Pride by Rachel Vincent

Pride by Rachel Vincent is due in bookstores February 1st! Visit her website for the chance to win her books and yummy chocolate!

http://urbanfantasy.blogspot.com/2009/01/blog-tour-contest.html

The Vampire's Revenge by Raven Hart

The Vampire’s Revenge is the action packed fifth installment in the Savannah Vampire series and it won’t let fans down. Jack McShane hits the ground running and doesn’t stop. He can’t. The civilians of his fine city are depending on him.

Raven Hart was right when she wrote in a recent interview, “Poor Jack has to run from one crisis to another, and although I adore him, I also love to torture him.”

And torture him she does, as he's forced to face scheming old world vampires, their growing elemental powers, fight double-deads that escaped from hell and summon all of his McShane charm to convince the dhampir vampire slayer not to stake him.

Jack is kept so busy he rarely gets coffin time. But maybe it’s best that he keep busy saving the civies from things that go bump in the night. Then he doesn’t have to face what’s breaking his heart--changes affecting everyone he’s ever loved. Who said vampires don’t have feelings?

I loved this book! The action kept me on my toes and the plot’s interesting twists and turns kept me guessing. It’s laugh out loud funny. The image of Jack and Werm comparing the size of their fangs at the bar is priceless. Fun things are happening with the irregulars. And always with the cliffhangers! AHHH!!

A couple of funny lines:

"I can have fun shooting rats at the dump." ~ Jack McShane

"What am I, a surgeon? A really bad, like, steak knife surgeon?" ~ Connie Jones

I could have written more but I’d end up writing the whole book! Raven Hart’s humor takes you from giggles to guffaws! I love it! Fun, fun series!

The Vampire's Revenge by Raven Hart

My favorite vampire series, The Savannah Vampires by Raven Hart, has its latest installment in bookstores TODAY! Thank goodness that Susan/Raven mailed me a copy for my birthday because I'd be mad as a hatter if I had to hike 6 miles in the snow to my closest bookstore to get a copy. I've read it and it would be worth the hike in parka and Uggs to read The Vampire's Revenge.

My review is forthcoming but I will say this: it's non-stop action for Jack McShane and the cliffhanger ending will leave you grrRROWLING at the ceiling! Ah, but what fun it all is!

Winner of "Bones of Faerie" by Janni Simner

The winner in the
Book Fiend's
Fiendishly Fantastic Monday Book Giveaway
is:

William!

Congratulations on winning the anticipated novel, Bones of Faerie by Janni Simner!

Thanks to those that read the interview and entered to win. I wish it were possible to have books for everyone. It's exciting to pick a winner but I'm very aware that with a winner there are also losers and that makes me feel like dookie. But the wait is over and the book is now available in bookstores everywhere.


In fact, my plan this morning was to go to Borders straight away to buy my copy but I awoke to find my little world under a downy blanket of snow. It's silent as it can only be during a surprise snowfall. There are no plows circulating, no drivers daring the roads. The snow continues to fall turning an ordinary day into something magical. I'll build a fire and stay put, nestled under heirloom quilts and lose myself in the adventures of Jacky Faber, in Mississippi Jack: Being an Account of the Further Waterborne Adventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman, Fine Lady, and Lily of the West (Bloody Jack Adventures), Anna Karenina and my assigned reading for my literature class. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to venture out to get my copy of Bones of Faerie but until then, I can only gaze out the windows and wonder...


I sincerely apologize for posting this morning rather than yesterday but class started and I didn't get home until late last night. William, please send me your snail mail address.

Bones of Faerie by Janni L. Simner: Author Interview

Fairy folklore is widespread and can be found in almost every culture around the world. In North America there is the Yunwi Djunsti, in China there are stories of mountain fairies and kitchen fairies. In Great Britain there are tales of the Duergar, Norway has the Nisse, while the Patupairehe is in New Zealand. In Germany and Sweden there are wood fairies and Skogga. There are countless legends throughout Scotland, Ireland and Great Britain involving selkies, sidhe, the blue men and the Tuatha de Danann. Don't forget pixies, gnomes, brownies, elves and leprechauns and that's just naming a few.

We've been raised on faerie tales but the folklore isn't quite the Disney tale you'd expect. Faeries are capricious in nature, their magical powers a danger to mere mortals and more often than not --as the legends go--humans suffer at their hands.

I'm very excited about this week's interview with Janni Simner, author of Bones of Faerie, as faeries are my favorite creature of folklore. Please welcome Janni as she talks about her latest novel that uses a well known legend but presents it in a new, original tale.

