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STRAY
Shifters #1
Author: Rachel Vincent
Source: Personal Purchase

Mass Market Paperback: 624 pages
Publisher: Mira (June 1, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0778324214
ISBN-13: 978-0778324218

SUMMARY:

There are only eight breeding female werecats left . . .

And I’m one of them.

I look like an all-American grad student. But I am a werecat, a shape-shifter, and I live in two worlds.
Despite reservations from my family and my Pride, I escaped the pressure to continue my species and carved out a normal life for myself. Until the night a Stray attacked.

I’d been warned about Strays — werecats without a Pride, constantly on the lookout for someone like me: attractive, female, and fertile. I fought him off, but then learned two of my fellow tabbies had disappeared.

This brush with danger was all my Pride needed to summon me back . . . for my own protection. Yeah, right. But I’m no meek kitty. I’ll take on whatever — and whoever — I have to in order to find my friends. Watch out, Strays — ’cause I got claws, and I’m not afraid to use them . . .

MY THOUGHTS:

After reading the young adult Soul Screamers series by the same author,  it was recommended that I read the adult Shifter Series.   Since I really enjoyed her young adult series,  I was thrilled to start a series focused in the adult genre of books by Ms. Vincent.

I will say that this book gave me a feeling of love/hate for the series.  While Faythe was a strong heroine in the series that doesn’t take any crap off of anyone,  she did tend to get on my last raw nerve with her antics and personality.  There were times I rolled my eyes at her and wanted to shake some sense into her spoiled and bratty mind.  Everything revolved around what she wanted and she didn’t really think about what her actions would bring to the Pride.  She couldn’t decide which guy she wanted to be with considering she was dating a human boy from school — which is a big no-no in her world — and then she had to string Marc and Jace both along. 

Marc was a very possessive and strong leading hero.  I loved him but at times I wanted him to curb his jealousy a little bit.  He came off a little too strong at times and he needed to step back and take a good look at Faythe and her actions.  I wanted him to actually grow a pair and tell her off several times!  I think he makes a good match for her, but he desperately needs to see through her attitude and bring her down a notch.

Jace was just as appealing as Marc, but I ended up feeling more than sorry for him for even attempting to start something with Faythe.  Not only did he not deserve her attention, but he really didn’t deserve to have Marc at odds with him.  Frankly, I think they both needed to lose interest in Faythe long enough for her personality to grow up with her age. 

The side characters of the family was quite enjoyable as well.  I loved Ethan the best, but the rest of the family was just as interesting as the main characters.  I look forward to reading more about them in the future books. 

While the actual plot was not one that I found completely enjoyable, the characters involved did make the story a pleasant and fun read.  The book did start out a slower pace than I normally like, but about half way through it really starts to pick up and take off.  The big surprise was the reveal of who was helping the bad guys and how it was going to be dealt with.  I am curious to see how the author is going to redeem this person if she does decide to take that path.

While I did have some problems with the main heroine, the book itself was a great read.  I look forward to reading more of the series and will keep my fingers crossed in hoping that Faythe will grow up a little more in the books to come.

MY RATING:

Very Good! I would recommend this book! 4 STARS

From my family to yours…

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. WOW spotlights forthcoming titles that we absolutely can’t wait to read.

A Devil Named Desire by Terri Garey

(The Devil’s Bargain #2)

Expected Release Date: January 24th 2012

Publisher: Avon

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SUMMARY:

Forbidden fruit is always the sweetest…

…and no one knows that better than Sammy Divine, High Prince of Darkness. Once an angel, now cast down, Sammy’s out to prove he’s not the only angel who can be led into temptation…

Hope Henderson’s sister has disappeared without a trace, and Hope will do anything to find her–even make a deal with the Devil. An ancient text holds the key to unspeakable power, and it’s the Archangel Gabriel’s job to make sure it stays hidden, even if he has to become human to do it. Lives, love and the fate of the world hang in the balance, as Hope and Gabriel learn that when passion’s involved, it may be impossible to withstand a devil named desire.

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Why I am waiting for this one:

Hello?! Look at that hot cover! Those abs! Plus it is from a great author who can write the best stories.

PART THREE: The big sort!

Last week we discussed the sorting process involving the books.  This week we are discussing the process of creating a master list of your books.

When it comes to purchasing books, no one wants to be in the predicament of either wondering if you own a title already or if you bring it home and realize you now have two copies of the same book.  Believe me, I have done this many times in the past and kicking myself for it.  The solution I have come up with – and the one I will be sharing with you today – is one that has fixed this problem for me and has made organization a big help.

At this point in the process all of your books should already be sorted into some sort of system that works for you and on the shelves already.  I know it is hard to stop looking at your hard work, but there will be time to admire it when we are all finished. Take one last look and then have a seat.

