A place to showcase the marvelous journey into worlds teeming with possibilities...
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Happy New Year To All
To all my followers and lurkers I wish you the best in this New Year's Eve. Enjoy this day to its maximum always keeping in mind your safety and that of others.
Review: Reckoning by Jeaniene Frost
Series: The Night Huntress (Novella 0.5) [Originally appeared in the anthology Unbound]
Author: Jeaniene Frost
Publisher: Avon Books
Publication Date: November 29th, 2011
Reviewed Format: Kindle Edition
My Rating: ★★★★☆
What can I say, is a story from Bones’ point of view (POV); that should be enough incentive to read this novella on either this book or on its original incarnation as part of the anthology “Unbound”. This is a prequel-short story of sorts; it takes place right before we meet Bones in Halfway to the Grave.
Bones has been summoned to a meeting by none other than Marie “Majestic” Laveau, (the famous voodoo priestess of the French Quarter in New Orleans, Louisiana) to find and take care of the infamous LaLaurie couple, notoriously known in human lore for their vicious tendencies. But, what should have been a straight forward missions, turns into a game of hide and seek when a third party becomes involve and the life of an innocent woman increases the stakes even higher. Bones must find a way to subdue the LaLauries while surviving the relentless attacks of a mystery guy, plus keeping his only lead on the case alive.
Bones has been summoned to a meeting by none other than Marie “Majestic” Laveau, (the famous voodoo priestess of the French Quarter in New Orleans, Louisiana) to find and take care of the infamous LaLaurie couple, notoriously known in human lore for their vicious tendencies. But, what should have been a straight forward missions, turns into a game of hide and seek when a third party becomes involve and the life of an innocent woman increases the stakes even higher. Bones must find a way to subdue the LaLauries while surviving the relentless attacks of a mystery guy, plus keeping his only lead on the case alive.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Inkspell
Series: Inkheart Trilogy (Book 2)
Author(s): Cornelia Funke
Publisher: The Chicken House
Publication Date: October 1, 2005
Reviewed Format: Hardcover
My Rating: ★★★★☆
Inkspell is the second book in the Inkheart trilogy. Although some scenes in the book are predictable the overall story is great. It has amazing characters (you actually want to see the bad guys suffer). And is a magical journey. The story picks up one year after the events in the first book. The Silvertongue family is overwhelmed for finally being together but Meggie can't take the "Inkworld" off her mind, and so decides to visit it when Farid comes asking for her help. But just four days after her departure things go sour when the surviving Mortola and Basta try to avenge Capricorn's death attacking the family. And so we finally make our way to a world no longer bound by the covers of the book. Where the characters struggle to survive while the book/story goes on telling itself.
For those expecting the ending of this particular book to have some resolution, it doesn't. It ends like any normal chapter when you are half way through a story. That is because the story continues in the third book right where this ends. And do expect a little chronological back and forth since the main characters are split from one another.
This review originally appeared on my amazon, as one of my reviews.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Hiya! ^+^
Well you can call me Silros. I am a fifteen year old girl that is really interested in ALL kinds of books, mostly fantasy, and gothic fiction. My fave subjects to read about are angels, demons, vampires and magic in general. I DO NOT like reading the dumb, slow and boring novels I have to read for my Spanish class! Although I can’t read adult books yet in a couple of years I will be able to. So in the meantime I will be reviewing young adult books and books suitable for all ages. I’m actually new to this whole reviewing what I read thing so truthfully I’m not the best reviewer so please bear with me. I do promise that with more practice my reviews on books will get better.
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UPDATE:
Due to academic overload Silros won't be able to join me here in the blog.
UPDATE:
Due to academic overload Silros won't be able to join me here in the blog.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
My New Toy...
...a Kindle Touch
For the longest time I considered myself a purist when it came to reading, holding a book in my hands and being able to smell and feel the pages is part of the reading experience. Add to it that since I was a child I will get the most annoying headaches and migraines possible, so the idea of reading from a device while no longer holding a real book was a little far fetch for me. However, once I started college I became familiarized with this technology; and truly, I fell in love with it.
