Early Review--City of Eternal Night by Kristen Painter

Magic and mystery collide in this second installment of the new urban fantasy series by House of Comarre author Kristen Painter.

Still coming to terms with their unexpected partnership, Augustine and Harlow have a tentative truce. With Harlow slowly working to accept being fae, Augustine still learning how to be Guardian, and feelings growing on both sides though, they do not have an easy road ahead.

But when a young girl is stolen from the Mardi Gras Exemplar Ball -- the biggest far event of the year -- Harlow and Augustine must put all their issues aside to bring her home alive. Harlow's father, Braziano, is of course their number one suspect, but evil lurks in every corner of the city and time is running out. Their only choices: Either find a way to rescue the girl, or Augustine must die. 

I received this early copy from the publisher through the author in exchange for an honest review, I was in no way compensated for this review.


City of Eternal Night is the second installment in Kristen Painter's Crescent City Series and it was yet another enjoyable read! Like with many reads, I couldn't remember much of the first book at all. That's the trouble with ARCs which is how I read that one as! But for the most part, the important details were rehashed and new story unfolded before me with a few lingering problems from the first book.

Harlow is learning to cope with the fact that she's part fae now. She slowly becomes more intrigued with her heritage and even wants to learn how to use her new abilities. Augustine would be her likely tutor, but then there's Nekai and he is all too willing to help her in this endeavor! Nekai seems to even be a contender for Harlow's heart, but yet, I never got the love triangle vibe and that was definitely appealing. I have the love-hate relationship with love triangles!

There continues to be romantic tension between Harlow and Augustine. Enough so that you just want these two to get together already! Or kiss or go out...something! It's teasingly good!

Soon though a case falls into their laps and they must find the daughter of a powerful fae who has been kidnapped. Naturally, Harlow's estranged and bad guy father is involved in the mix and we also see Giselle and her sister Zara are on the scene as well. The kidnapper's demand is simple, he'll release the girl when Augustine relinquishes his position as Guardian and that can only happen with Augustine's death. So yeah, that presents a pickle to find the girl and the kidnapper before time is up.

I really enjoyed this one! The pacing was exquisite! There's rarely a dull moment! Either there's lots of action on the page, suspense building up and up, romantic tension that makes you giddy as you read...there's nothing wrong about any of it! My only displeasure came from not remembering the first book well enough to give me some footing from the previous reading!

The last quarter of the book was very intriguing indeed! I won't get into reasons why, but it has one of my most feared scenarios in it! One that just leaves you wanting to shout and scream and be terrified all at once! I love and hate that feeling, but knowing the know, it makes it all okay! Yeah, that didn't make sense really, but after you read this one, you'll totally get what I am trying to say without saying it! Needless to say, that does leave us with a bit of a cliffhanger! Thankfully, it was the evil kind for I have seen a book end like that once! About killed me too! 

City of Eternal Night takes place in the fabulous city of New Orleans and was an incredibly amazing read! You don't have to have read the House of Comarre series to fully grasp this one! Our heroes from said series do make another minor appearance in this installment, which is always fun, but it's not like you have to have read the prior series, though it is highly enjoyable as well! Kristen delights this particular reader with yet another enjoyable read that never cease to keep me on the edge of my seat in some matter. So I highly recommend reading the Crescent City series!


Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars--a little bit of a bumpy start with this one since I couldn't really remember the first book that well, but I quickly came to enjoy this story in the moment!


City of Eternal Night releases December 2, 2014

It's Monday! What are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. It's a fun meme where we gather to share what we've read last week and our reading plans for this week.

Last Week I Read:

City of Eternal Night by Kristen Painter (ARC)--review to come at a later date

Princess of Thorns by Stacey Jay (ARC)--review to come at a later date

Seduction's Kiss by Alyssa Rose Ivy (4.95 stars)

Gifted by Kelley Armstrong (5 stars)

The Witch Must Burn by Danielle Paige (5 stars)

Reviews That Were Posted:

Captive by Aimee Carter (ARC) (4.5 stars)

All in by Amanda Carlson (ARC) (5 stars)

Currently Reading:

When by Victoria Laurie (ARC)

What I Hope to Read this Week:

Shutter by Courtney Alameda (ARC)

Other Posts of Interest:

Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays

Waiting on Wednesday

Random Thursday

Follow Friday

MIA...again!!

