Sunday, April 13, 2014

Sunday Post #50

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer ~ It's a chance to share news ~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received and share new about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.

~~~~~~~~~~

It's going to be a two week dose for you this week. I've been so tired with the change in weather and allergies (I might have had a touch of a cold too, who knows) along with so much going on.

First, I'm sorry for not being around as much the past two weeks. I'm struggling with finding what works for me in re-writes, and by re-writes I mean complete tear down and re-write. Words are flipping to different places in the story as I think (at this moment) they relate better there. So, I've been focused trying to find a method that works for me.

Also, I've been busy, lazy? I don't know what the answer is. Yesterday was to be my day to get some big projects done. Well at the last minute the coach invited kiddo to an invitational track meet. We spent the day there then friends came over. The day was spent and gone. So I have some serious work to get done today as when the week starts, time seems to be even more limited.

I'm going to try to get caught up with comments and back in the groove of visiting this week. Wish me luck!

What's Happening in Books:

Current Read:
This week is going to be revisions for me and beta reading for a friend. I did get one beta read done, but now I've the notes to pull together.

AND have been reading as chapters come up:
Soulless by Skyla Dawn Cameron (2 chapters a week for free on her site!)

Current Podcast Book Listen:
I haven't started a new one yet. Will think about it for this week.


Finished Last Weeks:
...


Finished Podcast Book Listen:
Flash in a Can by Danielle Ackley-McPhail
Crossing Lines by John Mierau
Marked Man by John Mierau
Harlan's Wake by John Mierau
The List by John Mierau
....

~~~~~~~~~~

Last Week on the Blog:



Cover Reveals: (click titles to go to post & learn more)

Evolution: SAGE by S.A. Huchton
(go check out the teasers and excerpt too!)



Posts:


Around the Internet...



Reviews:
GIVEAWAYS:



Weekly Posts:

***NEW*** Mythical Monday - Freya Robertson on Firebird. And L. Jagi Lamplighter on Gnomes and Oreads.

Throwback Thursday


~~~~~~~~~~

This Week to Come on the Blog:


Mythical Monday Is to be Kait Ballenger, but I'm waiting to see if it comes through. (Mon)

Book Review What Kings Ate And Wizards Drank by Krista D. Ball (Wed)

Book Review Half Share by Nathan Lowell (Thurs)


~~~~~~~~~~

Received Last Weeks:

Review:
The Crimson Campaign by Brian McClellan
Goodreads Synopsis:
'The hounds at our heels will soon know we are lions' Tamas's invasion of Kez ends in disaster when a Kez counter-offensive leaves him cut off behind enemy lines with only a fraction of his army, no supplies, and no hope of reinforcements. Drastically outnumbered and pursued by the enemy's best, he must lead his men on a reckless march through northern Kez to safety, and back over the mountains so that he can defend his country from an angry god. In Adro, Inspector Adamat only wants to rescue his wife. To do so he must track down and confront the evil Lord Vetas. He has questions for Vetas concerning his enigmatic master, but the answers might come too quickly. With Tamas and his powder cabal presumed dead, Taniel Two-shot finds himself alongside the god-chef Mihali as the last line of defence against Kresimir's advancing army. Tamas's generals bicker among themselves, the brigades lose ground every day beneath the Kez onslaught, and Kresimir wants the head of the man who shot him in the eye.

Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn by Danielle Ackley-McPail & Day Al-Mohamed
Goodreads Synopsis:
Come, Best Beloved, and sit you by my feet. I shall tell you a tale such as sister Scheherazade could have scarce imagined. A tale of wonders, of deeds both great and grievous, of courage that defies description, and above all, Child of Adam, I shall tell you a tale of love. 

The night is for the telling of tales to which the morning may bear Truth. In the oldest of days and ages and times, there was, and there was not, a great evil that reached across the desert and beyond…

In the Nejd there is nothing at all…except secrets. Can Ali bin-Massoud find the key to his family’s legacy before it is too late? More than honor is at stake. A band of thieves wish such secrets to remain hidden. 

It will take faith, knowledge, and yes, love to realize his destiny, and more than a little skill with steam-driven technology. Ali’s very life hangs in the balance.

