Dark Time: UF With a Twist, or Two or Three

Dark Time:
Mortal Path Book 1
Author: Dakota Banks
Publisher: HarperCollins/Eos
Paperback, 320 pages

Summary: In the 17th century, a woman is ripped from her husband's arms, thrown in jail, and then set afire as a witch. Saved from the flames by an ancient Sumerian demon, she becomes the Black Ghost, his Ageless assassin gifted with otherworldly skills and superbly trained in martial arts.Centuries pass before Maliha Crayne finds a way out of the life she hates. If she achieves a balance between lives taken and lives saved, she'll break the demon's hold on her. If she fails, she will suffer the demon's torment ... forever.

I bought my copy of Dark Time a few months ago because I loved the cover. Yes, I'll admit that I do that from time to time. I didn't know much about the author when I bought it, but later kept hearing good things. I plucked it out of my huge TBR pile, and ended up loving the story as much as the cover.

It's hard for me to put Dark Time into a specific genre because it has elements of dark urban fantasy, horror, crime thriller and an international intrique element. Don't get me wrong, these elements all work for this book. It's fast paced, yet detailed and complex at times. The back cover talks about Maliha Crayne, the heroine, but it takes a bit before she becomes that woman who kicks ass and stops evil. Let's face it, not many people are born to fight evil. I appreciate that Maliha has a past that started out like most women, though in a much earlier time. She is forced into a situation by circumstances that easily could have turned her evil to the core, but instead she struggles to hold on to what she believes is right.

Ms. Banks has a unique style. She reminds me of a paranormal Tom Clancy. I know you are saying "What, are you crazy?". Let me explain. My dad passed along every Tom Clancy book ever written to me through the years. Those early books with Mr. Clark, a mysterious hardass with mad skills, were great. Dakota Banks' characters remind me of those in many ways, as do her great action scenes and her attention to detail. I hope she takes this as a compliment because I certainly mean it as one.

For those of you curious, yes, there is a little romance in Dark Time, but not in the traditional sense of most paranormal romance books. Maliha's life is a little too complex for traditional relationships, but that doesn't mean she doesn't crave love and passion. She also allows herself some friendships, which end up adding a wonderful element to the book.

I loved Dark Time, the first in the series, and can't wait until August when the second one is released. If you like Marjorie M. Liu I think you will really enjoy the Mortal Path series.

Dakota's books are available at Indie Bound, Powell's Books and Amazon.

~Moonsanity

Oh My, We Have a Winner!

Using the handy dandy Random Number Generator I chose a winner for Radiant Shadows, a Wicked Lovely Book by Melissa Marr. The winner is:

Shirley

I have emailed her, and she has a week to respond with her information. Thanks for entering everyone!

~Moonsanity

Kindle Reading on the Road

On the way to Florida and on the way home I read my Kindle between interesting sights. I'm a fast reader and got through some great books. These are the titles I read in June:

Crux: Southern Arcana, Book 1
Crossroads: Southern Arcana 2
Both by Moira Rogers

Out of Darkness ARC
by Anne Patrick

To Hunt a Sainte
Westlake Enterprises
by Marie Harte

Soul Catcher
by Leigh Bridger

No Longer Mine
By Shiloh Walker

Wolf Flight
by Vivan Arend

The Wicked Kiss
by Trina M. Lee

I think they are all worth reviewing individually, so I will make my goal to review all of them by the end of July. The cool thing about each of these is they are great summer reads at good prices. I loved reading my Kindle in the car, but I also read it at night, and I took it to the beach too. I still love reading physical books, and at home I tend to read those more, but for travel the Kindle is perfect.

~Moonsanity

I Have Returned From the Rain Forest

Well, I guess technically it was Florida, but it felt like the rain forest. They had record temperatures at least one of the days we were there, and the rest were hot and humid. Yikes, I thought I was going to melt, but I didn't. We spent 7 days at Disney, and then drove up to Pensacola and made our way home from there. It was a lot of fun, and I'm glad we went.


This is Emily and I in the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids play area. That is a bug belly or something bug related. I was delirious from the heat and can't remember.


This is my husband Chuck and I on the Dinosaur ride. See, I have vertigo, so it's a no go on the roller coasters. However, I managed to ride the flying carpet, the dinosaurs, and of course the teacup ride (below), though the spinning on that did bother me. I was a brave soul and managed to smile and have fun. *snort*.


I really enjoyed the Mexico area at Epcot with the cool Day of the Dead puppets and dolls and the Mexican pottery:




Lastly, here are my three kids on our last day at Disney. Tired, cranky and yet they managed a smile for mom. Angry Teen is on the left, then Emily our Fairy Kid, and finally 17 year old Psuedo Emo Teen who will be graduating next year. The time has flown by since the three of them were born:)

~Moonsanity

Gothic Goodness from Apocalyptica

I've featured Apocalyptica on the blog before. They are a Finnish orchestral rock band that plays cello unlike you have ever heard before. Their music is awesome to write to, very inspiring in a gothic sense:)

7th Symphony, the new album from Apocalyptica, is set to be released August 24th, 2010 in North America. The cover is absolutely stunning!



