My Soul to Steal Trailer

Rachel Vincent New Release Contest!

Rachel Vincent - aside from being an amazing author and apparently an Xbox Kinect giant - is hosting the most incredible contest in celebration of the release date of her newest book - My Soul to Steal from the Soul Screamers series!  Click the contest link above to go to the contest page - be sure to enter! You won't believe the prizes being offered.
Release announcement!   You can buy a copy of the book here (Barnes and Noble - listed as available now) or here (Amazon - the date listed as Dec. 21, 2010).

You can get to the trailer from YouTube by clicking here.  Be sure to check it out - it's a good one!

Here is the official blurb:

YOU WANT MY SOUL AND MY BOYFRIEND?

Trying to work things out with
Nash—her maybe boyfriend—is hard enough for Kaylee Cavanaugh. She can’t just
pretend nothing happened. But “complicated” doesn’t even begin to describe their
relationship when his ex-girlfriend transfers to their school, determined to
take Nash back.

See, Sabine isn’t just an ordinary girl. She’s a mara,
the living personification of a nightmare. She can read people’s fears—and craft
them into nightmares while her victims sleep. Feeding from human fear is how she
survives.

And Sabine isn’t above scaring Kaylee and the entire school to
death to get whatever—and whoever—she wants.

I DON'T THINK SO.

Review: From the Dead by John Herrick

Review: From the Dead: a novel by John Herrick

Book jacket:

     A preacher’s son. A father in hiding. A guilty heart filled with secrets.

When Jesse Barlow escaped to Hollywood at age eighteen, he hungered for freedom, fame and fortune. Eleven years later, his track record of failure results in a drug-induced suicide attempt. Revived at death’s doorstep, Jesse returns to his Ohio hometown to make amends with his preacher father, a former love, and Jesse’s own secret son. But Jesse’s renewed commitment becomes a  baptism by fire when his son’s advanced illness calls for a sacrifice – one that could cost Jesse the very life he regained.

     A story of mercy, hope, and second chances.  From the Dead captures the human spirit with tragedy and joy.

My thoughts:

     I enjoyed the book, it was well-written and keep me turning the pages.  The story is one that most people can relate to on some level, either from their own personal experience or from an “I know someone who…” experience.  On the whole I would recommend the book, but I would be careful to whom I suggested it to.  It is a fantastic story of hope, overcoming internal struggles, and finding yourself.  It is a wonderful story of faith and acceptance, and a look at the kind of church and spirituality so many people look for.  The idea of God and religion in the story are wonderful.  The content and concepts are for a more mature audience. 

     The author builds a nice character. Jada is everything that you have come to expect from a “Hollywood” minded woman.  She is shallow, self-serving, selfish, cold, and brutally honest.  Her and Jesse’s relationship is empty and unfulfilling for both of them, but neither is ready to walk away until the suicide attempt when it all hits home.  My favorite part of Jada is that she is so honest; she doesn’t pull any punches, she doesn’t claim to be anything other than what she is, and she doesn’t make any excuses for being the way she is.  Few people are that comfortable with themselves.  She plays a rather small role in the book as a whole. 

     Although I like all of the characters, Eden is probably my favorite.  Eden is Jesse’s sister and is a wonderfully insightful and compassionate person.  I love that she is places babies with families – such an interesting twist when considering she and Jesse lost their mother so long ago.  Jesse’s father, Chuck, is my second favorite character.  I  love that he came from a regular life and became a preacher.  He personifies the kind of unconditional acceptance that I believe everyone is looking for in a church and a preacher.  You can’t help but admire Caitlyn, making such hard choices and then working so hard to make herself a life. 

    The storyline is one that most people can connect with, perhaps not in setting but in the idea as a whole.  Teen leaves home searching for himself only to realize many years later that he can’t do that until he goes back home again.  I love that idea. 

     The only part of the story that I don’t like is the illness aspect.  Not the fact that anyone has an illness, just the fact that Jesse doesn’t do anything positive about his own illness.  We start hearing about his symptoms at the beginning of the book and they continue throughout the story.  He has plenty of opportunities to check out what is wrong with him.  I understand the whole no insurance thing, but at some point you do something even if it costs you a bunch of money.  The illness part is further complicated by the boy’s symptoms, which aren’t checked out either – but this I understand more, tiredness as the only symptom wouldn’t send me to the doctor with a child either.  The frustrating thing is that Jesse appears to recognize the symptoms in his son and continues to say nothing.  I find this hard to believe, I would think that he would want the doctors to have all the information they could get about him and his own blood issues considering he is the father.  The author continues with the “keep the doctors and the others in the dark” aspect of Jesse’s problem until the end of the book. 

