Contest Entry: Heartless by Gail Carriger

Gail Carriger is hosting an interesting contest for a chance to win an ARC of Heartless! Go to her blogs: Blogger or LiveJournal to enter for yourself!

Heartless (The Parasol Protectorate) by Gail Carriger 400 pages, Orbit, (2011-07-01) $7.99 (Amazon.com)

Here's my entry! I just had to use my little man and his super cute froggy hat. Look at that smile! :)

Cover Art: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner (An Eclipse Novella) by Stephenie Meyer

Stephenie disclosed this new release she’s putting out, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, releasing June 5th.

It was supposed to be included in The Twilight Saga: The Official Guide but it was too long, over 200 pages once typeset.

 

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella by Stephenie Meyer

Fans of The Twilight Saga will be enthralled by this riveting story of Bree Tanner, a character first introduced in Eclipse, and the darker side of the newborn vampire world she inhabits. In another irresistible combination of danger, mystery, and romance, Stephenie Meyer tells the devastating story of Bree and the newborn army as they prepare to close in on Bella Swan and the Cullens, following their encounter to its unforgettable conclusion.

Stephenie has arranged for The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner to be free from June 7th to July 5th on www.breetanner.com.

If you decide to buy it $1 from each book will be donated to the American Red Cross.

Sounds pretty cool. But I can’t recall who the heck Bree is. :( Sad face.

Disclosure:
Amazon.com Associate. If you click on my links and purchase anything a very small percentage of the purchase price will be awarded to Book Reviews by Jess.

Review: Hourglass (Evernight, Book 3) by Claudia Gray

Hourglass (Evernight, Book 3) by Claudia Gray

352 pages, Young Adult, series

HarperTeen (March 9, 2010)

$9.93 (Amazon, Hardcover)

Procurement

Purchased on Amazon.com.

My Grade

Plot: 3

Setting: 4

Writing: 3

Originality: 4

Characters: 4

Passion: 5

Overall: 23/30 = 76% C

Cover/Title Bonus: 3

Strange Angels & Betrayals by Lili St. Crow

I read Strange Angels by Lil St. Crow a while ago but I never did a formal review. I don’t know why sometimes I skip reviewing books but I do it sometimes.
Anyway, I LOVED Strange Angels. 

Some Girls Bite (Chicagoland Vampires, Book 1) by Chloe Neill

Some Girls Bite (Chicagoland Vampires, Book 1) by Chloe Neil
NAL Trade (April 7, 2009), Paranormal Romance - Vampires
352 pages
$10.08 (Amazon.com, 10/28/09) & Kindle Edition ($9.99)

Procurement

Chloe found my blog and contacted me about reviewing this title. I looked it up on Amazon.com and wondered why the hell I hadn't read it already! The premise, title, and cover all looked wonderful. I was excited to receive her book for review.

My Grade

Plot: 5
Setting: 5
Writing: 5
Originality: 5
Characters: 5
Passion: 4
Overall: 29/30 96% A
Cover/Title Bonus: 4
I've awarded this book a Ballsy Award! I've been meaning to make up this award but I've finally done it! Congrats Some Girls Bite!

Summary (Amazon.com):

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.

Read an excerpt of Chapter One!

Plot

Merit is a graduate student, walking through the campus very late at night. She's attacked by a vampire who was intent on draining her dry only to be interrupted by two other vampires. The saviors knew she would die if she wasn't changed, so one of them changed her, saving her "life".
Merit is returned home to her best friend Mallory, who is a vampire geek. Vampires are public in this story and they are gorgeous and have a following, so to say. Therefore Mallory is thrilled that her BFF is not only alive and well but a true vampire.
Merit is the daughter of a high political figure and she hates it. Merit is her last name, she does not go by her first name. She gets a crash course on the rules of being turned vampire. She is now part of a "house" of vampires and her house vampire master is who turned her, only master vamps are allowed to change people, and his name is Ethan Sullivan.
She must report to Ethan for her induction into the house. Things get super interesting after she meets Ethan.

Setting

Chicago, duh. :) It's very well set out. I felt apart of this town. I wasn't confused by any street names or structures. Chloe depicted Chicago in a very familiar way by not making us feel like we were thrown in. Does that make sense? It's not like Blue Bloods, where there's an abundance of NYC street names. It flows very nicely.
The Cadogan House is a super huge estate that I want to live in. The cover image has a big house shown and it's a good example of how I envisioned it.
There are a few outside scenes as well.
This book was written so well that it was envisioned perfectly, just like a movie film rolling through my head.

Writing

Chloe did an awesome job with this book. It flowed super well. There weren't any gaps or misunderstanding. It's written from Merit's POV, which was perfect.
There was a certain amount of mystery to the story that gave it a purpose other than just introducing Merit to the Cadogan House vampires. I can't wait to see what else happens in the next book!

Originality

I've read a ton of vampire books. I specifically enjoy strong female lead characters and Merit is anything if not strong. Therefore, it's not the most original book on vampires that I've read' however, it was so good with incorporating vampires, society, romance, setting, and dialogue that I'm not in the least experiencing a lack of originality.
The beginning of this book shows how strong I know this series is going to be. When Merit meets Ethan it's pure shocking. You can feel the electricity and I want (need) to see how it all unfolds.

