Win a Free copy of The Girl Who Stopped Swimming!

I have five copies available for this contest. It is limited to the U.S.A. and Canada. Leave me a comment for one entry. For a second entry ad a link to my blog or one of my posts on your blog and let me know when you are done.

This contest will run from now until May 10th 2009.

I have already started reading this book and so far it is excellent. Here is the info about the book, this is not my review.

Lauren Gray Hawthorne needs to make things pretty, whether she's helping her mother keep family skeletons in the closet or sewing her acclaimed art quilts. Her estranged sister, Thalia, is her opposite, an impoverished actress who prides herself on exposing the lurid truths lurking behind middle class niceties.


While Laurel's life seems neatly on track-- a passionate marriage, a treasured daughter, a lovely suburban home-- everything she holds dear is threatened the night she is visited by the ghost of her 13-year-old neighbor Molly. The ghost leads Laurel to the real Molly, floating lifelessly in the Hawthorne's backyard pool. Molly's death is an unseemly mystery that no one in her whitewashed neighborhood is up to solving. Laurel enlists Thalia's help, even though she knows it comes with a high price tag.


Together, they set out on a life-altering journey that triggers startling revelations about their family's haunted past, the true state of Laurel's marriage, and the girl who stopped swimming.

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Book Review -- Chosen: House of Night Book 3 By P.C. and Krisitin Cast

In the third installment of the House of Night Series, Zoey is learning how to cope with becoming a vampire and a huge amount of new responsibilities. Zoey has become the new leader of the Dark Daughters, is dealing with three love interests and the death of her best friend. She also has made a new ally with her former nemesis, Aphrodite.


Also let us not forget the goddess Nyx has chosen Zoey as the next high priestess which makes her different from the other fledglings. Neferet, who she thought was her mentor, is an evil, back-stabbing witch, who wants to start a war with humans. On top of that her family problems are getting worse than ever and she can’t think straight.


With all this stress it is no wonder she is making bad decisions. Zoey is also trying to save the undead creatures lead by Stevie Rae who is not really dead but not really alive either and struggling to hold on to her humanity. Neferet has a hand in making these creatures and Zoey continues her search to find out her secrets.


If all this isn’t enough teachers are turning up dead, brutally murdered and left on display. Zoey is feeling confused and betrayed and finds comfort from Loren a teacher who has been trying to seduce her. Nothing is what it seems in this book you will have to read to learn more and I can promise you a very fun read.


I really liked this book there was still a lot of review that was unnecessary. These dark novels are not written in a stand alone format you need to start from the first book. I liked the characters more in this book especially Stevie Rae and Aphrodite. Zoey starts to grow as a person in this book despite her personal issues and bad decisions.


I give this book 4.5 out of 5 stars, because I have very few complaints and I absolutely was addicted to this story at this point.

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Book Review -- Betrayed: House of Night Book 2 By P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Betrayed the second book in the House of Night series starts exactly where Marked left off. In this dark novel, Zoey takes over leadership of the Dark Daughters and with that comes more responsibility.


Zoey intends to change the way the Dark Daughters is run, and enlists her friends to help her. As she struggles with her new role as a leader she also finds that she has two boyfriends, and another possible love interest. If that isn't enough stress for a young girl she also finds that people from her past are turning up dead. Zoey is determined to find what is going on.



In what should have been one of Zoeys’ greatest moments, after leading her first ceremony of the Dark Daughters, a great tragedy occurs. The death of another fledgling. If that is not enough she is seeing the dead fledglings, even the one who died in her arms, alive but not the same.

So now Zoey has to solve the mystery of the weird dead but undead fledglings and find out who is killing people from her human life. All this just as she starts to accept the changes in her life and feels more comfortable with becoming a vampire.



All the stress causes Zoey to make a lot of bad decisions especially with the boyfriend situation. It also helps her tap into more of her powers and you start to see what she is really made of. In this dark novel some of the characters started to grow on me a bit more.


