Winners!

Last month was my birthday and I had a big giveaway offering three people three books from my gently loved pile! Thanks so much to everyone who entered - I wish I could give you all a book!

But alas my bank balance won't stretch to that so I had the draw last night for the three winners.

 

April Hunter:

Falling Fast - Sophie Mckenzie

The SUmmer I Turned Pretty - Jenny Han

Nothing But Trouble - Rachel Gibson

 

Melliane:

The Iron Duke - Meljean Brook

Divergent - Veronica Roth

From Notting Hill With Love ...Actually - Ali McNamara

 

Anarchronist:

Rome: The Eagle of the Twelve - MC Scott

The Labyrinth of Osiris - Paul Sussman

Death Sentance - Mikkel Birkegaard

 

 

Congratulations all three of you! Books will be posted this week - but I hold no responsibility if they don't arrive (blame the post office!). As most are international, it make take some time so have some patience.

 

For everyone else - I have my monthly What Shall I read Giveaway on at the moment  (enter here) and I've a couple of fabulous giveaways scheduled at the end of the month which will be worth looking out for!

On My Wishlist #102

This is a meme that started on Book Chick City before moving to Cosy Books and is now hosted by the wonderful Sarah at Workaday Reads. There are so many books out there that I want to read that this is the only way I can keep track!

It's been a couple of weeks since I did a wishlist post, so there have been more than a few new adds!

 

The Sacrifice (The Enemy #4) - Charlie Higson

Publihser: Puffin

The sickness destroyed everyone over the age of fourteen. All across London diseased adults are waiting, hungry predators with rotten flesh and ravaged minds.
Small Sam and his unlikely ally, The Kid, have survived. They’re safe with Ed and his friends at the Tower of London, but Sam is desperate to find his sister.
Their search for Ella means Sam and The Kid must cross the forbidden zone. And what awaits them there is more terrifying than any of the horror they’ve suffered so far...

 

Earlier this year I raced through the first three books in this series where everyone over the age of fourteen is either dead of ravenous flesh eaters and the children that remain struggle to survive. The books were addictive and heart-pounding so I am really excited about the fourth book in this series now being available - I need it!

 

Outpost (Razorland #2) - Ann Aguirre

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends

Deuce’s whole world has changed. Down below, she was considered an adult. Now, topside in a town called Salvation, she’s a brat in need of training in the eyes of the townsfolk. She doesn’t fit in with the other girls: Deuce only knows how to fight. To make matters worse, her Hunter partner, Fade, keeps Deuce at a distance. Her feelings for Fade haven’t changed, but he seems not to want her around anymore. Confused and lonely, she starts looking for a way out. Deuce signs up to serve in the summer patrols—those who make sure the planters can work the fields without danger. It should be routine, but things have been changing on the surface, just as they did below ground. The Freaks have grown smarter. They’re watching. Waiting. Planning. The monsters don’t intend to let Salvation survive, and it may take a girl like Deuce to turn back the tide.

 

After the end of Enclave I want to get my hands on Outpost! There is something very appealing about Deuce and her friends that I want to know what happens next!

 

Flesh and Bone (Benny Imura #3) - Jonathan Maberry

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Reeling from the devastation of Dust & Decay, Benny Imura and his friends plunge deep into the zombie-infested wastelands of the great Rot & Ruin.
Benny, Nix, Lilah and Chong journey through a fierce wilderness that was once America, searching for the jet they saw in the skies months ago. If that jet exists then humanity itself must have survived ...somewhere. Finding it is their best hope for having a future and a life worth living. But the Ruin is far more dangerous than any of them can imagine. Fierce animals hunt them. They come face to face with a death cult. And then there's the zombies-swarms of them coming from the east, devouring everything in their paths. And these zoms are different. Faster, smarter, and infinitely more dangerous.
Has the zombie plague mutated, or is there something far more sinister behind this new invasion of the living dead? One thing Benny and his companions can't afford to forget: In the great Rot & Ruin, everything wants to kill you...

 

Rot and Ruin was a fantastic read and while I still haven't got around to reading Dust and Decay yet, I know I want to this lined up to go as soon as I finish it!

 

So with Halloween coming up this month I'm obviously on a zombie roll at the moment? What books do you want to read this halloween..?

 

The Assassin's Curse Review

The Assassin’s Curse

-       Cassandra Rose Clarke

Publisher: Strange Chemistry

E-Arc copy courtesy of Netgalley and Strange Chemistry

Ananna of the Tanarau abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to an allying pirate clan: she wants to captain her own boat, not serve as second-in-command to her handsome yet clueless fiance. But her escape has dire consequences when she learns the scorned clan has sent an assassin after her. And when the assassin, Naji, finally catches up with her, things get even worse. Ananna inadvertently triggers a nasty curse — with a life-altering result. Now Ananna and Naji are forced to become uneasy allies as they work together to break the curse and return their lives back to normal. Or at least as normal as the lives of a pirate and an assassin can be.

