October 2016 Author Of The Month

I know, I'm all over the place. However, in my absence from this blog, I've started reading again and came across an author whom I can't not give her due praise. Especially since both series are from a genre I detested up until about three months ago. Historical Romance.

And I devoured these books. Novellas, and all. So, without further adieu....I give you

Tessa Dare

She has written some of thee most unique, comically romantic books I've ever read. A friend of mine actually recommended her book 'When A Scot Ties The Knot' to me and one morning at work, I saw her reading it and almost dying of laughter. Right then and there I decided I had to read these beasts. This friend of mine is hard to please when it comes to books so right then, I knew it had to be something special. So I went out - to Amazon.com, that is - and purchased the books.

I was not disappointed. The Spindle Cove series and Castles Ever After series are books I would recommend to anyone looking for dynamic characters, interesting storylines and hot sex scenes.

Please check out Tessa Dare's website!

To 'Like' Tessa Dare on Facebook, click here.
To Follow Tessa Dare on Twitter, click here.
To Follow Tessa Dare on Goodreads, click here.
To purchase her books on Amazon, click here.

Stay tuned for reviews!

Hola! Bonjour! Herro! Allo!

Herro, how are ya? I'm good, thanks - let's get all that out of the way and get down to business. Life happened, some personal stuff, a few uneventful events, so on and so forth. I'd bet a dollar you don't care much, so I'll save time.

Sadly, I have fallen off and become a slacker in all things books. Writing this blog, writing my own books, reading books, reviewing books...all of it came to a very abrupt halt basically after that last post of mine back in September. [Gasp!] BUT...this is where things get exciting, guys...I HAVE REVIVED MY LIFE. I am back to reading books, writing books and back to this blog as well! Oh, my gah people. You cannot possibly understand how happy I am that this has happened. 

Given my rapid decline in bookish activities, I thought it best to start out slowly. SO, I've set my Goodreads 2016 Reading Challenge to 35 books. Solid number, right? I like it, too. I am so pleased to announce that I am 6 books ahead of schedule. Not, 4. Not 1, but SIX books. *Breaks for a happy dance*  Some of you won't understand but all my bookish people who've known the struggle of a reading rut....YOU FEEL ME. And it's REAL.

So, of the 11 books, I've read so far this year, 6 of them are historical romance. Anyone who knows me is gasping or choking on coffee right now. First off, straight up romance is not my bag. Add in historical to the title, and I used to run even faster. But Tessa Dare writes a mean HR, I'll tell you that much. As a matter of fact, I think I'll get back to Once Upon A Winter's Eve. The next post you see of mine will be a review of one of her amazeballs Historical Romances.

Until the morrow!

--A.

July '14 AOTM

Yeah, we're doing this again. Drum roll, if you please.

*Taps fingers ridiculously*

Wendy Higgins!

You've probably already read her books. But in the event that you are like me and have not, I'll give you a quick run down. Which means I'm going to tell you what I'm thinking so far. HERE is a link to the entire series on Goodreads.

Sweet Evil. Kick-ass premise, characters aren't too bad - Saint Anna is kind of dancing on a nerve though - the setting is cool. Albeit lacking detail. The writing is awesome. Ms. Higgins has a way with words that makes me want to keep reading even though at some points I asked myself "Why the hell am I still reading this?". It's one of those you-shouldn't-watch-but-you-can't-look-away kind of thing.

The one two things I can't really get jiggy with are: Saint Anna. She is supposed to be "good". But she's too good. She's crossed over to the realm of unrealistic/making it harder to suspend reality. There isn't a sixteen year old girl in Atlanta that hasn't at least had a kiss. And I can almost guarantee you that they lie all the time. And especially because of her nature, she should've been doing it all her life, but no. 

Next thing: The lack of conflict. Everything is moving too smoothly. It's all falling into their laps. Per example: Anna needs to go to California to....let's just say she has to go. She needs money for plane tickets. The neighborhood ice cream parlor hires her weird ass on the spot. Patti's tires blow and she has to use the money they saved - that's okay! Super Kai(den) to the rescue with is father's bank account and sudden trustworthiness. (I won't even go into that one. You have to read it.) Anna's like an open book and Kaiden can "read" her too easy: she learns how to conceal her emotions within the span of two pages and she's suddenly an expert. **SPOILER ALERT** Skip down if you don't want to see. She assumes her dad is an evil son of a bitch whom she'll hate and despise all her life: she meets him and - I shit you not - during the time they talk, he cries. Like four times. Because he lurved her mother.

I just can't with that. Aside from that, there's nothing that makes me want to put the book down so I'm going to keep reading until the trilogy is over.

Next up: Sweet Peril.