Julie Kagawa Signing!!

Top 5 Sundays

Stacking the Shelves

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!


I had a pretty moderate week! Didn't add too much to the TBR Mountain of Doom and two of my books I bought this week were Keepers!


What I bought:

Antigoddess by Kendare Blake--SIGNED! I have the hardcover but while at Anderson's I saw the new paperback cover version and it was signed and I fell victim to impulse buying!

Talon by Julie Kagawa--SIGNED! Another keeper copy!!
Harry Potter: The Creature Vault by Jody Revenson--the Goodreads picture doesn't do the book justice! It's a BEAUTIFUL cover and I couldn't help myself by buying it! It was a steal too! Normally $45 and with my coupons and discount I got it for $26.58! Almost but not quite half off!!!

Then for review from the publishers via Netgalley, I received:

 A Curse Unbroken by Cecy Robson (ARC)

Dearest by Alethea Kontis (ARC)

Shutter by Courtney Alameda (ARC)

And then I won Hebel Design's Picture Contest! And was able to pick out a special item for myself:

I decided on Morozova's Collar from the Grisha trilogy! It was the one series that I've read and enjoyed that she has pieces from that I have yet to own! Now I'm good! Until the next series gets a place in the shop!

You can get your own necklace and many more lovely items from her shop here!


And then while out at TJMaxx I happened upon this nightstand that I thought could replace my old one! For this one has SHELVES!! My old one did not! I have to test it out for a bit to see if I like it's height and I have to find room in my already overcrowded room for items I hid under the skirt of my old one, but I must say I really like it!

And that was my haul this week! What did you all get?

Top 5 Sundays

Top 5 Sundays is a weekly blog meme created by Larissa at Larissa and Friends' 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: TV SHOW CROSSOVERS YOU'D LOVE TO SEE!

This was insanely hard for some reason! Was trying to think of shows that I think would be good mashed together sort of!

 

*in no particular order 

MONK + PSYCH

I wonder what a show like that would be like! The totally chaotic Shawn with the totally over the top OCD Monk! That would ensue chaos!!! But think of how amazingly quick mysteries could be solved! These shows were even on the same network too!

SUPERNATURAL + TRUE BLOOD

For some reason I think this could be highly entertaining! Or at least interesting! Vampires, a psychic, werewolves, faeries and all the other peeps dealing with two hunters? Hot ones at that! LOL

THE BIG BANG THEORY + BROOKLYN NINE-NINE

I think this one could be pretty funny! Each of them are funny on their own, but think of how Sheldon might deal with Jake?! I think there would be quite the hijinks and other shenanigans going on with this one!

MAMA'S FAMILY + HOT IN CLEVELAND

Not sure what made me think of this mix! Guess because Betty White starred on both! For a time at least on Mama's Family! Mama has quite the attitude and I think Betty has that too on Hot in Cleveland now! Must have learned it all from Mama!

CRIMINAL MINDS + THE FOLLOWING

Let's mash up Criminal Minds with the batsh*t crazy followers on The Following! The FBI team can try to analyze them! They could probably do a LOT better job then the current team Ryan's always working with! LOL

Mini Review--The Witch Must Burn by Danielle Paige

There’s a new Wicked Witch in Oz—and her name is Dorothy. This digital original novella is the second installment in the prequel arc to the edgy and exciting New York Times bestseller Dorothy Must Die.

Dorothy Gale is back . . . and she’s not the sweet little heroine of Oz anymore. She’s power-hungry and vicious, and she leaves a trail of destruction beneath her spike-heeled, magical shoes. But behind the scenes, there’s someone else pulling the strings. Someone who doesn’t want fame or glory—just control.

Glinda of the North brought Dorothy back to Oz for a reason. And in The Witch Must Burn, a young maid is about to discover that a witch who says she’s Good might be the most dangerous kind of Wicked.

The Witch Must Burn, by debut author Danielle Paige, is a dark and compelling reimagining of a beloved classic and is perfect for fans of Cinder by Marissa Meyer, Beastly by Alex Flinn, and Wicked by Gregory Maguire.

Danielle Paige returns to the land of Oz in The Witch Must Burn. We have here a second prequel to Amy Gumm's story in Dorothy Must Die. This time our narrator is Jellia, the maid. Granted I can't quite pull her from my memory of the first book, but naturally I just moved on!

