Stacking the Shelves #52

Stacking The Shelves is all about the books we are adding to our shelves each week, sharing with you our excitement for our newest titles and maybe have you discover a new book in the process!

This new feature is hosted by Tynga from Tynga's Reviews.

This week I got:

From the Book Depository:

• Tempest
• Through the Ever Night

Won from a giveaway:

• Black City (Thank you, Amanda!)
• Rose Daughter (Thank you, Laura!)

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Are they not gorgeous? *-* Can't wait to read them all!
I just hope Tempest doesn't disappoint me. People don't seem to like it much... well, we'll see. ;)

What did you get this week?

Review: A Love Beyond Time by Judie Aitken

A Love Beyond Time
by Judie Aitken

When anthropologist Ryan Burke joins a dig at the site of Little Big Horn, she realizes that not everyone is excited about the opportunity. Renowned Indian affairs lawyer Dillon Wolf wants to shut the project down. But when Ryan is given an old tribal tipi, she journeys to the past -- where the tension between her and a Lakota warrior named Wolf erupts...into passion.

Genre: Adult, Time-Travel Romance

Publication Date: Jan 1st 2000

Publisher: Jove

Format: Mass Market paperpack, 378 pages 

Series: no

Source: Better World Books


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My Review

I am a sucker for romantic time-travel books. Really, that's almost an understatement. I mean, who wouldn't prefer a manly warrior or a cultured 'Don Juan' to these brainless twits in their 'YOLO' shirts, and pants hanging half-off their hips, and wearing so much 'bling' it's almost blinding? That's why I prefer to escape reality with my books.

The first part of A Love Beyond Time is a bit slow, I won't lie. I almost put it down a couple of times. But, luckly, I did not. This one had to have been one of the most amazing books I've read in quite a while. It had everything! EVERYTHING a good time-travel romance should have. I was immersed in the Native American culture, I lived their lives, I saw their language, could almost hear their voices, feel their pain and happiness. And I fell in love with Wolf right along with Ryan (love the boy name for the heroine, BTW). It was an amazing experience. Now I want a hot Native American for myself and that is KILLING me. :P LOL.

The Indians were so... blunt and unselfconscious and to the point about things, but, at the same time, so unafraid to show their feelings, and unembarrassed about their emotions, and also so kind and accepting! That's what I love about different times/cultures. The screaming differences! If it were the other way, an Indian in the middle of white people, I suspect he wouldn't have been received with half as much respect. Just sayin'.

So, that's all you need to know: this was a fantastic creation, filled with excellent characters and well-researched dates, places and local customs. There's even mystery and crime-solving! Simply put, it's a DELIGHT to read. A forbidden pleasure you'll want to savor slowly, but quickly, and without pause. (it'll make sense if you read it, I assure you). I read it in one sitting and wanted to bite the head off of anyone who dared try to interrupt me. Truly.

Don't judge it by the cover and don't let it pass even if you don't like romance, but like actual history in historicals, or vice versa. It has plenty of both and something for everyone. Too bad the author hasn't written anything else. I felt the same about Jack Knife and The Sterkarm Handshake. ANYWAY, get your used copy TODAY (it's out of print and unavailable in ebook format, unfortunately), but it's really worth it. ;)

Lovely Book Chair

Doesn't look very comfy, but it DOES looks great.

Stacking the Shelves #51

Stacking The Shelves is all about the books we are adding to our shelves each week, sharing with you our excitement for our newest titles and maybe have you discover a new book in the process!

This new feature is hosted by Tynga from Tynga's Reviews.

This week I got:

From Better World Books:

• Rot & Ruin
• Speak
• Sean Griswold's Head
• Code Name Verity

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WOW! The hardcover edition of Rot & Ruin is so gorgeous! *-* So many details! Too bad this is a used book, and so the dustkacket is enveloped in plastic and glued to the cover. If I remove  it, it will ruin the interior drawings of the book. :( 
I'll just have to live with the plastic, I guess. LOL.