There are two ways you can do this – by hand with paper and pencil, or with a computer that is hopefully nearby.  I am going to say that some people choose to use Goodreads as their main database, but I have found the way I use to be better for me.  If you would like to use Goodreads instead, then try it out and see if it works or use this way as a backup system.

We are going to do this shelf by shelf to start with.  Go to your first shelf and lets get started.  At the top of your page, write down the books on that shelf.  If it is several series, write a heading of the authors name for each one. 

For example:

AUTHOR

SERIES NAME

BOOKS YOU OWN

(REPEAT)

After you have done this to each shelf in your library, and your fingers are sore from typing or writing, we are going make another decision.  You can either keep your master sheet in accordance with your shelves or you can alphabetize it.  Personally, I move my books around so much I have found it easier just to alphabetize my list by author.  When you have all of them alphabetized, you are going to print these if you are on a computer.  When you go to print these out, make sure you leave some space between each series and each author in case you need to add later on.

Now make sure you have paper in your printer and print those pages out.  While you are waiting to for them to print out, get a binder, dividers, and a hole punch.  On the side of the binder I wrote “Master List” because I have a little bit of OCD inherited from my parents.  LOL

Once all of the pages are done you need to punch holes in them and add them to the binder.  Don’t forget to put the page dividers between each different letter of the alphabet!

Now you have a master list that includes every book you own. But wait, we are not done!

Behind the last set of pages, you are going to put two more sections! One you are going to label “WISHLIST” and the other you are going to label “READ/BORROWED”.

In the Wishlist section you will keep a running tab of books you would like to buy.  Once you buy them, cross them out and add them to the appropriate section in your binder. (Remember we left space between each author)

On your Read/Borrowed pages you are going to list the books you borrowed from the library or friends and have read already. Try to keep it in alphabetical order as well with a page for each letter of the alphabet.

Once this is done, it should be pretty easy to maintain.  I go into my computer file that I saved and update it every 4 months or so.  I also only reprint the pages that have changed so I am not wasting too much paper.

Now I have a main binder full of my collection.  Whenever I go out on a shopping trip, I take this with me.  Yes, it can be bulky, but so can those huge coupon binders that everyone is carrying now.  Plus it has saved me a ton of money in buying duplicates.

Next week we are going to take a break due to the holidays, but be prepared! When we return with the feature we are going to take a peek into each of our libraries!  I am going to show you mine and I hope you will link up with photos of yours!

Good morning, and thanks for inviting me to blog on My Overstuffed Bookshelf today! With Thanksgiving this week, I thought it would be fun to explore what a Genie Thanksgiving would be like, and I thought it would be even more fun to have one of my favorite side characters from Genie Knows Best, Dirham, tell you all about it!

