Anyway, aside from breakfast in bed and having DH cook dinner, best Birthday present ever? Well, now I have a Kindle and I no longer have to squeeze a book into my over-stuffed handbag, it was a substantial voucher to spend on Kindle books, and a couple of others to spend on print books at various stores. Yes, I’ve embraced eBooks with a vengeance, but I’ll never stop my love affair with the printed book. For me, it’s all about having the best of both worlds :)

Speaking of eBooks, I’ve just released another one: Lightning Rider is now available at Smashwords, and will be rolling out to Amazon, B&N, iTunes etc shortly. So if you’re after a novel-length paranormal romance with a sci-fi twist of the “sweeter” variety (i.e. no graphic bedroom scenes), then this could be for you. (For more deets, check out my Books page.)

I first wrote Lightning Rider in 2007 after reading a travel article about slickrock bike tours in Moab, and stats about the high incidence of lightning strikes in Utah. I’ve always loved the concept of Lightning Rider Elementals, (Novik is absolutely my favorite Elemental!) so I figured it was time to dust this story off, spruce it up and put it out there. I hope you’ll feel inclined to give this romance a try and see how my two heroines (one human and one alien) manage to get to happy ever after.

And speaking of independently published eBooks, if you like paranormals, have a thing for less-than angelic angels, and you don’t mind a teenage protagonist, you can’t go past Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days Book 1) by Susan Ee.

I spotted this book listed on a very well known book review blog, and decided to check it out. To my amazement it had well over 100 5-star reviews on Amazon and was only US$0.99c  for the Kindle version. So I grabbed it. And boy, what a terrific read. Very dark, gritty, fast-paced and at times horrifying. Loved every bit of it!

Here’s the blurb straight of the book page on Amazon:

“It’s been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.

Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.

Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.

Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels’ stronghold in San Francisco where she’ll risk everything to rescue her sister and he’ll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

Recommended for ages 16 and above.”

At the time of publishing this post, Angelfall had 188 5-star reviews, and is still priced at US$0.99c on Amazon US so it’s well worth purchasing. And remember, you don’t have to own a Kindle to read a Kindle book. Just download one of the free Kindle apps for your PC, iThing, Mac or whatever and you’re good to go.

Can’t wait to get my hands on Book 2!

Oh, and a heads up:

I’m gonna be over at Authors Block from Feb 4th to 8th with an interview and a couple of giveaways for one commenter. Up for grabs is an electronic copy of Lightning Rider, and a choice of one of my backlist eBooks.

Hope you’ll pop on over!

Here’s my reading list for January:

• Sushi For Beginners by Marian Keyes
• Wolf Who Rules by Wen Spencer
• Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days Book 1) by Susan Ee
• Glory In Death by J.D. Robb
• The Blushing Bounder by Meljean Brook**
• Vixen by Jill Myles**
• Kitten-Tiger & the Monk by Carolyn Crane**
• Immortal In Death by J.D. Robb
• The Case of the Flashing Fashion Queen by Norah Wilson
• Baby, It’s Cold Outside by Carly Carson
• Pride’s Run by Cat Kalen
• Rapture In Death by J.D. Robb
• Dragon Blues by Edie Ramer
• One Foot in the Grave by Jeaniene Frost
• Brightest Kind of Darkness by P.T. Michelle/Patrice Michelle
• At Grave’s End by Jeaniene Frost
• Ceremony In Death by J.D. Robb

**Wild & Steamy anthology

Cheers!

M

All I can say is that I’m kinda glad to see the back of 2011. It’s been a rough year (and I know I’m not the only one who thinks so). Right now, I’m hoping that my daughter will feel well enough to want to eat something for dinner, and that we’ll see in the New Year not because she’s unable to sleep because the meds are wearing off, but because she wants to be awake to see in the New Year! It’s the little things….

As for 2012? I hope that my husband and son will be safe on the roads when they head back to Palmerston North tomorrow, and especially when they head back to us in Auckland on Tuesday. I hope that the people of Christchurch will have seen the last of these aftershocks, and be able to sleep without waking in fear to a shaking house.

And on an extremely personal note, I hope that I can find out what the heck is causing this latest weirdass allergy! Right now it could be anything I’ve eaten over Christmas, and the most likely culprits seem to be ham, chocolate (nooooo, please no!), almonds or (dammit!) really expensive French champagne. Major bummer. Fingers crossed it’s ham as I could live without that.

