Archive for May, 2010

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:

Sex and the City 2 Companion Book – Eric Cyphers
Double Jeopardy – Martin Stratford

Books Reviewed Last Week:

Sex and the City 2 Companion Book - Eric Cyphers
Succubus Nights - Richelle Mead

Books I gave up on:

None

Books I am currently reading:

Dido – Adele Geras
Wind Warrior – Cynthia Roberts

Up next:

Bitten – Kelley Armstrong

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 only got two books this week and they were both late birthday presents – and I am very excited about reading both of them!

Richelle Mead – Spirit Bound

Dimitri gave Rose the ultimate choice.  And she made the wrong one…  After a long and heartbreaking journey to Dimitri’s birthplace in Siberia, Rose Hathaway has finally returned to St. Vladimir’s Academy — and to her best friend, Lissa.  But Rose’s heart still aches for Dimitri, and she knows he’s out there, somewhere.  She failed to kill him when she had the chance.  And now her worst fears are about to come true — Dimitri has tasted her blood, and now he is hunting her.  Only this time, he won’t rest until Rose joins him… forever.

Jodi Picoult – Change of Heart

June’s first husband was killed in a car crash.  Against all the odds, her daughter was uninjured and, in another miracle, June found love again with the policeman who rescued them.  Six years on they are a happy family, June pregnant with their own child.
But now June’s second daughter is dying without the new heart she so urgently needs.  And her first daughter, along with her husband, is dead, killed by Shay Bourne, an itinerant workman they welcomed into their home.  The crime was so heinous that Shay has been given the death penalty for the first time in 69 years in New Hampshire.  Shay is going to die, and he is looking for redemption.  He wants to give June’s daughter his heart . . . daughter, along with her husband, is dead, killed by Shay Bourne, an itinerant workman they welcomed into their home. The crime was so heinous that Shay has been given the death penalty for the first time in 69 years in New Hampshire. Shay is going to die, and he is looking for redemption. He wants to give June’s daughter his heart…

What was in your mailbox this week?

 

Publisher – Bantam Books
Publication Date – 5th May 2008
Paperback – 480 Pages
Genre – Urban Fantasy
Series – Book 2 in the Georgina Kincaid series

Source – Library

Book Information - Georgina Kincaid’s job sucks.  Literally.  Love hurts, and no one knows it better than Georgina Kincaid.  If she so much as kisses her new boyfriend, she’ll drain his life force.  Georgina is a succubus – a demon who draws her power from other men’s pleasure.  Admittedly, the shapeshifting and immortality perks are terrific, and yes, Georgina did choose to join the ranks of hell centuries ago.  But it seems completely unfair that a she-demon whose purpose is seduction can’t get hot and heavy with the one mortal who knows and accepts her for who she is.  It’s not just her personal life that’s in chaos.  Doug, Georgina’s co-worker at a local bookstore, has been exhibiting bizarre behavior, and Georgina suspects that something far more demonic than double espressos is at work.  She could use help finding out, but Bastien, an irresistibly charming incubus and her best immortal friend, is preoccupied in the suburbs with corrupting an ultra-conservative talk radio star – and giving Georgina some highly distracting come-hither vibes. Georgina is going to have to work solo on this one – and fast because soon, Doug’s life won’t be the only one on the line…

Review – Succubus Nights carries on from where Succubus Blues left off.  Georgina and Seth are trying to make their relationship work but there are several things working against them.  Firstly, because Georgina is a succubus, they are not able to have any kind of physical relationship as this will drain Seth’s life force and could even end up killing him.  Secondly, Seth knows that it is part of her ‘job’ to have sex with lots of other men.  These things are bound to make it impossible for a relationship to survive.
I think that the relationship is only able to work because of Seth.  He is mature, level-headed and loves Georgina a lot.  On the other hand, Georgina is very insecure in the relationship and at some points doesn’t even seem to love Seth very much – she just enjoys being loved by him.  But they are such a likeable couple that you will find yourself hoping that everything will work out for them.
Another part of the storyline involves Georgina’s friend and colleague, Doug.  He has started to act in a very bizarre way and Georgina believes that drugs may be involved.  She has to find out what is causing this strange behaviour and put a stop to it before her friend gets hurt.
The third and final storyline involves Georgina’s incubus friend, Bastien.  He is in town trying to publicly corrupt a Christian talk show host who looks down on anybody who doesn’t meet her high expectations.  I found Bastien to be a very nasty character, who is egotistical and selfish.  I disliked him so much that I had to wonder why Georgina was such good friends with him.
Overall, the book was written in a style that was incredibly easy to read, and it was full of romance, action and mystery – what more could you ask for!  I loved this book and I can’t wait to read the next one in the series.

