Fantasy Dreamer's Ramblings

Putting my blog on hiatus is something I've been contemplating for several months now and things have reached a point where I have to make a decision. A very hard decision. I have come to the sad decision to hang up my blogging gloves for awhile. Over the last several months my desire to blog has slowly been ebbing away, my blogging mojo has disappeared. There are many reasons, both good and bad, for why I’ve started feeling this way but I don’t want this post to be rant. Regardless of the reasons why, the end result is that I just want to be a reader for awhile. Maybe after some time off I'll feel refreshed or maybe I won't. Either way I need to put this blog on hiatus indefinitely.

Like I said this hiatus has been a very difficult decision for me to make because mainly this blog has been an outlet for me to shout out to world about books. I have loved voicing my thoughts and excitements over books, and this blog has let me do just that. Blogging has also introduced me to people all over the world who love reading as much as I do. There are so many book peeps I want to say thank you to and mention but this sad post would go on forever if I tried. So, I'll keep it short and give a shout out to the following bloggers who have had the most impact on my blogging. Thank you:

A Buckeye Girl Reads, Anna's Book Blog, Book Addict, Book girl of Mur-y-Castell, Closetwriter, E.H. on Books and More, Leontine's Book Realm, Lily's Bookshelf, Lovin' Me Some Romance, Michelle's Book Review Blog, mis(h)takes, My Blog 2.0, Romance Book Wyrm and Smokin' Hot Books are some of the most sincere book bloggers I met. If you haven't visited them before, head over and introduce yourself. They are just terrific book peeps and you can expect nothing but completely honest and unfiltered love for books at these blogs.

All Things Urban Fantasy – Abigail compiles a weekly roundup around the blogosphere on giveaways centered mainly around Urban Fantasy and YA on Wednesdays. She also has monthly post on new releases that she keeps updated.

Dark Faerie Tales – Angela’s my go-to-blogger for new and upcoming books. She has the knack for find these books months in advance of release.

Literary Escapism – Jackie posts regularly on the happenings in and around the book world, her blog is where it's at for finding what's happening and where.

SciFiGuy.Ca – Doug has a great Urban Fantasy Weekend post and conducts some of the most interesting author interviews.

Stumbling Over Chaos – Chris has a Thursday Linkity post that always has a ton of information mainly about book but includes a little of everything and she is one of the most friendly blogger I've met.

I'll still be around from time to time visiting you all because I’m not going to let the friendships I’ve made this past year fade away. And if any of you hang out at Goodreads, please come and friend me at Goodreads. Goodreads makes it so easy to stay in touch and have quick chat session outside of blogging.

A huge thank you to every one of you who are reading this post, for the fun times and opening my eyes up to new worlds in books. Take care and may your reading adventures take you to wonderful, exciting new worlds.

Best wishes,
Donna

Vintage Soul by David Niall Wilson
The DeChance Chronicles #1 
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Formats: Hardcover & eBook, 233 pages
Published: December 9, 2009 by Five Stars
ISBN: 978-1594147579
Received From: Author in eArc format
Read Chapter One

Donovan DeChance is a collector of ancient manuscripts and books, a practicing mage, and a private investigator. When, despite the finest in natural and supernatural security, a sexy and well-loved, three hundred year old lady vampire is kidnapped right out from under her lover's nose, Donovan is called in to investigate.

He soon finds that there is much more to the case than a simple abduction when an unknown intruder invades his home and steals a very rare, very ancient manuscript.  There will be no ransom for the kidnap victim, and if Donovan doesn't prevent an ancient, forbidden ritual from reaching its culmination, far more than a single vampire's undead existence will be at stake.

Calling on his lover and partner, Amethyst, and an odd assortment of contacts, informants, and connections, Donovan follows the ghostly trail of the kidnapper through a winding maze of intrigue-always a step behind-through magical battles, murders, and confrontations with a rogue band of young vampires intent on beating Donovan at his own game.

My Ramblings:

Vintage Soul was a quick, entertaining read filled with magical elements that moves along a good pace with only a few slow spots and a slight touch of romance. The magical aspects of this novel are written in vivid details, making it easy enough for the reader to imagine the scenes. The vamps are your typical strong cold-blooded, beautiful creatures except they have a penchant for drinking aged liquor with a drop or two of distinguished individuals' blood. They considered this type of drink a rare delicacy. By reading the first chapter of this book you get a glimpse of this savoring by the vamps. The mages and wizards, who can be human or preternatural creatures, are capable of being very powerful and brimming with magic, giving the story a touch of malicious mystery.

I haven't read any of the books in the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher but I have watched the TV series that's based on these books, and Vintage Soul reminded me very much of this show since the main character Donovan DeChance is wizard like Harry Dresden plus the urban backdrop of the story is parallel to the Dresden Files. That being said Vintage Soul wasn't a very deep read and I don't mean this in a bad way. Usually, I find that first books in a series are more often than not bogged down with back story but this isn't the case here. Wilson left a lot up to reader to imagine for his main characters; the story is told in a here and now tone from various characters with not a lot of information to form an opinion on or give depth to the main characters. Since this is the first book in The DeChance Chronicles, hopeful there will be an expansion on character backgrounds in future novels.

