It's Monday! What are you reading? #6

"It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?" is weekly meme hosted by Book Journey. This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

I am currently reading:


1. Alchemist of Souls by Anne Lyle
2. Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

I recently finished:


1. Coveted by Shawntelle Madison (2.5-3)
2. Persephone by Kaitlin Bevis (2.7-3)


3. Daire Meets Ever by Alyson Noel (3.5) (No review. It was just 4 pages)
4. Volcanoes by Nicole Hamlett (3...Review will be posted on Dec. 7th)
5. Oath of Servitude by C.E. Wilson


I will be reading soon:


1. Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel
2. Merchant of Dreams by Anne Lyle

*Clicking on the covers will direct you to Goodreads and clicking on book titles will take you to my review of it if there's one available.

Showcase Sunday #4

Showcase Sunday's aim is to showcase our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders this week. This Sunday meme is hosted by Book, Biscuits and Tea. Click the link to find out how to join in.


In the Mail


1. ICED by Karen Marie Moning
2. Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter


Amazon Kindle Freebies
Some books may not be free now


1. The Gates by Rachael Wade
2. Samael's Fire by L.K. Rigel
3. The Sweetest Torture by Amanda Bonilla


1. Taming the Vampire by Chloe Hart
2. Blood, Smoke and Mirrors by Robyn Bachar
3. Moonlight by Tim O'Rourke


1. Sworn by Emma Knight
2. Doorways by Tim O'Rourke
3. Ignite by Kaitlyn Davis

And a few more...

For Review


1. Coveted by Shawntelle Madison (Author request)
2. Persephone by Kaitlin Bevis (through YA Bound)

Teaser Tuesday #8: When We Collide by A.L. Jackson

...............Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read.
• Open to a random page.
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page.
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers
...............
This week I chose...

Teaser Tuesday #7: Devil's Bargain by Rachel Caine

...............Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read.
• Open to a random page.
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page.
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers
...............
This week I chose...

Teaser Tuesday #6

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read.
• Open to a random page.
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page.
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! ...............

Title: Ember
Author: Jessica Sorensen
Series: Death Collectors #1
Publisher: Borrowed Hearts Publishing
Pub. Date: August 29th 2012

The teasers:

"I wiggle my foot, trying to slip it out of my boot. His hands move higher up my leg, just below my knee. My fingertips scrape the brick as they dig down to hold onto the edge."

GoodReads/Author's Blog/Amazon

About the book:

What if you knew when someone was going to die?

For seventeen-year-old Ember, life is death. With a simple touch, she knows when someone will die. It’s her curse and the reason she secludes herself from the world. The only person who knows her secret is her best friend Raven.

Then she meets Asher Morgan. He’s gorgeous, mysterious, and is the only person Ember can't sense death from. So when he pushes into her life, she doesn’t mind.

But when unexplained deaths start to haunt her town, Ember starts questioning why she can’t sense Asher's death and what he may be hiding.

Shelf Candy Saturday #7: "The Midwife of Venice"

This is a meme where the designer, photographer and/or illustrator of a favorite cover is featured is hosted by A Night's Dream of Books. I loved the idea since I always want to read a book when the cover is gorgeous. Bad habit, I know!
---------------------------
This week I'm going to be featuring different versions of the cover of a historical fiction novel, The Midwife of Venice by Roberta Rich.

US Cover


UK Cover


Bulgarian Cover


This one, and variations of it, are used in a few editions.

The version of the ebook I have (one with a US cover) gives credit to Jaya Micelo for the cover design, but I didn't find any results with that name. Instead Google kept suggesting Jaya Miceli. It also credits the landscape image to Roy Rainford.

About the book:

A rollicking, fast-paced historical novel set against the richness and squalor of sixteenth-century Venice and Malta.

