Waiting on Wednesday (70): Marked by Sarah Fine

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



Title: Marked (Servants of Fate #1)
Author: Sarah Fine
Publisher: 47North
Release Date: January 13, 2015
In a broken landscape carved by environmental collapse, Boston paramedic Cacia Ferry risks life and limb on the front lines of a fragile and dangerous city. What most don’t know—including her sexy new partner, Eli Margolis—is that while Cacy works to save lives, she has another job ferrying the dead to the Afterlife. Once humans are “Marked” by Fate, the powerful Ferrys are called to escort the vulnerable souls to either eternal bliss or unending fire and pain.

Unaware of Cacy’s other life, Eli finds himself as mesmerized by his fierce and beautiful partner as he is mistrustful of the influential Ferry clan led by the Charon—who happens to be Cacy’s father. Cacy, in turn, can no longer deny her intense attraction to the mysterious ex-Ranger with a haunted past. But just as their relationship heats up, an apparent hit takes the Charon before his time. Shaken to the core, Cacy pursues the rogue element who has seized the reins of fate, only to discover that Eli has a devastating secret of his own. Not knowing whom to trust, what will Cacy have to sacrifice to protect Eli—and to make sure humanity’s future is secure?


Sarah Fine has been on my radar for a long time, but something always captures my attention before I quite get to her books. I know her most recent Of Metal and Wishes is getting a lot of positive reviews. Also, Kayla really liked her joint book with Walter Jury, Scan. (You can read her review HERE.) Sanctum is going to be my book borrowed from the Kindle Lending Library this month, and it's looking like Marked will also be available to borrow when it releases.

What are you waiting on this week?

Cover Reveal: AfterLife by Zoe Dawson

Title: AfterLife (The Starbuck Chronicles #1)
Authors: Zoe Dawson
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Audience: Adult
Cover Designer: Jessica Allain
Cover Reveal Organizer: AToMR Tours
Release Date: December 23, 2013
Lily Starbuck’s day doesn’t start well with blood on the horizon and a grumpy werewolf who refuses to pay his catering bill. Her day only gets worse when she finds out that her business partner in their catering company has embezzled all their available cash.

Lily can get no answers from her partner when she finds her dead. That’s the least of her worries—her landlord is evicting her, she’s being hounded by the Fairy Dust Administration (FDA) who suspects that her partner was dealing in illegal dust, and Lily’s pissed off their werewolf supplier.

With Lily’s very livelihood in jeopardy, she has no choice but to discover who killed her partner and try to track down the cash. She has only Spocko, a small, wizened gnome with just a bit of gremlin blood in him that makes him cantankerous at best to depend on, but he often goes invisible on her. Clues lead her to an open case being investigated by Otherworld Security (O.S.) and the tough O.S. Warden, shapeshifter, Tam Darkwood. And, at the outset of the investigation, a tiny, mythical fire-breathing, red dragon joins her as her trusty (and opinionated) sidekick, Kindle.

It seems a rogue mage has created a video game that is unwarded and game monsters are being released to terrorize the citizens of the Twin Cities. Trouble is Lily has reason to believe that this mage killed her partner.

The investigation takes an unexpected turn when they are led to influential and powerful Archmage Tarquin Wilding and somehow Lily finds herself embroiled in a sinister shadow Fae plot. With her friends at her side, she tackles dangerous and unpredictable supernaturals and monsters with an “all in a day’s work” attitude.


About the Author

Zoe Dawson is the alter ego of Karen Anders, award winning, multi-published author. Her writing journey started with poetry and branched out into fiction. With a couple of college English courses under her belt, she penned a historical, then moved onto contemporary romance fiction. Today, she is happy producing romantic suspense, romantic mystery, urban fantasy and paranormal novels. The words feed her soul and the happily ever afters feed her heart.

Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Newsletter

Review: Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines

Title: Libriomancer (Magic Ex Libris #1)
Author: Jim C. Hines
Publisher: DAW
Release Date: August 7, 2012
Acquired Via: Personal Collection
Isaac Vainio is a Libriomancer, a member of the secret organization founded five centuries ago by Johannes Gutenberg. Libriomancers are gifted with the ability to magically reach into books and draw forth objects. When Isaac is attacked by vampires that leaked from the pages of books into our world, he barely manages to escape. To his horror he discovers that vampires have been attacking other magic-users as well, and Gutenberg has been kidnapped.

With the help of a motorcycle-riding dryad who packs a pair of oak cudgels, Isaac finds himself hunting the unknown dark power that has been manipulating humans and vampires alike. And his search will uncover dangerous secrets about Libriomancy, Gutenberg, and the history of magic. . . .

My Review*

This book is Awesome. Now let me tell you why.

Isaac’s life was boring and somewhat dull, until a trio of vampires stormed into his library to make his life a hell of a lot more complicated, interesting, and shorter. And they didn’t even have their library cards on them! From then on, things start moving fast. Not rushed at all, but the story never really stopped growing. The writing is very good, as are the characters, plot, twists, everything.

The brand of magic in this world is really cool. If you’re Isaac Vainio, our main character and intrepid librarian, you get to pull items out of books and into reality. Items like Excalibur, a Phaser (if you’re around kids, remember to set it to stun!), a skull by the name of Bob (!!!), or even The One Ring. Now, say it with me: A-WE-SOME.

Cover Reveal: Crossroads by Jonathan Lister

Title: Crossroads (A Demos City Novel)
Author: Jonathan Lister
Genre: Thriller/Suspense, Werewolf
Age Group: Adult
Publisher: J. Taylor Publishing
Release Date: November 4, 2013
Werewolf. Bar bouncer. Dad. Standard traits for any self-respecting, reformed criminal, living under the radar in Demos City. For Leon Gray, normal is what he wants—for himself and his not-yet-changed teenage daughter.

Playing bodyguard to crusading reporter David Hastings would totally ruin Leon’s peace, especially since Hastings has hired killers on his trail, pros who know how he takes his espresso in the morning, and where Leon lives.

The payoff, though, would fill up Shauna’s empty college fund, and in a battle between opportunity and ordinary, money wins. He just has to keep Hastings alive long enough to cash the check.

If only he didn’t have to save his daughter, too.

As a budding wolf, she’s piqued the interest of a local pack Alpha—one Leon knows will steal Shauna right out from under him the first chance he gets.

Leon isn’t about to give up on his daughter or Hastings, and will fight for both longer than it took Demos City to see werewolves as equals to humans.

He can only hope it doesn’t take a thousand years.


About the Author


Jonathan Lister is a full-time writer with work appearing in outlets of USA Today, The Houston Chronicle and many others. A graduate of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University, he’s waited an unspeakable amount of tables en route to having the career he wants, and the ability to the tell stories he loves. Crossroads is Jonathan’s first book-length work of fiction. He currently lives in the Philadelphia area and continues to drink too much coffee.



You can keep up with Jonathan on his Website, Facebook, and Goodreads!

Review: Men Don't Pee Straight by Rick Dean

Chock full of stuff about men that you’ve always known but never wished to fully grasp (and always hoped would change), Men Don’t Pee Straight confirms your worst fear – those male stereotypes are real, they are accurate, and they are here to stay.

Blunt and comedic, and voted best bathroom book in the universe by the Bureau of Better Bathroom Books*, these cartoon illustrated pages soften the sad reality for many mothers, girlfriends, and wives who have been hoping for change. The best anyone can do is simply grimace, shrug, and then perhaps smile. From diapers and driving thru fragile egos and toilet seats, this poignant yet tactless book will assist with that smile.

*Currently, to the best of Rick Dean's knowledge, the Bureau of Better Bathroom Books is defunct.


