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November 30, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday # 75 - Oracle's Moon (Elder Races #4) by Thea Harrison

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My pick:


When Grace Andreas's sister, Petra, and her husband are both killed, Grace inherits the Power and responsibilities of the Oracle of Louisville, as well as her sister's two young children--neither of which she is prepared for. Then Khalil, Demonkind and Djinn Prince of House Marid, decides to make himself a part of the household both as guardian and counterpoint to Grace's impudence towards the Elder Races.
March 6th 2012 by Berkley

I like the Elder Races series, and I'm really interested in Khalil.

November 28, 2011

Book Review: Bad Boys Do by Victoria Dahl

Title: Bad Boys Do
Author: Victoria Dahl
Series: Donovan Brothers Brewery #2
Release Date: September 27th, 2011
Publisher: HQN Books
Age: Adult
Olivia Bishop is no fun. That's what her ex-husband said. And that's what her smart bob and glasses imply. So with her trademark determination, Olivia sets out to remake her life. She's going to spend time with her girlfriends and not throw it all away for some man. But when an outing with her book club leads her to a brewery taproom, the dark-haired beauty realizes that trouble—in the form of sexy Jamie Donovan—may be too tempting to avoid.
Jamie Donovan doesn't mean to be bad. Sure, the wild streak in his wicked green eyes has lured the ladies before. Now it's time to grow up. He's even ready for a serious romance. But how can that be when Olivia, the only right woman he has ever met, already has him pegged as wrong?
I already finished reading the Donovan Brothers Brewery series, but I think this book was my favorite.

Bad Boys Do is the story of Jamie, the ultimate bad boy who isn't really bad at all. He has made some stupid choices in his life, but he's trying to fix them. He's sexy and attract woman to his family brewery just with his smile, and that's how he met Olivia.

Olivia is divorced, has no friend and doesn't know how to have fun. It's has been a while since she went out with girls, so when they invite her to the Donovan Brewery for their book meeting, she actually read the book. Of course, she wan't expecting bad boy Jamie to serve their table.

I loved this book because Jamie and Olivia were both such strong characters. They both had issues but their attraction was instantly. Also, it wasn't just attraction. Their relationship turned to be very deep and realistic.

I really wanted to know more about Jamie, and why he seemed to be such a bad boy. Obviously he was sweet and really had very bad luck sometimes. Olivia was also a character that since the beginning I liked. She was very insecure but she's determinate to change that, to became a new woman who can have fun with herself.

I usually don't like couples were the woman is older than the man, but this one works. Jamie is mature and Olivia needs to be with someone who brings the best of herself.

Overall, Bad Boys Do is my favorite book from this contemporary romance series. It let me wanting more, so I really couldn't wait to read the next one, Real Men Will, which the review is coming soon!


November 25, 2011

Book Review: How to Party with a Killer Vampire by Penny Warner

Title: How to Party with a Killer Vampire
Author: Penny Warner
Series: Party Planning Mystery #4
Release Date: October 4th 2011
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Age: Adult
Mixing fun and fundraising seems like the perfect job for Presley Parker, which is why she started her event-planning business to raise money for charities. But when a film soiree goes awry, it could mean THE END for her business… Presley Parker’s event planning business is really rolling. Her newest gig is a film wrap party for big-time producer Lucas Cruz. He’s celebrating his latest release—a vampire parody—by throwing a lavish party in a graveyard. It’s a pretty gloomy venue for Presley, but she’s hoping to make it so much fun that partygoers won’t even notice there are more dead than living guests… And the number of dead grows when an entertainment reporter crashes the party, trying to dig up dirt on an actor, and literally digs his own grave. Presley’s reputation is seriously on the line if she doesn’t unearth the killer soon. But with a growing list of shady characters and crew members, someone has to match the role of murderer, or it’s going to be Presley who won’t make the cut…
I love cozy mysteries, and the Party Planning Mystery series is one of my favorites.

This time, Presley Parker is organizing a vampire party at a cemetery to promote the new Hollywood movie. It's going to be fantastic, with hot actors and awesome special effects, except that a dead body is found the night before the party.

Presley is such a fun character. She's independent and has a need to resolve every mystery, specially the ones that involves her parties. She wants to discovers who is responsible for this death, and of course she has the help of Detective Luke and her boyfriend, Brad.

