The Demon Mistress (An Eva Prim Novel) by Jordan K. Rose - COVER REVEAL!!!

     So, I am doing my first cover reveal today you guys! *SQUEALS*  Jordan contacted me awhile ago and asked if I would be interested in participating.  I said sure, cause the book sounded really funny, even if not quite my usual fare.  I will also be posting a review in October, once the book has been published!  I highly encourage you to check out the website her main character, Miss Eva Prim, runs as well.  It is absolutely hilarious!  Without further adieu, I give you our gorgeous cover:



 

Synopsis

 

What’s a girl to do when she discovers her husband, who happens to be the Master Vampire for the New England Region, has been lying to her for, oh, say a hundred and eighty years?

Well, it all depends. If she’s accidentally released forty demons from some creepy old book, unintentionally announced the existence of vampires on The Internet, kidnapped a werewolf, enraged a lovesick vampire by stealing his approved mate, and attracted the attention of The High Commander for The Vampire Federation, not to mention gotten stoned and mastered the forbidden art of demon calling, she might be willing to call it even.

Or, she might plead her case at an Inquisition and hope like all hell, she isn’t staked before sunrise. Eh, a slightly busier night than usual, but nothing Eva Prim can’t handle.

 



 

About The Author

 

Jordan loves vampires. But if you know anything about Jordan, you already knew that detail. What you didn’t know was it wasn’t long ago that she began writing about them.

A few years back Jordan received a copy of Twilight from her husband as part of her anniversary gift. By the end of that week she’d read the entire series and moved onto Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles. Eight weeks and eighteen vampire books later the idea for her first book, Perpetual Light came to her followed very quickly by Eva Prim.

In October of 2013 The Demon Mistress, the first Eva Prim Novel is available along with four short stories. For continual updates on Eva please join the Snack Of The Week Club at www.evaprim.com.

Coming November 2013 Black Magic Rose, Book One of The Alliance Series. Join Jordan’s newsletter for updates. 

Jordan is a member of the national Romance Writers of America organization and several chapters.

When she’s not writing about one vampire or another Jordan enjoys spending time with her husband, Ken and their lovable Labrador, Dino on the beautiful beaches of New England. 

 

Find Jordan on her website at www.jordankrose.com.

 



More Conspiracies, Draped In Petticoats

Expected Publication:  November 5th, 2013

Curtsies and Conspiracies (Finishing School #2)

By: Gail Carriger

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

ISBN-13:  9780316190114

Does one need four fully grown foxgloves for decorating a dinner table for six guests? Or is it six foxgloves to kill four fully grown guests?

Sophronia's first year at Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality has certainly been rousing! For one thing, finishing school is training her to be a spy (won't Mumsy be surprised?). Furthermore, Sophronia got mixed up in an intrigue over a stolen device and had a cheese pie thrown at her in a most horrid display of poor manners.

Now, as she sneaks around the dirigible school, eavesdropping on the teachers' quarters and making clandestine climbs to the ship's boiler room, she learns that there may be more to a school trip to London than is apparent at first. A conspiracy is afoot--one with dire implications for both supernaturals and humans. Sophronia must rely on her training to discover who is behind the dangerous plot-and survive the London Season with a full dance card.

Review

     When we last saw her Sophronia had just managed solve a mystery about a stolen device and a traitor within her school for girls training to be assassins/spies (and debutantes).  With a penchant for curiosity Sophronia is in trouble again, this time because she has become entangles in another mystery surrounding a valve that has malfunctioned in the school's testing machine - and why they are going to London.  The harmless class trip to see an event with a dirigible may not be everything it seems, especially when Sophronia uncovers some shocking things while sneaking through the teacher's quarters, eavesdropping and using situations to her advantage.  With the help of her friends Soap, Vieve, Dimity, Sidheag, and Agatha can she figure out what's going on before it's too late.  Also, when will Lord Felix Mercer learn to take a hint, that she is just not interested?  And what is Monique planning now, that could direly affect everyone aboard the ship?

