Book Lovers for the Prevention of Supporting Character Neglect: The Potterverse

Time again for more Book Lovers for the Prevention of Supporting Character Neglect! Where Book Lovers from across the world stand in solidarity for the supporting cast. Those individuals that make the story and keep us coming back even when the protagonist needs a good smack (cough Harry Potter cough). Hear our anthem! Because everyone deserves top billing now and then.

As I just-so-happened to mention, certain protagonists tend to be extremely smackable, and all-around unlikeable. Which is exactly why we’re diving back into The Potterverse. Because really, who read Harry Potter for, well, Harry Potter? Nobody, that’s who.

Marlene: Have you started drinking early? Do you really want to dive into the Potterverse sober? I can, but it’s painful. Really. Let me start.

Jackie: Go ahead. That was too long ago for specifics for me.

Marlene: The butcher’s bill at the last battle was much too high. To begin with. …

Dragon Day 2013: The Results Are In!

Some of you may have noticed that Book Lovers Inc. was briefly taken over by dragons! In an effort to appease our new draconic overlords, you battled for draconic treasures, and voted as to which dragons we should next honor with the same exuberant adulations heaped upon Lady Trent and Seraphina.

The results are in! Next on The Dragon Lovers’ Dragon Reading List is….

The Eon Duology by Alison Goodman!* Comprised of:

Eon (aka Two Pearls of Wisdom)

Eon has been studying the ancient art of Dragon Magic for four years, hoping he’ll be able to apprentice to one of the twelve energy dragons of good fortune. But he also has a dark secret. He is actually Eona, a sixteen-year-old girl who has been living a dangerous lie for the chance to become a Dragon-eye, the human link to an energy dragon’s power. It is forbidden …

This Blog Has Been Taken Over By Dragons. Poll + Giveaway.

As discerning readers have no doubt noticed….This blog has been taken over by dragons!

This really shouldn’t come as a shock. Dragons are magnificent and powerful creatures. They range from brilliant, duplicitous, magic-wielding immortals – to the less-strategically inclined, but equally deadly, fire-breathing, poison-spewing, feral winged-creatures terrorizing all who dare to enter their territory.

Even as we speak, they are shoring up their defenses and laying in siege weaponry. Soon the dragons shall spread throughout the internet and into your computer.

THEY CANNOT BE STOPPED. (Plus, who would even want to try? Only soulless monsters who have to appreciation for literature, art, beauty, and the distinct pleasure of having one’s head still attached to one’s body.)

Dragons can, however, be placated. Through copious amounts of praise and treasure. Book Lovers Inc. has thus begun honoring our draconic overlords through Dragon Day (in which there has been much praise, and the promise of treasure). This shall be …

Review: A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan + Giveaway

Format Read: eARC from Netgalley (also, Hardcover).

Series: Memoirs of Lady Trent #1.

Genre: Fantasy/Historical Fiction.

Release Date: February 5, 2013.

Publisher: Tor.

Number of Pages: 336.

Formats Available: Hardcover, Paperback, eBook.

Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, BookDepository.

Book Blurb:

You, dear reader, continue at your own risk. It is not for the faint of heart—no more so than the study of dragons itself. But such study offers rewards beyond compare: to stand in a dragon’s presence, even for the briefest of moments—even at the risk of one’s life—is a delight that, once experienced, can never be forgotten. . . .

All the world, from Scirland to the farthest reaches of Eriga, know Isabella, Lady Trent, to be the world’s preeminent dragon naturalist. She is the remarkable woman who brought the study of dragons out of the misty shadows of myth and misunderstanding into the clear light of modern science. But before she became …

Review: The Queen Is Dead by Kate Locke

Review: The Queen is Dead by Kate Locke.

Format Read: ebook.

Number of Pages: 336.

Release Date: February 5, 2013.

Publisher: Orbit.

Genre: Urban Fantasy.

Series: The Immortal Empire #2.

Formats Available: Hardback, ebook, audiobook.

Purchasing Info: Author, Goodreads, Book Depository, Amazon.

Book Blurb:

Nothing lasts forever—and immortality isn’t all its cracked up to be.

When her brother Val gets in over his head in an investigation of Half-Blood disappearances and goes missing himself, it’s up to Xandra, newly crowned Goblin Queen, to get him back and bring the atrocities to light. Xandra must frequent the seediest parts of London, while also coping with what she is, the political factions vying for her favor, and the all too-close scrutiny of Queen Victoria, who wants her head. Add this to a being a suspect in a murder investigation, a werewolf boyfriend with demands of his own, and a mother hell bent on destroying the monarchy, and Xandra …

Review: Matchbox Girls by Chrysoula Tzavelas

Review: Matchbox Girls by Chrysoula Tzavelas.

