Monday, July 15, 2013

Gizmos Reviews - 15 Day Blogging Challenge Day # 6 - Describe How You Shop For Books:


Welcome once again to the 15 day Book Blogger Challenge!

Today's challenge is to Describe How You Shop For Books:

I will be totally honest, I don't purchase that many books. When I do, however, I usually wait for them to be on sale via Amazon like say .99, to $2.99 range. I won't purchase any E-book that are over $10.00. Especially if a Mass Market Paperback is available for less.

With Barnes & Noble closing the store nearest to me, and moving further away from me, I just haven't found the desire to travel 10-15 miles away to purchase a book. I rely on my local library a lot for my choices in reading material. Why spend money when you can get them free?





Cover Loves Monday 07/15/2013

The New York Times bestselling Elemental Assassin series continues with a new e-novella—from the hero’s point of view! Owen Grayson is bound and determined to get Gin back...if her enemies don’t get her first.When you have a history of dating an assassin, a night out on the town can turn deadly—fast. Owen Grayson is still wracked with guilt over the end of his love affair with Gin Blanco, and there aren’t enough gin and tonics in all of Ashland to ease his heartache. But when Gin happens to show up at the same nightclub, he isn’t the only one hoping to get her alone. Some shadowy figures will do anything to take down the Spider, Gin’s assassin alter ego, and Owen will do anything to protect her. This could be the way to win her back, or at least give her a night off from fighting for her life—if Owen can survive.

Expected Publication: July 22, 2013 by Pocket Star


In the week since Lela returned to Rhode Island as Captain of the Guard with Malachi as her second in command, local news has been dominated by chilling sightings of human-like creatures running on all fours. Lela knows there’s only one explanation: the Mazikin have arrived in the land of the living.

Needing to maintain the appearance of a normal life for her foster mother, her probation officer, and her classmates, Lela returns to Warwick High along with Malachi. At night they secretly hunt for the Mazikin nest. To assist, two new Guards from very different parts of the Shadowlands are assigned to Lela’s unit, including the bad boy Jim, who repeatedly challenges Lela's authority. Lela struggles to keep all her Guards on the right side of the law, but their mistakes come at a terrible cost.

As one painful revelation follows another and the Mazikin start targeting those closest to her, Lela finds herself more vulnerable than she’s ever been, wanting a future more than she ever has. With an enemy determined to separate soul from body, one question remains: how much is she willing to sacrifice to protect those she loves?

Expected Publication: October 29, 2013 by Skyscape

In her fresh, inventive debut, Berry introduces a teenage feline shapeshifter coming to terms with her strange powersNthe first in a mesmerizing new series that deals with such teen issues as body image and the strength to be found in friendship.

Expected Publication: December 31, 2013 by K-Teen

The second in a thrilling new fantastical mystery series

Dusty Everhart might be able to predict the future through the dreams of her crush, Eli Booker, but that doesn’t make her life even remotely easy. When one of her mermaid friends is viciously assaulted and left for dead, and the school’s jokester, Lance Rathbone, is accused of the crime, Dusty’s as shocked as everybody else. Lance needs Dusty to prove his innocence by finding the real attacker, but that’s easier asked than done. Eli’s dreams are no help, more nightmares than prophecies.

To make matters worse, Dusty’s ex-boyfriend has just been acquitted of conspiracy and is now back at school, reminding Dusty of why she fell for him in the first place. The Magi Senate needs Dusty to get close to him, to discover his real motives. But this order infuriates Eli, who has started his own campaign for Dusty’s heart.

As Dusty takes on both cases, she begins to suspect they’re connected to something bigger. And there’s something very wrong with Eli’s dreams, signs that point to a darker plot than they could have ever imagined.

Expected Publication: March 4, 2014 by Tor Teen

She's died twice while protecting her city…and she'd do it again to save the people she loves.