I loved to read more of Brad. He's a very realistic boyfriend, even with his weird job. But I wanted to read more of Presley's friends from her company, it was a shame they didn't appear very much, but maybe in the next books?

Also, I didn't know who was the killer. It did surprised me in the end, which isn't easy to do.

I really like the party tips every book in this series has. This one, of course, has tips to your vampire party, which would be cool if you are organizing a Breaking Dawn party...

Overall, How to Party with a Killer Vampire didn't disappointed me. It was easy to read and fun, and I highly recommend this series.


More about this book at www.pennywarner.comGoodreads, Amazon, The Book Depository.

November 23, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday # 74 - It Takes a Witch by Heather Blake

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My pick:



Darcy Merriweather has just discovered she hails from a long line of Wishcrafters-witches with the power to cast spells by making a wish. She's come to Enchanted Village to learn her trade but finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation...
January 3rd 2012 by Signet

I looove Heather Webber's (also Heather Blake) Lucy Valentine cozy mystery series, so I can't really wait for this one. Besides, it's such a cute cover!!

November 21, 2011

Book Review: By Grace Possessed by Jennifer Blake

Title: By Grace Possessed
Author: Jennifer Blake
Series: The Three Graces #2
Release Date: August 30th, 2011
Publisher: Mira
Age: Adult
The Tudor king issues Lady Catherine Milton a most unusual command: seduce Scottish loyalist Ross Dunbar. The son of an ornery borderland laird, Dunbar would make an advantageous match, but King Henry cannot force him to wed. So Cate must ensnare him… A rush of courtly parties and passionate nights in Dunbar's embrace leaves Cate breathless…and confused. She desires a proposal for the sake of propriety and politics, but she longs to be truly loved. Tortured loyalties are not hers alone—though Dunbar is enchanted by Cate, he cannot bind himself to England and abandon his people. But when a pretender to the throne ignites a rebellion, the choice is made for them: to solidify northern alliances, Dunbar and Cate must wed. Suddenly Dunbar's death appears certain—either by his bride's curse or by a war he did not choose…
I loved By His Majesty's Grace, the first book of the series. So I couldn't wait to read By Grace Possessed when I found it at NetGalley.

Lady Catherine Milton is still haunted by the curse. If she doesn't marry by love, her fiance would die. It has worked for her the last few years, but King Henry doesn't believe in curses, and he commands her to marry Ross Dunbar, a Scottish son of an ornery borderland laird.

Catherine doesn't want to marry, and she's nervous about her fiance's fate. And Dunbar doesn't want to marry either, specially with an England lady. But he decided to save her at the forest when she got lost, spent the night with her, and now they have to marry.

Of course, neither of them can hide their attraction to each other. It was easy for Catherine to fall in love with Dunbar. He was good with her, treated her with respect, and was totally hot. But for Dunbar is was more difficult, specially because he was surrounded by enemies and he always was suspecting of Catherine's motives.

I don't usually read medieval romance because women are usually quiet and in need for protection. Catherine definitely needs Dunbar's protection, but she's not quite at all. She has a fire inside her that made me like her immediately, and I was very pleased (and surprised) that she was the one who sought him.

Overall, I enjoyed By Grace Possessed. I really liked Dunbar's and Catherine's story, but I wished they would have been more open with their feeling since the beginning, it would have been much more easier to them to just accept they were meant to be together, hehe. Still, I'd love to read the next book, Seduced by Grace.


November 16, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday # 73 - The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My pick: The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Summary from Goodreads:
THE FALSE PRINCE is the thrilling first book in a brand-new trilogy filled with danger and deceit and hidden identities that will have readers rushing breathlessly to the end.  
In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king's long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner's motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword's point -- he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage's rivals have their own agendas as well.  
As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner's sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together.  
An extraordinary adventure filled with danger and action, lies and deadly truths that will have readers clinging to the edge of their seats.
Jennifer A. Nielsen
April 1st 2012 by Scholastic Press

November 10, 2011

The BLI Holiday Reading Challenge 2011

Yay! Finally! I've been waiting for a Holiday Challenge ;) I love Christmas! I LOVE it! It's my favorite holiday, because everyone is just so happy. There are so many lights and delicious food and Santa!

