Lover Dismayed: One Fangirl's Lament of Longing

 

 Lover Dismayed

One Fangirl's Lament of Longing

Part of the BDB Blog Hop hosted by Talk Supe and Under the Covers

 Ever since Lover Reborn came out on Tuesday, I've been watching all my reading and reviewing buddies share their excitement over getting their hands on their own copies. I'm starting to develop twitchy fingers thanks to how badly I want to hold my very own, bright orange copy. I image when I finally buy mine from Barnes & Noble, I'll hug it to my chest and weep joyful tears as the cashier, completely freaked out by my odd behavior, subtly reaches for the phone to call security. 

Why, you may be asking yourself, hasn't she already gone and picked up her copy? Why is she putting herself through such unnecessary torture? Well my wicked reader, let me begin by saying I have a bit of a book addiction. Ok, a "bit" of a book addiction is quite the understatement. Mine is so bad, if they had such a thing as Bibliophiles Anonymous, my hubby would be driving me to meetings every week just to keep me from loading up on new volumes from Goodwill, Barnes & Noble, and that dangerous little aisle at Wal-Mart in-between the DVDs and the crafts section. The gorgeous bookcase my hubby bought me for our anniversary this year is already overflowing and my bedside cabinet couldn't hold another paperback or comic book without collapsing from the burden.

Thanks to this unfortunate for my tiny apartment, but entirely enjoyable addiction, my hubby finally got fed up and has enacted THE RULE. 

THE RULE

"Due to the expensive and spatially inconvenient nature of the addiction, Jess of Wickedly Bookish must read and finish ten books she already owns before venturing out on another book buying expedition. These ten books do not include galleys or ARCs received for review by authors or publishers. They MUST be books contributing to the spatial inconvenience so those volumes she does not wish to hold on to can be donated."

This may seem harsh to some of you, but I honestly enjoy the challenge. I decided to make it fun and make a book challenge out of it. I was very pleased with myself until it hit me. That "Oh, Shit!" moment when I realized this would coincide with Lover Reborn's release By then it was too late and I had already sealed my fate. And that is why I sadly write, it could be a month or more before I lay my hands on this glorious book. My hubby didn't quite understand my fascination until I explained to him I haven't been this excited about a book release since the last Harry Potter book came out. 

Don't feel too bad for me. :-) I dug my own grave. However, it has given me the chance to enter some of these great giveaways during this blog hop and reflect on what I look forward to most and hope to get out of my read of Lover Reborn.

This is the point of the post where I will warn you of spoilers. If you have not read the series through Lover Unleashed, I would suggest proceeding at your own risk.

 The infamous leader of the Band of Bastards has captivated me. I know he and his boys are supposed to be villains as Xcor desperately wants to dethrone Wrath, but the Warden has shown us some amazing background information on these guys that I can't help but want to know more.

My favorite fairytale has always been Beauty and the Beast so I think you can see where part of my fascination with Xcor is coming from. I get the feeling that his cleft palette, which he considers a deformity, has contributed massively to his cold, dark exterior when really he is a romantic on the inside. I'm hoping he will eventually get his own book and find a woman who doesn't give a damn about his cleft palette and loves him for the ultimately kind and sexy person he really is. You can't deny he has a good heart after he let Payne go back to the Brotherhood like that. He was a complete gentlemen to her once he realized he wasn't the Bloodletter's son and Payne was not the villain in that situation.

 There are just so many sexy things the Warden could do with his story. I could see his insecurity making for some pretty kinky love scenes. Slinking into bed in the dark, blindfolds, bandanas... doggie style? :-) I'll let your imagination get fired up!

 

Qhuinn & Blay

I know many of us have been waiting for these two to finally get together. Thus far the Warden has teased and tortured those of us on Team Qhuay and I for one need some kind of resolution soon! Some of the reviews I've read so far have hinted we won't find that resolution here, but some good development is made. We have been watching their relationship develop for a long time now and deserve some Qhuay lovin'! I've heard rumors that we will probably not be seeing a full book for these two, but a novella so that fans of BDB who do not approve of, or do not want to read about a homosexual relationship won't be alienated from the series. I'm sad that this means we won't get a full book, but this is a good option. I can understand that M/M erotica isn't for everyone and I wouldn't want any BDB fans to miss out on important story lines to the series. Therefore I will be happy with what Qhuay action I can get. :-) 

 Tohrment

 Finally we will get some kind of closure on poor Tohr's story. I wasn't sure what the Warden had in store when Wellsie died, and I still don't really know what to expect. While I'm so happy that Tohr is going to find love again and find some happiness after the horrible ordeal he has been through, I'm very skeptical that anyone can live up to his former Shellan in my mind. I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised by No'One, but  I will be going into this one with a guarded heart. 

