Iced Book Launch Party

 Karen Marie Moning's ICED book-signing at the Le Pavillon in New Orleans.

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Kresley Cole Booksigning

One of my favorite authors was in town (again!) for her latest YA book release.

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Back in Business after Isaac

I'm back!
(with the winner of my 100 Follower Giveaway)

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On Hiatus Due To Isaac

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100 Follower Giveaway

I am so excited and pleased to say that its finally time for the 100 follower giveaway!

Thank you everyone for visiting and commenting, so I wish you the best of luck in winning Jeaniene Frost's currently published (June 26th, 2012) paperback release:
 Once Burned  

An exciting perk of this giveaway is that the book is SIGNED by the author and will come with some fun related book goodies from her book-signing at the Author's After Dark event in New Orleans.  Good Luck!!

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Authors After Dark Book Signing

Just got back and met some great authors...

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Authors After Dark Book-signing

Cant make the con but wanna meet the authors? 

AAD has a book-signing that is open to the public! 

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Working Jazz Fest . . . Away!

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Reckoning by Jeaniene Frost

Reckoning
(Originally appeared in the anthology Unbound)
by Jeaniene Frost

Genre: Supernatural Thriller | Short-Story (eBook only)

In New Orleans, a pair of undead serial killers are about to turn Mardi Gras into a horror show—unless the immortal hitman Bones can hunt them down first.
From Jeaniene Frost comes a thrilling prequel novella featuring characters from her New York Times bestselling Night Huntress series.

IN HONOR OF MARDI GRAS (Today, Feb 21st). . .

Bones is on the hunt for the famous Delphine & Louis LaLourie, who are actually ghouls and back in New Orleans during Mardi Gras to continue their deadly reign on innocent tourists. With the Majestic Voodoo Queen, Marie, out of town on business, Bones hopes this would be an easy mission, except there is also someone trying to murder him as well, with silver arrows nonetheless. As this twisted cat-and-mouse thriller quickly gets out of control, can Bones save the day (as well as his own neck) from becoming any more bloodier during carnival time?

I just had to tackle a Mardi Gras related story for today and what better character to read about than Bones, so win-win! Overall, I'll just start off by stating I'm not a fan of anthologies since the stories are way too short and always leave me wanting more, but this tale was enjoyable for the fact that it contained lots of Mardi Gras spirit - which I am totally in by the way (and, in real life, out in costume on St. Charles Avenue yelling for REX beads!) This suspenseful thriller shorty contains lots of Bone(s) action (no pun intended), so have fun with that, but also somewhat emotional when you find out the real reason behind Bones mission. Enjoy!

If you don't know about the LaLourie's . . . click here. Sometimes the truth can be creepier than fiction!

Likes: Interesting spin of truth and fiction . . . had me cracking up when I first started reading. The LaLourie's story is truly a famous New Orleans dark tale - so thanks for the spin-off Jeaniene!

Dislikes: As most short-stories in anthologies can be - the story was too choppy for me and somewhat silly (the whole musical Phantom of the Opera Mardi Gras float scene . . . I mean, seriously?)

Rating:

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Authors After Dark Summer Camp!

The Authors After Dark event has you, the reader in mind, from the authors right down to the price. In these hard economic times, you don’t have to break the bank to attend an amazing event!

Authors After Dark is a for readers by authors event, focused on the reader author relationship. No other convention lets you get this much quality time with authors in such a unique setting. Readers and authors alike are encouraged to let their hair down and get to know each other and talk about the one thing that really brings us all together: Books!

Also, we are the only romance convention that has a GLBT track and a participating GLBT publisher. Fans of the GLBT genre that attend can look forward to M/M panels, a roundtable discussion and a F/F panel as well as a slew of print books, and goodies from GLBT authors and the publishers, including MLR Press, Dreamspinner Press, and Torquere Press.

This year’s event will slightly different from past years, as we will be forgoing the normal vendor room and workshops, to make room for author field trips and exploring one of the greatest cities in this country! Panels, parties and the book signing are all still there, but with a Cajun flair…

August 8-12, 2012 Royal Sonesta Hotel, New Orleans!

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NOLA Booksigning

Kresley Cole

Garden District Book Shop

Kresley Cole continues her Immortals After Dark series. From the humblest of beginnings a millennia ago, Lothaire the Enemy of Old rose to power, becoming the most feared and evil vampire in the immortal world. Driven by his past, he will not rest until he captures the vampire Horde's crown for himself. The discovery of his Bride, the female meant only for him, threatens to derail his plot.

