problems for Richard…” http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/

As I was finishing this book last night I was thinking how complicated the plot was and how carefully LKH wound it out and then reeled it back in. She is a plot master. This book has an amazingly intricate an tightly woven plot of storylines.  The effects of a three-way relationship between Jean Claude, Richard and Anita through the marks of being a human servant and called-werewolf, Jean-Claude's lover, Richard's ex-fiance and Lupa (the female counter of his status as "head-wolf"),  a necromancer, and the adoptive den mother of three were-leopard's are largely unknown to Jean Claude. But he does know a few things and keeps them from Anita. This really ticks her off.

When Jean Claude reluctantly sends her off to save Richard from a Deliverance-like rape charge against the wishes of the local Master of the City or Master of the "One-Horse-Town and surrounding territory," He makes her take a cadre of were-wolves, leopards and two vampires, one off whom considers her his mistress (as in master). He, however stays behind.

The inevitable chaos ensues, trolls are discussed but do not get involved, black-magic sorcery, wealthy creeps, clairvoyants, the local sheriff, state police, and feds, local werewolves even do. Oh and Richard has a cadre of local chicks with whom he is having sex; were-wolves he is interviewing for the Lupa position.

Anita is interesting, ruthless, killing without remorse, she nevertheless keeps her word. Someone who used to hate "monsters" she has come to realize she is also not quite human and that the three-way situation is making her more powerful but also allows her more access to her own, innate power.   She is also realizing what her faith is, that it is more about belief and less about religion. And when you deal with the worst of the monsters you can only use faith against them.

The Anita Blake series is progressive.  She goes from chaste, to sleeping with the monster. She goes from killer with conscience to dispassionate killer, but, she is woefully slow and upset when she learns that were-pack justice keepers take her, as Lupa of Richard's pack and the keeper of the leopards, very seriously and literally.

In other words, while Anita takes on the slippery slope of sex, self-acceptance and "monster" acceptance, and supernatural leadership she's a study in  contradiction.  The high-horse upon which she has sat is slowly crumpling to the ground. This was the most interesting of the books so far and as always I want to leap directly into the next.

Image via WikipediaOne interesting note is that the men in the Anita Blake books and those in the other LKH series with which I'm familiar are similarly described and difficult for me to conjure mentally. probably because I don't hang out with supernatural beings. All these guys have super long hair and great bodies. I guess being a necromancer has to have some compensation other than a decent salary.

Another note is that in this book we are definitely aware we  are in a reality where magic is long known and if not accepted as part of daily life at least studied.

I couldn't stop reading it.  Highly recommended.

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The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton

Product Description

Charing Cross Station Image via WikipediaDebut novelist Kiki Hamilton takes readers from the gritty slums and glittering ballrooms of Victorian London to the beguiling but menacing Otherworld of the Fey in this spellbinding tale of romance, suspense, and danger. 
The year is 1871, and Tiki has been making a home for herself and her family of orphans in a deserted hideaway adjoining Charing Cross Station in central London. Their only means of survival is by picking pockets. One December night, Tiki steals a ring, and sets off a chain of events that could lead to all-out war with the Fey. For the ring belongs to Queen Victoria, and it binds the rulers of England and the realm of Faerie to peace. With the ring missing, a rebel group of faeries hopes to break the treaty with dark magic and blood—Tiki’s blood.
Unbeknownst to Tiki, she is being watched—and protected—by Rieker, a fellow thief who suspects she is involved in the disappearance of the ring. Rieker has secrets of his own, and Tiki is not all that she appears to be. Her very existence haunts Prince Leopold, the Queen’s son, who is driven to know more about the mysterious mark that encircles her wrist.
Prince, pauper, and thief—all must work together to secure the treaty…http://www.amazon.com/Faerie-Ring-Kiki-Hamilton

THE FAERIE RING

Kiki Hamilton

Sometimes a story is about magic and strikes a magical chord in its telling. It is only in the past few years that I have learned that the fae are not sweet little Tinkerbelles but are more likely the monsters under the bed. The Faerie Ring makes that point perfectly clear.

