Giveaway: Dark Lover by J. R. Ward

Can you believe it's July already? I can't! I had a very busy reading month in June, managing an average for the month of 102 pages per day! My typical is probably 50-60, so that means I kept up a good pace for the month. The reason for this extra reading on my part? I must give credit to J. R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood Series.

The Black Dagger Brotherhood are elite warriors of the vampire race, doing their best to protect their people against the Lessening Society. I'll just say right now that no matter what I write, it's not able to do this series justice, I've enjoyed it that much! I've made it through 4 books so far, all in the last month, and I just do not read books in the same series one right after each other, so that's saying something!

The first book of the series, Dark Lover tells the story of Wrath, the last in the line of Vampire royalty, but who refuses to step up and take the throne, feeling unworthy of the privilege and reluctant to lead, haunted by failings in his past. As we are introduced to the brotherhood, they are a group of warriors that fight on their own individual terms, with not much in the way of organization. One of their number, Darius, has a half-breed daughter who is unaware of her heritage, and is about to go through the transition to be come a vampire. He asks Wrath to see her through the dangerous and intense change, but Wrath refuses, wanting nothing to do with the responsibility. When Darius is murdered, Wrath feels obligated to his warrior brother to carry out his last wish and usher Beth into their world.

I have turned total fangirl over these books. I love all the brothers, and the relationships/interactions between them. It is rare that a story captures me so completely, and it's a thing I both crave and dread! It's so hard to get back to reality from that place! And what happens when you run out of books and the next one isn't published yet? And what do you read next that won't be a let down? I have laughed and cried at these books, been completely keyed up and unable to sleep, and read 150 pages or more in a day. Remember 102 was my average for the whole month, there were a few days that I'm embarassed to say were where real life was kind of an annoyance I had to take care of so I could get back to the brothers!

Book 5 is about my boy Vishous, and I'm almost a little afraid to start it, because I know once I do, nothing else will get done until I've finished it! And now I'd like to infect, I mean convert... uh... okay, share, let's try share, yeah... I'd like to share this story with you guys! As always, this is a gently used, Bookcrossing labeled copy of Dark Lover, the first book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. I would dearly love an entry from you to know what you thought of the book, and you can do this completely anonymously if you decide that you'd rather not become a member. The book is still yours to do with as you like, whether that's keep it forever, or share it with another friend. To enter, please comment on this post and tell me what your favorite book or series is, one that grabs you and won't let you go, one that creates a world you just can't shake for awhile after you read it. I will choose a winner on July 18th (yay the first day of my vacation!) and then Wrath will be taking a little visit to your home... he's kind of big, and scary, but really very nice once you get to know him... and you'll definitely want him on your side! Good Luck!

Check out J. R. Ward's Website for more information and where she has some other slices from the Brotherhood's life.

Book: Airs Beneath the Moon by Toby Bishop

June has been a great reading month for me so far, I've been averaging about 110 pages per day, and that's much more than my norm, which is probably more like 60. Yes, I'm a geek, I keep track of my books read, and how many pages, and so on, I'm an Accountant remember, it's just what we do! ;)

Tonight I have just finished Airs Beneath the Moon by Toby Bishop, the first of the Horsemistress Saga. The winged horses are the pride of the Duchy of Oc, carefully bred to preserve the bloodlines, and bonded to girls who will be their riders for life, and who must remain pure or forever ruin their bonding. The girls and their horses learn many formations, that while beautiful to behold, are ultimately battle manuevers.

Far away from the grandeur of the city, into the farmlands of the duchy, a girl named Larkyn Hamley finds a little mare, roaming on her own. Unable to find it's owners, she keeps the horse, naming her Char. Before long it becomes apparent that Char is with foal, and while Lark has never had a horse before, she has grown up on the farm and knows a lot about tending animals. Unfortunately she is not able to save Char after the birth, but the foal is a beautiful little black colt, with wings! Lark stays with the colt, sleeping in his stall, caring for him in the absence of his mother, and creating a deeper bond than she was even aware of.

By the time the Academy of the Air is informed of this unusual winged birth, Lark and the colt have bonded so deeply, there is no choice but to bring Lark back to the Academy and begin training her. Lark faces the usual challenges of social class at the school, but manages to make a few good friends in spite of their differences. Her spunk is endearing, and her devotion to Tup unshakeable.

Duke Frederick, close friend of the Headmistresses of the school, is very ill following the disappearance of his daughter. His oldest son William takes the opportunity to begin furthering his own ambitions concerning the winged horses, having long been jealous of those that rode them, and the independence they enjoyed. Tup figures prominently in William's plans, and the Duke's son will go to great lengths to achieve his ends.