Although I fail to see how she stretched this story out into three books....We shall see, then shant we?

Open Letter To All The Books I Forgot To Review

First off, I would like to send my deepest, deepest condolences for all sixteen of you on my list. I had every intention of writing shining - or snarky - reviews for each and every one of you but...things just did not pan out the way I imagined them to.

I take responsibility for your lack of reviews but I will impart some of the blame onto your darling brothers and sisters who have stolen my attention and have made it absolutely impossible for me not to pick them up and read them first. *Cough* Blame Darynda Jones and Sophie Jordan *Cough*.

So, my dear ones. I am saddened to say that some of you may not get a review - Yes, Through The Ever Night, this means you - but there are a couple of you awesome ones that deserve to be chucked on the chin by G-d, himself. Yeah, Uninvited, you sweet thing, you. You're getting one. *Blows kiss* You, too over there The Ward. 

Aaaand, a couple of you are getting reviews that may or may not will be full of snark. Mhmmm, Everneath, I'm looking at you. You, too A Shade Of Vampire. You two will most definitely be getting your reviews. Come hell or high water!

So, in conclusion I just ask that you be patient with me. These past months I've had some personal problems going on with my family that took precedence over pretty much everything else in my life. I didn't want to post another 'Update' post because come on, you're tired of reading them and I'm tired of writing them. Just know that I'm here when I can be and that the few of you who do actually take the time and read my blog are very important to me and I thank you. The aforementioned four books will be getting their reviews up within the next couple of weeks and I only hope you enjoy them. 

But why wouldn't you? I'm friggin' hilarious?

  

Right?

 

February 2014 Author Of The Month

Okay...I have a confession. I totally started reading these books back in January.

 

I know, I know. But I just couldn't help myself!! If you've read them, you know what I'm saying. THEY'RE JUST SO FRIGGIN AMAZING. But you will see why when you find out who this author is.....annnnnnddddd she is....

Don't recognize awesomesauce when you see it? That's okay. I didn't at first either. But I've mended my ways and started reading her books about my favorite grim reaper. Still no clue? Okay....how about this one?

If you don't know now then feel free to stand in Reyes' way...or change your name to Hedeshi and try to steal from him. Whichever floats your goat.

Darynda Jones.

And I'll leave you with that until you can ease your mind with the review I'll post shortly. Because when I said I started reading them last month...I meant I finished all five in as many days. I know. I'm sorry....but I'm not.

January 2014 AOTM + A Few Fun Things

Just a couple fun things. 'Few' implies more than two and I don't even think there are three fun things going on in my life.... *Crickets* Yeah. Probably not.

So. I trust you all have been having a stellar new year and brought it in SAFELY.  *Gives best mom-stare...watches everyone cower behind their monitors until they nod obediently* Now that my mother complex has been eased...I come to you today with your January Author Of The Month. And she is..... *Drumroll*

CHLOE NEILL!!!!

Isn't she perty? I'd never saw her face before tonight and I thought she'd be a blonde....dunno why. Just did.

Anysnooch, I do plan on reading her other series as well but for now, I'm starting with Chicagoland Vampires. Have you heard of it? I bet ya have. I admit, I'm behind in my reading but I went through this funk thing...where I only finished 27 books last year. Yeah. Sad. BUT, you can check my last post of 2013 for a recap on those books HERE.

I'm on book three now, at the present moment but I'm moving through them rather quickly. Much faster than I imagined I would....ya know. Since that whole funk thing I mentioned. *Shivers* Reading ruts are no fun and I feel for my bookish peeps who've been there. I KNOW YOUR STRUGGLE MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS!!

Yeah...come to think of it...I don't even have a couple fun things. But enjoy this gif! =D

Isn't it DARLING?! I like to think of it as an improvement on the original. What do you think?

Reading Recap Of 2013: My Year In Books

Told ya I'd get this up, now didn't I? *Winks*

Anywhoozlebees, as per my Goodreads, I've finished a whopping 31 27 books this year! Yes, I know. Don't get yourself too excited. I've started TONS more but didn't finish them all and certainly wasn't moved to write a review for them. Alas, for the ones I did, I will give you their title, a link to their corresponding review if I've written one and a sentence from said review to sum up my feelings for it.

In no particular order:

The Darkest Pleasure: Lords Of The Underworld #3 - 

"Such a shame that this book didn't get interesting until about 66% in."

Review HERE.

The Darkest Passion: LOTU #5

"The last three chapters or so were one of the only redeeming qualities for this book. It draaaagged 85% of the way through!"

Review HERE.

Lover At Last: Black Dagger Brotherhood #11

"Meh."

Review HERE.

Ever After: The Hollows #11

"For me, three stars for Ever After is generous."