My Rating:

Places you can find David: Web Site/Blog | Twitter

Other Ramblings:

• Fantasy Literature
• Goodreads
• Patricia's Vampire Notes 
• Sara's Urban Fantasy Blog

#8 Sara M

Thank you everyone for stopping by and entering the giveaway. The winner has been notified by email.

Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr
Wicked Lovely #4
April 20, 2010 by HarperCollins
Hardcover, 352 pages
Amazon | B&N

Places you can find Melissa: Web Site | Blog | Twitter | Fan Forum

Wicked Lovely Series: 
  1. Wicked Lovely
  2. Ink Exchange
  3. Fragile Eternity
  4. Radiant Shadows - April 20, 2010

Summary:

Hunger for nourishment.

Hunger for touch.

Hunger to belong.

Half-human and half-faery, Ani is driven by her hungers. Those same appetites also attract powerful enemies and uncertain allies, including Devlin. He was created as an assassin and is brother to the faeries’ coolly logical High Queen and to her chaotic twin, the embodiment of War. Devlin wants to keep Ani safe from his sisters, knowing that if he fails, he will be the instrument of Ani’s death.

Ani isn’t one to be guarded while others fight battles for her, though. She has the courage to protect herself and the ability to alter Devlin’s plans—and his life. The two are drawn together, each with reason to fear the other and to fear for one another. But as they grow closer, a larger threat imperils the whole of Faerie. Will saving the faery realm mean losing each other?

Alluring romance, heart-stopping danger, and sinister intrigue combine in Melissa Marr’s next volume of Melissa Marr’s New York Times bestselling Wicked Lovely series.

Radiant Shadows Book Tour:

April 22nd – Denver, CO
Tattered Cover Book Store @ 7 PM

April 23rd – Lexington, KY
Joseph-Beth Booksellers @ 7 PM

April 24th – St. Louis, MO
St. Louis County Library @ 7 PM

April 26th – Boston, MA
Cambridge Public Library, Cambridge, MA @ 7 PM

April 28th-May 2nd – Columbus, OH
Romantic Times Convention

May 12th – Cleveland, OH
Joseph-Beth Booksellers @ 7 PM

May 14th – Philadelphia, PA
Chester County Book Store, West Chester, PA @ 7 PM

May 15th – Richmond, VA
The Fountain Bookstore @ 2 PM

I've kind of fell off the blogging radar these past couple of weeks but for good reason. First of all, my husband is now going to be home in the evenings. Yay for me! I know your probably thinking "Yeah, so?" Well, in the twelve years my husband and I have been together this has never happened. He has always had work in the evenings. So needless to say, I'm enjoying something that a lot people take for granted and I'm having a blast. It's kind of like we're dating again.

The bad news, Lola, our hyper-active boxer, had surgery a week and half ago on her back hind leg, and has 12 stitches. She had a build up of bone spurs caused from repeatedly jumping straight up in the air(she looks like a kangaroo when she does this) and high speed running for long periods of time. So taking care of her requires a lot of attention, especially since she isn't allow to run and jump like she use to. Even after she heals, the vet doesn't want us to let her run and jump like she had in the past. How we are going to accomplish this, I have no clue other than taking her on long walks to help get rid of a bit of her high volume of energy.

Work has also ramped up for me but this is good...you know the whole "idle hands" thing.

I'm still reading but I just haven't had a lot of time to dedicate to my blog to talk about it. But I'm not giving up on this blog, however things are going to slow down here and I know I won't be posting as much. I'm stilling going to be hanging out at my favorite blogs, just not as much as I use to. While this makes me a bit sad, I have to admit that I'm really enjoying my evenings with the family right now. Hopefully, I'll find sometime kind balance/rhythm soon.

Oh, and I'm also thinking about taking up Kayaking. Here in the next week or so we are going to rent some kayaks and see how we like it. I live within a few blocks of a lake, so this would be a perfect sport to invest in. I'm so excited about it!!

Anything new happening with any of you? I would love to hear it!

Twice Dead by Kalayna Price 
Haven, Book 2
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Format: Paperback, 266 pages
Published: 02/12/2010 by Bell Bridge Books
ISBN: 978-0984325672
Received From: Bell Bridge Books as an eARC

Summary:

Kita is adjusting to her new liquid diet--an adjustment she rather resents. Not that everything was chocolate and sunshine before (though both were possible before the sexy but infuriating Nathanial sank his fangs in her business). Kita's ability to shape shift into a kitten when her peers shifted into lions and tigers complicated her life, to say the least, but getting stuck in one form--that of a human shaped tick, a.k.a. a vampire--sucks, literally. Her adjustment period is violently interrupted when she discovers a headless corpse during a party for a visiting vampire council. But, the headless dancer won't be the only corpse she encounters.

Kita's involvement draws the attention of the Collector, an ancient vampire with an inclination to acquire two things: power and oddities. As a pureblood shifter turned vampire, Kita ranks high on the collectability list--not a safe place for anyone who values her freedom, and Kita is not the only one on the list. But with the body count rising, there is more at stake than freedom. A killer is slithering through the underbelly of Haven's vampire community, and with the supernaturals dealing in unnamed favors, it's a bad time to be a kitten who can't slip her skin.

