Teaser Tuesdays - The Bitter Seed of Magic

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: - Grab your current read - Open to a random page - Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) - Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!



A loud caw distracted me and I looked up at the arched stone entrance at the top of the short cul-de-sac. There was a large raven sitting atop it. The bird cawed again, bobbed its head in acknowledgement, as if it had been waiting for me to appear, then launched itself into the clear blue sky-

(page 81, The Bitter Seed of Magic by Suzanne McLeod)

Collision - Book Review

Collision (Colliding Worlds Trilogy #1)
by Berinn Rae

What is it about:
Sienna Wolfe knows it’s going to be an interesting day when a man with golden skin and strange tattoos crashes in her backyard… and ends up tied to her bedposts. She likes her life just the way it is – simple, easy, relaxed. But when the gorgeous new alien in her life asks for her help in an inter-galactic war on a collision course with earth, she can’t say no… but she’ll soon wish she had.

Sienna struggles with her new, unpredictable world, which includes trying to protect earth from alien domination and dodging attempts on her life. And to make matters worse, her greatest enemy – who just so happens to have annoyingly good looks – offers her a double-edged proposal to end the war. All she has to do is give up her freedom and turn her back on the love of her life. Now it’s up to Sienna to pull off the impossible: save the world and – hopefully – live a little happily ever after.

What did I think of it:
I absolutely love the Deadland Saga by Rachel Aukes. She also writes under the penname Berinn Rae, so while waiting for the last book in the Deadland Saga, I decided to try Collision, the first book in a SciFi trilogy.

And this is a nice read.

I had expected more of a build up in the romance between Sienna and Legian, but that was not to be. They meet, they kiss, and Bam! They're a couple. I had liked to see a bit more development in that relationship to be honest. Because it was all so quick I didn't really feel invested in their relationship.

But that aside I enjoyed the story. The aliens are interesting, the whole set up intriguing and there's some cool action. I might have been disappointed in the romance, the overall action storyline made up for that.

The lead characters of the next two books are introduced, and I must say I'm very curious about book two in this trilogy.

So although this book isn't as cool as the Deadland Saga, it's still fun enough that I'll put it on my keeper shelves and will pick up the next book sometime.

Why should you read it:
It's an enjoyable SciFi romance

The Girl Who Wasn't - Last Chance Promo

The Girl Who Wasn't will only be available through this month. After July it will be gone so get your copy now while you still can!

Purchase on Amazon

***This book is the New Adult version of Imitation (A YA novel also by Heather Hildenbrand). The story is the SAME. Additional content has been added that is not suitable for readers under 18***



 Everyone is exactly like me.

There is no one like me.

The rough fabric of my cotton nightgown chafes so I lie very still. They say my discomfort comes from being built like one accustomed to niceties. How is that fair when I myself have never experienced anything but copies of the real thing?

My entire life is an imitation.

I am an Imitation.

I’ve been here five years. Training. Preparing. Waiting.

And now I have a letter.

My assignment has begun.

I am a prisoner.

I am not Raven Rogen.

I am here to die.

**Adult content. Not suitable for young readers**

 

About Heather Hildenbrand

Author of Across the Galaxy, Whisper, and the Dirty Blood series. I write, read, and fuss at my kids. Oh, and I do laundry, lots of laundry. I'm pretty good at it, too. Sometimes I even read WHILE doing laundry - and fussing at my kids. I'm a multi-tasker. 



For more information on my books, release dates, or just general stalker material, um, I mean FAN material, visit my website. www.heatherhildenbrand.blogspot.com. I love hearing from readers! 



Likes and dislikes? I love vintage tees, hate socks with sandals, and if my house was on fire the one thing I'd grab is my Amazon Fire TV! (oh yeah, I'm a fan of puns.)

Website / Facebook / Twitter

The H&W Investigations Gang Discusses Max Carlyle - Guest Post

We took a little break from celebrating the release of the newest H&W Investigations book Enslaved by the Others. But today we're back with a special guest post by Jess Haines!

We always love having Jess drop by, especially when she discusses zombies or Royce. And today there's mention of both of them!

Welcome to Pearls Cast Before A McPig, Jess!




