Saturday, 7 June 2014

Stacking the Shelves #38


Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews
Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!
            
As some of you might have noticed, there was no STS post from me last week. This was because of a family crisis which meant I was not online for days or buying or reading anything. This is a link to the post about what happened.

So I still haven't managed to pick up a book because we are now getting work done in the house and preparing for my mum coming out of hospital. Honestly, it has been 6 months of upheaval and a break from it would be great! *sigh* Maybe next month!!!

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Friday, 6 June 2014

Book Review: At Grave's End by Jeaniene Frost

It should be the best time of half-vampire Cat Crawfield’s life. With her undead lover Bones at her side, she’s successfully protected mortals from the rogue undead. But though Cat’s worn disguise after disguise to keep her true identity a secret from the brazen bloodsuckers, her cover’s finally been blown, placing her in terrible danger.

As if that wasn’t enough, a woman from Bones’s past is determined to bury him once and for all. Caught in the crosshairs of a vengeful vamp, yet determined to help Bones stop a lethal magic from being unleashed, Cat’s about to learn the true meaning of bad blood. And the tricks she’s learned as a special agent won’t help her. She will need to fully embrace her vampire instincts in order to save herself—and Bones—from a fate worse than the grave.


My Review: 
Cat and Bones are back together and planning a wedding but of course things never run smoothly. Vampires from their past seem determined to kill Cat at any cost and Bones has to round up a list of allies to fight to save her.

I loved this book as much as the first two in the series and in some ways it is the best one so far. I had to flick back through it to refresh my memory before I wrote my review just to make sure I got my facts straight as I don't have time for re-reads at the moment!

Firstly the plot. Cat's psycho 'father' is back, betraying Ian for a new mistress who is happy for him to attack and kill whoever he likes. Max is also determined to inflict more terror on Justina and his character is just so evil that you want Bones to get a hold of him real bad! The new mistress remains unknown through most of the book but she has links to Bones, Ian and Mencheres, and because of a prophecy about a half breed's partner murdering her, she soon targets Cat and Bones for herself. It is time for the other vampires to start choosing a side, bringing old enemies and allies together to fight. Meanwhile, Don asks Bones to start changing his team into vampires as promised and Justina finds love again.

Things are changing in this book with the arrival of Annette, a former lover of Bones who wants him back. Her bitchy fights with Cat are funny and I enjoyed the inclusion of her character. Humour is also there in the form of Justina's hatred of the filth that plans to marry her daughter and her surprising choice of new boyfriend! Vlad, the real life Dracula and old nemesis of Bones also joins the alliance and he has humour, wit and danger making him a character that I quickly loved. In book two Ian was the enemy but having his slimy, funny, perverted vampire ass in this book as a friend and ally was an unexpected but welcome twist. I really grew to love Ian in this book and I REALLY want an Ian spin off book or series!!! Spade and Rodney are back along with Denise and Randy, as well as Don and his team. The one character that really got on my nerves in the book was Tate. His declarations of love for Cat and trying to persuade her to love him instead of Bones really got under my skin and made me yell at the book! She'll never love you, muppet head!!! Stop being a complete asshat!!! I've never really liked him and I don't get why Cat lets him get away with acting like that. I'd be saying we can't even be friends if you don't grow up.

Didn't believe the big shocker mid-book but then again I don't think the reader was supposed to believe it. It did let us see the depth in quite a few characters like Annette and Ian and gave us an insight into Vlad's history which was nice.

Great mixture of humour, emotion and action. This series keeps on delivering!

Favourite scenes? Cat and Bones making children cry at a burger bar by attacking the mascot who is actually a vampire. Funny! The scene where Cat and Bones find out who Justina is sleeping with is priceless! The big attack on the house where the allies all fight to survive was a great action sequence complete with death and betrayal. 
star rating photo: 5 Star Rating 5stars.jpg

Throwback Thursday #24

This Meme is hosted by Melissa at My World in Words and Pages. Go to her blog and join us!

I blog about great looking new releases, new books sent to me for read and review, book reviews of what I've read and features about exciting new authors to try.

But what about all the books that are already on my TBR, waiting for me to read them? Don't they deserve a mention and a chance to be highlighted? Yes they do!

Welcome to Throwback Thursday, where I will take the time to tell you about some of the books that have been on my shelves for a while and maybe a few of you will add them to your wishlists/tbrs. If you have read them, why not leave a comment to tell me what you thought of it-but no spoilers please! 

Yes this is a day late this week due to the chaos that has surrounded me recently but better late than never eh? This week I am spotlighting three more books from my tbr list that I want to read.

Celia Wird and her three sisters are just like other twenty-something girls—with one tiny exception: They're the products of a curse that backfired and gave each of them unique powers that make them, well, a little weird…

The Wird sisters are content to avoid the local vampires, werebeasts, and witches of the Lake Tahoe region—until one of them blows up a vampire in self-defense. Everyone knows vampires aren't aggressive, and killing one is punishable by death. But soon more bloodlust-fueled attacks occur, and the community wonders if the vampires of Tahoe are plague-ridden.

Celia reluctantly agrees to help Misha, the handsome leader of an infected vampire family. But Aric, the head of the werewolf pack determined to destroy Misha's family to keep the area safe, warns Celia to stay out of the fight. Caught between two hot alphas, Celia must find a way to please everyone, save everyone, and—oh, yeah—not lose her heart to the wrong guy or die a miserable death. Because now that the evil behind the plague knows who Celia is, he's coming for her and her sisters. This Wird girl has never had it so tough.

