It’s been a hectic week. Have you ever had those days where you never seem to get anything done? That’s my week/month. I set aside a couple of hours each night to write, but ‘things’ always seem to come up. Did you know that kitchen remodeling can take over your life? Sigh…

Not everything that happened was bad (like the computer getting a virus that took hours to fix). Final edits are done, and the printed proof of BloodSworn came in the mail today. One more read-through, last minute changes, and the book should be ready to go live next week. Yay!

To show my excitement, I’m going to share the book cover. Isn’t it wonderful?

THE LAST BLOODSWORN WITCH MUST CONFRONT HER FATE IF SHE HOPES TO SAVE THE MAN WHO FORCED HIS WAY INTO HER LONELY HEART.

Ten years after they bound her powers and banished her, Trina Weyebridge had successfully carved out a new existence in the human world. She put her life as a witch behind her. But, her magic would not be denied, the bindings holding them in check are weakening. Vampires who crave a taste of the powers stored in her blood are hunting her with deadly force and have kidnapped her sister to lure her out. In a desperate bid to free her sister and gain her own freedom, Trina bargains with the all-too-tempting lion shifter who calls out the long forgotten wild side in her…she would be his concubine in return for pack protection. She’d be safe…until they found out the truth.

UNDENIABLE DESIRE. FORBIDDEN LOVE. INESCAPABLE DESTINY.

When Merrick spots a female intruder living on his property, he’s intrigued by her daring. Curious to find out more, he follows her and comes to her aid when she falls prey to an attack. After weeks of unnatural silence, his beast awakens at her touch, and he suspects that she might be the only one able to save his race from a disease killing his kind. Not willing to take the chance of losing her, he binds her to him the only way he knows how…by claiming her as his own. All he has to do to save her is uncover the secrets of her past, stop a pack revolt, convince her that she’s desperately in love with him in return, and prevent a war.

Stay tuned for a sneak peak in the next couple of weeks.

I accidentally purchased book 5 in the Mercy Thompson Series. Accidentally meaning that it drives me nuts not to be able to read books in order. So when I found books 1-4 really cheap, I jumped on them.

Title: 

Moon Called (Book 1)

Blood Bound (Book 2)

Iron Kissed (Book 3)

Bone Crossed (Book 4)

DESCRIPTION:

Book 1~

Werewolves can be dangerous if you get in their way, but they’ll leave you alone if you are careful. They are very good at hiding their natures from the human population but I’m not human. I know them when I meet them, and they know me, too.

Mercy Thompson’s sexy next—door neighbor is a werewolf.

Book 2~

Under the rule of science, there are no witch burnings allowed, no water trials or public lynchings. In return, the average law-abiding, solid citizens has little to worry about from the things that go bump in the night. Sometimes I wish I was an average citizen…

Mechanic Mercy Thompson has friends in low places-and in dark ones. And now she owes one of them a favor. Since she can shapeshift at will, she agrees to act as some extra muscle when her vampire friend Stefan goes to deliver a message to another of his kind.

But this new vampire is hardly ordinary-and neither is the demon inside of him.

Book 3~

I could smell her fear, and it satisfied something deep inside me that had been writhing under her cool, superior gaze. I curled my upper lip so she could get a good look at my sharp teeth. I might only weigh thirty or so pounds in my coyote shape, but I was a predator…

Mechanic Mercy Thompson can shift her shape – but not her loyalty. When her former boss and mentor is arrested for murder and left to rot behind bars by his own kind, it’s up to Mercy to clear his name, whether he wants her to or not.

Mercy’s loyalty is under pressure from other directions, too. Werewolves are not known for their patience, and if Mercy can’t decide between the two she cares for, Sam and Adam may make the choice fir her…

Book 4~

As a shapeshifter with some unique talents, ace car mechanic Mercy has had to maintain a tenuous harmony between the human and the not so human within the Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington on more than one occasion. But this time she may be in over her head.