     Don't mistake me: I enjoyed this book, just as I did the first one in the trilogy.  But I feel that it's written more for established fans of Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series than newcomers.  The feel of it is very established, in that I went in feeling like an outsider looking in through my little bookish lens.  Those kinds of books don't necessarily make a new reader feel like they are very easily approached.  That said, Sophronia is an amusing, precociously nosy young girl who has found her niche in training to be a spy, even if the horrendous debutante training is necessary right alongside it! :)  I found her to be very loyal, genuine.  I love her curiosity; there is nothing worse to me than lack of curiosity on the part of a heroine in a weird/off-kilter situation.  Don't you want to know what's going on?  Sophronia always wants to know, and it gets her into trouble sometimes.  When the teachers announce the progress report results of each girl out loud, Sophronia was ostracized which made for an interesting plot twist.  A decent portion of the novel is spent with Sophronia trying to solve the latest mystery all on her own mostly (with only help from boiler room friend Soap and inventive, little scamp Vieve).  It definitely helped the reader, as well as Sophronia, to realize that she is at her strongest when she has the help of her friends.

     Carriger also introduces the possibility of a love triangle between Sophronia, Soap, and semi-racist, classist (but entirely charming) rich Lord Felix Mercer.  It's an interesting dynamic to say the least.  Sophronia is only just starting to realize her own identity as person old enough to feel romantic interest in another.  Soap is from the opposite end of the class spectrum, works for her school and is of a different race as well.  Yet Soap challenges her and keeps Sophronia grounded in reality.  He's a true friend and she values him for it - precisely the reason she's trying to avoid anything beyond harmless flirtation.  She knows it would most likely lead to heartache.  Felix Mercer is intelligent in entirely different ways, has loads of social connections and is within reach societally.  But his family is also prejudiced against supernaturals and has opinions opposite of her on their civil rights.  It's the beginning of  a fascinating inner-struggle on the part of Sophronia to stay true to herself.

      The main storyline about the mysterious valve, the habits and politics of vampires, the attempted kidnappings of Sophronia's friends Dimity and Pillover, and the further exploration of everyone's true loyalties was really well carried out.  I did find myself losing interest a few times when it started moving fairly slowly, but it picked up again so I kept going.  I was not disappointed and liked the way the book resolved, even if there were a couple of lingering questions still to be answered (I assume in the final installment of the trilogy).  Overall, I had fun and got to stop thinking for a couple hours - and Carriger managed to keep me by staying light on the steampunk, of which I am NOT a fan.  I would recommend it to fans of supernatural adventures and spy stories (more middle grade than YA in my opinion), but I still feel fans of the adult series this is an off-shoot of would be better suited to truly fall into effusive declarations of love with it.

VERDICT:  3.5/5  Stars

*I received this book as part of Around the World ARC Tours, run by the lovely Princess Bookie.  No favors or money were exchanged for this review.  This book's expected publication is November 5th, 2013.*

When Daylight Comes We'll Have To Go...

Published:  May 7th, 2013

Fall of Night (Morganville Vampires # 14)

By: Rachel Caine

New American Library

ISBN-13:  9780451414250

Thanks to its unique combination of human and vampire residents, Morganville, Texas, is a small college town with big-time problems. When student Claire Danvers gets the chance to experience life on the outside, she takes it. But Morganville isn’t the only town with vampire trouble...

Claire never thought she’d leave Morganville, but when she gets accepted into the graduate program at MIT, she can’t pass up the opportunity. Saying good-bye to her friends is bittersweet, especially since things are still raw and unsettled between Claire and her boyfriend, Shane. 

Her new life at MIT is scary and exciting, but Morganville is never really far from Claire’s mind. Enrolled in a special advanced study program with Professor Irene Anderson, a former Morganville native, Claire is able to work on her machine, which is designed to cancel the mental abilities of vampires. 

But when she begins testing her machine on live subjects, things quickly spiral out of control, and Claire starts to wonder whether leaving Morganville was the last mistake she’ll ever make...

