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:

Crave by Laura Burns & Melinda Metz

Chicks Kick Butt (anthology) by multiple authors

Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton

Firelight by Sophie Jordan

Why I Let My Hair Grow Out by Maryrose Wood

DNF Review:

Roses & Bones by Fracesca Lia Block

Currently Reading:

Insatiable by Meg Cabot

What I Plan to Read this Week:

Damned (ARC)by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie

Nocturne (ARC) by Christine Johnson

Other Posts of Interest:

Cover Art--Andrea Cremer

Cover Art--Julie Kagawa

Not planning on reading too much this week since I'm going on vacation at the end. Plus Cabot's book is 400+ pages and I'm not sure how long the others are. Going to try to get these done before I leave, but it's unlikely.

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.

This was a pretty slow week for me, didn't get too many. But that's fine, I have a few 400+ pages books I can read!

This week I bought for my Kindle:

Summer's Crossing by Julie Kagawa (already downloaded and read it, but it was FREE for Kindle!)

Daimon: The Prequel to Half-Blood by Jennifer Armentrout

Trial by Fire by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Then from S&S Galley Grab I got:

Damned by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie
Nocturne by Christine Johnson

And that's what I got this week! What did you get?

Review--Why I Let My Hair Grow Out by Maryrose Wood

SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO BREAK AWAY...

When my boyfriend dumped my on the last day of school, it was just the icing on a ten-layer my-life-sucks cake. Hacking off all my hair and dying the stubble orange seemed like the next logical step. Okay, I was acting out. But my parents freaked and called the travel agent, and before you could say "Let's fix Morgan," I was being sent on a bike tour of Ireland. As if pedaling my way across an entire country with a bunch of losers in padded shorts is supposed to cheer me up?

...TO FIND YOUR WAY.

So I'm hating the Emerald Isle, hating my tour mates, liking-yet-hating the cute redheaded guy who drives the luggage van--when a most unusual bike accident tosses me headfirst into some crazy, once-upon-a-time corner of the past...I'm talking faeries and wee folk and a hunk warrior dude named Fergus, who knows how to treat a girl who's part goddess. (Hmm, wonder who that might be?) Now, in addition to biking across the country, I have to help undo some evil curses and perform an impossible rescue. Some vacation, right? But in the middle of this becoming-a-legend stuff, I'm realizing there's some growing I need to do--and I don't just mean my hair...

My friend read this and said I had to read it, and since I've been recommending tons of books to her I decided to give it a try. Why I Let My Hair Grow Out by Maryrose Wood was an interesting read. I've read so fae books and have liked them quite well. And this one wasn't too bad.

There was some language in this book, but since it's done in an Irish tongue/brogue/whatever, you're not really reading the "bad" words. And it wasn't too hard to read either, for sometimes I do struggle with strong dialects in writing, mostly Southern slang--that I practically have to read out loud! But this one was pretty manageable!

Morgan herself was quite the character. She wasn't too annoying or anything either. She was quite...real. She seemed like someone I would be friends with. And she is dealing with a lot of emotional stuff come the start of summer vacation and when she's forced to take this "vacation" trip overseas it does seem a little extreme. I mean how many parents can actually afford to ship their daughter off overseas for a week-long bike riding tour? Not many and it's never clearly said what her parents do for a living, but I digress.

Truthfully it did take me a bit to get into this. I was waiting for Morgan to enter "faery-land" and get to the good stuff. She finally does around page 58, so not too long. And I did think that Morgan would be spending the majority of the book there, but once again, she didn't. It's kind of a back and forth thing, but it was still unclear on really why she was able to do this. I guess it was just the magic of Ireland.

The characters were quite good, very believable. Everyone had their own personality. There was even similarities between characters in the "real" world and "faery" world when you look for them. Morgan notices them too, so don't worry about actually looking for them.

The tasks that Morgan has to do in faery world comes from a curse and in order to break the curse she has to solve the riddle with her actions. A little confusing, but Morgan figures it out pretty easily after some time--have to get over the "where-the-heck-am-I?"- thing. It was towards the end when a shocking revelation came to front that I got a little confused. It was just one of those WTF moments, you know?

There are 2 other books that I know of to this series, not sure if I'll read them. My friend really enjoyed this one, but I guess I just liked it. One of those books that was interesting and whatnot but not sure if I would go further with the series myself.

Overall rating 3/5 stars--okay read, but not totally spectacular, but again, not dreadful, still pretty interesting!

