A contest for a Kindle II!

I have a link for you all to check out. Bibliofreak blog is giving away up to 15 Kindle 2's, brand new! All you have to do is follow the link I'll provide here, and pick ways to sign up! There's several, becoming a fan on facebook, twittering the post, etc. Trust me, I'm doing as many as possible! I really suggest you all check this contest out, and then look around the rest of the site. I'm new to the blog, but it seems a little slice of awesome.

So please, go visit! Enter for a chance to win a Kindle II!

HERE !!!

Happy Reading!
~Morning Glow

Books, books, everywhere! Bought, Received, etc

It's been a while since I've done a books received post.. maybe it's time, especially since I've gotten a lot in recent days... here goes!

Bought:
"Queene of Light" by Jennifer Armintrout - I loved her vampire series.
"Intertwined" by Gena Showalter - Looked interesting, but similar to her adult Lords series.
"Dracula: The Un-Dead" by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt - I love Dracula when I read it years ago.
"The Tycoon's Rebel Bride" by Maya Banks
"Hot-Shot Tycoon, Indecent Proposal" by Heidi Rice
"Count Maxime's Virgin" by Susan Stephens
"The Ruthless Greek's Virgin Princess" by Trish Morey
The last four were bought at my local library for 25 cents each!
"Me and My Shadow" by Katie MacAlister - yay a new Katie Mac book!
"Unbound" by Kim Harrison, Melissa Marr, Jeaniene Frost, Vicki Pettersson, and Jocelynn Drake - I bought it for the Bones story, but I'm sooo going to read the rest of them.

Received in exchange for review:
"Love is a Battlefield - A Walk in the Park, Book 1" by Annalisa Daughety -
Thanks to librarything.com's Early Reviewers program for this one!

Books won in contests, etc:
"A Highlander's Temptation" by Sue-Ellen Welfonder - Looks yummy!
"Branded by the Sheriff" by Delores Fossen - This should be a quick, good read.
"Night's Knights" by Emerian Rich - This book came with a bunch of Halloween-y goodies!
"Going Bovine" by Libba Bray - This one sounds awesome. And the author interview for it? Pure gold! She does it dressed as a cow!
"Mistress of Mellyn" by Victoria Holt - I don't remember what this was for...
"Mine Till Midnight" by Lisa Kleypas - I've never read this author before, but I know she has a huge fan base. I'm excited to try it out.
"Deja Demon" by Julie Kenner - I've not read any of her other books, I'm hoping I can jump right into this one.. anyone that's read this, your advice?
"Nothing But Scandal" by Allegra Gray - won at The Season Blog. Such great contests there!

Review of "According to Jane" by Marilyn Brant

I literally JUST finished "According to Jane" by Marilyn Brant and.. whoa! I received this as an ARC from a Jane Austen week contest (it was great! Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Mr. Darcy, Vampyre, etc!), and I FINALLY got around to reading and reviewing it, and boy am I happy I did!

The blurb: " It begins one day in sophomore English class, just as Ellie Barnett's teacher is assigning Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice." From nowhere comes a quiet "tsk" of displeasure. The target: Sam Blaine, the cute bad boy who's teasing Ellie mercilessly, just as he has since kindergarten. Entirely unbidden, as Jane might say, the author's ghost has taken up residence in Ellie's mind, and seems determined to stay there.

Jane's wise and witty advice guides Elli through the trauma of adolescence and beyond, serving as the voice she trusts, usually, more than her own. Years and boyfriends come and go, but Jane's counsel is constant, and on the subject of Sam, quite insistent. STAY AWAY, Jane demands. He is your Mr. Wickham.

