It's Monday! What are you Reading? (6th May 2013)

This is a weekly meme hosted by Book Journey that gives us all a chance to list the books that we read last week and what we hope to read this week.

Books We Read Last Week:

Chrissie - Run the Risk by Lori Foster (Love Undercover #1)

Amy - The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding (Bridget Jones #2)

 

Books Reviewed Last Week:

Neferet's Curse by P.C. & Kristin Cast (House of Night Novellas #3)

Love Undercover by Lori Foster (Love Undercover #1)

 

Books We're Currently Reading:

Chrissie - Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs (Mercy Thompson #7)

Amy - One More Little Problem by Vanessa Curtis (Zelah Green #2)

 

Books Up Next:

Immortal Eclipse by Sherry Soule

Stacking the Shelves (4th May 2013)

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews and is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

For Review:

Immortal Eclipse by Sherry Soule
A devoted fashionata and practical New Yorker, Skylar Blackwell doesn’t believe in the supernatural—until she inherits Summerwind Mansion...

When her uncle is brutally murdered, and the cops seem uninterested in following up the case, Skylar journeys to California to seek answers. Her search for clues is soon overshadowed by haunting nightmares of a young woman also murdered in the house.

Now the inhabitants of Summerwind are mysteriously dying, leaving no evidence as to how or why, and Skylar finds herself in a deadly race against time to expose the killer—before they strike again.

Armed with only wit and Pradas, Skylar begins questioning the servants, but the growing list of suspects includes the sexy and brooding caretaker, Dorian Delacroix, a man desperately trying to forget his tragic past. And a major distraction for Skylar.

Determined to play detective—instead of the fashion police—and unravel the dark history of the mansion, Skylar is plunged into an otherworldly mystery that not even she can explain away. As the boundaries between reality and dreams blur, Skylar’s greatest challenge is to stay alive long enough to learn the truth.

The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud (Lockwood and Co #1)
A Problem has occurred in London: all nature of ghosts, haunts, and spirits are appearing throughout the city, and they aren't exactly friendly. Only young people have the psychic abilities required to see - and, hopefully, eradicate - the supernatural enemies. Many different Psychic Detection Agencies have cropped up to handle the dangerous work, and they are in fierce competition for business.

In THE SCREAMING STAIRCASE, the plucky and talented Lucy teams up with Anthony, the leader of Lockwood & Co, a small agency that runs independent of any adult supervision. After an assignment leads to both a grisly discovery and a disastrous end, Lucy, Anthony, and their wise-cracking colleague, George, are forced to take part in the perilous investigation of one of the most haunted houses in England: Combe Carey Hall. Will Lockwood & Co. survive the Hall's legendary Screaming Staircase and Red Room to see another day? How did the Problem originate, and how can it be solved?

Review: Run the Risk by Lori Foster (Love Undercover #1)

Publisher - Harlequin
Publication Date - 25th September 2012
Genre - Romantic Suspense

Source - Received from publisher for review via NetGalley

Rating - 4 out of 5: I really liked it

Reviewed by - Chrissie

Book Info - When Detective Logan Riske goes undercover to find Pepper Yates, a potential link to his best friend’s unsolved murder, he vows to gain her cooperation by any means necessary. But the elusive beauty is more suspicious - and in far more danger - than he expected. And the last thing Logan needs is to start caring for her...

Pepper has spent the past five years dodging the corrupt club owner who will stop at nothing to keep her silenced. She can trust no one, not even the handsome new “construction worker” who’s moved in next door. The heat between them is undeniable. But will surrendering to passion bring her the safety she so desires—or will her feelings for Logan draw them both into a killer’s crosshairs?

My Thoughts - Last year I read Lori Foster's Edge of Honor series and absolutely loved them. So much so that I read them one after another, which is pretty uncommon for me - it would have to be a really good series to keep me gripped for that long. So when I saw Run the Risk up on NetGalley I jumped at the chance to read it. And I wasn't disappointed in the slightest.

Run the Risk is a great combination of loveable characters, a twisting plot that will keep the reader on the edge of their seat and a sweet and sizzling romance. It propels the reader along through the storyline as you can't help but care for the characters and want to see how they manage to resolve all the problems.

Logan and Pepper were great main characters and I really enjoyed getting to know them. Logan is a driven and loyal man who is seeking the person who murdered his best friend. I loved his protective side and the way he wanted to keep Pepper safe from harm. However, the one thing I didn't like about Logan was the way that he was willing to use Pepper to get to her brother Rowdy, the only witness to his friend's murder. Okay, so it does become obvious that, although that is why he originally started talking to her, that it very quickly turned into something else for him and he did have genuine feelings for her. But by that point it had already clouded my judgement about him a little. However, I did still really like Logan.

Pepper is the character that really made this novel for me. She is loyal and strong, yet has a hint of vulnerability about her that really endears her to the reader. Rowdy, her brother, is the only person she has had in her life for a long time and because of that they are incredibly close, and I loved seeing this bond between them. The chemistry between Logan and Pepper is obvious from the start and they work so well together. Pepper is cautious and secretive, while Logan is patient and sensitive with her. Despite the fall out when she realises why he first started talking to her, they really are a great couple and it was so easy to fall in love with them.

But, as well as Pepper and Logan, there were some other great characters that have left me wanting more of their stories. First of all there is Logan's best friend Reese and his very secretive and intriguing next door neighbour, Alice, who are the focus of book two in the series, Bare it All. And I would love to see Rowdy get his happy ever after too.

