July Wrap-up and new Rating Images!

Another month's over. How's that possible?? My summer's just flew by. I swear I was going to read a lot more, but it didn't really work out that way. Well, at least I finished most of my classes for now. My July's been pretty boring, honestly. I just hope August is more exciting!

Reviews:
This Side of the Grave by Jeaniene Frost
One Grave at a Time by Jeaniene Frost
Once Burned by Jeaniene Frost
Bared to You by Sylvia Day
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
Maid for Love by Marie Force
The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley
A Scandalous Affair by Karen Erickson
Almost a Scandal by Elizabeth Essex
Unleashed by Cherrie Lynn

Blog Tours:
Wicked Nights by Gena Showalter - Q&A and Review
Guest Post: Becoming the Write - Rosalie Lario
Giveaway and Review: Blood of the Demon by Rosalie Lario

Others:
Violence in Books: Do you become desensitized to them?


Taking down pictures:

If you haven't heard already, Roni Loren had a scary post on using photographs on your blog. Since then, I've taken down every picture I posted other than book covers (I think). Maybe I should go back and check again, hmm. Anyway, that's why some older posts can seem a bit bare, especially the Dirty Little Secrets, because all the pictures have been deleted. Speaking of, I will need to make a custom wrap-up image now that I'm scared to use random images I 
got off the web.

New Rating system:
So this past weekend, I finally decided to get my ass moving and make some images relating to ratings. They're not all that exciting. I was going to do stars, but for some reason Stars aren't a custom shape on my photoshop. (Wtf right?) Then I saw the hearts and they do just as well, if not better. This is basically the extent of my Photoshop knowledge lol, so until I get a new blog design and all that, this'll have to do.

Teaser Tuesday #31: Angels' Blood

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. 

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read 
• Open to a random page 
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page 
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers

Here's my teaser for the week:

She was still reeling from the visual shock when a sudden wind swept across the rooftop, lifting up strands of his black hair. But black was too tame a word for it. It was so pure it held echoes of the night, vivid and passionate. Cut in careless layers that stopped at the nape of his neck, it bared the sharp angels of his face and made her fingers curl with the urge to stroke.


- Angels' Blood by Nalini Singh, p.17


It's when Elena first meets Raphael! I can't help but share it! There's a lot more to the meeting, but I didn't want to completely spoil the moment for all of you who haven't read the book yet! 

CR Review: UNLEASHED by Cherrie Lynn

Title: Unleashed

Author: Cherrie Lynn

Series: Ross Siblings #1

Publisher: Samhain Publishing

Publication Date: February 2, 2010

Links: Goodreads | Amazon

Synopsis:
One week in paradise will make or break them…

It’s not enough that Kelsey’s husband left her for another woman. Oh, no. The “other woman” had to be her best friend Evan’s fiancée. Not only has she lost her marriage, she fears losing Evan to the lingering awkwardness and humiliation that hangs between them.

Evan has no intention of letting that happen. He’s got plans…namely, an extra plane ticket to Hawaii now his future wife is out of the picture. There’s only one person he wants on the trip with him, the one who’s always been there for him. The one he should never have let slip away into the arms of a traitorous friend who shattered her heart.

Kelsey is anticipating a week of fun in the sun with the man who’s always treated her like a little sister. No one’s more surprised when she discovers that Evan has seduction on his mind—and that she’s more than ready for it.

Love is the most powerful healing force of all. But past demons have a way of ripping open old wounds, and threatening the survival of even the strongest friendship…

Review:
I was in kind of reading slump when I decided to read this. I hadn’t like the 2 books I read before, so I was looking for something to cheer me up. I’ve had this on my TBR ever since Neyra from the Darkest Addiction gushed about it, so I was like “why not?” Nothing else seemed to work. I’m so happy to say that this was just what I needed to get me back into the reading spirit!

Unleashed starts with Kelsey receiving a phone call from Evan, her best friend, inviting her to a week in Hawaii. The trip was meant to be Evan’s honeymoon, except a few months ago Kelsey caught her husband, Todd, and Evan’s fiancée, Courtney, in bed together. A divorce and several months later, Kelsey’s friendship with Evan is still strained. The trip is the perfect way for these two best friends to get back together.

From the first page, I knew I was going to love Kelsey and Evan. These are two friends who know each other really well and are really easygoing. Their interactions made me laugh. You can tell despite what happened, they’re still very comfortable with one another. I love that they can still laugh and hang out with each other even with all that happened between them and their exes.

Kelsey is such a relatable character! She’s had feelings for Evan forever, but he’s never looked at her that way. I admire her courage for being there for Evan with all of her feelings. My big complaint with her is that she cries a lot, which is understandable, but it got a bit repetitive later in the books. She’s basically a crying mess whether she’s happy or sad. At the end, I can understand her insecurities, but I just wish she didn’t let Evan off so easily. Maybe I’m just being vindictive, but I feel like she should’ve made Evan work harder in the end.

Evan, on the other hand, is perfect! He’s sexy, sweet, funny, charming. He’s the good guy your parents will approve of but also completely wicked in bed! I loved how he made Kelsey laugh with his jokes. The only thing that bothered me was that I felt he didn’t really work for Kelsey. Other than seducing her (not a bad thing at all), he’s the one being chased and convinced. Kelsey tracked him down to talk and solve problems. I guess I’m used to my alpha males chasing down the reluctant women. But he’s worth it, so it’s worth all the work!