As told by Dirham, Magical Assistance Assistant to Kal, genie of the lantern
(Magical Assistance Assistants are assigned to djinn who are not permitted to use their magic when confined to their bottles/lanterns for long periods of time to help with daily life. Dirham is a fennec fox, a small, large-eared fox whose family members live in the Sahara desert.)
Hello everyone. My name is Dirham, and I volunteered to fill in for Kal and Samantha for this blog post because they’re busy arranging things in Izaaz, the magical city beneath the desert, for the first ever Magical Thanksgiving.
We can’t really call it a djinn thanksgiving—djinn being the official terminology for what you all call genies—because, well, no spoilers here, but when you read their story, you’ll understand why this is going to be quite the undertaking in bringing all these magical and so-called mythological beings together in one place. The island of Hufaidh will never be the same…
But I digress. There are reasons to celebrate in Izaaz, and with the release of the book this month plus Kal and Samantha having their own happily ever after (and that’s not a spoiler because the story is, after all, a romance), they figured it’d be the perfect time to introduce the citizens of Izaaz to the concept of a celebratory feast.
Oh, trust me, these folks know all about feasting, but usually it’s at each other’s expense (and throats), and then the leprechauns insult the gnomes, and the centaurs show up, and gods-forbid the dragon and wyvern go at it, and, well…
Let’s just say that, this year, we’re looking forward to a happy communal celebration. We’ve covered the fountain that runs down the length of the median on the main drag with a whole bunch of tables so everyone can sit at the table. Well, except for the peris; they have their own table floating above the one on the ground since fairies rarely like to go terrestrial.
And in the spirit of community, no two members of the same species will be sitting next to each other. I’ve suggested to Kal that maybe butter knives would be better than the traditional serrated ones, given that ogres and centaurs aren’t the best of friends, or that the dwarves are known to swipe cutlery and pull them out at inopportune moments, so I’m hopeful that the only skewering will be of the dinner.
As to that dinner, well, it’s a bit of a tricky wiggle when you’ve got fowl sitting down to the table. I mean, Kismet, a Simurgh, is the bearer of all knowledge and it’d be quite insulting to roast one of her cousins. And though the phoenixes burn themselves to a crisp at any given moment, I’m sure none of them expect to be eaten after doing so, so Samantha had to come up with a creative substitute. She swears the tofu in the shape of a turkey will work, but I’m going to hold off judgment until after she serves it to the trolls.
There will be bread stuffing and cranberry sauce and some vegetable casseroles, but the big event will be dessert. I don’t care what species you are, everyone likes sweet things. The peris are already atwitter over the possibility of blueberry pie. The unicorns cannot WAIT for the apple pie. The gnomes are looking for raspberry, the dwarves lemon (sour little folk that they are), the brownies, of course, are looking forward to gingersnaps (you didn’t think I was going to say “brownies,” did you? That would be cannibalism!), and the leprechauns are still arguing over whether trifle is Irish enough or should they just go with whiskey.
I, myself, am pushing for the trifle. Leprechauns and whiskey can ruin any gathering in under ten minutes. Of course, leprechauns without whiskey can ruin it in under twenty.
Well, here. See what I mean. This is what happened when Samantha first met the inhabitants of Izaaz.
Something dropped out of the sky and landed on the road in front of Samantha.
Something that looked a lot like a dragon.
An iridescent, purple-scaled, ridge-backed, frilled-neck dragon.
With lime-green fingernails. Claws. Talons. Whatever.
Samantha shook her head. There was a dragon in front of her.
“What’s your hurry, hon?” The dragon was chewing gum—at least, Samantha was hoping it was gum and not a leprechaun.
She stumbled back to the chair. The event planner couldn’t have had anything to do with this.
The dragon ambled closer, its long, pointed nose inches from Samantha’s face.
Samantha held her breath.
“Kal?” asked the dragon—which was so much more wrong than a talking fox or people congratulating her for throwing a good funeral. “What’d you do to this one? She’s looking a little green.”
The leprechauns chuckled.
“I didn’t do anything to her, Maille. She’s still adjusting to the magic, and now you all come along and upset her. I haven’t even had a chance to explain.”
Upset…  The word didn’t quite convey what she was feeling, but Samantha had a feeling nothing would, so it was as good a word as any.
She licked her lips and then wished she hadn’t when the dragon’s eyes narrowed on her mouth. No need to give the giant lizard any ideas.
“You guys really don’t have anything to do with The Main Event, do you?” Samantha was amazed she had enough air in her body to utter that question.
“The Mane Event?” the mayor asked. “Heinz’s place? Faith, lass. Do ye think Orkney looks as if he’s had a haircut lately?”
Cousin Itt—make that, Orkney—shook his head with a weird snuffling sound that Samantha was going to assume was laughter just for her own peace of mind.
“Oh, I don’t know,” said the centaur—Wayne. “I’ve seen Heinz’s cuts, and I have to say, that’s one of his better ones.”
A garden gnome ran out from between the dragon’s front legs and poked Wayne’s fetlock with a pitchfork. “Watch it, Hoof-and-Mouth. That’s my cousin you’re talking about.”
The centaur pawed the ground. “Who are you calling Hoof-and-Mouth, you worm weasel?”
A colorful bird dove from the crooked spire of the highest building, its long purple-and-gold tail feathers skimming inches above the centaur’s head. “Worm weasel! I love it!”
And then the bird burst into flame.
“Show-off,” the dragon muttered, blasting the same spot with her own fire.
So, you see what I mean? This first Magical Thanksgiving is going to be quite the challenge. I sure hope Kal and Samantha are up for managing the chaos, but they sear this is something they must do because they’re both thankful to everyone in the town who came together to help rescue little baby dragon, Laszlo.
Who, along with his fourteen siblings, just learned how to breath fire.
Which could make this gathering a whole lot more interesting…

Be careful what you wish for…
Samantha Blaine is about to make a fateful discovery. A tall, dark, handsome, ohmygosh kind of fateful discovery…
Kal is very pleased to meet his attractive new master—especially since he intends to seduce her into granting him freedom. But when seriously dark magic spells trouble for both of them, Kal can’t help himself from falling for the woman who holds his fate in her hands…
Warmly acclaimed by readers and critics alike, Judi Fennell brings to life a fabulous world of magic and mayhem where wishes come true in the most unexpected ways!

Judi Fennell is an award-winning author and writes what she calls “fairy tales with a twist.” Her romance novels have been finalists in Gather.com’s First Chapters and First Chapters Romance contests, and have won numerous RWA Chapter Awards, including the FF&P Prism Award, and the New Jersey Golden Leaf Award. Judi lives with her family in suburban Philadelphia, PA, where she is working on the next book in the Genie Trilogy, Magic Gone Wild, set for release in August 2012. For more information, please visit http://www.judifennell.com/.

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