2011 June | Pages of Forbidden Love

Waiting on Wednesday (11)

June 15, 2011 By Alexa 9 Comments

This is a great weekly theme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine to show off the books that we are looking forward to that haven’t been released yet.

Summary:
The noise between Patch and Nora is gone. They’ve overcome the secrets riddled in Patch’s dark past…bridged two irreconcilable worlds…faced heart-wrenching tests of betrayal, loyalty and trust…and all for a love that will transcend the boundary between heaven and earth. Armed with nothing but their absolute faith in one another, Patch and Nora enter a desperate fight to stop a villain who holds the power to shatter everything they’ve worked for—and their love—forever.

Release Date:
October 4th, 2011

Why I’m Excited
I do enjoy this series and Crescendo left off on a cliffhanger! So I’m looking forward to watching how this series ends because who doesn’t like bad boy Patch, even if Nora can be annoying at times. Plus this cover is amazing!

What are you waiting on?

Filed Under: Waiting on Wednesday (WOW)

Wolfsbane

June 13, 2011 By Alexa 7 Comments

Title: Wolfsbane
Author: Andrea Cremer

Publisher: Philomel

Publication Date: July 26th, 2011

Classification: YA Novel

Challenge: Outdo Yourself

Summary from Barnes and Noble:

This thrilling sequel to the much-talked-about Nightshade begins just where it ended-Calla Tor wakes up in the lair of the Searchers, her sworn enemy, and she’s certain her days are numbered. But then the Searchers make her an offer-one that gives her the chance to destroy her former masters and save the pack-and the man-she left behind. Is Ren worth the price of her freedom? And will Shay stand by her side no matter what? Now in control of her own destiny, Calla must decide which battles are worth fighting and how many trials true love can endure and still survive.

My Thoughts:
Mostly what I have to say about this book is wow, what a roller coaster ride. In this book we finally see more of the Searchers and learn pieces of the real history of the Searchers and the Keepers. We also finally get to learn more about Shay and what role he is going to play in the war that will eventually happen between the two sides. However, while we learn more about the Searcher’s world we also are stuck wondering for some time what exactly has happened to Calla’s pack back in Vail.

I don’t want to give too much away because I don’t want to tell anyone any of the secrets and big reveals that happen in this book. Trust me there is new stuff to learn at every turn. A whole batch of new characters that will wrap around your heartstrings just like all of the wolves did in the first book. I know personally I was on an emotional roller coaster ride with this book. I mean they are gearing up for a huge battle so you know there is going to be pain, loss and death on both sides. Yet through all of the tough times there are some lighter areas of jokes and love to keep the despair at bay.

Overall I loved this novel, I was captivated from the beginning and sometimes I had to pull myself away from the story because the scenes were affecting me so much. There were so many new things to learn and the battles will have you holding your breath each time wondering who would come out alive in the end. The characters are wonderful and I love that Cremer has made a captivating older teen novel. Trust me the romance sizzles and is recommended for older teens, which I love because I really enjoy older teen books that stay true to the actions of older teens. Obviously older teens will explore their sexual feelings towards each other and I’m so glad Cremer didn’t tone it down just to keep younger readers/parents happy. Overall, huge thanks to Cremer for making me finally fall in love with a new series, this one will be on my keeper shelf forever and it gets 5 hearts from me.

Filed Under: Young Adult (YA) Review

IMM (31): Vlog

June 11, 2011 By Alexa 9 Comments

Big thanks to Kristi from The Story Siren for this great meme.

I’m sorry that I haven’t done a video in so long. Trust me I still have tons of books to show off so I’m going to start showing you some older videos that I made. In them my hair is still long so if you see me in a video anytime soon and my hair is really short, it has already been cut for about a month. But you will get the old look, not that any of you actually care so I’ll stop rambling and show the video.

Books that I won:
~Deadly Heat and Deadly Lies from Diana @ Book of Secrets
~Tempted by Fate from Chrissy @ Chrissys World of Books
~Here Lies Bridget from Chanalle @ Beyond Words
~Clarity from Abigail @ All Things Urban Fantasy
~The Julian Game from Goodreads.com
~Prom and Prejudice from Christie @ The Fiction Enthusiast
~Angelfire from PJ Hoover @ Roots in Myth
~Matched from Melissa @ Spellbound by Books

Thanks for watching, what did you get in your mailbox?

Filed Under: In My Mailbox (IMM)

Giveaway Winners

June 10, 2011 By Alexa 1 Comment

The Winner of The Dark Days of Summer Tour Giveaway is….

Miss Lauren

The Winner of the 18 & Over Couples Giveaway Hop is

Jolene and Family

Both of the winners have already contacted me and will be mailed their books shortly.

