Hi all.

I just wanted to let you know that I will be taking a break from blogging for a few weeks.  My husband was rushed into hospital seriously ill last week and I need to concentrate on him and my two boys for now.  What with constant hospital visits and a three year old and an 8 month old to look after (and all the worrying!) I just don’t have the time or energy to read/blog at the moment.  When the kids go to bed in the evening I tend to just collapse in an exhausted heap on the sofa.

I hope to get back to blogging soon but I just don’t know how long I will be having a break for.  It will depend on how long my hubby is in hospital for and just how much care he will need when he gets home.  But I will definitely be back and in the meantime I will occasionally be around on Twitter/Goodreads, so don’t be a stranger.

See you all soon :)

Chrissie x

Hi everybody!  I hope that you all had a great Christmas and that you have got lots of amazing plans to see in the new year!

Sorry I haven’t been around for a while – things have been very hectic with Christmas and everything and I wanted to have a little break from blogging so that I could really enjoy Christmas with my family.  My 3 year old loved it (as was to be expected) and my 8 month old was very interested in all the decorations, sparkly Christmas lights and, on Christmas morning, all the discarded wrapping paper!  I forgot how cheap babies could be to keep amused on Christmas morning :)

I am also taking a little break because as of next Monday (3rd January) there will be a few changes on the blog and I am taking a bit of time to get myself prepared for this.  I will be having a new blog design done.  It is about halfway finished but my hubby, who is also my web designer, has been very poorly, so this may not actually be launched on Monday but hopefully will be finished not long after.

Also, there will be some new features being introduced but I will tell you more about this later on in the week once I have got everything finalised.  My meme, Radiant Reviews will be continuing and the next one will be hosted on Thursday 6th January.

Over the next few days there may be some random posts, such as review policies/lists of reviews etc so please do ignore them.  These are just a bit of necessary housekeeping I need to do to make these changes happen!

So, I look forward to seeing you all again in the new year and I hope you’ll pop back soon to find out about all the changes that will be happening here at Chrissie’s Corner!

 

Publisher – Carina Press
Publication Date – 6th December 2010
Genre – Paranormal Romance
Source– Received from publisher for review via NetGalley

Rating - 2/5

Book Information – She can’t survive in his world; he can’t stay sane in hers.

A twenty-first century ice age dulls the magic that emanates from the earth.  Shane Sullivan is a lone wolf above the freeze line.  He has no desire to join the packs that range closer to the border, where feral instincts can turn a man into a monster.  Not until the winter solstice, when he stumbles across a dying witch who needs his help to get back to her people – and her magic – in the south.

Nadia is a powerful woman in her own world, but she’s been drained by her escape from captivity in a northern lab.  She knows it’s foolhardy to trust a werewolf, but he’s her only chance to survive the vast white wilderness.  The farther south they travel, the harder it is for Shane to keep the beast within under control, and as their mutual attraction intensifies, Nadia’s no longer sure she wants him to.

Review – Hmm, I must admit to not particularly enjoying this book.  My main problem was all the angst and imagined slights that pass between the two main characters.  They are completely different and this often leads to misunderstandings between them.  But rather than actually discuss anything out loud, they just keep on getting offended at what they assume the other person means with their words, so they spend a large portion of the book annoyed at each other for no reason.  In fact, at times it is so unclear how they have offended each other that I was often confused myself as to how one had upset the other.  I spent a lot of time feeling frustrated because they would not sit down and just talk things out!  This meant that when Shane and Nadia do start to feel attracted to each other, I didn’t really feel the chemistry.

I also wasn’t that keen on Shane’s character.  He is forever brooding about his past and he is so consumed with his self pity that he is often not able to see what is happening right in front of him (resulting in him taking offence from things Nadia says).  I know that what happened to him in the past is pretty tragic but there is only so much woe-is-me that I can take in one short story.  On the plus side, the way his protectiveness kicks in when he meets Nadia is very sweet, and he does seem to really care about her, which does provide the reader with some quite touching moments.

As for Nadia, I ended up really enjoying reading about her.  She is feisty and strong, but she knows when she needs help and isn’t afraid to ask for it.  When we first meet Nadia she is near death – she is a witch who relies on the power from the earth to keep her strong, but she is above the freeze line where the earth is stripped of energy so she is lacking her strength and powers.  She needs to get nearer the border where the earth will make her stronger again but she knows that she is too weak to get there alone.  Shane finds her and he helps to protect her from the cold and offers to help her travel south.  As I saw her stregth growing as they moved towards the border, the more I started to like her.  She isn’t afraid of anything, especially not Shane, but after a while we begin to see a more emotionally vulnerable side emerge - she is scared that Shane does not really want her and that he will break her heart and this really endeared her character to me.  Although I do wish she could have communicated better with Shane (the lack of understanding between these characters was definitely down to both of them and not just Shane) she was definitely the best thing in the story for me.