I did love this book, but there were quite a few things I didn’t like. They spent way to long updating us on what happened in the last book, and kept doing it through out the book. Also I think I could cast my own circle blindfolded with as many times as they went through the whole entire process from start to finish.



Oddly enough despite all the complaints I have with this book I couldn’t put it down. It was like an addiction or something. So I am going to have to give the book 4 out of 5 stars.

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Marked: House of Night Book 1 by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

This was one of those dark novels that I couldn’t put down. The story is a about a human turned vampire with a strange twist making her one of a kind. Humans are marked as teenagers and sent to Hours of Night schools where they spend their time studying and changing into full fledged vampires. I actually enjoyed the story a lot despite the fact I did not find that the characters very likable. They felt like snotty teenagers to me the whole time except maybe Stevie Ray the best friend of the main character.


The story follows Zoey through her change from fledgling into a vampire. Zoey is thrust into a new life after being marked. She has to leave her family and friends to move into the House of Night or die. When she arrives Stevie Ray and her friends accept her into their group.


She also makes enemies as quickly as she makes friends. Zoey and her friends are appalled by the actions of Aphrodite the leader of the Dark Daughters, an extremely important school club. Zoey and Aphrodite become enemies for a variety of reasons you will have to read to find out.


Zoey also struggles with love issues, her human ex-boyfriend won’t leave her alone, and she begins to fall for a fledgling. She also struggles with being different than all other fledglings. There is so much thought put into the story that it just keeps drawing you in and you can’t wait to see what happens next.


I would highly recommend this book for all as I loved the next three books. I give it 4 out of 5 stars. Over all I thought it was a great storyline that is what captivated me and made me feel like I just couldn't stop reading. This book holds plenty of twists and turns in the plot and it moves quickly, and never leaves you feeling like it is getting old.


There are however a lot of things in the book that might be offensive to many people. There was foul language, some mild sexual situations, many things that people relate to witchcraft, and a serious disdain for religious people. I did wish I liked the characters more, and I do now as I have read 3 more books in the series but they kind of have to grow on you.

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Blogging Plans This Week

Hello readers, hope you are all doing well. I am trying to finish my current book, but have not had enough free time. So this week will be for reading. I am reading The Fey by Claudia Hall Christian. The book is amazing, I was almost late to work today trying to squeeze in a few extra minutes of reading. I have ten chapters left, and I can't wait to find out what happens.

I have another book I am planning a contest post for. I believe I will have 5 lucky winners for this contest. I have to check on the details though. I hope to have a review for both books and the contest up no later than Sunday. That is if nothing comes up and I don't have to work extra hours. Since something always comes up I will at least promise the review for The Fey and a few more of my reviews that were on my Today.com blog before they went psycho and ripped off half their bloggers.

Sorry I am bitter about the Today.com thing I try not to talk about it too much but it just has to be said, Today.com sucks and if you are thinking of getting a blog there don't.

Now that I have that out of my system, I am going to be planting a garden this week and weekend so I am not sure how much time that will take. I am however determined not to let things go for long without a good post.

I almost forgot I am also in panic mode about my weight. When I broke my hip I thought I put on about 10 pounds from being inactive for months. I was wrong it was more like 15 to 20 pounds. I was just a little over weight before I broke my hip, now I feel way over weight. So now that I am approved to work out I am on the treadmill every morning fro 40-45 minutes. I am working up the speed as my leg gets stronger.

I can't believe how hard it is, if I work too hard one day it really hurts the next day. I have settled on a slow build up so I don't end up in so much pain I can't get on the next day. Before I broke my hip I did an hour or more 4-7 days a week at at least 4 miles and hour. Now I am only up to 2.5 miles an hour. This is really frustrating to me.

Have a great week and thank you all for reading my blog.

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Book Review --Breaking Dawn: Twilight Saga Book 4

Breaking Dawn: Twilight Saga Book 4, I have been waiting to do this review for a long time. I need more than one post to cover my feelings about this book. So I am going to try to give you a basic review and then delve into a series of posts on the Twilight books. There will be some spoilers so if you don’t know anything about what happens in this book you may not want to read on.

