Any Given Doomsday – ARC Book Giveaway!!

Any Given Doomsday

by Lori Handeland

Phoenix Chronicles #1

Urban Fantasy, Published Nov 2008

Read Oct 2008, ARC

2/5

From the Cover:

Darkness will summon her…
Elizabeth Phoenix once used her unique skills as a psychic to help in the Milwaukee Police Department’s fight against injustice. But when Liz’s foster mother is found viciously murdered—and Liz is discovered unconscious at the scene—her only memory of the crime comes in the form of terrifying dreams…of creatures more horrific than anything Liz has seen in real life. What do these visions mean? And what in the world do they have to do with her former lover, Jimmy Sanducci?

To places she’s never been before…
While the police question Jimmy in the murder, Jimmy opens Liz’s eyes to a supernatural war that has raged since the dawn of time in which innocent people are hunted by malevolent beings disguised as humans. Only a chosen few have the ability to fight their evil, and Jimmy believes Liz is among them. Now, with her senses heightened, new feelings are rising within Liz—ones that re-ignite her dangerous attraction to Jimmy. But Jimmy has a secret that will rock Liz to her core…and put the survival of the human race in peril.…

Review:

Elizabeth Phoenix is thrown into a new life with strange legends and mythical creatures that she never knew existed.  She had known she was special, that she had a gift.  Growing up she had visions, sparked by the touch of another person.  As a child, Elizabeth had been to many foster homes and had been kicked out. She thought she had finally lucked out when she had been sent to Ruthie’s. Little did she know that she had been chosen, destined to take Ruthie’s gift as a seer and help control the evils of the world.

Jimmy had been Elizabeth’s childhood sweetheart, well until she found him cheating on her.  But now they must work together to fight evil. Jimmy is a Demon Killer and Elizabeth is his Seer. He is also half vampire, but insists he is good.

This was all fine but it is not until Jimmy takes Elizabeth to see Sawyer, a Navajo medicine man or witch that has been exiled from his people. Sawyer can shift into many animals using parts of his body. Pretty much his job is to transfer his powers to others….through sex… This is where the book started going south for me. I’m no prude, but seriously!?! Seems a bit convenient for the author to add multiple graphic sex scenes into the book.

Overall, I started off really enjoying the premise of this book, but I believe it is just too risque for my tastes.

Click here to check out some other mixed reviews…

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I’m giving away my ARC copy. Just leave a comment if you’d like a chance to win!

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From Lori Handeland’s latest Amazon.com blog posts:

Dowload a free prequel short story!

11:11 AM PDT, October 9, 2008

I’ve written a prequel short story titled “In the Beginning,” to introduce readers to Elizabeth Phoenix and the world of “The Phoenix Chronicles,” my foray into Urban Fantasy, which will begin with ANY GIVEN DOOMSDAY on November 4.

If you’d like to download the free short story go to

http://us.macmillan.com/BookCustomPage.aspx?isbn=9 780312949198&m_type=4&

Also visit Lori Handeland’s website to see the book trailer to Any Given Doomsday.

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The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

The Graveyard Book

by Neil Gaiman

Fiction, Published 2008

Audible, Oct 2008

4/5

From the Cover:

Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy.

He would be completely normal if he didn’t live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead.

There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy – an ancient Indigo Man beneath the hill, a gateway to a desert leading to an abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible menace of the Sleer.

But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack — who has already killed Bod’s family. . . .

Review:

One of the great things about Neil Gaiman is that he narrates his own books which puts just the right twist to the story.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Graveyard Book and if the paper copy is as good as Coraline, I may have to get one so I can check out all of Dave McKean’s fabulous illustrations.  This book is written for the age range between 9 and 12 but I would highly recommend this audiobook to anyone and everyone!

Also check out my review for Neil Gaiman’s Coraline!

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Coraline by Neil Gaiman – RIP III #2

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

YA Supernatural Fiction, Published 2002

Read September 2008

4/5

From the Cover:

When Coraline steps through a door to find another house strangely similar to her own (only better), things seem marvelous.

But there’s another mother there, and another father, and they want her to stay and be their little girl.  They want to change her and never let go.

Coraline will have to fight with all her wits and courage if she is to save herself and return to her ordinary life.

Review:

It’s summertime and Coraline and her parents have just moved into a new flat.  Retired actresses Miss Spink and Miss Forcible live in the flat below and a very crazy old man with his circus mice live in the flat above.  The flats used to be a big house but have since been renovated to accommodate three separate families.

