Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly blog post by MizB over at Should Be Reading.

While impatiently waiting on the mail to bring me my copy of Vampire Diaries: Midnight, I decided to take a book that's been on my shelf for awhile, although there are older ones still! So far Would-Be Witch is mildly entertaining.

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.

"I slapped his hands away and stepped back. 'Just a darn minute. Last I checked I could dress and undress myself.'

'Sure, but wouldn't you be warmer if I helped?'" p72

TITLE: Would-Be Witch
AUTHOR: Kimberly Frost
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: February 3, 2009

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:

Past Midnight by Mara Purnhagen

My Review

Raising the Dead by Mara Purnhagen

My Review

The Demon Trapper's Daughter by Jana Oliver

My Review

Angel Burn by L.A. Weatherly

My Review

Rogue Oracle by Alayna Williams

My Review

Turned at Dark by C.C. Hunter & Retro Demonology by Jana Oliver

My Reviews

Currently Reading:

Would-Be Witch by Kimberly Frost

What I Plan to Read this Week:

The Vampire Diaries: The Return: Midnight by L.J. Smith

The Vampire Narcise by Colleen Gleason

Possessions by Nancy Holder

Contest Time!

Okay so I'm going to super nice and have a special giveaway. In about two weeks, on April 1, I am going out of town to the Harelquin Teen Tour that will be stopping in Dayton, Ohio! My all-time fave author, Maria Snyder will be there along with Julie Kagawa, Mara Purnhagen, Julia Karr, Lisa Roecker and Sarah Bennett Wealer!

So my super duper nice contest is that ONE lucky winner will get the book of their choice by any of the above authors and I will get it personally signed to you and then ship it out!

My only requirements are that you are a follower, and live in the US or Canada area or have someone there to mail it to you or save it, because shipping costs are high. 

This contest will run until March 24, 2011 at 11:59 PM CST. 

Please be sure to check your email on Friday, for I will be emailing the winner then and will need to get the correct book/address info. Winner will be announced here on Friday morning as well! Good luck!

In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox is a weekly blog post hosted by Kirsti over at The Story Siren and inspired by Alea at Pop Culture Junkie.

Another somewhat decent week! Got a few books which is always good! And some were FREE!!

From NetGalley for review I got: 

The Vampire Narcise by Colleen Gleason

(saw it on NetGalley this week and thought, why not?!)

Then some of my FREE Amazon reads were:

Retro Demonology by Jana Oliver

(a prequel to The Demon Trapper's Daughter)
My Review

Turned at Dark by C.C. Hunter

(a short story involving another character from her soon-to-debut Born at Midnight)

My Review

Then in the mail came:

Rogue Oracle by Alayna Williams

(My Review)

Top 5 Sundays

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

Here's a little info about the meme taken from Larissa's blog:

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 - Fell 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: BOOKS FOR AN URBAN FANTASY 1ST TIMER!

Ooh this will be good! I might just go with the list that I used for my friend once I got her hooked on UF! Once again these are in no specific order!

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong (Women of the Otherworld series)

Kelley writes a fabulous series that features a variety of characters of supernaturals!

Stray by Rachel Vincent (The Shifters series)

Rachel has a kick-a$$ series that has were-cats--panther-like creatures--featuring Faythe, who can get on our nerves a lot, but she still kicks major butt!

Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost (Night Huntress series)

One of my faves with a half-vamp vampire hunter! Bones is an uber sexy vampire and is worth reading every single book there is!

Tempest Rising by Nicole Peeler (Jane True series)

This is a great book for a UF newbie because it has more than the traditional supernaturals in it and gives the newbie UF reader a taste of the lesser known supes!

Hunted by the Others by Jess Haines (H&W Investigations series)

Another great series that has a different kind of heroine in a different world setting, where we know supes exist, but there's a prejudice against them! Totally worth looking into to give the newbie a taste for all types of UF!

