Musing Mondays November 25, 2013

Musing Mondays is sponsored by Should Be Reading and asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
 • Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
 • What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it! 
 • Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

I am not musing today.  Instead I decided to post a list of the books I have on pre-order from Amazon.  Are any of them on your wish or pre-order list.

The Apollo Academy (Volume 1) by Kimberly P. Chase

Dangerous Seduction: A Nemesis Unlimited Novel by Zoe Archer

Hell Bent: A Broken Magic Novel by Devon Monk

Vendetta: The Guild War (Volume 1) by Graham W. Sharp Paul

No Good Duke Goes Unpunished: The Third Rule of Scoundrels(Rules of Scoundrels) by Sarah MacLean

Alien Research by Gini Koch

A Cold Creek Christmas Surprise by RaeAnne Thayne

Contemporary Romance

What Goodreads Says:

"USA TODAY bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne brings readers back to the ranch for an emotional holiday visit with The Cowboys of Cold Creek

Hardened rancher Ridge Bowman has long told himself he has no need for love; just work and his little girl are enough to get him through. But when his cleaning lady, Sarah Whitmore, gets injured on his staircase, well, of course he has to invite her to spend the holidays with him. It’s only the responsible thing to do.

Only, Sarah isn’t really there to work on his house. She came bearing precious artwork belonging to Ridge’s late mother, and possibly a secret that could devastate them both. But as Christmas draws closer, so does Ridge and Sarah convinces herself that she will tell him what she knows as soon as the holiday is over. She might be the key to his past if only he could be a part of her future.

I just can’t get enough of the Christmas Romances that appear this time of year.  A Cold Creek Christmas Surprise is the last book in a series about the Bowman family and the first I have read in the series.  It does a great job of standing alone.

There is a murder and theft at the heart of Bowman family stories.  All four of the children want to know who robbed and killed their parents years ago.

Sarah Whitmore finds part of that answer in a storage unit that belonged to her father.  The story unwinds from there.

I loved Sarah.  She was strong and knew what was right and what was wrong.  She and Ridge Bowman are made for each other but the crime stands between them.  This is a sweet romance with a great journey to the HEA.  If you love Christmas Romances you do not want to miss this one.  It is a well written and well plotted story that might be one of your favorites as it is one of mine.

Harlequin released A Cold CreekChristmas Surprise by RaeAnne Thayne in 2013.

I received an ARC of A Cold Creek Christmas Surprise from NetGalley.

Stacking the Shelves November 23, 2013

Some of the Books Stacked on My Shelves

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books I am adding to my shelves. They may it be physical or virtual. I include books I buy in a physical store or online, books I borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!  Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews.  Follow the link to see what others have on their shelves.

Free or Purchased from Amazon:

 The Bride Wore Blue (Brides of Bath, Book 1) by Cheryl Bolen

Winter’s Heat: A Nemesis Unlimited Holiday Novella by Zoe Archer

The Trilisk Ruins (Parker Intersetllar Travels #1) by Michael McCloskey

From Netgalley:

Have Wormhole, Will Travel by Tony McFadden

Evening Stars by Susan Mallery

Happy New Year, Baby Fortune! By Leanne Banks

Book Beginnings, November 22, 2013

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Book Beginnings on Friday is a meme hosted by Gilion at Rose City Reader. Anyone can participate; just share the opening sentence of your current read, making sure that you include the title and author so others know what you're reading.

My Book Beginning this week is from Sky Jumpers by Peggy Eddleman.  Sky Jumpers is a book for young readers and I received copy from Amazon Vine.

Here is the Beginning:

"You would think I's never jumped off a cliff before, based on how long I stood there.  Not jumping."

I don't read many books for young readers (this is for the 12 and under set as there is no sex) but occasionally I like to see what is being published.  This is a fun story so far, lots of world building and great character development.  Here is what Goodreads says:

What happens when you can’t do the one thing that matters most?

