Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays

Here are the rules:

1. Grab your current read

2. Open to a page

3. Pick out 2 lines that are SPOILER FREE

4. Name the title, author, etc.

"The sharp lance of pain strikes me behind my eyes. Darkness spills through my vision. I brace my hand against the side of the building, feel stone that's rough and damp.

Damp?" Kindle location 195/4277*


*Quote comes from my e-ARC, therefore it and the location are not final

 

TITLE: The Sharpest Blade

AUTHOR: Sandy Williams

PUBLISHER: Ace

GENRE: Urban Fantasy

RELEASE DATE: December 31, 2013

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list  that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

This week's topic is: Top Ten Sequels I Can't Wait To Get My Hands On

*in no particular order

1. BURNED 

by Karen Marie Moning

Okay, technically I still need to read Iced, but I know I still cannot wait to read this bad boy!

2. THE FOREVER SONG

by Julie Kagawa

OMG! With that ending last go around in The Eternity Cure, I am sooo dying to read this one!

3. UNTITLED CALL OF THE FORGOTTEN BOOK 3

by Julie Kagawa

Okay, speaking of OMG with that ending last time around in The Iron Traitor...I so, so, so, SO very desperately need to have read this one yesterday! Or really farther back than that! :P

4. UNTITLED INTERTWINED BOOK 4

by Gena Showalter

Okay, I swear I will get back to covers! Still no info on this one yet, just that there will be a book 4 in this series and I so desperately want to read this one! Twisted ended with so many cliffhangers that killed me...yes, I am back from the dead...and I sooo want to read this one so very soon! Although goodreads is saying 2015 :(  .

5. SIXTH GRAVE ON THE EDGE

by Darynda Jones

Always up for more Charley and Reyes!!

6. THIRD BLOOD

by Kalayna Price

Loooove this series! This one should've released this year, but has been delayed. Hoping it will come out next year though! Fingers crossed!

7. WINGS

by Elizabeth Richards

Looking forward to seeing how this one ends!

8. VISIONS

by Kelley Armstrong

Loved Kelley's new series and cannot wait to continue it next fall!

9. THE GHOUL NEXT DOOR

by Victoria Laurie

I need my Ghost Hunter Mystery fix! This one doesn't come out til January!

10. UNTITLED PENRYN AND THE END OF DAYS BOOK 3

by Susan Ee

Okay, another no cover, no title, no info book. But this one is supposed to come out next year and I cannot even begin to describe how much I cannot wait to read this bad boy!!

Review--Unchained by J. Lynn

Between the pissed off creatures that want demon-hunter Lily Marks dead and the fallen angel who just...wants her, Lily is about ready to trade in forever for a comfy job in a cubicle farm.

The fact that she and Julian are civil to one another is enough to have her thrown out of the Sanctuary, but she can't shake her not-so-angelic stalker or how he brings her dangerously close to ecstasy.

Her forbidden relationship with Julian provides the perfect fuel for suspicion when a traitor is discovered to be working within the Sanctuary. Lily quickly finds herself hunted by well, everyone.

Her only hope is to discover the real traitor before she loses everything--and she'll need Julian's help. That is, if Julian is really there to help her...and not destroy her.

Yeah, being a Nephilim isn't everything it's cracked up to be.

J. Lynn's Unchained was a freaking awesome read! I wasn't sure what to expect being that it's called New Adult and lately the New Adult books I've seen are all contemporary, but I was definitely pleased that this read doesn't follow the contemporary route. Obviously, since Lily herself is Nephilim.

Lily likes her job. She works with the other Nephilim basically destroying demons and protecting humanity...you know, saving the world eradicating one demon at a time. Of course there are also the Fallen Angels to deal with as well and one particular Fallen has taken a shine onto Lily these past eight years. Julian has been her unwanted shadow, granted he did save her life once and has just kind of been hanging around her like some sort of guardian angel. Then things start to change.

Julian is one of those heroes you just can't help but love from the moment he steps onto the page. He's not the dreamy, swoony kind of hero that makes you crumble. He's a little bit arrogant, yet he does have Lily's best intentions at heart...sort of. I mean, there is a definitely sexual tension between these two...so wanting to say all good intentions may not be exactly proper since Julian is definitely an alpha male kind of guy!

