IN THE MAIL: PLEASURE OF A DARK PRINCE, CLAIRE DE LUNE & WILDTHORN

I got a vampire, a chick wolf and a historical in the mail this week :)

I would like to thank Simon & Schucter UK for the free copy of Pleasure Of A Dark Prince by Kresley Cole received!

About Pleasure Of A Dark Prince:

New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole enraptures again with this seductive tale of a fierce werewolf prince who will stop at nothing to protect the lovely archer he covets from afar.

A DANGEROUS BEAUTY

Lucia the Huntress: as mysterious as she is exquisite, she harbors secrets that threaten to destroy her—and those she loves.

AN UNCONTROLLABLE NEED

Garreth MacRieve, Prince of the Lykae: the brutal Highland warrior who burns to finally claim this maddeningly sensual creature as his own.

LEAD TO A PLEASURE SO WICKED. . . .

From the shadows, Garreth has long watched over Lucia. Now, the only way to keep the proud huntress safe from harm is to convince her to accept him as her guardian. To do this, Garreth will ruthlessly exploit Lucia’s greatest weakness—her wanton desire for him. . . .

Source: Info in the About Pleasure Of A Dark Prince was taken from the author's website at http://kresleycole.com/books/pleasure-of-a-dark-prince.html on 28/07/10.

I would like to thank Christine Johnson for hosting a contest which made it possible for me to win a signed copy of Claire de Lune & swag!

About Claire de Lune:

Welcome to the Mysterious World of Claire de Lune
Hanover Falls hasn’t had a werewolf problem in over one hundred years. Seattle, Copenhagen, Osaka–they’ve had plenty of attacks. But when humans begin dying in Claire Benoit’s town, the panic spreads faster than a rumor at a pep rally. At Claire’s sixteenth birthday party, the gruesome killings are all anyone can talk about. But the big news in Claire’s mind is the fact that Matthew Engle–high-school soccer god and son of a world-renowned lycanthropy expert–notices her. And flirts with her. A lot…

Source: Info in the About Claire de Lune was taken from the author's website at http://www.christinejohnsonbooks.com/ on 19/07/2010.

I would like to thank Jean O at Magic Bean Reviews for hosting the Got Books? Event contest which made it possible for me to win a copy of Wildthorn by Jane Eagland & swag!

About Wildthorn:

Seventeen-year-old Louisa Cosgrove longs to break free from her respectable life as a Victorian doctor's daughter. But her dreams become a nightmare when Louisa is sent to Wildthorn Hall: labeled a lunatic, deprived of her liberty and even her real name. As she unravels the betrayals that led to her incarceration, she realizes there are many kinds of prison. She must be honest with herself - and others - in order to be set free. And love may be the key...

Source: Info in the About Wildthorn was taken from Book Depository at http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9780330458160/Wildthorn?b=-3&t=-20#Fulldescription-20 on 29/07/2010.

Review: BELLADONNA

Belladonna by Anne Bishop
Book 2 of the Ephemera doulogy

About Belladonna:

In Sebastian, national bestselling and award-winning author Anne Bishop introduced a stunning new realm, a world of strange and magical landscapes connected only by bridges bridges that may transportt you where you truly belong, rather than where you wished to go. But only the magic of the Landscapers can protect this world from the entity determined to enshroud it in darkness...

One by one, the landscapes of Ephemera are falling into shadow. The Eater of the World is spreading its influence, tainting people's souls with doubts and fears, and feasting on their dark emotions. With each victory, the Eater comes closer to extinguishing Ephemera's Light.

Only Glorianna Belladonna possesses the ability to thwart the Eater's plans. But she has been branded a rogue, her talents and vast power feared and misunderstood. Determined to protect the lands under her care, Glorianna will stand alone against the Eater if she must regardless of the cost to her bodyy and soul.

But she is not alone. In dreams, a call has traveled throughout Ephemera: "Heart's hope lies within Belladonna." That call has traveled far from the landscapes Glorianna claims and reached Michael, a man with mysterious powers of his own. It awakens a fierce hunger within him to find the dark-haired sorceress he's dreamt of, over and over again a beautiful womann named Belladonna.

As Michael and Glorianna's hearts call out to each other across the Landscapes, together they may offer Ephemera the very hope it needs...

