| Series: Dark Ones #9 Newly Returned to Me Editor Kate has sent me the cover for Much Ado About Vampires, the book that features Alec (and has lots of Pia and Kristoff and Ulfur), and once again, I'm absolutely in awe of the art guys at Penguin.
Abigail’s Thoughts:
|  Stepback inside…  |
| Series: Dark Huntress #1 Abigail’s Thoughts: Ooh very cool with the snake coiling around her shoulders.
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A dark, sexy debut set in a small Missouri town where evil waits at the end of every alley...
Cassandra Archer is the huntress. She has faithfully served the earth Mother for years, rescuing kidnapped children from monsters—both human and supernatural—dwelling in the ruins of the Barrows District. But when two children are kidnapped under similar circumstances, all clues point to a cataclysmic event on the next dark moon. Now Cass must race against the clock and prevent a sacrifice that could destroy the entire town...
| Series: Bloodlands #1 Cover Artist: N/A Big announcement about the Bloodlands books.... I'll be writing under another pen name--Christine Cody. This is because of the switch in sub-genres (post-apocalyptic western paranormal) as well as the switch from trade to mass market format. I'm going to try to post the mock-up cover here, too! (Just keep in mind that the pdf-to-jpg conversion blocked out the BLOODLANDS title near the bottom. The final version won't look like that!)
Abigail’s Thoughts:
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| Series: Dark Age Dawning #3 Abigail’s Thoughts: This series looks and sounds amazing. And the fact that it comes from Ann Aguirre and Carrie Lofty who combined Ellen Ripley (from Alien) and Sarah Connor (from The Terminator) to create their pen name makes me want it all the more.
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Their mission was to save the world.
Their destiny is to fall in love.
It's been twelve years since the Change, and Penelope Sheehan is one of the few still practicing magic for the good of humanity in this dark, dangerous world. Determined to infiltrate the notorious O'Malley organization, she poses as an abducted girl–until a furious lion thwarts her mission. When the beast turns into a devastatingly handsome man, she recognizes in him the troubled boy she once knew.
Since becoming a skinwalker, Tru Daugherty has allowed his animal nature to take over. Aloof and cynical, he takes no interest in making the world a better place. He's a creature of instinct and impulse, living only to satisfy his senses–ignoring the scarred heart nobody has ever reached. He's also the best man to help Pen bring down the O'Malley crime ring.
Fighting alongside the last holdouts of humanity, they unleash a passion that tempts them to risk everything for love. But if they succeed, Tru and Pen hold the power to brighten the Dark Age for all time
| Series: Parasol Protectorate #4 This is possibly my favorite cover, I like how light-hearted it is. Alexia looks almost coy. I think that ties into the comedy of manners side of things more strongly than some of the previous covers, of course it is also less steampunk. Now the fact that Alexia has her back to the camera and that Woolsey castle is in the background ties beautifully into the story. And of course, how can I frown when they put her in a teeny tiny puce colored bowler? Abigail’s Thoughts: I actually thought this was one of the mock up covers they’ve been posting on Orbit. Can it just be the hair? The color purple again (I was hoping for green)? I don’t know exactly, but it doesn’t have the same wow of the previous covers. I still can’t wait to read it though.
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Lady Alexia Maccon, soulless, is at it again, only this time the trouble is not her fault. When a mad ghost threatens the queen, Alexia is on the case, following a trail that leads her deep into her husband’s past. Top that off with a sister who has joined the suffragette movement (shocking!), Madame Lefoux’s latest mechanical invention, and a plague of zombie porcupines and Alexia barely has time to remember she happens to be eight months pregnant.
Will Alexia manage to determine who is trying to kill Queen Victoria before it is too late? Is it the vampires again or is there a traitor lurking about in wolf’s clothing? And what, exactly, has taken up residence in Lord Akeldama’s second best closet?
| Series: Siren #2 I'm so excited to be able to share both the Siren paperback and Undercurrent covers! You'll notice Siren has a brand-new look. This is because after much discussion about the sequel's cover with my agent and publisher, we agreed a new approach would be best. And since we want the books to look like they're part of the same trilogy, that meant the Siren paperback also needed a new approach.
Abigail’s Thoughts:
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| Series: N/A Abigail’s Thoughts: Very cool. I love this trend of clothes dissolving into smoke, flowers, birds etc.
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A move to Ireland is about to introduce Megan to her destiny, her real destiny, can she embrace it and will she survive it?
A tragedy in Megan’s past set her on a predetermined course. A chain of events has been set in motion that brings Megan to Kinsale, a small town in the south of Ireland where her destiny awaits her. Her life starts to fall into place as she makes new friends and settles into her new school. However, the reclusive and distant Adam DeRís calls to her body and soul.