One of the few rules among the Nephilim is to never have a romantic relationship with a Fallen. Really, any kind of relationship. The Fallen are their enemies. Having fell from God's grace, the Nephilim are to want nothing to do with them. So basically a forbidden romance grows between Julian and Lily, because honestly, how Lily could resist him for eight years is beyond me!

There are other problems going about town though. Firstly, Lily has a new trainee. A police officer named Michael is a newly discovered Nephilim, which is odd since most Nephilim know from an early age of who they are and they start training in the Sanctuary for the day that they sign a contract to battle demons. And Michael being a full grown adult presents ad oddity for Lily and the other Nephilim, but they still bring him into their "club", you could say.

Then there's also the fact that a demon named Asmodeus is planning something sinister and it's up to Lily and the other Nephilim to stop him. Only thing is, there's a traitor in their midst. One of them is working for the enemy. And soon, Lily even begins to question Julian's integrity.

I was very thoroughly enamored with this read! I love J. Lynn aka Jennifer L. Armentrout's books! Her YA series are incredible and oh, how I adored Obsession! Unchained is a New Adult series that is a far cry different from her previous ones. Here we get into angels, the Fallen, Nephilim, demons and the like! Lily is a quick-witted character and I must say that I loved her attitude and the fact that she didn't easily fall for Julian. Yes, I say I loved the romance and question why it took Lily so long, but still, I love that it did! I love the romances that take time to build and then explode with a pop of intensity! Those are the most enjoyable kind to me!

Lily is quite the kickass heroine as well! She's got the sass and attitude down perfectly. She's determined to find the traitor among them and even has a suspect lined up. But when her fellow Nephilim start to turn a questioning eye on her, things get past complicated in a blink!

Julian, as I said, was freaking awesome too! He's got a bit of that alpha male attitude in him, but I wouldn't say it was totally full blown! Compared to other alpha males that I've read and have enjoyed to a point, Julian isn't quite as alpha intense as some of them. And I absolutely love that about him. He's not controlling or totally arrogant, he's...just Julian! Pretty much perfect! But don't get me wrong, he is still fierce. He can kick some major ass to his enemies, especially when they threatened Lily.

All in all, this was a fabulous read! I enjoyed every moment of it! It was told in multiple third person points of view, but for the most part it was Lily! Michael at times was narrating and so did a few enemies. No Julian sadly, but maybe next time!

If your a fan of Jennifer Armentrout than I highly recommend reading this one! There is quite a bit of sex in the book, not a lot, but more than the usual one or two scenes that I find in my other "adult" reads. So just a heads up to anyone for that matter! But don't let it stop you from the awesomeness that is J. Lynn!


Overall Rating 5/5 stars

This read was read for the Clean Out Your E-Reader Challenge

ARC Review--Chimera by Kelly Meding

The mysterious and dangerous conspiracy threatening the superpowered Meta Rangers deepens in the fourth novel in the edgy, action-packed Metawars superhero series by popular urban fantasy author Kelly Meding.

Growing up with blue skin never made Renee "Flex" Duvall feel like an outcast. She learned quickly to find the joy in life and to put people at ease with her quick it and exuberant personality. Nine months after regaining her Flex powers, she's survived more emotional and physical pain than she thought possible--but despite her burned and ruined skin, she refuses to let her sunny exterior crack in front of her friends. Not while they're facing a troop of well-trained teenage criminals that may be Recombinants, a new breed of Metas that were genetically manipulated and brainwashed by a shadowy research facility.

After a ruthless battle with a trio of thieves leaves one of their friends seriously wounded, Renee and Onyx follow a clue to Manhattan Island--and to a former Bane named Chimera. But Chimera refuses to help them, even though he admits that he may hold the key to stopping these Recombinants and discovering who controls them. Chimera's emotional scars are as devastating as Renee's physical scars, and in this shared pain they find common ground. Against her better judgment, Renee builds a friendship with the man who represents everything she's been raised to distrust and despise--a man who has something very dear to lose by cooperating.

