Easter Time!

HAPPY EASTER!!

Hope everyone who's celebrating has a very happy holiday! And to those that don't, I still hope you have a very happy day! ;)

Stacking the Shelves

This weekly meme is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

Stacking The Shelves is all about the books we are adding to our shelves each week, sharing with you our excitement for our newest titles and maybe have you discover a new book in the process!

Didn't buy a whole lot this week, but did add 3 to the ol' TBR mountain:

Twice Tempted by Jeaniene Frost

Kitty Rocks the House by Carrie Vaughn

Shadow Hunt by Erin Kellison

What did you get?

Top 5 Sundays

Top 5 Sundays is a weekly blog meme created by Larissa at Larissa's Bookish Life.

Every Sunday I will post a TOP 5 list on the blog. It can be about anything and every week I'll have a new theme {You can vote on next week’s theme on my left sidebar!} and I will ad the Mr.Linky bellow the post so you can do a list with the theme and add you link to it.

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 - Feel 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.5 – If you don’t have a blog to post, just leave your list in the comments =)

This week's topic is: FAVORITE CHARACTER NAMES {PART 2}

*in no particular order

CHARLEY
Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones

Not only is Charley just pure awesomeness, but I love the name Charley for a girl! It's just freaking cool!





XANDRA
The Immortal Empire series by Kate Locke

How cool is her name? Plus, Xandra's just cool! I love the way she dresses as portrayed on the cover!





REYES
Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones

Another cool name! This is the first I've seen the name in this series! Totally love it now!





VALEK
Study Trilogy by Maria V. Snyder

Yeah, Valek is an awesome name! Never seen it anywhere else but in this series but I do like it! It has a nice ring to it!





DAEMON
Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Note that this name is HIGHLY different than the last Damon I chose in the post from a few years ago. This Daemon has an "e" in his name! So totally different! Plus I do like that "e", it just makes you notice it all the more and Daemon is just so freaking awesome!

Review--A Beautiful Evil by Kelly Keaton

A POWER SHE CAN'T DENY.

A DESTINY SHE'S DETERMINED TO FIGHT.

When Ari first arrived in the dilapidated city of New 2, all she wanted was to figure out who she was. But what she discovered was beyond her worst nightmare. Ari is a descendant of Medusa and can already sense the evil growing inside her--a power the goddess Athena will stop at nothing to possess.

Desperate to hold on to her humanity and protect her loved ones, Ari must fight back. But Athena's playing mind games, not just with Ari but with those Ari cares about most. And Athena has a very special plan for the brooding and sexy Sebastian.

Ari is determined to defeat Athena, but time is running out. With not other options, Ari must unleash the very thing she's afraid of: herself.


Okay, so it's been a vastly long time since I last read Kelly Keaton's Darkness Becomes Her, I read that as an e-ARC back when I was getting newsletters for such things from Simon & Schuster. So I basically have no memory of what went down! But luckily, A Beautiful Evil does a nice job of summing it all up--the important details anyway.

Ari is in training, trying to learn how to control and use her powers, which is easier said than done since she's a descendant of Medusa and once she reaches 21 she will be in full power, and basically in killing mode. But really the only person she wants to kill is Athena. Athena still has her father and young Violet held prisoner, and Ari will do anything to get them back.

That's pretty much the gist of the storyline, Ari trying to control and harness her powers and use them to get her family back. It was still an enjoyable read, one that could've been done in a day, but I got busy with things once I got home. Moving on...I really enjoyed this one despite not having read the first one in so long. It was almost like meeting the characters again for the first time, yet still knowing them on some basic level.

Sebastian was totally awesome! Of course finding out that he is a warlock vampire was a shock, even though it was likely mentioned in book 1, my memory failed me there! Ari is a gorgon, so yeah, things were pretty exciting! There were a few sparks still between Ari and Sebastian, but they get so busy and caught up with trying to find and defeat Athena, that there's hardly time for romance. There are just a few tender moments between them that were sweet though. A kind of tension still remained from last time though, once they find out that Ari is a gorgon and potential god-killer, it caused Sebastian and the rest of the gang to freak out a bit. Except for Violet of course.

Watching Ari grow into her powers is definitely interesting. She learns more about them in this one and how when used in a certain way, something even more surprising can happen!

Things get intense when Ari, Sebastian and Henri go to Athena's temple in a rescue attempt, which naturally doesn't go as planned. There were some close calls that had my heart racing! Athena is definitely one wicked witch! I always find it intriguing with books that have Greek mythology woven in, like with the gods and goddesses and seeing how different they are in each book! Athena is a nightmare here, yet in Aimee Carter's trilogy, she wasn't half bad if memory serves me correctly.

This was basically a very entertaining and fun read! I love the city of New 2 and seeing how different it is from the now--not that I've ever been there but hope to one day! I recognize some spots Ari visits, from word of mouth or travel shows and it's all fun! Even seeing some of the scarier parts with the reveants and other nasties crawling the streets, it gets the blood pumping! This is definitely one heart pounding series I plan to keep!


Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars

New Way To Follow!

Okay, so we all heard the word on the blogosphere street that the Google Reader is about to vanish. Which leaves the question to GFC's status. Really hope that doesn't leave, because uh...that's how we all follow one another basically! That's how I scroll through posts and see what's new with everyone! It's going to be challenging!

