Trusting an Angel by Missy Jane

The Basics:
Trusting an Angel by Missy Jane
Book One of Archangels series
Entangled: Covet
Romance
Published April 28, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon.ca

Why I picked up this book:

Liked the blurb and have a fair amount of curiosity when it comes to books published by Entangled.

Forbidden by Lori Adams

The Basics:
Forbidden by Lori Adams
Flirt
Book One in the Soulkeepers series
New Adult (Young Adult?), Romance
Published April 15, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon.ca

Why I picked up this book:

I was on board for a high school girl moving to a small town with secrets that she's instantly in on, plus being caught between sexy Guardian Angel who wants to resist her and Demo Knight who is actively courting her....

Cover Spotlight and Teaser Reveal for BROKEN by LAUREN LAYNE!

I've reviewed a few books by Lauren Layne since starting this blog and I've enjoyed all of them! Layne is one of the authors I've discovered because I started blogging and those authors make it all worth it. 

I am so very much looking forward to Layne's next New Adult romance title, and I am thrilled to participate in this Cover Spotlight and Teaser Reveal. It's my first, and I couldn't be happier about it!!!

Bring on the goods!

Lauren Layne, the author of the hit New Adult romance Isn’t She Lovely, and Random House’s Flirt imprint, are thrilled to share a first look at BROKEN, Lauren’s upcoming New Adult romance, and spotlight her gorgeous new cover!

BROKEN by Lauren Layne

Flirt New Adult Romance

On sale: September 2, 2014

ISBN: 978-0-553-39035-3

About the book:

Lauren Layne’s heart-wrenching novel tells the story of a girl with secrets, a guy with scars, and a love that could save them both . . . or destroy them.

When Olivia Middleton abandons the glamour of Park Avenue for a remote, coastal town in Maine, everyone assumes she’s being the kind do-gooder she’s always been. But Olivia has a secret: helping an injured war veteran reenter society isn’t about charity—it’s about penance. Only, Olivia’s client isn’t the grateful elderly man she’s expecting. Instead, he’s a brooding twenty-four-year-old who has no intention of being Olivia’s path to redemption . . . and whose smoldering gaze and forbidden touch might be her undoing.

Paul Langdon doesn’t need a mirror to show him he’s no longer the hotshot quarterback he was before the war. He knows he’s ugly—inside and out. He’ll do anything to stay in self-imposed exile, even accept his father’s ultimatum that Paul tolerate the newest caretaker for three months or lose his inheritance. But Paul doesn’t count on the beautiful twenty-two-year-old who makes him long for things that he can never have. And the more she slips past his defenses, the more keeping his distance is impossible.

Now Paul and Olivia have to decide: Will they help each other heal? Or are they forever broken?

** Teaser Reveal!**

Olivia squirms. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I've never known a female to acquiesce that easily without a catch. How about you hit me with it now and get it over with?”

Olivia shrugs. "Fine. I was going to say that I won't run alone, if you promise to go with me."

"No," I say, almost before she's finished her sentence.

"Why not?"

I rap my cane once against the ground. "Well, for starters, despite the fact that there are tortoises that could surpass your sorry excuse for a jog, I'm in no shape to accompany even the most pathetic of runners."

"What a handy skill you have of overloading a sentence with insults," she says as she reaches up to adjust her ponytail. "That must be helpful what with your thriving social life and all."

I thump my cane against the ground again, studying her. "Must be nice, picking on the cripple."

Olivia rolls her eyes. "Please. Your soul's more crippled than your leg."

She has no idea how right she is, and I have no intention of letting her anywhere close enough to find out. I've gotten good at shutting people out by pushing them away . . . being as nasty as possible until they reach their breaking point. But with her? It's different.

We hope you enjoyed this sneak peek of BROKEN by Lauren Layne! Love everything Lauren Layne? Her newest adult contemporary romance in the Sex, Love and Stiletto series, JUST ONE NIGHT, is on sale now!