I received this e-ARC for review from the publishers via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review, I was in no way compensated for this review.

Kelly Meding's superhero series Metawars, is quite more interesting than I would've thought it to be. I somehow missed Tempest, the previous book as it was an ebook only kind of release. Must get to that one, luckily I wasn't too lost when reading Chimera.

A lot of the problems that have been effecting the group are still around, especially ones I missed from the previous book which apparently brought upon a whole new group of enemies from their master enemy The Overseer. Still not much about this bad dude or dudette. Only that he is making life for these superheroes very difficult.

This time around Renee gets her story told, Renee, aka Flex, is the blue-skinned woman who can stretch her body to great lengths. She's apart of the team tracking down some teenage thieves who are stealing great amounts of groceries. After a series of unfortunate events, she is lead to Chimera, a Bane who is in prison who might be able to help her and her team out. 

Trusting a Bane, even an ex-Bane is hard for Renee because he is the sworn enemy, out of principle. But as they work this case together, she gets to know him and she starts to like what he sees. She's still healing both physically and emotionally from all that she's endured over the past couple months (aka three books) and through it all, Chimera seems to understand her.

The case soon takes a different course as nothing is what it appeared to be before. There are more teenage Metas about who are lost. Their caregiver known as Uncle--yeah, that's not creepy at all--has forsaken them after a supposed betrayal and the teens are left lost and confused and bit angry, basically like normal teenagers going through difficult crap except they have superpowers to fuel their anger. So not good.

There are still other issues going with the group, some remains of whatever happened in Tempest and then of course there's a great deal of friction between Trance and Gage. Not sure what caused all that, probably something from Tempest, but the ending definitely leaves you shocked and hanging! Then there's also the Dahila/Noah/Ash dealio where they are all sharing the same body. Turns out that's not exactly a good thing since the Changeling cannot contain that many "people" at once. 

Really, there's a whirlwind of problems going on and still the group has the main problem of trying to find out who this Overseer is and how to stop him. And as I was saying about the ending, there's quite the cliffhanger and since The Overseer remains a problem, I can only hope that there will be at least another book! You can digitally own the entire series (so far, I hope!) in one ebook bundle. 

Overall, I enjoyed this side of Renee. There were times in Changeling--and possibly Trance, since I can't quite recall it all--that she wasn't the nicest person ever. Not quite hostile, but not always pleasant.  This book definitely lets you see another side to her. And I quite enjoyed getting inside her head.

The Metawars series is quite different from my normal UF reads, but I quite like it! It's superheroes people! How awesome are they? These are a different type of  heroes as well and getting to know them and the mystery of their powers and whatnot has been an exciting read, one that I hope will continue after this current one!


Overall Rating 4/5 stars


Chimera releases November 11, 2013

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:

Allegiant by Veronica Roth (5 stars)

The Lovely and the Lost by Page Morgan (ARC)--Review to come at a later date

Death, Doom, and Detention by Darynda Jones (4 stars)

Rusted Veins by Jaye Wells (5 stars)

Reviews That Were Posted:

Death of the Mad Hatter by Sarah J. Pepper (ARC) (3 stars)

Darkness Splintered by Keri Arthur (5 stars)

Currently Reading:

Unchained by J. Lynn

What I Plan to Read this Week:

The Sharpest Blade by Sandy Williams (ARC)

Focus by Alyssa Rose Ivy

Other Posts of Interest:

Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays

Cover Copy Reveal--The Warrior

Cover Copy Reveal--Sixth Grave on the Edge

Waiting on Wednesday

Cover Copy Reveals--Kelley Armstrong & Victoria Laurie

Happy Halloween!

Random Thursday

Follow Friday

Spooktacular Giveaway Winner 

Clean Out Your E-Reader Challenge  

 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!


Had a pretty good week! Here's what I bought:

 

Black Heart by Christina Henry

The Wild Adventure of Jasper Renn by Kady Cross

Rusted Veins by Jaye Wells--already read!

Then for review from the publishers via Netgalley I got:

The Sharpest Blade by Sandy Williams (ARC)

 

Thanks Ace & Netgalley!