From the Apocalyptica newsletter:
The first single, “End Of Me”, is featuring Gavin Rossdale, best known as vocalist of the British alternative rock band Bush. The album also features a number of other notable guest performances: Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo plays on "2010", "Bring Them To Light" features Joseph Duplantier, singer and guitarist of the French death metal band Gojira, "Broken Pieces" is a cooperation with Flyleaf singer Lacey and "Not Strong Enough" is sung by Brent Smith (Shinedown).

~Moonsanity

Reading on the Road: Day One

We left for Florida this morning around 8:30 after staying the night at my in laws, so we are officially "on the road". I figured out something very cool a couple of months ago. I've never been able to read a book while riding in a vehicle, but I discovered that reading my Kindle does NOT bother me! The last few weeks I've loaded it up with e-books to entertain me on our Road Trip. I thought it might be fun to blog each day on what I'm reading and the music we are listening to on our trip. My husband and I are in our van with Angry Teen and Psuedo Emo Teen. My in laws are in their car with my ten year old who has the back seat to herself and has proclaimed herself Princess of the Road. (This, by the way, is NOT a good thing.).

Today I started off Crux: Southern Arcana, Book 1 by Moira Rogers. I finished it somewhere in Kentucky (our road trip started off in Michigan). I was able to read a lot today because until we got farther into Kentucky the scenery was much like Michigan. Tomorrow I'll watch out the window more often. Today though I was sucked into Moira Rogers world of Southern Arcana and loved it. If you all have not read this series, you need to because it's paranormal romance with fast paced action, amazing characters and steaminess that had me captivated. Seriously, the ride seemed SO much shorter while reading...amazing. I read about 5 chapters of the second book in the series, Crossroads, and so far it's just as good!

Road Trip Playlist for Today:

Weezer:
Self Titled Red Album

Foo Fighters:
Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace

Led Zeppelin:
Early Days

My Chemical Romance:
Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge

Good Charlotte:
Young & The Hopeless

Shinedown:
Us & Them

A Day to Remember:
Since U Been Gone:
Awesome Cover Song & Video!
(Off Angry Teen's iPod Touch)

I'll try to post every day, or every couple of days depending on the connection, time, etc.

~Moonsanity

Radiant Shadows Contest & Review

Radiant Shadows
A Wicked Lovely Book
Author: Melissa Marr
Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Harper Collins
Available at Indie Bound, Powell's Books, Barnes & Noble

Summary: 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?

I was sent a copy of Radiant Shadows for review after having read and reviewed the first book in the series Wicked Lovely (review here). In some ways, I enjoyed this book even more than I did the first one. Devlin is a fascinating other worldly character who struggles to understand human emotion as he gets to know Ani. She, on the other hand, is learning about her fae side, and what that means. In many ways they are opposites, and yet they need each other. Melissa Marr has this extraordinary voice in her writing that somehow makes me feel as if I'm in the world she's created and part of it. Though the characters are foreign to me, I can relate to them and feel their emotions along with them. Her books really are breathtaking.

Radiant Shadows, for me, was about acceptance, forgiveness of others and ourselves, and learning to appreciate the differences in those around us. We are not all the same and that makes life so very interesting. I loved that Devlin and Ani both had to look inside themselves for the solutions to problems within their worlds. This book is a love story but it's also filled with action, adventure and magic, which makes it so much more.

I've already picked up Ink Exchange which has many of the characters that are in Radiant Shadows, so I can get to know them better.

I did want to mention, as I did with Wicked Lovely, that the books in this series are more mature than some Young Adult titles. I would recommend it for teens perhaps 15 and older.

MELISSA IN PERSON
Melissa is going to be at these locations this summer. If you live in the area stop by and be sure to take picture!

Saturday, June 19
2 pm Borders Bookstore
Fredericksburg, Virginia

June 25-27:
American Library Association Conference
Washington, DC

Saturday, June 26
7:00-9:00 am
Harper Collins Fiction Breakfast

Saturday, June 26
2:00-3:00 pm
Signing in Harper Collins booth

Sunday, June 27
8:30-10:00 am YALSA Coffee Klatch

RADIANT SHADOWS CONTEST
The publisher has graciously allowed me to give away one hardbound copy of Radiant Shadows. I will be on vacation much of June, so the contest will end on July 1st, 2010. My question:

Do you like characters in a book to be either completely good vs. totally evil, or can they have shades of grey?

Please leave your answer in a comment, and if your email is not on a Google profile leave it in the comment so I can get hold of you. The contest will run until 7/1/2010 when I will use the handy random number generator to pick one winner, and email them plus post it on the blog.

Thanks! ~Moonsanity