Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells Book Review

So…I have a thing for redheads..I know I’m suppose to be doing a book review and not personal confessions but I had to put it out there so people would know that I might have a slight bias towards loving this book so much.  But really when the first sentence of the book is: ”Digging graves is hell on a manicure, but I was taught good vampires clean up after every meal.” How can I not love the book!

The protagonist of this book is Sabina Kane, a half-vampire assassin, who at the beginning of this book is on the verge of finding out that she really doesn’t know anything about her heritage or her family.  And who is on the verge of being shot through the heart with a wooden arrow.  As you can imagine, both of these revelations put her in a pretty pissy mood.  While trying to figure out where she fits in her shifting world view, Sabina picks up some new friends and powerful enemies along the way.  One of my favorites of these new friends is the shape-shifting demon who tries to kill her, Gighul.  While Sabina tries to find who sent Gighul to kill her, the demon is crashing on her couch, eating cheesy poofs and racking up her credit card bill while feeding his newly found infomercial addiction. Oh, and did I mention that his other form besides the cloven hoof, horned demon form is a fluffy black and white cat! The interactions between these two are mostly hilarious snark that left me with the need to explain why I was snorting and giggling to anyone who happened to witness it. Another favorite sidekick is Vinca who is the total opposite of Sabina. She is a saccharine sweet faery who, as the story goes on, you learn has a rough edge and also a shady past possibly connected to the porn industry. She definitely grows on you as a character and makes for a hilarious roommate. 

The bad guy, Clovis, is a weird mix of repulsion and attraction for Sabina. The author did a great job of writing this character and I often felt the need to take a shower to get rid of the ickiness I felt after Sabina’s interaction with him. Of course there is a potential romantic interest as well, the “sexy hexy” or mage Adam that always leaves you wondering what his true intentions are and if Sabina can trust him.  Not much happens between the two of them in this book but there are definite possibilities for “action” (I hope!) in the next book Mage in Black.

The author, Jaye Wells, does a great job of world building and easily integrates the background story and mythology about the different creatures in her book with the action and realizations her main character goes through. She also leaves several story threads unfinished that leave tantalizing hints at what may come in her next book which will be a definite read for me!

 This was a 4.5 out of 5 for me - a Delicious read!

I love sales! Particularly ebook sales!

Since I buy so many books, particularly ebooks, I always feel the need to look for the best price and this weekend there have been sales abound for ebooks. My first stop is always Fictionwise where they are having 45% off all multiformat (unsecure) and 45% off in micropay credits for their secure titles in dark fantasy, fantasy, romance and erotica titles and there is a weekend 15% off with code "Janblast15". At AllRomanceeBooks.com  and OmniLit.com you can get 50% off with code SBTBARe1

So I figure I'd show you guys what I got, some of it is for the League of Reluctant Adults challenge and some of it is for fun since the books have been sitting on my to read shelf for a while. These books should keep me occupied for a couple weeks or so my bank account hopes. And I'll be posting my reviews here and at my goodreads site http://www.goodreads.com/heatherdarklyreading if you want to check them out. So any of you get some awesome books this weekend?

Reading Challenges..watch out world here I...read?

I decided to sign up for some new author challenges at Literary Escapism. One is the New Author's Challenge (I'm going for 25 new authors) and the other is the Mini-Challenge with the League of Reluctant Adults writers. The League has some of the funniest urban fantasy author blogs on the web. The League has a blog as well as many of the 20 authors have their own separate blog. My current favorite post by a Leaguer (not sure if this is proper terminology or maybe reluctant adult?) is Nicole Peeler's Naughty Avatar revew. I loved the mention of the "racked smurf society" and "braid/flash drive/possible genitalia". It gives you a twisted insight into some of your favorite authors. I've already read books from 4 of the Leaguers and I'm looking forward to adding at least 5 more authors to my "have read" list.

DarklyReading in action!

So on Monday night I got to experience darkly reading in action - our power was out for most of the night so while the hubby went crazy without the internet I read on my ebook reader by candlelight.. which seemed kind of wrong. For some reason when I picture people reading books by candlelight in the "olden" days it wasn't on a ereader.

By the way - in ereader news, apple has released their first peak of the new ipad which is suppose to be a new ereader/internet browser tablet - you can see a msnbc video about it here and there is a nice comparison between the kindle vs ipad here.  Though it looks sleek and shiny and cool, I am just not a fan of the name. Maybe because I am a girl and the name brings to mind feminine hygiene products...is it just me? Maybe iTablet or iReader would be a better name? Maybe it will come in a pink case and just complete the "pad" picture I have in mind. Also Huffington Post has a great article about all the ereaders currently on the market and coming to the market in 2010 here. So if you are thinking of getting an ereader apparently this is the year of the ereaders with many cool options coming to market.

Delusions of grandeur or...I finally won a free book!

With my new love of all things urban fantasy and paranormal romance I find the need to save money on new books to try to keep the hubby happy. One solution to this would of course be going to the library and checking out books but since I love instant gratification (see previous post) instead I have to have the book I want in my hands instantly and no one can stop me...(insert evil laugh). Thankfully alot of ebook sites have decent sales and I can get the books I want at a good discount (20-30%)..but my other solution is to enter free book giveaways! And finally after all these months of entering..okay maybe 2 or 3 months of occasionally entering..I finally won a book from goodreads. Granted I don't have the book in my hot little hands yet but maybe my contest entering luck is turning around. So stay tuned to read more about my contest entering conquests, in particular there are a few reading challenges over at Literary Escapism I have my eye on.

A realization long overdue

I recently (six months ago) got a sony reader from my husband. I love it! I can browse books and reviews from the comfort of my couch and I love being able to instantly download books (I'm all about instant gratification). Therefore I rarely go and peruse the shelves of my local bookstore anymore. After finding many new and exciting authors on-line and discovering there are a few that don't publish in ebook format I went to my local bookstore again after a long bookstore hiatus and guess what I discovered...many of the books that featured the strong and sexy heroines I loved were actually shelved in the romance books section! I couldn't believe it. As a daughter of an avid romance book reader, I figured that romance books were too "girly" with simpering weak heroines and tough alpha males that make everything all right after some climax in which they find out that despite all their best efforts to deny it they love each other...and then of course proceed to make wild passionate love to each other. Instead I find out some of my favorite books belong to the romance section. For example, I love Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series - it is dark, filled with action, and there is not always a happy ending - and these books were found in the romance section..though with Cat and Bones steamy love scenes I can kind of understand why. What I'm trying to say is that with my ebook reader in my hands I am willing to read in genres unknown to me previously and I'm loving every minute of it. And now with my ebook reader I sit on the bus while I go to work and no one will know that I'm reading about the moment the tough as nails heroine gives her heart to the alpha werewolf while battling fierce enemies and covered in goo.