» K.C.

Smokinhotbooks Says No Time for Bloggy Must Finish City of Ghosts!!! (K-Khan)

K.C. — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 05:05:07 +0000

Smokinhotbooks *coughs Mrs.K * has no time for her bloggy because Stacia Kane’s City of Ghosts is so good that she just has to finish it tonight! Yes, I risked the threat of termination because COG is so good that I had to sneak in a few chapters in at work. My fingers couldn’t click fast enough on my kindle, and my 10 minute break was turning more into 20. But I couldn’t resist. Code name ‘Terrible Naughtytime Tunnels’, need I say more.

I’m sorry but that’s all the information I can give out at this point. My kindle says I am at 73% and I’m already feeling sad that I have less than half the book to go. This is by far the best book of the series yet and so much has happened I felt the need to ‘take a knee’, gather my team around me before we break and get back to the game.
So, sorry to cut and run but Chess just got her ass kicked by some bad juju magic, Terrible has just walked onto the scene with someone who ISN’T Chess and something’s up with those creepy Lamaru peeps. I’ve already decided that if I have to camp out with a flashlight under the covers so as to not disturb the hubster then so be it! I will NOT go to bed until I know how the story ends! I may be a walking zombie tomorrow but god dammit all, it will have been worth it! (Pumps fist in the air). I expect to hear how everyone is just as obsessed as I am. Any volunteers to be a Starbucks runner? I promise to take the 3:00 slump shift and bring back ices lattes for everyone. Whose with me?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What fab book are you reading?

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Eternal Kiss of Darkness by Jeaniene Frost – Mini Review & What I liked The Most(est)!

K.C. — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 05:05:21 +0000

Genre: Paranormal Romance

#2 Night Huntress World

Amazon $7.99

An immortal war has been brewing in the darkness…and now one woman has stumbled into the shadows.

Chicago private investigator Kira Graceling should have just kept on walking. But her sense of duty refused to let her ignore the moans of pain coming from inside a warehouse just before dawn. Suddenly she finds herself in a world she’s only imagined in her worst nightmares.

At the center is Mencheres, a breathtaking Master Vampire who thought he’d seen it all. Then Kira appears—this fearless, beautiful…human who braved death to rescue him. Though he burns for her, keeping Kira in his world means risking her life, yet sending her away is unthinkable.

But with danger closing in, Mencheres must choose between the woman he craves, or embracing the darkest magic to defeat an enemy bent on his eternal destruction

I admit, I was on the fence about reading Eternal Kiss of Darkness. Not that I didn’t enjoy First Drop of Crimson, but when an author gives you such memorable characters such as Bones and Cat, it becomes a bit hard to live up to that standard. EKOD starts off with Mencheres who is Bones’s mentor/Godfather/Grandfather in the vampire realm. Enter Kira who happens upon Mencheres being beaten by ghouls – thinking he was merely human she gets herself almost killed by saving him. Bu-u-ut he has no way of erasing her memories so she is forced to stay with him for one week until his blood wears off.

What I liked the Mostest

I think what I liked most about EKOD is Kira’s character. She is independent, loyal, and gets the crap beat out of her trying to keep Mencheres secret. My kinda gal.

Oh My Gah. The ceiling sexy time!!! The author always manages to ‘bring it’ with the vampire love scenes. I’ve been a fan of hers since Night Huntresses series infamous Chapter 32. Although Mencheres has been celibate for thousands of years, he can’t seem to resist the charming Kira. Even after he lets her ago he follows her to make sure she is safe. Yes, he is just that adorable. He also helps out with her sister’s illness and looks at Kira like a man who hasn’t had water in 3 days. The tension between these two characters simply sizzles off the pages. I kid you not.

My Itty Bitty Niggle

If there was one itty bitty teeny tiny thing that niggled me was I didn’t feel we really got to know Mencheres. Although we get glimpses of his past, after reading The End, his character remains somewhat of a mystery.

Bottom Line if you are sitting on the fence on this one, hop off, shake your tail feather (sorry I’m listening to Hits 90 on Sirus) and get thee to a bookstore. Yes, we all know this isn’t going to be what I dub Cat and Bones books, but EKOD still brings it! Eternal Kiss of Darkness is a solid read filled with tension, loyalty, sensual vampire bites and sexy time on the ceiling!

Other Reviews:

Smexybooks 4/5

Wicket Lil Pixie 4/5

Katiebabs 3/5 (Goodreads)

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Smokinhotbooks Lies Her A** OFF

K.C. — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 03:53:55 +0000

I confess that on Tuesday, the 20th of July I told a lie.

Its always best to start these things at the beginning…

Earlier this week I had a morning date with my new BFF, Mr. Pest Control Guy. Mr. Pest for short. As I was entering the kitchen I stopped suddenly, like a deer in the headlights. Staring right back at me was the corpse of a Small. Dead. Mouse. And that bastard was blocking my pathway to my coffee machine! The agony of it all.

So, what do I do? I start off by slowing backing away. Maintaining eye contact is important because you never know when these f*ckers might suddenly be possessed by the holy spirit and come back to life. I reach for my trusty iphone. Yes, it’s attached to my hip – my IT guy and I could practically be twins. So I snap a quick pic. Just in case I need to bring in the big guns and emotionally blackmail my hubs into forking over the dough to pay for Mr. Pest Control Guy. Mr. Smokin’ needed to experience the same morning as I had and what better way to reenact that scene with multimedia.

Enter Mr. Pest.

Me: “Hi, well today’s your lucky day I found a dead one lying on my kitchen floor.”

Mr.Pest: “Oh, did we set a trap?”

Me: “Nope, it just died.”

Mr.Pest tilts his head questioningly.

Me: (Channeling Vanna White, I spread my arms and said):”There it is!’

Mr.Pest: “Did you use poison? Mice just don’t die like that on kitchen floors.”

Me: I stared straight at his Mr. T gold necklace and said: “It must have just died of old age.” (thank goodness I had throw away all the rat poison packaging materials).

Mr.Pest gives me WTF look. Guess my blonde hair said it all.

Let me defend myself for a moment and say I haven’t out right lied like that since I was 14 and ripped up my Mother’s 8 page chore list she left my sisters and I, while she was away. I later confessed last year at Christmas, but at the time, I looked straight over her left shoulder and lied my ass off. Why? Because I JUST DIDN’T WANT TO DO IT. K-Khan has yet to forgive me for our Mother grounding us an entire week.

I’m still pondering why I felt cornered. What posessed me to tell a fib? And to the Orkin man at that. Perhaps it was lack of caffeine, too many white lies to K-Khan on how that new persimmon cardigan from the Limited was fab. (Really, you need another sweater set?), or lack of common sense. (K-Khan: :Gasps: How dare you! Cardigans are the staple of the fashion world!). Nevertheless, the sin has been committed. I lied to the Orkin man about using poison so that he would take care of my little rodent problem and maybe get my association to quit being such a tight a** and actually take care of things. Like, oh, I don’t know, the fricken population of mice that are breeding light makin’ love is soon to go out of style.

Perhaps I’ll never quite figure out what makes me spout off the little white ones. Verbal diarrhea? Fear of not getting what I want? Fear of living amongst the same population of rodents that helped facilitate the travel of the Black Plague? I could psychoanalyze all day. Or, I could pat myself on the back and realize, hey, at least Mr. Smokin’ let me call the Orkin man. Now I don’t have to live in abject, musophobic terror that one of these disease carriers is going to crawl into bed with me.

Be honest what was the last fib you told?

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They’re Mine…All Mine!!!!! New Releases You Have to Have

K.C. — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 04:24:26 +0000

It’s me again *pinky wave* and I’ve been foaming at the mouth for these up coming releases. So, have we all planned personal days for July 27^th, August 2, August 24, August 31^st ?

City of Ghosts by Stacia Kane

#3 in Downside of Ghosts

Releases 7/27/10

Amazon

I’m crazy for coco puffs about this series. Facts are Truth!!!

IT’S A THIN LINE BETWEEN ALIVE AND UNDEAD.

Chess Putnam has a lot on her plate. Mangled human corpses have started to show up on the streets of Downside, and Chess’s bosses at the Church of Real Truth have ordered her to team up with the ultra-powerful Black Squad agency to crack the grisly case.

Chess is under a binding spell that threatens death if she talks about the investigation, but the city’s most notorious crime boss—and Chess’s drug dealer—gets wind of her new assignment and insists on being kept informed. If that isn’t bad enough, a sinister street vendor appears to have information Chess needs. Only he’s not telling what he knows, or what it all has to do with the vast underground City of Eternity.

Now Chess will have to navigate killer wraiths, First Elders, and a lot of seriously nasty magic—all while coping with some not-so-small issues of her own. And the only man Chess can trust to help her through it all has every reason to want her dead.

Eternal Kiss of Darkness by Jeaniene Frost

#2 Night Huntress World

Releases 7/27/10

Amazon

I was a lucky SOB and received a copy to review, if you were part of the disappointed crowd after reading First Drop of Crimson, Eternal Kiss of Darkness is a much better read.

An immortal war has been brewing in the darkness…and now one woman has stumbled into the shadows.

Chicago private investigator Kira Graceling should have just kept on walking. But her sense of duty refused to let her ignore the moans of pain coming from inside a warehouse just before dawn. Suddenly she finds herself in a world she’s only imagined in her worst nightmares.

At the center is Mencheres, a breathtaking Master Vampire who thought he’d seen it all. Then Kira appears—this fearless, beautiful…human who braved death to rescue him. Though he burns for her, keeping Kira in his world means risking her life, yet sending her away is unthinkable.

But with danger closing in, Mencheres must choose between the woman he craves, or embracing the darkest magic to defeat an enemy bent on his eternal destruction

Fair Game by Josh Layon

Genre M/M

Publisher Carina Press

Releases: 8/2/10

Kindle $3.99

I about keeled over when I saw this jewl on Netgalley for review, 5 seconds later I had this one in my hot little hands. All I can say Josh Lanyon is bringing sexy back with this one and I approve ::salutes::

A crippling knee injury forced Elliot Mills to trade in his FBI badge for dusty chalkboards and bored college students. Now a history professor at Puget Sound university, the former agent has put his old life behind him-but it seems his old life isn’t finished with him.

A young man has gone missing from campus-and as a favor to a family friend, Elliot agrees to do a little sniffing around. His investigations bring him face-to-face with his former lover, Tucker Lance, the special agent handling the case.

Things ended badly with Tucker, and neither man is ready to back down on the fight that drove them apart. But they have to figure out a way to move beyond their past and work together as more men go missing and Elliot becomes the target in a killer’s obsessive game

Sin Undone by Larissa Ione

#5 in Demonica Series

Releases: 8/24/10

Amazon

You bet your sweet arse I’ll be buying this one.

As the only female Seminus demon ever born, master assassin Sinead Donnelly is used to being treated like an outcast. She spent decades enslaved, and now vows she’ll die before she’ll relinquish her freedom again. Then Sin’s innate ability to kill her enemies goes awry: She creates a lethal new werewolf virus that sparks a firestorm of panic and violence.

HIS HUNGER CAN’T BE DENIED

Half-werewolf, half-vampire Conall Dearghul is charged with bringing in Sin to face punishment for the plague. And she’s no stranger: He’s bound to her by blood, and the one sexual encounter they shared has left him hungering for her raw sensuality. Worse, Sin is the underworld’s most wanted and Con soon learns he’s the only one who can help her . . . and that saving her life might mean sacrificing his own.

Demon from the Dark by Kresley Cole

#10 Immortals After Dark

Releases: 8/31/10

Amazon

I am beyond excited about Carrows story. I’ve been waiting for her book since Wicked Deeds on a Winter’s Night where she was jailed for public indecency.

Malkom Slaine: tormented by his sordid past and racked by vampiric hungers, he’s pushed to the brink by the green-eyed beauty under his guard.

A maddening witch he aches to claim…

Carrow Graie: hiding her own sorrows, she lives only for the next party or prank. Until she meets a tortured warrior worth saving.

Trapped together in a savage prison…

For them to survive, Malkom must unleash both the demon and vampire inside him. When he becomes the nightmare his own people feared, will he lose the woman he craves body and soul?

Which one will you call your precious?

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Smokinhotbooks Gets Addicted to Downside Ghosts

K.C. — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 05:11:28 +0000

Book # 1 Unholy Ghosts Amazon

Book #2 Unholy Magic Amazon

Genre: Urban Fantasy

It’s not often that you will find me reading a book about a drug- addicted heroine who makes more terrible choices than Lindsey Lohan on a four day coke bender; but at the urging of my blogger friends I decided to stop being such a square and see what all the hoopla was about. As the rehab therapists would say, I had to “trust the process’.

Stacia Kane’s Downside Ghost series is dark, thrilling and gut wrenching. Chess Putnam works as the ‘Churchwich’ for a new order Church that indoctrinates the motto “Facts Are Truth”. They employ debunkers who use magic to rid the world of murderous ghosts. The world is in a post-genocide era, where the dead have risen and attack the living. The government has fallen, and the Church of Truth is now in power …

At first, I was worried that I would have a hard time connecting with Chess. Writing your main heroine as a drug addict whose life is spiraling dangerously out of control is an intricate balance. To create a sort of alternative, anti-hero who still has some redeeming qualities that allow her to appear vulnerable without playing the “Im a victim card” is the make of a truly talented writer. And that is the genius of Kane’s writing. She really makes the reader understand the depth of Chess ability to survive a life that most would turned in the keys and signed off. Abandoned and placed in foster care, her life is filled with one violation of trust after another. You truly understand that to forget the pain of the past, to live a somewhat ‘normal’ life you need something to numb the past. You don’t battle the demons without a few toxic coping mechanisms.

I was so taken with how vibrant and alive Kane has made her characters. Her dark, urban setting was fascinating rather than graphic and I have fallen head over heels with Terrible. (The body-guard/bouncer for Chess drug-dealer of choice, Bump). The intensity of Chess and Terrible’s budding friendship shows that even the most hardened shell can be cracked with just a little kindness, a little compassion. Although, their relationship is tenuous at best, you can’t help but be captivated and root for them.

Unholy Ghosts and Unholy Magic are two of the best books I’ve read of 2010 and 2009. I’m not going to lie, the second book will tear your heart out, you may even find yourself emotionally ‘stress eating’ but so worth it. I promise! This series has grit, angst, violence, and pulls you in with each page – if you haven’t read this series, get thee to a bookstore post haste!

Other Reviews:

Fiction Vixen 5/5 Unholy Magic and Unholy Ghosts

Smexybooks Unholy Magic 5/5

Wicked Lil Pixie 5/5

Kindlelicious 10/10

PS. “Facts are Truths”, my friends

PPS City of Ghosts #3 is coming out next Tuesday (July 27^th) I’m white knuckling until next week…

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