The DUFF Giveaway

Good afternoon my lovelies!!

As I have stained everything you can imagine while coloring my hair purple (seriously, my face, my back, my neck, my ears, my arms….it is a HOT mess!!!) it struck me that I need to have another giveaway.  This one is for a paperback copy of The Duff by Kody Keplinger. Giveaway open to US residents only (sorry international folks…I’ll have one just for you soon!). Will close 5/17, 8pm Mountain Time.

Follow my page and give a comment to enter. Or you can find me on my facebook page and enter through there as well! Good luck and I hope you are enjoying much nicer weather than I am.
https://www.facebook.com/ghostiesvampiresbooks?fref=photo

Written In Red by Anne Bishop

Written In Red by Anne Bishop

Synopsis: As a cassandra sangue, or blood prophet, Meg Corbyn can see the future when her skin is cut—a gift that feels more like a curse. Meg’s Controller keeps her enslaved so he can have full access to her visions. But when she escapes, the only safe place Meg can hide is at the Lakeside Courtyard—a business district operated by the Others.

Shape-shifter Simon Wolfgard is reluctant to hire the stranger who inquires about the Human Liaison job. First, he senses she’s keeping a secret, and second, she doesn’t smell like human prey. Yet a stronger instinct propels him to give Meg the job. And when he learns the truth about Meg and that she’s wanted by the government, he’ll have to decide if she’s worth the fight between humans and the Others that will surely follow.

Let me start with this….where have you been all my life Ms Bishop?!  I took my time and savored this one and read it over 3 days. Which is HIGHLY unusual for me. Normally I want to plow through the book and find out how it ends. Not this one. I was sucked into this little world Bishop created and I never wanted to leave. I wanted to savor everything about this story. This has become the standard in which all Urban Fantasy Novels will be measured against. The characters were extremely well developed, well described and the world…it was brilliant. I have a case of author lust going on right now (and not in the weird pervy way…like I need to go and purchase everything she’s written and stalk her FB page).

It was so incredibly hard for me to put this book down each night and finally, the 3rd night I had to finish it. I kept putting it down to go to bed but kept picking it right back up because I HAD TO KNOW! I had to know what Meg was hiding, who she was running from, if Simon and the others were going to accept her, protect her. I had to read more because of the secondary characters (oh how I loved every single one of them!) and how entertaining they were.

At first I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy the multiple POVs in this story. It worked, it worked so exceptionally well that I think it helped make the story that much more interesting. This is a rarity for me. Typically I don’t enjoy books that bounce from one POV to another. But this worked.  It worked so freaking well that I’m wondering if I screwed up along the way in my reading and judged other books harshly.

As for the characters…we have to talk about the characters. Meg is so sweet, how can you NOT fall in love with her. I loved how she has carved out this life for herself among the Others. Though how she lived before ending up there, it’s amazing she isn’t a push over or bitter. She is caring and thoughtful! My favorite parts are her interactions with Simon. You can tell that something, somewhere down the line is going to develop, but not yet. She calls him Mr Wolfgard I think as a way of keeping him at arms length. Which I don’t blame her because he was pretty nasty towards her in the beginning. He snarled, yelled and was just confused by the little Meg.

Simon made incredible growth in this book. In the beginning, he saw humans as just ‘meat’. Most of the Others did. But having Meg live with them, work side by side with them and see the humans as she did…it made changes in their thinking. They started treating the humans differently, better, it was such a great thing to watch unfold.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the villain in this book, I know she isn’t the true villain. But she was over the top ridiculous and almost a bit on the cheesy side. Who she was working for is obviously the true bad guy and I’m curious to see how this plays out. I’m hoping that none of my favorite characters end up as collateral damage in the following books

There are so many more secondary characters in this book that I can’t wait to watch for. This is definitely a series that I will devour as soon as I can.  Not really anything for romance in this book, though I think that will come later on down the road. But I am glad there wasn’t. I feel that it would have taken away from the story and from the character development and the growing friendships and feelings between Meg and the Others.

This isn’t like my other Urban Fantasy reads. Normally, the ones that I get sucked into have so much going on, so fast paced. That’s not really the case here, not till the end of the book. The end of the book picks up so quickly and because of all of the build up, description, detail you can easily picture everything happening in your mind’s eye. Bishop did an amazing job with writing and setting up this world of hers.

If you are looking for a world to lose yourself in, definitely pick up Written In Red and start the adventure. You’ll be sucked in and never want to go home.

Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick

Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick

I tried, I really really tried. I just couldn’t finish it. I’ve started and restarted this book a few times and each time I ended up having to put it down and say “Really? Are you kidding me?”  Let me go back to the beginning and how I got to this frustration with the book. I was walking through the books section in my local Target (it’s like a freaking black hole, I HAVE to buy a book every time I’m in there, it’s awful) and the cover of this book caught my attention. I pick it up, read the synopsis and wow, that caught my attention too.

I didn’t check reviews on Goodreads or Amazon on this book. This was my first mistake.

Get my book purchases home and I start reading. So far so good, the idea that a 17 yr old girl’s father would allow his only daughter to go hiking alone with only her girlfriend, in the mountains is pretty far fetched. But hey, this is fiction and anything can happen including poor parental decisions. Britt is pretty obnoxious, a liar, manipulative…so basically a typical teenager (oh how I hope my children end up not typical, please let some sort of body snatcher thing happen and they end up perfect) and hell bent on making her ex boyfriend Calvin jealous by hiking the Tetons with her best friend (who happens to be Calvin’s sister) for Spring Break.

Two stupid girls make stupid decisions and unfortunate events happen (I don’t want to give spoilers in case you actually want to read the book after I sit here and beg and plead with you NOT to waste your time) which lead the girls being held against their will. So you think, “Ok, the girls have to use their wits and get out of this. This could be good!” That was mistake number two that I made…being hopeful. No, no the girls do not.

Britt ends up trying to get away from her captors yet lusting after one of them all while feeling confused about her feelings for her exboyfriend who cheated on her. GET SOME SELF RESPECT! At this point as I’m reading, I’m killing her off. Each scenario that comes up, I’m making like one of those stories where you make the decision for the character. But my decision is always “Britt jumps off the cliff” or “Britt falls off the side of the mountain never to be seen again.”  Which is a sign that I need to stop reading.

I got farther then 1/2 way done and just had to stop. Britt is lusting after her captor. This is Stockholm Syndrome folks. Nothing to glamorize here. Ladies…if a man kidnaps you it’s not because he’s dreamy. IT’S BECAUSE HE’S PSYCHO. If a man allows his friend to kidnap you….again….IT’S BECAUSE HE’S PSYCHO. There is nothing sweet, romantic or cute about it.

So here I was thinking, I’ve tried reading this book twice. The weather is nice, maybe third times the charm right? I was wrong. I was wrong wrong wrong.  I literally threw my book. Which made me die a little bit inside because that’s book abuse. These were mistakes three and four.

I’m not making anymore mistakes, I’m going to place my book on my shelf never to be read again. Which is unfortunate, but those hours I spent trying…I’ll never get those back. And while it’s sort of fun killing off characters in my head. I could be doing that with my own characters in my own stories….and be productive with my writing.

Tomorrow I’m going to read a shifter romance to cleanse my reading palette. *fingers crossed no book abuse ensues*

Night!!

So humbled…..

I have made incredible connections to fellow bloggers, book lovers/reader and authors. Boy has it been amazing and inspirational. With reviving my blogging and reviewing, they have reached out to me. Pimping my site for me, offering to host giveaways to garner followers for my pages…it’s amazing…and so humbling. The fact that they are reaching out and supporting me without even asking and being excited about it all…mind blown and heart full.

These people keep me chugging along on my reading/reviews and though they don’t know it but also in my writing. To see how excited and how much they love books and reading; it makes this girl want to hurry up and get my stuff done! A few of my friends who blog have written and had their stories published. That is amazing! Following some authors on their journeys in writing and venturing out of their comfort zone has inspired me to step outside mine and allow somebody to read a little of my unedited, unpolished writing (if you know me, this is HUGE).

I know I tell them all the time that they rock my socks but I need to put it out there for all to see because these people are my tribe. They accept my quirks, my opinions, my snark and support me in everything.

Then there are the people who follow my pages, the fact that you find anything I write interesting is amazing lol. I love reading and books so much, so being able to share thoughts on an author, a book, heck a movie…anything related to a book is fabulous and thank you for taking your time to check me out. I know my thoughts aren’t always the most coherent and I tend to be all over the place (thank you ADD!!), but it’s what makes me quirky and well me. So thanks for bearing with it all 🙂

I hope you are enjoying the ride and thank you all 🙂

GIVEAWAY!!!

It’s time for a giveaway, because who doesn’t like getting something, especially books without doing much?!

I picked this up for my Kindle and I just felt that I needed to share a paperback copy with a fellow reader! To enter, follow my blog and leave a comment on this post. If you haven’t already, follow my FB pagehttps://www.facebook.com/ghostiesvampiresbooks (not required to enter, but appreciated!)…that’s it!! This giveaway will close 4/28 5pm Mountain Time.

