Nook Simple Touch vs Kindle Touch (7th Generation)

Although I was very happy with my Nook Simple Touch, The Kindle Touch was on sale for $49 on Black Friday and my husband talked me into getting myself one for Christmas. Since I had both I decided to do a bit of a comparison. If you have tried one or both I would love to hear what you think as well. Have a different e-reader all together? Tell me about it.

In the Box: I purchased my Simple Touch Nook a few years ago so this might have changed, but I got my Nook, USB cord, and a wall adapter.

The Kindle box included the Kindle and a USB cord. It would be nice if they included a wall adapter, but no one does these days. Sigh...

Size/weight: Both devices have a 6" display. The Simple Touch Nook weighs 7.48 oz. and the Kindle weighs 6.7 ounces.

Feel: I like the feel of the Nook Simple Touch better. Its has a soft and smooth rubber type backing that is easy to hold.

The the Kindle is just plastic. This is bad. It slips through my fingers easily and if I am holding it for a long time my fingers sweat (making it more likely I will drop it on my face while laying in bed lol). They seriously need to fix this.

Touch Screen: Both touch screens are easy to use and quick to respond. The Kindle is a little faster in speed.

Adding books: With the Nook, unless you purchase the book from Barnes and Noble you have to plug your nook in, add the file to Adobe Digital Edition, then add it to your nook.

With the Kindle, if you don't purchase the book from Amazon you can simply email your book to your kindle email address and it's added to your device over wifi. "WHAT" you say? YES it's that easy. Man I have been missing out.

Deleting Books: With the Nook you have to again plug it into your computer, open Adobe Digital Edition, then select and delete it. If you purchase it from Barnes and Noble, you can archive the title by going to Barnes and Noble, logging into your nook and archiving it there.

With the Kindle you can simply hold and touch the book icon on your Kindle until a screen pops up and select remove from device. Your book is still on your Amazon account and you can re-send it at anytime.

Battery Life: You know this one is hard for me to gauge because I really don't pay attention. When the battery icon alerted me on my Nook, I just plugged it in. I never thought that it was a poor battery life though. I started using my Kindle on December 4th and have not been notified to charge it yet so, that is a plus (and I have had wifi on the whole time, the charge is getting pretty low though). The official stats state:

Nook: Up to 2 months with wireless off based on 1 hour of daily reading.

Kindle: A single charge lasts up to four weeks, based on a half hour of reading per day with wireless off. 

Other: The Kindle's lack of page numbers is really annoying. I like having the ability to glance down and seeing how far into a book I am. The Kindle does not allow this. HUGE bummer. The Kindle allows you to highlight passages and makes notes which the Nook does not. It's a nice feature to have and I have already used it. The Kindle has some quirk I have yet to figure out. When I drop it on my head while reading (yes this does happen often as like I said above, its slippery plastic shell is not cool) or hits something on accident when I set it down, it changes the font size. Kinda annoying. Anyone know if I can turn off what ever feature is causing this?

I feel a bit bad for my Nook because it has treated me so well, but the ease of adding books on a Kindle is too much for me to pass up. So, although I will be keeping my Nook because it still has a lot of books on it I haven't read, my Kindle will now be my main reader. 

Early Review: A Secret to Die For by Sierra Dean

A Secret To Die For

Author: Sierra Dean

Release Date: December 16, 2014

Publisher: Samhain Publishing

Secret McQueen Book #8

ISBN13:  9781619214477

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Review Copy Source: Author

No one is safe.

Secret McQueen thought she’d seen it all, but that was before she, Desmond and Holden came home to find New York City burning and the streets overwhelmed with the walking dead. Now, in a race against time, she must find out who is responsible for unleashing hell on Earth.

For that, she’s going to need a whole new team of vampire wardens to help round up the perpetrators, who turn out to be a gang that makes Sons of Anarchy look like toddlers on tricycles.

Her quest across the city brings old friends and enemies out of the woodwork and reminds Secret once and for all why mercy and forgiveness are not always prudent. Lives will be lost, sacrifices will be made, and when the dust settles, nothing will ever be the same again.

With no time to mourn her losses, the only question remaining is if Secret can survive long enough to stop the apocalypse…or if this is the one challenge that will finally drown her in rivers of undead blood.