The book had great romance with tons, and I mean, tons, of amazing hot sex! I only wish there was more of Evan and Kelsey as a couple, but considering they were such great friends, they had a head start I guess. The plot also moved fast so that I wasn’t bored at all. When I think Kelsey and Evan were happy together, Ms. Lynn threw in something huge to test their relationship. I have to say I’m not a big fan of plots based on misunderstandings, and there were a lot of it in this one. If Kelsey and Evan had just had a clear conversation, they could’ve avoided so much heartache and angst. Half the time near the end I wanted to strangle both of them and just tell them to TALK to each other instead of making your stupid assumptions!! Ahhh!! They were so frustrating!

So this book wasn’t perfect, but I still liked it a lot! With the weird mood I’m in, I’m so nitpicky that I don’t think I will ever find a perfect book, but this one came really close! I still got all emotional even if I was a bit angry at the characters. I’m looking forward to reading the second book in the series, Rock Me, about Evan’s brother!

ARC Review: ALMOST A SCANDAL by Elizabeth Essex

Title: Almost a Scandal
Author: Elizabeth Essex
Series: The Reckless Brides #1
Publisher: St. Martin's Press (MacMillan)
Publication Date: July 31, 2012
Source: Netgalley
Links: Goodreads | Amazon

Synopsis:
Bold, brazen, and beautiful, the Reckless Brides refuse to play by society’s rules of courtship. But—come hell or high water—they always get their man…

For generations, the Kents have served proudly with the British Royal Navy. So when her younger brother refuses to report for duty, Sally Kent slips into a uniform and takes his place—at least until he comes to his senses. Boldly climbing aboard the Audacious, Sally is as able-bodied as any sailor there. But one man is making her feel tantalizingly aware of the full-bodied woman beneath her navy blues…

Dedicated to his ship, sworn to his duty—and distractingly gorgeous—Lieutenant David Colyear sees through Sally’s charade, and he’s furious. But he must admit she’s the best midshipman on board—and a woman who tempts him like no other. With his own secrets to hide and his career at stake, Col agrees to keep her on. But can the passion they hide survive the perils of a battle at sea? Soon, their love and devotion will be put to the test…

Review: 
When I requested this from NetGalley, I was craving some historical romance. This one also got me with its beautiful cover. But sadly, the book wasn’t nearly as exciting as the cover or the blurb promised. *sigh* I don’t think I’ve ever had so much trouble finishing a book. I read 3 books between when I started and finished this book.

The best part of this book is Sally. She’s courageous, confident, and loyal. Her happiness is also infectious. A number of times I felt myself swept away by her excitement at finally serving on a ship. Ms. Essex clearly conveyed Sally’s love for the sea and a lot of the times I felt like I was there on the ship with her.

Col didn’t stand out to me as much as Sally. Stoic and aloof, I didn’t really connect with him. I liked reading about how other people saw him rather than about his thoughts. He mostly obsessed about Sally, but without doing anything. I give it that he’s super smart and ambitious, but he just wasn’t exciting, or wild, or fun. Mostly he’s too serious for me.

The problem with this book is that it’s dreadfully slow. There’re a lot of ship terms thrown about and a lot of the day to day running of a ship. There’re pages spent on what Col is ordering people to do and what Sally is doing on the ship. Honestly, I skipped a lot of those because I just wasn’t interested.

With all the pages spent on the navy, the romance lacked development. While Sally and Col were “friends” of sorts, I never felt a strong connection between them. Then, suddenly, as soon as they were alone, they were having sex. I thought they moved way too fast, like a parent lol. I never saw their relationship develop to the part where sex came into the equation. Very little sexual tension happened before they suddenly jumped to be together.

Usually, I like my historical/regency romances happening in the ballroom with the gossipy ton, with a titled lord pursuing his lady, but I’ve also enjoyed reading about wayward ladies finding their adventures somewhere else. Almost a Scandal had adventures plenty, but not the romance. I didn’t hate this one, but there’re definitely better historical romances out there.

Rating: 2/5

*Thanks to St. Martin's Press for providing a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own. I am not being compensated for this review.

ARC Review: A SCANDALOUS AFFAIR by Karen Erickson

Title: A Scandalous Affair

Author: Karen Erickson

Series: The Merry Widows #3

Publisher: Carina Press

Publication Date: July 30, 2012

Source: NetGalley

Links: Goodreads | Amazon

Synopsis:
From the moment Daphne, Lady Pomeroy, meets the mysterious Marquess of Hartwell at a masquerade ball, she’s determined to seduce him. The handsome, charming man cannot possibly be the cold, calculating lord who Society calls “Black Hart.” Risking everything, the lonely widow invites the elusive Hartwell to her dinner party . . . for two.

Hartwell’s arrogant reputation is built on a lie. For he has a shameful secret that keeps him in the shadows: a stutter—his downfall since childhood. He’d rather keep his mouth shut than look the fool. But he’s shocked to discover that in Daphne’s company—and in her bed—his stutter vanishes.

After one wanton evening together, Daphne is hurt when the lord lives up to his Black Hart name. Yet his reasons for leaving surprise even him. Now he must confess everything or risk losing Daphne forever…

Review:
I didn’t realize how short this was when I first requested it, but for a novella (80 pages), it’s a really enjoyable read. It had all the elements I enjoy in a historical/regency romance: a daring heroine, a titled lord, and endless rounds of ballrooms and dancing and the gossipy ton.

