Early Review: Hot Blooded

Hot Blooded (Jessica McClain #2)

Amanda Carlson

Publisher: Orbit – to be released 23^rd April 2013

E-Arc Courtesy of Netgalley and Hachette Books

It hasn't been the best week for Jessica McClain.
Her mate has been kidnapped by a Goddess hell-bent on revenge --- but Jessica is playing for keeps. Because she's the only female werewolf in town...it comes with its own set of rules...and powers.Aided by two vamps, two loyal Pack members, and one very reluctant human, Jessica must rescue her man while coming to terms with what being a wolf really means.
All in a day's work for a girl.

If the first book in this series, Full Blooded was fast paced, then this second book was Usain Bolt on skates, going downhill. Wow. There is little time for Jess or any of her friends to catch their breath as she, her brother, Tyler and their pack-mate Danny head off to rescue her mate, Rourke from the crazy goddess Selene. The only help they have are two tracking vampires and a police detective, Jess is trying to save now he knows about the supernatural world. The story is relentless action while at the same time exploring Jess’s new abilities and what makes her different (apart from being the only female werewolf of course!)

I loved Jess’s determination and how much she cares for others. Her care for Ray despite their troubled history was a nice insight into her personality especially as other supernaturals never really gave him much thought. Her growing friendship with the vampire, Naomi also shows her willing to rethink the inbuilt prejudice many supernaturals have. The relationship between Jess and Rourke feels a little more natural this time (it was a little too insta-love previously) and I really liked the way Jess’s powers are different from anything else in this world without making her too isolated. She already has family, friends, a mate and her own thoughts and opinions.

The action is frenetic and involving with each new challenge different and distinct. Jess doesn’t back down no matter what is thrown at her. At the same time she learns more about vampires in general and Naomi in particular, which helps give a wider perspective of what Jess could mean to the wider supernatural world and not just the wolves. I was hooked right from the beginning and never bored as Jess fought and thought her way to Rourke. While there is a nicely contained story here, the wider arc is not neglected and the ending will certainly have you wishing the next book, Cold Blooded was out much sooner than October!

Recommended for fans of Patricia Briggs and Jaye Wells. 9 out of 10

My Book Haul / Showcase Sundays

This is Books, Biscuits and Tea's Showcase Sunday where I share my lovely book hauls each week. Have a look back at Vicki's link up to see what everyone is up too!

It was another good reading week - the reading gods are still smiling on me - either that or I'm just choosing good books at the moment! I loved Hot Blooded by Amanda Carlson - fast, fun and frantic UF while The Silent Stars Go By by Dan Abnett felt just like a Doctor Who episode! I also finished The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa which was an exciting sequel with some interesting developments and just yesterday I finished Blood and Magick by James R Tuck - real hard boiled UF fun.

I had another little splurge this week as there were so many good deals out there! These are all one I've bought as I'm reducing my review pile and haven't been lucky with the giveaways recently. My idea for only buying the same number of books I've read in a week kinda went out the window as a result...oh, well! Even so that was four books down this week and seven new ones...

Bought

The Kingmaker's Daughter - Philippa Gregory

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

 The Kingmaker’s Daughter is the gripping and ultimately tragic story of the daughters of the man known as the “Kingmaker,” the most powerful magnate in England through the Cousins’ Wars. In the absence of a son and heir, he uses the two girls as pawns in his political games, but they grow up to be influential players in their own right. 

     At the court of Edward IV and his beautiful queen, Elizabeth Woodville, Anne grows from a delightful child brought up in intimacy and friendship with the family of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, to become ever more fearful and desperate when her father makes war on his former friends. Her will is tested when she is left widowed and fatherless, with her mother in sanctuary and her sister married to the enemy. Fortune’s wheel turns again when Richard rescues Anne from her sister’s house, with danger still following Anne, even as she eventually ascends to the throne as queen. Having lost those closest to her, she must protect herself and her precious only child, Prince Edward, from a court full of royal rivals.

I am behind with this series but I do like a historical novel! 

Odd Apocalypse - Dean Koontz

Publisher: Harper Collins

Odd Thomas has seen danger and he has seen death. He lives between two worlds, communicating with the lingering dead. He stands between us and our darkest fears, never failing the tests that confront him, whatever the cost. He finds refuge in a crumbling mansion, a place of terrible secrets, haunted by lingering spirits.

It's been a while since I read any Dean Koontz but his books are always ones I can relax into and enjoy.