What did you get this week?

Review: Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris

Grave Secret (Harper Connelly #4)
by Charlaine Harris

Lightning-struck sleuth Harper Connelly and her stepbrother Tolliver take a break from looking for the dead to visit the two little girls they both think of as sisters. But, as always happens when they travel to Texas, memories of their horrible childhood resurface.

To make matters worse, Tolliver learns from his older brother that their father is out of jail and trying to reestablish contact with other family members. Tolliver wants no part of the man- but he may not have a choice in the matter.

Soon, family secrets ensnare them both, as Harper finally discovers what happened to her missing sister, Cameron, so many years before.

And what she finds out will change her world forever.

Genre: Adult, Paranormal

Publication Date: Oct 27th 2009

Publisher: Berkley

Format: Mass Market Paperback, 306 pages 

Series: yes

Source: my own copy

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My Review

I wasn't expecting to enjoy this serias as much as I did. I happened upon the first volume and decided to give it a try after SO many Sookie books. I have always been attracted to the paranormal, i.e., mediums, ghosts, the whole thing. I don't necessarily BELIEVE in the people that say they have the power to talk/see/help the dead, but I DO like to read about it and ponder over the possibility.

I quickly warmed up to Harper and to Harris' no-nonsense narration. She's very to-the-point (no wonder how short her books are), and that is always refreshing to me. Sometimes too much description takes over the real plot and makes the reader lose some of the focus that should be on the story, not the surroundings. Not that Harris doesn't manage to make us aware of the places where the story takes place, she does, but she ALSO makes it all much more easy to digest. The same goes for secondary characters' descriptions. I like it very much, but some may not.

Like I said, Harper was a delight. Even when people kept pestering her to do her corpse-searching job right, and then acting in disbelief about the 'legitimacy' of her very accurate results, she would always find the best way to deal with the complainer. In this last book Harper FINALLY had the chance to prove she is capable of taking care of herself, and I was happy to see it happening, as she always came off quite dependant upon her brother-turned-lover, not to mention almost weak. And not just physically weak, but mentally as well, sometimes.

The book managed to close every mystery that was still open (what happened to Harper's sister, what was the deal with her and Tolliver's other siblings, etc) AND still surprised us some things we didn't quite see coming (at least not in MY case. I could not have been more surprised. LOL). I was also suprised with the romance between them, but I quickly got over it.

The series isn't perfect, sure, but there is SOMEthing about it.... I enjoyed it so much that after I was done with the first book, I instantly grabbed the second, and then so on. I ignored my immense TBR list and found time to read the four books, one right after the other, as quickly as possible. And if THAT doesn't tell you something, then I don't know what else to say. ;)

Same goes for books.

A new word for 'book-buying-compulsion'

A great new word for 'book-buying-compulsion'. ;)

Stacking the Shelves #50

Stacking The Shelves is all about the books we are adding to our shelves each week, sharing with you our excitement for our newest titles and maybe have you discover a new book in the process!

This new feature is hosted by Tynga from Tynga's Reviews.

This week I got:

From my local bookstore:

• Rogue Rider

From an online trade:

• Incarceron
• Graceling

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It's time I read Incarceron and Graceling, huh? I keep hearing so much about them. :)
Too bad these covers are not as pretty as the ones for the hardcover editions.

What did you get this week?

Come on, Belle!

Well, played, bookstore.

Stacking the Shelves #49

Stacking The Shelves is all about the books we are adding to our shelves each week, sharing with you our excitement for our newest titles and maybe have you discover a new book in the process!

This new feature is hosted by Tynga from Tynga's Reviews.

This week I got:

From my local bookstore:

• The Evolution of Mara Dyer

From an online trade:

• Casual Vacancy
• Intertwined

From a local used book store:

• Identical

Won from a giveaway:

• Tilt (Thank you, Nichole from www.yareads.com!)

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What did you get this week?

How come!?

Forever Alone Reading

Oh, man. That is so me. And that is so sad. LOL!! XD

Worst part is: I don't even care much.

