Friday Bargains

There is a lot of bundles this week. 
 Books on Board has the Dragon bundle by G.A Aiken available for pre-order at 9.99. The release date is Oct 1.
The Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell is available for 5.69 at Amazon and Kobo.
The JuliaGrey bundle is available for 8.83 from Amazon.  The books in the bundle are Silent in the Grave, Silent in the Sanctuary and Silent on the Moor.
TheJennifer Crusie bundle is available for 8.61 from Amazon. The books in the bundle are Getting Rid of Bradley, Strange Bedpersons, What the Lady Wants and Charlie All Night

Michele Hauf is selling off her author copies for 3 dollar each.  More information here.
 

Review: A cold day for murder by Dana Stabenow

 
The particulars: e-book, mystery, backlist.
Grade: C
The blurb:
Somewhere in the hinterlands of Alaska, among the millions of sprawling acres that comprise Park,a young National Park Ranger has gone missing. When the detective sent after him also vanishes, the Anchorage DA department must turn to their reluctant former investigator, Kate Shugak. Shugak knows The Park because she is of The Park, an Aleut who left her home village of Niniltna to pursue education, a career, and the righting of wrongs. Kate’s search for the missing men will take her from self-imposed exile back to a life shehad left behind, and face-to-face with people and problems she’d hoped never to confront again.

The first novel in the popular Kate Shugak Series, A Cold Day for Murder established Dana Stabenow as a new voice in Alaskan mystery writing, and earned her an Edgar Award

The review:
What I liked:
I downloaded this several months ago since it was free and had won a Edgar Award. I didn’t read it until now. I must say, that I am having a lot of mixed feelings about this book. It is set in a small, remote Alaskan town surrounded by national park that is unexploited. The story starts out slow, and it takes 30-40 pages before it picks up pace. ( Honestly, there were several times when I was about to stop reading). But I liked Kate Shugak, and I wanted to know the solution to the murder mystery. So, I kept reading about how she visited her friend and family, trying to find clues. For a long time, I felt that she was fumbling in the dark. She grew on me, and I laughed when she ripped Jack a new one. In my eyes he deserved it, and she needed it.
I must admit that the end took me by surprise, but it made sense in a way.
What I didn’t like:
The thing that bothered me the most was the description. There were long paragraphs describing how the wilderness looked like. And, that’s it. There were no foreshadowing, they didn’t add anything to the plot. Except padding the book.
And the characters. All of them were excentric in some way. I didn’t have any problems keeping the main characters apart, but I got confused about a couple of the side characters.
Summary:
An promising novel set in an interesting setting. I will probably get the next one since this was Dana Stabenow’s first novel.

Series review: The Desire,Ok novels by Leah Brooke

At first, I considered to review  the books seperately, but then I started to think about why I liked the books, and changed my mind.
For me, Leah Brooke’s novels are like crack.  They don’t have the most exciting plots, if you read more than two in a row they start to blur.  But they have other strengths.  I love the strong heroines, and their determination to get what they want.    I love the dominant, protective heroes.   I love the fact that the road is bumpy, that the heroines are sassy, and make foolish decision.
And the sex.  It sizzles. Yet, there isn’t too many sex scenes, which I feel some authors have.  Or maybe it is the tension between the characters that pulls me on.
I love the fact that they aren’t together all the time, that they get doubts when they are away from each other.
 The cast of other characters, helps a lot.  It is a close knit community, and the heroines is often new to the city, and to the ménage and BDSM lifestyle.  Which what all that means, both in and out of bed.
But despite all this, the books isn’t  on my Autobuy list.  Why?   There are several reasons for that.  As I mentioned before, the plots don’t change much between the books.  This is especially true when it comes to the external conflict. I have a limited amount of patience when it comes to the number times I can stand the heroines ex-husband or boyfriend showing up, and act like a jerk. A part of me understand why Ms Brooke use the trope, since it is the easy way out.  But mostly, it is because the setting is too pat. Too perfect.  395 people live in the town when the story starts.  From my experience that is 395 people with secrets.  So why don’t mine them instead?
The other things have to do with the publisher.    The covers, well, let’s just say that they aren’t the most professional covers.   Then there’s the price. I haven’t bought the latest book in the series yet, mainly because Siren want 9.99 dollar for it and I balk at that. There are few authors I pay over 9.99 for, and at the moment Leah Brooke isn’t on that list.

