18 & Over Book Blogger Follow

Question of the Week:

Which paranormal creature would you like to see more of in paranormal romances?

Hmmmm... This one's tough. I read so many, I feel like I get enough coverage of all the creatures I love. :) Although, between Gena Showalter's Lords and Larissa Ione's Demonica - I think I'd like to pursue demons some more. I also like the idea of hybrid creatures, so to speak. Ones who are half and half. If anyone knows any books where the demons are the good guys, let me know. :)
 

18 & Over Book Blogger Follow

18 & Over Book Blogger Follow is a weekly feature that begins on Fridays and runs through the weekend, hosted by Crystal from Reading Between the Wines and Kelly at Secrets of a Book Lover. This is a Friday blog hop with the objective to find and visit other book blogs that share the same interest as you, namely books geared towards the 18 & over crowd, and make new friends!

Question of the week:

We all love our hunky heroes, but what heroine do you have a girl-crush on?

A: Rachel Morgan from the Hollows series by Kim Harrison. She is strong, yet vulnerable, witty and sarcastic. I just love reading what will happen to her next and watching how she deals with it. She dresses hot - leather... She's a totally powerful witch- love that. Plus, she's already got a little girl-love with Ivy. I'd love to get in on that. :)

Writing Contest - Can You Hook A Teen?

I saw this on a blog I follow: Where Love and Fantasy Take Flight.  It looked awesome, so I thought I'd try it. :) The contest is hosted by Brenda Drake.

On September 21st and 22nd post the first 250 words of your young adult or middle grade manuscript on your blog (you may skip this part, if you wish), and then hop around to each others' blogs and give critiques. By midnight on September 23rd post your entry in the comments of the official contest post, which I will have up on September 21st so you can post anytime from then until midnight on September 23rd. It's going to be midnight my time (Mountain Standard Time). I'll have how you should enter your entry on the official post.

Here's the prizes . . .

The winner will receive a $50 editing gift certificate and two runners up will receive a $25 editing gift certificate each from Teen Eyes Editorial Services. Check out all the cool services you can purchase here.

So, here's my excerpt from my book I've been working on. I'm horrible with titles. Right now, it's called "Wanted"

The din of the cafeteria only fueled my ire as I stalked to our usual table. All the happy students discussing the coming weekend or last night’s game. Ugh. Didn’t they know there were more important things in life? My friends had already started eating, since I’d been detained by Mrs. McCormac. I slammed my tray down on the table, making everyone jump. 
    “Crap, Ash, what’s your problem?”  Cora put her hand to her chest.  I sat with a huff.   Like she could have a heart attack.  Hadn’t she heard me coming?
    “Mrs. McCormac is a huge beyotch,”  I exclaimed, stabbing at my mashed potatoes. 
    “And you have to take it out on us?”  Megan narrowed her chocolate eyes at me from across the table.  I glared at her.  She’d only been sitting here these last couple days because she had a crush on Matt.
    “Yeah. You sit here, you deal with my moods.”  I turned back to my potatoes.  Swallowing, I swore I could feel her roll her eyes at me, but I chose to ignore her.  I really wished Matt would just bite her and be done with her.  Full-blooded humans tended to give me the willies. 
    “What did McCormac do today?”  Matt asked me, blue eyes kind.  Matt had been there for me since…well, since the beginning.  I gave him a grateful half-smile.
    “I wrote my Civics paper on vampire rights and she told me it was all wrong.  We were supposed to

Top Ten Tuesday!

Top Ten Tuesdays is an original meme created by The Broke and The Bookish . I thought this week I'd join in.




The theme for this week is:

Top Ten Books I Feel as Though Everyone has Read but Me...

1. The Hunger Games - I just didn't think the dystopian would appeal to me much. But I won't be able to see the movie without reading the books, first, so they are on my list to get to.

2. The Mortal Instruments Series - I have the first three, just haven't gotten to them yet. And Cassandra Clare keeps coming out with more. :)

3. The Help - I was hearing about this book long before the movie and now it seems everyone has read it. 

4.  The Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon - Everyone was so excited for the latest release - I saw it everywhere, but I've never read any of these. 

5. The Shifters series by Rachel Vincent - I am in the middle of the first one, but I don't really like Faythe yet... I'm trying, I'm trying. 

6. The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice - I know, I know. It's terrible that I never made it through Interview with a Vampire. I mean, she started it all. Again, it's on my list to read, but...

7. Anna and the French Kiss - I saw this all over the blogosphere, and still continue to see references to it. I'm just not that into contemporary YA, but I read a lot of good things about it. 

8. Anything by Nicholas Sparks or Jodi Picoult - I'm putting these together. I've never read a single thing by either of them - they just don't appeal to me, but even people I know who aren't readers have read them. They are everywhere around where I live, and yet I haven't read them. 

9. That series by Christine Feehan - again - I've seen references to these books everywhere, again and again. Yet, I haven't picked one up.

