Review & Giveaway of Wolfskin by W.R. Gingell

Publisher: W.R. Gingell
Source: Blog tour company in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: May 1, 2015
Buying Links: Amazon*
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Synopsis:

‘If you want adventure, you have to march right up to it and kick it in the shins . . .’

At fourteen, barefoot and running wild, Rose is delighted to be apprenticed to Akiva, the witch of the forest. She thinks it will be all enchantment and excitement, and not so much fuss about baths. The reality is much more sober and practical- that is, until she meets a mysterious wolf in the forest and is tricked into stepping off the path . . .
In young, naive Rose, Bastian sees a way of escape. Cursed to remain in the shape of a wolf after running afoul of a powerful enchantress, he has lived many decades under a spell, and now he is both desperate and ruthless. But by breaking part of Bastian’s curse, Rose has caught the attention of Cassandra, the enchantress who cursed him: and Cassandra is by no means ready to forgive and forget.
Meanwhile, wardens have been disappearing from the forest, one by one. Rose is certain that Cassandra is behind the disappearances, but can she and Bastian get to the bottom of the matter before Akiva disappears as well? And are Bastian’s motives entirely to be trusted?

Sometimes the little girl in the red hood doesn’t get eaten, and sometimes the wolf isn’t the most frightening thing in the forest.

Jax Reviews The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

Publisher: Penguin Books

Series: All Souls Trilogy, book 3

Format Read: ebook

Source: purchased by reviewer

Release Date: July 15,2014

Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* |  Barnes & Noble | 

* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

After traveling through time in Shadow of Night, the second book in Deborah Harkness’s enchanting series, historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont return to the present to face new crises and old enemies. At Matthew’s ancestral home at Sept-Tours, they reunite with the cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches--with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency. In the trilogy’s final volume, Harkness deepens her themes of power and passion, family and caring, past deeds and their present consequences. In ancestral homes and university laboratories, using ancient knowledge and modern science, from the hills of the Auvergne to the palaces of Venice and beyond, the couple at last learn what the witches discovered so many centuries ago.

Jax Reviews Taken With A Grain of Salt by Aaron Galvin

Publisher:  Aaron Galvin
Series: Salt Series, book 2
Format Read: ebook
Source: From author in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: November 24, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon* | Barnes & Noble | Get a signed copy from the author's site
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Anyone can be taken - a simple truth for Salt folk, a stark reality for innocent teens Garrett Weaver and Kellen Winstel. Kidnapped by Selkie slave catchers and dragged into the realm beneath the waves, both teens must adapt to their new surroundings if they hope to see the shore again. Yet even if they escape their captors, both will need to embrace their fears. For darker things than Selkies lurk in the Salted depths and not all of them have pure intentions for the innocent ones brought down into their watery world.

Jax Reviews Pocket Apocalypse by Seanan McGuire

Publisher: DAW
Format Read: paperback
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: March 3,2015
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Alexander Price has survived gorgons, basilisks, and his own family—no small feat, considering that his family includes two telepaths, a reanimated corpse, and a colony of talking, pantheistic mice. Still, he’s starting to feel like he’s got the hang of things…at least until his girlfriend, Shelby Tanner, shows up asking pointed questions about werewolves and the state of his passport. From there, it’s just a hop, skip, and a jump to Australia, a continent filled with new challenges, new dangers, and yes, rival cryptozoologists who don’t like their “visiting expert” very much.

Australia is a cryptozoologist’s dream, filled with unique species and unique challenges. Unfortunately, it’s also filled with Shelby’s family, who aren’t delighted by the length of her stay in America. And then there are the werewolves to consider: infected killing machines who would like nothing more than to claim the continent as their own. The continent which currently includes Alex.
Survival is hard enough when you’re on familiar ground. Alex Price is very far from home, but there’s one thing he knows for sure: he’s not going down without a fight.

What is happening to my fandom?!

I've been reading some blogs about the Hugo Awards' version of Gamergate, and am appalled by the vehemence of backlash against a diversified science ficition/fantasy (SFF) fandom. A Slate article quotes author Brad R. Torgersen as essentially saying true, classical SFF does not contain social commentary. From what I'm reading,  he, another author and their followers are put off by the literary quality of certain Hugo nominations, not to mention the inclusion of minority viewpoints. They seem to feel it belies the essential mindless pop appeal of 'true' SFF.



This is not factual, Captain.