Ananna was raised on board ship by her pirate parents, but when they want to marry her off in return for political support in their war, she takes an instant dislike to her husband to be and runs away. Pursued by an assassin sent by her suitors family, Ananna ends up saving his life  instead and being dragged into a curse that bind her and her assassin Naji close together.

This book is very easy to read. Told from Ananna point of view with liberal use of local slang and dialect, it really feels like you are in someone else’s head. There are some great scenes – the fight in the desert, the storm at sea which are well described and visual. I liked the world with the difference between the pirates, cities and ice-islands all feeling part of the same world. Some of these images have stayed with me long after closing the book. There are some intriguing characters that I wanted to get to know better – especially the woman first mate of the ship, but this is really the story of Ananna and Naji.

It is with Ananna and Naji that I had a couple of reservations – Ananna seems easily won over by Naji. One minute he’s trying to kill her, the next she trusts him enough to blindly follow him wherever he wants. I know she is only sixteen, but she feels much younger to me with plenty of teenage mood-swings and jealousy. Naji remains a mystery throughout – I never really felt like I knew his motivations at all. He seems incredible ignorant of women and bizarrely aware of his scar for a cold-blooded assassin. However my biggest issue is with the ending, which seems to arrive suddenly. Not a cliff-hanger so much as just a stop – it meant that the story up to that point doesn’t feel like a coherent plot. This is supposed to make you desperate to read the next book, but I just felt like I was short changed with this book.

There is a cool idea here – pirate girl and assassin out to break the curse on them, and I think this would be adored by some younger teens. However, I was expecting something more.

Recommended for fans of Rae Carson and Gwenda Bond. 6.5 out of 10      

What Shall I Read this October? + Giveaway!

Last month you choose Enclave by Ann Aguirre, one of my favourite authors for me to read and I had a blast reading it - hopefully you'll make as good a choice this month as well! 

So what is this all about? I realised the other day that I've been doing these Throwback Thursday posts inspired by Melissa at My World...in words and pictures for nearly year now - I have posted about over 60 books I own but I have hardly read any yet. So on the first Thursday of each month I will post a poll highlighting all the Throwback Thursday books I've highlighted in the last month plus one of the older Throwbacks and ask you to pick which book I should read. The most popular book after 5 days or so, will be picked up by me and actually read and (hopefully!) reviewed by the end of the month. However, in thanks I will also offer anyone who enters a copy of any book from my TBR Shelf. This way older books get a lot of love from both of us!

So to summarise -
- Pick a book you want me to read from my Throwback Thursday's posts and be in with a chance to win a book for yourself from my TBR pile for your own - check my TBR Shelf at the top for some other books that I need to get round to reading!
- I'll ship it out to from the Book Depository or fishpond so it will be open internationally.
- Leave a comment for an extra entry telling my why I should read your choice!
- Open to followers only (Sorry, but I want to reward those who stop by regularly! Also I'm not advertising or publicising this giveaway so it's just for those who read my blog regularly!)
- Poll closes midnight on Tuesday 9th October- I will try to announce the winning book and lucky follower, by next Thursday.

This month the books I need to give some serious love to are (you can go to the original posts to see what I said about them if you click on them!):

Goddess of the Sea - PC Cast

Black Dust Mambo - Adrian Phoenix

Blonde Bombshell - Tom Holt

 

Lord of the Changing Winds - Rachel Neumeier

Drink Deep Review

Drink Deep (Chicagoland Vampires #5)

-          Chloe Neill

Publisher: Gollancz

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...
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.

After a long wait between books three and four, I didn’t leave it very long before picking up book five in this series (See, I can learn from my mistakes!). After the shocking ending of book four, I thought this would be the start of a very different journey for Merit, the new vampire and Sentinel of Cadogan House and while there are some changes, this is essentially more of the same as we’ve had before. Something has turned the Great Lake black and while humans are blaming the vampires, Merit is tasked with trying to figure out what it is and how to resolve it. This means she gets to visit various supernatural groups around town and asks them if they had anything to do with it. It’s not the most original investigative route but for some reason it seems to work for Merit!

There are a lot characters in this book – I really liked getting to know Joshua and watching how he and Merit interact now  - it seemed like a step in the right direction. Mallory, Merit’s best friend is stressed about her sorcesser’s exam, while the vampires within Cadogan House continue to seem some of the most human vampires in Urban Fantasy complete with movie marathon and favourite bars. There is one character that is conspicuous by his absence but is never-the-less mentioned frequently and really casts a tall shadow over the whole plot. However, I really wanted Merit accept the current situation more – which made me a little disappointed that there was some balance returned by the end (Really difficult to talk about without spoilers!). The ending seemed a little simple and there are a few long running plot elements that are mentioned and still not resolved  - I hope they aren’t dragged on too long. However, it would be a big emotional punch for Merit and I hope this vibrates around the next book!