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 A PNR 1ST TIMER

*in no particular order

Okay this one's a little harder since I considering that I read more UF books and sometimes I can't quite distinguish UF from PNR, so I'm going to give this one a try and if some books might be more UF than PNR, my apologies!

The Riley Jenson Guardian series by Keri Arthur

Probably one of the more intense series I read, more romance than I originally thought.

Nikki & Michael series by Keri Arthur

Actually read this one before her Riley series, had the budding romance go from start to finish. Pretty good series.

Night Tracker series by Cheyenne McCray

A series I recently got into, very edgy but still steamy enough for PNR!

The Gardella Vampire Chronicles by Colleen Gleason

 A fun series that Larissa recommended to me awhile back, think Buffy in Victorian times!

Guild Hunter series by Nalini Singh

One I read recently and just totally love for some reason! A very good series with angels!

DNF Review--Roses & Bones by Francesca Lia Block

What happens when a girl finds herself at the crossroads between worlds—where the angels and ghosts, gods and demons, and beauties and beasts of myth are real? What does she do and who does she become?

Roses & Bones captures the best Francesca Lia Block has to offer: extravagantly imaginative tales, dark landscapes, fierce poetry, and storytelling that is nothing short of magical.

I've had this on my shelf for awhile and Roses & Bones was the second book of Francesca Lia Block's that I read. Although, I couldn't seem to get into this one.

I had got it from Bookperk when I was getting Abandon, and thought why not! The mythology and fairy tales really grabbed at my attention, I totally though this was going to be the book for me. Only it wasn't.

There's 3 books in this and I read the first one, Psyche in a Dress, which was in a sort of poetry like format. Not normal novel paragraphs at least. It was a sort of mesh of Greek myths from Psyche and Eros and Persephone and Hades and other Greek myth pieces. It was interesting, yet a little hard to read. For when I see the "poetry" like format, my brain automatically tries to find a rhythm from my school years.

The next story Echo was where my attention started to wan. The perspectives were very scattered, at first I was fine because Echo was the storyteller, but then it jumped around in the story telling, but still had the characters from within. I think one section was a flashback from another character, but then we jump back to Echo and at the time I didn't know that. A whole new story was going on with Echo. It was just confusing, and then it goes onto a character we haven't met but then Echo meets him to tie it back into the story. I was just so lost I gave that one up.

The next one was The Rose and the Beast, this had a collection of shorter stories that were supposed to be the fairy tales retold sort of thing. I didn't even make it through the first one. It was called "Snow" so it was following the threads of Snow White in a way, but after spending so much time reading Echo, my brain just wasn't into it so I ended up stopping the book entirely.

This was a DNF for me and one of the firsts that I had in awhile, maybe someday I'll go back to the last segment and try it again, but I really don't know. The book sounded like it was going to be interesting, but it just wasn't for me. The mythic and fable-ic (Not really a word, but you get it) elements weren't really strong in the last ones. At least not that I could see, so it was a letdown for me. It does still have the same contemporary feel of I Was a Teenage Fairy, that one I read years ago and liked pretty good. When I still read some contemporaries at least, although since there was a fairy not sure if you could call it contemporary. The paranormal or in this case "mythic" elements just weren't strong enough for my UF tastes.

Review--Firelight by Sophie Jordan

A HIDDEN TRUTH.

MORTAL ENEMIES.

DOOMED LOVE.

Marked as special at an early age, Jacinda knows her every move is watched. But she longs for freedom to make her own choices. When she breaks the most sacred tenet among her kind, she nearly pays with her life. Until a beautiful stranger saves her. A stranger who was sent to hunt those like her. For Jacinda is a draki—a descendant of dragons whose greatest defense is her secret ability to shift into human form.

Forced to flee into the mortal world with her family, Jacinda struggles to adapt to her new surroundings. The only bright light is Will. Gorgeous, elusive Will who stirs her inner draki to life. Although she is irresistibly drawn to him, Jacinda knows Will's dark secret: He and his family are hunters. She should avoid him at all costs. But her inner draki is slowly slipping away—if it dies she will be left as a human forever. She'll do anything to prevent that. Even if it means getting closer to her most dangerous enemy.

Mythical powers and breathtaking romance ignite in this story of a girl who defies all expectations and whose love crosses an ancient divide.

