August 30, 2012

Review ~ Homecoming by Richelle Mead


Genre: YA PNR
Length: 368 pages (e-book)
Series: Vampire Academy short story
Released: 28 August, 2012
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Have you ever been tempted to look into the future? To challenge predictions? To question fate? It's human nature to wonder about life's twists and turns. But is the future already written—or do you have the power to alter it?

From fantastical prophecies to predictions of how the future will transpire, Foretold is a collection of stories about our universal fascination with life's unknowns and of what is yet to come as interpreted by 14 of young adult fiction's brightest stars.

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August 21, 2012

Review ~ Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas



Genre: YA High Fantasy
Length: 426 pages (e-book)
Released: August 2012
Publisher:  Bloomsbury
Meet Celaena Sardothien.
Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness.


After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.
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August 12, 2012

Top 5 Sundays #102 - Worst Fictional Dads!



Hey everyone!
It's the Top 5 Sunday again!! 

Here is this really cool event, i'm following for a while now, called "Top 5 Sundays" hosted by "Welcome To Larissa's Bookish Life"

Rules:
1 - Write a post listing your TOP 5 choices within the theme I chose (or was chosen on a poll) for the week.
2 - Mention this Blog on the post and link back to it.
3 - Fell free to use the Feature's image (there is a smaller size version of it bellow)
4 - After you've finished your post, add you link (of the post, not your blog's main page) to the Mr.Linky at the end of that week's post.

The theme for today is:

Worst Fictional Dads!
*in no particular order
DhesiX Web Developer

August 7, 2012

Review ~ Enslave by Felicity Heaton


Title: Enslave
Author: Felicity Heaton
Series: Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance #4
Length: 4000 words / novella
Released: August 2012
His determination to succeed in business has left no room in his life for love. Now, a beautiful and deadly succubus has teleported into his dark, decadent world and is in danger of enslaving his heart.

Andreu’s future entails opening an erotic theatre like Vampirerotique, gaining wealth, women and power, not shackling himself to a single female, but he cannot deny the dangerously seductive succubus who stirs his anger and passion, and tempts him like no other—he will have her.

The moment their eyes meet, Varya knows she cannot have the exotic dark vampire who sets her pulse racing. His shadowed aura marks him as forbidden, but the hungers he awakens in her are too intense to resist—she must have a taste.

When an erotically-charged kiss ignites their soul-searing passion and reveals something dangerous about Andreu, will Varya leave forever or will she dare to risk all in pursuit of something she thought was beyond her reach?
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August 6, 2012

Manday Hotties Blog Hop (Aug. 6)


It's Monday again = lots of eye candies!!

YES! You see that right! 
I decided to participate in this hop.
Frankly, who would complaining about starting
Mondays with these hotties??
Not me!  

Enjoy the view! ;-)
DhesiX Web Developer

August 3, 2012

Early Review ~ Kept by Shawntelle Madison



Author: Shawntelle Madison
series: Coveted #2

genre: Urban Fantasy
length: 320 pages (e-book)
release date: November 27th 2012
publisher:  Ballantine Books
Fresh from defending her pack in battle, Natalya Stravinsky, a whip-smart werewolf with a lovable neurotic streak, wants a little rest and relaxation. Once an outcast, she’s now eager to rejoin the ranks of her New Jersey pack, and has even gotten a handle on her obsessive urge to hoard holiday ornaments. Yet Nat barely has time to revel in her progress before the next crisis comes howling at her door.

Nat’s father has suddenly gone missing, captured by the Russian werewolf mafia. And as Nat steps up to save her dad from a mob boss’s deadly game, two men step in to play another round for her heart: her gorgeous alpha ex-boyfriend, Thorn, and her new flame, the sweetly sensitive wizard Nick. With her life growing more harried by the minute, Nat must stay cool, calm, and collected . . . or else risk losing everything.




My Thoughts:

I wanted to love this book, really. But couldn't.
Also, I wanted to write a spoiler free review, like I always do, but there are sooo many things that were driving me nuts and I have to explain WHY I give this book three stars.

I started the book with the thought that it certainly will be better than the first one. At least the critics said that. Well, the story wasn’t bad but it wasn’t too good either. The first book’s conflict was better. Can’t they make one book out of these two?



