Library Haul 2012 (May 20 - 26)

Library Haul

Here's the list of books I picked up from the library this week:

Hardcover:

1.  Divine Evil - Nora Roberts

Manhwa:

1.  Chocolat Vol. 2 - 4

What library books/manga/manhwa did you pick up this week?

Manga Review: Blood Alone Vol 6 [Paperback]

I've finished "Blood Alone Vol. 6" by Masayuki Takano.

Product Description

There are worse things than being a vampire. For young vampiress Minato Misaki, there is nothing more painful than watching her human companion, the former vampire hunter turned investigative author, Kurose Kuroe, risk his life to protect her.

When a new woman enters the picture, jealousy threatens to destabilize Misaki and Kuroe’s unique bond.

About the Author
Masayuki Takano is best known for writing and illustrating the Boogiepop Dual manga, and for doing original mechanical designs for the Full Metal Panic anime. 

Product Details
Reading level: Ages 16 and up
Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Seven Seas; First Edition edition (April 10, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1935934163
ISBN-13: 978-1935934165

My Review:

The volume opens with Kuroe receiving a visit from his teacher and right before she leaves she gives him a kiss.  Kuroe contemplates about her visit and why she came to see him.  Then he reminisces when he first meet her.

Then we see a fight scene between Kuroe and two women that look alike.  Both are very good but Kuroe manages to win and they both stand down though one reluctantly.  We learn they are daughters of a previous enemy.

4/5

Other manga in series:

1. Blood Alone Vol. 1
2. Blood Alone Vol. 2
3. Blood Alone Vol. 3
4. Blood Alone Vol. 4
5. Blood Alone Vol. 5

Thanks Seven Seas Entertainment for sending me this manga to review, greatly appreciated!

RS Review: Against the Fire (The Raines of Wind Canyon) [Mass Market Paperback]

I've finished "Against the Fire" the 2nd book in her Raines of Wind Canyon series by Kat Martin.

Product Description

You can't fight what you can't see. And Gabriel Raines can't be sure just who's setting the fires in his new real-estate development. When two fires hit back-to-back, he knows it's personal, but any number of competitors or ex-employees could be the arsonist.

The police suspect Angel Ramirez, a local teen who's been in trouble before. But Mattie Baker, a volunteer at the Family Abuse center, just can't believe the kid she's been working with would go back to his delinquent ways.

Determined to convince Gabe that she's right, Mattie must get close to him and find out who's putting their neighborhood in jeopardy. And just as the arsonist's flames continue to burn, they find a heat developing between them. It might just turn into a full-fledged fire … if they can survive long enough.

Product Details
Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Mira; Original edition (January 25, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0778329305
ISBN-13: 978-0778329305

My Review:

Real estate developer Gabriel Raines who is interested in restoring old and run down buildings with structure.  When a structure developed by Gabriel is burnt down a teen age boy Angel Ramirez is arrested.  Angel was convicted of being an arsonist several years ago and he was seen at the crime scene.

Mattie Baker a Family Abuse center volunteer doesn't believe that Angel sent the building on fire.  She has been working with him to rebuild his life by finishing school and is determined to prove it.  Mattie and Gabriel decide to work together to figure out who is setting the fires and as they investigate further they realize it's personal.

Mattie has her reasons why she doesn't want to get involve with man like Gabriel.  Gabriel realizes he wants more than a one night stand with Mattie.  He manages to break down her wall and their love affair is very hot and steamy.

I really enjoyed the dynamics between Gabriel and his brothers Jackson and Devlin and how they help him in his investigation.  You can feel the strong bond they all share with one another.

4/5

Other books in series:

1.  Against the Wind
2.  Against the Law
3.  Against the Storm
4.  Against the Night
5.  Against the Sun

Bunny Express Saturday 2012 (May 19)

Bunny Express Saturday is hosted every Saturday at Paranormal and Romantic Suspense Reviews.

I received these in the mail this week.

Born of Silence (The League) [Hardcover]

Product Description
In a universe where corruption and deception rule all aspects of life, sparks of rebellion threaten to ignite . . .

BORN OF SILENCE

As the Resistance leader, Zarya Starska's only goal is to topple the government that destroyed her entire family and left her penniless. Her biggest asset is a mysterious man known only as Kere.

But Kere has a dark secret. Born into a world that is as privileged as it is corrupt, his real name is Darling Cruel-and he is heir to the government Zarya wants to overthrow. No one has ever seen the real man behind the legend. No one except Zarya. But when she allows a weapon he designed to be used against his beloved sister, all bets are off.

