Title: A Taste of Midnight
Author: Lara Adrian
Series: Midnight Breed #9.5
Publisher: Dell
Release Date: 12/5/2011
Length: 70 pages
Format: ePub
Genres: Adult Fiction, Paranormal Romance, Short Stories
Challenges: 2012 E-book Challenge
Source: Free Download
Purchase: Kindle | NOOK | ePub
Rating: ★★★★☆

A shimmering holiday gala lights up an ancient castle in the Scottish Highlands, but beautiful widowed Breedmate Danika MacConn feels alone in the crowd. Even among the friends and festivity of the Darkhaven celebration, she can’t forget her lost love, a fallen warrior of the Order. Her brief return to her mate’s homeland has become treacherous after rejecting the advances of a dangerous Edinburgh crime boss with a taste for blood sport.

As Danika seeks to expose the vampire and his dark trade, she discovers an unexpected ally in his forbidding, enigmatic henchman, Brannoc, a man who exudes heat, danger, and dark menace–and seems somehow achingly familiar. Bran has his own reasons for wanting to keep Dani out of his employer’s business . . . and his own secrets he means to keep buried. The last thing he needs is to get tangled up with a woman who tempts the wildest part of his Breed nature–especially when that woman is Danika MacConn, the one woman capable of bringing him to his knees.

I found this one as a free download on www.kobobooks.com and thought I’d give it a try. I was looking for something short and maybe a little sexy to read one day, when I came across this one in my reader. I loved it and now I’m dying to learn more about the Midnight Breed world. This came along at the perfect time. I’ve been avoided paranormal romance after burning out, but now I’m ready for some vampires!

There wasn’t much time for character development or anything. What I got from this was a taste of the world, which is exactly what the title insinuates. I learned that there are Breeds, some sort of vampire creatures, and Breedmates, which are exactly what they sound like. Breeds and their Breedmates can be bound by blood. There are some evil guys out there trying to make a bad name for the vampires. That’s mostly what I got, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and have already procured a copy of the first book in the series.

In short, A Taste of Midnight gives exactly what it advertises, a taste of the Midnight Breeds series, complete with alpha males and blood bonding. Also, it seems like the Breeds are highlanders, so that’s a plus!

Content: Profanity, violence, sexual content (no kiddies!)

Jesse sees dead people, monsters, demons, and lots of other things that go bump in the night that no one else can see. No one except his ailing grandmother – a woman who used her visions to help those living in her small town… the same rural community in all the scary stories Jesse’s heard as a child. Man-eating ogres in trees. Farmhouses haunted by wraiths. Even pigs possessed by the devil. Upon his grandmother’s passing, Jesse has no choice but to face his demons and whatever else might be awaiting him at grandma’s house.

I saw this at the library while browsing through the graphic novels and just decided to pick it up. I didn’t go into it with many expectations, but I did think Lola would play a larger part of the story. She wasn’t even the ghost that was haunting Jesse.

I thought this book was a little creepy. The story about Lola’s mother was so weird, but apparently that’s why Lola and Jesse have their abilities. It really freaks him out though. He has a hard time dealing with it and his cousin helps a little by telling him that he’s not weird, he just has a gift.

In short, I just thought this was weird. I feel like there should be more to it or maybe there will be more stories to come. I wasn’t disappointed. It was good, it was just strange. I think this one is geared more toward boys.

It’s been two years since Conrad told Belly to go with Jeremiah. She and Jeremiah have been inseparable ever since, even attending the same college– only, their relationship hasn’t exactly been the happily ever after Belly had hoped it would be. And when Jeremiah makes the worst mistake a boy can make, Belly is forced to question what she thought was true love. Does she really have a future with Jeremiah? Has she ever gotten over Conrad? It’s time for Belly to decide, once and for all, who has her heart forever.

It was so nice to be at the end of this series. I feel like my heart has been broken a hundred times by these characters. I just needed something good to happen. It took the entire three books to make it there, but I finally got my ending. I feel so drained by it, but I think it’s a good thing.

