Winner: The Heart of War by Lisa Darling

Thank you to everyone that entered!!

PRIZE: One e-copy of The Heart of War by Lisa Darling

The winner chosen by Random.org is…

roro

Congrats!! I have emailed winner who has 48 hours to respond  or I will pick another.

Week in Review 7/17-7/23

Books Ive Bought/received

*Shadowflame by Dianne Sylvan- Purchased at Borders

* Eye of the Tempest by Nicole Peeler- Purchased at Borders

*Power Unbound by Nicole Murphy-Signed- Won

*Secret Ones by Nicole Murphy- Signed- Won



Books I read

Viper Moon by
Fallen Angel by Heather Terrell
Eternity by Heather Terrell
Accused by Kate Kaynak
Second Grave on the Left by Darynda Jones
Eye of the Tempest by Nicole Peeler

Reviews posted


Bloodlust by Michelle Rowen
My Life as a White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland
Night Veil by Yasmine Galenorn
Luck of the Devil by Patricia Eimer

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* New Releases for the week. Was there anything you were looking forward to reading?

*Sophie Littlefield stopped by on Wednesday and is offering up a signed copy of REBIRTH

* Patricia Eimer, Author of Luck of the Devil stopped in on Saturday with an Interview.

*If you see something on my books Ive read list that you are dying to know about let me know Im back logged on reviews and can move it up on the list if I know people are wanting one.

* The months of July and August are going to be packed with Guest blogs, Interviews and Giveaways so make sure to stop by often.

* I love comments so if you see something you like (or not) please comment away and let me know.

Interview & Review: Luck of the Devil by Patricia Eimer

UFI welcomes Patricia Eimer Author of Luck of the Devil. Thanks for Joining us!!

What can you tell my readers about yourself that they might not know from looking on your bio or reading in another interview?

I’m a novice foil fencer but I’m getting better fast. Instead of getting beaten by every six year old who tries to bout against me I’m starting to hold my own against the little pipsqueaks.

Also, I’m a Peanut Butter Cup and Dr. Pepper addict. You can get me to do just about anything if you wave a cold Dr. Pepper and a bag of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups in front of me.

What do you enjoy doing on your down time?


What is this downtime of which you speak? No, really, right now I love to read and write during my downtime. Other than that it’s getting the chance to spend time with my two kids and my dogs.

What is your Favorite part of writing?

Getting inside my characters heads and getting to know them.

Do you have any certain routines you must follow as you write?

Nope. Writing is like sleeping for me and my time backpacking through Europe taught me that the key to survival is being able to sleep anywhere, anytime, regardless of your surroundings. I’ve realized it’s the same with my writing. As long as I’ve got a story and a way to get it down (computer, notebook and pen, cell phone to record it into as a voice memo) I can work anywhere.

What are some of your Favorite books or Authors in the Urban Fantasy/ Paranormal Genres?

MaryJanice Davidson, Gail Carriger, Nicole Peeler, Katie MacAlister, Richelle Mead. As long as an author’s got a funny outlook in their books though I’m willing to give them a shot.

How would you pitch Luck of the Devil to someone who has not heard of them before?

The family reunion from Hell. No really. You’ll call your crazy family members and thank them for being sane after this book.

Can you tell us a little bit about the world that Luck of the Devil is set in?

Luck is set in our world where the characters are hidden amongst us, going about their daily lives without trying to draw attention to themselves. Yes, my characters have wings and a tail but they aren’t flashing them around for anyone and everyone to see.

Do you have a favorite scene in Luck of the Devil?

My heroine, Faith, has opened up with her angelic hero, Matt, and they’re discussing their powers so she agrees to let him road test her dark powers to pick up her father’s car with his mind. But what demon can resist a little mischief? And everyone always forgets about the car alarm.

Which character was your favorite to write about? What about the hardest to write about?

Malachi was my favorite character to write. He really is the voice inside my head, the only difference being that he’s brave enough to say all the things that I tend to think.

The hardest character for me to write was Matt. This is a guy who’s lived with his secrets a long time and he didn’t want to give them up. Not even to me. The ungrateful brat.

What Other Projects can we look forward to reading from you?

There are two more books in the Speak of the Devil Series. The next one, Devil May Care, is with my editor now and we’re getting ready to send it up to Heather Howland at Entangled Publishing for her blessing. After that I’m beginning a YA book, FATED, that I hope to eventually turn into a series. It’s a modern twist on a fairytale where the Princess gets the chance to save the world and Prince Charming might not be the handsome boy in the golden crown.