The blurb for this book:

I didn’t ask for any of this. I didn’t ask to be some kind of hero.

But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado – taking you with it – you have no choice but to go along, you know?

Sure, I’ve read the books. I’ve seen the movies. I know the song about the rainbow and the happy little bluebirds. But I never expected Oz to look like this. To be a place where Good Witches can’t be trusted, Wicked Witches may just be the good guys, and winged monkeys can be executed for acts of rebellion. There’s still a yellow brick road – but even that’s crumbling.

What happened? Dorothy.

They say she found a way to come back to Oz. They say she seized power and the power went to her head. And now no one is safe.

My name is Amy Gumm – and I’m the other girl from Kansas.

I’ve been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked.

I’ve been trained to fight.

And I have a mission.

Good luck!!

I’ve been in such a slump!

You know when you are trucking along, reading a book per night and then you hit a road block? That happened to me. Between life, 4 kids and trying to write…reading has fallen to the wayside it seems.

I have started a book today, I’m not feeling the greatest. So of course, reading while relaxing is ideal. I should be finished with it soon and have a review up. 🙂

This weekend though, I am dedicating that to writing. This story I have in my head (and quite a bit written down) has been nagging me continually. I’ve been slacking on it just because once it’s written, it needs to be read. By somebody else, who isn’t me. That makes me want to throw up, just the idea. But it’s a hurdle to get over, a goal…and I’ll get there. 🙂 Enjoy your evening and I hope that your weather is just as lovely as it is here in Montana.

❤

Hard & Fast by Ana Gabriel

I received a copy of this from netgalley for an honest review, thank you!

I was drawn into this book immediately and read it in one sitting. Rose pulled me in and kept me turning the pages. Struggling actress dealing with financial ruin and gets lined up for a job as a personal assistant to a hunky star. This book was set up to be fabulous and I don’t feel the author missed the mark with it.

The parts that dropped this to a 4 star read for me was how Rose was pretty selfish. But I realize that it’s part of a growth thing for character development. With this being a pretty short read, it came across as more selfish/whiny more than anything. And that just irked me. If this had been a bit longer with more time to drag out some character development and she had time to work on that selfishness a bit more…would have thrown it to a 5 star read for sure. I just loved Dean Cole, besides being yummy in the most delicious way…he’s got a heart. He wasn’t the alpha sort in a domineering way (actually Rose was more dominate and alpha in my opinion) and that was a nice break from the typical erotic romances.

The love scenes were HOT and well written. I didn’t feel that they were totally out of the realm of reality, never was I rolling my eyes saying “Suuuuuuuurrree, uh huh.”

This story had me on a rollercoaster of emotions the entire ride, giddy, heartbroken, angry and in the end content. I cannot wait for the next book. This one did not end in a cliffhanger but it looks like more to come from this world Gabriel has created and I’m excited for the ride.

I would most definitely recommend this to a friend, or anybody who would listen to me gush about books really.

Always (Wesson Rebel MC Book 1) by Shyla Colt

Always (Wesson Rebel MC Book 1) by Shyla Colt

Let me start this review off with this, if there hadn’t been 4 POVs and bouncing from the past about 2 or 3 yrs ago, then to the present, then to the past a couple months ago and then again to the present this would be a 3.5 star read for me. I really struggled with how it was organized and felt there was no flow, which was incredibly frustrating.

This was my first MC read and it won’t be my last. I felt that part of the story was written decently. From what I know about that lifestyle, it’s not for the faint of heart so I knew there would be some dark spots in this story. It took me up until 67% of the story to even know why the main characters were upset with what they were dealing with in the present. Then the present sort of jumped ahead leaving me feeling like I missed something. Which is hard.

The main characters are Dallas, Cora, Danny and Rowan. When I read the blurb, it only mentions Dallas and Cora so it was sort of frustrating to find out that this is really 4 main characters. Danny and Rowan are just as important to the story line as Dallas and Cora. But this story is more than just a love story between Dallas and Cora. It’s a love story between 4 people. Love and friendship. The sex scenes were ok, but if you aren’t ok with swapping or sharing, this may not be the read for you.

I never really connected with any of the characters that much besides Rowan and I think it’s because she’s the only one I was able to picture in my mind. There wasn’t much description of the characters except for her. With some more description this could have helped readers connect with the other characters better.

I really feel that if this was written in a 2 person POV in the present with some flashbacks to help support the story it could have flowed much easier. It’s not a horrible read and I’m curious how this story ends (this is book 1 and it ends in a cliffhanger). I may pick up the next in the series.

