Stacking The Shelves [86]

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page!

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Hey everyone! I don't have many books to share with you this week since the Holidays are approaching, and what I've been purchasing isn't for myself, but gifts for others. However, I did manage to go to the library and pick up a few books. I've been hooked on historical novels recently, which is quite obvious by what I chose.

Borrowed

Heart of Brass by Kate Cross

Lady and Her Magic by Tammy Falkner

I have these books temporarily stacking my shelves. What did you add to your shelves this week?

[inlinkz_linkup id=350826]

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by Tynga at Saturday, December 14, 2013

 Stacking The Shelves  13 People left their mark

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Amazing Kindle Deals

I got an amazing selection of kindle deals to fill your ereader for the holidays! Don't miss this opportunity :)

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by Tynga at Friday, December 13, 2013

 Great Deals  Leave your mark

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Captive: The Forbidden Side of Nightshade by A.D. Robertson

Sarah is setting off to an extremely dangerous mission. She is to sail to a mysterious island from which no one comes back. The Keepers are keeping something valuable on this island, and she must find out what it is. Unfortunately, she was caught right as she finished climbing the rocky cliff and no part of her training could've prepared her to this fate.

Captive: The Forbidden Side of Nightshade is an adult spin-off series of the Nightshade world, initially a young adult series, written under the pen name Andrea Cremer. Andrea had a thing for steamy scenes that weren't appropriate for a younger audience and The Forbidden Side of Nightshade series was born. If I am not completely mistaken, it also takes place twenty years or so before Nightshade.

I kind of have mixed feeling about this novel and I'll try to tell you all about it as clearly as possible ^^ Let's get the negative out of the way, shall we? One element I am not sure about is how miss Robertson introduced the lore in her adult series. Having read the first two books in the Nightshade series (admittedly a long time ago...) I had a good idea of what I could expect, yet I have to admit I was a little bit confused at first. I am not sure someone diving into this world for the first time would be able to fully grasp the gravity of the situation between Keepers, Searchers, and Guardians, and their origins.

Another element bothering me is the time table. The whole novel happens over the course of a week, give or take, and it's 'enough time' for Sarah and Tristan (her kidnapper/jailer) to fall madly in love, and for one of them to betray their side. I am quite aware this is fiction, mind you, but it's just way too fast to be anywhere near believable. Her being a virgin also interferes, in my mind at least, with the quick flammable sexual interactions between the two of them.

If, accent on the 'if', I completely ignore the timeline, I actually enjoyed their flourishing relationship. Tristan is bored and lonely and Sarah is the only interesting thing happening to him for as far as he can remember. He is completely enthralled by her and would do anything to keep her. Despite his questionable actions, namely keeping her hostage, he treats her kindly and he is sincerely, genuinely attracted to her, which I appreciated. Sarah's falling for him was harder for me to grasp (Stockholm syndrome anyone?) but I understand the romantic/sexual appeal of such a  situation in a romance novel.

The plot line was pretty straight forward, without that many bumps in the road. The whole thing revolved around their growing relationship and the only suspense really was to figure out which one of them would leave their old lives behind.

I grew particularly fond of Seamus, the leader of the Guardian pack protecting Tristan, and the closest thing he has to a friend on this secluded island. I loved his personality, his 'spunk' and his sense of humor. His strong loyalty toward Tristan was also commendable. I also really liked Sarah's maid. The girl was shy and scared, but she became a friend to Sarah and she stepped up her game when the time came.

