Kelly's TEASER TUESDAY #18

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 & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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Here I am already bending the rules again. I'm giving you more that the standard two sentences. I'm sorry. Hopefully you won't mind. But I see people breaking that rule all the time so I'm not gonna stress. Okay, here's the quote...let's see if YOU can guess the book?

* * *

Her: "What's YOUR name?"

Him: "Tanner. But my friends call me Crazy Bones."

Her: "Uh, that's an interesting nickname."

Him: "I know, I got it from the ladies. His young chest puffed up. Its for all the wicked mad bones I give the girls that make them crazy for more."

* * *

Did you smile? I know I did. It's from my very first Gena Showalter book EVER, Playing with Fire - Book 1 in the Tales of an Extraordinary Girl Series. I've just started it but so far, I *really* like it.

I hope everyone is busy getting their mommies something nice for Mother's Day! It's THIS coming Sunday you know! Do something nice for your mum. She deserves it. :) See you all tomorrow!

Kelly for Book Lover's Hideaway

Winner of Ebook Copy of A Tale of Two Goblins is

And The winner is:

meggerfly

Congrats, I have sent an email and passed your information on to Belinda at The Bookish Snob Promotions. Please contact me to let me know you were either received my email as well as from Belinda.

In My Mailbox #16

A weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren, where we post about all the books we have received whether in the mail, if we purchased it, or got it from our local library.

Books I bought:(all for my kindle for the pc)

Books I won:

Thanks to Martha at Reviews at Martha's Bookshelf

Thanks to Tynga at Tynga's Reviews (along with bookmarks and various swag)

Various Mermaid Swag thanks to Paranormal Junkee

Thanks to Black Lagoon Reviews

Thanks to Tyra at Tyra's Book Addiction

Book's I Received for Review:

A big reminder 2 giveaways will end May 1st and May 2nd

Hot and Steamy Giveaway ends May 2nd, winner will be announced May 3rd

Tale of Two Goblins Giveaway ends May 1st, winner will be announced on May 2nd.

Kelly's Review: ETERNAL RIDER

ETERNAL RIDER

Book 1 in the Lords of Deliverance Series

By Larissa Ione

Published by: Grand Central Publishing

First Printing: April 1, 2011

ISBN-10: 044657449X

ISBN-13: 978-0446574495

Amazon; Barnes and Noble; Goodreads

Concept: “They are here. They ride. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

His name is Ares, and the fate of mankind rests on his powerful shoulders. If he falls to the forces of evil, the world falls too. As one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, he is far stronger than any mortal, but even he cannot fight his destiny forever. Not when his own brother plots against him.

Yet there is one last hope. Gifted in a way other humans can't-or won't-understand, Cara Thornhart is the key to both this Horseman's safety and his doom. But involving Cara will prove treacherous, even beyond the maddening, dangerous desire that seizes them the moment they meet. For staving off eternal darkness could have a staggering cost: Cara's life.”

Review: I think Larissa Ione is one of the best Paranormal Romance authors out there today and I love the Demonica series also as being some of the best available today. So much so that I couldn’t start this review with a negative but now that is out of the way. This is supposed to be a new series and to me, it’s just a continuation of Demonica. So for those of you who thought Demonica was over, never fear, it’s back again. I LOVED Demonica so that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but on the other hand, when I picked up this book, I was thinking I was going into a new world. I invited friends into a book club reading thinking it was a new series and easy for them to fall into. It wasn’t. So I have to minus points for that and as a warning to newbies into this series. I don’t think my ratings or this review is going to be popular, but I have to call it as I read it. J

Eternal Rider is the first book in the Lords of Deliverance series which is touted as being a spin-off from the Demonica series. I think it’s a continuation. Unlike the Demonica series, which focuses around Underworld General, a demon hospital and it’s cast of characters, THIS series focuses on the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Great setting right?

The setting (and I’m going to try and put this in the easiest way possible) is that Ares, or War, is trying to stop his seal from breaking while battling his brother Resesph (good)/ Pestilence (bad) since his seal has already broke. (Think Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hide.) The rest of the family Thanatos/Death and sister Limos/Famine are lending a helping hand. Cara, our heroine, has been bonded to a hellhound that she lovingly has nicknamed Hal (short for Halitosis) is the link to making everything all better, but, she’ll have to die first. It’s really confusing. REALLY confusing.

I did enjoy the romance between Cara and Ares developing, and I would say that one of the hottest sex scenes in paranormal book history hits right around Chapter 18, and I enjoyed some new characters, Battle, Ares’ horse, and Hal. I’m an animal nut. Maybe that’s why Cara is endearing to me as well as these animals. I’m not sure. Ares however, wasn’t the hop on my list. To me, he’s kind of whiney and needs to put on his big girl panties. I didn’t care for him. Fortunately, the story made it easy to tolerate him.

This series has a lot of promise. For Book 1, it wasn’t bad. Not bad at all. It may even surpass the Demonica series. I hope there’s a little less of the fighting stuff because it gets confusing to me and I’m reading a romance not a war story. The characters are so engrossing though and the world so interesting, that you are willing to deal with it.

What I liked: I loved the animals. Battle and his antics as Ares’ horse were so delightful. Hal is adorable (as adorable Hellhounds go) and his Daddy-o, Chaos, reminds us that forgiveness is a big thing in life.