Sophie Jordan's Firelight was far better than what I was expecting. Draki--dragons--are a pretty much untouched subject in my book. Have read 1 or 2 books with a different mythical creature, but draki, not so much. But it was truly fascinating!

I did hear that this book has a Twilight feel, only backwards. The girl, Jacinda is a draki, a fire-breather the only one of her kind in her pride and the boy is the human and draki hunter. So it also has a little bit of Buffy going on too, more so than Twilight really!

Jacinda loves her draki self while her mother let hers die and her twin sister never transformed into one. One day Jacinda went flying with her friend, which was forbidden and attracted the attention of hunters. Which just led to big trouble for Jacinda. In order to protect her, her mother packs them up and moves them away to hide out in normalcy. Tamra, her sister, is thrilled with the change, a human living amongst draki was never the life for her, but Jacinda is the opposite.

I had conflicting feelings towards Jacinda, while I could sympathize her with being forced to leave her draki pride behind, there were times I felt like she was being pretty selfish, always whining, me, me, me! But then I would get mad with her mother and sister for trying to force Jacinda into being more human and letting her draki die as her mother did. I'm not a fan of people making decisions for others. So I literally went back ad forth with hating and liking the characters. 

Sometimes though, that's refreshing. Sure I like loving a character completely, but I also like the love-hate too. Jacinda and Will start their relationship along the lines of Twilight where Jacinda knows she should stay away from Will, but can't. The attraction is too much. But since he's a hunter, he comes from a family of hunters which just adds up to a dangerous mess. Especially when one of his cousins starts to get a little suspicious. 

The romance was the budding teenage kind common in YA so it was pretty tame and still "teenly" intense! And the ending has quite a few shocking surprises, so I will definitely have to check out Jordan's Vanish come this fall!

Overall rating 3.5/5, a really decent read!

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!):

How many books are currently in your To-Be-Read (TBR) Pile

MY ANSWER: Well I guess I don't have too many compared to other bloggers, but it always seems like a lot to me when I sometimes feel like I might want to re-read something or whatever. But I have been doing good at knocking off books in the pile, so currently I have 5 physical books in a pile, plus 3 Kindle books--one I might not even read really.

So that's 8 total, but taking into consideration that I have 1 book that I won recently so it's in the mail somewhere and I plan to buy possible 2 more this weekend if not 1!

So by Sunday my total might be 10. But still not a lot! I have the feeling once I start hopping around the numbers are going to blow me away!

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: Genre Wars! What's your favorite genre and which book in that genre made it your favorite?

MY ANSWER: My genre is Urban Fantasy! Has always been! Can't even remember what book it was that made it my fave. Really at the time UF wasn't too big, so it might not have even been called that! But anyway, I believe the book that totally started my obsession passion was Demon in My View by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes!! It was my first vampire novel, that I can recall and I read it like a dozen times! I even did my freshman (high school) book report on it!

*Review--Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton*

It starts off simply.

Draw a circle ... place a dead leaf in the center ... sprinkle some salt ... recite a little Latin ... add a drop of blood ...

Maybe that last part isn't exactly simple. Yet somehow it feels right to Silla Kennicott. And nothing in her life has felt remotely right since her parents' horrific deaths. She's willing to do anything to uncover the truth about her family—even try a few spells from the mysterious book that arrived on her doorstep ... and spill some blood.

The book isn't the only recent arrival in Silla's life. There's Nick Pardee, the new guy next door who may have seen Silla casting a spell. She's not sure what he saw and is afraid to find out. But as they spend more time together, Silla realizes this may not be Nick's first encounter with Blood Magic. Brought together by a combination of fate and chemistry, Silla and Nick can't deny their attraction. And they can't ignore the dark presence lurking nearby—waiting to reclaim the book and all its power.

Tessa Gratton's intoxicating first novel will keep pulses racing, minds reeling, and pages turning right up to the very last drop of blood.

Tessa Gratton's debut Blood Magic was unlike anything I was expecting! I had read some good reviews and though I'd give it a try. Plus, I love the cover! 

If anything you could categorize this as a "magic" type book. There's not a whole lot of paranormal other than that going on. No ghosts, vampires or werewolves, but other dark sinister things that can come from magic. There's some backstory that we have to learn in order to understand what's happening in present day, so there are journal entries every other chapter or so. At first it kind of threw me off, but then I just started to roll with it as that tends to be my motto when reading!