Hear you the tale of Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn.

Purchased/Winnings/Gifts:
The Waking Engine by David Edison
Goodreads Synopsis:
Welcome to the City Unspoken, where Gods and Mortals come to die.

Contrary to popular wisdom, death is not the end, nor is it a passage to some transcendent afterlife. Those who die merely awake as themselves on one of a million worlds, where they are fated to live until they die again, and wake up somewhere new. All are born only once, but die many times . . . until they come at last to the City Unspoken, where the gateway to True Death can be found.

Wayfarers and pilgrims are drawn to the City, which is home to murderous aristocrats, disguised gods and goddesses, a sadistic faerie princess, immortal prostitutes and queens, a captive angel, gangs of feral Death Boys and Charnel Girls . . . and one very confused New Yorker.

Late of Manhattan, Cooper finds himself in a City that is not what it once was. The gateway to True Death is failing, so that the City is becoming overrun by the Dying, who clot its byzantine streets and alleys . . . and a spreading madness threatens to engulf the entire metaverse.

Dawn's Early Light by Pip Ballantine & Tee Morris
Goodreads Synopsis:
Working for the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, one sees innumerable technological wonders. But even veteran agents Braun and Books are unprepared for what the electrifying future holds… 
 
After being ignominiously shipped out of England following their participation in the Janus affair, Braun and Books are ready to prove their worth as agents. But what starts as a simple mission in the States—intended to keep them out of trouble—suddenly turns into a scandalous and convoluted case that has connections reaching as far as Her Majesty the Queen.
 
Even with the help of two American agents from the Office of the Supernatural and the Metaphysical, Braun and Books have their work cut out for them as their chief suspect in a rash of nautical and aerial disasters is none other than Thomas Edison. Between the fantastic electric machines of Edison, the eccentricities of MoPO consultant Nikola Tesla, and the mysterious machinations of a new threat known only as the Maestro, they may find themselves in far worse danger than they ever have been in before…

The Tropic of Serpents: A Memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan
Goodreads Synopsis:
The thrilling adventure of Lady Trent continues in Marie Brennan's The Tropic of Serpents . . .

Attentive readers of Lady Trent’s earlier memoir, A Natural History of Dragons, are already familiar with how a bookish and determined young woman named Isabella first set out on the historic course that would one day lead her to becoming the world’s premier dragon naturalist. Now, in this remarkably candid second volume, Lady Trent looks back at the next stage of her illustrious (and occasionally scandalous) career.

Three years after her fateful journeys through the forbidding mountains of Vystrana, Mrs. Camherst defies family and convention to embark on an expedition to the war-torn continent of Eriga, home of such exotic draconian species as the grass-dwelling snakes of the savannah, arboreal tree snakes, and, most elusive of all, the legendary swamp-wyrms of the tropics.

The expedition is not an easy one. Accompanied by both an old associate and a runaway heiress, Isabella must brave oppressive heat, merciless fevers, palace intrigues, gossip, and other hazards in order to satisfy her boundless fascination with all things draconian, even if it means venturing deep into the forbidden jungle known as the Green Hell . . . where her courage, resourcefulness, and scientific curiosity will be tested as never before.

Daughter of the Gods by Stephanie Thornton
Goodreads Synopsis:
Egypt, 1400s BC. The pharaoh’s pampered second daughter, lively, intelligent Hatshepsut, delights in racing her chariot through the marketplace and testing her archery skills in the Nile’s marshlands. But the death of her elder sister, Neferubity, in a gruesome accident arising from Hatshepsut’s games forces her to confront her guilt...and sets her on a profoundly changed course.

Hatshepsut enters a loveless marriage with her half brother, Thut, to secure his claim to the Horus Throne and produce a male heir. But it is another of Thut’s wives, the commoner Aset, who bears him a son, while Hatshepsut develops a searing attraction for his brilliant adviser Senenmut. And when Thut suddenly dies, Hatshepsut becomes de facto ruler, as regent to her two-year-old nephew.

Once, Hatshepsut anticipated being free to live and love as she chose. Now she must put Egypt first. Ever daring, she will lead a vast army and build great temples, but always she will be torn between the demands of leadership and the desires of her heart. And even as she makes her boldest move of all, her enemies will plot her downfall....

