Fangs, Fur, and Fey is celebrating their 3 year anniversary!
Congratulate them and enter their celebration contest!
They are giving away 1 Amazon.com Kindle and 22 Amazon.com, B & N, Borders, Books-A-Million, or Powell’s, winner’s choice, $20 gift certificates!
Contest closes Friday, November 13th, at 11:59 pm Eastern time.
Yeah, this book is already released but I just reviewed the first book, Some Girls Bite, and I'm eager to get my hands on the second book! I've been promised a review copy so I'm hanging in hoping it'll arrive soon! :)
Friday Night Bites is the second installment to Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill. I enjoyed the first book immensely. It was a "Ballsy Award" winner. ;)
Friday Night Bites (Chicagoland Vampires, Book 2) by Chloe Neil
NAL Trade (October 6, 2009), Paranormal Romance - Vampires
368 pages
$10.20 (Amazon.com, 10/28/09) & Kindle Edition ($9.99)
The story of a young heiress's initiation into the dark society of the Chicagoland Vampires continues...
Ten months after vampires revealed their existence to the mortals of Chicago, they're enjoying a celebrity status usually reserved for the Hollywood elite. But should people learn about the Raves-mass feeding parties where vampires round up humans like cattle-the citizens will start sharpening their stakes.
So now it's up to the new vampire Merit to reconnect with her upper class family and act as liaison between humans and bloodsuckers, and keep the more unsavory aspects of the vampire lifestyle out of the media. But someone doesn't want peace between them-someone with an ancient grudge...
The first chapter of Some Girls Bite is available to read on Chloe's website, as is the first chapter of Friday Night Bites!
Get the first book, Some Girls Bite and join me in this awesome series! :)
First in a brand new series about a Chicago graduate student’s introduction into a society of vampires.Read an excerpt of Chapter One!
Sure, the life of a graduate student wasn’t exactly glamorous, but it was Merit’s. She was doing fine until a rogue vampire attacked her. But he only got a sip before he was scared away by another bloodsucker—and this one decided the best way to save her life was to make her the walking undead.
Turns out her savior was the master vampire of Cadogan House. Now she’s traded sweating over her thesis for learning to fit in at a Hyde Park mansion full of vamps loyal to Ethan “Lord o’ the Manor” Sullivan. Of course, as a tall, green-eyed, four-hundred- year-old vampire, he has centuries’ worth of charm, but unfortunately he expects her gratitude— and servitude. But an inconvenient sunlight allergy and Ethan’s attitude are the least of her concerns. Someone’s still out to get her. Her initiation into Chicago’s nightlife may be the first skirmish in a war—and there will be blood.
 | Some Girls Bite (Chicagoland Vampires, Book 1) by Chloe Neill |
 | Friday Night Bites (Chicagoland Vampires, Book 2) by Chloe Neill |
 | Twice Bitten (Chicagoland Vampires, Book 3) by Chloe Neill |
So if you haven't read this one yet, get a copy! I have great faith that this series is going to rock! 
I received this from the publisher this weekend. I read it super fast: 2 days! :)
I'm going to switch it up with this review! :)
Blue Bloods (Blue Bloods, Book 1) by Melissa De La Cruz
Within New York City’s most elite families, there lurks
a secret society of celebrated Americans whose ancestors sailed on the Mayflower. They are the powerful and the wealthy—and in fact, they are not human. They are the Blue Bloods, an ancient group of vampires.
Schuyler Van Alen has never fit in at Duchesne, her prestigious New York City private school. She prefers baggy, vintage clothes instead of the Prada and pearls worn by her classmates, and she lives with her reclusive grandmother in a dilapidated mansion. Schuyler is a loner—and happy that way.
But when she turns fifteen, Schuyler’s life changes dramatically. She has a mosaic of blue veins on her arms, and craves raw meat. The death of a popular girl from Duchesne is surrounded by a mystery that haunts her. And strangest off all, Jack Force, the most popular boy in school, is showing a sudden interest in her.
Schuyler wants to find out the secrets the Blue Bloods are keeping. But is she herself in danger?
Steeped in vampire lore and set against the glittery backdrop of New York City, Blue Bloods will be devoured by fans of Melissa de la Cruz.
I enjoyed it. I'm giving the series hope because this was the first of a series and it really needed that first book to get things rolling. Yah know?
I've already started the second book, Masquerade, and looking forward to what Schuyler and Oliver find out about her heritage.
Disclosure:
Amazon.com Associate. If you click on my links and purchase something I will receive a very small percentage of the purchase price.
Tempest Rising (Jane True, Book 1) by Nicole Peeler
Orbit (October 27, 2009)
368 pages, Urban Fantasy
$7.99 (Amazon.com, 10/27/09) Available on Kindle too ($6.39)
I first saw this cover on Orbit’s blog and I’ve been hooked ever since. I started to follow Nicole’s blog and expressed just how much I loved the cover and the premise. Nicole graciously sent me an ARC this summer. Thank you Nicole.
