Moonshifted

Title:  Moonshifted        

Author: Cassie Alexander

Publisher:  St. Martin’s Press

Publish Date:  27 November 2012

Pages: 352

ISBN:  9780312553401

Source:  bought

Genre:  werewolves, YA, vampires

Series:  Edie Spence

Other books in series:  Nightshifted,  Shapeshifted (04 June 2013), Deadshifted (tbd)

Rating:  LOVED!!

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…

What has Edie Spence gotten herself into now?  After everything that happened in Nightshifted, she has no desire to become that involved in the paranormal again.  Then she and co-worker, Charles, witnesses a hit and run with a werewolf.  They quickly put their medical training to work and the werewolf becomes a patient on Y4.  They soon learn that this werewolf is the alpha of one of the local packs.

What Edie doesn’t realize is that this is the start of a war between rivaling werewolf packs and that the hit and run wasn’t an accident.  Someone is trying to get rid of the alpha.  She has vowed not to get involved.  She has been down that road before and has been burned.   Then Lucas comes into the picture.  He is the nephew of the alpha that was hit.  As much as she tries to stay neutral, it doesn’t happen.  She tries to get assistance from her vampire friend, and when that doesn’t work, Edie needs the help of the pack to remain safe.  Lucas is the one who is assigned to guard her.  What will happen to Edie?  Will she be able to stay uninvolved?  How will this werewolf war be resolved?

 … cell phones made people act stupidly.  It was a scientific fact.

I have said it before that I really like the Edie Spence series.  Being in the medical profession, it is hard to read books (or watch shows) that represent medicine in a serious nature because I get nitpicky about things that they are doing wrong.   That is my job.  When it is present in a comedy, it is easier for me to forget my job and just enjoy what is happening to the characters.  That is exactly what this series does.  I know that this is not reality and I can put my nurse hat away.

That being said, I love paranormal books.  Having both of those two wrapped up together is the perfect package for me.  I really like Edie Spence in the fact that she is a new nurse and is especially new on Y4.  That means that she doesn’t always know what the policies/procedures are.  This is good because the reader doesn’t know them either.  You learn when she is learning.  Alexander’s writing is done in a way that you don’t really have to know anything about medicine to understand the book.  That is not what it is all about.  It doesn’t go into medical jargon that the lay person cannot understand.  It is an easy read and one that I highly recommend to anyone who likes paranormal books. 

I also like the variation in the books.  You never get bored reading them.  Nightshifted was mostly about vampires.  Moonshifted is mostly about werewolves.  Even though those are the main themes, there are other paranormal creatures in the books.  In Nightshifted, there was an incident with a fire-breathing dragon.  Y4, the paranormal unit within the hospital, houses every kind of paranormal being, so there is a vast assortment to write about and still make sense within the story line.  Lastly, I love the quotes.  I had shared some with my review of Nightshifted and I’ll share some here too.  Most of these are funny because they hit home and again, I shared quotes with my co-workers.

We walked in calmly, which got us past the security desk despite the blood.  It was the running that was frowned upon – mere bleeding was fine.

"The sound of retching is like a mating call to a wild nurse."

It was one thing to consider yourself a highly skilled waitress with access to narcotics – it was another for someone else to treat you like it.  Repeatedly.

When In Paris: guest post and giveaway

Title:  When in Paris

Author:  Beverly Kendall

Publisher:  Season Publishing, LLC

Publish Date:  30 December 2012

Pages: 350

ISBN: 9780983800651   

Source:  From author

Genre:  YA, romance

Series:  Language of Love

Other books in series:  Those Nights in Montreal (01 March 2013), Love Italian Style (20 November 2013)

Rating: Really Liked (review to come)

College freshman Olivia Montgomery is thrilled at the chance to start over, escape the rumors that plagued her in high school. And she can finally put her juvenile crush, Zachary Pearson, where he belongs—in her past. Then her unrequited love strolls into her French class, shattering Olivia’s newfound peace, and the feelings she'd thought buried for good come rushing back. Now she can't shake her unwanted attraction to the one guy who can twist her stomach into knots with just a smile...but has never given her the time of day.

Zach’s good looks may have always gotten him his pick of girls, but it's the star quarterback’s skill on the football field that gives him his pick of the Big Ten colleges. To escape the crushing demands of his win-at-all-costs father, Zach opts for a private university in upstate New York where...his present and past collide. And the one girl he’s always wanted but can’t have—and a class trip to Paris—turn out to be the ultimate game changer that has him breaking every one of his rules.

