FRIDAY FIFTY-SIX AND FRIDAY WISHLIST

 

The Friday 56 Rules:

1.Grab a book, any book

2.Turn to page 56

3.Find the fifth sentence

4.Post it

My Friday 56 is from

Velvet Haven: The Immortals of Annwyn: Book One (Annwyn Chronicles)

by Sophie Renwick from Page 56, 5th Sentence:

The house it was said, had been built by an eccentric Scotsman, Daegan McDonald, for his wife, whom he had adored.

The Friday Wishlist

What's books have you added to your wishlist this week?  These are mine.

The Soldier by Grace Burrows

The Sins of Viscount Sutherland by Samantha James

and finally

Burning Down the Spouse by Dakota Cassidy

So, share your Friday 56 and let me know what's on your wishlist-

You never know...it might show up in a contest later.

Happy Friday Everyone!

  



CONTEST WINNERS- MAYA BANKS HIDDEN AWAY

And the Winners Are:

Raonaid Luckwell

and

Karin

Please contact me at maria63303@gmail.com with your shipping

details  within 2 days.  Failure to claim your prize by Midnight

on Saturday, 5-February-2011, will result in forfeit and a re-draw of

the prize.



REVIEW/ FORBIDDEN MAGIC/ JO BEVERLY/ NAL TRADE



Title:  Forbidden Magic

Author:  Jo Beverley

Publisher: NAL, A Division of Penguin

Genre:  Historical/Paranormal

Publication Date: February 1, 2011

Print ISBN:  978-0451232182

eBook ISBN: 978-1101210437

Length:  368 Pages

Format:  Trade Size Paperback

Purchase:  Amazon

Book Description:

Left penniless after her parents' death, Meg Gillingham is in dire straits. Her cruel landlord threatens to turn her and her siblings out of their home at Christmastide -- unless she surrenders her young sister to his lecherous whims. Only a miracle can save them: a magic statue that grants wishes -- for a price.

Meg never expected the statue to bring her a handsome earl offering marriage, and warily waits for the sting in the magic's tail. Soon, however, charming, eccentric Sax is weaving magic of his own -- until the statue is lost and Meg is plunged into danger of losing him, her family, and perhaps even her life.


My Review: 

This is a sweet and light Regency romance with a heroine who has a touch of paranormal power.  The dialogue between the characters is sharp, occasionally funny and highly entertaining.  Both the primary and secondary characters drew me into their world and kept me engrossed in the story.


The heroine, Meg Gillingham, is a practical young woman whose parent's death has left her responsible for her siblings.  Unfortunately her parents left them penniless and at the mercy of their landlord, Sir Arthur Jakes, a "friend" of Meg's father.  The only heirloom her parents left is a Sheela Na Gig or "Sheelagh", a magic statue that is supposed to grant the wishes of the women in her family who can wield it's "magic".  A magic that always carries a price.  When Sir Arthur demands that Meg either pays all of the past due rent or hand over her younger sister, Laura, to be his mistress, Meg realizes she has no choice but to use the "Sheelagh" and wishes for a solution to her family's problem. 


Frederick, The Earl of Saxonhurst, or "Sax" as everyone calls him, is a fantastic hero.  He has a house full of servants who he treats as part of his family, a precocious parrot named Knox and an extremely ugly dog named Brak.  He does have some flaws though, a temper that leads to the destruction of his own property and a strong hatred toward his maternal grandmother, The Duchess of Daingerfield.  When he receives a note the day before his 25th birthday reminding him if he is not married by the end of the next day, his grandmother will get to choose his bride, he becomes desperate and confides in his servants.  One of them suggests that he marry Meg and he promptly agrees and makes his proposal via letter.  When Meg replies that she's willing to marry him if he agrees to help her take care of her younger siblings, he readily agrees and makes their wedding arrangements.


The scenes between Meg and Sax are charming and funny.  Their dialogue is highly entertaining and they have great chemistry.  Being strangers when they married, Meg and Sax have a lot to learn about each other and Ms. Beverly did an excellent job developing their characters.  Meg is afraid that Sax will discover how she "wished" him into marriage and Sax is determined to seduce his wife.  Sax is also somewhat unconventional and at times Meg wonders if she's married a mad man. 


When Meg finds herself being blackmailed by Sir Arthur, Sax has to come to her rescue, which gives them an opportunity to develop their relationship further.  The secondary characters were well done and I was happy to see the "villains" in the story get their just desserts.  The ending of the story is well done and resolved all of the open story lines.  I really enjoyed this story and look forward to reading more of this author's work.

My Rating:  4 out of 5 stars

                       

 

FTC Disclosure: The book reviewed was purchased by the review site

NEW RELEASE TUESDAY AND CONTEST

Today is a huge release day with 115 books being released.  I am highlighting one book that I can't wait to read and because I just love this author- I'm also doing a contest.

A man who shoots first and asks questions later...

Most people would take an all-expenses-paid trip to the beach in a heartbeat. Garrett Kelly only accepts to keep tabs on Sarah Daniels, who's in hiding after witnessing a murder by Marcus Lattimer, her half-brother--and a personal enemy. This gig may be beneath a disciplined soldier like Garrett, but if he gets a shot at Lattimer, it will all be worth it...



...and the ultimate moving target.



But Garrett hadn't counted on falling for Sarah. He'd considered seduction as a tactical maneuver, but when he glimpses Sarah's dark past, he feels an urgent desire to keep her safe--even after she disappears on him. Garrett doesn't know exactly who, or what, Sarah's running from, but whatever it is, she's running for her life...


I will be giving away 2 copies of this book.  To win a copy, please tell me what series this book is a part of.  The winners will be chosen by Random.org. 