The end was fashionably action-packed and turned out to be satisfying. The actual very end felt like a bomb and the revelation somewhat shocked me. I truly didn't expect it and I loved the connection to the Nightshade series. It might not have to same effect on someone who hasn't read the YA series, but I got a nice jaw-dropping moment lol

Overall, this novel was a good read and if I ignored the small flaws, I had an enjoyable ride. I'll be honest, I haven't decided yet if I'll keep on reading this series, but it's definitely worth a try :)

Read an excerpt

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by Tynga at Friday, December 13, 2013

 A.D. Robertson, Adult, Dutton, Erotica, Forbidden Side of Nightshade, Magic, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance, Penguin, Publisher, Review, Shifter  Leave your mark

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Shadowlands by Kate Brian

I've had my eye on this book for a while. The great majority of reviews I have seen for it have been overwhelmingly positive and many friends have promised me that this is a unique tale that'll easily grab my attention. Unfortunately, I can't say I fully understand why this book is so greatly adored. While admittedly a quick read that I got through in a single day, the characters were flat, the plot was predictable, and the overall story reminded me more of a bad teen horror story than a novel by a hugely adored author.

Initially, I thought that was going to be an amazing book. The very first chapter is the attempted killing of Rory Miller by the famous serial killer Steven Nell. To make matters even more interesting the chapter is told from his perspective. It was so chilling that I can only describe it as creepily cool. It kept me excited and on my toes. But, shortly after, all of my hopes were dashed because most of the story is told from Rory's perspective. Her bland, slow, uneventful and normally frustrating perspective. It's like I lived for those random chapters told by Nell's perspective that were scattered throughout the book, even though all of them were shorter than two pages. His creepiness resonated with me so greatly, and it's sad to think that Rory's plight had such a small emotional impact on me in comparison.

However, the overall creepiness of the book just didn't have an impact on me either. I'm normally one that can easily be scared to the point of not sleeping for the night, but I barely batted an eye with this one. It almost felt like some of the scenes were taken right out of a bad horror movie. To make matters worse, some aspects of the story and the investigation were just hard to believe. For example, Steven Nell is supposed to be this genius that has eluded the FBI for over a decade, but wouldn't the FBI be able to detect someone right under their nose? Shouldn't they prove to be somewhat of an obstacle if the killer wanted to contact his mark? If turning to the witness protection program, wouldn't they want to protect their victims more? Oh, and the most obvious thing ever...wouldn't a brilliant serial killer know never to act around a large group of people because it will always backfire? Cases like this are constantly occurring in the book. It frustrated me because I wanted to shake the characters and ask why they aren't acting nearly as smart as they claim to be. It seemed like common sense rarely made an appearance in this novel.

Rory's family is similar to the cliche broken young adult family that is often found in novels these days. Her father is still suffering five years after the loss of his wife to cancer. This loss tore the family apart. Darcy, Rory's older sister, is incredibly materialistic and shallow, which also made her frustrating. While they're sisters and they can't help but love each other, I felt no inclination to like Darcy at all. She's not painted in a decent light therefore she isn't that likable. However, Rory's father goes through some great character growth throughout the book that I really enjoyed. My one other issue with characterization is that everyone was so flat I tended to have trouble keeping everything straight. And, to make matters worse, this book pretty much felt like a parade of hot guys. It was hot guy after hot guy after hot guy that were all hot in different ways. Relationships felt more shallow and physical than emotional. I can see a budding romance, but I don't think it shows any true promise since the male Rory is interested in likes to keep secrets and is rather sketchy. But, hey, he's hot!

In the end, I know a lot of people enjoyed this one. Heck, I can't even count the people who I know disliked this one on one hand. I'm simply the black sheep in this case because this book just wasn't for me. While the big twist at the end leaves me curious about book two, I'm not in any hurry to continue this series for myself. However, I recommend this to mystery thriller fans who like a hint of paranormalcy that makes an appearance at the end of the book. Its presence is heavily promised in the rest of the trilogy, too.

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by Tynga at Thursday, December 12, 2013

 Borrowed, Disney Hyperion, Fantasy, Kate Brian, Mystery, Review, Shadowlands, Thriller, young adult  3 People left their mark

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Her Dark Curiosity by Megan Shepherd

"Genius or madness-- it all depends on who's telling the story."

