Black Magic Sanction Is Out – RUN To Your Local Bookstore!

BMShc One of my most anticipated books of 2010 happened to release while I was away and I can’t let another day go by without discussing it.

I haven’t read the book yet, so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE no spoilers, but I’m pretty sure the spectacular Mrs. Harrison will keep us Hallows fans happy with Black Magic Sanction!

Mrs. Harrison is an absolute master at world-building and creating characters you love and love to hate. I “discovered” her in my all-time favorite way – I randomly selected a good looking audio book at the library and the rest is history.

I do highly recommend the Audio Book versions of the Hallows series, but I’ve also read the books. Yes, I am a book geek. To read and listen to the same book means I’m in love. :)

For those not familiar with Mrs. Harrison and her Hallows-verse(Rachel Morgan Series) I have a treat for you. The publisher is offering free eBooks of the first book in the series, Dead Witch Walking.

Here is the FREE Amazon version.

Here is the FREE Barnes & Nobles version.

Here is the FREE Sony Reader version.

I seriously cannot recommend this series enough. It’s the very best Urban Fantasy I’ve ever read with the question of who Rachel will end up with being one of my favorite romance plots ever!

The Geeks of Doom have released Mrs. Harrison’s first ever book trailer. Click here to head over there and check it out!

Where the *$#@ Have I Been?

So, I’ve been MIA – I literally dropped off the face of the Earth there for awhile and I hope you’ve been keeping yourselves entertained while I’ve been gone.

There have been some AMAZING book releases while I was away that I’m going to do a write-up on soon just to make sure I’ve covered them.

I also have a few reviews coming up for books I TOTALLY adored.

So where exactly have I been? Well, it’s been a little of the good and the bad, but I’ll stick with the good…I moved! The Hubby and I bought a house and I’ve been working night and day packing, painting the new house before the movers put all our HUGE furniture in the rooms and we’d never be able to move them again, and trying to coordinate everything.

I swear, it’s like I’m the director of a Broadway show – this must happen over here, before Mr. Cable enters from stage left.

While we still have a TON on DIY projects to do on the house, we are finally totally in the house and I’m starting to unpack. The paint inside the house was the first thing we had to tackle. These people were insane with crazy color choices. For instance, this lovely pic is our master bedroom – which we dubbed the John Deer Room. That’s primer you see going onto the wall on the right side. Yep, have to primer every single wall. Sigh. BUT, it does mean I get exactly the colors I wanted!

John Deere RoomIf you’re an author or publicist waiting to see my review of your book – I’m sorry! I tried to pack the books in order of release date so They’ll be easier to organize as I unpack them. I promise I’ll get to them soon!

So, what great books have you read lately? I’ve missed so many releases I can use your input!

Monday Morning Cuteness Round 2!


I couldn't pass up posting this because the top photo is one of my all-time favorites. I'm probably responsible for at least 100 hits on that link. It's seriously cute, and if looking at those stubbular little legs doesn't make you smile nothing will!

Photo From Cute Overload. Check out the whole link here: Trust me you have to go there!





Monday Morning Cuteness!

Funny Pictures of Cats With Captions
see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Bloggers, Writers & Readers: An Online Conference Just for You!

Book Bloggers and Publishers Online Conference


Head over to the Romance in the Backseat website (click on the image you see and you'll go right over there) and you'll see all the details about the online conference. I'm hoping to participate, and I'll have more details on that as we get closer to March.

The cool news is, they've added an author and reader portion of the conference! Sunday March 21st will be Author & Reader Day! Bloggers, Readers and Authors will have time to talk to each other and get details on how we can all promote and enjoy books and authors.

New Release Tuesday!

For your reading pleasure I present some of the new books releasing this week. There are way to many awesome looking books releasing this week and I could not fit them all on this list. Head to your local bookstore to see even more new precious pretties!

Lessons in French By Laura Kinsale

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Ecstasy Unveiled (The Demonica Series) by Larissa Ione

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No Prince Charming by Shiloh Walker

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A Tale of Two Demon Slayers By Angie Fox

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The Elusive Bride By Stephanie Laurens

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Odd Stuff by Virginia Nelson

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The Mammoth Book of Irish Romance

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Hold On Tight By Stephanie Tyler

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Twice as Hot By Gena Showalter

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“Wicked Sexy” by R.G. Alexander

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Here Comes Trouble By Donna Kauffman

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Question for Cheeky Readers – Would you rather see new releases from not as well known authors to help you discover something new, or keep a mix of well-known and newer authors? Sometimes I wonder if listing some of the “big names” helps readers or if they already know about those releases. Drop me a comment and let me know!

Book Review: Fugitive – The Cat Star Chronicles by Cheryl Brooks – 2 Hearts

FugitiveCover22 Book Review: Fugitive – The Cat Star Chronicles
By: Cheryl Brooks
Sourcebooks Casablanca
2 Heart Review

Disclosure: ARC provided by publisher for review

Hunted and in hiding, he'll risk anything to touch her...

Manx is a Zetithian warrior, with a special feline gene that gives him incredible sexual powers. Drusilla's scent drives Manx wild with desire...Coming out of hiding, he's willing to give his life to bring her joy unlike any she's ever known.

