Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Guest Post and Giveaway with Pamela Palmer

Today Darque Reviews welcomes Pamela Palmer with a guest post and a giveaway sponsored through the nice folks at HarperCollins. Thanks so much for joining us Pamela!

Thanks for having me at Darque Reviews!

The Guest Post:

I’m often asked how I came up with the idea for my Feral Warriors series for Avon Books. Like so many things, it didn’t happen suddenly. The idea didn’t appear, full-blown in my head. In fact, at first, all I knew were the main characters of the first book, which became Desire Untamed -- the girl next door heroine who thought she was human, and the fierce, dangerous male who stole her away for the power she possessed to save his race. I knew they were immortal. But not what kind of immortal.

I’m a huge fan of J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood, Alyssa Day’s Warriors of Poseidon, and Suzanne Brockmann’s Navy SEALs. I love the band of brothers theme, the warrior males bound together by a common cause or a common enemy, and the wonderful interactions between them. I knew I wanted to tell that kind of tale. My warriors were immortal, but what were they?
I’ve always loved the concept of men who could shift into animals, but most shape-shifter books deal with packs and prides and although I love reading about them, that wasn’t the story I had in my head. I finally realized my band of warrior brothers weren’t exactly brothers at all. They were shape-shifters, but not a pack. Not a pride. Each man was the last of his unique line. Each shifted into a different animal. Each went by the name of that animal.

And the Feral Warriors were born.

I adore romance, but I also love a good, fast-paced, high stakes story with nasty, evil villains. So after creating the Feral Warriors themselves, I had to discover their world, their enemies, and the dangerous situation they found themselves in. After all, warriors need a good battle now and then. By this point in my discovery process, the floodgates had opened and the ideas were rushing freely. The Mage, or the magic ones, had always been the rivals and enemies of the Ferals and their shape-shifting race. However, the true villains are the Daemons and their master, Satanan, all of whom were imprisoned eons ago. But evil is rising, dark forces gathering to free Satanan and his Daemon horde, and the Feral Warriors are the only ones who stand between us and the destruction of our world.

Passion Untamed, the third book in the series, just hit shelves today! In Passion Untamed, Paenther is faced with his worst nightmare when he falls for the seduction of a sweet beauty and finds himself chained in a Mage lair, a captive of a witch and her evil companions.

His muscles corded as he fought the chains with every ounce of strength he possessed until his skin was damp with sweat. But the chains didn’t budge. He was pinned fast, his arms trapped above his head, his legs spread and tethered.

Ah, goddess. If only you’d stopped me. There was no fate worse. He’d have sold his soul to have escaped this.

Heaven help him. His soul was probably the very thing the witch wanted. To finish what the Mage had started all those years ago – tearing him loose from his animal once and for all.
He caught her scent, that delicate, damning smell of violets. She stepped into the doorway, the ethereal beauty who’d shown him heaven between her thighs then captured him in her net of bewitchment. Lust slammed into him all over again.

Even as hatred seared its way through his blood, his gaze drank in the sight of her. She was slender, with few curves revealing themselves beneath the soft, shapeless blue dress. But her short hair accentuated a long, graceful neck and features that were too fine, too delicate for a cold-hearted witch.

Mage or not, she stole his breath.

She watched him, her eyes wary, as she gently stroked the rabbit in her arms. At her side, a doe pressed her head against the witch’s hip while several excited squirrels chased one another around her ankles.

He’d thought she was human.

Closing his eyes against the sight of her, he prayed that grave error didn’t turn out to be the last mistake he ever made.

Thanks for the opportunity to join you here and to tell you a little about the Feral Warriors!

It’s been a pleasure to have you here Pamela, thanks so much for sharing your time with us.

