Random stuff…

Meh, not much going on.  No new series this week, so didn’t do that post.   Nothing that catches my eye being released, so no pick of the week, either.  I spent two weeks getting though Tes Hilaire‘s Deliver Me From Darkness, not sure if that was because I was in a slump, or because I had three books staring at me that I wanted to read more, but for some reason I just couldn’t get engaged in this one.  It had everything I like, but I just couldn’t get involved enough in the story to enjoy it, and had a hard time making myself finish it.  I did dive immediately into Patricia Brigg‘s Fair Game afterward, and read almost half the book in one sitting.  I feel so sad for Charles, but I do love seeing Anna come into her own.

There has been another change of plans for Kresley Cole‘s Dacian’s spin off, Shadow’s Claim.  It’s September release date was pushed back to mid-December, but has been moved once again to November 27th.  Also, looks like Kresley is firing up to start another IAD book, but she is being coy about who it will feature (can I hope Thronos and Lanthe?).  The cover for her upcoming Poison Princess will be released soon, so keep an eye out.

Cynthia Eden is writing another Bound book (her e-book novellas series, which are great reads).  Most of those particular stories have been inspired by fairytales, and looks like this time around it is Sleeping Beauty meets vampires and werewolves.  I do love these stories, and I have high hopes that they will head to print format one day.

Richelle Mead is hard at work on next year’s third Bloodlines novel, but no title has been announced yet.  From the sounds of things, though, Adrian is getting himself into all sorts of trouble.

Alyssa Day‘s much, much pushed back novella from the Warriors of Poseidon series, Alejandro’s Sorceress,  is supposed to be finally released this week – but I still can’t seem to track down any links.  For those of you who are interested, there is an excerpt available on her site HERE.

Still working on an update for the look of the site, but let’s just say that there is a nasty steep learning curve for CSS.  And since I am barely computer literate, it is…interesting.  On the plus side, I do love a challenge.

Pick of the Week

Sometimes, I look, and dig, and research what the pick of the week will be.  Sometimes I can’t find one at all.  This week, there is so many that I had a difficult time deciding “That One!  No…that one!  Yes!  No!”  So, what it came down to is which one have I been anticipating the longest, and that would have to be Fair Game.  This is the hardcover debut for the Alpha and Omega series by Patricia Briggs, and when I emailed like a nerd yesterday, Patricia’s assistant Ann said that if this one does well, there is a chance the first two books could be re-released in hardcover (like the Mercy books were).  Here’s hoping, since the ugly OCD organizational monster side of me is rearing her ugly head (anthology section…softcover section…hardcover section…Noooooo!)

Synopsis…

They say opposites attract. And in the case of werewolves Anna Latham and Charles Cornick, they mate.

The son—and enforcer—of the leader of the North American werewolves, Charles is a dominant alpha, while Anna, an omega, has the rare ability to calm others of her kind.  Now that the werewolves have revealed themselves to humans, they can’t afford any bad publicity.  Infractions that could have been overlooked in the past must now be punished, and the strain of doing his father’s dirty work is taking its toll on Charles.  Nevertheless, Charles and Anna are sent to Boston when the FBI requests the pack’s help on a local serial killer case. They quickly realize that not only were the last two victims werewolves—all of them are.  Someone is targeting their kind. And their investigation has put Anna and Charles right in the killer’s sights.

Due to the one-book-a-year schedule Patricia Briggs is working on, it looks like 2014 before we see another Charles and Anna book.  I better read reallllly slow…

Random Updates…

I am done!  I finally, finally got the Series reading list section “done” – er, done-ish?  It is at least up to date, including all of the authors listed on the new release pages.  It took longer than I had thought, but I hope it comes in handy.  As always, let me know if anything needs work.

Also, I am doing up a section for Darynda Jones.  It should be up and running within the next couple of days, and I will be doing a character guide for the Charley Davidson series, as well.  I have the first book done, so I think I will just up what info I have and add the second book stuff when I get it done (hopefully before the third book is released at the end of the month).  Right now, I am on a Mercedes Thompson marathon – and loving it – but I will try and take a break to do Second Grave on the Left.