Other books in the series (click on link to see my review):
1. Succubus Blues
2. Succubus Nights
3. Succubus Dreams
4. Succubus Heat
5. Succubus Shadows

 

Publisher– Headline
Publication Date – 27th May 2010
Hardback – 176 pages
Genre – Non-Fiction

Source – Received from publisher for review

Book Information - Carrie on.
Fast on the heels of the wildly popular companion to Sex and the City: The Movie come this equally sexy and stylish companion to the sequel.  Sex and the City 2 picks up two years after the first movie left off, where our four favourite friends are embarking on the trip of a lifetime to the exotic world of the Middle East.
The book gives readers an all-access tour of the movie-making process, with behind-the-scenes stories from producer and star Sarah Jessica Parker and writer and director Michael Patrick King, as well as Kim Catrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon, and the movie’s other key cast members and special guest stars: a look at the challenges of filming in both New York and Morocco; and the work that went into choosing the locations and building the sets.
The book’s comprehensive fashion section includes a scene-by-scene look at every outfit Carrie wears in the film, from dresses to shoes to bags, along with commentary by Sarah Jessica Parker herself.  Full of exclusive stories and lush photos not available anywhere else, this behind-the-scenes, luxurious volume is a must-have for anyone who simply can’t get enough of Sex and the City.

Review – The first thing I have to say about this book is that it is absolutely gorgeous!!!  It has got a lovely padded cover and has pages and pages of beautiful pictures of the locations in which the film is set.  Although this is not normally the type of book that I would go out to buy, I was so pleased when it came through my letterbox because a book this gorgeous would be a welcome addition to any woman’s bookshelf.
Once I stopped drooling over the cover and actually opened the book I wasn’t disappointed with the contents either.  Being a huge Sex and the City fan it was incredibly interesting hearing about how the film was made and reading interviews with the cast members.  But my favourite section of the book would have to be the fashion section.  This is a huge section of the book dedicated to showing off all of the outfits worn by the girls during the film.  As can be expected from Sex and the City, the outfits are stunning and the pictures made me incredibly jealous (although it does say which designer produced each part of each outfit, so you could recreate the looks for yourself if you have a lot of spare cash laying around!).
I would definitely recommend this book to any Sex and the City fans out there – it is a fun and beautiful book that gives a great insight into the making of what I hope will be a brilliant film.

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 Double Jeopardy by Martin Stratford.

It is a curious fact that it was a combination of Reggie Gray’s weak bladder and poor sense of direction that provided the key which unlocked a trail of fear and death.
Page 60

What is your Tuesday Teaser?

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:

The Stepmothers’ Support Group – Sam Baker
Succubus Nights – Richelle Mead

Books Reviewed Last Week

Undead and Unwed – Mary Janice Davidson
The Stepmothers’ Support Group – Sam Baker

Books I gave up on:

Hard Magic – Laura Anne Gilman
I gave up on this book because I started it four weeks ago on the night before my baby boy was born and as it is a ebook that I need to read on my computer, I just have not been able to get back to reading any more of it.  My time on the computer is very limited at the moment and as it is I can no longer remember what happened in the bit that I have read.  However, I can remember that I did enjoy the first couple of chapters so I do hope to return to it soon.

Books I am currently reading:

Double Jeopardy – Martin Stratford

Up next:

Wind Warrior – Cynthia Roberts
Bitten – Kelley Armstrong

 

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.  As it was my birthday yesterday I received a nice little haul this week!

Gifts:

Marjorie M. Liu – The Iron Hunt

During the day, Maxine’s tattoos are her armour and she is invincible.  At night they peel from her skin to take on forms of their own, leaving her human and vulnerable, and revealing themselves to be demons sleeping beneath her skin.  But these demons are the best friends and bodyguards a woman could have.  And Maxine needs bodyguards.  She is the last in a line of women with power in their blood, trained to keep the world safe from malignant beings who would do us harm.  But ten thousand years after its creation, the prison dimension that kept the worst of these from us is failing, and all the Wardens save Maxine are dead.  She must bear the burden of her bloodline and join the last wild hunt against the enemy.