Breaking Dawn seems to be written by someone else, the only character who seems to be the same is Jacob Black. The book starts with Bella graduating, and then getting married. The first few chapters and the beginning of the honeymoon contain some great romantic scenes reminiscent of the first book. I did enjoy this part of the book.

It doesn’t take long though before things go wrong, and I mean all wrong. A short time into their honey moon Bella exhibits signs of pregnancy. Meyer’s spends a large amount of time on the pregnancy issue. The baby is killing Bella who in a mater of minutes grows a backbone and starts standing up for herself. She buddies up with Rosalie to keep the baby safe from the men who want her to abort it. Edward becomes an idiot with out an ounce of self respect or any of the confidence he had in the previous novels.

Once the baby is born there is more trouble, it is forbidden to make a vampire child and the Voltori have taken notice. There is another great section in this book about the Vampires that gather to testify the child is not a normal vampire child. I would have loved to here more about these vampires with special abilities. Bella also becomes a vampire and has some particularly interesting abilities that are barely explored or used.

There was so much that could have been done with this section of the book but nothing happened. There was a lot of building up to some great action and it never happens. I was very disappointed in this book over all Meyers had a lot of good material to work with, but I was disappointed on how she wrapped it up.

I really can’t say much more about the book without giving away too much. I don’t recommend this book I give it a 2 out of five stars only because Jacob’s character was still great, while he grows up a little his personality stays the same.

I expected more from this book, especially one to finish up the series. I thought the book was entertaining but the more I thought about it the more I didn't like the book. It ends up like some messed up fairy tail instead of the tragic romance it started out as.

When I finish posting the rest of my reviews I will talk more about my feelings on the Twilight series. Over all I thought it was worth reading because I really loved some of the books. To tell you the truth I think she had enough great material for 3 great books and spread it to thin making 4.

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Book Review -- Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer

This dark novel is the third installment in the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. I was bored to tears by New Moon so I wasn’t expecting much from Eclipse. I was pleasantly surprised that Eclipse was almost as hard to put down as Twilight.


Bella is graduating from high school and is determined to become a vampire. Her plans have come to a screeching halt, with serial killings in Seattle that have vampire written all over the crime scene. Also there are vampires literally out for Bella’s blood.


If that is not enough the tension between Edward, Jacob and Bella makes for a lot of interesting moments. It is no secret by now that I like Jacob better than I liked Edward, but they both had great moments in this book. They learned that sometimes they had to put aside there egos and work together.


Vampires and werewolves are sworn enemies and tend to hate each other. The Cullen’s have a common enemy with the werewolves now and they have to make a temporary pact. This makes for a lot of fun, intense interactions.


One of the things I really liked about this book was it challenged my imagination. Meyer’s really creates just enough of a picture of each scene that you have to let your imagination finish it. She does this with her characters as well. What she does develop fully is the personalities of each character and you even feel like the town of Forks has its own personality.


I loved this book so it gets five stars out of five. I really didn’t find anything that would be offensive in this book. Seriously it is worth the read, the only bad part is you have to read New Moon first.

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Book Review -- New Moon by Stephanie Meyer

Again this is an older review of mine. I have done some editing but nothing that changes how I felt about this dark novel.

I have actually been agonizing over this review I have started it about five times and gave up. I am going to finish it this time. I am going to get right to it, I didn’t like this book at all. There will be some spoilers in this review since I didn't have much to work with.

This is the second book in the Twilight Saga and I was very disappointed after reading the first book. The last few chapters were very good but most of the book seemed long and drawn out. Book three is really good so if you can make it through the second book it is worth the read for the next book.


At the start of New Moon Edward and Alice throw a party for Bella and she cuts her finger at the Cullens’ and all hell breaks loose. Jasper looses control and Bella gets hurt worse. So what do the Cullens’ do, they pull a classic Edward move and they all move away to protect Bella and their own family.

