Waiting on Wednesday (111): Sweet Ruin by Kresley Cole

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: Sweet Ruin (Immortals After Dark #12)
Author: Kresley Cole
Publisher: Gallery Books (Simon & Schuster)
Release Date: December 1,2015
A foundling raised in a world of humans
Growing up, orphaned Josephine didn’t know who or what she was—just that she was “bad,” an outcast with strange powers. Her baby brother Thaddeus was as perfect as she was flawed; protecting him became her entire life. The day he was taken away began Jo’s transition from angry girl . . . to would-be superhero . . . to enchanting, ruthless villain.

A lethally sensual enforcer on a mission
Whether by bow or in bed, archer Rune the Baneblood never fails to eliminate his target. In his sights: the oldest living Valkyrie. Yet before he can strike, he encounters a vampiric creature whose beauty mesmerizes him. With one bite, she pierces him with aching pleasure, stealing his forbidden blood—and jeopardizing the secrets of his brethren.

A boundless passion that will lead to sweet ruin...
Could this exquisite female be a spy sent by the very Valkyrie he hunts? Rune knows he must not trust Josephine, yet he’s unable to turn her away. When Jo betrays the identity of the one man she will die to protect, she and Rune become locked in a treacherous battle of wills that pits ultimate loyalty against unbridled lust.


On the paranormal romance to urban fantasy spectrum, I'm firmly on the urban fantasy side, but this series is dirty dirty book crack, and I LOVE it. The first couple aren't as great, but by book 4 or so, I had to restrain myself from devouring them all in one binge-reading weekend.

First, Cole's humor is spot on sarcasm that is laugh out loud funny for me. Also, while the males are the normal Neanderthal me-Tarzan-you-mate variety, the women don't take any bull. And, there are quite a few more gender stereotypes thrown on their head (like men virgins).

I also like the way the series is set up. There's this huge apocalypse coming, but the first couple of books are like paranormal Amazing Race. It's quite entertaining. Cole also sets up the storyline in sets of books, so that multiple books run the same storyline concurrently. It has to take a ton of outlines, research and just hard work on her part.

The cover to Sweet Ruin is a complete diversion from the rest of the series, and I am so so glad. The other covers were so cheesy, but this one is just classic and simple. Though, I'm sure other die-hard readers were upset about the drastic change. Those covers screamed paranormal romance, where this one doesn't.

What are you waiting on this week?

Waiting on Wednesday (91): Lois Lane: Fallout

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: Lois Lane: Fallout
Author: Gwenda Bond
Publisher: Switch Press (Capstone)
Release Date: May 1, 2015
Lois Lane is starting a new life in Metropolis. An Army brat, Lois has lived all over—and seen all kinds of things. (Some of them defy explanation, like the near-disaster she witnessed in Kansas in the middle of one night.) But now her family is putting down roots in the big city, and Lois is determined to fit in. Stay quiet. Fly straight. As soon as she steps into her new high school, though, she can see it won’t be that easy. A group known as the Warheads is making life miserable for another girl at school. They’re messing with her mind, somehow, via the high-tech immersive videogame they all play. Not cool. Armed with her wit and her new snazzy job as a reporter, Lois has her sights set on solving this mystery. But sometimes it’s all a bit much. Thank goodness for her maybe-more-than-a friend, a guy she knows only by his screenname, SmallvilleGuy.


I grew up watching the '70s Superman movies and the Lois and Clark TV series, so I'm excited to see Lois Lane get a book all to herself. I'm also enjoying some of the YA versions of some of my favorite comic book characters, like Marvel's Ms. Marvel, and I've heard really good things about this one.

What are you waiting on this week?

Review: Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

Title: Steelheart (Reckoners #1)
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Acquired Via: Library
Release Date: September 24, 2013
There are no heroes.

Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics.

But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his wills.

Nobody fights the Epics... nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them.

And David wants in. He wants Steelheart—the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David's father. For years, like the Reckoners, David's been studying, and planning—and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience.

He's seen Steelheart bleed. And he wants revenge.

My Review

"I know, better than anyone else, that there are no heroes coming to save us. There are no good Epics. None of them protect us. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

I loved the premise and beginning of Steelheart. The protagonist is just a regular kid caught in a supernatural world. I love that he wasn’t a mary-sue type character, wasn’t perfect, and didn’t have some grand destiny because he was the smartest, best, strongest, etc. He is mostly who and where he is because of a tragic incident, a lot of determination (bordering on obsession), and intelligence. I also love that while there are people with super powers, all of them are bad. The author even makes several philosophical statements which I thought were great. At one point the protagonist wonders if only bad people were given the powers, or if the powers somehow eventually turned all of them bad.

Blog Tour (Review): Shadow on the Wall by Pavarti K. Tyler

Title: Shadow on the Wall 

Author: Pavarti K. Tyler

Publisher: Fighting Monkey Press

Release Date: May 1, 2012

Shadow on the Wall is a Middle Eastern based fantasy novel that follows the transformation of billionaire Kurd, Recai Osman, into a superhero on the heels of a horrible occurence. It is the latest book by Pavarti K. Tyler, author of several other novels and novellas.

After spending an evening with a mysterious, alluring woman at a bar in Elih, Turkey, Recai Osman awakens in the middle of the desert. Luckily, Hasad Sofaer - a benevolent Jew - stumbles upon him. The old man takes Recai to his home, rescuing him from a certain death in the desert. While at the Sofaer home, Recai meets Rebekah, the intelligent, lovely daughter of Hasad who begins to nurse him back to health.

When Krazy Book Lady offered Shadow on the Wall to me for a review, I was very excited. The unique idea of a Muslim superhero was very appealing to me. When I began reading the book, I was immediately drawn into the desert with Recai. Tyler's writing was excellent, and I would have breezed through the book but for one thing. Graphic violence makes me very uncomfortable in books, and rape is one of the few reasons that I will step away from the book. For this reason alone, I was unable to finish the book. (I read books with uncomfortable ideas in school; now I read for pleasure alone.) Until that point, I thought the book held a lot of potential and was one of the most well-written independent novels I had read.

I am sure that many of you are willing and able to read books that address hard truths (and reality), so I suggest that you check out other reviews on the Shadow on the Wall blog tour. Though this was a DNF, it was for personal reasons and does not reflect on the book at all.

Now Available to Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Be sure to add it to your TBR list on Goodreads!

About the Author

Pavarti K Tyler is an artist, wife, mother and number cruncher. She graduated Smith College in 1999 with a degree in Theatre. After graduation, she moved to New York, where she worked as a Dramaturge, Assistant Director and Production Manager on productions both on and off Broadway.

Later, Pavarti went to work in the finance industry as a freelance accountant for several international law firms. She now operates her own accounting firm in the Washington DC area, where she lives with her husband, two daughters and two terrible dogs. When not preparing taxes, she is busy penning her next novel.

Follow Pavarti on her Blog, Fan Page, Twitter, and Google+!