Considering how short it is, the connection between Daphne and Hartwell’s is pretty believable. I love how daring Daphne is. Since Hartwell is kind of shy, she had to be the one to make the first move. Seeing her chasing after Hartwell was really entertaining. As for Hartwell, the reason for his shyness wasn’t very believable to me, but probably because I’m not accustomed to society’s expectations at that time period. It kind of makes sense that if his stutter was widely known, then the ton could be pretty harsh about it. Since he’s shy in that way, he just wasn’t the kind of historical romance hero I’m used to – the super dominant men who could care less what society thought of them.

The sex scenes were pretty hot! For someone so shy, Hartwell sure knows how to pleasure a woman! But I don’t really think it should be considered erotica, since I’ve read similar sex scenes in other romances.

A Scandalous Affair is worth it if you’re looking for something short and sweet in the historical romance genre!

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

*Thanks to Carina Press for providing a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own and I was not compensated for my review.

18 & Over Book Blogger Follow #1

18 & Over Book Blogger Follow is a weekly feature that begins on Fridays and runs through the weekend, hosted by Crystal from Reading Between the Wines. This is a Friday blog hop with the objective to find and visit other book blogs that share the same interest as you, namely books geared towards the 18 & over crowd, and make some new friends! 

So this is my first time participating in the hop. Ana from Beach Bum Reads and Neyra from Darkest Addictions basically bullied convinced me to take pictures of my bookshelf on Twitter, so that's what old lazy me did. Grabbed my phone and took a couple of books of my tiny bookshelf.

Surprised? 
This is actually the only book shelf I have. I've been away on college for 4 years and just recently came back, so I haven't really gotten started on my book collection yet. Since I live with my parents, what they say goes, for now. Not to mention I am mostly broke until I start my job in September. Once that happens, I'll need more bookshelves than this one lol. My dream is to have a large wall bookshelf. I'll get there someday! 

This is a close up of the top three shelves of the bookshelf above. The 2nd shelf, if you can see, is mostly YA, while there're some random hardcover books at the top. I'm so in love with my Hunger Games Trilogy lol! I got the entire set as a birthday present from my lovely boyfriend!! It's the best birthday present ever!!

So anyway, my parents are firm believers in the library system in the United States. (We didn't have libraries in China, so they always had to buy me books when I was younger). Imagine how happy they are to know that I can borrow books for free to read in the United States! Thank God for taxes right? I still use the library a lot, probably more than buying books. 

haha this is at the very corner of the top of my closet. I had to take a picture of my Twilight collection. When I cleaned up my bookshelf in May, I decided they should be in that corner instead of on the bookshelf. Hey, I need that shelf space for newer books!

So this is the same shelf as the Twilight books, just to the right of it and in the light. This is where I keep a lot of my older romance books. I used to make bookcovers for my books, that's why you can't see the binding, since they all have book covers. The series here are The Dark Hunters by Sherrilyn Kenyon, The Carpathians by Christine Feehan, Karen Marie Moning's Highland series (before Fever), and also Gaelen Foley's Knight Family series. There're also some manga stacked on top of the books. In case you're wondering, there's another row of paperbacks behind the front row.

So that's my little humble bookshelf. I'd like to eventually get a shelf so that I can have a place for those books stuck in the closet. Oh, this isn't considering the number of books I have on my Kindle. let's not even go there lol

Feature & Follow Friday #24

Feature and Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee's View and Alison Can read. Each week there're two featured blogs. This week's featured blogs are Books are my reality and Concise Book Reviews. 

Question of the week:

Summer Reading. What was your favorite book that you were REQUIRED to read when you were in school?

Answer: Oh God, I hated required reading when I was in school. I'd much rather read something paranormal or romance related. With that said, my favorite would have been:
Anthem by Ayn Rand.
A lot of dystopian nowadays actually reminds me of it.

PNR Review & Giveaway: BLOOD OF THE DEMON by Rosalie Lario

Title: Blood of the Demon

Author: Rosalie Lario

Series: Demons of Infernum #1

Publisher: Entangled Publishing

Publication Date: August 2, 2011

Source: Publicist

Links: Goodreads | Amazon

Synopsis:
Keegan lives to exact revenge on the evil demon who sired and abused him. When his father devises a plan to bring on the apocalypse, he and his three half-brothers, interdimensional bounty hunters for the Elden Council, are charged with capturing and delivering their father for punishment.

Art gallery owner Brynn Meyers has no idea that her ability to read memories embedded in objects and drain people of their life force means she has demon ancestry. Unfortunately for Brynn, she's also the key to raising an ancient zombie army, which puts her on every demon's Most Wanted List. And no one wants her more than Keegan's father. Keegan must protect Brynn from his father by any means necessary, but he'll have to learn to harness the other half of his genetics-the far deadlier, uncontrollable half-when he starts to fall for the one woman standing between him and the vengeance he so desperately seeks. The one woman he'll never be able to resist.

Review:
As soon as I saw inter-dimensional bounty hunters in the summary, I was sold. And it’s about about a group of half-demon brothers? Honestly, I pretty much drooled at that point.

Without any preamble, the story takes out with Keegan “kidnapping” Brynn from her art gallery to prevent his evil father from taking her. Brynn, unbeknownst to her, is a descendent from an ancient Egyptian priest and is the only one who can summon a zombie army, the same army that Keegan’s father wishes to control. Now it’s up to Keegan and his brothers to stop their father from releasing the unstoppable zombie army to take over the world.

This book is a pretty quick read. Both Brynn and Keegan are very likeable characters, but Brynn was a bit too trusting for me. She easily let her attraction to Keegan override the fact that no matter what Keegan says, he kidnapped her! Keegan, on the other hand, is the oldest of the brothers and takes his responsibility very seriously. His struggle between duty and Brynn was very touching. I was definitely cheering for these two characters!