After a deadly, artificial infection forces the vampire Families into a self-imposed isolation, the city's protective Watchtower forces are depleted by one third, leaving humans and shifters to shoulder the burden. Human enforcer Evangeline Stone is determined to find a way to help her vampire allies, but she already has her hands full—investigating an escalating series of goblin attacks, dealing with her half-werewolf lover, locating three missing werewolf teenagers, and learning to trust her non-human coworkers.

When a potential cure for the vampires' infection is given to her by an unlikely source, it's just as quickly stolen—collateral damage in a power play within the were-cat Clan that leaves one human ally dead and another horribly injured. With Wyatt Truman still adjusting to his new life as a half-werewolf, Phineas missing in action, and her shifter allies crippled by internal anarchy, Evy has to rely on her own strength and instincts to steal back the cure, stop a murderer, and to save the Watchtower before it's destroyed from the inside out.

Expected Publication: September 16, 2013 by Kelly Meding




Sunday, July 14, 2013

Gizmos Reviews - 15 Day Blogging Challenge Day # 5 - Recommend a Tear Jerkers

Welcome back! 
Today's challenge is to Recommend a Tear Jerker!

These are my top 3 recommendations!

 If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare



Saturday, July 13, 2013

Gizmos Reviews - 15 Day Blogging Challenge Day # 4


For those of you keeping track, I am on Day # 4 of the 15 Day Book Blogger Challenge.

Today's question is: What's the last book you flung across the room?

Funny you should ask! I just got through reading Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas!
My review will be posted on Tuesday, but you can also find it on Goodreads.

Although I absolutely loved this book, I found certain characters (especially the prosecutor and the so called media experts) to be absolutely horrifying and made me want to fling my book across the room Thankfully, no book was harmed over the course of reading this book! I will say that if you like tense books that keep you on your seats, you definitely need to read this book!

Paradise quickly gets gruesome in this thrilling page-turner with a plot that’s ripped from the headlines and a twist that defies the imagination.

It’s Spring Break of senior year. Anna, her boyfriend Tate, her best friend Elise, and a few other close friends are off to a debaucherous trip to Aruba that promises to be the time of their lives.

But when Elise is found brutally murdered, Anna finds herself trapped in a country not her own, fighting against vile and contemptuous accusations. As Anna sets out to find her friend’s killer, she discovers harsh revelations about her friendships, the slippery nature of truth, and the ache of young love.

Awaiting the judge’s decree, it becomes clear to Anna that everyone around her thinks she is not only guilty, but also dangerous. And when the whole story comes out, reality is more shocking than anyone ever imagined.

Expected Publication: July 16, 2013 by Simon Pulse


Friday, July 12, 2013

Stacking the Shelves 07/13/2013

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books we received over the course of the past week. As always, this is a fun way to share what books are coming out, and in no way should be considered bragging in any shape or form. 

Thank you SO much for visiting my blog and checking out the books I received over the past week! I hope you find something to add to your ever growing TBR Pile!

Received from (NAL Penguin)
*Keep following this blog for further information on how to win a copy on the Biting
Bad Blog tour which stops here on August 9, 2013!*
Merit has been a vampire for only a short while, but she’s already seen a lifetime’s worth of trouble. She and her Master, centuries-old Ethan Sullivan, have risked their lives time and again to save the city they love. But not all of Chicago is loving them back.

Anti-vampire riots are erupting all over town, striking vampires where it hurts the most. A splinter group armed with Molotov cocktails and deep-seated hate is intent on clearing the fanged from the Windy City come hell or high water.

Merit and her allies rush to figure out who’s behind the attacks, who will be targeted next, and whether there’s any way to stop the wanton destruction. The battle for Chicago is just beginning, and Merit is running out of time.

Expected Publication: August 6, 2013 by NAL Penguin
Received from Gallery Books - Finished Copy
A star-studded urban fantasy anthology featuring bestselling authors Rachel Caine, Rob Thurman, Seanan McGuire, Jennifer Estep, and Kevin Hearne, whose stories explore the creepy, mysterious, and, yes, sometimes magical world of traveling carnivals.

