Vivian Arend Winner

According to Random.org, the winner of an ebook copy of Vivian Arend's Wolf Signs is....


*drum roll*

KULSUMA!

Congratulations Kulsuma! I will get your information over to Vivian today! Thanks for entering.

Cover Love... Kiss of Snow

One of my all time favorite series is the Psy-Changeling Series by Nalini Singh. Her characters are amazing, her plots are think and always leave me guessing, and the smexing is HOT HOT HOT!

The 10th book in the series, Kiss of Snow, wont release until July of next year, but it is probably THE MOST anticipated of the series, and features everyone's favorite wolf Hawke. And with a body like that, who wouldn't fall him?

Everyone give a big thanks to the cover folks at Berkley for this one! *fans self*

Waiting on... Cowgirls Don't Cry

The 10th book in the Rough Riders Series by Lorelei James releases November 9th, and I can't wait. Those McKay/West cowboys are some of my favorite, and Lorelei James always delivers. If you love some hot smokin' cowboy loving... this series is a must read!

Jessie McKay has accepted her marriage to Luke McKay wasn’t perfect. After two years of widowhood, she’s ready to kick up her bootheels—until Luke’s younger brother shows up to spoil her fun. But if Brandt thinks she’ll ever take orders from another McKay male, he’s got manure for brains.

Brandt McKay has avoided his sweet, sexy sister-in-law ever since the night he confessed his feelings for her weren’t the brotherly type. Unexpectedly faced with proof of Luke’s infidelity, Brandt is forced to ask for Jessie’s help in taking care of Luke’s young son. Jessie agrees on one condition—she wants Brandt’s boots exclusively under her bed for the duration.

The sexual heat that’s always simmered between them ignites. Brandt is determined to make the temporary situation permanent, proving to Jessie he’s a one-woman man. And Jessie is shaken by feelings she’s sworn never to have again for any man…especially not a McKay.

Warning: Contains branding-iron-hot sex , the one McKay on earth who wants to be tamed, and a woman who’s decided tame is for nice girls who finish last.
*Blurb from author's website*

Sins of the Flesh by Eve Silver

Publisher: HQN
Publish Date: 10/1/10
How I got this book: NetGalley

Torn between lust and loyalty...

The blood of the Underworld lord of evil runs through soul reaper Malthus Krayl’s veins.
Raised to fight for survival and to kill for victory, he can destroy anyone who poses a threat. As he searches for the one responsible for his brother’s murder, he refuses to succumb to any distraction…until his sworn enemy crosses his path and tempts him beyond all reason.

Calliope Kane, a Daughter of Aset, has a personal hatred for soul reapers. Their savage attack against her family still haunts her. But only Malthus can help her find the traitors of her kind, and only she can help him hunt the source of betrayal amongst the reapers. As they unite, the danger grows closer…and the passion between them ignites.
*Blurb from Goodreads*

The 3rd installment of the Otherkin Series is finally upon us!! There were so many questions left unanswered in the last book, and I sent up a little prayer to the book gods that Silver wouldn’t leave me with a total cliff hanger at the end of this one too! Especially since the next book isn’t out until next year.

Calliope is back from the first book, and I love her ever more now! I thought she was awesome before, but she just skyrocketed up in my book. She is working diligently for the Daughter’s of Aset, trying to kidnap someone who should have vital information about the death of Lokan Krayl.

Like Callie, Mal is also hot on this suspect’s tail, and when the two paths collide, they explode. A kick ass sword fight ensues, as well as some heated stolen kisses, a battle with fire genies, and some smokin’ hot shared dreams! As these two get closer and closer to finding out who really killed Loken, Mal might have to make the decision of a lifetime. His brother? Or his newfound love?

I really enjoyed this one. I’ve loved Calliope from the beginning, and was happy to see her end up with Mal. I really enjoyed that we got a closer look into the Daughters of Aset, and how each member fits into the organization. I was upset for Calliope with the way she was treated by her fellow Daughters, and was glad to see how things ended up working for her in the long run.

After the last book, I was worried that we would continually be left with tons and tons of questions. Thankfully, Silver answered MOST of them for us. Yes, we do find out who killed Lokan and how it was done. Yes, we do find out who all the major players were in the assassination. Yes, we will get to see more of Lokan’s revenge (at least I can only hope with the way it was foreshadowed!) However, more questions have now arisen. Thankfully, there will be additional books in the series.

In the last book, I felt as if the romance was a little rushed, but with Calliope and Mal, it felt more genuine. I enjoyed their little courtship song and dance. I know I can always count on Silver to have strong female characters who aren’t willing to just jump into bed with anyone, and actually take the idea of a relationship seriously. I enjoyed watching Calliope struggle with the thoughts and ideas of being emotionally intimate, and loved when she finally gave everything she had to give to Mal.