Overall, a slightly disappointing read that I think I would have really enjoyed if it I hadn’t spent a majority of my time feeling frustrated with the two main characters.  But I have heard great things about this author’s books on other blogs and I think I would still be willing to try one of her other books.

 

Publisher – Carina Press
Publication Date – 6th December 2010
Genre – Paranormal Romance
Source– Received from publisher for review via NetGalley

Rating - 5/5

Book Information – When Sasha’s boyfriend, Jay, is sucked through a fiery vortex to Hell, an angel reveals that Sasha’s been chosen as the Champion of Virtue in the battle for his immortal soul.  As a perennial offender on Santa’s naughty list, Sasha can’t believe she’s anyone’s idea of a girl fighting on the side of angels.  But if she doesn’t save Jay, he’ll be stuck in Hell forever!

Jay – aka Jevroth – isn’t surprised to find himself back in Hell.  His visa to visit the mortal plane expired three months ago, but to steal more time with Sasha he’s been ignoring his mother’s demands that he come home to spend time with his new stepfather: Lucifer.

Sasha has until dawn on the twenty-fifth of December to fight the Legions of Hell and rescue Jay, or be trapped there for eternity herself.  But now she must decide if the lying son-of-a-demon is even worth saving…

Reviews – No Angel is set in a world where the existence of Angels and Demons is common knowledge, and as it is Christmas Eve the Angels are making an appearance at many religious gatherings across the globe.  Everybody seems to love these angels, all except for Sasha.  She sees them as ‘Just another brand of L.A.fame whore’ – a group who don’t seem to do anything except for look good and show up in the right places but who are still adored by millions!

I absolutely loved Sasha – she is quick-witted, fiesty and strong (with a hint of vulnerability hiding beneath her kick-ass exterior).  When we first meet Sasha, a hilarious scene is described where she fantasises about attacking the woman in the queue in front of her with the molasses she is trying to purchase because she believes the other woman has got more than ten items in her basket even though she is in the ten-items-or-less queue.  Although this is pretty representative of the shopping rage that can occur in all of us on a busy Christmas Eve, it is written in such a way that I was laughing out loud at the situation.

Sasha’s vulnerability comes from the fact that she is not willing to let anybody get too close to her.  Her mother is famous and so Sasha is used to people using her to get to her family.  This has resulted in Sasha not being able to trust anybody and she has built up a wall around herself that shows the world how tough she is, whilst also hiding a more vulnerable side.  When Sasha met Jay six months ago, he never tried to meet her family (and is in fact still trying to avoid meeting them) so she has slowly started to trust him and open up to him.  So you can imagine her surprise when she is talking to him in her kitchen after she gets home from the supermarket and he is sucked through a vortex into hell.  And to top it all off she then finds out that Jay is in fact a demon and that his stepfather is none other than Satan himself!

But true to her kick-ass self, when an angel gives Sasha a chance to enter Hell to rescue him, she doesn’t think twice.  She just loads herself up with as many weapons as she can and follows after him.  This leads to some great action scenes as Sasha and Jay fight off the demons that have been tasked with keeping them in Hell.

I absolutely loved this short story and I will definitely be looking out for more from this author in the future.  It has more than it’s fair share of humour, action, romance and great characterisation.  The story moves along at a fast pace, and once I started reading it, I just couldn’t stop.  This is a must-read for all paranormal fans during the Christmas period – I just can’t recommend it enough!

 

Publisher – Carina Press
Publication Date – 6th December 2010
Genre – Paranormal Romance
Source– Received from publisher for review via NetGalley

Rating - 3/5

Book Information – She’s the cat’s meow, and he’s ready to pounce!

Five miles of leather-clad leg is all it takes to lure Kyle Branegan out from his carefully hidden lifestyle as part of the Cougar Corp, a secret branch of the Shifter Enforcer League.  He’s hoping for a night of fun and frolic, cat-style, no strings attached.  With a sultry swing of her hips, Eloise Scott tangles him up in her ball of tricks, and just when he thinks he’s about to get lucky, she cuffs him – naked – to her bed.

An undercover cop in the human police force, El’s been given a top-secret mission to keep the big cat under her paw until he’s needed to testify in court in the new year.  Her decision to take him home for a quiet Christmas in her sleepy hometown turns out to be far more interesting than she expected.  Her parents are suddenly rich, her old boyfriend is sniffing around and all six-feet-plus of sexy cougar male is sleeping in her bed.

And that’s before they announce their fake engagement…

Review – Wow, this book is hot!  From the very first page the chemistry between El and Kyle is just sizzling and I spent a lot of my time feeling a bit hot under the collar.  Although there is so much sex (and talking/thinking about sex) that it did take away from the Christmassy feel of the story for me.