I have a ton of new releases to add to the lists, as well.  I mean a ton.  I will be doing that within the next couple of days, too.  Some of the titles I will be adding are…

• Aimee Laine – Hide and Seek (March 1st)
• Nina Bangs – Wicked Edge (March 6th)
• Jamie Manning – Blood Born (April 24th)
• Amanda Quick – Crystal Gardens (May 3rd)
• Carrie Vaughn – Kitty Steals the Show (July 12th)
• Laurie London – Seduced by Blood (July 24th)
• Sophie Jordan – Hidden (September)
• Meljean Brook – Rivited (September)
• Seanan McGuire – Ashes of Honor (September 6th)
• Becca Fitzpatrick – Finale (October)
• Linda Howard/Linda Winstead Jones – Warrior Rising (October 30th)
• Tahereh Mafi – Shatter Me #2 (November)
• Kate Douglas – Dream Unchained (November 1st)
• Jennifer L. Armentrout – Deity (November 6th)
• Laura Resnick – Polterheist (November 6th)
• Ally Conde – Matched #3 (November 13th)
• Larissa Ione – Rogue Rider (December)
• Jennifer L Armentrout – Opal (December)
• Beth Reavis – Shades of Earth (January 2013)

Last Minute Additions…

Since I try and go so far ahead with the new release info, I wondered if I perhaps missed anything interesting.  So, starting this month, I will be doing a “check back” for the upcoming month to see what I didn’t notice/forgot to add.  I know there are a ton I just didn’t get to, but here is three I added for the month of October…

From Vivian Arend comes a compilation of two of her e-books into print, called Under the Midnight Sun.  It is actually the second print volume in the series, featuring stories #3 and #4.  It is an October 4th release.

Synopsis…

Wolf Games

After seven years of denial, Maggie’s inner wolf is in full revolt. The last thing she wants is a mate, particularly when simply looking at another wolf scares her to death.  Sheer chance puts Erik in the right place to catch the weak and shaky Maggie. With one touch, he realizes the reluctant female werewolf is his mate.  Selected for the premier sporting event for wolves in the north, Maggie will not only have to team up with Erik, she’ll have to face down her fear of wolves. Especially her own.

Wolf Tracks

TJ’s usual laid-back attitude vanishes when he comes face to face with someone he didn’t expect. His mate. His very human mate. If he intends to claim her, he’s going to have to move fast.  Pam is definitely tempted to indulge in some Northern Delight with TJ—temporarily, not forever. In her world, true love is a fairytale that seldom, if ever, comes true.  Okay, so maybe staging a kidnapping wasn’t TJ’s best idea, but at least Pam agrees to his deal. He’s got one week in the wilderness to prove she’s his mate. She’s got one week to discover if forever is possible.

The second one is on the UF side of things.  The second book from J.N. Duncan‘s Jackie Rutledge series comes out on October 4th, and is called The Vengeful Dead.

Synopsis…

Jackie Rutledge just cannot put her past to rest. Her Bureau partner is dead, but not gone. And her sanity is becoming as fragile as her career. Worst of all, a wrenching journey into Deadworld has given her unwanted new abilities – and exhuming memories she hoped to keep buried.

Now a merciless force capable of possessing humans is on a killing spree, destroying the guilty and innocent alike. It isn’t long before Jackie is a prime suspect, struggling to stay two steps ahead of her savvy new partner, and her undead P.I. and paramour, Nick. But to clear her name, she’ll have to take on her greatest challenge yet: confronting an inner darkness as inescapable as the one she hunts – and capable of annihilating more than her soul.

Now, I have absolutely no idea how I missed this one.  None.  But I honestly never even got a sniff of this anthology featuring Charlaine Harris and Patricia Briggs, among others.  Down These Strange Streets is also due out on October 4th.

Synopsis…

All new strange cases of death and magic in the city by some of the biggest names in urban fantasy.

In this all-new collection of urban fantasy stories, editors George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois explore the places where mystery waits at the end of every alley and where the things that go bump in the night have something to fear…

Includes stories by New York Times bestselling authors Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Diana Gabaldon, Simon R. Green, S. M. Stirling, and Carrie Vaughn, as well as tales by Glen Cook, Bradley Denton, M.L.N. Hanover, Conn Iggulden, Laurie R. King, Joe R. Lansdale, John Maddox Roberts, Steven Saylor, Melinda Snodgrass, and Lisa Tuttle.

Spin-off Mania

Ok.  I am a combination of bored, OCD, and nosy.  Not a pretty combination.  Anyhow, today I came across a blurb about Gena Showalter starting yet ANOTHER series – this one a spin-off of the Lords of the Underworld.  Huh.  Didn’t see that one coming, for some reason.  And that got me thinking about how many other authors seem to be going the spin-off way.  Not long ago, it seemed as if author’s just kept going on, and on, and on with their successful series (sometimes well after they should’ve stopped).  But the spin-off is brilliant.  A chance to expand and explore new ideas, while pretty much keeping a built in reader base.  There are a few coming up that I am looking forward too, as well.