Troy does a poor job covering his laugh with a cough. When I narrow my eyes at him, he quickly averts his gaze, pushes his chair back and stands. “April, I almost forgot. My mom sent you something. I have it in my room.” He motions for her to come with him.

Gee, how subtle.

But my traitor of a best friend can’t scramble out of her chair fast enough and the next thing I know, I’m watching as they disappear down the hall and hear the subsequent closing of a door, leaving me and Zach alone. Something that’s never happened before.

“April,” I call out belatedly, making a move to rise. Zach’s hand on my arm prevents me from following them.

“They obviously want us to talk.”

While Zach is speaking, all I can think—all I can feel is his warm hand on my arm. I must have been looking down at his arm like I’d grown another one because he releases me, not quickly, but slowly, so the tips of his fingers trail over my bare flesh until the contact is broken.

“Sit down. I think we need to clear the air if we’re going to be friends.”

Reluctantly, I sink back into the chair, vowing to wring my best friend’s neck as soon as I get her alone. Right now I’m sure she’s thinks she’s just the cleverest little matchmaker in the world.

“Oh, we’re going to be friends are we?” It’s on the tip of my tongue to point out how close we haven’t been the last four years but I don’t want him to think I care.

“Well there are friends and then there are friends. Which one is up to you.”

     At his panty-tossing bedroom voice, the pulling sensation in my lower belly is making its way south in a hurry. I swallow hard as my heart slams against my rib cage. Okay, what on earth does that mean?

I have always loved books, romance and wished that everyone (most especially me) would find their happily ever after. Add in my love of London, England set in a period when ladies strived to be genteel and dresses could barely fit through doors, and it was obvious I could write nothing but historical romances.

As the single mother of one too bright and mischievous young boy, I now write full-time and enjoy the process of self-publishing my novels. When I'm not writing, mothering, reading or running The Season website and blog, I'm enjoying some of my favorite hobbies: knitting, crocheting and sewing.

I'm currently being represented by the wonderful Kevan Lyon at Marsal & Lyon Literary Agency.

And that's really enough about me. There's more to explore on the website. Enjoy!

Beverly Kendall has graciously given YABR one e-book copy and one print copy of When in Paris to give away on the blog.  I am going to separate the contests because the e-book is international and the print copy is US only.

RULES:

-You will have 48 hours to respond or you will forfeit your prize.

-I reserve the right to cancel the contest at any time without reason. 

-You must be 13 years or older to participate.

-Contest is international.

-Names will be drawn by Random.org that is within Rafflecopter. 

-Winner will be announced in this blog post at the conclusion of the contest and notified by the e-mail provided to enter the contest.  MAKE SURE THAT THIS IS THE E-MAIL YOU WANT ME TO CONTACT YOU!!  I am not responsible for e-mails that were sent to accounts that you don't normally check. 


a YABR giveaway

 

RULES:

-You will have 48 hours to respond or you will forfeit your prize.

-I reserve the right to cancel the contest at any time without reason. 

-I am not responsible for parcels lost or damaged in the postal system.  I will make every attempt to avoid this.

-You must be 13 years or older to participate.

-Contest is US only.

-Names will be drawn by Random.org that is within Rafflecopter. 

-Winner will be announced in this blog post at the conclusion of the contest and notified by the e-mail provided to enter the contest.  MAKE SURE THAT THIS IS THE E-MAIL YOU WANT ME TO CONTACT YOU!!  I am not responsible for e-mails that were sent to accounts that you don't normally check.

a YABR giveaway

Blog Tour: Fallen

Title:  Fallen       

Author: Laury Falter

Publish Date:  01 April 2009

Pages: 274

ISBN:  978-0615294988

Genre:  YA, angel, romance

Series:  Guardian Trilogy

Other books in series:  Eternity, Reckoning

Maggie is unaware of the terrifying fate that awaits her. It isn’t until she lands in New Orleans for a full year at a private high school and her unknown enemies find her does she realize that her life is in danger.

As a mystifying stranger repeatedly intervenes and blocks the attempts on her life, she begins to learn that there is more to him than his need to protect her and that he may be the key to understanding why her enemies have just now arrived.

“You appear and then vanish like a ghost. You aren’t injured from venomous snake bites. You aren’t killed by wayward, incredibly sharp arrows.” Then, I reiterated, “I am the only one who can see you…how is any of this possible?”