Thanks to everyone for entering and be sure to stick around for upcoming reviews, and giveaways!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Black Bird Volume 3

June 9, 2011 By Alexa 1 Comment

Title: Black Bird Volume 3

Author: Kanoko Sakurakoji

Publisher: Shojo Beat

Publication Date: Feb 2010

Classification: 18+ Manga

Challenge: Outdo Yourself

Summary from Barnes and Noble:

Misao is starting to trust her heart where Kyo is involved, especially after he gives her one of his primary feathers. It isn’t just her first present from him, it’s a magic talisman that will keep her safe when he’s not nearby! Misao is elated to be able to go to school without the fear of being eaten, just like a normal teenage girl. But as her feelings for Kyo deepen, she starts to realize that as his bride she will have to leave her human life behind–including her family!

My Thoughts:

In vol. 3 we see as Misao and Kyo try to get closer to each other after the drama and action in the first two volumes. Life has other plans for them because Misao’s blood is still powerful and all the clans leaders will want her as their own bride for her magical powers. This time the leader of the Kuzunoha Clan, Shultei, is out to kill Kyo so that he can get to Misao. The way he does this is by telling Misao she can come over to his house to look at the Senka Roku, this is a book that tells the life style of the demon and his bride. This book will basically let Misao know exactly what will happen if she is to become Kyo’s bride, as well as if anything happens to Misao if she were to have sex with Kyo.

Misao is afraid of losing her soul and her family life if she marries Kyo. Her heart really is torn in two because she loves Kyo but she also has a great attachment to her personal human life. How on earth can she give up on her family and friends for one guy, a guy who also happens to be a demon. It is possible that by sleeping with Kyo and becoming his bride that Misao will lose her soul and her family life. Misao of course trusts Shultei to show her what is written in the Senka Roku but she never expects the battle to ensue between the Kyo’s clan of the birds and Shultei’s clan of the foxes.

Overall the art in this volume is just as amazing as the first two volumes. The storyline is still interesting as clans are willing to battle one another over just a human girl who has magical blood. The romance continues between Misao and Kyo and towards the end of this volume there is even a very steamy scene between the couple. The humor in this volume keeps a lighter tone to a very serious issue of Misao always fighting for her life. It makes a great combination of amazing art and a great storyline. I liked this volume and overall I would give it 4 hearts for being good, volume 2 is still my favorite so far.

Filed Under: Manga

Waiting on Wednesday (10)

June 8, 2011 By Alexa 2 Comments

This is a great weekly theme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine to show off the books that we are looking forward to that haven’t been released yet.

Summary:
To save the life of the boy she loves, Jacinda did the unthinkable: She betrayed the most closely-guarded secret of her kind. Now she must return to the protection of her pride knowing she might never see Will again—and worse, that because his mind has been shaded, Will’s memories of that fateful night and why she had to flee are gone.

Back home, Jacinda is greeted with hostility and must work to prove her loyalty for both her sake and her family’s. Among the few who will even talk to her are Cassian, the pride’s heir apparent who has always wanted her, and her sister, Tamra, who has been forever changed by a twist of fate. Jacinda knows that she should forget Will and move on—that if he managed to remember and keep his promise to find her, it would only endanger them both. Yet she clings to the hope that someday they will be together again. When the chance arrives to follow her heart, will she risk everything for love?

Release Date:

Septemper 6th, 2011

Why I’m Excited?

Firelight in my opinion was good but it did leave on a cliffhanger ending so I am looking forward to the direction of the storyline. I just hope that Jacinda grows up a little in this second novel because she seemed a little immature in the first one. Either way I’m excited for more of Will!

What are you waiting on?

Filed Under: Waiting on Wednesday (WOW)

Alien Tango

June 6, 2011 By Alexa 4 Comments

Title: Alien Tango

Author: Gini Koch

Publisher: Daw

Publication Date: Dec 2010

Classification: Adult Novel

Challenge: Outdo Yourself

Summary from Barnes and Noble:

It’s been five months since marketing manager Katherine “Kitty” Katt started working with the aliens from Alpha Centauri, and she and Jeff Martini are getting closer. But when an experimental spacecraft is mysteriously returned to the Kennedy Space Center, Kitty and the rest of her team are called in to investigate. Now the team must survive murderous attacks, remove a space entity from a group of astronauts, and avoid an unhinged woman with a serious crush on Kitty’s high school boyfriend. And that’s all before evil masterminds decide Kitty’s extermination is vital.

My Thoughts:
Finally, I found the time to come back to a set of characters and a writing style that I really enjoy. Of course in this second book we come back to see Kitty, Martini, Christopher, Reader, and the rest of the gang. The story starts out with Kitty and the gang being summoned to go to Florida in order to help with a NASA crisis over there. They are told they need to look as human as possible so they must take a commercial airline to fly there. This automatically sets everyone on edge, I mean they have alien technology and those travel gates for a reason. Within the first 100 pages of the book there are already two attempts made on the whole gangs’ lives and no one is quite happy at this point to be in Florida, but the worst has only just begun.

In the beginning of this book I had to refresh myself a little on who everyone is, considering if you take all the gang there is about 15 people to learn, about 5 of those are major key players in the series. Plus this book adds a couple new characters so at first I felt in character overload and a lot of what was going on in this book had to do with government problems. This threw me off for a little while because I missed the idea of superbeings but I quickly got back up to speed. By the time I was about 75 pages in I was completely wrapped up in the storyline and all of the action that Kitty and Martini seemed to be running into. There were three different plots against them at any one point in this novel so the action never stops. Of course Kitty and Martini still try to make time to spend together throughout all of the fighting/trying to save their own lives.