• As mentioned above, Gena Showalter is working on a new series set in the LotU world.   At her blog, she has said that the first book will debut sometime in 2012, and the main characters will be the angels (I wondered why they were getting so much time in the last couple of books).  There will be cameos by the various Lords.
• Showalter buddy Kresley Cole is also branching out from her Immortals After Dark series.  Plus a YA series, but I am not sure if that is IAD connected (helloooo, Thad).  Sorry.  The first book will be out next August, and the YA will follow in the fall.  I have been trying to dig up some info on these, but no luck as yet.
• Bloodlines will be a six book series from Richelle Mead.  Book one, also called Bloodlines, is out this month with the release of The Golden Lily following next March.  But all of this traces bad to the Vampire Academy series.  Actually, depending on how things go, I could totally see another series after that featuring Jill.  She would be old enough then to carry her own story, if all goes well.
• Rhyannon Byrd ended her Primal Instincts series just last week with the release of Rush of Pleasure.  But the very hot vamps featured in the latter books, especially the Granger brothers, are now getting their turn.  Some are saying this is a series, some say stand alone, but Ashe Granger will be featured in Deadly is the Kiss next April.
• and Jeaniene Frost‘s Night Huntress series is getting even more complex.  Aside from the main Cat and Bones books, and the two Night Huntress World books already released, Vlad is getting his story told in at least two books in the Night Prince spin-off series.  We are still waiting on the official title of the first book, but whatever it is called it will be hitting the shelves on March 27th.

I went through my books to track down some authors who had already made the jump successfully…

• Christine Feehan is just finishing up her second Sisters of the Heart book, featuring Judith.  Spirit Bound has a December release date, and got its start way back in the Drake Sisters books.  But instead of the seven magical sisters, we have six very hot magical Russian brothers (little brother Ilya already had his turn in the Drake books).
• Although Patricia Briggs has said that the Alpha and Omega series is supposedly set slightly behind the Mercy Thompson series in terms of timeline, there is no doubt it followed the popular Mercy books.  In this case, I actually read and loved the spin-off before the main series, which is strange for me.
• Larissa Ione will be releasing the second Lords of Deliverance book, called Immortal Rider, this November.  And details are starting to emerge about Lethal Rider, book three.  But who doesn’t look forward to cameos from the whole Demonica gang every book?  I do.

Apparently, however, a solid base does not a popular spin-off automatically make.  These two, from what I have seen around, have in no way lived up to the originals…

• Sherrilyn Kenyon, from what I understand, is meeting with mixed success in her Chronicles of Nick books.  These Young Adult hardcover books feature a character that isn’t that well liked as an adult in the Dark-Hunter series.  So who wants to read about him as a kid, I guess.
• Even J.R. Ward has made the jump with her Fallen Angels books.  I am a faithful BDB reader, but the new series just hasn’t grabbed me and made me want to read it, as yet.  The best I have heard about them is that they are “different”.  Not really a glowing recommendation.

Have I missed any?  Does anyone have any info I haven’t?  What is everyone’s feelings on the whole spin-off trend?  I myself would rather see a spin-off than the end of a series I love, or see one go on long after it should have been put to rest (yes, Dark-Hunter, I AM looking at you).

New Author Page

I have added a new author page to the mix, this time featuring Patricia Briggs.  Although she has a few different series, I am only going to focus on the Mercy Thompson series, and the Alpha and Omega series.  I love the Alpha and Omega series, and since I ordered all of the Mercy Thompson books in hardcover recently, I might as well add a new section.  This section will give book summaries and reading lists, as well as cover art for all of her books, a brief what’s coming next and author biography.

Of course, this is the spot where I say somewhere down the line, I plan on a character guide…yada yada yada.

Links to the new page can be found either through the drop-down menu above, or the link to the right, both listed under “Featured Authors”.  Or, just click HERE

Cover Lover – Some Big Ones!

That noise you hear is me screaming like a fan-girl.  I do so, so love finding “the big ones”, and a couple of these are whoppers.

What can I say?  I love Tohrment, so word that his book is up next from J.R. Ward made my day.  March 27th is the release date  for this one, Lover Reborn.  I will admit that the dude on the front doesn’t match my version of Tohr, but I will take what I can get.

Aaaand, squealing again.  Patricia Briggs writes one book a year, and Fair Game is up next.  The third book in the Alpha and Omega series is due out on February 7th.

MaryJanice Davidson will debut a new trilogy next February 7th with the release of Underwater Love.  No details yet on the following books.