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Find Patricia and her books

Website / Twitter / Facebook / Email

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Luck of the Devil
Author:Patricia Eimer
Release Date: Aug 2, 2011
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Personal Demons Book #1
ISBN13:9781937044114 
Genre: Paranormal Comedy
Review Copy Source: Netgalley

Being the youngest daughter of the Devil isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. The days of teenage rebellion and vows of chastity made just to tick off her father are over, and now all Faith Bettincourt wants is a nice, quiet life. Unfortunately, thanks to the unexpected arrival of her demonically-downsized sister, a ditzy succubus roommate, and dear old Dad himself, Faith’s plans for a relaxing vacation spent watching reruns go up in flames.

Now it’s all Faith can do to keep the family reunion from Hell (literally) under wraps, and the angelically-inclined hottie across the hall from realizing there’s something weird about his neighbor. And, thankfully, it’s working. Until an angelic stalker shows up in a bid to steal her powers and take over the world.

Forget watching reruns. With the way things are going, Faith will need the luck of the Devil just to survive until Monday.

LUCK OF THE DEVIL was a great blend of Paranormal elements, romance and comedy. Faith and her family are the definition of dysfunctional and they all happen to come visit Faith at the very same time someone is trying to frame her for stealing drugs from the hospital she works for and while she also has someone stalking her.

One of the many paragraphs that made me bust out laughing and had to be one of my favorite parts in the book happens to be from Faith's sister Hope talking to their mom

"Mom, with all the respect I can muster, you're a fucking moron. I mean it. You're so stupid that I often wonder how you manage to survive on your own. It should be a criminal offense to be as dippy as you are. The police should raid your coven and throw all of you into an institution where they will let you macrame all day so the rest of us aren't contaminated by your utter insanity"

I know it sounds harsh but the situation that surrounds that one paragraph had me gasping for breath. Faith's mother is about as coo coo as they come. The relationship and romance between Faith and Matt her neighbor moves at a smooth pace throughout the story and I cant wait to see how things between them works out. I felt the final showdown was lacking. There is so much great lead-up to the moment that it just didn't give me that on the edge of my seat feeling that I would have liked, but the story as a whole was highly entertaining and fun to read. I will definitely look out for book 2.

I gave it 4/5 stars

Guest Post: S.M. Reine

UFI welcomes S.M. Reine Author of Six Moon Summer. Thanks for Joining us!!

The Top 10 Reasons I Hate Rylie Gresham
by Amber Richmond, Age 16

10. She looks weird, like some pasty ghost dead thing.
9. She wears icky secondhand clothes I would never wear anything that wasn't designed and tailored for me.
8. Rylie's always writing in that stupid diary. Who writes in a diary after third grade?
7. She’s pretty. Not super pretty. Not prettier than me, for sure. But she’s kind of pretty, and maybe if she wasn’t so wierd, she could do something with her looks. What a waste of oxygen.
6. Whenever I leave the cabin, shes sitting in bed, and whenever I get back, shes still in bed. I don't think she ever leaves. Weird.
5. She stares at me.
4. She stares at everyone.
3. Rylie only eats tofu. I don’t know what that is, but I bet it’s weird alien people food.
2. She punches really hard, and girls aren't supposed to punch at all.
1. On the full moon and new moon, she disappears all night. I’ve seen her climbing out the window. I  don’t think shes meeting a boy because she comes back looking bloody and exhausted. I bet she's out murdering people.

So Rylie is really weird. Period. Can you blame me?

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Author Bio: SM Reine is an author of dark fantasy for teen and adult audiences. Her most widely known work is "Six Moon Summer," which has been hailed as "fresh and fast-paced" and "captivating." She lives in Nevada with her husband, the Helpful Baby, and too many black animals to count.
 


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Six Moon Summer
Seasons of the Moon #1
April 29, 2011

Rylie's been bitten.

She's changing.

And now she has three months to find a cure before becoming a werewolf... forever.

Rylie Gresham hates everything about summer camp: the food, the fresh air, the dumb activities, and the other girls in her cabin. But the worst part is probably being bitten by a werewolf. Being a teenager is hard enough, but now she's craving raw flesh and struggles with uncontrollable anger. If she doesn't figure out a way to stop the transformation, then at the end of summer, her life is worse than over. She'll be a monster.

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Find S.M. Reine and her books

Website / Twitter / Facebook / Email

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Review: Night Veil by Yasmine Galenorn

Night Veil
Author:Yasmine Galenorn
Release Date: July 5, 2011
Publisher: Berkley
Indigo Court Book #2
ISBN:   0425242048
ISBN13: 9780425242049
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Review Copy Source: Publisher

Eons ago, vampires tried to turn the Dark Fae in order to harness their magic, only to create a demonic enemy more powerful than they could have imagined. Quietly amassing their strength for centuries, the Vampiric Fae-led by the merciless Myst, Queen of the Indigo Court-are determined to enslave the world. Only one witch stands in her way...