It was a very convenient fix to my problem of an already too heavy backpack. Since my laptop had to go with me everywhere, all I needed was a program that allowed me to read my books while on the go, sort of speak. I discovered the wonders of Microsoft Reader for PC and it became my number one format for most of my non-college books. Slowly, but surely eBooks began pulling me more and more towards the digital media. Still, I refused to buy an actual reading device on the principle that eBooks where not “real books” and that I will – at some point – buy the ones I really love to add them to my collection (a collection that, at the time, my mother was getting extremely weary of).
After falling into the smartphone trend and discovering the various e-reader apps on the markets I was excited, I no longer needed my laptop in order to read a book. Although is a great convenience to have the apps on the phone it is also mortal to the device’s battery, more than once I have drain a considerably huge chunk of my battery on a single sitting while waiting for my turn at an office. Even though the concept of a smartphone is the ability to multitask while literary on the go, the main reason most people – including me – buy a phone is to have the means to make a call in case of emergencies or when needed; purpose that is defeated after a couple of hours of reading, playing, surfing the net, or using any other of the extra functions available today.
I finally caved; at the beginning of December – after careful consideration, and a lot of research – I gifted myself a Kindle Touch. The reason I chose Kindle over Nook, or any other e-reader, was primarily based on the fact that my entire eBook collection is from Amazon. Actually, before I even started buying eBooks I was buying paperbacks and hardbacks from the same website. I do have to say that the Nook Simple Touch almost had me with the expandable memory, but in the end Kindle won because, like I said before, my entire book collection is from Amazon; I don’t have a single Barnes & Noble book, so the Kindle Touch was the obvious choice for me. I know, I know, I could have gone for the Kindle Fire, and to be honest, I nearly did. But the Kindle Fire has a few specifications that, considering is a tablet, were a deal breaker for me; the most important being its lack of expandable memory even though is an Android Tablet plus the back lit screen. One of the reasons I decided I was getting an e-reader was for the e-ink capability, which neither the Kindle Fire, nor the Nook Tablet, nor any Tablet in the market for that matter has.
Come December, and I walk into an electronics’ store and I see it, it’s standing on a small rack right beside all the other e-readers and tablets. I couldn’t contain myself; I was planning on ordering it, but now I could have it in my hands in a matter of minutes instead of days and at the same price! After what seem like an eternity waiting in line to pay, I got to my boyfriend’s house and opened my precious.
There are two versions of the Kindle Touch currently available, each one comes with or without “special offers”, which a fancy way of saying it has ads. The Kindle Touch it’s priced at $99.00 with offers (this is the version I bought) and at $139.00 without the special offers. The Kindle Touch 3G it’s priced at $149.00 with offers and $189.00 without them. The devices are exactly the same, the only difference is that whereas the Touch is only Wi-Fi, the Touch 3G has free 3G wireless + Wi-Fi. Personally, I don’t need the 3G, all I need to do is load up the kindle beforehand while home and then don’t have to worry about needing the Wi-Fi. The ads appear while you are either working in some part of the menu or while the device is on standby; not a single ad can be seen while reading a book.
For the longest time I considered myself a purist when it came to reading, holding a book in my hands and being able to smell and feel the pages is part of the reading experience. Add to it that since I was a child I will get the most annoying headaches and migraines possible, so the idea of reading from a device while no longer holding a real book was a little far fetch for me. However, once I started college I became familiarized with this technology; and truly, I fell in love with it.
It was a very convenient fix to my problem of an already too heavy backpack. Since my laptop had to go with me everywhere, all I needed was a program that allowed me to read my books while on the go, sort of speak. I discovered the wonders of Microsoft Reader for PC and it became my number one format for most of my non-college books. Slowly, but surely eBooks began pulling me more and more towards the digital media. Still, I refused to buy an actual reading device on the principle that eBooks where not “real books” and that I will – at some point – buy the ones I really love to add them to my collection (a collection that, at the time, my mother was getting extremely weary of).
