It's not you... it's us

September.  Yeah, about that...

We swear; Nina and I are still here and still reading, but the month completely ran away from us. (including a weekend of fun together...see butt bombed photo for proof)

We'll be back in October!   But to get you up to speed, here's what we read in September.

Jess:
Stormwalker by Allyson James
Aftermath by Ann Aguirre
Blood Rights by Kristen Painter (review coming)
Spider's Revenge by Jennifer Estep (review coming)
Hunted by The Others by Jess Haines
Shadow Kin by MJ Scott

Nina:
Downside Ghosts 1, 2 & 3 by Stacia Kane (post coming)
Downpour by Kat Richardson
First Grave on the Right & Second Grave on the Left by Darynda Jones

Fill us in on your month! What was your favorite book? What have we missed?



And because we're ridiculous... mustaches!

The Sound

I love music. Always have. I like scouring the web looking for and listening to all the new sounds artists put out. I'm constantly amazed by it.  Here's what this month sounds like...

**I never ever EVER steal from artists (bands or authors). Everything posted here is either a free download provided by the band or from my personal music library**

Early Review: The Renfield Syndrome

J.A. Saare
Urban Fantasy
Rhiannon's Law #2
Mundania Press

Synopsis:

Vampires, and werewolves, and demons, oh my.
Rhiannon thought facing off against a deranged child vampire was the most dangerous task she would ever have to undertake, but she’s about to discover making a deal with a demon is far, far worse. Sent forward into another reality, one in which vampires are now dominating nearly extinct humans, she realizes the sooner she returns to her vampire lover, Disco, the better.

Unfortunately, time changes a lot of things, including those most trusted around her. When she’s faced with a loss and betrayal unlike any she has ever known, her focus shifts from severing the debt between the demon that wants to kill her, to exacting a revenge that will bring forth consequences she never could have fathomed. By reaching out to the darkness lingering within her, she’ll find the strength to push forward despite the circumstances that would see her dead and buried.

After all, when it’s all said and done, all that she has left to lose is her soul.

Nina Talks BAD Covers

As a reader I see quite a few book covers. Some are amazing. Breath-taking even. And some are… well… not so great. This post is dedicated to the fabulously flawed book covers that are out there.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked down the isle at the bookstore or browsed Goodreads only to roll my eyes and think “Oh. Ya. There’s no way real men look like that!” or “Wait! Now I need eye bleach!”  The bad covers are not limited to any one specific genre either. Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Romance, and Horror all suffer from the affliction.

Keep in mind that the authors usually have no influence in the cover. So, cheese ball art design in no way reflects the quality of the story between the covers. I’ve found that covers can miss the mark for several reasons; Bad CG art, ridiculous unnaturally ripped men, and what-were-they-thinking/how-would-that-ever-be-a-good-idea!? With that said, prepare to be amazed.

Winner Winner

The winner of Sherrilyn Kenyon's latest release, Retribution, is:

ALICIA0605

Congrats Alicia!  Please email me thespinecracker(at)gmail(dot)com as soon as possible with your snail mail address.  You have 24hrs to email me before I must re-draw. 

I Can Haz A Break?

I'm exhausted.  Between the new job with a completely new schedule, and preparing for the bachelorette party, this past week was insane. And I had zero free time to myself.  I think I read 25 pages of a book, all week long.

I need a break.  I'm going to take this week off from blogging, and hopefully come back next week refreshed & revived.   I will figure out how to juggle it all.... just not this week.

** I'll still be posting the winner of Retribution on Wednesday**

Ready for Some Retribution?

The next addition to the Dark Hunter series, Retribution, released yesterday.  But in case you've yet to grab your copy, you're in luck.  Zeitghost Media is giving away a copy here, at TheSpinecracker.

Check out the awesome trailer, and then scroll below for giveaway details.



Enter the giveaway by telling me who your favorite Dark Hunter character is in the comment section below.

• US and CAN only
• Contest Ends next Tuesday August 9th at Midnight (pst)
• Winner will be announced the next day on this site, so be sure to check back.
• Winner will be chosen using Random.org & will need to contact me if selected.  If the winner does not contact me in 48 hours, a new winner will be drawn.

Nina Reviews: Ghost Story

Jim Butcher
481 pages
Urban Fantasy
The Dresden Files #13
ROC

Synopsis:
When we last left the mighty wizard detective Harry Dresden, he wasn't doing well. In fact, he had been murdered by an unknown assassin.

But being dead doesn't stop him when his friends are in danger. Except now he has nobody, and no magic to help him. And there are also several dark spirits roaming the Chicago shadows who owe Harry some payback of their own.

To save his friends-and his own soul-Harry will have to pull off the ultimate trick without any magic...

I Double-Dog Dare You...