The Faerie Ring strikes that magical chord in it's good-as-gold youths who must steal to survive but who are very good at heart. These same youths, Tiki and her family of ragamuffins are also at the center of a dangerous war. 

Because of these sweet kids, the danger they face and a few surprises about the means of a few and their relationship to the royal family, I found myself unable to put the book down and read the whole thing in about five hours. While there are some tender moments, and suggestion of potential incest averted, the book is a bit younger YA than I normally read. But, it will warm the cockles of your heart even as your adult ability to suspend your disbelief is stretched to its maximum elasticity.  I had a hard time knowing  that there were attacks on the persons of the Queen and her consort so it was hard to swallow that Buckingham Palace hadn't really stepped up security.

Even with my history skeptic in tow, this tale of the poor children and the wealthy aristocracy mixed with the danger of the fae is as  compelling now, as when Dickens wrote of it  (except the fae). Highly recommended—an excellent family book club book.

A nice touch: A pronunciation guide for the Gaelic words in the books.

• Reading level: Young Adult
• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Tor Teen; First Edition edition (September 27, 2011)
• Language: English
• Kindle Edition: 612 KB
• Publisher: Tor Teen; 1 edition (September 27, 2011)
• Sold by: Macmillan

Disclosure: Review copy provided by publisher in expectation that any review would be fair. No remuneration was exchanged and all opinions expressed herein, unless otherwise, noted are my own.






A little history of the time:

Imagine! Victoria and Albert had nine children.They were very attached to each other and after he died at 42 in 1861 she became depressed and for the rest of her reign remained in mourning clothes.

Image via Wikipedia

Prince Arthur

Her marriage to Prince Albert brought nine children between 1840 and 1857. Most of her children married into other Royal families of Europe.


Prince Leopold, Image via WikipediaEdward VII (born 1841), married Alexandra, daughter of Christian IX of Denmark. Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (born 1844) married Marie of Russia. Arthur, Duke of Connaught (born 1850) married Louise Margaret of Prussia. Leopold, Duke of Albany (born 1853) married Helen of Waldeck-Pyrmont.
Victoria, Princess Royal (born 1840) married Friedrich III, German Emperor. Alice (born 1843) married Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. Helena (born 1846) married Christian of Schleswig-Holstein. Louise (born 1848) married John Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll. Beatrice (born 1857) married Henry of Battenberg.
http://www.royal.gov.uk/HistoryoftheMonarchy

I have highlighted two of Victoria's offspring who figure in this story. Leopold, Duke of Albany, who is an important character in the book is no stranger to fictional portrayals; he was played by Hugh Jackman as Leopold in 2001's Kate and Leopold.

FMI about the British Monarchy: http://www.royal.gov.uk/Home.aspx

FMI about the conditions of children in poverty in Victorian Britain
http://www.hiddenlives.org.uk/articles/poverty.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/bsurface_01.shtml



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C.J. Ellison's Vampire Vacation is like the Game of Clue! with Fangs

C.J. ELLISON

Meet Vivian. She’s a 580-year-old vampire who exudes sex, has a talent for drama, and is passionate about two things: her human husband, Rafe, and their resort for the undead. Her ability to project physical illusions has created the perfect vacation spot—a dark, isolated Alaskan hideaway where visitors can have their wildest fantasies come true.
Vivian knows the best performance requires perfect timing, but the powerful vamp is put to the test when she discovers a corpse in a locked guestroom minutes before the next arrivals. Always cool-headed, Rafe hides the body, convinced he and Vivian can find the culprit without disturbing their guests.
Juggling the increasingly outrageous demands of their customers while tracking a killer isn’t easy. Will their poking and prodding give them the answers they need, or will it uncover secrets Vivian would kill to protect? http://www.cjellisson.com/books/index.html

VAMPIRE VACATION A Novel of the V V Inn

C. J. Ellison

Kindle Edition: 472 KB
Publisher: Red Hot Publishing; Second edition (October 10, 2010)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
Paperback: 296 pages
Publisher: RH Publishing; 1st edition (October 10, 2010)
Language: English
Reading level is definitely ADULT
Disclosure: Won in free third party contest with author delivery.