Thanks to Random House and Janni's publicist, Meg, The Book Fiend has a copy to giveaway on January 26th. Just type a comment to enter your name in the drawing. The contest closes at 5pm (EST) on January 26th.

***

Evie: Bones of Faerie, your first young adult novel, is due in book stores on January 27th. Can you tell us about this highly anticipated novel?

Janni: Bones of Faerie is set almost 20 years after the war between Faerie and humanity destroyed the world. Nothing has been seen or heard from Faerie since, but the world is filled with deadly magic the war left behind--trees that seek out human blood, glowing stones that burn with cold fire, forests whose shadows can swallow a person whole. The humans who've survived search for magic and cast it out where they find it. The story's protagonist, Liza, was born after the war and accepts this--until her infant sister is set out on a hillside for showing signs of magic. Liza's mother disappears soon after, and then Liza discovers signs of magic in herself and is forced to flee the town she's known all her life.

Evie: Bones of Faerie is your first young adult novel but you are by no means an inexperienced author. You've proven yourself in the publishing world which is no small feat. Can you tell us about your other work?

Janni: I've published four middle grade novels--books aimed at elementary-school-aged readers. The most recent Secret of the Three Treasures, is about a kid determined to become a professional adventurer, just like the hero of her father's novels. I've also published more than 30 short stories, aimed at a mix of kids, teens, and adults -- the most recent of those appeared in Moving Targets and Other Tales of Valdemar and the online magazine Coyote Wild.

Evie: How did you feel when you opened the offer letter from Random House for Bones of Faerie?

Janni: It was actually an email from my agent--the details are fuzzy in my mind now, but I seem to remember being glad that the offer had arrived by email, because I wasn't sure I would have been able to speak coherent sentences if it had arrived by phone. :-)

Evie: You wrote the opening for Bones of Faerie over ten years ago and it gave you shivers. I must confess, when I read the excerpt, tears welled up. It's intriguing, frightening, heart wrenching. It grabbed me with the first line and as I continued reading, the grip around my heart tightened. I had to know more about the characters and their world. What happened- what clicked- that brought the story to you after ten years? Did the idea suddenly come to you in toto? I'm glad I didn't read the opening years ago. I would've been on your doorstop giving you paper and pens, begging you to write!

Janni: Thanks for the good words about that opening! It haunted me all through the decade or so before I wrote the rest of the book. Every few years I'd go back to it and write a few more pages, but I never got very far, and after a while I decided I simply wasn't good enough a writer to tell the story yet. So I went off, and wrote other things, and along the way kept improving my craft until I finally did feel ready--and also felt too impatient to know the rest of the story to keep waiting any longer. Even then, I had to give myself permission to write a truly awful and rough first draft. But by then I'd come to understand that writing awful first drafts was part of my writing process. Once I have something on the page, I know I can revise it. In many ways, I'm a better rewriter than writer.

Evie: "Invasive Species" is a short story written in the same world as Bones of Faerie and was published in Coyote Wild Magazine, August 2008. When was this story originally written?

Janni: I wrote "Invasive Species" just a couple years ago. Bones of Faerie is set in the Midwest (where I lived when I wrote the opening), but when I sold the book I'd long since moved to Arizona, and I wanted to find out what the war had looked like from here--where even without magic, the plants know how to bite and the dandelions (or plants that look like dandelions but technically aren't) really do have thorns. I actually stole those thorny dandelions for the world of Bones of Faerie, because they seemed like they belonged there--but we have a lot of other thorny plants here, too!

Evie: Will we meet Kyra, Alex, Aunt Anna and Camden again?

Janni: Originally I'd thought of their story as a one-off, but afterwards I wasn't so sure, so ... maybe. I'm still thinking about it.

:-)

One of the fascinating things to me about the world of Bones of Faerie is that the fear of the magic is legitimate, and really can't just be dismissed as silly--because magic in that world really does kill. So the question then becomes, what do we do with this fear? How do we deal with it and respond to it?

Evie: You have an online journal that is proof of your day to day creativity and your romance with words. I became an instant fan when I found out you have an idea box. Can you tell us about your idea box, your writing routine, what gets your creative juices flowing? Does music play a role in your writing?

Janni: I find I'm always coming up with ideas, so my idea box gives me a place to put them and save them, since I can't write them all at once. :-) It also reminds me that I'll always have more ideas than time to write them all, which is something of a comforting thought!

