Review of Hush by Cherry Adair

Publisher:  Pocket Star

Release Date:  April 26th, 2011

More Info: Amazon

Series: #1 in the Lodestone Trilogy

Book Blurb:

National bestselling author Cherry Adair introduces an edgy, sexy new suspense series with this exhilarating international tale of hide and seek.
A reckless adventure in a deadly paradise.
 
Thrill seekers Zakary and Gideon Stark travel the globe in search of extreme adventure, but a trip to Venezuela to jump off the world’s highest falls catapults them into a perilous game of life or death—where they don’t know the rules.

A one-night stand that will change his life forever.
 
Kidnapped with a woman Zak knows nothing about, the brothers are held prisoner deep in the jungle. A risky, deathdefying escape separates them and nearly claims Zak’s life . . . until his recovery reveals a baffling new sixth sense.

An unexpected diversion with lethal consequences.
 
Now, to find his missing brother, Zak and the mysterious Acadia Gray will have to out-smart, out-gun, and out-maneuver not just the brutal kidnappers but also a new player who joins the adrenaline game: a ruthless opponent who wants the Stark brothers dead—at any cost.

My Thoughts:

I got this book through Book Blogs, where the publisher puts certain books up for review each month. The blurbs inside the book call it paranormal but it's marketed as a romance. Really, it's a paranormal romance;  first half of the book is more romantic suspense/thriller; the paranormal aspects don't kick in until about halfway through the story. It is the first of a new trilogy, the Lodestone Trilogy.

OK, onto the story. It starts off with Zak and Acadia waking up after their one night stand to armed men in the room, and a gun to Zak's head. At first, Acadia comes off as presumptuous, ditsy and a motor-mouth while Zak comes off as cold, arrogant, and misogynistic. Over the course of the book, we see that while Acadia occasionally thinks that the world revolves around her, she's compassionate, friendly and ultra organized. They are kidnapped by the armed men and dragged into the jungle. Acadia is convinced that the men are after her because of some money she came into while Zak and his brother Gideon, also kidnapped, are wealthy.

Zak and Gideon own a Google-like search engine and are adrenaline junkies. They are addicted to extreme sports and travel the globe, indulging themselves. They are in Venezuela to jump off of the world's tallest waterfalls. Zak is a widow who has developed a death wish, though he can't see it. Gideon is desperate to help his brother, whatever it takes.

Acadia is single, just turned thirty, and not normally adventurous; she works in a sporting goods store (a running gag in the book is a "magic" vest which has seemingly endless pockets, full of camping gadgets). She's about to go to college, after the recent death of her father. She had been his caregiver the past 6-7 years as he suffered from Alzheimer's. Her friends talked her into this strip as a birthday present to herself. She sees it as a chance to let loose before settling down to getting her degree.

 Zak's surly attitude got on my nerves at times and Acadia could be a righteous know-it-all. But, I liked that Acadia did not back down or wimp out. She wasn't going to stand off to the side and let the men make all the decisions. She was determined to be a part of the solution, even when she didn't know what she was doing. At other times, she knew exactly what she was doing, which also surprised Zak. Did I mention he's arrogant? He's sure he has all the answers, at least in extreme situations. Acadia had a knack, however, for surprising the brothers and me with what she did know and was willing to do.

Zak is an adrenaline junkie; he's used to getting himself out of tough situations and thinking on his feet. He feels certain  that he doesn't need Acadia's help, or that she can even be helpful. Acadia surprises him constantly. Her camping vest, as I mentioned earlier, is a bit like Mary Poppins' magic bag; there are 28 pockets and they hold everything except the kitchen sink. :D The items stowed in her pockets save her, Zak, and Gideon on multiple occasions.    

The story has some plot holes, some convenient coincidences and timing,  and some WTF? moments; I realize it's a romance but both Zak and Acadia had weird timing for indulging in their mutual lust. Injured, on the run, and in the middle of a jungle is hardly the time or place but apart from that, Adair makes it seem logical at the time and she can write a sexy scene. It's fun, fast-paced and very enjoyable.