As for New Year’s resolutions? I have a treadmill in my obscenely large bedroom. Now that my gym membership has expired, I need to start using it. Plus, I need to better organize my computer time so I can get more writing done. (Ain’t that a familiar refrain for writers *wry grin*)

So before I forget:

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!

I hope 2012 is a great year for each an every one of you.

As for reading, this month I’ve read some amazing books. Usually I alternate between new books and old favorites, but this month, every single book except the very last one on the list was a new book for me.

And the last book? That old favorite? It’s Tinker by Wen Spencer.

Less than awesome cover aside, this book is just… just… awesome! Publisher’s Weekly pretty much sums it up for for me with comments such as “off-beat, tongue in cheek fantasy” and “playful eroticism”.

Here’s the blurb:

We’re not in Pittsburgh anymore…

Inventor, girl genius Tinker lives in a near-future Pittsburgh which now exists mostly in the land of the elves. She runs her salvage business, pays her taxes, and tries to keep the local ambient level of magic down with gadgets of her own design. When a pack of wargs chase an Elven noble into her scrap yard, life as she knows it takes a serious detour.

Tinker finds herself taking on the Elven court, the NSA, the Elven Interdimensional Agency, technology smuggles and a college-minded xenobiologist as she tries to stay forcused on what’s really important — her first date. Armed with an intelligence the size of a planet, steel-toed boots, and a junkyard-dog attitude, Tinker is ready to kick butt to get her first kiss.

I love this book. It was first published in 2003, and I’ve read it load of times. For me, it’s the perfect mix of fantasy, romance, science-fiction-style tech, and action. And Tinker’s accidental husband, the Elven viceroy Windwolf, is just a package of perfect hotness. Sigh…. (Don’t get me started on Windwolf, or I’ll never stop!)

I think I must have just felt like ending the year with a known quantity–that book that I know has everything, and will not disappoint. Not that any of the books I’ve read this month have disappointed. Au contraire, they’ve all been stellar reads! But sometimes a girl just wants to cuddle up with something familiar that she can lose herself in for a few hours–especially if her guy isn’t around. And hey, a book is at least calorie-free, right?

You can read an excerpt from Tinker on Wen Spencer’s website.

Wishing you happy reading in 2012, everyone!

Here’s my list of reads for December:

• Rapture by Renee Pace
• Finders Keepers by Linnea Sinclair
• Succubus Revealed by Richelle Mead
• Blessed by Cynthia Leitich Smith
• Take This Regret by Amy Lichtenhan
• Passion by Lauren Kate
• Angel Town by Lilith Saintcrow
• The Dark And Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan
• Unmasking The Duke’s Mistress by Margaret McPhee
• Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
• Magic on the Line by Devon Monk
• Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini
• Burn Bright by Marianne de Pierres
• Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer
• Cattitude by Edie Ramer
• Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase
• Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton
• A Dark And Brooding Gentleman by Margaret McPhee
• Off Leash by Renee Pace
• Tinker by Wen Spencer

I’m a bit behind on my reading this month. A lot (!!) of other stuff going on in my life right now. And with the Silly Season imminent, I can’t imagine things are gonna slow down much in the next few weeks.

Speaking of being busy, have you checked out my new Blogging and Giveaways page? I figured it was easier to have all the promo and guest blogging links in one handy dandy place–easier for me, that is. At least now I don’t have to update two separate pages *contemplates her own stupidity and rolls her eyes*

Anyhoo, on to this month’s book: Curse of the Wolf Girl–the sequel to Lonely Werewolf Girl–by Martin Millar.

Curse of the Wolf Girl is described by Dolly Magazine as: “A fresh take on all things scary and hairy.”

I loved both these books! They’re heart-wrenching and funny and sad and hilarious and irreverent… for want of a better description.

Here’s the blurb for Curse of the Wolf Girl (which I don’t believe does the book justice):

Meet Kalix. She’s struggling with college — and staying alive…

Scottish teenage werewolf Kalix MacRinnalch is in London trying to settle down and live a normal life. Her new friends support her as she goes to college to learn to read and write, but her old enemies won’t leave her alone. Many powerful werewolves want Kalix dead, and the Guild of Werewolf Hunters is still dedicated to wiping out the entire MacRinnalch werewolf clan.