I really enjoyed reading about the characters in this short story.  El and Kyle are both cougar shifters but they have very different opinions about their abilities.  Kyle has completely embraced the cougar side of his nature and almost ignores his human side, whereas El does her best to hide what she is from the humans that surround her in her work and personal life.  When they first meet, El and Kyle find it difficult to adjust to the differences in their personalities.  But over time they each begin to compromise and find a middle ground – El finds it easier to accept her inner Cougar, whilst Kyle starts to listen to his human side more – and it was interesting reading about the journeys that both of their characters take.

The relationship between El and Kyle also shows a progression throughout the story.  At the beginning, El refuses to allow anything to happen between them for two reasons.  Firstly, it would be unprofessional of her to be in a physical relationship with someone that she is supposed to be protecting.  Secondly, it is her cougar’s instinct to jump into bed with Kyle, and El feels the need to fight her inner animal about almost everything.  However, El isn’t able to resist him for long and it didn’t take them long to start steaming up the screen on my ereader!

There is also a great cast of minor characters, including all of El’s family who they go to stay with during Christmas.  They are a large family who all absolutely love Christmas and they provide some laugh-out-loud moments along the way, which helps to make this a light and fun read.

However, I had issues with some parts of the storyline.  For example, El hasn’t been home to see her family for a year and in that time her family have become mega-rich, demolished their bungalow, replaced it with a mansion, and didn’t think to mention this to their daughter!  I just found this a bit too much of a stretch for my imagination.  Also, the reasons for El having to take Kyle into custody just weren’t very clear to me, but Kyle just accepts it completely.  Ok, so I know some of this is lust-induced, but it just didn’t ring true that an independent character like Kyle would allow himself to be put into custody with the human police for no very obvious reason.

But despite these problems in the storyline, I still really enjoyed Tangled Tinsel and found it to be a fun and entertaining short story.  It is definitely what you need to warm you up on a cold winter’s night!

What are you reading this week? is a weekly event to list the books completed last week, the books currently being read, and the books to be finished this week. This meme is hosted by One Persons Journey Through a World of Books.

Books completed last week:

Silver Kiss – Naomi Clark

Books reviewed last week:

From the Dead – John Herrick
Return to Paradise – Simone Elkeles
Silver Kiss – Naomi Clark

Books I am currently reading:

Winter Wishes – Vivi Andrews, Vivian Arend, Moira Rogers

Up next:

Nightshade – Andrea Cremer

 

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.  Every week I’ll post about what books I have received that week – either through the mail for review, borrowed from the library or bought.  I received some great books for review this week and I can’t wait to get started on them!

For Review:

Andrea Cremer – Nightshade

Calla Tor has always known her destiny: After graduating from the Mountain School, she’ll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and fight with him, side by side, ruling their pack and guarding sacred sites for the Keepers.  But when she violates her masters’ laws by saving a beautiful human boy out for a hike, Calla begins to question her fate, her existence, and the very essence of the world she has known.  By following her heart, she might lose everything— including her own life.  Is forbidden love worth the ultimate sacrifice?

Kim Wright – Love in Mid Air

Thirty-something Elyse is happy with her life.  That is to say, she’s not actively unhappy.  She’s got a perfectly nice husband, child, home and life and knows she should be grateful for what she’s got.  Returning home one day from a work trip, she meets an attractive married man on a plane and – intensely, quickly, unexpectedly – she steps through all the instincts that say ‘no’ and instead lets ‘yes’ happen.  There are consequences for her, her husband, her child and her circle of close friends, all of whom have an investment in her life continuing as normal.  But things will never be the same again – and was ‘normal’ what she really wanted after all?

 

Publisher – Queered Fiction
Publication Date – 1st March 2010
Paperback – 228 pages
Genre – Urban Fantasy
Series – Book 1 in the Urban Wolf Series
Source – Received from publisher for review

Rating - 3/5

Book Information -Ayla Hammond has come home.

After years as a lone wolf in a self-imposed exile she’s rejoining the pack and trying to mend fences with her parents.

She’s convinced them to accept her girlfriend, but can a lone wolf change her ways?

As if homecoming wasn’t hard enough, Ayla also can’t help getting involved in a missing person case.

With pressure to solve the case mounting from the pack alphas, Ayla is starting to question where her loyalties lie – and if a return to the pack she left behind is really what she wants.

Review – At the beginning of Silver Kiss, we see Ayla returning to her family, and her pack, after several years away.  She became a lone wolf after her pack had difficulty dealing with her relationship with a human woman.  But now she is back with the hope of mending her relationship with her parents.  When Shannon, Ayla’s girlfriend and a PI by trade, begins to investigate a case involving a missing werewolf, Ayla gets drawn into helping solve the case.  It soon becomes obvious that there is a link between a new drug called Silver Kiss and some very strange behaviour amongst young werewolves.  It is up to Shannon and Ayla to find out where the missing girl is, as well as who is supplying this drug, in an attempt to stop anybody else from getting hurt.