Warning: The final book in the Secret McQueen series has it all: hot kisses, unexpected guests, and enough tear-jerking moments to require a whole box of tissues. You’ve been warned.

The final installment of the Secret McQueen series gave us closure with plenty of action, romance, tears and healing to get us to the finish line.

Secret has grown and changed a lot since we first met her in SOMETHING SECRET THIS WAY COMES. We have watched her fight and we have watched her love. We have seen her at her worst and at her best. We have witnessed her struggle and we finally get to see her complete her journey and heal. If you have read COLD DARK SECRET you know which man Secret has chosen. They still needed that final closure I think and we get that in book 8. We also watch her get closer to the man she chose to spend the rest of her life with and we watched her find closure with Lucas as well.

Although not all might agree with how everything ended, I think Secret truly DESERVED the ending she gets and the other characters deserved what ending they got. Sierra Dean truly ended the series on a believable note with all the little questions answered and characters where they belong. I am sad to see it go, but it went well.

I gave it 5/5 stars

* This book was provided free of charge from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Interview: Red Dress by Erzabet Bishop

UFI welcomes author Erzabet Bishop. 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? 

That I'm a very private person when I'm not at work and am at home. It's rare to catch me hashing personal things on Facebook or other social media.

What do you enjoy doing on your down time? 

I love to crochet and watch movies but lately the down time has been in short supply.

What is your Favorite part of writing?

That wow moment when the plot all comes together and you know it is flowing the way it's supposed to.

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

Yes. I write down the main points on sticky notes and put them on a board. Then I move them around to fit. I also use a legal pad to help generate thoughts.

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

I love Kim Harrison. She is amazing.

How would you pitch The Red Dress to someone who has not heard of it before? 

Passion. Lust. Wrapped in red.

Do you have a favorite scene in The Red Dress? 

I love it when Cecily is playing with her camera and sending her husband sexy pictures.

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

I will always identify with the female character better because I'm a woman. With the man, I shoot for what women would want to see in a character they want in that fantasy scenario.

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

I have a good many things out there right now. Urban fantasy fans would love my new piece Written on Skin. I'm working on several new pieces right now and have bunches of new releases coming up: Holiday Cruise, Holidays in Hell, Gingerbread Dreams, Temptation Resorts: Marnie, Pomegranate, Charity Benshaw's Enchanted Paddle Emporium and many more.

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Erzabet Bishop has been crafting stories since she could pound keys on her parents’ old typewriter. She has only just learned that it is a whole lot more fun writing naughty books. She is a contributing author to the Silk Words website with her Fetish Fair, Gingerbread Dreams, Holiday Cruise and Temptation Resorts interactive romances, Sci Spanks 2014 Anthology, Potnia, A Christmas To Remember, Taboo II, Forbidden Fruit, Club Rook: The Series, Sweat, Bossy, Cougars, Spank or Treat, When the Clock Strikes Thirteen, Wicked Things, Unwrap these Presents, Unbound Box, Milk & Cookies & Handcuffs, Corset Magazine: Sex Around the World, Vaginas and Vulvas, Man vs. Machine: The Sex Toy Issue, Smut by the Sea Volume 2, Hell Whore Volume 2, Can’t Get Enough, No Safewords II, Slave Girls, The Big Book of Submission, Hungry for More, Gratis II, Gratis III, Anything She Wants, Dirty Little Numbers, Kink-E magazine, Eternal Haunted Summer, Coming Together: Girl on Girl, Shifters, Coming Together: For the Holidays and Coming Together: Hungry for Love among others. She is the author of Lipstick (upcoming), Dinner Date, Tethered, Sweet Seductions: The Erzabet Bishop Collection, Red Moon Rising (upcoming), Red Boots (upcoming), Charity Benshaw's Enchanted Paddle Emporium (upcoming), Holidays in Hell, Pomegranate (upcoming), Red Dress, Sigil Fire, Written on Skin: A Sigil Fire Short, The Erotic Pagans Series: Beltane Fires, Samhain Shadows and Yuletide Temptation.

Erzabet was a finalist for the GCLS 2014 awards in two separate categories. She lives in Texas with her husband and furry children, and can often be found lurking in local bookstores. She loves to bake, make naughty crochet projects, and watch monster movies. When she isn’t writing, she loves to review music and books.
Follow her reviews and posts on Twitter @erzabetbishop.