What does Bella do? What else, she whines and cries and mopes for months. Better translated way too many pages of Bellas’ zombie like state. Then she finds some dilapidated motorcycles and decides to take them to Jacob Black to help her fix them, so she can go do something dangerous.


If it wasn’t bad enough that half the book is about Bella’s depression the other half is about her relationship to Jacob who she is using to help her feel better. Just in case you can’t tell I hated Bella in this book.

She let this nice kid Jacob fall in love with her and then when he starts having trouble of his own she acts like she will die without him. He pushes her away as he is changing into the creature from his fathers stories. Just a bit after Jacob trusts her with his secrets, Alice comes back and wants her help to rescue Edward. What does Bella do? I bet you can guess I could, so I am going to give it away. She travels to another country to save Edward and leaves Jacob in the dust.

What I did enjoy about this book was the story line written for Jacob. Maybe I was supposed to hate Bella. I previously gave this book 2 out of 5 stars but have since decided to do half stars. Because I started to fall for Jacob in this book I will give it 2.5 stars.

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Book Review -- Twilight by Stephaie Meyer

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer was the first review I posted on my Today.com blog. I have fixed some errors but for the most part it is that same review.

I finished this book in less than two days I was so taken with the writing I just could not put the book down. I read every free moment at work to see what would happen next. The odd thing for me is I am not really into love stories and this is definitely a love story first and vampire story second.

I felt so connected with the characters and with the visual imagery that I felt like I could see the story play out right in front of me. The book is about a young girl and a vampire who fall in love. Edward and Bella are the main characters and they are very likable characters.

Bella is very clumsy and has a lot of quirks yet she attracts the attention of all the guys when she moves to the town of Forks. Even with all the guys asking her out her feels like she is barely average. I do have to say that I may have connected with this character because sometimes she reminds me of my younger self.

Edward is a vampire who lives with his vampire family and they don’t feed on humans like most of their kind. They hunt animals that makes them outcasts in the vampire world. Edward has the ability to read minds and he, can not read Bella’s mind which is why he finds her so interesting. He also has a terrible desire for her blood, which causes him conflict about seeing her. He is afraid he can not trust himself.

Without giving too much away they do end up working on all the issues and becoming close. When they do they become the target of a vampire, putting Edward and Bella and their families in quite a lot of danger. This book is full of drama and action but most of all it is an interesting twist on forbidden love.

I would recommend this book to just about anyone who can read. The romance is not overly sexual. I don’t recall much if any foul language in this book either. It felt very magical to me without all the witchcraft and other things that might be offensive to some. Vampire books often have things that offend but I saw none of that in this novel
This dark novel gets 5 stars out of 5.

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Glass Houses: The Morganville Vampires Book 1 By Rachel Caine

This dark novel was such a disappointment to me, I read Twilight in half the time and it was at least three times longer. I had a hard time getting interested in this book. The last few chapters had my attention and then ended clearly wanting you to get the next novel, as they didn’t really tell you what happened to a main character.


The story is rather dull and to write a long review would give away the whole thing. To me this book was not inviting and it moved as a sluggish pace until the last few chapters. Then it came to an abrupt halt where you were left hanging. The hanging part never bothers me when the book was a pleasure to read, but that was not the case with this book.

It is also the only book I have read in the third person in a long time so that may have had a hand in me disliking it so much. I will not be getting the next book and do not recommend it. The good news was there were only a few things that could be found offensive, such as a few references to witch craft, and some dirty language. It was all very mild and while I was bored I was never really offended.

I found only one character likable, Eve, the Goth chick, who was very sweet. I didn’t dislike the others but couldn’t feel a connection with them. They were rather dull to me. Clair is the main character and she is very smart and in college at 16, where she is harassed by a mean upperclassman.