With Keegan and his brothers being demons, I was expecting something a bit darker and grittier, which wasn’t the case. I think the idea was for Keegan and his brothers to be dark and dangerous alpha males, but they didn't really come across that way. Also, one thing that really annoyed me was how much the phrase “f*** off” was used. I have no problem at all with curse words in my books, but the brothers don’t know any other comeback other than that! I’ll be happy if I never see that phrase in my books in the next few months!

Also, the brothers were well-versed in some cultural references while completely unknowledgeable about others, which seemed too convenient on the author’s part. It would’ve been better if they either know everything, or don’t know anything. Randomly picking details they know and don’t know was a bit jarring to read.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and read it pretty quickly. From the ending, there’s definitely a lot of potential for this series. The second book also piqued my interest because of its summary that makes me wonder what happened to Brynn and Keegan.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

*Review copy provided by publisher for an honest review. I was not compensated for my review. 

Thanks to Entangled Publishing, I also have a ebook version of Blood of the Demon for giveaway! Entering is easy, just comment on the review and leave your email address! 

Historical Romance Review: THE MADNESS OF LORD IAN MACKENZIE by Jennifer Ashley

Title: The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie

Author: Jennifer Ashley

Series: Highland Pleasures #1

Publisher: Leisure (Dorchester)?

Publication Date: April 28, 2009

Links: Goodreads | Amazon

Synopsis:
The year is 1881. Meet the Mackenzie family--rich, powerful, dangerous, eccentric. A lady couldn't be seen with them without ruin. Rumors surround them--of tragic violence, of their mistresses, of their dark appetites, of scandals that set England and Scotland abuzz.

The youngest brother, Ian, known as the Mad Mackenzie, spent most of his young life in an asylum, and everyone agrees he is decidedly odd. He's also hard and handsome and has a penchant for Ming pottery and beautiful women.

Beth Ackerley, widow, has recently come into a fortune. She has decided that she wants no more drama in her life. She was raised in drama--an alcoholic father who drove them into the workhouse, a frail mother she had to nurse until her death, a fussy old lady she became constant companion to. No, she wants to take her money and find peace, to travel, to learn art, to sit back and fondly remember her brief but happy marriage to her late husband.

And then Ian Mackenzie decides he wants her.

Review:
To be honest, I expected something completely different before I read the book. I expected Ian to be eccentric and maybe a little bit crazy, but not that he had Asperger’s. I’m not familiar with Asperger’s so I had to do some research on it. Maybe if I was more prepared for the symptoms of Asperger’s maybe I would’ve liked the book more, but I highly doubt it.

Beth was a really likeable character. As a widow who’d recently come into a fortune, she didn’t fit in with the upper class. In fact, she’d grown up in a workhouse and had a hard life, with an alcoholic and frail mother. Her upbringing gave her a core of steel that helped her deal with the crazy Mackenzies. I admired her strength for dealing with Hart and standing up to Ian all the time. If she’d been raised as a good obedient young lady, she wouldn’t have lasted. In fact, I waited for her to run away the entire book, but she never did. She stayed and fought through it all.

As for Ian, it was interesting to read about his conditions. However, his emotional detachment came through the book, meaning that I couldn’t get attached to him as a character. His past is heart-breaking. He went through so much as a kid in the asylum for something not his fault. I felt bad for him, but everything still felt too flat and far away. His POV always left me wanting because I felt as emotionally detached from the book as he felt from everything around him. That’s not a good thing for a reader.

The romance never clicked for me either. Beth and Ian never talked about his symptoms. They just had sex after sex. Even the sex scenes became repetitive after a while. There was no emotional connection during the sex. It’s more of a description of what they did without the emotions or feelings behind each action. It left me feeling “blah” even if Ian is great in bed. I don’t understand why Ian suddenly fell in love at the end. Why did he suddenly feel love? How did he know it was love? Because of his condition, his love didn’t feel real. It’s back to the part where I couldn’t connect with him.

Another big problem I had was the murder plot. I hate when authors build up these things and the big reveal at the end is a whopping disappointment! If it’s not a big twist ending, then please don’t build it up so much. Because of the huge part the murder and the secrecy around it played in the book, I was expecting something very shocking, when the answer was so obvious. It left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

OK, even if I’m ranting, I will read the next book. I still fell in love with the Mackenzies! They’re a very complicated family and each character has so much potential! The next one is Isabella and Mac and I really want to know what happened to them. I’m a sucker for 2nd chance love stories so their story is just my cup of tea! I won’t let this first disappointment stop me!

A lot of people like this book and it's won a lot of romance awards according to its Goodreads page, so I’m definitely in the minority. For me it just lacked that connection I like with my characters. I’d say give it a try if you’re interested. And isn’t the cover just gorgeous?

Rating: 2/5

Teaser Tuesday #30: Blood of the Demon

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. 

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read 
• Open to a random page 
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page 
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers

Here's my teaser for the week:

Rising up to her full height, Brynn assumed a challenging pose and addressed the brother. “Let me guess—you expect me to believe you’re a government agent, too, right?”

“Agent?” He choked out a laugh, glanced at Keegan, and then laughed again. “Yeah, sure, I’m a regular James Bond.”

- Blood of the Demon by Rosalie Lario, p. 24

I'm actually almost done with this one. I just scrolled through the pages randomly and picked out something XD. I'm part of the blog tour for this one so I'm super happy to have gotten a chance to read it! 