Quickie Reviews

Before Riley Blackthorne can take on Grade Five demons, she has to trap her very first. Her debut solo trapping experience should be a breeze, just a harmless Grade One after all. But throw in some dippy hippies (whose peace signs and Patchouli really aren’t driving any demons away), one mischievous demon, and a run-in with the police, and Riley might not be able to pull it off...

This was a real quick read for me this morning, so it will be hard to review since it was only so many pages. Basically Riley goes on her first demon trapping by herself to get a demon, but it's in a house with hippies!

So being rather fast and really only getting a glimpse at Riley's life it was an okay read. Since it was a freebie from Amazon, I'm not totally disappointed, but it's not one you really have to read if you're not up to it.

It just seemed a little pointless in some ways. Still somewhat entertaining, but nothing to really lead into The Demon Trapper's Daughter. Just with Riley mentioning libraries and whatnot.

Overall rating 2.5/5 stars

Independent and strong-willed Della Tsang hadn’t believed in ghosts until she saw her dead cousin darting into the shadows of an alley. She hadn’t believed in vampires until in the dark of that same night she is turned into one. Introduced to a strange world of supernaturals, she struggles to accept this new reality. Unfortunately, the boy she loves senses something different about her and can’t accept her. Should she follow her vampire cousin’s lead–walk away from everything she’s knows and loves—and fake her own death? Or should she set her pride aside and ask for help from the camp leader of Shadow Falls—a camp where supernaturals go to learn how to cope with their powers. Either way, her life as she knows it, will never be the same.

Another quick read and a prequel as well. This tells the origin story of a secondary character, Della. Della quickly gets thrust into the supernatural world, where we learn there's a virus that effects people that makes them eligible for being a supernatural of some kind. And the supes don't all get along either.

This was a little more interesting because we get a more in-depth look at the world to come from C.C. Hunter's Born at Midnight releasing later this month. Here we get to know a secondary character and how she (likely) winds up at the camp where Kylie ends up.

Overall rating 4/5 stars

You can read both of these prequels for FREE at Amazon!

Retro Demonology

Turned at Dark

Review--Rogue Oracle by Alayna Williams

THE MORE YOU KNOW ABOUT THE FUTURE, THE MORE THERE MAY BE TO FEAR.

Tara Sheridan is the best criminal profiler around—and the most unconventional. Trained as a forensic psychologist, Tara also specializes in Tarot card reading. But she doesn’t need her divination skills to realize that the new assignment from her friend and sometime lover, Agent Harry Li, is a dangerous proposition in every way.

Former Cold War operatives, all linked to a top-secret operation tracking the disposal of nuclear weapons in Russia, are disappearing. There are no bodies, and no clues to their whereabouts. Harry suspects a conspiracy to sell arms to the highest bidder. The cards—and Tara’s increasingly ominous dreams—suggest something darker. Even as Tara sorts through her feelings for Harry and her fractured relationship with the mysterious order known as Delphi’s Daughters, a killer is growing more ruthless by the day. And a nightmare that began decades ago in Chernobyl will reach a terrifying endgame that not even Tara could have foreseen. . . .

Alayna Williams' Rogue Oracle was a great followup to Dark Oracle! I truly enjoy this series with the way Tarot is woven into the storyline and giving you a detailed glimpse at what its like. How certain cards can appear to be "bad" at first but you have to look at them in a different way to see that they mean something else! I did buy a deck out of curiosity but haven't gotten around to experimenting with it yet!

Some of the details about Dark Oracle are kind of fuzzy and lost on me, but I distantly remembered bits and pieces as I read further, and as the cover description explains, Tara is back in action trying to track down another serial killer using her Tarot cards. But her new deck, since her old one was lost, has been acting strangely. There's a strange connection between her and the cards, she has many dreams with the cards' faces/pictures and other people representing them and things occur. (Hard to put into words when typing, but she plays the role of one of the cards and other friends play other card roles)

While working with Harry, Tara will do everything she can to help him track down the serial killer, but the killer is still at large and taking down victims. And then there's still trouble afoot with the Delphi's Daughters that Tara gets mixed up in.

Overall it was a fairly good read. I enjoyed it, but at times my mind may have gotten a little sidetracked, but it was still a worthy read and I plan on continuing the series as it progresses. Overall rating 3.5/5 stars!