You can visit Ms. Palmer’s website to learn more about the Feral Warriors: HERE

Be sure to check out the reviews for the first three Feral Warrior installments: HERE

You can also ‘Browse Inside’ each of these books by visiting their pages at HarperCollins:
Desire Untamed: HERE
Obsession Untamed: HERE
Passion Untamed: HERE

The Giveaway:
To enter for a chance to win a set of the first three books in the Feral Warriors series, please leave a comment on this post. If you can remember the first paranormal romance that got you hooked on the genre, we’d love to here it. If you have a question for Ms. Palmer, she has graciously offered to check-in today and answer them. The winner will be announced on September 1, 2009, so be sure to check back! Good luck, and happy reading.

Kimberly Swan, DarqueReviews.com

Giveaway Winners - The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker

A big thank you goes to Leanna Renee Hieber for for sharing her time here with all of us, to her lovely publicist at Dorchester Pub, and to all of the readers who stopped by for Ms. Hieber's guest post and contest!

The winners of a copy of The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker are:

Daelith

gaby317

Please email me at darquereviews AT gmail DOT com with your mailing info so your books can be sent out to you. :)

Kimberly Swan, DarqueReviews.com

Monday, August 24, 2009

Review - Passion Untamed by Pamela Palmer

A new review has been posted on the website for Passion Untamed by Pamela Palmer. This is the third installment in the Feral Warriors series.
http://darquereviews.com/12612/250812.html

You can also visit the author's page:
http://darquereviews.com/14912/172296.html

Please feel free to share any comments on this book here on the blog post. :)

Kimberly Swan, DarqueReviews.com

Promo - Live Chat with Lev Grossman

Lev Grossman, author of the new fantasy novel THE MAGICIANS and book critic at Time magazine, will be doing a live chat this Wednesday from 12:30pm – 1:30pm EST at Penguin’s Water Cooler site.

If you have any questions for Lev, please tune in. THE MAGICIANS just debuted at # 9 on the New York Times bestseller list, so I imagine many of your readers are currently checking it out. Please let them know about this chat if you think they’d be interested.

Also if you haven’t had a chance to check out http://www.themagiciansbook.com/, please do. There you can see all kinds of added features to the book—an official website for Brakebills, Christopher Plover’s author page and a fan site for the Fillory books.

About the Book:
Quentin Coldwater is a brilliant but unhappy young man growing up in Brooklyn, NY. At 17, he remains obsessed with the fantasy novels he read as a child, set in the magical land of Fillory. One day, returning home from a college interview gone awry, he finds himself whisked to Brakebills, an exclusive college for wizards hidden in upstate New York. And so begins THE MAGICIANS, the thrilling and original novel of fantasy and disenchantment by Lev Grossman, author of the international bestseller Codex and book critic for TIME magazine (Viking; On-Sale: August 11, 2009).

At Brakebills, Quentin learns to cast spells. He makes friends and falls in love. He transforms into animals and gains powers of which he never dreamed. Still, magic doesn’t bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he thought it would, and four years later, he finds himself back in Manhattan, living an aimless, hedonistic existence born of apathy, boredom and the ability to conjure endless sums of money out of thin air.

One afternoon, hung over and ruing some particularly foolish behavior, Quentin is surprised by the sudden arrival of his Brakebills friend and rival Penny, who announces that Fillory is real. This news promises to finally fulfill Quentin’s yearning, but their journey turns out to be darker and more dangerous than Quentin could have imagined. His childhood dream is a nightmare with a shocking truth at its heart.

At once psychologically piercing and magnificently absorbing, THE MAGICIANS pays intentional homage to the beloved fantasy novels of C. S. Lewis, T.H. White and J.K. Rowling, but does much more than enlarge the boundaries of conventional fantasy writing. By imagining magic as practiced by real people, with their capricious desires and volatile emotions, Grossman creates an utterly original world in which good and evil aren’t black and white, love and sex aren’t simple or innocent, and power comes at a terrible price.