Cicely Waters grew up believing she was simply one of the magic-born-a witch who can control the wind-but when she returned home to New Forest, Washington, she discovered she was also one of the shifting Fae. Now she must perfect her gift. For Myst, Queen of the Indigo Court, has captured Grieve, the Fae prince who holds Cicely's heart. To save both her beloved Grieve and her friend Kaylin-whose demon is waking-Cicely must journey deep into the heart of the Indigo Court. But even as Cicely gathers strength, old alliances are breaking faith.

And new allies, like the hedonistic vampire Lannan Altos, promise to take Cicely down a far darker path than she's ever traveled before.

The reason I picked up book one in the Indigo Court series was because the cover completely jumped out at me and as I was reading thorough the book I could picture Cicely being exactly like the cover portrayed her.

NIGHT VEIL starts just after NIGHT MYST ends. Grieve is pretty much a prisoner and under the control of Myst. Cicely is adjusting to all the things she learned about herself in book one and preparing for battle against Myst. Cicely in NIGHT VEIL finds out who her allies and enemies really are and you will be shocked at the revelations. I have not come across one book of Yasmine's yet that I did not enjoy. The Indigo Court series is mystical, filled with action, and has a great array of characters and creatures. The story flows perfectly through the twists that Yasmine throws at us. So much happened at the end of NIGHT VEIL that I wish I would have waited to read it until it was closer to book 3 coming out because Im dying to know what happens next. If you have been a fan of Yasmine Galenorn's or have read the first book in the Indigo Court Series NIGHT MYST you will not be disappointed in reading NIGHT VEIL and if you have never read anything of Yasmine's go grab book one and jump in.

I gave it 4/5 stars

Interview & Giveaway: Sophie Littlefield

UFI welcomes Author Sophie Littlefield. Thanks for Joining us!!

What can you tell my readers about yourself that they might not know from looking on your bio or reading in another interview?

One thing that I haven’t talked about much is my admiration for people who break barriers with their art. Even when it doesn’t speak to me – and no one can possibly appreciate all the amazing work being done in various media these days – I love the energy people put into translating their visions into visual art and music and, yes, story.  “Avant-garde” derives from the French for advance guard, those who go ahead of others in battle. The works and books that perplex us today may well pave the way for all of us to create tomorrow.

What do you enjoy doing on your down time?

Because I watch so little television, it’s fun for me occasionally to find out what other people – usually my kids – are into. My older one is really into survival shows, which I find perplexing but fascinating. Recently I watched a show about folks trying to find gold in Alaska the very same day the New York Times magazine ran a feature on the same subject. I have to say the TV version captured my imagination in a far more visceral way.

What is your Favorite part of writing?

I love writing internal scenes where I feel like I’m just taking dictation from a character, and in the process, their emotional state is revealed. Getting motivation right feels amazing and always leads to the best action scenes.

Do you have any certain routines you must follow as you write?

I had to learn flexibility a while back when my kids were still more dependent on me. Anything I thought I “had to” have…whether a certain brand of soda, silence, a nap, a clean desk – all of these are hard to come by when your office is out in the living space shared by the whole family. Still, there are a few conventions I follow: I love to listen to loud music when I’m working on a first draft, but for revising it’s important enough to escape distractions that I’ll leave the house and work in a coffee shop if necessary.

Also, I snack all day long. If the doctor ever makes good on her threat of insisting I lose the last ten pounds, I’ll have to stop writing….my “stuck” moments only get unstuck after I’ve had a little something to eat.

What are some of your Favorite books or Authors in the Urban Fantasy/ Paranormal or Dystopian Genres?

I admire the hell out of THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy. Occasionally, it’s mentioned in a review of the series, and I can’t imagine a higher honor for AFTERTIME than to be compared to that book.

It might be worth mentioning that my first exposure to Fantasy was THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING, which my dad read to me and my brother when we were little. Thanks, Dad!

How would you pitch the Aftertime series to someone who has not heard of the books before?

A recovering addict seeks only to protect her child after the world falls to war and other abominations, but as she is forced to confront one evil after another, she discovers she may not have lost her humanity after all.

Can you tell us a little bit about the world that the series is set in?   

Global food shortages lead to starvation, made worse when bioterrorism decimates livestock and crops. As the communications grid fails and militia founder, a devastating fever turns its victims into flesh-hungry cannibals.

Do you have a favorite scene in Rebirth? 

I love the way Cass and Dor reach for each other after suffering an especially horrifying episode; though they are broken and clumsy with their emotions, their fierce will to live compels them to seek solace in each other.

Which character was your favorite to write about? What about the hardest to write about?