12-year-old Hope lives in White Rock, a town struggling to recover from the green bombs of World War III. The bombs destroyed almost everything that came before, so the skill that matters most in White Rock—sometimes it feels like the only thing that matters—is the ability to invent so that the world can regain some of what it’s lost.

But Hope is terrible at inventing and would much rather sneak off to cliff dive into the Bomb’s Breath—the deadly band of air that covers the crater the town lives in—than fail at yet another invention.

When bandits discover that White Rock has invented priceless antibiotics, they invade. The town must choose whether to hand over the medicine and die from disease in the coming months or to die fighting the bandits now. Hope and her friends, Aaren and Brock, might be the only ones who can escape through the Bomb’s Breath and make the dangerous trek over the snow-covered mountain to get help.

For once, inventing isn’t the answer, but the daring and risk-taking that usually gets Hope into trouble might just save them all.

Kinked (Elder Races #6) by Thea Harrison

Paranormal Romance

What Goodreads Says:

"Two opponents must confront the cause of their obsessive fury in the latest Novel of the Elder Races…
As a harpy, Sentinel Aryal is accustomed to dealing with hate, but Sentinel Quentin Caeravorn manages to inspire in her a burning ire unlike anything she’s ever known. Aryal believes the new Sentinel to be a criminal, and vows to take him out as soon as the opportunity arises. But the harpy’s incessant wrath has pushed Quentin to the limit, and forces him to make a deadly vow of his own.
To put an end to the conflict, Dragos, Lord of the Wyr, sends them on a reconnaissance mission to the Elven land of Numenlaur. Forced to work together, Aryal and Quentin’s mutual antagonism escalates. Each fight draws forth more passion—culminating in an explosively sexual confrontation. But when their quest reveals real danger, Aryal and Quentin must resolve their differences in ways beyond the physical, before the entire Wyr is threatened."

I loved Kinked.  The two main characters are great.  Sentinel Aryal, a harpy, and Quentin Caeravorn, a new Sentinel, really make sparks when they are together.  Their dialog is full of great lines that fit and keep the story on track.  Their actions keep the plot moving. Thea Harrison has put the two in a situation that fits the two personalities to a tee.  Drago, Pia and others do make appearances in the story but the main action is between Aryal and Quentin.

Sometimes as a series progresses the stories get a little stale.  That does not happen with Kinked.  If anything it adds to the strength of the series. Most of the world building was done in previous book. While Kinked can stand-alone but it is best if you read the series from the beginning.

Berkley Sensations published Kinked by Thea Harrison in 2013.

The Misfortune Cookie (An Esther Diamond Novel) by Laura Resnick

Paranormal Romance

What Goodreads Says:

Esther Diamond's year gets off to a rocky start when NYPD's Detective Connor Lopez, who slept with her and then didn't call, shuts down her current place of employment and gets her arrested. Once she's out of handcuffs, and with no paying work on the frigid horizon, Esther takes a small role in a grad student's film project in Chinatown—where her friend semi-retired hit man Lucky Battistuzzi, who escaped Lopez's sweep at the Little Italy restaurant where Esther works between acting jobs, is hiding out in a Chinese-Italian mortuary.
Esther and Lucky soon realize that something strange is going on in Chinatown, where beautifully handcrafted fortune cookies are inflicting deadly mystical curses on the hapless victims who receive them as gifts—and before long, Esther learns that Detective Lopez is one of the recipients. As preparations for Chinese New Year heat up in the ice-covered neighborhood, when the streets will be filled with costumed lion dancers, firecrackers, and dense crowds, Esther and Lucky summon the help of their friend Max, a semi-immortal mage and semi-solvent bookseller, to help them save Chinatown and Lopez (with whom Esther is not on speaking terms) from a mystical murderer of maniacal menace.