I loved horses when I was younger, and even had several for awhile, and there is something about riding that makes you feel like you're flying, so I could definitely relate to this story. A good fantasy tale that I'm looking forward to continuing in the next books out so far: Airs and Graces, and Airs of Night and Sea.

Please take a look at Toby Bishop's Website for more information on the author and her work.

Giveaway Winner: Dark Hunger Graphic Novel by Christine Feehan

Congratulations to...


Sarah Z

who will be receiving Dark Hunger, the graphic novel version! I'll be e-mailing you for your snail mail addy.

You guys gave me some very entertaining were-creatures, that's for sure! Iguana, sparrow, gopher and elephant I think are the ones that cracked me up the most!

Water Gardening

We decided to try something new this year. We often take trips out to nearby Powell Gardens where one of their exhibits is an island garden where they have a lot of water plants. I've loved looking at their water lilies. They have large ones in a bigger pond area, but also large ceramic pots filled with water with other water plants in them and it looked easy enough to do. This year when the husband and I went to get our typical flowers for the front yard, we discovered they had water garden makings as well and thought, why not? So we came home with a huge ceramic pot, 2 water lilies, 2 water hyacinths and another plant called a Hippuris. Here is a picture of the next day after we brought it home:




Looks pretty sparse, and one of the lilies had leaves much too small to reach the surface, but hey, trial and error is a great teacher (oh yeah, and probably I should have done some reading up too, but hey, instructions are for whimps, right?) so we just thought we'd let it go and see how they did. Well after about a week, things were slowly getting bigger, and it seemed to be working all right. I picked up one of the water hyacinths, they just float on the top, and I saw some tiny white wormy things inching through the water, blech! Husband says yep, those are mosquito larvae, as expected, after all it is standing water. So away to the pet store I went, and now we have a couple resident goldfish on the prowl! I haven't seen any more wrigglers since, so they must be doing their job! Yay for feeder goldfish, pretty good return on a .75 investment huh?

So it's been about 2 and half weeks now, and here's what we look like:



Quite a difference yes? We may have to thin the water hyacinths down a little! Everyone seems happy, plants and fish! No flowers yet, but I've already had a lot of fun watching them grow, and feeding my little fishes! It really doesn't take much to thrill me. So, now you know why there are koi in lily ponds, to keep down the mosquitoes! I'll post more pictures in a few more weeks and see where we are!

Giveaway: Dark Hunger (Graphic Novel) by Christine Feehan

I had been interested to give this one a try, as I've developed a bit of a taste for Manga (so far I've managed to finish the Angel Sanctuary series, and start a couple others), and wanted to see how a romance novel translated into a graphic novel. I actually have not yet read the regular novel that this one comes from, but have them on my towering mount TBR, so when I do it will be fun to compare!

Juliette and her family are were-leopards, working to free animals from a secret lab hidden in the jungle. Once inside, she discovers Riordan, an immortal vampire hunter known as a Carpathian, has also been held there, lured by the deceptions of a master vampire. Juliette frees him, but is overwhelmed by his discovery that they are lifemates when he takes her away with him, destroying the lab in the process. The remainder of the story is their coming to terms with each other, and rescuing her family from the pack of male were-leopards that has taken them in the meantime. This was a fun, quick paranormal read and I look forward to giving the full novel a try!

Would you like to try Dark Hunger out? Great, then today might be your lucky day! Or rather, June 13th might be, since that's when I'll choose my winner! All you have to do is comment on this post and tell me if you could be a were-creature, what animal would you choose? I think most people who know me wouldn't be surprised that I would choose a cat of some kind. I think a black panther might be fun, then I could sneak around at night all stealthy!

As always, this is a gently loved copy with a Bookcrossing label inside the front cover. While I would love a journal entry from you if you win, the book is yours to do with as you like, and you can journal anonymously if you decide that Bookcrossing is not for you.

For more information on the author and her work, please visit Christine Feehan's Website

Good Luck!

Places Geocaching Has Taken Us

We've gotten to see some neat things that we wouldn't have otherwise known where there if not for geocaching. I hope sometime that we can find such a spot that doesn't already have a cache in it, so that we can share it with people that otherwise wouldn't have known about it too.

Star Trek as I've never seen it before

Do not take a drink before watching this! I have to thank the husband for finding this one, as soon as I was done watching it, I snatched his laptop away so I could post it!