Format Read: eARC from Netgalley.

Number of Pages: 326.

Release Date: February 21, 2012.

Publisher: Candelmark & Gleam.

Genre: Urban Fantasy.

Formats Available: Paperback, ebook.

Purchasing Info: Amazon, Goodreads, Book Depository, Author.

Book Blurb:

Marley Claviger is just trying to get her life together. Stumbling into an ancient conflict between celestial forces is going to make that a whole lot harder…

When Marley wakes up to a phone call from a pair of terrified children, she doesn’t expect to be pulled into a secret war. She rescues them from an empty house and promises to find their missing uncle. She even manages to feed them dinner. But she barely feels competent to manage her own life, let alone care for small children with strange, ominous powers…

And when a mysterious angelic figure shows up and tries to claim the girls, it all falls apart…

Plagued by visions of disaster, Marley has …

Review: Scent of Magic by Maria V. Snyder

Format Read: eARC from Netgalley.
Number of Pages: 414 pages
Release Date: December 14, 2012.
Series: Healer #2.
Genre: Urban Fantasy.
Publisher: Mira.
Formats Available:  ebook, paperback
Purchasing Info: Author, Goodreads, Powells, Book Depository.

Book Blurb: 

As the last Healer in the Fifteen Realms, Avry of Kazan is in a unique position: in the minds of her friends and foes alike, she no longer exists. Despite her need to prevent the megalomanical King Tohon from winning control of the Realms, Avry is also determined to find her sister and repair their estrangement. And she must do it alone, as Kerrick, her partner and sole confident, returns to Alga to summon his country into battle.

Though she should be in hiding, Avry will do whatever she can to support Tohon’s opponents. Including infiltrating a holy army, evading magic sniffers, teaching forest skills to soldiers and figuring out how to stop Tohon’s most horrible creations …

Bookish Rants or Raves: Do Not Meddle in the Affairs of Dragons

Warning: I devour any and all books, movies, or shows that feature dragons. I’ve exhaustively researched dragon mythology. I unintentionally convinced a guy to smuggle a short dragon sword out of the country for me. I make a living by arguing with awful people about the semantics of domestic violence.* I have opinions about dragons and writing. And I have ZERO tolerance for misuse of these magnificent creatures.

So, without further ado, I present…

The Five Dragon Books You Should NEVER read, or The Draconic UnMentionables.

Dear Authors, when you squander the brilliance of dragons, you earn my enmity until the end of time.

I am here today to warn my fellow readers. No one should suffer as I have suffered. No one should be pulled in with promises of draconic glory, only to see the glorious creatures debased and defiled.

Le Morte D’Arthur by Thomas Malory.

You expect me to believe a dragon …

Bookish Rants or Raves: Here Be Dragons + giveaway

Warning: I devour any and all books, movies, or shows that feature dragons. I’ve exhaustively researched dragon mythology. I refused to play Magic: the Gathering in 9th grade because they wouldn’t give me any dragon cards. Also, I’m an attorney. Taken together this means that I have opinions about dragons in popular culture.

So, without further ado, I present…

The Five Dragon Books You Should Have Read Already!*

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Poor Smaug, napping on his hoard of unparalleled treasure, minding his own business, literally embedding his flesh with diamonds to render him impervious to weapons – you know living out the dream of the 1% – when some pint-sized moron gets conned into stealing from him.

My very first dragon book. It was awesomely illustrated.

Thieves! Fire! Murder! Such a thing had not happened since he first came to the Mountain! His rage passes description – the sort …

Review: The Drag Queen of Elfland by Lawrence Schimel

Format Read: ebook provided by author
Number of Pages: 144
Release Date: May 13, 2012
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Circlet Press
Formats Available:  ebook, paperback
Purchasing Info: Goodreads, Powells, BookDepository

Book Blurb:

The Drag Queen of Elfland is a collection of fantastical stories imbued with a refreshingly queer sensibility. These seventeen stories feature a lesbian werewolf taking back the night, a gay vampire discovering the perils of going to the gym (too many mirrors, for starters), a young lord’s son undertaking a quest to obtain a magical sword and win the heart of the boy he loves, and much more. Sometimes funny, sometimes moving, sometimes sexy, and always imaginative, these stories show readers the secret worlds that lurk beneath the surface of our own.

My Thoughts:

Excellent! An uneven number of stories. There won’t be a tie like last time.

As before, each story will get a blurb, and a + or – indicating if it’s …