They spent a lot of time with this harassment and not nearly as much with vampires. She can’t stay in her dorm or Monica the leader of the mean girls will kill her. She moves into a house with three roommates and they like her so much they decide they need to protect her. Eve, Michael and Shane live are Clair’s new roommates and they warn her of the dangers of being out at night. The city is full of Vampires and it is not safe for humans who don’t have protection of a vampire to be out especially at night.

This book gets a half star. It was boring a vampire book is not supposed to be boring. Eve gets my half star.

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Claimed By Shadow is the second book in the Cassandra Palmer series. I think Karen Chance is one of my new favorite authors. I like the way she works with her characters and the world she builds around them.


I liked this dark novel as much if not more than that last Cassandra Palmer book, Touch the Dark. Cassandra now had the power of the Pythia, and has had no formal training. This means she has great power with no idea how to use it.


Cassandra has also not completed the ritual that will give her full access to the power she isn't even sure she wants. The other issue is that she has to sleep with someone to complete the ritual.


The first thing she feels she must do is eliminate the threat on her life and then get revenge for her father. The woman who was supposed to inherit the power and was trained for the title is attempting to erase Cassandra. The Pythia can travel in time and with that ability it would be easy to go back and change things.


This means Cassie has to find her before she deletes her permanently. This leads Cassie, to Faerie with Thomas, and Pritkin , one of his friends and a crazy vampire. This unlikely bunch travels into a world that doesn't want them their.


I was entranced by the world of Faerie that Chance created. I already enjoyed her modern day look at the supernatural. This world and the creatures in it were as vivid to me as watching them on screen.


There was a lot of action in Faerie where even the trees have magic. This book was actually full of action from the beginning to the end. The only thing I didn't like was Cassie was so reluctant to use her power. I understood why but I still wanted to see her kick some supernatural ass.
She did eventually make some life changing decisions when things got personal. I just need to learn some patience.


I am giving this book 5 stars the best rating I give. I bought two more books and the first in Karen Chance's new series.

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Book Review -- Touch the Dark By Karen Chance

If you want a exciting book with all sorts of magic and magical beings this is the book for you. It moves quickly and the main character, Cassandra Palmer, if rather interesting. Who doesn’t love a book with witches, war mages, vampires, werewolves, Satyrs, faeries, were-rats and a few other supernatural creatures.


The book opens with Cassandra receiving what looks to be a death threat from the Vampire she escaped three years ago. Tony the vampire killed her parents and kept her because of her abilities. Cassandra amazing abilities to see the future and communicate with ghosts gets her into a heap of trouble.


Cassandra does not know much about her family or her own powers, as she is confronted with near death she learns just how much she doesn’t know about herself. The Vampire Senate has sent a representative to protect her from Tony’s attack. Now she if faced with joining forces with the Senate or going on the run again. Siding with the vampire senate as bad as being on her own because she is considered a possession to them.


I really liked Cassandra from the first page to the last. Her personality was rather closed like anyone who had been on the run for three years. She didn’t trust anyone but she wasn’t nasty, just closed off. I thought Chance did a nice job developing a character that would win over her readers.


Many novels like this either have a strong, overly confident character or quite the opposite. I didn’t see any of that in this novel Cassandra was laid back and took on each hit as it came.
I really liked this book and I am going to have to give the book five stars. I am sure it is not going to be a classic but I rate on how much I enjoy reading the books.

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One Foot in the Grave: Night Huntress book 2 By Jeaniene Frost

It has been four years since Catherine left Bones, the love of her live behind to become a Vampire assassin for the government. She is known in the vampire community as the red reaper. Cat is half human half vampire with a lot of sex appeal.

Catherine has grown up a lot since she left home but it is clear she misses Bones. She effectively leads a team of the best humans, into battle against rogue vampires.
Her job is her life as she trains her men to survive. She is very loyal to the men of her team and her team to her. I loved her interactions with them and her boss. In the first book she was very selfish in this book she is much more mature.

Cat is cool and confident in until Bones shows up in her life again. His unexpected arrival unleashes the tension Cat has inside of her. I was glad to see Bones I just can’t get enough of this relationship. I promise you there is a ton of tension between the two lovers as well as some magnificent romantic moments.

