Review: The Shadow Reader by Sandy Williams

Format Read: Mass Market Paperback
Length: 320 Pages
Publisher: Ace Books
Genre: urban fantasy
Series: Shadow Reader, #1
Release Date: October 25, 2011
Formats Available: Mass Market Paperback, eBook
Purchasing Info: Goodreads, Book Depository, Author’s Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million

Book Blurb:

Some humans can see the fae. McKenzie Lewis can track them, reading the shadows they leave behind. But some shadows lead to danger. Others lead to lies.

A Houston college student trying to finish her degree, McKenzie has been working for the fae king for years, tracking vicious rebels who would claim the Realm. Her job isn’t her only secret. For just as long, she’s been in love with Kyol, the king’s sword-master—and relationships between humans and fae are forbidden.

But any hope for a normal life is shattered when she’s captured by Aren, the fierce and uncompromising rebel leader. He teaches her the forbidden fae language and tells her dark truths about …

Early Review: Wrong Side of Hell by Juliana Stone + Giveaway

Wrong Side of Hell by Juliana Stone

Format Read: e-book provided courtesy of Author for Review
Length: 178 Pages
Publisher: Avon Impulse
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: League of Guardians Prequel
Release Date Kindle: March 6, 2012
Release Date Paperback: March 27, 2012
Formats Available: Mass Market Paperback, eBook, Kindle, Nook
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Goodreads, Nook, Kindle

Book Blurb:

With battle lines drawn and evil forces gathering in the shadows, the League of Guardians is all that stands between chaos and the human realm…

Logan Winters, an elite hellhound shifter, wants to forget his allegiance to the League and the pain he’s suffered because of it. But when he’s ordered to retrieve Kira Dove from purgatory and bring her back to life, he can’t refuse. Not only will her death affect the balance between the realms, she’s also linked to a past he …

Review: Past Tense by Nick Marsh

Format read: ebook provided by the author
Release Date: October 28, 2010
Number of Pages 238
Publisher Immanion Press
Formats Available: paperback, ebook
Purchasing Info:Goodreads, Author’s Website, Amazon, Immanion Press, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords

Book Blurb:

Alan Reece, an unassuming animal doctor from the West Country, was surprised to discover that he had become the link between reality and the strange world beyond. Unfortunately, ripples from his unwitting transformation have freed a dark and terrible creature from its improbable prison.

My Thoughts:
Past Tense reminded me of the old “Doublemint Gum” commercial. Because it was two, two, two books in one.
And you might think that’s a terrible joke, but it fits with the snarky tone of the first part of the book. Fully realizing that everyone’s taste in both humor and snark varies widely. And wildly.

The beginning of the book takes off about a year after Marsh’s first book, Soul …

Review: Mask of the Gladiator by Georgie Lee

Format Read: e-book provided by publisher
Release Date: Jan. 30, 2012
Publisher: Carina Press
Formats Available: ebook
Length: 17,000 words
Purchasing Info: Goodreads, Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Book Blurb:

Rome, 41 AD

Livia Duronius is driven to seek out a gladiator after watching him triumph in the Colosseum. His touch arouses a sense of hope she hasn’t felt since Rome fell under the tyrannical rule of Caligula—and her late husband betrayed her. Though in danger of losing more than her heart, she vows to see him again, even after she learns her uncle has arranged her marriage to a senator.

Senator Titus Marius cannot resist indulging in a passionate encounter with the veiled woman who waits for him after the games, though he faces execution if his true identity is discovered. Bound by honor to wed another, and embroiled in a plot to free Rome from madness, he never expects to see the …

Review: Sweet Enemy by Heather Snow

Format read: review copy provided by publisher through NetGalley
Release Date: 7 February 2012
Number of pages: 384 pages
Publisher: Signet Book
Formats available: paperback, ebook
Purchasing Info: Goodreads, Author’s Website, Amazon, Kindle store, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

Blurb:

With a gaggle of husband-hunters vying for his attention, Geoffrey Wentworth, Earl of Stratford, finds Miss Liliana Claremont a notable exception. She has no desire to marry the son of the man she believes killed her father. Determined to find evidence of the crime, Liliana rouses the Earl’s suspicions, as well as her own undeniable attraction to him.

My Thoughts: I still remember every small detail about that time I read Sweet Enemy. I remember I started perusing the first few pages wanting to get a first taste and then getting hooked on Heather Snow’s exciting premise, fully fleshed out characterization that I just couldn’t stop …

Review: I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley

Format read: Hardcover
Series: Book #4 in the Flavia de Luce series
Genre: Mystery
Release Date: November 1, 2011
Number of pages: 297 pages
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Formats available: ebook, audio
Purchasing Info: Goodreads, Author’s Website, Amazon

Book Blurb:

It’s Christmastime, and the precocious Flavia de Luce—an eleven-year-old sleuth with a passion for chemistry and a penchant for crime-solving—is tucked away in her laboratory, whipping up a concoction to ensnare Saint Nick. But she is soon distracted when a film crew arrives at Buckshaw, the de Luces’ decaying English estate, to shoot a movie starring the famed Phyllis Wyvern. Amid a raging blizzard, the entire village of Bishop’s Lacey gathers at Buckshaw to watch Wyvern perform, yet nobody is prepared for the evening’s shocking conclusion: a body found, past midnight, strangled to death with a length of film. But who among the assembled guests would stage such a chilling scene? As the storm worsens and the list of suspects grows, Flavia must use …