Completed 2013 Reading Challenges
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Review: Plan Bea by Hilary Grossman
Genre:
Chick Lit, Women’s Fiction
Format:
E-ARC
Publisher:
Booktrope Editions
Release Date:
October 2015
Friday, February 26, 2016
Blog Tour: The Ninth Life by Clea Simon (Review/Tour-Wide Giveaway)
About the Book
Format: E-Galley
Publisher: Severn House Publishers
Release Date: March 2016
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Showcase: Dimorphic by Cy Wyss
Labels:
showcase
Dimorphic
by Cy Wyss
on Tour Jan 25, 2016 - Feb 29, 2016
Synopsis:
It's easy to become a superhero.First, discover a superpower. It might take a while to get used to, though --- especially if it's something as weird as being your twin brother half the time.
Second, recruit a sidekick. Or, two. It'd be nice if they weren't a pyromaniacal sycophant and a foul-mouthed midget, but you get what you get.
Third, and most important, hire a mentor --- preferably not a vicious mobster with a God complex, however, this may, realistically, be your only choice.
Finally: go forth and fight crime. Try not to get shot, beaten, tortured, or apprehended in the process.
Good luck!
Book Details:
Genre: Thriller, Mystery
Published by: Nighttime Dog Press, LLC
Publication Date: November 4th 2015
Number of Pages: 338
ISBN: 0996546510 (ISBN13: 9780996546515)
Note: Dimorphic contains Strong Language
Purchase Links:
Read an excerpt:
It would be unfair to blame that crazy year on Batman. Yet who can say how much my love for the Dark Knight was responsible for the whole murderous mess? At the very least, I blame DC Comics for my lifelong hero complex and fanatic ability to take random violence personally. “Why is it,” I would ask, “people are so freaked out by the news, but no one does anything about it?”
My twin brother, Ethan, would answer, “We are doing something about it. We live our lives and make sure those stories aren’t written about us.”
He grew up into a wiry beast of a man, while I grew up into a buxom klutz of a woman. How fair is that?
Throughout our youth, Ethan gallivanted around Atlanta, branding its towering facades with fantastic graffiti. He was a wisp of smoke dissipating in the night air, leaving behind a spray of hieroglyphic taunts. I, on the other hand, spent life in a tent in our backyard nibbling cheese puffs and devouring the Justice League’s latest escapades by an upended flashlight. By twenty-three Ethan was big in the XGames and had scored a lucrative sponsorship for professional daredevilry. I, on the other hand, had dropped out of law school a week before graduating to join the police academy, from which I was ejected a mere two weeks later due to irreconcilable clumsiness and an unfortunate inability to defer to authority. It didn’t matter. If I couldn’t be a police officer, then I’d be a bounty hunter. Or a private detective. Or a fireman. I would be something heroic, even if it killed me—reality
be damned.
But reality had other ideas. I like to believe the forces of the universe give as much as they take. Unfortunately they also take as much as they give, so if you are going to receive a vast and powerful boon, you have to suffer in equal measure first. Like Batman, whose parents were gunned down before his eyes.
October descended, and the worst happened. In global events, $500 million of U.S. sky supremacy suddenly and rudely vanished over Afghanistan; in regional events, Atlanta underwent a freak drought, which was promptly declared apocalyptic; and, in personal events,
my beloved twin died a prosaic death. It wasn’t a hero’s demise. He simply miscalculated on his motocross. By the time they airlifted him to Brennan Memorial’s trauma center, his cerebral cortex was lifeless.
A day later, on October 31 at exactly 17:33, Ethan was declared brain-dead by the presiding neurologist. I was there. I sat in an armchair next to Ethan’s bed and stared at his spiritless body. It didn’t seem real. I watched his stomach rise and fall as artificial breath
filled his muscular chest. Inside, his organs hummed right along, unaware they no longer constituted life.
* * *
I coughed and choked, struggling to sit up. I only managed to hang my head off the side of the bed. It wasn’t [my] bed. Where am I? I wondered. The flashing red light was back. I squinted at it. It was a respirator, warning me of some kind of connection problem. Below me, the face mask sat in a puddle of sour-smelling bile on the floor. I could see how that might constitute a connection problem.
