Lady D's Ramblings

As we move into the final month of the UTC Challenge, I find I'm almost done! I'm super excited, also super excited to start next year's! How are you all coming on your personal reading challenges for the year? Category 1: Vampires: 1. Twilight-Stephenie Meyer (reread) 2. Once Burned- Jeaniene Frost 3. Hunted- Evangeline Anderson 4. Half-Blood- Jennifer L. Armentrout 5. Lothaire- Kresley Cole Category 2: Angels and Demons: 1. The Accidental Demon Slayer- Angie Fox 2. Mark of the Demon- Diana Rowland 3. Crave- J.R. Ward 4. Fallen- Lauren Kate 5. Kiss of a Demon King- Kresley Cole (reread) Category 3: Fae: 1. Bound by Darkness- Alexandra Ivy 2. Bloodfever- Karen Marie Moning 3. Grave Dance- Kalayna Price 4. Grave Witch- Kalayna Price 5. Faefever- Karen Marie Moning Category 4: Shifters and Werewolves: 1. Shift- Rachel Vincent 2. Gunmetal Magic- Ilona Andrews 3. Magic Slays- Ilona Andrews (reread) 4. Under Her Skin- Jeaniene Frost, Meljean Brooks, I...

Well, good readers, the time has come again for the UTC challenge. I'm almost done with my 2012 challenge, and they've posted the sign ups for the 2013 challenge. Yours truly is definitely taking the plunge and participating again, and I'm super excited to begin! For those of you who don't know how this works, there are several categories, and you have to read 3-5 books for each category presented. Now, this past year, I've changed my books as I've needed, based on the availability of the books I originally chose, inability to finish, ect. We'll see if I have to do the same this year or not. Re-reads are acceptable, but that's no fun. ;) So, without further ado, here's my list! Category 1: Vampires 1. Guilty Pleasures- Laurell K. Hamilton (re-read) 2. Twice Tempted- Jeaniene Frost 3. Lover Reborn- J.R. Ward 4. Shadow's Claim- Kresley Cole 5. Vamped- Lucienne Diver Category 2: Angels and Demons 1. Archangel's Kiss- Nalini Singh 2. T...

Under the Covers Book Blog is a blog I follow daily. I love the ladies, and they give me some great reading ideas. Now, I've had Gena Showalter on my backlist for a while, so, the fact that there's a 2013 Gena Showalter challenge is perfect! I fully intend to participate, and you can too! Click on the button at the top of this entry, and it will get you back to the sign up page where you can sign up to participate as well! As for me, well, my challenge category will be "Gena Who?" since I've never read one of her books! I know, shocking. I'm going to shoot for reading the Atlantis series, plus one separate series, the White Rabbit Chronicles series... and that's because I've wanted to start that for a while. :) Atlantis Series 1. Heart of the Dragon 2. Jewel of Atlantis 3. The Nymph King 4. The Vampire's Bride White Rabbit Chronicles 1. Alice in Zombieland 2. Through the Zombie Glass So, go, be sure to sign up, and read along with me...

Faefever by Karen Marie Moning My rating: 2 of 5 stars Ok, so, the only reason I ended up finishing this, and the only reason that I will be reading the next book is because a co-worker keeps telling me the series gets better. That's right, you're about to read a negative review from me. I started reading this series because I had previously read KMM's Highlander series and loved it. The first book was decent, the second book seemed like a filler, and this book? Well, I got through it. For me, this series just isn't going anywhere. Mac is still in Dublin, still employed by Jericho Barrons at Barron's Books and Baubles, and she's still working with/against Inspector Jayne on the case of her sister's killer. In this book, we also have V'lane vying for her attention, and now we have the Lord Master also vying for her attention. Mac in this book also meets someone named Christian MacKelter, who is a Scottish druid who is working on fighting the Unseelie, ...