[Blog Tour] BLOOD OF THE DEMON by Rosalie Lario

Hi everyone, today I have a guest post from the lovely Rosalie Lario. She's the author of Blood of the Demon, the first book in the Demons of Infernum series! Come back later in the week for my review! 

Becoming the Writer – Guest Post by Rosalie Lario 

Have you ever wondered how someone goes about becoming a writer? After all, it’s not a career that’s really pushed in school. And generally that’s for good reason. Many writers never even get published, and very few of those who do actually make enough money to earn a solid living at it. But nonetheless writers exist, and I’m here today to share my story of how I became one.

I developed a voracious appetite for reading as a young child, and ever since then I wondered what it would be like to write a book. But I never believed I had it in me. The thought of sitting down to pen an entire 300+ page story was just so darn overwhelming.

Then, in 2008, my son was born, and I found myself with a few months of time off. Most of it was occupied with all that never-ending new-baby stuff, but there was the occasional free moment where I pondered finding something else to do. The thought of writing that novel was always in the back of my mind.

One day I just decided, “What the heck?” I sat down with the goal of at least starting a story and seeing where it took me. Three months later my first manuscript was done. It was a truly horrible piece of work that will never see the light of day, but nonetheless, it got me hooked on the writing process.

Several (somewhat) less crappy manuscripts later, the idea for my Demons of Infernum series was born. It started with a dream about a half demon hero and his psychometric love interest. They became Keegan and Brynn, the hero and heroine of BLOOD OF THE DEMON. I knew from the moment I started their story that I had something there, and after Keegan’s brothers were born I realized this was going to become a multi-book series.

When we first meet interdimensional bounty hunter Keegan, he’s just arrived on our dimension. He’s on a mission to stop a demon with plans to bring on the apocalypse. But there’s a twist…the demon is his father, an evil, vicious man who abused him and his brothers. Keegan he has vowed to do whatever is necessary in order to stop his father.

Then he meets Brynn, the key to the apocalypse...and the very woman he may have to kill in order to stop his father. She’s vulnerable but brave, and she takes him totally by surprise. Suddenly he’s forced with a very tough decision: keep his vow to stop the apocalypse…or protect the woman he’s falling in love with.

Blood of the Demon

by Rosalie Lario

Demons of Infernum, book #1

Re-released in print on July 31st

Entangled Publishing

Tour Information: http://www.entangledinromance.com/2012/07/09/blood-of-the-demon-blog-tour/

Find Rosalie Lario:

Website  - http://rosalielario.com/

Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4843915.Rosalie_Lario

Twitter - https://twitter.com/#!/RosalieLario

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/RosalieLario

Newsletter - http://rosalielario.us4.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=f28b6c3c64db883ee9417590e&id=6b05f58e7c

Purchase Blood of the Demon: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

About the author:

Formally trained as a corporate and real estate lawyer, I practiced law for 5 years before finally admitting to myself that negotiating contracts wasn’t nearly as fun as dreaming up stories. As an avid reader of romances and supernatural stories, I knew I wanted to write urban fantasy and paranormal romance. Tales of vampires, demons, and other supernatural beings ensued.

I’m currently working on the Demons of Infernum series, a series of paranormal romance novels featuring four sexy half-demon brothers and their reluctant heroines.

When not writing, I enjoy spending time with my husband and son in our home state of Florida, as well as searching out things that go bump in the night. I still haven’t found any, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

If I ever do find evidence of the supernatural, it remains to be seen whether I’ll jump around in excitement, or run screaming in terror (but I’m betting on the latter)!

Blood of the Demon on Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13493703-blood-of-the-demon

Summary: 
Keegan lives to exact revenge on the evil demon who sired and abused him. When his father devises a plan to bring on the apocalypse, he and his three half-brothers, interdimensional bounty hunters for the Elden Council, are charged with capturing and delivering their father for punishment.

Art gallery owner Brynn Meyers has no idea that her ability to read memories embedded in objects and drain people of their life force means she has demon ancestry. Unfortunately for Brynn, she's also the key to raising an ancient zombie army, which puts her on every demon's Most Wanted List.And no one wants her more than Keegan's father.Keegan must protect Brynn from his father by any means necessary, but he'll have to learn to harness the other half of his genetics-the far deadlier, uncontrollable half-when he starts to fall for the one woman standing between him and the vengeance he so desperately seeks. The one woman he'll never be able to resist.

Contemporary Romance Review: MAID FOR LOVE by Marie Force

Title: Maid for Love

Author: Marie Force
Series: The McCarthys of Gansett Island #1

Publisher: Self-published

Publication Date: April 29, 2011

Links: Goodreads | Amazon

Synopsis:
Maddie Chester is determined to leave her hometown of Gansett Island, a place that has brought her only bad memories and ugly rumors. Then she’s knocked off her bike on the way to her housekeeping job at McCarthy’s Resort Hotel by Gansett’s “favorite son,” Mac McCarthy. He’s back in town to help his father with preparations to sell the family resort and has no intention of staying long.

When Mac accidentally sends Maddie flying over the handlebars, badly injuring her, he moves in to nurse her back to health and help care for her young son. He soon realizes his plans for a hit-and-run visit to the island are in serious jeopardy, and he just may be “maid” for love.

Review:
I got this one while it was free on Kindle not really knowing what it was about. Man, I’m so glad I did. This book totally stole my heart. It’s not like it was anything too special or world-changing, but it was the perfect cheesy and cute romance that warmed my heart.

