Month: June 2012

Lovestruck Giveaway Hop

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Blog Hops> Book Giveaway> Lovestruck Giveaway Hop

I’ve been lovestruck again. And it’s not the first time. It probably won’t be the last, either.

But this time I not only have to confess, I get to share. Why? Because I’m participating in the Lovestruck Giveaway Hop, hosted by Under the Covers and Bona Fide Reflections.

My mission is to share a series that has left me smitten. One that nothing else has ever managed to live up to. And I have one.

Have you ever read Outlander? Let me try that again. Have you ever lost yourself in Outlander? Not Highlander, I mean Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon.

It has everything. Time-travel, romance, history, and oh yes, it does have highlanders. But it isn’t a Highlander romance. Outlander takes place later than that. It’s more about the failed Jacobite rebellion, in 1745. And did it ever fail! But that’s part of the story.

Do you love century-spanning love stories? Well, Outlander definitely does that. from 1946 to 1743 and back. Ever wonder what a 20th century woman would think of 18th century life? (And 18th century men in kilts?) It’s all there.

But it’s the story.

Outlander isn’t just a love story. It’s history and romance and tragedy and passion.  It is the beginning of an amazing epic.

It is also the intimate story of two people. Claire Elizabeth Beauchamp, a World War II combat nurse who walks through the standing stones in Cragh na Dun in Scotland in 1946 only to find herself in 1743.

And James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser, the man she is meant to love. A Highland laird, and an outlaw, a Jacobite, a intimate of kings and princes, and a leader of the doomed rebellion.

But they marry to keep Claire from becoming an English prisoner. Doubly ironic, because the English officer who wants to question her is her 20th century husband’s distant ancestor–and because the sadist has already flogged Jamie near-death, once. And because Claire truly is English, but 20th century English, not 18th century English. What she is not, is a French spy.

Jamie doesn’t know what she is, not for quite a while. When they discuss it, Claire asks him,

“Aren’t you afraid I might kill you in your sleep some night, if you don’t know who I am?”
He didn’t answer, but took his arm away from his eyes, and his smile widened. His eyes must be from the Fraser side, I thought. Not deepset like the MacKenzies’, they were set at an odd angle, so that the high cheekbones made them look almost slanted.
Without troubling to lift his head, he opened the front of his shirt and spread the cloth aside, laying his chest bare to the waist. He drew the dirk from its sheath and tossed it toward me. It thunked on the boards at my feet.
He put his arm back over his eyes and stretched his head back, showing the place where the dark stubble of his sprouting beard stopped abruptly, just below the jaw.
“Straight up, just under the breastbone,” he advised. “Quick and neat, though it takes a bit of strength. The throat-cutting’s easier, but it’s verra messy.”
I bent to pick up the dirk.
“Serve you right if I did,” I remarked. “Cocky bastard.”
The grin visible beneath the crook of his arm widened still further.
“Sassenach?”
I stopped, dirt still in my hand.
“What?”
“I’ll die a happy man.”

But Jamie doesn’t die, of course. Instead, they have two years together, until the Rebellion of 1745. In an act of love and desperation, Claire and Jamie part just before the battle of Culloden, because they both know how it’s going to end. Claire through history, and Jamie because he’s no fool.

Jamie expects to die on that field. But he sends his hope for the future through the stones. Claire leaves for the 20th century pregnant with his child. He tells her to name the boy after his father.

Claire spends the next 20 years of her life becoming a doctor and raising Jamie’s child, with her 20th century husband Frank. A man who knows full well that whoever impregnated his wife during her two missing years, it bloody well wasn’t him.

Only after Frank’s death is Claire willing to hire a genealogical researcher to look at what happened to the men of Jamie’s clan, to see if any of his family survived. Because she knows that Jamie intended to die.

But he didn’t.

Whenever I read a time-travel romance, I compare it to Outlander. Especially if the author uses one of the standing stone circles like Stonehenge to do the traveling. Gabaldon probably wasn’t the first author, but to me, she was the best.

Every time a new book in this series comes out, I fall in love all over again. The latest is  Lord John and the Scottish Prisoner, a book in the Lord John side-series. The Scottish Prisoner in this case is Jamie Fraser, and the book takes place after 1745. Jamie’s longing for Claire is heart-rending.

