BURNING WILD is here!!!!

I usually don't promote book releases - but this one is special!!

I don't know if any of you know this - but Christine Feehan is one of my all time favorite authors. I love her Dark series about the Carpathians, then there is the Drake Sisters, and her Ghost Walker series (which I really need to catch up on). She also has a series that I don't know if many know about, and that is her Leopard series. There are two books to this series - a short novella The Awakening and a full length Wild Rain.

Well, after waiting what seemed like an eternity - the third book is finally here - Burning Wild. And what an awesome, beautiful cover. I am so excited - I just got my message from Fictionwise that my eBook is available for download (I preordered it), and I can't wait to get started on it.

Here is a brief synopsis:

Born into a world of twisted monsters, Jake Bannaconni is shaped and molded into a cold, revenge driven man. Honed in the fires of hell, he controls his world and rules with an iron hand. He has everything and anything money can buy. He’s ruthless, merciless and considered a man to leave alone. His hidden legacy, that of a shapeshifter, makes him doubly dangerous in the corporate world.

Emma Reynolds is a woman who knows how to love and love well. When their two worlds collide, Jake’s plans for a complete take over, may just come tumbling down. (this was copied from Christine Feehan's website).

It has been receiving 5 star reviews - like I said, I can't wait to get wrapped up in this one.



Well, there's my first new release book promo.

BURNING WILD is here!!!!

http://worldaccordingtobooks.blogspot.com/2009/04/burning-wild-is-here.html

Harlequins

I have been in a reading slump lately and haven't been able to concentrate on any one book. So, I unfortunately have several started - but haven't the desire to finish them. I have only read 5 books for the month of April - quite a reduction in what I read the first three months of the year.

Then I decided that maybe a couple quick and easy reads might get me in the mood again. When that desire comes upon me - I turn to my Harlequins. They are fun reads that I usually can read in one day. It is really hard to review them though, because they are so short. On a good note, these two Harlequins I picked up were free eBooks. Harlequin is celebrating their 60th anniversary and are giving away 16 free eBooks - you can download them here.

The first book I picked up was Once a Cowboy by Linda Warren. This book had a spin on it that I haven't read before. Brodie Hayes is a former rodeo star turned rancher. After private investigator, Alex Donovan, turns his life upside down with shocking news surrounding his birth, he begins to question his identity.

I really enjoyed this story. Brodie is the typical cowboy, and Alex is a sensitive, kind-hearted woman who tries to help Brodie find out about his past. The interaction between Alex and Brodie pulls at the heart strings. The secondary storyline encompasses Alex's family (her father and grandmother) and adds a witty comedic element to the book. The only negative that I can find with this book is that I didn't know it was part of a trilogy. It is the third book, so it gave away details of the other two books. I am one of those anal people that has to read books in order - LOL.

Rating: 2.75/5
Pages: 256
Completed: 4/21/09

The other book I chose was Dancing in the Moonlight by Raeanne Thayne. This is a touching story about a woman who has returned home from the war with a life altering injury. Her first night there, she meets up with Dr. Jake Dalton - her enemy. However, as he tries to get closer to her, she fears her carefully constructed walls around her heart will start to crumble.

This book touches on the emotions and struggles of putting your life back on course after an injury and the tragedies of war. Misunderstandings are the root of the problems between Jake and Maggie. The secondary storyline involving Maggie's mother was somewhat predictable, but I enjoyed it anyway.

Rating: 2.75/5
Pages: 256
Completed: 4/22/09

Harlequins

http://worldaccordingtobooks.blogspot.com/2009/04/harlequins.html

You Don't Say...

Desert Rose at Desert Rose Booklogue as gifted me this Super Comments Award. What an honor!! I thank you so much for your kindness and thoughtfulness.

Here is what the award means:

"We give and get awards for having a great blog and being a good friend. What I want to award is those people whose comments have meant THE WORLD to me. It takes time to visit a blog and leave a comment ... I wanted to recognize some special bloggers whose comments have made such an impact on me. The “You Don’t Say?” Award is awarded to these special bloggers in hopes that they will pass the award along to 5-10 of their best commenters!"

I think that all my commenters are the best - and yes, your comments have meant the world to me. Without all you wonderful followers - I would be talking to myself!! LOL. No, seriously, I do treasure all my followers and commenters - I consider you my friends.

Soooo, this award is for you - if you have commented on my blog or follow my blog - please take this award and consider yourself nominated!!! From the bottom of my heart - you all deserve it and so much more.

You Don't Say...

http://worldaccordingtobooks.blogspot.com/2009/04/you-dont-say.html

Booking Through Thursday - Windfall

Yesterday, April 15th, was Tax Day here in the U.S., which means lots of lucky people will get refunds of over-paid taxes.

Whether you’re one of them or not, what would you spend an unexpected windfall on? Say … $50? How about $500?

(And, this is a reading meme, so by rights the answer should be book-related, but hey, feel free to go wild and splurge on anything you like.)

I would definitely spend the $50 dollars on books. My wish list in Excel is a mile long, and I have some of them on my Amazon wish list. I probably would spend it a Fictionwise though, because I love my eBooks.

