Month: December 2011

Review: Lord of the Fading Lands by C.L Wilson

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The Particulars: Fantasy Romance, Avon, available as e-book and in print
The Source: The Library
The Grade: A-
The Blurb:
Once he had scorched the world.

Once he had driven back overwhelming darkness.
Once he had loved with such passion, his name was legend…
TAIREN SOUL
Now a thousand years later, a new threat calls him from the Fading Lands, back into the world that had cost him so dearly. Now an ancient, familiar evil is regaining its strength, and a new voice beckons him–more compelling, more seductive, more maddening than any before.
As the power of his most bitter enemy grows and ancient alliances crumble, the wildness in his blood will not be denied. The tairen must claim his truemate and embrace the destiny woven for him in the mists of time.
The Review:
When this book was released, it got raving reviews. It sounded good, but I never got around to read it. Until now. This book blew me away. I loved how the author took the standard tropes, and turned them into something new. Soul mates are common in Paranormal Romance, but what I liked was how they affected the characters. It was especially intresting to follow Rain’s struggle with the mate bond, since it gnawed at his control.. Ellie struggled with self confidence, and the shock that Rain is interested in her. I liked that path wasn’t smooth, that there are culture clashes through the book, and that they grow.
The villains gave me creeps. No, honestly. They are evil, but they aren’t over the top.
What I didn’t like in this book was the ending. I know that it is the first book in a series, but the ending felt too abrupt.
But I loved the book, and I intend to buy the whole series.

Authors I discovered in 2011:

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Allyson James:  I am currently reading The Black Dragon, and so far I like it.
J.N Duncan :
I just finished Deadworld, and I loved it. I fully intend to check out the rest of her books.
Lazette Giffod:
Lazette Gifford have quickly become one of my new auto-buy authors. Well written books,  filled with action, set in interesting worlds. 
Dana Marie Bell:
I just love her books. I love the setting, the humor, and the romance. Good thing she has a big backlist.
CL Wilson: I just want to know what happens next :).
Thea Harrison: Not the most wellwritten books, but I love her voice, the world, and the characters.
Grace Burrowes: Just love her books. Which is a bit odd, since they border on 100 k long viginettes, but she somehow manage to avoid that trap. 

Review: Mating Call by Emily Ryan-Davis

On By MikaelaIn Paranormal Romance

The Particulars: Paranormal Romance, Freya’s Bower, ebook
The Grade: B-
Source: Purchased at Fictionwise
The Blurb
Cora Phillips has witchcraft in her blood, but she’s convinced she inherited the recessive rather than the dominant trait. Her mother and sister are the real heiresses to the Lune tradition; Cora has neither the interest nor the inclination to take up the Dragonkeeper mantle. Years ago, she left the New York City Witch lifestyle to the other women in her family, and said goodbye to all the velvet and lace. However, during a moment of insomnia-induced insanity, she agrees to come back to celebrate Christmas/Winter Solstice with her family.

It comes as a shock to all three women when Cora, through clumsy fumblings to “get in touch with her goddess” at her sister’s urging, calls a pair of ancient dragons into her meditation circle.

Cora swears it’s a mistake. Her mother swears it’s the correct course of events. Eventually, every Dragonkeeper issues the call to mate. Problem is, nobody expected Cora to summon even a single dragon, let alone two.

Before long, the dragons’ guardians come knocking, literally, and ruin any hope of politely apologizing and returning the creatures.


The review:
This is another book that I have wanted to read for years, but never got around to. I purchased it at Fictionwise a couple of months ago.
I enjoyed the story. It was interesting to read about Cora and her adamant disbelief in magic, while her mother and sister didn’t hide the fact that they are witches. It took a couple of pages before the story hooked me, but once I was hooked I kept on reading. The worldbuilding was intriguing, with witches and Dragons and Shamans. I liked the characters. From Cora’s skepticism, to Diane’s cheerfulness. I smiled when Diane told Cora to stay away from Salim, but didn’t explain why. I liked the way the hints to the characters secrets were scattered through the story.
I felt that the story had a lot of potential, but that due its length, it felt a bit short. Maybe it was because of the length, but I didn’t feel that the characters grew emotionally. A bit more worrying was the fact that I didn’t feel that there was an romantic subplot until the end of the book. This might be because of the fact it is the first book in a triology, though.
Will I get the rest of the books in the series?
Probably. I think the story would have benefitted from being published in an omnibus with the other stories.

Holiday Bargains

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With e-readers being so cheap in the US,  a lot of people got them for Christmas. Which shows in the number of Sales. 

Allromance offers 50% rebate today and tomorrow.
Fictionwise has a 55% off code:122311.
Booksonboard has a 26 % discount code. ChristmasOnBoard.
Sourcebooks and Avon have large sales that ends soonish. I wouldn’t be surprised if other publishers have sales too. 

 Amazon offers a number of titles  as free reads, among them are JA Konrath, Alison Kent and Marie Force. Hurry! These offers expires today or tomorrow.

Cleaning out my closet sale, take two

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Well, the Cleaning out my Closet sale through Alibris didn’t work at all. I gave up a couple of months ago, after selling zero books.  I am not surprised, honestly. My prices were realistic at around 2-5 dollar, but then Alibris added 12 dollar shipping.  Yes, I know that the Shipping costs are realistic.   I am not surprised that shoppers opted to go with US sellers, though.