So, for my part in this Lovestruck Giveaway Hop, I want to share my love of the Outlander series. The winner of the giveaway from Reading Reality will get one copy ($10 or less, print or ebook) of any book in the series (Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, The Fiery Cross, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, An Echo in the Bone, Lord John and the Hand of Devils, Lord John and the Private Matter, Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade).

If you are an international winner, and you choose a print copy, you need to be somewhere that Book Depository ships.

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Dead Sexy: Deadly Secrets, Loving Lies

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> Book Lovers Inc.> book reviews

Deadly Secrets, Loving Lies by Cynthia Cooke is the very first book in Entangled Publishing’s new Dead Sexy romantic suspense imprint.

It turned out to be a great opening act for the new line, because DSLL is definitely a very sexy and suspenseful story. And considering the plot of spies, conspiracy theories and secrets-gone-wrong, the heroine and her hero leave a whole cemetery-full of dead bad-guys along the way to their, well, let’s not spoil things, shall we?

I don’t want to ruin the suspense.

Deadly Secrets, Loving Lies starts out with all its guns blazing. Genie Marsters is on the run from the men in black. Not those men in black, just thugs in suits. They might be government agents sent to bring her in. Or they might be worse bad guys than that.

Her old agency (the National Counter Terrorism Agency) might be compromised. But other people might be out to get her and her sisters because they are fully-functioning empaths. Genie trusts no one except her father. And he’s just gone underground. Even further under the radar than his normal paranoia.

When the worse guys (not the NCTA) send a team to capture her, the NCTA sends someone to bring her in from the cold. They may not trust her, but they don’t want her kidnapped. The NCTA sends her ex-partner, and ex-lover, Kyle Montgomery.

Kyle doesn’t trust her either, but his sense of personal betrayal hurts a lot more. He doesn’t know she’s an empath. He does know she didn’t come to the hospital after their last op nearly killed him. He saved her life, and she might be the cause of whatever happened. Or her sister was. Kyle didn’t even know she had a sister.

Talk about deadly secrets. Genie’s sister was involved with the bad guys. And she might still be. Or she might be dead. Becca is supposed to be dead.

But who’s out to kidnap Genie and her sister Cat? And why?

And why does Kyle feel like he and Genie are still a team? After everything she didn’t tell him, after all the lies she told him, he shouldn’t still love her. But he does.

The question is whether he can trust her, ever again. Especially since Genie Marsters has been taught, her whole life, never to trust anyone. Not even herself.

Escape Rating B+: Deadly Secrets, Loving Lies would make a terrific romantic suspense movie. It grabs you up in that first scene, and doesn’t let you go until the end. The pace is wild and crazy and totally non-stop.

And it probably needs to be that fast, because the government conspiracy at the heart of the bad guy’s insanity doesn’t quite hold up if you look at it too closely. But the story is moving so fast, that you don’t get a chance to. You’re swept up in the action.

The sibling rivalry between the three Marsters sisters is off the charts. I’m an only child, and they make me grateful for it.

The ending of DSLL definitely sets up for the next book in the series, and I’m glad of it. I want to know what happens next to these people. They’re wild and crazy and I’m compelled to read the next installment.

For more of my thoughts on Deadly Secrets, Loving Lies, head on over to Book Lovers Inc.

But back to next installments, Deadly Secrets, Loving Lies is just the first of the Dead Sexy line. I’m looking forward to a continuing line of sexy stories starring deadly lovers.

Q&A with Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Author Interviews> Author Q&A> blog tours

The guest today on Reading Reality is Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy, author of several time-travel and historical romances, including today’s reviewed book, Guy’s Angel. I had the opportunity to ask her about her fascination with history, and her self-description as a “Rebel Writer”. Let’s see what she had to say.

First of all, tell us a little bit about yourself. You call yourself a “Rebel Writer”. Is there a story there?

Well, there is – two different stories, really.  Guy’s Angel is my 8th novel release from Rebel Ink Press so that’s one.  But the back story is that in my college years, my significant other at the time owned a Dodge Charger painted up like the famous “General Lee” of “Dukes of Hazzard” fame and we did a little presentation for our marketing class as a rock band, “The Rebels”.