I really enjoyed reading about the world that the author creates in Silver Kiss.  It is a world where the existence of werewolves has been common knowledge since the first world war, to the point where there are booths on every street corner so that people can change to their wolf form in private.  But there is a lot of hate and discrimination between the two different groups, which reminds me of the prejudice faced by many people in the real world today.

Ayla faces discrimination on two counts – for being a werewolf and for being a lesbian.  But she never lets it get her down.  Although she left years ago because of this type of behaviour from people (even from people within her pack), she is now back and willing to face it head on.  This is one of the things I love about Ayla, along with her strength of character, determination and loyalty.  I loved reading about her interactions with the other characters as she learns to find her place again within her pack and her family.  There are some scenes with her parents that just made me laugh as the author perfectly describes the frustration I feel with my parents at times, so these interactions felt very real to me even if the characters were werewolves.

There is a good contrast of fighting, mystery, romance and emotional struggles, and these all combine to make Silver Kiss an enjoyable read.  However, the mystery aspect of the story felt a little bit lacking to me.  The answers are revealed fairly early on and the rest of the novel focuses on finding the person behind the crimes.  Although there were still a couple of twists in the story, the revelation of the culprit so early on did steal away some of the suspense.  But I do think that fans of Urban Fantasy would enjoy this book and I would still recommend it, despite my small misgivings.

It is time once again for my book review meme – Radiant Reviews!

It is so easy to take part and hopefully anybody who does take part will get more comments on their reviews, find lots of great books to read and find new blogs to follow! The only downside to participating in this meme is that your TBR pile may grow seriously out of control!!!

Radiant Reviews was inspired by Cym Lowell’s Book Review Party Wednesday.

OK, so here is how you can take part:

1. Place a link to your review of a book you have loved into Mister Linky below. It must be a book that you have really enjoyed and that you would like to recommend to other bloggers. In the section for your name, please put the name of your blog, the title of the book and its genre (all genres are welcome in Radiant Reviews). In the URL section, please leave a direct link to your review – not just your blog URL.

2. Place my Radiant Reviews button, or some other kind of link to Chrissie’s Corner, on the review that you have linked to. This is to promote the meme in the hope that more and more people will take part every week.

3. Visit other people’s reviews and leave comments if you can. I know that on my blog (and it might be the same for some of you other bloggers out there) it is the reviews that receive the least amount of comments and I think this is a real shame as they are the posts which take the most time and effort. So do please try to leave comments and show other bloggers some love!

 

Publication Date – 8th September 2010
Paperback – 312 pages
Genre - Young Adult/Contemporary Fiction
Series – Book two in the Leaving Paradise series

Reviewed by – Kira

Source – Kira’s personal library

Rating – 5/5

Book Information - Nothing lasts forever, not even goodbye.

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading.

Here’s what you have to do:

1. Grab your current read.

2. Open to a random page.

3. Share two (2) teaser sentences from somewhere on that page.

4. Be careful not to include spoilers.

5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the books to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser this week is from Silver Kiss by Naomi Clark…

Trembling howls pierced the night as a few of the watchers let their wolves go.  I breathed fast and shallow, reaching for Vince’s hand and finding claws instead of fingers.
Page 19 (ebook version)

Synopsis: Ayla Hammond has come home.
After years as a lone wolf in a self-imposed exile she’s rejoining the pack and trying to mend fences with her parents.
She’s convinced them to accept her girlfriend, but can a lone wolf change her ways?
As if homecoming wasn’t hard enough, Ayla also can’t help getting involved in a missing person case.
With pressure to solve the case mounting from the pack alphas, Ayla is starting to question where her loyalties lie – and if a return to the pack she left behind is really what she wants.

 

Publication Date – 31st August 2010
Paperback – 384 pages
Genre - Contemporary Fiction

Source – Received from author for review

Rating – 3/5

Book Information - A preacher’s son, a father in hiding, a guilty heart filled with secrets:

When Jesse Barlow escaped to Hollywood, he hungered for fame – but eleven years of failure result in a drug-induced suicide attempt. Revived at death’s doorstep, Jesse returns to his Ohio hometown to make amends with his preacher father, a former love, and Jesse’s own secret son. But Jesse’s renewed commitment becomes a baptism by fire when his son’s advanced illness calls for a sacrifice – one that could cost Jesse the very life he regained. A story of mercy, hope, and second chances, From The Dead captures the human spirit with tragedy and joy.

