The Book Faery Reviews Discovering paths to new dimensions through books…

2Sep/100

Thursday Book Trailer…Sense and Sensibilities and Sea Monsters

Last week I shared the book trailer to Seth Grahame-Smith's Abraham Lincoln's: Vampire Hunter, this week I found Amazon's 2009 Best Book Trailer - Sense and Sensibilities and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen & Ben Winters. Enjoy!

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters expands the original text of the beloved Jane Austen novel with all-new scenes of giant lobsters, rampaging octopi, two-headed sea serpents, and other biological monstrosities. As our story opens, the Dashwood sisters are evicted from their childhood home and sent to live on a mysterious island full of savage creatures and dark secrets. While sensible Elinor falls in love with Edward Ferrars, her romantic sister Marianne is courted by both the handsome Willoughby and the hideous man-monster Colonel Brandon. Can the Dashwood sisters triumph over meddlesome matriarchs and unscrupulous rogues to find true love? Or will they fall prey to the tentacles that are forever snapping at their heels? This masterful portrait of Regency England blends Jane Austen’s biting social commentary with ultraviolent depictions of sea monsters biting. It’s survival of the fittest—and only the swiftest swimmers will find true love! - FROM AMAZON.COM

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31Aug/100

To Conquer Mr. Darcy, Abigail Reynolds – Review

PhotobucketWhat if...

Instead of disappearing from Elizabeth Bennet's life after she refused his offer of marriage, Mr. Darcy had stayed and tried to change her mind?

What if...

Lizzy, as she gets to know Darcy, finds him undeniably attractive and her impulses win out over her sense of propriety?

What if...

Madly in love and mutually on fire, their passion anticipates their wedding?

In To Conquer Mr. Darcy, instead of avoiding Elizabeth after his ill-fated marriage proposal, Mr. Darcy follows her back to Hertfordshire to prove to her he is a changed man and worthy of her love. And little by little, Elizabeth begins to find the man she thought she despised, irresistible... - FROM AMAZON

ABOUT THE AUTHOR...Abigail Reynolds  is a lifelong Jane Austen enthusiast and a physician.  In addition to writing, she has a part-time private practice and  enjoys spending time with her family.  Originally from upstate New York, she studied Russian, theater, and marine biology before deciding to attend medical school.   She began writing From Lambton to Longbourn in 2001 to spend more time with her favorite characters from Pride & Prejudice.  Encouragement from fellow Austen fans convinced her to continue asking ‘What if…?’, which led to four other Pemberley Variations and her modern novel, Pemberley by the Sea.  She is currently at work on another Pemberley Variation and a sequel to Pemberley by the Sea.  She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, two teenaged children, and a menagerie of pets. - FROM AUTHOR SITE

Follow Abigail Reynolds BLOG , FACEBOOK , WEBSITE

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS...I have to be honest, I just couldn't get past the first couple of chapters. I'd try to read, then would put it down, tried to pick it up again, then would put it down. It was rather an annoying cycle. I just couldn't get into this read. Is there a reason I couldn't get into it? I'm not quite sure. I did find the "new" Mr. Darcy a bit annoying as he went after Elizabeth and tried apologizing for his behavior (at least that's what I got from what I did read). He seemed to act like the lost puppy to me. Perhaps because I like the mysterious "bad boy" on the outside, softy on the inside when you get to know him. Am I saying the book was bad? Absolutely not! I just couldn't get through the first part of the book. Someone else might enjoy this adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice.

I DID however, enjoy her other book The Man Who Loved Pride & Prejudice which you can read more about here.

I received a copy of this book for review from SourceBooks.
All opinions are of my own.
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31Aug/101

TBT…The Truth About Lord Stoneville

He'd always been driven by the fear that a mistress might tempt him to let down his guard and reveal his secrets.
Then even his family would desert him, and he couldn't bear that.
~ The Truth About Lord Stoneville by Sabrina Jeffries ~

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Grab your current read. Let the book fall open to a random page. Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12. Don't forget to tell us the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from…that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

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26Aug/103

The Life You’ve Imagined, Kristina Riggle – Review

PhotobucketIs the life you're living all you imagined?