I did figure out who one of the people responsible for the  kidnapping was, but not the other one, nor did I guess their motives. That part of the story was a bit of a muddle, and was almost, but not quite, believable.

This paperback was received from the publisher for review.

Review: Must Love Dragons by Monica Marier

Publisher: Hunt Press

Release date: September, 2010

More Info: Amazon

Book Blurb:

Everyone knows that Heroes slay Dragons. Not everyone knows that Heroes also change diapers.

It's the oldest story in the world; boy meets girl, boy marries girl, they have a family. But what happens when the girl makes more money than the boy, and he stays at home to raise the kids? What happens when pregnancy is rough on her, and he has to go back to work? And what happens when she's a dragon, he's a ranger, and a day at the office involves trolls, elves, magic, and lower back pain?

Linus Weedwhacker (shut it, he's heard 'em all) knows first hand.
 

My Thoughts:
 

This book makes me all kinds of happy. First of all, it's a fantasy adventure, with Elves and Dragons and Inns that serve questionable food. But even better, it's a fantasy adventure chocked full of snark, sarcasm and silliness. Epic win here.

There's a bonus for those of you who, like me, were card carrying members of the Basement Dwelling Gamer Geek Society (and proud of it!) with the little tribute references to some of our dearly beloved games. But not so much that non-gamers should feel like they are missing anything. It's a wonderfully witty book, that pokes fun at growing older, dealing with impudent newbies and wondering just how good were the 'good ol' days.'

Monica is exquisitely talented, not only did she gives us this gem, with a sequel "Runs in Good Condition" coming out soon, but she also contributes to a web comic site Tangent Artists and delights readers regularly with flash fiction at her blog Attack of the Muses.

The reviewer owns this in ebook form

Review of The Ancillary's Mark by Daniel A Cohen

Publisher: Black Rose Writing

Release Date:  November 4, 2010

More Info:  Amazon, 

Book Blurb:

The legend of the Ancillary flower has existed for centuries. Foretold to bring out the limitless potential of its bearer, the flower and the legend have been forgotten by many. Recently, strange events in a shrouded Tibetan town have sparked rumors among those who still believe.

Jacob Deer is a quirky young man, bound for college, with an eccentric old librarian for a best friend, an obsession with sitting down in elevators, and a strange birthmark on his hand that's shaped mysteriously like the markings on the Ancillary's petals. When Jacob's mentor Mr. Maddock reveals to him his connection with the legendary Ancillary, it sets in motion a series of events that sends Jacob and friends across the world. Alongside an alluring young woman, a marine-reject, and a Tibetan kid obsessed with comic books, Jacob must face off against a vengeful maniac for the fate of the flower, the legend, and all mankind.


My thoughts:

Jacob is a quirky teenage American boy killing time before he heads off for college in the autumn. A few aspects of his character could have been more developed; for example, his quirks are thrown out there in a deliberate manner rather than 'unveiled', told to us instead of shown. He also need some faults to round him out and make him more believable. One of his "flaws", which is really an outgrowth of his quirkiness, is that he doesn't have many friends. His only real friend is the elderly librarian, Mr. Maddock, at the local library. Jacob, or Cob, as Mr. Maddock calls him, has a feeling, a certain and strong belief, that there is something out there waiting for him, if he can just figure out what it is. In the meantime, he reads voraciously in any genre or subject and enjoys his life.

On one of his daily visits to the library, he meets Maddock's granddaughter, Sophia. Jacob is instantly attracted to her. His lack of social skills leave her less than impressed but he makes up for it by showing her his special spot in the local forest. Soon, their trip there is cut short by a phone call from her grandfather.

The action kicks in when Mr Maddock reads of important discoveries happening in a little town in the middle of nowhere in Tibet. Mr Maddock believes that those events signal the return of the mythical blue flower, the Ancillary. It's reputed to give individuals the ability to tap into and live up to their fullest potential. Here, the story gets mystical, spiritual and philosophical all at once. It's a mishmash of ancient and new age beliefs that the author devised for this book. Maddock believes that Jacob is the one person in the current life cycle of the flower meant to benefit the most from the flower because Jacob bears the mark of the flower -  the odd birthmark on Jacob's hand is actually the symbol of the flower. 