Guy’s Angel takes place at a fascinating time, not just because of the “between the wars” but also because general aviation was just beginning “get its wings” so to speak. What made you pick this particular time period?

The 1920’s was my older set of grandparents’ (my grandparents are from two different generations depending on which side of the family) heyday, their youth and glory years.  I grew up on their stories and always loved anything about the 1920’s.

Who first introduced you to the love of reading?

My mom  read to me from a very early age and encouraged me to read as a child.

Who influenced your decision to become a writer?

My Granny – yes, the one who came of age in the 1920’s – once wanted to be a writer but circumstances prevented it.  She shared her dream with me when I was a teenager and told me, “I couldn’t but you can and you should.” And so I did.

And are you a plotter or a pantser? Do you plot everything out in advance, or do you just let the story flow?  

I’m mostly a pantser.  When I begin a new novel, I know where it begins and how it will end.  Everything in between just grows and happens.

Do your characters ever want to take over the story?

They do – and they’re like my kids.  They do what they want anyway!

You have written several stories that are historical or partially historical (In Love’s Own Time, Guy’s Angel, Long Live the King, and the upcoming In the Shadow of War). Where does your love of history come from?

I grew up in St. Joseph, MO, a old river town with a great deal of history.  And I grew up listening to the stories of my grandparents and other elder relatives so I always found myself fascinated by the past.  I grew up in a Victorian era house and in an old neighborhood where everything was very traditional.

I have to ask about Long Live the King. You wrote a time-travel fantasy romance about Elvis! Tell us a little about what inspired you?

Well, I love Elvis and his music.  I’ve made the trip to Graceland. And my aunt, who passed away after a very courageous battle with cancer in late 2010, adored Elvis.  She also encouraged me in my writing and so I wanted to do something as a tribute to her.  She’s the Janet the book is dedicated to – and at her funeral, the family opted to play Elvis music instead of traditional hymns!

Speaking of In the Shadow of War, would you like to tell us a little bit about it, or any of your other upcoming projects? 

I live in Neosho, Missouri which is where Camp Crowder, better known as the “real”Camp Swampy from the Beetle Bailey comic strip was located. Part of it remains as a National Guard base but there’s also a community college and a lot more.  So I became intrigued with the history and my other grandparents came of age during World War II so I wanted for a long time to write a romance in that era.  In The Shadow of War is it.    My next historical after it will be Dustbowl Dreams out Sept 17 from Rebel Ink Press and it’s set in 1930’s Oklahoma.  It’s inspired in part by Charley Floyd, better known as Pretty Boy Floyd, who makes a cameo appearance in the novel.

What book do you recommend everyone should read and why?  

Oh, wow, hard question.  I’d have to say the first adult novel I ever read, at a young age, Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell.  It’s far from perfect but it has it all, romance, war, intrigue, betrayal, angst, joy.

Morning person or Night Owl?

Night Owl.

Lee Ann, us night owls have got to stick together! Thanks so much for answering all my questions. I love the idea of playing with history, and I’ll admit, the Elvis book fascinates me. The “what if?” questions are always the interesting ones. And it sounds like fun!

Guy’s Angel

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews

Guy’s Angel by LeeAnn Sontheimer Murphy is a love story. A man named Guy Richter falls in love with a young woman named Lorraine Ryan. But this love story is only possible because it’s also a love triangle. But not the usual kind of triangle, because the third party in this triangle isn’t a person–it’s the love of flying.

The year is 1925, and flying was still new. There was no TSA. Heck, there wasn’t even an FAA. Pilots weren’t licensed. Most pilots in the US were men who had been trained by the U.S. Army in World War I and managed to survive both the war and the influenza epidemic of 1919.

Automobiles were still in the process of driving horse-drawn vehicles off the road. Flying machines were a pretty chancy business.

And a lot of the pilots were suffering from what we now call Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. They just called it shell-shock. Or not being able to get over the war. Or being crazy. Or having nightmares.

In 1925, “Lucky” Charles Lindbergh’s around the world flight hadn’t happened yet.

Guy Richter, the hero of Guy’s Angel, is one man who suffers from shell-shock and who has more than his share of difficulty leaving his war behind. He survived the air battles over Europe, only to lose his brother Jimmie in the peace. And Guy believes that he should have died.  He only lives to fly.

