Review: Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord by Sarah MacLean

Since being named "London's Lord to Land" by a popular ladies' magazine, Nicholas St. John has been relentlessly pursued by every matrimony-minded female in the ton. So when an opportunity to escape fashionable society presents itself, he eagerly jumps - only to land in the path of the most determined, damnably delicious woman he's ever met.

The daughter of a titled wastrel, Lady Isabel Townsend has too many secrets and too little money. Though she is used to taking care of herself quite handily, her father's recent passing has left Isabel at sea and in need of outside help to protect her young brother's birthright. The sinfully handsome, eminently eligible Lord Nicholas could be the very salvation she seeks.

But the lady must be wary and not do anything reckless and foolish...like falling madly, passionately in love.

Sarah MacLean's debut, Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake, knocked my socks off. Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord was good but didn't make 'em twitch.

Isabel is already beautiful if not one step above poverty and the last thing she wants is a man. Nicholas is successful and wanted by every eligible respectable (and some not) woman in London. So my question is: why did MacLean go so completely opposite of NRtBWRaR? I wouldn't expect her to write the same book over and over but she found a formula that worked for her. This book wasn't even set (mostly) in London. TWtBAWLaL didn't have the same spark and the romance bits felt a bit repetitive but not necessarily boring.

The third book in the St. John series, Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke's Heart, comes out on April 26, 2011. I have high hopes for that one as I want to see Juliana, the illegitimate half-sister to Ralston and Nicholas, kick some haughty duke butt because that guy definitely needs a kick in his butt. Once you've read Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord you'll know who. And why it's got the perfect title.

Harry Potter Countdown

I realize that I'm a bit late mentioning this but as I am a big fan of Harry Potter I would be remiss if I didn't add my voice to all those others who are talking about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 1. I just watched the trailer (again) and got goosebumps. Big Ones.

Here's the official site which has the best trailer I've seen for part one: http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/harrypotterandthedeathlyhallows/mainsite/index.html

But these are good too:






I've seen all the movies but I loved Half Blood Prince. It really felt like the book and David Yates has captured their essence more so than any other director. I'm so excited to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows next weekend! The movie opens on Friday, November 19.

Four days to go!

This Post is Not Related to Books, Not Even Close

This so funny, you guys.



And because you can't ever say too much about tampons (and I love Sheldon Cooper):

Book Blogger Hop (4), November 12-15, 2010

Welcome to the Book Blogger Hop and welcome to My Book Addiction! The Book Blogger Hop is hosted each week by Jennifer at crazy-for-books.com. The Hop is a way for book bloggers to meet other bloggers, find new blogs they like, and share our love of books. Each week there is a new question for us bloggers to answer and this week's is:

"If you find a book that looks interesting but is part of a series, do you always start with the first title?"

Oh my yes. I am almost obsessive about that. What's worse than trying to read a new author and not being able to know what's going on in the background? Some authors depend on their readers to have read their previous books and some don't; either way, I don't like missing out on anything. I need to know!

So, thanks for stopping by my blog and please leave a comment so I can return the favor! Have a great weekend!

Review & Giveaway: Bloodshot by Cherie Priest

Raylene Pendle, (AKA Cheshire Red), a vampire and world-renowned thief, doesn't usually hang out with her own kind. She's too busy stealing priceless art and rare jewels. But when the infuriatingly charming Ian Stott asks for help, Raylene finds him impossible to resist - even though Ian doesn't want previous artifacts. He wants her to retrieve missing government files: documents that deal with the secret biological experiments that left Ian blind. What Raylene doesn't bargain for is a case that takes her from the frozen outskirts of Minneapolis to the mean streets of Atlanta. And with a psychotic, power-hungry scientist on her trail, a kick-ass drag queen at her side, and Men in Black popping up at the most inconvenient moments, the case proves to be one hell of a ride.

This is my first book review from the loot I brought home from NYCC 2010. Yes, I am that lazy.  But guess what? I'm giving this one away to whoever wins my first giveaway! I'm so nice.

So, Bloodshot. It felt a bit uneven to me and took me a long time to get into it. There was a period between pages fifty and 100 where I considered calling it quits but I am glad I didn't because things really pick up after that. And I have to say that pairing up a vampire and a former Navy SEAL drag queen was definitely something new for me. When I read that line on the back about the "kick-ass drag queen" I immediately got a picture of Sally Sweets in my head from Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. (Sadly, I haven't run across that many drag queens in my books.) Adrian is no Sally, let me assure you. Not even close.

Raylene is a contradiction. She's an eighty-odd-year-old vampire who is a discriminating thief and surrogate mother for two runaway kids who live in an old building she owns where she stashes all her stolen goods. She's thoughtful and paranoid. She also kills without compunction, for either food or in battle. At the beginning and with the exception of the two kids, she's all alone in the world. She doesn't know the real names of her fellow thieves/mercenaries/etc. and only generally has conversations with one of her best clients, a man who lives across the country. By the end, she has friends. A family, almost.

I mostly liked Raylene and I know I liked her sense of humor. I think Cherie Priest was trying to make Raylene a total badass but she fell a little short and sounded a bit dated to me; repeatedly referring to the government as "Uncle Sam" sounds old. She has the vamp skills and all but the paranoia and anal-retentiveness of being super prepared made her somehow seem diminished, not sure of herself and ready to roll instead of confident. She's tenacious though, I will give her that.

Despite my issues with Raylene, I did like Bloodshot enough to want to find out what will happen in the next book. I want to know what happens with Ian and Sister Rose, as well as find out more about Raylene's history with the vampire Houses. Sounds a bit like Chloe Neill's Chicagoland vampires series setup. Cherie Priest has created an more than interesting world with Bloodshot and I hope to see more of it in the future.

Bloodshot will be released on January 25, 2011.

About the giveaway: Anyone who would like my copy of Cherie Priest's Bloodshot should leave a comment with your name and email address between now and November 30, 2010 to enter. The winner will be chosen at random. I will mail Bloodshot to the winner personally.