Maddie’s entire life had been affected by her large breasts and the rumors that followed her around since high school. It’s no wonder that she didn’t care for it at all when the island’s golden boy returns from Miami and knocks her off her bike. To her surprise, Mac McCarthy insisted on helping her with her job and her baby while she recovers.

Maddie annoyed me at first, because she was so ungrateful, especially since at first it wasn’t made clear why she didn’t like the McCarthys. I just thought she didn’t like them because she was poor and they were rich, so I held a grudge against her. Mac was nothing but caring after he injured her. He even went out to go to her job while she recovered and babysat for her. How can anyone be so nice, right? Maddie, instead of saying thank you, was ungrateful and petty and tried to kick Mac out every chance she got.

However, as the story progressed, it slowly revealed why Maddie held a grudge. I really felt bad for her. Her situation was not her fault, only because people can be judgmental gossips no matter the truth. It’s a good thing Mac was there for her.

The love story is one of the sweetest I’ve read, minus my problem with Maddie. Mac just had that something that drew me to him and made my heart flutter every time he did something sweet for Maddie and her son. Mac is the perfect guy – rich, handsome, and a sweetheart who takes care of his woman.

I also loved the idea of the island. Each of the secondary characters has their own story to be told. I’m a sucker for a warm family like this, but Mac’s family in this one was kind of disappointing in the way they treated Maddie, but that is solved by the end, so the other books promise to be more heartwarming.

If you love contemporary romance with a perfect happy ending, where the hero comes to save the day and give the heroine everything she’s ever wanted and needed, then you should definitely give this one a try!

Rating: 4/5

Teaser Tuesday #29: Almost a Scandal

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. 

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read 
• Open to a random page 
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page 
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers

Here's my teaser for the week:

Her heart sped up, pounding against her chest like whitecaps with the thrill of the moment. It was happening. Richard hadn't come, and she was beyond glad. She was going to sea.


- Almost a Scandal by Elizabeth Essex, 15%


I'm having problems getting into this one. It's not bad, but it's just not exciting yet! 

YA Review: LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR by Stephanie Perkins

Title: Lola and the Boy Next Door

Author: Stephanie Perkins

Publisher: Dutton (Penguin)

Publication Date: September 29, 2011

Links: Goodreads | Amazon

Synopsis:
Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion . . . she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit -- more sparkly, more fun, more wild -- the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.

When Cricket -- a gifted inventor -- steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

Review:
After loving Anna and the French Kiss, I decided to dive into this book. Part of me was afraid that this one will let me down. While this one isn’t as great as Anna and the French Kiss, I still loved it! Lola and Cricket completely stole my heart, maybe even more than Anna and Etienne.

When Lola’s neighbors, the Bells, move back into the house next door, she must find ways to deal with her feelings for Cricket, the boy next door. Even though she’s moved on and has a hot boyfriend, she still has to reconcile her feelings for Cricket. I adored Lola! Her propensity for costumes makes her a really cool character who stands out from the crowd. She’s definitely her own person. While she did cycle back between Cricket and Max, her feelings were very realistic. She thinks she loves her boyfriend, but at the same time there’s the boy next door whom she’s loved all her life.

And there’s Cricket!! Omg he’s soo adorable! First there’s his name, kind of silly right? *smile* He’s such an enthusiastic person that you can’t help but be happy and excited whenever he’s around. My heartbeat picked up every time he’s around and I just want to hug him! He’s also super sweet. It’s also good to see that he has his own problems. Both Lola and Cricket just jumped off the page and were so alive! I loved every minute I spent with them!

The rest of the characters make up a great cast! I didn’t like Max, but I can see that he’s necessary for Lola’s growth. Lola also has a great family. I’ve never read anyone raised by gay parents before. We also get to see more of Anna and Etienne. Being able to catch up on their relationship is so much fun. After seeing them go through so much in their book, it’s so good to see them so happy and so in love!

It did take me a bit to get into the book, maybe after 30 pages or so. It’s because I haven’t come off my high from reading Anna yet so I was really impatient. The ending, while perfect, just didn’t feel as awesome as Anna and Etienne’s, but it still made me sigh dreamily. Also, personal problem: I keep thinking of Enid in the movie Ghost World as Lola and that just totally ruined a bit of Lola for me. If you haven’t seen the movie, don’t. I had to see it for a class; otherwise I’d never touch it.

The last book, Isla and the Happily Ever After comes out in 2013, still no release date! I can’t wait! Stephanie Perkins is now easily one of my favorite authors and has ignited my love for contemporary YA!

Rating: 4.5/5

YA Review: ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS by Stephanie Perkins

Title: Anna and the French Kiss

Author: Stephanie Perkins

Publisher: Dutton (Penguin Group)

Publication Date: December 2, 2010

Links: Goodreads | Amazon

Synopsis:
Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris - until she meets Etienne St. Clair: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home. As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near - misses end with the French kiss Anna - and readers - have long awaited?

Review: 
For Anna Oliphant’s senior year, her bestselling author father decides to send her to boarding school in Paris. Now that he’s rich, he’s thinking that his daughter needs to be more cultured. Anna of course hates this. She doesn’t speak French at all. She’s shipped off to half a world away from her best friend and her family to a place where she knows no one. Needless to say she pretty much hates her father after that.

However, Anna quickly makes friends, with Mer, and meets the cute American boy with an English accent and a French name – Etienne St. Clair. The best part about her falling in love is that it’s a gradual process. Oh, Anna’s attracted to Etienne (who wouldn’t?), but it’s not instant love or obsession. For the majority of the book they’re just friends, best friends even, before their feelings come out in the open. 