About the Author:
LEV GROSSMAN is a senior writer and book critic for TIME magazine and author of the international bestselling novel Codex. He is also the creator of the Time blog Nerd World (http://www.nerdworld.blogs.time.com/). Grossman holds degrees in comparative literature from Harvard and Yale. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Review - Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire

A new review has been posted on the website for Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire. This is the first installment in the October Daye series.
http://darquereviews.com/12612/249912.html

You can also visit the author's page:
http://darquereviews.com/14912/249933.html

Please feel free to share any comments on this book here on the blog post. :)

Kimberly Swan, DarqueReviews.com

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Promo - SF/F/H Book Reviewer Meme - 2nd Edition

A huge thank you to John at Grasping for the Wind for all of his hard work in developing this meme and sharing it with all of us! :)

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


Romanian French Chinese Danish Portuguese German


A





7 Foot Shelves

The Accidental Bard

A Boy Goes on a Journey

A Dribble Of Ink

Adventures in Reading

A Fantasy Reader

The Agony Column

A Hoyden's Look at Literature

All Booked Up

Alexia's Books and Such...

Andromeda Spaceways

The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.

Ask Daphne

ask nicola

Audiobook DJ

aurealisXpress

Australia Specfic In Focus

Author 2 Author

AzureScape



B





Barbara Martin

Babbling about Books

Bees (and Books) on the Knob

Best SF

Bewildering Stories

Bibliophile Stalker

Bibliosnark

Big Dumb Object

BillWardWriter.com

The Billion Light-Year Bookshelf

Bitten by Books

The Black Library Blog

Blog, Jvstin Style

Blood of the Muse

The Book Bind

Bookgeeks

Bookrastination

Booksies Blog

Bookslut

The Book Smugglers

Bookspotcentral

The Book Swede

Book View Cafe [Authors Group Blog]

Breeni Books



C





Cheaper Ironies [pro columnist]

Charlotte's Library

Circlet 2.0

Cheryl's Musings

Club Jade

Cranking Plot

Critical Mass

The Crotchety Old Fan



D





Daily Dose - Fantasy and Romance

Damien G. Walter

Danger Gal

It's Dark in the Dark

Dark Wolf Fantasy Reviews

Darque Reviews

Dave Brendon's Fantasy and Sci-Fi Weblog

Dead Book Darling

Dear Author

The Deckled Edge

The Doctor is In...

Dragons, Heroes and Wizards

Drey's Library

The Discriminating Fangirl

Dusk Before the Dawn



E





Enter the Octopus

Errant Dreams Reviews

Eve's Alexandria



F





Falcata Times

Fan News Denmark [in English]

Fantastic Reviews

Fantastic Reviews Blog

Fantasy Book Banner

Fantasy Book Critic

Fantasy Book Reviews and News

Fantasy Cafe

Fantasy Debut

Fantasy Dreamer's Ramblings

Fantasy Literature.com

Fantasy Magazine

Fantasy and Sci-fi Lovin' Blog

Feminist SF - The Blog!

Feybound

Fiction is so Overrated

The Fix

The Foghorn Review

Follow that Raven

Forbidden Planet

Frances Writes

Free SF Reader

From a Sci-Fi Standpoint

From the Heart of Europe

Fruitless Recursion

Fundamentally Alien

The Future Fire



G





The Galaxy Express

Galleycat

Game Couch

The Gamer Rat

Garbled Signals

Genre Reviews

Genreville

Got Schephs

Graeme's Fantasy Book Review

Grasping for the Wind

The Green Man Review

Gripping Books



H





Hasenpfeffer

Hero Complex

Highlander's Book Reviews

Horrorscope

The Hub Magazine

Hyperpat's Hyper Day



I





I Hope I Didn't Just Give Away The Ending

Ink and Keys

Ink and Paper

The Internet Review of Science Fiction

io9



J





Jenna's Bookshelf

Jumpdrives and Cantrips



K





Keeping the Door

King of the Nerds



L





Lair of the Undead Rat

Largehearted Boy

Layers of Thought

League of Reluctant Adults

The Lensman's Children

Library Dad

Libri Touches

Literary Escapism

Literaturely Speaking

ludis inventio

Lundblog: Beautiful



M





Mad Hatter's Bookshelf and Book Review

Mari's Midnight Garden

Mark Freedman's Journal

Marooned: Science Fiction Books on Mars

MentatJack

Michele Lee's Book Love

Missions Unknown [Author and Artist Blog Devoted to SF/F/H in San Antonio]

