Saturday, 26 July 2014

Stacking the Shelves #42


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!
                
This has been a hellish week thanks to the damn heatwave that won't go away. I don't do well in extreme heat-I barely eat, don't sleep, get heat rashes(which are driving me mental this morning) and I get nausea and bad stomachs. So with the weather mostly being sunny through June and July and to continue into August, I'm miserable right now. I just want it to be the cold winter days where I curl up in front of a big fire with a book!!! My dad doesn't like it much either. So we're both suffering and are very lethargic so the house clearing is on hold until the weather finally breaks. Summer...bah Humbug!

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Friday, 25 July 2014

Book Review: The Lunatic Cafe by Laurell K Hamilton(Anita Blake #4)

In Laurell K. Hamilton's New York Times bestselling novels, Vampire Hunter and zombie animator Anita Blake is an expert at sniffing out the bad from the good. But she's about to learn that nothing is ever as it seems-especially in matters of the not-so-human heart...

Dating a werewolf with self-esteem issues is stressing Anita out. Especially when something-or someone-starts taking out the city's shapeshifters.


My Review: 
Anita is dating Richard but Jean Claude is determined to stick his nose in and demand equal dating time as his love rival which infuriates Richard. Now Pack Leader Marcus demands Anita's help with some supernatural murders and a jealous vampire wants to kill Anita to get her away from Jean Claude. Enter Edward who is happy to kill any monster available...

I do enjoy when Edward comes to town. He is such a dangerous, menacing guy and I love him. Maybe Anita should just let him kill Jean Claude and Marcus to make her life a bit easier. I'm so sick of Jean Claude right about now, acting like a whiny brat all the time. I do know what happens next in the love triangle as I've read books 5 and 6 previously but I won't spoil it for anyone. Richard is decent but his refusal to tell Anita anything gets on my nerves sometimes. He is a werewolf who doesn't really want to kill people but is part of a pack with two twisted, evil leaders yet he is on at Anita constantly about her use of violence. Gretchen is an evil bitch who wants Jean Claude for herself and will happily kill Anita to get him so I got annoyed at Jean Claude refusing to deal instantly with her. If he loves Anita as he claims to, why does he keep letting his pet monsters hurt her? He's become a real asshat.

In this book we see that the monsters aren't always the monsters if you get my drift. The humans, especially the cops, are really obnoxious and evil. I liked the missing shapeshifter story which brings Anita into conflict with Richard's pack as she won't bow down to Marcus, the pack leader. We also get the interesting sidestory about the missing wererat.

The whole ending of this book was tense and exciting, and very enjoyable. I'm not going to spoil it with two many details and give away the plot but it is an action packed urban fantasy read. It would have rated four stars if it wasn't for my annoyance with Jean Claude and the usual bugbear about the endless descriptions of weapons and clothing. Swoosh off! 3.5 stars probably.
star rating photo: 35 star rating 3-5-stars.jpg

Thursday, 24 July 2014

Throwback Thursday #29

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! 

Everything changed when Raven, a natural born conduit, accidentally walks in on a slave auction. She only wants a night out with her friends before her next case as a paranormal liaison with the police. Instead, she ends up in possession of a shifter and his guardian. When your touch can kill, living with two touchy-feely shifters is a disaster waiting to happen.

To make matters worse, a vicious killer is on the loose. As mutilated bodies turn up, she can't help fear that her new acquisitions are keeping secrets from her. The strain of keeping everyone alive, not to mention catching the killer, pushes her tenuous control of her gift and her emotions to their limits. If they hope to survive, they must work together as a pack or risk becoming hunted themselves.


When archaeologist Zoe Miller's cousin is abducted by a vicious Russian kidnapper, she must come to grips with a haunting secret. Unknown to even her closest friends, Zoe is not entirely human. She's a werewolf and a daughter of the "Fangborn," a hidden race of werewolves, vampires, and oracles.

Zoe's attempt to rescue her cousin leads her on a quest for artifacts—including Pandora's Box, an object of world-ending power. With the fate of humanity in the balance, Zoe will be forced to renew family ties and pit her own supernatural abilities against a dark and nefarious fo.

At once captivation, deftly worded, and character-rich Seven Kinds of Hell expands vampire legend and werewolf noir in both intensity and charismatic bite.


The Midwestern resort town of Pemkowet boasts a diverse population: eccentric locals, wealthy summer people, and tourists by the busload; not to mention fairies, sprites, vampires, naiads, ogres and a whole host of eldritch folk, presided over by Hel, a reclusive Norse goddess.