10. Nightshade by Andrea Cremer - It's on my TBR, and I will read it. But it was all over the blogosphere for a long while, along with it's sequel. I'll get around to it. :)

I hope you enjoyed my first foray into Top Ten Tuesdays. I'm going to try to do this every week. Visit The Broke and The Bookish to see more Top Ten lists. 

Review - Pale Demon - Kim Harrison

Pale Demon by Kim Harrison

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Why, why did I hold onto this for so long? Why did I think I couldn't get back into the Hollows after not reading for such a long time? I read White Witch, Black Curse in June of 2009. Notice, I just finished Black Magic Sanction right before I read this one? I'm chastising myself for waiting so long between books, and I can't wait for February to read A Perfect Blood as soon as I can get my hands on it.

What's there to say about this book? It was A-MAY-ZING. (Yes, I know I spelled it wrong). I loved the road trip concept. I loved that Trent was a main character in this book. I loved Rachel trying to justify, not only to the rest of the world, but also to herself, her use of black magic to do good. She still isn't completely comfortable with using black magic, even though it's been to save those she loves. And I love this struggle.

Rachel is the best heroine ever. She's strong and kick-ass, yet she's unsure and vulnerable. She forms so many emotional attachments to people, yet spaces herself from them to save them. I love her emotionality. Her romance situation doesn't improve, in fact gets more complicated, and I love that also. She kisses at least four different people in this book, for four different reasons, but it didn't bother me - I enjoy going through Rachel's internal struggles with her.

Trent. Ah, Trent. He has been one of my favorites for a long time, and I've been dying for he and Rachel to get together. I'm not going to give anything away, but we do get to see sides of Trent we've never seen before. We learn a lot about him, his heritage, his past, and more about him and Rachel at camp. Their relationship is tenuous, but underneath, I think there is real trust, and I love it. I can't wait to see what the next book brings.

One of my favorite Trent scenes:

"Seeing him unaware, I could appreciate how slim Trent was, athletic, with just enough muscle in all the right places. A runner's body. I tried to keep my eyes where they belonged--then gave up, letting my eyes linger where they would--then warmed when my eyes rose to find Trent watching me in amusement in the mirror. His smile shifted as he recognized my appreciation, the slight movement of his body an invitation to look more. God, he was teasing me, and flushing, I took my eyes off him. Ellasbeth, your name is fool" YUM... :)

Of course, there is Jenks and Ivy. So much happens with Jenks. And Ivy's talk with Rachel near the end is revealing. That's all I can say about them, I guess.

I love the way Harrison writes. I love the movement of the characters while they are talking, the little details Ms. Harrison points out in her writing. There's not enough I can say about this book.

Read this and road trip with the crew. A shunned witch, a living vamp, a pixy, an elf, and along the way, they pick up a black witch and a coven witch. You can guess who those are. There is heartbreak as well as flirting. There are demon fights, ending in losses and victories. We get to see elf magic at work, and Rachel finally comes to grip with what she really is.

This book had it all, and I can't wait to see what Ms. Harrison has in store for us next.










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Review - Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison

Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I don't know why it took me so long to finish this book. I think I'd been reading shorter books and the length of it was daunting. I couldn't get into it at first, but I soon fell back into the Hollows and the familiarity of Rachel, Ivy, Jenks, and everyone they come in contact with.

Rachel has been shunned and she is determined to clear her name. She doesn't like having smut on her aura. The black magic still bothers her. But she had recently discovered information about herself that is leading her toward acceptance of the black/demon magic. I loved how throughout this book, she does what is necessary to save herself and the people she loves, and still feels guilty about using black magic to do so. Her internal conflict is a theme throughout this book and it made her more real to me, more vulnerable, more relateable. Rachel has always been one of my favorite characters of all time. She is tough yet vulnerable, and she thinks too much, which I can totally relate to. :) She follows her heart a lot, while trying to follow her head, and I love going through the struggles with her.

We see a lot of old favorites in this book - Jenks, Ivy, Ceri makes an appearance. And Trent is a big part of the storyline. I like Trent. I don't know why, I've always kind of liked Trent. And for 3 or 4 books (I think) I've kinda wanted Rachel and Trent to get together. :) We do see him show a kind of loyalty to Rachel in this book, and I liked it. Nick also is a huge part of the storyline and we learn what a d-bag he truly, truly is. I felt sort of sorry for Rachel as she really let go of him and came to the realization exactly what kind of person he was.

The romantic tension continues with Pierce and, again I don't know why, I'm not a big fan of Pierce. I loved watching Rachel struggle with her attraction to him versus his easy acceptance and usage of black curses.

There was action throughout the book, romantic tension, heartbreak, this book had it all. I'm glad I finally dug in and read it. Onto Pale Demon next. I've been with this series since I found the first two books in B&N and the waiting for each next installment is excruciating. I'll probably end up dragging out Pale Demon until the next one comes out.



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