After falling into the smartphone trend and discovering the various e-reader apps on the markets I was excited, I no longer needed my laptop in order to read a book. Although is a great convenience to have the apps on the phone it is also mortal to the device’s battery, more than once I have drain a considerably huge chunk of my battery on a single sitting while waiting for my turn at an office. Even though the concept of a smartphone is the ability to multitask while literary on the go, the main reason most people – including me – buy a phone is to have the means to make a call in case of emergencies or when needed; purpose that is defeated after a couple of hours of reading, playing, surfing the net, or using any other of the extra functions available today.
I finally caved; at the beginning of December – after careful consideration, and a lot of research – I gifted myself a Kindle Touch. The reason I chose Kindle over Nook, or any other e-reader, was primarily based on the fact that my entire eBook collection is from Amazon. Actually, before I even started buying eBooks I was buying paperbacks and hardbacks from the same website. I do have to say that the Nook Simple Touch almost had me with the expandable memory, but in the end Kindle won because, like I said before, my entire book collection is from Amazon; I don’t have a single Barnes & Noble book, so the Kindle Touch was the obvious choice for me. I know, I know, I could have gone for the Kindle Fire, and to be honest, I nearly did. But the Kindle Fire has a few specifications that, considering is a tablet, were a deal breaker for me; the most important being its lack of expandable memory even though is an Android Tablet plus the back lit screen. One of the reasons I decided I was getting an e-reader was for the e-ink capability, which neither the Kindle Fire, nor the Nook Tablet, nor any Tablet in the market for that matter has.
Come December, and I walk into an electronics’ store and I see it, it’s standing on a small rack right beside all the other e-readers and tablets. I couldn’t contain myself; I was planning on ordering it, but now I could have it in my hands in a matter of minutes instead of days and at the same price! After what seem like an eternity waiting in line to pay, I got to my boyfriend’s house and opened my precious.
There are two versions of the Kindle Touch currently available, each one comes with or without “special offers”, which a fancy way of saying it has ads. The Kindle Touch it’s priced at $99.00 with offers (this is the version I bought) and at $139.00 without the special offers. The Kindle Touch 3G it’s priced at $149.00 with offers and $189.00 without them. The devices are exactly the same, the only difference is that whereas the Touch is only Wi-Fi, the Touch 3G has free 3G wireless + Wi-Fi. Personally, I don’t need the 3G, all I need to do is load up the kindle beforehand while home and then don’t have to worry about needing the Wi-Fi. The ads appear while you are either working in some part of the menu or while the device is on standby; not a single ad can be seen while reading a book.
Monday, December 26, 2011
New Excerpt from Once Burned, a Night Prince Novel
If you’ll like to read the excerpt you can find it here, at Jeaniene Frost’s website. The book it schedule to come out on June 26th.
You can read other excerpts of the story in some of Jeaniene's published works:
- Magic Graves an anthology alongside Ilona Andrews plus,
- Halfway to the Grave with Bonus Material by Jeaniene Frost.
- Eternal Kiss of Darkness by Jeaniene Frost (special limited edition). It contains the first three chapters of Once Burned
New Blogger
Soon a new blogger will be joining me here to review books, her name is Silros, i'll let her introduce herself when she is ready, just wanted to give everyone a heads up.
Happy Holidays!!!
Happy Holidays!!!
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!
To All My Visitors…
May the spirit of the holidays fill your hearts to the brim with joy and may the light in your heart shines bright in the journey that lies ahead of you.
May the spirit of the holidays fill your hearts to the brim with joy and may the light in your heart shines bright in the journey that lies ahead of you.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Book Rating System
Five Stars Rating System:
DISCLAIMER: This system, although popularly use to for rating movies, books, items, etc. I am making it my own. This is the way that I will rate my book and movies; under this system those that I like will most likely end up a 4 stars book. I want to limit the 5 stars rating for those works that can make you take a moment and reflect about your life; if I simply love it won’t get anything life changing out of it then it will remain a 4 star.