Saving his life may be the most dangerous thing she has ever done...

Famous artist Drusilla is on a painting sabbatical when she unwittingly rescues the most fascinating male she's ever seen. But staying with Manx will throw her ordered existence into chaos and mortal danger...

Right up front I want to disclose that this is the very first of the Cat Star Chronicles I've read. I had heard from readers who both loved and didn't like Mrs. Brooks Cat Star books. That's why I thought it was time that I give the series a chance and see if it was for me.

Unfortunately, it's not.

This is a popular series and in reading Fugitive, I can see how the story could find many readers that this would be exactly what they were looking for in erotic romance. The book was written to provide lots of scenes for readers who are really looking for lots of steamy sex.

For me though, I just couldn't get past the idea of Manx being an alien being that had to many cat mannerisms. I've read many books were the hero wasn't exactly human, but usually the heroine isn't totally human either. It was really hard for me to get past thinking of animal sex, which is why this really didn't work for me.

Now, I'll admit it – I love good sex scenes. I'm a fan of erotic romance and don't shy away from graphic scenes. (Though I would like to point out sometimes I just want a sweet romance behind closed doors too.) In this book though, I felt like I was reading the equivalent of a porno script. I didn't feel the romance, instead I read about all the positions and graphic body part descriptions that just weren't sexy to me.

The penis descriptions in this book also made this not a book for me. Yes, it's imaginative and unusual and I think Mrs. Brooks deserves some credit for creating this world and the um, parts of her heroes. They just aren't to my taste. The descriptions are very vivid, so if you are interested in a male member with very unusual functions and sort of powers, then you might like this book and series.

Even if I had been more into this new male species, I still felt this book was lacking in romance. I got the erotica part of the equation, but I felt that the world that was created by Mrs. Brooks makes it almost impossible to have a real romance with any of her heroes. To make my point I'll disclose more about this book than I normally would in my reviews. The hero Manx's juices basically makes females euphorically happy and his cum makes them instantly orgasm. The hero and heroine themselves reflect on how addictive this could be for women and that was my main issue. I felt that there was nothing to the story that showed Drusilla and Manx falling for one another emotionally. Instead, it came across that Drusilla was just addicted to the way that Manx made her feel.

I appreciated the idea that this was a Sci-Fi romance since I feel there are way too few of them. As a Sci-Fi lover I'm always on the lookout for a hybrid space romance. Again, I give Mrs. Brooks credit for creating some some very interesting new planets and creatures and would like to have read about them without the premise of Zetithians who are sexually addictive.

Have you read any of the Cat Star Chronicles? If so, what did you think and please feel free to disagree with me! Also, let me know of any good Sci-Fi Romances you've read lately.

Book Review: Breakfast in Bed by Robin Kaye – 3 Hearts

BreakfastinBedCVR_NEW

Book Review: Breakfast in Bed
By: Robin Kaye
Sourcebooks Casablanca
Released: January 2010
3 Heart Review
Disclosure: ARC Provided by Publisher for Review

He’d be Mr. Perfect if he wasn’t a perfect mess…

Rich Ronaldi is almost the complete package – smart, sexy, great job – but when his girlfriend dumps him, Rich swears he’ll learn to cook and clean just to win her back…

She’ll be glad to make him over, but not for another woman…

Rich is the only guy Becca Larson’s ever met who hasn’t tried to change her. She’s happy to help him master the domestic arts, but she’ll be damned if he’ll start cooking in another woman’s kitchen – or bedroom…

I loved Rich. Completely and wholeheartedly (except for one little thing I’ll talk about later). Even when he was a domestic dud, I understood why and the way he was so eager to learn and please stole my heart. And what woman doesn’t love a man who knows when he needs helps and actually asks for it! If for no other reason alone, Rich makes this book totally worth reading.

That doesn’t mean I don’t also like the heroine Becca. I liked her very much and enjoyed seeing her come to terms with falling for Rich. One of the more interesting parts of the book centered on the fact that Becca comes from money and doesn’t need Rich to help her out finically. It’s a refreshing change from reading books where the female ends up with the rich and wealthy hero and has to run to him to help her out somehow.

I liked both of these characters and really enjoyed seeing the progression of their relationship. A sucker for those couples that just seem to butt heads all the time at first, Breakfast in Bed provided exactly the right amount of verbal warfare to make me very happy. I loved the sparring and wished that it had continued throughout the book. Not to say they didn’t still butt heads, but some of the exciting tension between the two let up in the last few chapters of the book and I missed it.

A very fun and funny read, I really enjoyed Breakfast in Bed, its hero and heroine and the extended families. The only thing that kept this book from being a TOTAL winner for me was how clueless Rich stayed until the end about relationships. During the story arc, he grew so much and it really showed him understanding Becca and how her mind worked. Then, toward the end it was like all of that disappeared and the mistakes he made were those I felt he had grown past. That made the big blow-up leading to the ending feel a little bit of a cop out to me. I was still very satisfied with the book and highly enjoyed it. I just wish the misunderstanding hadn’t been because Rich went backwards in development. Still, this is a story I highly recommend for lovers of contemporary romances.