Waiting on Wednesday

“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we cannot wait to read.

After surviving a brutal vampire attack, Nurse Edie Spence is ready to get back to work—attending to supernatural creatures in need of medical help. But her nursing skills are put to the test when she witnesses a hit-and-run on her lunch break. The injured pedestrian is not only a werewolf, he’s the pack leader. And now Edie’s stuck in the middle of an all-out were-war…

With two rival packs fighting tooth and nail, Edie has no intention of crossing enemy lines. But when she meets her patient’s nephew—a tattooed werewolf named Lucas with a predatory gleam in his eye that’s hard to resist—Edie can’t help but choose sides. The question is: can she trust this dangerous new ally? And can she trust her own instincts when she’s near him? Either way, Edie can’t seem to pull away—even if getting involved makes her easy prey…

Moonshifted is the sequel in the Edie Spence series.  Edie is a nurse who works on a paranormal ICU unit.  Being a nurse myself, the first book, Nightshifted, was an interesting read that kept me laughing.  I shared a bunch of quotes from the book with my coworkers, who also found it hilarious.  A lot of the things that were in Nightshifted I could relate to real life.  Well, not the paranormal aspect, just the nursing and the reactions in the medical field.  This book is set to release on 27 November 2012.

Waiting On Wednesday

“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we cannot wait to read.

“Every time I think I’m out, they pull me back in.”- Michael Corleone, The Godfather



Since her release from Liberty Children's Facility, Anya Balanchine is determined to follow the straight and narrow. Unfortunately, her criminal record is making it hard for her to do that. No high school wants her with a gun possession charge on her rap sheet. Plus, all the people in her life have moved on: Natty has skipped two grades at Holy Trinity, Scarlet and Gable seem closer than ever, and even Win is in a new relationship.But when old friends return demanding that certain debts be paid, Anya is thrown right back into the criminal world that she had been determined to escape. It’s a journey that will take her across the ocean and straight into the heart of the birthplace of chocolate where her resolve--and her heart--will be tested as never before.

I read all these thing i've done in August 2011 and was anxious for the sequel to find out more of Anya Balanchine's story.   The mob, chocolate, romance...what more can you ask for in a book?  This book is set to be released 18 September 2012.

Defiance

Title: Defiance

Author: Shelly Crane

Publisher: Shelly Crane

Publish Date: 8 March 2012

Pages: 281

ISBN: 978-1475009866

Source: bought

Genre: Young adult, paranormal, romance

Series: Significance

Other books in series: Significance, Accordance

Rating: Liked

In the third installment of the Significance series, we begin with Maggie and Caleb in the clutches of a new enemy; the Virtuoso Council. Not only do they have to deal with the consequences of taking the lives of the Watsons and the council attempting to take Maggie away to keep their precious Visionary safe, but they must deal with Marla as well. All are determined to undermine, control and use Caleb and Maggie's rare gifts for their own uses, some wish to destroy them entirely. Then Maggie's father and Bish are threatened but the council forbids the presense of humans. Peter and the family fight and stand beside them every step of the way to save Maggie's father, to keep Caleb and Maggie together when the corrupted council is so set on keeping them apart and to stop Marla and whatever she has up her sleeve. Then Maggie has the shock of her life when she discovers something about her real father. It may change everything for everyone. Stay tuned as the story continues.

Are things finally going to go well for Caleb and Maggie?  What is this Virtuoso council that she has to go to?  In Accordance, you learned that Maggie was the Visionary.  She is expected to attend the Virtuoso Council with the rest of the Jacobson clan.  When she gets there, things don’t go as well as she thought they would.  Someone is out to get her.  There are rules meant to keep her and Caleb apart and her isolated from the rest of the clan.  Her father and Bish don’t fare well either as they are human and not allowed to attend the council.  Maggie learns what has happened to Visionaries of the past and does not like what they had to go through.

What is the motive behind all the things that are happening at council?  Will Maggie and Caleb be together without any problems?  What will happen to the council?  Who is Maggie’s real father?

I liked Defiance more than I liked the previous books in the series.  It seemed like it had continuous action.  You were always wondering what was going to happen next.  Although, some of it was predictable, there were some aspects that you didn’t guess.  I didn’t like how this ended, however.  Not that I didn’t like the writing, I didn’t like what happened.  I have to read the next book in this series to find out what happens.

