This Week in E-books…

Time for the weekly look at what is coming in e-books and novellas. Entangled Covet‘s new e-book only line continues with the release of its next two titles. The first one is Take it Like a Vamp, from author Candace Havens.

Synopsis…

Vampire Nick Christos might’ve been born in the Middle Ages, but the good old days seem tame compared to the last eight years he’s spent ruling the Supernatural Council. His only respite is with his cute neighbor Casey Meyers, a woman he wants more than any undead man should. Sure, he’s forced to take a cold shower after every encounter, but there’s no way he’ll test his own strength by getting too close to a human, and he’s not willing to risk her life–not with bloodthirsty family on the prowl out to ruin Nick’s life.

When said Nick’s kin shows up, the innocent Casey is caught in the middle of a centuries old fight, and Nick’s biggest fear is realized. Now, instead of keeping his hands off his neighbor, he’ll risk everything to save the human he’s come to love.

And the second is Bad Mouth from author Angela McCallister. I swear I have seen that cover dude posed somewhere before.

Synopsis…

After her ex-husband’s obsession with vampires, Valerie Craig is on a mission to stop transformations. Of all vampires, Kade Rollins is the worst of the worst, but when multiple murders plague Seattle, Val is forced to enlist his aid. Kade’s crude wit and seductive nature attract her like no other, but she can’t ignore his violence toward his human servants, no matter her yearning to forget.

She’s torn when she learns Kade may be behind the murders. Val’s worked hard to protect humans from vampires, but the truth surrounding the murders could ignite a bloody battle between their races, one humans are sure to lose. Someone is pulling strings to build a vampire army and spark the war—setting Kade up to kick it off. But if she trusts the vampire prince, she risks her job, her integrity, and her heart if he betrays her as all the men in her life have.

And from the YA side, Cassandra Clare‘s second Bane Chronicles story, The Runaway Queen, comes out tomorrow. This one was co-written with Maureen Johnson.

Synopsis…

While in France, immortal warlock Magnus Bane finds himself attempting to rescue the royal family from the horrors of the French Revolution—after being roped into this mess by a most attractive count. Naturally, the daring escape calls for invisible air balloons…

This standalone e-only short story illuminates the life of the enigmatic Magnus Bane, whose alluring personality populates the pages of the #1 New York Times bestselling series, The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices series. This story in The Bane Chronicles, The Runaway Queen, is written by Maureen Johnson and Cassandra Clare.

Meh, not much for me this week. I am holding off on the Bane Chronicles until I can get the print version, and I am too annoyed with the crap publishing schedule of Entangled to break down and try their new line. I will be grabbing Jennifer Armentrout’s Arum novel when it comes out next week, though (that doesn’t count. Not sure why, but it doesn’t).

Cover Lover – The Runaway Queen

Now, count me surprised. I was pretty sure that all of the e-novellas in Cassandra Clare‘s Bane Chronicles were going to have the same cover with just a different title slapped on the front.

Nope.

Looks like each installment might be getting its very own cover treatment, which is great. Story number two is called The Runaway Queen, and it will be released on May 21st.

Oh, and over on Page to Premier, there is a very small snippet from the upcoming sixth and final (?) Mortal Instruments book, City of Heavenly Fire. It looks like the lead characters from the upcoming Dark Artifices series are introduced in this one, which makes total sense.

Cover Lover – The Spider

Just a quick little post on my way out the door (working sucks). Romantic Times magazine had the exclusive reveal of the cover for the next book of Jennifer Estep‘s Elemental Assassin series, The Spider, which is due out on December 31st. This series, right down to the novellas, has some of the consistently best covers going. I wish all books looked as good as these ones do.

Larissa Ione’s Reaver…

Looks like there is a bit of word starting to trickle out about the next Demonica/Lords of Deliverance book from Larissa Ione. I knew it was about Reaver…but I didn’t know it was actually going to be called Reaver. It is such a changed from the titles in both of the series Reaver was a part of that I thought seriously that it was going to be called something else entirely. Oh, and the blurb is out, too…

      Reaver is an angel with a mysterious past and more attitude than anyone knows what to do with. Add to that mixture a propensity to break the rules, and he’s a walking recipe for angelic disaster.

Harvester is a fallen angel who sacrificed her wings to work as an undercover agent in hell. But her cover has been blown, and now she’s been sentenced to an eternity of unimaginable torture.

Reaver is determined to rescue Harvester from hell, but snatching Harvester away from Satan will cause a war between the two realms.

This is one rule Reaver can’t break.

This is one rule Reaver has to break.