Have you ever asked yourself, "What if??" Here, four women face the decisions of their lifetimes in this stirring and unforgettable novel of love, loss, friendship, and family.

Anna Geneva, a Chicago attorney coping with the death of a cherished friend, returns to her "speck on the map" hometown of Haven to finally come to terms with her mother, the man she left behind, and the road she did not take.

Cami Drayton, Anna's dearest friend from high school, is coming home too, forced by circumstance to move in with her alcoholic father . . . and to confront a dark family secret.

Maeve, Anna's mother, never left Haven, firmly rooted there by her sadness over her abandonment by the husband she desperately loved and the hope that someday he will return to her.

And Amy Rickart—thin, beautiful, and striving for perfection—faces a future with the perfect man . . . but is haunted by the memory of what she used to be.

Kristina Riggle's The Life You've Imagined takes a provocative look at the choices we make—and the courage we must have to change.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR...Kristina Riggle lives and writes in West Michigan.

Kristina has published short stories in the Cimarron Review, Literary Mama, Espresso Fiction, and elsewhere. She is also a freelance journalist writing primarily for The Grand Rapids Press, and co-editor for fiction at Literary Mama. Kristina was a full-time newspaper reporter for seven years before turning her attention to creative writing and freelancing. As well as writing, she enjoys reading, yoga, dabbling in (very) amateur musical theatre, and spending lots of time with her husband, two kids and dog.

Kristina is hard at work on her next novels from Avon/HarperCollins about complex family relationships. - PARTS TAKEN FROM THE AUTHOR'S WEBSITE

Follow Kristin on Twitter and Facebook.

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS...The Life You've Imagined is about four women (Amy, Anna, Cami, and Maeve) and how they handled the life they're in. Riggle created real women who are connected with the other one way or another with real issues - abandonment, addiction, weight, and love. Each chapter alternates between each of the women and each voice is different. While reading The Life You've Imagined, one can't help BUT to look back in the past to SOMETHING that you wondered would have been like today if it was different back then. This is the type of book that when you put it down for a bit you wonder what will happen next in a particular character's life. Good women's fiction and one I'd recommend to other women wondering about their own life's circumstances.

Follow the others touring with TLC Books and Kristina Riggle...

Be sure to check out the book club discussion about the book with Jen from Devourer of Books.

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26Aug/100

Thursday Book Trailer…Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

This week I'm beginning a new weekly post called Thursday Book Trailer which contain a book trailer and links to the book information. This week's book trailer is for the book Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith (one of my new personal book finds that I can't wait to read).

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24Aug/102

Holly’s Inbox: Scandal in the City, Holly Denham/Bill Surie – Review

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Dear Holly, isn't it shocking...?

Things are finally going Holly Denham's way: she's in love, she's getting the recognition she deserves at work, and her friends and family have graciously opted to avoid disaster for the moment.

Just when Holly is starting to settle into her new life, scandal erupts and Holly finds herself-and her in box-at the center of a gossip whirlwind that threatens everything she's worked so hard for.

Written entirely in emails, this follow-up to the UK smash hit Holly's Inbox will keep you glued to its pages as the scandal running rampant in the city threatens to ruin Holly's hard-earned and long-awaited happiness. - FROM THE BOOK BACK

ABOUT THE AUTHOR...Holly Denham is the pen name of Bill Surie, the owner of a placement service for receptionists and secretaries in London. He started the www.HollysInbox.com as a place to serialize his first novel. He currently lives in England and Spain with his wife and daughter. You can also find Holly on facebook and twitter!

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS...Don't let this thick book intimidate you - like the first one in the book, it's entertaining and time flies VERY quickly with the e-mail format. If you read the first one Holly's Inbox, you'll be excited to see Tricia, Aisha, Jason, Claire, Toby, and Holly (of course) come back for more. Denham/Surie had me rooting Holly on and wanting to give her hugs, wanting to go out and play with her best friends, smacking the office bitch, and thumping her boyfriend in the head for not thinking, yet ecstatic and hand pumping in the end.  Now I'm wondering...will Holly be back???