       The Madman's Daughter was one of the most promising books of 2013, but it ultimately let me down. I hoped that Her Dark Curiosity would raise the bar and that it would be a vast improvement over it's predecessor. Much to my disappointment, Her Dark Curiosity takes almost everything I loved about The Madman's Daughter and sacrifices these elements for an extremely ridiculous and unnecessary love triangle. This is not a retelling of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by any stretch of the imagination, it's merely an illogical romance that left me rolling my eyes.

Her Dark Curiosity is riddled with plot holes, there's so much left unanswered and Shepherd doesn't even attempt to answer any of my questions. How did both Edward and Montgomery end up in London? Juliet never gives a thought to the fact that both guys are supposed to be trapped on the island and have miraculously returned. What a coincidence! There are too many moments where things just magically seem to fall into order easily. Not to mention, the fact that there are blatant errors in terms of the biology that Shepherd is referencing in this book, the science in Her Dark Curiosity is faulty and illogical at best.

The plot in Her Dark Curiosity is majorly lacking and the romance is the only force that truly keeps the plot from reaching a stalemate. There is way too much emphasis on the romance and Shepherd unsuccessfully uses the romance to forward the plot. I don't care for Edward or Montgomery at all, I truly don't see anything appealing about either romantic interest. Both guys are extremely untrustworthy, duplicitous, and lack moral decency; both guys seem to act like they can control Juliet at times and this really bothered me. Juliet  kept on striving to create this facade where she was this strong-willed, powerful woman and yet, she let Montgomery and Edward push her around like a rag doll. Usually, I favor at least one character in a book's love triangle, but I couldn't care less about the romantic ventures of the trio in the slightest bit.

Megan Shepherd is extremely adept at creating a creepy, gothic atmosphere and compelling readers to continue reading about Juliet. Even though I wasn't interested in the plot of this book, I kept reading just for Shepherd's vivid, spooky imagery. Her Dark Curiosity really needed a big dose of creepy, macabre elements; I truly missed the peculiarities of Moreau's island and I yearned to read something that was idiosyncratic. Megan Shepherd is so talented at writing horror, both subtle and blatant, in the Madman's Daughter series and I really wish there was more of an emphasis on madness and other quirks of Juliet.

The last portion of the book is the most exciting part of the entire novel, but it is still rather dull. I really was curious to see what classic Shepherd would be retelling in book, but truthfully, it's so obvious what novel Shepherd was going to tackle from the get-go. I didn't see the conclusion coming at all, but then again, I was so disinterested in Her Dark Curiosity that it didn't leave an impression on me. I'm so over this series at this point and I can't really glean any excitement for book #3, but I have a feeling my dark curiosity will get the best of me and I will end up reading it.

Her Dark Curiosity is one of the most disappointing sequels I've read to date and it failed to deliver. I really wish The Madman's Daughter had been a stand-alone because as a series, it is extremely ineffective and frivolous. I could care less about the wretched love triangle and I'll be reading the 3rd novel just to see how this series ends. I have really high hopes for Shepherd's upcoming series, The Cage and I really hope that I enjoy more than Her Dark Curiosity.

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by Tynga at Wednesday, December 11, 2013

 Balzer amp; Bray, Edelweiss, Gothic, Harper Collins, Historical, historical fiction, horror, megan shepherd, Mystery, Paranormal Romance, Publisher, Retelling, Review, The Madman's Daughter  1 Person left their mark

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"When I'm not writing" with Mark Henry + giveaway

Our guest today is the incredibly funny Mr. Mark Henry! You may be familiar with his Amanda Feral zombie novels published by Kensington, or his YA books under the name Daniel Marks. He's on tour right now to celebrate his new series, which kicks off this fall with PARTS & WRECK, the first of what will hopefully be many Parts Department novels from Entangled Covet.

I hear a lot of writers talk about their work as the great love of their life, that thing they “have to do” like breathing or sex, and I love writing to, it’s fun, I enjoy it, but it’s not my “Great Love.” That’d be cooking. My mother was a great cook in her day and as an only child, she’d have me with her most all of the time, teaching me everything she knew and lots of stuff that to an outsider would have seemed far beyond my capabilities. Spice combinations, technique, the difference between baking soda and powder, that kind of thing. By the age of nine, I was the resident bartender at my parents cocktail parties. Shit, it was the seventies, don’t make that face.