Aaand that was a surprise, too. Call me crazy, but for some reason I just didn’t think Reaver ended up with Harvester. Did I miss the signs? Granted, I still haven’t read the last Lords book (just can’t seem to get there yet), so maybe I haven’t gotten to the good stuff yet in their relationship, but at this point finding out Reaver’s HEA is with Harvester caught me off guard. Reaver will be released on December 17th.

Site Updates…Help!

Sooo, I pretty much played with Photoshop all day, and I think I got most of the site looking like I wanted. I really wanted to change things to a more text-and-grunge look, but still keep the same colors. I still have a bit more to do, but not quite sure how to do it (things like changed the menu link colors). So far, there is the new background, new text-y header, and new little “cover coming soon” icons for the release pages. Of course, that made me think that the monthly banners no longer match, but I can’t figure out what else to do with them.

Anyways, the point of all of this is that I was wondering what you thought about the very bottom of the blog, where I added four sections to display the covers of “Coming Soon” books. Does it work? Does it look strange? Do you like the reminder of what is coming up, or do you just prefer it blank like it was? I am not quite sure about the metal frames, but just the covers themselves looked unfinished somehow. What do you think – keep or don’t bother?

Cover Lover – 8 New Titles

This is a bit of a different Cover Lover post. All three of the covers from the upcoming The Baskerville Affair from Emma Jane Holloway have been made public. Book one will be called A Study in Silks, and it will be released on September 24th.

It will be followed bybook two, called A Study in Darkness, on October 29th.

And will wrap up on November 26th with the release of A Study in Ashes.

And Lynn Viehl also has a double-header posting today. The first two covers from her upcoming Disenchanted & Co. e-book series have been released. Her Ladyship’s Curse will be released on August 12th.

And it will be followed by His Lordship Possessed on October 14th.

Rebecca Zanetti starts a new e-series this July with the release of Forgotten Sins. This one gives me a Ghostwalkers vibe, with soldiers enhanced with special abilities.

The fourth book from Kristen Callihan‘s Darkest London series, Shadowdance, will be released on December 17th.

And the final cover for today’s post comes from Tessa Adams and her Lone Star Witch series. Flamebound will be released on December 3rd.

Dracula Trailer…

I had absolutely no idea that yet another version of Dracula was being done, this time as a series for NBC slated to air this fall. Usually, the thought of something like this would make me shudder, since usually the cheese/camp factor can be pretty high, but I found myself not rolling my eyes through this recently released trailer. Some gore, some raunch, some action – doesn’t actually look all that bad. Jonathan Rhys Meyers can chew some scenery, but he does bring a certain something to this type of role. Here’s hoping that Dracula does’t, uh, (I want so badly to type suck, but that is just wrong. So is bite), disappoint. Yes. That.

 

Thoughts? I do love me the True Blood and Vampire Diaries, so it sounds like my thing, but Victorian Era stuff usually annoys me after a while. Anyone else giving this a look when it gets started this fall?

New Series Alerts…

Middle of the month is notoriously quiet lately from a new release stand-point, and this month is no exception. There is only one new YA series heading our way this week, coming from Rachel Hawkins. School Spirits is the first book of her Hex Hall Spin-Off series.

Synopsis…

Fifteen-year-old Izzy Brannick was trained to fight monsters. For centuries, her family has hunted magical creatures. But when Izzy’s older sister vanishes without a trace while on a job, Izzy’s mom decides they need to take a break.

Izzy and her mom move to a new town, but they soon discover it’s not as normal as it appears. A series of hauntings has been plaguing the local high school, and Izzy is determined to prove her worth and investigate. But assuming the guise of an average teenager is easier said than done. For a tough girl who’s always been on her own, it’s strange to suddenly make friends and maybe even have a crush.

Can Izzy trust her new friends to help find the secret behind the hauntings before more people get hurt?

Is this one on your radar? I haven’t heard much about the Hex Hall series, to be honest, so not sure about this one either.

The Sweetest Dark…A Very Pleasant Surprise

I have a different relationship with Shana Abe‘s Drakon books. I loved the first one, but things were hit and miss for me for the next four. So when it came time to decide if I was going to try her new YA spin-off series, I was a bit up in the air. I have been limiting my blind buys, especially since I found myself less than impressed with quite a few of the young adult titles I have bought lately. Long story short, I finally broke down and ordered The Sweetest Dark, still not expecting much.

I was wrong.

The Sweetest Dark was a total surprise. It is a quiet story, if that makes any sense – very character driven, without a ton of action and conflict, and very different from many of the YA novels out there. The tone was more mature, and while there is the dreaded love triangle it is like no other love triangle I have ever read, and it wasn’t the focus of the story. It reads more like a fantasy with romantic elements, if anything.

