Blog Tour (Review): The Darkest Night by Gena Showalter #TLCBookTours #Giveaway @genashowalter @HarlequinBooks

Happy Friday! Thank you so much for visiting my stop on the tour promoting Gena Showalter's Lords of the Underworld series! Today I'm reviewing The Darkest Night, the first book in the series. There is also a great giveaway at the end of the post, so be sure to check that out before you leave!



Title: The Darkest Night (Lords of the Underworld #1)
Author: Gena Showalter
Publisher: HQN (Harlequin)
Tour Organizer: TLC Book Tours
Release Date: May 3, 2008
All her life, Ashlyn Darrow has been tormented by voices from the past. To end the nightmare, she has come to Budapest seeking help from men rumored to have supernatural abilities, not knowing she'll be swept into the arms of Maddox, their most dangerous member--a man trapped in a hell of his own.

Neither can resist the instant hunger that calms their torments...and ignites an irresistible passion. But every heated touch and burning kiss will edge them closer to destruction--and a soul-shattering test of love....

My Review

I've never considered myself a romance reader. True, I'll read the occasional historical romance as a palate cleanser, but it's never been my go to genre-of-choice. I haven't read paranormal romance in years, as I tend to prefer high or urban fantasy. However, as I read The Darkest Night, I realized that there might be a romance reader inside me after all.

Review: Chaos Choreography by Seanan McGuire #BibPleaseReview #scifi @dawbooks @seananmcguire @nita_basu

Title: Chaos Choreography (InCryptid #5)
Author: Seanan McGuire
Publisher: DAW (Penguin Random House)
Release Date: March 1, 2016
Acquired Via: Publisher
Verity Price is back on the West Coast and getting back into the swing of the family business: cryptozoology. She’s rescuing cryptids from bad situations, protecting them from monster-hunters, and generally risking life and limb for the greater good, with her ex-Covenant partner/husband, Dominic, by her side. Her ballroom dance career is behind her…or so she thinks.

When Verity gets the call from the producers of Dance or Die, the reality show she almost won several years before, she finds the lure of a comeback impossible to resist, and she and Dominic are off to L.A. for one last shot at the big time.

Of course, nothing is that simple. When two of her fellow contestants turn up dead, Verity will need every ally she can find—and a couple she wasn’t looking for—in order to navigate the complicated steps of both the tango and a murder investigation without blowing her cover. It doesn’t help that her official family backup is her grandmother, Alice Price-Healy, who thinks “subtle” is something that happens to other people.

Winning this competition may have just become a matter of life and death.

My Review

You can read Kim's review of Pocket Apocalypse (InCryptid #4) HERE.

Chaos Choreography is the fifth book the InCryptid series. For this book we go back to Verity Price and what has been happening in her life after the events of Midnight Blue-Light Special.

I have struggled in writing this review, mostly because I think you will like something more in-depth that squeeing and chants of “I love it, I love it, I love it!”. I loved everything about the book; the spacing, the plot and the action scenes. But there are two things that I loved in particular: the respect that the Price Clan has in regards to information preservation and that Verity is self-aware enough to recognize her personal opinion is not the last word in all situations. Verity is aware of the fact that not everyone feels comfortable with her choice of husband, and she understands their reasons and respects them!

Blog Tour (Excerpt): Fighting Dirty by Lori Foster #TLCBookTours #Giveaway @LoriLFoster @HarlequinBooks

Title: Fighting Dirty (Ultimate #4)
Author: Lori Foster
Publisher: HQN (Harlequin)
Tour Organizer: TLC Book Tours
Release Date: February 23, 2016
He's the hottest MMA fighter in the game, but one woman is ready to try out a few steamy moves of her own in an unforgettable new novel from New York Times bestselling author Lori Foster

With the life he's led and the muscles he's gained, Armie Jacobson isn't afraid of anything. Except maybe Merissa Colter's effect on him. It's not just that she's his best friend's little sister. Fact is, she deserves better. Women pursue him for one night of pleasure, and that's all he wants to offer. Until rescuing Merissa from a robbery leads to the most erotic encounter of his life.

Good girl meets bad boy. It's a story that rarely ends well. But Merissa is taking matters into her own hands. No matter how he views himself, the Armie she knows is brave, honorable and completely loyal. And as past demons and present-day danger collide, they're both about to learn what's truly worth fighting for...