She quickly finds out she has pissed off the wrong vampire in the line of duty and he is after her. This vampire wants her for his rare collection. If that is not enough there is a price on her head. She has two vampires after her one wants her dead the other want s to keep her. Cat and Bones come up with a plan to save her. Her team insists on helping and things get really interesting. Cat grows a backbone with her boss and insists on doing things her way. There was tons of action as well as romance in this book.

One thing I really enjoyed was the development of the characters. This book gave you a lot of history and background on many of the characters without being boring. Bones has a jaded past that gets a lot of attention in this book.

Catherine becomes a heroine that I loved and can’t wait to see more of her. Cat is quickly becoming one of my favorite vampires. This dark novel was so much fun I couldn’t put it down, I loved every minute. I give this book five stars!

Halfway to the Grave Night Huntress Book 1 Review

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Book Review -- Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison

Dead Witch Walking is an interesting look at the supernatural world. Kim Harrison takes us into a world that was nearly wiped out by a virus in tomatoes. Well at least the normal humans were. Vampires, werewolves, witches and other supernatural beings were immune to the disease.

I had a little trouble getting into the book, it was slow at first. Rachel Morgan the main character is rather sarcastic and I had some trouble with her attitude. There was also a lot of explaining to set up the story. A few chapters into the book it really picked up and I really started to enjoy the book.

The book starts with Rachel, a witch, and Jenks, a pixie, working to pick up a rouge magic user. They run into Ivy a living vampire who used to be Rachel’s partner. Ivy has her own job picking up some bad vampires. Both women catch their targets and share a cab back to the Inderland Security to deposit the bad guys.On the ride there Rachel starts thinking about quitting the company because she has been getting crappy jobs.

This is when all hell breaks loose as Ivy the number one agent for the I.S. decides to quit too. The head of the company puts a huge bounty on Rachel and she can’t return home.
Rachel, Ivy and Jenks and his family move into a church in The Hollows. The Hollows is where most Inderlandes live, segregated from the normal humans.
They originally wanted to start a business as bounty hunters. With the looming death threat on Rachel they have to focus on a way to keep her out of harms way.

Rachel is her own worst enemy, she never thinks things through. She decides she is going find proof to bring down a criminal and buy her way out of her I.S. contract. She does this despite the fact that no one has been able to prove he is anything but respectable.

I really had a lot of issues with Rachel, I kept thinking to myself that she was stupid. She rushed into everything without a solid plan. She got caught almost every time. She began to sprout some brains near the end of the book and took Ivy’s advice on making a good plan. There were a lot of hints the Rachel is a powerful witch but it doesn’t materialize much in this book.

I think this series has a lot of promise. I really liked Ivy and the living verses dead vampire story line. I also loved Jenks and his cute pixie family. I think I will like Rachel better in the next book.
This dark novel gets 3.5 stars out of five.

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Editing and Posts to Come

I will be editing and posting as many of my posts that were on Today.com and placing them here. I have a vacation day tomorrow and I plan to work all weekend trying to get things posted.

I have had a few comments relating to some viewers are unable to see my font properly. Please let me know if you can even read this. I am trying to figure out how to help but my work and both my home computers show things just fine.
Carrie

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Book Review -- Halfway to the Grave: Night Huntress Novel By Jeaniene Frost

Halfway to the Grave: Night Huntress Novel
By Jeaniene Frost

Do you love a book that is dark and full of violent death? If so this is the book for you, with in the first three chapters the main character Cat has killed 2 vampires and captured her third. She kills vampires for only one reason, her mother, has taught her they are all evil creatures.

Her mother was raped by a vampire resulting in Catherine’s healthy birth at five months. Cat is half vampire and has some of their strengths but still has a beating heart. Cat is doing quite well eliminating vampires until she meets her match, Bones is an old vampire who turns the tables and captures her.

