Waiting on Wednesday #86 - Letters to Zell by Camille Griep

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating. 

Expected publication:
July 1, 2015 by 47North 

This week, the book I am waiting on is Letters to Zell by Camille Griep. 

From the publisher:

Everything is going according to story for CeCi (Cinderella), Bianca (Snow White), and Rory (Sleeping Beauty)—until the day that Zell (Rapunzel) decides to leave Grimmland and pursue her life. Now, Zell’s best friends are left to wonder whether their own passions are worth risking their predetermined “happily ever afters,” regardless of the consequences. CeCi wonders whether she should become a professional chef, sharp-tongued and quick-witted Bianca wants to escape an engagement to her platonic friend, and Rory will do anything to make her boorish husband love her. But as Bianca’s wedding approaches, can they escape their fates—and is there enough wine in all of the Realm to help them?

In this hilarious modern interpretation of the fairy-tale stories we all know and love, Letters to Zell explores what happens when women abandon the stories they didn’t write for themselves and go completely off script to follow their dreams.

Why am I waiting on this book? I like to see what people do when they play with fairy tales. In Letters to Zell, Camille Griep plays around with some of the best-known fairy tales and asks what if things didn't go as planned for the happily ever after? Would it be better? Or worse? I love retellings, so I will be checking this one out. Plus, it got a starred review in Publishers Weekly.

What book are you waiting on this week? Leave it or a link in the comments so we can check it out. Maybe add it to our ever-growing TBR list. 

Quickie Review: Fat Girl by Susan Bodiker

Fat Girl: How to let go of your weight and get on with your life by Susan Bodiker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Fat Girl by Susan Bodiker is a short book that is pretty much a cross between a memoir and a how I did it book. She talks about how awful her time growing up with her mother was and her mother's focus on her weight. And then there is a rather miraculous change when she gets married and moves out from under her mother's roof. Her changes in thinking are detailed and she credits this awareness to changing her life and her weight.

The book is ok. I don't think it was really a how-to book, but rather a how I did it and maybe it will work for you too book. I gave the book 3 stars. I liked it, but wasn't crazy about it.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased opinion.


View all my reviews

Teaser Tuesday: Day Shift by Charlaine Harris

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can participate, just do the following:

• Grab your current read and open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page.
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and the author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers.

This week's teaser is from Day Shift by Charlaine Harris. It's a recent release as of May 5, 2015 from Ace. Midnight, Texas has a small population of permanent residents. Olivia is one of the more mysterious ones. No one is quite sure how she makes her living. In this teaser, she is trying to help out Manfred who has been accused of stealing jewelry by looking around the house of the owner.

Both teasers are from 31% into the book:
location 1090:
When she came out of the bathroom, wiser only in a negative way- she was fairly sure nothing was hidden there, and she hadn't learned anything more interesting besides the fact that Rachel Goldthorpe had had a great Mary Kay saleswoman in her neighborhood- Olivia made her goodbyes and renewed her condolences to Annelle Goldthorpe Kling before she went down the carpeted stairs and out to the front courtyard.
...
Again, the teaser is about Olivia.
location 1099:
Her inner alarm system told her there was something to watch out for in this man, and she always listened to that system with great attention.

Day Shift is book 2 in the  Midnight, Texas series. Manfred Bernardo, a sometimes real psychic who works as a telephone and computer psychic has a client die on him while he is conducting a seance in person with her. Her son, Lewis, accuses him of stealing her jewelry, but there seems to be even more than that going on. Manfred turns to Olivia for help. He doesn't know what she does for a living, but somehow he knows that she can make this situation right.

What's your teaser this week? Leave it or a link in the comments so we can check it out. Happy Reading!

Review: Dark Heir by Faith Hunter

In Dark Heir by Faith Hunter, the action starts pretty much from the moment you start the book. There is a brief respite from time to time, but basically it’s a quick moving, action filled book. This is book 9 in the Jane Yellowrock series.

Jane Yellowrock, owner and active manager of Yellowrock Securities provides security for the Master of the City, that is to say, the head vampire of the city. She and her officers are called to headquarters because of an altercation on a lower level. Things go from bad to worse and next thing they know, the team is hunting the Son of Darkness, one of the biggest, baddest vampires ever.

Synopsis from Publisher:

Shapeshifting skinwalker Jane Yellowrock is the best in the business when it comes to slaying vampires. But her latest fanged foe may be above her pay grade…

For centuries, the extremely powerful and ruthless vampire witches of the European Council have wandered the Earth, controlling governments, fostering war, creating political conflict, and often leaving absolute destruction in their wake. One of the strongest of them is set to create some havoc in the city of New Orleans, and it’s definitely personal.

Jane is tasked with tracking him down. With the help of a tech wiz and an ex-Army ranger, her partners in Yellowrock Securities, she’ll have to put everything on the line, and hope it’s enough. Things are about to get real hard in the Big Easy.