Excerpt

Bestselling author Lori Foster shares a fighting scene from the last book in her Ultimate Series, Fighting Dirty
Fighting Dirty by Lori Foster is the final book in her addicting and wicked hot MMA-themed Ultimate Series. Check out the excerpt below to see just what we mean. Happy reading!

***
Merissa loved her brother. She’d always seen him as Superman, larger than life, a rock whenever she’d needed one. He was only a couple of years older than her, but for as long as she could remember he’d seemed grown-up.

Right now, Superman was in her kitchen, insisting on getting her a drink when all she really wanted was the time alone to let go. She knew if she fell apart in front of him, Cannon would never leave her.

He didn’t need to be a savior, not right now.

Blog Tour (Interview): The Dirt on Ninth Grave by Darynda Jones #giveaway @darynda @StMartinsPress

Thank you so much for visiting by Bibliophilia, Please for my stop of the The Dirt on Ninth Grave blog tour - which is out TOMORROW! Today, I'll be featuring an exclusive interview with Darynda Jones, and there's also a giveaway of the book!



Title: The Dirt on Ninth Grave (Charley Davidson #9)
Author: Darynda Jones
Publisher: St. Martin's Press (Macmillan)
Release Date: January 12, 2016
In a small village in New York Charley Davidson is living as Jane Doe, a girl with no memory of who she is or where she came from. So when she is working at a diner and slowly begins to realize she can see dead people, she's more than a little taken aback. Stranger still are the people entering her life. They seem to know things about her. Things they hide with lies and half-truths. Soon, she senses something far darker. A force that wants to cause her harm, she is sure of it. Her saving grace comes in the form of a new friend she feels she can confide in and the fry cook, a devastatingly handsome man whose smile is breathtaking and touch is scalding. He stays close, and she almost feels safe with him around.

But no one can outrun their past, and the more lies that swirl around her-even from her new and trusted friends-the more disoriented she becomes, until she is confronted by a man who claims to have been sent to kill her. Sent by the darkest force in the universe. A force that absolutely will not stop until she is dead. Thankfully, she has a Rottweiler. But that doesn't help in her quest to find her identity and recover what she's lost. That will take all her courage and a touch of the power she feels flowing like electricity through her veins. She almost feels sorry for him. The devil in blue jeans. The disarming fry cook who lies with every breath he takes. She will get to the bottom of what he knows if it kills her. Or him. Either way.

Author Interview

Kayla: Hi, Darynda! Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to interview you. You have a lot of fans here at Bibliophilia, Please. Do you mind telling us a little bit about your Charley Davidson series and newest book, The Dirt on Ninth Grave?

Darynda Jones: I’d love to! Charley Davidson is a female PI who was born the grim reaper. In every story, she solves a case for a living client and one for a departed, not to mention all the side cases thrown in for good measure. The books are packed with lots of mystery and lots of sexiness in the form of our love interest, Reyes Farrow. He has daddy issues (mostly because his father is public enemy number one in both the tangible realm and the supernatural one), but that’s another story.

In Ninth Grave, Charley has lost her memory due to a traumatic event (involving Reyes’s dad, no less), and we find her working at a diner in Sleepy Hollow, NY, where she has her whole brood looking out for her. She just doesn't know it’s HER brood. Trust is coming hard for her, especially since she can see into the supernatural realm but has no idea why. And when one of her regulars is cloaked in shadows and fire, she’s both scared and intrigued by him.

This book was so fun to write because it is almost like starting over. Charley gets to learn to trust her closest friends once again and fall in love with Reyes all over again, once she can get past his brooding darkness.

Kayla: You’ve been working on this series for quite a while. How have you changed as a writer since you wrote the first book in the series and debut novel, First Grave on the Right?

Spotlight (#Giveaway): Benefit of the Doubt by Neal Griffin #adultlit #mystery @kayepublicity

Title: Benefit of the Doubt: A Novel
Author: Neal Griffin
Publisher: Forge (Macmillan)
Spotlight Organizer: Kaye Publicity
Release Date: May 12, 2015
Neal Griffin is a twenty-five year veteran of law enforcement. He's seen it all, from routine patrols to drug enforcement to homicide investigations, from corrupt cops to men and women who went far above and beyond the call of duty.

Benefit of the Doubt is a gripping thriller that exposes the dark underbelly of policing in small-town American, where local police departments now deal with big-city crimes and corruption.

