Closed Giveaway - Black Sun's Daughter Series by M.L.N. Hanover

Up for grabs ONE set of the Black Sun's Daughter Series

By M.L.N. Hanover

                                                                                                                           

Description of Unclean Spirits on Goodreads:

    Jayné Heller thinks of herself as a realist, until she discovers reality isn't quite what she thought it was. When her uncle Eric is murdered, Jayné travels to Denver to settle his estate, only to learn that it's all hers -- and vaster than she ever imagined. And along with properties across the world and an inexhaustible fortune, Eric left her a legacy of a different kind: his unfinished business with a cabal of wizards known as the Invisible College.
     Led by the ruthless Randolph Coin, the Invisible College harnesses demon spirits for their own ends of power and domination. Jayné finds it difficult to believe magic and demons can even exist, let alone be responsible for the death of her uncle. But Coin sees Eric's heir as a threat to be eliminated by any means -- magical or mundane -- so Jayné had better start believing in something to save her own life.

     Aided in her mission by a group of unlikely companions -- Aubrey, Eric's devastatingly attractive assistant; Ex, a former Jesuit with a lethal agenda; Midian, a two-hundred-year-old man who claims to be under a curse from Randolph Coin himself; and Chogyi Jake, a self-styled Buddhist with mystical abilities -- Jayné finds that her new reality is not only unexpected, but often unexplainable. And if she hopes to survive, she'll have to learn the new rules fast -- or break them completely....
 

  Description of Darker Angels on Goodreads:

In the battle between good and evil, there's no such thing as a fair fight.

     When Jayné Heller's uncle Eric died, she inherited a fortune beyond all her expectations -- and a dangerous mission in a world she never knew existed. Reining in demons and supernatural foes is a formidable task, but thankfully Jayné has vast resources and loyal allies to rely on. She'll need both to tackle a bodyswitching serial killer who's taken up residence in New Orleans, a city rich in voodoo lore and dark magic.
     Working alongside Karen Black, a highly confident and enigmatic ex-FBI agent, Jayné races to track down the demon's next intended host. But the closer she gets, the more convinced she becomes that nothing in this beautiful, wounded city is exactly as it seems. When shocking secrets come to light, and jealousy and betrayal turn trusted friends into adversaries, Jayné will soon come face-to-face with an enemy that knows her all too well, and won't rest until it has destroyed everything she loves most....

Description of Viscious Grace on Goodreads: 

When you’re staring evil in the eye, don’t forget to watch your back . . .

     For the first time in forever, Jayné Heller’s life is making sense. Even if she routinely risks her life to destroy demonic parasites that prey on mortals, she now has friends, colleagues, a trusted lover, and newfound confidence in the mission she inherited from her wealthy, mysterious uncle. Her next job might just rob her of all of them. At Grace Memorial Hospital in Chicago, something is stirring. Patients are going AWOL and research subjects share the same sinister dreams. Half a century ago, something was buried under Grace in a terrible ritual, and it’s straining to be free. Jayné is primed to take on whatever’s about to be let loose. Yet the greatest danger now may not be the huge, unseen force lurking below, but the evil that has been hiding in plain sight all along—taking her ever closer to losing her body, her mind, and her soul. . . .

  Coming November 29th

                                                      Format: Paperback, 384 pages  
                                                      Publisher: Pocket Books                                                                                                         ISBN-10: 1439176345                                      
                                                      ISBN-13: 978-1439176344

Description of Killing Rites on Goodreads:

Jayné Heller has discovered the source of her uncanny powers; something else is living inside her body. She's possessed. Of all her companions, she can only bring herself to confide in Ex, the former priest. They seek help from his old teacher and the circle of friends he left behind, hoping to cleanse Jayné before the parasite in her becomes too powerful. Ex's history and a new enemy combine to leave Jayné alone and on the run. Her friends, thinking that the rider with her has taken the reins, try to hunt her down, unaware of the danger they're putting her in. Jayné must defeat the weight of the past and the murderous intent of another rider, and her only allies are a rogue vampire she once helped free and the nameless thing hiding inside her skin.