Jellia has gotten used to Dorothy's ways and whims. She has a handle on how to deal with Dorothy's sporadic tendencies and radical requests. Jellia isn't fond of Dorothy and truly misses the days when Ozma ruled.

Then Glinda visits and Jellia sort of unknowingly reveals that she has magical abilities despite Dorothy's ban on magic. Glinda however, sees something in her and politely demands requests that Dorothy lend her to her for the summer. Dorothy begrudgingly agrees.

This is when we really get to see Glinda's true colors. Before we had inklings that she may be up to no good. Now we know. Now we see it. Glinda is batsh*t freaking power hungry crazy!

I also enjoyed seeing another particular character in this one. A pleasant surprise really! This was a quick and delightful little read. We get to see Jellia before Amy comes along and see how she comes on her current course for the future. I highly recommend these prequel reads for all Dorothy Must Die fans because they're little hidden insights to our resident villains. A fast and enjoyable read to say the least!


Overall Rating 5/5 stars

Julie Kagawa Signing!!

Hey all! So as you may know now, I made yet another road trip up to Naperville, but this time it was to meet the ultra-awesome JULIE KAGAWA!!

Now I did meet her once before in Ohio...like in 2010 I think at a multi-author signing. That was when we were up to just The Iron Queen, so there have been a LOT of books since then that have just been begging to be signed and match each other! LOL

This time though, one of my friends wanted to come along and it made the drive sooo much easier and enjoyable almost having someone along!

But it was a LOT of fun! I always enjoy meeting authors! And at Anderson's Bookshop...it's like a reader's heaven! There are a LOT of SIGNED books there! It's hard to not go crazy and buy everything you see!

 Julie is just one of those awesome authors! I happened upon her books when I won the first 2 Iron Fey books from Harlequin Teen just as they were getting their new Teen line out there! (My prize also included Gena Showalter's first 2 Intertwined books which is AWESOME series that you all MUST BUY!)

She also left her mark at Anderson's as all authors do, but in a truly unique way!

And I had myself a geek moment...I'd been planning this trip for a loooong time. I even tweeted to Julie wondering if she would be coming to St. Louis since she was so close in Naperville and at that time she didn't even know her tour schedule was taking her to Naperville! So I thought, better just plan for Naperville!

Anyway, while at the mall I passed Build a Bear and saw that you could build your own Toothless. And when I saw it, I thought...Julie would LOVE that! I had to build it for her (any myself!). So I did! And then brought it too her! Which she loved it! Because TOOTHLESS!!! He's sooo cute!

My friend and I had an amazing time! I got all my books signed, which there were a LOT! Thankfully I bought 2 line tickets and were numbers 2 & 3! Heehee! Yay near first! So naturally that means...I have an EXTRA SIGNED copy of Talon!! And you know what that means...GIVEAWAY TIME!

But first...check out the sight my friend and I saw when we left the bookstore:

It was really pretty seeing all the Christmas lights up on the tree! There were a LOT! You practically didn't need the lamposts lit on the sidewalk!


Okay giveaway time! Now as usual, I have to keep this to US only! Very sorry about that peeps! BUT! As a bonus I decided I will giveaway my ARC copy too! I won this earlier this year and it was signed and mistakeningly personalized to Jennifer. It was just gently read and a smidge travel worn from the mail, but I will give that away as well!

The first place winner will get the Hardcover copy of Talon and the second place winner will get my old ARC! Sound good? Enter away!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

MIA...again!

So I'll be MIA again today! Just for today though! I swear it! 

Me and a friend are driving up to Naperville to see Julie Kagawa! As this was the closest she was getting to St. Louis, I figure I better go! So go I must and am!

See you all later!

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: Create an ad listing all the qualities and qualifications of your perfect co-blogger. via Girl of 1000 Wonders 

MY ANSWER: Ooh another toughie!

WANTED: A reader/reviewer who loves the paranormal, whether it's YA, NA, or Adult! Must love reading and have a passion for it! Must gush over characters, writing, authors and basically be a total fangirl! Treats reading as something fun and enjoyable, does not see it as a job. Writes the reviews he/she wants to read.

No experience necessary! As long as you have ever loved one book, you're in. More than one and you're TOTALLY IN!