Marsilia, the local vampire queen, has learned that Mercy crossed her by slaying a member of her clan. Now, she’s out for blood. But since Mercy is protected from direct reprisal by the werewolf pack-and her relationship with its sexy Alpha-it’s not Mercy’s blood Marsilia is after…

It’s her friends’.

Review:

I’m a huge fan of urban fantasy books, so when I heard about Patricia Briggs, I decided to give her a try. I picked up an anthology and ready a short story from her. I liked the story, but wasn’t blown away. A year later, I stumbled across the Mercy Thompson Series and decided to give her another try (despite being written in first person). I’m so glad I did! I was hook by the first chapter and couldn’t put the books down.

As soon as I finished one book, I immediately had to start the next. I read four books in four days and loved each one. The writing was engaging, the world-building consuming, not to mention the wonderful characters…vampires, werewolves, fey and so much more. I loved the diversity. I laughed (ignoring the funny looks my husband cast my way) and one book was so emotionally heart-wrenching that I even cried. My husband is a mechanic and confirmed the car facts I quized him on.

I have one book left to read in the series…the next one doesn’t come out until March and only in hard cover. I want to save the last book, wait to read it until it’s closer to the next release, but I’m not sure I will be able to hold back.  Yes, they’re that good. If you like action, adventure, a couple of hot love interests, unforgettable characters and engulfing stories, I would highly recommend giving this series a try. Very much worth it!

I read the first book in The Darkest London Series last year and fell in love with the world and the writing. I HAD to read book two. I mean, look at the covers. They’re gorgeous!

Title: Moonglow (Darkest London)

Author: Kristen Callihan

Genre: Historical Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Forever

Release date: July 2012

Pages: 432

ISBN-10: 1455508586

ISBN-13: 978-1455508587

Rating:  

DESCRIPTION:
Once the seeds of desire are sown . . .
 
Finally free of her suffocating marriage, widow Daisy Ellis Craigmore is ready to embrace the pleasures of life that have long been denied her. Yet her new-found freedom is short lived. A string of unexplained murders has brought danger to Daisy’s door, forcing her to turn to the most unlikely of saviors . . .
 
 
Their growing passion knows no bounds . . .
 
Ian Ranulf, the Marquis of Northrup, has spent lifetimes hiding his primal nature from London society. But now a vicious killer threatens to expose his secrets. Ian must step out of the shadows and protect the beautiful, fearless Daisy, who awakens in him desires he thought long dead. As their quest to unmask the villain draws them closer together, Daisy has no choice but to reveal her own startling secret, and Ian must face the undeniable truth: Losing his heart to Daisy may be the only way to save his soul.
 
 
 
REVIEW:

I’m a huge fan of Kristen Callihan and couldn’t wait to read this book. Ian did an about-face from the first book. He so wanted to be in love, that I immediately empathized with him and his fight to be normal. Daisy came off a little different for me. She was brash and stubborn and determined to find a place for herself in the world. Unfortunately, she didn’t always come off as favorable. She never really softened or changed enough for me. The last scene in the book proved that…what she did to Ian wrenched my heart and could’ve been solved by talking.

Although I enjoyed the writing, there were significant flaws in the story (the results of Daisy being bitten, anyone?) and world-building that were never answered. The flow of the story came in fits and starts, the last thirty pages rushed and very one-sided. Kristen Callihan has some serious talent. With a little more work, this book could have been as good as the first.

Previous books in the series:

Prequel is only available as a digital book.

Synopsis~

It has been eight years since Batman vanished into the night, turning, in that instant, from hero to fugitive. Assuming the blame for the death of D.A. Harvey Dent, the Dark Knight sacrificed everything for what he and Commissioner Gordon both hoped was the greater good. For a time the lie worked, as criminal activity in Gotham City was crushed under the weight of the anti-crime Dent Act. But everything will change with the arrival of a cunning cat burglar with a mysterious agenda. Far more dangerous, however, is the emergence of Bane, a masked terrorist whose ruthless plans for Gotham drive Bruce out of his self-imposed exile. But even if he dons the cape and cowl again, Batman may be no match for Bane. — (C) Warner Bros. 