Number four is from Nina Bangs and her Castle of Dark Dreams series.  Wicked Edge is a March 6th release.

Flashfire is part of Deborah Cooke‘s Dragonfire series, scheduled to be released on January 3rd.

And finally, the cover for the new Jory Strong book, Inked Magic, was released.  This one is a February 7th release.

Random Updates…

Soooo, every six months or so, I show just how dull my life is by going through the new release schedules, month by month, and plugging each and every author’s name into Amazon.com and Goodreads to see what they have coming out next.  Then, I check each author’s website and blog to see what is going on, too.  Then I update the “coming attractions” for each series.  I said life was dull, right?

Anyhow, I have made it through July 2011, and all of the reading lists for each title should be completely up to date, and all links added where available.  On my searches, I found some coming soon info on quite a few series…

• Book 10 of The Hollows series from Kim Harrison will be called A Perfect Blood, and is scheduled for release on February 21st.
• MaryJanice Davidson will be starting a Mermaid trilogy with the release of Underwater Love on February 7th.
• January 3rd is the release date for the fourth book in Richelle Mead‘s Dark Swan series, called Shadow Heir.
• according to Patricia Brigg‘s website, we will have to wait until the spring of 2013 for the next Mercy Thompson book, title as yet TBA.
• Alien Diplomacy will be the title of the fifth Katherine Katt book from Gini Koch, and it should be available on April 3rd.
• Devon Monk‘s 6th Allie Beckstrom book, Magic Without Mercy, will be an April 3rd release.
• The third book in the new Debbie Mazzuca MacLeod series will be called King of the Isles.  Look for it in early January.
• Book number six in the Chloe Neill Chicagoland Vampires series will be called Biting Cold, due out in September 2012.
• All Things Wicked is the title for the third book in Karina Cooper‘s new Dark Mission series, and it is scheduled for release on January 24th.
• The Argeneau Rogue Hunter series from Lynsay Sands is still going strong.  Number 16, Under a Vampire Moon, is due out on January 3rd.  This one is a hardcover release.
• Siren will be the title of the third book from Kristina Douglas‘ Fallen series.  Release date TBA.
• The very busy Allyson James will continue her Stormwalker series in 2012 with the release of the fourth book, Nightwalker.  No official release date available as yet.
• Sweetblood, the new series from Laurie London, will continue next February with the release of the third book, called Tempted by Blood.
• April 2012 is the release date for the second book from the Arcadia Bell series from Jenn Bennett.  It will be called Summoning the Night.
• The big number 1-0 for the Kitty Vaughn series will be called Kitty Steals the Show.  No release date available as yet for the Carrie Vaughn book.
• Summer 2012 is the general release date for the third book in Stephanie Julian‘s Forgotten Goddesses series.  Looks like Goddess in the Middle is literally that, since it lists three main characters.
• Queen Betsy continues.  Number 11 in the MaryJanice Davidson series will be called Undead and Unstable, and should be out early next year.
• There is a bit of a wait for the next Indigo Court book from Yasmine Galenorn.  Night Seeker, book three, is scheduled for release next June.
• For the Dreg City followers, the fourth book in the Kelly Meding series will be called Wrong Side of Dead, and should be out on January 31st.
• and finally, Dianne Sylvan will release her third Shadow World book, Shadow’s Fall, next March 27th.

Random Updates

Seems to be a lot of new details coming out about future releases…

• Jean Johnson is returning to the world of the Sons of Destiny in a new book, Finding Destiny.  No details available as yet, other than the release date of January 4th, 2011.
• There is a new Vampire book coming from Heather Graham, called Night of the Vampires.  It should be available on November 23rd.
• The next Mercy Thompson book from Patricia Briggs, River Marked, will be out on January 25th.
• Book three of Rachel Caine‘s Outcast Season series, Unseen, is scheduled for February 1st.
• The February anthology featuring Gena Showalter, Shannon K. Butcher, and Jessica Andersen finally has both a title and a release date.  On The Hunt will be out in February 2011.

NYT Bestsellers

The week of April 30th.

There is a bit of action on the charts this week.  On the softcover side,Charlaine Harris is still on with Dead and Gone, and so is J.D. Robb‘s Kindred in Death.  A huge favorite of mine, Lion’s Heat from Lora Leigh, is on for the third week.  Also doing well are Alexandra Ivy, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Amanda Quick and Gail Carriger.  Not a bad week for paranormal on the charts at all.

Not as much going on for the hardcover releases.  Amanda Quick shows up again with The Burning Lamp, and Patricia Briggs is still holding on with Silver Bourne.