Halloween Spooktacular Autumn Musings by: Angel

Autumn Musings by: Angel – Angel’s Cove Book Reviews

In the blink of an eye, it all changes. Gone is the bright, clear blue sky, the vibrant green of the leaves, catching the golden rays and tossing them down onto your nicely tanned skin. No longer can you bask in the lustrous vat of cancer-producing particles that we love so much. Oh, neutrinos and quarks! Gamma and beta, how we love you so. Even if the news tells us you’re out to get us! We don’t care! We want to absorb you, be one with you! Yes, we are going to miss you immensely. It is now autumn.

Look up at the sky. It’s now a pearly grey. The leaves now rustle in the wind as they morph into earthy tones, before falling gracefully from their home above to land in puddles of crackly natural tin foil at your feet.

The sun, our eternal life-giver and, if you believe the hype, our vicious killer no longer shines as bright and warm. It’s duller, paler, but still she tries. She tries to warm off that ever-creeping-closer chill.

The sun, she is a great woman. She can hold it off for just a bit longer, but barely. The month of October is here, and she is at the end of her reign. Soon Father Winter’s grip will take hold. So instead of whining about the weather change--the cold rain, the biting wind trailing into our lives more and more each day--let us try to think on the more optimistic side of the solstice.

Thinking…I’m thinking, here! Nope…I got nothin’! I mean, it’s GREY. Not just for one day, either; day after day after day. Ad nauseam. Rain. Yes, I know we need it. At least, most of us do. Some people had enough of that this summer, though, right? And seriously? Cold rain is just irritating! It’s October first, and I stood in the rain today while waiting for public transportation and I swear to you, at 55 degrees, it was spitting ICE BALLS along with the rain. Why?

What is the purpose of rain and ice TOGETHER? There is no purpose! It’s a purposeless waste of…stuff and thingies!

I sit here writing this post and sigh forlornly as I gaze out my window at 6:30 PM and see the sun setting already. Dusk crawls over my back yard, and I long for the time a few short weeks ago when I could sit at my desk until 9 PM before having to get up and flip on my overhead light!

Is there anything--anything at ALL--redeeming about autumn and its gloomy, dreary existence?

[Cue awe-inspiring epiphany music!]

CANDY!

Okay, so Halloween is all about ghosts and goblins, and scary, dreary things too, but it’s also about candy! And candy is GOOD! Especially when it’s free! Oh Skittles, how I love to taste your rainbow! Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar! M&M’s, you can melt in my mouth any day! Almond Joy? You’ve got nuts! I’ll take 10 of you!

My sugar soars. I feel the rush, and it envelops my body. The warmth creeps back in and suffuses me. I feel the sun shining down on me, just like she does in the middle of July. No, not shining down--coursing through my body! I feel sunrays in my fingertips and shiver from the pleasure! I bite another sickly sweet confection and chew slowly, relishing the feel of melting goo wrapping around my tongue. I swallow and another wave of pleasure crashes over me. I’m melting! A cold sweat breaks out across my forehead and I whimper in a little fright, but mostly delight, and then I sigh, “MELTING! I’M...OH GOD!"

The world explodes in a spectrum of dazzling light and then all goes a calm, peaceful black.

Sated, I am sated, and this post is done. Maybe Autumn isn’t so bad after all…

Thanks Angel for guest posting today and making me crave some candy now LOL... be sure to stop by her blog and say hey.. Angel's Cove

Remember all the comments on all the Halloween posts are counted as extra entries Now that Angel has me crave candy, What is your favorite Halloween Candy? 

Review of The Hunt by CJ Ellison

Blurb of book two, The Hunt:

Vivian thinks she can control every aspect of a deadly game with her usual manipulations... but what if she can't?

Seven vampires and seven werewolves pay to hunt a supernatural criminal across the cold, vast grounds of an Alaskan resort. The one to catch her, and live through the encounter, will increase their power by feasting on hers.

The tiny vampire they track is more than she appears, however. To escape a fate of twelve years in silver chains, she'll do anything to survive the weeklong excursion. This time, the darkness holds more than just the stinging bite of the Arctic--it holds death.

Journey along, in this next installment of The V V Inn series, for a wild ride as the tale is told through the eyes of all the new seethe members.

About The Author:

C.J. Ellisson writes erotica and urban fantasy. Her vampire series, The V V Inn, mixes a heavy dose of erotic elements with suspense, action, a little bit of mystery and some light humor. She lives in northern Virginia with her husband, two children, two dogs, and a fluffy black cat who makes her sneeze.

To learn more about C.J.'s books (where you can read half of the novels for free), please visit her website at www.cjellisson.com

Amazon

Review:

Coming off of reading Vampire Vacation I started reading this book and I will say I enjoyed this book as much as the first probably even more so. One thing I liked was the different points of view, we got see more and thoughts of not not Vivian but Rafe, Jon( still my favorite character I think), Paul(the newly turned vampire), Asa(I am liking him too) and a bit of Joanna.