The story revolves around Eleanor Jones. Since the moment she was found wandering the streets as a child, with no memory of who she was or where she came from, she has known she was different. Raised in a harsh, cold London orphanage in the early 1900′s, life was not easy for Lora. Not only did she have to learn to survive having no one and nothing to call her own, she also had to learn how to hide the unique abilities that set her apart from everyone else. When the first World War threatens London, Lora finds herself sent as a charity case to a prestigious boarding school on England’s coast. This new world is filled with the daughters of the wealthy and privileged, neither of which describes Lora, and she is not allowed to forget that she does not belong.

It is here, at this school, that Lora meets two very different boys with secrets of their own. Sweet, quiet and unassuming Jesse holds the answers that Lora has been searching for her whole life, while rich, brash Armand struggles with demons of his own. The three of them are drawn together almost by fate, and while you never are in doubt about who Lora loves, you are left guessing right up to the end about how things will turn out for them. And let’s just say, I didn’t see that ending coming.

I thought that The Sweetest Dark was very well written, with great characters that didn’t feel overdone or stereo-typical, and I was very pleased with how Shana Abe re-worked her Drakon world for a new time and place. This was my first YA set during this time, and the looming threat of WWI made for a great atmosphere. I do have to say, it stood out in the ever-growing sea of paranormal YA.

God, I can ramble. Basically, what I am trying to say is that The Sweetest Dark was different, well written, and I liked it. It wasn’t perfect, but it definitely caught my attention and didn’t let go. Has anyone else tried this new series, or do you have it on your radar? It makes for a nice change of pace, and a great break from the same old, same old. Now, I just have to wait for August to get my hands on the second book, The Deepest Night. And believe me, I have no hesitation this time around.

This and That…Movie Edition

There seems to be a lot going on in the PNR/UF movie side of things in the last couple of days, both good and bad. This is just a quick round-up of what I have been seeing lately…

Well, first off, the big cover reveal for Veronica Roth‘s third Divergent book, Allegiant, took place this morning. Much hoopla was involved. Also Ryan Seacrest. That one still makes me shake my head, but dude looks like he would go to the opening of an envelope if it bought him some attention. Anyways, Allegiant will look like so when it hits the shelves on October 22nd.

Also from the Divergent-verse, it seems that things are looking like a go for the sequel, Insurgent. A screenwriter has been chosen, and things are progressing. With the amount of hype surrounding pretty much every aspect of this series, I am not surprised, but it is still good to get confirmation. I actually got excited when I saw a picture that included Theo James‘ (Four’s) forehead. In my defense, there is also an ear. Nerd.

Aaand, it seems that there being a second Mortal Instruments movie is a sure thing, since City of Ashes has just been greenlit. The director of the first movie, Harold Zwart, will be returning, and production will start this fall. Yes! My fear is always that the studios go into these movies with half a commitment, and take a wait and see attitude (for example, will there be a second Beautiful Creatures movie? Never heard anything more). At least this shows faith in the product. Nice.

Filming starts for the Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters at the end of this month. All of the stars are in rigorous training right now to get into fighting shape, and author Richelle Mead has been very pleased with what she has seen so far. According to a chat she recently did, she said that all of the important stuff from the books has made the translation to the script, and that things are looking good. Olga Kurylenko has just been cast as Headmistress Kirova – I did picture the Kirova as an old hag, not a Bond Girl, but that could work, too.

It seems, on a less positive note, that Fox has passed on the Delirium pilot starring Emma Roberts. Based on the Lauren Oliver trilogy of the same name, the cast had been very active trying to drum up fan support, but it was still not enough to get Fox to bite.

The Selection from Keira Cass seems to be up in the air, too. The first pilot was passed on last season by the CW, but it was given a second chance with a new cast and new focus. And that new focus is way, way heavy on the sex/intrigue. According to an article in The Examiner…

          The Hunger Games influence is still very very strong in this show — but they’ve given it a heavy injection of Game of Thrones as well. There’s a lot of sex and raunchiness, even by The CW’s standards, and tons and tons of cynicism. Everybody is plotting against everybody else, everybody is making alliances and cutting deals and nobody trusts anybody. Mostly it’s a chance to see Tony Head play a king again, so soon after Merlin.

Kiera Cass stated herself in a Tweet that it is everything the article stated – and more – and that the way things are going, an R rating wouldn’t be strong enough. Huh. Didn’t see that coming.

And finally, the trailer for the upcoming Ender’s Game has been making the rounds. Now, I have to admit, I know nothing about this. It wasn’t even on my radar, but I have seen much love directed its way on the other blogs, so I thought the least I could do was post the trailer.