Hannah ha-Levi, a midwife in the Jewish ghetto, is known throughout Venice for her skill in midwifery. When a Christian count appears at Hannah's door imploring her to attend his labouring wife who is near death, Hannah's compassion is tested. Not only is it illegal for Jews to render medical treatment to Christians, it's also punishable by torture ... and death. But Hannah cannot turn down the money. With such a handsome sum, she can save her own husband, Isaac, who was captured at sea and taken to Malta as a slave of the Knights of St. John. Aided by her "birthing spoons" — rudimentary forceps she invented to help with difficult births — will Hannah be able to save mother and child? And if she can, will she also be able to save herself?

Woven through Hannah's travails is the story of Isaac's life as a captive slave in Malta. Fearing that his wife has perished in the plague, he pins his hopes of returning home to Hannah on his talent for writing love letters that melt even the hardest of hearts.

What I like about the cover:

I love how literal the cover is. There is a woman and a view of Venice, which in some of the covers is set as background. I wish I could choose just one favorite among them, but the different takes are all gorgeous.

Book Beginnings Friday

Book Beginnings is a Friday book meme hosted by Rose City Reader. All you have to do is share the first sentence of the book you are currently reading and your first thoughts about or anything else the you might come up with from just that first sentence. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.

Title: Torn
Author: H.M. Ward
Series: Demon Kissed
Publisher: Laree Bailey Press
Publishing Date: November 2011

Ivy's life is torn apart when her plan to save Collin goes horribly wrong. Having descended into the deepest pits of Hell, she risks everything to save him, but nothing could have prepared her for what she encounters. Weak and wounded, Ivy must overturn her dark destiny and face the possibility that she may lose true love forever.

"Sometimes a single decision can result in a cascade of actions that you never intended."

My thoughts:
This is one of my favorites series right now. The second book ended in a huge cliffhanger, so I really can't wait to see will happen in this one!

Waiting on Wednesday # 6: "Breathe"

Waiting on Wednesday is meme hosted by Breaking the Spine. It showcases upcoming releases that you are just dying to sink your teeth into.

This week I'll be featuring:

Title: Breathe
Author: Sarah Crossan
Series: Breathe #1
Publisher: Greenwillow
Expected Pub. Date: October 2, 2012

GR ● Author

Inhale. Exhale. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe . . .

The world is dead.

The survivors live under the protection of Breathe, the corporation that found a way to manufacture oxygen-rich air.

ALINA has been stealing for a long time. She’s a little jittery, but not terrified. All she knows is that she’s never been caught before. If she’s careful, it’ll be easy. If she’s careful.

QUINN should be worried about Alina and a bit afraid for himself, too, but even though this is dangerous, it’s also the most interesting thing to happen to him in ages. It isn’t every day that the girl of your dreams asks you to rescue her.

BEA wants to tell him that none of this is fair; they’d planned a trip together, the two of them, and she’d hoped he’d discover her out here, not another girl.

And as they walk into the Outlands with two days’ worth of oxygen in their tanks, everything they believe will be shattered. Will they be able to make it back? Will they want to?

Shelf Candy Saturday #6: "Dance of Shadows"

This is a meme where the designer, photographer and/or illustrator of a favorite cover is featured is hosted by A Night's Dream of Books. I loved the idea since I always want to read a book when the cover is gorgeous. Bad habit, I know!
---------------------------
This week I'm going to be featuring a cover which I think it's gorgeous! As you may also notice, I seem to be developing a fixation for covers with red and black.

Title: Dance of Shadows
Author: Yelena Black
Series: Dance of Shadows, #1
Publisher: Bloomsbury U.S.A. Children's Books
Designer: Natalie Shau
deviantart
Website

Why I like it:

Besides the cover being completely enthralling, I love how it portrays the book's name, "Dance of Shadows". She's literally dancing in a dark, smokey and shadowy place. I also love the way her red dress disintegrates into rose petals which go upwards just in the direction her gaze is concentrating on. Her pose seems to convey, she's in a dancing thrall or probably dancing under the huge burden of having to carry the family legacy since there's no joy in her face as she moves.

I checked out Natalie Shau's other works and they are equally amazing, some even more.