Significance

Accordance

Defiance

Reverence (available free here)

Independence (18 December 2012)

Accordance

Title: Accordance

Author: Shelly Crane

Publisher: Shelly Crane

Publish Date: 15 September 2011

Pages: 314

ISBN: 978-1466344440

Source: bought

Genre: Young Adult, romance, paranormal

Series: Significance

Other books in series: Significance, Defiance, Reverence

Rating: liked

In the sequel, Maggie learns much more about all the strange things that happened to her, and has to face new ones. She rebels against it, but ultimately, must face it for her new families’ sake and maybe even her life. Bish went from being her biggest supporter to her biggest pain in the butt and Kyle's intentions to attract her interest may not be so innocent. Caleb and Maggie face many new obstacles together and fight to work through them, but will one that should be a good thing be too much for Maggie to handle?

Did what Maggie learned in Significance help her in Accordance?  In this second book in the series, Maggie and Caleb are sent to Caleb’s aunt’s house in California to protect them.  They think that this is going to be a good time and they are going to finally have time alone.  Their parents have other thoughts.  Caleb’s cousin, Kyle, and Maggie’s brother, Bish is sent out to chaperone them.  Even though Maggie’s father knows about her new life, Bish does not.  This will make things difficult for them when he comes out to watch them.

Watching Maggie is something that Bish takes seriously.  He doesn’t want anyone to hurt his little sister.    He doesn’t like Caleb and thinks that he is “some kind of swindler to have convinced everyone to like him and let him take [Maggie] away to the beach alone.”  Will Bish interfere with Maggie’s and Caleb’s relationship?  What role does Kyle play in all of this?

When I first started reading this sequel, I was afraid that it would be repetitious and not have new content.  I was proved wrong.  I liked Accordance just as much as I liked Significance.  Crane has a way of writing that envelops you in the stories.  Even though there are some evidence of “normalcy” in this book (i.e.: love triangle), this book is one that I would recommend. 

Two will come forth to become one.  That one will end what was done.  One will possess power to birth, a new day of justice, strength and mirth.  Then two to keep our spirit pure and strong, start anew, and the wicked and wrong.

Significance

Title: Significance

Author: Shelly Crane

Publisher: Shelly Crane

Publish Date: 12 June 2011

Pages: 330

ISBN: 978-1463695408

Source: bought

Genre: Young adult, paranormal, romance

Series: Significance

Other books in series:  Accordance, Defiance, Independence (18 December 2012)

Rating: Liked

Maggie is a seventeen year old girl who's had a bad year. She was smart and on track but then her mom left, her dad is depressed, she's graduating, barely, and her boyfriend of almost three years dumped her for a college football scholarship.  Lately she thinks life is all about hanging on by a thread and is gripping tight with everything she has.

Then she meets Caleb. She saves his life and instantly knows there's something about him that's intriguing but she is supposed to be on her way to a date with his cousin. But things change when they touch, sparks ignite. Literally.

They imprint with each other and she sees their future life together flash before her eyes. She learns that not only is she his soul mate, and can feel his heartbeat in her chest, but there is a whole other world of people with gifts and abilities that she never knew existed. She herself is experiencing supernatural changes unlike anything she's ever felt before and she needs the touch of his skin to survive.

Now, not only has her dad come out of his depression to be a father again, and a pain as well, but Caleb's enemies know he's imprinted and are after Maggie to stop them both from gaining their abilities and take her from him.

Can Caleb save her or will they be forced to live without each other after just finding one another?

When everything goes wrong, is it possible for things to go right?  That is what Maggie Masters is thinking.  She has had a horrible year and is graduating from high school.  Her friend, Kyle Jacobson asks her to do something after graduation and she reluctantly agrees.  What she doesn’t know is that her life will change forever when she goes over to his house. It is there that Maggie meets Caleb.  With just one touch, he realizes that she is his significant.

Nobody has imprinted in the Jacobson clan, or in any clan, for a while.  The family cannot figure it out, but they are pleased when they find out that Caleb and Maggie have imprinted.  The one who is not pleased is Marcus, who is from a rival clan.  There is this prophecy about imprinting and he will do anything to stop it from coming true.  He doesn’t think it is fair that his rival clan has imprinted when his clan is obviously superior.

What will happen with Maggie and Caleb?  How does she deal with the stresses of this new world?  Will life finally be “happy every after” or will other things come into play?

When I first started reading this book, I thought that it was interesting.  It caught me off guard and then I was hooked.  I couldn’t stop reading and I actually read the entire series, what was available to me at the time, in a period of a few days.  I like the way that Crane writes.  At first, I thought that things were going to be slow and monotonous, but it moved quickly.  Her characters are well thought out and you learn a lot about them in little time.

You know the old saying, “don’t judge a book by its cover?”  Well, that doesn’t apply to me.  I do, judge books by the cover.  If a book has a good cover, I will be more apt to look at the synopsis of the book.  As shallow as that may be, it’s the truth.  The fact that the models were Pepe Toth and Sztella Tziotziosz, who did the modeling for the Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout, made me first look into this series.