 Where have these uber fanboys been living? H.G.Wells, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Spider Robinson, Gene Rodenberry...social science fiction isn't a new faction of the genre. It is its foundation. I am floored that anyone could be so blind to the use of science fiction to explore and address the topics of social injustice and inequality. Heinlein, for example, gave us many taboo topics to mull over. He addressed racism, sexual freedom, and individualism. The addition of writers and characters that expand those horizons is not a dilution of SFF's core qualities, but a logical and organic growth from the seeds planted by the masters and founders of our genre.  Not to mention, each of these authors certainly have a literary appeal. For as many pulp fiction-esque magazines they published or were published in, these men wrote well. Their books can be read as pure entertainment, but only a fool would walk away without some philosophical musings. I started reading their works in junior high; even at that age I knew their stories were meant to make me open my eyes and re-examine how I view life. But these men are not the only SFF influences in my life.

Can one say that the world of SFF is not richer for the works of Ursula LeGuin, Anne McCaffrey, Elizabeth Moon and CJ Cherryh? All of whom wrote epic space sagas. L.A. Banks' Vampire Huntress series is a masterpiece. It doesn't skimp on the action, while introducing a multitude of religions and ethnicities. It added a depth to the fight of good versus evil that I've never encountered before, or since. I welcome the addition of new voices and new perspectives. It gives us new dimensions and alternate universes to explore.

I'll leave you with this thought provoking clip from Stargate: SG1, where they quote Asimov:

DUAL REVIEW, INTERVIEW & GIVEAWAY: Spell Weaver by Angela Addams

 

Publisher: Samhain
Series: Order of the Wolf #4
Format Read: eGalley
Source: from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: April 7, 2015
Buying Links: Amazon* | ARe* | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Samhain
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Coloring outside the lines can sting like hell…

Shot by a Huntress, his wolf trapped within him, Dyami Storm is battling a poison that is eating him alive. His only hope is finding his mate, but without his wolf to guide him, he doesn’t know where to look.

The second the sexy bad boy stumbles into her tattoo shop, smelling of booze and oozing attitude, Summer Sinclair knows he’s trouble. She should turn him away, but a strange magnetic pull compels her to help him out with a little ink.

When Summer’s boyfriend walks through the door, Dyami senses he’s in the presence of a Hunter, and the Hunter recognizes him as a wolf. With hackles raised, a weapon coming at him, Dyami’s only choice snaps into place. Bite Summer, marking her as his—and unleashing her powers as a Spell Weaver.

On the run from Hunters and losing his fight against the poison, Dyami is in a race against time to convince Summer her power could change the course of the war…and that his fate is in her hands.

Warning: Sexually explicit. Tattooed, rock star drummer with a tender heart seeking his one true mate. Tough little tattoo artist with a special talent for spells. Lots of hot and heavy, wet and sweaty.

Dark Heir by Faith Hunter: GROUP REVIEW And EXCERPT

Publisher: ROC
Series: Jane Yellowrock #9
Format Read: paperback & eGalley
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Bea's Challenges: Finishing the Series; What An Animal; NetGalley and Edelweiss ARCs;
Release Date: April 7, 2015
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | iBooks | Kobo
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from tour kit:

Shapeshifting skinwalker Jane Yellowrock is the best in the business when it comes to slaying vampires. But her latest fanged foe may be above her pay grade…

For centuries, the extremely powerful and ruthless vampire witches of the European Council have wandered the Earth, controlling governments, fostering war, creating political conflict, and often leaving absolute destruction in their wake. One of the strongest of them is set to create some havoc in the city of New Orleans, and it’s definitely personal.

Jane is tasked with tracking him down. With the help of a tech wiz and an ex-Army ranger, her partners in Yellowrock Securities, she’ll have to put everything on the line, and hope it’s enough. Things are about to get real hard in the Big Easy.

The Quarterly Book Report

 

Inspired by posts I spotted on Twitter, I thought it might be fun to share what our favorite reads were for the first quarter of 2015. If it goes well, I may do it every quarter. Jax and I will share our five favorite books that we read between January 1st and March 31st of this year (Steph was going to join us but ran out of time).

Jax Reviews The Virgin by Tiffany Reisz

 

Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Series: The Original Sinners (The White Years)
Format Read: ebook
Source: The publisher, in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: March 31, 3015
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | ARe* | Barnes & Noble 
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

For years, Kingsley Edge warned Eleanor the day would come when she, the mistress of a well-respected Catholic priest, would have to run and hide. She always imagined if that day came she'd be running away with Søren. But instead, she's running from him.

Knowing Søren and Kingsley will their use their influence to bring her back, Eleanor alone, penniless and scared takes refuge at the one place the men in her life cannot follow: the abbey where her mother has taken orders. Behind the cloistered gates of the convent, Eleanor hides from the man she loves and hates in equal measure

She cannot, however, hide from her true nature. When Eleanor befriends a young virginal nun, she faces a startling sexual awakening. But Eleanor can't stay forever, and the lure of her real life beckons beyond the locked gates. But to follow her fate means to leave Kyrie behind, a sacrifice Eleanor refuses to make

The lure of the forbidden. The temptation to sin. The price of passion has never been higher, and Eleanor will have to pay it if she ever wants to go home again.

