Bragging Auntie

Just wanted to share these pics my sister just e-mailed me. I don't get to see my Texas family much, and I miss them. Look how BEAUTIFUL my youngest niece is. I promise, back to books tomorrow!

Thanks

I want to thank everyone for the kind words of sympathy on the loss of my cousin. I must admit, that the funeral hit me a little harder than I had expected. There have been a lot of changes in my life this past week - for instance, I quit my job and am back to being a full time mom again. Now, if the volunteering would slow down a bit I will be able to be more regular here, where I really want to be. My last major function of the year is tomorrow so it won't be long!

I am working on a post, but may not get it up until tomorrow evening, so I wanted to say a quick thanks, and let everyone know that prizes have all been shipped earlier this week. Should be arriving soon.

Take Care

My Cousin - May He Rest In Peace

My cousin died yesterday. He was killed in an accident at work. From what I know, he was working on scaffolding when the storm kicked up faster than expected and blew him off. He will be missed.

I was around 11 or 12 when he was born *I think* I can't tell you exactly. I remember being at the hospital, trying to keep his older brother amused and I can remember hearing him cry one of his first cries. I remember him as a cute little ragamuffin with the blondest of blond ringlet curls, and a smile that promised mischief. He was a loving little guy, but whoo boy did he like to be ornery!

I remember that, but I can't say that I really knew the young man he had become. I know he was to deploy over seas soon. I know he had an absolute shit for dad, and not much more for a mother the first few years of his life. I know that, despite, or perhaps in spite, of that, he was a sweet kid. I know my parents would drive the hour or so out of town ever so often to take him and his brothers out to buy new clothes and just spend some loving time with them.

I know that he was a sweet kid. I know that, despite his fathers faults, he loved him and saw something good. I know that, if not for him, his father may not have found a way to act half decent. And I know without him, my mother worries very much about her baby brother and how he will be now that the one son out of three that loved him is gone.

I know that part of my family is gone and I feel it in my heart. My family may be large, but I find each and every one of them necessary and irreplaceable.

I know that he is with his true Father and that He is holding him and seeing to his happiness. I know that he is looking on us with love and I know that Heaven is blessed with one more angel. I know this, but it doesn't stop me from wishing that just once more I could have hugged that big bear of a young man and made sure he understood how loved he was.

Take Care

Reviews to follow tomorrow.

And the winner Is...

blackroze37yahoo.com

Congrats! E-mail me at novelreads at gmail dot com (ya know the drill) with your snail mail addy and choice of your favorite flavor of coffee!

AND, since there were quite a few entries, Miss Beautiful wanted to pick more names, so:
Raven99

donnas

TezMiller

if you'll send me your snail mail addy and your choice of ONE of the books I had up for grabs, I'll send you a copy as well, compliments of my beautiful daughter.

For everyone else, check back often, I plan on holding contests more often, because it makes me happy to give good books, and times are tough, I need to get with the happy things!

Last Day To Enter

To Enter, just leave me a comment here! You could win the following:

Dogs And Goddesses by Jennifer Crusie, Lani Diane Rich and Anne Stuart.

At Grave's End by Jeaniene Frost

Mistress of Pleasure by Delilah Marvele

Wages of Sin by Jenna Maclaine

And your choice of one of these flavored coffees.

So hurry and enter to win. I'll close the contest at midnight tonight.

Take Care

WIn Dogs And Goddesses by Jenny Crusie, Anne Stuart and Lani Diane Rich

OK, so crappy week with severely sick daughter. Can't find What I Did For Love at any store near me in my little piece of nowhere Kansas. Did my taxes today and discovered it would be more beneficial to us as a whole if I quit my job. Just crappy all the way around lately. BUT, I was lucky enough to find this book yesterday, a book I've been drooling over! And I'm loving it.

SO, since it's brought some happiness to me in my crap filled days lately, I'm making it the final book to go in my prize package to make some one else happy, especially with tax time here!!! You won't be getting mine, as it will already be on my keeper shelf before the contest ends!

So, to read more about this fantastic book you can view the website Dogs and Goddesses or the authors individual sites. Jenny Crusie , Anne Stuart , Lani Diane Rich

Quick Note: All books will be new unless specified and unsigned, I'll be shipping them straight from an online store.