Review

     I love Morganville as much as the next girl.  I feel like the premise is still eons away from Twilight in fresh ideas and the way it treats the tired vamp subject matter is very welcomed by me.  But at the opening pages of book #14 (yeah, you read that correctly), I feel like the series has gotten quite a bit stale.  I was pleased that Caine took things out of Morganville finally and gave Claire a chance to test out the life she'd been dreaming of at M.I.T. since the first book when her parents made her go to Texas Prairie U instead due to her young age.  I liked that she does get to explore that possibility, so that when she ends up with Shane (which is a given at this point) it will be with no regrets on that score.  She won't have wasted dreams due to a guy.  Yet, at this point in the series it also took the reader out of Morganville, in a not so good way.  With how movie-of-the-week the plots have gotten the only thing really even saving this series for me anymore is the characters.  As in, the characters we know and love from multiple books in the series' past such as Michael, Eve, Myrnin, Oliver, Hannah, Amelie and even bitchy Monica Morrell.  For the first half of this book we are stuck in an unfamiliar setting with only alternating points of view between Shane and Claire as our window into a new world.  Oh yeah, Shane too because he follows her so he can watch over Claire without her knowledge.  Sweet, but still kind of creeptastic even when they are on the verge of being engaged.  

     This book also suffers from nowhere near enough Michael and/or Eve.  With the lack in this book of either one, I'm not picky - I just want half of my favorite power couple.  Please Ms. Caine?  Pretty please with sugar on top of it? :(  Claire is working with a Professor Irene Anderson who used to work for Myrnin.  She still works for the vamps, in an out of town capacity with who I believe to be the ill-fated, nine day Queen Jane Grey as her vampire bodyguard.  There is a secret government organization, The Daylight Foundation, looking to control vampires that is sniffing around the lab at the worst possible time.  Because Claire brought the ray gun with her that she made to control vampires' urges and emotions.  Of course she gives it to Anderson to study.  What could possibly go wrong?  *insert sarcasm here*  Another new (yet mentioned in book #1 by Claire's Mom) character was her ex-BFF, Elizabeth.  She is perky, neurotic and has her very own stalker ex-boyfriend Derek, who is a psychotic creep.  However, Shane's behavior is pretty close to Derek's, which after 13 books worth of relationship between him and Claire was disappointing.  It was very teen-angst, bordering on the beginnings of abusive relationship behavioral-patterns.  I have loved Shane for most of this series, but I feel like lately his character has advanced backward instead of forward.   And considering where he was in the first book, that is somewhat horrifying.  It's a pretty rapid descent too, which is all the more wrong to me.

     The Daylight Foundation and the other villain in this book felt like placeholders and were so cliche I can hardly stomach thinking about it.  I missed the humor and unique perspectives of the first half of this series.  This book was entirely too serious for me to really like it as much as the others.  Yeah, we get it.  Claire and Shane are in major trouble and so is everyone else.  But there always used to be some jokes to break the tension or a funny moment where you knew it would work out somehow, without it bashing you over the head in its obviousness.  Now this book sports a grim, Joker-like slash of a grin.  Unnerving to say the least as a major fan of this series.  Overall, I'm just failing to see the point of this book.  All the side plots with Liz, Derek and Professor Anderson (except for the DF connection) were verging on pointlessness.  After all, Shane and Claire are just going to end up back in Morganville and none of these other people will.  So why, in book #14 should I give a shit about them?  I don't and I didn't.  Overall, I would recommend reading it if you're a hardcore Morganville fan and can get past the cringeworthy content issues and the mediocre attempt at our favorites being 'serious' and 'growing up.'  Gag me.  Worth it to get to book 15, for which I hold the hopes of Star Wars fan to Disney's treatment of Episode VII - meager and full of denial.  Good luck to you all. 