The Mistress of Ancient Revelry

MIT Science Fiction Society

Monster Librarian

More Words, Deeper Hole

Mostly Harmless Books

Multi-Genre Fan

Musings from the Weirdside

My Favourite Books



N





Neth Space

The New Book Review

NextRead

Not Free SF Reader

Nuketown



O





OF Blog of the Fallen

The Old Bat's Belfry

Only The Best SciFi/Fantasy

The Ostentatious Ogre

Outside of a Dog



P





Paranormality

Pat's Fantasy Hotlist

Patricia's Vampire Notes

The Persistence of Vision

Piaw's Blog

pornokitsch

Post-Weird Thoughts

Publisher's Weekly



Q





R





Random Acts of Mediocrity

Ray Gun Revival

Realms of Speculative Fiction

Reading the Leaves

Review From Here

Reviewer X

Revolution SF

The Road Not Taken

Rob's Blog o' Stuff

Robots and Vamps



S





Sandstorm Reviews

Satisfying the Need to Read

Science Fiction and Fantasy Ethics

Science Fiction Times

ScifiChick

Sci-Fi Blog

SciFiGuy

Sci-Fi Fan Letter

The Sci-Fi Gene

Sci-Fi Songs [Musical Reviews]

SciFi Squad

Scifi UK Reviews

Sci Fi Wire

Self-Publishing Review

The Sequential Rat

Severian's Fantastic Worlds

SF Diplomat

SFFaudio

SFFMedia

SF Gospel

SFReader.com

SF Reviews.net

SF Revu

SF Safari

SF Signal

SF Site

SFF World's Book Reviews

Silver Reviews

Simply Vamptastic

Slice of SciFi

Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

Solar Flare

Speculative Fiction

Speculative Fiction Junkie

Speculative Horizons

The Specusphere

Spinebreakers

Spiral Galaxy Reviews

Spontaneous Derivation

Sporadic Book Reviews

Stainless Steel Droppings

Starting Fresh

Stella Matutina

Stuff as Dreams are Made on...

The Sudden Curve

The Sword Review



T





Tangent Online

Tehani Wessely

Temple Library Reviews

Tez Says

things mean a lot

Tor.com [also a publisher]

True Science Fiction



U





Ubiquitous Absence

Un:Bound

undeadbydawn

Urban Fantasy Land



V





Vast and Cool and Unsympathetic

Variety SF



W





Walker of Worlds

Wands and Worlds

Wanderings

The Wertzone

With Intent to Commit Horror

The Wizard of Duke Street

WJ Fantasy Reviews

The Word Nest

Wordsville

The World in a Satin Bag

WriteBlack



X





Y





Young Adult Science Fiction



Z





Romanian





Cititor SF [with English Translation]



French





Elbakin.net

Mythologica



Chinese





Foundation of Krantas

The SF Commonwealth Office in Taiwan [with some English essays]

Yenchin's Lair



Danish





Interstellar

Ommadawn.dk

Scifisiden



Portuguese





Aguarras

Fernando Trevisan

Human 2.0

Life and Times of a Talkative Bookworm

Ponto De Convergencia

pós-estranho

Skavis



German





Fantasy Seiten

Fantasy Buch

Fantasy/SciFi Blog

Literaturschock

Welt der fantasy

Bibliotheka Phantastika

SF Basar

Phantastick News

X-zine

Buchwum

Phantastick Couch

Wetterspitze

Fantasy News

Fantasy Faszination

Fantasy Guide

Zwergen Reich

Fiction Fantasy



A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


Romanian French Chinese Danish Portuguese German

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Review - Obsidian Prey by Jayne Castle