About the book (from GR):

"Vanessa Adler isn’t so sure she really belongs at the School of American Ballet. But dance runs in her family. It’s been a part of her life for as long as she can remember. Her grandmother and mother were prima ballerinas, and her older sister Margaret was, too. That is, until Margaret mysteriously disappeared from school three years ago. Vanessa is heir to the family’s gift and the only person who can fulfill her sister’s destiny. She has no choice.

But she never could have guessed how dangerous the school is. The infamous choreographer, Josef, isn’t just ruthless with his pupils, he guards a sinister secret, one in which the school’s dancers—prized for their beauty, grace, and discipline—become pawns in a world of dark, deadly demons."

Book Beginnings Friday #3

Book Beginnings is a Friday book meme hosted by Rose City Reader. All you have to do is share the first sentence of the book you are currently reading and your first thoughts about or anything else the you might come up with from just that first sentence. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.

Title: Remembrance
Author: Michelle Madow
Series: Transcend Time Saga, #1

"It was at the Halloween dance that I got the first glimpse of my past life."

My Thoughts:

This might turn out to be good. The only part of the book I've read is the preface, but the content in it was enough to make me want to know more about what is going to happen in the story.

About the book (from GR):

"Lizzie Davenport has been reincarnated from Regency Era, England ... but she doesn't know it yet.

Then Drew Carmichael transfers into Lizzie's high school at the beginning of the year, and she feels a connection to him, almost like she knows him. She can't stop thinking about him, but whenever she tries talking with him about the mysteries behind her feelings, he makes it clear that he wants nothing to do with her. Reaching him is even more difficult because she has a boyfriend, Jeremy, who has started to become full of himself after being elected co-captain of the varsity soccer team, and her flirtatious best friend Chelsea starts dating Drew soon after his arrival. So why can't she get him out of her mind?

Even though Lizzie knows she should let go of her fascination with Drew, fighting fate isn't going to be easy."

Waiting on Wednesday #5: Alice in Zombieland

Waiting on Wednesday is meme hosted by Breaking the Spine. It showcases upcoming releases that you are just dying to sink your teeth into.

This week I'll be featuring:

Title: Alice in Zombieland
Author: Gena Showalter
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Expected publication date: September 25th, 2012

About the book (Good Reads):

She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real….

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies…

Teaser Tuesday #5: "Poltergeeks"

...............Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read.
• Open to a random page.
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page.
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! ...............

Title: Poltergeeks
Author: Sean Cummings
Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Expected publication date: October 2nd 2012

My teasers

*Wiccans are a breakaway sect of witchcraft. Like us, they have covens, but they’re more into pagan rituals and practicing ceremonial magic. A true witch is someone born into a family of witches who can trace their lineage back for hundreds of years.

*If martial arts masters have a dojo to practice their craft and train a worthy apprentice, our shed is a supernatural dojo where Mom does everything from experimenting with new spells and potions to teaching me to control my magic; which tends to go a little bit nuts if I blow my concentration.

About the book (from GR):

"15-year-old Julie Richardson is about to learn that being the daughter of a witch isn't all it's cracked up to be. When she and her best friend, Marcus, witness an elderly lady jettisoned out the front door of her home, it's pretty obvious to Julie there's a supernatural connection.

In fact, there's a whisper of menace behind increasing levels of poltergeist activity all over town. After a large-scale paranormal assault on Julie's high school, her mother falls victim to the spell Endless Night. Now it's a race against time to find out who is responsible or Julie won't just lose her mother's soul, she'll lose her mother's life."

Showcase Sunday #2

Showcase Sunday's aim is to showcase our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders this week. This Sunday meme is hosted by Book, Biscuits and Tea. Click the link to find out how to join in.

Giveaway/Mail
I received in the mail a signed paperback copy of "Lacrimosa" by Christine Fonseca, which I won at a giveaway at The Cover Contessa blog. I'll edit the post with pictures of it.

Free Amazon Goodies




Among others...


Note: Book names and covers link to their Good Reads pages.