Hiatus

I'm taking a little hiatus from the blog.
Nothings wrong, I just need to focus on some real life stuff.
I should be back in a week or so.
See ya soon.

Book Pimpin: More Upcoming Books!

Death's Rival (Jane Yellowrock, #5) by Faith Hunter

Jane Yellowrock is a shapeshifting skinwalker you don’t want to cross—especially if you’re one of the undead…

For a vampire killer like Jane, having Leo Pellisier as a boss took some getting used to. But now, someone is out to take his place as Master Vampire of the city of New Orleans, and is not afraid to go through Jane to do it. After an attack that’s tantamount to …a war declaration, Leo knows his rival is both powerful and vicious, but Leo’s not about to run scared. After all, he has Jane.

But then, a plague strikes, one that takes down vampires and makes their masters easy prey. Now, to uncover the identity of the vamp who wants Leo’s territory, and to find the cause of the vamp-plague, Jane will have to go to extremes…and maybe even to war.

Drops October 2, 2012

Ashes of Honor (October Daye, #6) by Seanan McGuire

Toby’s not ready to get back to work, but now she must search
for a powerful changeling with the potential to destroy all of Faerie. She quickly finds herself drawn into a web of kidnappings, political intrigues, and attempted assassinations. Toby must travel farther than ever before—and what she’ll find might not be what she expected.
Drops September 4, 2012

Review: Lothaire by Kresley Cole

Kresley Cole writes fun, readable books set in the world of the Lore that are always amusing if not laugh out funny.  Her characters are primarily of the fantastical type - there are Valkeries, Shifters, Demons, Sorcerers, and, of course, Vampires - and Cole has nicely crafted a detailed mythology for each race.   The series is set during the Assession, a period that occurs every 500 years when the different factions of the Lore battle it out for supremacy. 
And that time is now.  
So there is lots of action in this series, lots of adventure, and a sweet amount of sexy shenanigans.  It's a really enjoyable series and I look forward to each new installment.  When Lothaire showed up in my mailbox, I started reading it right away...

Lothaire by Kresley Cole
Immortals After Dark, #12
ISBN 1439136823
ISBN13: 9781439136829
Published January 10th 2012 by Gallery Books 
GRADE: C
Blurb: ALL FEAR THE ENEMY OF OLD
Driven by his insatiable need for revenge, Lothaire, the Lore’s most ruthless vampire, plots to seize the Horde’s crown. But bloodlust and torture have left him on the brink of madness—until he finds Elizabeth Peirce, the key to his victory. He captures the unique young mortal, intending to offer up her very soul in exchange for power, yet Elizabeth soothes his tormented mind and awakens within him emotions Lothaire believed he could no longer experience. 
A DEADLY FORCE DWELLS WITHIN HER
Growing up in desperate poverty, Ellie Peirce yearned for a better life, never imagining she’d be convicted of murder—or that an evil immortal would abduct her from death row. But Lothaire is no savior, as he himself plans to sacrifice Ellie in one month’s time. And yet the vampire seems to ache for her touch, showering her with wealth and sexual pleasure. In a bid to save her soul, Ellie surrenders her body to the wicked vampire, while vowing to protect her heart. 
CENTURIES OF COLD INDIFFERENCE SHATTERED
Elizabeth tempts Lothaire beyond reason, as only his fated mate could. As the month draws to a close, he must choose between a millennia-old blood vendetta and his irresistible prisoner. Will Lothaire succumb to the miseries of his past . . . or risk everything for a future with her?

I'm Going To BEA 2012 and The Book Bloggers Conference! Wait, No I'm Not. I Didn't Get Approved!...Wait a sec, maybe I am? Oh, I Don't Fucking Know...

UPDATE:  Well, looks like everything has worked out.  After some back and forth, my registration and press pass has been approved and I am all set for BEA and the Book Bloggers Conference.  I still haven't decided yet what I'll do in regards to the Book Blog UNCON.  I would like to attend both events but  I'm going to wait until they get a little closer before I decide. Right now, I am still leaning towards splitting the day between the two.  But I am happy that I have the choice...    

***

So, back in early February the Book Bloggers Convention was bought by Reed Exhibitions, the organizers of BEA.  Around that time, I came up for air from rehearsal hell and decided I'd better get registered so I could take advantage of the early bird pricing.  (Which was $15 more than last years regular price, go figure.)