The wonderful folks at Pocket Books are letting me giveaway one set of the Black Sun's Daughter Series (Book One - Book Four)

                                                  1) Unclean Spirits

                                                  2) Darker Angels

                                                  3) Vicious Grace

                                                  4) Killing Rites (Release Date of November 29th)

Rules to be eligible for giveaway:

1. Must be a US resident (sorry everyone else)

2. Must be 18 years or older

3. Become a follower of my blog, if you aren't already.

4. Please leave either your email address or a link to your Goodreads profile so I may get in contact with you to get your mailing address or verify your email address. No P.O. Boxes, please. If uncomfortable about giving out such information on my blog, please feel free to email me your information at seducedbyabook@gmail.com.

Winner will be randomly chosen. Books will be sent directly from the publisher. Giveaway ends November 24th (Thanksgiving), midnight eastern time. Winner will appropriately be posted on my blog on November 25th (Black Friday) and notified by email or message posted to them via Goodreads. Winners will have 48 hours to respond before another winner will be selected. Good Luck!

Giveaway is now closed. 

The winner is Voracious Reader

Congratulations!

Thank you everyone who entered.

Full length Hunger Games movie trailer released

If you're as big a fan of the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins as I am, you'll want to check this out. Finally, the full length Movie Trailer has been released:

Monday Musings - When does a contemporary novel become historical?

     

A friend of mine, Sans, posed an interesting question to me and asked, "When does a contemporary novel become something other that contemporary?" Well, after thinking about it for a while I decided it partly has to do with the age of the person reading the book and partly with what world wide events were taking place at the time the book allegedly took place. The roaring 20's, the 60's, and the 70's would probably all be classified as historical novels now. I probably wouldn't consider the 80's historical, but I'm hesitant to call them contemporary either. Yet, if I was a younger individual, perhaps I might consider the 80's with their tight leather pants of various colors, headbands, "big hair", etc to be from 'another time'.  Perhaps there is some state of limbo for these 'in between' books. I'm not really certain. One thing is for sure, I'm glad I'm not the one who has to figure it out.

 

A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire #5) by George R.R Martin

• Title: A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire #5)
• Classification: Adult Fiction
• Genre: Fantasy
• Format: Hardcover, 1040 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; First Edition edition (July 12, 2011)
• ISBN-10: 0553801473
• ISBN-13: 978-0553801477

Westeros is still a kingdom divided. The game of thrones is still in full swing. Just when it looked like the playing field was narrowing down to 3 players, another individual threw his hat into the ring. And this player has the potential to change the playing field forever.

In this book, we find out Tyrion is alive and drinking--A LOT. His location is finally revealed, and we find out what happened to him after he killed his father. We get a better look at how Melisandre works, and  find she seems to have her sights set on Jon. Dany will need to make a decision--to wed or not to wed? That is the question she'll be contemplating. King Stannis will appear to be trying to gain Jon's favor, or perhaps those who loyally follow the Starks. Plus, Ramsay Snow goes a little 'Silence of the Lambs' on us so beware. There will be many betrayals. People who were thought dead will mysteriously end up alive. One thing you can count on--expect the unexpected.

So I was truly excited with this series after reading the first few books, but then something went wrong. In book four, A Feast for Crows, Martin went on a writing binge and wrote too much to be contained in just the one book. That caused him to split the writing up into two books. That in itself would normally be considered a good thing, however, due to what I can only guess to be bad editing, the division sadly didn't flow well together. The mish mash of story lines in this book took a step back in time and totally confused the heck out of me until I realized that this book did not start where 'A Feast of Crows' (AFOC) left off. It started before the end of AFOC. So while you may have wondered what Jon was thinking when he sent Sam off, in this book you find out.


I kind of feel Martin got a bit carried away with this series, and several of us who read the series together felt perhaps the story expanded to such an extent it got a little too big for Martin. Even reading the books practically back to back, I have had a difficult time keeping all the characters straight. We (those of us reading the book together) used A Wiki of Ice and Fire (A fan-created and fan-maintained encyclopedia for George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire) several times to look up who a character was. It was a true godsend. I guess once we get to the end of the series we'll know exactly what Martin has been planning.