I looked around. I was in a hospital room, at night. Rain splattered against the windows. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and panic twisted in my chest. It wasn’t my hand. It was too broad, and there was hair on it. I clapped those foreign hands to my face.
Someone else’s stubbly jaw pulsed under my touch.
I rolled out of the bed onto unfamiliar legs. In front of me was a sink in a small alcove, illuminated with a dim night-light. Water. I would wake up if I got water. I staggered toward the sink. I whacked my knee on an armchair and stumbled over big feet. Nothing seemed to
be where it was supposed to be. When I made it to the sink, I slammed my forehead into the squat mirror above the faucet on my way down to the running water. I drank voraciously, right from the tap. I shoved my head into the sink and let the water run over me. Some
water got up my nose, and I sneezed and had to back off, sputtering and rubbing my face.
When my hands parted, I saw the face staring back at me from the mirror. It was my face. Or, at least, as close as possible—for someone of the opposite sex. A more prominent brow, a more angular chin beneath the shadow, darker shades of blue eyes and brown hair. . .
I was Ethan.
My eyes rolled back in my head and my knees buckled as I fainted.
My twin brother, Ethan, would answer, “We are doing something about it. We live our lives and make sure those stories aren’t written about us.”
He grew up into a wiry beast of a man, while I grew up into a buxom klutz of a woman. How fair is that?
Throughout our youth, Ethan gallivanted around Atlanta, branding its towering facades with fantastic graffiti. He was a wisp of smoke dissipating in the night air, leaving behind a spray of hieroglyphic taunts. I, on the other hand, spent life in a tent in our backyard nibbling cheese puffs and devouring the Justice League’s latest escapades by an upended flashlight. By twenty-three Ethan was big in the XGames and had scored a lucrative sponsorship for professional daredevilry. I, on the other hand, had dropped out of law school a week before graduating to join the police academy, from which I was ejected a mere two weeks later due to irreconcilable clumsiness and an unfortunate inability to defer to authority. It didn’t matter. If I couldn’t be a police officer, then I’d be a bounty hunter. Or a private detective. Or a fireman. I would be something heroic, even if it killed me—reality
be damned.
But reality had other ideas. I like to believe the forces of the universe give as much as they take. Unfortunately they also take as much as they give, so if you are going to receive a vast and powerful boon, you have to suffer in equal measure first. Like Batman, whose parents were gunned down before his eyes.
October descended, and the worst happened. In global events, $500 million of U.S. sky supremacy suddenly and rudely vanished over Afghanistan; in regional events, Atlanta underwent a freak drought, which was promptly declared apocalyptic; and, in personal events,
my beloved twin died a prosaic death. It wasn’t a hero’s demise. He simply miscalculated on his motocross. By the time they airlifted him to Brennan Memorial’s trauma center, his cerebral cortex was lifeless.
A day later, on October 31 at exactly 17:33, Ethan was declared brain-dead by the presiding neurologist. I was there. I sat in an armchair next to Ethan’s bed and stared at his spiritless body. It didn’t seem real. I watched his stomach rise and fall as artificial breath
filled his muscular chest. Inside, his organs hummed right along, unaware they no longer constituted life.
* * *
I coughed and choked, struggling to sit up. I only managed to hang my head off the side of the bed. It wasn’t [my] bed. Where am I? I wondered. The flashing red light was back. I squinted at it. It was a respirator, warning me of some kind of connection problem. Below me, the face mask sat in a puddle of sour-smelling bile on the floor. I could see how that might constitute a connection problem.
I looked around. I was in a hospital room, at night. Rain splattered against the windows. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and panic twisted in my chest. It wasn’t my hand. It was too broad, and there was hair on it. I clapped those foreign hands to my face.
Someone else’s stubbly jaw pulsed under my touch.
I rolled out of the bed onto unfamiliar legs. In front of me was a sink in a small alcove, illuminated with a dim night-light. Water. I would wake up if I got water. I staggered toward the sink. I whacked my knee on an armchair and stumbled over big feet. Nothing seemed to
be where it was supposed to be. When I made it to the sink, I slammed my forehead into the squat mirror above the faucet on my way down to the running water. I drank voraciously, right from the tap. I shoved my head into the sink and let the water run over me. Some
water got up my nose, and I sneezed and had to back off, sputtering and rubbing my face.