Life might be easier if Kalix’s family was able to help, but her sister, the Enchantress, needs all her poswer to locate the perfect pair of high heels, her brother Markus is busy in Scotland organising an opera, and her cousin Dominil is engaged in her own merciless vendetta. Kalix must carry on alone, but she’s finding it difficult enough to pay the rent without having to deal with werewolf hunters and exams at the same time…

To give you a sense of the whackiness-factor, here’s just a few of the characters:

Kalix — a teenage werewolf with sub-zero self esteem. She’s the most ferocious fighter of her kind, due to having been born during the full moon when her mother was in werewolf form. She also suffers from depression and anxiety attacks (for which she takes laudanum). When it all gets too much for her, she cuts herself. And she refuses to eat except when she becomes a werewolf. She’s adopted by a kitten, and to everyone’s surprise, despite her bad-temper, she doesn’t eat the kitten when she turns into a werewolf.

Beauty and Delicious — werewolves with luridly dyed hair (pink and blue), who spend their days drinking whiskey and partying. They’re failed musicians. They’d be quite good if 1) they could overcome their stage-fright, and 2) they weren’t drunk most of the time. They’ve forgotten how to change except at the full moon, when the change is forced on them. And they’ve just started a new band:  Yum Yum Sugary Snacks

Vex — a young fire elemental who wears Hello Kitty pajamas and combat boots, has bleached spikey hair, and is pretty much a failure at being a fire elemental. She’s the bane of her Aunt Malveria’s existence. She’s extremely tactless and when she reads auras, she blurts out whatever she sees. She’s totally oblivious to how she upsets people.

Thrix — Kalix’s sister. She’s an enchantress and a budding fashion designer–much to the dismay of her mother.

Markus — Thane of the werewoves. He also likes to try on women’s clothes.

Malveria — Fire Elemental Queen who is obsessed with all things fashionable, and outdoing her rivals in the fashion stakes.

Moonglow — a student Goth with a kind heart, who takes Kalix in, and puts up with all her grumpiness…. not to mention Kalix eating her out of house and home whenever she turns into a werewolf.

Daniel — Moonglow’s flatmate, has a huge crush on Moonglow… but Daniel is hopeless with girls and he always manages to say the wrong thing.

And here’s an excerpt–in fact, I wish I’d not taken the books back to the library, because then I’d be able to choose a better one to showcase the books. But hey, there were so many bits I’d have loved to share that I’d be sharing half the freaking book!

Excerpt from Curse of the Wolf Girl by Martin Millar

“Did you know there’s a wolf in the kitchen eating cat food?”

Daniel and Moonglow sprang from the couch.

“Has she eaten the cat as well?”

“I didn’t notice.”

There was a rush for the kitchen. There they were confronted by an unexpected sight. Kalix, still lusting for meat, had transformed into her full wolf shape — something she rarely did — and was now munching her way through the food in the cat bowl. Rather surprisingly, the cat didn’t seem to mind that much and was eating from the other side of the bowl, grabbing what scraps it could before Kalix got there.

“We’ll need more cat food,” said Daniel.

Kalix licked the bowl clean and still didn’t seem satisfied. Nor was the cat, which was understandable, as it hadn’t got much of its promised meat.

“You better open another tin,” Daniel said.

“I’m not sure about this,” said Moonglow.

The cat began meowing. Kalix started padding round the kitchen, panting.

“I don’t think Verasa would be very pleased about her daughter eating cat food.”

Kalix began growling, either at the mention of her mother’s name, or because she was still hungry. The cat redoubled its meowing. Daniel opened the kitchen cupboard and took out a tin.

“The public demands more cat food,” he said. “We better serve it up before there’s a riot.”

He emptied the cat food into the bowl from which Kalix and the cat again began eating.

Moonglow, Daniel and Vex left them to it, and returned to the living room.

“That was unexpected,” said Moonglow.

“She’s certainly got a powerful appetite.” Daniel was a little impressed.

“I’m not really sure about her eating cat food, though.”

Daniel shrugged. “It looks healthy in the adverts. It’ll keep her coat shiny.”