Last year I was lucky to snag an author guest post. You can read that here.

Thanks to Bill for contacting me to find out if I'd be interested in reading his second book. Thoroughly enjoyed it!

I received a copy of this book for review. All opinions within this post are mine.
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24Aug/100

TBT…The Life You’ve Imagined

Grab your current read. Let the book fall open to a random page. Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12. Don't forget to tell us the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from…that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

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I can't abandon her right now.

She's been abandoned quite enough, I'd say.

~ The Life You've Imagined by Kristina Riggle ~

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10Aug/100

Hero, Cheryl Brooks – Review

PhotobucketHE IS THE SEXIEST, MOST IRKSOME MAN SHE'S EVER ENCOUNTERED...

Micayla is the last Zetithian female left in the universe. She doesn't know what's normal for her species, but she knows when she sees Trag that all she wants to do is bite him...

HE HAS SEARCHED ALL OVER THE GALAZY FOR A WOMAN LIKE HER...

Trag has sworn he'll never marry unless he can find a Zetithian female. But now that he's finally found Micayla, she may be more of a challenge than even he's able to take on... - FROM THE BOOK BACK

ABOUT THE AUTHOR...A native of Louisville, KY, Cheryl Brooks graduated from the Kentucky Baptist Hospital School of Nursing and then went on to earn a BSN from Indiana University. Horse crazy from the time she knew what a horse was, her family moved to rural Indiana in 1989. Since then, she's managed to accumulate four horses and five cats. She's been working full-time as a critical care nurse for more than thirty years which can be exciting, but she's itching for a different kind of excitement!

As a writer, she finds that any fantasy you have can come true if you just write it down!She's been keeping her friends entertained with her books for a number of years, and self-published a book in 2006, but Slave is the first of her books to be published with Sourcebooks Casablanca.

Her other interests include cooking, gardening, singing and guitar playing. I'm really hurt that The Eagles got back together without me! - ALTERED SLIGHTLY FROM CHERYL BROOKS' AUTHOR PAGE

Find Cheryl at her website, blog where she posts some yummy pictures (NOT for anyone under 18...NUDE photos!), and you can even find her on Facebook (Cheryl Brooks).

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS...Hero is the last installment in Brooks' series The Cat Star Chronicles. All 6 could easily be read separate from  the previous books but all the more fun when all read. At #6 she definitely had me hating to see the end. Now I want to know what will happen with the Zetithian race! Who wouldn't purr with delight (and heat) from this one? I know I did! Best of all she ended with a strong and independent female! Of the books I've read in the series, this one and Fugitive had to be my favorites.

You can see my previous reviews and interview with Cheryl Brooks at:

NOTE...this is a VERY erotic fantasy book. Not for those who get squeamish when it comes to a very passionate "romp".

UPDATE...Cheryl just informed me there are 3 more to come in the series!! YIPPEE!!

Virgin is the next one which will be out Spring 2011. YES!

Sourcebooks provided me a copy of this book for review.
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10Aug/107

The Hypnotist by M.J. Rose – Review & Giveaway

PhotobucketAn FBI agent, tormented by a death he wasn't able to prevent, a crime he's never been able to solve and a love he's never forgotten, discovers that his true conflict resides not in his past, but in a…Past Life.

Haunted by a twenty-year old murder of a beautiful young painter, Lucian Glass keeps his demons at bay through his fascinating work as a Special Agent with the FBI's Art Crime Team. Currently investigating a crazed art collector who has begun destroying prized masterworks, Glass is thrust into a bizarre hostage negotiation that takes him undercover at the Phoenix Foundation—dedicated to the science of past life study—where, in order to maintain his cover, he agrees to submit to the treatment of a hypnotist.