A new review has been posted on the website for Obsidian Prey. This is the sixth installment in the Ghost Hunters (Harmony) series.
http://darquereviews.com/12612/248412.html

You can also visit the author's page:
http://darquereviews.com/14912/248433.html

Please feel free to share any comments on this book here on the blog post. :)

Kimberly Swan, DarqueReviews.com

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Review - Storm of Shadows by Christina Dodd

A new review has been posted on the website for Storm of Shadows by Christina Dodd. This is the second installment in The Chosen Ones series.
http://darquereviews.com/12612/247712.html

You can also visit the author's page:
http://darquereviews.com/14912/216875.html

Please feel free to share any comments on this book here on the blog post. :)

Kimberly Swan, DarqueReviews.com

Monday, August 17, 2009

Review - Beloved Vampire by Joey W. Hill

A new review has been posted on the website for Beloved Vampire by Joey W. Hill. This is the fourth installment in the Vampire Queen series.
http://darquereviews.com/12612/246412.html

You can also visit the author's page:
http://darquereviews.com/14912/246433.html

Please feel free to share any comments on this book here on the blog post. :)

Kimberly Swan, DarqueReviews.com

Friday, August 14, 2009

Review - The Prodigal Mage by Karen Miller

A new review has been posted on the website for The Prodigal Mage by Karen Miller. This is the first installment in the Fisherman's Children.
http://darquereviews.com/12612/245412.html

You can also visit the author's page:
http://darquereviews.com/14912/205654.html

Please feel free to share any comments on this book here on the blog post. :)

Kimberly Swan, DarqueReviews.com

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Guest Post - Giveaway - Leanna Renee Hieber

Today I have the pleasure of welcoming Leanna Renee Hieber to Darque Reviews with a guest post. Thanks so much for joining us Ms. Hieber!

*Don’t forget to read the instructions below the guest post to enter for a chance to win one of two copies of The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker!*

The Guest Post:
My favourite thing about the hero of The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker- first in my Strangely Beautiful Gothic Victorian Fantasy series- is this: Clove tea and leather-bound books.

I believe the most evocative, dare I say delicious thing I’ve ever written is how my compelling, enigmatic, ever-so-sexy (otherwise why would I have written him) hero, Professor Alexi Rychman, smells. Before I wax rhapsodic about how intoxicating I find the man, let me set his scene. The year is 1888. London is ghostly and gas-lit. This is the ghostly world in which his tale takes place:

What fortune awaited sweet, timid Percy Parker at Athens Academy? Considering how few of Queen Victoria’s Londoners knew of it, the great Romanesque fortress was dreadfully imposing, and little could Percy guess what lay inside. She had never met the powerful and mysterious Professor Alexi Rychman, knew nothing of the growing shadow, the Ripper and other supernatural terrors against which his coterie stood guard. She knew simply that she was different, haunted, with her snow-white hair, pearlescent skin and uncanny gifts. But this arched stone doorway offered a portal to a new life, an education far from the convent—and an invitation to an intimate yet dangerous dance at the threshold of life and death…

A few months ago author/blogger Lise Horton of my RWA NYC Chapter (http://www.blogger.com/profile/13315265091119634416) gave a fabulous presentation about using sensory input in our stories. This is particularly important when dealing with paranormal universes. Not only is it fun to create and imagine new and unexpected sensory input, but such details can immerse readers in alternate realities and make a book a transporting experience. I find creating the necessary atmosphere, whether realistic or utterly fantastical, a delightful part of the process. During Lise’s presentation I kept thinking of a specific moment in my book. One of my very favourite moments. And in the end, this detail isn’t supernatural at all. I’ll show you. The setting:

Nineteen year old Miss Percy Parker, feeling freakish in her ghostly-white skin has fled from the uncomfortable social trauma of the Athens Academy ball and into a darkened, abandoned foyer where she dances alone. Professor Rychman, helplessly intrigued by her, silently follows, and time stops a moment to allow them this encounter...

