Around the Bookish World: News Week-in-Review

This week Best Buy began selling Barnes & Noble’s eReader, the Nook, in it’s stores.

The Wall Street Journal reported that, starting Sunday, the Amazon eReader, the Kindle, will be sold by Target stores.

All Things Digital is reporting that Kakai is working on an eReader for students.

The Associated Press has a story on author Danielle Steele’s former assistant being sentenced to prison for embezzling. The assistant was earning $200,000 a year for part-time work and was convicted for embezzling over $760,000 USD.

Penguin announced a new program this week to provide electronic and print books to children. The website is www.wegivebooks.org/.

The list of Locus Awards Finalists were released this week. It looks like a great list. I’ve read some of the titles and already have others on my TBR list. …

Review: Carson’s Night by Teal Ceagh

Format read: EbookNumber of Pages: 67 pagesRelease Date: April 2nd, 2010Publisher: Ellora’s CaveFormats Available: Hardcover, EbookPurchasing Info: Author Website, Ellora’s Cave

Book provided by author for this review

Book Blurb:It’s August 1977 in New York City and the weird sculptor Moss Alex Meinhardt lies dead at the foot of an ugly gargoyle he’s half completed. Natalia Grey’s demon-hunter father is also dead, and his new partner, the astonishingly sexy Carson Connors, can’t remember how it happened.Carson isn’t sure what role he has played in Natalia’s father’s death, but after one look at Natalia, he does know that guilty or not, he’s doomed.Natalia must take up her father’s sword and her heritage as a demon hunter and figure out what happened, for the gargoyles Meinhardt carved have life they shouldn’t have …

Guest Post: Author Lori Handeland + Giveaway

We are really honored today to have Lori Handeland here. She’s the author of the Nightcreature Series and her new urban fantasy series, The Phoenix Chronicles, has a new release next week. Chaos Bites is book 4 in this series and I can say that I’m counting the days till I can get my hands on this one.

So please give her a warm welcome. And don’t forget the Giveaway at the end of the post.WHY SHAPESHIFTERS?

Shapeshifter legends have been around as long as the art of storytelling. I’ve always been fascinated by shapeshifter legends, which can be found in every culture, and have made use of them in both my paranormal romance series, The Nightcreature Novels and my urban fantasy series, The Phoenix Chronicles.

Though I often …

Bookish Rants or Raves: To Each Their Own – Say NO! to Plagiarism

I’ve seen a lot being said on regards to plagiarism on the blogverse and personally, I find the act of taking someone’s hard work and claiming it as your own, despicable.

We, the Book Lovers, had a recent email talk about the issue, because we all have our individual blogs besides BLI and cross posting does happen, so we were trying to come up with ways to make it clear that we are simply using our own texts a second time.

When I started thinking about what to write here, I realized something about myself. I actually don’t read reviews  of books I haven’t read or reviewed yet because I don’t want to be influenced by someone else’s opinion and writing style in any way, shape or form.

I work hard on my reviews and opinion posts and I know a lot of bloggers do that as …

Review: Calista’s Men by Jory Strong

Format Read: kindle e-bookNumber of Pages: 240pgs Release Date: December 30, 2005Publisher: Elloras Cave Formats Available: ebook, kindle edition, paperbackPurchasing Info: Amazon, Authors Website, GoodreadsBook Blurb: Book 3 in the Crime Tells series. “Have you ever wondered what it would be like with a woman we actually cared about? One who belonged just to us? One who wanted more from us than a good time… A woman we could have together or separately. One who saw us as individuals who came as a package deal? One who was waiting for us at the end of the day?” “No.” “No?” “I like them easy and I like to share them with you. End of story, Benito.” Getting involved with any woman, much less one who might ultimately drive a …

Review: Heist Society by Ally Carter

Format read: HardcoverNumber of Pages: 287 pagesRelease Date: February 9, 2010Publisher: HyperionFormats Available: HardcoverPurchasing Info: GoodReads, Author Website, Amazon.com

Book Blurb:

When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her on a trip to the Louvre…to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria…to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own–scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving “the life” for a normal life proves harder than she’d expected.

Soon, Kat’s friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring her back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has good reason: a powerful mobster has been robbed of his priceless art collection and wants to retrieve it. Only …

Review: Release by Nicole Hadaway

Format Read: e-bookNumber of Pages: 290Release Date: Feb. 16, 2010Publisher: Vamplit PublishingFormats Available: only e-bookPurchasing Info: GoodReads, Author Website, Smashwords

Book Blurb:Ben never imagined meeting vampires, let alone demons and werewolves, whilst in the Polish Resistance during World War II. Far from being horrified, Ben discovers that Miranda and her friends have very useful talents, especially when it comes to saving children from concentration camps. In desperate times the line between good and evil is clear, the one between heroes and monsters is very blurred.

My Thoughts:It took me a very long time to get into this book because it was hard for me to relate to the characters. I live in a time where things are completely different: its hard for me to grasp the fear, hatred, and love some of these characters felt and …

New Releases: April, 20th

20. AprilRadiant Shadows (Wicked Lovely, #4) by Melissa Marr

Genre: Young AdultHunger for nourishment.

Hunger for touch.

Hunger to belong.

Half-human and half-faery, Ani is driven by her hungers.Those same appetites also attract powerful enemies and uncertain allies, including Devlin. He was created as an assassin and is brother to the faeries’ coolly logical High Queen and to her chaotic twin, the embodiment of War. Devlin wants to keep Ani safe from his sisters, knowing that if he fails, he will be the instrument of Ani’s death.

Ani isn’t one to be guarded while others fight battles for her, though. She has the courage to protect herself and the ability to alter Devlin’s plans—and his life. The two are drawn together, each with reason to fear the other and to fear for one another. But as they grow closer, a larger threat …

Explore this: Prague

As bookish people, we seek out our favourite reading spot and allow ourselves to be swiftly taken to different times and places. My new feature here focuses on the “places”. Call me your armchComposeair reference guide to the (literal) world of books; the less expensive way to explore our world, right here at your fingertips.

 I reviewed Vampire a Go-Go by Victor Gischler here yesterday. It starts off in anytown America…I don’t think it ever tells you where “Gothic State University” is, so that part is unimportant. We’re quickly whisked away to Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. To quote the Wikipedia entry, “Situated on the Vltava River in central Bohemia, Prague has been the political, cultural and economic centre of the Czech state for more than 1100 years. For many decades during the Gothic and Renaissance eras, …

Review: Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake By Sarah MacLean

Format Read: Mass Market PaperbackNumber of Pages: 432 Release Date: April 1st, 2010Publisher: Avon BooksFormats Available: Mass Market Paperback, eBookPurchasing Info: Goodreads, Author Website, Amazon

Book provided by publisher for this review.

Book Blurb:

Nine Rules tells the story of Lady Calpurnia Hartwell, a 28-year-old spinster who, in a fit of frustration, makes a scandalous list of the nine things that she would do if she did not have to face society…or the consequences.

*Kiss someone- passionately
*Smoke cheroot and drink scotch
*Ride Astride
*Fence
*Attend a duel
*Fire a pistol
*Gamble (at a gentlemen’s club)
*Dance every dance at a ball
*be considered beautiful.
Just once.

Lady Calpurnia Hartwell has always followed the rules, rules that have left her unmarried—and more than a little unsatisfied. And so she’s vowed to break the rules and live the life of pleasure she’s been missing. But to dance every dance, to steal a midnight …