Belly stole my heart in book one. I adore her. I loved watching her grow into herself. I think one of the things that’s great about Belly is that she feels so real. She could be me or my best friend. I’ve felt all the things that Belly felt in these books. It’s one of the most realistic portrayals of being a teenage girl that I’ve ever read. The boys had it a little harder. Sometimes I wanted to hit them or scream at them for being so stupid. How could Conrad push everyone away like that? How could Jeremiah do something so unforgiveable? It’s so unlike him! I suppose I’ve watched them grow up too, but it’s been from a distance, the same way Belly witnessed it. One thing is certain: I still loved them. I loved all the characters and how real they were. They are what made the books so amazing.

I really didn’t see any of this plot coming. It was such a surprise for me. I rode the fence a lot during it. I wasn’t sure who I agreed with. I only knew how I wanted things to end. Luckily, I got my wish. That made me happy, but what made me even more happy was that the ending wasn’t too perfect. It wasn’t so perfect that it was unbelievable. It took time for things to work out right and that is so important.

I was so glad to have Conrad’s point of view in this book. He’s been such a mystery that knowing for sure how he felt was very refreshing. I’m sorry to say I don’t have any quotes. Those are hard to grab when I’m listening to audio. I was also very in the story during these books and was never thinking about the review or what I might want to quote. I guess that’s a good thing though.

Jessica Almasy did a great job with these audiobooks. I know I was a little wary of her at first, but she’s really grown on me. She’s become the voice of Belly for me. And I loved her voices for the guys. Their subtle, but definitely different from the girly sound of Belly. I’ll be honest, though. I wasn’t really listening critically this time. I was far too emotionally involved in this book to worry about anything but the characters I love. I think she did great though because she never pulled me out of the world. She always seemed in the moment.

In short, We’ll Always Have Summer is an amazing conclusion to an amazing coming-of-age series. Jenny Han perfectly captures what it’s like to be a teenage girl and the trials of making love work. I highly recommend this to contemporary YA fans.

Content: Profanity, mild violence, sexual references

I’ve been feeling guilty lately. Review copies have been piling up on my shelf and filling up my ereader. I always have good intentions when I request an ARC or approve a review request. Somehow, the time gets away from me though when I indulge in new releases I just HAVE to read. That’s why I’m vowing to read as many review copies as I possibly can for the month of June. There will still be a short story and some manga thrown in, but my full length books and audiobooks will all be review copies. I’ve got plenty!

If you’re feeling guilty too, join me. Grab the button, write up a short post, and link it in the comments.

Here’s the small version of the graphic

Title: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Graphic Novel
Author: Seth Grahame-Smith, Jane Austen, Tony Lee (Adaptor), Cliff Richards (Illustrator)
Series: N/A
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: 5/4/2010
Length: 176 pages
Format: Paperback
Genres: Sequential Art, Graphic Novels, Horror
Challenges: 2012 Support You Local Library Challenge
Source: Library
Purchase: Paperback 
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

It is known as “the strange plague,” and its unfortunate victims are referred to only as “unmentionables” or “dreadfuls.” All over England, the dead are rising again, and now even the daughters of Britain’s best families must devote their lives to mastering the deadly arts. Elizabeth Bennet is a fearsome warrior whose ability with a sword is matched only by her quick wit and even sharper tongue. But she faces her most formidable foe yet in the haughty, conceited, and somehow strangely attractive Mr. Darcy. As the two lovers meet in the ballroom and on the battlefield, they’ll soon learn that nothing—not even bands of ninjas, hordes of flesh-eating zombies, or disapproving aunts—can stop true love.

I’ll go ahead and admit that I only read a few chapter of the actual book Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. When the graphic novel came out I thought I should get it because I remembered the book being pretty funny. I’m not sure if I’m just not into this kind of thing or if my sense of humor has changed, but the zombie stuff got old, fast. It pretty much just made me want to read Pride and Prejudice again.

I think Seth Grahame-Smith did well with keeping all the characters in the same sort of spirit they had originally. There’s really not that much that’s different except that everyone is trained to fight zombies and there are a lot of attacks. Also, Charlotte gets infected, which I found pretty sad. What was really great were little moments where people got what they deserved, like Wickham. I also loved Elizabeth’s little threats to kill people every time they made her mad. So there were some funny parts. It just got boring at the end. Also, the whole love story between Elizabeth and Darcy seems pretty silly set against a zombie apocalypse.

In short, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Graphic Novel is entertaining for a little while, but it gets old fast. I found myself skipping things and actually falling asleep a little toward the end.