Kresley Cole discusses and signs her book, Lothaire.

Paul Marron, the LOTHAIRE cover model, will be accompanying Kresley to all events.

Specially created LOTHAIRE champagne flutes (plastic) will be given to the first 100 customers to attend each event and champagne will be offered.

I apologize that my photos are not the best. I found out about this book-signing last minute and didn't have my proper camera available for the event.

Great ending to a great night - during the Q&A session, I answered the last question: What is the name of the local Lore bar that many of the characters visit? ( THE SAND BAR ) and won one of the e-reader KC was gifting out during her tour. Woo-hoo!

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This Side of the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

This Side of the Grave

(A Night Huntress Novel Book # 5)

by Jeaniene Frost

Genre: Paranormal Romance | Dark Fantasy

Danger waits on both sides of the grave…

Half-vampire Cat Crawfield and her vampire husband Bones have fought for their lives, as well as for their relationship. But just when they’ve triumphed over the latest battle, Cat’s new and unexpected abilities threaten to upset a long-standing balance…

With the mysterious disappearance of vampires, rumors abound that a species war is brewing. A zealot is inciting tensions between the vampires and ghouls, and if these two powerful groups clash, innocent mortals could become collateral damage.

Now Cat and Bones are forced to seek help from a dangerous “ally”—the ghoul queen of New Orleans herself. But the price of her assistance may prove more treacherous than even the threat of a supernatural war. …to say nothing of the repercussions Cat never imagined.

I'm happy we got back into a story about the original characters. Cat is just as hard-ass and Bones as frustratingly suave as always, but you gotta love them! You can defiantly tell we're on Book #5 in series since the plot no longer focuses on the main characters and one major plot anymore and, overall, I felt this story went all over the place; from emotional family baggage to catch-up with previous characters to ghouls / ghosts galore.

Unfortunately, I went about the wrong way in reading this book. First, opted for the audio-book on a drive to Texas, didn't finish all the way. About a week passed. Second, I had the paperback to continue reading, but still didn't finish all the way since I got busy with work and ending up reading another book all together. Then another week passed. All in all, I really haven't finished the book YET (honestly, only a few pages till the end) BUT I will get to them soon, promise! ;)

From what I read though, it is full of high-intense action, some HOT (H-O-T-T-HOT!) sex scenes, tearfully emotional family scenes, and lots of new spooky abilities for Cat - which means . . . more books to come. Even though the Night Huntress series is beginning to take on characteristics of a chain of books becoming too much for the reader (i.e. too much plot, too many characters, too much action, etc.) that the simple story in-between it all is lost, I still love Bones and will always be coming back for more!

Likes: A visit to New Orleans - Whoot! Whoot!

Dislikes: I don't like the ghouls. None of them grew on me and all Cat's interactions with them was just "so-so". Blah!

Rating:

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Dreams of a Dark Warrior by Kresley Cole

Dreams of a Dark Warrior
(Immortals After Dark #11)
by Kresley Cole

Genre : Paranormal Romance Dark Fantasy

He vowed he'd come for her - Murdered before he could wed Regin the Radiant, warlord Aidan the Fierce seeks his beloved through eternity, reborn again and again into new identities, yet with no memory of his past lives—only an endless yearning.

She awaits his return - When Regin encounters Declan Chase, a brutal Celtic soldier, she recognizes her proud warlord reincarnated. But Declan takes her captive, intending retribution against all immortals, unaware that he belongs to their world.

To sate a desire more powerful than death - Yet every reincarnation comes with a price, for Aidan is doomed to die when he remembers his past. To save herself from Declan's torments, will Regin rekindle memories of the passion they once shared—even if it means once again losing the only man she could ever love?

Regan is known to have a drug-like kiss and a reincarnated Berserker that becomes reawakened to their history together upon her affections. Now, that another 500 years has passed, the war between the immortals is heating up and many of the Lore are ending up prisoners within a facility for research. Soon Regan finds herself there under the study of Declan, the Magistrate, who also happens to be her long-ago mate. Since their latest relationship together is in the beginning stages, Declan knows nothing special about Regan except that she arouses passionate thoughts within him that weren't there before. Yet, after numerous brutal and torturous sessions together, can love actually bloom within two enemies?