Source: Info in the About Belladonna was taken from the books' official website at http://www.annebishop.com/b.belladona.html on 24/05/2010.

My Review:
Fast-paced page-turner. Storytelling quality is 5 out of 5. The storytelling quality is very compelling. Anne Bishop is one of those rare story tellers who draws you away and run away with you that you forget the time. You forget to eat. You forget that you needed to have a break. She draws a reader in so deeply that you can feel and hear the vibration as the demon motorcycles go by... World building is incredible, a 4.5 out of 5. I imagined that it would be difficult to convince readers to believe in a world of shifting geography. I scoffed when I first encountered it. So it tells of the author's story telling skills that she has somehow managed not only to pull it off, but sell the book to boot! I'd give the "suspension of disbelief" a 4.5 out of 5. Character development? Is a 5 out of 5. Anne Bishop gives us characters who lingers on a reader's mind long after the book was read.

This book being the second book in a duology, is best appreciated if the first book is read first. I'm not sure how a reader's understanding would be if read on it's own or read first before the first book in the series. I would imagine it would be pretty confusing.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 cherries

WW28: FIRE STUDY

WW28

• First you grab our Wicked Wednesday pic.
• Then you grab a book. Turn to page 28. Take the first sentence. And then you post it in your site with a link back to WW28.
• Come back to Cherry Mischievous - WW28 and give us the url of your post so that other WW28 readers can find your WW28 offering.

WW28 book offering: Fire Study (Book3) by Maria V. Snyder
Page 28, 1st Sentence:

I draped the soggy garment around a chair then dragged it closer to the fire.

Hey, our line kind of coincided with our title... right appropriate, wouldn't you say?

About Fire Study:

Yelena's new role as Soulfinder has made the Sitian Council uneasy. Worried that her new powers will corrupt her, the Council debates her fate. Yelena, though is trying to keep Sitia and Ixia from going to war. In the middle of political wrangling, Yelena receives a disturbing message: a plot is rising against her homeland, led by Ferde, the Soulstealer who murdered eleven girls and has escaped from prison with Cahil Ixia’s help. Cahil believes if he joins with the new Daviian Clan, he will have enough support to regain the Ixian throne. Testing the limit of her skills, Yelena becomes embroiled in the desperate fight to stop Ferde and the Daviian Clan from siphoning enough power to unleash a Fire Warper on the world. That would be worst than war between the northern and southern lands. Especially since, of all the powers Yelena possesses, she couldn't set fire to a candle wick if her life depended on it. And there is more at stake than just her life.

Source: Info in the About Fire Study was taken from the author's website at http://mariavsnyder.com/books.php on 09/05/2010.

IN THE MAIL: INFINITY, WEB OF LIES & PUPPY

I got a puppy, an angsty god and a kick-ass chick in the mail last week :)

I would like to thank ATOM for the free copy of Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon received!

About Infinity:

Nick Gautier thinks he knows everything. Streetwise, tough and savvy, his quick sarcasm is renowned. But his whole world is suddenly turned upside down on the night his best friends try to kill him.

Saved by a mysterious warrior, Nick is sucked into the realm of the Dark-Hunters – immortal vampire-slayers who risk everything to save humanity – and he quickly learns that the human world is only a veil for a much larger and more dangerous one that’s filled with all kinds of evil. However, before he can even learn the rules of this new world, his fellow students start turning into flesh-eating members of the undead.

Nick knows he’s in real danger and he soon has a lot more to deal with than starting high school: he’s under pressure to hide his new friends from his mother and his chainsaw from the principal while trying to impress the girl he has a crush on – all without getting grounded, suspended . . . or killed.

Source: Info in the About Infinity was taken from the author's website at http://www.sherrilynkenyon.co.uk/uk-books/infinity/ on 24/07/10.

I would like to thank whoever sent me this cute and cuddly puppy as I cannot for the life of me remember where I could have gotten it from... must have won it from an online contest... the package did not have any sender's details... whoever you are: Thank You!

I would like to thank Natasha over at Bookmark Your Thoughts for hosting the "My New Giveaway! Web Of Lies by Jennifer Estep!!!" giveaway which made it possible for me to win Web Of Lies by Jennifer Estep!