ARC generously provided by netgalley.com for honest review

Fifty Shades of Grey

Have I read the books? I have. Do I think they are literary works of absolute genius? Nope. I am a Twilight fan (waves that geek freak flag high and proud), I took the books at what they were…entertainment. Hearing that there was something written based on the Twilight books but with adult characters piqued my interest. My friends were already reading the books, so I waited patiently to borrow the books. There was a ridiculous waiting list at the library for these books. I wasn’t about to wait that long.

I get my hands on the books, my friends seemed to really enjoy them, so I’m excited. I read them and they are ok. I’ve read better. There wasn’t much to the plot for me. I don’t mind reading more racy books, but there has to be a solid plot. If you can’t take away the sex and still have a solid story then it will lose my interest very quickly.

The redeeming qualities of the books was the journey the two main characters took. You got to watch these 2 people grow. Christian learning to love and accept love and Ana coming into her own, not being a doormat any longer. That was interesting to watch unfold.

Now to where I have been getting peeved about. I’m on FB, more than I probably should be. My newsfeed is filled with either “OH MY GOSH!!!! 50 SHADES OF GREY IS THE BEST EVER!!!” or “50 Shades is ruining marriages” “That trashy movie is promoting rape and abuse” I respect people’s opinions and I know that generally…people won’t be respecting mine. I’ve kept quiet about the books and the movie. What is getting me so angry is that no where in these books is there rape. There are sexual acts that are performed between consenting adults. CONSENTING. By definition…that’s not rape. Is the relationship between Christian and Ana a shining example of a healthy relationship? Absolutely not. Nor does it depict the BDSM lifestyle well at all. What people fail to understand, the submissive in these relationships really hold all of the power. Yes they submit to their dominant when it comes to their bedroom activities. But they decide when it ends, what they are comfortable with, what will NOT be tolerated at all. That doesn’t sound like a doormat to me, that doesn’t sound like a person with NO power. People sitting there all high and mighty saying that pretty much anything besides one sex position is degrading and no mentally healthy person would subject themselves to any of what is depicted in the book. Guess what? They do, all the time. Many have zero issues. Many attend your church, teach your children, bag your groceries and perform your check ups in the clinic. When it is between two people who care for each other deeply and makes them happy….how can we sit there and judge them? We can’t.

I admit that maybe I’m a bit biased since I read quite a bit of these sorts of books. Do I struggle with seeing the posts saying that no good Christian could find enjoyment out of them…yup I do. Romance readers already face a stigma of the genre of books they love. Throw in books that have BDSM and it just adds another layer of the judgment. I have people who I consider friends who write these types of books (romance erotica) and they are good people. They aren’t some devil worshipers. They have families, some attend church, they are just great people who I enjoy interacting with on a pretty regular basis.  I’m a Christian. I feel pretty solid in where I am in my faith even though I read romance. If people want to judge me, that’s fine. They are just weeding my garden of friends for me.

More than likely I won’t be seeing the movie. I read the books and that was enough for me. Were some parts pretty hot, sure. But there are other books that are better in the smut dept in my opinion. So off of this soapbox of mine for the night and I’m going to finish up a book and start working on a review. At some point I’d like to write out some more ideas and plots for what I’m working on. So you all have a good evening and take care.  Remember that because what somebody reads for enjoyment and entertainment isn’t your cup of tea doesn’t mean it’s wrong.

Wise woman once told me we can’t get mad at somebody for doing something we ourselves wouldn’t do. It’s a good saying to keep tucked away. 🙂

Free Books…who doesn’t love getting free books?

I don’t know about you, but getting a great deal on some books is thrilling. Getting an email informing me that I’m getting 3 copies of a book from a new to me author, like winning the lottery. Seriously.

I corner my husband in the kitchen and tell him I have great news. He automatically thinks “She’s got a job!” (though I’m not looking, he doesn’t want me to look, so this gal isn’t looking)…the look on his face when I tell him I got an email from Penguin Publishing. Then the question, “They’re going to publish your book?!”  No, that’s not even close to being done, don’t be silly. “I got FREE BOOKS!!” He just stands there looking at me, “So that’s your good news? No point to this story?” He’s not a bookworm so he just doesn’t get it. But I do, I know my fellow bookworms will get it. FREE BOOKS!!

So I will be soon having a giveaway to sort of pay it forward so to speak. Watch for an update on that and I’ll make sure to post to my FB page as well.

Oh!! Ha, ADD here…The book I will be getting is Anne Bishop’s Written In Red. She’s a new to me author, so I’ll be reading and reviewing as soon as I can.