Ben Sawyer was a big-city cop, until he nearly killed a helpless suspect in public. Now a detective in the tiny Wisconsin town where he and his wife grew up, Ben suspects that higher-ups are taking payoffs from local drug lords.

Before long, Ben is off the force. His wife is accused of murder. His only ally is another outcast, a Latina rookie cop. Worse, a killer has escaped from jail with vengeance on his mind, and Newburg—and Ben Sawyer—in his sights.

Praise

“Benefit of the Doubt needs none--there is no doubt that this fine debut novel is the sure-handed work of an exciting new author.” —Don Winslow, New York Times bestselling author of Savages

“[A] unique and suspenseful debut novel by a cop-turned-author who knows the turf. The story moves at warp speed.” —Joseph Wambaugh, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“A taut and cleverly-plotted page-turner! Griffin is a terrific story-teller, and this compelling tale will keep you guessing from the first chilling line to the unpredictable and completely surprising last page.” —Hank Phillippi Ryan, a Mary Higgins Clark, Anthony, & Agatha Award-winning author

“A visionary, scathing, supremely effective peek into the darkness that permeates small town Americana. Drawn in vibrant colors upon an ambitious canvas, this major debut is destined to take its place alongside the work of Robert Parker, C.J. Box, and Harlan Coben when it comes to unrelenting suspense and wondrously staged, multi-layered construction.” —Jon Land, bestselling author of Strong Rain Falling and The Tenth Circle

Buy your copy on Amazon!


About the Author

Audiobook Review: Fortune's Pawn by Rachel Bach #scifi #audiobook #BibPleaseReview

Title: Fortune's Pawn (Paradox #1)
Author: Rachel Bach
Narrator: Emily Durante
Publisher: Orbit (Hachette)
Release Date: November 5, 2013
Acquired Via: Personal Collection
Devi Morris isn't your average mercenary. She has plans. Big ones. And a ton of ambition. It's a combination that's going to get her killed one day - but not just yet.

That is, until she just gets a job on a tiny trade ship with a nasty reputation for surprises. The Glorious Fool isn't misnamed: it likes to get into trouble, so much so that one year of security work under its captain is equal to five years everywhere else. With odds like that, Devi knows she's found the perfect way to get the jump on the next part of her Plan. But the Fool doesn't give up its secrets without a fight, and one year on this ship might be more than even Devi can handle.

If Sigouney Weaver in Alien met Starbuck in Battlestar Galactica, you'd get Deviana Morris -- a hot new mercenary earning her stripes to join an elite fighting force. Until one alien bite throws her whole future into jeopardy.

My Review

Sometimes I just need to take a break from reading books for review and for recommending to library patrons. You know how it is - you just have to have something to cleanse your palate. Well, Fortune's Pawn was just what I needed!

I was listening to an elaborate, epic fantasy that was boring the snot out of me on my last road trip. I pulled into a McDonald's for their WiFi to find something - anything - other than what I was listening to because I was going to fall asleep on the road. I've had Fortune's Pawn in my Audible library for a year or two, and I figured then was a good of a time as any to give it a shot. It was precisely what I needed to drive the empty road to South Louisiana on a dark and rainy night.

Blog Tour (Spotlight): Doll Parts by Azzurra Nox @YABoundToursPR @diva_zura

Title: Doll Parts: Tales of Twisted Love
Author: Azzurra Nox
Publisher: Twisted Wing Productions
Blog Tour Organizer: YA Bound Book Tours
Release Date: December 8, 2015
A haunting trio of short stories about love, obsession, and secrets. Each short story is titled after a song, The National's Apartment Story, Placebo's Scared of Girls, and Skunk Anansie's Post Orgasmic Chill.

Apartment Story
A lonely married woman nostalgically rekindles a friendship with a former lover and the apartment they shared. Dark secrets and mysteries surround the apartment building and its new tenants that delve deep into the woman's psyche and prove to be fatal.

Scared of Girls
A glamorous go-go dancer and a failing university student are bound by a dark secret that may change their fates forever.

Post Orgasmic Chill
The destinies of a cynical rock star, a groupie, an arrogant DJ, and naïve university student intertwine in a rainy London that serves as the backdrop to their tormented lives. Secrets and lies coincide in this dark tale of love gone wrong.

Hauntingly spare, beautiful, and twisted, Doll Parts is a disquieting and at times darkly morbid collection of short stories about normal people who suddenly discover their own dark possibilities.

