@CambriaHebert #Giveaway "Masquerade" and "Recalled"

Cambria Hebert was one of my earliest friends in the Indie book world after I found my way to Goodreads in 2011.  I was there while she was finishing her first books, when she launched her first books, and I've watched with awe as she just keeps putting out those books. Over the just-over-two-years since I first met her, she's written fifteen books!  She mostly writes in the Young Adult and New Adult romantic fantasy genre, which is normally not my favorite, but I've read a few of her books and they're really good.  All this is to tell you that I'm giving away a couple of her books this week!  First up is Masquerade, which is the first book in her Young Adult Heven & Hell series. Here is my review of it. Cambria is letting me give away one e-book copy of this book in winner's choice of formats, so please do not forget to provide both your e-mail address and your preferred format. I have a second giveaway this week, so keep going after you enter, please!

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So, the second giveaway is for Recalled, the first book in her New Adult Death Escorts series.  Isn't that an absolutely gorgeous cover? I have not yet managed to acquire this one for myself, so I don't have a review, but here's the blurb:

Love or Death? A simple question really. The choice seems obvious. But. What if you never knew love, what if your life was spent just trying to survive? What if you knew your fate before you were fully grown?

And then you died.

And you were given another chance. A better chance.

This new life depended upon one thing: your job. And so you agreed. You thought it would be simple. You thought it would be cut and dry.

It never is.

And now you are left holding the fate of someone else in the palm of your hand and you have to make the ultimate choice.

Love or Death?

Again, Cambria is letting me give away one e-book copy, same deal as above. Please provide both your e-mail address and preferred format!

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As normal, these giveaways will run for one week.  Good luck!

Review: Weaver

Weaver by John Abramowitz

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book Info: Genre: Urban Fantasy
Reading Level: Young Adult
Recommended for: Fans of YA urban fantasy
Trigger Warnings: assault, murder

My Thoughts: After reading the first two books in the Hunter Gamble series by this author, I just had to read this other book I had by him.

This is a really good book of its type. I don't always like YA and this has a few of the faults that keep me from fully enjoying YA novels, like teenagers that do sort of stupid things. It's mitigated in this book due to pheromones exuded by the Xorda, so it's fairly bearable, but it's there. There are also a lot of editing errors in the text. Thus the loss of a star.

But overall, I enjoyed the book a great deal. There were a couple of moments that surprised me a lot, things I absolutely did not see coming, and I would like to continue this series. Another book is available in this series, The Void, but I do not yet have it. Anyway, if you like young adult urban fantasies, definitely give this one a try.

Disclosure: I picked up a copy of this e-book from Amazon when it was on a KDP promotion. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: Fifteen-year old Alex Cronlord just met the boy of her dreams. Literally. Unfortunately, the dream involved him killing her. When she encounters him at her school the next morning, Alex understandably freaks out–and her mother’s bizarre behavior only makes it worse. What Alex doesn’t realize is that she can see the future–which will get her into a whole lot of trouble.

Across town, FBI Agent Moira McBain and her partner Andy Hall investigate a series of house burnings in Dallas, Texas. When a clue leads them to the Cronlords, Moira discovers a disturbing link between Alex’s family and her own–which opens an old wound Moira has spent years trying to ignore.

Something is rotten in Dallas, Texas–something involving a secret society, children with extraordinary powers, and human-looking creatures who might literally be out of this world ….

Welcome to a different kind of world-wide web.



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Movie Reviews! "How to Train your Dragon" and "Prometheus"

Early this morning we watched a couple movies, and just to break things up a bit, I thought I'd post reviews of the movies! So, without further ado!

First we watched Prometheus, the highly anticipated prequel to the Alien franchise by Ridley Scott. Synopsis: A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.
My Thoughts: This is a fast-paced movie with some really good special effects. However, the characters, with the exception of the captain, the co-pilot and the pilot, were a bunch of idiots. They are supposed to be highly trained scientists, and they bumble around like a bunch of amateurs! "Ooh, look, a door - let's just open it and walk inside! Oozing stuff from canisters? Let's stick our finger in it and see what happens! Let's sniff this weird gelatinous stuff! Let's carry this decapitated head into the ship and experiment on it! Let's try to touch this strange, reptilian thing that is living where everything should be dead!" Oh, lordy, lordy, lordy... I wanted to smack each and every one of them repeatedly. Two puke-drenched (yes, I threw up at one point) stars

Afterward, I demanded we watch something that would not make me puke (hey, I have a thing about self-mutilation! I can take all kinds of gross stuff... unless the person is doing it to themselves. Then I become nauseous).

So, Dmitry suggested How to Train your Dragon, saying it was funny.

Synopsis: Hiccup (voice by Jay Baruchel) is a failure as a Viking: skinny, inquisitive, and inventive, he asks questions and tries out unsuccessful contraptions when he's supposed to be fighting the dragons that attack his village. His father, chief Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler), has pretty much given up on his teenage son and apprenticed him to blacksmith Gobber (Craig Ferguson). Worse, Hiccup knows the village loser hasn't a chance of impressing Astrid (America Ferrera), the girl of his dreams and a formidable dragon fighter in her own right. When one of Hiccup's inventions actually works, he hasn't the heart to kill the young dragon he's brought down. He names it Toothless and befriends it, although he's been taught to fear and loathe dragons.
My Thoughts: Dmitry was right, I really loved this adorable movie. The dragons were wonderful, especially the little ones - I wanted one of my very own! Watching Hiccup grow into himself was delightful, and the other Viking kids - and adult Vikings - were a treat as well. The CGI was amazing and wonderfully detailed. I highly recommend this fun movie to anyone who hasn't already seen it. 5 dragon-sized stars!