About Web Of Lies:

Curios­ity is def­i­nitely going to get me dead one of these days. Prob­a­bly real soon.

I’m Gin Blanco. You might know me as the Spi­der, the most feared assas­sin in the South. I’m retired now, but trou­ble still has a way of find­ing me. Like the other day when two punks tried to rob my bar­be­cue joint, the Pork Pit. Then there was the bar­rage of gun­fire on the restau­rant. Only, for once, those kill shots weren’t aimed at me. They were meant for Vio­let Fox. Ever since I agreed to help Vio­let and her grand­fa­ther pro­tect their prop­erty from an evil coal-mining tycoon, I’m begin­ning to won­der if I’m really retired.

So is Detec­tive Dono­van Caine. The only hon­est cop in ash­land is hav­ing a real hard time rec­on­cil­ing his attrac­tion to me with his Boy Scount men­tal­ity. And I can barely keep my hands off his sexy body. What can I say? I’m a Stone elemental—with a lit­tle Ice magic thrown in—but my heart isn’t made of solid rock. Luck­ily, Gin Blanco always gets her man … dead or alive.

Source: Info in the About Web Of Lies was taken from the author's website at http://www.jenniferestep.com/books-series/books/ on 24/07/10.

Review: FIRESPELL

Firespell by Chloe Neill
Book 1 of the Dark Elite series
Genre: urban fantasy, YA

About Firespell:

As the new girl at the elite St. Sophia’s boarding school, Lily Parker thinks her classmates are the most monstrous things she’ll have to face…

When Lily’s guardians decided to send her away to a fancy boarding school in Chicago, she was shocked. So was St. Sophia’s. Lily’s ultra-rich brat pack classmates think Lily should be the punchline to every joke, and on top of that, she’s hearing strange noises and seeing bizarre things in the shadows of the creepy building.

The only thing keeping her sane is her roommate, Scout, but even Scout’s a little weird—she keeps disappearing late at night and won’t tell Lily where she’s been. But when a prank leaves Lily trapped in the catacombs beneath the school, Lily finds Scout running from a real monster.

Scout’s a member of a splinter group of rebel teens with unique magical talents, who’ve sworn to protect the city against demons, vampires, and Reapers, magic users who’ve been corrupted by their power. And when Lily finds herself in the line of firespell, Scout tells her the truth about her secret life, even though Lily has no powers of her own—at least none that she’s discovered yet…

Source: Info in the About Firespell was taken from the author's website at http://chloeneill.com/vm1.htm on 24/06/2010.

Review:

The world building is a slow build-up to a great architecture. The end result was beautiful and believable. I would give it a 4.5 out of 5. The story-telling quality was good and I would give it a 3.5 out of 5. The character development was superb and as a reader, I can connect with Lily and Scout.

Here is the kicker:
Towards the end, the good guys team and the bad guys team had a drama talk which read like a badly scripted movie. The book is trying to make me believe that teenagers (raging hormones, emotions and all) would just stand around and watch newbie friend exchange info with the bad guys team leader in a high-stress rescue situation. WTF! In my experience, teenagers jumps feet first and bounce with energy. Specially with all that adrenaline pumping in their veins having to do a rescue stint. I therefore find these scenes inconsistent. And this is not the only "inconsistent scenario" in the book. So, "suspension of disbelief" would have to drop to zero. That scene there, needs a lot of work. It also tells me that this author has a lot of imagination but little true understanding of teenagers. From my point of view as a reader, if somebody wants to write about a subject matter, he/she needs to understand, or at least research it, because it'll show.

Overall, I would rate this book a 2 out of 5. Borrow this book from the library rather than waste your money buying it.

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5 cherries

WW28: MAGIC STUDY

WW28

• First you grab our Wicked Wednesday pic.
• Then you grab a book. Turn to page 28. Take the first sentence. And then you post it in your site with a link back to WW28.
• Come back to Cherry Mischievous - WW28 and give us the url of your post so that other WW28 readers can find your WW28 offering.

WW28 book offering: Magic Study (Book 2) by Maria V. Snyder
Page 28, 1st Sentence:

The leaves shook and after a moment, she climbed back.