Content: Violence and gore, innuendo

Title: Somebody to Love
Author: Kristan Higgins
Series: N/A
Publisher: HQN
Release Date: 4/24/2012
Length: 425 pages
Format: ePub
Genres: Adult Fiction, Chick-Lit, Contemporary Romance
Challenges: 2012 E-book Challenge
Source: NetGalley
Purchase: Paperback | Kindle | NOOK | ePub
Rating: ★★★★☆

After her father loses the family fortune in an insider-trading scheme, single mom Parker Welles is faced with some hard decisions. First order of business: go to Gideon’s Cove, Maine, to sell the only thing she now owns—a decrepit house in need of some serious flipping. When her father’s wingman, James Cahill, asks to go with her, she’s not thrilled — even if he is fairly gorgeous and knows his way around a toolbox.

Having to fend for herself financially for the first time in her life, Parker signs on as a florist’s assistant and starts to find out who she really is. Maybe James isn’t the glib lawyer she always thought he was. And maybe the house isn’t the only thing that needs a little TLC.

I’ve been meaning to read something by Kristan Higgins for quite a while. I even have two of her books on my Vox that I haven’t read yet. I got this one from NetGalley so that put a bit of time limit on when I could read it. I’m so glad I read this because now I want to read all of her books. I wasn’t sure about it when I started, but once I got into it, I couldn’t stop reading.

I like Parker for the most part. She has some traits I’m not fond of. She’s quick to judge and her inner dialogues with her book characters really annoyed me at first. I learned to ignore it, but I thought the idea was pretty silly. James, on the other hand, won me over immediately. He’s such a sweet guy. He has the ability to become a rich snob, but his background and his past keep him from taking that road. The supporting characters were awesome too. This is just one of those books where I either loved everyone in it, or loved to hate them. It was light so there wasn’t a ton of growth, but there was just enough.

I loved the romantic development. It helped that Parker and James had a little history. I’m huge fan of that in romance novels because it makes it seem less sudden. This isn’t one of those books where they meet and a week later they’re ready to get married or something. They’ve known each other for years. I appreciated that. Though it was pretty formulaic, for the most part, Higgins did throw in a few surprises.

In short, Somebody to Love is sweet and entertaining. It has solid characters and a believable romantic development. I highly recommend it to contemporary romance lovers.

I can’t help myself. I just have to include a few quotes that had me giggling.

“Tall, Dark and Silent had simply appeared, all touseled and manly with those rough and calloused hands that, come on, probably knew their way around the female anatomy, because really. How many gay lobstermen were there?”

PS – that passage is about Malone from Catch of the Day

“Parker? Oh, dear God, tell me that isn’t you, sweating like an Ecuadorian stonemason.”

Gotta love Parker’s mother!

“Here’s the deal,” James said, possibly slurring a little, “I have a thing for this woman, right? A big thing. But it’s like her heart is… I dunno. Made outta Plexiglas. Stuff bounces off Plexiglas, right? And that shit’s hard to break, know what I mean?”

I loved James in all his forms, but he was a pretty entertaining drunk.

Content: Profanity, sexual references.

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I finished my reads at 11:45 last night so I really stuck it out to the end. I didn’t get to everything I had planned on, but I think I did a pretty good job.

My original reading pile
Somebody to Love by Kristen Higgins
City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare
We’ll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Graphic Novel
Lola by J. Torres and Elbert Orr
Hana-Kimi, Volume 8 by Hisaya Nakajo

I also read
A Taste of Midnight by Lara Adrian
Dark Eyes by William Richter

That’s a total of 6 books read this time around. I’m impressed with myself since I spent a lot of time hanging out with friends this week. I never even picked up a copy of Hana-Kimi, and I just didn’t have time to get through City of Lost Souls, but I’m still planning to finish it.

Can’t wait for next time!

A day in the life…
I am counting down the days until my mother and I are on our way to the beach. We’ve spent all week buying everything we’ll need or want. I spent over $100 dollars on summer clothes in Wet Seal, but I got a discount card for free and it last two years! I couldn’t be more excited about taking a vacation. The sad news is that my boyfriend left yesterday. He’ll be in California for three months! I’m planning to go see him sometime in July, but I’m really going to miss him. On a happier note, one of my college friends just got a job in Birmingham and is coming back here. It’ll be nice to have another friend nearby!