The $500? I think I am going to take a suggestion by Desert Rose Booklogue - and purchase a Netbook or a Kindle. I haven't researched Netbooks, but I think it would be a great way to take all my books with me and be able to blog wherever I was. A Kindle limits me to the types of books I can read. When I first started buying eBooks I bought them in all different formats and some of them don't work on the Kindle. So, maybe a Netbook would be the best way to go. Plus, I think I could keep my Excel spreadsheet of all my books on it too.

What would you do with your extra money?

To read other responses to Booking Through Thursday - go here.

Booking Through Thursday - Windfall

http://worldaccordingtobooks.blogspot.com/2009/04/booking-through-thursday-windfall.html

Passing Through Paradise - Susan Wiggs

Title: Passing Through Paradise
Author: Susan Wiggs
Publisher: Hachette
Published: 2002
Pages: 419
Genre: Romance

I love Susan Wiggs' writing. She goes into so much emotional depth that you feel you know the characters personally, and they have you cheering them on through the entire book. Passing Through Paradise is packed full of mystery, romance, and messages of rebirth, the devastation of divorce, impact of keeping secrets, and being true to yourself. It is not only a book about restoring a house, but about restoring your life after tragedy has struck - in this case death and divorce.

Sandra was married to a very dynamic, political figure, loved by everyone. His death has been ruled an accident, yet the town believes Sandra to be a murderer. She has been hiding out for the past year in her childhood vacation home. Once the coroner ruled the death an accident, she decides it is time to leave town. Wanting to restore the home to its original luster and sell it, she hires Mike Malloy to do the restoration.

Mike has issues of his own. He recently divorced his wife because of her infidelity and is currently fighting the court system for visitation rights with his children. Losing his wife, his restoration company, and access to his kids - Mike is trying to rebuild his life. He accepts the job that Sandra offers knowing he will be working for the Black Widow. What he doesnt' expect is to fall under her spell and fall in love with the wife of his childhood friend.

This is so much more than a romance - it delves into the complexities of the effects of divorce on children both young and old, the emotional bondage of being wrongly accused of a crime, and learning to live and love again. The only small complaint I have is that the book seems to focus on the relationship Sandra had with her husband. I would have liked to have read more about the relationship between Mike and Sandra. However, the romance between those two was moving and a rollar coaster ride of emotions. Both of them having to learn to trust again - and how far do you go in revealing the past and sharing secrets that belong to someone else.

I was another good book by Susan Wiggs and it just goes to show you what a talented writer she really is - I will definitely be picking up another book of hers - maybe one of her historicals.



Rating: 3.5/5
Pages: 419
Completed: 4/7/09

Passing Through Paradise - Susan Wiggs

http://worldaccordingtobooks.blogspot.com/2009/04/passing-through-paradise-susan-wiggs.html

Montana Creeds: Logan - Linda Lael Miller

Title: Montana Creeds: Logan
Author: Linda Lael Miller
Publisher: HQN
Published: 2009
Pages: 374
Genre: Romance

I really hate to admit this but...Linda Lael Miller is a new author to me. I know all you romance readers out there are gasping at this, but I really haven't picked up one of her books before. But after reading one of her new releases of 2009 - I am going to be perusing her backlist and grab some of her other books. Montana Creeds: Logan was a great read. Linda Lael Miller's trilogy encompasses three estranged brothers who come home to find family and love. Logan is the first of the brothers to return home.

Briana is a divorced mom of two boys. After being deserted at Walmart by her husband, Briana has made a life for herself and family in Stillwater Springs, Montana. She lives in Dylan Creed's house on the Creed's dilapidated ranch.

Logan comes home after years of wandering following his father's death. With his dusty law degree, and a company he sold for millions, he has returned home to put down roots, maybe start a family, and to restore his family's neglected ranch.

Logan and Briana meet, sparks fly, and then it happens...the ex comes back on the scene, and someone starts vandalizing Briana's house. "Logan shows Briana...and the folks of Big Sky country...just what he is made of."

I really liked the kids in this book. They weren't your typical "romance book" kids where everyone is perfectly behaved. No, these kids disobeyed their mother several times, called each other names, grumbled when they were punished, and had fights like normal everyday children.

Logan is a typical cowboy. Alpha male all the way!! He takes to Briana's kids and shows them how a real man acts and treats a woman. Briana is a typical struggling mom - the one thing I didn't really like was how easily she gave in to her ex-husband when he returned to "bond" with his children - she was a little too trusting of a man that had left her standing in a Walmart parking lot with absolutely nothing. And as you read in the book - that trust backfires on her (but I won't say how).

All in all it was a great story, and I can't wait to read about the other two Creed men.