While written in a first-person voice, recounted as if the plot were  happening right now, which I thought strange,  Ellisson's Vampire Vacation is a tightly constructed Agatha Christie type murder mystery with many congenial and not so congenial characters.  Vivian, whose most recent "real" name is Dria is the hostess of this affair, she is a n old vampire, a trained killer who is extremely oversexed and who can project that sexuality onto her guests to help them achieve greater pleasure with fewer inhibitions.  Her partner in love and business is her husband Rafe and they share some pretty hot times. The recounting voice is a bit technical. Dria has a healthy libido but I would like to see it bit more passion in the telling.

But for all the frequent sex, it is a bit tame; I think Ellisson is holding back a bit here.  The open sexuality between the committed pair is a bit exhibitionist, a bit voyeuristic but quite monogamous. I think any vampire as openly sexual as Dria in as committed a relationship as Dria's and Rafe's  be more into menage with her partner. 

I only found one vampire body function inconsistency having to do with blushing being possible and not being possible.  Although the first instance occurs immediately after she has fed so it could be a function of having almost too much blood in her system.  There is also, I think, one instance of product placement for liberator.com. ***Oops, sorry got a bit distracted by that website—It's an, oh my, really, you can do that? turns computer sideways, kind of place*** A novel idea—I guess if it's okay in film it's okay in a book.

One troubling aspect was the voyeur  capacity of the special "fun" rooms at the hotel where, ostensibly under the the guise of safety the hoteliers can observe what's going on.  It was unclear to me whether the guests were aware of this.  I would find this an extremely invasive and illegal practice.

The murder mystery part is, well and tightly constructed with clues and information building up and a few red herrings. I enjoyed the concept and the way it was worked out, although I felt that Dria was a bit overly semiomniptent in her own mind.  This appeared to be felt by others like her husband who does a few things to humble her.

All in all a pleasurable read which I can eagerly recommend to people who like both vampires and erotica.

Two free shorts are available free on Amazon at the time of writing. 

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Burnt OfferingsWho's Afraid of Anita Blake?

“You can’t trust anyone who sleeps with monsters.”
That’s what Anita Blake had always believed. But now she was sharing a bed with the Master Vampire of the city. So when an arsonist began to target vampire victims, the creatures of the night turned to their former enemy. For now only “The Executioner” could save them from the inferno…
It’s often hard to tell the good from the evil. Just ask Anita Blake. She seems to be developing a soft spot in her heart for vampires-one in particular. So, when an arsonist’s fires begin licking at St. Louis’s undead, it’s up to Anita to save the very monsters she’s sworn to destroy.   http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/works/burnt-offerings/

Boris Karloff as Frankensten's Monster
Image via Wikipedia

Anita keeps saying she is having sex out of wedlock with the Master of the City. It bugs her religious sense and it sure as hell bugs Richard, her former fiancé and the current Alpha of the St. Louis Lukoi (Werewolves). I wonder if she thinks they will marry, or if they can marry.  Perhaps, having sex with what she calls monsters doesn't count because he isn't human.

There is a lot of conflict in Anita about the monsters; she's not entirely a normal human herself, as a necromancer and now the wolf queen and the were-leopard queen, where does human end and monster begin?

As always LKH provides a gripping read and I always want to read the next story right away until I am bloated and uncomfortable with a surfeit of Anita Blake or Meredith Gentry.

I think these stories are mostly about Anita's process of opening up to the world around her as she accepts herself as a different type of person than a human without preternatural gifts. She is also more accepting of the world's other occupants, even as she calls them monsters the word is beginning to lose its sting.

I feel bad for Richard, they never had sex and then she has sex with Jean-Claude the master vampire. Then he has to see it all the time through the bond the three share.  No wonder he is in a perpetually bad mood.

I am not sure I like Anita.  She's kick ass, but even she admits she's undiplomatic and ruder than needed and she is always internal conflict.  In the old days of women working at jobs men had previously occupied (anything that didn't involve children or caring was reserved for men) we used to say that a man who is tough and serious at his job is called successful, but that a woman doing the same is called a bitch.  But sometimes Anita seems like all the male stereotypes of a bounty hunter poured into one petite-framed woman. Back in the day she would have been a bitch, and it seems that unless she needs to be nice for a reason she is bound and determined to be bitchy.