While I seem to be slamming this book, I actually liked it more than 'Feast for Crows'. Daenerys' dragons are bigger and, while they cause a lot of carnage, were pretty cool. Plus, many of my favorite characters were back, but unlike the last book where many long pending questions were answered, we were thrown many new ones. Overall, I gave this one 3 1/2 roses out of 5. Still loving the series and am a touch awed by how someone can create such a huge fictitious environment. Hopefully, the next book will transition more smoothly than the last.

And now a letter to George R.R. Martin from this lowly blogger:

Dear George (don't worry this isn't a 'Dear John' letter),

I must confess that I love all your characters even the ones I claim not to (don't tell anyone). However, it is with a sad heart that I must inform you, sir, that some of the people who are killed off in your series really do need to stay dead. You aren't writing an apocalypse novel after all. The way things are going the last book will be entitled Zombie Nation. The. Madness. Must. Stop! I understand authors get  fallout from fans when favorite characters pass on to the "greener" pastures, and have heard rumors that when a certain character bites the big one in your HBO series you will attempt to be out of the country. So I've decided to offer myself as the "sacrificial lamb" so that you may have someone to blame. Tell them all it's my fault. Please, for the betterment of the novel I'll be your scapegoat. Tell them it was all my, Lisarenee's, fault. You didn't want to but I made you.

Yes, I will probably grumble and be upset at the demise of one of my favorites, but seriously, this is getting out of control. The way things are going I wouldn't be surprised if Eddard Stark will come back to life. After all his bones are supposedly lost. If he does, please don't make him a headless horseman type person. That would just be too much.

Sincerely,

Lisarenee (aka Scapegoat)

Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern

• Title: Sh*t My Dad Says 
• Classification: Adult Nonfiction
• Genre: Nonfiction/Comedy
• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: It Books; First Printing edition (May 4, 2010)
• ISBN-10: 0061992704
• ISBN-13: 978-0061992704

When Justin Halpren moved back home to live with his parents, he decided to set up a twitter account and tweet the things his dad, Sam, said. Soon he discovered he had quite a following and not long after, he received offers from publishers wanting him to create a book of these comedic tidbits of wisdom from his father. The rest, as they say, is history and he came out with a book, and, a TV series in 2010 which lasted one season entitled,'$#*! My Dad Says'. The actor who played Justin's dad was William Shatner.

After reading the first few chapters of this book I understood just how appropriate the title 'Sh*t My Dad Says' truly was. The term swears like a sailor came to mind. Almost every tidbit of information Sam instills to his son contains the word sh*t in it. A friend of mine racked this up to him being male and all males having a strange fascination with the bodily function which creates the excrement. In other words, "It's a guy thing."

Behind the humor and the colorful language, is some sound advice. As you read through the book, it becomes obvious the man loves his kids. It's equally obvious he doesn't care what other people think of him. He tells it to you straight and makes no excuses. He says what he means and means what he says. Perhaps that is what makes the book so funny, he says things you can't believe he'd openly admit to. Some of which you may agree with, but would never openly voice. Even three-year-old children are not safe/excluded from his bluntness, as was witnessed when Sam told a 3-year-old relative who was running around screaming it was his birthday, that it was not his birthday.  As Sam says, "A three-year-old doesn't have a license to act like an @sshole."  

Included among the many quotes, are short stories that Justin included about growing up with his dad. By far my favorite is the one where Sam believes there is an intruder and decides to defend his house buck naked. Turns out to be just a sister-in-law making a sandwich in the middle of the night. I'm sure the sister-in-law never got up in the middle of the night to make a sandwich ever again while visiting. I guess putting some clothes on before grabbing your gun to confront the robbers would have given them too much time to steal some of his sh*t. As Sam states, "This is m house, g*dd@mn it! I gotta defend MY house!"

