WW28: MADHOUSE

WW28
A chance to showcase your favourite!

• 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 (in a comment at a WW28 post) so that other WW28 readers can find your WW28 offering.

WW28 book offering : Madhouse by Rob Thurman

Page 28, 1st Sentence:

"Promise would know that is not our area of expertise."

About Madhouse:
Book 3 of the Cal Leandros series by Rob Thurman

My brother had spent a lifetime-mine, at least-telling me that I was normal, that I wasn’t a monster. With his help, I’d finally realized that as long as I could remain who I was, I could survive what I was. It was only bad genes….
Half-human Cal Leandros and his brother, Niko, aren’t exactly prospering with their preternatural detective agency. Who could have guessed that business would dry up in New York City, where vampires, trolls, and other creepy crawlies are all over the place?
But now there’s a new arrival in the Big Apple. A malevolent evil with ancient powers, dead set on making history with an orgy of blood and murder, is picking off humans like sheep. And for Cal and Niko, this is one paycheck they’re going to have to earn…if they live long enough to collect it.

Source: Info in the About Madhouse was taken from the the author's website at http://robthurman.net/cal-leandros/moonshine/ on 18/08/2010.

Win a Kindle at Sparkling Reviews

Kindle Giveaway

Contest is international and ends on November 18.

Contest Link: Click here to go to the contest.

MR. MAILMAN: A BRUSH OF DARKNESS & BAYOU MOON

A huge THANK YOU to:

• Satisfaction For Insatiable Readers for hosting a contest and making it possible for me to win A Brush Of Darkness by Allison Pang pre-order!!

• The Eclectic Reader for hosting a contest and making it possible for me to win Bayou Moon!

Couldn't wait to find these in my mail!! *big smile* This wait is worth another Mr. Mailman feature! A kind of "blog meme" started by Juju over at Tales Of Whimsy.

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.

A Brush Of Darkness by Allison Pang

I had a naked incubus in my bedroom. With a frying pan of half-cooked bacon and a hard-on. And a unicorn bite on his ass. Christ, this was turning out to be a weird morning.

Six months ago, Abby Sinclair was struggling to pick up the pieces of her shattered life. Now, she has an enchanted iPod, a miniature unicorn living in her underwear drawer, and a magical marketplace to manage. But despite her growing knowledge of the OtherWorld, Abby isn’t at all prepared for Brystion, the dark, mysterious, and as sexy as sin incubus who shows up searching for his sister—and is convinced Abby has the key to the succubus’s whereabouts. Abby has enough problems without having this seductive shape-shifter literally invading her dreams to get information. But when her Faery boss and some of her friends vanish as well, Abby and Brystion must form an uneasy alliance. As Abby is sucked deeper and deeper into this perilous world of faeries, angels, and daemons, she realizes her life is in as much danger as her heart—and there’s no one she can trust to save her.

Source: Info in the above synopsis was taken from the author's website at http://www.heartofthedreaming.com/books/ on 01/11/10.

Bayou Moon by Ilona Andrews
Edge Novels book 2

The Edge lies between worlds, on the border between the Broken, where people shop at Walmart and magic is a fairytale–and the Weird, where blueblood aristocrats rule, changelings roam, and the strength of your magic can change your destiny…

Cerise Mar and her unruly clan are cash poor but land rich, claiming a large swathe of the Mire, the Edge swamplands between the state of Louisiana and the Weird. When her parents vanish, her clan’s long-time rivals are suspect number one.

But all is not as it seems. Two nations of the Weird are waging a cold war fought by feint and espionage, and their conflict is about to spill over into the Edge—and Cerise’s life . William, a changeling soldier who left behind the politics of the Weird, has been forced back into service to track down a rival nation’s spymaster.

When William’s and Cerise’s missions lead them to cross paths, sparks fly—but they’ll have to work together if they want to succeed…and survive.

Source: Info in the above synopsis was taken from the author's website at http://edge.ilona-andrews.com/books/bayou-moon/ on 31/10/10.

I SO WANT TO READ THIS: ANGELFIRE

WISHLIST:

Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

Publication Date: 15 Feb 2011

About Angelfire:

When seventeen-year-old Ellie starts seeing reapers - monstrous creatures who devour humans and send their souls to Hell - she finds herself on the front lines of a supernatural war between archangels and the Fallen and faced with the possible destruction of her soul.

A mysterious boy named Will reveals she is the reincarnation of an ancient warrior, the only one capable of wielding swords of angelfire to fight the reapers, and he is an immortal sworn to protect her in battle. Now that Ellie's powers have been awakened, a powerful reaper called Bastian has come forward to challenge her. He has employed a fierce assassin to eliminate her - an assassin who has already killed her once.

While balancing her dwindling social life and reaper-hunting duties, she and Will discover Bastian is searching for a dormant creature believed to be a true soul reaper. Bastian plans to use this weapon to ignite the End of Days and to destroy Ellie's soul, ending her rebirth cycle forever. Now, she must face an army of Bastian's most frightening reapers, prevent the soul reaper from consuming her soul, and uncover the secrets of her past lives - including truths that may be too frightening to remember.