Plot: 4
Setting: 5
Writing: 3
Originality: 4
Characters: 4
Passion: 5
Overall: 25/30 = 83% B
Cover/Title Bonus: 10!
In the tiny village of Rockabill, Maine, Jane True—26-year-old bookstore clerk and secret night swimmer—has no idea that her absent mother’s legacy is entry into a world populated by the origins of human myths and legends. It is a world where nothing can be taken for granted: vampires are not quite what we think; dogs sometimes surprise us; and whatever you do, never—ever—rub the genie’s lamp. For Jane, everything kicks off when she comes across a murder victim during her nightly clandestine swim in the freezing winter ocean. This grisly discovery leads to the revelation of why she has such freakish abilities in the water: her mother was a Selkie and Jane is only half human. With this knowledge, Jane soon finds herself mingling with supernatural creatures alternately terrifying, beautiful, and deadly—all adjectives that quite handily describe her new friend Ryu. When Ryu is sent to Rockabill to investigate the murder, he and Jane fall hard for each other even as they plummet into a world of intrigue threatening to engulf both supernatural and human societies. For someone is killing half-humans like Jane. The question is, are the murders the work of one rogue individual or part of a greater plot to purge the world of Halflings?
I know a lot of comparisons will be made between Jane True and the Sookie Stackhouse series. Why? Well, they are both urban fantasy featuring paranormal entities, a twenties something female lead, a small Town atmosphere, and a compelling mystery.
We are introduced to Jane early and quickly figure out she's not "normal". We are quickly introduced to more minor and major characters right around the time a body is found. The investigation gets complex sending Jane and Ryu to other nearby cities and a major Compound meeting with the Queen and King.
One of the most awesome things about this book is the small town, Rockabill, that Jane is from. Her small town is well known because of a whirlpool known as the Old Sow. It happens to be Jane's secret hide-a-way that she retreats to and swims.
There's a trip to the vampire Compound and the building they stayed in was depicted very well.
Nicole did a good job at setting the scene but......
While I enjoyed the plot and characters immensely there is one huge issue I had with this book. There were way too many references to modern times. Way too many. With the paranormal/urban fantasy genre I want to feel as if I'm in another realm if not completely at least somewhat. I couldn't grasp that in full because of all the references that were slammed toward me. Each time I read a reference, because they are numerous, I had to stop and shake my head. Why do that? Don't reference something I already know about, which makes me stop, disconnect from the story to connect with what was referenced get the detail from that and then return to the story at hand. DO NOT DO THAT! Make your own details, don't "steal" them from elsewhere and don't disconnect your readers from the story.
They were sooo abundant that I can merely flip around a few pages and find one. Here are some examples with page number references. I'm referencing the ARC edition.
So, yeah, I just flipped through the entire book and those are the ones that popped out. It helps that most of them are italicized. They are plentiful and were majorly distracting for me. I think it shows Nicole's personality that she decided to use these proper names, things, and places instead of using her own descriptions. I honestly don't think that's a terrible thing but I think it would have been better in moderation, like half of what was used. This might just be me.
I liked all the different paranormal entities that Nicole encompassed in this first book. It was a nice touch to have not just one but about 10 different entities introduced along the way. It leaves room for all kinds of future endeavors for Jane.
The fact that Jane is a selkie is super cool. I haven't read any books that focused on selkies before. They are briefly mentioned in Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson series and that's all I know of.
The small town life again, which can be common, was also original as each different store of the town had a pig referenced name to incorporate the Old Sow. I thought that was pretty neat.
Jane is the main character. She's in her twenties but looks a lot younger than she is because of the selkie in her. That's why the girl on the cover looks so young. She doesn't age like normal humans. She's neat person. She has a lot to learn and I'm excited to see how she continues to grow.
Jane meets Ryu, a vampire, at the book store she works at. He's the investigator of the murder that happened. They quickly become attracted to each other.
Jane's Dad is a minor character in this book but he's a major character in Jane's life. I loved having him incorporated. You could really feel the love that was between them.
Tracy is the owner of Read It and Weep where Jane works. Her girlfriend is Grizelda and she's a blast of a character!
There were plenty of minor characters. Anyan was my favorite and I hope to see more of him in Tracking the Tempest.
The love blossoming between Ryu and Jane was pretty intense at points. It all progressed rather quickly but naturally. He was a gentleman and she didn't play hard to get so it was all very sweet.
A good read. I'd recommend this to the Sookie Stackhouse fans as well as general urban fantasy readers. It's an Adult book so not really recommended for the younger crowd.
The cover is the shit. LOVE this cover. Not only did it peak my interest but it perfectly depicts what this book is about. Everything on the cover means something. The art work is awesome.
Tracking the Tempest
What do you think? I love this cover! :)
Disclosure:
Amazon.com Associate. If you click on my links and purchase something I will receive a very small percentage of the purchase price.