Anna’s a quirky little teenager. She wants to be a female film critic. She’s super germaphobic and a clean freak. I mean, she’s OCD about it. Everything has to have its place, but Stephanie Perkins manages to make this into something cute and adorable! And then Etienne makes fun of her! I just want to hug the two of them and squeal! LOL. 

I loved seeing Paris through Anna’s eyes! It helps that Anna doesn’t speak French, so there’s a measure of realism portrayed in her fear to go out by herself. Despite her little eccentricities, Anna’s is very much a teenage girl. She worries about school and boys and friends. Though I was cheering for her and Etienne all the way, I like that Anna wasn’t stuck on him but tried to move on when she knows he’s unavailable.

Etienne St. Clair, oh my. Anna’s totally correct in saying that no American girl can resist a guy with an English accent, especially if that same guy has a great sense of humor and is beautiful. Etienne has his own problems, and he came across as very real. His fears and hesitation were very much reasonable. He isn’t perfect, but he stole my heart nonetheless.

All the characters make the rest of this book come alive. Everyone in this book has their problems. I love that Anna realizes that at the end. I love the friendships that Anna formed! Everyone was there for each other and their friendship was one of the best parts of this book.

I devoured every word of this book! At 370 pages, this book flew by and I was left with a huge smile on my face at the end! It’s so fun and adorable, but there’s enough angst to satisfy my needs for more emotions in my books. My heart went out to Anna near the end and I may have cried a little. No worries, it’s a happy ending. It’s also one of those books that will leave you smiling for hours feeling satisfied and happy.

I definitely recommend this book to everyone, even if contemporary YA isn’t your thing. I hope more people will fall in love with Anna and her adventures in the City of Lights.

Rating: 5/5

Feature & Follow Friday #23

Feature and Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee's View and Alison Can read. Each week there're two featured blogs. This week's featured blogs are Vivaciously, Vivian and a GREAT Read. 

Question of the week:

What drove you to start book blogging in the first place? 

Answer: My answer isn't anything exciting. I just wanted somewhere to share my thoughts on books I've read. I tried blogging back in Spring 2010 but I wasn't really serious about it and didn't really explore the blogosphere back then. 


However, when I read Karen Marie Moning's Fever series I had to talk about it with someone and share my love of it with the rest of the world! So I decided to start the blog. I wasn't really sure how long my obsession would last, because I can be really impulsive at time. I'm really surprised at myself for still keeping at it. I'd also like to thank the blogging community for making this so fun and interesting! 

Dirty Little Secret #28

Dirty Little Secret is a weekly meme hosted by us at Under the Covers. Every Thursday we get to know other bloggers and our readers more intimately by asking them a question hoping to reveal their dirty little secrets. We hope that you will all join us!

To participate in the meme all you need to do is:

1. Be a follower of Under the Covers.
2. Create a post in your blog taking the meme image (code above) and copy instructions.
3. Answer the question we propose! This can be done in any way you like, post a video, write a post etc.
4. Then add your link below.

Non-bloggers: We want to hear from you as well!!! Let us know your answer in the comments!

We hope you join us and let us know your Dirty Little Secrets!

" What book have you read recently that has surprised you (good or bad!), or that has been outside your normal reading genre? "

Answer: Well, the good surprise would be Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. I never thought I'd like a contemporary YA, but Anna and Etienne stole my heart. I'd recommend that book to anyone.


The bad surprise was more shocking than Anna, because that book is The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley. So many people loved that book and I thought I would too. I'm a huge fan of historical romance, but for some reason I just couldn't connect with the characters. I was really disappointed after finishing it. 

Review: BARED TO YOU by Sylvia Day

Title: Bared to You
Author: Sylvia Day
Series: Crossfire #1
Publisher: Penguin Group
Publication Date: April 3, 2012
Links: Goodreads | Amazon

Synopsis:
Our journey began in fire...

Gideon Cross came into my life like lightning in the darkness-beautiful and brilliant, jagged and white-hot. I was drawn to him as I'd never been to anything or anyone in my life. I craved his touch like a drug, even knowing it would weaken me. I was flawed and damaged, and he opened those cracks in me so easily...

Gideon knew. He had demons of his own. And we would become the mirrors that reflected each other's most private wounds... and desires. The bonds of his love transformed me, even as I prayed that the torment of our pasts didn't tear us apart...

Review:
Oh wow, just wow…let me catch my breath first…and wait till my heartbeat is back to normal. *A few days and other books later* OK, now I’m ready to write this review.

Bared to You is told in the first person POV from Eva Tramell, who just moved to NYC from California to begin her new job. If I hadn’t read other reviews, I’d think she was pretty normal, but that didn’t last long. Quickly we learn that she had a messed up past that’s damaged her beyond repair despite the normality she portrays on the outside.

When she meets Gideon Cross, her attraction to the billionaire is like nothing she’s ever known. Charming, charismatic, rich, and sexy as sin, he filled her thoughts every day. Though she knew he wasn’t good for her, she couldn’t resist, not when Gideon made it clear that he wanted her. Badly. And he will do anything to have her.

I have such mixed feelings about this book. I fell for Gideon as soon as he showed up. After hearing all the praise about him, I’m glad to say that he deserves all of them. Whenever he shows up, my heart skipped a beat. Sylvia Day made me feel like he was right there, standing in front of me. I can feel his magnetic pull from my book! I loved seeing every facet of him, the tenacious businessman, the consummate lover, and the reluctant but romantic boyfriend. Did I mention my obsession with men in suits? Gideon fits that fantasy perfectly!