Betrayed by the Resistance, Darling's goal is not only to reign, but to kill every Resistance member he can find. Zarya must stop Darling's reign of terror, but can she reach past his insanity to restore the hero who once fought by her side?

Product Details
Hardcover: 624 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (May 1, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0446573310
ISBN-13: 978-0446573313

Seeker of Shadows [Mass Market Paperback]

Product Description
NANCY GIDEON CONTINUES HER COMPELLING, SENSUAL NEW SERIES WITH A SEDUCTIVE TALE OF FORBIDDEN ALLEGIANCE AND REDISCOVERED LOVE.

His town.

Susanna Duchamps came to New Orleans to settle a debt and to temporarily escape the controlled constraints of her life among the Chosen. What she finds is an opportunity to make miraculous strides with her research into Shifter genetics . . . and an unexpected, but never forgotten, man from her complicated past.

Her rules.

Shifter club owner Jacques LaRoche is fiercely protective of his freedom. Stripped of his memories of a former life, he longs for the mate he lost . . . until the enticingly familiar presence of a mysterious stranger from the north ignites a primal, nearly uncontrollable need to release the untamed beast inside him.

Their last chance.

Susanna dares not tell Jacques it was she who sacrificed his past and her future years ago, to protect him and the secret she carried. But her arrival in New Orleans comes with consequences. When a bloody confrontation erupts between their enemy clans, will she betray her lover once again — or throw her own life on the line so they can finish what they started?


Product Details
Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Pocket Books (May 29, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1439199515
ISBN-13: 978-1439199510


Manga:

Nabari No Ou, Vol. 10 [Paperback]


Product Description

Yukimi's search for the true Yoite ends with a name-"Sora"-and a cruel history best left alone. A lonely soul who wandered into the Nabari world, Yoite has seen his chance to wander back out of it long since fade away, and with each passing second, his very life follows suit. Knowing now the horror of his ward's past, Yukimi races back to Yoite - but is it too late?

Product Details
Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Yen Press (May 29, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316204811
ISBN-13: 978-0316204811

Thanks Hachette Book Group Canada, Simon and Schuster Canada and Yen Press!

What did you receive in the mail this week?

RS Review: Night Moves: A Shadow Force Novel [Mass Market Paperback]

I've finished "Night Moves" the 4th book in her Shadow Force series by Stephanie Tyler.

Product Description

Anything can happen under the cover of darkness.

Kell Roberts has walked the thin line between life and death for so long that it now feels like home. He is a soldier, a survivor, and a loner. Still, Kell cannot turn his back on the beautiful woman caught in his firefight against the drug lords of Mexico. She says her name is Teddie, but Kell senses there’s much more to her story — and it’s about to pull him into a mission he didn’t sign on for: keeping her alive.

Teddie knows this lean, mean rescuer just saved her life, but the steel glint behind those soft gray eyes seem to be hiding something deep. The men after Teddie are deadly, but the man who holds her life in his hands and tempts her with his wicked touch is even more dangerous. He could make her dream about living and loving again. And if they can survive, maybe, just maybe, they can stop fighting the world and each other — and simply surrender.

About the Author

Stephanie Tyler is the author of the Shadow Force novels Lie to Me, Promises in the Dark, and In the Air Tonight, and the Navy SEAL trilogy: Hard to Hold, Too Hot to Hold, and Hold On Tight. She lives in New York with her husband, her daughter, and a crazy Weimaraner named Gus.

Product Details
Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Dell; Original edition (October 4, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0440423058
ISBN-13: 978-0440423058

My Review:

Kell and his best friend Reid are on a mission to assassinate a drug lord when a beautiful women crashes onto their site just when they are about to make their move.

Teddie Lassiter watched as her family was massacred and is out for revenge in Mexico.  She has been living in WITSEC program but has finally had enough.  She is on the hunt for the people responsible for the murder of her family.  She finally finds them only to be double-crossed and is now on the run with Kell and Reid to help her stay alive.  She's a photographer.

I really enjoyed the deep friendship that Kell and Reid have for each other.  Loved learning their background and both have family issues.

I didn't really feel a connection between Kell and Teddie other then sexual attraction.

4/5

Other books in series:

1.  Lie With Me
2.  Promises in the Dark
3.  In the Air Tonight
4.  Lonely is the Night - March 5, 2013

PNR Review: Darker After Midnight: A Midnight Breed Novel [Hardcover]

I've finished "Darker After Midnight" the 10th book in her Midnight Breed series by Lara Adrian.