Here’s my full reading list for November:

• Lonely Werewolf Girl by Martin Millar
• Naked In Death by J.D. Robb
• The Mummy by Ann Rice
• Don’t Look Down by Suzanne Enoch
• Billionaires Prefer Blondes by Suzanne Enoch
• Curse of the Wolf Girl by Martin Millar
• Vampire Knight 12 by Matsuri Hino
• Phoenix Files: Mutation by Chris Morphew
• Wild Ones 2 by Kiyo Fujiwara
• No Proper Lady by Isabel Cooper
• The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber
• Good Girls Don’t by Victoria Dahl
• Welcome to Temptation, by Jennifer Crusie
• A Brush of Darkness by Allison Pang
• Witchling by Yasmine Galenorn

My Red Sage editor once begged me to write a ménage. But to be quite honest, when it comes to writing sex scenes, I’m plenty busy keeping track of 4 arms, 4 legs, and various other, ah, bits and pieces, without adding a whole ‘nother person to the mix. So I compromised, and wrote her an alien hero bred to be a sex slave… and gave the hero an extra set of man-parts. Yes, I am a big chicken. Bwark!

As much as I loved writing From The Ashes, I was rather glad–purely from a logistics perspective–not to have another whole man attached to those manly bits! So when I spotted Love Me Twice by fellow Red Sage author, Roz Lee, I figured I’d buy it and see how an expert copes with writing a ménage.

Here’s the blurb:

Sean Callahan came aboard the Lothario to do his brother Ryan a favor, and ended up the man in charge when both Ryan and Richard left the ship with the women they love. The last thing he needs is a complication, and Celeste is definitely a complication. Once upon a time Celeste had been part of his team as well as his lover, but after a disaster of a mission, and the realization that the other member of his team, Drew was in love with her too, she’d disappeared. Now she’s back, and it’s high time for her to choose.

Some women have all the luck. Celeste just isn’t one of them. All the luck she seems to have is the bad kind. How else can you explain ending up on a ship with the two men she’s tried to forget for the last five years? Even worse, not a thing has changed. She still loves them both. Leaving them behind only postponed the decision she knows she has to make, and they aren’t helping any. In fact, they’re both doing everything they can to convince her to choose them. But, Celeste isn’t choosing anyone until she understands how their ménage a trois turned into a ménage gone wrong.

I loved this book! Here’s the review of it I left on Amazon:

“Love Me Twice — Mmmm. Sounded intriguing. And the cover is pretty darned compelling, too. A cruise liner. One woman and two hot men who’ll stop at nothing to make her theirs… Yum! And I’ve always wanted to go on a cruise, so how could I resist?

And I’m really glad I didn’t resist buying this book because Ms Lee’s story was a scorching hot, incredibly emotional erotic romance. For me, the best thing about this story was that Celeste’s love-interests, Drew and Sean, were such totally different men. Celeste truly does love them both, and doesn’t want to hurt either of them. And when the men force her to make a choice between them, it’s a heart-wrenching decision. The journey that leads to that ultimate choice, and the insight Ms Lee gave me into the minds of both Drew and Sean kept me captivated throughout.

Celeste, too, was a strong, compelling character. I loved how she held her own with two alpha males and even though they thought they called the shots, ultimately it was she who held the power.

Fabulous stuff! Highly recommended.

(And it’s worth noting that although Love Me Twice is the third book in the “Lothario” series, I haven’t read the first two — yet! — and I didn’t find this to be a problem at all.)”

You can find all of Ms Lee’s “Lothario” series on her Red Sage author page.

And here’s the rest of my October reading list:

• My Fierce Highlander by Vonda Sinclair
• Laying Down The Law by Ann Voss Peterson
• The Hunger Games 3: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
• Spider’s Bite by Jennifer Estep
• Angel by James Patterson
• Hawksong by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
• Snakecharm by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
• Falcondance by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
• Love Me Twice by Roz Lee
• In Deep Voodoo by Stephanie Bond
• Jinxed by Beth Ciotta
• Help Wanted: Daddy by Carolyn Greene
• The Naked Gentleman by Sally McKenzie
• Charmed by Beth Ciotta
• The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever by Julia Quinn
• Ain’t She Sweet by Susan Elizabeth Philips
• Wolfcry by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
• Wyvernhail by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
• Absolute Boyfriend 1 & 2 by Yuu Watase
• Seduced by Beth Ciotta
• Lost and Found by Stephanie Laurens**
• The Matchmaker’s Bargain by Elizabeth Boyle**
• The Third Suitor by Christina Dodd**
• Fury by Elizabeth Miles
• Blue Galaxy by Diane Dooley
• Soulless by Christopher Golden
• Bitten & Smitten by Michelle Rowen
• Flirting With Danger by Suzanne Enoch
• A Touch of Minx by Suzanne Enoch

**Hero, Come Back anthology

Until next month….