This book is full of action a bit more so than the first book with a tad of erotica. One thing that grabs me the most with books if it keeps me guessing and this one did. I think that may have helped with the different points of view.

I urge you to check this one out if you have read Vampire Vacation, it does help if you read them in order but doesn't have to be can be read as stand alone. I can't wait for the third book in this series to come out, Big Game. For a sneak peek of Chapter 1 of Big Game click HERE

Rating:

Halloween Spooktacular: Orgins of Halloween

History (information courtesy of Wikipedia)

Historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of Halloween, notes that while "some folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia, it is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain, whose original spelling was Samuin (pronounced sow-an or sow-in)".The name of the festival historically kept by the Gaels and celts in the British Isles which is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end".

Origin of name

~Magickal Graphics~

The word Halloween is first attested in the 16th century and represents a Scottish variant of the fuller All-Hallows-Even ("evening"), that is, the night before All Hallows Day. Although the phrase All Hallows is found in Old English (ealra hālgena mæssedæg, mass-day of all saints), All-Hallows-Even is itself not attested until 1556.

Symbols

Development of artifacts and symbols associated with Halloween formed over time. For instance, the carving of jack-o'-lanterns springs from the souling custom of carving turnips into lanterns as a way of remembering the souls held in purgatory.The turnip has traditionally been used in Ireland and Scotland at Halloween,but immigrants to North America used the native pumpkin, which are both readily available and much larger – making them easier to carve than turnips. The American tradition of carving pumpkins is recorded in 1837 and was originally associated with harvest time in general, not becoming specifically associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 19th century.

The imagery of Halloween is derived from many sources, including national customs, works of Gothic and horror literature (such as the novels Frankenstein and Dracula), and classic horror films (such as Frankenstein and The Mummy. Among the earliest works on the subject of Halloween is from Scottish poet John Mayne in 1780, who made note of pranks at Halloween; "What fearfu' pranks ensue!", as well as the supernatural associated with the night, "Bogies" (ghosts), influencing Robert Burns' Halloween 1785.Elements of the autumn season, such as pumpkins, corn husks, and scarecrows, are also prevalent. Homes are often decorated with these types of symbols around Halloween.

Halloween imagery includes themes of death, evil, the occult, or mythical monsters. Black and orange are the holiday's traditional colors.

So that is just a bit of history on Halloween, Tell me what is your favorite part of Halloween? Do you like to be scared or is it dressing up for parties or taking your kids out for trick or treating??? Stay tuned for more goody posts as well as giveaways to come.... Don't forget to comment on all posts for extra entries for the main giveaway at the end of the month!!

Review of Vampire Vacation by CJ Ellison

Blurb for book one, Vampire Vacation:

Meet Vivian. She’s a 580-year-old vampire who exudes sex, has a talent for drama, and is passionate about two things: her human husband, Rafe, and their resort for the undead. Her ability to project physical illusions has created the perfect vacation spot—a dark, isolated Alaskan hideaway where visitors can have their wildest fantasies come true.

Vivian knows the best performance requires perfect timing, but the powerful vamp is put to the test when she discovers a corpse in a locked guestroom minutes before the next arrivals. Always cool-headed, Rafe hides the body, convinced he and Vivian can find the culprit without disturbing their guests.

Juggling the increasingly outrageous demands of their customers while tracking a killer isn’t easy. Will their poking and prodding give them the answers they need, or will it uncover secrets Vivian would kill to protect?

Amazon

Warning: This book contains some explicit sex scenes, intended for mature readers only.

Book Courtesy of CJ Ellison and Bewitching Tours

About The Author:

C.J. Ellisson writes erotica and urban fantasy. Her vampire series, The V V Inn, mixes a heavy dose of erotic elements with suspense, action, a little bit of mystery and some light humor. She lives in northern Virginia with her husband, two children, two dogs, and a fluffy black cat who makes her sneeze.

To learn more about C.J.'s books (where you can read half of the novels for free), please visit her website at www.cjellisson.com

Review:

Now that I went and cooled off a bit after reading this book, I think I can write what I think. First I have to say I have read only one other book that was based in Alaska so I enjoyed that part of the book as well as the unique take of running a Vampire Inn.

As many stories that I have read with vampires as the main paranormal I never read one with or even thought about a vampire running a vacation spot for vampires. I found this extremely unique and also Vivian is a very snarky okay some will call bitchy owner and that is what I loved about her, she didn't take any crap from anyone. I also loved her ability to plant desires into her guests heads, boy did my mind run wild on that thought. Another thing I did love was that as much as she doesn't want anyone around she still cares.

As for the other characters, Rafe is the perfect mate for Vivian, he is the only one that she truly trusts around her though she has Jon, who I might add I really love his character and hope to see more of maybe a mate for him um. Asa as well is another character I enjoyed as well.

I overall found this book very entertaining and can't wait to read The Hunt, so if you are looking for a hot steamy read to warm you up a bit with a mixture of action and a bit of humor this book is for you.