The H&W Investigations Gang Discusses Max Carlyle 
By Jess Haines


Hello there!  Jess Haines here.  I’m the author of the H&W Investigations series—urban fantasy novels about Shiarra Waynest, a human private investigator in an alternate, present-day New York. Somehow she keeps getting pulled into supernatural troubles way above her pay grade…

This time, she’s here with some friends to tell you about what it was like to be captured by a vampire slave trader and how she’s coping with the aftermath. Take it away, Shia!

______________________

Shiarra: It’s official. Every day is now the worst day of my life.

Arnold: Like that dude in Office Space.

Sara: You’re not the only one with problems.

Gideon: Tell me about it.

Royce: Somehow I am finding it difficult to garner any sympathy for you.

Gideon: Why? Because I’m sexier than you?

Royce: Hardly.

Shiarra: I vote the necromancer off the island. This is my interview.

Arnold: Second that.

Sara: Third.

Gideon: Hey, come on! It’s my story, too.

Shiarra: Give me a break. You killed some of my… well, not my friends, but people I sort of knew. Kind of.

Gideon: People who were out to kill me first, naturally.

Royce: I’m familiar with the general incompetence of White Hats. Killing them was unnecessary.

Gideon: Excuse me if I haven’t had much practice fending off crazy people hunting my ass.

Arnold: You’re not doing a very good job of making friends. Maybe if you tried laying off the zombie raising and vampire hunting you’d have better luck.

Shiarra: I’m not sure that would help. He’s a bigger smartass than I am, if you can believe it.

Sara: Not to mention we can never tell whose side he’s on. He changes allegiances like he changes clothes.

Gideon: I do not! …wait, yes I do. Never mind.

Sara: If you would stick to your guns about something and stop lying all the time, maybe you wouldn’t have so many people out to kill you.

Shiarra: Yeah. At least when people are out to kill me, it’s usually because I’m trying to stab them from the front.

Arnold: Usually.

Royce: I don’t know about that. For the most part, those who have made efforts to end you were doing it because they were after me or after that werewolf you were dating.

Shiarra: Ugh, don’t remind me.

Gideon: Woof.

Sara: Subject change. We don’t talk about him.

Gideon: I smell drama.

Arnold: I smell formaldehyde.

Shiarra: It was even worse when he had all those zombies around. Like he bathes in the stuff.

Sara: I know, right? Try sharing a room with him for a few weeks. I doubt my nose will ever be the same.

Arnold: Wait, what? You roomed with that monster?

Gideon: Hey! I resemble that remark.

Sara: I didn’t have much choice. Besides, it was either stay by his side or leave myself open to being munched on by one of Max or Fabian’s vampires.

Arnold: Someone get me my cell phone. I need to make a Facebook event and start inviting all my friends to gank the Master vamp of Los Angeles.

Royce: I’ll make a note for my social media coordinator to get in touch.

Shiarra: …you guys seriously use Facebook to set up groups to schedule attacks against Others you don’t like?

Arnold: Sure. Twitter, too. How do you think I got together the magi who came with me to Chicago?

Shiarra: I… well, I never thought about it. Now I don’t know if I should be relieved or worried.

Sara: Relieved. He’s on our side.

Gideon: Will you guys be my Facebook friends?

Sara: No.

Arnold: No.

Shiarra: Hell no.

Royce: You can “Like” my fan page.

Gideon: You all suck.

Royce: Perhaps, but I prefer my donors not to reek of dead flesh.

Gideon: That wasn’t an invitation.

Shiarra: Doesn’t matter. He’ll find a way to turn it into one.

Royce: I beg your pardon?

Shiarra: Don’t play Mr. Innocent Vampire over there. You keep using your fancy talk to get people to sign contracts and open up a vein for you.

Royce: Only when they catch my eye. A certain hunter comes to mind.

Shiarra: I am not a hunter. It was just that one time, damn it!

Arnold: One time? What about when you first met Royce? And then that time with Max’s vampires trying to take over New York? Then when you went on that rampage. And then the time—

Shiarra: Okay, okay! Fine! A retired hunter.

Sara: For now.

Royce: I doubt you will be able to hang up your guns just yet, Ms. Waynest. Even with my best efforts to keep you out of trouble, you always manage to find new and interesting ways of involving yourself in the affairs of Others.

Shiarra: Cripes. It never ends.

Gideon: Poor you. I’m playing you a sad song on the world’s tiniest violin.

Shiarra: I think I know who’s next on my list to hunt.