VERDICT:  2.5/5  Stars  

**No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book is now available in stores, online, or maybe even at your local library.**

She's So High Above You

Expected Publication:  April 9th, 2013

The Rising (Darkness Rising # 3)

By: Kelley Armstrong

HarperCollins

ISBN-13: 9780061797088

Things are getting desperate for Maya and her friends. Hunted by the powerful St. Clouds and now a rival Cabal as well, they're quickly running out of places to hide. And with the whole world thinking they died in a helicopter crash, it's not like they can just go to the authorities for help.

All they have is the name and number of someone who might be able to give them a few answers. Answers to why they're so valuable, and why their supernatural powers are getting more and more out of control.

But Maya is unprepared for the truths that await her. And now, like it or not, she'll have to face down some demons from her past if she ever hopes to move on with her life. Because Maya can't keep running forever.

Old secrets are revealed and unexpected characters make a surprising return in this stunning conclusion to Kelley Armstrong's New York Times bestselling Darkness Rising trilogy.

Review

     Lets just start off with this statement: I am Armstrong's biggest fan for her other YA series, Darkest Powers.  That said, the first two books in this series had filler syndrome and mostly failed to impress me in any real lasting way.  I went into this one kind of fuzzy on the characters and happenings of her last novel, but it wasn't too difficult to refresh as it started right where the other one left off.  Maya, Daniel and Corey are still on the run from the St. Clouds and all of the rival Cabals who would like to use the kids to their own advantages.  With the rest of their friends either missing or kidnapped, time is running out for Maya and the boys to think up a solution and finally get some answers once and for all about who/what they are.  But can they all survive the journey to the answers?  I thought that this book wrapped up the series quite nicely and tied up all the loose ends.  My only major complaint stems from all of the terminology involving Cabals and their people.  I felt like I'd been dropped inside of a series I hadn't been reading from the start and while fans of her adult novels may have been familiar, I wasn't.  It was jarring to say the least.  Maya still seemed pretty cold as a character to me and the resolution to the love triangle between her, Daniel and Rafe surprised me but didn't make me jump for joy like in Darkest Powers with Simon, Chloe and Derek.  Speaking of my fave characters from the other series, it was wonderful to see them get some play in this conclusion because they way their series ended was fairly abrupt.  I know I felt like they still had stories to be told.  The action in this one is non-stop, which was a nice change from all of the build-up in the other two that left me antsy and bored as a reader more than once.  Overall, I wouldn't recommend this series to anyone who isn't a die-hard fan of Armstrong's but at the same time it was far from the worst I've read.  And this last book was definitely the strongest.  If you've read the other two books, you should finish the series to get some true closure! :)

VERDICT:  4/5  Stars

*I received this book as part of Around the World ARC Tours, run by the lovely Princess Bookie. No favors or money were exchanged for this review. It will be available for purchase on April 9th, 2013*

Not So Crazy For You

Expected Publication: November 27th, 2012
Wild About You (Love At Stake # 13)
By: Kerrelyn Sparks
Avon Books
ISBN-13: 9780062107718

The thirteenth book in the Love at Stake series features Howard Barr, the were-bear!
Handsome Howard…Hunky Howard… Hot Howard…

It’s not every day that Elsa Bjornberg feels fragile, not when she hosts a home renovation show where she can effortlessly demolish a kitchen. But from the moment she meets Howard Barr, this bear of a man makes her feel like a woman. And the way he looks at her, as if she was a pot of honey he’d like to lick…

Howard is not like most men. For one thing, he’s a shapeshifter. And he always thought his celebrity crush would never amount to anything more than drooling at Elsa on the TV. When his meddling vampire employer gets involved, the star is suddenly within his grasp—and within a hair of her life. For an ancient curse forbids their newfound love, and Howard is suddenly torn between his desire for her and his desire to keep her alive.