I'm a messy, find-the-story-as-I-go-along sort of writer, so I tend to avoid outlines unless they're required as sales tools. But I prefer to jump in, listen to the story, see where I wind up, and then revise and revise and revise to make it seem like I knew what I was doing all along.

Evie: Did you study literature and writing in college? It's not readily apparent. You could have studied Botany or Alternative Medicine!

Janni: You're right on both counts, actually! I majored in English and Biology. I started out planning to be a researcher, but while I enjoyed studying science, I didn't enjoy doing labwork. I'm grateful for the groundwork I got in the sciences, though, and I still enjoy reading about it. Just as we need readers as well as writers, I think we need informed laypeople as well as working scientists.

Evie: What kinds of jobs have you had?

Janni: I had the usual assortment of random jobs through high school and college. After college I worked as a publications editor for a university magazine, as a marketing writer for another university's non-credit courses, and as a web-designer. When I began freelancing I kept writing nonfiction articles and marketing materials alongside my fiction. I still write nonfiction--mostly science writing these days.

Evie: I've read that you love to travel. What's your favorite place so far? Do you collect refrigerator magnets from the places you go? Do you collect anything? I mean, besides ideas for your idea box. ~.^

Janni: Iceland! I've visited Iceland twice and hope to go back a third time--the mix of geology, history, and literature there is fascinating, and the land itself compelling in a way that continues to pull on me. I also love camping and hiking in national parks and forests throughout the west. I have family in Switzerland now, too, and have enjoyed exploring its stone cities and seeing the angle of light off the Alps.

When I travel I mostly collect ideas (as you say!), and pictures, and impressions. I don't seem to be good at collecting physical souvenirs--I've tried collecting pins or patches, but the habit never seemed to stick.

Evie: Did you always want to become an author?

Janni: I always wrote stories, even before I really knew how to write. It wasn't until around the time I realized I wasn't going to be a researcher that I began thinking about whether I could do this writing thing that had always been my hobby professionally, though!

Evie: Who inspires you?

Janni: Everyone! Really, it's the small details of how individuals navigate their lives that are most inspiring in many ways.


Evie: What kinds of books do you read? Interested in television?

Janni: I love reading YA fantasy--I never really stopped reading it when I hit adulthood. I also read a little bit of everything else: adult fantasy, general fiction, nonfiction, folklore.

And Icelandic sagas. By the end of that first trip to Iceland I was hooked on the sagas. In a way reading the sagas has the feel of reading high fantasy--only with more lawsuits. :-) Plus unlike in fantasy novels, many of the places in Icelandic sagas are real, and can still be visited.

I'm not much of a television watcher, but I have been enjoying Doctor Who lately.

Evie: Any words of wisdom to aspiring authors?

Janni: Don't follow any writing advice unless it works for you.

There are a lot of different ways to write, and everyone does it differently. As writers we like to talk about our processes, but sometimes we forget to include an important caveat: This worked for me. It may or may not work for you.

So be open to trying everything. But only keep the things that are right for you and your writing. The fact that someone else's techniques don't work for you doesn't mean you're doing it wrong. It just means that their process isn't your process.

Evie: Has your life changed since you've become published?

Janni: It hasn't so far. :-)

It's funny, actually. When my first short story came out, and later when my first novel came out, I thought everything would change once my words were on the shelves--but it didn't. Life doesn't magically change on publication day, and that's probably a good thing. Though it is pretty magical knowing that other people--people I've never met--are reading words I've written and about characters I've created. Getting to share the things I create--that's pretty amazing.

But I think the thing that's changed me is not selling my stories, but the act of writing them. I take something away and am in some small way changed by every story I write.

Evie: In closing, is there anything you'd like to add? Something you'd like to share with your fans?

Janni: I think you've covered it pretty well! :-) Thanks for the questions, thanks for all the kind words, and I hope you enjoy Bones of Faerie!

Janni, thank you for visiting The Book Fiend and taking the time for the interview. You've once again proven that writers are awesome people. Good luck in all you do and safe travels!

Readers, comment below for your chance to win!

Monday's Winner!

The winner in the

Book Fiend's

Fiendishly Fantastic Monday Book Giveaway

is:

Helen S

Congratulations on winning

Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer

Please email me with your snail mail address!

Andrew Davidson, author of "The Gargoyle"

Andrew Davidson, author of the critically acclaimed The Gargoyle
on how his life has changed since the release of his novel:

***

The biggest change in my life is simply the amount of travel that I'm getting to do. In the last year I've visited the States (San Francisco, New York, Seattle, New Orleans), done the Canadian book festival circuit (Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, and Winnipeg - where I live), and been to England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and Croatia.