Patricia Briggs – Hunting Ground

Anna Latham didn’t know how complicated life could get – until she became a werewolf.  And now she’s not just part of any pack, but under the direct supervision of Bran, leader of the North American werewolves.  And her mate is his son Charles, the pack enforcer.  With all the advances that have been made in forensics, the werewolves will not be able to hide their existence from humans much longer – and Bran wants their coming out party to be on his terms.  But his European counterparts don’t see things the same way.  Anna and Charles are chosen to represent Bran at a key meeting.  But when a French werewolf, one of Bran’s most vocal opponents, is found murdered, Charles’s reputation shoots him to the top of the suspect list.  And among the wolves, there is one penalty for breaking the law: death.  The killer must be found, or Charles will take the fall.

C.J. Sansom – Dissolution

Henry VIII has proclaimed himself Supreme Head of the Church and the country is waking up to savage new laws, rigged trials and the greatest network of informers ever seen.  Under the order of Thomas Cromwell, a team of commissioners is sent through the country to investigate the monasteries.  There can only be one outcome: the monasteries are to be dissolved.
But on the Sussex coast, at the monastery of Scarnsea, events have spiralled out of control.  Cromwell’s Commissioner Robin Singleton, has been found dead, his head severed from his body.  His horrific murder is accompanied by equally sinister acts of sacrilege – a black cockerel sacrificed on the alter, and the disappearance of Scarnsea’s Great Relic.
Dr Matthew Shardlake, lawyer and long-time supporter of Reform, has been sent by Cromwell into this atmosphere of treachery and death.  But Shardlake’s investigation soon forces him to question everything he hears, and everything that he intrinsically believes…

Jane Costello – My Single Friend

At 28, Lucy is doing well for herself.  She’s got a great job in PR, her boss loves her, and her best girlfriends Dominique and Erin think she’s great.  More important than anyone’s opinion is that of her flatmate, and oldest friend in the world, Henry.  For twenty years they’ve been inseparable: beauty and the geek.  Henry thinks the world of Lucy.  So why does she feel the need to lie outrageously on dates?  From rock-climbing to Chekov: when it comes to prospective boyfriends, Lucy is compelled to embellish her C.V. with unlikely porkies that always backfire – with hilarious results.  Henry can’t understand it.  Lucy is so loveable: why can’t she just be herself?  But when Lucy turns the spotlight on Henry, he wishes he’d never brought it up.  With a penchant for jumpers and NHS-style specs, Lucy decides that Henry is in need of a makeover – big time.  Enlisting the help of Dom and Erin, it’s not long before the girls have Henry out of the flat, and into the Topman changing rooms.  A new haircut, contact lenses, a flirting master-class from Dom… poor Henry doesn’t know what’s hit him.  But nothing can prepare them for the surprise results!  Before long, Lucy realises that their lives will never be the same again.

Dorothy Koomson – Goodnight, Beautiful

Nova Kumalisi would do anything for her closest friend, Mal Wacken.  She owes him her life.  So, when he asked her to be the surrogate mother for him and his wife, in spite of her fears about how it would alter their friendship, Nova agreed.  Eight years later, Nova is bringing up their son alone, and she and Mal don’t speak.  Months into the pregnancy, Mal’s wife changed her mind about the surrogacy agreement.  Already suspicious of how close Nova and Mal were, Stephanie realised her strained marriage was in serious trouble when she found a text from her husband to Nova, saying, ‘Goodnight, Beautiful’.  She asked Mal to cut all ties with his closest friend and unborn child.  Now, seven-year-old Leo is critically ill and Nova, despite her anger and hurt, wants Mal to have the chance to know his son before it’s too late.  Will it take a tragedy to remind them how much they mean to each other?

For Review:

Tabitha Suzuma – Forbidden (Received from Random House Children’s Books)

She is pretty and talented – sweet sixteen and never been kissed.  He is seventeen; gorgeous and on the brink of a bright future.  And now they have fallen in love.  But… They are brother and sister.  Forbidden will take you on an extraordinary emotional journey.  Passionate and shocking, this is a book you will remember long after you have put it down.