That's all I have for you fellow BDB fanatics! Thank you for bearing with me and stopping by my little blog. So what are you all looking forward to the most? If you've already finished, what did you love the most? Please, if you have completed Lover Reborn, keep your comments spoiler free!

Don't forget to stop by the other fabulous blogs on the hop!

 

March 27

Talk Supe - Guest Blog Under the Covers

Under the Covers - Giveaway

Offbeat Vagabond - Giveaway

Black Ravens Erotic Cafe - Giveaway

Black Ravens Review - Giveaway

Dark Divas Review - Giveaway

AJ's Reading Nook - Giveaway

Reading Diva - Giveaway

Literal Addiction - Giveaway

Reading Addicted - Review & Giveaway

Read Our LIps! Book Review Blog - Review & Giveaway

Autumn's Tales 

Sarah Gilman Books
Guilty Pleasures - Fantasy Cast & Giveaway

March 28
Better Read Than Dead 

Red Headed Bookworm - Fantasy Cast

March 29

Book Lovin Mamas - Lover Unleashed review
Cocktails and Books - Lover Reborn review

March 30

Readers Roundtable Outerlimits - Giveaway

March 31

Wickedly Bookish - Lover Dismayed: One Fangirl's Lament of Longing

Addicted to Heroines

April 1

Novels on the Run

April 2

Riverina Romantics

April 3

Redheads Review it Better

Book Lovin Mamas - review Lover Reborn

April 4

Simply Kayla's Book Reviews - Dark Lover review

April 5

April 6

SalaciousReads - Giveaway

Check out the other blogs participating, but we don't have a set date for:

Bodice Rippers, Femme Fatales and Fantasy

Tea and Book

Madame D's Boudoir

Romancing Rakes For The Love of Romance

LilyElement Book & Beauty Reviews

TSK TSK What to Read

Dawn and Winnie Book Reviews

My Secret Romance

Lisa's Loves Books Of Course

CS Maxwell ~ Where's My Muse?

Bookgasmic Reviews

 

Winner of the Drinking and Winning Giveaway Hop

And the Winner Is...

April Alvey will receive a paperback copy of Firelight from the book depository!

Congratulations! An email is being sent out to the email address you provided. You have 48 hours to claim your prize or another winner will be chosen.

Thursday's Dirty Little Secret #16

My favorite meme of the week! Dirty Little Secret is hosted by the lovely ladies of Under the Covers. This awesome meme challenges book bloggers to share a new dirty little secret each week.


To participate in the meme all you need to do is:


1. Be a follower of Under the Covers.
2. Create a post in your blog taking the meme image (code above) and copy instructions.
3. Answer the question we propose! This can be done in any way you like, post a video, write a post etc.
4. Then add your link at Under the Covers


Non-bloggers, leave your answer in the comments! 


This week's question is:

What book has been sitting in your TBR pile the longest and why haven't you picked it up yet? Or more importantly, will you ever read it now that its been sitting there for forever?

This award probably goes to my Star Wars books. I love my extended universe collection, but these books, with all the very specific, sci-fi military strategy that goes into many of these, I really have to be in the mood. I think I've been sitting on the next one in order, Planet of Twilight, for a year and a half now. I really do need to get back to these as I adore Star Wars and am looking forward to getting to the Hand of Thrawn Duology where Mara and Luke finally admit, they have the hots for each other. Hey, this meme may have been just what I needed to motivate me to dive back in!


So, what's your dirty little secret?

WWW Wednesday #9

Another great meme hosted over at Should Be Reading

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?

• What did you recently finish reading?

• What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading

Recently Finished

Up Next 

Thank you for stopping by! Please feel free to leave links to your WWW Wednesday in the comments section. I'd love to see what you all are up to!