Anyway. This time around I am making an attempt at selling them from here. The plan is to create bundles of paperbacks. Either from books of the same series, or different series.  Sometimes, I might add mystery bundles.
The prices will range between 15-25 dollars, including Shipping and Handling. ( Considering that a intl. shipping starts at 10 dollar…)

Does this sounds like a good idea?

Review: Understood by Maya Banks

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The particulars: Contemporary Romace, Samhain, available in print( Anthology) and as e-book
The Grade: A
The Source: Purchased at All Romance
The Blurb:
Jake Turner committed the ultimate mistake of falling in love with his best friend’s wife. The distance he puts between them costs both him and Ellie Matthews dearly. Jake will never forgive himself for not seeing what a bastard his friend was. Now that Ellie is free from her nightmare, Jake waits, needing and wanting. He’ll be there when Ellie is ready to spread her wings.

The review:
This is one of the first Maya Banks stories I read, and it is still one of my favorites. It is a poignant tale about moving forward. Like all Maya Banks stories, it is filled with pain, hope, fear. And love.  Jake have waited for a long time for Ellie to take the first step. The book follows their path their HEA.  It is rocky.  A lot of the conflict came from Ellies struggles with her past, and with believing that she is worth a man like Jake.  I loved how Jake was always there,  keeping her a float in a way. The other part of the conflict comes from Ellies ex.  I must say, I loved how  Ms. Banks used him to create additional conflict.  
Through the story, Christmas is a background element, that plays a part of the plot but it is very subtle.
This is a short story, and the greedy part of me wish it had been longer. But the story doesn’t need to be longer.  Another thing I missed was the fact that she didn’t name the town. It is just a small town, located somewere in Texas. But it felt odd that the town name wasn’t mentioned at all. But that is just a nit pickity.

Review: Dead Iron by Devon Monk

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The particulars: Steampunk, ROC, available in print and as e-book
The Grade: A
The source: The Library
The Blurb: In some ways, Cedar Hunt seems to have been created for America’s steam age. This hard-working bounty hunter possesses the guns, the savvy, and the grit to survive in this power-driven world; but he also has a major chip on his shoulder: He’s a werewolf and, even worse, he’s burning with guilt about the death of his brother. When he receives word that his sibling may yet survive, Cedar pulls out all the stops to get to the truth.

The Review:
This book had been on my TBR list for ages, but I couldn’t afford it.So when I discovered that the library had it, I downloaded it. I didn’t know until I had started reading it how much I needed to read a book without any romance. The book hooked me from the start. I am not sure what I feel in love with the most, The gritty, Western Steampunk world filled with prejudices and inventions, or the characters with their flawsand determination. I could almost hear the sound of the railroad coming closer, and the hope that the town clung to. And the Strange. I loved how the fear of the Strange were a part of the world.
I loved how Cedar struggled with his wolfside, how Rose dreamed on getting away from the small town of Halleluljah. And the Villain. Honestly, Lefel is one of the creepiest villains I have read in a long time. I think part of it is his ruthlessness, that he has a goal, and will make everything to reach it.
Normally I can find things that I didn’t like, even if it are just picky things like grammar and so. But I couldn’t find anything in Dead Iron. 
Oh, and this book got added to my Christmas Wishlist.   I will buy it, and I am seriously considering pre-ordering the sequel. 

The major e-bookstores from an international reader’s perspective:

On By MikaelaIn Book Recommendations

Amazon: Amazon is the gigant in the e-book business ( with all the good and bad things that comes with it). For some countries they are the best source for e-books. Best prices, and the biggest sortiment. I’ll admit that I download free reads to Kindle for PC, and then transfer them to Calibre ( thanks to third party plugins, I am able to open up the encryption), and the convert them to epub.  The thing that stops me from buying books is the fact that Amazon adds 3 dollar to the price, supposedly tax but honestly 2 dollars tax on an 0.99 e-book? Uh. No. I know that VATin most European Countries is 20%, and 20 of 0.99 isn’t 2 dollar.   Also, Amazon are inconsistent, sometimes they add the fee, some times they don’t.

BN:  BN, unfortunately, is US only.  Which annoys me, but I accept it. Until recently, I used to be able to download free e-books from them, but that stopped.  Interestingly, about the same time I read that  Barnes and Noble is about to launch Nook internationally.  Uh-uh. If so, it is good if the new Nook owners are available to buy from BN. 
Kobo:  Kobo is Canadian, and I used to shop there a lot.  They frequently offers coupons, and discounts. What made me stop using them were several things. They started to add taxes to the prices. ( I understand the reasons behind them, but I don’t have to like it)  There were also other things, like the fact that their search function is bad, they don’t have a cart or a wishlist. Minor, but it get  annoying after awhile. It does happen that they have a book that I want, for a good price.

Booksonboard:  I switched to Booksonboard from Kobo, and I must say that I am happy.  Their prices includes tax, the sortiment is good and so are the prices.    Oh, and they have a cart and wishlist function too.   The only thing that annoys me is the fact that some of the older e-books  only are available as pdfs and Ms Reader.   Beyond that I am happy with them.