Review – Well, the first thing I would like to say about this book is that it is a real tear-jerker.  I will admit to spending the last couple of chapters trying my hardest to read through all the tears!  This is definitely not a novel for the faint-hearted (or depressed!).

The first part of the story tells the reader all about Jesse’s life in LA as he tries to make it big as an actor.  He has been there for eleven years but he is still only able to get parts as an extra, while his girlfriend is living the high life as an assistant to a successful director.  He makes a lot of bad decisions that he comes to regret, and when things also start going wrong with his girlfriend he believes the only way to make things better is to take an overdose.  I didn’t much like this part of the novel due to the depressing nature of the storyline.  But credit where credit’s due, the author has a way of writing about Jesse’s emotional state that makes the reader feel it all too, including the pain, hopelessness and loneliness.  It just all felt so real and, considering the subject matter, I don’t think it was surprising that I felt a little uncomfortable whilst reading this section.

After the suicide attempt Jesse decides to move back to his hometown, a quiet little place in Ohio, to try to rebuild his life and make amends with his father.  This is where I started to enjoy the book a bit more.  Jesse starts to feel hope again and enjoy life.  When he finds out he has a son with his high-school girlfriend he is over the moon and he slowly starts to build a relationship with his son and with his ex-girlfriend.  I really enjoyed the parts featuring father and son.  Jesse obviously loves his son a great deal and he really wants to make it up to him for not being there for the past ten years, but at the same time he does make some mistakes.  He has to adapt quickly to being a father – he doesn’t have time to adjust as a child grows older like other parents do and this means he doesn’t always know the best things for his son.  But he is willing to learn and it is this side of him that makes Jesse a really likeable character.

When Drew, Jesse’s son, becomes ill with a rare and life-threatening disease, once again we really get to feel Jesse’s pain and his fear for his son and it was this that had me in tears near the end of the book.  I had such mixed feelings about getting to the end of this book.  I wanted to rush on and finish it to find out what happened and who would survive, but at the same time I was also scared to find out the answers to these questions – this is how wrapped up I was in the lives of the characters.  But I was happy with the ending and felt glad that I was brave enough to continue to the end.

Due to the fact that Jesse is the son of a preacher, exploration of religion and faith does play a large part in From the Dead (although only in the last 100 or so pages).  I was slightly concerned before I read this as I do not practice any religion, but I felt it was well handled and I even found it very interesting to read about why people love God so much and the way their faith affects their lives.

Overall, I did enjoy reading From the Dead.  The author contains many beautiful descriptions of places, people and emotions and I found it gave a great insight into human nature.  However, at times I did find the onslaught of emotions a bit overwhelming and, although I understand Jesse had to hit rock bottom before he could start making changes in his life, I still found it difficult reading about his life in LA.  This is a book worth picking up – but please make sure you are in a strong frame of mind before you do!

What are you reading this week? is a weekly event to list the books completed last week, the books currently being read, and the books to be finished this week. This meme is hosted by One Persons Journey Through a World of Books.

Books completed last week:

Bone Crossed – Patricia Briggs
Calling for Angels – Alex Smith
From the Dead – John Herrick

Books reviewed last week:

Day of the Dragon – Rebecca York
Leaving Paradise – Simone Elkeles
Calling for Angels – Alex Smith

Books I am currently reading:

Shade – Jeri Smith-Ready

Up next:

Silver Kiss – Naomi Clark

 

Publisher – Red Telephone
Publication Date – 15th November 2010
Paperback – 150 pages
Genre - Young Adult/Romantic Adventure

Source – Received from publisher for review

Rating – 3/5

Book Information - Em never believed in angels.  That was until she met Zak and Kai…

Em – shy, sensitive, with her head in the clouds – and Caitlyn – gorgeous, popular and talented – have been best friends forever, in a sleepy, nondescript town called Philiton.

But when new boy Zak moves into town, Philitonsuddenly becomes a much more interesting place.  With his meltingly hot looks, sense of humour and a smile that has even the hardest-hearted girls falling at his feet, Zak has the female population of Philiton Comprehensive School convinced he’s an angel.

Usually, Caitlyn has the boys worshipping the ground she treads on, so it’s a shock when Zak seems to be more interested in Em.  Cracks appear, tensions arise, but surely Em and Caitlyn’s lifelong friendship can survive?

Em feels beset by demons.  At home, she’s looking after her grandmother, who is slowly deteriorating, whilst despairing at her normally sensible brother, who is going off the rails just to fit in with the ‘right crowd’.  Even Zak’s unexpected attention causes jealous girls to shower Em with spite – not least Caitlyn.  If only she had a guardian angel…

Then a second boy steps into Em’s life.  Dark and brooding, a captive to the secrets of a past he’d rather forget, Kai, who has appeared as if from nowhere and fallen head over heels in love with Em, is the exact opposite of Zak.
And although he may not seem like it, Kai is the real thing.  He really is an angel.

