Tag: female characters

Books, fantasy, funny, great reads, Out of the Box Blogs, paranormal romance, Reviews, Romance

The Curse of the Tenth Grave by: Darynda Jones

Les

 

Ok I just finished this like 5 minutes ago. I couldn’t wait to share it!!!

It’s no secret, I obviously got the ARC for this book, since it won’t be out until June 28th.

If you are a fan of the Charley Davidson series, then preorder it and clear that day on your schedule, because you aren’t gonna want to miss a single moment.
I loved this book!!!!!! Darynda Jones has done it again!! I usually lose interest in a series around book 3 or 4. This is book 10 and I am no where ready for this series to end!!!!! I love the ending!

In this book Charley is kicking asses. She is coming into her powers and it shows. She is still funny and quirky, but she is more self aware this time around.

It’s like in the beginning of the series when Charley was comfortable with herself and knew what she was at that time. She was amazing. Then, in later books I feel like she lost herself because she didn’t know who or what she actually was, or what she is capable of. Now I feel like she is back to being comfortable. And boy is she enjoying her new tricks!!!!

Reyes is as hot as always!!! Sometimes I wish I was Aunt Lillian, so I could check Reyes out while he is using George.

Read this book right now!!! I couldn’t put it down. It won’t disappoint!!!
Peace,

Les

Books, fantasy, funny, great reads, paranormal romance, Reviews, Romance

Some Girls Bite: A Chicagoland Vampire Novel by: Chloe Neill

Les

So I don’t even know how I came across this book! But, I did so here you go.

Grad student Merit has her life pretty much where she wants it. She’s a geek and working on her dissertation in English Literature. Then one night she is attack and everything changes….

Merit is attacked and almost killed, a vampire Ethan saves her life by turning her into a vampire. Plot twist, humans know the vampires exist. The vampires run by select houses have come out of hiding and are living among the mortals. There are also other supernaturals in the story just for shits and giggles. Kidding, they are important too.

Now she must decide if she wants to be an outcast vampire, or pledge allegiance to Ethan and his house. The vampires are run by houses and Ethan is the master of his, one of the oldest houses. She must come to terms with the fact she can never have the future she planned and decide whether to accept her new life or become a rogue vampire cast aside. Also, she will need to help figure out why humans are being murdered just as she almost was.

Ok now that I got that out of the way. I can tell you my thoughts. This is actually a good story. It has a good bit of whity humor. I like Merit most of the time. I think sometimes she is whiny, but I got over it. Most of this story is leading up to what Merit will decide and how her future will be formed. Of course, her and Ethan have the hots for each other. I wouldn’t have expected anything else. I must inform you that this is not a “oh my gosh he saved my life, I love him” story. Thank you for that!!!!

Merit is strong willed and spunky and sometimes gets herself into trouble, but she is not in need of someone to save her. That is refreshing.

I did however think that the human murders seemed really important in the beginning then got pushed to the background, so that made the ending feel rushed.

THIS IS A SERIES!!!!! I will be reading the second book.

So go check it out and see how it all plays out.
Peace!

Les

Books, fantasy, funny, great reads, indie author, Out of the Box Blogs, paranormal romance, Romance, scifi, steampunk, Urban Fantasy

If I Can’t Judge A Book By Its Cover…

Karen

Jaws

 

So we have all heard the famous quote “Don’t judge a book by its cover” but seriously how else are you suppose to pick a new book? Now I know what you’re thinking: the blurb, a recommendation or even how many stars it has on goodreads..but let’s be honest here, what do you see first? What do we all add at the top of the post for that eye catching extra like? THE COVER! But unlike the awesome cover I’ve snatched to catch your attention (yes I know you might be thinking, that’s the movie poster. That’s how great the cover was, they used it as the movie poster as well. Score one for that cover artist) not all covers were created equal. So what is the biggest problems we run into with covers? Here are my cover grips. These are all very subjective so please take them that way:

  1. It doesn’t match. If you’re a book nerd like me then you’ve done it, you know bought that book at 2am that has the most amazing cover, and didn’t read the blurb. But that cover, ugh it’s everything you’ve dreamed about! You don’t even need a summary of the story, it is the summary people. And then you start reading..ummm wait what? Maybe I accidentally bought the wrong book??? It’s like a bait and switch, you have a story on the cover that you never see in the book. Some covers have gone so far for me as the have aliens, robots that are minor characters or even one showed a main character of a really cool Tim Burton fantasy kinda guy on it, the main character was a girl..I never found him in the book!
  2. The oversell. Now this is the cover that does have something to do with the story, it just ends up being way bigger than the book. You know the cover that makes you think, this book is going to be 5 stars, guaranteed..and it’s just not living up to its cover potential. There are some breathtaking covers out there, truly gorgeous, but I fear them the most because I want the books to be just as breathtaking. You never know until you read.
  3. The undersell. This one is the easiest and yet the worst at the same time. It’s the ones where the cover is just plain old bad, and yet the book is amazing. Think of all the books you’ve passed on that are gold, or that later someone has convinced you to read and then you loved it. Now here is the cringe moment, think of all the books you passed on that no one convinced you to read that might have been gold..I know I’m not sleeping tonight either. I’d love to say I never would be so shallow as to just make a decision based solely on looks but I’m going to fess up here, I have an author I have read for 8 years that I passed on the first time because of the cover. They are notorious for their bad covers now but back then they were newbies and it made a difference. Fortunately for me someone talked me into trying them (very fortunately for me, I absolutely love them) but I actually put their book down the first time. A lot of people say that covers don’t make as much of a difference now that most people have gone digital and download their books, but I say to them, how do you pick which books your going to read a blurb on? I still look at covers on Amazon or Goodreads. I just don’t buy that argument.

Okay let’s flip this coin. I hate bad covers, you guys got that point but I’m sure authors don’t like them either. So what makes covers so tricky? Well this is what I’ve learned over the years, but indies if there is something I’m missing, comment! Back to cover art, Why oh why is it so hard to match? Here’s what my forage and gathering skills have gleaned:

  1. If you are a published author you don’t get to decide. That’s right, if you get a publishing house, they ultimately pick the cover they think will make the most, and here is the shocking part…MONEY. I know, I know, sometimes you see those covers and think how is a half naked man going to sell more urban fantasy novels? Or, really another really hot goth looking chick/dude? That’s not what the main character even looks like. Well apparently here is the stitch, they don’t care. They are hoping you buy the book cause you’re a UF freak like me (I mean fan, yeah that was a typo) and they hope someone else buys it cause their is a chick on the cover with a flaming sword. As long as they sell books.
  2. For indie’s sometimes $$$ makes a difference. Okay so you have this vision, and it’s awesome, I mean you want what’s in your brain to become print on your cover. And it’s going to be epic. But let’s be honest here, you have to foot the bill for the book, and you don’t have big brother who, though they would basically be making your cover decisions for you, they would also be helping pay upfront fees. You just can’t afford the Lexus, so you have to buy the Kia, don’t get me wrong it’s great, just not exactly what you were picturing in your head.
  3. You get the picture. Sometimes you can get an amazing cover but the story just doesn’t connect. Hey this is why everything is so subjective, maybe it’s my problem. I recently read an authors blog that said, sometimes a bad review is just the reviewers problem. HEY! As a reviewer I didn’t love that but I’m glad the author posted it, because if I’m the only one complaining than it’s on me. Now if everyone is complaining…

 

My favorite cover is PB

the sad thing is that this is no longer the cover for this book but I have always loved it. What is your favorite cover? Let me know!