From The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker...

Suddenly, Percy realized that she’d never before been so terribly alone. Tears sprang forth, and she let them come.

“Now, now, Miss Parker, what’s this?” a voice scolded from behind.

Percy whirled at the familiar, stern sound. A figure broke from shadow, clad in an elegantly tailored frock coat trimmed with ornate embroidery, and a white silk cravat. His black hair was combed neatly, framing that noble, stoic face at which Percy had spent countless hours staring. Percy’s heart throbbed in her throat.

“Oh, Professor! Good evening!” She nearly coughed out her words, feeling all grace drain away, cut to the quick by his unexpected appearance. She tried to bat away her tears but his firm hand caught her pale, lace-covered fingers. He took her hand, their entwined fingers bridging the cold chasm between their bodies.

“May I have this dance, Miss Parker?”

“Oh … of course, sir.” A blush bloomed ferociously in her cheeks but she was helpless to stop it.

As his hand grasped hers, she examined his full lips, which had just enough curve to make his expression inviting. There was just enough light in those dark eyes to make Percy wholly forget about breathing, and without words or even a nod he drew her hand to his side. He slid his opposite hand around layers of smooth lavender satin and placed the fullness of his palm assuredly upon her waist.

Percy’s hand flew to his shoulder, alighting like a lark on a branch. She saw his nostrils flare, as if he took in the intoxicating scent of the heather she wore, and if her mind did not play tricks he stared at her as if she was his peer. But her mind did play tricks, and these were dangerous thoughts.

They began to waltz—slowly at first, their circles precise and narrow, their gazes locked. Percy, who had already memorized the professor’s features, now savored each pore, crease and eyelash. The study of his sculpted lips forced her to close her eyes or else, truly, her knees would have buckled. In turn she knew she was being parceled; but from him, she welcomed the scrutiny.

Their bodies were one with the music, and Percy found she didn’t have to think about the correct steps any longer. In and out of the moonlight they floated, silent save for the deft clicks of their heels, the whispers of the music rising from below and the occasional sigh escaping Percy’s lips. Their orbit grew, expanded. Her sighs grew into giggles and laughs.

Professor Rychman spun her, and Percy swept fully against him, lingering there for just a moment. Her face brushed his chest and she took a deep breath. He smelled faintly of clove tea and leather-bound books. She did not want to remove her cheek from the thick black lapel of his jacket; she could have nestled in that warm darkness indefinitely. Perhaps, at least, until class. A giddy scream welled up inside her. This was surely a dream…

(end of Excerpt)
---

Scent is one of the most powerful senses to evoke memory and emotion. For me, having this real, small yet absolutely knowable sensory detail, amidst the improbable and vast spectral universe of the Strangely Beautiful world, has remained critical to me. It anchors me to Alexi, as I journey forward with him as I write his future books. I always have a cup of clove tea by my side when I write, to keep him near.

I very much appreciate the opportunity to be here at Darque Reviews and I hope you’ll love Alexi, Percy and The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker as much as I loved writing it! Blessings!

Leanna Renee Hieber

Thank you so much for joining us Leanna! I wish you the best with The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, and hope to see more in the Strangely Beautiful series soon!

You can visit Ms. Hieber’s website: HERE

You can read a review for The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker: HERE

You can visit her author page on Darque Reviews: HERE

The Giveaway:
To enter for a chance to win one of two copies of The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, please leave a comment on this post. I’d love to hear what draws you to reading books with a historical setting. Two winners will be chosen on release day, August 25, 2009, so be sure to check back to see if it was you! Good luck, and Happy Reading!