Teaser Tuesday #10

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Should Be Reading where we book bloggers give you lovely readers a tantalizing taste of whatever it is we are reading right now. To play along:
  
•  Grab your current read
•  Open to a random page
•  Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•  BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•  Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


This week's teaser is:

Much Ado About Rogues

Kasey Michaels

Blackthorn Brothers #3

Genre: Historical Romance

"He shouldn't have bothered to attempt to divert her. Tess, presented with a puzzle, was like a dog with a bone. She clamped on, and wouldn't let go."

pg. 90

Historical romance has really become one of my book indulgences. No matter what I read,, dystopia, YA, erotica, urban fantasy, or zombie fiction, I always come back to historical romance. It is the comfort food of genres for me. I really enjoyed the second book in this series and am very happy to be reading Much Ado About Rogues for review. Thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin for providing me with the galley. 

What's your teaser this week? 

 

Book Review; White Witch

White Witch
Trish Milburn
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
Rating: 2.5

Jax is a young witch on the run. She does not want to live her coven's black magic lifestyle and dreams of a normal teenage experience. Then she finds Baker's Gap, a tiny little town where everyone knows everyone else, and Jax settles in. Can she keep her powers under the radar and avoid being tracked down by her coven? When things get crazy, will she stay and protect her new found friends, even if the price is death?

When we first join Jax as the story opens, she has already flown the coop, bought a used slug bug and a small RV, and has procured herself a campsite to live in. She already has a plan for getting herself enrolled into the local high school in Baker's Gap, after failing numerous times in other towns. This is also where she gets her first sight of the local supernatural hunter who ends up being the school hottie. Don't worry, that wasn't really a spoiler as you find this out almost immediately. That was one of my problems with this book, there was very little mystery. Most of the plot is straight up with only a few minor plot twists. It was very easy to feel like absolutely nothing was going on.I would have liked to have experienced the escape with Jax and gotten a better feel for the hostility of the life she was leading rather than just being told, "this is this, and that is that."

The awkward toss of the reader into the already executed escape was a rough start, but really the whole book feels rough and underdeveloped. There is just not enough world building for the reader to feel either comfortable in the story, or confident that it is going somewhere. This is not helped by the fact that the meat of the book is made up of silly teenage stuff. Jax gets a crush on her super hot hunter, Jax gets a BFF, Jax goes to local dinner and gets milkshaked by local bitch, Jax pines over hottie hunter, Jax goes to homecoming! It just goes on and on and it was disappointing for me because I was looking forward to a fun YA paranormal experience not teen time with residual magical effects. This felt like a story about a contemporary runaway landing in a new town and doing silly teenage stuff. The witch aspect plays a very small role until the very end of the book.

My other main problem with White Witch was that I never really connected with any of the characters. There were plenty of fun, likeable characters, but this book was so short, and there was so little development, that these characters just felt like faces put there for the direct purpose of furthering Jax's journey. Although this is exactly what characters are in relation to a hero/heroine, the reader should never recognize them as such. A reader should be so lost in the story that they see supporting characters as people, not tools to move the story along.

That being said, there were things I enjoyed very much. I loved Jax's new bestie Toni. She's a tough young lady who isn't afraid to be who she is. As a fellow Buffy nerd, I had a lot of fun with all the references to the show and definitely though Hostile 17 would have been an excellent name for Toni's band. Although I still couldn't quite connect to these nearly transparent characters, Toni was my favorite. I think this really sums up how I felt about the entire experience; fun, cute, but just not quite completely there.

The bottom line is, this was a cute but lacked direction. The story and characters were rough, underdeveloped, and felt more like a sketch of what this could have been rather than a final product. White Witch could use some more action and a final polish, but definitely has potential behind it. There is a stronger version of this story somewhere and I would be glad to read it once it is found.

In My Mailbox #8

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted over at The Story Siren where we bloggers share our book hauls for the week. I got some amazing books for review!

For Review

I am so excited to get started on these gorgeous titles! Thank you to Netgalley, Flux Books, Spencerhill, Grand Central Publishing, Dreamspinner Press, and NLA Digital Liaison for providing me with these wonderful galleys for review. 

So, what was in your mailbox? 

 

Winners of the Small Press Tresures Giveaways!

And The Winners Are...