Buy your copy on Amazon!


About Azzurra Nox

Review: Her Wicked Ways by Darcy Burke @KHeniadis #HistoricalRomance #BibPleaseReview

Title: Her Wicked Ways (Secrets & Scandals #1)
Author: Darcy Burke
Publisher: Intrepid Reads
Release Date: May 1, 2012
Acquired Via: Author
She was his savior...

Banished from London for her reckless behavior, Lady Miranda Sinclair is robbed by a dashing highwayman en route to the country. By offering him a kiss in lieu of the jewels she had to leave behind, she commits the very type of act that caused her exile. When her dour guardians extend her punishment to performing charitable work at the local orphanage, she’s further tempted by the home’s owner, a provincial gentleman who stirs her passion in a most wicked way...

He was her downfall...

Desperate to save his orphanage from financial catastrophe, Montgomery “Fox” Foxcroft leads a double life as a highwayman. The arrival of wealthy, well-connected Miranda, whose kiss he can’t forget, presents a lawful opportunity to increase his coffers. His problems seem solved—until she rejects his suit. Out of options and falling for the heiress, Fox must risk what principles he has left and take advantage of her wicked ways—even if it ruins them both.

My Review

I really enjoyed the premise in this novel. Miranda is sent to the country for the summer instead of enjoying the season in London. She is spoiled and use to doing what she wants. She meets Fox who, although not titled, owns a lot of land, a house and an orphanage. But he is overworked and does not have enough money to keep up repairs. Miranda is made to help at the orphanage, and she slowly grows into a caring partner.

Audiobook Review: Dreamer's Pool by Juliet Marillier #BibPleaseReview #Fantasy #AceRocStars #Audiobook

Title: Dreamer's Pool (Blackthorn & Grim #1)
Author: Juliet Marillier
Narrator: Scott Aiello, Natalie Gold, & Nick Sullivan
Publisher: Roc (Penguin Random House)
Release Date: November 4, 2014
Acquired Via: Personal Collection
Award-winning author Juliet Marillier “weaves magic, mythology, and folklore into every sentence on the page” (The Book Smugglers). Now she begins an all-new and enchanting series that will transport readers to a magical vision of ancient Ireland...

In exchange for help escaping her long and wrongful imprisonment, embittered magical healer Blackthorn has vowed to set aside her bid for vengeance against the man who destroyed all that she once held dear. Followed by a former prison mate, a silent hulk of a man named Grim, she travels north to Dalriada. There she’ll live on the fringe of a mysterious forest, duty bound for seven years to assist anyone who asks for her help.

Oran, crown prince of Dalriada, has waited anxiously for the arrival of his future bride, Lady Flidais. He knows her only from a portrait and sweetly poetic correspondence that have convinced him Flidais is his destined true love. But Oran discovers letters can lie. For although his intended exactly resembles her portrait, her brutality upon arrival proves she is nothing like the sensitive woman of the letters.

With the strategic marriage imminent, Oran sees no way out of his dilemma. Word has spread that Blackthorn possesses a remarkable gift for solving knotty problems, so the prince asks her for help. To save Oran from his treacherous nuptials, Blackthorn and Grim will need all their resources: courage, ingenuity, leaps of deduction, and more than a little magic.

My Review

Dreamer's Pool caught my eye last year when it came out, but I didn't get around to reading it until I received the sequel, Tower of Thorns, from the publisher. Since I love listening to fantasy audiobooks, I opted for that format, and I think it caused me to love the book all the more.

Blog Tour (Review): The Determined Heart by Antoinette May #TLCBookTours #historicalfiction #MaryShelley #Frankenstein

Title: The Determined Heart: The Tale of Mary Shelley and Her Frankenstein
Author: Antoinette May
Publisher: Lake Union Press (Amazon Publishing)
Release Date: September 29, 2015
Acquired Via: TLC Book Tours
The Determined Heart reveals the life of Mary Shelley in a story of love and obsession, betrayal and redemption.

The daughter of political philosopher William Godwin and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley had an unconventional childhood populated with the most talented and eccentric personalities of the time. After losing her mother at an early age, she finds herself in constant conflict with a resentful stepmother and a jealous stepsister. When she meets the Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, she falls deeply in love, and they elope with disastrous consequences. Soon she finds herself destitute and embroiled in a torturous love triangle as Percy takes Mary’s stepsister as a lover. Over the next several years, Mary struggles to write while she and Percy face ostracism, constant debt, and the heartbreaking deaths of three children. Ultimately, she achieves great acclaim for Frankenstein, but at what cost?