In case you missed it…
On Monday I posted my It’s Monday! What are you reading? post and my Manga Mondays review of Black Butler, Volume 9. It was the best volume I’ve read yet. Tuesday I posted my review of Taking a Shot by Jaci Burton. It was pretty good, but my least favorite in the Play by Play series. Wednesday I posted my review of It’s Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han. It’s the second in this wonderful series and was sometimes heartbreaking. Thursday I posted my review of Dark Eyes by William Richter. It was action packed and thrilling. but I’m not sure it belongs in the YA category. Friday I posted my answer to the TGIF question. Yesterday, I posted my review of Baby, I’m Yours by Stephanie Bond, which I really enjoyed. I can’t wait to read the rest of the books in the Southern Roads series.

Make sure you drop in…
This week I’ll be posting my reviews of Somebody to Love, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, We’ll Always Have Summer, and A Taste of Midnight. I’m also planning to start participating in Desperately Wanting Wednesday, hosted at Parajunkee’s View.

Getting through that TBR…
Last week I finally finished up Dark Eyes. It’s been a long time coming because I was only listening to about thirty minutes a day. I don’t think I’ll ever do that again. I read Somebody to Love by Kristan Higgins. It was awesome and I can’t wait to read more by her. I read A Taste of Midnight, a short by Lara Adrian, that makes me want to read the rest of the series soon. I hope to finish up Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, We’ll Always Have Summer, and Lola today. Then I can start on First Comes Love, Dead End Deal and City of Lost Souls.

Feeding my addiction…
I bought myself a few things this week: Epic Fail and Kiss Crush Collide from Harper’s Epic Deals. I also bought Starcrossed since the Kindle price was knocked down to $0.99. I received a copy of Dreamer from Ann Mayburn. I love the world building in this series so I’m very excited about that. I also got a copy of Turquoise on from JSK Communications on NetGalley. That one will be part of a blog tour so keep on the lookout. I got a copy of First Comes Love, which I am stoked about. I’ve been drooling over that cover for a while. This one came from Southern Book Bloggers Tours. I received a copy of Emracing You, Embracing Me that I requested from a Shelf Awareness ad. I went to the library and picked up The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Escape. A friend loaned me One for the Money. That’s my book haul!

Check it out…
Tons of readalongs coming up next month: Married With Zombies, Outlander, Andrew Smith.

Harper has some epic deals going on. You can get select YA ebooks for just $2.99 through 6/2/2012. I already got mine!

Though I’m not going to BEA, I have been reading Pushy & Danny’s posts about it. If you’re going, you should check them out. They have some great advice. You can read them here

Lauren at 365 Days of Reading posted a great review of Gilt that has me ready to pick up my copy and get to reading!

Can I just say that I love Rachel’s Fifty Shade Read Along. It’s more entertaining than the actual book. It’s a like a soap opera or something. Every day when I get my email of her feed I have to take a little break from work to read them. Seriously, check it out.

Ginger at Greads featured the ladies behind one of my favorite blogs, Novel Sounds, for her feature The Blogger Behind the Book.

I was pumped that Maria of Book Chilla finally got into John Green when she read Paper Towns. Check out her review.

In the news…
Looking for Alaska is being banned from school reading lists. It’s ridiculous. John Green is one of the best teen authors out there. His books are incredible. I can’t even think of a reason this book should be banned. Read more here

BAM got complaints about their sexuality display. Not sure how I feel about this. It wouldn’t bother me if I were shopping, but I don’t have kids. My advice is not to take your kids near the sexuality aisle in the first place. Read more here
The issue was resolved when BAM changed the display. Here’s the article about that.

Apparently, Mother’s Day was kind to the Fifty Shades trilogy. Happy Mother’s Day! Here’s some literary porn! Here’s the article.

Also, I loved this article about indie cartoonists working for Cartoon Network. Adventure Time is awesome!

Indie bookstore supporting amazon buying: very interesting way to reel in customers. Here’s the link.

The house at Pooh Corner is for sale! It’s so adorable too! Check it out.

Harry Potter comes to Kobo! 