Title: Men Don't Pee Straight: And Other Things You Should Know About Us
Author: Rick Dean
Publisher: Rick Dean Books
Release Date: May 15, 2012
Acquired Via: Author
My Review

Let me start off with a little story - please, humor me. It was a bit of an accident that I read this book last night. I have a huge review pile ahead of it, and I only requested it a week or so ago on a whim. However, I opened the envelope it came in (it's a very tiny book), and my grandmother took it away to look at it. Then she started snickering. I must admit, my eyebrows shot up a little. When she turned around to stir dinner, I snatched the book, and hurried away to see what was so funny that even SHE would laugh. Skip forward two hours. My family had gathered together for a birthday, and we were all sitting around the table talking and laughing. I was privately basking in inner glory because they were allowing me to read a book aloud to them! (These are also the individuals who ignore the existence of my blog and claim that I read far to much.) Anyways, there was only one itsy part that I skipped over with my twelve year old nephew in the room, but it was nothing terrible. He just doesn't need any sort of reason to thoroughly unleash his developing hormones.

To the point, Men Don't Pee Straight is a delightful and hilarious book that completely surprised me. I requested it in hopes that it would be similar to Why Do Men Have Nipples? (it's not), and I am so glad that I did. Rick Dean touches upon some common male stereotypes and explains them to the fairer sex (that would be us, ladies) in a way that we can understand. Anyone who is a man or knows one will giggle at Dean's straightforwardness about how males operate. Dean offers brief explanations on each subject, also including illustrations and little questionnaires that readers can fill out regarding when their man behaved as explained in the section. My favorite section - and the one in which my family laughed hardest - was about men being babies and the reason that they cannot bear children is because babies cannot have babies, not biology.

While Men Don't Pee Straight is a very short book (44 pages and lots of pictures), it is well worth the time it takes to read it. (I think it took me five minutes, tops.) I don't say this about a book very often, but I will be giving this book as a gift for bridal showers and anniversaries in the future. There is nothing especially enlightening about the book, but every woman I know needs a good laugh about her man at some point.

Be sure to order your own copy of Men Don't Pee Straight today!
Paperback | Kindle


To satisfy FTC guidelines, I am disclosing that I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way affected the outcome of my review. All opinions expressed are rambling, honest, and completely my own.

Blog Tour (Excerpt): A Hard Act to Follow by Henry Bushkin

Tour Schedule

A Hard Act to Follow
by Henry Bushkin

A Hard Act to Follow is a non-fiction literary account of Henry Bushkin's tenure as Johnny Carson's lawyer, business partner, and friend. The book gives genuine insight into the 'Carson behind Johnny' with candid personal vignettes about the two, during the rollicking years when Johnny was the undisputed king of television. This is an engaging, eye-opening, anecdote-packed story about a young lawyer and his client, one of the biggest celebrities in the country. This funny, unfiltered account gives readers a look at the Johnny Carson that none but a select few really knew.



A Hard Act to Follow by Henry Bushkin provides a stirring account into Johnny Carson’s world—as told by Carson’s closest confidant. A New Yorker article by Kenneth Tynan from 1978, included the following question and answer:

Tynan: When you’re at home, whom do you entertain?
Carson: My lawyer, Henry Bushkin, who’s probably my best friend.

Excerpt

I was now officially Johnny Carson’s lawyer, an amazing turn of events, as astonishing as if I had won a lottery. But I didn’t have much time to savor my good fortune.

People have often asked me how the hell a young, wet-behind- the-ears lawyer got himself hired to represent one of the biggest names in entertainment. Well, I’ve described the how, but I don’t know if anyone can fully explain the why. All I know is that one of Carson’s favorite sayings was “It’s all in the timing,” and timing had a lot to do with what happened. I met Johnny at just about the moment he had begun to suspect that the icons that had been representing him hadn’t really done a very good job protecting his welfare. After that, all I can say is that I was then able to offer the qualities needed at the moment— earnestness, interest, willingness, and sufficient intellect.