Stacking the Shelves #48

Stacking The Shelves is all about the books we are adding to our shelves each week, sharing with you our excitement for our newest titles and maybe have you discover a new book in the process!

This new feature is hosted by Tynga from Tynga's Reviews.

This week I got:

Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night

No Rest for the Wicked

A Hunger Like No Other

Shadow's Claim

Kiss of a Demon King

Pleasure of a Dark Prince

Dreams of a Dark Warrior

Lothaire

I loved Demon From the Dark, which was the first book by Kresley Cole I ever read, so much that I decided to get Playing Easy to Get, so I could read the first tale of the series. I enjoyed it as well, and then went uncontrollably ka-razy and bought the whole series. There you go. XD

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What did you get this week?

I am NOT addicted!! Just one more chapter...

Review: Switched by Amanda Hocking

Switched (Trylle #1)
by Amanda Hocking

When Wendy Everly was six years old, her mother was convinced she was a monster and tried to kill her. Eleven years later, Wendy discovers her mother might have been right. She’s not the person she’s always believed herself to be, and her whole life begins to unravel—all because of Finn Holmes.

Finn is a mysterious guy who always seems to be watching her. Every encounter leaves her deeply shaken…though it has more to do with her fierce attraction to him than she’d ever admit. But it isn’t long before he reveals the truth: Wendy is a changeling who was switched at birth—and he’s come to take her home.

Now Wendy’s about to journey to a magical world she never knew existed, one that’s both beautiful and frightening. And where she must leave her old life behind to discover who she’s meant to become…

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Publication Date: Jan 3rd 2012

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Format: ARC, 318 pages 

Series: unbelievably, yes

Source: my own copy (ARC), which I got from a trade

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My Review:

Ouch. This review is going to be one hell of a BURN, so I'm making sure to let you know this ahead of time. If you don't like slightly mean reviews, please go check my other, more gushing ones. 

This is the first time I've bothered to write a 1-star review, so you can already tell how much this one bugged me. If this was an ebook, I'd have just deleted it after the first chapter, just to get it over it... BUT, as this one was a physical copy (an ARC, as a matter of fact, so maybe things got better in the final edition?), I pushed myself to actually make more of an effort.

What. A waste. Of livable lifetime.

Seriously.

• Characters: A bunch of maladjusted, rude, spoiled, unpleasant, self-centered, self-important, ignorant MORONS, aka, 'trolls'. They may look pretty on the outside, but damn, they are COMPLETELY rotten on the inside. Talk about assholes. And that applies especially to our dear main-character, Wendy. She has a stupid name, evil powers, an amazing 'host' family and she couldn't be more of an ungrateful, useless bitch. YES, I'm pissed off at her. Her 'mother' really should have killed her when she had the chance. Too bad her 'brother' managed to save her. A waste of oxygen and space, that's all she is. Or, in this case, of paper and ink. If I had to find one good thing about her.... uhm... well, this is awkward. Let's see... maybe.... no. How about... argh. Ok, I got it! She has brown hair and eyes. THAT'S IT. That is ALL that is good about her. (I am fed up with the hordes of blondes and redheads). 
• Plot: It had promise. I was curious about the changeling thing and to see what was the author's vision of trolls, buuuuuuuut... the whole 'I'm too lazy to raise my children, so I'll send them over to wealth human families to be raised as spoiled, rich teens, and then I'll bring them back and use their money, while we pretend I never sent them away in the first place.' Hum... I do not think that sounds like a very good enough reason, if you ask me.

The only reason I didn't DNF Switched was because I found myself in a very boring situation, away from home and other books/options of entertainment, and was forced to read the whole thing for lack of anything better to do. I know, the truth may hurt, but it's still the truth. Otherwise I'd have just given it up and started on the next title from my TBR list. 

In a nutshell, if, like me, you start this book and feel like you cannot go through the freaking FIRST chapter, don't keep your hopes up that things might get better. They won't. So don't bother.

Great Bookmark