Musing Mondays - June 10, 2013 Edition

It's been a little while, okay a couple months, since I've done any of the daily writing themes for review sites.  So tonight I'm back with today's Musing Monday's as posted by Should Be Reading's blog 

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying with it.

For this week's musing, I'm going with point three and talking about what I'm reading right now.

I've started reading the Stormlord series by Glenda Larke.  I originally started with book three, on accident, but have finally purchased the first two books for my Nook.  The books in the trilogy are:

• The Last Stormlord
• Stormlord Rising
• Stormlord's Exile

I just finished The Last Stormlord last night and I'm still not sure how I feel about it.  A lot of time is condensed through a very short book (only 500 pages).  Unlike the last book (which I read first) it seemed very rushed.  I've only read it once so I'm not sure how I'll feel after I read book two then re-read the books.

Larke tells a good story and I think once I read all three books, it will all mesh together well, but for now, it's hard to say.

Check out more from me later this week as I talk about the books a bit more indepth on Wednesday.

Musing Mondays - Feb. 4, 2013

After missing a week (it was a long week last week) I'm back with today's Musing Monday's as posted by Should Be Reading's blog 

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.

I think I'll be going with point 2 today and talking about books I recently purchased for myself.

After downloading and reading the free books The Queen's Blade - Book 1 of The Queen's Blade Series and Prophecy - Book 1 of The Slave Empire series I found that I wanted to continue reading the stories.  Both books leave you with cliffhangers and you quickly want to get the next book to continue reading.  This was definitely the case with The Queen's Blade and I purchased the next 3 books for my Nook Simple Touch and read them at every spare moment I could.

Now, I originally downloaded the free books because they seemed interesting by their synopsis - and they were.  If a book is good and there's more, I'll definitely buy more of the series.  Now that I have finished the next three in The Queen's Blade, I need to purchase the rest and then purchase the ones in The Slave Empire series.

What I really like about the books is the worlds she writes in are two different worlds.  One is a midieval/arabic style set world, the other is sci-fi.  Very unique.

Check out the books, which are still free for download on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Want Free Books? Get Them Now

As usual, scanning through websites and, of course, Facebook, I come across a lot of regular listings for free e-books.  And I try to share them, because sharing is good.

The Frugal Girls posted about 'Ruby' being free.  Check out the links on their page here: http://bit.ly/TNV9Qc  The book is available for Nook and Kindle.

Harlequin.com is giving away books through February for their KISS collection.  This week's free book: Waking Up Married.  Find it here:  http://www.harlequin.com/sampler.html?sampler=KISS

And of course, Amazon has a huge list of free books here.

As does Goodreads here: http://www.goodreads.com/ebooks

Then of course, the Nook selection of Free books, sorted by genre:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/Free-eBooks/379003078/

Happy reading!

Pretty Nifty - Review Posted on Book Cover

Okay, so I knew it was going to happen, it's totally different when you actually see it come to life.

As most of you know, if you've been reading for long (and even if you haven't) I did a review for a former colleague and friend who wrote a novel - Oliver Campbell.  He liked the review and asked for my permission to publish a blurb on the back of his book.  Of course I said yes.

I got to see the design of it, liked it and couldn't wait to see it in print.

So the 2nd edition of the book has printed and is available in select stores and for purchase online and on the back of it is my review.  He posted this picture online last night (I stole it, he gets full credit of it) letting me see the back of it.

Now I may just have to go and buy a paperback copy of it.  Ya know?  Just because my name is on the back and it made my night Monday night.
Either way, the image is below.

Check out Oliver's site here: http://between-himandher.com/

His book is available as e-book or paperback through both Barnes & Noble and Amazon.  If you haven't bought it yet, go buy it now!

Book Review: Grave Witch by Kalayna Price

I have a bad tendency to pick up books without paying attention to whether or not it's a part of the series or not. I was delighted to discover that I had picked up the first in the the Alex Croft series in Grave Witch.

Written in the first person perspective, Grave Witch introduces us to the main character, Alex Craft, a private investigator, owner of Tongues for the Dead, and consultant for Nekros City Police Department.  Alex can raise shades of the dead to answer questions for her clients, including the police and attorneys.

The story starts off quick, drawing you into a myriad of events that end up flowing together.  Part mystery novel, the writer draws you along as the tension heats up along with the romantic tension between the protagonist and the antagonist (who ends up not being such a bad guy).  Just when you think things are going to slow down, it doesn't.  I definitely didn't want to put the book down when I first read it, trying to figure out all the questions that were in my head.  Who killed the governor?  Why?  And who is the mysterious FIB assigned to the case?  All of which are answered by the end of the book, along with a few surprises.

Like most paranormal books coming out lately, the modern day world has been "awakened" to the fact that there are other beings in the world: fae, magic, etc.  And like most of the books, there is a definite tension found between the old and the new ways, which Alex sees more and more as she discovers who killed the governor and what was being hidden from others.

This book, unlike some of the others I will review, was purchased with my own money from a book store and was chosen to review on my own decision, not at the request of the author or anyone else.

