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04 July 2012

Charlaine Harris Starter Set - Birthday Month Giveaway (INTL ends 7/31)

Hey everyone! Alethea here. I'm kind of hijacking the blog (in a good way) while Thuy is on vacation and enjoying her totally adorable new niece. I'm doing some giveaways over at RNSL so I thought I'd do some over here, too!





July is my birth month!

So to share the love, I will be sending you presents. You! Yes, you.

That is, if you're lucky enough. My birthday is 7/11. That's pretty lucky.

Now, don't try to stake me--I'm not as big a Charlaine Harris fan as all you True Blood folks are. (Blame Anna Paquin, I can't watch anything she's in since she played Rogue in the X-Men movies). But I do think her books are super fun. Did you know she has mystery series aside from the Sookie books? You can click on the covers above to read more about them.

Well, that's what's up for grabs today. You could win the first book in each of Charlaine Harris's series: Sookie Stackhouse, Lily Bard, and Harper Connelly. (If the winner already has one or more of those titles, I can be flexible on which ones you get as long as the $ does not exceed my $21 budget :) The Aurora Teagarden series is also included in the options, I just happen not to have any of those right now.

This contest is open internationally! Click on the bottom of the rafflecopter widget for the rest of the fine print. If the contest reaches 711 entries by the end of the month, I'll draw 2 winners!

There are no mandatory entries, but you have to do at least one to enter. Good luck, and happy birthday to me! Click "Read more"to enter below!




a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sapphire - Review


Sapphire by Jeffe Kennedy
Publication date: 24 October 2011 by Carina Press
ISBN 10/13: 1426892497 | 9781426892493
Goodreads | Amazon | B&N 

Category: Adult Romance/Erotica
Keywords: Romance, BDSM, erotica
Format: eBook
Source: e-ARC received from Netgalley


Synopsis:

A successful executive, M. Taylor Hamilton is on track with her ten-year plan. Too bad her personal life consists of hitting the gym and grocery shopping. Enter the seductive Adam Kirliss. They may have a working relationship, but everything changes at an office party when he handcuffs her to the rail of a yacht.

Taylor writes off the adventure as too much champagne, but when Adam challenges her to a date, she agrees to meet up with him. And follow his rules. They share a night of exquisite intimacy, brimming with both pain and pleasure. But afterward, fearful of losing her heart, Taylor pulls back emotionally.

Adam is determined to prove that she longs for the loss of control he can give her--and the passionate release it provides. How can he make her see that he wants her, and not just her body?

Review:

Let me start off this review by saying that I am not that familiar with BDSM. I don't read too many books about it and know very little about the lifestyle itself. I can't really comment as to the authenticity of the BDSM relationship and can only share my opinion of the char
acters and story and what I personally felt about it.

The book jumps right into things when Taylor Hamilton, buttoned up businesswoman, finds herself handcuffed to a yacht railing by her colleague Adam Kirliss. Adam's had his eye on Taylor and he's ready to make his move (he really is ready because her brings handcuffs onto the yacht). Adam thinks Taylor needs to loosen up and he's just the right Dominant to do it. After bringing her to a quick orgasm, Adam promises Taylor much more if she'll agree to see him again. Taylor can't resist and the next day she shows up at Adam's house for a weekend of sexual experimentation and maybe something more.

This was definitely a steamy read. If you like your love scenes pretty tame then this isn't the book for you. Taylor and Adam were both likable characters. Taylor is very buttoned up and rigid and it's interesting to watch her evolve and realize that she doesn't always need to be in control. Adam's sexual dominance allows her break down some of her walls. While I definitely felt like they had a sexual connection, the emotional connection was less developed and I wish the book had been a little bit longer so we could have explored that part of the relationship a little more.

Adam was still a bit of a mystery at the end of the book. I wanted to know more about him and his motivations and I am not sure I really got that. And the scene at the end with Taylor seemed a little implausible to me. Again, I don't know much about BDSM, but it seems like Taylor got Adam to give up control pretty quickly when their roles were reversed. To me, it seemed like it would have taken them much longer to get to that point.

Overall I enjoyed this brief, sexy look into the BDSM lifestyle. The writing was good, though I would have liked more time for further character development, especially with Adam. I think readers interested in BDSM romances would enjoy getting their feet wet with this novella.

*I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.
 


Visit the author online at jeffekennedy.com and follow her on Twitter @jeffekennedy

03 July 2012

The Knockdown Begins


The NetGalley Knockdown has officially begun! I am off to a really good start already since I just finished (and wrote a review!) for About Last Night today. I don't know how long this streak is going to last but I am just going to go with it for now. I am keeping my goals pretty modest so that I actually might meet them. Below are the NG books I am hoping to read this month.


Dark Kiss by Michelle Rowen
About Last Night by Ruthie Knox (read!)
Velveteen by Daniel Marks
This Is Not A Test by Courtney Summers

That's my goal and I am sticking to it. Does anyone else have any reading goals this month?