Friday Hops

This blogger hop was created by Jennifer at Crazy for Books.

Here are the rules:

1. Enter your book blog link in the Linky List below (be sure to include how long you've been blogging and what genres you review!). If you post about the Hop on your blog, please link directly to your Hop post (don't forget to answer this week's question - see below!).

2. Visit other blogs in the Linky List! Make new friends! Follow new book bloggers! Talk about books! Rave about authors! (Please do not leave your link and not visit other blogs - it's just not cool and not in the spirit of the Hop!)

3. Post about the Hop on your blog! Spread the word about the book party! The more the merrier!

4. In your blog post, answer the following question (new question each week!):

Do you read only one book at a time, or do you have several going at once?

MY ANSWER: I only read one book at a time. In my early days I would read more, but then it just got too hard to remember what was happening in each book. Even when attending school and having to read their book and mine it was a challenge, but it literally had to be done in high school. So now I read one at a time. And since I'm still job searching I can get it done fairly quick and move on to the next!

This is a weekly blog meme created by Parajunkee's View.

Here are the general rules to Follow Friday:

1. Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Host { Parajunkee.com } and any one else you want to follow on the list

2. Follow our Featured Bloggers - http://annettesbookspot.blogspot.com/

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: How did you come up with your blog name?

MY ANSWER: Well, I started my blog so I could post a review for a contest and then I just kept going with the blog after some time. I was fashioning it to be a blog where I talked about the books I read. And the book that started it was Rachel Vincent's Pride. I wanted to talk about how awesome and great it was and what I liked about it. So I just kind of called it: a GREAT read, to emphasize on its greatness! Although my earlier reviews are pretty bad compared to how I write them now. They're still a little disorganized which is odd since I'm super organized, but I have been trying to work on that lately with my current reviews!

Review--E-ARC Angel Burn by L.A. Weatherly

Willow knows she’s different from other girls, and not just because she loves tinkering with cars. Willow has a gift. She can look into the future and know people’s dreams and hopes, their sorrows and regrets, just by touching them. She has no idea where this power comes from. But the assassin, Alex, does. Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows more about Willow that Willow herself. He knows that her powers link to dark and dangerous forces, and that he’s one of the few humans left who can fight them. When Alex finds himself falling in love with his sworn enemy, he discovers that nothing is as it seems, least of all good and evil. In the first book in an action-packed romantic trilogy, L. A. Weatherly sends listeners on a thrill ride of a road trip – and depicts the human race at the brink of a future as catastrophic as it is deceptively beautiful.

I received this e-galley courtesy of NetGalley for review

L.A. Weatherly's Angel Burn was quite the read. I had requested it weeks ago and finally got around to reading it. It left me liking it, but yet not totally loving it. It's another YA Paranormal delving into angels, only this time, angels are not the divine heavenly creatures we're used to seeing them as. Sure they are divine heavenly creatures, but they are also bad for humans, for they suck out our life force here on earth, leaving humans to believe that they are truly loved and whatnot by the angels.

It has an odd way of telling the story going from first person pov with Willow to multiple third person pov with Alex and other characters. It was a little disorienting at times, like when we switched to a secondary character making it a little harder to flow with the story, but the switches between Alex and Willow were smooth.

The love story angle was a gradual one, which was really rather nice, for the two don't necessarily fall in love at first sight. There's a connection of sorts, but the love takes time. Which is also where the book grows tiring, there's definite action in the pacing, but then there are the "down times" when they aren't racing to do whatever and have normal moments, which is fine sometimes, but they tend to run a little too long.

The overall story arc was really interesting though, a surprise that I did foresee, but it was still shocking. And it leaves with a decent cliffhanger ending. Although sometimes things were a little unbelievable for the 16 and 17 year old on the road, but some things you just have to roll with. I liked the storyline overall and am curious to see what will happen next, but I can't say I'll rush out to buy it. It was a rather long read, 400+ pages--although I've read longer, it was just there were scenes that stretched a little too long for my liking.

