In My Mailbox: November Ist, 2009

This is my first In My Mailbox post.  It's a cool meme from The Story Siren. You can find more information on it here: http://www.thestorysiren.com/2007/12/in-my-mailbox.html. I have so many cool books to tell you about, plus a neat non-book package that came in my battered mailbox during the last week and a half or so. After this I'll stick to what comes each week.

First, I used an Amazon gift certificate for the following books:
Be Mine Tonight (The Brotherhood of Blood, Book 1)by Kathryn Smith
The Scent of Shadows (Sign of the Zodiac, Book 1)by Vicki Pettersson
Legacy (Anna Strong Vampire Chronicles, Book 4) by Jeanne C. Stein
Hunting Ground (Alpha & Omega, Book 2) by Patricia Briggs
Embrace the Night (Cassandra Palmer Series, Book 3) by Karen Chance

I've read Hunting Ground and Embrace the Night out of this last already, and need to review them.

I won a writing mini-pack from Eleni Konstantine, who's been having these cool interviews with writers on the value of critique partners and other words of wisdom. You can read them here: http://elenikonstantine.com/  I had to practically wrestle my daughter to the ground to keep the pen. I won because well, she's only nine and I'm bigger:)

Next, I bought these I bought on ebay for a good price.
Crimson City by Liz Maverick
Stray by Rachel Vincent
Skykeepers by Jessica Andersen

I've read Stray and Skykeepers so far, and loved both. Yes, they are my "Review or Die" list. (As fast as I read I need more motivation than just "To Be Reviewed".)

On Day 10 of  the Bitten by Books  contest, 31 Days of Dark Delights, I won When Ghosts Speak by author Mary Ann Winkowski. A note on this book: I've never been a fan of nonfiction paranormal books, so instead of reading and reviewing this myself, I had an ephinany. My son belongs to a small group called Zombie Defense and Paranormal Studies. Once a week they meet and discuss and/or debate all things paranormal. He told me about half the kids think zombies, vampires and such are cool, but not real. The other half believes some of these things could exist. I gave them the book to have their first book discussion. They will meet next week, and look it over together then discuss it. Cool, huh?

I joined PaperBackSwap.com, and the first book I chose was Fantasy Lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon. The series has been recommended to me SO many times that I had to get it started.  I finished the first book, but I think I will wait to review until I read more of the books, and get a good feel for the series.

My Goal This Week: Review Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series plus her anthologies.

~Moonsanity

What I'm Reading This Week

This week I am finishing up my third read of Lover Awakened by J.R. Ward. I love this book more every time I read it. If you haven't read this series and like your paranormal romance on the edgy side with some sarcasm thrown in, you should pick up Dark Lover, the first book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series.

Two books I ordered from ebay were in my mailbox today. Crimson City by Liz Maverick and Stray by Rachel Vincent. I'll start Stray next after I finish Lover Awakened tonight.

I also joined Paperback Swap yesterday after finally hearing so many good things about it that I couldn't resist. Some books I won't part with, but I have a lot of paperbacks that just didn't make my "Keeper Shelves". I have the first two swaps packaged and ready to go to the post office tomorrow, plus I ordered two for myself. I put in for Full Moon Rising (Riley Jenson, Guardian, Bk 1) by Keri Arthur and Fantasy Lover (Dark-Hunter, Bk 1) by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Since I started reading paranormal romance later than most readers, I have a lot of catching up to do on series like these.

I will try to post reviews this week of several books/series that I've read recently.

I'm hanging out at the Barnes and Noble website this week where J. R. Ward is the featured author. It's set up as a forum where fans can ask questions, and she answers them, or not, depending on what they are trying to squeeze out of her:) It's here: Barnes and Noble Center Stage from 10/19-10/23: http://www.bn.com/centerstage

~Moonsanity