One day on Twitter I noticed one of my favorite new authors, Jenn Benett author of Kindling the Moon, talking about how fantastic a historical romance novel was.  I struck up a conversation that started "I don't get it. What's so great about historical romances?" By the end of the conversation we'd decided that she would pick my DARE book this month, and she would make it goooood.  

Jenn Bennett:

Okay, so I've been thinking about my dare for you, the historical romance, and I've decided on a pick: The Spymaster's Lady by Joanna Bourne. It's an engrossing story about two rival spies during the Napoleonic wars, full of twists and turns, and action. The writing is spectacular; at times it blew my mind. The author has created two extremely strong leads, and their story isn't sweet and light, but rather rough and unapologetic. I thought it was pretty freaking brilliant. The lovely and very witty Carolyn Crane (MIND GAMES, DOUBLE CROSS) recommended it to me recently, and she was spot-on about this book breaking the mold. I hope you like it!

Thank you Jenn, I accept! 

Joanna Bourne

400 pages

Synopsis:

She's braved battlefields. She's stolen dispatches from under the noses of heads of state. She's played the worldly courtesan, the naïve virgin, the refined British lady, even a Gypsy boy. But Annique Villiers, the elusive spy known as the Fox Cub, has finally met the one man she can't outwit...

British spymaster Robert Grey must enter France and bring back the brilliant, beautiful-and dangerous-Fox Cub. His duty is to capture her and her secrets for England. When the two natural enemies are thrown into prison, they forge an uneasy alliance to break free. But their pact is temporary and betrayal seems inevitable as the fates of nations hang in the balance.

DARE Review: Happy Hour of the Damned

Mark Henry
Urban Fantasy
294 pages
Amanda Feral #1
Kensington Books

Synopsis:
Donuts are deadly. One minute you’re getting your binge on, the next, you’re slipping on the box, cracking your skull, and in the weirdest turn of events, rising as a zombie. That’s just for starters. Now, the recently deceased Amanda Feral is trying to make her way through Seattle’s undead scene with style (mortuary-grade makeup, six inch stilettos, bangin’ Balenciaga handbag) while satisfying a craving for decent vodkatinis and the occasional human flesh—Don’t judge. And no, not like chicken. Navigating a dangerous world of cloud-doped bloodsuckers, reapers, horny and horned devils, celebrity blood donors, and PR-obsessed shapeshifters—not to mention an extremely hot bartender named Ricardo—isn’t easy. And the minute one of Amanda’s undead friends disappears after texting for “help” (the undead—so dramatic!) she knows the afterlife is about to get really ugly. Something sinister is at hand. Someone or something is hellbent on turning Seattle’s supernatural underworld into a place of true terror. And this time, Amanda may meet a fate a lot worse than donuts…

The Sound

I love music.  Always have. I like scouring the web looking for and listening to all the new sounds that artists put out.  I'm constantly amazed by it. Here's what this month sounds like...




***I never ever EVER steal from artists (bands or authors). Everything posted here is either a free download provided by the artist or from my personal music library***

Review: Shadowflame

Diane Sylvan
Urban Fantasy
360 pages
Shadow World #2
Chapter 1
ACE

Synopsis:
It's been three months since musician Miranda Grey became a vampire and married David Solomon, Prime of the South. As Queen, Miranda must quickly come to terms with her new role and learn how to negotiate the treacherous waters of Signet politics, inevitably making dangerous enemies along the way.

As if complicated vampire politics and a rising music career weren't enough, an enigmatic but powerful force from David's past appears, leaving a wake of chaos and uncertainty for the Pair's fledgling relationship. Miranda begins to realize how little she really knows about her husband. But when an assassin begins targeting her friends and allies, the Pair must track down the killer, even as their lives hang in the balance...

Kevin Hearne was my first...

There are just some people out there that simply amaze me. Authors are definitely some of them.  People who's imaginations are so broad that they invent worlds and rules, and create people from the crevices of their brains quite frankly intimidate the shit out of me.  I have no doubt that their brains are always firing.  They're always creating.  How do you talk to people when you know you're not as smart as them?  I didn't know, but I was determined to find out.

When I realized that Kevin Hearne was coming to San Diego Comic Con, I decided to stuff my fear and worries back in the closet, and committed to making him my first author meet and greet.

I couldn't have asked for a better person for my first time.

Nina Talks Dresden

A quick note about these three books:

For me, each one of these books was extremely moving in its own way. And because of that I have not re-read these editions as much as others. Sometimes you need to savor the heart ache. These books are also darker than their predecessors. Harry goes through some extremely difficult emotional situations in Small Favor, Turn Coat and Changes, and as the reader you are sucked into the anguish with him. The comedy and love is still there, but its evident Harry has very troubled times ahead.

Dresden #10

432 pages

In this story Mab, Queen of the Winter Sidhe, shows up to collect on one of the two favors still owed to her. What is this Small Favor? To rescue John Marcone, crime lord extraordinaire and some times ally, from the clutches of a group of fallen angels. The Denarians are back, and they are making a major move for power.