Eric Cyphers – Sex and the City 2: The Official Companion Book (Received from Headline)

Carrie on.
Fast on the heels of the wildly popular companion to Sex and the City: The Movie come this equally sexy and stylish companion to the sequel.  SEX AND THE CITY 2 picks up two years after the first movie left off, where our four favourite friends are embarking on the trip of a lifetime to the exotic world of the Middle East.
The book gives readers an all-access tour of the movie-making processs, with behind-the-scenes stories from producer and star Sarah Jessica Parker and writer and director Michael Patrick King, as well as Kim Catrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon, and the movie’s other key cast members and special guest stars: a look at the challenges of filming in both New York and Morocco; and the work that went into choosing the locations and building the sets.
The book’s comprehensive fashion section includes a scene-by-scene look at every outfit Carrie wears in the film, from dresses to shoes to bags, along with commentary by Sarah Jessica Parker herself.  Full of exclusive stories and lush photos not available anywhere else, this behind-the-scenes, luxurious volume is a must-have for anyone who simply can’t get enough of Sex and the City.

What was in your mailbox this week?

 

Publisher– HarperCollins
Publication Date – 20th August 2009
Hardback – 416 pages
Genre – Chick-Lit

Source – Received from publisher for review (Passed onto me from Book Chick City).

Book Information - Eve has never imagined herself as a stepmother.  But when she falls in love with Ian, he comes with a ready-made family of three children.  And, to make matters worse, he’s a widower.  The ghost of his glamorous and well known wife haunts them.
Clare, a teacher and single mother, is Eve’s best friend.  She is the only person Eve can talk to about how on earth a journalist in her thirties can win round three wary children.  But despite Clare’s years of practice with her own teenage daughter, it’s Lily, her younger sister, who provides the truly sympathetic ear.
Mel is sent along to Eve’s so-called ’support group’ by a colleague.  With a fledgling relationship and a new business to get off the ground, she has a very different set of pressures to the other women.
And Mandy is the stay-at-home mum, whose relationship comes with stepchildren, and who wants more than anything to stitch together a happy family life for herself, her kids and her new step-kids.
As a cup of coffee turns to a bottle of wine and the get-togethers become a regular fixture, conversations about new families evolve into ones about relationships, life and each woman’s deepest hopes and dreams.  But the friendship is tested and feelings about lovers, husbands and step-children challenged when the five women are forced to confront new futures as well as unwelcome figures from the past…

Review – This book takes a look at the lives of four women who are all on the road to becoming stepmothers, and the emotional struggles and heartbreak that can arise from taking on a man who already has children.  It deals with many emotional issues that are faced by women today in a very sympathetic way, and the females are all portrayed as likeable characters, even when their behaviour is less than perfect.
However, because it is written from the females perspective the men come off much less favourably, with some of them being portrayed as selfish and uncaring.  For me the least likeable male character was Ian, who behaves dispicably when Eve announces to him that she is pregnant with his child.  This is only the final act in a long list of very selfish behaviours that he displays and frankly I can’t see why Eve would take him back after this.  I would have liked some of the book to have been from the male characters’ perspective so that there is a bit more insight into why they behaved in the way that they did.
I very much enjoyed The Stepmothers’ Support Group but I would have preferred a less rushed ending.  It felt slightly as though the author wanted to just quickly tie up any loose ends and ensure a happy ending for all of the characters.  Overall, it is a novel that is touching and sympathetic and it will make you take a look at your own life and relationships.  Definitely worth a read!

 

Publisher – Piatkus Books
Publication Date – 2nd February 2006
Paperback – 288 pages
Genre – Paranormal Romance
Series – Book 1 of the Queen Betsy Series

Source – Library

Book Information - It’s been a hell of a week for Betsy Taylor.  First she loses her job.  Then she’s killed in a freak accident only to wake up in a morgue to discover she’s a vampire.  On the plus side, being undead sure beats the alternative.  She now has superhuman strength and an unnatural effect on the opposite sex.  But what Betsy can’t handle is her new liquid diet…  And whilst her mother and best-friend are just relieved to find out that being dead doesn’t mean Betsy’s can’t visit, her new ‘night-time’ friends have the ridiculous idea that Betsy is the prophesied vampire queen.  The scrumptious Sinclair and his cohorts want her help in overthrowing the most obnoxious power-hungry vampire in five centuries.  Frankly Betsy couldn’t care less about vamp politics.  But Sinclair and his followers have a powerful weapon in their arsenal – unlimited access to Manolo Blahnik’s Spring collection.  Well, just because a girl’s dead – er undead – doesn’t mean she can’t have great shoes…