  
Night Owls book store is the one spot on campus open late enough to help out even the most practiced slacker. The employees’ penchant for fighting the evil creatures of the night is just a perk…

Valerie McTeague’s business model is simple: provide the students of Edgewood College with a late-night study haven and stay as far away from the underworld conflicts of her vampire brethren as possible. She’s lived that life, and the price she paid was far too high to ever want to return.

Elly Garrett hasn’t known any life except that of fighting the supernatural werewolf-like beings known as Creeps or Jackals. But she always had her mentor and foster father by her side—until he gave his life protecting a book that the Creeps desperately want to get their hands on.

When the book gets stashed at Night Owls for safe keeping, those Val holds nearest and dearest are put in mortal peril. Now Val and Elly will have to team up, along with a mismatched crew of humans, vampires, and lesbian succubi, to stop the Jackals from getting their claws on the book and unleashing unnamed horrors…


The Northern California town of Big Beaver has become a haven for Bigfoot, alien sightings and is home to The Phantom Bigfoot Bather. One particularly weird Beaverite, Duane, has kept the Bigfoot a secret, but to his utter dismay, a female Bigfoot abducts a teenager. Duane must use all his guile to stop his secret from getting out, especially now that MB, his close friend and crypto-zoologist, is on the trail, along with Sheriff Lou and the FBI. Can Duane keep his Bigfoot friends a secret? And what does MB discover deep in the forest?
 

Wednesday, 4 June 2014

My Latest Musings #8 My worst ever week


I've decided each week to talk a bit about my previous week and what I enjoyed reading and watching, my plans for the coming week and any news I have. Hopefully that will motivate me to get things done!


This was the week from hell. As most of you will know in January my mum was diagnosed with stomach cancer and she has been in hospital a few times. I've had messages this week from friends wondering why I wasn't online so I decided to use my Musings post to update everything. 

My mum went in to hospital on the 13th May with an infection and soon became confused, disorientated and off the planet. It got worse over the space of a few days until she did not even recognise her family. Last Thursday the doctor said she either had bleeding on the brain, a stroke or the cancer was in her brain and they gave her days to live. That Thursday and Friday were the worst two days of my life, sitting by her bedside sobbing, lying awake at night waiting for a call from the hospital to say she had passed away. My dad and I were suffering, watching her lying in her bed yelling for help with no clue where she was, struggling as if she was being attacked. I can't even describe that experience. It gave me an idea of what the families of dementia sufferers go through and I wouldn't wish that on anybody. When we were away from the hospital we kept phoning to see what was happening, dreading what we might hear. 

Then we phoned the hospital on Sunday morning to be told that she was sitting up talking, eating a little, drinking and her mind in full working order and that the CT scan of her brain showed NOTHING wrong. No cancer, no stroke, no bleeding, no infection. The doctors are baffled, we are baffled but jeez the relief was indescribable. Yes she is still seriously ill with the cancer but I feel as if we have been given her back again. Being able to sit and talk to her as normal again is wonderful and I hope we don't have to go through that nightmare again. Each day since then she has become brighter and more talkative, if a little tired. Her eating isn't anywhere near normal and she is fed up being stuck in bed but she is back to where she was just before she went into hospital.

So, the plan is to get her back home at some point. They want to work on getting us more support at home from medical and social services so we can care for her at home plus they want to get her stronger in herself. It will take weeks but we should get her home again which would be great for all of us. It's amazing the difference a week can make.

Naturally I have got no reading done this week and I had no real interest in doing anything. I'm hoping that I will get that motivation back again. Hopefully things will settle a bit now!

New Release: Bad Blood by Nikki Jefford (Aurora Sky #3)


Aurora returns from boot camp to a new assignment, an unwelcome roommate, and the increasingly amorous attentions of a certain vampire hunter.

College is starting, and so is Aurora’s undercover work at a network of swanky parties known as “Tastings” for high rolling vampires who like their blood laced with fine wine. But Aurora’s not the only one on the prowl. An underground investigation is under way to find out who killed one of Anchorage’s most prominent vampires… and Aurora is a prime suspect.


Where can I buy this book?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bad-Blood-Aurora-Sky-Vampire-ebook/dp/B00KQ5PR1G/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1401868791&sr=1-1&keywords=Bad+Blood+%28Aurora+Sky%3A+Vampire+Hunter%2C+Vol.+3%29 

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bad-blood-nikki-jefford/1119640079?ean=2940149616602

Nikki Jefford loves fictional bad boys and heroines who kick butt. Books, travel, TV series, hiking, writing and motorcycle riding are her favorite escapes. She loves meeting people from all walks of life, from around the globe, and wouldn’t trade her French husband in for anyone – not even Spike!

She’s a third generation Alaskan, born & raised in Anchorage, now living in Northern Washington. Crazy about her dog, Cosmo. (Writer’s best friend.) The dark side of humanity fascinates her, so long as it's balanced by humor and romance.

Her favorite TV heroines are Buffy, Veronica Mars, and Dr. Temperance ‘Bones’ Brennan.



Where can I find Nikki?
http://www.nikkijefford.com/ 
https://twitter.com/NikkiJefford 
https://www.facebook.com/authornikkijefford?ref=ts&fref=ts 
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5424286.Nikki_Jefford