Early Review--Magic on the Line by Devon Monk

Allison Beckstrom has willingly paid the price of pain to use magic, and has obeyed the rules of the Authority, the clandestine organization that makes-and enforces-all magic policy. But when the Authority's new boss, Bartholomew Wray, refuses to believe that the sudden rash of deaths in Portland might be caused by magic, Allie must choose to follow the Authority's rules, or turn against the very people for whom she's risked her life.

To stop the plague of dark magic spreading through the city, all that she values will be on the line: her magic, her memories, her life. Now, as dead magic users rise to feed upon the innocent and the people closest to her begin to fall, Allie is about to run out of options...

I received this book from blogging friend Candace@Candace's Book Blog

I love the Allie Beckstrom series!! Devon Monk really writes a fabulous series and I love her take on magic always coming with a price! So when my blogging friend Candace offered me her early copy of Magic on the Line, since she had just started the series, I immediately said yes! So thanks again Candace!!

The Allie books are so fast paced, yet you never really feel lost or slow to catch up. Things just move quickly and I love that! The pacing is just ultra grand! Read this at a pretty good pace considering I have a slight cold. I couldn't put it down, nor did I want to.

Things are not going good for Allie. There's a new boss in town taking over the Authority, Bartholomew Wray. And yeah, you can pretty much guess what kind of character he'll be. Rhymes with "tick", but begins with a "pr"! ;)

But there's nothing Allie can really do, unless she wants to challenge him and find herself Closed. Bartholomew is already making big changes and doesn't seem to care one way or another about the outcome whether it's positive or negative. He's power hungry.

That's not Allie's only problem though.The Veiled are causing monstrously huge problems. They're endangering people. And when they target one of Allie's own, all bets are off. She will do whatever it takes to get rid of them and help her friend out. Even if it means calling on some of her dad's resources.

Allie and Zay are still doing well as a couple. They face some hard trials in this book, but still manage to find moments of peace together. I love them together! I love Zay's Zen-ness. Yet if the moment ever calls for it, he can be fierce! And her makes some drastic decisions in this book as well.

The ending was quite shocking as well. Big things were going down and big things will continue to go down. This is only the beginning for Allie and her friends. A few new characters popped up, yet their roles weren't totally strong, but my mind is definitely reeling with who they might be in the next book, Magic Without Mercy. Now as to which side they'll be on, I'm still skeptical! But that's what I love about reading! I love the constant guessing about characters' motives!

Overall rating 4.5/5 stars

Magic on the Line will be released on November 1, 2011

Once again I have to thank my friend Candace for the early copy! Hope you enjoy the rest of the series Candace!

Teaser Tuesday

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.

Reading is a little slow going, once again I caught a bit of a cold and it's tiring me out! Hate when the weather constantly changes so dramatically! It really screws with my immune system. One day it's 50s the next we in the low to mid 70s! 

"Zay gave me the bad, and I wouldn't have cared if the city suddenly fell under zombie attack. Nothing was getting between me and that burger." p 35

"That was not Davy in those eyes. There was nothing but black--no whites at all--just black and tiny sparks of green swimming in the inky depth. I'd seen eyes like that. On the Veiled." p 111

TITLE: Magic on the Line
AUTHOR: Devon Monk
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: November 1, 2011

Who Do, Voodoo Giveaway!

Hey all! I am happy to announce that one lucky US winner will receive a copy of Who Do, Voodoo by Rochelle Staab! My contact at the publishers got back to me, so she's the one who's in charge of this, hence why it's US only! Sorry international followers!

Anyway I'm going to keep this simple, just leave a comment here, preferably after reading my review to see if you're interested! And that's it!

This was a really good book! A good mystery with voodoo mixed in, but not necessarily the whole voodoo dolls-and-hurting-people kind of thing! But still it has a good dose of mysticism in it, along with muuuuurrrrderrrrr!

This contest will run now through Sat., October 29, 2011 at 11:59 PM CST

Cover Art--2 Titles!

Found two more cover arts for upcoming titles! Both look fabulous! Really can't wait to read Allison Pang's!

A Sliver of Shadow by Allison Pang

Releases February 28, 2012

Taken by Storm by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Releases May 22, 2012

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:

Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick (5 stars)

In Blood We Trust by Christine Cody (3.5 stars)

Better off Undead by DD Barant (3.5 stars)

Who Do, Voodoo (ARC) by Rochelle Staab (4 stars)

Review that was Posted:

The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa (5 stars)

Currently Reading:

Magic on the Line by Devon Monk

What I Plan to Read this Week:

Darker Still by Leanna Renee Hieber

Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

Other Posts of Interest:

Cover Art--DD Barant

Cover Art--Jaye Wells

Cover Art--Christina Henry

Cover Art--Jenna Black

Spooktacular Giveaway!

It's time for the Sppoktacular Giveaway Hop!! This hop will run from now til the 31st and there are tons of blogs participating! It's gonna be awesome!

You already got a sneak peek at my giveaway, but now it's time to see what was in the bag!!