I’ve really enjoyed the Otherkin series so far, and can’t wait to see how things progress with Lokan!


All in all, I give Sins of the Flesh 3.5 out of 5 murders solved!

Undertow by Moira Rogers

Publisher: Samhain
Publish Date: 10/5/10
How I got this book: Contest Win

Victor left behind a life of crime to focus on a new vision--helping his alpha build an island sanctuary for werewolves. Harsh experiences prepared him for the hardships involved, except when it comes to dealing with the young female refugees of the brutal Boston pack--especially Simone, who rouses his inner wolf like no other. A woman he must resist, or risk becoming just the latest man to make demands on her.

Born to wealth and privilege, Simone lost everything when she fell for the seductive whispers of the textile heir who turned her. Once adrift, now she is fired by a new sense of purpose--the chance to broker peace between werewolves and European wizards. Yet even as Europe beckons, her instincts--the same ones that led to trouble before--keep drawing her back to Victor.

During a sailing trip to the mainland for supplies, Victor finds it impossible to hold himself aloof from the warm, engaging Simone. And when a winter storm traps them together during a full moon, she breaks through his walls so easily and completely, the question is no longer how he'll stay away, but how he'll let her go.
Blurb from author's website

The dynamic writing duo Moira Rogers continues to amaze me with their newest release, Undertow, the 2nd book in the Building Sanctuary Series.

Simone was raised by a prim and proper family, who although were loaded with money, took issues with the way Simone led her life. When she gets mixed up with a bad lover, she is turned into a werewolf, and forced to watch as he continues to take advantage of young women over and over. Now, she is living on an isolated island, trying to build trust among her new pack.

Victor is a strong alpha, who worked to help build this new sanctuary for the Boston pack that was taken advantage of. While he desires nothing more than to take Simone as his mate, he worries that her trust and faith in him stems from the safe environment he is now able to provide.

When the two take a much needed trip to the mainland, they get waylaid on a deserted island when their boat gets crushed in the storm. The two must learn to survive together. With their isolation, the two will rely on each other, fall for each other, but can their new found love survive being rescued?

I really enjoyed this story. I've gotten accustomed to Moira Rogers constantly having some kind of crazy, evil antagonist in each of their stories. While I love the constant good vs evil battle, I also like that this story is a bit more lighthearted. There is no forced oppression, no evil henchman in the background waiting to take over the world. It's just a story about a man and a woman (wolf and wolfette?), trying to find a way to love each other.

I enjoyed both Simone and Victor’s characters immensely. While Simone is not a strong alpha wolf, she is a strong woman, and a strong character. I love that she knew her place as the “mommy bear” providing comfort to everyone around her. Likewise, I enjoyed that Victor was like a “papa bear,” staring down the other males on the island, trying to provide comfort to the refugees the only way he knew how, with space and the chance to feel safe again.

I was glad to see that although Victor didn’t really have to fight for Simone’s love and affection, he was willing to. He was ready to take on any and everyone who potentially wanted to take her away from him, and was ready to fight for his chance to love her.

This was a super fun, light-hearted read, an all around sweet story. I hope to see more like this from Moira Rogers in the future. I like the chance to see their characters take a break from the good fight and just get the chance to sit back and live life.

All in all, I give Undertow 4 out of 5 deserted islands!

Trailer Tuesday - HIS DARKEST EMBRACE

I have heard nothing but fabulous things about Juliana Stone, and her first book in this series is at the top of my to be read stack. His Darkest Embrace is out on October 26th, be sure you go and pick up your copy!

Giveaway - Wolf Signs

Have you headed over to enter into the Fall Frenzy contest yet? If you haven't, you absolutely need to! The fabulous Moira Rogers and amazing Vivian Arend are joining forces and giving away TONS of books. Just to show how awesome they are, they are letting me do a giveaway as well!

Here goes: Want to win a digital copy of Wolf Signs (book 1 in the Granite Lake Wolves Series) by Vivian Arend?

Talk about getting your signals crossed… Granite Lake Wolves, Book 1 Robyn Maxwell doesn’t care that her brother has to cancel out on their backcountry ski trip. She can do it alone. The fact she’s deaf doesn’t make her survival skills any weaker. The chance to get away from it all and relax in the Yukon wilderness is just what she’s been craving.

Meeting wilderness guide Keil at the cabin starts cravings of another kind. Keil’s one hot hunk of ripped, tasty male. Now she has to deal with raging hormones as well as strange questions about wolves and mates and challenges to the death. Keil was trying for a nice reflective retreat before challenging for the Alpha position of his Alaskan pack. He wasn’t planning on meeting the woman destined to be his mate, or finding out she’s not aware she has the genes of a wolf.

Between dealing with his accident-prone younger brother, a deaf mate with an attitude and an impending duel to the death, his week—and his bed—is suddenly full. Far from the relaxing getaway any of them had in mind…

Warning: Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “talking with your hands”. Includes dangerous use of sarcasm and hot nookie in a remote wilderness sauna.

