Oct 26, 2012

ARC Review: Building From Ashes by Elizabeth Hunter



Building From Ashes by Elizabeth Hunter
Series: Elemental World #1
Genre: Urban fantasy
Release date: October 23, 2012
Synopsis from goodreads
For a thousand years, powerful earth vampire Carwyn ap Bryn has served others. God. His family. His friends. But tragedy and loss disrupt his peaceful existence, causing him to question everything he has committed his eternity to.


Brigid Connor has known about vampires since they rescued her from a painful childhood. But not even their vast elemental power can save her from the demons that torment her.



As loyalties are tested and new paths are forged, a lurking danger slowly grows in the Elemental World. Carwyn and Brigid will learn that even secrets revealed can come back to haunt you when you least expect it.
My Thoughts: 

I love the world of Elemental Mysteries Elizabeth Hunter has created so it's only fair to say when I found out about the new series of Elemental World I just had to have it. Miss Hunter was very nice and sent me one of the arc's, it might have been because I had begged and poked till she gave in.

Carwyn is such an old vampire with the elemental power of earth  and very very different from Giovanni but charming nonetheless even though he prefers Hawaiian shirts and watching wrestling marathon with Gio just makes him more amazing. Brigid is different from any other character I have met so far, I have to admit it took me a bit to warmed up to her but I got there. She has had a damaged childhood and a very tough life and she has grown the most in this story among all the characters. I didn't know how this would play out Carwyn being such an 'experienced' for a lack of better words, vampire and Brigid being in her twenties I really hoped I wouldn't cringe. So kudos to Miss Hunter for making this so believable with her writing.

Building From Ashes is definitely worth reading if you are looking for a new urban fantasy to sneak in your reading, but without reading the Elemental Mysteries first there might references that would be hard to catch on to.

You can win a copy of Building From Ashes, by following this link

I give this:

About The Author

Elizabeth Hunter is the author and publisher of the Elemental Mysteries Series. She is a graduate of the University of Houston Honors College in the Department of English (Linguistics) and a former English teacher. A native of Central California, she now lives in Southern California with her husband, son, and an assortment of dogs. She enjoys reading, writing, travel, and bowling. Someday, she plans to learn how to scuba-dive. And maybe hang-glide ... but that looks like a lot of running. A Hidden Fire is her debut novel. 

Find out more about Elizabeth Hunter from her Website Twitter Goodreads

Oct 14, 2012

Something Wicked Comes: Interview with Elizabeth Hunter and Giveaway


Hey all! Thank you for stopping by and checking out my interview of E.Hunter for Something Wicked Comes hosted by my turtle buddy Heidi at Rainy Day Ramblings and Lila at Babbling About Books. You can also win E's latest book Building From Ashes, just follow the instruction at the end of the post.

