Waiting on Wednesday!

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This is Magic Bleeds (Kate Daniels Book 4) by Ilona Andrews!

Publication date:  May 25, 2010

Amazon Product Description

Kate Daniels cleans up the paranormal problems no one else wants to deal with-especially if they involve Atlanta's shapeshifting community.

And now there's a new player in town-a foe that may be too much for even Kate and Curran, the Lord of the Beasts, to handle. Because this time, Kate will be taking on family.

Heartless by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Heartless (Book 1: Tales of Goldstone Wood) by Anne Elisabeth Stengl - publication date July 1, 2010 - I received an ARC of this amazing story from Librarything Early Reviewers.

Amazon says:
Princess Una of Parumvir has come of age and will soon be married. She dreams of a handsome and charming prince, but when the first suitor arrives, she finds him stodgy and boring. Prince Aethelbald from the mysterious land of Farthestshore has traveled far to prove his love--and also to bring hushed warnings of danger. A dragon is rumored to be approaching Parumvir.


Una, smitten instead with a more dashing prince, refuses Aethelbald's offer--and ignores his warnings. Soon the Dragon King himself is in Parumvir, and Una, in giving her heart away unwisely, finds herself in grave danger. Only those courageous enough to risk everything have a hope of fighting off this advancing evil.

My thoughts:

I had high hopes when I picked up this book - from the cover alone it demanded to be read. I must say I was not disappointed!

This was a great read. The characters are well developed, the plot was intriguing. The reality of the idea of being heartless was one I haven't seen and the author wields it well.

This is a story of loyalty, fealty, faith, corruption, honor, love, family, and mystery. A story of young people becoming who they want to be and the choices they have to make to get there.

The characters come from all walks and worlds. The author mingles worlds and dimensions without leaving the reader lost.

The story is filled with action; so even though it is essentially a love story, it is not JUST a love story. We have battles of all kinds - physical and emotional.

The relationships in this story are extraordinary. You are drawn into each of them as they unfold between all of the characters throughout the story. You watch as Felix goes from being a young and foolish boy to a man (who has not gotten older, but had to make adult decisions). You are witness to Una and the fate that befalls her and those around her because of the choices that she makes.

As in all stories - there is a villain. The shape changing bad guy here makes you dislike him from the start (which is what we all want to do). There are also elusive game players in the story that we aren't outright introduced to that appear to have the fate, or at least some of the fate, of the characters held at the mercy of the roll of the dice.

I fell in love with the characters and can't wait for the rest of the series.

Sample post - block quotes!

Under Construction.

This was a sample post I was using to work on my block quote appearance - but I like the little construction worker guy, so I thought I would leave the post up so he could get some love!

Teaser Tuesday!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

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 and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"Instead he was watching Zane's body. And when I turned in that direction, I knew why. Beneath the rent in the material of Zane's shirt, his skin was knitting back together, as if I were watching an autopsy in reverse."                   

***from Tainted by Julie Kenner

I'm a winner!

This is awesome!  I can't believe that I am a winner again!  So many amazing books - so little time.  Thanks to Bella at Obsessed for having a contest - and especially for the books she is sending me because I won!!

These are the books she is sending me:
(1) Storm Born
(2) Tantalize
(3) The Darkest Whisper
(4) The Historian
(5) Darkfever
(6) Bloodfever
(7) Faefever

*****can't wait to get them!

Literary Road Trip!

I have signed up to represent Minnesota (mostly Southeastern Minnesota) in the The Literary Road Trip which is featured at Jenn's Bookshelves.  If you know of any authors that I should be sure to read and review or blog about please let me know! 

The Literary Road Trip is a project in which bloggers are volunteering to showcase local authors. This showcase can be anything you want to make of it – book reviews, author interviews, giveaways – as long as you’re working with an author local to you.
How it works:
1.Stake your claim! Post a comment (if you haven’t already) and let her know what State, territory, region, etc. you’d like to showcase on your blog.

2.Post content on your blog

3.Add a link to your posts to Mr. Linky at the bottom of her post page.

4.Each month, she'll add new links submitted to a Road Map post that navigates readers through who has posted and what.

My idea for my Minnesota author showcase is this: Each month feature a different author profile. Then each week spotlight books by that author. Let's see how this all plays out!