The story's told from Silla and Nicholas's p.o.v. in first person and it was very interesting. This way we get to see the same events--almost--but from 2 p.o.v.'s. And also what's happening with one of them when the other isn't around. 

There's sort of a mystery going on that not everything is clear. Silla's parents were murdered and Silla is the only one who believes their deaths happened in another kind of way and not the obvious one that everyone, including her brother, believes. Then Silla receives a package in the mail with a letter and a journal. A journal that has spells in it, and it belonged to her father as she is told in the note.

Soon Silla becomes consumed by the magic, never having experienced things like it before. And when new-boy Nicholas sees her doing it in the beginning, oddly he doesn't find her crazy. There's more to him as well.

There's still quite a few secrets and details that are left unanswered and some shocking surprises along the way. Blood Magic was a truly fascinating read that held me captivated from the beginning to end. Which was slightly surprising to me since it wasn't fully paranormal which is my norm!

And yeah, I did like seeing St. Louis being mentioned a couple of times too! I will definitely be checking out Tessa's next book! She has made my author list for sure!

Overall rating 4/5 stars

Cover Art--Julie Kagawa

EEEP!!! Saw this on Julie's blog and OMG! I LOOOOOOVE it!! The complete cover art for The Iron Knight!

Now we've seen the front with Ash, sigh....

Now here's the back!

It's Puck!!!

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.

One of my fave mystery series, or paranormal/cozy? mystery series is the Psychic Eye Mystery by Victoria Laurie! Book 9 is about to release this summer in hardcover for the first time! Already have my copy preordered at a great price and I can't wait to read it!

Plus I heard that Victoria is going to be in St. Louis in September for Bouchercon! I'm thinking of buying a 1-day pass to attend to meet her!

Abby Cooper's next mission may truly be impossible...

Abby Cooper, the FBI's newest Civilian Profiler, is adding Spy to her resume. The military's digital photography software that captures one's aura- just like Abby can-sits in a drone aircraft that's been stolen. It's a major breach in security as every country's leader can be identified by their aura...

Abby springs into action to stop the criminals before they set their diabolical plan into motion, while making herself a prime target.

TITLE: Vision Impossible
AUTHOR: Victoria Laurie

GENRE: Paranormal Mystery
RELEASE DATE: July 5, 2011

Review--Chicks Kick Butt edited by Rachel Caine and Kerrie Hughes

Today's women don't stand around waiting for a hero. These days, women are quite capable of solving their own problems and slaying their own dragons (or demons, as the case may be).

In this all-new anthology, Kerrie L. Hughes and New York Times bestselling author Rachel Caine have collected original stories from thirteen of today's most exciting urban fantasy and paranormal authors.

Each story features a strong heroine who kicks butt and takes names in a dangerous world and makes that world a better place for everyone in it--except the bad guys, of course. And if she finds a bit of romance along the way, well, a little heat warms the heart and sharpens the mind...just as long as the man can keep up.

This has to be the coolest anthology ever! Chicks Kick Butt is an urban fantasy anthology with 13 incredible short stories from 13 incredible authors!

Since anthologies are hard to review, I'm breaking this down by each story, so here goes in the order that they are in:

Shiny by Rachel Caine

Love the Weather Warden series and it was fun to be back with Joanne and David! Shiny includes an awesome car chase with Joanne behind the wheel trying to track down another Djinn. One with a major attitude problem and happens to be a model! It has quite a shocking twist near the end too that totally blew me away!

Overall rating 5/5 stars

In Vino Veritas by Karen Chance

This one is about Dory--Mircea's daughter who's a dhampir. There's lots of action in this one and rousing drinking game that Dory takes part in, in order to save another vamp's life. But when the alcohol of choice is faery wine, things get mighty interesting.

Overall rating 3/5 stars

Hunt by Rachel Vincent

My FAVE of the anthology!! Once again we get to go back to Rachel's Shifter world and this time Abby is grown up. It's been 2 1/2 years since the events of Stray and what happened to her. And the camping trip she takes with her friends becomes a huge mess when a group of hunters starting offing her friends. Seriously! You learn this about 1-2 pages in! And there's quite a bit of surprises to deal with as well. Abby still deals with what happened to her in Shift and does what she can to overcome it and save the friends that she has left. Oh and Jace is there too!

Overall rating 5/5 stars

Monsters by Lilith Saintcrow

This was an interesting one. We have a vampire or Protector who is out for vengeance, for her charges were murdered. She is now out on a quest to track down each and every killer. She also finds some unexpected help along the way.