** Spoiler alert: Read on...If You Dare! **


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So, about the story... Nat wants to join to the pack again at all costs, and she gets her chance to prove herself. She needs to pass and win a test. She should train hard, but her father disappears without a word.  Nat, her brother and Thorn are searching for her father, and Nat ends up in a debt to the Mobster leader, who gives her a task. A consignment shall be delivered in less than 24 hours to another werewolf pack wolf, or else… as the old Code states:  The debt should be paid with sweat and blood. She doesn’t know what’s the shipment is, but it’s in a big truck that she has to drive to dogs…I mean werewolves.

Nat starts her journey alone (because the good old Thorn, who said he will always be there to help her, went home to his fiancé…) And finally, FINALLY the road has some surprises. Action, action! It comes in all kinds of magical creatures determined to stop Nat.

Since the first half of the book bored me to death, no wonder I was almost jumping from joy when they nearly killed Nat and her little crew. Oh yes, because FINALLY she asked the right person to help her, the wizard who dropped everything and rushed to fight at her side. TEAM NICK!! A muse and a siren accompany him, who are officially became my favorite characters in the book. Those two fools would be sin to miss. They’re sooo funny!

Unlike the previous book, in Kept, the conflict with the mafia does not last until the end of the book. It takes only 20-30 pages to solve. Then comes the test, where Nat can show that she’s worth to be a pack member. Since Thorn’s bride beats the shit out of Natalya a day before the test and swears Nat (what the hell?) not to tell anyone about this, otherwise Nat will find herself in serious trouble (again, what the hell?? And the stupid girl is, of course obeying… *facepalm*) so Nat can past the test only with the help of the other competitors. In the final dual, she has to beat her opponent in a physical confrontation (in human form… not a big surprise that she loses.).

But this is still not the end, because Thorn states in front of everyone, that he loves her, and he won’t marry Erica- his fiancé. And here where’s all hell breaks loose, and Erica challenges Nat to fight to the death right then.  When Nat’s about to die, by some miracle, she finally comes to her senses, and shift to a wolf form (it’s about damn time for the end of the Book 2!!) and beats the crap out of Erica and wins the title of an ALPHA (but she’s not ready to fulfill, yet).

The love triangle has never been a triangle. I hate when the girl is playing with one of the boys, especially if I am rooting for that boy, because even if Paul Marron portrays the other one, namely Thorn, on the cover, he’s still a huge jackass and I would totally kick him out in a heartbeat (and it really says something in my case).


Natalya is still annoying and pathetic. For example: Nick has to drain her life force (Thorn was tortured like this for 4 years) in order to protect themselves from raging werewolves in en impossible life-threatening situation. When Nat figured this out, she started to bitching, because seriously, how could Nick do that to her??  She didn’t think about that they’re still alive only because of Nick’s fast reacting… UNBELIEVABLE!

Nat’s family had not changed much, but her aunt is highly overtops everyone in the local b*tch competition.  In Nat’s place, I would have killed her!  Of course she just stood there and listened to the mental abusing her aunt was throwing at her, and sometimes she even thought her aunt is right. *beats her head in the table and gives up to understand this girl*

I wonder if there is going to be a 3rd book, because there are still some unanswered questions, but not much has been referred to a possible sequel. We'll see and pray for that if we get a third book, Nat will finally grow into a good character, because she does have the potential.

So, I say, everyone read this series at your own risk!

*I received a copy from the author for review purposes.

Please consider that these are MY thoughts, MY opinions about the book, that doesn't mean it's not good! It's just doesn't do it for ME! There are plenty good ratings for this series, so you might will enjoy it. You'll never know, if you don't give it a try!


Find the book on Goodreads
Find the book on Amazon



It was OK.



DhesiX Web Developer

August 1, 2012

Review ~ Lord of the Abyss by Nalini Singh


Title: Lord of the Abyss
Author: Nalini Singh
Series: Royal House of Shadows #4
Length: 288 pages (e-book)
Released:  NOVEMBER 2011 by Harlequin Nocturne
Once upon a time…the Blood Sorcerer vanquished the kingdom of Elden. To save their children, the queen scattered them to safety and the king filled them with vengeance. Only a magical timepiece connects the four royal heirs…and time is running out.…

As the dark Lord who condemns souls to damnation in the Abyss, Micah is nothing but a feared monster wrapped in impenetrable black armor. He has no idea he is the last heir of Elden, its last hope. Only one woman knows—the daughter of his enemy.

Liliana is nothing like her father, the Blood Sorcerer who'd cursed Micah. She sees past Micah’s armor to the prince inside. A prince whose sinful touch she craves. But first she has to brave his dark, dangerous lair and help him remember. Because they only have till midnight to save Elden.