Product Description

Book 10 in the New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling Midnight Breed vampire romance series

The climactic novel in Lara Adrian's New York Times bestselling Midnight Breed series -- and her hardcover debut -- Darker After Midnight invites readers to enter a thrillingly sensual world where danger meets desire.

In the dark of night, a blood war escalates within the hidden world of the Breed. After existing in secret for many long centuries, maintaining a fragile peace with the humans who walk beside them unaware, a single act of retaliation has put the entire vampire nation at risk of discovery. It falls to the Order -- a cadre of Breed warriors pledged to protect their own and humankind alike -- to stop Dragos, the power-mad vampire at the center of the conflict, before his push for domination can explode into catastrophe.

At the center of the Order's quest is Sterling Chase, once a morally rigid enforcer of Breed law, now a warrior fallen from grace, whose biggest battle is the one he wages against his own savage nature. With addiction beckoning him toward eternal darkness, Chase's path to redemption has never seemed more out of reach -- until he finds himself drawn to a beautiful young woman who may be something much more than she seems . . .

Product Details
Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Delacorte Press (January 24, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 034553087X
ISBN-13: 978-0345530875

My Review:

At the end of Deeper Then Midnight Chase Sterling run out of the compound and surrendered himself to the human cops.  He did this to give Lucan and the Order and their mates a chance to escape the compound before the cops found them.

The book opens with Chase arrested and in lock up.  Tavia Fairchild is asked to come to the station to identify the man she saw in a line up and she picks Chase.

Tavia Fairchild works as the assistant to a United States senator who just happens to be Dragos' newest minion. Tavia when she sees Chase in his vampire mode and in the throes of bloodlust she thinks he is a monster that's on a killing spree. Tavia doesn't know anything about vampires and now Dragos has an interest in her.  She devises a plan to go and get rid of Dragos.

Lucan has some very important choices to make and one of them is to flee the compound or not.  Drago's recent plan is to expose The Breed to the human population and to take over the world.

This book was well written and the action was very fast paced.

I really liked Tavia character because she was such a kick ass heroine who is a GEN 1 warrior, smart, caring, beautiful in the inside and outside and giving.

Chase was great hero because he's a hot and sexy kick ass man who is caring and smart.

The love scenes were really hot and steamy but I didn't really feel the connection between Chase and Tavia.

3/5

Other books in series:

1. Kiss of Midnight
2. Kiss of Crimson
3. Midnight Awakening
4. Midnight Rising
5. Veil of Midnight
6. Ashes of Midnight
7. Shades of Midnight
8. Taken by Midnight
9. Deeper than Midnight

Book Blogger Hop #26

This Meme is hosted by Jennifer from Crazy for Books on Fridays. 


What to Do:

1. Post on your blog answering this question:

How many books do you own? This can include books in your to-be-read (TBR) pile(s) and books you have already read that are on your keeper shelf.

2. Enter the link to your post in the linky list below (enter your Blog Name, Genre you review, and direct link to your post answering this week’s question; failure to do so will result in removal of your link). 3. Visit other blogs in the list, spending quality time getting to know the people you are visiting. Don’t just visit the post with the question, but click around and read some of the blogger’s other content, too! This Hop isn’t about the number of people you can visit, but the quality of each visit.

My Answer:

Wow I have tons of books.  I like to giveaway books that I have already read while others I like donate to my local library.   Some I give to my relatives depending on the genres.

Follow My Blog Friday #99


If you are new to the FF fun, Feature and Follow Friday is a blog hop that expands your blog following by a joint effort between bloggers. Feature & Follow Friday is now hosted by TWO hosts, myself of course and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

Now to make this FF interesting we do a FEATURE blogger. If you are interested in becoming a Feature click on the drop down link above FEATURES and Features and Follow Friday and get on the waiting list!  It is also required, that if you participate you must follow the hosts (Parajunkee and Alison Can Read) and the two Feature blogs.

This Meme is hosted by Rachel from Parajunkee's View and Alison from Alison Can Read on Fridays.

To join the fun and make now book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Host {Parajunkee.com} {Alisoncanread.com}and any one else you want to follow on the list.

2. Follow our Featured Bloggers - Addicted2Heroines and Books Galore.

3. Put your Blog name and URL in the Linky thing.

4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments

5. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can

6. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love ... and the followers

7. If your new to the Follow Friday Hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!

The Friday Follow Feature are ...

Addicted2Heroines

When did you start blogging?

I started blogging back in February 2012. The lovely and talented Cat from Addicted2Heroines, who was a friend of mine on GoodReads, asked if I would be interested in blogging on her site. I immediately agreed and have been blogging with her ever since. How lucky am I?