OK, this is book # 6 for Esther and Conner and they still are not together.  Book 5 finished with it looking like they were finally getting together and then Conner failed to call as promised.  That failure is the basis for much of the interaction between the two in The Misfortune Cookie.

There was not as much of the paranormal is this book.  Someone is putting a death curse in fancy fortune cookies.  That is almost a side story to what is going on between Esther and Connor.  Esther is really unforgiving and poor Connor is really clueless.  As angry as I was with him at the end of book 5 I started to feel sorry for him in book 6.

The cursed fortune cookies do play a big part in the end.  Esther does not have a paranormal bone in her body but does believe in the paranormal powers.  Connor does not believe in anything like the paranormal but does have paranormal powers that appear when he is under stress.  When Connor gets a cursed fortune cookie and Esther saves him for the curse it causes problems between the two so look to see what will happen in book 7.  I will have it on pre-order just like I had The Misfortune Cookie.

The story is set in Chinatown in New York and there is a lot of the history of Chinese in America and Chinatown worked into the story.  At time it is like a history text.   Laura did a lot of research for the book and wants to share what she learned.  The Misfortune Cookie is not as fast paced as previous books but it is a good addition to the Esther Diamond series.  This is a fun series that should be read in order.  If you start with The Misfortune Cookie some back-story is worked in but starting from the beginning is much better.

Daw published The Misfortune Cookie by Laura Resnick in 2013.

Teaser Tuesday November 19, 2013

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:"
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.

My Teaser is from a book I received from Amazon Vine.  The King's Hounds by Martin Jensen is the first in a mystery series set in 1018 and deals with an era I knew little about.  Martin Jensen is a Danish novelist and this book is the first to be translated into English.

Here is my teaser:

"Where better?" Alfilda said, suddenly looking sober, as though troubled by a bad memory.  "Everyone knows Cnut hates Oxford even more than London.  London because the city opposed him.  Us because of Saint Brice's day."  page 47

Since I had never heard of Cnut I looked him up in Wikipedia and this is what I found:

Cnut the Great^[2] (Old Norse: Knútr inn ríki;^[3] c. 985 or 995 – 12 November 1035), more commonly known as Canute, was a king of Denmark, England, Norway, and parts of Sweden, together often referred to as the Anglo-Scandinavian or North Sea Empire. After the death of his heirs within a decade of his own and the Norman conquest of England in 1066, his legacy was largely lost to history. Historian Norman Cantor has made the statement that he was "the most effective king in Anglo-Saxon history", despite his not being Anglo-Saxon.

Musing Monday November 18, 2013

Musing Mondays is sponsored by Should Be Reading and asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
 • Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
 • What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it! 
 • Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

Today I am rambling about a new online publication.  I am a big fan of Science Fiction Romance but it is often overlooked.  Romance is a big seller.  Science Fiction has its own fan base.  Unfortunately when you put the two together the larger publishers don't think it will sell and often will not publish.  With the arrival of online publishing there are more and more books available but there are not that many places to find out about new arrivals.  So some of the people who love, read, and write SFR have published the first issue of Sci-Fi Romance Quarterly.  This is a free publication and can be downloaded in various forms  Follow this link to see the first issue:  http://www.scifiromancequarterly.org/get-the-current-issue/

Straight from the FAQ page of the quarterly here are some thing you might want to know:

What is the Sci-Fi Romance Quarterly?

The Sci-Fi Romance Quarterly is an online magazine devoted to science fiction romance. Each issue includes news, reviews, opinion columns, and an original, exclusive short story–all for free!

Discover the latest book releases and get the inside scoop on which stories are right for you. Think of it as a one-stop trip for all your sci-fi romance needs.

What is science fiction romance?

In a nutshell, it’s a romance that takes place in a technological setting and has an upbeat ending. Some stories have more science fictional elements and some have less, but generally the stories focus on the intersection of technology and romance. Read the Editorial from Issue 1 to get an idea of what it means to Editor, Kaz Augustin.