Review – When I was contacted by the publisher to review this book, I jumped at the chance.  Not only am I going through a bit of an angel ‘phase’ in my reading, but I was told that the author completed this novel when she was just 14 years old!  I was very interested to see just what a novel by someone so young could be like.  I am not a writer but I am very impressed with the amount of focus and dedication someone so young must have shown to write a novel.

For the most part I did enjoy reading Calling for Angels.  I really liked Em’s character – she is shy but she always stays true to herself.  Despite the fact that she doesn’t really have that many friends, she refuses to become one of the ‘clones’ as she calls them (the girls at her school who all dress/act the same and spend all their time chasing boys).  She is going through a difficult time, with her Grandmother being ill and her brother going off the rails but she shows strength and courage in everything she does.  These problems are all realistic and relatable and I think a lot of young readers would be able to identify with Em’s character.

The interactions between Em and her guardian angel, Kai, made for interesting reading, and it was certainly a unique twist on the angel novels I have read so far.  The book was told mostly from Em’s point of view but there were quite a few parts where it was Kai telling the story, and I really liked getting an insight into both of the characters in this way.  Kai’s point of view allowed the reader some knowledge of his role as Em’s guardian angel but I would have liked to find out a lot more about him.  He is a very intriguing character – he is actually an acolyte from Hell (even though he seems too kind to have come from Hell) but he has been given a task to allow him one last chance to get into Heaven and this is to help Em through all her problems.  But we really don’t find out anything else about him and this did disappoint me slightly.

The plot moves along at quite a slow pace (although at only 150 pages it was still a quick read) and at times I found myself wishing that there was more going on within the story.  However, I absolutely loved the ending – it was beautiful and bittersweet and actually brought a tear to my eye, which I did not expect at all.

Overall, Calling for Angels is a quick and enjoyable read that I think would appeal most to 11-15 year olds.  It is written in a style that is easy to read but that also manages to hold your attention from beginning to end.  It is definitely a good start to the career of such a young author.

It is time once again for my book review meme – Radiant Reviews!

It is so easy to take part and hopefully anybody who does take part will get more comments on their reviews, find lots of great books to read and find new blogs to follow! The only downside to participating in this meme is that your TBR pile may grow seriously out of control!!!

Radiant Reviews was inspired by Cym Lowell’s Book Review Party Wednesday.

OK, so here is how you can take part:

1. Place a link to your review of a book you have loved into Mister Linky below. It must be a book that you have really enjoyed and that you would like to recommend to other bloggers. In the section for your name, please put the name of your blog, the title of the book and its genre (all genres are welcome in Radiant Reviews). In the URL section, please leave a direct link to your review – not just your blog URL.

2. Place my Radiant Reviews button, or some other kind of link to Chrissie’s Corner, on the review that you have linked to. This is to promote the meme in the hope that more and more people will take part every week.

3. Visit other people’s reviews and leave comments if you can. I know that on my blog (and it might be the same for some of you other bloggers out there) it is the reviews that receive the least amount of comments and I think this is a real shame as they are the posts which take the most time and effort. So do please try to leave comments and show other bloggers some love!

 

Publication Date – 31st January 2008
Paperback – 312 pages
Genre - Young Adult/Contemporary Fiction
Series – Book one in the Leaving Paradise series

Reviewed by – Kira

Source – Kira’s personal library

Rating – 5/5

Book Information - What happens when the person you damaged for life becomes the person you trust the most?

Caleb Becker spent the past year in juvenile detention.

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading.

Here’s what you have to do:

1. Grab your current read.

2. Open to a random page.

3. Share two (2) teaser sentences from somewhere on that page.

4. Be careful not to include spoilers.

5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the books to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser this week is from Calling for Angels by Alex Smith…

Touching my face with my forefinger, I realise that my cheeks are wet.  My eyelids droop like wet paint over a canvas, shutting out light that is seeping through the cracks of my room door.
Page 88 (ebook version)

When I was contacted by the publisher to review this book I just knew that I HAD to read it.  Not only do I love novels about angels but the author was just 14 (!!!!) when she finished writing Calling for Angels.  I was very intrigued to see what a girl so young could write and I have to say that I am really enjoying it so far!