From the start, I’ve felt like I truly understood Cass. Every one of her decisions – many of them dangerous and wrong – was crystal clear to me as the action unfolded on the page. Simply put, Cass was real to me before I even knew where the story would take her.

In some ways, writing about Ruthie is the most wrenching. If I’m at all successful in convincing readers that Cass keeps fighting because of her desire to protect her daughter, it’s because that protective maternal instinct is so strong in me. It’s true that my kids are nearly grown (both of them will soon be taller than me) but I still feel a visceral rage whenever I think about anything threatening their safety or happiness.

And now for the most important question, When is Book 3 coming out? =)  

 

 Thank you for asking! HORIZON will be out in February 2012.

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Find Sophie and her books

Website / Twitter / Facebook / Email

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Rebirth
Aftertime #2
July 19, 2011

The end of the world was just the beginningCivilization has fallen, leaving California an unforgiving, decimated place. But Cass Dollar beat terrible odds to get her missing daughter back—she and Ruthie will be happy.
Yet with the first winter, Cass is reminded that happiness is fleeting in Aftertime. Ruthie retreats into silence.
Flesh—eating Beaters still dominate the landscape. And Smoke, Cass's lover and strength, departs on a quest for vengeance, one that may end him even if he returns.
The survivalist community Cass has planted roots in is breaking apart, too. Its leader, Dor, implores Cass to help him recover his own lost daughter, taken by the totalitarian Rebuilders. And soon Cass finds herself thrust into the dark heart of an organization promising humanity's rebirth—at all costs.
Bound to two men blazing divergent paths across a savage land, Cass must overcome the darkness in her wounded heart, or lose those she loves forever.

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Aftertime

Aftertime #1 

Feb 22, 2011

Awakening in a bleak landscape as scarred as her body, Cass Dollar vaguely recalls surviving something terrible. Having no idea how many weeks have passed, she slowly realizes the horrifying truth: Ruthie has vanished.And with her, nearly all of civilization.
Where once-lush hills carried cars and commerce, the roads today see only cannibalistic Beaters—people turned hungry for human flesh by a government experiment gone wrong.
In a broken, barren California, Cass will undergo a harrowing quest to get Ruthie back. Few people trust an outsider, let alone a woman who became a zombie and somehow turned back, but she finds help from an enigmatic outlaw, Smoke. Smoke is her savior, and her safety.
For the Beaters are out there.
And the humans grip at survival with their trigger fingers. Especially when they learn that she and Ruthie have become the most feared, and desired, of weapons in a brave new world

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Winner will receive
- One signed Copy of Rebirth

 RULES
1)  Leave a comment or question for Sophie =)
2) This giveaway is open to US readers only
3) Must leave an email address so I can contact you.

Giveaway Ends 7/27/2011 at 10pm EST

Winner will have 48 Hours to reply to my email or I will pick another

Winner chosen randomly with the help of random.org

Review: My Life as a White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland

My Life as a White Trash Zombie
Author:Diana Rowland
Release Date: July 5, 2011
Publisher: DAW
White Trash Zombie Book #1
ISBN:   0756406757
ISBN13: 9780756406752
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Review Copy Source: Publisher

Teenage delinquent Angel Crawford lives with her redneck father in the swamps of southern Louisiana. She's a high school dropout, addicted to drugs and alcohol, and has a police record a mile long. But when she's made into a zombie after a car crash, her addictions disappear, except for her all-consuming need to stay "alive"...

I absolutely love Diana's Kara Gillian series so i was super excited to see that she had written something else. Angel is seriously messed up. She is a High school Drop out, cant keep a job, gets high and drunk on a regular basis and lives with her alcoholic dad in a pit of a house. She is defiantly what I would consider White trash so the title of this book is spot on. After a night she cant really remember she wakes up in the hospital with people telling her she overdosed. Throughout the book Angel comes to realize that she is in fact a zombie that craves and must eat brains to live. I have to admit some of the brain talk totally grossed me out. Her need for brains kinda consumes a lot of the story and she describes the taste and want in great detail. Despite that Diana's story was very fun and full of humor. Diana did a fantastic job with helping us get to know Angel and her "condition". She went from a loser to someone with a steady job, self esteem, and the start of a life she could be proud of. Diana's descriptions and details always draw me right into her scenes so that I can picture everything she is saying. There are some other fantastic characters. I really liked Angels partner and morgue colleague, as well of course as the love interest Marcus. Although Angel and Marcus come from completely separate worlds they seem to fit well. I can not even begin to imagine what Diana has in store for Angel next but book 2 EVEN WHITE TRASH ZOMBIES GET THE BLUES is already on my to pre-order list.


I gave it 4/5 stars