THE 5 STARS:
★★★★★
I confess, I have bit of a double standard in this particular category. Any book rated as a five star book is an outstanding work of literary art; it was amazing to read. There are life changing perspectives that can alter one’s personal thinking or views. For example, a book that I have rated with 5 stars is The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. However, some books are not life changing but are simply AMAZING and -in my honest opinion- worth giving a chance; so occasionally there will be some of those rated with 5 stars simply because I'm obsessing over them.
THE 4 STARS:
★★★★
Well worth the time. I love it, it is not life changing, but is extremely enjoyable. I will most definitely recommend it to anybody who loves the particular genre. For example, a book that I have rated as 4 stars is the Halfway to the Grave (Night Huntress, Book 1) by Jeaniene Frost.
THE 3 STARS:
★★★
I actually enjoyed this book, like it but didn’t love it. It has some issues, but nothing that cannot be overlooked. Overall I feel very neutral about this book, will most likely buy the next installment but I won’t rush to do it. For example, a book that I have rated 3 stars is Evangelina Green by Susan Firtik.
THE 2 STARS:
★★
The book has its moments, unfortunately the bad outweighs the good; the potential is there, but overall could have been better. For example, a book that I have rated with 2 stars is Sacrifice (Mortal Path Book 2) by Dakota Banks.
THE 1 STAR:
★
I did not liked this book; I only finished it because I was giving it time for the story to get better, it never happened. In my opinion not worth reading, there is no way that I’ll recommend it. For example, a book that I have rated with 1 star is The Forest of Hand and Teeth (The Forest of Hand and Teeth, Book 1) by Carrie Ryan.
For a more simplified version of the rating visit my revamping post.
Any questions or doubts please comment below, i'll be happy to answer them.
DISCLAIMER: This system, although popularly use to for rating movies, books, items, etc. I am making it my own. This is the way that I will rate my book and movies; under this system those that I like will most likely end up a 4 stars book. I want to limit the 5 stars rating for those works that can make you take a moment and reflect about your life; if I simply love it won’t get anything life changing out of it then it will remain a 4 star.
THE 5 STARS:
★★★★★
I confess, I have bit of a double standard in this particular category. Any book rated as a five star book is an outstanding work of literary art; it was amazing to read. There are life changing perspectives that can alter one’s personal thinking or views. For example, a book that I have rated with 5 stars is The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. However, some books are not life changing but are simply AMAZING and -in my honest opinion- worth giving a chance; so occasionally there will be some of those rated with 5 stars simply because I'm obsessing over them.
THE 4 STARS:
★★★★
Well worth the time. I love it, it is not life changing, but is extremely enjoyable. I will most definitely recommend it to anybody who loves the particular genre. For example, a book that I have rated as 4 stars is the Halfway to the Grave (Night Huntress, Book 1) by Jeaniene Frost.
THE 3 STARS:
★★★
I actually enjoyed this book, like it but didn’t love it. It has some issues, but nothing that cannot be overlooked. Overall I feel very neutral about this book, will most likely buy the next installment but I won’t rush to do it. For example, a book that I have rated 3 stars is Evangelina Green by Susan Firtik.
THE 2 STARS:
★★
The book has its moments, unfortunately the bad outweighs the good; the potential is there, but overall could have been better. For example, a book that I have rated with 2 stars is Sacrifice (Mortal Path Book 2) by Dakota Banks.
THE 1 STAR:
★
I did not liked this book; I only finished it because I was giving it time for the story to get better, it never happened. In my opinion not worth reading, there is no way that I’ll recommend it. For example, a book that I have rated with 1 star is The Forest of Hand and Teeth (The Forest of Hand and Teeth, Book 1) by Carrie Ryan.
For a more simplified version of the rating visit my revamping post.