SYNOPSIS: Em never believed in angels.  That was until she met Zak and Kai…
Em – shy, sensitive, with her head in the clouds – and Caitlyn – gorgeous, popular and talented – have been best friends forever, in a sleepy, nondescript town called Philiton.
But when new boy Zak moves into town, Philiton suddenly becomes a much more interesting place.  With his meltingly hot looks, sense of humour and a smile that has even the hardest-hearted girls falling at his feet, Zak has the female population of Philiton Comprehensive School convinced he’s an angel.
Usually, Caitlyn has the boys worshipping the ground she treads on, so it’s a shock when Zak seems to be more interested in Em.  Cracks appear, tensions arise, but surely Em and Caitlyn’s lifelong friendship can survive?
Em feels beset by demons.  At home, she’s looking after her grandmother, who is slowly deteriorating, whilst despairing at her normally sensible brother, who is going off the rails just to fit in with the ‘right crowd’.  Even Zak’s unexpected attention causes jealous girls to shower Em with spite – not least Caitlyn.  If only she had a guardian angel…
Then a second boy steps into Em’s life.  Dark and brooding, a captive to the secrets of a past he’d rather forget, Kai, who has appeared as if from nowhere and fallen head over heels in love with Em, is the exact opposite of Zak.
And although he may not seem like it, Kai is the real thing.  He really is an angel.

 

Publisher – Berkley Sensation
Publication Date – 7th December 2010
Paperback – 352 pages
Genre – Paranormal Romance
Source – Received from Kaye Publicity for review

Rating - 2/5

Book Information – Dr. Madison Dartmoor is set to present her career-making findings at a Las Vegas archaeology summit until a violent attack at her dig site forces her into silence.  Everyone – including the mystery man who saved her life – wants to know what she found.

Ramsey Gallagher knows he isn’t human.  Beyond that, his life is an enigma, and ever since a battle with his twin brother, his mental powers haven’t felt the same.  He can no longer even manipulate the rolling of the dice.  But he’s not in Vegas to strike it rich.

He’s here to find clues to his past that only Madison can unearth.  He never expected for her to be so beautiful, or for her life to be in danger.  Now he’ll do anything to keep her safe – the secret to his own life depends on it.

Review – Day of the Dragon is a novel written by Ruth Glick, who is writing as Rebecca York.  It tells the story of Madison Dartmoor, who is carrying out some groundbreaking work at a dig site in Italy when her work starts receiving some unwanted attention – people want to know what has been dug up at the site and will do anything to find out.  Unfortunately, this means a violent attack on the dig site and an attempt at kidnapping Madison herself.  Luckily, Ramsay Gallagher is there to stop the two men from taking her and he starts to help Madison with her research.  But what Madison doesn’t know is that Ramsay is a dragon shape-shifter who has a personal interest in her work.  Soon though, a deep connection forms between Madison and Ramsey and together they have to find out who is behind the attacks on Madison and her dig site, and exactly who can and can’t be trusted.

I must admit that I did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I would.  The main problem for me was that I did not particularly like the character of Ramsey Gallagher, and it is very difficult to enjoy a romance novel if you do not like one of the two main characters.  He is a shape-shifter who can change into a dragon, or at least used to be able to before a fight he had with his twin brother.  But he does still have other powers, such as some psychic abilities and superhuman strength and speed.  When we first meet Ramsey he notices Madison in the hotel lobby the night before she is due to speak at the conference.  He notices that she is being followed by two men, but rather than helping her he leaves the hotel and uses his psychic powers to persuade a woman to let him drink her blood and have sex with him.  This affected my view of him right from the first page as this is not the way I would expect a romantic hero to act, and I just could not shake this first impression of him.  In fact, there are several other examples of him using his powers to get exactly what he wants, including sex, and I did not like this at all.  As the novel progresses, his feelings for Madison do help him to change his ways, and I appreciated the journey his character went on, but by this time it was too late for me to start liking him.

Madison, however, is a very likeable and realistic character.  When both her parents died a few years ago, archaeologist Dominic Coleman took her under his wing and became her close friend and mentor.  Since then Madison has devoted her life’s work to his research to show him her friendship and gratitude.  This level of loyalty and dedication that she shows towards Dominic, shows the reader a very positive side to her character.  However, at times she can come across as slightly naive and gullible and so it is good to see her gain confidence in herself and become a stronger character, who is able to stand up for herself and make her own decisions.

The plot is a good mix of romance (although at times it can be difficult to tell if that romance is real or an effect of Ramsay’s psychic abilities), action and mystery.  It is difficult to tell who Ramsay and Madison can trust and this adds a nice element of intrigue that will keep the reader guessing.  The author uses a style of writing that is easy to read and keeps you hooked to the storyline, but there were some things about this storyline that just did not work for me.  One example is that we do not learn much about Ramsey during the course of the novel, and when he reveals his past and what he is to Madison, he brings in a twist to the tale that I found to be unrealistic, that needed a lot more explanation and that was just dropped quickly into a conversation to tie up some loose ends.  Also, not much dragon mythology is mentioned in Day of the Dragon, and as this is a relatively new element for me in the paranormal books I have been reading, I would have liked a bit more detail in this area.

Overall though, I think that there are some aspects to this novel that fans of the paranormal romance genre would enjoy, and the strong writing style used by the writer will ensure that you are kept hooked to the story.  But I couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed with the other areas of this novel.