Until Lorraine comes to the airfield to learn to fly. And he sees her as his “Angel”.

In 1925, women did not become pilots. Amelia Earhart wasn’t famous yet. Or lost, for that matter. Women’s roles were proscribed. But Guy decides to rescue “Angel” from the taunting of the other men at the airfield, possibly out of boredom.

But once he takes her up into the sky, in his tiny two-seater plane, he can see that she is just as bitten by the flying bug as any man. And that she’s just as much a natural in the sky. Guy agrees to teach her to fly.

His “Angel” gives him a reason to look forward, and stop looking back. But can she learn enough, about flying and about Guy’s past, to save his life?

Escape Rating B+: There were elements in Guy’s Angel that I absolutely loved. The historical aspects were terrific. Ms. Murphy invoked the flavor of the 1920s spectacularly well. The pace of life, the way that people talked, the atmosphere, the clothes, it felt right.

The relationship between Guy and Angel proceeded just a tiny bit too smoothly. He had a LOT of demons. And he should have. The age gap between them, while not significant in actual numbers (7 years), because of his war experience was fairly large. It seemed too easy to me.

The question in my mind at the end was about whether everyone who said they saw the Valkyries really saw the Valkyries. And whether the Valkyries really were out to get Guy and carry him off to Valhalla. Because if they were, that almost pushed this book into a whole other category. If he merely thought they were, it’s still his PTSD talking. But so many other people also claimed to see them, which made me wonder.

 

Review: The Most Improper Miss Sophie Valentine by Jayne Fresina

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | 2 Stars> book reviews> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Rocket Lover

Format Read: ebook from NetGalley
Number of Pages: 384 p.
Release Date: June 5, 2012
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Genre: Regency Romance
Formats Available: Mass market paperback, ebook
Purchasing Info: Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Book Depository

Book Blurb:

“Wanted: one husband, not too particular. Small dowry, several books, sundry furnishings, and elderly aunt included. Idlers, time-wasters, and gentlemen with other attachments need not apply.”

Scarred in a childhood accident, Sophia Valentine doesn’t expect any takers on her ad for a husband in the Farmer’s Gazette, until the mysterious Lazarus Kane shows up at her door. To Sophia, he is an exciting, enigmatic stranger. But Lazarus has known Sophia for years and has come a long way to find her. Things are about to get complicated for the mischievous Miss Valentine.

My Thoughts:

This was originally posted at Book Lovers Inc.

Once upon a time, Miss Sophie Valentine did something very, very improper. She and her fiancé, the rather wealthy James Hartley, were caught, as they say, in flagrante delicto on a billiards table in the middle of a house party. There were scads of witnesses. (Not precisely, but nearby)  So James did the proper thing and asked Sophie to marry him. They would probably suit. They’d been friends for years, and he was rather handsome.

The worst part was that the experience wasn’t any good for her. Today we’d call it “wham, bam, thank you ma’am”.

No, the worst part was that while Sophie was standing on the balcony, waiting for James to bring her some punch, she saw him talk to one of the serving maids. And she saw that he showed the girl more real affection, more love, than he would ever show her.

And Sophie Valentine wasn’t ready to be a complacent wife. Not even to escape the scandal.

She climbed down the groundskeeper’s ladder next to the balcony, escaping the life that society expected of her, and tearing a gash on her face that left a permanent scar. Just like the one on her life.

The assistant groundskeeper who left that ladder out watched her every move–and was dismissed for his inattention to his duties.

Ten years later, Sophie is rusticating with her brother and his absolute harridan of a wife, still trying to live down that scandal, and she finally breaks out of her attempt at propriety by writing an advertisement in the local farmer’s journal for a husband.

Of course, the ad brings a handsome stranger to the village. And, because there are no coincidences in romance, it’s the assistant groundskeeper who got fired for watching her escape ten years ago.

And all the players from that long ago drama return to Sophie Valentine’s life to try to prevent her from causing yet another scandal.

Based on that opening scene, this should have been tremendous fun. Not terribly true to period, but fun. Except it all falls kind of flat.