Winner will receive the following in the Vampire Lips bag:

• a copy of Nocturne by Syrie James (This was an awesome read that blew me away! Click here for my review)
• Vampire Foil stickers
• Popup Halloween stickers
• Disney Halloween stickers
• Vampire Lips notebook
• Vampire Lips post-its
• Vampire Lips Shopping pad list w/lil magnet
• Vampire Pez Dispenser
• Bat Rings
• Collection of Halloween shaped erasers
• Minnie Mouse Witch Button
• a bottle of Vampire Blood (really antibacterial gel from Bath and Body Works)
• Halloween Stamps

Once again this giveaway is only open to US & Canada residents only, sorry!

**EDIT** Realized I had too many point value options, so when fixing it I decided to make this just a simple be a follower kind of entry. Points weren't to be over 6, so those who have over 3, I will keep as is as of now, no more extra points though. If you happened to go over 6 points in my tally spread sheet your total will be reduced to 6. Sorry guys, I got a little slap happy when making the form!

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.

Well didn't have a full mailbox, but that was expected! Didn't come out empty handed though!

From Netgalley for review:

Darker Still by Leanna Renee Hieber

Then from Candace@Candace's Book Blog, I got:

Magic on the Line by Devon Monk

Thanks again, Candace! Super excited to read this one!!

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

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: Favorite Sword Wielding Heroines!

*in no particular order

ALLIE BECKSTROM

Allie Beckstrom series by Devon Monk

Allie just looks plain kick ass! She practically always has her sword with her!

MERIT

Chicagoland Vampires series by Chloe Neill

Merit's another one of those gals that always has her sword with her! Think she's awesome too!

MADDY

Madeline Black series by Christina Henry

Maddy has become a fast fave for me! Only got into this series a little while ago! Totally love it and her!

NYX

Night Tracker series by Cheyenne McCray

Nyx can totally kick some ass once she's in her Drow form and she tends to have a sword with her!

ANNA VALERIOUS

Van Helsing (2004)

Okay, she's not a book heroine, although there was the book adaptation of the movie that Kevin Ryan wrote, so I can argue that she is! But come on! It's Kate!! She totally kicks ass no matter what weapon she wields, but since she did use a sword a few times in this movie--which is one my faves--I decided to count her in my Top 5!

Spooktacular Giveaway NOTICE

Hey all! Just wanted to let you know that on Monday the Spooktacular Giveaway Hop begins! And this year I will be participating!

My giveaway will only be open to the US & Canada, sorry!

But I first wanted to tell you all about the Hop, it will be a week long with 100s of blogs participating! So there's gonna be tons of contests with more of them open internationally, so never fear!

Here's a sneak peek of what I'll be giving away...

A vampire bag o' goodies!!

On Monday, October 24 at midnight you'll get to see what's inside with the full list of rules and whatnot! So be sure to come back next week!!

ARC Review--Who Do, Voodoo by Rochelle Staab

ROCHELLE STAAB'S FIRST NOVEL IN HER THRILLING NEW SERIES FEATURES NO-NONSENSE LIZ COOPER. A PSYCHOLOGIST FORCED TO EMBRACE THE OCCULT TO CLEAR HER BEST FRIEND OF MURDER...

When Liz Cooper's friend Robin Bloom finds an unusual tarot card tacked to her front door, Liz writes it off as a prank. Robin refuses to ignore the omen--her late husband drew the same card, the Three of Swords, in a reading the night before he was killed in a car accident. As more cards and darker threats appear, Liz realizes someone very dangerous is upping the ante...

Liz turns to her brother's ex-college roommate, occult expert Nick Garfield. As Nick leads her into the voodoo community to locate the origin of the deck, she can't ignore their attraction to each other. Then, a woman is found murdered and Robin becomes the prime suspect. Determined to clear her friend, Liz teams with Nick to unravel otherworldly secrets and seek help from beyond--or risk being outwitted by a cunning killer...

I received this ARC from Goodreads in a First Reads Contest

I was stoked when I got an email saying I won a Goodreads contest! I'd never one of those before and to my astonishment it was for Rochelle Staab's Who Do, Voodoo? I learned about this book at Bouchercon last month and thought it sounded pretty interesting so I entered the contest on a whim! So glad that happened! Who Do, Voodoo was a very exciting mystery.

This normally isn't my kind of read, but I do love a good mystery--probably from my Scooby Doo days--mixed with something supernatural. And Voodoo is extremely interesting! And scary! This was a good mystery with Voodoo mixed in. There's also contact with spirits and a curse that leads to death! So there were quite a few surprises for me when reading! Wasn't really expecting them either!

When Liz's best friend is accused of murdering her boss's girlfriend, Liz is convinced that she's innocent and will do anything to prove it. The BOC makes it slightly confusing with the words "ex-college roommate", to my "ex" always seems kind of negative, but in this matter it really just means old or past. So Liz teams up with Nick to learn about the Tarot cards and about Voodoo and Vodou--there is a difference--in order to clear Robin's name. Along the way, sparks fly between them!