Ok, so I live in a place where we have 30°C, but even then, people decorate their palms trees with Christmas lights and fake snow ;P

Anyway, the Holiday Reading Challenge is being hosted by Book Lovers Inc. If you want to join, go over here. Here are the rules:
1. The BLI Holiday Reading Challenge will start on November 10 and will end on December 31.

2. You can read as many holiday themed books for the challenge as you wish, pick your level:
Santa's Helper: read 1-3 holiday themed books 
Serial Mistletoe-er: read 4-6 holiday themed books 
Candy Cane-aholic: read 7 or more holiday themed books

3. The books you read for this challenge must all be holiday related books. The holiday doesn't matter, it can be Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, etc. and the story can have any connection to the holiday (for example set around Christmastime, or having Santa or an elf as a character, the cover being festive, etc.).

4. The format, length or genre of the books do not matter, they can be ebooks, paperbacks, audiobooks, and short stories and novellas do count as well. It's okay for the book to overlap with other challenges. The only thing is that they can't be children's books, but YA novels are good. Re-reads are also fine.

5. Start the challenge by signing up! Leave a link back to your challenge post in the linky.
If you don't have a blog, no problem, you can still sign up with your name and e-mail address.
(There will be posts later where you can leave your links to the reviews and of course there will be a challenge wrap up post at the end).

6. And of course there will be prizes! There will be separate giveaways where you can win some holiday themed novels (the rules for those will be set out on the separate posts) and there will be the Big Giveaway: at the end of the challenge we will draw a winner from all the review links. Meaning the more books you read, review and link up, the more chances you have at winning. :-) The winner will have their choice of any holiday themed book under 10 USD.
What do you think? I'm so excited! I even read a Christmas book a few days ago, Secret Magik by Penny Watson.

I think I'll try to aim for Serial Mistletoe-er level, that means I have to read 4 to 6 holiday themed books. Which books I'll read? I'm still not sure, but I think maybe....




November 9, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday # 72 - Waking Storms by Sarah Porter

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My pick: Waking Storms (Lost Voices #2) by Sarah Porter

After parting ways with her troubled mermaid tribe, Luce just wants to live peacefully on her own. But her tranquility doesn't last long: she receives news that the tribe is on the verge of collapse and desperately needs her leadership. Anais, their cruel queen, wants Luce dead. Dorian, the boy Luce broke mermaid law to save, is determined to make her pay for her part in the murder of his family. And while the mermaids cling to the idea that humans never suspect their existence, there are suddenly ominous signs to the contrary.
But when Luce and Dorian meet, they start to wonder if love can overpower the hatred they know they should feel for each other. Luce's new friendship with an ancient renegade mermaid gives her hope that her kind might someday change their murderous ways. But how can Luce fulfill her rightful role as queen of the mermaids without sacrificing her forbidden romance with Dorian?
Full of miraculous reunions and heart-pounding rescues, this haunting second installment in the Lost Voices Trilogy finds Luce eager to attempt reconciliation with humans—as long as war doesn't break out first.
July 2012 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Waking Storms is the sequel of Lost Voices, which I loved!

November 7, 2011

Book Review: Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs

Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs
Author: Tera Lynn Childs
Series: Medusa Girls #1
Release Date: September 6th, 2011
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Age: Young Adult
Grace just moved to San Francisco and is excited to start over at a new school. The change is full of fresh possibilities, but it’s also a tiny bit scary. It gets scarier when a minotaur walks in the door. And even more shocking when a girl who looks just like her shows up to fight the monster.
Gretchen is tired of monsters pulling her out into the wee hours, especially on a school night, but what can she do? Sending the minotaur back to his bleak home is just another notch on her combat belt. She never expected to run into this girl who could be her double, though.
Greer has her life pretty well put together, thank you very much. But that all tilts sideways when two girls who look eerily like her appear on her doorstep and claim they're triplets, supernatural descendants of some hideous creature from Greek myth, destined to spend their lives hunting monsters.
These three teenage descendants of Medusa, the once-beautiful gorgon maligned by myth, must reunite and embrace their fates in this unique paranormal world where monsters lurk in plain sight.
I love Tera Lynn Childs's books, because of her strong heroines, funny characters and fast paced stories. Sweet Venom was on my wishlist since I discovered it, specially because it's about Greek Mythology.

