Stacking the Shelves #77

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! Click on the link under the book to find its page on Goodreads or Smashwords. 

Please note that I always leave a message on your STS/SP if you visit me, but if you use DISQUS or a similar third party I will not be able to leave a comment on your page. And sometimes, I have problems leaving messages on blogs hosted by Wordpress so you might get a double message sometimes! Blame them, not me!

This has been a frustrating week. I'm having more struggles with insomnia which leaves me exhausted during the day, too tired to read at night and yet I toss and turn most of the night. It is ruining my reading and blogging and I'm getting really grumpy about it! No point going to the doctor as I'm allergic to sleeping pills...I've tried things like Camomile Tea and nothing seems to work. Any suggestions are welcomed! 

So progress on the reading side of things was limited and I decided to cheer myself up by buying a pile of books, dvds and other cool things to console myself. Not helpful to the tbr but at the moment I don't really care! I plan to feel sorry for myself for at least a few days yet! So I've been in a bit of a Godfather mood and I've snagged some books written about the characters by three different authors. I also did two book trades this week which was nice. For Wishlist Wednesday I picked Ebola K at random to talk about so imagine my delight at getting a free copy this week! Yea! I've read the first book in the Nevermore trilogy(Sundered) so I was pleased to pick up books 2 and 3 to complete the set.

FREE DOWNLOAD:

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23205715-ebola-k

BOUGHT PAPERBACKS:

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13528130-the-family-corleone

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/888726.The_Godfather_s_Revenge 

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22194810-the-skin-collector

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17906399-the-fallen-queen 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18068616-bound 

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18068635-dauntless

BOOK TRADES:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18704902-witches-of-east-end 


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22393174-half-resurrection-blues 

Book Review: Seven Kinds of Hell by Dana Cameron

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.

My Review:

This book was info dump heaven so if like me, you don't like info dumps, proceed with caution!

This was potential unfulfilled. I liked the idea of the story-mother and daughter staying on the run to avoid her father's wicked shifter family, and as Zoe buries her mother, she is being stalked by other shifters. There should have been menace and drama in this but instead it actually felt slow and boring because it an unbelievable amount of info dumping in it, stopping the flow of the story. Some of the information relating to how Zoe first discovered she was a shifter were necessary to the story so this was fine.

However it was the story coming to a full halt with information that we just didn't need that was the problem. We get the complete family history, in depth details about her job, Danny's history, Sean's history, the broken friendship, the broken romantic relationship, the Fangborn, memories of her ex boyfriend, stealing from where she works...there was just too much that wasn't needed especially when it was all shoved into the opening chapters. Perhaps if the author had concentrated on Zoe's beast and her stalkers then gradually told us about Fangborn, it might have worked better and got me into the story instead of feeling bored by the whole Sean and Danny thing.

Zoe herself was annoying. All her life it has been drummed into her to keep away from her father's people. On her deathbed her mother told her to leave NOW. Instead Zoe dawdles around town for another couple of days, hanging around with the people she cares most about, having a great big public funeral and letting her stalkers find her and endanger her loved ones. Yeah just ignore everything your mother ever taught you.

Even the Fangborn parts were confusing. First we have all the people stalking and then confronting Zoe. Then we find out there are actually TWO different groups of Fangborn-the ones who want to hurt her and the ones who want to help her and they are all in town at the same time. And then another group happen to be in town to kidnap Danny to make her steal similar artifacts to what she stole herself...? To be honest by this point it was confusing and a bit dull and I found that I didn't really care if the whole world wanted to find/use/kill Zoe.

I have heard in other reviews that as the book progressed, the action came thick and fast which is the kind of book I like. But the problem is, I hate ploughing through stuff I find slow or boring to get to the good parts, and I rarely continue for long with a slow starting book. If it had got off to a faster start with less info dumping I might have continued with it.

Book Review: Fat Vampire 3 by Johnny B Truant

The story of Reginald -- the world's slowest, weakest, most out-of-shape vampire -- continues in this third installment of the FAT VAMPIRE series…

Following the infamous "Ring of Fire" incident, the world's vampires are in a state of panic. Having been commanded by their creators to restore a better balance between humans and vampires, panicked bloodsuckers everywhere have begun "restoring" in the best ways they know -- by killing huge numbers of humans and turning the rest.

As more and more vampires go rogue and threaten to wage war, two-thousand-year-old Maurice's power as Deacon comes under fire, as the tens of thousands who hate him begin to rally together. And all the while, the Vampire Nation is falling apart, tumbling into chaos... as a war threatens to break, and as Reginald begins to discover some strange new supervampire abilities...

Will the center hold? Or will chaos overtake the Nation before Reginald even has a chance to eat that pizza he ordered?

My Review:
Reginald knows that he and Maurice have screwed up by not paying enough attention to the small law changes that Charles has tagged onto the laws Maurice has passed. These changes have gradually increased the power of Fangbook over law changes and gradually reduced the areas the Deacon can control, meaning the veto Maurice has is pretty worthless. Reginald feels angry with himself for taking his eye off the ball and not noticing the subtle changes.