I have Elizabeth Hunter with me today, the author of the Elemental Mysteries Series and many more. 
So first I would like to ask, how did you get into writing?
I was a technical writer for years, writing things like manuals and sales proposals, but then I started writing a little fan fiction for fun. And it was that experience that showed me how fulfilling creative writing could be. I started my own stories and just never stopped.
What inspired you to write The Elemental Series?
I love paranormal fiction. Have loved it for years. I was thinking one day about what I would do if I had eternity to live. I’m a total bookworm, so I figured I would just read a lot! From that idea sprung the idea of Giovanni Vecchio, an immortal whose life revolved around books. And the series really grew from that.
What was the hardest part to write in this series?
I think endings are always hard to write. Each book has been difficult to end, but particularly A Fall of Water, because it was the end of Gio and Beatrice’s story arc. It was the right time to say goodbye to them, but it was difficult.
What are your favorite parts of the books you loved writing?
I love dialogue. Particularly flirting. I love banter and humor. Those parts are some of the most fun to write for me. I start to twitch if I see too much narration on the page with no one talking.
If you weren’t an author, what do you think you would be doing instead? 
Probably, like Beatrice, I would be a librarian. Information science and research are passions for me. I’m a very curious person.
Over one year you have written and published five books now, how do you do it?
I don’t sleep much! I also think it helps that I’m very organized about how I work. I always outline a project completely before I start. For me, this helps to keep me very focused when I actually sit down to write. While the writing of my last four books took a little over a year, the planning and prewriting took longer.
You wrote both paranormal and contemporary, which did you like writing more?
I like both, but paranormal and fantasy will always be my first love.
Who are your biggest supporters?
My readers! I have amazing, brilliant readers. I also have a crazy, diverse family who are amazing and very supportive and a wonderful group of friends who are writers.
If you had the chance to have a date with ANY character from your book, who would it be and why?
Carwyn, probably. I like to laugh and he’d be a fun date, don’t you think? I like beer, wrestling, and motorcycles, so I think he’d go for it. ;)
Just one more before we go to the quickies, any plans for starting another series in the near future?
I am working on a shapeshifter series right now! I’m about 3/4 of the way finished with the first book and have already published a short story prequel called Long Ride Home: A Cambio Springs Short Story, which is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It’s a different setting and feel from the Elemental Mysteries, which is fun, but deals with some of the same themes about love, family, and friendship that all of my books do.

Now time for some quickie fun questions
Writing or Reading? 
Tough one, but writing. If I had a whole day to myself, I’d write before I’d read. I love my job.
Favorite Actor? 
Oooooh, probably Michael Fassbender. He’s very talented and has such a presence on screen. (And yes, incredibly handsome.)

Prangon here pops in to spam with Michael Fassbender yummies

Favorite Movie? 
The Big Lebowski? Maybe. I’m moody about these things.
Favorite author?
No possible way I can answer that!

Thank you so much E for being so patient with me and taking the time out of your busy schedule to do the interview. 
Elizabeth is giving away one copy of  Building From Ashes. This giveaway is open to EVERYONE so all you have to do to enter this giveaway is leave your name and email address in the comment box. Winner will be chosen on 1st November.

Building From Ashes (Elemental World #1)
by Elizabeth Hunter 
For a thousand years, powerful earth vampire Carwyn ap Bryn has served others. God. His family. His friends. But tragedy and loss disrupt his peaceful existence, causing him to question everything he has committed his eternity to.

Brigid Connor has known about vampires since they rescued her from a painful childhood. But not even their vast elemental power can save her from the demons that torment her.

As loyalties are tested and new paths are forged, a lurking danger slowly grows in the Elemental World. Carwyn and Brigid will learn that even secrets revealed can come back to haunt you when you least expect it.

A continuation/spinoff of the Elemental Mysteries series. The timeline in this books stretches from BEFORE A Hidden Fire starts (so you see a little character history) until AFTER A Fall of Water finishes. As I’m sure lots of you could tell, Carwyn had quite a few things going on in his life that didn’t make it into Gio and Beatrice’s story. So Building From Ashes explores that storyline and also sets up the Elemental World for some new adventures...

Oct 4, 2012

Review: My Life As a White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland

My Life As a White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland
Series: White Trash Zombie #1 
Genre: Horror, Borderline YA

Synopsis from goodreads
Angel Crawford is a loser

Living with her alcoholic deadbeat dad in the swamps of southern Louisiana, she's a high school dropout with a pill habit and a criminal record who's been fired from more crap jobs than she can count. Now on probation for a felony, it seems that Angel will never pull herself out of the downward spiral her life has taken.

That is, until the day she wakes up in the ER after overdosing on painkillers. Angel remembers being in an horrible car crash, but she doesn't have a mark on her. To add to the weirdness, she receives an anonymous letter telling her there's a job waiting for her at the parish morgue—and that it's an offer she doesn't dare refuse.

Before she knows it she's dealing with a huge crush on a certain hunky deputy and a brand new addiction: an overpowering craving for brains. Plus, her morgue is filling up with the victims of a serial killer who decapitates his prey—just when she's hungriest!