     I loved the title, thought it was great that he was getting a second chance after the suicide attempt, but the second near death experience was a waste in my opinion.  Jesse should have figured out, like every reader I am sure did, that his son’s blood disorder wasn’t too different from his own and that not only could he NOT help the boy, but that his marrow would be useless and that the risk was for nothing.  I was sad to see that Drew would be spending forever with the memory of his father almost dying in front of him and the guilt that will go along with knowing that it was all a wasted attempt to save him.  I am not trying to discount the amount of love that is required to make such a selfless sacrifice – just saying that the child could have benefited from honesty more directly in this situation.

  Even though I disagree with Jesse’s decision – I truly enjoyed the book.

It's Monday - - - What's In My Mailbox - What Am I Reading?

hosted here weekly!

What have I been reading?
From the Dead by John Herrick - - review to be posted this week - check back for it by Wednesday!
World's End by Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski - - from Net Galley - - review to be posted this week - check back for it on Thursday.

What will I be reading?  These books that came in my mailbox:

Don't Blink audio book by James Patterson & Howard Roughan - - - won from Martha's Bookshelf - Thanks so much!

An ARC of Delirious by Daniel Palmer - - sent to me from Daniel Palmer for review!

And much to my surprise - an ARC of Legacy by Kate Kaynak!  I am so excited to have received this book as a gift from the author herself!!!  Love this series so I can't wait to read this one!!!

Kate Kaynak Giveaway Winner!

This post comes terribly late - but the winner has already been notified and Kate Kaynak has already sent out the prize - signed copy of Minder - and who is getting this amazing treat?

Sophia L.

Congrats - I hope this post finds the book already at your house!

Thanks to all who entered!

Review: The Ways of Khrem by D. Nathan Hilliard

The Ways of Khrem by D. Nathan Hilliard

Amazon Product Description:
The Ways of Khrem, D. Nathan Hilliard's debut single-author collection, features three interconnected novellas: The Reach of Talanturos, The Cistern, & The Ghost of Candlewalk Lane. Cargill the Bookseller lives a quiet life, in a modest house, overlooking the vast city of Khrem...a magical metropolis of cavernous streets, lofty spires, and dark secrets. His life is turned upside down when Captain Wilhelm Drayton of the City Watch arrives at Cargill's doorstep and confronts him with his criminal past. Now Cargill must assist the Captain in solving mysteries in a city where the villain may not even be human, bringing all of his skills to bear as he finds himself at odds with gods, monsters, and psychopaths alike.






My thoughts: Overall - the whole book was amazing! I truly fell in love with Cargill!  He is the most interesting character!  Of course I love the fact that he has gone from a man with an unsavory profession to being a book seller is so very fun!  The growth of Cargill throughout the three parts is fantastic - I enjoyed every page of this book.  I would recommend this book to both teens and adults.  The book is well written, the characters are wonderful, the language and vocabulary can be tricky at times, but truly makes the story.


The author creates wonderful multifaceted characters.  Each of the main people in the book is so much more than they appear to be at the first meeting.  I was thrilled by the friendships that were created as a result of the first initial meeting in part one.  


The Reach of Talanturos - Part One
In this first part we are introduced to many of the characters that we continue to see throughout the book.  The story is about the captain of the guard of Khrem trying to find a killer - he goes to Cargill for help and so the story begins....I don't want to give away the story so I won't say more about the plot.  As I have already said, the characters and the character development is fantastic.  You can't help but keep turning the pages because of the interactions of the people, even the butler is great.  I would have a hard time picking my favorite in this part of the story because I enjoyed them all for different reasons.  


The Cistern - Part Two
The story continues in part two with many of the same characters while we meet a number of new people, the new people are only in this one part of the book.  This part gives the reader more  of the personalty behind both Cargill and his butler - Grabel.   In this part Cargill and Grabel go to a neighbor's house for an event and a boy falls into a Cistern.  Cargill has to choose to somewhat expose himself and help the family or allow the boy to die to keep his past hidden and his current status intact.  


The Ghost of Candlewalk Lane - Part Three
In part three we are still working with the same main characters, but are allowed to know a bit more about them than before.  The ghost of Candlewalk Lane is the ghost of someone that Cargill used to know and was a good friend of a girl who he loved.  We are introduced to the Cordwood Killer and find out about the victims and their circumstances.  We find ourselves watching Captain Drayton and Cargill working together to find a killer again.  This story shows us a darker side of Cargill, the side he has worked so hard to get away from.  We have the opportunity to learn a bit more about Heinryk and Poole in this last part too - which I enjoyed.