So I cook. It comes natural and I do it every day. I love it. It’s how I relax and think. I set up my laptop on the kitchen table with my work-in-progress open to whatever it is I’m tinkering at and start my mise en place (despite being a professional writer, I have no idea how to put those little accents where they need to go on French words). I’ve come up with some pretty amazing plot twists while cooking. It’s calming, inspirational and, yeah, fattening.

Which brings me to the internet. I’m hugely guilty of producing #foodporn (seriously, follow me on instagram.com/mark_henry. I’d feed you if I could but since you’re probably not living on my street I just have to share when a dish turns out so right. And then the recipe requests come…

Here’s one that I always get requests to reveal. It’s easy-ish and a really quick fix if you realize (on the day of) that the holiday party you’ve been invited to is actually a cookie exchange. I got this recipe a few years back from Angela James of Carina Press fame and since then I’ve had fun changing it up. It’s super flexible and magically delicious!

CrAcKeR CaNdY

(serves: 24 polite eaters or 1 holiday binge-eater)

1. Preheat oven to 350.


2. Line a jellyroll pan (cookie sheet with a surrounding lip) with tinfoil, coat with non-stick spray. Place a single (tight) layer of crackers (any kind will do, I’ve tried both Saltines and Ritz, Townhouse, whatever). If you use a round cracker, break up some pieces to fit in the bare spots of pan.


3. In a saucepan, combine 1 and ½ sticks of salted butter and 1 and ½ cups of brown sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring over medium high heat. When the mixture is rolling in the pot, pour it gently and evenly over the crackers. Spread it around but don’t worry about getting it perfect.


4. Bake for 5 -10 minutes until the whole thing is bubbling and evenly spread. Remove and add two cups of candy chips. Traditionally, semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips are used, but I find that semi and butterscotch is my go-to. You can use any variation, white chocolate, peanut butter, whatever, as long as it’s chips.


5. Crumble top. You can use a cup of crumbled crackers, nuts, crushed candy canes. Whatever. It’s going to taste amazing.


6. Refrigerate pan until it’s set. Break up into single servings or just eat the whole damn thing like the pig you are!!!

You will not regret making this! Oh wait, yes you will, because it’s like crack and by the end of the day you’ll be shirtless, covered in chocolate and laying on the floor with an empty pan promising sexual favors for more.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

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Thanks so much for visiting us, Mark! I'm definitely going to try out this recipe!

Check out the links below for more Mark or click on the banner for other tour stops:

Website | Facebook | Twitter

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Here's the scoop on PARTS & WRECK:

Wade Crowson, a brutish and brooding playboy and veteran vivisectionist for the Parts Department, runs into more than he bargained for in new partner, Lucid Montgomery, a quirky beauty with a bizarre secret and a string of psychiatric diagnoses she tries hard to keep hidden.

Loving Luce will stamp a demonic target on her back and thrust Wade into a frenzied whirlwind of hilarious misunderstandings and, quite possibly, a stripping gig for emptynesters. Can they withstand the savagery of an exorcism (with or without the split pea soup) and come out alive and …in love?

Read an excerpt (scroll down)

Purchase: Amazon

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Mark and Entangled Publishing are giving away a whole mess of stuff: signed copies of his adult and YA books and PDFs of some of his work!

Follow the Rafflecopter instructions to enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Do you guys have suggestions for who you’d like to see featured on the blog? If so, you can make your suggestions on this page. No guarantees that your favourite authors will be able to participate but we’ll try!

Authors, would you like to visit  us? Please email me at jenn (at) tyngasreviews (dot) com and we’ll set it up!

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by Tynga at Tuesday, December 10, 2013

 Entangled, giveaway, Mark Henry, When I'm not writing  6 People left their mark

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