 

 

So that's my haul! What did you all 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: BEST BOOKS FEATURING CHILDREN

*in no particular order

Tough one! Not many children tend to be in the books I read. Ugh this will be hard!

PRUDENCE

Timeless by Gail Carriger

Borrowed this one from Larissa! Loved Prudence as well and so eager for her spinoff series too!

ETHAN

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Little Ethan! Such an enjoyable child in his innocent days! Really the precursor for all that he goes through prior to his series! And yeah, this is a YA book, but Ethan here was just a little kid, so definite age difference between him and Meghan!

AMBER

Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones

Okay, so she's not exactly a "child", but she is a young teen in an adult series so I feel like this one counts!

DANI

Fever series by Karen Marie Moning

Another stretch, but again, Dani is a teen in an adult series, so I'm counting it! Plus Dani was tons of fun!! Still gotta read Iced though!

ABBY

Shifters series by Rachel Vincent

Abby was fun and a fierce teen in this one! Yet another teen set in an adult world, although the main characters were just in their early twenties so they weren't like old adults. But this was a harder topic than I thought, so yes more "cheating" sort of. But not really! ;)

Early Review--Darkness Splintered by Keri Arthur

When Risa loses the second key to hell, she angers several powerful people, and she’s starting to feel the pressure from all sides. She gets a visit from her father, who gives her an ultimatum: Get back the key or he will kill her friends.

Risa also finds herself under the scrutiny of the vampire council, some of whom consider her a monster who should be destroyed. But they offer her a bloody bargain: Take on the lethal head of the council, Madeline Hunter, and others will support her.

As the search for the keys to hell heats up, Risa realizes that she has no choice. For the sake of the people she loves, she must find the keys — and get rid of Hunter — before the second gate is opened and brings the world closer to all hell breaking loose...

I received this book from the publishers in exchange for an honest review, I was in no way compensated for this review.


Keri Arthur's Darkness Splintered was an amazing read takes Risa on another hellish journey try to find the three keys that open heaven and hell and prevent the matter from happening. She hasn't had much luck in the matter lately, and things continue to go to crap. 

Last go around, Risa had been brought back to life by Azriel but the downside now is that her soul can never be reborn, she'll never see her mother again in the after life and with her next death she will become one of the guards to the gates of heaven and hell. She is essentially a dark angel. She had banished Azriel away despite carrying his child and it's not til things get too out of control that she calls him back.

Everyone is on Risa's case about her finding the keys and delivering them to them. The keys are a hot commodity and everyone wants them. Everyone who wants them are also threatening Risa, the people she cares about most and basically her whole world. But she has her unborn child to think of and protect.

Like many of Keri Arthur's books, there is a great deal of action in this one. Risa is actually on a timeline, she has 40 hours to find they keys or else her father will kill one of her friends. Madeline Hunter is also getting on her case and demanding the keys or else she will start killing all her friends and loved ones. And she does in fact do such a thing, which takes me completely by surprise! 

This has been one of the most intense series I've read in a long time! Sure other series have their intense moments, but it seems like this series in particular has been rich with intensity! There's always something important on the line, that if Risa doesn't accomplish a particular task, there will be penalties to pay.

Romance wise there was a little bit, but not a whole lot going around. Which is nice in Urban Fantasy! Risa and Azriel do reconcile and their relationship does get pretty intense at moments. Of course, they're already having a baby together, so how much more intense can things get? Pretty intense, I'd say! I love that the romance can still be so fresh with them. And not just with the "lovin" scenes, but with the more deeper, emotional moments too.

There is only one more novel left in this series and I will be most curious to see how it all ends! Naturally, there's still the matter of the third key that has yet to be found, there's Tao's demon issues, Madeline Hunter, and still oh-so many more problems that have yet to be dealt with. We do get a little bit more of Riley and gang in this one, not much, but Rhoan does make more of a page appearance than the rest.

Darkness Splintered was an incredibly intense and delightful read! I love Keri Arthur's work and will be looking forward to this series finale along with anything else Keri writes!