Under hypnosis, Glass travels from ancient Greece to 19th century Persia, while the case takes him from New York to Paris and the movie capital of world. These journeys will change his very understanding of reality, lead him to question his own sanity and land him at the center of perhaps the most audacious art heist in history: the theft of a 1,500 year old sculpture from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

International bestselling author M. J. Rose's The Hynpotist is her most mesmerizing novel yet. An adventure, a love story, a clash of cultures, a spiritual quest, it is above all a thrilling capstone to her unique Reincarnation novels, The Reincarnationist and The Memorist. - FROM THE BOOK JACKET

ABOUT THE AUTHOR...M.J. Rose, is the international bestselling author of 11 novels and f two nonfiction marketing books. Her suspense novel The Reincarnationist inspired the TV series Past Life, which can be seen on FOX Broadcasting. A founding board member of International Thriller Writers, Rose is also founder of the first marketing company for authors, AuthorBuzz.com. She runs two popular blogs: Buzz, Balls & Hype and Backstory. - FROM THE BOOK JACKET

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS...The Hypnotist is the 3rd (and my first) book in Rose's Reincarnation series. The first chapter had me sucked in, then the 2nd two had me a little confused. However, once I got past a couple chapters, the book re-grabbed my interest with the past life concept thrown in with the thrill of solving a crime in the "present". For those interested in suspense, detective stories, and reincarnation, grab the series. I think I now need to do some detective work on my end to find the previous two books in the series.

One of these days I'd definitely love to be hypnotized to look into my past lives (I'm thinking I must have multiple ones!). How interesting that would be...

NOW THE GIVEAWAY...Thanks to TLC Books and M.J. Rose, I get to give away ONE copy to of The Hypnotist to a lucky Book Faery Reviews reader (US/Canada addresses only). This giveaway will last til the end of August 2010.

To enter (please leave a comment for EACH entry as I use a # randomizer):

  1. MANDATORY - Become an e-mail or RSS subscriber of The Book Faery Reviews (See top right sidebar).
  2. MANDATORY - Leave a comment telling me what you think you would be / where you'd live in a past life. (I'd be from the Medieval time as a healer/protector!)
  3. Tweet about this giveaway - "@farrah1230 from #tbfr is giving away a copy of The Hypnotist by M.J. Rose here: http://bit.ly/9c3eHo"
  4. Share this giveaway on your blog or social media profile page (Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, etc).

 

This book was provided for review for one of the TLC Book Tours.
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1Aug/101

Mailbox Monday…08.02.10

Booksfree
Mailbox Monday is where other bloggers write about the books they received the previous week. The Printed Page is the host of the Mailbox Monday meme. Visit her blog to see what books made it her way and get a chance to get one of her books once she's done reading it. You can also see who all is participating this week and read about all kinds of new books.

**It's been some time since I last posted (7/12 to be exact) so I thought I'd do a bit of catch up as well as share some of the books I've picked up from others or purchased myself. You'd think with all the books I receive for free I'd keep myself from buying more books (or so my husband would hope) but on occasion I just can't help myself! This list is lengthier than usual so this round there won't be summaries but I did include links for more book information.**

Chic-Lit

Holly Inbox: Scandal in the City by Holly Dunham

Home

Paula Deen's Savannah Style by Paula Deen (Upcoming tour this month)

Contemporary Fiction

The Book of Eli by Sam Moffie

Classic (Buy)

The Arabian Nights (Barnes & Nobles Collection; I just LOVE their collection of leather bound books! Beautiful artwork on each.)

SciFi/Fantasy/Paranormal (All Buys)

Guilty Pleasures by Laurell Hamilton (wanted to start the Anita Blake series)

Swallowing Darkness by Laurell Hamilton (re-read but I need my own to go with my Meredith Gentry series)

Divine Misdemeanors by Laurell Hamilton

Violin by Anne Rice (re-read but I had to get the hardback copy)

Historical Romance (Buy)

The Truth About Lord Stoneville by Sabrina Jeffries

Suspense (Buy)

Haunt Me Still by Jennifer Lee Carrell

And today I leave a special treat...the book trailer for Haunt Me Still by Jennifer Lee Carrell...

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