Water of Life Giveaway

Lindsae Anne
Abbey

Renee Bennett 
 

Dreaming of Beauty Giveaway 

Lindsae Anne

Elena Rodriguez

Melissa Theyer

Denise Zaky

Pam Rosensteel

Congratulations to everyone!  You've won yourselves some great reads. Emails are being sent out to contact you all. You must claim your prize within 48 hours or another winner will be chosen in your place. Thank you everyone who participated and thank you to Sam, E &R's Awesomeness  for hosting this amazing giveaway and helping us all discover some great new indie and small press authors.

Drinking and Winning Giveaway Hop (INT)

Drinking and Winning Giveaway Hop

Hosted by:

Reading Romances 

 

The Drinking and Winning Giveaway Hop is a pre-party event in celebration of Reading Romances' Blogaversary! We are going to have so much fun hopping around from blog to blog while we enter to win great romance related prizes and share our favorite drinks! As I'm not much of a drinker, and we were asked to share a drink we thought would go well with our book, I'm going to go with the non-alcholic obvious choice. A steaming cup of tea! Now, to make this more my own I'm going to share my favorite tea and a pic!

Although the main characters in Firelight are Londoners, my favorite tea to drink while reading a really good romance is Twinings Irish Breakfast tea. It is a delicious black tea that goes great with Coffee-mate Italian Sweet Cream creamer. I put it in my best teacup for this event, but usually I just drink it out of a regular mug. This is my ultimate comfort drink and I think it goes well along with the Victorian England theme of my giveaway book!

Wicked Giveaway of:

 Firelight 

Kristen Callihan

Darkest London #1

 I absolutely adored this scintillating combination of Historical Romance and Urban Fantasy. So much so, that I am giving away one paperback copy from The Book Depository. For more information on this book, you can read my review here

Giveaway Details
This blog hop is all about enjoying a delicious drink and a great romance to celebrate the wonderful Reading Romances blog. This blog not only lets us romance lovers know what is out there, but also offers bloggers the opportunity to join in on some great events!  So sit back, sip your favorite drink, and start entering to win! Entries can be gained in a variety of ways as stated in the Rafflecopter. In order to be fair to everyone, all entries will be checked so please be honest! If I find an invalid entry, it will be removed from the giveaway. As following Wickedly Bookish is a mandatory entry, if I do not find your name in my list of followers, all your entries will be removed from the giveaway. I would much rather skip over this stuff and just get to the fun, but it has happened before, so I need to state it all before the entries are collected.   Winners will be chosen within 24 hours of giveaway's end and will be notified by email. If you are a winner, you will be expected to claim your prize within 48 hours of receipt of email or another winner will be chosen.  To Enter:  1. Be a follower of Wickedly Bookish2. Make sure The Book Depository ships to your location3. Be 18 years old or older4. Fill out the Rafflecopter below5. Make sure to check out the other great giveaways on the Linky below.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review: Fifty Shades of Grey

Fifty Shades of Grey
E.L. James
Fifty Shades Trilogy #1
Genre: Romance, Erotica, Fanfiction re-write
Rating: 1 (I wish I could give it 0)


Fifty Shades of Grey huh? Well James has certainly delved into the ethical grey area that's for sure. I know this trilogy has amassed a legion of fans in a fairly short amount of time, however I feel the majority of those fans don't realize their romance/smut fix is actually a re-vamped Twilight fanfic. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the term, a fanfic is a story written by a fan of a particular movie, television show, video game, book/series of books, etc. These stories are supposed to be written entirely for fun and the enjoyment of fellow fans of said fan base and usually come with a disclaimer that the characters, settings, etc. belong to the original author or creator and that the fan writer is in no way making any profit off of their fanfiction. Popular fanfiction archiving sites like FanFiction.Net require these disclaimers and even have a list of authors/creators who have specifically asked that their works not be reproduced and archived on fanfiction websites. Obviously, people are going to do what they want and write what they want about whatever they want. I myself have enjoyed reading fanfiction for favorite anime and book series. There is nothing wrong with exploring the depths of a world you love, as long as you realize it is not your world in any way shape or form. You do not own the world, the characters, or any of the plot lines therein.