To say I like Eva is pushing it. I love how she’s put her life together after what happened to her. She’s also open about her sexuality, not some virgin who gets scared at the littlest thing. No, she knows what she wants and goes out to get it, at least in the bedroom. However, her insecurity made me cringe! Oh my god, if I didn’t know better, I’d think Gideon is normal compared to her, at least in the beginning when he’s trying to convince her to give their relationship a chance! She runs at the slightest trouble. She’s unreasonably jealous. If Gideon so much talks to a beautiful woman, she thinks he’s sleeping with the other woman and bails out on him.

However, the appeal of this book (other than the yumilicious Gideon) is seeing how these two emotionally scarred people can make this relationship work. The plot became formulaic after a while, because it’s basically mind-blowing sex -> obstacle -> Eva runs -> Gideon chases -> mind-blowing sex to solve the problem, rinse and repeat. Still, this formula somehow worked. The sex scenes are the hottest I’ve read. I recommend having a fan or some ice nearby when reading!

At the end, I felt emotionally drained, just as tired and weary as Eva. I cheered for them. Whenever things are good, they’re really good. I would love and laugh with Eva and Gideon. But when things went down the drain, I suffered along with Eva, even though a part of me wanted to scream at her, telling her not to run, to face the problems head on!

Be warned that both Gideon and Eva and all the characters have issues. The stalker and obsessiveness of these people was just unbelievable. I don’t know how Eva could tolerate the controlling tendency of his mother and Gideon! He stalks her and she stalks him back –through Google alerts for god’s sake. If you read this, definitely prepare yourself mentally for some dysfunctional relationships.

Bared to You is a read that will get under your skin. The characters will crawl to your heart and stay there. You will cry and laugh with Gideon and Eva as they muddle their way slowly to having a relationship as normal as they can. I’m definitely looking forward to October for the 2nd book, Reflected in You, to find out more about Eva and Gideon.

Rating: 4.5/5

Teaser Tuesday #28: The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. 

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read 
• Open to a random page 
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page 
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers

Here's my teaser for the week:

Beth leaned on the piano and smiled at him. “I’m certain your teachers were impressed.”
“No. I was beaten for it.”
Beth’s smile died. “You were punished for learning a piece perfectly? Rather a strange reaction, isn’t it?”

“My father called me a liar because I said I’d only heard it once. I told him I didn’t know how to lie, so he said, ‘Better be thought a liar, because what you’ve done is unnatural. I’ll teach you never to do it again.’”

-The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifier Ashley

UF Review: ONE GRAVE AT A TIME by Jeaniene Frost

Title: One Grave at a Time

Author: Jeaniene Frost

Series: Night Huntress 6

Publisher: Avon books

Publication Date: August 20, 2011

Links: Goodreads | Amazon
*Warning: contains spoilers if you haven't read previous books in the series. 

Synopsis:
How do you send a killer to the grave when he’s already dead?

Having narrowly averted an (under)world war, Cat Crawfield wants nothing more than a little downtime with her vampire husband, Bones. Unfortunately, her gift from New Orleans’ voodoo queen just keeps on giving–leading to a personal favor that sends them into battle once again, this time against a villainous spirit.

Centuries ago, Heinrich Kramer was a witch hunter. Now, every All Hallows Eve, he takes physical form to torture innocent women before burning them alive. This year, however, a determined Cat and Bones must risk all to send him back to the other side of eternity–forever. But one wrong step and they’ll be digging their own graves.

Review:
Cat and Bones are in a stable relationship. They stopped a species war between vampires and ghouls from happening. It’s finally time to wind down and relax right? Not really. First, Don’s ghost can’t seem to cross over to the other side. Then, Cat returns home to find a surprised visitor, one who want Cat’s help with destroying a centuries old phantom murderer who takes physical form once a year on Halloween.

This one is typical Night Huntress – plenty of action and humor. All the characters from previous books make an appearance and work together to end the reign of the murderous witch hunter. While I enjoyed this one, I do find that like the previous book, This Side of the Grave, it lacked something that made the first four books so much better.

In the first few books, Bones and Cat’s relationship were still developing. However, in this one, no obstacles stand in their way. For someone who loves HEA for their couples, you’d think I’d be happier. Honestly, I am happy for them, but it just doesn’t make as interesting of a read when they’re all cuddly and cute and agree with one another all the time.

The ghost part really creep me out. I don’t like ghosts, even if they’re nice ones like Fabian. Anyway, this witch hunter had some serious problems. The government part of the story is a little intriguing but more than a little irritating. The whole stupid bureaucrat thing that ruins everyone’s plan because of their ego is just way overdone. While I’m curious about Madigan and his plans, I don’t really care for it unless it turns out to be a big twist.

Also, I’m getting a little tired of the violence now. The bad, awful, gory things that used to make me flinch no longer do so. Now I’m just like whatever. Sometimes I feel that the violence is overdone that it just becomes unbelievable and it actually loses its effect.

I will definitely keep up with the series, whenever the next book comes out. I do pray for some more things to test Bones and Cat’s relationship though. I don’t want to be sadistic and put them through hell over again, but I don’t know how long this series will keep me interested if all that happens in the next few books are Bones and Cat solving mysteries together with no development in their relationship.

Rating: 3.5/5

Other books in the series:
1. Halfway to the Grave (Review)
2. One Foot in the Grave (Review)
3. At Grave's End (Review)
4. Destined for an Early Grave (Review)
5. This Side of the Grave (Review)
6. One Grave at a Time