The story starts with Gretchen and Grace. Gretchen is a hunter, she hunts monsters while going to school and training at nights. She doesn't have a live, except for the hunting. She's strong and very independent, but very lonely.

Grace is just moving to San Francisco and starting a new school. She's the typical insecure girl, not very independent and a computer geek, but everything in her changes when she suddenly start seeing monsters, and is kidnapped by a girl who look just like her!

Obviously Grace and Gretchen are sisters, and not only share their look but their abilities to kill monsters. But why there are so many monsters? And where is Greer, the other sister?

I really liked the way Sweet Venom's story is told, alternating the sisters point of views, because we get to know each one of them very closely and understand how their lives have been and their different personalities. It would be easy to relate to one of the sisters, or at least like one of them. My favorite right now is Gretchen, she's a total kick ass!

I love Greek mythology and I think the author did an amazing job creating a different story using the popular Medusa myth. She's always the bad, but I think she could have been misunderstood all this time! It was cool to read about the girls using their Medusa-powers without being bad.

Overall, I enjoyed Sweet Venom. It has action, myth and possibly romance coming in the sequel. If you like strong girls and monsters hunting, then this one is for you!


November 3, 2011

Book Review: Sweet Magik by Penny Watson

Sweet Magik by Penny Watson
Author: Penny Watson
Series: Klaus Brothers #2
Release Date: November 4th, 2011
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Age: Adult
Oskar Klaus' job is killing him. Not even his favorite hobbies (extreme snowboarding and browsing old bookstores) are enough to snap him out of his funk. It's not easy living in the shadow of four successful older brothers and a father named Santa. Little does he know that a kiss on New Year's Eve is about to turn his life upside-down.
Kiana Grant's Manhattan life is a world away from her childhood in Oahu. She traded sunsets and surfing for a respectable career in library science, but Oskar Klaus is a temptation that's hard to resist. Before she knows it, she's in the midst of an outrageous adventure in the North Pole, dealing with mischievous elves, wicked demons, and a devastating attraction to Santa's youngest son.
There's just one problem...a bitter elf hell-bent on revenge threatens the future of everyone in the North Pole, even Santa himself...
Sweet Magik is the sequel to Sweet Inspiration by Penny Watson, which I absolutely loved....and Sweet Magik wasn't the exception!

This is the story of Oskar, the youngest Klaus son, and his moon Goddess, Kiana. Oskar looks like the typical young irresponsible guy, with his killer abs and his green hair. But inside, he's sweet, loves to read, and feels lonely. He's tired of dating supermodels, and not even snowboarding makes him happy anymore.

But then he met Kiana. She's a librarian and he knows she sees him as a bachelor, but he's attracted to her and is going to impress her with his reading. But when they share a midnight kiss, he's the one who can't forget about her...

Kiana is a really sweet girl. She was hurt in her past in Hawaii, but Oskar is to much a temptation for her to ignore him. Specially when he loves to read too, and is so amazing with kids. Of course, she wasn't expecting to find him in the roof talking to an elf!

If you read Sweet Inspiration, you are familiar with the Klaus family and the elves. But if you haven't, don't worry, you can still read this one since the author describes a little bit about the North Pole, elves, magic and the special Klaus family!

I loved Oskar and Kiana's story, it's just so sweet! Oskar feels bad about not being the best son, and Kiana is just lonely. But they have big hearts and it's obvious they love each other from the beginning. Also, I never thought I would be attracted to a guy with green hair, but Oskar is amazing. They have the perfect HEA, but  of course they have to survive black magic and each other doubts to be together.

Sweet Magik is the perfect Christmas Romance. The Klaus family isn't what you are expecting: cute old people eating cookies. Believe me, all of the Klaus sons are hot! I can't wait to read their stories! If you are looking for a heart warming romance for this Christmas, this one is for you!


More about this book at www.pennywatsonbooks.comGoodreads, Amazon.

November 2, 2011

October was NetGalley Month!


October was NetGalley month, hosted by Red House Books!

I think it was great that I didn't have a list of books to be read, because I just picked what I really wanted to read. This time I only read 3 books, but I liked them all:


Bad Boys Do by Victoria Dahl


Real Men Will by Victoria Dahl


By Grace Possessed by Jennifer Blake

Reviews are coming soon! How did you do at NetGalley month?