Review: Friday Night Bites by Chloe Neill

Friday Night Bites: A Chicagoland Vampires Novel
Author: Chloe Neill
Publisher: NAL Trade
Trade Paperback, 357 pages

Summary: "So now my "master," the centuries old, yet gorgeously well-preserved Ethan Sullivan, wants me to reconnect with my own upper class family and act as liaison between humans and vampires—and keep the more unsavory aspects of our existence out of the media. But someone doesn't want people and vamps to play nicey-nice—someone with an ancient grudge." ~Merit

Note: To read my review of the first Chicagoland Vampires book, go here.

I want Merit and Mallory to be my best friends. They have the kind of friendship every girl wishes for in life. They are sisters of the heart, kindred spirits and nothing can come between them, not even vamps or magic. Reading Friday Night Bites, the second Chicagoland Vampires book, was like visiting old friends again. I was able to catch up on Mallory's hot romance with uber sorcerer Catcher, and her adventures in magic. I caught up on Merit's struggles to figure out how she feels about Morgan, the funny, warm and sexy master of the Navarre House and Ethan the sexy, hot, stick up his butt, master of the Cadogan House.

Friday Night Bites is another great read from Chloe Neill that makes me want to kill for the third book in the series. Really, Ms. Neill, did you have to leave us hanging like that? That's okay though, because you gave us new friends, new enemies and some surprises along the way. What more can we ask for in a book? You even gave us some hot, steamy scenes that had me yelling "Come on Merit, JUST DO IT". I get a little wrapped up in your books, as you can tell.

Who do I recommend should read Friday Night Bites? I first must clear up a misconception that it's a young adult novel. Ms. Neill does have another series that is YA and starting in 2010(Firespell January 2010), but the Chicagoland Vampires series is an urban fantasy. I recommend that fans of Patricia Briggs and Ilona Andrews read the Chicagoland Vampires series. One quote I ran across compared it to an urban fantasy Nancy Drew and this is so true, if you add in the hot vampires and sorcerers. Merit can sniff out a devious plot and catch the perpetrator in a few fell swoops. Lastly, I must say one of my favorite things about Merit is her love of food; fast food, fancy food, comfort food, or just plain ole pizza. She's a girl after my own heart.

~Moonsanity

Hot Review: Burning Alive by Shannon K. Butcher

Burning Alive: The Sentinel Wars
Author: Shannon K. Butcher
Publisher:Onyx
Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages

Summary: For too long, Helen Day has been haunted by visions of her own death, surrounded by flames as a dark-haired man watches her burn. So when she sees the man of her nightmares staring at her across a diner, she attempts to flee--and ends up in the man's arms. There, she awakens a force more powerful and enticing than she could ever imagine.

I bought a copy of Shannon K. Butcher's book Burning Alive because I had heard good things about her, and it was a paranormal romance, which I love. To start off my review, I want you to read the first sentence of Chapter 1:

The man who was going to stand by and watch while Helen burned to death liked his coffee black.

Burning Alive starts off with a bang, no waiting around for the heroine to meet the main characters, no back story, or prologue. It's right from the frying pan into the fire, and we do have fire. A lot of fire. Then we have the simmering heat between the hero Drake, and the heroine Helen. The author had me sweating and they hadn't even kissed yet! The amazing thing about this book is between the action, the hot romance and the twists in the plot, it never slows down, but the author has still given depth to the characters. In other words, the character development didn't suffer because of the action or the romance. It was a perfect mix of all three components, and a great read.

I have to say a little bit about the characters in Burning Alive. Besides the two main characters I just loved these characters and I think you will too:

Miss Mabel: She's a Senior Citizen with a feisty sense of loyalty and a walker that makes grown men run in terror.

Lexi: Smart and sexy with a secret to hide.

Zach: Wise cracking and intense.

Thomas: Brooding, sad and angry but protective.

Logan: Beautiful and manipulative with an agenda of his own.

Keep in mind, these aren't even the main characters, who are equally fascinating. I really loved Burning Alive and would highly recommend it to fans of J.R. Ward, Lara Adrian, Gena Showalter or Kresley Cole. I am looking forward to more books in the series, and I have the second one, Finding the Lost, on order already.

Burning Alive: The Sentinel Wars is available from Amazon.

You can read Chapter One of Burning Alive here:
http://www.shannonkbutcher.com/index.php?id=19


~Moonsanity

Teaser Tuesday: Friday Night Bites

I've been meaning to join in on this meme from Should Be Reading for awhile now because I am always reading a book, and love to share. For this meme I am suppose to do the following:

-Grab your current read
-Open to a random page
-Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

I am reading Friday Night Bites: A Chicagoland Vampires Novel. I loved the first book in the series and reviewed it here. I opened FNB to page 78:

"Merit, any truth to the rumor that you're seeing Morgan Greer?"

Okay, now we were back on track. Justice be damned if there was sex to discuss.

*snicker* As you can see Merit is still getting into trouble:) If you'd like to read more teasers head on over to MizB's blog here.