My Review

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is one of my all-time favorite novels, but I've not had much luck with anything written about her life. Since I've been craving historical fiction, and Amazon Publishing puts out some pretty stellar books, I figured that I should give The Determined Heart a chance. Believe it or not, I got exactly what I was looking for.

Review: The Vampire Combat Field Guide by Roger Ma #BibPleaseReview #ColoringBook #Giveaway @penguinrandom @nita_basu

Title: The Vampire Combat Field Guide
Author: Roger Ma
Publisher: Berkley (Penguin Random House)
Release Date: October 6, 2015
Acquired Via: Publisher
In The Vampire Combat Manual, Roger Ma, the nation’s preeminent expert in undead warfare, prepared the average citizen to defend against a brutal vampire attack. But without appropriate training, even the most adept slayer of bloodsuckers can be left vulnerable.

Therefore, the Institute for Undead Combat Studies has once again created an essential practice handbook for anyone seeking to avoid serious injury, infection, or death at the hands of a vampire. This comprehensive guide includes:

• Detailed illustrations to aid in identifying various types of the undead and their vulnerabilities, as well as anatomical drawings you can color to promote knowledge retention
• Interactive mental and physical exercises that will teach invaluable fighting techniques and prepare you for battle
• Work pages to hone weapon selection, defensive and offensive techniques, and precise staking strategies
• and much more!

With the proper preparation, no one need fear death by exsanguination or an eternity spent in darkness. Learn to ward off these bloodthirsty creatures while you can—or say good-bye to your days in the sun...

My Review

When I was offered a review copy of The Vampire Combat Field Guide, I was excited because I have a lot of hope for this new trend of adult coloring books. While it was not exactly what I was looking for, it's a pretty fun little coloring and activity book.

Instead of crayons, I chose to go with colored pencils for my time spent with the book. The illustrations are pretty detailed, and I don't think it would be feasible to try to use crayons or markers. There is a good deal of shading in the illustrations already, so I think colored pencils are the only thing to use.

Blog Tour (Review): Mistress of the Court by Laura Purcell #historicalfiction #giveaway #TLCBookTours #BibPleaseReview

Title: Mistress of the Court (Georgian Queens #2)
Author: Laura Purcell
Publisher: Myrmidon Books
Release Date: August 4, 2015
Acquired Via: TLC Book Tours
The second in Laura Purcell’s captivating and acclaimed series of novels chronicling the lives and loves of the consorts and mistresses of Britain’s rash and reckless Hanoverian kings.

Her first novel in the series, Queen of Bedlam, was shortlisted for Best Historical Romance 2014 and was Editor’s Pick, in Historical Novels Review.

Orphaned and trapped in an abusive marriage, Henrietta Howard has little left to lose. She stakes everything on a new life in Hanover with its royal family, the heirs to the British throne. Henrietta’s beauty and intelligence soon win her the friendship of clever Princess Caroline and her mercurial husband, Prince George. But, as time passes, it becomes clear that friendship is the last thing on the hot-blooded young prince’s mind. Dare Henrietta give into his advances and anger her violent husband? Dare she refuse?

Whatever George’s shortcomings, Princess Caroline is determined to make the family a success. Yet the feud between her husband and his obstinate father threatens all she has worked for. As England erupts in Jacobite riots, her family falls apart. She vows to save the country for her children to inherit – even if it costs her pride and her marriage. Set in the turbulent years of the Hanoverian accession, Mistress of the Court tells the story of two remarkable women at the center of George II’s reign.

My Review

I have always been fascinated by the British monarchy (to the point that I've taken college classes about them), and I can honestly say that I've never read any fiction about the Georges or their brides. How could I have possibly not picked up Mistress of the Court? I was glad that I did because it portrayed an aspect of being royal or around royalty that is usually glossed over.

Blog Tour (Guest Post): Empire Ascendant by @KameronHurley #scifi #fantasy @angryrobotbooks @arobic8

Kameron Hurley's The Mirror Empire was one of my favorite Science Fiction reads from last year, so I am excited to share her guest post today with you in celebration of the second in the series. I hope you enjoy her books and the post as much as I did!