I really was taken with all of the action in this book but at certain parts I missed the romantic times that Kitty and Martini would sneak off to have, as there wasn’t much room for it in this novel. Any scenes that did happen between our leading heroine and hero didn’t seem as steamy as the ones in Touched by an Alien. I know you are all yelling at me right now that this is a sci-fi book not a romance one but, as a romance reader I love the romance, sue me! Although the romance was a little turned down in this book I still love all of the characters, Reader especially since he provides a much needed comic relief. If only he would turn straight so he could be with Kitty, (you have to read the series to really understand the relationship between Reader and Kitty because there is no real way to describe it).

Overall, I enjoyed this book almost as much as the first novel. It felt good to come back to a cast of characters that I love and will continue to root for in every book in this series. I have already started the third book called Alien in the Family because I just feel I need more of my Martini fix. So if you haven’t picked up this witty, action packed sci-fi series (with a side of romance), then you need to go get all three books right now. Overall I give this book 4.5 hearts for bringing me back to a world filled with characters that I will always enjoy.

Filed Under: Adult Review

Black Bird Volume 2

June 3, 2011 By Alexa 1 Comment

Title: Black Bird Vol 2

Author: Kanoko Sakurakoji

Publisher: Shojo Beat

Publication Date: November 2009

Classification: 18+ Manga

Challenge: Outdo Yourself

Summary from Barnes and Noble:

Kyo, the head of the Tengu demon clan, is Misao’s only chance for survival. But even though she has sweet memories of him as a childhood friend, she has trouble reconciling them with the man he has become. Despite the strange attraction, can she trust her life, let alone her heart, to a man who only cares about the promise of her blood? There is a world of myth and magic that intersects ours, and only a special few can see it. Misao Harada is one such person, and she wants nothing to do with magic realms. She just wants to have a normal high school life and maybe get a boyfriend. But she is the bride of demon prophecy, and her blood grants incredible powers, her flesh immortality. Now the demon realm is fighting over the right to her hand…or her life!

My Thoughts:
With the first volume in this series I was a little under impressed with this new form of books that I decided to try out. All of that was cleared up by reading the second volume in the Black Bird series. In this novel we return to Misao and Kyo’s life and get to see some of Kyo’s clan members who are responsible for protecting him and in turn Misao. This extra protection is going to come in handy when situations between Kyo and his older brother get less than favorable. Plus Misao is always in trouble because demons are always chasing her for her blood.

The artwork was just as pretty in this volume as it was in the first. However, I miss seeing Kyo in his demon/bird form because he really is stunning with his black wings showing. Just as I was hoping the wording/flowing problem with the writing was completely cleared up in this volume. The writing just flowed perfectly in this novel which has renewed my hope in this particular manga series. I loved learning more about Misao and Kyo in this novel and I just can’t help but fall for Kyo. He is basically a bully but that is just his outer shell. Actually this man is a little bit of everything, he is a bully, a sweetheart, a slight sexual perv since he is always trying to get Misao to sleep with him, and yet he remains calm during most of the book except when he worries about Misao’s well being. Even though many people might just take Kyo for a jerk I really do like his character because lets face it although as women we want a gentleman we also want to know that that man wants us which is basically what he gives to Misao. He comes off as a perv with a power trip sometimes but he really does care/love Misao which is a trait that I always look for in heroes.

Overall, I’m glad that the problems that occurred with the flow of the storyline were cleared up in this volume, it make the story much more enjoyable. I loved seeing more of our leading characters and as I think you get from my rant above I really do like Kyo’s character even if he can be a jerk at times. I look forward to reading the rest of the volumes in this series and can’t wait till I can get my hands on them this weekend. Overall this story gets 4.5 hearts.

Filed Under: Manga

Spring Into Summer Read-a-Thon

June 2, 2011 By Alexa 1 Comment

This post is to announce to the world that I’m participating in the Spring into Summer read-a-thon hosted by Enna Isilee of Squeaky Books!

This read-a-thon is going to be so great! It’s two days where you try do NOTHING but read. It’s a great chance to get rid of some of those books that have been sitting on your TBR pile forever.

But that’s not all! There will also be awesome mini-challenges and a TON of giveaways! In fact, just for signing up you are entered to win a $25 gift card to Amazon! SO GO SIGN UP! And if you say that Alexa sent you, you’ll get 5 extra entries to win that gift card! CLICK HERE to enter to win, and know all there is to know about the read-a-thon.

Here’s my goal:

I plan to participate on: I’m going to try for both days but I do work part of Friday
I plan to read: I’m going to try for 3
I hope to read: One Foot in the Grave, City of Ashes, and Dead Rules
I’ll change my mind a lot though and just pick things off my tbr shelf as I go

Well, have you signed up yet? DO IT NOW!

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP

Filed Under: Uncategorized