Review HERE.

Twice Tempted: Night Prince #2

"How many books is she trying to squeeze out of this? I don't want to read the same book three-five times. It's exhausting."

Review HERE.

Desolate City: Albertos #1

"Yeah. Still confused. And not a single page feels like it is connected to the next."

Review HERE.

Charmed : The Charmed  #1

"Isnt this awkward? Infuriated. I want to be in love with this book but the emotional leaps are wigging me out. "

Review HERE.

Under Wraps: Underworld Detection Agency #1

"Sophie is an idiot. Just when I start to like her, too. Smh."

Review HERE.

Birth Of The Nyxian: The Immortal Choice Series # 1

"Oh. Insta-love. Cool."

Review HERE.

Prayer For The Dead: Revenants In Purgatory #1

"Olivia's voice is incredibly entertaining and likable. This hardly feels like a debut! It's fantastic."

Review HERE.

In doing this, I've realized that a few of the books I enjoyed the most aren't on this list. So they get a special shoutout! 

FAVORITE books of 2013:

Prayer For The Dead

Poison Princess

Endless Knight.

Funny how Kresley Cole has two of the three fave titles, huh? Lol A very close runner up for fave is:

Under The Never Sky.

My review for Endless Knight will be up shortly-ish but for now, I'm going to enjoy my NYE. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR! And a HUGE thank you for tagging along on this ride with me. I am so thankful for anyone reading this, there aren't words. I appreciate you very much and expect big things from me in 2014! I feel very good about this year <3 div="">

--Amiya <3 div="">

MORE Updates + Worse News + Even More Tears

Putie, le broken laptop is still dead in the water. I'm afraid I haven't ventured to get her fixed/serviced BUT I am still hoping that I can salvage my work on it. Because if not....yeah. We're not going to go there at all.

Any-whoozle-bees...I did write my four star review for Prayer For The Dead...it got deleted from my mom's laptop. SO, I have to rewrite that and eventually get it posted up here. I have also read Endless Knight: book two in Kresley Cole's Arcana Chronicles and ohh. myy. gahhh. It was probably the best book I've read this year next to Poison Princess and Prayer For The Dead. Like, yeah. Those books are officially in my top reads of 2013. So I'm going to get that review posted as well.

OH, I will absolutely be doing a "2013 Recap: My Year In Books" post in about a week once work dies down a bit. And this time when I say a week, I mean seven days...ish. ;)

Also, Author Of The Month has officially been put on hold due to my lack of access to a computer. :(

Third Person POV & Mira Teaser

I tend try to stay away from third POV for the simple fact that I kinda dislike how mine reads. It's a bit pretentious and a lot impersonal. But then again, I think a lot of the 3rd POV's out there by various authors sound impersonal. Yes, I get that I am, in a way, just an observer. But most of the time, I like to feel like I'm right there beside the MC, experiencing every nuance of their adventure with them; their fear is mine and their romance is, too.

That being said...I have a teaser/snippet from one of my WIPs and I'd like feedback on whether my 3rd POV is completely terrible tolerable. Lol


"“Okay,” Mira whispered to her reflection in the mirror. “Tonight is about us.” She started her personal pep talk. “Tonight will be amazing.” She could hear David’s key jingling in the door when her heart started kicking up speed. “Deep breaths, Mira.”
    As soon as the lights in the house went flickered, Mira knew it wasn’t David at the door. Her pupils dilated, blood rushed through her veins, thumping too hard in her ears. A chill of familiarity skittered down her spine, squaring her shoulders and settling in her stomach. 
    It started to burn where it lay, singeing though it wasn’t fear. She’d known this day would come for the last couple decades. Besides, fear was reserved for the ill prepared and the weak. Mira was neither and fear was a luxury she never could afford. 
    The lights flickered again, casting dark shadows in the house she’d called home for the past five years; making potted plants and light fixtures much more sinister than they’d ever been. A brief twist of pain struck her in the gut right before she was thrown off her feet; as if being pulled by an invisible force. Mira soared through the air until her back hit a wall, the force of her one hundred thirty pound frame buckling it. Air whooshed from her lungs, catching on her tonsils and choking her just in time to steal the words coming from her lips.
    “No, no. Don’t get up on account of me. I’m just here to kill you.” The smile in that familiar voice was obvious. “What? You don’t look too happy to see me, doll. You had to know that I’d find you sooner or later. Whatever could be the matter?” The door flew open and that petite figure she knew stood in the doorway, her voice taunting Mira with every syllable.
    “Oh, I don’t know, Chris.” Mira ground out; refusing to be anything but her normal bitingly sarcastic self. “Maybe the dwarf pinning me to my foyer wall and mucking up my freshly polished African Teak floors with dog shit on her last season Prada knock-offs?” Mira gave the woman a taunting smirk before fire flared on her left cheek.
    “I see you still haven’t acquired any manners.” Chris said tiredly. “Doesn’t really surprise me.”
    “Who needs manners when I can piss you off easier with a few simple well placed four-letter words?” the sting of a slap came back to Mira’s face, the residual effects of the hexwork leaving an acrid scent in the air. “Resorting to using hexes for little ole me, Chris? I’m flattered.”
    “Just getting started.” The small woman smiled and pulled a palm-sized vial of something dark from her pocket and unscrewed the top; beginning to chant in Latin. 
    “What,” Mira bit out around the pain of her jaw locking up on her. “No circle?” She asked as three lone droplets of a dark, inky liquid hit the floor. Mira hoped that wasn’t what she thought it was.
    “I would, but hubby is due shortly. Wouldn’t want him to interrupt.” The chanting in Latin resumed and Mira chuckled darkly, finding a morbid sort of amusement out of the entire situation. 
    She recognized the words, of course. The curse was written by her. "