Registering was an ordeal, convoluted and difficult to understand.  Despite a posting on The Bean (the official blog of BEA), stating that bloggers could register for $135 (see this post: Book Bloggers Convention at BEA and this one:Clearing up the BEA Bloggers Conference Issues (I hope)), the only way to register and get that price was to do so as editorial media.  Which meant I would have to register as a member of the press.  The other option would be to register as non-editorial media but then the price went up to $231.  A steep hike from last year as well as different from what Steve Rosato had previously stated:

Bloggers pay a flat early bird rate of $135.00 that includes their pass for BEA - end of story for our blogging friends (stop reading now if you are blogger).    

I don't consider myself press but bloggers are supposed to pay a flat rate of $135 and I could not figure out how to register and get that price.  Utterly confused, I decided to give a call to customer service.  I called twice and spoke with two different people.  Not only were both unaware of the $135 rate for bloggers but when I mentioned that it had been posted on The Bean, both customer reps asked, "What's that?"  
This did not inspire confidence.


So, on February 7, I registered as editorial media and then kept my fingers crossed that I would get approved.  It had been stated that if not approved for the press pass, I would be notified within two weeks.  Considering how unorganized I had found the process to be, I figured it might take 3 to 4 weeks to know for sure.  When I got my credit card bill and saw the BEA charge, I was giddy.  I was approved!  They wouldn't charge me if I hadn't been approved, right?  I paid the bill and began making plans to attend not only the blogger conference  but also some BEA publisher industry events that I began getting invited to.


Flash forward two months.  On April 5th, almost two months to the day I registered, I received an email from Roger Bilheimer, the BEA Public Relations Director, letting me know that I do not meet the standards required to qualify for a press pass.  Nothing was said at all about my registration for the bloggers conference, only that I did not qualify for a BEA press pass.  So, what did this mean?  Was I still able to attend the blogger conference?  Would I have to re-register?  Was I going to have to fork over more money to attend?  What happened to the two week notification?  What the hell was going on?


So.  I called again and spoke with yet another customer rep.  Who told me that yes, I would have to pay an additional $96 if I still wanted to attend the conference since I did not qualify for the press pass.   There is no way I was about to do that.  $231 for a conference that last year only cost $120?  Are you kidding me?!  I've seen the proposed schedule for this years conference (you can see it here).  There is no way I am going to pay that much money for something that so far is so very underwhelming.  There is no way I am going to pay that much money to an organization that I have serious doubts about considering what a clusterfuck this whole process has been.    According to the customer service rep, I could either pay the additional fee or they would de-register me and refund my money.  So I told him to cancel my registration; I would not be attending this year.

Link Love

I've been a bit distracted this week.  A couple of days ago I received an email from BEA letting me know that I had not been approved for the event as editorial media.  Even though I registered and paid in full two months ago.  
I'm pretty ticked off about that part.  That I already paid for it.  Charging a customer for a service before it has been determined that said service will in fact be provided is poor business and even unethical, as far as I am concerned.  And to wait two months - Grrr!  
I'll blog more about this at length a little later but for now, here's your links for the week.

• About Female Characers (or as I like to call them, Characters)

• Tolkien's Bastards: Why Certain Fantasy Tropes Stick

• Is Game of Thrones Too White

• The E-Racing of The Hunger Games: Race & Cultures in Fiction

• The Invisible Dystopia

• Dystopian YA Stories

• How To Be A Fan Of Problematic Things

• Celebrate Diana Wynne Jones!

Whell, Whell, Whell...

So, the big news this week.  J.R. Ward announced on Facebook that the next book in her BDB series will be about... (drumroll)... BLAY and QHUINN!  The book is scheduled to come out in March 2013.  I'm glad to hear they will get a full-length novel instead of a novella as first reported a while back.
Anything else I know about the book, I learned over at Blogging by Liza so head on over there if you want more teasers and spoilers.

Link Love

Some thought provoking stuff this week.  Catherynne M. Valente on Christopher Priest and the Arthur C. Clarke Award shortlist, Seanan McGuire on the importance of depicting non-heterosexual characters in fiction,  N.K. Jemison on stereotypes, these are some heavy hitters here.  Check 'em out.  Expand your brain.

• Joel Stein - Adults Should Read Adult Books

• Foz Meadows - Joel Stein Is A Sexist Ass

• Copyright isn't dead just because we're not willing to let it regulate us

• The Death of the Book

• In Defense of the Unhappy Ending

• Goodreads Fights Back Against Author Misbehavior

• There's no such thing as a good stereotype

• I See White People: Hunger Games and a Brief History of Cultural Whitewashing

• Some thoughts on Gender, Genre, and Reading

• Pick Your Poison: Sturgeon's Law and Why We Love Bad Fiction

• The Tears of Christopher Priest

• Seanan McGuire: Show, Don't Tell: Why they Need to Be There

• Australian Women Writer's: "In defense of books written by women for women"

• Who is the Route 29 Batman?  This Guy.