Title: Empire Ascendant (Worldbreaker Saga #2)
Author: Kameron Hurley
Publisher: Angry Robot
Release Date: October 6, 2015
Loyalties are tested when worlds collide...

Every two thousand years, the dark star Oma appears in the sky, bringing with it a tide of death and destruction. And those who survive must contend with friends and enemies newly imbued with violent powers. The kingdom of Saiduan already lies in ruin, decimated by invaders from another world who share the faces of those they seek to destroy.

Now the nation of Dhai is under siege by the same force. Their only hope for survival lies in the hands of an illegitimate ruler and a scullery maid with a powerful – but unpredictable –magic. As the foreign Empire spreads across the world like a disease, one of their former allies takes up her Empress’s sword again to unseat them, and two enslaved scholars begin a treacherous journey home with a long-lost secret that they hope is the key to the Empire’s undoing.

But when the enemy shares your own face, who can be trusted?

In this devastating sequel to The Mirror Empire, Kameron Hurley transports us back to a land of blood mages and sentient plants, dark magic, and warfare on a scale that spans worlds.

Guest Post

Other Suns: Reading, Championing and Remembering Writing from the Margins
Kameron Hurley


“There are no new things under the sun. But there are others suns.” - Octavia Butler
Dominant cultures are insidious not only because of the power they exert over individuals to conform, but because that power exerts a kind of hegemonic truth. In plain English, that means that when you grow up inside a culture, you believe that everything about how you live and work and play, all the things you think and feel, are simply the way things are. You believe this is the only logical way to live, work and play. You believe that even if you grew up somewhere else, you’d think and feel those same things.

And you would be wrong.

Books to Movies Giveaway Hop #2 (INT) #TheMartian #SciFi #Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the Books to Movies Giveaway Hop hosted by Mary at Book Hounds and Kathy at I Am A Reader, Not A Writer.

This hop features books that have been made into movies, television series, etc. I recently went to the movies (which I never do) on a book to movie adaptation's release day (I do this even more rarely), and I was very pleased. I loved the book (read my review here), I enjoyed the movie tremendously, and I would like to share it with you.

What You Can Win



Title: The Martian
Author: Andy Weir
Publisher: Crown Publishing (Penguin Random House)
Release Date: February 11, 2014
Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.

Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.

Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first.

But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?


Giveaway

Review & Interview: Auld Lang Secrets by April Patterson Clemens #Giveaway #BibPleaseReview @KHeniadis

Title: Auld Lang Secrets (A Saffron Ellis Mystery #1)
Author: April Patterson Clemens
Publisher: Clementime Press
Release Date: September 7, 2015
Acquired Via: Author
After Saffron Ellis returns to Ville de Bois, Wallace Hadley just knows his life is about to get more exciting. When a girl ends up dead at a New Year's party, Saffron and Wallace decide to solve the murder themselves, and Green Scarab Investigations is born!

In Auld Lang Secrets, book one of the Saffron Ellis mystery series, you'll be introduced to Saffron's eccentric family, peer into the souls of the residents of Ville de Bois, and discover Wallace's deep love for food. Come along for the cozy, clue-filled ride!

Author Interview

Kim (Bibliophilia, Please): Being a book lover, your second name stood out to me. Any relation to Richard North or James Patterson?

April Patterson Clemens: Not that I’m aware of. My great grandfather, Jessie Patterson, was an Irish cowboy, so not unless either are some relation to him.

Kim: This is your third novel (The Tale of Lord Zancrist and Bartholomew Trinket, being the first two), which all centralize around a mystery. Do you read a lot of mysteries?

Blog Tour (Review): The Visitant by Megan Chance #giveaway #TLCBookTours

Title: The Visitant: A Venetian Ghost Story
Author: Megan Chance
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (Amazon)
Release Date: September 22, 2015
Acquired Via: TLC Book Tours
A crumbling palazzo in nineteenth-century Venice holds a buried secret.

After she nearly ruins her family with a terrible misstep, Elena Spira is sent to Venice to escape disgrace and to atone by caring for the ailing Samuel Farber. But the crumbling and decaying Ca’ Basilio palazzo, where Samuel is ensconced, holds tragic secrets, and little does Elena know how profoundly they will impact her. Soon she begins to sense that she is being watched by something. And when Samuel begins to have hallucinations that make him violent and unpredictable, she can’t deny she’s in mortal danger.