Over the next couple of months, I will be in Germany, Poland, Australia, and New Zealand; possibly/probably more countries as well. The Gargoyle is confirmed for translations in twenty-six languages so far, and I'll pretty much travel to any country that invites. So as they keep coming out, I keep going anywhere the publishers invite me...

Congrats on leaving the world of 9-5 to follow your writing dream. The best advice I can give is just show up at your desk and work every day; it is far too easy to get fooled by the idea that you'll have more inspiration tomorrow. Inspiration tends to come with perspiration.

Best,
Andrew

***

For those that haven't read the book, please do. It's guaranteed to move you, to affect you deeply long after you've turned the last page.

Fate and the Death of Destination A

Do you believe in fate, that karma is real and everything unfolds exactly as it should? For most of my youth, I held fast to these principles because essentially it allowed me to be lazy and gave me something to blame if things didn't work out. But after a time, I realized life was passing me by, my dreams along with it. This was proof enough that fate had no idea what I wanted out of life so I flipped fate off, got behind the wheel of my life and headed for the freeway. I had to get moving before I gave up my driving rights and ended up in the back of the Reaper's limo.

A person shouldn't wait for their density (yes, I spelled it that way purposely; it makes me laugh and think of Back to the Future. It's the little things in life, you know.) Take matters into your own hands. Make a plan. Stick to it. This works really well I've found but as with everything there is a caveat. Just because you're driving doesn't mean you end up in the personal Nirvana programmed into your GPS. That funny little fickle finger of fate will mess with the settings and change the route, whether one believes in it or not. I am now a believer of fate once again but I believe me and Fate are lazy. We don't want to work on this life thing by ourselves so it works better as a joint effort. What brought this change about, you may wonder? No? Go away then. Nothing worse than reading stuff you're not interested in and I won't hold it against you.

I was driving my car to Destination A. I was due to arrive at Destination A in 3 months and I was ecstatic, set on go from day one preparing for my arrival and all that it entailed. Well, Destination A was proving to be much further than anticipated but I continued on my journey understanding that things don't necessarily go smoothly. I didn't question the plan or the validity of Destination A. ETA, another 3 months.

No go. Destination A was difficult to find even with a very highly functional GPS. Destination A, yet another 3 months. I unhappily soldiered on and believed that I would eventually get there.

On closer inspection I realized Destination A sucks and I didn't want to go there anymore. It continues to be very real and wonderful to others but I won't be going because Fate has been actively changing my route and sending me signals that I've only recently begun to recognized.

I now have a new GPS setting. This new place I'm heading toward is much more difficult to get to (nerves talking?) but the ride is going to be awesome. In fact, I won't call my new setting a destination. On this one, the journey is the whole point. And I'm happier now than ever before.

If you need some help with your future, check this out! http://www.neilgaiman.com/oracle/ Very fun indeed!

What Kind of Reader Am I?

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader   You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
Literate Good Citizen
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Giveaway for January 19th: Breaking Dawn

The Book Fiend's Fiendishly Fantastic Book Giveaway for Monday, January 19th is Breaking Dawn.

The Twilight Saga has been such a tremendous success that it's difficult to imagine anyone escaping the whirlwind that is Edward and Bella but, perhaps there's someone out there in need of the final installment.

The book is new, the pages pristine, the cover beautiful. Comment below if you're interested in winning Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer for yourself or as a gift for the vegetarian vampire fan in your life.

The contest giveaway ends 5pm, Monday, January 19th, 2009.

Raven Hart Made My Birthday!

Once again, I must say that writers are made of awesome! Raven Hart/Susan is going to send me The Vampire's Revenge
before its release on January 27th! It will arrive this Thursday, just in time for my birthday! I couldn't ask for a better birthday present because I've been seriously jonesing for this installment in my FAVORITE series! WHOOHOO! Go me! Go me! It's my birthday! Thanks Susan! You're the best!

If you haven't started the Savannah Vampire Series, it begins with The Vampire's Seduction. Plus, Raven/Susan told me a little secret about the future storyline-something that happens in her NEXT book- that I will never divulge because I am the greatest of all mystical secret keepers. The only way you'll get anything from me is if you can read eye twinkle. The series just keeps getting better. Don't miss out!

Did I say my book was going to be autographed! :CHEER!: Thanks again!

The Winner of "At Grave's End" by Jeaniene Frost

The winner in the Book Fiend's Fiendishly Fantastic Monday Book Giveaway is:

donnas

Congratulations on winning a copy of

At Grave's End by Jeaniene Frost

I'm the Guest Blogger at Erotic Horizon!