My Ramblings:

Twice Dead is the second book in the Haven series, and it has upped the ante on this series with a suspenseful storyline filled with many “seat on the edge of your seat” moments. The plot moved at an exciting but much smoother pace and a lot more was explored in the vampire realm along with a healthy dose of mage magic thrown in.

Kita is only several weeks into her new life as a vampire, trying to adjust to it and the fact that she may not be able to shift anymore. If that isn’t stressful enough, it seems she has attracted the attention of two very powerful vampires. One is Tatuis, the head of the vampires in Haven and the other is known as the Collector, who is the head of vampires visiting from another region. The Collector likes to collect unique and rare individuals, and what could be rarer than a pureblood shifter turned vampire? But things don’t bode well for Kita when she discovers a headless and bloodless harlequin from the Collector’s entourage, and must be presented to the Collector for questioning.

This time around, I found Kita is be more my type of Urban Fantasy heroine. She seemed more pliable and opened to the friends surrounding her. I also found myself enjoying her sarcastic brand of humor. And I could only admire her fierce need for independence. The romantic tension between Nathanial and Kita revives up a notch but only to a level that Kita is at least willing to recognize it. I think the romance here will be dragged out a bit and I can only hope that it will pick up in future books.

There were several memorable character but one I really liked was Gil. Gil is an apprentice mage, who has made Kita her pet project for class and she kept popping in on Kita at the most inopportune moments, which livened things up quite a bit. Gil’s whimsical personality and her aptitude to rub Kita wrong, in funniest of ways, lighten the dark mood of novel in the best of ways.

I’m definitely looking forward to the next book in this series. I tried to find some information on it but unable to find any specifics other than there will be more novels in the Haven series.

Twice Dead is fine, fast-paced follow up Once Bitten in the Haven series and I can see this series moving fast into being a favorite among Urban Fantasy readers.

My Rating:

Places you can Find Kalayna: Web Site | Blog | Twitter | Facebook

Haven Series:

1. Once Bitten – My Review
2. Twice Dead
3. TBA

Other Ramblings:

• Books Books and more Books
• Fantasy Literature
• Smexy Books 

Once Bitten by Kalayna Price 
Haven, Book 1
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Format: Paperback, 272 pages
Published: 01/09/2009 by Bell Bridge Books
ISBN: 978-0980245394 
Received From: Purchased

Summary:

Kita Nekai, on the run and the smallest of her shifter clan-a calico cat among lions and tigers-is being hunted. She was expected to accept her role as her father's successor whether or not her cat was up to the task of leading the clan. She disagreed. Now she's less than a step ahead of the hunters, bone-tired, cold, and living hand-to-mouth in the city of Haven. And that's the high point of her day. She's also drugged, "accidently" turned into a vampire, and sentenced to death for recklessly creating a rogue shifter who tortures its human prey. She's got seventy-two hours to find the rogue, evade a city full of hunters, prove she's not responsible for the rogue, and keep the vampire council from killing her. All while sorting out an apprentice mage, a married ex-boyfriend shifter-hunter, and the vampire who made her.

My Ramblings:

Once Bitten was a quick, enjoyable story and is an interesting beginning to a new Urban Fantasy series that shows a lot of potential. The universe consists of shifters, vamps, mages and much more. The combination of all these preternatural characters and the unique attributes that Kalayna Price gives them was entertaining plus they gave the story elements of surprise.

The story was filled with a lot of action and just a couple slow spots but for the most part I really enjoyed the pace set in this book. After I read the summary, I was very curious to find out what would happen to a shifter turned into vampire. The reason being because most vampires remain in the state that they turned so I wanted to find out how things would shape up for Kita. Would she be a hybrid vampire-shifter? Or would she be frozen at the age and shape she was in when she was turned, forever without the ability to shift again?

Kita herself is very strong willed and at times too stubborn for her own good. This stubbornness leads to much mayhem throughout the story and was a bit of an aggravation point for me at the beginning. The bits and pieces of Kita’s past is slowly leaked into the story and eventually I could understand why she is the way she is. It would’ve been better to know some of this a little sooner in the story.

The other characters in the story added a feeling of companionship between Kita and themselves, even when Kita was trying to avoid the friendship offered. There are subtle hints at a possible romance but the story is mainly centered on Kita finding the rogue shifter before her 72 hour reprieve runs out.

Once Bitten is just the tip of the iceberg in the Haven series; there were many tidbits throughout the story that alluded to a much deeper universe that begs to be explored. I did go on to read the next book in the Haven series, Twice Dead and I can vouch that is does live up to that suggestion of more. That review will be up next.

My Rating:

Places you can Find Kalayna: Web Site | Blog | Twitter | Facebook

Haven Series:

1. Once Bitten
2. Twice Dead
3. TBA

Other Ramblings:

• All Things Urban Fantasy
• Fantasy Literature
• Literary Escapism
• Patricia's Vampire Notes
• SciFiGuy.ca
• Wendy's Minding Spot