The traveling carnival is a leftover of a bygone era, a curiosity lurking on the outskirts of town. It is a place of contradictions—the bright lights mask the peeling paint; a carnie in greasy overalls slinks away from the direction of the Barker’s seductive call. It is a place of illusion—is that woman’s beard real? How can she live locked in that watery box?

And while many are tricked by sleight of hand, there are hints of something truly magical going on. One must remain alert and learn quickly the unwritten rules of this dark show. To beat the carnival, one had better have either a whole lot of luck or a whole lot of guns—or maybe some magic of one’s own.

Featuring stories grotesque and comical, outrageous and action-packed, Carniepunk is the first anthology to channel the energy and attitude of urban fantasy into the bizarre world of creaking machinery, twisted myths, and vivid new magic.

Expected Publication: July 23, 2013 by Gallery Books

Received from ROC Trade
Remy Chandler, angel private investigator, is trying his damnedest to lead a normal life in a world on the verge of supernatural change. He’s found a new love—a woman his dog, Marlowe, approves of—and his best human friend is reluctantly coming to grips with how...unusual...Remy’s actions can be. And he’s finally reached a kind of peace between his true angelic nature and the human persona he created for himself so very long ago.

But that peace can’t last—Heaven and the Legions of the Fallen still stand on the brink of war. Then one of Heaven’s greatest generals is murdered, and it falls to Remy to discover who—or what—might be responsible for the death, which could trigger the final conflict...a conflict in which Earth will most certainly be the beachhead.

The deeper he digs, the further he goes into a dark world of demonic assassins, secret brothels, and things that are unsettling even to a being who has lived since time began. But it is not in his nature—angelic or human—to stop until he has found the killer, no matter the personal price.

Expected Publication: August 6, 2013 by Roc Trade
Received from ROC Trade
The author of the diabolically clever A Matter of Blood returns with another gritty supernatural thriller featuring hard-boiled homicide detective Cass Jones…

A devastating terrorist attack has crippled London. To find a perpetrator who is more than human, Special Branch turns to Detective Inspector Cass Jones.

Cass is already investigating a series of student suicides, but saying no to Special Branch isn’t an option—even when he’s hit with a much more personal and deeply disturbing mystery: a message left for him by his murdered brother revealing that Cass’s nephew was stolen at birth.

Cass’s investigations and his search for the boy lead him down a dark labyrinth to the shadowy Mr. Bright and his otherworldly allies—and into the middle of an ancient and deadly feud, with no less than the fate of humanity hanging in the balance….

Expected Publication: August 6, 2013 by ACE Trade
Received via NetGalley and/or Edelweiss
A DESPERATE SEARCH. A DARK AND DANGEROUS JOURNEY. AND EVERY STEP COULD DESTROY EVERYONE DANTE LOVES.

ONLY ONE MORTAL WOMAN CAN SAVE HIM . . .

As Dante Baptiste’s true identity as both True Blood and Fallen ripples throughout New Orleans, he and Heather struggle for their lives against different foes, fighting their way back to each other. To free herself from her father’s treachery, Heather accepts help from an ally–and steps into even greater danger. Dante, lost to his brutal past, wavers between his own sense of self and the Bad Seed-programmed S that lurks within, between the never-ending Road and the Great Destroyer. And the danger of becoming both.

. . . UNLESS THE FALLEN REACH HIM FIRST.

Lucien searches frantically for the lovers, all too aware that time is running out. Dark forces continue to gather, eager to possess and manipulate the young vampire for their own ends. The fate of mortals, night-kind, and the Fallen pivots around Dante as he struggles to piece together his shattered psyche and gain control of his power before he rips all three worlds asunder.

Expected publication: September 24, 2013 by Pocket
Leave it to Maryah Woodsen to break the one rule that will screw up eternity: Never erase your memories.

Before entering this life, Maryah did the unthinkable—she erased. Now, at seventeen years old, she’s clueless that her new adoptive family has known her for centuries, that they are perpetually reincarnated souls, and that they have supernatural abilities. Oh, and she's supposed to love (not despise) Nathan, the green-eyed daredevil who saved her life.