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Red Dress
Buy Link

 Being naughty never felt so nice...

Cecily's husband Neil has kept her waiting one too many times. After another lonely night of movie watching, she decides to take her pleasure into her own hands. Tangled up tinsel, a smoking hot red dress, and a holiday wish come true are in store for Cecily when Neil comes home from work and catches her being a very naughty girl.

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Excerpt:

"What are you doing?" Neil's voice slid along her spine, startling her.

Cecily wobbled on her heels, trying not to fall. She reached out and rested her hand on the bed, trying not to think about what almost might have happened. For once she was glad of her obsession with organizing by list. If she'd reached into that drawer...

Her eyes were drawn to the phone on his hip and she twisted her fingers together. Had he viewed the pictures?

"I was getting changed."

Setting down his briefcase and a large bag, Neil crossed his arms over his broad chest and narrowed his eyes. A curl of dark brown hair fell across his broad forehead, his lips thinning in displeasure.

"I had a meeting that ran late and I had to stop and pick up a few things for our evening. You were supposed to be ready at seven."

"I was."

"But you aren't now."

"No." Cecily blushed and edged the point of her black dress shoe against the carpet. "I thought maybe you'd forgotten."

"Forgot?" Neil's eyes snapped up, his voice sharp. He moved forward, his long legs crossing the span of the bedroom in moments. Fingers gripped her chin and forced her gaze upwards. "I would never forget you. Change of plans. We're staying in...for now." Neil released her and stepped back, his eyes molten.

Review: Rite of Rejection by Sarah Negovetich

Rite of Rejection

Author: Sarah Negovetich

Release Date: December 4, 2014

Publisher: Self-Published

ISBN:   1500675652

ISBN13: 9781500675653

Genre: Dystopian

Review Copy Source: NetGalley

"Before you stands the future."

Straight-laced, sixteen-year-old Rebecca can't wait for her Acceptance. A fancy ball, eligible bachelors, and her debut as an official member of society. Instead, the Machine rejects Rebecca. Labeled as a future criminal, she's shipped off to a life sentence in a lawless penal colony.

A life behind barbed-wire fences with the world's most dangerous people terrifies Rebecca. She reluctantly joins a band of misfit teens in a risky escape plan, complete with an accidental fiancé she's almost certain she can learn to love.

But freedom comes with a price. To escape a doomed future and prove her innocence, Rebecca must embrace the criminal within.

Even though you know it's coming, it's still comes as a shock that Rebecca fails her Acceptance. She is sweet, kind, and follows the rules. Little do we know is that she also has a lot of questions and those questions are what leads to her failing. NOT that she is a bad person or that she will become a murderer like everyone thinks. In fact, what everyone thinks isn't how things are at all.

You don't get a good feel for who Rebecca really is until after the Acceptance ceremony. Everything she has known is ripped away from her and I think she handles it as best as someone in her position could. She starts out pretty naive and grows into someone she should be proud of. There is a romance in RITE OF REJECTION. I don't really want to get to much into it because it's kinda complex and I don't want to spoil it for anyone. I will say that I was happy about how things turned out for Rebecca and her significant other and hopeful for their future.

There is a great amount of both character development and world building in RITE OF REJECTION. You get a good feel for where the story takes place and the characters that are involved. By the end you are invested and you want to know what happens next. As of right now there's no guarantee of a sequel. The author says there is probably going to be one, but until its announced you can never be sure. I hope there's a sequel. I think the characters have a lot more in them and the storyline can be taken to many more places. So in saying that, I would read more.

I gave it 4/5 stars

* This book was provided free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Guest Post: Dark Desire by Lauren Dawes

UFI welcomes author Lauren Dawes. Thanks for Joining us!!

My top five urban fantasy/paranormal romance authors and how they’ve influenced my writing. 

Hi everyone. It’s Lauren Dawes here, author of the Dark Series. First of all, I’d like to thank Urban Fantasy Investigations for having me on as a guest blogger! I love being asked to guest post since there are so many things I can write about. Today I thought I’d share my top 5 urban fantasy/paranormal romance authors and talk about how they inspired me to improve my writing.

I was a bit of a late bloomer when it came to reading. I used to read a lot when I was younger, but then I suddenly didn’t have time for it anymore. I hate to admit it, but Twilight was the series that threw me back into reading. Yet after finishing that and feeling unsatisfied with the level of blood-letting and violence these Fawkes vampires were involved in, I discovered the authors I’ll be talking to you about. Each and every one of them has shown me the different elements that need to exist in a great urban fantasy book.