Connect with Lauren

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Just One Night by Lauren Layne

The Basics:
Just One Night by Lauren Layne
Loveswept
Book Two in the Sex, Love & Stiletto series
Romance
Published April 22, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon.ca

Why I Picked Up This Book:

I enjoyed the first book in the series, couldn't resist the next one.

His to Posses by Opal Carew

The Basics:
His to Possess by Opal Carew
St Martin's
Erotica
Published March 18, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon.ca Kobo.com

Why I picked up this book:

I was looking for erotica from a reliable publisher.

The Temptations of Anna Jacobs by Robyn DeHart

The Basics:
The Temptations of Anna Jacobs by Robyn DeHart
Intermix
Book Two in the Dangerous Liasons series
Historical Romance
Published April 15, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon.ca 

Why I picked up this book:

I have a thing for the Ripper murders and all the hoopla surrounding them so a romance set against that backdrop intrigued me.

Jane's Melody by Ryan Winfield

The Basics:
Jane's Melody by Ryan Winfield
Atria Books
Romance
Published April 8, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon.ca Kobo.com

Why I picked up this book:

Romance by a male author, I had to read it when the opportunity came up

The Affair by Lily Maxton

The Basics:

The Affiar by Lily Maxton
Entangled: Scandalous
A Sisters of Scandal Novella
Historical Romance
Published April 14, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon.ca 

Why I picked up this book:

Bookseller romance? Yes.

Blurb:

She was his for one week only…

When a beautiful stranger ducks into his bookshop during a rainstorm, Cale Cameron, well-known rake, is instantly attracted to her. Elizabeth, Lady Thornhill, is restless and hungers for something she cannot name. Society would never accept a countess and a mere bookseller, so they agree to a one week affair to indulge their desire.

As their passion ignites and their connection grows, Elizabeth threatens the one thing Cale has protected above all else—his heart. Letting her go is the only solution…and the one thing he is not prepared to do.

My thoughts:

This novella is about 70 pages long and it's too short. I wanted more of Elizabeth and Cale. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this short tale of romance between a widow and a bookseller with a scandalous reputation. Elizabeth is fresh out of mourning for a husband who didn't appreciate her. Cale's a man who knows how to appreciate a woman, and he's set his sights on our heroine. 

Because of the novella format, there isn't enough time to develop anything beyond the central romance. The romance started abruptly - I almost wished these two had a prior connection, perhaps she had visited the lending library/bookstore while married or had a pattern of running into each other before their fortuitous encounter one rainy day.

Regardless, there's a spark between Cale and Elizabeth that made their romance believable. 

There's the cast of required secondary characters - scheming mother, two younger sisters (who I imagine might star in their own stories, particularly the 'betting' sister as she made the stronger impression), and a respectable suitor.

Bottom line:

It's a brief, enjoyable romance. Just the thing to fill an hour in a fun way!

4.5 stars
For fans of historical romance, books in books.

A to Z - L (2014)

I'm doing the A to Z Blogging Challenge this year. The basic idea is to blog nearly daily with each day representing a different letter of the alphabet. My entries will be short and book-related.  

L is for...

Literary Fiction!

When fiction doesn't fit a genre, it tends to be categorized as mainstream. I usually think of it was literary - or simply literature. These are books that make for good book reports in school, that are often about the message or the journey rather than where you're going to end up. It's about beautiful language and dazzling linguistic artistry, often (but not always) prized above a thrilling plot. (And this isn't to say these things are valued in genre fiction either, because they are and I think genre fiction takes a bad rap on some fronts because it's entertainment as well as art).

These are the books that get grants to be written, that receive big literary prizes and that tend to make good book club books as long your book club doesn't mind being occasionally pretentious (and does actually read and discuss books).

I've read some excellent literary fiction - I majored in English so it wasn't optional. I also love nineteenth century novels, and I tend to mentally lump these into the same category, because there's a certain linguistic elegance to even those that were considered pulpy and 'genre' at the time they were written.

I find that literary fiction is never my go-to. These are usually the books that I think I should read rather than the ones I pick up for enjoyment.  