Review: Truth and Consequences by Linda Winfree

 

The particulars: Romantic Suspense, Samhain, available as e-book and in print.
Grade: A-
Blurb: For undercover FBI agent Jason Harding, coming face to face with the grown-up version of his adolescent dreams is a nightmare. Kathleen Palmer sees him as a despicably corrupt small-town law officer and a murder suspect. Trapped in a web of his own making, he must see his mission through to the end and bring down the crooked cops who’ve run Haynes County for decades. To do so, he must betray the only family he’s ever known and fight his growing love for Kathleen, a relationship that could get one, or both of them, killed. Determined to uncover the truth, Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Kathleen struggles with her attraction to the one person who has awakened her since she buried her heart and emotions in her son’s tiny grave. Listening to her heart could destroy all she has left in life her career and reputation. When the truth about Jason’s identity surfaces, they both face unimaginable consequences: Jason may lose his life and Kathleen the man she loves. Warning, this title contains the following: explicit sex, violence.
The Review:
What I liked:
I have wanted to read Linda Winfree’s books for years, but I never got around to it. So when Samhain offered this one as a free read earlier this year, I snagged it up.   The emotions that crackled in the book made me forget everything, except what happened next.    The title sums the book up. This book is about digging for the truth, and continue to dig no matter what the consequences are.     Both of them know there will be consequences if their relationship is found out.   My heart went out to Kathleen as I watched her struggle with the fact she wanted a Haynes County cop.   It wasn’t helped by the fact that her partner warned her.    Jason struggled too.  With the uneasiness he felt around his cousin.
One major obstacle between them is the fact that Jason cannot tell Kathleen the truth. He struggles with it, but manage to not tell her.  But Kathleen is a sharp woman, and starts suspect something. Honestly, I loved, loved how Kathleen and Atlee used the FBI:s territorial instincts to have them admit that yes, they had someone on the inside. 
Also, I loved how their past created doubt inside them.  Jason being amazed that a good girl like Kathleen wanted him, a trailer park boy.    Kathleen fighting against the guilt she felt over her son’s death all those years ago.   
In the end, the love they feel for each other heals them.  As it should be.
What I didn’t like:
At first I had trouble finding things that I didn’t like, but then I realized that there were somethings I didn’t like. I didn’t like Jim Ed, he is a jerk, a bully to just name a few things. But whatmore the set up started to bug me. Oh, don’t get me wrong I know bribery is everywere if you just scrape on the surface. But it felt as if this book built on the assumption that Southern small town cops are crooked.
Summary:
Despite the book’s flaws, there are enough good things in this book to get me hooked.  I’ll keep an eye out for the rest of Linda Winfree’s books.

Review: The Witch of Agnesi by Robert Spiller

The Witch of Agnesi (Bonnie Pinkwater series)The Witch of Agnesi by Robert Spiller

The particulars: Mystery, Medallion Press, available as e-book and in print.
 Grade: B

Blurb:

Bonnie Pinkwater is a teacher, a good one. She cares about her students. So when Peyton Newlin, a thirteen-year-old math genius, disappears, Bonnie starts nosing around.One by one, students who were competing with the young genius start turning up dead and Bonnie suspects Peyton may be narrowing the field. Then Peyton himself turns up murdered. Bonnie’s investigation ratchets up.What she discovers is a coven of witches, a teenage comic book magnate, a skinhead Neanderthal with violent propensities, an abusive father, an amorous science teacher, and a mistranslated medieval mathematics manuscript. Somehow, all the pieces have intersected at the tragically brief life of her math protégé.As the body count mounts, Bonnie realizes she may have bitten off more than she can chew. Because whoever is eliminating her beloved students, has now decided East Plains, Colorado would be better off without one aging math teacher.

The Review:
I downloaded this when it was offered for free at BN a couple of weeks ago. The title intrigued me, and at first I believed it had a paranormal element. Someone claimed it was YA. I don’t quite agree with that. Yes, it felt like a YA mystery but the narrator was Bonnie Pinkwater, a 53 year old math teacher.

Missus P as her students call her  were a hoot. I loved her for her snarky thoughts, both when it came to students and police officers. But the main reason I loved her was the fact that she felt like a teacher that genuinely cared about her students.

The book starts with a murder, and soon Bonnie Pinkwater is hip deep trying to solve it. ( I felt for the cop, who happened to be one of her old students.) As she tries to solve murder mysteries, and dealing with upset parents, and equally upset students, she is also moving on after her husband’s death. I must admit that I felt lukewarm towards Armen. Oh, he was a nice character, but it took a long time before I realized that he was 50, I thought he was 40ish.

Still, this was a quaint mystery with a touch of romance. I liked the plot, it wasn’t fast moving but the twists took me by surprise.

Will I pick up the next one? Maybe. It depends on the price.


Theme: Small town USA

Unlike the last theme that focused on  regency, this theme will be a mixed bag.  I plan to take you on a trip from Alaska to Lousiana, and in between.   You will meet scientists, a werewolf or two, sheriffs, vampires.  And cowboys, of course.  As you can see, the genres will be pretty diverse.  There will be some paranormals, some  urban fantasy, a little bit of contemporary romance, a couple of mysteries.  The only thing they will have in common is that they is set in a small town, somewhere in the US.  

I actually look forward too it!