Angel's going to have to grow up fast if she wants to keep this job and stay in one piece. Because if she doesn't, she's dead meat.

Literally.
My thoughts

I have been pushing this off my reading list every time it appears in my kindle. I am glad that I finmally gave in and read this. I really am. Lemme just say paranormal, UF is an extraordinary world where authors brings new myths, stories, creatures to life that you never thought possible. 

When I hear the word Zombie it's associated with Walking Dead, Evil Dead anything that is mindlessly dead and do not at all have a brain, that works like human more like human brain eater. So Rowland's White Trash Zombie is one of those books that made me think twice about my zombiesist (is that a word?) ways. 

One of the thing that put me off reading this for so long was the cover. I know it's pretty but it's really not how I saw Angel Crawford when I read the book. I can not deny the fact that I do in fact love the cover but it just didn't get me started on the book immediately, so yeahhhh... that's just me =/

I am trying retain myself from flailing around about the book right now but I will say that if you have even an inkling love for zombie anything really, this is the thing to try. 

I give this


About the author 

Diana Rowland worked as a bartender, a blackjack dealer, a pit boss, a street cop, a detective, a computer forensics specialist, a crime scene investigator, and a morgue assistant, which means that she's seen a lot of weird crap. She won the marksmanship award in her Police Academy class, has a black belt in Hapkido, has handled numerous dead bodies in various states of decomposition, and can't rollerblade to save her life.

Oct 1, 2012

Review: iFrankenstein by Bekka Black

iFrankenstein by Bekka Black
Genre: Young adult, Paranormal
Released Date: September 16.2012
My copy: Received from the author

Synopsis from goodreads
Frankenstein comes to life for the wired generation.

Following her critically-acclaimed iDrakula, award-winning author Bekka Black breathes life into a modern re-telling of iFrankenstein, using only text messages, web browsers, tweets, and emails.

Homeschooled teenager Victor Frankenstein is determined to write his own ticket to independence: a chatbot to win the prestigious Turing prize and admission to the high tech university of his choice. He codes his creation with a self-extending version of his own online personality and unleashes it upon the internet. But soon he begins to suspect his virtual clone may have developed its own goals, and they are not aligned with Victor’s. The creature has its own plan, fed by a growing desire to win darker and more precious prizes: unfettered power and release from loneliness.

As the creature’s power and sentience grows and its increasingly terrible deeds bleed over from the online world into the real one, Victor must stop his creation before his friends and humanity pay the ultimate price.
My thoughts

This is the second cell phone novel I have read from Bekka Black. And like iDrakula this too was impossible to put down till the very end. iFrankenstein is the modern techie take of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein.

Over the years there have been allot of movies, series, plays based on the original book, I ought to know cause I am a big no HUGE Frankenstein fan. However from all the Frankenstein takes I have witnessed thus far, iFranktenstein is one of the most memorable one. I suppose if Frankenstein was a teenager in this time of era I imagine he too would be quite the genius and create a monster such as VV that lived in the internet.  

iFrankenstein is definitely something worth checking out if you haven't already. And if you are looking for more cell phone novels like iFrankenstein I would also suggest you check out iDrakula, another awseome text/email tale of Dracula. 

I give this



Books I have read from Bekka Black 


About the author

After a childhood often spent without electricy and running water, Bekka escaped the beautiful wilderness of Talkeetna, Alaska for indoor plumbing and 24/7 electricity in Berlin, Germany. Used to the cushy lifestyle, she discovered the Internet in college and has been wasting time on it ever since (when not frittering away her time on her iPhone). Somehow, she manages to write novels, including the award-winning Hannah Vogel mystery series set, in all places, 1930s Berlin. The series has received numerous starred reviews and the first book, A Trace of Smoke, was chosen as a Writer’s Digest Notable debut.

She lives in Hawaii with her husband, son, two cats, and too many geckoes to count. iDrakula is her first cell phone novel.


Author's website/goodreads