Basically, I guess all my A-Z blogging so far is leading me to underline the pleasure I find in reading, and the emphasis I put on entertainment over enlightenment.   

A to Z - K (2014)

I'm doing the A to Z Blogging Challenge this year. The basic idea is to blog nearly daily with each day representing a different letter of the alphabet. My entries will be short and book-related.  

K is for...

Kindness!

This is more about blogging book reviews than about books specifically. Tonight I visited a bookstore and I noticed several books on the shelves in hardcover and fancy paperbacks that I have had the opportunity to review recently or that I have upcoming. It put a little spring in my step, I'll admit. 

So today I want to acknowledge the *kindness* of the authors and publishers who have generously shared ARCs and review copies with me. I realize that it's all part and parcel of the marketing process, getting the word out about these books and such, but I hugely appreciate the opportunity each book provides.

That's all for today!

A to Z - J (2014)

I'm doing the A to Z Blogging Challenge this year. The basic idea is to blog nearly daily with each day representing a different letter of the alphabet. My entries will be short and book-related.  

I do realize that I'm a day late here (and two for I) but I've decided that I'm just going to catch-up and carry on. It's that or give up on the month and I didn't actually expect to make it this far in the first place. 

J is for...

Jim Butcher!

When I started reading Urban Fantasy, my first authors were all women - Patricia Briggs and Karen Chance come to mind. I loved their books, and have stuck with their series. It didn't take long for me to trip over Jim Butcher's name as one of the more significant authors in the genre.  

The Dresden Files is easily on my "top ten series to follow" list. This was the first series I read with a male perspective, and I really appreciated how that set it apart from the typical kick-ass female urban fantasy novel. Even more than this, I love how Dresden's world has evolved over the course of the series. I have never felt as though his story rotated around a romantic entanglement, nor that the stakes have had to escalate infinitely to keep things interesting. Dresden's work as a wizard-for-hire is not exactly atypical of the genre, but I think is leveraged to excellent effect. His career choice provides all kinds of interesting plot opportunities and doesn't become a side note after the first book or two.

Butcher has also written epic fantasy, but I haven't read any of these yet. I imagine they're also incredibly fun and engaging!

Are you a Butcher fan?  Did you ever watch the short-livedDresden Files television series?  

A to Z - I (2014)

I'm doing the A to Z Blogging Challenge this year. The basic idea is to blog nearly daily with each day representing a different letter of the alphabet. My entries will be short and book-related.  

I is for...

Intrigue!

One of the first online retailers I used for ebooks was Harlequin. They have a ton of imprints - some of them are the short, cheap, disposable books you spy on shelves of grocery and drug stores. Others are books that you would never expect are published by Harlequin - no scantily clad, embracing men and women on the covers!

I'm a fan of both varieties, but I want to focus on one of the shorter imprints  - Intrigue. This series features some mystery, usually involving an officer of the law, that often requires someone to be protected while trying to solve the case.

I like these for a couple reasons - one is that I can usually read on in a couple hours. I know I'll get a happy ending at the end because that's a requirement of the imprint, which means I can also expect good to triumph over evil - yay!  I also like that these have some kind of actual conflict built in - whatever the central crime plot is, I'm guaranteed something more threatening in the book than miscommunication or previous prejudices blocking romance.  

I don't quite want to call these books junk food but they're definitely like a reading snack!  And thank goodness for ebooks, because my poor house would be overrun if I had to have all these in physical copies....

The Here and Now by Ann Brashares

The Basics:
The Here and Now by Ann Brashares
Delacorte Press
YA, science fiction, romance
Published April 8, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon.ca Kobo.com

Why I picked up this book:

I loved the idea of time travel to save the future.

Blurb:

Follow the rules. Remember what happened. Never fall in love.

This is the story of seventeen-year-old Prenna James, who immigrated to New York when she was twelve. Except Prenna didn’t come from a different country. She came from a different time—a future where a mosquito-borne illness has mutated into a pandemic, killing millions and leaving the world in ruins.

