Teaser Tuesday: My Soul to Keep by Rachel Vincent

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Soul to Keep

by Rachel Vincent

This third in the Soul Screamer series arrived in my mailbox this week. I couldn't wait to start it.

"We're talking about humans inhaling the toxic life force sucked out of a demon from another world." Quite possibly the weirdest sentence I'd ever said out loud...

Kaylee has been reluctantly convinced to attend a party with Nash's school friends. Things don't go well. The jock was drunk but not on alcohol.

What are you reading today? 

 

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (May 24, 2010)

It's Monday, What are you reading is a meme hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey Through a World of Books.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading, is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

This is what I read and reviewed last week:

Claire de Lune by Christine Johnson - I liked the different take on werewolves in this one.

Love in the Time of Dragons by Katie MacAlister -- This was an over-the-top silly book. It was great fun to read.

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean -- This was a pleasant book to read. It was a typical historical romance with a cynical hero and an innocent heroine.

The last two books were not on my plan last week. I needed a couple of books that would fit in my purse to carry along while I spent time in waiting rooms. These were in a handy pile and looked good to grab for a quick read.

I am currently reading...

Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead

Dimitri gave Rose the ultimate choice. But she chose wrong...

After a long and heartbreaking journey to Dimitri's birthplace in Siberia, Rose Hathaway has finally returned to St. Vladimir's-and to her best friend, Lissa. It is nearly graduation, and the girls can't wait for their real lives beyond the Academy's iron gates to begin. But Rose's heart still aches for Dimitri, and she knows he's out there, somewhere.

She failed to kill him when she had the chance. And now her worst fears are about to come true. Dimitri has tasted her blood, and now he is hunting her. And this time he won't rest until Rose joins him... forever.

Next week I plan to read:

My Soul to Keep by Rachel Vincent

Running with the Pack anthology

Alex Van Helsing by Jason Henderson

White Cat by Holly Black

Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelson

Most of these are carryovers from last week's post because Spirit Bound and My Soul to Keep arrived and jumped to the head of the line. We'll see how well I do sticking to the plan next week.

If you do this meme, give me a link to your post. I like to see how others are doing. Have a great reading week!

Review: Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead

Spirit Bound

Author: Richelle Mead

Publication: Razorbill (May 18, 2010)

Description: Dimitri gave Rose the ultimate choice. But she chose wrong...

After a long and heartbreaking journey to Dimitri's birthplace in Siberia, Rose Hathaway has finally returned to St. Vladimir's-and to her best friend, Lissa. It is nearly graduation, and the girls can't wait for their real lives beyond the Academy's iron gates to begin. But Rose's heart still aches for Dimitri, and she knows he's out there, somewhere.

She failed to kill him when she had the chance. And now her worst fears are about to come true. Dimitri has tasted her blood, and now he is hunting her. And this time he won't rest until Rose joins him... forever.

********** SPOILERS AHEAD **********

My Thoughts:  This was an excellent episode in the Vampire Academy series. There are so many problems facing Rose in this book.

She wants to find a way to change Dmitri back from being strigoi. To do that she has to break Victor out of his maximum security prison. Victor's brother may have the way to change strigois back. However, when Dmitri attacks them in Las Vegas, Victor and his brother escape. Rose learns the way to reclaim strigoi but she can't use it. The process needs a spirit user to stake the strigoi. Rose is not about to let Lissa anywhere near Dmitri. However, Dmitri kidnaps Lissa and Christian as bait to get to Rose. In the battle to get Lissa and Christian back, Dmitri is staked by Lissa and changes back to a dhampir. Naturally, this miraculous happening is not easily accepted. Dmitri is guilt stricken and ends the relationship with Rose. Rose being Rose is not willing to accept that.

Meanwhile, moroi politics happens. Queen Tatania and the council push through a law that will graduate dhampir at 16 instead of 18 so that they can become guardians sooner. This also helps avoid the question of whether or not the moroi should be taught to fight so that they can help themselves and not require so many guardians. Lissa turns 18 but is blocked from taking her seat on the council as the last of the Dragomirs because of an obscure law.

The court is in a state of upheaval over various strigoi attacks and the court rulings when bad abruptly gets worse. Someone has killed Tatania and all the evidence points to Rose. Then the book ends....