This is where my issue with Fifty Shades of Grey comes in. Originally published as the Twilight fanfic online Master of the Universe, this story was James' attempt at taking Bella, Edward, and their fellow cast of characters, and setting them up in a real-world situation. Trading claws and fangs for whips and chains if you will. This is what we call an AU or Alternate Universe fic in the world of fanfiction. Yes, the characters find themselves in different situations than the original Twilight story, however not by much. There were several instances during the reading of Fifty Shades that I snorted with derision and shook my head because the parallels were so blatantly obvious. If this were being portrayed for what it is, a fanfiction of another author's work, I probably would have enjoyed it. However the case is, James is selling this as her own work. After her fanfic became popular, James decided to change everyone's names, slap a new title on it, and sell it as her OWN work. Some other reviewers who are aware of its regurgitation status are claiming that James has taken out all the Twilight references and made this book undoubtedly her own. This is absolute delusion as the characters, locales, and many of the plot and back story details mirror the original Twilight story almost exactly with only a minor tweak here and there.


The main character Anastasia is clumsy, plain, and works at a ... hardware store... Dear god, i wonder who that could be? It also doesn't help how wimpy and pathetic she is. She is constantly telling Christen no and standing up for herself, only to cave not five minutes later. There is a constant theme here of, "Oh gosh! I can't believe he likes me! How can someone soooooo gorgeous want me?" It gets extremely irritating as I like a strong, heroine who can stand on her own two feet without swooning every time her man comes through a door. There is nothing wrong with drooling over a sexy man, but when you start acting like a brainless husk, well, you've lost my respect. Ana is not the only character who has retained her Twilight character trait roots. She can tell her friend Jose wants more, but she just doesn't see him that way even though he is super muscular and sexy. Mexican Jacob, nice save.


Oh and our copper haired hero is none other than... Christen? He was adopted by a loving family and even at his young age, he is rich and successful and acts like a much older man. He warns Ana to stay away because he is dangerous, but doesn't do a very good job of actually keeping his distance. Stalker much? Oh and he is just OMG gorgeous of course! Literally he is just... the epitome of a beautiful man. No seriously, he's fucking hot, ok? If you're not convinced, James will keep reminding you that he is the hottest man ever without really explaining why. I was surprised he didn't sparkle at some point.


This book read more like a draft than a final product. I quickly got sick of hearing Ana's internal dialogue. Apparently she is not intelligent enough to come up with something better than "Holy Crap" "Holy Shit" "Holy Cow" or "Holy Fuck" She says these phrases constantly throughout the entire span of the book. It was so bad, it felt like she used at least one of these every couple of paragraphs. Also the number of reflections beginning with "I can't believe..." is just over the top. This baffles me because James spends so much time telling her reader how literary Ana is. Ana loves classic novels, especially Jane Austen, and is a graduate with a degree in literature. So why does she come across as a vapid teenager with a very limited vocabulary? Oh yes, that's because she started out as Bella, had her name changed, and underwent little to no character change.


Repetitive, unimaginative writing makes Fifty Shades of Grey a complete slog until we begin to hit the sex scenes. I admit, the concept of the Dom/Sub contract leading into their relationship was intriguing and is what ultimately kept me reading. However, as you get further into the book, you realize the promised BDSM element is a sham. Christen is constantly indulging in what he calls "vanilla sex" even though he insists it is just not for him. James is trying to get across to her readers that Ana is just so gosh darn special that even control freak Christen Grey can't help himself when he's around her. However, she continues to portray Christen as dark, unmoving, and unreachable. And the control freak thing? James continues to remind her readers how much of a control freak he is by having Ana reiterate it over and over and over again in her internal dialogue, emails, and conversations. We get it! He's a Dom! We are not children who need repetition to grasp a simple concept. As the novel goes on, the sex becomes less and less sexy until near the end, it became blase and anatomical at which point I was dying to finish the damn thing so I could get back to quality romance novels.


Overall, it felt like I was reading a fanfiction, probably because I was, but you would think the author and the subsequent publisher who picked it up, would have done some better cover up here. There is just no excuse for the poor quality of writing, shoddy narrative, and uncanny resemblances to another author's work. And what the hell is with charging $29.99 for a paperback copy? How can the publishing company justify that when it is so poorly written?  At least do a good edit and take out every Twilight reference. The sad thing is, I probably could have liked this had she been original. The fact that this series has gained so much success riding on the coattails of Stephanie Meyer's empire makes me ill. Seeing a cover on my favorite book website has never made me so furious before.