All you have to do is leave a comment below with you name and e-mail!

+5 follow my blog
+2 follow me on Twitter (@MinnChica)
+2 follow Vivian on Twitter (@VivianArend)

Good luck! The contest will end on October 29th, and a winner will be announced on the blog.

The Kiss Test by Shannon McKelden

Publisher: Carina Press
Publish Date: 10/11/10
How I got this book: NetGalley

Margo Gentry's life is perfect. She loves her job as a DJ for Manhattan's only country music station, and she has a great boyfriend who accepts her need to avoid marriage and tolerates her Elvis obsession-even the velvet Elvis painting in their bedroom.

But then it all falls apart. The radio station changes formats and fires all the DJs. Margo's boyfriend decides he wants kids and a house in the suburbs and kicks her to the curb. And to top it all off, her Mom is getting married-for the 11th time! -and expects Margo to be there as maid of honor.

With no job and no place to live, Margo has to bunk on the couch of her best friend, Chris, whose revolving bedroom door has played host to half the women in New York-at least, the ones who pass his "kiss test." Worse, he's insisting she attend her mother's wedding, and he's personally driving her cross-country to ensure she shows up.

Forget about surviving the road trip-can their friendship survive The Kiss Test?
*blurb from Goodreads*

So I picked up this book because the blurb sounded amazing, and I am a super sucker for stories of friends who realize they are in love and meant to be together. I really wish that The Kiss Test would have measured up for me, unfortunately, it was not what I was expecting.

Margo is an Elvis-obsessed morning radio DJ who life seems perfect, but quickly falls apart. She loses her job, her boyfriend, her apartment, and her sanity all within a few days. To make up for the crap fest, she sets out on an Elvis extravaganza trip, starting in NY and ending in LA where she will be forced to attend the newest nuptials ceremony of her mother (11th, Yikes!). When an unfortunate accident occurs, her best friend Chris takes it upon himself to make sure she has the trip of her life.

They travel across the country, visiting every single Elvis shrine on the way, and their friendship becomes so much more along the way. But amongst all the insanity, will Margo realize that Chris is meant to be more than her best friends, before it’s too late?

I was definitely expecting a lot more romance than this book had to offer. It felt to me that the romance just wasn’t there, at least not until the very end. All the great feel good in my heart type feelings didn’t set in until the last ten to fifteen pages or so, and I wish there would have been more throughout.

Margo, while a constantly quirky character, she was also somewhat annoying to me. She seemed to have a very “woe is me” attitude towards a lot of things, and absolutely refused to deal with many of the issues that seemed to hold her back from truly living her life. She was constantly running from everything, almost to the point of ridiculousness. I wanted to shake some sense into her, more times than not.

Chris, while a little more likable, had some major issues that were hard for me to reason through. For someone who claimed to have been in love with his best friend forever, he sure had a weird way of showing it, sleeping and kissing around constantly. In my mind, that just isn’t normal behavior. He does however redeem himself by providing chuckles throughout the book, constantly poking fun at Elvis and Margo’s obsession.

Speaking of an Elvis obsession, it was a bit much for me. If I don’t read, hear, or listen to anything Elvis for awhile, I will totally be a-ok with that! The constant Elvis trivia, and homage, and everything else was just a bit overdone for my tastes. Now all you die-hard Elvis fans out there, this is a worthy read!

Thankfully, the end did somewhat redeem itself. The story did have a nice little HEA, and the emotions at the end of the story were beautifully done. Like I said, I just wish it would have been done throughout the entire story, instead of just crammed together in the last chapter.

All in all, I give The Kiss Test 2 out of 5 cross country road trips!

Trailer Tuesday - The Reckless Bride

Today's trailer features The Reckless Bride, the 4th and final novel in the Black Cobra Series by Stephanie Laurens. Laurens is one of my favorite historical romance writers, and she just keeps getting better and better with each book. Check out the trailer from Avon below:

Gambit by Kim Knox

Publisher: Carina Press
Publish Date: 9/20/10
How I got this book: NetGalley

Captain Chae Beyon is a hustler, a mercenary pilot, a wounded woman who prefers her men to be easily thrown aside.

Daned Traern is a first-caste Ladaian bound by tradition and DNA to protect his race. He's willing to align himself with the hot space captain if she'll transport him home in time to ensure the right candidate is crowned-and thus prevent a bloody war.

Disguised as Chae's sex toy, Daned is erotically bound to her through living gold, alien tech designed to increase pleasure. When he frees himself, their passion only increases...but succumbing to temptation will bind them together-permanently.

But there's more at stake than their needs. As Chae is dragged into a world of insane princes and sentient stones, hired killers hound them across the quadrant.

