From the Review Pile

From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday.

The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review (or if you don't receive review books, any book that you own and really want to read/review) but haven't yet got around to reading, in order to give the book some extra publicity.

I have a looong list of books on my shelf, virtual and otherwise, that I want, need, to get around to reading.. If only there were more available hours in the day....

This week I'm spotlighting...

How far would you go to save the people you love?

Madison is familiar enough with change, and she hates everything about it. Change took her long-term boyfriend away from her. It caused one of her friends to suddenly hate her. It’s responsible for the death of a local along with a host of other mysterious happenings. But when Madison meets a hot new guy, she thinks her luck is about to improve.

Madison is instantly drawn to the handsome and intriguing Isaac Addington. She quickly realizes he’s a guy harboring a secret, but she’s willing to risk the unknown to be with him.

Her world really spins out of control, however, when her best friend becomes delusional, seeing things that aren’t there and desperately trying to escape their evil. When the doctors can’t find the answers, Madison seeks her own.

Nothing can prepare her for what she is about to discover.
Dangerous, intoxicating, and darkly romantic, Embrace is a thriller that will leave you spellbound.

I received Embrace a while back, and I'm ashamed I haven't read it yet. It's on my list for fall reading, though, so hopefully my shame will be short lived :).

Isaac Mayfair is hiding a dark secret. And just when Adria Dawson thinks the worst of her life among the werewolf world is over, she learns the secret that can rip her and Isaac’s love apart. Adria must come to terms with what the truth means for her. What it means for her life and how much time she has left to live it. She must choose between two different fates, neither of which can offer life as a certainty.
As if Isaac’s betrayal isn’t enough, Adria learns that there are things out there older and more powerful than werewolves could ever be. An archaic entity known only to few as the Praverian, unlike anything Adria has ever known or heard of.

As Adria struggles with her own fateful dilemmas, she must also try to find out why the Praverian is so interested in her and do everything in her power to stay out of its way.

I received Kindred in the mail last mont (Thanks J.A. Redmerski!) and I can't wait to get around to reading it. Loved The Mayfair Moon (see review here), and I'm stoked to be able to be reading the sequel soon :).

What books are not-so-patiently waiting on your shelf???

Happy Reading Everyone :)

~ Keely ~

Booking Thru Thursday and From the Review Pile

This week's questions asks:

What book(s) have you read that you're secretly ashamed to admit? 

There is no book that I would say I'm ashamed to have read. Reading is a deeply personal thing ~ it says something about who we are. Saying you're ashamed to have read a book, to me, is like saying you are ashamed of yourself ~ not gunna fly around here :).

AND...

From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday.

The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review (or if you don't receive review books, any book that you own and really want to read/review) but haven't yet got around to reading, in order to give the book some extra publicity.

It seems my list of books yet to be read is growing so fast, I can't possibly read fast enough to keep up. Maybe if I quit my job and stopped paying attention to my husband, but I doubt that would go over very well :). 

Here's what I pulled from my mailbox this week. CAN'T WAIT to read these lovely novels...

True love can last an eternity . . . but immortality comes at a price. On the midnight shift at a hospital in rural St. Andrew, Maine, Dr. Luke Findley is expecting a quiet evening. Until a mysterious woman arrives in his ER, escorted by police—Lanore McIlvrae is a murder suspect—and Luke is inexplicably drawn to her. As Lanny tells him her story, an impassioned account of love and betrayal that transcends time and mortality, she changes his life forever. . . . At the turn of the nineteenth century, when St. Andrew was a Puritan settlement, Lanny was consumed as a child by her love for the son of the town’s founder, and she will do anything to be with him forever. But the price she pays is steep—an immortal bond that chains her to a terrible fate for eternity.

and the second in the series....

 A love triangle spanning 200 years…Alma Katsu takes readers on a breathtaking journey through the landscape of the heart.