Trapped - Kevin Hearne

Publisher: Orbit

After twelve years of secret training, Atticus O'Sullivan is finally ready to bind his apprentice, Granuaile, to the earth and double the number of Druids in the world. But on the eve of the ritual, the world that thought he was dead abruptly discovers that he's still alive, and they would much rather he return to the grave. Having no other choice, Atticus, his trusted Irish wolfhound, Oberon, and Granuaile travel to the base of Mount Olympus, where the Roman god Bacchus is anxious to take his sworn revenge - but he'll have to get in line behind an ancient vampire, a band of dark elves, and an old god of mischief, who all seem to have KILL THE DRUID at the top of their to-do lists

So now I have all the books released in this series - I just need to read them!

Darkness Divine - PC Cast, Gena Showalter, Maggie Shayne & Rhyannon Byrd

Publisher: MIRA

Enter a world where darkness rules and love must stand the tests of war. 
Join four favourite paranormal authors, including bestseller P.C. Cast, on a deadly journey where love and survival are intertwined. 
In Divine Beginnings, Healer Aine must chose between treating an enigmatic enemy or letting him die, whilst The Amazon’s Curse could kill the passion that Nola and vampire warrior Zane share. 
Toying with New Orleans Voodoo, leaves Tessa haunted by a sinfully sexy man., whilstlast scion of the dragon clan Rhys is tormented by his desire for Alia as he struggles to fight the Edge of Craving.

I bought this mostly for the PC Cast story - I love her Divine series!

The Devil Colony - James Rollins
Publisher: Orion

Deep in the Rocky Mountains, the discovery of hundreds of mummified bodies stirs international attention. Despite doubts about the bodies' origins, the local Native American Heritage Commission lays claim to the remains. 
During a riot at the site, an anthropologist dies horribly. All evidence points to a radical group of Native Americans, including a teenage who escapes with a vital clue to the murder and calls on her uncle and Director of Sigma Force, Painter Crowe, for help.Painter is determined to protect his niece and uncover the truth. Yet even greater threat looms as Painter begins to unravel explosive mysteries that indicate that the founding of the United States might be based on a lie.

The Sigma Force series is a fun thriller adventure - in the vein of Dan Brown but slightly tongue in cheek I feel!

Kitty Rocks The House (Kitty Norville #11) - Carrie Vaughn

Publisher: Tor

On the heels of Kitty's return from London, a new werewolf shows up in Denver, one who threatens to split the pack by challenging Kitty's authority at every turn. The timing could not be worse; Kitty needs all the allies she can muster to go against the ancient vampire, Roman, if she's to have any hope of defeating his Long Game. But there's more to this intruder than there seems, and Kitty must uncover the truth, fast. 

Kitty is one of my favourite series - there's something so likeable about Kitty and her adventures!

The Rising - Kelley Armstrong

Publisher: Atom

Things are getting desperate for Maya and her friends. Hunted by the St. Clouds and a rival Cabal, they’re quickly running out of places to hide. And with the whole world thinking they died in a helicopter crash, it’s not like they can just go to the authorities for help.
All they have is the name and number of someone who might be able to give them a few answers. Answers to why they’re so valuable, and why their supernatural powers are getting out of control. But Maya is unprepared for the truths that await her. And now, like it or not, she’ll have to face down some demons from her past if she ever hopes to move on with her life. Because Maya can’t keep running forever.

I'm a big Kelley Armstrong fan but I have resisted starting this trilogy so far so I didn't have to wait a long time between book releases. Now this book is out I can read the whole trilogy with no waiting!

What have you picked up this week...?

What I Shall Read This April + Winner!

I occasionally have trouble deciding what to read next - and it looks like you guys are having trouble deciding what I need to read next as well! The results of this months poll was a tie between..

The Red Tree and Shakespeare's Landlord!

So I will try to squeeze both these books in the rest of the month!

The full results for those who are interested are - 

The Red Tree - 41%

Shakespeare's Landlord - 41%

Bad Day For Sorry - 18%

The White Corridor - 0% (I feel sorry for this book!)

And who won their choice of book from my TBR pile? The winner is...Suz Reads! Congratulations! 

The Woman Who Died A Lot (Thursday Next #7) Review

The Woman Who Died A Lot (Thursday Next #7)

Jasper Fforde

Publisher: Hodder

The BookWorld's leading enforcement officer Thursday Next is four months into an enforced semi-retirement following an assassination attempt. She returns home to Swindon for what you'd expect to be a time of recuperation. If only life were that simple.
Thursday is faced with an array of family problems - son Friday's lack of focus since his career in the Chronoguard was relegated to a might-have-been, daughter Tuesday's difficulty perfecting the Anti-Smote shield needed to thwart an angry Deity's promise to wipe Swindon off the face of the earth, and Jenny, who doesn't exist.
And that's not all. With Goliath attempting to replace Thursday at every opportunity with synthetic Thursdays, the prediction that Friday's Destiny-Aware colleagues will die in mysterious circumstances, and a looming meteorite that could destroy all human life on earth, Thursday's retirement is going to be anything but easy.