About Magic Study:

Yelena is on her way to be reunited with the family she'd been stolen from long ago. Although she has gained her freedom, she can't help feeling isolated in Sitia. Her Ixian background has changed her in many ways, and her newfound friends and relatives don't think it's for the better. Despite the turmoil, she's eager to start her magical training. But her plans take a radical turn when she becomes involved with a plot to reclaim Ixia's throne for a lost prince, and gets entangled in powerful rivalries with her fellow magicians. If that wasn't bad enough, it appears her brother would love to see her dead. Luckily, Yelena has some old friends to help her with her new enemies.

Source: Info in the About Magic Study was taken from the author's website at http://mariavsnyder.com/books.php on 09/05/2010.

CLAIRE DE LUNE

And I have a BIGGGG announcement to make!!

I have the pleasure of the exclusive privilege of being the first to announce the title of Claire de Lune's sequel!! ;)

And the second book of the Claire de Lune's series IS.... (((drum roll)))....

NOCTURNE

Here is a small blurb from the author about Nocturne:

From Wikipedia - A nocturne (from the French which meant nocturnal, from Latin nocturnus[1]) is usually a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night. Historically, nocturne is a very old term applied to night Offices and, since the Middle Ages, to divisions in the canonical hour of Matins. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocturne)

So, it’s very fitting, not only in meaning, but also musically, since Debussy wrote both Claire de Lune and also a set of three Nocturnes.

The title was inspired by a suggestion from Jami Slack, who runs YA Addict (http://yaaddict.blogspot.com/) As soon as she said it, I knew it was PERFECT! Luckily, my editor agreed, and now - YAY! I can finally tell everyone.

Christine

Yikes!! At the same time as I won the privilege to announce the title of Claire de Lune's sequel, I also won a signed copy of CLAIRE DE LUNE by Christine Johnson and swag!! Couldn't wait to find it in my mail!! *jumping up and down* This wait is worth a Mr. Mailman feature! A kind of "blog meme" started by Juju over at Tales Of Whimsy.

...So sometime soon I am hoping to find CLAIRE DE LUNE by Christine Johnson in the mailbox!! (fingers crossed)

About Mr. Mailman:

Mr. Mailman is a feature Juju decided to try. Periodically when there is a book in route which she is anxiously hoping to find when she gets home to her mailbox - Juju would feature Mr. Mailman.

Mr. Mailman is a hybrid of Waiting on Wednesday by Breaking the Spine and In My Mailbox by the Story Siren. Please feel free to grab the logo and feature your Mr. Mailman request on your site. Please leave a link to your Mr. Mailman request in the comments at Tales Of Whimsy.

Source: Info in the About Mr. Mailman was pinched from Juju's blog, the Tales Of Whimsy, on 04/12/09.

About CLAIRE DE LUNE:

Welcome to the Mysterious World of Claire de Lune
Hanover Falls hasn’t had a werewolf problem in over one hundred years. Seattle, Copenhagen, Osaka–they’ve had plenty of attacks. But when humans begin dying in Claire Benoit’s town, the panic spreads faster than a rumor at a pep rally. At Claire’s sixteenth birthday party, the gruesome killings are all anyone can talk about. But the big news in Claire’s mind is the fact that Matthew Engle–high-school soccer god and son of a world-renowned lycanthropy expert–notices her. And flirts with her. A lot…

Source: Info in the About CLAIRE DE LUNE was taken from the author's website at http://www.christinejohnsonbooks.com/ on 19/07/2010.

Review: ANGEL

I would like to thank Usborne Publishing Ltd. for the review copy of Angel by L.A. Weatherly received.

Angel by L.A. Weatherly
Book 1 of the Angel Fever

Genre: urban fantasy, YA

Publication Date: October 2010

About Angel:

Willow knows she’s different from other girls. And not just because she loves tinkering around with cars. Willow has a gift. She can look into people’s futures, know their dreams, their hopes and their regrets, just by touching them. She has no idea where she gets this power from…

But Alex does. Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows Willow’s secret and is on a mission to stop her. The dark forces within Willow make her dangerous – and irresistible. In spite of himself, Alex finds he is falling in love with his sworn enemy.

Source: Synopsis in the About Angel was taken from the book's website at http://www.angelfever.com/ on 03/07/2010.