The characters seem more like caricatures than real characters. There’s the hero of course, who had to go off and become dark and tortured before he could be redeemed and rescue the heroine. Lazarus has a number of secrets that he refuses to reveal to Sophie, but seem obvious to the reader. He also has a mysterious wound that might kill him at any moment, but is miraculously not a problem at the end of the book.

There’s Sophie’s brother  Henry, who isn’t capable of managing his estates without his sister’s more sensible advice. Henry is weak and resents his sister for pointing out the things that he should be taking care of and can’t seem to stand up to his shrew of a wife, who is spending money that they don’t have.

Then there’s the sister-in-law who resents Sophie. Sophie who is doing all the work Lavinia should be doing, and who occasionally reminds her that the household is spending far, far too much. And that she’s really, really stupid.

Are all the awful Regency sister-in-laws named Lavinia, or does it just seem that way?

The seduction of Sophie Valentine by Lazarus Kane from her prim and proper, scandal-reducing life back to her true improper self takes much too long and is down-right boring.  Sophie may have been teased but after she fell down that ladder, I wasn’t.

I give The Most Improper Miss Sophie Valentine 2 Stars.


***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Kiss of the Goblin Prince

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A Reviews> Book Lovers Inc.> book reviews

Kiss of the Goblin Prince by Shona Husk is a story about second chances. And third chances. And twentieth chances. On the one hand, it’s about realizing that we only have a short time at this life, and that we have to make the most of it. And at the very same time, it’s a story about that classic conundrum that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. Literally, life after life, whether the person remembers those other lives or not. The soul remembers.

Amanda watches her sister-in-law marry a man that she barely knows, and wonders how Eliza could turn her life around so fast. Not that Roan isn’t a major improvement over the now-residing-in-jail Steve. But Eliza and Roan haven’t even known each other long enough to file the 30 days paperwork to make this wedding legal.

Amanda is a widow with a young daughter, a daughter with a fatal disease. A daughter whose father died before she was born. She was a wife for a year, and has been a widow for seven. She’s poured all her energy into taking care of her daughter, Brigit. Watching as severe asthma steals more and more of Brigit’s lungs every time she has an attack.

But in that church, watching Eliza marry Roan, she finds herself watching Roan’s brother, Dai. And feeling things she hasn’t felt in years. And isn’t any too comfortable with.

Dai is no more sure of himself than Amanda. Roan and Dai spent almost 2,000 years under a curse. They were goblins. Slowly, slowly losing their souls to the lust for gold, cursed by a Druid priest during the Roman occupation of Wales for leading a failed rebellion.

Eliza’s love for Roan cured the curse. Roan was the King, and curing him, cured Dai as well. But they were the only ones left in their band of warriors to survive the ages. And Dai, well sometimes, he’s not so sure he came all the way back. In nightmares, he’s still in the Shadowlands, still a goblin.

What he feels for Amanda, he’s afraid to pursue. He spent those centuries researching their curse, researching magic. He’s bargained away parts of his soul, many times over. Those vows still bind him. And in the human lands, he discovers that he can practice real magic. Magic that has not been seen since the Druids that cursed them died out.

With his newfound magic he learns much that surprises him about the modern world. He can see connections between people. He can see disease, even though he doesn’t know how to cure it. He can actually see the growing attraction that runs between himself and Amanda.

And he can see the reason why he, Amanda and her daughter Brigit were brought together. In a previous life, Brigit was his sister. He couldn’t save her then, but now, he feels that he must try, no matter what it costs him.

Even if he has to tell Amanda the truth, and he loses her. The only woman he has ever loved.

Escape Rating A: This story was complex, and it really drew me in. It kept going deeper and deeper as it went. On the surface it seemed straightforward enough. Eliza and Roan get married (after The Goblin King) and now it’s Dai’s turn.

But not simple at all. Dai is much more tortured, not just by the past, but by everything he studied. All those magic rituals and vows, one on top of another. He’s been a scholar for centuries! All those secrets, and no one to ever tell. Starting with the biggest secret of all.

Amanda has been hurting too. She feels like she can never do enough for her daughter, and she’s fighting a battle she can’t win. Eventually she’s going to be left alone. But all her energies are focused on taking care of Brigit.

