Sins of the Flesh by Caridad Pineiro

Caterina Shaw is a world-famous musician, until cancer invades her body and the pain from a tumor makes it impossible for her to continue playing her beloved cello. Caterina is willing to do anything to stop the pain, even participate in an experimental treatment meant to eliminate the cancer. But the treatments don’t go as Caterina had expected and one night she suddenly finds herself outside, alone and naked, with no memory of how she got there,...

Tackling my pile of "other" books: Guernsey and Twenties Girl

:I've decided that this week I'll focus on tackling my pile of non-genre books that has slowly taken over my nightstand. With all the science fiction and fantasy books that I still need to read, and all the books I keep adding to my To Be Read pile, the non-genre books that I've been intending to read have sadly been sitting untouched. But this week I'm going to make amends and go through as many books in the pile that I can make time for.So far...

My entries to Peter Brett's photo contest

A couple of weeks ago I had posted about Peter Brett's contest for an ARC copy of The Desert Spear, his sequel to the Warded Man. To enter, you need to send in a picture of yourself, or someone else, holding a copy of the Warded Man, with extra points given to pictures with a creative or interesting background.I mentioned in my post that I would like to enter the contest, and I offered some photo ideas that I had, including getting pictures with...

Something Rotten (Thursday Next, Bk 4) by Jasper Fforde

I was delighted when someone recently gave me Something Rotten, Jasper Fforde’s fourth Thursday Next book, but at the same time I was a bit apprehensive due to my disappointment with the previous book in the series, which I thought was focused more on puns than plot. But I needn't have worried. Not only was Something Rotten a great book, it turned out to be my favorite in the series, so far. In the beginning of Something Rotten, Thursday Next...

Wit'ch Fire by James Clemens

I recently noticed Wit’ch Fire, by James Clemens, is listed as one of the top fantasy books on Amazon and I recognized this title as one that’s been sitting on my bookshelf for a while, but which I have never been inclined to read. But after perusing all the positive Amazon reviews on the book, I thought it would be worthwhile to give it a try.As the magic of Chi slowly drains out of the land of Alasea, leaving the people defenseless against their...

Favorite Fictional Character: Hawkeye Pierce

Favorite Fictional CharacterHosted by Ryan at WordsmithoniaThis week's favorite fictional character is Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, from one my favorite TV shows, M.A.S.H.MASH is TV shows from the 1970s that humorously portrays a field medical unit in Korea during the Korean war. I had discovered this show about ten years ago when I joined a gym and MASH was playing on the TV the first couple of times that I went. I soon got hooked...

Brandon Sanderson at Goodreads

I just saw that next month Brandon Sanderson will be participating in a discussion of his book, Warbreaker, at the Goodreads Fantasy Bookclub. Since Warbreaker is one my favorite books from this past year, I'll definitely be showing up for the chance to discuss the book with the author himself.Brandon has also put up on his website a short story that he wrote, Defending Elysium, which he considers his best short story and which also won the UPC Science Fiction Award. You can check it out here.And if you are interested in finding out what Brandon...

It's Tuesday...Where are You?Hosted by An Adventure in ReadingI've actually been doing a lot of traveling today. I started off in Swindon where Thursday Next (Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde) was attempting to put together a croquet team for the upcoming Superhoop championship, so that the world wouldn't be destroyed in a couple of weeks, while at the same time avoiding the deadly assassin on her trail, the Windowmaker (the name is due to an error...

You Belong With Me: Jacob Black Remix

I just had to repost this video that I came across at the blog, A Book Lover's Diary. It's really funny and definitely worth watching, whether you're a Twilight fan or not.Although I enjoyed reading Twilight I just couldn't get through the movie, but now I'm curious to give New Moon a try....

Dead in the Family update and sample chapter

Yesterday I noticed on SciFiGuy's blog the cover art for Charlaine Harris's upcoming Sookie Stackhouse book, Dead in the Family. Excited that information is finally available about the next book in the series, I headed over to Harris's site to see what other information might be provided. Unfortunately, Dead in the Family won't be released until May but a sneak peek of the first chapter of the book is available on the website.Although I was terribly...

International Giveaways

Here are a few international giveaways that caught my eye recently:Ann Aguirre is offering readers a chance to win a copy of her Hell's Fire proofs. To enter, tell her what you liked best about Blue Diablo, the first book in the series. This contest is really only for those who have read Blue Diablo and it ends Dec. 22stThe Book Resort is giving away a $75 Visa gift card to one VERY lucky winner. Contest ends Dec. 21stRamona at Alone in The Holy Land is giving away a copy of Russell Kirkpatrick's Across the Face of the World. Contest ends Dec....