Still, everyone has something to learn about love -- perhaps even Jane herself. And lately, the voice in Ellie's head is being downed out by another, urging her to look beyond all she thought she knew and seek out her very own, very unexpected happy ending... "

Ooooh, sounds good right? Honestly, when I first got the book, I thought it was a Young Adult book, I don't know why. But really, not at all. Yes, you do get snippets of when she was in High school, but she's an adult for most of the book. In fact, I got the sense that until the last few chapters of the book, she was in her thirties, and just retelling this story for my benefit. Marilyn Brant did a wonderful job with this story, and it kind of makes me want to have Jane Austen in my head, guiding me through life, as a constant companion. Brant weaves (yes, weaves is the best description) a beautiful tale of Ellie's life from High School to her thirties. I loved the ending, I gotta say, it makes me giddy with happiness. And I really connected with Ellie. I've had some... trials in the love department, as well as seen others get married and find happiness, even have children, all while feeling a little lost and alone. You can really watch Ellie grow up, mature, and find herself. And that's another thing I love about the book, that she does manage to mature on her own, without the need of a man being there and guiding her.

I give "According to Jane" by Marilyn Brant a FIVE out of FIVE stars. I loved it. I'm recommending it to everyone, really. Heck, if I could give it a higher score, I would, but I don't want to get into weird fractions, or impossible numbers. I really do hope you all read and enjoy this. As I'm sure you gathered, it's not really paranormal-y, except the fact that Jane Austen's ghost is present. And I wouldn't necessarily call it romance-y either.. more.. Fiction, or maybe chick-lit. Really good chick-lit.

Happy reading, and check out "According to Jane!"
~ Morning Glow

Photo courtesy of Amazon.com
Copy was won in a contest, review was not done in exchange for book.

Review(ette?) of "Dhampir Passions" by Mary Corrales

I won a .pdf copy of "Dhampir Passions" by Mary Corrales from a Halloween contest, and am I glad!

The premise:
" Living in the post-war American Western Barrans, Linea Kamiya is in danger of becoming a vamp master's minion. While she hides Desmondi's evil mark from the townsfolk of Whickeup, the town council intends to take her farmland for themselves. Linea's only hope lies with an enigmatic stranger.
Raduslav Dracula is hunting for the vampire who stole the Draculesti Bloodstone from his family's gravesite. When Radu's attraction to Linea turns physical, he knows he will have to battle with his heart as well as the demon Desmondi. Is the half-blood Dhampir strong enough to embrace his own cursed nature to defeat Desmondi? "

Oooo sounds good, right?! It is! I was so interested in the setting, it says "post-war" in the synopsis, but it seems to be post-some-huge-nuclear-war-that-changed-everything. Okay, not everything. But people are sterile, or at least some of them, and single women are.. well, I don't want to say taboo, but they only have a few years of being single, and if they don't find someone to marry them, they have to go to whorehouses. Really, the author could have just focused on this world and created a book and then some. I would have loved to see more development of the world, but that's just me wanting to read more about it. Which is a good thing, of course. As for the plot, I liked it. As usual with shorter books, I wish there was more ("Dhampir Passions" is.. well, we'll say about 40 pages). But despite how short it was, I think the characters were well developed, likeable, and I kinda want my own Radu. I also thought it was interesting that she actually made Radu part of the Dracul bloodline.. and instead of being a full vampire like most do.. he's a Dhampir. I thought that was great.

So! I would give "Dhampir Passions" a FIVE out of FIVE. I really liked it, I just can't get over how cool the world was, and as I said, I want my own Radu. Christmas is coming up, you know.. someone get on that!

Happy Reading, everyone!
~ Morning Glow

Photo courtesy of Eternal Press (publisher)
.pdf copy was won in a contest, copy was not received in exchange for a review. Review was provided for fun.

A Contest for you to check out!!

The blog Fangs, Fur, and Fey are celebrating their three year anniversary with a wonderful contest! What are they giving away to the lucky winner(s) you may ask?! Well! The grand prize winner gets a Kindle! And twenty two other winners will get a 20 dollar gift card to a vendor of their choice (they have a list to choose from).

I've already sent in my entry, what are you waiting for??? Oh.. the link? Right! Here you go!
HERE Good luck!