I found this a hilariously funny book that made me laugh a lot. I wasn't going to read it, but the Goodreads group, of whom I'm a moderator of, picked this to be one of our November books of the month. I have to admit I grew up in an environment where your mouth was washed out with soap if you used a word deemed "bad". I gave this one 3 1/2 out of 4 roses.

NOTE: You can also get a dose of what Sam has to say by following Justin's twitter account: https://twitter.com/#!/shitmydadsays

Three Days to Dead by Kelly Meding

• Title: Three Days to Dead 
• Classification: Adult Fiction
• Genre: Urban Fantasy
• Format: Paperback, 416 pages
• Publisher: Dell (November 24, 2009)
• ISBN-10: 0553592866
• ISBN-13: 978-0553592863
• Author Website: http://kellymeding.com/

     "My name is Evangeline Stone. I have lived in the city my entire life, and for the last four years, I have been employed by a secret unit of the Metro Police Department as a Dreg Bounty Hunter."
     His eyebrows arched comically high. "A what hunter?"
     "Dreg Hunter."
     "Is that like slang for criminal?"
     "It's a derogatory catchall for the dozen or so species of creatures that secretly live here in the city. Mostly goblins, gremlins, trolls, gargoyles, vampires, and weres. My boss is called a Handler, and I work in a three-person Bounty Hunger squad called a Triad. We hunt rogue elements, carry out special warrants, try to keep some species from killing one another and wreaking havoc in the process. and dole out punishment when lines are crossed."

What a difference a day, or should I say a few days, makes...

Evangeline Stone was once a respected Dreg Bounty Hunter. But within the last week something happened that made her a target of the very people she works for. Three days ago she died and today she woke up in somebody else's body. Now she's got 3 days to find her killer and stop whatever it is the person or persons have set in motion. Problem is, she doesn't remember anything that happened in the last week which lead up to her dying and being resurrected in another body. Additionally, she knows next to nothing about the young women whose body she's taken over except she committed suicide. Alliances once forged no longer exist, and she's not sure who to trust. She'll also have to find out why she ended up in Chalice Frost's body. Resurrections spells don't come cheap and so being put in a body which has no training hints that something went wrong...

I loved the world created by Meding. All the Dregs living among the humans without most of them knowing is fun. I liked the thought of people being "gifted" with powers. Evy was strong and tough and had a lot to deal with. Through it all she stayed focused on what she had to do, and I couldn't help rooting for her. She had lost a lot and she'd make sure the person or persons responsible would pay. Additionally, she would attempt to clear her name.

Wyatt Truman, her former handler, is the first person Evy turns to. Together the two try to piece together what happened during the time period Evy can't remember. While he can tell her somethings, like when she died, he doesn't have the full story of what happened. He had hoped she would retain her memories of what happened to her the last three days of her former life so she could help stop whoever is behind all the chaos happening in the city. Evy attempts to backtrack to the last thing she remembers and tries to move forward from there. Along the way she has flashbacks of events and, with the help of a vampire, recovers her memory.

I enjoyed the romance that developed between Evy and Wyatt. I thought it a nice touch that Evy had to come to grips with the fact that being in a new body brought with it new desires and cravings. I guess you could mark it up to her having a new body chemistry. While the old Evy didn't find herself all that attracted to Wyatt, the new Evy does. Even her taste in certain foods seems to have been affected.

On the Lisarenee Romance Rating Scale, this one gets a FAN rating - the temperature in the room seems to have suddenly gone up a couple of degrees and a fan would be nice. The book, however, contained more action of a different sort than romance. Overall, I gave this one 4 out of 5 roses. Will definitely be reading more of Kelly Meding's books. I really enjoyed this one and it took my attention away from 3 other books I was reading.

Order of Series:

The Time In Between: A Novel by María Dueñas - Released Today!

• Title: The Time In Between: A Novel
• Classification: Adult Fiction
• Genre: Historical Fiction
• Format: Hardcover, 624 pages
• Publisher: Atria Books; 1 edition (November 8, 2011)
• ISBN-10: 1451616880
• ISBN-13: 978-1451616880

"One of the effects of being crazily, obsessively in love is that it dulls your senses, your capacity for perception, till you no longer notice what is happening around you. It causes you to focus your attention so much one single person that it isolates you from the rest of the universe, imprisons you inside a shell, and keeps you at a distance from other realities, even those right in front of you." 