Angry fangirls, I'm sorry I couldn't like this book. You have every right to like any book you want. On that note, I also have the right to not like any book that doesn't do it for me. If you enjoyed Fifty Shades of Grey, I'm happy for you and respect your opinion. Unfortunately I couldn't get past the completely unethical use of another author's material and the inexcusable poor quality for the sake of a cheap thrill. You want to take a shot at me? That's fine, but my opinion on plagiarism and sub par writing is not going to change.


 

Thursday's Dirty Little Secret #15

My favorite meme of the week! Dirty Little Secret is hosted by the lovely ladies of Under the Covers. This awesome meme challenges book bloggers to share a new dirty little secret each week.


To participate in the meme all you need to do is:


1. Be a follower of Under the Covers.
2. Create a post in your blog taking the meme image (code above) and copy instructions.
3. Answer the question we propose! This can be done in any way you like, post a video, write a post etc.
4. Then add your link at Under the Covers


Non-bloggers, leave your answer in the comments! 

This week's question is:

 How do you go about reviewing 1 or 2 star books or books you didn't enjoy?

Ah yes, the infamous negative review. I'm actually writing one right now for Friday's post and am struggling with it quite a bit. This book, and the ethical controversy surrounding it have really pissed me off. The majority of the time, I try to find something nice to say about the book while explaining the exact reasons it didn't work for me so that others can decide if those are also their pet peeve areas or if those parts aren't really something that keeps them from enjoying a book. I also do a lot of reviews for indie authors, so if I didn't like the book, I talk about areas that could be improved in hopes of helping them become better writers. However, this particular book has absolutely crossed the line into pissed off, sarcastic review territory. If it had just been the poor writing, that would have been one thing, however when an author starts violating the rights of another, I cannot be blamed for my fury. The book I'm talking about has brought me a lot of grief from its fangirls who seem to think no one is allowed to not like their precious favorite series, and how dare I say negative things about it. I hate to break it to you ladies, but not everyone is going to like the same books you do. I hate having do defend my right to my own damn opinion. When faced with a situation like this that just completely stresses me out, I want to just say screw it and not review at all, but I shouldn't have to do that. I have a right to feel the way I feel about any book in particular. When I write a review, I don't set out to bash a book, I set out to explain exactly why I did or didn't enjoy the time I put into reading it.


Anyway, now that I've ranted a bit, negative reviews are my way of helping others decide whether they should spend their time with a particular book, or maybe move onto another that would better suit their tastes. I'm all about helping fellow readers find superb reading experiences, and if I can help them avoid a dud, then the crap that often comes with writing a negative review is well worth it.


So, what's your dirty little secret?

WWW Wednesday #8

Another great meme hosted over at Should Be Reading

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?

• What did you recently finish reading?

• What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading

 Magic Study (Study Series #2) by Maria V Snyder

White Witch by Trish Milburn

I'm lagging a bit on reading Magic Study, mostly because I'm trying to catch up on my reviews for the month. I'm hoping to dive into this one more soon. Right now I'm basically reading one chapter very slowly. :-) 

I like the characters in White Witch, but the YA elements are a bit over the top for me. A little too much does he like me and not enough witchy powers for my taste. 

Just Finished

  Fifty Shade of Grey (Fifty Shades Trilogy #1) by E.L. James

Immersed in Pleasure by Tiffany Reisz

Please, don't even ask me about Fifty Shades of Grey. This book has only added to my stress level as my review notes and status updates on GoodReads have gotten me a lot of grief from loyal fangirls. I'm pretty sure I'm allowed to have my own opinion about a book. Just because you love it so much, doesn't mean everyone else has to. I will have my full review up on Friday going over the key points of why I did not like this book. If you love this series, good for you. It definitely has its high moments, however I am not the kind of person who can just look over wrong when it is being done for the sake of a cheap thrill. I'm all about author's rights and continuity, so when a debut author makes it big riding on the back of another author's work calling it her own, it angers me to the core. 

Immersed in Pleasure was a fun little erotic short from Harlequin. As it is a short, there isn't a ton I can say about it here without spoiling my review which will go live Friday as well. 

Up Next

  The Maid and the Queen by Nancy Goldstone

Much Ado About Rogues (Blackthron Brothers #3) by Kasey Michels

These books are my last two review request for the month. I've read #2 in the Blackthorn Brothers trilogy and liked it so I thought I would give #2 a shot. It should be a fun historical romance read. 