Rating 3.75/5
Pages: 374
Completed: 4/1/09

Montana Creeds: Logan - Linda Lael Miller

http://worldaccordingtobooks.blogspot.com/2009/04/montana-creed-logan-linda-lael-miller.html

Simple Wishes - Lisa Dale

Title: Simple Wishes
Author: Lisa Dale
Publisher: Hachette - Forever
Published: 2009
Pages: 365
Genre: Romance/Women's Fiction

Simple Wishes is Lisa Dale's debut novel and does she start off with a winner! The characters in this book are down to earth and real - they each have their own flaws and are so "human" that the seem to jump off the pages and intertwine themselves into your life. Even though I listed this as a romance, it is so much more. It is not your typical hero meets heroine, they fall in love, and live happily ever after book. Adele has so many issues that revolve around her mother she can't see the tree for the forest. Jay has his own hang-ups that makes it tough for him to share himself with others. As a matter of fact, the town's people call him Hermit Jay. Beatrice, who befriends Adele, has secrets of her own too.

Lisa Dale weaves these people's lives together in such a way that makes their relationships believable. Their relationships flow through heartaches, misunderstandings, anger, grieving, and forgiveness. The book deals with the legacy we receive from our parents, differences in culture, and conflicts between mothers and daughters.

Adele moved from her small town to the bright lights of New York hoping to create a new life for herself. However, after one terrible mistake, Adele is running again - back to the cottage of her childhood. There she befriends a Korean woman, Beatrice, who Adele believes is hiding information about her dead mother. As she investigates, "secrets from her mother's past threaten to send her fleeing back to the city."

Jay is an artist and a woodworker. He has secrets of his own. As Adele and Jay grow closer together - they both realize that the values their parents instilled in them might need to be reexamined. The closer Adele gets to uncovering the truth about her childhood, the more her instincts tell her to run. "Can Jay convince her to stay with him?"

Another subplot of Simple Wishes is the story of Kayleigh, a young teenager who Adele befriends. We get to experience her journey through the reality of peer pressure, sexuality, and becoming who you were meant to be not what others want you to be.

The story kept me turning the pages, and I soon realized that I was through the book in one sitting. I just couldn't put it down. I wanted to see what would happen next with Adele, and if she could come to terms with how her mother treated her. I wanted to know if Jay would ever open up and share his story. Would Kayleigh realize the wonderful girl she is before it is too late? It is an emotional journey you won't want to miss.

A couple of my favorite quotes are:

"Beginnings happen in moments...not hours, not days, not months."

"There was something deficient in her personality that kept her from remaining close to people for substantial periods of time. She didn't know what the deficiency was, but over the years, it had become easier to accept it and submit to it rather than to try and figure out what it was."

Rating: 4/5
Pages: 365
Completed: 4/1/09

Simple Wishes - Lisa Dale

http://worldaccordingtobooks.blogspot.com/2009/04/simple-wishes-lisa-dale.html

Booking Through Thursday - Libraries

Booking Through Thursday is weekly event hosted by Deb.

National Library week is coming up in April, and that led to some questions. How often do you use your public library and how do you use it? Has the coffeehouse/bookstore replaced the library? Did you go to the library as a child? Do you have any particular memories of the library? Do you like sleek, modern, active libraries or the older, darker, quiet, cozy libraries?

I use my public library weekly. I love to go to the library and browse their New Fiction section and the racks of paperbacks. I usually go twice a week - once by myself and once with the kids (can't browse the way I want to when the kids are with me - LOL). They are allowed to choose 2 -3 books and 1-2 movies (or five books if no movies). It's fun to watch them rush to the shelves to see what new books they have. The librarian knows us well, so she will have a book or two saved for me if she sees one that she knows I will enjoy.

Most of the time I go online and order books through their website. We have a small library in our community (the main library is downtown) so not all books are available. However, ordering only takes a few days to come in (unless the book is on hold).

I loved to go to the library as a child. I always joined the summer reading program and would read the entire summer away. I knew which sections held my favorite genres and authors like the back of my hand. My parents never balked about taking me there - although I am sure they got tired of it a time or two - LOL. When I was old enough, I would take the bus (it would stop right in front of the library). I never enjoyed school libraries as much as our main library in town.

I enjoy quiet, cozy libraries. I grew up where you whispered softly in a library. Now, they are noisy with kids running around, people tutoring, chatting loudly, sometimes it is really annoying. I am always telling my kids to whisper and mothers look at me really wierd. I was able to study at the library when I was younger. I tried that a few months ago with a college class I had, and it was so noisy that I couldn't even read my textbook. How I miss the old days.

We use the computers at the libaray. Usually if I find an author in the stacks that I haven't read before, I'll look them up online to see if the book is part of a series or not. I am one of those people that have to read a series in order. My kids will sometimes play the games on the computers, but usually they are crowded and already taken. The other fantastic thing about our library is the Friends of the Library book sales. They host a quite a number of them through the year at the local libraries, and then there is a big sale downtown at the main branch for five days during the summer. That one you can buy a bag for $4 and fill it to the brim with as many books as it will hold.

So yes, I am a huge fan of libraries and hope to instill that love in my kids.

If you want to read other response to this question - take a look here.

Booking Through Thursday - Libraries

http://worldaccordingtobooks.blogspot.com/2009/04/booking-through-thursday-libraries.html