There's quite a bit of unknown danger too! We have mystical powers about (Voodoo) and there's a killer on the loose. Another problem is Liz's ex-husband (see, ex again. More negative and this time it's warranted), he was a cheater yet he still claims to love Liz. It doesn't help that Liz's mother is still buddies with him. This so annoyed me, but getting that kind of emotion out of me was brilliant! Loved that Liz wasn't afraid to speak her mind about that matter either!

Surprisingly Liz isn't our 20-something year old heroine. She's more in her 30s. Even though I'm in my 20s I still enjoy reading about a heroine who's in her 30s. Seems like a lot of heroines today have to be under 30 for some reason. Either way I'm a happy reader! Age doesn't really matter to me when reading!

The pacing was extraordinary too! Did I mention I read this in 1 day? That's how incredible it was! I love a good mystery. I was constantly trying to figure out the who-done-it! And one of my suspects did pan out to be the bad guy too! Of course I still had like 3 I was juggling with!!

Overall rating 4/5 stars

Stick around too, I'm in the middle of talking with one of the publicity assistants at Berkley/NAL Penguin Group and I will be having a contest of some sort soon! Just trying to work out the final details.

Who Do, Voodoo releases November 1, 2011

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!):

What is your favorite type of candy?

MY ANSWER: Ahh, for once an easy question with a simple answer for me! My all time fave candy is Reese's Peanut Butter Cups! I love em!!

I especially enjoy the holiday shapes; pumpkins, trees, hearts, and eggs because those are LOADED with peanut butter! I usually pull the chocolate off (and eat it!) so that I have a peanut butter shape with a LOT of peanut butter and a little bit of chocolate! Weird, that's me!

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: What superhero is your alter-ego?

MY ANSWER: And here's the tough one! I would likely have said Catwoman--loved Michelle's role of that one! But since I saw the answer already at Parajunkee, I decided to go with something different.

I always thought of myself--as a kid of course!--as Kimberly the Pink Power Ranger! At the time pink was my fave color and of course I had brown hair like Kimberly's and I loved her! Thought she was so cool! And she totally kicked some bad guy butt!

Review--Better off Undead by DD Barant

Welcome to a world in which only one percent of the population is human. Where fighting for survival doesn't always mean staying alive. And dying is just another part of everyday life...These are the Bloodhound Files. Enter at your own risk--if you dare.

Dark magic, unknown enemies, monsters of every stripe—FBI profiler Jace Valchek has seen it all. In this bizarre parallel universe, shape-shifting werewolves and blood-thirsty vampires don’t even warrant a raised eyebrow. That is, until Jace has to face what life might look like as one of them …

It starts off as just another run-of-the-mill assignment: to track down the rogue don of a mafia werewolf family before he upsets the delicate balance of the underworld. But Jace wasn’t counting on being bitten…and soon she’s fighting the growing wolf inside her with a startling antidote—vampirism. Stopping a bloody gangland war won’t be easy when Jace is feeling some new, and very inhuman, desires… 

DD Barant's latest in the Bloodhound Files was totally amazing! Better off Undead is probably gonna be my fave in the series so far! My mind was a little fuzzy on the details of last time, but I was quickly immersed into the plot and story of this book!

Jace is thrust into yet another case, but this time it doesn't involve Stoker, the serial killer she was asked to bring in. This time Tair, the man who was once Dr. Pete, is on the loose and helping another criminal. It's a little complicated to explain, yet it wasn't hard to grasp while reading. There's a lot of crime in Thropirelem it seems, enough to keep Jace busy.

This time around Jace gets bit by a werewolf. Yup, telling you now that it happens, because it was something that happened fairly early on. So now her mission, besides trying to catch the bad guy, is to figure out what she's going to do. There's no cure, but Cassius knows of a possible experiment that may or may not work to help cure her, except it involves some dicey things!

Don't want to get too much into the storyline on that front, so cutting myself off! But it got pretty exciting in the last three chapters or so. Before that it was sort of exciting, it was entertaining, yet it wasn't til near the end that things became heart-pounding exciting!

It definitely made for an interesting book! Jace is starting to get used to Thropirelem, almost thinking of it as a home away from home. She's making friends and fitting in. I like her character development in this manner, it just seems real.

It was a decent read in the end! Sometimes things got a little complex when it came to some scientific matters, but it didn't totally detract from the story. Just made it harder to comprehend some of aspects to the events. But I got the overall idea out of it!

Overall rating 3.5/5 stars

Definitely can't wait to read the next one, Back from the Undead, that comes out March 27, 2012!

Sojourn Winner

Sorry for the lateness of this post! Got a little busy this morning with a few things!

Anyways, drum roll please! The winner of my copy of Sojourn is......

Katie@Katie's Amazing Book Reviews!!

Congrats Katie! I have sent you an email and you have 48 hours to respond or else a new winner will be chosen!

Thanks a lot guys! Glad this book will go to a good home! Stick around for next week is when I'll have another contest! And it's pretty cool I think!