Novel Chats Paranormal Style - Part the First

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes going out to Miss Beautiful. We were pretty scared for a while. She has pneumonia, strep poisoning and scarlet fever. Thanks to a shot of Rocephin at the hospital and heavy doses of twice daily antibiotic she's on the mend. And although we had a note saying she could return to school today, the school thought it best that she rest one more day before trying it. I agree. She's still very congested and she tires very easily. And now, on with it!

Any Given Doomsday by Lori Handeland
From The Author's Website:

Darkness will summon her…

Elizabeth Phoenix once used her unique skills as a psychic to help in the Milwaukee Police Department's fight against injustice. But when Liz's foster mother is found viciously murdered—and Liz is discovered unconscious at the scene—her only memory of the crime comes in the form of terrifying dreams...of creatures more horrific than anything Liz has seen in real life. What do these visions mean? And what in the world do they have to do with her former lover, Jimmy Sanducci?

To places she's never been before…

While the police question Jimmy in the murder, Jimmy opens Liz's eyes to a supernatural war that has raged since the dawn of time in which innocent people are hunted by malevolent beings disguised as humans. Only a chosen few have the ability to fight their evil, and Jimmy believes Liz is among them. Now, with her senses heightened, new feelings are rising within Liz—ones that re-ignite her dangerous attraction to Jimmy. But Jimmy has a secret that will rock Liz to her core…and put the survival of the human race in peril.…

I received this book quite some time ago, and truth be told, I almost didn’t read it. I had seen that Handeland was a NYT Bestseller and that it was part of a series from the cover, and just assumed (I have to learn to quit that!) that it was a mid-series novel. Plus, I had never read Handeland before and the touting of bestseller always makes me nervous when I haven’t read the author before. Anyway, with a tip from a Yahoo! Group I belong to from a fellow reviewer, I went ahead and read it. They had enjoyed the book, plus I was seeing a lot of reviews – all good – all over the net. That, coupled with the fact that this was the FIRST book in a series had me cracking the spine.

All in all, I enjoyed the book. The concept is exceptional, but the writing I found to merely mediocre. While enjoyed the actual plot, the characters left me somewhat cold. I did, eventually warm up somewhat to the people of this fantastic world, but unfortunately, it didn’t last long. I’ll definitely give the second book a try, but it’s not one I will be rushing to the stores to own. I give this one a C.

Blood Bargain by Maria Lima

(BCC)

Keira Kelly has settled in at Wild Moon Ranch with handsome Adam Walker, her vampire lover, but her life is not so hot. Not only is Keira still struggling with the Change that will bring her an as of yet unknown paranormal power, but Adam’s avoiding intimacy and mysteriously growing weak. At least she has Tucker, her 1200-year-old shapeshiting ex-Viking brother, around to help. When a ranch hand is reported missing and some teens disappear, Keira and Tucker have a heap of unexpected trouble piled on ‘em. There’s a lot of weird doing down around Rio Seco, Texas, and after Keira and Tucker stumbled across some dangerous clues in an abandoned cemetery, things get even stranger…

Bargain is the second book in the Blood Lines series, and I had talked about he first book, Matters of the Blood here. I can’t link to a purchase button right now, as Bargain and Matters were both Juno releases and as you know, they’ve partnered with Pocket Books, According to Lima’s blog though, it looks like they should get re-printed from Pocket later in the year.

When I read Matters it was a dark tale. Terrifying yet witty. Scary yet Romancy. I had expected Bargain to be the same and was eager to delve into this richly written world with its complex characters yet again. I quickly noticed one thing – this wasn’t the world and the character I had left when Matters closed. Keira seemed more fluff in this book. She had apparently gotten used to the good life with Adam, and lost all of her edge. Even when the mystery starts, the lack of characteristics that made Keira so complex and fantastic in the first book left a huge gaping hole in this fictional world. The tone was far lighter even when the plot would have left much room for some dark, kick ass Keira moments. All in all, the tone was entirely too different from the first book and left this reader feeling betrayed. The third book will be released in November and I’ll eagerly crack the spine in anticipation that the dark and twisted world, balanced perfectly with wit and humor has been restored, and the light, trying too hard to be comical Keira is gone. If this were the first book in a series, I would grade it much higher, but since the feel of the book and overall character assassination was too much for me to handle, I have to give this one a D. Lima can do better, she’s already proved that.

Don’t forget to enter the contest! You have two more days.

Take Care