“You do pay attention,” he said, sounding almost regretful, though I didn’t understand why.

“Yes, now will you tell me how you are capable of all that?”

He paused, still looking at me, as he collected his thoughts. The muscles throughout his body visibly flexed, tensing as he prepared his answer. “I have certain…gifts…that not many others can claim…gifts of speed, healing, and regeneration, to name a few.”

He paused, waiting for my reaction.

“Don’t worry so much,” I said, teasingly. “I’m not going to run screaming for the door.”

We quietly laughed together for a brief moment.  When I felt like he was comfortable again, I asked my next question.

“So, where did you get these gifts? Did your parents take some sort of special drug?”

“Not exactly. I can’t answer that, as much as I know you’d like me to. Just suffice, Magdalene, to know that without these gifts, you wouldn’t be here right now.”

Laury Falter is the bestselling author of the Guardian Trilogy (Fallen, Eternity, & Reckoning). When she isn't writing, she likes to take her two stray dogs for walks and enjoy date nights with her husband.

Laury's debut novel, Fallen, hit Amazon's Top 100 list in three genres and the remaining two books in the trilogy made showings in the Top 100 of the same genres as well. With a new series available, Residue, about a teenage girl who learns she is a witch and falls in love with a boy from a feuding family, her reader following continues to grow rapidly.

AToMR tours has given us one e-book copy to be gifted from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.  If you don't have an e-reader, you can download the free Amazon Kindle app and read it on your computer.

RULES:

-You will have 48 hours to respond or you will forfeit your prize.

-I reserve the right to cancel the contest at any time without reason. 

-I am not responsible for parcels lost or damaged in the postal system.  I will make every attempt to avoid this.

-You must be 13 years or older to participate.

-Contest is international.

-Names will be drawn by Random.org that is within Rafflecopter. 

-Winner will be announced in this blog post at the conclusion of the contest and notified by the e-mail provided to enter the contest.  MAKE SURE THAT THIS IS THE E-MAIL YOU WANT ME TO CONTACT YOU!!  I am not responsible for e-mails that were sent to accounts that you don't normally check. 



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour: The Edge of Never

Title:  The Edge ofNever

Author: J.A. Redmerski

Publisher: Createspace

Publish Date:  15November 2012

Pages: 426

ISBN:  9781480095533

Source:  Blog tourcopy

Genre:  ContemporaryRomance

Series:  None

Rating: Loved

Twenty-year-old Camryn Bennett had always been one to thinkout-of-the-box, who knew she wanted something more in life than following thesame repetitive patterns and growing old with the same repetitive life story.And she thought that her life was going in the right direction until everythingfell apart.

Determined not to dwell on the negative and push forward,Camryn is set to move in with her best friend and plans to start a new job. Butafter an unexpected night at the hottest club in downtown Raleigh, NorthCarolina, she makes the ultimate decision to leave the only life she’s everknown, far behind.

With a purse, a cell phone and a small bag with a fewnecessities, Camryn, with absolutely no direction or purpose boards a Greyhoundbus alone and sets out to find herself. What she finds is a guy named AndrewParrish, someone not so very different from her and who harbors his own darksecrets. But Camryn swore never to let down her walls again. And she vowednever to fall in love.

But with Andrew, Camryn finds herself doing a lot of thingsshe never thought she’d do. He shows her what it’s really like to liveout-of-the-box and to give in to her deepest, darkest desires. On theirsporadic road-trip he becomes the center of her exciting and daring new life,pulling love and lust and emotion out of her in ways she never imaginedpossible. But will Andrew’s dark secret push them inseparably together, or tearthem completely apart?

What do you do when you feel like everything in your life isgoing wrong?  That is what happens toCamryn Bennett aka Cam.  All kinds of badstuff have happened to her in the last year and the weight of it all is finallygetting to her.  Her boyfriend dies in acar crash, her parents get divorced, her new boyfriend cheats on her… Throughit all, she has had her best friend, Natalie aka Nat.  Something happens, which is finally thebreaking point for her and Cam decides that she needs to get out of NorthCarolina.

So she does just that. She hops on a bus to a destination unbeknownst to her when she purchasesthe ticket.  Her cover story is that sheis going to Idaho to meet her sister who just had a baby.  It is on that bus where she meets AndrewParrish.  At first Cam is wary of Andrewbecause her experiences haven’t been that great and she doesn’t want to needanyone.  Eventually, she agrees to travelwith him and to be friends.  How willthe story of Cam and Andrew play out? Will Cam finally learn to trust someone?