In no time, and with no reasonable explanation provided for Mr Maddock's considerable financial resources, Cob and Sophia head off to Tibet with a bodyguard/survival guide, Diego, that Maddock has hired. Of course, they aren't the only ones in search of the mythical Ancillary flower and its gifts. There are unexpected allies, surprise foes, betrayals, and some minor twists and turns. 

Cohen's storytelling style is simplistic and his characters need more depth but he does quirky very well. Jacob was too perfect, too smart despite Cohen telling us that he's not a genius, but he is likable and delightfully odd, if calculatedly so. My favorite character is actually a secondary one, Clark (not his real name) a young Tibetan native who quickly becomes an ally. Clark loves Superman, hence the nickname, wears a tuxedo to sing to bonsai trees, and, thanks to the Ancillary flower, is a master linguist. He provides a great deal of help to Jacob and Sophia.

The author, Daniel Cohen, is a 22 year old business student who decided that writing was more fun. He doesn't currently have a website but he is at work on the first book of a new YA trilogy. Overall, The Ancillary's Mark is a good debut and a pleasant YA adventure novel.

This PDF was received from the author for review. This review first appeared at Book Lovers Inc. 

April End of Month Giveaway

I decided to continue with the end of month giveaway. This month I have a mix of print books from April and from other months. The books are pictured below. As before, I will choose, with the help of www.random.org, one winner from all review comments during the month of April. You MUST comment on one of this month's reviews before the end of the month to be eligible. You do not need to be a follower, shipping is open internationally. The winner can choose one book from the listed selections.

 
The Survivor by Sean Slater - a mystery

Treachery in Death by JD Robb - a mystery

The Baby Planner by Josie Brown - women's fiction, general fiction

Song of the Silk Road by Mingmei Yip - women's fiction, general fiction

Thieves of Darkness by Richard Doetsch - an action adventure thriller


Etched in Bone by Adrian Phoenix - a paranormal romance

Dark Oracle by Alayna Williams - a UF mystery (this is signed but is made out to me; I won it in a giveaway)

Rogue Oracle by Alayna Williams (bk 2) - A UF mystery

I'll choose the winner at the beginning of May. :)

For those who celebrate, Happy Easter :)

ETA: I added "Hybrid" by Brian O'Grady and "Hush" by Cherry Adair to the prize selection.

Squee! Kindles + Libraries = Awesomesauce

First, I love the expression "awesomesauce". I picked it up from the SmartBitches  and I love being able to use it. :D

Second, SQUEEE!!!!!  Amazon announced today that sometime later this year (which I really really hope doesn't mean end of the year) libraries that lend out ebooks via Overdrive will be able to do so on Kindles here in the US. At this point, it's just US only. I love my Kindle to bits but one of it's disadvantages has been my inability to check out library books on it. I have ADE on my laptop so I can check out library ebooks that way but reading on my Kindle is so much easier and convenient for me. According to the press release, Kindle lending will

be available for all generations of Kindle devices and free Kindle reading apps....."We're doing a little something extra here," Marine continued. "Normally, making margin notes in library books is a big no-no. But we're extending our Whispersync technology so that you can highlight and add margin notes to Kindle books you check out from your local library. Your notes will not show up when the next patron checks out the book. But if you check out the book again, or subsequently buy it, your notes will be there just as you left them, perfectly Whispersynced."

With Kindle Library Lending, customers can take advantage of all of the unique features of Kindle and Kindle books...