Any questions or doubts please comment below, i'll be happy to answer them.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Evangelina Green by Susan Firtik
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Series: The Color Guard, Book 1
Author: Susan Firtik
Publication Date: August 9th, 2011
Reviewed Format: Kindle Edition
Length: 144 Pages
Source: Bought
My Rating: ★★★☆☆
Get it @: Amazon
The authors of most – if not all – of the series I have read so far, when having multiple characters to develop, have a tendency to give each characters his/her own book to fully explore their story; meanwhile those character’s participations in other installments of the same series tend to have little showcasing. Something I found refreshing and ended up enjoying about Firtik’s writing is that she took the time to feature other sisters and their love interests; even thought this seems to be a series just like any other. However, I felt that it chopped the story a bit in some places while in other there was a natural transition between the intertwining stories.
The world construct presents sexy werewolves, mysterious vampires, an evil witch and a demon; all very well defined characters. My only complaint is that, in a few parts, the action in the story slowed to a crawl; this parts usually where too centered on brushing and cleaning and re-building the House to its former glory. The House is another character in the story; one that hopefully will have a major plot line in future books. However, this is the first book of a series so the foundation for the story needs to be set.
Overall I enjoyed the story and I am looking forward to the next installment, Tatianna Yellow (from which an excerpt is included at the end of the book). Her story was left hanging and I want to know what will happen to her and her sexy vampire.
Publication Date: August 9th, 2011
Reviewed Format: Kindle Edition
Length: 144 Pages
Source: Bought
My Rating: ★★★☆☆
Get it @: Amazon
The authors of most – if not all – of the series I have read so far, when having multiple characters to develop, have a tendency to give each characters his/her own book to fully explore their story; meanwhile those character’s participations in other installments of the same series tend to have little showcasing. Something I found refreshing and ended up enjoying about Firtik’s writing is that she took the time to feature other sisters and their love interests; even thought this seems to be a series just like any other. However, I felt that it chopped the story a bit in some places while in other there was a natural transition between the intertwining stories.
The world construct presents sexy werewolves, mysterious vampires, an evil witch and a demon; all very well defined characters. My only complaint is that, in a few parts, the action in the story slowed to a crawl; this parts usually where too centered on brushing and cleaning and re-building the House to its former glory. The House is another character in the story; one that hopefully will have a major plot line in future books. However, this is the first book of a series so the foundation for the story needs to be set.
Overall I enjoyed the story and I am looking forward to the next installment, Tatianna Yellow (from which an excerpt is included at the end of the book). Her story was left hanging and I want to know what will happen to her and her sexy vampire.
First Trailer of The Hobbit
OH My God! OH My God! It is finally here!! The first trailer for The Hobbit has finally been released!!
This is one of those movies that needs no introduction, it has become such a cultural phenomenon that even those who haven’t read the book (or neither of the stories of Middle Earth) or even saw the movies based on The Lord of the Rings easily recognize it; and chances are will march alongside the hard core fan base towards the movie theaters in order to see it.
The Hobbit or There and Back Again is one of my all-time favorite books. It’s such a great adventure riddle with danger and courage and magic; it’s the perfect tale of the reluctant hero. It’s one of those books that I can re-read time and time again and never get tired of it (which I had, numerous times ^.~).
In the trailer we see a younger looking Bilbo Baggins being approached by Gandalf the Grey, soon Bilbo’s house gets taken over by a bunch of ale drinking, food rampaging dwarfs. One of my favorite scenes from the book takes place at the beginning of the story, while Bag End is temporary taken over to host a secret meeting. After all the plotting and plans of departure are done, the dwarfs begin to sing. I am so glad it was presented on the trailer; watching it sent chills all over my body. Aside from Sir Ian McKellen, a slew of well-known actors are re-dressing themselves with their Middle Age garbs. Among them we get to see Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, the dwarfs, the trolls, and a gleam at Andy Serkis’ Gollum.
I’m not going to say any more spoilers; the movie has been slated for December 14, 2012 which means an entire year before we can sit to enjoy it; plus an entire year of pure torture. In the mean time we must make due with trailers, teasers and promo spots.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
And The Winner is…
Winners per category:
- Best Favorite Books of 2011
- Divergent by Veronica Roth
- Best Fiction
- 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
- Best Mystery & Thriller
- Smokin’ Seventeen by Janet Evanovich
- Best Historical Fiction
- The Paris Wife by Paula Mclain
- Best Fantasy
- A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin
- Best Paranormal Fantasy
- Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning
The Bite Before Christmas by Jeaniene Frost and Lynsay Sands
Series: Anthology
Author(s): Lynsay Sands, Jeaniene Frost
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: October 25, 2011
Reviewed Format: Kindle Edition
Source: Bought
My Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Get it @: Amazon | Book Depository
I love me some Bones!! Not to mention that i love the Ian time!!