Overall Rating 5/5 stars


Darkness Splintered releases November 5, 2013

Clean Out Your E-Reader Challenge

Okay, so it's time for the Clean Out Your E-Reader Challenge! Which my poor Kindle is in sore need of!

Here are the  levels of "cleaning out":

Lightly Clean - 1 to 5 E-books
Spring Clean - 5 to 10 E-books
Deep Clean - More than 10 E-books


I've decided to to the deep clean! Gotta read some of these books I've had for YEARS!


Here's what I plan on reading...so far, at least!

Unchained by J. Lynn

Focus by Alyssa Rose Ivy

Found by Alyssa Rose Ivy

Fate by Amanda Hocking

Flutter by Amanda Hocking

Wisdom by Amanda Hocking

A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest

Blood Born by Jamie Manning

Requiem for the Dead by Kelly Meding

Dead Suite by Wendy Roberts

Drop Dead Beauty by Wendy Roberts

With my reading pace rate, I will most likely try adding a few more. We'll see how long I can stay away from a real book at least! ;)

Spooktacular Giveaway Winner!

Hey all! It's November 1st and that means the winner of the Spooktacular Giveaway is going to be announced! And since I had you all enter in your mailing address I don't have to hunt down the winner to the awesome prize! 

And the winner is...

Ruth Hill

Congrats Ruth! I plan to mail your prize out tomorrow hopefully!

Have a GREAT weekend everyone! And thanks to all who entered! I am now 28 GFC followers away from 1500! And that will mean another contest! I plan on doing another contest hop in December as well. So stick around for those!

ARC Review--Death of the Mad Hatter by Sarah J. Pepper

The Jack prophesied: If the king loses his head, then the Queen with a Bleeding Heart would rule the Red Court until Time ceased to move forward. When a second carried on for infinity, every creature in Wonderland would tip their Hat to the misfit girl with a Boy’s name (or was it a boy with a Girl’s name?) who’d end the Reign of Terror. However, it all hinged on the One-Eyed Hare being able to convince an uninspirable Heir that the impossible was indeed possible—like stopping time—and that Love was worth a Beheading.
 
Heads would Roll…
 
Hearts would Break…
 
In the end, would it matter who Reigned?

I received this ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review, I was in no way compensated for this review.


Sarah J. Pepper's Death of the Mad Hatter was quite the intriguing story. Albeit, a bit confusing at times, but it seems to fit since parts of the book is in Wonderland and as we all know, everyone is mad there!

Ryley is your typical teen, trying to get through high school, trying to score a date with the hottest girl there and then in walks Alice Mae. A very strange girl with weird makeup and just overall oddness. She talks to a stuffed rabbit with one eye, looks at things as if she sees something others do not. And she does...

For Alice Mae is none other than the Alice we all know from the fabled tale. But she's grown up now...a teenager at least. And is in fact working for the Queen of Hearts as her informant.

The prophecy of Wonderland mentions a new leader of sorts and it's Alice's job to find him...or her. But let's face it, it's a him!

Ryley hasn't had the easy life and when Alice Mae walks into the picture, it isn't going to get any easier. She intrigues him and he can't figure out why since in the beginning, she kind of irritates him with all that she knows. She knows things about him that no one else does.

As I said, this definitely made for an interesting story, but like I did also mention, I was a bit confused at times. It seemed like the characters knew more than we the reader, which does tend to happen, but when they bring up said events or info, I kind of expect a background story as to why this is important and those were a bit slow in the revealing, making it a little harder to get through the scene prior to the knowledge.

Retellings and "spinning tales"--whatever you want to call it when the beloved fairy tale is known somewhat, but a new story takes off from that knowledge or whatever--are always fun and interesting! I love seeing new insight to the fairy tales I grew up on. And as challenging as this one was, in terms of understanding things and what not, it was still a fun read.

I think what I struggled with the most, is what I mentioned earlier. The characters seemed to know things, there were things going on in Wonderland before the story took place and I was staggering trying to figure out what was really going on beneath the surface. Perhaps I was analyzing too much and not just enjoying the story, but I was pretty confused for a good deal of the beginning. But it was still a pretty nice read.


Overall Rating 3/5 stars