I am so excited I can hardly stop squeeing. I love libraries, I love my Kindle, I am a happy happy book addict. :P

I have to say that I am delighted to see Amazon striving to add to the Kindle's benefits and make it ever more user friendly. First, they made some Kindle titles available for lending (even if they were slow to do it) and now library lending. Since the Nook and Kobo already have these features, it only makes sense that Kindle would jump in. Adding these features adds to the Kindle's appeal and usability. Now, they just need to allow buying books from other sites in a Kindle compatible format and the Kindle would be just about perfect.

Now, I'm sure there will be glitches and not every publisher participates in library ebook lending (McMillan, Simon & Schuster) but it's a start. So Kindle users, take advantage of this and ask your librarians if your library will be participating.

For more information, see this article on LibraryJournal.com.

  

Review: Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude by Kevin O'Malley

Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers

Release Date: 1St Edition edition (April 1, 2005)

More Info: Amazon

Book Blurb: Once upon a time there was ... a princess who loved all her beautiful ponies, a cool muscle dude who rode an awesome motorcycle. But a giant came and started stealing them! The dude came to fight the ugly, smelly giant with his mighty sword. She turned gold into thread while she cried for Buttercup, her favorite pony. And he took the princess's gold thread for payment The end!

Wait a minute! That's not how it ends!

Oh no?

Once upon a time there was a boy and a girl who had to tell a fairy tale to the class, but they couldn't agree on the story. Will everyone live happily ever after?

My Thoughts: As a parent of both a son and a daughter, this book is a godsend! It's got just enough glitter and pretty ponies to make my little miss happy, and enough action to keep my son entertained. It also just makes me laugh.

O'Malley captures the competitive, bickering nature of two kids perfectly, and the illustrations by Carol Heyer make our dueling storytellers' tales come to life. One of the great things about this book is watching the two kids go from the excitement of competing stories, to the exhilaration of creating one together. It's a very natural progression that wll make anyone who deals with kids smile.

I love books that draw kids in and encourages them to go on and tell their own stories. Any time I read this to the kids, I'm guaranteed to have pages of crazy pictures and scrawled print all over the house the next day. Sometimes they work together, and sometimes on their own. Either way, it's highly entertaining.

The reviewer owns this book.

Review of Song of The Silk Road by Mingmei Yip

Publisher: Kensington

Release Date: April 1st, 2011

More Info: Amazon

Book Blurb:

In this richly imaginative novel, Mingmei Yip--author of Peach Blossom Pavilion and Petals From the Sky--follows one woman's daunting journey along China's fabled Silk Road.

As a girl growing up in Hong Kong, Lily Lin was captivated by photographs of the desert--its long, lonely vistas and shifting sand dunes. Now living in New York, Lily is struggling to finish her graduate degree when she receives an astonishing offer. An aunt she never knew existed will pay Lily a huge sum to travel across China's desolate Taklamakan Desert--and carry out a series of tasks along the way. 

Intrigued, Lily accepts. Her assignments range from the dangerous to the bizarre. Lily must seduce a monk. She must scrape a piece of clay from the famous Terracotta Warriors, and climb the Mountains of Heaven to gather a rare herb. At Xian, her first stop, Lily meets Alex, a young American with whom she forms a powerful connection. And soon, she faces revelations that will redefine her past, her destiny, and the shocking truth behind her aunt's motivations. . . 

Powerful and eloquent, Song of the Silk Road is a captivating story of self-discovery, resonant with the mysteries of its haunting, exotic landscape.

"Lovely, provocative. . .book clubs will be fascinated." --Bestselling Author M.J. Rose

Contains mild sexual explicitness

My Thoughts:

I have to say based on the description of this novel, I expected a more contemporary prose. Instead, it's a  mix of traditional (or so I assume) Chinese influences, and modern day writing. The result was at times   erratic. I had a hard time connecting with Lily, the main character, and the story as a whole. Lily just wasn't likable enough for me. She seemed to be very self centered and motivated by all the wrong things. She made some poor choices regarding men and laid the blame everywhere but where it belonged.
 