Review:
The story is not very original. I've recently read something very similar by Danielle Trussoni, titled Angelology. This book won't get high marks for originality. But despite being in a congested genre, L.A. Weatherly puts a nice spin on a tired tale and gave us a beautiful story which would make a reader come back looking for more! For the same reason I buy Jim Butcher, Ilona Andrews and Patricia Briggs even if their books are in a congested genre too... the reason these authors stand out in a competitive field? Masterpiece story telling quality! And judging by this book, L. A. Weatherly could very well have that too. But we will see with the subsequent books if this will hold true or if this is a one-off thing with this book.

The story is narrated in the first person by the protagonists. Halfway into the first chapter, the narration swapped from the female protagonist to the male protagonist narrating the story. About a couple of pages after the male protagonist started telling the story, the author seemed to slightly loose perspective and the narration went from the first person to third person. This is confusing to read. I had to go back and re-read a few pages a couple of times to make sure that I am still reading about the same characters. I thought that a new set of characters were being introduced which wouldn't exactly surprise me since the book seems to be in a "introducing characters" mode at this point... only to realise that, no, these are the same characters mentioned a few pages back... And this change in narration perspective without warning is repeated a few times through out the book which is a little disorienting... a slight annoyance but forgivable.

My copy is an ARC so the cover is plain. But I had a little look at amazon for the final cover art and it is disappointing. If I was browsing the shelves of a bookstore, this cover art wouldn't register in my "buying radar" at all. Although it did depict the story nicely, it could also seriously use a bit of an artistic input from the likes of Tony Mauro and Gene Mollica. By the way Willow is blonde, not brunette, as might otherwise be suggested by the cover art.

I enjoyed this book and am eagerly waiting for the next two books, Angel Heat to come out in May 2010 and Angel Burn to come out in October 2011.

Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4.5
Ending = 4
World building = 3.5
Story itself = 3
Cover art = 2

Cherry's Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries

Review: THE RADLEYS

The Radleys by Matt Haig

Genre: urban fantasy

About The Radleys:

Meet the Radleys

Peter, Helen and their teenage children, Clara and Rowan, live in an English town. They are an everyday family, averagely dysfunctional, averagely content. But as their children have yet to find out, the Radleys have a devastating secret.

From one of Britain's finest young novelists comes a razor-sharp unpicking of adulthood and family life. In this moving, thrilling and extraordinary portrait of one unusual family, The Radleys asks what we grow into when we grow up, and explores what we gain – and lose – when we deny our appetites.

Source: Info in the About The Radleys was taken from the author's website at http://matthaig.com/theradleys.htm on 12/06/2010.

Review:
The author utilized a writing style where every other page is a chapter. Maybe this is fun to write, but it is annoying to read. Having said that, once I got over my irritation, the story flowed right well! The author did not just give me likeable characters, he gave me friends, if only in my head. One gotta give somebody like that some kudos!

This book is chuck full of lessons to be learned. One that jumps out at me is that, "lying is never good, no matter the good intentions". It has the tendency of coming back and bite you in the ass. I am also a firm believer that one can be true to oneself and still be honest no matter how contradictory these two concepts might be! And that is the central dilemma of this book. Very good lesson indeed, and one generally ignored by many. The ending unexpectedly resolved the central dilemma... can't give out spoilers, now can I? :)

Another feature about this book which is quite prominent to me as a reader is that, it is so contemporary. As in, the settings descriptions in the book is sooo commonplace that I can see it in my sorroundings everyday that I no longer see it. Until I read it in this book. The author obviously lived in the UK.

The cover art seriously needs a "fantasy" artistic input! Whilst having bucketfuls of meaning, it has zero market value. It is so not attractive to my fantasy buff eyes at all... and to be able to buy a book, it gotta get my attention first. This is an urban fantasy book. So to get the urban fantasy readers to read it, you gotta catch their attention. That's where the cover art comes in. And this one gets the "so-not-buy-me" award.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. I would read another Matt Haig offering again.

Character development = 4
Ending = 4
Story-telling quality = 3.5
World building = 3.5
Cover art = 1

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 cherries


I would like to thank Walker Books Ltd. for the review copy of The Radleys by Matt Haig received!!