Prenna and the others who escaped to the present day must follow a strict set of rules: never reveal where they’re from, never interfere with history, and never, ever be intimate with anyone outside their community. Prenna does as she’s told, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day ravage the earth.

But everything changes when Prenna falls for Ethan Jarves.

My thoughts:

The Here and Now delivered on time travel conundrum-y goodness, but didn't quite give me what I wanted on a few other fronts.

So the good:

Our future is really messed up and this makes for an interesting story as travellers come from the future to our present to try to fix it all.

There's some excellent twists in this book - some I saw coming and still enjoyed and others I didn't entirely foresee and enjoyed. The plot is solid, I think, and I'd really like to know what happens beyond the end of the book.

I loved the way Ethan was with Prenna. So understanding and gentle and almost... grateful? Also, I liked that he wasn't just a romantic hero, he did act like a teenage boy some of the time!

The enh:

Ethan seems like a big nerd, which is fair, but he's presented as being this really popular guy. This is all part of the isolation of the story - Prenna doesn't interact with many people, and she doesn't have to. I would have liked to have seen a bit more action in the high school, a bit more evidence that somehow the kids from the cult - er - community are assimilating okay?

The bad:

The adults of the community, the leaders, are vicious for no apparent reason. How did these people end up in control of things? Really - how did that happen?  I needed them to have both more of a comeuppance on page as well as to know how the heck these people got into power.

There's a definite didactic tone through the novel, messages about both the future of our planet and making sacrifices to protect it as well as about questioning the status quo. Because it was all necessary for the plot, I'm going to give the book a pass, but it's a very near thing.

Side note, I don't think the cover is doing this book any favours. It wouldn't have made me pick it up at all. Poor book.

Bottom line:

I enjoyed this story, but I didn't love it. I do want to know what happens next - both immediately and to the distant future.

Success?

3.5 stars
For fans of time travel stories, YA romance

A to Z - H (2014)

I'm doing the A to Z Blogging Challenge this year. The basic idea is to blog nearly daily with each day representing a different letter of the alphabet. My entries will be short and book-related.  

H is for...

Hope!

While I can get by without a happily ever after, or happy for now, ending, I always need some hope. Give me an uplifting ending, one that ends on a positive rather than on crushing defeat, depression or death. Don't make me think the characters have no chance at survival, at happiness, at resolving their issues in the future. Give them hope! 

This is part of my problem with 'literary,' serious or any novel that's more about the journey than the destination. I want both to be good. I don't want to shut the book and be crying sad tears, to feel emotionally crushed. I read fiction books for pleasure, and I want them to ultimately be pleasant.

I can appreciate a beautiful story, and I've read my share of sad, heartwrenching books. But I always have to make myself pick them up - these are never impulse-read books.

Maybe I'm just a superficial reader?  If so, I'm okay with it. I'll take happily superficial over miserably enlightened when it comes to my books any day.  ;)

A to Z - G (2014)

I'm doing the A to Z Blogging Challenge this year. The basic idea is to blog nearly daily with each day representing a different letter of the alphabet. My entries will be short and book-related.  

G is for...

Genre!

I wanted to take today to address genre directly and generally. Anyone who reads is familiar with major genres - bookstores and libraries use them to sort books into categories to make them easier to find (and sell, I imagine). Roughly, if you love mysteries, you might like other mysteries (rather than other random authors with a similar last name, for example), so it's useful to have all the mysteries together.  

So there's a couple of problems with genre today. One is that so many books cross-genre, and the other is the popularity of sub-genres.

The latter problem first:  one of my favourite genres is urban fantasy. This is a specific category within fantasy books that features a modern, usually pseudo-contemporary setting with elements of the supernatural/magic alongside the mundane of our world. There's a sense of the familiar mingling with the mysteriously, magically unfamiliar.  

There is a *lot* of urban fantasy on the market right now, and at brick-and-mortar stores, it's all piled in with fantasy, so I have to sift through to find anything new. (And don't get me started on the issue of series and whether those are stocked in their entirety or not!)