I loved this book!  Iwas captivated from the beginning.   Istarted this book at work and had a hard time putting it down to actuallywork.  A warning:  do not start this book unless you have thetime to finish it!  This book made me cry.  At.  Work.  My coworkers were looking at me like I was crazy for crying over a book.  

It flowedsmoothly.   The characters werebelievable.  I think I liked thestoryline more because I could relate to it on a small level.  I traveled from Michigan to Idaho on aGreyhound bus when I was 17 and it brought back memories.  There really aren’t any bad guys in thebook.  Although there are some peoplethat you just want to smack.

The book alternates between the point of view of Cam and Andrew.  I really like it when books do this becausethen you aren’t just getting one person’s side of the story.  There was more swearing in the book than whatI like.  The rating is 17+ because thereare some sex scenes, but they don’t last very long and is not the main focus ofthe book.  I wish that there were goingto be a sequel to The Edge of Neverbecause it would be interesting to see what happens to Cam and Andrew.

Depression is pain in its purest form and I would do anything to be able to feel an emotion again.  Any emotion at all.  Pain hurts, but pain that's so powerful that you can't feel anything anymore, that's when you start to feel like you're going crazy.

 I learned this next format for reviewing books from LylaaYeaah Oritee ♥ on Goodreads.

1^stImpressions:

Cam: She has had an awful year and is dealing well.  She seems really mature in the way she ishandling things, but it really just bottling it all up.

Natalie: She is Cam’s best friend and has always been therefor her.  She is also a little sex crazyand wants Cam to find someone else.

Damon: He is a good/loyal friend to Cam and boyfriend toNatalie.  He is a drug dealer to supporthis own habit.

2^ndImpressions:

Cam: She ran away. She didn’t tell anyone.  Howimmature.  She’s alone and deserves whathappens to her on the bus for being so foolish. She’s keeping secrets.

Natalie: Best friend! What in the world?!

Damon: He needs to be punched kicked slapped.

Andrew: He’s kind of hot snotty.  Turn down your music boy!  He carries antibacterial wipes on thebus.  He’s got secrets of his own.

Final Impressions:

Cam:  You have grown alot during this trip.  I hope it makesyou a better person.

Andrew: Can I have one of you?  You’re adorable, even when you are mad.  You play the guitar and sing.  

Natalie:  You are onprobation.  

Most hated charactersgo to:

Damon:  Youportray that you are a good person and is there for your girlfriend Natalie andher best-friend Camryn, but you are a dog. I am sorry that I gave you such high regards at the beginning of thebook.

Natalie:  Thatis not how a best-friend is supposed to act. Enough said.

I have never lived the way I lived during my short time with you.  For the first time in my life, I've felt whole, alive, free.  You were the missing piece of my soul, the breath in my lungs, the blood in my veins.  I think that if past lives are real then we have been lovers in every single one of them.  I've known you for a short time, but I feel like I've known you forever.

There is a really cool contest for this AToMR blog tour.  This is one of those that I wish I could enter my own contest.  They are giving away: 1) Signed paperback copy of THE EDGE OF NEVER, (1) Kindle or Nook copy, (1) sterling silver custom book pendant necklace $200 value. Open to United States and Canada only.






a Rafflecopter giveaway

Author of THE DARKWOODS TRILOGY and DIRTY EDEN, mother, werewolf &zombie fanatic, book addict and a happy hermit obsessed with the Universe. Oh,and AMC’s “The Walking Dead”.

Addictions: Starbucks every morning, trolling Barnes & Noble’s shelvesonce a week, detesting winter, shopping flea markets and preparing for thecollapse of society as we know it. Do I own a tin foil hat? Maybe. :-)

I was born in Arkansas and have lived here most of my life, except thecouple of times when I lived in Pennsylvania. I started my first novel at theage of thirteen and have been writing something ever since. Generally, Ilove characters in life and on paper. I pay attention to people, especially thosewhose personalities make them different from the rest of us: the drug addictroaming the Laundromat that talks to himself, the young, inattentive mother inthe park with the meanest kid on the playground – (the entire cast of ‘SwampPeople’) – characters fascinate me and I hope that it shows in my literarywork.