To Daisy Johanssen, fathered by an incubus and raised by a single mother, it’s home. And as Hel’s enforcer and the designated liaison to the Pemkowet Police Department, it’s up to her to ensure relations between the mundane and eldritch communities run smoothly.

But when a young man from a nearby college drowns—and signs point to eldritch involvement—the town’s booming paranormal tourism trade is at stake. Teamed up with her childhood crush, Officer Cody Fairfax, a sexy werewolf on the down-low, Daisy must solve the crime—and keep a tight rein on the darker side of her nature. For if she’s ever tempted to invoke her demonic birthright, it could accidentally unleash nothing less than Armageddon.

Wednesday, 23 July 2014

Book Review: Circus of the Damned by Laurell K Hamilton(Anita Blake #3)

'Most women complain that there are no single, straight, men left. I'd just like to meet one that's human.'

I'm Anita Blake, expert on creatures of the night. I've dined with shapeshifters, danced with werewolves, and been wooed - but not won - by Jean-Claude, the Master Vampire of the City.

And now a darkly dangerous vampire named Alejandro has hit town. He too wants me for his human servant. A war of the undead has begun. Over me. 



I would be flattered if my life weren't at stake.


My Review: 
A pack of vampires are attacking people related to anti-vampire groups and Anita reluctantly has to go and ask Jean-Claude for answers while all he wants is to make her his human servant. Edward is on the trail of Jean-Claude as are the anti-vampire groups and two other masters and again Anita is up to her eyes in a lot of dangerous people and monsters who are all threatening her. Same old day for a vampire hunter...
 
As usual I love Anita, her smart mouth getting her into trouble every two minutes, getting attacked by all kinds of monsters. I do like Edward-the sense of danger that radiates off him makes him a fascinating character. We also meet potential love interest Richard, who seems like the really nice guy that Anita needs in her life when all the monsters get too much. Even the cops are good supporting characters. In this book, Anita faces a vampire who wants her as his human servant and her way to safety could be to give in to Jean Claude's demands and let him protect her. But he is any less of a monster and will she lose her humanity if she gives in? Might this other vampire be the way to escape Jean Claude?

It is an action packed book and I really enjoyed it as the plot moved to lots of different locations with new dangers. The Circus was interesting and it's not a place that sounds very safe for the human paying guests to visit! I did like the final showdown scenes but I won't spoil it by saying anything about it.

My big bugbear was the moronic behaviour of Jean-Claude, setting up Anita to get hurt in that fight at the Circus with Marguerite. It was stupid and childish and was the first time that his character really pissed me off. The continual bullying of Anita to force her to become his servant does get wearing after a while though. He is a sulky child, pouting when he doesn't get what he wants. Part of me wanted him to get staked in this book for being a fanged asshat.

The books also continue to be over descriptive about Anita's guns and clothes with lots of free publicity for a certain footwear brand! Anita likes to pick fights over stupid things which can be a bit annoying but it's a minor issue for me.
star rating photo: Three Star Rating 3stars.png

Book Review: The Laughing Corpse by Laurell K Hamilton(Anita Blake #2)

Harold Gaynor offers Anita Blake a million dollars to raise a 300-year-old zombie. Knowing it means a human sacrifice will be necessary, Anita turns him down. But when dead bodies start turning up, she realizes that someone else has raised Harold's zombie--and that the zombie is a killer. Anita pits her power against the zombie and the voodoo priestess who controls it.

In The Laughing Corpse Anita will learn that there are some secrets better left buried-and some people better off dead...


My Review:
Anita is having another bad week. A rich man wants her to raise a zombie using human sacrifice but she refuses and this response does not go down well. She upsets a voodoo Queen who decides to have her killed by zombies. A fellow animator is murdered and what he raised is murdering innocent people all over town. Plus Jean-Claude is still trying to make her his human servant. Just another typical week for Anita...
 
What I like about Anita is that she isn't perfect. She kills vampires but she is scared of them. She screams and panics when under attack by zombies as any normal person would be. She hates the dark because she knows what lurks out there. She jogs so she can run faster and longer if she is being chased. She vomits at gory crime scenes. I like the vulnerability and realism of her character. She has morals and a determination to stick to those values, standing up to scary creatures even as she shakes with fear doing it. She will not blindly go into any human servant deal until she knows exactly what she is signing up to, however much pressure she is put under. You like her and could be her friend if she doesn't bring home the monsters with her. Got to feel for all her neighbours!

There is a good balance between her complicated relationship with Jean Claude and her investigative work. There are good characters who all have different relationships with Anita which are interesting to explore. The book is gory and had the added interest of exploring voodoo.

Another enjoyable read.
star rating photo: Three Star Rating 3stars.png