New York Times bestselling author Scott Westerfeld (Leviathan) praises Alma Katsu’s The Taker as, “a centuries-spanning epic that will keep you turning pages all night. This marvelous debut is a thinking person’s guilty pleasure.” And Keith Donohue (The Stolen Child) says, “The Taker is a frighteningly compelling story about those most human monsters—desire and obsession. It will curl your hair and keep you up late at night.”

Now Alma Katsu delivers the highly anticipated follow-up to her haunting novel about an immortal woman learning firsthand that the heart wants what the heart wants…no matter how high the stakes. Fans ofThe Taker can finally indulge in their next juicy fix with the second book of the trilogy, The Reckoning. In this gripping, pulse-pounding supernatural sequel, discover what happens to Lanny, Luke, Adair—and Jonathan. The Reckoning picks up where The Taker leaves off, following Lanny on her path to redemption—and creating a whole new level of suspense.

Happy Reading Everyone :)


~ Keely ~ 

Booking Through Thursday and From the Review Pile

This week's question asks:

Who taught you to read?

I'm told I taught myself, which makes sense because I don't ever remember a time when I couldn't read. My mother used to read me stories, and when I started telling it along with her, she thought I'd just memorized it. Until one day, my dad was reading the paper and I walked up to him, read the headline, and continued about my business. I guess I've been reading ever since :).

AND...

From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday.
The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review (or if you don't receive review books, any book that you own and really want to read/review) but haven't yet got around to reading, in order to give the book some extra publicity.

As usual, I have a couple of books I can't wait to crack open. I don't know why I do this to myself!! I buy these books thinking I'll get to them in a few days, and of course, life happens, and they sit on my shelf, and stare at me with the proverbial puppy dog eyes, wondering why I've neglected them for so long. Needless to say, it makes me very anxious!

On my list:

"In a future world, vampires reign. Humans are blood cattle. And one girl will search for the key to save humanity."Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten.

Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of "them." The vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself is attacked--and given the ultimate choice. Die...or become one of the monsters.

Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most. To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad.

Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls. There she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend--a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike.

But it isn't easy to pass for human. Especially not around Zeke, who might see past the monster inside her. And Allie soon must decide what--and who--is worth dying for.

AND...

Daunted by the singular sexual tastes and dark secrets of the beautiful, tormented young entrepreneur Christian Grey, Anastasia Steele has broken off their relationship to start a new career with a Seattle publishing house.

But desire for Christian still dominates her every waking thought, and when he proposes a new arrangement, Anastasia cannot resist. They rekindle their searing sensual affair, and Anastasia learns more about the harrowing past of her damaged, driven and demanding Fifty Shades.

While Christian wrestles with his inner demons, Anastasia must confront the anger and envy of the women who came before her, and make the most important decision of her life.

***Don't forget to enter the giveaway for the first in the FS trilogy, Fifty Shades of Grey! only one more day!! Enter HERE***


Happy Reading Everyone :)




~ Keely ~

Booking Through Thursday and From the Review Pile

Hot day here in New England ~ Feels more like the South Texas weather I used to know. What I'd give to jump in a big pile of snow :) Thank all that is Holy that summers here are short!

Anyway, this week's BTT asks:

Do you have a favorite quote from a book?

My favorite quote of all time was said by Pablo Picasso ~ 

"Everything you can imagine is real."

I don't think it gets any better than that, but here are a few quotes from books that struck me in one way or another:

“Words are like physical objects around us that appear to be continuous and whole but are in fact composed of particles too small for for the eye to see, for the brain to imagine. Words oversimplify reality. Break open a word, and it's like breaking a mold. The contents seep free, become something new.” ~ Christina Meldrum, Madapple

“People hide their truest nature. I understood that; I even applauded it. What sort of world would it be if people bled all over the sidewalks, if they wept under trees, smacked whomever they despised, kissed strangers, revealed themselves?” ~ Alice Hoffman, The Ice Queen

“I'm not sure what I am. I just know there's something dark in me. I hide it. I certainly don't talk about it, but it's there always, this Dark Passenger. And when he's driving, I feel alive, half sick with the thrill of complete wrongness. I don't fight him, I don't want to. He's all I've got. Nothing else could love me, not even... especially not me. Or is that just a lie the Dark Passenger tells me? Because lately there are these moments when I feel connected to something else... someone. It's like the mask is slipping and things... people... who never mattered before are suddenly starting to matter. It scares the hell out of me.” ~ Jeff Lindsay, Darkly Dreaming Dexter

AND...



