Super Bowl Sunday Has Arrived - Got Snacks? #TheSundayPost

 

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly, or for a monthly wrap-up. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme 

Are you having or going to a Super Bowl party?  Tell me all about the snacks! We are going to not go anywhere which is usually what we do. I don't really care about the game, I do like the commercials and I do like snacks.  Nothing like a tasty appetizer if you ask me. 

This week brings us Valentine's Day and that means the month will be half over already.  I wonder if we will get a big snow in my area this month, we've had a good amount of cold weather and plenty of days with windchills below zero but not much to speak of when it comes to snow. 

This week I'll be sharing a few books I read or listened to lately:

I'm Almost Completely Caught Up on Everything Ilona Andrews has Published.

 

I look at the Innkeeper Chronicles as being Sci-Fi Cozy Mysteries. On the one hand, I can't believe I read the first book in this series, Clean Sweep, and then didn't continue on--thank goodness I found my way back to this series.  I could read about the goings on at the Gertrude Hunt every day. It is such a great blend of what I like in a cozy mystery series and what I love in paranormal/fantasy all mushed together with Ilona Andrews's wonderful world-building and well-rounded characters. 

On to the reviews of books one and two in the series. In the first book we meet Dina who is an Innkeeper, but not a regular Innkeeper, her BnB caters to aliens from all over the universe. The thing is, no one on Earth can know that aliens travel to and from the earth all the time. Turns out Earth is a hub from which you can travel to many different worlds. Dina's job is to protect her guests and make sure earth people don't know about aliens.  We quickly met Sean and Arland. Sean is a werewolf who was born in the USA but his ancestors are from another planet and we met Arland who is a vampire. Vampires in this series are more like super-powerful humans than your classic vampire can't have kids and drain people to death type. I could go on and on because this story is so expansive, but I don't want to bore or spoil you. 

This series has elements of cozy mysteries in these ways:

1. Overarching mystery regarding the backstory of our MC. Her parents are missing

2. Dina has a cozy companion, her deceptively cute dog.

3. Dina runs a BnB that is historically old and she loves to garden. The Inn has a name- Gertrude Hunt- How Cozy is That~

4. A community of quirky recurring characters. 

5. Light romance 

6. Dina does sleuthing to figure out why various people were killed or how to stop a killing.

Here is a link to Ilona Andrews website if you want more info on the series. I highly recommend you add this to your TBR pile asap! 

Shades of Wicked #SIAM Book One of 3!

 

Happy #SIAM review day!  Today I'm sharing my thoughts on Shades of Wicked  by Jeaniene Frost --along with other participants in Anne's Read Along

Here is the schedule of the review posts where you can read everyone's review of this book. There is always a wide range of opinions! 

Jan 8:    Shades of Wicked              –  Review from Carole @ Carol’s Random Life in Books

Jan 22:    Wicked Bite                        –  Review from Robin @ Books of My Heart

Feb 5:       Wicked All Night             –   Review from Anne @ Books of My Heart

**************Spoilers**********************

Shades of Wicked is the first book in Jeaniene Frost's Night Rebel series and it's a spin-off from her very popular Night Huntress series.  If you have read the Night Huntress you'll appreciate some of the cameos and side characters in the book and you'll have more general knowledge of events prior to this book, but it's a stand-alone. 

The beginning of the book has lots of Veritas, our MC, talking to herself, We are in her head and along for the ride. For me, it was too much exposition. Give me the action. I enjoyed the action portions of this book--and the demon dog Silver. Ian is in the Night Huntress books and I am sure many readers pick up this book to read his story. His personality is based on a persona of a vampire is loyal to friends and likes sex and violence, which is pretty typical for a vampire. 

Veritas is a half-vampire half-demigod that is usually in a glamour around others to hide her actual appearance--so she looks unassuming but of course very attractive and slim. Veritas works as a law guardian but for this book, she is basically on leave to try and kill a Demon she's been trying to kill for thousands of years. 

Ian and Veritas start as enemies, and then there is a fake marriage and then they are lovers. All good stuff, all stuff I enjoy.  Here is the thing though.  Veritas is a demi-god, she's been around for 4,000 years. She should be more interesting and both she and Ian should have worked through their issues by now--guilt over people they lost, how to communicate effectively, etc. They have the maturity of humans in their early 20s. It's like the old man on the porch in It's a Wonderful Life said: (and I'm paraphrasing) "Ah, eternal youth is wasted on the wrong people."

3.0 Stars  It's alright. 

Lord of Population, why isn't this a Netflix series already?

 

I heard about this book when I was listening to the podcast Fated Mates* (link here: FATED MATES) The book is a take on vampires, in this book they are aliens but they drink human blood so yep, vampires! This post-apocalyptic tale of a badass human trying to survive in the harshest of conditions was so hard to put down. I stayed up way too late reading because I had to know how in the world Abel and Kane would get to a HEA.  But they do. This book is action-packed.  I love when a character has to question their own belief system, so this book really worked for me. Plus I do enjoy vampire stories, I'm not so much into aliens, but this is a great mix of both. 

If you decide to read this book, or if you have read it already please let me know if you think it would make a great limited series or movie.  Do you know who could play Abel?  Zendaya! Ah yes, I can see it now. The question is who could play Kane? 

* Here is the description of what the Fated Mates podcast is about from their website: "Fated Mates is a romance novel podcast co-hosted by author Sarah MacLean and romance critic Jen Prokop. Weekly episodes include romance novel read-alongs and discussions of the work of the genre, highlighting the romance novel as a powerful tool in fighting patriarchy…with absolutely no kink shaming."

Wait, this book was written *before* Dracula?

Before I transition completely to holiday mode, I'm sharing one last spooky season review.  Have you ever heard of this book?  

 Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu was written well before the book everyone knows by Bram Stoker.  This tale, however, isn't about a male vampire.  It's about a young woman who lives on an estate in the country with her father and their servants, she is a little bored and definitely lonely. So when a carriage crashes in front of her and a mother begs them to keep her daughter safe for a few months, she begs her father to let this beautiful young woman stay at their home.

While the local village begins to experience a strange illness, causing the deaths of young women.  The young noblewoman is increasingly drawn to and repelled by her houseguest. She has so much longing for what her guest offers and ultimately falls under her spell. How will the story end?  

Lucky for us readers, this tale can be read in an afternoon or over a weekend, it's one that is very hard to put down.

5 starts to Carmilla