When my hands parted, I saw the face staring back at me from the mirror. It was my face. Or, at least, as close as possible—for someone of the opposite sex. A more prominent brow, a more angular chin beneath the shadow, darker shades of blue eyes and brown hair. . .
I was Ethan.
My eyes rolled back in my head and my knees buckled as I fainted.
Author Bio:
I live and write in the Indianapolis area. After earning a PhD in Computer Science in 2002 and teaching and researching for seven years, I’ve returned to the childhood dream of becoming an author. I better do it now because I won’t get a third life.Behind me, I have a ton of academic experience and have written about twenty extremely boring papers on query languages and such, for example this one in the ACM Transactions on Databases. (That’s a mouthful.)
Now, I write in the mystery/thriller/suspense genres and sometimes science fiction. I know for some people databases would be the more beloved of the options, but for me, I finally realized that my heart wasn’t in it. So I took up a second life, as a self-published fiction author.
Online, I do the Writer Cy cartoon series about the (mis)adventures of researching, writing, and self-publishing in today’s shifting climate. I also love to design and create my own covers using GIMP.
Catch Up:
Tour Participants:
It's a Giveaway!
This is a giveaway hosted by Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours for Cy Wyss. There will be 1 winner of 1 $25 Amazon.com US Gift card. The giveaway begins on Jan 24 and runs through Feb 29, 2016.
a Rafflecopter giveawayGet More Great Reads at Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Sunday/Monday Posts - February 21st and 22nd
The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer ~ It's a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.
If you'd like to participate with The Sunday Salon, it is now a Facebook group.
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading is a meme with a new host! It's now being hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. This is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between! This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!
I'm also linking to Stacking The Shelves which is hosted by Team Tynga's Reviews.
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Review: No Cats Allowed by Miranda James
Genre:
Cozy Mystery
Format:
E-ARC
Publisher:
Berkley Prime Crime Mysteries
Release Date:
February 2016
Book Giveaway Winner!
Labels:
book giveaways
The winner of By Book or by Crook by Eva Gates is....
Pamela M.
Congrats to Pamela!
Thanks to all who participated.
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Giveaway Winner!
Labels:
winner
The winner of the first three books in the Jamie Quinn Mystery Series is....
Kari C.
Kari gets to choose either the Audible audio version or an E-book version.
Congrats to Kari!
Thanks to all who participated.
Monday, February 15, 2016
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Sunday/Monday Posts: February 14th and 15th
The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer ~ It's a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.
If you'd like to participate with The Sunday Salon, it is now a Facebook group.
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading is a meme with a new host! It's now being hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. This is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between! This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!
I'm also linking to Stacking The Shelves which is hosted by Team Tynga's Reviews.
Saturday, February 13, 2016
Review: Sleight of Paw by Patricia Fry
Genre:
Cozy Mystery
Format:
E-Book
Publisher:
Matilija Press
Release Date:
January 2015
Source: My Kindle Collection Library
Synopsis from Goodreads…
Friday, February 12, 2016
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Review: By Book or by Crook by Eva Gates (Review/Giveaway)
Genre:
Cozy Mystery, #1 Lighthouse Library Mystery Series
Format:
Paperback
Publisher:
Obsidian Mystery
Release Date:
February 2015
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Blog Tour: Murder on Wheels by Lynn Cahoon (Review/Tour-Wide Giveaway)
About the Book
Cozy Mystery
6th in A Tourist Trap Mystery Series
Publisher: Lyrical Underground (February 2, 2016)
Paperback: 198 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1601834201
E-Book ASIN: B00XSVSCHQ
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Review: Engaged in Danger by Barbara Venkataraman
Genre:
Cozy Mystery, #4 A Jamie Quinn Mystery Series
Format:
E-Book
Publisher:
Barbara Venkataraman
Release Date:
September 2015
Monday, February 8, 2016
Sunday, February 7, 2016
Sunday/Monday Posts: February 7th and 8th
The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer ~ It's a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.
If you'd like to participate with The Sunday Salon, it is now a Facebook group.
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading is a meme with a new host! It's now being hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. This is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between! This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!
I'm also linking to Stacking The Shelves which is hosted by Team Tynga's Reviews.
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