Early Review: Another Kind of Dead

Kelly Meding
Urban Fantasy
384 pages
Dreg City #3
Random House

Synopsis:
Been there. Done that. Evy Stone is a former Dreg Bounty Hunter who died and came back to life with some extraordinary powers. Now all but five people in the world think she is dead again, this time for good—immolated in a factory fire set specifically for her. Evy and Wyatt, her partner/lover/friend, can no longer trust their former allies, or even the highest echelons of the Triads—the army of fighters holding back from an unsuspecting public a tide of quarreling, otherworldly creatures—they can trust only each other. Because when the Triads raided a macabre, monster-filled lab of science experiments and hauled away the remnants, they failed to capture their creator: a brilliant, vampire-obsessed scientist with a wealth of powerful, anti-Dreg weaponry to trade for what he desires most of all—Evy Stone: alive and well, and the key to his ultimate experiment in mad science.

A Question for the Audience

Nina and I are currently consumed by a certain series book, Hammered.... hence the reason we're so behind on our other reading and reviews.  This book is the last book for a while from the author, so we're savoring it.

One of the many hilarious scenes in the book is when a character announces that a certain inanimate object has changed her life.  The scene made us both laugh out loud.  For a couple days!  I won't ruin your experience by telling you what is so fascinating that it has changed her life... it also won't be as funny without her "delivery".  ::I seriously just snorted as I wrote that::

Nina Talks Dresden

Dresden #7
424 Pages


I hate zombies. I really REALLY hate zombies. I hate them almost as much as Indiana Jones hates snakes. Okay. I hate them more. When I started to read this book I belted out, in true Indy fashion, “Zombies. Why’d it have to be zombies?!”

This time around Harry is confronting a group of disciples, and their hoards of undead on their quest to find the last journal of a notorious necromancer. As if to make matters worse, Mavra the super creepy Black Court vampire (I can’t believe she’s not dead yet), is also after the book, and threatening Murphy’s life if she doesn’t get it. And as usual Harry works his magic best when he’s between a rock and a hard place.

Review: Bloodlust

Michelle Rowen
PNR
283 pages
Nightshade #2
Chapter 1
Berkley Sensation

Synopsis:

For those who feast on blood, Jillian Conrad is a fatal attraction. After being injected with a serum that made her blood both irresistible and deadly to vampires, she was used as a pawn to assassinate the vampire king. Now, the vampires want her eliminated.

Hunted and unable to return to her old life, Jillian desperately seeks to prevent the poison in her veins from killing her. And she must find a way to help her dhampyr protector, Declan, whose exposure to the serum has split his personality into one part uncontrolled desire, and one part stone cold killer.

But an even greater danger is rising. The Amarantos – a secret society of vampires – is seeking the infant daughter of the slain king to complete their quest for true immortality. And if they succeed, no one, living or undead, will escape the darkness.

Review: My Life as a White Trash Zombie

Diana Rowland
Urban Fantasy
310 pages
White Trash Zombie #1
Downloadable Excerpt
DAW books

Synopsis:
Angel Crawford is a loser. Living with her alcoholic deadbeat dad in the swamps of Southern Louisiana, she's a high school dropout with a pill habit and a criminal record who's been fired from more crap jobs than she can count. Now on probation for a felony, it seems that Angel will never pull herself out of the downward spiral her life has taken.

That is, until the day she wakes up in the ER after overdosing on painkillers.  Angel remembers being in a horrible car crash, but she doesn't have a mark on her. To add to the weirdness, she receives an anonymous letter telling her there's a job waiting for her at the county morgue-and it's an offer she doesn't dare refuse.

Before she knows it she's dealing with a huge crush on a certain hunky deputy and a brand new addiction: an overpowering craving for brains. Plus, her morgue is filling up with the victims of a serial killer who decapitates his prey-just when she's hungriest!

Angel's going to have to grow up fast if she wants to keep this job and stay in one piece. Because is she doesn't, she's dead meat.  Literally.

Early Guest Review: Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep

Jennifer Estep

YA

350 pages

Mythos Academy #1

Kensington Publishing

Synopsis:

My name is Gwen Frost, and I go to Mythos Academy — a school of myths, magic and warrior whiz kids, where even the lowliest geek knows how to chop off somebody's head with a sword and Logan Quinn, the hottest Spartan guy in school, also happens to be the deadliest.
But lately, things have been weird, even for Mythos. First, mean girl Jasmine Ashton was murdered in the Library of Antiquities. Then, someone stole the Bowl of Tears, a magical artifact that can be used to bring about the second Chaos War. You know, death, destruction and lots of other bad, bad things. Freaky stuff like this goes on all the time at Mythos, but I'm determined to find out who killed Jasmine and why—especially since I should have been the one who died. . .