One of my friends is waiting for the series to end before she begins reading it. Right now, I envy her. I will be on tenterhooks waiting for the next installment of this series to find out how Rose survives this latest crisis. Is she convicted of murder on the circumstantial evidence provided? Is Lissa the last of the Dragomirs? Does she ever get back together with Dmitri? And what about Adrian? Please tell me that I don't have to wait a year for the next installment.

Challenges: RYOB Reading Challenge, 2010 YA Reading Challenge

Review: Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake

Author: Sarah MacLean

Publication: Avon; Original edition (March 30, 2010)

Description: A lady does not smoke cheroot. She does not ride astride. She does not fence or attend duels. She does not fire a pistol, and she never gambles at a gentlemen's club.

Lady Calpurnia Hartwell has always followed the rules, rules that have left her unmarried—and more than a little unsatisfied. And so she's vowed to break the rules and live the life of pleasure she's been missing.

But to dance every dance, to steal a midnight kiss—to do those things, Callie will need a willing partner. Someone who knows everything about rule-breaking. Someone like Gabriel St. John, the Marquess of Ralston—charming and devastatingly handsome, his wicked reputation matched only by his sinful smile.

If she's not careful, she'll break the most important rule of all—the one that says that pleasure-seekers should never fall hopelessly, desperately in love . . .

My Thoughts: The summary pretty much says it all. This was a very pleasant historical romance. The characters were well-drawn and interesting. Callie was innocent without being missish. As a spinster with not matrimonial prospects and a younger sister newly engaged to a Duke no less, Callie's disappointment with her life hits a peak. She was determined to change her life and makes a list of a number of things that she has not been able to do -- like "kiss someone passionately", She was a romantic and she believed in marrying for love. Callie has had a crush on Gabriel St. John, Marquess of Ralston, since he spoke to her kindly during her first season.

Gabriel was a rake and a cynic who didn't believe in love at all. Being abandoned by his mother at age ten and watching his father die because of his love for her has convinced him that nothing good can come from falling in love. However, he needed someone of high breeding with impeccable manners to introduce his newly discovered half-sister to the ton. Since Callie needed Gabriel to help her cross off the items on her wishlist for her new freedoms, they struck a deal.

There was nothing ground-breaking in this book. I have probably read 100 just like it. It was a light, cotton candy sort of book - sweet with no nutritional value. If you are looking for a fun historical romance to wile away a few hours, this is an excellent choice.

Challenges: RYOB Reading Challenge

 

In My Mailbox (May 23, 2010)

The weekly In My Mailbox post is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren. It is fun to see what everyone else gets in their mailboxes, shopping bags, and library visits. Click on the link to The Story Siren's site to see the rules and join in the fun.

I guarantee that your TBR pile will grow when you see all the cool books everyone gets. You will discover lots of wonderful blogs and lots of books that you won't be able to live without.

I added quite a few books to my Kindle this week.

Wicked Becomes You by Meredith Duran has a lovely cover and I saw it on someone's IMM post last week. They gave a plot summary that sounded interesting. I like to read a historical romance every once in a while and this one looked good.

I got Armed & Magical and The Trouble with Demons by Lisa Shearin because, for some reason, I bought book 4 in the series a while ago and then realized that I didn't yet have 2 & 3 in the series.

Claiming Their Mate by Paige McKellan and Her Chosen Wolf by Renee Michaels were both inexpensive books. They are paranormal romances - possibly erotic. I thought they looked interesting.

I have heard so much about Larissa Ione but have never read anything by her. I decided to see what all the fuss was about and bought Pleasure Unbound.

These books were free for the Kindle this week.

Executive Privilege with Bonus Materials by Phillip Margolin, Milrose Munce and the Den of Professional Help by Douglas Anthony Cooper, and Heat of Passion by Elle Kennedy all sounded interesting.

I did get a few print books this week too.

While I was browsing around Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore waiting for Robin Hobb's author signing to begin, I saw Dark Oracle by Alayna Williams. The blurb on the back cover sounded good. Here is part of the blurb:

As a criminal profiler, Tara used science and her intuitive skill at Tarot card divination to track down the dangerous and depraved, including the serial killer who left her scarred from head to toe. Since that savage attack, Tara has been a recluse. But now an ancient secret society known as Delphi’s Daughters has asked for her help in locating missing scientist Lowell Magnusson. And Tara, armed with her Tarot deck, her .38, and a stack of misgivings, agrees to try.