Once again, Stephanie Thornton brings to life a remarkable woman from the distant past whose willingness to defy tradition changed the course of history.


Free Ebooks:
Reboots by Mercedes Lackey & Cody martin
Goodreads Synopsis:
Space travel is tough. No air, cosmic radiation, absolute lack of other life-sustaining essentials.

What better way to deal with space travel than to man ships with creatures that regenerate or don’t need air, or are immune to various maladies? 

In a future world where zombies, vampires and werewolves co-exist with ‘normal’ humans on Earth, these ships are staffed by a motley crew of various types of undead or near-dead creatures.

Of course no one really knows what happens when zombies and vampires are squeezed together in the close confines of a spaceship.

Don’t you love surprises?

Pandora's Jar by Sharron Riddle
Goodreads Synopsis:
A New Adult Fiction Novel 

It's hard enough being a seventeen year old Veil Walker, but when your boyfriend's a demigod and your mom's dating a soul sucker, things can get a lot worse. 

Pandora has seen ghosts since she was a kid, and now she learns she can bring back the spirits of the dead. Why would she do that? She has enough trouble getting rid of the ones stuck on this side. One annoyingly perky ghost wants Pandora to find her killer, but Ukwa, her super-hot boyfriend, doesn't like the idea. 

When trouble finds her, will she discover the true strength of a Veil Walker or, like the others, will her soul be trapped in her own Pandora's Jar forever?


Free Audio Books/Stories:
Crossing Lines by John Mierau
Goodreads Synopsis:
A wanderer with a troubled past follows a sensitivity to magic that pulls him hard to a mountain in the middle of nowhere, where he’s caught up in impending apocalypse, powerful practitioners…and a blood feud.

Marked Man by John Mierau
Goodreads Synopsis:
A stowaway on a train, running from something horrible, falls into the hands of evil men. Soon, innocent lives will be lost as human monsters will face something ancient, powerful... and hungry.

Harlan's Wake by John Mierau
Goodreads Synopsis:
In a near-future where alien intelligences steer the bodies of the deceased, Tyler’s life is dedicated to the Silvers...but when word arrives that his alien-hating father is dying he goes AWOL and races home to make peace. Can he make it in time?

The List by John Mierau
Goodreads Synopsis:
In which we meet Miles Bell, Her Majesty's spy. Proto-nazi's, murder, betrayal.. and a dark, demonic future waiting to swallow England.

Asunder by John Mierau
Goodreads Synopsis:
20 years after the American civil war, former slave Marcus Riggs is trapped in a British Harbor after the Invaders came to enslave all mankind. Now the invaders are gone, and new Orders clash as humanity rises from the ashes...but are the aliens gone for good?