Despite these few reservations, Chloe Neill does have a knack for creating a world that feels real – there is colour behind the descriptions and personality behind the characters (even if you don’t always like them!). I always seem to get through these books far too quickly, leaving me wanting to know how the events of one book will impact Merit and her friends going forward. These books are like sushi – tasty and filling – something you get the occasional craving for but could use a little soya sauce to be extra delicious!

Recommended for fans of Jennifer Estep and Patricia Briggs. 7.5 out of 10

Magic Dreams: Novella Review

Magic Dreams (Kate Daniels #4.5)

-          Ilona Andrews

Kindle Book

Alpha Pack leader Jim Shrapshire has always been the strong, silent type. But something has come over him--a magic force currently residing in one of the Pack's headquarters. Were-tigress Dali Harimau has always wished she could get Jim's attention--but now he needs her help. Stricken with a magic-sickness, Jim needs Dali's flair for magic. And to save him, she must challenge a powerful, dark being to a battle of wits.

This novella is set in Kate Daniel’s Atlanta but is focused on two side characters to the main story – Dali, the half blind, Vegetarian were-tiger and Jim, the former Mercenary, Alpha werecat. Dali has long had a crush on Jim and when he shows up at her house unexpectedly with a magical curse, Dali knows she will do anything, risk anything to save him.

I was always intrigued by Dali before and I really liked seeing events from her point of view – she is not a fighter, but she does have magical abilities and uses her brain to investigate what is happening to Jim. Her family are great – I loved her relationship with her mother which was full of care and exasperations of real families. I loved that most of the characters and events occur in the Asian area of Atlanta as it gives some great insight into that culture. Jim is a fighter – strong enough to hold a warrior form, but he is the one in trouble and I loved that the traditional stereotype of the damsel in distress  was reversed with the man needing to be rescued – and through the use of brains rather than force.

Overall, the story is a quick but thoroughly enjoyable – a little too quick for me and I hope Ilona and Gordon Andrews do decide to write another story about Dali and Jim!

Recommended for fans of Patricia Briggs and Kelley Armstrong. 8 out of 10

Hot Mama Review

Hot Mama (Bigtime Superheroes #2) 

-          Jennifer Estep

Kindle Books

She can melt steel – and men's hearts ... 
By day, Fiona Fine is a successful couture designer, catering to the high society players of Bigtime, New York. By night, she's Fiera, a superstrong superhero who can create and manipulate fire with her bare hands. Fiera, along with the other members of the heroic Fearless Five, make life miserable for the ubervillains who want to take over the city. 
But Fiona's personal life isn't so fine. She still misses her fiancé, who was killed by ubervillains a year ago. But men admire Fiona's smoking assets, and she decides to get back in the dating game – especially after she meets Johnny Bulluci. But this notorious playboy has plenty of secrets to go along with his sexy smile. And, with two new ubervillains in town who are intent on raising hell, Fiona's love life might just crash and burn...

Fiona Fine is the leading fashion designer in Bigtime with a hugely successful business, beautiful apartment and a short temper. She also moonlights as Fiera one of the Fearless Five, a team of superheroes helping to keep the city safe from Uber-villains with schemes of conquest and destruction. Still recovering from the death of her fiancée the year previously she decides it’s time to move on with a fling with the newly returned to the city and devilishly handsome Johnny Bulluci. However, Johnny has secrets of his own…

Hot Mama is one of those rare books which is plain fun without taking itself too seriously. The world of Bigtime has superheroes with superpowers and secret identities, massive battles that destroy buildings across the city and uber-villains who fail to kill the good guys quickly despite the heroes perchance for escaping regularly. This means you recognise the world pretty quickly and even make some simple deductions regarding heroes and villains alter-ego a long time ahead of Fiona...something which can be a little annoying but is in keeping with the world. I liked Fiona – she’s not an easy person to get to know and is pretty opinionated, but she doesn’t have any shades of grey – she works for the good guys, she misses her fiancée and she can eat whatever she wants as she literally does burn calories off with her superpower over fire. A lot of the book is description of the amount and frequency with which Fiona has to eat so this is not a book to read if you are on a diet! J

The romance between Fiona and Johnny is steamy and fun. They are physical attracted to each other from the start, and manage to build upon that foundation as they get to know each other and work together. I felt there was some slight repetition with Fiona or one of her friends saying that her fiancée Travis would have wanted her to move on and be happy. Ok, we get it – she’s been in love before! But I liked the differences between their characters and the idea that Johnny’s secret although easy for us to guess, does create some friction in their relationship they have to resolve. While the relationship was nice, I have to confess I most enjoyed the action and superhero high-jinks. Jennifer Estep has a real flair for excitement and the fight scenes are never less than entertaining – especially with the heroes and villains falling into typical roles and catchphrases. This adds an extra layer of fun for the reader although it can mean that there are no surprises or twists to the plots  either. Overall, this is exactly what you think it is from the blurb and it delivers an entertaining few hours that will leave a smile on your face.

Recommended for fans of Darynda Jones and Jaye Wells. 8 out of 10.