Review: The book is well written. The pace is quick. The characters are well rounded. Alex is her go to tech man and his brother Eli is her partner in action. Bruiser is her “something,” her romantic interest. There isn’t much of what you would consider gooey romance here, but there is definitely a developing relationship between the two. And for those of you who prefer your books sex free, keep looking. There aren’t many sex scenes, but when those that are in the book are pretty hot.

Jane is a tough woman. A Cherokee shapeshifting skinwalker, Jane has an alternate shape of a mountain lion. This gives her an advantage over regular people in regards to senses, strength, and healing. She can be one of the guys. But in the end, she is also still a woman who will cry when it’s appropriate, and hang with her besties.

I give this book 4 stars for the action, the characters, and the writing. There is humor in the mix. The way she and others call the vampires suckheads is just one example. This was the first Jane Yellowrock book that I’ve read and I really enjoyed it. It can function as a stand-alone novel. I can only imagine that if you’ve been following the series it would be even better. The book was released April 7, 2015 by Roc. More about the author and her books can be found at Faithhunter.net

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Waiting on Wednesday #85 - The Demon Door by Kim Alexander

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating. 

Expected publication:
May 19, 2015 by Booktrope

This week I am waiting on The Demon Door by Kim Alexander.

Synopsis from Goodreads.com: 

Explore the world beyond in this charming fantasy debut from Kim Alexander. Perfectly combining romance and humor with pure imagination, The Demon Door is a must read for all fans of modern fantasy!

The demon Prince of Eriis has turned out to be something of a disappointment. Rhuun is crap at magic. He can’t fly, can’t even shoot flames from his hands. His poor girlfriend has just about had it with him. It’s no wonder he drinks. All Rhuun really does is daydream about visiting the other world, the world without magic—the human world of Mistra. No one has been there for a generation, but Rhuun knows all about the humans. He’s got a book. It’s the only human book on Eriis, and he’s been studying it his whole life. The fact that his book is a bodice-ripping romance novel, well… it’ll make his adventures in the human world a little more complicated.

Tip #1 – Human women do not generally like to be called “wench.”

In Mistra, Lelet va’Everly could use a little magic herself. Parties and boys have lost their luster, and she’s desperate for an adventure. When a bizarre, exasperating, extremely good looking – and hot (literally) stranger shows up, he might be the person, and purpose that she had been waiting for. But why does he keep calling her a wench?

Sometimes love doesn’t just change your own world… it changes all of them. 

Why am I waiting on this one? The combination of romance, humor, and fantasy sounds promising.

Teaser Tuesday - Omega by SM Reine

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can participate, just do the following:

• Grab your current read and open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page.
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and the author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers.

Omega  (War of the Alphas Book 1) by SM Reine was released April 2, 2015 by Red Iris Books. Book 2 in the series, Beta, was just released April 22, 2015.

I know it's more than two sentences, but it needed to  be more to paint the picture more accurately.

"Is he dead?" Deirdre asked.

"Probably not. Nightmares are hard to kill." Gage thumbed the switch on the battery pack off. "But I don't think he'll be bothering you again any time soon." The timer on the oven dinged. He grinned. "Can I stay for dinner?"

Omega is a dystopian urban fantasy. The world ended and people were reborn. Those that were reborn often had special abilities. Deirdre became a shapeshifter that can't change into whatever animal she's supposed to be. And she can't be coerced by any Alpha to do so. She is known as an Omega, the weakest member of the pack. She becomes a key figure in a war between two Alphas and maybe the only chance that one of them has to win.

What's your teaser this week? Leave it or a link in the comments so we can check it out.

Happy Reading!

Review: Dinner with Buddha by Roland Merullo

Expected to be available
June 2, 2015 from
Algonquin Books

Dinner with Buddha by Roland Merullo is essentially a novel that also has spiritual lessons that are an important part of the plot. 

Otto Ringling is a sort of Everyman representing the seeking, skeptical human. Volya Rinpoche is a world renowned spiritual teacher and Otto's brother-in-law. Together they travel around what I think of as the American West. They see both what are considered the great places to go sight-seeing and the more ordinary places that people live most likely getting there via a meal at a local restaurant. 

Along the way, Otto is exposed to many lessons of a spiritual nature. Some are easier for him to swallow than others. The hardest one of all may be that his niece might be the next Dalai Lama. To be honest, the author almost lost me on that one. But I realized that wasn't as important as Otto's reaction to the news. 

This is the third book in this series. Breakfast with Buddha is the first one and is described by the Boston Globe as "Enlightenment meets On the Road." I think this book could basically be described the same way.The actual places they travel aren't the same, but the idea of all this change happening on a road trip is the same.

It took me a while to read the book because I was trying to absorb the lessons to a degree as I read. It could be read straight through without doing that, but it seems you would miss out on a big part of the book that way. Or if you want the lessons after absorbing the fiction, you could always go back and read it again.

I gave this book 3 stars. I liked it. I enjoyed the story for the most part. I didn't like the aimless feel to some of the traveling around. It felt plotless in those parts and slowed down my reading. The spiritual lessons continued during those parts, but the sense of them having a destination faltered.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.