Fate's Edge by Ilona Andrews My rating: 5 of 5 stars This is book three in Ilona Andrews' Edge series. While each book can almost stand alone, you will miss a lot of character development if you don't read them in order. In this book, we meet Audrey Callahan, and Edger with an interesting talent; her magic unlocks doors. And not just doors, any lock; safes, bars, Fort Knox, anything. She has distanced herself from her family due to a horrible instance that happened in her past, and now she wants nothing to do with them. Audrey is just finally getting her life together, she has a legitimate job, her own house, Ling the Merciless, her pet raccoon that she loves, when her world crashes around her and her father shows up asking for her help on a job. The job is huge, and she knows it won't end well, but she trades her skills for her family's absence in her life. After the heist takes place, we meet Kaldar Mar, whom we met in the last book. He is an operative of the M...

Angels' Blood by Nalini Singh My rating: 4 of 5 stars I have never read Nalini Singh before this, but man, I can't wait to continue! Meet Elena Deveraux, Guild Hunter... that is to say, she hunts vampires as part of a large organization that hunts them called the guild. Elena gets a request to do a hunt for Raphael, the archangel of New York. Elena is scared witless, because archangels aren't exactly known for their kindness. The hunt isn't for a vampire however, but an archangel who has all but turned into a vampire. Elena's fear is replaced by determination as she strives to find the archangel before he turns New York into a bloodbath... but how does one kill an archangel? This story was great! The chemistry between Elena and Raphael jumped right off the page, and at points, I was all but screaming at them to just stop fighting it, and go for it! And that is why this book doesn't get five stars. For the majority of the book, really up until the last 50 page...

The Smoke Thief by Shana Abé My rating: 4 of 5 stars I picked up this book due to the fact that it was recommended to me after reading the Dragonkin series by G.A. Aiken. And I have to say, I was NOT disappointed. This series combines two of my favorite things... historical romance... and dragons. Yes, that's right, I said dragons! Clarissa Rue Hawthorne is a half-blooded drakon who doesn't fit in in the elite world that the drakon live. So, when she finds out that she has the power to Turn, she fakes her own death in order to run from what she knows is a future with a man who will never love her. Now living in London, Clarissa uses her powers to steal from the ton, London's elite society. But when Christoff, the drakon Alpha, and the rest of the drakon hear of this mysterious "Smoke Thief," they know instantly that it's one of their own, and they decide to set a trap to catch him... or her. What Christoff didn't expect to find is a female drakon who st...

Grave Peril by Jim Butcher My rating: 4 of 5 stars Harry faces off something new in this book that he's never seen. Something in the Nevernever is getting stirred up, and ghosts are feeling the effects. Whatever this thing is, it's also getting to Harry and his friends. Harry is going to have to figure out not only what this thing is, but how to stop it before it kills someone that he loves and cares about. There's some really awesome things that happen in this book that I didn't see in the previous two, and that's more world building. We get to see more of Harry, and more of the people that he works with, and around. We meet someone in this book that I don't think we've met before, and his name is Michael. Michael works for god, and is kind of a Knight Templar. We see a lot of him in this book, as he and Harry work closely together on this case. Karrin Murphy, aka Murph, is kind of left out of this book, but that's not really a bad thing. Since she w...

Ill Wind by Rachel Caine My rating: 5 of 5 stars This is one of the most imaginative and unique series that I think I've ever read. Meet Joanne Baldwin. She's a Weather Warden... that is to say she can control the weather. But when something goes horribly wrong in her life, she finds her self on the run from other Wardens, and on her own... until she meets David, a super-hot hitch hiker who seems to want to help her out. Joanne is fighting something within that is threatening to kill her, and since time is not on her side, she is literally racing cross-country to hopefully find help. Can she make it in time? And who is David, really? This book is amazing start to finish. It is a fast-paced read, since as I mentioned, Joanne is literally racing against the clock to get help. We're introduced to an old "legend" in this book as well, the Djinn, known more commonly as "genies." I love Rachel Caine's take on the classic paranormal breed, and this is ho...