...

~~~~~~~~~~

Reviews to Come:

Half Share by Nathan Lowell - a podcast reading of the book
Full Share by Nathan Lowell - a podcast reading of the book
Double Share by Nathan Lowell - a podcast reading of the book
Captain's Share by Nathan Lowell - a podcast reading of the book
Owners Share by Nathan Lowell - a podcast reading of the book
Ravenwood by Nathan Lowell - a podcast reading of the book
Working for the Devil by Lilith Saintcrow
Marco and The Red Granny by Mur Lafferty (in audiobook while at work)
Hell by Mur Lafferty (in audiobook while at work)
Earth by Mur Lafferty (in audiobook while at work)
Wasteland by Mur Lafferty (in audiobook while at work)
War by Mur Lafferty (in audiobook while at work)
Tales of the Children by P.G. Holyfield (in audiobook while at work) An Anthology collection in the setting of Land of Caern.
The Secret World Chronicle: Invasion by Mercedes Lackey & Steve Libbey (in audiobook while at work)
The Secret World Chronicle: The Hunt by Mercedes Lackey & Steve Libbey (in audiobook while at work)
Rusted Veins by Jaye Wells
Haunted by Amanda Bonilla
Grimm Consequences by Kate SeRine
The Secret World Chronicle: World Well Lost by Mercees Lackey,Steve Libby, Cody Martin, & Dennis Lee
Morevi by Tee Morris & Lisa Lee
What Kings Ate and Wizards Drank by Krista D. Ball
Tales from the Archives, Vol 3: #1 by Tee Morris, Pip Ballantine, & others.
Tales from the Archives, Vol 3: #2 by Tee Morris, Pip Ballantine, & others.
Tales from the Archives, Vol 3: #3 by Tee Morris, Pip Ballantine, & others.
Flash in a Can by Danielle Ackley-McPhail
Crossing Lines by John Mierau
Marked Man by John Mierau
Harlan's Wake by John Mierau
The List by John Mierau

26 comments:

  1. Wow, that is a lot of book reviews coming up. Nice! Happy reading.

    Jenea @ Books Live Forever's Sunday Post

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jenea, thank you. The audio books has really helped raise that list of coming reviews. :) Have a great week!

      Delete
  2. That represents *a lot* of work ! The transition between winter and spring is always... I don't know how to call it, you don't know where you stand exactly - but spring is beautiful to look at ! Have a great week ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Red Iza, it is so, the transition between Winter and spring. There is so much to do in preparing for the nicer weather, and sports for kids too. :) Thank you. Have a great week.

      Delete
  3. Allergies, bah himbug. Miserable things. But, you are getting work done and making progress, even though it may not feel like it. Go You!

    I see a couple books up there that I need to go check out. You book pusher you. :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bea, allergies really are. And we are seeing them with this 80 F weather we just had this weekend. (and snow to come on Tuesday!) Thank you. Hope you have a great week. And hope you get to look into those books ;)

      Delete
  4. I listened to the first book in the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences and OMG Melissa I loved it. I plan to get book two soon! Not feeling well and struggling with re-writes could put anyone in a funk..good luck working through it all!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahaha! Kimba, you will love the next two books too. :D Hope you do anyway. And thank you. Here's to a better week for us all. :)

      Delete
  5. Whoa! Nice haul! Those are all new to me but I hope you enjoy them all!

    Here's my STS

    Have a GREAT day!

    Old Follower :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Jessica @ a GREAT read. Hope you have a great week as well.

      Delete
  6. Hope you feel better this week , and hope the writing goes well also.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Greg. I just need to find the time to squeeze it all in. *sigh* Have a great week.

      Delete
  7. I'm glad you had The Waking Engine, I just loved it! Happy reading lady!

    ReplyDelete
  8. The Waking Engine looks awesome. I can't believe I haven't read Dawn's Early Light yet. Hopefully I can squeeze it in next week. Sorry about your allergy problems. My daughter has been having them too. It's terrible.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Addicted2Heroines, I really enjoy the series Pip & Tee have going here. I hope you enjoy it when you get to reading it. :) Thank you. Hope you have a great week, and your daughter isn't to run down with the seasons allergies. :)

      Delete
  9. Lots of great covers this week though most are not really my genre. Hope you enjoy them!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chucklesthescot, thanks. :) And sorry they aren't for you. I usually have at least one for someone these days. lol. Have a great week!

      Delete
  10. I'm a new follower of your blog :) Immortal hunter looks great! I hope you enjoy :)

    My Weekly Wrap Up Post

    Happy Reading!

    Michelle @ Book Briefs

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Michelle @ Book Briefs. Thank you! Glad you found the blog. :) And hope you get to try out Kait Ballenger's series. :) Have a great week and I'll be by to visit shortly.

      Delete
  11. Wishing you luck as requested, Melissa! :))) Lovely books in your haul especially Dawn's Early Light. Enjoy all, sweetheart!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Kara-karina. It's Wend. already and I don't know if I have anything figured out. LOL! But I'm trying. :) Have a great week.

      Delete
  12. Busy and Lazy - I think that fits it for me as well:) I do love the cover for Sage I have to say. And Immortal Hunter - very nice!
    My Sunday Post is here

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Peggy Farooqi, I'm glad I'm not alone. ;) Thank you. Glad you like the cover for Sage, hope you get to check out the series. And Immortal Hunter too! :D

      Delete

Sorry, got 106 spam comments in less than 24hrs. Had to turn on again.

I love comments! Please share your thoughts. I will respond here in the comments back to you.

Thank you for visiting!