Around the Bookish World: News Week-in-Review

After last week’s epic news post and the authors gone HULK, things have been quite subdued this week, with some depressing and sad news of bankruptancy and deaths.

The biggest announcement has to be Borders filing for Chapter 11 insolvency and will be entering administration. Sadly 200 of their 600 megastores will be closing and around 6000 employees will face redundancies. This will also affect publishers which Borderes owes millions of dollars of debt and in turn as this article highlights will affect authors, because the majority of books being sold are via stores like Borders.

Another struggling mega store chain owner REDgroup is also facing bankruptancy, but this time its in Australia. Ironically enough they also own the Australian arm of Borders as well as, Angus and Robertson and Whitcoulls in New Zealand. This shows that traditional brick …

Review: Pandora’s Succession by Russell Brooks

Format Read: e-book from the author

Number of Pages:  267 pagesRelease Date:  20th October 2010Publisher:  Amazon Digital ServicesFormats Available:  e-bookPurchasing Info:  Russell Brooks, Good Reads, Amazon

Book Blurb:

Where would you hide if you learned the CDC and a major pharmaceutical company unleashed a hyperdeadly microbe on the human race?

CIA operative, Ridley Fox, never stopped hunting his fiancé’s killers — a weapons consortium called The Arms of Ares. When an informant leads him to an old bunker outside of Groznyy, Chechnya, Fox is captured and left for dead. When the informant rescues him, Fox learns that his capture was no coincidence: someone had set him up—possibly another government agent. Fox barely escapes after learning that Ares has acquired a hyperdeadly microbe—called Pandora—that is believed to have wiped out ancient civilizations. The trail leads Fox to Tokyo where he …

Review: "What She Needs", by Anne Rainey

Format Read: e-Book ARC provided by Author for reviewLength: 54 pagesSeries: A Cape May Book IIIRelease Date: February 22, 2011Publisher: Samhain PublishingFormats Available: e-Book, Kindle, NookPurchasing Info: Author’s Website, Goodreads, Kindle, Samhain Publishing, B&N Nook, Books On Board

Book Blurb:

Part 2 of Tory, Devon and Con’s love triangle

Taking turns was never their strong suit…

Devon Mason and Con Walker are sexy, honorable, loving, and completely devoted. In other words, everything Tory looks for in a relationship. But what’s she supposed to buy her two lovers on V Day? Chocolate? How average is that? Their little love triangle is anything but average!

When Con surprises her with a weekend in Cancun, just the three of them, Tory is all over it—until she realizes Con forgot to include Devon in the package. Now their little love triangle is …

My Wishlist: Susan Elizabeth Phillips Edition

Hey all! I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine’s Day! Welcome to another edition of my wish list segment. For all lovers of romance this one is for you… Whether you happily involved or single… I hope these book choices will be enjoyed by you all.

Since its still the month of love I decided to pick a few contemporary romances I am hoping to get and I also look forward to seeing what you all think as well.

Now you might call me lazy but seriously to me no one does angsty contemporary romances like the one and only Susan Elizabeth Phillips.

First up is the one that hooked me the world of SEP. And ever since then I have become a huge SEP fan for life. I want to say that yes, I have both the hardcover and paperback but …

Review: "Turn It Up", by Vivian Arend

Format Read: e-Book provided by Novel Sidekick for review courtesy of the AuthorLength: NovelSeries: Turner Twins, Book TwoRelease Date: February 8, 2011Publisher: Samhain PublishingFormats Available: e-Book, KindlePurchasing Info: Author’s Website, Goodreads, Kindle, Samhain Publishing, B&N Nook, Books On Board

She wants it. He’s got it…and a whole lot more.

Maxwell Turner considers his stubborn and resourceful attitude a plus. After all, it usually gets him what he wants—except for Natasha Bellingham. The long-time family friend may be ten years older than he, but so what? He’s plenty old enough to know they belong together. Now all he has to do is convince her.

Over the past few years Natasha’s love life has degenerated into a series of bad clichés. Her biological clock is ticking—loudly. As a proven architect with her own house-design company, she’s financially …

Genres 101: Today’s Lesson "Fantasy"

Thanks to the inimitable pattepoilue, our new feature has a better name: Genres 101. I hope everyone is seated comfortably, with pencil and paper ready, as we begin the first in our series of lectures (ok, I might be stretching that a bit but just go with me, k?) on the definitions and applications of genre names.

The main common denominator in all of these seemingly similar, imaginative, genres is that they all fall under the “Speculative Fiction” label. I mentioned before, that for Spec Fic, I always think of the question “What if?” as the determining factor in placing a book in this category. But there are so many answers to that question, that we must break it down separately. Today’s lesson will cover all (most?) things under the realm of “Fantasy.”

For me, I’ve always linked Fantasy and Science …

Review: The Zero Dog War by Keith Melton

Format Read: ebook ARC provided by authorNumber of Pages: 278 pagesRelease Date: February 15th, 2011Publisher: SamhainFormats Available: various ebook formatsPurchasing Info: Author website, Goodreads, Amazon, BooksOnBoard

Book Blurb:

The first bullet is always free. After that, you gotta pay.

Zero Dog Missions, Book 1

After accidentally blowing up both a client facility and a cushy city contract in the same day, pyromancer and mercenary captain Andrea Walker is scrambling to save her Zero Dogs. A team including (but not limited to) a sexually repressed succubus, a werewolf with a thing for health food, a sarcastic tank driver/aspiring romance novelist, a three-hundred-pound calico cat, and a massive demon who really loves to blow stuff up.

With the bankruptcy vultures circling, Homeland Security throws her a high-paying, short-term contract even the Zero Dogs can’t screw up: destroy a capitalist necromancer bent on …

New Releases: Feb. 14 – 20, 2011

Desires of the Dead by Kimberly Derting

The missing dead call to Violet. They want to be found.

Violet can sense the echoes of those who’ve been murdered—and the matching imprint that clings to their killers. Only those closest to her know what she is capable of, but when she discovers the body of a young boy she also draws the attention of the FBI, threatening her entire way of life.

As Violet works to keep her morbid ability a secret, she unwittingly becomes the object of a dangerous obsession. Normally she’d turn to her best friend, Jay, except now that they are officially a couple, the rules of their relationship seem to have changed. And with Jay spending more and more time with his new friend Mike, Violet is left with too much time on …

Interview: Author Katie Reus + Giveaway!

Please join us in giving a warm BLI welcome to multi published & talented Author Katie Reus (who also writes as Savannah Stuart)! Katie writes sensual, suspenseful love stories that will curl your toes and keep you turning the pages to find out what happens to her special characters. Katie’s latest publication Dangerous Secrets was released February 7th from Carina Press, and it is a sexy romantic suspense! Be sure and read the end of the post as Katie is offering a generous giveaway!! 🙂

BLI: Thank you so much for joining us here today Katie!

Katie: Thank you for having me, Lea!

BLI: Katie can you please tell us a bit about yourself?

Katie: The very condensed, informal bio: I’ve been in love with books since I was a kid and the addiction followed me into adulthood. I finished college, worked …

The Good, the Bad and the Are-You-Kidding-Me?

This week, we’re taking you to Germany and its covers. After our deep view into the french way today you are introduced to the Lederhosen and Bretzel way of book covers (and yes I can make prejudiced fun of it). As every other country we have the good and the bad and here are some of them. Let us know what you think about them.

Susi: I really like the German cover of Shades of Gray BUT I like the first one more. Why? First this one is blue and I’m not very fond of this color and second why is there a blue woman on the cover? I don’t get it. But yes it’S pretty …