What are you reading this week? is a weekly event to list the books completed last week, the books currently being read, and the books to be finished this week. This meme is hosted by One Persons Journey Through a World of Books.

Books completed last week:

You Against Me – Jenny Downham
Day of the Dragon – Rebecca York

Books reviewed last week:

You Against Me – Jenny Downham

Books I am currently reading:

Shade – Jeri Smith-Ready
Calling for Angels – Alex Smith

Up next:

From the Dead – John Herrick

 

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.  Every week I’ll post about what books I have received that week – either through the mail for review, borrowed from the library or bought.  I received some great books for review this week and I can’t wait to get started on them!

For Review:

Ben Horton – Monster Republic: The Judas Code

The explosion at the Prime Minister’s visit to Long Harbour means the cover of the Monster Republic is blown, and they are forced deep into hiding.  Lazarus Fry turns his tactics to infiltration, and is confident of their swift crushing. Plus his new pets, the Blood Hawks, are hungry to get their talons into some fresh kill…

But Fry hasn’t counted on this band of rebel kids’ awesome will for survival.  When your back is against the wall, the only option is to come out fighting…

Moira Rogers, Vivi Andrews, and Vivian Arend – Winter Wishes (via NetGalley)

A woman has the Christmas Eve from Hell.  Two cat shifters play naughty games.  And a witch brings out the beast inside the man.  The magic of the season takes on a whole new meaning in these three fantastic — and festive — novellas from some of the best voices in paranormal romance.

Anthology includes:
Tangled Tinsel by Vivian Arend
No Angel by Vivi Andrews
Freeze Line by Moira Rogers

Sarah Porter – Lost Voices (via NetGalley)

What happens to the girls nobody sees — the ones who are ignored, mistreated, hidden away?  The girls nobody hears when they cry for help?

Fourteen-year-old Luce is one of those lost girls.  After her father vanishes in a storm at sea, she is stuck in a grim, gray Alaskan fishing village with her alcoholic uncle.  When her uncle crosses an unspeakable line, Luce reaches the depths of despair.  Abandoned on the cliffs near her home, she expects to die when she tumbles to the icy, churning waves below.  Instead, she undergoes an astonishing transformation and becomes a mermaid.

A tribe of mermaids finds Luce and welcomes her in — all of them, like her, lost girls who surrendered their humanity in the darkest moments of their lives.  The mermaids are beautiful, free, and ageless, and Luce is thrilled with her new life until she discovers the catch: they feel an uncontrollable desire to drown seafarers, using their enchanted voices to lure ships into the rocks.

Luce’s own talent at singing captures the attention of the tribe’s queen, the fierce and elegant Catarina, and Luce soon finds herself pressured to join in committing mass murder.  Luce’s struggle to retain her inner humanity puts her at odds with her friends; even worse, Catarina seems to regard Luce as a potential rival.  But the appearance of a devious new mermaid brings a real threat to Catarina’s leadership and endangers the very existence of the tribe.  Can Luce find the courage to challenge the newcomer, even at the risk of becoming rejected and alone once again?

H.P. Mallory – Toil and Trouble

The Underworld in civil war.
The cause?  A witch who can reanimate the dead.
A sexy as sin vampire determined to claim her.
An infuriatingly handsome warlock torn between duty and love.
Who says blonds have more fun?

After defending herself against fairy magic, Jolie Wilkins wakes to find her world turned upside down-the creatures of the Underworld on the precipice of war.  The Underworld is polarized in a battle of witch against witch, creature against creature, led by the villainous Bella, who would be Queen.

While Jolie has one goal in mind, to stake the vampire, Ryder, who nearly killed her, she also must choose between the affections of her warlock employer, Rand, and the mysteriously sexy vampire, Sinjin.  And as if that weren’t enough to ruin a girl’s day, everything Jolie knows will be turned inside out when she’s thrust into the shock of a lifetime.

Toil and Trouble is the second book in the Jolie Wilkins series, the follow up to Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble.

Contest Win (from Carolyn at Book Chick City)

Isaac Marion – Warm Bodies

‘R’ is a zombie.  He has no name, no memories, and no pulse, but he has dreams.  He is a little different from his fellow Dead.

Amongst the ruins of an abandoned city, R meets a girl.  Her name is Julie and she is the opposite of everything he knows – warm and bright and very much alive, she is a blast of colour in a dreary grey landscape.  For reasons he can’t understand, R chooses to save Julie instead of eating her, and a tense yet strangely tender relationship begins.

This has never happened before.  It breaks the rules and defies logic, but R is no longer content with life in the grave. He wants to breathe again, he wants to live, and Julie wants to help him.  But their grim, rotting world won’t be changed without a fight…