Putting these two tormented people together made for one amazing story.

For more of my thoughts on this book, take a look at Book Lovers Inc.

The Goblin King

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A Reviews> book reviews

Goblins are not the stuff that dreams are made of. Not unless those dreams are nightmares.

But somehow Shona Husk managed to make The Goblin King into a sweeping romance of love and redemption as well as a darkly sensual twist on Beauty and the Beast.

Once upon a time, Roan was a Celtic prince, back when Rome ruled the Western world. Back when the Druids practiced real magic. His people rebelled, and failed. Roan and his band of warriors were condemned, not to death, because death would have been too quick, but to eternity in the Shadowlands. Eternity as goblins.

Their punishment didn’t come from the Romans for the attempt, it came from a Druid priest for betraying the rebellion. The worst of it was, Roan and his men weren’t even guilty.

But the Druid could never admit his mistake, so the punishment continued, century after century, as one by one, Roan’s men fell to the curse. Either their souls were eaten away by the goblin’s lust for gold, or they died in fighting the goblin horde.

Roan was King of his band of goblin-men. Being a goblin meant that any human could summon him to the Fixed Realm that we call Earth. Roan had to obey the summons, but he learned that he didn’t have to obey the summoner, not if he was willing to endure a little pain.

One 20th century summer, a girl on the cusp of womanhood summoned him, to rescue her from her brother’s drunken friends. Eliza thought the Goblin King would serve her better than rape by drunken teenage boys. She turned out to be right.

Years later, faced with a fiance who has both stolen from her and brutalized her, Eliza choses to summon the Goblin King again. A goblin who is what he is has to be better than a goblin who pretends to be a man.

Roan almost doesn’t remember her. The goblin curse almost has him, but not quite. And Eliza brings him back from the brink of the darkness. Except that time is running out. Roan’s kingdom in the Shadowlands is about to be physically overrun by goblins. Roan and his brother Dai are the only two warriors left, and even the magical defenses he has created have limits.

Eliza is his queen, but unless she can break his curse, he cannot return to the Fixed Realm, to Earth. If she stays in the Shadowlands, she will die with him. If she returns to her own place, her conniving fiancee will ruin her, or possibly worse.

The Druid priest wants to destroy everything Roan holds dear, including Eliza. Can they find the answer before it is too late?

Escape Rating A-: Making a goblin the hero was a stroke of genius. Absolutely brilliant. He’s a piece of mythology you don’t see used much, and certainly don’t imagine in the hero role. Yes, it’s a take-off on Beauty and the Beast, so what? West Side Story was Romeo and Juliet. The point is that it’s well done.

I always like it when the hero and heroine (or hero and hero) rescue each other. He doesn’t just sweep her off of her feet. He needs to be rescued every bit as much as she does. It’s not one-sided.

My only teeny-tiny wish is that the evil fiance, Steve, hadn’t been quite so cookie-cutter dastardly. In a story where all the other characters were multi-dimensional, his one-dimensional-ness stood out. So to speak.

The story of Roan’s first meeting with Eliza, where she summons him to rescue her from her brother’s drunken friends, is appropriately titled The Summons. It’s a prequel enovella and is currently available free. At that price it is definitely worth reading!

Blood and Bullets

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A Reviews> book reviews

I was jonesing for a Harry Dresden fix, and somebody mentioned Deacon Chalk might be just the man to tide me over. Whoever that was, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Now you’re wondering who the hell Deacon Chalk might be. Notice I didn’t say heck. Deacon Chalk would never be that mealy-mouthed.

Deacon Chalk is the monster-hunting main character of Blood and Bullets, the first novel by James R. Tuck in the urban fantasy series that is, of course, named after its protagonist. Deacon Chalk, Occult Bounty Hunter, that’s him.

There’s also a prequel novella, That Thing at the Zoo, which serves as a fantastic (fantastic in multiple senses of the term) introduction to the series and the characters.

Deacon hunts vampires, and pretty much everything else that goes bump in the night. Vamps murdered his family, and his mission in life is to stop the evil basty-assed-nastards from murdering as many other families as he possibly can.

He runs his monster-bounty-hunting business from the back of an expressway-exit strip-club. And every single one of the strippers is one of his assistants. Because they’ve all been victimized by the vamps at some point, and this is their way of getting some of their own back.

