Question of the Week: Fantasy to Reality: Do you like to read steamy romance books where the story line circles around a hot sexy couple + 1 (or more)? Or is Ménage à trois one person too many for you?
Category Archives: Fantasy
Jennifer Reviews: Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloane
The synopsis:
A gleeful and exhilarating tale of global conspiracy, complex code-breaking, high-tech data visualization, young love, rollicking adventure, and the secret to eternal life—mostly set in a hole-in-the-wall San Francisco bookstore
The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon out of his life as a San Francisco Web-design drone—and serendipity, sheer curiosity, and the ability to climb a ladder like a monkey has landed him a new gig working the night shift at Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. But after just a few days on the job, Clay begins to realize that this store is even more curious than the name suggests. There are only a few customers, but they come in repeatedly and never seem to actually buy anything, instead “checking out” impossibly obscure volumes from strange corners of the store, all according to some elaborate, long-standing arrangement with the gnomic Mr. Penumbra. The store must be a front for something larger, Clay concludes, and soon he’s embarked on a complex analysis of the customers’ behavior and roped his friends into helping to figure out just what’s going on. But once they bring their findings to Mr. Penumbra, it turns out the secrets extend far outside the walls of the bookstore.
With irresistible brio and dazzling intelligence, Robin Sloan has crafted a literary adventure story for the twenty-first century, evoking both the fairy-tale charm of Haruki Murakami and the enthusiastic novel-of-ideas wizardry of Neal Stephenson or a young Umberto Eco, but with a unique and feisty sensibility that’s rare to the world of literary fiction. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore is exactly what it sounds like: an establishment you have to enter and will never want to leave, a modern-day cabinet of wonders ready to give a jolt of energy to every curious reader, no matter the time of day. Continue reading
Release Excerpt and Giveaway: IMPASSION (Mystic, #2), by B.C. Burgess
Today we’re participating in the release promotion of Impassion by B.C. Burgess with an excerpt and giveaway…
The synopsis:
According to the fairy tales Layla read as a child, she’d stepped into one, but her perfect world has a price, and she may end up paying with her life….
Following three years of loneliness, twenty-one-year-old Layla Callaway suddenly has the extended family she always wanted, a beautiful home in Clatsop County, Oregon, her own prince charming, and the ability to perform astonishing magic. All should be well as she gets acquainted with the powers she never knew she had and the coven she never knew she belonged to, but she continues to mourn the circumstances that got her there while struggling to adjust.
Thankfully Layla has her prince charming – Quin Kavanagh – a gorgeous member of her coven who goes out of his way to take care of her. His gentle hands lead her everywhere, including realms of pleasure previously unknown, so when she learns of his playboy past and a hurtful secret he’s been keeping, her shaky world threatens to crumble.
And it couldn’t happen at a worse time.
Danger grows nearer. Obsessed with Layla’s ethereal beauty and immense power, Agro eliminates leads on his way to Oregon. But there’s a stranger lurking much closer to Layla’s new home, and he’s closing in quicker than anyone knows.
Leaving a trail of tragedy in their wakes, both wizards crave what Layla has, and they’ll stop at nothing to get it.
And now the excerpt…
Wordless Wednesday…He’s HOT!
Someone mentioned a certain man the other day on twitter, one that I hadn’t thought about in a long time…I think he’s gorgeous and yummy.
Maybe some of you will as well…
Review: The Last Keeper by Michelle Birbeck
Fifteen hundred years ago, Serenity Cardea took the life of the only vampire she ever regretted killing—Henry, her sister’s husband. With her sister brutally murdered, Serenity had little choice but to grant Henry the only request he had: death. Centuries later, Serenity is no closer to discovering who betrayed them or instigated the massacre of her brothers and sisters.
The vampires want dominance—over their food, the other races . . . the world. To get it, they’ve systematically hunted down and slaughtered the only ones standing in their way. The Keepers.
As a Keeper, Serenity is tasked with protecting the delicate balance between the creatures of the world: Vampire, Witch, Were, and Human. Her kind exists to ensure that no single race sways the balance, dooming the world to destruction.
They’re on the brink of extinction, with no sign of return. Now only two remain, and Serenity’s last brother is facing death, leaving her standing alone against a never-ending tide of vampires, all wanting one thing: power.
Then she meets Ray Synclair, a history professor in training with a passion for centuries past, and the harsh reality of her limited time comes crashing down on her. He is her weakness. His mortality is the countdown on Serenity’s life, and with each passing second, it comes closer to the end, for both of them.
She must uncover the secrets of her people’s past and find out who betrayed them—and who is still doing so—before it’s too late.
Serenity’s days are numbered, and Ray will be drawn into a world of myth and legend, where just being alive is enough to get him hunted down.
Because the only way to kill a Keeper is to kill their partner . . .
Bloodfever by Karen Marie Moning
I used to think my sister and I were just two nice southern girls who’d get
married in a few years and settle down to a quiet life. Then I discovered
that Alina and I descend, not from good wholesome southern stock, but from an
ancient Celtic bloodline of powerful sidhe-seers, people who can see the Fae.
Not only can I see the terrifying otherworldly race, but I can sense the
sacred Fae relics that hold the deadliest of their magic.
When my sister was found dead in a trash-filled alley in Dublin, I came over
to get answers. Now all I want is revenge. And after everything I’ve learned
about myself, I know I have the power to get it….
MacKayla Lane’s ordinary life underwent a complete makeover when she landed
on Ireland’s shores and was plunged into a world of deadly sorcery and
ancient secrets.
In her fight to stay alive, Mac must find the Sinsar Dubh-a million-year-old
book of the blackest magic imaginable, which holds the key to power over both
the worlds of the Fae and of Man. Pursued by Fae assassins, surrounded by
mysterious figures she knows she cannot trust, Mac finds herself torn between
two deadly and irresistible men: V’lane, the insatiable Fae who can turn
sensual arousal into an obsession for any woman, and the ever-inscrutable
Jericho Barrons, a man as alluring as he is mysterious.
For centuries the shadowy realm of the Fae has coexisted with that of humans.
Now the walls between the two are coming down, and Mac is the only thing that
stands between them….
Bloodfever is the 2nd book in the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning.
My Book Boyfriend: Christian Grey
***Adult Content***
Christian Grey…Christian Grey…Christian Grey…OOPs…Hi there! You caught me daydreaming didn’t you?
The thing is with this fantasy boyfriend? I just see his name, or say it in my head and I lose all coherent thought. Logic and reason?!? Nope…gone…out the door. There are some characters that are written so well that they just own a piece of you. Christian Grey is one of those for me. I guess I’ve read well over a thousand books in my lifetime, yet my list of truly memorable literary men is actually pretty short considering that. O, I’m not saying that I don’t remember a lot of them, but the ones that keep me thinking of them? Continuously? Wanting just one more book? And then just one more? The ones I want for a fantasy boyfriend foreveh? Well it’s under 10 to be honest…and Christian Grey is mighty high on that list. In fact, he shares the top spot with one other, so yeah…I have mad love for him.
I first discovered Christian aka Fifty in August of 2011. I know, I know… I was late to the party on that one, but in a way I’m glad I was. Mostly becuz I was able to read the series without a whole lotta time in between the books coming out. I’m so impatient and greedy that way…greedy…hmmm…that’s an apt term for how I feel about Fifty. I admit it. I want him. I want all of him in all of his Fifty Fuckedupedness<-<- is that even a real word?!?…never mind, it doesn’t matter.
Let’s discuss Christian…something I could do all day long. First off his name. I flove his name. I love saying it in my head over and over. There’s just something about it that calls to me. I like men that have polysyllabic rather than monosylabic names. * Oooo… big words.* For some reason I just find them much more sensual and erotic sounding. I for one would never shorten his name to Chris…EGADS! Heaven forbid. I’ve noticed that when I love the names an author chooses I’m much more likely to respond positively to that character. Does that happen to you too?
Reading is SEXY: Batman
It’s good to see that super hero’s read too. And hey, I’m a Batman fan…the mask…the cape…the suit that clings juuussssttttt right 