Thanks to BuzzMyBlog Contest Winner Picker the winner of the Signed Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick is……
Congrats ReggieWrites! I’ve emailed you and will accept your mailing information until Wednesday, October 28th, 12:00 pm EST. :) Or I’ll have to pick a new winner.
Thank you for already following ReggieWrites. I appreciate all the new followers as well. :)
You can still order Hush, Hush if you haven’t been able to win a copy. I know there have been a couple contests hanging around out there. :) You can check my Contest Roundup post to see if you’ve missed any!
Barnes & Noble launched their new eReader, Nook, today. It’s available for pre-order with a release date of November 30 with a price of $259.
Some cool features are:
Those are a few things the Nook overpowers the Kindle 2 , I have the Kindle 1 so a few of these things do not apply to me: battery replacement, memory expansion. To see the full comparison to the Kindle 2 see their site.
The coolest thing is the “LendMe” option. Being able to lend your eBooks is a huge turn on for me. But this requires your friends to have a device or be willing to read on their PC, which I do NOT do. But if we’re talking free books then maybe I would. I’d like to see more details on this LendMe option they have. I’m sure there are restrictions and limitations on the number of times it can be shared.
Also, just to note, you can share Kindle books. You just have to register the other device on the same Amazon.com account. I have my Kindle, my iPhone, and my husbands iPhone all registered to my account. Therefore, he can read any book I’ve purchased on his iPhone. :)
And the wi-fi? Brilliant. Not the most needed aspect of an eReader but cool none the less.
Cons? There seems to be some uproar on the Nook Blog about it not having a web browser. Especially since it’s running Android. I’m not exactly sure what that is, I’m guessing the operating system and it’s apparently used on some well known cell phones. The Kindle does have this feature. It’s not the best web browsing experience but it’s there if you really need it.
Also, it doesn’t look like it supports internationally either. Which Amazon.com just implemented a few weeks ago.
So what do you think? Going to plunge in and buy one? I’m not sold on this one. Although the color touch screen navigation is cool, along with the wi-fi and sharing but the price point of the device and the eBooks are still lacking.
I love my Kindle and highly recommend an eReader if you read a lot, fast, want to (in the end) save money, trees, and valuable bookshelf space.
I didn’t do an IMM post last week. :( So I’m playing catch up.
IMM is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.
Silver Phoenix: Beyond the Kingdom of Xia by Cindy Pon
I’ve had my eye on this one for a while now. I’m so excited to have won a copy! :) Thank you Frenetic Reader for the contest!
Dawnbreaker (Dark Days, Book 3) by Jocelynn Drake
I was sooo excited to win this one! Thanks to Doug at SciFiGuy.ca! I read this and it took me longer than expected but that’s okay. It was a good read. I’m a little disappointed and I’ll cover that in my review. It’s a great Urban Fantasy series though. I read and reviewed the first two books: Nightwalker and Dayhunter.
Some Girls Bite: A Chicagoland Vampires Novel by Chloe Neill
I read this book already and it was AWESOME! Super awesome writing. I feel in love with the character, Merit, right away and can’t wait for the follow up to arrive for review! My review should be posted this week. :)
First in a brand new series about a Chicago graduate student’s introduction into a society of vampires.
Sure, the life of a graduate student wasn’t exactly glamorous, but it was Merit’s. She was doing fine until a rogue vampire attacked her. But he only got a sip before he was scared away by another bloodsucker—and this one decided the best way to save her life was to make her the walking undead.
Turns out her savior was the master vampire of Cadogan House. Now she’s traded sweating over her thesis for learning to fit in at a Hyde Park mansion full of vamps loyal to Ethan “Lord o’ the Manor” Sullivan. Of course, as a tall, green-eyed, four-hundred- year-old vampire, he has centuries’ worth of charm, but unfortunately he expects her gratitude— and servitude. But an inconvenient sunlight allergy and Ethan’s attitude are the least of her concerns. Someone’s still out to get her. Her initiation into Chicago’s nightlife may be the first skirmish in a war—and there will be blood.
My Soul to Save (Soul Screamers, Book 2) by Rachel Vincent
I can’t wait to start this! This is book 2 of Rachel’s Soul Screamers series. The first one, My Soul To Take was really good. You can read my review.
Candle Man, Book One: The Society of Unrelenting Vigilance by Glenn Dakin
I don’t know much about this one but it sounds really neat!
Murder, mystery, and adventure aren’t your typical birthday presents . . .
But for Theo, anything that breaks up his ordinary routine is the perfect gift.
A mysterious “illness” and Theo’s guardians force him into a life indoors, where gloves must be worn and daily medical treatments are the norm. When Theo discovers a suspicious package on his birthday, one person from the past will unlock the secret behind Theo’s “illness” and change his life forever.
Molded into an exhilarating steampunk adventure that gives birth to the next great fantasy hero, Theo Wickland, Candle Man: The Society of Unrelenting Vigilance is the first book in a trilogy by debut author Glenn Dakin.
Ages 8—12
What did you get?
I’m reading Covet by J.R. Ward right now. It is amazingly good. Love her writing style!