______________________


If you want to know more about her latest adventure, check out ENSLAVED BY THE OTHERS!

Learn more about Shiarra and her friends or visit me on the web:

www.JessHaines.com
Blog: www.jesshaines.com/blog
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JessHainesAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jess_Haines
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/jesshaines

Thanks again for having me, Sullivan and Voodoo Bride!

_______________________

BOOK DETAILS:


Enslaved by the Others Book Description:

Vampires, werewolves, magi and worse—the Others have joined the mortal world, and there's no turning back now…
As a New York P.I. and Other specialist, Shiarra Waynest has been in plenty of trouble before. But waking up in a windowless room the prisoner of a vampire slave trader is a shock for anyone. Shia has her wits, her bravado, and a couple of used staples, so maybe she can take on a mansion full of serious evil.
But although she's desperate to escape, Shia needs some answers too. Her friends are in danger. There are betrayers and spies among them. And even if she can figure out what's going on and somehow get a message out, she's still a captive of the worst kind…

Order Links:

Amazon / Amazon UK / Amazon Canada
Barnes & Noble
Book Depository
Books-a-Million
Powells
IndieBound



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Don't forget to check out my giveaway here

On McPig´s Wishlist - Fireborn

No Enslaved by the Others celebration post today, but be sure to keep an eye out for a guest post by Jess Haines tomorrow!


Fireborn (Souls of Fire #1)
by Keri Arthur

From New York Times bestselling author Keri Arthur comes a brand new series featuring heroine Emberly Pearson—a phoenix capable of taking on human form, and cursed with the ability to foresee death…

Emberly has spent a good number of her many lives trying to save humans. So when her prophetic dreams reveal the death of Sam, a man she once loved, she does everything in her power to prevent that from happening. But in saving his life, she gets more than she bargained for.

Sam is working undercover for the Paranormal Investigations Team, and those who are trying to murder him are actually humans infected by a plague-like virus, the Crimson Death—a by-product of a failed government experiment that attempted to identify the enzymes that make vampires immortal. Now, all those infected must be eliminated.

But when Emberly’s boss is murdered and his irreplaceable research stolen, she needs to find the guilty party before she goes down in flames…

Enslaved by the Others - Giveaway

What would a celebration be without a giveaway?

One reader of my blog will win Enslaved by the Others by Jess Haines
(or one of the other books in this series that's available on Book Depository)

Rules:
- Leave a comment on this post
- Leave a way for me to contact you
- Do so before July 9th 2014

A winner will be randomly selected on the 9th or soon after and contacted.
The winner will also be posted in this post.

The winner is miki!

Enslaved by the Others - Book Review

I'm celebrating the release of Enslaved by the Others this week.
Today my review of the book.


Enslaved by the Others (H&W Investigations #6)
by Jess Haines

What is it about:
As a New York P.I. and Other specialist, Shiarra Waynest has been in plenty of trouble before. But waking up in a windowless room the prisoner of a vampire slave trader is a shock for anyone. Shia has her wits, her bravado, and a couple of used staples, so maybe she can take on a mansion full of serious evil.

But although she's desperate to escape, Shia needs some answers too. Her friends are in danger. There are betrayers and spies among them. And even if she can figure out what's going on and somehow get a message out, she's still a captive of the worst kind...

What did I think of it:
The last book ended on a cliffhanger that made me anxious to get my trotters on this one. I had to wait a year to see what would happen next.

And it was so worth the wait.

Shia has been taken prisoner by one of her worst enemies, and things are looking grim. I loved how Jess Haines doesn't make things easy on Shia. Often the heroine is treated less harsh than others, because she's 'special'. Not so here. Shia undergoes horrors she will not soon forget. It made for intense reading, and made Shia's escape attempts more desperate and necessary.

Some characters from the previous book return in this one, and some new ones get introduced. I can't tell too much about the new characters without getting spoilery, but I fell in love with one of the new characters. I hope I haven't seen the last of her yet.

All in all this is a really cool read, full of desperate situations, action, betrayal and even some zombies! I couldn't put this down, and read into the night until I finished it. This series just keeps on going strong.

The ending isn't cliffhangery as some of the other books, still there's some things I'm very curious about. I hope Jess Haines will get contracted for many more books, because I want lots and lots more.

Why should you read it:
It's an awesome Urban Fantasy read!