~Moonsanity

Christmas Quotes & a Spike Fix

Ah, we are in the midst of the Christmas season, and I thought "What could I share with my paranormal buds?". First I have some snarky and odd quotations, then I have a Buffy & Spike montage to the song Our Love Will Dry Out on Christmas by the group The Electric Diorama. Enjoy:)

Once again we find ourselves enmeshed in the Holiday Season, that very special time of year when we join with our loved ones in sharing centuries-old traditions such as trying to find a parking space at the mall. We traditionally do this in my family by driving around the parking lot until we see a shopper emerge from the mall, then we follow her, in very much the same spirit as the Three Wise Men, who 2,000 years ago followed a star, week after week, until it led them to a parking space. ~Dave Barry

Tom Servo: A pentagram, and reindeer laughing. YOU figure it out.
~Mystery Science Theater 3000" Santa Claus (1993)

THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO, before the dawn of man as we knew him, there was Sir Santa of Claus, an ape-like creature making crude and pointless toys out of dinobones and his own waste, hurling them at chimp-like creatures with crinkled hands regardless of how they behaved the previous year. These so-called "toys" were buried as witches, and defecated upon, and hurled at predators when wakened by the searing grunts of children. It wasn't a holly jolly Christmas that year. For many were killed.

~Robot from Aqua Teen Hunger Force- Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future (2002)



~Moonsanity

Christmas Coolness

I realized today that I haven't posted anything at all about Christmas. This is odd since I am a twinkle light lover. My tree is in front of me as I type this with four strands of white lights and ornaments I've had 25 years or longer mixed with handmade ornaments, gold pinecones and golden apples. I love the holiday season. I thought it would be fun to list some cool holiday contests around the book blogging world. (Each link opens a new window.)

The Twelve Blogs of Christmas
From The Neverending Shelf Ends 12/31
Enter Here

A Paranormal Christmas Contest
From Book Bound, Ends 12/24
Join in on the fun with a scramble game-
Enter Here

12 Dayz of Blogmas
From JoJo's Book Corner, Ends 12/23
12 Authors Interview and 12 giveaways!
Enter Here

Twisted Christmas Contest
From The First Novels Club, Ends 12/25
Win Hush, Hush and Fallen!
Enter Here

I'll post more later, but everyone is yelling at me to get out of my pajamas so we can go Christmas shopping!

~Moonsanity

Review: Bitter Night by Diana Pharaoh Francis

Bitter Night: A Horngate Witches Book
Author: Diana Pharaoh Francis
Publisher: Pocket
Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages

Summary: Once, Max dreamed of a career, a home, a loving family. Now all she wants is freedom…and revenge. A witch named Giselle transformed Max into a warrior with extraordinary strength, speed, and endurance. Bound by spellcraft, Max has no choice but to fight as Giselle’s personal magic weapon — a Shadowblade — and she’s lethally good at it.

I won a my copy of Bitter Nightin a contest last month. I didn't know anything about the book, but I loved the cover, and it was endorsed by Patricia Briggs and Rob Thurman, two of my favorite authors. I finished it today and was it ever a page turner, to put it mildly. The author has the action scenes written so well, that I couldn't think of putting the book down in the middle of one. "What did you say? You're hungry? Where's dinner? It will have to wait til the end of this chapter. Have a cookie!" Yes, it was that good.

Max is a female warrior who protects the witch who binds her. She's the best at what she does. Her team is devoted to her, and the witch needs her. Max only wants one thing: revenge. She feels trapped and considers her job as a warrior to be slavery. Though she is bitter,as the title suggests, she's also loyal to those around her, not wanting anyone to suffer needlessly. The book could have been very dark and without hope, but it's not. The author has created a unique world and presents it to us along with Max's story. She weaves it together in such a way that we learn about the world and Max at the same time without any confusion.

The characters in Bitter Nightare not predictable, and they are described so well that I could picture them in my mind clearly, quirks and all. In some series it takes awhile to understand the characters, to identify with them and their place in the bigger picture, especially when it's a new and unique world. Bitter Night sucked me right in from the start and made it hard to stop reading. Of course, sarcasm was rampant. As I always say, a good warrior has to have a wicked tongue and butt kicking weapons.

I would recommend Bitter Night to fans of Jim Butcher, Ilona Andrews, Patricia Briggs and Jocelynn Drake. It's a fast paced urban fantasy with a lot of great action, rich characters and a unique world of witches, angels and warriors.

You can read the first chapter here:
http://www.dianapfrancis.com/horngate-witches-books/bitter-night/

Diana also has a slew of short stories that I'm reading right now on her website. You can read them here: http://www.dianapfrancis.com/short-fiction/

~Moonsanity

The Hard Part of Writing?

I've been playing around with fiction for a few months now, since starting this blog. Deep down I know that I can do it. I've been writing for a very long time, and I've been told over and over that people can identify with me. I don't talk down to my readers and they appreciate it. That feedback has been the same for over twenty years, but it pertains to my non-fiction writing. I love that people can relate to me, and like me. So, what's the problem? I'm still not sure I can write the type of fiction I love. Why can't I write a story about afternoon tea in the garden, or a mother and daughter growing an herb garden together? Some days I feel like I'm two people. There is the down to earth, gardener, cook and mom who loves tea sets, roses, herbs and country living. I like her. But then there is this other person inside me. The one who owns the Buffy the Vampire Slayer DVDs. The one who's read every Terry Goodkind book, and loves to see good kick evils butt all the over the place. The one who loves those sexy vampire warriors J.R. Ward writes about, and the one who wants to hang out with paranormal romance writers and readers.

I'm wondering if there is a way to join my two halves so I can write something with the style my non-fiction readers love, but use the ideas in my head that involve kicking butt and taking no prisoners. Is that even possible?

What do you think?
~Moonsanity