Giveaway! Forever's Paranomal Blog Tour!

Firelight 

by Kristen Callihan

London, 1881
Once the flames are ignited . . .
Miranda Ellis is a woman tormented. Plagued since birth by a strange and powerful gift, she has spent her entire life struggling to control her exceptional abilities. Yet one innocent but irreversible mistake has left her family's fortune decimated and forced her to wed London's most nefarious nobleman.

They will burn for eternity . . . Lord Benjamin Archer is no ordinary man. Doomed to hide his disfigured face behind masks, Archer knows it's selfish to take Miranda as his bride. Yet he can't help being drawn to the flame-haired beauty whose touch sparks a passion he hasn't felt in a lifetime. When Archer is accused of a series of gruesome murders, he gives in to the beastly nature he has fought so hard to hide from the world. But the curse that haunts him cannot be denied. Now, to save his soul, Miranda will enter a world of dark magic and darker intrigue. For only she can see the man hiding behind the mask.

Midnight Reckoning 
by Kendra Leigh Castle 

Two separate worlds ... One passion that binds them

Wild and passionate by nature, Lyra Black is not just any werewolf. She's the future leader of the powerful pack of the Thorn - if she can stay alive long enough to inherit the title.

One of the Cait Sith bloodline of vampire cat-shifters, Jaden Harrison has no interest in the wars plaguing the world of night. But when he rescues Lyra from a violent attack, they're both captured by an insatiable desire that threatens to overwhelm them and bind them together for eternity... just as ancient enemies prepare to strike. And when they do, the Thorn and the Cait Sith - and Lyra and Jaden's love - may never recover from the deadly blow...

Giveaway!

Two lucky winners will receive both of the books above from Forever Romance! 

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Spellbound by Cara Lynn Shultz [Review]

4 out of 5 Robots!

   

Spellbound Cara Lynn Shultz
Series: Spellbound, #1

Genre: Paranormal Young Adult
Release: June 21, 2011
Hardcover: 342 Pages
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
My Copy: NetGalley
Reviewer: Shannon
Buy the Book: Amazon

Shannon's Thoughts:

What can I say?  I probably shouldn't have liked this one as much as I did given the plot elements: star crossed lovers, curses, and witches.  I generally don't like that kind of thing.  But I was really amused by this book.  And I really chalk it up to the main character, Emma Connor.

Emma had a tough couple of years.  She lost her twin brother to meningitis, then her mother a year later, leaving her with an abusive alcoholic step father who almost kills her in a car accident.  So she flees to her aunt's house in the Upper East Side of New York.  She starts attending a fancy private school and tries to fit in.  She meets Brendan Salinger and is instantly drawn to him.  Turns out there is an old curse that keeps Emma and Brendan locked in an eternal cycle of meeting, loving and losing each other. 

The plot wasn't really anything special and had a typical YA romance.  And considering it is billed as paranormal, it wasn't very heavy on the paranormal either.  Its like Paranormal Romance Lite.  But I think this actually works in the book's favor.  It allows a lot of the attention to be on Emma instead of the paranormal elements.  And that is what makes this a 4 star book for me.  Emma is a lot of fun. She's spunky.  She's witty.  She has a great self-depreciating humor, especially about the situation she finds herself in.  She can be a bit awkward and unsure of herself, but she is not afraid to speak her mind either.  Also, the teen angst is kept to a minimum, thank god.

Brendan and Emma spend a lot of time worrying about the curse.  I found those sections to drag a bit, especially when retelling how the curse came into existence.  There were a lot of elements added to the story and sometimes the plot seemed a little overstuffed.  I sometimes wondered where all of it was leading.  But the ending was exciting and it kept me entertained the whole time.

All in all, this was a nice frothy bit of fun.  I was a little sad to see Emma go I must admit.  I had originally thought this was a standalone book but it looks like there is a second book coming out in March.  I will be happy to revisit Emma!

Swamplandia! by Karen Russell [Review]

2.5 out of 5 Robots!

  

Swamplandia! Karen Russell
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Release: February 1, 2011
Hardcover: 320 Pages
Publisher: Knopf Publishing
My Copy: Borrowed from Library
Reviewer: Shannon
Buy the Book: Amazon

Shannon's Thoughts:

Oh Swamplandia!  I had such high hopes.  But, at the end, I was so disappointed.  The book starts off well enough.  In the back swamps of Florida, the Bigtree family runs a roadside tourist attraction (the titular Swamplandia).  The main attraction at Swamplandia is the alligator wrestling show starring Hilola Bigtree until she is stricken with cancer and dies.  Without its main star, the tourist no longer come to Swamplandia and the family is on the verge of financial ruin.  This is just the beginning of the book.  After Hilola dies, her husband (The Chief) and three children all try to deal with her passing, to varying degrees of success.  The Chief is in denial about Swamplandia's future.  Kiwi, the eldest son, leaves Swamplandia to work on the mainland at a competing tourist attraction called the World of Darkness.  Ossie, the middle sister, becomes interested in the occult and begins to date ghosts and eventually runs off to elope with one of them.  And lastly, Ava, the youngest sister at 13, decides to become an alligator wrestler and save the show.

The first half of the book is narrated exclusively from Ava's perspective.  It sets up all the background to the main conflict.  The book then splits its narrative between Kiwi on the mainland and Ava at Swamplandia.  After Kiwi leaves, the Chief leaves too for the mainland on a mystery errand.  He leaves behind Ossie and Ava to tend to themselves until his return.  But then Ossie runs off to elope to her ghost boyfriend and Ava strikes out after her.  She is aided by a mysterious man called The Birdman as she travels deep into the swamp to bring back her sister.

Its at this point the story begins to unravel for me.  The first half of the books sets up such an interesting premise and it really grabbed my attention.  But once the family splits up, I found myself alternating between annoyance at the characters' naivety and a terrible sense of foreboding.  The last part of the book deals with a terrible terrible incident.  You could see it coming a ways off like a storm on the horizon, but you are completely incapable of doing anything about it.  There is a sense of dread and unease surrounding the last half of the book, leading up to the incident.  And then...nothing.  The end just comes and the ramifications of the story's events are never really dealt with.  I found it all so depressing and unsatisfying.

I think readers will either really like this book or they won't.  From the other reviews I've read, this seems to be the case anyways.  So, I would say if you were interested in reading it, you should so you can decide on your own how you feel about it.

 Other Reviews of Swamplandia:The Amber Show    Contemporary Lit