Kimberly Swan, DarqueReviews.com

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Review - The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber

A new review has been posted on the website for The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber. This is the first installment in the Strangely Beautiful series.
http://darquereviews.com/12612/240775.html

You can also visit the author's page:
http://darquereviews.com/14912/240880.html

Please feel free to share any comments on this book here on the blog post. :)

*Be sure to stop by Tuesday (August 11, 2009) for a guest post and book giveaway with the lovely Ms. Hieber!*

Kimberly Swan, DarqueReviews.com

Review - Moon Kissed by Michele Hauf

A new review has been posted on the website for Moon Kissed by Michele Hauf. This is the second installment in the Wicked Games series.
http://darquereviews.com/12612/240754.html

You can also visit the author's page:
http://darquereviews.com/14912/183222.html

Please feel free to share any comments on this book here on the blog post. :)

Kimberly Swan, DarqueReviews.com

Review - Witch Craft by Caitlin Kittredge

A new review has been posted on the website for Witch Craft by Caitlin Kittredge. This is the fourth installment in the Nocturne City series.
http://darquereviews.com/12612/240817.html

You can also visit the author's page:
http://darquereviews.com/14912/149459.html

Please feel free to share any comments on this book here on the blog post. :)

Kimberly Swan, DarqueReviews.com

Review - Trick of the Light by Rob Thurman

A new review has been posted on the website for Trick of the Light by Rob Thurman. This is the first installment in the Trickster series. *STARRED READ*
http://darquereviews.com/12612/240796.html

You can also visit the author's page:
http://darquereviews.com/14912/240901.html

Please feel free to share any comments on this book here on the blog post. :)


Kimberly Swan, DarqueReviews.com

Review - Laced with Magic by Barbara Bretton

A new review has been posted on the website for Laced with Magic by Barbara Bretton. This is the second installment in her Sugar Maple, Vermont series.
http://darquereviews.com/12612/240733.html

You can also visit the author's page:
http://darquereviews.com/14912/240838.html

Please feel free to share any comments on this book here on the blog post. :)

Kimberly Swan, DarqueReviews.com

Review - Beyond the Rain by Jess Granger

A new review has been posted on the website for Beyond the Rain by Jess Granger.
http://darquereviews.com/12612/240712.html

You can also visit the author's page:
http://darquereviews.com/14912/240859.html

Please feel free to share any comments on this book here on the blog post. :)

Kimberly Swan, DarqueReviews.com

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Author News - Charlaine Harris - NY Times Bestseller List

An Unprecedented Nine Titles - Eight Paperbacks and One Hardcover - On List Simultaneously

New York, NY (August 5, 2009) - Berkley Publishing Group author Charlaine Harris, the bestselling writer of the Sookie Stackhouse novels that are the basis for HBO's hit television show True Blood, makes an impressive showing on the August 9th, 2009 New York Times Bestseller List with each of the nine books in her series appearing on the list simultaneously.

Eight of the Sookie Stackhouse titles are currently available in paperback and will appear on this Sunday's mass market fiction bestseller list in the following positions:

#5 Dead Until Dark (Ace Books, 2008)
#6 From Dead to Worse (Ace Books, 2009)
#8 Club Dead (Ace Books, 2003)
#9 Living Dead in Dallas (Ace Books, 2002)
#11 Dead to the World (Ace Books, 2005)
#12 Dead as a Doornail (Ace Books, 2006)
#13 Definitely Dead (Ace Books, 2007)
#15 All Together Dead (Ace Books, 2008)

Dead and Gone (Ace Books, 2009), the ninth and most recent book in the series, will hold the #11 slot on this weekend's New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller list. The hardcover debuted at #1 on the May 24th bestseller list and has spent a total of 12 weeks (and counting) on the list.