Montana's Hebrew Speaking Bomb Dog

This has absolutely nothing to do with science fiction or fantasy but I came across this funny article and I wanted to share it.So the Helena Police Department in Montana had purchsed a bomb sniffing dog from the Israeli Defense Forces because it was cheaper then buying a bomb dog locally. The only problem was that the dog, which was raised in Israel and trained in Hebrew, couldn't understand any of the commands given by his new American owners.Even though Officer Foskat received a list of Hebrew commands to use, Mikey the dog just couldn't understand...

Favorite Fictional Character: Thursday Next

Favorite Fictional CharacterHosted by Ryan at WordsmithoniaThis week's favorite fictional character is Thursday Next, from Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series.Thursday is a literary detective who solves crimes against literature that are too strange for the regular police force to handle, in this quirky alternative history series that takes place in Swindon, England.Thursday is a wonderful character who is brave, intelligent, resourceful and, loyal....

Interview with Jessica from Shut Up! I'm Reading

She's only thirteen years old, but Jessica runs a successful YA book blog, Shut Up! I'm Reading, where she provides insightful book reviews, interesting interviews and entertaining commentary on her views on books and book covers.Hi Jessica. Can you start off by telling me a little bit about yourself?I'm a girl with a love of reading who decided to share her love with anyone who cares to read about it. Reading is one of my very favorite things to...

Happy Book Day To Me: My Holiday Gift Swap Gift

I'm currently in book heaven.Today I received a package from my (not so)secret blogger from the holiday gift swap (she revealed her identity to me last week to check if I received the package yet) and it contained not one, not two but THREE books from my wish list!! I definitely got myself an awesome secret blogger person.I'm now the proud owner of these three books:The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten TroostI've been wanting to read this book...

Peter V. Brett's contest: My ideas for a winning picture

Peter V. Brett has a fun contest for three ARC copies of The Desert Spear, the sequel to The Warded Man. To enter you have to send in a picture of yourself, or someone else, holding a copy of the Warded Man, with extra points given to pictures with an interesting background.While this isn't the first such contest that I've come across, it is the first time that I actually own the book that is needed to participate and so I think I'd like to give...

Read the Book See the Movie Challenge

I've been looking for a new challenge to take on, since I completely failed to complete my last two challenges, NaNoWriMo and the YA Dystopia Challenge, and the Read the Book See the Movie Challenge looks like a good one.I rarely have time to watch movies anymore and I've been wanting to watch Blade Runner to see how it compares to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, which I recently read. I'm hoping that this challenge will give me the incentive...

Servant of A Dark God by John Brown

Servant of a Dark God, is John Brown's debut novel; a unique epic fantasy that was released by Tor this past August.Talen resides on a farm with his father and two older siblings living a rather uneventful life consisting of working in the field, caring for the animals and trying to stay two steps ahead of his wily brother and sister. But all that changes the day that Talen sets off to do some trade at the nearby village and nearly gets killed by...

Favorite Fictional Character: Carl the Dog

Favorite Fictional CharacterHosted by Ryan at Wordsmithonia My favorite fictional character this week is Carl the dog, from Alexandra Day's series of children's picture books.Carl is a Rottweiler who lives in San Francisco, and he is absolutely the coolest dog.When Madeline's mother leaves Carl in charge, she knows that she is leaving her child in good hand (paws?). When Madeline was a baby, Carl would babysit her many times. He entertains her (which...

Street Magic by Caitlin Kittredge

While I like the urban fantasy genre, I’ve been having a hard time finding books within this genre that I actually enjoy, after having read everything by Patricia Briggs, Ilona Andrews and Charlaine Harris. So when a fellow blogger recommended Street Magic, by Caitlin Kittredge, I was happy to give it a try.The last time Pete had seen Jack was when he had convinced her to join him in the cemetery to participate in a magical ceremony. Even though...

Reading interrupted

For the past week I've been reading Servant of a Dark God, by John Brown, and I had intended to finish it today so that I can get the review written. Instead I'm going to turn off my laptop and curl up in bed with Street Magic by Caitlin Kittredge. I had seen Street Magic recommended a couple of days ago and I idly picked it up yesterday as a diversion during a tense point in Servant of a Dark God. But the book has completely drawn me in and now...

More International Book Giveaways

The Book Smugglers are hosting Kathryn McKenna from Simon an Schuster UK and she will be giving away a copy of each of the following books to on lucky winner: The Thirteen Curses by Michelle Harrison, The Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld, The Island by Sarah Singleton, Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins, Dark Life by Kat Falls and Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles. All these books look really good and you just have to fill out a form to enter. Contest ends on Dec. 12th Misfit Salon has two copies of Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book and two copies...

My Book Wishlist

As a Hanukkah gift to myself (one of the downsides of being an adult is I rarely get presents anymore) I've decided to treat myself to a couple of books from my ever-growing To Be Read list. Since most of these books are not even available in Israel, I would need to order them from outside the country (oh how I miss American libraries! Those amazing buildings full of free books in English), probably through The Book Depository which offers free international...