Bones is a vampire that hunts his own kind for the reward on their heads. He strikes a deal with Cat to work with him as vampire bait and he won’t kill her. She accepts the deal but still wants to kill all vampires even Bones. Cat is put through training that would have killed a normal person and in many cases almost killed her but bones healed her with his blood.
As she works closely with him she starts to wonder if her mom is wrong and all vampires are not pure evil. Old habits die hard though and Cat is stuck between betraying the best friend she has ever had or the only person who has ever cared for her.
Well you can’t loose with all the vampire killing going on and a tainted love story to go along with it. What I really did like about the story is that Cat and Bones are both characters that I really liked.

Cat was very confident in herself in many ways but she was not in other ways. She was not always on the mark and made mistakes but not so many her characters seemed weak. She was a prefect model of someone who grew up with a crazy mom and was isolated from the normal society around her.

Bones was great he was an old vampire and he actually seemed to learn something in his years on this planet. I have read so many books about vampires lately and it seems like they could be a little smarter after hundreds or even thousands of years on earth. One of the things I can not understand is vampires who fall for human women and have no idea how to treat them. If they have been around for so long you would think that they would have had loads of time to correct their previous mistakes or at least have watched successful relationships. Bones makes a point to be very respectful to Cat (other than in training) and he really waits on her to realize that she has feelings for him, but he doesn’t hide his from her.

I was so happy with this book I intend to buy the rest when I finish the other books I have on my shelf waiting. I will have to say this is not for everyone it has a lot of violence and a long sex scene as well as plenty of language. The action is non-stop for the most part and I just couldn’t put the book down I was actually reading it a few times while cooking. I am very impressed so I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

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Abraxis Book Review

This book was sent to me by the author, Cinsearae Santiago, and again I was surprised at how well written Abraxis is. I really enjoyed the book, it was a quick read and it was definitely very dark. There are so many great authors out there I am pleased to be able to read books I may have never found otherwise.

Abraxis is centered around a young woman named Christine and her awakening into a life as a powerful being. She is walking home from work when bitten and nearly killed by a vampire. From the moment she wakes up things are different for her. She learns by accident that she has acquired some amazing new powers and none of the weakness of a typical vampire.

She is thrust into the vampire life quickly meeting her soul mate and fighting for him and his family of Vampires. The fight scenes are unbelievable and not for one with a weak stomach. Christine is full of the power of Abraxis as is Ryan, the man she quickly falls for. Their magic intensifies their attraction and brings a different kind of passion to the love scenes.

As Christine maneuvers her way through her new life she realizes just how much she was missing in her former life. One thing bothered me through this reading experience, and you won’t here me say this often, it was to fast paced. It skimmed over the romantic relationship building. What got to me the most is how quickly she discovered her amazing power and how quickly she went from accidentally killing people to having near full control.

I do recommend this book I believe it was well worth the time spent reading it. It was exciting from the first page to the last. I give this book 3 1/2 stars.

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Book Review -- The Denver Cereal by Claudia Hall Christian

The Denver Cereal

By Claudia Hall Christian

A few weeks ago I made an offer to read and review books as long as I was sent a hard copy and it was similar to what I review. The Denver Cereal was the first book I received. I was a bit skeptical because the description was short and it didn’t seem to be anything like what I normally read. I was more than pleasantly surprised I was amazed at the feelings I developed for the characters in such a short time.


This book starts with Jill attending the engagement party of her ex-husband. It quickly turns into a story of fated love and a family with unbreakable bonds. Jill meets Jacob at the engagement party and begins to spend some time with him. As Jill discovers what other men are like and reconnects with her family and friends she begins to realize how truly unhappy she was in her marriage.


Jill also sees how unhappy her daughter was always trying to please her father, Trevor. Jill always thought Trevor was her soul mate, and she worked hard to support her family and put him through school. Jill was very devoted to him even though she knew things were not always as they seemed.