Rating overall 3.5/5 stars

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!

*Review--The Demon Trapper's Daughter by Jana Oliver*

RILEY BLACKTHORNE JUST NEEDS A CHANCE TO PROVE HERSELF--AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT THE DEMONS ARE COUNTING ON...

Seventeen-year-old Riley, the only daughter of legendary Demon Trapper, Paul Blackthorne, has always dreamed of following in her father's footsteps.  The good news is, with human society seriously disrupted by economic upheaval and Lucifer increasing the number of demons in all major cities, Atlanta’s local Trappers’ Guild needs all the help they can get – even from a girl. When she’s not keeping up with her homework or trying to manage her growing crush on fellow apprentice, Simon, Riley’s out saving distressed citizens from foul-mouthed little devils – Grade One Hellspawn only, of course, per the strict rules of the Guild. Life’s about as normal as can be for the average demon-trapping teen.

But then a Grade Five Geo-Fiend crashes Riley’s routine assignment at a library, jeopardizing her life and her chosen livelihood.  And, as if that wasn’t bad enough, sudden tragedy strikes the Trappers’ Guild, spinning Riley down a more dangerous path than she ever could have imagined. As her whole world crashes down around her, who can Riley trust with her heart – and her life?

So I finally got Jana Oliver's debut The Demon Trapper's Daughter. I was skeptical at first. Heard an early so-so review, butt then read another that completely changed my mind! It was fabulous! Set 8 years into the future the economy has never improved and demons started entering our world. Humans tend to know about them and the demon trappers who capture them. All demon trappers are men. It's just the way it is.

Riley's father is a demon trapper and she longs to follow in his footsteps, but the world, and the rest of the demon trappers' guild is against the idea, so she must struggle to prove herself. The world is a harsh and crazy place, especially for Riley. The messed-up world as she knows it is about to get a lot harder.

The book basically lets us get a look at the life Riley lives, she tries to maintain some normalcies such as going to school--in secret though, since schools had been shut down, talking on the phone with her BFF--whose mother hates her because she longs to be a demon trapper, and catching the eye of the super cute Simon, another demon trapper apprentice.

The book was chockful of surprises, starting early on and they didn't stop, they may have slowed, but didn't stop. There was also a few mysteries involved that are still kind of left hanging there, one involves a demon hunter--different than a trapper because hunters kill and trappers just trap, collect and hand off to a go-between who gets it to the Vatican where the hunters' headquarters is at, something wonky going on with a very important tool used by demon trappers, and another earth-shocking event that I cannot even begin to describe!

This is a must read! The pacing builds gradually as the story moves along and it's well worth the wait! So can't wait to read the next one later this fall!

Overall rating 5/5 stars!

This book is apart of my 2011 Debut Author Challenge

Waiting on Wednesday

                                  I hate waiting...

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly blog post by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights releases we're eagerly awaiting.

My next release is another highly anticipated read for me! Like all the books on my list really! Soo can't wait to get more of Allie and Zay's story!

There aren’t many girls who can say they’ve gone into the realm of death and lived to tell the tale. But to restore her lover Zayvion’s soul, Allison Beckstrom had to pay a bitter price–and things are about to get worse….

It turns out the leader of the Authority, the council that decides what can–and can’t–be done with magic, is being held hostage. But when the trail leads Allie and Zayvion to the secret prison where the Authority locks away magical criminals who are too dangerous to be held anywhere else, they find more than they bargained for. An undead magic user has possessed one of the prisoners, and he wants his freedom–and then some. Now Allie and Zayvion are the first line of defense against the chaos he’s about to unleash on the city of Portland….

TITLE: Magic on the Hunt
AUTHOR: Devon Monk
GENRE: Urban Fantasy

RELEASE DATE: April 5, 2011

Review--Raising the Dead by Mara Purnhagen

Charlotte Silver's world is like no one else's...