Pg 4 of Untitled WIP

Sooooo....thoughts? Opinions? Rainbow gifs?

:D

I Know, I Know. You Don't Have To Say It....

Yeah, I'm not even gonna start apologizing because you and I both know I'll probably - more than likely - be apologizing again in a month or three when I've been MIA again. I don't mean to neglect this blog or my writing...it just happens. I'm tired ALL the time because of a medical issue I have and when I'm not working, I'm sleeping or trying to sleep. I'm probably spreading myself too thing with all the other things I do....anysnooch.

I've come to announce that I will be trying out a new "Author Of The Month" kind of thing. Where I read numerous books by a single author in one month and possibly review them. Anyone dislike this idea? Anyone like it? Anyone not care either way and are just here for the rainbow gifs? Yeah. Thought so.

SO. The author this month -we'll have her as July-August due to the late start - is....... Amanda R. Browning!

She posted on her facebook about wanting some reviewers for her books and you all know how much I love to write me a good review. I hear a lot of great things about her books so I'm really amped to get started. And because I am doing quite a bit more reading than writing these days, I think this AOTM thing will work out WAAAY better than I thought.

The first of her books I will be reading is Birth Of The Nyxian. You can click the picture in my 'Currently Reading' section and you will be directed to said book on Goodreads.

P.S. I am still doing the author spotlight/showcase with the author I mentioned back in June. Circumstances and deadlines with her publishers have put things on hold for a bit and because she's started writing her sequel...and other projects, I'm the last person to distract her from that. SO we will wait until she is ready. I refuse to get in the way of her career. BECAUSE I LURVE HER!

Anysnooch, if you're reading this.....THANK YOU BUNCHES for rocking out with me and sticking through my neglect and ghost-like phase for months on end. I sincerely appreciate you.

To visit Amanda R. Browning's website, click HERE.
To Follow Amanda R. Browning on Twitter, click HERE.
To 'Like' Amanda R. Browning's Facebook page, click HERE.
To become a fan of Amanda R. Browning on Goodreads, click HERE.
To purchase Amanda R. Browning's books on amazon, click HERE.


And since you guys were honest about loving the rainbow gifs.....here ya go.





You're welcome.

Quick Update!

Evening beautiful peoples! I have about eighty six seconds before I pass out on this keyboard, so I'll keep this brief.

Some things with the blog tour planner went fuzzy so I'm working directly with the author now. We're going to be doing an author spotlight, character interview, of course a book review - and all types of fun stuffs. I'm currently reader her debut novel and I'm halfway through. I won't reveal anything now because I want it to be HUGE when I do.

This is her debut novel and the premise is so unique and interesting, I almost peed my pants when I finally got into it on my Kindle. Those of you paying close attention....or all of you with the ability to read....may already know what I'm reading and the author involved.

But I've already said too much!

I shall go now because the sleep demon and that evil place that keeps my paycheck awaits!

Now, think pretty thoughts and have unicorn filled dreams! :D

Quick Update + News!

I was contacted by numerous world leaders and they want me to join them and be the OFFICIAL Writer of The World!!!

Okay, no. Not really.

BUT, I will be participating in a....wait for it.... BLOG TOUR!!!

Yes, yes. I know. Calm yourselves, please. Although my following is PUNY and to put it frankly, damn embarrassing. Still, the author has graciously allowed me to be a part of her tour anyway. Yep. I heart her.

I won't reveal who she is just yet because of paperwork and all that boring jazz. Bleh. Anyway! I've never participated in one of these before so I will possibly make a few boo-boos or mistakes. Bear with me, people. But I'm excited all the same and can't wait to get started!