Title: Baby, I’m Yours
Author: Stephanie Bond
Series: Southern Roads #0.5
Publisher: Mira
Release Date: 5/1/2011
Length: 48 pages
Format: ePub
Genres: Adult Fiction, Contemporary Romance, Short Stories
Challenges: 2012 E-book Challenge
Source: Free download!
Purchase: Kindle | NOOK | ePub
Rating: ★★★★★

Emory Maxwell has come home to the small town of Sweetness, Georgia, with one goal in mind–to get his childhood sweetheart Shelby Moon to marry him. They’ve been in love with the second grade, but Shelby’s father is determined to keep his daughter in Sweetness, not moving around the country as a soldier’s wife. No matter what she chooses, Shelby knows she’ll hurt one of the men she loves.

But when a tornado rips through town, will she and Emory lose their chance to be together forever?

I downloaded this one for free a while ago and I finally picked it up because I was looking for something short to read in between my longer books. This was perfect and adorable. I loved Sweetness and I think I need to read the full-length books in this series soon.

I think what makes or breaks a short story is the connection. There has to be some way to immediately connect with either the characters or the plot quickly, otherwise everything seems rushed or I end up not caring about what happens. I was immediately connected with this story. I’m not sure if it was the characters or the plot, but I knew I would enjoy it right away. I did like Emory though. I wouldn’t mind reading more about him so I hope he shows up in the other books. I wasn’t terribly invested in Shelby. There just wasn’t enough of her. It didn’t matter to me though.

The conflict in this book never feels rushed. It’s because there’s back story. Emory and Shelby have known each other since their childhood. They’ve loved each other for years. It’s the perfect setting for a short story. Even the problems with Shelby’s father have been going on for years. I think that’s a big reason that I loved this story. I was never left needing more from it.

There were a couple of other small things that made me love this story. First, I love the small Southern town. I thought the workings of a small town were displayed perfectly. I also loved how the tornado was delt with. Since Alabama suffered two very bad tornados in one year, I’ve seen some of the devestation that they can cause. It’s jarring to see emptiness where there was once an entire street of stores or a small town. It’s crazy to believe something you’ve seen a million times can be wiped out in a matter of minutes. I think Stephaie Bond really captured that.

“Everyone knows Winesap apples make the best pie.”
“Right,” Bonita said. “Everyone knows that.”
Shelby exhaled. “Would you be willing to split the bad?”
“No.”
“Absolutely not. You have to have at least three pounds of apples to make a decent pie.”
“Right,” Shelby said. “But my mother-”
“May she rest in peace.”
“God rest her soul.”
“Thank you,” Shelby murmured. “My mother always used two different kinds of apples in her pies. She said it made for a richer flavor.”
“carolyn could make a good pie,” Myrna admitted.
“she did win lots of blue ribbons,” Bonita added thoughtfully.

This whole exchange screams Southern ladies to me. I loved it!

In short, Baby, I’m Yours is a perfect example of a well-written short story. It establishes good characters, good plot, and an authentic Southern setting in less than fifty ages. It’s just enough to get me interested in the rest of the series.

A Book Blogger is Born: What made you decide to start your very own book blog?

Basically, I really needed an outlet. Up until about two years ago I had no clue that people blogged about books. I had done plenty of personal blogging in high school, but it fizzled quickly when I started college. The last year of college though I was back with my parents and I was only attending part time, so I had plenty of time to read. My commute was about an hour to school so I started listening to audiobooks a lot. I was doing a ton of reading and I wanted to talk about it, share my thoughts about the books I read. Then, I read The Gargoyle and The Time Traveler’s Wife and I just HAD to have an outlet of some sort. I felt like I had to talk about how awesome those books are. I had stumbled upon the blog of one of my Goodreads friends. Then, I saw his links to other book blogs. That’s what did it! I thought it was awesome and I wanted to do it too! So, here I am. I’ll reach my second year mark in August and it’s been awesome.

This week on the blog…
Review: Dance of the Gods
Bout of Books 4.0
It’s Monday! What are you reading?
Manga Mondays: Black Butler, Volume 9
Review: Taking a Shot
Review: It’s Not Summer Without You
Review Dark Eyes

I really want to participate in Follow Friday and the Book Blogger Hop, but that’s really difficult right now since I don’t have internet at my house. I have to use what little internet I can get throughout the day. Just know that in a couple of weeks time I’ll be participating in all three and visiting and commenting on blogs again!