And then, as only her lousy luck would have it, Chae must choose between the good of the galaxy and her own heart...
*Blurb from Goodreads*

This past year I have discovered some absolutely incredible Science Fiction Romance authors: Linnea Sinclair, Gini Koch, and KS Augustine to name a few. With that, I got super excited about the genre. However, I’ve also found myself somewhat disappointed with the genre as well. Knox’s new release from Carina Press was one of those that just didn’t really do the best job of drawing me in and keeping me engaged in the story.

Chae is a pilot, floating through life doing odd and end type jobs to survive. When she is bribed into taking Daned to the Ladaian planets, he must pose as her flesh toy in order for stay hidden to those who want to ruin their plans.

On their journey, the two must overcome multiple obstacles, the loss of Chae’s ship and the junker they get stuck with, a plot to stop them at whatever the costs, and a burning desire to bind themselves to each other on a permanent basis.

When Chae and Daned finally reach Ladaia, their plans quickly take a turn for the unexpected, and Chae finds herself in a position that she did not want to be in. She and Daned must decide if their love can prevail over their responsibilities to their world.

There were times when I really just didn’t like Chae very much. She seemed to me to be a little on the whiney side. There were times when she really just didn’t want to accept whatever was happening, when she would cry and moan about what was going on, instead of doing everything in her power to change the circumstances.

When a couple is fated or perfect for one another, I have a hard time dealing with it if they are also perfectly happy giving up on each other. There were too many times with Daned didn’t seem like he cared enough to fight for his chance with Chae, and that didn’t settle right with me.

I was glad to see that Chae and Daned were able to work things out in the end. Knox had me worried for a minute there that things just really were helpless. I’m glad that Chae and Daned were able to find a way to be together, and yet still be able to rule together as well.

I do have to say that this book was steamy!! Chae and Daned had some amazing chemistry together, and Knox heats up the pages with them. It was a definite hot rollercoaster ride.


All in all, I give Gambit 2.5 out of 5 talking chairs!

Cover Love... Deadlock

The ever so fabulous writing team known as Moira Rogers released their new cover for the 3rd book in the Southern Arcana series this week. This series totally rocks, it's one of my favorite paranormal romance series, and Bree & Donna write some absolutely fabulous werewolves. Check out the cover and blurb below:

Abandoned by her wolf shifter father and raised by her human psychic mother, Carmen Mendoza can't deny she's different. She craves things most women shy away from--and she has a trail of shapeshifting ex-boyfriends to prove it.

Working at a clinic for supernatural creatures, she's escaped the notice of her father's legacy-obsessed family. Until they need a pawn in their bid for power. Snared by a vicious spell designed to wake her inner wolf, Carmen's only hope is to trust the one man strong enough to soothe her darkest instincts.

Alec Jacobson was once the heir apparent to the wolves' ruling elite, until he walked away to marry the woman he loved. She paid with her life. He lives as a rebel, a black-sheep alpha who protects the supernatural residents of New Orleans from the wolves' barbaric class system. Too bad he can't protect himself from his need for Carmen.

Yet staking his claim on his enemy's niece will turn his city into a battleground. Unless he can find a way to stop breaking the rules--and start making them.

Warning: This book contains a renegade alpha wolf, a smart empathic doctor, very dirty sex with psychic safe-words, the occasional dominance game in and out of the bedroom, and a group of supernatural citizens ready to take on the corrupt leaders of their world.
*blurb from author's website

Waiting on... Wolf Tracks

I love all things shifters, and Vivian Arend's Granite Lake Wolves Series is one of my favorites. On October 26th, the 4th book in the series Wolf Tracks comes out. This one features the ever clumsy and adorable TJ. Can't wait!

Score one for the under dog…er…wolf.

TJ Lynus is a legend in Granite Lake, both for his easygoing demeanor—and his clumsiness. His carefree acceptance of his lot vanishes, though, when his position as best man brings him face to face with someone he didn’t expect. His mate. His very human mate. Suddenly, one thing is crystal clear: if he intends to claim her, his usual laid-back attitude isn’t going to cut it.

After fulfilling her maid-of-honor duties, Pam Quinn has just enough time for a Yukon wilderness trip before returning south. The instant attraction between her and TJ tempts her to indulge in some Northern Delight, but when he drops the F-bomb—“forever”—she has second thoughts. In her world, true love is a fairytale that seldom, if ever, comes true.

Okay, so maybe staging a kidnapping wasn’t TJ’s best idea, but at least Pam has the good humour to agree to his deal. He’ll give her all the northern exposure she can stand—and she won’t break his kneecaps.

Now to convince her that fairytales can remake her world—and that forever is worth fighting for.

By popular demand: Clumsy sidekick wolf grows up, sarcasm reigns, and the wilderness gets wilder. Includes hot nookie in places you expect—like a remote cabin—and places you don’t.
*blurb from author's website*