Ugh, I am so ready for this "research facility" arc to be over. I'm not a fan! I didn't enjoy the last book in the series (sadly!) and I found this one wasn't that great either. I fear we have one more to go before something new comes along as well, boo! Regardless, I keep holding out for 'better' b/c I'm a lover of past books and characters and keep wishing we'll get a glimpse of them somewhere within the story, but overall . . . not liking the constant action packed feel to the plot, its difficult for me to get into any of the relationships, and its a struggle to even enjoy the male leads.

I find the books I really favor best within the IAD series focuses solely on the pair within the story, since they themselves must complete some journey TOGETHER, they ALONE must fight against the enemy/something broken within themselves, and just the two of them makes up a majority of the tale. Interestingly enough, KC has changed her writing style by mixing these newest couples into massive group settings. No longer does the reader get to enjoy the relationship growth between our two leading protagonists like before, but now there are many many others offering silly feedback in regards to the growing lust/love of the couple. . . that it bothers me. I want the focus to switch back to the reason I buy the book (Paranormal Romance between a COUPLE, not group) and not try to expand the Lore world too quickly by adding immense crowds and intense action power. Boring!

Also, I'm one of those women that does not enjoy a man in a uniform. Thus, I don't "get" Duncan's heavy military attire with combat boots and his desire for weaponry . . . nothing there excites me. And I need some true redemption within my stories to give off a feeling of completion and Duncan didn't get far enough for my taste, therefore I couldn't find myself liking him as a character. Honestly, I wanted the original Berserker to come back in full force, but sadly that wasn't the case. I feel Regan deserved better! Plus, there was so much going on within the story that by the time the relationship between the two heated up near the end, I was so over the book that I just wanted to skip it. There was no fun romantic build up for me and Dreams of a Dark Warrior came off a lacking when I finished. I totally rolled me eyes at the Epilogue!

All in all, I find I'm extra hard on this book because I love the IAD series and I truly expected a lot from the story. Yes, I may have some favorite Lore stories that other readers don't favor as much and I understand some readers highly enjoy these 'research facility' books as being some of the best within the series, nonetheless, I'm so ready for something NEW to spice up this series for me again . . . otherwise I might get burned too many times and just turn away.

Likes: I did enjoy the flashbacks to the other Berserker's reincarnated selves, maybe since they WEREN'T Duncan.

Dislikes: Way too action packed for my taste and I'm almost dreading the Lore Accession from coming since it'll be mostly full on 'battle mode' then on out.

Rating:

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KMM Shadowfever Book Launch

Location: La Pavillon Hotel, New Orleans, LA
Book hosting from Octavia Books

Sunday - January 16th

Scavenger Hunt in the French Quarter

Monday - January 17th
Book Signing at 4pm
****Yes, this means the book is released a day before everywhere else!

Tuesday - January 18th
KMM will give several talks starting at 11:00am discussing the Fever Series from conception to end for the first time ever and answer questions.

Cannot wait,

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Happy Birthday Barrons!

I LOVE LIVING IN NEW ORLEANS

Shadowfever Launch Party in NOLA!‏

SHADOWFEVER IN NEW ORLEANS!

Thought that might get your attention. It certainly gets mine. Any excuse to party in New Orleans is a good excuse in my book.

Toward that end, I’ve decided to combine several things I love: you guys, New Orleans, a four-day getaway for myself in NOLA with special events leading up to the launch, a book signing gala the night before the book goes on sale, a stay-up-all-night-long-reading Pajama Party, capped off by an intimate discussion and Q&A with me the next day about the entire series: including what’s what, what you think of what’s what, who was right, who was wrong, and how much did you see coming?

The date of the signing will be Monday (late afternoon or evening) January 17th in New Orleans, location yet to be announced (but coming very soon, like next week soon.) I’ll be in the city from Saturday the 15th through late on Tuesday the 18th. I know a lot of Maniacs are already planning to come in for the long weekend prior to, and stay through mid-week. The more the merrier!

There is no charge for the event—other than your own expenses for travel and accommodations (although you will be required to buy a book on the 17th from the hosting bookseller to attend the signing and subsequent all-night reading party, we know you have spouses and significant others, companion tickets will be available for a nominal charge.)

Check my blog mid to late next week for concrete details, including hotel, times, tentative itinerary which will continue to be fleshed out right up to the last moment with cool stuff.

Hope to see you there!

Yayy!

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Local Book Signing: Ruined by Paula Morris

See my review of Ruined HERE

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