Lily is not only a contemporary American woman but is sexually liberal…her character is very free with sexuality, obscenities and morals. The theme of sexuality is explored at great length and may be a turn off for more conservative readers. I didn't mind it but I did have a problem with Yip's coy use of euphemisms for body parts, sex acts, etc. It wasn't the use of euphemisms that bothered me, that's normal and I'm fine with it; to be honest, I'm not sure if the phrases are how Yip would normally talk or if they are, and this is probable, a reflection of how a woman raised in contemporary Hong Kong would talk. It's a bit jolting hearing them from a woman in the contemporary US, for instance she refers to a penis as a "yang instrument" and "a snake" and her vagina as "a snake hole". Eeeew. For me, it was very jarring; other readers it may not bother.

There is a love story between Lily and the "soul mate" she finds on her journey. At first I had trouble believing in their relationship, given the age difference (and before you squawk, there's 11.5 years between my father and stepmother so I'm used to it), the "love at first sight" trope, and his somewhat stalkerish behavior at first.

The journey consists of both her physical journey through China and the emotional journey that results from what she encounters and learns. Unfortunately, while it did make me curious about China and it's history, I never really cared about Lily and her personal journey.

This paperback was received from the publisher for review.

Iron Crowned by Richelle Mead - A Guest Review

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Publisher: Zebra

Release Date: March 1, 2011

More Info: Amazon

Series: #3 in the Dark Swan series

Book Blurb:

New York Times bestselling author Richelle Mead takes readers back to the Otherworld, an embattled realm mystically entwined with our world--and ruled by one woman's dangerous choice. . . 

Shaman-for-hire Eugenie Markham is the best at banishing entities trespassing in the mortal realm. But as the Thorn Land's queen, she's fast running out of ways to end the brutal war devastating her kingdom. Her only hope: the Iron Crown, a legendary object even the most powerful gentry fear. . . 

Who Eugenie can trust is the hardest part. Fairy king Dorian has his own agenda for aiding her search. And Kiyo, her shape-shifter ex-boyfriend, has every reason to betray her along the way. To control the Crown's ever-consuming powers, Eugenie will have to confront an unimaginable temptation--one that will put her soul and the fate of two worlds in mortal peril. . .

Today, we have another guest reviewer, Hurog_Kate.. She was talking about Iron Crowned after she read it and I asked if she'd mind typing that up for me into a review. :D Hurog_Kate is an aspiring writer who works in education to pay the bills. (Okay, she actually really likes her day job but would quit in a heartbeat if she had an actual paying career as a writer.) She's an incessant fiction reader, primarily in the Science Fiction, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, and Mystery genres. She's also stupidly opinionated (her words, not mine, lol) about what she's read... but will likely not argue with you about it if your opinion differs. :)

Contains Spoilers for Books 1 and 2 in the series

My Thoughts:

I’ve never been particularly driven to review books in any sort of professional/public capacity. I’ve got lots of reasons for this. For one, I’m an aspiring writer myself, which means that I fear the “lemme tell y’all how it’s done” syndrome. Plus, well, I’m afraid of ticking off any potential future employers or avenues to publication. (And yes, I know that sounds kind of silly… but there you go.) Secondly, I spent several years in graduate school for writing, which meant I analyzed every word I read or wrote ad nauseum. It started to impinge on my actual enjoyment of reading for pleasure. These days, I’m quite happy with my informal review process: Loved it! Hated it! Didn’t finish. Heroine TSTL (too stupid to live). Meh. It was fine. I got it for free. And so on. 

This long-winded opening is to explain why I quite happily classify this as an UN-professional, highly subjective reaction to reading Iron Crowned, the third book in the Eugenie  Markham Dark Swan series by Richelle Mead. Not a review. 

Additionally, it’s very important to me to point out that I stand in awe of anyone who can finish a coherent novel, let alone the number that Ms. Mead has. 