Review

 

   Howard Barr is leading a fairly solitary life, but even he gets lonely watching all his friends marry off and have kids.  Right now he's focused on revenge for Rhett Bleddyn for killing his first love and getting him banished from his home for two decades.  He won't stop until Rhett's career, place as werewolf packmaster and underhanded embezzlement are stopped once and for all.  Meanwhile, Elsa Bjornberg has come to the Dragon Nest Academy where he is a security guard to do renovations on the building next door.  Sparks fly from the very first touch and their family histories may just be inextricably linked.  But can they manage to fight an ancient curse that threatens to keep them apart?  This book was one that I was really excited to read.  I loved Howard in the other books and the series has managed to keep momentum pretty well up until now.  I was majorly disappointed.  I like fluff as much as the next person, but this book felt like it had no plot and zero real romance.  Howard and Elsa are both focused on each other's looks above all else and she is absolutely unable to see past the fact that he's a were-bear, which is not synonymous with MONSTER.  I felt really frustrated at how weak-minded Elsa was and how easily she let others talk her into questioning the fact that Howard was harmless and a good guy.  The epiphany she has to that effect felt seriously fake and forced.  Also, Howard's desperation to be with Elsa and then pushing her away for her protection (at the very end of the book almost), as a basic afterthought was dumb.  I liked the parts with Tino and Shanna was amusing, if annoying.  Her Aunts were insufferable and the way they change their minds at the end with no convincing was very weak.  But Howard and Elsa's "romance" did absolutely nothing for me.  So utterly contrived and without any appeal for me.  I hope the next one is better. 

 

VERDICT:  2.5/5  Stars

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via Edelweiss.  No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book's expected publication date is November 27th, 2012.*



Gather Round the Poison Tree

Expected Publication: July 10th, 2012
Poison Tree
By: Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
Random House Children's Books
ISBN-13: 9780385737548

The rich stew of the author's creations—SingleEarth, vampires, shapeshifters, Tristes, the Bruja Guilds—are at full boil here in the story of two 20-ish young women trying to out run their very different pasts, and figure out where they fit in and who they might become. Each has landed in a more "normal" place, and each wonders if, like a tattoo that can't be covered up, they can ever really fit into "normal."

Review

   The book starts off with a prologue that introduces our main characters all at once - then they are separated for half the book until reuniting and not always recognizing one another.  Sarik is a shapeshifting Tiger, who escaped her brutal clan after the murder of her human sister by their Father.  Christian and Alysia are a part of a Bruja Guild - assassins with a strange, complex code of honor.  Jason is a vampire once ensalved to his maker.  Just a few years later Sarik and Jason are part of SingleEarth, a humanitarian organization for supernatural creatures, Alysia is a mediator for SingleEarth on the run from a bounty by Bruja and all of them collide.  Then someone attempst to harm Alysia and she is forced back into the harsh world of the Bruja.  In trying to save two children of her kind, Sarik may have to face the one person she would do anything to forget - her Father.  And what will Christian do know that he is a Triste witch in training, after Alysia reveals her true reasons for leaving Bruja?  Can all of them survive the political and personal intrigues long enough to make it out alive?  I have read EVERY SINGLE BOOK that Amelia Atwater-Rhodes has ever written.  ALL OF THEM.  I loved each of them equally madly, up until the publication of All Just Glass, a sequel to Shattered Mirror written almost a decade after the first book.  It was truly subpar, not at ALL in keeping with the feel of the original book.  Then come an ARC for this book, which I decided to try because it's in her universe that I already know.  This book is NOT teen oriented like the summary would have you believe, despite being published by Random House's Children's Division.  It was all about adults and their complicated, messy, political intrigues.  Half the time I had no clue what the heck was even going on because of how convoluted the plot became.  In trying to tell overly complicated stories for four separate characters, Atwater-Rhodes succeeded in making them all two-dimensional and superficial.  I felt like I never truly got to know any of them, not even Sarik or Alysia who have most of the novel focus.  I felt like SingleEarth was debased by being used as a plot device instead of a living, breathing setting with it's own stories.  It just served to move the story elsewhere with it's presence.  I am truly disappointed by the fact that the author seems to have decided to "spice up" her writing when it was perfect the way it used to be.  In my honest opinion it's not an improvement.

VERDICT:  2/5  Stars

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book's expected publication date is July 10, 2012.*