Summary - A great start to a new series by one of my favourite authors. A must read if you are a fan of romantic suspense. I have already got my copy of book two in the series from NetGalley and I will be starting it straight away. I can't wait to find out what happens with Reese and Alice.

Other books in the series:
1. Run the Risk
2. Bare it All

Review: Neferet's Curse by P.C. and Kristin Cast (House of Night Novellas #3)

Publisher - Atom Books
Publication Date - 19th February 2013
Paperback - 160 pages
Genre - YA Urban Fantasy

Source - Received from publisher for review

Rating - 2 out of 5: It was ok

Reviewed by - Chrissie

Book Info - That was the first time I saw it, what I have come to think of as the burning look. It was as if his eyes stared so violently into mine that I feared they would cause me to combust.

I found I could not speak. I only shivered and nodded.

Neferet, the darkly seductive High Priestess at the House of Night, wasn't always a powerful vampyre, but she has always been beautiful. Raised in turn-of-the-century Chicago, her beauty makes her the prey of unwanted attention and abuse, leaving her with scars that will never heal - and a Darkness that will eventually need to find its way out.

So when she is Marked and gains strength, both physical and magickal, she turns her anger into power and looks for a way to regain what was stolen from her.

From victim to High Priestess, beautiful young woman to powerful seductress, Neferet's journey begins...

My Thoughts - I have to admit that I went into this book expecting something completely different to what I got, and as a result I ended up not liking it perhaps as much as I could have done. From the book description I was expecting a story of a girl overcoming a painful past to become a better person. I was expecting a story that at the end was uplifting and gave a positive message to the reader. But this was not the case at all. In fact, I didn't really like the ending at all. It was dark and left a very bitter taste in my mouth for quite a long time after finishing it and this is the main reason that i have given this book such a low rating.

However, the rest of the book wasn't all that bad. I liked Emily (this is Neferet's name when she was a human girl so it is mainly this name that is used throughout the book) quite a lot. She can be very self-absorbed which I found quite irritating at times, but then considering the situation that she is in I think it's understandable, and perhaps even forgivable. At the start of the book, Emily is only fifteen years old and she witnesses the death of her mother during childbirth. After such a traumatic experience, and at such a young age, she is then expected to take over her mother's duties around the house and as a volunteer. Yet she takes on the role and tries her best with all of her new responsibilities, even though it means that she now has no time to spend with her friends and doing the things that she previously enjoyed. Add to this the fact that her father has been drinking a lot since his wife's death and that he is starting to look at Emily in a way that a father shouldn't be looking at his daughter, and you really have to admire the strength that Emily must possess just to be able to get through each day.

I was expecting more of the book to be after Emily is Marked to become a vampyre, perhaps explaining her journey to becoming a High Priestess, but only the first week after she is Marked is included in the story. I know that because this is a novella that the authors are limited as to how much they can include, but I really would have liked to read more about what happened to her after she becomes a vampyre.

Although there are ten books in the House of Night series and Neferet's Curse is the third House of Night Novella, this book actually works really well as a stand-alone. I have only read the first House of Night book, and it was a few years ago so I can't really remember much of it, but I had no trouble following the story. Although that is probably due to the fact that so much of the story is about Emily's life before she is changed so not much knowledge is needed about the paranormal world that is created by the authors.

Summary - Although I liked the main character, this is a very dark story and I found the ending to be disappointing. This is a quick read and I think it would be great for fans of the series, and Neferet in particular. But I'm not sure that it's inspired me to go out and read the rest of the series.

Other books in the series:
1. Dragon's Oath
2. Lenobia's Vow
3. Neferet's Curse

UK Reviewers Wanted!!!

Hi people. I know... you're shocked to see me again aren't you? I haven't been around for ages and I've missed you guys heaps. But the fact of the matter is that I'm just on my way out of the biggest reading slump ever known to man (or woman!). But that is over and done with now and I'm ready to return to the world of reading and blogging and this blog will become active again some time in the next couple of weeks. But there is a slight problem. I have a lot of review books that I need to get through and just nowhere near enough time to read them all. And this is where you come in. I'm looking for some reviewers to join the Once Upon a Series team. Well, not that it's a team yet as it's just little old me, but i'm hoping to put together a team. In doing so I am hoping to give the visitors of this blog more content, and therefore more reasons, to keep returning to Once Upon a Series as well as taking the pressure off of myself a little bit too.

So here is what I'm looking for:
- People from the UK as postage overseas is too expensive.
- People who can contribute reviews on a regular basis, preferably one a week.
- Primarily I need people to help me conquer my mountain of review books but I am happy for regular reviewers to submit reviews of their own books that they have read too.
- Obviously this is not a paid position. I don't get paid to do this, therefore I can't afford to pay anybody else either. But I can provide books and I'm hoping that if you're reading this then you are a book lover and that will appeal to you as much as it would appeal to me.
- I read a wide variety of genres (both adult and YA) so hopefully there will be something there to tempt most people.
- I don't mind if you already have your own book blog or if you've never blogged before. If you do have a book blog then I'm happy for you to post reviews of the books that I send you on your own blog as well as having them appear on mine. I would obviously link to your blog in the review.

I have added all of my review books to a shelf on Goodreads (you can find it here) so please feel free to check it out to see if there is anything there that appeals to you.

If you feel that this is something that you would like to do then please send me an email at onceuponaseries@live.co.uk with the following information:
- Any previous experience writing reviews or if you already have your own blog.
- How often you will be able to contribute.
- What genres you enjoy reading.
- An example of a book review that you have written copy and pasted into the text of the email.

I hope to hear from you soon if you feel as though this is something that we could work on together.

Chrissie