Review – Betsy Taylor arrives for her job as a secretary on her thirtieth birthday only to find out that she has been fired.  Her day get considerably worse, however, when she gets hit by a car on the way home and dies.  But things take an interesting turn a couple of days later when she wakes up in a coffin at the morgue.  Betsy then makes several attempts on her own life, figuring that she is meant to be dead anyway, but she soon realises that she is invincible and a vampire.
But Betsy doesn’t seem to be a normal vampire.  All of the things that affect others, such as holy water, sunlight etc, don’t seem to worry her at all.  This leads other vampires in the area to believe that she is the prophesised Vampire Queen.  The Master Vampire, Nostro, wants Betsy to join his group of vampires but when she offends him, he tries to kill her.  Obviously this doesn’t work and she is rescued by Sinclair and some of his vampire followers.  They want Betsy to help overthrow Nostro but Betsy isn’t interested in getting involved in vampire politics.  But Sinclair knows how to push Betsy’s buttons and uses Manolo Blahnik shoes to bribe her into helping.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  It is a very light read (which is exactly what you want when you are reading it whilst doing night feeds with your newborn) and incredibly funny, with many laugh-out-loud moments.  My only minor complaint would be that, although it states on the back of the book that it is a paranormal romance, the romance side of things seem to be pretty lacking.  However, this doesn’t take anything away from the story and I can’t wait to read the second book in the series.
Betsy is a great heroine, but is slightly annoying at times as she can come across as being shallow and not-too-clever.  On the plus side, she is feisty, knows exactly what she wants and is brilliant at witty come-backs.  Sinclair, at first glance, isn’t really a very likeable love interest for Betsy, which is why she seems to spend most of the book being angry with him, but he is very funny, ambitious and willing to risk his life for the woman he believes is the vampire queen.  Not much happens between Sinclair and Betsy in this book but I can’t help but feel that the author is setting the scene for a great romance in future books in the series.
I would definitely recommend this book to any fans of vampire fiction or chick-lit and I am hoping to get my hands on the rest of the series soon!

Other books in the series:
1. Undead and Unwed
2. Undead and Unemployed
3. Undead and Unappreciated
4. Undead and Unreturnable
5. Undead and Unpopular
6. Undead and Uneasy
7. Undead and Unworthy
8. Undead and Unwelcome
9. Undead and Unfinished (July 2010)

 

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.  Only one book for me this week but it sounds really good and I can’t wait to read it!

For Review:

Adele Geras – Dido (Received from Random House Children’s Books)

Aeneas leaned forward a little and kissed her on the mouth.  Just one swift, soft touch of his lips on hers and then he turned and walked away.
Love can be deadly.  Especially when two young women fall for the same man – one a queen, the other her serving maid.
Elissa knows she is playing with fire, but she can’t resist.  Queen Dido suspects nothing, until one fateful night… Secrets are revealed, hearts are broken and as dawn breaks, a terrible tragedy unfolds.
A passionate tale of love, betrayal and revenge.

On My Wishlist is a weekly meme hosted by Book Chick City.  It is a chance for me to list a couple of books that are on my TBR list but that I don’t currently own.  There is only one book on my wishlist this week.  I have already read the other books in this series and I can’t wait until this next installment is released on 18th May!!! Seeing as it is being released so close to my birthday, I know exactly what I’ll be asking my husband to buy me!

Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead

Book 5 in The Vampire Academy Series

Dimitri gave Rose the ultimate choice.  And she made the wrong one…  After a long and heartbreaking journey to Dimitri’s birthplace in Siberia, Rose Hathaway has finally returned to St. Vladimir’s Academy — and to her best friend, Lissa.  But Rose’s heart still aches for Dimitri, and she knows he’s out there, somewhere.  She failed to kill him when she had the chance.  And now her worst fears are about to come true — Dimitri has tasted her blood, and now he is hunting her.  Only this time, he won’t rest until Rose joins him… forever.