As the daughter of the famous Silver Spirits paranormal investigators, Charlotte Silver is used to all things weird. But when coffins start floating down her street during a flood, life turns extra strange. And wonderful, when her friend and crush Noah signs on to help Charlotte and her folks in the aftermath. Cemetery cleanup might not sound exciting, but as shocking discoveries and a lurking stranger come to light, Charlotte learns that sometimes, raising the dead can bring unexpected rewards. 

Mara Purnhagen's short novella, Raising the Dead takes place after Past Midnight and it was a quick read. Managed to get it done early this morning before moving on to a full length novel. So this will be a quick review.

The cover description tells the story simply enough, and beforehand I didn't really read it, so I just went in blind to the story and for a short one it had impeccable pacing. Things moved quickly and a mystery developed that was quite intriguing. I didn't really see the ending coming mostly because it was short and I didn't have enough time to develop theories besides going with the obvious. Charlotte still deals with some of the same problems as before, but she's happy for once with her friends and family.

Can't really get much more into it since, again, it was a short story. Looking forward to One Hundred Candles!

Overall rating: 4/5 stars

You can read this story for FREE with Amazon!

Review--Past Midnight by Mara Purnhagen

I DON'T BELIEVE IN GHOSTS. UNFORTUNATELY, THEY BELIEVE IN ME...

Let me set the record straight. My name is Charlotte Silver and I'm not one of those paranormal-obsessed freaks you see on TV…no, those would be my parents, who have their own ghost-hunting reality show. And while I'm usually roped into the behind-the-scenes work, it turns out that I haven't gone unnoticed. Something happened on my parents' research trip in Charleston—and now I'm being stalked by some truly frightening other beings. Trying to fit into a new school and keeping my parents' creepy occupation a secret from my friends—and potential boyfriends—is hard enough without having angry spirits whispering in my ear. All I ever wanted was to be normal, but with ghosts of my past and present colliding, now I just want to make it out of high school alive…

Mara Purnhagen's Past Midnight was quite the interesting read. I was going for a good ghost story and got one, just not what I had expected. Really I had an idea in mind without having read the cover back yet, so it was silly on my part.

The story was good. Not a whole lot of supernatural, but a good dose of paranormal! Charlotte is your typical teen, other than the fact that her parents are essentially ghost "debunkers", they have a show trying to explain a house being not haunted by ghosts but memories. Complicated at first, but they explain it somewhat easily.

The pacing was decent. We get to see what Charlotte's chaotic life is like and she's finally been given a dose of normalcy with her senior high school year by staying at one school for the whole year. She begins to make friends and there's even potential boyfriends walking about. But then things go straight back to the paranormal, when their brand new house suddenly becomes haunted by ghosts from the past.

The story was definitely not something I was expecting, yet it was still good. Like I said, I love a good ghost story and believe in ghosts myself with never having had an experience. But I've always been fascinated with ghosts, even though some of the shows out there always seem fake to me, I still believe.

Overall I give this one 4/5 stars! Will definitely be reading the next one!

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly blog post by MizB over at Should Be Reading.

This is a rather interesting book! It's has ghosts in it and I'm always up for a good ghost story! I'm planning on going to Ohio next month to meet some of my fave authors, and Mara was one of the attending ones, so I thought I'd check her books out beforehand!

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.

"I wasn't so lucky. How was I going to sleep in my room when I knew that I was sharing it with disembodied stalkers?" p 75

TITLE: Past Midnight
AUTHOR: Mara Purnhagen
GENRE: YA Paranormal
RELEASE DATE: September 1, 2010

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:

The Vampire Dimitri by Colleen Gleason

Review to come at a later date

Darkest Mercy by Melissa Marr

My Review

Demon Song by Cat Adams

My Review

The Neon Graveyard by Vicki Perttersson

Review to come at a later date

Die For Me by Amy Plum

Review to come at a later date

Currently Reading:

Past Midnight by Mara Purnhagen

What I Plan to Read this Week:

Raising the Dead by Mara Purnhagen

The Demon Trapper's Daughter by Jana Oliver

Angel Burn by L.A. Weatherly

Would-Be Witch by Kimberly Frost

Other Random Posts of Interest:

Movie Review--Red Riding Hood