Switching Grade system

Until now, I have used Goodreads stars as a grading, but I have been getting more and more frustrated over the inflexibility in that system. So I have decided  to switch to A-F grading system on the blog.  Also, I’ll be post reviews on the blog first, and then Goodreads instead of the other way around.

Charity Sunday: Entangled

 This another new feature: I plan to post something that has to do with charity on Sundays, since it feels like the right day to do it. This month it will be anthologies that are new or upcoming.  Next month it will be something else.

From the press release:

Eleven authors have banded together to support breast cancer research with their writing. Authors4theCure, which includes award-winning and New York Times bestselling authors, as well as two breast cancer survivors, is donating proceeds from the sale of their paranormal anthology, Entangled, to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF).

BCRF-funded research has helped save lives and improved the quality of care and rate of survival for tens of thousands of breast cancer patients in the past decade. Their research has revealed that the “cure” is a mosaic made up of as many approaches to diagnosing, treating, preventing and surviving as there are different types of breast cancer. The anthology is also a mosaic made up of many stories donated for this worthwhile cause.

The price is 2.99 and all proceeds go to the Breast Cancer research foundation. 

Here’s the summary of the anthology:
HALLOWEEN FROST by USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Estep (author of the Mythos Academy, Elemental Assassin, and Bigtime series) — It’s Halloween at Mythos Academy, but Gwen Frost and her friends are in for more tricks than treats when they run into a mythological monster intent on killing them.
THE FAT CAT by Edie Ramer (author of Cattitude, Galaxy Girls) — In a battle for the souls of seven women, a wizard has the god of war on his side; all the witch has is a fat, black cat.
MEDIUM RARE by Nancy Haddock (author of the Oldest City Vampire trilogy) —What’s spooking the spirits of St. Augustine? As the witching hour of Halloween approaches, ghost seer Colleen Cotton must team with a by-the-book paranormal investigator to locate the one ghost who can save the city’s specters. If she fails, her own great grandfather’s spirit may be lost forever.
SWEET DEMON by Misty Evans (author of the Witches Anonymous series) —When Chicago’s vampire king insists Kali Sweet join his empire, the vengeance demon must rely on her ex – the half-human, half-chaos demon who left her at the altar three hundred years ago – in order to escape the vamp’s clutches.
SIAN’S SOLUTION by Dale Mayer (author of the Psychic Visions series) — When a vampire discovers the human man she loves has been captured and hung in a blood farm, she goes against her own kind and risks everything to save him.
A BIT OF BITE by Cynthia Eden (author of NEVER CRY WOLF and ANGEL OF DARKNESS) — A killer is stalking the streets of Crossroads, Mississippi, and it’s up to Sheriff Ava Dushaine to stop him. But when suspicion falls on werewolf alpha Julian Kasey—Ava’s ex-lover and the man who still haunts her dreams—Ava knows that she’ll either have to prove his innocence…or watch the whole town go up in flames.
SINFULLY SWEET by Michelle Miles (author of the Coffee House series) — When Chloe bakes a little magic into her pastries, she attracts the attention of Edward, the sexy half-demon, half-witch, who’s come to warn her those who murdered her sister are now after her.
A NIGHT OF FOREVER by Lori Brighton (author of A Night of Secrets and To Seduce an Earl) — Who is Aidan Callaghan? Mary Ellen James is intent on uncovering the truth about the mysterious man, but as she soon finds out, some things are best left buried in the past.
FEEL THE MAGIC by Liz Kreger (author of the Part of Tomorrow series) — Jenna Carmichael’s magical attempt to rectify Jessica Manfield’s birth identity takes an unexpected turn when the past comes back to haunt her.
BREAKING OUT by Michelle Diener (author of the Tudor-set historical suspense novel In A Treacherous Court) — Imprisoned in a secret facility, powerful telekinetic Kelli Barrack and two other ‘special’ inmates grab a chance to escape, only to confront their worst nightmares on the outside.
GHOSTLY JUSTICE, an all-new Seven Deadly Sins novella by New York Times bestselling author Allison Brennan (author of the Seven Deadly Sins series) — Demon hunters Moira O’Donnell and Rafe Cooper are dragged into the dangerous world of nocturnal predators to find “Ghostly Justice” for a virgin sacrificed to an ancient blood demon

I Heart Indie books reading challenge

I signed up for the Indie books challenge in March, but I forgot to post about it. Oops.
  This is a simple challenge, just state how many indie books you plan to read during the year.  I thought about it, and decided to aim at Level 1, silver.( 7-13 books).  I can already now say that I will reach the goal before that. 
So far I have read 12 indie books in  a number of genres. Most of them have been by authors that have been published by a publisher before.  ( Yes, I am wary).  Since I am close to reaching it, I have decided to up my goals to 16 books. 
 At the end of the year, I’ll  post a list of the books I have read, and with links to any reviews. Some have been reviewed, some are upcoming :).

Next year, I’ll probably join another reading challenge. One that forces me to post, you know, reviews. But that is next year.