01 July 2012

On Vacation

picture taken at carlsbad gardens

Howdy! By the time this goes up I will officially be on vacation. Nothing too exciting but I will hanging out with my family and chilling out. My posting may be a bit sporadic while I am away though I am trying to schedule some posts for next week. 

Vacation usually means lots of reading and one of my number on priorities is figuring out which books to bring with me. I am bringing my Kindle but I also like to bring a small selection of physical books as well. It's Friday night as I read this and I am agonizing over what to bring. Do you guys do this, too? I am betting you do if you are a book lover like me. 

In the end, I decided to bring the following physical books on vacation:

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork - I borrowed this from Alethea a million years ago and I want to finish at least one of her books so I can return it.

Thief of Shadows by Elizabeth Hoyt - Historical romance that I picked up from ALA. I have never read anything by Hoyt before but I've heard good things.

God Save the Queen by Kate Locke - Steampunk urban fantasy where the Queen is undead. Sounds awesome.

Dark Companion by Marta Costa - Also picked up at ALA. Marta is coming to my town in a couple of months for a signing and I figure I should try to read this beforehand. 

I also have about a million NetGalley books that I want to get to since I joined NetGalley Knockdown. We'll see how much I actually get to read this week Are any of you going on vacation for the 4th? Do you have as much trouble as I do trying to figure out what books to bring?  If anyone has any method they use to go about figuring out what books to bring on vacation, I would love to hear it. I usually just go with my gut and how much I can carry but I'd love to know how other people decide. 

Have a great week!




Stacked (10): Highlights from ALA


Hi, everyone and welcome to another week of Stacked. This week I am going to highlight some of the books that I am most excited to read that I received at ALA last weekend. While I am excited about all of the books I received, there are definitely some that are on the short list of what I want to read first. Thank you again to all of the wonderful publishers and their reps for being so generous and knowledgeable about their books.  I ended up putting a lot of books of my to-read list after talking to a rep. 

First up are my adult fiction books. I was able to snag a few that  I really wanted to read and am super happy about.




The Queen is Dead by Kate Locke - This one looks like a lot of fun with a steampunk element to it.

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller - I knew nothing about this one but was saw that it was being compared to The Passage and The Road. I started talking to the rep at Random House who really loved it and she was talking about how awesome it was. I was mentally putting it in my TBR pile when she said she might have a copy. And she did and she was kind enough to give it to me. Thank you, Random House!

The 500 by Matthew Quirk - I have been hearing great things about this one for awhile now. Sounds like a great thriller. 

Gods of Gotham by Lindsay Sands - My friends know that I have been wanting to read this one for awhile now. The last day of ALA Penguin was selling their books for great prices and I snatched this one up for $5. 

Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon - I am a huge fan of Michael Chabon and was totally psyched to pick this one up. No idea what it's about but I will read anything he writes.

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness - I was so excited that Deb Harkness was signing at ALA. But I was even more blown away by the fact that they got an early shipment of the finished books and sold them at her signing. Can't wait to start this one.

Next up are the YA books!



Fathomless by Jackson Pearce - I had to buy one of Jackson's other book to get this ARC but it was so worth it. I am a big fan of her fairy tale series and have been dying to read her mermaid book.

Foretold (Anthology edited by Carrie Ryan) - This includes a story by RICHELLE MEAD! The other authors in this anthology ain't too shabby either. :)

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater - I <3 Maggie Stiefvater.

Blessed by Tonya Hurley - I was kind of on the hunt for this one. I fell in love with the cover and am hoping the insides are as good as the outside. 

Soulbound by Heather Brewer - This is another one I've been dying to get my hands on. I am a huge fan of the Vlad Tod series by Brewer and this one looks excellent.

Necromancing the Stone by Lish McBride - I loved Hold Me Closer, Necromancer and want to see what happens next for Sam and his friends.

Unwholly by Neal Shusterman - This was my holy grail book for ALA - the one I pretty much wanted more than any other. I was one of the last people to get a copy. 

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer - This is the other book that I was dying to get at ALA. I missed Marissa on Sat but managed to snag a copy on Sun.

One other item that I was really happy to get at ALA was some Grisha nail polish from Leigh Bardugo (Shadow and Bone). I am a nail polish and book junkie so it's fun when the two obsessions overlap.

hard to tell but it's an awesome grey creme

Those are the ALA books that I am most excited about. Thank you again to all of the wonderful publishers and reps who were so kind and friendly and make ALA a truly unforgettable event. 

Books I got not from ALA:
Once Burned by Jeaniene Forst - Finally we get Vlad's story!
Mystic City by Theo Lawrence - From NetGalley. This one has a great cover and really cool sounding premise.
Soul Weaver by Hailey Edwards - Another NetGalley title. I just thought the synopsis looked like it could be fun. 

Yay, books! My TBR is seriously full right now but I love it. What in your mailbox this week?