At 325 pages, Grave Witch is a delightful read if you are into paranormal mysteries with a hint of romance.  Romance is rated 13 as it doesn't go into detail at all - unlike some steamy romance novels - and the book is definitely more of a paranormal action/mystery than romance.

A second book in the series, Grave Dancer, was recently released and I picked up on my last visit to Barnes and Noble.

You can read an excerpt of the book here on the official site.

It is available as a Nook e-book here
Amazon e-book: Grave Witch: An Alex Craft Novel
Amazon paperback: Grave Witch (Alex Craft, Book 1)

Grave Witch 
Urban Fantasy
ISBN: 0451463803

Purchases of Books

For Christmas, I received a gift card to Barnes and Noble.  Last week, I was at Barnes and Noble biding time and posting on here about the Nook I had purchased.  While there, I went ahead and purchased some books.  Yes, I know, I could have gotten them in e-book format, but I might as well pay that price for paperback books.

So while there, I picked up the following books:

• Grave Dance by Kalayna Price
• Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison
• Pale Demon by Kim Harrison

With being sick the last week, I was glad to have the paperback books to curl up and read.  I will be including these books in my future reviews.

Proud Owner of a Nook

So for a while I had been debating what system I wanted to get for my e-reader.  I broke it down to wanting something that was definitely e-ink and no backlighting which made the decision much easier.  On Thursday, Jan. 5, I became the proud owner of a Nook Simple Touch.  The picture, to the left, was taken because Oliver said, in true gamer fashion "Pics or it didn't happen."  So pics happened.

It took me a while to figure out how it all worked (no, I didn't read the instruction manual.  It's still in the box sheesh).  But by the time we left for Lexington, Neb., for a weekend of basketball tournaments, I had the thing all figured out and books loaded on it, including Rabbit in the Road, which I did finish reading this weekend.

That being said, once you get past the setup, if your tech savvy, the Nook is easy to figure out and upload epub books to as well as PDF files.  It has some nice social features, including linking your book to Twitter and Facebook so you can share where you are in the book or share quotes/segments from the book with others. The other cool thing is that it came with a 32 gig SD card that contained 300 classic books.  Pretty sweet deal that just made the purchase better.

I do have to say that I was, originally, skeptical about how good books would appear on the e-reader.  That was quickly alleviated when I started playing around with font size, fonts, and everything else.  The reader is easily adjustable no matter what font size your tired, or not so tired, eyes need.

There is no glare from the screen either, which makes it great for reading in the car, on a plane or outside.

I haven't tried the purchasing options yet.  I'm not too keen about tying credit cards into a device like this.  I plan to just order ebooks through the main B&N site through my computer and sync from there.  Makes it a lot easier.

As I get more ebooks to read, I look forward to reading them on my Nook.  At least I no longer have to turn away books to review because they only give e-copies.

Another Book Available for Free Download

Own a Nook?  Own a Kindle?  Or own the apps on your smart phone?  If so, you're in luck.  The Frugal Girl's Blog posted that A Hearth in Candlewood ebook is available for free download.

You can download it for your kindle here.

You can download it for your Nook here.

Happy reading.

Cyber Monday E-Book Deals

A quick collection of books and e-books for sale through various retailers this Cyber Monday.  Enjoy!

• Random House has a bunch of romance e-books on sale for .99 today only.  Check out the books here:  http://www.randomhouse.com/category/romance/index.pperl?max_returns&cat_id_ex=abc%3A3693&best&top=3722&page=0&sortfield=price
• Hastings Book Store - Paperbacks:  Type in the code CYBERMON to get 50% off bestsllers, 30% off new books, 3 for $21 used books and more.  To shop paperback books click here: http://www.gohastings.com/browse/BOOK/Ne/2464/N/2456+4294938212.uts
• Hastings Book Store - E-Books:  A bunch of ebooks can be found here for free as part of Cyber Monday:  http://www.gohastings.com/browse/BOOK/Ns/p_rank/Ne/2455/N/2456+3575+4294938197/departmentName/BOOK.uts
• Barnes and Noble has 50 children's books at 50% or more off retail prices: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/Kids-Books-Sale/379003305/
• 50% off Best Sellers at Barnes and Noble:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/new-york-times-bestsellers-books/379001143/
• Usborne Book Sale: Up to 70% off books: http://www.myubam.com/ecommerce/main.asp?sid=C3033&gid=130891485&hid=HOS209192
• Rabbit in the Road: $0.99.  As mentioned in a previous blog, you can purchase Rabbit in the Road for only 99 cents.  Check article here for details and where to purchase.
• Amazon Cyber Monday and Other Holiday Sales:
  
  

If you know of any other great book deals that I'm missing, feel free to leave them in the comments section.

Happy shopping!

Free E-Book Download: Remembering Christmas by Dan Walsh

Thanks to the Frugal Girls site and post on Facebook, I learned of a free e-book available on all publishers (meaning Amazon and Barnes and Noble).

Check out their article on it here: http://thefrugalgirls.com/2011/11/free-nook-download-remembering-christmas.html

Nothing beats a free book right?