Open to US and International.  Must be a follower of this blog to enter.  Contest will run until Midnight tonight and winners will be posted by Thursday, March 3rd, 2011.

Good Luck Everyone!


FDC Disclosure:  Books for the contest are being purchased by the review site.








NEW RELEASE TUESDAY - WHAT I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO

There are a lot of books being released today (48 total) but these are the ones that I can't wait to get my hands on:

Detective Eve Dallas and her partner, Peabody, are following up on a senseless crime-an elderly grocery owner killed by three stoned punks for nothing more than kicks and snacks. This is Peabody's first case as primary detective-good thing she learned from the master.

But Peabody soon stumbles upon a trickier situation. After a hard workout, she's all alone in the locker room when the gym door clatters open; and-while hiding inside a shower stall trying not to make a sound-she overhears two fellow officers, Garnet and Oberman, arguing. It doesn't take long to realize they're both crooked-guilty not just of corruption but of murder. Now Peabody, Eve, and Eve's husband, Roarke, are trying to get the hard evidence they need to bring the dirty cops down-knowing all the while that the two are willing to kill to keep their secret. 
 

Half-vampire Cat Crawfield and her vampire husband Bones have fought for their lives, as well as for their relationship. But just when they've triumphed over the latest battle, Cat's new and unexpected abilities threaten to upset a long-standing balance...

With the mysterious disappearance of vampires, rumors abound that a species war is brewing. A zealot is inciting tensions between the vampires and ghouls, and if these two powerful groups clash, innocent mortals could become collateral damage. Now Cat and Bones are forced to seek help from a dangerous "ally"--the ghoul queen of New Orleans herself. But the price of her assistance may prove more treacherous than even the threat of a supernatural war. ...to say nothing of the repercussions Cat never imagined. 

 

 

Lucy Kincaid has firsthand experience dealing with deadly criminal predators, and she’s fully prepared to share her many talents with the FBI. But when her career plans are derailed, her boyfriend, security expert Sean Rogan, asks for help on his latest private investigation. Using her well-honed cyber-hunting skills, Lucy is soon on the trail of a missing teenage girl with a penchant for disappearing—and a shocking secret life.



FBI Agent Suzanne Madeaux is also tracking someone: a serial killer on the loose in New York City. Dubbed by the press the Cinderella Strangler, he cruises seamy underground sex parties, where drug-fueled women make for easy pickings. As Lucy and Sean’s desperate search collides with the FBI’s hunt, Lucy isn’t about to step aside. Haunted by painful memories of her own harrowing encounters with evil, she’s determined to keep any more innocents from meeting the fate she so narrowly escaped. Delving deep into the twisted psyche of a remorseless killer, Lucy must confront her own fears—even if it means risking a future job with the FBI and future happiness with Sean.
 

 

What are you looking forward to buying or reading today?

A REVIEW/ IN THE DARK OF DREAMS/ MARJORIE M. LIU/ HARPER COLLINS

Title:  In The Dark of Dreams
Author:  Marjorie M. Liu
Publisher:  Harper Collins
Genre:  Paranormal Romance (Shifter)
Publication Date:  November 30, 2010
Print ISBN: 978-0062020161
eBook ISBN: 978-0062078490
Length:  384 Pages

Purchase:  AMAZON


Book Blurb:

She could never forget the boy with the ice blue eyes . . .

She was only twelve when she saw the silver boy on the beach, but Jenny has never stopped dreaming about him. Now she is grown, a marine biologist charting her own course in the family business—a corporation that covertly crosses the boundaries of science into realms of the unknown . . . and the incredible.

And now he has found her again, her boy grown into a man: Perrin, powerful and masculine, and so much more than human, leaving Jenny weak with desire and aching for his touch.

But with their reunion comes danger. For Perrin and Jenny—and all living creatures—their only hope for preventing the unthinkable lies in a mysterious empire far beneath the sea . . . and in the power of their dreams.


My Review:

In the Dark of Dreams is the 10th book in the Dirk & Steele series by Marjorie Liu, stories full of characters from legends that live among us disguised out of necessity. The author has done a fantastic job with this story, continuing to add to the world building she began with the first book in this series. I fell in love with the hero and heroine and was happy to spend time again with some of the characters from previous books.



The heroine of this story, Jenny, was fantastic. She is full of inner strength and determination in the face of adversity. Refusing to give up on her dreams, she continues to search for the boy she fell in love with when she was 12 years old. Jenny considers herself an anomaly; she’s a normal human in a family full of people with paranormal gifts. She’s very open minded in regards to what is “normal”.


The hero, Perrin, has been exiled from his people because of his refusal to give up on finding the girl he knows is his “mate”, a human. He’s full of rage and hurt towards both his father and his people for turning their backs on their own laws and for forcing him to live among humans and the toxins in their world, which make him unable to dream of Jenny. Banishing Perrin also creates a problem that the “Krackeni” have yet to discover, it was Perrin’s dreams of Jenny that kept the “beast” from waking, something that is beginning to happen.


The scenes between Jenny and Perrin are fantastic; they have great chemistry and have never lost their attraction towards each other. Ironically they also have the same fear of rejection for who and what they are, something that they both eventually have to address individually and as a couple. The secondary characters are also well done and contribute quite a bit to the story, especially Perrin’s father, who Perrin must eventually face and deal with. Like the human world, the paranormal world has both good and evil members and Ms. Liu did an excellent job of reminding us of that.


The conclusion of this story was well done and resolved most of the issues raised, though there are other issues that will now have to be addressed in future books. I look forward to see where Ms. Liu takes us next, because this series has such deep world-building, I do recommend that you read the books in order. I truly enjoyed this book and I believe you will too.

My Rating:  5 out of 5 Crowns

 




FTC Disclaimer:  This book was purchased by the reviewer for review.