Grade: A-

[REPOST: THIS BOOK IS OUT NOW. GO BUY IT!]

I wasn’t sure if I should review this book because I totally geeked out on the author sticking my name in the acknowledgment page and pretty much bragged to anyone who’ll listen! I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to keep my objectivity and feel bad about giving Ms. Gleason a bad grade. Fortunately, this book did not suck. No, it was a little more than unsucky, it was actually pretty good! This series started out with the gimmicky premise of Buffy Meets Jane Austen, but I think it has surpassed that. While reading this book, I actually had to put it down a couple of times because I was afraid the heroine wasn’t going to make it out of the sticky situations she just happened to find herself in, but there were also a couple of scenes that tore my heart out of my chest like that time Buffy sent Angel to Hell by stabbing him through the chest with a fucking sword. I’m still traumatized, man. Anyway, there were spots in this book that had me scratching my head and wondering what the hell (heh!) was going on, but for the most part, I was totally absorbed. Victoria, the heroine, is developing into a seriously smart, kickass chick and the two men in her life, Sebastian and Max… oh, totally broke my heart. Dicks. Oh, man, I’m so thankful that Gleason wrote a severely readable book and I was spared from a potentially awwwwkward situation of giving her a shitty grade. What a pal. Oh… and spoilers aplenty in this biznatch.

(more…)

[REPOST!]

Grade: B+

Sharon Cullars is awesome. Her first book Again was both scary and sexy and after reading it, I found myself looking for more to read by this lady. I was psyched beyond belief when I checked out Amazon and found this book available for pre-order. It releases on April 24, but I couldn’t possibly wait that long, so I emailed the lady and begged her for an ARC. She was kind enough to send me this copy and kids, let me tell you, the very moment I had this book in my hand, I shoved everything aside and read it from cover to cover in one sitting. You can’t tell from the man-titty on the cover, but what’s inside is actually plenty creepy, yet sexy at the same time. There’s really two stories in this book: one is about a grieving woman who had just lost her twenty-one year old son in a senseless accident and takes solace in the arms of her son’s twenty-one year old best friend. The other is about an angry, angry ghost who can’t seem to let go because he sees his mother being seduced by his former best friend and wants to make sure that the two of them never ever end up together even if he has to resort to murder. Individually, the stories work quite well without the other, but don’t blend as well together. It is not seamless. They don’t flow together, which is why in some places, the supernatural aspect feels slapped on. But more on that later. The romantic aspect of the story doesn’t quite work for me, either, but the two leads do have some sizzling sexual tension between them and the fact that they’re such flawed, damaged characters trying to reach out to each other made for a compelling read. (more…)

The winner of PC Cast’s contest (thanks again for coming, PC!) is:

Kaitlin!

You get your very own autographed copy of Goddess of Love and a $20 gift certificate from Amazon! Email me and give me your info, darling.

And now… the winner of June’s Writing Contest is…

Caitlin!

Here’s her winning entry.

“Bitch.” Hugh spat the word and it landed like acid against Catherine’s heart. Eyes fully black, any humanity he’d kept after 200 years of un-death drowning, he circled her.

“Hugh,” Catherine said. “Calm down. All I said was we may need to take some time, be apart.”

“I left for you,” he said, and his accent had returned fully, rich tones of Jane Austen novels, the Ton, dancing the minuet. “For you, I left behind everything the Coven afforded me. For you, I risk my life by the day. I chose to be with a Death-Stalker, a human, and see how I am rewarded.”

Human stung harder than bitch, but Hugh closed distance between them and Catherine forced herself into action. “Hugh…please don’t…” His snarl covered her voice.

He lunged, teeth growing to bone-needles, and she struck with the silver strapped at her wrist, tears forming. Hugh didn’t ash. He just stilled, fell.

Catherine sank next to him, hand on the silver in his mummified heart. Hugh stared up at her emptily, not dead but not her Hugh. Just a Coven vampire, again. “All I said was I needed time,” Catherine whispered. “Surely, Hugh…the one thing we have is time.”

Caitlin, you get a $50 gift certificate to Amazon! Woo-hoo. Email me your info and we’ll get you all squared out. Congratulations!!

(wow… two C(K)aitlins… that’s so weird)

Tune in next July for the first of the month contest and oh, next week, we’ll have Colleen Gleason, the author of the Rest Falls Away and Rises the Night as our guest author! Come on down, there’ll be some cool prizes too!

Here are the songs that play over and over in my head sporadically… alternating… sometimes all at the same time.

1. Always and Forever by Heatwave - I’m pretty sure I slow-danced to this with a hot boy at my 8th grade formal
2. Tell Me Something Good by Rufus & Chaka Khan - the thumping bass line, the funky twangy guitar, Chaka Khan’s big ole voice, the grunting… dayum
3. In the Summertime by Mungo Jerry - It’s a beat I can never get out of my head
4. Bombastic by Shaggy - Mista Lovah Lovah… uhm!
5. Jungle Fever by Chakachas - the lady in the background… is she speaking Spanish? Is she moaning in pleasure or asking for help? Who cares! It’s hot.
6. Cocaine by Eric Clapton - It’s all right, it’s all right, s’all right… cocaine.
7. Do You Really Want Me by Salt N Pepa - Do you really want me baby… let me know… ’cause if you really like me, I suggest you to tell me so
8. Drive Myself Crazy by N*Sync - this was my sister’s first CD ever. She listened to it in a loop non-stop for a whole year. I finally had to “accidentally” stomp on the damn thing
9. Hot Fun in the Summertime by Sly and the Family Stone - good beats, good song
10. Fergielicious by Fergie - Fergalicious definition make them boys go crazy, They always claim they know me, Comin’ to me call me Stacy (Hey Stacy), I’m the F to the E, R, G the I the E
11. Now That We Found Love by Heavy D and the Boyz - One two, tell me what you got
12. Sleepwalk by Santo and Johnny - This song plays in all of nightmares. billowing white curtains, mysterious man in white at the foot of my bed… run, bitch, run!
13. Undone (The Sweater Song) by Weezer - if you want to destroy my sweater (woah-woah-woah), pull the string as I walk away (ultimate emo boy song)

Hey guys, wasn’t that little writing exercise fun? Admit it, it got your juices flowing, right? I received so many really great entries this month that I’ve decided to pick four finalists instead of three (yes, that’s what I did last month, so why I don’t I just pick four each time, huh? Well, if I mean to pick four, I’ll end up picking five… and so on and so forth). You guys know the song and dance… the entry that garners the most vote wins. Good luck, finalists!

This month’s finalists are chockful of drama and darkness. Me lurvez it!

(more…)