She finds herself increasingly drawn to Adam and his strange family. Adam knows a secret from her past and he and his family hold the key to her future. A future that binds her to Adam and his world, a world of power, mystery and ancient orders. A world that unbeknownst to her, she very much belongs in.
| Series: Changeling #2 Abigail’s Thoughts: What the holy hell is wrong with her back/chest? I cannot fathom how no one in the art department said: We can’t use this. It looks like her heads on backwards. It’s going to freak people out!”
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| Series: Elemental #1 Abigail’s Thoughts: This is so pretty with the swirling rainbow colors. The description in fairly vague, but I’m intrigued by the cover alone.
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Drastic changes in Callie's life aren't unusual, but this time it's different. Now she's fighting to save her family while she adjusts to her new, supernatural reality. Life will never be the same. . . .
| Series: N/A Author Comments: Abigail’s Thoughts: This is just too bland and blurry to make any impact.
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When 17-year-old Jamie arrives on the idyllic New England island of Little Bly to work as a summer au pair, she is stunned to learn of the horror that precedes her. Seeking the truth surrounding a young couple's tragic deaths, Jamie discovers that she herself looks shockingly like the dead girl—and that she has a disturbing ability to sense the two ghosts. Why is Jamie's connection to the couple so intense? What really happened last summer at Little Bly? As the secrets of the house wrap tighter and tighter around her, Jamie must navigate the increasingly blurred divide between the worlds of the living and the dead.
Brilliantly plotted, with startling twists, here is a thrilling page-turner from the award-winning Adele Griffin
| Series: Crusade #2 Abigail’s Thoughts: Apologies for the small cover art, I could not find anything bigger. But I do like the change over to one figure that they’ve used in the redesign of book one and now book two.
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| Best Cover | Worst Cover |
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| Title: Crusade Reading level: Young Adult
Review Copy Source: Publisher |  |
For the past two years, Jenn has lived and trained at Spain’s Sacred Heart Academy Against the Cursed Ones. She is among the few who have pledged to defend humanity or die trying. But the vampires are gaining power, and the battle has only just begun.
Forced to return home after death takes a member of her family, Jenn discovers that San Francisco is now a vampire strong-hold. As a lone hunter apart from her team, Jenn is isolated — and at risk. She craves the company of her fighting partner, Antonio: his protection, his reassurance, his touch. But a relationship with Antonio comes with its own dangers, and the more they share of themselves, the more Jenn stands to lose.
Then Jenn is betrayed by one who was once bound to protect her, causing her to doubt all she had held as true. To survive, Jenn must find the courage to trust herself — and her heart.
CRUSADE takes us into a very believable apocalyptic world and paints a vivid possible future wherein vampires have stepped out of the shadows under the guise of friendship, lulled us into complacency, and when we were at our most vulnerable, they revealed their true nature.
Jenn was thirteen when the slaughter began. She was helpless to watch as her friends and family soon began spouting vampire propaganda and making excuses for freedoms they were forced to give-up. The vampires still maintained a show of friendship with humanity that is very reminiscent of Big Brother’s control in Orwell’s 1984. Those who spoke out against the vampires had accidents or simply disappeared.
The story begins with Jenn, now seventeen, and her team hunting a group of vampires in a little town in Spain. A lot of characters are introduced in a very short period of time and unfortunately none of them ever distinguished themselves clearly enough for me to care about them. There’s a witch, a werewolf, a sympathetic vampire, a superhuman, and then Jenn. Jenn feels like the weak member of her team because she has no special skills or abilities and I have to agree with her.
The promised romance from the description is about as dull as I can remember reading in a long time. Neither Jenn or Antonio ever showed me why they were in love. We were just told from the first chapter that they were. They repeated that they love each other throughout CRUSADE, but it felt pretty hollow.
The story jumps from multiple POVs and time periods all building up to the final showdown with a particularly nasty vampire, but by then the appeal of this world had been overshadowed and I had long since stopped caring. I think I could have gotten more on board with CRUSADE if the story had started when Jenn first arrived at Sacred Heart Academy. We would have gotten to see her learn all her fierce vampire slaying skills, meet her eventual hunter teammates, and most importantly, see how she and Antonio fell in love. That could have been an interesting story. Instead, this very cool vampire apocalypse world is essentially wasted on a lethargic plot and an overabundance of flat characters.
Sexual Content: Kissing
My Rating:
2/5
Okay – Somewhat disappointing with significant flaws. Library/swap/borrow if you want.
Previous books in the series:
Also reviewed by:
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