• Announcing the BEA 2012 Editors Buzz Line Up

• Book Blog UNCON

Waiting on Wednesday: Book Bonanza!

I've really enjoyed Waiting on Wednesday.  I've discovered some new blogs, had my blog discovered by others, and found some new-to-me books to add to my wish list.  But I'm going to take a little break from the meme for a while.  I'll still do my Book Pimpin posts as books come up but I want to work on writing more reviews for the site.  I thought I'd go out with a bang and list a bunch of my can't-wait-to-read books.  Thank you for visiting and be sure to check back next week when I'll post a bunch of books that are of notable interest, even if they haven't made it on to my can't-wait-to-read list.  So, without further ado, here's your weekly meme:

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights anticipated upcoming releases. This week my can't-wait to-read books are:

Riveted (Iron Seas, #3) 

by Meljean Brook

Drops September 4, 2012

A century after a devastating volcanic eruption forced Iceland’s inhabitants to abandon its shores, the island has become enshrouded in legend. But the truth behind the legends is mechanical, not magical—and the mystery of the island a matter of life and death for a community of women who once spilled noble blood to secure their freedom.

Five years ago, Annika unwittingly endangered that secret, but her sister Källa took the blame and was exiled. Now Annika serves on an airship, searching for her sister and longing to return home. But that home is threatened when scientific expedition leader David Kentewess comes aboard, looking to expose Annika’s secrets. Then disaster strikes, leaving David and Annika stranded on a glacier and pursued by a madman, with their very survival depending on keeping the heat rising between them—and generating lots of steam


As far as I am concerned, Meljean Brook is one of the best steampunk writers out there.  (As well as one of the best paranormal writers, too.)  Her stories are built on complex mythologies that continue to reveal new depths with each read.  She's a crackerjack storyteller and her books are filled with action, high stakes danger, and steamy romance.  Her male characters are great but where she really shines is with her female characters.   I've already pre-ordered Rivetted and can't wait for it to come out. 

* * *

Link Love

I don't have much to say this week beyond, Here's what I got!  Links, links, links!
Enjoy.

• I Reveal Myself as a Fan Girl

• Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Series That Started Out as Trilogies

• Antihero vs. Villain

• More Dragons Than Black People

• Whitewashin' and Racebendin by EmpressFunk

• But I didn't say that!

• Telling your Highs from your Epics

• Seven Questions with Mira Grant

• John Scalzi on Why I'm Glad I'm Male

• So Long, New York Times Review of Book (With Apologies to Dad)

• I Was a Cookbook Ghostwriter

• Gwyneth Paltrow, Rachael Ray slam New York Times for saying they used cookbook ghostwriters

• My Fanifesto : Alton Brown

• Werewolves : Ekaterina Sedia

• AWW 2012 - Australian women writers of diverse heritage

• The 10 Best Retorts in Science Fiction and Fantasy

• 'Furries' feel ties with animals

Quick and Dirty Reviews: "C" Ya Around

Two books from two of my favorite authors.  What a drag that both were... underwhelming.

Oracle's Moon (Elder Races, #4) by Thea Harrison
After a long hiatus away from writing, Harrison burst back into the scene with the well-received and enormously entertaining Dragon Bound, the first book in her Elder Races series.  Less than a year later she has released the fourth book in the series, Oracle's Moon, the story of Djinn Khalil and Grace, the newest Oracle.  This book has all the hallmarks of a Harrison tale.  Super hot hero, feisty heroine, magical hijinks and danger.  So why am I meh about it?  Maybe because if the supernatural aspect is removed, you're left with a (decently written), Harlequin.  Or it could be Grace's niece and nephew, straight out of cute kid central casting, who, improbably and immediately, bonded with the hero, a trope common to romancelandia kids.  (Have I mentioned that I am not a fan of kids in books?)  Or it could be the hero, an intense, alpha-arrogant, djinn who never transcended the type.   The heroine, too, remained a character type, one I feel like I 've read too many times before.  23 years old, she becomes guardian to her young niece and nephew when her sister and husband die in a car accident. She also inherits her sister's power, becoming the new Oracle.  This doesn't mean life is rosy.  She lives a fairly isolated life, with virtually no emotion support from anyone.  She has no one to rely on.  She is on the verge of declaring bankruptcy and relies on foodstamps to help feed her family.  Along comes super powerful, rich guy and suddenly life starts to get better.  The plot was disjointed and the bad guys seemed peripheral to the story, only there to give Khalil a reason to have to save Grace.  Moments that should have felt, well, momentous, such as when Grace fully accepted her power or when she is confronted by Khalil's crazy-assed daughter, were anticlimactic.  A shame, really because those were events I expected and wanted more from.  The book wasn't dull but it also wasn't particularly engaging.  Like I said, take away the supernatural aspect and this could have been a category romance, not terrible but nothing to write home about either.  The next book is supposed to revolve around Pia and Dragos, from book one, so hopefully, the series will return to its former level.
Grade: C+