I'm sure you've heard the saying that everyone gets 15 minutes of fame. Well, here's my shot at being famous! **twirls around and happy dances**

Today I'm over at Erotic Horizon as Jhay's guest blogger so stop by and give me some lurve. Please, please?

Jhay asked me to include something about my favorite male character, a description of my ideal man or just to leave readers with a closing tease. Well, tease I did! For anyone curious, it's from a work in progress. I love these characters.

I must tell you my real life man is made of awesome, straight up. He told me yesterday I can quit my day job to focus my attention on writing and the only thing he's read of mine is this blog! Talk about a leap of faith. How cool is that? He's in for quite a surprise at the end of the interview! *blush* I wonder what he'll have to say after reading that... Of course, now that I've been given the okay to do something I've always wanted to do, I'm wondering if walking the writer's path is the way to go. It's dark and scary, filled with unknowns and difficult to navigate. I wish I had GPS. And a crystal ball. I already have a spear.

Many thanks to Erotic Horizon for choosing me to be your Guest Blogger. It was great fun! Visitors, be sure to check out the blog. It's steamy goodness.

At Grave's End Book Giveaway

It's not too late to enter the drawing to win At Grave's End by Jeaniene Frost. Please enter on the link to the right. Contest closes Monday, January 12th, 5pm EST

Battlestar Galactica: The Final Season

The final season of Battlestar Galactica begins January 16th on the sci-fi channel and we'll soon learn the fate of the last few humans left in the entire universe.


If you look closely, you'll recognize some famous faces. If you haven't watched the show from the beginning, tivo the final season and run, do not walk, to the nearest store and pick up season one on DVD. If you enjoy sci-fi, you'll be glad you did!

I rarely watch television but I do confess to watching Battlestar Galactica and Supernatural, which I lovingly refer to as The Sam and Dean Show. Eye candy that fights all manner of scary, otherworldly creatures. What's not to love? These shows are worth putting a book down for!

Jeaniene Frost and Janni Simner: Upcoming Interviews

Writers are made of such phenomenal amounts of awesome kindness, so much in fact, that two sensational authors have agreed to interviews here at my little home on the web, The Book Fiend.  Authors are my celebrities so I'm thrilled to have this opportunity. *sings  I'm... so... flabbergasted, so flabbergasted*   It's from Sesame Street, give me a break!

Jeaniene Frost, author of The Night Huntress Series, has been very busy with all the excitement of her latest release, At Grave's End (Night Huntress, Book 3) but she graciously agreed to answer questions towards the end of the month.  Thank you, Jeaniene and congo rats on your success.

Janni Simner has also agreed to an interview and will discuss her highly anticipated novel, Bones of Faerie,due in bookstores January 27th.  Stories about faerie have captivated me since I was itty-bitty so I can't wait to find out what she has in store for us!

Stay tuned!

At Grave's End Book Giveaway! CLOSED

The Book Fiend has decided to make Mondays better!

The Book Fiend got together with all the days of the week and come to find out,

Monday has a bit of an inferiority complex.

We already know Monday is not the real first day of the week.

Sunday rubs that in quite a bit. However, Monday is the first day of the work week.

Monday makes people wake up early.

Mondays can be manic and if the weather gets involved,

a rainy Monday will always gets you down.

So in an effort to help this poor day with its self esteem issues,

The Book Fiend has decided to deem Monday the day for a

Fiendishly Fantastic Book Giveaway!

Show your support by looking for the book giveaway post around Humpday

and if you're interested in the book

(it could be a new, hot release or an old favorite)

all you have to do is leave a comment for a chance to win. It's that simple!

If you are so inclined, spread the word

and help the campaign to

Make Monday Marvelous!

The winner will be chosen on Monday afternoon

using the Random Integer Generator.

May the number Gods be with you!

Our first Monday Giveaway for 1/12/09 is:

At Grave's End by Jeaniene Frost

Now that would make anyone happy any day of the week!

Since its release on December 30th,

its sales have already surpassed the previous book

in the series by 25% and is

11th on the New York Times best seller list

Leave a comment to win! Click on the word, go ahead

click on it.

Scrubs icon made by the talented Planet Crash on Livejournal.