They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Such would be true of Sira Quiroga. Left abandoned, penniless, and pregnant in a foreign country by her lover, Ramiro, Sira attempts to make her way home. Almost before her trip has started, she finds herself waking up in a hospital being confronted by the police. They inform her that Ramiro not only had stolen the inheritance she'd recently acquired, but also racked up a bunch of debt which she is now responsible for. He also managed to involve her in unscrupulous dealings with his former company which could also have consequences. In order to survive, Sira will need to learn to live on her own and reinvent herself. Not an easy thing for a single woman to do in the days leading up to World War II. The woman who came from modest means will end up realizing her full potential and live a life she never would have dreamed or predicted for herself.

When we first meet Sira Quiroga she's a young girl of 20, only months away from her wedding. A chance encounter with Ramiro ends up changing the course of her life when he seduces her away from her fiance. She's young and naive and while we, the readers, see immediately the type of man Ramiro is, poor Sira is taken in. She goes with him to Morraco. After he abandons her she gets a painful dose of reality and grows up quickly. You can't help but sympathize with her.

No longer a naive young girl easily mislead, she now is hesitant to start another relationship. Determined to pay back the debt she owes, she ends up going back to the one thing she's been doing for years and is good at--sewing. With the help of some newly made friends, she starts her own business. We, the readers, watch her grow up right before our eyes as she transforms herself into a smart and savvy business woman who becomes a highly sought after clothing designer. Through her work she gains friends and clientele in high places. Living in the middle of a politically charged war riddled world, Sira will find herself in a position to help tilt the outcome of the war in favor of the British and Allies. With a little persuading and coaching, Sira enters the sinister yet exciting world of espionage.

I kept going back and forth about whether or not I wished to read this book. I found myself drawn to it, but wasn't sure why. I finally decided to leave the outcome of whether or not I would read it up to fate and entered one of Simon & Schuster's sweepstakes for which this book was one of the prizes. Needless to say, fate would have me read the book. I thank my lucky stars that it did. This was a fabulous debut by author Maria Dueñas. I found myself drawn into the story immediately and connecting with the characters. A beautifully written novel that had me pondering it when I had to take a break from reading to take care of my children and do various household chores. While quite a lengthy read, I felt it was too short when the ending came because I wasn't ready to say goodbye to the characters or the story. It's no wonder this is an international bestseller. Would it be too much to ask for a sequel?

María Dueñas, masterfully intertwined historical reality with fiction. I love it when an author does that. Rosalinda Fox and Juan Beigbedery Atienza (Minister of Foreign Affairs in Spain), two important secondary characters in the book, were real people. The two had an affair and Rosinda persuaded Beigbedery to support the British during World War II. Dueñas also used the names of actual hotels from the era to give a real sense of the locations where her story was set. Some of the hotels mentioned in the book still exist today. Additionally, if you buy the hardcopy of the book the inside of the cover contains pictures, arranged to look like postcards, of the various locations mentioned in the book. A truly wonderful thing which I wish more publishers/authors would do. If you don't have a hardcopy or, even if you do, you might want to visit http://www.thetimeinbetweenbook.com/  to see more pictures, reviews, and learn a little more about the author.

Where does the book get its title? I believe it's from this line, "Our destinies might have gone in any direction, as we succeeded in remaining unnoticed, forever on the reverse side of history, crisscrossed by stitches, invisible lives from the time in between."

This is another book that inspired a song to dance through my head. My chosen song for Sira? 'I Will Survive' by Gloria Gaynor. While not a total fit, parts of it are perfect.

Overall, I gave this book a 5 out of 5 roses. A wonderful book which I HIGHLY recommend. I'm so glad I won this wonderful book. Thank you Simon & Schuster.

María Dueñas discusses her book, 'The Time in Between':