Then impoverished nobleman Nero Basilio, Samuel’s closest friend and the owner of the palazzo, arrives. Elena finds herself entangled with both men in a world where the past seeps into the present and nothing is as it seems. As Elena struggles to discover the haunting truth before it destroys her, a dark force seems to hold Samuel and the Basilio in thrall—is it madness, or something more sinister?

Praise

“Chance’s Venice is glittering, mysterious, sophisticated…” – The Seattle Times on Inamorata

“…provocative and haunting. Chance’s quietly powerful tale will appeal to fans of well-detailed, mysterious, and romantic historical fiction.” – BookList on Bone River

My Review

I wanted to read The Visitant: A Venetian Ghost Story because I am always interested in a spooky or gothic historical, especially if there's also a mystery involved.

My problems with The Visitant started with my wrong assumption that the story was set in the late 1700s rather than the late 1800s. The entire first third of the book resulted in my shaking my head because I couldn't believe how progressive the Venice in the story was. When I realized that the story was in the late 1800s, I began to like the story better, but I still didn't think that Venice was that progressive. Toward the beginning of the novel, Samuel attempts to make a deal with Elena, swearing if she reads a racy novel he will stop acting like a spoiled child. I was a little worried that my hopeful Italian gothic mystery would then change into an erotica novel, with naughty passages filled with nurses and patients and nuns and priests. Thankfully there are only a few sex scenes, and none of them are out of the ordinary of the run-of-the-mill historical romance. However, I just couldn't believe that men and women were that outspoken about sex in the late 1800s, even in Venice.

Audiobook Review: The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley #BibPleaseReview #audiobook #historicalfiction

Title: The Watchmaker of Filigree Street
Author: Natasha Pulley
Narrator: Thomas Judd
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Audio Publisher: Audible
Release Date: July 14, 2015
Acquired Via: Audible
1883. Thaniel Steepleton returns home to his tiny London apartment to find a gold pocket watch on his pillow. Six months later, the mysterious timepiece saves his life, drawing him away from a blast that destroys Scotland Yard. At last, he goes in search of its maker, Keita Mori, a kind, lonely immigrant from Japan. Although Mori seems harmless, a chain of unexplainable events soon suggests he must be hiding something. When Grace Carrow, an Oxford physicist, unwittingly interferes, Thaniel is torn between opposing loyalties.

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street is a sweeping, atmospheric narrative that takes the reader on an unexpected journey through Victorian London, Japan as its civil war crumbles long-standing traditions, and beyond. Blending historical events with dazzling flights of fancy, it opens doors to a strange and magical past.

Excerpt


My Review

I have been putting off this review for over a month because reviews of mediocre to blah books are the most difficult for me to write. The Watchmaker of Filigree Street would have been put aside if it had started thus, but the "meh" came gradually.

As you probably realize, The Watchmaker of Filigree Street is historical fiction that had quite interesting premise - Thaniel, who can see the color of sounds, gets a watch, finds a bomb threat, and then tries to figure out how the watch had been programmed to save his life. Running parallel to his story is Grace, who wants to be a scientist but is being met with the issue of her lacking a penis in Victorian England. As these two story lines come together, we meet a variety of characters: Mori, the titular watchmaker of Filigree Street; Katsu, Mori's clockwork and kleptomaniacal octopus; and Matsumoto, Grace's Japanese buddy whose wardrobe is often the victim of her cross-dressing adventures. It should all work, but Katsu was the only character I remotely liked by the end, and I detested Mori.

Review: Romancing the Earl by Darcy Burke #historicalromance #BibPleaseReview @KHeniadis

Title: Romancing the Earl (Regency Treasure Hunters #2)
Author: Darcy Burke
Publisher: Intrepid Reads
Release Date: April 21, 2015
Acquired Via: Author
Major Elijah Hollister never wanted to be an earl, particularly not when it meant losing his brother. When a bold adventuress shows up at his door seeking a treasure map, Elijah suspects his brother’s death may not have been accidental and that the lady knows more than she’s willing to share. Whether she’s a friend or foe, Elijah plans to keep her close—and hope the temptation of her kisses doesn’t ruin them both.

Miss Catriona Bowen can almost taste the fruits of her years-long quest to find one of Britain’s greatest treasures. The discovery will deliver the recognition and respect she deserves as an antiquary, despite the fact that she’s a woman. However, to find the map that will lead her to success, she must ally herself with a stoic, yet provocative gentleman with a different goal. And when a villain threatens their lives, she realizes too late that love is the greatest treasure of all.