:-)

M

Freaks Of Greenfield High is now available at Barnes & Noble — yay!

Okay, back to business. I was at our RWNZ Auckland chapter meeting at the beginning of this month, and was thrilled to see Barbara Clendon of Barbara’s Books attending. I rubbed my hands in glee, because whenever Barbara makes it to one of our meetings, it means she’ll have bought along a selection of books and new releases, and I’ll inevitably come away with a couple of new authors to try based on her recommendations.

This month, Barbara spoke about a re-release from Avon, one of their featured “K.I.S.S. and Teal” releases to help raise funds for ovarian cancer. The book was “The Deed” by Lynsay Sands, a historical romance first published in 1997.

Ms Sands is well-known for her humorous paranormals featuring the Argeneaus, a family of vampires, and I love these books. But she’s also written a heap of historical romances, too. Now, I’m more your Regency historical girl. I adore that period. So the prospect of a story set in 1395? Probably wasn’t going to be high on my list considering my limited budget. But then Barbara read the blurb and talked about the book, and I decided I’d have to give it a go.

Here’s the blurb:

Lady Emmalene Eberhart wanted to do it. She’d even begged an audience with the King so that he would order her husband to do it–because she was determined to be a good wife. But then her husband died, and Emma remained a virgin.

Now the innocent young beauty finds herself with an ample dowry and promised to Amaury de Aneford, a landless knight whose able sword helped defend the King’s crown. Surely her new husband would want to do the deed, for his rugged good looks certainly make Emma’s heart skip more than a beat. And Emma suspects there is more to a wedding night than just a sound sleep… and more to true love than she ever imagined.

And that first chapter, where Emma has her audience with the King, certainly lives up to the promise of the blurb. I couldn’t stop smiling. And it was the same throughout the whole book.

I believe Barbara is right on when she said that if you don’t get too hung up on the historical accuracy of the story with regards to how much licence a woman would have in this time period, and just go along for the ride, this is a great read. Emma is an endearing, if somewhat misguided heroine, and Amaury is a perfect foil for her.

Enjoy! I know I did, even to the extent I was able to ignore the misuses of the word “reigned” (as in “she reigned in her horse”). And for me, that’s definitely saying something about how good a story is *g*

And here’s my reading list for September:

• Spellbound by Cara Lynn Schultz
• Here Comes The Groom by Karina Bliss
• A Thunder Canyon Christmas by Raeanne Thayne
• The Devil in Disguise by Stefanie Sloane
• The Deed by Lynsay Sands
• Pride and a Pregnancy Secret by Tessa Radley
• The Magnate’s Indecent Proposal by Ally Blake
• Kindling The Moon by Jenn Bennett
• The Man She Loves To Hate by Kelly Hunter
• The End Of Faking It by Natalie Anderson
• Forced Wife, Royal Love-Child by Trish Morey
• Valente’s Baby by Maxine Sullivan
• The Executive’s Surprise Baby by Catherine Mann
• Bargaining For King’s Baby by Maureen Child
• Love, By George by Debra Satonen
• The Texan’s Secret by Linda Warren
• The Demon’s Surrender by Sarah Rees Brennan
• The Elliotts: Marriage Terms by Barbara Dunlop
• A Dundee Christmas by Brenda Novak
• We Need A Little Christmas by Kathleen O’Brien
• Kiss Me, Santa by Karina Bliss
• Colorado Christmas by C.C. Coburn
• The Christmas Crush by Pamela Toth
• The Bridesmaid’s Best Man by Barbara Hannay
• The Blind Date Surprise by Barbara Hannay
• Not On His Watch by Cassie Miles

Got Nalini’s Kiss of Snow out from the library. It’s a hardback, so it was a little out of my price-range to buy — plus, as I have all the rest of her Psy/Changeling books in paperback, it’d bug the hell out of me to have a hardback mucking up the flow of all the other paperbacks in the series on my bookshelf.  (Yes, I am THAT an*l.)