Nathan is convinced his family’s plan to spark Maryah's memory is hopeless, but his love for her is undying. After spending (and remembering) so many lifetimes together, being around an empty version of his soulmate is heart shattering. He hates acting like a stalker, but has no choice because the evil outcast who murdered Maryah in their last lifetime is still after her.

While Maryah’s hunter inches closer, she and Nathan make assumptions and hide secrets that rip them further apart. Maryah has to believe in the magic within her, Nathan must have faith in the power of their love, and both need to grasp onto the truth before they lose each other forever—and discover just how lonely eternity can be.

X-MEN meets MY NAME IS MEMORY in Karen Amanda Hooper’s latest young adult release/

Released: May 25, 2012 by Starry Sky Publishing (Re-released in 2013)
Borrowed from the Library
When Nowhere Is Safe

Most people avoid the dreaded Whitechapel district. For Honoria Todd, it's the last safe haven. But at what price?

Blade is known as the master of the rookeries—no one dares cross him. It's been said he faced down the Echelon's army single-handedly, that ever since being infected by the blood-craving he's been quicker, stronger, and almost immortal.

When Honoria shows up at his door, his tenuous control comes close to snapping. She's so...innocent. He doesn't see her backbone of steel—or that she could be the very salvation he's been seeking.

Published: September 4, 2012 by Sourcebooks Casablanca
Nothing lasts forever---and immortality isn't all its cracked up to be.

When her brother Val gets in over his head in an investigation of Half-Blood disappearances and goes missing himself, it's up to Xandra, newly crowned Goblin Queen, to get him back and bring the atrocities to light. Xandra must frequent the seediest parts of London, while also coping with what she is, the political factions vying for her favor, and the all too-close scrutiny of Queen Victoria, who wants her head. Add this to being a suspect in a murder investigation, a werewolf boyfriend with demands of his own, and a mother hell bent on destroying the monarchy, and Xandra barely knows which way is up. One thing she does know is that she's already lost one sibling, she's not about to lose another.

Published: February 5, 2013 by Orbit

Gizmos Reviews - 15 Day Blogging Challenge Day # 3 - Blogging BFF's

Today's challenge is Who are your Blogging BFFs?

This is an interesting challenge question for me to answer since I've only really met a few people in real life since I started blogging back in 2011. They are Jenese @ readersconfession.com and Jennifer @ BooksMakeMeHappyReviews the organizer of the Olde City, New Blood Convention. I missed out on meeting Christen, Laura, and Melanie who were both in attendance as well. There were plenty more people there, but as a shy dope, I'm have a tendency of hanging out in the back of the room and missing out on connecting with people. 

If you want to call those I connect with through Twitter friends, then I would have to start with Kara @ great-imaginations.com who is bloody awesome and Braine @  talkingsupe.com who intrigued me into reading Tim O-Rourke's series. 

As a blogger, you connect with so many different people from fellow reviewers, authors, and publishers that you click with almost immediately. I can say thanks for putting up with me to a bunch of people but especially Bonnie @ sweet-tidbits.blogspot.com who I've talked to for awhile now and have been Goodreads friends going back a few years now.



  

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Gizmos Reviews 15 Day Book Blogger Challenge | Day 2

Hello my awesome followers & guest visitors!

Thanks to April over at Good Books Good Wine who created this stellar challenge! You can learn more about it here. 

Today's Challenge:
What's your bedtime reading ritual?

Mine are pretty non-specific actually. I "normally" go to bed between midnight and 1 am depending on whether or not I have a post that needs to be fixed, or lined. I usually read until my eyes droop before stopping. Then I get up my from my lounger and by that time my little annoyance of a cat is wide awake and wants to play and attack me. After chasing him around for awhile, I brush my teeth and hop into bed without my Kindle because I'm always afraid I will roll over and crush it. That would be a total shame. 

What are your rituats?