What I Saw and Why I Lied by Judy Blundell

What I Saw and Why I Lied by Judy Blundell
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Press (November 1, 2008)
National Book Award Winner

My Rating: 5 Stars

This is a smartly written coming of age novel filled with mystery, secrets and lies and the author's voice sings on the page. It takes place in 1947 and Evie Spooner is almost 16. Her stepfather, Joe, has been focused on building a post-war life for Evie and her mother since his discharge from the military but when a stranger begins calling the house looking for him, he suddenly wants a change of scenery. He whisks them away to sunny Florida, ignoring their protests. Once in Florida, Evie meets a young man. She'll never look at boys again.

The book is written from Evie's point of view. She's a likable, intelligent girl. She doesn't think of herself as pretty because her mother is quite a looker. You can't help but be drawn into her story that begins with the dreamy, wishful thinking of innocence as it teeters on yearning's edge. It ends as she's pushed over the side into painful awareness, truth and maturity. Her eyes are opened. She sees a new self and a different world.

This is not just a coming of age story or a tale of first love. Important elements like racism, religious intolerance, the atrocities of war are the backdrop in which the story is told. I highly recommend this book.

On a different note, some may get tired of me rambling on about how I love the way a book is written or that an author can make words sing. What I Saw and How I Lied is a beautiful example of why I say such things, what ranks up a book for me and why I get so enthusiastic about a book. Here are some passages that I want to share:

"I breathed in the night air. Why did the air here smell like a pocketful of promises?"

"The world seemed to fall away and arrange itself around him, and it was perfect."

"I understand the word swoon. It felt that way, like sweep and moon and woo, all those words smashed together in one word that stood for that feeling, right then."

"The wave of fury crashed and rolled back between them."

"My pulse seemed to have escaped its usual place."

And my favorite:

"He kicked through love like it was dust and he kept walking."

Melissa Marr on BlogTalkRadio

Listen to Melissa Marr on BlogTalkRadio!

For a fresh, edgy, and electrifying look at the fantasy genre, join New York Times bestselling author Melissa Marr on January 8, 2009, at 6:00 p.m. EST for a YA and Urban Fantasy show on BlogTalkRadio moderated by Eos Executive Editor, Diana Gill. Listen to Melissa Marr discuss Wicked Lovely, Ink Exchange, and her upcoming novel Fragile Eternity. Call (347) 826-9684 to ask questions live during the show!


Watch Melissa Marr's interview filmed in San Diego. I was fortunate enough to have met Melissa Marr and she truly is an awesome, classy woman and her writing continues to be the eloquent standard by which I compare all books fey. I value her literary instincts so last night I purchased Graceling by Kristin Cashore simply because of her comment on the back. If she loved it and shares it with her daughter, it must be good. Melissa Marr, my favorite. Can you tell?

Who's My Jamie?

Apparently I've been missing out on a very, very good thing- mainly Jamie from Diana Gabaldon's much loved novel, Outlander. Friends have recommended the book and it occupies a space on my overloaded and straining bookcase but I don't know why I've never cozied up with it.

Well, after seeing this I'm definitely going to be putting in some cozy time to find out who my Jamie will be. Does it really matter what motivates me to read? Call me the shameless hussy I am!


Truth is, after reading the book, no actor will be able to hold a candle to the Jamie of my imagination which I find is often the case when books are made into movies. But I wouldn't turn any of them away.

Here's another good video for the book. I'm definitely interested in meeting these characters. Can't wait!

The Vampire's Betrayal by Raven Hart

by Raven Hart doesn't disappoint. It's action packed with all manner of otherworldly events, so many that there's no rest for William Cuyler Thorne, Jack McShane or the human side of the family-voodoo priestess Melaphia and itty-bitty Renee. Even the 4,000 year-old Egyptian guard dogs get in on the action. A character I believed was only going to play a minor role when I began the series with The Vampire's Seduction has turned out to be quite wicked. This installment is filled with surprises, quite a bit of humor, and a scene that made me feel I was staked through the heart. 5 Stars for great character development, creativity and the mojo that makes the Savannah vampires something special. I can't wait to follow up with The Vampire's Revenge due out January 27th.

The Gargoyle With A Different Cover Is Still Just As Brilliant

This cover for The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson is beautiful. Found it on the the book's facebook site that's run by Brett, the author's high school friend. Below is recent news regarding the book, also from the facebook site.


Gargoyle jumps to 13 on NY Times Best Sellers List!

GARGOYLE NUMBER ONE!!!
on the Canandian Booksellers Association List.

The Gargoyle's second straight week on the Publishers Weekly Best Sellers List!

The Gargoyle is on the New York Times Best Sellers list for the second week in a row!