The plot is full of surprises and interesting twists. There is even a little of the paranormal that is right up my alley. I was immediately mesmerized by the depth that Christian brings to her characters. I felt like giving Jill a big hug more than once and I could almost feel her pain in the midst of her new found joy. I love a story with so many conflicting emotions.


As the book moves on several other relationships are explored and you quickly fall in love with these characters as well. I don’t know how she does it but she really brings life to each of these characters. A life that you long to be a part of, that you just can’t get enough of.


There is not a boring minute in this book, I loved every minute of it. If I didn’t have 18 other books to read and 4 more to review I would be on the Internet catching up on the remaining chapters.


The book is written a chapter a week and published at The Denver Cereal Website
as serial fiction. I prefer a hard copy because it is easier on my eyes. Because it is serial fiction the editing is loose and I noticed some mistakes. There were a few wrong words and a perspective shift out of place.


I have to give this book 4.5 our of 5 stars, it was excellent. I am rarely so drawn in by the characters.

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The New Dark Novels

Well it is offical I have purchaced my content from my old blog and I will be posting my reviews here where I have the liberty to change them when I want. I have a lot of work ahead of me but I think in the end it feel less pressure on a blog that is mine.

I do plan to fix some of the things I never could fix on my old blog. I had posts that has a lot of errors at first. I also didn't know much about succesful blogging then either.

This is a little scary for me since I have to learn to use a new system. I am not computer illiterate or anything, but it always takes some getting used to.

Thanks for all of you that follow my blog to its new home!

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Book Review -- Witch Fire By Anya Bast

Anya Bast had me blushing all the way through Witch Fire, the first book in the Elemental Witches Series. In case you are not at all into hot, steamy, erotic sex scenes you might want to stay away from this book.

If love a good love scene this is the right book for you, well that is it you like to be tied up. This dark novel is had me wanting more from the first page to the last page. Not just more of the book either. Lets just say my husband reaped some benefits from my reading that week.

I have not always thought of myself as a big romance reader. I have found too much sex in a book can distract from the good stuff. It sometimes feels like filler material, but apparently not when it is done well.

Witch Fire is about a waitress named Mira, who practices Wicca but does not believe in the magical aspects or her religion. Then she meets Jack who saves her from a brutal attack at her apartment and proceeds to take her against her will.

Jack is a fire witch and he keeps telling her she is an air witch. He was sent to protect her from an evil warlock that is trying to sacrifice her. She was not raised as a witch at the request of her parents, so she finds all of this hard to believe.

Jack knows there is a natural attraction between air and fire so he tries to keep the sexual tension down to a minimum. He is not successful with this and he knows he could be in big trouble when his boss finds out.

I loved the interactions with Jack and Mira, they seemed so passionate. The more they were together the more I wanted them to stay together. I couldn’t get enough of there intoxicating attraction.

The love story was really the focus of this book but there was still a ton of action and blood shed. It was also very interesting to watch Mira learn what she really was as Jack teaches her how to wield her power.

I loved this dark novel and can’t wait for more. I bought two more books in my last shipment so you will see more reviews soon. This dark novel gets five stars out of five.

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Hello Everyone.......

This will officially be my main blog soon. I really don't feel like getting all angry about issues at my other blog. I just want to start over my way.

I could use some help with using this site, it took me a long time to get used to my other site. I really loved that site and I hope to be able to make a new and improved one here.

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To review books or not to......

I used to love blogging on my other blog http://darknovels.today.com but now I am not so sure I want to stay there. All I can say is they have changed their program and I don't like the changes.

Now I have to decide if I want to write the book reviews for the book I am reading and post them there because they on my words. I have gotten used to how the blog works but if I want to move elsewhere then I have to start over. I can not use my book reviews somewhere else I have to change them.

I had wanted to do some of my first reviews over but I have never had a chance so maybe I will use this blog to work on that. I just don't know. Maybe I will quit all together or see if the rules for the nonpaying today blog are something I can live with.

Maybe I should just find a place with little to know rules where I can speak my mind and not worry about offending people.

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