I'm very excited to be reading The Maid and the Queen! It is a historical fiction about Joan of Arc, one of my favorite historical figures. 

Thank you for stopping by! Please feel free to leave links to your WWW Wednesday in the comments section. I'd love to see what you all are up to!

Teaser Tuesday #9

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Should Be Reading where we book bloggers give you lovely readers a tantalizing taste of whatever it is we are reading right now. To play along:
  
•  Grab your current read
•  Open to a random page
•  Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•  BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•  Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


This week's teaser is:

White Witch

Trish Milburn

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal 

"My breathing, my blood flow, all my motor functions just stop as I concentrate on the feel of his fingertips on my skin, the heat of him so close. He certainly isn't acting like he knows I'm a witch."

  pg. 53

This one is starting out a bit rough, but is slowly growing on me. It has almost too much of the silly teen insta-love, at lease on the main character Jax's part. I'm not sure yet how I feel about this book, I just hope it picks up soon.

What's your teaser this week? 

 

Review: Firelight

Firelight
Kristen Callihan
Darkest London #1
Genre: Historical Romance, Urban Fantasy
Rating: 5


After being saved by, and feeling up, a shadowy man in the alleyway behind her home, Miranda dreams steamy dreams of him every night. Three years later, the destitute status of her father forces her to marry The Dread Lord Archer, a darkly eccentric nobleman whose face is perpetually covered with a mask in public. He makes ladies faint in fright at the thought of what deformity he is hiding, but really he cares only for the affections of one lady in particular. The young lady he saved in that alleyway three years ago. The beauty marries the beast in an attempt to pay back her father for ruining him forever as a merchant with her dangerous gift. Can this beauty ever truly learn to love a beast?


I will begin by saying I absolutely adored this book! As a fan of historical romance and urban fantasy, I about died when I read the description for Firelight. A sassy heroine with supernatural skills forced to marry a mysterious masked man with a frightening reputation in Victorian London? Yes please! Usually, I bounce back and forth between a saucy historical romance and a gritty urban fantasy, however in this case, both of my cravings were equally and undeniable satisfied. Callihan's ability to place the reader directly in her world without getting too into the often tedious societal explanations is astonishing. I literally felt like I had jumped straight into Victorian London from page one. The world building is done flawlessly throughout the span of the novel as Miranda and Archer attempt to keep their secrets from each other. The third person perspective jumps from Archer to Miranda nicely offering readers intimate insights on each of the characters and their back stories. I ended up soaring right through this book and was left desperate for more. Not to say Miranda and Archer's story isn't wrapped up, it is, and very nicely so. Now to discuss my new favorite couple...


The chemistry between Miranda and Archer is incendiary! I can honestly say I have never been that hot and bothered over a near-kiss scene before. I mean, they don't even really kiss and I was fanning myself due to my furiously flushed face. The tone set between the two of them left my skin tingling in anticipation of the next heady moment.

“With the suddenness of a cat leaping upon its prey, he leaned forward and caught up her wrist. "Tread lightly, Miranda Fair." His thumb moved lightly over her fluttering pulse, as she stared with her mouth assuredly hanging open in shock, her heart beating furiously within her breast."You know, it's never wise to tempt the devil." His gaze lowered to her hand, still locked in his grip, her fingers glistening with pear juice. "Had I not this mask, I should be of a mind to suck that juice right off of your fingers.”

After ridiculously sexy scenes like this I was dying to get to the good stuff. The frustration Archer and Miranda felt at being so close to each other, but still kept at arms length due to their secrets was so palpable, I ended up writing this short poem to express my own longing.

Oh sweet frustration!

Oh agonizing fascination!

Oh desperately desiring delight!

Oh despair for I am doomed to die without Dread Lord Archer's dark dalliance!

And oh what dreams may come!

 Archer's secret was definitely not what I was expecting, and a tad bit disappointing, however I think it is fair to say given such a wonderfully intriguing tool as a masked man, it is easy for what we imagine to be much wilder than reality. All in all, I am thoroughly impressed and delighted! Calihan has been added to my list of must have authors. I don't have too many series or authors that I will go right out and buy without seeing if the library has it first, however anything Callihan releases from now on will be sure to appear on my bookshelf!


To Be Continued? Absolutely! I will be impatiently, agonizing until book two, Moonglow,  comes out in August!