Both of Coraline’s parents work from home on the computer.  They are too busy to play with Coraline so she sets off on a new adventure everyday except suddenly one day it rains.  After she has watched everything on TV, read every book and counted every item in the house, Coraline is bored.  She counts all the doors in the flat and all lead to somewhere, except there’s one in the formal parlor room with all her dead grandmother’s stuffy furniture and she discovers that this one is locked.  When Coraline finds an old key to open the door, she finds it to be bricked up.  But Coraline is a curious little girl and the next time she opens the door, the

bricks are gone, leading to a dark and empty corridor to the strange and empty house next door.  Unlike in the Secret Garden when Mary Lennox finds her aunt’s old and beautiful garden, Coraline discovers another world that she very soon wishes she hadn’t entered.

Every item from her house is in this house, along with her mother and father as well as her neighbors.  But something is different.  Everything has a little less detail and her “other mother” and “other father” have glossy black buttons for eyes.  At first everything seems nice and her new parents want to give Coraline more attention, but she soon realizes that it’s not all as it seems and quickly runs back to her own home.  When she reaches the end of the corridor she locks the door and searches for her family, but the house is empty and she is all alone.  The “other mother’ has stolen her parents in order to get Coraline all to herself.  How will Coraline save herself, family and friends from the evil “other mother”? With a little luck and help from the black cat who can cross both worlds, Coraline sets out on a new adventure – to play a game with the “other mother.”

The illustrations by Dave McKean really emphasize Gaiman’s eccentric and bizarre story.  Coraline is written for the young adult age group and I think they would really enjoy this quirky story.  Also great for the upcoming Halloween season!

Quotes:

Coraline stared at the leaves on the trees and at the patterns of light and shadow on the cracked bark of the trunk of the beech tree outside the window.  Then she looked down at her lap, at the way that the rich sunlight brushed every hair on the cat’s head, turning each white whisker to gold. (p 137)

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Loose and Easy

Loose and Easy by Tara Janzen

Steele Street #9

Romantic Suspense, Published 2008

Read Sept. 2008

E-Book from Sony eBook Store

4.5/5

From the Cover:

HE’S THE BAD BOY SHE ALWAYS WANTED.

“He’d know her anywhere.” Johnny Ramos had just come off a tour of duty in Afghanistan to find Esme Alden trolling

the mean streets of Denver in red lace and leather. The smartest girl he ever knew turning tricks? Not even

close. Esme’s in danger so deep, only Johnny can get her out.

SHE’S THE GOOD GIRL WHO GOT AWAY.

Esme had everything planned down to the last detail: recover a stolen painting and pay off her dad’s ruthless bookie. Until Johnny Ramos, her lean, mean, and gorgeous high school crush, blows into town and nearly blows her cover. Now Esme, a P.I. and an art-recovery expert, has a mother lode of bad guys on her trail…including the baddest bad boy of them all. Getting out alive is nothing compared to resisting Johnny….

Review:

This is my first Tara Janzen novel and I didn’t realize it was part of a series until I looked up more books to read by this author.  Loose and Easy is the ninth book in Janzen’s Steele Street series, all based on the Special Defence Force (SDF) located in Denver, Colorado.  The action is non-stop and I read this book within a few days and given my schedule, that’s pretty good.  I first heard of this book through “Booked for Breakfast” with Suzanne Beecher’s DearReader website (You select the genre you enjoy and Suzanne emails you a 5 minute excerpt from that week’s chosen book.  You should definitely check it out if you have never heard of it.) and just had to find out what happens with Johnny and Esme (Easy Alex).  This is where my sony ereader comes in handy! =)

Back to the book review…

Johnny has been chasing Easy Alex since junior high.  They came close to having one date in high school and he’s never seen her since.  So after three tours in Afghanistan, Johnny returns to Denver to join the SDF team and is very surprised to find Easy Alex on his first night back dressed as a hooker.  Surely the valedictorian of his class had ended up better than this, turning tricks in the lower downtown area of Denver.  Johnny is so intrigued that he has to follow her to see what she’s really up to but little does he know this is only the beginning of what becomes a twisted chase and a very long night.

This book was so good and had such non-stop action that I couldn’t believe this was the ninth in a series.  I’ve never read a series out of order so I’m excited to go back and read the others, beginning with Crazy Hot.

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