We had a chance to see this movie Friday. I was expecting something spectacular. Something to wow me. And some of the movie did…the rest of the story kind of fell flat.

One character did surprise me. Anne Hathaway played the perfect Catwoman. Not only was she gorgeous in the suit, she was the perfect prickly cat. And talk about hot! And those moves…yawza!

My biggest issue was Christian Bale as Batman. I didn’t think he cut it. Yeah, he had the brooding, tortured hero thing going, but his role in this movie just didn’t do it for me. He started okay, but things went quickly downhill.

I did liked the plot (although I guessed the end pretty quickly). The fighting was great as well. The special effects were nicely done. Unfortunately, the combination wasn’t enough to push the movie into a higher rating for me. I suspect this is a case of expecting more from a movie because of all the hype.

Favorite part of the movie: Catwoman.

Rating:  

Are you surprised I didn’t pick the paranormal book or did you guess which one I’d choose?

Title: Partials

Author: Dan Wells

Genre: Young Adult/Science Fiction

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Release date: February 2013

Pages: 528

ISBN-10: 006207105X

ISBN-13: 978-0062071057

Rating:  

DESCRIPTION:

The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by RM, a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island while the Partials have mysteriously retreated. The threat of the Partials is still imminent, but, worse, no baby has been born immune to RM in more than a decade. Our time is running out.

Kira, a sixteen-year-old medic-in-training, is on the front lines of this battle, seeing RM ravage the community while mandatory pregnancy laws have pushed what’s left of humanity to the brink of civil war, and she’s not content to stand by and watch. But as she makes a desperate decision to save the last of her race, she will find that the survival of humans and Partials alike rests in her attempts to uncover the connections between them—connections that humanity has forgotten, or perhaps never even knew were there.

Review:

I loved the dystopian feel of this novel. It’s what made me purchase it in the first place…well, that and all the wonderful reviews. And I’m going to have to agree with them. The world-building wasn’t that involved, but it slowing unfurled and captured me the further I read. No, what grabbed me on this book was the characters, Kira in particular. She’s clever, brave and flawed…the perfect combination for a novel.

The adults in the books do not come off in a favorable light. A few of them are okay, but you can tell the book was written strickly from the point of view of a teenager. The plot deals with some heavy issues…manditory teenage pregnancy, the near military settlement they were forced to live in to survive. The world is a fearsome place. Dangerous. One wrong move, and the human race could be destroyed before they can even rebuild. It automatically added tension to the book. 

If you allow yourself to be pulled into the story, you’ll enjoy it. If you study it a little too hard, you might see some slight issues. In the end, I liked the quest the characters had to endure, the comradery and their determination to do what they felt was right despite the risks. The light romance crumbled around the edges a little, but the science fiction overtone of the book won me over. I’ll be reading book two when it’s released.

 This about sums up how the new year went for me.

No dogs were harmed in the taking of this photo.

My devil cold, otherwise known as my sinus infection, is finally going away. I hope. Three months is long enough, by golly. The baby dog (can you guess which one is only 6 months old?) had a vet check-up last week and passed with flying colors. Too bad he hid under my chair the whole time the vet was in the room. Yeah, just a little awkward. It took me a good 15 minutes after the vet left the room for me to coax him out.  

Then the trouble started. This is what I saw at the vet’s:

Isn’t he adorable?! He danced and begged when we walked in the door. The vet asked if we knew anyone who wanted a house-trained dog.

Well, it just so happened that I did. No, I did not take him home (I don’t think I could survive three dogs). But he did go to a family member. It was love at first sight for them both. The dog is just a doll! And perfect for town living.

I also did a lot of reading the last two weeks as I wait for the edits of BloodSworn. How did your new year go? Any New Year’s Resolution? Did you break yours already? I’m going to try to get 3-4 new books released this year. I’m also determined to read at least one book a week. If I don’t read, then I don’t get to buy more books. (Whimper…) We’re also going to try and remodel our kitchen this year. I’m excited and dreading it at the same time. So tell me, what are your plans for this year? Do you set yearly goals?