This unprecedented showing comes on the heels of Harris's recent appearance at Comic-Con International in San Diego, CA where she met fans and signed hundreds of books. About 800 fans showed up in hopes of scoring one of 150 tickets to Charlaine's afternoon autographing session on July 24th. The excitement continued the next day when Harris participated in a panel discussion with the cast and creator of True Blood. Harris answered several fan questions and thrilled the audience of 5,000 with the announcement of a new three book contract, promising that Sookie Stackhouse's adventures will continue into 2014.

About the Sookie Stackhouse seies:
The Sookie Stackhouse series began in 2001 with the publication of Dead Until Dark. Not a traditional mystery, nor pure fantasy or romance, Dead Until Dark and its sequels broke genre boundaries to appeal to a wide audience of readers. Each subsequent book about the telepathic barmaid and friend to vampires, werewolves, and various other odd creatures, has drawn more readers. There are currently more than 10 million copies of the nine-book series in print in the U.S.- a number that is growing exponentially each week.

About the Author:
Charlaine Harris has been a published novelist for over twenty-five years. A native of the Mississippi Delta, she now lives in southern Arkansas with her husband and family. In addition to the Sookie Stackhouse series, Harris also wrote the Aurora Teagarden and Lily Bard mysteries and is currently working on the Harper Connolly mystery series.

For more information about Charlaine Harris, visit her website at www.charlaineharris.com.

For more on HBO's True Blood series, visit www.hbo.com/trueblood.

Penguin Group (USA) Inc. is the U.S. member of the internationally renowned Penguin Group. Penguin Group (USA) is one of the leading U.S. adult and children's trade book publishers, owning a wide range of imprints and trademarks, including Berkley Books, Dutton, Frederick Warne, G.P. Putnam's Sons, Grosset & Dunlap, New American Library, Penguin, Philomel, Riverhead Books and Viking, among others. The Penguin Group is part of Pearson plc, the international media company.
http://www.penguin.compenguin/

Kimberly Swan, DarqueReviews.com

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Promo - Book Blogger Appreciation Week 2009

Did you know that My Friend Amy and the BBAW staff have been hard at work on this year’s Book Blogger Appreciation Week? If you haven’t yet had the chance, be sure to stop over there to put in your nominations and/or register your blog!

You can enter your nominations (before August 15, 2009): HERE

You can register your blog (before August 15, 2009): HERE

As I didn’t really have a chance to participate last year, I’m going to answer the meme questions for those who didn’t participate:

1) What has been one of the highlights of blogging for you?
‘Meeting’ other readers who love books as much as I do.

2) What blogger has helped you out with your blog by answering questions, linking to you, or inspiring you?
Marta Acosta (author and blogger) from Vampire Wire was one of the first bloggers to link to my reviews, and she never ceases to amaze me with all that she accomplishes.

3) What one question do you have about BBAW that someone who participated last year could answer?
In what ways did your participation in last years BBAW change your blogging experiences?

Happy Reading!

Kimberly Swan, Darque Reviews

Monday, August 3, 2009

Review - The Fire King by Marjorie Liu

A new review has been posted on the website for The Fire King by Marjorie Liu. This is the ninth installment in the Dirk & Steele series.
http://darquereviews.com/12612/238133.html

You can also visit the author's page:
http://darquereviews.com/14912/193980.html

Please feel free to share any comments on this book here on the blog post. :)

Kimberly Swan, DarqueReviews.com

Review - The Magicians by Lev Grossman

A new review has been posted on the website for The Magicians by Lev Grossman.
http://darquereviews.com/12612/238154.html

You can also visit the author's page:
http://darquereviews.com/14912/238175.html

Please feel free to share any comments on this book here on the blog post. :)

Kimberly Swan, DarqueReviews.com

Review - Obsession Untamed by Pamela Palmer

A new review has been posted on the website for Obsession Untamed by Pamela Palmer. This is the second installment in the Feral Warriors series.
http://darquereviews.com/12612/238112.html

You can also visit the author's page:
http://darquereviews.com/14912/172296.html

Please feel free to share any comments on this book here on the blog post. :)

Kimberly Swan, DarqueReviews.com