So, without further ado, here they are…

5. My number 5 author is Laurell K. Hamilton for her Merry Gentry series. Her Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series is by far the most well-known and quite possibly the more popular, and I enjoy the first 5 or 6 books, but her Merry Gentry series definitely resonated more with me. Hamilton’s imagination is what really drew me into her books. From her characters to the construction of her scenes, I’m constantly floored by the way her mind works and how everything slots in so well together. I’d really love to be a fly on the wall during one of her brainstorming sessions for a new book. In each of my series, I strive to come up with an idea that hasn’t been touched on before – something to make me stand out from all the others like Hamilton has done – and I think I’ve done that with my Dark series, where Norse gods and Valkyries have been forced into the human world by circumstances out of their control.

4. In at number 4 is Larissa Ione for her Demonica series. What I really admire about Ione is her world building abilities. In this series, she creates a place where all injured demons, vampires, werewolves and a hundred other supernatural beings can go to get healed. Underworld General Hospital is hidden from humans, yet it’s fully immersed in the humans’ world at the same time.

Writing in the urban fantasy genre requires quite a lot of imagination to create a believable world, and Ione delivers with this series. When I begin writing, I spend a lot of time thinking about the world my characters live in. I want it to be a familiar place for the readers, but I also want it to be a layered, unique place for my non-human characters to live in too.

3. My number 3 author is Gena Showalter for her Lords of the Underworld series. Showalter takes third place for her characters in this series. The premise behind it is amazing. A lot of other authors have written about Greek gods, but I love Showalter’s interpretation and creation of a world where the demons from Pandora’s Box have escaped and now inhabit the bodies of the protagonists – the ‘lords’ of the underworld.

We follow Showalter’s characters in their development from the beginning of the book to the end, seeing what external events or people have influenced that transformation. These characters are not one-dimensional at all. They have their flaws just as humans do. Some have integrity, some don’t. Some have a conscious, some don’t. In the end, that’s what makes a great character – flaws and all. I try to make all of my characters like this. They’re not perfect, and if they were, I doubt they would be relatable. Some of my favourite from my Dark Series are Loki and Darrion. These are the perceived ‘bad guys’, but once the events from their past are understood, I’m hoping many more people will end up liking, if not feeling sorry, for them.

2. Coming in at number 2 is Rachel Vincent’s Shifters series. It follows a head-strong werecat named Faythe through personal crisis and tragedies involving her entire Pride. I’m currently re-reading the entire series for the fifth time. It’s the plotline and the continuation of that plot that really hooked me when I read it for the first time, and it’s no different this time around. From the very first book, you can see what the eventual ending is going to be, but the Faythe in book one would not be ready for the events that occur to the Faythe in book six. Through a strong plot, Vincent helps Faythe to get there in the end, to build her into the person she needs to be through events often out of her control.

Rachel Vincent’s influence on my writing is to really focus on developing my plot well. Whether I’m writing a stand-alone novel or a 4-5 book series, it’s important to give my characters that opportunity to learn and grow through the entire book. When I was writing Dark Desire the plot often changed, and I think it was for the better. It meant that one of my protagonists could finally have their revenge when I’d originally plotted it differently.

1. And finally, in the number 1 place is J.R Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series. I’m sure there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of other authors out there who attribute Ward to inspiring them to write, and I am no different. I love this series because it has everything I could ever want in a book: amazingly well-defined characters, a world which slots into ours so perfectly (as all good urban fantasy books should), a plot which develops and grows with her characters and a stack of imagination.

She took the idea of vampires and put her own spin on them. I also adore her writing style. It’s distinct and seems to draw you right in from the beginning. Each character has an easily identifiable voice and vocabulary, which helps their personality to come through.

With each book that I write, I try to keep these few key things in mind. When it came to the Dark Series, I wanted to have some characters that people would both hate and love, but always relate to and understand. I chose to set Dark Deceit and Dark Desire in Boston after a visit to the city on my honeymoon. With all the history it had, it just seemed like the perfect place to set an urban fantasy novel. If you really love dark urban fantasy, a gritty storyline and intriguing characters, you don’t want to miss out on my Dark series.