I've already set up the email subscription and Linky Followers, but I decided to jump on the bandwagon and join the Bloglovin thing too! Already following most blogs that way. I had thought it transferred all the blogs I follow, but I am not 100% on that.

Anyway, I've put my blog on there too! So you can follow me that way as well, but let's hope GFC isn't going the way of the dodo bird!


Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Follow Friday

This is a weekly blog meme hosted by Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read.

Here are the general rules to Follow Friday:

1. Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Hosts and any one else you want to follow on the list

2. Follow our Featured Bloggers

3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing.

4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments

5. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can

6. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers

7. If you want to show the link list, just follow the link below the entries and copy and paste it within your post!

8. If your new to the follow Friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!

This week's question is: Tell us about the most emotional scene you’ve ever read in a book – and how did you react?

MY ANSWER: Ooh tough one. I agree with Rachel on the Fever series books! Those ending were killer!

That in mind, I'd say that Gena Showalter's Twisted had an ending that about killed me! There were a ton of things going on. Characters that were breaking up, making rash decisions like going back in time to try to prevent this or that from happening! It's been too long now that I cannot remember everything in detail, but I do remember having quite the reaction! To make matters worse, there's no information on the next book, so it's looking like I am going to have to wait another year still for anything!

So it didn't necessarily make me cry, but it still got quite the reaction from me, which is an emotion, just not the crying sort!

Review--Blood-Kissed Sky by J.A. London

THERE'S NOWHERE LEFT TO HIDE.

I thought vampires were our enemies--they controlled our lives, isolated our cities, and demanded our blood--until I met Victor. With Victor taking over as the new Lord Valentine, things were supposed to get better. Instead they're worse than ever.

Day Walkers, a new breed of vampires who can walk in the sun, are terrorizing the city. Blood supplies are low, and if Victor's vampires don't get enough, they will become infected with the Thirst--a disease that will turn them into mindless killers.

To stop it, I must journey across the desolate wasteland to the very place where the sickness began. I can only hope that the answers that await me are enough to save us all...before it's too late.


It took me awhile to get back into the swing of things with this series. I guess because I was confusing some events with another dystopian with a vampire ruling class. But I managed to get along fairly well! J.A. London's Blood-Kissed Sky is the second installment in the trilogy featuring Dawn and Victor. Yet another love affair with a human and a vampire trying to make things work.

The odds are against them though. Last time around, Dawn gave Victor her blood and he almost lost control, but she wakes up in the hospital some time later having gone into a coma from the blood loss. Things have changed pretty drastically while she was asleep. There's a lot of hatred and distrust aimed at her for the events that happened at the party where Sin and his vampires killed several teens who had donated blood to the vampires.

Victor is easing into his new role as vampire overlord or whatever you want to call it. He wants to be better than his father was, who was just ruthless and cruel. But it's hard work, considering that people are no longer donating blood. To top it off, he has to work with a new delegate, for he decided to "fire" Dawn. More so to protect her, but the new guy isn't really working out so well either.

Dawn's life is about to be put into danger when word spreads that Sin wants her. He will come for her if she doesn't turn herself in and pretty much reign chaos with death threats. So Dawn decides to do a little investigative work in researching the Thirst. She feels if she knew more about it, she might be able to help Victor out and thus, Denver. So she abroads the Night Train--the train that travels through the remaining states--and heads to L.A.

With Michael as her guard and her stowaway best friend, Tegan, the three embark on harrowing journey to the city. The city that is a refuge for humans for there are no vampires in it. It is highly protected with a wall and gates that offer comfort and safety. It's there that Dawn begins her quest to understand the Thirst in better detail, but naturally nothing goes as planned!

This was a pretty good read, my only complainant was the lack of Victor. He was there for a little bit, and then Dawn started having dreams where she could connect with him and talk to him, but that was pretty much the extent of his appearance in the novel. It also didn't help in the one or two moments they physically shared with each other that he was trying to push her away from him. So there wasn't much romance in this one, but for a few heated kisses. Still enjoyable though.

To make matters worse Dawn learns a whole lot more about her family history and Victor and not all that information is pleasing. Shocking, definitely!! I honestly didn't expect this turn of events from the story, but wow, is pretty much all I can say! Really looking forward to seeing how the trilogy ends now that we know these new tidbits of information.

The pacing to this one was good. Really good. It moved in stages of a sort, Dawn waking up, seeing how the world has changed, planning the trip, then the actual trip which has its own set of stages and adventures and dangers!

There was quite the bit of tension between Dawn and Michael throughout the trip. It is obvious that Michael still cares for Dawn, his actions prove that. But there were a few moments between Michael and Tegan that might lead to something more. For everyone needs a happy ending, right? I am thinking that might be more than a possibility for those two by the next book.

There was a nice dose of action with this one. It came in spurts, coupled with the tense moments--which there was a variety of! I am being a little vague in some ways, but it's because I don't want to head into spoiler territory, yet I still want you guys to know how fun the read was!


The ending was a bit of cliffhanger, in the sense that we learn all these new and shocking details and then there was a bit of action right before the end came up. Leaving Dawn scrambling to figure out what her next move will be. Luckily, we only have to wait til the summer to find out in After Daybreak!


Overall Rating 4/5 stars