Books, great reads, Out of the Box Blogs, Reviews, Romance

Confessions Of A Queen B* by: Crista McHugh

Les

I’M BACK!!!!!!! Sorry for my absence. I have let work, illness, and life take me away from the reading and blogging I have grown to love. I have decided that one day a week I will blog, even if it has to be shorter than I would like. I need to take back my life and return to this passion that holds such a special place in my soul.

So without further ado…………..

Confessions of A Queen B* is a book I received at a book convention following meeting the author. She is a super funny and sweet lady.

Can I just say I love the title of this book. Notice the asterisk next to the B, at first I thought this is going to be the confessions of the most popular girl in school. WRONG! This is the confessions of the Queen Bitch of the school, please don’t confuse them, they are so far apart from each other. Everyone probably remembers the Queen Bee in their high school. I know I do. Do you remember the Queen Bitch? I have to admit that I do, because I was either her or her best friend. I never hold my tongue, so the good, the bad and the ugly always come out. But while me and Alexis the main character in this story may have a lot in common we are also different.

Alexis is super smart, pretty and mean as hell. She has a blog that everyone is scared to end up on. She posts blogs about random wrongdoings of teachers and students at her school. People avoid her, and are afraid of her. They think she is a heartless bitch. I have found that most people who are believed to be heartless (like myself) are the exact opposite, but they have closed them selves off due to specific things that have happened. For Alexis, it is the incident where her best friend reads her diary in front of the whole school in junior high, and so she decides she will never be a victim of the popular kids harassment or the butt of their jokes ever again. So she shows no fear and turns the tables on them, and they fear her for it. I know this feeling, I was picked on in school. I had decided enough was enough, no more holding my tongue, and I stood up for myself and I never looked back. I didn’t take anyone’s crap, so I was left alone to do my own thing.  Any way this is just me saying that I connected with Alexis, and I was kind of like her.

Enter Brett, too nice to be my favorite type of guy, but amazing nonetheless. he is Alexis’ partner in health class, for the parenting of the “baby”. He is the star quarterback, and the object of the Queen bee’s obsession. Alexis and Brett argue and get under each others skin like crazy, and the Queen Bee (Summer) is not happy about him spending time with Alexis. Brett however is enjoying spending time with her, and driving her crazy.

 

So now that my rant, and the characters are out of the way, lets move on. This story starts when Alexis gets paired with Brett, when names are drawn out of a hat for a health class project, where they have to be parents to the fake baby. Automatically, Alexis thinks that Brett is the typical jock, who will pawn all the work off on her and she will be stuck with the spawn of Satan the whole time. He surprises her by suggesting they trade off every 24 hours. Then, uh oh she realizes when a piece of paper falls out of his back pack that he didn’t pick her name out of the hat, he had really picked someone else’s name. Now she believes he has an ulterior motive to working on the project with her.

So they are driving each other crazy, Alexis knows nothing about babies, but Brett having younger twin sisters, he knows a lot and that aggravates her. Then lets get to the issues. There is someone filming the cheerleaders in the locker room. one of those cheerleaders is Alexis’ sister. She brings it to Alexis and so of course the Queen B finds the camera and leaves a message for the person filming it. She thinks its all done with when they take the videos down, but it’s not. You know me you will have to read it to find out the rest of what happens.

This is the part I don’t understand about Alexis, she is the Queen B, right? Well why is she trying to hide that she is hanging out with Brett after school? She is trying to hide from the rumor mills, but why? My guess is she cares what people think, and doesn’t want any of the headache that will come about being spotted with the “Golden Boy” of the school. I mean if your the Queen B, then you shouldn’t care what people think. I believe no one should care what people think. Also, its kind of sad that she has closed herself off so much that she only has two friends.

All in all this was a great story and a quick read. I will admit to you that there are a couple of editing errors, but none so major that I wanted to put the book down. I set out today to read this book just so I could blog tonight and i have accomplished my goal.

So go out read it! I will be moving on to the second book! Go easy on me guys, I am a little rusty here.

Yep it feel GREAT to be back!!!!!!!!!!