The thing about hardbacks is, they’re soooo expensive to buy in New Zealand it’s a huge investment in a book — even if for me, Nalini’s books are always ALWAYS! a sure thing. My mom has bought be a few hardbacks over the years. And although I’ve not enjoyed many of them because they’re not my kind of read, I’m loath to give them away because I know how expensive they are. So me and hardbacks? Let’s just say, we don’t really get on.

All I can say after reading Kiss of Snow is that if I had just said “To hell with it!” and gone out and dropped $35 on the hardback, it would have been money incredibly well spent. And I would have happily made room for it on my bookshelf by rearranging my shelves to cope with a hardback in amongst the paperbacks. And I would not be lending this book out to anyone, in case it didn’t come back to me.

I can’t even tell you how much I loved this book. I got to have Hawke and Sienna’s story — and what a story it was! I got to revisit all my favorite Psy/Changeling characters. I got to have a secondary romance that was just perfection. I got everything I could ever want from this story and a whole heap more. Nalini is like a fine wine: Her writing just keeps getting better.

So is this hardback worth the money? Hell, yes.

(And now I have to go buy the book. And rearrange my bookshelf. Sigh….)

If you want to check out an excerpt from Kiss Of Snow, here’s a link to the page on Nalini’s website.

And if you want a more coherent review, then Google it *g*

Enjoy!

Here’s my reading list for August:

• Mistress by Leda Swan
• Scars by Cheryl Rainfield
• Flirt by Laurell K. Hamilton
• Bullet by Laurell K. Hamilton
• Untouchable by Stephanie Doyle
• Demon’s Fall by Karalynn Lee
• Solace and Grief by Foz Meadows
• Breathe, a ghost story by Cliff McNish
• The Maze Runner by James Dashner
• His Case, Her Baby by Carla Cassidy
• Who Needs A Hero? By Jennifer L. Hart
• Lights, Camera…Kiss The Boss by Nikki Logan
• The Poison Throne by Celine Kiernan
• Kiss of Snow by Nalini Singh

:-)

M

What do you all think about watching a TV series or film, that has been based on a book (or series of books)?

Most of the time I end up reading the books way before they become films or TV series. And based on my experience, sometimes the screen version is recipe for disappointment, in that it can never do the books justice. For example, I loved book The English Patient. Couldn’t wait to see the movie version…. And was, frankly, a bit disappointed. Maybe if I’d seen the movie first, I’d have been wowed by it, like so many people have been. Maybe reading the book afterward, I would have been envisioning scenes from the movie in my mind, and the experience of reading the book would have only been enhanced by the exquisite cinematography. Who knows?

Looking at it completely the other way around, there’s the TV series Bones. (Sealy Booth! *drools*) I adore this series–love what the writers have done with it. And probably only last year did I get around to reading a couple of Kathy Reichs’ books featuring Temperance Brennan. I really really enjoyed the books, though I admit to being rather shocked at first by how very different the books–and especially the character of Dr. Brennan–are from the series. It’s almost like the writers of the TV series were only interested in the “high concept” of Reichs’ books–renowned female forensic anthropologist solves murders–and rewrote from scratch based on that. But hey, the series is great, even if it does barely resemble the books. And did I mention Sealy Booth? *VBG*

Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse series is another interesting case. I love these books. Sookie has a dignity about her that is humbling. But the True Blood TV series? OMG. That’s like a totally twisted, totally x-rated version of the books. Which isn’t to say I don’t enjoy the series, because I do. (I mean to say, Alexander Skarsgard as Eric Northman? What’s not to like about that? Duh. Nothing!!!) And the writers are surely on the right track to scooping a wide audience for the TV series, because DH would never read a paranormal romance like Dead Until Dark, but he will watch True Blood. Clever writing indeed!

And this kind of leads me to A Game of Thrones. I watched the first episode and was blown away by it. The attention to detail, the way it’s filmed, the cast–everything…. It truly is epic. I immediately ordered the book from the library, and I have to say, since it was first published in 1996, I wasn’t expecting it to be as good as the TV series. Soooo wrong! It was brilliant. Only trouble is, now I’m almost regretting having read the book. It’s making watching the TV series an even richer experience, and it’s a pleasure to have all these extra little details and background knowledge about the history of the world and the characters stored in my head while I watch the series. But the killer is that ultimately, I know what’s going to happen! Plus, whenever I read a book I like to form my own mental pictures of what the characters look like. And after watching even one episode of TV series before I read the book, all I could “see” while reading it was Sean Bean, Mark Addy, Lena Headly etc etc. That said, if you asked me which I preferred–book version of A Game of Thrones, or TV series–I wouldn’t be able to choose between them.