Undone Deeds (Connor Grey, #6) by Mark Del Franco
This is the final book in the Connor Grey series and one I have been anxiously awaiting.  Finally, a series that actually ends and gives some resolution instead of stringing the reader along with never ending adventures of the paranormal kind.  (I like my series, I do, but at some point, a girl needs some closure.)  I'm ambivalent about this book, though.  It's not Del Franco's best effort.  A majority of the book is spent with Connor laying low, as he is now considered a terrorist, and rehashing things that occurred in the previous novels.  And, somehow, Connor manages to get kidnapped three times so I guess he's not that good at hiding out.  We meet Connors parents for what solely seems to be a chance for them to impart some crucial information about Connor's past; there's no other reason for them to be in the book and they add little too the story.  The book wraps things up in the end but, I have to tell ya, I'm not sure I completely understood what happened.  I mean, I understood the events but not what they meant.  I cannot say that I was disappointed; I'd have to have understood the book better to be disappointed.   I will say that one of the appealing things to me about the Connor Grey series was how nicely paced each book was.  Unfortunately, the pacing was off in Undone Deeds.  A bummer since it was the last book and I wanted to end the series on a  high note.  We do get some answers in this book but, ultimately, I was left feeling unsatisfied.  There was a lack of cohesion to the story and I was left confused by the end.  I have read other reviews that say that if you are knowledgable about Arthurian legends, the end makes much more sense.  I have a fair amount of knowledge but I still didn't get it.
Grade: C

Waiting on Wednesday:: The Killing Moon

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights anticipated upcoming releases. This week my can't-wait to-read book is:

The Killing Moon  (Dreamblood, #1)

by N.K. Jemisin

Drops May 1, 2012

In the city-state of Gujaareh, peace is the only law. Along its ancient stone streets, where time is marked by the river’s floods, there is no crime or violence. Within the city’s colored shadows, priests of the dream-goddess harvest the wild power of the sleeping mind as magic, using it to heal, soothe... and kill.

But when corruption blooms at the heart of Gujaareh’s great temple, Ehiru—most famous of the city’s Gatherers—cannot defeat it alone. With the aid of his cold-eyed apprentice and a beautiful foreign spy, he must thwart a conspiracy whose roots lie in his own past. And to prevent the unleashing of deadly forbidden magic, he must somehow defeat a Gatherer’s most terrifying nemesis: the Reaper

Here ya go: Read SAMPLE CHAPTER1

N.K.Jemisin is the real deal, not only a good storyteller but also a sharp writer.  I am woefully behind in completing The Inheritance Trilogy but that won't stop me from grabbing The Killing Moon when it is released.  She is one of the best new writers to come around in years and her writing is rich, filled with lots of layers, fresh and thoroughly entertaining.  Plus, she's a fellow New Yorker, so how can I not support her?  She's friggin fantastic.


***Don't forget to leave a comment if you're participating in Waiting On Wednesday with a link to your can't-wait-to-read so I can swing on by!

Excerpts! Get Your Excerpts Here!

The thing with can't-wait-to-read books is that, well, I can't wait to read 'em.  To hold me over until the books come out, I googled around for some excerpts.  Wet my whistle and rack up the anticipation at the same time, as it were.  And I thought I'd share the love with you all.  So here are some excerpt links to the books I am most looking forward to.  Not familiar with the authors?  Check 'em out.  You may find something you like.

Bear Meets Girl by Shelly Laurenston excerpt

How To Drive A Dragon Crazy by G.A. Aiken excerpt

Sacrificial Magic by Stacia Kane excerpt with a link to download the first 3 chapters!

Chapter Two of Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris