Saturday, April 28, 2012

In My Mailbox #08

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren

Bought:


  • The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie (Highland Pleasures #1) by Jennifer Ashley @Goodreads (Read my review HERE)
  • Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage (Highland Pleasures #2) by Jennifer Ashley  @Goodreads
  • The Many Sins of Lord Cameron (Highland Pleasures #3) by Jennifer Ashley @Goodreads
  • The Duke's Perfect Wife (Highland Pleasures #4) by Jennifer Ashley @Goodreads

For Review From Author:


  • Someone Else's Fairytale by Emily Mah Tippetts @Goodreads (I'm really excited to start this. Love the unique cover!!)

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Book Review: The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie (Highland Pleasures #1) by Jennifer Ashley

The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie (Highland Pleasures #1) 
By Jennifer Ashley
Release Date: August 2nd, 2011
Number of Pages: 305
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥


Blurbs from Goodreads:
The year is 1881. Meet the Mackenzie family--rich, powerful, dangerous, eccentric. A lady couldn't be seen with them without ruin. Rumors surround them--of tragic violence, of their mistresses, of their dark appetites, of scandals that set England and Scotland abuzz.

The youngest brother, Ian, known as the Mad Mackenzie, spent most of his young life in an asylum, and everyone agrees he is decidedly odd. He's also hard and handsome and has a penchant for Ming pottery and beautiful women.

Beth Ackerley, widow, has recently come into a fortune. She has decided that she wants no more drama in her life. She was raised in drama--an alcoholic father who drove them into the workhouse, a frail mother she had to nurse until her death, a fussy old lady she became constant companion to. No, she wants to take her money and find peace, to travel, to learn art, to sit back and fondly remember her brief but happy marriage to her late husband.

And then Ian Mackenzie decides he wants her.

My Review:
"I wouldn't expect love from you. I can't love you back.....Not won't. I can't love you......I am incapable of love. I will not offer it to you." - Ian Mackenzie

I totally enjoyed reading The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie. This was not the typical romance I thought it was because instead, it had murder cases in the mix. Awesome.

 Lord Ian was unintentionally funny and such a dear. Ian Mackenzie was a veryyy brilliant man ever since he was young and the reason he was declared insane and admitted into an asylum to be "treated" was simply horrible. He was a very interesting character indeed and I was rooting and cheering for him all the way.

I really like Beth. I adore headstrong, brave and stubborn heroines who don't just sit there and obey everything they're told. That's what Beth was. She was a spunky and fiery-ass heroine and I LOVE her for it. I enjoyed her friendliness and interactions with her companion Katie, Lady Isabella, sweet Daniel and the rest of the Mackenzies.

Detective Inspector Fellows was an effective and totally annoying "villain". He was like a dog with a death grip who won't let loose no matter how you're shaking him - until Beth appeared and exposed his darkest and deepest secret. It was rather surprising as I didn't expected that twist. I knew he must have had personal grudges against the Mackenzies for how he was so tenaciously wanting to destroy them, but I totally didn't see that.

The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie isn't your typical romance read. It is served in a silver platter full of firecrackers.

Now, I can't wait to delve into Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Book Review: Wildest Dreams (Fantasyland #1) by Kristen Ashley


Wildest Dreams (Fantasyland #1)
By Kristen Ashley
Release Date: August 16th, 2011
Number of Pages: Unknown
Format: ebook
Source: Bought
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ 1/2


Blurbs from Goodreads:

Seoafin "Finnie" Wilde was taught by her parents that life was meant to be lived, every breath was a treasure and to seek every adventure she could find. And she learns this lesson the hard way when they perish in a plane crash when she's fifteen. But she never forgets and when she discovers there is a parallel universe where every person has a twin, she finds a witch who can send her there so she can see her parents again and have the adventure of a lifetime.

But nearly upon arrival in the Winter Wonderland of Lunwyn, she realizes she's been played by her twin of the alternate universe and shortly finds herself walking down the aisle to be wed to The Drakkar.

Instantly thrown into inauspicious circumstances, with years of practice (she did, of course, survive that elephant stampede, if she could do that, she can do anything), Finnie bests the challenges and digs into her adventure. But as Frey Drakkar discovers the woman who is his new wife is not Princess Sjofn, a woman he dislikes (intensely) but instead, his Finnie, a free-spirit with a thirst for venture just like him (not to mention she is his destiny), without her knowledge he orders his new bride bound to his frozen world, everlasting.

My Review:

It wasn't as good as The Golden Dynasty but nevertheless, it was still enjoyable to a certain extent.

The heroine in this one didn't leave a deep impression on me as she had a penchant for crying whenever she got emotional. This, I didn't adore. I really wished she had more kickassness in her. She was missing the fieriness and spirit that I loved reading about in Circe.

The hero was "actively working on siring an heir". Frey is an alright hero but he definitely loses to Lahn. So, yeahhhhhh.......

Overall, it didn't really excite me like I hope it would but it was still a good read.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

In My Mailbox #07 ~Ebooks Edition~

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren 

This is an Ebooks Edition IMM because I happened to receive only ebooks this week. Haha.

Bought:


  • Wildest Dreams (Fantasyland #1) by Kristen Ashley @Goodreads
  • The Golden Dynasty (Fantasyland #2) by Kristen Ashley @Goodreads (Read my review of it here)
  • Fantastical (Fantasyland #3) by Kristen Ashley @Goodreads

For Review From Author:



Freebies I Received:


  • Mates: True and Eternal (Mark of the Vampire 2.51) by Laura Wright @Goodreads
  • Eternal Blood (Mark of the Vampire 2.52) by Laura Wright @Goodreads
That's all I have for this week. Do share with me your IMM of the week in your comments below.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Book Review: The Golden Dynasty (Fantasyland #2) by Kristen Ashley

The Golden Dynasty (Fantasyland #2)
By Kristen Ashley
Release Date: August 22nd, 2011
Number of Pages: Unknown
Format: ebook
Source: Bought
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 


Blurb from Goodreads:
Circe Quinn goes to sleep at home and wakes up in a corral filled with women wearing sacrificial virgin attire - and she is one of them. She soon finds out that she’s not having a wild dream, she’s living a frightening nightmare where she’s been transported to a barren land populated by a primitive people and in short order, she’s installed very unwillingly on her white throne of horns as their Queen.

Dax Lahn is the king of Suh Tunak, The Horde of the nation of Korwahk and with one look at Circe, he knows she will be his bride and together they will start The Golden Dynasty of legend.

Circe and Lahn are separated by language, culture and the small fact she’s from a parallel universe and has no idea how she got there or how to get home. But facing challenge after challenge, Circe finds her footing as Queen of the brutal Korwahk Horde and wife to its King, then she makes friends then she finds herself falling in love with this primitive land, its people and especially their savage leader.

My Review:
Dear Kristen,
WOW. I don't know what to say. I've been skeptical of self published authors for certain reasons but you certainly came charging and f-ing blew my brains and reasons out the window. I don't care about the sentence structure, vocabs, grammar or punctuation stuff or even the "get an editor" crap reviewers like to comment concerning self publish authors.

This is because I was so taken in and fell immediately in love with your beautiful and gorgeous writing where the characters come to life and are so real. You are truly a gem.

Yes, the content is brutal but it is a fact of life and a culture. It happens in history and you just gotta deal. But Circe and Lahn were so sweet. I could practically melt from all the sweetness pouring out of the savage brute, Lahn.

I even came to love and care deeply about the secondary characters like Diandra, Zahnin, Sabine and so many others - even Circe's girls. It was a brutal, cruel, slap-in-the-face world but oh, so alive and sweet.

The Golden Dynasty deeply affected and excited me to the very core and I thank you for sharing this exhilarating tale with us readers.

Yeah, you got it. I am a fan of Khal Drogo and Khaleesi from GoT. They rock!

I'm on to Wildest Dreams.

P/S: Dhes, I will always be eternally grateful for your wonderful review and pimping. You're the woman!

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Liebster Blog Award

Liebster is a German word for beloved. So the Liebster Blog Award literally means Beloved Blog Award! The award is given to bloggers with under 200 followers. These blogs are "the best kept secrets" out there!

I'm way overdue but I still want to very much thank Julia of Juliababyjen's Reading Room for presenting me with this award. I know I'm not one of those active book bloggers and I do apologize. To Julia, I'm really sorry for this overdue thanks. Sorry babe >.<

Anyway, enough of me blabbing. Here are the rules to participate:
  • Thank the person which nominated you in a blog post.
  • Nominate up to five other blogs.
  • Let them know via comment on their blog.
  • Post the award on your blog.
Here are five selected blogs that I've chosen to give the award to:

Monday, April 16, 2012

Book Review: Darkfever (Fever, #1) by Karen Marie Moning

Darkfever (Fever, #1)
By Karen Marie Moning
Release Date: October 1st, 2006
Number of Pages: 384
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 


Blurbs from Goodreads:
MacKayla Lane’s life is good. She has great friends, a decent job, and a car that breaks down only every other week or so. In other words, she’s your perfectly ordinary twenty-first-century woman.

Or so she thinks…until something extraordinary happens.

When her sister is murdered, leaving a single clue to her death–a cryptic message on Mac’s cell phone–Mac journeys to Ireland in search of answers. The quest to find her sister’s killer draws her into a shadowy realm where nothing is as it seems, where good and evil wear the same treacherously seductive mask. She is soon faced with an even greater challenge: staying alive long enough to learn how to handle a power she had no idea she possessed–a gift that allows her to see beyond the world of man, into the dangerous realm of the Fae….

As Mac delves deeper into the mystery of her sister’s death, her every move is shadowed by the dark, mysterious Jericho, a man with no past and only mockery for a future. As she begins to close in on the truth, the ruthless Vlane–an alpha Fae who makes sex an addiction for human women–closes in on her. And as the boundary between worlds begins to crumble, Mac’s true mission becomes clear: find the elusive Sinsar Dubh before someone else claims the all-powerful Dark Book–because whoever gets to it first holds nothing less than complete control of the very fabric of both worlds in their hands….

My Review:
*****MAY CONTAIN A SPOILER OR TWO. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.*****
I've heard of the Fever series for quite awhile since joining GR but was not interested enough to add it to my shelf due to the detailed review I read about the "sex brutality" thing going on in the series. I've been reading since I was born I think, and the books I've devoured were classics, Nancy Drew-Hardy Boys mysteries and all those innocent fun and adventures which proceeded to Agatha Christie's crime stories.

Then I was introduced to the wonderful world of Paranormal YA from the Twilight craze. I stuck there. I was crazy and addicted to the world of YA and I was already officially an adult. I grew up in a safe and clean environment where I was uncomfortable with f-bombs and detailed sex scenes in books.

But then, I was snared into the Adult UF/R genre not so long ago by a GR buddy. She plagued me into reading the hot and popular BDB series. I was in. I was officially in. My naivete, innocence (as though!) and all uneasiness about all things adult literally flew out the window. I was officially tainted. Thank you Maria for tainting me. I owe you a big one. XOXO Haha.

So, I was going through BDB withdrawals, waiting for Lover Reborn (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #10) to be release, I was browsing through GR looking for BDB-like substitutes to pull me through when I saw Islamq's BDB reference in her Fever series reviews. I was instantly sold. Thus, my official Darkfever review will now begin.

I really like it. I really do. I LOVE Mac the heroine. She isn't a dumb blonde. I fell in love with her stubborn, sassy, spunky and kick-ass attitude. I really like how she was denying all those Fae stuffs when they were revealed to her. It felt real. I mean, I sure will definitely deny it if it was me. It's just how the human brains work.

Barrons was all predatory and sexual. He was infuriating, frustrating and utterly unlovable - at first. He was still all the first two but I now find him intriguing. He was shrouded in a fog of mystery and I'm dying to know what and who he really is. He was such a Alpha masochistic male, hard and masking his emotions. Although I literally squealed when he went "Mac!", kissed her and even painted her nails.

Darkfever was a turmoil and an exciting ride. I felt like the pinball in the pinball game, being bounced from one point to the next, waiting to plunge into the dark hole. When the Lord Master was mentioned, I knew then who was Alina's boyfriend and possible murderer but I still don't know everything and I'm dying to know what the hell is going on.

Who really is Barrons? Who is the Lord Master? What is the mystery surrounding Alina's death?

With all these questions swirling in my head, you can say that I'm totally sold and on the Fever bandwagon.

P/S: I know I didn't mention V'lane. This is because there's still not enough of him for me to really fairly comment on although he sounds really hot.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

In My Mailbox #06

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren 

Books I Bought:


Pardon my expression and old t-shirt. I was in PJ's >.< LOL. 
Yes!!! I was studying away from home thus I couldn't get to LR yet until now, as I'm back home for my mid-term break. YAY!! See, I put my home address as my shipping address. The agony of waiting while everyone was reading it. Painful!
  • Lover Reborn (Black Dagger Brotherhood #10) by J.R. Ward @Goodreads


  • Surrender (MacKinnon’s Rangers #1) by Pamela Clare @Goodreads
  • Untamed (MacKinnon's Rangers #2) by Pamela Clare @Goodreads
So, that's all for my IMM this week and I do so apologize for my lack of reviews. I've been so busy with assignments and all. I'll try my best to finish up Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning ASAP. It has been put on hold long enough. What's your IMM this week??? 
XOXO  

Monday, April 9, 2012

Book Review: The Perfect Play (Play by Play #1) by Jaci Burton

The Perfect Play (Play by Play #1)
By Jaci Burton
Release Date: February 1st, 2011
Number of Pages: 243
Format: ebook
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥


Blurbs from Goodreads:
The last thing event planner Tara Lincoln needs is the jet-set lifestyle of a football pro like Mick Riley; even though their steamy and passionate one-night stand proved that Mick is an all-star-both on the field and in the bedroom.

Tara played the game of love once and lost big, and she doesn't intend to put herself out there again, especially with a certified heartbreaker. But when Mick sets his mind to win, nothing will stop him. And he has the perfect play in mind to catch this sultry vixen.

My Review:
I know that The Perfect Play is an Erotica/Romance. I did like the beginning at first but then later I felt it got too rushed when Mick and Tara had sex. It would nice if they had got to know each other a little better and longer. I felt that the author wanted them to be involved with each other as soon as possible so that the story could move on faster.

It felt unreal for me. Like a pass and go. I didn't really got into the motion. However, I liked the main characters well enough and the secondary characters were great as well, including the "villain" Liz whom I felt really sorry for later.

I love reading about their banters, getting to know each other, meeting up with Mick's awesome family and friends, and seeing Nathan's relationship with his Mom, Tara blossomed. It was really touching to see how much Nathan actually understands the life his mother has led and how much he cares for her well-being.

The only gripe I had in this book was the irritating sex scenes. Yes, I do appreciate some steamy sex scenes but they got on my nerves so much for the first half of the book. I felt they were like fillers to fill in the storyline to move it along.

Nevertheless, The Perfect Play was a no-brainer, quick breezy read and I did enjoy the romance. Plus the cover is smoking hawt!! *fans self*

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Book Review: Just the Sexiest Man Alive by Julie James

Just the Sexiest Man Alive
By Julie James
Release Date: October 7th, 2008
Number of Pages: 296
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 


Blurbs from Goodreads:
Nothing fazes Taylor Donovan. In the courtroom, she never lets the opposition see her sweat. In her personal life, she never lets any man rattle her- not even her cheating ex-fiance. So when she's assigned to coach People's "Sexiest Man Alive" for his role in his next big legal thriller, she refuses to fall for the Hollywood heartthrob's charms. Even if he is the Jason Andrews.

Jason Andrews is used to having women fall at his feet. When Taylor Donovan gives him the cold shoulder, he's thrown for a loop. She's unlike any other woman he's ever met: uninterested in the limelight, seemingly immune to his advances, and shockingly capable of saying no to him. She's the perfect challenge. And the more she rejects him, the more he begins to realize she may just be his perfect match.

My Review:
Dear Julie,
I wish I knew about you sooner but I guess it is much better to be later rather than never. The moment I read ~Tina~'s review on Something About You (FBI / US Attorney #1) and Patrica's review on this book, I was instantly attracted to you. But reading JTSMA was the one that did it because I was already in love with you even before halfway through the book.

I loved the world and characters you created. I love Taylor and Jason who are like two sides of the same coin. Taylor's confident, sassy and sharp attitude coupled with Jason's charming-crazy-cute-and-cheeky one created the perfect bomb.

I've always had great interest in history and law but somehow didn't pursue a course in it. Therefore, I truly enjoyed the court scenes and law jargon as well as being immersed in the blitzy, glitzy and paparazzi-crazy Hollywood world.

Julie James, you are the bomb. I even loved the secondary characters like Jeremy, Val, Kate and even Linda. I am so in love with you and your writing. JTSMA is all I can think about right now. I am going to go order all 5 of your books right now. You are now officially my favorite author and I really hope that you get to see this review.

Your new fan,
Joy ♡

P/S: Patricia didn't directly recommend this book to me, but she just might as well did.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

In My Mailbox #05

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren 

Books I Bought:

I apologize for the late IMM. I was actually expecting to finally do one last Sunday but apparently, the courier service guy only decided to visit me today. So, here I am presenting to you my latest haul. See, at least I have quite a big collection to show you.


I know, I know. I'm another one of those that are extremely late on getting on board the bandwagon of hot and popular Adult UF/R series. But, at least I still did in the end right because I just love to get all the books in one haul. It feels so satisfying 
  • Darkfever (Fever, #1) by Karen Marie Moning @Goodreads
  • Bloodfever (Fever, #2) by Karen Marie Moning @Goodreads
  • Faefever (Fever, # 3) by Karen Marie Moning @Goodreads
  • Dreamfever (Fever, # 4) by Karen Marie Moning @Goodreads
  • Shadowfever (Fever, #5) by Karen Marie Moning @Goodreads
  • The Black Dagger Brotherhood: An Insider's Guide by J.R. Ward @Goodreads
That's all for now so do share with me your IMM of the week in the comments below blogger-emoticon.blogspot.com
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