Jax Reviews The Master by Kresley Cole

 

Publisher: Pocket Books
Series: The Game Maker
Format Read: ebook
Source: Publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: February 17, 2015
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* |  Barnes & Noble |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Everyone fears the Master…Rich, irresistible politician/Mafiya boss Maksimilian Sevastyan prefers tall, obedient blondes to fulfill his…complicated desires. That is, until the icy Russian encounters a disobedient brunette whose exquisite little body threatens his legendary restraint.

Except her.

Catarina Marín was a well-off young wife until her world fell apart. Now she’s hiding out, forced to start working as an escort in Miami. Her very first client is beyond gorgeous, but when he tells her what he plans to do to her, Cat almost walks out of the door.

If pleasure is a game, play to win.

After their mind-blowing encounter burns out of control, the lovers crave more. If they escape the deadly threats surrounding them, can Maksim overcome his past—to offer Cat his future? Only then will she tempt him with what he really wants: her, all tied up with a bow.

Jax Reviews Playing Knotty by Elia Winters

Publisher: Pocket Star
Format Read: ebook
Source: Publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: March 16, 2015
Buying Links: Amazon*  | Barnes & Noble |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Bondage meets bookworm in this sizzling erotic romance about a shy bookshop owner who discovers an exciting new side to herself when an old friend opens a bondage workshop in the back of her store!

Emma Green has never been very confident. When Ian Cooper, an old friend, asks to rent out the back room of her bookstore for a bondage workshop, she agrees because she needs the money. She isn’t expecting to participate, and she definitely isn’t expecting to enjoy it. But all of Emma’s expectations fly out the window when she tentatively agrees to be Ian’s bondage model for workshops and exhibitions—and her success in the role upends all previous notions she had about her body and her desirability.

Now, Emma must learn to reconcile these conflicting images of herself while dealing with another conflict: Is Ian just another playboy, or everything she’s been looking for?

Group Review of Otherworld Nights by Kelley Armstrong

Publisher: Plume
Series: Otherworld Stories#3
Format Read: ebook
Source: Netgalley
Release Date: October 28, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble | 
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

This short story collection will include many brand-new tales and others only previously available on Kelley Armstrong's website. Most of the stories will feature the werewolves of the Otherworld, Elena and Clay, Jeremy, Karl and other members of the American Pack. These are some of Kelley Armstrong's best-loved and most enduring characters, from bestselling books such as Bitten, Stolen and Frostbitten.

1) Demonology - Adam's mother discovers what he is
2) Stalked - Clay/Elena honeymoon story from "My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon"
3) Hidden - SubPress 2012 Elena/Clay novella
4) Twilight - a Cass story from "Many Bloody Returns"
5) Chivalrous - Reese's backstory from SubPress's long sold-out "Tales of Dark Fantasy 2" (the Dec'14 SubPress graphic novella picks up this storyline)
6) Lucifer's Daughter - Hope/Karl story from "Blood Lite II: Overbite"
7) From Russia with Love - Elena bonus story included with hardcover of "Thirteen"
8) Vanishing Act - brand-new Savannah/Adam novella set after "Thirteen"

Interview and Review: Kiss of Life by Seleste Delaney

Publisher: Seleste Delaney Books
Series: Blood Kissed
Format Read: ebook
Source: from publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: March 2, 2015
Buying Links: Amazon* | Barnes & Noble |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

The vampire’s curse has been awakened, and Jocelyn has no choice but to accept her destiny as the Blood Kissed—the one destined to destroy the vampires…or rule them. While Max and Chad want to help her reach her full potential, not all of the supernaturals share their plan.


The Council of Elders, a crazed sorcerer assassin, and a vampire hunter out for revenge have driven Jocelyn into hiding. She and her ragtag army have holed up in the forests of Michigan’s upper peninsula to get ready for the fight. If training is any indication, they should be ready for war by the time she turns fifty.


But no one is going to let her wait that long. War is nigh, the death toll is rising, and when Michigan’s most famous harbinger of doom shows up on the scene, the army of the Blood Kissed is hoping for a miracle, praying to be graced with a little kiss of life…

Jax Reviews Limelight by K. Ball

Publisher: Krista D. Ball 
Format Read: ebook
Source: Author in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: 
Buying Links: Amazon* |  Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Love…in the spotlight.

Anna Lainey is a successful author who values her privacy. The last person she would imagine herself dating is a movie star–yet when she meets Benjamin Worthington on the set of a major motion picture, sparks fly–and before she knows it, she’s caught up in a very public whirlwind romance.

But Anna has kept herself distant from others for a reason–she has a secret, crippling panic disorder. When Ben’s fans turn against her and begin stalking her, her worst anxieties have come to life. She doesn’t want to live without Ben–but she can’t live in the limelight either.