Overall rating 3/5 stars

Vampires Prefer Blondes by P.N. Elrod

This was another interesting one that has an old-time kind of mystery feel. It's set in 1937, hence "old-time". It has quite the opening when a group of men are searching for a particular blonde at a show house where talent performs, both male and female. The vamps are looking for a female. Bobbi who knows more than the average woman soon finds out that there's a whole lot more going on than meets the eye and sets out to help the blonde.

Overall rating 2.5/5 stars

Nine-Tenths of the Law by Jenna Black

Morgan Kingsley is back! As far as I could tell, it seems like this takes place some time before the final book. There was nothing definite to that feeling, just a guess. Morgan is contacted by a set of parents who are concerned that their daughter is possessed and want Morgan to do an exorcism. But when the mother almost lets it slip that they're members of God's Wrath, Morgan--and Lugh's instincts are kicking! Morgan has to do some investigating and she's going to have to get help from Reporter Barbie!

Overall rating 4/5 stars

Double Dead by Cheyenne McCray

This definitely takes place before Zombies Sold Separately and if you've read that you'll know why! It might even be earlier than that. My memory is fuzzy on a particular detail, but oh well. It doesn't matter when this takes place. It was quite interesting. This time Nyx is up against Metamorphs. And they've kidnapped her, about to put their evil plan into action unless Nyx can stop them in time.

Overall rating 5/5 stars

A Rose by Any Other Name Would Still be Red by Elizabeth A. Vaughn

This was another one I wasn't too familiar with, so it took some getting used to. Red is trying to rescue someone from slave dealers. There's a lot of bad guys to eliminate in the process and then she receives some unusual help.

Overall rating 2/5 stars

Superman by Jeanne C. Stein

Loved this one! Anna is back and it turns out her ex, Max, needs her help in tracking down a vampire. And killing it. For the vampire is "helping" foreigners cross the border into the US, but then drains them dry--killing them--before they ever reach American soil. It was pretty good. Although the mention of one character has me at a loss, perhaps because it's been too long since I read Jeanne's last book!

Overall rating 4/5 stars

Monster Mash by Carole Nelson Douglas

This was a Delilah Street story and I have yet to get to this series and really considering changing that once I get the chance! Delilah was a fun character and the world setting was just amazing! Very UF! Delilah is trying to do Sansovci a favor by helping out his boss with a problem. There's some screaming going on at the casino that can't be settled. There are a lot of CinSims about the place--ghost like beings of celebs and sometimes characters they played, wasn't 100% clear on all of it. But it was rather fun, because these CinSims are a large part of the story and there was more than one familiar face in the mix!

Overall rating 5/5 stars

Wanted: Dead or Alive by L.A. Banks

This was another one I wasn't familiar with. So I have no idea if the characters were apart of her series or not. Tanya was once human and killed a powerful vampire and became a vamp. Now that vampire's friends and enemies are out to get her because she wants to change vampire ways. She ends up getting some help from a vamp who may not be all bad. And together they will do what's necessary to survive.

Overall rating 2.5/5 stars

Mist by Susan Krinard

This was perhaps the most confusing story for me. I almost stopped reading it, but I kept going. The MC is Mist and she's not quite human. That much was easy to gather. There's some sort of mystical world she once was apart of but is no longer. For some reason I was just totally lost throughout this one.

Overall rating 1/5 stars

Beyond the Pale by Nancy Holder

Meg is a Gifted person and was once a Border Patrol Officer for the borders of Mexico, but after a tragic finding she begins to question things. She ends up going to Germany and joining another group of Border Patrol Officers. This was another slightly confusing one, but not as much. There's still the fae involved of a sort. They mention the Pale which is the line between the Faery world and our world. There's mentioning of Changelings and they're a big part of the storyline as well. The ending kind of confused me as well, but I had been reading all day, so my mind was probably spent!

Overall rating 3.5/5 stars

TOTAL Overall rating for the entire collection: 4/5 stars

Cover Art--Andrea Cremer

How awesome is this cover!! It's Andrea Cremer's third novel in the Nightshade Trilogy and I sooooo can't wait to read this and Wolfsbane!

Goodreads says it releases February 21, 2012

Teaser Tuesday

Raced to finish Crave yesterday to start Chicks Kick Butt so that by the time this came up on the blog I would actually be reading the book the teaser comes from!

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.