Other books in the series (click on link to see my review):
1. Vampire Academy
2. Frostbite
3. Shadow Kiss
4. Blood Promise

 

Publisher – Hodder Paperbacks
Publication Date – 18th March 2010
Paperback – 320 pages
Genre – Chick-Lit

Source – Received from publisher for review (Passed onto me from Book Chick City).

Book Information - Can love survive long-term in the twenty-first century?  Julie is beginning to doubt it.  When her husband of twenty years announces that he is chucking his job to embark on an adult gap year leaving his salary and Julie behind, she puts her marriage under the microscope.
Turning to her friends for comfort and advice, Julie finds that their relationships are falling apart too.  Surely they can’t all be innocent victims?  Or all bad wives?  Is there no such thing as an enduring marriage?  Does that twenty-year itch just have to be scratched?
While this emotional maelstrom rages around her, meeting someone new is the last thing on Julie’s mind.  Until a chance encounter propels her onto a sexual collision course with a man who spells danger…

Review – Julie is a successful doctor who finds out that her husband, Walt, is leaving her to go on a gap-year after 23 years of marriage.  After he drops this bombshell, Julie proceeds to examine every part of their marriage to try to find out where things all started to go wrong.  At the same time, she finds out that the marriages of her sister and her other female friends are all breaking up too.  Her sister Gemma is having an affair with another married man, Aggie is unable to have children so she compensates by sleeping with many different men, and Valentina is convinced that her husband is having an affair.
Julie doesn’t hear from Walt for many months, so when another man starts to show an interest in her, she doesn’t hesitate.  However, things are complicated as the man in question is her daughter’s boyfriend’s father.  She knows that starting anything with this man could put a further strain on her already tense relationship with her daughter.  But there is something about Patrick that Julie just can’t resist, so they keep their affair a secret.  And when Walt returns from his gap year, Julie has to decide what it is that she really wants from life.
This book takes a good look at many different types of relationship through the eyes of the main character, Julie.  These include her relationships with her husband, mother, sister, friends, daughters and lover.  She spends a lot of time reminiscing about her relationship with Walt and examining how things could have gone so badly wrong between them.  At first I did find the style of writing slightly confusing as the author moves quickly between past and present events, but I soon got used to it and realised that it actually enhanced the book as it is exactly how somebody going through this type of crisis would be thinking.
All of the characters are written in an incredibly realistic and likeable way.  Julie at first comes across as cold and clinical, but as the novel progresses it soon becomes clear that it is because she cares so much about others that she acts in this way.  I really liked the character of Aggie.  She is at first portrayed as a shallow woman who cares about nothing other than herself and the long line of men that she is seeing behind her husband’s back.  However, as Julie takes the time to get to know Aggie better, the reader gets to see a whole other side to her; a side that is absolutely desperate to have a baby, and who would give everything that she has to a young girl who has nothing.  The only character that I didn’t really like was Gemma, Julie’s sister.  She is having an affair and becomes distraught when she finds out that she can’t leave her husband as he has just been diagnosed with MS.  She comes across as incredibly selfish and I couldn’t really find any other redeeming qualities in her character.
This is a very perceptive and enjoyable book that will probably make you evaluate all of the relationships in your life.  It is well worth a read and I definitely recommend this book to everybody.

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:

The Twenty Year Itch – Linda Kelsey
Undead and Unwed – Mary Janice Davidson

Books I gave up on:

 None

Books I am currently reading:

Hard Magic – Laura Anne Gilman
The Stepmothers’ Support Group – Sam Baker

Up next:

Double Jeopardy – Martin Stratford

 

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 haven’t been able to take part in this meme for a few weeks due to my gorgeous baby boy keeping me very busy (see post here for details), so this is a catch up of all the books I have received in the last three weeks.