Source: Info in the About Angelfire was taken from the author's website at http://www.courtneyallisonmoulton.com/library.html on 28/08/2010.

Review: MAGIC TO THE BONE

Magic To The Bone by Devon Monk
Book 1 of the Allie Beckstrom series

Genre: urban fantasy

About Magic To The Bone:

"Using magic meant it used you back. Forget the fairy tale hocus-pocus, wave a wand and bling-o sparkles and pixie dust crap.

Magic, like booze, sex, and drugs, gave as good as it got."

Everything has a cost. And every act of magic exacts a price from its user--maybe a two-day migraine, or losing the memory of your first kiss. But some people want to use magic without paying, and they offload the cost onto an innocent. When that happens, it falls to a Hound to identify the spell's caster--and Allison Beckstrom's the best there is.

Daughter of a prominent Portland businessman, Allie would rather moonlight as a Hound than accept the family fortune--and the many strings that come with it. But when she discovers a little boy dying from a magical offload that has her father's signature all over it, Allie is thrown back into the high-stakes world of corporate espionage and black magic.

Now, Allie's out for the truth--and the forces she finds herself calling on will overturn everything she knows, change her in ways she could never imagine...and make her capable of things that powerful people will do anything to control.

Source: Info in the About Magic To The Bone was taken from the author's website at http://www.devonmonk.com/magictothebone.asp on 29/10/10.

My Thoughts:
There is a suggestion of a romantic element in this book and maybe at some point down the line in this series, it would become a paranormal romance as well as an urban fantasy. But for now, this book is an urban fantasy.

What I like about this book:
To me, the author's "voice" is very important. It usually what "makes" or "breaks" a book to me as a reader. Monk's ""voice" is easy to read and, I guess, it is what makes the story telling quality so compelling. Another thing I like about this book is the "resolution" at the end of the story. The ending offers a satisfying resolution to the story's main dilemma even as it offers teasers for the next book to keep the reader following the series. What can I say? I like "satisfying resolutions" with my books! :)

I don't know what it says about me, but, I like attractive covers on my fantasy books. Shallow, that's me. But still the cover plays a major role in my book buying habits. And this book's cover art was one of the major convincing points which made me pick this book up and buy it. The cover was very attractive to my fantasy reader's eyes!

What I don't like:
The main protagonist is described as a kick-ass chick. But for a kick-ass chick, Allie keeps making stupid mistakes which could get irritating to read... but the author's "voice" is sooo good that even an irate reader like me can forgive that fault.

Emperical interpretation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 4
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 4.5
Pace = 4
Plot = 4

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries


Other Books In The Series:

WW28: CLAIRE DE LUNE

WW28
A chance to showcase your favourite!

• 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 (in a comment at a WW28 post) so that other WW28 readers can find your WW28 offering.

WW28 book offering : CLAIRE DE LUNE by Christine Johnson

Page 28, 1st Sentence:

It connected with a sickening sound, like glass being crushed underfoot.

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.

Buy Link:

IN THE MAIL: DARK DAYS BOOKS

My loot:
I would like to thank Paper Cut Reviews for hosting a Nightwalker week which made it possible for me to win two Dark Days series books by Jocelynn Drake!!

Nightwalker by Jocelynn Drake
Book 1 of the Dark Days series.

For centuries Mira has been a nightwalker -- an unstoppable enforcer for a mysterious organization that manipulates earth-shaking events from the darkest shadows. But elemental mastery over fire sets her apart from others of her night-prowling breed...and may be all that prevents her doom.

The foe she now faces is human: the vampire hunter called Danaus, who has already destroyed so many undead. For Mira, the time has come to hunt or be hunted.

But in a dimension just beyond the worlds boundaries, a banished race stirs dangerously, hungry for power, for domination, for vengeance. Already a protective seal has been breached: already blood flows like a river through the world's great cities.

And only the collaboration of two sworn enemies can save humankind...and its ferel brethren.

Source: Info in the above synopsis was taken from the author's website at http://www.jocelynndrake.com/Nightwalker.html on 02/11/10.

Dayhunter by Jocelynn Drake
Book 2 of the Dark Days series.

A new day dawns blood red...

A master of fire, Mira is the last hope for the world. For centuries, she has secretly enforced the history-altering edicts of the Triad. Now she and her unlikely ally -- the human vampire hunter, Danaus -- have come to Venice, home of the nightwalker rulers. But there is no safety in the ancient city, for the threat of conflicts is in the wind... with unholy alliances and earth-shattering betrayals taking hideous form in the shadows.

Banished for eons beyond the world's boundaries, the malevolent naturi prepare to feed once again upon a vulnerable earth -- and treachery is opening wide the portal that will enable their dread re-emergence. The great battle that has always been Mira's destiny is looming, and she must remain powerful in the face of a shocking revelation: that Danaus, the only creature that she dares to trust, is something that the man he claims to be...

Source: Info in the above synopsis was taken from the author's website at http://www.jocelynndrake.com/Dayhunter.html on 02/11/10.