"David, though, wasn't having any nonsense. He Smiled. It wasn't a pretty smile, and it reminded me that as much as I adored him, as much as he was all the good things that a Djinn could be, he had a dark streak. They all did. And his wasn't small, just deeply buried and tightly leashed. 'Don't push me,' he said. 'Or I'll break you. For good.'" p 19, Shine by Rachel Caine

TITLE: Chicks Kick Butt
AUTHOR: Multiple Authors
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: June 7, 2011

Review--Crave by Laura Burns & Melinda Metz

Shay could never do the things her friends could--never try out for sports, never go to parties, never fall in love. Because of the mysterious and incurable blood disorder she was born with, she can barely make it through three days of school a week.

But now, her doctor-turned-stepfather has a brand-new treatment that he thinks will change everything. And it does. As soon as the new blood starts pumping into Shay's veins, she has visions of a different life...Gabriel's life. She sees an orphanage, loss, fangs, blood, and lust that she can't explain.

Is Gabriel real? And if he is, could he really be what she thinks he is?

OMG! Crave was seriously good! I read a review awhile back and bought it shortly after and decided to read it before I tackled more of my new releases and it was pretty awesome!

Laura Burns and Melina Metz--both who wrote books in the Roswell adaptation series that I read years ago and still own--wrote this together. First off, I am just amazed when two authors work together to create a book, the result is always outstanding, and it's not like one author writes a chapter from a certain p.o.v. and then the other does their character--which I have seen and it works too--this one is like a straight story. It doesn't go one chapter to Shay and one to Gabriel. It's all just mixed together. Shay and Gabriel do alternate in narrating which allows us inside their heads while traveling together.

The story had a somewhat slow start, but things were interesting when Shay's new blood transfusions started giving her strange visions. She also gained a new sense of energy that she never had before. But soon darkness overtakes her happy moments.

There's quite a bit of backstory to know to the story, but amazingly it's woven into the story rather well. We get glimpses of Gabriel's past through Shay and Shay will think back on her own past and about particular events that come up.

It all leads to several shocking surprises. I did foresee one of them happening due to the way the story was told. But still, even guessed outcomes are still nice surprises. The story vaguely reminded me of another YA trilogy that I read years ago called The Wereling by Stephen Cole. Just some basic plot lines really, but still it felt familiar and still had enough differences, other than it being vampires vs werewolves obviously!

Overall this was a great read! Practically read it in a day since I only got 1 chapter done before the weekend and now I soooo cannot wait to read the next one, Sacrifice! That releases September 20, and now I wish I would've held off reading this one for a little longer, but oh well!

Overall rating 4.5/5 stars

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:

Bargains and Betrayals by Shannon Delany (Review to come at a later date)

Something Deadly this Way Comes by Kim Harrison

Zombies Sold Separately by Cheyenne McCray

Currently Reading:

Crave by Laura Burns & Melinda Metz

What I Plan to Read this Week:

Chicks Kick Butt (anthology) edited by Rachel Caine & Kerrie Hughes

Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton

Firelight by Sophie Jordan

Other Posts of Interest:

Cover Copy Reveals--Kristen Painter

Cover Copy Reveal--Aimee Carter

Cover Art--Shannon Delany

Cover Art--Shannon Delany

OMG!! Saw this earlier and HAD to post it!! It's the cover for Shannon Delany's Destiny and Deception! Book 4 in the 13 to Life series!!!! Aieeeeee!!!!

And OMG! Goodreads says it releases January 31, 2012! Soooo can't wait! Love the cover! Red will look totaly awesome with the rest! And word is that the girl in the middle is NOT Jessie!

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.

Just as I start to get my TBR pile under control, I buy more books! My name is Jessica and I am a book addict! We need a OBBA--obsessive book buyers anonymous. ;)

Anyways...here's what I bought:

The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross (My Review)

The Neon Graveyard by Vicki Pettersson (My Review)

These two I read and needed to buy my keeper copies!

Onto the newer books:

Chicks Kick Butt (anthology) edited by Rachel Caine and Kerrie Hughes

Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton

Insatiable by Meg Cabot

Dead Girls are Easy by Terri Garey--bought this one because of Candace's amazing review on her blog! Had thought about it for awhile and her review convinced me to buy it! Click here to see it.

And that was my IMM this week! Like I said I have wayyy too many books to read. One of my only benefits of being "temporarily" unemployed is that I get to work on whittling down the mountain!