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Lauren Dawes is an urban fantasy/paranormal romance writer and the author of the Half Blood Trilogy. You won’t find any friendly vampires in between the pages of her books; just blood, teeth and violence. When she’s not writing, she’s reading or teaching. She currently lives in Victoria, Australia with her husband and cat.



Find Lauren and her books

Website / Goodreads / Twitter / Facebook

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Dark Desire
Dark #2

 The time of Odin is over. The Aesir gods now live among the humans in their bustling modern cities. Their brutal dominion over the other gods and their eradication of the entire dark elf race may have ended, but their actions have not been forgotten.

With the death of Adrian still haunting Taer’s every waking breath, she dreams of getting revenge on the dark elf responsible for her brother’s murder. But when the one person she’s depending on to train her in the art of weaponry refuses to help, she has no other choice but to get instruction from the most unlikely of people. Driven by an undeniable desire, Taer finds herself learning more than just how to fight.

Eir, the goddess of healing, has had her spirit destroyed with the death of her twin at the hands of a deranged god. Still struggling with her loss, she is merely surviving each day. That is until a chance encounter with a human shows her that her broken heart can be mended in the simplest of ways.

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Giveaway: Darkness Falls by Keri Arthur

Darkness Falls
Dark Angels #7

New York Times bestselling author Keri Arthur brings her Dark Angels series to a breathtaking conclusion as half-werewolf, half-Aedh Risa Jones treads a knife’s edge between the salvation of the human race and its total annihilation.

The search for the last key to the gates of hell has begun, and half-werewolf, half-Aedh Risa Jones is in more danger than ever—and one misstep could prove ruinous. It's only a matter of time before Madeleine Hunter, the dangerous head of the vampire council, begins her hunt for complete domination. And for Risa, that comes with an alarming ultimatum: hand over the last key to Hunter or, one by one, her loved ones will die.

Now, it’s a race against time for Risa to save those she loves, and to stop Hunter's apocalyptic plan to open the very gates of hell.

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US Only

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Review: Under My Skin by Shawntelle Madison

Under My Skin

Author: Shawntelle Madison

Release Date: December 9, 2014

Publisher: Self-publisher

Immortality Strain Book #1

ISBN:  098879859X

ISBN13: 9780988798595

Genre: YA Dystopian

Review Copy Source: NetGalley

Everyone wants to either be a member of the Guild or work for them. Little does the populace know that the Guild hides sinister secrets...

For Tate Sullivan, life in her small, coastal town is far from glamorous. The affluent lives of the Guild members and their servants isn't something she has ever wanted. But all sixteen year-olds must take a simple test, and Tate's result thrusts her into the Guild's world, one where they hide horrible plans for those they select. Tate must fight the relentless General Dagon for control of her mind, body, and soul to keep the one precious thing she has always taken for granted: herself.

Her only ally is the same handsome boy she is pitted against in General Dagon’s deadly game. Quinn desires nothing more than to end the life of General Dagon who has taken over Tate's mind. While romance blooms between Tate and Quinn, General Dagon plots to eventually take over Tate's body, and love might end before it even begins. 

I had absolutely ZERO issue getting into UNDER MY SKIN. Not only did I really enjoy the characters, but the world was awesome and the whole concept of the story was unique and interesting. Even with the blurb I didn't fully GET what was going to happen. I had an idea but I didn't realize how much more there was to my idea. I don't want to spoil anything for the reader so I won't go further into the details.

Tate can't possibly understand why she was picked to be a water bearer. She finds nothing special about herself and has no clue what the fuss over her is. She had no want to be a water bearer, but she is thankful that her cousin Zoe was picked along with her.  Tate was great. She doesn't do anything quietly and refuses to give up on herself and Zoe even though the odds are stacked against her. Don't get me wrong she has her moments of weakness, but she was a bad-ass and she knew it.

I wanted a little more out of the romance between Tate and Quinn.  There were plenty of feelings there, but I wasn't totally able to fall into their story as a couple. I also felt the final showdown between Tate and General Dagon was lacking. The whole book leads up to this point. Tate has her chance to be free of him and it's just over in a few moments. I wanted more out of it.

I am very interested in seeing how book 2 will start out. Tate has some big shoes to fit into and I can't wait to see if she pulls off her deception.

I gave it 4/5 stars

* This book was provided free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.