For Review:

Martin Stratford – Double Jeopardy (Received from the author)

Detective Sergeant Julie Cooper has been working undercover to crack a major drugs ring.  With the drugs baron jailed, Julie thinks she can relax until she becomes the victim of a drive-by shooting that leaves her seriously injured and her aunt dead.  Fuelled by grief, anger and guilt, Julie hires private detective Alec Tanner to help her track down the killers.  Set in the fictitious English city of Havenchester, “Double Jeopardy” follows Julie and Tanner as they investigate a number of potential suspects, including a vicious gangland boss who is plotting to avenge himself on his cheating girlfriend.  As their personal lives become increasingly entangled, Julie and Tanner find themselves in a race against time to uncover the truth and prevent more murders, including their own…

Jude Morgan – The Taste of Sorrow ( Received from Headline Review)

Charlotte.  Emily.  Anne.  The Brontë sisters – the drama, the passion, and a story that lives for ever…
Once upon a time there were three sisters, bound by love and suffering, growing up in wild isolation in a lonely house on the moor.   Their story will astonish you: their passionate, dangerous closeness; their struggle against the world; their determination to rise above the fates of their parents and their other lost sisters, to become more than the world ever thought they could be.  You don’t know their story, but you think they do.  They were the Brontës.

Cynthia Roberts – Wind Warrior (Received from the author)

Leslie Michaels is a visionary, and only those close to her know of her special gift and the visions that come when her mind and body surrender to sleep.  Fate has a way of righting many wrongs, and for Leslie it is a destiny that changes her life dramatically. But not before she is forced to flee into the wilderness to escape a murderous trapper bent on claiming her for his very own.  Faith and a strong will to survive are her only companions, until she encounters Winnokin, the handsome Seneca war chief who first came to her in her dreams.  Not only does he prove to be her rescuer and protector, he teaches her that tragedy can breed happiness and the passion to live and love deeply once again.
Wind Warrior plunges readers into the intimate depths of a relationship that unfolds like a live drama before their eyes while painting an insightful and intriguing portrait of Native Indian life in the 1800s.  It is a story of longing, of a wanton need to survive all odds, and a love so strong it conquers human evil. Wind Warrior expresses with cunning words the simple, raw human emotions that hold readers spellbound and captivates their hearts.

Won in a contest hosted by Book Chick City:

Dave Shelton – Good Dog, Bad Dog

Kirk Bergman and Duncan McBoo are pedigree police: the finest canine cops in all Muttropolis.  And they’re never short of work.  The city is heaving with cunning crooks and malevolent mongrels who would sell their own mother for a bone.  Join our dog detectives as they chase leads, sniff out crime, collar the bad guys and generally get their teeth into adventures full of action, suspense and …milkshakes.  Criminals beware: McBoo and Bergman are on your tail!

What was in your mailbox this week?

On My Wishlist is a weekly meme hosted by Book Chick City.  It is a chance for me to list a couple of books that are on my TBR list but that I don’t currently own.  There is only one book on my wishlist this week.  I am currently reading the first book in this series (Undead and Unwed) and I’m loving it, so I’m hoping to get my hands on the second book sometime soon!!!

Undead and Unemployed by Mary Janice Davidson

And the first who shall noe the Queen as a husband noes his Wyfe shall be the Queen’s Consort and shall rule at her side for a thousand yeares.’  The Book of the Dead.  ‘If that rat bastard Sinclair thinks I’m going to be his wife for a thousand years, he’s out of his f***** mind.’  From the private papers of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth I, Empress of the Undead, Rightful Ruler of the Vampires, Consort of Eric I, Lawful King.
Nothing can make Betsy Taylor give up her shoe fetish – even dying and rising as the new Queen of the Vampires.  Only being royally undead doesn’t mean there aren’t still credit card bills to be paid.  Things couldn’t be better – except for her new friends who keep pestering her while she’s at work.  As if she has time to socialise when there are deliciously sinful shoes to try on – and buy at a discount.  It seems there’s been a string of vampire murders in town and they’re all clamouring for Betsy to do something about it.  The worst part is she’ll have to enlist the help of the one vamp who makes her blood boil: the oh-so-sexy Eric Sinclair.  Only the last time she ran into Sinclair she accidentally fulfilled an ancient prophesy – and ended up married to him.

What is on your wishlist this week?

Jennifer from Crazy for Books has come up with a great new meme that I will be taking part in.  It follows in the spirit of Friday Follow but it is specifically for book bloggers! I am very excited about this blog hop as it will give me a chance to find out about lots of other book blogs that I might not have known about otherwise.

If you want to join in the fun, all you have to do is visit Crazy for Books and sign up with McLinky.  Then just have a look through the other blogs that are signed up and hopefully make lots of new bloggy friends!