"The Gargoyle" by Andrew Davidson tops Maclean's fiction list
TORONTO — Here are the top 10 hardcover fiction and non-fiction books in Canada compiled by Maclean's magazine.
FICTION
1 (-) The Gargoyle - Andrew Davidson


The Gargoyle debuts at number 14 on the New York Times Best Seller List the first week after its release!


The Canadian Booksellers Association reports that "The Gargoyle" debuted on The Canadian Bestsellers List at Number 6 !!

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

The Gargoyle is easily the best book I've read in my life. It's Andrew Davidson's debut novel and it's brilliant. I read it when it first came out and still can't write a review that does the book justice. As I've told so many others, if you only read one book this year, please let it be this one.

This is my choice for 2008 Literary Excellence.

(See, you can do things like that when you have a blog!)

***
From Amazon.com

An extraordinary debut novel of love that survives the fires of hell and transcends the boundaries of time.

The narrator of The Gargoyle is a very contemporary cynic, physically beautiful and sexually adept, who dwells in the moral vacuum that is modern life. As the book opens, he is driving along a dark road when he is distracted by what seems to be a flight of arrows. He crashes into a ravine and suffers horrible burns over much of his body. As he recovers in a burn ward, undergoing the tortures of the damned, he awaits the day when he can leave the hospital and commit carefully planned suicide—for he is now a monster in appearance as well as in soul.

A beautiful and compelling, but clearly unhinged, sculptress of gargoyles by the name of Marianne Engel appears at the foot of his bed and insists that they were once lovers in medieval Germany. In her telling, he was a badly injured mercenary and she was a nun and scribe in the famed monastery of Engelthal who nursed him back to health. As she spins their tale in Scheherazade fashion and relates equally mesmerizing stories of deathless love in Japan, Iceland, Italy, and England, he finds himself drawn back to life—and, finally, in love. He is released into Marianne's care and takes up residence in her huge stone house. But all is not well. For one thing, the pull of his past sins becomes ever more powerful as the morphine he is prescribed becomes ever more addictive. For another, Marianne receives word from God that she has only twenty-seven sculptures left to complete—and her time on earth will be finished.

Already an international literary sensation, The Gargoyle is an Inferno for our time. It will have you believing in the impossible.

Books Read in 2008

1. Nymphos of Rocky Flatts (I believe I got dumber while reading this book. Ha!)
2. The Golden Compass
3. The Subtle Knife
4. The Amber Spyglass
5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
6. Harry Potter (the second)
7. The Other Boleyn Girl
8. The Book of Flying by Keith Miller
9. Twilight by Stephenie Meyers
10. New Moon
11. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
12. "A Dirty Job" by Christopher Moore
13. " Eclipse" by Stephanie Meyers ( thus far completing The Twilight Series;
14. "Undead and Unwed" by Mary Janice Davidson (April 5, 2008)
15. "Sunshine" by Robin McKinley
16. "Tithe" by Holly Black 4/17/08
17. Hunger by Elise Blackwell
18. The Hidden by Kathryn Mackel
19. Minion by L.A. Banks 4/27/08
20. The Art of Mingling by Jeanne Martinet
21. Love + Sex with Robots by David Levy
22. Valiant by Holly Black 5/8/08
23. Ironside by Holly Black 5/10/08
24. Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klaus
25. The Doctor's Wife by Elizabeth Brundage 5/23/08
26. Dark Lover by JR Ward 5/26/08
27. Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr 6/6/2008
28.) Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost 5/5 stars
29.) Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch 3/5 stars 6/22/08
30.) Vampire Academy 3/5 stars 6/27/08
31.) looking for alaska by John Green 5/5 stars 7/1/08
32. Bloody Jack by Louis A. Meyer 5/5
33. One Foot in the Grave by Jeaniene Frost 3/5
34.) Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr 5/5 Stars July 15, 2008
35.) Wolf at the Door by Christine Warren 5/5 July 19, 2008
36.) The Blue Girl by Charles de Lint
37.) Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt 5 stars 7/22/08
38.) Glass Houses (The Morganville Vampires-Book One) by Rachel Caine 4/5 7/25/08
39.) Darkfever by KM Moning
40.) Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer
41.) Dead Girls Dance by Rachel Caine 4/5 stars
42.) Curse of the Blue Tattoo, Being an Account of the Misadventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman and Fine Lady by L. A. Meyer 5/5 stars 8/11/08
43.) The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson 5/5 Stars 8/15/08
Easily the best book I've ever read.
44.) Marked by the by P.C. and Kristen Cast 8/17/08
45.) Bloodfever by Karen Marie Moning 5/5 8/20/08
46.) Beyond the Highland Mist by KM Moning 4/5 8/23/08
47.) Fantasy Lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon 3/5 stars 8/25/08
48.) Midnight Alley (Morganville Vampires, Book 3) 8/28/08
49.) To Tame a Highland Warrior by K.M. Moning 4/5 stars 9/5/08
50.) The Highlander's Touch by KM Moning 4/5 stars 9/9/08
51.) Into the Dreaming by KM Moning 9/11/08 4/5 stars
posted 4 months ago. ( edit | reply ) Evie ♥
52.) Faefever by KM Moning 3/5
53.) How to Marry a Millionare Vampire 3/5 Kerrelyn Sparks
54.) Kiss of the Highlander by KM Moning 5/5 9/25/08
55.) The Dark Highlander 5/5 9/30/08
56.) The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins 5/5 stars
57.) The Immortal Highlander by KM Moning 3/5
58.) City of Bones by Cassandra Clare 4/5 stars Young Adult 11/11/08
59.) Storm Born by Richelle Mead 3/5 stars 11/15/08
60.) Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan 4/5 stars 11/17/08
61.) The Society of S by Susan Hubbard 3/4 stars 11/19/08
62.) A Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton 2/5 stars 11/24/08
63.) The Vampire's Seduction by Raven Hart 5/5 stars 11/28/08
64.) Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen 5/5 stars 11/30/08
65.) Feast of Fools (Morganville Vampire Series) by Rachel Caine 4/5 stars 12/2/08
66.) The Vampire's Secret by Raven Hart 5/5 Stars 12/6/08 Second in series-great plot, great story!
67.) Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception by Maggie Stiefvater 3/5 12/7/08
68.) Impossible by Nancy Werlin 5/5 Stars 12/9/08
69.) The Vampire's Kiss by Raven Hart 5 Stars 12/15/08
70.) Under the Jolly Roger, another Bloody Jack Adventure by LA Meyer 5/5 stars 12/18/08
71.) In the Belly of The Blood Hound, a Bloody Jack Adventure 5/5 12/21/08 5 stars
72.) Need by Carrie Jones 3/5 12/26/08 3 stars
73.) In the Serpent's Coils 12/29/08 4stars
74.) Wondrous Strange by Leslie Livingston 12/31/08 5 Stars