Jeaniene Frost has a new short story from her acclaim series Night Huntress. The story is a part of an anthology along side Lynsay Sands called The Bite Before Christmas. Like the title suggests, the story takes place during the holiday festivities. The stories that compose this anthology are "The Gift" by Sands and "Home for the Holidays" by Frost.
I will try to keep the review as spoiler free as posible.
The Gift by Lynsay Sands
Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆I haven't read this short story yet, so will update this part of the review once i have gone through it
Home for the Holidays by Jeaniene Frost
Rating: ★★★★☆I love this story and the fact that we get more of Bones' past shown to us. Chronologically, this story comes almost immediately after the events on One Grave at a Time, which was released this past August.
In Home for the Holidays Cat is getting ready to do something completely out of the ordinary in her typical lifestyle; spend some time at home, battling no one, and celebrating the festivities, not to mention spending some serious time with her delicious husband Bones. The celebration kicks off with Bones' B~day Party. But what is suppose to be a joyful time among family and friends takes a turn for the worse when a dark secret gets revealed. Lives become threatened, friendships might be broken and with a marriage in danger the stakes could not be higher (for a short story that is).
If one thing is certain is that Jeaniene Frost knows how to torture us fans of her books. For those of you ladies that have been claiming more Ian time, he gets some in this story, however, the story's main focus remains Bones and his back-story. Unfortunately for those of you who are Vlad fans he doesn't make an appearance in this one, but we do get a glance at Fabian, Mencheres, Kira, Spade, Denise, Annette and a new Vampire that becomes the surprise of a century (or two) for Bones. The story also explores a bit more in depth the world of Demons and the how their inner workings.
Labels:
Adult Books,
Anthology,
Book Reviews,
Demons,
Fiction,
Mainstream Author,
Novella,
Paranormal Romance,
Vampires
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Triad by Lauren Dane
Series: Witches Knot, Book 1
Author(s): Lauren Dane
Publisher: Ellora's Cave
Publication Date: 2005
Reviewed Format: Kindle Edition
My Rating: ★★★☆☆
My first erotica read. I found this book while I was searching the kindle store at amazon a few weeks ago; In there, I organize the entries based on the book’s prices and always begin with the lowest price ($o.oo) first. This book was free and even though it was originally published in 2005 the description hooked me right away.
The book in incredibly steamy and the plot is very engaging. However, I have a few problems with the book. As a disclaimer let me say that, not only is this my first erotica read it is also the first book that I read by Lauren Dane.
Here is my own summarize of the book’s plot, spoiler free:
Lee is the strongest witch her family has seen in generations, with her power of dream walking her job, along with the rest of her family, is to protect the people of New Orleans. Lee has been dreaming with a mysterious guy for the past two months, she doesn’t know the guys but feels an inexplicable connection to him. When she finally meets him a series of events threaten to break her, her family and the peace in New Orleans apart while a new series of dreams about another man threatens her relationship with her dream man. Can Lee be strong enough to face this new evil that is on the mists and is she capable of loving one man and lusting for another?
Now, what I liked about the book is its story and its characters, they are both very well written and interesting. What I don’t like is that the action takes place way too quickly.
DISCLAIMER: After the SPOILER ALERT mini banner below there will be some plot spoilers, I try to keep them at a minimum but some of them are hard. If you don’t like spoilers of any kind do not read what comes after the banner.
SPOILER ALERT – SPOILER ALERT – SPOILER ALERT
Labels:
Adult Books,
Angels,
Book Reviews,
Demons,
Erotica,
Mainstream Author,
Sisterhood,
Vampires,
Witches,
Wizards
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