Sunday 28 June 2015

A challenge to read more... Reading Rainbow (Part 1)



Since joining Goodreads.com I have found many “new to me” authors and series. I took the site’s general “2014 Reading Challenge” and have signed up again this year. In addition to that I decided to sign up for a few reading challenges that the groups I belong to have set it’s members. This post is all about the annual reading challenge that the “Urban Fantasy” Group have set for the whole of this year (2015)…

Your goal: 7 to 38 books, depending on your level
 

Duration: January 1 – December 31, 2015 (Honestly, I originally designed this to be an open-ended challenge that would take however long you need to complete it. So if December rolls around and we’re still not done, we could roll it over into next year.)
 

The rules:
- This challenge is divided into four parts. You may choose to do all parts or only one, two or three parts.
- The books may be from any genre, unless specified otherwise in a category.
- Re-reads are allowed as are books used for other challenges.
- You may post your list up front or as you go and you may make changes as you go.
 
Choose your level:
Fingerpaint – Any one part
Watercolour – Any two parts
Acrylic – Any three parts
Oil – All four parts


PART ONE ~ 7 books
 

Roy G. Biv is an acronym for the order of colours in a rainbow. For each letter, read a book in which the title, series name, or author’s name (first or last) begins with that letter  

R: Stephanie Rowe – Darkness Arisen (Order of the Blade #6)
O: Olivia Hardin – Trolling for Trouble
Y: Samantha Young – Drip Drop Teardrop
G: Teresa Gabelman – Duncan (The Protectors #3)
B: Lexi Blake – Steal the Light (Thieves #1)
I: Ilona Andrews – Of Swine and Roses
V: Victoria Danann – My Familiar Stranger (Knights of Black Swan #1)

Have you read any of the above books? I decided to focus on the name of the authors in this part and as always you can see my reviews on Goodreads, some I really liked and some not as much but I love the idea of challenges as they make you source books that you may miss if left to your own devises, a favourite author, book or series could be just around the corner.....

I will post more as I complete each section with the tag/label #ReadingRainbowYearlyChallenge2015 to make it easier for you to find the relevant posts - part 2 is all about the colours of the front covers....
 


Urban Fantasy Group's Reading Rainbow Challenge 2015

Duncan
Darkness Arisen
Of Swine and Roses
Steal the Light
My Familiar Stranger
Trolling for Trouble
Drip Drop Teardrop


*flora*'s favorite books »

Saturday 20 June 2015

Dark and Damaged - new box set

I've just added this box set to my wish list. It looks really good and I can't believe it's only 99p on Amazon UK!!

Here's the blurb:

Eight all-new, never-before-published hot paranormal romances by eight New York Times best selling authors. Tortured alpha-male bad boys will ignite your darkest, most secret desires in these stories about vampires, shifters, dragons, fallen angels, werewolves, demons, psychic warriors and ghosts.

THIS BOXED SET INCLUDES:
FELICITY HEATON – Her Sinful Angel (Her Angel Series)
JENNIFER ASHLEY – Lion Eyes (Shifters Unbound)
CARIS ROANE – Blood Flame (The Flame Series)
ERIN KELLISON – Tempted by Fire (Dragons of Bloodfire)
ERIN QUINN – The Resurrection of Sam Sloan (A Novella of the Beyond)
LAURIE LONDON – Rebel’s Desire (Iron Portal)
BONNIE VANAK – Redemption (Werewolves of Montana Mating Mini)
COLLEEN GLEASON – Raging Dawn (A Gardella Vampire Hunters Novella)

Thursday 18 June 2015

Rachel Patterson - Witch & Author: It's OK to have a melt down once in a while...

I found this post so down to earth and I'm sure it rings true for a lot of women (and men - let's not be sexist! lol!) going through a bit of a "pity me" moment myself but I'm going to allow myself to wallow in it tonight. 

Thank you Rachel. 

p.s. I'm glad that your son is better  - worrying time for any parent.







Rachel Patterson - Witch & Author: It's OK to have a melt down once in a while...: It seems to have been a very long few months for the Patterson household sometimes life just loves to chuck heap loads of 'stuff' ...

Saturday 13 June 2015

Flora Reviews... "Cupcakes, Trinkets and Other Deadly Magic (The Dowser #1) by Meghan Ciana Doidge

Read from 8th - 13th June, 2015 on my Kindle.

What a great book!! I really enjoyed it; witches, vampires, shape shifters and zombies - what more could a fan of Urban Fantasy wish for! ;-)
 
So what's the story about? The Official blurb says:
 
If you’d asked me a week ago, I would have told you that the best cupcakes were dark chocolate with chocolate cream cheese icing, that dancing in a crowd of magic wielders — the Adept — was better than sex, and that my life was peaceful and uneventful. Just the way I liked it. That’s what twenty-three years in the magical backwater of Vancouver will get you — a completely skewed sense of reality. Because when the dead werewolves started showing up, it all unravelled … except for the cupcake part. That’s a universal truth.
 
This story is written in the first person from the viewpoint of our main character, Jade, I found it well written and easy to follow. The balance of world building, character development and plot progression felt just right to me.  The journey of self discovery that our main character Jade experienced was exciting, scary, traumatic and at times also very funny even though the big bad in this story came as no surprise to me. A lot of loose ends were tied up to complete this tale but enough remains a mystery to allow for exploration in future books.
 
It was lovely to see Jade grow in confidence as this tale progressed and although this book is cliffhanger free (woo!hoo!) I became so involved in her story that I'm looking forward to reading the next book in this series "Trinkets, Treasures and Other Bloody Magic" to find out what Jade gets up to next!!
 
 

Friday 12 June 2015

Flora Reviews..... "The Library: Where Life Checks Out" By Carmen DeSousa

  Read from 7th to 8th June, 2015 on my Kindle

I really enjoyed this book - what a great story!

This is a modern day detective story with a nice splash of romance, mystery and a ghostly twist.

I liked the writing style; it was easy to read and the plot (although full of twist & turns) never felt muddled. The storyline & pace had a good balance of tension, humour and facts were revealed to us (the reader) as our main character, Detective Mark Waters, found them out. I was pleased that I couldn't work out "whodunit" as is the case in so many detective novels and enjoyed the unexpected twists!

All of the characters in this story were well thought out and written with depth and the complexities of human characteristics, no-one was just there to add to the numbers or be background scenery, they all had their own stories (some of which I'd like to see feature in other stories) which made them all totally believable and added a further depth to the whole book!

Back in October 2014 I gave 4 stars to the novella The Depot: When Life and Death Cross Tracks" by Carmen DeSousa which also features at the beginning of this book, the story of which takes place 6 months previously and stars our hero Detective Mark Waters. What a bargain - 2 books for the price of 1!!

I will be looking out for more from this author.