If you find my site through the Book Blogger Hop leave a comment here and I will come and visit your blog.

Happy blog hopping x

 

Publisher – Bantam Books
Publication Date – 14th August 2008
Paperback – 512 pages
Genre – Urban Fantasy
Series – Book 1 of the Dark Swan Series

Source – Library

Book Information -Just typical.  No love life to speak of for months, then all at once, every horny creature in the Otherworld wants to get in your pants…  Eugenie Markham is a powerful shamen who does a brisk trade banishing spirits and fey who cross into the mortal world.  Mercenary, yes, but a girl’s got to eat.  Her most recent case, however, is enough to ruin her appetite.  Hired to find a teenager who has been taken to the Otherworld, Eugenie comes face to face with a startling prophecy – one that uncovers dark secrets about her past and claims that Eugenie’s first-born will threaten the future of the world as she knows it.  Now Eugenie is a hot target for every ambitious demon and Otherworldy ne’er-do-well, and the ones who don’t want to knock her up want her dead.  Eugenie handles a Glock as smoothly as she wields a wand, but she needs some formidable allies for a job like this.  She finds them in Dorian, a seductive fairy king with a taste for bondage, and Kiyo, a gorgeous shape-shifter who redefines animal attraction.  But with enemies growing bolder and time running out, Eugenie realizes that the greatest danger is yet to come, and it lies in the dark powers that are stirring to life within her.

Review – Eugenie Markham is a shaman who banishes fey (also known as gentry) back to the Otherworld if they cross over into the mortal world.  She has been taught to hate the gentry and she very rarely crosses over to the Otherworld herself.  However, she realises that she will have to make this trip when she takes on a case to rescue a teenage girl who her brother believes has been kidnapped by the gentry.  She summons the help of the three spirits that she has bound to herself, and through them finds out that Jasmine has been taken by a gentry king called Aeson.  Eugenie realises that she can’t take Aeson on by herself so she approaches one of his enemies, another gentry king known as Dorian, for help.
During her time in the Otherworld, Eugenie finds out that she is in fact the daughter of the Storm King, making her half-human, half-gentry.  She also finds out that there is a prophecy surrounding the daughter of the Storm King; that her first-born child will lead the gentry into taking over the human world.  Once the rest of the gentry world realise who Eugenie really is, they split up into two camps. One side try to either seduce or rape Eugenie in an attempt to father the child talked about in the prophecy, the other side don’t want the prophecy to come true so they try to kill her instead.  Whilst the gentry are all propositioning Eugenie, Dorian teaches her how to use her new-found gentry powers so that she is able to use them in the final showdown against Aeson to rescue Jasmine.
The main character, Eugenie Markham, is just great.  She is strong, independent and so, so funny.  I found myself laughing out loud during many parts of the book as she is brilliant at the witty one-liner.  But what I liked most about her was the journey that she went on through the book.  She starts off hating the gentry and is incredibly prejudiced against them, after all she has been told constantly by her parents about how evil they are ever since she was a little girl.  However, through her interactions with Kiyo; a gorgeous kitsune (shapeshifter) who she feels an incredible attraction towards; and Dorian, Eugenie realises that the gentry are actually not as bad as she had been lead to believe.  These men teach her that, although there are some gentry who do deserve to be hated, not all of them behave in such a way.  When she realises that she is half-gentry herself, Eugenie has to do a lot of soul searching as she is now part of what she once hated.
I loved the Otherworld that the author created.  The book is full of description of this magical world and I found that really interesting to read.  I also enjoyed reading about the character of Dorian.  He comes across as incredibly easy going and very funny and he doesn’t seem to take much seriously in life.  It is from the interactions between Eugenie and Dorian that some of the funniest scenes occur.  I would love to see Eugenie and Dorian getting together at some point during the series as there is a huge amount of chemistry between the two of them.  Although I liked the character of Kiyo, he just seemed to be too much of a goody goody to be a serious part of Eugenie’s life for too long.
I really enjoyed the storyline of the book and it is full of action, humour, romance and magic.  It moves along at a fast pace and ended with lots of answered questions, making me really want to read the next book in the series.  I would definitely recommend this book to any fans of Richelle Mead or urban fantasy.

Other books in the series:
1. Storm Born
2. Thorn Queen