His sidekick is a Catholic priest, who also provides all the Holy Water Deacon needs for putting down the vamps. And is very handy with a rifle.

In Blood and Bullets, a lot of both fly around. Because an ancient vampire (there are ancient vampires and convoluted vampire politics in some of the best urban fantasy series) has set up Deacon, another vampire hunter, and one of her own vampires who got away from her(!) in a very nasty little war.

Of course she wants them to wipe each other out and save her the trouble. Or does she have a much deeper game? She’s a vampire after all. They always seem to be playing on twenty levels at once, all of them foul and blood-soaked.

This time, there’s more at stake than Deacon ever imagined. Even though he is literally on the side of the Angels.

Escape Rating A: Blood and Bullets is delicious in that “OMG please tell me there are more” kind of way. There’s a manic “Vampire Chainsaw Massacre” element that is just so much fun, but wouldn’t work in another genre. The vampires are unrelievedly evil, and you so want Deacon to plow them down without remorse, which he does.

I’ve never read another book that gets into the mechanics of vampire-slaughter in quite this much detail, and made it fun, but Blood and Bullets does it. The snark-fest aspects help tremendously!

Urban fantasy reads differently with a male protagonist, back to my comparison to Harry Dresden. Harry doesn’t finesse things, he sets them on fire. Deacon doesn’t either, he mows them down. They are also both big men who cast very long shadows, not just physically but also symbolically.

Start reading about Deacon Chalk with That Thing at the Zoo. It’s ebook only and definitely worth the 99 cents. Deacon’s adventures continue this summer in another ebook novella, Spider’s Lullaby, and later with Blood and Silver in August. I’m glad it’s not a long wait. I want to see what happens next!

 

Ebook Review Central, Amber Quill, Astraea, Liquid Silver, Red Sage, Riptide, April 2012

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Ebook Review Central> ebooks> ebooks in libraries

Welcome to the Omnibus publisher April wrap-up post for Ebook Review Central. This is always the last post covering the month (in this case, April 2012) and it’s the one covering the most publishers in one swell foop.

This time round, we have five publishers all in one go. The Amber Quill Press coverage includes whichever imprint Amber happens to publish under. Mostly it’s been Amber Allure, their M/M imprint, with the occasional title from either Amber Heat or, this month,  Dear Viking by Lori Soard, a historical/inspirational title from their non-erotic imprint, Amber Quill itself.

The other publishers in the omnibus with new titles in April are Astraea Press, Liquid Silver Books, Red Sage Publishing, and Riptide Publishing. The Curiosity Quills database was also updated this month, but they didn’t publish any new titles in April. Don’t worry, they’ve got new stuff in May. (I peeked ahead. I do that with mysteries, too.)

I’m going to do something different with this week’s featured books. There are five publishers in this week’s edition. I am going to try to spread the feature around more.

Going by sheer number of reviews alone, I could feature all three Riptide titles every time. The only time someone else would get featured would be the months Riptide only published two titles. I say this as an observer of the evidence at hand. It’s either good books, good PR, or good both.

But in order to make sure other books get some play, there have to be some other considerations. And one of the reasons I started ERC was to provide a place for librarians to find reviews of ebook-only titles. Some of the featured books need to be from publishers that libraries can get, if those books did well.

Above all the featured books and this featured article, have to be interesting to readers.

So with those things in mind, this week’s featured books are the following:

The number one book was the Riptide title I couldn’t resist, it’s the Josh of the Damned Triple Feature #1 by Andrea Speed. All of the Josh of the Damned books (Pretty Monsters, Peek-a-Boo) just sound like an old-school B grade Sunday movie matinee horror feature, as lampooned by Mystery Science Theater 3000, and the description of the Triple Feature short stories goes it one better. A character in one of the stories is nicknamed “Professor Bobo”, a direct nod to MST3K. One of the other short stories is “I Was Cthulhu’s Love Slave”. Really? Too funny. Josh, the damned guy, who is human, works in a convenience store. His boyfriend is a vampire. But most of the weird problems Josh has working the night shift are human. Of course they are. Well, maybe except for the lovesick yeti.