From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday. The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review. (or any book that you own and really want to read/review) but haven't yet got around to reading, in order to give the book some extra publicity.

This week, I'm spotlighting two books I received recently for review ~ *can't wait* to read 'em!! Embrace by Cherie Colyer and Willow Pond by Carol Tibaldi

How far would you go to save the people you love?

Madison is familiar enough with change, and she hates everything about it. Change took her long-term boyfriend away from her. It caused one of her friends to suddenly hate her. It’s responsible for the death of a local along with a host of other mysterious happenings. But when Madison meets a hot new guy, she thinks her luck is about to improve.

Madison is instantly drawn to the handsome and intriguing Isaac Addington. She quickly realizes he’s a guy harboring a secret, but she’s willing to risk the unknown to be with him.

Her world really spins out of control, however, when her best friend becomes delusional, seeing things that aren’t there and desperately trying to escape their evil. When the doctors can’t find the answers, Madison seeks her own.

Nothing can prepare her for what she is about to discover.
Dangerous, intoxicating, and darkly romantic, Embrace is a thriller that will leave you spellbound.

The Roaring Twenties crumble into the Great Depression, but Virginia Kingsley, New York's toughest and most successful speakeasy owner, is doing just fine. Now that the world is falling apart, bootlegging is a flourishing business, and she's queen of that castle.

Then her infant nephew is kidnapped. Her niece, Laura, and Laura's philandering movie star husband, are devastated. The police have few leads, and speculation and rumors abound in the media circus that follows the celebrity abduction.

Only one reporter, Erich Muller, seems to care enough about the child's welfare and the parents' feelings to report the case responsibly. Over the course of the investigation, Erich Muller and Laura fall in love, but their relationship is doomed to failure since he suspects her beloved aunt Virginia is behind the kidnapping. Laura, jaded when it comes to men, sides with Virginia.

But Virginia has figured out the truth, and she can't tell anyone for fear of losing her niece's affections and having the police ransack her life. So she pursues her own investigation, shaking down, threatening, and killing one petty crook after another during her search.

Little Todd's absence shapes everyone's lives. When he is finally found, the discovery will bring disaster for some and revelation for others.

Happy Reading Everyone :)


~ Keely ~

Booking Through Thursday and From the Review Pile

This week's question asks:

Have you ever bought a book, started reading it and then realised you have already read it? If so, how far did you get?

This has never happened to me with a book, although I used to reread books all the time - intentionally - but I've definitely done this before with movies. I've added movies to my Netflix queue that sounded awesome, received them in the mail, only to have realization dawn on me thirty minutes in. So strange.

From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday.

The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review (or if you don't receive review books, any book that you own and really want to read/review) but haven't yet got around to reading, in order to give the book some extra publicity.

I know that a lot of you have a huge pile of books that you want to read/review, but it understandably takes a while to get around to reading them all - here you can give a book (or two!) some of the publicity that it deserves, even if you haven't read it yet!

Right now, I have a few books patiently waiting for my undivided attention. I can't wait to get to them!

First is The Savage Grace by Bree Despain. I love this series, and although I need to brush up on the events of the last one (hey, it's been an entire year), I can't wait to find out what happens next!

A troubled soul. An impossible choice. A final battle.


Wrestling with the werewolf curse pulsing deep inside of her, Grace Divine was finally able to find her brother, but it nearly cost her everything.