Read an Excerpt



Lord of the Abyss is part of the Royal House of Shadows series written by Gena Showalter, Jill Monroe, Jessica Andersen and Nalini Singh. It is a short series where each book is written by a different author, but there is a backstory that runs through all of the books. The stories are connected by four royal siblings and the kingdom of Elden.

My Thoughts:

I've received the e-book from netgalley months ago, but I had no time (or the right mood) to read it. I'm suffering from reader's block right now. I can re-read my favorite books, but lately I find myself picking one book after another, reading a few pages and leaving them for a later date, or moving very slowly through them. Anyways, I checked my netgalley account and saw that I still have to write a review for LotA. So I found the perfect antidote to reader's block: AUDIOBOOKS!! 

Isabelle Gordon did a FANTASTIC job reading it. I don't like female narrators but this woman ROCKS!
Why is that important? Because not sure I would have liked the book as much as I like it now if I had to read it. As I mentioned below, this is book four in the series, but this was a first for me. So it can be read out of order, Nalini did a good job on explaining the backstory. 

The gamer in me sees an awesome game story.
The movie whore in me wants (and saw traces of the "Legend of the seeker") a movie or a tv show rigth now!
The reader in me (ok I listened, but still) really enjoyed it. 

Since I haven't read the first three books, I can't speak about them, but Lord of the Abyss was like a fairy-tale for adults. I don't know who/how they came up with the backstory of the series, but THANK YOU! 

Most of the time we're in the Black Castle and Liliana trying to "help" the Guardian of the Abyss - I counted how my times we heard/read this - 48 times, it was a bit annoying, I understand, that he didn't remember and didn't want to remember his real name, but sometimes It was just too much - to remember the past, his family.  Of course, he doesn't corporate very well and they running out of time if they want to save Elden and its people and defeat the Blood Sorcerer.

Magis is everywhere! There are various kind of magical creatures, Elden's people are touched by magic. You literally can see before your eyes how beautiful it was. 

The sexual tension was... well we're talking about Nalini here! It was perfect and when they finally got to the sex scenes... I don't even...YOU HAVE TO READ/LISTEN THE BOOK!! 

Action... there was a LOT of action scenes close to the end. Seriously, their journey to Elden was harder than Frodo's journey to Mount Doom. If you're tend to cry over dramatic scenes, then you'll need a few tissue. 

I loved the characters.

Liliana isn't flawless at all! She doesn't look like a supermodell, not even close. But she is in some way better than average. I love flawed characters. She has a big heart and an awful past. I just wanted to kill his evil father over and over everytime when we found out how he brutalized her. But she's a strong woman. She has to be. Sometimes her humor cracked me up.

Micah a.k.a. the Guardian of the Abyss is the youngest of the Elden heirs. And he is their only hope. I love how his character changes through the entire book, but never changes completely. He's still the Dark Lord of the Black Castle, but he's also Micah. And when he teases...man! I think I will add him to "my top 10 book boyfriends" list.

Jissa is a brownie, a magical creature - kinda like pixies. Her character is sweet and loveable. She becomes a true friend of Liliana. 

The Blood Sorcerer - Liliana's father - is a true villain. He is evil to his heart. A total psycho... but that makes a good enemy.

The final battle (excluding the road that led to it) seemed a little easy. But the dangerous road compensates it I guess.

I definitely will read the other books in the series!

 




DhesiX Web Developer

Rift trailer + extra


Aaaand finally we got a trailer for Rift by Andrea Cremer!


Chronicling the rise of the Keepers, this is the stunning prequel to Andrea Cremer's internationally bestselling Nightshade trilogy!

Sixteen-year-old Ember Morrow is promised to a group called Conatus after one of their healers saves her mother's life. Once she arrives, Ember finds joy in wielding swords, learning magic, and fighting the encroaching darkness loose in the world. She also finds herself falling in love with her mentor, the dashing, brooding, and powerful Barrow Hess. When the knights realize Eira, one of their leaders, is dabbling in dark magic, Ember and Barrow must choose whether to follow Eira into the nether realm or to pledge their lives to destroying her and her kind.

With action, adventure, magic, and tantalizing sensuality, this book is as fast-paced and breathtaking as the Nightshade novels.




Book trailer:

Well, the actors are better than in the Bloodrose trailer, and the girl's voice isn't annoying, but there isn't much. I love motion picture trailers, but this could have been so much better. I love the narrator man's voice at the beginning ;)
DhesiX Web Developer