I loved the first book in the series, Storm Born. It introduced the heroine, Eugenie Markham—aka Dark Swan—a half fey/half human shaman who works to banish spirits and fey who illegally cross over into our world. In fairly classic Fantasy series fashion, a startling prophecy is revealed: in this case, that her firstborn son will conquer the human world for the fey. She spends the rest of this book and the next navigating between the human and fey worlds trying to stop this prophecy from coming true. Of course, there are two gorgeous love interests: the Human kitsune (fox-shifter) Kiyo and the scary/sexy fey King Dorian who seeks to train Eugenie in her fey powers of controlling storms. Of course, Dorian is quite honest about how happy he would be to put a bun in Eug’s oven, but he does help her in his own Machiavellan way throughout the series. 

By the time we get to this third book (SPOILERS for books 1 and 2), Eugenie has been repeatedly attacked, taken over an entire kingdom and remade it in the image of her beloved Arizona desert, discovered an unknown half-sister who also may fulfill the prophecy, discovered that her boyfriend Kiyo knocked up one of the few (apparently) friendly fey monarchs (awkward)… oh, and gotten kidnapped by the lunatic son of a rival monarch and repeatedly raped in his attempt to impregnate her and bring about the prophecy. That ends badly for him when she ends up being rescued by a contingent including Kiyo and Dorian, who ends up running the douchebag kidnapper/rapist through with his sword. Which I was pretty much “right on!” about but Kiyo refused to do because it wasn’t moral or something, and it turns out he might have been kind of right because it puts Eugenie and Dorian at war in the fey world against his mother, whom I will now refer to as “Rape-Mommy” because she encouraged all of these shenanigans. By the end of the second book, she’s broken up with Kiyo and is firmly in a relationship with Dorian. Oh, and her step-father, the shaman who trained her, is not speaking to her because he’s super mad that she has a kingdom in Otherworld.

As I said, I loved the first book. I found the second book a little frustrating with Eug continuing to juggle her commitments in the human world (her shaman/exorcism business) with those in the fey world, with somewhat limited success. But I was still really looking forward to the third book. Let’s start with the positives for the book: as always, Mead’s characters leap off of the page. Her dialogue is fun and the world that she has built (both human and fey) are alive and real within the confines of the book. In terms of world-building, she is almost always consistent (which is harder than you might think). There is one pretty big inconsistency very late in the book, but it honestly could be explained away at some point… which doesn’t mean it didn’t bug me. I’m just not sure it should have. LOL I can honestly say that I would not have had such a negative reaction to the book if it wasn’t written so vividly. 

 I can sum up my annoyance without MASSIVE spoilers by looking at two factors: One, Eugenie generally doesn't take any responsibility for her own actions through pretty much the whole book. These actions include: cheating on Dorian (while convincing herself that she didn't cheat); running back to Kiyo; taking over a whole other kingdom; ignoring the concerns of her stepfather and mom; and then when Kiyo suddenly and almost inexplicably becomes horrible, running back to Dorian. Sigh. It’s like this very adult series suddenly took a left turn from a great blend of high and urban fantasy to Young Adult Soap Opera land. 

The second factor is that I think the only major character who acts consistently with everything we've been told about him for the two previous books is Dorian. But I'm pretty sure we're supposed to think he's a lying, manipulative scumbag and it's okay that Eugenie gets it on with Kiyo before actually breaking up with Dorian. The big reveal that drove Eugenie away from Dorian was not a small thing. It’s definitely a HUGE “we gotta talk” moment among two adults in a relationship. That talk might be nothing more than, “screw you, I’m out.”  But there should be a meeting of the minds. 

In fact, almost everyone careens through this book from action to reaction back to action with no thought and the thinnest of rationalizations. I found myself with that extreme WTF look on my face so often, my husband asked me what the heck I was reading that made me look like that. There's a reason I don't read YA books anymore. I like my characters to act like adults, not whiny teenagers who only think about what the world and other people owe them, rather than how their actions affect the world as a whole.

Now, below is my really unprofessional rant about the plot that I sent to a few friends. It is almost completely unedited so it contains major spoilers and a complete description of why I really was pretty irritated by almost the entire book. Also, there is a lot of raving and many, many sentence fragments. DON'T SCROLL DOWN if you don't want to know almost everything that happens in the book.