With her boyfriend, Daniel, stuck in wolf form and Sirhan's death approaching, time is running out for Grace to stop Caleb Kalbi and his gang of demons. If she fails, her family and hometown will perish. Everything rests on Grace's shoulders.


The final installment in The Dark Divine trilogy brings Daniel and Grace's love story to a breathtaking conclusion.

Second is one I found for an astounding $2.99 for Kindle. The Demon Trapper's Daughter has been on my TBR list for too long now and I'm excited to finally be diving into it - soon.

Demon Trapper Riley Blackthorne just needs a chance to prove herself—and that’s exactly what Lucifer is counting on…

It’s the year 2018, and with human society seriously disrupted by the economic upheavals of the previous decade, Lucifer has increased the number of demons in all major cities. Atlanta is no exception. Fortunately, humans are protected by Demon Trappers, who work to keep homes and streets safe from the things that go bump in the night. Seventeen-year-old Riley, only daughter of legendary Demon Trapper Paul Blackthorne, has always dreamed of following in her father’s footsteps. When she’s not keeping up with her homework or trying to manage her growing attraction to fellow Trapper apprentice, Simon, Riley’s out saving citizens from Grade One Hellspawn. Business as usual, really, for a demon-trapping teen. When a Grade Five Geo-Fiend crashes Riley’s routine assignment at a library, jeopardizing her life and her chosen livelihood, she realizes that she’s caught in the middle of a battle between Heaven and Hell.

Happy Reading Everyong :)

~ Keely ~

Booking Through Thursday and From the Review Pile

I'm so glad it's Thursday :) It's been a rough week for me, and I'm beyond the point where I'm ready for the weekend.. Need some R&R with my comfy recliner and a couple of good books :)

Booking Through Thursday is something I really look forward to. Different questions each week and lots of other blogs to visit and bloggers to learn about.

This week's question asks:

     What are your favorite secondary characters? (Note the Plural)

One that immediately came to mind was Link from Beautiful Creatures. He's hilarious, goofy, a little too full of himself sometimes, but he's sweet in that way that you just want to jump into the pages and hug him.

I'm also thinking of Quinn from the Sookie Stackhouse series. He's sexy, tough, - I mean he's a were-tiger.. how much more lethal can you get? - and he puts his family above all else despite Sookie's selfish tantrum that she wants to be first on his list (even though they only dated for about 2.5 chapters). He knows his priorities and what he believes in, and he's not afraid to stand up for that no matter what he might lose.






Also this Thursday, I stumbled upon another meme that sounded like a lot of fun. We always talk about the books we've read or ones we are waiting to be released, but what about the ones already in our possession, collecting a little sheen of dust in our TBR pile? They deserve a little love too as they wait patiently for us to turn the first page.

From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday.

The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review (or if you don't receive review books, any book that you own and really want to read/review) but haven't yet got around to reading, in order to give the book some extra publicity.

I know that a lot of you have a huge pile of books that you want to read/review, but it understandably takes a while to get around to reading them all - here you can give a book (or two!) some of the publicity that it deserves, even if you haven't read it yet!

Staring a little creepily at me from the bottom corner of my bookshelf is Julie Kagawa's The Immortal Rules. I usually don't buy books unless I'm getting close to finishing the last of my current reads, but for some reason, this book pulled at me as if it just needed to make a home for itself on my shelf. 

In a future world, Vampires reign. Humans are blood cattle. And one girl will search for the key to save humanity.

Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten.

Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them. The vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself is attacked—and given the ultimate choice. Die… or become one of the monsters.

Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most. To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad.

Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls. There she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend—a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike.

But it isn’t easy to pass for human. Especially not around Zeke, who might see past the monster inside her. And Allie soon must decide what—and who—is worth dying for.

Doesn't that just sound awesome?? After reading over that chill-inducing synopsis again, I might have to move it up a few slots on my never-ending TBR list.


Happy Reading Everyone :)


~ Keely ~