What I disliked: The good v. evil thing and the battle stories and the Aegis v. The Horsemen v. The demons, all that is very confusing to me. As I said above, I am reading this book for a romance, not war intel.

My rating: 3.5 Feathers

by Kelly for Book Lover's Hideaway

Kelly's Review: EXPECTATIONS

EXPECTATIONS

By Liz Boreno

Published by: Lazy Day Publishing

First Printing: November 30, 2010

ISBN: 9781612580067

ISBN: 1612580068

Amazon; Barnes and Noble; Goodreads

Concept: “EXPECTATIONS depicts the struggle between what we desire for
ourselves and our familial obligations. The struggle is personified by Chris and Matt Taylor, identical twins, who are trying to win their overbearing father's approval and acquire their trust funds. Love, money, and desire collide as Matt and Chris decide what's really important to them. (from Goodreads).”

Review: Normally, I say give me a book with a lot of character build up and analysis. That is what makes a book good – the characters! Right? Hmmm, well, maybe not right. This book is definitely about the character build up. And now I’m going to say that perhaps too much of a good thing makes it a bad thing. Because this story was told by different character perspective, the changes sometimes felt uncomfortable, there wasn’t a natural flow to the story. And the story was slow and difficult to read sometimes but, it had its rewarding moments as well.

As talked about above, the story is about three men, twin brothers and their best friend Aiden at a crossroads in their lives. They have moved into their own apartment in New York (oh wait, that makes it a loft) after graduate school. The twins, Chris and Matt have a tyrannical father who really is a giant snot. And then there’s Aiden, the dancer. Chris and Aiden enter into a relationship which is tender. Matt has a harder time and struggles with alcoholism. Chris and Matt struggle with trying to be something their father wants them to be and what will get them cash by means of their trust fund. What they do, and how they cope with their father and what they do about him is the story.

The story moves along with romance and suspense and when you reach the ending you are absolutely waiting for resolutions to some of the plot lines. The book though, stops suddenly. There will be a sequel to this book, and I will be anxious to read it, but I would have liked to have seen more done with THIS book’s ending. This is an excellent first book though and I hope the author continues to write books of this caliber.

What I liked: The character build up! I loved getting to know these characters. Even getting to know Rob (the evil Dad) was excellent. By time he showed up in the story, I was ready to rip out his nostril hairs.

What I disliked: There were a lot of times in this story that it drug on and on. I would have liked a little something more. As I said, the ending didn’t wind up nicely enough for me either. Although, and I understand this, that makes room for the sequel.

My rating: 3.5 feathers

by Kelly for Book Lover's Hideaway

Kelly's Review: STOLEN DREAMS

STOLEN DREAMS

Lingering Spirit Book One

By Stacey Kennedy

Published by: Stacey Kennedy

First Printing: February 21, 2011

ISBN: 978-0-9865931-5-4

Amazon; Barnes and Noble; Goodreads

Concept: “Tess Jennings has the ability to see and talk to spirits. On a daily basis, they harass and annoy her to save their souls. Sometimes she helps, other times she ignores them, but one ghost will give her no choice. Kipp McGowan, a cop with the Memphis Police Department, uses his ghostly charms to gain her attention and forces her to expose herself to his partner. As she’s pulled into the five year old cold case of Hannah Reid she wants no part of, she finds herself in more than one precarious situation. But that’s the least of her worries--Tess begins to have a serious problem on her hands. Kipp might be dead, but he’s drop-dead gorgeous and she’s beginning to forget that he’s a ghost. Murder and corruption has brought Tess and Kipp together. But as her feelings for Kipp deepen, she suspects she just signed herself up for a one-way ticket to the nut house, and can only hope, straitjackets come in a size four.”

Review: In looking back, I’m not sure how I found this book or this author, but I am SO glad I did. I have become a new die hard Stacey Kennedy fan and I shall forever point to this book as the reason why. Part Sookie, part Anita Blake, Tess is one hot little enchilada. She is a strong, willful, determined woman, the stuff all us gals want to be, while on the inside, she’s insecure and just wanting to be loved. When Kipp (the ghost in this story) comes along, she becomes extremely aware of herself as a woman and Kipp as a man, er, ghost. The dialogue between the two draws you into their hearts and minds while you are drawn into the murder investigation of a young girl as well as Kipp’s death investigation. The story never slows down. It moves from page to page either being sexy sizzling hot, or on the edge of your seat who done it. The questions keep popping up, the big one being, if together Tess and Kip solve Kip’s murder, will Kip have to leave Tess forever?

What I liked: I love good ghost stories and ever since I first became interested in paranormal romance, I’ve been looking for a SEXY ghost story. There are several scenes in this book that are sexy, but there’s one scene in particular that really is more than just sexy. It’s meaningful as well. To be honest with you, it’s the first sex scene in all the paranormal romance books I have read, where I felt that the couple was in fact, truly in love. It didn’t lack for a sizzle factor either. I put Kip and Tess up there with great romances.

What I disliked: I am not a fan of cliffhangers. It’s just me. There is a cliffhanger at the end of this book but, it wasn’t a cliffhanger of the sort that the main story hasn’t been solved. It’s just the other questions around the characters. So I’m not deducting any sort of credit for it. I’m just saying is all.

My rating: 5 feathers

Kelly for Book Lover's Hideaway