Rating:

Halloween Spooktacular is HERE !!

October is finally here! Danielle @ Romance Book Junkies and I have loads of fun things planned for the whole month of October. There is going to be guest posts, fun interviews, short stories and lots of giveaways on both of our blogs. Also, there will be a Grand Prize Contest. So don't forget to come back and check out both blogs to see what kind of fun we have in store for you.

Now for the contest rules:

1. The grand prize contest is going to be open to everyone with in Book Depository's shipping area.
2. You earn your entries by commenting on our Halloween Spooktacular posts. So, if you comment on every post you should be able to earn 62 entries (31 entries per blog.)
3. Make sure you include your email address in every comment so that we can add up your entries.
4. Now you want to know what the grand prize is right? Well we will be having 3 winners. First place winner will receive a $30 gift card. Second place winner will receive a $20 gift card. And the third place winner will receive a $10 gift card. So don't forget to comment comment comment. =)
5. If you win and would like to shop at the Book Depository you will have to make up a list of books equaling your prize amount and I will order them for you because Book Depository does not offer gift certificates.

Since this is a official Halloween Spooktacular post leave a comment to earn your very first entry into the contest.

Topic Thursday: Series Book Addict

As Many of you know I am Serie's addict not that I started that way, in fact many moons ago I read nothing but stand alones until I came across Janelle Taylor's Grey Eagle series. I was hopelessly hooked not just to Native American stories but series books.

Here is just a few of my favorites back when I was in High School and early twenties.

1.Gray Eagle/​Lakota Series by Janelle Taylor

2.Savage Series by Cassie Edwards

I could name more but those two were ones I had to have. Then skip ahead a few years and my niece said I must have to try The Dark Hunter series, and to be honest as much as I love watching vampire movies I wasn't too big on paranormal but I gave it a try and let me say I haven't looked back since. The Dark Hunters fueled not only the fire with series books but also made me a paranormal addict as well.

Here are a few of my favorite series now:

1. Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon

2. Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward

3. Lord's Series by Gena Showalter

4. Warriors of Poseidon by Alyssa Day

5 Demonica and Lords of Deliverance by Larissa Ione

6. Immortals After Dark by Kresley Cole

7. Midnight Breed by Lara Adrian

Those are just some of my must buy no matter what series, I know I am missing a few but I would be here all night if I listed them all.

Recently Discovered Since Starting My Blog:

Dark Sword Series by Donna Grant

Masters of Time by Brenda Joyce

Magical Sword Series by Stacey Kennedy
Sookie Series by Charlaine Harris

I know I'm missing some and for those I'm sorry its 1am and my brain isn't quite as sharp.

Okay I better stop but you get the idea LOL, So are you a series addict like myself? What Series fueled your obsession and Do you have an recommendations I am always looking for more. Doesn't have to be just Paranormal, it can be Historical Romance, Urban Fantasy, YA or anything you think might capture my attention willing to give just about anything a try ? What are your suggestions?

Review of BloodStone by Nancy Holzner

Paperback: 336 pages

Publisher: Ace (September 27, 2011)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 044102100X

ISBN-13: 978-0441021000

Book courtesy of Bewitched Tours and Ace(Publisher)

Amazon

Amazon Summary:

hey call it Deadtown: the city's quarantined section for its inhuman and undead residents. Most humans stay far from its borders - but Victory Vaughn, Boston's only professional demon slayer, isn't exactly human...

Boston's diverse South End is known for its architecture and great restaurants, not its body count. So when mutilated human corpses begin turning up in the area, the entire city takes notice. The killer-dubbed the South End Reaper-uses a curved blade for his grisly work. And even though there's no real evidence pointing to a paranormal culprit, the deaths are straining the already-tense relations between Boston's human and inhuman residents.

As the bodies pile up, Vicky, her formidable aunt, Mab, and her werewolf boyfriend, Kane investigate, only to find that the creature behind the carnage is after something much more than blood...

Review:

I have been wanting to read this series for awhile so when this book came up on tour, I had to sign up and nearly squealed when my copy came in the mail. Only thing that concerned me was because I haven't read the other 2 books would I become confused but Nancy does a wonderful job of not doing so.

I think I found another series and author that is a must buy for me. The action is packed all the way through and the different kind of demons is fascinating to me , especially the Peccatum which uses the seven deadly sins to grasp its victims. Very very interesting take and it had me pulled into from the get go.

The story and characters flowed perfectly together, I absolutely love her Aunt and who couldn't love Kane,werewolf boyfriend(I think werewolves ) are becoming my new favorite paranormal. Gasp I know from the crazily obsessed vampire lover that I am. Lets just say I devoured this book in one day, I just couldn't put it down. Love love when a book can do that.

Would I recommend? Yes, Yes Yes run don't walk to Amazon and order it if not enter the contest for a chance to win an autographed set(which I wish could enter :(). Anyway enough rambling I will be ordering the first two books next month. .

Rating:

If I could rate this book higher I would