Romance is another genre with a lot of sub-genres - contemporary, historical, medical, mystery, etc., etc..  Now, it would be a lot of work to try to split out all of these, but I feel that for the browsing public, wouldn't it be nice if some of the larger sub-genres were given shelf-space together?

Now, books that cross-genre. These are also quite common and I hate trying to find them in the bookstore. The biggest one that I run into are urban fantasy novels with a romantic plot. Inevitably I find them in romance in one store and in fantasy in another, and it drives me batty! I have to imagine that publishers market these books as a specific genre, can we not all agree to abide by that, at the very least?  

Do you find current genre labels satisfying? Do you love bookstores and hate trying to find specific books/genres in them?   I have the most luck now just wandering into a general section and grabbing anything that looks pretty, regardless of genre. 

The Wicked We Have Done by Sarah Harian

The Basics:
The Wicked We Have Done by Sarah Harian
Intermix
Book One in the Chaos Theory Series
New Adult, Science Fiction
Published March 18, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon.ca Kobo.com

Why I picked up this book:

The blurb intrigued me with the mix of criminal and love.

A to Z - F (2014)

I'm doing the A to Z Blogging Challenge this year. The basic idea is to blog nearly daily with each day representing a different letter of the alphabet. My entries will be short and book-related.  

F is for...

Fantasy!

As a kid, probably ten years-old or so, the first genre I ventured into when I shifted from the children's section of my local library into the 'adults' section (there was no young adult section at that time!) was fantasy. I picked up The Elf Queen of Shannara by Terry Brooks, used it for a school book report, and never looked back.

One of the things I liked about fantasy novels at that time was that they were thick. If I received one as a gift, it could last a couple days. When my parents gave me Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind for a birthday, my mom was sure it would take me a week to get through it.  

Ha.

I still love fantasy, for so much more than that sense of childhood nostalgia. I love fantasy because it can be shallow and deep, simple and complex, epic and silly, romantic and terrifying, with a mystery or two, with good friends and terrible enemies forced to work together. There can be an element of magic, of stealth, danger and fun. So many limitless possibilities and all outside my own realm of possibility - though of course elements usually ring quite true.

There's something about a band of adventurers coming together to venture forth or a thief double-crossing their guild or a mage summoning some big spell that just gets my imagination going.

Urban fantasy, which will be my 'u' post later this month, is easily my favourite sub-genre at present, and has been for a number of years. 

Do you love fantasy? Have a favourite author, or a series recommendation?  

I haven't been watching Game of Thrones - I can't watch until the kids are in bed and there are too many other things right now that claim those precious evening hours (I'm looking at you multiplayer video games!), but I hear great things. Are there other fantasy series I should check out?

Stolen Songbird by Danielle L Jensen

The Basics:
Stolen Songbird by Danielle L Jensen
Strange Chemistry
Book One in the Malediction Trilogy
YA, Fantasy
Published April 1, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon.ca

Why I picked up this book:

Trolls, a witch's curse, half-bloods enslaved by full-bloods, a prince leading rebellion, a kidnapped girl falling for a future Troll king.  COme on! Overtones of Beauty and the Beast, I *had* to read it.  

A to Z - E (2014)

I'm doing the A to Z Blogging Challenge this year. The basic idea is to blog nearly daily with each day representing a different letter of the alphabet. My entries will be short and book-related.  

E is for...

Epilogues!

What role does an epilogue fill in a story for you? 

I've read epilogues recently that were used in very different ways and I wanted to reflect quickly on that.

In one case, the epilogue provided a jump into the future, to allow the reader to enjoy the characters' happily ever after. True, it gave me an opportunity to see the couple as a happy unit, unfettered by the conflict of the book. It also gave a glimpse of what their married life would include -children, careers, etc..

In the other case, the epilogue gave a post-climactic battle wrap-up, highlighting who survived with what wounds, and giving a sense of hope that moving forward the heroes had a plan for success.