As a character, Anita seems to be a paradox—a kick-ass bitch who collects stuffed penguins. The old tough on the outside gooey on the inside cliche.  But, if I were to look more closely would I see things that set her apart from the cliche?   Is there a tough streak in the goo or a gooey streak in the tough-parts? I am not seeing it, but maybe I haven't read far enough into the series yet.  So, Anita Blake fans, you tell me—Is Anita Blake more than a bitch?

A note about the plot. In this story we start off with the Fire Department seeking her help with a fire bug. Then we go somewhere else completely and it seems it took until the last third of the book to get back to the opening theme and work it into the rest of the story.  The whole thing occurs in about three or four days. It felt a little disjointed to me: like a dog being teased with a treat.

Amazon Availability

Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages

Publisher: Jove (September 24, 2002)

Language: English

Kindle Edition: 634 KB

Print Length: 400 pages

Publisher: Jove (February 23, 2010)

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GOT DIALOGUE? What bugs you in a story?

Image by tpeñalver - www.tomaspenalver.es via Flickr

I had fully intended to have a book read and reviewed for this fine morning. Well, I don't. And that got me thinking about why I don't finish a book.

I am still reading the book I meant to finish for today, but I got some strange medical news that has sort of thrown me for a loop: I found out I have a non-life threatening form of skin cancer and they have to do some surgery on my leg.

So, yesterday while I should have been reading I was often staring into space and trying to deal with the words I and Cancer being in such close proximity to each other.  And, while it is not life threatening it is still my mortality becoming ever more evident.

And, yes, you should wear sunblock all the time, even at night. Honestly, what ever caused this probably happened 40 years ago when we didn't know what sunblock was. We actually would slather ourselves in stuff intended to increase the tanning effect of the sun. If a half-Ethinically-Greek-Turk and half-Italian can get skin cancer anyone can.

But back to the topic at hand:

Other than when I say, "It's not my cup of tea;" when I don't finish a book what are the reasons?

Probably the reason I give most often and one that has a multitude of underlying causes is that it is hard to read.  This can mean that it is boring, poorly written, an ugly or depressing story. It can also mean it is a story wherein nothing happens; it has no plot.

What do I mean by poorly written? Aside from technical aspects of writing,  I mean what I term expository writing. This is when a writer tells me what the character is thinking, saying, and doing instead of showing me. Of course, the entire book cannot be dialogue (then it would be a script) but needs a balance between narration and dialogue.  Invariably, and I mean invariably, the books I find with this imbalance are self or vanity published with an occasional independent publisher.

I am not saying that all self or indy published books are written this way. There are many well-written indy or self-published books and in the e-book age more good writers are self-publishing. But, I have never reviewed a big house published book written this way. A good editor can make or break a book.

It may be that good expository fiction does exist and that wouldn't know good writing if it whacked me in the face.  Maybe a retelling of a story in which the pretense of dialogue would be too contrived. Although in my mind the likelihood is that these would be historically based retelling: like a book by Dr. Oliver Sacks where he recounts his patients' ailments. A story like The Devil in the White City may suppose certain facts but I don't remember actual dialogue. This could be why so much fiction is written in  the first-person, a convention I have seen criticized for being too often used, but not for a lack of effectiveness,

Strangely, I never hear this discussed. Is it a taboo to tell someone they need to write more dialogue? Sometimes good work gets rejected. Sometimes something I don't enjoy gets published. But, if rejection slips arrive, The first thing I would do if I  wrote fiction, instead of running to the computer to self-publish, would be to look at this aspect of a book.

I applaud anyone who puts his or her work out—it's like running naked in a parade. But if you do decide to write and show it then please, please look at this in your writing.

Then the next thing I can say is that the dialogue is either too much, hard to follow (who said that?), or just off.  I find newer writers tend to write men speaking with each other like pre-teen boys playing war with or without GI Joes. It's like s less polite "nudge-nudge, wink-wink."

There are other things that bug me just as much. What about you? What do you you find hard to read? What makes a book unworthy ofyour time?

Please note these are the thoughts of a morning, solely my opinion.

Those who can do, those who don't tell those who can what they should be doing. 



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