The second feature story is Cinderella. There’s always a Cinderella. There always has been, and always will be. It’s one of those tropes that has been imprinted in our collective DNA. But the version of Cinderella in Sinders and Ash by Tara Lain is quite a bit different from the usual. Like many modern versions, it’s a bit difficult to figure out who rescues whom. Whether Ashton Armitage, the son of the fifth richest man in America rescues Mark “Sinders” Sintorella from a life working as a housekeeper in a ritzy resort–or whether Sinders rescues Ash from a life of not just hiding in the closet but also stultifying boredom. And it’s still a fairy tale, complete with a fairy godfather this time, of course. The mistaken identity part is even still there, helped by a smidgen of cross-dressing.

I picked the third book because it is from a publisher that is available to libraries and because it received a very favorable review from RT Book Reviews. (And yes, I liked it too.) The Watchmaker’s Lady by Heather Massey is the first book in her Clockpunk Trilogy. Clockpunk is steampunk with very small parts, in case you’re wondering about the term. So instead of big steam engines, think very small mechanical devices, doing very wicked things. The Watchmaker’s Lady is about a watchmaker who uses his skills to make an advanced automata, and uses his watchmaking skills to make clockwork devices for ladies’ intimate pleasures, so he can fund his experiments with his automata. Then things get very, very out of hand. So to speak. The twist at the end of the story is quite a surprise.

That’s a wrap for this week’s featured titles. We’ll be back next week with another edition of Ebook Review Central, taking a look at the Carina Press May books.

I’d love to hear from readers. Do you find Ebook Review Central useful? Interesting? Helpful?

What’s On My (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand? AKA The Sunday Post 6-10-12

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand

Last Sunday I wrote from the heart and not the head. That’s all I had, so that’s what you got.

But it meant that I didn’t cover some of what was happening on Reading Reality this week that needed to be covered.

In that spirit, I’d like to give a big shout out to Ruthie Knox, and her scrumptious new contemporary romance About Last Night. I was lucky enough to review this one twice, once for Library Journal and once here at Reading Reality. (LJ only lets me write about 225 words, but I don’t restrict myself here, ha-ha!). Loveswept/Random House is giving away a preview copy of About Last Night here at Reading Reality. All you have to do is answer the question in Mr. Rafflecopter at the bottom of Ruthie’s guest post. Or just buy the book. It comes out on Tuesday, June 12.

Three other events this week at Reading Reality. On Tuesday, June 12, author Elise Whyles will be here with a guest post about her new series, The Forsaken.

Thursday, June 14, I’ll be interviewing Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy about her latest historic romance, Guy’s Angel. It’s not just about the romance, it’s about the romance of the early days of flight. Barnstorming and ace pilots and the years between the wars–the first and second world wars, that is.

Last, but definitely not least, Friday, June 15 is the first day of the Lovestruck Giveaway Hop. And Reading Reality will definitely be among the Lovestruck blogs this year. I hope you’ll participate with me, and with all the other Lovestruck hoppers.

And now we march on to the other part of this Sunday post. What books caught my eye that are due out this week and next week? (In other words, Marlene’s stab at planning)

Terry Pratchett’s new book, The Long Earth (co-written with Stephen Baxter) is coming out on June 19. I have it from Edelweiss. I confess, I didn’t care what it was about when I requested it. It’s Pratchett and that’s all that matters.

Supercritical by Shawn Kupfer isn’t just a military-techno-thriller it also looks like cyberpunk. With a touch of something like The Dirty Dozen into the bargain.  Unfortunately, it’s also a sequel, which means I need to read 47 Echo first.

The first book selected for the Penguin First Flights program, The Orphanmaster by Jean Zimmerman, will be released on June 19. The program is as interesting as the book. The program is about building buzz in libraries and bookstores, but especially libraries, for debut authors like Zimmerman. The book is historical fiction about the colony of New Amsterdam (now New York) in 1663.

One tour book for next week, City of the Gods: The Descendant by S. J. McMillan–this is serious good vs. evil stuff.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I have one piece of totally delicious looking wicked fluff from Samhain, An Introduction to Pleasure by Jess Michaels.

What are your highlights for this week? Tell me what you’re up to! I’d love to know.