Jax Reviews Ten Fingers Touching by Ellen A Roth

Publisher: Getting to the Point, Inc
Format Read: hardcover
Source: Publisher, in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: December 10, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon*
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Evil plots his return to power and Good fights to defeat Evil's sinister plan. Caught between them in this epic struggle are two young lovers - Martak, master of the forest, and Marianna, a beautiful maiden and governess to Rosy, the impetuous, young princess. Evil's desperate scheme to outwit Good and rule the Kingdom puts Martak, Marianna and the Princess at risk as they are drawn into the conflict.

Will the soulmates realize their "happily ever after?" Martak must first unravel the curse and destroy evil. In this land where magical forces vie for dominance, could true love be the most powerful weapon of all?

A beautifully illustrated tale for women of all ages, Ten Fingers Touching explores the complex nature of love and fate. It is an enchanting journey of romance, mystery and adventure. Ellen A. Roth's debut novella is an imaginative take on a classic genre-and a treat for the romantic soul.

Group Review & Quote-Tastic: Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs

Publisher: Ace
Series: Alpha and Omega #4
Format Read: eGalley and hardcover
Source: publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: March 3, 2015
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble | 
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

THE NEW CHARLES AND ANNA NOVEL
Praised as “the perfect blend of action, romance, suspense and paranormal,"* the Alpha and Omega novels transport readers into the realm of the werewolf, where Charles Cornick and Anna Latham embody opposite sides of the shifter personality. Now, a pleasure trip drops the couple into the middle of some bad supernatural business…
For once, mated werewolves Charles and Anna are not traveling because of Charles’s role as his father’s enforcer. This time, their trip to Arizona is purely personal--or at least it starts out that way...
Charles and Anna soon discover that a dangerous Fae being is on the loose, replacing human children with simulacrums. The Fae’s cold war with humanity is about to heat up—and Charles and Anna are in the cross fire.

*Rex Robot Reviews

COVER REVEAL - Kiss of Life by Seleste DeLaney

 

It's always fun to share new covers, but I feel like I've waited for this one for forever! Kiss of Life is the sequel to Kiss of Death, in the Blood Kissed series. Definitely go grab the first one while you're waiting for this to come out, and keep an eye out for an anthology with two previously release stories in the series. I'll have a review of Kiss of Life, and an interview with Sel closer to the release.

Jax Reviews Snatched by Katherine McIntyre

Publisher: Jupiter Gardens Fiction
Format Read: ebook
Source: from author in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: November 11, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon* |  OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

When Kara was ten, the shifters took her parents.

A year ago, they took her best friend Hunter.

And now, the night before her first military strike against those monsters on the surface, the shifters take the only person she has left: her little sister Lizzy.

The snatched don’t come back. That’s what Kara’s believed her entire life, but the first person she finds above ground is the best friend she thought lost forever. Turns out, the higher ups lied. Other colonies are out there, hell even folks who toughed it up above. If anyone knows how to get her sister back, these people would. However, unless she can rally these surfacers into an army, one girl with a shotgun won’t survive long against the very creatures that overturned her world.

Jax Reviews La Belle Femme by Aine Greaney

Publisher: Pixel Hall Press
Format Read: ebook
Source: publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: Decemer 21, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon* |   Barnes & Noble | 
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb:

An Irish short story told from opposite points of view, "La Belle Femme" follows Moira and Alan, both middle-aged, and both married to other people, who have used their every-other-month business trips to conduct a long-term illicit affair. During one rainy summer, Moira's marriage implodes, while Alan and his wife suffer empty-nest syndrome. Unknown to the other, each decides to finally end their years' long tryst. But after all these years,neither has a clue how to end it truthfully.

20 Questions with the Ladies of Bea's Book Nook!

Many thanks to Jennifer at the Bookshelfery for tagging us in her 20 questions post. It's a fun way to get to know a blogger better, or in this case, three bloggers. :)

1. HOW TALL ARE YOU? 
Steph: 5'3"
Bea: 5'6"
Laura: 5'6" - 5'7"

2. DO YOU HAVE A HIDDEN TALENT? IF SO, WHAT?
Steph: I can pack a car for vacation with everything including the kitchen sink
Bea: I can get a toddler or preschoooler to sleep with just a look.
Laura: If I tell you, then how is it hidden? Oh, alright. I'm fairly handy with yarn and thread. Not really a secret, but it's my talent.

3. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST BLOG-RELATED PET PEEVE?
Steph: Rafflecopter contests with a billion things in them.
Bea: Oh, that one gets me too Steph. A blog that's hard to read or navigate will keep em from coming back.
Laura: Expanding ads that cover something I'm reading.