Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Teaser Tuesdays: Beyond the Loop

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

~ Grab your current read
~ Open to a random page
~ Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
~ BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Wow, it's been AGES since I participated in a Teaser Tuesday... must get into the habit of participating in this weekly meme again since it was always one of my favorites! So here's this week's teaser, and as is usually the case, I've got more than two sentences:

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No matter what the future holds, Bobby understood that faith was all that was left for all of them. Losing it over someone as hateful and irreverent as Willis October was not the way a true leader could respond to the circumstances. People were going to be looking to Bobby from now on, as if they had not been already.

~ page 24 of Beyond the Loop by Jason R. Thrift
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Review: Storm Born

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Title: Storm Born (Dark Swan Series #1)
Author: Richelle Mead
Genre: Fiction, Paranormal
Pub Date: August 2008, Kensington Publishing
Mass Market Paperback,
Book Source: purchased online from BN.com

Synopsis

Eugenie Markham is a powerful shaman who does a brisk trade banishing spirits and fey who cross into the mortal world. Mercenary, yes, but a girl's got to eat. Her most recent case, however, is enough to ruin her appetite. Hired to find a teenager who has been taken to the Otherworld, Eugenie comes face to face with a startling prophecy--one that uncovers dark secrets about her past and claims that Eugenie's first-born will threaten the future of the world as she knows it. 

Now Eugenie is a hot target for every ambitious demon and Otherworldy ne'er-do-well, and the ones who don't want to knock her up want her dead. Eugenie handles a Glock as smoothly as she wields a wand, but she needs some formidable allies for a job like this. She finds them in Dorian, a seductive fairy king with a taste for bondage, and Kiyo, a gorgeous shape-shifter who redefines animal attraction. But with enemies growing bolder and time running out, Eugenie realizes that the greatest danger is yet to come, and it lies in the dark powers that are stirring to life within her...

My Thoughts

Because I have enjoyed Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy books so much, I thought I would give the Dark Swan series a try, as well. With Storm Born, I loved some aspects and really didn't care for others.

I should have realized when I bought this book that it would probably be more sexually graphic than I cared to read. Somehow that point went right over my head, though. I opted to skip over those parts and focus on the meat of the story, which is more interesting in its own right, anyway. In reading more and more paranormal books of late, I find it amazing that authors are able to put their own spins on the various creatures, lands, and lore of the paranormal world. Between L. J. Smith and Mead I have read more about kitsune than I ever would have imagined, especially as I was not at all familiar with the legends of fox shapeshifters until reading Smith's newest Vampire Diaries series. Mead's storyline of the Otherworld and the "gentry," as she referred to those who were not from our own world, is suspenseful and dark, with just enough humor tossed in to lighten the mood when needed.

Overall, I enjoyed the fast pace of Storm Born, but I don't know that I'm in any big rush to continue the series--particularly given how many books I have piling up in the house these days. If anyone out there has read Thorn Queen and really recommends it, however, I am all ears!

My rating: 3 stars

Other reviews of Storm Born:


If you have reviewed this book and would like to see a link to your site here, please leave a comment with the link to your review.


Monday, April 19, 2010

WINNER: Hourglass!

So it's time to announce the winner of my contest, giving away my ARC of Hourglass by Claudia Gray! Thanks to all of you who entered, wish I could give you all a copy of the book but alas, I just have one.

And the lucky winner is...


Raelena has 48 hours to send me her mailing info, otherwise I will choose a new winner in two days. Thanks again to everyone who entered--keep your eyes peeled for another contest coming soon!
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Sunday, April 4, 2010

GIVEAWAY: Hourglass

So today I realized that it's been ages since I've hosted a giveaway... Seeing the short stack of books I have waiting to be used for just that purpose, I decided to get the ball rolling with that...

Up First:

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My ARC of Hourglass by Claudia Gray

Here's how to enter:

+1 entry ~ Leave a comment telling me why you want to win this book.

+2 entries each ~ Become a follower on Google Friend Connect. Become a follower of @Melsbookshelf on Twitter. Become a fan of Melissa's Bookshelf on Facebook.

+3 entries each ~ Tweet about this contest, blog about this contest, stumble this post, Digg it, and/or bookmark it on delicious. Leave the various links, etc., letting me know you've done whatever it is you decided to do :-)

This contest is open to the US and Canada only. The giveaway ends two weeks from today--Sunday, April 18th. Good luck to all!


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