And on another note, yesterday (Tuesday Nov 3) was the release day for Me and My Shadow, Katie MacAlister's next Silver dragons novel. I'm heading out to grab my copy later today. Here's hoping I find it in the first store I go to! My city isn't big on book stores.. and the ones we do have, almost never have new ones out.

Happy reading!!
Morning Glow

Writing contest - I need your votes!

Hello lovely readers! I have a huge favor to ask of you...

Just to get myself writing something, ANYTHING, I entered into a contest over at Writtenwyrdd. The prize isn't money, but an adorable Chthulu plushie. Plus, it'll allow me to put a "win" on my record. Horror isn't my genre, but at least I tried! My story is called "The Haunted House" and I'd be super greatful if you would go and vote for my story. Or just vote in general!

The link to the vote post is: HERE

Thank you!! And I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!!

~Morning Glow

Review of "oh. my. gods." by Tera Lynn Childs

Yay! A review! Ahem. Okay, there are three things that I am obsessed with. Right right, more than three.. but when it comes to reading and research, three things.. mostly. I'm sure you've all picked up on the fact that I obsess over Vampires. You might have even caught my love of fallen angels.. but have you yet discovered that I love mythology? Any kind, really, but Greek mythology is the top of the list. So when a fellow book blogger mentioned this particular book, I practically ran to the library to borrow a copy. And yes, I know I'm not usually a YA fiction person, but I like to branch out of my comfort zones sometimes, and I just couldn't pass this book up.

From the book jacket: "If Phoebe Castro can keep her grades up and have another stellar cross-country season, her dream of attending USC with her best friends is only a track scholarship away. She's made all her plans, so it's a complete shock when her mom announces she's marrying a mysterious stranger and moving them halfway around the world - to Greece. Phoebe's stuck on a secret island in the Aegean, attending the super-exclusive Academy, where her new stepfather is the headmaster, and the kids are anything but your average students - they are descendants of the Greek gods, superpowers included. That's right, Greek gods are no myth! If Phoebe thought high school was hard, she knows this is going to be mortal misery. Securing that scholarship seems like Phoebe's only ticket out of Greece, but training and maintaining her grades will be gruelling, even without a sabotaging steosister from Hades and a gorgeous guy - what a god! - who just might be her Achilles' heel. One thing is for sure - summoning the will to win and finding her place among the gods could be Phoebe's toughest course yet. The Greek gods get a makeover in this romantic odyssey of mythic proportions."

Well, what to say, what to say.. I liked it. I thought it was a fun read, and heck.. I finished it in under two hours, while I enjoyed a little downtime between finishing errands and beginning work. As far as books go, I wouldn't say it was monumental, something that changed my life (oh yes, there are books like that!), but it was cute and enjoyable. I wish it hadn't been quite so predictable. I mean, from a third of the way in, you start getting inklings of the "big shocker" that occurs in the end. And I think the stepsister angle could have been done a little better - the character of the stepsister just seemed to change a little too quickly. But as I said, I enjoyed it, and I would recommend it to others. I'm always interested in how different authors will bring mythology into their work, whether figuratively - as inspiration, or literally - as in this case.

Supposedly, there is a sequel "Goddess boot camp," and I'm a little upset that my library does not have a copy.. I suppose I shall have to find it elsewhere!

I think I will end up giving this book a THREE POINT FIVE out of FIVE. I will probably recommend it to others, but probably only those that read YA fantasy/sci fi/this sort of thing.

Woo, it feels good to get another review up. I feel so accomplished! Now back to my readings for school, which.. if you're interested is - "Cane" by Jean Toomer, and "Neuromancer" by William Gibson. The first, ehhh... the second, I think is really interesting, I just wish I could understand it better. I love sci-fi, but he glances over things a little too quickly, so I don't catch them, then have to go back later and figure out what that meant.. well, anyways!

Happy reading, everyone! Only a few more days to Halloween - better get your spooky costumes and yummy candy out and ready!
~Morning Glow

Copy was borrowed from the library, I was not given it in exchange for a review. Photo courtesey of Amazon.com.