Wondrous Strange by Leslie Livingston

Wondrous Strange (Wondrous Strange (Hardback))

Since the dawn of time, the Faerie have taken. . . .

For seventeen-year-old actress Kelley Winslow, faeries are just something from childhood stories. Then she meets Sonny Flannery, whose steel-gray eyes mask an equally steely determination to protect her.

Sonny guards the Samhain Gate, which connects the mortal realm with the Faerie's enchanted, dangerous Otherworld. Usually kept shut by order of icy King Auberon, the Gate stands open but once a year.

This year, as the time approaches when the Samhain Gate will swing wide and nightmarish Fae will fight their way into an unsuspecting human world, something different is happening . . . something wondrous and strange. And Kelley's eyes are opening not just to the Faerie that surround her but to the heritage that awaits her.

Now Kelley must navigate deadly Faerie treachery—and her growing feelings for Sonny—in this dazzling page-turner filled with luminous romance.

Wondrous Strange is a richly layered tale of love between faerie and mortal, betrayal between kings and queens, and magic . . . between author and reader.

***

This is an excellent debut novel by Leslie Livingston, full of all the magic, treachery, romance and surprises one comes to expect in stories about the Fae. Don't think that this is just another fairy tale though. Livingston's prose is lyrical and magical and she makes this story her own. The vocabulary and descriptions are rich and satisfying as the author skips the use of slang and cliches, creating beautiful art with words. Kelley Winslow is a delightful character and Sonny Flannery will charm young and old alike. When you're dealing with the fae, nothing is as it seems. It's difficult to tell friend from foe and sometimes they are the same.

Livingston definitely did her homework. The scene explaining The Wild Hunt was nicely done but we also meet some new personalities from folklore for the YA audience: The Black Shuck, the Pict Sidhe or Boucca (some Moning fans will recognize this character as Adam Black-the original Puck although in this story they are not at all the same), and the Janus.

There are quite a few books out about the Fair Folk but they're definitely not all the same. Leslie Livingston, with her debut novel, ranks up there with the magical, classy writing of Melissa Marr but it's not dark and edgy. The book has great cross over appeal because it's intelligently written and timeless in the telling. The cover art is beautiful, reminiscent of Marr's books. Even the title has a Marr feel to it.

4 stars for this one and I can't wait for the sequel.