Characters

Merit is awesome. She has one wicked self esteem and her ultimate purpose is to be what and who she wants to be, damned if any one should get in her way. (Vampire master? No problem.) She didn't take it well that her life was turned up side down in one, well two bites. She handles herself very well. She has balls. And I mean balls. This book is ballsy.
Mallory is a perfect best friend. She's super nice and is there to help Merit no matter what. She and Catcher develop a very eager relationship. ;)
Ethan Sullivan is one hot master vampire. He's pretty funny and I would love  to get inside his head! He has an ego and he's a little appalled that Merit is who she is. She's quite shocking at first. Again with the balls. ;)
We also meet Merit's grandfather who was supposedly retired from the police department only to find out he's the leader of the paranormal special forces.
Jeff works for Merit's Grandfather. He's a shifter of unknown animal origin, a computer geek, and a cutie. He's super funny too.
Catcher also works for Merit's Gpa and  is a disowned wizard of super awesome skill level. He and Mallory, once they meet, quickly fall for each other....hard. :)
There are plenty more minor/major characters as well.

Passion

I took one point off for this. I'm just a little upset that Merit is chasing tale and not chasing tale. I dunno. I wanted her to, you know, get some but she doesn't seem to know what she wants and that sucks.
Catcher and Mallory's relationship is red hot.

Overall

An awesome read. If you love vampires and strong female lead characters and egotistical men you'll love this! I can not wait to read Friday Night Bites. I'm supposed to be getting a review copy and it will be devoured upon receipt.

Cover/Title Bonus

I don't love the title but it's catchy and cool. The cover is very good. The model is a good representation of Merit. The house in the back is a good pick for Cadogan House.

Series

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

Connect with 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!

Disclosure:
Amazon.com Associate. If you click on my links and purchase something I will receive a very small percentage of the purchase price.

Sneak Peek: Soulless by Gail Carriger

I'm reading this right NOW!

Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate) by Gail Carriger
September 29, 2009
Orbit
373 pages (ARC edition)

It is just delightful. It's so Mary Poppins meets paranormal it's comical.

And I just love saying Miss Tarabotti. :)

Description from Amazon.com:

Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations.
First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both
Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking
all standards of social etiquette.

Where to go from there?
From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire
-- and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and
werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

With
unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing,
everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what
is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless
ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain
embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle
tart?

SOULLESS is a comedy of manners set in Victorian London: full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.

What a sneak peek?!

Page 16:

The earl gave her generous curves a rude once-over, observed that Miss Tarabotti was nicely padded in exactly the right places, and refused to be suckered into becoming sympathetic. He maintained his frown. "I suspect that is precisely what the vampire was thinking when he found you without a chaperone. An unmarried female alone in a room in this enlightened day and age! Why, if the moon had been full, even I would have attacked you!"

Alexa gave him the once-over and reached for her brass parasol. "My dear sir, I should like to see you try."

Isn't it just amazing?! Loving it! And I'm only on Chapter 2.

Connect with Gail Carriger:
Website
LiveJournal
Twitter
Blogger
Facebook
Facebook (The Parasol Protectorate)

Pre-order it from Amazon.com.

Official New Moon Trailer!

The "Official" New Moon Teaser Trailer.

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON trailer in HD

Source: Twilight Guy.com

All I have to say is yum. I wasn't expecting Jacob to be so yum. I should have expected it though. I <3 shape shifters but I didn't not <3 them in this book. I was never a Team Jacob fan. This movie might change my mind though. And Edward! ARGH! I do not love Robert Pattinson as Edward! I just cringe when he talks. Sad, I know.

I'm not sure if I love the wolf though. Hubby and I were hoping they'd be true to the book. Very large wolves, bigger then bears. It's not terrible though. :)

Enjoy!

New Moon Scene Photo Montage

Wow. I saw the pictures floating around yesterday from the Italy filming of the Edward and Bella reunion scene.

Don't watch if you don't want it spoiled. It's done fairly well and is quite amazing. :)

The hype surrounding this movie is tangible! I can't wait for it. Even though it's my least favorite book of the series.

Source: Twilight Lexicon

True Blood Character Posters

Ohh, nice. I <3 me some Eric.

Click on Eric to see the other character posters featuring: Bill, Sookie, Tara, Maryann, Jason, and Sexy, er, Sam. Of course we all know season 2 premieres June 14th! And I can NOT wait! :)

Source: Shock till You Drop.com

New Moon Trailer & Poster

The "official" teaser poster is out:



Source: Shock TIll You Drop.com


Wow. And an amazing trailer by a very talented person.

ETA: This is NOT an official trailer, if anyone is confused after watching it. :)

Source: Saw this on Bridget's blog over at Readaholic. Thanks Bridget!

Enjoy:

Oh, and thanks to Cinnamon over at A Journey of Books there's news, rather dated, but news the same, on the third movie, Eclipse!
From Summit Entertainment's website:

Los Angeles, CA April 22, 2009 — Summit Entertainment announced today that David Slade has been hired to direct THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE from a screenplay written by Melissa Rosenberg. THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE, the third film in the studio's TWILIGHT film franchise based on the Stephenie Meyer's blockbuster book series, will be released theatrically in North America on Wednesday, June 30, 2010. The announcement was made by Erik Feig, Summit's President of Production.

Meyer stated, "I am thrilled that David Slade will be directing ECLIPSE. He's a visionary filmmaker who has so much to offer this franchise. From the beginning, we've been blessed with wonderful directorial talent for the Twilight Saga, and I'm so happy that ECLIPSE will be carrying on with that tradition."

True Blood Season 2 Teaser Trailer

Here's another one!
Nothing too great about it but it does get the mind wanting more!

True Blood: Season 2 Trailer

Wow. I just watched this and WOW!

I can't wait for season 2 to start on June 14th!

This isn't much of a "trailer" but it's still very cool, with lots of hidden clues I'm sure!

True Blood Season 2 Trailer


EDITED TO ADD:
A MUCH better trailer! Check it out!


Will you be sucked in to watch? I will!