I love Jasper Fforde’s sheer inventiveness and ingenuity when it comes to situations and plots. A single book from him has enough ideas to keep five lesser authors busy for their whole careers, but he just drops delightful ideas and wordplay like breadcrumbs and hopes you will keep up and follow him home.

This is the seventh book starring Thursday Next and instead of jumping into books, this time she faces an enemy she can’t outrun, outshoot or outthink: old age. Recovering from an accident, Thursday finds herself unable to ‘read herself’ into the Bookworld anymore and has to live entirely in the ‘real’ world – although her old enemies Goliath and Aornis Hades are up to something, Spec Ops has been reformed, her son has no motivation anymore and God has sworn to smite Swindon on this Friday...so it’s not exactly a relaxing week. Where Jasper Fforde excels is pulling together layered plots and sub-plots and making them work. Some of the plot line don’t have much in common other than Thursday and her family, but somehow that doesn’t matter much – it is the world building that ties everything together. It's nice as well to see our heroine aging and struggling with health - it makes her feel real especially if like me, you've been following her adventures over the last ten years. I've aged - why shouldn't my heroes!

I have to admit I enjoyed this adventure more than the last one as stories set entirely in the Bookworld just don’t seem to pop as much for me, fun as they were. This story doesn’t include any Bookworld characters and very few of Thursday’s old team, but has more involvement of Thursday’s family with Landen, Friday and Tuesday all given good development. Previously they hadn’t contributed much to the world, but here they round out Thursday as well as making their own impact on Swindon.

Overall, this is a fun read that is likely to make you scratch your head in confused enjoyment and just a joy to read. Pull up a chair, sit back and let Jasper Fforde take you to where he wants to go while you enjoy the scenery!

Recommended for fans of Tom Holt and Terry Prachett. 8 out of 10

Throwback Thursdays #80 - The Long Earth

This is a great feature that Melissa at My World...in words and pictures has been doing for a while which looks at those wonderful books that are ALREADY on my shelves that we haven't got round to reading yet..

The Long Earth - Terry Prachett & Stephen Baxter

Publisher: Harper

1916: the Western Front, France. Private Percy Blakeney wakes up. He is lying on fresh spring grass. He can hear birdsong, and the wind in the leaves in the trees. Where has the mud, blood and blasted landscape of No man's Land gone? 
2015: Madison, Wisconsin. Cop Monica Jansson has returned to the burned-out home of one Willis Linsay, a reclusive and some said mad, others dangerous, scientist. It was arson but, as is often the way, the firemen seem to have caused more damage than the fire itself. Stepping through the wreck of a house, there's no sign of any human remains but on the mantelpiece Monica finds a curious gadget - a box, containing some wiring, a three-way switch and a...potato. It is the prototype of an invention that Linsay called a 'stepper'. An invention he put up on the web for all the world to see, and use, an invention that would to change the way mankind viewed his world Earth for ever. And that's an understatement if ever there was one... ...because the stepper allowed the person using it to step sideways into another America, another Earth, and if you kept on stepping, you kept on entering even more Earths...this is the Long Earth. It's not our Earth but one of chain of parallel worlds, lying side by side each differing from its neighbour by really very little (or actually quite a lot). It's an infinite chain, offering 'steppers' an infinite landscape of infinite possibilities. And the further away you travel, the stranger - and sometimes more dangerous - the Earths get. The sun and moon always shine, the basic laws of physics are the same. However, the chance events which have shaped our particular Earth, such as the dinosaur-killer asteroid impact, might not have happened and things may well have turned out rather differently. But, until Willis Linsay invented his stepper, only our Earth hosted mankind...or so we thought. Because it turns out there are some people who are natural 'steppers', who don't need his invention and now the great migration has begun...

It's been a while since I read any parallel world books and this book was written by one of my favourite comic fantasy authors and one of my favourite sci-fi writers! So why haven't I got round to reading it yet...? I don't know! 

So does it appeal to you...?