One last thing before I sign off.

Here’s a line I’d like to share with you from The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff:

“Her gaze was direct, full of a sadness so raw and crystallized that I could see the shape of it. It ringed her pupils in rusty starbursts, but she was grinning–this terrible ferocious grin. It made her look like she wanted to tear someone’s throat out.”

It’s not often I read something so evocative that I “have” to put the book down and search out pen and paper to jot it down. This description still gives me shivers.

And yes, the book was a fantastic read–and totally deserving of this cover quote from Maggie Stiefvater, author of Shiver: “I loved this eerie and beautiful story of ugly things. It should be read aloud after dark, at a whisper.”

Yeah. What she said! This is not your normal fairy tale.

And here’s my reading list for July:

• Photographs and Phantoms by Cindy Spencer Pape
• The Spurned Viscountess by Shelley Munro
• Deathwish by Rob Thurman
• Rage by Jackie Morse Kessler
• An Unwilling Conquest by Stephanie Laurens
• Nightshade by Andrea R. Cremer
• Her Mediterranean Makeover by Claire Baxter
• The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
• One Wicked Night by Heather Boyd
• A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
• First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones

:-)

M

Well, no worries about that with The Demon’s Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan.

This time ’round, we got to see Nick through the eyes of another character, Mae. And boy, did Nick really capture me. Which is no mean feat considering we already learned his Deep Dark Sekrit in the first book, The Demon’s Lexicon, and he uh, kinda shouldn’t because– Ooops. Sorry. I don’t want to spoil it for those of you who haven’t read the first installment, so I’ll keep it vague.

Something I can discuss without letting the proverbial cat out of the bag, is the banter between the characters. And, even knowing all about Nick from the first book, the boy-girl tension between him and Mae just made me go all marshmallow-soft and gooey inside. (I wasn’t the only one. DD was captivated by Nick, too.) Plus Ms Brennan’s everyday descriptions were so superb I wanted to copy them down to refer to them for posterity. Instead, I’ll just wait till the trilogy is complete, and buy the series.

Here’s a sample of that banter I was talking about:

“Sometimes when you pull knives on people, they get this impression that you’re going to hurt them, and then they’re completely terrified. Crazy, I know!”

“Okay,” said Nick. He turned to Jamie and popped his left wrist sheath again. “Look.”

Jamie backed up. “Which part of ‘completely terrified’ did you translate as ‘show us your knives, Nick’? Don’t show me your knives, Nick. I have no interest in your knives.”

Nick rolled his eyes. “This is a quillon dagger. That’s a knife with a sword handle. I like it because it has a good grip for stabbing.”

“Why do you say these things?” Jamie inquired piteously. “Is it to make me sad?”

“I didn’t have you cornered,” Nick went on. “You could’ve run. And this dagger doesn’t have an even weight distribution; it’s rubbish for throwing. If I had any intention of hurting you, I’d have used a knife I could throw.”

Jamie blinked. “I will remember those words always. I may try to forget them, but I sense that I won’t be able to.”

[...] “Come on. I’ll drive you to my place and teach you how to throw knives.”

“What!” said Jamie. “Why?”

“Because I am a sweet and caring individual who is truly concerned about your welfare,” Nick drawled. “You coming?”

Can’t wait for the next installment *VBG*

And here’s my reading list for June:

• Kushiel’s Avatar by Jacqueline Carey
• The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade
• Emergency At Inglewood by Alison Roberts
• The Spymaster’s Lady by Joanna Bourne
• The Demon’s Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan
• The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel
• Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder
• Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves
• My Lord & Spymaster by Joanna Bourne
• Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler
• Crashed by Robin Wasserman
• Death’s Sweet Embrace by Tracey O’Hara
• Bedded By Arrangement by Natalie Anderson
• The Surgeon’s Meant-To-Be-Bride by Amy Andrews
• Coming Home For Christmas by Meredith Webber
• The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks

:-)

M