Obviously these reflect different genres, and also a difference between a standalone novel and a series novel. That said, I was satisfied by neither epilogue. Either the future was glossed, any remaining points of tension smoothed over to create an upbeat final note for the novel OR the book came to a rush of a close and the epilogue was used to quickly pull all the threads together and hook the reader in for the next book.

This isn't to stay that epilogues aren't useful, and that they can't provide satisfying closure to a story. Just that my recent encounters with them have been not entirely positive.  

How do you feel about epilogues? Great way to provide closure or too often used in place of addressing all those dangling threads?

What about prologues? 

A to Z - D (2014)

I'm doing the A to Z Blogging Challenge this year. The basic idea is to blog nearly daily with each day representing a different letter of the alphabet. My entries will be short and book-related.  

D is for...

Demons!

I love urban fantasy, and I'll probably write an entire post on it later this month so I'm going to steer away from commenting on it as a genre. Demons are an important staple of the genre. While vampires, werewolves and angels tend to get a lot of attention, demons fill a significant catch-all category, much like faeries.

There's so much variety in demons. I'm reading City of Bones by Cassandra Clare right now and it features a demon that's massive, disgusting, very otherworldly with a physical and an ethereal presence. Then I pick up the Hollow series by Kim Harrison (which I really need to catch up on!) and we've got a whole new set of demons. Karen Chance's Cassandra Palmer series has some completely human-esque demons, but they have extra powers. 

I think that unlike the specific categories, demons (and faeries, but today is 'd' :P ) don't have quite so many expectations placed on them as a 'type'. I find that sometimes it's really just used in place of 'monster.' And isn't that interesting, because I think if you through out the word monster, you're distancing readers from your 'creature' - a monster is clearly other... while a humanoid demon who is charming, eloquent, bipedal... that could be you or me!  We can relate!

The Golden Apple by Michelle Diener

The Basics:
The Golden Apple by Michelle Diener
Season Publishing
Book One in the Dark Forest series
Romance, Fantasy
Published March 24, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon.ca

Why I picked up this book:

I really liked the blurb.

A to Z - C (2014)

I'm doing the A to Z Blogging Challenge this year. The basic idea is to blog nearly daily with each day representing a different letter of the alphabet. My entries will be short and book-related.  

C is for...

Collections.

Specifically, collections of short stories. Years ago, I always associated short stories with school. Because outside of some teachable point, I didn't really see the point in a short story. I wanted longer stories wherein more 'stuff' happened. 

Sophisticated point of view, right?

A few years ago I picked up one of the "Mammoth Book of" collections, and therein discovered that short story collections were a great way to 'meet' new authors. Then I picked up one of the recent urban fantasy collections, and it was an opportunity to visit with some of my favourite characters in an episodic format - usually a short case handled by one of the many urban fantasy private detectives or enforcers or what-have-you.

I'm still not sure I could pick up a more literary style collection without having flashbacks to essay-writing and 'unpacking' meaning and so forth, but I can certainly see the value in these collections now.

What's your experience been with short story collections? Do they drive you nuts? Leave you wanting more? Or can they be fulfilling in their own way?

A - Z - B (2014)

I'm doing the A to Z Blogging Challenge this year. The basic idea is to blog nearly daily with each day representing a different letter of the alphabet. My entries will be short and book-related.  

B is for...

Billionaires.

Just a quick rant, but why are so many heroes in romantic novels extremely wealthy? I understand that money can be a limiting factor for romance (in that a significant amount of money is required to finance some of the grander romantic gestures), but surely it's plausible to write about a successful businessman who doesn't own small islands and a fleet of private planes?

Billionaires are the 'worst' of the bunch because their wealth goes beyond ridiculous. Why do we accept so many in our fiction when it's such an exclusive club in reality? Perhaps the bigger question is how much should reality infringe on romantic fiction....

I find that Harlequin romances are the 'worst offenders' for billionaire romances. Are these just romantic escapism as its most extreme or what?