The vampire world is in uproar and they take the Angels message as a warning that they are not killing enough humans. Suddenly vampires are on a murderous rampage and humans are being openly slaughtered. Our gang are alarmed at the anarchy and bloodshed but nobody heeds their plea for calm, preferring to follow Charles as he lets the Council itself run wild. The streets are unsafe and Reginald is worried for the safety of Claire and Victoria. Vigilante vampire hunter groups are now out on the street and they are determined to kill anyone with fangs which is bad news for a fat vampire who can't run away.

As usual there is a lot of good humour in the book. Reginald's encounter with the vampire hunters is funny. The thought of him stuck headfirst in a manhole shouting insults at redneck slayers who are firing bullets at his butt is hilarious! The insults that he hurls at the rednecks while claiming to have slept with every female they know were really funny. I couldn't stop laughing at his brilliant escape plan either! Brilliant entertainment! Reginald is The Man!

It was nice to also find out a bit more about Maurice and his private life and of course Nikki has now had to become a vampire for her own safety as the war is about to start. Her insatiable appetite for blood and sex is depressing Reginald as much as his own failings. I enjoy all the references to Fangbook and wish we could actually read what is posted there! I figure it would be pretty entertaining and much better than Facebook. I love the characters and I'm always wondering what the next disaster will be for poor Reginald! 

Book Review: Fat Vampire 2 by Johnny B Truant

The story of Reginald -- the world's slowest, weakest, most out-of-shape vampire -- continues in this second installment of the FAT VAMPIRE series… 

It's been six months since fast-food-addicted Reginald Baskin was turned into a vampire too fat to live peacefully amongst the glamorous undead -- six months in which Reginald and his two-thousand-year-old maker Maurice have learned that power doesn't equal popularity. Sure, Maurice is now calling the shots, but the Council is up to new and dirty tricks, threatening to once again upset the balance…But when the Vampire Nation faces genocidal violence at the hands of an unstoppable force and the very future of vampirekind is threatened, Reginald, Maurice, and Nikki must find their allies elsewhere… buried deep underground in a foreign land.

As is the case for the follow-up to any epic tale, Fat Vampire 2 isn't afraid to ask (and answer) the truly important questions in literature and in life:

* Where did vampires come from, and can they possibly survive a force that bests them at every turn... that may even know them better than they know themselves?
* Is there a war coming... and if so, who will ally with whom?
* Why is Wilford Brimley in Reginald's kitchen?
* Is that an incubus in your pocket, or is it just really damn cold in here? 

My Review:
You would think that after coming up with a great plan to overthrow the Vampire Council leader, saving himself, Maurice and Nikki, that things would get better for Reginald. Er, no.

Firstly he is tortured during a treadmill demonstration by an incubus who says that recent bombings at the Vampire Council were a warning by the Angels that changes were to be made. Maurice refuses to lead the council, sending a proxy and not caring much as long as he can veto stupid laws that he and Reginald don't approve of, and makes his fat vampire's life miserable by insisting he take gymnastics lessons with Claire. Their arch enemy Charles does everything he can to undermine their leadership and almost everyone still wants Reginald dead.

I'm so enjoying this series! The humour that made the first book so much fun continues here with Reginald's treadmill episode and having to wear a T Shirt that proclaims 'I, The Jiggy Motherfucker' which had me choking on my hot chocolate! The gymnastics lessons are really funny, as poor Reginald has Claire and her mother for an audience and the more Reginald pranced around showing off his moves, the more I laughed! He really would be a great guy to just hang out with. I'd happily watch Columbo with him and share a few pizzas! I also loved the office party scene where Reginald gets his own back on an office bully.

There are lots of laughs and sniggers throughout the book but it also has a good story to it. Reginald is still moping about being the worst vampire ever and is reluctantly trying to expand his powers. Maurice is sulking around like a goth kid and refusing to do most of his Deacon duties, allowing Charles to plot against them. Nikki is preparing to become a vampire and cements her position as Reginald's girlfriend. We also have the threat of the Angels and why they are killing vampires, something that only Reginald has the brains to tackle.

I can't get enough of the adventures of Reginald Baskin... 

Cover Love: The Morganville Vampires

We all love to look at our gorgeous book covers don't we? We love to browse the beautiful books on the shelves and the nicer the cover, the more likely we are to pick it up to look at the blurb, and perhaps make that purchase. So welcome to Cover Love where I will celebrate all things cover related-the best books with certain coloured covers, a series with beautiful covers, books that made me buy it based partially on the covers, great books that need better covers, covers that were better than the books and so much more!

This time, I am looking at The Morganville Vampires by Rachel Caine. I was in a bookshop late on a dull afternoon and these beauties were shining in the artificial light and catching my eye. I went over to see what they were and thought 'oooh vampires!' and bought the first two books! I read and enjoyed book one but have yet to read the rest of the series though my dad nabbed them and loved it! 

No plot spoilers please!  Have you read any of them? Which covers do you like best? If you have done a similar post, give us your link and we can stop by.