Tempest's Fury (Jane True #5) Review

Tempest’s Fury (Jane True #5)

Nicole Peeler

Publisher: Orbit

 Jane's not happy. She's been packed off to England to fight in a war when she'd much rather be snogging Anyan. Unfortunately, Jane's enemies have been busy stirring up some major trouble -- the kind that attracts a lot of attention. In other words, they're not making it easy for Jane to get any alone time with the barghest, or to indulge in her penchant for stinky cheese. Praying she can pull of a Joan of Arc without the whole martyrdom thing, Jane must lead Alfar and halflings alike in a desperate battle to combat an ancient evil. Catapulted into the role of Most Unlikely Hero Ever, Jane also has to fight her own insecurities as well as the doubts of those who don't think she can live up to her new role as Champion. Along the way, Jane learns that some heroes are born. Some are made. And some are bribed with promises of food and sex.

Poor Jane! She just can’t catch a break. Ever since she discovered that her mother was a Selkie and she is a Halfling with some pretty impressive powers, Jane has been hunted, chased and intimidated by other supernatural powers. She never takes it lying down and has managed to carve out friends, powers and abilities of her own. Now she is expected to be the champion of right and unite the supernatural world as Morrigan and Jarl attempted to raise evil long thought defeated. But at least she has Anyan by her side…

Jane, Anyan and Blondie, one of the Originals leave Rockabill and head to London to tackle the growing threat and meet a variety of new supernaturals. I love the way Nicole Peeler has used London as a background to the struggle and woven in different areas of the UK. I loved Borough Market getting a high profile visit – it’s one of my favourite places in London and the amount of food on offer is always a fantastic outing for your tastebuds  - I raise some stinky cheese to Nicole for perfectly capturing the sights, sounds and tastes of the market. I also enjoyed the visits to Brighton, Paris, York and Whitby, with the atmosphere of each place being well captured. As a ‘local’ I love it when it feels like the UK has been portrayed correctly – nothing winds me up when someone misinterprets the environment or geography of somewhere I know!

The action is well paced with the plot gathering twists and turns as Jane and co race to prevent Morrigan raising an ancient evil. The fight scenes are tense and exciting while nicely balanced with character moments as Anyan and Jane figure out their new relationship – plus Jane’s libido and stomach have their say as always! One element I love with this series is how human Jane remains despite her growing powers and expanding world view. She worries about her Dad and her job and cares about protecting people who can’t protect themselves. Off many UF heroines I’ve read, Jane has remained grounded and human while still adapting to her new life and I just adore her for that.

This book moves the overall arc of the series forward significantly and rackets up the tension like never before. And that ending! Yes, there is a cliff-hanger that will leave you going “Noooo….” I feel almost lucky that I’ve been saving Tempest’s Fury for so long as it means that there’s not long to go before Tempest Reborn is out! Exciting, fun and a very relatable heroine makes this one of my favourite UF series - and I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

Recommended for fans of Patricia Briggs and Jaye Wells. 8.5 out of 10

Book Confrssions: To Tweet Or Not To Tweet...?

I don’t have a Twitter Account.

There I said it. The big secret is out there. I don’t have a personal one, one for the blog or even a work one. I just don’t feel the need. I’ve managed my blog so far without one and I’m happy.

However, the world is changing and in this day and age am I missing out...?

Now, before everyone on Twitter rushes to tell me how great it is and how I’m missing out in the latest news from authors and what sort of contacts at publisher’s Twitter will help with. Yes, I’m sure there is a lot that I can get out of Twitter, especially being a blogger.  But I already spend a lot of time online both at work (don’t tell my boss!) and my personal time.  I read other peoples blogs, surf authors websites for latest book news, cruise Facebook for the latest publishers news. And that’s not counting the time spent thinking and writing my own reviews. After spending 9-10 hours a day in the office looking at a computer screen, what’s the first thing I do when I get home...? Switch on the computer to read any comments on the days post and start thinking about the next post that is needed. With so much of my time already dedicated to blogging, reading and books in general, I’m not sure I want Twitter to take up any additional time. I want some time for me! I want some time to read occasionally, watch some TV, talk to friends and see my family and I just can’t help thinking that Twitter will eat into that.

That’s not to say I’ve not been tempted! Most giveaways have an additional entry for re-tweets, and as I said the chance to interact with authors, bloggers and publishers is like a siren calling at times.

So I thought I would open the floor up and see what you guys think are the pros and cons of Twitter... what makes it worth while? Or do you have an account you never use? Or perhaps you are like me and haven’t fallen for its charms yet? Lets see if there is anyone out there who can persuade me that Twitter is worth it! Although I warn you now, I’m not easily persuaded! :-)