What is your favorite part of book blogging?

My favorite part about blogging is meeting fellow bloggers and readers who share the same interests as I do. I’ve met a lot of smart, funny and all-around awesome people in the last few months.

What is your favorite book(s)?

This is a tough one, but I’ll narrow it down to my top three series. Downside Ghosts by Stacia Kane, Fever by Karen Marie Moning and Night Huntress by Jeaniene Frost. My favorite YA series right now is Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments.

What has been the best thing that has happened to you because of book blogging?

The best thing about blogging is that I have the opportunity to review, interview and collaborate on guest posts with my favorite authors. I would have never had this opportunity had I not started book blogging.

Tribute Books Mama

1. When did you start blogging?

I started back in October 2010.

2. What is your favorite part of book blogging?

I love engaging with book lovers on a daily basis. It's always interesting to see what everyone else is reading, and to share my thoughts on the books I've read. Plus it sure is a great way to increase the height of your to-read pile!

3. What is your favorite book(s)?

I'd have to say the ones my daughter, Nicole, publishes through her indie press, Tribute Books (http://www.tribute-books.com). They are such engaging young adult ebooks like "Spectral" from Shannon Duffy and "Until Next Time: The Angel Chronicles" by Amy Lignor. It's great getting a chance to introduce new readers to these e-titles through my blog.

4. What has been the best thing that has happened to you because of book blogging?

I would have to say the friendships I have made, especially Kathy at Bermudaonion.net. I admire her so much.

Q: Summer Break is upon us! What would be the perfect vacation spot for you to catch up on your reading and relax?

1. I would love to visit either The Caribbean or one of the archaeological digs in South America.

2. I would love to visit Australia again since it's been years since I've been here. I would like go back for a few weeks.

18 and Over Book Blogger Hop #86

18 and 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.

The 18 Over Book Blogger Follow 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 and over crowd, and make new friends!

How to join in:

You should run a book blog that features and reviews mostly adult reads, some Y.A.’s are okay but 18 and  Over adult reads should be your majority.

Make a separate post for the 18 and Over Book Blogger Follow on your blog.

Copy the html for the button above and place it at the top of your post.

List and answer the ‘Question of the Week.’

Place your name and blog title in the linky below and the url for a direct link to your post

Visit the other blogs on the list. If you like what you see make sure to leave a comment and follow so the blog owner knows you stopped by and can return the favor. Following each blog is not mandatory but I know it is always appreciated, and if someone comments saying they’re a new follower it’s polite to follow back. It’s always nice to spread the 18 and Over Book Blog love!

Question of the Week:

What are you currently reading? Do you love it? Is it a new-to-you author or an old favorite? Tell us all about it! 

I'm currently reading "Royal Street" by Suzanne Johnson. I'm really enjoying it and it's a new to me author.

Royal Street [Paperback]

Product Description

As the junior wizard sentinel for New Orleans, Drusilla Jaco’s job involves a lot more potion-mixing and pixie-retrieval than sniffing out supernatural bad guys like rogue vampires and lethal were-creatures. DJ's boss and mentor, Gerald St. Simon, is the wizard tasked with protecting the city from anyone or anything that might slip over from the preternatural beyond.

Then Hurricane Katrina hammers New Orleans’ fragile levees, unleashing more than just dangerous flood waters.

While winds howled and Lake Pontchartrain surged, the borders between the modern city and the Otherworld crumbled. Now, the undead and the restless are roaming the Big Easy, and a serial killer with ties to voodoo is murdering the soldiers sent to help the city recover.

To make it worse, Gerry has gone missing, the wizards’ Elders have assigned a grenade-toting assassin as DJ’s new partner, and undead pirate Jean Lafitte wants to make her walk his plank. The search for Gerry and for the serial killer turns personal when DJ learns the hard way that loyalty requires sacrifice, allies come from the unlikeliest places, and duty mixed with love creates one bitter gumbo.

Product Details
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Tor Books; Original edition (April 10, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0765327791
ISBN-13: 978-0765327796

New Barefoot in the Sand Winner

I have picked a new winner (one previous winner didn't get back to me) of my Barefoot in the Sand Giveaway and they are:

CONGRATULATIONS:

1.  Riya (The Teen Book Guru)

Please fill out this form with your contact information, so I can send the info. to the publishers, thanks!
http://www.emailmeform.com/fid.php?formid=640430

Please comment on this post if you have won this book on another blog, so I can pick a new winner, thanks!

You will have 3 days to get back to me or else I will have to pick new winner(s), thanks!