My Review

This is the second book in Darcy Burke’s Regency Treasure Hunters series. It can be read as a standalone book, but if you were to read the first one in the series, The de Valery Code, you will get even more out of some of the side characters. And you will know a lot more about Catriona’s (or Cate) parents.

Review: ZED by Jason McIntyre #BibPleaseReview @KHeniadis

Title: ZED
Author: Jason McIntyre
Publisher: Booktrope Editions
Release Date: July 26, 2015
Acquired Via: Publisher
It’s the waning dog days of August, 1975 and Tom Mason’s in Dovetail Cove for the last few weeks of his summer job at the group home. His boss and the home’s owner is Karen Banatyne, one of the wealthiest folks in town. It seems like she’s got it in for Tom; she’s the only one standing in his way as he scrimps for a new camera. But Karen has her own problems. A regulatory agency might cut off her funding, plus her hubby hasn’t been seen in a few weeks, and she’s not saying why. Most ominous of all, it seems as though something’s hiding in the hot spring north of the main beach and one of Karen’s ‘houseguests’ is about to come face to face with evil. Tom is too.

My Review

I really enjoyed the nostalgia in this book. Jason McIntyre’s reference to Jaws, slathering oneself with baby oil while sunbathing, and other things from the 70’s, made me feel like this story could have taken place during my childhood. I do think these references would have been unnoticed from readers in their 20’s. They are not needed to understand the story, they just make it a bit more enjoyable.

Blog Tour (Review): Dark Screams Volume Four by Clive Barker, Ed Gorman, and Heather Graham #TLCBookTours

Title: Dark Screams: Volume Four
Authors: Clive Barker, Ed Gorman, and Heather Graham
Publisher: Hydra (Penguin Random House)
Release Date: August 4, 2015
Acquired Via: TLC Book Tours
Clive Barker, Heather Graham, Lisa Morton, Ray Garton, and Ed Gorman lead readers down a twisted labyrinth of terror, horror, and suspense in Dark Screams: Volume Four, from Brian James Freeman and Richard Chizmar of the revered Cemetery Dance Publications.

THE DEPARTED by Clive Barker
On All Hallows’ Eve, a dead and disembodied mother yearns to touch her young son one last time. But will making contact destroy them both?

CREATURE FEATURE by Heather Graham
What could be better publicity for a horror convention than an honest-to-goodness curse? It’s only after lights out that the hype—and the Jack the Ripper mannequin—starts to feel a little too real.

THE NEW WAR by Lisa Morton
Mike Carson is a war hero and a decorated vet. He doesn’t deserve to be trapped in a hospital with some black thing sitting on his chest as patients die all around him. His only hope is to take out the nurse—before it’s his turn.

SAMMY COMES HOME by Ray Garton
It’s what every family prays for: a lost pet returning home. But when Sammy, the Hale family sheepdog, appears on their doorstep, he brings back something no parent would ever wish upon his or her child.

THE BRASHER GIRL by Ed Gorman
Cindy Marie Brasher is the prettiest girl in the Valley, and Spence just has to have her. Unfortunately, Cindy has a “friend” . . . a friend who tells her to do things . . . bad things.

Praise for Dark Screams: Volume Four

“Collectively, Volume Four constitutes the most cohesive, narratively enriching and entertaining Dark Screams entry to date. Be it the presence of genre icons Barker and Morton, stories from the lesser-known but equally talented Garton and Gorman, or the pure fun of Graham’s tale, fans of horror of every variety will find something to love in these pages.” — LitReactor

“The best of the bunch so far.” — Examiner.com

“Stacks up well with any of the other three books so far [with] a fairly good variety in the kinds of horror stories too . . . If you’re new to the series, this is a good jumping-on point.” — Wagging the Fox

“Dark Screams is one of the best values on the horror market. . . . Do yourself a favor, and pick it up.” — Adventures Fantastic

My Review

I'll break down my review of Dark Screams Volume Four by short story to make things simple.

The Departed by Clive Barker

This story was not at all what I had expected from Clive Barker. I've read some of this other work, which was mostly horror-laced fantasy, but The Departed was about a single mother who is coping wtih her new status as a ghost. It affected me emotionally, as I also spent several years as a single mother myself. That emotional reaction to this story was the most unexpected thing of all, and this was my favorite story in the collection.