I also bought a print copy of Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb. This is the first in her new series The Rain Wilds Chronicles. I hauled along all of my accessible Robin Hobb books and ended up getting 10 books autographed. The Liveship Trader Trilogy is packed away in Storage Box 3 and I wasn't going to go digging.

I also got Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth. It has gotten such good reviews that I had to add it to my stack. I want to know more about The President's Vampire.

That is what I got this week. What did you get?

 

Review: Love in the Time of Dragons by Katie MacAlister

Love in the Time of Dragons

Author: Katie MacAlister

Publication: Signet; Original edition (May 4, 2010)

Description: When it comes to love, one woman is scaling back her expectations...

Tully Sullivan is just like any other suburban mom-except she's just woken up in a strange place surrounded by strange people who keep insisting that they're dragons-and that she's one too.

My Thoughts: I was between books and needed something quick to throw in my purse because I had appointments and thought I would be having some "down" time. This was an excellent romp. I found it very funny. The main character was definitely ADD. She apparently has no filter between her brain and her mouth and has the attention span of a butterfly. Of course, she wasn't alone in this. All of the characters seemed to be very easily distracted.

Tully, also known and Ysolde de Bouchier, awakens in the home of some silver dragons and is told that she is also a dragon. She does not believe them and thinks they are crazy. To add to the zaniness, she is also told that she is the mate to the dreaded black dragon Baltic. Baltic is known to be evil and is the bogeyman of all dragon cultures. Tully slips between visions of her past life and the current time as she tries to figure out what is going on. Baltic has been the villian in some of MacAlister's dragon books so it is interesting to see him as the hero of this one. He is a very unlikely hero as the quote at the end shows. Tully, however, is not the least afraid of him or of anyone. She is determined to force a peace between the warring septs and have Baltic become accepted by the other dragons.

Honestly, the plot was so convoluted that it can't be described in less than the 300+ pages of the book. If you can suspend belief and just go along for the ride the book is an enjoyable experience. I laughed out loud a number of times as I tore through this book. The descriptions were so entertaining. At one point, the dragons call a sarkany which is a very serious meeting to discuss things like war and deaths. However, Tully decides to make it into a party with champagne and appetizers. She comments to Baltic at one point that "This is like a bizarre love child of Martha Stewart and the Nuremburg Trials."

My Favorite Quote:

"Why on earth did I ever think you were a reasonable man?" I cried, slapping my hands on my legs.

He looked up from where he was about to remove my panties, honestly surprised. "I don't know. I'm not reasonable."

Recommended for the lover of fantasy and paranormal who wants a light, funny book.

Challenges: RYOB Reading Challenge

Friday Memes: Love in the Time of Dragons by Katie MacAlister

Happy Friday everybody!!

Book Beginnings

Book Beginnings on Friday is a meme hosted by Becky at Page Turners. Anyone can participate; just share the opening sentence of your current read, making sure that you include the title and author so others know what you're reading. If you like, share with everyone why you do, or do not, like the sentence.

The Friday 56

Rules:

• 
  
  Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
• 
  
  Turn to page 56.
• 
  
  Find the fifth sentence.
• 
  
  Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of Storytime with Tonya and Friends.
• 
  
  Post a link along with your post back to Storytime with Tonya and Friends.
• 
  
  Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Love in the Time of Dragons

Author: Katie MacAlister

Publication: Signet; Original edition (May 4, 2010)

Beginning:

"You're going to be on your knees saying prayers for hours if Lady Alice finds you here."

Page 56; 5th sentence:

With a snarl, he lunged at me, moving so fast I could barely follow him. I didn't even have time to scream before he spun me around, ripping off my cloak and shredding my surcoat. I ran forward, sobbing, intent on escaping the suddenly mad warrior, but he caught me, pressing me into the wall as he tore the cotte until only my chemise his my skin from his view.

I'm a bit past that part. Never fear, the mad warrior only wanted to see if the speaker had a tattoo on her back.

Thus far this is a light read with an extemely sarcastic heroine.